THE DOCTOR AND THE SHEIKHS' DEBATE
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Ordinance of Pilgrimage
We had registered many years ago to go to Mecca. Eventually they announced our names for registration. I applied for registration for my wife and myself the first chance I acquired. In the first information meeting, they clarified the pilgrims accompanying us to Hajj. There were some Academic staff employers of the University and some from the public society. Even though I had been privileged enough to go to Hajj before this time I had a different sense about the whole ordeal. Particularly that my wife was accompanying me and it was her first Tamattu Hajj.
Despite being familiar to the rituals of Hajj, I attended the information and training sessions with my wife. We were acquainted with new friends there. We bought some of the materials needed for Ihram at those meetings. It mostly was books and notes for introducing the philosophy of Hajj. There were ten sessions; however, we only went to four of them. We attended the first and last two sessions, which were 3 weeks away from our trip.
It was at the 9th session that I and four other people agreed to share one room. The women were in separate rooms from the men. One of the people was a military man working for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of the Islamic Revolution. His name was Haj Abbas Niyazmand. The other was a professor at the University of Tehran, Dr Mohammad Ahmadi and one other was the member of the board of directors for one of the biggest banks in Iran, Haj Ali Ghargham. The other person, named Haj Mohammad Karbalayi, worked in economics and trade. It was at the last sessions that the tour manager announced that one of our roommates was not coming. I asked the reason for his absence and he said he wanted to give the cost of the trip to a young ill person in order to buy a kidney and replace it with the one that is not working. I was happy for the sacrifice he made for this brother and became saddened because Haj Abbas could not come with us. Nevertheless, he requested that the other women in our group to take care of his wife as she was still travelling with us.
I attempted, with the assistance of a couple of charitable people, to arrange the cost of purchasing the young man's kidney. We gave the money to Haj Abbas. This way would not be depriving us from his company and so he could accompany us in the trip and thankfully we were successful.
At the last information session, we received identical bags and luggages with signs and numbers of our tour group written on them and got ready for a trip that all the Muslims of the world wish to go on. From experience, I took my wife to buy the essential things that we needed for the trip.
We visited several different bazaar's and eventually filled two of the luggage's with Ihram material, personal clothes, snacks and other food and presented it to the tour group.
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Day Nineteenth of Zyqadeh, Flying to Medina
We managed to hand in our luggage two days before our flight. The flight time was for Saturday at eight in the morning from Tehran to Medina. We were in the airport at four in the morning to obtain our passports, tickets and all of the rest of our personal baggages from the trip manager.
The children came to the airport with us to help, in particular, with carrying the luggage, passports, tickets and other handheld items. They were all of the things that needed to be taken inside the airplane. We all waited for the airport to call out our flight at eight however, it did not happen. Eventually at 9:15, our plane was ready to fly. Iran had rented a 747 Saudi plane for Hajj expeditions.
Transporting a range of 100,000 people in a short period of one month for Hajj is not in the Islamic republic of Iran airline's ability therefore, they would rent the Arabian planes. The Arabian flight attendant would use hand motions and speak Arabic and English to some, in order to communicate with the pilgrims. This brought some tension between the flight attendant and the pilgrims.
Eventually after two and half hours of flight, our plane landed in Medina Airport. I could hear the sound of the pilgrims sending special blessings to the prophet and his followers. It was in gratitude for arriving at Medina and being healthy and safe.
It took a very long time before they allowed us to leave the airplane. I asked one of the flight attendant the reason for the delay in which they replied that the other pilgrims had arrived into the terminal and that there was no space for them to sit until they gave the all clear.
Eventually after what seemed to be another two hours of waiting in the plane and continuous complaints of the passengers, the permission to leave the plane was given.
We had to walk all the way into the terminal only to realize the reason for the delay. They were photographing and finger printing everyone that was landing. After several complaints from us, they did not fingerprint the people that were over fifty. This helped, immensely, in speeding up the process. We were done in half an hour.
After the picture taking and finger printing, it was time for the inspection of luggage. This was to prevent any forbidden substances imported. I had brought several books for reading and a computer in which they asked what the content of that was. My visit card showed that I was a professor at the university specialized in engineering. Therefore, they gave up turning the computer on and just asked in what university was I teaching engineering? I replied, the University of Science and Technology. They then asked if there was ample of Professors in Iran.
I responded: yes. They asked if I was carrying any political or advertising books with me. I replied, no.
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By the time I managed to escape from the boarder officers questioning, I realized that my wife was nowhere to be seen. She was not in the bus that was heading towards the hotel, nor was she anywhere else. No one seemed to have seen her. Eventually, after what seemed to be like twenty years for me, I found her. The physical inspection side for women had detained my wife.
Fortunately, even though she had nothing in particular with her she had still been nuisanced. I released a sigh of relief and headed towards the bus that took us to the hotel with my wife. Our luggage was put in the bus and apparently, everyone was waiting on us. Finally, we managed to head towards the hotel. It was on the Ali Ibn Abitaleb Street behind the Baqi. Apparently, the hotel was a newly built and we were one of the first groups ever to enter it. The rooms were previously assigned and the names of the people were tagged. It was tradition for the group leader to meet and greet their team upon arrival and explain the rules and regulations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once the keys for the rooms were distributed and the ceremony was finished, we headed towards the shrine with Haj Abbas for the Zuhr prayer immediately.
We found a spot outside the mosque on the heated stones to pray in congregation. Once the pray was over, we were content with just sending our salutations and blessings to the Prophet (s.a.w.a)
from the end of the mosque and come back with ceremony.
We returned to the hotel. Our lunch was ready made and we ate it and then decided to catch up on some sleep. Unfortunately, two men had already fallen asleep before us and were snoring so badly that it was almost impossible to sleep. We lingered outside of the room for two hours until they woke up. It then became apparent that Hajj Mohammad Karbalayi and Hajj Ali Ghargham have been suffering for years with this problem. For that reason, Hajj Abbas found a quiet spot by the pantry to take a nap. I, on the other hand did not have such a serious problem with the issue as I had grown up sleeping with noise and not so very comfortable conditions therefore, thankfully, my experience became very handy. Dr Ahmadi was not coping very well under the circumstances. He had a serious problem with the noise, speaking and in general sleeping. We decided to have Dr Ahmadi sleep in the room when we were all gone to the shrine and vice versa. In summary, Hajj Abbas slept in the pantry, Dr Ahmad slept when we were not in the room and I just did not have a problem with the situation.
Eventually close to sunset and after resting for a little while we bathed (Ghusl) and headed towards the Prophet's (s.a.w.a) shrine and the Jannat al-Baqi. My wife accompanied me. We had agreed to go our separate ways once we arrived and only be together for the specific things such as Bazaar shopping.
I explained the changes made over the thirty years to my wife. They had expanded and designed the mosque with an open concept. All the old bazaars, religious artifacts, Bani Hashm's street, Imam Sadegh's house that had altered to a library, the Prophet's father, and Hazrat Abdullah's shrine were all ruined. Although there had been a lot of loss to what used to be, the Prophet's (s.a.w.a.) shrine had expanded and was much larger. The other interesting fact was that contrary to thirty years ago where the police used to gamble and play cards in the tents around the
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entrance doors of the mosque and the Prophet's (s.a.w.a) shrine, they had placed religious enforcement officers and a couple of police men to protect them.
I entered the mosque and read the pilgrimage to the Prophet (s.a.w.a) and some supplications accompanied with the pilgrimage of Hazrat Zahra and then I began to get ready for the Maghrib Prayer. I had half an hour to spare before it started. I waited for a spot between the old part of the mosque and the shrine (between the pulpit and sepulcher) very patiently and was rewarded as one person left and I took his spot.
I read some voluntary supplications and then I sat down. There was an old man sitting next to me smiling. As soon as I finished my prayer, I looked at him and said, hi. He responded, and continued smiling and started to speak to me in Arabic. He said that there was no other prayer after the Asir prayer until sundown. I was not sure how he knew that I understood Arabic.
Naturally, most Arabs think that anyone visiting Medina and Mecca can speak Arabic. I replied with a smile and said that the Hadith he told was not entirely true. He laughed and said, but everyone else acts on this Hadith therefore, it cannot have any substance. I replied saying that in one of the Sihah Sittah books I had read that Imam Ali would read an extra two Sermon Salat after his Asir prayer. The old man asked if I remembered which book. I responded yes, book of Musnad Ahmad, chapter 6, Page 105, Hadith number 101. Or in Lesan Al Mizan, chapter 6, Page 398, Hadith 1074 it is written that Abuzar had mentioned the Prophet (s.a.w.a) had said: There is no other prayer after the Asir prayer unless in Mecca. Therefore, if someone says that there is no prayer after the Asir prayer there would be some that agree otherwise. For this particular reason, there are many Muslims that act on things that are not necessary as part of the mainstream Islamic discipline. In addition, many Muslims do not act on compulsory provisions. As I was talking away, the sound of Azan for the sunset started to sing. God is the greatest (Allāhu Akbar).
I am not sure why the Muezzin's in Saudi Arabia do not sound euphonious. None of the calls for prayer gives you that spiritual connection. There is one call for the prayer initially at the start of prayer time. After ten to twenty minutes, they sound the second call for prayer. This name for this action is, Iqama. This is to create an excuse so people have enough time to come to prayer at the mosque as they hear the first call for prayer. The second call for prayer is when the Maghrib prayer starts. From the sound of the Imam leading the congregation of prayer, I understood that it was Sheikh Ali Abdor Rahman Huthaify. This was because I had heard his tapes, reading the Quran. Contrary to the Muezzin's in Saudi Arabia in specific their Mokaber's, the Imams that lead the congregation prayers are very euphonious. Once the Maghrib Prayer finished numerous people left Al Masjid an Nabawi. A young man that was sitting next to me went and the old man stayed. I drew closer to the old man and said, hi again. He said hi back and asked me why I carry the deeds of the Hadith's with me. I replied it is because in many other places including mosques I get to hear the same thing you said therefore, by carrying proof with me it is easy to support what I say.
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Getting Acquainted With Sheikh Ibrahim Usman (Sheikh)
Dr: May I ask your name?
Sh: My name is Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Usman.
Dr: Wow, are you a Sheikh?
Sh: Yes.
Dr: Where are you from?
Sh: I have originated from Syria however, I live in Egypt, where are you from?
Dr: Iran, What is your occupation?
Sh: I am a professor at the University in the ordinances section of Alazhar University in Egypt.
Dr: Bravo, what an honor. I am very happy to meet your acquaintance.
Sh: I am happy too.
Dr: Are you alone or are you with family?
Sh: I have two wives and due to it being difficult to choose one to accompany me on this trip, I decided to come alone. I came with an Egyptian tour group.
Dr: When did you come to Medina?
Sh: We arrived this morning.
Dr: How many days will you be in Medina?
Sh: We will be in Medina for eight days and then we will go to Mecca.
Dr: I arrived this morning to Medina as well however, we will stay in Medina for 10 days and then we will go to Mecca
Sh: Mashhalla, you asked me all the questions but did not say anything about yourself. You only said that you are an Iranian.
Dr: Please ask me any question you want and I will reply.
Sh: What is your occupation?
Dr: I am a professor at the University.
Sh: I bet that you are in Theology or in Arabic literature because you speak Arabic very well.
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Dr: No, actually I am a Mechanical Engineer.
Sh: So you must be from Ahwaz, Khuzestan meaning you are an Arab.
Dr: No actually, I am not from our Arabian Iranians either.
Sh: Then where did you learn how to speak Arabic this way?
Dr: I really liked the Arabian Language, I taught myself using books, radio and television.
Sh: But you speak so well.
Dr: I hope that I can speak well enough for you to understand me well.
Sh: I understand you very well because you also speak a little to the book.
Sh: Which university do you attend to?
Dr: The University of Science and Technology, Tehran.
Sh: Which department and section?
Dr: I am a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
Sh: Do you have a Visit card?
Dr: Yes, here you are.
Sh: But here it says that you are the Manager of the School of Automotive Engineering.
Dr: Yes, you are correct I am a professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department and the manager of the Engineering School of Automotive Engineering.
Sh: Have you studied in Iran?
Dr: I studied my Bachelors in Iran however; I spent my Master's and Doctorate in England.
Sh: Mashalla, so you can also speak English.
Dr: My English is better than my Arabic because I have obtained my education in that language.
Sh: How many years were you in England?
Dr: Roughly four years.
Sh: I have also traveled to England for preaching.
Dr: Which city in England did you stay?
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Sh: A couple of days in London and a couple of days in Manchester.
Dr: Actually, I was between those two cities meaning Birmingham. You must have passed Birmingham, Is that correct?
Sh: Yes, but our stay was very short. It was just for the Zuhr and Asir prayers.
Dr: Which nationality of the Muslims living in England were you preaching? Majority of the Muslims in England are from Pakistan. They have very little Arabs.
Sh: Yes, but I was invited from some of the persistent Egyptians living in England.
Dr: How has your education been like?
Sh: I studied the basics of religion in Syria and then I came to Saudi Arabia, Medina to continue my education and studied in Medina University. After 10 years of living in Saudi Arabia, I went to Egypt. I was young then and I continued my education there and married again. I had some children and now they are all independent.
Dr: I am Sorry if it took so long. Are you staying for the Isha Prayer or will you be leaving?
Sh: I will be staying.
Dr: So we still have time to continue.
Sh: Yes but it is my time to ask questions.
Dr: Please go ahead.
Sh: Are you with family or are you alone?
Dr: I am with my wife. Actually, in Iran we do not have more than one wife. Of course, we still do have men that have two wives that are scholars like you. They are the old-fashioned type.
Sh: It is allowed to have up to four wives.
Dr: Yes, we allow such a thing. However, to manage four fairly is very difficult.
Sh: Nevertheless, most Arabs have more than one wife.
Dr: I met many Arabs in England that only had one wife, especially Egyptians.
Sh: Yes, the University type ones normally marry women from the university, which do not allow the second wife.
Dr: But in Iran, it is different. Due to tradition, most of the men in Iran only have only one wife.
They are very different with men from Arabian countries that normally have more than one wife.
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Sh: I believe that what you say is correct because almost everyone looks up to his or her fathers and how they lived.
At this moment, someone asked if he could sit between the Sheikh and me because we were sitting too comfortably and taking more space than we should. Normally they don’t allow people to sit this far apart when it is close to Iqama and especially the ones that arrive late and wish to be sitting closer up the congregational prayer lines. However, I asked him to sit either of our sides as we were talking and he thanked us and agreed.
Sh: How many times have you come to Hajj.
Dr: This is my seventh time for Tamattu and I have visited eight times for Umrah.
Sh: But this is my fifth time visiting from Egypt. I once visited Tamattu Hajj for my own. The other three times that I was invited from the Management of Guidance organization of Arabia as a temporary congregational Imam for mosques in the Hajj period and this time I have visited as a guest.
Dr: What is the meaning of a temporary congregational Imam?
Sh: Many years ago when Saudi Arabia had limited amount of congregational Imams, in the Hajj period many people would arrive from different countries and spread into Medina and Mecca.
They would gather in mosques for congregational prayers and would ask many religious and lawful questions. The answer to their questions was very difficult for the young congregational Saudi Imams who were partly also helpers. Therefore, in the two months of Zyqadeh and Zylhaj, the congregational Imams come from Egypt specifically for the large mosques.
Dr: That is correct because I do happen to remember in my previous visits that some of the mosques close to our hotel had Egyptian congregational Imams.
Sh: There is a very high chance that it would have been a temporary congregational Imam.
Dr: Typically the Alazhar professors have different religious opinions from the Saudi Arabia scholars. Egyptians are mostly Shafi'ite while the Saudi Arabian scholars are Hanbali and especially the Imams chosen for the congregational prayers are from the government's religion meaning they are Wahabi.
Sh: Naturally for being the Imam of the congregation they would invite scholars that are possibly Hanbali.
Dr: If they are not Wahabi, would that be a problem?
Sh: The Wahabis are in fact the extreme version of the Hanbalis. This is because the Wahabis are the followers of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. They are called Salafi.
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Dr: But the Alazhar does not normally agree with the Wahabis.
Sh: There would not be any disagreement because the governments used to have good relations with each other and scholars would not quarrel.
Dr: May I ask you a question? Do you agree with the Wahabis or not?
Sh: Yes, I am Hanbali and I agree to majority of their sayings however, they do have some extreme ways.
Dr: But they believe that every other Muslim following any other religion are faithless however you seem to be speaking to me as a Muslim, do you not see me as an infidel?
Sh: I do not agree with the way the Muslims from Iran think however, I do not class them as infidels.
Dr: But in Iran, we do have Hanbali's. Why do you not agree with them?
Sh: I meant the Shias. They act wrongly that are against the religion.
Dr: I am glad that this discussion has gotten here so far because I have some questions that I would like to ask of you.
Sh: I am not in favor of political questions however if you have any religious questions and I know the answer, I would be happy to respond to it.
Dr: However, the Isha call of prayer is close by and I do not believe we would get a chance. If you would agree, I would express my opinion after the Isha prayer.
Sh: That is very good. How many minutes do we have left before the Isha prayer?
Dr: Roughly ten minutes. By that time, we can pray a two Sermon prayer for the blessing and happiness of our mother and father's soul it would be time for the Isha prayer.
Sh: Yes, yes let us get to it.
Eventually the call for prayer was sung with the words of "God is the greatest" followed by the second call of prayer and then everyone rose. As soon as we stood, two other people squeezed themselves into the line. There is so much pressure in the lines. It is almost impossible to stand straight and pray. There is only your face that is towards the Qibla and the pressure on your shoulder is from both sides in a way that it is turns you away from the Qibla.
The Isha prayer finished and everyone was in such a rush to leave, especially people whom had come for the Maghrib prayer and had stayed like us to pray the Isha Prayer. For this reason, the lines for the restrooms around the Al Masjid an Nabawi are quite crowded after the Isha prayer rather than the Maghrib prayer.
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Dr: You wish to leave and I have agreed to meet my wife after the Isha prayer. When may I see you again to ask my questions?
Sh: Please allow me to see you before the Zuhr prayer tomorrow
Dr: Are you not coming for the Morning Prayer tomorrow?
Sh: No, because our hotel is far away, I only come for the Zuhr and Maghrib and Isha prayer.
Dr: That is not a problem. I will be waiting for you at ten in the morning, which is two hours before the Zuhr prayer in the mosque.
Sh: That is good. Where would you want to meet?
Dr: After pointing at a column in the mosque, I said, I would be waiting for you by the tented column situated outside the mosque and has the name, Mohammad (s.a.w.a) written on it.
Sh: Very well. Have a good night.
Dr: Good night.
My wife was waiting for me in the Mosque. We both returned to the hotel. Many people had already had their dinner. We also went and had our dinner and returned to our individual rooms.
Back in the room, the discussion was surrounding solutions for Haj Mohammad and Haj Ali snoring. Haj Mohammad was saying that it would help if one of us would move his head so the snoring noise would stop or to give him an additional pillow for under his head. Dr Ahmadi suggested that three of us would stand on guard in turns to quiet down the snoring noise.
Karbalayi decided to bring out some Yazdi sweets from his bag. Haj Abbas thanked him and said, "But this will not make up for the snoring."
Haj Ali said: "It is what it is and there is nothing you can do about it therefore help yourselves with these sweets."
I said, "That in the case of travelling together especially to Hajj we have compromise and work together as a team. I believe that Dr Ahmadi's solution isn't so bad."
Haj Abbas said: "There is another way. We could all go into spare rooms when it is time to sleep and rest there."
I disagreed and said that it would possibly create separation. Haj Abbas said: "If that is not possible then I will go and sleep in the attic"
Eventually, the lights turned off after two hours. The sound of someone's snore the size of a tractor took over the room. Dr Ahmadi placed cotton wool in his ears but that did not stop the noise. Haj Abbas had gone to sleep in the attic leaving me who was almost used to sleeping in