Tauheed Vows-Meaning

“Bismillahir Rahmannir Raheem”Al-Hamdu Lillaahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen was Salaatu was- Salaamu ‘Alaa Sayidinaa Muhammadin wa Aalihi wa Asabihi Ajma ‘een (tauheed- risalat- ahkirat and islam-iman-ihsan)

MANNAT-NAZAR O NIAZ –VOWS AND OBLATIONS 2

In Arabic its called nazr –In farsi its called niyaz-In urdu its called mannat- In English it means vows and oblations.

Bukhari Shareef has a whole chapter devoted to this issue. It is called ‘Kitabul Imani wan Nuzur.’

“Al-Nadhr (vow): when you oblige yourself to do something that is not obligatory because of something that you want to happen.  For eg–‘[Maryam said:] I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allaah)…’ [Maryam 19:26].”

A vow is an act of worship. Fulfilling the vow and care for the oaths  is part of imaan. muslims make vows only for Allah and no one else.

When muslims makes Vows like this to Allah they do it in the following manner. ‘O Allah, if You make our sick people better, we will feed ten poor people, and the Sawaab (Deeds) from it we will give to so and so pious person’. Sometimes the person makes a Vow to Allah and then slaughters a sheep and gives the meat to the poor and then makes Du’a that the Sawaab from this goes to pious people who have passed away.

Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab Najdi wrote:  ‘Vows is Kufr for the pious’.(Kashf-al-Shubhat Chapter on Vows by Shaykh Najdi) He did not differentiate the Vows of worship and the Vows of gift. The Vows of the pious mean the gift of Sawaab (Deeds) not Vows of worship that can only be for Allah.

Imam Ahmad Rad’a writes:When we slaughter an animal for Aqiqah, the slaughtering of the animal is for Allah and the meat is for the people. Or when we have visitors we slaughter the lamb, cow, chicken, etc. We do it not for worship but for the hospitality of the visitors. So in the same way when a person goes to the pious graves or slaughter an animal, the intention is for the meat to be given to the poor and the Sawaab to go to the pious grave. We cannot think that any Muslim can make Vows as worship for any pious person or slaughter animals to respect and worship of the pious. But if somebody does it with the intention of worship there is no doubt that he is a non -Muslim. [Fatawa Radhaviyyaa, by Moulana Ahmad Raza Khan Rahmatullah, Fatawa Shaami, Fatawa Aalam Ghiri, chapter of Vows]

The word ‘Tawaaf has two meanings– 1.”Making Tawaaf of the ancient house” 22/29 —the Shar’i usage of Tawaaf is meant.  2. “55/44 -the literal usage of Tawaaf is meant (i.e. to move around).

The word salaah has different meanings—-The literal meaning of Salaah is dua absolutely, but it is generally used to mean Namaaz. Thus, we take the ayat “Establish your Salaah” as an order to read Namaaz, not make dua.

The word ‘Nazar’ has two meanings – literal and Shar”i(Shari nazar and urfi nazar).

An urfi Nazar means gift or tribute. The literal usage of it for the pious elders is permissible, just as how

The vow (nazar) made on the name of the Friends of Allah(swt)is not a vow of Shariah. Rather, it is literal, i.e. a Nazaraana, or ‘tribute’. For example, if a person says to his teacher, “This is a gift (nazar) for you,” it is completely permissible.

The Jurists rule that vow made on the name of the Saints when it is thought to be a vow of Shariah is Haraam. This is why they say, “Taqaruban ilaihim’ (to gain closeness to him).

The vow of Shariah (Shar”i Nazar) is an act of worship and to accept it for anyone besides Allah(swt)is without doubt infidelity (kufr).

Some say, “O Ghaus Paak (ra)make dua. If my sickness is removed, 1 will cook a meal and feed it in your name.” This definitely doesn’t mean that he has taken Ghause-Azam (ra)to be Allah(swt) and that, on the gaining of health; this ibaadat will be completed for him. Rather, it means, “I will feed in charity (sadaqah) for the sake of Allah(swt) and shall present you with whatever reward one attain for it.”

So, understand that this sadaqah is for Allah(swt) its reward is a gift to the soul of the Shaikh (ie the recipients of this reward are the needy and attendants at the grave of the Shaikh).

When I want to talk to allah I say prayers and when I want that he talk to me I recite quran- Hazrath Ali(ra)

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