CONTRADICTING DISBELIEVERS IS A REQUIREMENT OF ISLAM
All thanks to Alláh, Who ordered us to imitate the master and chief of all righteous people, Muhammad, and forbade us from imitating Mushrik (polytheists) and Kuffar (disbelievers, non-Muslims). I thank and praise Him for the bounties He bestowed on us and for the evils he saved us from. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Alláh Alone, without partners, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. May Alláh’s peace and blessings be on Muhammad, his progeny and his Companions.
O people! Fear Alláh and feel pride in your religion. O Alláh’s slaves! Alláh the Exalted has enriched Muslims and favored them with a perfect religion that is suitable for every religious and material benefit. Alláh has connected happiness in this life and the Hereafter to adhering to this religion and holding to it firmly.
“Then whoever follows My Guidance he shall neither go astray, nor shall be distressed.” (20: 123)
And:
“And whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.” (2:38)
Islam is the Straight Path taken by the Prophets, Siddiqun (truthful ones), martyrs and righteous believers; whatever contradicts this Straight Path, is on the path of those who earned Alláh’ s anger and are led astray: the Jews, Christians and Mushrik.
Dear Muslims! Whenever you recite Surat Al-Fátihah in the prayer, which is a pillar in every Rak ‘ah, you invoke Alláh to guide you to the Straight Path and to steer you away from the path of those who incurred His anger and those who were led astray. Contemplate this Du ‘a you are making and the fruits it will bear for you. The first meaning that this Du delivers, is that you are required to imitate the Sunnah and Law of the Prophet ~ and the way he conducted the acts of worship, dealings, public and private conduct, and so forth. Another meaning is that you are required to defy and contradict the disbelievers in whatever acts of worship, dealings, traditions and behavior that they engage in. Since imitating the disbelievers leads to loving them, then the Book of Alláh and the Sunnah of His Messenger(pbuh) have ordained defying them and forbade imitating them in any way or form, so as to save Muslims from what might bring them harm (and ultimately Alláh’s Anger). Surely, all the efforts and deeds of the disbelievers are in vain, and this is why any act they indulge in is never free from useless parts. Alláh said:
“As for those who disbelieved, their deeds are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty one thinks it to be water, until he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing.” (24:39)
And:
“The parable of those who disbelieved in their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day.” (14:18)
O Muslims! Even though Alláh has ordained on us to defy the disbelievers, He has decided with His Perfect Knowledge and revealed this knowledge to His Prophet(pbuh) that sorne Muslims would imitate disbelievers. The Prophet(pbuh) said in a Hadith that Al-Bukhdri and Muslim collected from Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri,
“You will follow the traditions of those who were before you, step by step, even if they enter a Dhab (Iizard) den, you will enter it as well.” They said, “O Alláhs Messenger, the Jews and Christians?” He said, “Who else?”
Further, Al-Bukhári narrated in the Sahih from Abu Huraira that the Prophet(pbuh) said:
“The Hour will not start until my Ummah imitates the earlier nations, a hand-span for a hand-span and a yard for a yard.” He was asked, “Like Persia and Rome, O Alláhs Messenger(pbuh) ?” He said, “And who are the people other than they?”
Therefore, the Prophet(pbuh) stated that some members of his Ummah will imitate the traditions and ways of the Jews and Christians, Persia and Rome (or Byzantine), whom he used to prohibit imitating in particular. We should assert that when the Prophet(pbuh) said this, he did not state that all of his Ummah would fall into imitating disbelievers. Rather, a Mutawatir Hadith (which is collected from numerous authentic chains of narration) stated that the Prophet(pbuh) said:
“There will always be a group of my Ummah that will be manifestly on the truth until the Last Hour starts.”
Also, the Prophet(pbuh) stated that Allah will never allow all Muslims to agree to evil, for He will always plant seeds in this Ummah, whom He will direct to His obedience. It is a fact, therefore, that some members of the Muslim Ummah will always adhere by the Prophet’ s guidance, which is pure Islam. Furthermore, there will always be those who deviate from this religion, to a path contained by the Jewish or Christian religions. This type of deviation will be made tempting by the devil, and this is why the slave is required to invoke Alláh often to guide him or her to the correct path containing no part of the deviations of Judaism or Christianity.
There is wisdom behind forbidding imitating the disbelievers and requiring Muslims to contradict them. It is that imitating disbelievers outwardly leads to imitating them inwardly, with the result being agreeing with their traditions and deeds. In contrast, contradicting the disbelievers outwardly leads to contradicting them inwardly. Consequently, Muslims will in the latter case stay away from all means and ways that might earn them Alláhs anger or being led astray, all the while being directed to the path of people of the right religion and Alláh’s Pleasure.
Many Muslims in the present times imitate disbelievers in the way they speak, dress and behave. This evil has become manifested in so many aspects that cannot be counted in this short speech. For instance, large crowds of Muslim men shave their beards and grow their mustaches and hair to imitate the latest models and actors put forth by the disbelievers. In contrast, the Prophet(pbuh) commanded trimming the mustache, growing the beard and contradicting the disbelievers, who shave their beards and sometimes grow the mustache!
Trímming the mustache and growing the beard are acts and traditions of the Fitrah (natural way that Alláh created) and a part of the guidance of the Prophets that contradicts the enemies of Alláh and His Messengers. Also, these acts are beneficial, for trimming the mustache ensures the mouth is clean from whatever falls from the nose. This ensures that the mustache hairs do not mix with whatever food or drink one is taking. Also, refraining from trimming the mustache does not add beauty to the face, but rather the opposite. This is true, even though some people, whose opinions are unimportant to us Muslims, might think otherwise. As for the beard, it adds grace and beauty to a man’s face, especially in old age. Those who disobey the Prophet(pbuh) and shave their beard lose the beauty and charm the beard adds to their faces. But, this is the result of foolishly imitating the traditions of non-Muslims, thus preferring what is ugly in essence and disliking what is beautiful in essence. All that we can say to such people is that we invoke Alláh to guide us, and them to the Straight Path. We advise them to repent from this error and revert to correctness, for re-embracing truth is surely better than persisting in evil. The Sunnah of the Messenger of Alláh has been explained to you, and you are commanded to follow him and imitate his practices, no matter how many are those who defy him:
“Indeed in the Messenger of Alláh (Muhammad(pbuh)) you have a good example to follow.” (33:21)
Another example of imitating disbelievers is that Muslims speak to each other in other languages without necessity, even Arabs who live in Arabia! The more a Muslim speaks the languages of the disbelievers, his Arabic will become weaker, even though Arabic is the symbol and language of Islam. It is a fact that language is one of the greatest symbols that distinguish a nation from other nations. This is why scholars of Islam disliked that Alláh is called in Du ‘á in the prayer using any other language than Arabic.
Alláh has chosen Arabic to be the language of His Book and to be the mother tongue of the Last and Final Prophet and Messenger. Speaking often in a language other than Arabic, which as we stated is the symbol of Islam and the language of the Qur ‘án, directs to imitating non-Muslims and ignoring Arabic. We should also assert that learning Arabic is required in our religion, since it is the language of the Qur’án and Sunnah. Proper understanding of these resources of Islam requires knowledge in Arabic, for the means and ways to perform an obligation in the religion are obligations themselves.
Furthermore, Muslims can speak languages other than Arabic when there is a need to do so. Otherwise, they should converse with each other using the language of the Qur’an. It is a cause for sadness and sorrow that in many lands and official departments in the Muslim world, you would find the official language used to be other than Arabic, as ifyou were living in Europe!
Another example is that Muslims imitate sorne acts of worship of disbelievers that contain Shirk, such as erecting monuments on graves and building around them. The Messenger of Alláh(pbuh) said:
“May Alláli’s curse descend on the Jews and Christians, they turned the gravesites of their Prophets to mosques (places of worship).”
The Prophet(pbuh) stated that whenever righteous men died, they used to build places of worship around their graves and made pictures in their images. He stated that they are the worst among Alláh’ s creation ! Yet, this particular type of Shirk has occurred in this Ummah, because of going to the extreme regarding graves and the dead; an evil that has become so widespread and a common practice, because of imitating Jews and Christians.
Another example occurs when Muslims imitate the evil religious practices of non-Muslims, such as the acts of Shirk and innovation that occur while celebrating the Prophet’s birthday and the birthdays of leaders and noted chiefs. These celebrations or ‘holidays’ include National Days, Mother’s Day, Cleanliness Week, and so forth among the holidays and anniversaries that Muslims imported from disbelievers. In Islam we have only two holidays, ‘Eidul-Fitr and ‘Eidul Adhha. Celebrating on other than these two days, is an innovation and an act of imitating disbelievers.
Therefore, Muslims ought to be aware of these facts and not be deceived by the large number of Muslims who are truly ignorant in Islam and thus fall iota these and other evil acts due to their heedlessness and foolishness. Or they might not be ignorant, but still intend to commit these acts knowingly, thus making the disaster even more enormous.
“Indeed in the Messenger of Alláh (Muhammad(pbuh)) you have a good example to follow for him who hopes for (the Meeting with) Alláh and the Last Day, and remembers Alláh much.”(33:21)
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