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 Brother(s), Asalaam-O-Alikum.  Before I ask my question, I want to tell you what a great service to Islam and the Bohra Community (in particular) that you guys are doing.  Masha' Allah, you have become a breath of fresh air for those of us who thought that there was no voice to speak out against the Bohra clergy.  Alhamdurill'Allah, I have learned a tremendous amount from your questions and answers forum and now I would like to ask you a question myself.

Question:  Every Muslim in this world agrees that the road to Jannat is to follow The Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammed (SAW).  Every Muslim also tries to lead his life to the best of his abilities according to The Quran and the Sunnah.  Sunni Muslims use the Hadiths (Sahih Al Bukari, Sahih Al Muslim, etc.) as their main source of The Sunnah and Shiite Muslims follow the Alail-bait (Nahjul Blagha, in particular) as their main source of the Sunnah. (Sometimes it seems that you're more inclined to Sunni ideas, so what I want to know is) what do you feel is THE CORRECT SUNNAH?  And Why don't the majority of the Muslims follow the Nahjul Blagha as much as they follow the Hadiths, when in fact it was written by one of the greatest men who helped spread Islam and it was written earlier than any of the Hadiths.  Also, concerning the Alail-bait, who would know the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) better than his family.  I think that as a direct descendant of Prophet Ibrahim (AS), it would be premature to accuse or discredit his descendents with now knowing the correct Sunnah.

I understand that you may say that the Najhul Blagha has been tempered with or that it wasn't actually written by Imam Ali, but the exact same argument could go for any of the Hadiths in Sahih Al Bukari or Sahih Al Muslim. Thank you for reading through my question and once again thank you for your great service.

Your brother in Islam.

(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)

Answer:

Why the majority of Muslims don’t follow Nahjul Balagha?

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.

Firstly we would like to thank you for your kind words of encouragement and support. Allah is our witness, our intention is only to invite our brethren to read and understand the Holy Quran, and thereby formulate their way from this Glorious Book, and leave alone everything else that does not conform with the Holy Quran.

What you have said is absolutely true, that the road to Allah’s Mercy and thus Paradise is to believe and follow Allah and His Last Messenger (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.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Glorious Quran is amongst us, in the exact same format as it was revealed by the Lord of the Worlds, and all the muslims are unanimous in this belief.

The Sunnah or tradition of the Prophet is the details of the practical way which the Messenger of Allah (saws) lived his life, said and did; and every muslim believes that whatever the Prophet (saws) did or say, he did it exactly according to the commandments of Allah as stated in the Holy Quran.

For eg. Allah commands the believers to ‘establish prayer’. The Messenger of Allah (saws), showed and taught the believers practically how to perform the prayers in detail, and thousands of believers saw and learnt this act of prayer from the Prophet (saws), and followed accordingly after his death. Similarly, every commandment of Allah, like the practical way to collect and distribute zakat, the practical way of performing Umrah and Hajj, fasting, etc., were all done and taught by the Messenger of Allah (saws) to the believers. Likewise, the Messenger of Allah (saws) lived an exemplary muslim life, and Allah ordered the believers in the Quran to follow the example of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzab verse 21: There is indeed the best example for you to follow, in the Messenger of Allah, for every such person looks forward to Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much.

Thus the Sunnah was established and those who saw and learnt it, taught it to their companions and offsprings, and they in turn taught it to their companions and descendants. And this is how the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) was established and implemented in the lives of the believers.

It is a misconception that the believers follow the Sunnah because Bukhari or Muslim wrote it down almost 300 years after the death of the Prophet (saws)! The Sunnah was followed immediately after the Prophet performed the act or approved of a deed. No one waited 300 years after the death of the Prophet to follow his Sunnah. It is obviously not true, that before the hadiths were collected by scholars like Bukhari, Muslim, etc., the believers did not follow the Sunnah. The Sunnah was implemented in the lives of the believers through those who learnt it from the Prophet (saws), like the noble ahle-bayt, his noble companions, and the believers. Many of the traditions of the Prophet (saws) were narrated by the wives and family of the Prophet (saws), many were narrated by the noble companions, and many were related by the believers who were fortunate enough to have lived their lives in the companionship of the Prophet of Allah (saws).

Thus there is no differences in most of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) between the various sects of Islam.

The difference is primarily in the events that occurred in the History of the Muslims. This is where the major differences occurred, as each party or sect wrote the history according to their side of the story. And this translated into the breaking up of the One Ummah of Islam into various sects and sub-sects!

As far as the noble ahly-bayt are concerned, it is a duty of every muslim to love these noble souls. Most of the early descendants of the Prophet (saws) were the most respected and revered scholars of their times… and the Ummah of Islam are unanimous in the respect for these noble scholars. But we must realize here that the Messenger of Allah (saws) was not sent to establish a dynasty or a kingdom for his family on this earth. Nor did he come to proclaim that one particular family was sacred or divine. The Messenger of Allah (saws) was appointed by Allah as a mercy to mankind, to show them the Straight Path of Islam. And this is evident from the clear aayahs of the Holy Quran. Nowhere does the Quran mention that one particular family or group of people have been appointed to lead mankind. The criteria which is laid down in the Quran is Piety or God-consciousness. Whoever is the most pious and the most God-conscious, is the most honorable in the sight of Allah.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 49 Surah Hujuraat verse 13: Indeed, the most honorable among you in the sight of Allah is he who is the most pious of you. Surely, Allah is All Knowing, All Wise.

But some mis-guided people have taken the noble ahle-bayt and raised them to a position of divinity. They have made their graves their shrines of worship! They invoke them for all their needs! They celebrate their birthdays and mourn the day of their death! They recount their lives in fiery speeches and allocate and fabricate all kinds of false things and divine miracles to their names, without any authority from the Holy Quran! They have appointed some of them as their ‘intercessors’ with Allah on the Day of Judgement, without any authority from Allah. They have done exactly what the Christians did to the noble Prophet of Allah, Jesus ibn Mariam (a.s.). They have declared that the only way to gain the Pleasure and Mercy of Allah is to love these noble personalities, and have thus broken off from the mainstream muslims, who claim that the way to Allah’s Mercy is to follow the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Bukhari, Muslim, and the other scholars were simply the collectors of the various ahaadiths of the Messenger of Allah (saws). And as with all human works, there is always a chance of error. So much so, that it is recorded, that Bukhari collected almost 300,000 hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (saws), but only about 7,000 of them were deemed to be absolutely authentic and sound which were according to the principles of the Quran and other established facts of the Sunnah. And this work was collected and compiled in the volumes of Sahih Bukhari. The rest of the hadiths were rejected either because they were against the guidance of the Holy Quran, or were of weak narrators, or were simply manufactured by some unscrupulous people and attributed to the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Nahajul Balagha is not a book of Sunnah. It is a compilation of the letters and ‘khutbaas’ of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.). If one reads the Nahajul Balagha, it becomes obvious that although most of it might be correct and in accordance with the Quran and established Sunnah, there are some parts which are absolutely inconceivable, for the believers to believe, to have come from this noble companion of the Messenger of Allah (saws). There are some statements in the Nahajul Balagha which go directly against the guidance of the Holy Quran…. And to accept them as the spoken or written words by Imam Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.) would be to attribute false things to this noble companion.

The foundation in Islam to follow Allah and His Messenger (saws); to worship and invoke the One Lord Alone; and to avoid the heinous sin of ‘shirk’ or associating anything with Allah.

Thus today, all a believer has to do, is stay away from any and all controversies, and just follow the clear commandments of the Holy Quran and the established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws). That is the Siraat al Mustaqeem, or the Straight Path of Islam.

And today, if one says that he does not believe in either the collections of Bukhari, Muslim, Nahajul Balagha, or any other scholar of Islam, and believes only in the Holy Quran and the unanimously accepted and established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), it would be more than enough for his guidance.

The deen of Islam was completely revealed and practiced by the Messenger of Allah (saws) before his death. Nothing can be added or removed from this deen. Thus, if one does not believe in Abu Bakr, or Umar, or Uthman, or Ali, or the Imams, or Bukhari, or Muslim, or Tirmidhi….etc. it really would not matter. These people were people of the past and they served the deen of Islam to the best of their capability, and we will not be questioned on the Day of Qiyaamah about the deeds of these people. We are accountable for our deeds in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah, and they will be accountable for their deeds. This is the clear guidance of the Holy Quran.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 134:

They were a people who passed away. They shall receive the reward of what they earned, and you shall have the reward of what you will earn. And you will not be questioned as to what they did.

May Allah guide you and us to leave aside all the controversies and differences, which have crept up in this Ummah of Islam. May Allah guide you and us to the deen of Truth, which was revealed by Allah and practiced by the Messenger of Allah (saws). May Allah bestow on us the wisdom and the courage to understand and follow the commandments of the Holy Quran. May Allah guide you and us to the Straight Path of Islam. May Allah take full retribution from these unscrupulous self-made holy men and self-proclaimed leaders, who have divided this Ummah in various sects and sub-sects for their own gains, in the name of Islam.

Allah says in Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17: "Then they differed amongst themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing."

Just look at the Anger and Wrath of Allah described on those who break up their religion into sects:

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52-55: And you all belong to one and the same ummah, and I(Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone! Yet afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects, and each sect rejoicing in what it has. Well, leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed time. What? Do they think that, by continuing to provide them with wealth and children, We are solicitous for their welfare? Nay, they do not understand the reality of the matter!

May Allah take full retribution from the leaders who are foremost in segregating this Ummah of Islam into various sects and creeds, to hold on to their own weak power bases! They mis-guide people in the name and garb of Islam. Some sects even forbid their followers to understand the clear guidance of the Holy Quran, and the unsuspecting followers just follow these leaders blindly in whatever they say, and assume that everything these leaders say is from the Quran. Little do they realize today that these self-proclaimed holy men are guiding them away from the Quran and towards the ever lasting Fire of Hell! These unscrupulous leaders have allotted their followers plots in Paradise, in exchange for their wealth and their subjugation. On the Day of Qiyaamah these followers will realize that by not understanding and following the Truth of the Quran, they were following nothing but falsehood. And they will have no one to blame except themselves for leaving the clear guidance of the Glorious Quran!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 77-79: Do they really not know that Allah is fully aware of what they hide and what they disclose? Then there are among them some ignorant people who have no knowledge of the Book, but depend upon empty hopes and are guided by mere conjecture and guess-work. So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say to the people, ‘This is from Allah’, so that they might gain some paltry worldly gain! This writing of their hands will bring woe to them, and what they gain from it will lead them to their ruin

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verses 34-35: O you who believe! There are indeed many among the priests and the holy men who devour the wealth of others by evil means, and debar the people from the Way of Allah. Give them the good news of a painful torment, who hoard up gold and silver and do not expend these in the Way of Allah. The Day shall surely come when the same gold and silver shall be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their bodies and their backs. (And it will be said): “Here is that treasure you had hoarded up for yourselves! Taste now the evil of your hoarded treasure!”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 18 Surah Kahf verses 103-106: Tell them (O Mohamed), “Should We tell you who are the most unsuccessful people and miserable failures in regard to their deeds? They are those, all whose endeavors in the worldly life, had gone astray from the Right Way, but all along they were under the delusion that everything they were doing, was rightly directed! Those are the people who rejected the Revelations of their Lord and did not believe that they would ever go before Him. Therefore all their deeds were lost, for We shall assign no weight to them on the Day of Resurrection. Their recompense is Hell for the disbelief they showed, and for the mockery they adopted in regard to My Aayahs and My Messengers!”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqan verses 26-30: The Real Kingdom on that Day will belong only to the Merciful. And it will be a very hard Day for the disbelievers. The unjust man will bite at his hand and say, “Would that I had stood by the Messenger! Oh, woe to me! Would that I had not chosen so and so for a friend! For it was he, who had deluded me to reject the Admonition which had come to me. Shaitaan has proved indeed very treacherous to man.” And the Messenger will say, “O my Lord, my people had made this Quran the object of their ridicule.”

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.

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