In search of Real Islaam...my path to Salafiyyah.....
Alhamdulillahi rabbil
aalameen was salatu was salamu ala ashrafil ambiyai wal mursaleen.
Amma'ba'ad.
This is my story on
how I became AhlulHadeeth......
I was born
alhamdulillah in a muslim family. My paternal relaties were mukhallids of
Shafii maslak,who worked with Jamat-e-Islami and my mother was from a staunch
Deobandi Hanafi background who also had some affiliations with
Jamaat-e-Islaami.
My mother was the one
who hardened my foundations in my faith, Alhamdulillah, and she taught me how
to be a fundamentalist muslim. Even before I joined school she started teaching
me how to speak English and forced me to have a command over it, she also
coaxed me to learn Urdu and always insisted on me to learn the Urdu language.
My mother used to
narrate to me inspirational stories of Mohammed(salalllahualihiwasallam),Umar
ibn al-Khattab,Hussain(the story of his martyrdom karbala),Salahuddin
Ayyubi,Aurangzeb, Tippu Sultan,etc.
Though I still had
little knowledge of Islam,I always held the belief that there can be no
religion superior to Islam.
In my house there were
two types of literature,as i said,Deobandi as well as Ikwani. I only remember
reading Khutbaat of Sheikh Maudodi (May Allah forgive him) and little bit of
Tafheem-Al-Quraan. I never touched his other books. I still hold the memories
of the books of Ashraf Ali Thanvi (May Allah forgive him) my mother read out to
me.
I however did not
participate in the Tablegi Jamat,actively,because i was put up in Kuwait from
Lkg till 10th standard.
Neither did i ever
hear the word ahlehadees or salafi till now.
The place i heard the
word 'wahabi' is still strong in my memory. In my eighth standard Social
Science text book. It said that the people of a muslim sect 'wahabis' were the
ones who started the freedom struggle. I however did not feel proud of
it,because i thought what was the use of fighting against the british when you
(the wahabis) will anyway go to the hell fire.since i had never heard of
'wahabis', i thought they might be some sect like shia or bohris,so without
proper beliefs any other action wont be accepted,and too must be the case with
the wahabis.
Meanwhile, I did have
a faint picture of Brother Zakir Naik. Once when i saw him on QTV, with a coat
and tie,and brother zakir was saying it's halal to wear it. I switched off the
tv, thinking him to be a modernist and deviant trying to defend modernism in
islam, as i was taught that the tie was a christian symbol.
For my 11th i came to
india.i stayed in my grandmother's place.
In my grandma's
place,they would often ask me to lead the prayers,as they assumed that i have
good knowledge on islam. However,they would,remind me to pray in the shafii
way,but i would insist and pray in the hanafi way-because i believed that all 4
imams were barhaq.
0nce in the fajr
prayer,i remember,that after the 2nd rakath i was about to go into sujud
without reciting the dua-e-qunut!on that my uncle,standing beside me,pulled my
hand forcibly,and so i stood again,and recited the dua e qunut!!!(For the
shafiis reciting the qunuut was a wajib in the second rakah of fajar prayer)
I once went to our family
mosque,which was lead by a hanafi deobandi imam,he too was forced to pray the
shafii way by the public.
When i asked him,what
was the ruling if i missed some part of the salah.he replied me telling that it
depended on which maslak i belonged to.i was silent and came back.
This year,was when,i
actually had an insight into jamat e islami's activities.
I understood some
basic things about jamat-e-islami. They velhemently supported Iran,and abused
the govts of saudi arabia.This feature of theirs did appeal to me.
Some two sessions of
dars-e-quran in the weekly SIO meet,and singing some hamd-o-naat in jamat e
islami programs was what i contributed to them.I really liked the way they
grouped people irrespective of their differences.
One thing of theirs,which
i hated was,their linency towards,sporting the beard,wearing the cap and pants
above the ankles.they considered this to be mere sunnah which could be
comfortably neglected!
In my 12th my mother
came to India,and i started staying with her. far from all jamat e islami
activities,now.
There was peace tv
english in our cable channel,which i rarely saw,and when i did,it had only
comparative religion dawah which was really impressive to me.i picked up many
things like stats and verses etc,even though i watched it for less than 3 hours
a week.
I was interested in
doing dawah now,being still a hanafi within!
There
was a barelvi mosque near our house,which i liked going to,to listen the friday
khutbah.I thought that the naats and salaams they sung,were the best way of
showing love to the prophet sallallahualaihiwasallam. I also loved their show
of love for the prophet. But one day in some khutbah the imam of that mosque
cursed Aurangzeb because he supposedly dug out the grave of some aulia-allah!
Even before praying the friday prayer in that mosque,i left the mosque and went
out in disgust.
The reason i left that
mosque,was not because of tawheed,but because they cursed Aurangzeb!!!
With all these confusions in mind,i finished my 2nd puc. I wanted to do
medical,but my mother forced me to select engineering.With utter disgust i
decided to opt for engineering,but i settled for a course which would be
available only in bangalore!because i wanted to stay away from my strict mother
who never allowed me to enjoy student life and meet my friends outside
college.for your info the course was aeronautical engineering.
All my decisions,which
i made to rebel against my mother,made me happier by the day.
Because i was soon
going to enjoy life in bangalore!
In bangalore, my
college's muslim friend's circle was tableeghi.I was happy finally,as i got my
roots back,they said they were deobandi hanafis! Six months i was with
them,sitting in the fazail e amal 'gashts' and speaking on eeman was the norm.
There were two 'fitnah
maker' ahlehadith guys in our group. When these guys would tell about quran and
sunnah to me, They would talk sense,but then i would give lame arguments to
prove that 4 imams can exist in co-existence!
But the tableeghis
soon realised the scene.and started making me listen anti-ahlehadis speeches by
Anzar Shah Qasmy from bangalore.i heard quite many of his speeches.mostly
extracts.topics like-'ham hanafi kyu hain','ghair mukhalid ka
operation',etc.this was the time i started sporting a beard,i.e,a trimmed
one,not a salafi beard.
Whenever i would argue
with these 2 salafi guys,i knew my argument was lame,yet i would continue.
All what I heard about
the salafis from Anzar Shah Qasmy was that they,
*Only accept authentic
ahdeeth,*Reject or throw away statements which contradict the hadees,*That they
rob from the houses of the 4 imams,*They hate blind Taqleed,*They dont do any
shirk or Biddah!!!
Even before they could
tell me what being an ahlehadith actually was, soon there was some ramzan
students program in the mosque near our college in bangalore.brother Mehtab
from CIS had come there to give a speech.
What i always heard of
salafis was that they always has 'benoor'(darkened) faces!but when i saw
brother mehtab,even though i had never seen many salafis,i felt that,this
brother is most probably an Ahlehadith. His
talk was on 'ilm'.and in the Q&A session,he classified one hadith as
fabricated. i was really impressed by this.i never knew hadith too were
classified as authentic or unauthentic.
I was made to believe
in everything i was told to be a hadeeth....!!!
Just after the
programme,i went in to congratulate him and ask questions like how to do dawah
n stuff!
But even without me
asking him !this brother started explaining me on the topic- Where Is Allah? I
agreed to the belief that Allah was on His Throne..alhamdulillah....
(The Deobandi Aqeedah
and Jamaat-e-Islami's founder Moulana Moudodi'd Aqeedah was that Allah is
everywhere-this is a serious mistake in aqeedah)
This was the real
beginning of loving ahlehadith.and a journey to a rugged terrain.
One of those 2 fitnah
makers,who actually did not sport a beard,asked me how was this daee! i replied
positively.to this he said that the brother was also an ahlehadith.
Then our college
holidays started and i went back home with the beard!
When i reached my
hometown,udupi,my relatives asked me if i had become a salafi(i never
heard the word salafi yet,i just knew ahlehadith!).
I asked in amazement-
who are they?they told me all vices about them just like i heard from Anzar
Shah Qasmy's talks-that they criticise,they think only they go to jannah,that
they support israel etc. i in innocence made a sort of promise with one of my
jamateislami uncle that i would never become a salafi!
Soon this incident
happened in my grand mother's place.(Allah opens up the hearts of the people in
the way He has planned, Masha'allah.....)
My younger uncle
XYZLMN came from kuwait.he wanted to buy a gift to his christian boss because
he had done many favors on him.
I went with my uncle
to the bazaar.soon my uncle entered a shop which had sandal wood idols of hindu
gods! My uncle then brought a sandal elephant for rupees3500,i told my uncle
that it is haram to buy an idol from an idol worshipper.he had lame arguments
saying that the christian boss wont worship this.i still insisted that buying
from a shop specifically selling them was haram.but my uncle brought it and we
went home.
From my grandmothers
place,i went back to my house,approx 5 kms from there,but i was really
disturbed!
Next day i went to my
grandmother's place,with an intention to advice my uncle to return back the
idol.
My uncle refused and
scolded me.
I had very meagre
knowledge of islam,and that too not salafi islam.but still. . . . .
I told my
uncle-"you have become mushrik by buying the idol."
My uncle-"you
have become a salafi who nags on the smallest of things."
Me-"what salafi,i
m not a salafi?''
Uncle-"you will
now keep beards like the jews".
Me- "uncle,can
you see i trimmed my beard,but uncle dont slander the salafis,they have got hadiths
to support them,the prophet never trimmed his beard."
(I got this
knowledge from my arguements with the 2 salafi brothers i mentioned above)
Uncle- "oh wow!
And then you will keep the hands on your chest like this(showing me the way
salafis do in a mocking way)".....
Me- "uncle,dont
joke them like this,there is a hadith in abu dawud which supports their
action."
Uncle-"do you
shake your index finger in namaz''.
Me-no!
Uncle-"but the
salafis do it! they distract people in prayer!"
Me-"they may have
some hadith for that,we should ask them!"
Uncle- "haan! The
salafis have only got all the hadiths in the world! do you know The barelvis
also have hadith to go to dargah ! "
i was immensly angry
at this. . .
I roared,forgettin
that he is a fatherly figure to me. . .
I said- "barelvis
have got hadith!!! shut your mouth and getlost,if you dont know something dont
speak about it! "
My uncle-"ya
allah! My child said this to me"(he was almost about to cry)
My mom-"son you
shouldn't have spoken this way!"
Me- " ammi! He is
supporting the mushriks! Mocking the hadith! Mocking the acts of the
prophet!should i sit quietly. . ."
My mom and me,we left
the place soon, i was hurt,i felt why did i support the salafis. it has already
started division, just like I heard about them......!
Tears
are rolling down my eyes as i m typing this.perhaps Allah loved this argument
of jihalat of mine.and allah pushed me into the maslak e haq.
Next day,a salafi boy,
Muzammil ,who had become salafi from barelvi long before me, came to our house.
After we finished the
zuhr prayer,he asked me.
Muz-"why are your
hands below the navel?"
Me-"see there is
no authentic hadith for any placement of the hands."
Muzamil,he immediate
opened my desktop and showed me a zakir naik video,from his pendrive,
supporting placement of hands on chest,saying that the hadith of placement of
hands on chest was stronger that the other two hadith!
(As I never considered
brother Zakir to be an authentic guy I felt that Zakir bhai's authority in
islaam is nill!!)
Me- "see
brother,when there are 3 weak hadith,we can follow anyone.i ll enquire it
elsewhere and see."
muzamil did not have
enough material to convince me.and my heart deep inside did not want to
agree to this guy who was 4 years younger to me;though i strongly felt it was
true.
With great pain
within,i reached bangalore,i felt that there must be something wrong with these
salafis.or else why would people resort to mocking someone with so many
evidences.
I remembered,CIS!
Just as i reached
bangalore,i went there,and brought the book-"prayer of the prophet by
sheikh albani."
br.mehtab asked me if
i wanted to see postmartem of fazail e aamaal by meraj rabbani.! I
was perplexed as though hearing something new. . .i asked
again-"what?"he replied 'fazail e amal' ka postmartem!
I brought that too.and
by the next week i finished reading almost 15 pages of the book from the
front,and 15 pages of the back!the way imam albani refuted taqleed in the
beginning and the way with which he refuted zaif hadith in the end was
superb!masha'allah. and the videos of shaikh rabbani blasted out to me the
wrong aqaid of the deobandis! my mind was salafi now.but not yet proclaimed.
For the remaining
queries,i went to shaikh ijaz nadwi of charminar mosque bangalore.he
with his handsome salafi face and politeness would clear all the doubts i
had.Mashaallah....
The news of my
arguments with my uncle reached all corners of my family.
Even after becoming a
salafi by heart.when my uncle ifthikar asked me by phone, if i m salafi-i
said-"dont you lie please,i m not a salafi?"
i kept tellin that to
many of my uncles who called me.
I was irritated by all
this,this was getting too much.besides that,the tablegis near my house were
arguing with me as to why i was doing rafadain,etc etc.
When one day, after
watching 'the serah of umar ibn khattab-by shaikh rabbani',when i
heard how umar proclaimed his islam! i went to the internet center,opened my
social networking account,which had many of my relatives,and i changed my
name.from 'Mohammed Thajammul Hussain Manna'. . . to 'MANNA MOHAMMED
SALAFI'!
And whenever my uncles
called to verify the change,i said-
"you were forcing
me to become a salafi? yes i m salafi now!"
when one of my uncles
asked-"you promised me that you would never become a salafi".
Me: "this is only
the correct path! And i m a salafi now!"
After this incident
all my relatives from my fathers side broke their ties with me.my mom and
younger bro became ahlulhadith very soon.my dad rejected my manhaj for one
year.but when he returned to kuwait and asked the scholars there about
'ahlehadith',i dont know what they said.but then my father too accepted
maslak-e-ahlehadith.
This was how i became
'manna mohammed salafi'.
I never removed the
word salafi with my name,even now, till date after 3 years.because i never
wanted to hide the truth.and i never had the misconception of naming oneself as
an adherant to AhlusSunnah or AhlulHadees or Salafi because descriptive names
like AhlusSunnah, AshaabulHadeeth and AhlulHadeeth wer used by the people from
the first 3 generations inclusive of the Sahabas! Alhamduliillaah....
May Allah reward the
brothers Mohammed Naqeeb and Zameer Pasha for doin dawah to me, may Allah
guide Anzar Shah Qasmy ,who curses the salafis in his speeches, to accept
the truthfullness of ahlehadees , it is because of him that I felt the need to
research on Islaam. May Allah raise the status of shaikh Nasir uddiin Al-Albani
(rahimullah) for his works, May Allah preserve Shaikh Meraaj Rabbani and give
him a long and healthy life and extract more service from him for His deen,May
Allah preserve Shaikh Aijaaz Nadwee for clearing my misconceptions about
Salafiyyah...Aameen Summa aameen.....
Finally all praises are for Allah, who guides whomsoever He
wills....