یہاں دو مضامین انگریزی میں پہلی ہیں
پھر اردو میں
Our Elders in Dawat o Tabligh give much stress on Mashwara in accordance to Kitab O Sunnat and Prophet Life. Here is its detail from Quran o Sunnat.
A8: Adab of Mashwara .
Mashwara (consultation) is a Sunnah.
My Lord! Bestow Hukm (religious knowledge, right
judgement of the affairs and Prophethood) on me, and join me with the
righteous.
(Ash-Shu 'ara:83)
Abu Hurairah • narrated that I
did not see anyone consulting so
frequently with his companions, as Rasul did. (Tinnidhi).
Ali Raziallahu Anhu narrates that he asked: 0 Rasulullah! If we have a matter in which
we do not have a specific order, to do or not to do, what do you order
in this regard to us? He said: Consult those who have a good
understanding of Deen and are devout worshippers, and do not decide on
an individual opinion. (Tabarani).
~ Ibne
Abbas • narrates that when this verse was revealed: wasayerhum til amre (And
consult them in affairs), then Rasul :I
said: Behold!
Allah and His Messenger are above consultation. However, Allah has made this a source of blessing
for your Ummat.
So, anyone of my Ummat who consults others, he
remainson the right path, and anyone who gives up consultation he remains in distress.
(Baihaqi). Since there will be no more prophets, no more revelations, no
more sending of Angel Gibrael with messages from Allah, Rasul did mashwara with
his companions on many occasions to make decisions. This process teaches
lessons for his coming ummat until the last day of the world on how to handle
issues. Mashwara can be made for small issues in the family, such as marriage,
jobs, and business, to big issues for the community, Da'wah, etc. .
A8A: Historical Backgrounds
of Mashwara:
1. If Ummat has a Hakam for settling their' akhlaqi
problems then they will remain on Haq (truth). The Ummat will remain on Haq and
will be dominant. In
the Ummat, Mashwara
is obligatory. They should
not fight among themselves; otherwise they would
become cowards and lose courage. The chief of the Banu-Haris clan came to
Madina to accept Islam. The Prophet (:i) asked him
"What quality
does your
clan possess that you always dominate over others
and are never undermined?" He exclaimed: Ya Rasulul/ah (:I), we are very careful about 2
things: l.We never start tyranny, 2.We never have any
controversies with each other; whatever our
chiefdecides, we do
.
2. Ummat was not ordered in the Quran to do Mashwara
with the Prophet (~) but the Prophet (:I) was ordered to do the Mashwara with
the Ummat. In
this order great
secrets are hidden. The Ummat was asked to obey and the Prophet (;I) was told to give the order and continue
to do Mashwara with the Ummat. Therefore till doomsday, every single work of
the Ummat has to be done by Mashwara. But if
the Ummat discards the Mashwara, differences will
arise causing disunity and factions in the Ummat. Sometimes in the Mashwara,
the opinion of people who are not well experienced supersedes the opinion of
the Elders and people of exalted positions.
3. Once on the way to Badr, the Prophet (;I) wanted to camp at a certain place. A Sahabi asked the Prophet (;I), "Is this your order?" The
Prophet (:I)
said, "No, I
have not given a decision as yet, it is
not my order". So this Sahabi said, "My
opinion is that there is water ahead, we should camp there and capture the
water fITSt". Then Gabriel alaihes sal/am came and said, "This
also is the order of
Allah and His opinion". Therefore if this Ummat
will continue to do Mashwara, they will remain united, will get Hedayat, and
will be given dominance. If they forsake the Mashwara, they will not be
given dominance. If they
continue to do Mashwara they will be given the ability to march on the full
Deen and the Deen will be loved by all
.
4. After the battle of Badr, the Muslims captured
about 70 enemies.' Most of them were the relatives of the Muslims. Rasul (:I) made mashwara on what to do with
them. He asked for opinions. Abu Bakr
(who was soft hearted) gave his opinion that they
should be released after taking some fee. Omar said
that Muslims should kill them by their Muslim relatives. Omar's argument was
that these people gave
such a hard time to the Muslims at Makka and they
should be punished. Rasul (:I) took
many opinions and finally picked the opinion of Abu Bakr. Just then Angel
Gibrael alaihes sal/am came
down with the news that Allah
liked the opinion of Omar.
But
since Rasul (;I) made mashwara and made the decision, Allah accepted the decision.
So if the mashwara is sincerely made and even the decision contains
shortcomings, Allah will remove those shortcomings andhelp in the positive
outcome ofthe decision.
5. Before the death of Omar from his
injuries, he appointed 6 important companions of Rasul (:I) and asked them to
decide who should bethe next Caliph after his death. He gave them some strict
guidelines:
1. Majority of the 6 opinions
will be final, 2. iOt is a tie (3 to 3) then the group with Abdul Rahman bin Aouf
should be accepted, 3. After you decide, all six must agree on that decision.
Anyone who will not accept that decision should be killed at that sitting
before he goes out and spread that division and divide the ummat. The unity of ummat is so
important.
6. There is another very
important thirig in Mashwara: to be
guarded carefully. I am Sahibi-Rai (one with an exalted opinion), I am very clever.
This is false pride and misappropriation. In
fact,
we should sit in the Mashwara with the concentration on begging Allah to give
us the correct kind ofguidance. Ifwe sit with
sincerity and even make a mistake we will be saved and the result will not be
bad. Another important thing in the Mashwara is that there will be difference
of opinion, and the decision will take place on anyone of the opinions. After
this, if some thing goes wrong and a person says that because his opinion was
not accepted this happened, this is disbelief in destiny (which is one of the
Articles of Faith). In Uhud, a Mashwara
took place where Abu Bakr and other
imminent Sahabas were of the opinion to remain in Madina and fight. This was
also the Prophet's (:I) opinion. But the youth were of the opinion that they
should go
outside Madina and fight, an
opini;on in which Anas was prominent. A decision was taken on their opinion. On
the night of Uhud, the Prophet (;li) had two dreams. The fIrst was "In my hand was a
sword
which I shook and it became
blunt, when I shook it for the second time, it worked". The second dream was that a cow was being slaughtered.
Some Sahabas got frightened due to these dreams. After this, Arras exclaimed that
he changed his opinion and they should stay in Madina and fight. The Prophet
(;I) said that, "it is against the prestige of Prophets to pick up arms
first .and then lay them down", so he did not give a decision on his own
opinion.
7. No one should contradict
another person's opinion and should not say that this is not correct.
Contradicting another opinion is also contradicting the Ikram of a brother. It should be said,
"Masha Allah this is a good opinion, what is coming in my mind is like
this". The Amir should give his decision, taking
into consideration the opinions of
others, and not giving a decision based on his own opinion only.
It is a sunnah to select from all opinions. The goal ofMashwara is to draw honey from
the beehive. The 3rd
thing is that a
person should not stop expressing his opinion if nobody pays any heed to it;
this is
also misappropriation of trust. The 4th thing is that, one should not say,
"do this and do that"; this is contradicting his opinion by doing so.
Ifwe proceed, keeping the above-mentioned points in front ofus,
we will get guidance and our hearts will be joined
together. To do a Mashuara as to how the life of the Kalima win become
prevalent in this world is the most valuable of all Mashwara and carries with
it
great rewards. The Amir should not be the fIrst to
express his
opinion. His opinion
should be the LAST. To select from all opinions
expressed is to create harmony and peace; otheIWise people will say that the Amir is only asking one's opinion for
barakat. In
giving an opinion in
a Mashwara, three things should be taken into consideration: a) Nafs, b) Intellect, and c)
Shariat. Keep your
personal feelings
under control when expressing an opinion. The Nafs will create feelings inside oneself. Intellect
will control the
Nafs. If the
Intellect goes astray, Shariat will control it. To
control
your inner feelings
is our real Is1ah (self reformation).
8. By the grace of Allah and His kindness,. it has
become easy for people to proceed in the path of Allah. Thousands are going in
the path of Allah without any Targeeb (encouragement), only by the towfiq given
by Allah Himself, and many more, with little encouragement, are also proceeding
in the path of Allah. At such a time, the
workers have to
think of the various forms and ways of doing this work correctly with great
Fikr and
great planning, and stick
fmnly to the principles of this work. We have to constantly beg
Allah to help us to progress in the above direction.
If the new people, who come into this work, learn the correct principles, only
then correct results will be produced, the direction of the Ummat will be changed
from wrong to right, and Batil (falsehood) will be turned towards Haq (truth).
Allah forbid, if we do not keep in mind the correct principles and work accordingly, the new
brothers into this work will consider wrong principles to be the right ones and
in the whole world they will introduce wrong ways, thinking them to be correct.
Then the Da'wab of truth and the Da'wah of hnan will be colored in the color of
anyone ofthe organizations that are prevalent in the world today. This is the great danger of
breaking the correct principles of the work. Therefore it is essential that we always keep in
front of ourselves the correct principles and do muzakera (discuss) often with one
another, and confme our work strictlyto the
mashwara and the obedience ofthe
Amir in particular
.
9. When a work becomes common
amongst people and new people start to join in, the workers are confronted with various dangers due
to which our working together with love and affection becomes very
difficult. Controversies come
into existence, the quality of humility changes into self-appreciation and
pride, one becomes proud of his
own sacrifices due to which, the results of Ibadat start to diminish.
Then he fails to do Du'a
(supplication) with sincerity and eagerness. Then instead of doing this work
for his own Islah, he starts to look
at the defects of other co-workers. Therefore, to save us from these
coming dangers, it is essential
that we adopt the forms of mujaheda, increase our sacrifices, and make it a
point to work with the
common man. One should increase the fikr of the entire ummat, worry for Deen,
and pay particular attention to Du'as with devotion and tears. We should confme
ourselves to the six qualities and increase the ftkr for this. In proportion to
the six points coming within us, only to that extent our own Islah of Nafs will
take place, and Da'wah only will be the main object of one's life; religious
awakenings will be brought to life and one's !man will increase. So, the constant muzakera
of the six qualities is essential.
A9: Etiquette of
Mashwara
1. One person is the Amir/Faisal
and he makes fmal decision.
2. Recite Du'a of mashwara: Allahumma
alhimnaa marashida umoorina wa a 'ethnaa minshuroori
anfusinaa wa min
sayyi'aati a 'amaalina. (0 Allah! Inspire us with Your guidance in our deeds,
we seek refuge in You from the evils of our souls and unishment of our bad
deed).
3. Language of Mashwara should be
the language commonly spoken by most ofthe participants. Simultaneous
translation into other language should be done if needed to avoid miscommunication
and confusion.
4. Brothers can discuss the issue
infonnally before the mashwara starts to relate pros and cons ofthe issues. It is useful for
the brothers to be fully aware of the issues. However, they should not decide
collectively any opinion or form a group with one opinion and try to push
through the mashwara. Then, there will not be khair in this mashwara.
5. Never insist on your opinion in mashwara.
6. Never take long times with big speech or refer
information to justify while giving your opinion.
7. Opinion should be briefjust to the point.
8. You should not give opinion unless asked.
9. Give opinion facing to the Faisal only.
10. If
you are not asked
and no one has given opinion similar to your, then you can ask the Faisal for
permission to give your opinion. If the permission is granted then you give
your opinion.
11. If any brother gaves opinion what you have in
mind then instead of repeating the whole opinion, it is OK to say that my
opinion is similar to that ofthis brother.
12. No one should cross talk each other. No one-to-one talk..
13. Every one gives opinion only to the Faisal.
14. Do not make it harder for the Faisal to decide.
Help him
to decide.
15. When most ofthe opinions are given, everybody
including the Faisal should concentrate their mind towards Allah and pray for
best outcome. Only Allah knows what is the best decision.
16. Once a decision is made, all should
whole-hearted1y agree on the decision as your opinion and work to fulfill the
desired goal of that decision.
17. If
things go wrong, do
not blame Faisal or others but blame yourself for lack of efforts on your part
to fulfIll the desired objectives.
18. Faisal can ask everyone or some depending on how
many present. He should get a general consensus about the opinion of general
trend and take this into consideration before deciding. It is important to keep
the hearts united as much as possible.
19. Faisal has the right to decide anytime during
the mashwara. However, since the work of Da'wah is very delicate, he should
proceed with caution keeping his mind towards Allah.
20. A single opinion of the Faisal cannot cover
everybody. Otherwise mashwara is not necessary in the first place. So the Faisal should proceed with
ihram, respect to all no matter how bad an opinion can
be and proceed.
21. No one should ridicule or laugh to any opinion
or a new person's opinion.
22. Do not show your anger or frustration during
mashwara. If you cannot control yourself from
this, you should not sit in mashwara.
23. Even ifyou are an old worker and the Faisal is
relatively new, do not show yourself by way of talking that you know the issue
and your opinion is the best one.
24. If you are an old worker, you should help the
Faisal in
mashwara and not
impose your will.
25. Do not intimidate the Faisal that
you are an old worker and he should accept your opinion.
26. Faisal should not hesitate to
ask from anyone including new brothers. History shows that many times
opinion from a new brother is a very good one.
27. You should not have the notion
that you are an old worker, you are over confident about the solution of the
issue. Learn how Rasul1fi who received constantly all the direction and
guidance from Allah, still proceed so cautiously before deciding even simple
matters.
28. Faisal should not be a
dictator - he hardly discuss with others or most ofthe time, he decides with minimum
or no inputs from others. This kind of Faisal will break hearts of many
brothers in the process and ultimately divide the brothers. That will be the
worst situation for all workers and will hurt the work.
29. Sometimes Faisal form a group
of his own and decides whatever his group says. This is a very dangerous
practice. It divides the brothers and produce loss ofunity. This hurts the
brothers and the work.
30. Sometimes Faisal has a group
of his own race and decides whatever his group says. This is even worst than before. It will create division along
racial lines among brothers. It is
very difficult to heel this situation.
31. Sometimes Faisal to protect
his position forms his group and dictates the decision accordingly. This also
breaks the hearts ofbrothers.
32. At the start ofmashwara,
Faisal should ask opinions and then decide. He should not give his opinion first. In that case his opinion becomes fmal decision
and then it is not necessary to ask opinions.
33. Faisal can delegate someone
to relate details of the decision to those affected who are not present.
34. Faisal should keep in mind
the benefit of the work as first priority before deciding.
35. In case Faisal has to leave for some reason, he can
delegate someone to continue mashwara on his behalf and decide also if Faisal
wants.
36. Mashwara should not continue
very long. Faisal takes opinions and at certain time should make his decision.
37. Patience is essential in masbwara. There will be ups and downs, sometimes
hot discussions, sometimes all have to wait for some infonnation or
clarification, eventually Faisa! should decide with positive tone to move
forward.
38. There will be different
opinions, sometime conflicting opinion. Faisal should use Hekmat to conver~ to an opinion, which should
39. Faisal can decide at that
sitting or delay his decision to decide later. cover most ofthe opinion.
No one should demand decision
then and there.
40. All those whose opinions are
not accepted should thank
Allah;
those whose opinion is accepted should be afraid of its shortcomings and consequences.
41. All should agree in the fmal decision of Amir as your opinion. After a decision
is made, all should try
to work towards that
decision.
42. If
the situation
changes on which the decision was made initially, a new mashwara can be made.
However the people who were pt:esent and gave mashwara should be present or
involved (if
can't be present) to
avoid confusion and misunderstanding. If a new decision needs to be made to
address or accommodate new situation, all these brothers should help the faisal
to come up with the new decision and this new decision should be related to the
affected people or places as soon as possible. This will clear the transition
situation.
43. Recite the du'a after the mashwara: ,. Subhaanaka allahumma wa bihamdika
ash 'hadu alla Ilaahaanta astaghfiruka
wa atoobu elaik. (Glory
be to You, praise be to You 0
Allah! We bear
witness that there is no worthy of worship but You, we repent to You and we ask You
for forgiveness and we repent to You).
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