Why did you change from Bohra?
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May
Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One
of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
I
am going in your personel life ,I know before you were Bohra ,So can u tell us
what make you change from that & also can you write about how you got all
this knowledge & how much time it took to get all this knowledge & the
place where u learned all this things.I am sure you will reply this question.
(There may be some grammatical and
spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
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Answer:
In the
name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.
Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray,
none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, no
imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness
that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah
is my witness, that whatever I am about to tell you about my personal life is
absolutely true. The story is not
sensational, nor is it one of a sudden change of heart, nor is it one
particular incident which made me turn to Allah in repentance! It is just a
simple, humane story and experience!
Allah
has indeed blessed me with every possible ‘nehmah’ there can be… a healthy
life, enough ‘rizk’, God-fearing wife, obedient and healthy children, brothers
and sisters, parents, … there is not a ‘nehmah’ that I can think of which Allah
has not blessed me with. And above
all, Allah guided me to read and understand the Holy Quran and thus leave all
the other beings that we bowed down to, and brought me to understand who our
Creator is, and what are His Rights on His slaves.
I was
born in a devoutly obedient ‘Bohra’ family.
My late father was given the ‘laqab’ of sheikh by the leadership when I
was probably an infant, thus I do not recollect the date. He spent all his life and probably all his
wealth in the service of the ‘daawat’.
He used to do regular ‘ziyaafats’ in our house, which obviously was
considered a big deal at that time… Our
whole lives revolved around the Syedna and his families, and my father was very
close to some of the bhaisahebs and they were regular visitors to our place. Every year our holidays revolved around
doing the ‘ziyaarahs’ of all the graves of the past Dais in India. We basically grew up in a devoutly
‘believing’ Bohra family … attended every ‘waaz’ in Aashura, attended regular
prayers and the ‘big nights’ in Ramadan, regularly visited the ‘Raudat Tahera’,
went to the madrasa in Badri Mahal, etc.
That was predominantly my “Bohra’ knowledge base, and I just believed
everything I heard in the ‘waaz’, even if it did not make sense. I was even enrolled to attend the
Jamiat-us-Safiya in Surat, but due to some circumstances, I did not attend
it. My parents used to force us to
pray, and read Quran, etc. , but
because I did not understand anything anyways,
I just tried to avoid praying regularly. Just did all the basics and always tried to stay away from
trouble. Whenever I asked any question
to either my parents or my elders, they always rebuked me … basically I was
told to shut up and obey the Syedna, and believe like they believed that he
will guide us to Paradise.
I was
yet in my youth, but I always remembered my elders talking between themselves
about the bhaisahebs and how each of them was trying to extort more and more
money from them in different ways, and almost always got away with it. I also sat through several of the
negotiations which were done prior to the salaam of the Syedna in the
‘ziyaafats’, and could clearly see that these people were more interested in
money, than the actual deen. But I was
too young, and had absolutely no knowledge… just followed my father and my
elders blindly and believed in everything they believed in, without ever using
my common-sense or getting any guidance from the Holy Quran.
When I
was about 18 years old, a muslim friend invited me to come to his house for an
Islamic lecture from the Holy Quran.
I was so engrained in the beliefs which I was taught from childhood,
that I was absolutely closed to any ideas or knowledge which was not with the
so called ‘raza’ of the leadership. We
were taught from childhood that the Quran is a Book which cannot be understood
by us, and it was the sole monopoly of the Syedna and his family. Only they were authorized by Allah to
understand it, and if we tried to understand it, like the other muslims, we too
would be mis-guided! I was taught
that each aayah of the Quran has several meanings, and each aayah has hidden
meanings (taaweel) which we just could not comprehend.
Anyways,
I attended this lecture at my friend’s house. The person giving the lecture read one of the Surahs from the
Last Chapter and gave a lecture giving meanings for each word and each
aayah. It was really refreshing and
interesting for me to hear the meanings of the Quran. The lecture was set in a very informal atmosphere, unlike the ‘waaz’
and ‘darees’ I was used to going.
After the lecture, the scholar asked if we had any questions on the
subject or anything else in Islam. I
was never allowed to ask any questions to the Bohra aamils or leadership or
scholar, and this gave me a good opportunity to vent my questions on
Islam. The scholar was extremely
learned and a very kind and gentle man, who accepted any sort of questions with
patience and answered each of them with ‘hikmah’ and wisdom, always giving
evidence from the Holy Quran, which obviously was irrefutable… because whatever
the Holy Quran says makes absolute logic and is acceptable to every person who
has basic common-sense.
But I
was so engrained in my ignorance from the little knowledge gained at the
‘waaz’, that I challenged the scholar in almost everything he said. I said that we Bohras were on the Right
Path, and everything he was saying was incorrect!! The scholar tried to explain giving evidence from the Holy
Quran, who Allah is, what are His Attributes, who is the Messenger of Allah
(saws), what was his mission, and what kind of people will go to Paradise and
what kind of people will go to Hell Fire… all according to the Quran. But since I did not have an iota of knowledge
from the Quran, and all my knowledge was from the ‘waaz’ and here-say of the
Bohras, I just kept on challenging him
without any knowledge. But the
scholar kept on answering all my questions with patience, no matter how rude or
challenging they were… and never ever showed any dissent! He regularly asked me to show him
evidence, either from the Quran or the Sunnah of the Messenger (saws)…. And
obviously I was not able to produce any!
My only answer used to be that our ‘Maula’ and our ‘bhaisaheb’ does this
and says this…. And he used to
say, “I respect your Maula, but I also
know that he is not the Creator of this Universe… Allah is!… and This Quran is His Book of guidance .. and He has
appointed the Messenger Mohamed ar Rasool Allah (saws) …. And your ‘Maula’ is
not the Master of the Day of Qiyaamah….”.
All his arguments were always based on the Quran and obviously I could
not say anything to challenge the Quran.
I then
started attending these weekly lectures from the Holy Quran regularly, although
now I realize, I just closed my heart to the guidance of the Quran …. And did
not believe a word he said against my ‘Bohra’ beliefs…. I must have attended the weekly classes for
almost 2 years … and everytime I used to challenge everything he said, always
believing in what the Syedna and the bhaisahebs had said! It came to a point where I used to get
upset and was even rude at times … but this scholar never showed an iota of
dissent, and treated me better than most of the other listeners! He used to always tell me to read the
Quran, but I always refused, saying that we were not allowed by the Bohra
leadership, and would never read without the ‘raza’ of the Syedna.
One day
this scholar came to me in private, and by this time, I obviously started liking this brother for his patience, his wisdom,
his straight-forwardness, his
clarity of thinking, his manners, his politeness and his humbleness. Over the years he had not asked me for
anything… not even a dime! But this time,
he told me to give him about $6.00. I
did not know why he was asking me for this sum, but I gave it to him. He then gave me the translation of the
Holy Quran in English and told me to read it, and clarified that the only
reason he took the $6.00, was so that he would buy another Quran and give to
another muslim who was away from the clear guidance of the Holy Quran. I took the Quran, because now I had paid
for it, and kept in on my shelf for another six months without touching
it. I was just too scared of touching
it and to read it with understanding.
I was happy with my lot, and Shaitaan made me believe that life was
going on fine without the guidance of the Quran… and then I had the promises
made to us in the ‘waaz’ by the Syedna, which I had heard myself, that he will
be our ‘intercessor’ and take us by our hands to Paradise! Thus both my life, and my hereafter were
taken care of ….
Subsequently,
in one of the Quran lectures, the topic of ‘shirk’ arose … and the
question-answer session with the scholar got heated and voices were
raised…. Believe it or not, this was
about a 4-5 hour question-answer session, and it seemed that the scholar and I
were just on the opposite sides. I
kept on telling him that our Syedna is right, and He kept on saying that show
me some evidence from the Quran. This
is when, I took up the challenge … and told the scholar that I would bring him
the evidence from the Holy Quran … !!
I went
home, and prayed to Allah to guide me to the Truth, and started reading the
Quran. I was looking to justify my
beliefs as a ‘Bohra’ and win the argument with the scholar….not trying to
understand the Quran and get guidance.
I read the Quran with a passion, and was desperately seeking some
evidence that whatever we were taught as ‘Bohras’ and whatever our forefathers
were following was right! I came to
the aayahs where Allah says that these people worship other beings, and I used
to think, yes, we bow down in sajdah to the Syedna, but we do not ‘really’
worship him! I came to the aayahs
where Allah says that we have to pray to Him directly and ask Him for
everything that we need… and I used to justify that by saying, it is always
Allah we are asking, but through the Syedna and other intermediaries! Everytime I came to any aayah which went
against our ‘Bohra’ beliefs, I used to try and somehow justify them.
I must
have read a few Surah of the Holy Quran… about 14 Surahs upto Surah
Ibrahim! By now, Allah had closed all
the doors of ‘shirk’ and it was absolutely air-tight! There is just absolutely no place for any sort of ‘shirk’ in the
Glorious Quran! And I had absolutely
no doubt that what our forefathers had taught us, and what the Syedna and the
bhaisahebs taught us in the ‘waaz’ had nothing to do with the Holy Quran… They
just told us the History of Islam rather than teach us anything from the Holy
Quran itself…. I was in a huge
dilemma! And I remember I started
crying profoundly in the solitude of the night!
I had
to choose between what I was taught in the ‘Bohra’ school since childhood, or I
had to believe what the Quran was guiding towards. They were at absolutely two different ends of beliefs…. One was a lie and the other the Truth! But the choice was basically simple: Allah only speaks the Truth, and anything
that is against the Quran must be a lie.
And I chose to live my life according to the principles and guidance
from the Quran. Thus I immediately
turned to Allah in repentance and begged for His Forgiveness and His Mercy.
This is
when I really started reading…. I read the Quran translation which was in
one-volume! Then I got the translation
of the Quran which was much more detailed and in six huge volumes, and
Alhamdolillah, I read them all. I read
translations by other authors… I read
with a passion anything and everything which was Islamic and from the
Quran. And Allah, in His Sublime
Mercy and Grace made the understanding of the Quran easy for me. I now believed everything the Quran said,
and if anyone had any opinion, he must base it from the Quran. If not, then it was not the truth. The Truth is what Allah says in the Quran …
and anything that goes against the Quran, must be a lie….
The
more I read, the more I realized how ignorant I was! This was an ocean of knowledge, and everytime I read the
Quran, I would understand and
comprehend a little more of it. I
honestly do not remember now how many times I must have read the Quran with
understanding in my life …. And everytime I read it, Allah opens my heart a
little more towards its understanding.
There is absolutely no other book in the world, which one can read a
thousand times, and still find it interesting, and still gain more knowledge
from it! The Quran is absolutely
incomparable … and why not? These are
the very words which the All Wise, All Knowing has revealed for the guidance of
all mankind until the end of time!
But one
thing I learned for sure the first time I finished reading the Glorious Quran
with understanding: that no one can misguide anyone in Islam, if he has read the Quran, even only once!
Its
been now about 13 years since I took the Quran as my guide… and the Quran makes
you realize that you are neither a Shia, nor a Sunni, nor a Bohri…. You are a
muslim! The Quran is still my only
source of guidance, and I read a couple of Surahs almost every single day…. And
I have absolutely no shame in admitting that I am a student at the kindergarten
stage of gaining knowledge in Islam!
And the ‘noor’ and guidance of the Holy Quran is such that whoever is blessed with it, he just cannot help spreading this knowledge to whoever wants to listen to good caution. Once I had finished reading the Quran, I urged my immediate family members to read and understand the Quran. Obviously, I was treated with a lot of skepticism and antagonism by my family, but that never deterred me from telling them the Truth from the Quran. Suddenly, I had the answers for everything from the Quran, where as the others were just believing in here-say, and could not prove any of their beliefs from the Quran. Over the years, Allah blessed half my family to read and understand the Quran and become true muslims… and the other half became more and more opposed to the understanding of the Quran. May Allah have mercy on them and guide them to read and understand the Holy Quran.
From my
little experience in this battle between Truth and falsehood, I have realized that it is always the
elderly and the women of the family who are the foremost in their opposition to
the understanding of the Quran and to change their set ways… even though they
may realize the Truth! May Allah
have mercy on them and guide them to the Truth.
The
only duty Allah has laid on the believers is to invite the others to Islam…
Allah
says in the Holy Quran: Chapter 16, Surah An-Nahl Ayat 125: Invite to the way
of your Lord with wisdom and excellent admonition and argue with people in the
best manner. Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Way and who is
Rightly guided.
To guide or leave astray is in the Power and Domain of Allah Subhanah Alone…..
Allah
says in the Holy Quran Chapter 28 Surah Qasas verse 56: You cannot guide whom
you love, but Allah guides whomever He Pleases. And He best knows those who would accept guidance.
Everything
in the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah, and everything is hymning His
Praise. If all the humans of this
world believed and hymned His Praise, it would not make an iota of difference
in Allah’s Position and Might! And if
all the humans of this world dis-believed and invoked others instead of Allah,
it would not make an iota of difference in Allah’s Position and Might! He is indeed Independent and self
Praise-worthy, and stands in no need of anybody or anything else! He is the One, the Unique, the All Mighty,
the All Powerful, the Incomparable!
We are in desperate need of Him for everything, and He is absolutely
Independent and The All Mighty!
This is the simple and humble story of my reversion to my Creator! And I turn to Him Alone in Repentance. I have left the invocation of everything else, and turned to Him Alone for everything! I have left the people who do sajdah to animate and non-animate objects, and have come to do sajdah to the Lord of the Worlds Alone! I left far behind the degradation of being recognized at Abd-Syedna, and am proud to be recognized as Abd-Allah! Allah Alone is the One Who gave me my life, He Alone is the One Who will ordain my death, He Alone is the One Who will raise us all back to life again, and He Alone is the One Who, I hope, will forgive me my sins on the Day of Judgement! Thus to Him Alone I have turned in repentance.
May
Allah help us, guide us, and forgive us our sins. May Allah give us the courage
to read and understand the Glorious Quran; and leave the invocation and worship
of men and graves, and come to the worship of our Lord and Creator, Allah
Subhanah wa Ta’ala Alone!
May
Allah guide you and us to read and understand the simple and plain words of the
Glorious Quran. May Allah increase our
knowledge from the Holy Quran. May
Allah guide us to the Siraat al Mustaqeem.
May
Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem
Whatever
written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance,
and whatever of error is of me. Allah
Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your
brother and well wisher in Islam,
Burhan