To seek the truth one has to rise above his own likes & prejudices
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:
Brother Burhan;
Salamalaikum, almost two
weeks back you sent me some old questions & answers. One of them was a list
of twenty questions from one muslim brother's who believes in the
shia sect [the twevler's]. You have listed the questions but not your
answers to them ( in my mail) . I request you please sent me those, I am very
much interested to read what you said. The subject of that document was ' I
rec'd a very disturbing e-mail'. I am myself a student , trying to learn
about various religions with specific reference to Islam.I have studied, the
quran in detail as much as I can from various scholars and also to study the
life of the prophet, again from the accounts written by different scholars both
contemporary and old. This I am doing for the last 20 years on & off,
taking notes , keeping a record also. Keeping myself open-minded, never
attach myself to any particular
school of thought or favour any particular system of beliefs over
other. To seek the truth one has to rise above his own likes &
prejudices. What I have learnt is That ;-
1 Islam is a very simple,
honest and straight forward religion and very easy to understand and practice.
The glorious Quran is not a difficult or complicated
document to understand. It is Allah's message to all mankind,
brought to us thru Prophet Mohammed [pbuh]. It is important to learn it, study
it, if we want to know the truth of Alla'hs teaching. This is not difficult but
is possible. It may be , that a man of great understanding &
intelligence may be grasping it at a different level than a simple ordinary
person of humble education, but, nevetheless Allah's guidance shall be coming
to both of these individuals. It is the sincerety of the person that counts.
Allah says He will guide to Himself those who are sincerely seeking
guidance from Him. That is the fundamental principle. You seek guidance
and seek it sincerely from our Lord almighty, and He told us that He will
surely guide the seeker towards Him. And all what Allah has desired ,
commanded from us will become clear to us in our mind.
2 It is a religion
, which emphasises that your Lord is One and Only, He is the creator and
sustainer of everything that exists. We are accountable to Him, we
worship Him and Him alone, we seek His help and His help alone. And that, there
are no intermediatries between Him and us , WE CAN DIRECTLY REACH
HIM. He asked His servants to ask and He will answer their
call. After this , we don't need anybody's help to seek His help, or to
seek His forgiveness .
Erecting Lords and masters, to reach Him,
is against His commands and a
grave sin. In Islam there is no
priesthood, and no masters , our master is One & Only, the almighty
Allah. This is a great principle which spiritually and
socially makes all human
beings equal members of one community. Where no one is big or small, no
family is previledged and honoured, all are equal before Allah, the best
amongst us are those who are most conscious of Him, and who are most righteous and He alone
knows who is who and thus He is the master of the day of judgement and the sole dispenser of
justice.
3. I searched in
the holy Quran about this concept of an Imam, who will be present in every
generation, to guide and lead the muslim ummah, but failed to see any clear cut
ayat or verse , which talks about it. If Allah has not prescribed an Imam
for us then we don't need one. If somebody wants to have one , it
is their choice, but certainly it is not an article of faith according to the Quran. The articles of faith , as
per the Quran are, believe in One God, in His messengers, His revelations, Angels and the last
day of judgement. There is no verse in the Quran which talks about an
Imam , who will succeed the Prophet and that this line will continue till the
end of this world. To me this seems to be an alien concept , given an islamic
identity. We need worldly leaders to lead people, establish a
government, keep law and order and offer protection to the community. These can
be any body , any responsible and
capable person for the job, from within the community, but again we must not elevate any great men to an extent
that he becomes divine and an absolute master. The Quran commands believers to
support and obey such leaders in their communities but only to the extent that
the leader himself is acting
within the framework of the Quran & Sunnah. If the leader crossess
this boundary then we are not bound t o show our allegiance or support to him.
4. Some people
believe that the prophet has appointed Ali to be his successor and Imam to
guide the muslim ummah. I want to believe it only when, when
an honest, truthful, God-fearing person like Ali himself makes that claim. He
never did. Even if you read the Nahajul-balaga there is no statement in which
he says that he is the appointed Imam or Wasi and it is obligatory on all
muslims or believers to follow him.
5. If one reads
the very early history, when this concept of Imamat started to appear, one sees
that , it is claimed that a Imam will be present in every age and time and now
we see that the line stopped at twelve with some, twenty one with others, four
with some others, and so on --- --- whom shall one believe now. Perhaps
the magic number of twelve comes from the historical analogy that
Mossess had twelve tribes and Jesus had twelve disciples at the last
supper.
6. Holding a majlis or a collective gathering to sing sad songs, cry and perform matem, I agree with you are acts of jahiliya, acts of pagan cultures, and are now being done as acts of worship or of great Sawab. Imam Hussain was a great person, a God fearing man, who lived his life to teach and propagate islam and finally gave his life to preserve the islamic principles. Allah says in the Quran in many places that a believer is a person who is patient. Patience is an Islamic virtue. A believer is a 'SABR" . Imam Hussain was a very patient person, he showed it in the last days of moharam in karbela. There is no historical account , an authentic one, which shows that he cried, performed matem etc. over the people who died before him till the 9th of moharam. Instead he was seen as a very calm, cool and collected person on the 10th day , he performed wadu and prayed the zuhr prayer with his servant and finally was martryed. If he himself was exhibiting great calm and patience, how does it justify upon his followers , to cry, beat themselves in public and bleed, to show their love for him. I think it is a mockery , an insult to this great man. Instead we should conduct a majlis to present his meassage and legacy to us. We should try to understand islam and live fearlessly like he did. What , I think, he taught us is that , if one is a true believer, than one must not " submit himself or herself to any religious tyrant , who in the name of islam, trying to establish his rule & control over the muslim community. Islam for this tyrant is a means of achieving his goal, wealth & power" and if I am a true believer I never compromise even it costs my life and the lives of others, friends and relatives. I think that was the message he gave us. And now what we see is there is a class of performing artists / actors who have mastered the art of " making other people cry" as there are comedy artists who excel in the art of making people laugh. It has become good business for many waez like this, who are coming from Lucknow to states, uk and canada and making good money , there are some who live comfortably ten months after working two months performing waez like this. What it became was an "opera" now, with lots of drama, emotion, poetry all that in the name of islam. I request all my brothers in islam to think about it and make this day the 10th of moharam as a day to learn more about Quran, more about Islam, more about standing up against the kind of religious tyrants, who are going to be present in every age and time. How a true believer should face them. Finally brother Burhan, you are doing a great service. May Allah give you courage & strength, to continue this jihad which you have undertaken. May Allah keep you in good health and safety, and keep up the good worth. Salamalikum
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 in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
To seek the truth one has to rise above his own likes &
prejudices
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: Salamalaikum, almost two weeks back you sent me some old questions & answers. One of them was a list of twenty questions from one muslim brother's who believes in the shia sect [the twevler's]. You have listed the questions but not your answers to them ( in my mail) . I request you please sent me those, I am very much interested to read what you said.
We have identified the exact
email list of 20 questions which you are talking about. These 20 muslim history
questions are the fundamental differences between the two major sects in the
Islam, and if Allah helps us, we will try to clarify each of those 20 points in
detail. To write all the 20
answers in one article will make it very lengthy reading, therefore we will be
posting them as 20 different answers instead of one.
We have already written five or
six of those answers and will mail them to you immediately. Due to the deluge of other
questions by our brothers and sisters on the forum, we have put the rest of the questions in a queue, and will answer them as soon as time
permits, Insha Allah.
One must realize that all the 20
points raised have nothing to do with guidance, or the Quran and Sunnah…
because each of the doubts or questions raised is concerning the actions of the
muslims after the death of the Prophet (saws). And therefore it should not have any bearings on anyone’s
beliefs, because Islam was completely revealed before the death of the Prophet
(saws). We assure you that we will
answer each of these queries and post them to you as soon as they are
available, Insha Allah.
I have read your comments, and
almost all the points that you have mentioned are in line with the clear
guidance of the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Messenger of Allah
(saws). May Allah increase your quest
for the knowledge of Truth and guide you and us all to the Siraat al
Mustaqeem. What we as muslims
should be always concerned with is the guidance of the Holy Quran and the
Sunnah of the Messenger (saws).
Whatever happened and whatever differences arose between the muslims
after the death of the Messenger (saws) has nothing to do with guidance, but is
rather a History of the Muslims. If one can differentiate between guidance and
history, there is a very good chance that the person will find Islam easy to
understand, follow and practice.
Your Comment: Finally brother Burhan, you are doing a great service. May Allah give you courage & strength, to continue this jihad which you have undertaken. May Allah keep you in good health and safety, and keep up the good worth.
Jazak Allah Kheir for your kind
words of encouragement. You
cannot imagine what they mean to us, because normally all we get is abuses and
threats from our brethren who have never understood the clear guidance of the
Holy Quran. We implore you to remember
us in your supplications to Allah Subhanah, to give us the patience and the
wisdom to carry on this struggle with the pen, to make Allah’s word and
guidance supreme over everything else.
It is only with His Guidance and His help that we have been able to do
this humble service, for His Pleasure Alone. May Allah accept our weak and humble contributions in
the propagation of the Truth, have mercy on us, and save us all from the Hell
Fire.
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