Question. The recent trend among the Ulama (I mean no disrespect to Ulama) is to have special Ulama programs when senior pi-ous Aalims come to our shores, where presuma-bly, they, like Christian priests, discuss what in-formation to keep from the Ummah. Otherwise it makes no sense because Ulama get the same Deeni knowledge when they study surely.
If the aim is to get real piety and taqwa like our Akaabereen (Senior Ula-ma) of the past, then this can’t be achieved in one special ulama program. To achieve this, if they lack it, what they should do is go and spend 6 months – 6 years in their khanqaas or longer.
Did Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi was-sallam) do this, i.e. did he restrict knowledge for only the Senior Sahaa-bah ? Did the Akaabireen such as Maulana Nanot-wi, Maulana Rashid Ah-mad Gangohi and Maula-na Ashraf Ali Thanvi have special bayaans for Ulama?
At the recent Islaahi Jalsah in Durban, even youngster molvis gave talks, and sadly there was separate food arranged for the “ulama” and the awaam (the ordinary folk). Please comment.
OUR COMMENT
We have already com-mented in some detail in our recent article on this topic. It is available on our website. Neverthe-less, we shall complement our earlier comment with an article which had been published some time ago.
Some decades ago when Hadhrat Masihullah ( rahmatullah alayh ) was requested by Maulana Abdul Haq Omarjee ( rahmatullah alayh ) to convene a special pro-gram for the Ulama, he refused. It simply was not the tareeqah of our Akaabir Ulama to have bayaans exclusively for the Ulama or the so-called „ulama‟. Even mor-ons pass themselves off as „ulama‟ on the basis of certificates and ammamahs. Nor ever was it the tareeqah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam), nor of the Sahaabah nor of the Salafus Saaliheen of the Khairul Quroon era. In fact, this method is a new bid‟ah recently innovated. Some seniors of this age have fallen into the trap with their short-sightedness and without applying their minds to the ploys of the nafs and the deception of shaitaan, hence they allowed them-selves to be stampeded into „ulama‟ bayaans by their juniors (mureeds and hosts).
Hadhrat Masihullah (Rahmatullah alayh) said that the Ulama should attend the same bayaan (talk) which he will be giving to all and sundry. Allah Ta‟ala did not reveal a separate Sha-riah for the ulama. The entire Deen in every sphere and in all aspects applies to the entire Um-mah regardless of the di-vision of ulama and juha-la.These special ulama programmes are decep-tions of the nafs. There is no goodness in nafsaaniyat.
Shaitaan and the Nafs are cunning ustaadhs. They dupe even senior Ulama into misguidance and misconceptions.
There is no copyright on the Ilm emanating from the Qur‟aan which Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) taught for the benefit of entire mankind. This Knowledge is not the cap-ital of any exclusive class or strata of society. „Ulama‟ are not a special class for whom knowledge may be re-stricted. It is haraam to debar people from any Deeni bayaan.
While a Madrasah may refuse to enrol a person as a student, it has no right to prohibit any person from the public sitting in the classes to listen to the bayaans on the Qur‟aan, Hadith, etc.
“Special” bayaans for only the Ulama are in-deed deceptions of the nafs. It creates false pride and self-esteem (ujub) in those attending. There are many youngsters who have just emerged from Darul Ulooms, who with their smattering of knowledge believe them-selves to be Ulama whilst in reality they are juhala. Their nafs becomes bloat-ed when they attend bayaans restricted for Ulama.
Then comes the ques-tion: Who are the Ulama? Any person who regards himself as an Aalim is in fact a jaahil. The Madras-ah certificate does not make a chap an Aalim. Only a stupid molvi thinks of himself as be-ing an Aalim. Those at-tending such special so-called „ulama‟ bayaans are shameless. They bask in stupid takabbur and ujub, hence they believe themselves qualified to attend a talk ostensibly organized for only „Ulama‟. Thus, when a molvi attends such a bayaan, he thereby im-plies that he is in fact an „Aalim‟. Wallaah! If the nafs has been validly re-formed, such a molvi will never attend the bayaan because he will honestly believe that he is not an Aalim, hence not quali-fied to be in the gather-ing.
A person who is a Sanadi Molvi should have gained sufficient insight to understand his own jahl relative to the Ocean of Uloom in front of him, only the surface of which he is able to partly scan with the limited knowledge he has ac-quired at a Darul Uloom. And, this applies to the genuine student who had passed his Madrasah days with Taqwa and diligent Mutaala‟ah (Study). As for the majority, we see only flotsam, hence the dunya abounds with what we term „ulama‟-e-soo‟. A better designation would be Juhala-e-Soo‟ because the vast majority is ignorant of even the rudiments of the Uloom of both the Zaahiri and Baatini dimensions which go into the making of an Aalim who becomes an Heir/Representative of the Ambiya (Alayhimus Salaam).
The malady of bayaans for the „Ulama‟ specially, has become a grounded disease especially in the Tablighi Jamaat. In fact, at their Ijtimas they post guards at the entrance to debar Muslims from en-tering the „special‟ bayaan. Nowadays, „visas‟ are required to vis-it and meet the big Buzrug in his special tent guarded by bodyguards. They all dwell in decep-tion, led on by the noose by Iblees. Indeed, Chris-tian priesthood has crept into the ranks of Muslim scholars. We say „scholars‟, for they are not Ulama in terms of the Qur‟aan.
The Qur‟aan stipulates the condition of Khash-iyat as a qualification for an Aalim. Khashiyat is a whole concept embracing the entire Sunnah of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), from A to Z. Furthermore, the genuine Aalim he who is an Aalim in terms of the Qur‟aan Majeed – will not know if he is an Aalim, for he will never be able to claim that he has cultivated the attrib-ute of Khashiyat. Only his Shaikh, i.e. not a crank, bogus „sheikh‟ – will un-derstand if he truly has khashiyat.
We are undoubtedly living in an age in which the Juha-la-e-Soo‟ are in the ascendency. The Ula-ma are not a class apart from the masses of the Ummah. Naseehat and practical implementation of the Deen relate to eve-ry Muslim. The very same advice and admoni-tion which are imparted to the masses are also meant for the Ulama who are supposed to observe the Shariah with greater diligence than the ordi-nary folk.
Special bayaans for on-ly the ulama to the exclu-sion of others are snares of Iblees. Such special talks are shaitaani and nafsaani traps of devia-tion (dhalaal). Riya (show) and takabbur (pride) are the hallmarks of these talks.
In Hulyatul Auliya of Abu Naeem appears the following narration:
“Imaam Auzaa-ee (Rahmatullah alayh) narrated that Umar Bin Abdul Azeez (Rahmatullah alayh) said: „When you see peo-ple secretively (or pri-vately) speaking about their Deen to the exclu-sion of the masses, then know that verily, they are engaged in casting the foundations of dhalaalah (deviation).”
Thus these talks orga-nized for only the so-called ulama, and from which the ordinary people are stupidly and arrogant-ly excluded, are in reality shaitaani traps of dha-laalah.
As for the food divi-sion – separate food for the „bourgeois‟ priests and separate food for the „proletariat‟, it is most despicable. From whence did these fat cats extrava-sate this haraam tareeqah? Who is their ustaadh in this matter? None other than Iblees! They preach about akhlaaqi issues, but they acquit themselves with villainy. They lack in shame and respect for the Makhlooq of Allah Ta‟ala. They are drowned in their rotten takabbur and ujub, hence they fab-ricate a higher status for them even in an aam da‟wat (meant for all and sundry).
They have lost the Path – the Path of Tasawwuf and the Path of the Shari-ah. They have wandered far, very far from Siraatul Mustaqeem.
The following episode should be salubrious edification for these priests who hanker after status. Once a very high-ranking government offi-cial was Hadhrat Maula-na Rashid Ahmad Gangohi‟s guest. When it was time for meals, Ha-dhrat seated the guest close to himself. Then Hadhrat observed the oth-er poor Talaba standing forlornly aloof. Seeing the V.I.P., the poor stu-dents were somewhat ap-prehensive of joining in the meals with Hadhrat Gangohi as they would usually do.
Observing their appre-hension, Hadhrat Gangohi exclaimed: “Sirs (Saahibo)! Why have you back-peddled? (That is, why are you not joining in the meals?) Is it because a government official is seated with me? Under-stand it well that you (Talaba) are my hon-oured / beloved ones. Rel-ative to the honour I have for you, he (the V.I.P) has no significance (no sta-tus).” Then all the poor students sat down and joined in the meals.
The priestly „scholars‟ should take lesson, regret their action of eating spe-cial food apart from the others. They should re-pent for having attributed a pedestal for themselves by having separate meals for the so-called ulama. The division of the Um-mah into ulama and awaam for the purposes of food and bayaan is most despicable and total-ly unexpected of those who are supposed to be the Warathatul Ambiya (Heirs of the Ambiya).
Instead of narrowing the chasm between the learned and unlearned, these „islahi jalsah‟ molvis, by their un-Islamic, anti-Sunnah crea-tion of unfounded divi-sions are only solidifying the barrier between the Ulama and the Awaam.