Allah
(swt) Honoured those who were dedicated to studying the Deen
for His Sake
Allah (swt) gave the u’lemaa’ a great honour when
He (swt) mentioned their affirmation to his tawheedul ulooheeyah.
Allah (swt) says “Allah bears witness that none
has the right to be worshipped but He and the angels and those
having knowledge, maintains His creation with Justice. None
has the right to be worshipped but He, Al A’zeezul Hakeem” (aali I’mraan 3:18) Also the ayah demonstrates that the
true a’lim is upon tawheed.
Abu
Hurayrah reported that Rasool Allah (saw) said “He
who alleviates the suffering of a brother from the affections
of the world, Allah will alleviate his affections from the sufferings
of the Day of Resurrection. He who finds relief for one who
is hard pressed, Allah will make things easy for him in the
Hereafter, and he who conceals (the faults) of a Muslim, Allah
would conceal his faults in the world and in the Hereafter.
Allah is at the back of a servant so long as the servant is
at the back of his brother. He who treads the path in search
of knowledge, Allah will make that path easy, leading to Paradise
for him and those persons who assemble in one of the houses
of Allah (mosques), recite the Book of Allah and learn and teach
the Qur'an (among themselves). There will descend upon them
tranquillity, mercy will cover them, the angels will surround
them and Allah will mention them in the presence of those near
Him. He who is slow-paced in doing good deeds, his (long) descent
does not make him go ahead.” (MUSLIM [no.6518])
We see from this hadeeth that Allah gave some special rewards
and honour to the sincere a’lim and student of knowledge:-
1) The a’lim is included in the meaning of “He
who alleviates the suffering of a brother…” because he alleviates the suffering of the believers in
the world by directing them to Tawheed, Tawakkal and acceptance
of Qadr. He calls them to the Islamic beliefs, thoughts
and emotions and thus believers when tested are reminded
of the aim of life and the Islamic provisions for their
journey. Therefore Allah (swt) will alleviate his suffering
on Yawmil Qiyaamah.
2) The a’lim is supported by Allah
as the a’lim is the one calling to support and is
himself supporting as there is no greater support than
knowledge and every legitimate support is based upon knowledge.
3) Allah makes the Path of Paradise easy
for the one seeking knowledge.
4) Tranquility descends upon them
5) Mercy covers them
6) The angels surroud them
7) Allah mentions them in the presence
of those who are near Him. We should also learn the lesson
that the lineage and worldy staus is nothing compared
to the status of knowledge and good actions and this is
similar to the ayah “The most Noble with
Allah are those with taqwa” |
Many
people today do not understand the great work that the scholars
and students have knowledge have contributed to the Islamic
culture and civilisation since the time of the Prophet (saw)
over fourteen-hundred years ago. It is common just to pick up
a book of hadeeth and freely quote from it not realising the
great efforts and struggles that thousands or righteous and
dedicated individuals have contributed towards its compilation
and verification. In the first three generations of Islam and
after this it was common for a muhaddith to travel for many
days enduring much hardship all in order to meet one individual
who would either confirm or negate the authenticity of a particular
narration or event. Yet today we have access to hundreds of
books of hadeeth which contain thousands of reports and we consider
our own efforts of reading the hadeeth a great good deed.
It
is also very common for people to criticise and argue with the
views of the classical scholars while not having the slightest
idea of the basis of the views of the scholars nor of their
method of deriving their juristic opinions. The classical scholars
were not just people who would read a few books of hadeeth or
law in their spare time but rather they were masters of many
detailed sciences of Islamic knowledge. From their childhood
they were dedicated to Islamic learning under many teachers
and they forsook their beds in order to seek guidance from Allah
through study, supplication and recitation of the Quran. They
were men of towering intellects who would be debating and defeating
the intellectuals of their times due to their precise analysis
and developed Islamic thinking.
To
disregard the People of Knowledge is an Indication that the
Status of Knowledge itself has not been recognised
When
we analyse the ahadeeth t that described the virtue of knowledge
and the high rank of those dedicated to learning the Islamic
oceans of knowledge, we see that the common view of the people
makes a vast under-estimation of the weight of the u’lemaa’
in the Sight of Allah (swt). Such an underestimation can only
come from a failure to recognise the tremendous importance of
Islamic knowledge in itself. The one who possesses a massively
destructive weapon himself will be recognised as massively dangerous
due to the danger of that which he is in possession of, however,
the one who is unaware of the danger of the weapon will never
attribute such danger to the individual who possesses it, due
to his ignorance.
When
we come to look at the way we perform our i’baadah or
any action in accordance with the shari’ah, we should
realise that we ourselves did not go to the root sources of
revelation and derive such actions for ourselves but rather
we are acting upon the basis of teachings that have been conveyed
from the earliest of Islamic generations and preserved by the
dedicated scholars from generation to generation. In fact in
these times the masses of people have become so ignorant and
oblivious to the importance of the religious knowledge that
most are not even knowing of their basic duties. However, anyone
who wishes to perform their duties in accordance with shari’ah
is able to do so due to the efforts, classifications and descriptions
of the Islamic law pertaining top our daily lives that have
been left in hundreds and thousands of books by the classical
scholars and followed in a similar way by sincere hard-working
scholars in every generation. We can not enter paradise without
i’baadah and that i’baadah is not a thing invented
but rather it is something based upon a methodical interpretation
and classification of thousands of Divine evidences extracted
from the Quran and the immense hadeeth literature. With this
in mind we can come closer to understanding the reality of ahadeeth
such as the following - Hudhayfah reports that Nabi (saw) said “The virtue (fadl) of i’lm is better than
the virtue of i’baadah and the best of your deen is waraa’” (TABARAANI in ‘al Awsaat’ AL BAZZAAR) The efforts
in knowledge are more important than the common acts of i’baadah
from the view that seeking knowledge itself is a form of i’baadah
and that it facilitates the way for the i’baadah to be
performed correctly and so the i’baadah becomes valid.
For acts of i’baadah to be valid they must be based upon
the correct a’qeedah and this a’qeedah is a matter
of knowledge. The actions must be performed according to the
same method of Nabi (saw) and this investigation of the sunnah
is a matter of knowledge. The i’baadah must also be performed
with a pure intention and motivated by the same weight of rule
as performed by the messenger, for aexample, an act would become
invalid if it was performed as recommendation when in shari’ah
it carries the weight of obligation. So these important matters
are all related to a detailed knowledge of the subtle textual
indications and signs as well as the relevant evidences being
selected according to the subject matter, the beginning and
the end of i’baadah is founded upon knowledge. If we view
the ways people pray we see that they all pray with the same
basic pillars of prayer and there exist only a few slight variations
in the form of the salah such as where the hands are placed,
whether the finger is moved, the position of the feet in sitting
etc. Now if we consider the amount of possible direct and indirect
evidences that could be potentially related to the salah and
the possibility of interpretations we would witness hundreds
or even thousands of different prayer styles if each individual
was left to his own devices to derive the salah from the root
sources of revelation. But this is not the case because the
prayer of the prophet (saw) was preserved by methodical interpretation
and sound juristic effort and methods of preservation. Every
time we pray we are following the Prophet (saw) and the command
of Allah to pray but we forget that the muhaditheen, the mufassireen,
the fuqahaa, the usooleeyeen and the early generations have
all had a part to play in the transmission of the details of
the salaah to us, and it may well be that they all have a share
of the reward without it decreasing our own reward.
It
is reported that nabi (saw) said “The superiority
of the a’lim over the a’bid is like my superiority
over one of you” (AHMAD, TABARAANI declared ‘saheeh’
by ‘AL HAAKIM’) The truth of this hadeeth is proven
by the fact that the a’lim is also an a’bid. He
is a worshipper and is even more motivated to worship due to
his knowledge of tawheed, the knowledge of reward and punishment
and other aspects of motivation. Additionally, the a’lim
has a greter reward in his worship because his worship is more
correctly performed and with a fuller awareness of the commands
and the evidence related to it. The a’lim can multiply
his reward by the amount of intentions that he can inspire within
himself due to knowing the shariah weight of actions and the
rewards related to them. Also he has made more effort in his
i’baadah as he has thoroughly researched and exhausted
effort in seeking correctness before performing the act. Another
factor is that the a’lim is followed by those who are
not at his level of knowledge as he is trusted, he is like an
inheritor of the prophet (saw) and his inheritance is knowledge
and so the people follow him and ask him due to his knowledge
and thus he has a share in the reward of their ibaadah too.
It is reported that Nabi (saw) said “The a’lim
is more superior to the a’bid as the full moon is superior
to other planets. Scholars have not left behind dinaar nor dirham.
Rather they left behind knowledge. Thus whoever seeks it will
have an abundant gain.” (TIRMIDHI)
Some
consider that the beginning an end of knowledge in Islam is
the ability to quote ayaat and ahadeeth related to specific
subjects. This is in truth far from the reality and contradicts
the divine texts and is opposed to reason. The u’lemaa
are not simply people who possess either books or memories containing
the Quran and Hadeeth. If this was the definition of an a’lim
then we would have many u’lemaa’ and becoming an
a’lim would be as simple as purchasing as many Quran and
Hadeeth Books as possible. Anyone who possessed some books of
hadeeth could claim to be a muhaddith. It is surprising how
many people today carry this obviously ridiculous view of Islamic
scholarship. If we considered a doctor to be the one who has
purchased some medical books and can quote some passages relating
to the subject matter at hand then we can imagine many disasters
of health, but indeed people are not so naïve and ridiculous
concerning their affairs of health as many are concerning their
affairs of the akhirah. In truth, the knowledge of Islam is
contained in unlimited oceans of knowledge and it is so great
that not even a small portion of it can be contained in one
man. Indeed Allah (swt) says “…And of knowledge
you have been given only a little.” (al Israa
17:85) Even the sahaabah who were spending time in the presence
of Nabi (saw) and witnessed the descent of revelation directly
and possessed the pure Arabic language and the awareness of
circumstances of revelation were reluctant to speak about any
matter of the deen without certainty of their words. It was
only a few among the thousands of the sahaabah who used to regularly
pass fataawa and many of them were frightened even to utter
words that were upon the probability of correctness, due to
their fear of making an error. This was based upon their knowledge
not upon their ignorance. They knew very well that preservation
of the deen was an important matter and that the slip of the
one trusted with knowledge is greater than the slip of the follower.
They knew the great sin of changing any slightest detail of
the deen and were fully aware of the major sin of attributing
some falsehood to Allah (swt) or His messenger (saw).
So
without doubt, the knowledge of the deen is not just a matter
of quoting hadeeth nor of memorisation. Rather the knowledge
is based upon detailed understanding of the shari’ah rules
and a great fear and awareness of Allah (swt) at all times.
Someone does not become a skilled carpenter by going to a forest
and gathering some firewood and so the highest of knowledge,
the Islamic shari’ah knowledge is not gained to the level
of expertise and proficiency in a few days or weeks of reading.
The prophet (saw) taught the sahaabah for more than twenty years
and they continued to learn and study up until their death.
The rules of Islam and its details of belief were taught throughout
the Quran and revealed in many different occasions over a period
of twenty three years, yet people today expect to read one book
or listen to a few lectures and then possess a full grasp of
branch of Islamic knowledge that not even the dedicated scholars
would claim expertise in. In fact the more sincere study we
make the more we realise how little we know. Indeed the salaf
realised the importance and wisdom of saying ‘I do not
know’ and the idiocy in many situations of saying ‘I
know’. Ibn Masoo’d reported that Nabi (saw) said “There is no envy except for two a man whom Allah
has given wealth and whom He gave power for spending it for
the truth and a man whom Allah has given hikmah and who acts
upon it and teaches it” (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM)
A’bdullah
ibn A’mr reported that nabi (saw) said “Verily,
Allah will not destroy knowledge by snatching it away from his
slaves but he will destroy knowledge by taking away the lives
of the u’lemah until there will not even remain a single
a’lim, people will then take the illiterate as leaders.
They will be questioned and they will give fataawa without knowledge.
They will go astray and will lead others astray.” (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM)
A’li
reported that Rasool Allah (saw) said “Excellent
is the man who is faqeehu fi-deen, if anybody feels need to
go to him he benefits and if people do not feel need to go to
him he benefits himself.” (RAZEEN, Mishkaat [vol.1
p.357])
U’thmaan
ibn A’faan reported that nabi (saw) said “On
yawmil qiyaamah three will intercede the prophets then the u’lemaa’
then the shuhadaa” (IBN MAJAAH)
Ibn
A’bbaas reports Nabi (saw) “The nearest
of men to the rank of prophethood ahlul i’lm wal jihaad” (ABU NA’EEM)
Ibn
A’bbaas reports Nabi (saw) “There are two
classes of my people when they are good my people are good and
when they are bad the people are bad, the umaraa’ and
the fuqahaa” (ABU NA’EEM)
It
is also reported that Nabi (saw) said “Whoever
respects the following he really pays respect to Allah –
An aged Muslim [shaybitil muslim] and one who teaches and preaches
the Quran without any excess in it and respects the Sultaanil
Muqsit [Just Ruler]” (ABU DAWOOD, MUNDHIRI in
‘at Targheeb wat Tarheeb’)
Abu
Umaamah reported that Nabi (saw) said “Whoever
belittles the following three is a munaafiq – one aged
in Islam [shaybah fi’l Islam] and those possessing knowledge
and a just leader [imaamun muqsit]” (TABARAANI,
MUNDHIRI in ‘at Targheeb wat Tarheeb’)
Anas
reported that Nabi (saw) said “For Allah from
amongst the people there are some who are those of his people
[ahleen]” They asked ‘Who are those people?’
He (saw) said “People of the Quran they are the
people of Allah and His special ones [khaasatuhu]” (NASAA’I,
IBN MAAJAH, AL HAAKIM, AHMAD)
It
is also reported that Nabi (saw) said “He is not
from my ummah, he who does not respect our elders and have mercy
on our youngsters and does not respect our people of knowledge
[ya’rif aa’limanaa]” (MUNDHIRI ‘at
Targheeb wat Tarheeb’)
It
is also reported that Nabi (saw) said “I fear
particularly for three shortcomings in my followers –
Firstly, due to increasing worldly benefits and achievements,
they will envy one another. Secondly, discussion of the Holy
Quran will become so common that even the ignorant will claim
that they know the meanings of the Holy Quran, although many
meanings are such that cannot be understood by anyone except
the well versed scolars of the Book, who say ‘We have
a firm belief in it and that it is from Allah’, so how
much more careful should be the common people. Thirdly, the
people of knowledge will be neglected and will not be respected
properly” (MUNDHIRI ‘at Targheeb wat Tarheeb’)
The
Idiocy of Rejecting that which is above our level of Knowledge
and Understanding
One of the common phrases that can be heard in opposition to
the views of the classical scholars is ‘There is no evidence
for this’ And this is truly one of the foolish statements
uttered by the ignorant. People claim there is no evidence without
even investigating the issue at hand and neither possessing
the knowledge of whether evidence exists or not. Even the those
who have memorised thousands of ahadeeth rarely use terms such
as ‘There is no evidence’ because this is a comprehensive
denial that any wahi exists in support of the matter mentioned.
And as seeing as the matter has beenm supported by one or more
of the classical scholars it will be almost certain that the
matter is rcognised to be a matter of shara’i ikhtilaaf
[legitimate juristic differences] and the matter is therefore
not established by qati’ daleel [definite evidence] but
is rather based upon zanni daleel [probable evidence] and is
so from the branches of the deen in which interpretation and
ijtihaad are needed rather than the foundations of the deen
in which no difference can occur. So after understanding this
we already begin to see that such sweeping statements are strange
to the scholars of precision who often may change their opinions
after many years after discovering daleel or an interpretation
that they have not encountered before. So if the scholars who
delve into the Divine evidences everyday realise that the strongest
opinions may evade them for many years then how silly is a sweeping
denial of the one who has only just started to study the deen?
With
a little thought and awareness we can see how dangerous and
erroneous it can be to make such over confident negations of
the views of the classical scholars:-
•
Firstly, there are over six thousand ayaat of the Quran and
even the fuqahaa’, usooliyeen and mufassireen are not
agreed upon those ayaat which are abrogated and that number
of them which are related to ahkaam. This is because in new
situations various ayaat become relevant to rulings whereas
before the application of them in a particular issue was unrequired
due to the issue not arising. Also this is due to the fact that
the ayaat are understood in different ways and that the scholars
differ on principles of application. For instance, some of the
u’lemaa’ follow an usool called ‘shara’
man qablanaa’ [laws of the previous prophets] and that
is that when the Quran or Sunnah mentions the rules of previous
prophets, such rules also become binding upon us unless there
is specific abrogation or some indication it is not also for
us. However this, is not followed by many fuqahaa due to various
rational and textual reasons and so this obviously effects those
number of ayaat and ahadeeth that relate to the ahkaam. The
point is however that the Quran is a vast ocean of knowledge
and no scholar in no time period would ever dare to claim to
possess the whole knowledge of every part of the Quran, because
indeed the Quran is the speech of Allah and its knowledge is
applicaple to all times and thus many meanings and rules can
emanate from just one verse. So even just when looking at knowledge
from the view of the Quran, who can confidently say that they
always possess the knowledge of every ayah and all its possible
meanings?
•
Secondly, with regards to the authentic tafseer [explanation
and commentary] of the Quran we can see that such books are
in their hundreds and they explain the Quran on the basis of
the language, the explanation of the verses by the Quran itself,
the explanations of the Prophet (saw), the explanation by the
statements and actions of the prophet (saw), the explanations
by the sahaabah and the early scholars of the salaf and many
other principles of interpretation. With such tafseers being
many and each running into several volumes even up to thirty
volumes and more, who can say they have full knowledge of the
tafseer of the Quran, so that they can claim there is no daleel
at all in the Quran to support a particular view of a scholar?
•
Thirdly, the Quran itself tells us to refer to the people of
knowledge as does the sunnah also, so when we know this and
when we know that there have been hundreds or even thousands
of scholars in every generation since the time of the prophet
(saw) then how can we claim to know all the views of the scholars
concerning a particular matter?
•
Fourthly, from the Quran and ahadeeth the sahaabah, tabi’een,
tabit tabi’een and righteous scholars have derived many
hundreds of principles of interpretation and application in
order to assist in deriving rules for different situations,
so the one who denies the existence of any evidence for a matter,
does he himself know all of these principles so that he can
say that none of them applies to the matter in question?
•
Fifthly, the second great source of evidence is the sunnah of
the prophet (saw) which contains his actions, words and instances
of consent. The common person may think that the hadeeth books
are few and that the sunnah can be quickly investigated but
any aware student of Islamic knowledge can tell us that there
are more than three-hundred original collections of ahadeeth
and most of them consist of several thousand ahadeeth and some
of them contain up to forty thousand narrations and some even
more than that. When this is understood, we will quickly realise
that almost everyone is in the position of not even possessing
the knowledge of a few books of ahadeeth let alone the whole
body of hadeeth literature.
•
Sixthly, there are many hundreds of books which explain hadeeth
methodology and others which explain ahadeeth and these books
are obviously much bigger than the hadeeth books themselves,
and such books bring out many subtle points and aspects of knowledge
that even the well versed scholars refer to let alone the students
who have only just embarked upon their studies.
•
Seventhly, let us mention the books of law themselves, in the
various madh-habs and there are more than four of them, there
are thousands of books of fiqh which classify and list the law
in detail of all the common areas of human activity, some of
them being like general encylopeadias of law and other specialising
in particular fields or further specialised into specific issues,
all of these types of fiqh books have commentaries and many
of them have many commentaries. When this is known then it is
clear that no-one can claim to have an awareness of all the
fiqh and all the views of the scholars because the literature
relating to it is just much too vast to be learned by any person
even if he read books for his whole life time and even if he
lived for several hundred years.
Therefore,
before someone disrespects the scholars of the past and present
by ridiculing their views and their efforts by saying that their
ijtihaad and works were baseless and without daleel we should
first ask ourselves not whether we can walk before we are trying
to run, but rather we should ask have we been born before we
are trying to run. To say there is ‘No evidence’
for a matter makes the assumption that the one making the claim
knows what evidence is, but sadly many people do not know what
evidence is let alone how it is correctly derived and authenticated.
For example it is common for people to say ‘Do not use
ration, I want to hear Quran and Sunnah’. Such people
themselves do not know Quran and Sunnah as the Quran and Sunnah
itself commands us to use ration in understanding and verifying
the daleel as well as the reality to which it applies. Indeed,
daleel cab be either rational [a’qli] or textual [naqli]
but those who do not use their intellects to understand the
Quran will never be able to gain the truth of daleel that was
available to those who use their intellects. Without doubt scholarship
is only available to those who have sound intellect and not
those who oppose the intellect, Allah gave us minds to use them
and the Quran was addressed to the intellects. Allah (swt) says “…and He will put the rijs upon those who do not
use their intellects” (Yoonus 10:100) and “And they will say: ‘Had we but listened or used
our intellects, we would not have been among the dwellers of
the blazing Fire.’” (al Mulk 67:10)
Before
entering any discussion of detailed rulings that have been subject
to differences and declaring the absence of evidence in relation
to a jurists fiqh we should ask ourselves:-
1)
Do we know what evidence is? Many are under the false
impression that evidence will only ever consist of an
isolated ayah or hadeeth. This over simplistic understanding
is wrong due to many many factors. Firstly, the fiqh of
a certain matter is usually not contained in one verse
or hadeeth but it is often connected to many ayaat and
ahadeeth. For example if we surveyed the Quran and Sunnah
for daleel related to the obligation of amr bil ma’roof
wan nahi a’nil munkar we would find maybe up to
one thousand authentic evidences from Quran and Sunnah,
some of them explaining each other and some of them seeming
to be in conflict but in reality not contradicting but
in need of some juristic reconciliation [jami’]
based upon external evidence, juristic principles [qawaa’id
ul fiqheeyah] and internal indications [qaraa’in].
Secondly, the Quran and Sunnah itself establishes other
general foundations which operate as individual sources
of law. Such usoolul fiqh [foundations of law] have their
basis in the explicit commands of the evidence and in
the practise of the Prophet (saw) and the practise of
the sahaabah. Therefore, all the madhaahib [schools of
law] followed the Quran and ahadeeth but none of them
restricted themselves to this because from these root
sources of law emanate many other sources of law which
are followed by different schools for example ijma’
[consensus], some just say ‘ijma’ as though
it is of one type. But in truth the jurists distinguished
between many types e.g. ijma as sahaabah [consensus of
the companions], ijma al ummah [consensus of the Muslim
community], ijma al u’lemaa’ [consensus of
the scholars], ijma al u’lemaa al Madeenah [consensus
of the scholars of salafi Madeenah], ijma al khulafaa’
al arba’a [consensus of the first four khaleefahs],
ijma ahlul bayt [consensus of the prophetic household].
There are also many other general evidences [adillah ijmaleeyah]
which are used as sources of law e.g. qiyaas [juristic
analogy], istishaab [presumption of continuity], istihsaan
[juristic preference], al masaalih al mursalah [the unmentioned
benefit], sadd adh dharaa’i [blocking the means
to haraam], shara’ man qablanaa [laws of previous
prophets] and several others. Now if we have not studied
these general sources of law, and therefore do not understand
the textual and rational principles which they are based
upon, then how can we reject the fiqh that emanates from
them? This is like the one who goes to the market to buy
some fruit and the seller tells the potential buyer I
have some new beautiful fruit from a foreign land for
you, the buyer says ‘I don’t like it’
even though he has not even seen it let alone tasted it.
2)
Do we know where and how to find evidence? Some wrongly
consider that they will find all the hadeeth in a relevant
chapter in a musannaf [the ahadeeth collection arranged
by topics such as ‘Jaami’us Saheeh’
of Bukhaari etc.] compilation. However, often the relevant
hadeeth is not in the expected chapter due to the narration
being related to many topics. It is also the case that
the relevant hadeeth is in hadeeth books that were specialised
on particular topics or it could be that the hadeeth exists
in a book of fiqh or history. Some ahadeeth are arranged
by narrator [raawi] so how would the novice start to look
for what he wants?
3)
Do we know how to authenticate evidence? Many wrongly
believe that authentication is just a matter of seeing
whether a particular muhaddith graded a narration ‘daa’eef’
or ‘saheeh’. Indeed if matters were as simple
as that we would not need muhaditheen in every era. However,
the commands of Nabi (saw) were directed to every generation
of the ummah to study and preserve the ahadeeth. In truth
the grading of hadeeth as weak, authentic etc. is not
a Divine classification but rather it is of men. And although
it may seem surprise some people, the scholars of hadeeth
were not infallible but rather, they were ordinary humans
and made mistakes. This gives rise to differences among
the muhadditheen some of them classifying a narration
as authentic and others classifying it as fabricated,
or strong, weak etc. This means that someone without knowledge
and upon what he has read from one muhaddith may reject
a narration while it may be a genuine sunnah of the prophet
or similarly on the basis of what a muhaddith has said,
he may attribute something to the prophet (saw) which
has been proven by others not to be from him, both of
these matters are severe and carry tremendous consequences.
One of them results in attributing lies to Nabi (saw)
and the other results in replacing the sunnah with bida’
[prohibited innovation] both of these matters have been
declared by the authentic wahi to be in the Fire. In fact
there are many causes of difference between the muhadditheen
in methodology and other natural human causes of difference,
this means that hadeeth authentication is a matter of
deep study and adoption of methodical principles. These
principles are subject to difference of opinion. Additionally,
the efforts, circumstances and abilities of the muhadditheen
are diverse and this also contributes towards differences.
For example, one muhaddith may regard a particular narration
as weak due to the presence of a narrator whose character
he doubts. As for another muhaddith, he may authenticate
the hadeeth due to rejecting the previous muhaddiths suspicians
after further investigation or even due to believeing
his reported blemish of character to be irrelevant to
his narration of hadeeth. At this point some frustrated
simpletons exclaim ‘No, the sunnah has been preserved’
It is unfortunate for them that they are unable to differiate
between matters of a’qeedah, matters of usoolul
fiqh and matters of u’loomul hadeeth. If they understood
a few simple principles of hadeeth methodology they would
know that it is established as a rational and textual
fact that not every act and word of the prophet (saw)
has reached us but this has no connection with the preservation
of the sunnah. This is because a sunnah can be established
from just one narration and the sunnah are the laws and
normative practise of the prophet (saw) that has been
extracted from the various reports relating to a particular
subject. The sunnah has indeed been preserved but this
does not mean every single word, physical action and expression
of nabi (saw) has been preserved, although this was all
wahi. And more importantly we should not think that the
preservation of the sunnah means that all of the works
of particular muhadditheen are without error and that
all of the strict muhadditheen have become infallible,
rather this would be an innovated belief and a straying
in a’qeedah. Another point which many miss is that
the ahadeeth are not just verified through the analysis
of the chains of narration [i’lmul riwaayah] but
are also verified based upon the contents of the narration
[i’lmud diraayah]. Therefore the muhaddith or faqeeh
will look to whether the text is contradicting the other
established narrations, to see whether the report is consistent
with the Qura’n and to see whether the report is
rationaly possible and to see whether the text contains
any internal contradictions, these and other such matters
may reveal that a hadeeth text is either mixed up, incomplete
or even fabricated. So those who wish to reject the role
of the intellect in hadeeth authentication would indeed
be plunging the ummah into a time of darkness and confusion
where the enemies of Islam would be able to succeed in
distancing the Muslims from the wahi and replacing it
with their deliberate fabrications.
4)
Do we know how to interpret evidence? The interpretation
of evidence is not just a matter of reading the isolated
text. Interpretation requires tools of interpretation.
We would not expect a doctor or surgeon to facilitate
a cure without the study of the illness and the surgical
intruments and medicines. Therefore how is it we can accurately
interpret texts over one thousand years old when so many
factors need to be considered in order to avoid mistakes?
Some silly ignorant people regard usoolul fiqh as an innovation
but they fail to realise it is a necessary obligation
of sufficiency [fard kifaayah] upon the Muslim ummah.
In the time of the Prophet (saw) the usool was present
because the wahi was revealed among the people and about
them. They could easily verify reports with their companions
or with the prophet (saw) himself and they could clarify
meanings in the same manner. However, when we become distanced
from the source of revelation by place and time we need
to develop a methodology in order to verify that a text
is revelation and also clarify its meaning. These are
the two main aims of usoolul fiqh, to verify the matter
is wahi and to interpret it correctly so that it can be
correctly applied in order to worship Allah (swt) correctly.
5)
Do we know how to reconcile or prefer evidence in apparent
conflicts? Our ignorance and dependence upon the classical
scholars becomes manifest when we encounter the many apparent
contradictions between ayaat or between ahadeeth or between
ayaat and ahadeeth. Such apparent contradictions need
thorough research and expertise in order that we do not
reject or affirm a daleel incorrectly and also that we
do not attribute an incorrect meaning to an authentic
daleel. There are many factors that need to be considered
in this field of usoolul fiqh known as ‘ta’rud
al adillah’ [conflict of evidence]. The circumstances
of revelation may restrict the application or meaning
of a general text. It could be that another ayah or hadeeth
restricts the application of another daleel. It could
be that the explanation of sahaabah or of general principles
restricts the meaning of an evidence or clarifies it to
be general. There many other factors such as investigations
into the usage of Arabic words or metaphorical and literal
meanings and their effect upon ayaat and ahadeeth of ahkaam.
The basic point is that the correctness of settling an
apparent conflict is often not contained in the isolated
evidences themselves but rather many external evidences
and principles may need to be referred to. There are many
possibilities when evidence seems to be in conflict and
making a mistake can have big consequences in this life
and in the next. An apparent conflict could be due to
several reasons including the following:-
i)
An exception to a general rule
ii) A general statement by which the specific [khass]
was intended
iii) A partial expression by which the general [a’mm]
was intended
iv) A mistaken interpretation [Ta’weel] of the evidence
v) Abrogation [Naskh]
vi) A partial text
vii) A specification [Takhsees]
viii) A fabricated [Mawdoo’]text
ix) Metaphorical [Majaazi] statement
In
truth there are no conflicts in the Divine Texts but the
conflict is only an apparent conflict. This means either
one of the evidences is rejected and is thus not counted
among the Divine evidences or it is a case of abrogation
in which case there is no conflict for one of the rulings
no longer applies or there is a reconciliation of the
evidences, which means that the conflict was only percieved
but did not exist in reality. We can see that there is
a big difference between these conclusions and so there
must be thorough effort to remove an apparent conflict
so that the the wrong result is not reached would could
result in the suspension of a legitimate command or in
the enforcing of a command that is not applicable.
6)
Do we truly know the views of other jurists and the basis
for their views and their juristic method of deriving
ahkaam? There exist different type of mujtahideen in Islam
one of them is the mujtahid mustakhrij and he is the one
who traces the views of the scholars within the school
of law and authenticates the views attributes to them
by various criteria and also is obviously well versed
in the usoolul fiqh and fiqh of his own madh-hab. This
means that over the passage of time, there can exist some
differences of interpretation of the views of a scholar
and so it needs some verification and clarification. This
requires a knowledge of fiqh, usoolul fiqh and the a sound
knowledge of the biography of the mujtahid in question
along with his relations with his students and a good
knowledge of the scholars within the madh-hab and their
books. It is such a person who is in a strong position
to verify the genuine views of the Imaam in question.
As for the one who attributes obscure views to the scholars
and then attacks them for it, he should first ask himself
whether he went through the same efforts of the mujtahid
mustakhrij in discovering the views which he is attacking.
It is more likely that he is unaware of the work of a
mujtahid mustakhrij. Also we should mention that today
quote the views of classical scholars from obscure scholars
who opposed them nay centuries later or even worse their
views are quoted from modern day opponents. This often
causes the misrepresentation of their views due to bias,
inaccurate reporting or even sometimes total fabrication.
The best way to find the views of the classical scholars
is from their own works and from the confirmation of their
own close students and those from their madh-hab who have
received their teachings in an unbroken line of transmission
supported by many other students and scholars of the same
madh-hab. Without knowing the views of the scholars and
how they understood the reality of certain issues and
their method of deriving fiqh we are not in a place to
reject them. This would be like the one who tries to answer
a complex mathematical question without knowing the appropriate
formula for such an equation. |
If
we do not know one or several of these above matters then it
is strange that we make such bold rejections of other views
when we are not even in a strong position to support our own
views. If we are not even aware of the basic topics in the sciences
of usoolul fiqh and fiqh, then how can we justifiably judge
the differences of scholars when the fiqh has been derived from
the foundations and methods that they have adopted for themselves
based upon deep study of the Divine sources? Without doubt in
most cases our rejection and judgement would be premature and
based upon haste and this is prohibited, Sahl ibn Sa’d
reported that Nabi (saw) said “Haste comes from
Shaytaan.” (TIRMIDHI who said ‘hasan’)
Some
incorrectly think they are purifying the understanding of the
Muslims by telling them to avoid the scholars and only follow
the Quran and Sunnah. We have already mentioned that the Quran
and Sunnah itself commanded us to refer to the people of knowledge
and thus what they wrongly call to contradicts itself. However,
in practise we see that what they call to is itself dependent
upon the classical u’lemaa. If they say ‘we only
follow hadeeth’ then we must ask several questions:-
1)
Who collected these ahdeeth? We did not collect the ahadeeth
but rather the classical scholars collected the ahadeeth.
2) Who authenticated these ahadeeth? We did not classify
the ahadeeth but it was the classical scholars who developed
the science of hadeeth and then went on to classify the
ahadeeth.
3) Who provided us with the knowledge of the narrators
in the isnaad? Because we have not met the narrators and
they were hundreds of years before us we are obviously
dependent upon the previous investigators of the narrators
as well as the narrators themselves. We did not hear directly
from the prophet (saw) so we owe thanks to those narrators
who made efforts in listening to, preserving and transmitting
the ahadeeth. In all matters concerning the methods of
transmission, the reliability of narrators and their biographies
we are totally dependent upon those scholars before us. |
Secondly,
we must ask concerning the application of relevant ayaat and
ahadeeth:-
1)
Who told us the Naasikh wl Mansookh? This is a knowledge
which is partially based upon the knowledge of the time
of revelation and the circumstances of revelation. Due
to this we know automatically that we can not depend upon
ourselves in this because we were not there. Also we can
not depend upon the isolated ayah or hadeeth itself for
this because often the indications of the time and circumstances
of revelation are often contained in external evidence
and in what has been related from the reporters, those
who have supporting narrations and in those immediate
generations who received the knowledge from them. All
of this means we are dependent upon the reports and investigations
of the salaf and the early scholars.
2) With regards to the interpretation of the evidence
this will involve at least three factors that we are not
capable of extracting by ourselves i) The specific meanings
of words and linguistic forms. Even the sahaabah who witnessed
the wahi would ask some meanings and other meanings become
known due to circumstantial evidence and linguistic usage
of the time, this is only known through the early reporters
of linguistic usage and the classical scholars of the
language. ii) The explanations of the sahaabah are vital
as they witnessed the events or verified them through
their companions who witnessed the events. This means
we are dependednt upon the sahaabah and those whom they
reported to in order to reach the precise meanings and
explanations. iii) How was the wahi acted upon by Nabi
(saw) and the sahaabah. This is information that is often
not contained in the isolated daleel but it is contained
in other evidence or is individually reported by sahaabah
or contained in the practise of the first three generations.
The prophet (saw) would either perform the sunnah himself,
and thus the action was transmitted by example or the
sahaabah would implement the command the prophet (saw)
would consent to their continuous practise which was transmitted
to the succeeding generations. |
Therefore after this brief gloss of some of the factors in usoolul
fiqh, u’loomul quran and u’loomul hadeeth it becomes
manifest that following Quran and Sunnah independent of the
classical scholars is only a foolish fantasy of the illiterate
in terms of the shar’iah. It is something that is neither
desirable nor possible.
It
is clearly very foolish and arrogant to dismiss the views of
others much more dedicated and experienced than ourselves without
a full investigation into the issue. Instead of dismissing and
ridiculing the views of experts we should first entertain the
possibility that we ourselves have not actually understood the
issue or have not understood the view of the scholar or how
he has applied the evidence, it may well be that our sins or
even just our ignorance or stupidity blocks us from understanding
a matter that is clear to the people of knowledge and precision.
It is indeed very dangerous to reject things just because we
can not understand them and the kuffaar were cursed for this
very characteristic by Allah (swt) in the Quran. Allah (swt)
says “Nay they have belied the knowledge whereof
they could not comprehend and what has not yet come to them.
Thus those before them did belie. Then see what was the end
of the zaalimoon.” (Yoonus 10:39)
Abusing
the U’lemaa’ is an Evil Tree with many branches:-
The harsh criticism and rejection of the views of the classical
scholars combined with the ridiculing and abuse which is common
today carries many dangers and is prohibited from the shariah
due to various factors, included are the following:-
1)
We engage in slander if we misrepresent the views of the
scholars. To argue with a view of a classical scholar
we must first know the real view of the scholar in question
before we attribute it to him. This means we should fully
understand his fiqh, we should verify that he held such
a view and we should give references for the view so that
any error is not attributed to ourselves but attributed
to the source of reference.
2) If we have attacked a view of a scholar, it may well
be that his view was right and the truth was veiled from
ourselves due to one or more of many possible reasons.
In this case we have criticised the truth which is fact
to criticise Allah (swt) a major sin. “And
be not of those who belie the ayaat of Allah, for then
you shall be of the losers.” (Yoonus 10:95)
and Jaabir relates that Nabi (saw) said “The
Quran is such an interceder whose intercession is accepted
and a disputant whose dispute is upheld. Whoever keeps
it in front of him, it draws him to paradise and whoever
puts it behind his back, it hurls him into Hell.” (IBN HIBBAAN, AL HAAKIM) We should realise that denial
of the ayaat is not just that we deny the whole Qura’n
or that we deny an ayah is part of the Quran or reject
Allah through rejecting His signs in the creation but
it can also be that we reject any rules [ahkaam] or information
[ikhbaar] that is contained in any of the verses of the
Quran. This means it is very dangerous to reject the views
of scholars without knowing from where they have built
their juristic opinion. This is because the source may
well be an explicit statement in the Quran or a derived
principle from one or several of the verses. Any serious
student of Islamic knowledge will know that the verses
can be recited many times and each time a new lesson is
learnt and a new portion of knowledge is uncovered. It
may also be that the scholar has actually based his view
on some other principle of fiqh and that he himself is
unaware that his view is supported by the Qura’n.
Still the danger remains as long as we reject his views
without knowledge because the Quran affirms that knowledge
exists in all aspects of the universe and that the signs
of the truth are everywhere, so if we rejected a view
established upon such proofs this still amounts to rejecting
the verses of the Quran.
3) Although we may criticise a view that is not the strongest
opinion our nature of criticism may be incorrect or excessive.
It could be for instance that although the scholar has
not reached the correct view he is still rewarded due
to him engaging in a legitimate and qualified form of
ijtihaad “two rewards” (BUKHAARI)
In this case we have criticised a shara’i a’mal
[legitimate action] that is part of Islam, in this case
we would be sinful.
4) As for our own views which we cling to and argue for,
it may be that we have arrived at the correct result but
we may have reasoned or exherted our efforts in a methodology
which can open the way for many errors and deviations.
This would mean that our own ijtihaad is illegitimate
and thus we would be sinful and this is like the hadeeth
Jundub reported that Nabi (saw) said “Whoso
interprets the Quran according to his opinion and then
it is right he has indeed committed an error [khata’]” (TIRMIDHI, ABU DAWOOD, TABRIZI in ‘Mishkaatul
Masaabih’ [vol.1])
5) Another possible sin is that we have not researched
or studied the necessary evidences and methods necessary
to judge a particular matter, in this case we open ourselves
to the sin of debating without knowledge. Allah (swt)
says “…Yet of mankind is he who disputes
about Allah without knowledge or or guidance or a Book
giving light.” (Luqmaan 31:20)
6) Just disrespecting the people of knowledge is itself
sinful according to the specific ahadeeth
7) According to the motivation for aversion, disrespecting
the u’lemaa’ can even lead to kufr due to
it entering into the area of ‘al Walaa wal Baraa’
Secondly, we could be differing with Islamic views of
a’qeedah or shari’ah and it is obligatory
to love the shari’ah and that which opposes it.
8) We should not speak ill of those who have passed away
before us, the u’lemaa’ and all those before
have completed their test and we are the ones being tested
even by how we behave with regards to those who have passed
before us Allah (swt) says “And those who
came after them say: ‘Our Lord! Forgive us and our
brethren who came before us into the Faith and leave not
in our hearts rancor (or sense of injury) against those
who have believed our Lord! Thou art indeed Full of Kindness
Most Merciful.’" (al Hashr 59:10)
and Aisha narrated that Rasool Allah (saw) said “Do not revile the dead for they have come to what
they have sent before them” (BUKHAARI as
cited IBN HAJR AL ASQALAANI in ‘Bulooghul Maraam’
[no.1300])
9) It is a major sin to have any hatred or opposition
to the good deeds and sincerity. As seeing as the sincerity
is a matter contained in the heart it is not possible
for us to deny its existence in other until they openly
manifest their kufr etc. “The heart of a
believer does not show hatred or rancour in three things
– Performing good deeds for the sake of Allah alone,
obeying the ameer (wulaatul umoor), adhering to the jama’ah.
Since their supplication encompasses those who are behind
them.” (AHMAD [4/80] TIRMIDHI [no.2567]AL
HAAKIM in ‘al Mustadrak’ and he said ‘saheeh’
and also according to AL HAYTHAMI in ‘Majmu’az
Zawaa’id’ [1/137]) and Zayd ibn Thaabit reported
that Nabi (saw) said “Three things there
are in which the heart of a Muslim does not play treachery
[yaghullu] – sincere action for Allah [ikhlaasul
a’mal lillaah], sincere advice [naseehah] to the
Muslims and clinging to their jama’ah [luzoomu jama’atihim]
because their call [da’watuhum]will encompass those
that are behind them.” (AHMAD, IBN MAAJAH,
Mishkaat [vol.1 p.142])
10) It is a major sin to abuse any Muslim especially those
who have made much effort in the deen. Ibn Masoo’d
reported that Rasool Allah (saw) said “Abusing
a Muslim is fisq and fighting him is kufr” (BUKHAARI MUSLIM as cited by IBN HAJR AL ASQALAANI [no.1283])
11) Also we should look to the contradiction of the behaviour
of those who attack the scholars. They didn’t know
the scholars, they did not know how they studied, they
do not know their works, their methods nor their maqaam
with Allah. Yet their tongue is loose concerning such
scholars. As for when someone disagrees with them or offers
some criticism they are often abusive and attack others
for misrepresenting or misunderstanding their views. And
to this type of behaviour we should be warned by the ayah “…you command people to good yet forget it
yourselves?” (al Baqarah) and “O
you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not
do? Most hateful it is with Allah that you say that which
you do not do.” (as Saff 61:2-3)
12) The sin of seeking knowledge to argue with the scholars.
This is a blameworthy state for several reasons i) First
it shows wrong motivation and insincerity in seeking knowledge
ii) It is against the Islamic personality to seek knowledge
to combat Muslims rather the knowledge should be sought
to refute the kufaar and assist the Muslims. Ka’b
bin Maalik reported that Nabi (saw) said “Whoever
seeks knowledge in order to prevail over the u’lemah
or to argue with the fools or to turn the faces of men
towards him, Allah will put him in the Fire.” (TIRMIDHI [no.255], and IBN MAAJAH from Ibn U’mar) |
Hifzul
Lisaan and its relation to respecting the U’lemaa’
1276
Backbiting Hudhayfah reports that Nabi (saw) said “A
backbiter [qataat] will not enter paradise” (BUKHAARI,
MUSLIM Bulooghul Maraam [no.1301])
1291])
The Judgement of Haste [no.1307]
The Danger of Disgrace [no.1310] Some have wrongl;y expected
to see the u’lemaa’ perfect and without any sins
or errors. This is a big mistake in a’qeedah as only the
anbiyaa’ are infallible. The mistakes of the u’lemaa
that are clear and that they had called to should be corrected
but their sincere efforts should not be criticised. As for their
sins and personal errors, then these should not be conveyed
or publicised. Rather the obligation is to cover these. If this
is a matter that creates distrust in their teachings then by
way of warning their students then this is permissable as it
is a right of our brother to be protected from deviant teachings
and corruption.
The
U’lemaa’ should not be disrespected due to the Status
that Allah (swt) gave them
1
They guide to good beliefs, intentions and actions by the permission
of Allah (swt) (Bulooghul Maraam 1264])
2 They are under the Protection of Allah (swt) due to their
study of the deen (Bulooghul Maraam [no.1270])
3 They are Remembered by Allah (swt) as in the ayah
4 They are strong in Imaan and so preferred by Allah (swt) [no.1321]
5 They teach the Quran U’thmaan reports that Nabi (saw)
said “The best of you is he who learns the Quran
and teaches it” (BUKHAARI, TIRMIDHI, ABU DAWOOD,
NASAA’I, IBN MAAJAH)
6 They are Helped by Allah (swt) due to their help of Muslims.
Those
who respect the U’lemaa are supporting the Deen
Those
who sincerely respect the Islamic work of the scholars of Islam
are in fact supporting Islam. This is because the u’lemaa
have been a vehicle for the Islamic knowledge throughout history
and through them Allah (swt) conveyed to us the foundations
and branches of the deen. The one who defended them and their
efforts and encouraged the people to respect them and study
their work would be performing a good action from which many
other branches of good emanate. The one who called to this good
would be rewarded if Allah wills at least for the following
matters:-
1
Defending them [no.1323]
2
Humbling themselves. Thus Allahj raises the one who humbles
himself. [no.1322] [no.1324]
3
Knowing their own level and not mistakenly exceeding their limits
(al A’raaf 7:146) “And walk not on the earth
with arrogance. Verily, you can neither rend nor penetrate the
earth nor can you attain a staure like the mountains in height.” (al Israa’ 17:36)
|
