Translated by Dr. Suhail Alam

Saleem, your thoughts on my writings are completely natural and should occur to every open-minded person studying the Quran, to every person whose eyes search for those truths which God has unveiled in his book of clear guidance. The Quran, with eternal guidance and unchanging laws, governs the stagnation and destruction or prosperity and success of nations. Saleem, you are familiar with my ideas. I believe that the Quran is not only directed towards Muslims, but towards all of humanity. It is the sole solution for its personal and societal problems as well as the ultimate cure for the its pain and difficulties. This belief of mine is not built upon blissful ignorance, rather this belief springs from deep reflection and understanding of the situation based upon reason. It satisfies my search for peace and perfect balance in my heart and mind; a baseless superstition or blind belief cannot not be mistaken for such an internal peace.

You ask a question which strikes a vital reality. Today a very large number of Muslims are praying, fasting, giving zakat, completing hajj, yet they are not receiving the same benefits and successes as did the Muslims in the time of the Prophet (p), a time in which Muslims did these very same actions. Since you are not looking for abstract philosophical criticism or complex terminology, nor are these methods equipped to approach the reality of a problem of this nature, I will explain to you in simple terms why these days our prayers and fasting are ineffective.

Saleem, imagine that it is wintertime. A chilling wind blows through the streets on this exceptionally cold day. Nearing sunset, the last rays of sunlight lose their warmth. Rahmat’s wife is sitting with her young children in her decrepit shack. Do you know who she is? In your childhood you used to visit and play with her. Her age would lead one to expect a cheerful liveliness and warmth on her face, but continual poverty has replaced it with sadness and despair. All that is left of this forsaken household is their precious innocence; not a single remnant of humor or life remains within its walls. With her children, she comes and sits by the stove. She had gathered some dry branches, grass, and leaves during the day. She lights them now to provide some warmth and diversion for her hungry children. The children, however, are much more afflicted by hunger than by the cold. Seeing this, the mother puts some water in a pot and puts it on the stove, but alas, was only fooling herself by doing this. All have their ears attuned to every footstep and their sights upon every motion. The children and their mother stay in their room, with longing eyes gazing towards the alleys. Just after the sun dips below the horizon, Rahmat’s footsteps could be heard coming down the alley. In tattered clothes, stained sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he trudges on bare feet towards his home, his face filled with the same painful despair and hopelessness. As he enters the door his wife meekly greets him. The children cling to both legs of their father as the wife glances at her husband’s grief stricken face. Teardrops were barely clinging to his eyes, as his wife asked him if there was any luck in finding work. In a low, barely audible tone he replies that despite spending the whole day searching and begging for work, he was not able to find any work today either.

At this same time in a nearby Masjid, courtesy of Khwaja Sahib, a well-known rich religious leader, a lavish carpet is being layed down. The many Muslims at the masjid exchange glad tidings with each other, shouting takbir to the greatness of Islam and give Khwaja Sahib prophecies of a home in heaven as a result of the Sawab al-Jariah he will get from the wise expenditure of his earthly wealth.

Saleem, do you remember Inayat-Allah? He used to be your classmate. Do you remember what a responsible and honorable fellow he was? Unfortunately, in childhood his father passed away, and his mother was forced to work day and night in order to raise him. But you can imagine how hard it must be for a woman to find work if it is difficult for a man to do so. I was looking out from my window and watched her sending her son off to school, forced to send him on an empty stomach. The child was exhausted, but the mother told him to go to school and that upon his return there would be fresh bread for him. Saleem, can you dare to imagine the feelings and thoughts going through his mother at this time? What kind of painful emotions that she was experiencing? Her son, that dear innocent soul, a symbol of poverty and misfortune, quietly left for school and returned later that afternoon. His mother was not at home. Perhaps she left because she could not bear to face her hungry son. After entering the house, Inayat-Allah opened the handkerchief in which bread was kept, but nothing was there. Silently, he walked outside. He was strolling through the alley when he noticed Khan Sahib’s house, at which there seemed to be a rather large gathering. Many types of fruit, varieties of desserts and candies were spread on the tables. Today Khan Sahib’s son was about to break his very first fast. The hungry orphan just watched and then passed by through the alley towards the square, hoping that he might get a tip carrying someone’s bags.

Saleem, do you remember Mother Bholi? She is the blind old woman who was slowly growing mad. You probably have not seen her son. He was a healthy 18-year old, whose father was a construction worker. Unfortunately, one day his father fell from the roof of a building and was killed. The builder simply put someone else on the job and there was not even so much as an inquiry as to who was orphaned and who was widowed. Following this tragedy, Mother Bholi was forced to toil day and night to spin wool in order to raise her son. That year in which influenza was rather widespread, that boy became ill too. There was a doctor in the neighborhood who wrote free prescriptions for the poor. Mother Bholi got the prescription from him but could not get enough money in order to get the medicine, but believe me, she tried. On this dark, rainy night she went to every house asking for a little something, anything so that she might fill the prescription. Her plight was evident to everyone; her prescription was in her hand and her son was dying right before them. Yet no one spared a single penny and that poor young man agonizingly took his last breath in his mother’s arms. All this happened on the same day that a special train departed with people on their way to do hajj. Many flowers totaling hundreds of dollars were strewn about on the station floor, in their honor.

And of course, you must have heard about Razia in the past few days. She received news of the death of her brother, yet out of shame she could not leave the house to travel; all she had were old, tattered clothes. When she borrowed the clothes from her friend, she called the village watchman to accompany her to her brother’s house, but the guard questioned how he could go with her when she could not compensate him. Razia had relatives in her village which might have been able to help her, if it was not for Syed Sahib’s son’s wedding, for which the entire town was preparing. Poor Razia was forced to travel on foot through the intense heat, so that she may see her dead brother’s face. (This is the same Razia that accompanied her late father, who was a great scholar, to perform hajj twice.) Ironically, this village was well-known for being very religiously involved. But what were the great religious debates they used to be involved in? The two parties of muqallid and non-muqallid already existed, but now a famous scholar had come to the village and started another debate about whether the glory of a masjid is greater than the glory of the Prophet (p). The scholar’s idea was that the glory of the masjid is greater because the Prophet (p) used to go to the masjid and the masjid did not go to the Prophet (p). The permanent imam of the masjid was of a different opinion and felt that the glory of the Prophet (p) was greater than that of the masjid. This debate divided the people into more factions, which eventually became violent and led to court cases. While the people were busy in the court cases, they were forced to sell their land to non-Muslims in order to support their battles. As time passed, the entire land in the vicinity of the village came to be owned by non-Muslims. Consoling the Muslims of the village, the scholars and imams told the people that they had merely sold their worldly wealth, but in doing so had purchased a palace in heaven.

Saleem, you might say that this is just an example from a less-educated people, but you will remember the great scholar from Dewbund who gave a khutba for Juma prayer in which he mentioned that "Shab-e-Barat (The night of destiny) is that night when Allah says ‘Oh my People, ask me whatever you want and I will fulfill it for you.’ So, anybody who in this night prays 50 nafl prayers and asks for forgiveness, then his salvation will be guaranteed by Allah." Then the great scholar became very emotional and tears began to flow from his eyes. He cried that in this great ocean of mercy, everyone will have equal share except for one most unfortunate soul who will be deprived of it. The people began questioning him who that would be. The scholar replied, that just one and only one would be deprived, and he is the one whose trousers are below his ankles. Saleem, this is not the talk of an ignorant imam; he did not say anything of his own. He had in fact studied this as being exactly according to Islam and propagated it sincerely as true Islamic teaching.

Now this is not just the story of one Razia. If we observe the world today, we will find many such examples. So my dear Saleem, if this is the system of a society then it is not surprising that their prayers, fasts, zakat, and hajj do not produce the results which they should produce. You should understand Saleem that Islam is a system of life. Other religions in the world always consider religion as being only a personal affair of seeking personal salvation, an affair between the individual and God. Islam, on the other hand, in addition to personal aspects, also addresses societal aspects. Islam strives to establish a society which will take the responsibility for providing all the necessary ingredients for nourishment and development. To this end, Islam considers every Mo’min to be an extremely important component, whose every action and struggle will have an effect on the entire universal machinery. If every part in its place functions properly, then the entire machinery will run in a coordinated manner and will produce a result as does a watch whose arms turns as a result of the coordinated movement of its components. But if these various components are kept apart, no matter how much effort is put into improving the individual components, they will not work together as a system and will not produce the desired result. This is what has happened to our machinery called Islam. We have compartmentalized Islam into separate components, i.e. prayer, fasting, etc., and as a consequence, it is not producing the results we would expect. If you study the Quran carefully, then it will become quite obvious to you that a people who are satisfied with their state of indignity, dependence, hopelessness and insecurity is a nation experiencing Allah’s wrath (maghdoobi alaihim, 1:6). You already know that a particular people upon whom Allah’s wrath has been sent, cannot declare themselves as being the recipients of Allah’s blessing by simply going through soulless prayers and customary fasts. Allah promises that he will give you power in this world in return for your Iman and good deeds. Therefore, if one’s supposed Iman and good deeds do not result in dignity, self-respect, power and independence, then that Iman cannot be true Iman and those good deeds cannot be truly good deeds, according to the Quran. You cannot reach a conclusion other than this because Allah’s word and his promise are always true. This is his immutable law. If you look at the period of our Prophet (p) and start looking at what the programs and plans were which the Muslims of those days used to follow, was it not the same prayer and the same fasting that transformed that society in a very short period of time and revolutionized that society to great heights in culture, morals, civics, economics? These people, whose subsistence mainly depended on dates and meager food, completely overpowered the Persian and Byzantine empires and became the inheritors of their power. The same prayers, the same fast, produced such an effect that they changed the history of the world forever. In their time, these actions were used in a working and integrated system, and this is what is meant by the first four words of the Quran, that a program that is worthy of Allah’s praise should provide the universal nourishment for all of humanity. Therefore, actions which do not produce this glorious end result are nothing but soulless customs.

Saleem, remember that my purpose is not to say that our al-amal al-hasan are solely for the success, power, and domination in this world. Not at all. If this was the case then what would be the difference in the reign of Allah and the reign of the Pharaoh? What I want to say is that our actions should give us both honor, power, success and excellence in this world as well as success and dignity in the hereafter. If our actions are not producing the results that they should in this world, what makes us think that they will do so in the hereafter? Thus, our actions, by the criteria of Islam, are incomplete and lack the necessary balance of success in the world today as well as in the hereafter.

Saleem, in the final analysis, you ask why this world of punishment has been thrust on us. I am surprised that by now you have not been able to understand this. You would agree that the Quran was revealed in order to free mankind from the yokes and chains which it is subject to, so that it may be governed only by Allah himself. But look at the pages of history Saleem, and see how the very same control that Islam came to abolish, was through many ways thrust upon humanity again. The calamity of this situation was that the agent thrusting this unholy control on humans was, in fact, mostly under the pretense of religion. Every collar that the Quran came to remove from the necks of people was again, in the name of Islam, put onto the necks of people. Do you think that this occurrence, this re-enslaving of Muslims to other forces, would be less weighty and not as bad as it was in more ancient times? Were not past nations which were receiving the wrath of Allah under similar chains and yokes, doing similar things? Do you think that nature is a step-mother that she would act a certain way with one child and a different way with another child? No, Allah’s laws are eternal and are applied equally to everyone. If the ancestors did something wrong then they received the wrath. If Muslims do those same things, then why shouldn’t they receive the wrath as well? In fact, they should be dealt with even harsher since they have laws of Allah, complete and unchanged, in order to guide themselves; however, they put it in the back of their minds and all but forget about the heart of its message. Should their punishment be any less? They were selected as the inheritors of the book and were called the best nation in the world. But all this is meant for the nation and people who actually have true Iman and good deeds, not just because the name of their religion is Islam. In spite of all this, you ask why Allah’s wrath is upon Muslims today? Saleem, brotherhood, equality, freedom, unity of mankind, living together, centralism, obedience, the individual doing everything he can for the group, and the group providing all the individuals’ needs-these were the characteristics of the true system. Now you can see how long Muslims have forgotten the will of Allah. Forget the glorious periods of Islam for a moment and then with the Touchstone, the Criterion, the Quran, analyze each of the actions of this Ummah. The truth will unveil itself before you.

But in spite of all this, my young friend, there is no reason for hopelessness. The same Quran is still present today which served as the basis for the Islamic system in the more glorious times of Islam. Thus, if Muslims today realize what they are doing and change their ways, then you will see, Saleem, how their prayers and their fasting will bring about the same wonderful results as in the time of the Prophet (p), times for which all Muslims’ endeavor.

In doing this, we must remember that 

"If the people of the towns believed and solidified in their hearts the law of Allah, then truly the doors of blessing in the heavens and earth will be open for them. But they went against the laws of Allah, and the consequence was that the (negative) result of their actions caught up to them." (7:94) 

True belief and righteousness will come to you from the Quran only if you remove from your mind all preconceptions and look at the Quran open-mindedly. This is because, as Iqbal says:

The meaning which was lost in all our divisions

Will not be understood by you until your perceptions become untainted