Dawoodi Bohra Jaman starts and ends with tasting of Salt

[Aarif]

We dawoodi bohras have a tradition of tasting bit of salt before we start eating and also after we finish eating the Jaman. Is there any islamic significance to this? Do any other muslim communities follow this practice? I have been to shia mosque few times and they do not follow this practice.

[Kaka Akela]

Make sure it's sea-salt (only ingedient listed "sea-salt," and that it does not contain "anti-caking agents" which is made with aluminum) and preferably from ancient mines or sea beds. The trace minerals are essential.

Click to enlarge padSalt Your Way to Health

By David Brownstein, M.D.

A low-salt diet is good for you if you have high-blood pressure, right? WRONG! Says Dr. Brownstein, and here are the reasons for his contrarian view. He shows the errors that led early researchers to believe that low salt intake would reduce blood pressure and then presents scientific studies showing a 400% increase in heart attacks among hypertension patients on a low-salt diet. He also shows the value of adequate unrefined salt consumption in combating Thyroid and Adrenal disorders.
http://www.realityzone.com/saltyourway.html

AMA's campaign against salt fails to recognize health benefits of sea salt and trace minerals
http://www.newstarget.com/z019680.html

Baseline of Health: A Pillar of Salt
[url=http://www..jonbarron.org/newsletters/06/7-31-2006.php]http://www..jonbarron.org/newsletters/06/7-31-2006.php[/url]

A couple of issues ago, I made a passing comment about the AMA's recent public statement concerning salt, questioning both the validity of their pronouncement and their qualifications to make such a statement in the first place. What a furor it created!

Since then, I have been interviewed by several newspapers, magazines, and appeared on radio talk shows -- all to talk about salt. Who knew it was such a big deal? But since it is, it seems worthwhile to revisit the subject again in more detail.

The primary issue that got lost by the AMA is that not all sources of sodium and salt are the same. As far as the body is concerned, there is no connection between the chemically-cleansed sodium chloride table salt you buy in the supermarket (which is also added to virtually every processed food you buy) and the mineral rich organic unrefined sea salt available in health food stores. One can kill you; the other heals you. In fact, it's essential for life.

Of course, everyone can agree that just like anything else, salt or sodium should not be consumed in excess. (But then again, that's true of water and oxygen as well.) Which brings us back to why the AMA came out with a warning at all: Americans are consuming ever higher amounts of sodium, up to 6,000 milligrams a day, instead of the recommended 500 to 2,000 milligrams per day. These high amounts, in a form that is unfriendly to the human body and with no ancillary trace mineral benefits, are what lead to serious health problems. However, this is not necessarily the heart of the debate. The issue is that the AMA is against all forms of salt, a broad-brush condemnation designed more for media sound bites than to truly advance the cause of health.

This is a point echoed in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration article A Pinch of Controversy Shakes Up Dietary Salt:

"Now modern technology has made salt readily available and at a price almost anyone can afford. As a result, many of us take salt and its merits for granted. But scientists keep salt in the news by debating its role in a healthful diet. At times, discussion and controversy threaten to obscure salt's importance and to confuse thoughtful consumers."

So let's examine the true nature of salt to gain an understanding of how different types of salt act in our bodies. And let's also examine some real health issues connected with salt; and finally, let's talk about how to choose and balance salt in your diet.
Brief History of Humans and Salt

"Worth its weight in gold" is an expression that served well for salt in ancient times. The history of salt is sprinkled with piracy, war, economics, religion, and health. In fact, the next time you contemplate your current salary, consider that the very word "salary" is derived from the Latin word sal because Romans often received their pay in salt. If this is hard to accept, consider that during the Age of Discovery, Africans and European explorers traded an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold -- even-steven. Around 110 BC, salt trade was so valued that salt piracy was punishable by death. And Mahatma Gandhi even used salt as major leverage against the British Empire in 1930 when he led thousands of people to the sea to collect their own salt in order to avoid the salt tax imposed by the British.
The Importance of Salt

One point everyone can agree on is that the body needs sodium chloride to function.

If we look at the big picture for a moment, we can recognize that:

* A human embryo develops in salty amniotic fluid.

* Our developed human bodies possess three distinct fluid systems - blood plasma, lymphatic fluid, and extracellular fluid -- all salty fluids.

* As a main component of the body's extra-cellular fluids, salt helps carry nutrients into the cells. It also helps regulate other body functions, such as blood pressure and fluid volume, and works on the lining of blood vessels to keep the pressure balance normal. The concentration of sodium ions in the blood is directly related to the regulation of safe body-fluid levels.

* 0.9% sodium chloride in water is isotonic with blood plasma. It is known medically as normal saline. It is the mainstay of fluid replacement therapy that is widely used in medicine in prevention or treatment of dehydration, or as an intravenous therapy to prevent hypovolemic shock due to blood loss.

* The propagation of nerve impulses by signal transduction is regulated by sodium ions. (Potassium, another metal closely related to sodium, is also a major component in the same body systems).

* Sodium is an energy carrier. It is also responsible for sending messages from the brain to muscles through the nervous system so that muscles move on command. When you want to move your arm or any muscle in the body, the brain sends a message to a sodium molecule that passes it to a potassium molecule and then back to a sodium molecule etc., etc., until it gets to its final destination and the muscle moves. This is known as the sodium-potassium ion exchange. Therefore, without sodium, you would never be able to move one muscle of your body.

Salt VS Sodium

Although the words salt and sodium are often used interchangeably when it comes to nutrition, they are not the same. Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) and Sodium (Na) is, well, just sodium -- a soft metal occurring in isolation only on the periodic table of elements or in a lab.

While it is correct to say that our bodies need sodium, nature has not designed sodium as a solo player but offers it in a complex consisting of natural salt and essential trace minerals, as well as providing it in a variety of foods. Some foods naturally high in sodium/salt are fish, eggs, nuts, prawns, crabs, lobsters and seaweed (Note: all of these natural sources of salt are also natural sources of iodine.) Other naturally occurring sources of sodium (although not quite as high) are celery, carrots, cauliflower, pineapples, jackfruits, and even fresh cow's milk. And then, of course, there is pure, natural unrefined salt -- the salt once worth it's weight in gold and the focus of this newsletter.

So, with all these great natural sources of sodium, why do we have refined table salt?

Good question.
A Modern Misconception about Salt

Much like the story of refined flour it seems to come down to aesthetics and economics.

* Unrefined salt tends to be off-white or gray in color, whereas refined table salt is bright white. It's prettier.

* Unrefined table salt tends to clump in the presence of moisture and be unusable in shakers. As for table salt, what's the slogan for Morton® Salt? "When it rains, it pours."

* Since unrefined table salt tends to clump in the presence of moisture, grocers and suppliers have to eat the cost of salt that has to be pulled from shelves when it becomes unsellable. Not so with refined salt that doesn't clump. In other words, refined salt is more profitable.

* Refined table salt has added iodine to make up for the nutrients lost in refining.

As a point of comparison, here's the story of white flour.

* White flour is "prettier" than brown flour, aesthetically more appealing.

* White flour bakes lighter in texture because it has no bran.

* White flour doesn't spoil because all the beneficial oils have been removed, which means it lasts far longer on the grocer's shelf than whole wheat flour. Again, economically more profitable.

* White flour is "enriched" to put back a small amount of the nutrients lost in refining.

* And white flour products are now getting added fiber (sawdust in some cases) and essential fatty acids to improve their nutritional profile.

Salt and flour have suffered the same fate. The process of turning naturally occurring non-white salt into the white-powdery-easily poured table salt involves a distinct trade-off between health and aesthetics/profitability.

And there's one other financial reason for the dominance of refined salt in the market. Only 7% of salt goes for food; the other 93% goes to industry. Industry requires chemically pure sodium chloride for manufacture of explosives, chlorine gas, soda, fertilizers and plastics. In effect, table salt represents a "cheap" production overrun.
Two Salts

In today's market, we now have two distinct choices when it comes to salt: unrefined and refined. Unrefined salt (sea salt) is 97.5% sodium chloride (with up to 14% of that being moisture content in some brands) and 2.5% consisting of some 50+ other trace minerals. Refined salt is also 97.5% sodium chloride, but the other 2.5% no longer consists of trace minerals, but rather, chemical additives.

Unrefined salt is at heart sea salt, but can come from two sources: either freshly dried from the sea, as in Celtic Sea Salt, or mined from ancient inland ocean beds as in the Himalayan Salt and RealSalt brands. In either case, the salt is a naturally occurring complex of sodium chloride, major minerals such as calcium and magnesium, and a complete complement of essential trace minerals. This is the form of salt the body recognizes and is designed to use. (Note: a case can be made that mined salt is actually purer than fresh ocean water salt since the inland beds, unlike ocean water, have been sealed off from all pollution -- particulalry manmade -- for millions of years.)

Note: much of the salt labeled "sea salt" is actually refined table salt unless the package is clearly labeled "unrefined." (This is also true for Kosher salt!)

Refined salt, on the other hand, is a manmade creation of the last century that contains anti-caking chemicals (with very important health consequences as we shall see in a minute) and added iodine. Iodine was added for people who lived inland and at one time did not benefit from natural iodine found in seafood. Truth be told, all refined table salt is actually sea salt at heart, either refined from the sea (brine sourced) or found in salt mines created by ancient seabed deposits known as halite. Refined salt is processed at high temperatures altering the molecular structure of the salt (not good) and removing the beneficial trace minerals. The human body doesn't like it.

Refined and unrefined salt act and react differently in our bodies.
Fundamental differences
Unrefined sea salt

* Natural salt is a prime condiment that stimulates salivation and helps to balance and replenish all of the body's electrolytes.

* The natural iodine in these salts protects against radiation, atomic fallout, and many other pollutants.

* Unrefined sea salt supplies all 92 vital trace minerals, thereby promoting optimum biological function and cellular maintenance:

o Here is a partial list of the minerals found in unrefined salt and their function in human metabolism:

+ Sodium: Essential to digestion and metabolism, regulates body fluids, nerve and muscular functions.

+ Chlorine: Essential component of human body fluids.

+ Calcium: Needed for bone mineralization.

+ Magnesium: Dissipates sodium excess, forms and hardens bones, ensures mental development and sharpens intelligence, promotes assimilation of carbohydrates, assures metabolism of vitamin C and calcium, retards the aging process and dissolves kidney stones.

+ Sulfur: Controls energy transfer in tissue, bone and cartilage cells, essential for protein compounds.

+ Silicon: Needed in carbon metabolism and for skin and hair balance.

+ Iodine: Vital for energy production and mental development, ensures production of thyroid hormones, needed for strong auto-defense mechanism (lymphatic system).

+ Bromine: In magnesium bromide form, a nervous system regulator and restorer, vital for pituitary hormonal function.

+ Phosphorus: Essential for biochemical synthesis and nerve cell functions related to the brain, constituent of phosphoproteins, nucleoproteins and phospholipids.

+ Vanadium: Of greater value for tooth bone calcification than fluoride, tones cardiac and nervous systems, reduces cholesterol, regulates phospholipids in blood, and a catalyst for the oxidation of many biological substances.

Refined table salt

* Inorganic sodium chloride upsets your fluid balance and constantly overburdens your elimination systems, which can impair your health.

* When your body tries to isolate the overdose of refined salt you typically expose it to, water molecules must surround the sodium chloride molecules to break them up into sodium and chloride ions in order to help your body neutralize them. To accomplish this, water is taken from your cells, and you have to sacrifice the water stored in your cells in order to neutralize the unnatural sodium chloride.

o This results in dehydrated cells that die prematurely.

* Refined table salt contains added iodine, which may indeed have helped eliminate the incidence of endemic goiter, but has conversely increased the incidence of hypothyroidism.

* Refined table salt lacks all trace minerals.

* Refined salt contains anticaking agents such as ferrocyanide, yellow prussiate of soda, tricalcium phosphate, alumine-calcium silicate, sodium aluminosilicate. All work by preventing the salt from mixing with water, both inside the box and inside the human body. This prevents the salt from doing one of its important functions in the organism: regulating hydration.

The problem of excess salt in the diet
Salt and Water

* Fish survive by excreting large amounts of salt through their gills. Humans excrete salt through their kidneys. But there is only so much salt that can be urinated away, and salt-sensitive individuals excrete less sodium than normal.

* If the body can't reduce the salt, the next best way to hit the right level is to increase the amount of water. This causes the body's extremities to swell up.

* If you're not drinking enough water, the body finds the extra water it needs by robbing its own cells. In extreme cases, neurons shrink and begin to stretch; brain and spinal membranes may begin hemorrhaging. The brain shrinks. Too high a concentration of salt in the body can lead to irritability, muscle twitching, seizures, brain damage, coma, and sometimes death. Usually, though, the results aren't quite so drastic.

o Dr. Myron Weinberger, an Indiana University medical school professor who authored the salt sensitivity study, says that given the "horrendous excess of salt that we end up with every day," some individuals can't get rid of it all, especially those born with subtle kidney problems that may go undiagnosed. Part of the problem is the chemical attraction between sodium and water.

* Hypertension

o High levels of sodium in the diet combined with low water consumption leads to hypertension. "Every grain of salt that is retained in the body carries with it 20 times its weight in water which increases the (amount of) fluid in circulation," Weinberger said. "If you think of the blood vessels as piping, as you push more fluid in them, then the pressure goes up."

Conclusion:
Choosing and balancing salt in your diet.

Unfortunately, you can't rely on fruits and vegetables any more for your trace minerals: they just don't contain them. Even organic fruits and vegetables are largely deficient, unless the grower goes to the extra expense of remineralizing the soil. In the end, you have to supplement either with unrefined sea salt or with a trace mineral supplement. Of course, we can all agree on one thing: a healthy diet is a diet in moderation.

Unfortunately, refined salt addiction is perhaps as prevalent and subtly dangerous in modern society as drug addiction, poor diet, and a sedentary lifestyle. Excess refined salt increases appetite and decreases bone density. Hmmm!

The bottom line is unrefined natural sea salt is as essential to life as oxygen, water, vitamins, proteins and essential fats -- in conscious moderation of course. The health benefits of unrefined salt must not be overlooked based on an overgeneralization in salt guidelines.

In that light, I recommend:

* Use unrefined sea salt (RealSalt, Himalayan, Celtic, etc.) instead of refined table salt.

* Use it in moderation.

* Read labels and back way down on sodium in packaged foods.

* Minimize fast food consumption since most fast food is off the charts when it comes to sodium.

* Avoid salt-based household soft-water systems. They can significantly increase the sodium levels in your body.

* Hydrate sufficiently (but not to excess).

* Keep your kidneys functioning properly. Twice a year (more often if you have kidney problems) use a bottle of chanca piedra or a kidney flush formula.
--
"The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves." ~ Dresden James

[Aarif]

Kaka,

Looks like you missed my point. I was more interested in knowing why bohris taste a bit of salt before and after every Jaman. I have seen bohri parents very strict about this. They tell their children to taste a bit of salt before eating Jaman. Even in Jamaat Khana without salt nobody can dare to start eating. Sometimes if you pick up a little more salt from "Namak Daani" depending upon your size of finger the salty taste remains in your mouth. After tasting salt we generally start with sweets and that is where it is problametic if you stil have that salt on your taste buds.

Brother Porus,

Is there any mention of this in the past history of dawoodi bohras?

Thanks in advance.

[Muslim First]

Salt before food?

[mumineen]

http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0004/
00040140.htm

The Bohras have another unusual custom pertaining to salt. The meal begins with the youngest member of the family offering a container of salt to everyone around the communal thal who dips his or her index finger into the bowl and tastes the salt. The tradition, called chakhwanoo, symbolises togetherness and equality.

***********************************************
It also seems to symbolise that the guest will be "nimak halal" than "nimak haram" to the host for his or her hosiptality!!!!

[porus]

It is a matter of etiquett such that no one in the thaal pounces on the food before salt is tasted along with invocation of Bismillahi-rahmaanir-raheem. It is also customary to taste the salt before leaving the thaal.

The reason for salt, rather than bread, is that Ali ibn Abi Taalib always took salt before iftaar.

Other reasons, like it is to induce saliva etc., while plausible are not based on religion. It is best to consider the practise as having its source in Bohra pre-history; the source which is now lost.

[anajmi]

The reason for salt, rather than bread, is that Ali ibn Abi Taalib always took salt before iftaar.

This is based on which hadith? What was the prophet's custom for iftaar? Was it salt? Did Hazrat Ali go against the practice of the prophet?

[Above Average Bohra]

For some reason I can't login using my other id anymore, so I am going to post using this id.

There is no mention of Hazrat Ali performing iftaar using salt anywhere in Daimul Islam in the chapter on Fasting. There is however mention of one instance where he opened his fast alongwith the prophet using milk. There is mention of how helping someone open his fast even with a date or water is a big virtue.

If these claims cannot be backed up (even from a doubtful source), then I am going to have to conclude that people are hanging their BS around Hazrat Ali's neck!!

[Hussain_KSA]

Brother Aarif,

There is no evidence of tasting salt before meals in Shia's and Ismaili sects. Suleimani bohras (Hussaini & Muheisini sects) also starts their meals without salt. During my search with 48th and Mehdi baughwals (Vakili & Badri sect) I found that they too are not practicing this tradition. The conclusion is that this innovation was introduced sometime during the period 40th to 51th Dai. However, Malegaon people (Roshan Khayal Jamat) who follow up to 46th Dai only do taste salt before and after meal.

I am not sure but I think most probably it was the period of Syedna Abdeali Saifuddin (43rd dai) who started this system. If I find any clue about this I will definitely inform the board. There are number of letters was sent during the era of Syedna Abdeali Saifudding to Ummaal all around the world containing religious instructions. (the letter about "Maatam" was also included in these letters).

As everyone knows there were number of customs introduced during the period of 51th leader, for example wearing black color was banned, wadawuni rasam, prostration to Syedna etc. There are number of traditions common in our community which is more popular in Hindu community.

[Muslim First]

.
Irbah bin Sariah related that Prophet SAW made long moving address where in he said:

Those of you who survive me will witness much contention. At that time, hold fast to my Sunnah and that of my rightly guided caliphas; and beware of all innovations, for every innovation is an error.

Related by Abu-Dawood and at-Tirmidhi

Abu Saeed al-Khudri reported that Prophet SAW said:

[On the Day of Judgment] I will greet you at the Kawthar. Anyone who comes to me will drink from it and will never be thirsty afterward. A group of people whom I will know and who will know me will try to approach me to drink from it, but there will be barrier between them and me. When I will plead for them, it will be said, “You certainly do not know what innovation they introduced after you.” Then I will declare. “Be gone, be gone all of theose who made innovations [in Islam] after me.”

Related by Bukhari and Muslim
.

[Gursevak]

rightly guided caliphas

Did he also name them?

and beware of all innovations, for every innovation is an error

Did not the second caliph introduce "variations" like talaq in quick time?

[humble_servant_us]

Shias also believe that tasting salt before and after meals as an act recommended by prophet(pbuh) though they do not follow it as orthodoxly as Bohras do.

This is what i got from shia sources, though i am not able to trace the book source but can find out,if required.

Holy Prophet (P) has said: "One who eats a pinch a salt before and after a thing (food) Allah will protect him from 360 types of hardship, of which the easiest is leprosy". Imam Baqir (a.s.) has said: "Salt is a cure for 70 diseases and if people will come to know the advantages of salt they will not use any other cure except salt."

Some notes on salt.

1. Taste is a chemical sensation. Salt stimulates the taste buds of the tongue to their maximum, thus increasing secretion. Saliva thus secreted helps in the process of mastication of food, and in the preparing of the food into a bolus, suitable for digestion. Saliva also has a digestive and bacteriolytic action.

2. Salt stimulates the sensory nerve endings on the tongue. This generates nervous impulses which pass via the central nervous system to trigger the corresponding motor nerve of the gland into action and commence secretion. Thus digestive juices are secreted in stomach and intestines, and the digestive system is prepared to digest and absorb the food which is to follow the initial taste of salt. Similarly, a pinch of salt at the end of a meal completes digestion. In other words indigestion and other related problems can be controlled by practicing this simple dietary advice.

3. Salt plays an important role in phosphorylation. The term phosphorylation includes all chemical reactions in the body which require combination with phosphoric acid. These chemical reactions are an essential part during the absorption and metabolism of different foods. It has been observed that adrenal glands (cortex) in the body control phosphorylation by helping the enzymes responsible for the process. But it is also known that many of the defects seen in diseases of adrenal glands are rectified by giving enough salt.

4. It is interesting to note that water absorption from the intestines is influenced by the presence of salt in it. Pure distilled water is absorbed only upto 59% but if given along with salt, the rate of absorption gradually rises to 95%.

5. Deficiency of salt shows reduction in fat deposits, atrophy of muscles, lung infections, retarded bone growth and reduction in bone tissue.

6. Lastly a word of caution for excess salt taken, which can lead to swelling all over the body especially legs and ankles, high blood pressure, hyper-acidity, stomach ulcers and paralytic strokes.

Therefore, taking a pinch of salt before and after each meal will surely fulfill one's daily requirements.

[Muslim First]

Br. Humble servent
AS

Before one attributes something to Prophet it is good to refer it to book form which it came from and who reported it.

Wasalaam

[Gursevak]

and ignore it if the reporter was a known supporter of Ali - right?

[anajmi]

Actually, this is a big advantage for the Shia. Since during the time of the prophet, there were no "Shia", an authentic source of the prophet's tradition, saying or teaching cannot be a shia. They can quote their source, if authentic and not fear of it being dismissed

[Muslim First]

Br. anajmi;

I ignore 'baqwas' of Turbooch and MHIsevak.
For them Qur'an or Sunnah does not matter at all. For them it 'Farmaans' HI and Ginan which they consider 'Tafseer' of Qur'an.
.

[Gursevak]

Since during the time of the prophet, there were no "Shia"

Did Aisha say there were no shia during the prophet's time? What else did she say - oH something about hamds reaching down the body...

[pardesi]

"Those of you who survive me will witness much contention. At that time, hold fast to my Sunnah and that of my rightly guided caliphas;....."

Could someone expand the term "rightly guided caliphas". I mean when was the term used the first time and by who and for whom? And NO MF, I haven't been able to dig out a farman on that subject

[Aarif]

Dear All,

Thanks for your valuable inputs.

I feel that even though it does not have any concrete source from Islamic perspective it seems to be a good custom to follow.

It also seems to symbolise that the guest will be "nimak halal" than "nimak haram" to the host for his or her hosiptality!!!!

From this one can deduce a very good intention in terms of establishing a bond of salt.

BTW: The bond of salt is considered as one of the strongest bond between people. Salt always had and will have its unique significance in life.

However, I feel that at home it is just a gesture representing good mannerisms as mentioned by brother Porus.

Please note that in Jamaat Khaana bohris do not follow it in the recommended manner as described by brother Porus. The bohris pounce upon food immediately after tasting namak which defeats its purpose of establishing etiquette. Also, I guess the signifincance of tasting salt at the end of Jaman is to ensure that everybody stays back in the thal and leaves only after the last member has finished eating. This is a good etiquette if followed. However, now a days individuals just search for the namak daani, taste salt and leave once they are done eating even in the middle of thal without bothering about anyone else.

So I feel that it is a good tradition if followed in right spirit.

[porus]

"hold fast to my Sunnah and that of my rightly guided caliphas"

Good catch, pardesi!

Aisha is 'mother of the faithful'???

Mother who ignores Quran; the injunction for a Prophet's wife to stay at home?

Mother who ignores Prophet's prophecy of the "Dogs of Hawwab"?

Mother who becomes enemy of Ali, sfter Prophet's prayer to Allah to be enemy to enemies of Ali?

And, did she have a pinch of salt before eating? No? We can make it up or her by taking her stories with a lot of salt.

[anajmi]

Unfortunately for the shia, it doesn't matter what kind of a person Aisha was. It doesn't change the fact that Allah has made her the mother of the believers. The sunnis respect her. Tells me that the sunnis are much better than the shia who want to dis-associate with their own mother.

What kind of people make fun of their own mothers?

[Above Average Bohra]

The reason Allah says that the wives of the prophet are like the mothers of the believers is so that the believers can respect them like their mothers and not make fun of them or hate them or dissociate with them.

We know that if there is a contradiction between a hadith and the quran, the quran takes precedence. So if the command of the prophet about the enemies of Ali contradicts with the verdict of the quran, the hadith has to be rejected.

[Muslim First]

Rightly-Guided Caliphs

Happy reading

[pardesi]

Thank you MF for taking the trouble of googling the info on “rightly guided caliphas”. It still does not answer my quest as to where the term “rightly guided caliphas” originate from. Other than the hadith quoted by you, is there any other reference to it that we can check out.

Here is what USC.EDU had to say. Its in quotations and bold.

"The Rightly-Guided Caliphs (Al-Khulafa-ur-Rashidun)

Those Caliphs who truly followed in the Prophet's foot steps are called 'The Rightly-Guided Caliphs' (Al-Khulafa-ur Rashidun in Arabic). They are the first four Caliphs: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, Uthman and Ali. …….”

Did they all “truly followed in the Prophet’s foot steps”? In my opinion following the footsteps means obeying his orders as well. Now I am not saying that they all went completely astray but the question is how many of those had the feet big enough to fill the Prophet’s shoes? Another observation – those who came after the first four according to the above were not following the Prophet’s footsteps.

“They lived simple and righteous lives and strove hard for the religion of God…..”

Simple, I can agree with, except for Uthman, whose lifestyle in my view was a little more than simple. Righteous, now that’s a whole new ballgame and might require us to open a new thread in a different forum.

“ Their justice was impartial, their treatment of others was kind and merciful, and they were one with the people - the first among equals…….”

Highly debatable for the first three. Their manners and attitude/behavior towards the Ahle Bayt and some close sahabas of the Prophet are well known.

“After these four, the later Caliphs assumed the manners of kings and emperors and the true spirit of equality of ruler and ruled diminished to a considerable extent in the political life of Muslims.”

Absolutely correct and the foundation was laid in the time of Umar and Uthman.

“ It should be clearly understood that the mission of Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), and hence that of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, was not political, social or economic reform, although such reforms were a logical consequence …..”

Prophet’s mission did include socio-economic reform which turned into a political struggle after his death.

Although the wives of the Prophet do deserve to be respected but the fact remains and their actions will always be questioned by some just like the majority always trying to justify their actions and those of the Khalifas, including the first 3 "rightly guided".

It is not the wives of the Prophet that some on this board are making fun of, it is the views of some idiots that are under attack.

[pardesi]

I dont know what happened to the bold italics I used for the quotes. Sorry.

[Above Average Bohra]

but the fact remains and their actions will always be questioned

There are idiots who will question what should not be questioned and accept stupidity without any questions. There is nothing you can do about them.

For eg. the prophet teaches to open a fast with a date, or some milk or if neither is available, then with water. We have some who believe that Hazrat Ali turned 180 degree and licked salt!!

The fact remains, Allah has declared the wives of the prophet as the mothers of the believers. So if you are a believer, then Hazrat Aisha is your mother. She doesn't need to answer your questions.

[pardesi]

Chill out Average. You are "above" that Dont take it too hard. Allah did call them mothers of believers but that does not mean that they are immune to questioning about their actions (especially after death). You know the wives did not go thru the "purification" process. Do you believe that Khadijah was the mother of the believers also? Aisha used to question or resent the Prophet mentioning Khadijah's name all the time. What do you call that? They are not infallible. Even Aisha admitted later in her life that she regrets going to war with Ali.

According to what you are saying that no one should "question" their acts then by that logic Hazrat Ali should not have fought her army. May be "question" is not an appropriate word but I am sure people can have a meaningful debate on that subject. No one is asking her to answer.

I agree that even the debate should be held in a very respectful manner when it comes to Prophet's wives and family. That reminds me the so called "5th caliph" had ordered all the masjid imams to curse Ali's name from the pulpit. Whatever happened to respect?

[Above Average Bohra]

Even Aisha admitted later in her life that she regrets going to war with Ali.

Then that should close this discussion.

their acts then by that logic Hazrat Ali should not have fought her army.

May be he shouldn't have. Who knows. Hazrat Ali was a human, may be he made a mistake. Here is where the Sunnis have gotten this right. They respect both Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Aisha as per the commandment of Allah and his prophet. They don't worry about what happened between them. The shia, being worshippers of Hazrat Ali, can't. So they go against the quran. The quran asks you to worship Allah, but the shia worship Hazrat Ali, so it becomes ok for them to reject the quran.

By the way, just so you know, I can't login with my other id (should be easy for you to guess) - I was able to post with it earlier because of cookies left on my laptop.

[pardesi]

You got me there

[pardesi]

quote:

"The shia, being worshippers of Hazrat Ali, can't. So they go against the quran. The quran asks you to worship Allah, but the shia worship Hazrat Ali, so it becomes ok for them to reject the quran."

What was all that about? Is it true? I must be an ignorant shia then. Anyways, I am still waiting to find out when the term "rightly guided khalifa" was introduced. I doubt it was the Prophet.