A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ I never knew Halloween was a pagan festival and I used to celebrate it all the time.   Have I been commuting shirk ? ”   Shirk is the act of attributing power or authority to other than Allah ( s.w.t. ).   You cannot accidentally commit shirk anymore than you can accidentally worship another deity.   I would assume you celebrated Halloween as a commercial event, attending parties.   That is not shirk .   It would be shirk if your celebration of Halloween in the manner of the ancient druidic tradition of Samhain, and engaged in human sacrifice and offerings to the Tuath Dé.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Wahhabi heretic, Muhammad Naswir ad-Din al-Albani, gave free rein to his propensity to insult and vilify the ‘ulama of the past as well as his contemporaries.   For example, he considered previous editors and commentators of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari’s ( r.a. ) al-Adab al-Mufrad , “Book of Manners,” “sinful”, “unbearably ignorant”, and even, “liars” and “thieves.”   Of one, he said, “There are so many weak hadits that it is an un-Islamic practice”; of another, “It is ignorance which must not be tolerated”; of another, “Forgery and an open lie”, and continued, “His edition is stolen”, meaning stolen from a previous one.   All this from the introduction of his Swahih al-Adab al-Mufrad .   Such examples actually fill a book compiled by Sayyid Hasan ibn ‘Ali as-Saqqaf ( r.a. ) and titled Qamus Shata’im al-Albani wa al-Fazhihi al-Munkarat allati Yatluquha ‘ala ‘Ulama’ al-Ummah , “Dictionary of a...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The master, Abbot Bankei Yotaku’s, talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects.   He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations.   Instead, his words were spoken directly from his heart to the hearts of his listeners.   His large audiences angered a priest of the Nichiren sect because the adherents had left to hear about Zen.   The self-centred Nichiren priest came to the temple, determined to debate with Abbot Bankei.   “Hey, Zen teacher!” he called out.   “Wait a minute.   Whoever respects you will obey what you say, but a man like myself does not respect you.   Can you make me obey you?”   “Come up beside me and I will show you,” said Abbot Bankei.   Proudly the priest pushed his way through the crowd to the teacher.   Abbot Bankei smiled. “Come over to my left side.”   The priest obeyed.   “No,” said Abbot Ban...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Taj ad-Din Abu al-Fadhl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Atha’illah as-Sakandari ( q.s. ) said, “Travel not from creature to creature, otherwise you will be like a donkey at the mill: Roundabout he turns, his goal the same as his departure.   Rather, go from creatures to the Creator.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Habib Ahmad Mashhur ibn Thaha al-Haddad ( q.s. ) said, “They are the skillful physicians whom God has assisted with a spirit from Him, so that they treated the diseases of hearts with wisdom, and poured guidance into pleasant and permissible moulds in order to take the ordinary people along the road of their desires to the desired truth …”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   As the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said, Islam came as a stranger and it will come again as a stranger.   So be with those who are strange for they are the friends of God.   This is especially important in this age, where those who claim to speak for the religion and wear the trappings of the pious desecrate it, and people give more credence to titles than their conscience, even though the Prophet (s.a.w.) told us, “ Istafti qalbak ”, “Consult your heart”, the seat of fithrah .   It is not mere letter of the law that matters, but the Divine Intent.   The foundation of shari’ah can be best summed up in the words of Jesus ( a.s. ) in the Gospel:   Matthew 5:17-19 17 “Do not think that I have come to set aside the law and the prophets; I have not come to set them aside, but to bring them to perfection.   18 Believe me, Heaven and Earth must disappear sooner than one jot, one flourish should disappear from the law;...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Mahmud ibn ‘Ali al-Qashani ( q.s. ) wrote, in Miswbah al-Hidayah wa Miftah al-Kifayah , “The Lamp of Right Guidance & the Key to What is Sufficient,” that the murid should recognise the right moment to speak.   In case the murid would like to discuss important religious or worldly things, then he should first ascertain whether the shaykh is willing to use his own time in such a way, is willing to listen to him or not.   We should not be in a hurry to talk to our shaykh .   We begin by concentrating on the Almighty and asking Him for His Grace and Help from His Divine Glory, so that we may not make any mistakes in regard to the proper rules of behaviour.   It is also proper, when coming thus near to Allah ( s.w.t. ), to give something away in charity.   This is just like what the companions of the Messenger of Allah ( s.a.w. ) had to do if they wanted to speak with him, as is Said by Allah ( s.w.t. ) th...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Mahmud ibn ‘Ali al-Qashani ( q.s. ) wrote, in Miswbah al-Hidayah wa Miftah al-Kifayah , “The Lamp of Right Guidance & the Key to What is Sufficient,” that the murid should give an attentive ear to the words of his shaykh .   The murid should wait and be attentive in regard to everything that comes from the lips of his shaykh.   He should see his tongue as a means of expression of the Speech of Allah ( s.w.t. ) and be convinced that his shaykh speaks by means of Allah ( s.w.t. ) and that his speech does not stem from his own desire and that he has reached the station of “He is Speaking by Me.”   We should see his heart as a boisterous sea, filled with all kinds of pearls of knowledge and precious gems of gnosis, a sea which every now and then - because of the blowing of the winds of pre-eternal providence - may cast some of these pearls and precious stones on the shore of the tongue.   We should, therefore, take care...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Nur ad-Din  Abu ‘Ubadah   ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah wrote, examining the Imamate according to Shi‘ism, that lexically, the word, “Shi’ah” means, “ answar ”, “adherent”, such that the related word, “ tashayyu ”, “partisanship”, denotes “ al-intiswar ”, “the victory of one over another”.   Historically, the word, “Shi’ah” refers to the supporters of Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ).   In the sectarian sense, the term refers to the explicit conviction that the right to the caliphate fell only to Sayyidina ‘Ali ( k.w. ) and his children.   They differed thereafter as to which among his descendants had priority: the Zaydiyyah asserted the Imamate through the third-generation descendent, Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali ash-Shahid ( q.s. ); the Isma’iliyyah asserted the Imamate through the seventh-generation descendent, Imam Abu Muhammad Isma’il al-A’araj ibn Ja’far asw-Swadiq ( q.s. ) and the Itsna’ Ash’ari , Twelver, Shi’ah asserted t...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu ‘Abdullah al-Harits ibn Asad al-‘Anazi al-Muhasibi ( q.s. ) wrote, in Risalah al-Mustarshidin , “Know that the one who has given you sincere advice, has displayed love for you.   The test for one’s love for the other is sincere advice, just as the test of one’s faith is action.   You ought to give sincere advice to those you love.   Your love for them should not allow you to stand idly by while they engage in action that will lead them to ruin, such as, inaction in good deeds, overlooking the injunctions of Allah, procrastination, making excuses, and so forth.   Hence, when we ourselves receive sincere advice from those we trust and care for, know that they have done so out of love for you.   Conversely, the one who has displayed a false face to you has betrayed you.   One who does not accept you sincere advice is not your brother.   ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab ( r.a. ) said, ‘There is no good in peo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Abu Sa’id Fadhlullah ibn Abu al-Khayr Ahmad Mayhani, ( q.s. ) said, “The true saint goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, but never forgets God for a single moment.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Sometimes, Muslims live in some sort of fairy-tale where they imagine that to be a good Muslim, we all have to be pushovers.   I understand that we must be kind, and loving and compassionate - to an extent.   But I also believe that we sometimes have to be harsh, and firm and unswerving.   We are not shrinking violets.   If some of these “religious” Muslims were to read the sirah , the tarikh or any manaqib , their hair would stand.   And it is obvious that most Muslims do not know their religion or their history.   The companions were not one big loving family.   They were people.   Sayyidatina ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr ( r.a. ) and Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) had a fight.   Sayyidina Abu Sulayman Khalid ibn al-Walid ( r.a. ) incurred the ire of Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq ( r.a. ).   Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ( r.a. ) disagreed with his father.   ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   A lot of our problems began with the definitive closing of the doors of ijtihad around 300 years ago.   This was followed by the rise of the Wahhabi sect, also 300 years ago.   Whilst Wahhabism is a tiny minority of those who identify themselves as Muslims, their literalism has infected many Muslims.   One of the changes was when large sections of the Hanafi madzhab decided to become like the Shafi’i madzhab in their acceptance of ahadits solely on the basis of grading.   Prior to that, the Hanafi madzhab was sceptical of Swahih al-Bukhari , and rejected many narrations from it.   Much of the rationalist school ceased to be rationalist.   Instead, in India, for example, we have the literalist Deobandi, and the superstitious Barelvi.   The moment we stopped thinking, and started regurgitating fatawa, the ummah ossified.   This was when Islamic civilisation lost its preeminence.   With the lo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   History repeats itself.   Again and again and again.   And yet the people are heedless of it.   They do not see the Signs of Allah (s.w.t.), but are content with their chasing of dunya .   In 638 CE, Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq ( r.a. ) pledged that the rights of the Ahl al-Kitab would be honoured.   In 1099, the Fatimids, in violation of the pledge of Sayyidina ‘Umar ( r.a. ), violently expelled the Christians and Jews from Jerusalem.   Soon after, Allah ( s.w.t. ) Punished them, and the Crusaders conquered it.   It was a horrific massacre of the Eastern Christians, the Muslims and the Jews.   This was typical of Crusader barbarity.   Men, women and children were killed.   Pregnant women were ripped open.   Bodies were sawed open in search of loot.   And there were instances of cannibalism.   All in the name of Jesus ( a.s. ).   The Latin Kingd...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Abraham ( a.s. ) was Chaldean.  Jethro ( a.s. ) was allegedly Midian.  Jonah ( a.s. ) was Assyrian.  Aside from that, they were all from the same Greater Near East geographic region.  It does not mean that there were no prophets sent elsewhere.  It just means we do not know their names, or that they have not been positively identified as such.  The reason why these were named is because they were the names most familiar to the people of the two Houses of God: Jerusalem and Makkah.   The Upanishads, which were written before the sixth century before common era had a prophet named Manu who saved his people from the great flood in an ark.  Could Noah ( a.s. ) have been Aryan?  Various Islamic scholars have proposed, based on the earliest portions of their scripture, that Gautama Siddartha Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius and the composite characters that made up Lao Tzu were prophets.  Buddha emphasised t...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Hasan ibn ‘Ali Sisi ( r.a. ) said the Thariqa’ Tijaniyyah is based on three principles: istighfar , tahlil and swalawat .   The first, istighfar , asking Allah ( s.w.t. ) for Forgiveness, is the foundation.   It is forbidden for a Muslim to stop his brother in Islam from saying. “ astaghfirullah .”   None of us are infallible.   The same way we do something right today, we may do it wrong tomorrow.   Consequently, the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) has directed us, saying, “Your sickness is the sins and the remedy of your sickness is to say ‘ astaghfirullah .’”   In addition, there are many verses in the Qur’an Advising us to say astaghfirullah .   For example, in Surah al-Hadid, we are told:   سُوۡرَةُ الحَدید سَابِقُوٓاْ إِلَىٰ مَغۡفِرَةٍ۬ مِّن رَّبِّكُمۡ … (٢١)   Be you foremost (in seeking) Forgiveness from your Lord ... (Surah al-Hadid:21)   And then, there is the example of our...