Letters to the Editor
Q: I would like to ask you who are the Salafis in the present use of the word? What is it that they talk so much about Aqeedah and Minhaj? What is Aqeedah and Minhaj? They use this to judge and criticize many scholars and speakers of the past and present too like Israr Ahmed Sahab, Nouman Ali Khan, etc. for example, see the following link: http://www.learnaboutislam.co.uk/2014/02/21/nouman-ali-khan-his-aqeedah-a-clarification-dr-murtaza-bin-baksh%E2%80%8F/.
How is a layman supposed to judge and stay away from what is right and wrong? Kindly guide us through this.
Aisha Raya,
On Email
YMD
It is hard to define the Indian Salafis because every Salafi group at every locale has its own agenda, its own `Aqeedah, policies and politics. They can define and describe their movement themselves better than we can.
A common factor between the groups is Sheikh Ibn Abdul Wahhab’s Da`wah to unalloyed Tawheed, and purging of the Bid`ah, foremost being veneration (bordering with divination) of the ‘so-called’ Saints of the past, now in their graves.
In India, Deobandis have been more or less of the same mind, with their own reformatory preferences and, hence, they have come to be identified as Wahhabis, a title they dislike and disown.
By now, more than two centuries after Sheikh Muhammad b. Abdul Wahhab, the principles of Da`wah have undergone many changes, so that, perhaps, it is Deobandi school alone which remains close to the true Wahhabis, but treated as antagonists by the newest teenage activists claiming Salafism to themselves.
Although they affiliate themselves with the call of Sheikh Ibn Abdul Wahhab, they disagree with him on major issues. He was a Hanbali and declared not only himself as one, but that his whole family was Hanbali. From where comes condemnation of the Four Fiqh Schools by the Indian Salafists?One is hard placed to find out.
Nor did the Sheikh criticize past scholars of the Ummah. But that seems to be the main business of the present-day claimants, so much so, that when the lower order Urdu-speaking Salafists targeted Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi in Islamic Da`wah centers in Saudi Arabia, religious authorities sternly warned them against it.
Their condemnation of every scholar who does not align with them or speak well of them, betrays their fear and envy. But this is their identity in India, Sri Lanka, Britain, and every country which has a record of Muslim hatred. If they did any such thing in Saudia, the Gulf, Egypt, or other Arab countries, they could land in prison.
As for Tawheed, tens of thousands of Madrasas in the Indian sub-continent, teach and imbibe Tawheed in their hundreds of thousand students. Various books of `Aqa’id are included in the syllabus, that go into such details concerning Tawheed al DhaatwaSifaat as which the Salafists only know the skin of, missing the pulp.
The majority of Muslims in India (the mainstream Muslims), are at constant war with the Ahl al-Bid`ah because of their firm belief in Tawheed DhaatiwaSifaati. Tablighee Jamat goes one happy step further: they imbibe and plant Eiman in their follower’s hearts. Jamat-e-Islami adds on a conscious understanding of Islam and awareness of social justice. So, to harp on `Aqeedah (Doctrines), seems to have other purposes.
Regarding Manhaj, the general observation is that they bring up the subject often, but discuss and argue over superficial meanings, being themselves unaware of the details. The Manhaj of the leading scholars in India is directly taken from the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Our appeal to the scholars from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is to set up an inquiry commission to go into the quality of the crop and cadre of Asian Salafists and guide them back to the simple Da`wah as presented and propagated by Sheikh Muhammad ibn AbdulWahhab.
In the meanwhile, we advise the Salafi youth to learn Arabic and connect themselves with the Qur’an and Sunnah. If at all, they may get in close relationship with top-order non-Indian Salafi scholars; avoiding Taqleed of their lower order, local level, minor scholars and zealot preachers.
As for the questioner who raised the issue, we advise her that without the above suggestion taken in good spirit, the activists in India better be ignored.
Q: I am from Mumbai. I am doing my PUC. I have a tablet in which I have downloaded the holy Qur’an as well as there are songs in it. Is this a sin? Please advise me.
TahiYa,
On Email
YMD
Why don’t you keep two tablets?
We may also warn you that if you have downloaded the Qur’an, just for the keeps of it, without regularly reciting it, you have insulted the Qur’an.
Q: I feel ashamed to tell this, but I am desperate to know the answer.
Sometime ago, I saw a girl at a place. She was a Muslim and I am also a Muslim. I saw her the first time and I don’t know her at all. At seeing her, I started admiring her and kept on looking at her. I think I fell in love with her. The only feeling and desire I had was to live the rest of my life with her. I know looking at a girl like that is a sin, but unfortunately, I couldn’t control myself. But, I didn’t approach her to express my feelings; I just came back home.
I know I should seek Allah’s forgiveness for this. But after asking forgiveness can I ask the Almighty to bring us together in the future through marriage? Is that right to do? Or should I just forget her and do not have any such desire.
Please guide me openly with this. I will be eagerly awaiting your reply.
Ahmad Aasim,
On Email
YMD
Of the millions of books stacked in the British Library, what book will contain what the Prophet had to say about your situation? None. He said, “The sight is an arrow of the poisoned arrows of Shaytan. So whosoever foreswore it, fearing Allah, will have Allah grant him a (kind of) Eiman whose sweetness he will feel in his heart.”
What happened to you happens to millions of people around the globe, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, especially before marriage. It is Shaytan’s arrow that pierces the heart. Although it strikes the youth more, it has no age limit. One of the Salaf said, “Although of advanced age, and blind of one eye, I do not trust myself with women.”
Once the Prophet (saws) went in hurriedly and came out of the house after a while wet from a bath. He explained that he saw an enchanting woman and so went in to his wife.
Love? A fraction of millions of people who are struck by the arrow every year, get married to the woman involved, but end up separated. Millions of people die everyday, having never loved anyone, and having never been loved by anyone. Today’s is a loveless world.
Just wait for a couple of weeks for it to wash out.
We pray that you do not get married to the enchanting woman.
Q: In the Editorial of YMD’s June 2011 issue, you mentioned this Hadith: “Fulfill your desire for music by reciting the Qur’an in melodious tones.” [http://www.youngmuslimdigest.com/editorial/06/2011/music/]. I trust you, but one of my acquaintances asked Sheikh Google and confirmed there is no such hadith. Can I get the reference to that hadith, please? Just to keep him calm.
Hasan Mohiuddin,
On Email
YMD
That is a hadith that we read in Urdu when a student. It has stuck. We are grateful that you have questioned it. We have tried to trace it, but because we cannot recall its original Arabic text, we haven’t been able to locate it, leading us to the same conclusion that, perhaps, it is no hadith at all; although, the search is not complete since we do not follow Google results but rely on standard printed works. So, we shall complete the search and shall announce the result.
In the meantime, we thank you and are regretful for having quoted it without first checking its origin and authenticity.
Q: I am 22 years old. I take home-tuitions for one of my students who passed his 10th standard. He is a non-Muslim. He calls me ‘Didi,’ and behaves with me as a brother and I, with him, as a sister. I want to know whether this relationship is permissible in Islam. As usual, we both chat through messages only. We don’t have any meetings. The boy doesn’t have any sister. Can you please tell me whether I can make a sister’s relationship with a non-Muslim guy?
Farhana Sultana,
On Email
YMD
So, as we understand, he is 16 and you, 22. On the surface, there seems to be nothing wrong. But, realities always lie beneath the surface. Longer association can lead to those uncommon situations when people get married – despite age difference – to teenage friends much after they have crossed into full puberty.
On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that he truly looks at you as a Didi (sister).A good way out is to open your ‘chats’ to your mother or father. It will place both of you on a cautious path, and anything awry will be noticed by them. The boy could also do so, as a double check.
Hopefully, since you treat him as a brother, it must be worrisome to think that your brother will be in Fire, if you did not take any measure to save him.
Q: With reference to the article ‘Splintering of the Ummah’ (YMD, June 2014). I am so unhappy after reading it, the way it states the difference between people of different faiths. We should work to integrate Muslims, not divide them. But this type of article will make no change to our society. I condone it from the bottom of my heart.
Soheb,
On Email
YMD
Sorry, we are hard to make out whether you are in praise of it or dispraise.
Q: I came on this topic where you have quoted the following answer (I am just quoting a paragraph of it which I found objectionable):
“But then came Allah’s mercy in the form of Islam. Muslims were allowed to take slaves. They could have sex with these lowest of the low. But, there were restrictions. If she got pregnant, and brought a child, she could not be sold any more. Gradually, she acquired the rights of a wife. She got rid of slavery. A dramatic change was happening in the Islamic world at a time when there were no protests over the system of slavery; nobody thought of them twice; nobody dreamt of any change in their status. There was no desire for any change, not even on the part of the slaves themselves. It was Allah’s mercy, pure and simple.”[http://www.youngmuslimdigest.com/letters/09/2013/letters-to-the-editor-86/]
My question is this: Is it permissible to have sex with a female without being married to her. Secondly, you have specifically quoted, “They could have sex with lowest of the low.” Can you provide any reference or proof for that?
YMD is an esteemed magazine in publication for more than last one decade. If the above info is fabricated, please remove it, so as it’s not misquoted everywhere. It would justify war crimes as currently happening in Syria, Iraq, Chechnya and other parts of world.
ZiaulKhan,
On Email
YMD
The doubts you have raises about slavery suggest that you do not know anything about the institution of slavery. This means we need to write a long article, or perhaps a book, in order to address your concerns. It is advised, therefore, that you do some reading on the subject. That will mean removal of most, if not all, of your doubts.
In the meantime, you may note that:
- Islam did not introduce slavery.
- Slaves were then an important element of the economy of every society over the globe.
- Islam let it remain in operation reluctantly, of necessity, and in wisdom.
- Its sudden abolishment would have led to the death of millions from starvation including the slaves themselves.
- Islam framed laws to effect emancipation and gradual and unhazardous termination of slavery.
- So long as it lasted, Islamic slavery was, according to Western scholars too, a benign institution, while in other societies it was cruel.
But the question is, while you are too willing to fearlessly plunge into the forest of doubts, are you as willing to investigate the institution of slavery?
And, basing on the attitude of Muslims of today, young and old, our well-considered answer is, “Perhaps you are not.”
Prove us wrong – will you?
