By Hazrath Syed Ali Bartar Esq.

A famous saint of Islam Hazrath Imam Fakhruddin Razi (RA) in his commentary ‘Tafseer-e-Kabeer’ quotes a Hadith which runs like this:

"Hazrath Rasoolallah (SAS) said, "I know a "Qaum" (people) who are in my "Manzil" (status or position)". His companions "sahaba" said "How will this be possible because you are last of the Prophets and there is no Prophet after you." The Prophet replied, "Those people are not the Prophets but their position, nearness to Allah (Qurbat) is such that the Prophets will envy them. All of them will have love for Allah."

In this Hadith the Prophet is foretelling about a Qaum who have a position of nearness to Allah and who love Allah.

This Hadith is in fact an explanation of a verse of Quran in Surah "Maidah", which is as follows:

"O ye who believe! Whosoever of you become a renegade from his religion (know that in his stead) Allah will bring a people whom He loveth and who love Him, humble towards believers, stern towards disbelievers, striving in the way of Allah and fearing not the blame of a blamer. Such is the grace of Allah which he giveth unto whom He will. Allah is all embracing, all knowing."

(Quran-AL Maidah 54)—translation from Pickthall.

In this verse Allah has mentioned about a Qaum and speaks about some of the qualities of the people. They are:

• Allah loveth them and they love Allah
•  Humble towards believers (Momineen)
•  Stern towards disbelievers (Kafireen)
•  Striving in the way of Allah (Jehad-e-Asghar and Jehad-e-Akbar (Dikr))
•  Not afraid of the blame of a blamer

This is a great gift to the Qaum from the grace of Allah.

The Hadith of Rasoolallah (S.A.S) mentioned earlier and this verse of Quran speaks about the same Qaum. Now the question is which this Qaum is.

Some of the commentators (Mufassireen) say that the ayat is about Hazrath Abu Bakr (RZ) and Sahaba-e-Rasool (who in whose time some Muslims (the so called Muslims) refused to pay zakat and the sahaba fought them against and were successful against them.

This proposition is however not correct for the following reasons:

Those who refused to pay zakat were not renegades. They were false Muslims (Hypocrites,"munafiqueen"). They did not accept Islam in their hearts but expressed themselves Muslims to save themselves as they feared bloodshed and torture in a society which had accepted Islam in a good number. This was the time after the conquest of Mecca. But when Hazrath Rasoolallah (S.A.S) passed away they became bold and refused to pay zakat. Hazrath Abu Bakr (RZ) sent armies of sahaba who defeated the Munafiqueen. So they were not real Muslims at all. A clear proof of their snot being real muslims is here itself that they refused to pay zakat which Quran has made obligatory. They cannot be called renegades ("Murtid") because a renegade accepts Islam with true heart and then rejects it afterwards. Some Muslim commentators used the word renegades for them which is not appropriate and correct.

Hazrath Abu Bakr (RZ) and sahaba comprised the Qaum that was of Hazrath Rasoolallah (S.A.S). This cannot be the Qaum which is promised in the ayat. The ayat speaks of a Qaum which Allah will bring (in future). So the Qaum which is to be brought by Allah is different from the Qaum that existed in the times of Hazrath Rasoolallah (S.A.S) and sahaba.

The Qaum in the future is to be brought by Allah [ie by a Caliph (Khalifa) of Allah]. This is because when a Rasool or a Khalifa acts on the commands of Allah, Allah says the act is done by Allah. A clear example of this is the verse of Quran which says when the Prophet (SAS) threw some mud over the infidels in the Battle of Badr, the mud was not thrown by the prophet but it was thrown by Allah. Here the Qaum whose head was the khalifa of Allah (Hazrath Mahdi AHS) was brought in fact by Allah.

The Hadith and the verse of Quran clearly point out that the Qaum that is to come after the Qaum of Hazrath Rasoolallah (S.A.S) is no other than the Qaum of Hazrath Mahdi (AHS). Hence not only Hazrath Mahdi (AHS).is the promised Khalifa (Maud) but also his Qaum is promised one by Allah and Hazrath Rasoolallah (S.A.S). Hazrath Mahdi (AHS) has declared on the commands of Allah that the verse of Quran is about his Qaum and so there is no doubt about the meanings of the verse of Quran.

The attributes mentioned about the Qaum of Hazrath Mahdi (AHS) are present in the Qaum especially in the Sahaba of Hazrath Mahdi (AHS). With all short comings due to lapse of time even today we who belong to the Qaum of Hazrath Mahdi (AHS) love Allah with our inner most hearts. We follow the teachings of Hazrath Rasoolallah (SAS) and Hazrath Mahdi (AHS in our daily life. We do not get involved in the world and remember Allah (Dikr) always. We adopt the obligation with our true hearts and rely on Allah for all our tasks.

A word about the word "Manzil" used in the Hadith. It does not mean equality as some people may think. It points out a muquam or status due to some similarity. Our ancestors have used such words as Muquam manzil, shan, Bardil, Bar Qalb etc. It means that the beneficence (Faiz) of a particular prophet or wali is found in the person. Hazrath Rasoolallah (SAS) has said:

My ummah’s ulema are like the Prophets of Bani Israel. This does not mean that the ulema are said to be Prophets. It means the ulema have the beneficience of the Prophets.


References:
The Quran
Tauzihat by Hazrath Abu Sayeed Syed Mahmood RA on Naqliyat B.M Abdur Rasheed RZ.