Part 10: A Brief Survey: Was Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) given the Knowledge of Unseen?

From the Layman’s Desk: Islamic Article No.18:
Part 10: A Brief Survey: Was Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) given the Knowledge of Unseen?

In the Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.

Now, the founder of Deobandism Molvi Ismail Dehlvi writes in  “Taqwiyatul  Iman” which is the fundamental book of Deobandi group: “What is present in the stomach of a woman nobody knows about it except Allah. Nobody can know that whether it is single or double, male or female, beautiful or ugly“.  The Deobandis have also drawn our attention to the fact that: “In Sahih Bukhari it is narrated by Hazrat Abdullah Bin Umar ® that the messenger of Allah (Sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) said besides Allah nobody knows the keys of Ghaib which are five as mentioned in the last verse of Surah Luqmaan meaning the appointed time of judgement, appointed time of rain, when will it descend, Ma Fil Arhaam meaning what is in a woman’s womb, male or female, future incidents and the appointed place of death”.  (Fateh Bareli Ka Dilkash Nazaara Page 85).   Earlier, while discussing opponents’ denial of Prophet’s (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) knowledge of the unseen, we also discussed about the knowledge of Five Secret Things in relation to Surah Luqman, Verse 31.  So this is not being repeated here.
  
DEOBANDI ULEMA’S UNSEEN KNOWLEDGE:

Of course, the said Verse of the Qur’an is true and it is also incumbent to accept the above Hadith Shareef.  So if the Deobandis use this standard in order to reject the Prophet’s (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) knowledge of what’s in mother’s womb (Ma Fil Arhaam), why don’t they also apply the said Quranic verse and the hadith in respect of their own Elders and scholars such as Qazi Abdul Ghani. Maulvi Qasim Saheb Nanotvi and Maulvi Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, among others,  who claim the knowledge of unseen by actions  if not in words?  Don’t you think they are making deliberate and brazen attempts in placing their own Shaykhs, Elders and Scholars at a level higher than that of the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam)?  There are very many examples of such blasphemies but here we are restricted by space and a single topic, namey the Unseen Knowledge of Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam).

Some of these glaring examples are given below:

It would be interesting to point out that Molvi Qasim Nanotvi Deobandi has attributed  the knowledge of what is in the womb (which they deny for the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) to one of the Deobandi scholars who narrates about one of the scholars of his group:  “Shah Abdurrehman Wilayati had a disciple whose name was Abdullah Khan. His caste was ‘Rajput’ and he was one of the special disciples of Shah Abdur Rehman. He was at such an elevated stage that whenever there was a case of pregnancy in someone’s house and they used to come to him to take amulets, then he used to tell them whether the baby would be a boy or a girl and whatever he used to tell that result used to be the same.” [Arwahe Salasa, with commentary by Molvi Ashraf Ali Thanvi page 163]   In other words, this Deobandi scholar knew what was in the womb of a woman!

According to the Deobandi Elder, this very Abdullah Khan Rajput Deobandi was blessed with special eye sight.  When leaving for the Haj, Mawlana Qasim Nanotvi requested Abdullah Khan to make dua ( supplication ) for him.  To which Abdullah Khan replied, “Brother, what supplication can I make for you? I have seen with my eyes that you are reading Bukhari sharif in front of Rasul Allah ( sal allahu alai hi wa sallam)”.  (Arwahe Salasa , page 254)

Also, Mawlana Ahmed Saeed Akbarabadi (1908-1985) was a scholar and member of the Majlis-e-Shoora, Darul Uloom Deoband, as well as the Editor of the Monthly publication “Burhan” published from Delhi.  According to his narration which was written by Mufti Atiq ur-Rahman Saheb:  “Before my birth my father had a boy and a girl who both died at an early age. Thereafter for seventeen continuous years he had no children, so much so that he decided to terminate work and migrate. (During that period he was working in a Government Hospital in Agra Loha Mandi.) But when Qazi Abdul Gani Saheb (Father’s Peer and Murshid) became aware of it he wrote and forbade him from his decision and together gave him glad tiding of a son.  A few years later according to this glad tiding, during the 7th of Ramadaan of 1908 at early dawn I was bom.  Two hours before my birth my father saw in his dream Hazrat Mawlana Gangohi and Hazrat Mawlana Nanotvi who came to the hospital of Loha Mandi and they said  “Doctor! Congratulations on having a son. Keep his name Saeed.” My father obeyed the instruction and at that very moment decided that ‘I will send the child to Deoband to become an A’alim’.”  (Burhaan-Monthly, Dehli August 1952 Page 68)

If you ponder, the glad tidings of the birth of a son was not given during any pregnancy but was predicted a few years even before conception.  That means the power of perception in this case even exceeds that of knowing what is in the womb of a woman.  So on one hand you have the Ilm-e-Ghaib of Qazi Abdul Ghani Saheb the Pir-O-Murshid of Saeed Ahmed’s father; and on the other, you have the knowledge of unseen on part of Molvi Qasim Nanotvi (d.1897) and Rashid Ahmed Saheb Gangohi (d.1905) both of whom came to know in their graves in the year 1908  about  the impending birth of a son and they not only congratulated the father of Molvi Saeed Ahmed in a dream two hours before the birth but also suggested that the child should be named Saeed. The dream was treated as a true incident.   So the unseen knowledge or even being Hazir and Nazir in respect of their Elders and scholars is accepted gladly by Deobandis but in the case of the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) they vehemently deny that Allah has bestowed the Ilm-e-Ghaib to him.   With such deviant beliefs of the Deobandis  as :  “ the followers ( ummati) cannot only equate prophets in good deeds but they also surpass them “[“Shamshul Islam” Qasim Nanotvi in  Tahdir al Nas] what can you expect of them!!!

Again, it will be interesting to point out about the arrival of the deceased Molvi Qasim Nanotvi with external body to Deoband Madrasa.    In  Arwah-e-Salasa, story n°247 it is written that a dispute occurred between Molvi Ahmad Hasan Sahib Amrohi and Molvi Fakhr ul Hasan Sahib Ganghohi, and Mahmud ul Hasan Deobandi took one side and entered the dispute, and this matter remained unresolved for a long time.  Qari Tayyab Saheb (grandson of Qasim Nanotvi), Rector of Darul Uloom Deoband,  narrates that during the time when Mawlana Rafiuddeen Saheb was the Principal of the Madrasa, some controversy erupted among the senior teachers of Darul Uloom.  Later, a senior teacher of the Madrasa, Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan Saheb,  also got embroiled, thus extending the controversy.   According to Qari Tayyab Saheb, it was during that period that one early morning after the Fajar Salah Mawlana Rafiuddeen Saheb (Rehmatullah Alaih) called Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan Saheb to his room (which is in Darul Uloom Deoband).  The Molvi came,  and opening the closed door, entered the room.   The weather was very cold.  Rafiuddeen saheb told him to first examine his overcoat.  When Molvi Mahmoodul Hasan saw this over coat it was wet.  Rafiuddeen Saheb said:  “The incident is this that just now Mawlana Nanotvi (Rehmatullah Alaih) had come to me in his original body  due to which I sweated very much and my cloak became wet and he said this, ‘Tell Mehmood Hasan not to get involved in this dispute’. Thus I have called you to convey this message.”  Mehmood Hasan Saheb said, "I am repenting on your hands that after this, I will have nothing to do with this dispute."  (Arwah-e-Salasa, Page 242)   In short, Mawlana Qasim Nanotvi rose from his grave in his physical form to resolve the dispute in the Madrasa!

Now examine a new tamasha regarding the above narration by Qari Tayyab Saheb. The leader of the Deobandi Jamaat, Molvi Ashraf Ali Saheb Thanwi in his footnote while corrobrating writes:-  "This incident was a parable of the soul and it could be in two forms. Firstly, that it was like a body but resembling external body. Secondly, it could have been that the soul itself, changing in elements produced an external body."  (Arwah-e-Salasa, Page 243)

In fact, the above was not the only incident when the deceased Mawlana Qasim Nanotvi stepped out of his grave to resolve the disputes in Darul Uloom Deoband.  There was another occasion too when he rose from his grave; but this time he had to travel to a distant Punjab from the Qasimi Qabrastan located in the north of Darul Ulloom Deoband.  This incident is recorded in the Biography of Qasim Nanotvi (1833-1880) entitled Swaneh Qasimi written by Deoband scholar Molvi Munazir Ahsan Gilani on the authority of another Deoband scholar, Mehmoodul  Hasan about whom we already mentioned above.   The book is published by Deoband.  The incident revolves around a young Deobandi trying to survive in Punjab after his graduation from Deoband and the confrontation by another preacher “Wa’iz Mawlana”) and the final debate to resolve the accusations.  To just present the summary:  Here we learn that Molvi Qasim Nanotwi had the Knowledge of the Unseen in the sense that he came to know that a young Deobandi graduate who had gone to a small town in the distant Punjab Province was struggling and was in need of help.  He also came to know that he had been challenged to a debate by another Molvi who did not approve of the Deobandi preacher.  The Deobandi Molvi was unsure of  himself and thought he might lose the Imam’s job in the Masjid there.  At the appointed date and time and place, the Deobandi Molvi “Allah Allah karte huwey aayaa”, i.e. came with fear and trepidation and remembering Allah much.  However, he saw an unknown man coming and sitting next to him, who told him: “Yes, start the discussion and have no fear”.  Being thus comforted and feeling some power in his heart, the young Deobandi Molvi, unsure of himself, began but without realizing all that he was saying.  Shortly stated, the outcome was such that the opposing preacher submitted his defeat before the astounded Deoband graduate, after which that unknown man just disappeared.   Details of this incident are found in the above Biography.  The story continues that Molvi Mehmoodul Hassan revealed to the young Deobandi graduate that the man who had disappeared was Molvi Qasim Nanotwi who had come (from the grave) to help him.  [Ref: Sawaneh Qasimi,Vol 1, page 330-331]

According to the Deobandi Fatawa of 19.8.2008 (No.6502), Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) cannot move out his Noble Grave in Madina Shareef:  “The life of prophet sal allahu alaihi wa sallam in grave , is Hayate Barzakhi” ( Life in Brazakh), in this life he ( sal allahu alaihi wa sallam) cannot travel ( from one place to another).  As against this, however, the Deoband scholar, Molvi Qasim Nanotvi could not only get the knowledge in his grave about the problems that a young Deobandi graduate was facing in the Punjab but he could also travel right from his grave in Qasimi Qabrastan in Deoband to the distant Punjab in the form of an unknown man in order to help him win a debate against the opposing preacher.  Also, having learnt in his grave about the internal disputes going on in Darul Uloom Deoband, Molvi Qasim Nanotvi could rise from his grave in “Original Body” and visit Molvi Rafi’uddin to tell him to convey to Molvi  Mehmoodal Hasan not to indulge in internal bickerings of the teachers!!!   Isn’t this in a stark contradiction to their own Fatwa as also given in their book Taqwiyatul Iman which says:  “To think that some one other than Allah can know the knowledge of the unseen, or what is happening in some other city, whether the belief is that they have this self possessed knowledge or given by Allah, in all the cases it is shirk.”  (Taqwiyatul Iman, page 10) 
That’s not all A strange incident is mentioned in Ashrafus-Sawaneh, about the great-grandfather of Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Muhammad Fareed. He was accompanying a marriage procession when it was attacked by a band of thieves. Muhammad Fareed died defending the procession and was buried near the tomb of Pir Samauddin. An Urs (annual gathering) was held at his grave for many years. The biographer writes, “After his martyrdom a strange incident occurred. At night, he returned to his home as if he was alive (“misl zinda tashree laaye”) and gave some sweets to his family members saying, ‘If you do not tell (about my visit) to anyone, I shall keep coming this way.’ But the family members feared that the people may suspect something wrong when they see the children eating sweets, so they disclosed the incident and after this he did not return.”  [Asharafus Sawaneh (Biography of Mawlana Thanvee) , by Khawja Ajeezul Hasan, Vol 1, page 12, published by Khankah Imdadiyah, Thana Bhavan]

From the above it is clear that the martyred great-grandfather of Thanvi Saheb had some special power which enabled him to visit his family daily distribute sweets to them.  He was aware of this Karamat and he warned his family not to reveal the secret to others.  As soon as he learnt (through Ghaib naturally) that the secret was out, he stopped visiting them.  This means that he had the full control over his special visits from the grave.
   
The Deobandi writer of Taqwiyatul Iman also writes: “ If any one attributes the knowledge of unseen to anyone else except Allah, then he is in shirk”. This we will examine later too, but here, suffice it to say that the irony is, in his book Hakumul Ummah, Molvi Abdul Maajid Daryabadi Deobandi attributes Ghaib Daani (Knowledge of Unseen) to his preceptor, Ashraf Ali Thanvi during a gathering.  Readers may refer to page 24 of that book for details.  Here, knowledge of Unseen has been unambiguously attributed to Molvi Ashraf Ali Thanvi:  [Urdu wording: Khair us waqt to ghahra asar us ghayb dani aur kashf sadar lay ker utha. Majlis barkhwast hui].

Did you notice that the above incidents judged by their own beliefs would be associated with those of polytheists?  The first belief with respect to Molvi Qasim Nanotvi is that of Ilm-e-Ghaib.  If according to these people he did not have Ilm-e-Ghaib, then how was he informed of the dispute between the senior teachers in the Deoband Madrasa?  In his grave, he not only came to know about the internal bickering of the senior teachers in the Madrasa, but he even knew that the senior teacher, Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan Saheb, was also involved and he wanted to stop him. So watching from his grave (i.e being Hazir and Nazir) he stepped out to solve the problems with a clear instruction to Rafiuddin Saheb.  (And according to the Deobandis the holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam cannot step out of his grave!)  The matter that requires deliberation here is this, that even Maulvi Rafiuddeen Saheb unhesitatingly accepted the Divine Authority of the soul of Molvi Qasim Saheb Nanotvi.  Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan Saheb also blindly believed it.  Not to mention Thanwi Saheb who regarded him as the Creator of Human Body, and Qari Tayyab Saheb who gave him a public spotlight.

Regarding Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) the Deobandi belief is that he has no control over anything.  According to them, " the one whose name is Muhammed and Ali does not have any control over anything”. The Deobandi belief is that Allah has not given any power to His most beloved after he has left this world. The Deobandi belief is that the great companions of prophet (Radi Allahu ta'ala) are not aware of the miracles which they perform after they are dead.  The Deobandi belief is that the pious muslims of this ummah like Sayedana Shaykh Abdul Qadir, Al hasani wa husseini ( rd ), Sayyedna Moinuddin Chisti (rd) , Sayyedana Imam Rabbani (rd) and other muslims who loved and followed Rasul Allah ( sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) cannot do anything after they are dead.  That’s not all!  In his short Urdu book, Zalzala, which has been translated into English as Convulsion, Allama Arshad Ul-Qadri has pointed out, among other things, many startling instances of ilm-e-ghayb of Deoband Akabirs and scholars and their being Haazir and Naazir. These include predicting it won’t rain despite the dark monsoon clouds, predicting the sex of the child  in the wombs of women, knowing where and when one will die, speaking to the one in the grave, knowledge of past and future events, Molvi Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s astonishing incident of being present at several places at that very duration in time; and Molvi Qasim Nanotvi’s rising from his grave in Qasimi Qabrastan in Deoband on learning about the problems of a young Deoband graduate in the distant Punjab and visiting him there to help him win a debate against an opponent-preacher and coming back to the grave, and also his rising from the grave in “ORIGINAL BODY” and visiting Molvi Rafiuddin’s room in Dar-ul-Uloom itself to convey to Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan to stop siding in the internal bickerings going on in Darul Uloom Deoband, and many other astonishing perceptions and power of Ghayb of the Elders of Deoband (the last two incidents we have examined above) – all in violation of their own beliefs with which they censure Anbiya and Awliya!  In the words of the Allamah Arshad Ul-Qadri,  “..those beliefs (Aqa’ed) with respect to Anbiya and Awliya which these people have termed as Shirk then how they have accepted those very beliefs as permissible in respect of their own leaders ‘Buzurgs’ …..Hazrat Shah Imdadullah Saheb, Maulvi Syed Ahmed Barelwi, Shah Ismail Dehlvi, Molvi Mohammed Yaqoob Nanotvi, Molvi Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, Molvi Mehmoodul Hasan Deobandi, Molvi Ashraf Ali Thanwi, till Molvi Husein Ahmed Madani…all were unanimous in declining and rejecting with respect to the Prophets, in the same manner all are united in acknowledging and confirming with respect to their own leaders (Buzurgs)….”  However, we shall have to skip all those details here for brevity’s sake.  


In the words of an Islamic scholar: "When the status of Mawlana Qasim Nanotvi was at stake, when it was to be proved that Mawlana can come from his grave, walk freely and sit where ever he wants , that time it was said that ‘ Allah chooses spirits ( ruh) to help others”. When it was to be proved that how Mawlana got the knowledge in his grave (Aalam-e-Barzakh) that his follower is in problem it was said "Allah gave this knowledge”.  But sad to share,  some people show lack on interest in refuting those who have shown and still show disrespect to prophet. Go to any Deobandi and ask ‘did prophet have the knowledge of the unseen'? And you will get an answer ' Prophet had the most knowledge among all the creations'.   He will still not say that prophet had the knowledge of the unseen given to him by Allah.  They still do not accept clear quranic verses, but they have big heart to accept that Allah told Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee that, 'go to that village and help your follower'. "

Shortly stated, the Deobandi beliefs include that their Elders and scholars have the ilm-e-ghayb in their graves to know what ails their Madrasa or how their students are faring against the Sunni preachers, and can even bring sweets to their family on the condition of secrecy, and that they can also predict certain events and even help by being at different places at the same time. As against this, however, it becomes Shirk if Ahlus Sunnah believes in the bestowed Ilm-e-Ghayb of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam), Anbiya (a.s.) and Awliya Allah.   It becomes apparent even to a layman's eyes that thus the Quranic verses and the many ahadith shareef in favour of the bestowed knowledge of the unseen are being denied by the dissenters and opponents.

Continued in Part 11...

NASIR