Miftah-ul-Janna (Booklet for way to Paradise)

occasions other than khutbas. They advised them to learn Arabic
for the purpose of understanding the khutbas as well and learning
Islam well. We should imitate those savants in this respect as well.]
It is bid’at to go contrary to them by performing khutbas in
languages other than Arabic. It is makrûh tahrîmî to do so. It is
bâtil to call the former case ‘tahrîmî and the latter case ‘tenzîhî’.
For, makrûh tenzîhî means to omit an act that is sunnat. Because
Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ always performed all his
khutbas only in the Arabic language, it is wâjib to perform the
entire khutba only in the Arabic language. How can it ever be
tenzîhî to omit this act which is wâjib? It is wâjib to avoid doing
something which is makrûh tahrîmî. Mawlânâ Bahr-ul-’ulûm
‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ states as follows in Erkân-ul-arba’â: “It is
wâjib not to do something that is makrûh tahrîmî. To do that act of
makrûh means to disobey a (commandment called) wâjib.”
A person who always commits an act that is makrûh tahrîmî is
not an ’âdil Muslim. Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ states as
follows on the authority of Ibni Nujaym ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ as
he begins his discourse on the wâjibs of an ablution in his book
entitled Radd-ul-muhtâr: “It is a venial sin to commit something
that is makrûh tahrîmî. Persistence in committing venial sins
divests a Muslim of his ’adâlat. [1] (In other words, several venial sins
committed or a certain venial sin committed several times add up
to a grave sin. And a grave sin committed frankly causes a Muslim
to lose his ’adâlat, so that he is no longer an ’âdil Muslim.)” For
that matter, khatîbs who perform khutbas in their translations lose
their ’adâlat and become fâsiq Muslims. (Incidentally a fâsiq
Muslim is a Muslim who commits one of the grave sins openly.
Examples of grave sins are: Not to perform, without an ’udhr, one
of the open commandments of Islam or to commit one of its
prohibitions (harâms) frankly.) It is makrûh tahrîmî to perform
namâz behind such people, (i.e. to join a namâz in jamâ’at
conducted by one of them.) It is written in the book entitled Nûrul-îdhâh,
(by Abûl-Ikhlâs Hasan bin ’Ammâr Shernblâlî
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, 994 – 1069 [1658 A.D.], Egypt,) and in
Ibni ’Âbidîn: “It is makrûh for a slave or a villager or an
illegitimate boy, if they are unlearned, and for a bid’at holder, even
if he is a learned person, to act as imâm (and conduct a namâz in
jamâ’at). It is sinful to let them act as imâm (and conduct a namâz
that you are to perform in jamâ’at).” ’Allâma Ibrâhîm Halabî
[1] Please scan the second chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
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