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:

assalamoalykum

In your mail dated 20 Mar 2001 (Subject: Answer to your Question: Muhraam), u have written that: {But Allah and His Messenger (saws) did not allow us to do ‘matam’ or physically beat ourselves, and wail over our martyrs. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said in an authentic narration that: “He is not a believer who wails, beats himself, and tears his clothes, when afflicted by a calamity.” Every muslim should feel the pain and sorrow in his heart, and pray to Allah to grant all the martyrs of Karbala the highest honor in Paradise, on the Day of Judgment.

But to spend the day of Aashura in waling and beating ourselves is not a part of the deen of Islam. Some sects have huge gatherings, where they recite the stories with extra ingredients, and wail and cry and beat themselves in frenzy! These acts have absolutely no place in Islam, and are nothing but innovations. Allah will reward the martyrs of Karbala for their deeds, and Allah will punish the murderers for their deeds, and Allah will not ask us about their deeds:} so i have doubt in my mind about you that how can u make the statement of this kind whereas our beloved aqa moula (tus) says that one tears will give u 8 jannat and do a lot of maatam.like this in many of your sabaks and answers u r giving the statements against of our moula (tus).

please clarify soon

(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:

Is Maatam allowed in Islam?

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.

Allah says in Chapter 2, Surah Baqarah aayat 185: "Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down: this Book is a perfect guidance for mankind and consists of CLEAR teachings which show the right way and are a Criterion of the Truth and falsehood."

A mu’min is one who submits his will to that of Allah’s, who believes in certainty in Allah and does not associate anything or anybody with Him, believes in the Angels, believes in the Messengers of Allah, believes in the Books of Allah, believes in the Divine Destiny or Qadr of Allah, and believes with certainty that there is a Day of Accounting. That is the definition of a mu’min.

Allah has revealed the Glorious Quran for our guidance and He Himself says that this is a perfect guidance for mankind and consists of clear teachings, and also a knowledge which differentiates the Truth and the falsehood.

Allah orders and commands us in the Glorious Quran to follow the example of His Last Messenger, Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah (saws).

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisa verse 79-80: We have sent you (O Mohamed) as a Messenger to mankind, and Allah’s witness suffices for this. Whoever obeys the Messenger, in fact obeys Allah, and whoever turns away from him, he will be accountable for his deeds. Anyhow, we have not sent you (O Mohamed) to be a guardian over them.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verse 31-32: Prophet, tell the people, “If you sincerely love Allah, follow me. Then Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, for He is All Forgiving, All Merciful.” Also say to them, “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” And if, in spite of this, they do not accept your invitation, warn them that Allah does not love those, who refuse to obey Him and His Messenger.

Allah says in the Holy Quran in Chapter 7 Surah Al-Ara’af verse 157: So, now Mercy has been assigned to those who follow this Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whose mention they shall find in the Torah and the Gospel. He (Mohamed (saws)) enjoins them to do good and forbids them for evil. He makes pure things ‘halaal’ for them and impure things ‘haraam’. He relieves them of their burdens and frees them from the shackles that they bound themselves with (of customs and pagan rituals).

Now, we have a slight dilemma! The Messenger of Allah (saws) states that wailing (maraseeyahs), beating yourselves with your hands (matam), and tearing your clothes, etc. when inflicted by any calamity is forbidden in Islam. And you say that Syedna says that one tear will get you eight Jannahs and do as much matam as you can!

The two above statements directly contradict each other! One of them is right and the other is wrong….The choice is yours to make. Choose Mohammed ar-Rasool Allah (saws) as your guide or believe in what the Syedna says….

You cannot say verbally we believe in Mohamed ibn Abdulla (saws) as the Messenger of Allah, and believe the Syedna if he says anything against the commandment of Rasool Allah! If you indeed believe that Mohamed (saws) is indeed the Messenger of Allah (saws), and Allah has Himself appointed him as His Messenger, and Allah has Himself revealed the Holy Quran to him, and Allah orders and commands the believers in the Holy Quran to obey and follow the Messenger of Allah (saws), then you must hold Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah’s words as Supreme and above any other person.

The Sunnah of Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah (saws) is available to us. His beloved uncle, Hadrat Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib (r.a.) was martyred in front of his eyes in the Battle of Uhud; Hadrat Hamza’s (r.a.) ears and nose were chopped off by the enemies and his body mutilated; Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan even cut Hadrat Hamza’s (r.a.) body open and tried to take a bite of the flesh of his heart! But never did Rasool Allah (saws) ever repeat this story again and again on every anniversary of Hadrat Hamza’s death! Never did he (saws) wail and exhort the believers to wail in congregation on his death anniversary! Never did he (saws) gather all the people in the mosques and give fiery speeches about the ‘shuhadaa’ of Uhud! Never!!! He (saws) mourned for three days and exhorted the believers to do the same for all their dead. This was the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Now if somebody creates a festival on the anniversary of the ‘shuhadaa’ of Kerbala, and gathers people, and gives fiery speeches, and exhorts the people to wail by singing ‘maraseeyahs’ and exhorts the people to beat themselves on their chests (matam); you figure out yourself, if this is following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), or doing something which is against the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws)?

Your Comment: our beloved aqa moula (tus) says that one tears will give u 8 jannat and do a lot of maatam.

Your ‘maula’ promises many things, which have absolutely no basis in the Holy Quran, nor does he have the authority to make these promises! He promises you eight Jannahs for one tear (as if he owns Paradise and he is the one who will decide on the Day of Judgement)! He promises you that if you follow him, he will lead you to Paradise! He promises you that he will be your intercessor (shafa’a) in the Court of Allah!

His promises are nothing but lies which he has invented himself! Nobody has a right to promise anything of the Hereafter! Neither does he have the right to promise, nor does he have the means to fulfill those promises! Allah Alone reserves the right of Decision, the right of Power, the right of Mercy, he right of the Kingdom and the right of Sovereignty of the Hereafter!! Nobody has any power or any strength, except Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!! All the promises made by man will disappear on the Day of Judgement, and only the promises made by Allah will stand True!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa verse 122: The promise of Allah is true, and who can be truer in his word than Allah?

The only reason these people promise and invent such fancy and fantastic lies, is so that they can subjugate you and steal your hard earned money! And the reason the common people believe them is because they were born into this sect, and they follow blindly what they found their fathers following! The common man is kept so far away from the clear guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran by these self-made leaders, that they cannot determine what is Islam and what is not. These self-proclaimed holy men, then wear the garb of Islam, grow long beards, act very pious, and read a couple of aayahs from the Quran here and there … but never every will they allow you to understand the whole Quran in context! Never!

The Holy Quran was revealed for our guidance, but these leaders have taken the clear guidance and teachings out of our lives. Neither do they follow the Holy Quran, nor do they teach it in full context! They only quote you the aayahs where it suits them, and don’t quote the rest! They conceal the clear commandments of Allah, and sell it for a miserable price in this world! May Allah take full retribution from them on the Day of Judgement, for misguiding the common man away from Islam.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Al-Baqarah verse 174: Indeed those, who conceal the commands that Allah has sent down in His Book and barter them away for paltry worldly gains, fill their bellies with fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He regard them as pure and there is a painful torment for them!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 159: Those who conceal the clear (Revelations) and Guidance We have sent down, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book, on them shall be Allah’s ‘laanah’ and the ‘laanah’ of those who are entitled to curse!

The best guidance is the Book of Allah, and the best guide is the Messenger of Allah (saws). Hold on to these two things, if indeed you want to be guided to Islam. If anybody guides from the above two sources, follow him if you want. But if they don’t, leave them immediately and come back to Allah and His Messenger (saws). Only one path, the path shown by the Holy Quran and the Messenger of Allah (saws) leads to Allah’s Mercy and Paradise; all the other paths, no matter who shows them, lead to nowhere but to the Wrath and Anger of Allah, and the everlasting torture of the fire of Hell.

On the Day of Judgment, all these self-made leaders and self-proclaimed holy men, will be standing humble in the Court of Allah, and no one will be able to help the other! All the fancy promises they make today to subjugate the common people and swindle their hard earned money, will disappear! Allah Alone will decide who is deserving of His Mercy and His Forgiveness, and who is to be condemned to Hell! No one will be able to influence His Decision, and absolutely no one will be able to change His Verdict! All these people who claim that they will be your ‘shafae’ on that Day will become your enemies, and claim innocence in Allah’s Court!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 34 Surah Saba verse 26: Say, “Our Lord will gather us all together, then He will Judge between us with Truth. He Alone is the One Who Decides, and He Alone Knows everything.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anam verse 94: (And Allah will say), “So, you have come before Us all alone, as We created you at first. Now, you have left behind all that We gave you in the world. Now We do not see with you those ‘shufa’a’(intercessors), who, you believed, had a share in moulding your destinies! All the relations between you and them have been cut off, and all those, in whom you trusted, have left you in the lurch.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 48: And guard yourselves against the Day when no one shall avail anyone else; nor shall ‘shafa’a’ (intercession) be accepted from anyone; nor shall anyone be acquitted for any amount of ransom; nor shall the guilty ones be helped from any quarter.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verse 18: These people worship beside Allah those which can neither harm nor benefit them, and say, “These are our ‘shofa’a’ (intercessors) with Allah!” O Mohammed, tell them, “Do you wish to inform Allah of that thing which He knows to be neither in the heavens nor in the earth?” He is absolutely free from, and exalted above the shirk that they commit.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 40 Surah Mumin verse 18: O Prophet, warn them of the Day that has approached near, when the hearts will leap up to the throats and the people will be standing mute, grief-stricken; and the wrong-doers will neither have any kindly friend nor any ‘shafaa’ (intercessor) who may be listened to.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 40 Surah Mumin verse 47-48: Then imagine the time when these people will be disputing with one another in Hell. The weak ones will say to the haughty ones, “We were your followers! Now, can you save us from some part of our punishment in Hell?” The haughty ones will say, “We are all in the same state here, and Allah has already passed judgment between His servants.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 41 Surah Ha Meem Sajdah verse 47-48: Then on the Day when Allah will call out to the people asking, “Where are those associates of Mine?” They will say, “We have submitted: there is none of us to bear witness to that.” At that time, all those deities whom they used to invoke before this, shall be lost to them, and they will realize that they have no refuge.

Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary, did you ever say to the people, “Make me and my mother deities besides Allah?” Jesus will say, “Glory be to You! It did not behove me to say that thing which I had no right to say. Had I ever said such a thing, You would most surely have known it, for You know all that is in my mind, but I do not know what is in Your mind. Indeed, You have full knowledge even of all the hidden things. I never told them anything other than what You bade me. I said, ‘Worship Allah, Who is my Lord as well as your Lord.’ I was a witness to their conduct as long as I remained among them, but when You recalled me, You watched over them: for You keep over everything. Now, if You punish them, they are Your own servants, and if You forgive them, You are the All Powerful and All Wise.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumar verse 44: What! Have they taken besides Allah others as ‘shofa’a’ (intercessors)? Say to them, “Will they intercede even if they have no power whatever nor understanding?” Say, “Shafa’a is wholly in the Power of Allah Alone!”. His is the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth. Then to Him you will be returned.

May Allah guide you and us all to read and understand the clear and simple Message of the Holy Quran. May Allah open our hearts to the understanding of the Glorious Quran. May Allah guide you and us to the Straight Path of Islam.

May Allah guide you and us to read and understand the simple and plain words of the Glorious Quran. May Allah increase our knowledge from the Holy Quran. May Allah guide us to the Siraat al Mustaqeem.

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