|
Islam
and Superstitions
By Syed Kamran Mirza
(Original in Bengali)
[Translated
into English from Bengali by
Abul Kasem
]
April 3, 2006
INTRODUCTION
We are aware that superstition is a popular belief held by
people without any reason or logic; that is to say, it is an irrational
belief system without any proof practiced by the ignorant mass. This type
of superstition can be of two types, namely: folklores—that are
essentially fanciful, irrational stories that are accepted by the
population as such; so, there is no problem with such fairy-tales.
However, the other type of superstition is the religious false notion that
is firmly rooted in the belief of supernatural divinity. The morbid fear
of unknown, the thought of after-life and a deep penchant for supernatural
power are the main causes for the growth of such religious mumbo-jumbo.
Clearly, this uncontrolled fear for life after death (fear factor) and its
resultant irrational faith in it is the primary reason for the birth of
world religious beliefs. We see the abundant presence of many such
fanciful, irrational ingredients in almost all religions practiced in
to-day’s world—no religion is free from such ridiculousness, to say
the least. For that matter Islam is no exception. In fact, there are so
many superstitions in Islam that one can safely surmise that the entire
edifice of Islam stands firmly on many such mythological /supernatural
narrations.
When one reads the
fundamental scriptures of Islam, namely; the Qur’an
and many Ahadith, one is bound
to find copious superstitious stories and practices. The belief in such
irrational and illogical stories and tales is bound to give rise to many
fanatical believers and this could be the root cause of Islamic frenzy
among its blind believers.
In Bangladesh, searching
every nook and corner of the markets, bookstores, Islamic libraries, even
the foot path (Fatemolla aptly calls these books: the Moons and the Stars
of the foot path) of a city, one is sure to find thousands of such Islamic Kitabs (Islamic Books) which shamelessly promote such
ignorance and cock-and-bull stories. From among such famous and popular
books, let me name a few. These are: Behester
Kunji (The Key to
Paradise
), Beheshti Zewar (The Treasures
of Paradise), Maqsudul Momeneen
(The Destiny of the Believers), Kassa-suul-Ambia
(The Stories of the Prophets) and Neyamul
Qur’an etc. In a Muslim country like
Bangladesh
, these Islamic books are in such a great demand that the publishers have
a tough time meeting this huge demand even after they have run 30th
or 40th edition for each of the above books.
From among the books cited
above, I found it absolutely compelling to delve in illustrating some of
the contents of Kassa-suul-Ambia.
This Islamic Kitab is considered
to be distinctly different from any other Islamic Book—in that, this
book is not about the exhortations of Islamic teachings based on the
fanciful ideas of some Mullah. As the title of this book suggests, this
book narrates the stories of many Prophets mentioned in the holy Qur’an
and Ahadith and who were
born in the
Arabian Peninsula
. This means that whatever is written in this book conforms to the
contents of the Qur’an
and Ahadith, and as such they are completely irrefutable. The version of
this book that I am using has been written by an impeccably educated
Muslim writer—M.N.M. Imdadullah (M.A., B.A. Hons. M.A). In look and size
this book is quite similar to the holy Qur’an
and as such it commands a great reverence from the Muslims. As a mark of
respect the libraries and the devotees will store this book at the
uppermost shelve of bookshelves, positioning it just by the side of the Qur’an.
This is also a pricey
book—mind you; one translated volume is costlier than the holy Qur’an!
An examination of this tome will reveal that
its content is replete with superstitious narrations—almost 90% of it,
to be precise. Once the simple-minded, faithful Muslims read/hear such
irrational tales, they turn to be more ardent believers, devoting more
time and attention in prayer and fasting. For the not-so-faithfuls, they
will find such incredible, irrational tales extremely hilarious and will
definitely have hearty laugh reading the book.
Nonetheless, such
superstitious books are plenty in
Bangladesh
and, as said before, one may find them in virtually every household—no
joke. These are the text books—the principal learning sources of Islam
for the vast majority of the Muslims in
Bangladesh
. Most of what they believe and
practice in Islam actually emanate from these primary learning tools!
Many Maulanas (Islamic priests) recorded these ‘cock-and-bull’ stories
in the audio cassettes which are readily available in
Bangladesh
to the gullible Muslims. For some unscrupulous Maulanas this
cassette-selling is a booming business that is simply nothing but only to
plunder the hard-earned wealth from poor public.
Needless to say, the influence of such books, and the audio
cassettes have created, among the Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh, a
thriving business for the saints, ascetics and the friars by selling
talisman and by practicing charms.
In the villages, in the
suburbs, and even in the metropolitan cities of
Bangladesh
numerous Islamic Jalsas (Islamic
Preaching) are held almost on a daily basis. These congregations are
attended by thousands of ordinary, illiterate, half-literate, ill-educated
Muslims. The surprising fact is that many well educated, blind believers
also attend these gatherings and become engrossed in listening to the
exhortations of the Mullahs. The main theme of such speeches is the
narrations of Islamic mythological tales—irrational and fanciful
stories, and colorful anecdotes from Islamic history. The principal source
of such tales, of course, is none other than the incredible Kassa-suul-Ambia,
the implausible Islamic book. The simple-minded village folks are so much
imbued by these cock-and-bull and absurd stories, that in no time they
start believing such stories to be true and many of those ardent believers
even start weeping. As a result of such gullible faith in irrationality,
they soon become victims of fear and completely surrender to superstition
and supernatural forces of Islam.
During my childhood, when I
attended such gatherings, I used to wonder as to where from these Mullahs
obtained such coaxing stories and narrate them so eloquently. I used to
marvel at the level of their knowledge and understanding. Now, I have no
doubt in my mind that all those incredibly irrational tales are actually
from authentic Islamic books that I have mentioned a few. In this long
article I shall quote, verbatim, a few sample passages from those
authentic Islamic books mentioned above. [Please
note: these quotes are exact; nothing is from me, except that at the end
of the paragraphs, some of my personal views and comments are included
italic, inside the parenthesis]:
1. How
Allah created this universe and everything in it?
Before creating anything the almighty Allah created,
from his glorious light, the light of Muhammad (pbuh). Then Allah created
all creatures from this light of Muhammad. At first, Allah divided
Muhammad’s light in four parts; Allah used one part to create the
Supreme Throne, He made the writing pen from the second part, and from the
third part he created the denizens of souls (Lauhe
Mahfooz). Then He divided the fourth part into four parts—the first
part was used to create the angels bearing the throne, the second part was
made into His throne, and from the third part He created all the angels (Farishta). The remaining fourth part, He divided it again into
another four parts—the first part went into creating the heavens, the
second part was used in creating the earth and from the third part He
created
Paradise
and Hell. Then again, he divided the remaining forth part into yet another
four parts—the first was used to create the radiance of the eyes of the
believers, the second part was used to create the light for the souls, the
third part was used to create the light of Kalema
(La Ilah Illa Allah Muhammad-ar-Rasul Allah). Through the last fourth
part Allah created all the rest of the materials on earth. (Subahanallah!!!)
2. Why is
the nib of a fountain pen Cracked?
Readers, have you ever wondered how the nib of a
fountain pen was cracked? If not, then please read on carefully. After
finishing His creation, as depicted in (1)
above, Allah commanded his pen: “O pen, begin scribing Kalema Tayeb; La Ilah Illa Allah Muhammad-ar-Rasul Allah.” Then
the pen scribed, for four hundred years (some say four thousand years),
“La Ilah, Illa Allah” but on no occasion did the pen write the last
part, i.e., Muhammad-ar-Rasul Allah. Then Allah asked the pen: “Pen,
what you wrote so far?” The pen obligingly showed Allah what it had
written. An angry Allah said, “Why did you not write the last part?”
The pen replied,” My Lord, I dared not associate your name with anyone
else.” Then Allah said, “Indeed you have committed a grave mistake by
not writing the name of my comrade. Now hasten to write my best friend’s
name.” Observing the unpleasantness in Allah, the pen became extremely
frightened started to shake; as a result, its front part became cracked.
Now, whenever you observe the crack in the middle of a fountain pen you
will surely recall the reason for such a split! After this, the pen
continued writing the name of Muhammad (pbuh), the dearest friend of
Allah.
3. The
extent of Allah’s Throne and the shape of its carrying Angels!
In order to have an idea of the colossal extent of
Allah’s Throne, it was raised on eighteen thousand pillars. The distance
between one pillar of this throne to the next is a journey of seven
hundred years. Then Allah buried those pillars under the seven layers of
heaven. To carry His Throne, Allah created four gigantic angels. These
four angels have four distinct shapes. The first one looks like a human
being, the second one is in the shape of a tiger, the third angel takes
the shape of a vulture and the fourth one is in the shape of a cow. The
sizes of these four angels are beyond one’s imagination. Their legs are
so long that they reached the bottom of the seven heavens. In one step
these angels can travel a distance of seven thousand years!
4. How the
faithfuls of the last Prophet were bestowed with mercy of Allah?
When Allah finished the making the Lauhe Mahfuz (denizens of souls) from the blessings of the last
Prophet, He ordered the pen, “Beginning from the first man (i.e., Adam)
scribe in Lauhe Mahfuz the
unseen stories of all the twenty-four thousand Prophets.” Accordingly,
starting from Prophet Adam, the pen wrote, in detail descriptions of all
the children of him (i.e., Adam) and the followers of all other Prophets.
The writing included such matters as, those who are obedient to Allah will
be admitted in
Paradise
; those doing reverse will be sent to Hell. The pen was about to enumerate
the similar accounts for the believers of the last Prophet, when an
instant stern message from Allah said,”O pen, refrain from writing such
account now.” The utterly frightened pen tremulously adjured Allah,
saying, “My Lord! Please instruct me what to write.” Allah said,
“Write Ummatu Muhammadin-a-Rabbun Gafur.” This meant: even if there
were some sinners in the rank of the believers of the last Prophet
(Muhammad), Allah may, at His own will, let many of them go scot-free (most
likely, because of this provision for the Muslims there is such profound
dishonesty and corruption in their societies—simply because Allah will
forgive the thieves and bandits who are Muslim).
5. How the
provision of five prayers was ordained?
From the light of Muhammad, Allah created a peacock
and placed it atop a Sajaratul
Yaakin tree. Sitting atop this tree, the peacock prayed to Allah for
seventy-thousand years using rosary beads. Then Allah constructed a mirror
of shame and stationed that mirror in front of the peacock. The peacock
was overjoyed witnessing its extraordinary beauty, so much so, that it
prostrated to Allah for five times. This example, later, became the
tradition of compulsory five prayers among the faithfuls of Muhammad (pbuh).
next
>
|
