Sacrifice/ Qurbani- a religious obligation

              

Some people are questioning the obligatory nature of sacrifice/ ‘Qurbani’ at ‘Eid ul Azha’; such people argue that sacrifice is mandatory to be made during ‘hajj’, but it is not mandatory for  Muslims who are not performing ‘hajj’. Let us analyze this view in the light of Quran.

Quran says:

  “Indeed, We have granted you [ Muhammad (ﷺ)] al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off” (sura al-kawthar).

This ‘sura’ has been addressed to our Nabi (ﷺ) individually. In the second verse, our Nabi (ﷺ) has been commanded to make sacrifice/ ‘qurbani’. It may be noted this commandment of making sacrifice has not been confined to ‘performance of hajj’. Therefore we cannot adduce from this verse that making sacrifice is confined to performance of hajj. In fact this commandment is applicable to both situations i.e. with or without performance of hajj. In other words, our Nabi (ﷺ) has been commanded to make sacrifice with or without performance of hajj.

We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-analysis-of-mr-ghamdis-basic.html if any commandment has been given to our Nabi (ﷺ) but Muslims have NOT been excluded specifically from the application of such commandment, it would mean that such commandment is applicable to Muslims as well. In other words, the commandment of making sacrifice, addressed to our Nabi (s.a.w.w), is applicable to common Muslims as well because common Muslims have not been prohibited from making sacrifice.  A brief of argument made in that article is reiterated  in the following lines.

Quran says:

“O Prophet (s.a.w.w), indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has returned to you [of captives] and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you and a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet [and] if the Prophet wishes to marry her, [this is] only for you, excluding the [other] believers. We certainly know what We have made obligatory upon them concerning their wives and those their right hands possess, [but this is for you] in order that there will be upon you no discomfort. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful” (al-ahzab-50).

This verse has been addressed to our Nabi (s.a.w.w). In this verse,  commandment regarding legality/permission of marrying daughters of paternal and maternal uncles and daughters of maternal and paternal aunts is addressed  to our Nabi (s.a.w.w), and this commandment is not addressed to common Muslims. But this commandment applies to common Muslims as well because there is no Quranic commandment which prohibits the Muslims from marrying daughters of paternal/ maternal uncles and aunts. Therefore this commandment of marrying daughters of paternal and maternal uncles, and daughters of paternal and maternal aunts is applicable to common Muslims as well.  In other words, if any commandment has been given to our Nabi (ﷺ) and common Muslims have NOT been excluded from application of such commandment, it would mean such commandment would apply to common Muslims as well.

We may conclude that the commandment of making sacrifice in sura al-kawthar, though has been addressed to our Nabi (ﷺ), is equally applicable to common Muslims as well because no Quranic verse prohibits common Muslims from making such sacrifice. In other words, making sacrifice, with or without performance of hajj, is obligatory for all Muslims who have required financial resources. 

NOTE: some people argue that verse no.2 of sura kawthar means to offer salah and to put hands on the chest (Right or wrong, they interpret 'in har' as putting hands on the chest).  As we can see harf 'wau' is used between salah and  'in, har' in this sura. This harf 'wau' is used for two purposes. first for providing an information/act which is added to and part of the information/act previously mentioned; and secondly for providing a information/ act which is separate from the previous information/ act and is not part of previous information/act. In sura kawthar verse non.2, this harf 'wau' has been used for the second purpose. In other words, salah is separate from 'in, har'- it means 'in,har means to make sacrifice; this version is based on second purpose of using harf 'wau'. So verse no.2 cannot be taken as meaning 'to offer salah and putting hands on the chest'- this version is based on first purpose of using harf 'wau'. The correct meaning is based on the second purpose of using harf 'wau' because this interpretation of verse no.2 is endorsed by our Nabi (s.a.w.w) through his (s.a.w.w) Sunnah.  

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Concept of Life in Islam and Ghazwat ul Hind (2)

     

In part (1) of this article we have seen when human beings expire in this apparent world, their souls move into ‘Uqba’. Uqba is, in fact, part of this apparent world. We have seen in article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/11/reality-of-creation-existence-in-pairs.html  that Allah has created everything in pairs. The pair of this apparent world is ‘Uqba’ which is hidden; whereas this world is apparent. The compensable good deeds done in this apparent world are compensated in ‘Uqba’. Every person does not have good deeds which need to be compensated in ‘Uqba’; many persons’ good deeds are compensated in this apparent world and such persons do not have good deeds which need to be compensated in ‘Uqba’. Allah is such a Great Al-Rehman and Al-Raheem that He does not withhold compensation of good deeds of any person, even if the bad  deeds of such person are hundreds of thousands times greater than those good deeds done by such person (for details plz see  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/12/journey-of-human-soul.html). When Qiyamah will occur, this apparent world and Uqba both would be changed into ‘Ukhra’ world. ‘Ukhra also exists in pair; one is called Paradise and the other is called Hell. It may be appreciated that all these worlds i.e. this apparent world; uqba; Paradise and Hell, exist in the seven skies. In ‘Ukhra’ people would be consigned to Paradise or Hell, depending upon their deeds. It may be appreciated the good deeds done by people are already compensated in the Uqba; Paradise is not right of pious people; Paradise is purely Allah’s Rehmah. 

We have also seen in part (1) of this article, Aulia Allah still remain alive in this apparent world after their death in this apparent world. The only difference is that, after death, Aulia’s souls cannot act on their own; they can act only through bodies of  living persons, and they can act only under Allah’s direction because they have lost their Free Will after death in this apparent world. This phenomenon of performing life activities through bodies of living people should not be taken as strange; it is just like a leader convinces other people to follow him, and if people start following such leader, we label people’s acts as that leader’s acts though those acts are done by the people, not by the body of that leader. Similarly Aulia Allah souls, after their death,  just give ideas to the living persons, and it is up to the living persons to comply with those ideas; the living persons are totally free to go against such proposed ideas. 

This phenomenon of undertaking life activities by Aulia Allah, after death, through bodies of living persons explains why our Nabi (ﷺ) has promised for ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ whereas this ‘Ghazwa’ has not occurred during life of our Nabi (ﷺ) in this apparent world; this promise for ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ by our Nabi (ﷺ) actually implies that this Ghazwa was to be fought under spiritual guidance of our Nabi (ﷺ), though it was not to be fought bodily/physically by our Nabi (ﷺ). 

In the article  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/08/ghazwa-e-hind.html we have seen that ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ is not a single battle rather it is a series of battles which have been fought by Muslims against non-Muslims of India up to now and which would be fought till Qiyamah. But it does not mean all wars/ battles fought between the Muslims and Indian Hindus may be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’. Only such battles would be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’, which were and would be fought strictly according to the principles/ permissible objectives of qattal in Islam.

Before looking into implications of ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’, it would be pertinent to have a look into the relevant hadith. The hadith says:

“Hazrat Abu Hurairah (r.a) says, Hazrat Muhammad (s.a.w.w)  promised us of Ghazwa-e-Hind. If I get chance to participate in it, I would spend all my energy & wealth for it. If I get killed, I would be considered among the most great martyrs. And if I come back alive, then I would be a freed Abu-Hurairah”.

If our Nabi (ﷺ) is promising to undertake ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’, obviously such ghazwa would have to be strictly according to principles/ permissible objectives of ‘qattal’ in Islam. If a war was/will be fought by  the Muslims against Indian Hindus, and such war was/will be waged by the Muslims through violating Islamic principles/ objectives of qattal, such war may not be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’, and as such lacks in blessings and guidance of our Nabi (ﷺ).  The detailed Islamic objectives of ‘qattal’ may be seen in (4) parts of  article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/01/enforcement-of-islam-vs-propagation-of.html. In the following lines, a brief of Islamic objectives/ principles of ‘qattal’ are given.

Three types of Muslim nations are allowed to undertake qattal:

First are the ruling Muslim nation. The second are the subjugated Muslim nation- the subjugated nation are the people which were previously ruling nation in their areas/state which has been  subjugated by non-Muslims. The third are minority Muslim nation- the minority Muslims are such Muslims who are living with non-Muslims as a minority and have never been a ruling nation in the areas they are living in. All these three categories of Muslim nations are allowed to undertake qattal for the three reasons/objectives:  i. self-defense of the Muslims; ii.  if Muslims are subjected to injustice and suppression; iii.  if Muslims being non-ruling nation want to establish Islamic system over them-selves. In addition to these three objectives, the fourth objective is freedom of Muslims from non-Muslims’ subjugation. The subjugated Muslim nation are all the time under obligation to regain their freedom. The fifth objective is to enforce Islamic systems over the non-islamic systems provided the Muslims involving in war have first enforced Islam over themselves. The minority Muslim nation are permitted to undertake qattal for the first three objectives, if required. The subjugated Muslim nation are under obligation to regain their freedom, even through qattal, if required. The ruling Muslim nation are under obligation to undertake ‘qattal’ for all the five objectives. The sixth principle of qattal is to acquire substantial capability of qattal before undertaking it; the substantial capability is not necessarily matching capability.


It may be appreciated that if any one of three categories of Muslim nations is undertaking qattal for one or more of the above mentioned objectives, all other categories of Muslim nations are under obligation to join such qattal in support of fighting Muslims.
 It may also be appreciated that each of three categories of Muslim nations are under obligation to undertake 'qattal' only if they have support of majority of their respective nation- because it is prerogative of Muslim nation to use force, it is majority of Muslim nation which is allowed to use force (If a nation's majority does not want qattal though all other conditions (except majority will) for waging qattal exists, in such case such majority would incur Sin of not waging qattal; the minority people wanting qattal (which are not allowed to undertake qattal due to lack of majority will) would not be involved in that Sin). Similarly if any one of three categories of Muslim nations wants to join fighting in support of any other Muslim nation, such fighting should have backing of majority of that other nation. The rational behind these two conditions is that ultimate motive of qattal in Islam is establishment of Islamic systems which further lead to honor, respect, power and glory in this world; if any Muslim nation themselves do not want honor and glory etc. in this world, no individuals or another Muslim nation is under obligation to provide such nation with such prizes. [In order to ascertain majority opinion of a Muslim nation, Islam has its own process through which majority opinion is subject to rectification, if required, by men of knowledge and piety; this process is different from that of western democracies. Suppose if a nation takes wrong decision as to qattal (for waging or not waging qattal), the men of knowledge and piety can rectify such decision, but if the nation (majority) does not wage qattal in spite of rectification of the nation's decision, Sin would be inflicted upon such majority people taking wrong decision but the minority people accepting the rectified decision  would not be allowed to undertake qattal, if majority does not want it.  (for details plz see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2013/04/islamic-political-system-its-main_30.html).

If, being a ruling Muslim nation, Pakistan (or any other Muslim nation)  undertakes ‘qattal’ against India for any one or more of objectives mentioned above and in line with conditions given above, such qattal would be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’, and such war against India would be backed by spiritual guidance and blessings of our Nabi (ﷺ). The 1971 war was basically war between two Muslim groups; Indians joined war in support of Bengalis. This war cannot be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ - because the Ghazwa is not to be fought between two Muslim groups- and our Nabi’s (ﷺ) spiritual guidance and blessings were not involved in this war. The 1965 war was a  defense war though initiated without proper war preparation/capability. Even then Pakistan was able to defend itself due to our Nabi’s (ﷺ) blessings involved in this war; this war may be declared as partial Ghazwa. Our war objectives in Kashmir could not be actualized because majority of Kashmiri people did not back the war efforts. As mentioned above,  support of majority of Kashmiri people was a condition to declare this war as Ghazwat ul Hind. The 1948 war aimed at freedom of a subjugated Muslim nation i.e. Kashmir. Though no regular Muslim army participated in this war, Muslims were able to liberate almost 50% of the area in the face of Indian assault through a regular army. This war may be termed as ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ partially. 

We may conclude that ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ are the battles between the Muslims and Indian Hindus, if Muslims have waged such battles according to principles/ objectives of qattal in Islam. ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ are such battles which are backed by our Nabi’s (ﷺ) spiritual guidance and blessings, and such many battles have been fought in the past and many more may be fought in the future. If Pakistan wants to undertake ‘GHazwat ul Hind’ against India, all what is required is to go along Islamic principles/objectives of ‘qattal’, and the victory is 100% ensured.

 

Concept of Life in Islam and “Ghazwat ul Hind” (1)

      

We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/04/concept-of-life-and-death-in-quran.html  that concept of life in Islam is more than merely biological functioning of human body. In Islam concept of life is relating to capability to obey Allah and His Rasool (ﷺ); and death is lack of such capability. 

We have also seen  in the same article this Quranic concept of ‘life and death’ holds good not only in apparent earthly life but also in life after this apparent earthly life. Some People remain alive even after physical death. Quran says: “And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah , "They are dead." Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not (al-baqra-154).  It does not mean physical death does not occur to ‘shuhuda’; it does occur to them, but despite physical death they are blessed with capability of obeying Allah and His Messenger (saw); that is why they are called ‘alive’. This life of ‘shuhada’ and others is relating to this apparent world. Quran says: “And reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord” (ale Imran-169). In this verse, we (i.e. the people of this apparent world) are being directed that we should not take/consider ‘shuhada’ as dead; it means ‘shuhada’ are not dead in this apparent world as well as in the next world. This verse is requiring us to attach the same concept of life with 'shuhuda', which we attach with people living in this apparent world.

  In the ranking of blessed people ‘shuhuda’ come after  ‘rusul’, ‘Nabis’, and ‘siddiqueen’ (al-nisa-69); it means all of them are alive even after passing through this apparent earthly life. Quran says about such people: " It is Allah that takes the souls  at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep. Those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (forward for second life) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect (al-zumar-42). This verse describes that Allah takes souls of all persons who die. He also takes souls of those who do not die during their sleep. He withholds (from second life) souls of those who have been decreed as dead; and those who have not been decreed as dead are sent (forward for second life).  

 It may be noted that after earthly life, human soul is moved into 'uqba' (for details plz see my article ' Journey of Human Soul'); all souls in 'uqba'  live according to natural laws existing in the world of 'uqba'. Some souls in 'uqba' are declared alive and others are declared as dead. The souls which have compensable pious deeds in uqba are declared 'alive' in uqba; the souls which do not have compensable deeds in 'uqba' are declared dead in 'uqba' (for details plz see my article 'Non-Muslims' Paradise'). Out of such souls which are declared alive, some souls are allowed to interact with this earthly world. But all alive souls in 'uqba' are not allowed to interact with this earthly life/world.  Such alive souls out of 'uqba world' which are allowed to interact with this apparent earthly life/world are called 'Aulia Allah'; these are souls of 'saleheen', 'shuhuda', 'siddiqueen' 'Nabis' and 'Rusul'.

Now the question arises what is the nature of life of ‘Aulia Allah’ after their death; how do they interact with the apparent world? If all souls in ‘Uqba’ live according to natural laws of ‘Uqba’ [in ‘Uqba’ material body is not allowed to perform life functions; only soul can perform life functions- this fact is evident from the truth that human body is left behind in this apparent world], then how can Aulia Allah (after death) interact with this apparent world in which material body is required to perform life functions? The answer is that Aulia Allah can perform life functions after death through material bodies of other humans which are alive in this apparent world.

This concept of Aulia Allah’s life after death is essentially different from concept of incarnation found in Hindu religion. Incarnation is about taking over consciousness of a person by some superior deity. But Aulia Allah do not perform life functions through taking over consciousness of some living human body; the consciousness of living body remains free to decide as to what advices of Aulia’s are to be complied with and what advices are not to be complies with. It may also be appreciated that Aulia Allah after death act only under  Allah’s direction, just like angels do; after death Aulia have lost their free will. It other words, after death, Aulia act only as Allah’s agency as angels act as Allah’s agency. Actually the good deeds performed by Aulia after death  are the product of their good intentions developed (but not actualized) during their apparent life span.  

This concept of Aulia Allah’s life after death also explains why our Nabi (ﷺ) promised the Muslims for ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’. As we know that Ghazwa has not occurred during apparent life span of our Nabi (ﷺ), this concept of Aulia Allah’s life after death explains how the promise made by our Nabi (ﷺ) about ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ is being/ would be fulfilled. In the next part of this article, we will describe ‘Ghazwat ul Hind’ in detail in the light of concept of Aulia Allah’s life after death as described above.

From the foregoing, we may conclude that Aulia Allah can perform life functions in this apparent world after their death in this world (continued).

Kalam u Allah and Nabi’s (ﷺ) Words

          

It is objected that Quranic words were uttered by our Nabi (ﷺ). If it is so, how Quranic words may be declared as Allah’s Words-Kalam u Allah.

We have already seen in article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2014/03/concept-of-infallibility-of-prophet-and_8.html that Quranic Words were shown as written words to our Nabi (ﷺ) by Gabriel (a.s). It means our Nabi (ﷺ) did not produce Quranic Words/ Kalam u Allah; rather our Nabi (ﷺ) just narrated Quranic Words to the people around. Our Nabi (ﷺ) was the first narrator/ ‘Ravi’ of the Quran to the people of his (ﷺ) generation. After this first generation, every generation has ben narrating Quran to the next generation and in this way Quran has reached to the present generation. In other words, it is through process of narration that Quranic Words have been protected by Allah. 

Similarly in the same article mentioned above, we have seen that  Quran was revealed to mind/conscious of our Nabi (ﷺ); it means when Quranic Words were revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ), at the same time understanding/meanings of Quran were also revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ). These Quranic meanings were revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ) through “wahi e khafi”. This “wahi e khafi” is Allah’s Ideas which were translated into words either by Gabriel (a.s) [e.g. hadith e qudsi] or were translated into words by our Nabi (ﷺ) [hadith e nabvi (ﷺ)]. A Nabi (a.s) always recieves "wahi" in the form of Wahe e Khafi"; whereas a Rasool (a.s) always receives wahi in the form of Allah's Words (e.g. Quran). A prophet who is Rasool and Nabi combined receives wahi as a Rasool in the form of Allah's Words (e.g. Quran), and as a Nabi, in the form of wahi e khafi (e.g. Hadith; through wahi e khafi understanding/meanings of Allah's Words are revealed).  It means non-belief in Hadith is actually non-belief in 'nabuwwat'. (for details plz see ;
https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/09/wahi-and-intuition.html ; and all three parts of article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2014/03/hujjiat-e-sunnah-essentiality-of-sunnah.html. The nature of “Wahi e Khafi” is just like any person is given advice to act in a certain way; and that person  acts as he was advised. In the same way, through ‘wahi e khafi’, our Nabi (ﷺ) was taught about meanings of the Quran, and our Nabi (ﷺ)  acted according to meanings of Quran. The basic difference between an angel and a prophet is that an angel does not have capability to act against the commandment of Allah; but a prophet has such capability though he (a.s) does not exercise such capability.

The Quranic meanings, revealed to our Nabi (ﷺ) through “wahi e khafi”, were also narrated by our Nabi (ﷺ) to the people of his (ﷺ) generation  through what we call “HADITH”. After that first generation, every generation has been narrating those Quranic meanings/ “ahadith”  to the next generation and in this way the Quranic meanings/ “ahadith” have reached to the present generation. 

From the foregoing we can see that both Quranic Words and Quranic meanings/ “ahadith” have been transmitted to the present generation through narration/ ‘rawayat’. If any person does not believe in narration/ ‘rawayat’, he in fact does not believe in true meanings of Quran, and he does not believe in Nabuwwat of our Nabi (s.a.w.w). The difference between authenticity level of Quran and Hadith is that Quran is protected in Words; whereas though Hadith may not be protected in  words but Hadith is protected in meanings. It does not mean whole body of Hadith is rightly assigned to our Nabi (ﷺ) but the true Quranic meanings embodied in ahadith may be exacted from this whole body of Hadith. The persons who do not believe in the process of narration/ ‘rawayat’ actually want to deprive present age Muslims of the true meanings of Quran so that such persons may change the meanings of Quran to implement their nefarious designs (some innocent people also have joined such negative persons). 

In the two parts of article  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/07/change-and-changeability-in-islamic.html we have seen that dominant Islamic Thinking in every age of Muslims was in line with dominant Islamic thinking of the previous age. Though, in most cases, every generation of Muslims has been emphasizing Islamic Principles different from the Islamic Principles emphasized by the previous generation but Islamic Thinking adopted by every generation was based on Quran and Hadith, and was order of the day. As against this dominant and positive Islamic Thinking which may be called as “Collective Islamic Thinking of All Ages”, some negative thinking also has been produced by some people in every age; but fortunately such negative thinking was always carried by a small minority, and was rejected by Collective Islamic Thinking of All Ages”. In the present age, the small minority  heralding the ideology of non-belief in narration/ “Hadith” has also been rejected by “Collective Islamic Thinking of All Ages”.