Pictures:
Sohbet
Zikr
Unwrapping and speaking about the Holy Hair of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم)
Showing Respect to the Holy Hair of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم)
Handing out Candies and having Tea
Excerpted from Mukhtasar al-Quduri, a highly revered manual of Hanafi fiqh -
In Sunan Ibn Majah and elsewhere is the account of a Sahabi who was teaching writing and Qur’an to a man of the people of the Suffah. Later on, the man gave Mu`adh a bow. Mu`adh thought that there is nothing wrong in taking it, and besides, he will use it for fighting in the path of Allah, but he was still uncertain so he thought to ask the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The Prophet told him that “if you want it (the bow) to be girdled around your neck with fire on the Day of Resurrection, then take it.”
Based on this hadith, the authentic view of the Hanafi school is that it is prohibited to take money for teaching of Qur’an. This is the more precautionary view, and is in keeping with the apparent sense of the hadith. The Shafi`is, however, reasoned that the reason for the prohibition issued to Mu`adh here was that they had not fixed any price for the teaching, and that Mu`adh had therefore been teaching only for the sake of reward in the Hereafter, such that if he were to take a material payment, this would reduce or annul his reward. So, they said there is no harm in taking payment if the price was arranged beforehand. They also drew support from the hadith where a group of Companions took a payment of food for ruqyah (curing someone by reciting verses of the Qur’an). The Hanafis respond that this hadith is an evidence for the permissibility of taking payment for ruqyah, but not for teaching the Qur’an.
The hadith does not apply to selling of Islamic books and other materials; it is specifically about _teaching_. Even selling the Qur’an (muSHaf) is not Haram, (except according to a view of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal), but it is makrooh. Although, the salaf used to shy away from accepting money for books and the like also, and this is undoubtedly more precautionary, so as to reserve all reward for the Hereafter. Yet, if someone is making a living by selling books, then there is no harm in charging a profit, w’Allahu a`lam.
The issue of teachers and schools raises another point. As I have mentioned, the authentic view of the madhhab is that taking a fee for teaching Qur’an is Haram. However, later on when Islam became weaker, and the state no longer took the same care of the religion and its people, such that the `ulama and teachers of the Qur’an were no longer provided for by the state, these people came into dire circumstances. They had no source of income, and no education or training (other than religious sciences) which they could use to earn a living. It was quite literally a matter of life and death for them. Under these situations, fatwa was given in the madhhab on the permissibility of taking payment for teaching Qur’an, since necessity dictates exceptions and makes the prohibited temporarily permissible. Ibn `Abidin has mentioned this in sharH `uqood rasm al-muftee.
It should be note, however, that this was a specific fatwa for a specific situation, and that the authentic view of the madhhab remains one of prohibition of accepting payment. So, if a person is in such dire circumstances, with no other way out, he could take by this fatwa then and accept some payment. If no such mitigating circumstances exist, it remains prohibited. w’Allahu a`lam.
The reality is today it is possible to live a mediocre lifestyle with a job that requires very little training.
Are we in the life or death situation today that has made charging for ‘Islamic knowledge’ permissible? Or, do we really believe it is a life or death situation for our scholars to be able to afford macbook pro’s?
While the above excerpt mentions the two categories of teaching Quran and charging for the text, the reality is when teaching Islam *you are teaching Quran*. What did ‘teaching Quran’ mean in a society where everyone spoke Arabic? It meant understanding, developing of knowledge based on the Quran and its lessons. This prohibition clearly applied to the entire field of Islamic study, much less the very explicit study of tajweed and qirat.
Later jurists have extended the permission (of payment) to similar duties like leading the prayer (imamah), calling for prayers (adhan), teaching Hadith and Fiqh, etc., for they are related to the teaching of the Holy Qur’an, and survival of Islam equally depends on them.”
[Mufti Muhammad Shafi, Ma'ariful Qur'an, Vol. 1, p191]
In the above excerpt, it is interesting to note how the wording of the exception is to ‘accept some payment’ vs demand some payment. With expensive books and classes, Muslims in the pursuit of ‘Islamic knowledge’ have created a subculture that excludes the poor and the unread. Some Sheykhs of the ‘spiritual sciences’ charge even for their sohbet. Now we even have major islamic ‘conferences’ with “pay-per-view“.
Why aren’t all these books and tapes available online for free? Empire building.
The new industry of disseminating ‘Islamic knowledge’ or, in modern days called ‘Sacred knowledge’, has reached a new peak. Any and all stigma related to collecting of personal money under the name of Islam has been lost. Instead of doing it quietly, with discretion, it is now brazen and up-front. What is the wisdom in the Hanafi position above, which ruled over Muslims for centuries? A personal examination will demonstrate quite a few lessons.
It is reported by Jabir that the Prophet said: The flesh and body that is raised on unlawful sustenance shall not enter Paradise. Hell is more deserving to the flesh that grows on one’s body out of unlawful sustenance. (Ahmad).
“Tarikatuna sohbah wal hayri fi jamiyah.” Discourses refer to the ‘sohbahs’ or associations with the sheykh. He speaks extempore, tapping into the Divine Source, spiritually connecting to his sheykh to speak on a matter that concerns those present. These discourses are always fresh and alive. Although the words may seem simple, there are at least seven levels of understanding. Perfect manners in listening increases the ability to understand the discourses in more than one level and not only from a basic intellectual level. When reading the discourses we are advised to be in a state of ritual purity and to free ourselves from any distraction that may interrupt the reading. -http://www.nakshibendi.com
Sohbets of the awliya are a powerful medium for personal change, if they are listened to with the abandonment of heedlessness. One of the manners of sohbet is to pay clear and undistracted attention to the Sheykh. Taking notes in itself is completely discouraged in sohbet.
I wrote about the modern invention of taking notes in sohbet here:
http://www.yursil.com/blog/2007/09/sufi-notes/
On the other hand, after finishing the sohbet, immediate reflections on ones heart are indeed powerful. Often after listening to a Sohbet we are asked to summarize it instantly. Mureeds are then able to, from one listening (and without notes) give an accurate summary, often quoting parts of the sohbet verbatim, and include points of personal meaning.
One blogger writes about personal reflections immediately upon reading or listening to a sohbet at http://sohbetjournal.wordpress.com/. A site that is also a departure from the concept of ‘notes’ but rather one of living immediate post reflection.
People’s need for living moral leaders has never worn thin. We want the best Presidents, we want the best governors, the best representatives. Yet, scandal after scandal in the political leadership and even the religious leadership of the West fails to awaken society in the absurdity of looking for ‘Saints’ without a system of training the self, a system which is connected to the practices and teachings of Jesus (AS), of Moses (AS), of Muhummad (S).
Every time I see someone enamored with this or that politician, I see a desire in them. That desire is for a person who is sincere, capable… guided.
How misplaced is that affection!
Supposedly ‘religious’ people are also targets, yet they too fall short of moral integrity. How many Priests have been removed due to misconduct? How many protestant preachers have been found compromised?
People have been disappointed time and time again, but they keep coming back for more ‘moral heroes’, whether in a religious or secular guise.
Where does that leave us? Muslims put our faith in people also, in moral heroes… ‘modern Muslims’ simply tend to avoid using a term to describe them. ‘Saints’ or ‘Awliya’ is often a hated word. Really though, for all their proclamations that the Prophet (S) is their sole model, whether its the modern day lecturer, or the local Imam, Muslims end up doing the same thing.
However, these individuals are just ordinary people as well, regular ordinary everyday people who have memorized a bit more than us Or they can speak better than us. Or they can recite better than us.
But is that really our moral hero? Or are we loving an illusion that we have created?
Can we believe that someone can become a moral giant, someone imbued with the source of goodness, a representative on earth of said goodness, without training, without discipline, without connection?
The Awliya, or otherwise translated as “Muslims Saints” are just that. They are representatives of goodness. You feel it in their presence, because truly those one act with a power far beyond that of human kind. They ask nothing from you, in fact, you need everything from them.
“Allah said, ‘I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper (walî) of Mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined (frD) upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing nawâfil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (Refuge), I will protect him; (i.e. give him My Refuge) and I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him.”
Narrated by Abu Huraira in Bukhari, vol8, hadith 509
Remembering these two hadith is important:
Literacy will increaseas Judgment draws nigh.
(Ahmad Diya’al-Din al-Kamushkhanawi, Ramuz al-Ahadith)
Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which (religious) knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and general ignorance will spread…
(Bukhari)
By some they may appear conflicting, for how can literacy increase but knowledge decrease? For others it will be very clear.
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