There
are two ways in which one school is usually differentiated from the other:
·
By
School Uniform
·
By
School Mandates
A
school uniform helps a school to identify its students; thus it is a mark of identification of its students.
While school mandates are the guidelines
which would help to groom a student.
A student wearing an untidy uniform
at school premises might get punished
and would earn a bad name for himself, but a student who disobeys school mandates is removed or rusticated from his school as his behaviour could harm other
students and also earn a bad name for the school.
***It is important for a student to follow the school mandates with perfection
so that he is loved by the authorities
and can become a good ambassador of his
school.
When we relate this
with Islam there are again two ways a Muslim can be differentiated from other fellow
Muslims:
·
By his Prayers
·
By his willingness to obey the Quranic
Mandates
A Muslim who prays
regularly is identified as a devout
Muslim. Thus it is a mark of identification
of his devotion. Let us see what Quran says regarding our prayers:
-
“Aur
Maine jinnon aur aadmiyon ko issi gharaz se paida kiya ki wo Meri ibadat karein.” – (Surah-e-Adh
Dhariyat, ayah 55)
- “(I have not
created the jinns and men but to worship
Me)”
The objective behind
the creation of Jinn and Men is to
worship Allah (SWT). When we worship Him we are united with Him and fulfill the
objective of our existence. Again He further says in the following ayah:
- “Aur jo shakhs (ibadat main) koshish karta hai to bas apne hi waaste koshish karta hai (kyunke) usmain to shak hi
nahin ke Khuda saare jahan ki
ibadaton se beniyaaz hai” – (Surah-e-Ankabut, ayah 6)
- “(And whoever strives hard (in prayers), he strives only for his own soul; most
surely Allah is Self-sufficient,
above (prayers of) the worlds.)”
The
above ayah says that Allah (SWT) is above all the prayers of the worlds. He is
self-sufficient and hence independent of our prayers. Our prayers are for our own good. If we pray regularly we ourselves
would be benefited. And if we don’t
pray the loss is our own. But when
we reflect back on the first ayah that says Allah (SWT) has created Jinn and men to worship Him we are
forced to contemplate that there must be a
specific prayer which if offered would unite us with Him and fulfill His
objective of creating us.
***Before we proceed with identifying such a prayer let us stop here and try to focus on a few Quranic Mandates that
would help us groom ourselves and
make us a good ambassador of the
religion and be loved by Allah (SWT).
For
this let us see the following ayahs from Surah-e-Fateha;
this Surah is mandatory to be recited
in the beginning of every namaz.
- “Humain seedha
raasta dikha, un logo ka raasta jin per Tu ne inaam
farmaya…” – (Surah-e-Fateha Ayah 6-7)
- (“Show us the straightway, the way of those on whom Thou hast
bestowed Thy Grace...”)
Invariably every Muslim
recites the above lines and thus prays to
be guided on the straight path which is treaded by the selected few who are bestowed by Allah (SWT)’s limitless Grace.
If we follow the path shown by them we would be groomed to be a good ambassador
of our religion and be worthy of Allah (SWT)’s limitless Grace.
Sa’labi in his tafseer quotes a tradition from Abu Hureira which says that the ‘straight path’ mentioned in the above
ayah of Surah-e-Fateha is the path taken by Mohammed (SAW) and the
children of Mohammed (SAW). (Ref:
Sa’labi in his Tafseer, Waki ibn-e-Jarrah in his commentary).
Thus the Quranic
Mandate to become a good Muslim is to follow the path taken by the holy Prophet (SAW) and his holy Progeny
(pbut).
Again the importance of
above mandate can be best understood by contemplating on the following ayah
from Surah-e-Shura:
- “Ae
Rasool (SAW) tum kehdo ke main apni tableegh-e-risalat ka apne karabatdaron ki mohabbat ke siwa tumse koi sila nahin maangta”
– (Surah-e-Shura, ayah 23)
- “(‘Say: I do
not ask of you any reward for it but love
for my near relatives’)”
In the above ayah Allah
(SWT) instructs the holy Prophet (SAW) to ask the Ummah to love his near
relatives in lieu of the hard-work which he undertook during his Prophethood
of 23 years.
The near relatives
mentioned in the above ayah refer to Ali
(A.S) & Fatema (A.S) and their children. (Ref: Sa’labi, Suyuti, Baidhavi, Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmed ibn Hambal,
Allama Zamkhashri Vol 3, P 68).
The reward of the Prophethood
is the love of Ahl-ul-bait. It can be
hence further inferred that if someone is not giving heed to the above ayah he
is risking his faith and dishonoring the Prophethood. And he may not remain in Islam; that is why the holy Prophet (SAW) has
said that:
-
“In the love for my Ahl-ul-bait lies the foundation of Islam” (Ref: Selections from Kanz-ul-Ummal, P 94).
***Thus the Quranic Mandate to remain in
Islam and be a true ambassador
of the religion is to love the Ahl-ul-bait. By loving them and
getting inspired by their lives and teachings we remain on the straight path.
Let us shift our focus
back on prayers now. We will see the following ayah on namaz, which is mandatory for any Muslim to offer 5 times a day:
- “To un namaziyon ki tabahi hai jo apni namaz
se ghafil rehte hain jo dikhane ke waaste karte hain aur roz marra ki
ma’mooli cheezein bhi aariyat nahin dete.” – (Surah-e-Ma’un, 4-7)
- “(So woe to the praying ones, Who are unmindful of their
prayers, Who do (good) to be seen, And
withhold the necessaries of life.)”
Though it is the
highest form of prayer Allah (SWT)
disapproves those who display their namaz in such a manner that it
becomes a showoff.
Thus Allah (SWT) likes
that ‘namaz’ which is subtle and offered only for the purpose of pleasing Him and Him alone.
Keeping this in mind
let us see the following ayah now:
- “Iss main shak nahin ke Khuda aur uske farishte paighambar (aur unki aal) per durood bhejte hai
to ae imaandaro tum bhi durood bhejte raho aur baraabar salaam karte raho”. – (Surah-e-Ahzaab, ayah 56)
- “(Surely
Allah and His angels bless the Prophet;
O you who believe! call for (Divine) blessings on him and
salute him with a (becoming)
salutation.)”
The ayah says that Allah (SWT) and His angels bless the holy Prophet
(SAW) by way of sending ‘durood’ on
him. Allah (SWT) further orders the ‘believers’ to send durood and salams to the holy Prophet (SAW) in return. While we ponder upon the above ayah we can infer that to send ‘durood’ and salutations on the holy
Prophet (SAW) is the work of believers
as the ayah has been addressed to them; whoever does so qualifies to be a Momin;
he becomes a true believer. Thus the way offering namaz is the identification of a Muslim, offering durood is the
identification of a ‘Momin’.
Again, while offering namaz
we need to be subtle without showoff, but durood is offered a loud in
public. Allah (SWT) has not kept any restrictions in the way we offer durood. In fact it is the only form of prayer where Allah (SWT)
joins us in offering durood
while for other prayers He is above them.
When this verse was revealed, someone asked the Holy Prophet (SAW)
as to how i.e. in what words should the believers recite ‘Salawat’ or ‘Durood’ to
him. He said:
“O Lord! Bestow Thy Mercy and Grace upon Mohammed and the
Progeny of Mohammed as Thous didst bestow Thy mercy and blessings upon
Ibrahim and the progeny of Ibrahim, verily Thou art the Most praised and the
Most Glorious One.”
So whenever durood is
sent on the holy Prophet (SAW) it includes his holy Progeny (pbut) as well. That
is why the following ayah says that:
- “Aur
Hum ne un ka zikr khair baad ke aane walon main baaqi rakkha ke har taraf se Aal-e-Yaseen per salaam hi salaam hai” –
(Surah-e-Sa’afat, ayah 129-130)
- “(And We perpetuated to them (praise) among the later
generations. Peace be unto the
Aal-e-Yaseen.)”
Allah
(SWT) sends His salams to “Aal-e-Yaseen”
appreciating their good deeds and He promises that their deeds would be
perpetuated among the later generations. So when we praise their good deeds we are obeying Allah’s Wish and
thus take a step further in grooming ourselves.
Ibn-e-Abi
Haatim and Ibn-e-Marduiya have quoted a tradition from the authority of Ibn-e-Abbas that Aal-e-Yaseen in the above
ayah refers to Aal-e-Mohammed (SAW)
(Ref: Durr-e-Mansoor, vol 5, P 286)
Fakhruddin Razi writes that the Ahl-ul-bait are at par with the Holy Prophet (SAW) in five things:
-
Firstly in salutation, for Allah said, “Peace be unto thee, O
Prophet”, and He also said “Peace be
unto the Aal-e-Yaseen”.
- Secondly in invoking the
blessings of Allah during prayers, after each ‘tashahud’.
- Thirdly in their purity,
for the Almighty said unto the Prophet “Ta
Ha” (Surah 20) and He revealed
the verse of Purification (33:33) for the Ahl-ul-bait.
- Fourthly in the Sadaqa being forbidden.
- Fifthly in love, for
Allah says that we should follow the
Prophet and he would make Allah love us. He also said, “Say, I ask of you no reward except that you love my kindred.”
- (Ref: Stairway
to Heaven, Yousuf.N.Lalljee, December 1975, Bombay Edition, Page 38)
The above mentioned ayahs are not the only occasions when Allah
(SWT) has sent His salutations on Ahl-ul-bait.
He again sends His Mercy and Blessings
in the following ayah:
- “Ae Ahl-ul-bait (Nabuwwat) tum per Khuda ki rehmat wa Usski barkatein
(naazil ho).” – (Surah-e-Hud, ayah 73)
- “(The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings are on you, O Ahl-ul-bait)”
Whenever
the holy Prophet (SAW) visited Mawla Ali (A.S)’s house, he would hold the door
and say ‘Assalam-alaykum Ya Ahl-ul-bait”. (Ref: Durr-e-Mansoor, Mulla Jalaluddin Suyuti, Vol 5, Page 198-199)
By showering His Mercy, His Blessings and His Grace on the Ahl-ul-bait on various occasions in
Quran and also ordering the believers to send their salutations on the holy
Prophet (SAW) and his Progeny (pbut), Allah (SWT) has shown us the importance of
this Mandate. Shafei has further confirmed the above Quranic Mandate in the
following words which showcases the importance of loving Ahl-ul-bait and
sending durood on them:
- “O
Ahl-ul-Bait of Allah’s
Messenger, your love is a duty
imposed upon us in the Holy Quran. It is enough among your great
privileges that whoever does not
bless you, his prayer is void.” - (Ref: Ibn-e-Hajar’s Sawaiq-e-Mohriqa, P
88, Nabahani’s Sharaf-ul-Mo’abbad; Imam Abu Bakr Shahabuddeen’s
Rishfat-us-Saadi)
***On one hand Allah (SWT) says that He has created Jinn and Men to worship Him; on the
other He says that He is above all our prayers; then again He joins us in
sending ‘durood’ on the holy Prophet
(SAW) and his holy Progeny (pbut). If we contemplate on this Act of Allah (SWT)
we can infer that Allah (SWT) has created
Jinn and Men to send salutations and
durood on the holy Prophet (SAW) and his holy Progeny (pbut). Namaz
remains void and incomplete without the mention
of durood at the end. It is
a right given to them by the Almighty Allah for the sacrifices and hardships they have borne in propagating Islam.
When we look at the lives of Imams from the household of the holy Prophet (SAW)
we would understand this better. Their lives where full of atrocities and all
the 11 Imams (except the 12th Imam Mehdi (A.S), who is in occultation),
were brutally martyred. They have been created as a role model for the Ummah and ‘durood’ on the holy
Prophet (SAW) and his pious Progeny (pbut) is
a protocol which we need to follow to remain in the good books of Allah (SWT).
At the end of the first section we did infer that if we follow the
Quranic Mandate of loving them and following them we would be groomed to be a
good ambassador of Islam and Allah (SWT)
would also love us. The love and attitude of people of other religions towards
us is the measure of how good an ambassador of our religion we have become, but
how do we measure Allah’s love for us? Let us try to find the answer from Quran
again:
- “Wohi
to hai jo Khud tum per durood (rehmat)
bhejta hai aur usske farishte bhi taake
tumko kufr ki tarikiyon se nikaal kar
(imaan) ki roshni main le jaaye aur Khuda
to imaandaron per bada maherbaan hai.” – (Surah-e-Ahzab, ayah 43)
- “(He it is Who sends His blessings on you, and (so do) His angels, that He
may bring you forth out of utter darkness into the light; and He is Merciful to the believers
(Momineen))”
Before
contemplating on the above ayah, let us go back to the ayah 56 from Surah-e-Ahzaab, in which Allah (SWT) and
His angels send their durood and
salutations on the holy Prophet (SAW). We have already seen that Allah (SWT) further addresses the
believers in that ayah and also orders
them to do so.
Now
let us contemplate on the above ayah. Here, again Allah (SWT) and His angels send their durood (blessings) on the ‘believers’ to bring them into the
light of guidance from the darkness of ignorance. The ayah further says that
Allah (SWT) is Merciful to the believers.
There is a difference in both forms of durood.
The durood
by Allah (SWT) and His angels on the Holy Prophet (SAW) and his Progeny
(pbut) is their Right while the
durood (blessings) of Allah (SWT)
and His angels on the believers is Allah’s
Mercy on the believers. When a
believer completes the right of durood
on the Ahl-ul-bait, Allah (SWT)
and His angels send their blessings on him, they purify him and thus he
becomes worthy of Allah’s Love.
The
magnitude of purification a believer attains can be best measured by the
following words of our beloved Prophet (SAW):
- “Whoever dies for the love of Aal-e-Mohammed shall be a martyr; and behold, whoever dies for the love of Aal-e-Mohammed shall die as one
whose sins have been forgiven.”
He has further added that:
“And behold that whoever die for the love of Aal-e-Mohammed, Allah shall make
his grave the visiting place of the Angels of mercy”. (Ref:
Zamakhshari in his Tafseer, Imam Sa’labi in Tafseer-e-Kabeer)
***By contemplating on various ayahs we have understood the
importance of following the Quranic Mandate of ‘durood’ and love of Ahl-ul-bait
in our lives. Every act which is important has various benefits attached to
it. Let us see the benefits we get while we fulfill the act of durood.
In
Aasare Haideri, Page 348-349 (Tafseer
on Quran by 11th Imam Hasan Askari (A.S)) the following sermon of
the holy Prophet (SAW) is mentioned addressing his Ummah on the importance of recitation of durood in their lives:
"O the Ummah of Mohammed Beware! When
there are sorrows and hardships you too keep mentioning “Mohammed wa Aale Mohammed” so that Allah the Almighty for this
discourse would let your angels be helped & gain victory over the satans at
the door of your trouble and with each one of you there is an angel to your
right who keeps recording your good deeds and there is an angel to your left
who records your evil deeds. And with each one from Iblees’s side also there are two satans who try to take him astray
by creating unrest in his heart, he should take the name of Allah and recite “La
haul wa la kuwwata illa billa hil aliyeel azeem wa sallalaho ala Mohammediw wa
aalehitayabeen” By this the two satans get rebuked and return to Iblees laeen and complain that we are
fed up regarding this person’s matter so help us through a few more satans.
Then he, the rejected one (mardood), helps them to the extent that through such
an exchange a thousand helpers are dispatched and they get together and come
towards this slave of Allah and when they plan to act he recites the name of
Allah and sends durood on “Mohammed wa Aale Mohammed” and
because of this those evil ones cannot find a way and they are unable to
overpower him.”
Then
our holy Prophet (SAW) says that “if you desire to always keep Iblees suffering from sore eyes and
wounds then keep yourselves engrossed in
obedience of Allah and in mentioning His name and send durood on “Mohammed wa Aale
Mohammed” and if you ignore
this then you will be a prisoner of Iblees and a few of his notorious deciples
shall always ride your back.”
In Mishkaat a tradition is recorded from the authority of Hazrat Anas,
as per him the holy Prophet (SAW) has shown the importance of reciting durood
in following manner:
- “He
who reads a single Durood upon
me, Almighty Allah blesses him ten times, ten of his sins are forgiven,
and he is increased ten times in stages.”
In Sahih-e-Tirmizi
from the authority of Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Ma’sud the following hadith of the
holy Prophet (SAW) is mentioned:
- “On the Day
of Qayamat, the closest to me from among the people will be those who have
read the most amount of Durood Shareef.”
In Sahih-e-Bukhari
the importance of durood is mentioned
as below:
- “When a
prayer is made to Allah (SWT) it is never accepted unless praise of Allah
Ta’ala and durood on the holy Prophet (SAW) is first of all recited.”
***Let Allah (SWT)
always guide us to fulfill the rights of sending durood on the holy Prophet (SAW) and his pious Progeny (pbut) and bless
us with His limitless Grace in both the worlds for this act of ours. I would
like to pray for all of us with the following prayer from Sahifa-e-Kamila and
end my article:
"O
Allah, O He who singled out Muhammad (SAW) and his Household for honour,
showed favour
toward them with Messengerhood, specified them for the mediation,
appointed them the
heirs to the prophets, sealed with them the executors and the Imams,
taught them the knowledge
of what has been and what remains to be,
and made the hearts
of the people incline toward them!"
" Bless Muhammad (SAW) and his Household, the
pure, and act toward us with that of which Thou art worthy in religion, in this
world, and in the next world!
Thou art
powerful over everything. Aamin"
