Wednesday, May 20, 2015

MY DARLING GENERAL ERRED

…by Tijjani Muhammad Musa

We are staunch supporters of Gen. Muhammad Buhari and would stand with him wherever he goes and in whatever he does, EXCEPT where he goes knowingly or unknowingly against the rules and injunctions of Allaah and His Rasool. Once this line is crossed, we will stand off him or anyone.

Islamically, it is not permissible for a man who believes in Allaah and His Messenger to put his hand in the hand of a woman who is not permissible for him or who is not one of his mahrams. Whoever does that has wronged himself (i.e., sinned).

Here is a hadeeth as proof:

It was narrated that Ma’qil ibn Yassaar said: the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “For one of you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle is better for him than that he should touch a woman who is not permissible for him.”

Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer, 486. Shaykh al-Albaani said in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 5045, that this hadeeth is saheeh.

This hadeeth alone is sufficient to deter and to instill the obedience required of us by Allaah, because it implies that touching women may lead to temptation and immorality. -

So based on the foregoing hadeeth (Prophetic saying), for as much as we love Buhari, the love of Allaah SWT and Muhammad SAWS supersedes that of any other. And just because other religious or pseudo-Islamic personalities engage in disrespecting the commands of Allaah and His Prophet under the excuse of modernity, civilization, leadership and so on do this act of shaking the hands of women in public or in private, most especially if you are in a position of leadership and claim to be a Muslim, it does not mean that it should wipe off the binding rule on it as far as Allah AWJ is concerned.

In fact, it is because we love Buhari so much that we worry over him and his welfare here on earth as our leader, as well as his stand before Allaah, his God on Judgement Day when he eventually dies. We are not excited about this because he is Buhari, a northerner, from North-west region, a Hausa-Fulani etc (by Allah NO!), but because he is a Muslim. We are to care for each other, physically if we can, with our words, if we can’t physically and finally in our hearts, where these first two options are not feasible.

Once again let me quote some other ahadith;

“It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When the believing women migrated to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), they would be tested in accordance with the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):

‘O Prophet! When believing women come to you to give you the Bay‘ah (pledge), that they will not associate anything in worship with Allaah, that they will not steal, that they will not commit illegal sexual intercourse’[al-Mumtahanah 60:12]

‘Aa’ishah said: Whoever among the believing women agreed to that had passed the test, and when the women agreed to that, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to them:

“Go, for you have given your oath of allegiance.’ No, by Allaah, the hand of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) never touched the hand of any woman, rather they would give their oath of allegiance with words only.”

And ‘Aa’ishah said: “By Allaah, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) only took the oath of allegiance from the women in the manner prescribed by Allaah, and the hand of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) never touched the hand of any woman. When he had taken their oath of allegiance he would say, ‘I have accepted your oath of allegiance verbally.’”
(narrated by Muslim, 1866)

It was narrated from ‘Urwah that ‘Aa’ishah told him about the women’s oath of allegiance: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) never touched any woman with his hand. He would explain to the woman what the oath of allegiance implied, and when she accepted, he would say ‘Go, for you have given your oath of allegiance.’” Narrated by Muslim, 1866

This infallible one, the best of mankind, the leader of the sons of Adam on the Day of Resurrection, did not touch women. This is despite the fact that the oath of allegiance was originally given by hand. So how about men other than the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)?

It was narrated that Umaymah the daughter of Raqeeqah said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “I do not shake hands with women.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i (4181) and Ibn Maajah, 2874; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 2513.”

From the above it should be clear to us all. Will there be any problem if Buhari should decline to shake the hands of any woman, not just this case in contention? Would such a move stop him from being our leader? Would it make him cease to be the principled man he has been reputed to be or would it tarnish his image in the sight of his Lord and Maker, even if it does in the eyes of man on earth?

For that same reason, we similarly condemned Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau for such a public violation when he shook the hands with an international female journalist after completing an interview as Governor of Kano, some years back. Same condemnations trailed Saudi and other Islamic rulers from the rest of the Muslim world whenever they do that, even if it is out of the need to meet international secular expectations.

We are only serving as reminders to each other by expressing this unacceptability of their acts. That as Muslims we must be conscious of Allaah and His Injunctions upon us always. We must of essence honor and respect our noble Prophet by keep off things he forbids us from. That is what our Declaration of Faith (Kalimat ash-Shahada) means.

We are not perfect and do make mistakes. So, we must be willing to understand and forgive where we see errors being made. And as sincere lovers of each other, we must call to order our flaunting selves from rushing off into the destruction of our souls.

Let me end this with a poem from my maiden poetry anthology THE FIRST CUP that aptly captures this write up…

FAULTS ARE BOTTOMS
.... by Poetic Tee "Here, take a sip"

Faults are like bottoms, you know
Everyone sits on his own
And analyze another's

As we sit our bums, staring at others
Our own faults, upon standing are seen
By a thousand more

But how unfair we are judging others' fallacies
As much as they are wrong too
About weighing ours

Selfish mankind, we hardly admit our mistakes
So, it is others' duty to alert us
Where and when we err

Highlighting those short-comings can make
The heedful among us reflect, then reach
For a turning point

Keeping quite on the other hand might be mistaken
For approval of a distasteful act
Thus, keep us not mum

So, point out each other's misdemeanors we must
Though we might be detested or even
Outrightly hated for it

For only one who cares will assist you
When you are busy engaging in evil...
By stopping you!

(c)(r) Tijjani M. M.
11102013 @16:49:05

©2015 Tijjani M. M.
All Rights Reserved

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