Proposal
to move Medina tomb unwise
A
report from Times of India, 4th
September 2014
Members of the Muslim community are
outraged at the controversial proposal by Saudi Arabia authority to
destroy one of Islam's most revered holy sites, the tomb of the
prophet Mohammad at al-Masjid-al Nabwi, in Medina. Both scholars and
believers say the ill advised step would “create bloodbath”,
among Muslims and destabilize Saudi royals.
Islamic scholars Zeenat Shaukat Ali
and Farid Batatawala of Muslim front said, moving of Prophet's tomb
or pulling it down is an unfortunate decision by Saudi government.
This decision will implode (burst within) the Muslim world as the
prophet's tomb is not an ordinary shrine. They further said, moving
Prophet's corpse out of it will spell doom for the Saudi kingdom. If
really such plan exists it should be nipped in bud before it
snowballs into a huge crisis.
-reported by Mohammad Wajihuddin.
This news further implies that, after
tomb of Prophet is exhumed then next turn will be of Tomb of Ali the
principal founder of Shia sect, Amir
al-Mu'minin.
This decision is instrumented by Salafi and Wahabbi sects in Muslims
of Saudi Arabia. Their claim is based on the command given by prophet
Mohammad that no mausoleum be constructed on place of burial of any
human. Since, Mohammad and Ali and also other sahabas, companions of
Prophet, were all ordinary humans such shrines built on their tomb be
destroyed. That means, what Saudi administration would be doing is in
accordance with the dictates of Prophet. Salafi ideologist's
further claim that all these mausoleums were built on these places of
burials were done due to unholy influence of Sufism on Islam. In
order to get rid of this influence such drastic actions are
necessary. Salafi and Wahabbi want only pure (pak) Islam to survive
and all followers of that faith adhere to that. If we go back in the
history of Arabia of those days, we see something that gives light on
this development.
The history of that period shows some
complicated situation existing at the time of death of Prophet. When Prophet died his body was entombed in the house of his wife and
daughter of Abu Bkra, first Caliph; it was not buried in common
Muslim grave yard, Jannat al Baqi. After some time during reign of
Caliph Abu Bkra a small humble tomb was constructed at the request of
many sahaba and it was called al-Masjid-al Nabwi. This was, of
course, done against the dictates of Prophet. After some time Ali to
revenge death of his wife Fatima and in that he destroyed house of
Aisha and inadvertently, also destroyed measure part of al-Masjid-al
Nabwi. In that may be unwittingly that place was so much burnt that Prophet's burial place was also destroyed; that means, his mortal
remains were burnt down. As a result nothing remained of his body.
After Uthman came in power (third Rashidun) he again build
al-Masjid-al Nabwi, in present form and continued that practice. This
is the brief history of that place.
This episode shows that the real body
of Prophet is lost long time ago. And present tomb is not having any
body under that tomb. Present tomb is supposed to have bodies of all
the three (Mohammad, Abu bkra
and Umar) Rashidun.
If Saudi authority tries to exhume that tomb they will not find
anything. It is believed by most scholars that same situation exists
for Fatima's body, daughter of the Prophet and wife of Ali. Salafi
and Wahabbi explain their stand by showing that Prophet had
instructed to all during his life time that no such tombs be
constructed after death of any of the companions and also of his.
They say building a mausoleum on the buried body is not Sunna. As
such this act of demolishing these structures is in accordance with
Prophet's wishes and so very much correct. They expect that all true
Muslim co-operate in such acts. These acts they justify by calling it
a cleansing operation to purify Islam and rid it of any Sufi
influence. Building such memorials is a Sufi tradition and not Muslim
one, they assert.
We see that ever since the beginning
of Islam it is extensively influenced by many Sufi traditions. Very
often most Muslims consider that they are Muslim traditions and so
these issues come up for discussion. Ali and Mohammad both
appreciated Sufism and a very close relationship developed in these
two distinct religions. If we see Ali's sermons they are deeply
influenced by Sufi teachings more than Islamic one. We often see many
clerics of Islamic in the past tried to separate them and for that
they killed and in some instances tortured many Sufi saints. However,
in spite of all these efforts influence of Sufism continued to bear
upon activities of Muslim communities all over the world. Most
practices of Muslims in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan
are deeply involving Sufi impact in their life. Mausoleum of Haji Ali
in Mumbai, Garib-e-Nawaj of Ajmer, and many more in India are due to
Sufi influence on Islam. Salafi and Wahabbi want to purify Islam by
removing all impacts of Sufism on it and these activities are in that
directions. In that process these two fundamentalist forces want to
destroy all mausoleums in all Muslim as well as other countries where
Muslims leave in sizable numbers. If their impact works that way they
will destroy mausoleums of Mohammad Ali Zena and Bhutto of Pakistan,
Taj Mahal and Bibi-ka-Muqbara of Aurangzeb's wife in Aurangabad,
India to name a few and may be many more such places all over the
world.
Technically if we see their argument
appears to be sensible. Therefore, if all these influences of Sufism
are rigidly removed from life of Muslims, remaining Islam will not be
so easy that ordinary people can live with it. Islam as professed by
the Prophet is too much theoretical. It lacks many elements those
help an ordinary man to live with it. Those elements were supplied by
Sufism but if they are removed most faithfuls will probably prefer to
switch over to pure Sufism as their principal religion and discard
Islam altogether. At present, most Muslims do not know that Sufism is
a totally separate ideology and not a religion and much less part of
Islam. They mistake Sufism as part of Islam. When they will realize
that they are under wrong impression about these religions they will
have to choose between the two faiths and most will prefer to accept
Sufism as their ideology and religion. Sufism existed much before
prophet was born. They say the three Maggi who visited child CHRIST
were followers of Sufism from Persia. Ali molded Shia sect more on
the line of Sufism rather than Koranic teachings, that is one reason
why Sunni oppose Shia and the schism in the two sects we see. Prophet Mohammad's ancestors were Hanify Arabs and that means they were followers of Sufism.
The stand of Salafi and Wahabbi appear
to be correct but if that is correct then many more corrections will
have to be introduced to really purify Islamic practices by the
faithfuls. Islam suggests to accept 5 pillars of that religion as
base and no other practice is recommended by that faith. Those five
pillars are (1) the shahadah (creed), (2) daily prayers (salat), (3)
alms giving (zakah), (4) fasting during Ramadan and (5) the
pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime. The Shia and
Sunni sects both agree on the essential details for the performance
of these acts. That means to indulge in any practice other than these
five is not binding on a Muslim. If this is accepted by Muslims, many
practices such as observing Sharia Law, performing sunta or
circumcision (removal of upper skin of the sex organ of male child)
are not compulsory for a Muslim. The question is will these two hard
liner sects accept these corrections and admit that a Muslim need not
observe sharia laws and need not do sunta (circumcision) of the male
child. Both Sharia law and sunta practice are optional in Islam and
not compulsory. Circumcision is an old Arabic practice borrowed from
Jews and it has nothing to do with Mohammad's religion. Neither
in Koran nor Hadith these practices are recommended. Similarly,
Sharia laws are also not compulsory for a Muslim, they are
recommended by prophet and further elaborated by Ulema from time to
time but nowhere they say that they are compulsory for the faithful.
All sharia laws are only
recommended to facilitate easy working of things. Continuous
interference in them by Ulema from time to time clearly shows that
they cannot be part of Sunna. That
means, Sharia is not part of the dogma that is Islam. Today we see
that these two are considered to be compulsory for all Muslims. True
Muslim is one who adheres to five pillars as give above and
everything else is optional. If this is understood by Muslims things
may become easy for most of them. Purification of Islam will also
mean removal of pre-Islamic Arab practices which have nothing to do
with Islamic teachings given by
Prophet Mohammad. Will Salafi
and Wahabbi accept this? Given below are some interesting Hadith
collections to show what Prophet Mohammad thinks on those topics.
Narrated
'Abdullah bin 'Amr
A
man came to the Prophet asking his permission to take part in Jihad.
The Prophet asked him, "Are your parents alive?" He replied
in the affirmative. The Prophet said to him, "Then, exert
yourself in their service. Serving old dependent parents is as good
as Jihad. Jihad
means, doing good work in the name of Allah; not necessarily fighting
and killing";
apostle
of Allah explained.
Narrated
Anas:
Allah's
Apostle said to Jarir, "From among the portents (signs) of the
Hour (dooms day) are (the following): 1. Religious knowledge will be
taken away (by the death of Religious learned men by a kill). 2.
(Religious) ignorance will prevail. 3. Intake of Alcoholic drinks
will be very common. 4. There will be prevalence of open illegal
sexual intercourse.
5.
Muslim will kill Muslim by calling him Kafr. Jarir asked when that
shall happen? Allah's Apostle said, "That shall happen about
after 1400 years hence, when Satan will replace Allah. Mullahs shall
talk of Satan's will".
Narrated
Al-Ahnaf bin Qais:
While
I was going to help this man ('Ali Ibn Abi Talib), Abu Bakra met me
and asked, "Where are you going?" I replied, "I am
going to help that person." He said, "Go back for I have
heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'When two Muslims fight (meet each
other with their swords), both the murderer as well as the murdered
will go to the Hell-fire.' I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! It is all
right for the murderer but what about the murdered one?' Allah's
Apostle replied, "He surely had the intention to kill his
companion."
This
means today Abu Bkr Bagadadi and his people are killing Muslims in
the name of Allah are going to Hell-fire. That also means to help
them or to co-operate with them is also against the dictates of
Prophet. It
also means those who wish to kill Abu Bkr Baghdadi's soldiers will
also go to hell fire!
Narrated
Ghailan,
Anas
said, "I do not find (now-a-days) things as they were
(practiced) at the time of the Prophet." Somebody said, "The
true prayer is lost". Anas said, "Have you not done in the
prayer what you have done in those days (days when Mohammad lived)?
Narrated Az-Zuhri that he visited Anas bin Malik at Damascus and
found him weeping and asked him why he was weeping. He replied, "I
do not know anything which I used to know during the life-time of
Allah's Apostle except this prayer which is being lost (not offered
as it should be)". Prayers
offered during Apostle of Allah were changed by later Caliph Uthman.
Today what prayers are in practice are not the same as those offered
by Prophet and his companions.
In
the second Hadith as given here we see that Allah's Apostle gave a
specific period (1400 Hijri) of death of Islam or dooms day. This
time falls on year 1990 AD. That means after that time Islam will
begin to perish at the hands of Al Ad-Dajjal,
the Satan's brother.
We see rise of Islamic terrorism began about that time and is growing
every day. This is a sign that what Allah's Apostle had predicted has
some meaning. By this Hadith we may understand that Abu
Bkr Bagadadi is Al Ad-Dajjal! It looks from the way things are
developing, Abu Bkr Baghadadi will destroy Arab world in the name of
Islam. Note
carefully Satan's flag is black. Abu Bkr Baghadadi carries black
flag. If he is Ad-Dijjal then he cannot be destroyed by anybody but
Allah. However, by the Hadith recording Allah seizes to function
after 1400 and Islam remains unprotected.
Mir
Illahi Noor(NC) a fakir from Arabia pointed out to me that Islam
cannot be destroyed by anybody but Muslims. His vision says that may
happen visibly around 2020 onwards. Let us see how things turnout to
be.
You are invited to visit
my other blogs
Ashok
Kothare
for stories
I
reckon
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