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Importance of Tasbi

Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

dear burhan,

i could not reply to your mail as that day the server was too slow and due to busy in a marriage in the family , i could not reply back soon . today it seems that your particular mail has been deleted by hotmail as the mailbox is full with your recent answers. i do remember some of the questions which you asked me.

 

dear burhan i also wanted to know about the importance of tasbi in particularly the counting. is it important to say gods name or any aayaat for a particular times only . if i am told to do a tasbi for 100 times and i do it for 98 or say114 times ,does it make any diff. a shayar had nicely said." TERA NAAM TOH WOH HAI JOH BEGEENTI LETE. KYA LUFT JOH GEEN GEEN KE TERA NAAM LIYA" pls clear my doubts.

thanks a lot.

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Importance of Tasbi

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

I am in receipt of your mail, thank you. I will list the questions again and hope you will take out the time to write the answers for my knowledge.

Have you started to read the translation of the Holy Quran?

If yes, did you have any difficulty in understanding the guidance?

If not started, then why not?

Did you find any aayah in the whole Quran which justified the ‘kothar’ and their system of Islam?

Have you never wondered why the Bohra leadership never teach the Quran with understanding, when we all believe that this is the Book of Guidance sent by Allah?

Have you ever wondered why the Bohra leadership have never written a translation of the Holy Quran themselves, nor have they endorsed an existing one?

When is the last time you heard that the Bohras do so and so because it is from the Quran?

Have you ever wondered why no one ever converts to Bohra-ism, and hundreds of thousands of people convert to Islam every year all the world just by reading and understanding the Quran?

Have you ever noticed that the whole Bohra deen is made up from the History of the Muslims, rather than the guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws)?

 

Your Question: dear burhan i also wanted to know about the importance of tasbi in particularly the counting. is it important to say gods name or any aayaat for a particular times only . if i am told to do a tasbi for 100 times and i do it for 98 or say114 times ,does it make any diff. a shayar had nicely said." TERA NAAM TOH WOH HAI JOH BEGEENTI LETE. KYA LUFT JOH GEEN GEEN KE TERA NAAM LIYA" pls clear my doubts.

The Arabic word ‘tasbeeh’ means that we testify that our Lord Allah is Glorified and Exalted in all His Attributes. We testify that He is free from any defects whatsoever; in whatever He Creates; in whatever He Ordains; in whatever laws He makes; and in whatever He does. He is Absolutely Perfect, and there is absolutely no flaw or defect in anything He does. ‘Tasbeeh’ comes from the root word of ‘Subhan’ in Arabic, which means to glorify.

 

But in todays colloquial language, we have taken ‘tasbeeh’ to mean a set of rosary beeds, or at best some words that need to be repeated a set number of times. This is the incorrect connotation to the word ‘tasbeeh’.

 

The ‘sher’ that you have quoted is indeed very good and thought provoking; and I absolutely agree with the ‘shaayar’ in this thought. Allow me to quote you a ‘sher’ from the One Who Created this ‘shaayar’ along with everything else that exists in the Universe! Allah has names each of his ‘shers’ as ‘aayah’ (or miracles), and all these aayahs are collected in the book called the Glorious Quran. Anyone who appreciates good ‘shaayari’, will appreciate the Ultimate ‘Shaayari’ of the Lord of the Worlds!

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale-Imraan verses 190-191:In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of the night and day, there are many signs for the people of good sense; who, standing and sitting and lying down remember Allah, and reflect upon the (wonders of the) structure of the earth and the heavens! (Then they cry out spontaneously,) “O our Lord, You have not created all this in vain; for You are indeed free from doing such a thing! So save us from the torment f the Hell Fire.”

 

Islam is not some ‘jantar-mantar’ deen, where we have to repeat a set of words so many times to do this, or so many times to avoid evil! Allah commands the believers to remember Him strenuously standing and sitting and lying down, and praise Him wherever we are and whatever we do.

 

There are a few such praises (tasbeehs) taught to us by the Messenger of Allah (saws), and the one that is unanimously agreed upon by all the scholars in Islam, is that we should praise Allah after every obligatory prayer by repeating ‘Subhan Allah’ (Glorified is Allah) 33 times, ‘Alhamdolillah’ (All praise is due to Allah Alone) 33 times, and ‘Allah o Akbar’ (Allah is the Greatest) 33 times.

 

But if one says the above terms in the praise of Allah 30 times, or 300 times, there is no harm. The more one praises Allah, the more he will be in awe of the Merciful Lord, and the more he will remember Allah. Thus the idea behind the ‘tasbeehs’ is to praise and glorify Allah, and there is no limit to how much a believer can praise Allah; for however much one praises Allah, it would never be enough.

 

In Islam, the believers are not allowed the repeat the names of any of the created slaves of Allah, like we do for Allah; for it is Allah Alone Who is the Owner of All Praise. If we share this act of devotion and worship with anyone else by invoking their names, we will be guilty of the heinous crime of ‘shirk’ (or associating others with Allah). All Praise is due to Allah Alone, the Lord of the Worlds, and all our rites of worship must be devoted to Allah Alone.

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 165-167:There are people who set up equals and rivals with Allah and adore them with the adoration due to Allah! Whereas the believers adore Allah most ardently. Would that these transgressors could realize now what they will realize, when they see the chastisement before them: that power and authority wholly belong to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment! When He will inflict punishment, those very leaders and guides whom they followed in the world will disown them. But punishment they shall get and all their bonds shall be cut off. Then those who followed them will say, “Would that we were given another chance to return to the world. Then we will disown them just as they have disowned us today!” Thus Allah will bring before them the deeds they did in the world in such a manner as to make them wring their hands in regret, but they shall be unable to come out of the Fire.

 

Just take a look at the below aayah, where Allah clearly mentions who are His true believers.

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 8 Surah Anfaal verses 2-4:True believers are only those whose hearts tremble with awe, when Allah is mentioned to them; whose faith increases when His Revelations are recited to them; who put their trust in their Lord; who establish prayer; and spend (in Our Way) out of what We have bestowed upon them. Such people, indeed are true believers. They have high ranks with their Lord and forgiveness for their sins and most generous provisions.

 

And compare the above aayah, with what happens to the ones who invoke others with Allah.

 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumar verses 44-46:When Allah Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter, are filled with anguish! But when others besides Allah are mentioned, they are at once filled with joy! Say (O Prophet), “O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen! You Alone shall judge between Your servants concerning in which they have been differing.”

 

Thus, Glorify Allah as much as you possibly can, for He indeed deserves to be Glorified. The more one glorifies and remembers Allah, the more God-consciousness (Taqwa) he will be able to create in himself. And if one reads the Quran, he will realize that Allah has not promised Paradise to the ones who believe, nor to the ones who pray, nor to the ones who do ‘jihad’, nor to the ones who pay ‘zakaat’; these are but the trainings prescribed to create ‘taqwa’ or God-consciousness in oneself. Wherever the promise of Paradise occurs in the Holy Quran, you will see that it has invariably been promised to the ones who have developed this ‘taqwa’ or God-consciousness in themselves!

 

May Allah make us of those who develop ‘taqwa’ in our hearts and in all our actions.

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan

 

 


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