Mahdaviah Insight (A Publication of Mahdavia Islamic Center of Chicago )
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Mahdaviah Insight (A Publication of Mahdavia Islamic Center of Chicago ) January 2018 (Rabi us-Thani/Rajab, 1439 H) | Vol. 3, Number 7 Editorial: Understanding the Writing on the Wall In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. No community would survive if it does not prepare itself for the present and upcoming challenges that the world brings in. Inside this issue: These challenges would be different from time to time, and from region to region. These challenges could be like a disease. Every group may have a different issue and if we try to resolve them with a common prescription, it does not work. Since the challenges are not universal, therefore, no blanket solution would be good. The challenges that we have today are not the same as our elders had 1400 years ago or 600 years ago, it is the responsibility of our scholars to study the present-day issues and find the solution within the framework of Qur’an, Ahadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad SAS), and Naqliyat (sayings of Imam Mahdi AS). At the outset, we need an organization that undertakes the work of research to comprehend the Editorial 1 problems and find solution within the three sources as indicated above. With the change of times, there are bound to be changes in language, lifestyle, and behavior of people. Our scholars should adapt and find solutions that address the issues of languages, lifestyle and behavior. For instance, Qur’an’s script is in Arabic, unfortunately this is not our native language. Are You Wait- 2 Erstwhile Mahdavi scholars wrote books in Persian, the language of their times, then Persian is almost gone. ing for Imam To meet this new challenge some of our Murshideen made sincere efforts and translated many of our books into Urdu lan- Mahdi (A.S.) guage. Alhamdulillah, we have a vast collection of books in Urdu today. Time passes on and now Urdu is limited to a few Part-II areas. Even we can not give literature in Urdu language to Mahdavis of other states, such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat etc. Hon- estly, most of our younger generation today do not know Urdu, they can speak but they cannot read and write. We have translations and commentaries (Tafaseer) of Qur’an in Urdu but this does not help our younger generation? We have al- Terminology 3 ready identified some of the severe errors in the current English translations of Qur’an (of Dr. Mohsin Khan and Hilali) in our earlier issues of this Newsletter. Secondly, their translations and commentaries do not present our point of view, particularly Kids’ Section 3 on the matters of advent of Imam Mahdi, the doctrine of Allah’s Vision (Deedar-e-Ilahi) etc. Therefore, why our scholars and Murshideen are closing their eyes from this enormous challenge and why they are unable to find a solution? As a result of this situation, our younger generation is listening and reading the translations and commentaries as written by others and they eventually follow their point of view. It is not that we don’t have scholars of English language, the need of the hour is to Recipe of the 4 create a group of people who have varied expertise to start translation of Qur’an in English and its commentary. Month It is unfortunate that we don’t have the vision of a big picture for the community. We want to do whatever we can within our own small circle. There is no common authority that exist today. The Majlis-e-Ulema has become a dormant organization Urdu Poetry 4 which can also be revived to participate in this endeavor. Here we respectfully present a few suggestions and hopefully our scholars will initiate some action in this regard. Announcements 3&4 1. Create a centralized body of good and competent scholars and Murshideen who have passion to work. Include people from all regions in the body and do not limit it to only Hyderabad or any other region. 2. Create a research cell within this body who can study our literature and come out with a plan to present our literature in a language that is understandable to all. Create a common database of Naqliyaat with a search capability. The research cell should invite community members for debate and discussion within the framework of Mahdaviah belief. Create a publication cell within this body which would be responsible for publication of our literature with authentication. Editorial Team 3. It is imperative that those who have the responsibility to provide religious leadership should seek learn English. With their 1. Zareen Syed religious knowledge accompanied with a command on language they can create a new crop of effective leadership. Editor-in-Chief 4. Our present organizations regardless of their geographic location, those who are diligently working for the Mahdavia Community to join hands. Imamuna Mahdi-e-Ma’ud AS has said: “Dar Ittifaaq Nusrat-e-Deen Ast wo Dar Nifaaq Hazeemat-e- Deen Ast”. Arranging funds for these efforts would not be difficult to tap. Insha’Allah, it could be easily arranged. MICC has an Editorial Team 5. Today, the Muslim Ummah is anxiously waiting for the advent of Mahdi. This is the time we have to be proactive and and a Review Board to present our faith in a simple yet forceful manner before the world regardless of whether they accept it or not. If we don’t do ensure the quality of the publication. it, it would be difficult to safeguard our own house. This is the time for us to read the writing on the wall and if we ignore this writing, it would be an enormous loss of our generation for which we are all accountable. The Newsletter, being a collaborative project, will also be available at Waqt Ki Tahreer ka Idraak Hona Chahiye www.miccusa.org, www.promisedmehdi.com, Aql Par Parda Agar Ho, Chaak Hona Chahiye promisedmehdi yahoo group, and Promised Mehdi facebook page. We are pleased to present the January issue of Mahdaviah Insight. It has the second part of the article on “Are you waiting The authors are responsible for the contents of their article; editorial for Imam Mahdi?” The terminology section is an important source of knowledge for our kids. We have started a regular kids’ board may or may not agree with the opinions expressed by authors. section effective this issue and we encourage kids and others to read and contribute for the Newsletter. Recipe of the month and Urdu poetry are also part of this issue. We hope you will find time to read and reflect on this issue through your comments and suggestions. Editorial Team Email: [email protected] | www.miccusa.org Mahdaviah Insight January 2018 page 2 AS Are You Waiting for Imam Mahdi ? (Part—II) In the name of Allah, the most High. commanded me to ask you whether you would like to live as a servant of Allah (Banda) or as a king. Had he SAS Quote from the In the first part of the article, it has been mentioned that how chosen the kingship he might had the mountains of gold with him. It clearly means that the Prophet SAS never liked Article) some Muslim scholars are anxiously waiting for the advent of Imam Mahdi due to recent events in the Middle East, particu- to be a king. So how can we assume that the Mahdi AS larly in Saudi Arabia. In this connection, they present some would be the king of the world when Mahdi AS is sup- Ahadith with some misinterpretation to substantiate their posed to perfectly follow (without err) Prophet Muham- “the large-scale claim. Last month we presented some evidences to refute the mad SAS. Yet in another Hadith, Prophet SAS said that his AS AS massacre of Muslim claim that Mahdi and Isa would appear in the same era. (Mahdi) character would be my character. Thus, this (Please read last month’s Newsletter for Part-I of the article). notion that Mahdi would be the king of the world has no has happened when authentic basis. The same scholars are also putting another Hadith in this Genghis Khan regard and it goes as follows: It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Samura that the Prophet SAS said: “This religion will continue to (Changez Khan) killed Ibne Maja, Haakim and Abu Nayeem on the authority of exist, and a group of people from the Muslims will contin- ThoubanRZ narrates that the Prophet SAS stated that 'at your ue to fight for its protection until the Hour is estab- Muslims in such a way treasure (caliphate) three persons would quarrel, all of them lished.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 20, Hadith 4717) that the blood was would be sons of the Khalifa. But none of them would suc- ceed in acquiring it. Afterwards black flags would appear and If we carefully notice, the Hadith clearly says that a group running through the they would kill you so that no other race would have been of Muslims will fight for the protection of Truth (Islam) killed in that manner. After that the Khaliah of Allah, Mehdi until the last day. In other words, the people who are AS, would appear. When you hear about him go and make streets of Baghdad. against the truth (infidels) will also be there until the last covenant (Ba'ith) with him, even if you had to go crawling According to over the snow.' - Mishkaat & Sunan Ibn Majah with slight day. Otherwise, the group of Muslims (as described in variance of wordings.