When I met two Pakistani cricketers
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 7:08 pm
It was Monday evening. I was pretty tired and after takingshower I was lying on bed and was fiddling with my mobile that I got an SMS from my younger cousin in which he informed me that either Muhamamd Yusuf or Saeed Anwar would be visiting Alfalah Masjid, North Nazimabad and would deliver a lecture after Maghrib prayers. I immediately got up , changed the clothes and rushed towards Alfalah Masjid. Alfalah masjid is a bit far away from my home . I only go there for Jummah prayers and that too for last few months.
Khair, I reached over there. I was seeing many young kids and young guys who came to masjid “to see” those two guys who have contributed a lot to make Pakistan victorious on several occasions. Few of them whispering each each other and was desperate to see both classy players. After Maghrib prayers, the imam of masjid announced about Yusuf’s Bayan. We all approached towards Mimbar of masjid. Yusuf left his place and sat on stairs . One could not believe he was the same guy who broke the record of Sir Viv Richards. I was also able to see Saeed Anwar who was another left-handed stylish player, another record holder of ODI matches.
Just like other Tableeghis, Yusuf also started his bayan by discussing the faith in Allah and how to believe in the Kalima “La illah” could make things a lot better and easier. Then he revealed that he had became Muslim in 2001 which was atleast new for me because I had heard that He reverted to Islam in 2003. Anyways, Yusuf exposed so called born Muslims like me when he said that he could not find Muslims which Islam talks about therefore even after saying Kalima he did not find the peace which he was looking for. If one does not know, Yusuf was a Christian member of Pakistani cricket team and his old name was Yusuf Yohanna. After a couple of years he joined Tableeghis and spent time with them. One might not believe but I remember that two years back I was reading his interview in which Yusuf reveled that he had been regular to Tahjud prayers for two years. Yes Tahajud prayers! How many of us are even regular to obligatory prayers in a day? Yusuf discussed few other things and then he revealed about the SMS and emails that Brian Lara had embraced Islam. The SMS is being circulated these days with the name of Saeed Anwar and Muhammad Yusuf. Yusuf said that many asked him about the authenticity of the news. Yusuf categorically denied but he did reveal that Brian Lara was introduced about Islam in early years of this century. Shaikh Hashim who himself was a Jew 30 years ago and used to work at Hollywood explained Islam to Brian Lara. Yusuf said that later he asked Brian about the entire thing. What Brian replied, this is something which I myself have experienced too during my 1st 3-day trip with Tableeghis. Brian said that he had no doubt about the features of Islam but he did not find a single Muslim in Pakistan which met the criteria of Islam. Do remember that Brian have made several tours in last 14/15 years. Is it not ironic that a non-Muslim is able to figure out who is a Muslim and we so called Muslims are not capable enough to find out what we are? Yusuf is not a professional speaker but Allah has really blessed him. The knowledge he has acquired, one can not believe that he was a Christian. He was wearing a very ordinary looking kurta shalwar. One could not believe that he was a millionaire man and a world record holder. The guy is really very simple person.
Later on Saeed Anwar performed Tashkeel( the formation of the group for next trip) and delivered a small speech. He also shared few stories. The first one was about another famous Pakistani cricketer Saqlain Mushtaq who now lives in England. Saqlain is also part of Tableeghi Jamat and most of the time he stays in UK. Saeed told that one can’t live an interest free life in UK as it’s quite difficult. Saqlain was striving to get rid of Interest and for that he needed 1.2 million Pakistani Rupees. Saqlain had no such source to earn so much money but he was determined. One day he got a call from a county manager who was offering him £15,000. Saqlain told them about his leg injury but they still insisted and offered him to just bowl with with shorter run-up. Saqlain discussed with his people and got agreed. Allah helped him in a way that game didn’t last for more than a week and Saqlain’s team was on batting side. Over all he bowled only 20 overs thus Allah gave him the required money as well as took care of his leg injury.
Saeed Anwar told another story of a group which was visiting Egypt for Tableegh. The group members met an Egyptian couple. The wife of the guy was a non-Muslim. Later wife asked his husband about Tableeghi people. The guy replied that they were Muslims. The wife immediately asked that if they are Muslims then who is he? The husband replied that he was not a practiced Muslim while these Tableeghis were. The Egyptian guy later told the group that his wife had embraced Islam. The husband told the group that he asked his wife that what happened all of a sudden that she accepted Islam? The answer of the lady was something which many people will not believe at all. The lady replied that she had not met any man in her life who had not seen her or stared her and these tableeghi people did not even raise their eyes. She liked it so much that she embraced Islam. Allah-o-Akbar! It reminded me how actions of early of Muslims made thousands of people to embrace Islam. Lower your gaze, Quran orders it but majority of us do not care about it at all. Just one action of few Muslims made a woman to accept Islam. No lengthy lectures, no preaching at all. We ourselves do not realize that there are reasons that the Prophet had asked us to follow the sunnahs. This is one of the reason why following of Sunnah is so important in Islam. Why don’t we have such qualities? Irony is that we feel ashamed of Islam that we try to justify Islam by twisting original teachings. The bayan ended around Isha prayers and I returned back to home after congressional prayers.
Related Posts:
Why did I become Muslim-Cricketer Yousuf about his conversion
Categories: Religion, cricket, Tableegh
on May 28th, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Jazakallah!May Allah bless you..You share all time something wonderful related to Islam quoting examples from daily life,cntribute your own experiences and above all very simple way to address things which seems quite complicted at times with the refrence of religion…Good show!!
on May 29th, 2009 at 10:27 PM
MashaAllah….Dil khush hota hai aisii batain sun ker….If you ever listen to Junaid Jamshed’s naats…..they just touch the heart…each and every word is so true of his naats….(right now listening those naats)…..I have a question here….what to do with these barelvis, who has a complete different picture of Islam with them?…. I really am very confused with their logics and facts…..please help out.
Nice blog!
on May 30th, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Who finances for their costly visits to Egypt etc?
The fact is that they were too much involved in so-called tableegh/tashkeel etc and totally ignored the task they were paid for, and brought shame to their name, that even resulted in the tragic death of their teacher(coach) Bob Woolmer.
on May 30th, 2009 at 6:35 PM
@PakiBoy: the first and important rule of tableeghi trip is self finance; be it a local trip or out of country. I can’t go out of country unless i am able to pay money for Visa and ticket. There is no some centralized funding or helping scheme. Tableegh is all about self service.
totally ignored the task they were paid for,
I think you are babbling here. What task? Who broke the record of Viv Richards? that ws Yusuf(did u check the link i mentioned?). Who got the 3rd slot in ODI and 4rth in Test? that was Inzy. Please correct your fact when you discuss things with others. The fact is Pakistani team is getting ZALEEL these days. I can go on and on to refute you but that’s not my purpose here. Do google a bit and save yourself from future embarrassment. as far as murder of Bob Woolmer, In this way I should point out Shoaib Akhter because he was the one who even insulted Woolmer and mind you, Shoaib is not a Tableeghi.
on May 30th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
@Biya: welcome to blog. Yes I have listened Junaid Jamshed.
as far as Barelvis are concerned, I myself belong to a Barelvi family but do not agree with barelvi teachings. Barelvis is a REMIXED version of Shia belief. Most of the things they do are found in Shia madhab. Barelvi also involved in many Bidats. Let me know if it answers your question.
on May 31st, 2009 at 1:20 PM
@Ashley: Waiyak. You said way too much about me :P. Remember in prayers
on June 1st, 2009 at 4:29 PM
I would appreciate if you explain those bidats to me. and also what really is a bidat? Having such occasions known as “giyaarhween”, “bara wafaat”, “milaad”, “tera tezi” etc etc….i mean im very confused with all such things….plz help.
on June 10th, 2009 at 4:07 AM
Salamalaikum
Sister Biya: Bascially, bidat is worshipping Allah in ways that are not those of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or his rightly guided successors (khulafa-e-rashideen). There is a rule in shariat that every act of worship is haraam unless it is authentically proven from Qu’ran, sunnat or the actions of the khulafa-e-rashideen.
So any action that is done in order to worship Allah but has no basis from Qur’an or the actions of Rasoolullah (saw) or sahabah is bidat. So, would driving a car be a bidat since the Prophet or sahabah didn’t drive a car? Of course, it is not a bidat because it is not an act of worship. Now, just for the sake of argument, let’s say somebody comes and says driving Suzuki is a sunnat and a good thing to do that will bring reward. Then, of course, that would be a bidat.
I hope this makes sense. If not, please ask more questions inshaAllah.
Now giyaarhween is an anniversary for Abdul Qadir Jilaani who was a great scholar of his time and died on the 11th of Rabius Sani. Now, some of the people (like the Bralwis) celebrate his death anniversary every year or some every month as well. This is called giyaarhween. Majority of scholars are against simple birthday/anniversary/bursi celebrations which is not done as an act of worship to gain sawab. Then, how about giyaarhween which is done in the name of Islam to gain sawab while the Qur’an, the Prophet or the sahabah never did these things?
Does Qur’an command us to celebrate birth or death anniversaries of Prophets and other pious people? Did the Prophet recommend us to celebrate the death anniversaries of pious people or of himself? No. Did sahabah celebrate death or brith anniversaries of each other or of Rasoolullah (saw)? No. So, it is clear that all such anniveraries done in the name of Islam and Allah and His Rasool are all bidats. Same goes with milaad which is a celebration of the birth/death anniversaries of Rasoolullah (saw).
Another example is the latest fashion of having music in naat or nasheed (Islamic songs). Naat is ok if the status of Rasoolullah (saw) is not exaggerated and also if it doesn’t replace reading/listening the Qur’an. But, once you add music to naat and deem it according to Islam, then that is a bidat and haraam. Why? Did Rasoolullah (saw) allow music or ask Hassaan ibn Thaabit (who used to say some verses in praise of Rasoolullah (saw)) to add musical instruments to his lyrics? Same goes with qawwaali, dancing, dhammal, etc that happen in mazaar, dargah, etc.
Sorry I’m not sure what bara wafat and tera tezi are. But, I think I have relayed to you the principle of what makes something a bidat. So, you can easily figure out if it is a bidat or not. In Islam there are only two periodic celebrations allowed: Eidul fitr and Eidul Azha. Any periodic celebration (by periodic it is meant a celebration which is done each month or year at a specific date/time) is a bidat. So, I’m quite confident that bara wafat and tera tezi are all bidats.
May Allah keep us safe from bidats.
Now, there are bidats that are not only haraam but they are shirk as well. So, if somebody says you can say “Ya Rasoolullah, meri maddad kijeeyay”, then this is a bidat because we know Islam does not teach us. Islam teaches us pure tawheed which tells us to ask nobody except Allah alone. But, this is just not bidat but it is shirk. And anybody who commits shirk is a mushrik and not a Muslim. Many Bralwis, especially their leaders, commit shirk because they say saying things like “Ya Rasoolullah, meri maddad kijeeyay” or “Ya Rasoolullah Allah say kahain kay mujhay shafaa ataa karain” (for example), etc are allowed because Rasoolullah (saw) can’t hear your duas/calls/pleas nor can he solve our problems. Only Allah is as-Sami’ (All Hearing), but Rasoolullah (saw) was a human being and has died and is in his grave. He can’t hear your call from your house or any other place, even next to his grave.
InshaAllah, you will see all such calls are not only bidats but shrik which throw people out of Islam. Read this post by brother Adnan on this very blog a few weeks ago: http://kadnan.com/blog/2009/05/07/who-is-their-allah/
Such calls of shirk and other types of shirk (like saying that Rasoolullah had ilm of ghayb or Rasoolullah is also noor like Allah but not bashr (human) like the rest of us, etc.) are common Bralwi beliefs that Bralwi “ulema” know and practice and teach. All these calls of shirk and other shirkiyyah practices like nazr (slaughtering an animal)for an awliya-e-Allah at his mazar is shrik because we only slaughter in Allah’s name and don’t join anybody with Him. Alhamdulillah.
If I don’t make sense, then please ask….wassalaam
on June 13th, 2009 at 3:21 AM
Asalamu ‘Alaykum Wa Rahmatullah
Jazak’Allah khairan, is this the al-Falah Masjid close to Khalid ibn Walid Road in P.E.C.H.S.? And you might be interested in correcting the Kalimah in your article.
Wassalam
on June 13th, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Waslam
nope its in Hyderi block H
on June 20th, 2009 at 8:01 PM
As Salam O Alaikum Wa Rahmatullhi Wa Barakatuhu,
This is my first time to visit your blog is it possible for you to contact me through mail as i like your views and want to be in your closer circle (may be) if you want (no eorce) i live far from homeland.