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When
a mention of "Religion" is made, an orthodox Muslim is adamantly
insists that to follow the track of Prophet (P.B.U.H.) is the Religion of
Islam, and that the biggest and simplest evidence in testimony of Prophet's
love is that you should follow his
track, because when you are not committed to do what is being done by your
friend, it clearly indicates that your love is devoid of sincerity and depth.
Moreover, the cardinal object, through following the sunnah, may not be
confined to display and manifest the love, but every saying and action of
Prophet (P.B.U.H.) should be followed. As quoted in Quran, the love of Prophet
(P.B.U.H.) shall make us beloved to Allah:
"Say (O Prophet): If you love Allah, follow
me and then Allah shall love you and pardon for you your sins".
In
order to follow the Sunnah, you need not think lavishly. You should also keep
into your mind that Sunnah is not synonymous only to follow same acts in
fragments. But you should make your way to the reality while performing the
formal works and tenets. To elaborate this point, the prayer, Almsgiving,
fasting and pilgrimage are the formal functions of Islam. If these functions or
works are not compounded with the purification of heart and cleaning of the
internals, the heart and internals may not be clean from impurity and dust and
rust, and indeed, the purity of heart and the clarity of the internals are the
elevators to the cognizance of Allah and a close approach to Him as they are
the pinnacle for spiritual improvement and internal rectification. Allah says:
"One who is hopeful of meeting his Lord,
should indulge in good deeds and not making anyone partner in the worship of
his Lord".
None
can pretend that phenomenon of "Meeting the Lord" shall be achieved
by mere formal prayer, or the bondsman shall reach the abode of his Lord for
the consideration of the formal prayer and rather physical exercise or apparent
pursuit of the Sunnah. No doubt that to reach the divine abode through
following the Sunnah basically requires the cardiac peace which is not - but
never - gettable without following the Prophet (P.B.U.H) in all his life
behaviours. If we are gravely desirous of believing in the religion, and want
to follow the Sunnah with pure intention, and hope really to meet our Lord, the
Lord of universes and the friend of the Mercy of the world, we should involve
ourselves fully in following the Sunnah completely, not by fragmentation.
But
it is highly deplorable that our stand towards the pursuit of Sunnah is quite
ludicrous. We single out the easier and simpler Sunnah, and mingle some plain
matters with the Sunnah and try to give an impression that the whole Sunnah,
practiced by our Prophet (P.B.U.H.), are concentrated in what we are doing in
the name of Sunnah.
Here
the question arises whether the pursuit of Sunnah is confined to the extent
that we abstain from taking food on the table because our Prophet (P.B.U.H.)
did not do so? While we overlook the nature and the reason of his food.
Likewise, we eschew to use the spoons, but we prefer the most delicious and
posh dishes and garmendize them regardless of our brothers who are suffering
from hunger and starvation as if they were not existing on this earth. If the
trousers fall down the ankle, it is counted as a Major Sin, but there is no
objection if our dress is highly foppish and splendid. Is it Islam that we
maintain the prayers and go unleashed with the evils, and that we observe fast
but our avarice and greed, fury and hot temper remain unchecked while the
teachings of our Prophet (P.B.U.H.) clearly are indicative of that the backbite
of one person is enough to undo all the fast, prayer and ablution.
Some
Muslims beat a drum of following the Sunnah as if they were infatuated in the
love of Prophet (P.B.U.H.), but when we cast a glance on their practical life,
we are totally puzzled which Sunnah they are going to follow? When a mention of
Prophet's house life is made, we find that his house contained a bed of straw
mat and leather pillow, filled with the leaves of palm tree. The number of the
home utensils of Hazrat Ayesha never totaled more than seven. On contrary, when
we take a look of our houses, we find them fully furnished with all the posh
and luxurious amenities like Sofa sets, carpets, V.C.R. T.V. sets and a vast
range of house-wares. As such, why we are so disgraceful to mention the pursuit
of Sunnah?
By
the grace of Allah, we are fortunate to find among us those bondsmen of Allah
who continuously observe fast and Perform their prayers in time and they are much concerned to the
pursuit of Sunnah. But few are they whose houses do not witness any incident
against the will and temperament of Prophet (P.B.U.H.), few are they who are
not exasperated when their temperament is hurt and who do not grow angry to
their servants and who do not prefer themselves to their brothers in their
choices, and who do not despise others following the vanity of their good
deeds.
This
is the double standard which distracted the new generation from the religion.
It is an irony of fate that the Reformers have laid stress on the formal ties
instead of stressing the need to create the internal virtues, Who is not
cognizant of the fact that our predecessors
were nearer to the formalities than to the real virtues, but we are
falling much behind from those formalities. What we, the elders, say, our work
does not conform to it. We like our new generation not to view T.V. and not to
listen the songs and we also expect from them to follow the Sunnah as a token
of Prophets' love, but our outer and inner life is contrary to what we expect from them.
Therefore we find the young generation monotonous of the religion.
We,
the superannuated elders, should sacrifice our wishes to our religion.
Otherwise, this ransacked convoy of Muslims may probably cease to exist.
Come
on! We stretch our feeble hands with this prayer: O myself: get up from your slumber and regain
your consciousness, get rid of in cognizance of the truth and be cognizant of
it. Why you do not recall that sooner or later you have to stand in the court
of the greatest judge where your inner record shall provide all the data of the
deeds, you have exercised throughout your life. This is the record which has been
dubbed by Allah as "Kitab Marqoom", and this record of Iliyeen and
sijjeen incorporate our deeds and
thoughts of every single second.
O
myself: when you will be brought before the supreme judge, your organs shall
witness against you. You may cover in this world any of your ill-intended deed
with your external virtuous deeds, but
nothing shall remain clandestine to your Lord, and all the artificial curtains
shall be rolled up. At that juncture, your deeds and actions themselves shall
speak as such, you shall meet the due consequences of all that you have
committed right or wrong.
O
my friends: Allah is the Most Merciful, Most benevolent, and He forgives the
sins but the intentional shortcoming are inexcusable. so called pretenders of
pursuit of Sunnah, pretensions have nothing to do. Allah shall not forgive
those who are rigid to comply with external Sunnah without any sincerity or
originality and those who pretend to be the follower of Sunnah by adopting a
few Sunnah out of prophet's whole life (P.B.U.H).
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MERCIFUL, THE BENEVOLENT
Dedicated to those scientists, who are inching towards the cognizance of the facts, spotlighted by Allah Almighty, in the wake of their intelligent observation for the top vertex of scientific achievement, which is not other than the "Disastrous end of the Universe". And this is probably during 15th century of Lunar calendar.
