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Mahdaviah Insight (A Publication of Mahdavia Islamic Center of Chicago ) Mahdaviah Insight (A Publication of Mahdavia Islamic Center of Chicago ) February 2017 (Rabi us-Thani/Jamadi ul Awwal, 1438 H) | Issue 20 Editorial: Perfection of Religion In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Inside this issue: Allah SWT sent His Caliph, Mahdi Al-Ma’ud AS, for the guidance of humankind for propagating the teach- ings of Vilayat of Prophet Muhammad SAS in this month. The Milad of Mahdi AS will occur on 14th of Jamadi ul Awwal that corresponds to February 11 this year. Let us pray our Lord, Almighty Allah to Editorial 1 guide us and keep us firm on our faith. Our faith is more comprehensive as we not only believe in Allah SWT, His angels, the day of judgement, His books, His prophets, but also His Caliph who came after 847 years from the beginning of Islamic calendar. Advent of Mahdi 2-4 (A.S.) - A Religious We know that Prophet Muhammad SAS did not say anything on his own but whatever he said, it is the Necessity Part-II revelation (Wahi) that was sent to him by Allah SWT.As Qur’an says: “He does not speak out of his own desires. It is a revelations which has been revealed to him.”(Al-Qur’an, 53:3-4) Therefore, even a single Qur’anic verse 2 Hadith is more than enough to believe in the advent of Mahdi. However, there are people who believe that after the revelation of Qur’an and after the advent of the last prophet, Muhammad SAS, there is no need of Hadith and Naql 3 any other person to come or to be sent by Allah. Some of these people also try to present a Qur’anic verse in support of their argument. “…This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion; …” (Al-Qur’an, 5:3). There is consensus among the schol- th SAS Terminology 4 ars that this verse was revealed on the day of Arafat (9 Zul Hijjah) and Prophet Muhammad passed away from this world on 2nd Rabi ul Awwal, after about 60 days. Urdu Poetry 4 Since this verse talks about completion and perfection of the religion and Islam as a way of life for us, there is a misconception among some of the Muslims in believing that there is no need for anything to be revealed or any personality to come. This argument would have been stronger had there been no other Qur’anic verse being revealed after the above verse (5:3). In fact, the verse about the perfection of religion is not the last Qur’anic verse, neither in terms of revelation, nor in terms of sequence of verses presented in the Qur’an. Thus, if this verse were taken as the completion and perfection of religion in total, then what would be the status of the Qur’anic verses that were revealed after this verse? Are they not the part of reli- gion? Can we take them out from Qur’an? If not, then we can say that it would be a misinterpretation of the verse 5:3 to say that everything is perfected and completed on the day this verse was revealed. Since the staying in Arafat is the major element of Hajj and this verse was revealed on that day, it can be said that on that day all the five pillars are completed and perfected that consist of Tawheed, Prayers (Namaaz), Zakaat, Fasting, and now the Hajj. Editorial Team The scholars have difference of opinion on the question of the last verse of the Qur’an but there is consen- 1. Zareen Syed sus that verse 5:3 is not the last Qur’anic verse. Mostly three verses are presented in this regard. One that Editor-in-Chief is related to Al-Kalalah, which is verse 4:176. (About inheritance), the second one that relates to Riba or usury: “O you who believe! Fear Allah and abandon your remaining usury, if you are indeed believers. (2.278) , and the third one that says “And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allah. Then every person shall MICC has an Editorial Team be paid what he earned, and they shall not be dealt unjustly.” (2:281). and a Review Board to ensure the quality of the Thus, advent of Mahdi is an important necessity that cannot be ignored or denied nor it can be taken as publication. something of secondary importance. Teachings of Vilayath or Ihsan, that were conveyed to a few eligible SAS AS The Newsletter, being a collaborative companions by the Prophet were to be revealed to the masses through Mahdi , are an integral part of project, will also be available at Islam. Imamuna Mahdi Al-Ma’ud AS said that he was being sent to present the teachings relating to the www.miccusa.org, AS www.promisedmehdi.com, Vilayat-e-Muhammadi. Whatever Mahdi has presented, it is completely in accordance with the Qur’an. promisedmehdi yahoo group, and He revives the Sunnah of Prophet SAS through his practices. Promised Mehdi facebook page. The authors are responsible for the We are pleased to present the 20th issue of Mahdaviah Insight. It has an article on Zikr, an article that is contents of their article; editorial board may or may not agree with the the continuation of last month’s article on the advent of Mahdi, a recipe for the month, terminology, and opinions expressed by authors. Urdu poetry. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Milad e Mahdi (AS) Editorial Team Mubarak ! Email: [email protected] | www.miccusa.org Mahdaviah Insight February 2017 page 2 Advent of Imam Mahdi (A.S.) – A Religious Necessity (Part—II) In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful who still believe that at least 5 verses of the pre- (In January, we published the part I of this article to cover two im- portant aspect of why the advent of Mahdi AS is a religious necessity. sent Qur’an should be considered as abrogated. Quote from the We will present a few additional reasons in Part II) Imamuna Mahdi AS has clarified this point per- Article) Reason 3: Resolving the conflict arising from abro- fectly, saying that no verse of the Qur’an (in its gation of Qur’anic verses – The Doctrine of Nasikh final form) is abrogated or replaced, in terms of AS “One clear example of wa Mansookh: text or meaning. He also said that the Qur’an such a difference lies It would be relevant to note that Prophet Muham- is so perfect that it does not have any extra or mad SAS was sent for the whole Mankind and his unnecessary letter (Harf-e-Zayed). Thus we, Mah- with the doctrine of message is going to stay as the last message from davis, believe in the Qur’an in its entirety, with Nasikh Wa Mansukh God until the end of this World. For this reason, the text and meaning, and we believe that all the message of Prophet Muhammad SAS and the teach- commandments of Qur’an are as applicable to- (Abrogating and ings of Qur’an are much more universal and compre- day as they were at the time of revelation, and Abrogated) whereby hensive. that all the commandments will remain applica- ble until the Last Day. Imamuna Mahdi Al- AS the commands Though the Qur’an was revealed in the Arabic lan- Ma’ud also said that the Qur’an is fully con- nected (Marboot). (Ah’kaam) of some guage, the Arabs were not able to fully comprehend the message of Qur’an. Allah has sent Prophet Mu- AS Qur’anic verses are hammad SAS as the best interpreter and the most per- The status of Mahdi is Ma’soom (free from fect practical example to follow. During the period of error) as indicated in a Hadith in which Prophet canceled or superseded SAS Prophet SAS, the Qur’anic verses used to be recorded said that Mahdi is from me, he will follow by some other Qur’anic on parchments of paper or pieces of leather, but for my footsteps and will not err. (Al Mahdiyyu the most part the verses were safeguarded through Minni, Yakhfu Athari wala Yukhti). Since Mah- verses.” AS memorization by Huffaz and transmitted orally. di has been sent by Allah as His Caliph and he ——————— How Qur’an was compiled in a book form is not the is the Ma’soom, he has the authority to declare scope of this article but we all know that Allah SWT whether or not any Qur’anic verse is abrogated. Al-Qur’an has taken the responsibility of protecting Qur’an Thus, he has resolved this controversy. There is from any fabrication. “Verily We: It is We Who have no other person in the Ummah of Prophet Mu- SAS AS (One who has clear sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur’an) and surely, We will hammad who is Ma’soom except Mahdi , therefore, his words are final. proof from Lord) guard it (from corruption) (Al-Qur’an 15:9). “ Is he who stands on a Though there was full agreement about the content Hence, Another necessity for the advent of Mah- of the Qur’an, there were plenty of differences re- di in the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad SAS is manifest proof from his garding the interpretation and extraction of meaning to declare that no Qur’anic verse is abrogated or Lord, and whom a from Qur’anic verses.
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