From Mecca to Karbala? Relocating the Qiblah

(Note: This is the unedited version, while the version published in Daily Trust is substantially edited.)

The recent statement by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliky that, the Iraqi city of Karbala must be adopted as the direction to which Muslims pray i.e. Qiblah instead of Ka’abah in Makkah was a reckless show of disrespect to Allah the Almighty who enjoins Muslims to face the direction of Ka’abah when they pray, as it was also extremely abusive to the sensibilities of Muslims. Yet it was not surprising in view of the illusionary religious beliefs that motivated him to make that statement.

Though Muslims shouldn’t have felt offended by his statement in the first place, however, the fact that he follows a religion that has ever since its creation claimed and indeed managed to deceive the naive that it is part of Islamic religion, justifies Muslims’ anger. (watch Al-maliky video below)

Over the centuries, the religious priests responsible for creating and/or promoting this religion have managed to exploit the ordinary Muslims' instinctive and passionate love for the Prophet and his descendants to confuse and lure them into it, through the dissemination of fabricated stories falsely attributed to the Prophet or some members of his noble descendants especially Ja’afar as-Saadiq (RA), or through deliberate misrepresentation of facts,  misinterpretation and manipulation of some Qur'anic verses  and/or Prophetic Hadeeths. 

Nevertheless, Muslim scholars all over world have written extensively to refute such lies and separate the wheat from the chaff. For instance, they have exposed and challenged such unscrupulous priests to prove the authenticity (on the bases of the standard relevant technical procedures used to determine the authenticity or otherwise of any narrations i.e. Mustalul-hadeeth) of the fictitious narrations they have attributed to the Prophet or any of his descendants.

As a matter of fact, Muslim scholars have challenged them to produce a single uninterrupted chain (i.e. Isnad-muttasil) of known and reliable narrators narrating the Holy Qur’an from the Prophet, since according to their belief, all except four or so of the Prophet’s companions who had learnt and narrated the Qur’an and Sunnah from him renounced Islam immediately after his death.

Interestingly enough, sometimes some of such priests directly or indirectly admit that their religious dogmas and practices are largely fabricated. For instance, Sayyid Kamal Al-Haidary, a famous turbaned Iraqi Shiite priest admitted that, at least 90% of their purported narrations from the Prophet and his noble descendants is false, and has originated from Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. (see the two video clips of Al-haidary below)

Anyway, going back to the topic under discussion, the Iraqi Prime Minister said among other things "Karbala must be the Qiblah for Muslims because Hussein is there" He also argued that "Visitors of Hussein don't come only on the particular occasions we mark on the 10^th of Muharram and on The 40^th occasion,  instead they come every Friday and every day, and we face the Qiblah five times a day hence (the need to pray to the direction of) Hussein because he is the son of this Qiblah, which Allah enjoined us to face (when we pray)."

As I pointed out earlier, Al-Maliky was motivated by the scriptures of the religion he follows, which claim that, Karbala, instead of Makkah, is the most sacred and the most favored city in the sight of Allah the Almighty. For instance, in his book "Kaamiluz-ziyaraat" page 444, Abul-Qasim Al-Qummi who died around the year 368H claimed that, Ja’afar as-Saadiq (RA) said "Allah had sanctified Karbala before he sanctified Makkah”.

Moreover, Al-Qummi added in the same book and in the same page that, Ja’afar as-Saadiq (RA) said "The land of Ka'abah i.e. Makkah once proudly said, being the land on which Allah built his House (Ka'abah) to where people from every distant track come, and also being the Sanctuary of Allah, where on earth is more favored than me? Allah warned her and said "shut up, I swear, the favor I bestowed on you compared with what I bestowed on Karbala is like the amount of water clinging to a needle if dipped into the sea and withdrawn. Also if not for Karbala I would not have favored you, and if not for what Karbala contains (Hussein) I would not have created you and the House (Ka'abah) that makes you proud. Therefore keep quiet and remain, humble, humiliated, disgraced, modest not arrogant to Karbala, otherwise I will throw you in the Hell Fire"

Such ridiculously superstitious lies define the blasphemous doctrines of this fabricated religion, and they clearly seek to oppose whatever Islam stands for in Tauheed, worship rituals and indeed almost all aspects of the religion. Incidentally, it is in recognition of this falsified holiness of Karbala that, the Nigerian turbaned priests of this religion introduced the worship rite of mass trek from different parts of Nigeria to Zaria city to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein. Besides, in view of the loose flexibility and ludicrous inconsistency of this religion, I don't rule out the possibility of declaring Zaria a holy city also, in the future.

In any case, Muslim scholars in Nigeria need to be more focused and creative in their Da’awah approaches. They need to come up with a well-coordinated Da'awah and enlightenment scheme, and within the framework of a comprehensive strategy to disseminate the exact teachings of Islamic religion as contained in the noble Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah according to the understanding of the earlier Muslim generations.

It is equally imperative to intellectually and relentlessly challenge such turbaned priests and engage them in public debates, which I believe will clear up the confusion and misconception of their misled followers, who are largely oblivious of where they are being led into by such turbaned priests.