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,
Assalam-e-Allaykum,
I belong to a devout dawoodi bohra family.
At various times in my life,with due grace of Allah subhana ,i got an oppurtunity to understand Quran.And with the Grace and Mercy of Allah Subhanah, i chose to be guided by the clear teachings of the Glorious Quran! Now after i have believed and can clearly forsee my outcasts from the community,hatred of my loved ones,their calling of me fool,ill monger etc , i feel left in lurch.Can not it be happen that all such our brothers who have believed shall stand united to provide solace comfort,guidance,warmth of togetherness that shall help us fight our battle against falsehood with patience,perseverence,prayer and faith.Your efforts in this direction indeed are stepping stone towards such union .You are indeed among those righteous persons who shall be among the dear and loved ones to Allah and his messenger.The plight of our all such brothers are no different than Rasool-e-Allah who faced tremendous hardships and misery whille propogating the plain truth.I cant understand that the simple truth of asking and worshipping one true god is so inadmissible to bohras.May Allah guide them.Tell me how can i become a part of your organisation (personally if Allah so wills) to derive sence of not fighting alone the battle againt falsehood.
Allah Haafiz

(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:

Bohra brother alone

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.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

May Allah Subhanah accept your and our sacrifices, and give you and us all the courage, the wisdom, and the patience to stay steadfast on this Path of Tawheed until our Lord Wills to call us back unto Him.

Beloved brother, when one who is born and brought up in a household or surrounding based on falsehood, and is subsequently guided to the Straight Path by the Mercy and Will of Allah Subhanah; it is the guaranteed tradition of all the disbelievers of Tawheed that they will abuse them, ridicule them, mock them, call them names, disown them; and if all their abuses don’t work, they might even harm or fight them! It has never happened that one born and brought up in a surrounding of disbelief declares his intention to worship and obey none but the One and Only True Lord and His Messenger (saws), that the disbelievers of Tawheed welcomed him with open arms! That has always been the Sunnah of every Prophet of Allah, almost all his noble companions, and all those who followed the Straight Path of Islam!

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 4.809 Narrated by Khabbab bin Al Arat

We complained to Allah's Messenger (saws) (of the persecution inflicted on us by the infidels) while he was sitting in the shade of the Ka'ba, leaning over his Burd (i.e. covering sheet). We said to him (saws), "Would you seek help for us? Would you pray to Allah for us?" He (saws) said, "Among the nations before you a (believing) man would be put in a ditch that was dug for him, and a saw would be put over his head and he would be cut into two pieces; yet that (torture) would not make him give up his religion! His body would be combed with iron combs that would remove his flesh from the bones and nerves, yet that would not make him abandon his religion! By Allah, this religion (i.e. Islam) will prevail till a traveler from Sana (in Yemen) to Hadrarmaut will fear none but Allah, or a wolf as regards his sheep, but you (people) are hasty.’

My beloved and dear Brother in Islam, this severe opposition and rejection from our own loved ones is precisely the test Allah Subhanah has ordained for those who wish to leave falsehood and follow the Straight Path of Allah Subhanah!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 153, 155-157:

153 O ye who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer: for Allah is with those who patiently persevere.

155 Be sure We shall test you (O believers) with something of fear, and hunger, some loss in goods, or lives, or the fruits (of your toil); but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere.

156 Who say when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah we belong and to Him is our return."

157 They are those on whom (descend) blessings from Allah and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.

Thus my dear and beloved brother, if one has been blessed by Allah to leave his cozy bed and surroundings, and the warmth of his loved ones, only because one dared to declare belief in the One and Only Lord, and he bears this with patience and perseverance and stays steadfast on the Straight Path; then he is indeed promised blessings, and mercy and guidance from the Merciful and Bounteous Lord.

But if it so happens that one, who has been born and brought up surrounded by falsehoods, and declares belief in the One and Only Lord; and the disbelievers and polytheists around him welcomes him with open arms…….one should re-check the status of his belief; for it is almost guaranteed that it is not the Straight Path!

Your Statement: Now after i have believed and can clearly forsee my outcasts from the community,hatred of my loved ones,their calling of me fool,ill monger etc , i feel left in lurch.

My beloved and dear Brother in Islam, accept this being outcast from the community of falsehood, and the hatred of your loved ones, and their calling you names, and you being left in the lurch, etc. as your trophies for the declaration of your belief in the One and Only True Lord! Their this very reaction to your declaring belief in the Oneness of Allah Subhanah is a witness that you have chosen the Straight Path!

On the Day of Judgment, when your Lord asks you what did you get in return for declaring belief in Him Alone; you can give this reaction of your loved ones as your evidence and seek your rewards from the Lord of Infinite Bounties and Grace!

My beloved and dear Brother, Allah is my witness, today, after almost 15 years after Allah blessed me to recognize and accept the Truth of the Quran; my own beloved and aged mother, my two own blood-sisters, and one of my beloved and elder brothers have forsaken me and wont even allow me to talk to them about the Truth! I swear by Allah Subhanah, in whose Hands is my soul, sometimes the pain and grief that my own beloved and aged and physically challenged mother, who gave me birth in pain, and grew me up with pain, and sacrificed her youth in our rearing, and loved me unconditionally from my birth to my youth….today, that same mother who has grown old and weak, will not allow me to serve her! On her one command I would willingly sacrifice my life and the life of my children; but her command to worship and invoke others with my Lord and Creator is something which the Lord of the Worlds has forbidden!!! None can know or share this pain and grief of mine, except my All-Knowing, All-Seeing Lord; and none can relieve me of this pain, and none can wipe these my tears of blood as I write these my feelings to you, except Him!

My dear and beloved brother in Islam, I share this my grief and pain with you only so that you will know the price that one has to pay when one declares true belief in the One and Only Lord of the Worlds! I sincerely seek your forgiveness if I have said something which might be of no interest to you, or might have offended you in any way. But I know, that only one who faces or has faced this rejection and humiliation from the ones he loves most would understand this burden I carry with me every waking hour of my life!

I sincerely pray that Allah Subhanah make your trial easy for you, and give you the wisdom, and the courage, and the patience to bear whatever is laid upon you by your loved ones; and nothing comes forth from your lips except the supplication:

"To Allah we belong and to Him is our return."

Your Statement: Can not it be happen that all such our brothers who have believed shall stand united to provide solace comfort,guidance,warmth of togetherness that shall help us fight our battle against falsehood with patience, perseverence, prayer and faith.

Indeed brother, if Allah Wills and Pleases, it can and will happen, Insha Allah! Although on one hand, the community and loved ones, who refuse to invoke and worship Allah Alone associating no partners with Him, will desert and reject and ridicule you for your belief; but in this Straight Path of Allah, He will bless you with a community of brothers who will welcome you and love you because you love Allah and His Deen. Allah Subhanah, in His Supreme and Sublime and Infinite Mercy will bless you with brothers who will pray with you and for you, as you pray with them and for them, and they will love you for the sake of Allah Subhanah as you will love them; for no other reason, except that The Merciful Lord will establish you and them in the Brotherhood of Islam, united in their worship of their One and Only True Lord of the Worlds.

Your Statement: Tell me how can i become a part of your organisation (personally if Allah so wills) to derive sence of not fighting alone the battle againt falsehood.
My beloved and dear Brother in Islam, Allah Subhanah is our witness, that never will the Merciful Lord leave you or anyone who sincerely professes belief in Him and the Last Day, alone, to fight against falsehood; for Allah Subhanah is always with His believing slaves in His Knowledge and is well aware of the condition of each and every one in creation!

When you have supplicated and declared your love for us, and as we supplicate and love you as our brother in faith for the sake of Allah; in a sense, you are already an integral part of our humble organization! You cannot imagine how much strength and encouragement your this letter has given to the brothers and sisters who moderate this humble forum, in the hope and belief that we know that there is one brother out there somewhere on this planet earth who supplicates the Merciful Lord for us, and loves us as we love him as our brother in faith, for the Pleasure of our Merciful and Bounteous Lord.

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 in Islam,

Burhan