The

Chishti Nizami Habibi Soofie

International Sufi Order
Pietermaritzburg
South Africa

786/92

AULIA ALLAH AND MINDUNILLAH

Allah speaks about His Friends in the Holy Qur’aan, in the 10th Sura, Yunus: Verse 62 to
64

Behold (Observe)!Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall

they grieve; those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil. For
them are Glad Tidings, in the life of the Present and in the Hereafter:
no change can there be in the Words of Allah. This is indeed the
supreme achievement.

Teri atke to wasile se kare istimdaad

Ya Ghaus! Sun ke bigarti heh tabiyat teri
Maulana Hassan Raza Khan (may Allah be well pleased with him)

When we ponder on these verses then we realise that in the first verse Allah (Almighty
and Glorious is He) describes the status of His friends and in the second He narrates their
recognition whilst in the third He narrates their destiny (anjaam). They have the highest
status of being befriended by Allah. How great is this status! He further tells us that He
has freed them of fear and grief in both the worlds. In the second verse Allah gives us
their recognising features that they are mumin or ‘ones with true faith’ and they practise
restraint. Iman refers to having the proper belief or aqidah: Taqwa is having sound
character (aqhlaq) and performing virtuous deeds (amaal). Therefore Allah’s Friends are
those that have proper belief or aqidah, sound character (aqhlaq) and perform virtuous
deeds (amaal). He whose belief or aqidah is not sound, whose character (aqhlaq) is
unpleasant and lacks in performance of virtuous deeds (amaal) cannot be the ‘Friend of
Allah’. Allah’s Friends externally (zaahir) mirrors Shariah1[1] and internally (baatin)
reflects Tariqah2[2]. His lips must utter the teachings of the Holy Prophet (sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam) (farmane Rasul) and his heart must be a vessel overflowing with Divine
Effusion (Faizane Rasul)3[3].

Regarding their resultant destiny (anjaam) Allah says,

‘For them are Glad Tidings, in the life of the Present and in the
Hereafter: no change can there be in the Words of Allah, This is indeed
the supreme achievement.’

There has been much confusion regarding Allah’s Friends (Aulia Allah)
and (mindunillah) or idols. Idolatry was widespread in Arabia at the
advent of the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Allah
therefore sent revelation regarding these (mindunillah) or idols. The
verses which instructs man not to ask for help or benefit from idols has
been used out of context by the Wahabbi / Deobandi Ulema to be

1[1] shari'a: The Sacred Law. Shari 'a makes manifest the Divine
Reality

(haqiqa). It provides all the principles and means for a human to

develop true knowledge and acquire the noble character traits. Those
who "know" Allah never leave His Sacred Law. Their courtesy towards
Allah preserves them from letting the Scale of the Law slip from their
hands.

2[2] tariqa: The Way or Path. Tariqa is the narrow and steep Spiritual
Path to Reality (haqiqa). The qualified -seeker can travel this Path only
under the direction of a qualified Guide (murshid, shaykh, pir). The
name tariqa is specific to the Islamic Spiritual Path.

3[3] Al-Faiz- Allah bestows Divine effusion or overflow or emanation to

the heart of His Perfect Slave, the Perfect Man. The world itself
remains in existence due to this overflowing of the lights of His Self-
manifestation. The attention paid to them during their remembrance
or visitation is repaid by attention from them, leading man to
heightened states of spirituality.
referring to Aulia Allah. On the basis of these verses, quoted out of
context, they try to justify their claim that Aulia cannot benefit or
harm us, so we should ask directly from Allah without intermediation.
Is the use of verses revealed regarding (mindunillah) or idols, against
Allah’s Friends (Aulia Allah) being just or unjust to the Muslim faith or
aqidah? Is this not casting doubt on an important avenue of Divine
help? Allah, in his divine wisdom knew that this will happen, therefore
He says in the Holy Qur’aan, in Sura al-Isra 17: Verse 82.

We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur’aan that which is a healing

and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but
loss after loss.

Allah said ‘zalimeen’,[Zulm: Wrongdoing. The ones not capable of receiving internal
enlightenment are not only wrongdoers, but also display ignorance (jahl), spiritual
immaturity and even arrogance and pride (takabbur)]. referring to those who read the
Qur’aan but twist it’s meaning. Everywhere the word (mindunillah) meaning idols is
used, they translate it as ‘other than Allah”. E.g.: Sura an-Nahl 16: Verse 20

Those whom they invoke besides Allah create nothing and are
themselves created
(Saudi Transalation in Alim Computer Software)
And those (idols) which they (the pagans) call upon apart from Allah. Create nothing and are
themselves created
Turkish translation by Ali Ozek , Nureddin Uzunoglu, Tevfiq Rusti Topuzoglu and
Mehmet Maksutoglu.: Ilmi Nesriyat., Istanbul
Note this is not coming from Indo/Pak but from the seat of the original Sunni Ottomans
They show these ayah to the common man and tell him that asking the Aulia is invoking
‘other than Allah’ and hence saying Ya Rasulullah, Ya Ghous and Ya Khwaja are acts of
shirk. Those that are fooled by them their aqidah is destroyed. Most definitely Prophets
and Aulia are not Allah but they are not included in (mindunillah) or idols. What is our
proof of this? Let us read the Qur’aan. Sura al-Ambiya 21: Verse 98 says:

Verily ye, (Unbelievers), and the (false) gods that ye worship besides
Allah, are (but) fuel for Hell! To it will ye (surely) come!

Here Allah says (mindunillah) or idols will be put into hellfire. If

Prophets and Aulia are included in (mindunillah) or idols then
according to the interpretation of the Wahabbi / Deobandi Ulema,
astagfirullah, Prophets and Aulia will be in hellfire. Sura al-Ambiya 21:
Verse 98 is our proof that Prophets and Aulia are not included in
(mindunillah) or idols, since they can never be cast into hell. Can there
be contradiction in Qur’aan? Never! Allah says in Sura al-Nisaa 4:
Verse 82:

Do they not consider the Qur’aan (with care)? Had it been from other
than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.

So there can be no contradiction in the Qur’aan, since it is from Allah.

Let me present two verses from the Holy Qur’aan, which if looked at
externally seem to contradict each other, how contradiction sets in and
what is the remedy for it. Allah says in Sura at-Tauba 9: Verse 116
The Wahabbi / Deobandi Ulema wrongly translate this verse as
meaning.

Except for Him (Allah) you have neither protector nor helper.

In Sura al-Maida 5: Verse 55 Allah says:

Your (real) friends and protectors are (no less than) Allah, His Messenger, and the
(Fellowship of) Believers, those who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and
they bow down humbly (in worship).

Ponder on these two verses, in the first in states that none can protect and help you except
Allah, whilst the second says that your helper and friend is Allah, His Messenger
(sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the group of believers possessing perfect iman. There is
no contradiction if the verses are translated properly. In the first verse there is stated wa
ma lakum mindunillah. I have already stated that mindunillah refers to idols and wrongly
translated as ‘other than Allah’ in certain sectors. If mindunillah is translated, as it
should be, referring to idols then there is no contradiction between the two verses.

Sura at-Tauba 9: Verse 116

should be translated as:

 From amongst these idols, you have neither protector nor helper.

O! Allah if we have no helper and protector from these idols, then do we have any that
can protect and help us? Allah replies with Sura al-Maida 5: Verse 55

Your (real) friends and protectors are (no less than) Allah, His Messenger, and the
(Fellowship of) Believers, those who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and
they bow down humbly (in worship).

So there is no contradiction if the verses are translated properly. So these Wahabbi /

Deobandi Ulema and their propagation body, the Tabligh Jamaat apply verses referring
to idols as being in reference to Prophets and Saints. They also make reference to path of
a verse and quote it out of context. E.g. A man refused to perform salaah saying the
Qur’aan says, ‘we should not approach prayer in Sura an-Nisaa 4: verse 43

O ye who believe! Do not pray

When he was told to read further he said, “I am trying to act upon a little, it is difficult to
put the whole Qur’aan into practice.”

This is the condition of those fiercely defending the conception of Tauhid exported
worldwide by the Saudi-Wahabbi regime. They read part of a verse, that suits their
ideology, and leave out, conveniently, the rest of the verse or chapter that puts it into
context. E.g. they read this verse to mislead people: Sura al-A’raf 7: Verse 194,
 Verily those whom ye call upon besides Allah are servants like you

On the basis of this verse they say we proclaim ‘Ya! Rasulullah, Ya Ghous and Ya
Khwaja”, and since they are servants of Allah being created being like us we are
committing an act of ‘assigning partners to Allah or shirk. In this verse also ibaadun
amsaalukum refers to idols. The proof being that Allah says in the next verse:

The feet you make for these idols can they walk with? Or hands can they hold with? Or
eyes can they see with? Or ears can they hear with?

So these verses refer to idols. Remember if you see the word

mindunillah ensure it is translated as idols and not wrongly
translated as ‘other than Allah’ to confuse you. So those who
commit this injustice, the Qur’aan make it clear in Sura al-Isra 17:
Verse 82.

We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur-an that which is a healing

and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing
but loss after loss.
May Allah save our children from these erroneous beliefs

Transalated and extracted by Irshad Soofi from a lecture delivered by Maulana

Muhammad Shafi Okarvi (may Allah be well pleased with him) in South Africa in the
1970's.

2 Rajab 1424/ 30 August 2003

Ur’s of Hazrath Soofie Saheb (Rahmatullahi alaihi)