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:

Burhan,

You are doing a great work man. Keep it up!I am a Bohri, and I hate to address these guys as 'bhai sahab'. It is an outright insult to the word Bhai cause bhai is brother. One who takes care of you without TAXING you. Be there for you when you need him not when you 'Salaam' him with a few bucks. The other part of it is 'Sahab'. This word itself implies that you are at the mercy of an individual. In India it is 'bada sahab', 'mem sahab', chota sahab. What the heck is that? There are several good things that our community do.And there are so many talented individual in it. But alas! from the childhood they are given the doses of Maula and bhai sahab and things that even when you grow up you still feel a guilt if you think otherwise for them. Such deep rooted is this fact. We are at the mercy of people we don't even relate. Why give someone else's example, when I am writing this there is a guilty conscious. I can go on and on but this is an endless pit.

Thanks for listening anyway.

(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:

Addressing the ‘Bhai Sahebs’

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.

Brother, we absolutely agree with you that there are many good people and many good things in the Bohra community. But all these good things will be of waste in the Court of Allah, because of the ‘shirk’ that these people do when they invoke their priests and holy men and their ancestors in the graves, and bow down in sajdah to them! Allah has declared the sin of ‘shirk’ unforgiveable for the one who dies in that state, and all the deeds done by one who dies in the state of shirk will hold no value in the Just Court of Allah Subhanah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72:Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah), Allah shall forbid for him Paradise, and Hell shall be his abode. And for such wrong doers there will be no one to help.

Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48:Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than this. For whosoever associates any other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most heinous sin

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumar verse 65-66:If you commit ‘shirk’ all your works will be rendered vain and you will be among the losers. Therefore, you should worship Allah Alone, and be among His grateful servants.

It is indeed a very sorry state of affairs! Brother, this sorry state is found among most of the sects who have left the guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws), and have blindly followed their self-appointed leaders in the name of Islam. The people only follow these unscrupulous leaders because of the following three reasons:

They were born into this deen and are following their forefathers footsteps.

These leaders have constantly promised them a short-cut entry in Paradise, without any authority from Allah Subhanah.

And because the common people think that everything the sect leadership says and does is from the guidance of the Holy Quran; whereas the truth is that these unscrupulous leaders have absolutely no authority for their positions and actions from the Quran.

Only if our brethren would read the Holy Quran with understanding, they would realize the falsehood that is being commanded by their leaders in the name of Islam. Only if they would understand the Holy Quran, they would not pay their hard-earned halaal money to these unscrupulous leaders; but would rather spend it on their families and on the poor and needy! Only if they would understand the Holy Quran, they would not waste their hard earned wealth on pleasing these money mongering priests; but would rather spend their wealth to earn the Pleasure of their Lord and Creator! Only if they would understand the Holy Quran, they would realize that these priests and supposed holy men will not able to deliver their promises of granting them easy access to Paradise! Only if they would understand the clear aayahs of the Glorious Quran, they would realize that Allah Subhanah Alone has the right to be invoked and worshipped. Only then would they realize that Allah Alone has the right to be bowed down in sajdah to! Only then would they realize that all these human beings and graves that they bow down in sajdah to, and strive all their lives to please them so that they may be able to gain their intercession on the Day of Judgement; have absolutely no power in the Court of Allah! These humans and dead people in their graves whom these people invoke and worship and bow down in sajdah to, have absolutely no power to give them any benefit, nor have they any power to prevent any harm. All Power and all strength is in the sole Domain of our Lord and Creator, Allah Subhanah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraf verses 197:Those whom you call besides Allah, cannot help you, nor can they help themselves.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verses 13:Then, instead of Allah, he invokes those who can do him neither harm nor good. This is the last extremity of deviation. He invokes those who are more likely to do him harm, than good! What an evil ‘MAULA’ he chooses, and what an evil companion.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 36 Surah Yaa Seen verses 74-75:Yet, they have set up others besides Allah, hoping that they would be helped! They(those invoked) do not have the power to help them, yet these people stand as an ever ready troop at their service!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verses160:If Allah helps you, none can overcome you! And if Allah forsakes you, who is there, then, after Allah that can help you? Therefore, the true believers should trust in Allah Alone.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse73:O mankind! A parable is related to you, so listen to it! Those on whom you call besides Allah, cannot create a fly, even though they may all combine together for this purpose! Nay! If a fly snatches away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly! How weak are the those who petition, and how weak are those to whom they supplicate!

The very leaders that these people invoke, worship, bow down in sajdah to, and are ever ready to do anything to please them; on the Day of Judgement, will disown their worship and become their ardent enemies! All of them will profess their submission to Allah Almighty, and no soul will be able to help or intercede for anyone! Both parties will be held guilty of the heinous crime of ‘shirk’ (associating others with Allah Subhanah); one for propagating shirk, and the other for following their commands and doing shirk! And as they are thrown on their faces into the everlasting Fire of Hell, they will curse and pronounce Allah’s laanah on these very same leaders whom they obey and follow unconditionally today.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verse 31:They have made their scholars and their monks as their Rabbs besides Allah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 46 Surah Ahqaf verses 4-6: Prophet, say to them, "Have you ever seen them with open eyes those whom you invoke instead of Allah? Show me what they have created in the earth? Or have they any share in the creation and control of the heavens? Bring me a Book revealed before this, or produce some remnant of knowledge in support of your beliefs if you are truthful." And who could be further astray than the one who invokes, instead of Allah, those who cannot answer him till the Day of Resurrection. Nay, they are even UNAWARE THAT THEY ARE BEING INVOKED. And when all mankind shall be gathered together (on the Day of Qiyamah), they (the so called leaders and intercessors) will become enemies of those who invoked them and they will DISOWN THEIR WORSHIP!!!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzab verse 66-68:On the Day their faces are rolled about on the Fire, they will say, “Would that we had obeyed Allah and His Messenger!” And they will say, “O our Lord, we obeyed our CHIEFS and our GREAT MEN, and they led us astray from the Right Path. O our Lord, give them a double chastisment and curse them severely”.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anam verse 94:(And Allah will say), “So, you have come before Us all alone, as We created you at first. Now, you have left behind all that We gave you in the world. Now We do not see with you those ‘shufa’a’(intercessors), who, you believed, had a share in moulding your destinies! All the relations between you and them have been cut off, and all those, in whom you trusted, have left you in the lurch.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verses 28-30:On the Day when We will muster them together, We shall say to those who committed ‘shirk’, “Stay where you are, you and those whom you set up as partners with Us.” Then We shall remove the state of strangeness from among them, and the partners they had set up will say, “You did not worship us! Allah suffices as a witness between you and us, and (even if you worshipped us), we were utterly unaware of your worship!” At that time everyone will taste of what he did. All shall be brought back to Allah, their real Lord, and all the lies they had invented will vanish from them!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 19 Surah Maryam verses 81-82:These people have set up other gods than Allah, so that they may become their supporters! There will be no supporters! They will not only disown your worship, but also become their opponents.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter16 Surah Nahl verses 86-87:When the people who had committed shirk in this world will see those whom they had made associates with Allah, they will say, “Our Lord, here are those associate-deities whom we used to invoke besides You.” At this their deities will retort, “You are liars!” At that time, all of them will proffer submission before Allah, and all that they used to forge in this world shall vanish from them.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqan verses 17-19:And on that Day, (Your Lord) will gather all these people together as well as those whom they used to invoke besides Allah and ask them, “Did you mislead these servants of Mine, or did they themselves go astray?” Those associate-deities will answer, “Glory be to You! We dared not take any ‘auliya’ besides You. You did give them and their forefathers all the good things of life till they forgot the Admonition, and incurred the punishment.” Thus will your deities deny all that you are professing today! Then you shall neither be able to repel your punishment, nor shall you be able to get any help from anywhere. And whoever is guilty of iniquity among you, We shall make him taste a severe torment!

Allah has sufficiently warned the people in the Holy Quran about such unscrupulous leaders and holy men, who wear the garb of Islam and mislead people from the Straight Path of Allah Subhanah. On the Day of Judgment, neither these leaders nor the people who unconditionally followed and obeyed them in everything, will have any excuse for their deeds in front of Allah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Al-Baqarah verse 174:Indeed those, who conceal the commands that Allah has sent down in His Book and barter them away for paltry worldly gains, fill their bellies with fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He regard them as pure and there is a painful torment for them!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 159:Those who conceal the clear (Revelations) and Guidance We have sent down, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book, on them shall be Allah’s ‘laanah’ and the ‘laanah’ of those who are entitled to curse!

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 guesswork. 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!”

My beloved brothers in Islam, we beseech you in the name of Allah Subhanah, do not be misled by people who are more interested in calling you to obey, follow, invoke and worship themselves and their forefathers in the graves with Allah Subhanah! We implore you in the name of Allah Subhanah, to invoke and worship Allah Subhanah Alone and associate no others with Him! We entreat with you to obey and follow only Allah and His Messenger (saws), if indeed you want to be guided aright! And we beseech you in the name of Allah Subhanah to please do yourselves a favor; and read the Holy Quran with understanding. Allah in His Infinite Mercy and Grace has revealed this Glorious Book of Guidance for our guidance…. Only the promises of Allah and His Messenger (saws) will come out to be true… and all the promises made by any other who has no authority from Allah and His Messenger (saws) will be proven false on a Day, from where there is no return!

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 edeavours 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 Reserruction. Their recompense is Hell for the disbelief they showed, and for the mockery they adopted in regard to My Aayahs and My Messengers!”

Allah has made it a duty on the believers to call anyone who wishes to listen to good caution to the Truth from the Quran. Allah is our witness, we have done our duty towards our brethren and invited them to obey and follow Allah and His Messenger (saws).

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