Making One's Islam variable of other Muslim's practice or belief

Many of us might have come across the quote of famous reverted Muslim Yusuf Islam (former Cat Stevens) where he says that - had he referred to the actions of Muslims in the first place instead of referring to Quran and Sunnah, he might have not become a Muslim at all. We pray for Yusuf Islam as he has returned to music recently. A random thought came to my mind the other day when I came across news of Malala and other Muslims who are promoted in the west for young Muslims. In many of these cases, I found these girls preaching directly or indirectly against Islam just because they were impacted by activities of Muslim groups which (the activities) were not completely Shareeah compliant. The irony is that we face the same issue in our own lives and yet it remains unnoticed.

Actually many Muslims, these days, start practicing Islam by being motivated through a preacher’s speech. That is completely okay. But, the next step should be to delve into the world of books of Tafsir, Hadith, books by classic scholars, lectures of great scholars and most importantly attaching oneself to a practicing community. As these critical phases of nourishing one’s Islam are not followed, the whole affair remains in virtual world. As every son of Adam (AH) is prone to sin, one might find his revered preachers or scholars to be in a scandal or with a changed liberal stance. We have seen reliable preachers to deviate from the correct understanding on many occasions and that is no surprise. But, the problem is on the fact that Muslims tie their faith with a particular preacher or a scholar’s islam rather than tying their faith with the practice of first three generations (Salaaf) of Islam. The following Hadith should serve as a reminder for us to work for our Imaan (check the green highlighted text).

Narrated Anas: The Prophet said, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness of faith: 1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle become dearer than anything else. 2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah’s sake. 3. Who hates to revert to disbelief (Atheism) after Allah has brought (saved) him out from it, as he hates to be thrown in fire.” [Volume 1, Book 2, Number 20, Sahih Bukhari]

We should strive to set our understanding of Islam correct before jumping into social networks in pursuit of small 5 minute lectures on different Islamic topics. Here comes the role of a community which will guide you in this journey. Embarking on your journey of Islam all alone and making it all virtual might lead you to a different destination.

I will give some examples so that you can correlate how we make our Islam a variable of other’s practice.

One might ditch a great scholar for a liberal speaker because one doesn’t like the emphasis given on Hijab with niqaab by the true scholar. It goes like this - ‘I feel these Arab scholars are too extreme. I think keeping the face open is a valid opinion and I feel comfortable with it’. And along comes other deviations gradually.

You might have seen this type of case as well where one doesn’t like a reliable scholar because he has spoken against a particular group or person’s fault in calling people to Islam to which or whom one was attached in his initial journey of Islam. I won’t go into further explanation. But, I earnestly request all to be serious about this matter of Deen. Do not consider anyone infallible except our beloved prophet SW. Do not turn away from the Quran and Sunnah if your preferred shaikh has invented a new explanation which goes against the understanding of Salaaf. May Allaah make us steadfast in his Deen.

Abu Aaisha