Why our prayers are not accepted.
A true story from the History of Egypt.
When the war broke out between
Egypt and Ethiopia, Egyptian forces were met with defeat after defeat because
of the disunity among its commanders. The ruler, Khadev Ismail was incredibly
distressed and aggrieved. He was in the company of his minister, Shariff Pasha
who asked him out of curiosity: “What do
you do when such a situation arises?”
The Khadev replied: “Afandi! With the grace of Allah, I turn to
the pious souls in Al-Azhar mosque who read Sahih Al Bukhari and with its blessing
the calamity is averted.”
Then the Khadev visited Shaikh
Al-Arusi, Sheikh Al-Azhar and arranged through him for a number of respected
scholars to start reading Sahih Al-Bukhari in front of the old dome in the
Mosque.
But there was no change in the
situation as his forces kept being defeated.
The Khadev was disgusted and
disappointed, and went once again to the meeting place of the scholars with
Shariff Pasha and said to them: “Either
the book you are reading is not Sahih Al-Bukhari or you are not like the pious
scholars of the past, because Allah has not expelled our sufferings with your
recital.”
Hearing this all the scholars were
spell bound, but one of them from the last row stood up and said: “It is because of you, O Ismail! Because it
is reported that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) has said: “You should enjoin
what is good and forbid what is evil. Otherwise Allah will empower upon you
those who are worst among you. Then the best among you will pray but their
prayers will not be responded to.” (transmitted by Al-Bazzaz &
Al-Tabarani)
This announcement was a shock for
all the scholars and for the Khadev who slipped away with Shariff Pasha without
any comment.
The scholars started blaming
their colleague and scolding him for such a courageous and bold stand. While
they were still engaged in their discourse, Shariff Pasha came back and asked:
“Where is the Sheikh who just addressed
the Khadev?”
The Sheikh who had spoken stepped
forward and Pasha asked him to accompany him.
Now all his colleagues, who were
just blaming him, stood up to meet him and give him farewell as if they did not
expect him to return. Pasha took him to the palace of the Khadev who was
sitting in his chair with an air of expectation.
He asked him to sit on a chair in
front of him and then said “Repeat to me
what you have said to me earlier in the mosque!”
The Sheikh read to him some
Hadith with explanation.
The Khadev said: “What have we done to attract this calamity
upon us?”
The Sheikh replied: “Did not the courts allow dealing with
interest? Is not fornication allowed by licence? Is not liquor permitted to be imbibed?” And
so he continued to enumerate many sins prevalent in the society which were not
being challenged.
He reiterated: “Then how could you expect victory heralding
upon us from the heaven?”
The Khadev replied: “What can we do? All these evils are part of
the culture of the foreigners with whom we have to live.”
The Sheikh commented: “But why should Al-Bukhari and the Sheikhs
of Al-Azhar be blamed?”
The Khadev went deep into
meditation and then raised his head, saying, “What you say is true, what you say is true!” Then he ordered the
treasurer to add to the Sheikh’s wages a sum of thirty pounds. The Sheikh came
back to his colleagues who were not expecting his return, and was greeted as if
he had been re-born!
(See Abdul Aziz Al-Badri:
Al-Islam bain Al-Ulama wa l’hukkam)
No comments:
Post a Comment