THEY HAVE SERVED OUR RELIGION

One fan exclaimed: "If only I could give twenty years of my life to the Sheikh, so that the people of Islam could learn from the fountain of knowledge of the master for another twenty years!"

But this is impossible. Death is a fact, there is a living soul that tastes the juice of death. Immortality is only for Allah. The Master always emphasized that every Muslim should instill these and other doctrinal issues in his mind, and for this purpose he prepared necessary and primary sources and literature, such as "Sunni Aqeedah", the 2nd volume of the "Hadith and Life" series, and the commentary on the "Aqeedat-e-Tahawiyya".

Belief is the foundation of Islam. That is why the great scholar raised this issue to the level of a slogan: "Striving for a pure belief and pure Islam based on the school of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah..."

Memories of the teacher began to come alive in my mind. My mind went back to my student days. I am one of the lucky students who learned from the Sheikh. When we were studying at the Islamic University, the teacher taught us the subjects of Aqeedah and Usuli Fiqh in Arabic. Just as he was a skilled speaker in Uzbek, he delivered lectures in Arabic with such fluency, uniformity, and freedom. His coming to our classes was such a sensation that many people who were not affiliated with the university would ask permission to sit in the back seats of the auditorium to enjoy the class. I have even witnessed Arab preachers who came from Egypt listening to the lectures of the Sheikh with interest.

The lessons lasted for two consecutive days, and when ten to fifteen minutes were left before the end of the lesson, the teacher would finish the topic. Then came the question-and-answer session in Uzbek. During this time, everyone had the opportunity to directly address the Prophet with questions of interest and receive answers. The audience would come alive at such times, and everyone would rush to make the most of this opportunity. One such day, after the questions had been asked and the answers had been received, the teacher said: “Now I ask you: do you know that a certain unfortunate person from the West drew a picture (caricature) mocking our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). This caused sharp discontent throughout the Muslim world. In some countries, people who could not control their anger even resorted to all sorts of unseemly acts. Our compatriots turned to me with such tormenting questions: “Well, how should we express our discontent?” Everyone was silent. We, the students, were embarrassed that we had bothered the teacher by asking about our personal issues, while the problem that tormented the entire Muslim world remained. Silence fell on the classroom. The Hazrat himself began to speak: “At such times, every Muslim should ask himself: “How well do I know our Prophet? How sincere is my love for him?” When a satisfactory answer is found to this, introducing him (peace be upon him) to family members, awakening his love in the hearts of children, is the most correct response to the ignorant disrespect committed!”

To know our Prophet (peace be upon him) and love him, first of all, it is necessary to take the Quran and Sunnah to heart, and to study the biography of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The Sheikh has done a lot of good work in this regard: the six-volume "Tafsir Hilal", the multi-volume "Hadith and Life", "Hazrat Rasulullah (peace be upon him)" dedicated to the biography of our Prophet, and many other works, websites... These lines from the master's motto come to mind: "Learning and practicing the Quran and Sunnah, spreading Islamic enlightenment, following the righteous predecessors - the great mujtahids..."

Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf, as one of the great scholars of our land, answered the questions of Muslims, for which a special page was created on the Internet. Every day, hundreds and thousands of people would leave their questions on this page, among them there were sincere people who asked to learn what they did not know, and those who wanted to "measure the knowledge" of the hadrat, and fanatical ignorant people who would not accept anything other than his own wrong path. The teacher would give equally satisfactory answers to all of them. Because his slogans were: "Spreading the spirit of tolerance and brotherhood, ending religious illiteracy, ending discord and sectarianism, eliminating fanaticism and heresy." The teacher did not limit himself to this. He has authored dozens of works, including "On the Path of Islamic Purity," "If We Are Pious," "Islam Against Moral Crimes," "On Disagreements," "Religion is Advice," "Social Manners," "Sects - a Symbol of Unity," and a translation into Uzbek of the late Sheikh Muhammad Said Ramazan Buti's work "Sectlessness is the Most Dangerous Heresy That Threatens Islamic Sharia." In addition to publishing religious literature, he has also created several religious and educational websites on the Internet, through which he has disseminated Islamic knowledge and enlightenment to the general public.

The recent political crises and instability in the Middle East and other regions have led to the rise of various religious extremist forces, which has led to the emergence of new terrorist groups. An example is the terrorist group that calls itself the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" and misinterprets sacred Islamic concepts such as "migration," "jihad," and "martyrdom."

Recently, more than 120 prominent scholars of the Islamic world wrote an open letter to the leader of ISIS, who calls himself Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, expressing his views and well-founded refutations on behalf of Muslims around the world against this criminal group. One of the authors of this open letter, Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf, in his treatise entitled "Open Letter", discusses the problem of ignorance that many Muslims face today, the wisdom of acting according to the situation, the prevention of harm, the jurisprudence of reality, and provides well-founded refutations of various destructive groups, in particular ISIS.

The Sheikh always paid great attention to etiquette and spiritual perfection. In his works such as "Imagination about Sufism", "Islam against moral crimes", "Social manners", "Treasure of manners", all aspects necessary for personal perfection to the perfection of society are widely covered.

Allah had blessed the time of the Sheikh. According to one of his close disciples, the Hazrat had divided the hours of the day. He had set aside separate times for various gatherings within the country, reception hours, dhikr-virds, various comings and goings, and physical exercise. He had made it his duty to write 10 pages of a new book a day, as well as to read 30 pages of a new book. He never left this habit for a single day. Sometimes, if the task was abandoned due to travel, he would make up for it when he returned home. There were even times when he wrote up to 30-40 pages a day.

His Holiness Sheikh was also active in international life. He was a member of dozens of international organizations, including the Founding Assembly of Robita al-Alam al-Islami, the World Sufi Association, the General Secretariat of the World Muslim Nations Administration, the World Da'wah Association, the World Council of Scholars, the World Islamic Association, the Executive Committee of the World Assembly of Thinking Scholars in Mecca, the World Association of Mosques, and the Academy of Islamic Thought affiliated with the Oli Bayt Institution in Jordan.

The Sheikh possessed all the qualities necessary for a Muslim, that is, a true believer, as described in the treatise.

The Lord blessed our heavenly land with a mature scholar like Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf, and He took him back. All scholars are the heirs of our Prophet (peace be upon him), guiding stars, without whom the people cannot find the right path. Let us pray that Allah Almighty may bless our blessed land, which has fallen under His gaze, with dozens and hundreds of such scholars!

No'mon ABDULMAJID