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