The Quran-e-Majeed, a Book whose authenticity and sanctity is promised to be protected by the Divine Himself, instructs mankind to perform certain rights and responsibilities; these range from worldly commandments such as feeding the poor and obeying ones parents, to the spiritual responsibilities of performing Namaz and fasting during the month of Ramadan. The same Quran also enumerates a number of actions that the Divine Himself performs: He forgives the sinners, accepts our prayers, punishes the wicked and blesses the virtuous. For the most part, there is no commonality between the actions of the Creator and those of the created. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is for us but not Him; praying five times a day is for us, but not Him; commanding the Angles is for Him, but not us; and forgiving the sinners is for Him, but not us.
There is, however, a commonality between His and our actions. According to the Quran, in Surah Ahzab (33:56), God says that He and His Angels recite Durood on the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) and his progeny (AS), and commands us to do the same. Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) clarified that this Durood, like the one on Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) before, must be recited upon the Prophet himself, his Ahl-e-Bayat, and his progeny. And that no Namaz of any Muslim can be complete without the recitation of this Durood.
Almost fourteen hundred years ago, in the battlefield of Karbala, the proclaimed Muslims in the army of Yazeed, martyred every male member of the progeny of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) (except one, Hazrat Zain-ul-Abideen (AS)), threatening to bring this lasting Durood to an end. A Durood that not only are we, human beings, commanded to recite, but one that is recited by all the Angles and by God Himself.
The tragedy of Karbala rendered an inconsolable rupture across the historical and theological heart of Islam. A rupture that has ignited passions for almost fourteen centuries, and today threatens to engulf the entire Muslim world. A schism that marks the divide between Haq and Batil for most Muslims. A line that represents the boundary between paradise and perdition.
In Pakistan, today, the ongoing animosity and bloodshed across this dividing line in Islam, focuses more on the ritualistic and historical differences. One side passionately believes that Kafir is he who prays with his arms open; Kafir is he who hoists a black flag on his house; Kafir is he who whispers Ya Ali Maddad in moments of need; and Kaafir is he who beats his chest in the remembrance of Karbala. The other side, with equally fervent conviction, believes that Mushriq is he who makes excuses for Karbala; Mushriq is he who considers the Allam a biddat; Mushriq is he who does not prostrate on Khaak-e-Shifa; and Mushriq is he who recognizes no difference amongst the khulfa-e-Rashideen.
Stuck somewhere in these visible differences of worldly reality, as well as tainted narratives of religious history, we are lost in an age of bigotry that is devoid of spiritual truth. And in this age, while fighting to expand the physical dominions of our sectarian Mosques and Imam Bargahs, we have divorced ourselves from those who were able to unlock the higher mysteries of Divine grace. The saints and the sages are no longer familiar in our religious ideology. The fakeer (who is not the same as the beggar) is no longer part of our theology. And consequently, Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Chishti (RA) would feel just as alien in our Sunni mosques today, as Qalandar (RA) would feel in our Imam Bargahs.
This age of sectarian turf war is one in which the mirror fails to reflect the spirit of a ruined man. A tweaking of religious history, for as many times as memory knows and knowing remembers, has de-sacredized the Holy. And, sadly, the first casualty of this de-sacredization project has been the dominion of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) and his progeny (AS).
Across the Islamic religious spectrum, there is consensus on the corpus of hadith that relates to Muhammad (SAWW) being a Prophet of God (not just a man, but a Prophet) at the time when Hazrat Adam (AS) was between clay and water. There is no cavil about the Quranic verse that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) does not speak unless so commanded by God. There is no disagreement in the historical fact that he (SAWW) took five (from his progeny) into his cloak, declaring them to be his Ahl-e-Bayat, to whom the Quran refers to as Sadiqeen (truthful). There is no quibble with the prophetic tradition that the progeny of the Prophet (SAWW) and the Quran will not be separated from each other, till they are returned to hauze-e-Kausar. And still, despite this and countless other Quranic verses and traditions, we have felt a need to desacredize these Divine souls, turning their memory into one of fallible humans, in order for us to be able to associate with them and their religion.
As part of this de-sacredization of the Holy, we admonished those who chant their names in daily wird. We condemn those who go to their sacred shrines with a mannat in their heart. We recite their Durood in every namaaz, but forbid their intersession in our prayers. ‘God alone is sufficient for us’ we claim; the same God who, each moment, is Himself reciting Durood upon these souls.
This modern-day tradition of celebrating our religion, in which we seek favor of the Divine without first seeking favor of the beloved of the Divine, splits atoms with the path of the saints and sages. The select few, in human history, who have been able to break through our worldly shackles to be granted His Divine Grace – Ibn-e-Arabi, Al-Ghazali, Shams Tabrez, Haq Bahu, Shahbaz Qalander, Abdul Qadir Jillani regardless of which sect within Islam they belonged to, all (without exception) claim that they have been granted Qurb-e-Illahi through adulation of Ahl-e-Bayat. They attribute their spiritual elevation to hub-e-Ali, their expansive benevolence to azmat-e-Sadaat, and their culmination to Gham-e-Hussain.
Islam is not merely the religion of worshipping God. Because the Jews, the Christians, the Sikhs, and many others, worship the same God that we do. What distinguished Islam from all other religions is the creed of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) and his progeny (AS). This, for all intents and purposes, is the essence of our religion, whether we accept it or not.
The curious thing about truth is that it is simple: the opposition to Ahl-e-Bayt finds no justification in our religion. It finds its genesis in our bigoted desires to diminish the Sacred into some fallible form, in order to make ourselves feel elevated. And in pursuit of this desire, we condemn those who insist on parting ways with us; those who participate in matam-e-Hussain (AS); and those who celebrate Wilayat-e-Ali (AS). But hard as we may try, all of our collective desires, our tainted versions of history, and our selective interpretation of the Holy verses, cannot change the eternal truth that the religion of Islam lives not only in the verses of the Quran, but also in the lives of Prophet (SAWW) and his Ahl-e-Bayt.