Mashwara (Consultation): A Prophetic deed
Dr Sheikh Arshid
Mushwàra (consultation or suggestion) is the basic “motto” of the Dawah work as it is treated as a source Allah’s favour and blessings. The Mushwàra was constantly done by Prophet Mohammad (SAW) throughout his period along with the companions. In Dawah it is done with proper intention and understanding as an important Sunnah and it is treated as the foundation of Dawah work.
It is virtuous deed that Maulana Ilyas has revived and drew the attention of all the followers towards this consistent Sunnah and he made an integral part of effort of Dawah and Tabligh. In Dawah, everything is done according to Mashwara.
Hazrat Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that I did not see anyone consulting so frequently with his companions, as Prophet Mohammad (SAW) did.
Hazrat Ali (RA) narrates that he asked: 0′ Rasulullah (SAW)! If we have a matter in which we do not have a specific order, to do or not to do, what do you order in this regard to us? He said: Consult those who have a good understanding of Deen and are devout worshippers, and do not decide on an individual opinion.
Hazrat Ibne-Abbas (RA) narrates that when this verse was revealed: (And consult them in affairs), then Prophet Mohammad (SAW):I said: Behold! Allah and His Messenger are above consultation.
However, Allah has made this a source of blessing for whole Ummat and if anyone of the Ummat who consults others, he remains on the right path, and anyone who gives up consultation (Mushwàra) he remains in distress. Since there will be no more Prophets, no more revelations, no more sending of Angel Gibrael with messages from Allah, Prophet Mohammad (SAW) did Mashwara with his companions on many occasions to make decisions. This process of Mashwara teaches lessons for Ummat of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) until the last day of the world on how to handle issues.
The Ummat was not ordered in the Quran to do Mashwara with the Prophet but the Prophet Mohammad (SAW) was ordered to do the Mashwara with the Ummat. In this order great secrets are hidden and every kind of blessing is permeated from this virtuous deed.
The Ummat was asked to obey and the Prophet Mohammad (SAW) was told to give the order and continue to do Mashwara with the Ummat. Therefore till doomsday, every single work of the Ummat has to be done by Mashwara. But if the Ummat discards the Mashwara, differences will arise causing disunity and factions in the Ummat.
Sometimes in the Mashwara, the opinion of people who are not well experienced supersedes the opinion of the elders and people of exalted positions.
If this Ummat will continue to do Mashwara, they will remain united, will get Hidayah and will be given dominance over the non- believers. If they forsake the Mashwara, they will not be given dominance. If they continue to do Mashwara they will be given the ability to march on the full Deen and the Deen will be loved by all.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) arranges Mashwara, gets opinion from the elders and followers of Deen and made the decision, Allah (SWT) accepted the decision. Allah (SWT) is sending divine guidance to the leader( Ameer) of the Mashwàra. The Mashwara should be done sincerely and even the decision contains shortcomings, Allah will remove those shortcomings and help in the positive outcome of the decision (A blessing in disguise).
There is another very important thing in Mashwara, to be guarded carefully that if a person says that he is very clever than others .This is false pride and misappropriation. In fact, in the Mashwara every one should sit with zeal and zest and with pure heart especially with the concentration on begging Allah to give everyone the correct kind of guidance. If we sit with sincerity and even make a mistake we will be saved with the result. Another important thing in the Mashwara is that there will be difference of opinion, and the decision will take place on majority opinions. After this, if something goes wrong and a person says that because his opinion was not accepted, this is disbelief in destiny (which is one of the Articles of Faith).
In Mushwara one has to keep in mind that he should not contradict another person’s opinion and should not say that this is not correct. Contradicting another opinion is also contradicting the Ikram (respect) of a brother. It should be said, “Masha Allah this is a good opinion, what is coming in my mind is like this”. The Ameer should give his decision, taking into consideration the opinions of others, and not give a decision based on his own opinion only.
It is a sunnah to select from all opinions. The goal of Mashwara is to draw honey from the beehive. The thing is that a person should not stop expressing his opinion if nobody pays any heed to it; this is also misappropriation of trust. The person sitting in Mushwara should not say, “do this and do that”; this is contradicting his opinion by doing so. If they proceed, keeping the above-mentioned points in front of us, we will get guidance and our hearts will be joined together.
To do a Mashwara as to how the life of the Kalima will become prevalent in this world is the most valuable of all Mashwara and carries with it great rewards. The Ameer should not be the first to express his opinion. His opinion should be at the last. To select from all opinions expressed is to create harmony and peace, otherwise people will say that the Ameer is only asking one’s opinion for Barakah. In giving an opinion in a Mashwara, three things should be taken into consideration: Nafs, Intellect, and Shariah.
One should keep his personal feelings under control when expressing an opinion. The Nafs will create feelings inside oneself. Intellect will control the Nafs. If the Intellect goes astray, Shariah will control it. To control your inner feelings is our real self reformation ( Islah).
We the participants of Mushwàra have to think of the various forms and ways of doing this work correctly with great Fikr and great planning, and stick firmly to the principles of this work. We have to constantly beg Allah to help us to progress in the above direction. If the new people, who come into this work, learn the correct principles, only then correct results will be produced, the direction of the Ummat will be changed from wrong to right, and falsehood will be turned towards Haq (truth).
Allah forbid, if we do not keep in mind the correct principles and work accordingly, the new brothers into this work will consider wrong principles to be the right ones and in the whole world they will introduce wrong ways, thinking them to be correct. Therefore it is essential that we always keep in front of ourselves the correct principles and discuss often with one another, and confine our work strictly to the Mashwara and the obedience of the Ameer in particular Jammat.
We should confine ourselves to the six qualities (Work of Prophet Mohammad (SAW), deliver according to Him (SAW), follow way of Prophet Mohammad (SAW), Conjoint of hearts, conjoint of Fikr and Fikr of whole Ummah. In proportion to the six points coming within us, only to that extent our own Islah (Self reformation) of Nafs will take place, and Da’wah only will be the main object of one’s life; religious awakenings will be brought to life and one’s belief (Eeman) will be increased.
In Mushwàra some of the etiquettes must be followed strictly that a person is the Ameer of the Mushwàra and he makes final decision, recite Du’a of Mashwara.(O’ Allah! Inspire us with Your guidance in our deeds, we seek refuge in You from the evils of our souls and punishment of our bad deed), language of Mashwara should be the vernacular language, It is useful for the brothers to be fully aware of the issues, However, they should not decide collectively any opinion or form a group with one opinion and try to push through the Mashwara and there will not be blessing in this Mashwara, never insist on your opinion in Mashwara, never take long times with big speech or refer information to justify while giving your opinion, it should be brief just to the point.
In Mushwara you should not give opinion unless asked, give opinion facing to the Ameer only, If you are not asked and no one has given opinion similar to your, then you can ask the Ameer for permission to give your opinion. If the permission is granted then you give your opinion, If any brother gives opinion what you have in mind then instead of repeating the whole opinion, it is ‘OK’ to say that my opinion is similar to that of this brother, no one should cross talk each other, every one gives opinion only to the Ameer, do not make it harder for the Ameer to decide and help him to decide, When most of the opinions are given, everybody including the Ameer should concentrate their mind towards Allah and pray for best outcome. Only Allah knows what the best decision is.
Once a decision is made all of the participants should whole-heartedly agree on the decision as your opinion and work to fulfill the desired goal of that decision, If things go wrong, do not blame Ameer or others but blame yourself for lack of efforts on your part to fulfill the desired objectives. Ameer can ask everyone or some depending on how many present. He should get a general consensus about the opinion of general trend and take this into consideration before deciding. It is important to keep the hearts united as much as possible.
In Mushwara, Ameer has the right to decide anytime during the Mashwara, a single opinion of the Ameer cannot cover everybody. Otherwise Mashwara is not necessary in the first place. So the Ameer should proceed with Ikram (respect) to all no matter how bad an opinion can be and proceed.
No one should ridicule or laugh to any opinion or a new person’s opinion, do not show your anger or frustration during Mashwara. If you cannot control yourself from this, you should not sit in mashwara, even if you are an old worker and the Ameer is relatively new, do not show yourself by way of talking that you know the issue and your opinion is the best one. If you are an old worker, you should help the Ameer in Mashwara and not impose your will, do not intimidate the Ameer that you are an old worker and he should accept your opinion.
Ameer should not hesitate to ask from anyone including new brothers, you should not have the notion that you are an old worker, you are over confident about the solution of the issue, Ameer should not be a dictator – he hardly discuss with others or most of the time, he decides with minimum or no inputs from others. This kind of Ameer will break hearts of many brothers in the process and ultimately divide the brothers. That will be the worst situation for all workers and will hurt the work.
Sometimes Ameer form a group of his own and decides whatever this group says. This is a very dangerous practice. It divides the brothers and produce loss of unity. This hurts the brothers and the work, Sometimes Ameer has a group of his own race and decides whatever his group says. This is even worse than before. It will create division along racial lines among brothers. It is very difficult to heel this situation, Sometimes Ameer tries to protect his position forms his group and dictates the decision accordingly. This also breaks the hearts of brothers, at the start of Mashwara, Ameer should ask opinions and then decide. He should not give his opinion first. In that case his opinion becomes final decision and then it is not necessary to ask opinions.
Ameer can delegate someone to relate details of the decision to those affected who are not present. Ameer should keep in mind the benefit of the work as first priority before deciding, In case Ameer has to leave for some reason, he can delegate someone to continue Mashwara on his behalf and decide also if Ameer wants. Mashwara should not continue for very long time, Ameer takes opinions and at certain time should make his decision. Patience is essential in Mashwara.
There will be ups and downs, sometimes hot discussions, sometimes all have to wait for some information or clarification, eventually Ameer should decide with positive tone to move forward, There will be different opinions, sometime conflicting opinion Ameer should use Hikmat (skill) to convert to an opinion, which should. Ameer can decide at that sitting or delay his decision to decide later. All those whose opinions are not accepted should thank Allah; those whose opinion is accepted should be afraid of its shortcomings and consequences by saying Astagfirullah. All should agree in the final decision of Ameer as your opinion.
After a decision is made, all should try to work towards that decision, If the situation changes on which the decision was made initially, a new Mashwara can be made. However, the people who were present and gave Mashwara should be present or involved. If a new decision needs to be made to address or accommodate new situation, all these brothers should help the Ameer to come up with the new decision and this new decision should be related to the affected people or places as soon as possible. This will clear the transition situation.
At the expiry of the Mushwara all participants should recite the du’a :(Glory be to You, praise be to You O’Allah! We bear witness that there is no worthy of worship but You, we repent to You and we ask You for forgiveness and we repent to You).
Mushwara can be on daily basis during the “Kharooj” time before doing any deed of the day in which every (Amoor) is decided. Weekly Mushwàra is also done in which there is thorough look over already assignments give to the followers of the Dawah whether be Kharooj, five deds at local Masjid, Taleem of household, Kharooj of women, number of masjids, Kharooj at world level for both men and women, accomplishing of Kharooj inside of country to go for foreign, opening of makatibs, selection of zimadar( leader) for another week, assignment of mulakat ( meeting) to particular persons, necessciate the Gust and Gust of neighbouring masjid etc.
These all Amoors( assignments) and next targets are also discussed in the Mushwara at the monthly Jood( gathering), in district and state Mushwara and accomplished all sorts of assignments and targets at the international Mushwara.
In Islam Mushwara has a broader and special meaning. It is a Command of Allah described it as a quality of Muslims. (Surah Shura 38)
And those who answer the Call of their Lord, and perform the Salah, and who (conduct) their affairs by mutual consultation, and who spend of what we have bestowed on them. May Allah bestow us with the blessings of Mushwara and its spread over whole Ummah. Ameen!
(The author hails from Kuchmullah Tral and is involved in Dawah work)
KV Network
