Universal Principal of Islam

In the name of Allah,

AsSalamuAlaykum,

         You asked about one of the most misunderstood topics in Islam. Innovating in deen. Everyone agrees that innovating in deen is prohibited, and a minor shirk. Following verse made it clear that the deen was completed and there will be no need for additions or modifications in deen. Only disagreement is how do we determine if something is an innovation in deen.

"Today, I have completed your deen, perfected My blessing upon you, and I have decreed Islam as the religion for you."

Quran 5:3

Following ahadith clearly prohibit us from innovating in deen.

'A'isha reported Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying: He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected. (Sahih Muslim #4266)

If anyone introduces an innovation, he will be responsible for it. If anyone introduces an innovation or gives shelter to a man who introduces an innovation (in deen), he is cursed by Allah, by His angels, and by all the people.(Abu Dawood Book 39, Number 4515)

You must then follow my sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs. Hold to it and stick fast to it. Avoid novelties, for every novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is an error. (Abu Dawood Book 40, Number 4590)

        If you pay attention, the above verse of the Quran was not the last verse to be revealed, but there were others that revealed after that verse. So what does it mean that Islam is completed?  

        

       

       There are two types of beliefs human beings have, one is a belief on things that can be seen, perceived, touched, tasted, heard, smelled, and proven. This type of belief is easy to communicate to other human beings, and can be universally accepted as it is easy to verify. Innovating in this belief is allowed and encouraged in Islam.

       Second type is the belief on unseen like belief in horoscope, bad omen, blessings, life after death, superstition, existence of God, and benefit from statues. This type of belief is impossible to communicate to other human beings, and cannot be universally accepted.

      Islam came to eliminate all unseen beliefs that did not come from God, and  establish a deen (set of unseen beliefs) which is authentic. This is the reason to send prophets and to send holy books. Any unseen belief has to come from Allah, otherwise it is invalid and innovation.

      If you pay attention, you put your face on the ground several times a day. If a person asks you why do you do that. You will say this will protect me from disease here and after death. He will asks you,  can you prove that. You will say, we learn this in the Quran and Sunnah, so that is our proof.

     Now, if I pass by a tree everyday and touch it before moving forward, and someone asks me what am I doing. I could say that this is the tree where an Awliya of Allah used to take rest, and I belief it is blessed. He will asks me, can you prove that. I will not be able to prove it from Quran and Sunnah. What I have done now is innovated in deen, because I am doing this act believing in unseen which I cannot prove.

  This is the universal principal that we can use to determine if something is “Bidah” in deen. Anything that is belief in seen can be proven and is accepted by us. Anything that is belief in unseen and was told by the Prophet (PBUH) is accepted. Anything that is belief in unseen, but not told by the Prophet (PBUH) is rejected.

   Now let’s run this test on everything you listed.

1)      Celebrating Prophet(PBUH) birthday by cutting a cake and clapping and saying happy birthday to you is NOT BIDDAH but disliked. Celebrating his birthday by reading Quran, singing his stories, having a gathering with a belief that this act will honor him and be a source of blessings for us is BIDDAH, and minor shirk, because there is no evidence in Quran and Sunnah for any benefit of celebrating his birthday. If there was, AbuBakr would have been the first one to do that. Every celebration I have seen is based on an unseen belief that cannot be proven and hence rejected.

2)      Punctuation in the Quran is NOT BIDDAH because it is a seen belief that punctuation will help non-Arab read Arabic. There is no unseen belief attached to it.

3)      Names of Surrah written in Quran  is NOT BIDDAH because it is a seen belief that it helps people organize and remember Quran. There is no unseen belief.

4)      Mihrabs and Minarets in the Masjid is NOT BIDDAH because it beautifies and served a purpose and is not based on an unseen belief.

5)       Taqleed of Four Schools of Fiqh is BIDDAH, because there is an unseen belief that one has to follow one of them to follow Islam, which is not proven from Quran and Sunnah. If we remove the unseen belief, and say that one should follow a scholar and that scholar can follow a method of deducing Islam, it becomes acceptable, as there is no unseen belief any longer, which is called “Ittiba” (reasoned following of four school). Taqleed of Muhammad ibn Abdullah is NOT BIDDAH because Allah gave us permission for that so that unseen belief is accepted. What it means is that if we find that hanafi school of thought is wrong on something, and we can see it clearly because it is very simple, and the scholar also accept it, then we cannot follow it unless we have an unseen belief on that school which is not proven. For example, Shafii school says that merely touching a woman breaks the wudu, but we know that is not true, and following that will be BIDDAH.

6)      Renaming Arabia to Saudi Arabic is NOT BIDDAH, because it is not based on unseen belief, and it is just a matter of naming things.

Hadith you mentioned about “good thing in Islam” is not translated correctly from the Arabic. If I remember correctly the word he used was “Sunnah”. In this context Sunnah means habbit or a method or a tradition. For example, If I start a tradition of dinner every month in our community, and people follow it. I will get the reward for it. It is NOT BIDDAH, because the benefit is seen and proven.

       What Bilal did was NOT BIDDAH, because he did not seek any special reward for the two rakah except of a nafil Salah. 


        Taraveh was established by the Prophet (PBUH), so the unseen belief on reward was there. What Umar did was NOT BIDDAH in deen, because his intention was to remove the small groups in the Masjid praying and competing each other. 

    Islam is very easy, and people have make it difficult. I hope this helps you and others avoid innovation in deen.

    When a person logically deduce an unseen belief, what he is saying is that this unseen reward Allah did not stated because the situation did not arise. This statement contradicts the verse of the Quran above. We are allowed to deduce seen beliefs, but not unseen beliefs. They are enumerated by the Prophet (PBUH) and sealed by Allah.

   Let us not prove Allah wrong. And Allah knows best.

JazakAllah Khairin

AbuArman Jumani

From:********* [mailto:******@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 5:13 PM
To: Adnan Jumani
Cc: ***************************
Subject: Re: Should we follow Saudi Arabia in Eid-ul-Adha?

Brother Adnan:

What do you think about Celebrating Holly Prophet's birthday? Because of indepth knowledge and research - I need a big picture. Will you define for me "Bidha" in universal text?

------------In all definitions I heard so far - it does not prove universal and worth carrying. We are so liberal in saying word "Bidha" although we  comine ourself in its grip in our definition.

Bid'ah, literally means innovation. In special terms it means carrying out actions which displease Allah ta`ala and his messenger.

[Tirmizi chapter Il]

Qadi Shawkani writes "In Islam there are two kinds of Bid'ah: Bid'ah Say'iah and Bid'ah Hasana. If a new thing opposes the Qur’an and Sunnah then it is Say'iah, but if it is not against the Shari'ah then it is Hasanah.

(Nayl-ul-Autaar, Qadi Shawkani chapter Salaah Al Taravee).

RasoolAllah [May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace] stated: "The person who introduced a good thing in Islam, shall obtain the reward for it and also the reward for those who adopt it. As for the one who introduces a bad thing (Bid'ah Sayyi ah) he will obtain the punishment for introducing it and also for those who adopt it, will also be punished."

(Sahih Muslim in Kitaab-uz-Zakaat Tirmidhee chapter Eleleven).

Some examples of Bid'ah Hasana.

Punctuation in the Qur'an

Names of Surahs written in the Qur'an

Mihrabs in the Masjid

Minarets of Masjid

Taqleed of the four schools of Fiqh

Fixing congregational prayer times with the clock times

------------------------------------Please help me. I want to learn more about it reflecting Eid-Milad un-Nabi. Is it Bidha? What Type? How is this a bidha? ------------------Our Prophet [May Allah bless Him and grant Him peace] and his Companions used to call Saudi Arabia “Jaziratul Arab” but the present Government has taken that name out and changed it to Saudi Arabia.

Is Bidha per our convenience or by our stamp being from different region? Is Islam that weak in this perpective?

To invent the usool (principle) of Hadeeth, usool of Fiqh, usool of Tafsir etc.

[Tahzeeb al Asma wal lughaat word Bid’ah by Imam Nawawi]

Please don't over react and reply impulsively!! I love my prophet as any msulim can love! Degree may be different --------

Jazak Allah Khair

Should we follow Saudi Arabia in Eid-ul-Adha?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, the only one worthy of worship.

A few days back, one of the brothers told me that Eid-Al-Adha should be celebrated on the same day Hujjaj (people performing Hajj) are performing sacrifice, which is 10th Dhul-Hijja of Islamic Calendar. What he was saying was that any believer who live in USA should not determine the 10th Dhul-Hijja according to moonsighting, but follow the calendar of Hajj to determine the day of Eid. On the surface, this makes the most sense, and I held that opinion for a long time, until I learned more details. I would like to share what I have learned.

First of all, everyone should celebrate Eid on the day their local masjid decided upon, where they pray their regular Salah, regardless of the date being correct or not, because Eid is not an individual act, but a community act, and  it is an obligation for a believer to stick with the community, unless the community has abandoned Salah and are open sinners. One should not travel to a far place to celebrate Eid, because he or she agrees with the fiqh of that Imam in this instance. In the matter of individual fiqh one should certainly follow the fiqh that seems more correct.

Now, let us look at the claim of Saudi Hajj calendar determining the Eid ul Adha for the world.There are two reasons given for us to follow Saudi Arabia. One is that it will create unity. In fact, unity is misunderstood, because unity among believers does not mean every locality submits to the rule of the central government of Khilafat. It is an impossible thing to do. In early days of Islam, governors were appointed for different areas of the world to govern according to the needs of the people. Abu Musa Al-Ashri didn't apply every single rule that Umar applied in medina, but made changes to fit the situation, within the limits of Sharia. Unity in Islam means to unite under laws of Allah, and accept the authority of central Khilafah in the matters pertains to Nation in general. Celebrating Eid is a matter of unity and matter of Nation, but determining the day to celebrate Eid is a matter of local Fiqh. However, if the central Khilafah commands to follow a certain day, then the matter becomes following the authority, and it becomes obligation to follow that day. As far as I know, we don't have Khilafah, nor do Saudis ask us to follow them. So the matter settles here.

Second and strongest case made is that 10th Dhul-Hijja is the day of sacrifice during Hajj, and should be the day for every believer around the world to perform sacrifice and celebrate Eid. For years, I supported this until I went to Hajj myself. When I learned about the rituals of Hajj, I could not find the instructions on celebrating Eid for people performing Hajj. It was an odd discovery, and a reality shock to me.

It is related from Anas ibn Malik that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If someone slaughters before the prayer, he was slaughtered for himself. If someone slaughters after the prayer, he has completed his rite and followed the sunna of the Muslims." (Bukhari # 5226)

In fact, Eid-Al-Adha is not an act of sacrifice, but it is a Salah that we pray together as a community. During Hajj, there is no Eid Salah for people performing Hajj, because there is no Sunnah for doing so. However in the above hadith Prophet (PBUH) invlidate the sacrifice, if done before the Salah, so Salah is the actual Eid and not the sacrifice. If there is no day of Eid during Hajj, how can we follow Hajj for Eid.

Prophet (PBUH) said "Yaum-An-Nahr, Yaum-Al-Hajj-Al-Akbar" ("Day of Sacrifice is the greatest day of Hajj") (I translated this with my limited knowledge of Arabic so help me correct mistakes) (Zaad ul-Maad) (Abu Daud)

Another argument presented to me was from the book of Ibn Qayyiam where he claims that day of Nahr (sacrifice) is better than Arafah, meaning that 10th Dhul Hijja has higher status than 9th DhulHijja. He quoted the above hadith. Well, this hadith is not enough to tell us that Eid-ul-Adha is connected to Hajj. It only tell us that Day of Sacrifice is better then Day of Arafat. Day of Sacrifice and Eid-ul-Adha is celebrated on 10 Dhul-Hijja but not the same ritual. In fact, Ibn Qayyim states in the same chapter that his teacher's (Ibn Taymiah) opinion that Arafat is the day of Eid for Hujjaj, but Day of Sacrifice is the day rest of the world gather for Eid, which clearly proves that determination of Eid is a different process for rest of the world. If slaughter for non-Hajjaj was based on the date and time of Hajj date and time, Prophet (PBUH) wouldn't nullify the slaughter before Eid Salah. In essence, the ritual of slaughter is same but when to do it is determined by local authorities. It is supported by ahadith and Ibn Qayyim and his teacher Ibn Taymiah.

 It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stayed in Madinah for ten years, offering sacrifice (every year on Eid).” [Narrated by Ahmad, 4935; al-Tirmithi, 1507; classed as hasan by al-Albani in Mishkat al-Masabih, 1475]

Moreover, Eid-ul-Adha was obligated in the early days of Hijrah in Medina, and the Prophet (PBUH) celebrated Eid for 8 years, before Hajj became obligated. So, Eid-ul-Adha is not Eid-ul-Hajj, and they are not one in the same. In fact, there is no evidence that there was any effort from surrounding areas of Makkah to determine the days of Hajj so Eid-ul-Adha could be celebrated on the same days. 10 days is a long period and enough time for a horseman to travel a long distance with the news. Still I fail to find a single such event in the history. So, every town must be depHanding upon the sighting of the moon to celebrate Eid. If it was good enough for the first three generation, why it is not good enough for us?

With every evidence, it becomes clear that Eid-ul-Adha is not connected to Hajj and Hajj calendar is not required to be followed to determine the day of Eid for localities. Every person who believes in Allah and his Messenger should surrender to these evidences, unless they can find a stronger evidence.

www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/97750

What I am saying is what Ibn Baaz and Ibn Uthaymeen, and other scholars have said. Both Eid is based on the sighting of the moon either in the locality or in other land depending upon the opinion of the Fiqh one follows. So, if a community follows the moon sighting of Saudi Arabia as a matter of life, then they are free to do so, but if one tries to follow Hajj dates for celebrating Eid, it is an innovation in Islam. This subtle difference need to be understood and followed.

Also, following the local moon sighting is a stronger opinion then following a global moon sighting.

If one is looking for unity, they should reject weak opinion for the strongest opinion, regardless of who hold that opinion, and unity will follow.

If any of you find any evidence contrary to this, please forward it to me, as we follow the Quran and Sunnah, and not what our heart desire.

And Allah knows best.

JazakAllah Khairin

A slave of Allah
AbuArman Jumani

How to look like an Imam (Leader)?

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, Al-Mu'izz, The Bestower of honor.


In 637 CE Jerusalem offered a truce, provided that the Khalifa come himself from Madina to sign the treaty. Umar (radi Allahu anhu) set out for Jerusalem with a slave and a camel. The slave and he would take turns riding the camel and they also gave the camel time off from carrying either passenger. When they approached Jerusalem, Umar (radi Allahu anhu) was walking and had to cross through muddy ground, as a result of which his feet and clothes got mud on them. When Umar (radi Allahu anhu) entered Jerusalem, he was holding the rope of his camel leading it and his clothes were patched and muddy.

Abu Ubaidah (radi Allahu anhu), the commander in chief of the Muslim army and himself a very pious man, suggested that he change his clothes so that the people of Jerusalem, accustomed to the pomp and grandeur of kings and emperors, were not dissuaded from handing the keys of Jerusalem over to him. Umar (radi Allahu anhu) hit him hard on the chest and reminded him that they had been a disgraced nation. What had brought them honour and elevated them was Islam; should they seek honour from anything else, they would surely be humiliated again. “The only way for success is the way of the Holy Prophet” he said.

One of the factors of our decline is our believe that we have to appeal to people through our looks, and we should wear clothes according to occasion. Some wear clothes especially for going to Masjid, and wear different clothes for other activities. Some Imam feel that they have to be in a certain dress to claim the authority from the community, so if a lay person walks in the masjid, she can recognize who is the Imam among the people. Some tone down their clothes when they meet non-muslims, so it is not offensive to them. Some public speakers maintain a certain attire to show their authority. Many a times people ask me, when did you start wearing taub (long arab garment), I said I don't remember. They ask again, when did you became a practicing Muslim. Then, it hit me that if a person trying to practice Islam, he should start wearing certain clothes, or if one start wearing certain clothes, he has joined a certain group. I wear taub, because it is easy to put on and comfortable to wear, and for no other reason. Of course, use wisdom to decide if something is too extreme, but that too for sake of Allah.

In my humble opinion, this dependence on looks to attract people originates with weakness in faith, because our pride in Islam is not strong enough to provide confidence we need to not worry about our appearance. We should have faith in Allah, and wear clothes that cover our body according to Sharia, and are comfortable. If a person befriends you despite your simple clothing, that is the friend you need in life, and no the one who respect you for your appearance. Personally, I try to dress simple to see who ignores me and who responds to me, which turns out to be the best tool to filter insincere folks.

Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah was a great companion, but he saw the different behavior from non-muslims towards a person appearance, and he wanted to avoid that perception , but Umar knew that it is not the appearance that will shake the world, but it is the message of Islam. Now, Abu Ubaidah was a leading companion, but Umar's belief strength was stronger than his, and so he corrected him. In the absence of unshaken believe in Allah, many insecurities comes into our lives. If one is an Imam from Indo-Pak region, he will have to look like a typical Imam otherwise it will be a heresy. If one is an Imam from USA, he will have to look like a moderate Muslim. No! that is not the way. Yes, if that person is more comfortable in that appearance then that is fine. There is nothing wrong with any cultural clothing, except when the intention is to impress someone. Our intention should only to impress Allah, and impress other humans with our message of Islam.

Many a times people walked in the Masjid-An-Nabwi, and ask who among you is the messenger of Allah, because they couldn't tell him a part. Now, how many Imams can be recognized in the crowd of 300, because of their attire. Our pride should not be in how many ahadith we can recite in a conversation, or how bright our clothes are, or how long our beard is, or how many people we know, rather we should take pride in our strength of belief in Allah. Do we believe from depth of our heart that Allah exist? Would we jump in the fire, if that was our test of belief? Would we sacrifice our most beloved thing if asked by Allah? Would we stand up for the truth, even if it means risking our social network?

I testify that I believe in Allah. I know that Allah exists. I know that Allah listen to us, every single time. I know that we get respect because of Allah and not because we don't offend the rich and powerful person of our community. I know that we all sin, but Allah forgives if he wills. I know that Allah is in control of every single movement of every single particle of this creation, so fear from his creation only weakens our faith. I know that our every thought and every action should be weighed against pleasure of Allah.

I swear to Allah that if we belief in Allah's help, there is no impossible task, and uniting the Ummah, building a masjid, convincing ignorant people to change, convincing sleeping scholars to wake up, agitating vanilla Muslims to think about Islam, ....

Just answer this, if you are invited by President Obama to honor you, because you represent Islam? What would you dress for that occasion?  Would you think like Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah, or Umar?

So, fear not my brothers and sisters, and live your life according to Islam, and don't change yourself to fit into a group, or to suppress criticism to save your position in the community, because when you lie in front of us in a box, only the deeds done for sake of Allah will be accepted. No one can harm you unless it is the will of Allah. Ask Allah, when you need him with no doubts in your heart, and a tear in your eye, and I promise that he will respond.

JazakAllah Khairin

Waiting for a simple Imam
Abu Arman Jumani

Islam divided among Organizations.

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, the King of mankind.


"As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, thou hast no part in them in the least: their affair is with Allah. He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did."(Quran 6:159)


"And obey Allah and His Messenger. and fall into no disputes, lest ye lose heart and your power depart; and be patient and persevering: For Allah is with those who patiently persevere: "(Quran 8:46)

Alhamdulilah, the finals ended, and my first semester came to an end today. It was an amazing experience studying with teachers learned in Madeena University from around the world. I recommend ISLAMICONLINEUNIVERSITY.COM to anyone who is a believer.

While I still await the public meeting announcement for Islamic Society/Center of Windermere, promised two weeks ago to me, I have been experiencing a unique trend that I did not notice before. I was contacted by Helping Hands to participate in their effort to do a fundraiser event, and came to know about another organization. On the surface, this seems great act of charity and community service, but what struck me was that these are headed by different individuals, and they have very specific agenda. Very sincere people with hard work and vision, and are serving Muslim Ummah, and May Allah reward them for their effort.

However, when I ask the founder of one of these organizations if they will involve their local masjid in the effort, I was stunned with the answer, because he said that No, and he said that the effort will be perceived as unattractive to wide population. Now, Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH) told us that Masajid are the gardens of paradise, and center of community, but they seems to have become toxic for sincere folks who want to make an effort to revive the Ummah. It is very sad to see, and this distrust with Masajid and local Imams have been communicated to me on many occasions.

Now, I see this tug race, where every organization is pulling lay people like me to contribute to their cause, but how much can one person divide themselves? Every organization and every effort is spending time and money organizing their events, and some people are turned off by this. There is no single authority to organize these efforts, and align them appropriately.

It has gotten so absurd that within one of the planning meeting of an organization, a person announced that he would like to form another organization and nominated another person as President. I and another brother looked at each other and smiled about the whole thing. I mean people are falling over each other trying to form organizations.

What is the purpose for building these masajid? What is the purpose of having an Imam? Just to lead the Salah? This has to stop. It stops with me. Any organization that is not tied to a masjid is not an acceptable effort for my attention. I am sure there are other people who will support them, but not me. Sorry.

At this point, I would like to recognize the effort from some young people in Jamah Masjid who are trying to reach out to other groups, and using Masjid as their base. I hope they continue to do that. That is what we need. We need to tie organizations to masajid, and tie the masajid together.

Any one who thinks that Masjid should not be used for any effort due to political problems, they are avoiding the issue, and they should get together and fix the political issue with their Masjid and use it as their base. Islam is not outdated. Masjid is not outdated, and Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) message does not need new branding. I may be missing some details, but building new independent organization is not the solution. We are dividing the resources.

JazakAllah Khairin

A supporter of only one Organization called Al-Islam.
AbuArman Jumani

A bigger context...

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, the lord of the worlds.


Abû Hurayrah relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Islam began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers.” [Sahîh Muslim (1/130)] 


`Amr b. `Awf relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “The religion will shrink back to the Hijâz like the snake shrinks back into its hole. It will cling to the Hijâz like the mountain goat clings to the mountaintop. The religion began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers who restore what the people corrupt of my Sunnah.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî (#2630)] Al-Tirmidhî grades it as good and authentic (hasan sahîh). 


My last post drew alot of criticism as expected, and my brothers assumed that I was criticizing the different methods of preaching, and the criticism is based on not understanding their true intentions from outside. I would like to take some time and create a bigger context, which is not easy to realize sometimes.

During the life of the Prophet (PBUH), Islam dripped from his words and actions, and the companions followed to the letter, and rarely diverged from the path. This was the foundation of Islam. However, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was last of the prophets, and had to establish a path that will be valid for times to come. Allah gave him the vision to see the generations to come, and it is clear in his ahadith.

Until the sacking of Baghdad in 1258, Islam had a wild ride between best of the rulers and worst of the rulers. One thing that kept Islam in the forefront was that the scholars adhered to Quran and Sunnah and learned and taught authentic and detailed knowledge. So, after every secular and deviant ruler, a pious and righteous ruler was able to emerge, and revive the Ummah. After the sacking of Baghdad, Mongols burned majority of the books, and killed the scholars. Finally, they entered Islam on the hands of ascetic sufis, and adapted the unauthentic understanding of aqeedah and fiqh.

During this period, the remaining scholars panicked and tried to protect the remaining sources of authenticity of Islam by declaring a global freeze on ijtihad. Ijtihad was limited to within the scope of a madhab like hanafi, or mailki, so masses don't deviate from the path. It worked for a while, but then these factions hardened with generations, and the fanaticism reached its height until 20th century. By this time Ottoman (descendants of mongols) Empire became insignificant.

After the fall of Ottoman Empire, from 1900 - 1925, Muslims became restless, and knowledge was isolated to a few families of Masjid employees ("Imams"). Several movements were initiated by people like Muhammad Ilyas (Tableeghi Jama't), King AbdulAziz Al Saud (strict adherence to Sunnah), and secular minded Muslim leaders like Allama Iqbal. Most of these leaders were not educated in Quran and Sunnah, but they were activist with good intentions. These movements helped setup secular states with Muslim rulers and titles.

From 1960 - 1980, Muslims were divided in two major groups, born Muslims who only knew Islam as a culture that is passed on to them with a minimum belief in it to qualify as a Muslim, and the other group who considered themselves flag bearer of authentic Islam, but were empty of education to apply the Quran and Sunnah to their intentions. I was born in 1977, and was part of the first group until 2006, when I visited Seattle, Washington, and faced some events that opened my eyes to the bigger context, Alhamdulilah. I have never disclosed the nature of these events, and never will, as they are irrelevant.

From 1975 - 1979, the second group of Muslims had a mutiny, and these young ones wanted to revert to the Sunnah and give Muslims the status once held , but they did not have the authentic knowledge to apply to their intentions, and created a country based on deviant beliefs and extremist views. Non-Muslim countries reacted to it very strongly and they focused on the affairs of the Muslim countries. In reaction to that, so called Islamist movement begin, which took a violent turn in 1989, and that continues until today.

Parallel to these events, authentic knowledge of Islam was preserved in the hearts of the scholars who did not implement in the society with the fear of confrontation. These scholar took employment in the masajid and madrassas, but did not participate in dawah. On the other hand, the group from early 1900s focused on dawah, but without proper education. This is how Islam was preserved during the turbulent times.  

Since 1989, an underground movement, separate from the three groups described above, came into existence. It is a generation of young men and women, who are awakening to this bigger context, and engaging in learning Quran and Sunnah, and challenging the other three groups (the sleeping scholars, the vanila Muslims, the well intended ignorant Muslims). This generation is what I refer to as practicing Muslims, who will change the world as we know it. They begin as member of these three groups, but when confronted with authentic Islam, their inner soul shakes, and they turn into peaceful, but determined practicing Muslims.

All the previous movements have served their purpose. Now, what needs to be done to progress Islam is to engage and confront these three groups with wisdom and knowledge to convert them into positive force. We need to get the sleeping scholars to setup classes of tafsir, hadith, and arabic, and we need the well intended activists without knowledge to learn from these classes, and we need these activists to engage the vanila Muslims and non-Muslims to convince the need for progress of Islam in their lives.

In my estimation, this process require political stability, and rule of law, which is available in western countries, and will take around 20 more years to complete. However, recent Arab spring has sped up this process a little, there might be some set backs. Unfortunately, violent acts and uninformed recruiting of some Muslims, worshiping madhaib and traditions by other Muslims, and complacency of the third group towards Islamic knowledge is hindering this progress, and my effort has been to point out those hurdles. Sometimes the negative effect of these three groups cause so  much harm that a jolt is needed to revive that area, and the issue should be confronted verbally and peacefully.

It may seems that this movements is creating factions within Islam, which I have wrote against many times. However, if you look close, what I am saying is that if a Muslim pursues authentic knowledge of Quran and Sunnah, and tries to apply it in their life, it will be impossible for them to fall into any group whatsoever.

Bottom line is that any organization lead by people who are not educated enough to extract from the knowledge will harm the Muslim Ummah, although these leaders may have long beards, pray regularly, and well intended. Absence of authentic knowledge and its implementation is a guarantee of deviation. Good news is that I was contacted by two new groups that have been formed in Orlando, which shows the progress of this revival. May Allah help us revive authentic and peaceful Islamic thinking

Sayyidina Abu Umamah Bahili (RA) reported that two men were mentioned before Allah’s Messenger (SAW). One of them was a devout worshipper while the other was a scholar. So Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said, “The excellence of the scholar over the worshipper is like my excellence over the humblest of you.” Then, he said, “Surely, Allah, His angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earths, even the ants in their holes and even the fish invoke blessings on the teacher of the people about what is
good.” (Trimidhi #2694)

 JazakAllah Khairin

A student of knowledge
AbuArman Jumani

Why Ummah Decay?

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, the one who created everything, and then guided it.

Islamic Center of Windermere Update: Strategy of building a Musallah first has become official, and a public meeting will be called very soon to get community consensus. This will be my last update, as it will be redundant after public meeting.

 Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them with that which is best. Truly, your Lord best knows who has strayed from His path, and He best knows those who are guided.(Quran: 16:125)

After tafseer class, I got up and walked up to a brother who was standing in the corner, and no one was speaking to him. As I walked closer to him, I recognized him from Kissimmee, Florida area. I have met him in Darul-Uloom masjid in Kissimmee. He seemed pleased to see a familiar face. I asked him how is his community and the masjid, and his skin color changed, and eyes tightened, which told me that something was wrong. He said that he likes the tafseer class in Jamah Masjid, because it is based on knowledge. Furthermore, he said that the leaders in his community are not knowledgeable like this.

When I mentioned to him about my experience that Darul-Uloom doors were closed before Isha, when I visited his area last time, he became sad, and said that there are not a lot of people coming nowadays, and the doors are opened a few minutes before Salah. I asked him what was the cause of this reduction in believers, and he told me that he respected Imam from Masjid Taqwa (I mention this name to warn people), but this movement of Tablighee Jama't seems to be only focused on bringing people to masjid (these are his words), but once they are coming, no one is there to teach them anything. Also, people are scared to come to masjid now, because the Jama't members pressure them to join. Now, he brings his family to tafseer class in Jamah Masjid, so they can gain some knowledge.

In fact, I have witnessed the decay myself, but didn't realize that it was in the final stages. Once, I took a believing man and his to be bride to Darul-Uloom for marriage, and when we told the Imam that the bride is a non-believer and would like to become a believer before Marriage, he flipped. He couldn't get the idea that he was standing in USA, and this is a practical reality. I tried to reason with him, but he would not listen. So, that poor couple left, and Allah knows if this girl became a believer or not.

This has confirmed my fears that Tablighee Jama't is turning believers into dormant cells, which will lead to cancer and decay in the body of the Ummah. It seems that it has taken its first victim, and only Allah can save that community. Unfortunately, Jama't is strong in our masjid too, and I see both Imam supporting it now. I have stayed quite for the sake of the Unity in the community, but this is serious now. We can not allow cancer to spread in the community, and it has to be confronted.

Tablighee Jama't claims that the work of dawah (invitation) that is found in the Quran and Sunnah is what they are preaching, but it can not be further from the truth. Allah does not want us to spend 100% of our effort bringing believers to masjid, rather majority of our effort should be presenting Islam to non-believers, by our looks, our actions, our words, and our manners. There is no need to recruit people to go back and forth on mini vacations, and not gaining any knowledge.

I know that some may still have soft corners for them, but the harms of this group has started to hurt the Ummah, and it is time for us to reject this philosophy, and discourage it. Personally, I will not support this group from this day forward. If any masjid, including the new one in Windermere, fails to discourage this movement, as part of their rules, and enforce it, I may not support that organization. I understand that we tolerate the difference of opinion, but this is a matter of survival for the Ummah.

This is tough for me, and I may suffer the backlash, but that doesn't stop me from telling the truth. I can't stand by and see my Ummah decay like a flesh that has cancer. I still love them as they are my brothers, but they are causing irreparable harm.

If Umar (RA) was alive today, he would have banned this movement, but we suffer due to the absence of leadership today.  However, night is almost over, and the light is on the horizon. I feel the breeze of morning already started to spread, and birds are singing. Just a few more days I think. Revival of Islam, here it comes.

If I am correct, May Allah remove the support from Tablighee Jama't, and unravel their network, so Ummah can recover. Also, May Allah protect us from priesthood in Islam.


JazakAllah Khairin

A Tablighee in the true sense
AbuArman Jumani

Can we have Good Innovation in Islam?

In the name of Allah.

Following is my paper for Tafseer class. Just wanted to share with everyone.

After the war of Al-Yamamah, on the suggestion of Umar, Abu Bakr asked Zaid bin Thaabit to preserve Quran by compiling it in one place, as huffaz were dying fast, and part of Quran could be lost. Zaid said, “How can I do something that messenger of Allah (PBUH) did not do?”. Umar replied “By Allah, this is something good” (Umar pg 151). Some can misinterpret this incident, as Umar supported innovation in deen, as long as it is good, but that is not correct. He was trying to convince Zaid that this is not an innovation which falls into prohibition. If we look at the life of Umar, we can see that he opposed Innovation more than anyone else. When people started praying salah close to the tree of Ar-Ridwan, he ordered it to be cut down, and when grave of Prophet Daniel was found he ordered it to be confused among thirteen graves (Umar pg 296). If he supported good innovations, he could have allowed salah close to Ar-Ridhwan, but he did not support innovating anything in deen, even if it leads to good.

There are two separate questions here. First, was it an innovation in deen? Second, if it was an innovation, does this mean we are allowed to innovate as long as they are good? Recently, people have argued that as long as innovations are good, they are allowed, and they use compilation of Quran by Abu Bakr as evidence. In this article, I would like to prove that compilation of Quran, during the time of Abu Bakr, was not an innovation in deen, and we are not allowed to innovate in deen, even if it is good. Most of the misunderstanding happens when the translation of Arabic words are ill-defined, so let us define these words accurately. Following is the famous hadith that prohibits any innovation in deen.

'A'isha reported Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying: He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected. (Sahih Muslim #4266)

In the above hadith, the word innovation (bid’aa) refers to the innovation in beliefs, not innovation in worldly matters?  We know that using motor vehicle to go to Masjid is a new addition, but is it not what meant by the word “Bid’aa” in the hadith, because means of transport is not a matter of belief.  Similarly, storing a written copy of Quran in electronic format is not innovation in deen, because we are not adding a new belief. Moreover, Abu Bakr wanted to preserve the Quran, and he ordered the compilation of Quran into a single source, which is a worldly matters, and not matters of belief, so no innovation in deen was done.

 “Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur’aan) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)”(Quran 15:9)

Now, some may argue that if Allah has taken upon himself to preserve the Quran, how Abu Bakr can order preservation of it, since that could imply that the above verse was not true. In fact, Prophet (PBUH), himself, had appointed scribe to preserve the Quran, which means that Prophet (PBUH) understood that Allah meant preserving Quran through the means of this world. Hence, Abu Bakr acted according to the Sunnah, and ordered Zaid ibn Thaabit to merely collect already preserved Quran in small chunks with many of the Companions.

Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Mu'alla,Prophet (PBUH) said, "…Shall I not teach you the most superior Surah in the Qur'an? He said, '(It is), 'Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. ' (i.e., Surat Al-Fatiha) which consists of seven repeatedly recited Verses and the Magnificent Qur'an which was given to me." (Bukhari Book 6 Vol 61 # 528)

Narrated Abu-Huraira, Gabriel used to repeat the recitation of the Qur'an with the Prophet once a year, but he repeated it twice with him in the year he died. (Bukhari Book 6 Vol 61 # 520)

In Addition, some may object that the compilation included innovating order of verses and Surah, but that is not true either. Quran was revealed in pieces, but the sequence of these verses was part of divine instruction. For example, one of the above ahadith tells us that Surah Al-fatiha was known to be an ordered combination of verses, and the verses were organized under Surah, within Prophet (PBUH) lifetime. Also, the order of Surahs was also ordained by Allah, as Jibril used to recite Quran with the Prophet (PBUH) once a year, in one of the above ahadith, so there must had been an order in that recitation. So, Quran was already being compiled into a book, as it was being revealed, because the Surahs were ordered, and verses within them were ordered, but only it was not put together physically in one written medium or storage location. Since none of the scribe had a complete version of Quran, the effort Abu Bakr ordered was to setup a complete non-perishable storage of Quran.

 “This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah“ (Quran 2:1)

Moreover, in the very first verse of second Surah, Allah refers Quran as a book himself, which means Quran is a book that can be written down, compiled, and copied, but it was not revealed to Muhammad (PBUH) as a single book. It was revealed in small pieces out of order to provide guidance and solutions for believers on occasions. There was no need to compile Quran in a single compiled form, when the Prophet (PBUH) was alive, as he and other companions memorized the Quran, and was preserved in their heart. After the death of the Prophet (PBUH), huffaz as the only source of complete Quran was concerning, because huffaz were also dying in large numbers. So, the effort ordered by Abu Bakr was to transfer complete Quran into a source which can be preserved for coming generation.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “I urge you to adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly-Guided khaleefahs after me.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2676; Abu Dawood, 4607; Ibn Maajah, 42. This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi, by al-Haakim, 1/177; and by al-Albaani in Sahih al-Jaami’, 2549, from the hadeeth of al-‘Irbaad ibn Saariyah)

As a last argument, if we assume that Abu Bakr ordered an innovation in deen, it is still not evidence that later generation can do the same, because Abu Bakr was one of the rightly guide Khulfah, and his life is part of Sunnah, as the above hadith mentions. So, even if it seems to us that he innovated in deen, we take their actions as the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), but cannot innovate ourselves. In fact, anything the rightly guided khulfah did would have been according to the Sunnah, because they were very careful on staying away from bid’aa (innovation in deen).  

Once we have proven that Abu Bakr did not innovated in deen when he ordered compilation of Quran, the claim that a good innovation in deen is allowed, should have no leg to stand upon. Even if Abu Bakr innovated in deen, with compiling Quran into a single tangible location, his actions are part of the Sunnah, and by definition not an innovation in deen. No one, specially the generations after the right guided Khulfah is allowed to innovate in deen of Islam, and every such attempt should be rejected. And Allah knows best

JazakAllah Khairin

AbuArman Jumani

References

1-    Quran

2-    Sahih Al-Bukhari

3-    Sahih Al-Jaami by Shaik Al-Albaani

4-    “Umar ibn Al-Khattab, his life & times” by Dr. Ali Muhammad as-Sallabi

5-      http://islamqa.info/en/ref/13478