Question
I have seen especially women reciting verses from Holy Quran, part or complete surah, darood ( different kinds – Tanjeena , Taj , Ibraheemi etc etc ) , Ayat Kareema , or reciting Allah’s name etc etc. They recite these in specific numbers. And they recite in group or singly to complete a given number of quantity. They do it to pray and wish for specific objective which may be either: health recovery of someone who is sick, suffering from a dangerous life threatening disease, getting a job, selling a business or for any other purposes.
My question is: Is it right per Islamic teaching? Doing this make ones prayer answered much faster? What is the significance of doing all this – gathering some women or children or man and reading as mentioned above for the purpose of achieving some objective etc ?
Answer
Invoking Allah’s blessing on the Prophet (sws) and reciting the Holy Qur’an are virtuous acts sanctioned and praised by the Qur’an itself.We can of course engage in this pious at any time any number of times. However, one thing is clear that asking for Allah’s help uttering and chanting any words to ward off problems is not religious. No wards carry magical power offering us way out of that trouble. This is true of all recitations including the Qur’an. We are required to pray to the Almighty with truest of intent and with fullest of conviction. The prayers are not magical words which force the Almighty to deliver us from an adversity.
We need to express our humbleness and our limitation as well as His powers and refer to His attributes of Mercy and affection. This is due to His mercy and our dependence on Him that He listens to our prayer not because of force of the words of the prayer expressed. Therefore, if a seeker does not have full trust and confidence in God and does not turn to him with hope and relies mainly on the words learnt as chants and magic would not win God favour and blessings.
I do not say that uttering such and such darood is not sanctioned by Islam but I strongly believe that turning to other methods of solving our problems which have no basis in our religious sources nor the practice of the Prophet (Sws) is unislamic and should always be avoided. The Prophet (sws) only taught us to pray with complete trust in God and with the clear understanding that God would deliver us from the problem if only it is in accordance of His profound wisdom.
The Qur’an is not meant to be read basically for reasons other than seeking guidance from it and warning ourselves regarding the great realities. What other purposes can be added to these? People usually believe that if we recite it we will be protected from the enemy or illness or be blessed with some worldly favour. It should be appreciated that sufferings like diseases and hardships come either as a test for us or as a warning by the Creator. We can seek God’s help and beseech His mercy but cannot force Him out through any magical device. Therefore, we should remain conscious of the fact that attaching something new to a religiously rewarding act may render it useless and even harmful. It often amounts to innovation in the religion of God and which is strongly condemned.
Answered by: Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Date: 2014-12-22
