Sunday, June 17, 2012

Exclusive Investigation: Ijtema Tableeghi Jamat

In the Name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Specially Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, the King of the day of judgement.

Whenever I warned my dear brothers about the fitnah of Tableeghi Jamat, they would always invite me to come and experience their gatherings before making my judgement. Friday night, I decided to attend the Ijtema  organized by the Tableeghi Jamat. Following is my report on that. I have tried to put aside my personal opinion, and look at it objectively, but I am just a human.

According to my limited understanding, Ijtema is a gathering of Muslims, to remind themselves, and to learn their deen, and to leave with increased faith and more knowledge then one arrived. So, the main event will be the speeches, and this is what I wanted to see. To see what this Ijtema means for Muslim Ummah.

As I drove towards the Osceola High School, I saw the signs for ijtema, and as I entered the school, parking area was well organized. People were streaming in the school from every direction. I parked my car, and slowly walked towards the school. Most of the people were carrying sleeping bag and luggage, and it reminded me of Hajj. Jamat members were collecting money for dinner, but I already had dinner so I walked inside. When I came close to the auditorium doors, I was shocked to see people lying around with their luggage, and it was probably because I wasn't expecting that view.

It was almost Maghrib time, so me and another brother sat down in the front rows, and I was very impressed with the setup and organization. After adhan, salat didn't start for 15 minutes or so, and when it did, the recitation was very simple, which I liked, but was surprised that many of the Huffaz with a good recitation were not selected to lead salat. Finally, after salat, the famous announcement was made "After the rest of the salat, there is a very important talk on deen, please come closer." Then, the announcement said something which made my jaw dropped. He said, please do not leave, because this talk is the most important part. Wait. What!? So, this talk is more important then Salat? Anyways, the speaker came and sat down.

He started speaking without invoking Allah's name or any salutation to the Prophet (PBUH), and it was not a good start at all. Well, he started talking about our four stages, and the first stage being the womb. I think he forgot that the first stage is the soul staying in the heavens before womb, but anyways not a big deal. the speech was mostly about how Allah provides our need, and running after this world will take us away from Allah's path, which is all true and good reminders. However, he kept saying the we should practice our deen, but the only two practices he mentioned were Salat and going in the path of Allah, and the path of Allah was "tashkeel" of course, which he mentioned a couple of times.

First half of the speech was without any reference to Quran and Sunnah, and he gave one reference to a Quranic verse without mentioning the Surah or the verse number. So far, there was nothing that he said was new, which is not said regularly in the bayans for tashkeel in the masjid. All of a sudden, he mentions a pious person giving everything in his house to charity, and in the dream finds the location of burried wealth which the speaker called it "Barakah". I am not sure about this story. Was this dream from Allah or shaytan?  Anyways, nothing wrong with an anonymous story I guess. Then, he mentions a few of ahadith and stories of the companions that blew me away. They were more hand waves and conversation plugins. No reference of the narrator, or the book, just english translations.

First, he mentions that Abdullah bin rawah was stopped by the robbers, and he asked them if he could pray two rakat, before they killed him. They allowed him, and during salat, he said "Arhama Rahimeen", and angels on the highest heaven heard him and they came to help. Really!? who narrated this story? How this narrator knows what angels did? Doesn't sound authentic at all. Some ahadith he mentioned, I couldn't locate at all (when I came back home and checked), and only Allah knows if they are truly ahadith. Some were weak like the one about missing a salat will be punished by 80 years in hell fire. He didn't mention it, but I think it is knows to be from At-Tabari. By the time, he summed up his speech, a few men stood up among the crowd with a notebook and pen, and the speaker told everyone. Tashkeel is the path of Allah, as the companions were sent to fight, you should sign up with us to go out for 40 days. Oh my Allah. What religion is this? I could not believe that every speech ends with a call for recruitment. If Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would have done that, only a handful would have remained in this deen. We can't ask for people to go in the path of Allah after every speech.

Well, brothers and sisters, I gave Tableeghi Jamat another try, hoping to be proven wrong by substantative speeches with authentic evidences, and no mention of joining Tableeghi Jamat, but none of that happen I am exhausted with this group, and I surrender to Allah my affairs and their affairs. I am no saint. I am no scholar. I am no wise man. I am just a Muslim, who follow Allah and his messenger, and Tableeghi Jamat has not shown any connection with Quran and Sunnah so far, and is not beneficial for me or anyone else. If I ever miss my brothers of Tableeghi Jamat or wanted to hang out among these cool dudes ( I really like them), I may visit their ijtema again, but this effort has lost all interest for me, Islamically. Not a bad idea to get away from the family for a day or two.

If any of you believe that this group has more benefits than harm, you may continue to associate with them, but I see more harm than benefit, and I will keep myself and my family away from this deviant group, and continue to advice who would listen. Please discourage this group as this is not healthy at all for this Ummah.

Reason for this group to be harmful and deviant is because they do not base their movement upon Quran and authentic Sunnah, and have established an aggressive cult that prioritize Tashkeel as going in the path of Allah.


 "And verily, this is My straight path, so follow it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His path. This He has ordained for you that you may have Taqwa." (Quran 6:153)

Imam Ahmad, Ibn Majah, in the Book of the Sunnah in his Sunan, and Al-Bazzar collected this Hadith. Ibn Jarir recorded that a man asked Ibn Mas`ud, "What is As-Sirat Al-Mustaqim (the straight path)'' Ibn Mas`ud replied, "Muhammad left us at its lower end and its other end is in Paradise. To the right of this Path are other paths, and to the left of it are other paths, and there are men (on these paths) calling those who pass by them. Whoever goes on the other paths will end up in the Fire. Whoever takes the Straight Path, will end up in Paradise. (Ibn Kathir)

Brothers, Prophet (PBUH), his compaions and generations after them did not consider any of these Tableeghi activites as path of Allah, and the path of Allah is the methodology of the Sunnah, which has no connection with Tashkeel that Tableeghi Jamat is promoting. Tableeghi Jamat is a new religion and a cult, and getting involve in it is serious innovation. It seems very innocent, but we don't need any new "Nisab", as the Prophet (PBUH) has already provided us with a nisab.

Oh my beloved Allah! I pray to Allah to you to discontinue these lines on our left and right, and keep us on the straight path. Keep us from any "Important Talk" that is not decorated with your speech. Ameen.

And Allah knows best


JazakAllah Khairin

A seeker of the path of Allah.
Abu Arman Jumani

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Mudharabah: The Speculative Parternship in Islam


In the Name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, The Provider.

It is an amazing coincidence that speculative partnership is the topic of my recent assignment for Fiqh-ul-Muamalat, but nothing truly is a coincidence in the dominion of Allah, and everything seems so according to his plan. Recently, some events unfolded that provided a painful insight into harms of not following the Islamic conditions of Mudharabah (speculative parternership). Unfortunately, it seems a very common practice in western countries to form this invalid type of speculative partnership. Let us examine the details of this type of trade or business that is certainly haram in Islam, but is very attractive among Muslims. In this example, we are looking at a car dealer, who is a Muslim, and looking for investment for his expanding business. He reaches out to other Muslims in his family and community, and able to convince many to participate in his business. However, these partnerships were formed without giving due regards to the conditions set by Allah and his Messenger (PBUH).  In the end, it was a dishonorable situation, and it became a warning and example for other Muslims to not engage in similar trades.

Mudharabah is a type of partnership where one partner provides assets for the business, but does not participate in day to day operations of the business, and the other partner runs the business. In the example of the car dealer, he receives money from a partner, who provides the money without the presence of witnesses, or any written agreement. The Sleeping partner (partner providing the money) verbally stipulates that he requires a certain amount of money every month regularly as “profit”. The working partner (the car dealer), agrees to the terms verbally, and does provide some returns for a period of time. After a while, the business takes a downturn, and the business runs out of money, as the regular “profit” payments to the sleeping partner continue during the loss. In the beginning, the car dealer hides the reality of the business, and get more sleeping partners involve in the same fashion, but once the original partner finds out, he demands his principal and profit. There are many issues with this partnership, and we can go through each of them and identify a solution for them so it can conform to Islamic law.

“[David] said, "He has certainly wronged you in demanding your ewe [in addition] to his ewes. And indeed, many associates oppress one another, except for those who believe and do righteous deeds - and few are they."” (Quran 38:24)

Even if writing down a partnership contract was not an obligation, in the western countries, it should be an obligation, because the law of the land settles financial transaction with written proofs. At the least, it should be done to protect both parries’ interest, and provide a stable partnership. In the above example, the car dealer didn’t find it necessary to write down the terms of the investment/loan/partnership, which became a major issue in keeping track of total debt, and hence collapse of the business. The car dealer continues to borrow money to pay the others’ monthly “profit” payments, without knowing the true nature of his debt, until the end. If the car dealer would have written down every transaction with witnesses, it would have provided the needed awareness of total debt, and hence minimizing the damage, at the least. According to local custom for the western countries, it is critical to record all business transaction, and should be a condition to Islamic transactions within these countries.

"O You who have attained to faith! Whenever you give or take credit for a stated term, set it down in writing. … And call upon two of your men to act as witnesses…” (Quran 2:282)

In this partnership, the sleeping partner was expecting a fixed return on his investment, and this return is not tied to the profit of the business. As we know that one of the conditions of speculative partnership is to use percentages of profits, and not fixed amount of profit, because the business could make no money in one of the months, but the investor will want their return nonetheless.  In fact, we look at his closely, this is a form of Riban-Nasi’ah (interest based loan), because the investment is a loan that was given to the car dealer to do business on the condition that a fee will be returned for using the money, and the intention was not to share the profit from the business, at all. If these two partners would have stipulated the percentage of share from the profit in their agreement, then there would not have been an issue of riba. Unfortunately, the investors are not willing to take the risk, and greed takes hold of them. This greed destroys the business and everyone attached to this business. The Prophet (PBUH) said.

“Any loan that brings a profit is (kind of) riba” Al-Bayhaqi (10933) [5/573]

Any partnership that has deception in it loses blessings from Allah, and in the example of the car dealer, he failed to disclose the true state of the business to his partners. In fact, this is a very common trend among Muslims, and people expect this from of the working partners. In some cases, the sleeping partner takes the option of interest based loan instead of splitting the profit due to the expected deception from the working partners. Also, the sleeping partners deceived the car dealer as well, by denying the money received, as nothing was documented. So, lack of honesty leads to absence of trust, and motivation to rely on interest based loan (haram) instead of sharing the profit (halal). If the car dealer would have been honest about his profit, and loss, he would have taken hold of the situation before it became unbearable.

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Allah Says: I am the third partner of any two partners as long as neither of them betrays the other. But if one of them betrays the other I get out of them" (Abu Dawud (3383) [3/438])

In conclusion, this type of partnership has become norm of the society now, and Muslims don’t find it objectionable. When this above partnership broke, and interdiction began, the sleeping partner was told that his investment was riba, but he refused to accept it, and claimed to have invested Islamically for profit (fixed profit i.e.). This event caused harm to three close families, and unknown number of indirect victims, including infants and women. During the interdiction, the debt was documented with the help of two male witnesses, and the profit given so far was deducted from the principal amount, and business inventory ceased with allowance of the car dealer to sell the inventory. It is a living example of how disobedience to Allah results in disgrace in this world and disgrace in the hereafter. May Allah guide us all to learn the Islamic law of business, and apply it to protect ourselves.

I beg to all of you to learn and practice Islam in all aspect of your life, or be ready for dishonor in this world and hereafter.

JazakAllah Khairin
A witness to these disobeying Muslims
AbuArman Jumani

Monday, June 4, 2012

Shab-E-Miraj: Bidah or No Bidah, That is the question!

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Specially Merciful.

All praise is due to Al-Aleem, the most knowledgeable.

"O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result." (Quran 4:59)

After a long pause, I attended the hadith class on Sundays. I did not expect to witness the clashes of religions on full force. Imam was trying to explain that celebrating Shab-E-Miraj on Rajab 27 is not part of Islam, and he gave many reasons. As he went through the arguments, I could see the room become a little uneasy. People were not buying the argument, and someone asked the long awaited question. "But, what is wrong with worshipping Allah on special days?". This is where the explanation of Good Bidah versus Bad Bidah should have come, but the Imam chose the answer in a short statement which didn't explain it completely.

I am not sure, if it was a mistake or on purpose, but unless this issue is explained, it can explode in the face of the community. I asked an indirect question to a group who attended the class. As expected, it triggered the chain of discussion leading to the topic at hand, and three brothers were on one side and other three brothers on the other side. Group supporting the Shab-E-Miraj festivities presented the argument that there are some scholars who consider it islamic, and thus it is a difference of opinion, and we should not label as bidah. In fact, this is a very good point, because there are many religions within Islam who divide over these differences, so why not another one?

Alright, so lets discuss this a little. There is nothing wrong with  someone worshiping Allah in congregation or alone during any night, and if people do that, there is no blame. However, if they believe that they will receive an extra reward to do it on 27 Rajab, this becomes a new belief in Islam which was not present at the time of death of the Prophet (PBUH). Allah decreed that Islam has been perfected, which means all matter of unseen believe has been established, and there is no more messenger coming with a revelation that a normal human cannot perceive. Shab-E-Miraj is celebrated with this new belief (Bidah) that worship during this night will provide more reward than night before or night after. Have they received a revelation from Allah? Have they figured out something that the Prophet (PBUH) and companions combined couldn't know? All along, this night of special rewards was ignored by the pious generations of believers? How? No, it is impossible. This is prohibited completely in Islam, and can not be tolerated. If anyone wants to know the deviation happening due to this, please cut and past this link on internet (noorulislambolton.com/Articles/Rajab.pdf)

In my humble opinion, the Imam should have explained it a little further by presenting the difference between legitimate differing opinion based on ijtihad, and illegitimate differing opinion which defies Quran and Sunnah evidences. Let us find out how to handle difference of opinions in Islam. Above verse of the Quran provides the instructions for us how to do that. We suppose to follow clear commands from the Quran and Sunnah, and follow the Ameer of the Masjid in complicated matters, and if two Ameers disagree, they suppose to resolve by looking up evidences. It is very simple and it works. I would like to present two examples to clarify the types of difference of opinions.


There are two types of difference of opinions among scholars. One is allowed, and second is not allowed. If both opinions are based on authentic proofs, and ijtihad is the only separating factor, then we have to accept both opinions, and we should follow the scholar that we normally follow.

However, if one opinion has a clear hujjah (proof) over the other, or in the begining both were based on ijtihad, but later a proof is brought up that supports one position, then we should submit to that opinion. If the person supporting the weak opinion accepts the new proof as authentic, but still don't submit to it, because it is outside their "madhab", this is taqleed (blind following).


Narrated by Ibn Umar, On the day of Al-Ahzab (i.e. Clans) the Prophet said, "None of you Muslims should offer the 'Asr prayer but at Banu quraiza's place." The 'Asr prayer became due for some of them on the way. Some of those said, "We will not offer it till we reach it, the place of Banu quraiza," while some others said, "No, we will pray at this spot, for the Prophet did not mean that for us." Later on It was mentioned to the Prophet and he did not berate any of the two groups. (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 445)


In the above hadith, there was a difference of opinion, and it was allowed. Best opinion was to pray Asr on time, and the Prophet (PBUH) had that opinion as well. However, the companions who disagreed didn't have that knowledge, and they were both right at that time. For the sake of argument, let us assume that they were to get a message that Prophet (PBUH) has prayed Asr already. After that, no difference of opinion would have been allowed, and they would have submit to that and prayed Asr. So, it is all about the available knowledge at the time, and sincerity of intention, but once truth is established, it is an obligation to obey.

"...and if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you comes from the Gha'it (toilet), or from Lamastum (touching) women, but you do not find water, then perform Tayammum..." (Quran 4:43)

Above verse seems to say that we should perform wudu after merely touching a woman. Some scholars took this meaning literally, and declared that if one touches any woman, their wudu is not valid. Other said that this refers to sexual intercourse, and merely touching does not break wudu. Now, we can't have wudu and not have wudu at the same time. One of them is certainly correct opinion. In fact, the correct opinion is that wudu does not break, because Allah has used this word in other places where touching refers to sexual intercourse. (ibn Kathir)

"And if you divorce them before you have touched them, and you have appointed unto them the dowry, then pay half of that" (Quran 2:237)

Also, the Prophet (PBUH) didn't make wudu after just touching his wives, as it is reported below.


Narrated: Aisha, The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) kissed me and did not perform ablution. ( Abu Dawood Book of Purification # 178)


In the case of the wudu breaking by mere a physical touch, in the begining, it was a difference of interpreting the word, and the difference was allowed, but we now know the hadith where the Prophet (PBUH) kissed Ayesha (RA) before going out to lead Salah. This clear hujjah overrides any difference of opinion, and if someone still follows the weak opinion, they are either challenging the authencity of the hadith, or have some explaining to do. Shafii madhab still defends this opinion, and stretch the truth so  much that it starts to hurt. If you want to watch this painful act, copy and paste this link on internet (shafiifiqh.com/the-proofs-that-touching-a-woman-breaks-wudu/)

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, we love you for the sake of Allah, and respect the difference of opinion where there is evidence on both sides, but this is not one of those cases. Please submit to this opinion of Shab-E-Miraj being addition to Islam and Bidah, and save yourselves from the fire. Yes, there are scholars in India and Pakistan who allow celebrating Shab-E-Miraj, but this difference of opinion does not qualify for the immunity, because there is clear evidence against it, and anyone who follows the weak opinion after the truth has come to him is not following the command of Allah mentioned in the begining. We have to obey Allah and obey the Messenger (PBUH), and if we disagree, we should let Quran and Sunnah decide the truth. Once decided, we should surrender to it regardless of who holds that opinion. This is the straight path.

May Allah guide us to the straight path.

JazakAllah Khairin

A sincere brother in Islam.
Abu Arman Jumani