translation of the Quran, so that you may receive the reward for your
dawah
work fromGod. Shah Hamadan achieved success in Kashmir
through
dawah
. Now, once again, you can achieve success in
dawah
work in Kashmir.
Not a Case of Non-fulfillment of a Promise
After the death of the Prophet of Islam inMadinah differences arose
between the Emigrants (from Makkah) and the Ansar (the people
of Madinah) on the issue of Khilafat. The stand of the Ansar was:
one leader from amongst the emigrants and one from amongst the
Ansar. Finally Umar’s suggestion was accepted. It was to the effect
that they (the emigrants) would be holding the political office while
the Ansar would be the advisors. But later on it was not possible to
put this promise into practice. Umar Faruq in his later years once
observed: we had promised theAnsar that in the matters of Khilafat
we would make the Ansar our advisors, but we failed to do so.
(
Musnad
Al-Bazzar, Hadith No. 291)
It was not a case of breaking a promise; it was rather a matter
relating to collective wisdom. It is desirable in Islam that a promise
should be fulfilled, but this command relates to individual cases. In
individual matters one individual has the power to fulfill his promise
without any obstacle, therefore it is incumbent upon an individual to
fulfill his promise at all costs. He should never go back on his words
on any pretext. But the case of social matters is different from this.
A promise related to political and social life is not a promise in the
general sense. Since, in reality, social matters are not in a uniform
state, different kinds of demands come to bear upon the making
of the relevant decisions. As such, promises of this kind can never
be absolute in nature. They change with each new situation. It is,
therefore, essential for both the parties to understand the demands
of the situation. Instead of insisting on the initial wording of the
promise, they should be willing to cooperate in terms of the changed
situation. Social matters are always governed by practical wisdom
rather than ideal wisdom. This is the demand of Islam as well as the
demand of reason.
FromCollision Course toAcceptance
Two recent news items have been reported in the media, one titled:
“Pakistan may junk Kashmir issue temporarily”, indicates that
Pakistani leadership has temporarily put the Kashmir agenda on
hold (
Times of India
, 27 Feb, 2012).
56
The Dawn Over Kashmir
