"Commercialized Islam" – Syed Roman Ahsan
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September 19, 2013
Our
life in this world is a delusion and just a test. Unless we watch our steps, we
can easily get lost. It has been noticed that many individuals and groups with
missions start out with noble goals. They carry a sincere concern for others
and want to create a better world. But all this does not sit well with 'Satan'.
How can he achieve supremacy if everything works out good in this world? Thus
he attempts to confuse the doers and makes them believe that earning money or
fame with their goals is perfectly alright. If we look at it wealth or
unintentional fame should only be a by-product of their efforts and not the
main objective. The key objective should revolve around their intent to help
out others, but sadly the case is opposite.
Hence,
their goals become commercial rather than charitable. It is agreed that such
groups need to earn money as means of livelihood too. However, if their goal is
focusing more on the money aspect and they are using religious philosophies to
add credibility to their sessions, then they will be losers in the hereafter. It
has been noticed that many such individuals and groups do not go out of way to
help people. They only want to ‘stick’ to their programmed schedule of work
which means they themselves have not understood the message of Allah and His
Prophet (s.a.w.w.). For example, it is easy to invite people to group sessions
by charging fees and promote religious philosophies (success philosophies
supported by Qur’an and hadith) than to adopt the principles of Islam as a
whole by going out in the society and doing good. Did the Prophet (pbuh) charge
any price for delivering sermons to his companions while seated in his humble
surroundings? Then what right do we have to use his sayings to earn money? If a
person is needy however, then he or she could charge some price in exchange for
what he offers or sells in terms of religious literature or related items. But
here we are talking about a different case.
Compared
to these group sessions, there are senior scholars of Islam who deliver free
lectures to people. Those lectures are later available on books, CDs, DVDs or
on their websites. It would be advised that people seek Islamic knowledge
through these help material as they become a personal property which can be
used again and again to reflect on those theories. Furthermore, it needs to be
emphasized that in any case if we have to learn deep Islamic teachings,
then we have to learn from senior scholars rather than the ones we see on
television in routine or otherwise. Listening to different senior scholars of
Islam helps us in drawing commonalities or common theories since TRUE ISLAM is
scattered in these times. Thus all this exercise helps us in arriving at the
true spirit of ‘deen’ though we learn all our lives and always remain students
of Islam apart from other disciplines of learning. It cannot be denied at the
same time that many Western theories are also extensions from our own religious
philosophies or from other religions. But we need to make ourselves familiar
with our own roots first.
Reading
Qur’an ourselves with translation is a major step. Then books on ahadith could
also be consulted or books with light themes on ahadith literature. One such
book is Urdu book “USVA-E-HASNA” by Bintul Islam published in the early 1980s
(available from Idara-e-Islamiat Anarkali, Lahore). It has three volumes with a
beautiful Urdu expression and easily comprehensible with explanations of
ahadith literature under different chapters. Today the situation is very
misleading when we see so many ‘ulema’ and other people on commercial TV.
Hence, our generation is confused about which person to follow in terms of
Islamic teachings.
Lastly,
when we want to learn pure Islamic
teachings, then we have to study from sources which do not mix too much
politics with ‘deen’. Otherwise, we will be left with a confused mind in the
end about the difference between right and wrong even if it is important to keep
ourselves aware of the national and global issues in these troublesome times.
Sadly, some elements want to gain power under the cover of religion and
politics (either consciously or unconsciously) OR more aptly POLITICAL ISLAM
and we need to be ware of them, even if we cannot deny that Islam should be implemented at all levels. The need exists nevertheless of having an
Islamic system of governance at top (if we talk about Pakistan to start with) but
for that perhaps we still have to wait many years before we have a benevolent group
of people who carry a selfless approach and the spirit of serving the masses
instead of pushing their own bigoted agenda!
Some
of the senior scholars of Islam which we can learn from are:
1-
Sheikh Imran Hosein (a
speaker as well as writer)
2-
Dr. Israr (a speaker
whose lectures are available in the form of booklets)
3-
Maulana Justice Retd.
Taqi Usmani (a prolific Urdu writer)
4-
Dr. Zakir Naik
5-
Harun Yahya (a gifted
writer in English though his personality is controversial in some ways)
6-
Sheikh Nuh Keller (a
convert who has written some books)
8- Maulana Tariq Jamil (a
brilliant speaker whose lectures are available on CDs even though both good and
bad points are associated with his Tableeghi Jamaat)
9-
Professor Ahmed
Rafique Akhtar (a great lecturer in Urdu with comprehensive insight on Qur’an
and Hadith)
[The opinions expressed above are solely of the author and others have the right to differ]
