One of our sisters has written this article on the forum: (continued from above)

Only those who read this article in humbleness and in a quest for the truth will Allah SWT open their hearts. If not Allah SWT will cause them to be blind from the truth even though they have eyes to read the article and cause them to be deaf even though they have ears to hear the message.

Worst of all even though they have hearts Allaah SWT will seal it and they will not be able to think their way to the truth. So let us all be humble and desire to at all times to seek the truth so that Allaah SWT will not abandon us in our lost ways. For only Allaah SWT can guide us to the truth and we must constantly make dua that he protects us from falsehood and guides to HIS truth.

We must remember that Allah SWT created us only for one purpose and that is to worship Him. So man`s main goal in life is to correctly worship his creator and Lord.

Surah 51:56

Wama Khalaqtul Jinna Wal Insa ILLa liya`a buduun.

And I (Allah) have not created the jinn and mankind except that they

should worship Me (alone).

So if all man`s intelligence is used only for being the best and the most successful in this physical world but fail to use the intelligence to ensure he is worshipping his Lord as his Lord wants to be worshipped then he has failed miserably in life`s goal.

We must worship Allaah SWT according to the way HE wants to be worshipped [according to HIS recipe] rather than the way we have been taught to worship by our parents, our `koum` and our leaders. In the history of Islam from the time of Adam a.s. groups of people have deviated before and had to leave the practices of their parents and their `koum` in search of the truth. A good example is Nabi Ibraheem a.s. who left his father and his koum and their false practices. Thus man needs to be on guard all the time and seek to be guided back to the truth. Our allegiance should not be to our `koum` but to Allaah SWT. If our `koum` is wrong then we should humbly seek and go in the direction of truth.

Thus HIS [Allaah`s] recipe is to follow the Qur`an to the letter and to follow the Teachings of Rasulullah [saw] according to the authentic hadiths.

In these difficult times Muslim`s are trying to make sense of the American tragedy and their counter attack. Let us not focus on the battle between the kufar and Muslims as what will happen will happen by the will of Allaah SWT and no one will have control over this. All we can do is make doa for the Muslims in different parts of the world.

Nor should we focus on the disagreements between the different groups of Muslims but to look within ourselves and fight our inner jihad [battle] to ensure that Shaittan does not win the battle in making us continue worshipping Allaah SWT in the wrong way and thus lead ourselves to be the losers in our life goal.

We must thus strive to gather knowledge that will get us back on the right path and achieve the goal for which we were created in the first place that is of worshipping Allaah correctly. Thus we will be successful in this most important life goal.

If at death all we have done is succeeded in being successful businessmen, engineers, doctors and lawyers; gathered position, power and wealth; educated our children well and got them married well [and strated the cycle all over again] but worshipped Allaah SWT in other than HIS way than we have but wasted our time, energy and intelligence. We would then end our life`s journey having failed misreably. Now what a waste that would be for intelligent, oustanding Bohra`s to be in.

May Allah SWT guide us to the right path and give us the strenght to break away from falsehood. Ameen.

There is nothing to fear accept Allaah SWT. To fear anything else is SHIRK.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Answer:

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Jazak Allah Kheir, and may Allah reward you with the best in this world, and honor you with His Mercy and Forgiveness and the eternal gardens of Paradise in the Hereafter. We appreciate your comments and are really impressed with your style of ‘daawah’ and invitation to the Truth. May Allah increase yours and our quest for the knowledge of Truth, and give us all the patience, wisdom, steadfastness and courage to continue the task that Allah Subhanah has honored us to do. May He accept our humble and weak efforts in the propagation of the deen of Islam, forgive us our sins and short-comings, and save us from the torment of the Hell Fire.

We are about five or six brothers who started this forum about seven months ago. All of us were born in staunch Dawoodi Bohra families and spent a major part of our lives in the deen of our forefathers. At various stages of our lives (some 15 years ago to some 15 months ago!), the Merciful Allah guided us to read and understand the Holy Quran; and we were left with one of two choices. Disregard the words and clear guidance of Allah and keep on following the deen of our forefathers, or reject everything and align ourselves to the guidance and teachings of the Glorious Quran.

All Praise is due to Allah, who guided us to make the right decision. We have left behind us the slavery of man and have united to become the slaves of our One and Only Creator. We used to write to each other to further increase our knowledge and get our various questions and doubts answered, and that list of questions and answers kept on growing. Today we send our weekly questions and answers to almost 23,000 brothers and sisters, most of whom are Bohras. Some are receptive and some are antagonists. Allah Alone knows how many of them forward the messages to others on their list. Allah has made it a duty on the believers only to invite mankind to the Truth, and that is exactly what we intend to do. To guide someone or leave them astray is in the Power and Domain of Allah Subhanah Alone.

We have read the articles which were written by you, and Allah is our witness, we are immensely impressed with your knowledge and style of inviting our brethren to Islam. May Allah increase yours and our knowledge and give us the wisdom and the patience to carry on this mission until the last breath leaves our body. Ameen.

Our mission is to stress on two things within our community:

1. To read and understand the clear guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran.
2. To understand and avoid the heinous crime of ‘shirk’ and all its ugly manifestations.

If we can get our brethren to read the Holy Quran with understanding, we are hopeful that they will realize the Truth of Islam. Our brethren are so smitten by the worldly power and transient glory of the leadership, that they only believe and follow what is said by the hierarchy. If we can only urge them and reason with them to understand the words of Allah Himself, we believe that there is a good chance that these powerful words of the Lord of the Worlds will touch their hearts. Allah is our witness, our only wish is to fulfill our duty to our brethren by inviting them to the Holy Quran. We ask for no reward and no appreciation; our reward is with the Merciful Lord, who we hope will forgive us our sins and short-comings, and enter us all into His Mercy.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzaab verse 72-73: We (Allah) offered this trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they all refused to bear it, and were afraid it. But man undertook to bear this trust. Indeed, he is unjust and ignorant! The inevitable result of bearing the burden of the trust is that Allah should punish the hypocrite men and women, and the mushrik (one who invokes others with Allah) men and women, and accept the repentance of the believing men and women. Allah is indeed Forgiving and Merciful.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 49 Surah Hujaraat verses 10: The believers are the brothers of one another; so set the relations right between your brethren and fear Allah. It is expected that you will be shown Mercy.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 12 Surah Yusuf verse 108: (O Mohamed) tell them plainly, “This is my Way! I invite you to Allah. I myself see my Way in full light, and my followers see it too. And Allah is absolutely free from defect, and I have nothing to do with those who invoke others with Allah.”

We urge you to remember us in your supplications to Allah Subhanah.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan