Saturday, November 3, 2007

Ideology of Intolerance

[By Sadia Dehlvi]

Muslims must not succumb to the rhetoric of rage and discourse of anger

Yes, the Muslim world is facing oppression and injustice but Muslims can no longer escape the fact that we have enemies within the community. The Glasgow attack and the Lal Masjid horror are recent examples of extremism and terror. Clearly there is a crisis of ignorance, leadership and faith. Muslims must acknowledge that there is a radical fringe which needs to be identified and rejected. We cannot allow the pulpits of our mosques or the institutions of learning to be seized for the discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. It has become imperative to understand the root of militancy which is hijacking the glorious tradition of spiritual quest and scholarship in Islam to one of terror.

Prophet Mohammad said, ”Beware of extremism in your religion”. This ideology of extremism stems form relegeous outfits like Tablighi Jamaat whose recruits are operative world over. Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Deobandi cleric Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalawi in 1920. The Jamaat e Islami, Ahle Hadis and Salafis share similar views.

Islam in the subcontinent is the legacy of the Sufis and Wahabism is an import from Saudia Arabia which seek inspiration from Ibne Wahab who died in 1786ad. Unfortunately its followers are unaware of the political and religious activities of its founder and become victims of the mission rhetoric “purify and spread Islam” which allows emotion to rule over knowledge.

The Wahabis reject the historical traditional Islamic belief that spiritual chains of Sufi orders (silsilas) are linkages to Prophet Mohammad. Ibn Taymiyya a fourteenth century scholar remains the primary source for Wahabi ideology who was barred from teaching and jailed several times in Damascus for issuing heretical fatwas . Taymmiya’s life was spared because he publicly repented amidst seven hundred scholars. He slandered the Caliphs Ali and Osman, discredited Sufi scholars like Ibn Arabi and Imam Ghazali preaching that visiting the prophets shrine was sin. Inspired by Taymiyyas forgotten teachings Abd al Wahab of Nejd in East Arabia saw himself as a reformer and preached that Muslims who sought intercession to God through Prophet Mohammad and the Sufis are polytheists who practice shirk (innovation).


Ibn Wahabs initial devotees were largely Bedouins and he declared those who did not believe in his teachings as unbelievers. He told them “ It is halal (permissible)to kill and plunder Muslims who make mediators of the prophet and auliyas( Sufis) with a view to attain closeness to Allah.” The Bedouins used the verdict to justify the loot the of Haj pilgrims. Ibn Wahab taught it was sinful to build tombs over graves and said ”If I could I would demolish the Prophets shrine.” He did not believe that waqf foundations were Islamic and pronounced that salaries to Qazis were unlawful bribes. Ibn Wahab burnt original Sufi manuscripts including copies of the world famous Muslim prayer manual “Dalail ul Khairaat” by the 15th century Moroccan Sufi scholar Jazuli because along with salutations and blessings to Prophet its narrative included an eloquent portrait of the Prophets shrine. His followers plundered and desecrated the tomb of Prophets grandson Imam Hussain in Karbala.
Wahabi orthodoxy was a minor current in the Muslim world till promoted by the Al Saud dynasty that came into power in 1924. The house of Saud established matrimonial alliances with Ibn Wahabs family furthering his strident teachings to justify their take over of the holy cities and establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The royals ran bulldozers over the remnants of all meditation cells and the early Sufis tombs along with the adjoining mosques. The historical tombs of the Prophets family and his companions at Jannat ul Maali and Jannat ul Baqi, the sacred graveyards of Mecca and Madina were razed to the ground.
Mecca and Medina are now managed by Wahabis and their control has robbed pilgrims of the right to express devotion in a manner of their choice. Constant patrol of the Mutawwas (religious police) ensures that pilgrims don’t caress the exteriors of the prophets shrine or offer salutations and blessing on him. At Medina turning towards the Prophets tomb for supplication (dua) is met with harsh reactions and pilgrims are forcibly turned around to face the direction of the Kaaba. Women are allowed in the compound but are subject to severe restrictions of time and space.

Through well funded outreach organizations the Wahabis spread their version of Islam where listening to music, celebrating annual birth anniversary of the Prophet (milad e nabi) and death anniversaries of the Sufis (urs) are unlawful in Islam.

Be it for Muslims or non Muslim, the Wahabi ideology is rooted in the politics of extremism and terror negating the Quranic message of peace and brotherhood. “Islam is a religion of peace” is reduced to a mere cliché. Muslims have to become good communicators of that Quranic and prophetic message by reclaiming their lost intellectual heritage and reviving academic discourse on the rightful traditions of Islam.

…….and who saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of mankind..
The Quran 5:32

7 comments:

Abdul Khader said...

Salaamalaykum,
I pray to GOD to give you everlasting power to write. You have clearly presented the true picture of all the extremists and culprits like wahab najadi, Jamaat-e-islami etc.

Keep writing more.

May GOD bless you.
Abdul Khader

ZUL KIFL said...

well you are deviant from Islam. Your article against the true teachings of Islam is really poor. you have not backed up what you have said with any proof. what is this term wahabbi? His name was Muhammad BIN ABDUL WAHAAB. Wahab was his fathers name. So to say so and so r wahabis is a misnomer. u should call them Muhammadi, which u will never dare to do. You are an actress, and a third rate actress. You look more like a Hindu like a Muslim. Your words are not based on the Quran and Sunnah. You lay false allegatins against people. you r too arrogant. can u prove ur arguements??? no. U want to keep people in ignorance. You have even launched shameless attack against Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah(ra). Shaikh ibn taymiyyah(ra) showed people the right way. he fought against innovations. He was a man of truth. i will lower myself to the level u r lowered. Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah actually taught to follow the Quran and Sunnah. Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul wahaab fought against sectarianism and innovations. He destroyed the four mimbers that were erected on four sides of the kaabah by four schools of thought. you cant' prove anything. You blindly follow ur forefathers. you have lied that Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahaab has said to plunder and kill muslims. can u prove it??? if not u r exposed as a LIAR. I loved sufism but now coz u have intermixed it with fithy rituals i renounce it and follow the pure Islam which has a spiritual side also. we dont have to divide islam and take sufism and leave the rest of islam. You r not qualified to comment on these issues. concentrate on ur acting. You r an actor an ACTOR. u only pretend to know but u know nothing.

Sayed Mujahid said...

i seems with your writting that you are agent of some anti islamic force.
if i am not wrong then either you are a shia or a barelwi in either case u will never be able to understand our great religion ISLAM, so its better u stay way from all this and dont poke ur nose in each and every matter of ISLAM, ur ariticle in times of india on 17 may 09 was really pathetic... only last word wich i would like to say is either ALLAH show u the right path or u go to hell..

regards
Sayed Mujahid.

QHALID said...

asalamunala manattabaul huda

well i have read ur sum views today at editorial of TOI.I liked very much wat u hav written ,still i do not read book written by u but i shall inshaallah,i am doing MBA from JMI and want be a writer LIKE U and want to write sumthing ,i hav contents and thought but not able to write because i hav no skill ,hw to began,i need a guide,a teacher(ustad).i want to meet u please give me an appointment or revert back throgh m
y mail ID if it can be possible ,will be grateful to u.

your sincerely
QHALID

Unknown said...

Almost four hundred years ago there was a Mughal who tried his best to convert entire india to islam but was not able to because of emergence of Maratha,Sikh and Rajput revolt....that person's name was Aurangzeb.....he had power but no brain but beware,today we have another Aurangzeb in our midst who has lot of brain and the day he get power the first thing he will do is split the country up and his name is Dr. Zakir Naik and talk to any Muslim in India and they are following his wahabi teachings and he is running IRF Foundation along with his brother and also have support of Saudi Arabia and his only objective is to say bad things about every religion exept for Islam,he is also running peace TV in UK Europe and worldwide and he is uplinking it from India......People like Parvin Togadia and Uma bharti Raj Thakerey and Dr Zakir Naik are a disgrace to this great nation and the sooner they are sorted the better it is for our secularisam.I have a lot of hope in your channel please do a researche on Dr Naik if you have any doubt about what i am saying and then plese expose his bad intentions.So many Muslims are also against his views about other religions.please listen to the views of social activist sadia dehalvi's views about him in the you tube video "Zakir Naik banned from lecturing in Indian State"I have nothing against Islam or for that matter any other religion but i certainly can't stand hypocrite biased and one sided people like Dr Zakir Naik...its about time we expose his deadly intentions and bring him to book.Thanks

Jeet Singh
Mumbai

Ali said...

Dehlvi wrote an infamous book on sufism which rendered support for personal interpretation of islam. It extended support for idolatry in the form of worshiping of saints and graves. This view was influenced by catholic saint worship and Christian upbringing in her early days of childhood as described in following excerpt from a chapter entitled Tariqa in her book Sufism, The Heart of Islam [6]

“Growing up in an Irish convent boarding school, I regularly went to church, sang Christmas carols, baked Easter eggs and imbibed Christian values. During annual holidays a maulana, a religious teacher, came home to teach the Quran to all the children. He instilled the fear of God into us, with the result that fear remained the only emotion that the heart felt for the Creator. Somehow, this overwhelming fear kept me connected to Allah, despite often wanting to break away completely..."

the contents of her book draws intense criticism from highly eminent islamic scholars like Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz ,grand mufti of saudi arabia and madinah university ,KSA.[7] A fatwa exists against grave worship and seeking help from saints by scholars of highest eminence backed by a strong standing committe that issues fatwa[8]

She also has appeared on TV series Zindagi Kitni Khoobsoorat Hai (2001) as an actress against traditional islamic values.[9] She also regularly makes appearance in mixed gender parties which are deemed to be unislamic by all islamic scholars [10] Currently she is a twice-divorced lady and tied the knot for the third time to a married man with five children,[11] she cites the following reason for the marriage:

‘‘Towards the end of last year I saw death closing in on me. Professionally, emotionally and financially, nothing was working out and I felt orphaned. I rarely went out of my farmhouse and most days stayed tucked in bed auditing life. But I was wary of getting into another marriage for fear of emotional exhaustion. I admitted to moments of loneliness and desperation but laughed through it all. Karamat’s now my biggest strength[12]’’.

Ali said...

Sadia dehlvi is an epitome of a Mushrika here is what she says: I never miss a Thursday haziri at Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, and usually go for the dua e roshni which is held daily before the sunset prayers. Then I stay on for the prayers and for the qawaali that follows. I go on other days as well. Luckily, I live in the neighborhood so it’s just a hop across. Usually on Sunday mornings, I visit the dargah of Shah Farhad near the Pratap Chowk metro station. That, too, is a very special dargah. My grandfather used to visit it regularly. He commissioned the roof that you see over it. Despite being next to the main road, it’s very peaceful there.

Then once in two weeks I go to Mehrauli to the dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki and on the way back, I also stop at the dargah of Mai Sahiba, the mother of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Other dargahs that I frequently visit are that of Bibi Fatima Sam and Hazrat Naseeruddin Chiragh Dilli. I have been initiated into the Chishti Sufi order and therefore feel a strong bond with the Chishti Sufis. We believe that the Chishti Masters are God’s friends… “Allah Mohammad chaar yaar, Haji, Khwaja, Qutub Farid… Haq Farid Ya Farid.”