BEWARE!

"There is no deity (Ilaah) under the sky whose worship is more serious than a desire that has been pursued."

In these terms, it could not be clearer that Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) warned His Ummah against the extreme seriousness of giving in to one's desires and passions.

The pursuit of passions indeed carries a grave danger because it blinds the senses of hidaayah and especially the heart, which is its main deposit. Thus, at this stage, knowledge becomes useless. It is a state of spiritual imbalance where intelligence is akin to a powerful car with a faulty steering wheel and brake system. Such a car leads to certain death. In the same way, an intelligent person with knowledge, but in a state of spiritual imbalance (for the reasons cited above), goes astray and leads others astray. This explains why everyone agrees that the misguidance of a person who has knowledge is far more dangerous than the misguidance of an ignorant person.

This disease has existed in all eras under different names and covers. During the time of Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam), there were the Munaafiqeen (hypocrites) who caused great harm to Islam. These hardened hypocrites wanted, through a most infamous accusation, to harm the honour of a person who could no longer be chastised—Ummul Mu’minin Hadhrat 'Aisha (Radiyallahu Anha).

Worse still, they were to add another stain to their filthy record by accusing the greatest justice-giver the world has ever known—Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam)—of injustice in the distribution of booty. Later, this band of hypocrites came to be known as the sect of "Haruriyyah" or the "Khawaarij".

In a hadith reported by Hadhrat 'Ali (Radiyallahu Anhu), Hadhrat Abu Sa’id Al Khudri (Radiyallahu Anhu), Hadhrat Abdullah Bin 'Umar (Radiyallahu Anhuma), and Hadhrat Sahl Bin Hunnaif (Radiyallahu Anhu), Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) predicted the advent of such a group, which, according to the very meaning of the hadith, would be made up of young people with small minds. Their Namaz and Roza would make us underestimate our own. They will recite the Qur'an-e-Kareem, but it will not penetrate them nor go beyond their throats. Despite all these good deeds on the surface, they will go out of the Deen without having benefited from it, just as an arrow comes out of a bow without having taken anything from it. They will be devoid of all Islamic knowledge, but despite this, they will speak on matters concerning Deen. Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) called this group Shirar-ul-Khalq (the worst of creatures).

History bears witness to the extraordinary imbalance of this group in its reasoning and behaviour. On one hand, these people behaved so much like the Muttaqi that the life of a khinzeer (pig) belonging to a Zimmi (minority people in an Islamic state) was protected to the point that even the simple fact of touching it was deemed a very serious matter. On the other hand, they did not hesitate to take the life of a Mu'min, a life which, according to a Hadith of Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam), is more sacred than the Hajar-e-Aswad. Their murderous hands even went so far as to slit the throat of the eminent Taabi'i, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Khabbaab (Rahimahullah), the son of the famous Sahaabi, Hadhrat Khabbaab (Radiyallahu Anhu). Is it not the height of imbalance to have more regard for the life of a khinzeer than for that of a Mu'min?

It is this same imbalance that Hadhrat Abdullah Bin 'Umar (Radiyallahu Anhuma) spoke of in a Hadith. Indeed, when someone from Iraq came to him to inquire about the rule of killing a mosquito in a state of Ihram, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin 'Umar (Radiyallahu Anhuma) remarked:
"These people shed the blood of the grandson of Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam), and here they are worried about the rule of killing a mosquito."

The Khawaarij, like other misguided sects, succeeded in winning over innocent and "gullible" people to their ranks, thanks to simple and apparently incontestable slogans that are easily assimilated by such people.

In order to end the battle between Hadhrat 'Ali (Radiyallahu Anhu) and Hadhrat Mu'awiyah (Radiyallahu Anhu), the two had agreed to establish a council of arbitrators. Thereupon, the Khawaarij called Hadhrat 'Ali (Radiyallahu Anhu) a kaafir! Nauzubillah! According to them, he had become such because he had gone against the command of Allah Ta'ala, namely "decision rests only with Allah Ta'ala" (12:40) by accepting the principle of establishing such a council.

In fact, their statement that arbitration is for Allah Ta'ala is an indisputable fact. This is why many people joined them, considering that the approach of Hadhrat 'Ali (Radiyallahu Anhu) went against the above-mentioned verse. In any case, the Khawaarij, with a bad intention, had embarked on a process of baatil (falsehood) by taking shelter under a statement of Haqq (truth) in order to achieve their dirty aim. Their aim was to deny the khilaafat.

This is what Hadhrat 'Ali (Radiyallahu Anhu) wanted to highlight when he stated that this was a truth being used with the intention of baatil. This is a common strategy of all misguided sects: they rely on seemingly solid and reasonable statements to support their thesis of baatil in order to attract people (the masses) towards them.

At the time of Nabi-e-Kareem (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam), the mushrikeen (polytheists) used seemingly solid reasonings to prove their arguments of baatil and mislead the innocent. For example, they argued that an animal that had a natural death was halaal. They supported their thesis by stating that if an animal killed during zabah was halaal, then why would one killed by Allah Ta'ala (by a natural death) not be!

This reasoning is certainly appreciated by the general public, but those who are gifted with Basweerah and Hikmah (wisdom) know that the Shariah comes before and takes precedence over human logic. This does not mean that the Shariah is against logic, but rather that the human mind is too limited to assimilate all the logic of the Shariah.

The Khawaarij or the Haruriyyah have already appeared and been exterminated. This is the opinion expressed by a group of scholars. However, this does not prevent Caesarism from existing after Caesar or communism after Lenin. According to a hadith from Musannaf Bin Abu Shaibah, the group in question will continue to exist until the time when its last followers emerge alongside the Dajjaal.

Today, the spirit, way of thinking, and reasoning of the Khawaarij still exist in the public without the latter realising it. Hence, the emergence of the slogan: "Our Imam is Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam)".

"A slogan aimed at combating taqlid—the principle of following the interpretations of Kitabullah and the Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) as given by a Mujtahid. Is there a Muslim with even a tiny amount of Imaan who can affirm the contrary?"

Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) is undoubtedly our spiritual guide and our Imam par excellence. However, just as the Khawaarij used the incontestable slogan, "there is no arbitration except that of Allah Ta'ala", with the aim of preparing the ground for the abolition of khilaafat, similarly, the statement, "Our Imam is Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam)" is an attempt to abolish taqlid. This is a statement of Haqq used to support a falsehood.

The abolition of taqlid will inevitably lead to libertinism and anarchy in Deen. It also gives free rein to banter with Deen. Thus, everyone will take the liberty of interpreting the Deen as they wish, renouncing the interpretations of scholars such as the four Aimmah (Rahimahumullah).

At this point, it is important to emphasise that the interpretations of the Aimmah (Rahimahumullah), or even the four famous Imams (Rahimahumullah), do not contradict the acceptance of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) as our Imam. Since his teachings require correct interpretation, it is wiser to follow them in the light of the interpretations of the mujtahid scholars, such as the four Imams (Rahimahumullah). Priority must be given to the interpretations of the Aimmah (Rahimahumullah) over our own. This method is also in harmony with the spirit of the Qur'an and Hadith.

On the other hand, adopting a hostile attitude towards the interpretations of the four Imams is extremely dangerous. It is such an attitude that has led some to claim that the animals slaughtered by the Mushrikeen are halaal. It is also driven by this same attitude that some brothers abandon the mosque, the house of Allah, to perform the Salah of Jummah in a house. In such an atmosphere and with such an attitude, it is not surprising that the theory of 29/30 was born—a theory that was until now unknown in all of Islamic history!

[English version of "Prenez-garde !" – Al Haadi – Vol. 2 No. 5]