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Current Innovations

and

Groundless Customs

by

Mufti Rasheed Ahmed Ludhyanvi [ Rahimahullah ]Founder and chancellor of

Darul'ifta wal Irshad Nazimabad # 4,KarachiPakistan

Translation into EnglishDr. Muhammad Abdul Wahid Sayyid

Presented by : http://www.ahnaf.org


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Current Innovations and Groundless Customs

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FOREWORD

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. In my sermons(preaching) correction of wrong deeds and giving up of sins are empha-sized because these are the foundations of piety and religiosity. Fromamong these wrong acts are the prevalent customs of sending overrecompense to the dead which happen to be contrary to the way ofsending over recompense prescribed by Allah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihiwasallam) and which are an unapproved of innovation in the Islamicreligion because of their being a novel practice in Islam. That is why I keep

talking about the correction of these innovations also. Praise be to Allahthat due to this humble effort several people have renounced differentunacceptable deeds and unapproved-of innovations.

One recent event happens to be that a gentleman who wassusceptible to committing innovations received guidance from a talk ofmine and he repented from these innovations. Because of his forswearingof unapproved-of innovations his brethren ostracized him. However, he didnot care for his brethren's approval in comparison with Allah's approval. If the whole world gets angry. One Should not worry. One should keep the Wish of one's love in mind. You should decide by using this -criterion only as to what should be done and what should not be done. The Muslim's character and his relation with his Creator demand that:

If you are not mine, nothing belongs to me.


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If you are mine, everything is mine-----the sky, the earth, everythingbelongs to me.

The sustaining beneficent Allah in all His mercy guided this man andblessed and directed him towards the right path. Allah saved this manfrom the devil's ambuscade and took him to the kindness of Allah'sProphet, the master in the two worlds here and hereafter, the great bene-factor, the mercy for all worlds (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). In gratitude forthis blessing this gentleman wished that the discourse be published "asmuch as possible as much as possible in the form of a booklet so itbecomes a source of guidance for other brethren gone astray. Heaccordingly wrote out this discourse -from its taped version and asked formy_ permission to publish it. I grant the permission to publish it afterhaving reviewed it from a critical point of view.

Oh Allah, we pray to you through that limitless mercy of yours-----an emanation of which turned and changed the outlook or a heart andmine and through which a person gone astray came back to theright path-----that you grant us-----all the readers and audience of this dis-

course-------the same aforementioned, blessing of yours, and that youhelp us, and make this discourse a means of guidance of your worship-pers.

Oh Allah, accept our humble efforts, bless our deeds, make thiswork a source of continuing requital till the Day of Judgment for us, for ourseniors and predecessors, and for your beloved Prophet, the. greatbenefactor (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) and make it a means of your and

your beloved Prophet's(SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) pleasure and ourproximity to you and to him (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). Oh Allah, help us. Nothing can materialize without your help. You

are the resort of broken hearts. We return to you. Only you can fulfill ouraims.


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May Allah bless His beloved Prophet, his people andcompanions, and bestow upon then benediction and peace------with your grace, oh the kindest of all.

(Mufti) Rasheed Ahmad(Rahimahullah)30 th Muharram, 1402 A.H.

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the beneficent.

INNOVATIONS:

The sin that ensues from innovations in Islam in considered wrongly bysome to be a virtue. How can a man repent from a vice which he considers to bea virtue? One can eventually repent from a sin which one knows to be a sin.Supposing one does not repent from a particular sin, at least one recognizesoneself to be a sinner. If one confesses one's sin, professes it, is ashamed of it,may be Allah will take pity on that person. But one, who takes a vice to be avirtue, it is clear cannot repent, cannot feel ashamed in his heart pf hearts.Instead having committed such like sins a man is overjoyed because he hasdone a deed of virtue. That is why the Holy Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)has said. "Every innovation is a deviation and every deviation is in the fire".

The Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) says: Everything I have notbidden nor have my companions (May Allah be pleased with them) bidden, andwhich we have not acted upon, is an innovation in case people begin to do it as a

cause for recompense. Every such innovation is a deviation and every deviationwill lead to the fire of the Hell.

If we appeal to reason, reason is enough as a deciding factor, Is itreasonable to consider a virtue what Allah did not command to be a virtue, Hisprophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) did not announce to be a virtue, theProphet's Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did not, act accordingto nor called a virtue, the generation following the Prophet's companions (may


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Allah bless them) did not act according to nor informed about, the religiousscholars (may Allah's mercy envelop them) did not tell about nor acted upon. Ifwe commit such an act that we consider a virtue, let us think-----when we risefrom here, let us think------let us think real well, how it became a virtue. MayAllah give us the ability to think about this problem.

Whenever t happen to think of this problem, by Allah I feel disturbed as towhat happened to the Muslim nation. The Muslims gainsay the teachings of Allahand Allah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) and still call themselvesMuslims.

It is painful to me-----not painful in the same way as to see thesinful people------that some people who call themselves Muslims consider thedisobeying and gainsaying of Allah's and His Prophet's (may SallAllahu alaihiwasallam) commands to be a virtue. It is very distressing. Please pray that Allah may grant me the ability to explain insuch a way that we fully understand the issue, completely comprehend it, andthen be blessed by Allah with the ability to act accordingly. Amen.

Think, Think also when you have risen here. If you think continuously for several

days, you may understand to some extent. Think this that what Allah did not say,Allah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) did not say, the Companions of theProphet (may Allah be pleased with them) did not say or do, the religiousleaders (may Allah bless them) did not say or do, where did you learn from afterseveral hundreds of years? We are forced to answer that the devil inspires someminds. It is said in the Holy Book that "the devils do inspire their minions todispute with you" (6:121).

There is a kind of revelation from Allah to His Prophets (peace be withthen). The other kind of inspiration is from the devil in the hearts of the sinfuldisobedient people. The devil inspires evil ideas in the hearts of these people,to oppose the ways of Allah tries to present irreligion in the form of religion. IfAllah has not ordained something which according to you deservesrecompense, then what shall we say? By adopting an innovation you claim(Allah save me from the evil of that saying) more knowledge thanAllah's. You claim that Allah did not know the virtue of what you


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knew. Or you can say that Allah knew its virtue but deliberately hid theway that pleases Him and did not reveal it. Now after such a long time youcame to know of it. How did you, brother, come to know if it? When Allahhad hidden something, how did you learn about it?

You may alternatively suggest that Allah had told His Prophet(SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) but, Allah forbid, the Prophet (peace be withhim) did not grasp it, Or after grasping it forgot about it. In this way youmay suggest that (Allah protect us from that) the Prophet (peace bewith him) did not know about these things, his knowledge of these things(Allah save us from saying that) was imperfect, and he did not know that thethings we claim have virtue had virtue, and if he knew will then say that(Allah protect us from saying that) the Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)Allah forbid committed perfidy, or did not proclaim and impart religiousordinances completely. Or would you say that the Prophet's companions(may Allah be pleased with them) did not communicate the religion to their followers nor did they abide by it themselves.

Think about each and everything what will your mind reply? Didn't Allahknow? Didn't Allah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) know? Or would you

say that Allah (Allah forbid) scrimped its propagation? Or would you say thatAllah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) did not (Allah forbid) communicate allthe ordinances? Or the Prophet's companions (may Allah be pleased with them)did not sure up to their responsibility? What will you decide? For Allah's sakethink! Ponder! For Allah's Sake think again. The Most severe crime, the mostheinous sin, the most profane person is less than this innovation, this sin which isa real vice but which you consider a virtue.

To consider something part of religion which actually does not belong toreligion and to attribute something to Allah and Allah's prophet (SallAllahu alaihiwasallam) which they did not ordain, surely leads to infernal Fires. Allah'sProphet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) said, "One who intentionally lied about' me,should take his abode from fire" That is, one who attributes mendaciouslysomething to the Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) will go to hell.


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Think! If you call those things credit worthy that Allah did not ordain, thenare you not establishing your rule parallel to Allah's rule? You want to run yourown rule in opposition to the rule of Allah and His Prophet (SallAllahu alaihiwasallam). The faith belongs to Allah, the rule belongs to Allah. Since Allah didnot make such a rule as you want, it seems as if you wish to ordain law opposingAllah's law. This is known as high treason, establishing a parallel government.The biggest lawbreaker can be forgiven but hot the one who establishes aparallel government.

Sending Over Recompense : Yes, It is such a problem that itsintroduction became so lengthy. That is because I know that it is very difficult toreform the current methods. Only if Allah helps, then it will not be difficult. Theprocess of sending over recompense to the dead is quite easy. But the methodsof this process that are being currently adopted are such that neither Allah pres-cribed them nor His prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). These methods wereopted for neither by the Prophet's companions (may Allah be pleased with them)nor by the religious leaders (may Allah have mercy on them). Let me tell you the story of a religious person. Not only is this one religious, he isthe proprietor of a religious institution. In other words he is that kind of a religiousperson who produces scholars on religion.

He is not only religious himself, he prepares others for religious careers.He is the proprietor of the institution where persons equipped with religiousknowledge, where scholars or religion are produced. Also that religious personhas been a student of mine. Not only that, he has been a student unlike today's(selfish) students-----he is very sincere, most loving, most obedient, mosthelpful. Recently when his mother passed away, he began to plan to follow thecustom of sending over recompense on the third day of the death. I pointed outto him that the third-day custom was not proper, was against the tradition of ourProphet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). There is no evidence in our religion ofsending over recompense to the dead in this way. I told him he had better not dothat. In spite of his being my most helpful obedient student as well as a religiousscholar, he paid a deaf ear to my advice. Upon that I told him that if he stillcontinued that, I would not be party to this sin. He insisted on my joining theceremony, but I refused to participate in it. at last he said, If we do not do it,


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people will become angry with us. That is why we are forced to do it. I answeredhim by saying :

"At first I thought you are doing an innovation. Now I have come to knowwhat you are doing is not only an innovation in the religion, it is also idolatry. Thatis because what you are doing is not for Allah's sake. You dread people so muchthat you begin to worship them. That is idolatry parse. You are doing so to please

people rather than Allah."

I advised him a lot, but he did not accept my advice. He was so obedientthat he had never turned me down. But now the devil taught him to insist todisobey me. At last he celebrated the third day of the death. People are afraidthat their acquaintances will taunt them and say that this survivor has no regard forhis deceased relative. They think that their honor will be lost in society. People trynot to cut a sorry figure, even though one gets one's head chopped off.

To illustrate it the following story will help. A group of people whose noseshad been cut off was sitting together. A man with an uncut nose joined them.Everybody began to laugh at him and mockingly say "The man with the nosecame 1 The man with the nose came". This man with the nose was as courageous

as that religious person who feared that his brethren will get displeased with himif he did not follow the third-day custom. So the man with the nose took out hisknife and cut off his nose. Just imagine how much people are afraid of theirbrethren. These brethren on the other hand are so cruel that as soon assomebody's relative passes away, they get ready to enjoy themselves and feastat the deceased person's relatives' expense.

I tend to believe that these days should somebody fall sick his relativesmight not be praying for his quick recovery, instead they might be praying for hisinstant death so the y can enjoy a banquet. When they might be through withone's third-day or the fortieth-day ceremony, they might be praying that someelse should fall sick and die so again they can feast. When they might be throughwith his fortieth-day ceremony, they might be wishing ill-health to someone else.As soon as somebody should reach hospital, they must begin to indulge inoverabundant merry-making and exclaim with joy: "The feast is ready: The feastis ready 1" in the manner of vultures hovering over a corpse.


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The shameless so-called Muslim of today as well as shame-faced

members of society hover like vultures over the dead body exclaiming "Now weshall find food" Now we shall find food". If one does not fear Allah, if one does notthink of the Day of Judgment, if one is not worried how one will account for one'sdeeds, and if one is not mindful of Allah and Islam, one should at least havesome shame, some pity for the person whose relative died. This person isaggrieved with his relative's death and a lot of money was spent on the sickperson's treatment before he died, but shameless society only thinks of feastingon what remains. The members of Society Says,

"Feed us with what is left in you house!"

Once in this area I noticed that big feast arrangements were being made.I took it to be somebody's wedding. But when I asked around, I discovered that itwas somebody's death. These relatives are so heartless and cruel that theyenjoy feasts on their relatives' deaths as if these were wedding occasions. Myhair stands on end even imagining such shamelessness. I wonder how deliciousfood goes down the throats of these shameless relatives.

If you really want to send the recompenses of good deeds to yourrelatives, if you really love the dead soul, if you really feel sympathetic andmerciful towards the dead person, then why isn't the way prescribed by thegreatest benefactor of humanity Allah's Apostle (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)enough for you? Listen, what is the essence of sending over the recompense ofgood deeds?

If you do any good deed that you normally do for yourself with theintention of sending over its reward to others, they will receive the reward of thisgood deed. If you intend in whatever virtues you do whether you offer voluntaryprayers, whether you keep fast of your own accord, whether you recite al-Qur'anor bid Allah's name, whether you give out charity and alms, perform thepilgrimage, visit the Holy Mosque, perform circumambulations, in short inwhatever voluntary good deed that you perform for yourself-----chat its rewardbe given over to such and such a relative of mine, he will receive it if you haveso intended. Only this is called the sending over of the recompense of good


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deeds to the dead. The full reward that was to come to you will come to you aswell as to those who you intended should receive the reward.

There is another widespread misunderstanding. People think that only thedead can receive the reward of good deeds. Please understand clearly that asyou can send over the reward of good deeds to the dead, in the same way youcan send over this reward to the alive. I published in my will that recompense ofgood deeds should continually be sent over to me. A question came tosome people's minds that this man was still alive so how could the reward of gooddeeds be sent over to him. That is why I am explaining that even an alive person could be given the rewardof virtuous deeds,. Intend in whatever virtues you do for yourself what so and soshould also receive the reward and he will receive the reward. Allah'sprophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) said:

"There are seven types of people of people whom Allah will put will put inthe shade on the day when there will be no shade except Allah's shade.(Prophet's saying) (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). These seven kinds of people arethose whom Allah will grant shade in His mercy when there will be no shade

anywhere else. People will be drenched in their sweat because of their sins. Themore the sins, the more the perspiration. Some people ;will be drowned in theirsweat upto the knee, other upto the belly-button, others up to the chest, othersup to the lips, and thee will be quite a few who will be completely drowned in theirsweat.

Allah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) says that on that day Allahwill grant seven groups of people shade in His mercy who will be spared thesweat and heat of that day. Mentioning here all seven will make this talk long.Praise be to Allah that I read this saying of the Prophet (SallAllahu alaihiwasallam) everyday without exception. It is one of my usual activities. I read thissaying from the viewpoint of checking as to in which groups I already am and intowhich groups ;I can enter so I make an effort to enter into them. What good newsthis saying of the Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) contains. We should thinkas to which groups we can become part of but are not becoming because of our


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negligence. Once in a lecture I explained in detail the method of joining all sevengroups. May Allah bless us all and include us in all seven groups. Amen' .

One of those seven in Allah's shade is one who hides giving charity fromthe people to the extent that his left does not know when his right hand gives thecharity as to whom the right hand gave and how much it gave. It is said that thisact has so much credit that Allah will protect such a person on the Day ofJudgment from the heat of that day and will give him shade in his mercy. Let usthink now that since concealment of distributing .charity earns such a greatreward, why do you make such a public occasion when you give out charity tosend its recompense at somebody's death. Why do you not hide your alms?

Yes, one thing did not get mentioned. I enquired of that religious scholaras to how much he would spend on his mother's third-day-after-death ceremony.He mentioned a certain sum. I told him to spend twice as much if he wished butnot publicly. He could have privately distributed the money among his students orhe could have given it to the poor of his area. We do not stop people from givingaway alms. Give more, give double. But why do- you insist on holding abanquet? Give away as much charity as you wish, but in accordance with thetradition of the Holy Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) But other's taunt keeps

people from doing the right thing. They are afraid of being accused of not caringfor their relatives as per the Urdu Proverb that is "the cursed person died andnobody cried". They fear that society will calumniate. People deify society will yoube able to get away with this answer in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. Onthat day you will have to account for all your deeds and nobody will be able tohelp anybody else:

That will be the day when a person will run away from his brother, his mother andfather, his wife and sons.

Allah has said that on that day the husband will run away from his wifeand the wife from her husband, the father from the son and the son from thefather, the brother will run away from his own brothers. Only Allah in His mercywill help people otherwise nobody there will help anybody else. For Allah's sakethink: Will this society for which you are putting your life hereafter at stake help


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you on that occasion? The hidden charity has such a great credit. Will you stillsay: No, we must throw out a banquet instead?

There is another thing with relation to this that should be pointed out. It aman has a little bit of reason, he can understand that it is better to give money toa poor person instead of holding of a banquet for him. The poor person can usemoney for any of his needs. The poor person is in need of clothes to put on,house to live in, blankets to use in the winter, books and school supplies to studyin addition to school fees, medicine if he gets sick, fare if he needs to travel andlots of other needs. Anything he needs in the world he can buy with money. Incase a person is not in need of something today, he may put aside money fortomorrow's need. Even food can be bought with money. That is why it is better togive alms in the form of money. Anything that is a greater use to a poor personwill have greater reward.

Another advantage in giving the money is that it is hidden and does notrequire a ceremony. Giving in hiding credits shade in Allah's mercy on theJudgment Day. The second merit in giving money in hiding is that money is moreuseful to a poor man and that is why it has greater reward. But the Devil hassuggested to them to distribute food only. Even though the poor man has a

stomachache, still give him food and more food. Only then, they presume, onewill get credit otherwise one will get nothing. The strangest things that while thereward of the virtue comes from giving alms to the poor, in holding a banquetnobody lets a poor person get near; the relatives eat all of it. It is presumed thatthe reward of the alms given to the poor is to be sent to the dead person, butinstead of alms the money is spent on the food to be gulped by the relatives.Even the rich people on such occasions present themselves as if they are poor.How do they accept to so shame-faced?

When it is time for the third-day ceremony or the tenth day or the fortiethday ceremony and Allah knows for what other baseless things, well-to-do rich,wealthy people participate in eating as if they are quite poor on such occasionsthey make themselves extremely poor. That is great injustice. That is opposingAllah's Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). What cheating and what shame-fadedness it is that one should wrongly show oneself to be poor and in that guiseeat up what belongs to the poor.


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When there is more credit in giving the money, also it is hidden, and the

money fulfils the need of the needy, and the money in the form of alms will go tothe poor only, then why do people not adopt the method of giving out money.Why do people insist on holding a banquet? Another disadvantage is appointingthe time and the form is restricting and limiting what has no restrictions. Allahsays that you can send the credit of virtue in any form, whatever you can,wherever you can, whenever you can, and however you can. Allah in His greatmercy accepts every voluntary act of virtue performed with sincerity. Allah isevery where with us, He sees us, He accepts our good deeds. Allah listens to usand looks at us. Allah knows us and is aware of our conditions. But the Devil hastaught the lesson of holding the credit-passing ceremony on the third-day aloneneither before nor after. Also it is done in the house of the dead person, theysend the credit of their virtues from their own respective houses, will Allahnot accept that. Also if they send the credit individually. What will happen. Whydoes it have to be done collectively? If they send the reward of their good deedsindividually, will their leader, their lord "Devil" not accept it? They consider theDevil their lord and that is why they follow the Devil's teachings in preference tothe teachings of Allah and His Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam).

Allah's mercy is vast. Wherever and whenever you send the reward ofyour virtues, Allah will accept. People themselves have imposed so manyrestrictions as to it should be done only on the third, the tenth and the fortiethday, must be done at the dead persons house, must be done collectively, and thesame thing must be recited by everybody. People usually recite al-Qur'an fromthe beginning to the end. If somebody says on such an occasion that he willstand in prayer to Allah during that time or will repeat Allah's name and send itsreward to the dead person's soul, people will not permit that. Everybody has todo what everybody else is doing. Allah may save us: once I joined suchceremony. I did not know ahead of the time what will happen there. I thought thatpeople would be forwarding the reward of their good deeds in the right way, so Ijoined. No sooner did they finish the recitation of Al-Qur'an, one gentlemen stoodup as their leader. The leader began to recite. Although the whole al-Qur'an hadbeen read, the leader again read first "Surah al Fatihah" then the first part ofSurah al-baqarah then the last part of the same "Surah" many other verses fromal-Qur'an which I do not now recall. He was reciting and all the rest were listening


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to him. He was their leader and the others were his followers and were listeningto him. After that they made some long requests to Allah and then the foodbegan to be served. I told them that if they were not offering that food for creditbut only for fear of the community, even then that food was not in order, althoughit was not an innovation. But if they were considering this way of offering food asa religious ceremony which will gain them credit from Allah, then it wasinnovation on their part.

This way of doing things is against the ways prescribed by Allah and Hisprophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) and is inventing a system in opposition toIslamic system. Those people said: If we did not consider it a virtuous act, thenwhy shall we do it. We are doing it because we consider it virtuous. I said: then itis an open innovation. If you do not consider offering food after death a virtuethen we may say that you are doing it for fear of people. People do not fear fromAllah as much, instead dread other people more. But when you say that you do itbecause you consider it a virtue, that means that you rebel against Allah and HisProphet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) and oppose them. Who are you to consideras virtuous what Allah and His Holy Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) did notmake virtuous. How can a worthless humble person oppose Allah and his HolyProphet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam). For Allah's sake take pity on your souls. Be

thoughtful.Allah has created facilities for his creatures. You can do voluntary

virtuous deeds whenever and wherever you want, and in whatever condition youwant. Whether you are among the people, or in the market peace, at home or inyour shop, in the mosque or whichever other place, whether you are walking orsitting, whether standing or lying down, in whatever condition you are whatevergood deeds you do Allah will accept them. If you only intend, Allah will reward thedead person with your good deeds. Only have the intention that the reward ofyour virtuous deed reach so-and-so and it will reach the person you intended.But you have determined that unless all of you exert collectively, the reward of agood deed will not reach the dead person. There should be a good gatheringalong with a driver and a guard. In order to convey the reward of good deeds thedriver should read in all directions., front and back, right and left. Only then thereward will be conveyed. Allah save us there is an assumption that without allthis it will not capture Allah's attention.


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Allah protect us from the avaricious hell of belly which never gets filled.Self-acclaimed religious charlatans have deceived people to make a living and filltheir bellies with food. The need of a driver is conveying the reward of gooddeeds arises from the necessity of making money. The deception takes severalforms and is practiced in different ways. The illusion is created that only thereligious charlatan can convey the reward of good deeds to the dead person andonly he can give a final wash to dead body.

That reminds me of an event that took place when the uncle of aknowledgeable pious friend of mine passed away. He started giving a bath to hisuncle. Although he is a very rich man, materially speaking, and owns several fac-tories and sundry companies, he himself gave a bath to the dead body of hisuncle. As my friend was giving a bath to the dead body, a so-called religiousquack reached there and said that he would give a bath to the dead body. Myfriend said to him, "Do not worry". I shall give you the money, but I will give abath to my uncle myself". Even so this quack tried to dominate the situation. Myfriend who was the head of this household was praying the bath prayer with a lowvoice, but this quack began to shout within prayer, and said so many differentprayers that even we did not know. I do not know from where he hadcollected these prayers. I told him and my friend told him that he did not

have to worry as he will get the money anyway. It was better for him to relax andnot work hard in this way. As soon as we became free, we would pay him. But hewas shouting with his prayers. He was afraid that if he did not work hard, hewould not get the money. He worked real hard. When the dead body was laid inthe grave, he again began his job there. Again he was told that he would get themoney and he should not interfere in that way. But that quack did not stop. Iremarked that if he were given two to four hundred rupees at the outset, hewould have remained quiet. But my poor friend was busy in his work and thoughtthat he would pay money when he is free. This man on the contrary took it uponhimself to show off how hard he worked.

As for conveying the recompense of good deeds to the dead, the religiouscharlatans have created the misunderstanding that by intention alone no creditwill go to the dead. They claim that, not to talk of intending, even though yourecite the whole al-Qur'an and pray for hours, unless you hire the driver the creditwill not reach the dead. It sounds to them logical that a driver is needed to haul a


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commodity like that to the souls of the dead. That is why the driver is hired at avery high rate.

There was a mosque, in which people gave food on Friday evenings tothe leader of prayers, the "Imam" to deliver to their dead relatives. It seems thatthe "Imam" was given the job of a driver to convey the reward of good deeds.The "Imam" was not only the leader and driver of the prayers but also the driverof conveying the reward to the dead. Once some travellers had stopover in themosque. People gave some food to them instead of the "Imam" to be given to thesouls of their dead relatives. The "Imam" sensed the danger of losing his weeklysupply of food. Before the morning prayers he closed the doors of the mosqueand began to beat the mosque walls with a stick. Sometimes he hit this wall andsometimes that leaving the marks on walls. As he damaged the walls, he wasshouting: "Get out of here" What noise are you making" Get out of here". Hecontinued hitting with the stick sometimes the doors and' sometimes the walls.People came along, knocked at the door of the mosque, and enquired, "What isthe matter?" The "Imam" answered that the souls were there and that he kneweach one. He knew all the families because he had long been there. The "Imam"claimed to distribute the credit to the appropriate relative. But as the travelersamong whom people distributed the food, did not personally know these souls,

they did not distribute the credit of the food properly. That is why the souls cameto the mosque and kept making hue and cry all night. Now that it is time for themorning prayers, I was chasing these souls away. The souls were fighting oneanother, each one claiming a part of credit as its own. These souls were fightingwhile the 'Imam' claimed to disperse them. People remarked that the 'Imam' wasright and promised never to give food to a poor person or a traveler in the future.People told the 'Imam' that they will bring food only to him because he knew theirrelative individually. All these acts are motivated by the gluttonous avariciousstomach. May Allah save us all .

Another wrong belief needs to be rectified. If something is given to thepoor, that thing exactly does not go to the dead; instead its credit reaches thedead. The belief of the common people that exactly the thing given in charityreaches the dead is wrong.


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Another point that needs to be clarified is this. If a family is accustomed tounauthentic ways of sending over responses of good deeds to the dead, and oneof the members of that family is blessed with mending his ways and finding outthe right path, this person should advise every member of his family not toindulge in innovations upon his death and instead the recompense of good deedsshould be sent over to him in the right way. Making this will is incumbent uponthe member of the family who has mended his ways. If he does not leave a willand unauthentic innovations are committed after his death, the sin and burden ofthese misdeeds will reach the dead person also. It has been mentioned beforethat the sin and burden of an unauthentic innovation is greater than the greatestsin even. Hearing my sermon one lady got so impressed that she emphatically andrepeatedly advised her children not to celebrate the third-day or the fortieth-dayceremony after her death. For further emphasis she insisted that her will shouldbe tape-recorded that upon her death no food should be cooked in anunauthentic innovated way. Instead she wanted the credit of good deedsforwarded to her in accordance with the Prophet's (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)tradition. She felt satisfied only when her children promised solemnly to keepaway from the unauthentic innovations. A few days ago that lady passed awayPraise be to Allah that no unauthentic innovation was committed on her death.

May Allah forgive her and make her holy effort a source of guidance and determi-nation to others.

Whatever number of people gain guidance from her determined ness,their reward collectively will be written in the record of this lady also if Allah sowills. One who follows the tradition of the Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)in the environment where unauthentic innovations prevail, is promised the rewardof one hundred martyrs.

There is a contrast between the story of my former student who did not give upthe unauthentic innovation in spite of my repeated advice, and the account of thislady who after hearing only one sermon followed Allah's path in such a way as toinsist on getting her will taped. May Allah grant us a submissive heart thateagerly accepts Allah's commands, may Allah protect us from the imperviousdensity of the heart that is not influenced even by the lucid enjoining of Allah'sand His Holy Prophet's (may SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) May Allah grant our


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hearts a concern for life hereafter and a worry in His way that relieves us fromthe frights of this world.

PRAYER

Oh Allah. Grant us the true love of yourself and of your Prophet(SallAllahu alaihi wasallam), the real respect, the firm obedience' Give us theability to follow your Prophet's (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) tradition. Oh Allah,make us such Muslims with whose faith you are pleased: Oh Allah, we believe inyou as our sustainer, we believe in your messenger (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam)as our Prophet, we believe in Islam as our religion! Oh Allah protect us from the

deceptiveness of the devil. Oh Allah, enable us to follow that religion and keep usaway the ways prescribed by the devil.

May Allah bless the best of His creatures Muhammad, and his family andhis companions all of them in His utmost mercy.

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Innovations 1