Jamat protocol?
I fully endorse the writer's views on the subject published in the columns of a daily on 26th August. There can be no protocol when we stand in any jamat to pray to Allah! For Allah all men and women are equal, and their ranking, if any, is only based on their piety, faith and character in life, and nothing else. Only the righteous among us, in words and deeds, rank high in His esteem for His creation!
I believe that the protocol that we are following, was created by the imperial British and other rulers, in days gone by, to imprint their superiority in the eyes of their subjects that they ruled! We with our ingrained slavish mentality have extended this idea even before our presence to the Almighty Allah in namaz (prayer)!
In any prayer jamat, be it on any occasion, the right to be in the first rank belongs to the musalli who comes first to the prayer jamat, and nothing else. Here paraphrasing the famous saying, the real format for the jamat should be: "Sceptre and crown must tumble down, and in the jamat, all be equal placed, with the poor and humble, all of whom, Allah alone has made". This is the fundamental principle of Islam, a democratic society created by divine instruction to mankind!
This so called 'status' concept has been made by ignorant mankind, who deem 'status' to demonstrate their worldly acquired symbols of wealth and power, that has no validity in the eyes of Allah, the Almighty, who sees and knows all! In fact, by moving up the ranks of jamat, they trample the fundamental principles of Islam, where all are equal in the eyes of Allah. Nothing else matters. Possibly the very idea of "protocol" is a non-Islamic concept created in pre-Islamic era, which should not be adopted in any congregation prayers!
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