Monday, December 17, 2012

A spiritual Revival with Ammar Nakshawani - Part 2

Assalaam o Alaikum,

And the coverage continues... I am still unable to get over the concepts and details presented by Sayed Ammar Nakshawani in his lectures.

Day 1 began with the very much debated sermon 79 of Nahjul Balagha about women:
    O' ye peoples! Women are deficient in Faith, deficient in shares and deficient in intelligence. As regards the deficiency in their Faith, it is their abstention from prayers and fasting during their menstrual period. As regards deficiency in their intelligence it is because the evidence of two women is equal to that of one man. As for the deficiency of their shares that is because of their share in inheritance being half of men. So beware of the evils of women. Be on your guard even from those of them who are (reportedly) good. Do not obey them even in good things so that they may not attract you to evils. 
It was a very beautifully delivered and a somewhat surprising lecture for many.  Some details covered in the lecture included but were not limited to the fact that the Nahjul Balagha was compiled by Syed Murtada and Syed Radi about 200 years after Imam Ali (A.S).  He discussed much debate around the above mentioned quote and also referenced the Holy Quran that states facts quiet on the contrary to the above quote.  His aim was to point out that such a quotation cannot be the words of Imam Ali (A.S) as it is against the sayings of the holy book and a compilation related detail that was either not handed off correctly or not translated/interpretted accurately.

These facts are much debated and discussed which made it more interesting to hear the conflicting information.  He further gave details on the piousness of the two men given credit for compiling the wonderful sayings of Imam Ali (A.S) in the Nahjul Balagha, therefore confirming the credibility of the noble men and their lineage.  Some interesting facts unfolded through his discussion and disection of the topic.

I further had the opportunity to ask Sayed Ammar about Ibn Khallikan in Wafayat al-aya'n and his view on the book.  He mentioned that Ibn Khallikan's main issue was with the controvercial quotations mentioned for Caliphs within Nahjul Balagha which led to his questioning of the work overall almost 250 years later.

Seemed like this one sermon and the discussion around it sparked alot of interest.  It was a topic of discussion among the community for his entire duration of stay here in the Bay Area.  Facts and figures presented in his speeches add the puzzle pieces together and research details leave almost no ground for confusion or questions, subhanAllah!

More synopsis of his lectures coming up inshAllah...
JazakAllah,
Zehra...

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2 comments:

  1. Summaiya Noor AliDecember 18, 2012 at 12:34 AM

    Please give us the details mentioned in this blog. The facts and figures. Since I have not read the whole of Nahjul Balagah I was also surprised about the few instances that are not the words of our Imam a.s. and this led to people questioning the whole book then, and its authenticity. Sheikh Jihad mentioned this verse about women and then said how it went against the Quran. =(

    But then I do not rmbr if he said how they came to be in the book? who put them in? and why is it not something that is widely known?

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  2. ZehraDecember 18, 2012 at 11:48 AM

    The background of this sermon is the Battle of Jamal. If any of us know the details of the Battle of Jamal, we can figure what exactly was the background around this. However, it must also be noted that the individuals Sayed Radi and Sayed Murtada were pious men of great knowledge and character. Not only that, they had a wonderful family lineage. According to his lecture, they were educated from early childhood by Al-Shaykh al-Mufid.

    According to his research, Shaykh al-Mufid visioned Sayeda Fatima Zehra (A.S) in his dream holding Imam Hassan (AS) and Imam Hussain (AS) and requesting him to educate the two. When he woke from his sleep, Sayed Radi and Sayed Murtada's mother was at his door requesting for his sons to be educated by him. This incident thereby signifies the love of Ahlulbayt (AS) in their lineage. Their father was also a scholar.

    One of the two brothers grew up to be a arabic language expert. The compilation of the Nahjul Balagha occured some 200 years after Imam Ali. This compilation was based on narrators of Imam Ali's (AS) utterences. The actual narration in regards to Battle of Jamal and the incidents at that time only lead us to believe that this particular narration could have had an error in handing down and could have been originally about one particular lady.

    The Quran in various instances shows the importance of women and how women are created equal and as followers of Imam Ali (AS) who know his personality, his characteristics and his love for Allah SWT, there is no way we can attribute these words as being uttered by him.

    JazakAllah... Please have questions coming and InshAllah we can discuss further... :0)

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