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Beseeching for Help (Istighāthah)
Tahir-ul-Qadri, Dr. Muhammad COMPILED BY Prof Iftikhar A. Sheikh
Tahir-ul-Qadri, Dr. Muhammad
COMPILED BY Prof Iftikhar A. Sheikh
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beseeching_1.pdf
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Abstract
"The blatant irony is that the western nations have taken over the leading role, and the nation that was supposed to lead is now impr isoned in its own false egoism. It has sacrif iced its unity to self-fabricated differ ences authenticated neither by history nor by the central message of I slamic faith. While the western nations, on account of the inher ent compatibility between the Islamic t eachings and modern scientif ic investigations, are drawing closer to the religion of natur e, the Muslims are drifting away from their r eligion through spurious self- incr imination. Superf icial dif ferences have split the Muslim Ummah into vested groups who are engaged more in promoting group interests rather than the interests of their faith. Insulated from the core message of I slam, they thrive on mut ual intoler ance; their incremental wrangles have edged out the substance of their faith. I stighā thah ¾ beseeching for help ¾ has grown into a highly controversial issue. The Muslims have complicated it unnecessarily and undesirably. It has diverted attention from the substance of I slam and engaged the minds of the younger generation in an unpalatable debate. In their opinion, it has become the measuring rod of faith. They dub those who believe in it as disbeliever s even though their hostile labelling goes against the very gr ain of human nature, and since Islam is the closest to human nat ure, their view clashes with the spir it of I slamic f aith. They are in f act flying in the face of r eality. I slam, being a r eligion of humanity, encourages mut ual cooperation Besee ching for Hel p among human beings as the progress and development of human society depends on this kind of coor dination. Therefor e, to equate this kind of innocuous activity with a br each of f aith is nothing but perver sity, it is to emphasise the shell at the expense of the kernel; for them the husk matter s more than the gr ain, the wr apping mor e than the gift, the skin of the or ange more than the juice. Thus their attit ude is symptomat ic of a deeper malaise ¾ their increasingly strident disaffiliation from the tr ue spirit of their faith. Man by nature is not a hermit or a recluse. He is a social animal and likes to huddle with other human beings in small settlement s or large towns. A f eeling of security and cooperation motivates the f act of living together as no man is an island. He loves to seek help from other s and to extend help to other s. This is ingrained in his natur e, which cannot be changed by the petty intellectual squabbles of some skewered zealots. Even a blunt-headed st udent of history and sociology knows that inter dependence and coordination are the basic facts of human life. The newborn child cannot support himself ; he needs someone to f eed him. A young man draws on the experiences of seasoned people to educate himself and to discriminate bet ween good and evil. In old age children support their par ents. Thus in every phase of life a per son depends on other s and also serves as a prop for other s and it is this fact of inter dependence, which sustains the fabr ic of society. Dur ing disease, war, accidents and other nat ural calamities, human beings help and console one another . The patient needs a doctor’ s medicine, the st udent needs knowledge from a teacher, the labour er seeks wages from his employer, the neighbour s expect help f rom each other , the child cr aves milk from its mother and the old man seeks the support of his young children. In short, all human beings need someone’ s help in different phases of their lives. The beauty of human culture lies in fortifying mutual relations. It is beyond doubt that the tr ue helper and supporter is only Allāh Foreword VII whose generosity knows no bounds and whose magnanimity is limitless, but in our daily routine we help people and seek help from them in scores of assorted matter s. Thus the mut ual help we extend to each other is not a negation of divine unity but a fulfilment of the divine command. To seek help from the prophets, the r ighteous and the saints is not a violation of I slamic pr inciples; on the contrary, it is quite compatible with the teachings of I slam. We seek help from other s on the assumption that their power is only borrowed, as Allāh alone possesses absolute power. This division of power into “absolute” and “relative” has prompted some mischievous minds to create unnecessary and unwarranted complications in basic I slamic concept s, including the concept of istighāthah."(pg v-vii)
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2001
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With permission of the license/copyright holder