Monthly Archives: December 2009

Rights of Fellow human beings!

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Sayyidi wa sanadiMawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him and allow us to benefit from him a lot. Ameen!) said:

“If someone drank alcohol, he can repent by asking forgiveness from Allah.
If he commits zina (adultery), he can repent by asking forgiveness from Allah.
If he were to eat pork, he can repent by asking Allah’s forgiveness.

BUT,
if he is rude,
arrogant,
hurts some-one’s feeling,
does ghibah (backbiting) or
inflicts material loss on an individual

then the scenario for repentance is different.
He can not repent by asking forgiveness from Allah alone.

He has to ask forgiveness from the  person he has wronged first.
Apologise for the mistake committed.
Compensate for the material loss, if any.
Only then he can fulfill the criteria for tawabah (true repentance).
(And remember Tawbah is the first step of tareeq!)

So be very, very careful with the rights of others!”

Allah SWT give me the taufeeq.
Ameen bi haq e Sayyidul mursaleen.

The Reality of Jihad

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Hakeem ul Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) tells an anecdote in one of his discourses:

A sufi aspirant busy with his islah (reformation) was overwhelmed with a thought of abandoning his spiritual struggle and to enlist in the Muslim Army engaged in Jihad. Being sincere he consulted his Shaykh before embarking on this holy journey.

Sheikh admonished him saying that this was the conspiracy of his nafs (lower self) to escape.

The nafs was tired of the daily jihad (struggle). That is, struggle of withholding it self from all the haram (forbidden) activities and engaging in extra (nafil) worship. For example, avoiding lustful glances, backbiting, anger, self-pride etc. and being humble, patient, pious, etc.. Tired of this daily struggle it wanted to escape by dying fighting in Jihad.

This might be the reason of calling the daily struggle of self-reformation (islah) Jihad e Akbar (The greater struggle) as compared to the holy war, Jihad e Asghar (The lesser struggle) in one of the Prophetic narrations (dha’eef).

At this point it is most appropriate to clear any misconception about Jihad in our days.
Sayyidi wa sanadi Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani sahib (Allah preserve him) explains:

“Jihad is, no doubt one of the intuitions enshrined by Islam. But it does not mean a war to compel people to accept Islam, as the Holy Quran has declared that there is no compulsion in religion. Nor does it mean to occupy lands and extend territory of a Muslim state without a just cause.

Jihad is in fact means a well disciplined struggle against aggression and oppression. The struggle of jihad may be with or without arms. Armed struggle is allowed only when peaceful means have totally failed.

Apart from a just and rightful cause it is necessary that it is carried out under a competent Amir or leader in strict compliance with dictates of Shariah.

This armed struggle can never target innocent persons.
It is always a legitimate struggle against an oppressor or a tyrant and his warriors.

It has, therefore, nothing to do with terrorist activities which target innocent people and have been termed by the Quran as ‘Fasad fil-ard’ (spreading disorder in the land).”

Source:Usmani M T, Albalagh International: Vol 16 No. 8/September 2005 “Islamic vision on interfaith cooperation for peace”