Religion, of necessity, is easy. It has to be followed by everybody, including the simple minded people.
What will you say of those people who try to make it difficult?
The least you can say is that they are going against common sense as well as sensibility.
And the matter indeed reaches serious proportions for they are in a way aging a war against Allah (SWT) by complicating something that Allah (SWT) wants to keep simple.
But Allah (SWT) does allow long ropes to errant people, many times.
Then there is the other reality. Some matters concepts in Deen do become difficult enough to be beyond the reach of common people.
Our scholars of the past found a solution that problem.
That is called Taqleed - follow a one of the four great scholars of Fiqh, jurisprudence, of Islam.
Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafei and Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal.
May Allah (SWT) have Mercy on them all.
This solution looks a bit inconvenient on the face of it. Our scholars should have been solved the maters between themselves and they should have given the common people the final solution.
But this ignores the ground reality - the matters that remain undecided go back to Sahabah (RA)'s opinion and one can not prefer one over the other. Sahabah (RA) are Sahabah (RA).
Hence the proposal to do Taqleed - follow one scholar of Fiqh.
This route has been arduous. Lots of acrimony and bad blood has been created in the past by this differing set of four schools. Imam Abu Hanifa has been the target of most excruciating calumny. By the last hundred years or so the dust seemed to have settled and a relative amicable peace and tranquility settled in between various schools of Fiqh - a sort of peaceful co-existence with mutual respect and love.
Except for a calamity of gigantic proportions. Saudia, a traditionally Hanbali society, fell into the grips of Salafi waywardness. With that also started the hideous imposter phenomena - using Hanbali Madh-hab as a front to revive the old differences. A masterful use of hair splitting to undermine the fabric of Islam. And the main target is again the Fiqh of Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa.
The new Mutazila, having no consideration for laity, tries to dump huge amount of information on common people and tries to bring that discussion that rightfully as well as because of pragmatic reasons belongs to the academic world of Islamic scholars. This sort of has met a limited success because youth in its enthusiasm does have an inclination to indulge in grand design and hence you see every one trying to have a go at matters of Fiqh.
There is sort of deception that our Baser Self pushes us into - you want to decide your religious matter yourself. You do not want to self-medicate, you do not want to file your income-tax return yourself, you do not want to fix your electric circuit but Islam is that rare department where everyone feels confident to decide. When beloved Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the people of cave then how many of these wannabe Mujtahids would have given the answer? None. But now they are there in the battle field, en masse to take on the followers of Madh-hab, main target being Hanafis.
To dump serious and complex technical details on unsuspecting populace is moral crime but fear of Allah (SWT) is not there in the dictionary of the enemies of religion of Allah (SWT). They think that they are having a joy ride while history is a witness that Allah (SWT) merely gives such people a long rope.
Using small technical details to undermine the whole edifice of Islam is indeed a big affront to Allah (SWT) out matched only by its silliness. It is really beyond imagination that people professing the faith of Islam could come down to this. May Allah (SWT) soon establish the truth in this matter.
And a couplet for such people :
Shauq parwaz ka rakhte ho to shaheen bano
Yoon to kawwe bhi fizaon mein uda karte hain
If you are fond of flight then be a falcon
Otherwise crows too fly in the sky
What will you say of those people who try to make it difficult?
The least you can say is that they are going against common sense as well as sensibility.
And the matter indeed reaches serious proportions for they are in a way aging a war against Allah (SWT) by complicating something that Allah (SWT) wants to keep simple.
But Allah (SWT) does allow long ropes to errant people, many times.
Then there is the other reality. Some matters concepts in Deen do become difficult enough to be beyond the reach of common people.
Our scholars of the past found a solution that problem.
That is called Taqleed - follow a one of the four great scholars of Fiqh, jurisprudence, of Islam.
Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafei and Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal.
May Allah (SWT) have Mercy on them all.
This solution looks a bit inconvenient on the face of it. Our scholars should have been solved the maters between themselves and they should have given the common people the final solution.
But this ignores the ground reality - the matters that remain undecided go back to Sahabah (RA)'s opinion and one can not prefer one over the other. Sahabah (RA) are Sahabah (RA).
Hence the proposal to do Taqleed - follow one scholar of Fiqh.
This route has been arduous. Lots of acrimony and bad blood has been created in the past by this differing set of four schools. Imam Abu Hanifa has been the target of most excruciating calumny. By the last hundred years or so the dust seemed to have settled and a relative amicable peace and tranquility settled in between various schools of Fiqh - a sort of peaceful co-existence with mutual respect and love.
Except for a calamity of gigantic proportions. Saudia, a traditionally Hanbali society, fell into the grips of Salafi waywardness. With that also started the hideous imposter phenomena - using Hanbali Madh-hab as a front to revive the old differences. A masterful use of hair splitting to undermine the fabric of Islam. And the main target is again the Fiqh of Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa.
The new Mutazila, having no consideration for laity, tries to dump huge amount of information on common people and tries to bring that discussion that rightfully as well as because of pragmatic reasons belongs to the academic world of Islamic scholars. This sort of has met a limited success because youth in its enthusiasm does have an inclination to indulge in grand design and hence you see every one trying to have a go at matters of Fiqh.
There is sort of deception that our Baser Self pushes us into - you want to decide your religious matter yourself. You do not want to self-medicate, you do not want to file your income-tax return yourself, you do not want to fix your electric circuit but Islam is that rare department where everyone feels confident to decide. When beloved Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the people of cave then how many of these wannabe Mujtahids would have given the answer? None. But now they are there in the battle field, en masse to take on the followers of Madh-hab, main target being Hanafis.
To dump serious and complex technical details on unsuspecting populace is moral crime but fear of Allah (SWT) is not there in the dictionary of the enemies of religion of Allah (SWT). They think that they are having a joy ride while history is a witness that Allah (SWT) merely gives such people a long rope.
Using small technical details to undermine the whole edifice of Islam is indeed a big affront to Allah (SWT) out matched only by its silliness. It is really beyond imagination that people professing the faith of Islam could come down to this. May Allah (SWT) soon establish the truth in this matter.
And a couplet for such people :
Shauq parwaz ka rakhte ho to shaheen bano
Yoon to kawwe bhi fizaon mein uda karte hain
If you are fond of flight then be a falcon
Otherwise crows too fly in the sky