I recently received a SMS from a good friend. It started with some of the beautiful names of Allah. And followed with a statement that says “Allah never fails.” Then it requested that the message be forwarded to 9 people to receive good news by tomorrow. If this was not done, 9 years of bad luck was to be the result. Finally it closed with a statement that said, “this has been proved to be true”!
My dear brothers and sisters, If you get such a SMS, or something similar, please desist from forwarding it. This is superstition and religious blackmail. This SMS request has all the hallmarks of the work of shaytaan. A good action has been mixed with a bad one. (khalatu amalan saalihan wa aakhara sayyian)[9,102]. This is damaging to belief.
Allah does not need our worship. We are in need of Him. He is Merciful and would rather have us come to Him willingly than by compulsion, least of all this sort of blackmail. It must be remembered that “whatever good comes to thee is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls thee, it is from yourself”. (Ma asaabaka min hasanatin fa minal Allahi; wa ma asaabaka min sayyi atin fa min nafsika) [4.79].
At the time of the salman rushdie affair, the great man, sheikh Taj said, “Islam is like a great tree, when stones are thrown at it, fruit falls.” So what good can come out of this? Well, we could deal with the originators of this work within the following concepts.
1. Upon them be the evil misfortune (Alayhim daairat sow e )[9,98] – according to the retributive Mosaic Law.
2. We could leave the affair to Allah ( Wa u fawwidu amri illal Allah)[40,44] – in conformity to the Isawi tradition.
3. We could ask forgiveness for the originators and ask forgiveness for ourselves for having been part of it due to our own ignorance (… iza fa alu faahishatan ow zalamu anfusahum, zakurul Allaha fastaghfiru li zunubikum…)[3,135]. – in conformity with Islamic Perfection.
Know that when you desist from forwarding such an SMS, you are sure of your action with a “knowledge of certainty” (ilmul yakeen) [102,5]. Your non-involvement in this jahilya is part of your certainty of your Iman. In fact in some ways, the originators have done us a favour by testing our Iman before the crucial tests that may follow and have given us the opportunity to strengthen it. Undoubtedly, this will not be the last of the messages. At least we know what to do with the others, with no doubt in our hearts. Thanks to Allah.
Yunous Vagh
ECUIS.INFO 