The first advice is to correct the belief in
accordance with those which the Ahl-i sunnat savants communicate in their
books. For, it is this madhhab only that will be saved from Hell. May Allâhu
ta’âlâ give plenty of rewards for the work of those great people! Those
scholars of the four madhhabs, who reached up the grade of ijtihâd and the
great scholars, educated by them are called Ahl as-sunna scholars. After
correcting the belief (îmân), it is necessary to perform the worship informed
in the knowledge of fiqh, i.e. to do the commands of the
Sharî’at and to abstain from what it prohibits. One should perform the namâz
five times each day without reluctance and slackness, and being careful about
its conditions and ta’dîl-i arkân. He who has as mush money as nisâb should pay
zakât. Imâm-i a’zâm Abû Hanîfa says, “Also, it is necessary to pay the zakât of
gold and silver which women use as ornaments.”
One should not waste his precious life even on
unnecessary mubâhs. It is certainly necessary not to waste it on harâm. We
should not get involved with taghannî, singing, musical instruments, or songs.
We should not be deceived by the pleasure they give our nafses. These are
poisons mixed with honey and covered with sugar.
One should not commit giybat. Giybat is harâm. [Giybat means to talk about a Muslim’s or a
Zimmî’s secret fault behind his back. It is necessary to tell Muslims about the
faults of the Harbîs, about the sins of those who commit these sins in public,
about the evils of those who torment Muslims and who deceive Muslims in buying
and selling, thus causing Muslims to beware their harms, and to tell about the
slanders of those who talk and write about Islam wrongfully; these are not
giybat. Radd-ul-Muhtâr: 5-263)].
One should not spread gossip (carry words)
among Muslims. It has been declared that various kinds of torments would be
done to those who commit these two kinds of sins. Also, it is harâm to lie and
slander, and must be abstained from. These two evils were
harâm in every religion. Their punishments are very heavy. It is
very blessed to conceal Muslims’ defects, not to spread their secret sins and
to forgive them their faults. One should be compassionate towards one’s
inferiors, those under one’s command [such as wives, children, students,
soldiers] and the poor. One should not reproach them for their faults. One
should not hurt or heat or swear at those poor persons for trivial reasons. One
should attack nobody’s property, life, honour, or chastity. Debts to everyone
and to the government must be paid. Bribery, accepting or giving, is harâm.
However, it would not be bribery to give it in order to get rid of the opppression
of a cruel one, or to avoid a disgusting situation. But accepting this would be
harâm, too. Everybody should see own defects, and should every hour think of
the faults which they have committed towards Allahu ta’âlâ. They should always
bear in mind that Allahu ta’âlâ does not hurry in punishing them, nor does He
cut off their sustenance. The words of command from our parents, or from the
government, compatible with sharî’a, must be obeyed, but the ones, incompatible
with sharî’a, should not be resisted against so that we should not cause fitna.
[See the 123rd letter in the second volume of the book Maktûbât-ı Ma’sûmiyya.]
After correcting the belief and doing the
commands of fiqh, one should spend all one’s time remembering Allahu ta’âlâ.
One should continue remembering, mentioning Allahu ta’âlâ as the great men of
religion have communicated. One should feel hostility towards all the things
that will prevent the heart from remembering Allahu ta’âlâ. The more you adhere
to the Sharî’at, the more delicious it will be to remember Him. As indolence,
laziness increase in obeying the Sharî’at, that flavour will gradually decrase,
being thoroughly gone at last. What should I write more than what I have
written already? It will be enough for the reasonable one. We should not fall
into the traps of the enemies of Islam and we should not believe their lies and
slanders.
Hakikat Kitabevi,
Darüşşafaka
Cad. 57/A (P.K.35), 1th JANUAR1Y, 1995.
34262
Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey MOMBASA-KENYA
Dear Brother in Islam,
As-Salaam-Alaikum,
After greetings from our end, I wish to say thank you very
much for the publications that had been sent to me by your good selves during
the month of December, 1994. The publications received by me were as follows:
1. Phamplet-WAQF IKHLAS
2. ADVICE FOR THE MUSLIM
3. ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY
The said books were a pleasure to go through and have been
circulated the same among my fellow muslim brothers within my town. I also have
regular visitors from our neighbouring East African countries who have shown
keen interest in the publications. I have also circulated your address amongst
them.
I shall very much appreciate if you could send me the
following titles:
2. Endless Bliss
6. The Religion Reformers in Islam
7. The Sunni Path
8. Belief and Islam
9. The Proof of Prophethood
10. Answer to an Enemy of Islam
11. Advice for the Muslim
12. Islam and Christianity
13. Could not Answer
14. Confessions of a British Spy
15. Documents of the Right Word
Receiving the said publications shall be a great pleasure.
Awaiting to hear from you, I remain a devotee,
Yours Sincerely,
SULEMAN KASSAM (MR).
-427-
1 - Our Prophet 'sall-Allâhu 'alaihi wa sallam' stated: "A person whom Allâhu ta'âlâ loves very much is one who learns his religion and teaches it to others. Learn your religion from the mouths of Islamic scholars!"
A person who cannot find a true scholar must learn by reading books written by the scholars of Ahl as-sunna, and try hard to spread these books. A Müslim who has 'ilm (knowledge), 'amal (practising what one knows; obeying Islam's commandments and prohibitions), and ikhlâs (doing everything only to please Allâhu ta'âlâ) is called an Islamic scholar. A person who represents himself as an Islamic scholar though he lacks any one of these qualifications is called an 'evil religious scholar', or an 'impostor'. The Islamic scholar will guide you to causes which in turn will open the gates to happiness; he is the protector of faith. The impostor will mislead you into such causes as will make you end up in perdition; he is the Satan's accomplice.[1] (There is a certain) prayer (called) Istighfâr (which), whenever you say, (recite or read) it, will make you attain causes which will shield you against afflictions and troubles.
2 - The Nejât-ul-musallî was written in Turkish in the year 1217 (A.H.) by Ahmed Şevki Efendi, and was printed in İstanbul in 1305. İt consists of a hundred and ninety-seven (197) pages. İt is stated as follows on its final page: Ibni Jezerî, (751 [1350 A.D.], Damascus - 833 [1429], Shîrâz,) states as follows in his book Hisn ul-hasîn: A hadîth-i-sherîf reads as follows: "If an invalid person says Lâ ilâha illâ anta subhânaka innî kuntu min-az-zâlimîn,' forty times, he will die as a martyr (if his predetermined life-span is over). If he recovers, all his sins will be pardoned." This prayer is the eighty-seventh âyat-i- kerîma of Anbiyâ sûra. Please see the final parts of the thirteenth and the fifteenth chapters of the current book!
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[1] Knowledge that is acquired not for the purpose of practising it with ikhlâs, will not be beneficial. Please see the 366th and 367th pages of the first volume of Hadîqa, and also the 36th and the 40th and the 59th letters in the first volume of Maktûbât. (The English versions of these letters exist in the 16th and the 25th and the 28th chapters, respectively, of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss).