JALSAHS
FUNCTIONS OF ISRAAF, RIYA AND TAKABBUR
Question
Soon after a Khatam-e-Bukhari jalsah of a certain relative, some family members arranged a ‘get together’ or ‘da’wat’ at the house of the new graduate. Only immediate family members were invited. They say that the function was merely to express joy in honour of the newly qualified graduate in the family. Is this kind of ‘get together’ permissible? Please comment.
Answer
In fact, the main Khatam-e-Bukhari jalsah was not permissible, hence to a greater degree was the mini-jalsah not permissible. All jalsahs today of whatever kind are merrymaking functions of riya (show), takabbur (pride) and israaf (waste).
The Khatam-e-Bukhari jalsah custom has deteriorated to such a vile level of moral degradation that even Darul Uloom Deoband completely discontinued the function. They now longer inform people when Bukhari Shareef will be completed.
The mini-jalsah which the family had organized for their so-called ‘graduate’ was worse than the main jalsah. It was a merrymaking function to bloat the ego of the chap who ran away with the idea that he is now an Aalim when in reality he is still a jaahil. The very term ‘graduate’ for the Talaba of the Deen is ugly. It is in emulation of kuffaar students who graduate in the brothel universities.
What favour have the parents of this so-called ‘graduate’ bestowed to him by bloating his ego with vanity, self-esteem and a hallucinated image of himself?
The student who had completed Bukhari Shareef has still to undergo a long long process of Islaah-e-Nafs to enable him to understanding the Ahaadith in Bukhari Shareef. Almost all students suffer from the malady of ujub (vanity). They have a delusional understanding of their own ‘importance’. They hallucinate that they have a some elevated rank and that they are now ulama of status in the community when in reality they are non-entities.
Parents generally have an extremely false sense of pride regarding their sons who pursue Deeni studies or who do Hifz. After completing Madrasah studies, parents purr with PRIDE. Their joy is shaitaani. They suffer from pride, hence they make much effort to project the image of their sons. The mini-jalsah was the effect of the pride of the parents who had the desire to show off – riya and takabbur, hence they deemed it necessary to project and advertise their son.
Just from whence did they import the idea of the mini-jalsah. This is now a new bid’ah. Just recently some other lost parents had even issued stupid invitation cards similar to the haraam wedding and eid cards to invite people to their mini-jalsah organized in stupid ‘honour’ of their son who had completed his Hifz. It was a merrymaking function of ostentation, pride and waste. The salient features of these jalsahs are gluttony, show and indulgence in futile and gheebat talk. All of these stupid and haraam indulgences are organized whilst the Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere are starving and massacred. But these people of pride are oblivious of the suffering of other Muslims, hence they have the shaitaani capacity of squandering and gluttony.
In these times of fitnah and fasaad, hardship and misery, it is not permissible to organize jalsahs of any kind whatsoever. The Ummah is ablaze with misery and its Ship is sinking, but those whose hearts are darkened with evil remain oblivious of the misery of Muslims. Thus they recklessly indulge in their haraam merrymaking jalsahs of gluttony. And all of this satanic merrymaking is deceptively marketed under Deeni designations.
Among the signs of Qiyaamah mentioned in the Hadith is “that the amal of the Aakhirah will be used for pursuing the dunya.” Hifz of the Qur’aan Majeed and accomplishment in Hadith, Tafseer, etc. are acts of the Aakhirah. But nowadays almost all the personnel – Asaatizah and Talaba – engage in Hifz and Ilm for objectives other than the Deen.
Jalsahs are part of the fitnah which is being described as ‘sunnah’. Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood (Radhiyallahu anhu) said:
“What will be your condition when you are enveloped by such a fitnah which will make the elderly ones senile and the younger ones old; when people will regard the fitnah to be ‘sunnah’? If anything of the fitnah is omitted, it will be said that a sunnah has been abandoned.” The people asked: ‘When will this happen?
Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood (Radhiyallahu anhu) said: “When your Ulama (Ulama-e-Haq) have gone; when your qaaris are numerous … when the dunya is pursued with the amal of the Aakhirat, and when the Knowledge of the Deen is acquired for objectives other than the Deen.”
This is today the deplorable and lamentable condition of the Ummah – of the masses, of the Ulama, and of all so-called ‘deeeni’ personnel. The Deen has become a front for the acquisition of the dunya. Fisq, fujoor, bid’ah, zandaqah and evil of a variety of forms are all advertised and marketed ‘deeni’ designations. Jalsahs are of this deplorable kind.
25 Jamaadith Thaani 1445 – 8 January 2024