Re: Astaghhfirullah
There are lot of scholars who do not make you feel like that. visit http://www.aswatalislam.net and you will find many such scholars.
for example. Bilal Philips, Gary Miller, Mohammed Alshareef, Husain Abdul Sattar.
Re: Astaghhfirullah
I understand what you're saying and I agree that many people need to work on the way they "deliever" knowledge.
Knowledge and wisdom go hand in hand. You cant spread knowledge effectively without having the wisdom of how to spread it.
As for the details, when it comes to salat, it IS important to give importance to the little details. Some may not agree to me, but this is what I think. Salat is that divine link between you and Allah. These details about salat didn't come from random places but from the sunnah of the Prophet PBUH and shouldn't be taken lightly, especially when it comes to salat.
Just think about it, you are praying to Allah, talking directly to Allah while in salat. Don't you want to be on your best behavior? As for the part of intentions, Intentions are by actions. You can't have one intention and act another way.
Think about this hadith:
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63. Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) said: You indulge in (bad) actions which are more insignificant to you than a hair while we considered them at the time of Messenger of Allah (PBUH) to be great destroying sins".
[Al-Bukhari].
Commentary: The less fear of Allah, one has the more disobedient he becomes to Him. As the fear of Allah decreases, one becomes more bold in committing sins. As the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) were intensely fearful of Allah, they were afraid of committing even very minor sins.
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This is Hadith number 63 in the Chapter of "Watchfulness" from the book Riyadh-us-Saliheen.
Re: Astaghhfirullah
I agree with Pataka- It is important to be aware of the little details. I think the problem is that the people doing most of the preaching are doing so in a confrontational way, with perhaps more interest in appearing or feeling more pious than imparting knowledge. Also, another reason they may be acting that way is that they want to do something but don't for islamic purposes, and when they see someone else doing it like wearing nail polish and still claiming they're religious, they berate the other person to feel better about themselves. Obviously if someone is showing genuine concern, approaches instead of reproaches, and expresses themselves with humbleness, people would be more likely to listen.
We must aspire perfection in our worship. While the bigger picture is important, the little details are equally important and cannot be sidelined. Desi women for some reason tend to take showing arms during prayer very lightly, but its pretty unthinkable for women from other places (arabs, indonesians/malasians) so what some think is a details is quite big for others.
Re: Astaghhfirullah
How do you handle people who try to drill you down by claiming they are wali-ullahs and know-it-all when it comes to religion?
I can't say I've run into anyone like this.
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Every one has their own belief, own trust on God, own faith, own ways of practising the religion. I think its okay to remind some one that its time for Zuhur namaz or Asar namaz or something but to go on about what sins you will get if you dont do this-that-the other! When the topic of parda starts or lets say dancing starts, some people will go on so much that they are the most pious of Allah's creations to land on earth and those who do dance or lets say wear half sleeves are big sinners.
Who are these people to decide what Allah will take as a sin and what He wouldnt? To advise some one to do what is better in a sweet caring way is different but to proclaim they are a PhD in religion is different! For many reasons, i believe its okay to pray if you have nail polish on. I do follow the most of the important things including Namaz, Fasting, zakat. Ive even gone for ettikaf, read the Quran many times and i avoid practicing the basic wrong doings as well - cheating, lieing, stealing, etc. If i do the most of the important things, why is there a big roar of astaghfirullahs if i pray with nail polish on (for eample). These things, in my view, are insignificant when the intension to pray whole-heartedly is there. I fail to understand why people compete on who is more religous and who knows more about Islam and who is more pious. Also, why the focus is more on whether you have nail polish on or not, whether your right hand is on top of the left one while praying or the left one is on top of the right one. Are these minute things much more important than the more essential things we know of?
Once one of my friends took me to a dars, I didnt want to go but she forced me. Now the lecturer there went on and on and on and on about full sleeves and half sleeves and exposure and what not. I was probably the only one in a crowd of 400 who was wearing half sleeves. I literally got the feeling i was wearing nothing. Its sad how the religion's essence is derailed with appearance and cultural things and the theme itself gets lost some where.
Do you normally come across people who act wali-ullahs? How do you handle them and how do you handle their direct point-marofying to you on you-know-nothing-about-Islam claims?
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I often come across people who know more than I do and who practice better than I do. If they do advise me on something, I'll thank them for pointing out what I did wrong and make an effort to rectify it in the future.
I'd say I see the other side of the coin more often. Those people who think they're so much more advanced than you, they must be from the future. I actually saw someone at a wedding (segregated) who started telling everyone why they shouldn't segregate weddings. A couple of people listened patiently to what he said before another uncle told him he needs to spend 40 days in jamat. I didn't hear him bring up the topic again.