Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’ states as follows:
The reason for disturbing you the blessed and venerable
scholars and judges and authorities and officials of the city of Sâmâna with
this letter of mine is the khatîb[1] of your city, who, I have heard, did not mention the names of the
Khulafâ-i-Râshidîn ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum’, i.e. the four Khalîfas of the
Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wasallam’, during the performance of
the khutba after the ’Iyd prayer of Qurbân. Even worse to tell, when a group of
the jamâ’at reminded him of his omission, after the prayer, he obstinately
retorted, “What does it matter if I don’t?” instead of expressing his sorrow
for the mistake or oversight. And the worst of it is that the notables among
the audience contented themselves with the part of indifferent bystanders
instead of teaching that nasty khatîb his manners. A line from a poem reads as
follows:
Shame, and shame,
not only once, but hundreds of times!
---------------------------------
[1] (Lexically), orator, speaker; (in this
context), performer of a certain sermon, termed khutba, made before Friday
prayer and after ’Iyd prayers.
Yes, it is not one of the indispensable components of
khutba to mention the names of the Khulafâ-i-Râshidîn ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhum ajma’în’; yet it is a sign, a characteristic, a trademark of Ahl
as-sunnat wa-l-jamâ’at. One must only be evil-hearted to purposely and
obstinately avoid mentioning their names. If his omission was not merely
bigotry or obstinacy, then how will he explain himself in the face of the
following hadîth-i-sherîf, in which our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
states: “If a person yearns after joining a
certain community, he is one of them.” And what
motives will absolve him from the danger purported in the following âyat-i-kerîma: “Beware from
places and situations that will cause imputation and arouse suspicion!” If he denies the superior merits of the blessed Shaikhayn, i.e.
of Abű Bakr and ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’, he has left the path of Ahl
as-sunnat and become a member of the Shiite sect. If he does not believe the
fact that it is necessary to love ’Uthmân and Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’, in
this case also he has deviated from the right path. I suppose, that aberrant
khatîb is from Kashmir. He must have caught that foul contagion from the
heretics living in Kashmir.
Let that man know this: That the Shaikhayn ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhumâ’ are the highest members of this Ummat (Muslims) is a fact which was
believed, and acknowledged at every occasion, by all the Sahâba-i-kirâm and the
Tâbi’în-i-i’zâm. A great majority of the highest Islamic authorities have
communicated this fact to us. Imâm-i-Muhammad Shâfi’î ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ is
one of those authorities. Abu-l-Hasan al-ash’arî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’, one of
the two leaders of our credal Madhhab, stated: “That Abű Bakr and ’Umar
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’ are, respectively, the highest members of this Umma, is
a definite fact.” Imâm Alî stated in the presence of a crowded group of his
admirers, during his caliphate: “Be it known that Abű Bakr is the highest of
this Ummat, and next comes ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’.” This (statement of
Hadrat Alî’s) is quoted by Imâm Zahabî ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’, who notes, “This
statement has been quoted by more than eighty narrators.” Giving the names of
most of them, he adds, “May Allâhu ta’âlâ punish
(the group of heretics called) Râfidîs because they do not know this.” Imâm
Muhammad Bukhârî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ relates in his book Bukhârî-i-sherîf, which is the second most
valuable Islamic book after the Qur’ân
al-kerîm,
the Book of Allâhu ta’âlâ: Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ stated, “The second
best member of this Ummat after the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wasallam’ is Abű Bakr, who is the second highest as well, and next after him is
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’. Next after them is someone else.” When his son
Muhammad bin Hanafiyya commented, “And you are that person,” he stated, “I am
one of Muslims.”
Narrations like this on the authority of Imâm Alî and the
greater ones of the Ashâb-i-kirâm ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’ and of the
Tâbi’în-i-izâm have reached us and spread far and near. It is either vulgar
ignorance or sheer stubbornness to deny the fact despite all those narrations.
That unconscionable khatîb must be told that “we have been commanded to love
all the Sahâba ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’ of our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and not to offend any one of
them. Hadrat ’Uthmân and Hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anhumâ’ are Sahâbîs, too. And
they are two of the greatest ones. They are our Prophet’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ sons-in-law. Then, it is
necessary to love them, and they must be loved very much. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the Qur’ân al-kerîm: ‘O My beloved Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’! Say unto them: I demand only one price for (my service of) having invited you to Islam
and for having guided you to eternal happiness: Love my relatives and those who
are close to me.’ Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: ‘Fear Allâhu ta’âlâ, fear Allâhu ta’âlâ and do not offend my Ashâb ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anhum’! After me, do not bear malice towards them, and do not
show enmity against them! He who loves them, does so because he loves me. And
he who is their enemy, is so because he is inimical towards me. He who hurts
them hurts me (by doing so). He who hurts me hurts Allâhu ta’âlâ (by doing so). And Allâhu ta’âlâ torments a person
who hurts Him.”
Never before since the birth of Islam has India harboured
such malodorous rose-buds. All the citizens of Sâmâna are likely to be held
responsible for this abominable attitude. In fact, entire India may lose its
credibility. The present pâdishâh -may Allâhu ta’âlâ help him against the enemies of religion- is a Sunnî Muslim in the
Hanafî Madhhab. It is so daring to invent such a heresy in the time of such a
Sultân (emperor)! Perhaps, it means to stand against the state, the ruler. What
is really appalling, however, is that the notables and the eminent
Muslims of the city have been insensitive and remiss towards the
event. Jews and Christians are refuted as follows, as is purported in the
sixty-third âyat-i-kerîma of Mâida sűra:
“Why do not the
Rabbis and the doctors of law forbid them from their (habit of)
uttering sinful words and
eating things forbidden? Evil indeed are their works.” And the seventy-ninth âyat-i-kerîma purports as follows:
“Nor did they
(usually) forbid one another the iniquities which they committed: evil indeed
were the deeds which they did.”
Reticence will embolden the enemies of religion who mean
to defile Islam and try to mislead young Muslims by misrepresenting the
commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ as awkward and ridiculous acts and disguising the harâms and
irreligious acts under false names such as ‘fashion’ and ‘modernism’. It will
cause them to give a loose to their foul intentions and wound Islam. Is it not
this lassitude on the part of Muslims that afforded Islam’s enemies an
opportunity to openly carry on their plans to make Muslims’ children
irreligious and mislead them into the heresies they have concocted? Like
wolves, they are dragging the sheep by ones or twos away from the flock and
destroying them. I would hate to bother you so much. Yet I went out of my mind
when I heard the infuriating news. It set my Fârűqî veins into motion and these
writings came out of my pen. I hope you will forgive me. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless you and those who
adhere to the right path and those who follow Muhammad Mustafâ ‘alaihi wa ’alâ
âlihissalawâtu wa-t-taslîmâtu wa-t-tahiyyâtu wa-l-barakât’ with salvation!
Âmin.
Ahmad Fârűqî
Muhammad is the Darling of the Creator of worlds.
Physically pure, Ahmad in name, and
rahmat for worlds.
Owner of Khuluq-i-’azîm, and lauded in Leuw lâka... .
Source of knowledge, adab, fayz, nűr
and muhabbat.
He is the true mediator between Haqq and the slave,
His words are medicine for souls, his
name for rusty hearts.
He is the true doctor for hearts suffering from melancholy,
He is, nay, even his Ummat are higher
than angels.
To His most distinguished slave Haqq has given assistants,
His most beloved slaves He made his
Ashâb.
Rasűlullah said: their path is my path, indeed;
‘Best of times’ indicates their time.
They loved Muhammad more than they did their lives,
For his sake they sacrificed their
property, positions’n lives.
For spreading Islam they gave their lives;
Yâ Rabb, how lovely a state; Yâ Rabb,
how great an honour.
One single sohbat with him, and their nafs was purified,
Their hearts were with ma’rifat, fayz,
nűr’n tajallî occupied.
States peculiar to Awliyâ took them a moment to attain;
And they ever followed him, what a
great honour to attain.
All of them are just, blameless, and never cruel to anyone;
Never for their nafs would they yearn
after caliphate.
Nor would they fight for that purpose or hurt one another;
They occupy the highest position, and
they all are mujtahids.
Allâhu ta’âlâ always exists. He never ceases to exist. He, alone,
creates everything from nothing. He keeps all His creatures always in
existence. He, alone, cures the unhealthy; gives food to human beings and
animals; feeds the hungry; kills; knows the unknown; sees and hears all; and
has power over all. He does not eat or drink, is not begotten and does not
beget, and does not have a likeness. No change takes place in His Person or
Attributes. These Attributes are peculiar to Him. They are termed attributes of Ulűhiyyat. Human beings, medicines,
machines, weapons cannot create anything. They serve as a means for His
creating. He does not need the means or anything else. To believe that one of
the attributes of ulűhiyyat exists in one of the creatures, e.g. in men, in
beasts, in the sun or stars, is termed shirk.
A person who holds that belief is called mushrik.
With that belief, he has attributed a sherîk=partner
to Allâhu ta’âlâ. To pray or entreat or venerate, with that belief, something
or someone or his idol or picture, means to worship
an idol = idolatry, and the
object worshipped as such is an idol.
Places or mausoleums containing such objects are called pagan temples. It is not idolatry, however, to
respect a person or his picture or statue or grave because he is believed to
have been a beloved slave of Allâhu ta’âlâ or a
hero who served humanity and his country. One does not become a mushrik by
doing so. After Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihis-salâm’ was raised to heaven, people who
believed that he was a prophet held his pictures
and statues in reverence in order to attain his intercession for them on the
Rising Day. This
reverence
of theirs did not mean to worship him or to idolize him. After the
christianization of the Roman polytheists, however, the Platonic philosophy, Trinity, spread and caught on, whereby some
people’s belief was blighted by the heresythat he (Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’)
possessed attributes of ulűhiyyat (deity, godhood). This, in its turn, gave
rise to an ever-increasing number of people professing their belief in his
procreation from God or his membership of a tripartite godhead. The heresy thus
born proliferated into a new breed of polytheism that was finally adopted as an
official religion in the Nicean Council. Votaries of this polytheism were
called Christians. They are worshipping
his pictures and icons and two perpendicular lines called the cross. All their churches are temples of
idolatry. If a Muslim goes to a church or to a fountain held sacred by
Christians and asks the priests therein to pronounce a blessing over him or to
pray for him so that he will recover from a certain illness, he becomes a
mushrik. A mushrik (polytheist) is worse than the worst of disbelievers. An
(edible) animal that he kills (by jugulation) must not be eaten. A Muslim must
not marry his daughter. All Christians and Jews are kâfirs
(disbelievers) on account of their denial of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. Of these
disbelievers, the ones who did not lapse into shirk (polytheism) are called Ahl-i-kitâb (People of the Book). Animals they
kill (by jugulation) can be eaten (by Muslims). Muslims can marry their
daughters by way of (the Islamic marriage contract called) nikâh. The Qur’ân al-kerîm states that Jews and polytheists are
hostile to Muslims. They are trying to demolish Islam from within by means of
lies, tricks and treacherous plans. This treachery was started by Jews during
the time of ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, the third Khalîfa. Then Christians
began to attack. They invented the heretical groups called Shiites and Wahhâbîs
as against the true Muslims called Ahl as-sunnat
or Sunnîs (or Sunnites), who are the
true followers of the Ashâb-i-kirâm. Shî’ism means enmity towards the
Ashâb-i-kirâm. They assert that the “Sahâba perpetrated inimical acts towards
Alî.” The Qur’ân al-kerîm, on the other hand,
informs us that the Sahâba loved one another very much and that they will all
attain Paradise. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’ also stated, “Love all the Ashâb-i-kirâm
and keep on their path!” He stated at another time, “My Ashâb are like the stars in the sky. If you follow any
one of them, you will attain guidance (to the right path).” A
Muslim who loves Hadrat Alî is called Alawî
(or Alevî). The Sunnî Muslims are truly Alawî since they love all the Ashâb-i-kirâm.
Our Prophet called the enemies of the
Ashâb-i-kirâm Râfidîs. He informed that
all the Râfidîs will go to Hell. Shiites call themselves Alawîs in order to
deceive Muslims. If they were Alawîs, they would be following the path guided
by Hadrat Alî. He loved all the Ashâb-i-kirâm. He gave allegiance to Hadrat Abű
Bakr as soon as he heard that he had been elected Khalîfa. He made Hadrat ’Umar
his son-in-law by giving his daughter in marriage to him. Please see the
eightieth letter in the first volume of Maktűbât,
by Imâm Rabbânî ‘rahmatullâhî ’aleyh’. The book has Arabic and Persian
versions. The first volume was also translated into Turkish under the title Müjdeci Mektűblar (Letters Giving Good News). An
English translation of the eightieth letter exists in the final part of this
book.
Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî states as follows in the two hundred
and seventy-fifth (275) letter of his book Maktűbât:
You have attained that blessing by teaching Islamic knowledge and promulgating the rules of Fiqh. Ignorance was established and bid’ats were rife in those places. Allâhu ta’âlâ has blessed you with affection towards His beloved ones. He has made you a means of spreading Islam. Then, do your utmost to teach religious knowledge and to spread the tenets of Fiqh. These two are ahead of all happinesses, means of promotion to higher grades, and causes of salvation. Endeavour hard! Come forward as a man of religion! Perform amr-i-ma’rűf and nahy-i-munker and guide the people living there to the right path! The nineteenth âyat of Muzzammil sűra purports: “Verily this is an admonition: Therefore, whoso will, let him take a (straight) path to his Rabb, (i.e. to Allâhu ta’âlâ)!”