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