Guest post by Silence from Islamabad Observer
Holy Quran gives greater importance to social responsibilities then religious duties of a person. Non-performance of religious duties is a matter between Allah and his creation and can be forgiven by Almighty. However social responsibilities which are between his men are mandatory. The importance of social responsibilities is evident from the fact that wherever prayer (Solat) is mentioned in Holy Quran, it is followed by Zakat. Unfortunately, the Islamic clerics stress more on ‘religious rituals’ rather then social aspects of Muslim society, because it is necessary for their business. Any one who mentions about social responsibilities being more important then religious rituals is instantly declared ‘Kafir’ by these clerics, as it hurts their business and control over lives of ordinary people.
A very bold and unprecedented statement came from MAULANA Abdul Rehman Ashrafi, the head of Jamia Ashrafia; saying that poverty-stricken people were seeking fatwa from religious scholars whether Islam permitted suicide if one did not have enough to eat. He urged the affluent sections of the society to help the poor by giving more donations in the form of Zakat instead of spending money for performing Umra. The head of Jamia Ashrafia expressed concern at the rising incidents of terrorism which wrecked havoc with the law and order situation and called upon all segments to sit together to seek a way out of the situation. He urged militants to give up arms and negotiate their terms and conditions with the government instead of spilling blood of innocent people.
The statement of Mualana is encouraging in times when inflation is sky rocketing in country and it has become impossible for under privileged people to make both ends meet. However the effluent of our society, including political and religious elite is busy to make ‘Allah Almighty’ happy by spending huge amounts on performing Haj and Umra rather then giving these funds as ‘Sadkah‘ to deserving. On top of that, there is a practice of performing Haj and Umra by government officials with public funds, which in any case is immoral and an abuse of government funds. One wonders how a person can please God by spending huge amount of money to perform Haj or Umra when his next door neighbor is jumping before a running train with innocent kids because of hunger and poverty. With that amount of money, a family can easily be saved from clutches of ‘crime and prostitution’ and an unemployed youth can start a business and support his family.
Tax evasion by rich is considered as a normal practice while performing Haj and Umra has became a status symbol in our society. This all is going on in name of pleasing Allah when country is going through huge trade deficit and the foreign reserves are declining. As a result, local currency has lost more then 35% of its value pushing prices to level where a common man is unable to have a decent meal a day. It has become difficult to meet with foreign debt responsibilities. These days every second religious, political and corporate leader of country is in Saudi Arabia to perform Umra which has put further pressure of rupee price, and resulted in further decline of foreign exchange reserves in hundreds of millions dollars. This all is happening when our government is asking international community for ‘donations‘ to avoid financial collapse.
Even today’s news paper carries photographs of several political and religious leaders performing Umra including Mian Nawaz Sharif with a huge group of his party leadership. Had each of these effluents spared that money as ‘Sadkah’ for an unemployed youth or a starving family on brink of suicide and crime (as suggested by Maulana Asharfi), surely Allah almighty would have been more pleased. As, affluent are showing their indifference with underprivileged of society, it is important to discourage them and civil society and religious scholars must draw the focus on social responsibilities and encourage people to direct these funds towards welfare of deserving in our society. At the same time, government must consider a temporary ban on Umra and convince people to contribute that money for unemployed and underprivileged in society. This will not only help the starving families and unemployed youth to have an opportunity of decent living but also ease the pressure on our foreign exchange reserves.
Comments
42 responses to “Pakistan must Ban Umra”
You sound like a dictator like Saddam/Zia/Musharraf.
Stop talking about religion, you are no expert, stop pretending to be expert……. You just lost your credibility.
Note to Awab: Wake up
Just like the Taleban have banned shaving? 🙂 I thought democracy was supposed to lead to freedom of choice, as long as the choice was within legal/moral boundaries.
You can’t convince people by banning what they want to do and DICTATING what they should spend their money on, can you? That would be the start of another dictatorship – to save Pakistan.
I would totally agree with you if you tone this down a little, to something like ‘Pakistan should discourage Umra’
and back it up with an awareness campaign.
I tend to agree with what Sohaib is saying, although I am not as ‘optimized’ for democracy 🙂 .
Banning something is a strong thing to do. If that something happens to be a religious ritual, then that ‘something’ might as well turn out to be a cause-for-dissent for many as well (although this remains besides the point).
The point is, I think, what Sohaib has said; an awareness campaign to entice people for a more charitable attitude towards people.
@Shoaib @Momekh – good point an awareness campaign would send a strong message – but dictatorship or not – I debate if just a message will achieve the desired results – in way it might afterall its a noble call – but I see immediate beneficial effects for our country with an outright ban – but yes this banning ‘shanning’ will not go nice on me as well
Allah Cracy or English Cracy
This Cracy turns me Crazy
God tussi great ho, just get preview of this movie 2night at home I got to know that it was lift from hollywood Bruce Almighty which I seen many times just bcuz of Jim Carey but idea of the film to show God and his powers was ludicrous and unbelieving rather worked of those who are unbelievers.
Pakistan should ban holly-bolly-lolly-tolly-mollywood movies which is a tool of brainwashing and many men wood turned damage because of hbollywood movies.
Pakistan should ban British-US democaracy and look for Theodemocracy and stop messing Al-Qeada and Taleban. You donot born to defeat ’em but rather they are born to defeat all perverts like soviets.
Election was the faces/feces change and nothing else we should ban all current politicians who are cronies of Lucifer to take further part in new elections.
Here is my argument:
1. If rich people of society perform social responsibility by paying taxes and Zakat, I am sure there wont be poor in country, no one deny this fact that our rich class is corrupt and dishonest in paying taxes, right from top to bottom>
2. Umra and Haj has become more of status symbol then a religious duty, many people do corruption, take bribe, dont pay taxes, but perform haj and Umra to be called ‘Haji’.
3. There is precedent in Islamic history when even ‘Haj’ was restricted ‘Makoof’ during times of economic crisis.
4. How much God would be pleased when you spend few lakh on Umra and your poor neighbour gets in to prostitution to feed her childern??
This happened to one of my neighbor’s when I was small, her husband used to work in our factory, in off season, they had no income and she became prostitute…which ended when she killed her husband……. My dad has perfored HAJ twice, I told him to stop and rather give that money to neighbors.
We are people….hazroon meel ka safar kar ke Allah ko razi karny jaty hain….Allah tu ghar main he razi ho sakta hai.
Now, if people of our society still show their indifference from poor commiting suicide and they spend huge money on UMRA..I think a ban will be more practical.
Specially when we are begging from entire world to make our reserve stable…..how much sense it makes that we spend that begged money on UMRA from our foreign exchange reserves, rather then directing that money for those asking FATWA for suicide?
We are free to make choices, but these choices must be in accordance with what Allah wants from us,I hope our scholars can debate it more openly.
yes, its become fashion in Ramadan although feudal people continue to perform this ritual without any benefit.
Assalaamualaikum doc:
Why not ban going to Dubai or UK or Malaysia? Or having a house bigger than 200 sq.yds? Or driving anything larger than 1000 cc car? Sound crazy?
If someone goes for umrah, whether for showing off or for genuine religious sentiment, that is their business. We have no right to pass judgement on them. We also cannot judge whether these people are also supporting social causes or not. Show me some empirical data rather than heresay and guesses.
Going for umrah in Ramadan is equal in sawaab to performing Hajj with the Prophet SAW. That is indeed a strong motivator to go, if you can afford to do so. There is a greater likelihood that these people ALSO pay zakat and support social welfare with sadaka. However, I have no empirical evidence to support this, just as there is no such evidence to the contrary.
It is easy to target religious people, because they may be more obvious, and put all the responsibility on them. Meanwhile, everyone else is absolved of this responsibility.
The problem is that people, whether religious or not religious, may not be shouldering their full weight of social responsibilities. To motivate them to do so, and to provide avenues to do so credibly seems to be the solution. Banning someone from doing a good deed seems confused.
Wallahuaalam.
Wassalaam,
Saeed.
I second Silence. Exactly my thoughts with a little difference: only first-time Urma and Haj should be allowed. For as long as we need it.
On a trip to an African park, I learned that animals change their productivity levels in accordance with population ratio in the park. Too many impalas (kind of deer) – who are the favorite prey for several predators – were being consumed. They coped with it by making more babies per impala! Other species also manage their populations, and those who don’t are “taken care of” by other species in the park – including humans.
Common sense is thus even the asset of animals. Humans are, in the words of the Holy Qur’an – the khalifah of Allah on Earth. Further, the Qur’an says: “The whole of Universe has been conquered for you.”
Allah is not going to starve if people don’t rotate around the Ka’aba – which is something that Allah re-iterates again and again in Allah’s own Book – for those who’d rather stick to Divine inspiration than to listen to a fellow human (Allah’s vicegerent, according to the Qur’an) guiding them to do the righteous.
Think about this: What would Allah want? For someone to come and perform a second Umra and then some? Or for someone to sacrifice their own desire, and offer consolation to the poor?
The history of Muslims is full of stories where people sacrificed their Hajj to help a fellow Muslim, and were given “Basharah” (good news) that their intent was accepted. (Allah isn’t technically deprived to give sawaab anywhere to anyone now, is Allah? If a servant of Allah can’t reach Allah, trust that Allah can reach them.)
The Holy Prophet peace be upon him counted amongst his companions Owais Qurni who never visited the Prophet for he was taking care of his mother! He is revered to the extent that a tareeqa in Tassawuf (transmission of the hidden meaning of Islam) is attributed to him.
Let’s assume the station of the vicegerent by enabling ourselves to take decisions Allah would best prefer.
Silence, good to raise this subject! Teeth: good to feature it! STAY BOLD! WE HAVE NO TIME TO ENTERTAIN COWARDICE.
Clearer re-wording of my comment:
“I second Silence. Exactly my thoughts with a little difference: only first-time Umra and Haj should be allowed. This restriction should remain for as long as we need it.”
During my own Umra, I witnessed a miraculous episode. The Prophet’s tomb is open to women for a limited time. Many women act hysterical at that time, screaming and yelling and jumping off towards the tomb. I had read that the Prophet was averse to such hysteria and noise. So I contributed my bit by hanging behind the crowd, so as not to jostle in competition with other to get ahead. Certainly, the Prophet doesn’t need a rude visitor, I thought.
To cut a long story short – I was rewarded. There wasn’t space to place a dead fish on the floor of Riaz-ul-Jannah where everyone wishes to pray in the limited ladies’ visiting time. People were praying standing up, packed like sardines. Suddenly I noticed a space exactly the size of a prayer rug – I knew it was for me. I offered prayers there, then got up. No one took the space. I offered 2 more nafils there, then got up again to see if anyone would take the space. Amazingly, everybody around me stood off “my space” as if that space did not exist. But I thought I had had my bit, and another Muslim must get the chance to enjoy praying there. I stepped off, and in that moment, the sardines took over the space and you couldn’t see an inch of space left where I had prayed in great liberty!
TRUST ALLAH. ALLAH IS NOT GOING TO EAT YOUR SAWAAB. Choose humanity, and Allah will choose you!
May our hearts and senses be rightly guided, and may we stop treating Allah like an ethic-less Sawaab-vending machine! Aameen!
Didn’t our beloved Prophet (P.B.U.H.) perform only one Hajj? Didn’t Abu-Jahal had performed 72 Hajjs?….Think about it!!!
Such display of wealth in the name of religion is a disturbing trend and something should be done about it. However, it can’t be enforced via a complete ban.
Besides, there are countless other activities (weddings, basant and what not) which put an even greater pressure on the poor. How many activities can you ban? This is something that requires a change from within our social setup.
P.S. I liked the “effluent” pun. Hilarious. I doubt many would have the guts to call our political and religious elite that.
Why do we not start with banning alcohol…before proceeding to things like umrah.
how can you deprive someone the right to travel as they want? If they have the money they will just spend it somewhere else rather than going for umrah. What of people who already give a lot of charity and still have enough left over to travel?
Absurd this suggestion. I would suggest that the government impose some sort of tax i.e 5000 rs per ticket for umrah and make a bait ul mal from the revenue collected then hold raffle draws for poor people who cannot afford umrah and send them there.
i agree with doc here. it does make more sense to help people in need. if people can afford to help members of the community and do umra then that’s double sawab. it does look silly to see so many people going for umra with the taxpayers money as it’s kinda not valid as they didnt earn the money themselves. even if they were to go for umra with their own money i doubt it would cleanse them of their sins as they go back to their old tricks. doc is right when he says that people just go for umra coz it is a status symbol. it’s sad that we are so selfish that we forget to help others who really need our help.
Your argument is logical and rational, and thus it will probably be rejected by the majority. I had suggested to someone earlier, that on Eid ul Adha, instead of sacrificing animals for show, they should donate money to community projects or other deserving issues. However, most people laughed at my “convoluted logic”.
I agree with “silence” . Performing Umra has become a status symbol but I am not quiet sure about the ban.
Well, I am not in parliament and not going to bring a propose bill, the point is to start a debate, get others opinions and highlight issues.
Ban is only needed when people start ignoring good causes or rules and follow their own thinking…..if everyone stops at trafic light, you wont need a ticket.
Unfortunately our society has become to corrupt morally that simple ‘preaching’ wont work. But there can be alternate, suppose government puts a condition that person who wants to perform Umra must pay an unemployed guys same amount…or contribute equal amount to a poor family waiting to marry their daughters….there are lots of deserving.
I am pleased that at least Maulana Asharafi came out for a valid point and as citizens we must join the debate.
@Sajjad…..spending money locally…..it will become another debate…is also part of teaching of Holy Prophet…and basis of economic system, when you spend in your society it starts economic activity, production, factories run, people get jobs, venders and traders earn, transporter and laborers…..thats called economic cycle. More you spend in your country, more economic activity it generates.
Thats why Prophet (PBUH) disliked Gold and encouraged trade.
But taking money from your foreign exchange reserves and spending overseas is oppoisite….it will reduce economic activity and generate poverty…inflation, decrease in local currancy values and higher costs will make poor more poor.
Dr. Awab, unfortunately it seems to me that you are a lonesome man who posts an article abt every first thing that pops into your head without giving it a second thought. Shutdown this website and pass-on the savings to the poor. Atleast you will do some good.
Why just ban Umra?
Why not ban Sheraton Aftar, Marriot Dinners, PC lunches and Dinners, Avari Towers, Pizza Hut, Lal Qila….
How about putting a ban on any transaction over 500 Rs?
The list will go on and on.
It looks like Awab has let Silence to hijack blog…
Silence,
When it comes to Qadianis you want to preach tolerance and when it comes to Mullahs than you don’t refrain from sterotyping…Whats up?
So you don’t consider MAULANA Abdul Rehman Ashrafi, as Mullah or you term him a ‘bad apple’?
May Allah save us from the *SOFT REVOLUTION* that Silence and his cult are predicting
This is called Communism. Where people don’t get freedom to spend as they please.
You are asking the Govt to ban Umra for the people, but you don’t have guts to tell your beloved Zardari and the PPP clowns to clamp down on expenses and save the national exchequer.
You know what, I second your recommendation. I bet the PPP thugs don’t have the balls to do so. I dare them.
If rich may gives his Zakat via banks so it is presumed that It doesn’t diffuse among deserving peoples.Ban Zakat cutting from banks
2nd all our pervert politicians/peoples keep their black money in foreign banks and take interest from it rather establishing contemporary plant in Pak like auto or cell fone rather they’ve imported 500 billion rupees Cell Fone from outside.
Its somehow true that Umra/Hajj turn status symbol and many kleptocrats even do Umra and Hajj frequently.
The Islamic system which is subverted by English Cracy/Crazy should be sorted out in the light of real Islamic Socio-economic-political system.
http://www.ummatpublication.com/2008/09/29/story5.php
There are some very informative comments by Mr. Azhar Aslam on this topic, posted on my blog, i would share here…
==========================================================
Good article. But this is just a start. its not only Umra but also performance of Hajj that is questionable as in is it really ‘Fard’?
firstly, even if we set aside the arguments that social repsosibilities are greater ‘ fard’ then religious rituals ( which as you rightly point out, are ( wrongly and wilfully) given extra weightage to keep the shop going for the piestly class, which itself has no justifiable existence in islam); even then there is a question when does Hajj become ‘fard’?
It is almost unanimously accepted that Hajj becomes ‘fard’, only and only after a muslim has fulfilled all his social reponsibilites and has then managed to save money to perform Hajj. As most of us know that these social responsibilties are not only about one’s self and one’s family and close relatives. Rather these acually relate to all other human beings, including muslims and non-muslims. therefore until all poverty, hunger and injustice reins free on this earth, Hajj is not a ‘fard’ on any msulim. His first anf foremost duties are to his fellow human beings.
then there are political arguments. eg why as a muslim should i need a visa to visit mecca and medina ? what right does the kingdom have to transact 12 Billion dollars worth of annual business for themselves?
I relate an episode from muslim history to relate this point. While i cannot vouch for the historical veracity of this 100 % , the spirit and true purpose of islam can seldom be reflected better than this story.
it is said that Abdullah bin Mubarak performed hajj and was sleeping inside Kabaa, that he had a dream. In that dream he saw tow angels talking to each other. One says to the other that this year no one’s hajj has been blessed by Allah. the other one says no you do not know the full story. Allah has blessed but only because of a certain person who lives ina certain town( and he related the name of this person and this town). Ibn Mubarak woke up and he felt a deep impact of his dream. he set out to find this person.
he reached his destination and found the house of this person. as he knocked on the door, an old man opened the door. Ibne mubarak introduced himself and he was invited in.it was a poor household and there was only the old man and his wife. they were childless. Ibne mubarak told them of his dream and his reason for his visit and asked them had they performed the hajj this year. and could they explain his dream.
The old man offered him food and drink and told him that they had not performed hajj and he knew not about his dream. however they had intended to perform hajj but then could not. Ibne mubarak asked them why could they not go to Hajj. His host then told him that he was an ironsith. they were childless and had been saving money for a long time to allow them enough savings to perform hajj. after years they had sorted their plans out. howver a fw days before they were due to leave , he heard his jew neighbour’s kids cry incessantly, while their mother was cooking. the same happened the next day when they cried themselves to sleep and the next day. when thie happened the fourth day he went around to check and found out that his neighbour had died and his widow had not enough to feed her kids and lookafter them. he said ‘ i came back and felt so ashamed that not only i did not know my neighbour had died, i did not know about the plight of his kids. so we talked and my wife and i decided to give all the money to the widow to set her in the business to fend for herself and her kids.
ibne mubarak cried and told him no doubt they were better people than him and no wonder Allah had blessed every one because of them.
islam, was and is, never about rituals. it was its egalitarian and socially just spirit, manifesto and call that led to its spread.
the human created shariah which over the years have been further distorted and spun to serve vested interests needs to radically dissected to the bare bones to allow to put the real meat on. or it may be even better to start afresh from the original paradigm of the prophet (pbuh)and build a new muslim paradigm for today’s world.
such paradigms need to be recreated for every age and every time and space.
may Allah give us strength and courage to do that.
Comment by azhar aslam — September 30, 2008 @ 9:36 pm | Edit This
Assalaamualaikum.
Let’s see, we started with banning umrah. Next, someone suggested banning Eid sacrifice. Now, it is the turn of the Farz Hajj (the first one, not a nafl hajj). Seems to be a trend developing. Are we going to question Salat in Jamaat next?
We can keep reinventing Islam to suit our needs. However, the only Islam acceptable in the eyes of Allah SWT is the Islam He sent in the Quran, and in the Hadith of His Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. The deen was perfected in his lifetime. We are trying to improve on perfection?
We are skating on thin ice. May Allah SWT guide us and forgive us. Ameen
Wassalaam,
Saeed.
@Saeed M: Well said. I second you. As other fellow said that we can’t give up enjoying fantasies and luxuries but when it comes to religion we start seeking excuses like poverty of world and other thing. No wonder most of NGOs who exist in our society make their plans for poor in chilled Drawing rooms or in expensive restaurants.
I smell hypocrisy here.
Those who claim here to b there in Saudia for Hajj or Umrah purpose, they might have idea that most of the people who actually go for Umrah are those who belong to mediocre family or poor rather part of filthy rich families because filthy rich are rather busy in their own fantasy world or brought excuses like this guy silence brought up to stay from Holy places. I rather say it’s good that such people don’t visit those sacred places and keep it pure.
I must thank ‘Silence’ for posting my comments here. that is most kind.
as expected i notice voices of concern. and rightly so out of sheer love for islam. but both my friends saeed and adnan have not followed my argument.
Saeed and adnan. Pray tell me where does in Quran allah says that Hajj is ”more” of a ‘fard’ than looking after fellow human beings (some examples of which are caring for sick and old, orphans, destitutes,feeding hungry, not being unjust, not transgressing, not being zalim etc). Where does in Quran does Allah has decreed certain things as obligation/ fard and others not?
even if we leave aside the matter that all ritualistic fard is personal obligation , not a community based, ( ie i will not ban Hajj or salat, as i will not force one into it as well); and the fact that salat in jamaat has already been questioned ( not by me but others;) can you please tell me where does Allah talk about ‘five fards’. This concept of five fards has done so much harm to the true spririt of islam where people have contended themselves with five fards and forgotten the rest.
I cannot go in long discussion here as it is not the place for that. But my friend hadith of the prophet is not Quran. In the last sermon prophet’s words were ‘ hold fast unto quran and my sunnah’ Sunnah as you know is not hadith, which in itself is a controversial topic, not for this time and place.
And you rightly observe that deen was ‘completed'( the word prophet used was completed not perfected) in prophet’s time. If you read my comments, I am saying eactly the same. that we should restart from where he left. As i believe muslims of all different ages should. it is not ijtihaad we need. it is tajdeed e noo, or tashkeel e noo, or something akin to reconstruction (as iqbal suggested).
You are actually supporting my argument here except that you are confusing the ‘ shariah ‘ created between 75 to 250 years after prophet’s time as Prophet’s deen. There is an essential and fundamental difference.
interestingly let me point out a few logical conclusions that follow from your thesis (with which i completely agree) ie ‘ the deen was complete in prophet’s time’.
a. that means that every decision by any one from sahaba to fuqaha to ulema are their personal interpretations and opinions according to their fahm or understanding.
b. further these decisions are political, jursitic or legal in nature but not fundamentals of deen;
c. hence none of these are binding in nature, immutable or unchangeable.
would you agree with me ?
Now let me take a different approach to what you have said. if you read quran in tarteeb e anzool, you will find that Allah sent several commandements regarding how to treat other human beings, but actually none of the ritualistic commandments. Why ?
even more interestingly why the very first command from Allah is ‘ Iqra’ and not ‘pray’ ? Please do reflect on this question for yourself.
lastly do you think Allah needs us and our ritualistic performances? the One who is ‘ Ahaad’, and ‘Assamaad’. ‘ alhayee’ and alqayuum’. to who belongs all that is in the universe.
i invite you ( and anyone else who reads this ) to scale yourself. look at the room you are in right now as you read this. how many of you can fit in that room that must be a tiny part of the city you live in, which is a tiny part of the country you live in, which is a tiny part of the planet earth, which is a tiny planet orbiting around a medium sized star ‘ sun’, located in a far off part of our galaxy which has about 200 billion stars like sun. there are estimated to be 16 billion galaxies or so in this universe and we don’t even know for sure if and how many toher universes exist.
and i am sure like myself, you believe Allah has created this all.
so how do you compare yourself to this universe , which is 14 billions or so years old. ie 140000000000. if an average human age is 70 years this is 2000000000 times human age.
how big is this universe ? let me give you a clue. sun’s diameter is 1.5 million kilometers. if we make it 330 mm, our earth is just 3 mm big.you can easily see this on an ordinary ruler.
if we now divide this size by further one million ie earth becomes 3mm divided by 1000,000,; then our galaxy would be 215 km across, the nearset galaxy andromeda would be 4800 km away.
to give you another example, the light would take about 14 billion years to cross the univers ( as we know it today), at it speed of 300,000 km per second ie 180,00000 km per minute.
now please tell me that Allah the creator of all this, why would he worry about azhar aslam, mr saeed, mr adnan or mr silence ?
however you can easliy compare yourslef to any other human being and you will be in a perfect position to make a physical and emotional impact on him or her.
so why did Allah send us his prophet and quran ? for Himself or for humans ? i leave it for you to decide?
before i finsih i relate you another story from the annals of history ( true again in spirit , only may be in letter ).
it is said that prophet ibrahim ( abraham) always had a guest at his table at dinner time. one day he had none.he went outside and called to the first person passing by who was an old man of 90 carrying wood on his back. he offered him dinner and brought him in. when they started to eat, the old man dipped in. Ibrahim stopped him and said ‘ you haven’t said bismillah’; to which old man replied ‘ ibrahim do you not know i do not believe in you God’. Ibrahim said, i cannot have meal with you.
the old man got up and left saying ‘ well you invited me, its not as if i came begging.’
after he had gone Allah spoke to Ibrahim and said, ” ibrahim what kind of person you are that you cannot feed a human being one meal. it is ‘I’ he does not believe him and yet I have fed him and looked after him for 90 years and you did not even put up with that for one meal and a short time. so what is your problem?’.
so do you want to go back to prophet’s islam or not. The prophet who turned back and did not perform ‘hajj’ to avoid bloodshed and make it easier to fulfill is longterm strategy than a short term gain?
you want to go back to Prophets’ deen. I am all for it. lets do it. lets start by skipping from 632 AD to 2008 AD and start afresh. Not by ignoring and blinding oursleves to the period between 632 and 2008, but by learning the principles but not the practices, by imbibing the wisdom but not the ritual and by constant striving to learn and interpret again and again as we grow.
are you ready for it ?
@Azhar Aslam
I am impressed by the sheer length of your comment, its length actually exceeds that of the original article, so when you say ‘I cannot go in long discussion here as it is not the place for that.’, it makes me scared to imagine what you consider a “long discussion”
I don’t mean to be ‘disrespectful’ but have you ever read or heard about a Non Sequitur?
Here are the opinions of people who seem to be more knowledgeable about Islam than you or me:
http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/49897
http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/114534
http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=33&sub_cat_id=1479
What I understand from these scholars’ arguments is (correct me if I’m wrong) that:
1- Multiple umrahs are not forbidden as long as they are well-spaced (a month or so)
2- Islam puts obligatory acts first and voluntary acts second. If you are in debt, you should clear the debts before hajj/umrah, and ofcourse you must pay zakat, but those seem to be the only constraints
3- The prophet encouraged multiple umrahs indirectly
4- Charity is voluntary, encouraged but not enforced.
Of course, if you want to discard these opinions for what they are, ie. opinions, you have every right. Since there’s no test or grading, you can be the best of us Muslims for all I know.
Ever heard of Deen-e-Ilahi? That was another attempt to have a fresh start. So let us get rid of all those ‘practices’ and ‘rituals’ and stick to the basics, in fact, let us just recite the kalma and say we are muslims in our hearts, who needs all those rituals anyway? There will be plenty of room to be enlightened and be a moderate Muslim. Hell, I admit that I don’t pray, though I should, so this new modernized religion would give me the mental peace without any of the physical effort. And yea, let us nationalize everything such that whenever a rich person mentions umra, we can just deduct the correct amount from his bank for charity. Perfect, I say, lets go for it!
Apart from this issue of umrah,there are several other issues that one can debate upon.
Have we ever thought why do we spend so much money on our luxries??
According to one Hadith which says that ‘Perform Haj And Umrahs repeatedly as it washes away your SINS from you,just as fire purifies the gold.’
But at the same time we must not forget that Allah(swt) does not like OSTENTATION,so if these umrahs are done just to showoff it is much better not to perform them.
One more thing that i would like to add is that may be most of the people who perform umrahs repeatedly or almost every year, earn HARAM money,(i can see many around me),and then they go for Haj and Umrahs probably just to EASE their conscience.
I want to quote a beautiful Hadith here
On the authority of Abu Huraira(may Allah be pleased with him),who said:The Messanger of ALLAH (p.b.u.h.)said:
“”ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY IS GOOD AND ACCEPTS ONLY THAT WHICH IS GOOD.ALLAH HAS COMMANDED THE FAITHFUL TO DO THAT WHICH HE COMMANDED THE MESSANGERS,AND THE ALMIGHTY HAS SAID:”O YE MESSANGERS!EAT OF THE GOOD THINGS,AND DO RIGHT”AND ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY HAS SAID:”O YE WHO BELIEVE!EAT OF THE GOOD THINGS WHEREWITH WE HAVE PROVIDED YOU”
THEN HE MENTIONED{THE CASE OF}A MAN WHO,HAVING JOURNEYED FAR,IS DISHELLVED AND DUSTY AND WHO SPREADS OUT HIS HANDS TO THE SKY{SAYING}: O LORD! O LORD! _ WHILE HIS FOOD IS UNLAWFUL, HIS DRINK UNLAWFUL, HIS CLOTHING UNLAWFUL,AND HE IS NOURISHED UNLAWFUL,SO HOW CAN HE BE ANSWERED!!””
According to another Hadith,
On the authority of Abu Huraira(may Allah be pleased with him)that the Prophet(p.b.u.h.)said:
“”WHOSOEVER REMOVES A WORDLY GRIEF FROM A BELIEVER, ALLAH WILL REMOVE FROM HIM ONE OF THE GRIEFS OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.WHOSOEVER ALLEVIATES[THE LOT OF] A NEEDY PERSON,ALLAH WILL ALLEVIATE[HIS LOT] IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT.WHOSOEVER SHIELDS A MUSLIM, ALLAH WILL SHIELD HIM IN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT””.
MAY ALLAH (SWT) GUIDE US.
Straw Man,
Br. you are naive. The intention of the writer is not about helping poors but coming up with reasons to abandon Islami Sha-aair.
Why didn’t he ask our *leaders* to stop useless lavish trips to foreign countries and stop lavish aftars and dinners in the same country where parents are committing suicide because they can not afford a meal for their children.
The writer “SILENCE” have ulterior motives, you will see him asking us to accept corruption as part of life because his beloved leader Zaradari is leading the corruption…read here
@Azher:
Assalaamualaikum.
bhaijan, the five fard are mentioned in the Hadith Jibreel, as are the six pillers of imaan, and the meaning of ehsaan.
Allah SWT repeatedly tells us in the Quran to ‘obey Allah and obey the Prophet’ and He also says in the Quran that ‘to obey the Prophet is to obey Allah’.
Hence, if we disregard the Hadith, how are we to obey the Prophet? Certainly, if we disregard the hadith, we will be able to twist Islam as we would like to see it. Dangerous grounds, my friend. A minefield best left alone.
There were poor people at the time of the Prophet SWT, as were orphans. Yet, the hadith on the fazilat of performing umrah stands.
I personally think that we have flogged this dead horse enough. Opinions in the whole spectrum have been offered. I don’t think that I will add any more to this. Your patience and civility is appreciated.
Wassalaam,
Saeed.
*correction*
in the very first Hadith,i just missed the word ‘silver’
‘Perform Haj And Umrahs repeatedly as it washes away your SINS from you,just as fire purifies the gold and silver.’
Straw man.
1. No I had not heard about ‘nonsequitar’. I do now. Thank you. But equally I don’t follow why you said that?
2. This is a quote from one of the sites that you have mentioned. It would seem that I am only extending and widening the definition of ‘rights of people’ as described below.
‘’ The rights of other people take precedence over the obligation to perform Hajj and ‘Umrah, so it is not permissible for a Muslim to go for Hajj or ‘Umrah if there is someone asking for repayment of a loan that he took from him. This is because Islam places a great emphasis on protecting people’s rights and is keen for the spirit of love and friendship to remain among them, so that none of them will consume the wealth of others or transgress against them.’’
3. Akbar’s Deen-i-Ilahi was not an attempt to start afresh. It was nothing of the kind. Please read more about it.
4. It is true that to be Muslim one only needs to recite Kalmaa.
5. ‘Rituals and practices’ are not intended to be the core part of the ‘Deen’ in Islam; unless you equate Islam with a religion in ordinary sense of the word. And over the centuries these rituals have been used by vested interests to control humans and they have successfully put the real core of Islam ie concern for an ordinary human being at the back burned. These concepts have then been used by ordinary people like us to silence their consciences when it comes to our dealings with other human beings or try to balance it by ‘performing the rituals.
6. The real reason for having rituals is primarily to identify the community; and secondarily to make the community stronger. ie ‘ concern for human beings’ as I keep saying. The example of the former is Namaz ba-jammat. Watching thousands and hundreds people pray together is one of the most impressive sights on display; a display of unity and discipline. And how do these rituals make community stronger: namaz: so that people can meet and mingle together; rooza, so that we can empathise with hungry and poor and to achieve self control and discipline; zakat ,clearly to redistribute wealth and improve egalitarian credentials; hajj: an essentially bigger version of namaaz ba-jamat, where Muslims form all over the world can get together.
So you see even in the rituals the whole emphasis is ‘people and other human beings’. The core of Islam is ‘concern for humans’ and every thing revolves around it. However over the aeons this has slowly taken a secondary place behind ritualistic practices. All I am asking for is for all of you to see these in correct order.
7. No one can argue with the fact the foremost fundamental pillar is ‘ Towheed’. ‘Wo eek sajdaa jisee tou girann samajhtaa hey; hazaar sajdey se deataa haey admi to nijaat’.
So what are those other sajdaas that one can get rid of ? Those ‘sajdaas’ are dependence on other people, looking up to them, greed, money, selfishness, etc. All those things that afflict Muslim societies. Why because we think following rituals is Islam.
8. No I am not enlightened or moderate. I do not believe in fundamental, liberal or moderate Muslim. A Muslim is a Muslim that’s all.
Bhijan
1. You do not know me and neither my motives. Please do not case aspersions on my motives.
2. I am very proud of Islamic ‘sha’air’; such as Towheed, Tawaakul, Taqwaa, Ad’l, Sabr, Rahm, Qanaa’at; No Tamaah, Essar, Qurbani, Tazkiyaa-e-Nafs and such others. . All rituals (namaz, zakat, rooza and hajj) are meant to promote these ‘sha’air’; not become of primary importance in themselves.
3. I do not consider the current governors of Muslim lands and countries as ‘’ leaders’’. They do not lead. They are just viceroys for imperialistic powers. I have nothing but contempt for them.
Saeed
Your patience and civility is much appreciated.
1.You mention a ‘hadith’ for fard and pillars etc. Pray tell me why did Allah not spell it out in Quran then ?
2. Please never, never equate hadith with Quran.
3.Yes we must obey the prophet. But that does not mean blindly accepting every Hadith. As you are aware most of these were collected around 150 to 200 years after prophet’s death.
4. Have you heard of game ‘ Chinese whispers’. Try playing it sometimes.
5. No you cannot twist Islam by disregarding hadith, not that I am asking you or any one to disregard hadith. One can only twist Islam if you start disregarding Quran.
Lastly dear all,
We live in times where our civilization is going through pangs of regeneration and self doubt. We cannot choose to run away from it. All we can do is to decide how best to use the time given to us ? Do we continue to linger in doubt? What is faith for us in a technology driven and science led (or so at least we are made to believe) world? Or do we actively help in the regeneration.
I truly believe that Islam offers the best, the most balanced and the most moderate way forward in this day and age and in the others to come. But not the Islam of rituals. But the Islam of revolution ( not in the Marxist sense). The Islam of the Prophet.
Allah Knows Best.
Why such a ban was always recommended for Haj and Umrah. Peaple spent millions of Rupee on cigrettes, wine and other illegal activities.
As per my observation people, not those who peroform haj/ umrah from namood o mumaish, spent as much money as they can on welfare work.
I think this is an attempt to keep muslim away from Holy cities in the name welfare work.
Why person without mentioning their name make such a request when thay have no courage to disclose their name and why there is no compaign on ban smoking of cigrettes, vulgarity and lavish style of living
This post tends to give an impression that those who perform Haj and/or Umrah are not giving their taxes or not discharging their compulsory duties like giving of Zakat.
My personal observation is that those people who perform Haj and Umrah and are ‘practicing’ Muslims do tend to be more charitable then those who are not(over enlightened lot) . There are million and one other things that can be done and would achieve better results rather then banning Haj and Umrah(which a person is performing from his own taxed money) that money is definitely better spent then had he spent it on a vacation in African wild life park or shopping in Dubai or sightseeing in Malaysia/Philippine/Mauritius etc . btw Haj and umrah is already heavily taxed..
Why not ban grand cruiser worth 70+ lakh each? or parados worth 4+million each or Bimmers and Mercs worth 100+ lakhs each? or billions of dollar worth of tea import? or 2.2 billion dollar worth of mobile phone and allied items (imported in 2007-08) ? instead of ‘buy one get one free’ at expensive and filled beyond capacity fast food outlets why not ‘buy one feed two(poor)’?
@d0ct0r
The feed-poor idea is actually workable.
Luxury car imports have a mafia working around them, a mafia much larger than the Umra business. If I am not wrong, there are a lot more illegal activities in the car import business than there are in the Umra business.
I am shocked to read this bullshit from a qadiani who always pursue to find a way to make mockery of Islamic injunctions. The pledge of banning of umra is ridiculous. Persuading to spread charity is a different topic and cant replace umra ritual.
Why these Umra-baz don’t read Sura Maoon(107)of the Holy Quran, which says (I quote its jist in Urdu translation)”Barbaadi he Musallion ke liey jo apni riakaraanah deendaari ka dikhawa karte hein aur jhutlaate hein deen ke asl maqsad ko jo kih ghareeb aur be-aasra logon ki kherkhaahi ka hukm deta he”.
The people at large perhaps don’t know that neither Quaide Aazam nor Allama Iqbal ever went to the Holy Land while Mush, the userper, boasted that the door of Kahbah was opened for him six times. And what Abu Jehl and Yazid used to boast!
We as a nation are deep in debt. In any case why should we allow foreign exchange taken on loan to those who do not earn it even to perform Haj and Umra which is not allowed in case of indebtedness.
Btw, why not use the indigenous facility for Haj available in Pak Pattaan and elsewhere. They say one gets 'sawwab' of half a Haj by passing through 'Bahishti Darwaazah' at Pak Pattan Sharif.
And, above all, why not listen to Sheikh Sahdi who says:
"Dil badast Aawar kih Haj-e-Akbar ast"
(Please the heart of a human being which is equal to 'Haj-e-Akbar').
Respected, AZHAR Aslam sahaib, I am very much impressed with your article, it is highly appreciable and must be read by everyone, also for many of us, it is very diffficult to digest all these things but fact is fact with no defact.–Dr mohd Naushad khan, udaipur india
I am surprised after reading this article! There are "some" really amazing people I know who went on self sponsored UMRAH and they are in a habit of helping poor and needy too. So plz dont say that everyone who goes on UMRAH is self-surrounded. Let freedom of speech prevail, albeit in a decent manner. BANNING anything reminds me of horrible times we all have faced under the dictators!