The Osmanpet Mosque in the town I reside in, Melvisharam, is called the 'markaz' (center) for the cluster of towns around it. A weekly ijtema (gathering) takes place in this mosque where the members of the Tableegh Jamaa'ath assemble. A local experienced or senior person or the ameer (head) of a visiting Jamaa'ath will make a speech, at the end of which the usual enlisting of the public to go out in an expedition would take place, accompanied by much coaxing and cajoling.

After my disillusionment with the Tableegh Jamaa'ath, I had stopped going to the weekly gathering. However, on 26.7.98, the head (ameer) of the Tableegh Jamaa'ath in town, who is a soft-spoken person, rang up to inform me that a Jamaa'ath from Surat in Gujarat state had arrived in town and that there is an aalim in the Jamaa'ath, who will, most probably, be making the weekly speech.

I agreed to come to that mosque to hear the speech of the visitor. After maghrib prayers, the speech began and it centered around the urgent need to work for the deen.

The speaker said that the deen went round knocking at the door of every muslim asking him to help it. An old man comes out to answer and says that he is at the sunset of his life and too old and weak to help the deen. Go ask the young people who are energetic and could do all the work. The deen then goes to the house of a young man who comes out and says that he has seen nothing of life and that he be left alone for a while. Then the deen knocks at another door and a wealthy muslim comes out and says that he has a lot of business on hand and therefore he could not spare time. Dejected, the deen knocks at another door. This time a poor man comes out who says that he is having a difficult time supporting his family and has no means to help the deen.

So, my brothers, this is the situation in which deen finds itself, said the speaker. If every man says like this, then who will help the deen? What answer would we have before God on the day of judgment, when he will produce from among the companions of Prophet Muhammad, men from all walks of life. From labourers to wealthy businessmen and from young boys to old men, who all helped the prophet in the path of Allaah. Every kind of specimen from the people of those times would be brought forth, so that nobody from the later generations makes an excuse.

After having made the audience nod their heads with some reasonable talk and having shifted the focus to the judgment day, the speaker went on to say that on that day, Faatima, the daughter of the prophet, (peace be upon him), would be going with blood-soaked clothes in her hand, and people will ask her as to where she was going. She will tell them that today she is going to ask Allaah for justice for the cold-blooded murder of her son. On the way, she would encounter her father, the prophet, who would ask her as to where she is going. She will repeat the answer that she is going to ask Allaah to render justice for the murder of his son. The prophet will encourage her by saying : "Yes, daughter. Ask well and also ask Allaah that if there be any value for the blood of Hussain, then pardon the Ummah."

Just as my ears grew keener to hear what the speaker was going to say about Allaah's answer to Faatima's demand, (as taught by prophet Muhammad), the electricity supply went off and the speaker had to pause for a couple of minutes in the absence of mike and loud-speaker, before resuming the speech.

(Actually, until then the loud-speakers were operating with the help of a standby power generator and at that exact moment, the main power supply was restored by the electricity department causing the standby generator to switch off automatically. The attendant in the mosque then manually operated the switches to draw power from the main supply).

When the loud-speakers were restored, the speaker asked the gathering to recite darood and the resumed speech strayed on to another topic.

At the end of the speech, I went home seething with anger on what the speaker had said.

Two days later, at the funeral of a wealthy person, I met a couple of senior members of the Jamaa'ath, who were present in the mosque while the above speech was made. First of all, I tried to find out if they had carefully listened to what the man from Surat had said. The first one, who was sitting right in front of the speaker, said that he had a severe headache that day and could not concentrate on the speech delivered. The second man confirmed having listened to what the speaker said about the projected incident involving Faatima, but added that the speaker who was billed as an Aalim hardly sounded like one.

I only hope that you, the reader of these lines, would have understood the speaker's intention to mislead the people.

Let me explain:

First of all, there is no basis for the things that the speaker predicts will happen on the judgment day, in hadith and in Qur-aan to support it. It is mere deception. Everyone will be too busy worrying about himself. Why would anybody bother to know where Faatima (r.A.a) is going ? On the judgment day, nobody will be able to speak or to recommend the case of another, unless Allaah permits him.

Read a few verses about our status on that day :

"On that Day shall no intercession avail except for those for whom permission has been granted by (Allaah) Most Gracious and whose word is acceptable to Him." (20:109)

" The day it arrives, no soul shall speak except by His leave : of those (gathered) some will be wretched and some will be blessed. " (11:105)

" Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others. " (80:37)

We come to know from the above verses that the prophet will not be able to and he will not endorse or incite a thing to be said before Allaah, which will be unacceptable to Allaah.

The speaker wants to tell us that when a request is made by Faatima (r.A.a) as per the prophet's instruction, then Allaah will accept it. Therefore, giving weight and value to the blood of Hussain, as demanded by Faatima, when Allaah pardons the ummah, all of us will get deliverance. This is what the speaker wanted to convey.

My point is: Certainly, there is value for the blood shed by Hussain. But how are the sinners or even the good people of this ummah entitled to any reward for that. How can the blood shed by one person benefit another, as a reward.

My dear brothers, this is nothing but the same sort of thing that the Christian preachers go around telling ; remember ?  "THE BLOOD OF JESUS WILL CLEANSE YOU OF ALL SINS." That is for the Christians and this one is for the Muslims : THE BLOOD OF HUSSAIN WILL GET YOU ALLAAH'S PARDON.

No preacher of the blatantly misleading muslim groups or members of other religions would have dared to come and tell this to the residents of Melvisharam. But this man, a member of Tableegh Jamaa'ath, cloaked in sincerity and sympathy for the brethren, comes and teaches this in a mosque in front of hundreds of Muslims. And they all listen to it and unconsciously absorb it in their minds.

That is the height of their campaign to make the ummah careless : You do not need to do the smallest good thing or avoid the biggest sin. Hussain has already shed his blood for you and that is enough to get you the pardon.

The jamaa'ath from Surat stayed on in our vicinity for a few more days and I wanted to meet its ameer and ask him many questions. However, reflecting in the manner in which his speech was cut off, I restrained and consoled myself that just as the standby power was disconnected when the main power supply arrived, the counterfeit reform movements will disappear when the real reform work begins, in-shaa-Allaah.

The speech also served to reinforce my earlier decision not to associate myself with the Jamaa-ath's activities.