Radiant Reality Mar 2010

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Published from Srinagar, March 2010 Vol. 11. No. 03.
Mind Your Dress

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muslim ibn
Abi Maryam from Abu Salih that Abu Hurayra
said, "Women who are naked even though they are
wearing clothes, go astray and make others go
astray, and they will not enter the Garden and they
will not find its scent, and its scent is experienced
from as far as the distance travelled in five hundred
years."
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March. 2010. Vol.11, No: 03.
Contents
1. Editorial
2. Question Answer
3. Lesson from the Quran
4. Lesson from Sahih al-Bukhari
5. Characteristics of a Wali of Allah
13
6. Affection and Omapassion . . .
17
7. Lamentation of a Muslim Wife
20
8. The End of Prosperity
22
9. A Look at Hadith Rejecters claims
24
10. Brutal Population Control
28
11. Choosing a Friend
33
12. Youth : On Culture. . . .
37
13. Saviours of Islamic Spirit
39
14. Friends and Friendship
40
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Radiant Reality
Mar. 2009
EDITORIAL
[[
All thanks for Almighty, the most Merciful and Exalted.
Your Heaven, Your Hell

A person once asked Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) "What
is the right of the parent's over their children?" He answered: "They are your
heaven and hell." [Ibn Majah]
This beautiful Hadith answers in
just three words (in the original Arabic) not
only what but also why. We are to honor
them, serve them, and take care of them in
such a way that pleases them. For we will
find the pleasure of Allah in the pleasure of
our parents. On the other hand, if a person
is disrespectful, disobedient, or careless
toward his parents, he has just opened his
door to hell through this behavior.
It is a sign of the importance of this
issue that in the Qur'an, the command
about our duties to the parents always occurs next to the command reminding us of
our duties to Allah. "Show gratitude to Me
and to your parents. To me is your return." [Luqman 31:14]. "Join not anything
with Him. Be good to your parents." [AlAn'am 6:151]. "Your Lord has decreed that
you worship none but Him and that you be
kind to parents. Whether one or both of
them attain old age in your life, say not to
them a word of contempt, nor repel them,
but address them in terms of honor. And,
out of kindness, lower to them the wing of
humility, and say: 'My Lord! Bestow on them
Your Mercy even as they cherished me in
childhood.'" [Al-Israa 17:23-24].
This bracketing of the two obligations calls for reflection. The fact is that the
relationship of parents and children is
unique among all human relationships. Parents sacrifice everything for their children
and genuinely want them to be better off
than themselves, without any calculations or
expectation of returns. Parental love is indeed part of Divine love.
While parental love is mostly instinctive, the way we treat our parents has
4
(Vol.11, No: 03)
been left to us. We can choose to honor

and obey them or we can choose to do otherwise. Hence the reference to heaven and
hell. For it is through exercise of our free will
that we choose the path of heaven or hell.
There is another important reminder here:
We should never think that we have done
all we had to do.
This is a very different concept of
the family then one finds in today's society.
In English the common metaphor used to
describe the family is that of the bird's nest.
Little birds stay in the nest and are taken
care of by the parents. A soon as they grow
up they leave the nest to enjoy their own
life. Of course, grown up birds do not know
or care about parents (or grandparents or
uncles or aunts or other relatives). For their
low level animal existence this is okay because they don't have to build a civilization
or develop human society. Unfortunately,
this metaphor too closely reflects the real
life in the West, which has descended to the
level of birds and animals. In this society,
father is the "old man," and the battle cry of
the young man is, "this is my life, leave me
alone." The legal structure also supports
this view as do literature and media and
experts of every persuasion.
The resulting devastation is now
well known. Family has been disintegrated
beyond recognition and human relations
have been decimated. Old people live a sad
existence in retirement homes. Sacrifice,
commitment, and deference to parental authority, are as alien as the extended family,
and increasingly, even the normal family.
"In the west a person does not have a single individual in his or her life that he or she
can trust," says an American convert to Islam. Compared to this despicable situation
the family life in the Muslim countries is a
great blessing --- despite the general decline there.
Mar. 2009
Today this institution of the family is

under attack from all directions. A central
line of attack incites children in rebellion
against parents and targets parental authority in the name of ---- what else ---- children's rights. Those who are living and
growing up in this environment, and who
have absorbed its cultural symbols, and its
metaphors may find Islam's teachings as
strange as does a sick person when tasting
normal, healthy, and good-tasting food.
Nevertheless, it is important that we remind
ourselves and our children of Islam's teachings regarding parents. Here is a summary:
We must honor and respect out
parents under all circumstances. It does not
depend on their having "earned" this honor
in our eyes. It is a right granted to them
even if they are non-Muslim.
The most important thing in this
regard is our conduct toward them. We are
not to say a word of contempt or even one
showing the slightest level of irritation,
rather we must show great humility toward
them.
We must obey them within the
bounds of the Shariah. In Islam, there is no
absolute obedience to any one. All obedience --- of subordinates to the bosses, of
the children to the parents, of the ruled to
the rulers, of the wife to the husband --- are
constrained by an overriding principal described in Hadith: "There is no obedience to
a creation in disobedience to the Creator."
Within the bounds of the Shariah a
person should obey the parents even if they
had been unjust to him in the past. In one
Hadith the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) repeated the statement three times
"even if the parents had been unjust to
him."
While mandatory acts under the
Shariah are not subject to parental approval, the voluntary acts are. As an example, scholars say that leaving home to invite
people to Islam, though a very meritorious
act, is a voluntary good deed and therefore
subject to approval by the Muslim parents.
It is their right that we should also
Contd on page12
Radiant Reality
Question
Answer
Question.
This is about taking a sub- brokership (also
known as Franchiser) in the Share Trading
Company.
In the Sub-Brokership we run a
business where the share traders open
there accounts and trade (Buy/Sell Shares,
Futures, Options) through us. These traders
are called Clients. We get a percentage of
the brokerage fee as agreed between us
and the Share Trading Company.
Kindly tell me is this kind of business is permissible in Islam
Answer.
The brokerage fee earned from permissible transactions is permissible. However, earning a brokerage from impermissible transactions such as the sale of futures,
options, the sale of shares that have not yet
been transferred etc, or from the sale of
shares which are prohibited, such as the
shares of haram industries, conventional
banks, conventional insurance companies
etc, is impermissible and such earnings are
prohibited in the Shariah. Hence, one must
consult closely with competent ulama and
transact carefully to ensure that one's earnings are indeed permissible and not tainted
with haram.
And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Question.
I have noticed many Islamic organizations and masjids wishing people Happy
New Year in relation to the Islamic New
Year. I even heard the Friday sermon asking people to make personal resolutions for
the New Year.
Is there any evidence in the Quran
and Sunnah to commemorate the start of a
new Islamic year by doing any specific acts
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Radiant Reality
on this day, such as sending each other

greetings or making resolutions, or is this
behavior among Muslims just another form,
like Eid Greeting cards, of imitating the
Christians in how they celebrate and commemorate their events?
Answer.
According to my knowledge celebrating the Islamic New Year and sending
messages commemorating the same is not
an established teaching of Islam. Rather, it
seems that this practice has been taken
from the practices of other cultures and religions and hence must be avoided. One
should not wait for the new year to make
resolutions with regards to one's spiritual
upliftment and working towards achieving
them. Good deeds and taubah should never
ever be delayed.
Question.
I need your help to resolve a personal problem that has made my life very
difficult for many years. My problem is that
when I intend to pray a lot of gas starts to
build up in my bowels. I make wudu with
difficulty by stopping it and pray in the same
way. This problem always occurs when ever
I decide to pray. At other times I have gas
problem comparable to a normal person.
Following is an account of hardships that I
have been facing because of it.
1. I live in Canada where to make wudu and
pray on time requires a lot of effort in an
office environment. I would like to pray multiple salah especially in winter with one
wudu but I could not.
2. Praying salah with jamaah is extremely
hard. I want to go to mosque more frequently but it is simply not possible for me.
3. I could not concentrate during salah because I am more focused on stopping the
gas than on the prayer itself. Even then
most of the times I am not sure if I were
able to keep my wudu or not.
4. I could not offer nafl salah because doing
even fard is very hard for me.
5. Sometimes people force me to lead the
6
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
prayer which I try to avoid but at times I

have to do it. This makes me feel guilty that
I am responsible for invalidating the other
peoples salah due to my condition.
In my opinion I should be excused from
breaking the wudu by passing of the gas
only because I have no control over it. As
long as I have the wudu the gas keeps
bothering me until the wudu is broken.
Please advise keeping in mind the above
difficulties and also the fact that I live in a
western country where practicing Shariah is
quite difficult.
Answer.
I fully understand the condition that
you face and pray that it subsides. Ameen.
The following are a few points that
may assist you:
1. Remember that your wudu will only be
deemed to be broken if you are absolutely
certain that your wudu is broken. Having a
doubt that one's wudu is broken does not
cause one's wudu to break. Rasulullah said
that one should not leave the masjid out of
a doubt of passing wind until one hears the
sound thereof or gets the smell thereof. In
other words, one must be absolutely certain
that one's wudu has broken and not rely on
mere doubts. The ulama have written that
one should be able to take an oath by Allah
to say that one's wudu is broken, for the
wudu to be regarded as broken. If one is
unable to take such an oath, one's wudu will
be deemed to be unbroken and hence,
valid. This treatment will initially require
dedication from yourself and may not be
easy. However, if you implement it religiously it should solve your problem to a
great extent.
2. You could seek medical treatment regarding your condition and this could help to
some extent.
3. Manage your diet by avoiding things that
cause excessive gas including fizzy drinks
and the like.
4. If you are unable to control the gas and it
is indeed excessive, you may monitor your
condition for the duration of one salah time.
Contd on page 8
Mar. 2009
Radiant Reality
Lesson From The Quran

Commentary: Mawlana Mufti Mohammad Shafi Sahib (RA)
Verses 178-179

()

()

O those who believe, the Qisas has been
enjoined upon you - freeman for a freeman,
slave for a slave and female for a female. If
one is then forgiven something by his
brother, then there is pursuing as recognized and payment to him in fairness. That
is a relief from your Lord, and mercy. So,
whoever exceeds the limit after all that, for
him there is painful punishment. And vested
in the Qisas, there is life for you O people of
wisdom, perhaps you will be God-fearing.
From the brief introduction to the
nature of righteousness appearing in verses
before this, the text now enters into the description of related subsidiary injunctions.
Under the first injunction in this connection,
the verse prescribes the law of Qisas (even
retaliation), that is, the killer will be killed,
irrespective of the status of the parties involved. If the aggrieved party somewhat
relents on its own and forgives the Qisas,
but does not forgive the offence totally, it
will become necessary for the killer to pay
diyah ()or blood-money as fixed, in a fair
manner, and promptly. The claimant too,
should pursue the matter in a recognized
manner causing no harassment to the defendant. This law of blood-money and pardon is a relief granted by Allah Almighty in
His grace, otherwise, there would have
been no choice but to face the punishment
of death. If, after all that, anyone crosses
the limit set by Allah, such as, the filing of a

false or doubtful case of murder, or a postpardon re-opening of a murder case, he will
be severely punished. In the end, the verse
points out that wise people should have no
difficulty in seeing that the law of even retaliation does not take life, instead, it gives
life, for such a deterrent law will make people fear the punishment of killing somebody
and thus lives will be saved.
There is life in 'Qisas'
Literally, the word, Qisas means
likeness. In usage, it denotes 'even retaliation' or to return like for like. In Islamic juristic terminology, Qisas means the equal retaliation of an aggression committed against
the body of a person. This retaliation is allowed only with a condition that the principle
of "like for like" is strictly observed. This has
been explained more clearly later on in
verse 194 of this very Surah which says:

So, agress against him in the like manner
as he did against you.
And also in the concluding verses of Surah
al-Nahl, the same rule has been covered:

And, if you retaliate, then retaliate just as
you have been oppressed against. (16:126)
Therefore, as a term of the
Shari'ah, the Qisas is a punishment for killing or wounding in which the principle of
equality or likeness is taken into full consideration.
Rulings
1. The principle of even retaliation
is applied exclusively in cases of culpable
homicide when someone has been killed
intentionally with a lethal weapon causing
injury and blood-loss.
2. In a homicide of this nature, the
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Radiant Reality
killer is killed in even retaliation - 'free man

for a free man, slave for a slave, and female
for a female - and similarly, a man for a
woman. The mention of 'free man for a free
man' and 'female for a female' in this verse
refers to a specific event in the background
of which it was revealed.
On the authority of Ibn Abi Hatim,
Ibn Kathir has reported that, just before the
advent of Islam, war broke out between two
tribes. Many men and women, free and
slaves, belonging to both, were killed. Their
case was still undecided when the Islamic
period set in and the two tribes entered the
fold of Islam. Now that they were Muslims,
they started talking about retaliation for
those killed on each side. One of the tribes
which was more powerful insisted that they
would not agree to anything less than that a
free man for their slave and a man for their
woman be killed from the other side.
It was to refute this barbaric demand on their part that this verse was revealed. By saying 'free man for a free man,
slave for a slave and female for a female' it
is intended to negate their absurd demand
that a free man for a slave and man for a
woman should be killed in retaliation, even
though he may not be the killer. The just law
that Islam enforced was that the killer is the
one who has to be killed in Qisas. If a
woman is the killer why should an innocent
man be killed in retaliation? Similarly, if the
killer is a slave, there is no sense in retaliating against an innocent free man. This is an
injustice which can never be tolerated in
Islam.
This verse means nothing but what
has been stated earlier, and we repeat, that
the one who has killed will be the one to be
killed in Qisas. It is not permissible to kill an
innocent man or someone free for a killer,
woman or slave. Let us hasten to clarify that
the verse does not mean that Qisas will not
be taken from a man who kills a woman or
from a free man who kills a slave. In the
very beginning of this verse the words
: The Qisas has been enjoined
upon you in the case of those murdered"
are a clear proof of this universality of appli8
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
cation. There are other verses where this

aspect has been stated more explicitly, for
instance, in ( the person for the
person).
3. If, in a case of intentional killing
the murderer is given full pardon, for instance, should both of the two surviving
sons of the deceased pardon and forego
their right of retaliation, the killer is free of
any claim against him. In case the pardon is
not that full, for instance, as illustrated
above, one of the two surviving sons does
pardon the killer while the other does not,
the result will be that the killer will stand
released right there from the retaliatory punishment, but the one who has not pardoned
the killer will be entitled to half of the bloodmoney (diyah). In Shari'ah, this diyah
amounts to one hundred camels or one
thousand dinars or ten thousand dirhams or
approximately nineteen pounds of silver
according to current weights and measures.
4. The way an incomplete pardon
makes payment of blood-money necessary,
in the same manner, a mutual settlement
between parties concerned on a certain
amount makes retaliation inapplicable and
payment of the agreed amount becomes
necessary. This, however, is governed by
some conditions which appear in books of
fiqh.
5. Under the Islamic law, the inheritors of the person killed, whatever their
number, will inherit and own the right of retaliation and blood-money in accordance
with their share in the inheritance. If bloodmoney is taken, it will be distributed among
the inheritors in accordance with their share
in the inheritance. And should Qisas (even
retaliation) become the choice, the right of
Qisas will also be commonly shared by all.
Since Qisas is indivisible, the pardon given
by any one of the inheritors will hold good
and the pardon will become inclusive of the
right of retaliation held by other inheritors.
However, they shall receive the bloodmoney amount according to their share.
6. It is true that the right of even
retaliation is vested in the legal heirs of the
persons killed but, in accordance with the
Mar. 2009
consensus of the Muslim community, they

do not have the right to settle the score all
by themselves, in other words, they cannot
kill the killer on their own, instead, they have
to seek the help of a Muslim ruler or his
deputy to realize their right. The reason is
that Qisas is an intricate issue when it
comes to details which are simply out of
reach for an average person. Therefore, the
legal heirs of the person killed, not knowing
the particular circumstances when retaliation does, or does not become necessary,
may commit some sort of excess under the
heat of their anger. So, by a unanimous
agreement of the scholars of the Muslim
community, it is necessary that the right of
retaliation be secured and made effective
through the agency of an Islamic government. (Qurtubi)
Contd from page 6

If you are unable to maintain your wudu for
the length of time in which you are able to
make your wudu and complete your salah
during the entire salah time, then you would
be regarded as ma'zoor (excused) in the
Shariah and one wudu for each salah time
will suffice you. Once this is established,
you will remain a mazoor until an entire
salah time passes during which you do not
pass wind. As long as one is deemed a
Shari mazoor, one could pray as many
salahs, fardh or nafl during that salah time
with a single wudu and the passing of wind
(in your case) will not cause one's wudu to
break. However, if the wudu breaks due to
some other reason, e.g. passing urine, stool
etc, then the wudu will be deemed to have
broken. The wudu of a Shari mazoor will
become invalid once the salah time exits.
I pray that Allah assist you and cure you of
this difficulty.
Radiant Reality
Lesson From
Sahih
al-Bukhari
Dr. Rafiq Ahmad
The Book of Knowledge
.

Chapter 22 : The more or extra or left
over (religious) knowledge.
Purpose of Tarjamatul Baab
There is difference of opinion
amongst the Ulema as to whether Imam
Bukhari has repeated this title or not .
Some say that it is repetition while others
believe that it is not so because here
Fadhal means more and not the excellence. In earlier chapter it meant the excellence of knowledge and in this chapter it
means the excess of knowledge. Ibn Hajr
has also taken the second meaning i.e.,
excess. Now the question arises, what is
meant by excess of knowledge, is it possible that the knowledge can be in excess?
Ulema have different opinions about it,
some say that excess means those
branches of knowledge which one may not
need to practice in his life time e.g., the
knowledge about trade for a non business
man or matters related to Haj for a poor
man. As per these Ulema, here Imam Bukhari wants to discuss whether such people
should acquire such knowledge or not. He
seems to be of the opinion that the knowledge is not to be acquired only for practice
but should also be acquired for teaching
and preaching. That part of the knowledge
which one would learn in order to teach others, may be called excess. Hadhrat
Sheikh-ul-Hind and many others are of the
same opinion .
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Radiant Reality
There is a Marfu Hadith quoted in

Ibn Majah on the authority of Abu Zarr,
which
favors
this view. Rasulullah
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said:
O Aba Zarr, if you leave early morning to
learn a verse from the book of Allah (Holy
Quran), it is better for you than to offer a
hundred Rakats of Salaah and if you leave
early morning to learn a chapter of
(religious) knowledge, whether you practice
it or not, it is better for you than to offer a
thousand Rakats of Salaah.
Hadhrat Gangohi has given wonderful explanation, he says that here excess
means the residue or leftover thing, so
whatever insight one gets out of the Divine
religious knowledge, it is all from the residue left over by Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam), as in this Hadith it is said that
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)
gave the residual milk to Hadhrat Umar.
Hadith No. 81

.

Narrated Ibn 'Umar (RA)
Allah's Apostle said, "While I was sleeping, I
saw that a cup full of milk was brought to
me and I drank my fill till I noticed (the milk)
its wetness coming out of my nails. Then I
gave the remaining milk to 'Umar Ibn AlKhattab" The companions of the Prophet
asked, "What have you interpreted (about
this dream)? "O Allah's Apostle ,!" he replied, "(It is religious) knowledge."
Comments
Ibn Umar says that once Rasulullah
10
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said that he

(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was offered
milk in a dream which he drank to his fill, so
much so that he felt the effect (coolness or
wetness) of that milk even coming out of his
nails. Then he gave the residual milk to
Hadhrat Umar. When he was asked about
its interpretation, he interpreted it as knowledge .
Milk in Alam-i-Mithal
A dream is from Alam-i-Mithal
and there is different interpretation of
things in Alam-i-Mithal. Allah gives this
knowledge (i.e., interpretation of dreams) to
those whom He likes. Amongst the prophets
Hadhrat Yousuf (AS) was given this knowledge and from amongst the Ummah, Ibn
Seereen was given this knowledge specially. This Hadith clearly shows that if milk
is seen in dream it represents knowledge.
Ulema have discussed the similarities between the milk and the knowledge. Milk is
very useful for the nourishment of body and
the religious knowledge is important for the
nourishment of soul. The first thing a person
consumes in this world is milk and the first
thing that a soul needs for its betterment is
the Divine knowledge.
The left over milk was given to Hadhrat
Umar (RA)
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) knew that Hadhrat Umar had the purity
of his moral constitution which gave him
extra ordinary capability of achieving the
Divine knowledge, that is why he gave the
remaining milk to him and interpreted it as
knowledge. This Hadith definitely shows the
excellence of Hadhrat Umar but there is
consensus amongst the Ulema that it does
not prove his excellence over Hadhrat Abu
Bakr, it will be considered excellence in part
than in totality.

Chapter 23 : To give juristic verdicts
while riding an animals or the like.
Mar. 2009
Purpose of Tarjamatul Baab

There is Hadith quoted on the authority of Abu Huraira in Sunan Abu Dawood , which states that:
Avoid using the backs of your riding animals as dais (to deliver speech), for indeed
Allah has made them subservient to you, to
carry you to such destinations where you
would not otherwise reach without burdensome hard labor. And (Allah) has made
earth for you, so you fulfill your needs on
that.
From this Hadith one understands
that it is not feasible that one should make
speech or give legal opinion while riding an
animals. Furthermore, the sanctity of Fatwa
and the knowledge also demands the dignity and reverence. It is well known about
Imam Maalik that he used to sat with great
dignity while teaching Hadith. Keeping this
Hadith and the practice of the Ulema in
view, one may think it improper to give a
Fatwa while riding an animal. By selecting
this title for this chapter, Imam Bukhari
wants to convey that one can give necessary Fatwa while riding an animal or the
like.
Hadith No. 82

-

-
.

.

.
.

- -
.

Narrated 'Abdullah bin Amr bin al 'Aas
(RA)
Allah's Apostle stopped (for a while near the
Jamraat at Mina during his last Hajj for the
Radiant Reality
people and they were asking him questions.

A man came and said, "I forgot and got my
head shaved before slaughtering the Hadi
(sacrificial animal)." The Prophet said,
"There is no harm, go and do the slaughtering now." Then another person came and
said, "I forgot and slaughtered (the camel)
before Rami (throwing of the pebbles) at the
Jamra." The Prophet said, "Do the Rami
now and there is no harm." The narrator
added: So on that day, when the Prophet
was asked about anything (as regards the
rituals of Hajj) performed before or after its
due time, his reply was: "Do it (now) and
there is no harm."
Comments
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), during his last Haj stopped at Mina
near Jamaraat and people asked him some
questions about the Haj which he answered. Mina is a place near Makkah where
Haj pilgrims stay for two or three nights and
throw stones at the pillars representing
Shaitan to commemorate the incident in
which Hadhrat Ibrahim (AS) threw stones
on Shaitan at the same places in Mina
when Ibrahim (AS) was commanded by Allah Taala to sacrifice his son, Ismaeel. This
Haj of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is also called the Hajatul
Wida (farewell Haj) as it was his last Haj
and it was during this Haj that he delivered
the very famous sermon famously called
The Last Sermon at Mount Jabal-i-Rahmat
in Arafat. The following verse of the Qur'an
was also revealed at the same place,

This day have I perfected your religion for
you, completed My favour upon you, and
have chosen for you Islam as your religion.
(5:3)
Manaasik (rituals of Haj) of Yaum-al-Nahr
and their sequence
The 10th day of Dhul Hijja is called
Yaum-al-Nahr. On this day the Haj pilgrims
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11
Radiant Reality
(Hajis) reach Mina in the morning after

spending night at Muzdalifah. On 10th of
Dhul Hijja the Haji has to perform Rami
(stoning the shaitan), Qurbani (slaughtering
of sacrificial animal), Halaq (shave the
head or cut hair) and Tawaf-u-Ziarah
(circumambulation of Kaba on any day from
10th to 12th of Dhul Hijja). These rituals are
performed in the same sequence i.e., first
Rami, then Qurbani, then Halaq and then
Tawaf-u-Ziarah .These have been quoted
from Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) in the same sequence, but there is
difference of opinion amongst Ulema
whether to perform these four Manaasik
(rituals of Haj) on the 10th of Dhul Hijja in a
particular sequence is obligatory or not?
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was
asked some questions about the sequence
of these rituals. A person came and asked
that he did not know if he shaved his head
before Qurbani, Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam) told him to perform Qurbani now
and that there was no harm in doing so.
Another person came and told Rasulullah
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) that he performed Qurbani before Rami. Rasulullah
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) told him to perform Rami now and that there was no harm.
Similarly, on that day, Sahaaba asked various things with changed sequence and Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) told
everyone that there was no harm. Majority
of Ulema derive conclusion from this Hadith
that this sequence is not obligatory. Imam
Shafaee says that performing of these four
rituals in this sequence is Masnoon
(Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam)) but if some one does against
this sequence, he has to pay no compensation like sacrificing an animal (Kashful Bari).
Imam Maalik says that if Rami is preceded
by Halaq, then sacrificing an animal (Dham)
becomes obligatory but no such thing becomes obligatory if Halaq precedes Qurbani
or Qurbani precedes Rami (Al-Mugni,
Kashful Bari). Imam Ahmad says that if
some one does against the sequence unintentionally, then there is no problem. There
are two statements quoted from Imam
12
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
Ahmad in case some one does it intentionally, as per one statement it is said that
Dham will be obligatory and other statement
says that no Dham will be obligatory (AlMugni, Kashful Bari). Saahibayn i.e., Imam
Muhammad and Imam Abu Yousuf are also
of the opinion that the sequence is not
obligatory. As per Imam Abu Haniefa, the
sequence in first three things i.e., Rami,
Qurbani and Halaq is obligatory and it is not
necessary for Tawaf-u-Ziarah for one who is
performing Haj-i-Qiraan or Haj-iTammata (Hidayah). Imam Shafaee, Imam
Maalik, Imam Ahmad and Saahibayn produce this Hadith as base for their argument.
Imam Tahaawi has quoted the following
verse of the Quran as the basis for Imam
Abu Haniefas view:

and do not shave your heads until the offering reaches the place of sacrifice. (2.196)
The Hanafite scholars, when asked
about the Hadith of this chapter, say that
this was special concession given by Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) on that
particular day to Sahaaba, as it was the first
Haj of Sahaaba after Allah had decreed it
Fardh such Sahaaba had not learnt the
rules of Haj by that time.
Contd from page 5

pray for them, both while they are alive and
after their death. It is doubtful that anyone
praying for his parents will then turn around
and intentionally do things to hurt them.
The good conduct toward the parents should also be extended to their
friends and relatives.
While we do all this with a deep
sense of gratitude and with an eye toward
the rewards in the Hereafter, it is also important to remember that good or bad behavior toward the parents also brings its
rewards and punishments in this world.
Those who bring sorrow to their parents will
see sorrow themselves and those who bring
joy to them will see joy themselves in this
life.
Mar. 2009
Radiant Reality
Characteristics of a
Wali of Allah
By Sheikh al-Islam ibn Taymiyah (RA)
[This article is adapted from his Book
"Criterion between the Allies of Allah and
the allies of the Devil"]
The word 'Awlia' singular 'Wali'
comes from the root word of Wilayah.
Wilayah is the opposite of enmity (Adawah).
The Wali is therefore the one who is close.
Allah has explained in His Book,
and in the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace
and blessings be upon him) that He has
Awlia among the people and that Shaytan
also has his Awlia. The Quran mentions the
allies of Allah.
"Indeed there is no fear upon the Awlia of
Allah, nor shall they grieve; those who believe and used to fear Allah much. For them
are glad tidings in this life and the Hereafter..." [Noble Quran 10:62]
"Allah is the protector (ally) of those who
believe, He takes them out of darkness into
light." [Noble Quran 2:257]
The allies of devil have also been
mentioned in the Quran:
"...As for those who disbelieve, their allies
are the Taghut who take them out of the
light and into the darkness. Those are the
people of fire, and they will be in it forever." [Noble Quran 2:257]
"We have made the devils allies of those
who do not believe; those who commit outrages and then say: "We found our predecessors on this (tradition)" Surely they have
taken the devils as allies instead of Allah,
and they think that they are on guidance" [Noble Quran 7:27-28]
After knowing that there are among
people allies of the Merciful and the allies of
the devil, it becomes very important to differentiate between these groups by means
of the criterion, as described by Allah and
His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) as follows:
The First and Foremost Condition of an
Ally of Allah - Taqwa and Belief in Allah

No slave can be an ally of Allah,
unless he has the characteristics of faith
and pious practices, since Allah has made
faith and piety a pre-condition for His
Wilayah. He said:
"Indeed there is no fear upon the Awlia of
Allah, nor shall they grieve, those who believe and used to fear Allah much (i.e. have
Taqwa - piety). For them are glad tidings in
this life and the Hereafter..." [Noble Quran
10:62]
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be
pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon
him) said:
"Allah, the Exalted said: "Whoever takes a
Wali (loyal slave) of Mine as an enemy, I
will wage war on him; and My slave will not
perform any act with which he draws closer
to Me, more beloved to Me then when he
fulfills what I have ordained on him; and My
salve will keep drawing closer to Me by performing the Nawafil (voluntary acts of worship) until I love him, and when I love him, I
will be his hearing with which he hears, his
sight with which he sees, his hands with
which he strikes, and his legs with which he
walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him;
and if he seeks refuge with Me, I will grant
him refuge." [Sahih Bukhari]
From this narration and the abovementioned Quranic verse, we know that the
Awlia of Allah are those who believe in Allah
and give Him their full loyalty Thus, they
love all that Allah loves, hate what Allah
hates, are pleased with what Allah is
pleased with, despise what Allah despises,
they enjoin what Allah enjoins, forbid that
what He forbids, give to those whom Allah
loves for them to be given, and withhold
from those whom Allah loves not to receive,
since Prophet (peace and blessings be
(Vol.11, No: 03)
13
Radiant Reality
upon him) explained the best handhold of

faith to be love and hate for the sake of Allah:
"The most dependable handhold on faith is:
love for the sake of Allah and hatred for the
sake of Allah." [At-Tirmidhi]
"Whoever loves for Allah, hates for Allah,
gives for Allah, and withholds for Allah, has
sought the completion of his faith." [Abu
Dawud]
Belief (Iman) of necessity entails
belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His
Prophets, and the Last Day:
"Say: We believe in Allah and in that which
has been sent to us and in that which was
sent to Ibrahim, and Isma'il and Ishaq and
Ya'qub, and the tribes and that which was
given to Musa and Isa and that which was
given to the Prophets form their Lord. We
do not differentiate between any of them,
and we submit to Allah. And so, if they believe in that which you believe, they have
achieved guidance, but if they turn away,
they are surely in rebellion. Allah will suffice
you against them and He is the all-hearing,
the all-knowing." [Noble Quran 2:136-137]
"The Prophet has believed in that which is
sent to him from his Lord as have the believers. All of them believe in Allah, His angels, His books and His Messengers. We
do not differentiate between any of His messengers, and they say:
"We hear and we obey. (We seek)Your forgiveness, our Lord to You is the return (of
all). Allah does not burden any soul beyond
his scope. He gets reward for that (good)
which he has earned, and he is punished
for that (evil) which he has earned." [Noble
Quran 2:285-286]
"This is a book in which there is no doubt, a
guidance for those who are pious. Those
who believe in the unseen, establish prayer,
and spend out of what We have provided
for them. Those who believe in that which
was sent down to you and that which was
sent down to those before you, and certainly of faith in the existence of the Hereafter. Such are on a true guidance from their
Lord, and such are the successful." [Noble
Quran 2:1-5]
14
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Mar. 2009
Thus, a necessary component of

faith (Iman) is to believe that Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him) is the
seal of the prophets, and there is no
prophet after him, and that Allah sent him to
all of the two possessors of free will: humans and Jinns. From the moment he was
made a prophet, Allah made him the criterion between His allies and His enemies,
none are the allies of Allah except one who
believes in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and in that with which he
was sent, and follows it openly and in secret. Whoever claims love of Allah and alliance with Allah but does not follow the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
is not one of the allies of Allah. He is one of
the allies of Shaytan.
Allah said:
"Say (O Mohammad) If you truly love Allah,
then follow me so that Allah loves
you." [Noble Quran 3:31]
Allah made it clear in the verse that
Allah loves whoever follows the Prophet,
and whoever claims the love of Allah, but
does not follow the Prophet, is not from the
allies of Allah. Al-Hasan al-Basri said about
this verse:
"A group of people claimed to love Allah, so
He sent down this verse as a test for them."
And secondly to believe in all that
which he (Prophet) was sent with. Anyone
who does not believe in it is not a believer,
much less a pious ally of (Wali) of Allah.
Whoever believes in part of what he brought
and rejects part is a Kafir, and not a believer:
"Those who disbelieve in Allah and His
Prophets and seek to differentiate between
Allah and His prophets, and they say: "We
believe in some and we reject some" Such
are true disbelievers, and We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment. As for those who believe in Allah
and His prophets, and sought not to differentiate between any of them. We shall give
them their rewards. And Allah is Ever OftForgiving and Most Merciful." [Noble Quran
4:150-152]
Whatever stage the person reaches
Mar. 2009
in terms of asceticism, devotion, and knowledge, but without belief in the entire message brought by Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him), it can never make
him a believer, nor an ally of Allah. Allah
said:
"Whoever turns away from the reminder of
the Merciful, we will assign to him a devil,
who will be a partner to him." [Noble Quran
43:36]
The reminder is the reminder with
which He sent His Messenger such as the
Quran. So, whoever does not believe in the
Quran, and all the information contained
therein, has turned away from it, and so is
assigned a Shaytan. He turns himself as
blind from the Book of Allah and Allah will
turn him blind on the Day of Judgment:
"And whoever turns away form my reminder
will have an oppressive, restricted life, and
We will resurrect him on the Day of Qiyamah: blind. He will say: "Oh my Lord! Why
have you resurrected my blind, while I used
to see?" (Allah) will say: "Just as My verses
came to you and you forgot them, today you
are forgotten." [Noble Quran 20:124-126]
This verse clearly shows that 'my
reminder' here is the same thing as 'my
verses' which Allah sent down. Thus, even
if someone mentions Allah (which is known
as 'Dhikr' in Arabic) constantly, day and
night, with devotion, but at the same time is
not a follower of Allah's Dhikr (Quran) which
He sent down to His prophet, he would be
one of the allies of Shaytan, even if he were
to fly through the air, or walk on water.
Faith also includes - belief that
Prophet is the intermediary between Allah
and His creation for the purpose of delivering His orders and forbiddance, His promises and threats, and the definition of Halal
and the Haram. The Halal is that which Allah and His Messenger have declared Halal, and the Haram is what Allah and His
Messenger have ordained, because Allah
commands the believers to obey him:
"O you who believe! Obey Allah and Obey
the Messenger and make not vain your
deeds." [Noble Quran 47:33]
"He who obeys the Messenger had obeyed
Radiant Reality
Allah" [Noble Quran 4:80]

He also says: "Whatsoever the
Messenger gives you take it and whatsoever he forbids you refrain from it."
Thus, whoever believes that any
Wali has a way to Allah without following
the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) is a Kafir, and is an ally of the devil.
Actions of The Allies of Allah
The allies of Allah are of two levels:
forerunners those who brought near - and
those of the right hand who act in moderation. Allah, the Exalted says reminding the
Day of Judgment:
"And you (all) will be in three kinds (i.e.
separate groups). So those on the Right
Hand and Who will be those of the Right
Hand? And those on the Left Hand and who
will be those on the Left Hand? And those
foremost will be foremost in Paradise. They
will be those nearest to Allah." [Noble
Quran 56:8-12]
And again Allah says in the end of
the same Surah:
"Then, if the dying person be of the Muqarrabun (those brought near to Allah.) (There
is for him) rest and provision, and a Garden
of delights (Paradise). And if he be of those
on the Right Hand. Then there is safety and
peace for those on the Right Hand. But if he
be of the denying then for him is entertainment with boiling water. And burning in HellFire." [Noble Quran 56:88-94]
And the actions of these two groups
are mentioned in the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon
him):
"Allah says: "Whoever takes a Wali (loyal
slave) of Mine an enemy, I will wage war on
him; and My slave will not perform any act
with which he draws closer to Me, more
beloved to Me then when he fulfills what I
have ordained on him; and My salve will
keep drawing closer to Me by performing
the Nawafil (voluntary acts of worship) until I
love him, and when I love him, I will be his
hearing with which he hears, his sight with
which he sees, his hands with which he
strikes, and his legs with which he walks;
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15
Radiant Reality
and if he asks Me, I will give him; and if he

seeks refuge with Me, I will grant him refuge." [Sahih Bukhari]
Consequently, the righteous - those
of the Right Hand are those who seek to
come close to Allah with obligatory actions:
they do that which Allah has ordered them
to do, and avoid that which Allah has forbidden them, and do not demand of themselves the doing of the commendable but
less than obligatory (i.e. Mandub), or the
avoiding of some of the disliked of the allowed (i.e. Makruh)
As for the forerunners those
brought near, they sought to come close to
Allah with extra efforts after the obligatory.
They did the obligatory and the commendable, and avoided the forbidden and the non
-recommended. When they sought to come
close to Him with everything within their
ability of that which they love, Allah's love
for them became complete, as Allah says:
"...My salve will keep drawing closer to Me
by performing the Nawafil (voluntary acts of
worship) until I love him..." [Sahih Bukhari]
The Allies of Allah Have No Special Appearance
The allies of Allah have no special
appearance with which they differ form
other people. They have no special dress
from other than just being permissible.
Rather, they are to be found in all categories of the nation of Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him). However, the
Quran and the Sunnah show clearly that the
best people in the sight of Allah is the one
with the most of Taqwa (pious practice):
"O people, we have created you from a
male and a female and made you in peoples and tribes that you may know each
other. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight
of Allah is the greatest in righteous practice." [Noble Quran 49:13]
Abu Hurairah narrates in a Sahih
Hadith:
"The Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings
be upon him) was asked: "Which people are
the best? He said: "Those greatest in
Taqwa (righteous practice)"... [Bukhari and
16
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
Muslim]
Allies of Allah Are Not Ma'sum
(Protected) From Mistakes
It is not a condition for an ally of
Allah that he be free of (protected from)
mistakes and errors. It is quite possible that
some knowledge of the Shari'ah may be
hidden from him, just as it is possible for
him to be confused about some issues in
Islam But, he may not necessarily because
of this, leave the ranks of allies of Allah,
since Allah has overlooked and forgiven for
this Ummah error, acts of forgetting, and
things done under compulsion:
"There is no burden upon you for that in
which you were mistaken, rather that which
you have done with the full determination of
the heart." [Noble Quran 33:5]
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be
pleased with him) said:
"Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) said: "When a ruler exerts himself to
arrive at the correct ruling, and is correct, he
gets two rewards and when he exerts himself but is mistaken, he gets one reward." [Bukhari and Muslim]
Since, it is possible for any ally of
Allah to make a mistake. It can never be
obligatory upon the people to believe in
everything any one of them says, except
that in the case that one of them is a
prophet. Rather, it is obligatory for him to
measure all of that up to the criterion of that
which the Prophet (peace and blessings be
upon him) brought. If it is in agreement
therewith then he can accept it, but if it is in
disagreement then he must reject it, and if
he cannot be sure whether it is in accordance with the Prophet's message or at
variance with it, he must refrain from believing it or applying it.
The second Caliph Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), regarding whom
Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be
upon him) said:
"In previous nations there were individuals
who were addressed (with the truth). If there
are such people in my nation, Umar is the
one of them." [Bukhari and Muslim]
Mar. 2009
"Verily, Allah has put the truth on the tongue

of Umar and in his heart." [At- Tirmidhi
(Hasan)]
But, Umar always did that which
was obligatory upon him: i.e. - to measure
things that occurred to him against that with
which the Prophet (peace and blessings be
upon him) was sent. He never said:
"I am Muhaddath, I receive inspiration and
visions, and so you should accept that
which I say and not oppose me therein."
Heart is an intuitions and not protected from falling into errors, and so one
needs always to measure them against that
which has been brought by the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him), the
protected from falling into error. And the
early scholars of Islam have unanimously
agreed that the opinions of any man can be
accepted and rejected i.e. they are open to
questions except for the statements of the
Prophet.
The point we are making here is an
issue of complete consensus of the allies of
Allah:
It is obligatory upon the allies of
Allah to hold tight to the criterion; the Quran
and the Sunnah, and no one of them is
Ma'sum; i.e. protected against falling into
errors, such that it is permissible to him or
to his followers to follow that which comes
to his heart without subjecting it to the test
of the Quran and the Sunnah. Whoever
does not accept this is in no way or shape
or form among the allies of Allah, whom
Allah has ordered us to emulate. Such a
person is either 'Kafir' or is engaged in extreme and excessive foolishness and ignorance.
Contd from page 38

The great task of Muslim youth will
be to bring the life-giving message of Islam
to wherever they live. With love, dedication,
wisdom, and insight. But if you give up all
you have, how can you give anything to
anyone?
Radiant Reality
Affection and
Compassion
Between Spouses
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
One of the greatest aims of marriage according to the laws of Allaah is so
that affection and compassion may prevail
between the spouses. This is the foundation
on which married life should be built. Allaah,
may He be exalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning):
"And among His Signs is this, that He created for you wives from among yourselves,
that you may find repose in them, and He
has put between you affection and
mercy." [al-Room 30:21]
al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: Affection means
love, and compassion means kindness. A
man keeps a woman either because he
loves her or her because he feels compassion towards her because he has children
from her.
Our advice to you is not to ignore
the affection and compassion between
spouses that Allaah has mentioned in this
verse. Think about the Mothers of the Believers, and the womenfolk of the Sahaabah
(may Allaah be pleased with them all), especially the role of Khadeejah (may Allaah
be pleased with her) with the Prophet
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). Try to make
your family happy and you will see the effect of that in sha Allaah.
One of the greatest means of attaining happiness and cheerfulness is what
was narrated from one of the righteous:
Kindness is something easy: a cheerful face
and a gentle word. So try to adopt this kindness towards your husband until it becomes ingrained in you and you will win
his heart and make him be affectionate and
compassionate towards you.
But before all that, and above all
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17
Radiant Reality
that, our Lord says (interpretation of the

meaning):
"The good deed and the evil deed cannot
be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is
better (i.e. Allaah orders the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to
excuse those who treat them badly) then
verily he, between whom and you there was
enmity, (will become) as though he was a
close friend.
But none is granted it (the above quality)
except those who are patient and none is
granted it except the owner of the great portion (of happiness in the Hereafter, i.e.,
Paradise and of a high moral character) in
this world." [Fussilat 41:34-35]
Shaykh Ibn Sa'di (RA) said: i.e.,
Good deeds and acts of obedience that are
done for the sake of Allaah cannot be equal
to bad deeds and sins that earn His wrath
and do not please Him. Kindness towards
others cannot be equal to mistreatment of
them. "Is there any reward for good other
than good?." [al-Rahmaan 55:60]
Then He enjoins a specific type of
kindness which has a great impact, which is
kindness towards the one who treats you
badly. He says: "Repel (the evil) with one
which is better" i.e., if someone mistreats
you, especially if he has great rights over
you, such as relatives and friends and the
like, and he mistreats you in word or in
deed, then respond by treating him kindly. If
he cuts off ties with you then uphold ties
with him; if he wrongs you, forgive him; if he
speaks against you, in your absence or in
your presence, do not respond in kind,
rather forgive him, and deal with him by
speaking kindly; if he shuns you and does
not speak to you, then speak nicely to him,
and greet him with salaam. If you respond
to mistreatment with kind treatment, that will
do a great deal of good.
"then verily he, between whom and you
there was enmity, (will become) as though
he was a close friend" i.e., as if he is close
to you and a good friend.
"But none is granted it" i.e., this
praiseworthy quality is not given to anyone
"except those who are patient" and put up
18
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Mar. 2009
with what they dislike, and force themselves

to do what Allaah loves, for souls are created with a natural inclination to respond to
bad treatment in kind and not to forgive it,
so how can they respond in a good manner?
If a person is patient and obeys the
command of his Lord, and understands the
great reward, and knows that responding in
kind to the one who mistreats him will not
achieve anything and will only make the
enmity worse, and that treating him kindly
will not cause him any humiliation, rather it
will raise him in status, because the one
who shows humility for the sake of Allaah,
Allaah will raise him in status thereby, then
the matter will become easy for him and he
will do that with joy and pleasure.
"and none is granted it except the owner of
the great portion" because this is a characteristic of the elite people, by means of
which a person attains a high status in this
world and in the Hereafter, which is one of
the greatest and noblest of characteristics.
End quote.
Tafseer al-Sa'di (549-550)
If all of this applies to the rights of
people in general, then what about the
rights of your wife? The Prophet (Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam) said: "If I were to order
anyone to prostrate to anyone else, I would
have ordered women to prostrate to their
husbands, because of the rights that Allaah
has given them over them." Narrated by
Abu Dawood (2140) and al-Tirmidhi (1192);
We have started by speaking to
you, because you are the one who asked
the question, and we think that you are
more likely to listen and respond to our advice. If that means giving up some of your
rights and forgiving the one who has
wronged you, then there is nothing wrong
with that. Who can say that giving up some
of one's rights or forgiving some mistreatment is shameful or a shortcoming? Rather
it is perfection.
Muslim narrated in his Saheeh
(2588) from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allaah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)
said: "Charity does not decrease wealth. No
Mar. 2009
one forgives, but Allaah increases him in

honour, and no one humbles himself before
Allaah but Allaah raises him in status."
As for speaking to your husband or
rebuking him, it is words of sincere advice
and a rebuke from those who love good for
him and fear for the bad consequences that
he may face as a result of his actions; they
want to warn him against obeying Iblees
and making him happy, and disobeying and
incurring the wrath of the Most Merciful,
may He be exalted.
As for his obeying Ibleese, Muslim
narrated in his Saheeh (2813) that Jaabir
(may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The
Messenger of Allaah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said: "Iblees places his throne over
the water, then he sends out his troops, and
the one who is closest in status to him is the
one who causes the greatest amount of
fitnah (tribulation or temptation). One of
them comes and says, I have done such
and such, and he says: 'You have not done
anything.' Then one of them comes and
says: 'I did not leave him until I separated
him and his wife.' Then he draws him close
to him and says: 'How good you are.'" AlA'mash said: I think he said: "and he embraces him."
As for his incurring the wrath of the
Most Merciful and disobeying Him, let him
listen to what the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam) said: "Fear Allaah with regard to
women, for you have taken them as a trust
from Allaah, and intimacy with them has
become permissible to you by the word of
Allaah." Narrated by Muslim (1218)
Is this how you take a trust from
Allaah, O slave of Allaah?!
Is this how you deal with the word
of Allaah, O slave of Allaah?!
Is this how you respond to the advice of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), who said: "I urge you to treat women
well"? (narrated by al-Bukhaari (3331) and
Muslim (1468))
And he (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)
said: "The best of you is the one who is best
to his wife, and I am the best of you to my
wives." Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3895) and
Radiant Reality
Ibn Majaah (1977); Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.

Or is this what living with them honourably
means? Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): "and live with them honourably." [al-Nisa' 4:19]
Is this what taking care of them
means? The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said: "Each of you is a shepherd
and each of you is responsible for his flock.
The ruler of the people is a shepherd and is
responsible for his flock. A man is the shepherd of his household and is responsible for
his flock. A woman is the shepherd of her
husband's house and children and is responsible for her flock. The slave is the
shepherd of his master's wealth and is responsible for it. Each of you is a shepherd
and each of you is responsible for his flock."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (893) and Muslim
(1829)
Have you not heard what the great
Sahaabi, 'Aa'idh ibn 'Amr (may Allaah be
pleased with him) said when he entered
upon 'Ubayd-Allaah ibn Ziyaad, the oppressive governor? The Sahaabi said to him: O
my son, I heard the Messenger of Allaah
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) say: "The worst
of guardians are those who are cruel. Beware lest you be one of them." Narrated by
Muslim (1830)
Are you not afraid that you may be one of
them?
Have you never heard that everyone gets
headaches sometimes.
We have never heard of anything stranger
or weirder than this.
Or perhaps you need some proof? Listen to
this, O slave of Allaah:
It was narrated that 'Aa'ishah said:
The Messenger of Allaah (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam) came back from al-Baqee' and I
had a headache and was saying, Oh my
head. He said, "Rather, I should say, Oh my
head, O 'Aa'ishah." Narrated by Ibn Majaah
(1465); al-Mishkaat
You should remember that when
the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)
died, 'Aa'ishah was eighteen years old,
which means that when she complained of
this headache she was younger than eight(Vol.11, No: 03)
19
Radiant Reality
een, and the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) believed her and treated her with
compassion. 'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be
pleased with her) was asked: What did the
Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) do in
his house? She said: He used to serve his
family, then when the time for prayer came,
he would go out to pray. Narrated by alBukhaari (676)
This is evidence if you need it, but
we do not think that you need evidence.
Rather you need to act. The way is ahead
of you but you are not moving.
We have spoken to you at length,
but if a person does not benefit from a little
then he will not benefit from a lot.
You should think that you may be
afflicted one day and you will need this
weak woman to support you and look after
your affairs. Would you like her to treat you
as you are treating her?
Or would you like her to be better
than you, and to believe you, although you
did not believe her, and to support you, although you let her down, and to treat you
kindly although you are treating her harshly,
and to be forbearing towards you although
you are treating her ignorantly.
By Allaah, even the sweeter of the
two is bitter.
Choose for yourself the path of kindness.
"Is there any reward for good other than
good?" [al-Rahmaan 55:60]
Contd from page 32

the future. This also explains otherwise inexplicably cruel programs of structural adjustment, the conversion of agriculture to
export production, and other policies that
impoverish the developing nations. The
"over-population" propaganda may be simple. And it may have been freely circulated
around the world for so long that it has
come to be taken for granted. Its contradictions are not invisible. And suspicions of evil
motivation do not die. Rather, they grow in
proportion to pressures from overseas.
20
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
Lamentations of
a Muslim Wife
Shariffa Carlo
Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has said,
"... Marry of the women that please you;
two, three or four, but if you fear you will not
be able to deal justly, then only
one..." [Quraan 4:3]. I have looked to this
statement many times. Some people point
out to me the part that speaks of dealing
justly, and they match it with, "And you have
it not in your power to do justice between
wives, even though you may wish (it), but
be not disinclined (from one) with total disinclination, so that you leave her as it were in
suspense; and if you effect a reconciliation
and guard (against evil), then surely Allah is
Forgiving, Merciful." [Quraan 4:129]
Here, they say, it is impossible for a
person to be fair, therefore it is not allowed
to marry more than one. This does not
match what is written. The verse says do
not desert them. How can this be a command to not marry more than one? Also, I
find this theory hard to accept since I know
that the prophet, the companions, the second generation, the third generation and so
forth all practised of polygamy. If it were
wrong, or even makru - as some state then we would not find the majority among
our best generations practicing it.
Then, we have others who claim
that Polygamy is only in cases where war
has taken the majority of the men, or in special circumstances - like when the woman
can not bear children or when the woman is
sick. However, once again, I do not find this
the case when I look to the history of Islam.
It was not less practiced by the wise knowledgeable ones in Islamic history in times of
peace, nor was it ever restricted to certain
conditions. Actually, we don't begin to see
any problems with Polygamy as a practice
until the West began to exert influence over
the Muslims.
Mar. 2009
Even as recently as the first World

War, we see the bedouin Arabs proud of the
fact that they have this practice as a part of
their religion. What few problems we have
are seen in the apologists who were trying
to please the West by softening the image
of Islam. These people even apologized for
the practice of divorce which Islam allowed
for centuries, while Christianity forbid it.
Now, I wish I could see the faces of these
same apologists if they could see the divorce rate of the West. Would they stop
apologizing for it now that the West has not
only accepted the practice, but embraced it
wholeheartedly?
At any rate, when I look to this verse, I
clearly see the if - then statement. As a
computer lover, this immediately strikes me.
If - then. This is a simple logic problem. Do
A. If A is not possible, then do B giving
precedence to A and using B as an exception to the rule. Therefore, when we apply it,
we see that the man is commanded to
marry two or three or four, but IF he can not
be just, then he marries only one. The one,
therefore becomes the exception to the rule.
Now, if this is true, then why is it that today,
not only is Polygamy not the rule, it is the
exception, and those who practice it are
often criticized? Can it be that we have so
many men who consider themselves unjust? I doubt it. I believe it lies in the attitudes of our women, may Allah guide us.
We have been brainwashed by the Western
ideal of one man-one wife. We need to listen to our scholars; so many of them have
warned us to look to ourselves because this
issue may be the one which makes us Kafir.
May Allah prevent this from happening.
Whenever I discuss this subject with
women, the first thing I normally hear, a
statement which makes me cringe, is, "But
it's not fair..." Allah forgive the one who
makes such a statement, for it is an utterance of shirk. For the one who made Polygamy not only halal but also recommended
was Allah, Himself. Therefore, whatever He,
in his Great Fairness and Wisdom, has allowed and encouraged is fair by definition.
And to say it is unfair is to say that He, Sub-
Radiant Reality
hana wa Ta'ala, is unfair. May Allah guard

our tongues from such blasphemy.
Muslim women have to take their minds out
of the gutters of the West, and bring them
up to the wisdom and purity of Islam's high
ground. Polygamy is not an insult to
women; it is a sign of respect. How many
women would remain husbandless if it were
haram? Sisters, I beg you. Look to your sisters in the Muslim countries. The number of
single women has climbed so high that special laws are being created to try to fix the
situation (While I know that many of these
laws are misguided and based on fear of
cultural intermixing, the fact the problem
has reached epidemic proportions is undeniable even to them). In some countries,
your sisters are having to resort to such
misguided practices as temporary marriage,
because Polygamy is so looked down upon.
May Allah forgive us for making this so.
Even, when a sister does choose to go into
Polygamy, her fellow sisters look to her as a
traitor, and often treat her worse than an
adultress. They akin it to stealing someone's husband. Many of our sisters are ostracized and even humiliated, or worse
cursed for practicing an act that our Loving
Lord recommended to us. May Allah guide
us. Wallahi, it pains me to see the treatment
given to second, third and fourth wives. Sisters, we are so caught up in this idea that
we possess our men, that even the second
or third wife feels she has a right to prevent
the inclusion of another into the relationship
that benefitted her. Where are our minds?
Where is our faith in Allah's Wisdom?
Where is our submission to the Will of Allah? Where is our love for each other?
Where is the wanting for our sisters what
we want for ourselves, namely family, love
and happiness?
We were not placed on this earth to do anything but worship Allah, and we have to this
as He commanded, not as our desires and
jealousies guide us. We are allowed to be
jealous. Aisha and the other Mothers of the
Believers, may Allah have mercy on them,
were jealous, but they did not allow their
jealousy to destroy their deen, and I chal(Vol.11, No: 03)
21
Radiant Reality
lenge anyone to show me an example

where one of them, or one of the female
companions, or even one of the second or
third generation ever condemned a woman
for becoming a second, third or fourth wife.
It was accepted as a part of the deen. Sure,
women tried to keep their husbands from
taking the second, third or fourth wife. Sure
they were jealous of each other. Sure, they
even tried (until the prophet forbid it) to ask
for the divorce of the other. But once they
knew their limits, they submitted to the Will
of Allah. So why is it so hard for us? Why
can we not follow these great examples
instead of the examples of the Western
woman who has no respect for herself,
much less her peers?
Sisters, I am not asking you to go and ask
your husbands to take another wife, but I
am asking you to accept this as a natural,
acceptable, even preferable practice of Islam. If you are stronger in your faith, I see
only blessings in asking your husband to
help out a sister in need by marrying her.
Imagine yourself a single mother, an unmarried woman past her prime, or a widow,
alone without support.
Sisters, these are your sisters, and Allah
forbid, it could be you one day. Have mercy
on these women. And if they marry your
husband or your friend's husband, do not
condemn them, curse them, ostracize them,
boycott them or harass them. They have
done the best. They have married rather
that commit haram. They have followed the
command of Allah in marrying. They have
completed their religion, and the one who
objects to it, even silently in her heart, has
to reexamine her faith in Allah. She has to
accept this as Allah's religion and as the
superior way, because and -- only because
-- Allah said that it is so.
May Allah guide us all to accept His decree.
May Allah make us all strong in following,
practicing and accepting this great deen in
its entirety, and may Allah give us the
strength faith and support to fight our desires. Ameen.
22
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
The End of
Prosperity:
Can Islamic
Finance Help?
By Mahomed Shoaib Omar
(Specialist Corporate & Islamic Finance Attorney)
The meltdown of the global financial

system has raised profound questions of its
fundamental structural reform. The downward spiral in the US and Western Europe
is described by financial experts as deleveraging : the forced reduction of accumulated
debt by households and financial institutions. As more assets get dumped into the
market, prices are driven down further,
which in turn necessitates more deleveraging. This vicious cycle has gained such
momentum that even the massive bailout
packages may not be sufficient to stop it.
The bursting of the debt-fuelled property
bubble in the US, together with the crippling
losses suffered by banks, has set in motion
a chain-reaction that, in a worst-case scenario, (according to Prof Niall Ferguson of
Harvard) could lead to a 21st century version of the Great Depression.
The immediate cause of the current
financial crisis appears to be the excessive
and imprudent lending by banks. This in
turn is attributed to the unbridled power of
private bankers to create money out of
nothing, and then to loan this bank-created
money on interest (described as fractional
reserve banking). In this present monetary
framework, money is traded as a commodity, instead of performing its true function of
operating as a medium of exchange. This
system favours the rich against the industrious poor. Despite the fact that deposits are
sourced from a broad cross- section of the
society, their benefit goes mainly to the rich.
Mar. 2009
James Robertson in Transforming Economic Life states that:

Todays money and finance system is unfair, ecologically destructive and
economically inefficient. The money must
grow imperative skews economic effort
towards money out of money, and against
providing real services and goods.
A substantial proportion of this privately created bank-money is invested in
speculative wagering instruments, such as
derivatives based on futures, swaps, and
options. Such betting instruments are not
connected with transactions in the real
economy. According to Prof John Gray of
Oxford University, derivatives have created
a virtual financial economy which has a
terrible potential for disrupting the underlying real economy as seen in the collapse in
1995 of Barings, Britains oldest bank. It is
therefore no surprise that George Soros has
described derivatives as hydrogen bombs.
Warren Buffet described them as financial
weapons of mass destruction. The Bank
for International Settlements (BIS) currently
estimates the notional amount of all outstanding derivatives (including credit default
swaps) to be a staggering 600 trillion dollars, more than 10 times the size of the
world economy. (BIS, September 2008, pg
20).
Radiant Reality
Although debt-financing cannot be

ruled out, the solution lies in a shift to equity
-based financing, posited on profit and loss
sharing, which is the primary characteristic
of Islamic Finance. In this equitable manner, economic effort would be directed at
providing useful goods and services, instead of simply making money out of
money. At the same time, the wide gap
between the supply of money and the supply of real goods and services would be
decisively narrowed.
The distinguishing
features and benefits of Islamic Banking
were aptly summarized by the Islamic Development Bank, based in Jeddah,
(established 1975) in the following words:
Islamic banking is distinctive in two
respects: concentrating on the real sector
of the economy, it imparts tremendous stability to the economic system by achieving
an identity between monetary flows and
goods and services, and by operating on a
system of profit and loss sharing in its
evolved state, it insulates the society from
the debt-mountain on the analogy that if the
economies enter into recessionary or deflationary phases, the principles of profit and
loss sharing protects the states and economic operators from the evils of accumulation of interest and minimizes defaults and
bankruptcies.
Funerals
It is forbidden to build anything over graves or to raise them and make them
high; to sit on graves; to walk between graves wearing shoes; to illuminate them or to
write on them; to excavate them. It is forbidden to take graves as places of worship or to
pray facing any grave except when praying the funeral prayer at the graveside. It is forbidden for a woman to mourn for a deceased person for more than three days, except for
her husband, for whom the period of mourning is four months and ten days. It is forbidden for a recently-widowed women to wear perfume, kohl, henna, adornments such as
jewellery and fancy, decorated clothes.
It is forbidden to wail for the dead, to help another woman in wailing, because
this is crying for the sake of something other than Allah, and joining together in weeping
is classified as wailing. It is forbidden to hire a woman to wail; to tear ones clothes or
to leave ones hair uncombed as a sign of grief.
It is forbidden to announce a death in the manner of jaahiliyyah, although there
is nothing wrong with simply informing people that the deceased has died.
(Vol.11, No: 03)
23
Radiant Reality
Mar. 2009
A Look at Hadith Rejecters'

Claims
Khalid Beig
Summary of Hadith Rejecters' Claims
1. A) We, Quranists, do not make a
distinction between obeying Allah and obeying His Messenger (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). Anyone who obeys the Qur'an has no
other option but to obey the Messenger
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), too. Had we
been living with him, we would have no
hesitation in blindly following his orders. We
do make a distinction but that is between
Allah and Hadith collectors like Bukhari,
Muslim, Nassai, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi and
Abu Dawud. We accept Allah's Word that
He has protected the Quran from corruption, but why should we accept the words of
these hadith collectors? Are they as infallible as Allah?
1. B) Qur'an is sufficient and does
not need any further explanation.
2. Hadith is the same as the gospels of Christianity. Indeed the time span
between death of Messenger Muhammad
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), and the compilation of Sahihs was almost the same as
that between the departure of Jesus, Alayhis salam, and compilation of the Bible.
How can Muslims reject one but accept the
other?
3. Dr. Maurice Bucaille finds that
Saheeh is as unscientific as the Bible.
4. The Messenger (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam), may have elaborated on items
like mode of salah. Such hadith is probably
from the Messenger (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), and should be obeyed. But what
about the hadith that contradict the Qur'an.
5. The root cause of Muslim decay
is their reverence for the hadith.
6. Allah has protected only the
Qur'an -- not Islam -- from corruption.
7. Allah expects from His slaves
exclusive servitude. When Sunnis talk of
24
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Quran and Sunnah, the Qur'an is undermined for its exclusivity is lost.
"If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger he is indeed on a clearly wrong
path." [Al-Ahzab, 33:36]
"He that obeys Allah and His Messenger
has already attained the great victory." [AlAhzab, 33:71].
For the past fourteen centuries
Qur'an and Sunnah have been the twin undisputed sources of Guidance for Muslims.
In every generation, the Muslims devoted
the best of their minds and talents to their
study. They learned both the words and
meanings of the Qur'an through the Prophet
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), and made an
unprecedented effort in preserving them for
the next generation. The result: The development of the marvelous -- and unparalleled -- science of hadith, one of the brightest aspects of Muslim history.
What does it mean to believe in a
Prophet except to pledge to follow him? And
so the teachings of the Prophet (Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam), have always guided this
Ummah. No body, in his right mind, could or
did question this practice. Then something
happened. During the colonial period, when
most of the Muslim world came under the
subjugation of the West, some "scholars"
arose in places like Egypt (Taha Hussein),
India (Abdullah Chakralawi and Ghulam
Ahmed Pervaiz), and Turkey (Zia Gogelup),
who began questioning the authenticity and
relevance of hadith. It was not that some
genius had found flaws in the hadith study
that had eluded the entire ummah for thirteen centuries. It was simply that the pressures from the dominant Western civilization to conform were too strong for them to
withstand. They buckled. Prophetic teachings and life example -- Hadith -- was the
Mar. 2009
obstacle in this process and so it became

the target.
Another factor helped them. Today
most Muslims, including the vast majority of
the western-educated Muslims, have meager knowledge of hadith, having spent no
time in studying even the fundamentals of
this vast subject. How many know the difference between Sahih and Hasan, or between Maudau and Dhaif? The certification
process used in hadith transmission?
Names of any hadith book produced in the
first century of Hijrah, or the number of such
books? A majority probably would not be
able to name even the six principal hadith
books (Sihah Sitta) or know anything about
the history of their compilation. Obviously
such atmosphere provides a fertile ground
for sowing suspicions and doubts.
They call themselves as ahleQur'an or Quranists. This is misleading. For
their distinction is not in affirming the
Qur'an, but in rejecting the Hadith. The
ideas of munkareen-e-hadith evolve into
three mutually contradictory strains. The
first holds that the job of the Prophet
(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), was only to
deliver the Qur'an. We are to follow only the
Qur'an and nothing else, as were the Companions. Further, hadith is not needed to
understand the Qur'an, which is sufficient
for providing guidance. The second group
holds that the Companions were required to
follow the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), but we are not. The third holds that, in
theory, we also have to follow the hadith but
we did not receive ahadith through authentic sources and therefore we have to reject
all ahadith collections!
Internal contradictions are a hallmark of false ideologies. How can anyone
hold the first position yet profess belief in
Qur'an while it says: "And We have sent
down unto You the Message so that you
may explain clearly to men what is sent for
them." [An-Nahal, 16:44]. And this: "Allah
did confer a great favor on the Believers
when He sent among them a Messenger
from among themselves, rehearsing unto
them the Signs (Verses) of Allah, purifying
Radiant Reality
them, instructing them in Scripture, and

teaching them Wisdom. While before that
they were in manifest error." [A'ale Imran
3:164].
How can anyone hold the second
position (limiting the Prophethood to 23
years) yet profess belief in Qur'an, while it
says: "We did not send you except as
Mercy for all creatures." [Al-Anbia, 21:107]
And, "We have not sent you except as a
Messenger to all mankind, giving them glad
tidings and warning them against
sin." [Saba, 34:28]
The third position seems to have
avoided these obvious pitfalls, yet in reality
it is no different. Consider statements 1, 4,
and 7 in the summary of hadith rejecters'
claims. So hadith undermines Qur'an's exclusivity, yet would have been followed
blindly at the time of the Prophet (Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam). Ahadith cannot be followed because they are not reliable, yet can
be followed for ritual prayers.
Salah And Hadith Rejecters
But we don't need a favor for hadith
about salah (coming from the same books
and the same narrators who are declared
as unreliable). We need an answer to this
question: If the Qur'an is the only authentic
source of Guidance, why did it never explain how to offer salah, although it repeatedly talks about its importance, associating
it with eternal success and failure? What
would we think of a communication that repeatedly emphasizes a certain act but never
explains how to perform it? There are only
two possibilities. Either it is a terrible omission (and in that case it cannot be from
God) or another source for the how-to information is provided and it is a terrible mistake for any recipient to ignore that.
(Recently some hadith rejecters
have realized the difficulty of their position
on salah. But they have made a claim that
is even more ludicrous, namely that the
Qur'an gives details on how to offer salah.
"A careful reading of the Koran reveals that
we are to get our Salaah from the Masjid-el
Haraam [the continuous practice at Mecca
(Vol.11, No: 03)
25
Radiant Reality
since the time of Abraham]," says one proponent, "specifically the 'place of Abraham
(moqaam e Ibraheem).'" Let us leave aside
all the practical questions about such a fluid
answer. Whose Salah? When? Are we to
follow anyone and everyone we find praying
at Muqame Ibrahim? How are those offering
salah there are to determine proper way of
offering Salah? How do you resolve their
differences? In his enthusiasm in proposing
this innovative solution, this proponent even
forgot that the Qur'an says the following
about the salah of mushrikeen at the Masjid
-el Haraam: "Their prayer at the House of
Allah is nothing but whistling and clapping
of hands. (Its only answer can be), 'Taste
the chastisement because you blasphemed.'" [Al-Anfal 8:35] )
The Reliability of Resources
To accept one and reject the other
source on the basis of reliability (statement
#2) also defies reason, unless we received
the Qur'an directly from Allah. But we have
received both Qur'an and Hadith through
the same channels. Same people transmitted this as the Word of Allah, that as the
word of the Prophet, Salla-Allahu alayhi was
sallam. Even the verse claiming that Qur'an
will be protected came to us through the
same people. Through what logic can anyone declare that the channels are reliable
for Qur'an and unreliable for Hadith? On the
contrary the Quranic promise of protection
must apply to Hadith as well for there is no
point in protecting the words but not the
meanings of the Qur'an.
Protection of Qur'an
To say that Allah promised to protect only Qur'an but not Islam (#6) is being
as ridiculous as one can get. Let's ignore
the obvious question regarding the point of
this Heavenly act. The question is if Islam
has been corrupted and its true teachings
have been lost, how can anyone claim to be
its follower? Moreover, Qur'an says "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam,
never will it be accepted of him, and in the
Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those
26
(Vol.11, No: 03)
Mar. 2009
who have lost" [A'al-e-Imran, 3:85]. How are

we to follow the religion acceptable to Allah
if it was not to be protected?
Were Ahadith Written Down for the First
Time in the Third Century of Hijra?
The above proves that ahadith must
have been protected. Were they? The very
existence of a huge library of hadith -- the
only one of its kind among the religions of
the world -- answers the question in the affirmative. To dismiss all that as later day
fabrication (#1A, #2) requires lots of guts -and equal parts ignorance. Were ahadith
written down for the first time in the third
century of Hijra? Not at all. Actually hadith
recording and collection started at the time
of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
Abd-Allah ibn Amr ibn al-'As, Radi-Allahu
unhu, sought and was given the permission
to write everything he heard from the
Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), who
said: "By the One in Whose Hands is my
life! Whatever proceeds from here [pointing
to his mouth] is the truth." He produced Sahifa Sadiqa, which contained more than six
thousand ahadith. Anas ibn Malik, RadiAllahu unhu, who spent ten years in
Prophet's household, not only recorded the
ahadith but also presented them to the
Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), and
got corrections. Abu Hurairah, Radi-Allahu
unhu, had many volumes of his collections
and even produced smaller compilations for
his students. Prominent Hadith scholar Dr.
Mustafa Azami has shown in his doctoral
thesis that in the first century of Hijra many
hundred booklets of hadith were in circulation. By the end of the second century, "by
the most conservative estimate there were
many thousands."
Of course most of these books do
not exist today. They were simply absorbed
into the encyclopedic collections that
emerged in the third century. One manuscript from the first century was discovered
in this century and published by Dr.
Hamidullah. It is Sahifa Hammam ibn Munabbah, who was a disciple of Abu Hurairah,
Radi-Allahu unhu. It contains 138 ahadith.
Mar. 2009
Muhaddithin knew that the ahadith of this

Sahifa had been absorbed into Musnad Ahmed and Muslim collections, which have
been published continuously since their
third century debut. After the discovery of
the original manuscript it was naturally compared with the ahadith in Muslim and Musnad Ahmed that were thought to have come
from that Sahifa. And what did they find?
There was not an iota of difference between
the two. Similarly Mussanaf of Abd alRazzaq is extant and has been published.
As has been Mu'ammar ibn Rashid's alJami. These recently discovered original
manuscripts bear out the Sihah Sitta. The
recent appearance of these original manuscripts should bring the most skeptical into
the fold of believers.
Saheeh and the Gospels
Regarding comparison of Saheeh
with Gospels (#2), let's listen to Dr.
Hamidullah. "The compilation of the Gospels, their preservation and transmission
from one generation to the other, has not
taken place in the way which governed the
books of Hadith... We do not know who
wrote them, who translated them, and who
transmitted them. How were they transferred from the original Aramaic to Greek?
Did the scribes make arrangements for a
faithful reproduction of the original? The
four Gospels are mentioned, for the first
time, three hundred years after Christ.
Should we rely on such an unauthentic
book in preference to that of Bukhari who
prefaces every statement of two lines with
three to nine references?"
The Comments of Dr. Maurice Bucaille
Dr. Maurice Bucaille earned the
admiration of many Muslims because of his
study of some scientific phenomena mentioned in the Qur'an and his testimony
based on that study that Qur'an must be the
Book of Allah. However he is not a hadith
scholar and it is unfair to drag him into this
discussion. His account of history of hadith
compilation contains many errors, for example the claim that the first gathering of
Radiant Reality
hadith was performed roughly forty years

after Hijra or that no instructions were given
regarding hadith collection. He questions
about a dozen or so entries in Bukhari that
he thinks deal with scientific matters. Even if
all that criticism were valid, would it be sufficient ground to throw away the 9082 total
entries (2602 unique ahadith) in Bukhari?
He himself does not think so, for he writes:
"The truth of hadith, from a religious point of
view, is beyond question."
The Hadith Regarding the Sun
But even his criticism is of questionable value. Consider the hadith about the
sun: "At sunset the sun prostrates itself underneath the Throne and takes permission
to rise again, and it is permitted and then a
time will come when it will be about to prostrate itself... it will seek permission to go on
its course... it will be ordered to return
whence it has come and so it will rise in the
West." His criticism: "This implies the notion
of a course the sun runs in relation to the
Earth." Bucaille fails to understand the real
message of this hadith. It was not meant to
teach astronomy. Its clear message is that
sun is a slave of Allah, moving always
through His Will. The hadith brings out that
message very powerfully so that even the
most illiterate bedouin would understand it
fully. Moreover Bucaille should know better
than to criticize the implied notion of sun's
rotation around earth. Even today the astronomers, when calculating the time of
sunrise and sunset, use a mathematical
model in which the sun revolves around the
earth. If that is acceptable for scientific work
as it makes calculations easier, why is it
questionable, when it makes communication easier?
Also there are other ahadith which
clearly demonstrate a scientific fact beyond
the knowledge of the times but Bucaille has
failed to take notice. For example the hadith
about solar eclipse: "The sun and moon are
two signs of Allah. They are not eclipsed on
account of anyone's death or on account of
anyone's birth." (Muslim, hadith #1966]. The
eclipse had coincided with the death of
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27
Radiant Reality
Prophet's son. A false prophet would have

tried to exploit the occasion. A fabricated
hadith would require scientific knowledge
that did not exist then.
The munkareen-e-hadith think that
their beliefs are built on solid rock. Well, it is
as solid as wax: The religion based on this
idea can be fitted into any mold. For some
hadith rejecters that was the motivation. For
everyone, that is the inevitable result. But
the good news is that their arguments are
the same way. On the surface they appear
to be solid. But faced with the light of truth,
they melt away like wax.
Contd from page 37

with the Arabic language can deduce that
one of two things can be established; the
companion is religious or irreligious. Henceforth, from this sentence (viz, every man
should ponder...) two injunctions are deduced. The first is: "seek pious company"
and the second is: "refrain from evil company." Now we should examine our own
Deeni (religious) condition. Our present
Deeni condition is such that every single
one of us is content with the little Deen
(piety) that he has without any intention of
progressing.
The Urgency of Deeni Progress
Nowadays there seems to be a
great furore over the trend of progress.
Newspapers, journals and even lectures are
not spared in making mention of progress.
This in no way implies that we are hostile to
progress but we ask: shouldn't there be any
progress in our Deeni conditions as well? If
someone asserts that there is practically no
need for Deeni progress, my lecture is not
addressed to him. You will surely be surprised to hear of people opposed to the progress of Deen. Allow me to inform you that
there are many such people around.
To be concluded
28
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Mar. 2009
Brutal
Population
Control
By Abid Ullah Jan (Canada)
The "conventional wisdom" of the
western-sponsored family planning programs is very simple: There are too many
people in the world. Population is growing
too fast and family planning methods must
be made available to every couple on earth.
This point of view has been stated so often
and so forcefully, that some people are beginning to believe that it is really true. But
behind all these cooked-up truths are some
strange contradictions and some fascinating
puzzles that need to be explored, exposed
and known to our public that has been subjected to a one-sided propaganda for far too
long.
Contrary to our misconceptions,
population policies in the West are rather
intended to increase birth rates. For instance, a family in Germany receives cash
"birth bonus" for having a baby. The government approves the bonus for the sole purpose of increasing the number of births by
200,000 per year. France, Switzerland,
Greece, and the Scandinavian countries
have all adopted "incentive" measures to
encourage larger families. These include
housing benefits, state maternity allowances, and a wide variety of regulations and
subsidies making large families more attractive and affordable. Similarly, the rest of the
developed world is giving tax breaks to
large families and other measures are undertaken that have a positive impact on fertility.
Yet the same western countries,
except one or two like Greece; are contributing money for reducing population size in
the developing world through the most repressive population control schemes. In mid
Mar. 2009
-1970s, they bankrolled the "state of emergency" declared in India that resulted in millions of men being hauled away in trucks
and forcibly sterilized. They inspired the
notorious "one-child" population policy in
China which is enforced through compulsory sterilizations and abortions. In Pakistan
too, none of the development organizations
has as much funds available at its disposal
as the Family Planning Association for
propaganda advertisements and other programs.
The US and its allies shifted their
focus to growing populations of the developing world soon after World War II. According
to a portion titled: Considerations for American Policy, taken from "Demographic Studies of Selected Areas of Rapid
Growth," (proceedings of the Round Table
on Population Problems, Twenty-Second
Annual Conference of the Milbank Memorial
Fund, April 12-13, 1944, New York City,
pages 146-158): "Regions whose readily
available resources are now less fully developed, may emerge with sufficient political
unity and industrial strength to give their
growing numbers power. Failing to find a
solution to their problems within their own
borders, they may easily become threats to
world peace." The list of recommendations
made in the above conference also included:
"It is important that specific and
widespread propaganda be directed to developing an interest in the health and welfare of children rather than in large families
for their own sake. Such education would
also involve propaganda in favor of controlled fertility as an integral part of a public
health program. It is important to develop a
native leadership that will acquire new values rapidly and serve as a medium for their
diffusion. To this end native political leaders, civil servants, and native middle
classes are needed."
Essentially, there has been little
deviation over the past 45 years from this
formula of pursuing ideological change
among people in less developed countries
at the initiative of the UN's rich country
Radiant Reality
members. The practice of promoting ideological change, both through widespread

propaganda and through the employment of
an elite leadership as agents for social policy, is likewise at the heart of the U.S.
Agency for International Development's recent emphasis on programs known as
"information, education and communication"
and "policy development."
A Report of the Royal Commission
on Population (U.K. June 1949) acknowledged in paragraphs 20, 21, 353, 354, and
613 that rapid population growth in Europe
was to be an essential condition for development of the region. The report stated that
the lack of "steady population increase
could threaten the preservation of British
influence abroad" (paragraphs 348, 355,
356, 357, 360, 613, 648, and 649). In paragraph 636, 658 and 659 pro-nationalist
measures were suggested to encourage
higher rates of population growth. This report was presented to the British Parliament
by command of His Majesty and necessary
measures were approved thereafter. Similarly, a study, in which the CIA, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the
U.S. AID and the Department of Agriculture
participated, concluded in 1974 that population control should be a key element of U.S.
foreign policy because:
1) Significant population growth in
certain larger nations would give them
greater political status and influence and
would thereby have adverse geopolitical
implications for the United States;
2) The United States' military and
industrial sectors require supplies of critical
mineral resources available almost exclusively in the Southern hemisphere, and access to such resources might be jeopardized by the political demands created by
larger societies;
3) The growth of population in poor
nations, and the relative youth of societies
with high birth rates tends to give momentum to nationalist movements that cause
political problems for the U.S.;
4) Growing nations in the South
might be tempted to nationalize foreign in(Vol.11, No: 03)
29
Radiant Reality
vestments in order to better absorb into the

national economy the wealth generated by
these firms (National Security Study Memorandum 200 or "NSSM 200," is reviewed in
detail in IPFA Working Paper, #1 Population
Control and National Security)
Among its many recommendations,
the National Security Council study urged
that pressure be put on leaders of developing countries to adopt official family planning targets and national population plans.
This was to be done through a complex
strategy of diplomatic contacts by using
U.S. economic leverage under the foreign
aid program and international financial institutions to set aside development funds specifically earmarked for family planning activities, and by the dissemination of aggressive
and often deceptive propaganda intended to
dispel fears that support for population control is based on a desire by the United
States and other northern nations to
weaken the future economic and political
strength of the developing countries.
Furthermore, in a commercial paperback book, Ray S. Cline, former deputy
director of the CIA and now chairman of the
U.S. Global Strategy Council (USGSC), reports that changes in global population distribution are moving world centers of power
away from the U.S. and Europe. The publication called The Power of Nations in the
1990s: A Strategic Assessment, by the University Press of America, 1975. It said, "The
spirit and competence of the individual human beings in a society, in the long run,
may count as much as or more than the
concrete and material resources a nation
possesses. Population size is clearly a major element in the international perceptions
of whether or not a country constitutes a
critical mass in terms of national power."
The Western analysts, thus, conclude that except in special cases, it is the
most populous nations who will dominate
the world in the next century. "It is hard in
normal cases to think of nations with a
population of less than 20 million as having
truly treat power in their own right, independent of the interests or actions of larger
30
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Mar. 2009
nations. For example, Israel(4 million), New

Zealand (3 million), and Singapore (2 million) -- have a disproportionate influence in
international affairs because of some special circumstance, such as advantageous
strategic location or world-wide commercial
activity," says the publication. However, it is
the 23 countries with the largest populations
that will be "automatically powerful" in coming years. Those countries include the Peoples Republic of China, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Russia,
Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Iran, Turkey, Thailand, and
Ethiopia.
The Western perspective in this
regard is so obviously contrary to what we
are being presented with. For example,
Matthew Connelly and Paul Kennedy, argued in an article appeared in the December 1994 edition of Africa 2000, that the
"key global problem" for the immediate future can be found in "unbalanced demographic trends" and the impact this situation
might have on power structures that maintain the present inequitable distribution of
wealth. They point out that "Europe and
North America, which contained more than
22 percent of the world's population in
1950, will contain less than 20 percent by
2025" and elsewhere observe that the lowbirth rate societies of the West "are committing demographic suicide." They also contend that potential economic progress in
"some of the poor regions of the globe"
poses a danger to the West because it will
set in motion a trend which will result in "the
economic and political balances of power"
moving away from today's allied powers.
This is the crux of the Western objectives behind sponsoring family planning
programs in the developing world. Even
Jacques Chirac of France remarked not
long ago: "When you compare Europe with
the other continents, it's terrifying. In demographic terms, Europe is disappearing.
Twenty or so years from now our countries
will be empty, and no matter what our technological power, we shall be incapable of
putting it to use." And he also includes the
Mar. 2009
words of K. Mahbubani from Singapore's

Foreign Ministry who criticizes what he calls
the "siege mentality" of Western leaders.
"Simple arithmetic demonstrates Western
folly," Mahbubani says. "The West has 800
million people; the rest make up almost 4.7
billion.... No Western society would accept a
situation where 15 percent of its population
legislated for the remaining 85 percent."
Thus, he concludes, "power is shifting
among civilizations." And indeed the West
acknowledges as stated by Connelly and
Kennedy that it is "undeniable that a shift in
material power toward Asia is under way.
The Coming Anarchy by Robert D.
Kaplan (February 1994 edition, Atlantic
Monthly at pages 44-76), is another representation of the Western thought that says
the developing world has become an explosive mix of "overpopulation", corruption and
disease. The youth in the developing world,
he says, are "like loose molecules in a very
unstable social fluid, a fluid that [is] clearly
on the verge of igniting."
The West is worried in particular
about the Islamic movement around the
world that appeals to the masses and
"spreads across artificial frontiers, fuelled by
mass migrations into the cities and a soaring birth rate." But all such analysis and
commentaries boil down to the worry about
a declining white race -- determined to hold
onto privilege by brutal force if need be -even as it finds itself increasingly outnumbered by people from the developing world.
All this makes "the revenge of the poor"
seem very much well justified, indeed. Environment is a new factor that has been
added to the family planning propaganda. It
is argued that population increase is going
to adversely impact on the environment. In
fact, the environment depends on other factors.Indeed, populous countries tend to
have greater resources available for environmental projects than do nations with
fewer people. The Western policy of boosting fertility in its own societies makes the
whole environment argument seem ridiculous because advocates of faster population
propose growth at home among the very
Radiant Reality
people who already are consuming nearly

80 percent of the world's resources.
Who's Crowded?
Then comes the complicated question of the "carrying capacity" of the planet.
Calcutta might be called "crowded." Mexico
City could be considered the same, and so
could Manila or Lagos or Cairo. But the
word "crowded" is almost never used to describe cities in developed countries like New
York, London, or Tokyo - despite the fact
that these cities are even more densely inhabited than major cities of the developing
world. Population "density" actually measures "crowding" and it works like this: Netherlands, for example, consists of 37,466
square kilometers of land. The country's
population is 14.9 million. Therefore, Netherlands has 397 people per square kilometer of its territory and 397 is its population
density. England consists of 245,778
square kilometers with a population of 57.4
million, giving that country a density of 233
persons per square kilometer. In Germany,
there are 221 people per square kilometer.
And all of these countries want their own
populations to increase.
Now look at the population figures
for the countries that are being forced to
slash birth rates by foreign aid donors and
lenders. In Pakistan, there are just 142 people for each square kilometer of territory.
China, the most populous nation on earth,
has a total land mass of 9.6 million square
kilometers with a population density of just
116. Indonesia and Thailand - two countries
that have been subjected to particularly
ruthless population-reduction campaigns have densities of only 99 and 108 respectively. The ratio of people-per-kilometer in
Mexico is barely 45. In Ethiopia it is 42,
meaning that Britain is more than sixteen
times as crowded as Ethiopia. Elsewhere
the figures are even more startling. In Senegal, for example, there are 37 people for
every square kilometer of land. In Brazil,
there are fewer than 18. Somalids population density is a mere 13. And in some
places - Namibia and Mauritania, for exam(Vol.11, No: 03)
31
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ple -there are less than two people for every

square kilometers of territory. Which means
the problem is not with population and resources, but with development and the economic inequality.
The debate on the carrying capacity
implies that less-developed countries cannot "sustain" as many people as rich countries can. But why not? The Western nations became wealthy through industrialization - and industrialization was made possible by raw materials extracted mainly
through the construction of vast colonial
empires, from the present developing countries and their natural resources. Even today, the natural resources on which the
powerful countries depend must be imported from Asia, Africa, Latin America and
the Middle East. The developing countries
only need systematic and organized efforts
toward sustainable development provided
they are left in peace. As long as the West
keeps on interfering in their internal affairs,
the developing nations won't get an opportunity to focus on development.
Irrespective of the disproportionate
use of fuel for heating and other purposes in
the temperate regions of the West, the
warm climates of the developing countries
can sustain - in terms of food - about twice
as great a population density as the North.
And this answers the other half of the
"sustainable population" question - that is
food. Most of the 549,146 square kilometers
of land that make up France can produce
crops for only about half the year. But in
tropical Kenya, with roughly the same
amount of space, the land can produce year
- round.
Unfortunately, however, there is a
lack of basic justice in international relations
and politics. Most of the usable land in the
developed countries is cultivated, their technology is advanced, and they can afford to
import what they cannot grow. In developing
countries, however, only a small percentage
of fertile land is in cultivation, and the countries are so poor that they must export most
of what they grow.
The next question is of stability: Will
32
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Mar. 2009
population growth in the developing world

lead to conflict? Birth control advocates are
quick to use this argument as a last resort.
They argue that the crime rate would increase and there would be a conflict for
capturing the resources. Of course, urban
areas tend to have more crime than do rural
villages, but this rate also varies from Society to society. The number of serious
crimes reported compared to the total population in Shreveport, Louisiana, US, with
200,000 people, for instance is immensely
higher than it is in Cairo, Egypt with 20 million people.
In fact, the western strategic planners are more worried about international
conflict than they are about robbery and
assault in the streets. They fear that as
populations grow in the less-developed areas, pressures will mount for a redistribution
of wealth from rich to the poor. In this respect, they are undoubtedly right. This explains why such enormous effort is expended by the powerful nations of the world
to gather census figures, project population
growth rates, evaluate political-demographic
trends, sponsor family planning and fund
poverty alleviation programs - a fund that is
no more than a few drops in a desert.
The nature of the population and
conflict equation with a few examples is
somewhat like this In Sudan, slightly more
than half of the 6,488,864 males between
18 and 49 are considered fit for military duty
and another 301,573 are expected to be
added to this number each year. India is
reported to have 143,008,471 men suitable
for the military, with more than 9 million
added to that number each year.
And fully 71 percent of males in the
Philippines between the age 15 and 49 are
fit for combat, with over 700,000 more expected to join their number annually. It explains the eagerness of densely populated
western countries to encourage births at
home, while demanding at the very same
time to take outrageous steps to prevent
fertility in the developing word to avoid a
shift in the balance of power at some time in
Contd on page 20
Mar. 2009
Radiant Reality
Choosing a Friend
Hakimul Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA)
Introduction
The following is a lecture delivered
by Hadhrat Thanwi rahmatullahi alayhi in
Lal Masjid, Gangoh, U.P. India, on the 1st
of Shaban 1330 A.H.
Following the phrases of Khutbah,
Hadhrat commenced his lecture thus:
"Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has
said: "A person is on the creed of his friend.
Therefore a person should sed who he ir
affiliated`with."
Preamble and Reason for the Selection
of this Topic
I have justbrecited a saying of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in which
he touches on a very beneficial and important topic. I have chosen this specific topic
simply because time is limited. If time had
permitted, other important topics could have
been discussed as well. Nonetheless, it
seems most appropriate to select a topic
which, while being beneficial to all Muslims,
is indispensable to them as well.
The Division of Religious (Deeni) Requirements regarding the Preamble
A detailed account of the point is
that religious`compulsions are divided into
two groups. The first group deals with compulsions that are not compulsory upon everyone. For example, the compulsion of Zakat. Those who are in possession of wealth
are compelled to pay Zakat whilst others
are not compelled to do so. Even though
there is a degree of generalisation in Zakat
but the compulsion is confined to SahibeNisab (one who possesses a Zakatable
amount). Similarly, Haj is compulsory only
upon those who are in possession of
wealth. Nevertheless the distinguishing features in these devotions lie in those people
who are legally obligated to carry them out.
Certain devotions are characterized by time
eg. Salah, Saum etc.

The second group comprises of
those religious compulsions in which there
are no specializations, neither in terms of
the legally obligated nor in terms of time. In
other words, they are not such that they are
compulsory upon Zaid and not upon Amr
nor are they such that their compulsion is
restricted to certain times only. They are
compulsory upon every individual at every
moment. Such a religious compulsion is
termed as a Jami (comprehensive) and Am
(all-inclusive) compulsion.
Nonetheless, there are many topics
of this nature. The afore-mentioned Hadith
deals with an obligation that is comprehensive and all-inclusive. It is not subjected to a
specified time nor to legally obligated individuals. Henceforth, it seems most appropriate to comment - though briefly - on this
Hadith. However, this brief explanation
should be sufficient. It would be brief in a
sense that the forthcoming commentary
would exclude corroborative and substantiative statements etc. Any additional points
made during the course of this discourse
will be for purposes of clarification only. This
was the preamble.
Designation of the Above Topic
Now understand this important
topic. The fact that this topic has been repeatedly discussed in the past and the fact
that we haven't visualized its importance as
yet, renders it a seemingly trivial topic at a
cursory glance. This is evident from the fact
that the said topic is totally omitted whenever the "indispensabilities" are mentioned.
However, since this concept is totally
against reality, the benefit and importance
of it will also be mentioned.
Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam stated:- "Every person is on the creed
(way of life) of his friend. Therefore, a per(Vol.11, No: 03)
33
Radiant Reality
son should see who he is affiliated with." In

other words, if his friend is religious, he will
also be pious. If he is irreligious, he is sure
to be the same. Hence, the irreligiousness
of his friend is a cause for his irreligiousness and the piety of his friend is a cause
for his piety. And this cause is what is referred to in technical terms as "common
external causes." The real or actual cause
for everything is however, subjected to the
will of Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'ala has made
certain causes logical but they are all
"common external causes." This is the gist
of this Hadith.... In other words, a person
should ponder over his friendship and contemplate that the person whom I have selected as a friend, in terms of religiousness
and piety, is he worth befriending or not?
Even the "Religious" Disregard Pious
Company
Think about the importance people
attach to this topic. Nothing whatsoever! Let
alone the worldly-minded, even those that
are referred to as religious, are unmindful of
this religious injunction. The "religious minded" who, other than Salah, Zakat, Haj
etc, are extremely keen on performing other
optional devotions such as recitation of the
Holy Qur'an, Nafl (superogatory) Salah and
so forth and they are considered to be great
saints but none of them except a few are
really concerned about the company they
keep. None of them consider a pious friend
as important and beneficial nor do they regard evil company as detrimental. In fact,
we have heard them saying:- "Everyone is
for himself. If a person is bad, his evil is
confined to him alone. He (the friend) is a
well-wisher." (How strange that we believe
in contagious diseases but we don't believe
in this!)
The Baseless Concept of Contagious
Diseases
Friends! In certain diseases, which
are considered to be "contagious", we take
precaution. Let alone the Ulema, even the
medical fraternity seems divided over the
transmission of diseases. Some doctors
34
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Mar. 2009
have totally rejected this concept. There are

reports of some people who implanted the
bubonic plague bacterium into their skins
but nothing happened to them. In Bareli, a
Bengali Hindu extremely grieved with the
loss of his son became disgusted with life.
In order to bring his life to an end, he pursued the external causes of inflicting himself
with the plague virus. He started wearing
the clothing of the afflicted, started eating in
their utensils and lived in the same quarters.
He assumed all the external causes of infection but to no avail and he remained as
healthy as before. So, if there are some
incidents of contagion, there are more incidents of non-contagion. This is why Islam
has passed a splendid judgement in this
regard. If Allah wills, the person is infected
and if He does not will, he will never be infected. This judgement also brings about
some conformity between the Qur'anic
Verses and Ahadith in which some texts
favour the concept of contagion whilst other
texts refute it.
The Malady of Bad Company is Eternally
Contagious
Nonetheless, the point is that in
regards to the contagion of certain diseases
which are neither established nor convincing, such precautions are taken that people
avoid visiting the patients and also protect
their children from being exposed to the
disease. But the sickness that is eternal, ie.
the evil effects of bad company, no degree
of vigilance whatsoever is awarded to it.
Friends! remember this is the most contagious disease. Be very careful of it. Examine the condition of those you meet and
come into contact with. Meeting in this context refers to intimate and loosely acquainted meetings. At times, coming into
contact with others is inevitable eg. in the
market-place, one meets all types of people. Such encounters are exempted (from
our discussion). Only closely acquainted
and intimate meetings are referred to in this
discussion. This is why Rasullullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam used the phrase "upon
the creed of his "Khaleel" (friend). He didn't
Mar. 2009
say "upon the creed of his "sahib" (one in

his company). Khaleel is a reference to a
close and intimate companion. Do people
pay due regard to the type of people they
come into contact with? Do they ever contemplate over the piety or the irreligiousness of their companions?
People are Negligent of their Children's
Character
We see that people pursue all the
avenues for the success of their children.
Some give them secular education, some
impart religious education whilst others ensure that their children acquire some skill or
profession. As for fostering the children
physically, even the animals nurse their
young. If the children fall ill, thousands of
rupees are spent on their medical costs. In
short, all our money, luxuries and comforts
are sacrificed in favour of our children. But
do we ever sacrifice a fraction of the child's
life or a month every year or at least one
week to enable the child to spiritually enhance his character in the company of a
pious person? If anyone does think about
the character of the child, he mentions a
few words of advice to the child but be
warned that the admonishment of an ordinary person is not sufficient. Experience
has proven that the advice of an ordinary
person is likely to be less beneficial.
The Impact of a Pragmatist's Word
The mystery lying behind the aforementioned fact is that a person's speech will
only take effect when he himself practises
upon what he preaches. This is so because
without action (amal) the tone of the speech
lacks dynamism and force. And dynamism
and force are the most indispensable ingredients of an impressive speech. The dynamism of the Holy Qur'an was one of the
chief factors which slashed the spirits of the
Arabs once they heard the recitation of the
Holy Qur'an.
An Incident Regarding the Dynamism of
the Qur'an
I will narrate an incident by which
Radiant Reality
you will be able to ascertain the dynamic

force of the Holy Qur'an. When Nabi Sallallahu alaihi wasallam commenced his mission of Tableegh (invitation) towards Islam
and he condemned the idols and when people started flocking into the fold of Islam, the
chieftains of Makkah called up a meeting.
Amongst other things, they discussed how
Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam had
vexed them and defamed their idols. They
discussed the various plans to restrict him
and to lull the prevailing social dissension
he had caused. One of them mustered the
courage and declared that he would somehow or the other tempt and satisfy Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam by which he
will subsequently relinquish his Deeni activities. The block-head was under the false
notion that Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam was also amongst those whose sole
objective is the world.
Nowadays People Approach Saints for a
Variety of Vested Interests
These days, many people regard
their spiritual teachers in exactly the same
light. Some associate with them with the
sole objective of gaining a few rupees or of
marrying a certain woman. What they don't
realize is that when this person did not approve of the dunya (world) for himself, how
can he provide a part of the dunya for others? By Allah! It is a form of great oppression to present one's worldy objectives before the Ahlullah (saints). The parable of
presenting worldly aspirations before the
saints is likened to taking a damaged bedstead to a jeweller for repairs or like taking a
hoe to a jeweller to be sharpened on a
whetstone. The Ahlullah (saints) are spiritual doctors. They are there to treat spiritual
maladies. Utilise them for this purpose only.
Nowadays, conditions have deteriorated to
such levels that people approach the saints
to read on salts (as a Taweez) so that a
certain woman may be acquired in marriage
whilst others vex the saints for a Taweez to
enable them to win a court-case and so
forth.
How vexatious can people be!! It
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35
Radiant Reality
has been narrated in a Hadith: "Show pity

upon three people" In other words, three
people are really pitiable. One of them is:
"An Alim who is scoffed at by the ignorant."
Taking inappropriate services from an Alim
can also be classified as scoffing. Taking a
hoe to a jeweller for repairs, is obviously as
good as ridiculing him. Moulana Muhammad Yaqoob Sahib (Rahmatullah Alayhi)
used to say:- "The parable of us (Ulama)
can be likened to a stingy person who employs a cook but due to his miserliness, he
restricts him from preparing any delicacies.
The cook responds: "Sir! I feel you should
occasionally make me prepare a few delicacies for you because staying in your employment will surely make me forget the skill
and art of cooking." This is a parable of the
Ulama; people don't take from them what
they are supposed to take from them. The
only function of the Molvies nowadays
seems to have dwindled down to performing
Janazah Salah and issuing Taweezes! Did
the saints undergo spiritual exercises and
mystic drills simply for the issuing of
Taweezes?
By this I don't imply that you should
not forward your worldly desires before the
saints at all. You should surely put them
forward. However, the procedure you
should adopt is that instead of requesting
for a taweez, request them to make Dua for
you because the issuing of Taweezes is not
their job. The main reason is that they (the
saints) are endowed with the attribute of
"Abdiyat" (servitude unto Allah). On the
other hand, dealing with Taweezes is bound
to create a degree of confidence and reliance upon the Taweez. The person for
whom the Taweez has been issued has
complete confidence in the Taweez whilst
the person who issues it also has a degree
of confidence in it according to his spiritual
status. Hence, dealing in taweezes etc, falls
contrary to Abdiyyat and Tawakkul (trust
upon Allah Ta'ala). This is why the saints
tend to have an aversion towards the issuing of Taweezes.
Nonetheless, to make dua whether it is for worldly or religious motives
36
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Mar. 2009
- is an act of Ibadat. Hence, requesting

them to make dua for you is no problem at
all provided your request for Deeni
(religious) objectives exceeds that of worldly
requests or you do intend to follow your
worldly request with a Deeni request. In
short, people judge the saints upon themselves and consider the saints to be in pursuit of the dunya (world) like themselves.
The Dynamism of the Qur'n (completion of incident)
Similarly, this person (Chieftain of
Makkah) also approached Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam with the same frame of
mind. As he approached, he submitted:
"What is your objective? If wealth is your
objective, we will make a massive collection
for you. If status is what you desire, we will
make you our leader. If you desire women,
the most beautiful women of the Quraysh
clan will be presented before you." But look
at the perseverance of Rasulullah Sallallahu
alaihi wasallam that in spite of hearing all
these accusations, he remained silent.
When the disbeliever finally terminated his
speech, all Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam did was he recited "Auzu and Bismillah" and recited the following verses:
"Ha-meem. This Qur'n is a revelation from the most beneficent and most
merciful." He continued reciting until he
came to the verse:- "so if they turn away:
say (unto them): I have warned you of a
thunderbolt like the thunderbolt of d and
Thamud."
The dynamism and awe of these
verses had such an impact on him that he
fled from there saying that he is unable to
hear anything. Returning to the chieftains of
Makkah, he narrated the entire incident and
submitted:" My condition, after going to him,
has become strange. When he (Rasulullah
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam recited the above
verses (in regards to the thunderbolt), I felt
as though I was struck by a thunderbolt. If I
sat for a little while longer, I would have relinquished my religion (and chose the religion of Islam)." So this was the effect of the
divine word of Allh. Since the reciter was
Mar. 2009
also a practical person, it further enhanced

the dynamism and impact of the divine
words. In short, to consider personal spiritual supervision (of children) as sufficient,
stems from gross ignorance.
Advice to the Rich Regarding Children's
Character
Therefore, just as how the parents
employ a tutor or master for the education
of their children, at the same time, it is imperative upon them to pursue a patron
(guardian saint). They should send their
children to him every now and again and
bear the expenses etc. of sending them as
well. So tell me, how many Muslims have
made concrete arrangements in this regard? The main reason for such indolence
and negligence is that people have failed to
grasp the indispensability and importance of
this matter.
The Indispensability of Pious Company
This is why its importance is established from the Hadith. The afore-mentioned
Hadith consists of an "informative sentence" (Jumlah Khabariyah) as well as an
"injunctive sentence" (Jumlah Inshaiyyah).
The first portion of the Hadith "A person is
on the creed of his companion" is an informative sentence and the latter portion of the
Hadith "every man should ponder over who
he befriends" is an injunctive sentence: so
the informative sentence is a comprehensive rule whilst the injunctive sentence is an
application or elaboration of the first sentence so the object of the first sentence is
as invariable as the second. So the comprehensive rule is: "Every man is on the creed
of his friend". Applying this rule, it is further
stated that since you are now aware that a
person is on the religion of his friend and
the reformation of a person's religious outlook is imperative, it therefore transpires
that everyone should contemplate the company he chooses so that he can evaluate
the effect his company has on his Deen
(religion). From the sentence "Every man
should ponder..." any person well-versed
Contd on page 28
Radiant Reality
Youth: On Culture, Religion, and

Generation Gap
If the life of this world is an illusion,
the period of greatest illusion occurs during
youth. It is a period of high energy and great
enthusiasm, coupled with an air of invincibility and perpetuity. Like the driver of a fast
car, one may also develop a disdain for the
slower cars on the highway of life. It is difficult to imagine that the car will run out of
fuel and that one day the engine will wear
out.
For the moment though the car is
fast and it can go places!
For this reason there are special
warnings for the youth and glad tidings for
the person who uses this energy wisely. A
famous hadith tells us that on the Day of
Judgment no man will be able to move from
his place until he answers five questions.
"How did he spend his life? How did he utilize his youth? How did he earn his wealth?
How did he spend it? And, how did he practice what he learnt?" [Sunan al-Tirmidhi].
While the first question asks generally about
one's life pattern, the second especially focuses on the period of youth.
On the other hand, the person who
devoted his youth to the worship of Allah
will be among the selected seven kinds of
people: "There are seven people for whom
Allah will provide His shade on the day
when there will be no shade except His
shade: 1. A just ruler. 2. A youth who grew
up in the worship of Allah. 3. A man whose
heart is attached to the mosque. 4. Two
men who love each other for Allah's sake;
they meet for the sake of Allah and part
company for His sake. 5. A man who is invited by a woman of beauty and position [to
sin], but he refuses saying: 'I fear Allah.' 6.
A man who gives in charity secretly such
that his left hand does not know what his
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37
Radiant Reality
right hand gives. 7. A man whose eyes

shed tears as he remembers Allah in private." [Bukhari, Muslim].
Hence the profound advice in another famous hadith to value five things:
"Youth before old age, health before sickness, wealth before poverty, free time before preoccupation, and life before death."
A fast car is dangerous if it does not
have strong controls. And that is where
Shaitan targets the vulnerable --- by loosening the controls. It has been his time-tested
trick to work through temptations and make
desires look irresistible. The path of deviation looks good. It is cool. It is fun. It is endlessly entertaining. The only problem is, it
leads to assured disaster. This is the path of
MTV and pop culture; of music and hip-hop;
of rebellion and generation gap.
'Generation gap' is a clever term
that aims at giving scientific respectability to
rudeness and rebellion. The idea is to create a wedge between generations and
make it look acceptable for a young person
to be indifferent to any wise counsel from
one's close and well-wishing elders. Which
reminds us of the special challenge faced
by the youth today. While temptations have
always been strong in young age, today the
problem is magnified by mega efforts targeting the youth, especially the Muslim youth in
the Western world, at all levels including
intellectual and philosophical.
A favorite theme of these campaigns is to separate Islam from its culture.
When in France, follow the French culture
not the Muslim Algerian one, so the argument goes. This argument needs to be
carefully deconstructed. Like all clever arguments this one also begins with a bit of
truth. It is true that Islam is a universal religion and not restricted to a particular region.
It is also true that many Muslim lands, during their period of decline, developed or
adopted some cultural practices that were
not based in Islam and need to be pruned.
Certainly, not everything that has become
accepted social practice in every Muslim
country is Islamic. But it is a very long jump
from there to conclude that everything being
38
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Mar. 2009
done in the Muslim world is un-Islamic and

must be jettisoned. And it is even more bizarre to suggest that the replacement of all
that with the pop-culture is just fine.
When Islam reached the lands that
today form the Muslim world, it influenced
the life style and cultural practices there
without forcing a monoculture. For example
the wedding practices vary as you move
from region to region in the Muslim world.
(The picture is complicated by the introduction of many non-Islamic practices there as
well.) Yet they also retain common features
traceable to Islamic teachings. These include: 1. Marriage is a sacred act and an
important religious obligation and not just a
means of fulfilling physical needs. 2. While
the ultimate decision to marry each other
remains with the bride and groom, parental
help, guidance, and support in arranging it
is a blessing for them.
The propaganda machine presents
this common core of Islamic culture as a
great burden, but one only needs to look at
the unfortunate millions who are left on their
own in the name of freedom, to ascertain
the truth. Is it not true that if one were to
draw a family-and-home-life-disaster map of
the world, it will coincide with a map of the
Western world? The distinctly safe area will
be the Muslim world, with a gray area within
it coinciding with the areas of Westernization. The safeguards and the disaster are
built into the underlying cultural values and
one cannot do a wholesale exchange of
cultural practices without buying into the
underlying values and facing the consequences.
Does it mean that all Muslims can
aim at is to make mini Pakistans in England
or mini Algerias in France? Not at all. Islam
allows for growth and adaptation and early
Muslims have left great examples of it.
Theirs was an example of a natural adjustment that was fully informed by Islamic
teachings; it did not damage the underlying
values. And it tremendously enriched the
new societies. The same healthy adaptation
can happen today, with benefits for everyone.
Contd on page 17
Mar. 2009
Radiant Reality
Saviours of Islamic Spirit

Sheikh-ul-Islam Hafiz Ibn Taimiyah
Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi (RA)
Character and Achievements

Intellectual Brilliance
Ibn Taimiyah occupied a pride of
place among his contem-porary scholars
and doctors of religion, theologians and
legists who had all to acknowledge, without
any exception, his superlative merits in
every branch of learning. This was not due
to his fire of genius alone but also because
of his marvelous retentive memory which
was, indeed, a God-given gift granted to a
few beneath the heavens. By Ibn Tairniyah's time, the religious sciences had been
vastly developed and encyclopedic literature had been accumulated on scores of its
branches. No scholar could, without a prodigious memory, claim mastery over the
whole of it, much less sit in judgment over
the thoughts and findings of the savants in
every field of knowledge. But the remarkable treasure house of Ibn Taimiyah's mind
enabled him to have at his finger tips the
whole of the then extant literature on exegesis, Traditions, jurisprudence, dogmatic theology, scholasticism, history, biography,
lexicography and syntax. He could always
utilize this store-house of knowledge in his
thrilling career of intellectual and literary
pursuits.
His contemporaries and successors
both are agreed that he possessed a wonderful memory, nimble mind, quick grasp
and a radiant flame of intellect. One of his
classmates, Alam ud din al-Barzali, says
that "he enshrined in his memory whatever
he heard, rarely anything faded from his
mind and, intelligent as he was, he had a
wide knowledge." Shams ud-din al-Zahabi,
the famous historian and biographer has
avouched that he has not seen "a man
more adept than Ibn Taimiyah who could
rehearse the Traditions so correctly (with
the correct wordings and the narrative,
chains), recall these at the appropriate time

and cite the correct references."- Everyone
conversant with the science of Traditions
knows how difficult it is to learn by heart the
entire literature on Traditions, But, strange
though it may seem, no contemporary
scholar of Ibn Taimiyah, not even his bitterest critics, ever disputed the testimony of alZahahi who said : "It can truly be claimed
that no Tradition would be acceptable if Ibn
Taimiyah pleaded ignorance of it." Kamal
ud-din ibn az-Zamalkani disagreed with Ibn
Taimiyah on many issues and had figured
against him in several polemical disputations. Once he acknowledged that "no
man of such prodigious memory has been
born in the last four or five hundred years."
To quote al-Zahabi again, Ibn Taimiyah was
"a flame of intellect" and "a marvel of sparkling intelligence and a sharp wit."
Encyclopedic Knowledge
Ibn Taimiyah had so completely
assimilated all the knowledge of his time
that even the talented doctors in different
fields of learning were amazed to see his
mastery in their own sciences. A number of
eminent scholars have paid glowing tributes
to Ibn Taimiyah. Taqi ud-din Ibn Daqiq ulclcl occupies a distinguished place among
the teachers of Traditions. His impression,
after Ibn Taimiyati met him in Egypt in 700
A.H, was: "I felt that he had all the sciences
before Ins eyes; he called up whatever he
liked and left whatever he wanted." Kamal
ud-din ibn az-Zamalkani was a renowned
scholar in several sciences. Expressing his
astonishment over Ibn Taimiyah's agility of
mind he says, "When he is asked anything,
his reply gives the impression that he has
spent his whole life in acquiring the knowledge of that very science alone and there is
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39
Radiant Reality
none else who can equal .him in that branch

of learning." Taqi ud-din ibn al-Subki, one of
Ibn Taimiyah's rivals who had written many
books to confute Ibn Taimiyah's views on
certain juristic issues, wrote in his letter to al
-Zahabi: "I am fully aware that Ibn Taimiyah
is an erudite scholar, his knowledge is profound and deep in all the religious and
secular sciences; he is mature in thought
and sparkling in intellect, and I also know
that his scholarship is beyond all praise, I
have always acknowledged these qualities
of Ibn Taimiyah before my friends and associates."
Ibn Taimiyah was not a student of
history. However, his competence in this
field too was acknowledged by a historian
like Shams ud-din al-Zahabi in these words:
"His knowledge of history is remarkably astonishing." Ibn Qayyim has left an account
of Ibn Taimiyah's amazing proficiency in this
field as well as sharpness of mind. He
writes in Zad ul-Maad that once the Jews
(of either Syria or Iraq) produced as scroll of
crumbling paper with a writing in the old
script which showed that the Prophet had
exempted the Jews of Khaibar from the
payment of Jizyah (poll-tax). The document
had the signatures of Ali, Sa'ad ibn Maaz
and a number of other companions of the
Prophet as witnesses. Certain scholars, not
so well-versed in history, accepted it as a
genuine document and gave the decision
that the Jews should be exempted from the
payment of poll-tax. But when the document
was shown to Ibn Taimiyah he at once declared it to be a fake document and gave as
many as ten reasons for holding that opinion. Some of the reasons given by Ibn
Taimiyah for declaring the document as
spurious were that it had the signature of
Saad ibn Ma'az but he had died before the
battle of Khaibar; there could be no question of any exemption from the poll-tax because the Quranic verses imposing the tax
were revealed in the year of Tabuk i.e. three
years after the battle of Khaibar was fought.
The exemption of the Jews from forced labour, a mention of which was made in the
document, was absurd for the Prophet or
40
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Mar. 2009
his companions neither considered it lawful

under the Skariah nor they ever subjected
anybody to forced labour; and, lastly, no
historian, Traditionist or legist had made a
mention of the document in question in his
writings."
Another story of his nimble wit and
facility of poetization has been told by Saleh
Taj ud-din. He says that once a Jew brought
a question about fate in the form of eight
verses. Ibn Taimiyah read the verses, pondered over the question for a few seconds
and then started writing its reply. When he
had completed the reply it was found that
he had composed 184 verses in the same
metre and rhyme in which the question had
been indicted. Saleh Taj ud-din adds that
Ibn Taimiyah's verses were so profound
that a commentary on them would have
filled two copious volumes.
Ibn Taimiyah's great store of knowledge has been acclaimed by his contemporary and succeeding scholars with such
compli-mentary remarks as "The Master
Spirit of the Age' "The Grown of Scholars'
"Last of the Enlightened scholars," and "A
Sign among the Signs of God." Ibn Saiyid-in
-Nas (d. 734 A.H.) says that his contemporaries did not see another man like him, nor
did he himself witness his peer. Similarly,
Shams ud-din al-Zahabi testifies: If I were
asked to testify before the Kaba I will swear
by God that neither I saw a scholar like him
nor did he himself see a man of his stature."
Dauntless Courage
The Turk chiefs and military generals were amazed to see the dauntless valour of Ibn Taimiyah which he had shown
against the Mongols on the battle-field,
"'Seated on the horse-back," says Hafiz
Siraj ud-din, "he assumed his station in tire
front line like a brave soldier arid flew at the
enemy ranks as if he had no fear." The remarkable courage shown by him against the
kings and rulers in raising the voice of truth
was undoubtedly the outcome of an still
deeper, spiritual and enduring element of
his character. Many scholars before him
had expounded the issues he touched
Mar. 2009
upon, but the singular courage and fearlessness exhibited by him in explaining the true
content of the Unity of Godhead and placing
one's trust in Him alone as against the innovation of sufistic ideas like pantheistic monism or union and absorption into the Absolute Being or other aberrations of the misguided sects, and the way he endured all
adversities patiently and steadfastly show
the fortitude and grit of his mind and character. Paying a glowing tribute to this brave,
venturesome characteristic of Ibn Taimiyah,
al-Zahabi writes : "None amongst his predecessors and successors dared to explain
his viewpoint so forcefully as did Ibn Taimiyah and the result was that a large number
of theologians of Egypt and Syria became
his enemy. His adversaries left no stone
unturned to humiliate and discredit him.
They charged him with innovation, joined
issues with him and wrote treatises to confute him, but he remained steadfast against
all odds and difficulties. He resisted all
temptations and remained firm on what he
considered to be right and correct. The conclusions he had reached were not only the
result of his own ponderings and wide
knowledge of the Scripture and Traditions
but also a product of his piety, fear of God
and deference to the ordinances of the
Shariah, On many an occasion he had to
face the combined antipathy of opposing
scholars, but he was always helped by God
to emerge unhurt from the vindictive wrath
of his opponents."
The comprehensive knowledge and
intellectual brilliance of Ibn Taimiyah had
been acknowledged by his contemporaries,
friends and foes both, but the secret of his
greatness and immortal fame lay in his inquiring mind, coherent thought and ability to
chart an untrodden course for himself. No
scholar before him had dared to point out
the mistakes of Sibawaih, the undisputed
authority on grammar and syntax, as he did.
Greek philosophy had so powerfully captured the minds of the scholars and doctors
of religion that even its greatest critic, Imam
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, had not succeeded
in completely shaking off the influence of
Radiant Reality
Greek metaphysics and ethics in his famous

work Ihya ul-Uloom. But Ibn Taimiyah's writings do not show the slightest trace of compromise with the Greek philosophy and its
way of thinking. In Kitab ur-Radd-i-alal Muntaqiyin his criticism of the logical syllogism
smashes the entire structure of Greek philosophy from which it had been borrowed.
In Traditions and jurisprudence too, the
scholars never dared to discuss any issue
except within the limits set by the earlier
teachers, but Ibn Taimiyah had the courage
to reopen many issues which had by then
been taken as decided once for all. He fearlessly presented his findings with cogent
reasoning couched in a literary style, which
stirred the stagnant thought of his time. At
last, he raised himself above the four orthodox juristic schools and began to base his
legal opinions only on the Scripture, the
Traditions of the Prophet and the practice of
the companions. "For the last few years",
says al-Zahabi, "he is not giving his legal
opinions in accordance with any recognised
juristic school, but stands by what he considers to be right. He has set forth a series
of such reasons and proofs, as none else
had done earlier, which uphold the correctness of following the precepts of the
Prophet and the earliest followers uf Islam."
It is natural for man to err, and Ibn
Taimiyah too was at fault in some of his
'unique' opinions; but there is not the least
doubt about his sincerity. He never blindly
followed any Imam nor gave up the opinion
of the founder of any juristic school either
on account of false pretence, inertia or sluggishness, vanity or expediency. He was
always disposed to act with careful regard
to what was right and enjoined by the Book
of God and Traditions of the Prophet. The
character of Ibn Taimiyah. can best be
summed up in the words of Ibn Hajar
Asqalani which is worth repeating here. He
says that "Ibn Taimiyah was without doubt
the Saint of saints. Even in matters in which
he was censured, he did not form his opinion out of arrogance. He insisted on his
opinion only when he was satisfied about its
correctness. In all those numerous matters
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41
Radiant Reality
in which his opinion has been accepted as

correct, one ought to avail oneself of his
wisdom and raise his hands in prayer for
the peace of his soul. One need not follow
him where he is mistaken, but he cannot be
reproached even in those matters. All the
erudite scholars of his time have affirmed
that he had attained that position of scholarship and learning which enables a man to
formulate juristic opinions. Even Sheikh Jamal ud-din az-Zamalkani, who was his bit-
Mar. 2009
terest enemy always trying to put him to

harm, has acknowledged the erudition of
Ibn Taimiyah."
Furtherance of the cause of true
faith was all his business, from morn till eve.
He had no other occupation, no vocation,
which could divert his attention from the
remembrance of God and service of his
fellow beingsneither a trade to ply, nor
dependants to engage his attention he ever
had.
Sahl ibn Abdullah and Shaytan

Sahl bin Abdullah Tastari was a great aarif (one who gained the recognition of Allah
Taàla) of the past and a contemporary of Imam Abu Dawood r.a. Once he met Shaytan
on the way to salaah who said to him:
"Hadrat! I have a question to ask..."
He recognized that this was Shaytan. Shaytan also realized that he had recognized him.
Shaytan asked: "You say that the curse of Allah is on me and not His rahmat (mercy),
whereas it appears in the Qur'an:
My mercy encompasses everything. [7: 156]
and I am also shay (a thing). I am not la shay (nothing.)This is a mujiba kulliyya.
Sahl Bin Abdullah said that I was so confounded by his question that my mouth dried up
and I gasped for breath, worrying as to what answer must I give. The following ayah
came to mind:
I will show mercy to those who fear me and discharge their zakah. [7: 156]
Hence, I said to him: "The rahmat (mercy) is for those who possess the quality of taqwa
(fear of Allah) and you are not from amongst them."
Shaytan said: "O Sahl! Your description is limiting. Allah Taàla's description is unlimited. You have based the description of Allah upon your description. Upon this Shaytan
fled saying: "If only you had remained silent!"
Shaikh Muhyiddeen ibne Arabi has mentioned this incident in Futoohaat-e-Makkiyyah
and Imam Shaàrani has related it in Al-Yawaaqeet wal Jawaahir. Allamah Anwar
Shah Kashmiri (ra) comments on the incident and says, "I cannot understand why
Shaikh Sahl bin Abdullah was silenced despite being such a great scholar. The meaning
of the rahmat (mercy) encompassing everything is that it has the ability to accommodate everything. Whoever wishes can be accommodated in it. There is no shortage in
the mercy of Allah Taàla. Like how it is said : This room can accommodate a hundred
people. Will there be any harm if only fifty people come into the room and fifty don't?
Similar is the mercy of Allah Taàla. It can accommodate everything, but Shaytan himself did not want to enter it. How will the rahmat (mercy) then accommodate him?
What! Should we force it down your throats whereas you dislike it? [11: 28]
This is how Shah Sahib answered this.
42
(Vol.11, No: 03)
The Aadaab of Things in General Use

Anything which is used by a number of persons should be replaced in its original place after use. Replace it in the same place from where you have taken it so
that someone else does not have to search for it when required.
Having used an item, e.g. a chair, do not leave it in the way or in a place where
it becomes an obstacle for others.
When giving someone an item, do not throw it at him from a distance. Give it in
his hand.
When passing something heavy, hot or a liquid or food to another, do not pass it
over someone's head. Perhaps it may slip.
If a needle becomes stuck in the cloth while sewing, do not pull it out with your
teeth. It may break and hurt you.
Do not leave a needle or any sharp or dangerous item on a chair or bed. Somebody may sit or lie on it.
Do not pick your teeth with a needle or knife. This is dangerous.
Do not suddenly lift a stone which has been lying in the same spot for a while.
Sometimes a scorpion, etc., may be concealed thereunder.
Do not throw peels or any other harmful objects in the pathway or road.
During winter, wear suitable garments to give warmth. Many females wear insufficient garments during winter. This causes either colds or fever.
Before lying down to sleep, dust the bedding with a cloth. Sometimes harmful
insects settle in the blankets.
After having eaten, do not leave without having removed the food. It is disrespectful to leave the food and move off. First send away the food, then get up.
Left-overs which you are not able to eat, and crumbs, should not be thrown into
the dust-bin. Birds and animals eat such food. Put it in a place where animals
and birds may acquire it.
Do not throw away a lighted match. First extinguish it.
Do not leave a burning lamp unattended at home. If no one is present, extinguish it.
When handling dangerous items, such as a burning candle, boiling water, hot
oil, etc., be very careful. (Some people are in a careless habit of leaving a cup of
hot tea / water at the edge of the table. A small child may grab it and spill the
boiling contents on himself. Women are in the careless and dangerous habit of
leaving cooking utensils with their handles protruding from stoves. A passing
person may bump against the handle and spill the contents with grave consequences).
Rafatul Bari
A Comprehensive & Scholarly Commentary
in English of
Sahih al-Bukhari
(The Most Authentic Hadith Collection)

By
Dr. Rafiq Ahmad.
First of its kind in the world made available in a

lucid and easy language.
Useful for both scholars and commoners.
Very popular in South Africa, UK & USA.
Locally available at:
Maktaba al-Ghazali,
Gaw Kadal Chowk.
Srinagar, Kashmir.
Ph: 0194-2481821

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Regd. No. JKENG/2000/4147

Published from Srinagar, March 2010 Vol. 11. No. 03.

Mind Your Dress

P.O.Box:- 974, GPO, Srinagar, 190001, Kashmir. India.

Editor, Printer & Publisher:

Published From Srinagar.

Ateqad Publishing House.

*Letters should be addressed to the Editor-inchief.

March. 2010. Vol.11, No: 03.

3. Lesson from the Quran

4. Lesson from Sahih al-Bukhari

5. Characteristics of a Wali of Allah

6. Affection and Omapassion . . .

7. Lamentation of a Muslim Wife

8. The End of Prosperity

9. A Look at Hadith Rejecters claims

10. Brutal Population Control

11. Choosing a Friend

12. Youth : On Culture. . . .

13. Saviours of Islamic Spirit

14. Friends and Friendship

P.O. Box 974 G.P.O.

All thanks for Almighty, the most Merciful and Exalted.

Your Heaven, Your Hell

(Vol.11, No: 03)

been left to us. We can choose to honor

Today this institution of the family is

on this day, such as sending each other

(Vol.11, No: 03)

prayer which I try to avoid but at times I

Lesson From The Quran

the limit set by Allah, such as, the filing of a

killer is killed in even retaliation - 'free man

(Vol.11, No: 03)

cation. There are other verses where this

consensus of the Muslim community, they

Contd from page 6

The Book of Knowledge

There is a Marfu Hadith quoted in

(Vol.11, No: 03)

(Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said that he

Purpose of Tarjamatul Baab

people and they were asking him questions.

(Hajis) reach Mina in the morning after

(Vol.11, No: 03)

Contd from page 5

Ally of Allah - Taqwa and Belief in Allah

upon him) explained the best handhold of

(Vol.11, No: 03)

Thus, a necessary component of

Allah" [Noble Quran 4:80]

and if he asks Me, I will give him; and if he

(Vol.11, No: 03)

"Verily, Allah has put the truth on the tongue

Contd from page 38

that, our Lord says (interpretation of the

(Vol.11, No: 03)

with what they dislike, and force themselves