The Greatest and Power of Allaah
It is only Allaah Ta’alah who has the power to drive away a disaster or a tragedy from us and answer our prayers of supplication (duah).
- ‘And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.” [Surah 40 Ghafir, verse 60]
- ‘…indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.’ [Surah 2 Al-Baqara, verse 186]
- ‘And if Allaah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him. And if He touches you with good – then He has power over all things (He is Omnipotent).’ [Surah 6 al-Anaam verse 17]
Who must we ask and invoke for help?
When we read our daily ‘swalaats’ we are saying about 40 to 50 times every day the following supplications:
‘It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help.’ [Surah 1 Faatihah, verse 5] ‘When we ask, we ask Allaah only and we seek help we seek it from Allaah only.’ [Tirmidhi]
Wali-ullaah
Wali-ullaahs are friends of Allaah. In Surah 10 Yunus, verse 62 – 63 Allah Ta’alah says: ‘ Unquestionably, [for] the allies of Allaah there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve – those who believe and were fearing Allaah.’
The qualities of Awliya Allaah are as follows:
1) Imaan
2) Taqwa
3) Obedience and love for Nabi (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam)
4) Practising the Sunnah of Nabi (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam)
5) Doing good deeds
Hazrat Abu Huraira (Radhi Allaah anhu) narrated that Nabi (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) has said that Allaah Ta’alah has said: ‘He who takes my ‘wali’ (friend or ally) as enemy, I declare war on him.’ [Bukhari]
The most important thing that enables a wali-ullaah to attain closeness to Allaah is Imaan. Secondly, it is his love for Nabi (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam), his practising the Sunnah and doing good deeds that makes him achieve this closeness to Allaah Ta’alah. But there are people who take these awliyas as gods and assign to them the same rank as Allaah. Consequently, they commit ‘shirk’ like for instance praying and asking them for help.
They exaggerate in describing the qualities of these awliyas
1) There are people who exaggerate in their describing the qualities of wali-ullaah to such an extent that they associate them as partners to Allaah.
2) There are those people whose ideas and beliefs about these awliyas are very bizarre.
Here are some details of how this goes on:
1) They invoke and make prayers of supplication to these wali-ullaah, peers and buzrug.
‘And whoever invokes besides Allaah another deity for which he has no proof – then his account is only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed.’ [Surah 23 al-Mu’minun]
2) They proclaim the same love for their peers and buzrug as they proclaim for Allaah.
‘And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allaah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allaah. But those who believe are stronger in love for Allaah.’ [Surah 2 Baqarah, verse 165]
That is, there are individuals who take pious people, peers, wali-ullaah, tombs, idols and other deities above Allaah and consider and consult them in all their good moments and tragedies. They pray, worship and invoke them. However, the above Quranic verse is quite clear that we must worship, pray and invoke Allaah only who is the only God.
- 3) They circumambulate, read swalaats and recite the holy Qur’an around the tombs (or dargah) of these peers, wali-ullaah and buzrug. There are those who even do sacrifices such as slaughtering animals on the names of these peers, wali-ullaah and buzrug. There are others who organise ‘katam’ ( katam is a kind of religious gathering where prayers are read and food is served) on the names of these peers, buzrug and wali-ullaah on different occasions.
Hazrat Ummé Habiba et Ummé Salmah has said that they have seen pictures in churches in Ethiopia. On hearing this, Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) replied that this is a custom there that monuments are raised on the tombs (dargah) of dead pious people with their pictures fixed on their tombs. And then people pray, worship and invoke these dead as their deities. Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) added that such people who associate partners with Allaah are the worst and most evil people in this world. [al-Bukhari, 1330, Muslim, 529]
- 4) Certain people cry and shed tears while invoking such and such peer in the hope that it will bestow its blessings upon them.
‘Those who invoke anyone other than Allaah, do not possess anything of value in them not even the flimsy covering of the seed of a date. When supplication is made to these deities, they do not hear such supplication being made. And even if they were to hear the supplication, they cannot answer it. On the Day of Judgment they will answer that they never associated themselves with Allaah.’ [Fatir 35:13,14]
- 5) There are people who believe that these peers and buzrug, who have already passed away, have spiritual powers and other capacities. Thus they believe that these peers and buzrug will be able to solve any of their problems directly from their tombs if they are invoked.
‘A dead person is not the same as a living person. Allaah has the power to enable whoever He wants to hear. You do not have this power to make those who are in their tombs (qabar) hear anything.’ [Fatir 35:22]
- 6) There are people who adopt very bizarre doctrines such making sajda (prostration) to qabr (tombs), sitting down with a lot of reverence and respect (just as when sitting down in the attayaat position in swalaats) in front of these tombs. Others light incense sticks (agharbatti) and place bouquet of flowers there. Some hit their heads, cry loudly, invoke, supplicate…etc.
Say: ‘It is Allaah who saves you from it and from every distress; then you [still] associate others with Him.’ [Surah 6 al-Anaam, verse 64]
All these practices that they have adopted are just too clear to show that they are worshipping the creation and creatures of Allaah but not Allaah Ta’alah.
The primary message of Islaam to humanity is monotheism, that is, to worship and invoke Allaah only and not to associate any partners or anything with Him.
Saya and Buzrug
There is a very strange kind of belief, thinking, system which is 100% pure ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’. There are muslims who consult people whom they call ‘buzrug’ because they believe that these people have certain spiritual powers or ‘good’ spirits with them. Many such people believe that if they are not making any success in their work, then it could be that there is some kind of ‘barrier’ (or a negative force) that’s preventing them from making success. Others believe that others or someone might have done something evil to them and that’s why they are not making progress in anything in their life. Thus they contact these ‘buzrug’ in the hope that the latter will be able to remove the cast evil that’s preventing progress in their life.
There are ‘buzrug’ who claim they have some kind of ‘elderly person’ or ‘good thing’ with them. Others claim that they have some kind of ‘gift’ or ‘clean thing’, or ‘caliph’ on them.
It may happen that a ‘buzrug’ will correctly say something that has happened in a person’s past without that person having given such information to the former ‘buzrug’. Sometimes, ‘buzrug’ pretend that they can see into the future and that they know what destiny holds. Sometimes it does happen they might give a true prediction.
So, what happens then is that people (from the ignorant to the most knowledgeable) rush to them to get cure for their diseases or a solution to their problem or an answer to their question. But who are these Saya, Buzrug or Elderly persons indeed? How do these spirits come to live within these people’s bodies and their life? In which part(s) of their bodies do these spirits dwell? What do these spirits eat and what is their job?
Three creatures of Allaah
Allaah Ta’alah has created humans, jinn and angels. He created the angels from light. Angels are invisible to humans and they neither disobey Allaah nor commit any sins.
Allaah Ta’alah has created humans and jinn and has given them the intelligence and capacity to choose between good and evil, between truth and falsehood. They will have to stand accountable for their act in the court of Allaah one day. Jinn are invisible to humans.
Jinn have been created only to worship Allaah Ta’alah
Allaah Ta’alah has created the jinn in different forms. There are both muslim and non-muslim jinn. Muslim jinn fulfil the commands of Allaah Ta’alah and stay away from committing sins. In the holy Qur’an Allaah Ta’alah says:
‘And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.’ [Surah 51 adh-Dhariyat, verse 56]
Allaah Ta’alah has created the humans and the jinn for only one reason that they should submit themselves in worship to Him.
The deceptions and tricks of Jinn
There are many rebellious non-muslim jinn. The Devil (Satan) is a jinn himself. In the holy Qur’an we are shown that the jinn use a variety of tricks and deceptions to take humans away from the guidance of Allaah Ta’alah.
‘And [mention, O Muhammad], the Day when He will gather them together [and say], “O company of jinn, you have [misled] many of mankind.” And their allies among mankind will say, “Our Lord, some of us made use of others, and we have [now] reached our term which You appointed for us.” He (Allaah) will say, “The Fire is your residence, wherein you will abide eternally, except for what Allaah wills. Indeed, your Lord is Wise and Knowing.” [Surah 6 al-An’am, verse 128]
So, the devils and the jinn, with all their tricks and deceptive means, create confusion among humans and make them stay away from worshipping and obeying Allaah Ta’alah.
When people consult these soothsayers or clairvoyant their act of ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’ become even stronger. And that’s indeed the aim of the devils and the jinn that is to make humans do these things to keep them away from Allaah.
– All occult activities are linked to the devils and the jinn. Examples of such activities are: black magic, sorcery, medium, attacking with evil spirits, etc.
– Another such activity which is directly linked to Satan and the jinn is to contact soothsayers or mediums or any of these occult readers to look what the future (or destiny) holds.
– Another trick of Satan and the jinn is to make people see visions and believe in them.
– For examples there are people who claim to have had visions of Virgin Mary or others claim they have had visions of their idols or statues.
– Sometimes visions of a deceased one in the family are also presented to a person by the jinn or the devils.
– There are also visions of statues or idols weeping or drinking milk etc.
The aim behind these deceptions is to push people further into ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’.
The vision of Buzrug and Saya
Now there people who claim that they have had visions of buzrug or saya in either their dreams or in reality right before their own eyes. They further claim that they have received counselling from them in their visions or dreams.
Sometimes a buzrug will have said to a person in his vision or dream to read loads of prayers (ibaadah) such as read the tahajjud swalaat, give sadaqat etc. Then after a certain period the same buzrug will again come in his visions and tell him that he is exempted from all these prayers and there is no obligation on him to do anything of those prayers anymore.
Sometimes the buzrug or saya even tells that person that he is now able to help other people such as giving them cure with spiritual powers and so on.
Then whoever comes to see him for a cure, the buzrug or saya gives the ‘spiritual healer’ secret information about them or even instruct him on how to ‘cure’ them.
So, who exactly is a Buzrug or a Saya?
“And they have attributed the jinn to Allaah as partners while He has created the jinn…” [Surah 6 al-An’am, verse 100]
So, these buzrug, saya, elder people, or good being or clean spirit, – who are they indeed? They could be:
1) The angels
2) A human being (alive or dead)
3) A jinn
Let us have a look what exactly that thing or that being is:
(1) May be that buzrug is an angel?
Answer: False! We have previously seen that angels obey and work for Allaah only.
(2) May be that buzrug is (a) a human who is alive or (b) the soul of a dead human?
Answer: 2(a) False! If that buzrug was a living person we should have been able to see him sitting on the shoulder of that person.
2(b) False! This buzrug cannot be the soul of a dead person and that is because when a person dies his soul goes into the barzakh.
In other religions that do not believe that there is life after death in the ‘akhirat’ (hereafter), the followers of those other religions believe that the soul (ruh) of the dead loiter about around in houses, in the mountains, in the rivers etc. They believe that these souls even eat and drink in those houses or places.
It is a fundamental belief in Islaam that there is life after death in the ‘akhirat’ (hereafter) and that the soul (ruh) of a dead person goes in the Barzakh. The soul does not come to loiter around in house or places or eat and drink.
(3) Is it possible that this buzrug is a jinn?
Answer: Yes this is true! This is supported as by tricks and deceptions that the devils and the jinn use to deceive humans as seen previously. There are Islamic literatures throughout which some narrations about how jinn and devils deceived humans have been mentioned.
• Sometimes a person may want to have jinn to do certain work and in this case that person will have to accept the conditions imposed by the jinn by compromising with it.
• Hence that person will have to do forbidden things that are outside the religion of Islaam.
Buzrug and Saya are in fact jinn
In fact, the devils and the jinn come in the form of buzrug or saya or revered person or good or clean thing and they cast a whole lot of satanic spell over the sick person and cure him. In fact, the aim of the devils and jinn is not to give that person good health but to delude him away from the right path and corrupt his faith (imaan). And this is exactly what happens? The sick person, once healed, end up believing in the powers of the ‘spiritual healer’ and believe in him as someone who knows what the future or destiny holds. In the holy Qur’an we are clearly being shown:
“And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden [i.e. sin]” (Surah 72 al-Jinn, verse 6)
In other words, the devils and those jinn make people commit act of ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’.
Jinn do not have any knowledge of the unseen
The holy clearly shows us that the jinn do not have any knowledge of the unseen:
“And when We decreed for him [i.e., Solomon] death, nothing indicated to them [i.e., the jinn] his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff (upon which he was leaning). But when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in humiliating punishment.” (Surah 34 Saba, verse 14)
This verse is evidence that the jinn do not possess knowledge of the unseen, which belongs exclusively to Allaah Ta’alah. Hazrat Sulaiman died in a standing position while he was leaning upon his staff and overlooking the jinn that were working under his supervision. When this happened, none of the jinn knew that he had passed away. It was only after a termite had constantly gnawed at his staff that he fell down – only then it became clear to the jinn that he had died. Hence this goes to show that the jinn do not possess knowledge of the unseen.
Seeking help from the Jinn
There are people who seek help from the jinn. This is shirk because jinn are helpless creatures who can neither help themselves, nor can they cause good to themselves nor can they remove any calamity that befalls them. So, how is it possible then that they can help others???
Whether one is using the jinn to protect or harm somebody, it is an act of shirk. Anyone who does such a thing will have all his ‘swalaats (namaz), roza (fast), all his ibaadah (prayers) rejected.
It is not permissible to seek the help of the jinn to know the problems of people and how to treat such problems because such assistance must be sought from Allaah Ta’alah only. Seeking such help from anyone besides Allaah Ta’alah is shirk.
‘…if you should associate [anything] with Allaah your work surely become worthless, and you would surely be among the losers.’ (Surah 39 az-Zumar, verse 65)
Conclusion
1) Allaah Ta’alah created humans, jinn and angels.He made the angels out of light and made them invisible to humans. Angels neither commit sins nor disobey Allaah.
2) Allaah Ta’alah created humans and jinn and gave both of them intelligence and the ability to differentiate and choose between good and evil, between truth and falsehood. Jinn are invisible to humans. Both will stand accountable for all their acts on the Day of Judgment.
3) Allaah Ta’alah created the jinn in different forms and there are muslim and non-muslim jinn. The muslim jinn obey Allaah Ta’alah and stay away from sins.
4) Non-muslim jinn and the devils use deceptions and create confusion among humans to delude them away from the truth.
5) In the holy Qur’an we are shown how the jinn spread tricks and deceptions amongst humans to lead them far away from the guidance of Allaah Ta’alah.
6) It is the objective of the jinn and the devils to increase the acts of ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’ among humans.
7) All occult activities are linked with the jinn and the devils. Examples of such activities are: black magic, sorcery, medium, casting evil spells, causing illusions through evil, etc.
8) There are devils and jinn known as ‘saya’, ‘buzrug’, ‘revered people’, or ‘something clean or good’ (all of which are just different names of spirits) which work for spiritual healers to give ‘cure’ to people through satanic means.
9) The aim of the devils and jinn is not to cure or give good health to people but to deviate them from the truth, corrupt their belief and make them do ‘shirk’ and ‘kufr’.
10) The holy Quran clearly shows us that the jinn do not have any knowledge of the unseen.