A Discourse
Asalaamu alaykum
You know sometimes one has thoughts and certain insights and would like to tell people, and even write whole articles about these thoughts. Often it is hard, though, to find enough words for an essay or an article. Therefore, I would like to share with you the following points that I believe are worthy to be reflected on.
All Praise is to Allah, the Lord of Creation. We cannot Glorify nor Praise Him enough.
The likeness of a disbeliever is that of a rebellious mutineer on a ship, who is doomed and destined to failure and punishment. For those who are loyal to the Commander of the ship, the mutineer has no idea of the dungeon that has been prepared for him on the coast, which is fast approaching. Now, the crew are fine, they do not have much to worry about other than a small amount of accounting to take place when they get to the coast. They are aware, however, that when the mutineer gets to the coast he is going to have a difficult time. So for his own good, the merciful crew try to warn him. If he relents then the Commander and the rest of the ship will accept him as part of the crew again. If he doesn’t then the dungeon is well and good a destination as any he will deservingly get for his defiance.
Since the mutineer has no idea that there is a coast nearby on which a dungeon is waiting for him, then he will have no concept of them; if all the crew (who have been informed there is a dungeon waiting for the mutineer) does in warning him is to say that “look there’s the dungeon” he will probably not believe them.
So the best way to guide him back to the straight and proper way of conduct is to provide incentive and motivation to be back as part of the crew. They might remind him of the good days they had together, remind him of the loving and positive character traits of the Commander or show him how their harmonious behaviour on the ship is positive and this might motivate him. In short, actions speak louder than words.
Well the Commander of the ship is Allah (this is all metaphorical mind you), the ship itself is the Creation, the crew are the Believers, the coast is the Hereafter and the dungeon is Hell.
“O man! What has seduced thee from thy Lord Most Beneficent?” (Al Infitar: 6)
When a person embarks on studying a particular discipline, even if he undertakes self-study it is unavoidable and quite unrealistic to suppose that the person will learn the whole science or art by teaching himself. If one wants the knowledge, then how can he teach himself when he does not have it in the first place? I have never heard of any accountant, doctor, engineer or teacher ever becoming what he is all by teaching himself. I started to study accountancy a few months ago through self-study textbooks and, not for this reason did I give it up, but I found it impossible to teach myself. You just cannot do it.
Yet I am amazed and astounded at how Muslims today are flocking to their local Islamic bookshops, purchasing books, CD’s and videos, etc and after reading a few materials deem themselves fit to pronounce judgement on matters that, before the advent of the 20 th Century, no one other than the Ulama dared even to suggest solutions on.
To all those brothers and sisters, especially the ones being taught and who are studying at university, who are refusing to search or access or are too arrogant to take guidance from an ’alim, I ask you that whereas you are allowing yourself to be taught by kafir teachers physics, law, medicine, or whatever you are studying in the lecture theatres of your campuses, why is it you refuse to be led by an ‘alim in the matter of learning the Shar’iah, the Divinely Revealed Law of the Creator of Creation.
I tell you, if the Muslims of the 18 th Century looked at us today, they would weep more at the state of our hearts than the state of our lands. Books, etc are tools that you must use, but you have to know from the people who have already used them of exactly how to use them. Brothers and sisters who depend solely on books as their sole source of knowledge seem to forget the fact that the authors of all those books themselves were taught, not by other books, but by living, breathing human teachers themselves. True knowledge, whether judicial or spiritual is transmitted directly from person to person, there is absolutely no way around this.
I originally wanted to write a whole article, but I really do not think I am qualified, my judicial vocabulary being quite limited to ijtihad, qiyaas and ijma! So in the spirit of the advice from our Imam al-Shafi’i (may Allah perfume his resting place and be well pleased with him), I feel greatly honoured and privileged to recommend to you (available in most Islamic bookshops) Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law by the 14 th Century Scholar/’Alim Shaykh Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (may Allah be well pleased with him), translated and edited by the contemporary living ‘alim, the Respected Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller (may Allah preserve him), in Arabic with facing English text, commentary and appendices.
If you are Hanbali, Hanafi or Maliki then do not worry about the fact that it is Shafi’i-based (in the words of Shaykh Nuh: “The four Sunni schools of Islamic law, […] are identical in approximately 75 percent of their legal conclusions…”), because the respected Shaykh at the appropriate points has inserted the opinions of the other three schools when they differ from those of Imam al-Shafi’i. Also, if you have a Shaykh already then you can just clarify points with him.
However, from a strictly fiqh perspective, this volume is absolutely priceless, the first of its kind in the English language. The manual of Shaykh Ahmad is itself just a part of the volume, thanks to the detailed and relevant commentaries and appendices of Shaykh Nuh. The manual covers nearly all facets of Islamic life from Marriage, Trade and Inheritance to Jihad, Justice, Prayer and the Pilgrimage. The most beneficial part of the book, however, is probably the last third of the volume. Just to give you an idea, I will list the titles of these last books, labelled P to X (Shaykh Nuh has delineated the sections into books within the volume):
His book on Biographical Notes is 97 pages long, containing brief biographies of Prophets, Companions and Great Scholars and Sufis of the past and present.
To give you an idea of how varied and relevant his Notes and Appendices section is, I will just give you a few titles of the detailed sections in that book (with 60 sections and being 193 pages long):
(I would like to draw the attention of the reader especially to section a4.0 in Book A of the volume, which deals with Personally Obligatory Knowledge, an area in which I think we are all dangerously lacking in and neglecting. Muslims today are entering into contracts, agreements and marriages without knowing what the Command (Hukm) of Allah is; Allah has not left us at all and in any situation without guidance.
The Noble Prophet (blessings of Allah and peace be on him) said, “To seek knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and Muslim woman.” (Ibn Majah)
It is a religious duty upon us all to know what the Command of Allah is in everything that we do, and if we do not know then it is incumbent on us to find this knowledge wherever it is. Just because there is no Caliphate or any institutionalised and nationally organised infrastructure for learning ilm ad-Din, this is no excuse for us to neglect our individual responsibilities.
Furthermore, to the ignorant, jaahil Muslims who use this hadith above to encourage their son or daughter to go to university, etc, for them a great torment is waiting if they do not desist from doing so for they are manipulating the words of Allah’s Messenger for their own worldly purposes, ambitions and aspirations.)
I will tell you at the outset that you are not expected to read the volume from cover to cover. Books like this are reference books, but what a reference book this is, and most comprehensive!! I know a brother who has had this book for nearly two years and he still has not read it through completely. However, I strongly and urgently advise, that like with almost every book on fiqh, rather than drawing your own conclusions from this volume, if that is what you end up doing, that you ask the Ulama for any clarifying that needs to be done.
This volume also contains the following official documents authorising and attesting to the truth and authenticity of this work:
The certificate from al-Azhar ends:
“… we certify that the above-mentioned translation corresponds to the Arabic original and conforms to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni Community (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a). There is no objection to printing it and circulating it.”
“This is a truly magnificent piece of work that will prove to be indispensable to the English-speaking Muslims and to any Western student of Islam….”
Professor Farhat J. Ziadeh, Journal of the American Oriental Society
“This text will become the standard by which other translations are judged.”
Professor A. Kevin Reinhart, MESA Bulletin
I end with a beautiful exchange that took place a few years back between a scholar from Madinah, Sheikh Muhammad Mamoon who is a Sayyed originally from Mauritania and Sheikh Murabtal Haaj, the Great Master of Mauritania. Sheikh Mamoon travelled to Sheikh Murabtal Haaj and the following conversation took place (paraphrased):
MM: I want to learn tawheed from you, O sheikh.
MH: You want tawheed? I’ll give you tawheed.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Qul hu Allahu Ahad
Allah hus-Samad.
Lam ya-lid wa lam you-lad
Wa lam ya kullahu kuf-uwan ahad
There’s tawheed
Now go study fiqh, don’t study anything else. Learn how to worship Allah.
That’s tawheed. [End of exchange]
There is an eternal wisdom and profoundness in these words, uttered by a living Friend of Allah.
I am Tauseef Naqshbandi. See you in Paradise, Allah willing.