Muslim Knowledge Guide China: Qur'an, Ancestor Worship, Hui Muslim Tradition and Faith Reform
Reposted from the web
Summary: This reflection uses Qur'an 2:170 to criticize blind ancestor worship and blind loyalty to old customs, especially when Hui Muslim communities repeat inherited practices without measuring them against revelation, truth, and sound religious understanding.
Someone advised them: “You should obey the revelation sent down by the Allah. They said, "Otherwise, we must abide by the teachings of our ancestors." ” Even if their ancestors were ignorant and did not follow the right path (should they still abide by their legacy)? [2:170] Today we are going to talk about a rather heart-wrenching topic. This topic may be rarely mentioned by imams and scholars, because the most talked about topics are "recognition, etiquette, fasting, classes, and pilgrimage," "filial piety to parents," "husband and wife love," "raising children," and "supporting the elderly." Very few imams and scholars emphasize the topic of "ancestor worship" alone, so today I, a "dying man" lying on the hospital bed, will say a few words. Due to my limited knowledge and the torture of illness over the past few months, the article may not be very smooth. Please just read it. If this article offends you, please don't worry about it.
In our country, when people are free, they always brag about how glorious their ancestors were. They were either powerful officials or wealthy merchants, or they were extremely talented and knowledgeable super-literati... In short, "My ancestors are very good, so I am superior to you!" "A few friends said this while exchanging cups at the barbecue stall, a group of friends said the same while sitting at the dinner table, and the neighbors still said the same when they "set up a dragon gate formation" on the road, as if any family without particularly awesome ancestors would be looked down upon by others. In fact, what I want to say is: "In China, as long as the family can have a genealogy passed down, then the ancestors of this family were once prominent bosses. There is no need for everyone to always talk about their ancestors every day!" "I would like to say: "No matter how great your ancestor is, where are they now? Is he still there? In fact, these are just a speck of dust in the long river of history. People always have to look further afield, instead of relying on the protection of their ancestors to stay green forever! no matter how great your ancestors’ achievements were, it was already many years ago. Is the influence of your ancestors still useful today? Your ancestor was an honest and careless person, but you, a complete rotten person who eats, drinks, whores, gambles, cheats, beats the blind, scolds the deaf and chases the lame, what qualifications do you have to brag in the name of your ancestors? If the ancestor could come back in a dream, he would definitely give you, this unworthy descendant, a few big slaps in his dream! "...
In fact, ancestor worship is also a common phenomenon among our Hui Muslims, especially the blind worship of previous scholars. Whenever young imams or scholars ask questions about controversial teachings [such as when to break the fast and enter the fast, when is "Gedler", whether shrimps can be eaten...] and other questions, people will always say: "How old are you?" You only have so much knowledge, but you can’t do this or that! Is he more knowledgeable than ‘elder baba scholars’? This has been done since the days of ‘elder baba scholars’. If you say this is not okay and that is not right today, we won’t listen anyway! We have to do it the way the ‘Old Babas’ do! "It is necessary to respect the old scholars, but the living and learning environment of the old timers at that time was completely different from now. In order to pass on the flame of faith from generation to generation, the old timers chose many "compromise" methods. But today we have no worries about food and clothing, and can access any information and books on various channels, including a lot of information that the "old Babas" have never seen or heard of. When someone comes up with conclusive and correct evidence, what are we objecting to? Are we against the teachings of Allah, or are we against the fear in our hearts after others use true knowledge to break our thousands of years of ancestor worship?
Ancestor worship is a major sin for us Muslims, and it is a sin that will destroy the world. You can refer to the Chinese translation of Kitab al-Kaba'ir as "The Book of Major Sins", which is also translated as "The Seventy Deadly Sins". I won't say more about how serious ancestor worship is. Those who are interested can read the book I mentioned for themselves. Of course, no matter how much you tell someone who is not interested, they will only think that you are "challenging inherited authority" just to gain traffic. Another thing is that the old-timers are modest and cautious. If they see that they are being mythologized by future generations, I wonder if the old-timers will stand in court with us unscrupulous descendants in the court of Allah in the days to come!
My article today is not to tell you to abandon the fine traditions of your ancestors, but to tell you that when someone can produce accurate evidence, some of the things we have passed down from generation to generation need to be improved. Instead of standing there stubbornly, mumbling, "My ancestors did it this way, so I will do it too!" ”, then this goes back to the scripture quoted at the beginning of my article. If our ancestors were unlearned and unskilled people, would you still follow them like this?
Our nation has reached this embarrassing situation today. to the influence of the general environment, it is actually more about people's rigidity and unwillingness to accept things that are inconsistent with their subconscious minds [even if these things are the truth], and then these conventional things are passed down from generation to generation. This reminds me of the fable "The Little Hedgehog Carrying a Watermelon" that I learned when I was studying. Does the sentence "My mother never taught me that" sound like what we say today, "It was like this in the 'elder baba scholars' period"! Today, our bodies are living in the 21st century, but our minds are still stuck in the feudal society. It is completely in the stage of "I will learn whatever the teacher teaches." There are not many people who can calm down and think about the future of this nation and the truth. Anyway, they all have an attitude of going with the flow and having no desires or desires. I just follow what my ancestors did, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong. To quote an internet buzzword, I just do it!
At the end of the article, I still want to pray to Allah to bless the seniors with a generous and everlasting paradise, and to improve the level of the seniors in paradise! Also pray to Allah to enhance our faith and change our rigid thinking! Aminai!
Summary: This reflection uses Qur'an 2:170 to criticize blind ancestor worship and blind loyalty to old customs, especially when Hui Muslim communities repeat inherited practices without measuring them against revelation, truth, and sound religious understanding.
Someone advised them: “You should obey the revelation sent down by the Allah. They said, "Otherwise, we must abide by the teachings of our ancestors." ” Even if their ancestors were ignorant and did not follow the right path (should they still abide by their legacy)? [2:170] Today we are going to talk about a rather heart-wrenching topic. This topic may be rarely mentioned by imams and scholars, because the most talked about topics are "recognition, etiquette, fasting, classes, and pilgrimage," "filial piety to parents," "husband and wife love," "raising children," and "supporting the elderly." Very few imams and scholars emphasize the topic of "ancestor worship" alone, so today I, a "dying man" lying on the hospital bed, will say a few words. Due to my limited knowledge and the torture of illness over the past few months, the article may not be very smooth. Please just read it. If this article offends you, please don't worry about it.
In our country, when people are free, they always brag about how glorious their ancestors were. They were either powerful officials or wealthy merchants, or they were extremely talented and knowledgeable super-literati... In short, "My ancestors are very good, so I am superior to you!" "A few friends said this while exchanging cups at the barbecue stall, a group of friends said the same while sitting at the dinner table, and the neighbors still said the same when they "set up a dragon gate formation" on the road, as if any family without particularly awesome ancestors would be looked down upon by others. In fact, what I want to say is: "In China, as long as the family can have a genealogy passed down, then the ancestors of this family were once prominent bosses. There is no need for everyone to always talk about their ancestors every day!" "I would like to say: "No matter how great your ancestor is, where are they now? Is he still there? In fact, these are just a speck of dust in the long river of history. People always have to look further afield, instead of relying on the protection of their ancestors to stay green forever! no matter how great your ancestors’ achievements were, it was already many years ago. Is the influence of your ancestors still useful today? Your ancestor was an honest and careless person, but you, a complete rotten person who eats, drinks, whores, gambles, cheats, beats the blind, scolds the deaf and chases the lame, what qualifications do you have to brag in the name of your ancestors? If the ancestor could come back in a dream, he would definitely give you, this unworthy descendant, a few big slaps in his dream! "...
In fact, ancestor worship is also a common phenomenon among our Hui Muslims, especially the blind worship of previous scholars. Whenever young imams or scholars ask questions about controversial teachings [such as when to break the fast and enter the fast, when is "Gedler", whether shrimps can be eaten...] and other questions, people will always say: "How old are you?" You only have so much knowledge, but you can’t do this or that! Is he more knowledgeable than ‘elder baba scholars’? This has been done since the days of ‘elder baba scholars’. If you say this is not okay and that is not right today, we won’t listen anyway! We have to do it the way the ‘Old Babas’ do! "It is necessary to respect the old scholars, but the living and learning environment of the old timers at that time was completely different from now. In order to pass on the flame of faith from generation to generation, the old timers chose many "compromise" methods. But today we have no worries about food and clothing, and can access any information and books on various channels, including a lot of information that the "old Babas" have never seen or heard of. When someone comes up with conclusive and correct evidence, what are we objecting to? Are we against the teachings of Allah, or are we against the fear in our hearts after others use true knowledge to break our thousands of years of ancestor worship?
Ancestor worship is a major sin for us Muslims, and it is a sin that will destroy the world. You can refer to the Chinese translation of Kitab al-Kaba'ir as "The Book of Major Sins", which is also translated as "The Seventy Deadly Sins". I won't say more about how serious ancestor worship is. Those who are interested can read the book I mentioned for themselves. Of course, no matter how much you tell someone who is not interested, they will only think that you are "challenging inherited authority" just to gain traffic. Another thing is that the old-timers are modest and cautious. If they see that they are being mythologized by future generations, I wonder if the old-timers will stand in court with us unscrupulous descendants in the court of Allah in the days to come!
My article today is not to tell you to abandon the fine traditions of your ancestors, but to tell you that when someone can produce accurate evidence, some of the things we have passed down from generation to generation need to be improved. Instead of standing there stubbornly, mumbling, "My ancestors did it this way, so I will do it too!" ”, then this goes back to the scripture quoted at the beginning of my article. If our ancestors were unlearned and unskilled people, would you still follow them like this?
Our nation has reached this embarrassing situation today. to the influence of the general environment, it is actually more about people's rigidity and unwillingness to accept things that are inconsistent with their subconscious minds [even if these things are the truth], and then these conventional things are passed down from generation to generation. This reminds me of the fable "The Little Hedgehog Carrying a Watermelon" that I learned when I was studying. Does the sentence "My mother never taught me that" sound like what we say today, "It was like this in the 'elder baba scholars' period"! Today, our bodies are living in the 21st century, but our minds are still stuck in the feudal society. It is completely in the stage of "I will learn whatever the teacher teaches." There are not many people who can calm down and think about the future of this nation and the truth. Anyway, they all have an attitude of going with the flow and having no desires or desires. I just follow what my ancestors did, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong. To quote an internet buzzword, I just do it!
At the end of the article, I still want to pray to Allah to bless the seniors with a generous and everlasting paradise, and to improve the level of the seniors in paradise! Also pray to Allah to enhance our faith and change our rigid thinking! Aminai!
