Commentary by Adil Salahi — Arab News
A Hadith reported by Zaid ibn Khalid Al-Juhani mentions: “God’s Messenger, peace be upon him, led the congregational dawn prayer one day at Al-Hudaibia after it had been raining at night. When he finished his prayers, he turned to people and said: “Do you know what your Lord has said?” They replied: “God and His Messenger know best,” He said: “God says: Some of My servants are good believers this morning and some are unbelievers. A person that says, ‘We have been sent rain by God’s grace and mercy, believes in Me and disbelieves in the planet.’ On the other hand, the one that says, ‘We have had rain because this planet is on the ascendance’, disbelieves in Me and believes in the planet? (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as others)
This Hadith refers to 28 planets, which are paired in the sense that when one of them goes down in the West, the other rises in the East. They are well known and complete their turn of rise and descend once a year. People often associate rain with the going down of the wintry ones. This is the custom to which the Prophet, peace be upon him, refers in this Hadith in which he quotes God’s word. When the text of a Hadith attributes a statement to God, it becomes a sacred, or Qudsi Hadith.
When we look at the text of the Hadith, we realize that the way people look at things and how they happen makes a fundamental difference to their status as believers or unbelievers. Here the Prophet, peace be upon him, refers to a particular habit, in which people attribute a rainfall to the rise or descent of a certain planet. Thus they make the movement of the planet, or the planet itself, the cause of the rainfall. If so, then the planet has a will of its own which determines the movement of clouds and the fall of rain. Since a believer attributes all that happens in the universe to God alone, attributing something like a rainfall to a planet, or to any cause, is an act of associating partners with God.
We have to make a fine distinction here. The Hadith speaks of a person saying the rain took place ‘because this planet is on the ascendance’. If a person says instead, ‘we had a rainfall when this planet was on the ascendance’, there is nothing wrong with that. He is simply referring to the time of the rainfall, not attributing its cause to the planet and its movement.
What all this means is to stress the Islamic principle of attributing every thing that takes place in the universe to God and His will. When we have a rainfall, we say that it takes place by God’s will and grace. When rain is scarce, we pray to God to send us rain. We do not look to any cause or factor, because we know that they all operate by God’s will.
When we speak of God’s will, we should always remember that it is free, unrestricted by anything. God may will whatever He determines at any time, and He brings it about as He wishes. The laws of nature are all subject to His will. He operates them as He pleases and He suspends or replaces them as He wishes. Nothing influences His decision. He has power over all things, and He always accomplishes His purpose as He pleases.
This means that we must never take anything for granted. We do not say that since this or that has taken place, then we expect the following consequences. Although such a statement may rely on what we have experienced of cause and effect, we must not attribute any result or event to any factor other than God’s will. This was how the Prophet, peace be upon him, looked at all events.
Ayesha, the Prophet’s wife, says: “When the Prophet, peace be upon him, saw a cloud that looked like bringing rain, he would be uneasy, going in and out, walking to and from, and his face would change color. When rain began to fall, he would be relaxed. Ayesha pointed this out to him once and asked him what troubled him. He said: “How would I know that it does not bring something different, like that described by God: ‘When they beheld it as a dense cloud approaching their valleys’. (46: 25)” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Al-Tirmithi and Al-Nassaie).
Here the Prophet, peace be upon him, is referring to the punishment God inflicted on the people of A’ad, an early community to whom Prophet Hood was sent but they rejected his message, despite the clear evidence that God gave them to prove that he preached the message of truth. Thus, they earned their punishment, which began with the sending of clouds that they mistook for an indication of rain. The verse which the Prophet, peace be upon him, quotes runs as follows:
When they beheld it as a dense cloud approaching their valleys, they exclaimed, ‘This is but a heavy cloud which will bring us rain!’ Nay, but it is the very thing which you sought to hasten: a wind bearing grievous suffering, bound to destroy everything by its Lord’s command! Then they were so utterly wiped out that nothing could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do we requite people lost in sin.” (46: 25-26)
The fact that the Prophet, peace be upon him, looked uneasy, or troubled when he saw clouds and his explanation that he could not tell whether the clouds brought in the prospect of rain or something totally different, confirms his firm belief that God’s will is free. No one could tell for certain what may come in the wake of any event, not even a natural phenomenon which we see every day.
Therefore, we must always be on our guard, lest we incur God’s displeasure and deserve His punishment. We must always pray to Him to forgive us our sins, and not to hold our shortcomings against us. If the Prophet, peace be upon him, worried at a natural development, because he could not tell what it heralded, then we have much less reason to be confident that it would bring only what is good and beneficial. We should trust God’s grace and mercy, but we should try to earn that by being always mindful of our duties and keen to do what God has ordered.
I am writing in regard to the movement known as Tabligh, which has been active in India over the years. They are also known as Wahhabis and sometime addressed as the number 24, although what this number signifies remains a mystery to me. They have their own mosques where they do not use microphones for prayer and they advocate many other things in the name of Islam. When I visited my home country recently, my father told me that they frequently visit him and that arguing with them is futile. He feels confused by some of the ideas they try to disseminate. May I say that in my parents’ home, we never visit any shrine, attend death anniversaries, etc., but we give Fatihah and Niyaz and celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. When I told my family that I have stopped these practices as well, they started to call me Wahhabi and 24. Another hot issue is that they claim that saying Ya Rasoolullah is prohibited. May I request your explanation of all such matters & what is permissible and what is not?
I have never thought that the Tabligh and the Wahhabis movements could be ever confused or thought to form one group or movement. Their ideas and methods are wide apart. But perhaps this is part of the confusion that the reader’s father has felt.
Tabligh is a movement dedicated to carry the message of Islam to the farthest corners of the world. Its members travel and speak to people about Islam. Many scholars have expressed disagreement with some of their methods, but they are certainly sincere people, who wish to serve Islam, even though they may be mistaken in some respects.
There is no such thing as Wahhabis movement, or doctrine, or group. The name is derived from a great reformer, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, who lived in Arabia over 200 years ago. He was a scholar of clear knowledge and strong determination. He devoted the efforts to purging the faith of the people from all elements that are alien to the pure Islamic faith, as preached by the Prophet, peace be upon him, and practiced by his companions. He launched an unwavering attack on superstitions and erroneous beliefs that crept into people’s minds during a long period of ignorance that saw the majority of Muslim people illiterate. Because people initially resent being told that they have been following wrong ideas, they coin nicknames for those who tell them that. Hence the name ‘Wahhabis’ came into being. Perhaps it is also the reason for the appellation 24, which I have never heard before.
Let me say this to you: every thing advocated by Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab aimed to get people to return to the Islamic faith in its purest form. This applies to the celebrations people do at so-called shrines, which are no more than the graves of men who are thought to be saints. The whole idea of ‘sainthood’ is alien to Islamic teachings. It also applies to wearing charms, seeking mediation of dead people, celebrating various occasions, etc. The practice known in India [& Pakistan] as Fatihah is also an innovation that has no basis in Islam. I do not know what is meant by the expression ‘Niyaz’. I cannot pass an opinion on it.
One thing that he emphasizes is that we must never address our appeals or prayer to anyone other than God Himself. That applies to the Prophet, peace be upon him, as well. On the Day of Judgement the Prophet, peace be upon him, will be granted a special favor of interceding on behalf of his followers, but that is only then. As for life in this world, he cannot be of benefit to us, other than for having taught us the right faith and shown us how to follow it. But he cannot mediate with God now on our behalf. Hence to appeal to him, as people do when they say, Ya Rasoolullah, is a form of polytheism, making him a partner with God. He made no claim to such partnership and he would be the first to reject it. It is only to God that we should appeal. The word ‘Ya’ is a form of appeal or calling upon someone.
Having said that, it remains for me to say that some of the things that the reader mentions as practiced by those people may not be right.
Their refusal to use microphones is one such thing. A microphone and public address system is a machine, which may be used for the very good purpose of making the call to prayer. It is used in the Haram in Makkah and in the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah.
The reader specifically asks about celebrating Shab-e-Bar'at, which I think is the middle night of the month of Sh’aban. If I am correct, then I tell him that there is nothing to suggest that the Prophet, peace be upon him, or his companions ever marked that night with any special action. Hence, to mark it or associate it with any great fortunes [or blessings] is an innovation. ~
Could you please explain the meaning of Waseelah, or intercession with God? I should be grateful for your advice on its status.
From the linguistic point of view, the term Waseelah indicates a “means” employed for a certain purpose. Within the religion context, however, the term acquires the added connotations of seeking someone’s help in interceding with God for a certain purpose to be accomplished. These connotations are derived from the verb Tawassla, which means “to request with eagerness and humility, repeating the request frequently”.
Islam stresses emphatically that everyone is free to address God, pray Him, and seek His help and protection directly, without any need for a “religious man” to act as an intermediary. We may pray God to help us accomplish any purpose in life. Whether it relates to the affairs of this world or those of the life to come. He listens to us and answers our prayers at all times. Nothing need prevent us from praying for any matter or purpose, at any time of day or night. It is definitely far better if we can make use of the Waseelah or means which tells us that it makes His answering of our prayers much more certain. That means seeing in “good actions”. If we do the sort of deeds God has enjoined us to do; these serve as the best recommendation we may combine with fulfillment of anything we have in mind. We thus actually acknowledge that He is the Lord of the entire universe and that He controls everything and all forces in the universe. God is certain to answer the prayer of anyone who prays Him firmly believing that He is the overall Lord of the entire universe. If he combines that belief with good actions then he has demonstrated practically that he takes his faith seriously. With such a combination, his prayers are certain to be answered.
Over the centuries, people have come to seek some sort of an “intermediary” between themselves and God. They pray one whom they feel to be dear to Him because he is known to have been a “good believer”. Their prayers normally take the form of “my Lord, I beseech you, by the high position or by the honor you have given to this man, to answer my prayers and accomplish this or that for me.” More often the person named is dead. He is most likely to be one of those “holy” men for which people have built a tomb, which they frequently visit. Islam can never sanction such a practice. It is indeed a form of shirk or associating partners with God. We have frequently mentioned the Prophet’s tradition that states that when any human being dies, his actions come to an absolute end except in one of three ways: “A continuous act of charity, or a useful contribution to knowledge, or an obedient child who prays for him.” To imagine that a dead person, no matter how good and dedicated to the cause of Islam he was during his life, can after his death know what people pray for and intercede with Him to answer their prayers, is to place him on an equal footing with God. It is needless to say that Islam will never approve of such an idea. Indeed, this does not apply to the Prophet himself, the noblest and most devoted servant of God. How can we imagine that it may apply to an ordinary human being?
Moreover, when we claim that a dead person has a high position with God, we are actually placing ourselves in a position of judgement over others. This is again inadmissible from the Islamic point of view. How can we judge others when we are not aware of their motives or their actual objectives? How can we ever be certain that something done by another person was free of all hypocrisy and purely done to please God? If we acknowledge our inability to determine the intentions of others, then we cannot make any judgement on what position they may have with God. It is not for us to say that a certain person is truly good. We can say that we think him to be so, but we must add that it is for God to judge him on the basis of His knowledge.
There are unfortunately people who will claim that Waseelah, as defined above, is permissible. They argue mainly on what Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second caliph did when he and the Muslims in Madinah went outside the city to pray for rain after a period of draught. He prayed in these words: “My Lord, we used to beseech you by the Prophet, peace be upon him, to give us rain, and you answered our prayers. Today we are beseeching you by the Prophet’s uncle, Al-Abbas, to give us rain.” Al-Abbas then stepped forward and led the Muslims in prayer for rain.
Omar’s action is totally different from that of those who advocate Waseelah. We note first that he did not beseech by the position of the Prophet, peace be upon him, although he was well aware that the position of the Prophet, peace be upon him, with God is far superior to that of the Prophet’s uncle. The Prophet, peace be upon him, however, was dead while his uncle was still alive. What Omar actually did was that Al-Abbas would be leading the Muslims in prayer. All Muslims realized that, including Al-Abbas, who stepped forward and did exactly that. In this incident, the Muslims chose a relative of the Prophet, who they knew to be a good believer, to pray and they joined in his prayer. This is permissible because it does not involve any element of associating partner with God. When we choose someone who we think to be a firm believer to lead us in prayer and who is one of our members, the fact that he is merely a servant of God with no special status remains firmly established in our minds. Our action is no more than appointing a spokesman for the community. That does not involve giving that spokesman any holy status. The term “holy” is used in Islam as an attribute of God. Moreover, in Islam we do not use the term “holy” except in association with God; even the Prophet, or the Qur’an is not described as “holy” in Islamic terminology. It is not used to describe any person, place or object.