Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss First Fascicle

34 – THIRD VOLUME, 22nd LETTER
This letter, written to Molla Maqsûd Alî Tabrîzî, explains that
the uncleanliness of the disbelievers refers to the unclean moral
state of their souls, of their creed. Their bodies, their limbs may not
be unclean:
Every kind of gratitude belongs to Allâhu ta’âlâ by right. I send
my salâms to the pure people whom He has chosen. My merciful
Sir! We can not understand why you sent us Tafsîr-i-Husainî. This
tafsîr, in explaining the twenty-ninth âyat of Sûrat-ut-Tawba, says:
“Since disbelievers’ souls and beliefs are filthy, they are certainly
filthy.” Also, savants of the Hanafî Madhhab explained it likewise.
That is, they said that the reason why Allâhu ta’âlâ declared
“Disbelievers are filthy” is because their hearts, their creeds are
filthy. It is written in Tafsîr-i Husainî that some savants said:
“Since disbelievers do not perform a ghusl (ritual washing) or
abstain from najâsat [1] , they are foul.” Yet it is not suitable to
interpret it in this manner, for the majority of the Muslims in India
today do not avoid najâsat. Some ignorant Muslims, too, like
disbelievers, ignore cleanliness. If not avoiding najâsat caused one
to be foul, life would become very difficult for Muslims. In fact, it
was declared: “There is no hardship in Islam.” Though it is written
in Tafsîr-i Husainî: “’Abdullah Ibni ’Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anhumâ’ said that disbelievers’ bodies are foul like dogs”,
narrations of this sort, which are contrary to general information
and which are contrary to what all others state, although they are
transmitted on the authority of great Islamic celebrities, are of a
great number. Such expressions should be somehow adapted to
what is generally accepted. How can the skin and the bodies of
disbelievers be foul in light of the fact that our Prophet ate a meal
in a Jew’s home? He cleaned himself with a disbeliever’s water
container. Also, Hadrat ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ cleaned himself
with a Christian woman’s container. If one claims that these might
have been done before the âyat was revealed, one will have based
this statement on sheer supposition; it should be proven that the
âyat came afterwards. If it can be proven, it still does not prove
that they are foul, dirty, or that the things which they touch will be
foul and harâm. At most, it shows that their creed is foul. A
[1] Every kind of dirt. In this context, it means the dirt that prevents one
from performing namâz. Please see the sixth chapter of the fourth
fascicle of Endless Bliss.
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