بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
STAYING WITH THE PEOPLE – YES OR NO
Alhamdulillah,
One of the more important things which many Muslims seem to forget is the command to share the knowledge of Islam with others, this is a command of Allah and the Sunnah of His last and final Messenger saws, to be around the people so that our character and manners rub off on the person next to us, hence the tens of ahadith that speak about being good to your neighbours.
One of the concerning matters which have now come about (last 5-10 years), is the matter of Muslims leaving populations of people and establishing their own little villages, where there are 10-15 houses and they are completely isolated from the people and the jamaah of the Muslim body.
Many times when asked why do you do such and such act, they will reply we are trying to salvage our emaan by moving away from the sinners and their like. This practice has become so common in Bosnia, that there are now multiple villages where only people of a certain manhaj live. Now from a distance one may say, there is nothing wrong here, they have seperated themselves from the Dhalimeen and the Kufar, but here is where the problem starts, because they have also seperated themselves from the Muslimeen.
And in many cases the owners of these houses live in the west, living in the lands of the Kufar and paying taxes in the lands of the Kufar, enjoying satellite TV, fast internet and all the latest gadgets, but when they come to Bosnia on a holiday, they proudly live in a Shari Village, with no electricity or internet access, but only for a few weeks.
The problem here being, once a people start to seperate from each other while claiming the truth only for themselves (The Jamaat At-Takfir Wal-Hijra Mentality), they will continue seperating from one another until there is only a couple left.
Completely claiming to be intolerant of anything that resembles modernity, while they are in Bosnia only.
It just so happens that everyone else is a kafir mubtadi’ while they are the only people of Tawheed on this dunya. Hence the Messenger saws, said:
And though sometimes, we feel like packing up and moving to the mountains, away from the general body of the Muslims, we always must rememberthat there is a greater reward in dealing with the masses and providing them with services to benefit the general community. RasulAllah saws, stayed in Makkah for 13 years… Think about it.
Once when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was asked, “What is Eemaan (belief/faith) ?”
He (صلى الله عليه وسلم) replied:
“الإيمان الصبر و السماحة“
“Eemaan (faith) is patience and tolerance.”
(Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 554, 2/87)
A similar hadeeth was narrated on the authority of Jaabir bin Abdullah (رضي الله عنه) in which he asked the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم): “Oh, Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), which is the best (aspect) of Faith (Eemaan)?”
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) replied:
“أفضل الإيمان الصبر و السماحة”
“The Best (aspect) of Eemaan (faith) is patience and tolerance.”
(Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, no. 1495, 3/482; Ibn Abi Shaibah in “Al-Eemaan” pg. 43)
This topic is a massive one. I am well familiar with the situation in Bosnia, but there are cases all over the Ummah with similar characteristics. Perhaps if Allah allows, one day I will expound on this topic.
We ask Allah to make us tolerant of others, may Allah allow us to learn a sunnah and share it with our neighbours and those closest to us, so that we become a benefit to the community and the people.
والله تعالى أعلم
وصلى اللهم وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه والتابعين
أخوك أبو ناصر