Scholar-Bashing

Good evening ladies and gentleman, here are the ring officials assigned by the General Masses Sheep Commission, the judges, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are looking forward to seeing some serious knockdowns.

In this corner, from the streets of Birmingham, UK weighing 158, the new underweight champ Shaykh X, and in this corner, Shaykh Y, weighing 175 pounds. He hails from pensacola Florida, and was rated by many, as the best aqeedah scholar in North America of the the last decade with 52 courses, 38 books and 4 public debates.

Then the crowd roars …

إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَا ٱلتَّوۡرَٮٰةَ فِيہَا هُدً۬ى وَنُورٌ۬‌ۚ يَحۡكُمُ بِہَا ٱلنَّبِيُّونَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسۡلَمُواْ لِلَّذِينَ هَادُواْ

وَٱلرَّبَّـٰنِيُّونَ وَٱلۡأَحۡبَارُ بِمَا ٱسۡتُحۡفِظُواْ مِن كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ وَڪَانُواْ عَلَيۡهِ شُہَدَآءَ‌ۚ فَلَا تَخۡشَوُاْ ٱلنَّاسَ وَٱخۡشَوۡنِ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬‌ۚ وَمَن لَّمۡ يَحۡكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرُونَ

Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah ] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah , and they were witnesses thereto. So do not fear the people but fear Me, and do not exchange My verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers. [Qur'an, 5:44]

Two types of Jewish people are highlighted in this verse: First, in the Jewish tradition وَٱلرَّبَّـٰنِيُّونَ were considered the godly people or people who were closer to the Rabb. In the Islamic tradition, the equivalent of godly people are muhsineen, those who recognize Allah's presence all the time.  
Second, وَٱلۡأَحۡبَارُ are the people of the ink pens (particularly, those who dip their pens in ink pots to write). They are people of extensive research and writing. They are the scholars, the literate or learned ones.

The spiritual masses and the scholars among Jews were entrusted to protect the Torah. Allah's Divine Scriptures have always been the centre of religious progress and intellectual advancement. The consequence of abandoning the Divine Texts, is a spiritual and intellectual void that can only be filled with creative (mystic-like, occultist) practices such as the Kabalah. In the absence of the study of Revealed Scriptures and Prayer, Jews invented a method and a discipline to seek Allah that involved magic and invoking the shayateen.

وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬‌ۚ - Another consequence of abandoning the Divine Texts is scholar-bashing. When religion no longer serves the purpose of improving people’s spiritual health and opening their minds to religious realities, it becomes a sport - spiritual face-off and intellectual gymnastics. It becomes means to score larger fan based audiences. In this sport, one pseudo-religious personality harshly, gratuitously attacks another religious personality in order to reduce the latter's fan-based congregation.  
Psychosocial motivations of scholar-bashing perpetrators are mostly egoistically instilled prejudices; the perception that they alone can be "epic", important and needed. They do not want to share their fame and their prestige with any one else. 

Their success has superficial standings like the number of Twitter or Youtube followers. This is why they are quick to launch verbal, critical assaults at other religious personalities: Don't listen to that shaykh , because his head count will go up! They don't care about the underlying ideology of the other person or the good contributions that he has made in the community. They are envious and jealous of their stardom. In essence, they only want their personal thoughts and works to be praised.

فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرُونَ Such selfish attitudes and negligent behaviours are a disservice to the ayaat of Allah. When we abandon the study of Divine Scriptures or take the Divine Texts as a way to bash another person, we are show ingratitude to the ayaat of Allah. The best way to be be thankful for Allah's هُدً۬ى وَنُورٌ۬‌ۚ guidance and light, is to ٱسۡتُحۡفِظُواْ مِن كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ preserve the Book of Allah in our lives, make the Book of Allah a living entity in our day-to-day decision making process.  

More than ever, the internet has become a war zone of self-righteous hypocritical gossip and malicious slander against religious personalities. We expose and categorize their sins in hour long videos and lengthy essays, all the while being blind to our own sins and ego. We should recognize that everyone makes mistakes, religious personalities or not. We should not raise any more hell about somebody else's mistakes than we expect to be raised when we make our own. All of us have failings, sympathy should often our judgemental edge.

The sunnah of the Prophets (a.s) is يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلرَّسُولُ لَا يَحۡزُنكَ to grieve over people who are away from the right guidance; it is not to judge them or condemn them. They did not enjoy keeping other people's mistakes, faults and sins in the spotlight. The Prophets (a.s) made dua for the sinners and advised them in private. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) never bashed Abu Jahl or Abu Lahb in public. He (s.a.w) did not raise hell about their mistakes.

Those who have interacted with Shaykh Shanqiti, know that he makes dua for everyone who comes to meet him or emails him. He will make dua for you, mention all your children by name, ask Allah to make you sincere, grant your Masjid success etc. When asked why he devotes so much time and energy making personalized and duas for all his visitors, he said, "We are from the family of the Prophet (s.a.w). The least we can do is make dua for his Ummah - show love and concern for his followers." 
On the other hand, many pseudo-religious personalities use their celebrity-name to get services from the Ummah, the gossip of others scores them an advantage. They appear more godly in comparison to the deviants they expose. 

The Prophet (s.a.w) said, "O community of people who have believed by their tongue, and belief did not enter their hearts, do not back-bite Muslims, and do not search for their faults, for anyone searches for their faults, Allah will search for his faults, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyone, Allah will disgrace him in his home." [AbuDawud]

When we judge and expose our brother, we are inviting Allah's judgement against us; we are sowing the seed of our own humiliation and embrassment. Subsequently, by judging others, we all suffer together as a community and defame Islam. To protect Islam from within, we need more tolerance, unity and love in face of differences. We need to do unto others as we would have done to ourselves. We need to make dua for their forgiveness and guidance as we hope for our own. 

I will leave with the following advise from Imaam Sufyan Ath-Thawri, Hilyat al-Awliya.

"Behave well in your private life and 

Allah will make your public life excellent.

 Take care of what is between you and Allah, 

and He will take care of what is between you and the people. 

Work for your Hereafter and

 Allah will suffice your affairs in this world. 

Sell your worldly life for your Hereafter and

 you will profit in them both together, 

and do not sell your Hereafter for your worldly life 

or your ill lose them both together."

What can you achieve in 3 years?

Graduation Keynote Speech: Shaykh Uthman Khan

There were plenty smiles, a few tears and a lot of hugs as Shaykh Uthman Khan's, Qur'an Reading students received their Ijazah's in Hafs an Asim, Ashara Sughra, and Ashara Kubra on Saturday, July 30th, 2016. We were jittery, happy but mostly humbled at the culmination of nearly one to eight years of hard work. As we listened to Shaykh Uthman's keynote speech, we were inspired to make plans for our futures with the Qur'an and set more practical goals for ourselves. 

We always have enough time if we use it wisely. Our dilemma is not shortage of time but prioritizing our goals. A major component of successful living is putting first things first. Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. Most of us have some kind of dream trapped within us that has somehow become stifled because of lack of time. Most things that are worth doing require a real time commitment. Many of us have given up on our dream business idea, academic certificate or a vacation all because we don’t have the time.  Maybe if time were no object and we had no pressing responsibilities, we would devoute our days on some interesting, high-reward project. So instead we should be thinking, what is truly worth doing, whether we have time or not?

The Qur’an is worth reading correctly and studying thoroughly, whether we have time or not. It takes nine months to learn to recite the Qur’an with some level of efficiency (CriticalLoyalty) and ten months (Bayyinah.tv) to learn the meaning of the Qur’an. None of this is possible unless we allocate a time for it. 

The early Muslims in Makkah devouted three years of their lives to five verses of the Qur’an. In these three years, they experienced a profound change in form, from one stage to the next – as the caterpillar changes its form to a pupa and then finally to an adult butterfly. A caterpillar is born with the life that causes it to become a butterfly. It doesn’t put on a butterfly costume or strive to act like a butterfly. As long as it eats the right nutrients, it grows into a genuine butterfly. All human beings are born believers – we have a natural receptivity to religious belief. The Qur’an is spiritual food and nourishment that brings our religious beliefs to life and gives it direction. 

When the early Muslims consumed the verses of the Qur’an for three years straight, they grew in faith and conviction. Their three years of devoution to just five verses, regenerated their mindset. It gave them a new set of world-views that turned into revolutionary behavior. They sacrificed their personal wealth and comforts, risked their relationships and put their lives in dangers over just five verses of the Qur’an. In three years, just five verses, radically transformed their culture and their social, financial and political aspirations.

Such is the power and purpose of the Qur’an. Every Ramadan, we go through the Qur’an for thirty days and it hardly makes a dent in our attitude and our choices. Why? Because we read the Qur’an like a rearview-mirror. We glance over at it from to time to see the traffic behind us but it doesn’t really change our course of action. We treat the Qur’an as a timeline of past events, a distant story …but for the early Muslims, the Qur’an was happening in real time. Their entire life was captured by the Qur’an; their life revolved around the Qur’an. For us, the Qur’an is subjective history but for them, the Qur’an was personal and an intimate narrative.

Allah sent down the Qur’an to transform us, not simply to inform us. The Qur’an should give us a bigger heart, not a bigger head.

Instead of having a superficial relationship with the Qur’an, we should view it as a mirror and a best friend. The Qur’an is not a mere quote dispenser or repository of miracles. We should read the Qur’an as our biography. Put ourselves in the situation described in the verses and apply the teachings, the criticism, the good news and the warnings to the individual scenarios in our lives.

روى ابن ماجة (215) وأحمد (11870) عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ رضي الله عنه قَالَ : قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : ( إِنَّ لِلَّهِ أَهْلِينَ مِنْ النَّاسِ ) قَالُوا : يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ، مَنْ هُمْ ؟ قَالَ :

 هُمْ أَهْلُ الْقُرْآنِ ، أَهْلُ اللَّهِ وَخَاصَّتُهُ 

The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said, "Indeed Allah has special people (chosen) from among mankind." The companions (r.a) asked, O Prophet (s.a.w) who are they? He replied (s.a.w), "They are the people of the Qur'an, who are people of Allah and His special chosen ones."

Many professing Muslims mistakenly believe that they are more special than the other Muslims from different schools-of-thought. This hadith is important because it makes a point of the fact that Allah's people, His special and chosen ones, are those who devout themselves to the Qur'an. They are an embodiment of the Qur'an. The Qur'an manifests itself not just when they apply rules of ghunna and ikhfa or when they are explaining its tafseer or asbab an nuzool. Qur'an is alive in their personality, their character and their day-to-day decisions. 

The American Dream vs. The Islamic Good Life

Hayyatan Tayyiban ( حَيَوٰةً۬ طَيِّبَةً۬‌ۖ ) The Good Life. 

Every year, almost 1.3 million people move to the United States in search of the "American Dream." 

The term, “American Dream” was first used by James Truslow Adam in his book, “The Epic America” published in 1931. During the Great Depression, he envisioned that ‘life should be better and richer for everyone.’ He connected happiness to becoming wealthy and having the ability to achieve everything if only one works hard enough for it. However, in America, like everywhere else in the world, you have to take the low road to get the high life. You cannot achieve political office or become a multimillionaire without being amoral or committing rampant financial fraud.

The paper, by Paul K. Piff of the University of California, Berkeley, and four colleagues, reports that: “members of the upper class are more likely than others to behave unethically, to lie during negotiations, to driver illegally and to cheat when competing for a prize.” 

In other words,  really successful people break rules – violate all obligations and loyalties, constantly. It’s the route to the top. 

Tragically, money and power are not a measure of happiness. People who spend too much time, increasing their wealth and influence are more likely to commit suicide. According to Hu of Fudan University, "among the extremely wealthy, suicide was the cause of 23.6% of their deaths between 2008 and 2010. Suicide among millionaires and billionaires ... is a social problem." They hang themselves, take drugs, jump off buildings or into water. The French sociologist, Emile Durkheim once wrote that Ireland was proof that suicide is not caused by poverty but increase amounts of wealth. 

"In many poor countries, such as those in Latin America, the suicide rate is a tiny fraction of what it is here. In some ways, suicide is the dark side of progress." Emily. 

In other words, increased material wealth, proud individualism and personal liberty comes withe a price -  higher risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, addictions, cheating and stealing. Too many of us do not equate studying the Qur'an with achieving a good life. 

In the Qur’an, Allah promises an illustrious life and eminent happiness to those who do outstanding good works.  

“Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.” (Qur’an, 16:97)

عمل صلحاً righteousness is any act of خير (khair) or بر (birr) as defined in the Qur’an. 

For example, 

(a) believe in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, the Prophets

(b) give wealth in spite of love for it to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask for help and for feeling slaves (those in debt, in need of bail etc)

(c) establish prayer and give zakkah

(d) fulfill promises

(e) be patient during poverty and hardship [Qur'an, 2:177]

(f) treat parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, the neighbours - everyone in close proximity - the traveler and the subordinates  (such as chauffeurs, maids, employees, students, restaurant servers, etc) 

with extra kindness [Qur'an, 4:36]

(g) restrain anger

(h) forgive those who make one angry 

(i) Remember Allah 

(j) ask for Allah's forgiveness (Qur'an, 3:134-135)

While the the "American Dream" tells us that we do better when we ignore people and ethics; Allah says that  حَيَوٰةً۬ طَيِّبَةً۬‌ۖ a good life with astronomical success comes when we empathize with the plight of the downtrodden and go out of our way to take care of others.

A good life is when: 

1.  والله يحب المحسنين - Allah loves us. 

2. Allah gives us happiness in form of contentment. We feel pleasure, improved physical health,  warm glow and euphoria in our lives. We experience a sense enrichment outside our pay check and social status.

3. Allah makes us feel more full in spite our our income and social status.  Allah blesses us with optimism, peace of mind and security. We have a constant smile on our face even when there is no one to take our picture or pat us on the back. 

4.  Allah up-lifts us out of our grief. He gives us the strength to cope with our problems and persevere when we make a palpable difference in the lives of other people. 

5. Allah removes our fear.  Improvishment not only robs people of their dignity, it threatens their very existence. It leads to political and social unrest, and even war. Poverty makes the world unstable and our lives unsafe. Allah gives us peace when we eradicate another persons' poverty.