IMHO, some of the fundamental flaws of our sunni ecosystem and masses are: 1) Over-emphasis on certain things and a complete neglect of other important things which creates an unhealthy imbalance in the masses. Prose 97% vs Poetry 3% 2) Abuse of the concept of Bid'ah hasanah: Dawah Man, Milad, bid'ah Another example of the above would be Muharram Julus with a replica of Husayni Shrine, sans any mourning (Taziyat), can be justified using arguments similar to that given for Mawlid. But, do we really want our masses to spend their time and energy in reverence of a Shrine's replica? I personally steer clear of any bid'ah Hasanah unless it is proven through aqli necessity (eg. Madrasa system) or mujarrab practices of the sufiya.
3. dahej pratha (dowry tradition) taken from hindus and rampant all over the subcontinent, among Muslims of all shades! i once spoke to a mufti sahib about it, and he was like 'we can't forbid a father from giving a gift to his daughter' and i was stumped. how could i have missed such a simple legal permission? he did say that maulanas in general discourage the groom's side from asking blatantly and so on. these three examples are enough to get started to visit the larger picture - the religious upliftment of the common man. (in the naatkhwani example, we have just focused on one issue - bollywood tunes. there are many other issues to focus on - halal nightlife & naatkhwani at the expense of late Isha/missing Fajr wal 3eyadhu billah, neochawar money, etc. etc.) ----- at times the common man does need a rukhsah, maybe even from another mazhab? 4. personal example - i'm trying to investigate further on the Maliki ruling that dog is not impure even when wet, and maybe not even the saliva (still haven't dived into it yet) and once i find out their standard ruling, wish to ask a local mufti for his opinion for a rukhsah for us Hanafis - coz single days in the west were something else, but it's hard to keep the kids totally safe from dogs. i've taught my kids standard Hanafi rules (in their parlance) re dogs and taught them well regarding its saliva being najis, but it gets to me when they play with other Muslim kids who play with the neighbor's dog or have their hands licked by it, right in front of them, and so on. i've managed to make them not shake hands or even play with the same ball and so on - with those other Muslim kids - if they've just had their hands licked/ball caught by a dog ... have been successful so far, but kids are kids and this is an uphill battle. plus people even go out with their dogs in the rain and us adults too are not safe from wet dogs. yet, at other times, the common man needs 3azeemah - maybe i need to go back to where i came from? ----- so yes, please provide your feedbacks.
2. chadars at dargah's the rest of the Sunni world follows the rulings of Sunni ulama INCLUDING ALA HAZRAT examples below from the blessed mazars of Sahibe Shifa Shareef Qadi Iyad and Sahibe Dalail ul Khayrat Suleyman Al-Jazuli rahimahumullah (zameel, i still wait for consistency in your pronouncements on the prohibition of building mazars. you gotta slam the rest of the Sunni world too, if you wanna be taken seriously! you gotta blast the entire Shadhili tariqah and followers of Suleyman Al-Jazuli too, just as passionately as you blast us followers of Ala Hazrat. c'mon man, don't put your foot in your mouth! even your admirers like DH are calling you out on your inconsistencies) anyways, we all know what goes on with chadars and mazars in our subcontinent. once again mufti sahibaan provide us fiqh technicalities of nazranae aqeedat, waliyon ki taazeem, halal paisa, owner (the aam aadmi) can do as he wills etc.
taking on from this thread - https://sunniport.com/index.php?threads/naatkhwani-meets-bollywood.16023/#post-84467 i thought it's a good idea to make a separate thread. so yeah, it's not just present day naatkhwani or this or that one issue - i think we desis in general can't see the forest for the trees. as a personal preference (and i'm no faqih) for such cases is that we never lose sight of these 3 as a bare minimum 1) real life 2) real world 3) common man / aam aadmi i get it with the fiqh technicalities, but they can't be isolated from these three things. starting from these 3 examples 1. naatkhwani on bollywood tunes: yes indeed, the meter or tune in itself is not haram per se, but when it reminds the aam aadmi of bollywood nonsense...? if really so, it probably would? or wouldn't? mufti sahiban need to advise us based on this too. related example - lot of people i have seen (western context) refrain from wishing merry christmas because of the obvious christian connection. but have no qualms for 'happy new year', coz let alone Muslims, even christians themselves have forgotten the basis of the gregorian calendar and the words "anno domini". i'm not too sure which legal documentation or procedures, if any, in anglosphere mention "in the year of our lord". again - we need to ask mufti sahibaan if in that regard "happy new year" is a-ok or maybe a lesser evil compared to "merry christmas" because the acronym "AD" has been wiped out of most people's memories
