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A story related by physician Hossam Mowafi has become widely known. A shaykh tested him by asking about the greatest acts of worship. The doctor answered instinctively, mentioning prayer, fasting and other pillars of Islam, but the shaykh kept saying no. When he could no longer answer, the shaykh said the greatest act of worship was consoling others – helping people and assisting those in need. He cited God’s words: “Have you seen the one who denies the Judgement? (1) That is the one who repulses the orphan (2) and does not encourage feeding the poor. (3) So woe to those who pray. (4)” [al-Ma‘un.] His argument was that prayer was mentioned after repulsing the orphan and failing to feed the poor. The shaykh then said the entire Qur’an concerns consoling others. Continuing the story in support of the shaykh’s idea, the doctor said the change of prayer direction had been intended to console the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, among other things. He then related a personal incident in which God saved him from death because he had comforted a patient on his day off.

Comment

1. This story has spread extremely widely and has been repeated by many preachers, exhorters and satellite-television speakers. People love stories that stir feelings and emotions even when they are not founded on sound creed and correct Islamic principles. Many have attributed the story to Shaykh Muhammad Mutawalli al-Sha‘rawi. Dr Hossam Mowafi, the storyteller himself, has denied that attribution and declined to identify the shaykh who told him this. God knows who he is and his standing in knowledge and jurisprudence.

2. Helping the needy and consoling them undoubtedly hold an important place in Islamic law. Numerous texts encourage this, such as God’s words: “They ask you what they should spend. Say: Whatever good you spend is for parents, close relatives, orphans, the poor and travellers. Whatever good you do, God knows it.” (215) [al-Baqarah.] Many other examples exist. Turning away from such explicit texts to texts with weaker relevance, like those used in this clip, serves to plant a new belief and change people’s beliefs and sound natural disposition. This may arise from good intentions, without intent or awareness of the implications of this serious matter. Nevertheless, it undoubtedly distorts religion, overturns facts and changes the pillars of Islam.

3. The verse the shaykh used to place consoling others above prayer and fasting indicates the opposite of what he intended. This regularly happens to those who intentionally or unintentionally try to distort religion and cite the Qur’an and Sunnah in support: the evidence they invoke inevitably indicates the contrary. This is part of God’s preservation of His Book and religion. The verse concerns an unbeliever who respects neither God’s right nor His servants’ rights: he denies His religion and law, encompassing all the acts of worship in the pillars of faith and Islam, and fails to fulfil His servants’ right to kindness, thus combining every evil. As for “So woe to those who pray” (4) [al-Ma‘un], this begins a new sentence containing another judgement: a severe threat of ruin to worshippers who deliberately delay prayer beyond its time. After this clear explanation, where is any relegation of prayer below consoling others, much less making consolation the greatest act of worship?

4. The utilitarian interpretation of religion places moral relations – kindness to others and help for the needy – above prescribed acts of worship. It even distorts worship’s meanings by making its purposes merely worldly and ethical. Among its foremost advocates were atheist philosophers such as Ibn Sina, al-Farabi and others, followed in this foundation by groups of activists. This interpretation is very apparent in the clip, which does not count prayer and fasting among the greatest acts of worship and places something else above them. The doctor then derived from the shaykh’s premise a strange interpretation without precedent, making the change of prayer direction an act to console and please the Prophet. Yet God explicitly stated the reason for retaining the previous direction and then changing it: “We appointed the prayer direction you formerly followed only to distinguish those who follow the Messenger from those who turn back on their heels.” [al-Baqarah: 143.] The change tested Muslims’ adherence to their Prophet and their willingness not to object to God’s command, identifying those who would turn back and whose faith was therefore unsound and adherence incomplete. One cannot abandon this correct, explicitly stated reason for changing the prayer direction in favour of saying it was to please and console the Prophet. The first direction was not originally part of God’s law. Shaykh al-Islam said: “As for what was changed after the Messiah, such as permitting pork and other things God prohibited and the Messiah did not permit, abandoning circumcision, praying towards the east, placing images in churches, venerating the cross and following monasticism, these are all rules prescribed by no prophet, neither the Messiah nor anyone else. Through them they opposed God’s law with which He sent the prophets, without God prescribing them through any prophet.” Al-Jawab al-Sahih li-man Baddala Din al-Masih, 3/18, Markaz al-Ta’sil edition.

When Islam came, it acknowledged the former direction for a time before the direction was changed to the Ka‘bah. The Prophet’s longing for the Ka‘bah to be the prayer direction arose from his prior knowledge that it was the direction God loved and approved. His pleasure followed God’s pleasure: he approved what pleased God. He therefore turned his face towards the sky, awaiting the command to change direction.

5. How can kindness to others be made the greatest act of worship and placed before prayer and fasting, when the threats attached to abandoning these pillars have no parallel concerning other legal commands, apart from monotheism, since God never forgives a person who associates partners with Him? This reflects neglect of the true purpose of human creation and religious obligation: worshipping God with complete love, submission and humility before His greatness. Those who strive and those who seek reform must aim to achieve this purpose, which God loves and approves, which is His right over us and for which He created us. If consoling the needy is not done for that purpose, it becomes an act to please oneself, gain worldly recompense and attract others’ love, since the soul naturally loves those who treat it well. Islamic law directs the soul towards what benefits it, and nothing benefits it except acting to please its Lord. God knows best.

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