BEEN THERE….. DONE THAT
“ASK THE PEOPLE OF
KNOWLEDGE IF YOU DO NOT KNOW.” (16:43, 21:7).
“…OBEY ALLAH, OBEY THE PROPHET AND THOSE CHARGED WITH AUTHORITY…) (4:58) The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was reported to have said, “…The learned men are the inheritors of the Prophets…”
(Tirmidhi, Abu Daw’ud, Ibn Majah)
“Today everyone is his own
teacher, asserting his own views, and rejecting all others as the Prophet
predicted, everyone will be fond of his own opinion.”(Tirmidhi)
People no longer accept advice and are stubborn in
holding to their belief, regardless what they are told.” (The
approach of Armageddon—An Islamic perspective by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani pgs.
116-117) This prophecy brings us to another imaginary
‘fable’ many have adopted: the uneducated can and will understand the text
sources (Qur’an and Hadith) unaided by traditional Muslim scholarship.
The Hadith master known as Imam Tirmidhi said “one who has no teacher
has Shaitan as his teacher.” As I
wrote in the annotation of the khutbah of Dr. Donia titled ‘Pure fasting’,
“…as is the case with Al-Qur’an it is the correct interpretation that is as
important as the ahadith itself.” For example, when examining the hadith
on qualifications for imamate (prayer leader) knowing the most Qur’an is stated
first. However, several recently published fiqh books give the fiqh
rulings/interpretations on the Prophet’s words; 1) “The most learned in
sacred law, even if he has not learned anything of the Qur’an except the fatiha,
since the need in prayer for knowledge of its rules are practically unlimited…”
the next standard is the one who memorized the most Qur’an. Shafi Math’hab —Reliance of the traveler
translated by Noah Hamim Keller pg.181
According to the Hanafis,
Malikis and the Hanbalis the above criteria is the same although not as the
first priority but stated as the standard criteria for an Imam’s qualifications nonetheless.
(See Al-Fiqh ala al-madhabib al -araba Vol. 1 Translated
by Nancy Roberts pgs. 563-565)
The interpretive principle starts with the Sahaba (rah) as one
scholar explains, “…No one, therefore can be a better authority on faith or
claim to understand the spirit and purpose underlying the teachings of the
Prophet (pbuh) more correctly than them. Religion is what they
thought it was.” Islamic
faith and practice by Mohammad Manzoor Nomani translated from Urdu by Mohammad
Asif Kidwai, pg 61
One of the colleagues of the Hadith, Sunnah and Fiqh master Imam
Malik Ibn Anas, Ibn Uyayna one of the celebrated ‘seven
Jurists of Medina’ touches on what is acknowledged as a fiqh/interpretive
standard by stating, “Hadiths are a source of misguidance except for the
fuqaha” (i.e., fiqh scholars). (The
Origins of Islamic law—The Qur’an, the Muwatta and Medinan Amal by Yasin Dutton
pg. 19) The Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) subtly alluded to this when he said “…many a one who
transmits law is no lawyer [fiqh scholar] himself, and the one whom law is
transmitted to may understand it better than the transmitter.” (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah) The law in the above
Prophetic statement is the Qur’an and Hadith. “This hadith shows very clearly that some narrators of hadith (Muhhadith)
in spite of being a Hafiz of hadith are men of little understanding in
so far as the meanings and subtleties are concerned.” (Taqleed and Ij’tihad, Mujlisul Ulama of South
Africa, pg.15) The
scholar’s words are proven by several reports in the early Hadith/fiqh
works such as Imam Malik’s Muwa’tta where certain Sahaba corrected their
brethren who could not make Ij’tihad or whose understanding of a
particular fiqh issue or ahadith was deficient. Therefore,
regardless of the strength of the isnad (chain of narrators) it is the
text (matn) and it’s accepted meaning the early scholars were primarily concerned
with.
Ironically, many or most of the early fuqaha were hadith
scholars themselves. The most important proof of this is in hadith studies is
known as the “golden chain” of isnad in hadith: Ibn U’mar to Nafee to
Imam Malik, to Imam Shafi to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal to Imam Bukhari. Three of the Ahle-sunnah Mad’hab Imams of
fiqh are in this important line while the major source from the Sahabi
is Ibn U’mar (rah), one of the first Fuqaha/Mujtahid. His
status as Mujtahid means he made Ijtihad which is where many of the
legal decisions in Imam Malik’s Muwa’tta came from.
I would like to believe many of my Muslim brethren
do not or did not have access to the religious scholars or read books with good
intent not knowing the writer’s educational background or religious views,
along with many of the facts surrounding a particular religious issue or
textual source. However, another factor that
many of us seem to overlook or are not aware of takes us back to basics. Imam Ghazzali, who was given the
honorific title of Hujjat (proof) of Islam has touched on this as a
reminder and warning. “Knowledge is not attained except through humility and
harkening. Allah (shwta) said: “Lo,
herein is warning for him who hath a heart or harkens with his ear while he
himself is an eyewitness.” (50:37). By “him
who hath a heart” is meant the person who is prepared and capable of
understanding knowledge but would fail to do so unless he would open his ears
and heart and would attentively, humbly, thankfully, gladly and gratefully
receive whatever he is told….” “Whatever
the teacher should recommend to the pupil, the latter should follow, putting
aside his own opinion…” “In short, be sure
that every pupil who would hold fast to his own opinion and choice in defiance
to his teacher is doomed to disappointment and failure.” (Imam Ghazzali’s Book of Knowledge
translated by Nabih Amin Faris, pages 130-131)
Suffice it to say, it is ironic how Muslims routinely
turn away from Allah’s commands and prohibitions on the correct approach to the
text sources (Qur’an and Hadith) as stated in the introductory ayat
and hadith replacing it with their self-styled, ignorant, misunderstanding
of the sacred texts. Adding fuel to the fire is becoming resistant to the truth
when presented on this matter.
I will conclude with a hadith on the
condition of the people in the last Days…Abu
Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying, “before the Hour comes there will be years of
deceit in which the trustworthy one will be said to be a traitor and the
traitor will be trusted and the insignificant will have a say…” (Musnad
Ahmad, Ibn Majah) Will this condition of the Ummah be the result of adopting
flawed interpretations of the sacred texts, learning from books and ‘Shaykh
Google’ rather than qualified scholars and their students?
