On trials, testing and turning back: part 3

A translation of part 3 of البلاء والرجوع

The Secret of Congregational Prayers

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful,

And praise be to Allah, Lord of all the Worlds, and blessings of Allah be on the Master of the Messengers, and the final outcome is for the Mutaqeen (those who have taqwa and fear Allah).

I was thinking a lot after Allah decreed this trial, and after having written two times about this I wanted to write for a third time, with Allah’s help.

People are surprised about the trial which Allah the Most High has sent to remind people of the bad things that their own hands have wrought, and their recent forebears, so that they might return to the straight path of the One who is esteemed and praised. They wonder why, if Allah wants people to repent, does this contagious disease stop people from doing acts of worship and good deeds that are even laid down as part of the shariah, like attending jumma’ salaat in the mosques, and visiting Mecca and Medina, and attending taraweeh prayers in Ramadan.  Why would Allah prevent them from doing this if He wishes them to return to him?

There are two points I would like to make about this:

Firstly that people have been confining their good deeds to carrying out rituals and forgetting or attempting to forget other types of obedience to Allah and good action.  And this is a modern idea originating in the West, intended to separate religion from everyday life.

Even though they are reading in the Qur’an (as they should do), so should know the following ayat, from surah al Baqara: 177:

Goodness is not turning your faces towards the East or the West, but rather the good is whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book, and the Prophets, and gives wealth for the love of Him, to relatives and orphans and the destitute, and travellers and beggars and to free slaves, and establishes prayer and gives zakat and fulfils their trusts and are patient in hardship and difficulties and suffering.  Those are the ones who have integrity and those are the ones who are the mutaqeen (those who have taqwa and fear of Allah).

So why is nobody talking about that, even though we are still able to do all of these things and be rewarded for them, with no difficulty placed upon where or when or how they are done, and they are also able to pray and to give zakat in their homes.

Secondly, and this is what causes the heart to be afraid, and that is its separation from its majestic Lord, exalted is He because Allah has, according to his sunnah, deprived his slaves from doing the acts of obedience and worship which He ordered them to do, because they did them as mere formulaic rituals and neglected their spirit.  This occurred with the People of the Sabbath, mentioned in the Qur’an, when the fish they relied on for their livelihood would rise on the Sabbath (when they were not allowed to work, according to their religious law) but not on other days (Surah al A’raaf: 163), and when Allah added to the laws of the children of Israel, making things harder for them,  after they had done wrong.

And because of the oppression of the Jews, we made good things which had formally been permissible for them forbidden, and because of the way they tried to prevent the following of the way of Allah, and because of their taking interest, and devouring the wealth of others wastefully, and we prepared for the disbelievers amongst them a painful punishment. (Surah An-Nisaa, 161)

And look at when Allah says,

And to those who are Jews We prohibited every animal of uncloven hoof; and of the cattle and the sheep We prohibited to them their fat, except what adheres to their backs or the entrails or what is joined with bone. [By] that We repaid them for their injustice. And indeed, We are truthful. (6:146)

Because this shows that prohibition was a consequence of their unjust practices, and this prohibition is different to the normal purpose of prohibition in Allah’s laws, which is done as a mercy and as guidance, rather it is to make it difficult.

And this would not have been permanent for the Jews, if they had followed the prophets Esa and Muhammad, on whom be blessings and peace.  The Prophet Esa was sent to remove some of the burdens upon them, which meant these extra difficulties.

And confirming the truth of what you possess of the Torah and to make permissible for you some of what you had been prohibited, and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord so fear him and obey.  (The Family of Imran: 50)

But most of them turned away from this and rejected it except for a few, so the curse of Allah was on the disbelievers, as Allah says.  And then they had another opportunity to believe when our Master Muhammad came, peace be upon him.  Those of them who became Muslim felt the blessing, but those who rejected the Prophet, peace be upon him, remained in their chains and with their harsh laws.

I remember one day my Shaikh said to me, “The Muslims of our time have forgotten the secret of Jumuah salaat, so it has become emptied of its wisdom except for a few.  And this wisdom is that the believers and the Muslims, when they congregate for jumuah salaat and pray together, as equals, to one Lord, with one qiblah, and behind one Imam, listening to the words of Allah recited to them at the same time, and in the same place, this should bring about unity in their hearts and mercy for each other, and tenderness and affection which should make them their state as worshippers of Allah, worshipping Allah together, and this should make them their brotherhood and unity after they leave the prayers.  This should then be shown in their actions, and in what they say to each other, because this should show some of the mercy and support which is unparalleled and given to everybody in the society, including the non-Muslims to whom they owe a big duty.  And if ever some of them forget this, Jumuah comes back around to remind them of this.

When people neglect this, and after they have neglected it for a long time, they tend to agree to just keep jumuah as a ritual which they attend without understanding or inner tranquillity, and which does not prevent them from committing obscenities or wrongdoing or injustice, which then spreads amongst them, then this wisdom is lost and jumuah salaat no longer does them any good.  In contrast to this, there is the jumuah of those who uphold all of what those mentioned above have forgotten and those are the ones who love each other for the sake of Allah. These who attend jumuah are fulfilling the shariah, by attending the jumuah even though it goes against their own desires, and this is the secret which makes jumuah superior to praying by oneself at home.

And what is the state of the Muslims now, twenty years later?  Is it anything but even further away from Allah?  I don’t intend by this speech any Muslims who are not making this mistake, but I mean what is evident and obvious widespread and which Allah has put a stop to in our times.  Whoever reflects on my words with humility and fear of Allah and looks at his own self and what Allah has done with him, his heart will palpitate in fear and he will fall prostrate in sujood asking Allah to give back to the Muslims the blessing of attending prayers in the mosque, and jumuah prayer, and give back the secret of jumuah to their hearts.  Allah, ameen.

And peace be upon all the messengers, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the the worlds.