Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Dying without knowing the Imam

“If a person dies without recognizing the Imam of his time, he dies in ignorance. Please explain this hadith.”Asked by محبوب صاحب, شوراپور یادگیر، کرناٹکا

He answers at 49:31 in The Process of Personality Development · 1 min 24 sec

His answer, in his own words
49:31
hamara agla sawal hai mahboob sahab ka shurapur yadgir, karnataka se. unhon ne apne aik saathi ka sawal likha hai ke agar koi shakhs waqt ke imam ko pehchanay baghair mar jaye, woh jahalat ki halat mein mar gaya. siyah sitah, is hadith ki tashreeh kijiye. dekhein, pehchan ka to mujhe yaad nahin aata, unhon ne alfaaz nahin likhe, nahin hain, ghaliban itaat ka lafz hai. to yeh yeh baat jo hai, yeh sahi hai, lekin yeh is mani mein sahi hai ke nizam duniya ke mani mein sahi hai, kyunke agar aap itaat na karein to kya hota hai? nizam khalal waqe hota hai, aapas mein ladaaiyan hoti hain, jis tarah ke aap dekh rahe hain, muslim mulkon mein log aapas mein lad rahe hain, kyunke imam ko mante nahin, imam ki itaat nahin karte.
50:27
to imam ki itaat woh woh is aitbar se aham hai ke agar aap itaat nahin kareinge to bahami ladaaiyan hongi, tashaddud aayega, nafratein aayengi, aur phir sara mamla jabrtize ho jayega. na marifat ka kaam hoga, na taleem ka kaam hoga, na dawat ka kaam hoga. is aitbar se is ki ahmiyat hai, yaani ke amli ahmiyat is ki, amli, yaani is ki ahmiyat eitiqadi nahin hai, balkay amli li hai. amli aitbar se is ke nuqsanat hain, is liye rasool Allah sal Allah alayhi wasallam ne aisa farmaya. Maulana, agla sawal hai naghma siddiqui ka, dehli se.
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Machine transcription. These are his recorded words, written down by software from the Urdu he speaks — so a line may carry a misheard word. Every timestamp above opens the video at that second: one tap and you can hear him say it. Quote it as speech, and link to the moment.