The Ulama' and the Effort of Dakwah and Tabligh: Part 1

Hadhrat Maulana Ilyas Dehlawi rahimahullah said, "Wherever a person doing the effort of dakwah and tabligh goes,  he should make attempt to visit the ulama (scholars of Deen) and the righteous and pious people, for spiritual benefit, instead of directly giving dakwah to them. These people are already busy engaging in religious matters, and certainly they are more experienced and religious. You will not be able to make them understand that this effort of dakwah and tabligh is more important and more useful than other efforts. There's a chance that  they will not agree or will not accept your word, and if they had said "No" then it is difficult to change it to "Yes". Consequently, the laymen who follow him might also shun the tabligh effort. And it is only likely to cause prejudicial effect on yourself. Thus, visit the ulama only with the intention to take spiritual benefits from them."

"Nevertheless, make effort in the area where an alim resides with tartib and usool. The good and positive effects of the effort will, hopefully, reach him and attract him to embrace this work. It follows that once he likes you and your effort, then request him to supervise this work. And with utmost manners and politeness, inform him about this work."

"When we meet any alim or pious personality anywhere who does not support this work, please do not think bad of them. Rather, we must understand that the reality of this work has not been perfectly opened to them. We must realize that the ulama are special servants of Deen, thus, shaytaan is hostile to and seeks to harm them more as they are the arch-enemies of shaytaan (as thieves only steal valuable things). Whereas  the people who are busy with the worldly matters even feel heavy to leave their worldly affairs to take up any takaza, what more of the religious people who feel their affairs is nobly high? The wise men say, "The veils of light are thicker than the veils of darkness.""

With this precious advises in mind, we proceeded to Kelantan, the East-Coast state of Malaysia, on dakwah and tabligh journey for 40 days in June 2010. We were a 12-members jamaat including 7 university undergraduates, one of them a Somalian student. 95% of Kelantan's population are ethnic Malay, and under the Malaysian Constitution, all Malays are Muslims; therefore, Islam is the most influential religion in the state. The state is also known as 'Serambi Makkah' (the 'Antechamber of Makkah') and the Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim ("The Blissful Abode"). One of us jokingly said that if a pebble is thrown at a crowd of people there, there is a good chance that it will hit an ustaadz. A part of the deeply conservative Malay heartlands, Kelantan has been ruled by the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) since 1990. Personally, I am of the view that many of its leaders and adherents are influenced by Maududi-type of thinking on the interpretation of Islam.

Nonetheless, by applying the above mentioned usool and tartib as stated by Hadhrat Maulana Ilyas Dehlawi rahimahullah, our effort during the khuruuj fiisabilillah in Kelantan turned out to be much easier. Whenever we knew of an alim happened to be residing at the "route" that we were staying, either he happened to also be an imam or chairman of the masjid, or living in the vicinity of the masjid, we made a point to personally talk to him, requesting him for a piece of advice to be given to us as a group in the masjid.  In all different routes and occasions, the ulama that we met were more than happy to pass down to us kind advice and words of approval and encouragement publicly in front of every worshipers. Thus, I believe the least effect of those ulama's blessing and consent had made our effort in blending and mixing with the local people turned out to be very smooth and and in harmony. That was the case until our route of tasykeel reached the district jame' masjid.

A few days prior, we were cautioned about the possibility of aggression and prejudice that might face us at the district jame' masjid. In fact we were given a choice whether to stay at the masjid or just to skip and move on to another masjid on the list of routes that had been given to us earlier. 

When we reached the masjid in the morning, we were greeted by a very pleasant soft-spoken elderly aalim who kindly prepared some refreshments for us. We noticed that the main hall of the worshiping area was tightly locked. We then made mesywarah  with the elderly aalim whom we fondly called 'Baba', at the back corridor of the masjid which was quite spacious. According to him, for the past 7 years no jamaat was allowed to stay at the masjid for 'itikaaf even for one day. Many jamaats that had attempted to make effort of dakwah and tabligh at the masjid  had been thrown out at the order of the chief imam or the 'old imam' as they called it in Kelantan (the assistant imam is called 'young imam'). Before his appointment as old imam, the jame' masjid had been enlightened with the 5-aamal of masjid. Back then there were many brothers who participated in the local effort of dakwah and tabligh. However, shaytaan had managed to sow the seed of hatred and enmity among the local people. Consequently, the old imam who himself was a veteran activist of PAS, somehow branded  those who participate in the effort of dakwah and tabligh as a group of people who shun politics which according to him is an integral part of Islam. Since then, he had been launching fierce opposition against the local tablighi brothers until there was only Baba left who keeps on making the effort at the jame' masjid.. Ironically, Baba and the old imam attended the same pondok or  madrasah as students of Deen when they were young. 

The karguzari that we heard from Baba caused nausea in our stomach. I and Munawar were chosen to visit the old imam at his house. Kadrey, a fine young man who was studying at MARA University of Technology, gave us a bottle of honey he recently bought to be offered as a present to the imam.

We reached the chief imam's house at around 10.30 am. We were greeted by his son who politely invited us to wait for his father in the living room. The chief imam was flushed with rage the moment he saw us. The anger was visible on his face. "Ustadz, we are a jamaat from Kuala Lumpur arriving at your masjid," I spoke to him in Kelantanese dialect as I was born in the state. "No! No! You people are not allowed to stay at the masjid," he retorted with a snarl. I pretended not to hear him and decided that that instead of listening to his words of disapproval, I would quickly present my case of appeal.  "Ustadz, there are a number of university students travelling with us. They are from various universities and from different parts of the country - Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Sarawak and also a Somali student. Now that they are on their semester break, they decided to come to Kelantan to learn Deen. We were told at the Masjid Jame' Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur that whenever we meet an aalim here, we should ask for Deeni advises from him. Now the students are waiting in the masjid. We ask for your time to give us special advises. It is not fit and proper for us to come here without obtaining any benefit from the ulama' here. Would you be able to spend your time, even if it is for a short time, perhaps after Dzuhur or after Asar?" By Allah, his rage and anger instantly lessened the moment he heard of our plead. "I would not be at the masjid for Asar," he said amid uneasy broken voice. "Perhaps after Dzuhur solah? Just for a short moment, Ustadz," I continued pleading. When I sensed hesitation on his part, I gestured at Munawar and said, "Oh! We bring honey as a gift for you." Munawar immediately handed the bottle of honey to him with his trademark smile. "Allright, for a short time after Dzuhur," the chief imam said to our relief and joy.

And Masha'Allah! We all sat waiting behind him as he performed nafil ba'diyah solah after Dzuhur. We gathered around him listening attentively to his advice and what a wonderful advice it was. At the end of his advice, he raised his hands to make du'a for us and we responded with "Aamin". Thereupon, we stayed in the jame' masjid for 3 days without any trouble and hindrance. Subhanallah!

And Baba's face was beaming with happiness when he heard our karguzari later.

It is not so creditable to work in the favourable and conducive environment as in the unfavourable and adverse conditions along with safeguarding our principles and trend. The ability and capability of a worker is best judged in such situations. That is why Hadhratji Maulana Inamul Hassan rahimahullah used to say time and again that we should not be worried by the disfavour and opposition because Allah is the Doer. When He comes to doing, even idols would divulge his oneness and the voice of truth would rise from the establishment of untruth.