The Deluge of Wazīfahs

This dīn is the name of īmān and islām. Success in it is promised upon righteous action, and the goal it teaches is to establish a connection and nearness to God. The remembrance of Allah is the opening key to every difficulty. For this reason, the ummah has been gifted with the magnificent offering of the five daily prayers. Beyond these, the sunnah prayers, tahajjud, and nawāfil are priceless gifts whose blessings never cease. A major part of this remembrance is the recitation of the divine book. This book is the eternal manual of guidance: understanding and reading it brings light to darkness, guidance amidst misguidance, and certainty and tranquillity where there is doubt and confusion.

Moreover, the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught adhkār for various times, he encouraged supplications, and called towards abundant sending of blessings (ṣalāt) upon him and seeking forgiveness (istighfār).

Alongside worship and remembrance, the final Messenger of God was always active in the field of action. He upheld all the pillars of the religion, taught, purified souls, called to the truth, and carried out jihād. Badr, Uḥud, Khandaq, and Ḥunayn are all filled with his valiant efforts. As a complete servant, he followed the laws set by his Lord, took the means created by Him, and instructed others to adopt those means. He elaborated on the weighty principles of trade and sustenance, clarified matters of politics, and detailed national and international laws.

In illness, he consulted physicians, followed their advice, and adopted the treatments prevalent among the Arabs. ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, may Allah have mercy on him, narrates that he asked his maternal aunt, the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, “I understand how you gained knowledge of the Qurʾān, Sunnah, fiqh, poetry, and Arab genealogy, but how did you come to know medicine?” She replied, “When the Prophet, peace be upon him, would fall ill, the physicians would come and prescribe medicine for him. I used to prepare those medicines, and in this way, I gained familiarity with medicine and treatment.” (Musnad Aḥmad and others)

The noble Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and the generations of Muslims after them preserved this golden legacy. They progressed in knowledge, the sciences, and civilisation in such a manner that its equal is difficult to find. The achievements of Muslims in medicine and pharmacology, geometry and astronomy, geography and the physical sciences are still remembered by the world today.

Then came the age of decline. The heirs of al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn al-Haytham, al-Bīrūnī, ʿUmar Khayyām, and Ibn Khaldūn came into contact with peoples and nations that were bankrupt in reason and knowledge. The bearers of the Qurʾān and the inheritors of the sciences of the prophets were influenced by the base sciences of corrupt nations. They began to learn magic and sorcery, took an interest in illusion and enchantment, produced amulets and charms, and wrote books on occult scripts, symbols, and numerology.

The ummah of the Qurʾān became preoccupied with how to subdue jinn and spirits. They turned away from the sciences and disciplines through which they had once been taught how to harness the forces of the universe. They invented wazīfahs which they would chant like mantras, hoping thereby to walk on water without wetting their feet. Would that they had learned, like their forebears, to construct bridges and boats—then they would have crossed the water themselves and helped others to do so, and they would have gained mastery over rivers and seas.

The heirs of the Prophet found themselves interested in those wazīfahs by which one could allegedly fly through the air. Meanwhile, there were other nations who made real progress in science and built aeroplanes. They now fly through the skies, and by their means, others too traverse from one horizon to another with great speed.

The incompetent ones invented a wazīfah for every ailment, whereas the knowledge of medicine had once been part of the Muslims’ own household. Had they continued progressing in that field, understood the reality of diseases, and searched for cures, they would still, as in the past, be leaders in the world today. Nations would come to them for treatment. They would be building hospitals and clinics and would be at the forefront of pharmaceutical discoveries.

Alas, the corrupted religion of exorcisms, incantations, sorcery and spells spread even among those who had studied the Qurʾān and Sunnah. Their hearts were so darkened, their minds so accustomed to obscurity, that even divine light could not illuminate them:

If it is a contest of verification, they do not participate;
If it is the game of murīd-ship, they lose no time to join.
If someone sets the snare of interpretation,
He quickly descends from the branch of his own nest.

Arise, O Muslim man! The polytheistic nations of the world—those who possess no divine scripture, no revealed guidance, those who have corrupted their scriptures—are at the forefront of every field of science. They are subduing rivers and winds, while you are busy memorising wazīfahs, writing taʿwīdhāt, and indulging in base occult sciences and rituals.

Awaken from heedlessness and ignorance. Repent from filth. Open the windows of your intellect. Take the key to the kingdom of knowledge into your hand, and adopt a way of life rooted in action and striving:

No gem is revealed without ceaseless effort;
Even Farhād’s cave was lit by a single spark from his pickaxe.

Disclaimer: This article was translated by AI. Original post: https://t.me/DrAkramNadwi/1899