RayOfHope 2010-06

A Journal By The Students Of MJCET, Hyderabad, India (Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Banjara Hills, Hyd)

Visit www.scribd.com/musarhad for more articles on Islaam.

_____________________________________________________________________________ Vol.3 No.1 Rajab 1431 A.H. Jun-Jul 2010

Editor: Maulaanaa Noamaan Bader Nadvi Qasmi (Guest editor) Sub Editors: ۞ Md Azmi ۞ Shamsul Islam ۞Syed Ameenuddin ۞ Syed Arshad

C O N T E N T S 1

In the name of Allaah

Editor

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The hadeeth of intention

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The student-life of Imaam Bukhaaree

Musarhad

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And the long wait ended – I

Ml Manaazir A Geelaanee

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In The Name Of Allaah 1

Allaah, the Creator Who created, the Preserver 2 Who preserves the creation and the Judge 3 Who will resurrect all the living beings on the day of Judgement for reward and requital, is undoubtedly the First 4 and the Last 5, the Originator 6 and the Death-Inflictor7. So in His name we begin, and with His name on our lips we pray our end to be.

We supplicate before Him to shower His blessings and peace upon His chosen servant and last prophet whose name and esteem He raised high; and similarly upon all the companions and followers of the praised one, Muhammad and praising one, Ahmad ‫ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ‬.

There was the great trust of Allaah’s obligations and prohibitions. Whoever would bear it would get Allaah’s pleasure and eternal bliss of Paradise upon successful discharge of the trust and conversely, Allaah’s wrath and never-ending torment of Hell upon failure. The big creatures like the skies, the earth and the mountains cringed in fear. In spite of their humongous size and apparent might, they found themselves too weak for this trust. Saying that they would rather continue their present simple jobs obediently and dutifully than undertake this venture, they politely excused themselves. Then came the turn of Adam ‫ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ‬and he, in his eagerness to attain Allaah’s closeness and bountiful reward, accepted it. Little attention did he pay to the onerousness of the responsibility and the weakness of his shoulders. This got him the loving rebuke from Allaah: ‫ِﺇﻧﱠﻪُ َﻛﺎﻥَ ﻅَﻠُﻮ ًﻣﺎ‬ ً ‫( َﺟﻬ‬Surely he was unjust to himself and unaware of the end. – Quraan 33:72) ‫ُﻮﻻ‬ Anyway, the Lord who has taken upon himself to be Merciful continued His care for Adam ‫ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ‬ and his offspring, sending prophets after prophets to every nation, community and age. He sent them all with the revelation that there is no god but He, so He alone deserves to be worshipped. Cutting across ages, languages, tribes and sharee’ahs, this was the common thread that bound them all. All of them followed this and invited the people towards this. But as days went by, their teachings were adulterated and corrupted, sometimes even totally lost. So the need for new prophets continued till the last one, the leader and the most perfect of them all, arrived. His greatness can be realized from the fact that for centuries, the ground had been prepared for his arrival through prophecies about him from the early prophets. The pre-eminent scholar and thinker of this century Maulaanaa Geelaanee’s ‫ ﺭﺣﻤﺔ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ‬article And the long wait ended sheds light on this very issue. This article is English rendition of the first chapter of his book An Nabiyy-ul Khaatim (the Last Prophet). With his formidable command over other religions’ scriptures and over the history of mankind, he explains in his inimitable Urdu prose how the prophets from the ancient days had been informing their people of the great arrival of the perfect model for humanity whose teachings were to be universal over time and space.

What that universal message was, what are its demands upon its followers and the clarifications of the doubts around it arising from ignorance or from misplaced respect for the opinions of mercenary propagandists who have usurped the time and space of the corporate media, will be our main focus in the future editions of this journal. Yet in this first edition of the new version of The Ray of Hope, we prefer to begin with the very purpose and intention of this work of journalism i.e., to obtain the reward from Allaah and to get His pleasure Whose will runs unopposed everywhere. So we begin with the hadeeth of sincerity which describes the importance of sincere and pious intention. In this, we are following the footsteps of the genius Imaam Bukhaaree, Al Husain bin Mas’ood Al Baghawee, Aboo Zakariyyaa Yahyaa bin Sharaf An Nawawee and others.

(Continued to page 7) 1

Al Khaaliq Al Qayyoom 3 Al Hakam 4 Al Awwal 5 Al Aakhir 6 Al Baari’ 7 Al Mumeet 2

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The Hadeeth Of Intention Hazrat 'Umar bin Al-Khattaab ‫ ﺭﺿﻲ ﷲ ﻋﻨﻪ‬narrated: The Prophet ‫ ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ‬said,

ِ َ‫اﻟْﻌﻤﻞ ﺑِﺎﻟﻨﱢـﻴﱠ ِﺔ وإِﱠﳕَﺎ ِﻻﻣ ِﺮ ٍئ ﻣﺎ ﻧـَﻮى ﻓَﻤﻦ َﻛﺎﻧ‬ ِ ٍ ِ​ِ ِ ِ​ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ْ َ‫ﺻﻠﱠﻰ اﻟﻠﱠﻪُ َﻋﻠَْﻴ ِﻪ وﺳﻠﱠﻢ وﻣ ْﻦ َﻛﺎﻧ‬ .‫ﺎﺟَﺮ إِﻟَْﻴ ِﻪ‬ ْ َْ َ َ ْ َ َ ‫ﺖ ﻫ ْﺠَﺮﺗُﻪُ إِ َﱃ اﻟﻠﱠﻪ َوَر ُﺳﻮﻟﻪ ﻓَ ِﻬ ْﺠَﺮﺗُﻪُ إِ َﱃ اﻟﻠﱠﻪ َوَر ُﺳﻮﻟﻪ‬ َ ‫ﺖ ﻫ ْﺠَﺮﺗُﻪُ إ َﱃ ُدﻧْـَﻴﺎ ﻳُﺼﻴﺒُـ َﻬﺎ أ َْو ْاﻣَﺮأَة ﻳَـْﻨﻜ ُﺤ َﻬﺎ ﻓَ ِﻬ ْﺠَﺮﺗُﻪُ إ َﱃ َﻣﺎ َﻫ‬ َ​َ َ َ َ ُ َ​َ

"The rewards (of deeds) are according to the intention, and everybody will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for Allah's and His Apostle's sake, his emigration would be considered to be for Allah and His Apostle (and will be rewarded accordingly); and whoever emigrated for worldly benefits, or to marry a woman, his emigration would be considered to be (only) for the thing he emigrated for." (Bukhaaree 4682, 7/62/8) The hadeeth can also be found in Bukhaaree (1, 52, 2344, 3609, 6195, 6439), Muslim (3530), Tirmizee (1571), Nasaaee (74) and all other famous books of hadeeth except Muatta’ by Imaam Maalik.

The scholars of Islaam are unanimous over the momentous significance of this hadeeth. Imaam ‘Abdur Rahmaan bin Mahdee says that whoever wishes to write a book should begin with this hadeeth. According to Imaam Ahmad bin Hambal, it is one of the three hadeeths on which lies the foundation of Islaam. The others being:  He who innovates things in our affairs (Islaam) for which there is no valid basis, (commits a sin) and these are to be rejected. (Muslim 3243, 18/4266)  Both legal and illegal things are evident. (Bukhaaree 50, 1/2/49) The hadeeth underlines the importance of sincerity in one’s actions. Whatever one does should be for none but Allaah. As Allaah judges the acts according to the doer’s intention, a person’s intention can make a great difference in the reward of an act. In any case, the All-Knowing Allaah does not base His reward on the appearance or on the social status of the doer. The Knower of the matters hidden in hearts rewards according to the intention, sincerity and devotion of the servant only. The act may be rewarded ten times or up to seven hundred times or even more based on the strength of one’s earnestness and genuine love for Allaah’s pleasure and His prophet’s. A simple act of worship may become rewardable like a long series of prayers. When a person goes to a mosque for congregational prayer, every step that he takes on the ground carries a reward, every moment that he spends in the mosque waiting for the prayer becomes rewardable like the time he actually spent saying salaah (prayer, namaaz). Similarly, if he goes to a congregational prayer but has the manifold intentions of offering the prayer, meeting the Muslim brethren, visiting the sick among the Muslims and meeting the pious elders, etc. then he will be rewarded accordingly, for as much (many) as he intended, as is suggested by the second part of the hadeeth.

In fact, the sincerity of intention gets a person reward even if he is unable to actually do the act. Allaah’s mercy goes a step further by rewarding the servant for the evil deed which he intended to do but did not actually carry out. If a man while going to sleep intends to offer the Tahajjud salaah, but his eyes overpower him and he is unable to offer Tahajjud, then also he gets rewarded and his sleep becomes a bounteous charity from Allaah 8.

The change of intention from evil to good is a meritorious act in itself. How to thank Allaah for His infinite generosity Who rewards even on deeds that are human necessities or done merely for fun! The intention of abstaining from the prohibited zone and bounding oneself within the boundary of the permissible makes the act of feeding one’s wife rewardable like a charity. Similarly, a man is rewarded for satisfaction of his desires from his wife since he chose to avoid an unlawful woman.

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Nasaaee: 1765

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So, it goes without saying that one should keep one’s intention pure and his acts for Allaah’s sake alone.

Allaah being the most sovereign and self-sufficient of all for whose sake a deed may be done, will simply ask the person on the day of Judgement to demand his reward from the “others” 9. There is even a strict warning from the holy Prophet ‫ ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ‬that if a person learns an Islaamic science for intentions other than that of pleasing Allaah, then he should rest assured of a seat in the Hell 10. So if a person does any good act of charity for Allaah but at the same time also intends to attain name and fame, celebrity status, political significance and to escape taxes, then Allaah will ask him to take his reward from those “others” whom or which he had intended along with Allaah; as Allaah, the Lord without partner would never accept anyone or anything being brought to the same status as His, not even the holy saints and prophets. Similarly, if one offers salaah or fasts in the month of Ramazaan because it might reduce his body weight and make him attractive in the eyes of those whom his Satan, television and cinema have made glamorous, then he will be among those “whose efforts in this worldly life went in vain while he kept on thinking that he was doing acts of virtue” 11.

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So a wise person would be one who would purify his intention and make his acts wholeheartedly for the benefit of the Hereafter, turning his mind and heart away from this world and its temporary benefits. Anyway, if he makes the success of this world his goal, there is no guarantee from anybody that he will succeed. On the other hand, if Allaah’s pleasure and His never-ending reward is his goal, then the All-Powerful Allaah guarantees him his wish. And who can be more truthful than Allaah 12!? Allaah says: 1F

ِ ِ ِ ِ ‫( وﻣﻦ أَراد ْاﻵ‬18) ‫ﻳﺪ ﰒُﱠ ﺟﻌْﻠﻨَﺎ ﻟَﻪ ﺟﻬﻨﱠﻢ ﻳﺼ َﻼﻫﺎ ﻣ ْﺬﻣﻮﻣﺎ ﻣ ْﺪﺣﻮرا‬ (19) ‫ﻚ َﻛﺎ َن َﺳ ْﻌﻴُـ ُﻬ ْﻢ َﻣ ْﺸ ُﻜ ًﻮرا‬ ُ ‫َﻣ ْﻦ َﻛﺎ َن ﻳُِﺮ‬ َ ِ‫َﺧَﺮةَ َو َﺳ َﻌﻰ َﳍَﺎ َﺳ ْﻌﻴَـ َﻬﺎ َو ُﻫ َﻮ ُﻣ ْﺆِﻣ ٌﻦ ﻓَﺄُوﻟَﺌ‬ َ َ ْ َ​َ ً ُ َ ً ُ َ َ ْ َ َ َ َ ُ َ َ ُ ‫ﻳﺪ اﻟ َْﻌﺎﺟﻠَﺔَ َﻋ ﱠﺠْﻠﻨَﺎ ﻟَﻪُ ﻓ َﻴﻬﺎ َﻣﺎ ﻧَ َﺸﺎءُ ﻟ َﻤ ْﻦ ﻧُِﺮ‬

“Whoever opts for the immediate (benefits from) life here, We give him right here in this life, as much as We Will, to whomever We intend. Then We assign Jahannam for him where he shall enter condemned, discarded.

[I8] And whoever opts for the Hereafter and makes efforts for it as due, while he is a Believer, then the effort of such people is appreciated. [19]” 13 Some scholars of hadeeth say that the hadeeth might have been related to a particular incident of the early days of the Muslims in Madeenah. There was a Muslim woman in Madeenah called Umm e Qais. A man from Makkah – the stronghold of Misbelievers at the time – wished to marry her. But the condition from her was that he must emigrate from Makkah to Madeenah. And the man did do so out of love for the woman, so the man was nicknamed “Umm e Qais’ emigrator”14. Emigration is a great act of sacrifice wherein a person parts forever from all his inherited and laboriously acquired property and all his close friends and near and dear ones.

Yet this great act would do no good to the person whose intention is perverse and worldly. Contrarily, if it is done for Allaah’s sake, then there is the great promise of pardoning of all the past sins. ‘Amr bin Al ‘Aas ‫ﺭﺿﻲ‬ ‫ ﷲ ﻋﻨﻪ‬quoted the holy Prophet ‫ ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ‬as saying: “Don’t you know that Islam wipes out all the previous (misdeeds)? Similarly, migration wipes out all the previous (misdeeds), and the pilgrimage wipes out all the (previous) misdeeds. 15” We pray to Allaah to grant us the purity of sincerity and the glory of His pleasure! May He bestow us with sincerity in our hearts and earnestness in our acts, and make all our deeds absolutely for His sake alone, without any confusion or doubt regarding our goal, and grant us the shadow of His throne when there will be no shade but His alone!

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(Sources: Fat-hul Baaree by Ibn Hajar, Al azkaar by An Nawawee, Sharh riyaaz-us saaliheen by Muhammad bin Saalih bin Muhammad bin Uthaimeen, Tanzeem-ul ashtaat by Ml Muhammad Abul Hasan, Dars-ul Bukhaaree by Ml Muhammad Is-haaq, Muntakhab Ahaadeeth by Ml Yoosuf Kaandhlavi)

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Tirmizee: 3079 Tirmizee: 2579 11 Qur’aan 18:104 12 Qur’aan 4:87, 4:122 13 Qur’aan 17:18-19 14 Fat-hul Baaree 1/2 15 Muslim: 173, 1/220 10

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The Student-Life Of Imaam Bukhaaree

By Musarhad Early days Muhammad bin Ismaa’eel bin Ibraaheem Al Bukhaaree (Bukhari), “the mountain of memory-power and the world-leader in hadeeth comprehension” – in the words of Haafiz Ibn Hajar – who has remained peerless in the last 1140 years was born to a pious hadeeth teacher of his days, Ismaa’eel. At the time of his death, Ismaa’eel had stated that out of all the wealth and riches he was leaving behind, not a penny was from a doubtful source, let alone illegal source! In the house of such a sincere devotee of Allaah was born a baby after a Friday salaah in 194 AH 16. The parents named him Muhammad. But the father got little time to celebrate the birth of his dear child. His Lord soon invited him to a more durable place of rest than this world. The pious mother of Muhammad took upon herself the raising up of this orphaned baby with the courage provided by Allaah. The Lord put His noble lady servant to a strange test. The baby lost his vision. Even if a thunder had struck her, it would have been easier for her. But alas, it was much harder to bear! Rarely would the stream of tears flowing on account of her Allaah-endowed maternal love dry up. In days and nights, in her prayers and remembrances, while sitting and lying, only one prayer would dominate her thoughts, till one night she had the taste of the ultimate Mercy. In her dream, she saw prophet Ibraaheem ‫ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ‬announcing to her, “Allaah has accepted your tearful prayers to Him and returned the vision of your dear baby.” In the morning, Muhammad had a completely healthy eye-sight.

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Student days Muhammad Al Bukhaaree (Bukhari) was admitted to a local school. Before ten years, he had completed his primary education. He felt an innate urge for learning hadeeth. So there he was, going to the hadeeth teachers of his city, learning the texts of hadeeths and their chains of narrators with an exceptional assiduousness only he was capable of. Leaving his classmates much behind, he was soon able to memorize the books of noted scholars like ‘Abdullaah bin Al Mubaarak and Wakee’ bin Al Jarraah. When he was just 11, a hadeeth teacher of Bukhaaraa, Daakhilee, had a first-hand experience of the extraordinariness of this ordinary-looking child.

While he narrated the chain of a hadeeth in his normal tutorly demeanour: “Sufyaan from Abu-z Zubair from Ibraaheem”, an unexpected interruption came up.

“Hazrat! Abu-z Zubair never narrated from Ibraaheem.”

“Silence!” was the awe-striking, disciplinary rebuke from Daakhilee.

But Muhammad bin Ismaa’eel persisted, politely requesting him to refer his original book in his studyroom. Now, Daakhilee knew that he was not dealing with a common disturbance-creator but with someone special. He referred his original textbook and returned from his study-room to the classroom.

“Ok, boy. Then who is narrating from Ibraaheem,” he asked, meaning to test the depth of the child’s knowledge.

“Zubair bin ‘Adee,” thus spoke Muhammad Al Bukhaaree, the student.

The teacher paying due respect to his extraordinary pupil requested him his pen and corrected his handheld notes.

One day, Muhammad bin Salaam Baikandee, an eminent hadeeth teacher of Bukhaaraa, told Saleem bin Mujaahid, “Had you come a little before, you would have seen a teenager who has memorized 70,000 hadeeths.

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Friday 13 Shawwaal 194 AH = 23 July 870 CE

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Finding it hard to accept, Saleem went out in search of that adolescent genius. When somebody told him that this is the boy whom you were searching, Saleem asked, “Do you claim to have memorized 70,000 hadeeths?”

Muhammad Al Bukhaaree confidently replied, “In fact, a little more than that. And in addition, whichever Companion’s 17 or Taabi’ee’s 18 hadeeth I narrate, I would be able tell you his dates of birth and death as also his place of residence!”

After learning all the hadeeths that he could find in his city, he – according to the custom of the hadeethscholars of those days – travelled to other centres of Islaamic knowledge to quench his thirst for learning. In 210 AH, he accompanied his mother and brother, Ahmad bin Ismaa’eel, to the holy city of Makkah for Haj. While the mother and brother returned after Haj, this 16-year old child continued his stay there learning from the great teachers of Makkah what he could not in his home-city of Bukhaaraa. After learning from the world-renowned hadeeth-scholars of Makkah like ‘Abdullaah bin Yazeed, ‘Abdullaah bin Zubair Al Humaidee, etc., he travelled to Madeenah and then to other Islaamic centres of knowledge. He visited Egypt and Syria twice, Basrah four times, and Baghdaad he visited as many as eight times.

Haashid bin Ismaa’eel, a classmate of Imaam Bukhaaree at Basrah narrates that Bukhaaree would go to the hadeeth-teachers of Basra along with us. While we used to note down the hadeeths in the class, he would not. Even our well-meant advice to write down won’t change his habit. When sixteen days had passed, some of us rebuked him: “Why are you wasting your time? Why don’t you write?” Now Bukhaaree opened up. “Ok! Enough! You have said what you wanted. You just bring your notes here.”

“To our unbelieving ears, this idle-looking student was now narrating from memory all the 15,000 hadeeths that we had taken so great pains to write down during the last 16 days! In such a confident and masterly style he narrated that we started correcting our notes from his narrations, while he continued without faltering.” Thus he had memorized all these hadeeths at a rate of 937.50 hadeeths per day!

In a similar story, Muhammad bin Azhar Sajistaanee narrates that he was sitting in the classroom of the hadeeth scholar, Sulaimaan bin Harb of Basrah along with Bukhaaree. “We all used to take the notes while Bukhaaree would only listen giving no trouble to his hands. Somebody asked, ‘What’s the problem with this guy?

He’s not writing!?’ A student who knew Bukhaaree replied, “Leave him alone. He would write all of this at his home in Bukhaaraa from memory.’”

But life was a not a stage of flowers for this genius and prodigy. Once he went to the city of Marv to learn from the hadeeth-teacher Aadam bin Abee Iyaas. The money he had, got spent up. He was forced to eat grass, yet his honour-consciousness did not let him spread his hands for begging. Three days later, a stranger gave him a bagful of gold coins and went away! What days they were when the poor were so respectful of their self-esteem and the rich so self-effacing that nobody knows to this day who the noble donor was!

Once while at Basrah, his classmates found him missing in the classes for several days at a stretch. They were curious how such an extraordinarily sincere student could miss so many classes. They went to his house and made the shocking discovery that he neither had any proper garment to dress nor any money to get food! He had to even sell his garments for his needs. The friends then helped him out.

His constant travels for knowledge in hot days under the scorching sun cost him his eyesight a second time. At that time he was in Khuraasaan. A local physician prescribed him to shave his head and then apply the marshmallow (Khitmee) flower gel over his head. By Allaah’s grace, his vision soon became well. In fact, his

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Companion: Sahaabee, a person who saw or met the holy Prophet ‫ ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺷﻠﻢ‬as a Muslim and remained a Mulim till his death.

Taabi’ee: A Muslim who had the honour of seeing or meeting a holy Companion.

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eyesight became so powerful that later he was able to write the manuscript of his book At Taareekh-ul Kabeer in moonlit nights!

The teenaged author The great heights of success he was to achieve in his life began to show the portents in his teenage itself.

He was only 18 when he compiled his first book Qazaaya-s Sahaabah wa-t Taabi’een (Verdicts of the Companions and Taabi’ees) comprising the scholarly statements of the pioneers of Islaamic science. Unfortunately, the book is not available now. At that young age only, he wrote his world-famous book At-Taareekh-ul Kabeer.

This book was written in the enlightened environs of the holy city of Madeenah at the sacred site between the holy Prophet’s ‫ ﺻﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ‬chamber and the pulpit of the Prophet’s Mosque. How vast knowledge he possessed even at this age, is borne out from his statement, “I remember one or more stories about each and every person I have mentioned in this book but I did not include them for fear of the book becoming too voluminous.”

When Is-haaq bin Raahawaih, a world-renowned hadeeth scholar of the day and Imaam Bukhaaree’s teacher, saw the book, he took it to the local governor ‘Abdullaah bin Taahir Khuraasaanee and said, “Honourable governor! Should I show you a magic?” What else could describe such an informative and comprehensive book written by a young boy of 18!?

This sincere seeker of knowledge had one more notable aspect. While it was common for the earnest students of the day to accept the hadeeths of only pious and reliable teachers, Imaam Bukhaaree was a step ahead here too. His caution in this regard can be imagined from the fact that he abandoned 10,000 hadeeths he had learnt from a teacher just because he suspected him not to conform to the high standards of hadeeth narration. In the case of another hadeeth teacher, when he went to him for learning, he found him calling his horse, luring it with an empty basket. Seeing this, Imaam Bukhaaree returned. How could a man who he found cheating an animal be completely reliable in hadeeth? So he did not learn from him.

With his Allaah-gifted memory and resolute hard work in hadeeth-learning he was able to learn one hundred thousand authentic and two hundred thousand non-authentic hadeeths from over a thousand teachers.

Finally, when his student-life was over, this repository of the knowledge of hadeeth donned the mantle of hadeeth teacher. And like proverbial moths to a flame, the students of the entire region thronged his classes wherever he went. His feats and crowning moments of his later life would remain a source of inspiration for all seekers of knowledge till the Last Day. But that our readers would be able to read only in the next edition of this journal in the article Imaam Bukhaaree: the commander of Believers in hadeeth!

(Sources: Mataa e waqt aur kaarvaan e ilm by Ibn-ul Hasan Abbaasee, Dars-ul Bukhaaree by Ml Muhammad Ishaaq)

§ § § § § § § § § § (Continued from page 2) Imaam Bukhaaree, the great memorizer and analyzer of hadeeth, great worshipper of Allaah and noble servant of the “deen” of Allaah who shines with a strikingly brilliant light in the sky of the great Believing scholars and teachers has an article devoted to him. It attempts to present a brief sketch of the journey of his life focusing on his struggles and forbearance in the face of hardships and the ultimate loftiness he attained. His book Saheeh Bukhaaree’s popularity which surpassed all expectations is attributable to his sincerity towards Allaah, devotion towards his Creator and dedication towards the service of His deen through this book, as it is to his Allaah-bestowed talent. It has been rightly called the most correct book on earth after Allaah’s Book.

We turn to Allaah to benefit us and our brethren and sisters, the children of Adam ‫ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ‬, from this collection of articles. From Him we expect our reward and upon Him we place our trust! May Allaah, the Compassionate, grant this humble effort with His acceptance, for therein lies our success and ultimate goal.

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(Editor) § § § § § § § § § §

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And The Long Wait Ended – I

By Maulaanaa Manaazir Ahsan Geelaanee (Manazir Ahsan Gilani) As for coming, all (religious leaders) came and among all people and in all places they came. May Allaah’s peace be upon them all, for they came in very adverse circumstances. Yet the fact remains that they all came only to fade away along with their teachings. But there was one – and only one – who came to remain and persist: the same one who never set down after rising. In fact, he went on and goes on shining with more and more brightness, rising with more and more glory, and ascending to higher and higher peaks.

All the men of knowledge know, and it’s but natural that they should know, that in the select group of the holy men who were conferred with prophethood and entrusted with the divine Books, only he enjoys the distinction that his day has no night and the light of his lamp knows no blot. After all, who else could get this position other than the one who remains as strong a light in the later generations as in the earlier generations, whom the distant ones are finding as accessible as the near ones and will continue to find him so, and who is as recognizable today – and so will he be tomorrow – as he was yesterday.

Hinduism and Buddhism: Are they authentic?

The people who lost even the names of their guides, could they ever be expected to preserve the works of their guides? In our region, the Vedas are presented as the works of the God-incarnates. But O careless ones!

When you could not even carry the load of their authors’ names, how can you show it up to us as the body of their words and works? The dark and deep valleys which the investigative hands of archaeology have dug between the ancient teachers of India and their followers continue to widen. To whom the works were revealed?

And where? And in which language? In prose or in verse? At once or in centuries or in ages? When you yourself know that there is a pitch-black darkness covering these fundamental questions – and these are the questions upon which rests the being or non-being of any authentic work –, then say how the steps of faith and certainty be put forward in these swamps of doubts 19.

They are invisible to you and so are you to them. Then through which way will you view them, observing whose footsteps you wish to march ahead? And how are they to show themselves to you even if they wanted to guide you?

You might blame Buddha 20 and his followers for breaking you from your guides and leaders. Though the truth is that Bhaaratvarsha (India) and its children had snapped their ties with these leaders much before Buddha, yet even if this is attributed to Buddha, in the eagerness to transfer the blame on others, the question that begs answering is that did the Buddhists themselves remain safe from snapping of ties from their source. Is it that in revenge, the Aryans too made the Buddhists like themselves, unconnected to their apostle Buddha and his teachings? If today the world is unable to find a trace of the real fountainheads of the Vedic faith, then, in a similar vein, isn’t it also true that none can point out the authentic scripts and original words of the great leader and teacher, Buddha? If the Vedic faith is based on the fictions of Valmiki and the imaginative legends of Mahabharata, then doe the collection of myths and folktales which is named as the Buddhist faith has any greater

19

Encyclopedia Britannica under the headings Sanskrit and Veda.

The American Heritage Dictionary says: Bud·dha Originally Siddhartha Gautama. 563-483 B.C.. Indian mystic and founder of Buddhism. He began preaching after achieving supreme enlightenment at the age of 35. (Editor) 20

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value in the eyes of an unbiased researcher? Which historian today has the oil that a lamp glowing in its light would show the saint of Kapilavastu 21 in the same glory as he really was? 22

Zoroastrianism: based on truth or fiction?

The destruction of the Indian branch of the Aryan faith might be imputed to the Buddhists or the Jains, but who kindled the fire in Iran which reduced to ashes Zoroaster23 and all his exploits. Today when doubts are being cast on the very existence of Zoroaster and a majority of historians appear determined to prove him a fictitious character 24, then say truthfully who can bear witness to the authenticity of his teachings. What was Gaathaa? From where was it sourced? In which language was it? Is there any Moobid 25 who can satisfy the questioners if not from the evidences of others, at least from their own home-grown sources? Of course, the names of the translations and commentaries of Gaathaa that is, Avesta and Zend-Avesta 26 still remain. But out of its 21 chapters, other than the one – upon which is based the present day Zoroastrianism and its religious rites – is there any still present, at least among themselves?

It is beyond comprehension why people are wandering in the search of those who and which went away because they had come only to go away, and not to remain forever. O mourners over the dead! O lamentors over the graves! Know well that whoever comes to go away can never return after departing. Then how long will you wail for them?

This is the condition of those who have nothing with them other than customs and rites of their forefathers. For every coming generation, the words of the predecessors become a matter of faith for them. They consider the words of only those as their religion who arrived before them. Whatever castles in the air the 18th century people made, they become the religious sanctuaries for the 19th century men. The ancestors’ soups of imagination become the spiritual diet for them. In fact, the net of superstitions weaved in the year 10 becomes the ark of deliverance in the year 20. That’s the way of the people who do not possess even a straw other than the names of their forefathers.

Jews: How they lost their book?

Let us now see the people who make the highest claim in the field of faith and religion calling themselves the People of the Scriptures. But can the bundle of books which they carry over their backs and move around in the nooks and corners of the world, take them to Moses? Can they get to the life of Moses upon which they want to base their life? Let us see in detail.

21

Kapilavastu was a city in the foothills of the Himalayas where Buddha was born (and spent the first 29 years of his life – Editor). It was also the capital of his father’s kingdom. The holy Qur’aan mentions the name of Zu-l Kifl among the great prophets of Allaah.

Commentators opine that the sayings of the early people regarding who Zu-l Kifl was, vary widely and none is correct. (Rooh-ul Ma’aanee 17/67) In such a case, considering Kifl to be the Arabised form of Kapil, if it is claimed that Zu-l Kifl means “the man of Kapil” as is the view of some, there can be no reason for rejecting it on the basis of narrations. Such a revolutionary existence as was of Buddha in the world of religions, finding a mention in the holy Qur’aan should not surprise anybody. In particular, the special association that he had with Islaam makes this view stronger.

22 See the topic “Buddhism and Jainism” in the book Hindustaanee tahzeeb azmina-e wustaa mein published by Hindustaanee Academy, Allahabad.

23 The Oxford Talking Dictionary says: Zoroaster (Avestan name Zarathustra) (c.628-c.551 BC), Persian prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism. Little is known of his life, but according to tradition he was born in Persia, and began to preach the tenets of what was later called Zoroastrianism after receiving a vision from Ahura Mazda. (Editor) 24 See Fajr ul Islaam by Taahaa Husain Misree.

25 Moobid: In Urdu, a Zoroastrian priest (Editor) 26 The Chambers dictionary says: Zend-Avesta (properly meaning the Avesta with the commentary on it), the ancient sacred writings of the Parsees, including works of widely differing character and age, collected into their present canon under Shah-puhar of Shah-pur II (AD 309-338).(Editor)

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The Jews had spent centuries in the slavery of Egyptians and were now wandering desert-dwellers (after Moses led them out of the oppressive land of Egypt). At this time, their prophet Moses gave them the holy tablets containing divine commandments and passed away. It is well-known that there were 12 tribes of Prophet Jacob’s children present at the time. These 12 tribes were entrusted by Moses to preserve his life and works for the future generations. But as times went by, not one or two but whole ten tribes out of the 12 went missing. It was when the king of Nineveh, Shalmaneser V and his son Sargon II expelled the ten tribes out of Samaria town, many were killed, slaughtered and burnt. Sargon chained hundreds of thousands of men, women, children and the elderly with shackles, then like animals transported them to the distant mountains of north-eastern Asia and left them there to fend for themselves. Now, doesn’t the world know that these lost sheep of the Children of Israel (Jews) never again remembered Moses and his book, even by mistake, in any part of the world?

The Israelite tribes of Samaria might still be present among those very people who inhabit the northeastern parts of Asia. But can the Brahmins ever proudly claim to be Israelites? Or will the honour-conscious valiant men of Afghanistan ever tolerate the slander of being a wily Israeli? Can anybody make the Sindhis and Balochs believe that they are the descendants of these Jews of Samaria? Or will the usurers of Marwar ever accept that their grandfathers came from Palestine 27?

The tribes lost Moses and Moses lost them and this only was predestined for them. After all, what else did this pitiable caravan of the helpless Israelites possess other than their starving bodies which housed their spirits, or other than the iron shackles and jute ropes which fastened them when they were being expelled out of their homes? Thus the major part of the Israeli community which had been entrusted with the preservation of the teachings and life-stories of Moses got lost to other communities.

Now the safeguarding of the religious scriptures lay solely on the remnants of the other two tribes of Israel who inhabited south Palestine. Though they had strayed away from Moses and his law in their lives and actions, but at least for namesake they had some closeness to Moses.

(To be continued in the next issue) (The writer (b. Sep 1892~Safar 1310) retired as the Head of Theology Department, Osmania University in 1949.

He left for his heavenly abode on 24 Shawwaal 1375 (=5 Jun 1956). His important books include Tadween e Hadeeth, Hazrat Aboo Zarr Ghifaaree, Sawaanih Hazrat Maulaanaa Naanotvee, etc.) § § § § § § § § § §

From The Ray of Hope bureau to the READERS: 1. This monthly journal will be posted at www.scribd.com/musarhad on the first of every lunar month, in shaa Allaah.

2. While the sub-editors and the contributors are students of MJCET, Hyderabad, the editor is Secretary of Darul Uloom Sabeelus Salam, Hyderabad. He is the founder and first chief editor of this journal (Feb 2002).

3. The Ray of Hope requests its esteemed readers to enrich the journal with their valuable opinions and sincere criticisms.

4. Readers may ask any kinds of questions related to Islaam by emailing them to sshislam@yahoo.com. We will try to answer them in our next issues.

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Where did the ten tribes of the children of Israel get lost? Historian differ in their opinion regarding the issue. Their general inclination is that they could be the inhabitants of Afghanistan and the Frontier Province who later embraced Buddhism and finally got the enlightenment of Islaam. The names like Khyber pass, Solomon mountains, etc also lend support to this guess. Moreover, their facial features, physical build and general behavior and disposition also lend credence to this. A historian had also found a part of the Torah among some Fronter tribes. Some among them call themselves Israelis. The words of Pashto language also favour this view. Some also feel that the remains of Samarian culture found in Sindh belong to these very Samarian Israelis. Some would like to call the Marwari usurers of Rajputana and the Brahmins of India as Israelis. Allaah knows best!

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