Allāh has
conferred infinite blessings on the followers of the Holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم).
One of these blessings is their impossibility to return to disbelief after
embracing Islam. It happened in the past that the followers of a particular
prophet returned to their earlier state of ignorance and disbelief after his
death. But this shall not happen to the followers of the Holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم).
The Prophet of Allāh(صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم)
in the last days of his earthly sojourn had himself declared that he had no
fears that his followers will relapse into disbelief after his death. As
Muslims, we should reflect on his words. The Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
who was sent to this world to quash disbelief and all forms of impermissible
innovation, who is our primary source of guidance and who is our ultimate means
of salvation, is saying that he has no doubts lurking in his mind about our
steady and irreversible belief, while we are hurling allegations of disbelief at
one another to cater to our false sense of superiority or to pamper our egotism
based on prejudice and sheer stubbornness. What could be more unfortunate than
this mutual incrimination?
It
is narrated in a tradition:
‘Uqbah bin ‘Āmir has narrated: The Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
one day went (to Uhud) and offered prayer for the natives (martyrs) of Uhud as
it is (generally) offered for the dead. Then he returned to the pulpit and said:
‘I am your forerunner and I am a witness on you. By Allāh! I am right now seeing
the basin of my fountain (kawthar),
and I have been handed over the keys of the treasures of the earth (or the keys
of the earth). I swear on Allāh, I have no fears that after me you will return
to disbelief but I am apprehensive that you will try to outdo each other in
acquiring worldly goods.’[1]
This is a statement made by the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
himself. He has sworn on Allāh about his followers that they will not revert to
disbelief. The Prophet’s words call for deep reflection and serious
soul-searching. We brush aside the Prophet’s statement when we accuse one
another of disbelief. This tradition has been reproduced by Imām Muslim[2] and Imām Ahmad bin Hambal[3].
Repeated references to this tradition by people of such calibre and prestige,
and our dogged defiance of its contents are nothing but harrowing unawareness of
the real spirit of our faith.
Istighāthah, which has been established as a valid act in Islam by countless
Qur’ānic injunctions and authentic and certified traditions and which has been
practised by the large majority of Muslims, is now turned into a matter of
dispute and controversy, and is now being used as a convenient ploy to not only
indulge in incriminating one another in disbelief but also to give vent to our
personal frustrations. If we care to reflect on his words and statements, we
will come to realise that to insist on the illegality of beseeching for help,
either as a doctrine or in some of its actual applications, especially when its
legality has been conclusively established both by the Qur’ān and the sunnah,
is nothing but religious perversity. Tens of statements made by the Holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
are witness to the fact that to call someone for help other than Allāh is quite
consistent with Qur’ānic commands and the Prophet’s statements.
As
it is reported by ‘Amr bin Shu‘ayb that his grandfather says: we were present in
the company of the holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
when messengers from Hawāzin tribe came and said, “O Muhammad! We belong to the
same origin and tribe, and the trouble we are facing is not hidden from you,
therefore, have mercy on us.” The holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
replied, “Opt one of the two choices; either take away your property and wealth
or have your women freed.” They opted for their women and children. Then the
Messenger of Allāh
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
added: as far as my share and the share of ‘Abd-ul-Muttalib and his children (in
the spoils) is concerned, I have already given it to you. But when I have
performed the noon prayer, you should all stand up and say:
Through the means of the Messenger of Allāh
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
we seek help for our women and children from believers (or Muslims).[4]
The
narrator says that when people had finished their prayer, they repeated the same
words as the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
had advised them. These words were uttered by the sacred tongue of the holy
Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
himself and he uttered them in the form of a command. Therefore, this tradition
furnishes a cogent justification for the act of beseeching for help.
Figurative relation between belief and
disbelief
To hold the
holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
and the saints and pious people of Allāh in reverence and to beseech them for
help is quite compatible with the basic principles of Islamic faith. But
sometimes the petitioners, while addressing these favourites of Allāh, employ
words, which are reserved only for Allāh and, therefore, according to some
religious scholars, commit disbelief. This conclusion is based on a fundamental
misconception as these scholars fail to draw the vital distinction between the
literal and figurative sense of these words. They interpret these modes of
address or the vocative forms in a literal sense and thus wring a perverse
conclusion from them. It is an admitted fact that these modes of address are
used only for Allāh in their absolute sense, therefore, to use them for any
other creature is obviously disbelief and for a Muslim it is simply
inconceivable. Thus a basic distinction must be drawn between their literal and
figurative meaning. The literal sense applies to Allāh alone and no creature,
whether he is a prophet or a saint, can arrogate to himself this exclusive
divine prerogative. Therefore, the petitioner is using the words only
figuratively and it is in this sense alone that they are generally interpreted.
The allegation of disbelief against these people is quite misplaced; it reflects
rather the twisted consciousness of those who hurl such malicious allegations
against them. The petitioners are, in fact, immune to disbelief. For instance:
-
O, the most reverend (Prophet)
of all creatures! I have no one else as my (helper) except you whose help should
I seek at a time when I am engulfed by troubles and calamities.
-
There are
five (friends) for me with which I extinguish the intensity of a lethal
epidemic. (These are:) the holy Prophet Muhammad
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم),
‘Alī, both of his sons (Hasan and Husayn) and Fātimah.
-
All this is an expression of
your mercy and magnanimity that I am still surviving in the midst of trouble and
turmoil.
-
I beg the charity of your
magnanimous eye as there is no one except you to bail me out in this hour of
distress.
-
All people have some support to
rely upon when they are down and out, but I have no one else except you to turn
to when I am in trouble.
Similarly, some Muslims in different situations, while addressing the Holy
Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
use these words like “O Messenger of Allāh! We have no other shelter except
you.” If we interpret these words in their literal sense, obviously we would
like to conclude that the person using them is committing disbelief. But the
fact is that a Muslim is not using them in their absolute sense. Any Muslim who
uses these words is fundamentally motivated by the belief that the power of the
Holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is
only derivative as it is contingent on divine will. He is in fact saying through
his mode of address: ‘after Allāh, the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is
my place of shelter, and after Allāh, it is his support that can serve as a
means of help and salvation for a sinner like myself.’ Thus he is not equating
the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
with Allāh Who is unique and from Whose favour the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
derives his exceptional status among the creatures of Allāh. So he is saying: ‘I
have no one else except you among Allāh’s creatures and I have no expectations
from other creatures except you.’ Thus he is not elevating the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) to
the level of divinity, he is only stressing his exceptional status among the
creatures. Though we normally do not use these ambiguous words during
intermediation or at the time of beseeching help from others, nor do we
encourage others to make use of them to pre-empt even the slightest suspicion of
disbelief, we also regard it as necessary to propose that a person using these
words figuratively and derivatively should not be accused of disbelief in a fit
of misplaced enthusiasm or an overplay of religious sentiment.
It
is more pertinent to realise that we should not entertain unnecessary suspicions
about the integrity of their faith; instead of making them hostages of our crude
sense of justice, we should display a reasonable degree of open-mindedness to
give them the benefit of doubt. Before hurling at them the accusation of
disbelief, we should try to probe into their real intentions; before convicting
them, we should presume them innocent and refrain from equating their figurative
expressions with literal statements. We all know, and only a sense of perversion
can contradict this gut feeling, that these petitioners seeking help from others
believe in divine unity, which is quite consistent with the basic postulates of
Islamic faith and attested by the Messengership of the Holy Prophet(صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم).
They offer prayer and pay zakāt. When they follow the basic tenets of
Islam, not as an eyewash but as a demonstration of commitment, then it will not
be an act of wisdom to drive them out of the fold of Islam simply because they
use a string of ‘undesirable’ expressions in their supplications in a figurative
sense. Truly speaking, they are “more sinned against than sinning”
as the punishment seems to exceed their innocuous act. Anas bin Māik has
reported that the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
said:
Anyone who
prays like us and makes our
qiblah as
his qiblah and eats our slaughtered meat, so he is a Muslim for whom
Allāh and His Messenger
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
are both responsible. So do not break Allāh’s responsibility.[6]
In
view of this sound tradition, there is hardly any scope left to level the
allegation of infidelity against the Muslims who use these words figuratively.
This figurative application is sanctioned by the Qur’ān and the hadīth
and demonstrated by the practice of the Companions, not sparingly but frequently
and therefore, its reality cannot be denied. And there is no harm to declare
their application as a valid act if a believer uses them figuratively. According
to the correct Islamic belief, a person who believes that Allāh alone is the
Creator and the Master, and He alone has empowered His creatures to perform
different acts, and He is absolutely independent of the leanings and cravings of
the living and the dead, that is, it is the exclusive divine privilege to grant
or reject the wish of a creature, no matter how highly placed he is, such a
person is a true believer and a true Muslim. This is precisely what is meant by
divinity and this is exactly what Islam stands for. It is proved by Jibrīl’s
dialogue with Maryam (Mary) in which he had stressed his derivative power in
relation to the absolute power of Allāh. It meant that his act was not
self-prompted but both sanctioned and sanctified by the will of the Lord who is
One and Unique. The Qur’ān declares it in these words:
So that I
should bless you with a pure
son.[7]
When the chief of Allāh’s creatures of light can attribute these figurative
words to himself, and Allāh Himself is reinforcing them in the Qur’ān, then if a
creature of flesh and bone attributes them to the holy Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم),
then what crime has he committed or what sin has he perpetrated? What is
urgently needed is to understand the essence of the Qur’ān itself so that the
Muslims stop condemning one another, inflating one set of beliefs while
deflating others, and in the process giving a bad name to their faith. This is
the only way to preserve the integrity of our religion and to retain the purity
of our faith.
The last word
Here, summing
up the discussion, we would like to rephrase the vital point stated earlier
that, in the present times, some people have cast aside the basic difference
between the literal and figurative meanings in the interpretation of Qur’ānic
verses. Moreover, their interpretation is marked by imbalance and extremism,
which blatantly violates the basic principles of Qur’ānic exegesis. They prop up
their interpretation on the literal sense and are not willing to concede the
figurative sense. This is the reason that their interpretations are deflected
from the established and authentic consensus of the traditions and the early
religious leaders and scholars deeply charged with the true spirit of their
faith and make sheer opinion and speculation as the basis of their conclusions.
This is nothing but individualism gone haywire. They are interjecting
undesirable innovations into our religious fabric and disfiguring its texture by
their insensible and insensitive deviations from certified and well-documented
explanations. The other group that has discarded the sobering crutches of
balance has displayed such extremism in its application and patronage of the
figurative sense that it appears to have lost all sense of balance, while
balance is a sine qua non of all sane interpretation. If we keep in view the
Qur’ānic sense of balance, the chasm between the two extremes can be abridged
and the Muslim community will be transformed once again into an indivisible
unity. This is the only way to preserve our faith and to perpetuate a correct
interpretation of the nature and essence of divine unity.
