Shaitan is chained in the month of Ramadhan

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(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Q-1. Its is said that the Shaitan is chained in the month of Ramadhan. Now when the Shaitan is chained why do muslims engage in deeds which are unislamic in this month?

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 3.123 Narrated by Abu Huraira

Allah's Apostle (saws) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the shaitaans are chained."

The above words of the Messenger of Allah (saws) say that the shaitaans are chained, not annihilated! What it means is that Allah Subhanah restricts the powers and guiles of the Shaitaan and he is not as free to work his falsehoods and beguile the believers as he does in the other months of the year. And this is clearly evident from what happens to the believers in Ramadan. The people who don’t normally pray, perform the prayers regularly! The people who are never seen in the mosques, attend the mosques more regularly to worship Allah! The people who are away from the deen, try to learn and study the deen in Ramadan! The people who rarely recite and study the Quran, increase their efforts to recite and study this Glorious Book of Guidance in the Holy Month of Ramadan! There is a definite and remarkable increase in the piety and worship of the believers in this Blessed Month.

But the above hadith does not mean that the Shaitaans are completely destroyed or not allowed to mislead the believers at all. The Shaitaan is our avowed enemy and he will always try to mislead the believers with his lies and deception, however restricted he may be! The hadith only means that their works of lies and deceptions are decreased and their means to spread mischief is reduced.

To understand the concept allow me to relate a worldly example. When a nation or state increases its security and its police force, and makes strict rules to reduce the number of thefts in a country; it will obviously result in a reduction of theft and robbery in the country. But some professional and hardened criminals and thieves will still find a way around it and carry on their criminal activities; albeit in a manner much less than before. This is exactly what the Shaitaan does. Although his power is reduced and restricted, he still tries to mislead anyone he can; in a much restricted manner.

2. The Bohra community has a leadership which guides them and controls the whole community but in the case of, so called sunni muslims, why isn't there any leadership present which would guide them?

The Glorious Quran and the established Sunnah or Way of the Messenger (saws) is intact and available to all the believers as the sources of guidance to the Truth. Anyone who follows these two sources of guidance is guided aright.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraaf verses 2-3:

This is a Book which has been sent down to you. So, let there be no hesitation in your mind about it. This has been sent down that you may thereby warn (the disbelievers), and that it may be an Admonition to the believers. O people, follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and do not follow other ‘auliyaas’ besides Him. But you seldom take Admonition!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verse 31-32:

O Prophet, tell the people, “If you sincerely love Allah, follow me. Then Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, for He is All Forgiving, All Merciful.” Also say to them, “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” And if, in spite of this, they do not accept your invitation, warn them that Allah does not love those, who refuse to obey Him and His Messenger.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verses 35-36:

Ask them, “Is there any of the partners you have set up with Allah, who guides to the Truth?” Say, “It is Allah Alone Who guides to the Truth.” Very well, then tell, “Who is more worthy to be followed: He Who guides to the Truth, or the one who cannot guide unless he himself is guided? What has then gone wrong with you that you make perverted judgements?” The fact is that most of them are following mere conjecture, whereas conjecture cannot in any way fulfill the requirements of the True Knowledge. Allah has full knowledge of what they are doing.

The duty of the leaders and scholars in Islam is to invite and guide the people to invoke and worship Allah Alone, and to obey and follow Allah and His Messenger (saws). If any leader is doing that, then he is a good and righteous leader; but if any leader is guiding his followers towards himself and his family, or telling them to invoke them and their ancestors in their graves with Allah, or asking them to bow down in prostration to them and at the graves of their ancestors, then he is an evil leader and misleading his followers from the True Deen of Islam.

The only leader which Allah has appointed for the believers is the being of the noble Messenger of Allah, Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah (saws). We are commanded only to believe in Allah and His Messenger (saws) unconditionally. All the other leaders are chosen by man himself; and if he invites the believers to invoke and worship Allah Alone and obey and follow Allah and His Last Messenger (saws), then we are to obey him. But if we see that he is not guiding the followers from the Quran and Sunnah, then we are not to obey him!

A good and righteous leader who invites his followers to obey and follow the commands and teachings of Allah and His Messenger (saws), is a blessing from Allah! But if men choose a leader who misleads people from the guidance revealed by Allah, then he is a curse which the followers have brought upon themselves! The sooner they leave such mis-guided leaders and align their lives with the clear teachings and guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws), the better will be their lives and their hereafter.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verses 13:

Then, instead of Allah, he invokes those who can do him neither harm nor good. This is the last extremity of deviation. He invokes those who are more likely to do him harm, than good! What an evil ‘MAULA’ he chooses, and what an evil companion.

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 chastisement and curse them severely”.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 165-167:

There are people who set up equals and rivals with Allah and adore them with the adoration due to Allah! Whereas the believers adore Allah most ardently. Would that these transgressors could realize now what they will realize, when they see the chastisement before them: that power and authority wholly 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 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!” Thus Allah will bring before them the deeds they did in the world in such a manner as to make them wring their hands in regret, but they shall be unable to come out of the Fire.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verses 34-35 :

O you who believe! There are indeed many among the priests and the holy men who devour the wealth of others by evil means, and debar the people from the Way of Allah. Give them the good news of a painful torment, who hoard up gold and silver and do not expend these in the Way of Allah. The Day shall surely come when the same gold and silver shall be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their bodies and their backs. (And it will be said): “Here is that treasure you had hoarded up for yourselves! Taste now the evil of your hoarded treasure!”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraf verses 48-49:

Then the people of the heights will recognize by their characteristics some ‘big’ personalities of the inmates of Hell, and will call out to them, saying, “You have seen that today neither your followers have availed you anything, nor your wealth and property, of which you were so proud. And, are not these inmates of Paradise the same people about whom you swore that Allah would not give them any portion of His Mercy? Today the same have been welcomed with the words, “Go into Paradise where you will have neither fear nor grief.”

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