Kundey Reality or Myth?

When trying to understand the custom of Kundey, I felt there was a lack of English resources on this topic. Much of the material available on the net is in Urdu or is explained in a way which I felt wasnt very accessible. All praise is due to Allah, I speak and understand Urdu and so was able to understand this topic. I believe I have a responsibility to convey this to others who may not know Urdu and are also in search of the truth, so at least on the Day of Judgment I can say to Allah that I tried. I write this intending good for my brothers and sisters and the reward from Allah. I have compiled this using predominantly the Quran and hadeeth because these are our sources of guidance. Much of it is based on a brochure written in English Urdu by Dr. Syed Shafeeq-Ur-Rahman. I have then added narrations from the companions of the prophet Muhammad where relevant because their interpretation of verses and hadeeth were and are undoubtedly more accurate than our own. A search was done in Google and then the key arguments for Kundey were explored in comparison to authentic Islamic teachings. Every effort has been made to provide a comprehensive yet concise treatise on this topic so that a reader of any level, from the most basic to the more advanced, can read, understand and benefit from this if Allah wills (inshaa Allah). You may share this with your family and friends and on your own blogs and sites. May Allah accept this effort and may you all benefit from this knowledge, ameen. Your Sister Amber Updated 23.3.14

Kundey Reality or Myth?

1. The Tricks of Shaitan Our real enemy is, always has been and always will be Shaitan. When he was banished from Heaven due to his arrogance and pride, he said to Allah that he would {...lie in wait against them (human beings) on Your (Allahs) straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left...} (Surah Al-Araf, 8:12-18) To this Allah said {Get out from this (paradise), disgraced and expelled. Whoever of them will follow you, then surely, I will fill Hell with you all.} (Surah Al-Araf, 8:12-18) The true believers will however strive against Shaitan {Verily, my slaves (i.e. the true believers in Islamic monotheism) - you have no authority over them. And All-Sufficient is your Lord as a Guardian} (Surah Al-Isra, 17:65) One of his greatest tricks is to misguide people in their basic beliefs, or Aqeedah. A condition for our deeds to be accepted is for us to have a sound Aqeedah thus for it to be corrupted gives shaitan pleasure. If polytheism, or shirk, enter into our beliefs then our deeds wont be accepted and they will go to waste {Say [O Muhammad to the polytheists]: Do you order me to worship other than Allah? O you fools! And indeed it has been revealed to you [O Muhammad], as it was to those (Allahs messengers) before you: If you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely , (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers. Nay! But worship Allah (Alone and none else), and be among the grateful.} (Surah Az-Zumar, 39: 64-66) Narrated Abdullah: The prophet said one statement and I said another. The prophet said: whoever dies while still invoking anything other than Allah as a rival to Allah, will enter Hell (fire). And I said, Whoever dies without invoking anything as a rival to Allah, will enter paradise. (Sahih Bukhari, 6/4497).

Kundey Reality or Myth?

2. Understanding Islam and Worship Whilst no Muslim would deny following the Quran and Sunnah, what we find is verses and hadeeth interpreted by laymen, but is this how we should be understanding our religion? {This day I have perfected for you your Religion and completed My Favour upon you and chosen for you Islaam as your Religion} (Surah Al-Maa`idah, 5:3) The classic scholar Ibn Kathir states that this verse ...is the biggest favor from Allah to this Ummah, for He has completed their religion for them, and they, thus, do not need any other religion or any other Prophet except Muhammad... Therefore, the permissible is what he allows, the impermissible is what he prohibits, the Law is what he legislates and everything that he conveys is true and authentic and does not contain lies or contradictions. (Ibn Kathir, 2006) So we see that Islam has been perfected. A hundred years later to bring into existence an occasion called Kundey and associate it with Islam indicates that such a person believes Allah has lied to us, and surely this is an evil assumption, oudbillah. Being a Muslim entails the belief in what the prophet Muhammad informed us about in the famous hadith of Jibreel which begins with a key component of Islam Jibreel said: Oh, Muhammad! Tell me about Islaam. The Messenger of Allaah replied: Islaam is: 1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah (i.e. that Allaah sent him to convey His Religion to mankind). 2. To establish prayer (i.e. to implement prayer with all its pillars, with repose and humility). 3. To pay zakaah. (If a Muslim owns more than 85 gms. of gold or its equivalent in money, he must pay 2.5% of it after one year. Other forms of wealth and property have their own set amounts to be paid upon them). 4. To fast the month of Ramadhaan (i.e. to abstain from food drink and sexual relations and all manner of sins from dawn until dusk) 5. And to make pilgrimage (Hajj) to the House (of Allaah, in Makkah) if you have the means to do so. (Narrated by Muslim)

Kundey Reality or Myth?

Allah created mankind with a very specific purpose. Allah says {I created the jinn and mankind not, except to worship Me} (Surah AzZaariyaat 51:56) Here Allah is telling us to worship Him alone. We worship Allah how He commanded us to and how His prophet commanded us to {Oh, you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and do not render vain your deeds} (Surah Muhammad 47:33) {All praise and thanks be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds} (Surah Al-Fatihah 1:2) If we believe that Allah is the Lord of the worlds, then it only leads to the fact that our worship be directed exclusively to Him. This includes praying, fasting, keeping vows, sacrificing etc {And your Ilh (God) is One Ilh (God - Allh), L ilha illa Huwa (there is none who has the right to be worshipped but He), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.} (Surah Fatiha, 2:163) You may be held back from accepting the truth about Kundey because you belong to a sect or group and Kundey is a part of those sects beliefs. If this is the case then reflect for one moment on what Allah says about those who dont follow the truth only because their forefathers or scholars or imams had a different belief {And when it is said to them, "Follow what Allah has revealed," they say, "Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing." Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?} (Surah Baqarah, 2:170) {And similarly, We did not send before you any warner into a city except that its affluent said, "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are, in their footsteps, following." [Each warner] said, "Even if I brought you better guidance than that [religion] upon which you found your fathers?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which you were sent, are disbelievers." So we took retribution from them; then see how was the end of the deniers.} (Surah AzZukhruf, 43:23-25)

Kundey Reality or Myth?

Here Allah reveals to us that there was a nation who was called to monotheism but they rejected it only because their forefathers, relatives etc believed in something else so they rejected the truth. The result was that they were punished. Allah then reminds the believers that we are responsible for ourselves which includes learning about Islam {O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. To Allah is you return all together; then He will inform you of what you used to do.} (Surah A-Maida, 5:105)

3. The Story of Kundey Every Rajab sweet food is prepared in the name of Jafar As Saddiq, may Allah be pleased with him. This is mainly celebrated in the Indo-Pak region. On the 22nd Rajab sweet rice pudding is made and then put into a bowl made of mud/clay which is called a Kunda in urdu. Then the name of Jafar As Saddiq is invoked upon the food. Then guests are invited and all eat the food together. Those who celebrate this cite the story not of the prophet and neither his sahaba, rather of a poor woodcutter. The story goes that a wood cutters wife heard Jafar As Saddiq in Madinah say that whoever prepares food in his name on the 22nd Rajab, their prayers or dua will be fulfilled by Allah and if their prayers are still not fulfilled, then they can grab his shawl on the Day of Judgment. The wife related this to her husband who then did kundey and returned to his wife with lots of money. He built a glorious mansion in which he began living. Its said that there was a ministers wife at the time who didnt believe in kundey and as a consequence her husband lost his job. She then began doing kundey and her husband got his job back. Since then, the ruler and his people began celebrating kundey with great jest (Shafeeq-ur-Rahmaan, 2012) The extraordinary thing is that whilst this story is used to prove the practice of kundey, it does not have any consistent reference or author for us to be able to know if it is even a genuine story or not. As we established earlier, Islam is not based on stories or peoples assumptions. Islam is based on the revelation of Allah, the way of the prophet Muhammad and the understanding of the consensus of his companions, peace be upon them. No Muslim would disagree or have a problem with this, then why do some of us look elsewhere for guidance, hope and help?

Kundey Reality or Myth?

Not only this, but why is there no name of the minister or the woodcutter? Why is the main character, the woodcutters wife, unknown and anonymous? If Islam was based on unknown narrators, what would it look like!

4. The Beliefs Behind Kundey Those who partake in kundey do so with a set of beliefs and assumptions. The woodcutter story was only created to be a smokescreen for certain beliefs. Here we shall see what these are and what Islam says about them. 1. Nazar (Arabic) / Niyaz (Persian) / Mannat (Urdu) (Ibn Ahmed Alhindi, 2011): Those doing kundey predominantly believe in the concept of Vows which is vowing to do something voluntarily such as giving money to charity or other forms of Sadqa e Jaria (or khairat/ voluntary spending). There are two kinds of Vows: Nazr-e-Muallaq and Nazr-e-Mubram (ibid). Nazr-e-Muallaq is vowing with a condition (e.g. if you do this for me, I will do so and so for you). Nazr-e-Mubram is vowing without a condition, like the wife of Imran said {My Lord! Verily, I have vowed to You what is in my womb to be dedicated to Your service} (Surah Al Imraan 3:35) Thus we find people who have no children, are still single, want to improve their socio-economic situation and are in other problems making vows. Kundey celebrators believe that by preparing food or spending in the name of Jafar As Saddiq, he will be pleased with them and will help get rid of their problems or fulfil their wishes. Vows are mentioned four times in the Quran (see 3:35; 19:26; 22:29; 76:7-9). If you read these verses carefully it will become clear to you that in each situation, a vow was made to Allah alone, no one else. As such there is no evidence to making vows for people, alive or dead. 2. Can Jafar As Saddiq get rid of our problems and/ or improve our situation? {And call not upon other than Allaah, who can neither benefit nor harm you, for if you did so, you would indeed be one of the wrong-doers} (Surah Yunus 10:106) In our five times salah we read {It is You Whom we worship and it is Your Aid we seek} (Surah Al-Fatihah 1:5)

Kundey Reality or Myth?

Accordingly the ones who make a vow to other than Allah are essentially seeking someone elses help and aid even though Allah tells us {And your Lord said: Call upon Me and I will answer you; verily, those who scorn to worship Me, they will surely enter the Hell-fire in humiliation} (Surah Ghaafir, 40:60) Here Allah tells us to call upon Him. Calling upon Allah for help or to answer our prayers is to make a Dua. Dua is a form of worship as we saw earlier. If dua is worship, then to make a dua to other than Allah constitutes shirk because you are giving a share of Allahs right to other than Him. {Oh, you who believe! Fear Allaah and seek the means of approach to Him} (Surah Al-Maa`idah, 5:35) {And if Allaah seizes you with harm, none can remove it but He} (Surah Al-Anaam, 6:17) Its important to note that whilst seeking help from those who have died is not acceptable in Islam, this doesnt mean we cant seek help from others at all. In reference to those who are living, Allah says {Help you one another in righteousness and piety} (Surah Al Maa`idah 5:2) We can help one another if we are alive and able to do so otherwise there is no evidence to seek help from those who have left this world. 3. Others believe Kundey based on miracles they have seen firsthand (Sunni Forum, 2008). However even Christians have claimed such miracles, does this mean they are on the haqq? And why must the miracle be attributed to a person? Is it not possible that Allah blessed you so that you may be grateful, and yet you thank Jafar radiAllahuanho and others who themselves were grateful and pious servants of Allah? I end this article with a few more verses from the Quran which warn us of the severity and seriousness of shirk. {But if they had committed shirk, all that they used to do would have been of no benefit to them} (Surah Al-Anaam 6:88) {And those whom they invoke besides Allaah do not create anything, but are themselves created.(They are) dead, lifeless and they know not when they will be raised up} (Surah An-Nahl 16:20-21)

Kundey Reality or Myth?

{And whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him perform righteous deeds and not associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord} (Surah Al-Kahf 18:10)

References Afroz (2013) 22 RAJAB KE KUNDO KI HAQIQAT page 1 [Internet] Available from: http://islamiclectures.wapka.mobi/forum2_theme_738606.xhtml?tema=348 Ibn Ahmed Alhindi (2011) Nazr/Niyaz for Ahl albayt: Is this teaching of Ahl Albayt? [Internet] Available from: http://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/nazrniyaz-for-ahl-albayt-isthis-teaching-of-ahl-albayt/. Ibn Kathir (2006) Islam Has Been Perfected For Muslims [Internet] Available from: http://mquran.org/content/view/6930/2/. Ibn Taymiyyah (2007) An Introduction to the Principles of Tafseer. England: Al-Hidaayah [Internet] Available from: http://IslamHouse.com/53016. Md. Umair (2011) NAZAR-O-NIYAZ KA ISLAMI TASAWWUR (QUR'AN KI ROSHNI ME) (Eng: Oaths and Vows from an Islamic Perspective (In Light of the Quran)) [Internet] Available from: http://islamicleaks.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/nazar-o-niyaz-ka-islami-tasawwurquran.html. Meraforum (2012) Masla e Niyaz [Internet] Available from: http://www.meraforum.com/archive/index.php/t-93307.html Muhammad Ibn Jameel Zainoo (2000) Take Your Beliefs From the Quraan and Sunnah [Internet] Available from: http://abdurrahman.org/faith/takeurbeliefsfromquranandsunnah.pdf. Rahman, S. Dr Shafeeq (2012) Rajab Ke Kunde [Internet] Available from: https://code.google.com/p/qlrf/downloads/detail?name=Rajab+Ke+Kunde++Pamphlet.pdf&can=2&q Raising Islam (2011) Q & A: My friend says Nyaaz and Fateha are haraam..Can we eat Prasad..? [Internet] Available from: http://raisingislam.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/q-my-friend-says-nyaaz-andfateha-are.html.

Kundey Reality or Myth?

Saviou (2010) kunday ki mannat [Internet] Available from: http://www.tafreehmella.com/threads/kunday-ki-mannat.137669/. Secular Revolution (2004) Koonde: Is it permissible to do Koonde page 1 [Internet] Available from: http://www.yanabi.com/index.php?/topic/43594koonde/. Shiachat (2044) 22nd Rajab [Internet] Available from: http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/40236-22nd-rajab/. Sunni Forum (2008) Kheer Puri Niyaaz [Internet] Available from: http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?36293-Kheer-PuriNiyaaz/page2. Syed-Mohsin Naquvi (2013) 22 Rajab: The concept of Nazr in Islam (Koonday) [Internet] Available from: http://www.ezsoftech.com/islamic/nazr.asp.