Letters to the Editor

Q. I have been an on and off reader of your magazine YMD, for years now. The first time I got hands on the Digest was when I was a young boy, about 13 years old. We had the subscription of your magazine for about 3-4 years. My younger sister has collected most of the old Digests and kept them safe and respectfully. Reading your Digests has had a positive impact on me and my family.

I recently started praying five times a day, and I don’t think that is a big deal: it’s just the basic start for being a good Muslim. I was introspecting about my values in life, not what I want my values to be but what actually they are right now, I noticed that the most powerful of them was chronic laziness, and that it’s something that holds me back. This mental laziness is one of the major problems that prevents me from achieving what I can achieve in life.

I am already working on eliminating it by using positive thinking technique, and making prayer for it, and taking opinion from others.

What I actually want to achieve is a state of mind that compels me to do actions that are before me rather than stop me from doing it.

Looking forward for your precious advice.

Farhan Nabi,
On Email

YMD

Chronic laziness is a not a good sign. But it is a good sign that you realize its possible bad consequences. The effort to get over it is in the right direction. Nothing will go right without the Approval of our Lord, even if apparently all things seem to be working well. All things working well, despite chronic laziness is by itself a thing of worry. A rule has been broken. A contradiction is working. The Lord has said, “Surely, We have created Man in hardships.” (90: 4). One has to remove this contradiction to be in harmony with Allah’s Ways (Sunan Ilaahiyyah). You must apply yourself to the issues of life in greater earnest. If you feel satisfied with what you already have, turn attention to others of mankind around you. The widows who are struggling to make both ends meet, the children not going to school, the men who are not attending mosques, etc. In their development is your development, and that of the society in general. Their failure is your failure, and the failure of the nation, no matter how the cunning politician working against it employing ruse.

Inconsistency is another sign of this Ummah’s inconsistent relationship of trust and obedience with its Lord. A drop of water every minute is more beneficial to the plant than a bucket emptied by a throw. Consistency is a proof of will, and hence more likely to be accepted by the Lord.

Back to the ailment: if you suffer from chronic laziness, it could be because you belong to a community with which its Lord – Lord of Mankind – could be angry. You must break away from the masses, and commit yourself to goals that promise progress to you and others around you: not with the false and misleading intention of trying and saving the Ummah, but in order to get out of the possible Lord’s anger.

Please see next month’s editorial on this topic.

Q: Can you give me the correct information about the moving Prophet’s tomb out of the Masjid? And also about the remains of his wife Khadijah? I have read in many sites regarding this. I will attach the links in the mail.

Initially the grave was outside the mosque. Later as people started to expand the mosque, the tomb got included in it and hence people started to bow in front of it (which is called as shirk – biggest sin). In Islam, even prophet is also nothing in front of Allah; so now to avoid this they are moving it out as in like partitioning it so that it will not come in the direction of their bow. This is the main reason. In Saudi, if someone goes and bow in front of the grave, they will beat that person.

Anum Khan,
On Email

YMD

Your letter appears to be a bundle of rumours. So far as we know, no such move has been planned.

It was not the people who had expanded the mosque, but rather `Umar ibn al-Khattab himself, while there were thousands of Companions alive. They all offered Prayers from where Muslims offer Prayer, and from where generations after generations have been offering Prayers from behind the Prophet’s grave. But it occurred to no one that they were committing Shirk. Even if such an idea occurred any time in the Ummah in later years, it was a passing thought.

Extremism has no bounds. Today’s extremists are endowed with an outstanding quality: it is ignorance. It manifests itself in several ways. It did not occur to them that instead of shifting the Prophet’s grave, they could shift half of the mosque from left to right – if at all. They do not realize at all that Shirk is in the intention. He who intends to prostrate himself to Muhammad, is a Mushrik whether he Prays from a position behind his grave or not, while he whose heart is in all attention to Allah during the Prayers, even if from behind the Prophet’s grave, is a Muwahhid of the first order.

Finally, it does not occur to the minds that squat at the extremities that right in front of the mosque lies Jannatu al-Baqi, the common graveyard of Madinah, containing thousands of fresh graves. Everyone praying in the Mosques is thus, to their minds, facing thousands of graves. What’s the solution to that?

Trolling upon these types of topics are meant to further increase the confusion in which the Ummah faces today. And the extremists appear to be succeeding.

Q: I’m a young 22-year-old girl who is very sensitive by heart. I always get these negative thoughts that someday, my parents will die. I know it is to Allah whom we belong and we have to return to Him, but my problem is even if my mom gets a minor headache I can’t stop thinking about it and my heart beats continuously. Once my friend just asked me, ‘What do you think of suicide?’ After this, I started imagining myself committing it, but as time passed, I’m over it now, Allhumdulillah! 

I pray five times a day, but these days I’m questioning Allah. Trust me, this is depressing. I feel I will get converted to Hinduism, Astagfirullah. These are just thoughts: how do I overcome them? Trust me, these thoughts kill me inside.

I stay in Hyderabad and searched for counselling centre, but couldn’t find any. I need someone to guide me. I feel you’re the only hope now. I’m expecting a reply from you, and yes, I get these thoughts only when I’m at home.

Areej Sharief,

On Email

YMD

Today’s global culture, which is a cross-breed of all that is evil in East and West, carries with its fears, apprehensions, unrest, uncertainties and many other disorders. Those who are not mentally and psychologically, not exceptionally strong, are prone to disturbances.

To improve the strength of your mind and heart we recommend that you take up the study of Tafsir Ibn Kathir on a regular basis, as the Qur’an is a confirmed healer of the disorders of the physical body, the mind, the heart and the soul.

You may also take up study of sciences, such as biology, physics, and astronomy. These studies will help acquire certain mental habits and features such as logical thinking, rational outlook, and well-reasoned decision-making.

You must necessarily avoid reading on such subjects as psychology, philosophy, politics, modern literature, arts, culture, etc. You may also avoid all Eastern literature. However European literature of the Renaissance age (also called as the Middle Ages, or, for short, the Victorian Age) could be read, especially to learn eloquent English, and harmless ideologies. But never read any of the literature of the modern age.

Unless the counsellor is a Qur’an-scholar, do not consult counsellors or counsel centres.

At night, as you lie down, keep mentally reciting the Qur’an until sleep overtakes you.

Q. Is it Farz, Wajib or Sunnat to follow any of the four Imams in Islam?

YMD

Let us tell you about who is it who is NOT obliged to follow any of the four Imams?

Condition one: If you know the explanations of every of the six-thousand and above ayah of the Qur’an as given by the Companions (Sahaba), their Followers (Tabe`iyyun) and their third generation followers (Taba` Tabe`iyyun) – and live by each of them – and, condition two: if you know every of the approximately 100,000 Ahadith of various grades, and their explanations as given by the above authorities, then, it is inadvisable that you should follow an Imam.

Q. A person who don’t follow any of the Imams what is his position in Islam?

YMD

If he knows Arabic language, but does not meet with the two conditions as stated above, and yet does not follow any of the four Imams, then he is likely to be, or become, a Fasiq.

On the other hand, if he does not know Arabic, and, of course, does not meet with the above conditions, and yet does not follow any of the four Imams, then he is likely to be or become a Fasiq and a Fajir – both together.

However, if he or she is a commoner, and does not meet with the conditions laid above, but rather is being misguided into not following any of the four schools of Fiqh, then, his or her sin is upon the one who misguides him or her. The guide in that case could be or become a Fasiq or Fajir but on condition that he knew that the man or woman being guided by him are common people who do not know the Qur’an or the Hadith, who do not even know Arabic language, but still misguided them.

Q. In which Hijri first and senior-most Imam came?

YMD

The truest of Imams came immediately following the Prophet’s death. Recommended by no less than he himself, the four Caliphs became the A’immatu al-Fiqh, together, and in succession, issuing Fatwas. The hundreds of thousands of the commoners from among the Companions became Muqallidin because, neither the Qur’an was available in the markets nor in the mosques, nor was there any Hadith compilation. The Hadith had to wait for almost 150 years before a proper codified collection would be available to the common people. So, they blindly followed rulings of the four Khulafa.’ So they had been ordered by the Qur’an.

To be sure, they were aided by other A’immah of the time, such as Ubayy b. Ka`b in matters related to the Qur’an, Ibn `Abbas in matters involving Qur’anic commentary, Mu`adh b. Jabal, in matters relating to the Abrogation of the Qur’an,  Zayd b. Thabit in matters involving Rules of Inheritance, etc.

`Abdullah ibn Mas`us – a giant scholar – was a school of Fiqh by himself, as there were several others.

And, of course, there was the Queen of Hearts, the most knowledgeable of the Sunan, their mother `A’isha who, throughout the year, year after year, for 50 years, and especially during every year’s Hajj – pitched her tent in places of Hajj, issuing Fatwas for the benefit of the Companions and their Followers, arriving from Yemen, Oman, Bahrayn, Khorasan, Persia, Asia Minor, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and so many other towns.

Such were the Imams after the Prophet and such were – so to say – the Muqallidin, who were the truest of Muqallidin, because, since they had no direct access to the Hadith, and since thousands of the newly conquered territories did not know Arabic, they were in the hands of the truest of scholars, of purest of hearts, whose rulings were golden words. Islam at that time was in Taqlid, as it would remain for the rest of the times, until the Day of Judgment.

The golden Rulings would become, for the later scholars of Fiqh, one of the sources of Islamic Law, when the Law began to be coded.

Q. What is the duration between our beloved Nabi (saws) and the birth of Imam era?

YMD

The process was continuous, with no gap.

Q. What do you call or how do you treat the people – I mean Sahaba (ra) Taba Tabin?

Shamoon Pasha,
On Email

YMD

They were the sources of knowledge and beacons of light.

You may also wait for an editorial on the subject soon to appear.

Q: What if a person does good and bad things then, will reading Surah al–Waqia save him from Azab-e-Qabr, since doing bad things lead to Azab-e-Qabr?

Hussain Imam,
On Email

YMD

Perhaps you have read somewhere, or have been told, that recitation of Surah al-Waqi`ah saves a person from punishment in the grave. That is not correct. A Muslim must repent his sins, atone for them, to whatever extent possible, and amend his ways, in order to escape the consequences in the grave and thereafter.