RECOVER THE FORGOTTEN SUNNATS AND AVOID BID'ATS (II)

[It is written in Hadîqa, in its chapter dealing with fitna: “Fitna means to cause faction among Muslims, to cause them trouble, harms and sins, to instigate the people to revolt against the State. It is wâjib to obey the government even if it is a cruel one.” In Berîqa, in page ninety-one, it is stated: “It is wâjib to obey the orders of the ruler in charge, if they are in agreement with Islam, even if he is as low and despicable and common as an Abyssinian slave. If his orders are not agreeable with Islamic principles, it is still better to obey him, not to cause fitna and fasâd.” Also, it will cause fitna for men of religion to give people fatwâs that they will not be able to carry out. So is the case with telling a villager or an old person that he cannot perform namâz without knowing tajwîd.^[1] Since it has become impossible for such people to learn it, they may cease from namâz altogether. In fact, there are those (savants) who give the fatwâ that namâz can be performed without tajwîd. This fatwâ is weak, yet it is better than not performing namâz at all. Considering that it is permissible to follow another Madhhab when there is haraj, we should not produce hardships for the ignorant or the incapable. The book Sharh-ul-ma’fuwât explains this fact. Please see the fourth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss! We should not prevent them from visiting graves and tombs or from votive offerings for the Awliyâ or from asking for blessings by visiting their graves. We should not deny the fact that the Awliyâ have karâmât (pl. form of karâmat) also after their death, for there are fatwâs that say that it is permissible (jâiz).^[2]

_{[1] Tajwîd is the discipline dealing with how read or recite the âyats of the Qur’ân al-kerîm properly and correctly}

_{[2] According to Islamic scholars, ‘jâiz’, in this sense, means ‘possible’. Allâhu ta’âlâ creates everything through laws of causation which we express in terms such as ‘laws of physics (chemistry, etc.). We call this divine habit of His ‘’âdat-i-ilâhî’. Sometimes He suspends His laws of causation for the sake of some of His slaves whom He loves. Those beloved slaves of His are either Prophets or Awliyâ. When such extraordinary events take place through Prophets they are called ‘mu’jiza’. When they take place through the Awliyâ they are termed ‘karâmat’.}