Al-Salamu Alaykum

I received a phone call last night after midnight and also another call tonight after midnight. The caller said he was calling from Bradford and that his name is Sarfaraz.

I assume his intention was good and he was hoping to resolve a little matter that he had come across in a meeting and the next day on Twitter.

He had something to clarify and then he had some advice for me and later he again had some more advice for me.

He wanted to clarify whether I had said or written that Dawate Islami are out of the Ahl Al-Sunnah Wa Al-Jamaa’ah as he was in a meeting of Scholars and one accused me of this.

I replied to him and I would like everyone to know that I do not believe that Dawate Islami is out of the Ahl Al-Sunnah Wa Al-Jamaa’ah neither have I ever said that or written that.

I thank Sarfaraz for calling me and asking me rather than just believing what one accused me of.

It is a shame that a Scholar accused me of this and it is a shame if the Scholars present accepted it without seeking any evidence.

This was the clarification and I’d like to add that I am nothing but a Naaqil of our great scholars of today. From amongst them are Huzoor Muhaddith e Kabeer, Huzoor Taaj Al-Shariah and Huzoor Allamah Shah Turab Al-Haq Sahib. I only do naql of what they say and they have not ever said that Dawate Islami is out of the Ahl Al-Sunnah.

If one claims otherwise then please do ask the person to show you any written fatwa or even an audio recording of it. Such people are causing nothing but disunity and fitnah amongst us.

The advice Sarfaraz gave to me was that please leave all these little issues and look at the bigger issues. We should not be concentrating on little Fiqh issues but should be concentrating on Aqeedah issues and the bigger issues we have in the world etc. These are not his exact words but this is what I gathered. Unfortunately, he cut the phone off both the times before I could give some advice back to him which has led me to type this tonight.

I would like to say in regards to this advice that although your intention must be good and may Allah reward you according to your intention, every matter must be dealt with whether small or big if it concerns the Islamic Law, whether it is the correct way of drinking water or it is the honour of our most beloved Master Muhammad (Peace and blessing be upon him).

If the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) only concentrated on eradicating polytheism and ignored the smaller issues like giving and taking with the right hand and entering the Masjid with the right foot then how would we have had such a complete religion?

This matter reminds me of a Hadith from Bukhari Shareef in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the example of a Shepherd and his sheep. The field that the sheep graze on has a wall surrounding it in order to present a boundary to the shepherd’s field. Within the wall is lawful and on the other side of the wall is unlawful. If the sheep grazed within the wall it is fine but when a sheep would jump or climb on to the wall, the shepherd would strike his stick on to the sheep in order to bring it back in to his field. The point to note here is that the sheep had not yet fallen in to unlawful yet the shepherd strikes the sheep because it is near that the sheep will fall in to unlawful. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) advised that in the same way when one commits acts that are doubtful yet not haram then it is near that they will fall in to haram and when one falls in to haram it is near that he will fall in to kufr.

This also reminds me of the words of Ameer e Dawate Islami Ilyas Attar Qadri Sahib that one must not do ikhtilaaf with Imam Ahmad Raza even in Fiqhi issues otherwise it is near that he will do ikhtilaaf in Aqeedah issues and then it is near that he will do ikhtilaaf with Hussaam Al-Haramayn.

Also another Hadith from Tirmizi Shareef in which Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (Allah is pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered a person to vomit out the water he had drank standing up.

Now who would say that Ya Rasool-Allah (peace and blessings be upon you), this is a minor issue, we have yet the munaafiqeen, mushrikeen and kuffaar to deal with who are working to eradicate the banner of Islam from this world.

A Muslim would never question such from the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) otherwise we all know what he would become. Yet, when the Naai’b e Rasool Huzoor Taaj Al-Shariah Allamah Mufti Akhtar Raza Khan or Huzoor Muhaddith e Kabeer following the Sunnah of our Prophet and master Muhamad (peace and blessings be upon him) orders another scholar who is like their student to correct something then people say that they are wasting time in small and minor issues? They should worry about the bigger issues? They are causing disunity and fitnah? May Allah protect us from such disrespectful words. Allow me to remind you what the hukm is of disrespecting an Aalim-e-Deen of such calibre upon which every book of Islamic Law unanimously agrees,

“He who disrespects an Aalim has committed kufr”.

If Imam Azam Abu Hanifah did not think of the smallest of issues and scenarios then how would we have had the Hanafi Fiqh?

If Imam Ahmad Raza only concentrated on the Aqeedah issues then how would we have had Fatawa Razawiyyah?

Why in the world did all the great pious predecessors collect Ahaadeeth on minor issues? Why in the world did all the great Fuqaha write books of Fiqh which are overwhelmingly full of minor issues of Fiqh as well as greater issues?

Was Imam Bukhari wrong in travelling hundreds of miles for one Hadith concerning an issue of Fiqh? Were all the great A’immah wrong for writing all the Ikhtilaafaat in Fiqhi issues?

The people who make suggestions like the dear brother Sarfaraz should contemplate on this.

It is a shame that people want to brush aside issues of Fiqh and only worry about the bigger issues.

I agree that there are differences that the Islamic Law allows us to tolerate and therefore we must tolerate them and not disrespect people due to such differences. I stress this to all the people I associate with but tahqeeq in order to reach the correct opinion and to refute the wrong opinion with adab is essential and has been unanimously the way of our pious predecessors (I have added an example below for your benefit on the issue of photography and videos).

Shame on those who disrespect this Sunnah of our great pious predecessors which includes the great Sahabah that Allah is pleased with.

It is like saying to the policeman who stops you doing 35 miles per hour on a 30 mile per hour road, “why are you stopping me for such a little issue? There are people being murded, kidnapped, raped etc, you should concentrate on them bigger issues and ignore these little matters”.

I doubt this will save him from a ticket or points.

Also, dear Sarfaraz, may Allah be merciful towards you, please do not call me after midnight for such little issues. Please call president Obama next time and advise him to remove all of his troops from Iraq and Afghanistan as that is a bigger issue.

It is unfortunate that I had to set aside my work and rest in order to clarify these matters.
It was hard for me to decide how to follow up the advice of Sarfaraz to leave these smaller issues yet write an article to clarify that I do not believe Dawate Islami to be out of the Ahl Al-Sunnah.

Advice that contradicted itself?

May Allah bring the Ahl Al-Sunnah together and unite them on the Maslak of Imam Ahmad Raza.
Please note that I am strongly and firmly against any disrespect towards those scholars of the Deen who hold a different opinion on Fiqh issues which the Shariah allows us to tolerate. If one reads this and says I am giving the go ahead to disrespect and ridicule other scholars then that is incorrect. I advise such a person to have someone else read and explain this article to him.

I believe in unity and strongly condemn disunity. If one is following an opinion that is safer then why is it that people have an issue? You should be respecting him for that. If one prays two units of voluntary salah and another prays four, then congratulate him. In the same way if one follows a safer opinion then congratulate him.

Below is an example of Tahqeeq and Ikhtilaaf that is based on Daleel rather than disrespect and hatred. May Allah protect us from hatred against each other.

“As for the matter about the T.V and photographs, I’d like to clarify that this is not based on Taqwa but is based on Fatwa. It is actually the Fatwa of Huzoor Sadr Al-Shariah and Mufti Azam-e-Hind. This is also the Fatwa of Huzoor Taaj Al-Shariah and Huzoor Muhaddith-e-Kabeer.

If one is following the Fatwa of these giant scholars then please congratulate him rather than calling him a fitnah.

If one follows the opinion that the photograph and video is merely a reflection as is the matter in the mirror and water then I would like to say that this is Qiyaas Ma’ Al-Faariq. Why is that in the reflection (mirror or water) the right becomes the left and the left becomes the right but it does not in the photograph or video? If you have a mark on your left cheek, if you look in the mirror it will be on your right cheek because it is a reflection but in the photograph or video it will remain on your left cheek. Also, if you look in the mirror, you will only see that which is in the present tense. You cannot see that which occurred in the past yet in the photograph and video, you are seeing the past. This shows that this Qiyaas is invalid.

Dawate Islami based their permissibility for the photograph and video on the Fiqhi rule that it is permissible to perform Salah in front of a mirror because it is not a tasweer but a reflection. As I have already mentioned that this theory of Qiyaas is invalid, I’d also like to say that this would mean it is permissible to perform salah in front of a photograph of the Ameer e Dawate Islami Ilyas Attar Qadri Sahib. Would this not be a clear resemblance of Shirk? May Allah protect us.”

This is a Fiqh issue and for this I do not in any way regard Dawate Islami as out of the Ahl-Sunnah.

I invite all our brothers of the Ahl Al-Sunnah to come and follow the Maslak of Imam Ahmad Raza (Allah is pleased with him) under the elite scholars such as Huzoor Taaj Al-Shariah and Huzoor Muhaddith-e-Kabeer.

May Allah show us all the truth and give us the ability to follow it. May Allah show us the falsehood and give us the ability to abstain from it.

I thank brother Sarfaraz for advising me to write this and may Allah bring Sarfaraz a life full of success in the Deen with good health, wealth and Taqwa.

Faqeer Zahid Hussain Al-Qadri
(May Allah forgive him)

Wa Al-Salamu Alaykum