Have Mercy on those who live on Earth (Erhamu man fil-Ard)

Praise be to Allah; Lord of the worlds. Allah’s blessing and peacefulness be upon the noblest of the messengers, our master Mohammed, his family, companions and wives who are the mothers of all Muslims.

There are matters that should be presented to laymen in a way that enables them to express their opinion. It makes no difference whether they approve the issues on hand or oppose them, e.g. during election campaigns of a national assembly, Shura assembly, municipalities, syndicates or associations. This is because these matters are based on public participation, where the scholar and the non-scholar have equal say. In these cases the winner may be the one with loud voice, prestigious status, lots of money, lots of supporters, or the through the falsification of votes. But, on the other hand, the very specialized religious issues should not be left to the public opinion as it is waste of time and effort, and hindrance of productivity. It resembles a situation where he who does not know is involved in a type of conversation with someone who does not know neither regarding a subject matter that he does not know about (even if he knows), and none of them says: “Allah and His messenger know the best!”. Wouldn’t it be better to seek the guidance of the people who are specialized in religious issues, in the discussion of sensitive unfamiliar religious issues?

Verily, religion has its fundamentals, basis, principles, and religious scholars (U’lama), who inherited the prophets’ knowledge by Allah’s permission. Allah has made their SUCCESSION (EKHTILAFAHUM) a mercy for us. The meaning of Ekhtilafahum is not their disagreement and quarrel among themselves, but it means they succeed each other as the night and day succeed each other. As one A’lim (he who is knowledgeable in religious issues) succeeds the other, and so on, the knowledge will stay alive, and this is the essence of Allah’s Mercy. But when all the U’lama perish Allah-SWT- will take back (Yaqbid) knowledge.

Dear reader, I hope you can agree with me that religion has no place for mobs as it is stored in the chests of , brains and souls of the true U’lama, “En-nama Yakhsha Allah-a min E’badihi Al-U’lama” which may be translated as (Those truly fear Allah, among His servants who have knowledge).
We should have mercy on laymen and not allow them the opportunity to tackle the Verses of Allah without knowledge or comprehension since those who have mercy on others will have Mercy from Al-Rahman.
O’ you who exploit others; have mercy on those who live on earth, to get mercy from HE who is in Heaven.

There is no power or might except with Allah.

The Editor : Original Arabic text in Al-Behira Wal-Akalim journal, issue # 214