The Importance of Da'awa : Part IV

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Religious Awareness

Some interpreters of the Quranic verses say that, what is mentioned as al-Khayri means the goodness which refers to Islam. Islam is about nurturing the Creed and Faith on the God. It includes the Tawheed (Oneness of the Lord) and Ma’rifat (Knowing Him). These two matters lead to the fact of religious awareness where ones could differentiate between goodness and evil.

Later, the feeling to incline toward goodness in the soul grows and it makes one having the courage to uphold the goodness and opposing the evil. If religious awareness is not yet growing in the soul, then the calling for goodness and opposing evil would be of no use since to differentiate goodness from evil is the teaching of the God.  

To bring da’awa into the effect, religious awareness is very important dear brothers and sisters. A da’awa with the notions of the halal (legal) and haram (illegal) before everyone are aware about the religion or the path would be in vain like a man who divorce another man’s wife.

In the Arabic text of Surah Ali Imraan v. 104, we could also see the word ummatun which means a nation or a group of people. There must be amongst you a nation. Another one is the verb yad’ouna which means calling or launching a call. It refers to the mission or da’awa. The verse could be understood that among millions of people who are known as Muslims, there should be a nation who becomes the inner part with a specific mission to perform da’awa to others. The life, the development and the marginalization of the Path depends on the da’awa.

    

The verse which says: “And there must be some of you a group (or nation) who call toward goodness and telling others to perform charity and to prohibit vices” is explained as the field held by the nation who perform the mission to call others toward the Path are two:

• Mission among the nations who profess Islam as their Path.

• Mission toward those outside of the Muslim circle.

Inward Da’awa

During the period of Muhammad s.a.w and few years after he passed away, Muslims could still receive the da’awa right away from Muhammad s.a.w himself or receiving the da’awa from his companions after he passed away. The law and principles which was not widely known were counseled and explained by Muhammad s.a.w himself. Later when he passed away, his companions took the charge and later the charge were passed to the teachers since the disciples period, the disciples of disciples period, the early period teachers and scholars, and to the recent teachers or scholars who continued the mission among Muslims so that they are aware about their Faith and Path.   

Outward Da’awa

Besides the inward da’awa, there is also the outward da’awa. The verse refers to the da’awa toward non-Muslims and to explain to them on what is Islam. What is the fact of Islam? 

Telling others about Islam is our responsibility. It is not the responsibility of those baseless websites or preachers who call themselves as the most qualified people on the earth to tell the truth about Islam or the God while they could not bear the tests of the God and that made them turning to this and that. 

In Malay language that we use in the northern Malayan Peninsula as our state’s national language, the term referring to these people is lalang. It means a weed. When the wind blows, the lalang will also follow the direction of the wind. It has no stance and no dignity like the weed that makes it easily being blown by the wind. The Arabic specific word for the term lalang is the munafiq. When we translate it into English, it means the hypocrite. People like these should just be abandoned, ignored and neglected.

The Definition of Ma’aruf and Munkar

As what has been mentioned before, ma’aruf refers to goodness, the act of goodness. It is basically something which is widely accepted by a good society. It is the obligation on a member of da’awa mission or the nation of da’awa to form a healthy public opinion on the nations through their acts and attitude.  A mission of everyone in a congregation of a musalla or a masjid.

Now, why some Tabligh Jama’at members thought that I am one of them? Because the basis of the da’awa is all the same dear brothers and sisters no matter from what order we’re from. That is why I translate our turooq in English as mission orders. The tradition that I am following is the same tradition which is practiced by the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his predecessors.

Munkar refers to evil symptoms, evil and bad attitude of life. It is rejected by a normal and sane society. Da’awa always in co-existence with healthy society and a healthy society is the goal of human life. 

The normal human nature is to accept the goodness but rejects evil. If there is a society which rejects the noble way of life, then the society is not a healthy or a sane society. Goodness is for everyone's benefit. This is the fact of Islam. Islam is the nature of the universe.

When the amar ma'aruf nahi munkar which leads people toward charity and hinders them from evil stops, it signifies that the society is in danger and facing its disaster. Alhamdulillah, ending this part with salawat for Muhammad s.a.w : Allahumma salli 'alaa Muhammad, wa 'alaa aali Muhammad wa sahbihi aj'ma'in.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Pakistani Muslim Scholar: Muhammad Tahir al-Qadri

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Introduction

Just relaxing while waiting for afternoon prayer service time. Now, we talk about sub-Indian continent ulama and this one is from Qadiri mission order lineage. It is our heritage since some of our ancestors also hailed from here. We have several mission orders here whether in the Sunnah or the Shi'a ones. I am also cooperating and having contacts with some progressive Shi'a brothers. There are also people known by this mission in movements of Tabligh and Barelwi. So don't scratch each other faces but try to understand each other.

I can't really join our Tabligh Jama'at brothers or those from Wahhabi movements or any visible organizations. I did tried to combine myself into groups or visible mission orders but I feel like an out-caste and myself is very filthy when I listened to their speeches. We have to leave behind our customs. Say, if a Hebrew professing his faith to Allah and to the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w. Do he or she has to leave behind all of her customs and traditions inherited from past prophets and messengers of the God while those traditions are actually mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah again through Muhammad s.a.w prophethood? 

Those in our masjid who used Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Wahhab kitabs are not all from religious schools and fields though they speak Arabic. I am aware about the basis of their religious science once I listened to their speeches because sometimes it is exceeding the limit of humility. We emphasize the basis of the Creed and also Shari'at which is the Path. We don't like to condemn people especially our brothers unless if we join them and look at their approaches. That is why I keep repeating about the first things of the Path in this site because some might think this site is the site of a grave worshiper, lol. I am not worshiping any grave, idols, human-being, demon, angel and I never worship any teacher anymore once I repented. Teachers are just examples especially for morality and the quest for knowledge. They are not gods like what I saw in fanatics attacking each other because others are not in accordance to their teachers (can I say their god?) opinions.

It does not mean that I won't help them or I hate them and encourage people to hate them. It is a sin to hate brothers and sisters in faith or anyone. I will certainly help them, but they must train their public members first before performing da'awat because not all of the public being preached are of the same level of knowledge regarding the Path. They should always revise their method of da'awat and checking whether for example they are performing the compassionate mercy equally to everyone which also includes the disabled, animals, plants, environment, and etc. As Muslims, we are taught to always be in the Middle Path on everything. We don't exceed the boundaries withing two lines: angelic and demonic. Because we are human-being. This is what I understood about our Path.     

I had already changing my school of jurisprudence from Shafi'ie to Salafi (Hanbali) one in order to be in compliance with our mission order and trying to learn from the scratch. Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab or Ibnu Taimiyah and etc are just among Hanbali school of jurisprudence scholars. They are not the creators of any new schools but fanatics developed movements from them and expounding their ideas for new-founded ideologies. These scholars are no gods, prophets, or messengers of the God but human-being who happened to be scholars. Everyone will become scholars if they are diligent to memorize the Quran, learning the Sunnah, practicing them in daily life and checking the basis of Shari'at with diligent teachers who are doing researches.

Biography of Sheikh Muhammad Tahir

His father is Farid ad-Din Qadri. His ancestors belong to Sial ethnic group who speaks in three languages which are Punjabi, Sindhi, and Saraiki. They hailed from Jhang close to Sargodha in Pakistan.

Early Education

It mentions that he started his education at Catholic mission school, Sacred Heart in Jhang. He was educated in English and exposed to Christianity at an early age. He was taught with Islamic sciences from the age 12 in Medina al-Munawwara in Saudi Arabia at the Madrasah al-'Ulum al-Shari'yya. It is situated on the site of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari house. It was the first place where prophet Muhammad s.a.w was offered to stay when he first reached the city of Medina. 

It reminds me of my dad stories about himself. He was also educated in Sacred Heart of Singapore under a Catholic brother supervision once he was kicked out of the village in Kodiang, Kedah after my grandpa passed away. Three of my elder sisters also began their education in Cantonese Catholic pre-formal school in Central Kedah. Some of my paternal cousins were also educated in Catholic church in Malacca where they also had to join Christian's prayer services though they weren't Christian. I was quite fortunate to begin my education in masjid system, haha.

      

His early teachers in Islamic sciences among them were:

1. Mawlana Dhiyaauddin al-Madani who died in 1981 at the age 107. 

2. Al-Hijaz Sayyid 'Alawi ibn Abbas Maliki al-Makki who taught hadith sciences.

3. Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi Maliki al-Makki who was the foremost Sunnah authority in Mid East

4. Al-'Azam of Pakistan, Sardar Ahmad al-Qadri

He also learned from other prominent classical authorities in Islamic sciences such as from:

1. Abu Barakat Ahmad al-Qadri al-Alwari. He is one of hadith narrators of the Indian sub-continent. His dad is Didar 'Ali Shah al-Alwari who studied under Ahmad Ali Muhaddith Sharanpuri and Ahmed Raza Khan Baralwi. Sheikh Qadri studied under Abu Barakat for four years and received his ijazat in hadith and jurisprudence in 1972.

2. Abdul Rashid al-Ridwi. Sheikh Qadri completed the classical Darsi Nizami course with him from 1963 to 1970 at Jami'a Qutubiyya Ridwiyya in Jhang. Lessons were conducted from pre-dawn Tahajjud prater service at three early in the morning to eleven at night with pauses between noon and afternoon. Abdul Rashid only taught Sheikh Qadri alone without any other students. While attended an event for Sheikh Qadri, Abdul Rashid mentioned in his speech about Sheikh Qadri. He never miss his Tahajjud and optional services. He never absent to all of his lessons and never think to do that. He is a loyal student and is a qualified teacher too. He still maintains his humility wherever he is and Abdul Rashid prays for him to be successful in the order mission. 

3. Tahir 'Alauddin Qadri Gilani. This is a saint who become the spiritual guide of the Qadiriyya mission in 1996. He bestowed the ijazat and certification to Sheikh Qadri in hadith sciences. He started the Minhaj University and Minhaj al-Quran Institute.

4. Ahmad Zubaydi or Abu Hanifa Saghir of Syria. He is allegedly from the family of Imam Abu Hanifa. He reports that he personally heard Tahir Alauddin al-Gilani referred to Sheikh Tahir Qadri as the reviver of our Path. 

5. Abdul Ma'bud Jilani. This teacher studied under scholars such as Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, Ahmad Rida Khan, Qutbul Arifin Ali Sulayman ibn Mustafa an-Naqib al-Baghdadi, Abdul Rahman al-Mahd an-Naqib al-baghdadi, Shah Muhammad Sulayman Tonswi and Fazli Haq Khairabadi.

6. Fariduddin Qadri. The dad of Sheikh Qadri himself was a scholar. He studied from al-Hijaz, in Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad in India, Baghdad, Damascus and other places. He gained knowledge of sciences from scholars such as al-Haram al-Makka 'Alawi bin 'Abbad al-Maliki, Muhammad Abdul Shakur al-Muhajir al-Madani who had once studied in Darul Ulum of Deoband before leaving for Medina al-Munawwara. Fariduddin also studied under Abdul Hadi al-Ansari of Lucknow, Abdul Baqi Ali Muhammad al-Ansar al-Muhaddith, and many others because their name is so long, haha. Fariduddin taught Sheikh Qadri everyday from 1962-1970 and periodically from 1970-1974 about the principles of hadith, tafseer, aqeeda, tasawwuf, Arabic grammar, Arabic language styles, logic, philosophy, and Arabic literature as well as other traditional classical sciences. He gave Sheikh Qadri the Dawra al-Hadith to certify him in 1970.

7. Ahmad Sa'eed Kazmi. This guy was a famous authority of Pakistan and was known as the "Ghazali of his time." He was a close friend to Sheikh Qadri's dad. Sheikh Qadri was sent under his supervision at Jami'a Islamiyya Bahawalpur as well as in his own institution in Anwar al-'Ulum in Multan. The studies he acquired included hadith, aqeeda, the knowledge of kalam, and other classical sciences. Upon completion, he was awarded with the Sanadi Hadith in 1979.

8. Hussain ibn Ahmad Usayran. He was the last living student of the Lebanese authority, Yusuf ibn Ismail Nabhani. He gave Sheikh Qadri all of his ijazats in 2004, a year before he passed away. He gained knowledge from the topmost authority of sciences regarding hadith and jurisprudence from Middle East and North Africa.

9. Muhammad Fateh al-Kattani. This guy is a specialist of Hadith in Syria. He taught Sheikh Qadri in Damascus and gave him all his ijazats.

10. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi. He was a famous student of Zafar al-Hasan Uthmani and a student of Muhammad Sulayman Ashraf Aligarhi. He supervised Sheikh Qadri on the studies of philosophical reflection of Muhammad Iqbal and bestowed him all the certification (permission) to teach others.

Later Education

Sheikh Qadri studied law at University of Punjab in Lahore. He was graduated with an LLB in 1974 with a gold medal for academic achievements. After a period of legal practice as an advocate, he taught law in the University of Punjab from 1978-1983 and gained his PhD in Islamic Law majoring in Punishments in Islam, their Classification and Philosophy from the same university in 1986. His supervisor were Bashir Ahmad Siddiqui and Javaid Iqbal. He was appointed a professor of Law at Punjab University and taught British, US and Islamic constitutional law.

Career Life

Sheikh Qadri was appointed as a Jurist Consultant or Legal Adviser on Islamic Law for the Supreme Cpurt and the Federal Shari'ah Court of Pakistan. He worked also as a specialist adviser on Islamic curricula for the Federal Ministry of Education of Pakistan. At various times between 1983-1987, he received and declined offers for various high-level posts.       

He has delivered more than 6000 lectures on various fields such as on political-economy studies, religious philosophy, law, sufism, medical sciences, material sciences and astronomy. Numerous lectures are available in Arabic, English, and Urdu at Islamic bookshops around the world. Hurmm, I wanted to find them for my readings if I have time after this.

Sheikh Qadiri himself has awarded permission or ijazat to other leading Muslim scholars which makes them his students and linking them through his lineage mission order back to prophet Muhammad s.a.w and companions of the prophet s.a.w. It brings everyone into connection.

Closing

All of the stories we posted here are just for us to reflect upon ourselves based on real life experience. About the ulamas and scholars, example of their morality could help us to lead a noble life. This one is just for us to boost up our spirit to learn from good examples. This guy is not a god and for me. I never have a strict understanding about saints. Saints for me are my brothers and sisters whom I love so much. I am serving my beloved brothers and sisters for His pleasure as possible as I can. It is for us to struggle in pursuing our ambition. What is our ambition? To see His Glorious Appearance and to be close to Him, insha Allah :')

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!