Halal vs Haram

The Problem is not Islam

There is a misperception in the west that Islam promotes terror, women repression and backward thinking. I don’t blame westerners for viewing Islam the way Muslims portrayed it; I blame Muslims for misbehaving in the name of Islam. There has never been a greater enemy to Islam than Muslims themselves; Muslims misrepresented Islam and made it look like that.

I believe that one of the lessons that a lot of people missed, is that religion evolves. Two examples to point out; first, Muslims believe in all prophets from Abraham to Mohammed - including Moses and Jesus - and the revelations given to them by the one God (Allah). We know that it’s all about good and evil, and we also know that the rules and guidelines changed – or to be more specific, increased - from one prophet to the next depending on the circumstances, but why? Since God knows everything, the rules and guidelines could have been given more or less the same to all of them! But the rules change with time and depending on the circumstances; i.e. they evolve.

Second example is alcohol. God banned alcohol in stages; first, Muslims were not allowed to pray while drunk; but then after that rule was broken, God forbidden alcohol. It could have been easily banned in the first revelation; but it had to evolve. These are clear indications that Islam - or any religion for that matter – should evolve, as long as it doesn’t offend God (Allah).

It’s all about interpretation! The rules and guidelines can be interpreted differently, as we have different sectors within Islam that have different interpretations, depending on the way it’s been look at and who looked at it. Therefore, these rules and guidelines should also be interpreted differently depending on the time and place.

There are three factors that contributed to Islam’s bad image:

1. Tribal culture

The tribal culture is a serious problem; albeit, many Arabs have been urbanized, their culture is derived from the tribal culture, especially when it comes to women and honour. Women were repressed before Islam; but many were also repressed after Islam! The reason is not Islam, it is the tribal traditions!Islam advocated equality between human beings regardless of race and gender. But because the gender issue can be argumentative, I will say - for argument sake - that Islam differentiated between men and women; but even then, Islam undoubtedly gave women more rights than what women had anywhere else at that time - 1400 year ago - which should’ve been embraced and progressed not regressed; only tribal mentality didn’t give up all traditions that easily. Female infanticide was one of the tribal traditions that Islam prohibited!

Honour killing is not an Islamic practice, it’s a tribal tradition to preserve the honour of the tribe/family; yet many justify this act as an Islamic law! Islam does not distinguish between men and women when it comes to punishment, whether it’s for unlawful sex or any other reason. But to justify honour killing as an Islamic law, all you need to do is to look at the rules and guidelines with a tribal mentality.Therefore, it is important to differentiate between Islamic culture and the Middle East culture. For example, Islam prohibit sex before marriage for both men and women; whereas the ME culture only prohibit women! Non-Muslims in the ME are part of ME culture which is influenced by tribal culture; therefore, they consider honour - and other values - same way their Muslim neighbours consider it.

2. Fundamentalists

If you accept that Islam can be interpreted differently depending on how you look at it; then you will accept that fundamentalists can justify what they advocate! To be honest, I find it hard to understand how they justify killing innocents in the name of Islam!The problem of many fundamentalists is that they are retrogressive; now that makes all the blinded followers retrogressive too. They either look back at the Caliphate's era or the Prophet’s era, and they dream of making today look like centuries ago! Therefore, their actions and interpretations are not of today, but of centuries ago. For example, Wahhabists want to make today’s world look like the Prophet’s era, they want to make it look like 1400 years ago and they don’t want to move on!

There is no need for me to talk about the roots and reasons for terrorism as it is irrelevant to this subject; however, what is relevant is the damage caused by terrorism. Terrorism damaged Islam and Muslims more than anything else; the impact of 9/11 on the Muslim community around the world was gigantic; Muslims became target of racism and hatred; Westerners looked at them differently after that day; Islam became a feared religion, a religion that export terrorism and oppress women! And I don’t blame westerners because they love their freedom and democracy and want to protect it, I blame the fundamentalists and their followers who don’t want to evolve!

3. Leaders of Muslim countries

Most of the leaders don’t care about Islam more than they care about their own people! However, what they care about is the chair and for that they need to justify their existence, the emergency laws, the oppression, etc; and what can do the job better than pro-Arabism, anti-Imperialism and anti-Zionism!Pro-Arabism, anti-Imperialism and anti-Zionism, that sounds like the Islamic fundamentalists agenda! Exactly! They have the same agenda and for their survival, they have to encourage the retrogressive fundamentalists! Could that backfire?Furthermore, they persecute, oppress, torture and unjustly kill their own people; women - and human - rights are appalling; justice is merely a tool used to protect themselves and Islam is the excuse!

I think history repeats itself; I always compare the Arab Muslim world today with the European Christian world few centuries back, i.e. in the Middle Ages. The Church was powerful then, and later were in a power struggle with the state; but what happened when the church was powerful? Were there any human - and women - rights? How about anti-Semitism? What about justice? Sort of similar to what we have now in the Muslim world! We are just few centuries behind! But it looks like we are catching up.

Islam is being abused by Muslims and that’s why it has a bad image. Justice for Muslims and Islam would be served best if we get rid off tyranny, fundamentalism and tribal mentality and replace them with secularism, freedom and democracy.

Ahmad Wednesday, March 30, 2005
http://iraqiexpat.blogspot.com/

Understanding Madhhabs: A Beginner's Guide and FAQ

By Umm Nabeel
(article from: modernmuslima.com)

The issue of the schools of Islamic law, called madhhabs or mathhabs, is often a subject of great confusion for new Muslims when it doesn't have to be. Some contemporary Islamic movements have tried to make the issue into a confusing one causing division between Muslims. However, it is actually a very simple issue. Islam has four such juristic schools, each one named for its founder: Hanafi (pronounced hana-fee) named for Imam Abu Hanifa, Shafi'i, (pronounced shaa-f'ee) named for Imam Shafi'i, Maliki (pronounced maa-likee), named for Imam Malik, and Hanbali (pronounced han-balee), named for Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

What is a Madhhab?

A madhhab is, first and foremost, a precise methodology which scholars use to derive Islamic rulings. Each madhhab differs slightly in its methodology, and this causes them to have slightly different rulings in some cases, however the differences are usually on minor and secondary points. All four agree on the basic belief system of Islam, and on the majority of their rulings, and they do not constitute separate sects, denominations, or groups within Islam. They also agree on the basic beginnings of their methodology: that the primary sources of Islamic rulings are the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Their differences come over more minute and difficult issues, many of which are not possible to resolve. For example: how to reconcile apparent contradictions between two texts, when there is more than one acceptable interpretation of an Arabic word, or when there is an issue (especially contemporary issues) which no text in the Qur'an and Sunnah explicitly addresses. In some cases, scholars within a particular madhhab can have different opinions as well.

Many people, however, conceptualize madhhabs as just collections of rulings, mainly because people in search of an answer to a particular question of Islamic law such as whether something is halal (permissible) or haram (forbidden) will consult the rulings of the particular madhhab they follow. Some incorrectly believe they are a merely collection of the "opinions" of the Imam for whom it was named. On the contrary, a madhhab is a collection of rulings based on the Qur'an and Sunnah, using the sophisticated methodologies for deducing these rulings that were developed by the Four Imams. So when a person looks for a ruling "of a particular madhhab," he is actually looking for the rulings that have been deduced by scholars who are applying the methodology of that madhhab.

These rulings were not just compiled over a short period of time. The methodologies and the rulings have been reviewed and refined by the scholars over hundreds of years, up to and including the present day.

Do I have to follow a madhhab?

Unfortunately for many new Muslims, finding information about the different madhhabs can be extremely difficult. This is due primarily to the fact that in many Muslim communities people follow a wide variety of different schools or none at all, as well as to the fact that literature on Islamic law and rulings in English is almost non-existent. If you are unable to find information that can help you choose and follow a madhhab, don't worry-whether or not you follow a madhhab is not an issue that determines whether or not you are a Muslim or even if you are a good Muslim. In fact, the vast majority of American Muslims find this difficult and many times practice Islam based on what they can learn from the hodgepodge of sources they have available to them: books, lectures, the Imam of the local mosque, and Muslim friends.

There are various opinions on this issue but the vast majority of our respected scholars do say that it is preferable or even required to pick one madhhab and follow it for one simple reason: personal consistency. It is better and more consistent (and common sense) for a person to stick to rulings that are all based on the same methodology. This also prevents you from following your hawaa' (desires) and allowing yourself to "shop around" for the opinion that most suits you rather than just taking an opinion based on sound scholarship.

However, if you have a genuine need, and something of your chosen madhhab is going to cause you hardship, then you are permitted to take a dispensation from another madhab. It is also true that there are sometimes different opinions on things within the same madhhab and going outside of your chosen school isn't necessary. Keep in mind, however, that going outside one's madhhab technically requires consultation with a shaykh who will verify your need to do so and instruct you in the best and most careful way to take a different opinion, again to help you stay consistent. However, because most Muslims in the West do not have access to a Shaykh who can help them, it is best to stay with one madhhab if at all possible and to seek outside opinions with great caution in extraneous situations.

How do I choose?

Choosing one madhhab over another does not mean that you believe that one is more correct and the others less correct. In fact, the consensus (ijma'ah) of all of the scholars of the Ummah is that all four are equally correct and valid. There is no one madhhab or one opinion that is "closer to the Sunnah". Choosing which madhhab to follow is not a life-or-death decision and you can always change. If you have access to advanced information, you can study in detail and pick the one that is most appealing to you in terms of its methodology, but it is easier to choose the one that has rulings that are easiest or most appropriate for you and your situation. For example, some people believe that scholars of the Hanafi madhhab have spent more time constructing rulings appropriate for people who live in non-Muslim countries. Others believe the Shafi'i madhhab to be somewhat more strict in some issues, and therefore more "careful".

You can also pick based on yours or your spouse's family/country situation. It is much easier to have your whole family following the same madhhab because this means your family will all do things exactly the same way, and if there is a religious disagreement between you, you will agree on which sources to consult for your answer. Likewise, it is easier to be the same madhhab as the majority of people in your or your spouse's home country. It is also worth considering if you ever plan to study or live in a particular Muslim country to find out which madhhabs are most prevalent there.

What About People Who Follow Other Madhhabs?

There was a time in Islamic history when people treated different madhhabs as different sects of Islam, making prayer behind a person of another madhhab or marriage to a person of another madhhab unlawful. This was due to ignorance of the correct way to follow a madhhab and the correct way to regard people who follow a madhhab other than one's own. Even today in many places, you may encounter a person in a mosque who will try to tell you that the way you are praying is wrong. As mentioned before, there is consensus of the scholars of Sunni Islam for hundreds of years that all four madhhabs are equally correct and valid. This means that as long as you are following a valid opinion, you need not worry that what you are doing or what somebody else is doing is wrong.

This also means that in many cases, there is more than one right way to do something, such as how to put your hands while your pray, and that it is okay to pray behind an imam who makes his wudu in a slightly different way. Such differences usually arise because the Prophet himself (peace be upon him) usually did things in several different ways and these minor differences do not affect the validity of a person's wudu or prayer.

One classic example: In the Maliki madhhab, people move their finger constantly when they recite tashahhud. But in the Shafi'i madhhab they do not move their finger, and in addition, more than two movements is considered to invalidate the prayer. This does NOT mean that the prayer of a person who follows the Maliki madhhab and who moves his finger during his prayer is invalid in the eyes of a person who follows the Shafi'I madhhab. One does not apply his or her own madhhab to other people. Instead, each person's prayer is valid according to the methodology they themselves follow, as long as each person is following a methodology that is recognized as valid by the scholars of our Ummah.

Some Muslims Told Me I Shouldn't Follow a Madhhab Because it's "Blind Following". What Does This Mean?

Recently, some Muslims have taken the opinion that following a madhhab is "blind following" because one follows the rulings of the madhhab without knowing what the reasons for the rulings are in the Qur'an and Sunnah. However, the vast majority of Muslims don't possess the level of technical knowledge required to make rulings. Many of us may not even have the ability to access or understand the often complex reasons behind the rulings. Thus, this taqleed or "following" is necessary, in fact required, for the vast majority of Muslims because we simply can't all be scholars. Some groups call this "blind following" and make it sound like a bad thing, but the fact is that all Muslims of any madhhab or self-professed manhaj who are not themselves scholars are "blind following" or rather, making taqleed of someone. Non-scholars need to take knowledge and rulings, mostly without understanding the reasons behind the rulings, from scholars for reasons that will now be discussed.

What do I do if I Read a Hadeeth That Seems to Contradict A Ruling of My Madhhab?

Keep doing what you are doing-following your madhhab. When you read a Hadeeth, you are reading it in isolation, without knowledge of the other texts that relate to it, what other scholars have said about it, alternate or similar versions of the Hadeeth. If you're a new Muslim, you probably don't even know what the original Arabic text of the Hadeeth itself was and what the various meanings of the key words are in Classical Arabic. Realize that making rulings on issues is a complex process that entails consideration of numerous factors. Although we are all encouraged to read the Qur'an and read sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) for inspiration and information, we are not entitled to make rulings for ourselves based on what we read in our limited knowledge, not to mention in translation.

Why Can't I Just Read the Qur'an and Hadeeth and Find Out the Rulings For Myself?

Our scholars set high standards for themselves and for other scholars. A vast amount of knowledge was required of somebody before he or she reached the level of being able to make ijtihaad -- to deduce rulings directly from the Qur'an and Sunnah. This is because making rulings is a complex process not to be attempted by just anyone. Such a vast level of knowledge is almost incomprehensible to many of us today, and there is debate over exactly how many people are still alive who are at such a level. By most accounts the number can be counted on one hand. Qualifications for making rulings directly from the Qur'an and Sunnah are high because of the huge number of variables that have to be known and taken into account by the scholar, some of which were mentioned above.

Some beginning qualifications for a scholar are:

· Start with a detailed, intimate knowledge of the "Classical" Arabic language-fusHaa, NOT Modern Standard Arabic or any of the regional dialects. As all of the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah are in this language, one must be a scholar of language itself before he or she can become a scholar of Islam. Not only does one need to be able to speak, read, and write the language fluently, one must have a detailed knowledge of the linguistic sciences of the Arabic language. This includes grammar encompassing phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. One must also have memorized the treatises on these topics written by the great scholars of the language. In addition, one must be intimately familiar with pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, which is a source of word meanings, as is knowledge of the dialects that existed among people at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an. There is also a huge corpus of Arabic dictionaries, many of them highly specialized, compiled by our Islamic scholars.

Most people in the world today do not even meet this primary criterion, let alone the more advanced ones:

· to have memorized the whole Qur'an (all seven readings included)

· to have memorized thousands of ahadeeth with their chains of narration and the books

dedicated to the biographical information of the people in those chains memorization of (not just reading or possessing) hundreds of classical texts of ahadeeth

· history of the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him (called seerah)

· sayings of the Companions of the Prophet

· authentic tafaseer (explanations) of the Qur'an

· the detailed methodological principles of the madhhabs

· Scholars even considered knowledge of the spiritual disciplines to be essential even for a scholar who specialized in technical issues, because the knowledge also has a spiritual dimension.

All of this knowledge is required for a scholar to make a fully informed decision on an issue before he or she can come to a solid conclusion which is as close to the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him as humanly possible. Although this does not guarantee that mistakes will not be made, the Prophet himself (peace be upon him) mentions in a famous Hadeeth that scholars who make an honest effort and come up with a wrong answer will still be rewarded for their honest effort. Also, the peer-review process of other scholars considering the rulings of their colleagues and catching mistakes is what has refined the madhhabs into the fine-tuned systems they are today.

For all these reasons, it is wrong for a non-scholar to attempt to make rulings for themselves, and such an attempt will inevitably result in a ruling that is further, not closer, to the Sunnah. In that light, we may now understand following a madhhab to be, as Abdul Hakim Murad says, a "sophisticated technique for avoiding innovation (bid'ah)".

Muslims and Jews: a historical perspective that reveals surprises

Once upon a time, a widely circulated Jewish document described Islam as "an act of God's Mercy".

Also, Jews in the near East, north Africa and Spain threw their support behind advancing Muslim Arab armies.

No, these aren't fairy tales or propaganda. The relationship between Muslims and Jews really was that cooperative and marked by peaceful coexistence.

Just ask Khalid Siddiqi of the Islamic Education and Information Center in San Jose, California where he also teaches Islamic Studies and Arabic at Chabot College and Ohlone College. Siddiqi notes that the first quote above is from S. D. Goitein's book Jews and Arabs. The second is from Merlin Swartz's 'The Position of Jews in Arab lands following the rise of Islam' (reprinted from The Muslim World. Hartford Seminary Foundation LXI1970).

Swartz also says the Muslim Arab conquest marked the dawn of a new era. Those forces that had led to the progressive isolation and disruption of Jewish life were not only checked they were dramatically reversed.

In an interview with Sound Vision, Siddiqi gave numerous examples of Jews flourishing under Muslim rule in places like Spain, Morocco, North African in general and various parts of the Middle East.

Siddiqi points out that Islam as a religion has given specific guidelines for the followers of Islam to base their relationship with any non-Muslim. These include People of Scripture, like the Jews, people who belong to other religions, and even atheists. Non-Muslims must be treated on the basis of Birr (kindness) and Qist (justice), as referred to Surah 60 verse 8 of the Quran.
It started at the time of the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him)

The peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Jews began at the time of the Prophet.

Siddiqi notes that the Jews welcomed the Prophet when he arrived in Madinah at the time of Hijrah (migration), along with the rest of the city's inhabitants. But the Prophet had begun the step towards good relations with Jewish and other communities in Madinah even before getting there.

After receiving an invitation to Madinah from one of the city's tribes that had accepted Islam, the Prophet signed treaties with the city's Jewish, Christian and polytheist tribes before he arrived there.

These treaties clearly laid out responsibilities of each of the parties. It was based on these that the Prophet established the Mithaq al Madinah, the constitution of Madinah.

Siddiqi says this was the first constitution of the world and one of the greatest political documents ever prepared by any human being. It is the oldest surviving constitution of any state.

Under this constitution, any Jew who followed the Muslims was entitled to their assistance and the same rights as anyone of them without any injustice or partisanship.
It said the Jews are an Ummah (community of believers) alongside the Muslims. The Jews have their religion and the Muslims theirs. As well, it noted that each will assist one another against any violation of this covenant.

Jews during the Muslim era

Despite this early breach of contract, there are still numerous examples from Muslim history of Muslim-Jewish cooperation and coexistence. Siddiqi gave examples of how Muslim Spain, which was a "golden era" of creativity and advancement for Muslims was also one for Jews.

While Europe was in its Dark Ages and Jews were reviled there, Muslims in Spain during the same period worked side by side with Jews in developing literature, science and art. Together, they translated classical Greek texts into Arabic. This task later helped Europe move out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. Jews flourished under Muslim rule in Egypt as well, where they achieved very high positions in government.

Siddiqi quotes some lines from an Arab poet of that time, to illustrate: 'Today the Jews have reached the summit of their hopes and have become aristocrats. Power and riches have they and from them councilors and princes are chosen'.

Today: the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland has destroyed good Muslim-Jewish relations

So what happened?

Although not the only cause, a large part of the deterioration in Muslim-Jewish relations comes from the emergence of Zionism, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland by Zionist Jews and British colonizers, as well as their continuing oppression.

Siddiqi says, "while this reaction results in anti-Jewish feeling it must be seen in its proper historical context. It must be remembered that anti-Jewish sentiments in so far as it is to be found in the contemporary Arab world is strictly a modern phenomenon and one that runs counter to the time honored Islamic tradition of fraternity and tolerance.

"The very widespread popular notion that present day Arab-Jewish hostility is but another chapter in a long history of mutual animosity is totally false. If there is one thing the past makes clear it is precisely that Arabs and Jews can live together peacefully and in a mutually beneficial relationship. History also makes it very clear that they are the heirs to the Islamic tradition of
openness and tolerance."

The key to reestablishing good relations between Muslims and Jews again is justice, notes Siddiqui. This principle is foreign to neither Islam nor Judaism. In Islam, standing up for justice, he points out, must be done even if it is against ourselves, our parents, our kin, the rich or the poor. This is clearly mentioned in the Quran (4:135).

Siddiqi points out that the emphasis on justice is also mentioned in Jewish scripture in the prophecies of Michael in chapter three: "Zion shall be redeemed with justice and by those who will come to her with righteousness."

The Concept of Bid’a in the Islamic Shari’a

©Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995
The following is the text of a talk given by Shaikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller at Nottingham and Trent University on Wednesday 25th January 1995.

In the name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate.

There are few topics that generate as much controversy today in Islam as what is sunna and what is bida or reprehensible innovation, perhaps because of the times Muslims live in today and the challenges they face. Without a doubt, one of the greatest events in impact upon Muslims in the last thousand years is the end of the Islamic caliphate at the first of this century, an event that marked not only the passing of temporal, political authority, but in many respects the passing of the consensus of orthodox Sunni Islam as well. No one familiar with the classical literature in any of the Islamic legal sciences, whether Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, or jurisprudence (fiqh), can fail to be struck by the fact that questions are asked today about basic fundamentals of Islamic Sacred Law (Sharia) and its ancillary disciplines that would not have been asked in the Islamic period not because Islamic scholars were not brilliant enough to produce the questions, but because they already knew the answers.

My talk tonight will aim to clarify some possible misunderstandings of the concept of innovation (bida) in Islam, in light of the prophetic hadith, “Beware of matters newly begun, for every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell.”

The sources I use are traditional Islamic sources, and my discussion will centre on three points:

The first point is that scholars say that the above hadith does not refer to all new things without restriction, but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law attests to the validity of. The use of the word “every” in the hadith does not indicate an absolute generalization, for there are many examples of similar generalizations in the Qur’an and sunna that are not applicable without restriction, but rather are qualified by restrictions found in other primary textual evidence.
The second point is that the sunna and way of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was to accept new acts initiated in Islam that were of the good and did not conflict with established principles of Sacred Law, and to reject things that were otherwise.

And our third and last point is that new matters in Islam may not be rejected merely because they did not exist in the first century, but must be evaluated and judged according to the comprehensive methodology of Sacred Law, by virtue of which it is and remains the final and universal moral code for all peoples until the end of time.

Our first point, that the hadith does not refer to all new things without restriction, but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law attests to the validity of, may at first seem strange, in view of the wording of the hadith, which says, “every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell.” Now the word “bida” or “innovation” linguistically means anything new, So our first question must be about the generalizability of the word every in the hadith: does it literally mean that everything new in the world is haram or unlawful? The answer is no. Why?

In answer to this question, we may note that there are many similar generalities in the Qur’an and sunna, all of them admitting of some qualification, such as the word of Allah Most High in Surat al-Najm,

“. . . A man can have nothing, except what he strives for” (Qur’an 53:39),

despite there being an overwhelming amount of evidence that a Muslim benefits from the spiritual works of others, for example, from his fellow Muslims, the prayers of angels for him, the funeral prayer over him, charity given by others in his name, and the supplications of believers for him;

Or consider the words of Allah to unbelievers in Surat al-Anbiya,

“Verily you and what you worship apart from Allah are the fuel of hell” (Qur’an 21:98),

“what you worship” being a general expression, while there is no doubt that Jesus, his mother, and the angels were all worshipped apart from Allah, but are not “the fuel of hell”, so are not what is meant by the verse; Or the word of Allah Most High in Surat al-Anam about past nations who paid no heed to the warners who were sent to them,

“But when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened unto them the doors of everything” (Qur’an 6:44), though the doors of mercy were not opened unto them; And the hadith related by Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “No one who prays before sunrise and before sunset will enter hell”, which is a generalised expression that definitely does not mean what its outward generality implies, for someone who prays the dawn and midafternoon prayers and neglects all other prayers and obligatory works is certainly not meant. It is rather a generalization whose intended referent is particular, or a generalization that is qualified by other texts, for when there are fully authenticated hadiths, it is obligatory to reach an accord between them, because they are in reality as a single hadith, the statements that appear without further qualification being qualified by those that furnish the qualification, that the combined implications of all of them may be utilized.

Let us look for a moment at bida or innovation in the light of the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) concerning new matters. Sunna and innovation (bida) are two opposed terms in the language of the Lawgiver (Allah bless him and give him peace), such that neither can be defined without reference to the other, meaning that they are opposites, and things are made clear by their opposites. Many writers have sought to define innovation (bida) without defining the sunna, while it is primary, and have thus fallen into inextricable difficulties and conflicts with the primary textual evidence that contradicts their definition of innovation, whereas if they had first defined the sunna, they would have produced a criterion free of shortcomings.

Sunna, in both the language of the Arabs and the Sacred Law, means way, as is illustrated by the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), “He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam [dis: Reliance of the Traveller p58.1(2)] …And he who introduces a bad sunna in Islam…”, sunna meaning way or custom. The way of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in giving guidance, accepting, and rejecting: this is the sunna. For “good sunna” and “bad sunna” mean a “good way” or “bad way”, and cannot possibly mean anything else. Thus, the meaning of “sunna” is not what most students, let alone ordinary people, understand; namely, that it is the prophetic hadith (as when sunna is contrasted with “Kitab”, i.e. Qur’an, in distinguishing textual sources), or the opposite of the obligatory (as when sunna, i.e. recommended, is contrasted with obligatory in legal contexts), since the former is a technical usage coined by hadith scholars, while the latter is a technical usage coined by legal scholars and specialists in fundamentals of jurisprudence. Both of these are usages of later origin that are not what is meant by sunna here. Rather, the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is his way of acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting, and the way of his Rightly Guided Caliphs who followed his way acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting. So practices that are newly begun must be examined in light of the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and his way and path in acceptance or rejection.

Now, there are a great number of hadiths, most of them in the rigorously authenticated (sahih) collections, showing that many of the prophetic Companions initiated new acts, forms of invocation (dhikr), supplications (dua), and so on, that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had never previously done or ordered to be done. Rather, the Companions did them because of their inference and conviction that such acts were of the good that Islam and the Prophet of Islam came with and in general terms urged the like of to be done, in accordance with the word of Allah Most High in Surat al-Hajj,

“And do the good, that haply you may succeed” (Qur’an 22:77),

and the hadith of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), “He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam earns the reward of it and all who perform it after him without diminishing their own rewards in the slightest.”

Though the original context of the hadith was giving charity, the interpretative principle established by the scholarly consensus (def: Reliance of the Traveller b7) of specialists in fundamentals of Sacred Law is that the point of primary texts lies in the generality of their lexical significance, not the specificity of their historical context, without this implying that just anyone may make provisions in the Sacred Law, for Islam is defined by principles and criteria, such that whatever one initiates as a sunna must be subject to its rules, strictures, and primary textual evidence.

From this investigative point of departure, one may observe that many of the prophetic Companions performed various acts through their own personal reasoning, (ijtihad), and that the sunna and way of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was both to accept those that were acts of worship and good deeds conformable with what the Sacred Law had established and not in conflict with it; and to reject those which were otherwise. This was his sunna and way, upon which his caliphal successors and Companions proceeded, and from which Islamic scholars (Allah be well pleased with them) have established the rule that any new matter must be judged according to the principles and primary texts of Sacred Law: whatever is attested to by the law as being good is acknowledged as good, and whatever is attested to by the law as being a contravention and bad is rejected as a blameworthy innovation (bida). They sometimes term the former a good innovation (bida hasana) in view of it lexically being termed an innovation , but legally speaking it is not really an innovation but rather an inferable sunna as long as the primary texts of the Sacred Law attest to its being acceptable.

We now turn to the primary textual evidence previously alluded to concerning the acts of the Companions and how the Prophet, (Allah bless him and give him peace) responded to them:

(1) Bukhari and Muslim relate from Abu Hurayra (Allah be well pleased with him) that at the dawn prayer the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to Bilal, “Bilal, tell me which of your acts in Islam you are most hopeful about, for I have heard the footfall of your sandals in paradise”, and he replied, “I have done nothing I am more hopeful about than the fact that I do not perform ablution at any time of the night or day without praying with that ablution whatever has been destined for me to pray.”

Ibn Hajar Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari that the hadith shows it is permissible to use personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing times for acts of worship, for Bilal reached the conclusions he mentioned by his own inference, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmed him therein.

Similar to this is the hadith in Bukhari about Khubayb (who asked to pray two rakas before being executed by idolaters in Mecca) who was the first to establish the sunna of two rak’as for those who are steadfast in going to their death. These hadiths are explicit evidence that Bilal and Khubayb used their own personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing the times of acts of worship, without any previous command or precedent from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) other than the general demand to perform the prayer.

(2) Bukhari and Muslim relate that Rifa’a ibn Rafi said, “When we were praying behind the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and he raised his head from bowing and said , “Allah hears whoever praises Him”, a man behind him said, “Our Lord, Yours is the praise, abundantly, wholesomely, and blessedly therein.” When he rose to leave, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) asked “who said it”, and when the man replied that it was he, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “I saw thirty-odd angels each striving to be the one to write it.” Ibn Hajar says in Fath al-Bari that the hadith indicates the permissibility of initiating new expressions of dhikr in the prayer other than the ones related through hadith texts, as long as they do not contradict those conveyed by the hadith [since the above words were a mere enhancement and addendum to the known, sunna dhikr].

(3) Bukhari relates from Aisha (Allah be well pleased with her) that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) dispatched a man at the head of a military expedition who recited the Qur’an for his companions at prayer, finishing each recital with al-Ikhlas (Qur’an 112). When they returned, they mentioned this to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), who told them, “Ask him why he does this”, and when they asked him, the man replied, “because it describes the All-merciful, and I love to recite it.” The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to them, “Tell him Allah loves him.” In spite of this, we do not know of any scholar who holds that doing the above is recommended, for the acts the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to do regularly are superior, though his confirming the like of this illustrates his sunna regarding his acceptance of various forms of obedience and acts of worship, and shows he did not consider the like of this to be a reprehensible innovation (bida), as do the bigots who vie with each other to be the first to brand acts as innovation and misguidance. Further, it will be noticed that all the preceding hadiths are about the prayer, which is the most important of bodily acts of worship, and of which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Pray as you have seen me pray”, despite which he accepted the above examples of personal reasoning because they did not depart from the form defined by the Lawgiver, for every limit must be observed, while there is latitude in everything besides, as long as it is within the general category of being called for by Sacred Law. This is the sunna of the Prophet and his way (Allah bless him and give him peace) and is as clear as can be. Islamic scholars infer from it that every act for which there is evidence in Sacred Law that it is called for and which does not oppose an unequivocal primary text or entail harmful consequences is not included in the category of reprehensible innovation (bida), but rather is of the sunna, even if there should exist something whose performance is superior to it.

(4) Bukhari relates from Abu Said al-Khudri that a band of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) departed on one of their journeys, alighting at the encampment of some desert Arabs whom they asked to be their hosts, but who refused to have them as guests. The leader of the encampment was stung by a scorpion, and his followers tried everything to cure him, and when all had failed, one said, “If you would approach the group camped near you, one of them might have something”. So they came to them and said, “O band of men, our leader has been stung and weve tried everything. Do any of you have something for it?” and one of them replied, “Yes, by Allah, I recite healing words [ruqya, def: Reliance of the Traveller w17] over people, but by Allah, we asked you to be our hosts and you refused, so I will not recite anything unless you give us a fee”. They then agreed upon a herd of sheep, so the man went and began spitting and reciting the Fatiha over the victim until he got up and walked as if he were a camel released from its hobble, nothing the matter with him. They paid the agreed upon fee, which some of the Companions wanted to divide up, but the man who had done the reciting told them, “Do not do so until we reach the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and tell him what has happened, to see what he may order us to do”. They came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and told him what had occurred, and he said, “How did you know it was of the words which heal? You were right. Divide up the herd and give me a share.”
The hadith is explicit that the Companion had no previous knowledge that reciting the Fatiha to heal (ruqya) was countenanced by Sacred Law, but rather did so because of his own personal reasoning (ijtihad), and since it did not contravene anything that had been legislated, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmed him therein because it was of his sunna and way to accept and confirm what contained good and did not entail harm, even if it did not proceed from the acts of the Prophet himself (Allah bless him and give him peace) as a definitive precedent.

(5) Bukhari relates from Abu Said al-Khudri that one man heard another reciting al-Ikhlas (Qur’an 112) over and over again, so when morning came he went to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and sarcastically mentioned it to him. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, it equals one-third of the Qur’an.” Daraqutni recorded another version of this hadith in which the man said, “I have a neighbor who prays at night and does not recite anything but al-Ikhlas.” The hadith shows that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmed the persons restricting himself to this sura while praying at night, despite its not being what the Prophet himself did (Allah bless him and give him peace), for though the Prophets practice of reciting from the whole Qur’an was superior, the mans act was within the general parameters of the sunna and there was nothing blameworthy about it in any case.

(6) Ahmad and Ibn Hibban relates from Abdullah ibn Burayda that his father said, I entered the mosque with the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), where a man was at prayer, supplicating: “O Allah, I ask You by the fact that I testify You are Allah, there is no god but You, the One, the Ultimate, who did not beget and was not begotten, and to whom none is equal”, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, he has asked Allah by His greatest name, which if He is asked by it He gives, and if supplicated He answers”. It is plain that this supplication came spontaneously from the Companion, and since it conformed to what the Sacred Law calls for, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmed it with the highest degree of approbation and acceptance, while it is not known that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had ever taught it to him (Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa’al-Jamaa, 119-33).

We are now able to return to the hadith with which I began my talk tonight, in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “. . . Beware of matters newly begun, for every innovation is misguidance”. And understand it as expounded by a classic scholar of Islam, Sheikh Muhammad Jurdani, who said: “Beware of matters newly begun”, distance yourselves and be wary of matters newly innovated that did not previously exist”, i.e. things invented in Islam that contravene the Sacred Law, “for every innovation is misguidance” meaning that every innovation is the opposite of the truth, i.e. falsehood, a hadith that has been related elsewhere as: “for every newly begun matter is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in hell” meaning that everyone who is misguided, whether through himself or by following another, is in hell, the hadith referring to matters that are not good innovations with a basis in Sacred Law. It has been stated (by Izz ibn Abd al-Salam) that innovations (bida) fall under the five headings of the Sacred Law (n: i.e. the obligatory, unlawful, recommended, offensive, and permissible):

(1) The first category comprises innovations that are obligatory , such as recording the Qur’an and the laws of Islam in writing when it was feared that something might be lost from them; the study of the disciplines of Arabic that are necessary to understand the Qur’an and sunna such as grammar, word declension, and lexicography; hadith classification to distinguish between genuine and spurious prophetic traditions; and the philosophical refutations of arguments advanced by the Mu’tazilites and the like.

(2) The second category is that of unlawful innovations such as non- Islamic taxes and levies, giving positions of authority in Sacred Law to those unfit for them, and devoting ones time to learning the beliefs of heretical sects that contravene the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna.

(3) The third category consists of recommended innovations such as building hostels and schools of Sacred Law, recording the research of Islamic schools of legal thought, writing books on beneficial subjects, extensive research into fundamentals and particular applications of Sacred Law, in-depth studies of Arabic linguistics, the reciting of wirds (def: Reliance of the Traveller w20) by those with a Sufi path, and commemorating the birth (mawlid), of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) and wearing ones best and rejoicing at it.

(4) The fourth category includes innovations that are offensive, such as embellishing mosques, decorating the Qur’an and having a backup man (muballigh) loudly repeat the spoken Allahu Akbar of the imam when the latter’s voice is already clearly audible to those who are praying behind him.

(5) the fifth category is that of innovations that are permissible, such as sifting flour, using spoons and having more enjoyable food, drink and housing. (al Jawahir al-luluiyya fi sharh al-Arbain al-nawawiyya, 220-21).

I will conclude my remarks tonight with a translation of Sheikh Abdullah al-Ghimari, who said: In his al-Qawaid al-kubra, “Izz ibn Abd al-Salam classifies innovations (bida), according to their benefit, harm, or indifference, into the five categories of rulings: the obligatory, recommended, unlawful, offensive, and permissible; giving examples of each and mentioning the principles of Sacred Law that verify his classification. His words on the subject display his keen insight and comprehensive knowledge of both the principles of jurisprudence and the human advantages and disadvantages in view of which the Lawgiver has established the rulings of Sacred Law.

Because his classification of innovation (bida) was established on a firm basis in Islamic jurisprudence and legal principles, it was confirmed by Imam Nawawi, Ibn Hajar Asqalani, and the vast majority of Islamic scholars, who received his words with acceptance and viewed it obligatory to apply them to the new events and contingencies that occur with the changing times and the peoples who live in them. One may not support the denial of his classification by clinging to the hadith “Every innovation is misguidance”, because the only form of innovation that is without exception misguidance is that concerning tenets of faith, like the innovations of the Mutazilites, Qadarites, Murjiites, and so on, that contradicted the beliefs of the early Muslims. This is the innovation of misguidance because it is harmful and devoid of benefit. As for innovation in works, meaning the occurrence of an act connected with worship or something else that did not exist in the first century of Islam, it must necessarily be judged according to the five categories mentioned by Izz ibn Abd al-Salam. To claim that such innovation is misguidance without further qualification is simply not applicable to it, for new things are among the exigencies brought into being by the passage of time and generations, and nothing that is new lacks a ruling of Allah Most High that is applicable to it, whether explicitly mentioned in primary texts, or inferable from them in some way. The only reason that Islamic law can be valid for every time and place and be the consummate and most perfect of all divine laws is because it comprises general methodological principles and universal criteria, together with the ability its scholars have been endowed with to understand its primary texts, the knowledge of types of analogy and parallelism, and the other excellences that characterize it. Were we to rule that every new act that has come into being after the first century of Islam is an innovation of misguidance without considering whether it entails benefit or harm, it would invalidate a large share of the fundamental bases of Sacred Law as well as those rulings established by analogical reasoning, and would narrow and limit the Sacred Laws vast and comprehensive scope. (Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jamaa, 145-47).

Wa Jazakum Allahu khayran, wal-hamdu lillahi Rabbil Alamin.

Gaining Taqwa in Ramadan

Ibn Juzayy said in his dictionary of terms from the introduction to his tafsir:

"Taqwa's meaning is fear, clinging to obedience to Allah and abandoning disobedience to Him. It is the sum of all good."

by Imam Zaid Shakir

The Virtues of Laylatul Qadr

Allah Ta'ala says in the Quran: "The night of power is better than a thousand months." This means that the reward for engaging in ibaadah in this night is so great that if a person had to engage in ibaadah for a thousand months apart from this night, he will not receive the same reward as that of engaging in ibaadah in this one night.

In explaining the reason for the revelation of this verse, Imam Suyuti rahmatullahi alayh mentions in his book "Lubaabun Nuqool" that once Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned a person from among the Banu Isra'eel who had waged jihad in the path of Allah Ta'ala for 1000 months. Upon hearing this, the Sahabah were astonished and at the same time they became very despondent on the basis that how will they ever be able to accomplish such a feat. So Allah Ta'ala revealed the following verses:

"Most certainly, We have revealed it (the Quran) in the night of power. And what will give you an understanding of what the night of power is? The night of power is better than a thousand months."

In other words, this night is better than the thousand months which that person had spent in the path of Allah Ta'ala.

It is mentioned in another Hadith that there was a person from the Banu Isra'eel who used to be engaged in the ibaadah of Allah Ta'ala from the evening till the following morning. And from the morning till the evening he used to wage jihad in the path of Allah Ta'ala. He did this continuously for a thousand months. So Allah Ta'ala revealed this verse: "The night of power is better than a thousand months." That is, this night is better than the thousand months which the person had spent in ibaadah and jihad.

Dear brothers and sisters! Value this night and just imagine the great reward one receives for a little effort. Duas are readily accepted on this night. If you cannot remain awake the entire night, then stay awake for a part of the night. Do not deprive yourself completely through sheer laziness.

1. It is mentioned in a Hadith that this month of Ramadaan has dawned upon you. In it is a night which is better than a thousand months. The person who deprives himself of the blessings, obedience and ibaadah of this night has in fact deprived himself of all good. And no one will deprive himself of the blessings of such a night except an extremely bereft person. In other words, the person who does not receive any blessings from such a blessed night by not engaging in any ibaadah in this night is an extremely deprived person for foregoing such a golden opportunity.

2. It is mentioned in a Hadith that if Allah wanted, he would have informed us as to when this night will fall. But because of some wisdom known only to Him, He did not inform us. So search for this night in the last seven nights of Ramadaan. In other words, there is a high possibility of experiencing this night in one of these seven nights. Searching for this night means that we have to remain awake and engage ourselves in ibaadah in these seven nights, perhaps we will be blessed with this night.

3. It is mentioned in a Hadith that laylatul qadr occurs every Ramadaan.

4. It is mentioned in a Hadith that laylatul qadr occurs on the 27th night of Ramadaan.

There are many differences in opinion as to when laylatul qadr occurs. The popular opinion is that it occurs on the 27th night of Ramadaan. However, if a person has the strength and determination to do so, he should engage in ibaadah in the last ten days of Ramadaan. When searching for laylatul qadr in these ten nights, it is not necessary that the person has to see or notice something. Whether he sees something or not, he should continue with his ibaadah and thereby gain all the blessings. This is the object of laylatul qadr, i.e. the person must earn all the blessings and rewards that have been mentioned. To see or notice something is not the aim and objective.

- Author: Moulana Ashraf Thanvi, Book: Behashti Zewar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~