INNOVATION IN RELIGION (BID’AH)

INNOVATION IN RELIGION (BID’AH)

Q.   What is the gravest of sins after unbelief and polytheism?

  Bid’ah (innovation in religion) is the greatest of all sins after unbelief and polytheism.

Innovation is a thing done in the same of religion even though there be no place for it in Shariah, i.e., it has no sanction of the Holy Qur-an or the Hadith and had no basis or existence in the days of the holy Prophet (peace be on him) or his Companions or the period immediately following them.

Innovation is an evil practice. The holy Prophet (peace be on him) has characterized all innovations in religion as despicable and has called an innovator a demolisher of religion. He has also said that every innovation is a deviation from path and every deviation from path will lead to Hell.

Q.   Mention some of the acts that amount to innovation.

  People have devised thousands of innovations. Some of them are as follows:

·   Constructing pucca graves;

·   Constructing domes on graves;

·   Organizing fairs on graves with great fanfare;

·   Bedecking the graves with covers and sheets of cloth;

·   Illuminating the graves;

·   Assembling on the house of the deceased person for feasting;

·   Covering the face of the bridegroom with wreaths of flowers, gold and silver in marriages;

·   Adding conditions and qualifications to any otherwise permissible and desirable acts that have no basis in Islam.

SIN - SHIRK

SIN (MA’SIYAH)

Q.   What is Ma’siyah (sin)?

  The word Ma’siyah literally means transgression or disobedience. Anything that violates the commands of Al-lah is transgression or sin.

It is bad to commit sin. Sin attracts Al-lah’s wrath, displeasure and punishment. Unbelief and polytheism are the bigger among all sins. Unbelievers and polytheists shall have Hell as their permanent abode. Nobody will intercede on behalf of an unbeliever or polytheists. Al-lah has said in the Holy Qur-an that He will never forgive a polytheist.

UNBELIEF AND POLYTHEISM

(KUFR AND SHIRK)

Q.   What do we mean by unbelief and polytheism?

  Unbelief means refusal to believe in anyone of the things necessary to be believed. For instance, those who refuse to believe in Al-lah or His Attributes or believes in more than one God (two or three) or refuses to believe in angels or in anyone of Al-lah’s Books and Prophets or Destiny or the Day of Judgment or anyone of     Al-lah’s clear commands or disbelieves any fact or tiding conveyed by the Prophet of Al-lah will be considered an unbeliever.

Polytheism similarly, means to believe in any other object or person besides      Al-lah to be His compeer in Being or Attributes

Q.   What do we mean by considering any other object or person as Al-lah’s compeer in being?

  Making someone Al-lah’s partner in Being means believing in duality or plurality of God. Christians are polytheists because they believe in trinity, the Zoroastrians because they believe in duality and the idolaters because they believe in the plurality of God.

Q.   What do we mean by polytheism in regard to Attributes?

  It is polytheism to ascribe Al-lah’s Attributes to some other being. No other creature whether it be an angel, a prophet, a saint, a martyr, a spiritual head or an Imam can have Attributes special to Al-lah.

Q.   How many forms can polytheism take?

  It could take many forms. We discuss below a few of them.

·   Partnership in powers exclusive to Al-lah: This is like believing that some prophet, spiritual head or martyrs etc., have the power to send down rains, grant son or daughter or other boons to anyone, provide livelihood, give life to or snatch it from anyone or cause good or harm to anyone. This is one form of polytheism.

·   Partnership in Knowledge: It consists in believing that someone besides Al-lah, a prophet or spiritual head has knowledge of the Unseen, knows everything big or small or is aware of what is happening to us or has knowledge of all things, far and near.

·   Partnership in the Attributes of hearing and seeing: It means believing someone besides Al-lah (a prophet or spiritual leader) to have the power to hear all that we say from far and near or see us all our actions from anywhere.

·   Partnership in Sovereignty: It consists in considering someone besides       Al-lah the master like unto Him and obeys his dictates even as one would carry out the dictates of Al-lah. For example, it is also a kind of polytheism to carry out the command of one’s spiritual head to chant a certain formula before the ‘Asr prayer for such a long time that it would delay or even cause to miss the prayer prescribed by Al-lah.

·   Partnership in worship: It consists in considering someone besides Al-lah worthy of worship. Acts like falling prostrate before some holy man or fasting in the name of some prophet, saint or Imam asking boons from objects and persons other than Al-lah or going round some grave or the residence of a holy man even as one would go round the holy Ka’bah are all forms of polytheism in worship.

Q.   Are there any other acts that smack of polytheism?

  Yes, there are great many other acts that smack of polytheism. They all must be avoided. The following acts, for example, fall under this category: consulting astrologers about the future, consulting a palmist, asking someone to draw lots, avoiding a patient of small pox or some other disease because of the supposed communicable nature of the disease, making effigies of martyrs, raising banners to commemorate the death of martyrs and saints, swearing by someone besides      Al-lah, drawing images or giving respect to them, invoking some saint or holy man as if he would answer our prayers, keeping tufts of hair for invoking the blessings of some saint or holy man, parading as beggars in the name of martyrs on certain occasions, organizing assemblies and fairs on the graves and so on.

FAITH AND NOBLE DEEDS

FAITH AND NOBLE DEEDS

Q.   What is Iman (faith)?

  Iman (faith) means to believe in

·   Al-lah,

·   All His Attributes,

·   Angels,

·   Divine Books,

·   Prophets,

·   Veracity of things by the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) from Al-lah and

·   Affirmation in words or assertion is the essence of Iman.

But the condition for affirmation is waived in special circumstances and situations. For example, the Faith of a dumb person is valid even though he is unable to give its expression in words.

Q.   What do we mean by noble deeds?

  All the modes of worship and good practices taught to us by Al-lah and His Messengers are to be taken as noble deeds.

Q.   Are the modes of worship and noble deeds also part of Faith?

  Yes, Faith in its entirety includes noble deeds. These noble acts give light and perfection to one’s Faith which remains incomplete without them.

Q.   What do we mean by worship?

  To worship means to offer one’s servitude. One who offers servitude is a worshipper and the one served is the object of worship. There is only one Being worthy of worship for all of us. He is Al-lah who created us and the universe. We are all his servants. He has ordained us to worship Him. It is thus our duty to offer our worships to him.

Q.   What sections of Al-lah’s creation have been ordained to worship?

  Human beings and jins have been commanded to offer their worships. These two are known as mukal-laf (answerable). Angels and the rest of animate creatures are not answerable in respect of worship to Al-lah.

Q.   Who are jins?

  Jins are also among the major creations of Al-lah. They are made of fire. Their bodies are so fine as to be invisible. But they become are so fine to be invisible. But they become visible should they choose to take the form of man or animal. God has invested them with power to assume the form of an animal or a human being. They are both male and female. They procreate too.

Q.   What is the proper way of worship?

  Worship can take several forms, such as

·   Saying salat;

·   Fasting;

·   Giving alms;

·   Performing Hajj;

·   Offering sacrifice;

·   Retiring to masjid in I’tikaf;

·   Exhorting people to do evil;

·   Giving respect and regard to one’s parents;

·   Setting up schools;

·   Studying religion;

·   Imparting religious knowledge and education to others;

·   Helping those who would study religion;

·   Fighting Al-lah’s enemies for sake of Al-lah;

·   Attending to the needs of the poor;

·   Feeding the hungry;

·   Extinguishing the thirst of the thirsty;

Doing such other acts as Al-lah commands and approves of also fall within the precincts of worship. These very acts and practices are known as “noble deeds”.

BELIEF IN PROPHET

Q.   What beliefs must we have about the Holy Prophet (peace be on him)?

  We must have the belief that;

·   He was a human being, a servant of Al-lah and His Messenger;

·   He is the most exalted of all after Al-lah;

·   He is innocent and free from all sin;

·   Al-lah revealed the Holy Qur-an to him;

·   Al-lah invited him to Heavens on the night of Ascendence and showed him round the Heaven and the Hell;

·   He performed a number of miracles by the will of Al-lah;

·   He offered abundant prayers and devotions to Al-lah;

·   His conduct and behavior were of the highest degree of virtuosity;

·   Al-lah endowed him with knowledge of many things, past and present, of which he apprised his community;

·   Al-lah gave him more knowledge than to anyone else, but he was not omniscient; for ominiscience is the special Attribute of Al-lah;

·   He is the last of prophets in the sense that there will come no new Prophet after him. Only Hadrat ‘Isa (Jesus) who is prophet of a preceding period will come down from heavens. He too shall follow the Islamic Shariah;

·   He is  sent as prophet for all humans and jennies;

·   He will intercede before Al-lah on behalf of sinners on the Day of Judgment, by the will of Al-lah which fact gives him the title of SHafi’ul-muznibin (intercessor for sinners). Al-lah will also accept his intercession;

·   It is incumbent upon us his community to do as he has commanded and abstain from what he has forbidden and believe in the things and events he has told us about;;

·   It is incumbent upon every member of his community to give him love as well as regard and respect. But the regard and respect this poured on him should be within the framework prescribed by the Shariah. It is folly to consider things contrary to Shariah as forms of love and respect towards him.

Q.   What do we mean by the term “innocent”?

  By his being “innocent” we mean that no sin, minor or major, was committed by the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) consciously or unconsciously. All prophets of Al-lah were clear of all sins.

Q.   Was Prophet’s Ascendance physical or spiritual?

  The Ascendance that the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) was blessed with was physical. He went up in his bone and flesh. Apart from his physical one, the Prophet also had Ascendance in dreams because dreams of Holy Prophet (peace be on him), as also of other prophets, are true. There is no possibility of doubt or error in them. The Prophet had one physical Ascendance while four or five of them were spiritual.

Q.   What do we mean by the term Intercession?

  Intercession means recommendation. On the Day of Judgment, the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) will make recommendations on behalf of sinners. The Holy Prophet (peace be on him) has been invested with this honour. Even then, out of reverence for Al-lah’s might and glory, the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) will seek Al-lah’s permission before intercession. On being granted such a permission, he will proceed to intercede.

Apart from the Holy Prophet (peace be on him), other prophets, Al-lah’s chosen friends among mankind and the martyrs will also intercede. But no one will do it without Al-lah’s permission.

Q.   What types of sins admit of intercession?

  All sins other than those of unbelief or polytheism admit of intercession for Al-lah’s forgiveness. Major sins will stand more in need of intercession, for the minor ones are washed off even in this world by prayers and devotion to Al-lah.