Q & A regarding Islamic Beliefs

1. Define the term Tawheed linguistically and Islamically and explain why some of the aspects of linguistics meaning is not appropriate.

• Tawhid literally means ‘unification’ or ‘asserting oneness’. Islamically it means realizing and maintaining of Allah’s unity in all of man’s actions which directly or indirectly relate to Him. It is the belief that Allah is One without partner in His dominion, One without similitude in His essence and attributes, One without rival in His divinity and in worship.
  Whys some of the linguistics meaning is not appropriate.

2. Explain the term wahdatul wujood, identify its originator and its relationship to Tawheed.

• Wahdatul wujood means that the creator and creation is one. In other words it means that Allah is all and all is Allah, there is only one existence which is Allah.

3. Discuss why the division of Tawheed into the three categories was not done by the Companions of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam.

• Because there was no necessity to analyze such basic principle of faith in this fashion. It became necessary when Islam spread into areas where the people who became Muslims carried their pre Islamic beliefs with them. Usually, it was the duty of Caliph to implement punishments to the heretics. However with the regime of later Umayyad Caliphs who are more corrupt and cared little care about religious issues, the task of opposing heretic beliefs fell upon the shoulders of the scholars who rose to meet the challenge intellectually.

4. Identify the issue of Tawheed which Haroon Yahya is noted for violating.

• To be answered

5. Explain the meaning of Tawheed ar Ruboobeeyah

• It means that Allah alone cause all things to exist when there was nothing. It also means that Allah is the only source of power and movement in the universe. It also means that He is the sole Lord of the universe and its inhabitants without any real challenge to His lordship. He maintains and sustains the creation without any need from it or for it.

6. Mention the reason given in the hadeeth narrated by ‘Uqbah in which the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam refused to accept the oath of allegiance from one man out of a group of ten and explain its significance to the study of Tawheed.

• Because the man was wearing an amulet. Its significance to the study of Tawheed is it proves that

7. Explain the correct position regarding the use of Qur’aanic charms and support your explanation with evidence.

• The correct position is that it is bid’ah. Some verses of the Qur’an like the Muwaddhatain was specifically revealed for exorcism but it was meant to be read not hung around the neck etc. Therefore to use verses of the Qur’an other than the prescribed way is bid’ah due to the hadeeth:

Whoever innovates in Islam something which does not belong to it will have it rejected. (Bukhari, Abu Dawud)

8. Identify two Qur’aanic chapters revealed for removing evil spells and explain the circumstances in which they were revealed.

• Sooratul Falaq and an Nas. A spell was cast on the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam. He told Ali to recite the two chapters verse by verse, when he became ill he used to recite them on himself. (Bukhari and Muslim)

9. Give a brief but clear explanation of the term Tawheed al Asmaa was Sifaat.

• It is to maintain Allah’s Names and Attributes without explaining away His names and attributes by giving them meanings other than their obvious meanings. It means to refer Him by what He and His Messenger referred Him by, without giving any new names or attributes, without giving Him the attributes of the creations or His attributes given to the creation.

10. Explain whether anger is one of Allah’s attributes, support your explanation with evidence and explain how this attribute is to be understood.

• Anger is one of Allah’s attributes the evidence of which is in Soorah al Fath verse 6:
  

That He may punish the munafiqoon, men and women, and the mushrikoon, men and women, who have an evil opinion of Allah. A circle of evil is around them; Allah is angry with them, curses them and has prepared for them an evil end. (48:6)

• Allah’s anger is not like human anger because humans become angry due to weakness and lack of patience, while Allah’s anger is based on justice.
  

11. Discuss whether it can be said that there are any similarity between God’s attributes and those of humankind with at least two examples.

• The similarity would only be in name but not in degrees. God’s attributes are to be taken in absolute sense free from human deficiencies.
• Allah has a face and humans have face. But they are not similar in any way. The face of the horse is different from the face human beings. If there exist a difference of attributes of face in the creation, then how much more between the creation and the Creator

12. Can the name al Ghaadib (be used) in reference to Allah and why or why not?

• No we cannot call Allah by the name al Ghaadib because neither He nor His Messenger called Him by this name.

13. Explain how most Shi’ites destroy Tawheed al Asmaa was Sifaat relative to their belief in Imaamate.

• They have given their Imams attributes of infallibility, knowledge of the future, past and the unseen and the ability to change destiny.

14. Briefly explain the meaning of Tawheed al Ibaadah

• It means that all forms of worship must be directed only to Allah because He alone deserves to be worshipped and He alone can grant benefit to man as a result of His worship.

15. Discuss the ruling on praying through or to Prophet Muhammad with regard to the principle of Tawheed.

• It is haram to pray through or to the Prophet Muhammad because it is a form of shirk. It violates Tawheed Ibaadah because praying is an essential part of worship and praying should only be directed to Allah. It is also giving some of the attributes of Allah to Prophet Muhammad such as the ability to grant request or repulse harm.
• Praying through the Prophet as an intercessor is also not allowed because he is already dead. We can ask a religious person to pray for us while he is alive. Further, the Shafa’ah of the Prophet only happens on the Day of judgment.

16. Mention the literal and Islamic meaning of shirk

• Shirk literally means partnership, sharing or associating.
• Islamically it refers to the act of assigning partners to Allah in whatever form it may take.
  Explain briefly the two ways of shirk may take place in Tawheed ar Ruboobeeyah.
  Shirk by association means that Allah’s powers are shared by the creation or lesser gods.
  Shirk by negation means denying the existence of Allah.

17. Discuss how Tawheed is violated by the belief that (E=MC²)

• It means that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It violates Tawheed by giving creation the attributes of Allah who alone is without beginning or end.

18. Identify the aspect of Tawheed which is destroyed by those who claim that Alee was God in person or claim that Jesus was God.

• It destroys Tawheed al Asmaa was Sifaat by deification of Alee or Jesus

19. Mention with a brief explanation how and why drawing, painting or carving images of God violates principle of Tawheed

• It violates Tawheed al Asmaa was Sifaat by humanizing Allah by assigning attributes of the creation to Him.

Abu Khalid

Removing the blame from the Sahabah Part 2

All praise is due to Allah. The salutations and peace of Allah be upon Muhammad.

This is the second part of my reply which would expound further on the issue of abrogation and the consequences of taking the Sahabah out of Islam. Lastly, at the end of the day, it is still possible for us to cooperate on righteousness even though our point of difference is a major one based on a Qur'anic principle I will mention below, insha Allah.

Abrogation

Allah abrogates a verse when the ruling doesn’t apply anymore. He promised this in the Qur’an:

Whatever a verse do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten we bring a better one or similar to it. Know you that Allah is able to do all things. (2:106)

The gradual prohibition of alcohol is an example of an abrogation of Qur'anic verses by other Qur'anic verses.

First verse: 16:67

And from the fruits of date-palms and grapes, you derive strong drink (this was before the order of the prohibition of the alcoholic drinks) and a goodly provision. Verily, therein is indeed a sign for people who have wisdom. (An-Nahl 16:67)

Then: 2: 219

They ask you (O Muhammad ) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: "In them is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they ought to spend. Say: "That which is beyond your needs." Thus Allâh makes clear to you His Laws in order that you may give thought." (Al-Baqarah 2:219)

Lastly: 5: 90,91

O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), gambling, Al­Ansâb, and Al­Azlâm (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaitân's (Satan) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful. (Al-Ma'idah 5:90)

Shaitân (Satan) wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allâh and from As-Salât (the prayer). So, will you not then abstain? (Al-Ma'idah 5:91)

First it was just a mention of its source, then it is equated with harm and benefit, then at last prohibited and mentioned together with other great sins such as gambling, shirk, and causes of enmity and hatred. Therefore it is upon Allah to abrogate a verse in order to modify or suspend the rulings He made in His book.

When Allah said that He has prepared for them gardens under which rivers flow He knows that they will continue to believe in Him until the day they will die. This is because He will not promise paradise for them if He knew from the beginning that they will go out of Islam.

In fact saying that the Sahabah went out of Islam when the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam died is like saying that Allah didn’t know the future. Nothing can be farther from this. Why? Because He already said that He promises them paradise! Will Allah say these words: “Yah they were good people before the death of the Messenger so I promised them paradise because of that, but when the Messenger died, they ceased to believe anymore so I am withdrawing my promise”. Brother, only human beings do this! Subhanallah, Allah is high above to what they ascribe to Him.

What do we do with their mistakes, shall we change our religion?

Undermining or degrading the status of the Sahabah has grave consequence on our religion. This is NOT a minor point as what you are constantly reminding me.

1. This is because it was the Sahabah, as a whole, who brought our religion to us.
2. It was them who passed on the Qur’an to us.
3. It was them who passed on the Hadeeth to us.
4. It was them who taught us the reasons of the revelation of the Qur'an and the circumstances surrounding the event of revelation.
5. It was them who taught us the explanation of hadeeth.

You see, take the Sahabah out of the picture, and left just a few of them would mean:

That the Qur’an did not come to us Mutawaatiran. (Narrations by such a large number of people that it is impossible for all of them to come together and concoct a lie). Why? If Sahabah were not Muslims in the first place then we don’t take our religion from them! Every hadeeth specialist knows that one of the condition of accepting narrations is the narrator must be a Muslim. Would you take your religion form a kaafir? Listen to Allah’s words if you like:


يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
O you who believe! If a rebellious evil person comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful to what you have done. (Al-Hujurat 49:6)

This is a command from Allah not to get information just from anybody. We must verify the person narrating and as well as the content of the narration. If Allah forbids us to take information from a fasiq (a rebellious person) then how much more so taking the whole religion and Qur’an from the apostates.

If the Sahabah went outside the fold of Islam and we cannot take our religion from them, then Brother, pay attention, the Qur’an you are holding cannot be acceptable and trustworthy! No Sahabah equals to no Qur’an! Who had the first idea to compile the pieces of Qur’an written in whatever material available to them at the time? Wasn’t it Umar ibn al Khattab? Who actually headed the compilation of the Qur’an? Wasn’t it Zaid ibn Thaabit? Who helped Zaid ibn Thaabit in compiling the Qur’an? Wasn’t it the committee of Sahabah who memorized the Qur’an? Under whose caliphate this task happened? Wasn’t it under Abu Bakr? When Hudhaifa, the one me and you are both praising and asking Allah’s pleasure upon him, realized that due to variation of recitation and dialects of people far from the Madeenah, there might be a possibility to dilute the contents of the Qur’an and change its meanings, to whom did he convey his concerns? Wasn’t it to Uthman ibn Affan? Wasn’t Uthman ibn Affan the one who codifies this Qur’an to us? This same Uthman ibn Affan was the one on whom the Prophet of Allah gave his two daughters successively in marriage. Was the Prophet not good in judging character that he would give his two daughters to marry the same person who would apostate after his death?

It was the Sahabah that you loath and scorn that gave you your Qur’an in your hand today. If they are so despicable and loathsome then you should not trust the content of the Qur’an you recite in your daily prayers. If they were able to disbelieve in the person whom they loved most, suffered with, fought with, married to his daughters, or their daughters marrying him, if they were able to stomach that, then it is easy for them to change what is in the Qur’an.

Disbelieving in the Sahabah means putting the hadeeth into the recycle bin. This carries the same reason as above. If we only believe in a few Sahabah, much of the Shariah would be lost. But Allah promised us that He gives to the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam the Qur’an and something similar to it, which is essentially the Hadeeth. Listen to Allah’s saying if you like:

Similarly (to complete My blessings on you) We have sent among you a Messenger of our own, reciting to you Our verses, and sanctifying you, and teaching you the Book and the Hikmah, and teaching you that which you used not to know. (2:151)

Here hadeeth is referred as the Hikmah or wisdom, because the hadeeth explains the Qur’an and both is the foundation of the Shari’ah.

We can cooperate

Having said that, however, even this should not prevent me from cooperating with you in doing good things especially so when Allah said in the Qur’an:

Help you one another in Al ­Birr and At­Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is Severe in punishment. (Al-Ma'idah 5:2)

Meaning as long as we are cooperating on righteousness and not on fasad and munkar, then we can work together. Example of this is if the government of the Philippines demands us to obey the traffic rules, we cooperate with them because this is not fasad and munkar. Therefore if I can cooperate with kuffaar on righteousness then how much more so with an ahlul Qiblah, the one who turns to Makkah to pray and says Lailaha Illallah. This is especially more true in our situation in the Philippines where we have a common antagonist who doesn’t care whether we believe in the Sahabah or not as long as we are named Abu Bakr or Ali then we must be terrorists.



Abu Khalid

Removing the Blame from the Sahabah

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Last Prophet Muhammad.

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and die not except as Muslims.

Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair preaching and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly your Lord knows who has gone astray from His path, and He is the best aware of those who are guided.

This is my last and final public reply to this topic. This is because this group was primarily conceived as a forum for discussing the possibility of having an Islamic Media in the Philippines. As such, it is not appropriate and not justified to discuss sectarian issues that are not related to the primary objective of the group.

I started with the verse of Allah where He commanded us to fear Him, to really fear Him. The question: to what extent we should fear Him is answered in the next sentence “the way He should be feared”. Our fear should therefore be proportional to the Might, Glory, and Power etc of Allah. This is an impossibility because we cannot possibly conceive the extent of Glory, Power, Might, etc. of Allah. In another verse, to clarify the issue further, He said “Fear Allah according to your ability”. Thus we should fear Him as humanly as possible. Then the next sentence says “and die not except as Muslims”, also another impossibility for humans because we don’t control our death, hence the verse would mean to be ready for death all the time.

The second verse I mentioned is the methodology of Da’wah. That is, da’wah is inviting, and calling people, not scaring them away. That it is telling people the truth and asking them to think about it, if they will not take heed then Allah said “Allah guides whom He wills”. Therefore it is not proving to somebody that we are better than them in terms of intelligence and research. If intelligence alone can guide us to the right path then why are there are so many intelligent people who do not believe in Allah.

The reference of giving da’wah is:

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you believe Allah and the last day. That is better and more suitable for final destination. (An Nisa 59).

And from this I shall proceed to my reply.

I shall only mention verses of the Qur’an to prove my point not because the proofs can only be found in the Qur’an but because this is the common ground for you and me to stand upon, a frame of reference to anchor our discussion. Although Allah has also mentioned His Messenger as a reference in the verse above, I will not quote hadeeth as much as possible because you don’t take knowledge from the Sahabah that is not in your ten odd saved list. This is because the Sahabah were the ones who passed on to us the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah and because of your belief against the Sahabah.

POINT NUMBER ONE: Allah subhanahuwataala is pleased with the Sahabah (A Sahabi is the one who met the Messenger of Allah and believed in him and died believing in him)

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالأَنصَارِ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ رَّضِيَ اللّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُواْ عَنْهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي تَحْتَهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ

And the first to embrace Islâm of the Muhâjirûn (those who migrated from Makkah to Al-Madinah) and the Ansâr (the citizens of Al-Madinah who helped and gave aid to the Muhâjirûn) and also those who followed them exactly (in Faith). Allâh is well-pleased with them as they are well-pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), to dwell therein forever. That is the supreme success.

Brother it is Allah who is saying this that He is pleased with the Muhajirun and the Ansar.
Not only that, even those who will follow their way, He will be pleased with them (so that people like us in the later generations would have chances of gaining the pleasure of Allah).
He has prepared for them Paradise.

Doubt Number 1: Who are the Muhajirun and the Ansar?

Answer to doubt Number 1:

Who are the Muhajirun and the Ansar? Do they not include Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman aside from Ali, radiallahu anhum ajmain? Who migrated together with the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, inside the cave, wasn’t it Abu Bakr? Who helped the Muhajirun when they emigrated to Madeenah, wasn’t it the Ansar. That is why they are called Ansar because it literally means ‘helpers’.


إِلاَّ تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللّهُ إِذْ أَخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لاَ تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَنَا فَأَنزَلَ اللّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَيَّدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَّمْ تَرَوْهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ السُّفْلَى وَكَلِمَةُ اللّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا وَاللّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

If you help him (Muhammad) not (it does not matter), for Allah did indeed help him when the disbelievers drove him out, the second of two, when they (Muhammad and Abu Bakr) were in the cave, and he said to his companion (Abu Bakr): "Be not sad (or afraid), surely Allah is with us." Then Allah sent down His Sakinah (calmness, tranquillity, peace, etc.) upon him, and strengthened him with forces (angels) which you saw not, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowermost, while it was the Word of Allah that became the uppermost, and Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

Doubt Number 2: Indeed Allah is talking about the Muhajirun and the Ansar and they were good Muslims when this verse was revealed but when the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam died they went apostate. Allah may be pleased with them at the time but He wasn’t pleased with them later after the Messenger died.

Answer to doubt Number 2:

Doubt number 2 is also contradicting the verse of the Muhajirun and the Ansar because:
a. Allah said that He has prepared for them Paradise.
· This means that Allah is still pleased with them even after the Messenger of Allah died otherwise He wouldn’t say it in the Qur’an and be preserved for all time that He has prepared for them paradise.
b. If what you claim is true (that they went apostate after the death of the Messenger) then the burden is upon you to produce a proof from the Qur’an that Allah has abrogated the verse above.
· What I am asking you is a Qur’anic verse, please note this properly. I am not asking Seerah and Hadeeth (whether it is Sahih, Daeef or even Maudoo’) for two reasons:
i. It is only the Qur’an that you and me can refer to because we both agree that it is still the same Qur’an revealed to the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam. In fact it is only because of our mutual belief in the Qur’an that we call ourselves ‘brother.’
ii. The Qur’an (Isnad) chain of transmission is Mutawaatir. Meaning, so many people transmitted it in every chain and generation with the same accuracy and content, that it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to come together and concoct a lie and create a false (matn) text.
iii. Because of point ii above, not all hadeeth you can mention to me has the same status in the eyes of the skilled Muhadditheen. Hence any hadeeth or seerah that you might show me in the course of our discussion that doesn’t have same level of authenticity is not acceptable. This is another topic, though related but merits a separate discussion. (There should be a topic called: hadeeth criticism between Ahlus Sunnah and Shee’a – Subhanallah this should be interesting). I suggest you read hadeeth criticism.
c. If we truly believe in the Qur’an and truly fear Allah (remember the two verses I mentioned above) indeed this single verse is ENOUGH to discredit the claim of the Sahabah, the majority of them, including the Muhajirun and Ansar, went apostate after the death of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam. This verse is clear and unequivocal.

Other verses where Allah mentions His pleasure with the Sahabah, the first believers.

Allah is not fivolous in anything He says or does. Thus I will mention to you other verses of the Qur’an mentioning the obligation of following the Sahabah. When I say Sahabah here, it includes the household of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, his ahlul bayt.



عَنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأَنزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا
Indeed, Allâh was pleased with the believers when they gave their Bai'â (pledge) to you (O Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)) under the tree, He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down As-Sakinah (calmness and tranquillity) upon them, and He rewarded them with a near victory

Allah not only said that He is pleased with them but He also commanded us to follow the footsteps of the Sahabah especially on those issues where they have agreed upon.

الرَّسُولَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءتْ مَصِيرًا
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination.

Point to be taken from this verse:

Contradicting and opposing the Messenger is connected with following other than the believers way. This verse what revealed during the time when there are Muslims and Mushrikeen. The Muslims at that time were, of course the Messenger of Allah, his family, his relatives who are believers, the Muhajirun and the Ansar and other companions.

If the Sahabah went apostate show me a verse in the Qur’an that abrogates the specific point mentioned in the verse.

Another verse:

آمَنُواْ بِمِثْلِ مَا آمَنتُم بِهِ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَواْ وَّإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَإِنَّمَا هُمْ فِي شِقَاقٍ فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللّهُ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
So if they believe in the like of that which you believe, then they are rightly guided, but if they turn away, then they are only in opposition. So Allâh will suffice you against them. And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.

Point to be taken from this verse:

When Allah said ‘They’ and ‘You’ in this verse, to whom is He referring to? He is refering to the Mushrikeen and the Muslims at that time. What was Allah telling them? It is to believe like what the believers believe at that time, then it is the right guidance.

Again if the Sahabah went apostate, show me a verse in the Qur’an that abrogates the specific points mentioned in this verse.

Another verse:

لَـكِنِ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ جَاهَدُواْ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ لَهُمُ الْخَيْرَاتُ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

أَعَدَّ اللّهُ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ

But the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) and those who believed with him (in Islâmic Monotheism) strove hard and fought with their wealth and their lives (in Allâh's Cause). Such are they for whom are the good things, and it is they who will be successful.
For them Allâh has got ready Gardens (Paradise) under which rivers flow, dwell therein forever. That is the supreme success. (At-Tawbah 9:88, 89)


How many of the Muhajirun and the Ansars who fought with the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam who are not in your saved list? Allah is saying here that they will be successful and again, He has prepared for them gardens underwhich rivers flow. These people were ready to die and give up their lives for the sake of Allah. Would they do that if they were just ‘going with flow’?

If they went apostate after the death of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, then produce your proof of abrogation.

POINT NUMBER TWO: The Sahabah were not infallible

This point is very obvious that in american english, this would be called a ‘no brainer’. Therefore, they can commit mistakes – indeed they committed mistakes. It should be emphasized here that in terms of (Athaar) or narrations from the Sahabah and on the seerah as well, the ruling of authenticating narrations also applies, exactly the same as with the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah. Therefore whatever you can mention to me regarding their supposed ‘sinful deeds’ may or may not be authentic according to the Usool al Hadeeth.

So what are we going to do with their mistakes?

Again lets see the Qur’an:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاؤُوا مِن بَعْدِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَؤُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
And those who came after them say: "Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith, and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful. (Al-Hashr 59:10)

This is one of the fundamentals teachings of Islam. What do we do if our brother or sister Muslims committed mistakes? What does Islam teaches? Are we supposed to tell the world about peoples mistakes? Are we commanded by Allah to dig the sins of the people and broadcast it to everyone? Are we supposed to slander them?

As before we return to the Qur’an:

A slanderer going about with calumnies (Al Qalam 68:11)

Woe to every slanderer and backbiter (Al Humazah 104:1)

Allah subhanahuwataala mentioned slander and backbiting here separately. In Arabic, there are few words I want to bring up here:

Nameemah: tale carrying from one person to another, the usual intention of which is to promote discord and disunity between the people.
Gheebah: Back biting
Buhtaan: saying something untrue about a person
Humaza: slanderer
Lumaza: backbiter

Allah had forbidden them all. If one should not slander a common Muslim, what do you think of those whom Allah praised in His own book?

Slandering the Sahabah will only bring discomfort in the least for those who are not firmly grounded in knowledge and hatred to them in the most.

Ponder carefully on this verse again:

And those who came after them say: "Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith, and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful. (Al-Hashr 59:10)

We must ask Allah’s forgiveness for them and we must not put in our hearts any hatred against them. This is a very clear verse that those who believe in the Qur’an and those who fear Allah (the first two verses I mentioned) will not hesitate to accept.


Summary

What I have given here brother are just proofs from the Qur’an, the Speech of Allah that you and me hold on to. I suggest you do the same, that is, also give proofs from the Qur’an that are as clear and unequivocal as these.

The hadeeth literature is filled with proofs that supports all the Qur’anic statements quoted above. I hope Allah grants me ability and time to make a second part reply which would compose primarily from the hadeeth.

In the end it is Allah who guides and He guides whoever is sincere in seeking the truth.

The Need for Islamic Media in the Philippines

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Have you ever wondered how are we Muslims in the Philippines ever to rise up to the surface while - we - now are drowning in the abyss of ignominy and despair?

I believe that the solution is in Islam; the way we understand it and implement it in our lives.

We witness in the last century how our struggle progress from combat to never ending peace talks. Deep in our hearts, we know that the latter (the way it is going now) is not going to work, judging from our experience with the people we are negotiating with. I do eagerly hope and pray that all will end up according to our expectations and aspirations.

While I certainly don’t underestimate the efforts and the untold sacrifices of our elders and brothers, I believe that there needs to be a renewal of effort in bringing back Islam to our homeland.

There is one way that we, the bangsamoro, have not yet fully participated in collectively as we did in the other arena of the struggle. That is the way of Da'wah.

We have all the fronts and groups, the main method of which is political and physical struggle. But we seldom hear groups with mass support to call the people to Allah and His religion.

Perhaps, partially one of the reason is that we don't see our selves as the main problem. Perchance, we don't see that it is because of our own state of weakness that Allah allowed this to happen to us. In other words, we don’t think of making da'wah to our selves.

In the last few decades, there have been efforts of da'wah, particularly supported by our brothers in the Middle East. Perhaps you would remember Da'wah centers springing up everywhere in the archipelago.

There were also groups that tried to brave the tides of broadcasting. I still remember watching Najeeb Rasul in his program Voice of Islam interviewing Dr. Bilal Philips. That episode made me - alhamdulillah - more conscious of my deen. I actually went to a da’wah center, for the first time, after watching.

I also remember while that program last, everyday people are coming to the da'wah center I frequently visit. People are embracing Islam almost daily. Once, four sisters embraced Islam simultaneously!

Come to think of it, that program airs on Saturday, at lunch time, pitted against well established lunch programs and giant stars, through a channel with the worst TV reception. Despite of that, I certainly believed that, that show helped many people, Muslims and non Muslims alike find their way back to Allah subhanahu wa taala.

But the event in New York in 2001 changed the way our generous brothers can give financial help to us. Consequently several Da’wah centers closed and others although operational yet their influence were reduced to within the walls of the buildings they are located.

The Iglesia ni Cristo has several TV programs funded by their own selves. If they can sustain their programs then so are we. We are more numerous and most importantly we have the Truth. We should be more motivated to have our own programs or even a channel.

Although Islam in of itself has systems of spreading information and education such as the Khutba every Friday, a widespread, far reaching, comprehensive, systematic delivering of Islamic information is urgently warranted.

Parents may wonder why their influence on their children is minimal. Simple math may answer this dilemma. A child goes to school and stays there for about 6 to 8 hours. Then after coming home, the child sits in front of the TV for another 4 hours or so. Dinner comes and everyone is sitting on the dining table for about thirty minutes. That is the only time when parents are actually with their children. Of course, actual scenarios may vary but the bottom line is how can thirty minutes parenting compare to 10 – 12 hours of school and TV.

We cannot expect help from the Philippine educational system to forge Islamic identities to our children – and this is a topic in of itself and there is also an urgent need for the Islamization of knowledge in the Philippines (and everywhere else I guess). I still believe that the identity of a child is forged at home.

Several researchers have concluded that broadcast television nowadays do not offer anything constructive to our children. This ‘enlightenment’ came from non Muslims themselves.

These two things I believe where we should exert our utmost effort – we – those who chose to struggle away from the battlefields. They are, Islamizing the educational system and causing a media metamorphosis from filthy daily mainstream broadcasting into informative, educational programs that would help the parents and their children, the teachers and their students, produce Islamic generations.

I think that this is a worth wile endeavor and I am ready to partake in this mission and make it the mission of my life. The “how” of it and the “how much” of it is beyond my knowledge and capabilities now. But I don’t really care.

Let this Tausug group be proactive not just reactive. I sincerely hope that our discussion would revolve around this issue and I pray that more people would come to know about this idea.

I know i'm not alone in this and somebody may already have thought of this and may even have taken actions. But what we need now is a concerted effort from individuals who are inclined to this endeavor so that a bigger impact would be felt by the Filipinos in general and bangsamoro in particular.