Letters to the Editor

Our objective has been to produce an educational and informative magazine. We introduce little stuff that is of the pastime class. A magazine of this class should be read from a printed version and then left on the table for anyone of the family to pick up, even if for pastime, flip pages, and read out an article of personal interest. The month over, the magazine is stacked in the library shelf for reference at any time in future. We have found people reading our ten-year-old magazines.

The benefits of a stocked magazine last a long time. Newer generations read with amazement and interest what their fathers and forefathers read – and generally benefit.

Therefore, we are not very excited by an electronic version, for any class of gadget. However, with credit to, and by the insistence of, some of our colleagues, this magazine is already on the Net. However, it is a financial burden.

But if there are readers who would like to subscribe to an electronic version, e-mailed to them, at cost, such a service could be provided. Those interested to avail the service may please write to us.

The Children’s Qur’anic Tafsir is being written out month after month. Efforts will be made to hasten the pace in order to complete until those parts that are fit for children. If that happens, it will be brought out in a book form, Allah willing.

If you wish to have the incomplete version, please write back.

The importance of al-Hajr al-Aswad is that it marks the starting point for Tawaf. So, one starts from the Hajr, goes around the Ka`bah in anti-clockwise direction, comes back to it and has thus made one round. A hadith – of Sahih Ibn Hibban – says that “the Black Stone will have a tongue and lips testifying on the Day of Judgment in favor of those who touched it by right (that is, as a Muslim).”

Q. From where has this stone come?

YMD

It is generally stated in history and Seerah books that the stone was sent down at the time Ibrahim and Isma`il (asws) were building the Ka`bah. A hadith to this effect is found in Hakim.

Q. Who placed Hajr-e-Aswad in its present location?

YMD

It was brought down by Jibril and either he placed it at the present position, or Ibrahim (asws) did it.

Q. What’s the purpose of performing Hajj (apart from being Fard)?

YMD

Apart from the fact that Hajj is performed because it is Fard, another reason is that a pilgrim is relieved of all his minor sins, if he performed it rightly. That is something very relieving to Muslims. As for this-worldly benefits, they are not of much importance.

Q. Why do we perform Tawaf around Ka’bah and that, too, in seven rounds?

YMD

That is how we have been ordered. If Allah had ordered us to pray inside it, we would have prayed inside it as people do when its door is opened. If we were ordered to pray on its roof, we would have done it. We do just as we are ordered.

Like the doctor decides how many pills you will take for curing your bodily disease, it is Allah who decides how many times you will do what to cure your sickly souls.

 Q. What is the importance of Station of Ibrahim (Makham-e-Ibrahim)?

Javeed Iqbal,
On Email

YMD

The Maqamu Ibrahim is the stone over which Ibrahim stood to raise the walls of the Ka`bah. Allah approved Ibrahim’s complete submission, as he also approved of the submission of His servants Hajirah and Isma`il (asws). In appreciation, Allah ordered the inheritors of Ibrahim’s spiritual order to perform certain rituals just as they performed and placed His approval in performing them. Since the following generations cannot build the Ka`bah, He ordered them to recognize their spiritual greatness, one of which is to offer some prayers near the Maqam.

As your questions smack of guilt at the rites of Hajj, perhaps because you have too many Shayateen around you, provoking you, shaming you, let us add the following: If Allah had not taught believers in Him the rites of Hajj, surely, Muslims would have slaughtered human beings at the Holy House, offered milk to snakes, danced around the Ka`bah naked to the tunes of bag-pipes and thumping of drums, drunk plenty of wine invoking Muhammad’s name, hung their heads in complete love and devotion to the sermons of homosexual priests during the day, and slept with the prostitutes of the Holy House in the evenings.

So, let us thank Allah for having guided us by His command.

Your problem is that of many women. They care a lot for love and care; even if it is outwardly expressed (while men are very miserly about any such expression). Women like to be flirted, doted and pampered. They want warmth in relationship with their husbands, and intimacy. They want their husbands to shed a tear on their shoulders when they are in a troublesome situation. They are always thinking: “Do I look good? Am I smart enough? Am I loved?” They want to hear appreciation. They are such as this. But, if they disapprove of a person, then all the emotions are turned 180 degrees. They are emotional.

And this is natural. That is, they are so constructed in their nature. They cannot be blamed for what they are, nor praised for what they are. They must be accepted just as they are.

Males are very different, almost opposite. Their interests are entirely different. When loved, they are indifferent to it. We need not describe them in detail here. They, too, must be accepted as they are, and lived with as they are; except that a condition is attached for peaceful living. Both must observe the Islamic fault lines. That is, they must accept Islam as the cultivator and civilizer. It molds and prunes personalities to turn a jungle tree into a garden plant. It suppresses weaknesses and cultures good traits. Man and wife, both submitted to its influences have less and less to complain about each other, although a complete satisfaction with each other is a phenomenon that shies away stealthily, unceremoniously, steadily. Perfection is for our Lord alone. It is hopeless to search for the perfect in His creation. It is useless to search for a perfect life. All that you can do is to observe patience and expect to earn the reward of ultimate satisfaction to be bestowed in the Hereafter.

Admittedly, your dissatisfaction has a valid reason. But to seek a solution through separation would be an insider’s job of firing a bullet through a proxy in the heart of peace; and, in particular, destruction of the happiness of your dear children, for the rest of their lives.

You will have to learn to live with your husband. The consequence of rejection would mean you lie down at night with a dissatisfied soul, and rise up in the morning with a bitter mouth.

Submission to your Lord is the key. He is the Turner who turns the hearts of the people. Seek fulfilment of your yearning for love by serving your Lord’s creation. Send your love in the direction of the poor, the widows, the orphans, those in dust, and get it back from them, with a hefty bonus added to it by your Lord – if you had been sincere to Him.

Shirk is to suggest equals or partners to Allah in His Being or His Attributes.

Of Shirk there are many kinds: To believe that there are more than one God, each independent of the other; to believe that Allah is composed of several gods; to believe that someone possesses the same Attributes as Allah does; to believe that someone is able to do good or evil independent of Allah; to believe that addressing prayers to someone would take one nearer to Allah; to believe that things can have their effects without the Will of Allah, or to believe that any other than Allah has the right to dictate rules, regulations or laws of life, as opposed to what Allah has ordered, etc.

Of Shirk, there are two major kinds: Shirk Jalee and Shirk Khafee.

Shirk Jalee is to believe that there are several gods; or to worship other than Allah; such as to prostrate oneself before another, living or dead, animate or inanimate, in humility seeking reward; or to supplicate to other than Allah, such as to say “Yaa `Ali” or to say, “Yaa Ghouth;” with the belief that they can intercede, or to make an offering to other than Allah, either for a deity’s own sake, or for the sake of seeking closeness to Allah; or to believe that other than Allah can intercede and free one from the consequences of deeds in the Hereafter, such as to usher into Paradise a sinner, without the Will of Allah.

Shirk Khafee is to assume that other than Allah can benefit or harm without His will, or to work seeking rewards from other than Allah.

Shirk will never be forgiven. A Mushrik’s entry into Paradise is completely and unconditionally prohibited.

The subject is vast. We have stated a few prominent points. You may read a few books, such, for example, Taqwiyatu al-Iman by Shah Isma`il Shaheed.