Beyond the 5 Pillars
Below is a transcript of a part of a talk presented in Durban on the occasion of the 31st Urs Celebration of Dr Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA, fondly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saib RA.
I start this discourse by quoting something that I personally heard from quite a few people on a number of different occasions. I quote:
“These people cannot read their 5 daily prayers but they want to have Meelad un Nabi, read Salami and feed everyone ‘daal ghos.’”
Apart from this person indirecty saying that he is praying (self praise), and apart from him using this fact cunningly to give him the authority to talk reigion, one of the things that comes through from this statement is that such people are instilling in people’s minds that prayer is better than Meelad un Nabi and it is better than the salawaath or salami.
Without doubt prayer is obligatory, it is one of the five pillars of Islam, it is important to always be in prayer throughout life but Meelad and Salami are also important and practicing these acts takes us closer to our Creator..
Consider this, in dealing with prayer, the Holy Quran simply states – establish prayer. But look how it instructs us to send salawaath on the Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam. Quotation from the Holy Quran:
“Verily, Allah and His angels bless this Prophet. Believers! you (also) invoke Allah’s blessings upon him and salute (him) with the salutation of peace.” 33|56|.
What a difference!
One is a straight forward command – “Establish prayer” and the other is full of passion, love, awe and grandeur – Imagine…., Allah SWT and His angels are sending blessings on this Prophet… what a huge thing.
Both prayer and salawaath are good things and they should NOT BE PITTED AGAINST EACH OTHER to cause problems (‘fithna’). A quotation from the Mathnawi vol.1 that describes such devious ways of causing problems:
“Whoever was possessed of (spiritual) discernment was feeling a sweet savour in his words and, joined with that was bitterness. He (the vizier) was saying fine things mixed (with foul): he had poured some poison into the sugared julep. The outward sense of it was saying, “be diligent in the Way,” but in effect it was saying to the soul, “be slack.”
By making such comments these people are ridiculing salawaath and Meelad and it is such statements that caused divisions in our community and caused people to leave celebrating the Meelad and it also turns people away or puts a barrier in peoples minds and hearts from loving the Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam.
However, I am going to continue with this pitting prayer against meelad and salawaath but I do it with good intention, which is so as to teach.
When we study our religious scriptures then we would see that prayer, not only does not guarantee us paradise but it could take us to the very worst part of hell if we read to show off our piety. We are warned about this spiritual malady:… when we pray we will have the tendency to lean towards thinking of ourselves as being pious – pride. We need to watch out for this. The Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam has said that there is a special part in hell for such people. It’s called ‘the Valley of Grief’. It is the very worst part of hell.
‘Salawaath’ on the other hand is different. The Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam has said that it becomes incumbent on him to intercede for that person that sends salawaath on him, and the intercession of our Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam will not fail. This is Allah’s SWT guarantee.
Our ‘salami’ is sending greetings (salawaath) on the Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam as directed in the Holy Quran and no matter how we do it, no one should belittle it or belittle us for doing it or find faults in it or find faults in us. These are sacred things spoken about in our Holy Quran .
Now let’s see how the Holy Quran deals with Meelad un Nabi SAW. In the 37th surah Allah SWT talks a bit on a prophet and then says ‘salamun Ebrahim’ as an example and then He talks of another prophet and says ‘salamun Moosa wa Haroon’ and continues with another and another. This ‘salamun’ which means peace is the recurring phrase of this surah. This surah is celebrating the Prophets. Subhan Allah!
In the next surah, the 38th surah of the Holy Quran, when Allah SWT talks about a particular prophet such as Ismail AS He says – ‘wazkur Ismiela wa Eshack’. ‘Wazkur’ means to commemorate, to celebrate or to talk about. We are told to celebrate the Prophets of Allah. This ‘wazkur’ is repeated in this surah making it the recurring phrase.
Such an elaborate way, such a delicate, sweet way! Through 2 surahs of the Holy Quraan, we are taught to remember, to celebrate and to commemorate the prophets.
Eid ul Adha with the making of Qurbani is the physical or practical way of commemorating Hazrath Ebrahim AS and Hazrath Ismail AS. Isn’t it so?!
Now i ask you, How much greater should the Meelad un Nabi celebration of Allah’s Habib, the leader of all the prophets’ be. This is what our noble Pir O Murshid RA has revived – the KZN Juloos Meelad un Nabi SAW and we are blessed to be a part of this revival.
Durban used to have this huge outdoor Juloos Meelad outside the Grey Street Jummah Musjid and it came to an end because of this type of controversy (fitna) and our Pir O Murshid RA revived this event in 1989.
Prayer is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. Now you must be wondering: how come salawaath and Meelad are so important, but they are not one of the 5 pillars?
To understand this: There is no verse in the Holy Quran that states that Islam is built on 5 pillars. This is from the Hadith of Gabriel AS, but this is not the only thing in this hadith.
This is the mistake that most people are making today. They practice the first part of this hadith, which is the 5 pillars and they leave out the other aspects of this hadith. By only concentrating on this one aspect, ie. the 5 pillars, they are not seeing the complete picture.
Its like learning our alphabets but not going on to use the alphabets to make words and convey messages. They are stuck in just saying the ABC’s for the rest of their lives which boils down to being meaningless.
So, the 5 pillars, although very important and necessary, is the least of importance when compared to the other aspects in this hadith because the 5 pillars does not guarantee us success in the hereafter while the other aspects mentioned in this hadith guarantees us success in the hereafter and even more.
So what are the other aspects of this hadith. The next thing is about attaining ‘Imaan’ or faith or belief which is to “believe in Allah SWT.”
It’s the first pillar transformed into action. To love the Holy Prophet Muhammad Salal lahu Alayhe wa salam (who is a part of this first pillar) is a very important part of faith and Meelad un Nabi and ‘Salami’ or salawaath are all things that develop this love. End
Peace and Salutations be upon Muhammad Salallahu Alayhe Wasallam
Published by Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi.
Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi was founded by Dr/Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA, (lovingly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saib RA).
Author: Mahomed Hassan Gaffoor
His WhatsApp: +27 84 910 1486
NOTE 1: Watch our KZN Juloos Meelad un Nabi (PBUH) introduction: https://youtu.be/tf86eS-BQq4?feature=shared
NOTE 2: listen to a beautiful naath on this theme: The Light Of Muhammad (PBUH)
NOTE 3: Read our novel, also based on this theme – Doolhun The Bride.