Allah does not appoint the Dai, the Imam uz zaman appoints the Dai.

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever 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.

Your comment: Allah does not appoint the Dai, the Imam az`Zaman appoints the Dai.

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).

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: O 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.

The only humans that Allah Subhanah appoints are His Messengers.  Only the Messengers of Allah (saws), come to mankind and declare that they are appointed by Allah as His Messengers to their community and in the case of the Last Messenger, Mohamed Rasool Allah (saws), to the whole of mankind until the end of time.   No other person can come and claim that Allah has appointed him the Imam, or Dai, or bhaisaheb, or aamil or anything else for that matter.   Allah appoints only the Messengers amongst the humans and gives them the sign of His Miracles.

Thus you are absolutely right in saying that Allah does not appoint the Dai, but rather the Imam uz Zamaan appoints them.   But brother, the same question arises:  Who appoints the Imam-us-Zamaan?  All the imams, including the so-called imam-uz-zamaan were appointed by humans and have absolutely no authority from Allah Subhanah!

And brother, this Imam-uz-Zamaan, is apparently in ‘ghaib’ or veil for the past several hundred years!  This religion of Truth, Islam, cannot be based on some person who has gone into ‘ghaibat’ or ‘purdah’ several hundred years ago and runs the affairs of the ummah of Islam through ‘ilhaam’ or dreams!!   Can you imagine, that the deen and religion which Allah revealed to His Messenger Mohamed (saws), is today based on the belief that some Imam-uz-Zamaan will disappear into ‘ghaibat’ and run the affairs through ‘ilhaam’?  Can you see now, how absurd this sounds!!!! 

Yes, it is an article of faith for muslims to believe in the unseen.   We believe in Allah in the unseen.   We believe in the Day of Qiyamah in the unseen.  We believe in the angles in the unseen.  We believe in the ‘jinns’ in the unseen.  We believe in the Gardens of Paradise in the unseen.  We believe in the fire of Hell in the unseen.  It is an article of faith for every muslim to believe in the unseen; but the condition is that we only believe in the unseen if stated to us by Allah Himself in the Holy Quran, or through the words of the Messenger of Allah (saws)!   If the unseen is not from these two sources, then we are not to believe in it at all.  I request you to produce even one aayah from the Quran stating that we have to believe in the Imam-uz-Zamaan in the seen, leave alone the unseen.   Can you imagine the chaos in the Ummah of Islam, if every person started dreaming up his own version of the ‘unseen’?  

Your comment: How can the Dai proclaim translations when the Imam az`Zaman nor those of before never proclaimed a translation.

Brother, since we cannot authenticate the appointment of the Imam-uz-zamaan from the Quran and Sunnah, we obviously cannot believe in him in the unseen!   You gave me an aayah from the Holy Quran which authenticates his existence. 

It is clearly recorded in history, that the Messenger of Allah (saws) never compiled the Holy Quran itself in his lifetime.  The Quran was compiled in a book form only after the death of the Messenger of Allah (saws) according to the needs of the community.    If we use your logic of not producing a translation of the Quran, then the compilation of the Quran was itself illegal by the noble companions of the Prophet (saws).  And the muslims were strictly ordered to follow the Messenger of Allah (saws) by none other than Allah Himself in the Holy Quran!   But even then, they went ahead and compiled the Holy Quran in a book form, because that was the need of the Islamic community.  Please also note here that the revelations of the Quran were completed during the lifetime of the Prophet (saws), but even then he (saws) did not order that the Quran be compiled in the form of a book, as we see it today!  Can you imagine how absurd it would sound if the Quran was not available in a book form today?   The Quran is available today in its original form exactly as it was revealed by Allah to Prophet Mohamed (saws), and even then the muslims do not take advantage of this guidance!   Can you imagine if the Quran was not in a Book form, what would be the state of the muslim ummah? 

Your comment: They have books upon books of tasafirs of Quran yet have not issued a translation.  Why?  Because theQuran is only the Quran when in fusaha arabic as originally revealed. You can explain it, but a literal word for word translation is not possible. 

I could not agree more with you here.  The Original Quran will always remain in the original ‘fusha’ Arabic language … and nobody has dared to change even a single alphabet in the Holy Quran.  (Except, of course, the Bohras… they claim that there are about 4 or 5 small changes in the Holy Quran.  This is not common knowledge even amongst the Bohra community, but if you ask any aamil or bhaisaheb, he will agree with you!  Thus, the Bohras read the Quran different from the rest of the muslims in these specific places.  You don’t believe me, ask your scholars!)

Brother, I also agree that a word for word translation of any literature from one language to another language is not possible for it to make sense!   And then this is not any ordinary Book!   This is the Al-Quran, the very words of Allah Subhanah! 

And if one reads the ‘tafseer’ or explanation or meaning of the Quran,  it would suffice him to be guided to the true deen of Islam.  

Your comment: Why do muslims still today consider it more important to memorize the Quran in arabic.  If you say the translation is correct then lets do like the Christians and memorize the translation because you understand it.  Do you see how absurd this sounds?

Again, I absolutely agree with you here!  Nobody memorizes the Quran in any other language other than the Original Arabic.  Brother, I will assume that you have asked this question with the best of intentions and in the quest of knowledge, rather than sarcasm, and if Allah helps me, I will try to answer it accordingly. No author who ever translated the Holy Quran, nor any muslim who ever read the translation of the Holy Quran, ever claimed that the translation is the Original Quran.  The only reason the author translated the Holy Quran in another language, and the only reason a student of Islam read the translation, was to derive the knowledge, guidance and teachings of the Message, the All Wise, All Knowing Allah, has revealed for our guidance.  If the person spoke and understood Arabic as a language, he would not need to read a translation of the Quran!

Brother, we are commanded by the Prophet (saws) never to follow the unbelievers in their deen! So it is out of the question for muslims to imitate the ways of the Christians! 

The translations are used to understand the meaning of the Quran, for a person whose first language is not Arabic.   This does not change the composition of the Quran from its original language, as the Original Quran will always be considered as Original, only in the language it was revealed in.   But rather than leaving the Quran high on the book-shelf, or reciting it day and night without understanding a word of it, the translation would benefit the reader to understand the Message of the Lord of the Worlds!   Thus he will be able to differentiate between the Truth and falsehood!   Thus he will know if Allah has allowed us to invoke anybody with Allah or not!   Thus he will know whether these self-made leaders, and self-proclaimed holy men are guiding towards the Quran or away from it!  

May Allah give us the wisdom and courage to read the Holy Quran with understanding.  May Allah open our hearts to understand the Message of the Glorious Quran.   May Allah take us out of the invocation of humans and bring us to the invocation and worship of none, but Allah Alone.  May Allah guide us all to the Siraat al Mustaqeem.

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.

May Allah guide you and us all 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