Posted by: TheMajlis

Bereft of any Shar’i argument and dalaa-il, the votaries of the bid’ah halqas, seek to substantiate the innovated practices of their public hubb-e-jah (love for fame) ‘thikr’ halqas by trading falsehood in total emulation of the Ahle-e-Barelwi bid’atis who refute the dalaail of the Ahl-e-Haq with irrational and emotional allegations calculated to confuse and mislead the unwary.

Thus, it has always been the style of argument of the Ahl-e-Barelwi bid’atis to embark on smear campaigns of falsehood, accusing the Akaabir Ulama of Deoband of showing disrespect for Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and of preventing people from Thikr.

This tactic has in these days been taken over by the Ahl-e-Bid’ah in the Deobandi camp. In emulation of the Barelwi bid’atis, the Deobandi bid’atis are now accusing the Ahl-e- Haq of Deoband of preventing people from Thikr.

When the Ahl-e-Haq criticize the innovated bid’ah halqah-thikr customs and specific forms of thikr displayed and advertised in the Musaajid, which have no resemblance with the Sunnah nor any origin in the Sunnah, the votaries of these customs claim that our arguments are directed at the Thikr which Allah and His Rasool (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) command.

Their peddling of falsehood is evidence for their moral and spiritual bankruptcy while their inability to produce proper Shar’i grounds to bolster their customs, is the evidence for their intellectual deficiency and total inability to prove the validity of their public halqah thikr demonstrations in the Musaajid.

These shows of ‘halqah thikr’ are enacted by men of outward piety to impress the public, with the view of enlarging the circle of ‘mureeds’. Towards this end, the ‘sheikh’ sends out his canvassers to rope in dithering prospective ‘mureeds’ and even total strangers to the idea of bay’t and what it is all about.

The only misleading argument the new brand of bid’atis, i.e. those other than the Barelwi bid’atis, can offer in the bid to convince the followers of the Ulama of Deoband of the validity of their bid’ah, is that seniors like Hadhrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (rahmatullah alayh) had permitted Thikr-e-Jahri (loud thikr).

MISLEADING: But this argument is manifestly misleading in view of the fact that the criticism is not directed to Thikr-e-Jahr, but to the innovated form and method of the halqah thikr which is perpetrated publicly in the Musaajid to the surprise and curiosity of the unacquainted and uninitiated. The impression given is that the specific form (hay’t-e-kathaaiyyah) of the halqah thikr in the Musaajid is a Sunnah ibaadat, when in reality it has absolutely no relationship with the Sunnah. On the contrary, Hadhrat Ibn Mas’ood (radhiyallahu anhu), one of the highest ranking Sahaabah, expelled from the Musjid a group participating in this type of halqah thikr.

THIKR-E-JAHR As mentioned earlier Thikr-e- Jahr is not being criticized. There is absolutely no need to present the ‘loud thikr’ argument in defence of the bid’ah of the customary halqah thikr sessions conducted in the Musaajid. It is superfluous to cite Hadhrat Thaanvi’s and other Akaabireen’s private thikr programmes in defence of this new bid’ah which was initiated only recently in the Jalalabadi branch of the Deobandi Circle in South Africa.

As far as Thikr-e-Jahr is concerned, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), the Sahaabah and the whole Ummah had always practised such Thikr. The Jahri Salaat, the Athaan, the Iqaamah, the Jumuah Khutbah, the Eid Khutbah, the Takbeer- e-Intiqaalaat of every Salaat, the Talbiyah and Takbeer Tashreek are all practices of Thikr-e-Jahr.

Loud tilaawat of the Qur’aan Majeed made at home, in private places such Madrasahs and Khaanqahs, is Thikr-e-Jahr. While permissible at home and in private venues, it is not permissible in public Musjids. The criticism is not directed at any of the Masnoon Thikr-e-Jahr practices. The criticism is directed at the innovated bid’ah halqah thikr sessions which pretenders have initiated in the Musjids.

MUSAAJID: The public Musaajid which serve people of a variety of persuasions, not only mureeds of a particular shaikh, were not made venues for private Thikr programs by the Akaabireen. The public Musjid is not a private khaanqah or a small villlage Musjid which is fully within the jurisdiction of the Shaikh of that place.

TASAWWUF: Another very pertinent objection to these practices is the lack of understanding of Tasawwuf of those who have set up shop to sell ‘tasawwuf’. In this age, the meaning of Tasawwuf is halqah thikr, public gatherings at which a show of piety is staged. Obsession with singing the praises of the shaikh, feasting, and merrymaking have become the hallmarks of today’s ‘tasawwuf’.

In other places such as West Africa, North Africa, Syria and Jordan, ‘tasawwuf’ is confined to singing and dancing called ‘dervish dances’ and beliefs of shirk. The pretenders and impostor sheikhs should understand well that the issue is not Thikr-e-Jahr. The bone of contention is their bid’ah forms of halqah thikr which have neither sanction nor origin in the Sunnah.

DALAAIL: Furthermore, when dalaail are presented in printed form for the masses at large, the bid’atis in our Deobandi camp should restrict themselves to the Four Sources of the Shariah. There is no validity in their stupid arguments in which they defile the names of the Akaabireen of this Tareeq to bolster their falsehood by misinterpretation of the statements and practices of the Seniors.

Hakimul Ummat, Maulana Thaanvi (rahmatullah alayh) should never be quoted in substantiation of bid’ah. Even in the privacy of his khaanqah, he maintained stringent rules to regulate such Thikr-e-Jahr which have no relationship with Masnoon ibaadat.