WAHABISM HAS HISTORICAL ROOTS
If we go back to our history and look up its painful events, some of those events shall attract our attention to reveal to us that Wahabism, which we have known in this century, had ancient roots since the beginning of Islam. They appeared one time and hid another. One time they appeared daringly, and another time hid because of fear and dissimulation, until when Islam regressed and was afflicted in its pillars and great personalities, and colonialism came to feed and strengthen this new thought.
The aim behind that was to destroy the sanctity of the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.). Muslims, due to the colonialists' thought, sanctify two things; the Qur'an and the Sunna, which are the two basic sources of the Islamic Sharia that is targeted by them.
They know that the speech of Allah can never be changed and distorted, because Allah the Almighty has undertaken its preservation. But as for the Prophetic Sunna, it is liable to distortion and fabrication. In fact, since the first day when the Prophet (a.s.) left to the better world, disagreement took place among Muslims on the Prophet's Sunna. However, colonialists perceived that the scholars of the nation set right the Sunna and collected its true and reliable traditions and put laws and rules to keep it safe from increase or decrease. Therefore, they thought of a satanic trick that might help them do away with the spiritual matters that were the most active factor in the life of Muslims; that whenever Muslims gave up these spiritualities, they would approach, step by step, the unfaithful materialism, and then they would become like the scum of a flood.
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They looked for a Muslim man who had infinite ambition, and they discovered Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab, to whom Wahabism is ascribed. They inspired in him from their spirit and convinced him that he was the savant of his age and that he had genius and intelligence that even the orthodox caliphs did not have. They showed him the violations of the caliphs against the clear texts of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunna, especially the objection of Umar ibn al-Khattab to the Prophet (a.s.) during his life. They convinced him that Muhammad was a human being who was fallible; that he committed many mistakes, and that some people corrected him, and this was a proof on his weakness. They aroused his greed to the rule and to prevail the Arabia first, and then all the Arab and Muslim world.
Wahabism was established on these concepts, trying the best to degrade the Prophet (a.s.) and slighting his importance, until their scholars said openly, "The Mall has died." And their head said, "Muhammad is just a worn-out rope that dose neither benefit nor harm, and my stick is better than him, because it benefits and harms."
Sayings like that were said at the time of al-Hajjaj ibn Yousuf athThaqafi who himself said, "Woe to them! They circumambulate a worn-out rope. If they circumambulated the palace of Ameerul Mo'minin Abdul Melik ibn Marwan , it would be to them."
In fact, nothing made al-Hajjaj and the vicious Umayyad rulers so daring, except the daring of Umar ibn al-Khattab who said in the presence of the Prophet (a.s.), "The man (the Prophet) is raving. The Book of Allah suffices you."
In this very impudent saying, there are all the meanings that the Wahabis try their best to confirm and fix in the minds of people. They say that Muhammad has died and is no longer but a part of history. Whoever supplicates by means of him is as if he worships him and makes a partner in deity. This is not a new concept; it has a root in history. Abu Bakr said openly before people, "0 people, whoever worshipped Muhammad, so Muhammad has died, and whoever worshipped Allah, Allah is alive and does never die."
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What was the reason for Abu Bakr to say so while he certainly knew that no one of Muslims worshipped Muhammad at all? Did Abu Bakr believe that some Muslims actually worshipped Muhammad? If it was so, then why did Muhammad keep silent before those people, or why he did not prevent or scold them or even kill them?
I have been convinced that they (Abu Bakr, Umar...etc.) had the same thought that the Wahabis have today. It means that they could not bear to see people sanctify and honor the Prophet (a.s.). It made them angry to see people hurry and quarrel with each other to get the remainder of the Prophet's water of wudu to massage their faces and skins for blessing, and to be closer to Allah by loving him and his progeny. All that made a reaction to the people of Quraysh who began hating Muhammad (a.s.) with no guilt committed by him.
The chief of Quraysh Mo'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan revealed what was hidden in their chests when al-Mughirah suggested to him, "0 Ameerul Mo'minin, would that you be kind to your cousins of the Hashimites! By Allah, nothing has remained with them that you may fear. And this may cause you good mention."
Mo'awiya said, "How far! The man of Taym
1 ruled, wronged, and did what he did. By Allah, as soon as he died, his mention died with him. People may remember him and just say: Abu Bakr. Then the man of Adiy
2 ruled for ten years. As soon as he died, his mention died with him. People may remember him and say: Umar. Then our brother Uthman ruled. He did what he did and people did to him what they did. As soon as he died, his mention and what happened to him died with him. But the man of Hashem;
3 everyday his name is announced five times (I witness
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1 It was the name of Abu Bakr's tribe.
2 The name of Umar's tribe.
3 The tribe of the Prophet (s); Hashem was the great grandfather of the Prophet.
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that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). So which mention will last after this? May be buried their mention!"
1
It was Wahabism in its prettiest clothes and clearest tongues. It plotted yesterday, and is trying now to execute the plot today and tomorrow.
They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths but Allah will perfect His light, though the unbelievers may be averse.
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1 Mentioned by ibn Abil Hadeed in his book an-Nasa'ih al-Kafiyyah leman Yatawalla Mo'awiya, quoted from at-Tabari and ibnul Atheer.
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WAHABISM PROHIBITS VISITING OF GRAVES
One of the heresies widespread in the present time is the prohibition of visiting the graves by women. When a Muslim woman goes to perform the hajj, they (Wahabis) do not permit her to visit the Baqee' Graveyard or any other graveyard there. The Wahabis had prohibited this thing and still prohibit it with no any evidence except fanaticism.
Muslim has mentioned in his Sahih, Chapter of Funerals, that Aa'isha once asked the Prophet (a.s.) what she would say if she visited graveyards, and the Prophet (a.s.) said, "You say: Peace be on you, 0 peaceful people! You are from the foremost and we, if Allah wills, are from the following, and may Allah forgive the first and the last."
Al-Bukhari has mentioned in his Sahih that Anas ibn Malik said, "One day, the Prophet (a.s.) passed by a woman crying at a grave. He said to her, 'Fear Allah and be patient!' She said, 'Be away from me! You have not been afflicted as I have.' She did not know him. It was said to her that he was the messenger of Allah. She came to his house and did not find doorkeepers. She apologized to him that she did not know him before. He said, `Patience is (required) but at the first shock.'"
1
The traditions about this subject are too many in the books of the Sunni and the Shia, but the Wahabis deny and pay no any attention to them.
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1 Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 2 p. 79, chapt. Visiting of Graves, Funerals.
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When I argued with one of the Wahabis by these traditions, he said to me that they were abrogated. I said, "In fact, the prohibition is that which was abrogated, because the messenger of Allah said, 'I had prohibited you from visiting the graves, but now you visit them, because they remind you of death.'"
He said, "This tradition means men and not women."
I said, "It has been proved in history and to the scholars from the Sunni that Fatima az-Zahra' (a.s.) visited her father's tomb every day, and she cried there and said, '0 father, calamities have been poured on me that if they were poured on days, they would turn nights.' It is well known in history that Imam Ali (a.s.) built her a special house called 'the house of sorrows' where she spent most of her time weeping."
He said, "If we suppose that this narration it true, it concerns Fatima alone."
Unfortunately, it is the blind fanaticism! How can a Muslim imagine that Allah and His messenger prohibit woman from visiting the grave of her father, mother, brother, husband, or child where she may pray Allah to have mercy on and forgive them, and where she may pity them through tears of mercy and remember death and the afterlife as man does?
It is injustice against woman that Allah does never please nor does His messenger or any man of sound reason.
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THE AHLUL BAYT AND A MODERN MUSLIM
The jobs of the present age have occupied most of man's time and not left for him free time except very little. At the age of the Mission, the first age of Islam, jobs were limited that man was either a farmer, trader, or manufacturer. These three jobs gave man enough free time to practice his worships as he liked and at their specified times. When the time of prayer came even if a Muslim was in the place of his work, he stopped working to offer the prayer with a tranquil soul.
As for today where governments have employed most of people for assured and defined salaries and for several hours, people are not allowed to stop working in order to offer the prayer. A student, teacher, manager, physician, nurse, worker, soldier, policeman, officials in companies, factories, and mines, the guards of boundaries, officer in a weather station or airport ... etc. do not find free time to offer the prayer in its five prescribed times.
I myself suffered this problem when I was a teacher. My soul was upset and my conscience was confused for time did not permit me to offer the prayer in its specified time. I often missed the Dhuhr (midday), Asr (afternoon), and Maghrib (time of sunset) Prayers especially in winter. I often offered the four prayers (in addition to Isha (evening) Prayer) altogether in the night. Sometimes, I went back home while very tired that I could not offer them, or I offered them in spite of me.
I discovered that many Muslims gave up prayer for this reason that they were psychologically confused, hoping that chance might permit them to offer this obligation. Because of that,
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detestation came to some people who saw that the prayer was like a nightmare, which confused their ease. They began criticizing Islam of being a religion of tiredness, difficulty, and hardship, and saving that Christianity had relieved its followers from many ties where they pray only one time a week; on Sunday which is a holiday.
How often the missionaries did strike the right tone before the Muslim youth, claiming that their religion (Christianity) would keep pace with civilization and with all ages! They say that one prayer in a week and fasting (abstaining from eating meat only) for only three days in a year make their religion a religion of love and peace.
How much these propagandas did attract the Muslim youth, who suffered, in their early childhood, the pressure of parents to perform wudu and prayer to a terrible degree in some families. You see that some parents, especially unlearned ones, want their children to be exactly like Rabi'ah al-Adawiyyah
1 if they are females and like Ahmed al-Badawi if they are males. They waken them up before the dawn and tire them with prayers. They watch them day and night, and blame and punish them severely for everything. They beat them sometimes just because they forget something. They send them to government schools and burden them with duties, until they become boring, and then hate the religion while they are not yet adolescent. I do not say except what I have already seen. I saw many children from my relatives, who offered the prayer under pressure, give up the prayer when the authority of parents was no longer over them, or when they were far from the family and its ties.
Many times, I tried to convince some parents from my relatives not to heat or force their children to offer the prayer and that they must treat them kindly and leniently, to endear to them the prayer and not to make it as a nightmare to them, but I often
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1 An exemplar in faith and piety.
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faced their saying that the Prophet (a.s.) had said, "Beat them (children) to offer the prayer while in seven years old (or ten years in some traditions)".
In this way, the Muslim youth lose their prayer and give up their religion, even if they do not follow the missionaries. In addition to that, the TV, games, and many things else take the youth away from the remembrance of Allah.
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THE SOLUTION IS IN THE
AHLUL BAYT'S SCHOOL
Whoever observes the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), concerning the Islamic education, shall find the sufficient solutions that Allah the Almighty has legislated for His people to make the religion easy to them and within the reach of everyone, young or old.
Allah the Almighty says :
He has not laid upon you any hardship in religion. 1
Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire for you difficulty. 2
Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability. 3
To relieve from hardship
This is the general rule in Islam; every hardship is kept away, every difficulty is hated, and every strait is prohibited. If it is so, then what for is the strictness that we find in the books of jurisprudence among all Muslims?
If a Muslim reads some chapters on wudu or ghusl (ritual wash or bath), he feels that jurisprudents have added difficulty to the easiness, and imposed on man more than his capacity.
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1 Qur'an, 22:78.
2 Qur'an, 2:185.
3 Qur'an, 2:286.
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It is known in the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) through traditions narrated by them from their grandfather the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) that "Wudu is two washes and two wipes; to wash the face and the hands, and to wipe (with the wet remaining in the hands) the head and the feet."
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THIS IS THE WUDU
As we have said before and in order to make it easy for Muslims, Allah the Almighty has imposed wudu on Muslims before offering the prayer. Allah says :
0 you who believe, when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and yourfeet to the ankles. 1
Then, wudu is to wash the face and the two hands and to wipe the head and the two feet. As we see, it is easy and accessible with no any difficulty or hardship. If a Muslim is at home or traveling, in an airport or a railway station, this wudu shall not embarrass him at all; he just turns on the tap and washes his face and hands, and then he turns off the tap and wipes his head and feet with the wet of his hands. He may not take off his shoes except in the place of prayer if it is near, and then he wipes his head and feet.
But, if the wudu is as described by (Sunni) jurisprudents who says :
1. To wash the hands to the wrists three times
2. To rinse out the mouth three times
3. To wash the nose three times (by inhaling and ejecting out)
4. To wash the face three times
5. To wash the right hand three times and the left hand three times
6. To wipe all the head
7. To wipe the two ears
8. To wash the right foot three times and then the left foot three times
It shall be of difficulty and hardship, especially to the youth when
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1 Qur'an, 5:6.
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they are in travel. It is difficult to wash the feet in winter, and then to wait until they dry in order to put on the socks.
What is important in this matter is that the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), that do not rely on personal opinions nor on misinterpretation before clear texts, acts according to the Holy Book and the pure Prophetic Sunna. The wudu that the Shia follow is the wudu that Allah has imposed on Muslims in the Holy Qur'an and it is the wudu that the messenger of Allah (a.s.) and the infallible imams of his progeny did practice.
May Allah have mercy on Abdullah ibn Abbas who often said, "I do not find in the Book of Allah except two washes and two wipes, hut you insist on following the rule of al-Hajjaj."
Muslims today, especially the learned youth, have to go back to the right way of Islam with its simplicity and easiness to make people love and wish for the religion. How often the Prophet (a.s.) announced before Muslims, "Make it easy and do not make it difficult! Do not make (people) alienate (the religion)!" And he often said, "Do not make it difficult for yourselves, lest Allah makes it more difficult for you as He did to the Children of Israel."
How many ones, who escaped from the prayer because of wudu, or they offered the prayer but with tayammum
1 for fear of water which caused them prurigo in the hands and fingertips of the feet,
2 but by the wudu of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), they recovered soundness and became tranquil!
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1 Ritual purification with sand, soil, or dust instead of wudu when there is no water.
In the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), one can practice tayammum even if water is available when he fears from a disease, or what may lead to or complicate a disease as narrated from Imam as-Sadiq, "... soil is one of the two purifying things".
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THIS IS THE PRAYER
The prayers in the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), are offered in three times instead of five times :
One time for the Fajr (dawn) Prayer
One time for the Dhuhr (midday) and Asr (afternoon) Prayers
One time for the Maghrib (time of sunset) and Isha' (evening) Prayers
We have written a separate chapter in our book "To be with the Truthful' to prove the legality of these three times from the Holy Qur'an and the pure Prophetic Sunna; therefore, we do not want to expatiate or repeat what we have said. Let whoever wants to see the details refer to that book.
Anyhow, we want here to explain the wisdom of Allah in gathering between the times of the prayers in this way. As we have said in a previous chapter (the Ahlul Bayt and a modern Muslim) that most of employees, who form three thirds of a society, do not offer the prayer, offer it lazily and unwillingly, or offer it with difficulty and hardship, because they know that it is not permissible for them (in the view of religion) to leave the work during the time of work, for which they receive wages, in order to offer the prayer.
We have nothing to do with those, who cry out in the mosques calling people to leave their jobs at the times of prayers even if that costs them to lose their jobs, because Allah-as they claim-is the One Who provides His servants with sustenance and not the employer or the owner of the factory.
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What is odd is that these very imams, who bear this thought, contradict themselves in the same subject. Once, 1 heard one of them praising Umar ibn al-Khattab and saving, "One day, our master Umar came into the mosque and saw some man offer the prayer before the coming of people. The second time, he came and found him offering the prayer. In the third, he (Umar) asked him (the man), "Who spends on you?"
The man said, "My brother spends on me."
Our master Umar said to him, "Get out of the mosque! Surely, your brother is better than you are. The sky does not rain gold or silver."
I became alone with the imam (of the mosque) and said to him, "Did you not say a month ago, 'Allah is the One Who provides His servants with sustenance, so leave your work in order to offer the prayer'?"
He looked at me with a smile and said, "For every occasion there is a certain saying! My first saving was from the Qur'an, and my second saying was our master Umar al-Faruq's. My first and second sayings are both true ..."
I said, "May Allah reward you with good! I have benefited from you."
We come back to the subject of the wisdom of Allah behind the gathering of prayers in one time. We say that Allah, the Wise, the All Knowing, the Creator of everything, Who knows the past, the present, and the future; nothing is hidden from His knowledge. He has known that in some certain time people would be confined to their jobs that would limit their freedoms and times, and since Muhammad (a.s.) was the last of prophets, whose law would be valid until the Day of Resurrection and within the reach of all human beings, and since the wisdom of Allah requires easiness and relief for people who are abide by religion; therefore, Allah recommended His messenger to offer the Dhuhr and Asr Prayers in one time either by advancing the Asr Prayer or
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delaying the Dhuhr Prayer, and offer the Maghrib and Isha' Prayers together either by advancing the Isha' Prayer or delaying the Maghrib Prayer,
1 and to teach his nation this way in order to relieve them from hardship.
The messenger of Allah (a.s.) did what he was ordered to do. He led congregational prayers in Medina many times in this way, and when he was asked why, he said, "in order not to make it hard for my nation, or in order not to embarrass my nation".
2
Ibn Abbas said, "The messenger of Allah (a.s.) offered in Medina seven (rak'as) and eight (rak'as); the Dhuhr and the Asr prayers (together) and the Maghrib and Isha' Prayers (together)."
3
This is the wisdom of Allah the Almighty and this is the prayer of the messenger of Allah (a.s.) according to the order of his Lord, in order not to cause the nation any hardship. Then, why do we refrain from this way in offering the prayers, whereas it is easy and possible for all people; employees, workers, students, soldiers ... etc.? There is no job in the world that may disturb these times and there shall be no excuse for any Muslim after that.
4
It is well known that the labor law in the world limits the hours of work to eight hours a day into tow periods; the first one from eight o'clock AM to the midday, and the second from two o'clock PM to six o'clock PM, where there is a break of two hours for rest at midday. In this case, a Muslim can offer the Dhuhr and Asr prayers during this time of rest before coming back to his work.
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1 This advancing and delaying is from the beginning of the Dhuhr Prayer's time to the last of the Asr Prayer's time, and the same thing is to the Maghrib and Isha' Prayers. But as for one who has enough free time, it is recommendable for him to offer each prayer in its time.
2 Sahih Muslim, the book of Prayer, chapt. gathering between two prayers.
3 Sahib al-Bukhari, vol. 1 p. 133, book of Times of Prayers.
4 There is a saying by our ulama, "whenever the conditions of something are too many, the chance of its availability is too little"; therefore, make it easy that you may get it!
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Thus, he offers the Dhuhr and Asr prayers in their right times and come back to his work with tranquil mind and pleased conscience.
If the work is continuous all the day as in mines and some other factories, in this case, the labor law determines the work in seven continuous hours including a break of half an hour for rest. A company may manage the work by dividing the workers into three groups alternating each other in this way :
1. A group works from 7 o'clock AM to 2 PM
2. A group from 2 PM to 9 PM
3. A group from 9 PM to 4 AM
By this Divine wisdom of the times of prayers, all the groups can offer their prayers in their right times without any difficulty or embarrassment, and no one after that may say that he cannot find time for the prayer or that he misses the right time of prayer.
1
By this, we follow the Holy Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunna in offering the prayers in their times, for the prayer is a timed ordinance for the believers. At the same time, we keep away from ourselves and from others any hardship and embarrassment. Perhaps, most of the youth, who give up the prayer, may return to it when they know that Allah the Almighty has permitted it in this way, and the messenger of Allah and his progeny (peace be on them all) offered it in this way.
2
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1 Of course, we do not talk about the very special cases that may force workers to work for ten continuous hours or more that is called "overtime". Such workers, as well, can offer the prayers if they want, for the wudu and the offering of the Midday (Dhuhr) and Afternoon (Asr) prayers take about six minutes. Do these workers not go to the WC? Does this not take time?
2 In many cases, the prayer can be offered according to the conditions of those cases; a traveler in the airplane can offer the prayer while sitting in his chair, a patient, who cannot move, can offer it while lying down, a handicapped person can offer it in the way possible to him, and so on.
