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Eight Questions Answered - Jama`at Khanah and Non-Isma`ilis
Jama`at Khanah and Non-Isma`ilis
When any other Muslim brother wants to come to jama`at-khanah, why should he not be allowed to come?
- For a detailed answer to this question see also my article entitled "Islam ki Bunyadi Haqiqatayn (The Fundamental Realities of Islam)" which is going to be published in "Panj Maqalah (Five Articles) No. I" Further, the question arises that will the person who wants to come to jama`at-khanah accepts all the conditions, manners and rites of the jama`at-khanah as an Ismacili does? If it is not possible for him to do so, then there is no benefit in his coming to the jama`at-khanah. So in this case it is better for him not to come to the jama`at-khanah.
- In Islam there are certain holy buildings which are common among the Muslims, and there are some which are private. Among the holy places or buildings which are common, first comes the Kacbah, and then comes the mosque, for these buildings belong to the period when all Muslims were one. However, in some places there are certain mosques, which owing to either different views or different sects are private. Similarly, in fact more stringently, khanqah, imam barah, and jama`at-khanah are private places, for these places are respected only by those who are basically attached to them in faith and thus no other people may share in these holy places.
- 'Mosque', which in Arabic is called 'masjid', means the place of prostration or place of worship. Therefore this word invites all the Muslims to go there and bow before God and worship Him. But in the word jama`at-khanah, `ibadat or worship, is not apparent, as jama`at-khanah, in Persian, means the house of a group, which belongs only to a particular group and not to all. Such is the philosophy intrinsic in the meaning of khanqah. Khanqah is the Arabicised form of khangah or khanah-gah, which means the place where Sufis and dervishes live. Here also the meaning 'worship' is kept in secret, for otherwise the Sufis would have chosen a word which would have immediately and openly denoted worship (i.e. would have meant a place of worship). But this was done intentionally for there they had to instruct the teaching of Islam in a specific way. Also, each khanqah was confined to the disciples of a particular pir or shaykh (spiritual guide). This same example may be applied to the jama`at-khanah for the jama`at-khanah in the beginning was the khanqah itself. We come across the jama`at- khanah of Bakhtyar-i Kaki in the biographies of the Sufis, and this is later adopted in Ismacilism. This historical event is a clear proof of the fact that tariqat comes from the depth (batin) of shari`at and haqiqat emerges from the depth of tariqat, This whole discussion leads to the conclusion that the Ismacilis belong only to the followers of the Hazir (i.e. present) Imam.
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