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The combination of words “Aabaa O Ajdaad’ has been used at many places in the Qur’an, the most holy book of the muslims, to mean forefathers, and where it says that when these people are asked as to why they do not adopt the ‘deen of Islam’ or the way of life as in Islam, then in reply they say that we shall follow the religion ‘that has been passed down to us by our forefathers.’
This is true even today and not only for the non-believers but also for a majority of muslims as regards the interpretation of the ‘deen’ of Islam.
The Qur’an strictly advocates against this sort of mentality and says that just because something has been passed down to us by our forefathers is no guarantee that it is the right thing because our forefathers could have made a mistake as they too were human and to err is human.
One should judge a thing for him or herself and reach a conclusion on the basis of sound judgment or in the light of intellect and the developments or advancements made by man up to that period and only the book of God, the Qur’an can certify whether something is right or wrong.
It is said that if your forefathers are dearer to you than God, the last prophet Muhammed and ‘jihad’ (that is, struggle against temptations of life) then wait for God’s decision or His wrath or the natural consequence of believing otherwise.
It has also been stated in the Qur’an that the false gods are nothing but some names that your forefathers had conjured up and now you too worship those gods.
Being a forefather does not make one right or pious and the status does not automatically grant him heaven.
In order to enter heaven, the forefather must also be ‘swaleh’ [one who had believed in Islam and performed good deeds ) in his own lifetime. Ends.
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Tags: Culture, forefathers, Islam, Pakistan, Quran
4 responses so far ↓
1 Quli // Jan 24, 2008 at 11:41 am
Good article. I’ve always believed that we in Pakistan fall in the category of people who give more weight to our traditions and what our forefathers did than anything else.
If Hazrat Ibrahim had broken the idols of Makkah somewhere in Pakistan, I think our people would not have listened to his logic and would have probably gone on a street rampage burning property and killing innocents.
2 oal // Jan 25, 2008 at 12:26 am
Habits and rituals define people, even those who don’t know they have them, and they help determine atmosphere and promote a level of day-to-day comfortability with things. With due regard for both states of affairs and temperaments, some things we do may grow old too or, alternatively, become candidate for renewal. Having some cognizance of the state of things and one’s choices in them would seem healthy.
3 hanif // Jan 26, 2008 at 8:04 am
Allah has send the man with a purpose & that purpose is find out the truth. Allah has given us the guidelines, now its upon us to make appropriate decisions. the artical is a true reflection of what Allah almihty wants us do & it must be preached in letter & spirit.
4 kashif // Apr 3, 2008 at 3:25 am
yes ofcourse.pakistanis are even worse than arabs of prophets time,pakistanis follow the wrong religion of their forefathers blindly,like majority of people here worship graves and peer faqeers,when you teach them that you should only worship allah not others beside him than these people attack you labelling you a “wahabi!)
and they say that we will follow what our forefathers did!!!so according to quran allah will not forgive such nation who follow the mushrik ways of their forefathers
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