Question
I have seen some people especially women reciting verses from Holy Quran, darūd sharīf, Ayat Karīma, or reciting Allah’s name etc. They recite these in specific numbers singly or in groups. They do it to pray and wish for specific objective which may be either health recovery of someone, getting a job, selling a business or for any other purposes.
Is it right according to the Islamic teachings? Does this process make prayers answered much faster? What is the significance of gathering some women or children or men and reading as mentioned above for the purpose of achieving some objective?
Answer
Invoking Allah’s blessing on the Prophet (sws) and reciting the Holy Qur’an is a virtuous act sanctioned by the Qur’an itself. We can of course do this at any time any number of times. However, one thing is clear that asking for Allah’s help uttering any words considering them having magical power and hence the only way out of that trouble, be they the part of the Qur’an is not rewarding. We need 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 and 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 any sanctity of the words of the prayer expressed. Therefore a seeker if 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’s favor and blessings. I do not say that uttering such and such darūd 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 favor. 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 which is strongly condemned.
Answered by: Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Date: 2015-01-26
