Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

This is our second message to you and we hope that you will take the time to respond to and comment on our observation and question as quickly as you do when one asks questions through which you can attack maulana.

We again reiterate that some of your analysis are meaningful; and worth reading. It adds value to our ilm and enhances our knowledge of Islam.

But, brother let me tell you that you have lost all credibility with many of our friends and now we read your articles with cynicism and wait to see what your next attack on Syedna will be about.

Please do not hide under the guise of Islam to attack Syedna. Be brave and man enough to do so yourself personally. For what you are doing is a form of Gibat, which has no place in Islam. By doing so you are commiting a greater sin then Syedna. Your are no different and maybe can be equated to a Shaitan.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Geebat

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah bless you for your ‘ikhlaas’ and sincerity in writing this comment to us. Brother we appreciate your honesty, and realize that it is not us that you hate. It is the message that we are trying to propagate from the Glorious Quran which is at the heart of the matter. So if what we have written from the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Messenger of Allah (saws) are worthy of us receiving hate mails and badwords from our brethren, they are welcome. The people on whom Allah sent His Messengers reacted much more strongly, and opposed the Messenger and the Message with a lot more ferocity. I am not trying to be sarcastic here, and want you to comprehend that we really understand your position and your reverence for your leaders. A couple of years ago, we too were in the same position and would have acted in a similar manner if somebody was to say or write something derogatory about the Syedna and his family.

But Allah guided us to read and understand the Holy Quran, and Allah is our witness … the only reason I read the Glorious Quran was to prove to the person(non-Bohra) that we and the Syedna are on the Siraat al Mustaqeem, and he was wrong! But after reading the Message of Allah in the Holy Quran, we were left with no choice, but to declare that there is nobody, absolutely nobody, worthy of worship except the One Allah Alone! And that supposedly has been our biggest crime in the eyes of our Bohra brethren.

Today we bow down in ‘sajdah’ (prostration) to no one else, except Allah Alone! Today we invoke no one else, except Allah Alone! Today we fear no one else, except Allah Alone! Today we ask no one for help, except Allah Alone! Today we realize that everything we have; our lives, our children, our health, our wealth, our guidance, etc. is from no one except Allah Alone! Thus we praise Allah, as all praise is due to Allah Alone! Thus we invoke Allah Alone, as He Alone deserves to be invoked! Thus we worship our Creator, our Sustainer, our Cherisher, our Provider, our Helper, our Protector, our Lord, and our Master, Allah Subhanah Alone! And we proudly declare, that there is no god, no idol, no grave, no man, no prophet, no imam, no dai, no bhaisaheb, absolutely nobody is worthy of worship except Allah Alone. And we proudly declare that Mohamed ibn Abdullah (saws) is His slave servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Regarding your comment on Geebat, brother let me assure you that these emails reach the highest people in the ‘kothaar’, including the likes of Quid Johar Bhaisaheb and Mufaddal Bhaisaheb, and I am sure it reaches the Syedna; and Allah Alone knows Best. The truth of the matter is that we are quoting the truth from the Holy Quran, and the hierarchy recognizes this truth, just like they recognize their own children! They have tried to block this email forum, and put tremendous pressures on us and our families, to stop us from spreading this message of truth from the Glorious Quran. They have passed their comments verbally, but not even once, have they or anybody else or their cronies tried to prove our statements wrong, giving evidence from the Holy Quran. And we challenge them to prove any of our statements wrong, giving evidence from the Holy Quran!

Geebat is something derogatory that one says behind his brother’s back, if said in his presence, he would feel bad. Brother, if you have been reading our email articles closely, you will realize, that we are not interested in the worldly corruption and gains of the Syedna and his family. We are not interested in their worldly matters, and how they have accumulated their wealth and their power. We are not interested in what they do in this world, but rather our interest is in their text of guidance to the hereafter, if any.

When somebody takes away the guidance of the Holy Quran from the muslims in the name of Islam, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody tells one million people that he and his ancestors will be their intercessors on the Day of Judgement, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody creates sects and creeds in Islam, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody says that they have the exlusive agency and monopoly to understand the Quran, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody is asked to bow down to a human being and at graves, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody promotes the invocation of another being with Allah, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody invites you to become Abde-Syedna (slaves of Syedna) rather than to become Abd-Allah, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran! When somebody promotes the concept of ‘shirk’, we want our brothers to know that this is against the Quran!

If propagating the truth from the Holy Quran to our brothers and sisters in Islam is committing the sin of Geebat, then brother, I swear by Allah, we are willing to take this sin on our backs, in the Court of Allah on the Day of Judgement!

If we are charged with the sin of Geebat, then the Syedna is charged with the sin of ‘shirk’!. And my dear brother, let me tell you, there is absolutely no comparision between these two sins. ‘Shirk’ is absolutely the single biggest sin in Islam! Allah has promised in the Holy Quran that He has forbidden Paradise for the people who commit ‘shirk’. The people who commit ‘shirk’ will never ever come out of the fire of Hell! The people who commit this abominable and heinous sin of ‘shirk’ are confirmed the everlasting torture in the Hell Fire!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72: Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah), Allah shall forbid for him Paradise, and Hell shall be his abode. And for such wrong doers there will be no one to help.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 71-72: They invoke besides Allah, those, for whom Allah has send down no authority, nor do they themselves have any knowledge about them. Such transgressors have no helper. And when our clear Revelations are recited to them, you will perceive signs of disdain in the faces of the disbeliveers, as though they were going to assault those who recite our Revelations to them.

Our only invitation to our Bohra brethren is to read and understand the message of the Holy Quran! Read it with understanding once, and if you find one aayah or even an iota of evidence in the Holy Quran that the Syedna (or anybody else for that matter) deserves your invocation and your prostration, then go ahead and follow your way. But atleast get a confirmation from the Glorious Quran that this is the Right Way! That is all we are inviting you to do…. Read and understand the Message of the Holy Quran. If you follow anybody blindly, and invoke and do sajdah or prostration to anybody along with our Lord and Creator, Allah; you will have nobody to blame except yourselves on the Day of Judgement! On that Day, all these leaders and chiefs will not be there to help you or to protect you; the only Protector and Helper on that Day will be Allah Alone! On that Day, all these self-made leaders and chiefs will disown your worship and invocation! On that Day, all these self-made leaders and chiefs will bow down in submission to Allah Alone and leave you in the lurch! On that Day, all the promises made by these self-made leaders and chiefs will vanish, and only the promises made by Allah Almightly in the Holy Quran will come to pass!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 165-167: Would that these transgressors could realize now what they will realize, when they will see the chastisement before them; that Power and Authority solely belong to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment! When He will inflict punishment, those very LEADERS and GUIDES whom they followed in the world will disown them! But punishment they shall get, and all their bonds shall be cut off! Then those who followed them (the self-made leaders and guides) will say, “Would that we were given another chance to return to the world: then we will disown them just as they have disowned us today!”.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anam verse 94: (And Allah will say), “So, you have come before Us all alone, as We created you at first. Now, you have left behind all that We gave you in the world. Now We do not see with you those ‘shufa’a’(intercessors), who, you believed, had a share in moulding your destinies! All the relations between you and them have been cut off, and all those, in whom you trusted, have left you in the lurch.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verses 28-30: On the Day when we muster them together in our Court, We shall say to those who invoked others with Allah, “Stay where you are! You and those whom you had set up as partners with Us!” Then We shall remove the state of strangeness from among them, and the partners they had set up will say, “You did not worship us. Allah suffices as a witness between you and us, and even if you worshipped us, we were utterly unaware of your worship.” At that time everyone will taste of what he did. All shall be brought back to Allah, their real Lord, and all the lies they had invented will vanish from them.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verses 86-88: When the people, who invoked others with Allah in the world, will see those whom they had made associates with Allah, they will say, “Our Lord! Here are those associate-deities whom we used to invoke besides Thee.” At this their deities will retort, “You are liars!” At that time all of them will proffer submission before Allah, and all that they used to forge in the world, shall vanish from them. We will inflict double torment on those who followed the way of disbelief and hindered others from the Way of Allah, on account of the chaos they spread in the world.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 19 Surah Maryam verses 81-82: And they have taken (For worship) gods other than Allah, to give them Power and glory! Instead, they shall reject Their worship, and become Adversaries against them.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzab verse 66-68: On the Day their faces are rolled about on the Fire, they will say, “Would that we had obeyed Allah and His Messenger!” And they will say, “O our Lord, we obeyed our CHIEFS and our GREAT MEN, and they led us astray from the Right Path. O our Lord, give them a double chastisment and curse them severely”.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 34 Surah Saba verses 31-33: Would that you could see these wicked people at the time when they will be standing before their Lord. Then, they will blame one another. Those who had been oppressed in the world, will say to the arrogant, “But for you, we would have been believers.” The arrogant ones will say to the oppressed ones, “Did we hinder you from the guidance when it came to you? Nay, but you yourselves were guilty!.” The oppressed ones will say to the arrogant ones, “Nay, but it was your plotting by day and by night, when you told us to deny Allah, and to set up others as equals with Him.” At last, when they will see the torment, they will repent in their hearts, and We shall put fetters on the necks of the disbelievers!

My dear brother, the above aayahs are only a few examples concerning the concept of ‘shirk’ from the Holy Quran! Brother, you owe it to yourself to read and understand the Message sent to us by our All Merciful and All Knowing Lord! You owe it to yourself to determine which is a bigger sin: ‘Shirk’ or ‘Geebat’?

May Allah guide you and us all the Straight Path of Islam. May Allah give us the wisdom and the guidance to recognize the manifestations of this heinous and horrendous crime of ‘shirk’. May Allah keep us far far away from this monstrous sin of ‘shirk’. May Allah guide us, help us, have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins. May Allah help us to become slaves of Allah (Abd-Allah), rather than slaves of Syedna (Abde-Syedna)!

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam, 

Burhan