CONTINUATION the twentieth day of September, in the 622 nd year of the Christian era. It was during the cliphate of hadrat ’Umar when this year, (i.e. A.D. 622), was accepted as the beginning of the Muslim era and the first day of the month of Muharram as the first day (new year’s day) of the Hijrî Lunar year. It was the sixteenth day, a Friday, in the month of July. And the twentieth day of September was accepted as the first day of the Hijrî Solar year. The 623rd new year’s day of the Christian era took place during the first hijrî solar and lunar years. When the first commandment to perform Ghazâ and Jihâd against the unbelievers was given (by Allâhu ta’âlâ), the Ghazâ (Holy War) of Bedr was made in the second year of the Hijrat. Of the nine-hundred-and-fifty-strong army of unbelievers, fifty were killed and forty-four were taken as captives. In the third year, the Ghazâ of Uhud was made. The number of unbelievers was three thousand, whereas Muslims numbered seven hundred. Seventy-five Sahâbîs were martyred. In the fourth year the Ghazâ of Hendek (Trench) and in the fifth year the Ghazâ of Benî Mustalaq were made. It was during this same year when women were commanded to cover themselves. The Ghazâ of Hayber and the peace agreement called Bî’at-ur-ridwân, at Hudaybiya, were made in the sixth year. In the seventh year the Kaiser and the Chosroes were sent letters of invitation to Islam. In the eighth year the Ghazâ of Mûta was conducted against the Byzantine army under Heraclius’ command, Mekka was conquered and the Ghazâ of Huneyn was accomplished. In the ninth year an expedition for the Ghazâ of Tabuk was made. In the tenth year the Hajj of Wedâ’ (Farewell) was made. In the eleventh year, after suffering fever for thirteen days, the blessed Prophet passed away in the room adjacent to his masjîd on Monday the twelfth of Rabî’ul awwal, when he was sixty-three years old. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ was always affable and softspoken. There was a nûr shining on his blessed face. Those who saw him would fall in love with him. His mildness, patience, beautiful moral habits are written in thousands of books. He had four sons and four daughters from Hadîja ‘radiy- Allâhu anhâ’. And he had one son from Mâriya of Egypt. All his children except Fâtima passed away while he was alive. This is the end of our citation from Kâmûs-ul-a’lâm. - 120 - Imâm-i-Ghazâlî wrote in his book Kimyâ-i Sa’âdat, “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets to His slaves. Through these great people He informed His slaves about ways guiding to happiness and those leading to disasters. The highest, the most superior and the last of the Prophets is Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. He is the Prophet for all people, for all nations. All people all over the world have to believe in that exalted Prophet.” A person who believes in him and adapts himself to him will attain blessings in the world and in the Hereafter. He who does not believe in him, on the other hand, will be subjected to everlasting torment in the Hereafter. - 121 - CONCLUSION In short, Din (religion) means the system of rules revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ to Prophets in order to teach the beliefs, behaviour, words and attitudes liked by Allâhu ta’âlâ, worships to be performed, and ways of attaining happiness in this world and in the Hereafter. Illusions and imaginary stories fabricated by the imperfect human mind are not called Din. Mind is useful in learning and obeying the religious commandments and prohibitions. Yet it cannot grasp the mysteries, the ultimate divine causes in the commandments and prohibitions. Nor can it reason on them. Such occult facts can be learned if Allâhu ta’âlâ intimates them to Prophets or inspires and reveals them to the hearts of Awliyâ. And this, in its turn, is a blessing that can be bestowed only by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Now, attaining happiness in this world and the next and deserving love of Allâhu ta’âlâ requires being a Muslim. A non- Muslim is called kâfir (disbeliever, unbeliever). And being a Muslim, in its turn, requires having îmân and worshipping. Worshipping means adapting oneself completely to the Sharî’at of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, both in words and in actions. The prescribed worships must be performed only because they are the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and without expecting any worldly advantages from doing them. The Sharî’at means the canon [commandments and prohibitions] taught in Qur’ân al-kerîm and explained through hadîth-isherîfs, and can be learned from what we term books of fiqh, or ilmihâl. It is Fard-i-ayn for everyone, men and women alike, to learn the Sharî’at, that is, the religious principles incumbent (to do or not to do) for every individual Muslim. These principles are remedies protecting men against spiritual and physical diseases. Learning medicine, arts, trade or law would take a person years in a high school and then years in a university. By the same token, learning the books of ilmihâl and the Arabic language requires studying for a number of years. People who do not learn these things will easily fall for the lies and slanders - 122 - fabricated by British spies and by mercenary, hypocritical, and so-called religious men and treacherous statesmen misled by British spies, and will consequently end up in a disastrous and afflictive destination in this world and in the Hereafter. Expressing the Kalima-i-shahâdat and believing in its meaning is called îmân. A person who expresses the Kalima-ishahâdat and believes the facts purported by this word is called a Mu’min (Believer). The Kalima-i-shahâdat is “Ashhadu an lâ ilâha ill-Allah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ’abduhu wa rasûluh.” It means: “There is no ilâh (being to be worshipped) except Allah; and Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is His born slave and His Messenger whom He has sent to (guide) all humanity.” No Prophet shall come after him. It is stated as follows in the Tahtâwî footnotes, at the end of the subject dealing with how to perform the daily prayers of namâz one has somehow missed or omitted, in the book Merâq-il-felâh, “Islam is not only believing that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists. Those disbelievers who attribute partners to Him believe in His existence, too. For being a Mu’min (Believer) it is necessary to believe that He exists, that He has attributes of perfection such as being One, being Alive, Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Will, that He sees and hears all, and that there is no creator except Him.” To believe that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the (Messenger=Prophet) means to believe that all his teachings were dictated to him by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ revealed Islam, that is, îmân and the teachings of the Sharî’at to him through Qur’ân al-kerîm. The commandments to be observed are called Fard. Prohibitions are called Harâm. Altogether they are called Sharî’at. As soon as a person becomes a Muslim, it becomes fard for him to perform namâz (five times daily) and to learn the Islamic teachings commonly known among the people. If he slights learning them, e.g., if he says that it is unnecessary to learn them, he loses his îmân and becomes a kâfir (disbeliever). It is written in the 266th letter in our book Müjdeci Mektuplar that those who died as kâfirs will not be forgiven and will be subjected to an eternal fire in Hell. A person who loses his îmân is called a murtad (renegade). People who hold correct belief concerning the facts taught in Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-isherîfs are called Ahl as-sunna (Sunnite Muslims). Allâhu ta’âlâ, being very compassionate, did not declare everything overtly. He expressed some facts in a covert language. People - 123 - who believe in Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs but do not agree with the scholars of Ahl as-sunna in interpreting some of their parts, are called people without a Madh-hab. Of the people without a madh-hab, those who misinterpret only the teachings of îmân expressed covertly are called people of bid’at or deviated Muslims. Those who misinterpret the openly declared ones are called Mulhids. A mulhid is a disbeliever, although he may consider himself a Muslim. A person of bid’at, however, is not a disbeliever. Yet he will certainly be subjected to very bitter torment in Hell. Among the books which inform that Ahl as-Sunnat ’ulamâ are on the right path and are superior, the book Mahzan ul-fiqh il-kubrâ of Muhammad Suleiman Efendi, a virtuous Sudanese, is very valuable. On the other hand, kâfirs who pretend to be Muslims though they are not and interpret the overt teachings of Qur’ân al-kerîm in accordance with their own personal mental capacities and scientific information, and mislead Muslims, are called zindiqs. Different scholars of Ahl as-sunnat drew different conclusions and meanings from the covertly expressed parts of the Sharî’at. Thus four different madh-habs appeared in matters pertaining to religious practices, that is, in adapting oneself to the Sharî’at. These madh-habs are named Hanafî, Mâlikî, Shâfi’î and Hanbalî. These four madh-habs agree in matters pertaining to îmân (belief). They differ slightly only in ways of worship. People who belong to these four madh-habs consider one another brothers in Islam. Every Muslim is free to choose and to imitate any of the four madh-habs and to perform all his deeds in accordance with that madh-hab. Muslims’ parting into four madh-habs is the result of the mercy, the great compassion Allâhu ta’âlâ has over Muslims. If a Muslim has trouble performing a worship compatibly with his own madh-hab, he can imitate another madh-hab and thus do his worship easily. Conditions to be fulfilled for imitating another madh-hab are written in the (Turkish) book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye (Endless Bliss). The most important worship is the namâz. If a person performs namâz it will be understood that he is a Muslim. If a person does not perform namâz it will be doubtful whether he is a Muslim. If a person values namâz and yet neglects it because of indolence though he does not have a good excuse for not doing so, the law courts of Mâlikî, Shâfi’î and Hanbalî madh- 124 - habs will give him death penalty, (if he is in one of these madhhabs). If he is in the Hanafî Madh-hab, he will be kept prisoner until he begins performing namâz regularly and will be commanded to perform all the prayers of namâz he has omitted. It is stated as follows in the books Durr-ul-muntaqa and Ibni Âbidîn, and in Kitâb-us-salât, published by Hakîkat Kitâbevi in Turkey: “Omitting the five daily prayers of namâz, i.e. not performing them in their prescribed times without any good excuse for not doing so, is a grave sin. Forgiveness for this sin requires making a hajj or tawba.” And the tawba made for it, in its turn, will not be acceptable unless one performs the prayer, or the prayers, of namâz one has omitted. One must free oneself from this state of harâm by performing the omitted prayers of fard namâz instead of the daily prayers of sunnat namâz called Rawâtib. It is written in authentic religious books that if a person has debts of fard prayers of namâz none of his sunnat or supererogatory prayers of namâz will be accepted even if they are sahîh. That is, he will not attain the thawâbs (rewards), the benefits which Allâhu ta’âlâ promises (for performing supererogatory prayers). Their writings are quoted in our (Turkish) book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye. It is not sinful to miss a namâz for good reasons (prescribed by Islam). Yet all the four madh-habs agree that one has to perform as soon as possible any prayers of namâz one has missed or omitted be it with good excuses or not. In Hanafî Madhhab only, it would be permissible to postpone them as long as the time necessary for working for one’s living or for performing the prayers of sunnat namâz called Rawâtib or the supererogatory prayers of namâz advised through hadîth-i-sherîfs. That is, it will be good to postpone the qadâ namâzes with these reasons. According to the other three Madh-habs, however, it is not permissible for a person who has debts of namâz omitted for good reasons to perform the socalled prayers of sunnat namâz or any sort of supererogatory namâz; it is harâm. The fact that the prayers of namâz omitted for good reasons are not the same with those neglected without good reasons is written clearly in Durr ul-Mukhtâr, Ibni ’Âbidîn, Durr ul-Muntaqâ, Tahtâwî explanation of Merâk ilfelâh and Jawhara. - 125 - P.O.Box 4249 11th. Nov. 1991 Kaduna Nigeria Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem Assalamu alaikum Warahmatullahi ta’ala Wabarakatuhu Dear brother(s), I am writing to request for Islamic literature for my family and myself from your organisation. My problem is that I do not have a deep understanding of Islam especially as regards its history, philosophy and general principles. This has been a source of great worry for me because, having acquired quite a considerable amount of western knowledge that has been completely devoid of any Islamic touch, the system has unconsciously built into my frame of mind certain biases that always tend to do serious damage to my faith. I seem to be in a perpetual struggle with these biases — a struggle that often manifests in my tendency to rationalise certain serious issues contained in our Holy Book — the Qur’an also, many of my non— moslem colleagues and friends, particularly Christians have always sought to know about Islam, the Holy Qur’an and certain contemporary issues that concern muslims or border up on Islam generally from me. I, most often, find myself severely handicapped to respond adequately and effectively to their enquiries because I do not myself have a sound base in Islamic literature. Moreover, I do not understand the arabic language, though I am making a lot of effort in that regard because of my profound interest and determination to know all that I am supposed to know in Islam. I, therefore, need your assistance very badly, I sincerely believe that, in-Sha-Allah, you can help me and my family a lot to strengthen our faith based on sound knowledge. This would also adequately equip us, in-Sha-Allah, to effectively spread the light of Islam within our environment and even beyond. I will be particularly grateful if your kind response to my request will include publications on Islamic Regious knowledge generally as well as any other which you consider appropriate and useful for our own spiritual growth. Anxiously awaiting your anticipated favourable response. Wassalaam. Your brother in Islam ISMAIL ALHASSAN SATI - 126 - A’ûdhu billah-imin-esh-shaytân-ir-rajîm Bi-s-mi-llâh-ir-Rahmân-ir-Rahîm Resûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “When fasâd (mischief, instigation, disunion, tumult) runs rife among my Ummat (Muslims), a person who abides by my Sunnat will acquire blessings equal to the amount deserved by a hundred martyrs.” Scholars affiliated with any one of the four Madhhabs, (which are, namely, Hanafî, Mâlikî, Shâfi’î and Hanbalî,) are called Scholars of Ahl as-Sunna. The leader of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna is al-Imâm al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa. These scholars recorded what they had heard from the Sahâba-i-kirâm, who, in their turn, had told them what they had heard from the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. The earth is populated by three groups of people today: 1– Disbelievers. These people say that they are not Muslims. Jews and Christians are in this group. 2– The Sunnî Muslims. These people exist with an ever-increasing population in every country. 3– (Hypocrites called) Munâfiqs. They say that they are Muslims. With respect to îmân and some acts of worship, they are not comparable to the Ahl as-Sunnat. They are not true Muslims. - 127 -Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated, “A person whom Allâhu ta’âlâ loves very much is one who learns his religion and teaches it to others. Learn your religion from the mouths of Islamic scholars!” A person who cannot find a true scholar must learn by reading books written by the scholars of Ahl as-sunna, and try hard to spread these books. A Muslim who has ’ilm (knowledge), ’amal (practising what one knows; obeying Islam’s commandments and prohibitions), and ikhlâs (doing everything only to please Allâhu ta’âlâ) is called an Islamic scholar. A person who represents himself as an Islamic scholar though he lacks any one of these qualifications is called an ‘evil religious scholar’, or an ‘impostor’. An Islamic scholar is a guard who protects Islam. An impostor is Satan’s accomplice.[1] ______________ [1] Knowledge that is acquired not for the purpose of practising it with ikhlâs, will not be beneficial. Please see the 366th and 367th pages of the first volume of Hadîqa, and also the 36th and the 40th and the 59 th letters in the first volume of Maktûbât. (The English versions of these letters exist in the 16th and the 25th and the 28th chapters, respectively, of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss). WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY COMMENTS ON THIS BOOK AND ANY OF OUR ARTICLES
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:07:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015