The

Chishti Nizami Habibi Soofie 

International Sufi Order

Pietermaritzburg

South Africa

Eid Fitr 2010

The Holy Qur'aan says in the 2^nd Sura al-Baqarah (the Cow) الْبَقَرَة in verse 177:

لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَـكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلآئِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُواْ وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَأُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ

 Virtue does not consist in turning your faces towards the East or West, but truly virtuous is he who is committed to Allah Y; and the Last Day; and the angels; and the Holy Qur’aan; and the Prophets. Driven by love for Allah, he spends (his) wealth, however much he himself may cherish it, on his nearest relatives (Insaniyah must be nurtured and exist within the house then it will manifest outside), orphans, the needy, the traveler’s, and the beggars, and for freeing human beings from bondage; and upholds [the standard of] Divine Communion and renders the purifying dues (Zakaat). And when they make a promise, they fulfill it and are patient in hardship and suffering and at the time of danger. It is these who have proved themselves true and it is these who are truly righteous.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad e stated as narrated by Hazrath Anas t:

صحيح بخاري / ‏كِتَاب ‏ ‏الْعِلْمِ ‏

‏ ‏بَاب ‏ ‏رَفْعِ الْعِلْمِ وَظُهُورِ الْجَهْلِ ‏ ‏وَقَالَ ‏ ‏رَبِيعَةُ ‏ ‏لَا يَنْبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ ‏ ‏عِنْدَهُ شَيْءٌ مِنْ الْعِلْمِ أَنْ يُضَيِّعَ نَفْسَهُ ‏

‏ ‏حَدَّثَنَا ‏ ‏مُسَدَّدٌ ‏ ‏قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا ‏ ‏يَحْيَى ‏ ‏عَنْ ‏ ‏شُعْبَةَ ‏ ‏عَنْ ‏ ‏قَتَادَةَ ‏ ‏عَنْ ‏ ‏أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ ‏

‏قَالَ لَأُحَدِّثَنَّكُمْ حَدِيثًا لَا يُحَدِّثُكُمْ أَحَدٌ بَعْدِي سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ‏ ‏صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ‏ ‏يَقُولُ ‏ ‏مِنْ ‏ ‏أَشْرَاطِ السَّاعَةِ ‏ ‏أَنْ يَقِلَّ الْعِلْمُ وَيَظْهَرَ الْجَهْلُ وَيَظْهَرَ الزِّنَا وَتَكْثُرَ النِّسَاءُ وَيَقِلَّ الرِّجَالُ حَتَّى يَكُونَ لِخَمْسِينَ امْرَأَةً ‏ ‏الْقَيِّمُ ‏ ‏الْوَاحِدُ ‏

Narrated Anas t Allah's Messenger e said, "From among the signs of the Hour are (the following):

1. Religious knowledge will be taken away.

2. (Religious) ignorance will prevail.

 3. Consumption of intoxicants (will be common)

. 4. There will be prevalence of open illegal sexual intercourse. 

[Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, The Book of  Knowledge  Chapter 21, The Disappearance Of Knowledge And The Prevalence Of Ignorance, Page 104, Hadith Number 80.Maktaba Dar-us-Salam, Edition printed July 1997, King Fahd National Library]

Ramadaan is the month in which we attempt to excel in virtue (Birr). The 2^nd Sura al-Baqarah (the Cow) الْبَقَرَة , verse 177 is central to all acts of faith and human actions. It says:

 لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ

Virtue does not consist in turning your faces towards the East or West

Communing with Allah Y is not achieved by an automatic, physical prayer facing Makkah. Most of us have turned the ‘Way of Life’ Islam into a set of ‘robotic rituals’. Virtue or moral excellence can never be attained from a set of ‘robotic rituals’. The verse goes on to explain what we should do to be truly virtuous.

وَلَـكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلآئِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ

Truly virtuous is he who is committed to Allah Y; and the Last Day; and the angels; and the Holy Qur’aan; and the Prophets.

When one is conscious of Allah Y then one commits and his salaah becomes the meeting with his Beloved. Allama Iqbal t in reference to this says:

اذان اذل سے تیرے عشق کا ترانہ بنی

نماز اُس کے نظارے کا اک بہانہ بنی

ادائے دید سراپا نیاز تھی تیری

 کسی کو دیکھتے رہنا نماز تھی تیری

Azaan azal se tere ishq ka tarana bani

Namaaz tere nazzare ka ek bahana bani

Adae deed sarapa niyaaz ti teri

Kisi koh dekhne rehna Namaaz ti teri

A conscious communication with Allah Y elevates man to be committed and elevates deeds to meaningful and purposeful acts. Most Muslims considered to be practicing Muslims tend to regard Islam as a cult, and not as a comprehensive way of life. According to us it is constituted of certain rituals and ceremonials, and hair-splitting about aqaaid is where it ends. We do not consider the moral value of life because we have divorced religion from morality. Observe how far our devotional piety is divorced from our morality. The Holy Qur’aan makes it clear that there are two types of piety, namely: formal piety and practical (or real) piety. Man begins to realize that he is not a machine in a mechanical world supervised by a mathematical God. Unfortunately our leadership is distributing forged ‘tickets to paradise’ in the form of ‘certain recitations’ or ‘ritualistic actions’ that earn sawaab. Simply bowing, kneeling and prostrating does not generate Taqwa. We see many so-called ‘religious’ persons, who pray and fast in the physical meaning of the word but it is simply religious pretense. The angels are functionaries of Allah Y, maintaining the divine order in the entire universe. This negates the theory of Sir Isaac Newton, who believes that God created this world and left it to itself and does not interfere. The Qur’aan negates this for we are to believe in the functionaries or Angels of Allah Y. Divine interference in everything in the world is hereby affirmed. The divine guidance came in the form of scriptures which have been prescribed and which ultimately, are to be found in the form of one book. Here the verse does not refer to kutub (books), because all those divine books, which came before, have been changed through interpolation. There is a close relationship between the noble Qur’aan and Ramadan. There was a time when Arabic was the dominant language of the world. People from all over the world, including Europe, learned Arabic to study at Islamic institutions in the Muslim World. This is not the case today. English has replaced Arabic as the universal language and instead of people, including Muslims, studying at Islamic institutions they enroll in Western institutions. Allah Y bless those that recite the Qur’aan in their homes and especially during Ramadan in taraweeh prayers. Don’t think it is not beneficial for even the Holy Qur’aan recited without understanding puts oneself into a condition of humility before Allah Y. This is the ‘Theology of Servitude’ or ‘ta’abbud’ which literally means ‘to make oneself a slave’.

Why doesn’t the recitation of the Holy Qur’aan bring about the same transformational change in their lives that it did in the early days of Islam? The simple answer is that most Muslims read the Qur’aan for its undoubted blessings but we no more have scholars who are able to convey the message to the people. The few left are a dying breed. Regrettably, most English translations fall short of conveying the divine message fully. To properly grasp the essence of the Qur’aan, there is no substitute for a tafsir (exegesis). Those available are translated from their original Arabic or Urdu. Many of them are still not completed.

Then the verse comes to the real pitch and here comes the belief of discomfort and sacrifice in real practical demonstration that you are a Muslim and a mu’min that you believe in Allah and that orientation of life which has been given and expounded by the Holy Prophet Muhammad e.

وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ

Driven by love for Allah, he spends (his) wealth, however much he himself may cherish it, on his nearest relatives (Insaniyah must be nurtured and exist within the house then it will manifest outside), orphans, the needy, the traveler’s, and the beggars, and for freeing human beings from bondage;

Insaniyah must be nurtured and exist within the house then it will manifest outside. The one who can part with his wealth and self-interest is the one who is breaking the bonds of slavery.

We live in an age where we see moneyed people who are affluent religious or political figures- mechanically turning to Makkah five times a day; ‘ritualistically’ fasting the month of Ramadaan, ‘piously’ wearing a certain outfit and ‘solemnly’ speaking the Arabic language, ‘righteously’ perform the Hajj and visiting Holy Shrines - gripped by greed and controlled by their bank accounts. There is no presence of Allah Y in their hearts and no evidence of presence of Allah Y in their public life to motivate them to uplift the needy who pray next to them in the Masjid. These pretenders to piety are even more deluded, because they believe they are pious, giving handouts of fish to the poor to eat but not bothered to enable them to fish for themselves. A recent estimate of cash that is stashed by ‘nominal’ Muslims from Saudi Arabia alone (not including the royalty) in banks controlled by non-Muslims openly hostile to Islam is around 4590 Billion US Dollars. No amount of ‘ritualistic’ religious gymnastics can make a person pious unless he takes care of the categories of persons mentioned here:

ذَوِي الْقُرْبَى (relatives)

الْيَتَامَى (the orphans)

الْمَسَاكِينَ (the poor)

ابْنَ السَّبِيلِ (literally, the son of the street, that is the abandoned, refugee and homeless)

السَّآئِلِينَ (the underpriveliged)

فِي الرِّقَابِ (the oppressed deprived of freedom)

In essence the verse is telling us the most essential confirmation of Imaan is its transformation into care, love, compassion and assistance to bridge the poverty gap in society. This ayah if truly understood should shock the habitual Muslim out of the comfort zone of rituals into an attempt to renew and reactivate the relationship between the affluent and those in need. We should note that Allah Y is emphasising first of all the practical virtues here in this verse. He does not first mention the devotional virtues like Salaah but is rather mentioning social virtues first. He is mentioning the ‘duty to the creation’ (huquq al- 'ibaad) of which Muslims have lost sight of today, completely. So, Allah Y says that when you have performed the ‘duty to the creation’ (huquq al- 'ibaad) rightly, only then can you confidently come to My presence and offer the Salaah.

    وَأَقَامَ الصَّلاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ

Now maintain this communion with Me (Salaah) by recommitting five times daily and ensure your zakah purges the society of poverty

Ramadaan, salaah and fasting is not a rubber stamp of piety if we have not strengthened our determination to rid society of those toxins that circulate in our society, politics and Ummah. To rid ourselves of con artists and pretenders who have turned religion into a business and have become slaves of the predatory elite in society. Irrespective of the government taxes, and even after giving charity, a person has to pay zakaat. A Muslim is not born to be the top dog of this world only, but an angel of the heavenly bliss. If a Muslim believes that he is only in the category of animals, then he may keep the dog's bone in his mouth and take pleasure in being a millionaire or a multi- millionaire. Such a person has no place with God.

Allah Y says in the same chapter; the 2^nd Sura al-Baqarah (the Cow) الْبَقَرَة , verse 183:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

O you who are securely committed [to Allah Y  ]! Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you may remain sensitive [to Allah Y’s superiority]

Taqwa or commitment to Allah Y should be generated and expanded by fasting. Wordsworth[1] reminded us of this when he wrote:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

Birth, growth, maturity, decay, and death: these are the cycles we see around us, and these are our own reality. We too are part of nature, and it is our task to comply with the laws of nature and nature’s God. This is submission, what we call Islam. It is not a socio-logical category of creedal belief that determines; how we are to be classified nor a culture or civilization – although those elements are invariably there. It is a condition of being.