We have to be with Jemaah Muhammad saw and only with this jemaah we will achieve salvation. In order to attain the love of Allah, we have to be part of the Jemaah Muhammad saw. Nowadays there are many jemaah or groups of Muslims in this world. All of them claim to belong to Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw. Prophet Muhammad saw said with approximate meaning “my umat will be divided into 73 jemaah (or groups) but only one group or jemaah is following the true path. When the companions of Prophet Muhammad saw asked Prophet Muhammad saw which group or jemaah is following the true path? Prophet Muhammad saw answered with the approximate meaning, the jemaah or group that follows me and my companions”. Whoever follows the companions of Prophet Muhammad saw will also follows Prophet Muhammad saw and so the jemaah or group which follows the true path is the jemaah or group that follows Muhammad saw and his companions. Crowd of peoples will not make a jemaah or a group unless there is a leader or ‘Amer’. The Amer of Jemaah Muhammad saw and his companions is Prophet Muhammad saw himself and after the demise of Prophet Muhammad saw the Amer of Jemaah Muhammad saw and his companions should be the disciples of Prophet Muhammad saw or the ‘Naib’ of Prophet Muhammad saw. Naib or disciples of Prophet Muhammad is not a Prophet but has the same mission, vision and work like Prophet Muhammad saw. What is the work of Prophet Muhammad saw? The work of Prophet Muhammad saw is to call people towards Allah with full conviction, determination and perseverance.

When there is not even one person from among the umat of Prophet Muhammad saw who has the same vision, mission and work as Prophet Muhammad saw, there will be no one who is capable of becoming the Naib or disciple of Prophet Muhammad saw. When there is no one who is capable of becoming the Amer of the Jemaah Muhammad saw, there will be no jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw in this world. In other words in this world there will be no jemaah which is following the correct path. When leaders are wrong, all those who follow the leaders are also wrong. Without even a single person who is following the path or Tarikat of Prophet Muhammad saw, there will be no jemaah or group in this world which is following the correct path. Many believe that at all time there must be at least one group or jemaah from among the umat of Prophet Muhammad saw which is following the correct path. This is not true. When none from among the umat of Prophet Muhammad saw is striving towards the correct path, Allah will not guide anyone from among the umat of Prophet Muhammad saw towards the correct path. Guidance or hidayah is not a matter of coincidence. Allah ordered us to work on gaining guidance or hidayah. Allah will give hidayah or guidance only to those who strive towards hidayah. When all of the umat of Prophet Muhammad saw is in love with the worldly thing, their heart will be devoid of the love of Islam. When their hearts are devoid of the love of Islam, none will ever do the work of enjoining peoples to Good and forbidding peoples from Evils (amar makruf nahi mungkar). When this happen, it means none of them is fulfilling the right of the Great Kalimah (the first pillar of 5 Rukun Islam) and Allah will not make the Great Kalimah enter into their hearts. When the Great Kalimah is not entering their heart, their actions are devoid of sincerity, Allah will not give them the understanding of the Quran and Allah will make them deviated from the true path.

Many from among the jemaah or groups claim that they are also doing the work of enjoining peoples to Good and forbidding peoples from Evils. However the way they are doing the work of enjoining good and forbidding evils is entirely different from the way done by Prophet Muhammad saw. Generally many Muslims believe evils are the wrong doings or injustices done by non-Muslims towards Muslims. Many Muslims believe the evils done by non-Muslims need to be prevented by organizing street demonstration, asking Muslims not to buy products produce by the countries that do injustices to Muslims or declaring wars on the non-Muslims and their countries. They do not regard the greatest evil of the non-Muslims is they do not want to recite the Great Kalimah and to prevent the evil is to invite the non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah. Many Muslims think when a non-Muslims do injustice to a Muslims, the non-Muslim is the enemy of Islam and Muslims. Many groups or jemaah of Muslims regard Americans and the Jews as the enemies of Muslims and Islam. They believe the Americans and the Jews are the enemies of Muslims and Islam and to kill them is an act of Jihad and to die in doing so is an act of a matyrs. They regard themselves as Mujahidin and they look down towards other Muslims who are not in the same struggle as them and they call other Muslims as coward. They interpret the Hadis that say we must prevent evils even with our heart is to hate the evil doers. Since Jews and Americans are evil doers, Muslims must hate them and pray for their destruction. Even this groups or jemaah believe they are the jemaah or group whom Prophet Muhammad saw mentioned in the Hadis as the only one that follows the correct path. Among the most notable jemaah or groups belong to this are the Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Muslimin, Buku Haram (in Nigeria) and many others. There are many Muslims groups or jemaah in the world but all of them claim that they are following the correct path and that they follow Prophet Muhammad saw by enjoining peoples to Good and forbidding peoples from Evils.

When Jews do certain act of injustice towards the Palestinians, many Muslims call the act as an act of evils. When the Americans burn the Qur’an in Afghanistan, many Muslims call the act as an act of evil. When there is an act of evil, according to Hadis, Muslims must stop the evils, either by using force, or by words or by having hatred towards the evil acts in their heart. Many Muslims who are more extreme in their believe like the members of Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Muslimin, Buku Haram and many others want to use act of force to stop the evils done by the Americans and the Jews. What they understand by using act of force to stop evil is by killing the Jews and the Americans or to destroy places of importance to the Jews and the Americans. Other Muslims who are not ready to use force to stop evils will use their mouth to stop the evils. What they understand by using their mouth to stop evils is by doing street demonstrations and screaming bad words in the street or displaying banners written with bad words towards the Jews and Americans. Other Muslims who are not ready to use their mouth to stop evils will use their heart to stop the evils. What they understand by using their heart to stop evils is to hate the evil doers and in this particular case is to hate both the Jews and the Americans in their heart. Instead of inviting the Jews and the Americans to recite the Great Kalimah with love and affection, and if they do not want to embrace Islam, Muslims should pray for the Jews and Americans to embrace Islam, Muslims are told by their Muslims scholars to hate the Jews and the Americans. This is not the teaching of Islam but yet due to the inability of Muslims scholars to understand the Quran and Hadis correctly, hatred towards the Jews and the Americans has become virtues to some Muslims.

When Muslims are told by their Muslims scholars to hate Jews and the Americans, many Muslims follows blindly the advice of their scholars and will use whatever it takes to hate or to kill the Jews and the Americans. Muslims with this wrong understanding of Quran and Hadis are the Muslims who bomb the Casino in Bali and many others in the world. Although their actions are not in accordance with Quran and Hadis yet they regard themselves as good Muslims and they claim they are following the jemaah or group of Prophet Muhammad saw. They also believe, in case they die on this path they will die as martyrs and they will enter paradise. Many Muslims do not understand the meaning of the Hadis of Prophet Muhammad saw that say; If you witness an evil act, you must stop it using your hand (power). If you cannot stop the evil act with your hand, you must used your mouth (words) and if you cannot stop the evil act with your mouth, you must stop the evil act with your heart (prayers or making doa’). Many Muslims interpret and understand the words, using your hand to stop the evil acts as using power to stop the evil acts. Many Muslims understand the word of using power as using force. Many Muslims understand the words of using force as using machines guns, bomb and other ammunition to kill the evil doers and in this particular case the evil doers are the Jews and the Americans.

It is sad to say that many Muslims including their scholars do not understand the true meaning of the Quran and the Hadis. Because of their wrong interpretation of Quran and Hadis, Muslims are known in the world as terrorists. None can give Muslims the understanding of the Quran and Hadis except Allah. Why Allah does not give the Muslims the understanding of the Quran and the Hadis? Although many Muslims can read and memorize the Quran and Hadis but Allah does not give them the understanding of the Quran and Hadis. Allah does not give the understanding of the Quran and Hadis to the Muslims and to their scholars because Muslims are not inviting peoples to good and preventing peoples from evils in the way shown by our Prophet Muhammad saw. Many Muslims including their scholars do not understand the word ‘Good’ and ‘Evils’ mention in the Quran and Hadis. Many Muslims including their scholars do not know that the order ‘to invite peoples to Good’ and ‘preventing peoples from Evils‘ is actually the fulfillment of the right of the first order of Allah which is to recite the Great Kalimah, I bear witness there is no God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Many Muslims including their scholars do not know that the Evil mention in the Quran and Hadis; it means not to recognize Allah as the only God and Muhammad as the messenger of Allah or not to recite the Great Kalimah. Many Muslims including their scholars do not knowthe good mention in the Quran and Hadis; it means to recite the Great Kalimah.

All other evils done by men can only be prevented when the greatest evil done by men is prevented by Muslims. There is no point to prevent other evils when the great evil is not prevented. How Muslims prevent the greatest evil done by men? The greatest evil done by men can be prevented by Muslims by Muslims inviting men to do’ the greatest Good’. What is the greatest Good done by men? The greatest good done by men is to recite the Great Kalimah; I bear witness there is no God except Allah and I bear witness Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Muslims have to invite men to do the greatest good without using any force. Muslims must invite men to do the greatest good, the way Prophet Muhammad saw did. Allah wants men to recite the Great Kalimah without force or compulsion. Muslims have to invite men to recite the Great Kalimah with love, affection and kindness. Muslims are not allowed to use any force in inviting men to recite the Great Kalimah. Allah wants men to recite the Great Kalimah with willingness. Allah does not accept the recitation of the Great Kalimah done without willingness. Allah has given the choice to men either to recite or not to recite the Great Kalimah. Muslims are ordered only to invite them to recite the Great Kalimah but not to force them to recite the Great Kalimah. Muslims are not to wage war on anybody who refuses to recite the Great Kalimah. Muslims are not to obtain any material gain from those who refuse to recite the Great Kalimah. Muslims have to invite men to recite the Great Kalimah in the way of Prophet Muhammad saw.

Our intention to invite men to recite the Great Kalimah is only to please Allah and not to gain popularity or any materials gain. Muslims are not allowed to force peoples to accept the Great Kalimah. Muslim will only wage war on those who wage war on the Muslims. Allah has not ordered Muslims to start any war with anybody and at anytime. Muslims will only wage wars on those who wages war on the Muslims. War will be becoming an order of Allah when Muslims are attacked by their enemies. War is only allowed in order to defend Muslims against the attack of their enemies. Allah ordered Muslims to prevent evil with their hand does not means to use force to invite men to recite the Great Kalimah. What it means is; when a Muslim is given power by Allah, he or she must used the power to call peoples to Allah with love and affection but not to use the power to amass wealth or land. When a Muslim is given power by Allah; for example he or she is the Prime Minister of a country, and as a Prime Minister he or she has the power to use the national media such as newspaper, radio, television and internet of the country to call the peoples to Allah with love and affection. As a Prime Minister, he or she will have the power to visit and gather peoples in large numbers in many places in the country and to use the opportunities to call peoples to Allah with love and affection. Although the Prime Minister has power yet the method of calling peoples to Allah, remain the method of inviting with love and kindness, without the use of any force of any kinds.

However, the Companions (Sahabah) of Prophet Muhammad saw use method which is suitable to their time. Sahabah initially will invite the King to recite the Great Kalimah. In case the King refuses to recite the Great Kalimah, Sahabah will ask the King to pay money known as Jizyah to the Muslims and in case the King refuses to pay jizyah, Sahabah will declare war against the King and the armies of the King. Muslims will give the King three days to decide whether to accept Islam, or to pay jizyah or to fight with the Muslims. Although the method used by the companions was suitable to their time but the method used by the Prophet Muhammad saw is suitable at all time. Many Muslims nowadays do not understand the Quran and Hadis and as a result many jemaah or groups established by Muslims are not the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw and yet they claimed they are the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw. In one Hadis the Prophet Muhammad saw advice Muslims not to run away from a Jemaah and if they do, they will die like peoples of Jahiliah or as an infidel. What it means by the Jemaah in this Hadis is the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw and not any other jemaah or groups. It is a commendable act to run away from the jemaah or groups that do not belong to the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw. As for example, Muslims from Jemaah Tabligh think they belong to the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw but in reality they are not. Because they think they are on the correct path, they told me not to leave Jemaah Tabligh, otherwise I will die as peoples of Jahiliah or as an infidel. Members of Jemaah Tabligh think and believe they belong to the Jemaah of Prophet Muhammad saw but all their actions are against the practices of Muhammad saw. One very important guideline or policy or ‘tertib’ in Jemaah Tabligh which is against the practice of Prophet Muhammad saw is they do not encourage their members to invite the non-Muslims to embrace Islam with the reason they say; Muslims need to be rectified first before Muslims can invite the non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah. What a shame on Jemaah Tabligh!

Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
May 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre