In those mehfils, some of which run for literally hours... We should actually run through basic books on aqidah or fiqh. Aqidah tahawiyyah can be done in an hour (not talking about proper madrasah level of sharh of each word) but you can talk about the main things where people get confused/may actually have kufri beliefs. Such as indwelling or radd of Shia concept of imamah etc, radd of people who abuse Sahaba. Don't need it to be lengthy. Choose a different book or topic for each mehfil through the year. A lot of masajid are open the entire night on the 27th of Ramadan until fajr. Literally the entire night is available, at least choose a portion of it for something like this. In reality, the bayan before taraweeh can be used to cover basic fiqh issues throughout the entirety of Ramadan as an example. To bring us back on topic- can speak out against fake peers etc in an urs. Can explain the levels of rulings (which half the people don't know) and explain what fits into what.
our chadar system at mazars is second to none for instance. go to any other maqam anywhere else in the Sunni world and come back and see the desi dargahs! Dawate Islami for all their benefits and their edge over the routine run of the mill mix of desi-Sunniyat, still have a very long way to go - and they need to be supported. They too need to hold those town hall meetings i spoke about - for both their and our benefits.
i'll bite. these actions are mustahabb indeed. if not doing them somehow makes way for you to bring common knowledge-less and practice-less people to Sunniyat and Ashari aqidah, or brings them towards being habitual musalleen and practicing Muslims who value faraiz and abstinence from muharramaat, THEN YES. it would be smart and wise to stop it - permanently or for a while or reduce it - depending on the circumstances. don't forget some of the things you mentioned are desi-Sunni specific, not universal to the entire world of Islam. --- Mufti Akmal Qadri for example says it's fine to let non-practicing people to come to naatkhwanis or Milad or Shabe Baraat gatherings and so on without any rebuke, that maybe this might open their hearts to knowledge and practice. I digress - our people are dheet and have a miserable bad habit of taking things for granted, be it in deen or duniya! I feel every such mehfil like you mentioned, should start with a point blank rebuke - this mehfil is of NO USE to you if you do not have the aqidah of the Ahlus Sunnah or are insistent on non-practice of core actions. Example - Ok so you took a shower and came to pray Maghreb and Esha and participate in the Shabe Baraat gathering and Yaseen recitation, and the dua after it - but if you were insistent on "bunking" the remaining three namaz' before this (and a few more, over the course of the week, other than Juma), then please leave the Shabe Baraat ki dua aside, either find a corner in the mosque, or go back home and offer your qada ASAP! it is about priorities, and they are assigned by deen itself not a particular person 1. Aqidah of Ahlus Sunnah 2. Faraiz 3. Waajibaat 4. Sunnah Muakkadah 5. Sunnah ghayr-muakkadah 6. Mustahabb 7. Mubah everything needs to be safeguarded and protected, but some things take precedence. it's not about accommodating anyone or optics for the wahabis. it is about safeguarding the faith of the jahil awam. our awam has reached unprecedented levels in jahalah and non-practice. People actually BELIEVE participating in Gyarwhin Shareef and begging to awliyaa, or late night naatkhwanis when they go home and miss Fajr or miss it in the mosque - is their get out of jail card for jahalat and non-practice - for not once bothering to learn aqidah of the Ahlus Sunnah, for leaving namaz, for no purdah, for corrupt financial dealings, watching kufr infested movies and so on. we have reached levels where utter juhalaa are sitting on live TV and preaching to people - agar aap namaz padhte hain to boht acha hai, nahin bhi padhte to Asr ke waqt ke baad yeh wazifa padh liya karein! (seen with my own eyes) that's how pathetic the awam have become - we need a wazifa to solve xyz issue but insist on not deviating by just 1 mm from our levels of non-practice - with shayateen al-ins cheering them on!
Should be a simple fix for dawat e Islami considering their reach. Suppose they focus on so many other things that we've neglected, hard to ask them to do even more I feel calling out dodgy practices would help in preventing the brain drain aspect of people who end up becoming salafi etc instead. Also believe part of the popularity of someone like asrar rashid is from calling out these types of practices, so it's clear the demand is there. Apart from him, barely come across anyone doing it and I say this as someone who spends too much time online in the first place
A scholar sent a message: Barelawi ulama havent done enough against bidah at graves darbars. Nor have Dawate Islami. Someone went to Kari in Kashmir and said its crazy. Even taj alsharia grave: videos of people touching it
The opposite should also be kept in mind. If we completely annihilate this practise. Somewhere down the line the deviants will win. Will they not fall into doubt regarding calling out Awliyah as it was done by other shuyookh/awliyah and now its completely unheard of? If istighatha is permitted, we can also allign our action so that this practise is recognised. If we completely stop just to accomodate a few muslims, this can somewhere ,at a later stage, question the aqeeda of our pious predecessors. So now stop khatme qadriya, khawajagan, 11vi shareef etc...just because some people might come into the musjid and get a wrong impression or fall in doubt?
Nobody is denying this. We all understand this well. But if you are standing at the mazaar of a great wali of Allah and calling out to him for help knowing ultimate help comes from Allah and that Allah has given these awliyah the power to assist the servants. I dont find anything wrong.
It is not always Shia. Here is Nurani Mia doing dua to Khawaja Sahib and the crowd saying Amin like dua:
This isn't about permissibility. No Sunni denies istighathah. This is about farq e maratib, delineating ranks. We should call on Allah, first and foremost. This is what Allamah Sharaf and recently Mufti Akmal have emphasised. Not every Muslim is aware of correct aqidah and we must align our actions such that they recognise it and don't fall into doubt or misguidance.
https://www.seekerspath.co.uk/quest...53-asking-for-help-from-the-friends-of-allah/ this should help you.
The way these people address the awliya at the graves is as if they are supplicating to the wali and not just tawassul. The guy raises hands and does dua to Khawaja, not to Allah Ta'ala, and the people say amin:
