"Commercialized Islam" – Roman Ahsan

"Commercialized Islam" – Syed Roman Ahsan

"Commercialized Islam" – Syed Roman Ahsan

-         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]