[This is the summary of a speech addressed to the students of an online madrasa on 26, February, 2023. After the speech, there was a long session of question and answer, which is not covered here. The speech is transcribed by Mawlana Usama bin Abdur Rashid.]

After hamd and thana:

By the grace of Allah, we have been able to attend in this virtual religious assembly. I don't go out much and keep myself occupied within my home. However, I love all religious activities and all religious personalities. Mawlana Jubair  (Pricipal, Islamic online madrasa) is also one of them. He is doing dawah activities in different places. We have a good relationship with Him. Although we do not see each other very often, our relationship is deep and sincere. On that basis, he demanded me to say something in this Majlis. That's why I'm here today.

My Muslim brothers! Islam is our religion. Education is the foundation of Islam. We know that the first reveleation of our religion was 'read'. What will we read?

Allah Ta'ala has said—

 اقرأ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِيْ خَلَقَ

Read in the name of the Lord who created.

So, our religion Islam started with the ward- read in the name of Allah.

We all know the name of Surah Ar-rahman. We recite it. We also listen to it in Tarawih during Ramadan. The verse فَبِاَيِّ اٰلَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبٰنِ is repeated multiple times in this surah. This Surah begins with the word اَلرَّحْمٰنُ (Ar Rahman). We are all familiar with the word 'Ar-rahman', because, this word is also in Bismillah and at the beginning of Surah al-Fatiha.

'Ar-rahman' is the greatest and best attribute of Allah. Everyone knows its meaning more or less – 'He is kind'. In fact it has no proper Bengali meaning. There are some words in Quran and in Hadith, which can be interpreted in some way, but it is not possible to fully convey their meaning in any other language. Those of us who study in madrasas or are familiar with Arabic grammar, know that ‘mubalaghah’ or ‘sifat e mushabbah’ means to exaggerate a quality. But there are some words, whose range of greatness is greater than human thought.

For example, we said, kind. What would you add here to illustrate the abundance of kindness? 'Very kind', 'more kind' ‘most kind’! The full meaning has not yet been conveyed!

The word Ar-rahim means more than that. The word 'Ar-rahman' means much more than that. That is why the ulama agreed in this regard that the word 'Ar-rahman' means so much mercy, which is not possible by anyone other than Allah. That is why it is forbidden to name anyone other than Allah as 'Rahman'. Abdur Rahman (Rahman's servant) can be named. But Rahman cannot be said. Because no one can be Rahman except Allah Ta'ala.

So Allah Ta'ala started Surah Ar-Rahman with the word اَلرَّحْمٰنُ (Ar-Rahman). Allah is the Most Merciful. After saying this, Allah said-

عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ

He taught the Quran.

Then said-

خَلَقَ الْاِنْسَانَ.

That is, He created man. Now it can be said that Allah created man first. The Quran was revealed later. Then why did Allah first say, He taught the Qur'an and then He said, He created man?

Many scholars have tried to unravel its mystery. Some have explained it like this,  Allah Ta'ala is very kind. The greatest manifestation of His mercy to mankind is the Qur'an. Quran is the word of Allah, the foundation of Islam. Islam begins with the Quran.  Quran begins with reading. But it is a matter of great regret that we do not know about our religion. We are going to be Muslims by name. Day by day, many of us are becoming like people of  other religions, who only use the name of the religion in their passports or national identity cards.

How did it happen? How did we degenerate? If you look at Islamic history, you will see that the condition of previous Muslims was not like this. For over a thousand years, it was very difficult to find a Muslim who did not know the basics of Islam. Even after the Muslims lost their power in their countries, parents and grandparents tried to teach their children and grandchildren Islamic education first. No matter what subjects they studied or whether they completed their studies or not, they must learn some surahs of the Holy Quran and some essential rulings of Islam.

Before marriage,  a girl was asked how much of the Qur'an she had read before asking how much of worldly education she had studied. That was the first question. Today's Muslim society has forgotten these golden traditions. As a result, we are lagging behind. It is very painful.

I have visited three branches of 'Talimuddin Academy' located at different areas of Bangladesh. There were many college and university students, teachers, members of business community and Muslims from all walks of life. Many of them have been studying in our 'Talimuddin Academy' for a long time. Since they have been studying for a while, we have tried to know and understand them better. I asked them, you already know some basic teachings of Islam, many of you have learned the Quran as well. So, tell me, if we act on the instructions of Islam that we have already learned, will we get reward only in the hereafter, or will we also get worldly benefits as well?

It was a matter of happiness that they mentioned- their learnings had worldly benefits too. I understood from their answers that they understood the matter.

If we follow rules of Shari'ah in business and trade, a lot of injustice will disappear form the market. Even if the state does not follow shariah, if the people at the market level follow shariah, many frauds and many oppressions will stop. Buyers will not cheat sellers, sellers will not cheat buyers.

If we start following Islam in family life, if the husband starts fulfilling the rights of the wife, if the wife starts fulfilling the rights of the husband, then the tendency of divorce will decrease. Quarrels in the family will decrease. There will be peace in the house. If the parents fulfill the rights of the children, if the children fulfill the rights of the parents, if they learn the rights that Islam prescribed for each other and act accordingly, there will not be any kind of turmoil in the house.

Social phenomena such as suicide and divorce are on the rise within the Muslim community. These issues were previously prevalent primarily in Western societies, but now they have become widespread within our own society as well.The reason behind this is that we are indifferent to deen and shari’ah. We are not aware of our mutual rights, the rights of our relatives. Even if we know them, we do not fulfill them. As a result, we are slowly becoming like others. Outwardly, we appear happy. We live under the bright light of the lamp. However, internally, we are not happy. At times, we try to find happiness by immersing ourselves in so-called entertainments, but after that we sink again into that misery. We do not see peace in our life.

Why do not we get peace? The reason is that we do not try to know our religion, the rulings given by Allah for us. Even if we know, we do not try to follow them.

Now, Muslim brothers started understanding_ whenever we know, understand and practice religion, many problems in the society will gradually be reduced.

That week I spoke at 'Talimuddin Academy' in Sylhet. When I was speaking, a senior lawyer of the court entered. He loves ulama. Seeing him, I remembered one thing. I said to the audience, the lawyer has come, now understand another example. Those, who keep track of law and courts, know that millions of cases are pending in the courts of our country. Millions of civil cases are pending in civil courts. It is well known that when a land is involved in a lawsuit, the final decision may take up to three generations to be reached.

One of the reasons for this is, we do not lead our lives according to the guidance of Islam. If the neighbors had followed the instructions of Islam, there would have been no situation to file a case. The very wicked or the worst person in society might file a case, or it may require to file a case against them. That too would have been settled very quickly. Why third generation? The petitioner would have received the decision of the case within a few months.

You can look at the thousand-year-long history of Islam. History of judges and judgments given by the judges are compiled in different books. See how many cases were filed at that time and how many cases were pending? There were very few cases in that age. This is because by following the Islamic rules, there were very few situations to sue. People lived in a beautiful environment. Neighbors felt safe and secure about each other. We have lost that golden tradition by moving away from our religion.

I'm not lengthening my speech anymore. When your teacher Mawlana Jubair requested me to speak about online madrasa, I said, don't take me there. If you take me, the trouble will increase.

He said, Hujur! Say what you want.

I said, I will say against online education.

He said, say that. No problem.

So, I am telling you that  learning the religion through online is not always useful. It is only for urgent situation. This is like- a little is better than nothing. We have to use direct means to learn religion. We should go directly to the scholars. We need their companionship (suhbah). See what the infidels of Makkah said after the Qur'an began to be revealed—

وَ قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ الْقُرْاٰنُ جُمْلَةً وَّاحِدَةً

The infidels say, why was not the entire Quran revealed to him at once? — Surah Furqan (32): 25

They used to say, If the Quran were revealed all together, if a copy of the Quran was delivered in every house of Makkah, there would be no need for us to go to Muhammad. He himself is a poor person. And poor people go to him. The rich people like us should not go to him.

Allah could have revealed the Quran at once if He wanted. But Allah rejected their unreasonable claim. They do not know why the Qur'an came through the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Why did Allah give guidance through the Messenger? After that, we received Deen through Ulama in all ages.

Most of the hadith books such as Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim etc. are compiled by ulama of central Asia_ Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia. Despite being so far away from Arabia, they compiled authentic hadith books and left them for us. Where are the narrators of these hadiths from? If you look at the top of the chain of the authority, it will be clear that most of the narrators are from Hijaz, Kufa, Iraq, Saudi Arabia.

They traveled hundreds of miles on foot, on camels, endured hardships for compiling thousands of hadiths for us. This is a small example in the history of Islam.

You, who are learning the religion through online, should not be satisfied with it; Rather, go to ulama directly, and try to understand the issues of religion from them. Try to take the basics of religion directly from them. Check whether what you have learned through online is correct or not. learning Online is one way method. I'm telling you, you're listening. There is no way to exchange views properly. Sometimes you may be able to exchange something with Ustadh but it is not enough to understand something.

Technology is becoming a barrier between us. Since you have made a step forward; you started learning through online, you can start going to ulama directly. 

Thank you very much. May Allah grant us tawfiq to study, understand the fundamentals of religion and then act according to them.

It should be remembered that if Muslims want to return to their former glory, they have to return to the system of the Islamic society. If they start following the fundamentals of Islam, it won't take long to change the society, In sha Allah. Allah Ta'ala is the giver of tawfiq.

Translation: Enam Hasan Junaid