(' Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) There is nodisagreement among the scholars of the Muslimsthat the source of legal rulings for all the acts ofthose who are morally responsible is Allah MostGlorious.
The question arises, Is it possible for themind alone, unaided by Allah's messengers andrevealed scriptures, to know rulings, such thatsomeone not reached by a prophet's invitationwould be able through his own reason to knowAllah's rule concerning his actions?
Or is thisimpossible?
The position of the Ash'aris, the followersof Abul Hasan Ash'ari, is that the mind is unableto know the rule of Allah about the acts of thosemorally responsible except by means of His messengersand inspired books.For minds are in obvious disagreement aboutacts
Some minds find certain acts good, othersfind them bad
Moreover
one person can be oftwo minds about one and the same action
Capriceoften wins out over the intellect
and consideringsomething good or bad comes to be based on merewhim
So it cannot be said that an act which themind deems good is therefore good in the eyes ofAllah, its performance called for and its doerrewarded by Allah; or that whatever the mindfeels to be bad is thus bad in the eyes of Allah, itsnonperformance called for and its doer punishedby Allah.
The basic premise of this school of thQughtis that the good of the acts of those morallyresponsible is what the Lawgiver (syn
Allah orHis messenger (Allah bless him and give himpeace)) has indicated is good by permitting it orasking it be done
And the bad is what the Lawgiverhas indicated is bad by asking it not be done.The good is not what reason considers good, northe bad what reason considers bad
The measureof good and bad, according to this school ofthought, is the Sacred Law, not reason (dis: w3).
According to this school
a person is notmorally obligated by Allah to do or refrain fromanything unless the invitation of a prophet andwhat Allah has legislated have reached him (n: w4discusses Islam's relation to previous prophets'laws)
Noone is rewarded for doing something orpunished for refraining from or doing somethinguntil he knows by means of Allah's messengerswhat he is obliged to do or obliged to refrain from.So whoever lives in such complete isoiationthat the summons of a prophet and his Sacred Lawdo not reach him is not morally responsible toAllah for anything and deserves neither rewardnor punishment.And those who lived in one of the intervalsafter the death of a prophet and before a new onehad been sent were not responsible for anythingand deserve neither reward nor punishment.This view is confirmed by the word of AllahMost High,""We do not punish until We send a messenger""(Koran 17: 15).('lim usul al-fiqh (y71), 96-98)*
(Nawawi:) Allah Most High says:(1) ""Say, 'Are those who know and thosewho do not know equal?' "" (Koran 39:9).(2) ""Only the knowledgeable of His slavesfear Allah"" (Koran 35:28).(3) ""Allah raises those of you who believeand those who have been given knowledge wholedegrees"" (Koran 58:11).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever Allah wishes well, He givesknowledge of religion.""(2) ""The superiority of the learned Muslimover the devotee is as my superiority over the leastof you.""Then the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""Allah and His angels, the inhabitants of theheavens and the earth
the very ant in its anthilland the fish bless those who teach people what isgood.""(3) ""When a human being dies his workcomes to an end except for three things: ongoingcharity, knowledge benefitted from, or a piousson who prays for him.""(4) ""A single learned Muslim is harder onthe Devil than a thousand worshippers
,.(5) ""Whoever travels a path seeking knowledgeAllah makes easy for him a path to paradise.""Angels lower their wings for the seeker ofknowledge out of pleasure in what he seeks.""Those in the heavens and the earth, and thevery fish in the water ask Allah to forgive the personendowed with Sacred Knowledge.""The superiority of the learned Muslim overthe devotee is like the superiority of the moonover all the stars.""The learned are the heirs of the prophets.The prophets have not bequeathed dinar nordirham, but have only left Sacred Knowledge, andwhoever takes it has taken an enormous share.""(6) ""He who calls others to guidance shallreceive the like of the reward of those who followhim without this diminishing their own reward inthe slightest
And he who calls others to misguidanceshall bear the like of the sins of those whofollowhim without this diminishing their own sins.""(7) ""He who goes forth to seek SacredKnowledge is in the way of Allah [syn
jihad, def:09] until he returns.""(8) ""This world and what is in it are accursed[dis: w5] except for the remembrance of Allah,that which Allah loves, someone with SacredKnowledge, or someone learning it.""
'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be well pleasedwith him) said,'The religious scholar is greater in rewardthan the fighter in the way of Allah who fasts theday and prays the night.""
Abu Darda' (Allah be well pleased withhim) said,""Teaching Sacred Knowledge for a brief timeis better than spending a night in prayer.""
Yahya ibn Abi Kathir said,""Studying Sacred Knowledge is a prayer.""
Sufyan al-Thawri and Shafh said,""There is nothing after what is obligatory thatis superior to seeking Sacred Knowledge.""
(Nawawi:) There are similar statementsfrom whole groups of early Muslims I have notmentioned that are like those I have quoted, theupshot of which is that they concur that devotingone's time to Sacred Knowledge is better thandevoting it to voluntary fasting or prayer, betterthan saying ""Subhan Allah"" (lit
""Exalted is Allahabove any limitation""), or other supererogatorydevotions.Among the proofs for this, besides the foregoing,is that:(1) the benefit of Sacred Knowledge affectsboth its possessor and the Muslims, while theabove-mentioned supererogatory works are confinedto oneself;(2) Sacred Knowledge validates
so otheracts of worship require it, though not vice versa;(3) scholars are the heirs of the prophets,while devotees are not characterized as such;(4) the devotee follows the scholar
being ledby and imitating him in worship and other acts,obeying him being obligatory and not the otherway around;(5) the benefit and effect of Sacred Knowledgeremain after its possesser departs, whilesupererogatory works cease with the death oftheir doer;(6) knowledge is an attribute of Allah MostHigh;(7) Sacred Knowledge
meaning the knowledgewe are discussing, is a communal obligation(def: c3.2), and it is thus better than thesupererogatory
The Imam of the TwoSanctuaries (A: Juwayni) says in his book alGhiyathithat ""the communal obligation issuperior to the personal obligation in that the personperforming it fulfills the need of the IslamicNation (Umma) and lifts the obligation from it,while the obligation of the individual is restrictedto himself."" And success is through Allah (alMajmu'(y108), 1.18-22).*
(Nawawi:) Know that what we have mentionedabout the merit of seeking Sacred Knowledgeonly applies to the seeker who therebyintends Allah Himself
not some end concernedwith this world.Whoever seeks it for a worldly aim such asmoney, leadership, rank, prestige, fame, peopleinclining towards him, defeating opponents indebate, or similar motive, is blameworthy.(A: When the basic reason is Allah but othermotives playa role, they diminish the merit in theproportion that they enter into it.)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Whoever wants to cultivate the afterlifeWe shall increase for him his tillage, while who·ever wants to cultivate this world, we shail givehini of it, but he will have no share in the next""(Koran 42:20).(2) ""Whoever wants the present world Wehasten for him therein whatever We will, forwhomever We want, and then consign him to hell,roasting in it condemned and rejected"" (Koran17: 18).(3) ""Verily, your Lord is ready at ambush""(Koran 89: 14).(4) ""They were not ordered except to worshipAllah, making their religion sincere unto Himas pure monotheists"" (Koran 98:5).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:( I) ""The first person judged on ResurrectionDay will be a man martyred in battle,""He'll be brought forth, Allah will reacquainthim with His blessings upon him and the man willacknowledge them, whereupon Allah will say,'What have you done with them?' to which theman will respond, 'I fought to the death for you.'""Allah will reply, 'You lie
You fought inorder to be called a hero, and it has already beensaid.' Then he will be sentenced and dragged aw<\.yon his face to be flung into the fire.""Then a man will be brought forward wholearned Sacred Knowledge, taught it to others,and who recited the Koran, Allah will remind himof His gifts to him and the man will acknowledgethem, and then Allah will say, 'What have youdone with themT The man will answer, '1acquired Sacred Knowledge, taught it, and recitedthe Koran
for Your sake.'""Allah will say, 'You lie
You learned so as tobe called a scholar, and read the Koran so as to becalled a reciter
and it has already been said.' Thenhe will be sentenced and dragged away on his faceto be flung into the fire.""(2) ""Anyone who seeks Sacred Knowledgeto argue with fools, vie with scholars, or drawpeople's attention to himself, will take a place inhell.""(3) ""The most severely tortured on ResurrectionDay shall be the scholar who did notbenefit from his knowledge.""
Sufyan al-Thawri said.""No servant increased in knowledge and thenin desire for the things of this world, save that heincreased in distance from Allah.""(Ibid., 1.23-24)*
(Nawawi:) There are three categories ofSacred Knowledge
The first is the personallyobligatory (fard al-'ayn, def: c2.1), which is a morallyresponsible individual's learning the knowledgethat the obligatory acts he must performcannot be accomplished without, such as how theablution (wudu) and prayer are done and so forth.Its obligatory character is how groups ofscholars have interpreted the hadith in the Musnadof Abu Ya'la al-Mawsuli, from Anas, whorelates that the Propht;t (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Seeking knowledge is an obligation uponevery Muslim.""The meaning of this hadith
though thehadith itself is not well authenticated (A: beingweak (dis: p9.5)), is true.
As for the basic obligation of Islam, andwhat relates to tenets of faith, it is adequate forone to believe in everything brought by the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give: himpeace) and to credit it with absolute convictionfree of any doubt
Whoever does this is notobliged to learn the evidences of the scholastictheologians
The Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) did not require of anyone anythingbut what we have just mentioned, nor didthe first four caliphs, the other prophetic Companions,nor others of the early Muslim communitywho came after them.Rather, what befits the common people andvast majority of those learning or possessing SacredKnowledge is to refrain from discussing thesubtleties of scholastic theology, lest corruptiondifficult to eliminate find its way into their basicreligious convictions
Rather, it is fitter for themto confine themselves to contentment with theabove-mentioned absolute certainty.Our Imam Shafi'i (Allah Most High havemercy on him) went to the greatest possiblelengths in asserting that engaging in scholastictheology is forbidden
(A: What he meant therebywas the heretical scholastic theology that proliferatedin his time and put rationalistic theoriesahead ol the Koran and sunna, not the science oftheology ('ilm al-tawhid) by which Ash'ari andMaturidi scholars (dis: x47) have clarified anddetailed the tenets of faith of Sunni Islam, which isan important part of the Islamic sciences.) Heinsistently emphasized its unlawfulness, the severityof the punishment awaiting those who engagein it, the disgrace of doing it, and the enormity nfthe sin therein by saying,""Fora servant to meet Allah with any othersin than idolatry (shirk) is better than to meet Himguilty of anything of scholastic theology.""His other statements expressing the samemeaning are numerous and well known.But if someone has doubts (Allah be ourrefuge) about any of the tenets of faith in whichbelief is obligatory (def: books u and v),and hisdoubt cannot be eliminated except by learningone of the theologians' proofs, then it is obligatoryfor him to learn it in order to remove the doubtand acquire the belief in question.
Scholars disagree about the Koranic versesand hadiths that deal with the attributes ofAllah (n: such as His 'hand' (Koran 48:10), His'eyes' (52:48), or His 'nearness' (50:16)) as towhether they should be discussed in terms of aparticular figurative interpretation (ta'wil, def: w6)or not.Some say that they should be figurativelyinterpreted as befits them (n: interpreting His'hand,' for example, as an allusion to His omnipotence).And this is the more well known of the twopositions of the scholastic theologians.Others say that such verses should not begiven a definitive interpretation, but rather theirmeaning should not be discussed, and the knowledgeof them should be consigned to Allah MostHigh, while at the same time believing in thetranscendence of Allah Most High, and that thecharacteristics of created things do not apply toHim
For example, it should be said we believethat""the All-merciful is 'established' [Ar
istawa, dis:v1.3] on the Throne"" (Koran 20:5),but we do not know the reality of the meaning ofthat, nor what is intended thereby, though webelieve of Allah Most High that""there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him""(Koran 42:11),and that He is above indwelling in created things(hulul, dis: w7), or having the characteristics oftemporal, contingent existence (huduth, dis: w8).And this is the path of the early Muslims, or thevast majority of them, and is the safest, for a personis not required to enter into discussions aboutthis
When one believes in Allah's transcendenceabove created things, there is no need for debateon it, or for taking risks over what there is neitherpressing necessity nor even any real call for.But if the need arises for definitive interpretationsto refute someone making unlawful innovationsand the like, then the learned may supplythem, and this is how we should understand whathas come down to us from scholars in this field.And Allah knows best.
A person is not obliged to learn how toperform ablution, the prayer, and so forth, untilthe act itself is obligatory for him.As for trade, marriage, and so forth, of thingsnot in themselves obligatory, the Imam of the TwoSanctuaries (A: J uwayni), Ghazali, and others saythat learning their means and conditions is personallyobligatory for anyone who wants to dothem.It has also been said that one should not callthis knowledge ""personally obligatory,"" butrather say, ""It is unlawful to undertake them untilone knows the conditions for their legal validity.""And this expression is more accurate.
It is obligatory for one to know what ispermissible and what is unlawful of food, drink,clothing, and so forth, of things one is unlikely tobe able to do without
And likewise for the rulingson treatment of women if one has a wife.
Shafi'i and colleagues (Allah have mer.cyon them) say that fathers and mothers must teachtheir children what will be obligatory for themafter puberty
Thc guardian must teach the childabout purification, prayer
fasting, and so forth;and that fornication, sodomy, theft, drinking,lying, slander
and the like are unlawful; and thathe acquires moral responsibility at puberty andwhat this entails.It has been said that this education is merelyrecommended
but in fact it is obligatory
as theplain content of its scriptural basis (n: mentionedbelow) shows
Just as it is mandatory for aguardian to wisely manage his charge's property.this is even more important
The merely recommendedis what exceeds this, such as teaching himthe Koran, Sacred Law, etiquette, and teachinghim what he needs to earn a living.The evidence for the obligation of teaehing ayoung ehild is the word of Allah Mighty andMajestic,""0 you who believe, protect yourselves andfamilies from a fire"" (Koran 66:6).'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be well pleased withhim), Mujahid, and Qatada say it means, ""Teachthem that with which they can save themselves,from hell.""
As for knowledge of the heart, meaningfamiliarity with the illnesses of the heart such asenvy, pride, and the like (dis: books p, r, and s),Ghazali has said that knowledge of theirdefinitions, causes, remedy, and treatment ispersonally obligatory.(A: And this is what Ghazali meant when hesaid that Sufism (Tasawwuf, dis: w9) is personallyobligatory for every Muslim
He did not mean thattaking a way (tariqa) and a sheikh are obligatory,but rather the elimination of unlawful inner traits,which one could conceivably accomplish throughthe companionship of a single sineere brother.)Others hold that if the morally responsibleindividual is endowed with a heart free of all theseunlawful diseases
it suffices him, and he is notobliged to learn what will cure them
But if notsafe from them, he must reflect: if he can purify hisheart from them without instruction then he mustpurify it, just as he must shun fornication and thelike without learning the evidence proving hemust
But if he cannot rid himself of these unlawfultraits except through learning the above-mentionedknowledge, then he is personally obligedto
And Allah knows best (al-Majmu' (y108) ,
1.24-26).
(Nawawi:) The second category (n: of SacredKnowledge) is what is communally obligatory(fard al-kifaya, def: c3.2), namely the attainmentof those Sacred Sciences which people cannot dowithout in practicing their religion, such asmemorizing the Koran and hadith, their ancillarydisciplines, methodological principles, SacredLaw, grammar, lexicology, declension, knowledgeof hadith transmitters, and of scholarly consensus(ijma', def: b7) and nonconsensus.
As for learning which is not Sacred Know·ledge but is required to sustain worldly existence,such as medicine and mathematics, it too is a communalobligation (ibid., 1.26).*
(N awawi:) The third category is thesupererogatory (def: c4.2), such as in-depthresearch into the bases of evidences, and elaborationbeyond the amount required by the comemunal obligation, or such as an ordinary Muslimlearning the details of nonobligatory acts of worshipfor the purpose of performing them; thoughnot the work of scholars in distinguishing theobligatory from the nonobligatory, which is acommunal obligation in respect to them
AndAllah knows best (ibid., 1.27).*
(Nawawi:) Having mentioned thecategories of Sacred Knowledge, the subjects itexcludes are those that are unlawful, offensive, orpermissible.
Unlawful knowledge includes:(1) learning soreery (dis: p3), sinceaccording to the most reliable position, it is unlawful,as the vast majority of scholars have decisivelystated;(2) philosophy (dis: wlO);(3) magic (sha'badha, meaning sleight ofhand, etc,);(4) astrology (dis: p41);(5) the sciences of the materialists (dis: wII);(6) and anything that is a means to createdoubts (n: in eternal truths)
Such things vary intheir degree of unlawfulness.
Offensive knowledge includes such thing;,as post-classical poetry which contains romanceand uselessness.
Permissible knowledge includes postclassicalpoetry which does not contain stupidityor anything that is offensive
incites to evil, hindersfrom good; nor yet that which urges one to dogood or helps one to do it (n: as the latter would berecommended) (ibid .
1.27).
(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) What is theproof that it is legally valid and even obligatory toaccept the authority of qualified scholarship (taq-lid) when one is not capable of issuing expert legalopinion (ijtihad) on matters of Sacred Law?
Thereare several aspects to it (n: diseussed in the seetionsthat follow) (al-Lamadhhabiyya akhtar bid'atuhaddidu al-shari'a al-Islamiyya (y33), 70).
(n:) For the key term qualified to issue expert legal opinion (Ar
mujtahid,this ability being ijtihad) , please turn to book 0 and read O22.1(d), the qualificationsof an Islamic judge (qadi)
The difference between the qualifications for theImam of a school and those for a judge or a mufti is that the former's competencein giving opinion is absolute, extending to all subject matters in the Sacred Law,while the competence of the judge Or mufti is limited respectively to judging courtcases or to applying his Imam's ijtihad to particular questions.No age of history is totally lacking people who are competent in ijtihad onparticular questions which are new, and this is an important aspect of Sacred Law,to provide solutions to new ethical problems by means of sound Islamic legalmethodology in applying the Kora'nic and hadith primary texts
But while in thisspecific sense the door of ijtihad is not and cannot be closed, Islamic scholarshiphas not accepted anyone's claims to absolute ijtihad since Imams Abu Hanifa,Malik, Shafi'i, and Ahmad
If one studies the intellectual legacy of these menunder scholars who have a working familiarity with it, it is not difficult to see why.As for those who decry ""hidebound conservatism"" and would open the gateof ijtihad for themselves while lacking or possibly not even knowing the necessaryqualifications, if such people have not studied the rulings of a particular schooland the relation between these rulings, the Koranic and hadith primary texts, andthe school's methodological principles, they do not know how ijtihad works froman observer's standpoint, let alone how to employ it
To ask them, for example,which of two equally authenticated primary texts that conflict on a legal questionshould be given precedence, and why, is like asking an aspiring draftingstudent for the particulars of designing a suspension bridge
Answers may beforthcoming, but they will riot be the same as those one could get from a qualifiedcontractor
To urge that a mujtahid is not divinely protected from error (ma'sum)is as of little relevance to his work as the fact that a major physicist is not divinelyprotected from simple errors in calculus; the probability of finding them in hispublished work is virtually negligible
Regarding other, long-dead schools, suchas the Zahiriyya, the difference between their work and that of the four livingschools is firstly one of quality, as their positions and evidence have not beenreexamined and upgraded by succeeding generations of first-rank scholars likethose of the four schools (dis: w12), and secondly the lack of verification of theactual positions of their mujtahids through reliable chains of transmitters, asdeseribed below at b7.6.
(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) The first aspectof it is the word of Allah the Majestic,""Ask those who recall if you know not""(Koran 16:43).By consensus of all scholars (ijma'
def: b7).this verse is an imperative for someone who doesnot know a ruling in Sacred Law or the evidencefor it to follow someone who does
Virtually allscholars of fundamentals of Islamic law havemade this verse their principle evidence that it isobligatory for the ordinary person to follow thescholar who is a mujtahid.
Similar to the above verse in being evi·dence for this is the word of Allah Most High:""Not all of the believers should go to fight
Ofevery section of them, why does not one partalone go forth, that the rest may gain knowledgeof the religion to admonish their people when theyreturn, that haply they may take warning"" (Koran9:122).Allah Most High prohibited the people to goout altogether in military expeditions and jihad,and ordered a segment of them to engage solely inbecoming knowledgeable in the religion of Allah,so that when their brothers returned to them, theywould find someone qualified to give them legalopinion on the lawful and unlawful and to explainthe rule of Allah the Glorious and Exalted(ibid., 71).*
(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) A second aspectis the consensus of scholars that the Companionsof the Prophet (Ar
Sahaba, anyone who personallymet the Prophet (Allah bless him and himpeace) and died while believing in Islam) were atvarious levels of knowledge in religion; not all ofthem were capable of giving formal legal opinion(fatwa), as Ibn Khaldun has noted, nor was thereligion taken from all of them.
Rather, there were those of them capableof legal opinion and ijtihad, and these were a smallminority in relation to the rest, and there werethose of them who sought legal opinion and 'followedothers therein, and these were the vastmajority of them.(n: Suyuti, in Tadrib al-rawi, quotes IbnHazm's report that most of the Companions' legalopinions came from only seven of them: 'Umar,'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn 'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Zaydibn Thabit, and 'A'isha; and this was fromthousands of the Companions (Tadrib al·raHJi fishar:.h Taqrib al-Nawawi (yl09), 2.219).)
Nor did the individual Companion givinga legal opinion necessarily mention the evidencefor it to the person who had asked about it
AIAmidinotes in his book al-lhkam: ""As for scholarlyconsensus [ijma', dis: b7.2], it is that ordinarypeople in the times of the Companions and thosewho immediately followed them, before therewere dissenters, used to seek the opinion of mujtahidsand would follow them in rules ofSacred Law.""The learned among thcm would unhesitatinglyanswer their questions without alluding tomention of evidence
No one censured them fordoing this; a fact that establishes scholarly consensuson the absolute permissibility of the ordinaryperson following one capable of ijtihad.""
The Prophet (Allah blcss him and givehim pcace) used to dispatch the most knowledgeableof the Companions to places whose inhabitantsknew nothing more of Islam than its fivepillars
The latter would follow the person sent tothem in everything he gave his judgement uponand had them do, of works, acts of worship, deal-ing with one another
and all matters of the lawfuland unlawful.Sometimes sueh a person would come acrossa question on which he could find no evidence inthe Koran or sunna, and he would use his own personallegalreasoning and furnish them an answerin light of it, and they would follow him therein.
As for the era of those who came afterthem (AT
tabi'in, those who had personallylearned from one or more of the Companions butnot the Prophet himself (Allah bless him and givehim peace)), the scope of legal reasoning hadexpanded, and the Muslims of this time followedthe same course as had thc Companions of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),cxccpt that the legal efforts were represented bythe two main schools of thought, that of juridicalopinion (ra'y) and that of haditll (n: the former inIraq, the latter in Medina) because of themethodological factors we previously mentionedwhen we quoted Ibn Khaldun
'""There were sometimes discussions and sharpdisputes between leading representatives of thetwo schools, but the ordinary people and learnersnot at the main figures' level of understandingwere unconcerned with this disagreement, andfollowed whomever they wanted or whomeverwas near 10 them without anyone censuring themfor this (al-Lamadhhabiyya aklltar bid'a tuhaddidual-shari'a al-Islamiyya (y33), 71-73).*
(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) A third aspect isthe obvious rational evidence, which we express inthe words of Sheikh 'Abdullah Diraz, who says:""T'he logical proof is that, assuming that a pcrsondoes not have the qualifications for Utihad, whenan instance of a particular religious ruling arises,he will either not worship by any means at all,which all concur is impermissible, or, if he wor-ships by means of something, it will either be byexamining the proof that verifies the ruling or byfollowing a competent authority.""The former is inadmissible because it wouldlead, in respect to him and all others like him
toin-depth examination of the evidences for all suchinstances, preoccupation with which wouldobviate the earning of livelihoods
disruptingtrades and occupations, ruining the world by neglectof tillage and offspring, and preventing anyone'sfollowing another's ijtihad
placingeveryone under the most extreme hardship
Thesole remaining alternative is to follow another,which is the means through which one must worshipin such a case"" (ibid., 73).*
(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) Because scholarsaccept the evidence from Koran, sunna, andreason as complete and intersubstantiative that theordinary person orlearnedone notatthe leveloftextualdeduction and ijtihad is not entitled but to folIowaqualified mujtahid who has a comprehensivegrasp of the evidence - they say that a formal legalopinion (fatwa) from a mujtahid is in relation tothe ordinary person just as a proof from the Koranand sunna is in relation to the mujtahid
Forthe Koran, just as it obligates the scholarthoroughly versed in it to hold to its evidencesand proofs, also obligates (n: in the verse quotedabove at b2.1) the uninformed person to adhere tothe formal legal opinion of the scholar and hisijtihad (ibid., 73).*
(Salih Mu'adhdhin:) Muslims of theSunna and Community are in agreement that wehave arrived at all the rulings of Sacred Law throughevidence that iscitherof unquestionably establishedtransmission (qal'i al-wurud) or probabilisticallyestablished transmission (zanni al-wurud).The suras of the Koran
all of its verses
andthose hadiths which have reached us by so manychannels of transmission that belief in them isobligatory (mutawatir, def: O22.1(d(II))) are all ofunquestionably established transmission, sincethey have reached us by numerous means
by generationfrom generation, whole groups fromwhole groups, such that it is impossible that thevarious channels could all have conspired to fabricatethem.As for the evidentiary character of thesetexts, regardless whether they are of unquestionablyor probabilistically established transmission,they are of two types.The first type, unquestionable as evidence(qat'i aJ-daJala), is a plain text that does not admitof more than one meaning, which no mind caninterpret beyond its one meaning, and which thereis·no possibility to construe in terms of other thanits apparent sense
This type includes Koranic versesthat deal with fundamental tenets of faith inthe oneness of Allah, the prayer, zakat
and fasting;in none of which is there any room for disagreement,nor have any differences concerningthem been heard of or reported from the Imams ofSacred Law
Everything in this category is termedunquestionable as evidence.Thc second type
probabilistic as evidence(zanni al-dalala), is a text that can bear more thanone meaning, whether because it contains a wordthat can lexically have two different meanings
orbecause it was made by way of figure of speechprmetaphor, or because it can be interpreted inother than its apparent sense in the context withoutthis contradicting what was intended by theWise Lawgiver
It is here that we find scope forscholarly difference of opinion to a greater or lesserextent depending on the number of meaningsa text can imply, how much interpretation it willbear
and so forth.All of the derivative rulings of Sacred Laware of this type, probabilistic as evidence, so wenaturally find differences among Islamic legalscholars as to their interpretation, each scholarinterpreting them according to his comprehensionand the broadness of his horizons, while not givingthe text a reading it does not imply, and then corroboratinghis interpretation with evidenceacceptable to scholars
Scholarly differences arethus something natural, even logically necessary,as a result of the factors we have just described.Allah Mighty and Majestic has willed thatmost texts of the Sacred Law be probabilistic asevidence because of a wisdom He demands,namely, to give people more choice and leaveroom for minds to use ijtihad in understanding Hisword and that of His messenger (Allah bless himand give him peace).
We conclude this short summary with anexample to clarify what we have said
Considerthe word of Allah,""Divorced women shall wait by themselvesfor three periods"" (Koran 2:228),as opposed to His saying, in the same sura,""Those who forswear their women have await offour months"" (Koran 2:226).Allah's saying ""three"" in the former and""four"" in the latter are texts that are decisive asevidence, in that neither admits of more than oneinterpretation, namely, the well-known numbers.But in contrast with this, when Allah says""periods"" (Ar
quru') in the first, and ""months""(ashhur) in the second, we find that the formerword can have more than one sense in its Arabiclexical root mcaning, while months cannot, thelatter being decisive in meaning and incapable ofbearing another interpretation, Concerning thisquestion, Imam Qurtubi says in his Koranicexegesis: ""Scholars differ about the word periods.Those of Kufa hold that it means menstrualperiods, and this is the position of 'Umar, 'Ali,and Ibn Mas'ud
But those of the Hijaz hold itmeans the intervals of purity between menstrualperiods, and this is the view of 'A'isha, Ibn 'Umar,and Shafi'i.""Considering this, is it not natural that thereshould be various opinions about understandingthe verse ""three periods"" but only one aboutunderstanding Allah's saying ""four months""?
IfAllah had wanted all opinions to coincide on thisquestion, He might have said, for example, ""threemenstrual periods"" (hiyad), or ""three intervals ofpurity between menstrual periods"" (athar), just asHe said ""four months."" And all the texts of SacredLaw that can bear more than one meaning arecomparable to this example (' Umdat al-salik(y90),11-13).*
('Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Scholarly consensus(ijma') is the agreement of all the mujtahids(def: O22.l(d)) of the Muslims existing at one particularperiod after the Prophet's death (Allahbless him and give him peace) about a particularruling regarding a matter or event
It may begathered from this that the integral elements ofscholarly consensus are four, without which it isinvalid:(a) that a number of mujtahids exist at a partieulartime;(b) that all mujtahids of the Muslims in theperiod of the thing or event agree on its ruling,regardless of their country , raee, or group, thoughnonmujtahids are of no consequence;(c) that each mujtahid present his opinionabout the matter in an explicit manner, whetherverbally, by giving a formal legal opinion on it, orpractically, by giving a legal decision in a courtcase concerning it;(d) and that all mujtahids agree on the ruling,for if a majority of them agree, consensus isnot effected, no matter how few those who contradictit, nor how many those who concur.
When the four neeessary integrals of consensusexist, the ruling agreed upon is anauthoritative part of Sacred Law that is obligatoryto obey and not lawful to disobey
Nor can mujrahidsof a succeeding era make the thing an objectof new ijtihad, because the ruling on it, verified byscholarly consensus, is an absolute legal rulingwhich does not admit of being contravened orannulled.
The proof of the legal authority of scholarlyconsensus is that just as Allah Most Glorioushas ordered the believers, in the Koran, to obeyHim and His messenger, so too He has orderedthem to obey those of authority (ulu al-amr)·among them, saying,""0 you who believe, obey Allah and obey theProphet and those of authority among you""(Koran 4:59),such that when those of authority in legal expertise,the mujtahids, agree upon a ruling, it isobligatory in the very words of the Koran to followthem and carry out their judgement.And Allah threatens those who oppose theMessenger and follow other than the believers'way, saying,""Whoever contraverts the Messenger afterguidanee has become clear to him and followsother than the believers' way, We shall give himover to what he has turned to and roast him in hell,and how evil an outcome"" (Koran 4:115).
A second evidentiary aspect is that a rulingagreed upon by all the mujtahids in the IslamicCommunity (Umma) is in fact the ruling of theCommunity, represented by its mujtahids, andthere are many hadiths that have come from theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace), aswell as quotes from the Companions, which indicatethat the Community is divinely protectedfrom error, including his saying (Allah bless himand give him peace):(1) ""My Community shall not agree on anerror
""(2) ""Allah is not wont to make my Communityconcur on misguidance.""(3) ""That which the Muslims consider good,Allah considers good.""('llm usul al-fiqh (y71), 45-47)
(n: Another hadith that scholars quote inconnection with the validity of scholarly consensusis the following, given with its commentary.)The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""Allah's hand is over the group, and whoeverdissents from them departs to helL""Allah's hand is over the group(al-'Azizi:) Munawi says, ""Meaning His protectionand preservation of them, signifying thatthe collectivity of the people of Islam are inAllah's fold, so be also in Allah's shelter, in themidst of them, and do not separate yourselvesfrom them."" The rest of the hadith, according tothe one who first recorded it (n: Tirmidhi), is,and whoever dissents from them departs tohell.Meaning that whoever diverges from theoverwhelming majority concerning what is lawfulor unlawful and on which the Community does notdiffer has slipped off the path of guidance and thiswill lead him to hell (al-Siraj al-munir sharh alJam!'al-saghir (y18), 3.449).
(n: In addition to its general interest as aformal legal opinion, the following serves in thepresent context to clarify why other than the fourSunni schools of jurisprudcnce do not necessarilyplaya role in scholarly consensus.)('Abd aI-Rahman Ba'alawi:) Ibn Salahreports that there is scholarly consensus on itsbeing unlawful to follow rulings from schoolsother than those of the four Imams, meaning inone's personal works, let alone give court verdictsor formal legal opinions to people from them,because of the untrustworthiness of the ascriptionof such rulings to the scholars who reportedly gavethem, there being no channels of transmissionwhich obviate the possibility of textual eorruptionand spurious substitutions.The Zaydis
for example, who trace themselvesto Zayd ibn 'Ali ibn Husayn (n: son of' Aliand Fatima), the beatitude of Allah be uponthem
despite the fact that Zayd was one of theImams of the religion and a renowned figure wellqualified to give guidance to those seeking it, hisfollowers identify him with extreme permissivenesson many questions, ascriptions based onfailure to check as to what his positions actuallywere (n: by naming the intermediate transmittersand establishing their reliability)
It is quite otherwisewith the four schools, whose Imams (Allahreward them) have spent themselves in checkingthe positions of their schools, explaining whatcould be rigorously authenticated as the positionof the person it was attributed to; and what couldnot be
Their scholars have thus achieved safetyfrom textual corruption and have been able to discernthe genuine from the poorly authenticated(Bughya al-mustarshidin fi talkhis fatawa ba'd ala'immamin al-muta'akhkhirin (y19), 8).
CAbd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) A legal rulingis a statement from the Lawgiver (syn
Allah orHis messenger (Allah bless him and give himpeace)) concerning the acts of those morallyresponsible which:(I) requires something;(2) allows a choice;(3) or gives stipulations.
An injunctive ruling is one that enjoins themorally responsible individual to either do or refrainfrom an act, or gives him an option to do orrefrain from it.An example of enjoining one to do an act isAllah's saying,""People owe Allah to make pilgrimage to theHouse"" (Koran 3:97).An example of enjoining one to refrain froman act is His saying,""Let no people mock another people""(Koran 49: 11).And an example of giving an option to do orrefrain from an act is His saying,""When the prayer is finished, go forth in theland"" (Koran 62:10).
As for stipulatory rulings, they entail thatsomething is made a legal reason (sabab) foranother thing, a condition (shart) for it, or a preventive(mann of it.An example of being stipulated as a reasonfor something is Allah's saying,""0 believers, when you go to pray, wash yourfaces and wash your forearms to the elbows""(Koran 5:6),which stipulates wanting to pray as a reason forthe obligation of performing ablution (wudu).An example of something being made a conditionfor another thing is His saying,""People owe Allah to make pilgrimage to theHouse, whoever is able to find a way"" (Koran3:97),which implies that the ability to get to the House(n: Kaaba) is a condition for the obligatoriness ofone's pilgrimage
Another example is theProphet's saying (Allah bless him and give himpeace),""There is no marriage unless there are twowitnesses,""which means the presence of two witnesses is acondition for the validity of a marriage.An example of being made a preventive ofsomething is the Prophers saying (Allah bless himand give him peace),""The killer does not inherit,""which entails that an heir's killing the deceased ispreventive of his inheriting an estate divisionshare from him ('11m usul al-fiqh (y71), 100--102).
(N:) The obligatory (fard) is that whichthe Lawgiver strictly requires be done
Someonewho performs an obligatory act out of obedienceto Allah is rewarded, while a person who refrainsfrom it without excuse deserves to be punished.(A: In the Shafi'i school there is no differencebetween obligatory (fard) and requisite (wajib)except in the pilgrimage, where nonperformanceof a requisite does not invalidate the pilgrimage,but necessitates an expiation by slaughtering
Forany act of worship, obligatory or nonobligatory:all conditions necessary for its validity and all of itsintegrals (rukn, pI
arkan) are obligatory, since itis unlawful to intentionally perform an invalid actof worship.)
The sunna (n: or recommended (mandub)) is that which the Lawgiver asks be done, but• does not strictly require it
Someone who performsit out of obedience to Allah is rewarded,though someone who refrains from it is notpunished.
The permissible (mubah) is what the Lawgiverhas neither requested nor prohibited, so theperson who does it is not rewarded or punished.Rather, doing or not doing it are equal, though ifa person does it to enable him to perform an act ofobedience to Allah, or refrains from it for thatreason, then he is rewarded for it
And if he doessuch an act to enable him to perform an act of disobedience,he is sinning.
The offensive (makruh) is that which theLawgiver has interdicted but not strictly forbidden.A person who refrains from such an act out ofobedience to Allah is rewarded, while the personwho commits it does not deserve to be punished.
The unlawful (haram) is what the Lawgiverstrictly forbids
Someone who commits anunlawful act deserves punishment, while one whorefrains from it out of obedience to the commandof Allah is rewarded.(n: Scholars distinguish between three levels of the unlawful:(1) minor sins (saghira, pI
sagha'ir), which may be forgiven from prayer toprayer, from one Friday prayer Uumu'a) to another, and so forth, as is mentionedin hadith;(2) enormities (kabira, pI
kaba'ir), those which appear by name in theKoran or hadith as the subject of an explicit threat, prescribed legal penalty, orcurse, as listed below at book p;(3) and unbelief(kufr), sins which put one beyond the pale of Islam (as discussedat 08.7) and necessitate stating the Testification of Faith (Shahada) toreenter it.Repentance (def: p77) is obligatory for all three (al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf alkaba'ir(y49),1.5-9).)
(Nawawi:) There is no doubt that themerit of an act varies
Fasting, for example, isunlawful on 'Eid Day, obligatory before it, andrecommended after it
The prayer is highly desirablemost of the time, but offensive at some timesand situations, such as when restraining oneselffrom using the lavatory
Reciting the Koran isdesirable, but offensive when bowing in theprayer or prostrating
Dressing one's best is goodon the 'Eid or on Friday, but not during thedrought prayer
And so forth.Abul Qasim al-Junayd (Allah have mercy onhim) said, ""A sincere person changes forty times aday, while the hypocritical show-off stays as he isforty years
""The meaning of this is that the sincere personmoves with what is right, wherever it may lead,such that when prayer is deemed better by the SacredLaw, then he prays
and when it is best to besitting with the learned, or the righteous, orguests, or his children, or taking care of somethinga Muslim needs, or mending a broken heart, orwhatever else it may be, then he does it, leavingaside what he usually does
And likewise for fasting,reciting the Koran, invoking Allah, eating ordrinking, being serious or joking, enjoying thegood life or engaging in self-sacrifice
and so on.Whenever he sees what is preferred by the SacredLaw under the circumstances, he does it, and isnot bound by a particular habit or kind of devotionas the show-off is
The Prophet (Allah bless himandgive him peace) did various things, of prayer,fasting, sitting for Koran recital and invocation,eating and drinking, dressing, riding, lovemakingwith his wives, seriousness and jest, happiness andwrath, scathing condemnation for blameworthythings, leniency in punishing those who deservedit and excusing them, and so on, according to whatwas possible and preferable for the time and circumstances(al-Majmu' (y108), 1.17-18).
('Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Obligatoryacts are distinguished in four ways, according tovarious considerations.One distinction is whether current performanceis time-restricted or non-time-restricted.A time-restricted Obligatory act is one theLawgiver demands be done at a particular time,such as the five obligatory prayers, for each ofwhich the time for current performance is set,such that the particular prayer is not obligatorybefore it, and the individual is guilty of serious sin
if he delays it past its time without excuse.A non-time-restricted obligatory act is onewhich the Lawgiver strictly demands, but does notspecify a time for its current performance, such asthe expiation obligatory for someone who swearsand oath and breaks it (def: 020).
A second distinction between obligatoryacts is made on the basis of who is called upon toperform them, namely, whether an act is personallyobligatory or communally obligatory.A personally obligatory (fard al-'ayn) aet iswhat the Lawgiver requires from each and everymorally responsible person
It is insufficient forsomeone to perform such an act on another'sbehalf, such as the prayer, zakat (def: h1.0), pilgrimage,keeping agreements, and avoiding wineor gambling.A communally obligatory (fard al-kifaya) actis what the Lawgiver requires from the collectivityof those morally responsible
not from each one ofthem, such that if someone undertakes it, then theobligation has been fulfilled and the sin andresponsibility (n: of nonperformance) is liftedfrom the rest, while if no one undertakes it, thenall are guilty of serious sin for neglecting the obligation.Examples include commanding the rightand forbidding the wrong (def: book q), prayingover the dead, building hospitals
lifesaving, firefighting, medicine, industries people require
theexistence of Islamic courts and judges, issuing formallegal opinions
responding to someone whosays ""as-Salam 'alaykum,"" and testifying in court.The Lawgiver requires that these obligatory actsexist in the Islamic Community regardless of whodoes them
But He does not require they be doneby each person, or some particular one, since theinterests of the Community arc realized by theexistence of these things through the efforts ofsome of those morally responsible, and do notentail every particular person's performance ofthem.Someone able through himself or his propertyto perform the communally obligatory act isobliged to perform it, and someone unable to do ithimself is obliged to urge and have the person doit who can
If the obligatory act is done, all arecleared of the sin, and if neglected, all are guilty ofserious sin
The person capable of it is guiltybecause he neglected a communally obligatory acthe could have done, and the rest are gUiltybecause they neglected to urge him and have himperform the obligatory act he was capable of.When an individual is the only one availablewho can perform a communally obligatory act, itbecomes personally obligatory for him.
A third way obligatory acts are distinguishedis by the amount of them required, that is,whether the act is of a defined amount or an undefinedamount.Obligatory acts of defined amount arc thosefor which the Lawgiver has determined a particularquantity
such that the subject is not free of theobligation until he has done the amount stipulatedby the Lawgiver, as with the five obligatoryprayers
or zakat.Obligatory acts of undefined amount arethose which the Lawgiver has not stipulated thebut rather demands them from thesubject in an undetermined quantity, such asspending in the way of Allah, cooperating withone another in good works
feeding the hungry,helping those in distress, and so forth.
A fourth distinction between obligatoryacts is whether an act is a specific obligation, or anobligation to choose between certain alternatives.Specific obligations are those in which theLawgiver demands the act itself, such as theprayer, fasting in Ramadan, paying for merchandise,rent from a tenant, or returning somethingwrongfully taken; such that the individual is notfree of the obligation until he does that very act.An obligation to choose between certainalternatives is when the Lawgiver requires the performanceof one of a given number of actions,such as one of the options in expiating a brokenoath, where Allah Most High requires the personwho has broken his oath to feed ten poor people,clothe them, or free a slave ('abd, def: w13), andthe obligation consists of doing any of these threethings ('Ilm usul al-fiqh (y71), 106,108-11).*
('Abd al-Wahhab KhalIaf:) Recommendedacts are divided into three categories.The first is recommended acts whose demandis confirmed
Someone who neglects such an actdoes not deserve puniShment
but does deservecensure and blame
This includes the sunnas andrecommended acts that are legally considered tocomplete obligatory acts
such as the call to prThis category iscalled the confirmed sunna (sunna mu'akkada) orsunna of guidance.
The seeond category is those acts whoseperformance is sanctioned by Sacred Law suchthat the person who performs them is rewarded,though someone who omits them deserves ncithcrpunishment nor blame
This includes acts theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) didnot diligently perform
but did one or more timesand then discontinued
It also includes all voluntaryacts, like spending on the poor, fasting onThursday of each week, or praying rak'as (units)of prayer in addition to the obligatory and confirmedsunna prayers.This category is called the extra sunna orsupererogatory (nafila),
The third category consists of the superlativelyrecommended, meaning those acts consideredpart of an individual's perfections
Itincludes following the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) in ordinary matters that proceededfrom him as a human being, as when a personeats, drinks, walks, sleeps, and dresses likethe Prophet used to
Following the example oftheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) inthese and similar matters is an excellence and consideredamong one's refinements, as it showsone's love for the Prophet and great attachment tohim
But someone who does not follow theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) inmatters like these is not considered a wrongdoer,because they are not part of his lawgiving (A:though such acts are rewarded when one therebyintends to follow the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), and every desirable practice oneperforms means a higher degree in paradise whichthe person who neglects it may not attain to).Acts of this category are called desirable(mustahabb), decorum (adab), or meritorious(ibid., 112).
(""Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Thc unlawfulis of two kinds.The first is the originally unlawful in itself,meaning the Sacred Law forbids it from the outset,such as adultery, theft, prayer without ritualpurity, marrying a member of one's un marriageablekin while knowing them to be such, sellingunslaughtered dead animals
and so forth, ofthings that are intrinsically unlawful because theyentail damage and harm, the prohibition applyingfrom the outset to the very act.The second is the unlawful because of anextrinsic reason, meaning that the initial ruling ofan act was that it was obligatory, recommended,or permissible, but an extrinsic circumstancebecame linked with it that made it unlawful
suchas a prayer performed in a garment wrongfullytaken, or a sale in which there is fraud, or a marriagewhose sole purpose is to allow the woman toremarry her previous husband who has pronounceda threefold divorce against her, or fastingday after day without breaking the fast at night
oran unlawfully innovated divorce (def: n2.3), andso forth, of things unlawful because of an externalcircumstancc
The prohibition is not due to the actitself, but because of something extrinsic to theact; meaning the act is not damaging or harmful initsclf, but something has happened to it andbecome conjoined with it that makes it entail damageor harm.
One consequence of the above distinctionis that an intrinsically unlawful act is uncountenancedby the Law to begin with, so it cannot bea legal cause or reason, or form the basis forfurther legal consequences
Rather, it is invalid.Because of this, prayer without ritual purity isinvalid, marriage to a close unmarriageablc relativewhen one knows them to be such is invalid,and the sale of an un slaughtered dead animal isinvalid
And something legally invalid is withoutother legal efficacy.But an act that is unlawful because of anextrinsic circumstance is intrinsically lawful, andcan thus be a legal reason and form the basis forfurther legal consequences, since its prohibition isaccidental to it and not essential
Because of this,a prayer while wearing a garment wrongfullytaken is legally valid, though the person is guilty ofserious sin for having taken it; a sale in which thereis fraud is legally valid (N: though the buyer hasthe option to cancel the sale and return the merchandisefor a full refund); and an unlawfullyinnovated divorce is legally effective.The reason for this is that the prohibition ofan act because of an extrinsic event or circumstancedoes not vitiate either the basis of itsbeing a legal cause or its identity, provided all itsintegrals and conditions exist
As for intrinsicunlawfulness, it negates the basis of an act's beinga legal cause and vitiates its identity by thenonexistence of one of its integrals or conditions,so that it is no longer something that is of legalconsideration (ibid., 113-14).*
CAbd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Strictness iswhat Allah initially legislates, of general rulingsnot concerned with one circumstance rather thananother, or one individual rather than another.
Dispensation is when what is normally forbiddenis made permissible because of necessityor need.For example, if someone is forced to make astatement of unbelief (kufr) it is made permissible,to ease his hardship, for him to do so as longas faith remains firm in his heart
Likewise withsomeone who is forced to break his fast in Ramadan,or forced to destroy the property of another;the normally prohibited act which he is forced todo becomes permissible for him, to ease thehardship
And it is made permissible for someoneforced by extreme hunger or severe thirst to eatfrom an unslaughtered dead animal or drink wine.(A: The latter is not permissible even under suchconditions in the Shafi'i school.)Dispensation also includes being permittedto omit an obligatory act when an excuse existsthat makes its performance a hardship (dis: c7.2,second par.) upon the individual
Thus, someonewho is ill or travelling in Ramadan is permitted notto fast
And someone who is travelling is permittet:to shorten prayers of four rak'as to only tworak'as (ibid., 121-22).
(n:) Since it is permissible for a Muslim to follow any of the four Imamsin any of his acts of worship, comparison of their differences opens another contextfor discussing dispensation and strictness, a context in which classical scholarsfamiliar with various schools often use the term ""dispensation'"" to refer to the rulingof the school easiest on a partieular legal question, and ""strictness"" to refer tothe ruling of the school that is most rigorous
Which school this is varies fromquestion to question
The following entry discusses how and when it is permissiblefor ordinary Muslims to use dispensations in the sense of following easier rulingsfrom a different school, while entry c6.5 discusses the way of greater precaution(al-ahwat fi ai-din) taken by those Muslims who purposely select the strictestschool of thought on each legal question beeause of its being more precautionaryand closer to godfearingness (taqwa).
Seholars frequently acknowledge that the difference of the Imams is amercy, and their unanimity is a decisive proof
Sheikh 'Umar Barakat, the commentatorof 'Umdat al-salik, says:""It is permissible to follow each of the fourJ Imams (Allah be well pleased with them), andpermissible for anyone to follow one of them on alegal question, and follow a different one onanother legal question
It is not obligatory to fol-low one particular Imam on all legal questions""(Fayd al-Ilall aI-Malik (y27), 1.357).This does not, however, imply that it is lawful to indiscriminately choose dispensationsfrom each school, or that there are no conditions for the abovementionedpermissibility
Imam Nawawi was asked for a formal legal opinion onwhether pursuing dispensations in such a manner was permissible:(Question:) ""Is it permissible for someone ofa particular school to follow a different school inmatters that will be of benefit to him, and to seekout dispensations?""He answered (Allah be well pleased withhim), ""It is not permissible to seek out dispensa-tions [A: meaning it is unlawful, and the personwho does is corrupt (fasiq)], and Allah knowsbest"" (Fatawa aI-Imam al-Nawawi (y105), 113).But when forced by necessity or hardship to take such a dispensation (A: evenretroactively, as when one has finished the action, and then makes the intentionto have followed another Imam's school of thought on the question), then thereis nothing objectionable in it, provided that one's act of worship together with itsprerequisites is valid in at least one of the schools
One may not simply piecetogether (talfiq) constituent parts from various schools in a single act of worship,if none of the schools would consider the act valid
An example is someone whoperforms an ablution that is minimally valid in the Shafi'i school by wetting onlya few hairs of his head in the ablution sequence, something not permitted byHanafis, and then prays behind an imam without himself reciting the Fatiha,something permitted by Hanafisbut not Shafi'is
His ablution, the necessary conditionfor his prayer, is inadequate in the Hanafi school, and his performanct; ofthe prayer is inadequate in the Shafi'i school, with the result that neither considershis prayer valid, and in fact it is not
Whoever follows a ruling mentioned in thisvolume from another school must observe the conditions given at w14, and makesure his worship is valid in at least one school, which for prayer can best beachieved by performing all recommended measures in the present volume relatingto purity, for example, e5, ell, and so on, as if obligatory.e6.S A second way to use differences between schools is to take the way ofgreater precaution by following whoever is most rigorous on a given question.For example, when performing the purificatory bath (ghusl), rinsing the mouthand nostrils with water is a nonobligatory, sunna measure according to the Shafi'ischool
but obligatory and necessary for the purificatory bath's validity accordingto Hanafis
The way of greater precaution is for the Shafi'i to perform it as diligentlyas if it were obligatory, even though omitting it is permitted by his school.('Abd al-Wahhab Sha'rani:) My brother,when you first hear of thc two levels of this scale(n: dispensation and strictness), beware of jump-ing to the conclusion that there is absolute freechoice between them, such that an Individual maywithout restriction choose either dispensation orstrictness in any ruling he wishes
It does not befita person able to perform the stricter ruling toto taking a dispensation permissible to him.(A: The more rigorous is always preferable in theShafi'i school, even when the dispensation is permissible.)For as you know, my brother, I do notsay that the individual is free to choose betweentaking the dispensation or taking the stricter rulingwhen he is able to perform the stricter rulingobligatory for him
I take refuge in Allah fromsaying such a thing, which is like making a game ofreligion
Of an absolute certainty, dispensationsare only for someone unable to perform thestricter ruling, for in such a case, the dispensationis the stricter ruling in relation to him.Moreover, I hold that mere sincerity andhonesty demand of anyone who follows a particularschool not to take a dispensation that the Imamof his school holds is permissible unless he is someonewho needs to; and that he must follow thestricter ruling of a different Imam when able to,since rulings fundamentally refer back to the wordof the Lawgiver, no one else; this being especiallynecessary when the other Imam's evidence isstronger, as opposed to what some followers do.We find among the dictums of the Sufis thatone should not follow a position in Sacred Law forwhich the evidence is weaker except when religiouslymore precautionary than the stronger position.For example, the Shafi'i opinion that (n: amale's) ablution is nullified by touching a girl whois a child or touching the nails or hair of a woman:though this position is considered weaker by them(n: than the position given at e7.3), it is religiouslymore precautionary, so performing ablution forthe above-mentioned things is better (al-Mizan alkubra(y123), 1.10-11).(A: Because more rigorous rulings necessarily meet the requirements of lessrigorous ones (though not vice versa)
following more rigorous rulings fromanother school is unconditionally valid, unlike following its dispensations
AndAllah knows best.)*
(' Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Three conditionsmust exist in any aet that it is legally valid tomake an individual responsible for.The first is that the act be well enough knownto the individual that he can perform it in the wayrequired of him
It should be noted that the individual'sknowledge of what he is responsible formeans the possibility of his knOWing it, not hisactual knowledge of it
Whenever a personreaches puberty, of sound mind and capable ofknowing the rulings of Sacred Law by himself orby asking those familiar with them, then he is consideredto know what he is responsible for, andrulings are carried out on him, their consequencesexacted of him, and the excuse of being ignorantof them is not accepted from him.The second condition is that it is known thatthe ruling has been imposed by someone who possessesthe authority to do so and whose rules theindividual is obliged to observe, since it is throughthis knowledge that the individual's will can bedirected to obey him
This is the reason that in anyproof for a ruling of Sacred Law the first point discussedis why it is legally binding for individuals.The third condition is that the act the subjectis responsible for be possible and within the capacityofthe subject to do orto refrain from
This conditionin turn implies two things: first, that it islegally invalid to impose something impossible,whether impossible in itself or impossible becauseof another thing; and second, that it is invalid toask that a particular individual be responsible forsomeone else's performing an act or refrainingfrom one, since someone else's action or inactionis not within the individual's own capacity
Hence,a pcrson is not responsible for his father's payirgzakat, his brother's pcrforming the prayer, or hisneighbor'S refraining from theft
As regardsothers, all a person is obliged to do is to advise, tocommand the right and forbid the wrong, for theseare acts he is capable of.Nor is it legally valid to make a personresponsible for various innate human states whichare the results of natural causes that are not of theperson's acquisition or choice, such as emotionalarousal when angry; turning red when embarrassed;love, hate, grief, elation, or fear whenreasons for them exist; digestion; breathing; beingshort or tall, black or white; and other innate traitswith which people are born and whose presence orabsence is subject to natural laws, not to the individual'swill and choice, and which are thusbeyond his capacity and not among the things possiblefor him
And if some primary texts havereached us that apparently show that there isresponsibility for some of the things that are notwithin a person's capacity, these are not as theyseem
For example, the order of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace),""Do not become angry,""is outwardly an order to refrain from somethingnatural and unacquircd, namely, anger whenmotives for it exist
But the real meaning is ""Controlyourself when angry and restrain yourselffrom its bad consequences.""
From the condition that an act must bewithin the individual's capacity before he can beheld accountable for it, one should not jump to theconclusion that this implies there will not be anyhardship whatsoever for the individual in the act.There is no contradiction between an act's beingwithin one's capacity and its being hard
Nothinga person is responsible for is completely free ofhardship, since moral responsibility is beingobliged to do that in which there is something tobear with, and some type of difficulty.Hardship, however, is of two types
The firstis that which people are accustomed to bear,which is within the limits of their strength, andwere they to continue bearing it, it would notcause them harm or damage to their persons, possessions,or other concerns
The second is thatwhich is beyond what people are accustomed tobear and impossible for them to continuallyendure because they would be cut off, unable togo on, and damage and harm would affect theirpersons, possessions, or one of their other concerns.Examples include fasting day after daywithout breaking it at night, a monastic life, fastingwhile standing in the sun, or making the pilgrimageon foot
It is a sin for someone to refuse totake a dispensation and insist on the stricter rulingwhen this will probably entail harm CIlm usul alfiqh(y71), 128-33).*
CAbd al-Wahhab Khallaf:) Two conditionsmust exist in an individual for it to be legallyvalid to hold him responsible.The first condition is that he is able to understandthe evidence that he is responsible forsomething, such that it is within his capacity tounderstand legal texts from the Koran and sunnaby which the ruling is imposed, whether by himselfor through another (dis: b5.I)
Since humanreason is something hidden
unobservable byoutwardsense perception, the Lawgiver has conjoinedresponsibility for rulings with somethingmanifest and perceptible to the senses from whichreason may be inferred, namely, puberty
Whoeverreaches puberty without showing signs ofimpaired intellectual faculties
his capacity forresponsibility exists
And conversely, neither aninsane person nor child are responsible, becauseof their lack of intellect
which is the means ofunderstanding the evidence that something is aruling
Nor are those responsible who are in astate of absentmindedness or sleeping, becausewhile they are heedless or asleep it is not withintheir capacity to understand
The Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""The pen has been lifted from three: thesleeper until he awakens, the child until his firstwet dream, and the insane person until he canreason.""The second condition (n: for the legal validityof holding someone responsible) is that he be legallyeligible for the ruling
Eligibility is of twotypes, eligibility for obligation, and eligibility forperformance.clU Eligibility for obligation is the capacity of ahuman being to have rights and duties
This eligibilityis established for every person by the merefact of being human
whether male, female, fetus,child, of the age of discrimination, adolescent,intelligent, foolish, sane or insane, healthy or ill;because its basis is an innate attribute found inman
Every human being, whoever he or she maybe, has eligibility for obligation and none lacks itbecause one's eligibility for obligation is one'shumanness.There are only two human states in relationto eligibility for obligation, partial and full
Onecould have partial eligibility for obligation bybeing entitled to possess rights over others but nothave obligations towards them, like a fetus in itsmother's womb, which has rights, since it can bean heir, inherit a bequest, and the proceeds of anendowment (waqf) can accrue to it, but it does nothave any obligations to others
Full eligibility forobligation means a person has rights upon othersand obligations towards them
Every humanbeing acquires it at birth.
Eligibility for performance is the capal:ityof an individual for words and actions that are legallysignificant, such that if an agreement or actproceeds from him, it legally counts and entailsthe rulings applicable to it
If he prays, fasts,makes the pilgrimage, or does anything obligatory,it is legally acknowledged and discharges theobligation
And if he commits a crime againstanother's person, possessions, or honor, he is heldaccountable for his crime and is bodily or financiallypenalized.So eligibility for performance is responsibility,and its basis in man is intellectual discrimination.There are three states which a person mayhave in relation to eligibility for performance:(I) a person could completely lack or loseeligibility for performance, like a young child duringhis childhood or an insane person during hisinsanity (regardless of his age), neither of whomhas eligibility for performance beeause they lackhuman reason, and for neither of whom are therelegal consequences entailed by their words oractions
Their agreements and legal dispositionsare null and void, the limit of which is that if eitherof them commits a crime against another's personor possessions, he is responsible for paying theindemnity out of his own property, but not subjectto retaliation in his own person, This is the meaningof the scholars' expression, ""The intentionalact of a child or insane person is an honest mistake.""(2) A person could have partial eligibility forperformance, an example of which is the child whohas reached the age of mental discrimination (def:f1.2) but not puberty (k13.8), or the retarded person,who is not disturbed in intellect nor totallybereft of it, but rather is weak-minded and lackingin intellect, so that the Sacred Law treats him as itdoes the child with discrimination.Because each of these two possesses the basisof eligibility for performance by the fact of havingdiscrimination, those of their legal actions whichare absolutely beneficial to them, such as acceptinggifts or alms, are valid without their guardian'spcrmlsslon.As for those of their legal actions which arewholly harmful to them, such as giving donationsor waiving their rights to something, these are notin any way valid, even with the guardian's permission.The gift, bequest, endowment, and divorceof such persons are not valid, and the guardian'spermission is irrelevant to these actions.The legal actions of the child with discriminationor the retarded person which are betweenabsolute benefit and absolute harm to him arevalid, but only on condition that the guardiangives his permission for them
If the guardiangives permission for the agreement or disposition,it is implemented, and ifhe does not permit it, theaction is invalid.(3) Or a person could have full eligibility forperformance by the fact of having reached pubertysound of mind.Events, however, may befall this eligibility.They include those that happen to a person withoutaffecting his eligibility for performance byeliminating or diminishing it, but which alter somerulings concerning him because of considerationsand interests that arise through these events, notbecause of loss or lessening of eligibility for performance.Examples include the foolhardy andthe absentminded person
Both have reachedpuberty with normal intelligence and have fulleligibility for performance, but to protect theirown property from loss and prevent them frombecoming a financial burden on others, they aredeclared legally incompetent in financial dealingssuch that neither their financial transactions nordonations are valid
This is not because of a lack orlessening of their eligibility for performance, butrather to protect their own property.A debtor has likewise reached puberty withnormal intelligence and possesses full eligibilityfor performance, but to protect the rights of hiscreditors, he is declared legally incompetent tomake transactions with his money that infringe onthe rights of his creditors, such as charitable donations('Ilm usul al-fiqh (y71) 134-40).
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful andCompassionate.Praise be to Allah, Lord ofthe Worlds
Allahbless our liegelord Muhammad, his folk, and hisCompanions one and all.
This is a summary of the school of ImamShafi'i (the mercy and bliss of Allah Most High beupon him) in which I have confined myself to themost dependable positions (al-sahih) of the schoolaccording to Imam Rafi'i and Imam Nawawi, oraccording to just one of them
I may mention a differenceof opinion herein, this being when theirrecensions contend (dis: w12), giving Nawawi'sposition first (0: as he is the foremost reference ofthe school)
and then as opposed to it, that ofRafi'i (n: generally left un translated because it isthe weaker position where mentioned).
I have named it The Reliance of the Travellerand Tools of the Worshipper.(0: Reliance means that which is dependedupon
since the author meant that this text shouldbe a reliable resource work for whoever goes by it,because it contains the most dependable positionsof the school and omits the weak ones.Traveller (salik) derives from travel (suluk),meaning to proceed along, the allusion being tothe spiritual journey, meaning one's seekingknowledge of the rules of religion with seriousnessand effort, to thereby reach Allah Most High andbe saved from perdition.Tools are physical instruments their ownerdepends on in his work, like those of a carpenter.The tools here are knowledge of the rules of SacredLaw found in this text which the validity ofworship depends upon.)
I ask Allah to give benefit through it, andHe is my sufficiency, and best to rely on.
Water is of various types:(I) purifying;(2) pure;(3) and impure.
Purifying means it is pure in itself and itpurifies other things.( 0: Purification (Ar
tahara) in Sacred Law islifting a state of ritual impurity (hadath, def: e7),removing filth (najasa, e14), or matters similar tothese, such as purificatory baths (ghusl) that aremerely sunna or renewing ablution (wudu) whenthere has been no intervening ritual impurity.)
Pure means it is pure in itself but cannotpurify other things (0: such as water that hasalready been used to lift a state of ritual impurity).
Impure means it is neither purifying norpure
(0: Namely:(I) less than 216 liters of water (qullatayn)which is contaminated by filth (najasa), evenwhen none of the water's characteristics (n: i.e.taste, color, or odor) have changed;(2) or 216 liters or more of water when one ofits characteristics of taste, color, or odor havechanged (n: through the effect of the filth
As forthe purity of water that has been used to washaway filth, it is discussed below at e14.14).)
It is not permissible (0: or valid) to lift astate of ritual impurity or remove filth except withplain water (0: not used water (def: (2) below), orsomething other than water like vinegar or milk),meaning purifying water as it comes from nature.no matter what quality it may have (0: of taste,such as being fresh or saline (N: including seawater);of color, such as being white, black, orred; or of odor, such as having a pleasant smell).
It is not permissible to purify (def: e1.2(0:) with:(I) water that has changed so much that it isno longer termed water through admixture withsomething pure like flour or saffron which couldhave been avoided;(2) less than 216 liters of water that hasalready been used for the obligation (dis: c2.1(A:),end) of lifting a state of ritual impurity,even if only that of a child;(3) or less that 216 liters of water that hasbeen used to remove filth, even if this resulted inno change in the water.
It is permissible to purify with water:(1) (non-(l) above) that has been onlyslightly changed by saffron or the like;(2) that has been changed by proximity withsomething such as aloes or oil that are (0: i.e.even if) fragrant;(3) that has been changed by somethingimpossible to prevent, such as algae, tree leavesfalling in it, dust, or the effects of standing toolong;(4) (non-(2) of the previous ruling) that hasalready been used for a nonobligatory use such asthe sunnas of rinsing out the mouth, renewingablution when there has been no intervening stateof ritual impurity, or a sunna purificatory bath;(5) or water that has already been used (n: tolift a slate of ritual impurity) and has now beenadded together until it amounts to 216 liters ormore.
With less than 216 liters, if a person performingablution (after washing his face once) orthe purificatory bath (after making intention forit) makes the intention in his heart to use his handsto scoop up the water, then the introduction of hishands into this amount of water does not make thewater used
But if not (0: if he does not make thisintention at all, or does so after putting his handsin the water, which is less than 216 liters ), then therest of the water is considered as already used (n:and no longer purifying
But in the Maliki school(dis: c6.4( end)), it is valid (though offensive) tolift a state of ritual impurity with water that hasalready been used for that purpose (al-Sharh alsaghir'ala Aqrab al-masalik ila madhhab aI-ImamMalik (y35),1.37)).
As for 216 liters or more of water
even iftwo or more persons in a state of major ritualimpurity Ganaba, def: elO) are immersed in it,whether simultaneously or serially, their impurityis lifted and the water does not thereby becomeused (n: but remains purifying).
Qullatayn (lit
""two great jars"") roughlyequal five hundred Baghdad ritls, and their vol-ume is one and a quarter dhira' in height, width,and length.(n: The definition of qullatayn as being 216liters is based on estimating the dhira' at fortyeightcentimeters
Metric equivalents of Islamicweights and measures are given at wIS.)
Two hundred and sixteen liters of waterdoes not become impure by mere contact withfilth, but only becomes so by changing (n: in taste,color, or smell) because of it, even when (0: thischange is) only slight.
If such change (n: in 216 liters or more ofwater) disappears by itself (0: such as throughstanding at length) or by water (0: added to it,even if the additional water is used or impure)then the water is again purifying.
But the 216 liters of water does notbecome purifying if the change disappears by (0:putting) such things as musk (0: in it, or ambergris,or camphor, which mask the scent; or puttingsaffron and the like in it which mask the color) orvinegar (0: which masks the taste) or earth.
Less than 216 liters becomes impure bymere contact '.\lith filth, whether the waterchanges or not, unless filth falls into it whoseamount (N: before it falls in is so small that it) isindiscernible by eyesight (A: eyesight, here andfor all rulings, meaning an average look, not anegligent glance nor yet a minute inspection), or ifsomething dead falls into it of creatures withoutflowing blood, such as flies and the like, in both ofwhich cases it remains purifying
This is equallytrue of running or still water.
When less than 216 liters of impure wateris added to (0: even if with impure water) until itamounts to 216 liters or more and no change (def:below) remains in it, then it is (0: has become)purifying.
Change, resulting from something pure orimpure, means in color, taste, or smell.(N: But the least change caused by filthmakes water (n; even if more than 216 liters)impure, while change caused by something puredoes not hurt as long as it can still be termed water.For example, when sugar and tea leaves have beenadded to water and it is called tea, it has becomepure but not purifying
As for a slight discolorationby tea leaves, or a slight sweetness from sugar, thisdoes not negate water's being purifying.)
Purification is permissible with water fromany pure container, except those of gold or silver,or those to which enough gold or silver has beenapplied that any of it could be collected from thevessel by heating it with fire (N: meaning that ifthe vessel were exposed to fire, the metallic coatwould melt and separate from the container, evenif not drop by drop)
Such containers or utensilsare unlawful for men or women to use in purification,eating, drinking, or other use (0: of any typewhatever)
It is unlawful to acquire such a containeror utensil even if one does not use it
Evena small eye-liner stick of silver is unlawful.
Vessels soldered with gold are absolutelyunlawfuLIt is unlawful to use a vessel to which much(def: f4.5) silver solder has been applied by way ofdecoration: permissible to use a vessel to whichonly a little silver solder has been applied by wayof a needed repair; and offensive but not unlawfulto use a vessel to which only a little silver has beenapplied for decoration, or much out ofnecessity.Solder means that a part of the vessel hasbeen broken and then silver is put there to hold ittogether.
It is offensive to use the vessels of nonMuslims(N: before washing them) (0: to becertain of the purity of the vessels used, since nonMuslimsare not as concerned about purity asMuslims are) or wear their clothes (0: for thesame reason).
It is permissible to use a vessel made ofany precious gem, such as a ruby or emerald.*
CO: In Sacred Law it refers to the use of a twigor the like on the teeth and around them toremove an unpleasant change in the breath Orsimilar, together with the intention (n: of performingthe sunna).)
Using a toothstick is recommended anytime, except after noon for someone who is fasting,in which case it is offensive
(A: Using toothpasteis also offensive then, and if any reaches thestomach of someone fasting, it is unlawful (n: ifthe fast is obligatory, as this breaks a fast).)
It is especially desirable to use the toothstickfor every prayer, for reading (0: the Koran,hadith, or a lesson), ablution, yellowness of teeth,waking from sleep, entering one's house, and forany change of breath from eating something witha bad odor or from not eating.(A: When there exists a demand for an act,such as using the toothstick before reading theKoran, and an equal demand not to, as when it isafter noon on a fast-day, then the proper course isnot to do it.)
Anything coarse is adequate (n: to fulfillthe sunna) except rough fingers, though the best isa twig from the arak (n: a desert shrub) that isdried (N: meaning previously cut from the shrublong enough to have dried) and then moistened.
It is best to clean the teeth laterally, beginningon the right and paying particular attention tothe bases of the back teeth, and to intend theBunna thereby.*
It is sunna:(1) to trim the fingernails and toenails;(2) to clip one's mustache (0: when it growslong
The most one should clip is enough to showthe pink ofthe upperlip
Plucking it out or shavingit off is offensive.) (A: Shaving one's beard isunlawful according to all Imams except Shafi'i,who wrote two opinions about it, one that it isoffensive, and the other that it is unlawful
A weakchain of narrators ascribes an opinion of offensivenessto Imam Malik
It is unbelief (kufr) toturn from the sunna in order to imitate nonMuslimswhen one believes their way to besuperior to the sunna);(3) for those used to it, to pluck away the hairof the underarms and nostrils, though if pluekingthe underarms is a hardship, then shaving them;and to shave the pubic hair;(4) and to line the eyes with kohl (n: anantimonic compound that one should be careful tosee contains no lead), each eye an odd number oftimes, preferably three.
It is offensive to shave part of the head andleave part unshaven (A: though merely cuttingsome of the hair shorter than another part is notobjectionable)
There is no harm in shaving it alloff (0: but it is not recommended except for therites of hajj and 'umra (n: the greater and lesserpilgrimages)) .
Circumcision is obligatory (0: for bothmen and women
For men it consists of removingthe prepuce from the penis, and for women,removing the prepuce (Ar
bazr) of the clitoris (n:not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert).(A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women isnot obligatory but sunna, whileHanafis consider ita mere courtesy to the husband.)
It is unlawful for men or women to dyetheir hair black, except when the intention is jihad(0: as a show of strength to unbelievers)
Pluckingout gray hair is offensive
It is sunna to dye the hairwith yellow or red
(N: It is unlawful for a womanto cut her hair to disfigure herself (n: e.g
formourning), though if done for the sake of beautyit is permissible.) It is sunna for a married womanto dye all of her hands and feet with henna (n: ared plant dye), but it is unlawful for men to do sounless it is needed (N: to protect from sunburn,for example).*
(N: Meaning to wash certain parts ofthe bodywith water, with the intention of worship.)(0: The legal basis for ablution, prior toscholarly consensus, is the word of Allah MostHigh,""0 believers, when you go to pray, wash yourfaces, and wash your forearms to the elbows, wipeyour heads, and [wash] your feet to the twoanklebones"" (Koran 5:6),and the hadith related by Muslim,""A prayer is not accepted without purification.
Ablution has six obligatory integrals:(a) to have the intention when one startswashing the face;(b) to wash the face;(c) to wash the arms up to and including theelbows;(d) to wipe a little of the head with wethands;(e) to wash the feet up to and including theanklebones;(f) and to do these things in the order mentioned.The sunnas of ablution are all its actionsbesides the above
(N: The obligatory minimum isto perform (b), (c), (d), and (e) once, though thesunna is to perform them each three times.)
THE INTENTIONThe person performing ablution intends:(1) to lift a state of lesser ritual impurity(hadath) (0: since the purpose of ablution is toeliminate that which prevents prayer and thelike);(2) to purify for the prayer;(3) or to purify for something not permissiblewithout purification, such as touching aKoran, or something else ..(N: The simple intention to perform the obligationof ablution suffices in place of all theabove.)
The above intentions are not used by threetypes of people when performing ablution:(1) a woman with chronic vaginal discharge(def: e13.6);(2) a person unable to hold back intermittentdrops of urine coming from him (n: or with somesimilar state of chronic annulment of ablution(e13.7));(3) or a person intending to perform dryablution (tayammum, def: e12).Such people merely intend permission to performthe obligation of the prayer as they begintheir ablution.(0: The intention to lift a state ofminorritualimpurity is inadequate for these people becausetheir state of impurity is not lifted.) (n: Rather,the Sacred Law gives them a dispensation to performthe prayer and so forth without lifting it.)
The necessary condition of ablution is thatthe intention for it exist in the heart and that itaccompany one's washing the first part ofthe face.It is recommended to pronounce it aloud, andthat it be present in the heart from the first of ablution(0: during the preliminary sunnas beforewashing the face, so as to earn their reward)
It isobligatory that this intention persist in the heartuntil one washes the first part of the face (0: asthat is the first integral)
If one confines oneself tomaking the intention when washing the face, itsuffices, but one is not rewarded for the previoussunnas of rinsing the mouth and nostrils and washingthe· hands (N: provided that one merelyintended cleanliness or something else by them,and the intention of worship did not come to one'smind).
HOW TO PERFORM ABLUTIONIt is recommended to begin ablution bymentioning (n: in Arabic, like the other invocationsin this volume (def: wI)) the name of AllahMost High (0: by saying ""In the name of Allah,""'which is the minimum.The optimum is to say, ""In the name ofAllah
Most Merciful and Compassionate.""Before this
it is sunna to say, ""I take refuge inAllah from the accursed Devil,"" and to add afterthe Basmala: ""Praise to Allah fOT Islam and itsblessings
Praise to Allah who made water purifyingand Islam a light
My Lord, I take refuge inYou from the whispering of devils and take refugein You lest they come to me."" It is sunna to say allthe above to oneself.)If one intentionally or absentmindedly omitssaying the name of Allah (n: at the first of ablution),then one pronounces it during it (0: by saying.""In the name of Allah, first to last"").
It is recommended to wash the handsthree times.(0: By saying ""three times,"" the author indicatesthe sunna character of performing such actsthrice, and that it is an independent sunna (N:rewarded apart from the sunnas it is conjoinedwith).)If one has doubts as to whether or not one'shands are free of filth, it is offensive to dip theminto less than 216 liters of water without first washingthem three times
(0: When sure they arepure, it is not offensive to immerse them
Whensure they are impure,it is unlawful to dip theminto this amount of water (N: since it spoils it bymaking it impure).)
One next uses the toothstick (def: e3), andthen rinses the mouth and nose out three times,with three handfuls of water
One takes in amouthful from a handful of water and snuffs upsome of the rest of the handful into the nostrils (n:swishing the water around the mouth, and expellingthe water of the mouth and the .nose simultaneously),then again rinses the mouth and thenthe nostrils from a second handful of water, followedby rinsing the mouth and then the nostrilsfrom a third handful of water.One lets the water reach as much of themouth and nostrils as possible, unless fasting.when one goes lightly.
Then one washes the face three times,facemeaning from the point where the hairline usuallybegins to the chin in height, and from ear to ear inwidth.
It is obligatory to wash all facial hairinner,outer, and the skin beneath, whether thehair is thick or thin-such as eyebrows, mustache,and so forth; except for the beard, since:(1) ifit is thin, its inner and outer hair and theskin beneath must be washed;(2) but if thick, then the outer hair is enough,though it is recommended to saturate it by combingit from beneath with wet fingers.It is obligatory to cause the water to flow overthe outer (0: hair of the) part of the beard thathangs below the chin (0: though not its innerhair),It is obligatory to wash part of the head inevery direction beyond the bounds of the face, tomake sure everything has been completelycovered.It is sunna to use new water to saturate one'sbeard (0: ifit is thick) by combing it from beneathwith the fingers.
Then one washes the hands up to andincluding the elbows three times.(If the arm has been amputated between thehand and elbow, it is necessary to wash theremaining forearm and the elbow, If amputated atthe elbow, then the end of the upper arm must bewashed, If it has been amputated between theelbow and shoulder, then it is recommended towash the rest of the upper arm,)
Then one wipes the head with wet hands,beginning at the front of the head, sliding thepaired hands back to the nape of the neck, andthen returning them to where one began, (0: Thisis an explanation of the best way, for otherwise,fulfilling the obligation does not depend on startingat the front, but may be from any part of thehead.) One does this three times.If one is bald, or one's hair never grew, or islong, or braided, then it is not recommended toslide the hands back to the front.Each of the following suffices as wipingthe head:(1) to place the hand on the head withoutmoving it so that one wets any of what is referredto by ""wiping the head,"" the minimum of which ispart of a single hair, provided this part does nothang below the limits of the head;(2) to drip water on the head without makingit flow over it;(3) or to wash the head.(If it is difficult to remove one's turban, thenafter wiping the minimum of the head required,one may finish by wiping the turban.)
One then wipes the ears inside and outwith new water, three times, and then the ear canalswith one's little fingers with more new water,three times (0: though this second sunna is notseparately mentioned in the more well knownbooks, which speak of the two sunnas together,making ""wiping the ears"" include the ear canals).
Then one washes the feet up to and includingthe anklebones three times.
If one does not know whether one washeda particular limb or the head three times (N: as issunna), then one assumes one has washed it theleast number that one is sure of, and washes asmany additional times as it takes to be certain onehas reached three.
One begins with the right when washingarms and legs, but not the hands, cheeks, andears, which are washed right and left simultaneously.
One washes more than is obligatory of theface by adding part of the head and neck, andlikewise with the arms and legs by washing abovethe elbows and ankles, the maximum of which isthe whole upper arm or lower leg.
One washes the parts of the body successivelyand without pausing between them (0: suchthat in normal weather the last part would not drybefore one began the next), though if one pausesbetween them, even for a long time, one's ablutionis still valid without renewing the intention.
After finishing, one says: HI testify thatthere is no god but Allah, alone, without partner,and I testify that Muhammad is His slave andmessenger
0 Allah, make me one of the oftrepentant,one of the purified, one of Your goodlyslaves
0 Allah, I declare Your exaltedness aboveevery imperfection and Your praise
I testify thereis no god but You
I ask Your forgiveness and turnto You in repentance.""There are supplications said for each limbwashed, but these are not authenticated as beingof the sunna.
OTHER RECOMMENDED MEASURESOther recommended measures (adab)include:(I) facing the direction of prayer;(2) not to talk during ablution for other thana necessity;(3) and to begin with the top of the face andnot slap water upon it.
If another person is pouring one's water(N: or if using a tap) one begins washing the armsfrom the elbows, and the feet from theanklebones
If pouring one's own water (N: froma jug, for example), one begins washing the armsfrom the fingers and the feet from the toes.
One should take care that water reachesthe inner corners of the eyes, and the heels (N: upto the level of the anklebones) and similar placesit is feared one may neglect, especially during thewinter.
One moves one's ring when washing thehand to allow water to reach the skin beneath
(0:If the water cannot otherwise get under it, it isobligatory to move the ring.)
One saturates between the toes using thelittle finger of the left hand
One begins with thelittle toe of the right foot, coming up through thetoes from beneath, and finishes with the little toeof the left.
THINGS OFFENSIVE IN ABLUTIONIt is offensive:(1) to have another person wash one's limbs,unless there is some excuse (0: such as old age orthe like);(2) to wash the left before the right;(3) or to waste water.
It is recommended:(1) not to use less than 0.51 liters (mudd) ofwater for ablution;(2) not to use less than 2.03 liters (sa') ofwater for the purificatory bath (ghusl);(3) not to dry off the parts washed in ablution(N: unless there is an excuse such as illness or coldweather) or shake the water off one's hands;(4) notto ask another to pour waterfor one'sablution;(5) and not to wipe the neck.
OTHER PROVISIONSIf dirt under the nails prevents the water(0: of ablution or the purificatory bath fromreaching the skin beneath) then the ablution (0:or bath) is not valid.(N: The same is true of waterproof glue,paint, nail polish, and so forth on the nails or skin:if it prevents water from reaching any part of thenails or skin, no matter how small, one's ablutionor purificatory bath is not valid.)
If one has doubts during the course of theablution that one has washed a particular limb orthe head, then it is obligatory to wash it againand everything that follows it in the ablutionsequence.But if these doubts arise after one hasfinished ablution, one need not repeat anything.(A: The same is true of the purificatory bath(ghusl)
)
It is recommended to renew the ablution(N: when there has been no intervening state ofminor ritual impurity) when one has performedany prayer, obligatory or nonobligatory, with it.
Ablution is recommended for someone ina state of major ritual impurity (janaba) whowishes to eat, drink, sleep, or make love again.And Allah knows best.*
(N: Wiping one's footgear (Ar
khuff) withwet hands is a dispensation that can take the placeof the fifth ablution integral of washing the feet.The footgear Muslims generally use for this areankle-high leather socks that zip up and are worninside the shoes.)
Wiping footgear is permissible for 72hours (lit
""three days and nights"") to a travelleron a lawful trip (N: one not undertaken for purposesof disobeying Allah) that fulfills the conditionspermitting one to shorten prayers onjourneys (def: f15.1-5).Wiping them is permissible to a nontravellerfor 24 hours (lit
""a day and a nigh!"")
(n: Atthe end of these periods, one removes thefootgear to perform ablution, or, if one has ablutionat the time, to wash the feet, before puttingthem on again and starting a new period of permissibility,as at e6.7.)The beginning of the period is reckoned fromthe time of the first minor ritual impurity (hadath)that occurs after having put them on while in astate of ablution.Wiping footgear is permissible for only 24hours:(1) when one has wiped both of a pair offootgear for ablution or just one of the pair (n:leaving the other for later) when not on a trip, andthen begun travelling;(2) or (0: when one has wiped both of a pairof foot gear or just one) when on the trip and thenfinished travelling;(3) or when one is in doubt as to whether onefirst wiped one's footgear for ablution whiletravelling or whether it was while not travelling.Wiping footgear is permissible for 72 hours ifone's ablution is nullified when not travelling andone then lifts that state of minor ritualimpurity bywiping them for the ablution while travelling.
When one doubts as to whether or not thepermissible period for wiping them has expired,then one may not wipe them while the doubtexists
(A: Because dispensations cannot be takenunless one is certain (N: of their necessary conditions).)If one has doubts (n: when near the end ofthe permissible period for wiping them, for example,and uncertain exactly when it began)about whether one nullified one's ablution at thetime of the noon prayer, or whether it was at thetime of the midafternoon prayer, then one proceedson the assumption that it was at the time ofthe noon prayer.
If a state of major ritual impurity (janaba)occurs during the permissible period for wipingfootgear, then one must take them off for thepurificatory bath (ghusl).
The conditions for the permissibility ofwiping footgear are:(a) that one have full ablution when one firstputs them on;(b) that they be free of filth;(c) that they cover the whole foot up to andincluding the anklebones;(d) that they prevent water (N: if dripped onthem drop by drop from directly) reaching thefoot (O:-if water reaches the foot through theholes of a seam's stitches, it does not affect the validityof wiping them, though if water can reachthe foot through any other place, it violates thiscondition);(e) and that they be durable enough to keepwalking around upon as travellers do in attendingto their needs (0: when encamping, departing,etc.);-no matter whether they are of leather, felt,layers of rags (N: including thick, heavy woolsocks that prevent water from reaching the foot(A: not modern dress socks (n: due to non-Cd) and(e) abovc), which are not valid to wipe in anyschool, even if many are worn in layers)), wood,or other; nor whether they have a cleavage lacedup with eyelcb (0: provided none of the footshows).One may not wipe footgear if wearing justone of a pair, washing the other foot
Nor if any ofthe foot shows through a hole in them.
It is sunna to wipe the footgear on the top.bottom, and heel in lines (N: as if combing somethingwith the fingers), without covering everypart of them or wiping them more than once.One puts the left hand under the heel and theright hand on top of the foot at the toes, drawingthe right hand back towards the shin while drawingthe left along the bottom of the foot in theopposite direction towards the toes.It is sufficient as wiping the Jootgear to wipeany part of their upper surface (N: with wethands), from the top of the foot up to the level ofthe anklebones
It is not sufficient to only wipesome of the bottom, heel, side of the foot, or someof the footgear's inner surface that faces the skin.
When on an ablution that was performedby wiping the footgear, and then some part of thefoot shows because of taking them off, or througha hole, it's sufficient (N: to complete one's ablution)to merely wash the feet again (0: withoutrepeating the ablution).*
(N: Meaning the things that nullify one'sablution.)
The first is anything that exits from thefront or rear private parts, whether a substance(0: such as urine or feces) (N: or the mucus thatexits from the vagina with or without sexual stimulation,though not a woman's sexual fluid thatappears through orgasm, discussed below) orwind, and whether something usual or somethinguncommon such as a worm or stones
But not amale's sperm or female's sexual fluid (Ar
maniyy,that which exits with orgasmic contractions,whether a man's or a woman's (def: el0A)), whichnecessitates the purificatory bath (N: as it causesmajor ritual impurity) but does not necessarilynullify ablution, an example ofthis being someonefirmly seated (dis: e 7.2, second paragraph) whosleeps and has a wet dream, or someone who looksat something lustfully and sperm or sexual fluidcome
Otherwise, if one makes love to one'sspouse, or has an orgasm while lying asleep, ablutionis nullified (n: respectively) by touching thespouse's skin (e7.3) or by sleep (below).LOSS OF INTELLECt THROUGH SLEEP ETC.
The second cause of minor ritual impurityis loss of intellect (0: meaning the loss of the abilityto distinguish, whether through insanity,unconsciousness, sleep, or other
Loss of intellectexcludes drowsing and daydreaming, which donot nullify ablution
Among the signs of drowsingis that one can hear the words of those present,even if uncomprehendingly).Sleep while firmly seated on the ground (A:or any other surface firm enough to prevent a person'sbreaking wind while seated on it asleep)does not nullify ablution, whether ridingmounted, leaning on something which if removedwould cause one to fall, or otherwise seated.If one sleeps when firmly seated and one'srear moves from its place before one awakens, thisnullifies one's ablution
But not if:(I) one's rear moved after or during awakenfing,or if one is uncertain about whether it happenedbefore awakening or during;(2) one's arm dropped to the ground whileone was firmly seated;(3) or when one drowses while not firmlyseated, hearing but not comprehending, or if oneis uncertain as to whether one drowsed or slept,or uncertain as to whether one slept while firmlyseated or not firmly seated.
CONTACT OF MAN AND WOMAN'S SKINThe third cause of minor ritual impurity iswhen any, no matter how little, of the two skins ofa man and woman touch (N: husband and wife, forexample) when they are not each other's un marriageablekin (Ar
mahram, def: m6), even if theytouch without sexual desire, or unintentionally ,and even if with tongue or a nonfunctional orsurplus limb; though touching does not includecontact with teeth, nails, hair, or a severed limb.Ablution is also nullified by touching an agedperson or a corpse (N: of the opposite sex) but notby touching a member of one's unmarriageablekin, or a child who is younger than the age thatusually evokes sexual interest.One's ablution is not nullified when one isuncertain about:(1) whether one touched a male or female;(2) whether one touched hair or skin;(3) or whether the person one touched wasof one's unmarriageable kin or not.
TOUCHING HUMAN PR[VATE PARTSWITH HANDThe fourth cause of minor impurity istouching human private parts with the palm arinner surface afthe fingers only (N: i.e
those partswhich touch when the hands are put together palmto palm), whether one touches the private parts:(1) absentmindedly;(2) without sexual desire;(3) in the front or rear;(4) of a male or female;(5) of oneself or another, even if deceased,or a child;-but not if one touches them with one's fingertips,the skin between the fingers, with the outeredge of the hand, or touches the correspondingparts of an animal.
Ablution is not nullified by vomiting, lettingblood, nosebleed, laughing during the prayer,eating camel meat, or other things (N: not discussedabove).
When certain that a minor ritual impurityhas occurred, but uncertain whether one subsequentlylifted it (N: with ablution), then one is ina state of minor ritual impurity (A: because in SacredLaw, a state whose existence one is certainabout does not cease through a state whose existenceone is uncertain about).When certain that one had ablution, butuncertain that it was subsequently nullified, thenone still has ablution.
The following are unlawful for someone ina state of minor ritual impurity:(1) to perform the prayer;(2) to prostrate when reciting the Koran atverses in which it is sunna to do so (def: f11.13);(3) to prostrate out of thanks (f11.19);(4) to circumambulate the Kaaba (j5);(5) or to carry a Koran, even by a strap or ina box, or touch it, whether its writing, the spacesbetween its lines, its margins, binding, the carryingstrap attached to it, or the bag or box it is in.(n: Other aspects of proper manners (adab) towards the Book of Allah aretreated below at wI6.) (A: The opinion expressed in Fiqh al-sunna that it is permissibleto touch the Koran without ritual purity is a deviant view contrary to allfour schools of jurisprudence and impermissible to teach (dis: r7.1(3), except toexplain that it is aberrant.) (n: Though in theHanafi school, it is permissible forsomeone in a state of minor ritual impurity to touch or carry a Koran that is insidea cover not physically attached to it, such as a case or bag, as opposed to somethingjoined to it, like a binding (al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88), 1.43)
AndAllah knows best.)
It is also unlawful (n: when without ablution)to touch or carry any of the Koran written forthe purpose of study, even a single verse or part ofone, as when written on a slate or the like.(0: But this is permissible for nonstudy purposessuch as when the Koran is intended to be anamulet (def: wI7)
It is not prohibited to touch orcarry such an amulet even if it contains wholesuras, or even, as Sheikh (N: Shirbini) ai-Khatibhas said, if it contains the whole Koran.)It is permissible to carry a Koran in one's baggageand to carry money, rings, or clothes onwhich Koran is written.It is permissible to carry books of SacredLaw, hadith, or Koranic exegesis which containKoran, provided that most of their text is notKoran (0: because the non-Koranic part is thepurpose, though this is unlawful if half or more isKoran).Boys who have reached the age of discrimination(def: f1.2(0:)) may touch or carry the Koranwhile in a state of minor ritual impurity (0:because of the need to learn it and the hardship oftheir keeping ablution, and likewise for younggirls, though this is for study alone, as opposed tononstudy, when it is unlawful
As for childrenunder this age, their guardian may not give aKoran to them) (A: as this is an insult to it
Also,teachers should remind children that it is unlawfulto moisten one's fingers with saliva to turn itspages).Someone in a state of minor or major impuritymay write Koran if he does not touch or carrywhat he has written.
When one fears that a Koran may burn,get soaked, that a non-Muslim may touch it, orthat it may come into contact with some filth, thenone must pick it up if there is no safe place for it,even if one is in a state of minor or major ritualimpurity, though performing the dry ablution(tayammum, def: e12) is obligatory if possible.
It is unlawful to use a Koran or book ofIslamic knowledge as a pillow (0: except for fearof theft, when it is permissible to do so).And Allah knows best.*
It is recommended when one intends touse the lavatory:(1) to put something on one's feet, unlessthere is an excuse (0: such as not having shoes);(2) to cover the head (0: even if only with ahandkerchief or other);(3) to set aside anything on which there is themention of Allah Most High, His messenger(Allah bless him and give him peace), or anyrevered name (0: like those of prophets orangels)
If one enters with a ring (0: on whichsomething worthy of respect is written), onecloses one's hand around it;(4) to ready stones (N: or other suitablematerial (def: e9.5)) (0: if one uses them) to cleanoneself of filth (N: though water alone is sufficient);(5) to say before entering:""In the name of Allah
0 Allah, I take refugein You from demons, male and female,""and after leaving,""[0 Lord,] Your forgiveness
Praise be toAllah who rid me of the hurt and gave me health"";(6) to enter with the left foot first and departwith the right foot first (and this, together with (3)and (5) above, are not only for indoors, butrecommended outdoors as well);(7) not to raise one's garment until onesquats down to the ground (0: to keep one'snakedness covered as much as possible) and tolower it before one stands up;(8) to put most of one's weight on the leftfoot while squatting;(9) not to spend a long time;(10) not to speak;(11) when finished urinating, for men tosqueeze the penis with the left hand from base tohead (0: recommended because this is where theurethra is, and for women to squeeze their frontbetween thumb and forefinger) (N: so urine doesnot exit later and nullify one's ablution) pullinglightly three times (0: this being recommendedwhen one thinks the urine has stopped, though ifone thinks it has not, this is obligatory);(12) not to urinate while standing (0: whichis offensive) unless there is an excuse (N: such aswhen standing is less likely to spatter urine onone's clothes than sitting, or when sitting is ahardship);(13) not to clean oneself with water in thesame place one relieved oneself, if it might spatter,though if in a lavatory one need not move to adifferent place;(14) to distance oneself from others if out·doors and to screen oneself;(15) not to urinate into holes, on hard places,where there is wind, in waterways, where peoplegather to talk, on paths, under fruit trees, neargraves, in still water, or in less than 216 liters ofrunning water;(16) and not to relieve oneself with one'sfront or rear facing the sun, moon, or the SacredPrecinct in Jerusalem.
It is unlawful to urinate on anythingedible, bones, anything deserving respect, agrave, or in a mosque, even if into a receptacle.
It is unlawful to urinate or defecate withone's front or rear towards the direction of prayerwhen outdoors and there is no barrier to screenone, though it is permissible when outdoors orindoors within a meter and a half of a barrier atleast 32 cm
high, or in a hole that deep
When oneis not this close to such a barrier, it is not permissibleexcept in a lavatory, where, if the walls arefarther from one than the maximal distance or areshorter than the minimal height, relieving oneselfwith front or rear towards the direction of prayeris permissible, though offensive.
It is obligatory to clean oneself of everyimpure substance coming from one's front or rear,though not from gas, dry worms or stones, orexcrement without moisture.
Stones suffice to clean oneself, though it isbest to follow this by washing with water
Anythingcan take the place of stones that is a solid,pure, removes the filth, is not something thatdeserves respect or is worthy of veneration, norsomething that is edible (0: these being five conditionsfor the validity of using stones (N: or somethingelse) to clean oneself offilth without havingto follow it by washing with water).But it is obligatory to wash oneself withwater if:(1) one has washed away the filth with aliquid other than water, or with somethingimpure;(2) one has become soiled with filth from aseparate source;(3) one's waste has moved from where itexited (n: reaching another part of one's person)or has dried;(4) or if feces spread beyond the inner buttocks(N: meaning that which is enfolded whenstanding), or urine moved beyond the head of thepenis, though if they do not pass beyond them,stones suffice.It is obligatory (N: when cleaning oneselfwith a dry substance alone) to both remove thefilth, and to wipe three times, even when once isenough to clean it, doing this either with threepieces (lit: ""stones"") or three sides of one piece
Ifthree times does not remove it, it is obligatory to(N: repeat it enough to) clean it away (0: as thatis the point of cleaning oneself
Nawawi says in aleMajmu' that cleaning oneself (N: with a dry substance)means to remove the filth so that nothingremains but a trace that could not be removedunless one were to use water) (N: and when thishas been done, any remaining effects of filth thatcould have only been removed with water areexcusable)
An odd number of strokes is recommended.One should wipe from front to back onthe right side with the first piece, similarly wipethe left with the second, and wipe both sides andthe anus with the third
Each stroke must begin ata point on the skin that is free of impurity.Major Ritual Impurity (Janaba) e10.0It is offensive to use the right hand to cleanoneself of filth.
It is best to clean oneself of filth beforeablution, though if one waits until after it to clean,the ablution is nevertheless valid (N: providedthat while cleaning, the inside surface of the hand(def: e7.4) does not touch the front or rear privateparts).If one waits until after one's dry ablution(tayammum, def: e12) to clean away filth, the dryablution is not valid (A: because lack of filth is acondition for it).*
The purificatory bath (ghusl, def: ell) isObligatory for a male when:(1) sperm exits from him;(2) or the head of his penis enters a vagina;and is obligatory for a female when:(1) sexual fluid (def: belOW) exits from her;(2) the head of a penis enters her vagina;(3) after her menstrual period;(4) after her postnatal lochia stops or after achild is born in a dry birth.(n: The Arabic term maniyy used in all theserulings refers to both male sperm and female sexualfluid, i.e
that which comes from orgasm, andboth sexes are intended by the phrase sperm orsexual fluid wherever it appears below.)
When a woman who has been made loveto performs the purificatory bath, and the male'ssperm afterwards leaves her vagina, then she mustrepeat the ghusl if two conditions exist:(a) that she is not a child, but rather oldenough to have sexual gratification (A: as it mightotherwise be solely her husband's sperm);(b) and that she was fulfilling her sexual urgewith the lovemaking, not sleeping or forced.
Male sperm and female sexual fluid arerecognised by the fact that they:(a) come in spurts (n: by contractions);(b) with sexual gratification;(c) and when moist, smell like bread dough,and when dry, like egg-white.When a substance from the genital orifice hasanyone of the above characteristics, then it issperm or sexual fluid and makes the purificatorybath obligatory
When not even one of the abovecharacteristics is present, it is not sperm or sexualfluid
Being white or thick is not neeessary for itto be considered male sperm, and being yellow orthin is not necessary for it to be consideredfemale sexual fluid.
The purificatory bath is not obligatory:(1) when there is an unlustful discharge ofthin, sticky, white fluid (madhy) caused by amorousplay or kissing;(2) or when there is a discharge of the thick,cloudy white fluid (wady) that exits after urinating(0: or carrying something heavy).
If one does not know whether one's dischargeis sperm or whether it is madhy (def: (1)above), then one may either:(1) consider it sperm, and perform thepurificatory bath (0: in which case washing theportions of clothes and so forth affected with it isnot obligatory, as it is legally considered a puresubstance) ;(2) or consider it madhy, and wash theaffected portions of the body and clothes (N:which is obligatory, as it is legally consideredfilth), and perform ablution, though not thepurificatory bath.The best course in such cases of uncertainty isto do all of the above (0: of bathing, washing theaffected portions, and ablution, so as to take dueprecaution in one's worship).
All things unlawful for someone in minorritual impurity (def: e8.l) are also unlawful forsomeone in a :state of major ritual impurity (N: ormenstruation)
In addition, it is likewise unlawfulfor such a person:(1) to remain in a mosque;(2) or to recite any of the Koran, even part ofa single verse, though it is permissible to use itsinvocations (dhikr) when the intention is notKoran recital (0: such as saying in disasters,""Surely we are Allah's, and unto Him we willreturn,"" and the like)
If one intends Koran recital,it is disobedience, but if one intends itprimarily as invocation (dhikr), or as nothing inparticular, it is permissible.It is permissible to pass through a mosque (A:though not to enter and leave by the same door(Ar
taraddud), which is unlawful) when one is ina state of major ritual impurity, but this is offensivewhen there is no need.*
When performing the purificatory bath,one:(1) begins by saying, ""In the name of Allah,Most Merciful and Compassionate"";(2) removes any unclean matter on the body(0: pure or impure);(3) performs ablution (wudu) as one doesbefore the prayer;(4) pours water over the head three times,intending to lift a state of major ritual impurity(janaba) or menstruation, or to be permitted toperform the prayer, and running the fingersthrough one's hair to saturate it;(5) and then pours water over the body'sright side three times, then over the left side threetimes, ensuring that water reaches all joints andfolds, and rubbing oneself.(6) If bathing after menstruation, a womanuses some musk to eliminate the afterscent ofblood (0: by applying it to a piece of cotton andinserting it, after bathing, into the vagina as far asis obligatory (def: (b) below) for her to wash)
(N:What is meanHhereby is a substance that removesthe traces of filth, by any means, and it is fine touse soap.)Two things (N: alone) are obligatory for the validityof the purificatory bath:(a) having the intention «4) above) whenwater is first applied to the parts that must bewashed;(b) and that water reaches all of the hair andskin (N: to the roots of the hair, under nails, andthe outwardly visible portion of the ear canals,though unlike ablution the sequence of washingthe parts is not obligatory), even under the foreskinof the uncircumcized man, and the privateparts of the nonvirgin woman which are normallydisclosed when she squats to relieve herself.(n: In the Hanafi school, rinsing out themouth and nostrils (def: eS, 7) is obligatory for thevalidity of the purificatory bath (al-Lubab Ii sharhal-Kirab (y88), 1.14)
It is religiously more precautionaryfor a Muslim never to omit it, andAllah knows best.)
If one begins the purificatory bath whileon ablution (wudu) but nullifies it (def: e7) beforefinishing, one simply completes the bath (N:though one needs a new ablution before praying).
If there is filth (najasa) on the body, onewashes it off by pouring water on it and then performsthe purificatory bath, though washing oneselfa single time suffices for both removing it andfor the purificatory bath.
When a woman who is obliged to both lifta state of major ritual impurity Uanaba) and purifyafter menstruation performs the purificatory bathfor either of these, it suffices for both.Whoever performs the bath one time with theintention to (n: both) lift a state of major ritualimpurity and fulfill the sunna of the Friday prayerbath has performed both, though if he onlyintends one, his bath counts for that one but notthe other.
The purificatory bath is sunna:(1) for those who want to attend the Fridayprayer (def: f18) (0: the bath's time beginning atdawn);(2) on the two 'Eids (f19) (0: the time for itbeginning from the middle of the night);(3) on days when the sun or moon eclipse;(4) before the drought prayer (f21);(5) after washing the dead (0: and it IS sunnato perform ablution (wudu) after touching acorpse);(6) after recovering one's sanity or regainingconsciousness after having lost it;(7) (N: before) entering the state of pilgrimsanctity (ihram, def: j3), when entering Mecca,for standing at 'Arata (j8), for circumambulatingthe Kaaba (is) and going between Safa and Marwa(j6), for entering Medina, at al-Mash'ar al-Haram(j9.2), and for each day of stoning at Mina (j1O) onthe three days following 'Eid al-Adha.*
(N: When unable to use water, dry ablution isa dispensation to perform the prayer or similar actwithout lifting one's minor or major impurity, bythe use of earth for one's ablution.)
Three conditions must be met for the legalvalidity of performing dry ablution.(a) The first is that it take place after thebeginning of the prayer's time if it is for an obligatoryprayer or a nonobligatory one that has a particulartime
The act of lifting earth to the face andarms (N: the first step of dry ablution) must takeplace during that time
If one performs dry ablutionwhen unsure that the prayer's time has come,then one's dry ablution is invalid, even if it coincideswith the correct time (dis: e6.2(A:))
If oneperforms dry ablution in the midmorning for thepurpose of making up a missed obligatory prayer,but the time for noon prayer comes before one hasmade up the missed obligatory prayer, then onemay pray it (N: the noon prayer) with that dryablution (N: because one did not perform dryablution for it before its time, but rather performeddry ablution for a different prayer in thatprayer's time, which clarifies why this does notviolate the conditions of praying with dry ablution),or one could pray a different missed prayerwith it (0: as one is not required to specify whichobligatory prayer the dry ablution is for).(b) The second condition is that dry ablutionmust be performed with plain, purifying earth thatcontains dust, even the dust contained in sand;though not pure sand devoid of dust; nor earthmixed with the likes of flour; nor gypsum, potteryshards (0: which are not termed earth), or earththat has been previously used, meaning that whichis already on the limbs or has been dusted offthem.(c) The third condition is inability to usewater
The person unable to use water performsdry ablution, which suffices in place of lifting allforms of ritual impurity, permitting the person ina state of major ritual impurity (janaba) or womanafter her menstrual period to do everything thatthe purificatory bath tghusl) permits them to do.If either of them subsequently has a minor ritualimpurity (hadath), then only the things prohibitedon minor impurity are unlawful for them (def:eS.l) (N: not those prohibited on major impurity(e10
7), that is, until they can again obtain water tolift their state of major impurity, when they must,for the dry ablution is only a dispensation to prayand so forth while in states of impurity and is nullifiedby finding water).
Inability to use water has (0: three) causes(n: lack of water, fear of thirst, and illness).
LACK OF WATERThe first is lack of water
When one is surethere is none, one performs dry ablution withoutsearching for it
If one thinks there might be some,one must look through one's effects and inquireuntil one has asked all of one's party or (N: if toonumerous) there is no time left except for theprayer
One does not have to ask each person individually,but may simply call out, ""Who haswater, even for a price?"" Then one looks around,if on level ground
If not level, one checks on footwithin the range at which one's group could beexpected to respond to a cry for help, providedthere is no threat to life or property
Or one mayclimb a nearby hill.The search for water must occur after the particularprayer's time has come.When one checks, does not find water, performsdry ablution, (N: prays an obligatory prayerwith it,) and remains at the place, one need notsearch again before performing dry ablution foranother obligatory prayer (N: when the nextprayer's time comes), provided one made surethere was no water the first time, and nothing hashappened to change one's mind
But if one did notmake sure, or if something has happened tosuggest that there tnight now be water, like theappearance of rain clouds or riders, one is obligedto check again for water.
When sure that one can obtain water bywaiting until the last of a prayer's time, then it isbetter to wait
But if one thinks otherwise, then itis bener to perform dry ablution (n: and pray) atthe first ofthe time.
(N: This entry's rulings apply equally toobtaining water for purification and to obtainingclothing to fulfill the prayer's condition of coveringone's nakedness (def: f5).)If a person gives or loans one water, or loansone a bucket (0: when it is the sole means ofobtaining the water) then one must accept it,though not i( the person loans or gives one theprice of these things (0: because of the burden ofaccepting charity that it involves),If one finds water or a bucket for sale at the, usual price for that locality and time, then one isobliged to buy it, provided one's money is inexcess of one's debts, even if they are not due untila future date; and provided one's money exceedsthe amount required for the journey's expenses,round trip,When someone has water he does not needbut will not sell, one may not simply take it fromhim by foree, except when compelled by thirst (N:provided the water's owner is not also sufferingfrom thirst, and provided one pays him the normalprice for it in that locality and time, because one'sneed does not eliminate another's rights),
If one finds some water, but not enough tocomplete purification, one must use it as far as itwill go, and then perform dry ablution in place ofthe rest
For minor ritual impurity, one uses thewater on the face, then the arms, and so forth, inthe usual ablution sequence, For major ritualimpurity (janaba), one begins wherever onewishes, though it is recommended to start at thetop of the body,
FEAR OF THIRSTThe second cause of inability to use wateris fear of one's own thirst, or that of worthy companionsand animals with one, even if in the future(0: worthy meaning those whose killing is unlawful,such as a trained hunting dog or other usefulanimal, while unworthy includes non-Muslims atwar with the Muslims, apostates from Islam(def: oB), convicted married adulterers, pigs, andbiting dogs),Ablution (N: as well as the purificatory bath(ghusl)) is unlawful in such a case
One shouldconserve one's water for oneself and others, andmay perform dry ablution for prayer with no needto make up the prayer later (A: provided lack ofwater predominates in that place (dis:e12.19(N:))).
ILLNESSThe third cause is an ailment from whichone fears (N: that performing a normal ablution orpurificatory bath would cause):(1) harm to life or limb;(2) disability;(3) becoming seriously ill;(4) an increase in one's ailment;(5) a delay in recovering from one's illness;(6) considerable pain;(7) or (n: a bad effect from the water suchas)a radical change in one's skin color on a visiblepart ofthe body.One may depend on one's own knowledge(N: as to whcther one of the above is to beapprehended) (0: if one is knowledgeable inmedicine) (N: though it is not a condition that onebe knowledgeable in medicine, for one's own previousexperience may be sufficient to establish theprobability that one of them will occur if a fullablution or bath (ghusl) is performed)
Or onemay depend on a physician whose informationconcerning it is acceptable (A: meaning one withskill in medicine whose word can be believed,even if he is not a Muslim).
(n: Rulings e12.1l-13 below have been left in Arabic and deal with a personwho has injuries that prevent a normal ablution or bath for one of the abovereasons
Strictness on the question ('azima) is to follow the Shafi'is, while dispensation(rukhsa) is to follow the Hanafi school «2) below).(1) The Shafi'i school is the hardest in this matter, insisting on a full ablutionexcept for the injured part, where a full dry ablution must be performed at theproper point in the ablution sequence in place of washing the injured part, as at
below.If someone has a cast or dressing harmful to remove, as at e12.l2, it must be .first applied when one has ablution, and thereafter one must wipe it with waterwhen one comes to it in the ablution sequence in addition to performing a completedry ablution at that point.Finally, when someone with such a bandage on the members of dry ablution(the face or arms) recovers and has his cast or dressing removed, he is obliged tomake up (repray) all the prayers he pcrformed with such an ablution, as at e12.13(0:).(2) TheHanafi school requires someone with an injury who wants to pray tomake a complete ablution (N: or b3.th, if needed)
But if this would entail harm,such as one of the things mentioned above at eI2.9, then when he comes to theinjury in the ablution sequence, he is merely required to wipe it with wet hands soas to cover more than half of the injury
If this would also entail harm, or if he hasa bandage that cannot be removed without harm, or he cannot reapply thedressing by himself and has no one to help him to do so, then he simply wipes morethan half the bandage when he comes to it in his ablutiC'n
He may pray with suchan ablution and need not repeat the prayer later (al-Hadiyya al-'Ala'iyya (y4)(43-44).It is not necessary that he be free of minor or even major impurity (janaba)at the time the dressing is applied (al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88) , 1.41).(3) (N: There is strong evidence for performing dry ablution (tayammum) inplace of washing such an injury
To add it at the proper point of the ablution sequenceas a precautionary measure (dis: c6.5) would not interfere with thevalidity of following the Hanafi position just discussed.)
If it is so cold that one fears an illness orone of the things previously mentioned (e12.9)from the use of water and one lacks means of heatingthe water or warming one's limbs up afterwards,then one performs the dry ablution (N:prays), and repeats the prayer later.
When one lacks both water and earth, oneis obliged to pray the obligatory prayer by itself,and later make up the prayer when one again findswater or finds earth, if in a place where dry ablutionsuffices as purification for a prayer that neednot be made up later (N: such as in the desert(dis: e12.19(N:))).
THE INTEGRALS OF DRY ABLUTIONDry ablution has seven obligatory integrals:(a) the intention, one intending permissionto perform the obligation of the prayer, or thatwhich requires dry ablution (N: such as carryingthe Koran when there is no water for ablution)
Itis inadequate to intend to lift a state of minor ritualimpurity (dis: e5.3(O:) or intend the obligationof dry ablution.If one is performing dry ablution for anobligatory prayer, one must intend its beingobligatory, though need not specify whether
forexample, it is for the noon prayer or the midafternoonprayer
If one were to intend it for the obligationof performing the noon prayer, one could(N: instead) pray the midaftemoon prayer with it(N: though not both, as at e12.20).If one intends a dry ablution for both anobligatory prayer and a nonobligatory prayer,then both may be prayed with that same dry ablution.But if one's intention is merely for a nonobligatoryprayer, a funeral prayer (janaza), orsimply prayer, then one may not pray an obligatoryprayer with that dry ablution
If one intends anobligatory prayer, one may pray nonobligatoryprayers only, or pray them before and after anobligatory prayer during the obligatory prayer'stime, or after the obligatory prayer's time hasexpired.The intention must occur when one conveysthe earth (0: meaning when one first strikes theearth) and must continue until one wipes part ofthe face;(b and c) that one's hands contact the earthand convey it (N: up to the face and arms, afterhaving shaken the excess dust from one's hands);(d and e) to wipe the face (N: not missingunder the nose) and arms including the elbows;(f) to do the above in the order mentioned;(g) and that the dry ablution be performedby striking the earth twice, once for wiping theface, and a second time for wiping the arms.It is not obligatory to make the earth reachunder the hair (N: of the anus and face).
THE SUNNAS OF DRY ABLUTIONThe sunnas of dry ablution are:(1) to say, ""In the name of Allah, Most Mercifuland Compassionate"";(2) to wipe the upper face before the lower;(3) to wipe the right arm before the left;(4) and for wiping the arms, (N: holding thepalm, up,) to place the left hand crosswise underthe right with the left hand's fingers touching thebacks of the fingers of the right hand, sliding theleft hand up to the right wrist
Then, curling thefingers around the side of the right wrist, oneslides the left hand to the right elbow, then turnsthe left palm so it rests on the top of the rightforearm with its thumb pointed away from onebefore sliding it back down to the wrist, where onewipes the back of the right thumb with the insideof the left thumb
One then wipes the left arm inthe same manner, followed by interlacing the fingers,rubbing the palms together, and then dustingthe hands off lightly.(N: This method is not obligatory, but ratherany way will suffice that wipes all of both arms.)
One separates the fingers when strikingthe earth each of the two times, and must removeone's ring for the second (N: before wiping thearms).
THINGS WHICH NULLIFY DRY ABLUTIONDry ablution is nullified by both the thingswhich nullify ablution (def: e 7) and by the merebelief that one can now obtain water when thisbelief occurs before one begins praying, such as byseeing a mirage or a troop of riders.This belief also nullifies dry ablution when itoccurs during one's prayer if the prayer is onewhich must be later made up, like that of someoneat home who performs dry ablution for lack ofwater (N: because if one performs dry ablution ina place Where water is generally available duringthe whole year, it is obligatory to make up one'sprayer, in view of the fact that the dry ablution hasbeen performed for a rare excuse
The rule is thatwhoever performs the prayer without full ritualpurity because of a rare excuse is obliged to makeup his prayer, as when the water of a city or villageis cut off for a brief period of time during whichthose praying perform dry ablution, while if onehas performed it in a place where water is seldomavailable during the year, it is not obligatory tomake up one's prayer, as when one performs dryablution in the desert)
But if not of those prayersthat must be made up later, such as that of a (N:desert) traveller who has performed dry ablution,then it (N: the belief that one can now obtainwater, when it occurs during prayer) does not (N:nullify one's dry ablution) and one finishes theprayer, which is adequate, though it is recommendedto interrupt it in order to begin again afterone has performed ablution.
One may not perform more than oneobligatory prayer with one dry ablution, whetherone of the prescribed obligatory prayers or onevowed (def: jI8), though one may pray anynumber of nonobligatory prayers or funeralprayers with it.
The minimal age for menstruation is about9 full years
There is no maximal age for the end ofit, as it is possible until death.The minimal menstrual period is a day and anight
It generally lasts 6 or 7 days
The maximalperiod is 15 days.The minimal interval of purity between twomenstruations is 15 days
There is no maximallimit to the number of days between menstruations.
Whenever a woman who is old enoughnotices her bleeding, even if pregnant, she mustavoid what a woman in her period avoids (def:e13.4).If it ceases in less than 24 hours (lit
""theminimum""), then it is not considered menstruationand the woman must make up the prayers shehas omitted during it
If it ceases at 24 hours,within 15 days, or between the two, then it ismenstruation
If it exceeds 15 days, then she is awoman with chronic vaginal discharge (dis: e13.6).Yellow or dusky colored discharge is consideredmenstrual flow.If a woman has times of intermittent bleedingand cessation during an interval of 15 days or less,and the times of bleeding collectively amount to atleast 24 hours, then the entire interval, bleedingand nonbleeding, is considered menstruation.
Postnatal bleeding (nifas) lasts at least amoment, generally 40 days, and at most 60
If itexceeds this, the woman is considered to havechronic vaginal discharge (dis: e13.6).
All things unlawful for someone in a stateof major ritual impurity (janaba) (dis: e10.7) areunlawful for a woman during her menstruationand postnatal bleeding
It is also unlawful for herto fast then, and the (N: obligatory) fast-days shemisses must be made up later, though not missedprayers.It is unlawful for her:(1) to pass through a mosque when shethinks some of her blood might contaminate it (N:and it is unlawful for her to remain in the mosqueunder any circumstances (n: when menstruatingor during postnatal bleeding));(2) to make love, or take sexual enjoymentfrom what is between her navel and knees;(3) to be divorced;(4) or to perform purification with the intentionto raise a state of ritual impurity.When her bleeding ceases, then fasting,divorce
purification, and passing through themosque are no longer unlawful for her, though theother things remain unlawful for her until she performsthe purificatory bath (ghusl, def: ell).
If a woman claims to be having her period,but her husband does not believe her, it is lawfulfor him to have sexual intercourse with her.
A woman with chronic vaginal discharge(N: preparing to pray) should wash her privateparts, apply something absorbent to them and adressing, and then perform ablution (N: with theintention discussed above at e5.3)
She may notdelay (N: commencing her prayer) after thisexcept for reasons of preparing to pray such asclothing her nakedness, awaiting the call to prayer(adhan), or for a group to gather for the prayer
Ifshe delays for other reasons, she must repeat thepurification.She is obliged to wash her private parts, applya dressing
and perform ablution before eachobligatory prayer (N: though she is entitled, likethose mentioned below, to perform as manynonobligatory prayers as she wishes, carry andread the Koran, etc
until the next prayer's timecomes (n: or until her ablution is broken for a differentreason), when she must renew the abovemeasures and her ablution).same measures (def: above) that a woman withchronic vaginal discharge docs
(N: And likewisefor anyone in a state of chronic annulment of ablution,such as continually breaking wind, excrement,or madhy (def: eIO.5), though washing andapplying an absorbent dressing are only obligatorywhen filth exits.)(A: If a person knows that drops of urine willnot stop until the time for the next prayer comes,then he takes the above measures and performsthe prayer at the first of its time.)*
Filth means:(1) urine;(2) excrement;(3) blood;(4) pus;(5) vomit;(6) wine;(7) any liquid intoxicant (n: including, for the Shafi'i school, anything con.taining alcohol such as cologne and other cosmetics, though some majorHanafischolars of this century, including Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti 'i of Egypt and Bad]ai-Din al-Hasani of Damascus, have given formal legal opinions that they are pur;;:(tahir) because they are not produced or intended as intoxicants.(N: Other scholarshold they are not pure, but their use is excusable to the extent ,tnctlydemanded by necessity.) While it is religiously more precautionary to treat themas filth, the dispensation exists when there is need, such as for postoperativepatients who are unable for some time after their surgery to wash away the alcoholused to sterilize sutures, And Allah knows best.)(N: As for solid intoxicants, they are not filth,though they are unlawful to take, eat, or drink);(8) dogs and pigs, or their offspring;(9) wady and madhy (def: e10.5);(10) slaughtered animals that (N: even whenslaughtered) may not be eaten by Muslims(def: j16);(11) unslaughtercd dead animals other thanaquatic life, locusts, or humans (A: which are allpure, even when dead, though amphibious life isnot considered aquatic, and is filth when dead);(12) the milk of animals (other than human)that may not be eaten;(13) the hair of unslaughtered dead animals;(14) and the hair of animals (other thanhuman) that may not be eaten, when separatedfrom them during their life (N: or after theirdeath
As for before it is separated from them, thehair is the same as the particular animal, and allanimals are pure during their life except dogs andswine).(n: In the Hanafi school, the hair of anunslaughtered dead animal (other than swine), itsbones, nails (hoofs), horns, rennet, and all partsunimbued with life while it was alive (A: includingits ivory) are pure (tahir)
That which is separatedfrom a living animal is considered as if from theun slaughtered dead of that animal (Hashiya raddal-muhtar 'ala al-Durr al-mukhtar sharh Tanwiral-absar (y47), 1.206-7).)
Rennet (n: a solidifying substance used incheese-making) is pure if taken from aslaughtered (def: j17) suckling lamb or kid thathas eaten nothing except milk.
That which comes from the mouth of asleeping person is impure if from the stomach, butpure if from the saliva ducts.
The fol1owing are pure:(1) seminal fluid that has reached the stagesof gestation in the womb, becoming like abloodclot and then becoming flesh;(2) the moisture (N: mucus) of a woman'sprivate parts (0: as long as it remains inside thearea that need not be washed in the purificatorybath (def: el1.l(b), end), though if it exits, it isimpure);(3) the eggs of anything;(4) the milk, fur, wool, or feathers of all animalsthat may be eaten, provided they are separatedfrom the animal while living or afterproperly slaughtered;(5) human milk, male sperm, and femalesexual fluid (def: elOA) ,
No form of filth can become pure, except:(1) wine that becomes vinegar;(2) the hide of an unslaughtered dead animalthat is tanned;(3) new animate life that comes from filth(0: such as worms that grow in carrion);(4) (n: and for the Hanafis, filth which istransformed [molecularly changed] into a newsubstance, such as a pig becoming soap, etc
(alHadiyyaal-'Ala'iyya (y4), 54)).Wine that becomes vinegar without anythinghaving been introduced into it is pure, as are thesides of the container it touched when it splashedor boiled
But if anything was introduced into thewine before it became vinegar, then turning tovinegar does not purify it
(A: In the Hanafi schoolit is considered pure whether or not anything hasbeen introduced into it.)Tanning means removing from a hide allexcess blood, fat, hair, and so forth by using anacrid substance, even if impure
Other measuressuch as using salt, earth, or sunlight, are insufficient.Water need not be used while tanning,though the resultant hide is considered like a garmentaffected with filth, in that it must be washedwith purifying water before it is considered pure.Hides of dogs or swine cannot be purified by tanning.Any hair that remains after tanning has notbeen made pure, though a little is excusable.
Something that become.s impure by contact(def: below) with something from dogs orswine does not become pure except by beingwashed seven times, one of which (recommendednot to be the last) must be with purifying earth(def: e 12.1(b)) mixed with purffying water, and itmust reach all of the affected area
One may notsubstitute something else like soap or glasswort inplace of earth.(n: The contact referred to is restricted, in the Shafi'i school, to contaminationby traces of moisture from dogs or swine, whether saliva, urine, anythingmoist from them, or any of their dry parts that have become moist (Mughni almuhtajila ma'rifa rna'ani alfaz al-Minhaj(y73) , 1.83)
(A: If something dry suchas the animal's breath or hair touches one's person, it need only be brushedaway.) In the Maliki school, every living animal is physically pure, even dogs andswine (al-Fiqh 'ala al-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.11) (A: and they consider theabove sevenfold washing as merely a sunna)
While more precautionary to followthe Shafi'i school, the dispensation exists for those who have difficulty in preventingcontamination from dogs, provided their prayer with its prerequisites isconsidered valid in the Maliki school (dis: c6.4(end) and w14.1(6))
And Allahknows best.)
The urine of a baby boy who has fed onnothing but human milk can be purified fromclothes by sprinkling enough water on the spot towet most of it, though it need not flow over it
Theurine of a baby girl must be washed away as anadult's is.
WASHING AWAY FILTH As for kinds of filth that are ""without substance""(N: i.e
without discernible characteristic(najasa hukmiyya) such as a drop of dry urine ona garment that can not be seen)
it is sufficient (N:to purify it) that water flow over it.But if it is a substance (N: with discerniblecharacteristic (najasa 'ayniyya)), it is obligatory toremove all taste of it, even if difficult, and toremove both color and odor if not difficult
If theodor alone is difficult to remove
or the coloralone, then the fact that one of these two remainsdoes not affect a spot's purity, though if both theodor and color of the filth remain in the spot, it isnot considered pure.
When using less than 2l6liters of water topurify a spot affected by filth, it is obligatory thatthe water flow over it (N: and it may not be simplyimmersed in the water (dis: e1.l5), though thiswould be permissible with more than 216 liters),but is not obligatory to wring it out
After onepurifies it, it is recommended to wash it a secondand third time.
When the ground (A: or floor, or carpet)is affected with liquid filth (A: like wine or urine),it is enough to drench the place with water and isnot necessary that the filth sink into the ground
Ifthe effects of sun, fire, or wind remove the tracesof the filth, the ground is stilI not pure until onedrenches it with water.
Liquids other than water, such as vinegaror milk, cannot be purified after they becomeaffected with filth
But if a solid is affected
such asshortening, one discards the filth that fell into itand the shortening around it, and the remainderis pure.
Water used to wash away filth is impurewhen:(1) it changes (def: e 1.17);(2) its weight increases;(3) (0: or if neither of the above have occurred,but some trace (N: i.e
an inexcusableamount (def: e14.1O, second par.)) of filthremains on the place to be purified);-but if none of the above occurs, then it is notimpure (0: i.e
then the water is pure but notpurifying to other things); though if it amounts to(N: or is added to until it amounts to) 216 or moreliters (dis: e1.16), then it is purifying
If Jess, it isconsidered the same as the spot it washed: if thespot is pure (N: i.e
an inexcusable trace does notremain) then the water is pure, but if the spot isstill impure, then the water is impure.
(n: In theHanafi school, if a garIPent's damp spot of filth, whose quantityis too slight to wring out any drops, touches another dry, pure garment, the latterdoes not become impure (Maraqi al-falah sharh Nur al-idah (y126), 31).)*
(0: The legal basis for the prayer, prior toscholarly consensus, is Koranic verses such as theword of Allah Most High,""And perform the prayer"" (Koran 2:43),and hadiths such as the word of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace):""On the night I was taken from Mecca toJerusalem [dis: Koran 17:1], Allah imposed fiftyobligatory prayers upon my Community
So I keptpetitioning Him in the matter, asking they belightened, until He made them but five each dayand night"";a hadith related by Bukhari, Muslim, and others.)
The prayer is only obligatory for Muslimswho have reached puberty, are sane, and in purity(0: meaning not during menstruation or postnatalbleeding).Those who lose their reason through insanityor illness do not have to make up the prayers theymiss while in this state, and nor do converts toIslam (N: make up prayers from before theirIslam).An apostate from Islam (murtadd, def: 08)who then returns must make up every prayermissed
(n: w18 discusses why making up prayersmissed without excuse is obligatory.)
When a child with discrimination (0:meaning he can eat, drink, and clean himself afterusing the toilet unassisted) is seven years of age,he is ordered to perform the prayer, and when ten,is beaten for neglecting it (N: not severely, but soas to discipline the child, and not more than threeblows).
Someone raised among Muslims whodenies the obligatoriness of the prayer, zakat,fasting Ramadan, the pilgrimage, or the unlawfulnessof wine and adultery, or denies somethingelse upon which there is schdarly consensus(ijma', def: b7) and which is necessarily known asbeing ofthe religion (N: necessarily known meaningthings that any Muslim would know about ifasked) thereby becomes an unbe1iever(kafir) andis executed for his unbelief (0: if he does notadmit he is mistaken and acknowledge theobligatoriness or unlawfulness of that which thereis scholarly consensus upon
As for ifhe denies theobligatoriness of something there is not consensusupon, then he is not adjudged an unbeliever).
A Muslim who holds the prayer to beobligatory but through lack of concern neglects toperform it until its proper time is over has notcommitted unbelief (dis: w18.2).Rather, he is executed, washed, prayed over,and buried in the Muslim's cemetery (0: as he isone of them
It is recommended, but not obligatory,that he be as ked to repent (N: and if he does,he is not executed).
No one has an excuse to delay the prayerbeyond its time except:(1) someone asleep (N: when its time firstcame who remained so until the time ended);(2) someone who forgot it;(3) or someone who delayed it to combinetwo prayers during a journey (dis: f15.12).*
The prescribed prayers are five:(1) The time for the noon prayer (zuhr)begins after the sun's zenith for that day, and endswhen an object's shadow, minus the length of itsshadow at the time of the sun's zenith, equals theobject's height.(2) The time for the midafternoon prayer('asr) begins at the end of the noon prayer's time,and ends at sunset, though when an object'sshadow (N: minus the length of its shadow at thesun's zenith) is twice as long as the object's height,the preferred time is over and the merely permissibletime remains.(3) The time for the sunset prayer (maghrib)begins when the sun has completely set
It onlylasts long enough to perform ablution (wudu),clothe one's nakedness, make the call to prayer(adhan) and call to commence (iqama) and to prayfive moderate-length rak'as (units) of prayer
It isa sin to delay commencing the sunset prayerbeyond this, and if one does, one is making up amissed prayer (0: Le., according to the positionthe author has adopted, which contradicts themore reliable opinion that one's prayer is not amakeup until after the red has disappeared fromthe sky), though if one begins it within the righttime, one may continue until the red disappearsfrom the sky.(4) The time for the nightfall prayer ('isha)begins when the red of sunset leaves the sky, andends at true dawn (n: true dawn being when thesky around the horizon begins to grow light.Before this, a dim light sometimes appears overheadfor some minutes, followed by darkness, andis termed the deceptive dawn (al-fajr al-kadhib)(al-Iqna' fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja' (y7), 1.95)
Butafter a third of the night has passed, the preferredtime for nightfall prayer has ended and the merelypermissible remains.(5) And the time for the dawn prayer (subh)begins at true dawn' and ends at sunrise, thoughthe preferred time for it ends when it becomeslight outside, after which the merely permissibleremains.(n: Prayer times vary a little each day with the season and the year, and fromone town to another through the effects of latitude and longitude
One can keepabreast of the changes by obtaining the whole year's times in a printed calendarfrom one's local Muslim association or mosque, or by using the pocket computermentioned below at w19, which discusses how one fasts and prays at northerlylatitudes (including much of North America and Europe during the summermonths) lacking the features that legally define the true prayer and fasting times,such as nightfall or true dawn.)
It is best to pray every prayer at the first ofits time, taking the necessary steps at its outset,such as purification, clothing one's nakedness,giving the call to prayer (adhan) and call to commence(iqama), and then praying.
If less than one rak'a of one's prayeroccurs within the proper time (A: meaning thatone does not lift one's head from the second prostrationof the rak'a before the time ends) and theremainder takes place after it, then the wholeprayer is considered a makeup
If one rak'a ormore takes place within the prayer's time and theremainder is after it, then the prayer is considereda current performance, though it is unlawful tointentionally delay the prayer until part of itoccurs after the time is finished.
It is permissible to rely (N: for knowledgethat a prayer's time has come) on a knowledgeable,dependable muezzin (caller to prayer)
Ifone lacks someone to inform one of the time, thenone may reason on the basis of reciting ascheduled period of invocation or Koran recital(Ar
wird) (n: referring to those whose wirds normallytake the whole time between two prescribedprayers such that when they finish, they know thetime for the second prayer has come
The legalbasis of wirds is discussed at w20), and the like(N:including modern clocks, and prayer time calendarsissued by experts on the times in variouslocalities) .
MAKING UP MISSED PRAYERSWhen enough of a prayer's time haselapsed to have performed the prayer during it.and someone who has not yet prayed loses theirreason or their menstrual period begins, they areobligated to make up that missed prayer (0: assoon as they are able).
Whenever a prescribed prayer is missedfor a valid reason (def: n.5), it is recommended tomake it up immediately.If missed without a valid reason, it is obligatoryto make it up (dis: w18) immediately (A:meaning during all one's time that is not occupiedby necessities
In the Shafi'i school, it is not evenpermissible for such a person to perform sunnaprayers (N: before having finished making up themissed ones))
The same applies to making upmissed obligatory fasts (N: by fasting a day inplace of each day missed), and it is unlawful todelay doing so until the following Ramadan (dis:i1.33).
It is recommended that missed prayers bemade up in the order they were missed
(n: Thecall to prayer (adhan) and call to commence(iqama) when making up missed prayers are discussedat f3.5, and whether to recite prayers aloudor to oneself at f8.25.)
It is recommended to make up missed prescribedprayers before performing the current·one, unless one fears its time will pass, in whichcase it is obligatory to pray the current one first.If one begins making up a missed prayerthinking that there will be time for both it and thecurrent prescribed prayer, but finds that there isonly enough time left for the latter, then one mustdiscontinue the makeup in order to perform thecurrent one.
If one has a prayer to make up and findsthe current prayer being performed by a group, itis recommended to perform the makeup by oneselfbefore praying the current one.
If one misses one· or more of the fiveprayers but does not remember which of them itwas, then one must pray all five, intending foreach one making up the missed prayer.
(n: If someone finds he has been consistently mistaken day after day inpra ying, for example, the dawn pra yer( subh) before its time, or some similartimingerror, then each prayer performed after the first day of the whole series ofprayers thus mistakenly prayed is considered the makeup of the day before it, andwhen such a person discovers the error, he has only one prayer to make up,namely the one on the last day prior to learning of the mistake (Mughni al-rnuhtajita rna'rita rna'ani altaz al-Minhaj (y73), 1.127).)*
The call to prayer (adhan) and call to commence(iqama) are two sunnas for the prescribedprayers, even when praying alone or in the secondgroup to pray (N: in a mosque, for example), suchthat there is public cognizance (0: of both the callto prayer and to commence, whether in a large orsmall town).
To give the call to prayer (adhan) is betterthan being the imam for a group prayer (0:though to be imam is superior to giving the call tocommence (iqama)).
When praying alone in a mosque where agroup has already prayed, one does not raise one'svoice in giving the call to prayer, though if nogroup has yet prayed, one raises it
The sameapplies to a second group to pray: they do not raisetheir voice.
It is sunna for a group of women who arepraying together to give the call to commencewithout giving the call to prayer.
When making up one or more missed' prescribedprayers, one gives the call to prayer onlyfor the first (N: in the series), but gives the call tocommence for each one.
The words of the call to prayer and call tocommence are well known.(n: The words of the call to prayer mean:""Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest
Allah isgreatest, Allah is greatest
I testify there is no godbut Allah
I testify there is no god but Allah
I testifythat Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
Itestify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.Come to the prayer
Come to the prayer
Come .to success
Come to success
[n: At this point,before the dawn prayer only, one adds: ""Prayer isbetter than sleep
Prayer is better that sleep.""]Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest
There is no godbut Allah.""The words of the call to commence mean:""Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest
I testify thereis no god but Allah
I testify that Muhammad isthe Messenger of Allah
Come to the prayer.Come to success
The prayer is commencing
Theprayer is commencing
Allah is greatest, Allah isgreatest
There is no god but Allah."")
Each word (N: of both of them) must berecited in the order mentioned above.If one remains silent for long or speaks atlength between the words of the call to prayer (0:or call to commence), it is not valid and must bebegun again, though a short remark or silencewhile calling it does not invalidate it.When giving the call to prayer or call to commenceby oneself, the minimal audibility permissibleis that one can hear oneself
The minimumwhen calling them for a group is that all their contentscan be heard by at least one other person.
It is not valid to give the call to prayerbefore a prayer's time has eome, except for thedawn prayer, when it is permissible to give the callto prayer from the m.iddle of the night onwards(N: as is done in Mecca and Medina).
When giving the call to prayer and call tocommence, it is recommended to have ablution(wudu), stand, face the direction of prayer, and toturn the head (not the chest or feet) to the rightwhen saying, ""Come to the prayer,"" and to theleft when saying, ""Come to success.""It is offensive to give the call to prayer whilein a state of minor ritual impurity (hadath), moreoffensive to do so in a state of major ritual impurityUanaba), and even worse to give the call tocommence (iqama) while in either of these twostates.It is recommended:(1) to give the call to prayer from a high placenear the mosque;(2) to put one's fingertips in one's ears whilecalling it;(3) to take one's time in giving the call toprayer (A: pausing for an interval after each sentenceequal to the sentence's length) (0: exceptfor repetitions of ""Allah is Greatest,"" which aresaid in pairs);(4) and to give the call to commence rapidly,without pause,
It is obligatory for the muezzin (0: or persongiving the call to commence):(a) to be Muslim;(b) to have reached the age of discrimination(def: f1.2);(c) to be sane;(d) and if calling for a men's group prayer, tobe male,It is recommended that he be upright (def:o24.4) and have a strong, pleasant voice.It is offensive for a blind person to give thecall to prayer unless a sighted person is with him(0: to tell him when the time has come).
When one hears the call to prayer (N: orcall to commence), it is recommended to repeateach phrase after the muezzin, even if in a state ofmajor ritual impurity (janaba), during menstruation,or when reciting the Koran (N: and a fortioriwhen reading or reciting something else).One does not repeat the phrases ""Come tothe prayer"" or ""Come to success,"" but rather saysafter them, ""There is no power or strength exceptthrough Allah."" And at the call to prayer at dawn,one does not repeat ""Prayer is better than sleep,""but instead says, ""You have spoken the truth, andpiously.""When the person giving the call to commencesays, ""The prayer is commencing,"" one replies,""'May Allah establish it and make it endure as longas the heavens and earth, and make me one of therighteous of its folk.""If one hears it while making love, going to thelavatory, or performing the prayer, one says thewords when finished.
It is recommended for the muezzin, afterhe finishes, and those hearing him to bless theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
(A:It is unobjectionable in the Shafi'i school for themuezzin to do so as loudly as the call to prayer.)Then one adds, ""0 Allah, Lord of this comprehensiveinvitation and enduring prayer, grantour liegelord Muhammad a place near to You, anexcellence and exalted degree, and bestow onhim the praiseworthy station that You have promisedhim.""*
It is a necessary condition (shart) for thevalidity of prayer that one have purity (N: absenceof filth (najasa, def: e14.1)) in:(a) body;(b) clothing, whether or not it moves withthe person (N: who is praying);(c) anything that touches the body orclothing (0: though if one's chest overhangssomething impure while prostrating withouttouching it, this does not hurt);(d) and the place on which one is standingduring the prayer.
One's prayer is invalid if one is holding theend of a rope connected with something impure.One's prayer is valid if performed onthe pureportion of a rug which is affected with some filth(N: on another part) oron a bed whose legs rest onsomething impure, even if the rug or bed moveswhen one's own portion moves
(N: The rule illustratedby these examples is that it is not permissiblefor the person praying to support or carrysomething affected by filth, but is permissiblefor him to be supported by it, provided he isnot in direct contact with the filth.)
Impure substances (najasa) other thanblood (dis: below) that are indiscernible by (A:average) vision are excusable, though if visuallydiscernible, they are inexcusable
(A: That whichis seen by a normal look is not excusable, whilethat which can only be seen by minute scrutiny isexcusable
)
As for blood or pus, if it is from another,(0: human or otherwise,) then only a little (def:below) is excusable, though if from the personpraying, it is excusable whether much or little,regardless if from a squeezed pimple, a boil, asore, being bled, cupped, or something else.
(N: In rulings of Sacred Law, the application of key descriptive terms likelittle, much, near, far, briefly, at length, and so forth, is governed by the conceptof common acknowledgement ('urf)
To know whether something is little or much,which could be stipulations in a particular ruling, we stop to reflect whether it iscommonly acknowledged as such, namely, whether most people would describeit as such when speaking about it.Common acknowledgement also takes into consideration what is normal orexpected under the circumstances
For example, a few drops of animal blood onthe clothes of a butcher would be little, while the same amount on the clothes ofa student would be much.)
If one prays with (N: an inexcusableamount of) something impure (N: on one's person,place, or clothes) that one did not know of orforgot, and notices it after finishing, one mustrepeat the prayer
It invalidates the prayer ifnoticed during it.
If one gets some mud on oneselffrom thestreet and but is not certain it contains filth, thenit is is considered pure (N: the rule being that theinitial presumption for all things is that they arepure, as long as their impurity has not been decisivelyestablished).
Someone unl,lble to remove filth from hisperson or who is being held in an impure placemust pray and later make up the prayer when capableof purity.(N: When being held in an impure place,) onebows the head as close to the ground as possiblewithout actually contacting the filth, which isunlawful to place the forehead upon.
If one loses track of a spot of filth on a garment,then all of it must be washed without tryingto decide where the spot might be, though if someonereliable knows where it is and informs one,one may accept this.
If a spot of filth is on one of two garments(N: one of which the person wants to pray in) andthe person is not sure which, then he may reasonand choose the one he believes is pure (N: to prayin), regardless of whether another pure one isavailable or whether he can wash one to use
(N:But it is not obligatory to try to decide which ispure
Rather, he may wash one, or both, and prayin them, or pray in some other garment.)If one washes the garment believed to havefilth on it, then one may pray wearing both garments,or pray in each garment alone, though ifone makes no attempt to decide which garment isimpure, but rather performs a prayer in each oneseparately, then neither prayer is valid.
If one loses track of the location of filth onthe ground in open country, one may pray whereverone wishes.But if one loses track of its location on a smallplot of ground or in a room (bay!, lit
""house,""meaning a one-room dwelling), then all theground or floor must be washed (def: e14.12)before one may pray on any of it.
It is offensive to pray:(1) in a bathhouse or its outer room whereclothes are removed;(2) in the middle of a path;(3) at a rubblish dump;(4) at a slaughterhouse;(5) in a church;(6) in places where taxes (dis: p32) aregathered or taken;(7) in places likely to be contaminatedby wine;(8) on top of the Kaaba;(9) or towards a tomb (dis: w21).
Prayer is unlawful in a garment or on landwrongfully taken, being legally valid (dis: c5.2),but without reward.*
aothing one's nakedness (0: from theeyes of men as well as jinn (def: w22) and angels,for these too see people in this world) is obligatory,by scholarly consensus (ijma', b7), evenwhen alone, except when there is need to undress.(0: Zarkashi states (A: and it is the authoritativeposition for the school) that the nakedness it isobligatory to clothe when alone consists solely ofthe front and rear private parts for men, and ofthat which is between the navel and the knees forwomen.)
Clothing one's nakedness is a necessarycondition for the validity of the prayer (0: whenone is able).Seeing a hole in one's clothes after a prayer islike seeing a spot of filth (n: meaning the prayermust be repeated, as at f4.7, unless one covers thehole immediately, as below at f5.5).
The nakedness of a man (0: man meaningthe counterpart of the female, including youngboys, even if not yet of the age of discrimination)consists of the area between the navel and knees.The nakedness of a woman (0; even if a younggirl) consists of the whole body except the face andhands.(N: The nakedness of women is that whichinvalidates the prayer if exposed (dis: w23)
As forlooking at women, it is not permissible to look atany part of a woman who is neither a member ofone's unmarriageable kin (mahram, def: m6.1)nor one's wife, as is discussed below in the book ofmarriage (m2).)
It is a necessary condition that one'sclothing:(a) prevent the color of the skin from beingperceptible (n: Nawawi notes, ""A thin garmentbeneath which the blackness or whiteness of theskin may be seen is not sufficient, nor a garment ofthick, gauzelike fabric through which part of thenakedness appears"" (al-Majmu' (y108), 3.170));(b) enclose the body as a garment, for aprayer performed without clothes in a small tentwould not be valid;( c) and conceal the nakedness from view onall sides and above, though it need not do so frombelow.
One's prayer is valid when there is a tearthrough which one's nakedness shows that onecovers with one's hand (A: immediately, i.e
onemust do so before enough time passes to say ""SubhanAllah') (0: that is, one must cover it withone's hand when not prostrating, at which pointnot covering it is excusable).
It is recommended for a woman to wear acovering over her head (khimar), a full lengthshift, and a heavy slip under it that doesn't cling tothe body
(0: She should not wrap it so tightlyabout herself that it hinders standing, sitting, andother postures connected with the actions ofprayer
She is recommended to pray in three garmentseven though the headcover and shift aloneare sufficient as a covering.)
It is recommended for a man to pray in hisbest clothes, and to wear an ankle-length shirt anda turban (0: and a shawl over head and shoulders,a mantle, and a wraparound or loose drawers (N:under the ankle-length shirt))
If he does not wearall of these, it is desirable to wear two, namely theankle-length shirt with either the man tie , thewraparound, or the loose drawers.
If only wearing enough to clothe one'snakedness, one's prayer is valid, though it isrecommended to place something on one's shoulders,even if only a piece of rope.If one does not have clothes but is able to concealpart of one's nakedness, one must cover thefront and rear private parts
If only one of thesetwo can be covered, it must be the front
If one hasno clothes at all, then one performs the prayerwithout clothes and need not make it up later.*
Facing the direction of prayer (qibla) is anecessary condition for the prayer's validity, withthe sole exceptions of praying in extreme peril(dis: f16.S) and nonobligatory prayers performedwhile travelling.
(N: The rulings below deal with nonobligatoryprayers, not the five prescribed ones,which must be performed while facing the properdirection for prayer (qibla) whether one is ridingin a vehicle or not (dis: w24).)A travelIer may perform nonobligatoryprayers riding or walking, even on short trips.When riding and able to face the direction ofprayer, prostrate, and bow, as when on a ship, oneis obligated to
If not able, then one is onlyrequired to face the direction of prayer during thefirst Allahu Akbar of the prayer, provided this isnot difficult, as when one's mount is stationary orwhen one can tum oneself or one's mount theproper direction
If it is difficult, as when one'smount is not properly saddle broken, or if thereins are not in one's hands, as when riding in apack train with each animal tied to the one aheadof it, then it is not obligatory to face the directionof prayer at any point of the prayer's performance,and one merely nods in the direction oftravel instead of bowing and prostrating
One'snod for prostration must be deeper than the nodfor bowing
One does not have to bow to the limitof one's capacity, nor bow the forehead until ittouches the mount's back, though this is permissibleif one troubks oneself to do so.When praying while walking, one must stoptobow and prostrate on the ground (0: if easy,though if walking in mud, water, or snow, onemay simply nod), and may walk during the rest ofthe prayer, though it is obligatory to face thedirection of prayer during the first Allahu Akbar,and at each bowing and prostration.Such prayers (0: whether riding or walking)are only valid on condition:(a) that one's journey continue for theprayer's duration;(b) and that one not turn from the directionof travel towards anything but the direction ofprayer.If one reaches home while thus praying, orthe destination, or a town where one intends tostay, then one must face the direction of prayer,and bow and prostrate on the ground or on one'smount if stopped.
When at the Kaaba, one must praydirectly towards the Kaaba itself
One's prayer isinvalid if one merely faces the semicircular wall(N: Hijr Isma'il) that is to one side of it, or directsany part of the body outside the outline of theKaaba, unless one is standing at the end of a longrow of people praying at the periphery of alMasjidal-Haram (n: the mosque of the Kaaba), arow which, if the people in it were to advance,some of them would be facing outside the Kaaba'soutline
To pray in such a row is valid for everyonein it.
For knowledge of the proper direction it isobligatory to rely on the prayer niche (mihrab) ofa mosque in a city or village through which manypeople pass.At every place the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) faced to pray and establishedwhere he stood, it is obligatory to pray facing as hedid, without reconsidering the direction of prayer,or turning right or left, though in other places onemay use personal reasoning as to whether to turnrigh t or left.
If one does not find an informant to tellone of the proper direction of prayer by havingseen the Kaaba in that direction, then oneemploys personal reasoning, using other evidence.(n: To establish the direction of prayer in cities far from Mecca one may usea world globe and a piece of string, since in North America, Australia, and otherregions, using a flat world map will yield the wrong direction because of the curvatureof the earth, and the error factor is often considerable
One puts the end ofthe string on the position of Mecca on the globe, the other end on one's own city,and pulls the string taut, observing the bearing of the string and drawing a line inthe same direction ona local map, which can be oriented with a compass and usedto indicate the proper direction to pray.)If one does not know how to use other evidence,(0: and it is a communal obligation (def:c3.2) for someone to know,) or one is blind, thenone follows another (0: reliable sighted personacquainted with the evidence).
If, after praying, one becomes certain onewas mistaken, then the prayer must be repeated.(n: In the Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbalischools, the criterion for facing the direction ofprayer is merely that some portion of the person'sface be directed towards the Kaaba (al-Fiqh 'alaal-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.195)
(A: Thistakes in 180 degrees, from far left to far right, suchthat when the Kaaba is anywhere between, one isconsidered to be facing the direction of prayer.))*
It is recommended to put a barrier at least32 cm
high in front of oneself when performingthe prayer, or to spread out a mat, or if one cannot,todraw a line (N: on the ground, straight out,perpendicular to one's chest) about a meter and ahalf (0: or less) in front of one
It is then unlawfulfor anyone to pass (0: between the person prayingand such a barrier, even when there is no otherway to pass (dis: p75.27)).If someone tries to pass between oneself andthe bartier, it is recommended to gently push himback
If he persists, one may push him back ashard as necessary, as one would an attacker (def:07.3)
Were he to die as a result, one would not besubject to retaliation (03) or have to pay anindemnity (04) to his kin.
If there is no barrier, or ifthe person prayingis farther than a meter and a halffrom it, thenpassing in front of him is merely offensive, and theperson praying is not entitled to push him.
(A: Passing in front of a person without a barrier
in a mosque for example,is limited to the length of his prostration, and it is not unlawful or offensiveto pass in front of him when farther than that.)
When one notices a gap in a row of peopleperforming a group prayer, one is entitled to passin front of others to fill it.*
(n: Special vocabulary:Allahu Akbar: Allah is greatest.Ameen: a one-word supplication meaning ""Answer our prayer.""as-Salamu 'alaykum: Peace be upon you.Fatiha: the opening sura of the Koran.Follower: someone praying in group behind an imam.Integral (rukn): one of the legally essential elements found within an actionthat compose it.Imam: someone leading a group prayer.Rak'a: one complete cycle of the words and actions of the prayer.Sura: a chapter of the Koran.Ta'awwudh: to say in Arabic, ""I take refuge in Allah from the accursedDeviL"")
MEASURES RECOMMENDED BEFORE PRAYERIt is recommended:(1) to stand forthe prayer after the end ofthecall to commence (iqama);(2) to be in the first row;(3) to make the rows straight, especially ifone is the imam (0: when one should order thegroup to do so);(4) and to fill up the first row first, then thesecond, and so on (0: meaning there should notbe a second row when the first one is not full (A:as to pray in such a second row is the same as notpraying with a group, and is rewarded as if one hadprayed alone), nor gaps within one row, nor a distancein excess of a meter and a half betweenrows).It is superior to stand on the imam's right (A:though the sunna is for the imam to be in the middie)(N: and if one arrives at a group prayer inwhich the row extends to the right, one's reward isgreater for standing on the left, since one is performingthe sunna).
THE INTENTIONThen one makes the intention with one'sheart.If it is for an obligatory prayer, one mustintend performing the prayer, and that it isobligatory, and know whieh one it is, such as thenoon, midafternoon, or Friday prayer
The intentionmust coincide with one's first Allahu Akbar,obligatorily existing in the mind and recommendedto be uttered with the tongue (N: beforethe first Allahu Akbar) as well
One intends itfrom the first of the phrase"" Allahu akbar"" to thelast of it
It is not obligatory to specify the numberof rak'as, or that it is for Allah Most High, orwhether it is a current performance or a makeupprayer, though specifying these is recommended.(A: some scholars hold that the mere determinationto perform a particular prayer existing inthe mind beforehand is sufficient
Such an intentioncould be expressed, for example, by walkingto the mosque after hearing the call to the noonprayer (dis: w2S).)If the intention is for a nonobligatory prayerthat has a particular time, one must intend whichone it is, such as for 'Eid, the eclipse prayer,assuming the state of pilgrim sanctity (ihram), thesunna prayers before and after the.noon prayer,and so forth.If it is for a nonobligatory prayer that iswholly supererogatory, unconnected with a particulartime, one may simply intend to performprayer •
It immediately invalidates one's prayer:(1) to cease to intend praying;(2) to decide that one will cease to;(3) not to know whether one has ceased to ornot (0: meaning one hesitates in one's heart, saying,""Shall I stop intending or continue?"" Themere thought of how it would be if one were tohesitate during the prayer is of no consequence,but rather the occurrence of doubt that negatesone's resolve and certainty);(4) to intend during the first rak'a to stopwhen one reaches the second;(5) or to decide to interrupt one's prayer ifsuch and such a thing happens, regardless whetherthe event will definitely occur during the prayer orwhether it merely may happen, such as, ""I'll stopif Zayd comes in.""
If one knowingly begins the noon prayer(N: for example) before its time has come, one'sprayer is not legally considered to have begun
Ifone does so unknowingly, it is validly begun, butcounts as a nonobligatory prayer.
THE OPENING ALLAHU AKBARThe Allahu Akbar (n: an integral) thatbegins the prayer can only be in Arabic and mustbe pronounced ""Allahu akbar"" or ""Alliihulakbar.""One's prayer is not legally considered to havebegun if one omits any of its letters, pauses betweenthe two words, adds the letter waw (.I)between them, or says ""Allahu akbar"" with a longa between the final b and r.If unable to pronounce it because of being amute or similar, one must move the tongue andlips according to one's capacity.
The minimal valid audibility for saying""Allahu akbar,"" reciting the Koran, and all invocations(dhikr), is that one can hear them oneself,given normal hearing and lack of extraneousnoise.The imam speaks aloud (def: below) everytime he says ""Allahu akbar"" in the prayer.
(A: Throughout the rUlings
aloud (jahran) means that someone beside orbehind the speaker could distinguish his words, while to oneself (sirran) meansthat the speaker can distinguish his own words, but such a person could not.)
It is obligatory that one be standing whenone opens an obligatory prayer with ""Allahuakbar."" If a single letter of it oceurs while notstanding, the prayer is not considered to havevalidly begun as an obligatory prayer, but isconsidered to have begun as a supererogatoryprayer, provided one is ignorant that it is unlawful,though not if one knows
(N: The latecomer toa group prayer should take careful note of this,and not bow or make other prayer movementsuntil he has completed the opening Allahu Akbarwhile standing.)
It is recommended to lift the hands toshoulder level when one says ""Allahu akbar"" (0:meaning that one's fingertips are even with thetops of the ears, thumbs with the earlobes, andpalms with one's shoulders), fingers slightly outspread.If one intentionally or absentmindedlydoes not lift the hands at the first of saying""Allahu akbar,"" one may do so during it, thoughnot afterwards
The palms face the direction ofprayer (qibla) and the hands are uncovered.After the opening Allahu Akbar, one placesthe hands between the chest and navel, graspingthe left wrist with the right hand, and fixing one'sgaze on the place where one's forehead will prostrate.(0: One does this when not reciting the Testificationof Faith (Tashahhud, def: f8A5) , whereone only looks at the place of prostration until onesays ""except Allah,"" and then looks at the indexfinger.)(A: It is offensive to close one's eyes whilepraying unless it is more conducive to awe andhumility towards Allah.)lHE OPENING SUPPLICATION (ISTIFTAH)
Then one recites (N: to oneself) the OpeningSupplication (Istiftah), which means: ""I turnmy face to Him who created the heavens andearth, a pure monotheist, in submission, and amnot of those who associate others with Him
Myprayer, worship, life, and death are for Allah,Lord of the Worlds, who has no partner
Thus Ihave been commanded, and I am of those whosubmit.""This is recommended for anyone performingan obligatory or supererogatory prayer, even ifseated; no matter whether a child, woman, ortraveller (0: alone or in a group, imam or follower),though not for a funeral prayer.
If one intentionally or absentmindedlyomits the Opening Supplication (Istiftah) andbegins saying ""I take refuge, etc."" (Ta'awwudh),one may not return to the Opening Supplication.
When (N: joining a group that has alreadybegun, and) the imam says ""Ameen"" just afterone's opening AUahu Akbar, one says"" Ameen""with him and then recites the Opening Supplication(Istiftah).If one says the opening AllahuAkbar and theimam finishes the prayer with Salams before onehas sat down with the group, then one recites theOpening Supplication (Istiftah)
But if one hasalready sat down when the imam finishes withSalams and one rises (N: to finish one's prayer),then one does not recite it (0: the Opening Supplication).If one joins the group while the imam is standing,and one knows it is possible (0: to recite theOpening Supplication) together with saying ""Itake refuge,"" and so on (Ta'awwudh) and theFatiha (N: all before the imam will finish his recitaland bow), then one may recite the OpeningSupplication, though if one has doubts (N: thatthere is enough time), one omits both the OpeningSupplication and Ta'awwudh, and begins recitingthe Fatiha
If the imam bows before one finishes(0: the Fatiha), one bows with him, provided onehas omitted the Opening Supplication and Ta'awwudh,though if one did not omit them, then onemust recite as much (A: as many letters) of theFatiha as one recited of them, since if one bowsbefore having recited that much, it invalidatesone's prayer.If One recites what we have just said is enoughof the Fatiha to permit one to bow with the imam(n: when one is a latecomer, for otherwise it isobligatory to recite it all, as at fl2.17(0:)), butone holds back from bowing with him withoutexcuse, then if the imam straightens up from bowingbefore One has oneself bowed, one has missedthat rak'a (N: and must rise after the group hasfinished to perform it).
SAYING HI TAKE REFUGE, ETC.""(TA'AWWUDH)After the Opening Supplication, it isrecommended to recite the Ta'awwudh, saying, HItake refuge in Allah from the accursed Devil.""It is said in every rak'a and especially recommendedin the first, whether one is imam, follower,or praying by oneself, and whether theprayer is obligatory, supererogatory, or even afuneral prayer
It is said to oneself in both theprayers recited to oneself and those recited aloud.
THE FATIHAThen one recites the Fatiha (def: w1.16) inevery rak'a (n: an integral), whether one is imam,follower, or praying alone.The Basmala (n: the words ""In the name ofAllah, Most Merciful and Compassionate"") is oneof its verses
(n: In the other three schools, it isrecited to oneself even when the rest is recitedaloud (Sharh al-sunna (y22) , 3.54).)It is obligatory to recite the Fatiha's verses inorder and without interruption
It is considered tobe interrupted and must be begun again if onedeliberately pauses at length during it, or pausesbriefly but thereby intends to cease reciting, ormixes with it some words of invocation (dhikr) orKoran that are not in the interests of the prayer.One's recital of the Fatiha is not consideredto be interrupted if one speaks words during it thatare in the interests of the prayer, such as saying""Ameen"" in response to the imam's Ameen, orreminding him of the right words when he errors,or prostrating with him as a sunna for his Koranrecital (def: fl1.14)
Nor is it interrupted if oneforgetfully falls silent during it or absentmindedlyadds some words of invocation (dhikr).
If one omits one of the Fatiha's letters(Ar
harf, a consonant or long vowel (A: mistakesin a short vowel (haraka) do not harm as long asthey do not alter the meaning)), fails to double aletter that should be doubled, or substitutes awrong letter for the right one, it invalidates (0:one's recital of that particular word, and one mustrecite the word again (dis: s3.3)
But it does notinvalidate one's prayer unless it changes themeaning and was done deliberately).
SAYING ""AMEEN""After reciting (n: the last words of theFatiha) ""nor of the lost,"" one says ""Ameen"" tooneself in prayers spoken to oneself and aloud inthose recited aloud.When following an imam, one says ""Ameen""when he does, and then a second time (N: to oneself)when finished with one's own recital of theFatiha.
RECITING A SURAIf one is the imam or praying by oneself, itis recommended in the first an d second rak' as onl yto recite one complete sura (0: even if short) afterthe Fatiha.It is recommended to recite:(1) the suras from al-Hujurat (Koran 49) toal-Naba' (Koran 78) for the dawn (subh) and noon(zuhr) prayers;(2) the suras from al-Naba' (Koran 7S) to alDuha(Koran 93) for the midafternoon ('asr) Bndnightfall ('isha) prayers;(provided that there are a restricted number offollowers (0: meaning no others are prayingbehind the imam) who do not mind the length ofthese «1) and (2) above) recitations, though ifotherwise, the imam should be brief)(3) the suras from al-Duha (Koran 93) to theend (Koran 114) for the sunset prayer (maghrib);(4) al-Sajda (Koran 32) for the dawn prayeron Friday (n: in the first rak'a, when the groupmay prostrate during the recital, as at fl1.I4) , andai-Ins an (Koran 76) (n: in the second rak'a);(5) and al-Kafirun (Koran 109) (n: in the firstrak'a) and al-Ikhlas (Koran 112) (n: in the second)for the sunna prayers that accompany the sunsetand dawn prayers (def: f10.2), for the two rak'asafter circumambulating the Kaaba (5), and forthe guidance prayer (istikhara, f10.12).
It is recommended to recite the Koran in adistinct, pleasant way (tartil) (0: Le
to recite it asrevealed by Allah, observing the proper rules ofKoranic recitation) and to reflect upon its lessonsand meanings (dis: w26).
It is offensive for a follower to recite a surawhen praying behind an imam whose recital isaudible to him, though it is recommended for thefollower to recite the sura during prayers that arenot recited aloud, or those recited aloud if he cannothear the imam's recital due to the distance orpoor hearing, .or can hear it, but uncomprehendingly.
One recites a longer sura in the first rak'athan in the second.
If a latecomer to a group prayer misses thefirst two rak'as with the group and then performsthem alone after the imam has finished the groupprayer with Salams, he is recommended to recitethe suras to himself during them.
The imam (or person praying by himself)recites the Fatiha and suras aloud for the dawnprayer (subh), Friday prayer (jumu'a), prayer onthe two 'Eids (def: f19), drought prayer (f2I),lunar eclipse prayer (f20) , the group prayer that issunna on the nights of Ramadan (tarawih, f10.5),and for the first two rak'as of the sunset (maghrib)and nightfall ('isha) prayers.In other prayers, the Fatiha and suras arerecited to oneself.When making up at night (layl, from sunset totrue dawn) a prayer that one missed during theday or night, one recites aloud
When making upin the daytime (nahqr, from dawn to sunset) aprayer that one missed during the day or night,one recites to oneself
At dawn, however (N: fromtrue dawn to sunrise), all makeup prayers arerecited aloud
(N: The upshot is that one recitesaloud in all prayers that are made up attimes whenone normally recites aloud, and recites to oneselfat the times one normally recites to oneself.)
STANDINGStanding is an integral in all obligatoryprayers (0: for anyone who can stand, whether byhimself or assisted by another, though it is not anintegral in nonobligatory prayers).Standing requires that the spine be upright.One is not standing ifone inclines forward so thatthe backbone is no longer straight, or bends sothat one is closer to bowing (def: f8.29) than tostanding
If a person's back is bowed with age orthe like so that his normal posture resemblessomeone bowing, then he stands as he is, but mustbend a little further for bowing if able to.It is offensive in prayer to stand on one foot,for both feet to be held together (A: though this issunna for women), or for one foot to be ahead ofthe other.To stand at length (A: reciting the Koran inprayer) is better than to prostrate or bow at length(A: therein).
It is permissible to pray nonobligatoryprayers seated (0: any way one wishes, thoughthe iftirash (def: f8.37) style of sitting is best) orlying down, even when able to stand (A: but themerit is less than to do so standing).
BOWINGThen one bows from the waist (n: an integral).The minimum is to bow as far as an averagesize person needs to when he wants to put bishands on his knees
It is obligatory that one reposetherein, minimally meaning to remain motionlessfor a moment after having moved
It is alsoobligatory that one intend nothing by the motionbut bowing.
The optimal way is to raise one's handsand say ""Allahu akbar"" so that one begins raisingthe hands as one starts saying it, and when thehands are at shoulder level, one bows.Whenever one says"" Allahu akbar"" during amovemen t from one prayer posture to another, itis recommended to prolong the words until onereaches the next posture (A: so that one's prayeris not devoid of invocation (dhikr) at any point).Then one puts the hands on the knees: fingersapart, with back and neck extended, legs straight,and elbows out, though women keep them close.One then says, ""My Lord Most Great isexalted above all limitation,"" three times, theleast that is optimal
If praying alone, or the imamof a limited number of followers who do not mindthe extra length, one may increase the number oftimes one says this to five, seven, nine, or eleven.When finished, (0: however many times onehas said it,) itis recommended to say, ""0 Allah, toYou I bow, in You I believe, to You I submit
Myhearing, sight, mind, bones, nerves, and all thatmy feet bear up are humbled before You.""
STRAIGHTENING UPThen one lifts one's head, the minimum ofwhich is to return to standing as one was beforebowing, and then remain motionless for amoment
(n: Each is an integraL) It is obligatory .to intend nothing by one's movement exceptstraightening up.
The optimal way is to raise the hands (A:lifting them from the knees as one startsstraightening up, raising them to shoulder level)and the head together, saying, ""Allah hears whoeverpraises Him."" This is said whether one isimam, follower, or praying alone
When one isstanding upright, one says, ""Our Lord, all praiseis Yours, heavensful, earthful, and whatever-elseYou-will-full
""(0: If following an imam or praying alone,one says this to oneself
If imam, one says"" Allahhears whoever praises Him"" aloud, but the rest tooneself.)Those we have previously mentioned whowish to add to the words of bowing may add here,""0 You who deserve praise and glory, the truestthing a slave can say (and all of us are Y our slaves)is, 'None can withhold what You bestow, nonecan bestow what You withhold, and the fortune ofthe fortunate avails nothing against You.' ""PROSTRA nON
Then one prostrates (n: an integral)
Theconditions for its validity are:(a) that an uncovered portion of theforehead touch a part ofthe place of prayer (N: itis not obligatory that any of the other limbs ofprostration be uncovered);(b) that one remain motionless for a momentwhile prostrating;( c) that the place of prostration bear theweight of the head;(d) that one's rear be higher than one's head;(e) that one not prostrate on somethingjoined to one's person that moves with one'smotions, such as a sleeve or turban;(f) that nothing but prostration be intendedby one's motion;(g) and that part of each knee, the bottom ofthe toes of each foot, and the fingers of each handbe placed on the ground.(0: In our school, it is not obligatory that thenose touch the ground in prostration, though it isdesirable
)
If one cannot fully prostrate so that one'sforehead touches the ground (N: a pregnantwoman, for example), then it is not necessary tostack up pillows on the place of prostration totouch the forehead on them
One merely bows aslow as one can.If one has put a bandage On the foreheadbecause of an injury that affects all of it, and thereis hardship in removing it (0: severe enough topermit dry ablution (tayammum) (def: eI2.9)),then one may prostrate upon it and need not makeup the prayer.
The optimal way to prostrate is to say""Allahu akbar"" and:(1) to put the knees down first, then thehands, and then the forehead and nose (0: theorder is called for, and any other order is offensive);(2) to prostrate with the hands directly underone's shoulders, fingers together, extendedtowards the direction of prayer (qibla), handsuncovered;(3) for men to keep 1 span (n: about 23 cm.)between the two knees and two feet (0: though awoman's are kept together);(4) for men to keep the stomach apart fromthe thighs, and forearms from sides, thoughwomen keep them together;(5) and to say three times, ""My Lord MostHigh is exalted above all limitation
""Those we have previously mentioned whowish to add to the words of bowing may increasethe number of times this is said as previouslydescribed (0: namely, in odd numbers up toeleven) and add: ""0 Allah, I prostrate myself toYou, believe in You, and surrender to You
Myface prostrates to Him who created it and gave itform, who opened its hearing and vision by Hispower and strength
Allah is exalted in perfection,the Best of Creators.""It is commendable to supplicate Allah whileprostrating.
SITTING BE1WEEN PROSTRATIONSThen one raises the head (N: and sits backbefore prostrating a second time.· Sitting at thispoint is an integral)
It is obligatory to sit motionlesslyfor at least a moment and to intend nothingbut sitting by one's movement.
The optimal way is:(1) to say ""Allahu akbar"" (N: as one raisesthe head);(2) to sit in iftirash, which is to place the leftfoot on its side and sit upon it while keeping theright foot resting on the bottom of its toes,heel up;(3) to place one's two hands on the thighsnear the knees, fingers extended and heldtogether;(4) and to say, ""0 Allah, forgive me, havemercy on me, pardon me, set me right, guide me,and sustain me.""
There are two other ways of sitting back(iq'a') (0: between the two prostrations, or at thefirst and second Testifications of Faith(Tashahhud, def: f8.45)).One way is to sit back on the heels with thebottom of the toes and knees upon the ground.This is rcommended between the two prostrations,though iftirash (def: f8.37) is better.The other way is to simply sit on the ground,palms down, and knees drawn up
This is offensivein any prayer.
Then one prostrates again just as before.(0: The first rak'a is only completed when one hasperformed the second prostration, because eachprostration is a separate integral, as is the momentof motionlessness in each.)
After this one raises the head, saying""Allahu akbar"" (0: as one first raises it, drawingout the words until one is standing upright).It is sunna, here and in eachrak'a that is notfollowed by the Testification of Faith(Tashahhud), to briefly rest in the iftirash style ofsitting (f8.37) before rising
Then one (0: quickly)rises, helping oneself up with both hands (0:palms down), and prolonging the Allahu Akbaruntil standing
If the imam omits this brief sitting,the follower performs it anyway
It is not doneafter a Koran recital prostration (def: f11.13).
Then one performs the second rak'a of theprayer just like the first, except for the initialintention, the opening Allahu Akbar, and OpeningSupplication (Istiftah).
If one's prayer exceeds two rak'as, one sitsin iftirash (def: f8.37) after the first two rak'as andrecites the Testification of Faith (Tashahhud,f8.45)and the Blessings on the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), though not uponhis family (N: which is done only in the final Testificationof Faith at the end of the prayer).Then one rises, saying ""Allahu akbar"" andleaning on one's hands (n: as before)
Whenstanding, one lifts the hands to shoulder level (A:which one does here, but not after rising from thefirst or third rak'a), and then goes on to performthe remainder of the prayer as one did the secondrak'a, except that one recites the Fatiha to oneselfand does not recite a sura after it.
TESTIFICATION OF FAITH (TASHAHHUD)One sits back (n: an integral) at the last ofone's prayer for the Testification of Faith in thetawarruk style of sitting, with one's (0: left) posterioron the ground and left foot on its side,emerging from under the right, which is verticaL(0: The wisdom in the difference betweenthe ways of sitting during the two Testifications ofFaith, namely, iftirash (f8.37) in the first andtawarruk in the second, is that a latecomer togroup prayer may know by observing the formerthat the prayer has not finished, and by the latterthat it nearly has.Imam Malik holds the sunna in both testificationsto be the tawarruk style of sitting; while AbuHanifa holds that the iftirash style is sunna forboth
May Allah have mercy on them all for explainingthe Deity's command without the slightestloss.)However one sits here (0: in the final Testificationof Faith (Tashahhud)) and in the foregoing(0: Testification of Faith, and between the twpprostrations, and before rising) ispermissible,though iftirash and tawarruk are sunna.A latecomer to a group prayer sits in iftirashat the end of his imam's prayer and sits in tawarrukat the end of his own.Similarly, the person who must perform aforgetfulness prostration (def: f11) sits in iftirashfor his last Testification of Faith, prostrates forforgetfulness, and then sits in tawarruk for hisSalams.
In the two Testifications of Faith, one'sleft hand rests on the left thigh near the knee, itsfingers extended and held together
The righthand is similarly placed, but is held closed with itsthumb touching the side of the index finger, whichalone is left extended
One lifts the index fingerand points with it when one says the words""except Allah."" One does not move it while it isthus raised (0: following the sunna from a hadithrelated by Abu Dawud
It is offensive to move ithere, though some hold that it is recommended,the evidence for which is also from the sunna, in ahadith related by Bayhaqi, who states that bothhadiths are rigorously authenticated (sahih)
Precedenceis given to the former hadith, whichnegates moving the finger, over the latter hadith,which affirms it, because scholars hold that what issought in prayer is lack of motion, and moving itdiminishes one's humility
The Prophet's movingit (Allah bless him and give him peace) was merelyto teach people that it was permissible (A: as itwas the Prophet's duty (Allah bless him and givehim peace) to distinguish for his Community theacts that were offensive from those that wereunlawful, and he was given the reward of theobligatory for doing such offensive acts).Moreover, Bayhaqi says that the meaning of movingit in the latter hadith is simply raising it, sothere is no actual contradiction).
The minimal Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) is to say: ""Greetings to Allah
Peacebe upon you, 0 Prophet, and the mercy of Allahand His blessings
Peace be upon us and uponAllah's righteous slaves
I testify there is no godexcept Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messengerof Allah
""The optimal way is to say: ""Greetings, blessings,and the best of prayers to Allah
Peace beupon you 0 Prophet, and the mercy of Allah andHis blessings
Peace be upon us and upon Allah'srighteous slaves
I testify that there is no godexcept Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messengerof Allah.""Its words (N: minimal or optimal) are obligatory(0: Le
when one can recite the Arabic, onemay not use other words) and their order is a condition.If one cannot say it, one must learn
If onecannot learn (0: because there is no teacher, orthere is, but one is unable), then one may translateit (0: to any language one wishes).One then says the Blessings on the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) (n: an integralafter the final Testification of Faith, but merelysunna after the first one, as at f9.1S below).The minimum is to say, ""0 Allah, blessMuhammad."" (n: One confines oneself to thisminimum at the· first Testification of Faith, asmentioned above at fB.42.)The optimal way is to say: ""0 Allah, blessMuhammad and the folk of Muhammad as Youblessed Ibrahim and the folk of Ibrahim
Andshow grace to Muhammad and the folk ofMuhammad as You did to Ibrahim and the folk ofIbrahim in the worlds, for You are truly the MostPraiseworthy and Noble.""(A: It is desirable to add before each mentionof the names Muhammad and Ibrahim the wordsayyidina (""our liegelord"")
The hadith ""Do notliegelord me in the prayer"" is a forgery containingcorrupt Arabic.)
It is recommended afterwards (0: afterthe second Testification of Faith (Tashahhud) ofthe prayer, though not after the first) to supplicateAllah for any permissible thing one wishes concerningone's religion or this world
One of thebest supplications is: ""0 Allah, forgive me what Ihave done and what I may do, what I have hiddenand what I have made known, my excesses andwhat You know better than I
Only You put oneahead or behind
There is no god but You.""It is recommended (0: if one is imam) thatsuch supplications be briefer than the Testificationof Faith with its Blessings on the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) (0: thoughif one is alone, one may supplicate as long as onewishes, if not afraid of forgetting (N: that one isstill in the prayer)).
CLOSING THE PRAYER WITH SALAMSThen one says the final Salams (n: anintegral)
The minimum is to say ""as-Salamu'alaykum"" (peace be upon you),andit must Occurwhile one is sitting
(0: It is inadequate to say""Salam 'alaykum"" without the first word beingdefinite (n: i.e
as-Salamu), since this has notreached us through any hadith texts, and invalidatesthe prayer if done intentionally.)The optimal way is to say, ""Peace be uponyou, and the mercy of Allah"" (0: though to addthe words ""and His grace"" (wa barakatuhu) is notsunna) and to turn the head to the right enough toshow the ""right cheek (N: to those behind)
Onethereby intends to finish the prayer and intendsgreetings of peace to the angels and Muslims(whether human or jinn (def: w22)) on the right.One then turns one's head to the left and repeatsthe Salam, intending to greet those on the left
Afollower intends one of the two Salams as aresponse to the imam's, depending on which sidethe imam is on, or if the follower is directly behindhim, he may intend either Salam as a response tohim.
When one is a latecomer to a groupprayer, it is recommended not to stand up to finishone's missed rak'as until the iml,lm has said bothSalams
It is permissible to stand after he has saidjust one, but if one stands before he has said thefirst Salam it invalidates one's prayer, unless onepurposely intended to cease participation in thegroup prayer before doing so.A latecomer, if making his first Testificationof Faith while the group is making their last one,may sit at length (0: for dhikr or supplications)after the imam's Salams before he stands up tofinish his own rak'as, though it is offensive
If hedoes this when not at the point of his firstTestification of Faith, it invalidates his prayer ifintentional.
Someone who is not a latecomer to agroup prayer may sit as long as he wishes after theimam's Salams to supplicate, finishing with hisown Salams whenever he wants (0: because theimam's leadership ends with the imam's firstSalam, so there is no harm in the follower takinghis time, as he is now praying alone, and someonepraying alone may do so as long as he likes).
It is recommended to invoke Allah MostHigh (dhikr) to oneself and to supplicate after theprayer.(0: Shafi'i says in al-Umm, ""I prefer that theimam and follower invoke Allah (dhikr) after theSalams, and do so silently, unless the imam wantsto be learned from, in which case he says the invocationsaloud until he believes that he has beenlearned from, after which he says them to himself:')(n: The following invocations are listed in thecommentary and have been written in full andvowelled by the translator in the facing column ofArabic
Their order is sunna, as the commentatornotes below.(1) Ayat al-Kursi (Koran 2:255) (said once);(2) al-Ikhlas (Koran 112) (once);(3) al-Falaq (Koran 113) (once);(4) al-Nas (Koran 114) (once);(5) ""I ask Allah's forgiveness"" (three times);(6) ""0 Allah, You are peace, from You ispeace, You are exalted through Yourself above allelse, 0 You of Majesty and Beneficence"";(7) ""0 Allah, none can withhold what Youbestow, norie can bestow what You withhold, andthe fortune of the fortunate avails nothing againstYou"";(8) ""Allah is exalted above any limitation orimperfection"" (thirty-three times);(9) ""Praise be to Allah"" (thirty-three times);(10) ""Allah is greatest"" (thirty-three (A: orthirty-four) times);(N: (8), (9), and (10) above are also recommendedbefore going to sleep at night, in whichcase ""Allah is greatest"" is said thirty-four times)(11) and ""There is no god but Allah, alone,without partner
His is the dominion, His thepraise, and He has power over all things
"")(0: It is recommended to begin the supplicationswith the Koran when called for, like Ayat alKursiand so forth, then (5) through{lO) above.)One should invoke the Blessings on the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) at the beginning(0: and middle) and end of one's supplications.
The imam turns for (N: postprayer) invocationand supplications so that his right side istowards the group and his left side towards thedirection of prayer (qibla)
He leaves his place assoon as he finishes, if there are no women (N: inwhich case he waits for them to leave first)
It isrecommended that the followers remain seateduntil the imam stands.(A: In the Shafi'i school, the invocations arerecommended to precede the postprayer sunnarak'as.)
It is recommended for those who performnonobligatory prayers after the prescribed prayerto first wait till after some conversation; it beingbetter to pray them elsewhere, and best to performthem in one's home
(0: However, it is betterto perform certain nonobligatory prayers inthe mosque, such as those before the Fridayprayer, those after circumambulating the Kaaba,and those before entering the state of pilgrimsanctity (ihram) if there is a mosque at the site.(A: Others that are better in the mosque include:(1) the midmorning nonobligatory prayer(duha, def: f10.6);(2) the guidance prayer (istikhara, f10.12);(3) the two rak'as that are sunna beforedeparting on a journey and when arriving fromone;(4) prayers performed during a period ofspiritual retreat in a mosque (i'tikaf, i3);(5) confirmed sunna prayers (sunna mu'akkada,f10.2) that onc is afraid of missing if onedoes not pray them in the mosque;(6) and the sunna rak'as before the sunsetprayer.))
While performing the dawn prayer (subh)it is sunna to lift one's hands and supplicate afterstraightening up from bowing in the second rak' a.One says: ""0 Allah, guide me among thoseYou guide, grant me health and pardon amongthose You grant health and pardon, look after meamong those You look after, grant me grace inwhat You have given me, and protect me from theevil [A: here, one turns the palms down for amoment] of what You have ordained; for Youdecree and none decrees against You; and none isabased whom You befriend
0 our Lord, who areabove all things sacred and exalted, all praise isYours for what You decree
I ask Your forgivenessand turn to You in repentance.""It is commendable to add ""and none isexalted whom You are at enmity with"" (A: afterthe above words ""and none is abased whom Youbefriend"") ,If one is imam, one pluralizes the singularpronominal suffix so that, for example, ihdini(""guide me"") becomes ihdina (""guide us"") and soforth (dis: w1.27).The words of this supplication are not set andmay beaccompJished by pronouncing any supplication(0: and praise) or Koranic verse containinga supplication, such as the last verses of al-Baqara(Koran 2:285-86), though the above words arebetter.After this, one invokes the Blessings on theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace).It is recommended to raise one's handsthroughout the supplication (0: palms up whenasking the good, palms down when asking Allahto avert affliction)
One does not stroke the faceor chest with one's hands after the supplication(0: as opposed to other supplications, for which itis recommended to wipe the face with the hands,as is mentioned in hadith).The imam says the supplications aloud
Thefollower says ""Ameen"" after each supplicationthat is audible to him and participates in thepraises and so forth by responding with similarexpressions
If the imam is inaudible, the followerhimself says the supplication
When praying aloneone says it to oneself.When disasters (0: such as drought or anepidemic) befall the Muslims, they similarly supplicatein every prescribed prayer (0: afterstraightening up from bowing in the last rak'a).
The prayer is invalidated (if one has noexcuse (def: below)) by uttering two or more letters,or when two or more letters worth of soundssuch as laughter, crying, groaning, clearing thethroat, blowing, sighing, or similar are audible.It is also invalidated by much (0: i.e
morethan six words worth of) sound, even when thereis a valid excuse such as
blurting out· wordsunthinkingly, laughter or coughing overcomingone, absentmindedly speaking, or when onespeaks because as a new Muslim one does notknow it is unlawful during the prayer; though withsuch an excuse a slight amount of speech does notinvalidate the prayer.One's prayer is invalid if one speaks knowingthat it is unlawful but ignorant of the fact that itinvalidates the prayer, and is also invalid if onesays"" Aah"" during it out of fear of hell.When it is impossible to recite the Fatiha (N:to oneself) (A: or the final Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) or Salams) except by clearing one'sthroat, one may do so even when it approximatestwo letters
though if it is merely impossible torecite aloud, then one may not clear one's throat,but must instead recite to oneself.(A: Some things which are not commonlyknown to invalidate the prayer, such as clearingthe throat, do not invalidate the prayer of ordinarypeople, whose ignorance of them is excusable,though a scholar has no such excuse.)
If one notices (N: during the prayer) ablind person about to fall into a well, or the like,then one must speak up to alert him if there is nota nonverbal means of warning him of it.
No form of invocation of Allah (dhikr)invalidates the prayer unless it is a direct addresssuch as ""Allah have mercy on you"" or ""And uponyou be peace""; though it does not invalidate theprayer if it refers to someone not present, such as""Allah have mercy on Zayd"" (0: nor is it invali·dated by addressing Allah or the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace)).
When something happens to one duringthe prayer (0: such as someone asking permissionto enter, or having to remind the imam that he hasforgotten something), then if one is male, one says""Subhan Allah"" (0: intending only invocation(dhikr) thereby, as one may not merely intend toinform, nor lack any particular intention thereby,for these invalidate the prayer), or if female, oneclaps the right palm on the back of the left hand,not palm to palm.If one recites a Koranic expression such as ""0Yahya, take the book"" (Koran 19:12), intendingonly to inform (0: without intending invocation)or not intending anything in particular, this invalidatesthe prayer, though not if the intention isKoran recital, or recital and informing together.
A SUBSTANCE REACHING THE BODY CAVITYThe prayer is invalidated when any (evenif a little) substance (A: other than saliva) reachesthe body cavity intentionally
It also invalidatesthe prayer if it occurs absentmindedly or in ignoranceof its prohibition, provided the amount of thesubstance is commonly acknowledged to be much(def: f4.5), though not if it is little.
EXTRANEOUS MOTIONAdding a surplus action that is an integral,such as bowing, invalidates the prayer if doneintentionally, but does not invalidate it if donebecause one has forgotten (0: that one hasalready performed it).The prayer is not invalidated by intentionallyor absentmindedly adding a surplus spoken integralsuch as repeating one's recital of the Fatiha orthe Testification of Faith (Tashahhud) or recitingthem in the wrong place.
The prayer is invalidated by adding, evenif absentmindedly, a motion that is not one ofthe actions of prayer, provided it is both (0:considered by common acknowledgement (def:f4.5) to be) much and uninterruptedly consecutive,such as three steps (0: or successively movingthree separate body parts like the head andtwo hands, though an up-and-down motion is consideredjust one) or thr.ee or more consecutivemotions.The prayer is not invalidated by action that isnot much, such as two steps, or is much but is separatedso that the subsequent motion is consideredto be unconnected with the preceding one
But ifa (0: slight) action is grossly improper, such asjumping, it invalidates the prayer.
Slight actions such as scratching oneself,or turning a rosary (subha, dis: w27) do not affectthe validity of the prayer, nor does remainingsilent at length.
THINGS OFFENSIVE IN PRAYERIt is offensive to perform the prayer whileone is holding back from urinating or defecating.(0: If enough time remains to perform the prayer,the sunna is to relieve oneself first, even when onefears missing praying with a group, since itdiminishes one's awe and humility in prayer.)
It is offensive to pray in the presence offood or drink one would like to have, unless onefears that the prayer's time will end.It is offensive during the prayer:(1) to interlace the fingers;(2) to turn (N: the head when there is noneed
As for turning the chest from the directionof prayer (qibla), it invalidates the prayer exceptwhen there is an excuse such as in extreme peril,or when performing a nonobligatory prayer duringa journey);(3) to look to the sky;(4) to look at something distracting;(5) to gather one's clothes or hair with thehand, tuck one's hair under a turban, or wipe thedust from one's forehead;(6) to yawn, though ifit overcomes one, oneshould cover the mouth with the hand;(7) to exaggerate in lowering one's headwhile bowing;(8) or to put one's hands on the hips.
It is offensive during the prayer to spit tothe front of one or to the right
Rather, one shouldexpectorate to the left, in the hem of one's garement, or under the foot (N: when one is praying ina desert or similal) (0: It is unlawful to spit in amosque except into the left hem of one's garment(N: or a handkerchief
The slight motions neces7sary to take out one's handkerchief and return itdo not harm, as they are inconsiderable).)
THINGS OBLIGATORY IN PRAYERThe prayer has conditions (def: f9.13),integrals (f9.14), main sunnas (f9.15), and ordinarysunnas.
THE CONDITIONS OF PRAYERThe prayer's conditions are eight:(a) purification from minor and major ritualimpurity (hadath and janaba) (A: through ablution(wudu, def: eS) and the purificatory bath(ghusl, ell) respectively, as well as from menstruationand postnatal bleeding by bathing afterthem);(b) that one be free of filth (najasa, e14) (A:in body, clothes, and place of prayer ({4));(c) that one's nakedness be clothed (fS);(d) that one be facing the direction of prayer(qibla, f6);(e) that one avoid the actions prohibited inprayer, i
e
extraneous speech, eating, and excessivemotion (f9.1-7);(f) knowing or believing that the prayer'stime has come (t2);(g) knowing that the prayer is obligatory;(h) and knowing how it is performed.Whenever one violates any of these conditions,one's prayer is invalidated, such as:(1) (non-(a) above) when a state of ritualimpurity occurs during the prayer, even ifabsentmindedly;(2) (non-(b)) when some filth containingmoisture affects a garment during the prayer, butone does not immediately shed the garment; orwhen some dry filth affects it, but one throws it offwith the hand or sleeve (0: since in that case oneis supporting it and in contact with it (dis:f4.2(N:)));(3) (non-(c)) when the wind discloses a partof one' nakedness and its cover gets beyond reach;(4) or (non-(g)) when one believes that someelements of the prayer are obligatory and someare merely recommended, but does not knowwhich are obligatory.One's prayer is not invalidated if one thinksthat all the prayer's parts are obligatory, or«2)above) if one immediately sheds the garmentaffected by moist filth, brushes off dry filth, or «3)above) immediately re-covers one's nakedness.
THE INTEGRALS OF PRAYERThe prayer's integrals (rukn, pI
arkan)are seventeen:(a) the intention (def: f8.3);(b) the opening Allahu Akbar (f8.7);(c) standing (f8.27);(d) the Fatiha (f8.17);(e) bowing (f8.29);(f) remaining motionless a moment therein;(g) straightening back up after bowing(f8.31);(h) remaining motionless a momenttherein;(i) prostration (f8.33);G) remaining motionless a moment therein;(k) sitting back (f8.36) between the twoprostrations;(I) remaining motionless a moment therein;(m) the prayer's final Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) (f8.45);(n) sitting therein (f8.43);(0) the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) after the prayer's finalTestification of Faith (f8.45);(p) saying ""as-Salamu 'alaykum"" the first ofthe two times it is said at the end of the prayer(f8.47);(q) and the proper sequence of the aboveintegrals.
THE MAIN SUNNAS OF PRAYERThe prayer's main sunnas (A: meaningthose which if omitted call for a forgetfulnessprostration (def: f11)) are six:(a) the prayer's first Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) (N: in prayers that have two);(b) sitting during it;(c) the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) after it (f8.45);(d) the blessings on his family in the prayer'sfinal Testification of Faith (Tashahhud);(e) the supplication (f8.53) after bowing inthe final rak'a of the dawn prayer (subh);(f) and standing therein.
OTHER SUNNASAll other parts of the prayer are ordinarysunnas (0: and missing one is not compensated bya forgetfulness prostration).*
The prayer is the best of the body'sspiritual works (0: prayer referring to the prescribedprayer, and body excluding worship connectedwith the heart, such as faith in Allah, whichis better than the works of the body), andsupererogatory prayers are the best of voluntaryspiritual works (0: though scholarly work inIslamic religious knowledge, meaning beyondwhat is obligatory to ensure the validity of one'sworship, is superior to nonobligatory prayerbecause it fulfills a communal obligation (fard alkifaya,def: c3.2)).Supererogatory prayers that the Sacred Lawstipulates be prayed in groups, such as the prayeron the two 'Eids (fl9), the prayer at solar andlunar eclipses, and the drought prayer, are betterthan those it does not stipulate be prayed ingroups, namely, all others besides these
But thesunna rak'as before and after the prescribedprayers (0: whether confirmed sunna (sunnamu'akkada, def: below) or otherwise) aresuperior to the group prayer that is sunna on thenights of Ramadan (tarawih).THE SUNNA PRAYERS BEFORE ANDAfTER THE PRESCRIBED PRAYERS
It is sunna to diligently perfonn thenonobligatory prayers that are offered before andafter the prescribed ones.The optimal number of these is two rak'asbefore the dawn prayer (subh), four before andafter the noon prayer (zuhr), four before themidafternoon prayer ('asr), two after the sunsetprayer (maghrib), and two after the nightfallprayer ('isha).The confirmed sunnas (dis: c4.1) of these (0:confirmed (mu'akkada) meaning those which theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) didnot omit whether travelling or at home) consist often rak'as:(1) two before the dawn prayer (subh);(2) two before and after the noon prayer(zuhr);(3) two after the sunset prayer (maghrib);(4) and two after the nightfall prayer ('isha).It is recommended to pray two rak'as beforethe sunset prayer.The sunnas of the Friday prayer (jumu'a) arethe same as those of the noon prayer (zuhr)(dis: w28.1).The time for the nonobligatory rak'as thatcome before prescribed prayers is that of the prescribedprayers
It is proper (adab) to pray such asunna before the prescribed prayer, though ifprayed after it, it is still a current performance (A:not a makeup,
and one must intend it, for example,as the SUnna before noon prayer (zuhr)).The time for nonobligatory rak'as that come afterthe prescribed prayer begins when one has performedthe prescribed prayer and ends with theend of the prayer's time.
WITR (THE FINAL PRAYER AT NIGHT)The minimal performance for witr (lit.""odd number"") is one rak'a (0: even if one omitsthe sunnas after the nightfall prayer ('isha))
(A:A witr of at least three rak'as is obligatory (wajih)in the Hanafi school, and one should neveromit it.)The optimal way is to perform eleven rak'as,and (0: if one performs more than three) oneshould finish with Salams (def: f8.47) after everypair
The least considered optimal is three rak'as,(0: and one separates them by) finishing twotimes with Salams (N: i.e
by finishing two rak'aswith Salams and then performing the final rak'a).One recites al-A'la (Koran 87) in the first rak'a,al-Kafirun (Koran 109) in the second, and alIkhlas,al-Falaq, and al-Nas (Koran 112, 113, and114) in the third.It is permissible to (n: serially) join all therak'as of any witr prayer that has from three toeleven rak'as by finishing them once with Salams(0: in the final rak'a
In that case and also whenone's witr is only a single rak'a, one merely intendswitr, whereas in other witrs prayed in pairs (n:until one reaches the last one), one intends eachpair as twa rak'as afwitr).When joining the rak'as of witr one may limitoneself to a single Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) (A: in the final rak'a), or may recitetwo Testifications, one in the last rak'a and one inthe next to the last, and to thus recite two Testificationsis superior (A: if one separates the finaltwo rak'as from one another by finishing the nextto the last rak'a with Salams (N: before prayingthe final rak'a by itself), for otherwise it is betterto recite a single Testification, as making witr resemblethe sunset prayer (maghrib) is offensive).More than two Testifications (A: in a joined witr)invalidates the whole prayer.
The best time for witr is just after thesunna rak'as that follow the nightfall prayer('isha), unless one intends to offer the night vigilprayer (tahajjud; to rise at night after having slept,to pray some nonobligatory rak'as), in which caseit is best to pray witr after the night vigil prayer (A:
provided that one usually manages to get up whenone has made such an intention
If not, then it isbetter to perform witr after the sunnas of thenightfall prayer ('isha)).When one has already performed witr, butdecides to pray the night vigil prayer (tahajjud),one performs the latter's rak'as two by two, andthere is no need to repeat the witr, or ""make it aneven number"" by performing one rak'a before thenight vigil prayer
However, it is recommendednot to intend performing prayers between witr anddawn.
TARAWIHIt is recommended to perform tarawih,which is twenty rak'as of group prayer on eachnight of Ramadan
(0: As well as being sunna topray tarawih alone, it is also sunna to pray it in agroup.) One finishes each pair of rak'as withSalams.It is recommended to pray witr in a groupafter tarawih, unless one intends the night vigilprayer (tahajjud), in which case one should postponewitr until after it
During the second half orRamadan, in the last rak'a (N: of witr) , itisrecommendedto supplicate as one does in the dawnprayer (def: f8.53), and then one adds: ""0 Allah,we ask Your help, Your forgiveness, and Yourguidance
In You we believe, on You we rely, Youwe praise with every good, we are grateful to Youand not ungrateful, and disown and abandon himwho commits outrages against You
0 Allah, Youalone do we worship, to You we prllY and prostrate,You we strive for and hasten to obey,hopingfor Your mercy and fearing Your punishment.Truly, Your earnest punishment shall overtakethe unbelievers.""The time for witr and tarawih is between thenightfall prayer ('isha) and dawn.
THE MIDMORNING PRAYER (DUHA)It is recommended to pray the midmorningprayer (duha), which minimally consists of tworak'as, is optimally eight rak'as, and maximallytwelve
One finishes each pair of rak'as withSalams.Its time is after the sun is well up until justbefore the noon prayer (zuhr)
(0: The preferabletime for its performance is after a quarter of theday has passed.)
When one misses (0: even intentionally)any supererogatory prayer that has a specifiedtime, such as the two 'Eids, duha, witr, or the sunnasbefore and after the prescribed prayers, it isrecommended to make it up at any time afterwards.If one misses a supererogatory prayer that iscontingent upon some passing event, such as theeclipse prayer, drought prayer, greeting themosque, or the prayer for guidance (istikhara,def: f10.12), one does not make it up.
THE NIGHT VIGIL PRAYER (TAHAJJUD)Supererogatory prayer at night is a confirmedsunna (def: f10.2(0:)), even if one canonly do a little
Wholly supererogatory prayers (0:meaning those unconnected with a particular timeor reason) at night are better than during the day.If one divides the night into six parts, thefourth and fifth part are the best for prayer
Ifdivided in half, the second half is best
If dividedinto thirds, the middle part is best
Praying theentire night, every night, is offensive.It is recommended to begin one's night vigilprayers (tahajjud) with two brief rak'as, to ha,veintended the night vigil prayer before going tosleep, and not to make a practice of more prayerthan one can regularly perform without harm tooneself.(A: It is sunna to recite the suras of the nightvigil prayer sometimes aloud, sometimes tooneself.)
One (0: who is performing whollysupererogatory prayers, whether in the night orday) finishes every two rak'as with Salams, thoughone may also:(1) join three or more rak'as by finishing butonce with Salams:(2) pray a single supererogatory rak'a byitself;(3) recite the Testification of Faith(Tashahhud) every two rak'as (0: without finishingthem with Salams), or every three, or everyfour, even if the Testifications of Faith grow verynumerous (A: before finishing the series ofrak'aswith Salams)
(N: This is if not praying witr (dis:f10.3, end));(4) or confine oneself to just one Testificationof Faith (Tashahhud) in the final rak'a (0: inwhich case one recites a sura in each of therak'as and finishes with Salams after the abovementionedfinal Testification of Faith), though itis not permissible to recite the Testification ofFaith in every rak'a (0: without finishing withSalams).When one's intention (N: in a whollysupererogatory prayer) is to perform a specificnumber of rak'as (0: four or more), then one maychange one's mind as to the number and prayfewer rak'as, or more, provided one changes theintention before (0: having added or subtractedany)
Thus, it is permissible to intend four butfinish after two, if one intends to subtract two,though it invalidates the prayer to purposely finishit after two without having made the intentionto curtail the planned four rak'as
If oneabsentmindedly finishes with Salams, one goes onto complete the four and performs the forgetfulnessprostration (def: fll) at the end.
GREETING THE MOSQUEIt is recommended for whoever enters amosque to greet the mosque by praying two rak'aseach time he enters, even if many times within anhour
One is no longer entitled to pray it after sitting.It is accomplished anytime one enters amosque and prays two rak'as, whether oneintends merely performing two supererogatoryrak'as, fulfilling a vow, the sunna rak'as before orafter a prescribed prayer, the prescribed prayeralone, or the prescribed prayer together with theintention of greeting the mosque.(0: If one enters the mosque when one doesnot have ablution (wudu), it is sunna to say fourtimes, ""Allah is far exalted above any limitation,praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, Allahis greatest."")
It is offensive to begin any nonobligatoryprayer, whether greeting the mosque, the sunnarak'as before a prescribed prayer, or other, whenthe imam has begun the prescribed prayer or themuezzin has begun the call to commence (iqama).
THE GUIDANCE PRAYER (ISTIKHARA)(n: the translator has added the followingtext from Imam Nawawi's Riyad al-salihin:)Jabir (Allah be well pleased with him) relatesthat ""the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) used to teach us the guidance prayer(istikhara) for all matters, as he would a sura ofthe Koran, saying:"" 'When a matter concerns one of you, praytwo nonobligatory rak'as [dis: f8.20(5)] and say:""0 Allah, I ask You to show me what is bestthrough Your knowledge, and bring it to passthrough Your power, and I ask You of Yourimmense favor; for You are all-powerful and I amnot, You know and I do not, and You are theKnower of the Unseen
0 Allah, if You know thismatter to be better for me in my religion, livelihood,and final outcome [or perhaps he said, ""theshort and long term of my case""], then bring itabout and facilitate it for me, and bless me withabundance therein
And if You know this matterto be worse for me in my religion, livelihood, andfinal outcome [or perhaps he said, ""the short andlong term of my case""], then keep it from me, andkeep me from it, and bring about the good for mewhatever it may be, and make me pleased with it,""and then one should mention the matter athand.' ""
A nonobligatory prayer at home issuperior to one performed at the mosque (dis:f8.52).
It is offensive for one to single out thenight before Friday (lit
""night of Friday,"" i.e.Thursday night, since in Arabic the night of agiven date comes before its day) as a special nightfor prayer.
It is an offensive, blameworthy innovation(bid'a, def: w29) to perform any of the followingspurious prayers:(1) twelve rak'as between the sunset prayer(maghrib) and nightfall prayer ('isha) on the firstThursday night of the month of Rajab;(2) one hundred rak'as in the middle of themonth of Sha'ban;(3) (0: two rak'as after each of three timesof reciting Ya Sin (Koran 36) on the night of midSha'ban;(4) or the so-called prayer of' Ashura' on 10Muharram.)fH.O PROSTRATIONS OFFORGETFULNESS, KORANRECITAL, OR THANKSTHE FORGETFULNESS PROSTRATION*fIl.I The two reasons for the forgetfulnessprostration are nonperformance of somethingcalled for (0: such as a main sunna (f9.15)), orperformance of something uncalled-for (0: suchas absentmindedly adding a rak'a to one's prayer).remember it until doing what comes after it, thenone must (A: if still in the same rak'a) go back toit, perform it and what comes after it, and (A: it issunna to) prostrate for it at the end of one's prayer(0: provided one is not a follower
As for a followerwho misses an integral, he continues followingthe imam until the imam finishes with Salams,and then the follower rises alone and performs amakeup rak'a.One is only obliged to reperform a missedintegral (A: in the same rak'a, i.e
when prayingby oneself) if one's forgetfulness of it doesn't continue(A: until the next rak'a)
If one's forgetfulnesscontinues and one goes on to perform theintegral (A: during the course of the subsequentrak'a) then the same integral (A: ofthe followingrak'a) takes the missed integral's place (A: inwhich case the rak'a containing the omission doesnot count and one does not return to it, but performsthe rest of the prayer and then adds amakeup rak'a at the end, after which one performsthe forgetfulness prostration before onefinishes with Salams)).fl1.3 (0: If there is a surplus action, such aswhen one absentmindedly goes from standing toprostration without having bowed, but thenremembers, in such a case one stands up andbows, and performs the forgetfulness prostration(N: at the end of the prayer)
This (N: havingstood twice before bowing) is a surplus action.One does not prostrate for forgetfulnesswhen there is no surplus action, as when one omitsthe final prostration of the prayer, but remem bersit before one finishes with Salams and performs it,in which case one does not prostrate for it becausethere has not been an addition
)f11.4 If one misses a main sunna (def: f9.15),even purposely, one performs a forgetfulnessprostration.If one misses anything besides an integral ormain sunna, then one does not prostrate for it.f1l.5 One does not prostrate for (A: either intentionallyor absentmindedly) doing an uncalledfor action of the type which when done intentionallydoes not invalidate the prayer (0: such asturning the head, or taking one or two steps),though reciting a part or all of the Fatiha or Testificationof Faith (Tashahhud) at the wrong placein the prayer are exceptions to this, in that,although intentionally reciting them at the wrongplace does not invalidate the prayer, it does callfor a forgetfulness prostration.fll.6 One performs a forgetfulness prostrationfor unintentionally doing an uncalled-for action ofthe type which when done intentionally invaHdatesthe prayer (0: such as a small amount ofextraneous speech), provided it is not the type ofaction whose unintentional performance alsoinvalidates the prayer (0: such as much extraneousspeech or action (def: f9)) (N: since doing itwould in any case invalidate the prayer andobviate the need for a forgetfulness prostration).Straightening back up after bowing (fB.31),and sitting between prostrations (f8.36) are twobrief integrals
To intentionally make themlengthy invalidates one's prayer, though to do soabsentmindedly merely calls for a forgetfulnessprostration.(A: An exception to this is standing at lengthafter bowing in the final rak'a of any prayer, as thisdoes not invalidate the prayer even when doneintentionally, and even if one does not supplicatetherein.)fl1.7 If one forgets the first Testification ofFaith (Tashahhud) and stands up, it is unlawful toreturn to it
If one intentionally returns to it, thisinvalidates one's prayer (0: because one hasinterrupted an obligatory act (A: the integral ofstanding) for the sake of something nonobligatory(A: the main sunna of the first Testification ofFaith (Tashahhud))).But if one returns to it absentmindedly or outof ignorance, one merely prostrates for it, thoughone must (0: interrupt the Testification of Faiththat one has returned to, and) stand up as soon asone remembers.If one (A: has omitted the first Testificationof Faith and started to rise, but) checks oneselfbefore standing and sits down again, this does notcall for a forgetfulness prostration (0: as it is nota full surplus action (def: f11.3))
But if one intentionallyrises and then returns to sitting after havingbeen closer to standing, one's prayer is invalid.If not (0: i.e
if one had not yet been that close, orhad, but returned absentmindedly or in ignoranceof its prohibition), it is not (0: invalid).The same applies to omitting the supplicationof the dawn prayer (f8.53), where placing theforehead on the ground is as standing up is in theabove rulings (N: that is, one may return to theomitted supplication as long as one has not yetcompleted one's (A: first) prostration).fI1.8 When praying behind an imam who missesthe first Testification of Faith (Tashahhud) bystanding, the follower may not remain seated torecite it by himself (0: as this is a gross contraventionof his leadership and invalidates the prayerwhen done purposely and in awareness of its prohibition)unless he has made the intention to ceasehis participation in the group prayer and finishalone.But if the imam omits the first Testification ofFaith (Tashahhud) and the follower stands upwith him, and then the imam sits down, it is unlawfulfor the follower to follow him therein
Rather,the follower should either cease his participationin the group prayer, or else remain standing andwait for the imam to rise before they continue theprayer together
If the follower intentionally sitsback down when the imam does (0: knowing it isunlawful) then his prayer is invalid.If the imam is sitting for the Testification ofFaith and the follower absentmindedly stands up,then he must sit again, in deference to his imam'sleadership (0: because follOwing him in what iscorrect takes priority over starting an obligatoryintegral, which is also why the latecomer to groupprayer may omit both standing and reciting theFatiha (n: to bow when the imam bows, as aboveat f8.15)).f11.9 One does not perform the forgetfulnessprostration when one is uncertain (A: i.e
does notknow or believe) that one did something that callsfor a forgetfulness prostration, or that one addeda surplus integral, or did something uncalledfor.But if uncertain whether one omitteda main sunna (def: f9 .15), or performed theforgetfulness prostration, or whether one prayedthree rak'as or four (A: and this includes beinguncertain (N: i.e
not knowing or believing .itprobable) that one performed one or more of arak'a's integrals, since without all seventeen integrals(def: f9.14), the rak'a remains unperformed),then one proceeds on the assumptionthat one did not yet do it (0: returning to the originalbasis, which was that one had not done it) andone finishes with a forgetfulness prostration.When one's doubt (A: that one has performedan extra rak'a) is resolved before finishingthe prayer with Salams, one also prostrates forforgetfulness because of the rak'a one prayedwhile uncertain, which was presumed to have possiblybeen extra (A: i.e
the final rak'a, which oneperformed thinking it might be extra)
But if performingit would have been obligatory in any case,as when one is uncertain during the third rak'a (A:of a four-rak'a prayer) as to whether it is the thirdor fourth rak'a (A: both of which would beobligatory for the prayer in any case), but oneremembers during it that it is the third, then onedoes not prostrate for one's forgetfulness, thoughif one did not remember which it was until risingfor the fourth rak'a (A: whieh one presumedmight be the fifth), one prostrates for forgetfulness.(A: The same applies to prayers of less thanfour rak'as.)f11.10 The forgetfulness prostration, even ifthere are numerous reasons for it in one prayer, isonly two prostrations.fIl.l1 If one comes late to a group prayer and theimam performs a forgetfulness prostration at theend of the group's prayer, one performs it with thegroup, and once again at the end of one's ownprayer.A follower does not prostrate for forgetfulnesswhenhe makes an individual mistake (A: theimam did not make) while following (n: unless heomits an integral, as discussed above atf11.2( 0:)), though he does prostrate if his mistakeoccurred before joining the group or after theimam finished with Salams.If the imam makes a mistake, even if it wasbefore one joined the group prayer, then one mustprostrate for it with the group out of deference tothe imam's leadership
If one does not, it invalidatesone's prayer
If the imam neglects to performa forgetfulness prostration, the followerdoes so anyway.If one comes late to group prayer ,absentmindedlyfinishes with Salams with the imam, and thenremembers (0: the rest of the prayer that one hasto complete), one performs the remainder andprostrates for forgetfulness.f11.12 The forgetfulness prostration is a sunna
Itis performed before .one's final Salams, whetherthe reason is a surplus action or an omitted one.One is no longer entitled to perform it if onedeliberately finishes with Salams before it, orabsentmindedly finishes with Salams and there is alengthy interval before one recalls that one wassupposed to have performed it; though if thisinterVal is brief and one wishes, then one mayprostrate, and one has thereby returned to theprayer and must again finish it with Salams.THE KORAN RECITAL PROSTRATIONf11.13 To prostrate for recital of appropriate versesof the Koran is sunna for the person reciting,listening, or merely hearing.f11.14 One prostrates for one's own recital ifpraying by oneself or if one is imam (0: but itinvalidates one's prayer to intentionally and withknowledge of its prohibition recite a verse for thepurpose of prostrating during the prayer (N: if oneprostrates therein), exceptfor al-Sajda (Koran 32)recited in the dawn prayer (subh) on Friday
(A:Though if such a verse merely occurs in the courseof one's prayer, as when one is reciting a particularsura containing it, one may prostrate))
But ifeither of them prostrates upon hearing someoneelse's recital, it invalidates their p,rayer.A follower prostrates with his imam
The follower'sprayer is invalid if he prostrates for hisown recital, the recital of someone besides theimam, or prostrates without the imam, or does notprostrate when the imam does.f11.15 There are fourteen prostration verses, twoof them in aI-Hajj (Koran 22)
They do not includethe prostration at Sad (Koran 38:24), which is aprostration of thanks, not of Koran recital, and isonly performed outside of prayer
To purposelyprostrate for it during the prayer invalidates theprayer.f11.16 When one prostrates for reciting while inthe prayer, it is recommended to say ""Allahuakbar"" before prostrating and again when rising.It is obligatory to stand again after it (0: or to situp again if performing a nonobligatory prayerseated) and recommended to then recite more ofthe Koran before one bows.When one prostrates for reciting while outsideof the prayer, it is obligatory to sayan openingAllahu Akbar (0: and to finish with Salams.The four integrals of both the prostration ofKoran recital (A: outside of prayer) and of theprostration of thanks are:(a) the intention;(b) the opening Allahu Akbar;(c) the prostration;(d) and the final Salams (A: which can onlybe performed in a sitting position).Whether in or out of the prayer, the thingsthat invalidate a normal prayer invalidate theprostrations of recital or thanks, and the conditionsof the prayer, i.e
ablution (wudu), clothingnakedness, the entry of the proper time-which iswhen the last letter of a prostration verse has beenrecited-facing the direction of prayer (qibla),and so forth, are also conditions of these prostrations).It is recommended to say ""Allahu akbar""when one prostrates and rises, though not to recitethe Testification of Faith (Tashahhud) therein.fl1.17 If one delays the recital prostration past itstime and the interval is brief (0: meaning less thanthe time of two brief, medium-length rak'as) thenone is still entitled to prostrate
Iflongerthan that,one does not make it up.When one repeats a prostration verse withinone sitting or within one rak'a and one has missedthe prostration at its first mention, then it isaccomplished by a single prostration (0: though ifone prostrates for the first, one still prostrates forthe subsequent times, as the reason to do so hasbeen renewed).fl1.18 When reciting the Koran, whether duringthe prayer or not, it is recommended to ask Allahfor mercy at the verses mentioning mercy, and toseek refuge in Him (Ta'awwudh) at verses mentioningpunishment.·THE PROSTRATION OF THANKSf11.19 Whenever a manifest blessing appears inone's life (0: such as a child, wealth, or prestige),it is recommended to prostrate out of thanks toAllah, and likewise when an affliction is averted(0: such as being saved from drowning, regaininghealth, or the reappearance of someone lost (A:or the death of a tyrant)), or when one sees someoneAllah has afflicted with disobedience orillness, though in the latter case one shouldprostrate in private (0: so as not to sadden theperson).The prostration of thanks is the same as theKoran recital prostration outside ofthe prayer (0:regarding its integrals and conditions (def:fll.16))
It invalidates one's prayer if performedduring it.fl1.20 It is unlawful to prostrate without occasionmerely to humble oneself to Allah to drawnear to Him (0: because it is a reprehensible innovation(bid'a, def: w29.3)).fl1.21 The recital prostration's requirements offacing the direction of prayer (qibla), purity, andclothing nakedness are the same as those ofnonobligatory prayers.
Group prayer is a communal obligation(def: c3.2) upon all male nontravellers for the fivecurrent prescribed prayers, such that the rite ofthe prayer be public
(0: In a small town, it isenough to merely gather somewhere and pray
Ina city, the prayer must be held in public placessuch that the manifestations of obedience toAllah's command are evident
If held in houseswhere the rite of prayer is not public, the obligationremains unfulfilled (A: though a house with asign on it is sufficient).)
Group prayer is sunna for women, travellers,and for makeup prayers in which the imamand followers are performing the same type ofprayer; though it is not sunna for a follower'smakeup prayer to be performed behind an imam'scurrent prescribed prayer, or for a makeupprayer to be performed behind a different type ofmakeup (0: such as a follower making up thenoon prayer (zuhr) behind an imam who is makingup the midaftemoon prayer ('asr)).
It is personally obligatory to perform theFriday prayer Gumu'a) in a group (A: for everymale Muslim who is not travelling).
The group prayer for which the demand isthe strongest is the dawn prayer (subh), then thenightfall prayer (,isha), and then the midafternoonprayer ('asr).The minimal number of people for a groupprayer is an imam and a follower.It is best for men to perform group prayer atthe mosque (0: as the act of going to the mosquemakes the group prayer evident)
The bestmosque in which to pray is the one with the mostpeople
If there is a nearby mosque attended byfew people, then it is better to go to a distant oneattended by more, unless the imam there commitsreprehensible innovations (bid'a, def: w29.3), isimmoral, does not consider one of the integrals ofthe prayer to be an integral Cn: though this doesnot matter if it is the result of the imam's followinga different school of jurisprudence, as below at f12.29(N:)), or if one's going to the farthermosque will make group prayer impossible at theone nearby (A: as when one is one of the only twopeople who are likely to come), in all of whichcases it is better to pray at the nearby mosque.It is better for womento pray at home than atthe mosque (A: whether they are young or old)
Itis offensive for an attractive or young woman tocome to the mosque to pray (0: or for her husbandto permit her), though not offensive forwomen who are not young or attractive when thisis unlikely to cause temptation
(N: The author'swords here must be interpreted in the light of thefollowing details: If a woman's going to groupprayer or elsewhere will definitely lead to temptationbetween the sexes, it is unlawful for her to go.lf such temptation can be definitely prevented,
her going to attend group prayer remains sunna,as is attested to by the hadiths that have reached uson the subject
If temptation is feared but not certainto occur, her going becomes offensive.Whether such temptation is likely to occur issomething that differs with different times, places,and people
An old woman is not like a young one,nor a righteous society like one in which temptationbetween the sexes is the rule; nor is a specialprayer place set aside for women at a mosque likea prayer place which they share with men
This iswhy 'A'isha (Allah be well pleased with her) said,""Had the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) seen what women do now, he wouldhave forbidden them the mosque as the women ofBani lsra'il were forbidden,""a hadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim.The temptation between the sexes whoseoccurrence is to be feared when they intermingleis of various degrees, the least of which is a person'sappreciating and admiring the other, thenbeing attracted to and enamored with the other,and finally, those indecencies which are not hiddenfrom anyone
Islam is eager to eliminate evilat its inception and extirpate temptation from itsoutset, and the word of Allah Most High,""Tell believers to lower their eyes and toguard their private parts"" (Koran 24:30),explains both the starting point and final outcomeof the temptation of men through women and thetemptation of women through men.)
There is no demand to go to group prayer(0: whether communally obligatory (dis: f12.I),personally obligatory (f12.3), or sunna (f12.2)),when there is a valid excuse not to, such as:(1) hardship due to rain or snow that soaksclothing;(2) hardship due to heavy mud (0: from gettingsoiled or slipping when walking through it);(3) (0: severe) winds at night (0: ordawn);(4) severe heat or cold (0: because of thehardship of moving in them, and likewise intensedarkness at night, which is an excuse not toattend);(5) being in the presence of food or drinkthat one wants to have (0: as they obviate the aweand humility befitting the prayer
One should eatenough to take the edge off one's hunger (A: andthen go to join the group));(6) holding back from going to the toilet orbreaking wind (0: as one should relieve oneselffirst, even if one fears missing the group prayer);(7) hazard to one's person;(8) hazard to one's property (0: from theftor seizure, whether it belongs to oneself or toanother whose property one is obliged to protect.It also includes bread one has put in the oven thatwould burn if one were to leave and attend theprayer);(9) hardship from an ailment (0: even whenone is able to attend, if it entails a hardshipcomparable to that of walking in the rain
If one issuffering from a slight indisposition such as atoothache or the like, it is not an excuse);(10) taking care of a sick person (0: whowould suffer harm if one left to pray, whether arelative, friend, or total stranger) or taking care ofsomeone ill who is strongly attached to one's stayingwith him;(11) the death of a relative, friend, (0: orspouse);(12) fear of missing the impending departureof the party one intends to travel with;(13) having eaten something with a bad odor(0: such as raw onions or garlic, though not ifcooked, as this eliminates the smell);(14) orfear of meeting someone who will tryto collect a debt one owes him and one is unableto pay.(0: The demand for group prayer is noteliminated by other than the above excuses.)
It is a condition of a valid group prayerthat the follower intend to follow the imam (0:whether at the opening Allahu Akbar or thereafter).If the follower neglects to do so, his prayer isas if he had performed it alone
It invalidates one'sprayer to purposely omit the intention to followthe imam while at the same time praying behindhim and following his motions by awaiting them atlength, though awaiting them shortly or performingone's own prayer simultaneously with his doesnot invalidate it.It invalidates one's prayer to take a followeras one's imam when the follower is concurrentlypraying behind an imam (0: though if his imamfinishes with Salams and the follower is still pray·ing, he may then be taken as one's imam).
The imam intends leading the prayer asimam
If he neglects this intention then his ownprayer counts as if he had prayed alone (N: thoughhis followers' prayer counts as a group prayer),the imam having lost the reward for praying in agroup.In the Friday prayer Gumu'a), it is a necessarycondition for the prayer's validity that theimam intend leading as imam.
When going to a group prayer, it is recommendedto walk with tranquillity
(0: It is sunnanot to gambol about, speak of disapproved things,or engage in acts which are offensive in the prayeritself, such as looking right or left.)It is recommended to diligently seek thespiritual merit of being at the group prayer's openingAllahu Akbar, meaning that one says it justafter the imam does.
If one has begun a nonobligatory prayerwhen the call to commence (iqama) is given, oneshould finish it before joining the group, as long asone does not fear the group will finish before onecan join them
If afraid they will, then one interruptsthe nonobligatory prayer to join them.If one has begun praying a prescribed prayeralone and the call to commence (iqama) is givenfor a group prayer, it is recommended to tumone's prayer into a supererogatory prayer of tworak'as, and pray the prescribed prayer with thegroup
Were one to merely change one's intentionto that of following their imam, it would count as avalid group prayer for one, but it is offensive
Insuch a case if one reaches the end of one's prayerbefore the
group, one may either wait for them tofinish with one while sitting in the final Testifica·tion of Faith (Tashahhud), or else finish withSalams as soon as one reaches the end of one'sprayer
(0: One may not follow the imam in whatis in excess of one's own prayer.)
It is permissible to start praying with agroup, and then cease one's participation in prayingwith them (A: by a silent intention) and finishone's prayer alone, though this is offensive whenthere is no excuse
(0: It is not offensive to do sowhen there is an excuse, such as being ill, orunable to endure the imam's lengthy Koran recitalbecause of weakness or having business to attendto (N: or: a pressing emergency)
)
When one arrives late to a group prayer inwhich the imam is already bowing, it is obligatoryfor one to say the opening Allahu Akbar whilestanding upright, after which one says a secondAllahu Akbar before one bows to join the group(0: though if one only says it once, intending theopening Allahu Akbar thereby, then omitting thesecond Allahu Akbar of bowing does no harm, asit is sunna)
If any part of one's opening AllahuAkbar occurs when one is not standing upright(def: f8.27) , one's prayer is invalid.A latecomer is considered to have performedthe rak'a if he manages to say ""Allahu akbar,""bow, and remain motionless a moment thereinbefore the imam straightens up beyond the definitionallimitof bowing (f8.29)
If one is uncertain asto whether the imam straightened up past thelimits of bowing before one reached that position,or whether it was after
then one has not performedthe rak'a (0: as one assumes, when uncertain,that one had not yet reached it)
Nor does tl}erak'a count for such a follower when it does notcount for the imam, such as when the imam nullifieshis ablution (wudu), or has overlookedsomething impure on his person, or has mistakenlyadded a fifth rak'a to his prayer.If one does not join the group until the imamhas straightened up from bowing, or thereafter,then one follows his motions, saying ""Allah
akbar"" with him and repeating ""Subhan Allah""and the Testification of Faith (Tashahhud) whenhe does, even when this does not correspond tothe rak'a in which one's own Testification of Faithwould be if one were praying alone.If one joins the group just as the imam is prostratingor sitting in the final Testification of Faith,then one prostrates or sits with him (N: after havingrecited one's opening Allahu Akbar whilestanding) without (A: a second) Allahu Akbar(0: though Qne does say ""Subhan Allah"" in prostrationand recite the Testification of Faith withthe imam, in deference to his leadership).If the final Testification of Faith of the imamcoincides with one's own first Testification, thenwhen the imam finishes with Salams, one standsup with an Allahu Akbar to finish one's prayer;though if the imam's final Testification does notcoincide with one's first Testification, one rises tofinish without an Allahu Akbar.
Whenever one joins the group before theimam finishes with Salams, one has attained themerit of the group prayer
(N: But it is less thanthe merit of praying with the group from thebeginning or joining them in the middle, thoughjoining them at the end is better than prayingalone.)
The rak'as one performs before the imamfinishes with Salams are the first rak'as of one'sprayer, and those performed after the imamfinishes are the last
Hence, if the imam performsthe dawn prayer's supplication (def: f8.53) in therak'a in which one joins the group, one repeats itin one's own second rak'a.
It is obligatory for one to follow theimam's leadership in prayer actions, such thateach of one's movements begins after the imambegins it and before he finishes (N: the followingintegral)
(0: It is highly desirable that) one followsthe imam's spoken integrals in the same way,with the sole exception of saying"" Ameen"" (def:f8.19),which should be simultaneous with his.It invalidates one's prayer to say one's openingAllahu Akbar simultaneously with the imam,or to be uncertain as to whether one did so or not.It is offensive to perform some other part of theprayer simultaneously with the imam, and onethereby loses the merit of group prayer.
GETIING AHEAD OF THE IMAMIt is offensive to proceed to an integralahead of the imam, as when one bows before hedoes, and one is recommended to return to followinghim.(N: An ""integral"" in rulings concerning theperson who gets ahead of the imam or lags behindhim refers to integrals that are physical actions,such as standing, bowing, straightening up, prostrating,or sitting up between prostrations
It doesnot refer to spoken integrals such as reciting theFatiha, or to remaining motionless for a momentin the various positions.)It is unlawful, though if does not invalidatethe prayer, to completely finish an integral beforethe imam comes to it, as when one bows,straightens up, and then waits for him tostraighten up.It invalidates one's prayer to completelyfinish two integrals before the imam does, if onedoes so intentionally (0: and knowing it is unlawful).If one does so absentmindedly (0: or inignorance of its prohibition), it does not invalidatethe prayer, but the rak'a does not count (0: andone must add an additional rak'a after the imamfinishes with Salams).
LAGGING BEHIND THE IMAMIf there is no excuse (def: below), it isoffensive to lag behind the imam until he completelyfinishes an integral (def: fl2.15(N:)) aheadof one, and it invalidates one's prayer to lagbehind the imam until he finishes two integrals.If the imam bows and straightens up while(N: without excuse) one has not yet bowed, it doesnot invalidate one's prayer until the imam actuallybegins going down towards prostration and onestill has not bowed (0: since lagging'means thatthe imam has finished two integrals before the followerhas reached the first of them)
This invalidatesone's prayer even before the imam reachesprostration, as he has completed two integrals.
When one lags behind the imam for a validreason, such as one's slow recital (0: the imambeing fast in his recital) due to one's inability (A:whether natural inability or being a non-Arabicspeaker),not merely to unfounded misgivings(waswasa, def: s3.3), and the imam bows, then itis obligatory for one to finish the Fatiha (0: one isnot entitled in such a case to simply omit the restof the Fatiha and bow with the imam, as alatecomer is entitled to do (dis: f8.15
third paL)),after which one rapidly performs the elements ofthe prayer to catch up with the imam, provided theimam is not more than three (0: long) integralsahead of one
(0: Long excludes the integrals ofstraightening up after bowing and sitting betweenprostrations, which are short
Rather, the imam;sbeing three integrals ahead of one means he hasbowed, prostrated once, and begun the secondprostration, while the follower still has notbowed.)If one is further behind than that (0: as whenhe has started to stand up while one is still standingfor recital), then one follows from where one is(N: the number of rak'as one has done) and performsthe ones missed after the imam finishes withSalams.
When the imam is bowing or in the finalTestification of Faith (Tashahhud), and becomesaware of someone coming to join the groupprayer, it is recommended that he wait for thelatecomer (N: so the rak'a counts for him if theyare bowing, or so the group prayer counts for himif they are in the final Testification of Faith), provided:(a) that the person has entered the mosqueor place of prayer;(b) that the wait is not excessively long;(c) and that the imam's intention is obedi- .ence to Allah, not to give distinction or honor tothe latecomer, such as by waiting for the noble butnot the lowly.Waiting for a latecomer is offensive in otherthan bOwing and the final Testification of Faith.
When a mosque has an imam assigned to it(0: by the person in charge ofthe mosque, or as acondition of an endowment (waqf, def: k30)), andthe mosque is not in a busy location, it is offensivefor another to commence the group prayer withoutthe imam's permission (0: because theimamate is his, no one else 's, and because of thealienation and hurt feelings it involves)
It is notoffensive for another to do so in a mosque at abusy location or one to which no imam has beenassigned.
When one has already performed one'sprcscribed prayer alone or in a group, and findsanother group prayer being performed, it isrecommended to repeat one's prayer with them,intending the obligatory prayer
(A: The first fulfillsone's obligation ofthe prescribed prayer, butone intends repeating, e.g., the noon prayer(zuhr).) Its reward is that of a supererogatoryprayer.
The imam is recommended to keep hisrecital of the sura brief (0: not necessarily theabsolute minimum, but not the maximum desirablefor someone praying alone).When leading a group composed solely ofthose who do not mind lengthy prayers, he isrecommended to lengthen the recital.(0: The imam should not prolong the recitalwhen he does not know how everyone feels, andof those present some generally prefer lengthyrak'as and some do not, or when praying in amosque at a busy location where people often jointhe prayer after the imam has begun.)
When the imam stops reciting the Koranbecause of uncertainty, it is recommended for thefollower to remind him of what comes next
(N:When he does not stop but merely hesitates, thefollower does not remind him, so as not to flusterhim.) If the imam forgets an invocation (dhikr),the follower says it so the imam can hear
If heforgets an action, the follower should remind himof it by saying ""Subhan Allah"" (n: with the intentionof invocation, as at f9.4(0:))
If the imamremembers having missed the action, he performsit
But if he does not remember having missed it,it is not permissible for him to perform it justbecause the followers or others are remindinghim, even if they are numerous
(A: The morereliable opinion is that if their number reachesfour or more, he must act upon it.)
If the imam omits an obligatory element ofthe prayer (0: and does not return to it and performit), then it is obligatory for the follower tocease his participation (def: f12.10) in the groupprayer.If the imam omits a sunna that the followercannot add without considerably Jagging behind,such as the first Testification of Faith(Tashahhud), then it is unlawful for the followerto perform the missing sunna (0: rather, he mustfollow the imam)
If he performs it anyway (0:intentionally and knowing it is unlawful), it invalidateshis prayer, though he is entitled to cease hisparticipation in the group prayer to perform thesunna in the course of finishing his own prayeralone
If the sunna omitted by the imam can bedone without much of a lag, such is sitting brieflybefore rising for a new rak'a (def: fSAO), then thefollower may add it without ceasing his participationin the group
(0: This also applies to when theimam omits the dawn prayer's supplication(f8.53), which the follower may perform it he cancatch up with the imam before the imam lifts hishead from the second prostration, though if theimam lifts his head before the follower has prostratedeven once and the follower has notintended to cease his participation in the groupprayer, then the follower's prayer is invalid.)
Whenever the imam ceases his prayerbecause of his ablution (wudu) being nullified, oranother reason, he may choose a successor tofinish leading the prayer, provided the successor iseligible (def: f12.27) to lead the group
If thegroup performs a whole integral (f12.15(N:)) afterthe imam has stopped leading, then he may nolonger choose a successor.Any follower may be picked as the successor(0: even if he came late to the group prayer)
If alatecomer, he leads the group beginning at thesame point in the prayer where the imam left off.When he finishes leading them in their prayer, hestands (0: to finish his own), and indicates tothem to cease following his leadership, or betteryet, indicates for them to remain waiting for him(A: in their final Testification of Faith(Tashahhud)) until he comes to it after finishinghis own rak'as
If he does not know which rak'athe imam was in, then he should observe (0: bylooking left or right to see if the followers are sittingor) whether they are ready to rise
If they are,he rises, and if not, then he sits in a Testification ofFaith.It is permissible for the successor to be someonewho has not been praying with the group, pro""vided he is picked in the first or third rak'a (if theprayer has four tak'as), though he may not bepicked in the second or fourth rak'a (A: becausethe order of the person's prayer will not correspondto theirs, for such a person is not committedto the imam's order).The followers need not intend to follow thesuccessor
They may each simply break off andfinish alone
If the imam chooses someone butthey put forward someone else, their choice take!precedence .
THE IMAMATEThe one with the best right to be imam (N:in order of preference, when there is a disagreement)is:(1) the most learned in Sacred Law (A: i.e.the rulings concerned with prayer) (0: even if hehas not memorized any of the Koran except theFatiha, since the need in prayer for knowledge ofits rules is practically unlimited, while the onlyKoran recital required is the Fatiha);(2) he who has memorized the most Koran;(3) the most godfearing (0: because leadingthe prayer is an embassage between the servantand Allah Most High, and best befits him mosthonored by Allah);(4) he who has been a Muslim longest;(5) the noblest in lineage;(6) he with the best life history or reputation;(7) the cleanest in person and clothes;(8) he with the best voice;(9) and the most handsome.When only one of the above is present, he ischosen
If all people present or some ofthem possessone or more of these characteristics, thensomeone from the first of the list takes priorityover those listed after him
If two are equal andeach insists on being the imam, they draw lots.(N: It is permissible for a less qualified personto lead, even when a better qualified one ispresent.)The imam assigned to a mosque or a personliving in the house where the prayer takes place,even if only renting, takes precedence overeveryone on the list, from the most learned ondown, though he may select anyone else he wishesto lead the prayer
The sultan and those underhim, of Islamic judges, regional governors, and soon, take precedence over even the imam of themosque, the householder, and others.The following take precedence even whenthe latter is more learned in Sacred Law:(1) a nontraveller over a traveller;(2) an upright person (def: O24.4) over a corruptone;(3) and an adult over a child.A sighted and a blind person are equally eligibleto lead the prayer.
It is offensive for someone to lead a groupat prayer when most of the group dislike him for areason recognized by Sacred Law (0: such aswrongdoing, not taking precautions against filth(najasa), having a blameworthy income, keepingthe company of oppressors or the immoral, and soforth
If a minority dislike him, itis not offensive,for nobody lacks someone who dislikes him).
It is not permissible (0: or valid) to followan imam who is non-Muslim, insane, in a state ofritual impurity (def: e7, elO), or who has filth(najasa) on his clothing or person, or is a womanleading men, or someone who omits or mispronounces(def: f8.l8) a letter of the Fatiha leadingsomeone who knows it, or a mute, or someonewho slurs the words so the letters are indistinctfrom one another, or someone with a lisp.If after the prayer one finds out that the imamwas one of the above, then one must make up theprayer, unless the imam had filth Upon him thatwas concealed, or he was in a state of ritual impurity(N: in which cases one need not make it up).
The group prayer is valid:(1) when the imam is performing asupererogatory prayer and the follower is performinga prescribed prayer, or vice versa;(2) when the imam is performing the noonprayer (zuhr) and the follower is praying the dawnprayer (subh) (A: i.e
when the type of prayer differs),or vice versa;(3) when the imam is praying while sittingand the follower is praying standing, or vice versa;(4) and when the imam is performing amakeup prayer and the follower is performing acurrent one, or vice versa.(n: But a person shortening his prayerbecause of travelling may not pray behind animam who is performing the full number, as at f15.8(f).)
It is valid for a Shafi'i to follow the leadershipof an imam who follows a different school ofjurisprudence whenever the follower is not certainthat the imam has omitted an obligatory elementof the prayer, though if certain the imam has omittedone, it is not valid to follow him
The validityis based solely on the belief of the follower as towhether or not something obligatory has beenomitted.(N: One'should mention the position of theMalikis and Hanbalis here, which is that the criterionfor the validity of following the imam is theimam's school of jurisprudence,
such that if hisprayer is valid in his own school, it is permissibleto follow him as imam
How close this is to thespirit of the Law, which strives for Muslim unity.)
It is offensive to take an immoral person(def: o24.3(A:))as imam (0: because he mightnot be concerned about the things that are obligatoryin the prayer), or someone who stutters overthe letter f or the letter t, or who makes inconsequentialmistakes in the Arabic vowelling (0: thatdo not change the meaning).
RULES AND CONDITIONS OF FOLLOWINGWhen there are two or more male followers,it is sunna for them to stand behind the imam,A single male follower stands on the imam's right,and if a second follower arrives, the newcomerstands to the imam's left and says his openingAllahu Akbar, after which the two followersmove back (0: little by little)
If they cannot moveback (0: for lack of room) then the imam movesforward.
When there are men, boys, and womenpresent, the men form the front row or rows, thenthe boys, and then the women
(A: This is also therule for husband and wife: the wife prays in a separaterow behind the husband.)(0: If the men's back row is incomplete, itshould be completed with boys (A: and alatecomer may not remove the boys to make aplace for himself unless they are directly behindthe imam)
Those who form a new row behind arow that is incomplete do not attain the merit ofgroup prayer.)A woman leading women in prayer stands inthe middle of their first row.
It is offensive for the imam's place to behigher or lower than the followers' unless theimam wishes to teach the followers the actions ofprayer
If the imam and follower are not in amosque, it is obligatory that part of the imam'sbody be level with part of the follower's when bothare of average height.
A latecomer to a group prayer who doesnot find a place in the last row should stand behindit, begin his prayer with the opening AllahuAkbar, and then indicate to someone in the row tostand with him, by drawing him back; and it isrecommended that the person selected cooperateby stepping back (A: this is only if the latecomerdoes not expect anyone else to come).
The follower's prayer is invalid if his heelis farther forward than the imam's
(0: He shouldbe farther back than the imam's heel, even if onlya little, but not more than 1.44 meters, for otherwisethe merit of group prayer is lost (A: i.e
unrewarded,though not legally invalid).)
Whenever an imam leads a follower in amosque, the group prayer is valid no matter if theyare at a distance from each other, and no matterwhether they are in the same chamber or not, aswhen one of them is on the roof (even if the dooris closed) and the other is in the mosque's well,provided that (0: both places open onto themosque, and that) the follower can know whenthe imam is performing the motions of the prayer,whether by seeing the imam, or hearing hisbackup man (muballigh, the person who repeatsthe imam's Allahu Akbars and Salams in a loudvoice so people can hear).Multiple interconnected mosques openingonto eaeh other are considered as one mosque (0:and so are the mosque's outer courtyards, evenwhen there is a walkway between the courtyardand mosque).
MAXIMAL DISTANCES BETWEENTHE IMAM AND FOLLOWERSWhen the imam and follower are not in amosque, but are in an open expanse such as adesert or large house, their group prayer is valid aslong as the distance between them does notexceed approximately 144 meters
If farther apartthan this, their group prayer is not valid
If thereare rows of people behind the imam, this distanceis the maximum that is valid between each row andthe one in front of it, even if there are milesbetween the imam and the last-row, or a fire, riverthat would have to be swum to reach him, or busystreet between them.If the imam is in one building and the followerin another, such as two houses, or if there is ahouse, inn, or school where the imam is in acourtyard and the follower is under a coveredporch, or vice versa, then the maximum allowabledistance is the same as for outdoors (def: above),provided that there is nothing between the imamand follower that obstructs passage to the imam,such as a latticework window (0: and providedthat there is nothing that prevents the followerfrom seeing him, such as a closed door).The group prayer is valid when the imam is ina mosque and the follower is in an adjoining space,provided that there is 144 meters or less betweenthe follower and the edge of the mosque, and thatbetween the follower and the mosque there is nota barrier lacking a breach in it, breach meaning,for example, when the follower is standing beforea wall's open gate
If such a person's group prayerwith the imam is thus valid, then the prayer ofthose behind him or in the row with him is alsovalid, even when (0: these others are numerous,and) the group extends beyond the area frontingthe gate
Such a person's group prayer is not validif he turns from the gate, or if the wall of themosque, a window, or a closed door (locked ornot) lies between him and the imam.*
(0: The rules below apply to prayers thatare wholly supererogatory, i.e
which are not performedfor any particular occasion or reason, andapply to prayers performed for a reason that willoceur after the prayer, such as the two sunnarak'as before entering the state of pilgrim sanctity(ihram).)
The prayer is unlawful and invalid:(1) from sunrise until the sun is a spear'slength above the horizon (N: meaning when a distanceequal to the sun's diameter appears betweenthe sun and the horizon);(2) from the time the sun is at its highestpoint in the sky until it moves on;(3) from when the sun yellows before sunsetuntil after it has set;(4) after praying the current dawn prayer(subh);(5) and after praying the current midafternoonprayer ('asr).
It is permissible at the above times to offernonobligatory prayers that are performed for aparticular reason, such as the funeral prayer,greeting the mosque (def: f10.10), or the tworak'as that are sunna after ablution (wudu); and isalso permissible to make up missed prayers;though one may not perform the two rak'as thatare sunna before entering the state of pilgrimsanctity (ihram).
It is not offensive to pray within the MeccanSacred Precinct (Haram) at any time.Nor is it offensive to pray when the sun is at itszenith on Fridays (N: whether in the Sacred Precinctor elsewhere).
Someone unable to stand may pray theprescribed prayer seated (0: and need not make itup), unable meaning that standing involves manifesthardship, will cause illness or the worseningof a present illness, or cause vertigo, as when oneis on a ship.Such a person may sit for the prayer any wayhe likes, though the iftirash style of sitting (def:fB.37) is recommended
It is offensive in prayer tosimply sit on the ground, palms down and kneesdrawn up, or to sit with legs outstretched (A:when there is no excuse).
When seated for the prayer, the minimalbowing is to incline until the forehead is fartherforWard than the knees
The optimal way is toincline until the forehead is as far forward as theplace where the head rests in prostration.When unable to bow or prostrate, one comesas close to the ground with the forehead as onecan
When unable to do this, one performs themby nodding.
If an abscess or the like prevents one fromsitting, then one ""sits"" standing (A: meaning ordinarystanding, with the intention of sitting (N: sothat one stands between prostrations and for theTestification of Faith (Tashahhud))).
If one is capable of standing but suffersfrom a painful swelling of the eyes or somethingsimilar (0: such as a wound that can be treated byhaving the patient remain lying down) and a reliablephysician (0: in terms of knowledge andexpertise in medicine, who can be believed) tcllsone that praying while on one's back will enableone to be treated, then it is permissible to praywhile lying down (0: without having to make upthe prayer).
If unable to stand and unable to sit
onelies on one's right side (0: the right is recom-mended) facing the direction of prayer (qibJa)with the face and front of one's body, though onemust bow and prostrate if possible (0: meaningone stands up enough to bow, then bows, thenprostrates; or else sits up and bows).If this is not possible, one bows and prostratesby merely nodding one's head (0: bringing one'sforehead as near to the ground as possible),deeper for prostration than for bowing.If unable to even nod, one merely glancesdown with the eyes for bowing and prostration
Ifone cannot, one goes through the integrals of theprayer in one's mind
If unable to speak (0: torecite the Fatiha) one recites it in one's heart.The obligation of prayer exists as long as oneis able to reason (dis: fl.l, second par.).
If one is standing during the prayer andbecomes unable to remain standing, one sits tofinish the prayer
If this occurs during the Fatiha,one may not interrupt reciting it, but must continueto do so as one proceeds to siLIf one's condition improves enough (0: i.e
ifseated during a prescribed prayer because of illnessand a recovery of strength enables one to nowstand), then one must stand to complete theprayer.f1S.0 SHORTENING OR JOININGPRAYERS FOR TRAVEL OR RAIN(A: The two travel dispensations of shorteningand joining prayers have no effect on eachother: one may take both together, either, ornone
It is superior in our school not to take dispensationsthat are permissible.)SHORTENING PRAYERS WHILE TRAVELLINGf1S.1 It is permissible to shorten the current prescribedprayers of noon (zuhr), midafternoon('asr), and nightfall ('isha) to two rak'as each,when one:(a) is travelling for a reason that is not disobedienceto Allah (0: as there is no dispensationto shorten prayers on such a trip);(b) on a journey of at least 48 Hashemitemiles (n: approximately 81 km./SO mi.) one way:One may also shorten the above prayerswhen one both misses them and makes them up onthe trip, though one must pray the full number ifone misses them while not travelling and makesthem up on the trip, or misses them on the trip andmakes them up while not travelling.f1S.2 This distance (n: 81 km./SO mi
one way)holds for travel by water as well as by land
If sucha distance is traversed in an instant (0: preternaturally,because of a miracle (karama, def:w30)), oile may still shorten the prayer
(0: Thebrevity of the time taken to travel the distance is ofno consequence.)f1S.3 When there are two routes to a destinationand one of them is less than the distance that permitsshortening prayers but one chooses thelonger way for a legitimate purpose such as safety,convenience, or recreation (0: provided thatrecreation is merely the reason for taking thatroute, not the reason for the trip itself, which musthave some other legitimate purpose such as trade,for an outing is not a legitimate purpose) then onemay shorten prayers
But if the only reason forchoosing the longer way is to take the dispensation,thefll doing so is not valid and one must praythe full number.(A: Purely recreational trips whose purposeis not disobedience are permissible, but there areno travel dispensations in them, though if undertakenin order to gain religious knowledge, to visita fellow Muslim, or visit the grave of a righteous orlearned Muslim (dis: g5.8), these and similar purposesare legitimate and permit the dispensations.)f15.4 The journey's destination must be known.If a wife travelling with her husband or a soldierwith his leader does not know the destination,they may not shorten their prayers (N: as long asthey have not yet travelled the distance that permitsshortening
When they have travelled it, thenthey may)
If they know the destination and thejourney meets the conditions (def: f15.I), thenthey may shorten their prayers (N: from the beginningof the journey).f15.5 Someone whose journey constitutes an actof disobedience, such as a woman travellingagainst her husband's wishes, may not shortentheir prayer but must pray the full number
(0:The same applies to someone who undertakes alegitimate trip and then changes the purpose of itto disobedience.) (N: Though shortening prayersis permissible for someone who commits an act ofdisobedience while on a legitimate trip, as whensomeone travels for trade, but then sins by drinkingwine, for example.)THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEYf15.6 Ifone'scity has walls, one may begin shorteningprayers as soon as one has passed them,whether or not there are other buildings outsidethem
If there are no walls, one may shorten one'sprayers after passing beyond the last buildings,excluding farms, orchards, and cemeteries
(N:When the buildings of a city extend .to the nextcity, one's journey begins at the former's citylimits, or at what people commonly acknowledge(def: f4.5) to be the edge of town.) A deser!
dwellermay begin stortening prayers when he passesbeyond his people's tents
(0: A person living in avalley begins shortening prayers when he hastraversed the distance of the valley'S width
Someoneliving on a hill begins when he comes downfrom it
A person living in a gorge begins when heclimbs up out of it.)THE END OF THE JOURNEYf15.7 When the trip ends one must pray the fullnumber of rak'as for each prayer.A trip ends when one reaches one'shometown
It also ends;(1) by the mere intention to stay in apJace atleast 4 full days, not counting the day one arrivesor the day one departs;(2) or by staying that long without the intention,so that after one has stayed 4 full days, notcounting the days of arrival and departme, oneprays the full number of rak'as, unless one is stayingin a place in order to fulfill a purpose that oneexpects to accomplish and intends to leave as soonas one does
As long as this is the case, one mayshorten one's prayers for up to 18 days
If longerthan this, one prays the full number
This holds forboth jihad (def: 09) and other purposes.When one reaches one's destination andintends to stay there for a significant amount oftime (0: 4 days), one must pray thefull number ofrak'as, but if not (0: as when not intending to stayat all, or intending 3 days or less), then one maycontinue shortening prayers for either 4 days (0:if one learns that one cannot accomplish one'spurpose during them), or 18, if one can expectone's purpose to be accomplished at any moment.THE CONDITIONS FOR SHORTENfNGTHE PRAYERf15.8 The conditions for shortening the prayerwhile travelling are:(a) (0: that the trip be legitimate (def:f15.5);(b) that it be at least 81 km./50 mi
one way;(c) that the destination be known (f15A));(d) that the prayer take place from start tofinish while on the trip (A: if one's vehicle arrivesbefore the prayer is finished, one prays the fullnumber);(e) that the intention to shorten the prayercoincide with the opening Allahu Akbar (0: it notbeing valid if made after this);(f) that no portion of the prayer be performedwhile following an imam who is prayingthe full number of rak'as;(g) (0: that one be aware of the permissibilityof shortening prayers for travel;(h) and that the intention be free of thingswhich nullify it (A: such as vacillation or doubts(dis: below))).One must pray the full number of rak'as if:(1) (non-(d) above) the intention to stay atthe place for 4 days occurs during the prayer;(2) (non-(h)) one is uncertain whether one'sintention was to shorten, but one soon recalls thatone did intend it;(3) (non-(h)) one vacillates in the intentionbetween shortening the prayer or not doing so;(4) or (non-(f) one does not know whetherone's imam is shortening or not, though if onedoes not know the imam's intention, it is valid tointend that if the imam shortens the prayer, onewill shorten, and if he prays the full number, onewill pray the full number, and then to do this.JOINING TWO PRAYERS DURING A JOURNEYf15.9 It is permissible to join the noon prayer(zuhr) and midafternoon prayer ('asr) during thetime of either of them (N: or the Friday prayerUumu'a) and midafternoon prayer in the time ofthe Friday prayer), and permissible to similarlyjoin the sunset prayer (maghrib) and nightfallprayer (,isha) during the time of either, providedone joins them during a journey in which prayermay be shortened (def: f15.8(a,b,c,d)).If one stops travelling (A: to rest, for example)during the time of the first of the twoprayers, then this is the best time to join them, butif one is travelling steadily during the first's time,the time of the second is better.f15.10 The conditions for joining two prescribedprayers on a trip in the time of the first ofthem are:(a) that the trip continue (A: until onefinishes both prayers);(b) that the first of the two be prayed first;(c) that the intention to join the two prayersoccur before finishing the first, either coincidingwith the opening Allahu Akbar, or occurring duringthe prayer;(d) and that one not separate the two prayersby waiting between them, though a short interval(A: meaning one that could contain two rak'asof the briefest possible) is of no consequence,nor is a brief search for water (dis: e12.3)by someone who has performed dry ablution(tayammum).If one prays the second of the two prayersbefore the first (non-(b) above), then that prayeris invalid (0: and must be repeated after the first,if one still wants to join them).One must wait to perform the second of the twoprayers until its own time if:(1) (non-Ca) above) one finishes one's journeybefore performing the second prayer;(2) (non-(c)) one neglects to intend joiningthem.during the first prayer;(J) or (non-(d)) one waits at length betweenthem.f15.11 If one has performed both prayers and thejourney subsequently ends (A: whether in thetime of the first prayer or the time of the second),they are and remain valid.fl5.12 The necessary condition for joining twoprayers in the time of the second of them (A: inaddition to f15.8(a,b,c,d)) is that one make theintention to do so before the end of the 'firstprayer's time (0: by an interval which could containat least one rak'a)
If one neglects this intention,one has sinned, and praying the first prayerduring the second prayer's time is consideredmaking it up.f15.13 When joining two prayers in the time ofthe second, it is recommended (A: not obligatory):(1) to pray the first one before the second;(2) to not pause at length between them;(3) and that the intention to join them bepresent during the prayer one performs first.JOINING PRAYERS BECAUSE OF RAINfl5.14 It is permissible for a nontraveller to praythe noon prayer (zuhr) and the midafternoonprayer ('asr) at the time ofthe noon prayer (N: orthe Friday prayer Gumu'a) and midafternoonprayer at the time of the Friday prayer), and tosimilarly pray the sunset prayer (maghrib) andnightfall prayer (,isha) at the time of the sunsetprayer if:(a) it is raining hard enough to wet one'sclothing (0: and like rain in this is melted snow orhail);(b) one is praying with a group in a mosque(0: or other place of prayer);(c) the mosque is far (0: from one's door,i.e
far by common acknowledgement (def: f4.5));(d) it is raining when the first prayer begins,when it ends, and when the second prayer begins;(e) and conditions f15.10(b,c,d) exist.f15.15 (A: If one arrives during the second of two prayers joined because of rainand does not finish one's own first prayer before the group finishes their second,then one is no longer entitled to join one's prayers for rain
It is a necessarycondition that one pray at least part of the second prayer with them, though onemay hurry through one's own first prayer alone to catch up with and join themduring their second.)f15.16 If the rain stops after one finishes the twoprayers or during the second one, both prayers areand remain valid.f15.17 It is not permissible to join two prayers inthe time of the second of them because of rain.fl5.IS (n: In the Shafi'j schooL there are no validreasons other than travel or rain for joiningprayers, though others exist in the Hanbali school,as discussed in what fOllows.)('Abd ai-Rahman Jaziri:) The Hanbalis holdthat the above-mentioned joining between thenoon prayer (zuhr) and midafternoon prayer('asr), or between the sunset prayer (maghrib)and nightfall prayer ('isha) is permissible, whetherin the time of the first prayer of each of these twopairs, or in the time of the second prayer of each ofthem, though it is superior not to join them.It is a necessary condition for the permissibilityof joining them that the person praying be:(1) a traveller on a trip in which shorteningprayers is permissible;(2) a sick person for whom not to joinprayers would pose a hardship;(3) a woman who is nursing an infant, or whohas chronic vaginal discharge (dis: e 13.6), sinceshe is permitted to join prayers to obviate thehardship of purification for every single prayer;(4) someone with an excuse similar to thewoman with chronic discharge, such as a personunable to prevent intermittent drops of urine comingfrom him (e13.7);(5) or someone who fears for himself
hisproperty, or his reputation, or who fears harm inearning his living if he does not join prayers; thelatter giving leeway to workers for whom it isimpossible to leave their work.(al-Fiqh 'ala al-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.487)PRA YING THE SUNNA RAK'AS WHENONE JOINS PRAYERSf15.19 (0: When one wants to join the midafternoonprayer ('asr) and noon prayer (zuhr) in thetime of the noon prayer, one first prays the sunnasthat come before the noon prayer, followed by thenoon prayer, the midafternoon prayer, the sunnasthat come after the noon prayer, and then the sunnasthat come before the mid afternoon prayer.Similarly, when one joins the nightfall prayer('isha) with the sunset prayer (maghrib), oneprays the sunnas that
come before the sunsetprayer, and postpones those that follow the sunsetprayer until after one has prayed the nightfallprayer, after which one prays the sunnas thatcome before and after the nightfall prayer, andthen witr
Their order is sunna.)*
The prayer of peril may be performedwhen the Muslims are engaged in permissiblefighting (0: whether obligatory, as when fightingnon-Muslims or highwaymen whom the caliph(def: 025) is fighting, or permissible, as whenfighting someone who is trying to take one's propertyor that of others).
When the enemy is not in.the direction ofprayer (qibla), the imam divides the Muslim forceinto two groups
One group faces the enemy whilethe other prays a rak'a behind the imam
Whenthe imam rises for the second rak'a, the groupmakes the intention to cease following his leadershipin the prayer and then finishes their secondrak'a alone as individuals while the imam remainsstanding at the beginning of his second rak'a,reciting the Koran and awaiting the second group.Then this first group goes to relieve the othersin facing the enemy, and the others come andbegin their group prayer behind the imam, who isstilI standing and who remains so long enough forthc second group to recite thc Fatiha and a shortsura
At thcend ofthisrak'a whcn the imam sits inthc Testification of Faith (Tashahhud), the grouprises and performs their second rak'a without him(whilc he remains sitting at the end of his secondrak'a waiting for them to reach the same point intheir own prayer)
When thcy catch up with him,he closes the prayer with Salams.If this prayer is the sunset prayer (maghrib),the first group prays two rak'as following theimam's lead, and the second group follows him inthe third rak'a
If it is a prayer with four rak'as,then each group follows the imam for two rak'as.The imam may also divide the Muslim force intofour groups and have each group pray one rak'abehind him.
When the enemy is visible in the directionof prayer (qibla) and the Muslims are numerous,the imam arranges them in two or more rows,opens the group prayer with"" Allahu akbar,"" and(0: after reciting the Fatiha with all of them) hebows and straightens up with everyone followinghis lead
Then he prostrates together with the rownearest him, while the other row remains standing.When the imam and his row stand after theirsecond prostration, the other row performs its-own prostrations and rises to catch up with theimam and his row, who have remained standingwaiting for them.In the seeond rak'a all bow and straighten uptogether, but when the imam prostrates, the seeondrow, who remained standing on guard before,prostrate with him while the row nearest himremain standing on guard
When those who haveprostrated with the imam sit back (0: after theirprostration, for the Testification of Faith(Tashahhud)) then the row nearest him (0: whohave been standing on guard) prostrate (0: andcatch up with the others in the Testification ofFaith (Tashahhud))).
It is recommended to remain armed duringthe prayer of periL
When the peril is great, in actual combat,Muslims may pray walking or riding, facing thedirection of prayer (qibla) or not, in a group orsingly, and nodding in place of bowing and prostrationwhen they are unable to perform them,nodding more
deeply for prostration than forbowing
If forced to strike blow after blow duringthe prayer, this is permissible
Shouting is not.*
(A: It is offensive for men to wear tight clothing that discloses the size ofthe parts of their body which are nakedness (def: f5.3), and this is unlawful forwomen.)
It is unlawful for men to wear silk or use itin any way, even to line clothing, though it is permissibleto use it as padding in a cloak, pillow, ormattress.
Women may wear and use silk, and it ispermissible for a guardian to dress a child in itbefore puberty.
It is permissible for men to use fabric composedpartly of silk as long as the weight of the silkis half or less of the weight of the fabric; toembroider with silk thread where (0: the widthof) the design does not exceed four fingers (0:though the length does not matter); to have a silkfringe on a garment; or a silk collar; or to cover asilk mattress with a handkerchief or the like andsit on it.It is also permissible for men to use silk whenthere is need to in severe heat or cold, to clothetheir nakedness with it for the prayer when thereis nothing else, or to use it when suffering fromitching or for protection from lice
(0: The upshotis that when there is real need for it, one may useit
Otherwise, it is an enormity (def: c2.5(2)).Imam Ghazali attributes its prohibition to itseffeminacy and softness, which are unbecoming ofmen.}
It is permissible to wear a garmentaffected by something impure (najasa, def: e14.1)when not in prayer (0: or other activites requiringpurity, provided one is not in a mosque
As forwearing such a garment in a mosque, one may not,since it is not permissible to carry somethingimpure into the mosque when there is not someneed, such as having to take one's shoes inside).It is unlawful to wear leather taken from thecarcass of an unslaughtered animal (n: before tanning,as at e14.6) except when there is pressingneed, such as in the event of a sudden outbreak ofwar (A: when there is nothing else) and the like.
It is unlawful for men to wear goldjewelry, even the teeth of a ring's setting thatholds its stone
(0: Unlike silk, there is no differencefor the prohibition of gold between small andlarge amounts.) Nor may men wear objectspainted or plated with gold, though if these tarnishso that the gold is no longer apparent, then theyare permissible.
It is permissible to r.epair teeth with gold.
It is lawful (A: for both sexes) to wear asilver ring (A: the sunna for men being to do so onthe little finger, of either hand), and (A: for men)to decorate battle weapons with silver, but not ridinggear such as saddles and the like, nor aninkwell, writing utensil case, work knife,penknife, or lamp fixture--even if in a mosquenorto have silver jewelry other than rings, such asa necklace, armband, bracelet (0: because theseresemble the habits of women and it is unlawfulfor men to imitate women), or a crown.It is not permissible to use silver (A: or gold)to embellish the ceiling or walls of a house ormosque (0: even those of the Kaaba, because it iswasteful, and no one has reported that the earlyMuslims did so), though if the amount is so slightthat none could be melted off by applying fire,then it may remain
If more than that, then not(0: i.e
it must be removed).
(0: It is offensive to use cloth for interiordecoration in houses (A: meaning that if curtainsand the like are used merely for decoration, it isoffensive, though there is nothing wrong withusing them to screen a room from view), even forshrines at the tombs of the righteous and learned.It is unlawful to decorate walls with pictures (n: ofanimate life, as at p44).)
It is permissible for both men and womento decorate copies of the Koran and to embellishwriting with silver (0: out of reverence for it)
It ispermissible for women to have copies of theKoran decorated with gold, but this is unlawfulfor men.
All gold jewelry is permissible for women,even on shoes and woven into fabric, provided it isnot wasteful
But if a woman is wasteful, such aswhen she has a nO-gram anklet of gold (0: meaningthat it (N: i.e
the weight of a piece, thoughthere is no limit to the number of average-weightpieces) exceeds the customary), then it is unlawful(0: since gold is only permitted to women for thesake of beauty, and when gold exceeds what isnormal it is repulsive and devoid
of oeauty (A:and zakat must be paid on such wasteful jewelry(n: as opposed to jewelry that is not wasteful, onwhich no zakat is due (dis: h4.4)))).*
(0: Attending the Friday prayer is personallyobligatory
It is the finest of prayers, and itsday, Friday, is the best day of the week
Its integralsand conditions are the same as other prayers(def: f9.13-14).)
Anyone obliged to pray the noon prayer(zuhr) is obliged to pray the Friday prayerGumu'a), except for women and for travellers ona trip that is not disobedience (def: f15.5), even ifthe trip is less that 81 km.l50 mi
one way (n:though one's departure for the journey must havetaken place before dawn on Friday, as at f18.6).Valid excuses for not attending group prayer(def: f12
5), such as illness or taking care of a sickperson, excuse one from attending the Fridayprayer Gumu'a).
Eligible Muslims living in a village wherethere are not forty men (n: the minimum requiredfor a valid Friday prayer, as at f18
7( e)) must go toa larger town for the Friday prayer when the twoplaces are close enough that the call to prayer(adhan) from the larger town is audible to themunder normal circumstances, given a calm windand no interference
Audible means that the callof a man with a loud voice standing in the largertown on the side facing the village could be heardby a man with normal hearing standing on the side·of the village facing the town
If such a call wouldbe inaudible, then the villagers are not obliged togo to pray the Friday prayer (A: but merely praythe noon prayer (zuhr)).
A Muslim present at the mosque who isnot obliged to pray the Friday prayer may leave(A: instead of participating in it, such as a travellermerely wanting to pray the noon prayer (zuhr)and go), except for the following, who must praythe Friday prayer:(1) someone with an illness for whom waitingfor the Friday prayer poses no hardship, providedthat he has arrived after its time has begun(0: namely noon, for if he arrives before this, or ifwaiting is a hardship, then he may leave);(2) someone who is blind;(3) or someone whose excuse is muddy terrain(dis: f12.S(2)).Those· present at the mosque who are notobliged to pray the Friday prayer (A: other thanthe above-mentioned) may choose between performingthe Friday prayer and the noon prayer(zubr) (0: even when the fact that they arepresent eliminates their excuse)
If they want toperform the noon prayer (zuhr) in a group (0: asis sunna) and their excuse from the Friday prayeris not obvious to onlookers, then they should concealtheir group prayer rather than display it (0:which would be offensive under the circumstances).If a person is not obliged to perform the Fridayprayer, but believes the reason for his excusemay disappear, such as sick person (A: hoping torecover before the prayer ends), then he shouldpostpone his noon prayer (zuhr) until he can nolonger hope to attend the Friday prayer
But ifone's excuse from the obligation of attending theFriday prayer is not expected to cease, such asbeing a woman, then it is recommended to praythe noon prayer (zuhr) at the first of its time.
The noon prayer (zuhr) of someoneobliged to perform the Friday prayer is not validuntil he has missed the Friday prayer (A: by itshaving finished without his having attended).
It is unlawful for someone (0: obliged topray the Friday prayer) to travel after dawn (A: onFriday before having prayed it) unless:(1) there is a place on his route where theFriday prayer will take place;(2) or he is going to travel with a group (0: ofpeople not obliged to pray the Friday prayer) whoare departing, such that his staying behind wouldentail harm for him.
In addition to the usual conditions for theprayer (def: f9.13), a valid Friday prayer Gumu'a)also requires:(a) that it be a group prayer;(b) that it take place during the time of noonprayer (zuhr);(c) that it follow two sermons (khutba, def:f18.9);(d) that its site be located among the dwellingsof the community;(e) that there be a minimum of forty participantswho are male, have reached puberty, aresane, and are local residents, meaning they livethere and do not leave except when they need to(n: though the minimum according to Abu Hanifais three participants besides the imam (al-Lubab fisharh al-Kitab (y88), 1.111));(f) and that, in places where it is no hardshipfor everyone to pray at one location, there be noother Friday prayer prior to or simultaneous withit (0: i.e
in the opening Allahu Akbar of theprayer (dis: below)).The imam is counted as one of the forty«e) above).A group performing the Friday prayer must finishit as a noon prayer (zuhr) if:(1) (non-(e) above) the number of participantsdiminishes during it to less than forty;(2) or (non-(b)) if its time ends during theprayer (0: with the coming of the midafternoonprayer's time)
If the group has doubts beforestarting the Friday prayer that they will be able tofinish it within its time, then they must begin it asa noon prayer (zuhr).
In places where having everyone assemblein one location is a hardship, as in Cairo orBaghdad, it is valid to hold as many Fridayprllyersas are
needed
In places where it poses nohardship, such as Mecca or Medina, if two Fridayprayers are held, the first ofthem (A: to open with""Allahu akbar"") is the Friday prayer, and the secondis invalid (A: and must be reprayed as a noonprayer)
If two are held in such a place and it is notclear which was first, they should start overtogether as one Friday prayer.THE SERMON (KHUfBA)
The integrals of the sermon (khutba) arefive (0: and their order is sunna) (n: (a), (b), and(c) below are required in each of the two sermons,while (d) may be in either, and (e) must occur inthe second, as mentioned below):(a) saying ""al-Hamdu lillah"" (praise be toAllah), this particular utterance being prescribed;(b) the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace), which is also a prescribedutterance;(c) enjoining godfearingness (taqwa), forwhich a particular expression is not prescribed, itbeing sufficient to say ""Obey Allah"";(the above (0: integrals (a), (b), and (c)) areobligatory in each of the two sermons)(d) reciting one verse of the Koran (0: thatconveys an intended meaning, such as a promise,threat, exhortation, or similar) in at least oneof the two sermons;(e) and to supplicate for believers (0: maleand female) in the second of the two sermons (0:which must be for their hereafter, as supplicationsfor this world alone do not fulfill the integral).(n: The following sermon, added here by thetranslator from the commentary at m2, has beenrelated by two chains of transmission, one ascribingit to Ibn Mas'ud, and the other through him tothe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):""Praise is truly Allah's
We praise Him, seekHis help, and ask His forgiveness
We seek refugein Allah from the evils of our selves and our badactions
Whomever Allah guides none can leadastray, and whomever He leads astray has no oneto guide him
I testify that there is no god butAllah alone, without any partner
and thatMuhammad is His slave and messenger
Allahbless him and give him peace, with his folk andCompanions
0 you who believe: fear Allah as Heshould be feared, and do not die other than asMuslims."" '0 people, fear your Lord who created youfrom one soul and created its mate from it, andspread forth from them many men and women.And be mindful of your duty to Allah, by whomyou ask of one another, and to the wombs [thatbore you], for verily, Allah is vigilant over you' ""(Koran 4:1).(n: This sermon fulfills conditions (a), (b),(c), and (d) above (A: and the rest of the sermonmay be in any language), and after sitting briefly,one rises and says, ""al-Hamdu lillah,"" the Blessingson the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), enjoins the people to fear Allah, and mustadd a supplication for the Muslims «e) above),such as saying, ""0 Allah, forgive the believers""(Ar
Allahumma-ghfir lil-mu'minin walmU'minat).)
The conditions of the two sermons are:(a) that the speaker be in a state of purity (0:from minor (def: e7) and major (elO) ritual impurityand from filth (najasa, e14.1));(b) that his nakedness be clothed;(c) that the two sermons occur during thenoon prayer's time (zuhr) before performing thetwo rak'as of the Friday prayer;(d) that the speaker be standing during them(0: if able);(e) that he sit down between the two;(f) and that his voice be loud enough for theforty required participants (def: fI8.7(e)) to hear(0: the sermons' integrals).
The sunnas of the sermon include:(1) that the speaker stand on a pulpit (minbar)or high place (0: and that it be to the right ofthe prayer niche (mihrab) and that the speakerstand on the right side of the pulpit);(2) that he say ""as-Salamu 'alaykum"" tothose present when he enters the mosque and (0:again) when he ascends the pulpit (0: and reacheshis seat there);(3) that he sit until the muezzin has finished(A: the second (dis: w28.2) call to prayer(adhan));(4) that when speaking, he lean on a sword,bow, or stick (0: which is in his left hand
It isdesirable for him to put his other hand on the pulpit.If he does not have a sword or the like, hekeeps his hands still by placing the right upon theleft, or dropping them to his sides, He does notmove them or fidget with one, as the aim is stillnessand humility);(5) and that he face the group during bothsermons (0: and not turn to the right or left duringthem, for it is a reprehensible innovation
It isdesirable for the listeners to face the speaker).
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRIDAY PRAYERThe Friday prayer Uumu'a) consists of tworak'as.lt is sunna for the imam to recite al-Jumu'a(Koran 62) in the first rak'a (A: meaning theentire sura, the sunna being to make the sermonbrief and the rak'as long, though wisdom must beused in deciding how mueh those present willaeeept) and al-Munafiqun (Koran 63) in the secondrak'a (0: following the sunna from a hadithreported by Muslim, who also reported that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)sometimes recited al-A'la (Koran 87) in the firstrak'a of the Friday prayer and a1-Ghashiya (Koran88) in the second).
A latecomer who joins the group prayer intime to bow and remain motionless a momenttherein while the imam is still bowing in the secondrak'a is legally considered to have attendedthe Friday prayer (A: though such a person mustrise after the imam has finished with Salams topray the rak'a he missed)
If the latecomer joinsthe group after this point, he has missed the Fridayprayer, but (0: obligatorily) intends performingthe Friday prayer anyway and follows the imam(0: in ease
the imam has omitted an integral andhas to repeat a rak'a, in which event the latecomerwill have attended the Friday prayer)
(N: But ifthis does not happen, then) when the imamfinishes with Salams, the latecomer rises and completeshis prayer as a noon prayer (zuhr).
RECOMMENDED MEASURES FOR THOSEATTENDING THE FRIDAY PRAYERIt is recommended to perform a purificatorybath (ghusl) (0; and offensive not to) beforegoing to the Friday prayer, though it may be performedanytime after dawn
If one is unable tobathe, one may perform the dry ablution (tayammum).It is also recommended to clean the teeth witha toothstick (siwak, def: e3), trim the nails,remove (0: bodily) hair, eliminate offensiveodors, wear perfume and one's finest clothes(white being the best), and for the imam to dressbetter than anyone else
(A: Because of the timetaken by these measures, it is offensive to visitothers on Friday mornings.)It is offensive for women who attend the Fridayprayer to wear perfume or fine clothes.It is recommended:(1) to arrive early (0: which is recommendedfor everyone besides the imam, so as totake a seat and wait for the prayer), the best timebeing from dawn on;(2) to come on foot in tranquility and dignity,and not to ride to the mosque unless there isan excuse (0: such as old age, weakness, or beingso far from the mosque that the fatigue of walkingwould obviate one's humility and presence ofmind in the prayer);(3) to sit near to the imam;(4) and to invoke Allah (dhikr) (0: both onthe way and at the mosque before the sermon),and to recite the Koran and invoke Blessings (0:on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace)).
It is offensive (0: for anyone but theimam, when there is no need) to step over peopleto reach a place among them, unless one sees avacant spot that cannot be reached otherwise.It is unlawful to make someone sitting in themosque rise and then sit in his place, though ifsomeone voluntarily rises it is permissible (0: foranother to sit there).
It is offensive to give another person one'splace in the front row, in closeness to the imam, orto put others ahead of oneself in performing anyact of worship (0: as is proved by the rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) hadith,""People keep staying behind until Allahkeeps them behind.""As for Allah' s saying,"" ..
preferring others to themselves, thoughpoverty be their lot"" (Koran 59:9),it refers to things that relate to the physical self,such as feeding a hungry person when one needsthe food, in which case preferring another to oneselfis desirable, without a doubt).I t is permissible to send someone to themOsque to save a place for oneself there byspreading something out (0: such as a rug, for noone else may pray on it), though it is permissiblefor another to move it aside and sit down in itsplace.flS.17 It is offensive, though not unlawful, forsomeone sitting in the mosque to speak or to riseand perform the prayer while the imam is givingthe sermon (khutba)
(0: The more reliable positionis that prayer is unlawful during the sermon(N: for the person already sitting in the mosque, asopposed to someone who hasjust arrived, as nextdiscussed).)A latecomer who arrives (0: when the imamis speaking or seated on the pulpit) should praytwo brief rak'as to greet the mosque (0: if theprayer is being held in a mosque
If heldelsewhere, one should intend them as the tworak'as that are sunna before the Friday prayer,though if one has already prayed these at home,one should simply sit down without praying.It is offensive fora latecomer to simply omitthe two rak'as of greeting the mosque, though ifone enters the mosque at the end of the imam'ssermon and believes that praying them will preventone's participating in the opening AllahuAkbar with the group, then one should remainstanding until they rise and incorporate one'sgreeting the mosque into the obligatory prayer(dis: f10.lO)).
It is recommended to recite al-Kahf(Koran 18) and invoke Blessings on the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) on the nightbefore Friday and during its day.
It is recommended to supplicate Allah much on Fridays, seeking the moment whenprayers are answered (0: in view of the hadith Iirelated by Bukhari and Muslm,""There is a moment on Friday when the slaveshall not ask Allah for anything save that He willgive it to him""),which lies between the time the imam first sits onthe pulpit and when the prayer finishes
(A:Others hold that the moment occurs after themidafternoon prayer Casr).)
*(N: Meaning 'Eid ai-Fitr at the end of Ramadan,and 'Eid ai-Adha on 10 Dhul Hijja.)
The prayer on the two 'Eids is a confirmedsunna (def: c4.1) and is recommended to beprayed in a group.Its time begins at sunrise, and it is recommendedto take place after the sun is a spear'slength (def: f13.2(1)) above the horizon (0: thetime for its current performance continuing) untilnoon.
It is best to perform it in the mosque ifthere is room, though if there is not, then it is betterto hold it outdoors.
RECOMMENDED MEASURES FOR THE'EID PRAYERIt is recommended not to eat anything on'Eid al-Adha until one performs the prayer,though one should eat an odd number of datesbefore the prayer on 'Eid al-Fitr.
It is recommended to perform thepurificatory bath (ghusI) after dawn, even if onedoes not attend the prayer, though it may be performedfrom midnight on
It is recommended towear perfume, dress one's best, for young boys tocome in their good clothes, and for women who donot attract men's attention to attend, though withoutwearing perfume or fine clothes
It is offensivefor an attractive woman to attend (dis: f12.4(N:)).It is sunna:(1) to come early after the dawn prayer(subh) on foot;(2) to return home by a different route (N:than one came);(3) for the imam to delay his arrival until thetime of the prayer;(4) and to call the people to prayer with thewords ""The prayer is gathering,"" as one also doesfor the eclipse prayer (def: f20) and the droughtprayer (f21).
DESCRIPTION OF THE 'EID PRAYERThe 'Eid prayer consists of two rak'as.(A: In addition to the opening AllahuAkbar,) one says ""Allahu akbar"" seven timesin the first rak'a after the Opening Supplication(Istiftah, def: f8.13) and before saying ""I takerefuge, etc."" (Ta'awwudh, fS.16); and five timesin the second rak'a, not counting the AllahuAkbar for rising from prostration, before sayingthe Ta'awwudh.One raises one's hands (fS.12) each time onesays"" Allahu akbar.""One invokes Allah Most High (N: to oneself)between each Al1ahu Akbar (0: saying ""Glory beto Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god butAllah, Allah is greatest""), placing the right handupon the left (A: each time one says this invocation).Missing or adding repetitions of ""Allahuakbar"" does not necessitate a forgetfulness prostrationat the end of one's prayer
If one forgetsthem and proceeds directly to the Ta'awwudh,one does not return to them.
It is recommended to recite Qaf (Koran50) in the first rak'a and al-Qamar (Koran 54) inthe second
Or if one wishes, one may recite alA'la(Koran 87) in the first rak'a and al-Ghashiya(Koran 88) in the second
(A: Or one may reciteal-Kafirun (Koran 109) iiI the first rak'a and alIkhlas(Koran 112) in the second.)
After the two rak'as, the imam gives twosermons (khutba) like those of the Friday prayer(0: in integrals (def: f18.9), not conditions (n:which here exclude f18.10(c,d,e))).It is recommended to open the first sermonby saying"" Allahu akbar"" nine times and to openthe second by saying it seven times.It is permissible for the imam to sit during thesermons.
There are tWQ types of Allahu Akbars (A:said for the 'Eids), unrestricted and restricted.The unrestricted, meaning those not confinedto a particular circumstance but rather recited inmosques, homes, and the street, are sunna torecite from sunset on the night before each 'Eiduntil the imam commences the 'Eid prayer withthe opening Allahu Akbar.The restricted, meaning those recited afterprayers (0: whether the five prescribed prayers orthe nonobligatory), are sunna for 'Eid al-Adhaonly, from the noon prayer (zuhr) on 'Eid dayuntil the dawn prayer (subh) on the last of thethree days that follow it, which is the fourth day ofthe 'Eid
(N: The more reliable position is that thetime for them begins from dawn of the Day of'Arafa (n: 9 Dhul Hijja) and ends at the midafternoonprayer ('asr) on the last ofthe three days thatfollow 'Eid al-Adha.) They are recited (0: bymen, by women (who say them to themselves), byboth nontravellers and travellers, and whetherone is praying by oneself or in a group) after thecurrent prescribed prayers or making up prescribedprayers missed during the 'Eidor before,and after prayers performed to fulfill a vow,funeral prayers Qanaza), and supererogatoryprayers
If one misses a prayer during the 'Eid butdoes not make it up until after the 'Eid, then onedoes not recite ""Allahu akbar"" after it.One says, ""Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar,Allahu akbar"" (N: and then, ""there is no god butAllah
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, praise be toAllah"")
It is commendable to add, as people areaccustomed to, ""Allah is ever greatest, etc."" (0:namely: ""Much praise be to Allah
Glory to Himmorning and evening
There is no god but Allah.Him alone we worship, making our religion sincerelyHis though the unbelievers be averse .There is no god but Allah alone
He fulfilled Hispromise, gave victory to His slave, strengthenedHis army, and vanquished the Confederatesalone
There is no god but Allah
Allah is evergreatest"").
It is recommended to say ""Allahu akbar""on the first ten days of Dhul Hijja whenever onesees a head oflivestock (0: out ofreverence foritsCreator).*
(0: Eclipse refers to both that of the moonand sun.)
The eclipse prayer is a confirmed sunna(def: c4.1) (0: and missing it is not permissible,but rather is offensive).
(0: Like the drought prayer, it has no callto prayer (adhan) (n: besides that mentioned atf19.4(4)).)
It is recommended to be performed in agroup at the mosque.It is recommended for women without attractivefigures to attend (0: in their householdclothes, that is, women advanced in years and thelike
As for women who have attractive figures, itis desirable for them to perform it in their homes(dis: f12.4(N:))).
DESCRIPTION OF THE ECLIPSE PRAYERThe eclipse prayer consists of two rak'as.The minimum is:(a) to open with ""Allahu akbar"";(b) to recite the Fatiha;(c) to bow;(d) to straighten up;(e) to recite the Fatiha again;(f) to bow again;(g) to (0: straighten up and) remain motion ..less a moment;(h) and to prostrate, then sit up, and thenprostrate again.This is one rak'a, comprising standing twice,reciting (0: the Fatiha) twice, and bowing twice.One then prays the second rak'a like the first.It is not permissible to lengthen the amountof time one stands or bows merely because theeclipse has not yet passed, or to shorten therak'as to less (0: than the above way after havingintended it) because the eclipse has passed.
The optimal way is that after redting theOpening Supplication (Istiftah, def: fS.13), theTa'awwudh (f8.16), and the Fatiha, one:(a) recite aI .
Baqara (Koran 2) for the firstKoran recital;(b) recite Al 'Imran (Koran 3) after the secondtime one recites the Fatiha (A: in the firstrak'a);(A: then, in the second rak'a:)(c) recite al-Nisa (Koran 4) for the thirdredtal;(d) and recite al-Ma'ida (Koran 5) for thefourth recital.Or one may recite comparable amounts ofthe Koran in place of the above suras.One bows and says ""Subhana Rabbiya al-'Adhim""(""How far above any limitation is myLord Most Greaf') after the first of the fourKoran recitals for a period equal to reciting onehundrcd verses of al-Baqara (N: about 20minutes); after the second recital for the length ofeighty of its verses; after the third for the length ofseventy verses; and after the fourth for the lengthof fifty verses.The other parts of the eclipse prayer are thesame as other prayers.
After praying
it is recommended that theimam give two sermons like those of the Fridayprayer (0; in integrals (def: f18.9) and conditions(f18.10), except that here the semons follow theprayer, as opposed to those of the Friday prayer,which precede it).
One may no longer perform the eclipseprayer if one has not yet begun it when the eclipsepasses, when the sun sets while still eclipsed, orwhen the sun rises while the moon is still eclipsed.But if one has begun the prayer and the eclipsepasses or the sun sets while still in eclipse, onenevertheless completes the prayer.*
The drought prayer is a confirmed sunna(def: c4.1) (0; even for someone travelling, orpraying alone), and is recommended to be prayedin a group.
When the land is parched or the water supplyis cut off or diminished, the imam (A: i.e
thecaliph (def: 025) or his representative) warnspeople against wrongdoing and orders them torepent for their sins, give charity (0: because thisinfluences the acceptance of prayers), settle theirdifferences with enemies (0: if the enmity isnot for Allah's sake
Otherwise, it is notobjectionable, for severing ties with the corrupt issomething that one should do), and fast for threedays (0: which must be consecutive, for this isobligatory if the caliph orders it)
Then, on thefourth day while still fasting, they come out to anempty expanse (lit
""desert"") in their workclothes, accompanied by those of the women whodo not have attractive figures (dis: f12.4(N:)),livestock, men and women advanced in years,infants and small children, the pious, and thoserelated to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless himand give him peace); and they ask Allah to givethem rain because of.those present(O: i.e
by virtueof their spiritual grace (baraka), intercedingthrough them)
Each mentions to himself thegood works he has done and intercedes throughthem.Non-Muslim subjects ofthe Islamic state whoattend are not hindered from doing so, but maynot mix with us.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DROUGHT PRAYERThe drought prayer consists of two rak'aslike those ofthe 'Eid (def: f19.5).The imam then gives two sermons like thoseof the 'Eid, except that in place of each AllahuAkbar (f19.7), the imam says, ""I ask forgivenessvf Allah Most Great
whom there is no god butHe, the Living, the Ever Subsistent, and I tum toHim in repentance.""During the sermons, the imam frequentlyasks Allah's forgiveness (istighfar), blesses theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),supplicates Allah
and recites the verses,""Ask forgiveness of your Lord-verily He isoft-forgiving-and He will loose the sky uponyou in torrents, aid you with wealth and sons,and make gardens and rivers yours"" (Koran71:10-12).In the second sermon (0: about a third of theway through it) the imam turns toward the directionof prayer (qibla) and switches his cloakaround (0: by putting the right side of it on his leftand vice versa
It is also sunna to tum it upsidedown
Both sunnas can be effected by putting thelower left comer on the right shoulder and lowerright comer on the left shoulder
The wisdomtherein is the favorable portent of a change ofstate)
The people do likewise.He should supplicate to his utmost
both tohimself and aloud
(0: Those present raise theirhands with the backs of the hands up
The sunnasupplication is: ""0 Allah, send us rain, rainingwholesomely, healthily
torrentially, widespread,pouringly, in sheets, drenchingly, continuously tillJudgement Day
0 Allah, give us rain and makeus not of those who despair
0 Allah, servants andcities are in distress, hunger, and want, fromwhich we can ask none but You for relief
0Allah, make the crops grow and the milk of thelivestock flow, and send down the sky's blessingsupon us and bring forth for us the blessings of theearth
Raise from us the affliction that none butYou can lift
"")If they pray but are not given any rain, theyrepeat the prayer (0: until given rain)
If they prepare(0: and gather), but are given rain before theprayer, they pray in thanks and ask for more.
It is recommended for those whose land isflourishing to supplicate after prayers for thosewhose land is parehed
(0: This being the middlecourse
The minimum is to make a supplieation,while the optimum is to take the above measuresof performing two rak'as with the two sermons,the supplications, and asking for forgiveness.)
At the first rainfall of the year, it is recommendedto uncover part of the body for the rain tostrike.
It is recommended to glorify Allah whenthunder is heard (0: saying, ""Glory to Him thethunder and the angels glorify, in awe of Him,"")and when lightning is seen (0: saying, ""Glory toHim who shows you the lightning that you mayhave fear and hope"").
If it rains so much that harm is feared, it isrecommended to supplicate as has come in thesunna: ""0 Allah, around us, not upon us
0Allah, upon the hills and bluffs, the valley floorsand copses of trees
""*
It is recommended for everyone to frequentlyremember death, particularly if one is ill,and to prepare for it by repenting (def: p77) (0:because of the hadith,""Remember often the Ender of Pleasures,""meaning death, a hadith related by Tirmidhi, IbnHibban, and Hakim, the latter two classifying it asrigorously authenticated (sahih)
Nasa'i's versionhas the addition,""for truly, it is not remembered in a plentitudesave it diminishes it, and not remembered in adearth save it increases it,""""plentitude"" meaning of wives and this-worldlygoods, and ""dearth"" meaning of spiritual works).
It is recommended to visit the ill, even ifthe malady is only sore eyes, whether the person isa friend or enemy.If the sick person is a non-Muslim subject ofthe Islamic state (dhimmi, def: 011) then if he is arela.tive or neighbor, visiting him is recommended.If not, visiting him is merely permissible.
It is offensive to sit lengthily with a sickperson
It is recommended not to continuouslyvisit (0: but only from time to time) unless one isa relative or similar person (0: of his friends)whom the sick person is fond of, or someone (0:of the righteous) from whose presence othersderive spiritual blessing (baraka), for any ofwhom visiting the sick person is recommended atany time as long as there is no objection (0: by thesick person to long visits).
If the visitor has hopes thatthe patient willsurvive, he supplicates for him (0: saying, ""0Allah, Lord of Men, remove the harm and healforYou are the Healer besides whom there is noother-with a cure that will not leave behind painor sickness,"") and then leaves
But if the visitorsees little hope of a recovery, he should encouragethe sick person to repent and to make his bequests(def: Ll-3) (0: by telIing him, e.g
""You shouldrepent of all your sins so that Allah Most Highheals you, for repentance is reason for cures
Andyou should make some provision for bequests, asit prolongs one's life
A person should makebequests while alive and only die after havingdone so, for there is no one who does notpass on"").
INSTRUCTING THE DYING PERSONIf the visitor sees the person is dying, heshould make him desirous of Allah's mercy (0:since hope should predominate over fear in thisstate) and should turn him to face the direction ofprayer (qibla) by laying him on his right side, or ifimpossible, on his left
If this too is impossible, heis laid on hi!> hack (0: with his face and feettowards the direction of prayer (qibla) by proppingup his head a little, feet meaning the bottomsof them).The visitor should then instruct the dying per·son to say ""There is no god but Allah,"" letting himhear it (N: so he can repeat it) but without irritat·ing insistence, and without telling him ""Say ...
""When he says it, then he is let be until he himselfspeaks of something else.It is recommended that the person instructinghim to say it be neither his heir nor enemy.
IMMEDIATE MEASURES AFTER DEATHWhen he dies, it is recommended that thekindliest to him of his unmarriageable kin(mahram) close his eyes
It is recommended:(l) to close his jaws (0: with a wide bandagetied above his head so his mouth is not left open);(2) to make his joints flexible (0: by bendingthe forearm to the upper arm, calf to thigh, thighto stomach, and then straightening them, and tosimilarly flex the fingers in order to faeilitatewashing and shrouding bim.1f the joints are flexedat this point, they remain flexible, but if not, itbecomes impossible afterwards):(3) to (0: gently) remove his clothes, and tocover him with a light cloth (0: tucking the edgeunder his head and feet so they do not beeomeuncovered);(4) and to place something heavy on hisstomach (0: to prevent bloating).
It is recommended to hasten in paying offthe debts of the deceased (dis: L4.2-3) or havingthem waived (n: by creditors)
It is recommendedto hurry in implementing his bequests, and inreadying him for burial (0: haste being recom·mended (N: in readying him and burying him)when it is unlikely that the body will rapidlychange, but obligatory when this is likely).
When someone dies suddenly (0: or isbelieved to have died), the body is left until it iscertain he is dead (0: by a change in odor or thelike).
Washing the dead person, shrouding him,praying over him, carrying him, and burying himare communal obligations (def: c3.2).*
Then the body is washed (0: obligatorily).
WHO SHOULD WASH THE BODYWhen the deceased is male, the best suitedto wash the body (A: anyone may wash it, but it isnot permissible (N: being offensive) for a nonMuslimto wash the body of a Muslim, and nonMuslimrelatives are as though nonexistent in thefollowing priority list) is:(I) the father of the deceased;(2) the father's father;(3) the son;(4) the son's son;(5) the brother;(6) the father's brother;(7) the son of the father's brother;(8) those named in the sequence given atL10.6(12-14);(9) men related to the deceased;(10) men not related to him;(11) his wife;(12) and his unmarriageable female relatives(mahram, def: m6.1).
If the deceased is female, the best suited towash the body is:(1) one of her female relatives (0: meaningthe women of her immediate family, such as herdaughter or mother);(2) other women;(3) her husband;(4) and then a member of her unmarriageablemale relatives (mahram,def: m6.2) (0: in theabove (g2.2) order).
If the deceased is a non-Muslim, then his non-Muslim relatives are better suited to washhim.
It is recommended that the washer betrustworthy (0: so that he can be relied on to washthe deceased completely and so forth
If he noticessomething good, it is sunna to mention it, but if henotices something bad, it is unlawful to mention it,as this is slander (ghiba, def: r2.2)).
HOW TO WASH THE BODYIt is obligatory for the washer to keep thenakedness (def: fS.3) of the deceased clothed(fSA) while washing him.It is sunna that no one be present except thewasher and his assistant
(0: It is preferable thatthe body be washed while clothed in an anklelengthshirt into which the washer inserts his handfrom the sleeve if ample enough, while pouringwater over the garment and washing the bodyunder it
If the sleeve is not wide enough for this,he tears open the seam from the side under thearm
It is obligatory that the body be covered fromnavel to knees.) Incense should be burned fromthe start of washing to the finish (0: as is sunna).It is best to wash the body under a roof, andbest that cold water be used, except when necessary(0: to heat it, such as to clean away filth thatcould not otherwise be removed, or when theweather is cold, since the deceased suffers from itjust as a living person would).
It is unlawful to look at the nakedness ofthe deceased (def: f5.3) or touch it, except with acloth (0: or similar, since direct contact withoutthere being something in between is not permissible).It is recommended not to look at or directlytouch the other parts of the body save with a cloth.
It is recommended:(1) to force out waste from the stomach;(2) to clean the private parts of filth (0:which is recommended when one is not certainanything has exited from those parts, though if ithas, cleaning is obligatory);(3) to give the body ablution (wudu) (0: likethe ablution of a living person, turning the headwhen rinsing the mouth and nostrils so that nowater reaches the stomach);(4) to make the intention of performing thepurificatory bath (ghusl), and then to wash thehead, beard, and body each three times with waterinfused (with sidr (n: i.e
lote tree (Rhamus spinachristi) leaves), taking care each time to press thehand on the stomach (N: in a downward stroke)(0: leaning on it to force its contents out, butgently so as not to hurt the deceased
If the hair ofthe head or beard is matted, it should be gentlycombed with a wide-toothed comb so as not to pullany out
If hair comes out as a result, the washershould return it and place it in the shroud to beburied with the deceased).
(0: It is sunna:(1) that the place of washing be on an inclineso the head is highest and the water flows downaway from it;(2) that there be an incense burner presentwith incense in it;(3) to put one's right hand on the shoulder ofthe deceased with the thumb on the nape of hisneck so that the head does not loll, and brace hisback up against one's right knee;(4) to have the helper pour abundant waterduring the process to obviate offensive odors fromwaste leaving the body;(5) to stroke the stomach firmly and effectivelywith one's left hand;(6) and when finished, to lay the deceaseddown again on his back with his feet towards thedirection of prayer (qibla).)
If the body is not clean after three times,one washes it again, reaching an odd number ofwashings
(0: If clean after an even number ofwashings, it is sunna to add another
If clean afteran odd number, one does not add any.)It is sunna to add a little camphor to thewater, especially for the last washing.The obligatory minimum for this purificatorybath (ghusl) is that water reach all external partsof the body (0: and it is obligatory to remOVe anyfilth (najasa, def: e14.1), if present).The body should be dried with a doth afterwards.If anything leaves the body after washing,only the affected area need be washed
(0: It isnot necessary to repeat the ablution (wudu) orbath (ghusl), even if the excretion is from the frontor rear private parts.)
Then the body is shrouded (0: obligatorily).
If the deceased is male it is recommendedthat he be wrapped in three washed (0: not new)white shrouds, without an ankle-length shirt orturban, each shroud covering the whole body (0:unless the deceased was in a state of pilgrim sanctity(ihram), in which case the head of the male orface of the female must be left uncovered)
It ispermissible to add (0: beneath the shrouds) anankle-length shirt and a turban
It is unlawful touse silk (N: to shroud a man).If the deceased is a woman it is recommendedthat she be dressed in a wraparound, headcover,and a shift, and that she be wrapped in twoshtouds (0: like those used for men in being whiteand washed), each of which covers her (0: entirebody)
It is offensive for a woman's shroud to bemade of silk, or fabric dyed with saffron orsafflower.The obligatory minimum for shrouding a manor woman is to completely cover their nakedness.(0: For a man it is obligatory to cover the navel,the knees, and what lies between them, and for awoman, her entire body.)
It is recommended:(1) to scent the shrouds with incense (0:from aloes and the like);(2) to sprinkle them with hunut (0: anaromatic compound of camphor, reed perfume,and red and white sandalwood) and camphor;(3) to place cotton and hunut on the aperturesofthebody (0: such as the eyes, mouth, nostrils,and ears) and on places that touch the groundin prostration (0: the forehead, nose, palms, bottomsof the feet, and the knees);(4) and it is commendable to perfume theentire body.
If a person dies while in a state of pilgrimsanctity (ihram, def: j3), it is unlawful to scent thebody, to dress it in a garment with any sewing in it(A: if male), and to cover the head of a male'sbody or the face of a female's.
It is not recommended to prepare a shroudfor oneself, unless to ensure that it comes from alawful source or from the effects of a virtuous person(0: meaning those who worship much, orreligious scholars who apply their knowledge intheir lives
In such a case, one may procure it forthe blessing therein (tabarruk, dis: w31)).*
Then the deceased is prayed over (0:obligatorily).The obligation is fulfilled if a single Muslimmale (0: who has reached the age of discrimination)prays over the deceased
It is not fulfilled bya prayer of women alone when there is a maleavailable, though if there is no one besideswomen, they are obliged to pray and their prayerfulfills the obligation.
It is recommended to perform the funeralprayer in a group
It is offensive to pray it at acemetery (0: though not in a mosque, which ispreferable) .
WHO SHOULD LEAD THE FUNERAL PRAYERThe person best suited to lead the funeralprayer as imam is the one who is best suited towash the deceased (dis: g2.2) except for women,who have no right to lead (dis: f12.27)
The familymember responsible for the deceased is givenpreference in leading the prayer even over the sultim(0: or imam of the mosque).The older of two persons (0: meaning moreyears in Islam, provided he is upright (def: O24.4))takes precedence over the more learned in SacredLaw (0: when they are at the same level (n: of theg2.2 precedence order), such as two sons or twobrothers, since the purpose is to pray for thedeceased, and the supplication of an older personis more likely to be answered) and (n: the older) isgiven precedence over any others (A: at thatlevel), though ifthey are ofthe same age,then oneis chosen according to the order used for theimamate of other prayers (def: f12.25).The responsible family member is given precedencein leading the funeral prayer even whenthe deceased has stipulated some other nonfamilymember to be the imam.
PLACING THE BODY FOR THEFUNERAL PRAYERIt is recommended (N:in the funeralprayer itself, where the deceased, enshrouded, ison a bier in front of the imam and lying on his rightside facing the direction of prayer (qibla)) that theimam stand by the head of the deceased, if male,and by the posterior, if female (0: because thisbetter screens her from view).
If there are several bodies, it is best to performa separate funeral prayer for each individual,though it is permissible to pray for all of them in asingle prayer by putting the biers directly in frontof the imam (0: one after another (N: parallelwith the rows of worshippers), each body facingthe direction of prayer (qibla))
The closest bodyto the imam (0: if the dead differ in gender)should be an adult male, then a boy, then a woman(0: though if all are male, all female, or all boys),then the best Muslim, then the next best (0: inpiety, abstinence from this world, godfearingness,and all praiseworthy traits), and so forth.If bodies are brought successively, the firstone brought is placed closest to the imam, even ifa prior arrival is less virtuous or is a boy, thoughnot if a female, whose body should be placedfurther from the imam than that of a male broughtsubsequently.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FUNERAL PRAYERThen one intends to perfonn the prayer.One must keep in mind its obligatory character,though need not explicitly intend it as a communalobligation (def: c3.2)
(0: One may confine oneselfto merely intending to pray four AllahuAkbars over the particular deceased person as anobligatory act, without intending its being in fulfillmentof a communal obligation
The intentionmust coincide with one's opening Allahu Akbar
)It is valid for someone to perform a funeralprayecfor a dead person who is absent (dis: g4.18)while following an imam who is praying over adead person who is present.
One says ""Allahu akbar"" four times in thefuneral prayer, raising one's hands (0: to shoulderlevel) at each one, and it is recommended betweeneach one to fold the right hand over the left.The funeral prayer is not invalidated by adding afifth Allahu Akbar, even intentionally, though ifthe imam adds one the follower does not dolikewise, but simply waits to finish with him whenhe says his Salams.
After the first Allahu Akbar it is obligatoryto recite the Fatiha
It is recommended to say""I take refuge, etc."" (Ta'awwudh, def: f8.16)before it and ""Ameen"" after it, though not torecite the Opening Supplication (Istiftah, f8.13)or a sura therein.(A: It is obligatory that the Fatiha be recitedin the funeral prayer and that the other spokenelements be uttered, but as for each occurringafter its respective Allahu Akbar, the only onewhich must obligatorily be in its place is the Blessingson the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), which must come after the second AllahuAkbar.)
After the second Allahu Akbar (N: andone remains standing throughout the funeralprayer), it is obligatory to say the Blessings on theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),after which it is sunna to supplicate for the believers.(0: It is also sunna to bless the folk of theProphet after the blessings upon him (Allah blesshim and give him peace) and to say ""al-Hamdulillah"" before it.)
After the third Allahu Akbar one supplicatesfor the deceased
The recommended supplicationis: ""0 Allah, this is Your slave, and son ofYour slave
He has left the zephyr of this worldand its spaciousness, in which were the things andpeople he loved, for the darkness of the grave andthat whIch he will meet
He testified that there isno god but You alone without a partner, and thatMuhammad is Your slave and messenger
Youknow him better than we
0 Allah, he has gone toremain with You, and You are the best to remainwith
He is now in need of Your mercy, and Youhave no need to torment him
We come to You indesire for You, interceding for him
0 Allah, ifhedid well, treat him the better, and if he did wrong,disregard it and through Your mercy show himYour good pleasure and protect him from the trialand torment of the grave
Make his grave spaciousfor him and distance the earth from his sides, andthrough Your mercy protect him from Your tormentuntil You raise him and send him safely toYour paradise, 0 Most Merciful of the Merciful
""(n: This is the optimal supplication
The minimumis mentioned below at g4.13(f).)
It is commendable to say before theabove: ""0 Allah, forgive those of us who are aliveand those who are dead, those present and thoseabsent, those who are young and those who areold, those who are male and those who are female.o Allah, let those of us You give life live by Islam,and let those of us You take back die in a state offaith
""If it is the funeral of a child, one may add tothis: ""0 Allah, send him ahead to smoothe theway for his parents, and make him a reason forreward, a treasure, admonition, reflection, andintercessor
Make the scales of their good deedsheavy through him, and fill their hearts with patience.
""After the fourth Allahu Akbar, it is sunnato say, ""0 Allah, do not withhold from us hisrecompense, nor try us after him, but forgive usand him.""Then one says ""as-Salamu 'alaykum"" twrce(0: the first one being obligatory and the secondsunna).
The integrals of the funeral prayer areseven:(a) the intention;(b) standing;(e) saying ""Allahu akbar"" four times;(d) the Fatiha;(e) the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace);(f) the supplication for the deceased, theminimum being ""0 Allah, forgive this deceased"";(g) and the first of the two times one says""as-Salamu 'alaykum"" to finish the prayer.
The conditions of the funeral prayer arethe same as other prayers (def: f9 .13), but in additionrequire:(a) that the deceased's body has beenwashed before the prayer;(b) and that the imam and those praying donot stand ahead of the body during the prayer (N:i.e
closer to the direction of prayer (qibla)).It is offensive to perform the funeral prayerover a body before it has been shrouded.If someone dies under a pile of rubble, and itis impossible to take out the body and wash it(non-(a) above), then he is not prayed over.
A latecomer to the funeral prayer whomthe imam has preceded by having already said""Allahu akbar"" a number of times recites (0: theFatiha) after his own opening Allahu Akbar
andthen says ""Allahu akbar"" each time the imamdoes, though he performs the integrals in orderfrom the point at which he began (0: reciting theFatiha ·after his first Allahu Akbar, the Blessingson the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him'peace) after the second, and the supplication forthe deceased after his third), and when the imamfinishes with Salams, the latecomer goes on tocomplete his remaining number of times of saying""Allahu akbar"" and the other spoken elements,and then finishes with his own Salams.It is recommended that the body not be lifteduntil the latecomer finishes his prayer.If the latecomer joins the group with hisopening Allahu Akbar, and the imamimmediately says the (0: second) Allahu Akbar(N: before the latecomer has had a chance torecite the Fatiha), then the latecomer (N: omitsthe Fatiha and) says ""Allahu akbar"" with theimam
Here, the latecomer has' performed thefirst two Allahu Akbars (0: both the second onewhich he performed with them, and the first onewhich lacked the Fatiha), and he is no longerobliged to recite the Fatiha
If the imam's AllahuAkbar occurs while such a latecomer is recitingthe Fatiha, he discontinues it and says ""Allahuakbar"" with the imam.If the imam says"" Allahu akbar"" and the followerdoes not say it until the imam has said it asecond time, it invalidates the follower's prayer.
REPEATING THE FUNERAL PRAYERWhen one has performed a funeral prayerover someone, it is recommended that one notrepeat it.
Someone who has missed praying (0: afuneral prayer until after the deceased has beenburied) may pray it at the grave (0: and such aprayer is legally valid whether the deceased wasburied before the funeral prayer had been performedover him, or whether after, though it isunlawful to bury a Muslim before his funeralprayer, and anyone who knows of it is guilty of asin), but only on condition that the person prayingat the grave had reached puberty and was sane onthe day the deceased died (0: as he was thus oneof those responsible for the communal obligationof praying over the deceased)
Otherwise, he maynot pray there.
PRAYING OVER THE DEAD WHOARE NOT PRESENTIt is permissible to perform the funeralprayer for an absent person whose body is out oftown, even if not far (0: and even if the body is notin the direction of prayer (qibla) which the personpraying faces (non-(g4.14(b)))
But such a prayerdoes not lift the communal obligation from thepeople ofthe town where the deceased died).It is not permissible to perform the funeralprayer over someone who is absent (0: from theplace of prayer) when the body is in the same town(A: though this is permissible if it is at the edge ofa large city and is a problem to reach).
If part of the body of a person whose deathhas been verified is found, then it is obligatory towash, shroud, and pray over it (0: even ifthe partis a fingernail or hair, as there is no difference betweena little and a lot (A: provided that the partwas separated from him after death (N: and providedthe rest of him has not been prayed over, forif it has, then it is not obligatory to pray over thepart))).
BURYING MARTYRSIt is unlawful to wash the body of a martyr(0: even if in a state of major ritual impurityGanaba) or the like) or perform the funeral prayerover him
A martyr (shahid) means someone whodied in battle with non-Muslims (0: from fightingthem, as opposed to someone who died otherwise,such as a person killed out of oppression when notin battle, or who died from fighting nonpolytheists, such as (N: Muslim) transgressors).It is recommended that war gear be removedfrom the body (0: such as a breastplate and thelike), and it is best to bury the martyr in the rest ofhis bloodstained clothes (0: since it is the effect ofworship), though the responsible family membermay nevertheless remove the garments andshroud the body before burial.
BURYING THE STILLBORNA premature baby (A: meaning one bornbefore six full months) that dies is treated as anadult if it gave a cry (0: sneeze, or cough when itleft the mother) or showed movement (0: treatedas an adult meaning it is obligatory to wash,shroud, pray over, and bury the baby, since its lifeand death have been verified)
If it did not, then:(1) if it had reached four months in the womb(0: which is the time at which the spirit is breathedinto it) then it is washed before burial but notprayed over;(2) but if it had not, it is only obligatory tobury it.
CARRYING THE DECEASED TO THE GRAVEThe burial should take place immediatelyafter the funeral prayer and not be delayed to waitfor anyone besides the responsible familymember, provided he is (0: reasonably) nearby, ifit is not to be feared that the condition of the bodywill change (0: though if this is feared, then thefamily member is not awaited).
It is best that the bier be carried by itspoles, sometimes by four (O: men) (N: one poleon the shoulder of each, the poles being parallelwith the bier and supporting it, two ends forwardand two ends aft) and sometimes by five, the fifthman between the two forward poles
It is recommendedthat the bearers walk faster than usual,though they should not trot.
It is recommended for men to follow thebier to the place of burial close enough behind tobe considered part of the funeral procession
It isoffensive to follow it with fire or incense burners,which are likewise offensive at the burial.*
Then the deceased is buried (0: obligatorily).It is best to bury him in the cemetery .It is unlawful to bury someone where anotherperson has been buried unless the previous body iscompleted disintegrated (0: such that nothing ofit remains, neither flesh nor bone).It is also unlawful to bury two people in thesame grave unless absolutely necessary, as whenthere has been much killing or death, in whichcase a wall of earth is made between the twobodies as a barrier
If the bodies differ in gender,this is even more imperative, especially when twopeople (0: of the same gender or not) are notrelated.If someone dies ona ship and it is impossibleto bury him on land, the body is placed (0: tightlylashed) between two planks (0: to obviate bloating)and thrown into the sea (0: so that it reachesshore, even if the inhabitants are non-Muslims,since a Muslim might find the body and bury it facingthe direction of prayer (qibla)).
DIGGING THE GRAVEThe obligatory minimum for a grave isthat it conceal the odor of the body and that it protectit from (0: being dug up and eaten by) animals.It is recommended to dig the grave wider thanthe obligatory minimum and that its depth equalthe height of an average man with his arm fullyextended upward.A lahd (0: i,e, a grave with a lateral hollowlarge enough for the body dug into the side of thebottom of the grave that is towards the direction ofprayer (qibla)) is superior to ashaqq (0: meaninga simple trench dug down into the middle of thefloor of the grave with low block walls raised alongthe trench's sides, in which the deceased is placedbefore the walls are ceilinged with blocks (N: andthe earth is shovelled back into the grave on top ofthem)), unless the earth is soft, in which casethe shaqq is preferable (0: so as not to cave in onthe deceased).It is offensive to bury the deceased in a coffin(0: or to put in a pillow for him, because all of thiswastes money without being of any benefit) unlessthe earth is soft (0: quick to fall) or moist (0: inwhich cases it is not offensive
If otherwise, theneven if a coffin was stipulated by the deceased inhis will, it is not provided),
BURYING THE BODYMen should bury the dead, even if thedeceased is female, in which case the best suited isthe husband, if able, and then (n: for either sex)those listed in the funeral prayer preference order(g4.3) , except that (A: when two are on the samelevel, such as two sons Or brothers) the mostlearned in Sacred Law is preferred to the oldest,unlike the order for the prayer (0: the purposethereof being knowledge of the rules of burial,which a learned person is likely to know betterthan others).It is recommended that the number of men(0: burying the deceased) be an odd number.
It is preferable to conceal it (0: the grave)with a cloth while placing the body in it (N: a blanketis stretched over the grave about half a meterabove the level of the ground, helpers holdingeach corner, while another person stands down inthe grave at the foot end, ready to take the bodyfrom the bier)
(0; This is especially necessarywhen burying a female, and is done because somethingmight be disclosed of the deceased that isdesirable to conceal.)The head of the deceased is placed near thefoot of the grave (0: foot meaning the end whichwill accomodate the feet when the body is inplace), and the body is slid from the bier headfirst.It is recommended for the person burying thedeceased (N: who is standing in the grave takingthe body, and there may be more than one):(I) to say (0; to the deceased), ""'In the nameof Allah and according the religion of the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace)"";(2) to supplicate Allah for (0: the forgivenessof) the deceased;(3) to place a block as a pillow for him, andto pull back the shroud enough to lay his cheekdirectly on the surface of the block (0: as it ismore expressive of lowliness);(4) and to place the deceased upon hisright side.It is obligatory that the body be placed facingthe direction of prayer (qibla) (0: and this is absolutelynecessary
If buried facing the other way, orlying on his back, he is disinterred and reburiedfacing the direction of prayer).
The lateral hollow dug into the side of thegrave (N: in the lahd (def: g5.2)) for the body iswalled up with blocks (A: after the body has beenplaced in it, before filling in the grave
It is sunnato use nine blocks).
The person at the graveside sprinklesthree scoops of earth (0: using two hands) into thegrave
(0: it is sunna to say with the first, ""Of itWe created you all,"" with the second, ""To it Weshall make you all return,"" and with the third,""And from it We shall bring you forth again""(Koran 20:55).)Then the grave is filled in, using shovels, afterwhich one stays for a moment:(1) to instruct the deceased (dis: w32) (N:the answers he will need to know when Munkarand Nakir (u3.3) question him in the grave as tohis Lord, religion, and prophet);(2) to supplicate for him (0: such as to say:""0 Allah, make him steadfast
0 Allah, teach himhis plea"");(3) and to ask forgiveness for him.
THE FINISHED GRAVEOne should raise the grave's surface (0:up to) 1 span (n: about 23 em.) above theground (0: so that it can be known, visited, andrespected), except in countries at war with theMuslims (0: where it is not raised but rather concealed,so as not to be meddledwith), and to makeits top flat is better (0: than mounding it)
Noearth should be added (0: when levelling it) towhat was excavated from it
It is recommended tosprinkle water over the grave and to put pebbleson it.It is offensive:(1) to whiten the grave with plaster.(2) to build (0: a cupola or house) over it;(3) to put khaluq (0: a perfume) on thegrave (0: as it is of no benefit and wastes money)or rose water;(4) to plaee an inseription on it (0: whetherit is the name of the deceased or something other,on a board at the head of the grave or on somethingelse; unless the deceased is a friend of Allah(wali, def: w33) or religious scholar, in which casehis name is written so that he may be visited andhonored, it then not being offensive);(5) or to put a pillow or mattress under thedeceased.
VISITING GRAVESIt is recommended for men to visit graves(dis: w34) (0: of Muslims, especially on Fridays.As for visiting graves of non-Muslims, it is merelypermissible
The spirit of the dead person has aconnection with his grave that is never severed,but is stronger from the midafternoon prayer('asr) on Thursday until sunrise on Saturday,which is why people often visit graves on Fridayand on Thursday afternoon).There is no harm in wearing one's shoes whenvisiting (0: to walk between graves)
The visitorwalks up to the grave as close as he would if thedeceased were alive, and says, ""Peace be untoyou, abode of a believing folk; Allah willing, wewill be joining you.""It is sunna to recite (0: as much of the Koranas is easy) and to supplicate Allah (0: to forgivethe deceased, while facing the direction of prayer,as supplications benefit the dead and are morelikely to be answered if made after reciting theKoran)
(n: w35 discusses whether the spiritualreward for reciting the Koran may be donated tothe deceased.)
It is offensive for women to visit graves(0: because of their lack of fortitude and exces-sive grief, though this does not apply to visiting theProphet's tomb (Allah bless him and give himpeace) which they should do
And like theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) inthis is their visiting the graves of the prophets,righteous, and learned).*
It is recommended to console all the relativesof the deceased, except young women whoare not (0: the consoler's) unmarriageable kin(0: since only her unmarriageable relatives(mahram, def: m6.2) may console her, consolemeaning to enjoin steadfastness and encourage itby mentioning the reward in the hereafter, towarn against overburdening oneself with grief,and to pray for forgiveness for the deceased andthc lightening of the burden of those bearing themisfortune) when there has been a death in thefamily, for approximately three days after theburial.It is offensive to sit for it (0: that is, for theextended family of the deceased to be seated andgather in one place for people to comc and consolethem, because it is an innovation (muhdath, syn.bid'a, def
w29.3) that the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) did not do, nor thoseafter him
It is offensive for either men orwomen).If one is absent (0: whether one is the consoleror person to be consoled) and then arrivesafter a period (0: of three days), one should console(N: the deceased's relatives) or be consoled(N: if one ofthem).
It is recommended to say:(1) to a Muslim who has lost a Muslim relative,""May Allah greaten your reward, perfectyour consolation, and forgive your deceased"";(2) to a Muslim who has lost a non-Muslimrelative, ""May Allah greaten your reward andperfect your consolation"";(3) and to a non-Muslim who has lost a Muslimrelative, ""May Allah perfect your consolationand forgive your deceased.""
It is permissible to weep before someonedies, but better not to afterwards (0: since theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)wept for his son Ibrahim before his death
It isonly considered better not to weep afterwardsbecause it is sorrow for something that has alreadypas,sed).
It is unlawful to eulogize the dead, lamentin a raised voice, slap one's cheeks (n: as a displayof grief), rend one's garments, or dishevel one'shair.
It is recommended for distant relativesand neighbors to prepare enough food for thedeceased's close family relatives to suffice themfor a day and night, and to urge them to eat.
For the deceased's family to prepare foodand gather people over it is an unpraiseworthyinnovation (bid'a, def: w29.3).*
«Muhammad Shirbini Khatib:) Lexically,zakat means growth, blessings, an increase ingood, purification, or praise
In Sacred Law it isthe name for a particular amount of property thatmust be payed to certain kinds of recipients underthe conditions mentioned below
It is called zakatbecause one's wealth grows through the blessingsof giving it and the prayers of those who receive it,and because it purifies its giver of sin and extollshim by testifying to the genuineness of his faith(al-Iqna' fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja' (y7) , 1.183).)
Zakat is obligatory:(a) for every free Muslim (0: male, female,adult, or child);(b) who has possessed a zakat-payableamount (Ar
nisab, the minimum that necessitateszakat, def: for livestock h2.4-S; for grain anddried foodstuffs h3.4; for gold, silver, and othermoney h4.2; and for trade goods hS.I);(c) for one lunar year.
Non-Muslims are not obliged to payzakat, nor apostates from Islam (murtadd, def:08) unless they return to Islam, in which case theymust pay for the time they spent out of Islam,though if they die as non-Muslims their property isnot subject to zakat (N: because their property isconsidered to belong to the Muslim common fund(bayt ai-mal) from the moment such people leaveIslam).
The guardian of a child or insane person isobliged to pay zakat from their property (N: ifthey owe any)
It is a sin for the guardian not topay the zakat due on their property, and when thechild or insane person becomes legally responsible(0: upon reaching puberty or becoming sane), heis obliged to pay the amount that his guardian neglectedto pay (0: ofzakat in the past).
Zakat is due from the owner of propertythat has been:(1) wrongfully seized from him;(2) stolen;(3) lost;(4) fallen into the sea;(5) or loaned to someone who is tardy inrepayment;-only if the owner regains possession of it,whereupon he must pay zakat on it for the wholetime it was out of his hands (0: for the year oryears that no zakat was paid on the absent property,since his having regained it establishes that itbelonged to him the whole time, and his ownershipof it is not vitiated by the mere fact of its nothaving been in his possession during these years,provided that it has remained a zakat-payableamount (nisab) during them
If it has diminishedthrough expenditure to less than the zakatpayableamount, then no zakat need be paid onit), If the owner cannot regain the property, thereis no zakat on it.
If a landlord rents someone a house fortwo years for 40 dinars, which he accepts inadvance and retains possession of until the end ofthe two years, then at the end of the first of the twoyears he only pays zakat on 20 dinars, but at theend ofthe second year he pays one year's zakat onthe 20 which he paid zakat on at the end ofthe firstyear (N: as the 20 has now been in his possessiona second year) and pays two years' zakat on the 20for which he did not previously pay zakat (N: as ithas remained in his possession for two full years).
Someone with only the zakat-payableamount (0: of gold or silver) must pay zakat onthis amount even when he is in debt for an amountequal to it, for debts do not remove the obligationofzakat.
Zakat is not due on anything besides:(1) livestock (def: h2.1);(2) (n: some) food crops (h3.2);(3) gold and silver (A: or their monetaryequivalents);(4) trade goods;(5) mined wealth (n: meaning gold or silverexclusively, as at h6.1 );(6) and wealth from treasure troves (A:buried in pre-Islamic times).
Zakat is paid from the property itself,though it is permissible to take it from another lotof property (N: on condition that the amountpaid is from the Same type of property (n: of thefive types mentioned above) that the zakat is dueon, such that one may not, for example, paymoney for zakat due on wheat (n: but must paywheat
An exception to this is trade goods, whichare appraised, and zakat may be paid on themwith money, as at h5.1(0:) below)).
THE ZAKA T YEARBy the mere fact that a full lunar yeartranspires (0: i.e
begins and ends while zakatpayableproperty is in the owner's possession), thepoor now own the portion of it that the owner isobliged to pay aszakat
Thus, if someone has had200 dirhams (n: the minimal zakat-payableamount of silver) in his possession for years withoutpaying zakat, he is only obliged to pay zakaton it for the first year (0: because after that year,the amount owned by the poor (n: 5 dirhams) hasdiminished the money he possesses to less than thezakat-payable amount).
If all one's property were destroyed afterhaving been in one's possession a full year butbefore it was possible to pay zakat (0: to deservingrecipients), then there is no obligation to payzakat on it (0: because it was destroyed throughno fault of the owner); but if only part of the propertyhas been destroyed, such that this diminishesthe rest to less than the zakat-payable amount,then one must take the percentage due on theoriginal amount (n:
2.5 percent, for example)from the remaining property, and no zakat is paidon the amount destroyed.If all or part of one's property is destroyedafter having been in one's possession a full yearand after it was possible to have paid zakat on it(0: by there being both property and recipients),then one must pay the zakat due on both theremainder and the property destroyed.
Zakat is not obligatory if a person's ownershipof the property ceases during the year, evenif only for a moment, and it then returns to his possession;or if it does not return; or if the persondies during the year.
The zakat year begins on property purchasedor inherited when the buyer or inheritortakes possession of it, though if a person relinquisheshis ownership of property during the zakatyear merely to avoid paying zakat on it, this isoffensive (0: as the learned differ about its unlawfulness).The more reliable opinion is that it isunlawful, though the transaction would be legallyvalid (dis: c5.2)
But if such a person sells theproperty after possessing it a full year and beforepaying zakat on it (0: as when he sells it all, orsells part and the rest is not enough to requirezakat), then the sale of the proportion of the propertythat was owed as zakat is invalid (0: becauseit belonged to someone else (n: i.e
the recipients,as at h1.9), and it is not valid to sell another'sproperty without his consent), although the sale ofthe proportion of the property that was not owedas zakat is valid.*
Zakat on livestock is restricted to camels,cattle, sheep, and goats.
Zakat is obligatory when one has owned:(a) a zakat-payable number of livestock;(b) for one year;(c) and has been grazing them (n: onunowned open range, as discussed below) for theentire year.There is no zakat on work animals
for example,those trained to plow or bear loads (0:since the purpose in having them is utility, likeclothes or household furnishings
and is not production).Grazing means they have been grazed onopen range pasturage (0: open range excludingpasturage growing on land that a person owns (A:as it would then be considered fodder))
If thelivestock have been given fodder for a period longenough that they would have been unable to survivehad they not eaten during it, then there is nozakat on them,
though if fed with it for less thansuch a period, then this does not affect the necessityof paying zakat on them
(A: There is no zakaton cattle that have been solely fed fodder or grain.even if they could have otherwise been grazed.)(n: It is religiously more precautionary (def:c6.5)and of greater benefit to the poor to followImam Malik on this question
Malik holds thatzakat is obligatory whenever one has possessed azakat-payable number of livestock for a year,whether or not they are work animals, andwhether they have been grazed on open pasturageor fed with fodder for the entire year (a/-Sharh aisaghir'ala Aqrab al-masalik ila madhhab a/-ImamMalik (y35) , 1.592).)
ZAKAT ON CAMELSZAKAT ON CATTLEFor cattle, the minimum on which zakat ispayable is 30 head, for which it is obligatory to paya yearling, meaning a male calf in its second year(A: though a female may take its place, beingworth more).The zakat due on 40 head is a two-year-oldfemale that has entered its third year (A: a malewill not suffice).The zakat on 60 head is 2 yearling males.Zakat on additional numbers is figured in thesame way: on 30 head, a yearling male, and on 40head, a two-year-old female (N: according towhich of the two alternatives accommodates thelast 10 head (dis: h2.6).
ZAKA T ON SHEEP AND GOATSFor sheep or goats (n: the Arabic ghanammeaning both), the minimum on which zakat ispayable is 40, on which it is obligatory to pay iishah, meaning either a one-year-old sheep (0: inits second year) or a two-year-old goat (0: in itsthird year)
The zakat on 121 sheep or goats is 2shahs, on 201 sheep or goats is 3, on 400 sheep orgoats is 4, and for every additional 100 the zakat is1 shah.
CALCULATING THE NUMBER OF ANIMALSNumbers (0: of camels, cattle, or sheep)which are between zakat quantities (N: i.e
whichnumber more than the last relevant zakat quantitybut do not amount to the next highest one) are notcounted, and no zakat is due on them.
New offspring of a zakat-payable quantityof livestock that are born during the year arecounted for the zakat of the year their mothers arecurrently in, no matter whether their mothers surviveor die
Thus, if one owned 40 sheep or goatswhich gave birth to 40 young a month before theyear's end, but .then the 40 mothers died, one'szakat on the offspring would be 1 shah.
If a group of livestock are all female, orare both male and female, then only a female animalmay be paid as zakat, except as mentionedabove (h2.4) for 30 cattle
where a yearling male isacceptable.
If a group of livestock are all male, then amale animal may be paid as zakat.
If all the livestock are below the minimumage that may be given as zakat (def: h2.4-5), thenone of them is given anyway
But if the herd ismixed
with only some of them underage, thenonly an animal of the acceptable age may be paid.
If the animals of the herd are defective, ananimal is taken which is of the average defectiveness(0: of the group, defective meaning withdefects that permit return for refund when sold asmerchandise (def: k5.3)).
If the herd is composite, such as sheep andgoats, then either kind may be paid as zakat,though the value of the animal given must correspondto the average value of the members ofthe herd.
The following are not taken as zakatunless the owner wishes to give them:(1) a pregnant female (0: because of itssuperiority) ;(2) one that has given birth (0: because ofthe high yield of milk);(3) a stud (0: as it is for insemination, andthe owner would suffer its loss);(4) a superior quality animal;(5) or one fattened for eating.
ZAKA T ON JOINTLY OWNED PROPERTY ORVENTURES WITH SHARED FACILITIESTwo people pay zakat jointly as a singleperson if:(I) they jointly own a zakat-payable amountof livestock or something else (0: such as fruit',grain, money, or trade goods), as when twopeople inherit it;(2) or when the property is not jointlyowned, as when each owner has, for example, 20head of sheep(N: of a herd amounting to the zakatminimum of 40), but they share the same place tobed them down, to gather them before grazing, topasture, water, or milk them, or share the samestud, employ the same shepherd, or similar, suchas having the same watchman (0: for orchardsand fields), the same drying or threshing floor (0:for fruit or grain), the same store, or the samewarehouse.*
(N: The rulings of this section apply to the farmers who raise the crops
Asfor those who buy agricultural produce with the intention to sell it, their produceis no longer considered as crops are, but is rather a type of trade goods, and thezakat on it must be paid accordingly (def: hS).)
There is no zakat on grains or legumesexcept the staple types that people cultivate, dry,and store, such as wheat, barley, millet, rice, lentils,chickpeas, broad beans, grass peas, andSana'i wheat.There is no zakat on fruit except for raw datesand grapes (0: the zakat on grapes being taken inraisins, and on dates, in cured dates)
There is nozakat on vegetables
Nor is there zakat on seasoningssuch as cumin or coriander (0: sincc the aimin using them is preparation of food, not nourishment).
One is obliged to pay zakat as soon as onepossesses the zakat-payable amount (def: below)of grain, or when the ripeness and wholeness of azakat-payable amount of dates or grapes is apparent.Otherwise, one is not obliged.
THE ZAKAT·PAYABLE AMOUNT OF CROPSThe minimal quantity on which zakat ispayable for crops is 609.84 kilograms of net driedweight, free of husks or chaff, though for rice andSana'i wheat
which are stored in the kernal, thezakat minimum, including husks, is 1219.68 kilogramsof dried weight.Zakat is not taken from grain until it has beenwinnowed (0: made free ofstraw), norfrom fruitsuntil they are dried (n: made into raisins anddates).The produce for the entire year (N: i.e
theagricultural year) is added together in calculatingthe zakat minimum (N: when, for example
theseason's first crop alone is less than the zakatminimum)
When one crop is harvested afteranother--due to varietal differences or the locationof the two fields-in the same year, and of thesame kind of crop (n: such as spring wheat andwinter wheat), zakat is payed from them as if theywere a single quantity
Different varieties of grainare also calculated additively when harvested atthe same time, though the fruit or grain of oneyear is not added to thc fruit or grain of a differentyear.Grapes are not calculated cumulatively withdates, nor wheat with barley (0: as they aredifferent from one another).
The zakat for crops that have beenwatered without effort, as by rain and the like, is10 percent of the crop (N: i
e
of the net dried storageweight of the grain, raisins, or dates)
Thezakat for crops that have been watered with effort,such as on land irrigated by ditches (0: or a waterwheel)is 5 percent of the crop.If a crop has been raised without irrigation forpart of the year and irrigated for part of it, then thezakat is adjusted (0: according to the period,meaning how much of the time the fruit or cropswere growing)
(N: It is more reliable to consultagricultural experts as to how much of the crop'swater came from rain and how much came fromirrigation
If 50 percent of the water came fromeach, for example, one would pay 7.5 percent ofthe crop as zakat, as this is the mean between theabove two percentages.)
After one has paid zakat once on a crop(N: if one is the farmer), there is nothing furtherdue on it (0: as there is no repetition of zakat onone's crops when they are in storage, unlike therepetition of it on money), even if it remains inone's possession for years.
It is unlawful for the grower to consumedates or grapes or otherwise dispose of them orsell them before they have been assessed (0: i.e.estimated as to how much there is, and the ownermade responsible for the portion to be paid aszakat), and if he does, he is responsible for the loss(0: since part of it belongs to the poor (dis: h1.9)) .
If an act of God destroys the fruit afterassessment, there is no zakat on it.*
Zakat is obligatory for anyone who haspossessed the zakat-payable amount of gold orsilver for one year.
THE ZAKAT-PAYABLE AMOUNTS OFGOLD, SILVER, AND 0THER MONEYThe zakat-payable minimum for gold is84.7 grams, on which 2.1175 grams (2.5 percent) isdue
The zakat-payable minimum for silver is592.9 grams, on which 14.8225 grams (2.5 percent)is due
There is no zakat on less that this.(N: One must pay zakat (n: 2.5 percent) on allmoney that has been saved for a year if it equals atleast the market value of 592.9 grams of silver (n:that is current during the year)
While there is aconsiderable difference between the value of thegold zakat minimum and the silver zakatminimum, the minimum for monetary currencyshould correspond to that of silver, since it is betterfor the poor.)
Zakat is exacted proportionately (2.5 percent)on any amount over these minimums,whether the gold or silver is in coins, ingots,jewelry prepared for uses that are unlawful oroffensive (dis: f17.6,8,1l), or articles which arepermanent acquisitions.
There is no zakat on (n: gold or silver)jewelry that is for permissible use.*
A zakat of 2.5 percent (0: like that of gold and silver, as merchandise is assessed according toits value in them) is obligatory for anyone who:(a) has possessed trade goods for a year (n:whether the merchandise itself remains, orwhether there is sale and replacement, as below at h5.4-5);(b) whose value (n: at the zakat year's end,as at h5.3) equals or exceeds the zakat minimum(N: 592.9 grams of silver if bought with monetarycurrency or silver, and 84.7 grams of gold ifbought with gold, these being reckoned accordingto the values of silver and gold existing duringthe year);provided:(c) that the trade goods have been acquiredthrough a transaction (0: such as a purchase, oracquired by a woman as her marriage payment(mahr, def: m8), or received as a gift given inreturn for something else (dis: k31.4), or such asarticles rented from someone in order to rentthem out to others at a profit, or land rented fromsomeone in order to rent it out to others at aprofit);Cd) and that at the time of acquisition, theowner intended to use the goods for trade.There is no zakat on trade goods if (non·(c)above) the owner acquired them by estate division(irth, def: Ll) or received them as a gift, or if (non(d)) he acquired them by purchase but at the timedid not intend using them for trade.
THE BEGINNING OF THE ZAKAT YEAR FORTRADE GOODSWhen the owner buys trade goods thatcost (N: at least) the gold or silver zakat minimum,the year of the merchandise's possession is consideredto have begun at the beginning of the goldor silver's zakat year (N: so that a merchant'szakat is figured yearly on his total business capitaland goods).But the year of the merchandise's possessionis considered to have begun at the moment ofpurchase if:(1) the owner has bought the merchandisefor less than the zakat minimum (0: provided theprice of the new merchandise plus his remainingmoney do not amount to the zakat minimum);,(2) or he has bought it (N: in exchange) fornonmonetary goods (N: provided these are notalso trade goods, as at h5.4, for if they are, thezakat year cO!1tinues from the zilkat year of theprevious goods).
ESTIMATING WHETHER THE VALUE OF ONE'STRADE GOODS AMOUNTS TO THE ZAKATMINIMUM OR NOTMerchandise is appraised (A: at its currentmarket value) at the end of the zakat year:(1) in terms of the same type of money that itwas purchased with, if bought with money (N: i.e.if purchased with silver or monetary currency, wesee if the merchandise's market value at the year'send has reached the silver zakat minimum (def: h5.1(b));or if with gold, we see if its market valuehas reached the gold minimum) even if it had beenpurchased for less than the zakat minimum (N: atthe beginning of the year) (0: so that if it has nowreadied the value of the zakat minimum, one payszakat on it, and if not, then there is no zakat);(2) or in terms of its value in local monetarycurrency, if the merchandise was acquired byother than paying money for it (0: such as inexchange for goods, or acquired by a woman.asher marriage payment (mahr), or by a husband inexchange for releasing his wife from marriage(def: n5))
If its value equals the zakat minimum(h5.1(b)), then zakat is paid
But if not, then thereis no zakat on it until the end of the next year,when it is reappraised and zakat is paid if its valueamounts to the zakat minimum, and so on (N: inthe following years).It is not a condition that the value of the tradegoods amount to the zakat minimum except at theend of the year (0: not at the beginning, middle,or during the whole of the year).
If trade goods are exchanged for othertrade goods during the course of the year, thisdoes not interrupt their possession (0: becausezakat on merchandise is based on the value, andthe value of the previous merchandise and the newmerchandise is the same, so the year of its possessionis not interrupted by merely transferrring itfrom one set of goods to another), though thezakat year of the funds which a professionalmoney changer exchanges for other funds is interruptedby each exchange (N: and he pays no zakatas long as he keeps changing his business capital).
If merchandise is sold during the zakatyear at a profit and its price is kept until the end ofthe year, then zakat on the merchandise's originalvalue is paid at the end of that zakat year, but thezakat on the profit is not paid until the profit hasbeen possessed for a full year.(n: A second position in the Shafj'j school isthat the zakat on the profit is simply paid in thecurrent zakat year of the merchandise, just as onepays zakat on the offspring of livestock (dis: h2.7)in the current year of their mothers (Mughni almuhtajila ma'rifa ma'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73),
1.399).)
A zakat of 2.S percent is immediatelydue on:(a) the zakat minimum or more of gold orsilver (def: h4.2) (0: gold or silver excluding anythingelse, such as iron, lead, crystal, turquoise,cornellian, emerald, antimony, or other, on whichthere is no zakat);(b) extracted from a mine (0: i.e
a site atwhich Allah has created gold or silver) located onland permissible for the miner to work or ownedby him;(c) and that this amount of ore has beengathered by working the site one time
or severaltimes uninterrupted by abandoning or neglectingthe project.The zakat is only paid after the ore is refinedinto metal.If the person stops working the site for a justifiablereason
such as to travel (0: not for recreation,but for something such as an illness) or to fixequipment, then he adds (0: the ore collectedafter the interruption to that collected before
incalculating the zakat minimum).Ore found on someone else's land belongs tothe owner of the land.
ZAKAT ON TREASURE TROVESAn immediate zakat of 20 percent is duewhen one finds a treasure trove that was buried inpre-Islamic times (N: or by non-Muslims, ancientor modern) if it amounts to the zakat minimum(def: h4.2) and the land is not owned
If such atreasure is found on owned land, it belongs to theowner of the land
If found in a mosque or street,or if it was buried in Islamie times, it is consideredas a lost and found article (def: k27).*
The zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr is obligatory forevery free Muslim, provided:(a) that one has the necessary amount (0:2.03 liters of food);(b) and that on the night before the 'Eid andon the 'Eid itself, this is in excess of what oneneeds to feed oneself and those whom one isobliged to support (def: mI2.1), what one needsto clothe them, and in excess of one's debts andhousing expenses.If one's excess amounts to only part of therequired zakat, one must pay as much of it asone has.
PAYING THE ZAKAT OF 'EID AL-FITR FORONE'S DEPENDENTSSomeone obligated to pay the zakat of'Eid al-Fitr must also pay it for every person he isobliged to support, such as his wife and family (0:e.g
his young son, grandson, father, or mother),if they are Muslim and if he has enough food (0:2.03 liters per person above his own expenses andtheirs), though he is not obliged to pay it for hisfather's wife when supporting his father becauseof the father's financial difficulties, even thoughhe is obliged to support her (dis: ml2.S).
If one is obligated to pay the zakat of
Eidal-Fitr but only has enough to pay part of it, thenone begins by paying one's own, then that of one'swife, young child, father, mother, and then one'sadult son (0: without an income, as when he ischronically ill or insane, for otherwise one is notobligated to support him).
A wealthy woman married to a man toopoor to pay her 'Eid al-Fitr zakat is not obliged topay her own (A: though it is sunna for her to paythis and all forms of zakat to her husband, even ifhe spends it on her).
The zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr becomes obligatorvwhen the sun sets on the night before the 'Eid(n:- meaning on the evening of the last day ofRamadan).
WHAT TYPE OF FOOD MUST BE GIVENThe zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr consists of 2.03liters of the main staple of the area in which it isgiven, of the kinds of crops on which zakat is payable(def: h3.2)
(A: If the main staple is bread, asin many countries, only wheat may be given, and iswhat is meant by the expression giving food hereand in all texts below dealing with expiations (e.g.j3.22(2)).) (N: The Hanafi school permits payingthe poor the wheat's value in money, both hereand for expiations.) It is permissible to give thebest quality of the staple food ofthe area, but notto give less than the usual quality (0: such as bygiving barley where wheat is the main staple).
It is permissible to give the zakat of 'Eidal-Fitr(N: to deserving recipients (dis: h8.26))anytime during Ramadan, though the best time ison the day of 'Eid al-Fitr before the
prayer (def:f19.1)
It is not permissible to delay giving it untilafter the day of the 'Eid (0: that is, one may giveit until sunset), and is a sin to delay until after this,and one must make it up (N: by paying it late).*
It is unlawful to delay paying what is duefrom a zakat-payable amount of property when:(a) it has been possessed for one year;(b) one can find the (0: eight) categories (0:of eligible recipients, or some of them) so as to beable to pay it;(c) and the property is present (0: within Slkm.l50 mi.);-unless one is awaiting a poor person moredeserving than those present, such as a relative(0: of the person paying zakat whom he is notobliged to support), a neighbor, or a more righteousor needy person (0: than those present.Under these circumstances it is not unlawful todelay giving it because there is an excuse, unlesswithholding it involves considerable harm forthose present).
PAYING ZAKAT IN ADVANCEZakat, on all types of property that 'ayear's possession of the zakat minimum makesgiving obligatory, may be payed for the currentyear (A: alone) before the year's end wheneverthe property owner possesses the zakat minimum,This zakat in advance is considered valid onlywhen the year ends and:(a) the recipient it still among the types eligiblefor zakat (0: meaning, for example, that hisstate has not changed from poverty to wealth);(b) the zakat giver is still obliged to pay it;(c) and the property is still as it was (0: i.e.the zakat minimum still exists and has not beendestroyed or sold),The zakat in advance is not valid if (N: before theend of the year):(I) (non-(a) above) the poor person whoaccepted it dies, or becomes financially independentfor some other reason than having acceptedthe zakat;(2) (non-(b)) the giver dies;(3) or (non-(c)) the property diminishes toless than the zakat minimum by more than theamount given in advance (0: such as when thegiver takes out 5 dirhams as zakat in advance from200 dirhams, but his holdings are subsequentlyreduced by 10 (N: to 190 dirhams, which is lessthan the zakat minimum)), even when this reductionis because of sale.When the zakat in advance is not valid, thegiver may take it back if he has explained that themoney has been given in advance (0: by merelyhaving said, ""This is my zakat in advance,"" or ifthe recipient knows it)
If what was given as zakatstill exists, the recipient gives it back together withany increment organically connected with it, suchas additional weight gained by a head of livestockwhile in the recipient's possession
But the propertyowner is not entitled to take back an incrementthat is not organically connected to thezakat, such as its offspring (0: born from the animalwhile in the recipient's possession).If the zakat given in advance no longer exists,then the giver is entitled to take back a substitute(0: whether it be the substitute for a commoditythat is fungible (mithli, def: k20.3(1)), such assilver dirhams, or whether for a nonfungible(mutaqawwim) commodity such as sheep orgoats, in which case its price is the market value atthe time the zakat in advance was accepted, notthe time it ceased to exist).After the return of the zakat in advance, thezakat giver pays the zakat from his wealth again ifhe is still obliged to.The zakat in advance that is paid from thezakat-payable amount (nisab) is considered as ifstill part of the giver's property (0: only in respectto calculating whether the giver's total propertyequals the zakat-payable amount
It is not actuallyconsidered as still belonging to the zakat giver,since the recipient is entitled to dispose of it bysale or otherwise while it is in his possession).Thus, if the zakat giver paid a sheep in advance aszakat on 120 head, and one of the sheep then gavebirth to a new lamb, the giver would now beobliged to pay another sheep (0: it being as if heowns the (N: next highest) zakat-payable amountof 121 head (dis: h2.5)).
AUTHORIZING ANOTHER TO DISTRIBUTE ONE'SZAKATIt is permissible for the zakat giver to personallydistribute his zakat to eligible recipients orto authorize an agent (wakil, def: k17) to do so.It is permissible for the zakat giver to pay hiszakat to the imam (A: i.e
the caliph (025) or hisrepresentative), and this is superior unless theimam is unjust, in which case it is better to distributeit oneself.
THE PRAYER OF THE RECIPIENT FOR THEZAKAT GIVERIt is recommended for the poor person (0:receiving zakat when the owner is distributing it)or the agent assigned to deliver the zakat to recip""ients (N: if the imam has gathered it by means ofagents to distribute to the poor) to supplicate forthe giver, saying, ""May Allah reward you for whatyou have given, bless you in what you haveretained, and purify it for you.""
THE INTENTION OF ZAKATMaking the intention of zakat is a necessarycondition for the validity of giving it
Theintention is made when zakat is paid to the poorperson or the one being authorized to distribute it,and one must intend giving it as the zakat of one'sproperty
(0: It is permissible to make the intentionbefore paying the money.) When the ownerhas made this intention, it is not necessary that theagent distributing it also make an intention beforegiving it (0: because the owner's intention is sufficient,whether the agent is an ordinary individualor is the ruler
It is also permissible for the ownerto authorize an agent to both make the intentionand distribute the zakat).
It is recommended that the imam dispatcha zakat worker, (0: to collect zakat funds fromthose obliged to pay, to make this easier for them.Such an agent must be) an upright Muslim (def:O24.4) who knows the rulings of zakat, and who isnot of the Hashimi or Muttalibi clans of Quraysh.
THE EIGHT CATEGORIES OF RECIPIENTSIt is obligatory to distribute one's zakatamong eight categories of recipients (0: meaningthat zakat goes to none besides them), one""eighthof the zakat to each category.(n: In the Hanafi school, it is valid for thegiver to distribute his zakat to all of the categories,some of them, or to confine himself to just one ofthem (al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88), 1.155).)
THE POORThe first category is the poor, meaningsomeone who:(a) does not have enough to suffice himself(0: such as not having any wealth at all, or havingsome, but (N: he is unable to earn any, and) whathe has is insufficient to sustain him to the end ofhis probable life expectancy if it were distributedover the probable amount of remaining time;insufficient meaning it is less than half of what heneeds
If he requires ten dirhams a day, for example,but the amount he has when divided by thetime left in his probable life expectancy is fourdirhams a day or less, not paying for his food,clothing, housing, and whatever he cannot dowithout
to a degree suitable (dis: f4.5) to someoneof his standing without extravagance or penury,then he is poor-all of Which app1ies as well tothe needs of those he must support (def: m12.1).)(N: A mechanic's tools or scholar's books are notsold or considered part of his money, since heneeds them to earn a living);(b) and is either:(I) unable to earn his living by work suitableto him (0: such as a noble profession befitting him(N: given his health and social position), asopposed to work unbefitting him, which is consideredthe same as not having any: If such anindividual were an important personage unaccustomedto earning a living by physical labor, hewould be considered ""poor."" This also includesbeing able to do work suitable to one, but not findingsomeone to employ one);(2) or is able to earn his living, but to do so·would keep him too busy to engage in attainingknowledge of Sacred Law
(n: Nawawi notes, ""Ifable to earn a living at work befitting him exceptthat he is engaged in attaining knowledge of somesubject in Sacred Law such that turning to earninga living would prevent the acquisition of thisknowledge (dis: w36), then it is permissible forhim to take zakat because the attainment of knowledgeis a communal obligation, though zakat isnot lawful for someone able to earn a living whocannot acquire knowledge, even if he lives at aschool
What we have just mentioned is the mostcorrect and well known position
Darami mentionsthree positions concerning someoneengaged in attaining religious knowledge:-that he deserves charity even when able to earna living;-that he does not deserve it:-and that if he is an outstanding student who canbe expected to develop a good comprehension ofthe Sacred Law and benefit the Muslims thereby,then he deserves eharity, but if not, then hedoes not.""Darami mentioned this in the chapter of 'VoluntaryCharity' "" (al-Majmu' (y108) , 6.190-91).)But if one's religious devotions are whatkeeps one too busy to earn a living, one is not consideredpoor.
Someone separated from his money by atleast 81 km.lSO mi
is eligible for zakat
(N: Thiswas in the past
In our day it is fitter to say that hemust be far from his money in terms of commonacknowledgement (def: f4.5).) (0: Such a person'sabsent property is as if nonexistent, and his""poverty"" eOI).tinues until the ,money is present.Likewise, someone owed money on a debt not yetdue who does not have any other money is givenzakat when it is distributed (N: to suffice him)until the debt becomes due.)
People whose needs are met by the expendituresof those who are obliged to support themsuch as their husbands or families are not givenzakat (N: for poverty) (0: though it is permissiblefor a third party to give zakat to such a dependentby virtue of the dependent's belonging to somecategory other than the poor or those short ofmoney (def: below), as when the person belongsto a category such as travellers needing money(h8.l8) or those whose hearts are to be reconciled(h8.14)).
THOSE SHORT OF MONEYThe second category is people short ofmoney, meaning someone who has something tospend for his needs but it is not enough, as whenhe needs five dirhams, but he only has three orfour
The considerations applicable to the poorperson also apply to someone short of money (0:namely, that he is given zakat if he cannot earn aliving by work befitting him (def: h8.8(b)), or if hecan earn a living but attainment of knowledge ofSacred Law prevents his doing so; though if he isable to earn a living but extra devotions preventhim from doing so, then he may not take zakat).
HOW MUCH THE POOR ARE GIVENA person who is poor or short of money isgiven as much as needed of tools and materials (0:if he has a trade, such as the tools of a carpenter)with which he can earn a living, or property withwhich he can engage in trade (0: if a merchant),each according to the demands of his profession.This amount varies, depending on whether, forexample, he is a jeweller, clothier, grocer, orother.If the recipient has no trade (0: i·.e
is unableto do any work, whether for wages, by trading, orother), then he is given enough zakat to fulfill hisneeds from the present till the end of his probablelife expectancy (0: based on (N: the average lifespanfor someone like him in) that locality).Another position is that such a person is givenenough for just one year.These measures are obligatory when abundantzakatfunds are available, whether the imamdistributes them or a property owner
But if thereis not much zakat available (0: meaning if theowner or imam distributes funds that are too littleto last the poor person for his probable life expectancyor for even one year), it is distributed as is,an eighth to each category.
ZAKAT WORKERSThe third category consists of zakat workers,the above-mentioned agents (h8.6) dispatchedby the imam
These include the personcollecting it, the clerk (0: recording what theowners give), the person who matches the payeesto recipients, and the one who distributes it torecipients.The zakat workers receive an eighth of thezakat funds
If this amount is more than it wouldcosUo hire someone to do their job, then theyreturn the excess for distribution to the othercategories of recipients
But if less (N: than thecost of hiring someone), then enough is takenfrom the zakat funds to make up the difference.All of this applies only if the imam (A: caliph) isdistributing the zakat (0: and has not allotted afee to the zakat workers from the Muslim commonfund (bayt aI-mal))
If the property owner is distributingthe zakat (0: or if the imam has allottedthe workers a fee from the common fund) then thezakat funds are divided solely among the othercategories of recipients.
THOSE WHOSE HEARTS ARE TO BE RECONCILEDThe fourth category is those whose heartsare to be reconciled
If they are non-Muslims, theyare not given zakat, but if Muslims, then they maybe given it (0: so that their certainty may increase,or if they are recent converts to Islam and arealienated from their kin).Those to be reconciled include:(1) the chief personages of a people (0: withweak Islamic intentions) whose Islam may beexpected to improve, or whose peers may beexpected to enter Islam;(2) or the heads of a people who collect zakatfor us from Muslims living near them who refuseto pay it, or who fight an enemy for us at considerableexpense and trouble to themselves.mosE PURCHASING THEIR FREEDOM
The fifth category is slaves who are purchasingtheir freedom from their owners
They aregiven enough to do so if they do not have themeans.mOSE IN DEBT
The sixth category is those who have debts(0: and they are of three types):(1) A person who incurs debts in order tosettle trouble (0: between two people, parties, ortribes) involving bloodshed (0: as when there hasbeen a killing but it is not known who the killer is,and trouble has arisen between the two sides) or tosettle trouble concerning property (0: such asbearing the expense when trouble occurs over it)is given zakat even if he is affluent.(2) A person who incurs debts to supporthimself or his dependents is· given zakat if he ispoor, but notif affluent
If he incurs a debt (0: forsomething lawful) but spends it on somethingunlawful, and then repents (0: and is felt to be sincerein this, and the original reason is known tohave been something lawful), then he is givenzakat.(3) (0: And a third type, not mentioned bythe author, which (n: given persons P, Q, and R)is When R incurs a debt by guaranteeing (daman,def: k15) to P that Q will pay P (n: what Q oweshim)
If R finds that neither he nor Q can pay,then R is given zakat (n: because he has gone intodebt in order to guarantee Q's debt), even if thereason R agreed to guarantee Q was not charity(N: but was rather that Q would pay him back).)TIIOSE FIGlITING FOR ALLAH
The seventh category is those fighting forAllah, meaning people engaged in Islamic militaryoperations for whom no salary has been allotted inthe army roster (0: but who are volunteers forjihad without remuneration)
They are givenenough to suffice them for the operation, even ifaffluent; of weapons, mounts, clothing, andexpenses (0: for the duration of the journey,round trip, and the time they spend there, even ifprolonged
Though nothing has been mentionedhere of the expense involved in supporting suchpeople's families during this period, it seems clearthat they should also be given it).
TRA YELLERS NEEDING MONEYThe eighth category is the traveller in needof money, meaning one who is passing among us(0: i.e
through a town in Muslim lands wherezakat is collected), or whose journey was notundertaken for the purpose of disobeying Allah.If such a person is in need, he is given enough tocover his personal expenses and transportation,even if he possesses money back home.
PAYING ZAKAT TO RECIPIENTSA person who qualifies as a member oftwo or more of the above categories is only givenzakat for one of them.
When the (N: eight) categories of recipientsexist in the town where zakat is collected, it isunlawful and invalid to give it to recipientselsewhere (0: as it must be paid to those present ifthe property owner is distributing his own zakat.The other schools of jurisprudence permit giving itelsewhere)
But if the imam (A: caliph) is distributingthe zakat, he may give it to recipients in adifferent place.If the zakat giver's property is in the desert,or none of the eight categories of eligible zakatrecipients exist in his own town, then the zakatshould be distributed in the nearest town.
Each category of recipients must receivean equal share, one-eighth of the total (dis:h8.7(n:))(A: though one may give various individualswithin a particular category more or less),except for zakat workers, who receive only theirdue wage (def: h8.13).If one of the categories does not exist in one'stown, their eighth is distributed over the othercategories such that each of them gets oneseventh.If two categories of recipients do notexist in the town, then each of the remainingcategories receive a sixth of the zakat, and so on(0: such that if there were only one category intown, all the zakat would be paid to it).It is obligatory to give zakat to every individualmember of a category if the owner is distributingzakat and the individuals are of a limited,known number, or if the imam is distributingzakat and it is possible to give it out person by personand include them all because of the abundanceof funds.If the owner is distributing zakat and therecipients in each category are not of a limited,known number, then the fewest permissible forhim to give to in one category is three people,except for the category of zakat workers, in whicha single person is enough.
It is recommended to give on,e's zakat torelatives other than those one is obliged to support(def: mI2.1).
It is recommended to distribute zakat torecipients in proportion to their needs, givingsomeone who needs 100 dirhams, for example,half of what one gives to SOmeone who needs 200.
It is not permissible to give zakat to a nonMuslim,or to someone whom one is obliged tosupport (def: m12.1), such as a wife or familymember.
It is not valid for one to give zakat to apoor person on condition that he return it to oneto payoff a debt he owes, or to tell the recipient,""I hereby make the money you owe me zakat, sokeep it for yourself."" But it is permissible:(1) for the giver to pay his zakat (0: to a poorperson who owes him money) when the giver'sintention is that the recipient should pay him backwith it;(2) for the zakat giver to tell the poor person,""Pay me the money you owe me so that I can giveit to you as zakat"";(3) or for the poor person to tell his creditor,""Give me (0: zakat) so that I can pay it back toyou (0: for the debt lowe you)"";though it is not obligatory to fulfill these promises(0: meaning the outcomes alluded to in (2)and (3) above).
All of the above rulings concerning zakat(h8.2-25) apply to the zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr (def:h7) (0: in details, in giving it to deservingrecipients (N: the eight categories described inthis section), and in giving it in advance)
It is permissiblefor a group of people to pool their zakatof 'Eid al-Fitr, mix it, and collectively distribute it,or for one of them to distribute it with the others'permission
(0: The author mentions this toinform people that anyone can distribute theirzakat of 'Eid al-Fitr to all categories of recipients,no matter how little it is.)*
Giving voluntary charity is recommendedat all times; especially during Ramadan, beforepraying for something one needs, (0: when thereis an eclipse, illness, or journey,) and at all nobletimes and places (0: e.g
times such as the first tendays of Dhul Hijja or the days of 'Eid, and placessuch as Mecca or Medina).
It is superior to give charity to righteouspeople (0: meaning those who give Allah and Hisslaves their due), to one's relatives (A: which isbetter than giving to the righteous), even those ofthem who are one's enemies (A: and this is betterthan giving to one's friends among them), and togive from the best of one's wealth (0: meaningthat which is lawful, which is better than givingwhat is from a doubtful source, or giving what is ofpoor quality, either of which are offensive to giveas charity
It is unlawful to give property that hasbeen unlawfully obtained (N: if one knows itsrightful owner
If not, one must give it as charity(A: or taxes (def: p32)) to remove it from one'spossession)) .
It is unlawful to give as charity moneyneeded to support one's dependents or needed topay a debt that is currently due (0: because supportingone's dependents or paying a current debtare obligatory, and obligatory acts take precedenceover recommended ones).
It is recommended to give away in charityeverything one owns that is in excess (0: of personalexpenses and the expenses of those one isobliged to support), provided one can be patientwith the resultant poverty
(0: But if one cannotbe patient, it is offensive to give away what is inexcess of one's needs.)
It is offensive to ask for anything besidesparadise with the words ""For the sake [lit
""By thecountenance (0: i.e
entity)""] of Allah,"" though ifsomeone does, it is offensive not to give to him.
It is unlawful to remind a recipient of charity that one has given him (mann, dis: p36), and iteliminates the reward.
(0: It is permissible to give charity to aperson not in need, or to a relative of the Prophet(Allah bless bim and give him peace)
It is offensivefor a person not in need to accept charity, andpreferable that he avoid it
It is unlawful for sucha person to accept it if he pretends to be needy,and is unlawful for him to ask for charity.It is permissible to give charity to a nonMuslim(n: but not zakat, as above at h8.24).}*
(0: The month of the fast is the best ofmonths, and it is one of the distinctive features ofthis Community (Umma); that is, as now practiced,a fact not contradicted by the word of AllahMost High,""Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribedfor those before you"" (Koran 2:183),the resemblance interpreted as referring to fastingwithout other qualification, not to its amount andtime
Fasting Ramadan is one of the pillars ofIslam (def: u2) by scholarly consensus (ijma').Bukhari and Muslim relate that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""Islam is built upon five: testifying there is nogod but Allah and that Muhammad is the messengerof Allah, performing the prayer, givingzakat, making the pilgrimage to the House[Kaaba], and fasting Ramadan."")
Fasting Ramadan is obligatory for:(a) every Muslim (0: male or female) who:(b) has reached puberty;(c) is sane;(d) is capable of bearing the fast;(e) and if female, is not in the period ofmenstruation or postnatal bleeding (nifas).
THOSE NOT OBUGED TO FAST RAMADANThe following are not required to fast:(1) (non-(a) above) anon-Muslim (0: meaningthat we do not ask him to, nor would it be validif he did (N: though he is punished in the next lifefor not doing so));(2) (non-(b)) a child;(3) (non-(c)) someone insane;(4) or (non-(d)) someone whom fastingexhausts because of advanced years or having anillness from which he is unlikely to recover.None of the above-mentioned is obliged tofast or to make up missed fast-days, though someonewho misses a fast because of (4) above mustgive 0.51 liters of food (def: h7.6(A:)) for eachfast-day he misses.
The following are not required to fast,though they are obliged to make up fast-daysmissed (A: making up, according to our school,meaning that one fasts a single day for eachobligatory fast-day missed):(1) those who are ill (N: the illness that permitsnot fasting being that which fasting wouldworsen, delay recovery from, or cause one considerableharm with; the same dispensation applyingto someone who needs to take medicine duringthe day that breaks the fast and that be can notdelay taking until night);(2) those who are travelling (def: i1.7);(3) a person who has left Islam (murtadd,def: 08);(4) or a woman who is in her menses orperiod of postnatal bleeding.If the ill person or traveller take it upon themselvesto fast, it is valid, though a fast by someonewho has left Islam, or a woman in menstruation orperiod of postnatal bleeding is not valid.When not fasting on a day of Ramadan, if anon-Muslim becomes a Muslim, an insane personregains his sanity, or a child reaches puberty, it isrecommended but not obligatory that they fast therest of that day and make up the fast later
A childwho reaches puberty While fasting on a day ofRamadan is obliged to fast the rest of the day, andis recommended to make it up.A woman whose period ends during a day ofRamadan is recommended to fast the rest of theday and is obliged to make up the fast (0: and thefast-days prior to it missed during her period orpostnatal bleeding).
If the testimony of a witness (0: that thenew moon has been seen during the previousnight) is made during a day (N: that was initially)uncertain as to whether it was the the first ofRamadan, then it is obligatory (0: for people) tofast the rest of the day and to make it up later.
A child of seven is ordered to fast, and atten is beaten for not fasting (N: with the reservationsmentioned at f1.2).
Excessive hunger or thirst, meaning likelyto cause death or illness, are legitimate excusesnot to fast, even when they occur on a day one hasalready begun to fast, as soon as the fast becomesa hardship.
It is permissible not to fast when travelling,even when the intention to fast has beenmade the night before, provided that the journeyis at least 81 km.lSO mi
one way, and that oneleaves town (def: f1S.6) before dawn
Ifone leavesafter dawn, one is not entitled to omit the fast
Itis preferable for travellers not to fast if fastingwould harm them, though If not, then fasting isbetter.
A woman who is breast-feeding a baby oris pregnant and apprehends harm to herself or herchild may omit the fast and make it up later,though if she omits it because of fear (A: of harm)for the child alone (0: not for herself) then shemust give 0.51 liters of food (def: h7.6(A:)) incharity for each day missed, as an expiation (A: inaddition to making up each day).
SIGHTING THE NEW MOONFasting Ramadan is only obligatory whenthe new moon of Ramadan is sighted (0: i.e
inrespect to the person who sees it, though for thosewho do not see it, it only becomes obligatory whenthe sighting is established by the testimony of anupright witness (def: O24.4))
If it is too overcastto be seen, then (n: the preceding lunar month of)Sha'ban is presumed to last for thirty days, afterwhich people begin fasting Ramadan
If the newmoon is sighted during the day (0: before noon onthe last of the thirty days), it is considered asbelonging to the following night (0: and the rulingfor that day does not change).If the moon is seen in one city but notanother, then if the two are close (0: i.e
in thesame region), the ruling (n: that the new monthhas come) holds for both
But if the two are notclose, then not (0: i.e
the people far from theplace where it was seen are not obligated to fast),not close meaning in different regions, such as theHijaz, Iraq, and Egypt.
The testimony of a single witness (N: thatthe new moon has been seen) is sufficient to establishthat the month of Ramadan has come, providedthe witness is upright (def: O24.4), male,and responsible for the duties of Islam (0: whichexcludes boys who have reached the age of discernmentbut not puberty).
If a person knows by calculations of lunarmovements or the positions of the stars that thenext day is Ramadan, fasting is nevertheless notobligatory (0: for him or the public), though it ispermissible for him alone.
If it is difficult to learn which month it is,for someone imprisoned or the like (0: such assomeone being held in a dark place who cannottell night from day, or someone who does notknow when Ramadan has come because of beingin a land without habitations or people who knowwhen it is), then such a person is obliged to reckonRamadan as best he can and to fast it
Such a fastis valid if it remains unknown as to whether themonth fasted actually coincided with Ramadan,or if it did coincide with it, or if the month fastedoccurred after it, though if the month fasted wasbefore Ramadan, it is not valid.
THE CONDITIONS OF A VALID FASTThe conditions of a valid fast are:(a) the intention;(b) and refraining from things which breakthe fast.TIm INTENTION
One must make the intention to fast foreach day one fasts
If the intended fast is obligatory,then the intention must:(a) be specific (0: as to the fast being forRamadan, a vow, an expiation, or whatever);(b) and be made in the night prior to dawn.(n: For Hanafis
the intention for a day of Ramadan(but not a makeup) is valid if made beforemidway between true dawn and sunset of the dayitself (al-Hadiyya al-'Ala'iyya (y4), 171).)The optimal way is to intend (0: in one'sheart) to fast the following day as a currentperformance of the obligation of Ramadan in thepresent year for Allah Most High (0: fast and ofRamadan being unanimously considered as integralto the intention, though scholars differ concerningthe obligatoriness of intending it as acurrent performance, an obligation, or for AllahMost High).
One's intention is valid if on the nightbefore a day of uncertainty (N: as to whether itwill be the first day of Ramadan), someone onetrusts but who does not have all the qualificationsof an acceptable witness (def: i1.1O) informs oneof having seen the new moon, and relying on thisinformation one intends to fast the next day to fulfillthe obligation of Ramadan, and the next dayturns out to be Ramadan
But one's fast is notvalid if one makes the intention without anyonehaving informed one of sighting the new moon, nomatter whether if one's intention is firm orwhether undecided, as when one intends that ifthe following day is Ramadan, one will fast, but ifnot, one will not.
One's fast is valid if on the night before 30Ramadan, one intends that if the following day isof Ramadan, one will fast, but if not, one will not,and then the next day is of Ramadan (0: since italready is Ramadan, and the initial presumption isthat it will remain so (dis: e7.6(A:))).
Nonobligatory fasts are valid by merelymaking the intention to fast before noon (0: withoutneeding to specify the type of fast).
THINGS WHICH INVALIDATE THE FASTEach of the following things invalidatesthe day's fast when one knows they are unlawful(A: during an obligatory fast) and remembers oneis fasting (A: but does them deliberately anyway);and they obligate one to both make up the fast-daylater and fast the remainder of that day:(1) eating;(2) drinking (N: and smoking (A: though notif there is some smoke in the air that one unintentionallyinhales));(3) taking snuff (0: up the nose that reachesthe sinuses, a ruling likewise applicable to oil orwater preparations);(4) suppositories (0: vaginal or anal);(5) pouring (0: water, oil, or other) into theears until it reaches the eardrum;(6) inserting a finger or something else intothe anus or vagina further than the area disclosedwhen one squats (0: to relieve oneself);(7) anything that entel's the body cavity,whether stabbed into it (0: such as a knife or spearthrust which penetrates it) or whether medicine(N: though intramuscular or intravenous injectionsof medicine do not break one's fast);(8) vomiting (N: if it is deliberate and one isable to prevent it, though if nausea overcomesone, vomiting does not break one's fast);(9) sexual intercourse (0: if deliberate, evenif there is no orgasm), or orgasm from stroking anongenital region or from masturbation (0: nomatter whether such orgasm is produced byunlawful means, like one's own hand (dis: w37),or whether by lawful means, such as the hand ofone's wife);(10) using so much water to rinse out thenose and mouth (0: in ablution (wudu) or thepurificatory bath (ghusl)) that some reaches thestomach (0: i.e
if any reaches the body cavitybecause of using an abundance of water, it breaksthe fast, though if some water slips down when anabundance has not been used, it does not breakit);(11) swallowing saliva that has left themouth, such as when threading a needle and onemoistens the end of the thread, and then remoistensit, swallowing some of the saliva that thethread had been previously wetted with;(12) swallowing saliva that has been qualitativelyaltered, such as when threading a needleand one wets the end, and some dye from thethread remains in the mouth and is swallowed (A:so people who use toothpaste should take care toeliminate it from the mouth before dawn on fastdays);(13) swallowing saliva that has been madeimpure by contact with filth (najasa), such as whenone's mouth is bloodied and one spits out thesaliva until it is clear and colorless, but neglects towash one's mouth out (0: before swallowing thesaliva, which breaks the fast because the mouth isstill affected by impurity (n: and water is necessaryto purify it, as at e14.1O));(14) allowing phlegm or mucus at the back ofthe mouth to be swallowed when one could havespit them out (n: though in the Hanafi school thisdoes not break the fast, even if intentional (alHadiyyaal-'Ala'iyya (y4), 180));(15) or to continue making love, even for amoment, after dawn has arrived.
THE CRITERION FOR THINGS WHICHINVALIDATE THE FASTThe criterion as to whether somethinginvalidates the fast is (N: whether it comes underanyone of three headings):(1) a substance, even if not much, thatreaches the body cavity through an open passageway(0: substance excluding odors, and openexcluding anything else, such as absorptionthrough pores)
(N: The deliberate introductionof anything besides air or saliva into the body cavitybreaks the fast, though if the person fastingdoes so absentmindedly or under compulsion, itdoes not break it);(2) sexual intercourse (0: meaning insertingthe head of the penis into the vagina);(3) or orgasm, whether as the result of touching(0: such as kissing, contact, lying betweenthe other's thighs, or something else), or becauseof masturbation;-provided that one is aware that these acts areunlawful and that one remembers one is fasting(N: and provided they are done deliberately andvoluntarily).
THE EXPIATION FOR VITIATING A FAST-DAYBY SEXUAL INTERCOURSEIn addition to making up the fast, an expiationis obligatory for fast-days of Ramadan thatare (A: deliberately) vitiated by sexual intercourse.(0: The legal occasion of the offense is theparticular day of fasting, so that if it were committedon two separate days, two separate expiationswould be necessary, though if it were committedtwice in one day there would be only one expiation.)The expiation consists of freeing a soundMuslim slave (dis: k32), or if not possible, then tofast the days of two consecutive months
(A: Inour school the expiation is only for sexual intercourse,though the Hanafishold it is obligatory forvitiating the fast for other reasons as well.) If thisis not possible, then the expiation is to feed sixtyunfortunates (N: 0.51 liters of food (def:h7.6(A:)) to each unfortunate)
If one is unable todo this, the expiation remains as an unperformedobligation upon the person concerned.The woman who is made love to is not obligedto expiate it.
THINGS THAT DO NOT BREAK THE FASTThe fast remains valid if any of the thingswhich break it are done absentmindedly (0: notremembering the fast), out of ignorance (0: thatdoing the things which break the fast are unlawful.whether this is due to being a new Muslim, or tobeing born and raised far from Islamic scholars),or under compulsion
Nor is it broken by:(1) involuntary vomiting;(2) having a wet dream, or orgasm as a resultof thinking or looking at something (A: unless thelatter two usually cause orgasm, in which case onehas broken one's fast by not avoiding them);(3) some water reaching the body cavity as aresult of rinsing out the mouth or nose, (dis: i1.18(1O)),provided not much water was used;(4) saliva carrying down some food particlesfrom between one's teeth, provided this is afterhaving cleaned between them (0: after eating, byusing a toothpick or the like between them), if oneis unable to spit them out;(5) gathering saliva in the mouth and swallowingit, bringing saliva as far forward as thetongue (0: but not to the lips) and then swallowingit, or coughing up phlegm from the throat andspitting it out;(6) the arrival of dawn when there is food inone's mouth which one spits out;(7) the arrival of dawn when one is lovemakingand one immediately disengages;(8) or when sleeps all day or has lost consciousness,provided one regains consciousnessfor at least a moment of the day.
EATING OR DRINKING WHEN UNCERTAIN OFTHE TIME OF DAWN OR SUNSETMaking up the fast-day is obligatory ifoneeats, thinking it is night, but then finds that it isday; or eats, presuming (N: but uncertain) that thesun has set, and the question (0: as to whetherone ate before sunset or after) continues andremains unresolved (dis: e7.6(A:)).It is not obligatory to make up a fast-day onwhich one ate on the presumption that dawn hadnot yet come, and the question (0; as to what thecase was) remains unresolved (A: since the initialcertainty was that it was night).
INVOLUNTARY ACTS WHICH INVALIDATETHE FASTA fast-day is invalidated by:(1) insanity, even for a moment;(2) being unconscious the entire day;(3) or the appearance of menstrual or postnatalflow.(N: The insane person is not obliged to makeup such a day's fast, while the others are.)
RECOMMENDED MEASURES WHILE FASTINGA predawn meal is recommended, even ifit is slight or consists of water alone (0: and thetime for it begins from the middle of the nightonwards)
It is best to delay it to just before dawn,as long as one does not apprehend dawn's arrivalwhile still eating (0: though when one does notknow when dawn is, it is not tbe sunna to thusdelay it).
It is best to hasten breaking the fast whenone is certain that the sun has set
One shouldbreak it with an odd number of dates, though ifone has none, water is best
It is recommended tosay after doing so, ""0 Allah, for You !fasted
andupon Your bounty I have broken the fast
""
It is recommended in Ramadan:(1) to be especially generous (0: in givingcharity);(2) to improve one's relations with familyand relatives;(3) to recite the Koran much;(4) to spend periods of spiritual retreat(i'tikaf, def: i3) in the mosque, especially duringthe last ten days of Ramadan;(5) to break the fast of others after sunset,even if only with water (0: because of the hadithrelated by Tirmidhi that the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said,""He who breaks another's fast earns the samereward as the one who fasted without diminishingthe latter's reward in the slightest"");(6) and if in a state of major ritual impurityGanaba), to perform the purificatory bath (ghusl)before dawn.
It is recommended to avoid:(1) slander (def: r2.2), lying, and foul language(N: which are always unlawful, but evenworse when fasting);(2) the pleasures of the senses (0: i.e
thosethat do not break the fast, such as smelling fragrantplants or looking at them, because of thegratification therein which is incompatible withthe wisdom of the fast, even though they are permissiblewhen not fasting) (A: and while it isrecommended not to use perfume during a fastday,it does not hurt to use it on the night before);(3) and medicinal bloodletting (N: or blooddonating) or cupping (0: as these, like the fast,weaken a person and could have a synergisticdebilitating effect).If someone abuses one while fasting, oneshould say to him, ""1 am fasting.""
THINGS THAT ARE UNLAWFUL OROFFENSIVE WHILE FASTINGIt is unlawful to kiss (0: or embrace, orpet with the hand) on fast-days for those it sexuallyarouses.
It is unlawful not to eat or drink anything(wisal) between fast-days, though it is not unlawfulif one has some water, even a mouthful, beforedawn.
It is offensive during the fast to taste food,or to use a toothstick (def: e3) after noon.
It is not offensive during the fastto line theeyes with kohl (def: e4.l(4)) or to bathe.
It is offensive (dis: w38) for anyone (0:whether fasting or not) to keep silent all day untilnight (0: when there is no need to) (A: needincluding the necessity of restraining the tonguefrom useless talking (dis: rl.l)).
MAKING UP MISSED FAST·DAYSSomeone obliged to make up some fastdaysof Ramadan is recommended to do so consecutivelyand immediately.It is not permissible for a person with someunperformed fast-days of Ramadan to delay makingthem up until the next Ramadan unless there isan excuse (N: for delaying)
If one delays until thenext Ramadan, one must pay 0.51 liters of food(def: h7.6(A:)) (N: to the poor) for each fast-daymissed, in addition to making it up
If making upa fast-day is delayed until a second Ramadancomes, then one must pay double this amount foreach day
And so forth: every year that passesupon an unfulfilled fast-day adds 0.51 liters to bepaid for that day
(0: But if one's excuse for notperforming them persists, such as travel or illness,then it is permissible for one to delay making themup as long as the excuse is present, even if it lastsfor years
One is not obliged to pay the penalty feefor this delay even if several Ramadans go by, butis merely obliged to make up the missed fastdays).If someone dies with unperformed fast-dayswhich he could have fasted but did not, then eachfast-day is paid for (N: by the responsible familymember) with 0.51 liters offood (N: or he can fastfor him (A: in place of paying for each day))
(0:As for someone who dies after two Ramadanselapse upon his missed fast-days, each fast is paidfor with 1.02 liters (n: double the above) of food(N: or the family member can both fast a day andpay 0.51 liters for each day (A: Le
the familymember may fast in the deceased's stead for theinitial nonperformance of the fast-day, though hecannot fast in place of paying the 0.51 liters of foodfor each year that making up a fast-day wasdelayed before the deceased's death, because thisis the legal expiation for the delay)
As for someonewho died before his excuse (n: for not fasting)ceased to exist, nothing at all is obligatory forhim).)*
It is recommended to fast:(1) on six days of the month of Shawwal, andthat they be the six consecutive days immediatelyfollowing 'Eid al-Fitr (0: their being consecutiveand their immediately following the 'Eid are twoseparate sunnas), though it is permissible to fastthem nonconsecutively;(2) on 9 and 10 Muharram;(3) on the full moon (lit
""white"") days ofevery lunar month, which are the thirteenth andthe two days that follow it;(4) on Mondays andThursdays;(5) on the first nine days of Dhul Hijja;(6) during the inviolable months, which arefour: Dhul Qa'da, Dhul Hijja, Muharram, andRajab;(7) (n: and on every other day, a fastdescribed by the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) as ""the most beloved fast toAllah"" (Riyad al-salihin (y107), 466)).The best fast-days, after Ramadan, are thoseof Muharram, then Rajab, then Sha'ban
(0: Ingeneral, the best month for fasting, after Ramadanand the inviolable months, is Sha'ban (A:there being no objection to fasting an entiremonth or just part of one).)It is recommended to fast on the Day of'Arafa (0: 9 Dhul Hijja), unless one is a pilgrimpresent at 'Arafa (def: j8), when it is better not tofast
It is not offensive for such a person to fast,though it is better for him not to.
FASTS THAT ARE OFFENSIVE OR UNLAWFULIt is offensive to fast every day of the year(0: besides the two 'Eids and the three days following'Eid al-Adha (n: these being unlawful tofast (dis: below) rather than offensive)) if thisharms one (0: in body or mind) or causes one notto do something one should do (0: for oneself orothers, even if merely recommended)
Ifnot, thenit is not offensive.
It is unlawful and not valid to fast (0:whether voluntarily, as a vow, or as a makeup) onthe two 'Eids or the three days following 'Eid alAdha.
It is also unlawful and invalid to fast on aday of uncertainty (N: as to whether it is the firstday of Ramadan), meaning that on 30 Sha'ban,someone who does not have the necessary qualifi-cations of a witness (def: i1.lO) mentions havingseen the new moon of Ramadan
Otherwise (0:when no one has mentioned seeing it, or when anacceptable witness has), then it is not considered aday of uncertainty.Fasting on a day of uncertainty is not valid asa day of Ramadan, though it can validly fulfill avow or a makeup fast
Voluntary fasting on such aday is only valid when one would have f;isted anywaybecause it falls on a day one habitually fasts,or when one has been fasting each day sincebefore mid-Sha'ban
If neither of these is the case,then it is unlawful and invalid to fast on it.It is unlawful to fast during the days after midSha'banunless one would have fasted anywaybecause they fall on days one habitually fasts, orunless one has been fasting each day since beforemid-Sha'ban.
(Nawawi: (n: with commentary byMuhammad Shirbini Khatib)) It is offensive tosingle out Fridays or Saturdays «Shirbini:) orSundays for fasting, i.e
to single out one of theabove-mentioned days when they do not coincidewith days one normally fasts
The fast of someonewho usually fasts every other day and whose fastcoincides with one of these days or with a day ofuncertainty is not offensive, because of the hadithrelated by Muslim,""Do not single out Friday for fasting unlessit happens to coincide with a fast one of youperforms,""similar days being analogous to Fridays in thisrespect) (Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rifa ma'anialfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 1.447)).
Once begun, it is unlawful to interrupteither an obligatory fast-day or an obligatoryprayer, whether it is current, a makeup, or vowed;though if it is nonobligatory (0: whether whollysupererogatory or linked with a particular eventor time), then one may interrupt it (0: but it isoffensive to do so if there is no excuse).*
It is sunna, at any time, to make spiritualretreat (i'tibf) in the mosque.
LAYLAT AL-QADRSpiritual retreat (i'tikaf) is especiallyrecommended in Ramadan, particularly in the lastten days of it, seeking Laylat al-Qadr (lit
""theNight of the Divine Decree"") (0: which is, asAllah Most High says,""better than a thousand months"" (Koran 97:3),meaning that spiritual works therein are betterthan works of a thousand months Jacking Laylatai-QadI
Indicating its excellence, the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""He who prays on Laylat al-Qadr in faith andexpectation of its reward will be forgiven his previoussins"").Laylat al-Qadr could be on any night ofRamadan (n: or any other month of the year,according to some (dis: w39))
It probably occurswithin the last ten nights, more likely on the oddnumberedones (N: remembering that the night ofan Islamic date comes before the day of that date),the twenty-first and twenty-third of which are thelikeliest (n: though most scholars hold it to be thetwenty-seventh (Mughni al-muhtaj ita ma'rifama'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 1.450))
On LaylataI-Qadr it is recommended to frequently repeat,""0 Allah, You are oft-relenting and love to forgive,so forgive me.""
HOW TO PERFORM SPIRITUAL RETREATAt minimum, spiritual retreat (i'tikaf)consists of:(a) staying, with the intention of spiritualretreat, for more than the least amount of timethat can be considered repose (A: i.e
a moment);(b) while being Muslim, sane, conscious,and free of major ritual impurity (0: i.e
ofmenstruation, postnatal bleeding, and majorimpurity (janaba));(c) in a mosque, even when this stay is nomore than entering the periphery and then leavingby the same entrance (taraddud), though tomerely pass through is insufficient,Optimally, the spiritual 'retreat (i'tikaf)should be accompanied by fasting, take place inthe Friday congregational mosque (0: because ofthe size of the group prayer therein, and so as notto have to leave to attend the Friday prayer), andbe no less than a day,
VOWING SPIRITUAL RETREAT INPARTICULAR MOSQUESIf one vows (def: JIS) to make spiritualretreat (i'tikaf) in:(1) al-Masjid al-Haram (n: in Mecca);(2) al·Masjid al-Aqsa (n: in Jerusalem);(3) or Masjid aI-Medina;then the vow cannot be fulfilled elsewhere.Spiritual retreat (i'tikaf) in al-Masjid al-Haramfulfills a vow to make spiritual retreat in either ofthe other two (n: al-Aqsa or Medina), but not viceversa (N: they do not fulfill a vow to make aspiritual retreat in al-Masjid al-Haram)
Spiritualretreat in Masjid ai-Medina fulfills a vow to do soin al-Masjid al-Aqsa, but not vice versa
If onevows to make a spiritual retreat in any mosquebesides these three, the vow can be fulfilled in anymosque whatever (0: since none besides thesethree is superior to any other).
Spiritual retreat (i'tikaf) is invalidated bylovemaking and by orgasm as a result of touching.
VOWS TO SPEND A CERTAIN CONSECUTIVEPERIOD IN SPIRITUAL RETREATIf one vows to make spiritual retreat for aconsecutive period, then one is obligated to do so.The consecutiveness of such a period is not nullifiedby leaving the mosque for something necessarysuch as eating (even when it is possible to doso in the mosque), drinking (provided it is not possibleto do so in the mosque), using the lavatory,attending to an illness, the onset of a menstrualperiod, or similar things; though one's spiritualretreat is interrupted by leaving the mosque tovisit a sick person, perform a funeral prayerGanaza), or attend the Friday prayer Gumu'a).
Touching another with sexual desire isunlawful for someone in spiritual retreat (i'tikaf).
It is not permissible for a wife to makespiritual retreat without her husband's permission.*
(0: Hajj and 'umra are obligatory because ofthe word of Allah Most High:""People owe Allah to make pilgrimage to theHouse, whoever is able to find a way"" (Koranand,""Complete the hajj and 'umra for Allah""(Koran 2;196),meaning, ""Perform both of them completely."")
(n: This section uses the following special vocabulary, in addition to someof the terms previously mentioned at fS.1:'Arafa: (syn
'Arafat) the name of a plain about thirteen miles to the eastsoutheastof Mecca.Hajj: the pilgrimage to Mecca.lhram: the state of consecration that pilgrims enter for hajj and 'umra.Labbayk: a litany meaning, ""Ever at Your service, 0 Allah, ever at Yourservice.""al-Masjid al-Haram: the Holy Mosque in Mecca that encompasses theKaaba.Safa and Marwa: two hillocks connected by a course adjoiningal-Masjid al-Haram.'Umra: the lesser pilgrimage or visit to Mecca that may be performed at anytime of the year.)
Both hajj and 'umra are obligatory,though neither is obligatory more than once in aperson's lifetime unless one vows (def: JIS) morethan that.
They are only obligatory for someonewho:(a) is Muslim;(b) has reached puberty;(c) is sane;(d) and is able (def: j1.6-lO) to make them.
The hajj or 'umra of someone consideredunable (non-(d) above) is valid (0: i.e
if heundertakes the hardship, travels, and stands at'Arafa (def: jS), it fulfills the obligation), thoughnot that of a non-Muslim, or a child below the ageof discrimination (fl.2) who is unaccompanied bya guardian.It is valid for a child of the age of discriminationto enter the state of ihram with his guardian'spermission (0: guardian meaning the person withlawful disposal over the child's property).It is also valid for the guardian to enter ihramon behalf of an insane person or a child below theage of discrimination, in which case the guardianhas his charge do as much as he is able, by havinghim (0: telling him to) perform the purificatorybath (ghusl), remove clothing that has seams, andput on hajj garments; and forbidding him thethings prohibited while in the state of ihram, suchas perfumes and the like (def: j3.5), after which hetakes him to the various places ofthe hajj rites (0:it being insufficient for the guardian to go alone),and performs the acts that the charge cannot dohimself, such as entering into ihram (n: which thecharge, lacking diserimination, is unable to makea legally valid intention for), the two rak'as aftercircumambulating the Kaaba, and stoning atMina
(N: But the hajj of someone who has notreached puberty does not fulfill the obligationIslam imposes, f!ince even though it is valid, it issupereroga tory .)
WHO IS CONSIDERED ABLE TO PERFORMTHE HAJJThose able to perform the hajj are of twotypes: those able to perform the hajj in person,and those able to fulfill the hajj by sending someonein their stead.
THOSE ABLE TO PERFORM THE HAJJ IN PERSONThe conditions for being considered ableto perform the hajj in person are:(a) to be healthy (0: enough to ride therewithout serious harm);(b) to
be able to obtain provisions for thetrip;(c) to have enough money to afford water atthe going price at the places people travel throughbecause of the water there;(d) to have transportation suitable to someonelike oneself (0: though if one cannotfind any,or if it is more than the usual price (A: usual meaningthat the fare to the hajj is no more than the fareto another destination of comparable distance),then one is not obliged to perform the hajj);(all of the above (0: (b), (c), and (d) applyequally to the journey there and back)(e) to be able to pay for (b), (c), and (d),round trip, with money one has that is in excess ofthe amount one requires to support the membersof one's family and clothe them while one is travellingthere and back, and obtain lodgings for oneself;and that is in excess of any money one owesfor debts, even those not yet due (0: scholars concurthat a debtor is not obliged to perform the hajjeven when his creditor does not mind postponingthe debt until after the hajj, and that a person isnot obliged to perform the hajj when someone iswilling to loan him the money to do so (N: thoughsuch a person's hajj would be valid, as previouslydiscussed 01.4)));(f) and that a route exist that is safe for one'sperson and property from predators and enemies,whether the latter be non-Muslims or whetherhighwaymen wanting money, even when theamount is inconsiderable (A: including socalledhajj fees, which are not countenanced bySacred Law)
If there is no route except by sea,then one must take it if it is usually safe, but if not,then it is not obligatory.(N: These are the conditions for the obligatorinessof the hajj or 'umra, meaning that if one ofthem is lacking, the hajj and 'umra are not obligatoryfor that year, though if one performs themanyway, one's performance validly fulfills the riteswhich Islam imposes, as mentioned above at j 1.4.)
The above conditions apply equally to awoman, who in addition requires someone toaccompany her to protect her, such as a husband,an unmarriageable male relative (mahram, def:m6.2), or some (0: two or more) reliable women,even if they are not accompanied by any of theirunmarriageable male relatives.
If the above conditions are met, but thereis no longer time to reach Mecca, then the hajj isnot obligatory
But if time remains, it is obligatory.
It is recommended to perform hajj as soonas possible (N: i.e
to perform it the first year thatone is able to, and likewise for 'umra)
One isentitled to delay it, but if one dies without performingit after having been able to, one dies indisobedience, and it is obligatory to take out thecost for it from the deceased's estate (n: just asdebts are, as at L4.3(1)) to pay for someone tomake it up (A: in the deceased's place (dis:below)).mOSE ABLE TO PERFORM THE HAJJ BYSENDING SOMEONE IN mEIR STEAD
The second type of being able to performhajj is when one may fulfill it by sending another inone's place, the necessary conditions for whichare:(a) that one is unable to ride there (0: at all,or is able, but with great difficulty) because ofchronic illness or old age;(b) and that one either has the money (n: tohire someone to go in one's place) or (N: iflackingthe money) has someone to obey one (0: byagreeing to perform the rites of hajj for one (N: attheir own expense, as a charitable donation)),even if not a family member-in which case one isobliged to either hire someone (N: in the formerinstance) or give permission to someone (N: in thelatter instance) to perform hajj in one's place.One may also have someone perform anonobligatory hajj for one undersuch conditions.
'THE PRIORITY OF 'THE OBLIGATORY HAJJOVER ANY O'THERIt is not permissible for someone who hasnot yet performed his own obligatory hajj:(1) to perform the hajj for someone else;(2) to perform a nonobligatory hajj;(3) or to perform hajj in fulfillment of a vow,or as a makeup.(N: If he does any of these, it counts insteadas his own obligatory hajj).
The order of performing hajj (0: or'umra) must be:(1) the obligatory hajj first;(2) then a makeup hajj (def: j3.14:(c)) if anyis due;(3) then a hajj in fullfillment of a vow, if anyhas been made;(4) and then a supererogatory hajj, Or one inanother person's place.If one tries to change this order, for example,by commencing a hajj with the intention for asupererogatory performance or a vow when onehas not yet made the obligatory hajj, the intentionis invalid, and the hajj counts instead as fulfillingthe obligatory one
The same is true for the otht;rtypes (A: i.e
if one intends any of the types in theorder just mentioned when a prior type existsunperformed, then one's hajj counts as fulfillingthe prior one, regardless of the intention).
WAYS OF PERFORMING THE HAJJI t is permissible to enter ihram with theintention for any of four ways of performing thehajj, which are, in order of superiority:(1) hajj before 'umra (ifrad);(2) 'umra first (tamattu');(3) hajj and 'umra simultaneously (qiran);(4) and the unconditional intention to performhajj and 'umra (itlaq).
HAJJ BEFORE 'UMRA (IFRAD)Hajj before 'umra (ifrad) means to performhajj (0: i.e
enter ihram for hajj) first (0:before subsequently entering ihram for 'umra) atthe ihram site for people from one's country (def:j2), then (0: after having completed one's hajj) togo outside the Sacred Precinct (Haram) and enterihram for 'umra
(0: There is no special place forthe second ihram: if one went to the closest placeoutside of the Sacred Precinct, it would suffice forthis ihram of 'umra.) (N: People generally go tothe Mosques of 'A'isha (Allah be well pleasedwith her) at aI-Tan'im because it is dose.)
'UMRA FIRST (TAMATTU')'Umra first (tamattu') (N: perhaps theeasiest and most practical way to perform hajj inour times, since one does not have to remain in astate of ihram throughout the week or more thatone is generally there between the initial 'umraand subsequent hajj) means to perlorm the 'umrafirst (0: before the hajj) by:(a) entering ihram for it from the ihram sitefor people of one's own country;(b) during the hajj months (def: j1.19);(c) and then (0: after finishing the 'umra)performing hajj within the same year from Mecca(0: meaning to intend hajj from Mecca (n: byentering ihram there), if one wants to have toslaughter (n: in expiation, as at j12.6(I)), whichrelieves one of the necessity to return to the ihramsite of people of one's country, though if onereturns to that site to enter ihram for hajj, thenone is no longer obliged to slaughter and one'sihram is valid).It is recommended to enter ihram for hajj on 8Dhul Hijja if one is performing 'umra first(tamattu') and has an animal to slaughter
But ifone does not have an animal, (0: one entersihram) on 6 DhulHijja (0: so that one's (N: threedayexpiatory) fast (N: in place of slaughtering(def: j12.6(I))) takes place before standing at'Arafa (A: since in the Shafi'i school, being inihram for hajj is obligatory during these three daysof fasting, though for theHanafi school, these daysmay be fasted before entering ihram for hajj, afterone's 'umra), thus fasting on the sixth, seventh,and eighth, and not on the Day of 'Arafa (N: theninth) if one was able to fast on the sixth, though ifnot, then fasting the Day of 'Arafa is mandatorybecause of the previous inability
If one does notfast it, it is a sin and the delayed fast-day is amakeup, as its obligatory time is before theDayof'Arafa)
One enters ihram for hajj in Mecca fromthe door of one's lodgings
Then one proceeds in astate of ihram to al-Masjid al-Haram as a Meccanwould (0: to perform a farewell circumambulation(tawaf al-wada', def: jl1.2) of the Kaaba,which is desirable (mustahabb) for non-Meccanswho are leaving Mecca to go to 'Arafa
For Meccans,the farewell circumambulation is obligatorywhen leaving Mecca, even for a short distance).
HAJJ AND 'UMRA SIMULTANEOUSLY (QIRAN)Hajj and 'umra simultaneously (qiran)means to enter ihram intending both (0: hajj and'umra) at the ihram site for people of one's country,and then perform only the rites of hajj
(0:Such that one does not perform an additional circumambulationor a second going between Safaand Marwa (def: j6), but rather once is sufficientto fulfill the obligation of both hajj and 'umra,because the actions of the 'umra have been incorporatedinto the actions of the hajj
The authormentions a second way of performing hajj and'umra simultaneously (qiran) by saying:)Or the person may enter ihram first for'umra, and then before beginning his circumambulation(0: even if only by a single step), incorporateinto his intention for 'umra the intention toperform hajj, this taking place in the months ofhajj.THE OBLIGATION TO SLAUGHTER OR FAST FORTHOSE PERFORMING THE 'UMRA FIRST(TAMATTlJ') OR HAJJ AND 'UMRA
SIMULTANEOUSLY (QIRAN)A Person performing 'umra first(tamattu') or performing hajj and 'umra simultaneously(qiran) is obliged to slaughter (N: a shah(def: h2.S) or to fast, as mentioned below),though if the person performing hajj and 'umrasimultaneously (qiran) lives within the SacredPrecinct (Haram) or within 81 km.l50 mi
of it, orif the person performing 'umra first (tamattu')returns to the ihram site for people of his country(N: after his 'umra) to enter ihram for hajj, or liveswithin 81 km.lSO mi
of the Sacred Precinct-inany of these cases he is not obliged to slaughter.If one (0: performing 'umra first (tamattu')or hajj and 'umra simultaneously (qiran)) isobliged to slaughter but:(1) lacks an animal there (0: i.e
in the SacredPrecinct (Haram), which is the place of theobligation to slaughter, lacks meaning absolutely,as when there is not an animal available that meetsslaughter specifications (def: j14.2));(2) or (0: there is an animal, but one lacks)its price (0: or has the price but needs the moneyfor expenses and the like);(3) or finds that it is being sold for more thanthe normal price for that locality and time;-then one must fast three days of the hajj
(0:For our school it is insufficient to fast them beforethe hajj, as opposed to the school of Abu Hanifa,in which it is permissible to fast them before thehajj (A: i.e
when performing the 'umra first(tamattu'), fasting them after having finished theinitial 'umra and before entering ihram for hajj).)It is recommended that these days be before theDay of 'Arafa (0: time permitting, as when onefasts from 1 Dhul Hijja after having entered ihramfor hajj
It is unlawful to delay these fast-days tillafter theDayof 'Arafa), and one must fast sevenadditional days after returning home (n: making atotal of ten fast -days).The time for current performance of thethree fast-days ends after the Day of 'Arafa (0:and it is not permissible to fast any of them on 'Eidal-Adha or on the three days following the 'Eid),and if one thus delays them, it is obligatory tomake them up before the other seven fast-days, byan interval between the three and seven fast-daysequal to the interval that would have separatedthem had they been a current performance,namely, the time taken by the trip (0: from Meccato home) plus four days (0: equal to the 'Eid andthe three days that follow it).
THE UNCONDITIONAL INTENTION TO PERFORMHAJJ AND 'UMRA (ITLAQ)The unconditional intention to performhajj and 'umra (itlaq) means to merely intendentering into the performance of rites, withoutspecifying at the time of ihram that it is for hajj,'umra, or hajj and 'umra simultaneously (qiran).After this, one may use it (0: the ihram, madeunconditional by the intention) as one wishes (0:meaning to perform hajj only, 'umra only, or hajjand 'umra simultaneously (qiran) (A: though onemay not use the unconditional intention as a wayto perform 'umra first (tamattu') without havingto either return to the ihram site to enter ihram forhajj, or to slaughter or fast (def: jl.l7))):
THE TIME OF YEAR TO ENTER IHRAM FORHAJJ OR 'UMRAIt is not permissible
to enter ihram for hajjother than during its months, namely, Shawwal,Dhul Qa'da, and the first ten nights of Dhul Hijja(A: with their days)
If one enters ihram for hajjduring non-hajj months, one's ihram counts for'umra.Entering ihram for 'umra is valid at any timeof the year except for a person on hajj encampedat Mina for stoning (def: jl0).*
The sites for entering ihram for hajj or'umra are as follows:(1) (N: people going to hajj from the Westbyplane must enter ihram before boarding it, or duringthe flight before it passes the airspace that iseven (def: j2.3) with the city of Rabigh, on thewestern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, this generallybeing announced on the plane);(2) Medina residents (N: or those travellingthrough Medina to Mecca) enter ihram at DhulHulayfa; .(3) residents of the Syria-Palestine region,Egypt, and North Africa enter ihram at al-Juhfa;(4) residents of al-Tihama in Yemen enterihram at Yalamlam;(5) residents of the Najd of Yemen and theNajd ofthe Hijaz enter ihram at Qarn;(6) and residents of Iraq and Khurasan enterihram at Dhat 'Irq, preferably at al-'Aqiq.
Someone at Mecca, even if merely passingthrough, enters ihram for hajj in Mecca, and for'umra must go (N: at least) to the nearest placeoutside of the Sacred Precinct (Haram), of whichthe best is al-Ji'rana, then aI-Tan'im, and then al-Hudaybiya.Someone residing closer to Mecca than theihram site is to Mecca should enter ihram (0: forhajj or 'umra) at his residence.
When coming by a route lacking an ihramsite, one enters ihram when even with (0: on theleft or right) the ihram site that is nearest.
For someone residing farther from Meccathan the ihram site is, to enter ihram at the ihramsite is superior (A: than for him to enter ihram athis own residence).
THE EXPIATION FOR NEGLECTING TO ENTERIHRAM AT THE PROPER SITESomeone intending hajj, 'umra, or both,who passes the ihram site (0: intentionally,absentmindedly, or in ignorance ofit) and entersihram somewhere closer to Mecca, is obliged toslaughter (def: j12.6(I)), though if he returns tothe proper site and enters ihram there before havingperformed a single rite, he is no longer obligedto slaughter.*
When one wishes to enter ihram, it isrecommended (even for a woman in menstruation)to perform the purificatory bath (ghusl),intending bathing for ihram
If there is not muchwater, one merely performs ablution (wudu).It is also recommended to shave pubic hair,pluek the underarms, clip the mustache, (0: trimthe nails,) clean oneself of dirt, and wash thehead.
OBLIGATORY MEASURES BEFORE IHRAMThen (0: if male) one:(a) sheds any garments that have sewing inthem (0: taking them off being obligatory forihram, which is incomplete if one does not removethem before entering it);(b) puts on a clean white mantle (Ar
rida',the rectangular piece of cloth worn over theshoulders that covers the upper body of a manin ihram) and wraparound (izar, the cloth wornaround the lower body), and sandals (0: that donot enclose the foot, but rather reveal the toes andheels, as opposed to sandals that cover the toes,for wearing such sandals obliges one to slaughter(def: jI2.6(II)));( c) and it is recommended to perfume thebody, though not one's clothes.The above measures 03.1) apply equally towomen, although women do not divest themselvesof sewn garments (0: a woman beingobliged to cover all of her body except the face andhands, which, in ihram as well as in prayer, are notconsidered nakedness)
It is recommended thatshe dye her hands and face with henna (0: a measurethat is desirable, and whose nonperformanceis without consequence)
(A: But women do notuse perfume.)All of the foregoing are done before enteringihram.
ENTERING IHRAMOne then prays two rak'as, provided it isnot a time when the prayer is forbidden (def: f13),intending the sunna of ihram
(0: It is sunna torecite al-Kafirun (Koran 109) in the first rak'a,and al-Ikhlas (Koran 112) in the second.)Then one rises to start travelling to Mecca.As soon as one begins travelling to Mecca, one hasentered ihram.Ihram (0: which is an integral of hajj and'umra) is the intention to enter into the performanceof the rites (0: of hajj, 'umra, or both(qiran))
One intends in one's heart to performthe hajj for Allah Most High, if one wants to performhajj; or to perform 'umra if one wants to; orboth together if one wants to perform them simultaneously(qiran)
It is recommended that onealso pronounce this intention with the tongue.
CHANTING ""LABBA YK""Then one chants ""Labbayk"" (n: asdescribed below), raising the voice (0: enough to(N: at least) hear oneself, the raising being relative.For the duration of the time one is in ihramone raises it enough for .those nearby to hear),though a woman should lower her voice when sayingit (0: as raising the voice is offensive for awoman) saying: ""Ever at Your service, 0 Allah,ever at Your service
Ever at Your service, Youhave no partner, ever at Your service
Verily, allpraise, blessings, and dominion are Yours
Youhave no partner"" (0: saying this three times).Then (0: after chanting the above) onerecites the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) in a softer voice, askingAllah Most High for paradise (0: saying, ""0Allah, I ask You for paradise and its blessings,""and asking for His good pleasure and acceptance(ridwan)) and seeking refuge in Him from hell (0:saying, ""I take refuge in You from Your wrath,and hell,"" and asking Him for whatever onewishes of the good of this world and the next).It is desirable to chant ""Labbayk"" for theduration of one's ihram, whether standing, sitting,riding, walking, lying down, and even in a state ofmajor ritual impurity (janaba), or for a woman inmenstruation
It is particularly desirable when:(1) changing from one state, time, or place toanother, such as when going uphill or down, orgetting on or off a vehicle;(2) meeting groups of people;(3) at the approach of dawn, night, ordaytime;(4) after prayer;(5) and in all mosques.One does not chant ""Labbayk"" while circumambulatingthe Kaaba or going between Safaand Marwa (0: as these have their own particularinvocations)
It is undesirable to stop chanting it inorder to speak, though if someone greets one with""as-Salamu 'alaykum,"" it is recommended (0:but not obligatory) to return his greeting.When one sees something pleasing (0: or displeasing)during ihram, it is recommended to say,""Ever at Your service, truly, the real life is the lifeof the hereafter"" (0: and if one sees the like whilenot in ihram, one says, ""0 Allah, truly, the reallife is the life of the hereafter,"" without saying""Labbayk.""
THINGS UNLAWFUL WHILE IN IHRAMFive things are unlawful (dis: j12.6) whenone has entered ihram
(n: Namely:(1) sewn garments on men (dis: j3.6);(2) using perfume (j3
7);(3) removing hair or nails (j3.8);(4) sexual intercourse or foreplay (j3.13);(5) and hunting (j3.21).)
SEWN GARMENTS ON MENThe first thing unlawful in ihram is wearingsewn clothing such as shirts, trousers, moccasins(khuff, def: e6), anything else sewn (N: sewnmeaning that which is for wearing, not just anysewing, as a patched mantle or wraparound arepermissible), and anything that encircles the bodyas sewn garments do, such as (N: those seamed)by being woven or felted together and the like.It is unlawful to cover the head with anything,sewn or unsewn, that is generally considered aheadeover (0: such as ahat, cloth, bandage(N: orblanket while sleeping)).It is permissible while in ihram to carry a (N:sewn) bag or the like, or to tote a basket (0: onone's head, though it is unlawful if one intends itas a headcover)
(A: It is permissible to carryan umbrella held in the hand for protection againstthe sun.)It is not permissible to fasten one's mantle bytucking part of it through a hole, tying it together,passing a string through one end and then theother, or by tying a string to each of the two ends(N: though it is permissible to fasten it togetherwith safety pins).It is permissible to tie one's wraparound (0:one end to the other) or tie a string over it (0: sothat it holds it fast, like a drawstring, and one maylikewise use a waistband) (N: the reason for thepermissibility (n: of tying the wraparound but notthe mantle) being that if the wraparound were tofall it would reveal one's nakedness, unlike themantle)
(n: Safety pins are permissible to fastenthe wraparound, and are useful to make pleats atthe waistline (jy safety-pinning two or three tucksof cloth there to gather the wraparound at thewaist and leave more freedom of movement forthe legs below.) (A: A belt may also be used tohold one's wraparound at the waist.)
PERFUMEThe second thing that is unlawful afterentering ihram is using perfume, such as musk,camphor, or saffron on one's clothing, body, orbedding
It is also unlawful to smell roses, violets,lilies, or anything fragrant; to sprinkle rose wateror flower water about; or to use scentedoils (N: or scented bar soap), whether to smellthem or to apply them to any part ofthe body.It is also unlawful:(1) to apply unscented oils like olive,sesame, and so on to the beard or scalp, unless oneis bald (A: in which case it can be used on the skinof the head), though it is permissible to smell themor apply them to any of the body (0: except thehair of the head and face);(2) to eat food in which the use of a cosmeticis manifest, whether in taste, color, or scent, suchas the scent of rose water, the color of saffron or itstaste, or the taste of ambergris in cooked grain andthe like;(3) or to use scented perspiration deodorantor eyeliner.
REMOVING HAIR OR NAILSThe third thing that is unlawful while inihram (0: for both men and women, but only ifone does so deliberately, knowing that it is unlawful,voluntarily, and remembering that one is inihram) is:(1) cutting or plucking hair (0: i.e
removingit by any means whatever), even if only part of asingle hair (by shortening it), and whether fromthe head, underarms, pubes, mustache, or anyother part of the body (A: the obligatory expiationfor one hair is to give O
51 liters of food to the poorin Mecca, and for two hairs, twice that amount.For three or more, a full expiation (clef: j12.6(Il))is obligatory);(2) or clipping fingernails or toenails, even ifonly part of one (A: my above remark on expiationsalso applies to nails).
THE EXPIATION FOR VIOLATING THECONDITIONS OF IHRAMIt is necessary to slaughter a shah (def: h2.5) (n: or perform one of the other alternativesmentioned below at j12.6(II)) when one is inihram and one:(1) uses perfume;(Z) wears a prohibited garment (def: j3.6);(3) removes three or more hairs, fingernails,or toenails (def: jlZ.6(II(1-Z)));(4) touches another person with desire in anongenital area;(5) or applies unscented oil to one's hair(dis: j3.7).
A person obliged to perform such an expiationmay fulfill it (A: any time thereafter.) in anyof the following ways:(1) by slaughtering a shah (def: hZ.5) (0:and distributing its meat to the poor and thoseshort of money in the Sacred Precinct);(Z) by distributing 6.09 liters of food (def:h7.6) to the poor in charity, giving 1.015 liters toeach person;(3) or by fasting three days (0: even ifunconsecutive) .
ACCIDENTALLY REMOVING A HAIRIt is unlawful during ihram to comb one'sbeard (N: or hair) or run one's fingers through it·ifone knows that hair will be pulled out.When one runs the fingers through one'sbeard or washes the face and then notices hair inone's hand, then if one knows one pulled it outwhile doing this, an expiation (def: jlZ.6(1l)) mustbe paid, though if one knows that it came out byitself, or does not know whether it did or not, thenone is not obliged to expiate.
The following things necessitate the expiation(def: jlZ.6(II)), but when done out of need,are not unlawful:(1) having to cut one's hair because of illness,heat, or lice;(2) having to wear something sewn becauseof intense heat or cold;(3) or having to cover one's head.
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE OR FOREPLAYThe fourth thing unlawful while in ihram issexual intercourse or touching a nongenital areawith sexual desire, such as kissing, hugging, ortouching lustfully.
If one intentionally has sexual intercoursebefore finishing one's 'umra, or while on hajjbefore partial release from ihram (def: j9.13),then:(a) this nullifies the hajj or 'umra;(b) it is nonetheless obligatory to completethe hajj or 'umra from the point at which it wasspoiled to the end;(c) it is obligatory to make it up as soon aspossible, even if the spoiled hajj or 'umra wasmerely supererogatory;(d) and it is obligatory to pay the expiation(def: below) (0: for the male, not the female, whoneed not do anything, though it is a sin if she participatedwillingly) (A: the more reliable positionis that if the woman was unwilling, none of theabove «a),(b), (c), or (d)) app1y to her, though ifwilling, (a), (b), and (c) apply to her but not (d)).
The expiation for the above U3.14) is toslaughter (A: and distribute to the poor of the SacredPrecinct, immediately):(1) a camel (0: i.e
a male or female thatmeets slaughter specifications (def: j14.2)), but ifthis is not possible (N: within the days ofthat hajj),then one must slaughter:(2) a cow, but if not possible, then:(3) seven shahs (def: h2.5), but if not possible, then:(4) one estimates the cost of a camel and howmuch food (def: h7.6) this would buy, and thengives that much food (N: to the poor in Mecca),but if not possible, then:(5) one fasts one day for every 0.51 liters offood that would have been given had (4) beendone
(N: One may fast anywhere, but it is notpermissible to delay it without an excuse.)
A person making up a hajj or 'uThra nullifiedby sexual intercourse must enter ihram forthe makeup hajj or 'umra at the same ihram site asthe original (n: nullified) hajj or 'umra, though ifone entered ihram for it at a location closer toMecca (N: than the ihram site (dis: j2.5)), onemust enter ihram for the makeup at the (0: prescribed)site (N: for those of one's country) ..
When someone (0: in ihram who intendsto make up a nullified hajj) is accompanied on themakeup hajj by the wife he made love to, he isrecommended to separate himself from her whilethey are at the place where they had intercourse.(N: Such a makeup counts as the original hajjor 'umra would have counted: ifit was obligatory,it counts as the obligatory one; if supererogatory,as supererogatory; and if vowed, as vowed.)
If a man has sexual intercourse after partialrelease fromihram (def: j9.13), it does not nullifyhis hajj (n: i.e
does not entail j3.14(a,b,e,d)),though he must pay an expiation (0: of the typediscussed at j12.6(1I)).
If one has sexual intercourse absentmindedly(0: forgetting one is in ihram or out ofignorance of its prohibition or because of beingforced), then one is not obliged to do anything (A:i.e
none of j3.14(a,b,c,d).
THE PROHIBITION OF MARRYING WHILEIN IHRAMIt is unlawful while in ihram to marry, orto marry someone to another (zawwaja, def:m3.2(a)) (0: whether one does so oneself orthrough an agent)
If one does so, the marriagecontract is invalid.It is offensive while in ihram to get engaged tomarry, or to serve as a witness for a marriage contract.
HUNTINGThe fifth thing that is unlawful while inihram is:(1) to kill any wild game that may be eaten byMuslims;(2) or to kill the offspring of matings betweengame animals that may be eaten byMuslims and game animals that may not be eatenby Muslims.Someone in ihram is obliged to pay the expiation(def: below) whenever such an animal dies athis hands, is destroyed by an act of his, or isinjured, in which case one must expiate in proportionto the part damaged.
THE EXPIATION FOR HUNTINGIf the animal killed has a domestic counterpart,one may fulfill the expiation in any of thefollowing ways:(1) to slaughter a head of domestic livestockthat is like the wild animal which was killed (0:like meaning an approximation, not actualresemblance
The criterion is the condition of theanimal, not its value
One expiates a game animalthat was, for example, large, small, healthy,diseased, fat, thin, or defective, with a head oflivestock of the same description, heeding the correspondences.It is a necessary condition that thewild animal and the head of livestock share, if theanimal was defective, the same type of defect,such as blindness (N: though it is permissible,indeed superior, to pay a healthy one for a defectiveone or a whole one for one that is lackingsome part));(2) to estimate the value of the like head oflivestock, and distribute an equal value of food(def: h7.6) to the poor;(3) or to fast one day for every 0.51 liters offoOd (N: that would have been bought had (2)been done).
If the animal killed does not have a domesticcounterpart, then one may fulfill the expiationin any of the following ways:(1) to distribute funds to the poor whichequal the value of the game animal, although if theanimal was a pigeon, one is obliged to slaughter ashah (def: h2.5) (0: which is obligatory for killingeven a single pigeon);(2) to buy food equal to the animal's valueand distribute it as charity;(3) or to fast one day for each 0.51 liters offood (N; that would have been bought had (2)been done).
The prohibition of all things unlawfulwhile in ihram applies to both men and women,except for not wearing sewnc10thing (def: j3.6)and not covering the head, which are restricted tomen.A woman, however, may not veil her face inihram (dis: (j12.6(11(3))))
If she wants to concealit from people, she may drape something in frontprovided it does not touch her face (N: such as aveil worn over a cap's visor), though if ittouchesitwithout her intention, it is of no consequence.It is permissible when in ihram to scratchone's head or body with one's fingernails as longas this does not remove any hair.It is also permissible in ihram to kill lice (N: orother insects harmful to humans), though if onekills a louse, it is recommended to expiate itsdeath by giving charity, even if only a single bite offood.*
It is recommended when one wants toenter Mecca:(1) to perform the purificatory bath (ghusl)outside of the city with the intention of enteringMecca;(2) to enter in the daytime, and from theMu'alla gate of Thaniyyat Kada' (N: a pass fromthe direction of Jedda);(3) to walk barefoot, provided one does notapprehend something unclean (najasa);(4) not to annoy anyone by jostling;(5) and after entering, to proceed toal-Masjid al-Haram.
WHEN ONE FIRST SEES THE KAABAWhen one first sees the Kaaba, it is recommendedto lift the hands and say: ""0 Allah,increase this house in nobility, honor, reverence,and dignity
Increase those going on hajj or 'umrawho honor and reverence it in honor, reverence,and piety
0 Allah, You are Peace, the Source ofPeace; 0 Lord, raise us after death in peace.""And then one asks Allah for whatever one wishesof religious matters or those of this world.
Then one enters al-Masiid al-Haram fromthe Bani Shayba door (0: even if it is out of one'sway, as it is sunna) prior to getting one's luggagedown or finding a place to stay and so forth (0:such as deciding to rest or to eat; all this should beput off until after circumambulating the Kaaba).Rather (n: by turns), some of one's party shouldstay with the luggage while others go to themosque (0: to circumambulate), and after theyfinish, they return to watch the luggage so the restcan go.(0: The arrival circumambulation (tawaf alqudum)is desirable for anyone who enters alMasjidal-Haram, whether in ihram or not.)
HOW TO CIRCUMAMBULATE THE KAABAPrior to circumambulating the Kaaba oneproceeds to the Black Stone (diagram: I) (0: nextto the Kaaba's door, on the east corner), drawingnear to it
if onc can do so without hurting othersby jostling
One faces the Black Stone, places thehand on it, and without a word, kisses the stonethrice and touches the forehead upon it thrice
(0:Touching, kissing, and placing the forehead onthe stone are only sunna for women when the circumambulationarea is vacant, whether in thenight or day.)
One ceases to chant ""Labbayk"" at thispoint, not to resume until after having finishedboth circumambulating the Kaaba and going betweenSafa and Marwa (def: j6)
One puts thecenter (N: of the top edge) of one's mantle underthe right arm and its two ends over the left shoulderso that the right shoulder is left bare (dis: j5.13, second par.).One begins circumambulating by first standingfacing the Kaaba with the Black Stone on one'sright and the Yamani corner (diagram: 8) on one'sleft, standing back from the stone a little towardsthe Yamani corner (n: i.e
behind the black stripein the marble pavement, extending out from thestone, that marks the beginning of one's circumambulation).One should intend performingthe circumambulation for Allah Most High (0:though this intention is only necessary for asupererogatory or a departure circumambulation,not for an obligatory or an arrival circumambulation,since the intention to perform the rites of hajjor 'umra (def: j3.3) includes the intention for thelatter two types of circumambulation).Then one:(1) places the hand on the Black Stone, andthen kisses it and places the forehead on it thrice,as mentioned above (A: i.e
it is done again hereto begin the circumambulation, just as it was donebefore circumambulation OS.2));(2) says ""Allahu akbar"" three times;(3) and adds, ""0 Allah, out of faith in Youand to affirm Your book, fulfill Your covenant,and follow the sunna of Your prophet Muhammad(Allah bless him and give him peace).""
Then one moves sideways (A: as is recommended)Black Stone with all of the body, while facing it.When past the stone, one turns (0: from facing it)so that the Kaaba is on one's left and then proceedsto circumambulate it
(0: If one did this (N:kept the Kaaba on one's left while passing thestone) from the beginning and neglected to facethe stone, it would likewise be permissible.)
At the Kaaba's door (diagram: 2) onesays, ""0 Allah, verily this house is Your house,the sanctuary Your sanctuary, the safety Yoursafety, and this is the station of him who tookrefuge in You from flIe"" (N: i.e
the Station ofIbrahim (diagram: 3), though some hold thewords mean ""him who takes refuge,"" alluding tooneself).
When one reaches the corner (diagram: 4)by the opening of the Hijr (n: a semicircular wallthat stands apart from the Kaaba (diagram: 5)),one says, ""0 Allah, I take refuge in You fromdoubt, from ascribing partners to You, from discord,hypocrisy, evil traits, and from bad turns offortune in money, spouse, and children.""
When even with the rainspout (N: calledthe Spout of Mercy (Mizab al-Rahma), at the topof the Kaaba (diagram: 6)), one says: ""0 Allah,shade me in Your shade on a day when there is noshade but Yours
Give me to drink from the cup ofYour prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him andgive him peace), a wholesome drink after which Iwill never thirst.""
Between the third corner (diagram: 7) andthe Yamani corner (diagram: 8), one
should say,""0 Allah, make this a pious hajj, a rewardeddfort, an accepted work, and a transaction thatwill never perish, 0 All-powerful and Oftforgivingone.""
When one reaches the Yam ani corner,one does not kiss it, but touches it and then kissesone's hand.
One does not kiss any of the Kaaba (0:meaning that it is not required, though if one kissesany of its parts, it is not offensive, but rather isgood) except the Black Stone
Nor does one touchany of it except the Yamani corner, which is theone before the Black Stone.
When one reaches the Black Stone, onehas completed a single round (0: provided its conditions(def: j5.16) have been met).
One goes around the Kaaba seven times(0: the seventh ending where one began, at theBlack Stone
One's circumambulation is incompleteas long as even a span remains between oneselfand the place even with the stone).
TROTTING FOR THE FIRST THREE ROUNDSIt is sunna in the first three rounds of circumambulationto hasten one's gait (N: if one cando so
without harming others) (0: taking closesteps, without running) which is termed trotting(ramal) (0: and which is desirable for men only,not women).Both trotting and baring the right shoulder(def: j5.3) are only called for in circumambulationsthat are followed by going between Safa andMarwa (def: j6)
If one wishes to go between Safaand Marwa after one's arrival circumambulation,then one does the two sunnas (0: both trottingand baring the shoulder at this point, but whenone later performs one's going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada, def: j9.1O), one does not dothese two sunnas because that circumambulationis not followed by going between Safa and Marwa(N: if one has already gone between thembefore)).But if one wishes to go between Safa andMarwa after the going-forth circumambulation(0: which is superior), one postpones the two (0:sunnas of trotting and baring the shoulder) untilthen.While trotting, one says, ""OAltah, make thisa pious hajj, a rewarded effort, and forgive mysins
""In the last four rounds of one's circumambulation,it is sunna to proceed at one's normal pace,while saying: ""My Lord, forgive me, show memercy, and pardon that which You know
VerilyYou are the AlIcpowerful and the Most Generous.Our Lord, give us what is good in this world andthe next, and keep us from the torment of hell.'Thissupplication is particularly recommended inthe odd-numbered rounds of the circumambulation(0: as they are superior
Reciting the Koranwhile circumambulating is better than makingsupplications that have not reached us throughprophetic hadith, though supplications from hadithare superior to reciting the Koran during it).14 It is recommended to kiss the Black Stoneif!
each round (0: and to place the forehead on it,each three times) and to touch the Yamani corner,particularly in the odd-numbered rounds.If it is not possible to kiss the Black Stonebecause of crowds or because one fears to hurtpeople (0: or be hurt) by jostling, one may touchit with one's hand and then kiss the hand
If this isnot possible, one may touch it with a stick (0: orthe like, such as a scarf) and kiss the stick
If thistoo is impossible, then one points to it (0: or theYamani corner) with the hand (0: and it is sunnato kiss one's hand).
A noteworthy detail here is that there is abuttress at the base of the Kaaba that resembles aledge and slide
It is part of the Kaaba, and whenone kisses the stone, one's head is in the spaceabove the buttress
So one is obliged to keep one'sfeet motionless until one finishes kissing the stoneand straightens up, after which one continues circumambulating.(N: One may not move one's feetas part of the circumambulation while one's headis within the space above the buttress, as it nullifiesthat particular round because of the condition(dis: j5.16(i)} that circumambulation be donearound the Kaaba, and not within its confines.) If.when leaning over to kiss the stone, one's feetmove even a finger's width towards the Kaaba'sdoor, and after this, one continues circumambulating,then that particular round does notcount (0: nor do the others that come after it, ifone limits oneself to just those seven, consideringthe spoiled one as a valid round
But if one adds anextra round (N: to make up for the irivalid one),then one's circumambulation is valid).It is more precautionary when one hasstraightened up from kissing the stone, to stepback to the left to'l¥ards the Yamani corner 05.2diagram: 8) enough to ensure that one is whereone was before kissing the stone
(N: The same istrue of touching the Yamani corner with one'shand.)
THE CONDITIONS OF A VALIDCIRCUMAMBULATIONThe conditions of a valid circumambulation(0: of any kind, obligatory or nonobligatory)are:(a) that one's nakedness (def: f5.3) beclothed, because the round is invalid wheneverany of one's nakedness shows, even a single hair ofa woman's head (0: meaning that the particularThe Buttress at theBase of the Kaabaround in which it showed is invalid, provided itwas done intentionally
If it happened inadvertentlyand the woman immediately covered it (A:immediately meaning after no more than the timerequired to say ""Subhan Allah""), then it does notinvalidate that round, though if she does not coverit until after it is showing, the subsequent roundtakes the place of the above-mentioned invalidone);(b) ritual purity (0: from minor (hadath)and maior (janaba) impurity) (n: though forHanafis
touching a marriageable member of theopposIte sex (N: despite being unlawful) does notnullify one's ablution (Maraqi al-falah sharh Nural-idah (y126), 17)
and considering the difficultyof avoiding it at a contemporary hajj, taking thedispensation seems a virtual necessity);(c) to be free from impure substances(najasa) on one's person, clothing, and the placeof walking while circumambulating;(d) that it take place within al-Masjid alHaram;(e) that one's circumambulation compriseseven full rounds;(f) that it begin from the Black Stone
asdescribed above, and that one pass by all of thestone with all of one's body, for if one begins fromanother part of the Kaaba, then the round doesnot count until one reaches the stone, fromwhence it begins;(g) that one keep the Kaaba on one's left andmove towards the door (j5.2 diagram: 1-2);(h) that eaeh round be outside of the Hijr(diagram: 5) sueh that one does not enter theopening between the Hijr and the Kaaba and thenexit through the other opening;(i) and that all of the body of the person circumambulatingbe exterior to all parts of theKaaba
such that while walking around it
onedoes not put one's hand in the space above thebuttress, previously mentioned (i5.15)
which violatesthe condition of being wholly outside all ofthe Kaaba while making one's rounds.
Everything besides the above conditions issunna (N: not obligatory), such as trotting in thefirst three rounds, the various supplications, andthe other things previously mentioned.TWO RAK'AS Af
When one has finished circumambulating,and after putting one's mantle over both shoulders,it is recommended to pray two rak'as for thesunna of circumambulation (0: and it is best toperform them) behind the Station ofIbrahim 05.2diagram: 3)
In the first rak'a, one recites alKafirun(Koran 109), and in the second, al-Ikhlas(Koran 112).After this, one supplicates Allah from behindthe station (0: if one prays there
Otherwise, onemay perform the two rak'as (N: in order ofsuperiority) in the Hijr (diagram: 5), al-Masjid alHaram,the Sacred Precinct, or whenever andwherever one wishes to pray them, and theyremain a current performance until the day onedies
It is sunna to recite the suras aloud in thesetwo rak'as if performed at night, and to recitethem to oneself if performed during the day
It isdesirable to make the supplication related byJabir, who said that the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) prayed two rak'as behind thestation (N: of Ibrahim) and then said;""0 Allah, this is Your city, and al-Masjid alHaram,and Your inviolable house, and J amYour slave, the son of Your slave and bondwoman.I have come to You with many sins, mistakes,and wicked acts, and this is the station ofhim who took refuge in You from the fire; so forgiveme, verily You are the All-forgiving andCompassionate
0 Allah, You have called Yourservants to Your inviolable house, and I havecome, asking for Your mercy and seeking whatpleases You, and You are the Rewarder, so forgiveme and have mercy on me, verily You havepower over everything"").Then one returns to the Black Stone andtouches it (0: kisses it, and bows one's headupon it).*
Then it is recommended to exit throughthe Safa door of al-Masjid al-Haram if one wishesto go between Safa and Marwa immediately
(0:It is necessary for the validity of going betweenSafa and Marwa (N: for hajj) prior to the Day of'Arafa that one do so after one's arrival circumambulation(tawaf al-qudum) (N: though one maynot do so on an 'umra first (tamattu') hajj, forwhich the initial circumambulation and going betweenSafa and Marwa are part of one's 'umra(dis: j12.2(c))), nor do so after a supererogatoryor farewell circumambulation.) One may postponeit until after the going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada, def: j9.10) (0: which issuperior).
HOW TO GO BETWEEN SAFA AND MARWAOne begins from Safa
It is recommended:(1) for men (0: not women) to climb uponSafa the height of a person, so that one can see theKaaba through the mosque's door, and to face theKaaba;(2) to say: ""La ilaha ilia Llah, A1lahuakbar;' and ""There is no god but Allah alone,without partner
His is the dominion, His thepraise, He gives life and causes to die, all good isin His hand, and He has power over everything.There is no god but Allah alone, without partner.He kept His promise, give His slave the victory,and routed the Confederates alone
There is nogod but Allah
We worship none but Him, makingour religion sincerely for Him, though unbelieversbe averse"";(3) to supplicate for whatever one wishes (0:which is called for here because it is one of theplaces where prayers are answered
'Umar (Allahbe well pleased with him) used to supplicatelengthily here);(4) and to repeat (2) and (3) a second andthird time.
Then one descends from Safa and walks(0: towards Marwa) at one's normal pace untilwithin three meters of the first green marker suspendedfrom the left wall
Here one runs (N:women walk) until midway to the second greenmarker, at which midpoint one resumes one'susual pace until one reaches Marwa
One climbsMarwa and says the same invocation as was said atSafa
This is once.Then one descends from Marwa and returns,walking and running at the proper places, untilone reaches Safa
This is twice.At Safa one says the same invocation andsupplication, and then goes back to Marwa, whichis three times.One repeats the process until one has completedseven times, finishing at Marwa.
THE OBLIGATORY ELEMENTS OF GOINGBETWEEN SAFA AND MARWAThe obligatory elements (0: i.e
conditionsfor the validity) of going between Safa andMarwa are four:(a) to begin at Safa
If one begins at Marwaand walks to Safa, this does not count and one'sgoing between them is not considered to havebegun until one reaches Safa;(b) to traverse the entire distance
It wouldbe invalid if one neglected even a single span orless of the distance
One must begin by puttingone's heel against the wall at Safa, and finish atMarwa by putting the toes against the wall there(N: the course has now been enlarged and pavedso that one's going between them is completewithout having to reach the walls that are currentlythere
Rather, between the two sides of thepaved track (n: the lan'es for going and coming)there is a smaller track for wheelchair patients,and the ends of this smaller track currently representthe minimal distance);(c) to complete seven times: from Safa toMarwa equals one, from Marwa to Safa is anotherone, and so on, as mentioned above
If doubtsarise while going between them as to how manytimes it has been-or while circumambulating theKaaba
how many rounds have been done-thenone assumes one has done the least number one issure of and completes the rest (0: though if thedoubts arise after finishing, one net;d not do anything);(d) and that going between Safa and Marwatake place after the going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada, def: j9.10) or else after one's arrivalcircumambulation, provided that standing at'Arafa does not intervene between the arrival circumambulationand going between Safa andMarwa (dis: j6.1).
THE SUNNAS OF GOING BETWEEN SAFAAND MARWAThe sunnas of going betweep
Safa andMarwa are those previously mentioned (j6.2-3),to have ablution (wudu), that one's nakedness(def: f5.3) be clothed, and to say while betweenSafa and Marwa: ""My Lord, forgive, show mercy,and overlook that which You know
Verily Youare the Most Powerful and Generous
0 Allah,our Lord, give us what is good in this world andthe next, and protect us from the torment of hell
""If one recites the Koran (A: while going betweenthem) it is better (0: than anything besidesthe invocations that have reached us in hadith (A:i
e
the above), which are better here than recitingthe Koran).
It is not recommended to repeat going be- I .
.r-JI)p ';'X; 'iJ j6.6tween Safa and Marwa.*
On 7 Dhul Hijja it is recommended for theimam (A: i.e
the caliph or his representative) togive a sermon after the noon prayer (zuhr)inMecca (0: at the Kaaba), instructing the pilgrimsabout the rites they will soon perform, and orderingthem to go forth on the following day (0: themorning of the eighth) to Mina.
The imam goes forth with them after thedawn prayer (subh) on 8 Dhul Hijja.He prays the noon, midafternoon, sunset,and nightfall prayers with them at Mina, and theyspend the night and pray the following dawnprayer there
When the sun rises over the mountainat Mina that is called Thabir, they proceed to'Arafa.Spending the night and staying at Mina duringthis time are a sunna (0: and not part of thehajj rites
If one does not spend the night at Minaat all, or go there, it does not entail any consequences)that many people no longer do, butcorne to 'Arafa at the end ofthe night with lightedcandles
This lighting of candles is a disgracefulinnovation (0: as is their corning there a day ortwo before 9 Dhul Hijja, a mistake that contravenesthe sunna, and through which they missmany other sunnas).
It is sunna on the way to 'Arafa to say: ""0Allah, to You I betake myself, seeking Yournoble countenance
Forgive me my sins, make myhajj a pious one, show me mercy, and do notdisappoint me""; and to do much of chanting ""Labbayk,""invocation (dhikr), supplication, and Blessingson the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace).Namira (N: the site of a large mosque) just before'Arafa, they stop, and do not immediately enter'Arafa
When the time for the noon prayer comes,it is sunna for the imam to give two sermons beforethe prayer, and then they pray, joining the noonand mid afternoon prayers together
This too is asunna that few follow.*
Then they enter 'Arafa after the sunnabath (ghusl) for standing at 'Arafa, chanting""Labbayk"" in lowliness and humility.
THE SUNNAS OF STANDING AT 'ARAFAIt is recommended to stand exposed to thesun (0: and not take shade beneath a tent,umbrella, or other, unless there is an excuse suchas harm from exposure) facing the direction ofprayer (qibla) with one's heart fully attentive andnot occupied with this-worldly matters, and to domuch of chanting ""Labbayk,"" reciting the Blessingson the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), asking Allah's forgiveness, supplicating,and weeping, for here tears are shed and mistakesannulled.The greater part of one's words should be:""There is no god but Allah alone, without partner.His is the dominion, His the praise, and Hehas power over everything."" And one should prayfor one's family, friends, and all Muslims.
It is recommended to stand (0: if possiblewithout hurting anyone) by the large round bouldersthat lie at base of the hill called Jabal alRahma(lit
""Mount of Mercy"")
As for climbingJabal al-Rahma, which lies in the middle of'Arafa, there is no merit in doing so (0: above themeI'lt of standing in other parts of 'Arafa)
Standingis valid anywhere in the whole expansive plain,and this bluff is merely a part of it, the same as anyother, though standing by the boulders below isbetter (A: as the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) did so).It is better to be mounted, and not fasting.It is best for women to sit at the edge of thecrowd (0: not in the middle of it, because menshould not randomly mix with women).
THE OBLIGATORY ELEMENTS OF STANDINGAT 'ARAFAThe obligatory elements of standing at'Arafa are:(a) to be present (0: while in ihram) in someportion of 'Arafa;(b) while sane and in full possession of one'sfaculties;(c) at some point between the noon prayer(zuhr) on 9 Dhul Hijja and dawn of the followingday
(0: It is sunna to remain at 'Arafa until sunsetso as to include both night and day.) Anyonewho is present and sane during any of this time,even if merely passing through for a moment, hasaccomplished the hajj (0: as the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""The pilgrimage is 'Arafa,""meaning that most of it is 'Arafa).Someone who misses standing at 'Arafa orwho spends it unconscious has missed the hajj, andhe releases himself from ihram by performing therites of 'umra; that is, by circumambulating, goingbetween Safa and Marwa, and cutting his hair,and he is thus released from his ihram.Such a person is obliged to make up the hajjand to slaughter as do those who perform an 'umrafirst (tamattu') hajj (def: j12.6(I)).*
When the sun sets on 9 Dhul Hijja, thoseon hajj go forth to Muzdelifa, occupied with invocation(dhikr), chanting ""Labbayk,"" proceedingwith tranquility and dignity, not jostling or injuringothers (though if the way is clear it is desirableto hurry), and they join the sunset and nightfallprayers in the time of the nightfall prayer (,isha) atMuzdelifa
(0: It is necessary to have made theintention to join the prayers while in the time ofthe sunset prayer.)When they reach Muzdelifa, they stop, pray,and spend the night there (0: which is best, andoptimal
If one cannot spend the night, then theobligation to be present at Muzdelifa can be metby coming there, even for a brief moment, duringthe second half of the night, for spending the nightmerely means to be present there during the secondhalf of the night, not actually staying overnight,as opposed to spending the night at Mina(dis: j10.4), which must be for the greater part ofthe night
If someone misses spending the night atMuzdelifa in the above-mentioned sense, does notreturn there before dawn, and has no excuse (N:of those given below), then he is obliged to slaughteras one does for an 'umra first (tamattu') hajj(def: j12.6(I))
But if he misses spending the nightthere for one of the same reasons which justify notspending the night at Mina (def: jI0.to), then he isnot obliged to slaughter
Other valid excuses fornot spending the night at Muzdelifa include:(1) being occupied with standing at 'Arafabecause of not having arrived there until after sunset,since it is more important than Muzdelifa;(2) or going forth from 'Arafa after themiddle of the night to Mecca in order to performthe (A: obligatory) going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada), missing Muzdelifa because ofbeing occupied with it, since it too is more importantthan Muzdelifa.In either of these two cases, one does nothave to slaughter (A: for having missed Muzdelifa)).In the morning, the pilgrims pray the dawnprayer at the first of its time.They also pick up seven pebbles, not onestone broken into seven (0: which is offensive), tothrow at the stoning site (AI
jamra, the enclosedround space with a pillar in the middle of it) atMina, and it is best that these be the size of abroadbean (N: i.e
about the size of athumbprint).
STOPPING AT AL-MASH'AR AL-HARAMAfter the dawn prayer, it is sunna to stopby a hill at the last of Muzdelifa (0: in the directionof Mina) called al-Mash'ar al-Haram (lit.""the Sanctuary Landmark""), which it is recommendedto climb if possible
(A: Others hold thataI-Mash'araI-Haramrefers to all of Muzdelifa.) Itis desirable to face the direction of prayer (qibla),to do much of chanting ""Labbayk,"" supplication,and invocation (dhikr), and to say, ""0 Allah, asYou have brought us to stand in it and shown us toit, so too, give us success in Your remembrance, asYou have guided us
Forgive us, and show us themercy You have promised us by saying (and Yourword is the truth):"" 'And when you move on from 'Arafa,remember Allah at al-Mash'ar al-Haram.Remember Him, for He has guided you thoughyou were astray
And then go forth from wherethe people go forth, and seek Allah's forgiveness.Truly Allah is Oft-relenting and Most Compassionate'(Koran 2:198-99).""Our Lord, give us what is good in this worldand the next, and keep us from the torment ofhell
""
When the day lightens considerably, thepilgrims proceed to Mina with gravity and tranquilitybefore the sun rises.
RELEASE FROM IHRAM:THE INITIAL STONING AT MINAWhen the pilgrims reach the valley ofMuhassir near Mina, it is sunna to quicken theirstep for a distance of a stone's throw
Then theytake the middle way which leads to (N: one of thethree stoning sites called) Jamrat al-'Aqaba
Theystone it as they are when they arrive (0: i.e
ifmounted, they stone it mounted, and if on foot,they stone it on foot) with the seven stones pickedup from Muzdelifa
These may be picked up fromanywhere, not necessarily Muzdelifa, though it isoffensive to take them from the stoning sitesthemselves, latrines (0: or other unclean places),or around mosques (0: which is not merely offensivebut rather unlawful if they are taken fromgrounds included in the endowment (waqf, def:k30) for the mosque).
When one begins to stone Jamrat al'Aqaba, one ceases chanting ""Labbayk,"" anddoes not resume it thereafter (0: as its time isover, which was the period of ihram, and stoningJamrat al-'Aqaba is the first step to release fromihram).The (0: optimal) way to stone lamrat al'Aqaba is to stand in the middle ofthe valley afterthe sun is up so that 'Arafa lies to the right, Meccato the left, and the stoning-site before one, and tothrow the pebbles one by one (0: as throwingthem two at a time or all at once counts as havingthrown one pebble) with the right hand, saying""Allahu akbar"" with each pebble, lifting the armshigh enough when throwing (0: if male, thoughnot if female) that the underarm shows, and toaetually throw the pebbles (0: meaning hardenough to be eonsidered throwing), not merelyflick them off the thumb with the forefinger
(n:The minimal conditions for the validity of stoningare given at j10.8.)
When finished stoning (N: Jamrat al-'Aqaba), one slaughters a voluntary sacrifice animal(hady) driven to hajj or one due by reason ofhajj (dis: j12.6); or other sacrifice animal (udhiya,def: j14).RELEASE FROM IHRAM: CUTrING THE HAIR
Then men have their entire head shaved,which is optimal, though one may confine oneselfto (0: removing (A: by any means)) three hairsthereof (0: i.e
from the head, not something elsesuch as the beard or mustache), or may merelyshorten it, for which the optimal is to dip a littleless than two centimeters from all the hair
.As for women, it is optimal for them toshorten their hair in the latter way (0: it beingoffensive for a woman to shave her head).
While having one's hair cut it is best:(1) to face the direction of prayer (qibJa);(2) to say ""Allahu akbar"" (0: that is,""Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, walillahi l-hamd"");(3) for the person shaving to start from theright;(4) and to bury the hair afterwards (0: ameasure recommended for any parts separatedfrom a living being).
Cutting the hair is an integral withoutwhich the hajj remains unfinished (0: and whichmay not be compensated for by merely slaughtering),and a person remains in ihram until it isdone
Someone without hair can simply pass arazor over his head (0: which is recommended,not obligatory, because it is a rite whose conditionis the existence of a particular site, as is also thecase with washing a hand (n: for ablution) whenthe hand has been amputated (A: i.e
it need notbe done if the site does not exist).After one's hair, has been cut, it is sunna tosay, ""0 Allah, for each hair reckon for me a gooddeed, annul a bad one, and raise me a degree
For-give me, those who shave their hair, those whoshorten it, and all the Muslims"").
RELEASE FROM IHRAM: THE GOING-FORTHCIRCUMAMBULATION (TAWAF AL-IFADA)On the same day (A: 10 Dhul Hijja) oneenters Mecca and performs the going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada), which is an integralwithout which the hajj remains unfinished (0:the author's expression ""without which the hajjremains unfinished"" meaning that it may not becompensated for by merely slaughtering, thoughthe time it may be performed is anytime thereafter,according to our school
TheHanafis hold itmust be done by sunset On 12 Dhul Hijja, and ifthe sun sets and oile has not performed it, thisobliges one to slaughter), and one remains inihram until one does it
Its obligatory features areas described above (dis: j5.16).After it, one prays two rak'as (0: intendingthe sunna of circumambulation (def: j5.I8)).
Then, if one has already gone betweenSafa and Marwa after the arrival circumambulation(dis: j6.1), one does not repeat it, though ifone has not yet done it, one must do so, sincegoing between Safa and Marwa is also an integralwithout which the hajj is unfinished, and oneremains in ihram (0: legally, regarding one's relationswith women (dis: j9.13)) until it is performed.
RELEASE FROM IHRAM: GENERAL PROVISIONSThe best order in which to perform:(1) stoning Jamrat al-' Aqaba;(2) cutting the hair;(3) and the going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada);is (1), (2), and (3) (0: and the sunna is to do allthree on this day), though it is valid to do them insome other order.The time for these three begins at the middleof the night (A: between sunset of 9 Dhul Hijjaand dawn of the tenth) on 'Eid al-Adha (0:though it is best for the stoning to take place aftersunrise)
The (0: preferred) time for stoning Jamratal-'Aqaba ends at the end of the day of the 'Eid(0: at sunset
As for the permissible time, it lastsuntil the end of the three days after the 'Eid
Thebest time to stone on 'Eid al-Adha finishes atnoon
Thus, the stoning has three times: the best,the preferred, .and the merely permissible), whlIethe time for cutting one's hair and the going-forthcircumambulation lasts indefinitely, even if years.
The release from ihram in hajj is in twostages, partial (lit
""first"") and full (""second"").Partial release from ihram occurs when anytwo of the three rites of stoning, cutting the hair,and the going-forth circumambulation are performed,whether cutting the hair and stoning, cuttingthe hair and circumambulation, or stoningand circumambulation
Doing any two of themaccomplishes partial release from ihram, renderingpermissible all the things that were madeunlawful by ihram (def: j3.S) except those relatingto women, such as sexual intercourse, gettingmarried, or touching with desire.Full release from ihram occurs when all threerites have been performed, and it renders permissibleeverything made unlawful by ihram (0:though one still has to stone at the three stoningsites and stay overnight at Mina during the daysfollowing the 'Eid (Ayam al-Tashriq)).*
When finished with the going-forth circumambulation(tawaf al-ifada) and going betweenSafa and Marwa (0: Le
doing the latter ifone had not previously performed it after thearrival circumambulation (dis: j6.1)), one isobliged to return to Mina (0: to stay overnightthere and stone on the days following the 'Eid(Ayam al-Tashriq)
It is desirable to arrive beforenoon to perform the noon prayer there as theProphet did (Allah bless him and give himpeace)), and one spends the night there.One picks up twenty-one pebbles from Minaon the days after the 'Eid (the first of which is thesecond day of the 'Eid), taking care to shun thethree places mentioned above (dis: j9.4(end)).
After the time for the noon prayer hascome (0: on 11 Dhul Hijja, the first day after the'Eid) one stones with the pebbles before performingthe noon prayer.(N: It is well to, mention some, rulings about stoning that enable one to avoidthe crowding at Mina on a contemporary hajj
The time for stoning on each of thethree days that follow the 'Eid (Ayam al-Tashriq) begins at noon of that day andends at sunset on the third day after the 'Eid
This means that one may postponeall of one's stoning until the afternoon of the third day, having remained at Minauntil then
But in such a case, the correct order is still obligatory: one must beginby stoning with the intention of performing it for the first day, starting at the firststoning site (Jamrat al-Kubra), then the second site (Jamrat al-Wusta), and thenthe third (J amrat al-'Aqaba)
Then one stones with the intention of performing itfor the second day, the first stoning site first, then the second, then the third
Andthen one stones for the third day, observing the same order.)
THE PROPER SEQUENCE FOR STONINGThe first site one stones (0; called Jamratal-Kubra) is the one closest to al-Khayf mosque.One (A: optimally) walks up to it, keeping it onone's, left and facing the direction of prayer(qibla), stones it pebble by pebble as mentionedabove 09.5), and turns from the direction ofprayer to avoid others' pebbles, after which oneputs the stoning site behind one and again turns tothe direction of prayer, to supplicate and invokeAllah humbly and imploringly for as much time asit takes to recite al-Baqara (Koran 2) (N; about anhour).One then proceeds to the second site (0:called Jamrat al-Wusta), repeats the stoning procedure,and when finished, supplicates (0: andinvokes Allah Most High) for as long as it takes torecite al-Baqara.Then one goes to the third site, which isJamrat al-'Aqaba that was previously stoned withseven pebbles on 'Eid al-Adha, and stones it asone did at that time (dis: j9.5), facing it with thedirection of prayer (qibla) to the left, though whenfinished, one does not stand there.
THE SECOND DAY AFTER THE 'EIDOne is obliged to spend the night at Mina(A: that evening, after sunset on 11 Dhul Hijja).The following day, the second day after the'Eid (A: i.e
12 Dhul Hijja), one picks up twentyonepebbles, and after the noon prayer's time hascome, one stones the three stoning sites asdescribed above, seven pebbles at each g.jte
It isnot permissible to stone for each of the days afterthe 'Eid until after the noon prayer's time arrives.The correct sequence of stoning the sites isobligatory: the one closest to al-Khayf mosquefirst, the middle one second, and Jamrat al'Aqaba third.
It is recommended to take a bath (ghusl)each day for stoning.mE PERMISSIBILITY OF LEAVINGMINA ON mE SECOND DAY
After stoning on the second day after the'Eid, it is recommended for the imam to give asermoninforming people about the permissibility ofleaving early (A: on the second day rather thanthe third) (0: which is permissible provided:(a) that one's departure takes place after thenoon prayer's time has come;(b) after having stoned the three stoningsites;(c) that one's departure is from Mina itself,as it is not permissible to leave directly from Jamratal-'Aqaba, in view of the position that it is notpart of Mina;(d) that one intends leaving while within theboundries of Mina;(e) and that one leaves before sunset).Then the imam bids them farewell.
One then has a choice between leavingearly on the second day after the 'Eid, or waiting(A: until having stoned on the third day)
If onewishes to leave early, one may do so, provided thedeparture from Mina occurs before sunset
If thesun sets and one is still at Mina, it is not permissibleto leave early, and one is obliged to spend thenight there and stone the sites the next day.If one does not wish to leave early, one staysovernight at Mina, picking up twenty-one pebblesand stoning the sites on the following day after thetime of the noon prayer has begun, as previouslymentioned.
CONDITIONS FOR THE VALIDITY OF STONING(0: Having mentioned the conditions forstoning in various rulings above, it is well to enumerateall seven together:(a) that seven pebbles be used;(b) that they be thrown one by one;(c) that one's action may be termed throwing,not merely putting the pebbles into the throwingplace;(d) that what is thrown be some form ofstone;(e) that it be done with the hand, as a bow orfoot would be inadequate;(f) that one aim at the throwing place;(g) that one be certain that the pebblereaches it, even if it falls out again, for if onedoubts that the stone reached it, then that stonedoes not count;(the above seven conditions hold for both 'Eid alAdha(dis: j9.5) and for the days following the'Eid, though the days following the 'Eid requiretwo additional conditions:)(h) that the stoning be done after the time forthe noon prayer arrives;(i) and that one stone the three sites in theproper sequence (dis: j10.3).)
Then one (0: who has (n: remained atMina and) stoned on the third day after the 'Eid)leaves (0: after stoning
None of the conditionsfor leaving early (def: j 10.6) are necessary to leaveat this point).
VALID EXCUSES FOR NOT SPENDING THENIGHT AT MINA(0: If there is an acceptable excuse for notspending the night at Mina, then not doing so doesnot entail any consequences
Excuses include:(1) having property one fears to lose wereone to stay overnight;(2) fearing for one's person or the funds withone;(3) having a sick person with one whorequires care;(4) having an illness that makes spending thenight a hardship;(5) or a similar excuse.People in such circumstances do not have tospend the night, and may leave on the second dayafter the 'Eid, even after sunset.These excuses, which permit one to not spendthe night at Mina, likewise permit not spendingthe night at Muzdelifa, in connection with whichsome other excuses have been previously mentioned(dis: j9.1(1-2)).)
His recommended (N: afterleaving Mina)to spend the night at al-Muhassab, which is by themountain near the cemetery of Mecca, one's hajjnow being finished.
If one wishes to perform the 'umra, onemay do so (0: i.e
enter ihram for it) from anypoint outside of the Sacred Precinct (Haram), asmentioned below in the description of 'umra(def: jI2).
THE FAREWELL CIRCUMBULATIONWhen one wants to return home, onecomes to Mecca and performs the farewell cirvtmambulation(tawaf aI-wada') (0: as is obligatory.It is disobedience to Allah to leave withoutthe farewell circumambulation, and one mustreturn to Mecca to perform it if still within 81 km.l50 mi
of it
If farther than this, one is not obligedto return, but must slaughter (def: j12.6(l)) (N:i.e
if one goes by the position that the farewell circumambulationis obligatory, though slaughteringis sunna if one goes by the position (A: the weakerposition in the Shafi'i school) that the farewell circumambulationis merely sunna) .
The integralsand conditions of the farewell circumambulationare the same as the obligatory circumambulation(def: j5.16).The farewell circumambulation is not onlyfor those performing hajj or 'umra, but is requiredfrom (A: i.e
obligatory for) anyone leavingMecca a considerable distance, no matter whetherintending to return or not).
After the farewell circumambulation, oneprays two rak'as (0: a sunna in our school) andstands at the place between the Black Stone andthe door of the Kaaba, and supplicates: ""0 Allah,the house is Your house, the servant Your servantand son of Your two servants
You have carriedme on a creature You have made submissive tome, bringing me to Your city and showing meYour grace that I might fulfill Your rites
If Youare pleased with me then be the more so, and ifnot, then bless me now before my residence andthe place where I am visited grow far from Yourhouse
Now is the time I depart if You permit me,who seek none but You and no other than Yourhouse, and am not averse to You or Your house.o Allah, give me good health in body and protectme in my religion
Make my affilirs turn out welland give me the sustenance of obedience to You aslong as You let me live
Give me the best of thisworld and the next, for truly, You have powerover everything."" One blesses the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), and then walksaway normally (0: turning one's back on theKaaba) without backing away from it (0: whilefacing it, as many people do, which is offensivebecause it is a reprehensible innovation (bid'a,def: w29.3))).
One then immediately prepares for departure.If one stops to stand (0: lengthily), orbecomes involved in something unconnected withtravel (0: like shopping
paying a debt, visiting afriend or sick person, and so forth), then one'sfarewell circumambulation is invalid (A: thoughsuch things do not nullify it in the Hanafi school)and it is obligatory to repeat it
But if one's activityconcerns travelling, such as making one's baggagefast or buying travel provisions and the like (0:such as a rope with which to tie up one's baggage)then it is permissible.
A woman in her monthly period maydepart without a farewell circumambulation, andneed not slaughter in expiation (0: though it issunna for her to come to the door of the mosqueand say the supplication mentioned above011.3).RECOMMENDED MEASURES FOR lHOSE
STAYING IN MECCAIt is recommended to do much of:(1) pedorming 'umra (0: the whole time oneis in Mecca, especially in Ramadan);(2) looking at the Kaaba (0: as it is said thatAllah Most High sends down one hundred andtwenty mercies day and night upon the NobleHouse, sixty for those circumambulating, forty forthose praying there, and twenty for those lookingat it);(3) drinking the water of the Well of Zamzamfor whatever intention one wishes, religiousor this-worldly (0: as the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said,""The water of Zarnzam is for whatever it isdrunk for.""It is sunna to face the Kaaba while drinking, tobreathe three times, and say ""al-Hamdu lillah""and ""Bismillah"" each time one drinks), drinkingone's fill of it;(4) and visiting the noble places of Mecca(0: which are many, such as the birthplace oftheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) andthat of 'Ali (Allah be well pleased with him).
I t is unlawful to take the Slightest bit of theearth of the Sacred Precinct or its stones, or takecups or jugs made from the clay of the Sacred Precinctof Medina.*
The 'umra consists of entering ihram asone does for hajj (def: j3) (0: resembling the hajjin the obligatoriness of the intention when oneenters ihram, in the sunna of bathing (ghusl) for it,and in the necessity of divesting oneself of sewnclothing before or after the intention)
If one is aMeccan (N: or a temporary resident (dis: j2.2)),one must go to (n: enter ihram from at least as faras) the nearest place outside of the Sacred Precinct.If one is from outside (0: meaning astranger travelling towards Mecca), then oneenters ihram at the ihram site (0: which one passes,meaning the hajj ihram sites (def: j2.1)), aspreviously mentioned
All of the things unlawfulwhile in ihram for hajj (def: j3.5) are unlawfulwhile in ihram for 'umra.Then one enters Mecca and performs the circumambulation(def: j5.16) of 'umra, though thearrival circumambulation (tawaf al-qudum) is notcalled for by Sacred Law (0; at all, since one isperforming an obligatory circumambulation).One then goes between Safa and Marwa (j6),and finally shaves the head or shortens the hair(def: j9.7) (0: the former being preferable formen and the latter for women)
When this hasbeen done, one is released from the ihram of'umra.
THE INTEGRALS OF HAJJ AND 'UMRAThe integrals of 'umra are:(a) ihram (def: j3);(b) circumambulation (def: j5.16);(c) going between Safa and Marwa (def:j6.4);(d) shaving or shortening the hair (def: j9
7);(0: and performing them in the order given,which is a fifth integral).
The integrals of hajj are these four (n: (a),(b), (c), and (d) above) plus standing at 'Arafa(def: j8.4).The hajj's other requisites (wajibat, dis:c2.1(A:)) are:(a) that one enter ihram at the proper site(def: j2.1-2);(b) stoning the stoning sites at Mina (def:j9.4, JIO);(c) staying the night at Muzdelifa (def: j9.1)(N: another position is that this is sunna and notobligatory) ;(d) staying the nights following the 'Eid atMina (def: j10.1,4,7);(e) and the farewell circumambulation (def:j1l.2).Everything besides the above is sunna.
THE NONPERFORMANCE OF AN OBLIGATORYPEA TURE OF HAJJ OR 'UMRASomeone who does not perform an integral(N: of hajj or 'umra) remains in ihram until heperforms it.Someone who does not perform some otherobligatory feature of them must slaughter in expiation(def: j12.6(I)) (0: if he does not return andperform it before its time is finished, as in suchcases as:(1) returning to enter ihram at the propersite before one starts circumambulating (dis:j2.5), though if one returns after having begun circumambulating,it does not lift the obligation toslaughter;09.1), which necessitates slaughtering if one doesnot return before sunrise, though to do soafter sunrise does not lift the obligation to slaughter;(3) or not spending most of the night atMina, if one does not return to it before most ofthe time has passed, though if one does (n: returnwhile most of it remains), then one need notslaughter.And similarly for the other requisites)
Someonewho does not perform a sunna is not obliged to doanything.
BEING PREVENTED BY OTHERS FROMCOMPLETING THE INTEGRALS OF HAJJ OR'UMRA AFTER HAVING ENTERED IHRAMSomeone prevented by an enemy (0: nonMuslimor Muslim) from entering Mecca (0: andfulfilling the integrals (A: of hajj or 'umra, includingbeing barred from perforrniilg the obligatorycircumambulation (tawaf al-ifada) or going betweenSafa and Marwa) when there is noalternative route, releases himself from ihram byintending release from it, shaving his head, andslaughtering a sacrifice animal at the place he hasbeen prevented, if an animal is available
If not(0: such as when unable to find an animal at all, orfinding one for more than the going price of simi:lar animals at that place and time), one gives theanimal's value in food (A: wheat) (0: as charity tothe poor and those short of money in the SacredPrecinct (N: or place one is prevented)); or ifunable (0: to give food), one fasts a single day foreach 0.51 liters of food (A: wheat) that wouldhave been given had the latter been done (0: fastingthe days wherever one wishes
When fasting isthe only option possible, one is immediatelyreleased from ihram after shaving one's head withthe intention of releasing oneself).If such a· hajj or 'umra was to have beensupererogatory, one is not obliged to make it up.
A FULL SUMMARY OF THE EXPIATIONSCONNECTED WITH HAJJ AND 'UMRA(n: Muhammad 'Abdullah Jurdani distinguishes between four categoriesof expiations relating to hajj and 'umra.(I) The first category consists of alternatives in a fixed precedence order andpredetemined amount (dam tartib wa taqdir), meaning that one must eitherslaughter a shah (def: h2.5) meeting sacrifice specifications (def: jI4.2), distributingits meat to the poor and those short of money (def: h8.11) in the Sacred Precinct;or if unable to slaughter (N: from lack of money (def: j1.17(2)) while on thehajj, even if one has enough money back home), then one must fast three daysduring the hajj and seven more at home, making ten days
(N: If this expiation isfor something that should have been performed after standing at 'Arafa (n: (4),(5), (6), or (9) below), the three days ""during the hajj"" may be fasted after one'srelease from ihram while still in Mecca, or if one fails to do so while there (A: asis obligatory), they become a makeup fast that must be performed before theother seven fasted at home (A: by an interval equal to the days of one's journeyhome).)There are nine things which necessitate this type of expiation:(1) performing an 'umra first (tamattu') hajj (def: j1.15,17);(2) performing hajj and 'umra simultaneously (qiran, def: j1.16,17);(3) not standing at 'Arafa (def: j8.4);(4) to miss stoning (def: j10.8) at the stoning sites of Mina on the three daysafter the 'Eid, the time for which ends at sunset on the third day (dis: j10.2(N:))if one does not leave early (def: j10.6);(5) to miss all three nights at Mina after the 'Eid (def: j10.1A,7), though ifone only misses a single night, one distributes 0.51 liters of wheat to the poor ofthe Sacred Precinct, and if two nights, then double this amount;(6) to miss spending the night at Muzdelifa (def: j9.1, second par.);(7) not entering ihram at the proper site (dis: j2.5);(8) breaking one's vow (def: jI8.5);(9) or not performing the farewell circumambulation (tawaf al-wada', def:jI1.2).(II) The second category consists of expiations in which one is free to chooseone of three predetermined alternatives (dam takhyir wa taqdir), namely: toslaughter and distribute a shah as described above (I); to fast three days, even ifunconsecutive, wherever one wishes; or to give 1.015 liters of wheat to each of sixof the poor or those short of money at the Sacred Precinct.There are eight things which necessitate this type of expiation:(1) removal of three hairs (dis: j3.8) at one time and place, meaning that theinterval between removing each is not considered long (dis: f4.5), and one hasremained at the same place, though if their removal does not occur at a single timeand place, one must pay OSlliters of wheat to the poor or fast one day for eachhair, even iftheir number exceeds three;(2) trimming three nails at one time and place, with the same rules andrestrictions as just mentioned;(3) men wearing sewn garments or covering their head (dis: j3.6), or womencovering their faces (dis: j3.24);(4) using oil (def: j3.7(1));(5) using scent 03.7);(6) sexual foreplay (n: other than intercourse) (dis: j3.l3);(7) having sexual intercourse a second time after having spoiled one's hajj(dis: j3.14) by an initial sexual intercourse;(8) or having sexual intercourse between partial and full release (def: j9.13)from ihram.(III) The third category consists of expiations in a fixed precedence order ofalternatives involving estimate-based substitutes (dam tartib wa ta'dil)
It is necessitatedby two things.(1) The first is being prevented by another from completing all the integralsofthe hajj or 'umra (def: j12.5), in which case one must release oneselffrom ihramby slaughtering and distributing a shah as described above (1); or if unable toslaughter, one estimates its value, buys food for that amount, and distributes it tothe poor ofthe Sacred Precinct (N: or place one is prevented); orifunable to givefood, one fasts one day for each 0.51 liters of wheat that would have been givenif one had been able to.(2) The seeond is having spoiled one's hajj or 'umra by sexual intercourse(def: j3.14), in which case one must slaughter a camel, or if unable to, one mustperform the alternative one is capable of, of those mentioned at j3.IS.(IV) The fourth category involves choosing between alternatives consisting ofestimate-based substitutes (dam takhyirwa ta'dil) .It is necessitated by two things.(I) The first is killing a game animal while in ihram
where if there is adomestic animal of similar value (lit
""like""), one has a choice between the alternativesmentioned at j3.22, though ifthere is not, then those mentioned at j3.23.(2) The second is destroying a tree of the Sacred Precinct, where
if it is largein relation to other trees of its kind, one slaughters and distributes a cow, and ifsmall, one slaughters a sheep
In either case, one has a choice between slaughteringit and distributing its meat to the poor of the Sacred Precinct, estimating itscost and buying wheat to distribute to the poor of the Sacred Precinct, or fastinga day for each 0.51 liters of wheat that would have been bought had the latter beendone.(Mufid 'awam ai-Muslim in rna yajibu 'alayhim min ahkam ai-din (y67), 230-38))(N: Throughout the above, whenever one is obliged to slaughter an animal,it is permissible to commission (wakala, def: k17) another person to do so bymeans of the written contracts readily available at a modern hajj, simply payingan amount of money and signing the agreement
They then slaughter for one inthe early morning ot the 'Eid and distribute the meat to deserving recipients
Secondly,giving food or wheat to the poor, wherever it is mentioned in connectionwith expiations, means giving them the type of food that is valid for the zakat of'Eid al-Fitr (def: h7.6), and the remarks made in that section about the Hanafischool permitting other than wheat apply equally here.) (n: In the Hanafi school,slaughtering must take place in the Sacred Precinct, though one may distributeboth the meat and other expiations anywhere (al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88),1.212,1.224).)*
It is recommended when one has finishedthe hajj to visit the tomb of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) (n: in Medina)
(0:One should enter his mosque with the right footfirst, as in any mosque, and say the well-knownsupplication: ""In the name of Allah, praise be toAllah
0 Allah
bless our liegelord Muhammad,his folk and his Companions, and give thempeace
0 Allah, open unto me the gates of Yourmercy."")
HOW TO VISIT THE PROPHET'S TOMBIt is recommended to pray two rak'as togreet his mosque, and then approach the nobleand honored tomb and stand at the head of it withone's back to the direction of prayer (qibla)
Onebows one's head and summons to mind reverentawe and humility, then greets the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) and blesses him in anormal voice (0: saying: ""Peace be upon you, bMessenger of Allah
Peace be upon you,
0Prophet of Allah
Peace be upon you, 0 ChosenOne of Allah
Peace be upon you, 0 Best ofAllah's Creation
Peace be upon you, 0 Belovedof Allah""), after which one supplicates Allah forwhatever one wishes
Then one steps half a meterto the right to greet Abu Bakr, and again to theright to greet 'Umar (Allah be well pleased withthem)
Then it is recommended to return to one'soriginal place and do much of supplicating Allah,turning to Allah through the Prophet (tawassul,def: w40) (0: concerning one's aims and goals,since he is the greatest intermediary, in intercessionand other things), and invoking blessingsupon him (Allah bless him and give him peace),after which one supplicates beside the pulpit (minbar)and in the Rawda (N: which is the spacedesignated by the white pillars between thechamber containing
the noble tomb and thepUlpit).
It is unlawful to circumambulate thetomb.It is offensive to nudge the wall around thetomb with one's back or front, to kiss it, or touchit (0: with one's hand
Proper conduct here is tostand back from it as one would if present duringhis life (Allah bless him and give him peace)
Thisis what is right, and what scholars have said andare agreed upon
One should not be deceived bywhat some common people do in their ignoranceof proper manners, for it is reprehensible innovation(bid'a, def: w29.3)).One of the most disgraceful innovations is theeating of dates in the Rawda.
It is recommended to visit al-Baqi' (0: thecemetery of Medina
It is desirable to go to itevery day, for buried there are the wives of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace).some of his children, his father's brother 'Abbas,our liegelord 'Uthman ibn 'Affan the successor ofthe Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and givehim peace), a number of his Companions(Sahaba), and Imam Malik, founder of the Malikischool of jurisprudence, the bliss and benefactionof Allah be upon them all).
When one desires to travel
one bidsfarewell to the mosque by praying two rak'as, andto the noble tomb with a visit and supplication.And Allah knows best.*
(0: Sacrifices are the livestock slaughtered inworship of Allah Most High between 'Eid aIAdhaand the last of the three days that follow it.They are a general hospitality from Allah tobelievers (A: to whom the meat is distributed
It isunlawful to give any of it to non-Muslims).}
'Eid al-Adha sacrifices are a confirmedsunna (def: c4.1) (N: which is considered obligatoryin the Hanifi school) (0: being sunnafor thoseable to slaughter, though uncalled-for from thepoor person who is unable).It is recommended for someone who intendsto sacrifice not to cut his hair or trim his nails on 10Dhul Hijja until he slaughters (0: these beingoffensive until he does)
The time for slaughteringbegins when it is long enough after sumise to haveperformed the 'Eid prayer (def: f19) with its twosermons (A: i.e
about forty minutes) (0: even ifone does not attend it) and it ends at (A: sunseton) the last of the three days following the 'Eid.
SACRIFICE ANIMAL SPECIFICATIONSOnly camels, cattle, sheep, or goats maybe slaughtered
At the youngest, camels must beover five full years, cattle and goats over two fullyears, and sheep over one full year.A single camel or cow fulfills the sunna forseven (A: men and their families), though a shah(def: h2.S) only fulfills it for one
1t is superior toslaughter a single shah than to have a share inslaughtering a camel.The best animal to sacrifice is a camel, then acow, then a sheep, and then a goat
The best kindof shah (h2.S) to slaughter is white, then tawnycolored,then black and white, and then a blackone.n is a necessary condition that a sacrifice animalbe free of defects that diminish (A: the qualityof) its meat
It is invalid to slaughter: .(1) a lame animal (0: that has an obviouswalking problem that hinders its going to pastureand thus weakens it);(2) a blind or one-eyed animal (0: whosedefect is manifest, as this diminishes its ability tograze);(3) a sick animal (0: whose infirmity isplain);(though if these defects are slight, the animal willsuffice
It is likewise invalid to sacrifice an animalthat is:)(4) deranged by malnutrition or insane;(5) mangy or scabrous (0: even when it isnot obvious);(6) with an ear that has been cut off or a pieceof it separated, even if not much (0: or one bornwithout an ear);(7) or missing a considerable part of thehaunch or similar meat-bearing portion (0:though not if it is a slight amount).It is permissible to sacrifice an animal with aslit in its ear (0: a measure for identification thatdoes not diminish the meat) or one with part or allof a hom broken off.
HAVING ANOTHER SLAUGHTER FOR ONEIt is best to slaughter (def: j17.4) the animaloneself (0: if one can slaughter well
If not,then it is obligatory to have someone who canslaughter properly do it for one)
If unable toslaughter well, it is recommended to be presentwhen it is done.
THE INTENTIONThe intention to sacrifice must be made atthe time of slaughtering
(0: It suffices the personwho is having another slaughter for him to makethe intention when he authorizes the other todo so.)
DISTRIBUTING THE MEAT1t is recommended that a third of the animalsacrificed be eaten, a third be given away (0:even if to wealthy Muslims), and a third be givenas charity (0: raw, not cooked).It is obligatory to give away some of the (0:raw) meat as charity, even if it is not much (0: itsuffices to give it to one Muslim), and the hide isgiven in charity or used at home.It is not permissible to sell the hide or meat(0: all of the above applying to sunna or voluntarysacrifices)
It is not permissible for a person whohas vowed (def: jI8) a sacrifice to eat any of theanimal slaughtered.*
(0: Lexically, 'aqiqa means the hair on ababy's head at birth
In Sacred Law, it means theanimal sacrificed when the baby's hair is cut,which is a confirmed sunna (def: c4.I).)
It is recommended for anyone to whom achild is bDrn to shave its hair on the seventh daythereafter (0: meaning any newborn, whethermale or female; a baby girl should also have herhair shaved) and give away in charity gold or silverequal to the weight of the hair.It is also recommended (N: when the baby isfirst born) to give the call to prayer (adhan, def:f3.6)in its right ear and the caD to commence(iqama) in its left.
THE SACRIFICEIf the baby is male, it is recommended toslaughter two shahs (def: h2.S) that meet 'Eid Sacrificespecifications (def: j14.2), while if the babyis female, it is recommended to slaughter one.(0: The person called-upon to slaughter for anewborn is the one obliged to support the child(dis: mI2.I).)After slaughtering, the shah is cooked (0: asat any feast) in sweet sauce, but none of its bonesare broken (A: it is cut at the joints), and it isrecommended to distribute the meat to the poor.
NAME-GIVINGIt is sunna to give the child a good namesuch as Muhammad or 'Abd aI-Rahman
(0: It isdesirable to name a child even if it dies beforebeing named.) (A: It is sunna for a new Muslim totake a good name like the above, or one of thenames of the prophets (def: u3.S) (Allah blessthem and give them peace)
)(0: This section is an explanation of what islawful (halal) and unlawful (haram), the knowledgeof which is among the most important concernsof the religion, since knowing it is personallyobligatory for every Muslim.)AVOIDING DOUB1FUL FOODSj16.1 (n: The following hadith and its commentaryhave been added here by the translator.)Anas (Allah be well pleased with him) relatesthat the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) found a date in his path, and said,""But for fear that it was charity, I would haveeaten it.""(Riyad al-salihin (yI07), 277)(Muhammad ibn 'Allan Bakri:) The hadithshows that when a person doubts that something ispermissible, he should not do it
The questionarises, Is refraining from it in such a case obligatory,or recommended?-to which our Imamsexplicitly reply that it is the latter, because a thingis initially assumed to be permissible and fundamentallynot blameworthy, as long as some priorreason for considering it unlawful is not knownabout it that one doubts has been removed
Forexample, when one doubts that one of the conditionsfor valid slaughtering (def: j 17 .2-4) has beenmet, conditions which make (N: a particular pieceof meat) lawful, the assumption is that it remainsunlawful (N: since initially the animal was alive, astate in which it is unlawful to eat, while it onlybecomes lawful by a specific procedure, i.e.Islamic slaughtering), so that the meat does notbecome lawful except through certainty (A: that ithas been slaughtered
The case of meats is exceptionalin this, since most other foods are initiallypermissible, and one assumes they remain sounless one is certain something has occurredwhich has made them unlawful).In cases of doubt, only likely possibilities aretaken into consideration, since it appears probable(n: in the above hadith) that dates for charitywere present at the time
As for remote possibilities,taking them into consideration onlyleads to a blameworthy extremism and departurefrom how the early Muslims were, for the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) was givensome cheese and a cloak (A: by members of a nonMuslimArab tribe) and he ate the one and worethe other without considering whether they mighthave mixed the former with pork, or whether thewool came from a slaughtered or unslaughteredanimaL Were one to take such possibilities intoconsideration, one would not find anything lawfulon the face of the earth
This is why our colleaguessay, ""Complete certainty that something is lawfulis only conceivable about rainwater falling fromthe sky into one's hand"" (Dalil al-falihin It'turuqRiyad al-salihin (y25), 5.37-38).A..NIMALS LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL TO EATj16.2 It is permissible to eat the oryx, zebra.hyena, fox, rabbit, porcupine, daman (n: a Syrianrock badger), deer, ostrich, or horse.j16.3 It is unlawful to eat:(1) (N: any form of pork products);(2) cats or disgusting small animals thatcreep or walk on the ground such as ants, flies, andthe like (0: disgusting being used here to excludeinoffensive ones such as the jerboa, locust, andhedgehog, which are small creeping animals, butare recognized as wholesome, and are pure);(3) predatory animals that prey with fangs ortusks, such as the lion, lynx, leopard, wolf, bear,simians, and so forth (0: including the elephantand weasal);(4) those which hunt with talons, such asthe falcon, hawk, kite, or crow, except for thebarnyard crow, which may be eaten;(5) or the offspring of an animal permissibleto eat and one not permissible to eat, such as amule (0: which is a cross between one eaten, thehorse, and one not eaten, the donkey).j16.4 It is permissible to eat any aquatic game(sayd al-bahr) except frogs and crocodiles.OTHER SUBSTANCES UNLAWFUL TO EATj16.5 It is unlawful to eat anything harmful,such as poison, glass, or earth
(A: If somethinghas been proven harmful, it
is unlawful to consume,while if suspected to be harmful, it is offensIveto.) (n: w41 discusses cigarette smoking.)j16.6 It is unlawful to eat anything impure(najasa, def: e14.1) (0: whether impure in itself,or because of being affected with somethingimpure, as is the case with (N: befouled) milk, vinegar,or honey).It is also unlawful to eat substances which arepure, but generally considered repulsive, such assalive or sperm.j16.7 If forced to eatfrom a unslaughtered deadanimal (0: out of fear of losing one's life or fear ofan illness growing worse), then one may eatenough (0: the necessary minimum) to avertdestruction (0: meaning enough to keep life fromending
One may not eat to repletion from a deadanimal unless one believes that confining oneselfto the survival minimum entails dangerous consequences,in which case it is obligatory to take theedge off one 's hunger)
If circumstances force oneto choose between a dead animal and some permissiblefood belonging to someone else (0: whois not present), one is obliged to eat of the deadanimal.*
It is not permissible to eat any animal (0:that Muslims are permitted to eat) until it has beenpropeJly slaughtered, the only exceptions towhich arc fish (def: j16,4) and locusts, which arepermissible to eat even when they dieunslaughtered.
It is unlawful to eat meat slaughtered by aZoroastrian, someone who has left Islam (murtadd,def: 08), or an idol worshipper, (0: includedwith whom are those (zanadiqa) with corrupt convictionsabout tenets of faith that are well-knownas essential parts oflslam (def: books u and v),)ora Christian of the desert Arab tribes (0: theupshot of which is that it is a necessary conditionthat the slaughterer be of a people whose women ,we are permitted to marry, whether Muslims,Jews, or Christians).
It is permissible to slaughter with anythingthat has a cutting edge; but not a tooth, bone, orclaw, whether human or otherwise, attached tothe body or not.
The necessary condition for slaughteringany animal which is within one's capacity toslaughter (0: domesticated or wild) is to cut boththe windpipe and the gullet (0: windpipe meaningthe channel of breath, and gullet meaning thechannel of food and drink which lies beneath thewindpipe.It is not necessary for the validity ofslaughtering to cut the carotid arteries, which aretwo blood vessels on the sides of the neck encompassingthe windpipe.If the slaughterer neglects to cut any part ofeither the windpipe or gullet and the animal dies,it is considered an unslaughtered dead animal, asis an animal with nothing but purely reflexivemovement left when one finishes cutting a part ofthe windpipe or gullet previously missed
If theslaughterer cuts from the back of the neck until hesevers the windpipe and gullet, it is a sin becauseof the excess pain caused (A: though it is valid asslaughtering
Chopping off heads of chickens witha hatchet is offensive, though the meat is lawful).The slaughterer should cut swiftly and nottake his time such that he has to cut two or moretimes
If he does, and there is no life remaining inthe animal on the second swipe, then the animal(A: has died unslaughtered and) is impermissibleto eat
The determining factor is whether liferemains in the animal when the knife is applied atthe beginning of the last stroke (A: the one whichsuccessfully severs both the windpipe and gullet),no matter whether this is the second or third).
It is recommended when slaughtering:(1) to turn the animal towards the directionof prayer (qibla);(2) to sharpen the knife;(3) to cut rapidly (0: even faster than isobligatory, such that it does not take two or moreswipes, as mentioned above);(4) to mention Allah's name (0: for thespiritual grace therein, saying ""Bismillah,"" as issunna) (A: this is obligatory in theHanafi school);(5) to bless the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace);(6) and to cut the large blood vessels (0: oneither side of the neck).
It is recommended to slaughter camels bythrusting the knife (0: into the hollow at the baseof the neck (A: between the two collarbones)above the chest so that one severs them (A: thewindpipe and gullet) in this concavity, since it iseasier than cutting the throat, for it speeds the exitof the spirit from the body by bypassing the lengthof the neck, being the preferable way to slaughterany animal with a long neck, such as a duck,goose, ostrich, or giraffe), with the camel leftstanding, one foreleg bound up.
I t is recommended to slaughter other thancamels (0: such as cattle, sheep, goats, or horses(A: by drawing the knife) across the throat at thetop of neck) after laying them on their left side.(0: Slaughtering them this way is only called for toeasily enable the slaughterer to hold the knife inhis right hand and the animal's head with his left.It is also sunna for the animal's legs to be bound,except the right hind leg, so the animal will notjerk during slaughtering and cause the slaughtererto miss his mark
The right hind leg is left free inorder to pacify the animal by giving it somethingto move).
It is a necessary condition that theslaughterer not raise his knife-hand whileslaughtering (0: while drawing it across the neck).If he lifts it before completely severing both thewindpipe and gullet, and then returns to cut them,the animal is not lawful to eat.
HUNTINGAs for hunting, a game animal is lawful toeat whenever one hits it with an arrow (A: oraccording to the Maliki school, shoots it with arifle or shotgun) or brings it down with a trainedhunting animal (A: such as a falcon or dog) (0:but only if trained), and it dies before one canslaughter it (0: that is, provided that one did notreach it when there was any life left in it besidesreflexive motion
If one reaches it while it is aliveor any life remains, then one must properlyslaughter it), provided that the hunter is not blind,is of a people whose slaughtered food Muslimsmay eat (def: j17.2), and provided that the animaldoes not die from being struck by the mere weightof the arrow, but rather dies by its edge (0: meaningthat it hits the animal point-first, wounding it).If the game was brought down by a trainedhunting animal, it is a necessary condition that theanimal ate nothing of the game.If the game animal dies from being struck bythe weight of the trained hunting animal (A: as infalconing), then the game is lawful to eat.
A game animal is not lawful to eat if:(1) an arrow hits it and it then drops intowater (0: because of the likelihood that it diedfrom drowning (N: if that is probable) rather thanfrom being shot);(2) it is brought down on a peak which it thenfalls from (0: because of the likelihood that it diedfrom the fall);(3) or if it disappears after having beenwounded and is found dead (0: because it mighthave died for some other reason than beingwounded (N: though if it is obvious that it diedfrom the wound, it is lawful to eat)).
A camel or other (0: domestic animalsuch as a cow, sheep, goat, or horse) that straysand cannot be retrieved, or that falls into a welland cannot be gotten out may be made lawful toeat by shooting it (0: because of the impossibilityof slaughtering it), no matter where one hits itsbody (N: provided one mortally wounds it).And Allah knows best.*
(0: Lexically, the word vow means anypromise
It is legally defined as making obligatorysome act of worship that was not originallyobligatory in Sacred Law, such as a supererogatoryprayer or fast, and the like
There is a differenceof opinion among scholars whether a vow initself is an act of worship or whether it is offensive.The strongest position is that it is an act of worshipwhen made to perform a pious act (A: since AllahMost High describes the pious as ""fulfilling theirvows"" (Koran 76:7)), for it is an intimate discoursewith Allah Most High; though it is offensivein the heat of an argument.)(A: The advantage of a vow is that one mayobtain the reward of an obligatory act by fulfillingit
Its drawback is that unlike broken oaths, whichmay be expiated (dis: 020), there is no way to liftthe vowed action: it remains obligatory unless oneis physically unable (N: in which case one performsan alternative (n: e.g
giving food in place offasting) if there is oneill Sacred Law)
For thisreason, many pious and learned Muslims avoidmaking vows.)
A vow (0: to perform some pious act) isonly valid:(a) if made by a Muslim who is legallyresponsible (mukallaf, def: c8.1);(b) when it concerns some act of worship (A:meaning, for the Shafi'is, any recommended act,though for the Hanafi school it can only be an actthat is similar in kind to an obligatory form of worship(n: such as prayer, fasting, or hajj));(c) and is stated in words such as ""I herebyowe Allah to perform such and such,"" or ""1 amhereby obliged to do such and such.""(0; A vow to do something that is merely permissible,such as standing, sitting, eating, or sleeping,is not legally valid because these are not actsof worship; the reason being the hadith related byBukhari that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) passed a man standing in the sunwithout seeking shade, whom he inquired aboutand was told that it was Abu Isra'il, who hadvowed to stand while fasting without sitting, takingshade
or speaking; to which he replied,""Pass by him and have him sit in the shadeand speak, but let him finish fasting.""By act of worship, our author means acts thatare supererogatory and not obligatory, since anoath to undertake an obligatory act is invalidwhether it involves performance of something,such as an obligatory prayer or fast, or nonperformanceof something, such as vowing to abstainfrom wine or fornication and the like
Such vowsarc not valid to begin with, as Allah has madethese obligatory and ""obligating oneself to dothem"" is meaningless.The obligatory acts which are not valid to voware restricted to the personally obligatory
As forthe communally obligatory (def: c3.2), a vow todo such an act obliges one to fulfill it, because it isan act of worship not originally obligatory in thelaw, meaning not initially called for from any particularperson
)
GENERAL PROVISIONS REGARDING VOWSA valid vow to do an act of worship makesthe act obligatory.
One must fulfill a vow that one has madeconditional upon the occurrence of some event,such as by saying, ""If Allah heals my sick friend, Iam obliged to do such and such"" (0: of fasting,praying, or charity), which becomes obligatory ifthe sick person regains his health.
If someone makes a vow by way of argumentand in anger, saying, for example, ""If Ispeak to Zayd, I am obliged to do such and such,""then if he speaks to Zayd, he has a choice betweendoing what he has vowed, or else paying the expiationfor a broken oath (def: 020).
If one vows to perform the hajj riding butinstead does so on foot, or vows to perform it onfoot but then does so riding, this accomplishes thevow, though one isobJiged to slaughter (0: as onedoes for an 'umra first (tamattu') hajj (def:jI2.6(1)).(N: Because the vowed walking or riding hasbecome one of the obligatory elements of one'shajj, the expiation for its nonperformance is asother unperformed obligatory acts of hajj, and ifsuch a person lacks a shah (def: h2.5) or lacks themoney for it, he may fast
As for a person whovows to do something unconnected with the hajjand finds he cannot fulfill it
he performs a valid Ialternative if one exists in Sacred Law (dis:j18.0(A:)).If there is no valid alternative in SacredLaw, he remains responsible for performingthe vowed act.)(0: If one does not fulfill a vow because ofbeing unable to or because of forgetfulness, it isnot a sin, but one must slaughter, an obligationthat incapacity or forgetfulness does not lift
Tosummarize, the sin (A: of not fulfilling one's vow)only exists when one is capable of fulfilling it, notwhen one is incapable, though someone who doesnot fulfill a vow because of incapacity must slaughtera shah meeting sacrifice specifications (def:j14.2).)
If one vows to go to the Kaaba, Masjid alMedina,or al-Masjid al-Aqsa (n: in Jerusalem),then one is obliged to
If one vows to go to theKaaba, then one must perform hajj or 'umra (0:beeause hajj and'umra are what is fundamentally.intended in Saered Law by going to the SacredPrecinct, and the vow is interpreted according tothis convention of the Law as a vow to performeither hajj or 'umra)
If one vows to go to MasjidaI-Medina or al-Masjid al-Aqsa, then one musteither perform the prayer or else spend a period ofspiritual retreat (i'tikaf, def: i3) in the mosque (0:i.e
one is entitled to ehoose between prayer orspiri tual retreat).If one vows to go to some other mosque, thevow does not oblige one to do so (dis: i3.4(end))(0: since travelling to other mosques is not an actof worship (N: that is, if intended for itself, thoughif one intends it in order to perform the prayer orfor spiritual retreat therein, it is an aet of worship
)).If one vows to fast for the whole of a particularycar, one does not have to make up daysnot fasted on the two 'Eids or the three days following'Eid al-Adha (dis: i2.3), or the days fastedduring Ramadan, or the days a woman missesduring her monthly period or postnatal bleeding.
Someone who vows to perform the prayer(A: but does not specify how much) must pray tworak'as.
(0: The legal basis for sale , prior to scholarlyconsensus (ijma'), is such Koranic verses as theword of Allah Most High,""Allah has made sale lawfuL,,"" (KoranThe more reliable of the two positions reportedfrom our Imam (Allah Most High be well pleasedwith him) is that this verse is general in meaning,referring to all sales except those specificallyexcluded by other evidence
For the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) forbade varioussales but did not explain the permissible ones,his not doing so proving that the initial presumptionfor the validity of a sale is that it is lawful
Thisis also borne out by hadiths such as the one inwhich the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) was asked what type of earning was best,and he answered,""The work of a man's own hand, and everypious sale,""meaning sales free of cheating and deceit
Hakimrelated this hadith, which he classified as rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih).Lexically, sale means to transact somethingfor something else: In Sacred Law it means toexchange an article of property for other propertyin a particular way
Its integrals are six:(a) the seller;(b) the buyer;(c) the price;(d) the article purchased;(e) the spoken offer;(f) and the spoken acceptance.)(N: Sale (bay'), wherever it is used in the rulingsbelow, refers to both exchanging goods formoney and exchanging them for other goods (n:i.e
barter).)
A sale is not valid unless there is a spokenoffer (0: by the seller) and spoken acceptance (0:by the buyer)
Offer means the statement of theseller or his agent (wakil, def: k17) ""I sell it toyou"" or ""I make it yours."" Acceptance means thestatement of the buyer or his agent ""I buy it"" or ""Itake possession of it"" or ""I accept.""(A: Regarding mu'atah, which is giving theseller the price and taking the merchandise withoutspeaking, as when buying something whosecost is well known, Bajuri notes, ""Nawawi and agroup of scholars have adopted the position thatsales conducted by it [A: mU'atah] are valid for alltransactions that people consider sales, since thedetermining factor therein is the acceptance ofboth parties, and there is no decisively authenticatedprimary text stipulating that it be spoken, socommon acknowledgement ['urf, def: f4.5] is thefinal criterion [A: as to what legally constitutesacceptance]"" (Hashiya al-Shaykh Ibrahim alBajuri(y5), 1.355).)(N: The category of mu'atah also includessales conducted by means of vending machines(A: provided it is clear what one is buying beforeone puts the money in the machine).)It is permissible for the buyer's acceptance toprecede the offer, such as his saying, ""I buy it forso-and-so much,"" and for the seller to reply, ""Isell it to you."" It is also permissible to say, ""SelHtto me for so-and-so much,"" and for the seller toreply, ""I sell it to you."" All of these areunequivocal expressions
Sales can likewise beeffected, if the intention exists, by equivocalexpressions such as ""Take it for so-and-so much, ""or ""I consider it yours for so-and-so much,""thereby intending a transaction with the buyer,who then accepts
If one does not intend a transactionby such expressions, then the sale is nothing(0: but empty words, and the buyer is obliged toreturn the merchandise to its owner if it still exists,or replace it if used upwhile in his possession).It is obligatory (0: for the validity of the saleagreement that other conditions be met, amongthem):(a) that the interval between the offer and itsacceptance not be longer than what is customary(0: the criterion being whether it gives the impressionthat one is averse to accepting, notmerely a brief interval, Other conditions include:(b) that conversation extraneous to theagreement by either of the two parties not intervenebetween the offer and acceptance, even ifinconsiderable, since it gives the impression ofnonacceptance;(c) that the offer and its acceptance correspond,for if the offered price is one thousand, andthe buyer ""accepts"" for five hundred, the transactionis invalid;(d) that neither the offer nor acceptance bemade conditional (ta'liq) upon an event extraneousto the agreement, such as saying, ""I sell it toyou, should my father die"";(e) and that the sale not be subject to timestipulations (ta'qit) such as saying, ""I sell it to youfor a period of one month"";-because both (d) and (e) vitiate the necessaryintention).A mute's gesture is as binding as a speaker'swords.
THE BUYER AND SELLERThe conditions that must exist in the buyerand seller are:(a) having reached puberty (A: ImamAhmad permits the buying and selling of minoritems by children, even before they have reachedthe age of discrimination (def: f1.2) and withouttheir guardian's permission);(b) sanity;(c) that one's disposal over one's propertynot be suspended (def: k13);(d) and that one not be unjustly forced tomake the sale
(0: The agreement of someoneunjustly forced to sell his property is invalidbecause of lack of consent, though it is valid if heis justly forced, as when he is ordered to sell hisproperty to repay a debt.)(e) If a Koran is being purchased for someone,it is obligatory that the person be Muslim.(0: The same is true of books of hadith and bookscontaining the words and deeds of the early Muslims.""Koran"" in this context means any work thatcontains some of the Koran, even a slightamount.) (A: This ruling holds for any religiousbooks, even the Tabaqat of Sha'rani (n: a collectionof biographical sketches of Muslims), thoughtheHanafi school permits non-Muslims to buy or·be given the Koran and other Islamic books.)(f) It is a condition that someone buyingweapons be of a people who are not at war withMuslims.
THE OPTION TO CANCEL A SALE AT THETIME OF THE AGREEMENTWhen a sale is effected, both buyer andseller have the option to cancel at the time of theagreement (khiyar al-majlis), meaning the right tonullify the agreement at any time before they (0:physically) part company, or both waive the rightto cancel, or until one of them cancels the sale.(0: The option to cancel at the time of theagreement exists at every sale, and for its duration,the ownership of the articles exchanged issuspended (def: k1.5).)
STIPULATING AN OPTION TO CANCEL PERIODBoth the buyer and seller have the right tostipulate an option to cancel period, an intervalduring which either party may cancel the agreement,of up to three days (0: provided the daysare consecutive
The option to cancel period is notvalid if the two ?arties stipulate an indeterminateperiod, or leave it open-ended by merely stipulating""an option to cancel"" (A: though the buyerhas the right to return the article because ofdefects (dis: kS) regardless of what they stipulate),or when the period is determinately known, butexceeds three days)
The option to cancel may begiven (A: depending on what the buyer and selleragree upon) to both parties, or just one of them(0: and not the other, or they may give the optionto a third party, since the need for this might arise.In any case, both buyer and
seller must agree tothe conditions)
But such a period may not bestipulated for transactions in which it is unlawfulto part company before taking possession of thecommodities exchanged (0; by one or both parties)as is the case in exchanging the kinds offoodstuffs and moneys in which usurious gain(riba, dis: k3.1-2) is present, or in buying inadvance (salam, dis: k9.2(a)).
If the option to cancel is given to the selleralone, then the merchandise is considered hisproperty during this period (0: meaning that heowns the proceeds earned by the property, and itsincrements such as its milk, eggs, or fruit, and heis obliged to cover its maintenance and otherexpenses).If the option to cancel is given to the buyeralone, then the merchandise is considered hisproperty during this period CO: and the aboveincrements and expenses are his).If the option to cancel is given to both buyerand seller, then the ownership of the merchandiseduring this period is suspended, meaning that ifthe transaction is finalized, it is established that itbelonged to the buyer (0: from the time theagreement was first made, together with its incrementsand expenses), but if the transaction iscancelled, it is established that it belonged to theseller (0: meaning that it never left his ownership).*
(N: Things here refers to both the merchandiseand its price.)
Five conditions must exist in any articletransacted
It must:(a) be pure (0: in itself, or if affected withfilth, it must be capable of being purified bywashing);(b) be useful;(c) be deliverable (0: by the seller to thebuyer, meaning that the buyer is able to take possessionof it);(d) be the property ofthe seller orthe personwhom the seller has been authorized to represent;(e) and be determinately known (ma'lum)(0: to the buyer and seller, as to which particularthing it is, how much it is, and what kind it is, inorder to protect against chance or risk (gharar),because of the hadith related by Muslim that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) forbadethe transaction of whatever involves chanceor risk)
(n: w42 discusses buying and selling insurancepolicies.)
PURITYIt is invalid to transact something that isimpure in itself (najasa, def: e14.1) such as a dog,or something affected with filth that cannot bepurified (0: by washing), like milk or shortening,though if it can be, like a garment, then it may betransacted.
USEFULNESSIt is invalid to transact something which isnot useful (0: whether the reason for invalidity isthe article's baseness or the smallness of theamount being dealt with,) such as vermin, a singlegrain of wheat, or unlawful musical instruments(dis: r40) (0: such as the mandolin or flute, sincethere is no lawful benefit in them).
DELIVERABILITYIt is invalid to transact something undeliverable,such as a bird on the wing or somethingthat a third party has wrongfully taken from one,though if one sells the latter to a buyer who is ableto take it back from the third party, the sale isvalid; while if the buyer is unable to take it fromhim, then the buyer has the option to eitherdeclare the sale binding or cancel it.lt is invalid to transact a particular half of awhole object such as a vessel, sword, or garment(0: since the buyer cannot take possession of thatpart without breaking or cutting the article,involving the lessening and loss of property), orpart of anything whose value is diminished by cuttingor breaking, though if it does not diminish itsvalue, as with a bolt of heavy cloth, such portionsmaybe sold.
LAWFUL DISPOSAL OVER THE PROPERTYIt is not valid for the owner of an articlethat has been put up as collateral (def: kll) to sellit without the permission of the person to whomthe collateral has been given.Nor is it valid to sell property belonging toanother, unless the seller is the owner's guardian(def: k13.2) or authorized representative (def:k17).
BEING DETERMINATEL Y KNOWNIt is not valid to sell property not determinatelyidentified such as ""one of these twogarments"" (0: since ""one ofthem"" is not an identification.Likewise with saying, ""I sell you one ofthese sheep."" It makes no difference whether allthe objects are of equal or unequal value).It is not valid to transact a particular thingthat is not in view (0: meaning that it has not beenseen by both buyer and selIer or by one of them)such as saying, ""I sell you the Mervian robe I haveup my sleeve,"" or ""the black horse that is in mystable."" But ifthe buyer has seen it before and thearticle is something that does not generally changewithin the time that has elapsed since it was lastseen, then such sales are valid.It is permissible to sell something like a pile ofwheat that is in plain view when its weight isunknown, or to sell something for a heap of silverthat is visible when the silver's weight is unknown,for seeing is sufficient.The selling and buying of a blind person arenot valid
He must commission another to buy andsell for him (A: though the Hanafi, Maliki, andHanbali schools permit him to buy and sell forhimself)
It is valid for a blind person to buy inadvance (def: k9) or for another to buy in advancefrom him, provided the payment is forwarded toand held by the person being
bought from inadvance.
(0: The word riba lexically means increment.In Sacred Law it is (N: of two types, the first beingusurious gain (rib a) in selling, which is) an agreementfor a specific recompense whose equivalenceto the merchandise is unknown (def: k3.1(a))according to the standards of the Law at the timeof the transaction, or in which the exchange of thetwo properties transacted is delayed, or one ofthem is delayed
(N: The second type concernsloans, and consists of any loan by which the lenderobtains some benefit (dis: k10.5).) The basis forits unlawfulness, prior to scholarly consensus(ijma', def: b7), is such Koranic verses as:""Allah permits trade but forbids usuriousgain"" (Koran 2:275),and,""Fear Allah and relinquish what remains ofusury, if you are believers"" (Koran 2:278),and such hadiths as that related by Muslim,""The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless himand give him peace) cursed whoever eats of usuriousgain (riba), feeds another with it, writes anagreement involving it, or acts as a witness to it.""Another hadith, in al-Mustadrak (n: by Hakim),relates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Usurious gain is of seventy kinds, the leastof which isas bad as a man marrying his mother ."")(n: w43 discusses taking interest in enemy lands(dar al-harb).)
Gain is not unlawful except in certainexchanges involving (0: human) foodstuffs, gold,and silver (A: or other money) (N: which, is theruling for usurious gain in sales
As for usuriousgain or interest from loans, it is unlawful for anytype of property whatever)
The determining factorin the prohibition of usurious gain in foodstuffsis their being edible, and in gold and silver, theirbeing the value of things.When a foodstuff is sold for a foodstuff of thesame kind, such as wheat exchanged for wheat (0;or when gold is traded for gold), three conditionsare obligatory:(a) exact equivalence in amount (def: k3.5)(0: which must be made certain of, this stipulationprecluding exchanges of foodstuffs, gold, orsilver in which the amounts are not known, forsuch sales are not valid even if the two quantitiestransacted subsequently turnout to be equal,because of the ignorance of their equivalence atthe time of the transaction, since ignorance ofit isthe same as actual nonequivalence);(b) that the properties transacted be in therespective possession of buyer and seller beforethey part company;(c) and immediacy (N: such that the agreementdoes not mention any delay in the exchange,even if brief).
When foodstuffs are sold for foodstuffs ofa different kind, such as wheat for barley (0: orwhen gold is sold for silver), only two conditionsare obligatory:(a) that the exchange be immediate;(b) and that the properties exchanged be inthe respective possession of buyer and sellerbefore they part company.If these two conditions are met, the two commoditiesexchanged may differ in amount.
TRANSACTING GOLD AND SILVERWhen gold is exchanged for gold, or silverfor silver, conditions k3.1(a,b,c) are obligatory
Ifgold is exchanged for silver, their amounts maydiffer, but conditions k3 .2( a,b) are obligatory.
When foodstuffs are sold for gold orsilver, the transaction is unconditionally valid (0:meaning none of the above conditions are necessary).
Equivalence in amount for commoditiescustomarily sold by volume is reckoned accordingto volume (0: even if weights differ), and for articlescustomarily sold by weight according toweight
Thus, it is invalid to sell a pound of wheatfor a pound of wheat when there is a differencebetween the two's volume, though it is valid to sella bushel of wheat for a bushel of wheat even whentheir weights differ.Customarily transacted by weight or volumemeans according to the prevalent custom in theHijaz during the time of the Messenger of Allah(Allah bless him and give him peace)
If this isunknown, then according to the custom of thetown where the transaction takes place
If thefoodstuff is of a kind not customarily exchangedby either weight or volume, and it has no driedstorage state, such as cucumbers, quinces, or citrons,then it may not be traded for its own sort.Equivalence in amount is not applicable tofoodstuffs until they are completed, meaning, forfruits, in the dried storage state
It is invalid totrade fresh dates for fresh dates, fresh dates fordried dates, fresh grapes for fresh grapes, or freshgrapes for raisins
Types of dates and grapes notsold as dried dates and raisins may not beexhanged for their own sort
It is also invalid (A:because of ignorance of their equivalence) toexchange:(1) flour for flour (0: when they are of thesame type);(2) flourfor wheat;(3) bread for bread (0: when of the sametype);(4) a pure foodstuff for a mixed one;(5) cooked food for uncooked, or cookedfood for other cooked food, unless the cooking isvery slight, such as separating honey (0: from thecomb) or milkfat (0: from milk).It is not permissible to exchange (N: forexample) a measure of dates plus one dirham fortwo dirhams, or for two measures of dates, or fora .measure of dates and a dirham
Nor is it permissibleto exchange a measure of dates and agarment for two measures, nor a dirham and agarment for two dirhams.It is invalid to transact meat for a live animal(0; even when the two are not of the same kind ofanimal).*
(0: Prohibited transactions may be invalid,as is usually the case with the prohibited, forprohibition generally entails invalidity; or not,such that the transaction is valid despite beingprohibited (dis: c5.2).)
It is invalid to sell the offspring of (A:expected) offspring, such as saying, ""When myshe-camel gives birth, and her offspring in turngives birth to a camel, I hereby sell you thatcamel"" (0: i.e
the offspring of the offspring
Thereason for invalidity is that it is a transaction of anarticle that is not owned, known, or deliverable).Nor is it valid to sell something for a price whosepayment is deferred to a time similar to the above(0: that is, till the time the offspring of an offspringis born, because the date of payment is notknown).
EITHER-OR SALESIt is invalid to make a transaction whoseterms include two different possible deals (A:without specifying which has been agreed upon)such as saying, ""I sell you this for either onethousand in cash or two thousand in deferred payment""(0: which is invalid because the price is notknown), or such as saying, ""I sell you my robe fora thousand, provided you sell me your sword forfive hundred"" (0: which is invalid because of theinvalid stipulation (dis: below)).
SALES WITH EXTRANEOUS STIPULATIONSIt is not valid to make a transaction thatincludes an invalid stipulation (A: such as a conditionthat is extraneous to the original agreementwhich adds to its price) (0: because the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) forbadetransactions with such conditions, like stipulatinga loan or a second transaction), saying, for example,""I hereby sell it to you [n: for a thousand]provided you loan me a hundred"" (0: or ""providedyou sell me your house for such and such aprice"" (A: or ""provided you do not sell it to Soand-so"")
Its invalidity is due to considering boththe thousand and the accompanying second dealas the price
Stipulating this invalidates the transaction,and paying this ""price"" is void, it not beingdeterminately known (def: k2.1(e)))
(A: Theinvalidating factor is stipulating a second transaction,not the mere fact that it accompanies the firsttransaction, for it is permissible to join two transactions,as discussed at k4.12 below.)
SALES WITH VALID STIPULATIONSThe following types of conditions do notinvalidate transactions that stipulate them:(1) a condition to postpone payment, thoughthis requires that the date of payment be specified;(2) a condition that collateral (def: kll) beput up as security (N: for payment of the price orfor delivery of the merchandise);(3) a condition that a particular individualwill guarantee (def: k15) payment;(4) or other conditions (0: from the seller,the buyer, or both) that the deal requires, such asan option to return the merchandise if defective,and so forth.It is valid for the seller to stipulate that he isfree of responsibility for defects in themerchandise.By doing so, he is not held responsible for ananimal's internal defects which he does not knowof, though he remains responsible for all otherkinds of defects
(0: The conditions for this rulingare that the defect be internal, be found in an animal,be unknown to the seller, and that it exist atthe time of the agreement.)
PAYING NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSITSIt is not valid to pay a nonrefundabledeposit towards the price of an article, such aspaying a dirham for piece of merchandise on thebasis that if the buyer decides to keep it, thedirham is part ofthe price, but if he does not, thenthe seller keeps the dirham for free.(A: The school of Imam Ahmad permits nonrefundabledeposits.)
UNDERCUTITNG ANOTHER'S DEALIt is unlawful to undercut a brother's deal(A: or a non-Muslim's, since there is no differencebetween Muslims and non-Muslims in rulings concerningcommercial dealings) that he has madewith a customer, after they have settled on theprice (0: meaning to say to someone who hasaccepted something with the intention to buy it forso-and-so much, ""Return it to its owner and I'llsell you a better one for the same price or less,"" ortell the seller, ""Take it back from him and I'll payyou more for it."" The above restriction after theyhave settled on the price excludes someone goingaround taking bids from those who are increasingthem, as auctioneers do, which is not unlawful).It is also unlawful to undercut a brother'sprice (0; that is, during the option to cancel at thetime of the agreement (def: k1.3), or during astipulated option to cancel period (def; k1.4}) bytelling the buyer, ""Cancel the deal and I'll sell youone cheaper."" (0; This also holds for other contracts,such as renting or lending the use of something.)
BIDDING UP MERCHANDISEIt is unlawful to bid up the price of a pieceof merchandise that one is not really interested in,to fool another bidder.
SELLING GRAPES TO A WINEMAKERIt is unlawful to sell grapes to someonewho will make winefrom them: (0; Like grapes inthis is the sale of dates, bread, wheat, or barley,whenever one knows that this (A; i.e
alcoholicdrink) will result, or thinks it will
If there is doubtor if one merely imagines it, then the transaction ismerely offensive
(N: Think (zann) means tobelieve it probable, doubt (shakk) means one isundecided, and imagine (wahm) means to merelyconsider it possible.) Selling in such cases isunlawful or offensive because it is a means to disobedience,whether certain or suspected (A:means meaning an instrumental cause, as opposedto something which is not instrumental, such asrenting a house to a drunkard, which is not unlawfulbecause it is not a cause, though it is unlawfulto rent a building to someone who intends to opena bar, for example)
Tirmidhi relates that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)cursed whoever drinks wine, gives it to others todrink, sells it, buys it, presses it for another, transportsit, receives it, or eats its price.)
If one makes any of the above unlawfultransactions (k4.6-9), the agreement is valid (dis:c5.2).A VALID SALE COMBINED WITH ANINY ALlD SALE
If one combines something valid to sellwith something invalid to sell in one transaction,such as selling one's own garment together withsomeone else's without his permission, or such asselling wine and vinegar, then the transaction isvalid for the portion of the price that covers thevalid sale (0: no matter whether the person knewwhat the case was, or whether he did not andbelieved the sale permissible, thinking at the time,e.g
that the wine was vinegar) and is invalid forthe portion of the price that was not valid (A: andthe portion must be refunded to the buyer)
Thebuyer has the option to cancel the whole agreementif, at the time the deal was made, he did notknow it included something impermissible.
JOINING TWO TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS IN ONECONTRACTIt is valid to join two contracts of differentkinds (0: for example, a sale with a rent agreement)such as saying, ""I sell you my horse and rentyou my house for a year for such and such anamount"" (0: though it is not necessary that theybe different kinds, for the ruling also applies totwo contracts of the same type, such as a partnership(def: k16) linked with financing a profitsharingventure (qirad, def: k22)), or such as saying,""I marry you my daughter and sell you herhouse [N: as her proxy, the proceeds being hers]for so-and-so much,"" and the price is consideredas proportionately distributed over the two transactions.
(0: The criterion for defect is based on somethingthat is expected to exist (n: in merchandise),whether this expectation results from:(1) stipulations agreed upon (dis: k4.4(4));(2) the customary level of quality (dis: f4.5)for merchandise of its type;(3) or outright deception by the seller.The author does not mention (1) in this sec·tion, but confines himself to (2) and (3).)
Whoever knows of a defect in the article(0: he is selling) is obliged to disclose it
If he doesnot, he has cheated (0: the buyer, which is prohibitedby the Prophet's statement (Allah bless himand give him peace),""He who cheats us is not one of us""),though the transaction is valid (A: provided thebuyer accepts it, as discussed below).
RETURNING DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISEWhen a buyer notices a defect in the merchandisethat existed when the seller had it, he isentitled to return it (0: though if he is content toaccept the defect, he does not have to return it.He may also return it when the defect occurredafter the sale but before the merchandise wasdelivered, since the merchandise is the seller'sresponsibility during this period).
The criterion (0: of defectiveness) is:(a) any flaw that diminishes the article or itsvalue to a degree that hinders a valid purpose;(b) provided that such an imperfection doesnot usually exist in similar merchandise.(0: The former restriction excludes such things asamputation of a surplus digit or a minor nick fromthe animal's thigh or hock that is inconsequentialand does not obviate its purpose, in which casethere is no option to return it
The latter restrictionexcludes defects not generally absent in similarmerchandise, such as missing teeth in olderanimals
There is no option to return such merchandise,even if the value is diminished
)
If the buyer notices a defect in the merchandiseafter it has been destroyed (0: whetherphysically, such as an animal being killed, a garmentworn out, or food eaten; or whether legallyfinished, by being no longer permissible to transferfrom person to person, as when a site has beenmade an endowment (waqf, def: k30)))-then acompensation (A: from the seller to the buyer) isobligatory
(0: The buyer is entitled to it becauseof the impossibility of returning the article due toits no longer existing
Compensation means a partof the article's price whose relation to the wholeprice is the same as the relation of the value whichthe defect diminished to the full value of the articleif it had been without defect
(N: The differencebetween price and value is that the value ishow much money an article is worth in the marketplace,while the price is whatever the saleagreement specifies, whether this be more or lessthan the value.) The value in such a case is fixed atthe lowest value (A: for articles of its type currentin the marketplace) between the time the deal wasmade and the time the buyer took possessionof it.)The buyer is no longer entitled to seek compensationfor such a defect if (0: he notices thedefect after) he no longer owns the article becauseof having sold it or otherwise disposed of it
But ifsuch an article returns to the buyer's possessionafter this (0: i.e
after having left his ownership,whether as a gift, or returned (A: from a sub""sequent buyer) because it was defective, orbecause of a cancelled deal, or he buys it back),then he is entitled to return it (A: to the personwho originally sold it to him).
If an additional defect occurs in an article(0: other than the above-mentioned defect (A:that existed before the buyer received the article))while it is in the buyer's possession, then the buyeris only entitled to take a compensation (0: fromthe seller, to compensate for the original defect)and is not entitled to (A: insist that the selleraccept) return (A: ofthe article for a full refund).But if the original seller is willing to accept itback with the (0: new) defect, (A: refunding theoriginal price,) then the buyer is not entitled to(A; keep the article and) demand compensation(0: for the original defect
Rather, the buyer istold, ""Either return it, or else be content with it asit is and you get nothing""; for the harm to the originalseller which is what prevents (A: it beingobligatory for him to accept) its return no longerexists if the seller is content to take it back, and themerchandise is as if the additional defect neveroccurred.Their agreement is implemented if buyer andselIer agree upon:(1) the seller taking it back with (A: the sellerrefunding the original price, and the buyer givinghim) compensation for the new additionaldefect;(2) or the buyer keeping the merchandise,and the seller paying him compensation for theoriginal defect;since either of these options might satisfy theinterests of the two parties
If the buyer and sellerdisagree about which of these two options shouldbe implemented, the decision goes to whicheverof them requests option (2), whether this person isthe buyer or the seller, since it confirms the originalcontract).
If the new defect which occurs while thearticle is in the buyer's possession is the solemeans of disclosing the old defect, such as breakingopen a (A: spoiled) watermelon or eggs, andsO forth, then the new defect does not prevent (A:the obligation of the seller to accept) its return.But if the new damage exceeds the extent that wasnecessary to reveal the original defect, then theseller is no longer cOmpelled to accept it back.
It is a necessary condition for (A: caseswhere the buyer seeks a refund for something heis) returning (0: because of a defect) that thebuyer return it immediately upon noticing thedefect (0: and his option to return it is cancelled ifhe delays without an excuse)
On his way back tothe seller, he should have two witnesses affirmthat he is cancelling the agreement (A: so if theseller is unavailable at the time, the buyer isnevertheless able to prove that he went to return itimmediately)
If the defect is noticed while one ispraying, eating, using the lavatory, or at night (A:if the night presents a problem in returning it),then one is entitled to delay returning it until thehindrance preventing one from doing so is nolonger present, provided one stops using andbenefiting from it
If the buyer delays returning itwhen capable of doing so, then the seller is nolonger obliged to .accept the article back for arefund, or no longer obliged (A: in cases like k5.5above) to compensate the buyer for the originaldefect (0: because the delay gives the impressionthat the buyer is satisfied with the defect) .
(A: The term murabaha applies to saleswhere the seller states the price in terms of ""theoriginal price plus such and such an amount asprofit,"" whether by original price he means theamount he originally paid for the whole lot, orwhether he means the proportion of that pricerepresented by the percentage of the lot which heis now selling.)The seller in murabaha (0: meaning anagreement where the price consists of the originalprice plus increment) is obliged to inform thebuyer of any defect that occurred in the merchandisewhile in his possession, such as by saying, ""Ibought it for ten [0: or ""bought it for one hundredand sell it to you at what I bought it for, plus onedirham's profit on every ten""] but such and such adefect happened to it while I had it."" (0: He islikewise obliged to say, for example, ""Such andsuch a defect appeared in it that was from the previousowner, and I accepted this
"")The seller in murabaha is also obliged to explainhow much time he was given to pay the originalprice (A: since deferring payment generallyraises the price, and merely stating such a raisedprice without mentioning that it was deferredwould give the new buyer a false impression).(0: The author should have mentioned (A:that telling the prospective buyer the above informationis also obligatory in sales of) discount (A:on a lot of goods or portion thereof), as when theseller tells someone, ""I sell it to you for what Ibought it for, minus one from every eleven.""These rulings likewise apply to agreements statedin terms of, ""I sell you it at the same price the originaldeal was made for
"")*
It is not permissible (0: or valid) to sell thefruit alone from a tree (A: without the tree, whilestill on it) before it is ripe, unless the agreementstipulates immediate picking of the fruit
But sucha sale is valid without restriction if made after thefruit is ripe, meaning, for fruits that do not changecolor, to become fit to eat; and for fruits whosecolor changes, to start to turn the color of ripeness.If both the tree and the fruit are soldtogether, the sale is permissible without stipulatingthat the fruit be picked.
Grain, when green, is subjectto the samerulings as fruit before it is ripe: it may not be sold(0: nor would the sale be valid) unless the agreementstipulates immediate harvest, though thereare no restrictions on sales made after the grain issolid and firm.
It is not permissible to sell grain when stillin, the husk, or to sell unripe nuts, almonds, orbroad beans when these are in the shell
(A: Whenthe latter three are dried, they may be sold in theshell.)*
Merchandise is the responsibility of theseller before the buyer has taken possession (def: k7.3)of it
If such merchandise is destroyed (Ar.talifa, to be finished off or used up )by itself orthrough an act of the seller, then the agreement iscancelled and no payment is due for it
If the buyerdestroys such mercnandise, he must pay its price,and his destroying it is considered as having takenpossession of it
If a third party destroys such merchandise,the deal is not cancelled but rather thebuyer is given a choice to either:(1) cancel the agreement and make the value(def: kS.4(N:)) (0: of what the third partydestroyed) a debt that the third party owes to theseller;(2) or effect the deal, paying the seller theprice (0: if he agrees to effect the deal) and makingthe third party liable to pay the value (0: to thebuyer).
When one buys something, it is not permissible(0: or valid) to sell it until one has takenpossession of it
(0: The invalidity of selling
itlikewise applies to all transactions disposing of it(A: such as renting it, giving it away, and so forth).It is also invalid for the seller to dispose of theprice in any way before it has been received fromthe buyer, unless the new transaction is with thesame buyer and involves the very same (A: articlethat is the) price.)But if the price is a financial obligation (N:that is, an amount of money, unspecified as towhich particular pieces of money it is), the sellermay ask for a different sort of payment, providedhe has not already accepted the payment, as whenhe sells something for dirhams, but then acceptsgold, a garment, or something else instead ofthem.
Taking possession means:(1) for transportable things such as wheat orbarley, that they be transported (N: by the buyeror his representative) (0: that is, when he movesthe merchandise to a place not belonging to theseller, such as the street or the buyer's house);(2) for things dealt with by hand, such as agarment or book, that they be taken in hand;(3) and for other things, such as a house orland, that they be given over (0: i.e
the seller givethe buyer control over them, such as by handingthe key to him or moving others' belongings offthe property).*
When two parties agree on the validity ofa transaction but disagree on its terms, and thereis no proof, then they each swear an oath (dis: k8.2)affirming their side of the story
Such a disagreementcould be:(1) the seller saying that he sold it forimmediate payment, while the buyer asserts thatpayment was to be deferred;(2) the seller stating that he sold for ten,while the buyer maintains it was five;(3) the seller saying he sold it to the buyer oncondition that there be an option to cancel period(def: k1.4), while the buyer asserts that no suchoption was stipulated;or similar disputes.
(N: Swearing an oath (def: olS) is a meansfor urging one's case when there is no proof,meaning no witnesses
When rulings mention, forexample, that ""So-and-so's word is believed;"" or""So-and-so's word is accepted,"" it means that hisword is accepted when he swears an oath ill caseswhere there is no proof presented by either of thetwo parties
If there is proof, whether from theplaintiff or defendant, it is given precedence overan oath.)
In the oath for such cases, the seller swearsfirst, saying, for example, ""By Allah, I did not sellit to you for such and such an amount, but ratherfor such and such an amount."" Then the buyerswears, ""By Allah, I did not buy it for such andsuch, but rather bought it for such and such."" Itconsists of one oath (A: from each party) whichjoins the denial of the other's claim with the affirmationof one's own claim, and in which the denialis recommended to precede the affirmation.
When the buyer and seller have sworn,but subsequently reach a solution that bothaccept, the agreement is not cancelled
But if theycannot reach an accord, they cancel the agreement,or one of them cancels it, or the Islamicmagistrate does (0: to end the trouble betweenthem
When the agreement is cancelled, eachreturns whatever he has accepted from the other).
If either the buyer or seller testifies that aparticular agreement is invalid, but the otherparty says it is valid, then the word of whichever ofthem asserts it is valid is accepted if he swears anoath (dis: k8.2).If the buyer comes to the seller with a piece ofmerchandise that he wants to return because of adefect, but the seller says that it is not the one hesold him, then the seller's word is accepted (0:when he swears).If the buyer and seller disagree about a defectin an article that could have occurred while it wasin the buyer's possession, but each party assertsthat the defect occurred while in the other's possession,then the seller's word is accepted (0:when he swears).*
Buying in advance means the sale ofdescribed merchandise which is under (A: the seIler's)obligation (A: to deliver to the buyer at acertain time).
THE CONDITIONS FOR THE VALIDITY OFBUYING IN ADVANCEIn addition to the conditions for valid sales(def: k1.1-2, k2.1), other conditions (0: seven ofthem) must be met for buying in advance to bevalid:(a) that the price of the merchandise bereceived when the agreement is first made
It issufficient to merely see the price that is beingaccepted, even when its exact amount isunknown;(b) that the merchandise bought in advancebe a financial obligation (dayn) (0: owed by theseller (N: meaning that buying in advance is notvalid for particular individual articles ('ayn) (A:i.e
""this one"" and no other)) which the seller willdeliver when its time comes)
Its delivery may bedue from the present onwards, or may be due laterthrough deferment (0: by clearly stating whetherit is to be due immediately or deferred) to aspecific date (0: which specificity is a necessarycondition for the validity of deferring payment)
Itis not permissible to say, ""I advance you thesedirhams for that particular horse"" (0: which isinvalid because of the condition that the merchandisebought in advance
be a financial obligation(dayn), which the above-mentioned horse is not,butis rather a particular individual article Cayn));(c) that the location to which the merchandiseis to be delivered be clearly stipulated (A:though this is only a condition) in cases in whichthe buyer pays for it at a place where it cannot bedelivered, such as the wilderness,; or to which themerchandise can be delivered, but transporting itthere involves considerable difficulty;(d) that the merchandise bought in advancebe determinately known by volume, weight,quantity, or yardage in terms of a familiar measure.It is not valid for someone to say ""the weightof this stone,"" or ""the capacity of this basket,"" ifthe (0: stone's) weight or basket's capacity is notknown;(e) that the merchandise be within the seller'spower to deliver (def: k2.4) when the time fordelivery arrives;(f) that the merchandise not be generallysubject to unavailability
If it is something rare (0:such as a great quantity of the season's first fruitsof a particular kind of produce) or something nottypically safe from unavailability, such as ""thefruit of this particular date palm,"" then its sale inadvance is not permissible;(g) that those characteristics of the merchandiseover which the buyer and seller might be atcross-purposes be expressly delineated by clearspecifications
It is not permissible (0: to buythings in advance which cannot be defined by clearcriteria, such as) for jewels or composites likemeat pastry (0: composed of wheat, meat, andwater, all of which are expected but not delineablein terms of minimal or maximal amounts), ghaliyaperfume (0: composed of musk, ambergris,aloes, and camphor), or slippers (0: composed ofouter and inner layers and padding), nor articleswhose top randomly differs from their bottom,like a lamp or pitcher (0: the top of which is sometimeswider than the bottom, or vice versa) (N:though the Hanafi school permits such agreements,calling them made to order (istisna'), whichthey hold includes whatever is customarily boughtin this way
They affirm the buyer's option to cancelthe agreement when he sees the merchandise,and it is obligatory that the article be describedvery precisely), nor something substantially processedand altered by fire (A: meaning heat), suchas bread or roast meat, since describing it (A: Le.how much cooking it takes) is impossible in a preciseway.
It is not permissible for the buyer to sellsomething he has bought in advance until he hasreceived it.
It is not permissible to take some othertype of merchandise in place of the article boughtin advance (A: that is, when the buyer demandsthe substitute before the delivery of the original isdue, though they may agree on it after that).If the seller delivers the merchandisespecified, or better (0: than what was specified),the buyer must accept it (0: since it is apparentthat the seller could not find a way to fulfill hisobligation save through this means
If the seilerdelivers merchandise that is inferior to what wasspecified, then the buyer may accept it, as this isvoluntarily refraining from demanding his due,but he is not obliged to, because of the losstherein).*
(A: A loan means repayable financial aid
Itdoes not reter to lending a particular article ('ayn)for someone to use and then return after use,which is termed an 'ariyya (def: kI9).)
Loaning (0: meaning to give something tothe borrower on the basis that he will return itsequal) is recommended.
Aloan is effected through a spoken offerand acceptance (def: kl.I), such as saying, ""lIoanyou this,"" or, ""I advance you it.""
It is permissible to give as a personal loanany article that may be bought in advance (def:k9.2(b,d,e,f,g)) and nothing else (A: though thisrestriction does not apply to lending for use('ariyya, dis: k10.O(A:))).
It is not permissible for the lender toimpose as a condition that the loan be repaid on acertain date (N; though for the Maliki school, tostipulate that repayment is obligatory on a certaindate is valid and legally binding).
It is not permissible for the lender toimpose some condition that will en!lble him tobenefit from the loan, such as a condition that theborrower must return superior to what wasloaned, or such as saying, ""on condition that yousell me your horse for such and such an amount,""for these are usurious gain (riba)
But it is permissiblefor the borrower to return superior to whatwas loaned without this having been stipulated.
It is permissible for the loan agreement toinclude the condition of collateral (0: meaning forthe recipient to give the lender something as collateral(def: kI1) for what he borrows) or the conditionof a guarantor (0: such that the recipientbrings someone to guarantee that the loan will berepaid (def: klS)).
The recipient of a loan is obliged to repaythe equal of what was lent, though it is permissiblefor the lender to accept something other than the(A: type of) thing loaned
If the lender gives therecipient a loan and later meets him in anothertown and asks for it back, the recipient must repayit if it was gold or silver and the like, though if theloaned commodity was something troublesome tocarry, such as wheat or barley, then the recipient·is not obliged to pay it back (A: in kind) but ismerely obliged to pay back its value.
(0: In Sacred Law collateralis a piece of saleableproperty put up as security for a financialobligation to cover the amount if it should proveimpossible to repay.)CONDmONS FOR THE VALIDITY OF
Putting up collateral is only valid whendone by someone with full disposal over his ownproperty, as security for a financial obligation(dayn, dis: k9.2(b)) that is currently due, such asthe price (0: due for merchandise after its delivery),or a personal loan, or for a financial obligationthat is currently becoming due (N: such assomething's price) during the option to cancelperiod (def: kl.4)
(0: The collateral's being securityfor a financial obligation is one restrictionon its validity, and for one that is currently due isanother
It is not valid to put up collateral for aparticular individual article ('ayn) or the use of anarticle, since (A: the obligation to deliver) a particulararticle is not a financial obligation (dayn),as the selfsame article cannot be obtained by sellingthe collateral.)Putting up collateral is not valid in cases inwhich the financial obligation is not yet due, suchas collateral accepted (0: by a lender) as securityfor a loan that he will make (0: in the future).It is necessary (0: for the validity of puttingup collateral) that there be a spoken offer (0: bythe person putting up the collateral) and spokenacceptance (0: from the person accepting it, justas it is necessary for sales, the conditions mentionedin connection with sales (k1.1) applyingequally here).The agreement is not legally binding until thecollateral has been taken possession of with thepermission of the person putting it up, who is entitledto cancel the agreement (A: at any point)before the collateral has been taken possession of(def: k7.3).When the agreement has been effected, if thetwo parties (A: the collateral's giver and receiver)agree that the collateral should be kept with eitherof them, or with a third party, this is done
If not(0: if they do not agree), the Islamic magistratehas it kept with an upright person (def: O24.4) (0:to end the disagreement
But the magistrate is notentitled to place it with either of the two partieswithout the other's permission).
GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNINGCOLLATERALThe collateral must be an article that ispermissible to sell (def: k2.1)., None of the collateral may be separated fromthe rest of it until the financial obligation has beenentirely paid off.The person who put up the collateral is notentitled to dispose of it in any way which infringesupon the right of the person who has received it ascollateral (0: such as transferring its ownership toanother) by selling it or giving it away (0: or puttingit up as collateral for another person), or todispose of it in any way that diminishes its value,such as wearing (o: a garment put up that woulddepreciate by being worn), though he may use it inways that do not harm (0: the interests of the personwho has received it) such as riding it, or living(0: in a house that has been put up as collateral).
.An article put up as collateral for a financialobligation may not (A: at the same time) beput up as collateral for a second financial obligation,even when the second obligation is with thesame person who has accepted the article (A: forthe firstone).
The expenses for maintaining an articleput up as collateral (0: such as fodder for livestock,or the wages of a person watering trees) arethe responsibility of the person who put it up, andhe may be compelled to pay them to protect therights of the person receiving it (0: lest it bedestroyed)
The person who put it up is entitled tothe increments produced by it (0: that are separablefrom it) such as milk or fruit.
If the
article is destroyed while in the possessionof the person who received it as collateralwithout negligence on his part (A: meaning hetook the precautions normal for similar articles),then he is not obliged to pay anything for its loss.But if destroyed because of his negligence, then heis obliged to pay the article's value to the personwho put it up, though its destruction does noteliminate any of the original financial obligationfor which the destroyed collateral was put up
(0:When the collateral has been destroyed and thetwo parties are at a disagreement,) the final wordas to how much the article was worth (A: whenthere is no proof (dis: k8.2) belongs to the personwho received it as collateral (0: provided heswears an oath as to how much it was)
But thefinal word as to whether the collateral has beenreturned (A: to its owner after his financial obligationhas been paid) belongs to the person who putit up (A: when there is no proof, and he swears).
The benefit of collateral is that the articleis sold (A: by the person who put it up) when thereis need to pay the amount which is due
If the personwho put it up refuses (0: to sell the articlewhen the person who has received it as collateralasks him to), then the Islamic magistrate has himeither pay the original obligation or else sell thearticle
(0: He is given a ehoice between the twoalternatives.) If he continues to refuse (0: to sell),then the Islamic magistrate sells it for him
(0: Ifthe person who put it up is absent, then this isestablished by proof to the magistrate, who sells itfor him and gives the person who accepted the collateralhis due
If there is no Islamic magistrateand no proof (A: that there is a financial obligationfor which the collateral has been put up), thenthe person who accepted it as collateral is entitledto sell it himself.)*
(0: Bankruptcy occurs when the Islamiemagistrate makes a debtor bankrupt by (N: declaringhim so and) forbidding him to dispose ofhis property (N: such that if he disposes ofit, hisdisposition is not effected).)
When someone obliged to pay a currentdebt is being asked to pay it, and he claims that heis unable to (0: while his creditors deny this), thenif it is known that he has saleable property, he iskept 'lnder arrest until he provides evidence thathe cannot pay
If not (0: i.e
if it is not known thathe has saleable property), then he swears an oath(0: that there is no property), and (0: when it isestablished that he is unable to pay, whetherthrough evidence, or through his oath) he isreleased (0: and given time) until his cir·cumstances allow him to pay (0: and his creditorsmay not keep after him, because of Allah's word,""If there be someone in difficulties, let himhave respite until things are easier"" (Koran
2:280)).But if he has saleable property (0: such asreal estate, home furnishings, or livestock) andrefuses to pay his debt, then the Islamic magistratesells it for him and pays his debt
If the proceeds ofthe sale are insufficient to cover the debt, and heor his creditor asks the magistrate that he be suspendedfrom dealing in his property, then this isdone (0: obligatorily, if requested)
When theperson is suspended, his disposal over his ownsaleable property is not legally binding or effective,and the magistrate pays the person'sexpenses and those of his family (0: whom he isobliged to support (def: mI2.I)) out of this (0:suspended) property if he is unable to earnenough to pay his expenses.Then (0: after the person has been suspended)the magistrate sells the property in themost profitable manner and divides the proceedsaccording to the percentage of the total debtwhich is owed to each creditor.
If one of the creditors is owed money on adebt which is not yet due, he is not entitled to bepaid from the proceeds
(N: Rather, if thebankrupt does not agree to pay the personimmediately, the magistrate keeps this person'sshare until the
debt is due (A: and then payshim).)
If one of the creditors has accepted an articleof the bankrupt's property as collateral fromhim for a debt, he is paid the amount owed to himfrom the sale of the collateral (0: and if there ismoney from its sale in excess of what was owed tohim, it is distributed among the other creditors).
If one of the creditors finds the very pieceof merchandise he sold to the bankrupt person, hemay choose between selling it and dividing theprofits with the other creditors, or cancelling thedeal and taking back the piece of merchandise,provided there is nothing to prevent taking it backsuch as it being subject to preemption by a partowner (shuf'a, def: k21), or the bankrupt personhaving made it collateral to another person, or themerchandise's being mixed with merchandise betterthan it, or some similar objection.
The bankrupt person is permitted to keepa suitable set of clothes and enough food for himselfand his dependents to suffice for the day onwhich his saleable property is divided up
(N: Ifthe bankrupt is then earning enough to sufficehimself and his dependents, he is left as is
If not,then he is supported by the Muslim common fund(bayt al-mal), like all poor people
If there is nocommon fund, he must be supported by all theMuslims.)*
(0) Suspension is of two types:(1) The first has been established in SacredLaw for the interests of others, such as the suspensionof a bankrupt person in the interests of hiscreditors, or the suspension of the person puttingup collateral from dealing in it, in the interests ofthe person who has accepted it.(2) The second has been established in SacredLaw in the interests of the suspended person,which is the type of suspension our author refersto in the following.)
It is not permissible for a child or insaneperson to dispose of their own property (N: andtheir doing so is considered legally invalid) (0: toprotect them from loss
The fact that a person is achild, male or female, even if at the age of discrimination(def: n.2), negates the legal efficacyof whatever he says, as well as his legal authorityover others, both in respect to transactions such assale, and in respect to religion, such as Islam
HisIslam is not valid, since it requires full capacity forlegal responsibility (taklif, dis: cB.1)
And thisstate continues until he reaches puberty, Insanitysimilarly negates the legal efficacy of whatever theinsane person says,as well as his legal authorityover others, His Islam is not valid, nor his leavingIslam (def: oB), nor are his dealings, as previouslymentioned).(A: Also suspended from commercial dealingsis the foolhardy person (safih), meaning aspendthrift who is chronically careless with hismoney, In the schools of Shafi'i and Ahmad, thisclass also includes those who are careless abouttheir religious obligations, as they too are consideredtoo foolish to deal in their own property
)
A guardian conducts such a charge'saffairs, the guardian being:(1) the charge's father;(2) the father's father, if the fither isdeceased;(0: it is a necessary condition that they be upright(def: O24.4), atleast outwardly, though they neednot be Muslim unless the child is Muslim)(3) if neither of them is alive, then the persondesignated by the guardian's will (wasiyya, def:L3) to take custody of the charge;(4) or if no one has been designated by thewill, then the Islamic magistrate or his representative.
THE GUARDIAN'S DISPOSAL OF HISCHARGE'S PROPERTYThe guardian deals with the charge's propertyto the charge's best financial advantage (0;and is entitled to sell it for needs that arise, such aswhen he does not have enough to cover hischarge's expenses and clothing).
If the guardian claims to have spent hischarge's property to cover the charge's expenses,or claims that the property has been destroyed (0;by an aet of God (A: and not through his negligence)), then his word is accepted (0: about itwithout having to swear an oath)
But if theguardian claims to have given the property to thecharge (0: i.e
to the child who has reachedmaturity or the insane person who has regainedhis sanity), then his word is not accepted (0:because of the ease with which he could have legallyestablished that he gave the property to hischarge at the time of doing so
If he did not obtainwitnesses to observe the property being handedover, he is guilty of remissness for neglecting tohave it witnessed).
Suspension from dealings ends (0: withouta ruling from the judge) when a child reachespuberty and mental maturity, meaning that he:(a) is physically mature;(b) shows religious sincerity;(c) and is competent to handle his ownproperty.(0: For an insane person, suspension endswhen he regains his sanity, shows religious sincerity,and displays competence in handling his property.Religious sincerity means that a personperforms acts of obedience and avoids disobedienceand the unlawful
Competence in handlingone's property means that one does not waste it bylosing it, for example, in buying something outrageouslyoverpriced
Both of these traits «b) and(c)) are the criteria for maturity according toImam Shafi'i, as opposed to Abu Hanifa andMalik, who hold that competence in handlingproperty is sufficient.)
A charge is not given his property until hiscompetence in handling it has been tested beforepuberty in a manner appropriate to him
(0: Thusa merchant's son is tried at striking a bargain indealings, having been given money to do this,though not actually concluding the deal, which isdone by the guardian
A farmer's son is tested atagriculture and managing the expenditures connectedwith it
An examination is also made of thecharge's religion, by observing whether he performsacts of worship , avoids acts of disobedience,shuns the unlawful, and is wary of things that aredoubtful (dis: j16, 1),It is necessary that this testing be repeatedone or more times.)
If the suspended person reaches pubertyor regains his sanity but is corrupt in his religion orincompetent in financial dealings, then his suspensioncontinues and he is not permitted to deal inhis property by seIling or anything else, with orwithout his guardian's permission, though if theguardian permits him to marry, the
marriage isvalid.If the suspended person reaches puberty withreligious sincerity and financial competence, butsubsequently squanders his wealth, then he isresuspended by the Islamic magistrate, not theguardian
But if the person becomes morally corrupt(A: after having reached puberty), he is notresuspended (N: provided his corruption does notinvolve spending money on what is unlawful,
though if it does, he is suspended from dealing).
Puberty applies to a person after the firstwet dream, or upon becoming fifteen (0: lunar)years old, or when a girl has her first menstrualperiod or pregnancy.*
(0: In Sacred Law, a transfer is an agreementthat moves a debt from one person's responsibilityto another's.)(n: Given three persons, X (al-muhtal), Y(al-muhil), and Z (al-muhal 'alayhi) (A: where Xloans Y a dirham, and Z already owes Y a dirham,so Y transfers the right to collect the old debt(thatZ owes him) to X, instead of repaying X for thenew debt
Such transfers have six integrals:(a) Y;(b) X;(c) Z;(d) Y's debt to X;(e) Z'sdebttoY;(f) Y's spoken offer and X's spoken acceptance).
It is a necessary condition for the validityof transferring a debt that Y wishes to do so, andthat X accepts
It is not necessary that Z wishes it.(0: The agreement also requires a form,which is the spoken offer and acceptance (def:k1.1), meaning Y's offer and X's acceptance.)
Such a transfer is not valid unless Z owesY a debt and Y owes X a debt.A transfer is valid respecting a legally bindingdebt (0: owed to X) for another legally bindingdebt (0: Z owes to Y), provided:(a) that X and Y know what is being transferred(A: gold, silver, or wheat, for example) forwhat;(b) that X and Y know that the two debts arehomogeneous in type (A: such as money formoney, or wheat for wheat) and in amount (0:though ifY owes X five, and Z owes Y ten, and Ytransfers (A: the right to collect) five of it to X,then this is valid);( c) and that X and Y know whether the debtsare currently due or payable in the future (A: thetwo debts may differ in this respect if both partiesagree).
(0: The validity of a transfer is notaffected by the existence of collateral (def: k 11) orof a guarantor (def: klS) as security for one of thedebts, but the occurrence of the transfer eliminates(A: either form of) security, the guarantorbeing relieved of any responsibility and the collateralno longer being collateral.)k14,4 Through a valid transfer, Y no longerowes X a debt, Z no longer owes Y a debt, and thedebt owed to X becomes the responsibility of Z
IfX is unable to collect the debt from Z because Z isbankrupt or denies the existence of the debt or forsome other reason (0: such as Z's death), then Xis not entitled to go back to Y (A: to collect it) (N:but rather it is as though X has accepted for thedebt a remuneration which was subsequentlydestroyed in his possession).*
(0: Guarantee lexically means ensuringimplementation, and in Sacred Law means toensure a financial obligation which is another's orensure the appearance of a particular personwhose presence is required.)(n: Given three persons, P (al-madmunlahu), Q (al-madmun 'anhu), and R (al-damin)(A: where P loans Q a dirham, and R guaranteesto P that either Q will repay it or else he, R, willrepay it
Such guarantees have five integrals:(a) R;(b) P;(c) Q;(d) thedebtco;vered;(e) and the form of the agreement).)GUARANTEEING ANOTHER'S flNANCIAL
It is a necessary condition for the validityof guaranteeing payment that R have full right tomanage his own property
It is not valid from achild, someone insane, or a foolhardy person (def:k13.1(A:)), though it is valid from someone suspendedfor bankruptcy.
It is a condition for the validity of aguarantee that R know P, though it is not neces.sary that P agree to it.lt is not necessary that Q agree, or that RknowQ.
It is necessary that the guaranteed debt bea financial obligation (dayn, dis: k9.2(b)) that isexistent (0: since it is not valid to guarantee a debtbefore it exists, such as ""tomorrow's expenses"")and is determinately known (0: in terms ofamount, type, and description).
It is necessary that R make the guaranteein words (0: or their written equivalent, with theintention) that imply he is effecting it, such as ""Iguarantee your debt to: that So-and-so owesyou],"" or ""I will cover it,"" or the like
(0: Theseare explicit expressions in that they mention theguaranteed financial obligation
When it is notmentioned, the expression is allusive, which isvalid provided the financial obligation is what isintended, and the speaker knows how much it is.Otherwise, allusive expressions are not valid.)It is not valid to base the implementation of aguarantee on a condition, such as saying, ""WhenRamadan comes, I hereby guarantee it."" (0: Noris it valid to make it subject to time stipulations,such as saying, ""I guarantee what So-and-so owesfor one month, after which I no longer guaranteeit
"")
When a seller has accepted the price ofsomething, it is valid (0: for someone) to guaranteethe buyer his money back if the merchandiseshould prove to belong to another or to be defective.(0: It is likewise valid for someone toguarantee to the seller that the merchandise willbe returned if the price paid for it should turn outto belong to someone other than the buyer.)
P is entitled to collect the guaranteed debtfrom Rand Q (0: by asking both ofthemoreitherfor the full amount, or one of them for part of itand the other for the rest of it).If another guarantor guarantees the debt forR (0: by saying (A: to P), ""I guarantee Q's debt[A: to you] for R""), then P is entitled to collect itfrom all (A: from Q, R, and the new guarantor).
If P asks for payment from R, then R isentitled to ask Q to pay the debt, provided that Qhad given his permission to R before R guaranteedit.
IfP cancels the debt Q owes him, then Risalso free of the obligation to pay P
But ifP cancelsR's obligation to cover Q's debt, then Q is notthereby free of the debt he owes P.
If R pays Q's debt to P, then R can collectitfrom Q
provided that Q had given his permissionto R before R guaranteed it
But if Q had not(0: given his permission to R to guarantee), thenR i, not now entitled to collect it from Q
nomatter whether R paid it off with Q's leave orwithout it.
It is not valid to guarantee delivery of particulararticles Cayn) (A: as they are not financialobligations (dis: k9.2(b)), such as somethingwrongfully taken, or articles loaned for use (0;i.e
""guaranteeing"" they will be returned to theirowner).
GUARANTEEING ANO'IHER'S APPEARANCEIt is permissible for R to guarantee that Qwill appear in person (0: in court) provided:(a) that Q owes someone something or isliable to punishment for a crime against anotherperson, such as when the other is entitled toretaliate (def: 01--(3) against Q, or when Q hascharged someone with adultery without evidence(def: 013);(b) and that Q gives R permission to guaranteehis appearance.It is not valid to guarantee Q's appearance if(non-(a) above) Q's crime is against Allah MostHigh (0: such as drinking, adultery, or theft).
If R guarantees Q's appearance but doesnot specify when, he is required to produce Q atonce
But if R stipulates a certain time, then he isrequired to do so at that time.If Q disappears and his whereabouts isunknown, R is not required to produce Q until heknows where Q is.(A: When R knows where Q is, then) R isgiven time to travel to where Q is and return
If Rdoes not bring Q, then R is under arrest, thoughhe is not responsible for Q's (Ai unfulfilled) financialobligations.If Q dies, the guarantee is nullified, though ifR is asked to produce Q's body before burial toverify its identity, he is obliged to if able.
Partnership is valid with anyone havingfull right to dispose of his own property.
COOPERATIVE PARTNERSHIPThere are four kinds of partnership (dis: k16.9) of which one alone, cooperative partnership,is valid
It consists of each of the two (A: ormore) partners putting up capital, which must beeither money or a fungible commodity typicallytransacted measure for measure (mithli, def:k20.3(I))(0: as opposed to goods appraised andsold as particular pieces of merchandise(mutaqawwim), which cannot form the basis of apartnership because it is impossible to mix eachpartner's share with the other's (dis: below)).
It is a condition for the validity of acooperative partnership that the two shares ofcapital put up by the partners be intermixed suchthat it is impossible to tell them apart.
It is a necessary condition that each partnergive the other his permission to handle thecapital (0: that they have put up in common).Each partner must deal in a way that realizestheir common capital's best advantage and maximalsafety
Thus, neither partner may travel withit (0: i.e
the shared capital, because ofthe dangerin travelling) or sell for postponed payment (N:unless the other partner gives him permission, inwhich case (A: either of) these are permissible).
It is not necessary that the two shares ofcapital put up by the partners be equal in amount.Both profits and losses are divided betweenthe two partners in proportion to the percentageof the shared capital each of them put up (0: evenif there is a difference in the amount of work thateach does)
If they stipulate otherwise, thepartnership is not valid (0: such as stipulating thatthe partner who put up one hundred, for example,gets two-thirds, while the partner who put up twohundred gets one-third; or stipulating that eachgets an equal share, despite having put up unequalamounts)
(N: This is in the Shafi'i school
TheHallafisand Hanbalis hold that it is permissible forthe distribution of profits to be disproportionate(A: to the amount of capital each invests), correSpondingto the disproportionate amount of workeach puts into the venture (A: or any other divisionof the profits which they both agree upon).)
If partner A forbids partner B to handlethe shared capital, then B is not entitled to handleit, though A is still entitled to (0: handle bothshares, one of which is his by ownership, and theother by permission of his partner) until B forbidshim to handle it.
Each partner is entitled to cancel thepartnership whenever he wants (0: and it is alsocancelled by the death or insanity of either or bothpartners).
The following types of partnerships arenot valid:(1) manual partnership (sharika al-abdan),such as the partnership of two porters or otherworkers agreeing to divide their earnings betweenthem (N: though this type of partnership is valid inthe Maliki, H""II1mutuallycovering the financial liabilities incurred byeither (ibid .• 2.212).*
(n: Given persons X (al-muwakkil) and Y (alwakil)(A: where X gives Y an article to sell forhim
This section deals with commissioning othersto carry out such requests, which have four integrals:(a) X;(b) Y;(c) the act that is being commissioned (almuwakkalfihi);(d) and the words by which X commissions Yto do it).)
I t is a necessary condition that both X andY have full right to perform the act being commissioned,though it is permissible to commission achild to let people into one's house or take a gift tosomeone.
THINGS ONE MAY COMMISSION OTHERS TO DOX may commission Y:(1) to conclude contracts on X's behalf (0;such as a sale
gift
putting up collateral, conductinga marriage contract, guaranteeing payment, ortransferring a debt);(2) to cancel contracts on X's behalf (0: suchas cancelling a sale or returning defective merchandise);(3) to conduct X's divorce;(4) to make claims (A: by lawsuit againstothers, as lawyer), do):(5) to ensure fulfillment of establishedclaims (0: from whoever owes them to X, afterthey have been established by proof);(6) or to take
possession of something that isfree to take, such as wild game, pasturage, orwater (0: by Y conveying it from land which X ispermitted to take it from, since this is a way ofgaining property just as sale is).
It is not permissible for Y to undertakeobligations of worship that X owes Allah MostHigh, except for:(1) distributing zakat to deserving recipients(0: or giving food or alms as an expiation, or voluntarycharity);(2) performing hajj (0: or 'umra, whichanother may perform on the behalf of an invalid ora deceased person);(3) and slaughtering sacrifices (dis: j12.6(end), j14,3).
It is permissible to commission'Y to performan obligation (0: to Allah) that consists ofinflicting a prescribed legal penalty (hadd) (0:such as the penalties for the crimes of accusinganother of adultery without proof (def: 013),adultery, or drinking), but is not permissible tocommission Y to establish that such an obligationexists (0: such as by X telling Y, ""I commissionyou to affirm [A: in court, by Y submitting X's testimony]that So-and-so has committed adultery,""or ""that So-and-so has drunk wine"").
It is a necessary condition for the validityof X's commissioning Y that there be:(a) a spoken proposal (0: indicating X'swish for Y to handle some matter for him) thatdoes not restrict the (A: fact of there being a) commissionby giving conditions under which thecommission takes effect (0: such as saying, ""lfSoand-so comes, I hereby commission you,"" which isinvalid) (A: but rather
a valid commission mustbe) such as saying, ""I commission you,"" or ""Sellthis garment for me"";(b) and an acceptance (0: by Y
whether thisbe) in word or deed, i.e
by Y simply doing whathe has been asked to
It is not necessary that hisacceptance take place immediately.
When X validly commISSIOns Y to dosomething, X may include stipulations about howit is to be carried out, such as saying, ""I commissionyou, but don't sell it till after a month."" (A:The previous ruling prohibits stipulations restrictingthe fact of Y being commissioned, while hereX has already commissioned Y and his stipulationsmerely govern how Yis to do it.) (0: A temporarycommission, such as saying, ""I commissionyou for one month,"" is also valid.)
Y may not commission another to performwhat X has commissioned Y to do unless X eithergives Y permission to commission another, or Ycannot undertake the task (0: because he isunable to, or it does not befit him) or is incapableof it because it is too much (A: for a single personto perform).
THE AGENT'S DISCRETIONARY POWERSY is not entitled to sell an article (A: hehas been comissioned to sell) to himself or hisunderage son, nor (0: is it valid) to sell it:(1) for less than the current price of similararticles;(2) for deferred payment;(3) or for other than the type of money usedlocally;thoughY may do these (0: (1), (2), or (3)) if Xgrants him permission to.
Y's sale of the commissioned article is notvalid when X specifies the type of funds he wantsas its price, but Y sells it for a different type, suchas when X says, ""Sell it for a thousand dirhams,-'but Y sells it for a thousand dinars
But Y's sellingit is valid if X specifies the amount he wants and Ysells it for more, provided the type of funds is thesame, as when X says, ""Sell it for a thousand,"" butY sells it for two thousand-unless X has specificallyprohibited this (0: in which case the salewould not be valid, as it contravenes X's commission).
If X commissions Y to ""buy such and sucha thing for a hundred,"" but Y buys one worth ahundred for less than a hundred, then the purchaseis valid
But if Y buys one for two hundredthat is worth two hundred (A: when X has commissionedhim to buy one for a hundred), then thepurchase is not valid
If X tells Y, ""Buy a sheepwith this dinar ,"" (0: and describes it in type and soforth, since without such a description, the commissionwould not be valid), but Y buys two sheep(A: with that dinar) of which each one is worth adinar, then the purchase is valid and both sheepbelong to X, though if the sheep are not eachworth a dinar, then the purchase is not valid.
When X commissions Y to sell somethingto a particular person, it is not permissible (0: orvalid) for Y to sell it to another.
When X tells Y, ""Buy this [A: particular]garment,"" and Y buys it and X finds it is defective,then Y may return it for a refund (0: and so mayX, since he is its owner)
But when X merely tellsY to ""buy a garment"" (0: without further restriction),then it is not permissible for Y to buy adefective one (0: because the lack of furtherrestrictions is understood to mean being free ofdefects, and if Y buys a defective one, the purchaseis invalid).
It is a necessary condition that the thing'Yis being commissioned to do is determinatelyknown (0: to X and Y) in some respects
Thus, ifX says, ""I commission you to sell my property andconduct the divorce of my wives,"" his commissionis valid, though if he merely commissions Y to""handle everything, large or small,"" or ""all of myaffairs,"" it is not valid.
Y's responsibility in a commission is thatof someone who has been given ,a trust (0: sincehe represents X, and his possession of the article islike X's), meaning that if (0: X's) property isdestroyed without negligence while in Y's possession,Y does not have to pay for it
(0: But whenY is to blame and negligent, as when he uses thearticle himself or keeps it in a place lacking thenormal precautions for safeguarding similar ar·ticles, then he must pay for its loss, as with anytrust
)
Y's word (dis: kS.2) is accepted over X'swhen there is a dispute:(1) concerning the commissioned article'sdestruction;(2) as to whether the article was or was notreturned to X;(3) or whether Y betrayed his trust.
Either X or Y may cancel the commissionat any time
If X relieves Y of his commission, butY does not learn of this and performs it, then whathe has done is not legally binding or effective (0:because he did not have the right to handle thematter).
The commission is cancelled when X or Ydies, loses his sanity, or loses consciousness (Ar.ughmiya 'alayhi, i.e
through other than fallingasleep).
(n: Given persons P (al-mudi') and Q (alwadi')(A: where P deposits an article with Q forsafekeeping until such time as P should want itback
Such deposits have four integrals:(a) the article (al-wadi'a);(b) the verbal ;:J.greement;(c) P;(d) and Q).)(0: The appropriateness of mentioningdeposits for safekeeping after having discussedcommissioning others is plain, namely that boththe person commissioned and the person withwhom something is deposited are bearers of atrust, and do not pay for the loss or destruction ofthe article in their care unless the destruction is theresult of their wrongdoing (A: or remissness intaking normal precautions).)
Deposits for safekeeping are only validwhen both P and Q have full right to handle theirown property.Thus, if a child or a foolhardy person (def: k13.1(A:))deposits something for safekeepingwith an adult, he should not accept it
If he does,then he is responsible for it (0: and must cover thecost if it is destroyed) and is not free of the responsibilityuntil he returns it to the child's guardian.He is not free of the responsibility if he merelyreturns it to the child.If an adult deposits something for safekeepingwith a child (A: or other person without fulldisposal over their affairs), then the child is notresponsible ifthe article is destroyed through negligenceor otherwise (0: as when an act of Godbefalls it), though if the child destroys the article,he is financially responsible for it.
It is unlawful for Q to accept a deposit forsafekeeping when he is not able to protect it
It isoffensive for him to accept it if he is able to protectit but cannot trust himself and fears he may betraythe responsibility
But if he can trust himself, it isdesirable and praiseworthy for him to accept it.
If Q accepts a deposit for safekeeping, heis obliged to keep it in a place meeting the normalspecifications for safeguarding similar articles (A:for his town and times) (0: which varies accordingto the nature of the article deposited, as each thinghas precautions proper to safeguarding it (dis:o14.3).
If Q plans to travel or fears he may die, hemust return the deposited article to P
If Q cannotfind P or someone commissioned by P (A: to manageP's affairs), then he must deliver it to theIslamic magistrate (A: to keep for P)
If there isnone, Q leaves it with a trustworthy person (0:and he is not obliged to delay his trip), though if hedeposits the article with a trustworthy personwhen there is an Islamic magistrate, he is stillfinancially responsible for it.If Q fails to take the above measures (A: ofreturning it to the owner or next most appropriateperson available) and he dies without havingprovided in his will for returning the article, or hetravels with it, then he is financially responsiblefor it
unless he dies suddenly, or looting or firebreaks out in the city, and he travels with itbecause of being unable to give it to any of theabove persons
Whenever P asks for the deposited article,Q is obliged to return it by allowing P to take it (0:i.e
by relinquishing possession of it, though thisdoes not mean he has to transport it to P).
Q is financially responsible for the depositedarticle if:(1) without excuse, he delays allowing P totake it;(2) he deposits the article for safekeepingwith a third party, without having had to traveland when there was no need;(3) he mixes the deposited property with hisown property or with some of P's other propertysuch that the deposited property is no longer distinguishablefrom what it has been mixed with (0:as opposed to when the deposited property can beeasily distinguished and has not depreciated as aresult of being mixed);(4) he takes the article out of the place ofsafekeeping to use,.even if he did not use it (0:because merely taking it out with such an intentionis a betrayal of his trust);(5) he does not keep it in a place meeting thenormal specifications for safeguarding similararticles;(6) or if P has told him, ""Keep it in such andsueh a particular place for safeguarding,"" but heinstead puts it in a different place less protected(0: than the one P indicated), even when this secondplace meets thc normal specifications forsafeguarding similar articles (0: though if Q putsit in a different place with protection equal orsuperior to the place P has indicated, Q is notresponsible for it).
Either party may cancel the deposit forsafekeeping agreement at any time
The agreementis also annulled when either party dies, loseshis sanity, or loses consciousness (Ar
ughmiya'alayhi, I.e
through other than falling asleep).
Q's responsibility in accepting a depositfor safekeeping is that of someone who has beengiven a trust (0: meaning that his claims when heswears an oath (N: and neither side has proof (dis: k8.2))are accepted, as he is a trustee)
His word isaccepted over P's when there are disputes about:(1) whether the deposit for safekeeping wasactually made (0: When P claims that it was);(2) whether the article was returned to P;(3) or whether and how the article wasdestroyed (0: when Q claims it was).Thus if Q says, ""You did not deposit anything withme,"" or ""I returned it to you,"" or ""It wasdestroyed without negligence on my part,"" thenhis word is accepted when he swears.
It is a necessary condition for the validityof a deposit for safekeeping that P states it inwords such as ""I entrust it to you to keep,"" or ""Ientrust it to you to protect."" It is not necessarythat Q give a spoken reply to this, but is sufficientfor him to simply accept the article.*
(n: Given persons A (al-mu'ir) and B (almusta'ir)(A: where A lends B an article to useand return after use
This section discusses suchloans, which have four integrals:(a) the article (al-'ariyya);(b) the verbal agreement;(c) A;(d) and B).)
A's lending an article for B to use is validif A possesses full disposal over his own propertyand has the lawful right to the article's use, even ifhe is only renting it (n: though not if someone elsehas lent him the article without giving him permissionto relend it, as at k19.8).
It is permissible to lend anything that canbe benefited from while the article itself stillremains (0: such that B gets some use out the article,as is usually the case, or else he materiallygains from it, as when he borrows a sheep for itsmilk or its expected offspring, or borrows a treefor its fruit
It is not valid to lend something of nolawful benefit such as a musical instrument (dis:r40),or such things as edibles, which do not themselvesexist after use
since their use consists solelyin their consumption)
(A: The latter would be aloan (qard, def: k10) repayable in kind, and hencenot included in lending for use.)
It is necessary for the validity of lendingsomething for use that either A or B state theagreement in words
(0: The loan is not validexcept by either A or B stating it, such as by Btelling A, ""Loan me such and such,"" and then Agiving it to him
The action alone, between A andB, is insufficient.)
B may then use the article according to thepermission given
He may:(1) do what A has given him permission to;(2) or do the equivalent (0: in respect to thewear and tear on the article involved) or somethingless, though not if A has forbidden B to doother than what he has specifically given him permissionto do.If A tells B, ""Plant wheat,"" (A: on land lent),then it is permissible for B to plant barley, thoughnot vice versa (0: since wheat is harder on the soilthan barley), while if A merely permits B to plant,without further restriction, then B may plantwhatever he wishes.
When A permits B to plant an orchard orbuild buildings on property he lends B, but laterwants the land back, then:(l) if A had stipulated that B would have toremove the trees or buildings, then B removesthem (0: obligatorily, performing what was stipulated,for if B will not, then A may remove them);(2) but if A had not stipulated this, then if Bwishes
he may remove them, though if B does not(0: but rather chooses to keep them there), thenA has a choice between leaving them on the landfor rent (0: tromB for the land), or else removingthem (0: the trees or buildings) and being obligedto pay B a compensation for the loss of value (0:to the trees (A: or buildings)) caused by removal.A is entitled to take back the article lent atany time he wishes.
B is financially liable for the article lent(N: even if it is destroyed by an act of God)
If it isdestroyed while B is using it for other than what Agave him permission to do with it, even if notthrough B's negligence, then B is responsible to Afor the article's value (A: at the market price currentfor similar articles on) the day of its destruction(0: and he may either replace it or pay Afor it).But if the loaned article wears out throughbeing used in the way that A gave permission touse it, then B is not financially responsible for it(N: as when B borrows a garment to wear whichbecomes worn out through use alone).
B is responsible for the measures entailedin returning the article to A.
B may not loan (0: the article lent to him)to a third party (0: without permission).*
(0: Taking another's property is an enormity(dis: p20), the scriptural basis for its prohibitionbeing Koranic verses such as the word of AllahMost High,""Do not consume each other's propertythrough falsehood"" (Koran 2:188).)(n: Given persons X and Y (A: where X takesan article belonging to Y
This section presents thedetails of X's obligation (dis: p77 .3) to restore Yhis property).)
Wrongfully taking (ghasb) means toappropriate what is another's right (0: even if thisconsists of the right to use something, such as forcingsomeone sitting in a mosque or marketplace toget up from his place) unjustly.
When X wrongfully takes anything ofvalue from Y, even if the value is inconsiderable,he is obliged to .return it unless this involvesdestruction to life or lawful property, as when Xtakes a plank and nails it over a leak in the hull ofa ship at sea that is bearing others' property orworthy people or animals (N: meaning those notobligatory to kill (def: e12.8(0: ))).
If the article taken is destroyed while inX's possession or X himself destroys it, then:(1) if it was fungible (mithli, a homogeneouscommodity transacted by weight or measure, anequal amount of which precisely supplies the placeof another), then X is financially responsible forreplacing it with an equal amount, fungible meaningthat which is measured by volume or weight,and which can be validly sold in advance (def:k9.2(b,d,f,g)) sueh as grain, gold or silver, and soforth, while nonfungible (mutaqawwim, com ..modities appraised and transacted as particularpieces of merchandise) means everything else,such as livestock and articles of heterogeneouscomposition, like meat pastry, and so forth;(2) if the article was fungible (mithli) but it isno longer possible for X to obtain an equalamount to return to Y
then X owes Y its value,which is reckoned at its highest market value betweenthe time X seized it and the time of its subsequentunavailability;(3) but if the article was nonfungible(mutaqawwim), X owes Y its highest marketvalue during the interval between X's taking it andthe time of its destruction.(N: The foregoing apply to when X hasappropriated a physical article or commodity('ayn)
As for when he has wrongfully appropriatedthe use of something, the obligationconsists of repaying Y the cost of renting a similararticle for a similar amount of time
)
X's word (0: provided he swears an oath(N: and neither side has proof (dis: k8.2))) isaccepted over Y's when there is a dispute aboutthe destroyed article's value (0: when both agreethat it has been destroyed) or about its destruction(A: as to when it occurred, for example)
But Y'sword is accepted over X's when there is a disputeabout whether or not X returned the article to Y.
If the property returned by X is materiallydiminished or has depreciated in value because ofsome new defect, or both, then X is obliged to payY compensation for the loss ofvalue (0: while stiIIbeing obliged to return the rest).But if the article has diminished in valuesolely because its market price is now less, then Xis not required to pay anything.
If the article possesses a utility (0: meaninga rentable utility, as a house does), then Xowes Y its rent for the period that X had it, nomatter whether he used it or not.
Anyone who obtains the wrongfullyappropriated article from X, or subsequentlyobtains it from the person who got it from X, andso forth
on down, is financially responsible (def: k20.2-6)to Y for it, no matter whether such a personknows of its having been wrongfully appropriatedor not.
(N: Given persons X, Y, and Z, where Xhas wrongfully taken something from Y, and thenZ obtains it from X
This ruling describes the compensationdue to Y when the article has been dam·aged or destroyed in Z's possession.)Y is entitled to demand restoration or paymentfor the loss or depreciation of the articlefrom either X or Z
The obligation to cover thisbecomes Z's own financial liability-meaning thatif Y asks Z for compensation, Z may not in turndemand it from X; though ifY asks X for it, X mayit turn demand it from Z-in the following cases:(1) when Z obtained it knowing that it hadbeen wrongfully appropriated;(2) when Z obtained it not knowing that ithad been wrongfully appropriated, but the meansby which Z obtained it would have made himfinancially responsible for its destruction anyway,as when Z himself wrongfully appropriated it orborrowed itforuse (def: k19) from X
(0: Zisalsofinancially liable if he bought it from X);(3) or when Z obtained it not knowing it hadbeen wrongfully taken, and the means by which hegot it from X would not otherwise have made himresponsible for its destruction except for the factthat he himself precipitated its destruction (A: aswhen X deposits it with Z for safekeeping and Zdestroys it).*
(n: Given P
0, and R (A: where P and 0each own part of some dividable piece of real,estate, and P sells his part to R, a third party
Insuch a case, 0 can legally force R to sell the parftohim by right of preemption (N: whose purpose isto prevent the harm to 0 that would result if Rwere to subsequently go to the Islamic magistrateand demand that the property be divided to distin·guish his property from O's)).)
Preemption is only legally binding:(a) on a portion of real estate (A: that
belonged to P and 0) which can be divided with·out loss of value;(b) when P has sold his part (A: to R) forrecompense.In such a case, Q may preempt its being soldto R by buying R's share for the price that P and Ragreed on
If there are several co-owners in placeof Q, they each buy a part of the share proportionateto the percentage of the whole property theyrespectively own.(A: If there is disagreement between the partiesas to how much P sold it to R for, and there isno proof, then) R is the one to say (A: when heswears (def: kS.2)) how much the price of the part
was.
It is a necessary condition for the preemptivesale that Q effect it with words such as ""Ihereby appropriate this property by preemption.""It is also necessary that Q give R the price,that R agree to let Q pay it later, or that theIslamic magistrate rule that Q may buy the propertyby preemption; in any of which cases Q takespossession of it.If R paid P with something fungible (mithli,def: k20.3(1)), then Q must pay R an equalamount
If R paid with something nonfungible,then Q must pay its value (A: in the marketplaceon) the day of the sale.
There is no preemption if:(1) the property is divided (N: already, byboundary markers or similar);(2) the building and trees on the land are soldseparately from it;(3) the property cannot be divided withouteliminating its usefulness (non-k21.1(a)), such asa cistern or a narrow walkway;(4) R acquired it without paying a price forit, as when it has been given to him as a gift;(5) or if R bought it with a price whoseamount was not known (A: such as ""for this pile ofsilver you see"").
If the building and trees have been soldwith the land (A: for one price), then Q also takesthem as part of the land he preempts.
Preemption must occur immediately (A:upon Q's learning of P's having sold the propertyto R)
When Q learns of it, he must preempt atonce (def: f4.5)
If he delays without excuse, he nolonger has the right to preempt, unless R boughtthe property from P for postponed payment, inwhich case Q has a choice between buying it atonce, or waiting until payment is due and thenbuying it.If Q learns of the sale while ill, or beingdetained, he must commission someone (def: k17)to preempt for him
If he does not, he loses theright to preempt, unless he was unable to commissionsomeone, or the person who informed him ofthe sale was a child or someone unreliable, or hewas informed of it while travelling and thenstarted returning in order to preempt; in all ofwhich cases hc may still preempt.
If R has built, or planted trees (A: beforeQ could prcempt), then Q has a choice betweenpaying R the value of the new buildings (A: ortrees) and taking possession of them, or elseremoving them and paying R for the loss of value(A: to them as a result of being removed).If R has given away the part of the property(A: that he bought from P), made it a charitableendowment (waqf, def: k30), sold it, or retumeditto P because of a defect, then Q may annul any ofthese transactions that R has effected.Q also has the right to take the property fromthe person who bought it from R, by paying thisperson the amount for which he bought it.
IfQ dies (A: before he is able to preempt),his heirs can preempt
If some of them decline todo so, the rest of the heirs may still preempt theentire portion, or may relinquish the right topreempt any of it.*
(n: Given persons X (al-malik) and Y (al'ami!) (A: where X gives Y a sum of money for Yto do business with, on the basis that X will take apercentage of the profits
Such ventures have sixintegrals:(a) X;(b) Y;(c) the work performed by Y;(d) the profit (n: divided between them at agiven percentage);(e) the spoken form;(f) and the venture's capital (n: which is putup by X)).)
Financing a profit-sharing venture (qirad)means for X to give Y money with which to trade,the profits to be shared between them
(0: It is notvalid to finance such a venture on the basis that athird party gets any of the profit.)It is only valid when both parties have fullright to manage their own property
It alsorequires that there be:(a) a spoken proposal (0: by X, such as ""Ifinance you,"" or ""I engage you,"" or ""Take thesedirhams [N: as a trade loan]"");(b) an acceptance (0: by Y in words
It isinsufficient for him to begin working without sayinganything);and that the invested capital be:(c) money (lit
""gold or silver"" (A: moneytaking their place in these rulings));(d) of known amount;(e) physically existent (A: i.e
it can be seenand handled, not merely a debt or financial obligationto be collected);(f) delivered to Y (0: it is not valid to financea profit-sharing venture on condition that thefunds be held by someone other than Y, such as Xholding them and paying for what Y buys, since Ymight not find X when he needs him);(g) (A: and that Y be given the funds) inreturn for (A: X's receiving) a known fraction ofthe entire profit, such as a half or a third.Financing a profit-sharing venture is not validwhen:(1) (non-(c) above) the capital put up consistsof commodities;(2) (non-(f)) X holds the funds;(3) (non-(g)) it is stipulated that either X orY be specifically entitled to the profits from a certainpart of the business (0: such as saying, ""Youget the profits from the clothing, and I get theprofits from the livestock"");(4) (non-(g)) either X or Y is guaranteed (N:for example) ten dirhams of the profit (0: sincethey might not make more than ten, in which casethe second partner would get nothing) (A: rather,they must specify the percentage that each willtake);(5) (non-(g)) it is stipulated that one of thembe entitled to all of the profit;(6) or (non-(f)) it is stipulated that X workwith Y in the business.
Y's role is to conduct business and relatedmatters with consideration for their best financialadvantage and with circumspection
Y may notsell at a loss, sell for deferred payment, or travelwith the capital, and so forth, without X's permission.
The agreement between X and Y is nUllifiedwhenever X stipulates (0: something that isnot obligatory for Y in such ventures, such as) thatY buy wheat, mill it, and bake it; that Y buy yarn,weave it, and sell it; that Y not deal except in suchand such a rare commodity; or that Y deal exclusivelywith So-and-so.
When such an agreement is invalid, thetransactions Y has conducted are valid, and Y ispaid the wages that are usual for such work, unlessX had stipulated, ""I get all the profits,"" in whichcase he takes all of it and Y gets nothing (0: sincehe worked without expecting anything).
When either X or Y cancels the agreement,loses his sanity, or loses consciousness (Ar.ughmiya 'alayhi, i.e
through other than fallingasleep), then the agreement is annulled and Y isobliged to liquidate the holdings (A: by changingthem back into funds).
(A: When neither party has proof,) Y'sword (0: if he swears (dis: kS.2)) is accepted overX's when there are disputes:(1) concerning the amount of capital originallyput up;(2) as to whether or not the capital wasrestored to X;(3) concerning the destruction of the holdings;(4) or as to whether Y betrayed his trust.
If X and Y dispute as to how much of theprofit was stipulated (0: as Y's share, as when forexample Y says, ""You stipulated half for me,""and X replies, ""To the contrary, it was onethird""),then each party swears an oath supportinghis own claim (0: and when they have sworn, Xgets all the profit, and Y receives the wages customaryfor the work he did).
Y does not own his share of the profit untilthe venture's final division
(0: His possession ofit is only finalized by dividing the profits when theholdings are liquidated and the agreement is ter-minated.)*
(n: Sharecropping means to farm someone's land for a share ofthe harvest.In the Shafi'i school, it is not permissible or valid except on strips of land betweendate groves under certain conditions
such as:(a) that the landowner provide the seed;(b) that it be unfeasible to separate working the trees from working theground;(c) and that the sharecropper be currently working the trees also, under theabove (k23) arrangement.This section has been left in Arabic below, and rulings from the Hanafischool, which permits sharecropping, have been added by the translator.)
(Ahmad Quduri:) Abu Hanifa (Allahhave mercy on him) holds that sharecropping, forone-third or one-fourth of the harvest (or anythingless or more), is invalid, though Abu Yusufand Muhammad (A: the colleagues of AbuHanifa) hold it to be valid.Sharecropping, in the view of the latter two,is of four types (A: three of them valid and oneinvalid)
(n: Given persons X and Y, and the fouragricultural variables: land, seed, labor, and oxen(Le
the means of plowing):)(1) X provides the land and seed, and Yprovidesthe labor and oxen; which is permissible;(2) X provides the land, and Y provides thelabor, oxen, and seed; which is permissible;(3) X provides the land, oxen, and seed, andY provides the labor; which is permissible;(4) or X provides the land and oxen, and Yprovides the seed and labor; which is not valid.A sharecropping agreement is only valid ifthe period of the agreement is determinatelyspecified (lit
""known""), and it requires that thetotal produce be divided between the partners (A:not a specific number of bushels to one, for example,or on condition that the produce from onepart of the land belong to one of them and the producefrom another part belong to the other) (alLubabfi sharh al-Kitab (y88), 2.228-30).*
(n: Given persons P and Q, where Q rents apack animal from P, or hires P as a guide
The titleof this section, Ijara, has the dual significance ofrenting an article and hiring a person's services.)(0: Lexically, rent is a name for the rentalfee
In Sacred Law it means to take possession ofa utility or service for payment under certain con.ditions
It has four integrals:(a) the spoken form;(b) the fee:(c) the utility or service;(d) and the persons making the agreement.)
A rental agreement is only valid betweentwo persons entitled to conduct sales (def: k1.2).It requires both a spoken offer, such as ""I rent thisto you,"" or ""the use of it""; and a spoken acceptance.(0: The agreement must also specify howmuch the rental fee is.)
There are two types ofrental agreements:(1) renting anticipated utilities or servicesdescribed in advance and under obligation todeliver (ijara dhimma);(2) or renting the use or services of an identifiedthing or individual who is present (ijara'ayn).Rental of something anticipated (ijaradhimma) consists of Q saying, for example, ""I amrenting from you a pack animal of such and such adescription,"" or ""} am hiring you to tailor a garmentfor me,"" or ""to provide me with transportationto Mecca.""Rental of something identified and present(ijara 'ayn) consists of Q saying, for example, ""Irent this animal from you,"" or ""I hire you to sewthis particular garment for me.""
It is a necessary condition for a valid rentalof something anticipated (ijara dhimma) that Paccepts the fee for it at the time the agreement ismade.
The necessary conditions for a valid rentalof something identified and present (ijara 'ayn)are:(a) that the article (or person whose servicesare) being rented be a particular individual (0:meaning visible to the eye, as in sales);(b) that the article (or person's service) bewithin P's power to delivcr such that Q can utilizeit as intended (0: within one's power to deliverincluding both the actual ownership of an articleand the possession of the right to use it, such thatif Q is renting it from P, Q may in turn rent it outtoa third party);(c) that Q have the right to utilize the article(or services of the person hired) as soon as the dealis made;(d) that the utility for which the article isbeing rented not entail the article's destruction;(e) and that the agreement specify a rentalperiod that the rented article will probably outlast,even if it be a hundred years, as in the caseof land.Thus, rental of something identified and present(ijara 'ayn) is invalid when it consists of:(1) (non-(a) above) hiring the services of""one of these two servants"";(2) (non-(a)) hiring someone absent (A:from the place where the agreement is made);(3) (non-(b)) renting land for agriculturaluse when the land is without water and the area'srainfall is insufficient for crops;(4) (non-(c)) P renting out something (A:that he is already renting to Q) to a third party forthe year following the current one, though Q mayrent if for the following year (0: since his rentalperiod is unexpired and the two periods are contiguous);(5) (non-(d)) wax for fuel;(6) (non-(e)) or renting out an articleunlikely to last, for example, more than a year, fora period longer than that.
(0: Additional) conditions for rental ofsomething identified and presentrelating to its use or service) are that its utility be:(a) permissible in Sacred Law;(b) of some value;(c) determinately known (0: as to which oneit is, its amount, and its utility, meaning that bothP and Q know these things), such as saying, ""I rentyou this land to raise crops on,"" or ""to build on,""or ""[A: I rent you this pack animal] to carry suchand such a quantity of iron,"" or ""of cotton"";(d) for a period known (0: to both P and Q);(e) and for a fee known (0: to both P and Q,in type and amount), even when it is merely seenin bulk, or when it consists of the use of someother utility or service.Thus, rental of something identified and present(ijara 'ayn) is not valid when the utility for whichit is being hired or rented consists of:(1) (non-(a) above) playing a flute;(2) (non-(a)) transporting wine, other thanto pour it out;(3) (non-(b)) a hawker's cry that does notrequire any effort, even if it inereases the demandfor the merchandise;(4) (non-( c)) carrying such and such a quantity(0: on a pack animal) when the nature of theload is unspecified;(5) (non-(d)) being rented for ""one dirhamper month"" when the total period (A: of occupancy,for example) is unspecified (A: though onemay renew a valid rent agreement each month,and in such a case the landlord has the right to askfor it in advance);(6) or (non-(e) hiring someone for the ""fee""of providing him with food and clothing.
The particulars ofthe utility (N: such as itsprecise duration) might not become determinatelyknown except through the passage of time,as when renting a house or hiring a wet nurse
Insuch cases the time must be preestimated (A:when the agreement is made, as a condition for itsvalidity)
Similarly, the utility or service might notbecome determinately known except through thework itself, such as when hiring someone to performhajj in one's place (dis: .il.lO) or the like, inwhich case the amount of work involved must bepreestimated.If the utility requires both time and work tobecome determinately known, as is the case withtailoring; building, or teaching someone theKoran, then the utility is preestimated (A: i.e.st.ated in the rental agreement) with regard to oneof these two variables alone
It is not valid to estimatethe utility with regard to both, such as Q saying,""[0: I hire you to] tailor this garment fortoday's daylight hours"" (0: since the workinvolved might take more or less time than that).
The necessary things required by Q inorder to utilize the article"" such as the key (A: toa house), or the reins, girth, or saddle (A: of amount), are P's responsiblility to provide
Thingsthat merely enhance or improve the utility forwhich Q has rented the article are Q's responsibility.
Q is entitled to normal use of the article inobtaining the utility for which he has rented it oran equivalent utility (A: riding it in a differeptdirection, for example, the same distance as thatagreed upon and under the same conditions)
If Qtravels farther than the agreed upon destination,then he is obligated to pay the rental fee agreedupon, plus the amount customarily paid for a distancecomparable to the excess.
It is permissible (0: only when rentingsomething identified and present (ijara 'ayn)) forQ to pay in advance or to defer payment to thefuture
If neither party states whether it is to bepaid in advance or whether in the future, then it ispayable in advance.When renting anticipated utilities or services(ijara dhimma), it is permissible to let Q use theutility prior to the agreed upon period, or to delayuse until after the period.
(0: When renting something identifiedand present (ijara 'ayn)), if the article beingrented is destroyed, the agreement is thereaftercancelled (0: with respect to the future, since thearticle to be utilized is no longer available then, asopposed to the period that has transpired after thearticle's delivery, for which Q must pay anappropriate proportion of the agreed upon fee,based on the current market value of similarutilities or services).(0: When renting an identified and presentutility or service (ijara 'ayn),) if a defect occurs(0: in the article being rented, and the defectobviously entails a discrepancy in the rental fee),then Q has the option to cancel the agreement (0:unless P immediately undertakes to correct orrepair the defect, for if he does, Q is not entitled tocancel it)
But if the rental agreement concerns ananticipated utility or service (ijara dhimma) (0:and the rented article has been destroyed after itsdelivery), then the agreement is not nullified andQ may not cancel it, but is only entitled to ask P toreplace the article so that Q can obtain the utilityanticipated.
If the material Q has hired P to work on(A: e.g
when Q hires P to tailor a garment frommaterial Q has given him) is destroyed in P's possessionwithout his negligence, then P is notobliged to pay for its loss.If Q has rented an article from P and it isruined in Q's possession without his negligence,then Q is not obliged to pay for its loss.
If P or Q dies while the rental agreement isin effect, it is not cancelled
(0: Rather, if P hasdied, Q finishes using the article, while if Q hasdied, then Q's heirs finish utilizing if, Neitherparty has the right to cancel the agreement in sucha case when the article itself still exists.) (A: Thedeath of either party is considered by the Hanafischool to nUllify the agreemen1.)
When the rental period is over, Q mustreturn the article rented and is responsible for themeas.ures (A: and the expenses) entailed inreturning it.
When P or Q stipulates a particular rentalperiod or a specific use for the article, then whenP has delivered the article to Q, and the periodstipulated elapses, or a period elapses that is sufficientfor the utility stipulated to have beenobtained from the article (0: even if it has not infact been obtained), then the rental fee is due (0:from Q, who rented the article under such stipulations),and the article must be returned
(0: Thisruling holds for both renting something identifiedand present (ijara 'ayn) and renting somethinganticipated (ijara dhimma).)
In an invalid agreement, Q owes P theamoul1t typically paid for renting similar utilities,due whenever he would have owed P the feeagreed upon had the agreement been valid.*
(n: Given persons X and Y, where X offers Ya dirham to do a certain job.)
When X says, ""lowe whoever builds me awall a dirham"" (A: or makes a similar offer), thisis termed job wages
It is permissible that (A: theparticulars of) such a job be unknown, though notthe amount of the wage
Whoever then builds thewall for X is entitled to the amount stated, even ifthey are a group of people.
Whoever works when no wage has beenstipulated does not deserve anything
If X gives Ya garment to clean, saying, ""Wash it,"" but doesnot mention a wage, and Y washes it, then Ydeserves nothing (N: unless it is a well known,customary usage that Y should receive a fee, aswhen Y is a barber or presses clothes and the like).If Y says, ""You stipulated a wage for me,"" but Xdenies it, then X's word is accepted (A: whenthere is no proof (dis: k8.2)) (0: if he swears anoath).
Both X and Yare entitled to cancel theiragreement (0: before the job is finished), but if Xcancels it after Y has begun work, then X isobliged to pay Y an appropriate portion of thewage agreed upon (0: such that if the job is halfdone, then X owes Y half the amount, and soforth).Otherwise (0: if X cancels it before Y hasbegun, or if Y cancels it himself after havingbegun), Y gets nothing.*
(n: Given Z, who finds an article lying on theground and picks it up.)
When a responsible adult finds a lost andfound article it is permissible for him to take (0:or leave) it.
If he can trust himself to take the propermeasures for such articles (dis: below), it is recommendedthat he pick it up, though if he cannotdepend on himself not to betray the trust (A: bysimply appropriating the article without tellinganyone), then it is offensive for him to take it.
It is recommended that the finder determinethe type, description,
and amount ofthe articlehe has found, its container, and the stringwith which it was tied (0: it being preferable thathe record this in writing so as not to forget), andfor him to have witnesses attest to his havingfound it.
The following two kinds of articles arepermissible to pick up for safekeeping (def: k27.5)but u.nlawful to pick up as lost and found (A; to beadvertised and then appropriated (def: k27.6)),and should he do the latter, Z is financiallyresponsible for the article:(1) something lost and found within the MeccanSacred Precinct (Haram);(2) or an animal unmenaced by small predators,such as a eamel or a horse lost and found onopen range.In other than these two cases it is permissiblefor Z to pick up the article, either for safekeeping,or to be advertised and then appropriated.
If Z picks up the article for safekeeping,he is not obliged to advertise having found it, andit remains in his care as a trust (def: k17.14) whichhe is never entitled to dispose of in any way untilhe finds its owner, in which case he gives it to him.If Z wishes to deliver it to the Islamic magistrate,the latter must accept it.If Z picks up the article within the MeccanSacred Precinct (Haram) for safekeeping, he isobliged to advertise his having found it (n: as !below).
If Z picks up an article intending toappropriate it if he cannot find the owner, then heis obliged to advertise its having been found for a(0: full) year on the doors of mosques, in the marketplaces,and the vicinity where he found it, inthe manner customary for advertising such things.At the first of the period he should publicize itmorning and evening, then subsequently once aday, then once a week, then once a month, suchthat the first advertisement is not forgotten andthat it is realized that the subsequent notices arerepetitions of it (0: and this is what is meant by thecustomary manner mentioned above)
Z shouldI mention some of the article's characteristics in theadvertisement, but not all of them (A: so that aI would-be claimant is able to prove ownership bydescribing it in detail) (0: for if Z divulges themall (A: and a pretender takes it), then Z is financiallyresponsible for its loss (A: if the real ownershould appear and the pretender cannot befound)).If the lost and found item is not somethingmajor, meaning something unlikely to cause muchregret and which will probably be unsought afterits loss, then it is not obligatory to advertise it fora whole year, though one must advertise it longenough that its owner will probably have ceased tobe concerned about it (N: and this latter is thecriterion for advertising most lost and foundthings, which need not be advertised for a wholeyear).
When Z advertises a lost and found articlefor a year, it does not enter his possession until hechooses to appropriate it with a formal statementto that effect (0: and not by the mere intention.The statement consists of saying, ""I take possessionof it,"" or the like)
Z takes possession of itwhen he chooses to do so (0: by uttering theabove words)
If it is destroyed before he choosesto appropriate it, Z is not financially responsiblefor its loss.
If Z has appropriated the article (N: whichthus enters his financial liability), and the ownerone day appears, then the owner is entitled totake:(1) the article itself, if it still exists;(2) an equal quantity (0: if it was fungible(mithli, def: k20.3(1)));(3) its market value (0: ifi!
was I10nfungible(mutaqawwim), where market value refers to thegoing price for similar articles on the day Z formallyappropriated it);(4) or ,if the article still exists but somedefect has occurred in it, then the owner takes itback with an appropriate compensation (def:k5.4) (0: for the new defect that occurred while Zhad it).
It is offensive for a corrupt person (def:O24.3) to pick up a lost and found article
If hedoes, the article is taken from him and depositedwith someone, trustworthy, and a reliable person isdispatched to oversee the corrupt person's advertising(def: k27.6) of the find, after which the corruptperson may appropriate it.
In cases where safekeeping the article isnot practicable, as whenit is a watermelon or similar,Z may choose to either eat it or sell it (A: ineither case covering the cost if the owner subsequentlyappears), after which he advertises findingit for a year (0: if itis something major, orlessthan a year (dis: k27.6, second par.) if minor).If it is possible to preserve the article, as whenit consists of dates (A: which are conserved by drying),then if it is to the owner's advantage to sell it,Z sells it, while if it is to the owner's advantage todry it, then Zdries it
(0: In such acase, ifZwantsto simply donate the cost of drying it to the owner,he does so
Otherwise, he sells part of the lot tocover the cost of drying the rest, in the owner'sinterests
The difference between this and an animalfound, of which all is sold, is that an animal'smaintenance requires repeated expenditures thatmay add up to more than it is worth.)*
(0: Meaning a child found abandoned withoutanyone to care for it
The scriptural basis forthese rulings is Allah's word:""And do what is good"" (Koran 22:77),and,""Cooperate with one another in [works of]piety and godfearingness"" (Koran 5:2).)
To pick up a foundling is a communal obligation(def: c3.2)
A child that is found (N: in aMuslim town) is considered a Muslim, andlikewise if found in a non-Muslim town if there isa single Muslim therein, even if he denies the childis his (N: because the religion of someone whosereligion is unknown is considered to be that of thepeople of his own city, and in this case there aretwo religions, with Islam given precedence, as it!
always surpasses and is never surpassed.Moreover, considering the child a Muslim is acause for his own happiness and salvation, as hewill be raised in Islam).
If money is found with the child or underhis head, it belongs to him.
If the finderis a resident, trustworthy, andMuslim, then the child remains with him, and he isobliged to have witnesses attest to his havingfound the child and whatever was found with him(0: such as clothing or money).The finder spends the money found with thechild for its own expenses with the permission ofthe Islamic magistrate
If there is no Islamicmagistrate, then the finder spends it anyway, buthas witnesses attest to the amount of the expenditures.If no money was found with the child, thenits expenses are paid for by the Muslim commonfund
If there is no money in the Muslim commonfund (N: or no Muslim common fund), then thefinder may borrow money to cover its expenses asa financial obligation to be later repaid by thechild.If the finder is a corrupt person (def:O24.3(A:)) or a non-Muslim, then if the child isconsidered a Muslim (dis: k28.1), he is taken fromthe finder.If two people find the child and disagreeabout whom the child should remain with, thenthe one who is a resident and wealthy is given preference.
(A: Adoption is unlawful in Islam when it means giving a child one's ownname, a share of one's estate division (irth, def: L1.0), and so on
But when itmerely means giving the child a home and other advantages provided by familylife until it grows up, then it is a charitable act rewarded by Allah
And Allahknows best.)
(0: The scriptural basis for competitions andraces entailing prize money is the word of AllahMost High,""And make ready against them whateverforce and lines of horses you can"" (Koran 8:60).Muslim relates from 'Uqba ibn 'Amir that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Force means marksmanship,""repeating this three times.)
Races with prize money for the winner arepermissible between horses, mules, donkeys,camels, or elephants, provided that the animalscompeting are of the same species, though it isnot, for example, permissible to have such a racebetween a camel and a horse.It is a necessary condition for such a race thatthe participants know which animals will be ridden,the amount of the prize, and the distance tobe run.
The prize money may be put up by bothcontestants, either one, or by a third party
If theprize money is put up by either contestant or by athird party, then the race is unconditionally permissible,and the winner takes all (N: regardlesswhether he was the one who put up the money orwhether it was the other person).But if the prize money is put up by both contestants,then it is a necessary condition that athird rider enter the contest with a mount equal totheirs (A: in speed, stamina, and so forth,) whoputs up no money (N: so that it may be distinguishedfrom gambling
If all three put up themoney, then it is necessary that there be a fourthcontestant with them who does not pay, and soon)
(A: Similarly, bets from one side alone, suchas saying, ""I will give you ten dinars if what youhave said proves to be correct,"" are lawful whenthe other party bets nothing.)Here, the winner takes all
If two riders finishtogether, they divide the prize.
COMPETITIONS IN MARKSMANSHIP FORPRIZE MONEYIt is also permissible to compete for prizemoney in competitions of skill at archery, spearthrowing, or other military weaponry, when theprize is put up by both contestants, either one, ora third party, though if put up by both, it is necessarythat a third marksman enter the contest, asmentioned above (A: meaning one comparable tothe others in marksmanship, who puts upnothing).It is a necessary condition for the validity ofsuch a competition that the following details bespecified before the contest:(a) who will be shooting;(b) the number of shots per bout, how manyshots are needed to win, and the criterion for a hit(A: that is, in archery, whether the arrow muststick or whether it need merely leave a mark);(c) the distanct: to the target;(d) and which of the contestants is to begin.
It is not permissible to conduct contestsfor prize money that involve birds, footracing, orwrestling (0; since they are not military weaponryor equipment).
RULINGS CONCERNING GAMES(N: As for games:(1) every game played by two or morepeople that relies on luck, conjecture, and guessingis unlawful, no matter whether money is stipulatedor not;(2) paying prize money in every game thatencourages and assists fighting for Allah (jihad,def: 09) is permissible if the terms of the competitionconform to the rulings discussed above in thissection (k29.1-4);(3) every game not of the preceding twotypes is permissible if no money is paid therein;(4) and any of the above-mentioned thingswhieh are permissible become unlawful if theyprevent one from performing a religious or thisworldlyduty.)*k30,0 ESTABLISHING AN ENDOWMENT(WAQF)(0: Lexically, waqfmeans to be retained, InSacred Law, it refers to the retention of any propertythat can be benefited from while the propertyitself still remains, by suspending disposal of it;with the financial proceeds of it going to some permissibleexpenditure
The scriptural basis for it isthe hadith related by Muslim that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said.""When a human being dies, his work comesto an end, except for three things: ongoing charity,knowledge benefited from, or a pious son whoprays for him, ""from which scholars understand ongoing charityas meaning an endowment (waqf).)(n: Given persons P (al-waqif) and Q (almawquf'alayhi) (A: where P owns, for example,an apartment building that he makes an endowment(waqf), the rent of which will henceforth goto Q, and P stipulates that Q must supervise theupkeep of the building
This section deals withsuch endowments).}k30.1 Establishing an endowment is an act ofworship.k30.2 Establishing an endowment is not validunless the following conditions are met:(a) that P have full nghtto manage his ownproperty (0: full right to manage his own propertyincluding the non-Muslim, whose endowment islegally valid, even if it is for a mosque);(b) that the endowment concern a particularidentified article ('ayn) (0: it being invalid tomake the mere ""right to use something"" anendowment, because it is not a particular article);(c) that the article have a (0: lawful) use;(d) that it remain existent (0: for a period inwhich it would be feasible to rent or hire it out),such as real estate or an animal (0: or clothing,weapons, Korans, or books
It is not permissibleto make an endowment of something that cannotbe utilized except by using it up, such as food);(e) that the beneficiary be some particularparty (0: such as the poor, for example) besides Phimself, whether the endowment is an act ofworship,as when the beneficiary is mosques (0: orIslamic schools), one's relatives, or the generalgood; or whether it is merely permissible, such asan endowment that benefits the wealthy, orJewish and Christian subjects ofthe Islamic state;(f) and that the endowment be formallyestablished by words that effect it such as ""I makeit an endowment,"" or ""I restrict [0: such and sucha thing to benefit So-and-so],"" or ""I give [A: suchand such] as nonsaleable charity.""High (0: not P or Q) (N: meaning that eventhQugh everything is the property of Allah, thearticle is now dissevered from its metaphoricalhuman ownership), while Q owns the proceedsfrom it and its utilities (0: and all the benefits thatcome from it after the endowment has been made,such as rent, the fruit of trees, or offspring
Q maydispose of these as an owner would, as this is thepurpose of the endowment
He may utilize theendowment either personally, or through anotherby loaning it for use or renting it out).k30.4 The interests ofthe endowment (O:.i.e
itsconcerns, condition, upkeep (N: and supervisi/m)) are looked after by whoever P stipulates,whether himself or Q or a third party
If P does notstipulate (0: that anyone in particular look afterit), then the responsibility belongs to the Islamicauthority (N: by himself, or through the person heappoints to do so).k30.S The proceeds of the endowment (0: suchas the produce of an acreage endowment, or therent of a property endowment) are disposed of asP stipulates, in terms of (A: for example):(1) proportionality of shares (0: betweenrecipients as to the amount each receives, such ashaving stipulated twice as much for males asfemales, or vice versa, or equal shares for each);(2) precedence (0: in some receiving theproceeds before others when they are a group,through a condition that determines who deservesto receive it);(3) inclusiveness (0: of (A: all) recipients, asby saying, ""I make this an endowment for my childrenand their children,"" where the word andimplies that each person must be given a share);(4) priority (0: such as saying, ""I make thisan endowment for the benefit of Islamic scholars,without restriction, and after that [A: if there areno more to be given a share] to the poor,"" or ""Imake this an endowment for the benefit of Zayd,and then 'Amr,"" where if one dies, the next onereceives his share);(5) or other conditions (0: such as the proceedsgoing to those most closely related to P (N:of his offspring) ,and then the less closely related).k30.6 (n: The following are examples ofinvalidityof establishing an endowment due to lack ofone of the conditions mentioned at k30.2 above.)An endowment is not valid when it consists of:(1) (non-k30.2(b)) a debt (N: that someoneowes to P);(2) (non-(b)) ""One of these two houses"";(3) (non-(d)) food;(4) (non-(d)) sweet basil (A: which used tobe spread on floors as an air freshener) (0: sinceit quickly deteriorates) (N: i.e
if it is uprooted,though if it is growing, it is valid to make it anendowment);(5) (non-(e)) when its beneficiary is unidentifiedby P, or unknown (0: since the endowmentcannot be implemented
It is thus invalid if Pstipulates ""whoever Zayd says"" as thebeneficiary), or is P himself (0: including Pstipulating that the proceeds of the endowment beused to payoff his debts, or when P eats of its produce,or utilizes the endowment for his ownbenefit, any of which invalidates the endowment);(6) ( non-( c)) when the proceeds are directedto an unlawful use, such as building a church (dis:011.5(7)) (0: or purchasing lamps for a church, orbuilding walls around it, since this assists disobedienceto Allah
Rafi'i says, ""The same is true of anendowment for printing the Torah or New Testament,which is invalid because the Jews andChristians have altered the texts and interpolatedspurious material, it not being permissible tooccupy oneself with printing their scripturesbecause doing so is to participate in their disobedienceto Allah"");(7) (non-(f)) when the beginning or end ofthe endowment's being in effect are subject toconditions such as saying, ""I make it an endowmentstarting from the first of next month,"" or""for one year,"" or ""provided that I am entitled tosell it"" (0: or ""on condition that I may take it backwhenever I wish"");(8) or (non-(e)) when (n: P stipulates, as apriority order of beneficiaries, ""0, then R,"" and)o is not an eligible recipient-1>uch as P stipulatinghimself as the first beneficiary-but R is an eligiblerecipient, as when P stipulates (A: after himself)""and then the POOL""k30.7 If P designates a particular recipient (0:or group of recipients), it is a necessary conditionfor the validity of the endowment that therecipient accept it
If he refuses it, this invalidatesthe endowment.k30.8 If P designates a particular person (lit.""Zayd"") as an endowment's beneficiary, but doesnot stipulate anyone after him, then the endowmentis valid, and after the particular person isgone, its beneficiaries are the poor ofP's relatives.
(n: As when X gives Y a gift.)*
Gift giving is recommended
It is superiorto give gifts to one's relatives than to nonrelatives.When giving gifts to one's children, it is recommendedto give each child the equal of what theothers are given.
Gift giving is only valid under the followingconditions:(a) that X have full right to manage his ownproperty;(b) that the gift be something permissible tosell (def: k2.1);(c) that X give it with spoken words thateffect it;(d) and that Y accept it with a spoken reply.
Y does not own the gift until he takes possession(def: k7.3) of it, before which X may takeit back
It is not valid for Y to take possession ofthe gift without X's permission
In cases where Xgives Y an article that is already being kept with Y(0: as when Y has it as a trust for safekeeping, orhas borrowed it), or X has put up the article as collateralfor Y, and now simply gives Y the article,then it is necessary that Y obtain X's permission totake possession of the gift, and that enough timeelapse for Y to reach the gift (0: ifitis distant) andtake possession of it.Once Y has taken possession of the gift, X isno longer entitled to take it back
An exception tothis is when one gives a gift to one's child, or theirdescendant, in which case one may ta,ke the giftback, unless such a receiver has sold it in themeantime, and the article has subsequentlyreturned to him (0: by sale or gift), in which caseone may no longer take it back.
If X gives Y something and stipulates thatY give him something determinately known inreturn, this is valid, but is a sale (A: not a gift)
IfX stipulates that Y give him something in returnthat is not determinately known, then the gift isinvalid
If X does not stipulate that anything begiven him in return, then Y is under no obligationto him.*
(n: This section, which begins, ""To free a slave is an act of worship,"" dealswith a system of ownership that Islam did not invent but found fully establishedand not possible to instantly abolish, so it rather encouraged its elimination insteps, with incentives
It closed all avenues for obtaining new slaves except thecapture of war prisoners, the soldiers of whom the caliph had the option to enslaveor not; it encouraged the freeing of slaves by the tremendous reward from AllahMost High; and it materially helped slaves to purchase their freedom by providingthem the money to do so from zakat funds (dis: h8.15)
Like previous referencesto slaves, the following four sections have been left untranslated because the issueis no longer current, unlike the times of our author Ibn Naqib, whose rulers, theMamelukes of Egypt, were themselves slaves who legally belonged to the Islamicstate, a fact sufficient to show the fallacy of understanding slavery in the Islamicmilieu in terms of the institution that existed in nineteenth-century America andelsewhere in the West (dis: w13).)
(n: Sections Ll, L2, and L3 have been moved here from their original placeat the end of last book
They deal with bequests, meaning testamentary dispositionof one's property (wasiyya) such as to say, ""1 bequeath such and such to Soand-so""; while sections L4 through LlO form the original content of book L, anddeal with estate division (irth).)(A: The difference between bequests (wasiyya) and estate division (irth) isthat a bequest is the act of a living person disposing of his own property, even if itis to be implemented after his death, while estate division occurs after his deathaccording to the Koranic rules of inheritance
Because a bequest is the act of aliving person with his own money, it is legally valid for a Muslim to bequeath upto a third of his property to a non-Muslim (dis: L3.13(1))) and similarly valid for anon-Muslim to bequeath his property to a Muslim
Nawawi says:""A bequest is legally valid from any legallyresponsible free person, even if non-Muslim""(Mughni al-muhtaj ita ma'rifa ma'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 3.39).But it is invalid and unlawful for a non-Muslim to inherit property throughestate division from a Muslim (dis: L5.2), or vice versa
The determining factor inthe permissibility of a Muslim and non-Muslim inheriting from each other iswhether the property comes by way of a bequest (wasiyya) made by the deceasedbefore his death, in which case it is permissible, or whether it comes by way ofestate division (irth) made after the deceased's death according to the Koranicrules of inheritance
in which case the difference between their respective religionsprevents it.)(0: Our author only mentions bequests atthis point (n: at the end of book k, as mentionedabove) before estate division because of the factthat a person first makes bequests, then dies, andthen the estatc is divided
The scriptural basis for
the validity of bequests, prior to the consensus ofscholars, is the word of Allah Most High,"" ..
after any bequest which has been made,and after any debts"" (Koran 4:12).)(n: Given persons X (al-musi), Y (al-wasiyy), and Z (al-musa lahu) (A:where X has made provision in his will for Z to receive a bequest (wasiyya) of asum of money, and X appoints Y as his executor to make sure this is done).)
A bequest made by X is valid if he is legally responsible (mukallaf, def: eS.1), even if he isa spendthrift.
The discussion is in two parts (n: namely,section L2, on X's appointing Y as the executor,and section L3, on the bequest itself).*
(0: Appointing an executor means for X toput Y in charge of his property and young children,bequests, paying his debts
or collecting hisproperty from others
The verbal form is
""1appoint So-and-so to execute such and such abequest
"")
The necessary conditions for the validityof X appointing Y as the executor of his bequestare that Y be:(a) legally responsible (mukallaf, def: c8, 1);(b) upright (def: O24.4) (0: meaning theuprightness of Islam, as it is not valid under anycircumstances for Y to be a non-Muslim if X is aMuslim);(c) and that Y have the knowledge andcapacity to properly undertake the bequest.
The following examples of X appointing Yas the executor of his bequest are legally valid:(1) when X appoints Y as his executor at atime when Y is not legally eligible to be it, but bythe time of X's death, Y is eligible (0: by fulfillingall the above (L2.I) conditions);(2) when X appoints a group of two or morepeople as his executors (0: and if he does so, thenif he does not stipulate that each of them mustmanage their respective role, but rather says thatthey are to manage the legacy collectively, or doesnot say anything, then they must cooperate andnot manage the work, maintenance, and dealingsas separate individuals
Cooperate in such a casemeans that their acts proceed from the decision ofthe group, and does not mean, for example,that when they buy something they mustall conduct the transaction together
Rather, if allagree to permit something, it is sufficient for oneof them to take the matter in hand and carryit out);(3) when X appoints (n: for example,) W,and then after him, Y (N: or vice versa) (0: saying,""I appoint W as executor until Y comes, butwhen Y arrives, he is the executor,"" or ""I make Wexecutor for one year, and when it has passed,then Y is the executor"");(4) or when X appoints Y as executor.authorizing him to appoint in tum whomever hechooscs as exccutor of the bequest (0: if the personfulfIlls the conditons (L2.1)).
'X's appointing Y as the executor of hisbequest is not legally effective until Y accepts thisresponsibility after X's death, even if this acceptanceis not immediately thereafter.Both X and Yare entitled to cancel theappointment of Y as executor of the bequestwhenever they wish (0: unless (A: after X'sdeath) Y feels it almost certain that the propertywill be lost through a wrongdoer appropriating it,in which case Y may not withdraw as executor,meaning it is unlawful for him to do so
In such acase, if Y withdraws of his own choice, he is notthereby free of having to execute the bequest,though he is not obliged to continue therein withoutremuneration, but does so for a fee.)
It is not legally valid to appoint anexecutor unless the bequest consists of some goodwork or pious act such as paying off a debt, makingup a hajj (dis: j1.9), looking after the welfare ofone's children, and so forth (0: excluding actionsthat are not dispositions of property, such as marryingoff the children) (A: and excluding acts ofdisobedience such as those mentioned above atk30.6(6)).
When X's father is still alive and fit forguardianship (def: m13.2), X may not appoint Yto look after the welfare of his children.*
X may devote one-third or less of hisfinancial resources to bequests, but not more thanthis, one-third meaning a third of his property as itstands at the time of his death (0: not before orafterwards).(A: If there are no Myslim heirs, or if the existent Muslim heirs do notdeserve the whole estate, such as when the sole eligible estate division heir is ahusband or wife (dis: L6.3-4), then the Hanafi school permits disposing of morethan a third of one's property in bequests (dis: w44), more than a third meaningeverything in excess of what one's eligible heirs deserve by estate division (irth).)(n: Tne ruling in the Shafi'i school is that such an excess may not be disposed ofin bequests, but rather is given to the Muslim common fund (bayt ai-mal) if itexists, as mentioned below (U.3(0:) and L9.1).)
If X's heirs (def: lA.4) are not poor, it isrecommended for X to devote a full one-third tobequests, but if not (0: i.e
if his heirs are not welloff, as when they do not have any money at all, orhave some, but not enough for their expenses, andthe other two-thirds (A: of the estate that constitutestheir obligatory shares) which they deserve isinsufficient), then it is not recommended for X todevote a full one-third to bequests.
If X wills more than one-third in bequests,then his dispositions are not valid regarding theportion in excess of one-third when he has no one(0: in particular) to lawfully inherit the rest (A:who, ifthey existed, could give permission for theexcess, as discussed below)
(0: In cases wherethere are no heirs, the Muslim people have betterright to X's property, and no one may waive thisright.)Nor are Xs bequests in excess of one-thirdvalid when he has an heir, but the heir refuses toauthorize the excess, though if the heir (N: orgroup of heirs unanimously) permits it, such abequest is valid
It is not valid for the heir toauthorize the excess or refuse to do so until afterX's death.
Charitable expenditures made by X in hiswill (0: such as an endowment (waqf, def: k30),gift, and so forth) are considered as part of thebequeath able one-third.
Bequests concerning obligatory expendituresare also considered from the bequeathableone-third, provided that X has stipulated that theycome from it
(0: Though if the bequeathabkthird does not cover these (A: despite X havingstipulated that they come from it), then the excessis paid from the remaining two-thirds
Obligatoryexpenditures include such things as paying debts,making up the hajj (dis: jl.9), paying zakat (A: forany year that the deceased neglected to pay it),expiations, and the fulfillment of vows that wouldhave been binding had X been well.) But if X didnot stipulate (0: that these obligatory expenditurescome from the bequeathable one-third),then they come directly from the other two-thirds.
Current charitable dispositions of propertymade by X during his life, such as establishingan endowment (waqf, k30), giving a gift, orothers, are considered as personal expenditures pfhis own money (0: and he could spend it all witL'out any objection) if made while he was in soundhealth
But if X makes such current dispositionsunder any of the following circumstances, whenthese are linked with his death, then the dispositionsare considered as having come from thebcqueathable one-third:(1) in the final illness which brought aboutX's death;(2) in military combat;(3) while travelling on rough seas in a storm;(4) as a final request before being killed;(5) or (0: if female) X dies while givingbirth, or afterwards before separation of theplacenta.If otherwise
(0: meaning if the currentcharitable disposition was not made under any ofthe above circumstances, or was, but the circumstancewas not linked with X's death,) thenthe disposition is not taken from the bequeathableone-third.
(N: We distinguish between the above-mentioned current dispositions (n:such as gifts, endowments, and donations), and between bequests by noting thatcurrent dispositions are effective before X's death, while bequests are effectiveafter
Current dispositions are normally implemented even if X uses up all hismoney,
while bequests-unless X's heirs unanimously agree to allow otherwisearerestricted to one-third of the estate
An exception to permitting current dispositionsto amount to as much of X's property as he wishes is when they are effectedduring his death illness (n: or other L3.6 circumstance), in which case they arelimited to one-third of the estate, just as bequests are.)If one-third of the estate does not cover thecost ofthe (N: current) dispositions which Xmadeduring his (N: final) illness, then (0: if these havebeen given in some order) they are implementedfirst thing first, then second, then third, and so on.(N: Thus, if during his death illness, X said to his three friends P, Q, and R,""I give P a gift of 100 dinars, Q 100 dinars, and R 100 dinars,"" but it turns out thatX's total estate is only 600 dinars, then his gifts to P and Q are valid, but we takeback his gift to R, which is not valid because it exceeds the 200 dinars that is a thirdof the 600 dinars constituting the whole estate
This is what is meant by implementingthem in order.)
The bequeathable one-third of the estate
is divided (0: proportionally (N: if shares vary))between all the recipients X designates when:(1) (N: in cases of death illness current dispositions.such as gifts) X did not state them in anyparticular order (N: such as by saying (n: in a situationlike the above example) to P, Q, and R, ""Igive you each a hundred dinars,"" in which case thebequeath able one-third is divided between them);(2) or (N: in cases where X has explicitlymade bequests) the bequeathable one-third willnot cover all the bequests, whether they weremade separately or not.(N: All of the above (L3.6-8) only holds if theheirs do not agree to permit more than one-thirdof the estate for bequests or current dispositions,since if they unanimously agree, it may exceed athird, even if it takes the whole estate.)
Bequests made to nonspecific individualssuch as the poor are effective when X dies
(0:They own the property without the fact of ownershipdepending on their accepting it.)
When X bequeaths something to Z, a particularindividual, the ownership of the articlebequeathed is suspended, meaning that if Zaccepts it after X's death, even if after some timehas passed, then Z has owned it from the momentX died; but if Z declines to accept it, then X's heirsown it
If Z accepts it, but then refuses it beforehaving taken possession of it (def: k7.3), this cancelshis ownership ofit, though if he refuses afterhaving taken possession of it, it does not cancel hisownership (0: as his refusal is meaningless in sucha case).
It is permissible to make the implementationof a bequest subject to a condition, whetherthe condition is something occuring before X'sdeath (0: such as his saying, ""If Z enters So-andso'shouse, I bequeath to him such and such of myproperty,"") or after (0: such as his saying, ""If Zenters So-and-so's house after my death, Ibequeath to him such and such of my property"").THINGS WHICH MAY BE BEQUEATHED ""!;f"""".Y
\..
It is permissible to bequeath any of thefollowing:(1) the right to utilize something (0: whilenot bequeathing the actual thing);(2) particular things;(3) something not yet existent, such as ""whatthis tree will bear"";(4) something not determinately known (0:whether it be an unknown thing (A: such as ""thecontents of this box""), or something unknown inamount);(5) something undeliverable (non-k2.4);(6) something not currently owned (0: at thetime the bequest is made, but which X owns at thetime of his death);(7) or something impure (najasa, def: e14.1)that has a lawful use, such as a (0: trained hunting)dog, or oil contaminated with impurity;though not something impure that is without lawfuluse, such as wine or pigs.
THOSE TO WHOM BEQUESTS ARE VALIDIt is permissible for X to bequeath somethingto Z even if Z is:(1) a non-Muslim at war with Muslims (A:and with still better right when Z is an ordinarynon-Muslim);(2) a Jewish or Christian subject of theIslamic state;(3) an apostate from Islam;(4) the person who kills X;(5) X's heir (def: L4.4), provided X's otherheirs permit him to receive it (0; though ifthey donot, then the bequest is not carried out);(6) or to a person yet unborn, in which casethe bequest is paid to the person (0: i.e
guardian)who knows of the unborn's existence at the time Xmakes the bequest, provided that the child iseither born alive within six months of the time thebequest is made, or is born alive more than sixmonths and less than four years after the bequestis made, during which time the mother has had nohusband (0: from whom the pregnancy couldhave resulted).
CANCELLING ONE'S BEQUESTSIf X makes some article a bequest but thenchanges his mind, his taking it back is valid, annullinghis bequest
X's doing any of the following isalso considered taking it back (A: and cancels thebequest):(1) X's loss of ownership (0: of thebequeathed article) such as by sale or gift;(2) X's subjecting the article to loss of ownershipby putting it up as collateral, offering it forsale, or making another bequest that stipulatesthat it be sold;(3) or when the name of the article changes,such as wheat being ground into flour, flour madeinto dough, yam woven into fabric, or when Xmixes a particular article with other goods.
IfZdies before X, thenX's bequest to himis invalid
If Z dies after X but before Z accepts thebequest, then Z's heirs may accept or reject it.*
(0: Estate division refers to the share allottedto each heir by Sacred Law
The scriptural basisfor estate division,prior to the consensus of scholars,consists of the Koranic verses on inheritance(Koran 4:11-12, 4:176) and hadiths such as theone related by Bukhari and Muslim that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Give the obligatory shares of the estate tothose who deserve them,and the rest belongs tothe closest male to the deceased.""Encouragement to master the knowledge ofestate division comes from such hadiths as the onefrom Ibn Mas'ud (Allah be well pleased with him)that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""Learn estate division and teach it to people,for I am someone who will be taken from you, andthis knowledge will be taken from you andcalamities win ensue, until two men will one daydisagree about the obligatory apportionment andwill not find anyone to judge between them."")
(n: To work an estate division problem, one should:(a) determine the amount of the deceased's estate after deducting the L4.2-3 expenses;(b) make a list showing which of the deceased's heirs mentioned at IAAexist;(c)
eliminate from the list any heirs with preventives L5 .1--4;(d) on a sheet of paper, copy the parenthesized introductory paragraph (""N:summary of --'s share,"") for every eligible heir that exists, such as thedeceased's:(1) husband (dis: L6.3);(2) wife (L6A);(3) father (L6.5);(4) mother (L6.6);(5) daughter (L6.7);(as mentioned at L6.8, the shares of the above-named family members are noteliminated by anyone, though the shares of those named below may be eliminatedby the existence of certain other heirs)(6) son's daughter (L6.9);(7) full sister (L6.1O);(8) half sister from the same father (L6.1l);(9) grandfather (father's father only) (L6.13);(10) grandmother (L6.18);(11) half brother or half sister from the same mother (L6.20);(12) and then the others (sons and so forth) mentioned at L6.22;(e) read section L7 and cross off the list of heirs those whose shares are eliminatedby the other existent heirs;(f) if any universal heirs (def: UO.S) exist, see which of them eliminates theshares of the other universal heirs, as at LIO.6;(g) make a table of the heirs remaining (after (e) and (f) above) like thetables shown at L6.6, where one writes the type of heir, the fraction each deserves(with the universal heir receiving the remainder, if any), and then atthe top writesthe total shares (this being the common denominator of the fractions), after whichone calculates the shares that go to each;(h) if the fractions (of those besides the universal heir) add up to more thanone (Le
the total estate), then one must adjust for this as shown at L8.2;(i) but if the fractions add up to less than the total estate and there is no universalheir to inherit the rest, then one must redistribute the shares as describedat L9.1-2.One may practice and test one's skill at estate division by reading through thepresent section and doing the problems depicted in the tables, though to do all theproblems one must have (or memorize) a full worksheet that contains all theinformation mentioned in (d), (h), and (i), above, plus the rules concerning universalheirs discussed at L10.l--4
Finally, it is best to check one's answers with anIslamic scholar, preferably a teacher from whom to take instruction, since this isa subject that is easier to acquire from its masters than from books.)
EXPENSES DEDUCTED FROM THE ESTATE PRIORTO ESTATE DIVISIONThe first thing (0: obligatorily) takenfrom X's property is the expense of preparing hisbody (0: such as the cost ofthe water to wash him,the washer's fee, cost of the shroud and perfumeplaced therein, pallbearers' fees, and so forth) andof hurying him
These expenses are deductedbefore X's debts are paid, his bequests fulfilled, orhis estate divided, unless there is a financial obligationdue on the property itself, such as:(1) when there is zakat (A: due from anyyear X neglected to pay it before his death);(2) when some of the property has been putup as collateral (dis: kl1.2);(3) or when X dies bankrupt with unpaid-formerchandise among his property (A: which mustbe returned to the seller before paying otherexpenses from X's property).
After the above are paid, the followingmeasures are taken (A: and the sequence given isobligatory) :(1) X's debts are paid (N: though if a governmenttakes non-Islamic estate taxes, these arededucted from the main part of the estate (A:before debts or bequests, as any other losswould be));(2) then X's bequests (def: 1.1-3) are carriedout (0: from a third of what remains after debts);(3) and then X's remaining property isdivided between his estate division heirs.
HEIRSX's male heirs consist of:(1) X's son;(2) .x:'s son's son, son's son's son, and ondown;(3) X's father;(4) X's father's father (A: the term grandfatherthroughout the book of inheritance refersonly to this paternal grandfather), father's father'sfather, and on up;(5) X's full brother, or half brother from X'sfather or mother;(6) the son of X's full brother, or son of X'shalf brother from the same father;(7) X's father's full brother, or father's halfbrother from the same father;(8) the son of X's father's full brother orfather's halfbrotherfrom the same father;(9) and X's husband.X's female heirs are:(1) X's daughter;(2) X's son's daughter, son's son's daughter,son's son's son's daughter, and on down;(3) X's mother;(4) X's grandmother (whether she is themother of X's father or mother), great-grandmother,and on up;(5) X's full sister, or half sister from the samefather or mother;(6) and X's wife.
EXTENDED FAMILY MEMBERS WHO DO NOTNORMALLY INHERITThe following extended family membersmay not inherit from X's estate (except under theconditions discussed at L10.8):(1) X's daughter's children (0: male orfemale);(2) X's mother's brother's sons;(3) X's sister's children, the sons ordaughters of X's daughter's children, or the sonsor daughters of X's sister's children;(4) X's brother's (0: whether full brother's,or half brother's from either parent) daughters;(5) X's father's brother's (0: whether fullbrother's, or half brother's from the same father)daughters;(6) X's father's half brother from the samemother;(7) X's mother's father;(8) X's mother's brother or sister;(9) X's father's sister;(10) or anyone related to X through one ofthe above.*
(0: Preventive means that if someone is anestate division heir (def: U.4) but one of the followingcharacteristics exists in him, then he maynot inherit.) (A: In calculating the estate division,an heir who is made ineligible by a preventive isconsidered nonexistent
Such a person is anonheir, and as such is eligible for a bequest (def:L1.0) if X wills him one.)(n: Given X, the deceased; and Z, his heir.)
The first preventive is killing
Whoeverkills X may not inherit from him, no matterwhether the killing was:(1) lawful, as in retaliat!on (def: 03) orimposing a criminal penalty;(2) without lawful right;(3) accidental;(4) intentional;(5) direct (0: such as Z shooting while hunting,and the shot hitting X);(6) or when Z is a causal factor in X's death,such as testifying to an act of X's that calls forretaliation against X, or such as digging a well intowhich X falls.To summarize, whoever has a hand in X'sdeath, no matter how, cannot inherit from him.
The second preventive is being nonMuslim:a Muslim may not inherit from a nonMuslim,and a non-Muslim may not inherit from aMuslim (dis: Ll.O).
The third preventive is slavery.
The fourth is uncertainty as to who diedfirst, such as when X and Z both drown or both diein the collapse of a building, and it is not knownwho died before the other
In such a case neithermay inherit from the other.*
The six obligatory shares mentioned in theKoran (Koran 4:11-12) are one-half, one-fourth,one-eighth, two-thirds, one-third, and one-sixth.
They go to ten categories:(1) X's husband;(2) X's wife;(3) X's father;(4) X's mother;(5) X's daughters;(6) X's son's daughters, or the daughters ofX's son's son, son's.son's son, and on down;(7) X's sisters;(8) X's father's father;(9) X's mother's or father's mother;(10) X's half brothers or half sisters from thesame mother.
(N: A summary of X,S husband's share:-1/2 if there is no inheriting descendant.-1/4 if there is an inheriting descendant.-The husband's share is not eliminated by anyone.)X's husband:(1) receives one-half the estate when X hasno child who may inherit (0: even if the child isfrom a different husband) (N: the word child (AT.walad) including both males and females (A: of allages)), and X's son has no child who may inherit;(2) but receives one-fourth the estate whenX has a child who may inherit (0: whetherfrom Xby this husband or a different husband, andwhether male or female), or when X's son has achild who may inherit.
(N: A summary of X's wife's share:-1/4 if there is no inheriting descendant.-1/8 if there is an inheriting descendant.-The wife's share is not eliminated by anyone.)X'swife:(1) receives one-fourth the estate when Xhas no child to inherit (0: even if by a differentwife) and X's son has no child to inherit;(2) but receives one-eighth the estate whenX has a child to inherit, or X's son has a child toinherit (0: whether X's son is from her or fromanother wife).If there are two, three, or four wives, theyjointly receive the one-fourth or one-eighth (0:meaning that the share apportioned to one wife isgiven to two or more (A: to divide up betweenthem)).
(N: A summary of X's father's share:-1/6 ifthere is an inheriting descendent.-Universal heir (def: LIO.5) if there is no maleinheriting descendant.-The father's share is not eliminated by anyone.)X's father:(1) receives one-sixth of the estate when Xhas a son to inherit, or when X's son has a son toinherit (0: or when X has a daughter or X's sonhas a daughter, who may inherit (N: though insuch a case, the father takes (A: the sixth plus) theremainder of the estate as universal heir (n: as discussednext)));(2) but is universal heir (0: by himself,meaning he takes the whole estate if there are noothers who have an obligatory share coming; or ifthere are such others, he receives the remainder ofthe estate after they have received their shares)when X has no son to inherit and X's son has noson to inherit.
(N:AsummaryofX'smother'sshare:- 1/6 if there is an inheriting descendant, or ifthere are two or more of X's brothers or sisters.- 1/3 of the remainder after deducting the share ofX's husband or wife in cases where the heirsinclude both X's father and the husband or wife,but no inheriting descendant.- 1/3 of the estate when none of the abovementionedheirs exists.- The mother's share is not eliminated by anyone.)X'smother:(1) receives one-third of the estate when allthree of the following are the case:(a) X has no child (male orfemale) who mayinherit, nor does X's son;(b) X does not have two or more brothers orsisters, whether full brothers or sisters, or halfbrothers or sisters from either parent;(c) and the heirs do not include X's husbandand X's two parents, or X's wife and two parents(A: of which X's mother is one);(2) she receives one-sixth of the estate when(non-(a) above) X has a child who may inherit, orwhen (non-(b)) X has two or more brothers orsisters;(3) and she receives one-third of the remainderafter deducting the share of X's husband orwife when:-(non-(c) above) the heirs include X's husbandand two parents, in which case she receivesone-third of the remainder after X's husbandreceives his share of one-half, meaning shereceives a sixth of the estate, as that is a third ofthe remainder, and X's father receives the rest:shares: *6husband In 3mother 116 1father universal heir 2(*common denominator of 112 and 1/6)-or (non-(c) above) when the heirs includeX's wife and two parents, in which case shereceives one-third of the remainder after X's wifereceives her share of one-fourth, meaning that themother receives one-fourth of the estate, as that isa third of the remainder, and the father receivesthe rest:shares: 4wife 114 1mother 114 1father universal heir 2
(N: A summary ofX's daughter's share:-]/2 if there are no other ofX's sons or daughters(n: whetherfull or half brothers or sisters to her).-2/3 for her to share equally (ifthere are no sons)with other daughters, if any.--She is co-universal heir (def: L10.3) with X'sson( s) if existent, meaning that they jointly constitutethe universal heir, dividing this share so thateach male receives twice the amount of eachfemale (A: since men are obliged to supportwomen in Islam (dis: mIl) and not vice versa).-The daughter's share is not eliminated by anyone.)(1) X's sale daughter (0: who is without aco-universal heir such as her brother, and withoutsomeone else on her own level, such as her sister)receives half of the estate.(2) Two or more daughters jointly receivetwo-thirds.
(N: It is important to remember for thepersons named in the following rulings that theshare of any of them who is related to X throughan inheriting heir is eliminated by the existence ofthat heir (dis: L7.4-6), except for X's half brotherfrom the same mother, whose share is not eliminatedby the mother's existence.)
(N: A summary of the share of X's son'sdaughter:-Her share is eliminated if X's son exists (n: anexample of the above rule).-112 if X has no daughter, son's son, or any otherdaughter of a son.-2/3 for her to share equally with the otherdaughters of X' s son( s), if X has no daughter( s) orson's sones).-116 when there is a sole daughter (def: L6
7(1)).-She is co-universal heir (def: LlD.3) with X'sson's son(s) (A: in the absence of X's daughter,dividing this share so that each male receives twicethe share of each female).-Her share is eliminated when X has two or moredaughters
)When X'ssole daughter (def:L6.7(1)) exists,X's son's daughter(s) (A if there are more thanone, they share) receives one-sixth of the estate,which with the sole daughter's share of one-half,makes two-thirds eN: which is the maximum thatmay go to the category of daughters).
(N: A summary of the share of X's fullsister:-112 if there are no other full brothers or sisters.-2/3 for her to share equally with other full sisters.-She is co-universal heir (def: LlD.3) with fullbrother(s) if any, each male receiving twice theshare of each female.-She is universal heir through X's daughter(s)(def: UDA).-Her share is eliminated if X's father or X's sonexists
)(1) X's sole full sister (N: meaning no otherfull brothers or sisters exist) receives one-half ofthe estate.(2) Two or more such sisters (N: when thereare no full brothers) jointly receive two-thirds.(n: L6.12 discusses X's full sister(s) with X'sdaughters
)
(N: A summary of the share of X's half sisterfrom the same father:-1/2 in the absence of X's full brother, full sister,other half sister from the same father, and halfbrother from the same father.-2/3 for her to share equally with other half sisteTes) from the same father, when there are no fullbrothers or sisters, and no half brothers from thesame father.-1/6 when there is X's sole full sister.--She is universal heir through X's daughters orX's son's daughters (def: UOA), provided thereare no full brothers or sisters, or half brothersfrom the same father.--She is co-universal heir (def: UO.3) with X'shalf brother(s) from the same father, the malereceiving twice the share of each female.-Her share is eliminated if X's father or sonexists
)(1) X's sole half sister from the same fatherreceives one-half of the estate.(2) Two or more such paternal half sistersjointly receive two-thirds.(3) When such a half sister, or two or more,exists with X's sole full sister, then the half sister(s) (A: jointly, if more than one) receives onesixth,which, with the half that goes to the fullsister, makes two-thirds.
X's full sister(s) is universal heir throughX's daughter(s) (def: UOA)
If X has no full sisters,X's half sisters by the same father are theestate's universal heirs through X's daughter(s)(UOA).An example of the former is when the heirsare X's daughter and full sister
The daughterreceives one-half (dis: L6.7(1)), and the sisterreceives the rest (A: as universal heir):shares: 2daughter 1/2 1full sister universal heir 1Another example is when there are X's twodaughters, a full sister, and a paternal half sister,in which case the two daughters .jointly receivetwo-thirds (dis: L6.7(2)), and the full sisterreceives the rest (A: as universal heir), while thepaternal half sister's share is eliminated (A: by thefull sister's universal heirship):shares: 32 daughters 2/3 2full sister universal heir 1half sister eliminated D
(N: summary of X's grandfather's(father's father's) share:-His share is eliminated if X's father exists.-1/6 if X has an inheriting male descendant.-He is universal heir in the absence of both X'sfather and any inheriting male descendant.-If X's brother(s) or sister(s) exists, then:(1) when there is no other heir who has anobligatory share coming, then the grandfatherreceives whichever pf the following two alternativesyields the maximum:-1/3 of the estate;- or dividing the estate with X's brother(s) or sister(s) as if he were one of them, the male receivingtwice the share of the female
If only X's sister(s)exists, then she becomes co-universal heir (def:LID.3) with him;(2) but when there are one or more otherheirs who have an obligatory share coming besidesthe brother(s) or sister(s), then the grandfatherreceives whichever of the following three alternativesyields the maximum:-1/6 of the estate;-1/3 of the remainder after the (non-brotherlsister)heir( s) receives their share;-or dividing the estate with X's brother( s) or sister(s) as if he were one of them, the male receivingtwice the share of the female
If only X's sister(s)exists, then she becomes co-universal heir (LID.3)with him.)As for the grandfather, sometimes X'sbrothers or sisters exist with him and sometimesthey do not.When they do not, then the grandfatherreceives one-sixth of the estate if X's son or son'sson (0: or X's daughters or son's daughters) exist(N: but in such a case he takes the sixth plus therest as universal heir); while the grandfather is theuniversal heir (def: Ll0.5) in the absence of X'sson or son's son (N: or daughter or son'sdaughter).When X's (full or paternal half) brothers orsisters exist, then sometimes there are otherinheriting heirs (dis: L6.15) and sometimes not(L6.l4).
When (besides X's brother(s) or sister(s))the grandfather's cosurvivors do not include otherinheriting heirs, the grandfather divides the estatewith the brothers (A: and sisters) as if he were oneof them, and (if there are only sisters) is couniversalheir (def: LlG.3) with the sisters.But sueh a division is only effected when itdoes not result in less than one-third of the estategoing to the grandfather
If it would result in lessthan a third for him, then his obligatory share isone-third of the estate, and the brothers or sistersdivide the rest between them, the males receivingthe share of two females
This is illustrated by thefollowing examples (A: in each of which thegrandfather receives at least a third):(1) X's grandfather and one sister:shares: 3grandfather 2sister 1(2) grandfather and two sisters:shares: 4grandfather 2sister 1sister 1(3) grandfather and three sisters:shares: Sgrandfather 2sister 1sister 1sister 1(4) grandfather and four sisters:shares: 6grandfather 2sister 1-sister 1sister 1sister 1(5) grandfather and one brother:shares: 2grandfather 1brother 1(6) grandfather and two brothers:shares: 3irandfather 1brother 1brother 1(7) grandfather, brother, and sister:shares: 5grandfather 2brother 2sister 1(8) grandfather, brother, and two sisters:shares: 6grandfather 2brother 2sister 1sister 1In each of the above examples, the grandfatherdivides the estate with them, the male receivingthe share of two females.
When (besides X's brothers or sisters) thegrandfather'S cosurvivors include anotherinheritingheir, then the heir is given his share, and thegrandfather receives the maximal amount of threepossibilities:(a) division (A: meaning to divide it with thebrothers or sisters as in the above examples);(b) a third of the remainder (A: taking athird of what remains after the (non-brother/sister)heir has taken his share);(c) or one-sixth of the estate (A: as the estatestands before the above-mentioned heir hasreceived his share).This ruling may be illustrated by (n: the followingfour examples):(1) X's husband, grandfather, and brother,where division is better for the grandfather.show why division «a) above) is better, we maycompare the three possibilities «a), (b), and (c))for this example:(a) division:shares: 4husband 1/2 (dis: L6.3(l)) 2grandfather 1brother 1(b) third of remainder (after the husband'sshare ):shares: 6husband 1/2 3grandfather 1/3 remainder 1brother universal 2(c) sixth of estate:shares: 6husband 1/2 3grandfather 1/6 estate 1brother universal 2The comparison reveals that division, giving thegrandfather 1/4, is better than the other alternatives,which only give him 1/6, and so division isthe alternative that must be implemented.)(2) X's two daughters, two brothers, andgrandfather, where a sixth of the estate is betterfor him
(n: Comparison:( a) division:shares: 9daughter 2/3 (dis: L6.7(2)) 3daughter 2/3 (dis: L6.7(2)) 3grandfather 1brother 1brother 1(b) third of remainder (after the daughters'share):shares: 9daughter 2/3 3daughter 2/3 3grandfather 1/3 remainder 1brother universal 1brother universal 1(c) sixth of estate:shares: 12daughter 2/3 4daughter 2/3 4grandfather 1/6 estate 2brother universal 1brother universal 1The comparison reveals that a sixth of the estate isbetter than the other alternatives, which only givehim 1/9, and so the former is the alternative thatmust be implemented.)(3) X's wife, three brothers, and grand-father,where a third of the remainder is better forhim
(n: Comparison:(a) division:§hares: Hiwife 1/4 (dis: L6.4(1)) 4grandfather 3brother division 3brother division 3brother division 3(b) third ofremainder (after the wife's share):shares: 12wife 1/4 3grandfather 1/3 remainder 3brother universal 2brother universal 2brother universal 2( c) sixth of estate:shares: 36wife 1/4 9grandfather 1/6 estate 6brother universal 7brother universal 7brother universal 7The comparison reveals that a third of the remainder,which gives the grandfather 1/4, is better forhim than division with the brothers (which giveshim 3/16), or a sixth of the estate, so he mustreceive a third of the remainder.)(4) X's two daughters, mother, grandfather,and brothers, where a sixth of the estate is betterfor him
(n: Comparision:(a) division:shares: 6daughter [ 2/3 (dis: L6.7(2)) 2daughter [ 2/3 (dis: L6.7(2)) 2mother 1/6 (dis: L6.6(2)) 1grandfather division 1brothers division 1(b) third of remainder (after the shares of thedaughters and mother):shares: 18daughter 2/3 6daughter 2/3 6mother 1/6 3grandfather 1/3 remainder 1brothers universal 2(c) sixth of estate:shares: 6daughter 2/3 2daughter 2/3 2mother 1/6 1grandfather 1/6 1(In this case, there is no one who can eliminate theshares of the inheriting heirs above, who haveused up the estate so that there is nothing left forthe universal heir (the brothers) to inherit (dis:L10.5):)brothers eliminated 0The comparison shows that a sixth of the estate isbetter for the grandfather than a third of theremainder, which would give him 1116, or divisionwith the brothers, which would give him 1112 orless, and so he must receive a sixth of the estate.)
If both X's brothers and half brothersfrom the same father exist with the grandfather,the brothers add the number ofthe half brothers'shares with their own shares in calculating theirown versus the grandfather's, but then thebrothers receive both their own shares and thehalf brothers' shares
(A: The latter are eliminated(dis: L7.3) by the brothers, but are initiallyreckoned in as a dispensation for the brothers.)This may by illustrated by the followingexample, in which there is X's grandfather,brother, and half brother from the same father.(initial division)grandfather 1brother 1half brother 1shares: 3divisionbut then, because the brother eliminates the halfbrother's share,shares: 3grandfather 1brother 2half brother eliminated oand this is the actual division,In a second, similar case, if there is a sister,half brother from the same father, and grandfather,then (A: the half brother's share isreckoned with the sister's share versus that of thegrandfather, and) her portion of the estate isbrought up to one-half (A: which is the maximumshe may receive, as at L6,l0(1)) from the (n: additive)amount, and the rest goes to the half brother(A: since the grandfather already has his share,and she may receive no more than her obligatoryshare of one-half), (n: To illustrate, first we makea plain diviSion, the males receiving the share oftwo females:shares: 5grandfather 2sister 1half brother 2Then, as in the previous case, we give the halfbrother's share to the sister, since there is none toeliminate her full share of one-half (dis:L6,10(1)).shares: 5grandfather 2sister 3half brother 0But since this gives the sister more than her maximalshare of one-half, the surplus is returned tothe half brother, and this is the final division.Here, for convenient redivision, we multiply thecase's shares by two:(2 X 5) shares: 10grandfather 4sister 5half brother 1which is the actual division.)
When there is a sister (0: full sister or halfsister from the same father) and grandfather, thesister does not nonnally receive a particularobligatory share (0: since she is co-universal heir(def: L10.3) with the grandfather), except in thefollowing case (Ar .
al-akdariyya, lit
""the murkiest"")in which there is X's husband, mother,grandfather, and sister.shares: 6husband 1/2 (dis: L6.3(1)) 3mother 113 {dis: L6.6(1}) 2grandfather 116 (dis: L6.15(c)) 1But at this point, the estate has been used up,despite the fact that the sister deserves her shareof one-half, and no one can eliminate it:sister 1/2 (dis: L6.10(l)) 3so we redivide the estate by adding the threeshares that the sister deserves to the initial division'ssix shares, which become nine (A: this procedurebeing an adjustment (,awl, def: L8.l) fornot being able to give everyone full shares, onewhich proportionately distributes the deficit to allrecipients) .(6 + 3 =) shares: 9husband 3mother 2grandfather 1sister 3But this results in the grandfather receiving lessthan if he were to divide the remaining estate withthe sister (n: which is impermissible because ofruling L6.15), and so the grandfather and sisteradd their shares to together (equalling four) anddivide them, the male receiving the portion of twofemales
(n: Here, for convenient redivision, wemultiply the case's shares by three:(3 x 9 =) shares: 27husband 9mother 6grandfather 8sister 4and this is the actual division.)
(N: A summary of the share of X's grandmother(whether she is X's father's mother ormother's mother, or, if both exist, they share theportion):-1/6 if X's mother does not exist.-Her share is eliminated if X's mother exists.-Her share is eliminated by the existence of X'sfather if X is descended from her through thefather.)(1) X's grandmother (or great -grandmother)gets one-sixth of the estate when:-she is A, E, and so on, up that line (n: on thechart above);-she is C, G, and so on, up that line;--or when she is H, and so on, up that line.(2) If there are two grandmothers/greatgrandmotherson the same level (A: level II, forexample), they jointly get one-sixth to share betweenthein, such as when both C and A exist, orwhen both G and H exist.(3) If one of two surviving grandmotherslgreat-grandmothers is closer (A: on a closer level)to X, then:(a) if the closer of the two is on X's mother'sside (n: the left of the chart) then she eliminatesthe share of the farther of the two
For example,the existence of A eliminates G's share;(b) but if the closer of the two is on thefather's side (n: the right of the chart), she doesnot eliminate the share of the one on the mother'sside who is farther from X
Rather, both jointlyreceive the sixth to divide between them
Forexample, C does not eliminate E.
As for great-grandmother F, she does notinherit, as she is an extended family member whomay not inherit (A: being related to X through B,who may not inherit (dis: L4.5(7.10))).
(N: A summary of the share of X's halfbrother or sister from the same mother:-116 if there is just one of them, when none of X'sinheriting male ancestors (A: father on up) exists!nor any inheriting descendants.-113 if there are two or more of them, to sharebetween them, but which is divided so that malesand females receive equal shares.-Their share is eliminated by the existence of anyof X's inheriting male ancestors or inheritingdescendants
)(1) X's half brother or sister from the samemother receives one-sixth if alone.(2) When there are two or more of them,they jointly receive one-third
This amount isdivided with equal shares going to male andfemale alike.
To summarize all of the foregoing:(1) One-half of the estate is the obligatoryshare of five types of heir:-X's husband, under certain circumstances (dis:L6.3(1));-X's (sole) daughter (L6.7(1));-X's son's daughter (L6.9(N:));-X's (sole) full sister (L6.10(1));-and X's (sole) half sister from the same father(L6.11 (1)).(2) One-fourth of the estate is the obligatoryshare of two types of heir:-X's husband, under certain circumstances(L6.3(2));-and X's wife (L6.4(1)).(3) One-eighth of the estate is the obligatoryshare of X's wife, under certain circumstances(L6.4(2)).(4) Two-thirds of the estate is the obligatoryshare of four types of heir:-two or more of X's daughters (L6.7(2));-two or more of X's son's daughters (L6.9(N:));-two or more of X's full sisters (L6.10(2));-and two or more or X's half sisters from thesame father (L6.11(2)).(5) One-third of the estate is the obligatoryshare of:-X's mother, under certain circumstances(L6.6(1));-two or more of X's haIf brothers or sisters fromthe same mother (L6.20(2));-and it may be the share of the grandfather whenX's brothers exist (L6.14, second paL).(6) One-sixth of the estate is the
obligatoryshare of seven types of heir:-X's father (L6.5(1));-X's grandfather (L6.13(N:) and L6.15(c));-X's mother (L6.6(N:));-X's grandmother (L6.18(1));--one or more daughters of X's son when X'sdaughter also exists (L6.9);--one or more of X's half sisters from the samefather when X's sole full sister also exists(L6.1l(3));-and X's sole half brother from the same mother
(L6.20(1)).(N: A summary of the other heirs' shares:(1) X's son is universal heir.(2) X's son's son:-is eliminated by X's son;-and is universal heir in the absence of X's son.(3) X's full brother:-is eliminated by the existence of an inheritingmale descendant;-is eliminated by X's father;-and is universal heir in the absence of both aninheriting male descendant and father.(4) X's half brother by the same father:-is eliminated by any inheriting male descendant;--is eliminated by X's father;-is eliminated by X's full brother;-and is universal heir in the absence of all these.(5) The son of X's full brother is the same asX's full brother «3) above), but eliminated byhim.(6) The son of X's half brother by the samefather is the same as (5) above, but eliminated byhim.(7) The brother of X's father:-is eliminated by any ofthe following: X's father,grandfather, brothers, and their sons;-and is universal heir in the absence of all ofthese.(8) The son of the brother of X's father is thesame as (7) above, but eliminated by him.)*
The share of X's half brother from thesame mother is eliminated by the existence of fourtypes of heir:-X's inheriting-descendant (male or female);-the descendant (male or female) of X's son;-X's father;-or X's grandfather.
The share of X's full brother is eliminatedby three:-X'sson;-X's son's son;-or X's father.
The share of X's half brother from thesame father is eliminated by four:-X'sson;-X's son's son;-X's father;-or X's full brother.
The share of the son of X's son is eliminatedby X's son, and likewise the son of the son ofX's son, and on down: each is eliminated by theexistence of a son closer to X (A: meaning fewergenerations from X, even if the one who is closeris from a different one of X's sons).
X's grandmother or great-grandmotherdoes not inherit if X's mother exists.
Neither X's grandfather (A: i.e
father'sfather) nor grandmother or great -grandmother onthe father's side may inherit when X's fatherexists.
When X's daughters receive a full twothirdsof the estate (dis: L6.7(2)), then thedaughters of X's son do not inherit, unless they aremade co-universal heirs (def: L10.3) by the existenceof a male who is at the same distance (A:number of generations) from X as they are, or byone who is farther from X than they
When theyare co-universal heirs, the male receives the shareof two females.For example, if there are two daughters and adaughter of X's son, the two daughters take twothirdsand the son's daughter receives
nothing.But if there also exists with her X's son's son, orson's son's son, then she (A: as co-universal heir(def: L10.3) with him) gets the rest of the estatewith him, the male receiving the share of twofemales (N: and such a male is nicknamed herblessed brother (akh mubarak)).
Similarly, when X's full sisters receivetwo-thirds of the estate (dis: L6.1O(2)), then X'shalf sisters from the same father do not inherit,unless they have a brother to make them couniversalheirs, the male receiving the share oftwo females.
Someone who does not inherit to beginwith (N: due to the existence of a preventive (def:i5))cannot eliminate the share of anyone (A:such a person being as if nonexistent in figuringthe estate division).
Someone who may inherit, but whoseshare has been eliminated by another, can noteliminate the share of anyone, although such aperson's existence may diminish the share ofsomeone, as when there exist X's half brothersfrom the same mother, and X's father and mother.]n such a case, the half brothers do not inherit (dis:L6.20(N:)),but their existence diminishes themother's share from a third to a sixth (dis:L6.6(2)).*
(A: Adjustment ('awl) is used in cases where the estate is not enough-togive everyone their full shares, and proportionately distributes the deficit to allthe heirs in an equitable way.)
Whenever the shares deserved by heirsexceed the number of available shares, thenumber of shares is additively increased to thenumber needed.An example is the case (al-mubahala) inwhich there are X's husband, mother, and fullsister:shares: 6husband 1/2 (dis: L6.3(1)) 3sister 1/2 (dis: L6.10(1)) 3but at this point, the estate has been used updespite the fact that the mother deserves her shareof one-third, and no one can eliminate it:mother 1/3 (dis: L6.6(1)) 2so we redivide the estate by adding the mother'sportion (n: two shares) as an adjustment:(6 + 2 =) shares: 8husband 3sister 3mother 2and this is the actual division
(n: L6.17 furnishesanother example of adjustment.)*
(n: This section has been moved here from itsoriginal place after L10.7 below.)
If X has no (A: universal heir) relatives(def: L10.5), then (A: the remainder of) his estategoes to the Muslim common fund (bayt aI-mal) asan inheritance to the Muslims, provided theIslamic ruler is just.If the Islamic ruler is not just (A: or not existent),then it (A: the excess) is redistributedamong the inheriting heirs in proportion to theirrelative shares, except for X's husband or wife,who may not receive any of the redistributedamount.
(N: Three illustrations of redistribution 'follow:(1) X's sister and grandmother:shares: 6sister 1/2 (dis: L6.10(1)) 3grandmother 1/6 (dis: L6.18(1)) 1But at this point, the obligatory shares are less than the estate, so we redistributethe excess estate in proportion to the heirs' respective shares by reducing theshares of the case to four, which is the number of the existing heirs' shares:(3 + 1 =) shares: 4sister 3grandmother 1and this is the solution, and is how we redistribute in cases that require it, whenthere is neither a husband nor wife among the heirs
As for when there is a husbandor wife, the examples below furnish illustrations of the division.(2) X's wife, half brotherfrom the same mother, and grandmother:shares: 12wife 1/4 (dis: L6.4(1))) 3half brother 116 (dis: L6.20(1)) 2grandmother 1/6 (dis: L6.18{1)) 2But here, the obligatory shares are still less than the estate, in which there are fiveremaining shares:excess 5So, excluding the wife as mentioned above (L9.1 (end)), we divide the excess betweenthe half brother and grandmother in proportion to their respective shares,namely two-to-two, which means a half-and-half division of the excess five shares,For convenient division of these five shares, we first multiply the case's totalshares by two:(12 x 2=) shares: 24wife 6half brother 4grandmother 4excess ------ 10and then we divide the ten excess shares between the half brother and grandmother,while the wife gets only her original share (dis: L9.1 (end)):and this is the solution.(3) X's wife, mother, and half brother from the same mother:shares: 12wife 1/4 (dis: L6.4(1)) 3mother 1/3 (dis: L6.6(1)) 4half brother 1/6 (dis: L6.20(1)) 2But the obligatory shares are still less than the estate, in which there are threeremaining shares:So, excluding the wife, as before, we divide the excess between the mother andhalf brother in proportion to their respective shares, namely four-to-two, whichmeans a two-to-one division of the three excess shares:shares:and this is the solution.)*
(A: A universal heir ('asaba) is someone who takes the remaining estate,if any, after heirs deserving obligatory shares have taken them
When there are nosuch heirs, the universal heir takes all
There are three types of universal heir:(1) universal heir by oneself ('asaba bi nafsihi);(2) co-universal heir Casaba bi ghayrihi);(3) and universal heir through the existence of another Casaba ma'aghayrihi).)(n: The following three definitional entries have been added to this section by thetranslator
)
UNIVERSAL HEIR BY ONESELF(Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf:) Theuniversal heir by oneselfis X's male relative who isnot related to X through a female, whether this bebecause:(1) there is no one between him and X, as isthe case with X's father or son;(2) or whether because there is someone betweenhim and X, but not a female, such as X'sgrandfather (the father of Xs father), Xs son'sson, X's full brother, or X's half brother from thesame father.
CO-UNIVERSAL HEIRThe co-universal heir is any female deservingan obligatory share who requires someone elsein order to become a universal heir, and withwhom she participates in this universal share.It is a class confined to four types of women,those whose share if alone is one-half, and if thereare more than one is two-thirds
They are:(1) X's daughter;(2) X's son's daughter;(3) X's full sister;(4) and X's half sisterfrom the same father.Whenever a male exists with one of these four whois universal heir by himself (def: LIO.2), of thesame generation as her and of the same strength(N: i.e
both are full or halfsiblings), she becomesco-universal heir with him and inherits by the universalshare, not her obligatory share
They dividethe universal share so the male receives the portionof two females.UNIVERSAL HEIR THROUGH TfJE EXISTENCE
OF ANOTHERThe universal heir through the existence ofanother is any female deserving an obligatoryshare who requires someone else to become a universalheir, but with whom she does not share thisuniversal share.These are only two people from among thosewho deserve obligatory shares:(1) X's full sister;(2) and X's half sister from the same father;provided that X's brother, who would form a couniversalheir (def: LIO.3) with them (A: in whichcase they would not be a universal heir throughanother) does not exist, and provided that eitherof the above two females exists with X's daughter(s) or son's daughter(s) , and on down (A: thesebeing the someone else needed to make them auniversal heir through another) (al-Mawarithfialshari'aal-Islamiyya (y80), 99,102,103).
The universal heir is a person who takesthe whole estate if there is no other heir, or takesany of it that is in excess of the obligatory portionswhich are given to heirs, when they also exist
Ifthere is nothing in excess of the heirs' obligatoryshares, then the universal heir does not receiveanything.
Their order (A: these being the universalheirs by themselves (def: LIO.2)) in closeness to X(A: such that the eXIstence of someone at the firstof the list eliminates the universal heirship of anyonefollowing him) is:(1) X's son;(2) X's son's son;(3) X'sson's son's son, and on down, no matterhow many generations;(4) X's father;(5) X's father's father;(6) X's father's father's father, and on up, nomatter how many generations;(7) X's full brother;(8) X's half brother from the same father;(9) the son of X's full brother;(10) the son of X's half brother from thesame father;(11) the brother of X's father;(12) the son of the brother of X's father, thisson's son, and on down;(13) the brother of X's father's father;(14) and then (13)'s son, this son's son, andon down.
When there is no universal heir, and noheir inheriting an obligatory portion that theexcess estate could be redistributed to (dis: L9.1),then the estate is divided between the extendedfamily members (def: lA,S) such that each of themtakes the place of the person through whom theyare related to X
For example:(1) X's daughter's child takes the share ofX's qaughter;(2) X's sister's child takes the share of X'ssister;(3) X's brothers' daughters take the share ofthe brothers;(4) the daughters of X's father's brother takethe latter's share;(5) X's mother's father takes her share;(6) X's mother's brother or sister takes hershare;(7) and X's father's half brother or sisterfrom the same mother takes the father's share.
No universal heir may inherit (A: a universalshare) when there is a universal heir who iscloser to X than he is.
No one constitutes a co-universal heir(def: L10.3) with his sister except:(I) X's son (N: with X's daughter);(2) X's son's son (N: with X's son's daughter);(3) and X's brother (A: with X's sister).Each of them constitutes a co-universal heir withhis sister, the male receiving the pOJ;tion of twofemales.
(N: In addition to being co-universal heirwith X's son's daughter «2) above),) X's son's son(N: or son's son's son, and on down) is (n: also) couniversalheir with the daughters of his father'sbrother who are of the same generation as he, andthose of his father's sisters and the daughters of hisfather's father's brother(s) who are above him (N:of a closer generation to X), provided they (A:those closer to X than he) have no obligatoryshares coming
(N: Because if they do, then theytake their share and are not co-universal heirs withhim
This may be illustrated by the followingexample:(1) X's husband, daughter, son's daughter, son's son's daughter, and son'sson's son:shares: 12husband 1/4 (dis: L6.3(2)) 3daughter 1/2 (dis: L6.7(1)) 6son's daughter 1/6 (dis: L6.9) 2son's son's daughter 1son's son's son universal 1But if there were two of X's daughters in the above case, we would have todivide the estate as follows:shares: 12husband 32 daughters 2/3 (dis: L6.7(2))) 8Here, the son's daughter does not have an obligatory share coming, since the twodaughters have taken the full two-thirds, and so the son's daughter (dis: textabove) is co-universal heir with the son's son's daughter and son's son's son:son's daughter 1son's son's daughter universal 1son's son's son 1
A person who is a universal heir does notparticipate in the .share of someone who has anobligatory share coming, except in the followingcase (al-musharraka):Given X's husband, mother (or grand-mother,for the result is the same), two halfbrothers from the same mother, and a fullbrother:shares: 6husband 1/2 (dis: L6.3(1)) 3mother 1/6 (dis: L6.6(2)) 12 half brothers 1/3 (dis: L6:20(2)) 2in which case the estate has been used up andnothing remains for the brother:full brother universal o(N: But the full brother is closer to X than the halfbrothers, and should not be eliminated by theirshare, so an exception is made and the halfbrothers and full brother are made co-universalheirs:)shares: 6husband 3mother 12 half brothers universal 2full brothers universal 2(N: It is important to remember in such eases thatthe universal share is divided so the males andfemales receive equal shares (dis: L6.20(2)).)
When a pe(son both deserves an obligatoryshare and is a universal heir, then he inheritsboth of these.An example is when the son of X's father'sbrother (A: who is universal heir (dis: L6.22(8)))is also X's husband (A: deserving· a husband'sshare (dis: L6.3)); or when the son of X's father'sbrother is also X's half brother from the samemother.*
(0: The legal basis for marriage, prior toscholarly consensus (ijma'), is such KoranicWho Should Marry mI.Iverses as.""Marry such women as seem good to you""(Koran 4:3),and hadiths such as,""Marry one another, that you may increase,""which was related by Shafi'i.)
A man who needs to marry (0: because ofdesire for sexual intercourse) and has enoughmoney (0: for the brides's marriage payment(mahr, def: m8), for clothiI!g for the season of theyear in which he marries, and the expenditures ofone day) is recommended to do so (0: to protecthis religion, no matter whether he is occupied withreligious devotions or not)
One who needs tomarry but does not have enough to pay for theseexpenses is recommended not to marry, but ratherto suppress his sexual desire by fasting (0: and ifit is not suppressed by fasting, then he shouldmarry, borrowing the money to pay the bride'smarriage payment if she will not accept his owingit to her).
It is offensive for someone who does notneed marriage (0: being undesirous of it becauseof a physical defect or other reason) to marrywhen he does not have enough money to cover theexpenses
Marriage is not offensive for a man whohas enough money, even when there is somethingthat might prevent him from doing so such as oldage or a chronic illness, though it is superior forhim to devote himself to worship instead
If hedoes not devote himself to worship (0: beingoccupied with enjoyments and not thinking ofworship at all) then marriage is better (0: sincesomeone whose lack of sexual desire is not due toa physical defect may later have such desire, asopposed to someone whose lack of desire isbecause of such a defect, to whom this will nothappen).
As for a woman, if she needs to marry, it isrecommended for her to do so, though if she doesnot, (0; not feeling any sexual desire within herself,and she is engaged in worship,) then it isoffensive for her to do so
(N: Though such awoman needs a husband or unmarriageable relativeto travel and so forth (dis: m10.3).)DESIRABLE CHARACfERISTICS IN A BRIDEmlA It is recommended for a man to marry avirgin (0: unless there is a reason not to, such assexual incapacity or needing someone to take careof his children) (A: though it is permissible tomarry a nonvirgin even if she has not previouslymarried (dis: p12.1(3(n:)))) who is fertile (0:which in a virgin is inferable from her relatives),attractive, intelligent, religious, of a good family,and not a close relative
(0: In Sharh al-Minhaj,Ibn Hajar notes that when one must choose betweenthe above characteristics, the order ofpreference should be:(1) religiousness, which takes precedenceover anything else;(2) intelligence;(3) a good character and disposition;(4) fertility;(5) a good family;(6) virginity;(7) beauty;(8) and then that which fulfills some otherrelevant interest.)*
(0: It is recommended for a guardian tooffer his marriageable female charges in marriageto righteous men
It is sunna:(1) to intend by one's marriage to fulfill thesunna and protect one's religion, since one is onlyrewarded for it if one intends some form of obedienceto Allah, such as remaining chaste or havinga pious son;(2) for the marriage contract to be made in amosque;(3) and for it to take place on Friday, at thefirst of the day, and in the month of Shawwal.)
LOOKING AT ONE'S PROSPECTIVE BRIDEThe sunna when one wants to marry awoman is to look at her face and hands (0: as theface indicates her beauty, and the hands herrobustness of body
Tirmidhi reports from alMughirathat when he got engaged to a woman,the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Look at her, for it is likelier to last betweenyou,""meaning that love is likelier to last, and tenderness)before getting engaged to her, even if thewoman does not give her permission to do so (0:since the Lawgiver's permission is sufficient).Such a person is entitled to repeat looking at her(A: as many times as he Wishes) (0: when heneeds to make sure of how she looks, so he doesnot come to have regrets after getti,ng married.And she is entitled to do the same) but he may notlook at other than her face and hands
(0: Ifunable to go see her, he should send a reliablewoman to go see her for him, as such a womanwould be likely to notice more than he, and shemay describe her to him, this being an exceptionto the unlawfulness of describing a woman to aman who is not one of her unmarriageable kin.)
LOOKING AT MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITE SEXIt is unlawfulfor a man to look at a womanwho is not his wife or one of his un marriageablekin (def: m6.1) (0: there being no difference inthis between the face and hands or some otherpart of a woman (N: if it is uncovered), thoughpart excludes her voice, which is not unlawful tolisten to as long as temptation is unlikely
AllahMost High says,""Tell believers to lower their gaze"" (Koran 24:30).A majority of scholars (n: with the exceptionof some Hanafis
as at m2.8 below) have beenrecorded as holding that it is unlawful for womento leave the house with faces unveiled, whether ornot there is likelihood of temptation
When thereis likelihood of temptation, scholars unanimouslyconcur that it is unlawful, temptation meaninganything that leads to sexual intercourse or itsusual preliminaries
As for when there is real need(dis: m2.11), looking is not unlawful, providedtemptation is unlikely).(A: Being alone with a woman who is notone's wife or unmarriageable kin is absolutelyunlawful, though if there are two women and aman, the man and the woman are no longerconsidered alone.)
A man may look at his wife (N: or viceversa) including her nakedness (def: f5.3), thoughit is offensive for either husband or wife to look atthe other's genitals.
A man may look at his unmarriageablefemale relatives (def: m6.1), and a woman look ather unmarriageable male relatives (m6.2), viewingany part of the body (N: that shows e.g
whilethey are working) except what is between thenavel and knees.
As for a woman looking at to: a man)other than her husband or unmarriageable malerelatives, it is unlawful, just as a man's looking ather is.
It is unlawful for a woman to show anypart of her body to an adolescent boy or anon-Muslim woman (n: unless the latter is herkinswoman (def: m6.1(1-12)), in which case itis permissible (Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rifama'ani alfa;: al-Minhaj (y73), 3.132))).
(n: The following rulings from theHanafischool have been added here as a dispensation(dis: c6.3).)(Ahmad Quduri:)(1) It is not permissible for a man to look ata woman who is not his wife or unmarriageab1erelative except for her face and hands «Maydani:)because of the necessity of her need to deal withmen in giving and taking and the like)
If a man isnot safe from lust, he may not look at her faceexcept when it is demanded by necessity.(2) A man may look at the whole body ofanother man except for what is between the naveland (A: including) the knees (A: as the knees areconsidered nakedness by Hanafis
though not byShafi'is).(3) A woman may look at the parts of a manthat another man is permitted to look at.(4) A woman may look at the parts ofanother woman that a man is permitted to look atof another man.(al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88) , 4.162-63)
Whenever looking is unlawful, so is touching(0: whenever meaning the part; i.e
whateveris unlawful to look at is also unlawful to touch).(N: And any permissible looking that leads totemptation is unlawful.) (A: Ordinary peoplesometimes mistakenly assume that theHanafi positionthat touching a woman does not nullify one'sablution (wudu) means they permit men shakinghands with women who are not wives or unmarriageablerelatives, something which is unlawful,and which neither the Hanafi school nor any otherholds to be permissible.)
DOCTORS TREATING PATIENTS OFHIE OPPOSITE SEXBoth (0: looking and touching) are permissiblefor medicinal bloodletting, cupping, andmedical treatment (N: when there is real need
AMuslim woman needing medical attention mustbe treated by a Muslim woman doctor, or if thereis none, then by a non-Muslim woman doctor
Ifthere is none, then a male Muslim doctor maytreat her, while if none of the above are available,then a male non-Muslim doctor
If the doctor is ofthe opposite sex, her husband or an unmarriageablemale relative (def: m6.2) must be present
Itis obligatory to observe this order in selecting adoctor)
(A: The same rules apply to Muslim menwith regard to having a doctor of the same sex andreligion: the same sex takes precedence over thesame religion.)(0: Necessary treatment of her face or handspermits looking at either
As for other parts of thebody, the criterion for permissibility is the severityof the need for treatment, meaning that theremust be an ailment as severe as those permittingdry ablution (def: e12.9), and if the part concernedis the genitals, the need must be even moreacute (N: though it includes gynecological examinationsfor women with fertility problems, whichare permissible).
PERMISSIBLE LOOKING AT A MARRIAGEABLEMEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEXLooking at a woman is permissible for testimonyin court, for commercial dealings (0: witha marriageable man, or noncommercial dealings,as when he wishes to marry her), and so forth (0:such as obligatory or recommended learning (def:a4, a6)), in which cases looking is permissible tothe degree required
(0: It is not permissible toexceed the degree required, as when looking atpart of the face is sufficient, in which case lookingat the rest of it is not permissible, as it exceeds theamount required.)
RULES FOR PROPOSING MARRIAGE ORACCEPTING A PROPOSALIt is unlawful to propose marriage, openlyor allusively, to another's wife when she is in thewaiting period of an unfinalized (A: i.e
less thanthreefold (dis: n9.0(N: )) divorce (0: because sheis still considered as a wife is).
As for a woman who is in any of the followingtypes of waiting period (def: n9), it isunlawful for a suitor to propose openly to her,though not for him to hint at it:(1) the waiting period of a finalized(threefold) divorce;(2) the waiting period after having had herhusband release her for payment (def: n5);(3) or the waiting period to remarry after herhusband's death (def: n9.11).(0: Proposing allusively is only permissible insuch cases because of the husband's lack ofauthority over her
To propose openly means todecisively indicate one's desire to wed, such as bysaying, ""I want to marry you,"" while to proposeallusively means to employ words that could indicatea desire to marry or something else, such as""1 am desirous of you,"" or ""You are beautiful,""for these do not necessarily imply a desire for marriage.)
(0: The rulings regarding the lawfulnessor unlawfulness of a woman's accepting a marriageproposal are the same as those for proposing toher (def: m2.12-13).)
It is unlawful to propose marriage to awoman to whom another has already done so, ifthe first proposal has been openly accepted,unless the first suitor gives his permission
(0:And like his permission in the legality of anotherproposing to her is when the first suitor has shownhimself disinclined, such as by having given up, orwhen enough time has elapsed to give others theimpression that he no longer wants to marry, orwhen the woman's guardian (def: m3.4) becomesaverse to him.) But if the first suitor's proposalwas not openly accepted, then a second suitor maypropose to her
(0: It is also permissible for one totake the initiative and propose to a woman whenone does not know whether or not she is engaged,or whether the first proposal was plainly acceptedor not.)
Whoever is asked about what kind ofperson a prospective groom is should truthfullymention his failings (0: meaning his defects andmistakes
This is obligatory (N: but only to thedegree necessary (A: to protect the person who isasking)), as Nawawi has stated in al-Adhkar (dis:r2.20(2))).
It is .recommended to give a short addresswhen (0: i.e
before) making a marriage proposal(0: address meaning words begun by praisingAllah and concluded with a supplication andmoral exhortation
If one wants to be brief, onemay simply say, ""Praise be to Allah, and blessingsand peace upon the Messenger of Allah (Allahbless him and give him peace)
I enjoin you to fearAllah
I have come to you to engage your noblest[A: mentioning her name]."" Then her guardiangives a similar address).It is also recommended to give another briefaddress when (0: i.e
just before) the marriagecontract is made, saying (0: i.e
it is recommendedfor the guardian to say, before the contractis formally effected), ""I marry her to youaccording to the command of Allah Most High, tokindly retain or graciously release.""*
Marriage has integrals (A: which are fivein number:(a) the spoken form;(b) the witnesses;(c) the bride's guardian;(d) the groom;(e) and the bride).
THE SPOKEN FORMThe first integral is the explicitly statedspoken form (0: comprising a spoken offer by theguardian and its acceptance by the groom, likeother, nonmarital transactions, Its necessary conditionsare the same as those of valid sale (def:k1.1(a,b,c,d,e))),the form being valid in languagesother than Arabic even when one is able tospeak Arabic,The spoken form is not valid if allusive
Nor isit valid without:(a) a statement (N: from the guardian) thateffects it, namely ""I marry you"" (n: i,e
to her, theArabic zawwaja meaning to marry someone toanother);(b) and an immediate spoken acceptance(A: by the groom), namely ""I marry her,"" or HIaccept her marriage.""(N: The spoken form, when the other integralsexist, is what is meant by the term marriagecontract, not an actual written document, thoughit is sunna to write it
Extraneous conditionsadded to the marriage contract, such as that thehusband observe monogamy or the like, are notbinding, being meaningless, though they do notinvalidate the marriage agreement, which remainseffective
)
THE WITNESSESThe second integral is that the marriagehave witnesses, it not being valid unless two witnessesare present who are:(a) male (0: since a marriage witnessed by aman and two women would not be valid (A:though it would be valid in the Hanafi school));(b) sound of hearing;(c) sound 9f eyesight;(d) familiar with the language of the two contractingparties;(e) Muslims;(f) and upright (def: O24.4) witnesses, even iftheir uprightness is merely apparent (0: sincemarriages take place among average, commonpeople, and if they were made responsible toknow the inward uprightness of witnesses, itwould cause delays and difficulties
Apparentuprightness means the person is outwardly knownto be upright, even if he is inwardly unknown).
THE BRIDE'S GUARDIANThe third integral is the (A: bride's)guardian (0: since a woman may not conducther own marriage
Ibn Majah relates that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Let no woman marry a woman to another ormarry herself to another
""Daraqutni related this hadith with a chain of transmissionmeeting the standards of Bukhari andMuslim)
The marriage agreement is not validwithout a guardian who is:(a) male;(b) legally responsible (mukallaf, def: c8.l);(c) Muslim;(d) upright (def: O24.4);(e) and of sound judgement.The following may not be a bride's guardian:(1) (non-(a) above) a woman;(2) (non-(b)) a child or insane person;(3) (non-(c)) a non-Muslim;(4) (non-(d)) a corrupt person (def: O24.3)(0: though the opinion of most later scholars isthat a corrupt person may be a guardian);(5) or (non-(e)) someone whose judgementis unsound because of old age or weakmindedness(0: whether innate or acquired
Old age includessomeone with severe pain or illnesses which distracthim from realizing what is most advantageousfor his charge and her interests, since such aperson would be incapable oflearninghow suitorsreally are and whether they are an appropriatematch (def: m4) for the bride)
It is of no consequenceif the guardian is blind.A non-Muslim responsible for a non-Muslimbride may be her guardian (0: provided he doesnot violate the rules of his own religion), though aMuslim may not .
(n: If the bride has no Muslim guardian and there is no Islamic magistrateto act as one, she may authorize a male Muslim who has the qualifications of anIslamic judge (def: O22.1)--or ifthere is none, then a male Muslim who is legallyupright (def: O24.4)-to act as her guardian in marrying her to the groom (Mughnial-rnuhtaj ita rna'rifa rna'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 3.147).)
THE ORDER OF LAWFUL GUARDIANSHIPAMONG THE BRIDE'S RELATIVESThe male relatives of a free woman are theOnes who may marry her to another, and the order(0: as to who has the right to be her guardian)is her:(1) father;(2) father's father (0: and on up);(3) brother;(4) brother's son;(5) father's brother;(6) her father's brother's son (0: and so on,in the same order as the universal heirs in estatedivision (def: L10.6(12-14));(7) and then the Islamic magistrate (A: i.e.the judge (qadi)).None of the above may marry her to someonewhen a family member higher on the list exists
Ifthere are two of equal standing (A: two brothers,for example) and one is related to her through twoparents while the other is related to her throughthe father alone, then the one related to herthrough both parents is the guardian
If both areequal in this respect, precedence is given to theoldest, most learned in Sacred Law, and most godfearing.But if the other (A: less deserving of twowould-be guardians who are of equal affiliation toher) marries her to the groom, the marriage isvalid
If both insist on being the one, they drawlots to see who will do it, though if the loser marriesher to the groom, the marriage is also legallyvalid,
If a guardian does not have the right to bea guardian because of the existence of one of theabove-mentioned preventives (dis: m3.4(1-5)),the guardianship devolves to the next familymember in the m3.7 order oflawful guardians.
THE BRIDE'S RIGHT TO MARRY A SUITABLEMATCH OF HER CHOICEWhenever a free woman asks to marry asuitor who is a suitable match (def: m4) (0: bytelling her guardian, ""Marry me to him""), theguardian must marry her to him (0: whether she isa virgin or nonvirgin, and whether prepubescentor not)
The Islamic magistrate (A: i.e
judge)marries her to such a groom if the guardian:(1) in the presence of the magistrate refusesto marry her to the groom;(2) is on a journey farther than 81 km.lSO mi.from home;(3) or is in a state of pilgrim sanctity (ihram)(0: for hajj, 'umra, or both) (dis: j3.20).In such eases, the guardianship does not devolveto the next most eligible in the m3.7 order of lawfulguardians
If (non-(2) above) the guardian ison a journey of less than 81 km./SO mi
from home,the bride may not be married to someone withoutthe guardian's leave.
COMMISSIONING ANOTHER TO EFFECT THEMARRIAGE AGREEMENTThe guardian may commISSion another(def: k17.S-6) to marry his charge to someone,though it is not permissible to commission someonewho himself lacks the requisite conditions(m3.4(a,b,c,d,e)) to be a guardian.The groom too may commission someone toaccept the marriage agreement on his behalf, providedthe person commissioned is someone whowould be legally entitled to accept such a marriagefor himself
(0: A child, for example, may notaccept a marriage for himself, let alone someoneelse, nor maya woman be commissioned for this,nor someone in a state of pilgrim sanctity(ihram).)
Neither the guardian of the bride nor hisagent may state the marriage offer (def: m3.2(a))for the guardian's own marriage (A: to her)
If herguardian wants to marry her, as when, for example,he is the son of her father's brother, then helets a different son of the father's brother stand inas guardian
If there is no one in his own degree(A: of relation to her), then the Islamic judgestands in as guardian.
No one may state both the proposal and itsacceptance (def: m3.2(a,b)) for one marriage,except the bride's grandfather when marrying hisson's daughter to his (A: other) son's son.
GUARDIANS WHO MAY MARRY A VIRGINTO A MAN WITHOUT HER CONSENTGuardians are of two types, those whomay compel their female charges to marry someone,and those who may not.(1) The only guardians who may compeltheir charge to marry are a virgin bride's father orfather's father, compel meaning to marry her to asuitable match (def: m4) without her consent.(2) Those who may not compel her are notentitled to marry her to someone unless sheaccepts and gives her permission.Whenever the bride is a virgin, the father orfather's father may marry her to someone withouther permission, though it is recommended to askher permission if she has reached puberty
A virgin'ssilence is considered as permission.As for the nonvirgin of sound mind, no onemay marry her to another after she has reachedpuberty without her express permission, no matterwhether the guardian is the father, father'sfather, or someone else.
No guardian may marry a woman to someonewho is not a suitable match (def: m4) withouther acceptance and the acceptance of all who canbe guardians (def: m3.7)
If the Islamic magistrateis her guardian, he may not under any circumstancesmarry her to someone who is not asuitable match for her.If the bride selects a suitor who is not a suitablematch for her, the guardian is not obliged tomarry her to him
If she selects a suitable matchbut her guardian chooses a different suitor who isalso a suitable match, then the man chosen by theguardian takes precedence if the guardian is onewho may lawfully compel her to marry (def:m3.13(1)),while the one she selects takes precedencewhen the guardian may not lawfully compelher to marry (m3.13(2)).*
(N: The definition of a suitable match shouldnot be misunderstood as a recommendation forwhom to marry
It is merely a legal restriction toprotect a woman's interests when the father orgrandfather of a virgin marry her to someonewithout her consent (dis: m3.13,15)
As for whenshe wishes to marry someone who is not a suitablematch, and her guardian has no objection, there isnothing wrong or offensive in her doing so.)
Suitability concerns lineage, religiousness,profession, and being free of defects that permitannulling the marriage contract (def: m7)
(N: Asfor color, it is of no consideration in suitability.)
The following are not suitable matches forone another:(1) a non-Arab man for an Arab woman (0:because of the hadith that the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""Allah has chosen the Arabs above others"");(2) a corrupt man (def: O24.3) for a virtuouswoman (0: though it is sufficient for the would-behusband to have given up his wrongdoing);(3) a man of a lowly profession for thedaughter of someone with a higher profession,such as a tailor wanting to marry a merchant'sdaughter (A: though an Islamic scholar is a suitablematch for any level whatever);(4) or someone with a defect that permitsannulling the marriage (def: m7) for someonewithout such defects.Being wealthy has nothing to do with suitability(0: for money comes and goes, and those withself-respect and intelligence do not take pride init), nor does being elderly.
The marriage agreement is invalidwhenever a guardian marries his charge to someonewho is not a suitable match for her, if donewithout both her acceptance and the acceptanceof all who are eligible as guardians (def: m3
7) andare on the guardian's level of relation to her (A:such as his brothers)
But if both these partiesagree, then the bride's relatives further from herthan the guardian may not object.
When the father or father's father see thatthe best advantage is to be served by marrying ayoung boy (or girl) to someone, they may do so,though they are not entitled to marry the child tosomeone with a physical defect (dis: m7) that legallypermits annulment of the marriage.
If a person is foolhardy (safih, def:k13.1(A:) or continuously insane, but needs tomarry, then his father, grandfather, or the Islamicmagistrate may marry him to someone
If theygrant permission to the foolhardy person to marryhimself, his marriage is valid, though if he does sowithout their leave, it is invalid.
It is obligatory for a woman to let her husbandhave sex with her immediately when:(a) he asks her;(b) at home (0: home meaning the place inwhich he is currently staying, even if being lent tohim or rented);(c) and she can physically endure it.(d) (0: Another condition that should beadded is that her marriage payment (mahr, def:mS) has been received or deferred to a term notyet expired.As for when sex with her is not possible, suchthat having it would entail manifest harm to her,then she is not obliged to comply.)If she asks him to wait, she is awaited, to amaximum of three days
(0: She does not ask towait because of not having finished her period orpostnatal bleeding, for there is no physical harmentailed in her complying as she is, though if shefears that such foreplay with him will lead to actualcopulation (A: which is unlawful under such circumstances),then she may refuse, as that is notobligatory)
(n: w45 discusses wives' other dutiesto husbands.)
THE WIFE'S RIGHT TO INTERCOURSE(Imam Ghazali:) One should make love toone's wife every four nights, as is fairest, since thenumber of wives one may have is four, and onemay wait this long to do so, though one shouldmake love to her more or less than this, accordingto the amount she needs to remain chaste and freeof want for it (N: if one is able), since it is obligatoryfor a husband to enable her to keep chaste(Ihya' 'uium ai-din (y39), 2.46).
THE WEDDING NIGHTThe first time they sleep together, it isrecommended for the husband to grasp his bride'sforelock and supplicate Allah for an increase inblessings (baraka) (0: such as by saying, ""MayAllah bless each of us in their partner"").
THE HUSBAND'S RIGHTSA husband possesses full right to enjoy hiswife's person (A: from the top of her head to thebottoms of her feet, though anal intercourse (dis:p75.20)is absolutely unlawful) in what does notphysically harm her.He is entitled to take her with him when hetravels.
CONTRACEPTIONThe husband is permitted to practicecoitus interruptus (n: w46 discusses the relation ofthis to other methods of contraception) inlovemaking with his wife (0: meaning to makelove to her until he feels an impending orgasm,when he withdraws to ejaculate outside the vagina)though it is better not to (0: it beingconsidered offensive in our school (dis: w46.2)because it is a means to prevent reproduction).
The husband is entitled to insist that hiswife undertake both the measures necessary forhaving sex with her such as the purificatory bath(ghusl) after her monthly period, and those necessaryto full enjoyment of her such as the purificatorybath after major ritual impurity Ganaba),shaving her private parts, and removing filth.*
(N: It is unlawful for one to marry one'sancestors, descendants, parents' descendants, orthe first generation of one's grandparent's offspring,meaning one's paternal or maternal aunts(n: or uncles, if one is female)
One's unmarriageablekin (mahram) are those one is forbidden tomarry forever.)
It is unlawful (0: meaning both sinful andlegally invalid) for a man to marry his:(1) mother;(2) grandmothers (0: from his mother's orfather's side) and on up;(3) daughters;(4) daughters of his children, children's children,and on down;(5) sisters;(6) daughters of brothers or sisters, theirchildren's daughters, and on down;(7) mother's sisters, grandmother'S sisters,and on up;(8) father's sisters, father's father's sisters,and on up;(9) wife's mother;(10) wife's grandmother;(11) the wives of his father, father's father,and on up;(12) the wives of his children, children's children,and on down;(all of whom «9) through (12)) are unlawful forhim to marry by the mere fact of marriage
As fora man's wife's daughter (N: from a different husband),she is not unlawful for him to marry untilhe has had sexual intercourse with her mother.Were he to divorce the mother before intercourse,it would be permissible for him to marry thedaughter)(13) (n: and all those considered as unmarriageablekin to him through his having beenbreast-fed by a particular wet nurse in infancy, asat n12.2).
(N: It is unlawful and invalid for a womanto marry her:(1) father, grandfather, and on up;(2) son, son's son, daughter's son, and ondown;(3) brother;(4) father's brother, meaning the brother ofany male ancestor;(5) mother's brother, meaning the brother ofany female ancestor;(6) brother's son, sister's son, or any otherdescendants of brothers or sisters;(7) the husband of her mother, grandmother,and on up;(8) the husband of her daughter or otherfemale descendant;(9) her husband's father, grandfather, andon up, and husband's son and descendants;(10) (n: and unmarriageable kin to herthrough her having been breast·fed by a particularwet nurse in infancy, as at n12.2).
It is unlawful for a man to marry both:(1) a woman and her sister;(2) a woman and her father's sister;(3) or a woman and her mother's sister.(N: But if a man is no longer married to one of theabove and the waiting period (def: n9) hasexpired, then he may marry the other.)
The same categories of relatives who areunlawful for one to marry because of one's kinshiprelation to them are also unlawful to one by ""fosterrelationship,"" through having been breast-fedby a particular wet nurse in infancy (dis: n12.2)(N: since someone nursed in infancy by a womanis prohibited to marry those whom her offspringand her husband's offspring are prohibited tomarry).
It is unlawful for a Muslim man to marry:(1) a Zoroastrian woman;(2) an idol worshipper;(3) an apostate from Islam (murtadd,def: oS);(4) or a woman with one parent
who isJewish or Christian, while the other is Zoroastrian.(5) (N: It is not lawful or valid for a Muslimman to be married to any woman who is not eithera Muslim, Christian, or Jew; nor is it lawful orvalid for a Muslim woman to be married to anyonebesides a Muslim.)
It is unlawful for a man who has divorcedhis wife by public imprecation (def: nll) toremarry her (N: though she is not considered hisunmarriageable kin (mahram), and he may notlook at or be alone with her).
It is unlawful to marry a woman who is ina state of pilgrim sanctity (ihram, def: j3) (N: forhajj or 'umra), or in her waiting period (def: n9)after marriage to another.
It is unlawful for a free man to marry morethan four women
It is fitter to confine oneself tojust one.
The following types of marriage are legallyinvalid:(1) to marry by ""trading daughters [or sisters]""(A: such that the marriage of each by theguardian of the other supposedly takes the placeof the woman's marriage payment (mahr));(2) to have a ""temporary marriage"" (mut'a),meaning to marry a woman for a stipulated period(0: whether specified, such as a month, orunknown, such as ""until So-and-so comes"");(3) or to marry a woman after her threefolddivorce solely to cohabit and thus permit her (dis:n7.7) to remarry her previous husband (A: whichis an enormity (dis: p29)), though if the marriageagreement is made for this reason but does notexpressly stipulate it, then it is legally valid (dis:c5.2).*
In any of the following circumstances, thehusband or wife has the option to annul the marriageagreement immediately, if this is done in thepresence of the Islamic magistrate (0: or a thirdparty chosen to judge between them (dis: 021.4),provided that he is a mujtahid (def: O22.1(d)) andthere is no Islamic judge), even when the partnerannulling the marriage has the same defect whoseexistence in the spouse has motivated him or herto annul it (0: as when, for example, both areinsane):(1) one finds that the spouse is not sane, orhas elephantiasis or leprosy;(2) the husband finds that the wife's vagina isclosed or nearly so because of an abnormal growthof flesh or bone;(3) or the wife finds that the husband isimpotent, or that his penis has been dissevered.The agreement may also be annulled whenthe defect occurs after making the marriage agreement,except when a husband's impotence occursafter he has had sexual intercourse with his wife,in which case annulment is no longer possible.When a husband (N: impotent from the beginning)acknowledges his impotence, the magistratepostpones action on the case for one year from theday it is first submitted to his consideration
If thehusband has intercourse with her during the year,then she is not entitled to annul the marriage,though if he does not, then she may annul it
Incases of impotence, her above-mentioned prerogativeof annulling the marriage ""immediately""means after this period of one year.
When a marriage is annulled before sexualintercourse, the woman does not receive her marriagepayment (mahr) (N: no matter whether thedefect is in her or in him (A: as opposed to divorcebefore sexual intercourse, as discussed at mS
7)).When a marriage is annulled after intercoursebecause of a defect that occurred after it,the full marriage payment stipulated by theiragreement must be pajd to her.When a marriage is annulled (N: after sexualintercourse) because of a defect that occurredbefore intercourse (0: whether simultaneouslywith the marriage agreement or after it but beforeintercourse), then the bride is only given theamount typically received as marriage payment bysimilar brides (def: m8.8).
If any of the following occurs before intercoursehas taken place, then the marriage isimmediately annulled:(1) one of a couple who are idolatorsbecomcs a Muslim;(2) one of a Zoroastrian couple becomesMuslim;(3) the wife of a Jew or Christian becomes aMuslim;(4) both husband and wife lcave Islam;(5) or one of them does.But when one of the above things
happens afterintercourse, then a waiting period (def: n9) mustintervene before the marriage is annulled
If bothhusband and wife (A: are, or) become Muslimbefore the waiting period finishes, then their marriagecontinues
And if not, then the marriage isconsidered to have been over since the change ofreligion first took place.
When a (A: non-Muslim) man who hasmore than four wives becomes Muslim, he isobliged to choose just four of them (A: and theothers' marriages are annulled).
(0: The marriage payment is the money orproperty a husband must pay a woman to marryher.)
It is sunna to name the amount of the marriagepayment in the marriage agreement (0: toprevent discord)
If it is not mentioned, it does nothurt (0: the validity of the marriage, though ifunmentioned in the agreement, it is considered tobe the amount typically received as marriagepayment by similar brides (def: m8.8)
There iscomplete scholarly consensus on the validity of acontraet that does not mention it, though it isoffensive not to).
A guardian may not marry his prepubescentdaughter to someone for less than the amounttypically received as marriage payment by similarbrides, nor marry his prepubescent son to a femalewho is given more than the amount typicallyreceived
If he does either of these, the amountstipulated is void and the amount typicallyreceived is paid instead (0: in both these cases, asa necessary condition for the validity of the marriagecontract).
Nor maya foolhardy man (def: k13.1 (A:))marry a woman for more than the amount typicallyreceived as marriage payment by similarbrides.
Anything that may be lawfully used as aprice (def: k2) may be given as marriage payment.It may be paid immediately or deferred, and maybe an individual article ('ayn), a financial obligation(dayn), or the use or benefit of something.
The bride possesses the marriage paymentwhen it has been expressly stipulated (0: in themarriage agreement, whether validly stipulated orinvalidly
If valid, she owns the amount stated,while if invalid, she owns the amount typicallyreceived as marriage payment by similar brides(def: m8.8)
She may dispose of it when sheaccepts it, and her ownership of it is finalizedwhen her husband has sexual intercourse with her(0: after which none of it is refundable), or whenone of them dies before they have had intercourse.
If payable immediately, the bride mayrefuse to have sexual intercourse until her husbandgives her the marriage payment, though ifshe allows him to have intercourse with her beforeshe accepts the amount, she may no longer refuseto have intercourse (N: but may demand theamount).
If the couple is separated (A: by havingannulled the marriage (dis: m7.4)), before intercoursebecause of an act on the bride's part, aswhen she becomes a Muslim (0: 'and the husbandremains non-Muslim), or she leaves Islam (0: andthe husband remains Muslim), then she is not entitledto any of the marriage payment
But if it isbecause of an act on the husband's part, as whenhe becomes Muslim; leaves Islam, or divorces her,then she receives only half of the marriage payment;or the husband may ask for half of it back(0: if she has already accepted it), provided thearticle given as payment still exists
If it does not,he receives half of the lowest market value of similararticles between the time of the marriageagreement and when the article ceased to exist
Ifthe article was diminished while in the bride's possession,the husband has a choice between takingit back in its defective condition, or accepting halfof its value.
THE AMOUNT TYPICALLY RECEIVED ASMARRIAGE PAYMENT BY SIMILAR BRIDESThe amount typically received as marriagepayment by similar brides (mahr al-mith\) meansthat which would be desirable to a woman like her(0: a woman like the bride, under normal circumstances),like her meaning a woman of herrelatives resembling her in such characteristics asage, intelligence, beauty, wealth, being virgin ornonvirgin, and in having the same hometown
(0:Her relatives living therein are taken as the standard,and not those living elsewhere, since theamount typically received varies in differenttowns
Rafi'i holds that if all of them live inanother town, they are nevertheless more suitableto be taken as the standard than nonfamiIy womenfrom the same town.) If the bride is superior tothem (0: respecting the above characteristics) orinferior, then this is taken into consideration (0:meaning she deserves a marriage payment thatsuits how she is)
If she has no female relativesrelated to her through her father, then those likeher refers to her maternal relatives (0: i.e
themother's relatives, such as the bride's grandmotheror mother's sister)
If none of the aboveexist, then the standard for comparison is the marriagepayment of those women of the same townwho resemble the bride.WHEN A HUSBAND IS UNABLE TO PAYTHE MARRIAGE PAYMENTmB.9 When a husband proves financially unableto give his wife the marriage payment (A: if it hasnot been deferred) before the first time they havesexual intercourse, then the bride may annul themarriage, though if he proves unable afterwards,she may not.If husband and wife disagree (A: in court.when neither side has proof) as to whether he hasgiven her (0: all, or part of) the marriage payment,then the wife's word is accepted over thehusband's (dis: kB.2)
But if they disagree as towhether they have had sexual intercourse, thehusband's word is accepted over the wife's.
A man is obliged to pay a woman theamount typically received as marriage payment bysimilar brides (def: m8.8) when the marriage was(N: consummated, but) invalid, or when a manforces a woman to fornicate with him
When awoman voluntarily fornicates with a man, shedoes not receive any marriage payment.
AMENITY PAYMENTWhenever a woman is divorced (0: beforehaving had intercourse) and the marriage paymentis reduced to one-half (dis: m8.7), she doesnot receive an amenity payment (def: below)
Butshe is entitled to one when the marriage paymentis not reduced to one-half, such as when:(1) she receives no marriage paymentbecause of having allowed her guardian to choosea spouse for her and then having been divorcedbefore intercourse and before any payment wasstipulated;(2) or when she receives the full marriagepayment, as when she is divorced after intercourse.An amenity payment is an amount (N: paid bythe husband) determined by the Islamic judgethrough his own personal reasoning (0: it beingobligatory that both the husband and wife agree toit, and sunna that it not be less than thirty dirhams(n: 88.94 grams of silver) or something worth thatmuch, and that it amount to less than half the marriagepayment), in view of the circumstances ofboth parties (0: such as how rich or poor the husbandis, and the wife's lineage and other characteristicspreviously discussed).*
The wedding feast is a sunna (A: whosetime never expires, though it is recommended tobe after intercourse)
The sunna is for the meal toconsist of a sheep or goat (shah, def: h2.S), thoughit is permissible to serve whatever food is readilyavailable.
THE OBLIGATION TO ATTENDIt is obligatory for whoever is invited toattend (0: and whoever does not respond to theinvitation has disobeyed Allah and His messenger(Allah bless him and give him peace)), whetherfasting or not
If one attends, it is recommended toeat, though not obligatory
If one is performing avoluntary fast and attends, and it is not burdensomefor the host, then it is best to complete one'sfast, though if this would weigh on the host, it isbetter for one to eat
It is only obligatory torespond to such an invitation if the following conditionsare met:(a) that the host not have invited the rich tothe exclusion of the poor;(b) that the invitation be for the first day ofthe wedding feast, for if the host celebrates it forthree days, it is not obligatory to respond if invitedon the second day, and offensive to do so on thethird;(c) that the motive for attending not be fearof the host or desire for the prestige of havingattended;(d) that no one will be there who will hurtone, or whose company is unsuitable (0: becauseof their vileness, for example, such as peopledevoid of morals or character);(e) and that there will be nothing blameworthythere such as flutes, wine, silk-covered sittingmats, or pictures of animate life (dis: p44) on theceiling, walls, upright pillows (0: not those lyingflat (dis: below)), or draperies; or clothinginscribed with something blameworthy, and soforth (0: since a person who attends in thepresence of such things is as though accepting andacquiescing to what is condemnable)
But if theblameworthy thing will be removed through one'sattending, or if the above-mentioned pictures areon the ground, a carpet, or pillows people leanupon (N: or other humiliated deployment, whichis lawful), or if the living figures are decapitated,or there are pictures of (n: vegetative life such as)trees, then one must attend.
Strewing sweets and the like around atmarriage agreements or picking them up is notoffensive, but it is better not to.
It is obligatory for both husband and wifeto treat each other well (0: since Allah Most Highsays,""Women deserve the like of what they areobliged to give, in kindness"" (Koran 2:228)),and for each to give the other what they must (0:meaning that both spouses are required to, thehusband giving her the expenditures he is obligedto (def: mIl), and the wife giving herself to himand obeying him concerning his rights therein)without intentional delays or displaying resentment.
It is unlawful for a man to house two wivesin the same lodgings unless they both agree.
PERMITTING ONE'S WIFE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE(A: A husband may permit his wife to leave the house for a lesson in SacredLaw, for invocation of Allah (dhikr), to see her female friends, or to go to anyplace in the town
A woman may not leave the city without her husband or amember of her unmarriageable kin (def: m6.2) accompanying her, unless thejourney is obligatory, like the hajj
It is unlawful for her to travel otherwise, andunlawful for her husband to allow her to.) (n: In theHanafi school, it is not unlawfulfor her to travel beyond city limits without a husband or member of her unmarriageablekin unless the distance to her intended destination exceeds ca
77 km.!48 mi
(al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88), 1.105).)
The'husband may forbid his wife to leavethe home (0: because of the hadith related byBayhaqi that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,""It is not permissible for a woman whobelieves in Allah and the Last Day to allow someoneinto her husband's house if he is opposed, orto go out if he is averse"").But if one of her relatives dies, it is preferable tolet her leave to visit them.
TAKING TURNS WITH WIVESA husband with more than one wife is notobliged to spend his nights with them in turns butmay keep away from them (A: all) without sin.But he may not begin spending the night with oneof them unless he chooses her by drawing lots.Whenever he spends the night with one wife, he isobliged to spend nights with the others, givingequal time to each one
When a husband intendsto begin staying with his wives (A: after an intermissionor absence), the wife whose lot is drawn isthe first with whom he spends the night
All areincluded in taking turns, whether a wife in herperiod or postnatal bleeding, one who is ill, or onewho cannot have intercourse because of a vaginalbirth defect.The minimal amount of time for one turn is anight and day, whether the day comes before orafter the night; while the maximum is three days(A: and nights
The minimal turn for theHanafiand Maliki schools is whatever all can agreeupon)
It may not be more than three days (A:except by their leave)
The basic turn of someonewho makes their living by day is the night, with theday being an adjunct, while for someone whomakes their living at night, such as a watchman,the basic turn is the day.In staying the night, the husband is notobliged to have sexual intercourse with the wife,though it is recommended to have intercourse(and share all other marital enjoyments) with allone's wives on an equal basis.
If the husband wants to take one of hiswives on a journey with him, he may not do sounless he draws lots to see who it will be
If hedraws lots (A: and takes the winner with him),then when he returns, he does not need to makeup the turns which the other wives missed while hewas on the journey
If he did not draw lots but justchose a wife to travel with him, this is a sin, and onhis return he must give equal time to the otherwives for the time they missed.
It is permissible for one of the wives togive her turn to another wife, if the husbandagrees
If one of them gives him her turn, then hemay give it to whomever he wants
If the wife laterchooses to take her turn back, she returns to herusual place in the order of taking turns as it standson the day she takes it back.
It is not permissible for a husband to enterthe quarters of a wife during another wife's turnwithout business there, though if he stops in duringthe day because of something he needs, or duringthe night because of something absolutelynecessary (A: such as bringing her supper), thenhe may enter
Otherwise he may not.If he prolongs such a visit, then he is obligedto make up the turn of the wife whose turn it originallywas.
If a man marries a new wife when healready has another, he interrupts the successionof turns to spend time with the new wife
If she isa virgin, then he stays with her seven days andneed not make them up with the other wives
Ifshe is a nonvirgin, then he may choose to eitherspend seven days with her and make up (0: to theothers the number in excess of three days), orspend three days with her and not make up thetime with the others
In such cases it is recommendedto let the new wife choose the alternativeshe prefers
If the husband stays with her for sevendays at her request
he must make up all sevendays with the others, though if he stays seven dayswithout her having requested it, he need onlymake up four with the others.
The husband is entitled to leave horne duringthe day to fulfill his needs and obligations.
DEALING WITH A REBELLIOUS WIFEWhen a husband notices signs of rebelliousnessin his wife (nushuz
dis: p42) (0;whether in words, as when she answers him coldlywhen she used to do so politely
or he asks her tocome to bed and she refuses
contrary to her usualhabit; or whether in acts, as when he finds heraverse to him when she was previously kind andcheerful)
he warns her in words (0: withoutkeeping from her or hitting her, for it may be thatshe has an excuse
The warning could be to tellher, ""Fear Allah concerning the rights you owe tome,"" or it could be to explain that rebelliousnessnullifies his obligation to support her and give hera turn amongst other wives, or it could be toinform her, ""Your obeying me [def: (3) below] isreligiously obligatory"")
If she commifs rebelliousness,he keeps from sleeping (0: and havingsex) with her without words, and may hit her, butnot in a way that injures her, meaning he may not(A: bruise her,) break bones, wound her, or causeblood to flow
(0: It is unlawful to strike another'sface.) He may hit her whether she is rebelliousonly once or whether more than once, though aweaker opinion holds that he may not hit herunless there is repeated rebelliousness.(N: To clarify this paragraph, we mention thefollowing rulings:(1) Both man and wife are obliged to treateach other kindly and graciously.(2) It is not lawful for a wife to leave thehouse except by the permission of her husband,though she may do so without permission whenthere is a pressing necessity
Nor maya wife permitanyone to enter her husband's home unless heagrees, even their unmarriageable kin
Nor mayshe be alone with a nonfamily-member male,under any circumstances.(3) It is obligatory for a wife to obey her husbandas is customary in allowing him full lawfulsexual enjoyment of her person
It is obligatoryfor the husband to enable her to remain chaste andfree of want for sex if he is able
It is not obligatoryfor the wife to serve her husband (dis: w45.1); ifshe does so, it is voluntary charity.(4) If the wife does not fulfill one of theabove-mentioned obligations, she is termed""rebellious"" (nashiz), and the husband takes thefollowing steps to correct matters:(a) admonition and advice, by explaining theunlawfulness of rebellion, its harmful effect onmarried life, and by listening to her viewpoint onthe matter;(b) if admonition is ineffectual, he keepsfrom her by not sleeping in bed with her, by whichboth learn the degree to which they need eachother;(c) if keeping from her is ineffectual, it is permissiblefor him to hit her if he believes that hittingher will bring her back to the right path, though ifhe does not think so, it is not permissible
His hittingher may not be in a way that injures her, andis his last recourse to save the family;(d) if the disagreement does not end after allthis, each partner chooses an arbitrator to solvethe dispute by settlement, or divorce.)*
(0: Support means the financial rights of awife.)
(A: The rulings of this section are not recommendations for how much tospend, but rather define the minimum permissible, which a stingy husband maynot lawfully spend less than
Extra spending on one's wife is charity.)
FOODThe husband is obliged to provide hiswife's sustenance day by day
If affluent, he mustdaily furnish her with one liter of the grain that isthe staple food ofthe town in which they live
(0:By the grain that is the staple food of the town, theauthor means if people eat it
If not, then whateverthey eat, even ifit is hardened, dried white cheese.If the wife asks for something other than the staplefood of the town, the husband does not have toprovide it for her, and if he gives her somethingbesides the staple, she need not accept it
Thestaple food is what is obligatory.) If he is notaffluent, then he is obliged to provide 0.51 liters ofgrain a day for his wife; while if between affluenceand nonaffluence, he must provide 0.77 litersper day.He is also obliged to cover the expenses ofgrinding it into flour and baking it into bread (0:even when she is used to doing it herself, as therewould otherwise be need for this expenditure),and to buy the foods that normally accompanybread to make it savory and agreeable, as much asis customary in the town of meat, oil, and so forth(0: such as dates, vinegar, and cheese
Theobligatory measures differ with the seasons, itbeing necessary in each season to provide thatwhich is proper to it
Fruits might predominate inone season, and thus be Obligatory
As for theobligatory amount of meat, one sees how much iscustomarily consumed in town per week).If husband and wife agree that he give hercompensation in place of the above-mentioned(0: grain and other things she is entitled to, thecompensation being in money or clothing), this ispermissible.ARTICLES FOR PERSONAl.
HYGIENE
The wife in entitled to what she needs ofoil for her hair, shampoo (lit
""sidr""), and a comb(0: to keep her hair clean, ofthe kind and amountth ..
tis customary in town, in order to preventharm to herself
If oil scented with rose or violet isthe custom of the town, it must be provided,though not things which are merely cosmetic andnot for cleanliness, such as eyeliner or henna,which need not be provided, though the husbandmay provide them if he wishes
It is also obligatoryfor him to provide deodorant (lit
""litharge"") orthe like to stop underarm odor if water and soapwill not suffice), and the price of water for herpurificatory bath (ghusl) when the reason for it issexual intercourse or the end of postnatal bleeding,though not if the reason is the end of hermonthly period or something else (dis: m11.1).
COSMETICS AND MEDICINEThe husband is not obliged (N: but ratheris recommended) to pay for his wife's cosmetics,doctor's fees, the purchase of medicine for her,and similar expenses (A: though he must pay forexpenditures connected with childbirth).CLOTIiING
A wife is entitled to the kind of clothingthat is customary in town for dressing oneself (0:and not just anything termed clothing will suffice.What is obligatory is the amount necessary for thewoman, which varies according to whether she istall or short, thin or fat, and with the hot or coldclimate of various towns
In the summertime, it isobligatory to provide her with a head covering,shift, underdrawers, shoes, and a shawl, becauseof her need to go out; and the same in the wintertime,plus a cloak quilted with cotton to protecther against the cold
If she needs two cloaksbecause of the extreme cold, it is obligatory toprovide them
If she needs fuel because of the severityof the winter, it is obligatory to buy thenecessary wood and coal) and (0: he must alsoprovide the amount customary in town of the)bedding, blankets, and pillows that are suitablefor someone of his ineome
(0: She also deservescooking implements, and utensils for eating anddrinking).
It is obligatory for the husband to give hiswife the expenditures for her support at the first ofeach day, and to provide her clothing at the first ofeach season (0: meaning the beginning of winterand summer).
If he gives her clothing for a season, and it
wears out before the end of the season, he is notobliged to furnish new clothing, though if it lastsbeyond the season, he is nevertheless obliged toprovide new clothing for each new season
Thewife is entitled to dispose of the clothing as shewishes, whether by selling it or other (0: means ofdisposal, such as giving it away, the reason beingthat it is her own property).
HOUSING AND SERVANTSThe wife is entitled to housing of the samequality as that of similar women
(0: The standardof housing depends on the wife herself, while thestandard for her clothing and support takes thestate of the husband into consideration
The differenceis because the expenditures for her supportand c\othing become her own property andare not merely for her use, while housing is solelyfor use (N: meaning that while she can take compensationin phice of food or clothing and buysome other kind, she cannot rent a differenthouse)
In any case, she is obliged to stay in thelodgings her husband arranges for her.)If she had servants in her father's house, thehusband is obliged to provide servants for her.
THE CONDITIONS THAT ENTITLE A WIFETO SUPPORTThe husband is only obliged to support hiswife when she gives herself to him or offers to,meaning she allows him full enjoyment of her personand does not refuse him sex at any time of thenight or day
She is not entitled to support fromher husband when:(1) she is rebellious (nashiz, def:m10.12(N:)) (0: meaning when she does not obeyhim) even if for a moment;(2) she travels without his permission, orwith his permission but for one of her own needs;(3) she assumes ihram for hajj or 'umra(def: j3);(4) or when she performs a voluntary fastwithout her husband's permission (0: though if heallows her to fast and does not ask her to break it,he must provide her support).
SUPPORT FOR A WOMAN IN HERPOSTMARITAL WAITING PERIODAs for a woman in her postmarital waitingperiod (def: n9), she is entitled to housing duringit no matter if it is because of her husband's death,a divorce in which the husband may take her back,or a threefold, finalized divorce
As for her support(A: in terms of food) and clothing:(1) it is not obligatory to provide her withit during the waiting period after (N: a threefolddivorce, a release for payment (def: nS), or) herhusband's death;(2) it must be provided in the waiting periodof a (A: not yet threefold) divorce in which herhusband may take her back;(3) and if a woman in the waiting period of athreefold divorce is pregnant, she is given supporteach day (A: until the child is born, after whichshe is entitled to support and wages for taking careof it), but if not pregnant, she is not entitled tosupport.
If the husband and wife disagree (A: ineourt, when neither has proof (dis: kS.2)) aboutwhether she received her support from him, herword is aecepted over his
If they disagree as towhether she allowed him full enjoyment of herperson, then his word is aecepted over hers unlesshe admits that she first made herself available tohim, but claims she then refused, in which case herword is accepted over his.
Whenever the husband negleets to providehis wife's support for a period of time, theamount he should have paid remains a debt heowes to her.
The wife is entitled to annul their marriagewhenever the husband is unable to provide herwith the support obligatory for a nonaffluent personto pay (def: ml1.2) and provide clothing orhousing for her.H she wishes, she may choose to bear withhim (0: supporting herself with her own money).and it (0: the amount the husband is unable topay) remains a financial obligation that he owesher
(0: If she does not wish to tolerate his financialincapacity, she cannot annul the marriage byherself, but must establish her husband's inabilityto support her before the Islamic judge, whoannuls the marriage or allows her to do so, sincehe is the one who judges the matter (A: and ifthere is no judge, she has two persons (def: 021.4)decide)).)
The wife is not entitled to annul the marriagewhen the husband is unable to provide foodsbesides the staple food, support her servant, orprovide the support that must be provided by anaffluent person or person between affluence andnonaffluence (def: m11.2).
It is obligatory for one to support the personslisted below, whether one is rp.ale or female,when one has money in excess of one's own livingexpenses and (n: if male,) those of one's wife (0:meaning enough for a day and night, oneself takingpriority over others, followed by one's wife,who takes precedence over other family members):(1) one's father, father's father, and on up;(2) one's mother, grandmothers (from eitherparent's side) and on up (0: it making no differencewhat their religion is (A: since the religion ofthe family members is of no consequence in any ofthe rulings of this section));(3) and one's children, male and female,their children, and on down.(0: Money in excess of one's own livingexpenses and those of one's wife means one isobliged to sell (A: if necessary to fulfill the obligationto support the above-mentioned persons)whatever must be sold when one has to pay debts,including real estate and other property.)But supporting the above-mentioned persons isonly obligatory when:(a) there is poverty (0: a restriction applicableto both support of one's ancestors and one'sdescendants, meaning that it is necessary in orderfor it to be obligatory to support one's ancestorthat the ancestor be poor, since if he has enoughmoney, one need not support him);(b) and incapacity (0: to earn a living) due tochronic illness, being a child, or to mental illness.(0: This condition is only applicable to support ofone's offspring, not of one's ancestors
If an (A:impoverished) ancestor (A: such as one's father)were able to earn a living from a job suitable tohim, it would nevertheless be obligatory for one tosupport him, and he would not be called upon togain a livelihood, because of the extreme respectdue to him, as opposed to one's descendant,whom one need not support if the descendant isable to earn his own living, but who rather is calledupon to do so himself.The upshot is that the support of whoever hasenough money for their own support is notobligatory upon another family member, no matterwhether the former is mentally ill or sane, achild or adult, chronically ill or well; because hedoes not deserve charity in such a conditionwhilea descendant able to earn an adequate livingdoes not deserve support from his ancestors.)
A child is obliged to support his father'swife (A: if the father cannot).
When a person has both ancestors andchildren (A: deserving support) but does not haveenough for all, then (0: after himself and then hiswife) he gives precedenee (A: in order) to:(1) his mother;(2) his father;(3) his young son (0: or daughter);(4) and then to his adult children (A: if theyare unable to earn).
The amount of such support must beenough to suffice, though (N: if this much is notpaid) it does not become a debt owed by the personwho should have given it
(0: It is no longerobligatory after its time has passed (A: but if thedeserving person borrows money to support himselfduring this period, the person who shouldhave supported him is obliged to pay the debt),even though the person who was obliged to give ithas committed a sin by thus allowing the time topass.)
When a father who is poor needs to marry,then a son who is financially able must providehim with the means to keep chaste by finding hima wife (0: i.e
by giving her the marriage payment(mahr, def: mS)
It is not permissible to marry himto a deformed or aged woman).
Whoever owns an animal is obliged to payfor its maintenance.(0: The restoration and maintenance ofproperty without a living spirit, such as a canal orhouse, is not obligatory for its owner
Mutawalliexplains this by the fact that such maintenance isan augmentation to the property and as such is notmandatory, as opposed to livestock, whose ownermust feed them, since to neglect to do so wouldentail harm for them
Other scholars explain thedifference in terms of the sacredness of animatelife, which the author of al-Istiqsa' (n: 'Uthmanibn 'Isa Marani) says is the reason that it is wrongfor someone to prevent living things from drinkingsurplus water (dis: p69) , while it is not a sin to neglectwatering crops.)*
(0: The meaning of child care in Sacred Lawis the protection of someone who does not possessdiscernment and cannot manage for himself,whether a child or a mentally ill adult, by seeing tohis interests through such things as bathing him,washing his clothes, or grooming him; or securingan infant in the cradle, turning him over to sleep,and protecting him from death or harm
It entailsa kind of authority and control and may be possessedby either men or women, though womenhave a better right to it, since they are tenderertowards children, more patient in carrying out thedemands of the task, more discerning in raisingchildren, and more steadfast in staying with them.The following discussion first centers on who bestdeserves the custody of a child, in order of precedence,and then treats the characteristics of theguardian and ward.)
The person with best right to custody of achild (A: in order) (0: when there is a dispute concerningwho should have it) is:(1) the mother;(2) the mother's mother, mother's mother'smother, and on up, such that the one of the generationclosest to the child takes precedence;(3) the father;(4) the father's mother, father's mother'Smother, and on up, where again, the one of thegeneration closest to the child takes precedence;(5) the father's father;(6) the father's father's mother, her mother,and on up, where the one of the generation that isclosest takes precedence;(7) full sister;(8) full brother (0: though when the siblingsare all male or all female and there is a disagreementover who should have custody, they drawlots to see who will get it
When both males andfemales exist, females take precedence);(9) the child's half brothers or sisters fromthe same father;(10) the half brothers or sisters from thesame mother;(11) the mother's sister;(12) the daughters of the full brothers;(13) the sons of the full brothers;(14) the daughters of the half brothers fromthe same father;(15) the sons of the half brothers from thesame father;(16) the daughters of the half brothers fromthe same mother;(17) the sons of the half brothers {rom thesame mother;(18) the fathe:.:'s sister;(19) the father's brother;(20) the daughters of the mother's sister;(21) the daughters of the father's brother;(22) and then the son of the father's brother.
The necessary conditions for a person tohave custody of a child are:(a) uprightness (def: O24.4) (0: a corruptperson may not be a guardian, because child careis a position of authority, and the corrupt areunqualified for it
Mawardi and Ruyani hold thatoutward uprightness (def: m3.3(f) is sufficientunless there is open wrongdoing
If the corruptnessof a child's mother consists of her not performingthe prayer (sal at) , she has no right tocustody of the child, who might grow up to be likeher, ending up in the same vile condition of notpraying, for keeping another's company has itseffects);(b) sanity (0: since a mother uninterruptedlyinsane has no right to custody, though if herinsanity is slight
such as a single day per year
herright to custody is not vitiated by it);(c) and if the child is Muslim, it is a necessarycondition that the person with custody be a Muslim(0: because it is a position of authority, and anon-Muslim has no right to authority and henceno right to raise a Muslim
If a non-Muslim weregiven charge of the custody and upbringing of thechild, the child might acquire the character traitsof unbelief (kufr)).
(A: It is offensive to send one's children to a day-care center run by nonMuslims.It is unlawful to send Muslim children to Christian schools, or thosewhich are designedly atheist, though it is not unlawful to send them to publicschools in which religion is not mentioned (N: in a way that threatens the students'belief in Islam).)
A woman has no right to custody (A: ofher child from a previous marriage) when sheremarries (0: because married life will occupy herwith fulfilling the rights of her husband and preventher from tending the child
It makes no differencein such cases if the (A: new) husbandagrees or not (N: since the child's custody in sucha case automatically devolves to the next mosteligible on the list (dis: m13.I)), unless the personshe marries is someone (A: on the list) who isentitled to the child's c!Jstody anyway (0: asopposed to someone unrelated to the child, sincesuch a person, even if willing, does not deservecustody because he lacks the tenderness for thechild that a relative would have).
When a child reaches the age of discrimination(0: which generally occurs around seven oreight years of age) he is given a choice as to whichof his parents he wants to stay with (0: since theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)gave a young boy the choice between his fatherand his mother
The child is only given such achoice when the necessary conditions for childcustody (def: m13.2) exist in both parents
If oneof them lacks a single condition, then the child isnot given a choice, because someone lacking oneof the conditions is as though nonexistent).If the child chooses one of the parents, he isgiven to the care of that one, though if a sonchooses his mother, he is left with his father duringthe day so the father can teach him and train him.(0: Other possible outcomes of such a choice arewhen the child chooses both parents, in which casethey draw lots to See who receives custody of him;or when he chooses neither, in which case themother takes precedence since the custody is hers,and the child has not chosen someone else.) If thechild subsequently chooses the other parent, he isgiven to the care of them (0: for he might want tostay with one of them at one time and with theother at another, just as one desires food at onetime but not another
Or the child's intentionmight be to maintain good relations with bothsides
The author restricts the permissibility ofsuch cases of transferring the child's custody fromone to another by saying:) unless it is apparentthat the child is merely enamored with going backand forth or is weakminded (0: indicating his lackof discernment
In such cases his choice is not followed,and he remains with whomever he waswith before reaching the age of discernment).*
(0: Thc legal basis for the permissibility ofdivorce is the Koran, sunna, and consensus ofMuslims
As for the Koran, Allah Most High says,""Divorce is two times ..
"" (Koran 2:229).And as for the sunna, there is the rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) hadith,""No permissible thing is more detested byAllah than divorce.""Our sheikh, Bajuri, says the meaning of permissiblein the hadith is offensive, since it is permissible,meaning lawful, though detested by Allah.Its integrals are five;(a) the spoken form;(b) the wife;(c) the authority to effect it;(d) the intention;(e) and the person who effects it (A; i.e
thehusband).)
Divorce is valid from any:(a) husband;(b) who is sane;(c) has reached puberty;(d) and who voluntarily effects it.A divorce is not valid from:(1) (non-(c) above) a child;(2) (non-(b)) someone insane;(3) or (non-(d)) someone who is wrongfullycoerced to do it, as when one is threatened withdeath, dismemberment, being severely beaten, oreven mere verbal abuse or a slight beating if theperson being coerced is someone whose publicimage is important and would thereby suffer
(0:Someone being forced should use words that givea misleading impression (def: r10.2) for his ostensible""divorce."")
A statement of divorce is legally effectivewhen pronounced by a person whose mentalfaculties are lacking because of something inexcusablesuch as having become intoxicated or havingneedlessly taken some mind-altering drug (0:though someone who takes such a drug out ofneed for medical treatment is considered as aninsane person, in that his statement of divorce isnot legally effective).
The person conducting the divorce mayeffect it himself or commission another (def:k17.5-6) to do so, even if the person commissionedis a woman.The person commissioned may effect thedivorce at any time (0: provided the one whocommissions him does not cancel the commissionbefore the divorce takes place (dis: k17.16)),though when a husband tells his wife
""Divorceyourself,"" then if she immediately says, ""I divorcemyself,"" she is divorced, but if she delays, she isnot divorced unless the husband has said, ""Divorceyourself whenever you wish.""*
A free man has three pronouncements ofdivorce (0: because of the word of Allah MostHigh,""Divorce is two times, then retain with kindnessor graciously release"" (Koran 2:229),and when the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) was asked about the third time, hesaid,""It is Allah's having said, 'or graciouslyrelease' "").
It is offensive to make a pronouncementof divorce when there is no need (0: need includingwhen the wife has displeasing qualities ormorals), to make three pronouncements (N:even if separate) being more offensive, and combiningthem in one interval of purity betweenmenstruations even more offensive.
There are various categories of divorce:sunna, unlawful inn.ovation, and that which isneither sunna nor unlawful innovation.The sunna is to make a pronouncement ofdivorce in an interval between menstruations inwhich no sexual intercourse with the wife hastaken place.Unlawful innovation consists of either makinga pronouncement of divorce during thewoman's menstrual period when this is not forpayment (0: from the wife in exchange for thehusband's releasing her from marriage (def: n5),though if the divorce is in exchange for a sum paidby the wife, it is not unlawful innovation becauseit implies that she accepts that the waiting periodshould be thus prolonged (dis: n9.7)))-or elsemaking the pronouncement during an intervalbetween menstruations in which they have hadsexual intercourse
If one effects such a divorce, itis recommended to take the wife back (0: if onedid not pronounce it the full number of (n: three)times).Neither sunna nor unlawful innovation meansthe divorce of a wife who is prepubescent, postmenopausal,pregnant, or one with whom one hasnot yet had sexual intercourse.*
The words that effect a divorce may beplain or allusive
Plain words effect the divorcewhether one intends divorce by them or not, whileallusive words do not effect it unless one intendsdivorce by them.
Using plain words to effect a divorcemeans expressly pronouncing the word divorce(0: or words derived from it)
When the husbandsays, HI divorce you,"" or ""You are divorced,"" thewife is divorced whether he has made the intentionor not.(A: Here and in the rulings below, expressionssuch as ""The wife is divorced,"" or ""Thedivorce is effected,"" mean just one of the threetimes (def: n9.0(N:)) necessary to finalize it,unless the husband thereby intends a two- orthreefold divorce (dis: n3.5) or repeats the wordsthree times.)
Using allusive words to effect a divorceincludes:(I) the husband's saying, ""You are nowalone,"" ""You are free,"" ""You are separated,""""You are parted,"" ""You are no longer lawful tome,"" ""Rejoin your kin,"" ""You are footloose,""and the like;(2) his saying, ""I am divorced from you"";(3) or when he commissions the wife to pronouncethe divorce, and she says, ""You aredivorced"";(4) when someone asks, ""Do you have awife?"" and he says ""No""(5) or when the husband writes words thateffect the divorce (0: no matter whether able orunable to speak at the time of writing, or whetherhe is present or absent, or whether he writes inplain or allusive words).When one intends divorce by any of theabove, the words effect it, but if one does not, theydo not.
When a husband is asked, ""Have youdivorced your wife?"" and he says ""Yes,"" then sheis divorced (0: even if he does not intend).
If the husband says, ""You are divorced,""and thereby intends a two- or threefold pronouncement,then whatever number he intends iseffected, this rule holding for all words that effectdivorce, whether plain or allusive
(0; The proofthat a single pronouncement can validly effect athreefold divorce is the hadith classified as rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) by Ibn Hibban thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace),when Rukana divorced his wife and then said, ""Idid not intend it except as one time,"" made himswear an oath to that effect, and then returned herto him
If a single pronouncement could not effecta threefold divorce, there would not have beenany point in the Prophet's making him swear theoath (Allah bless him and give him peace).)
If a husband tells his wife, ""You aredivorced in sha' Allah l if Allah wills],"" or ""if Allahdoes not will,"" or ""unless Allah wills,"" then thedivorce is not effe<-1.ed.*
It is permissible to make the efficacy of adivorce conditional
If the husband makes thedivorce conditional on something, and the eventoccurs, then the wife is divorced
If he says, ""Ifyour monthly period begins, you are divorced,""then she is divorced when her menstrual flowappears.
If the husband says, ""If you leave thehouse without my permission, you are divorced,""then gives her permission to go out, and she doesbut then goes out a second time without permission,she is not divorced.If he says, ""Anytime you go out without mypermission you are divorced,"" then if she leaves atanytime without permission, she is divorced.
When a husband makes a divorce conditionalon one of his own acts but then does the actnot remembering
that he made it a condition, ordoes the act because he is forced to, the wife is notdivorced.
When the husband makes a divorce conditionalon another person's act, such as by saying,""If So-and-so enters the house, you aredivorced,"" and the person enters before or afterhe knows it is a condition, whether rememberingit or not, then if the person named is not someonewho would mind ifthey were divorced (0: meaningit is no problem for him if it happens, and hewould not be saddened if it did, because oflack offriendship for them), then the wife is divorced.But if the person knows it is a condition and entersforgetfully, then if he is someone who would mindif they were divorced, the wife is not divorced.If the husband, tells his wife, ""If you enterthat house, you are divorced,"" and she is subsequentlydivorced from him with a finalizeddivorce, after which he remarries her, and shethen enters the house, then she is not divorced.*
(0: A release for payment means a separationin return for remuneration given to the husband(A: which is a finalized cancellation of the marriageagreement, differing from a threefolddivorce by the fact that they may remarry in sucha case without her marrying another husband first(dis: n7.7)).)
A release for payment is valid from anyperson whose divorce is valid (def: nl.l)
;ijU,
Release is offensive except when:(1) the husband or wife fear they will not beable to keep within Allah's limits (0: i.e
thosethat Allah Most High has made obligatory uponthem (dis: m10.I)) while the marriage lasts;(2) or when the husband swears that athreefold divorce is incumbent upon him if he performssome action, but then finds he needs to do it(0: since he cannot clear himself from the oathwithout giving her a release), so he releases her,marries her (0: with a new agreement, a new marriagepayment (mahr), and upright witnesses),and then does the act on which the divorce wasconditional (0: though it is fitter to do it beforethe new marriage, as the oath is nullified as soonas they are unmarried), for then its performancedoes not necessitate a threefold divorce.
If the husband is foolhardy (A: meaningsuspended by the court from dealing in his ownmoney because of chronic carelessness (dis:k13.1 (A:))).his granting a release is valid
thoughhis guardian accepts the compensation.A release for compensation is not legallyvalid from a wife who is foolhardy.
A release is validly effected by both thewords for divorce and the words for release.such as ""You are divorced for a thousand,"" or""I release you for a thousand,"" and ifthe wife says""1 accept, ,
then she is separated from him and sheowes him the thousand
She is also released whenthe husband says, ""If you give me a thousand, youare divorced."" and then she gives him it, or whenshe savs
""Divorce me for a thousand,"" and hesays, ""You are divorced,"" in which case she isreleased and owes him the thousand.
Anything that may be used as a marriagepayment (def: mB.4) may be used as recompensefor a release
If a husband releases his wife forsomething not determinately known (nonk2.1(e)) or without lawful value (non-k2.3) suchas wine, then she is released in exchange for theamount typically received as marriage payment bywomen like her (def: mB.8).
A release enacted by words that effect it isa divorce in plain words (A: in not needing theintention (dis: n3.2), (N: in having a waitingperiod (def: n9).) and in being a finalized cancellationof the marriage, though as previously mentioned(nS.D(A: )), the partners may remarry eachother (N: even if before the end of the waitingperiod) without the wife first having to marryanother).*
(A: Doubt means that one does notremember exactly what one said or did
As forwhen one is ignorant of rulings about divorce orthe consequences of one's actions, it is not anexcuse, and one must ask those who know.)
Whoever does not know whether he hasdivorced his wife or not has not divorced her
It ismore godfearing in such a case to take the wifeback.
If one does not know whether one hasdivorced one's wife once or whether more thanonce, then one has divorced her the least numberone is certain of.
When a husband divorces his wife with athreefold divorce during his deathbed illness (def:L3.6(1-4)), she does not inherit (A: a wife's estatedivision share (def: L6.4)) from the division of hisestate (A: though if it is less than a threefolddivorce, she inherits).*
(0: Lexically, to take back means returning,and in Sacred Law it means the return of a womanwho is in her waiting period (def: n9) from anunfinalized, non-threefold divorce to the state ofmarriage.)
When a free man pronounces divorceupon his wife once or twice after previously havinghad sexual intercourse with her, then if thedivorce is not (A: a release) for compensation(def: nS), he may take her back at any time beforethe end of her waiting period (def: n9), whethershe wishes to return or not
Or he may finalize thedivorce during this period (A: by pronouncing it athird time).
If the husband or wife dies (A: during thewaiting period (N: of an unfinalized, nonthreefolddivorce)), then the spouse inherits his orher obligatory share from the deceased's estatedivision (dis: L6)
though it is not permissible forthe husband to have sexual intercourse with, lookat, or physically enjoy the wife before he takes herback.
When a divorce occurs before the husbandhas made love to the wife, or afterwards (A: in arelease) for compensation from her, then he maynot take her back (A: without remarrying her).
Returning the wife to marriage is onlyvalid by explicitly stating it, such as by saying,""I return her,"" ""I take her back,"" or, ""I retainher."" (N: The Hanafis consider the husband'stouching her with desire, such as kissing her, to bea valid return to marriage.)
It is not a necessary condition (0: but issunna) to have the return attested to by witnesses.
When a husband takes a wife back, shereturns with whatever number (A: oftimes of saying""I divorce you"") remains to complete athreefold divorce
(A: If, for example, he has saidit twice, then she only has one time left.)
When a free man has pronounced athreefold divorce, the divorced wife is unlawfulfor him to remarry until she has married anotherhusband in a valid marriage and the new husbandhas copulated (dis: p29) with her, which atminimum means that the head of his erect penisfully enters her vagina.*
(0: In Sacred Law, forswearing means thatthe husband swears he will not have sexual inter-course with his wife, either for an unrestrictedperiod or for more than four months.)
Forswearing one's wife is unlawful
It consistsin the husband swearing an oath by Allah(def: 018) that for more that four months (0:more than four months including oaths in which notime period is stipulated) he will not have sexualintercourse with his wife, or swears that if he does,then he is obliged to divorce her, fast, pray, orsomething else.
A husband is not considered to haveforsworn his wife (A: in the above unlawful sense)when he forswears sexual intercourse for fourmonths or less, or when he is impotent.*
(0: Meaning the period in which a womanwaits (N: before she may remarry) to verify thatshe is not pregnant, or out of mourning for herdeceased husband.)(N: If the waiting period finishes after a once- or twice-pronounced divorce.the wife is free to marry another man or to remarry the husband with a new contract-returning to the latter with the number of times left (one or two) neededto enact a threefold, finalized divorce (dis: n7.7); while ifthe waiting period of aless-than-thrice-pronounced divorce has not yet expired, the husband may takeher back (def: n7) without a new contract.)(n: The husband's obligation to support her during the waiting period is discussedat m11.10 above.)
There is no waiting period for a womandivorced before having had sexual intercoursewith her husband.
A waltmg period is obligatory for awoman divorced after intercourse, whether thehusband and wife are prepubescent, have reachedpuberty, or one has and the other has not.Intercourse means copulation (def: n7
7)
Ifthe husband was alone with her but did not copulatewith her, and then divorced her, there is nowaiting period.
When a waiting period is obligatory (0:upon a woman, because of divorce or annulmentof marriage), then if she is pregnant, the waitingperiod ends when she gives birth, provided twoconditions are met:(a) The first is that she has given birth to allshe was carrying
If carrying two or more children,it is necessary that she have given birth to all,whether live or stillborn, and whether fullydeveloped or an undeveloped fetus which midwives(0: two or more) swear is the beginning ofa human form
Whenever there is less than sixmonths between two births, the babies areconsidered twins
There is no maximal numberthat may be born, as it is possible for a woman togive birth to four or more babies from one pregnancy.(b) The second condition is that the child isfrom the husband whom the waiting period is for.If the woman is pregnant from committing adultery(def: n11.2(0:)) (0: or from a marriagewhich was invalid, after which the husbanddivorced her) the waiting period does not endwhen she gives birth, but rather (N: ·after givingbirth), she completes the waiting period of awoman who has been divorced (def: n9.6).
The minimal duration of a pregnancy (A:from which a live child is born) is six months, whilethe maximum is four years.
If a woman is not pregnant and hasmenstrual periods, her waiting period ends whenthree intervals between menstruations havefinished
A part of an interval between menstruationsis considered the same as a whole interval.Thus, if the woman's husband divorced her andher menses began an instant later, her waitingperiod would end after two more intervals betweenmenstruations had' finished and a thirdmenstruation begun.
If a woman is divorced during hermenstrual period, she must wait until the end ofthree intervals between menstruations
When herfourth menstruation begins, her waiting period isover.
There is no difference in respect to theabove rulings (n9.6-7) whether a woman'smenstrual periods are close together or far apart,close together, for example, meaning a womanwhose period lasts a single day and night, and whohas fifteen days between periods
Were such awoman divorced just before the end of an intervalbetween menses (A: by a single moment), thenher waiting period would finish in thirty-two daysand two moments (0: one of which would be partof the waiting period, i.e
the one in which thedivorce occurred, and the second of which wouldnot be part of it, namely, that in which it becameevident that the waiting period was over by theonset of a subsequent menstruation)
If such awoman were divorced at the end of a menstrualperiod, her waiting period would be forty-sevendays plus a moment
These are the shortest possiblewaiting periods.An example of a woman whose periods arefar apart is one whose menstruation lasts fifteendays, and whose intervals between menses last,for example, a year or more
Such a woman mustwait for three intervals between menstruations,even if it takes years (N: though medicine may betaken to induce or regulate menstruations).
The waiting period for a woman who doesnot menstruate, whether prepubescent or postmenopausal,is three months.If a woman normally menstruates, but herperiods have stopped for some reaSOn such asbreastfeeding or the like, or without apparentreason, then she must wait until the age ofmenopause, after which her waiting period isthree months
(N: In the Maliki school, such awoman must wait nine months, and if neitherpregnancy nor menses appear, she is consideredto be as if menopausal, and her waiting period isthree more months, making a total of one entireyear in which there is no menstrual flow.)
All of the above rulings apply to the waitingperiod for divorce (N: or release (def: nS).
THE WAITING PERIOD FOR A DECEASED HUSBANDIf a woman's husband dies, even if duringthe waiting period of a nonfinalized divorce, thenif she is pregnant, her waiting period ends whenshe gives birth, as previously mentioned (n9.3).But if not (0: i.e
if the deceased's wife is notpregnant from him), her waiting period is fourmonths and ten days, no matter whether she normallymenstruates or not (N: and no matterwhether the husband has had sexual intercoursewith her or not).
THE LODGINGS OF A WOMAN IN HER WAITING PERIODA woman in her waiting period is obligedto remain in the home JO: and neither the husbandnor his family may force her out; nor may sheleave
If the husband agrees to allow her to leavewhen there is no necessity, it is still not permissible).A woman in the waltmg period of anunfinalized, less than threefold divorce is underthe husband's authority and may not leave withouthis permission
If in the waiting period of afinalized divorce (N: or release (def: n5)) (0: orannulment,) or after her husband's death, awoman may leave home during the day to fulfillher needs (N: including work, if she has no meansof support) and obligations.
The waiting period must take place in thesame lodgings where the divorce occurred, andthe woman may not be moved to other quartersunless there is a real necessity, such as fear (0: forher person or property), or when the landlordobjects (0: such as when the house in questionwas on loan to the husband and its time hasexpired), or because of considerable annoyance tothe woman from neighbors or the husband's relatives,or annoyance to them from her-in all ofwhich cases she may move to the nearest availablehousing.
It is unlawful for the husband of a womanin her waiting period to be alone with her or sharethe same housing (N: i.e
he must move out)unless she is in a (0: separate) wing of the house(0: with its own kitchen, restroom, cistern, andstairs to the roof, in which case it is permissible toshare the housing, which is as if it were twoneighboring houses).
AVOIDING ADORNMENT AFTER A HUSBAND'SDEATH OR A FINALIZED DIVORCEIt is obligatory for a woman whose husbandhas died (N: while she was his wife, or diedwhile she was in the waiting period of anunfinalized divorce from him) to avoid adornmentduring the subsequent waiting period
It is recommendedfor a woman to do so during the waitingperiod of a finalized divorce
It is unlawful for awoman to avoid adornment longer than three daysfor the death of anyone besides her husband.A voiding adornment means not to enhance herbeauty, wear jewelry or cosmetics, and so forth
Awoman avoiding adornment should not wear solidcolors (N: if intended to beautify) such as blues,greens, reds, or yellows; or style her hair or usecosmetics for body, clothes, or food (A: such assaffron in rice)
She may wear silk, wash her hair(N: or comb it, Or bathe) for cleanliness, or pareher nails during this period.
THE END OF THE WAITING PERIODIf the husband of a woman in her waitingperiod takes her back but divorces her againbefore having had sexual intercourse with her,then a new waiting period starts over from thebeginning (N: though it is unlawful for him to dothis merely to prolong her waiting period).If a husband releases his wife for payment(def: nS), remarries her during the release's waitingperiod, but divorces her before having hadsexual intercourse, then she merely finishes theremainder of the release's waiting period.
When a woman claims that her waitingperiod has expired (0: if it does not comprise aparticular number of months, but rather consistsof a number of intervals between menstruations,or of giving birth) within an amount of time inwhich it could have possibly ended, then her wordis accepted (dis: k8.2).
If news of a husband's death reaches awoman after his death by four months and tendays, her waiting period is already over (0: sinceher knowledge of his death is not a condition forthe waiting period).
The husband of a woman who bears achild (0: no matter whether his marriage to her isvalid or invalid) is considered to be the child'sfather whenever it is (N: legally) possible that thechild could be his, meaning that:(a) the woman gave birth to the child sixmonths plus a moment after the marriage agreement;(b) she gave birth to it less than four yearsfrom when she and her husband could last havepossibly met and had sexual intercourse, even ifthey were living at a distance from one another,and even if the husband does not know whether hehad sexual intercourse with her
(A: These conditionsare for the child's protection against beingdisowned, and only concern what can be establishedin court
Hence, if the husband and wifewere living apart at a distance at whic4 they couldpossibly have travelled and met, for the child'ssake the court presumes the child to be the husband's);( c) and the husband is at least nine and a halfyears old.
The husband is not legally considered thechild's father when the child could not possibly behis, such as when:(1) (non-(a) and (b) above) the wife gavebirth to the child in less than six months or morethan four years since intercourse;(2) (non-(b)) the husband is absolutely certainhe did not have sexual intercourse with her;(3) (non-(c)) the husband is under theabove-mentioned age;(4) or the husband's genitals have been dissevered.
Whenever a husband is absolutely certainthat a child which is legally considered his (def:n10.2)is not his, by knowing that he never hadintercourse with the wife at all (0: or did, but lessthan six months or more than four years before thebirth), then he is obliged to deny paternity bypublic imprecation (li'an, def: nl1.3) (0:immediately, because denying paternity of a childimmediately is like the return of defective merchandise(dis: k5.7)
He does so by going to theIslamic judge and saying, ""This child is not mine
""If he delays, his denial is no longer valid
As forthe public imprecation itself, he may perform it atan y time thereafter
If he claims that he was ignorantof the necessity of denying paternity, or theobligatory character of its immediacy, and he issomeone who might well be ignorant of it, then hisclaim (A: of ignorance) is accepted when heswears an oath to that effect
Denial of paternitylikewise entails charging the wife with adultery,and this too is obligatory immediately).
If a husband is not absolutely sure that thechild is from someone else, it is unlawful for him todeny paternity (0: as mere doubts that havearisen in his mind are of no consequence) andunlawful to charge his wife with adultery
(0: It isalso unlawful for him to publicly imprecate (def:n11.3) against her in such a case, even when heknows she has committed adultery, because thechild would suffer harm through his mother beingcharged with adultery and its being establishedagainst her by public imprecation, the child beingdisgraced by this and gossip circulated about him,The child need not endure this harm merely tosatisfy the husband's revenge, who may separatefrom her by divorce.)
When a child is legally considered (def:
to be from a husband who is entitled todeny paternity but delays doing so without excuseand subsequently wants to deny it by publicimprecation,we (0: i.e
the judge) do not allow him todo so (0: because denial of paternity must takeplace immediately, as mentioned above (n1OA),and his delay obviates the possibility of denial),But if the husband intends to deny paternityimmediately, we implement his intention.
Anyone who charges his wife with adultery(0: in plain words, as when he says, ""Youadulteress,"" or allusively, as when he says, ""I didnot find you a virgin,"") and who is thereby liableto be punished for accusing another of adulterywithout witnesses (dis: 013.1), may prevent thepunishment by public imprecation against her(Wan, def: n11.3), provided he:(a) has reached puberty;(b) is sane;(c) does so voluntarily;and provided his wife:(d) is legally innocent of adultery (A: meaningthere is neither a confession from her nor foureyewitnesses (dis: nl1.2(0:)));(e) and that she is capable of sexual intercourse:
A husband who accuses his wife of adulteryis disciplined (ta'zir, def: 017) by the magistrateand not allowed to imprecate against herwhen her adultery is already legally established(0: whether by her own admission, or by proof,meaning that four upright witnesses (O24.4) havelooked at her when she was copulating and seenthe adulterer's penis in her vagina), or when (N:adultery is impossible, such as when) the personaccused is a mere infant.
PUBUC IMPRECATION (U'AN)Public imprecation consists of the Islamicmagistrate (0: or his equivalent) telling the husbandto repeat four times, ""I testify by Allah thatI am truthful in charging her with adultery"" (0:and it is necessary to identify her by her first andfamily name, though if she is present he says, ""thiswife of mine."" and points to her); and ifthere is achild
""and that this child [0: or if absent
""thechild she gave birth to from adultery""] is not fromme."" The fifth time
after the magistrate warnshim
enjoins him to fear Allah (0: reminding himthat the punishment of the hereafter is worse thanpunishment in the present life)
and after he hasput his hand in front of the husband's mouth
thehusband adds, ""And may the curse of Allah beupon me if I am lying.""
When the husband has done this, he is nolonger liable to be punished for accusing anotherof adultery without witnesses, he has deniedpaternity of the child, and his wife is divorcedfrom him and unlawful for him to marry, be alonewith, or look at, forever
She is now liable to bepunished for adultery.
The wife in such a case may avoid beingpunished for adultery by public imprecationagainst the husband
Upon being ordered by themagistrate, she says four times, ""I testify by Allahthat he is lying about what he has charged mewith."" The fifth time, after being warned by themagistrate of the severity of the consequences, asdescribed above, she says, ""And may the wrath ofAllah be upon me if he is telling the truth."" Whenshe has done this, she is no longer liable to bepunished for adultery.
(0: Public imprecation is legally valid in anon-Arabic language even when the speakerknows Arabic, because the imprecation is a kindof oath or attestation, either of which may begiven in any language.)*
An infant becomes the ""child"" of thefemale who breast-feeds him (A: in respect tobeing unable to marry her, to the permissibility oflooking at her and being alone with her, and in hisablution (wudu) not being nullified by touchingher) when:(a) the milk comes from a female at leastnine years old, whether it is occasioned by sexualintercourse or something else;(b) and she breast-feeds a child who is lessthan two full years old;(c) in at least five separate breast-feedings(0: a restriction that excludes anything less thanfive, which is of no consequence
Separate breastfeedingsmeans whatever is commonly acknowledged(def: f4.5) to be separate).
In such a case:(1) it is unlawful for the wet nurse to marrythe child and its subsequent descendants (0: byfamilial relation or by suckling) exclusively (0:exclusively meaning that only the child's descendantsbecome unlawful for her to marry, not thechild's ancestors (N: or brothers));(2) she becomes the child's ""mother,"" and itis unlawful for the child to marry her, her ancestors(0: by familial relation or by suckling), herdescendants (0: who become as if they were thechild's brothers and sisters), or her brothers andsisters (0: though the child is not forbidden tomarry the latters' children).
If the wet nurse's milk was occasioned bya pregnancy from her husband, then:(1) the child she nurses becomes the husband's""child,"" and the husband may not marrythe child or its descendants (0: by familial relationor by suckling, since they are now as if his grandchildren)exclusively;(2) and the husband becomes the child's""father,"" and it is unlawful for the child to marryhim, his ancestors, his descendants, or hisbrothers and sisters.
Upon becoming unmarriageable kinthrough suckling, marriage between the abovementionedpersons is prohibited, and it is permissiblefor the respective members of the oppositt';sex to look at each other as they do with their familialunmarriageable relatives (dis: m2.5), and tobe alone with them (0: though other kinds of rulingsapplicable to natural relatives, such as inheritance(def: IA-6) or having to support them (mI2)are not applicable to unmarriageable kin by suckling).*
(0: Injurious crimes includes not only thosecommitted with injurious weapons, but thoseinflicted otherwise as well, such as with sorcery(def: x1.36)
Killing without right is
after unbelief,one of the very worst enormities, as Shafi'iexplicitly states in (n: Muzani's) The Epitome.The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:""The blood of a Muslim man who testifiesthat there is no god but Allah and that I am theMessenger of Allah is not lawful to shed unless hebe one of three: a married adulterer, someonekilled in retaliation for killing another, or someonewho abandons his religion and the Muslimcommunity,""'and in another hadith,''Thc killing of a believer is more heinous inAllah's sight that doing away with all of thisworld.""Allah Most High says:""..
and not to slay the soul that Allah has forbidden,except v\lith right"" (Koran 6:151),and,""0 you who believe, retaliation is prescribedfor you regarding the slain ..
"" (Koran 2: 178).)
Retaliation is obligatory (A: ifthe personentitled wishes to take it (dis: 03.8)) against anyonewho kills a human being purely intentionallyand without right
(0: Intentionally is a firstrestriction and excludes killing someone throughan honest mistake, while purely excludes a mistakemade in a deliberate injury (def: 02.3), andwithout right excludes cases of justifiable homicidesuch as lawful retaliation.)
The following are not subject to retaliation:(1) a child or insane person, under any circumstances(0: whether Muslim or non-Muslim.The ruling for a person intermittently insane isthat he is considered as a sane person when in hisright mind, and as if someone continuously insanewhen in an interval of insanity
If someone againstwhom retaliation is obligatory subsequentlybecomes insane, the fuB penalty is neverthelessexacted, A homicide committed by someone whois drunk is (A: considered the same as that of asane person,) like his pronouncing divorce (dis:n1.2));(2) a Muslim for killing a non-Muslim;(3) a Jewish or Christian subject of theIslamic state for killing an apostatefrom Islam (0:because a subject of the state is under its protection,while killing an apostate from Islam is withoutconsequences);(4) a father or mother (or their fathers ormothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring'soffspring;(5) nor is retaliation permissible to a descendantfor (A: his ancestor's) killing someone whosedeath would otherwise entitle the descendant toretaliate, such as when his father kills his mother.
Injurious crimes (0: of all types, whetherkilling or something less) are of three types:(1) an honest mistake;(2) a mistake made in a deliberate injury;(3) or purely intentional.
An honest mistake is an act such as shootingan arrow at a wall and hitting a person (0: orshooting at a person and hitting someone else), orslipping from a height and falling on someone.The criterion for it is that the act is intended butnot the person, or neither the act nor the person isintended.
A mistake made in a deliberate injury iswhen one intends an injury that is not generallyfatal, such as hitting someone with a light stick ina nonvital spot (A: from which the person dies)and the like.
Purely intentional means to intend aninjury of the type that is generally fatal, whetherwith a blunt instrument or a sharp one.*
Retaliation is obligatory (A: if those entitledwish to take it (dis: 03.8)) when there is a (N:purely) intentional injury (def: 02.4) against lifeor limb.
Retaliation is obligatory in return forinjuries (A: part for commensurate part)whenever the retaliatory injury can be (0: fully)inflicted without exceeding the extent of the originalinjury, such as (A: when the retaliatory injuryis on) an eye, eyelid, the soft part of the nose, theear, tooth
lip
hand, foot, finger
fingertip, penis,testicles, vulva, and the like; provided that theretaliatory injury is like the original, meaning thata right member is not taken for a left, an upper onefor a lower, nor a functional member for aparalyzed one
(N: Nor is there retaliation fornonfatal bUllet wounds in the stomach or chest,for example, because such injuries cannot bereproduced without risk of greater damage thanthe original
for which reason they call for an indemnity(dis: 04.15) alone.) There is no retaliationfor (0: breaking) a bone (A: though paymentis due to cover the cost of treatment and so forth).
Females are entitled to retaliate againstmales, children against adults, and lower classpeople against upper class; whether the retaliationis a life for a life, or limb for a limb.
It is not permissible to exact retaliationagainst someone without the presence of thecaliph (def: 025) or his representative (0: meaningthat it is necessary to have the permission ofone of them because of the danger and lack ofknowledge involved in exacting retaliation oneself.as it requires the judgement and personalreasoning of a ruler
If someone takes retaliationwithout the caliph's permission, then it is valid (A:i.e
suffices the demand for it) but the person whotook it is disciplined (def: 017) for arrogating thecaliph's prerogative, since administering retaliationis one of his functions, and to encroach uponit is wrong).If a person who is entitled to retaliate is ableto do so proficiently (0: being a strong man whoknows how to do it), he is allowed to
If not, he isordered (N: by the ruler or his representative) tohave another do it.
If two (0: or more) people are entitled toexact retaliation against the offender, it is not permissiblefor just one of them to insist on doing so(0: though if they choose one of themselves toexact it, this is permissible, and the one chosen isconsidered as the other's eommissioned agent.The two may not take retaliation together, as thisamounts to torturing the person being retaliatedagainst)
If each insists that he be the one, theydraw lots to see who will do it.
There is no retaliation against a pregnantwoman until she has given birth and the infant isable to suffice with another's milk.
Whenever someone who is entitled toexact retaliation decides instead to forgive theoffender and take an indemnity (def: 04) fromhim, then retalition is no longer called for, and thedeserving person is entitled to the indemnity
Ifsome of a group of people who are entitled toretaliaton agree to forgo it, as when a murder victimhas children and one of them forgives the murderer,then retaliation is no longer obligatory, andthe group deserves an indemnity from the offender.(A: Or the indemnity may also be waived.)
When someone kills a group of people ormaims them one after another, retaliation isexacted for the first individual attacked, and theother deserving parties receive an indemnity
Ifthe offender injures them all at once, then thoseentitled to retaliate against him draw lots to determinewho will do so.
When a group of people together murdera single person, they are all killed in retaliation, nomatter whether the amount of injury inflicted byeach upon the victim is the same or whether itdiffers.
There is no retaliation against anyone foran injury or death caused by someone who did sointentionally but in conjunction with someonewho did so by mistake.When an injurious crime is caused by a nonfamilymember in cooperation with the victim'sfather, retaliation is only taken against the nonfamilymember (dis: 01.2(4)).
Retaliation is also obligatory (dis: 03.8)for every wound that cuts to the bone, such as a cuton the head or face that reaches the skull, Or a cutto the bone in the upper arm, lower leg, or thigh.To the bone means that it is known that a knife ora needle, for example, has reached the bone, notthat the wound actually exposes the bone to view.*
(A: The rulings below concern the maximumthat the victim or victim's family may demand
Ifboth sides agree on an indemnity of lesseramount, or nothing at all
this is legally valid andbinding.)
An indemnity is obligatory (N: though itmay by waived by deserving recipients, like retaliation)in cases of death caused:(1) by an honest mistake (def: 02.2);(2) by a mistake made in a deliberate injury(O2.3);(3) or intentionally , if those entitled toretaliate agree to forgo retaliation (dis: 03.8).
The indemnity for killing a male Muslim is100 camels.(N: Shafi'i scholars early converted the pastoralequivalents to gold dinars (n: one dinarequalling 4.235 grams of gold (dis: w15)), theamount due in the rulings below being the weightof the gold, regardless of its current marketvalue.) (A: The stronger position in the Shafi'ischool is that indemnities should be reckoned incamels, after which both parties may agree on alesser amount or another form of payment.)
THE INDEMNITY FOR A PURELY INTENTIONALKILLINGThe indemnity for cases of purely intentionalhomicide (def: 02.4) is made severe in threeways:(a) it must be paid immediately;(b) it is due from the offender himself;(c) and the amount paid is (N: 1,333.3 golddinars (n: 5,646.6 grams of gold) or else:) 30 shecamelsin their fourth year, 30 she-camels in theirfifth year, and 40 pregnant she-camels.
THE INDEMNITY FOR DEATH BY MISTAKEIN A DELIBERATE INJURYWhen the killing is a mistake made in adeliberate injury (def: O2.3), the indemnity is onlymade severe in one respect, namely that the paymentconsists of the three types of camel mentionedabove (n: or 5,646.6 grams of gold), whileit is less severe in that:(a) payment is deferred (def: O4.11);(b) and is due (N: not from the offender, but)from those of the offender's extended family whoare required to pay ('aqila, def: O4.10).THE INDEMNITY FOR A DEATHCAt;SED BY AN HONEST MISTAKE
When the killing occurred through anhonest mistake (def: O2.2), the indemnity is lesssevere in three ways:(a) payment is deferred;(b) it is due from those of the offender'sextended family who are required to pay (def: O4.10);(c) and the amount paid is (N: 1,000 golddinars (n: 4,235.0 grams of gold) or:) 20 shecamelsin their second year, 20 she-camels and 20he-camels in their third year, 20 she-camels intheir fourth year, and 20 she-camels in their fifthyear.
But no matter whether the killing was amistake or intentional, the three-types-of-camelindemnity(def: O4.3(c) must be paid if the personkilled was:(1) an unmarriageable kin by birth relative ofthe killer (def: m6.1(1-8) and m6.2(1-6));(2) slain in the Sacred Precinct in Mecca;(3) or killed during one of the sacrosanctmonths of Dhul Qa'da, Dhul Hijja, Muharram, orRajab.
Defective animals may not constitutepayment.
It is permissible for deserving recipients toaccept payment other than camels if both partiesagree.
(A: For the rulings below, one multipliesthe fraction named by the indemnity appropriateto the death or injury's type of intentionality andother relevant circumstances that determine theamount of a male Muslim's indemnity (def:O4.2-6 and O4.13).)The indemnity for the death or injury of awoman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man.The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian isone-third of the indemnity paid for a Muslim
Theindemnity paid for a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenthof that of a Muslim.When a miscarriage results from someonehaving struck the stomach of a pregnant woman(0: or other part of her, or when someonefrightens her, resulting in a miscarriage), the indemnityfor the fetus is a male or female slaveworth one-twentieth of the indemnity payable forkilling the fetus's father, or one-tenth that of itsmother
(A: The indemnity is whatever they agreeupon.)
The members of the offender's extendedfamily who are liable for certain kinds of in-demnities consist of the offender's universal heirs,excluding his father, father's father (0: and onup), his son, son's SOO (0: and on down)
(A:Meaning that they consist of those mentioned at L10.6(7-14).)Those of the extended family whoare poor (A: poor meaning someone who hasenough for himself but no more), prepubescent,or insane are not obliged to pay (N: anything inconjunction with the other members)
If the offenderis Muslim, then his non-Muslim relatives arenot obliged to pay, as is also the case if the offenderis non-Muslim and his relatives are Muslim.
When the extended family is obliged to,they must pay the entire indemnity of 100 camels(N: or the gold equivalents) within three years.Every required extended family member who iswell-off is obliged to pay one-half dinar (n: 2.1175grams of gold) at the end of each year, while everymember who is between affluence and poverty isobliged to pay a quarter dinar (n: 1.05875 grams ofgold), If any of the indemnity remains to be paidafter three years (N: or if the offender has no familyto pay it), it is paid by the Muslim common fund(bayt ai-mal)
If there is none, the offender himselfmust pay.
When the indemnity due is less than a fullindemnity (A: full meaning that which is due for aMuslim male (def: 04.2-6)), as when it is for awound, miscarriage, female, or a Jewish or Christiansubject of the Islamic state, then:(1) if it consists of one-third or less of a fullindemnity, it must be paid within one year;(2) if it consists of two-thirds or less of a fullindemnity, then one of the thirds must be paid inthe first year, and the rest in the second year;(3) and if it amounts to more than two-thirdsof a full indemnity, then the two-thirds must bepaid within two years and the rest in the third year.
THE INDEMNITY FOR BODILY INJURIESIf a nonpaired body part of aesthetic valueand utility (A: a tongue, for example) is dissevered,then a full indemnity is paid, meaning theindemnity due if the member's owner were killed(def: 04.2-6), 04.9).The same is due for each pair ofIimbs: if bothare cut off, a full indemnity is paid, while if onlyone is cut off, then half the full indemnity
Thesame is true for the faculties of sense (A: such ashearing): for each faculty the injury eliminates,there is a full indemnity
Thus, a full indemnity ispaid for cutting off two ears, and a half indemnityfor one
This also holds for a pair of eyes, lips,jaws, hands, feet, buttocks, testicles, eyelids, thenipples of a female, vulval labia, the soft part ofthe nose, the tongue, head of the penis, or wholepenis
A full indemnity is also paid for injurieswhich paralyze these members, or for injuring theperitioneal wall between vagina and rectum sothey become one aperture, or for flaying a pcrson,breaking his back, or eliminating the use of hismind
hearing
vision, speeeh
sense of smell, ortaste.
The indemnity for each finger is tencamels, and five for each tooth (N: or 10 and 5 percentrespectively of the equivalent gold values(def: O4.3-5), depending on the relevant circumstances(dis: O4.9(A:))).
As for wounds on the body
their indemnityconsists of a fraction of the full indemnityproportionate (A: by the caleulation of the Islamiemagistrate) to the extent of the damage.
The indemnity for wounds on the head orface, when not to the bone, is also such a proportionatefraction, though if such wounds are to thebone
as mentioned above (03.13)
the indemnityis five camels (dis: 04.14(N:)).There are other injuries which I prefer toomit for the sake of brevity.
There is no indemnity obligatory for killinga non-Muslim at war with Muslims (harbi).someone who has left Islam, someone sentencedto death by stoning (A: for adultery (def: (12)) byvirtue of having been convicted in court, or thoseit is obligatory to kill by military action (N: such asa band of highwaymen).*
An expiation is due to Allah Most Highfrom anyone who kills someone unlawful to kill,whether the killing is through a mistake or is intentional,and no matter whether retaliation (def: 03)or an indemnity (04) is obligatory or not.
The expiation consists of freeing a slave(def: k32), or if one cannot, then two consecutivemonths of fasting
(0: There is no difference inthis precedence order whether the killer is legallyaccountable or not, as when he is a child or insane,in which case the guardian must free a slave on hisbehalf
(A: Though if a child fasts, it fulfills theexpiation.))
(0: There is no expiation for killing someonewho has left Islam, a highwayman (def: 015),or a convicted married adulterer, even whensomeone besides the caliph kills him.)*
When a group of Muslims rebel againstthe caliph (khalifa, def: O25) and want to overthrowhim, or refuse to fulfill an obligationimposed by Sacred Law such as zakat, and rise inarmed insurrection, he sends someone to themand redresses their grievances if possible.If they obdurately refuse to obey him (0: nomatter whether he is just or unjust, as Nawawimentions in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, citingthe consensus of Muslims (ijma', def: b7) thatit is unlawful to revolt against caliphs and fightthem, even if they are corrupt), he fights themwith (0: military) weaponry that does not causegeneral destruction, as do fire and mangonel (0:for the aim is to suppress them, not destroy them),and does not pursue those who retreat, or kill thewounded.
Therc is no financial responsibility forwhat they destroy of ours nor what we destroy oftheirs in such military action.
They are subject to Islamic laws (0:because they have not committed an act that putsthem outside of Islam that they should be considerednon-Muslims
Nor are they considered morallycorrupt, for rebels is not a pejorative term, butrather they merely have a mistaken understanding),and the decisions of their Islamic judge areconsidered legally effective (0: provided he doesnot declare the lives of upright Muslims (def:O24.4)to be justly forfeitable) if they are such aswould be effective if made by our own judge.
If they do not rebel by war, the caliph maynot fight them.*
Someone whom a Muslim is trying to kill isentitled to kill the Muslim, though it is not obligatoryto
Someone whom a non-Muslim or animal istrying to kill is obliged to defend himself.
If an aggressor is trying to take one'smoney or property, it is permissible to defend itbut not obligatory
If the aggressor intends one'swomenfolk (0: such as one's wife or son's wife), itis obligatory to defend them.
To defend means to use the minimumamount of force required
If one knows thatshouting will repel the aggressor, one may notstrike him
If a hand is enough, a stick may not beemployed, If a stick will do, a sword may not beused
If cutting the other's hand will suffice, onemay not kill him
(0: Mawardistatesthat this precedenceorder is for crimes that are not indecencies.As for when an aggressor is raping someonewhom it is unlawful for him to have sexual interCOursewith, it is permissible to kill him forthwith.)Someone who knows (0: i.e
believes) that anaggressor cannot be dissuaded by anything shortof killing him may kill him and is not accountablefor it.
When one has warded off an aggressor, itis unlawful to take further measures against him.*
(0: Leaving Islam is the ugliest form of unbelief(kufr) and the worst
It may come aboutthrough sarcasm, as when someone is told, ""Trimyour nails, it is sunna,"" and he replies, ""I wouldnot do it even if it were,"" as opposed to when somecircumstance exists which exonerates him of havingcommitted apostasy, such as when his tongueruns away with him, or when he is quoting someone,or says it out offear.)
When a person who has reached pubertyand is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, hedeserves to be killed.
In such a case, it is obligatory for thecaliph (A: or his representative) to ask him torepent and return to Islam
If he does, it isaccepted from him, but if he refuses, he isimmediately killed.
If he is a freeman
no one besides thecaliph or his representative may kill him
If someoneelse kills him, the killer is disciplined (def:(17) (0: for arrogating the caliph's prerogativeand encroaching upon his rights, as this is one ofhis duties).
There is no indemnity for killing an apostate(0: or any expiation, since it is killing someonewho deserves to die).
If he apostatizes from Islam and returnsseveral times, it (0: i.e
his return to Islam, whichoccurs when he states the two Testifications ofFaith (def: 08.7(12))) is accepted from him.though he is disciplined (017).
(A: If a spouse in a consummated marriage apostatizes from Islam, thecouple are separated for a waiting period consisting of three intervals betweenmenstruations
If the spouse returns to Islam before the waiting period ends, themarriage is not annulled but is considered to have continued the whole time (dis:m7.4).)
ACTS THAT ENTAIL LEAVING ISLAM(0: Among the things that entail apostasyfrom Islam (may Allah protect us from them) are:(1) to prostrate to an idoL whether sarcastically,out of mere eontrariness, or in actual conviction,like .that of someone who believes theCreator to be something that has originated intime
Like idols in this respect are the sun ormoon, and like prostration is bowing to other thanAllah, if one intends reverence towards it like thereverence due to Allah;(2) to intend to commit unbelief, even if inthe future
And like this intention is hesitatingwhether to do so or not: one thereby immediatelycommits unbelief:(3) to speak words that imply unbelief suchas HAllah is the third ofthree:' or ""'I am AlIah""unlessone's tongue has run away with one
or oneis quoting another
or is one of the friends of AllahMost High (wali, def: w33) in a spiritually intoxicatedstate of total oblivion (A: friend of Allah ornot, someone totally oblivious is as if insane, andis not held legally responsible (dis: k13.1(O:))),for these latter do not entail unbelief;(4) to revile Allah or His messenger (Allahbless him and give him peace);(5) to deny the existence of Allah, His beginninglesseternality, His endless eternaIity, or todeny any of His attributes which the consensus ofMuslims ascribes to Him (dis: vI);(6) to be sarcastic about Allah's name, Hiscommand, His interdiction, His promise, or Histhreat;(7) to deny any verse of the Koran or anythingwhich by scholarly consensus (def: b7)belongs to it, or to add a verse that does not belongto it;(8) to mockingly say, ""I don't know whatfaith is"":(9) to reply to someone who says, ""There isno power or strength save through Allah"": ""Yoursaying 'There's no power or strength, etc.' won'tsave you from hunger"";(10) for a tyrant, after an oppressed personsays, ""This is through the decree of Allah,"" toreply, ""I act without the decree of Allah"";(11) to say that a Muslim is an unbeliever(kafir) (dis: w47) in words that are uninterpretableas merely meaning he is an ingrate towardsAllah for divinely given blessings (n: in Arabic,also ""kaflr"");(12) when someone asks to be taught theTestification of Faith (Ar
Shahada, the words.""La ilaha ill Allahu Muhammadun rasulu Llah""(There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is theMessenger of Allah)), and a Muslim refuses toteach him it;(13) to describe a Muslim or someone whowants to become a Muslim in terms of unbelief(kufr);(14) to deny the obligatory character ofsomething which by the consensus of Muslims(ijma', def: b7) is part of Islam, when it is wellknown as such, like the prayer (salat) or even onerak'a from one of the five obligatory prayers, ifthere is no excuse (def: u2.4);(15) to hold that any of Allah's messengersor prophets are liars, or to deny their bcing sent;(n: 'Ala' ai-Din 'Abidin adds the following:(16) to revile the religion of Islam;(17) to believe that things in themselves orby their own nature have any causal influenceindependent of the will of Allah;(18) to deny the existence of angels or jinn(def: w22), or the heavens;(19) to be sarcastic about any ruling of theSacred Law;(20) or to deny that Allah intended theProphet's message (Allah bless him and give himpeace) to be the religion followed by the entireworld (dis: w4.3-4) (al-Hadiyya al-'Ala'iyya (y4),423-24).)There are others, for the subject is nearlylimitless
May Allah Most High save us and allMuslims from it.)*
(0: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims,and is etymologically derived from the wordmujahada, signifying warfare to establish thereligion
And it is the lesser jihad
As for thegreater jihad, it is spiritual warfare against thelower self (nafs), which is why the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said as he wasreturning from jihad,""We have returned from the lesser jihad tothe greater jihad.""The scriptural basis for jihad, prior toscholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranicverses as:(1) ""Fighting is prescribed for you"" (Koran 2:216);(2) ""Slay them wherever you find them"" (Koran 4:89);(3) ""Fight the idolators utterly"" (Koran 9:36);and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhariand Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said:""I have been commanded to fight peopleuntil they testify that there is no god but Allah andthat Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, andperform the prayer, and pay zakat
If they say it,they have saved their blood and possessions fromme, except for the rights ofIslam over them
Andtheir final reckoning is with Allah"";and the hadith reported by Muslim,""To go forth in the morning or evening tofight in the path of Allah is better than the wholeworld and everything in it.""Details concerning jihad are found in theaccounts of the military expeditions of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),including his own martial forays and those onwhich he dispatched others
The former consist ofthe ones he personally attended, some twentyseven(others say twenty-nine) of them
He foughtin eight of them, and killed only one person withhis noble hand, Ubayy ibn Khalaf, at the battle ofUhuJ
On the latter expeditions he sent others tofight
himself remaining at Medina, and thesewere forty-seven in number.)
Jihad is a communal obligation (def:c3.2)
When enough people perform it to successfullyaccomplish it, it is no longer obligatory uponothers (0: the evidence for which is the Prophet'ssaying (Allah bless him and give him peace),""He who provides the equipment for a soldierin jihad has himself performed jihad,""and Allah Most High having said:""Those of the believers who are unhurt but sitbehind are not equal to those who fight in Allah'spath with their property and lives
Allah has preferredthose who fight with their property andlives a whole degree above those who sit behind.And to each
Allah has promised great good""(Koran 4:95).If none of those concerned perform jihad,and it does not happen at all, then everyone whois aware that it is obligatory is guilty of sin, iftherewas a possibility of having performed it
In thetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) jihad was a communal obligation after hisemigration (hijra) to Medina
As for subsequenttimes, there are two possible states in respect tonon-Muslims.The first is when they are in their own countries,in which case jihad (def: O9.8) is a communalobligation, and this is what our author is speakingof when he says, ""Jihad is a communal obligation,""meaning upon the Muslims each year.The second state is when non-Muslims invadea Muslim country or near to one, in which casejihad is personally obligatory (def: c3.2) upon theinhabitants of that country, who must repel thenon-Muslims with whatever they can).
jihad is personally obligatory upon all'those present in the battle lines (A: and to flee isan enormity (dis: pH)) (0: provided one is able tofight
If unable, because of illness or the death ofone's mount when not able to fight on foot, orbecause one no longer has a weapon, then onemay leave
One may also leave if the opposingnon-Muslim army is more than twice the size ofthe Muslim force).
Jihad is also (0: personally) obligatory foreveryone (0: able to perform it, male or female,old or young) when the enemy has surrounded theMuslims (0: on every side, having entered ourterritory, even if the land consists of ruins, wilderness,or mountains, for non-Muslim forces enteringMuslim lands is a weighty matter that cannotbe ignored, but must be met with effort andstruggle to repel them by every possible means.All of which is if conditions permit gathering (A:the above-mentioned) people, provisioning them,and readying them for war
If conditions do notpermit this, as when the enemy has overrun theMuslims such that they are unable to provision orprepare themselves for war, then whoever isfound by a non-Muslim and knows he will bekilled if captured is obliged to defend himself inwhatever way possible
But if not certain that hewill be killed, meaning that he might or might notbe, as when he might merely be taken captive, andhe knows he will be killed ifhe does not surrender,then he may either surrender or fight
A womantoo has a choice between fighting or surrenderingif she is certain that she will not be subjected to linindecent act if captured
If uncertain that she willbe safe from such an act, she is obliged to fight,and surrender is not permissible).
WHO IS OBLIGED TO FIGHT IN JIHADThose ealled upon (0: to perform jihadwhen it is a communal obligation) are every ablebodiedman who has reached puberty and is sane.
The following may not fight in jihad:(1) Someone in debt, unless his creditor giveshim leave:(2) or someone with at least one Muslimparent
until they give their permission;unless the Muslims are surrounded by the enemy,in which case it is permissible for them to fightwithout permission.
It is offensive to conduet a military expedition against hostile non-Muslims without theealiph's permission (A: though if there is nocaliph (def: 025), no permission is required).
Muslims may not seek help from nonMuslimallies unless the Muslims are considerablyoutnumbered and the allies are of goodwilltowards the Muslims.
THE OBJECTIVES OF JIHADThc caliph (025) makes war upon Jews,Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he hasfirst invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice,and if they will not, then invited them toenter the social order of Islam by paying the nonMuslimpoll tax (jizya, def: 01 L4)-which is thesignificance of their paying it, not the moneyitself-while remaining in their ancestral religions)(0: and the war continues) until theybecome Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim polltax (0: in accordance with the word of Allah MostHigh,""Fight those who do not believe in Allah andthe Last Day and who forbid not what Allah andHis messenger have forbidden-who do not practicethe religion of truth, being of those who havebeen given the Book-until they pay the poll taxout of hand and are humbled"" (Koran 9:29),the time and place for which is before the final descentof Jesus (upon whom be peace)
After hisfinal coming, nothing but Islam will be acceptedfrom them
for taking the poll tax is only effectiveuntil Jesus' descent (upon him and our Prophet bepeace), which is the divinely revealed law ofMuhammad, The coming of Jesus does not entaila separate divinely revealed law, for he will ruleby the law of Muhammad, As for the Prophet'ssaying (Allah bless him and give him peace),""I am the last, there will be no prophetafter me,""this does not contradict the final coming of Jesus(upon whom be peace), since he will not ruleaccording to the Evangel, but as a follower of ourProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)).
The caliph fights all other peoples untilthey become Muslim (0: because they are not apeople with a Book, nor honored as such, and arenot permited to settle with paying the poll tax(iizya))) (n: though according to the Hanafi school,peoples of all other religions, even idol worshippers,are permitted to live under the protection ofthe Islamic state if they either become Muslim oragree to pay the poll tax, the sale exceptions towhich are apostates from Islam and idol worshipperswho are Arabs, neither of whom has anychoice but becoming Muslim (al-Hidaya sharhBidaya al-mubtadi' (y21)
6.48--49)).
THE RULES OF WARFAREIt is not permissible (A: in Jihad) to killwomen or children unless they are fighting againstthe Muslims
Nor is it permissible to kill animals,unless they are being ridden into battle against theMuslims, or if killing them will help defeat theenemy
It is permissible to kill old men (0: oldman (shaykh) meaning someone more than fortyyears of age) and monks.
It is unlawful to kill a non-Muslim towhom a Muslim has given his guarantee of protection(0: whether the non-Muslim is one or morethan one, provided the number is limited, and theMuslim's protecting them does not harm the Muslims,as when they are spies) provided the protectingMuslim has reached puberty, is sane, and doesso voluntarily (0: and is not a prisoner of them ora spy).
Whoever enters Islam before being capturedmay not be killed or his property confiscated,or his young children taken captive.
When a child or a woman is taken captive,they become slaves by the fact of capture, andthe woman's previous marriage is immediatelyannulled.
When an adult male is taken captive, thecaliph (def: 025) considers the interests (0: ofIslam and the Muslims) and decides between theprisoner's death, slavery, release without payinganything, or ransoming himself in exchange formoney or for a Muslim captive held by the enemy.If the prisoner becomes a Muslim (0: beforethe caliph chooses any of the four alternatives)then he may not be killed, and one of the otherthree alternatives is chosen.
It is permissible in jihad to cut down theenemy's trees and destroy their dwellings.
TRUCES(0: As for truces, the author does notmention them
In Sacred Law truce means a peacetreaty with those hostile to Islam, involving a cessationof fighting for a specified period, whetherfor payment or something else
The scripturalbasis for them includes such Koranic verses as:(1) ""An acquittal from Allah and His messenger...""(Koran 9:1);(2) ""If they incline towards peace, thenincline towards it also"" (Koran 8:61);as well as the truce which the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) made with Quraysh in theyear of Hudaybiya, as related by Bukhari andMuslim.Truces are permissible, not obligatory
Theonly one who may effect a truce is the Muslimruler of a region (or his representative) with a segmentof the non-Muslims of the region, or thecaliph (025) (or his representative)
When madewith other than a portion of the non-Muslims, orwhen made with all of them, or with all in a particularregion such as India or Asia Minor, thenonly the caliph (or his representative) may effectit, for it is a matter of the gravest consequencebecause it entails the nonperformance of jihad,whether globally or in a given locality, and ourinterests must be looked after therein, which iswhy it is best left to the caliph under any circumstances,or to someone he delegates to see tothe interests of the various regions.There must be some interest served in makinga truce other than mere preservation of thestatus quo
Allah Most High says,""So do not be fainthearted and call for peace,when it is you who are the uppermost"" (Koran47:35).Interests that justify making a truce are suchthings as Muslim weakness because of lack ofnumbers or materiel, or the hope of an enemybecoming Muslim, for the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) made a truce in the yearMecca was liberated with Safwan ibn Umayya forfour months in hope that he would become Muslim,and he entered Islam before its time was up.If the Muslims are weak, a truce may be made forten years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) made a truce withQuraysh for that long, as is related by AbuDawud
It is not permissible to stipulate longerthan that, save by means of new truces, each ofwhich does not exceed ten years.The rulings of such a truce are inferable fromthose of the non-Muslim poll tax (def: 011);namely, that when a valid truce has been effected,no harm may be done to non-Muslims until itexpires.)
A free male Muslim who has reached pubertyand is sane is entitled to the spoils of battlewhen he has participated in a battle to the endof it.After personal booty (def: O10.2), the collectivespoils ofthe battle are divided into five parts.The first fifth is set aside (dis: O10.3), and theremaining four are distributed, one share to eachinfantryman and three shares to each cavalryman.From these latter four fifths also, a token paymentis given at the leader's discretion to women, children,and non-Muslim participants on the Muslimside.A combatant only takes possession of hisshare ofthe spoils at the official division
(A: Orhe may choose to waive his right to it.)
As for personal booty, anyone who.despite resistance, kills one of the enemy or effectivelyincapacitates him, risking his own lifethereby, is entitled to whatever he can take fromthe enemy, meaning as much as he can take awaywith him in the battle, such as a mount, clothes,weaponry, money, or other.
As for the first fifth that is taken from thespoils, it is divided in turn into five parts, a shareeach going to:(1) the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace), and after his death, to such Islamicinterests as fortifying defenses on the frontiers,salaries for Islamic judges
muezzins, and the like;(2) relatives of the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) of the Bani Hashim and BaniMuttalib clans, each male receiving the share oftwo females;(3) orphans who arc poor;(4) those short of money (def: h8.11);(5) and travellers needing money (h8.18).
A formal agreement of protection is madewith citizens who are:(1) Jews;(2) Christians;(3) Zoroastrians;(4) Samarians and Sabians, if their religionsdo not respectively contradict the fundamentalbases of Judaism and Christianity;(5) and those who adhere to the religion ofAbraham or one of the other prophets (uponwhom be blessings and peace).
Such an agreement may not be effectedwith those who are idol worshippers (dis:o9.9(n:)), or those who do not have a Sacred Bookor something that could have been a Book.(A: Something that could have been a Bookrefers to those like the Zoroastrians, who haveremnants resembling an ancient Book
As for thepsuedoscriptures of cults that have appeared sinceIslam (n: such as the Sikhs, Baha'is, Mormons,Qadianis, etc.), they neither are nor could be aBook, since the Koran is the final revelation(dis: w4).)
Such an agreement is only valid when thesubject peoples:(a) follow the rules ofIslam (A: those mentionedbelow (O11.5) and those involving publicbehavior and dress, though in acts of worship andtheir private lives, the subject communities havetheir own laws, judges, and courts, enforcing therules of their own religion among themselves);(b) and pay the non-Muslim poll tax Gizya).
THE NON-MUSLIM POLL TAXThe minimum non-Muslim poll tax is onedinar (n: 4.235 grams of gold) per person (A: peryear)
The maximum is whatever both sides agreeupon.It is collected with leniency and politeness, asare all debts, and is not levied on women, children,ortheinsane.
Such non-Muslim subjects are obliged tocomply with Islamic rules that pertain to the safetyand indemnity oflife, reputation, and property
Inaddition, they:(1) are penalized for committing adultery ortheft, though not for drunkenness;(2) are distinguished from Muslims in dress,wearing a wide cloth belt (zunna:r);(3) are not greeted with ""as-Salamu'alaykum"" ;(4) must keep to the side of the street;(5) may not build higher than or as high asthe Muslims' buildings, though if they acquire atall house, it is not razed;(6) are forbidden to openly display wine orpork, (A: to ring church bells or display crosses,)recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make publicdisplay of their funerals and feastdays;(7) and are forbidden to build new churches.
They are forbidden to reside in the Hijaz,meaning the area and towns around Mecca,Medina, and Yamama, for more than three days(when the caliph allows them to enter there forsomething they need).
A non-Muslim may not enter the MeccanSacred Precinct (Haram) under any cir-cumstances, or enter any other mosque withoutpermission (A: nor may Muslims enter churcheswithout their permission).
It i, ohligatory for the caliph (def: 025) toprotect those of them who are in Muslim lands justas he would Muslims, and to seek the release ofthose of them who are captured.
If non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic staterefuse to conform to the rules of Islqm
or to paythe non-Muslim poll tax, then their agreementwith the state has heen violated (dis: 0 I l.1 I) (A:though if only one of them disobeys, it concernshim alone).
The agreement is also violated (A: withrespect to the offender alone) if the state has stipulatedthat any of the following things break it, andone of the suhjects does so anyway
though if thestate has not stipulated that these break the agreement,then they do not; namely, if one of the subjectpeople:(1) commits adultery with a Muslim womanor marries her:(2) conceals spies of hostile forces;(3) leads a Muslim away from Islam;(4) kills a Muslim;(5) or mentions something impermissibleabout Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), or Islam.
When a subject's agreement with the statehas been viOlated, the caliph chooses between thefour alternatives mentioned above in connectionwith prisoners of war (09.14).*
The legal penalty is obligatorily imposedupon anyone who fornicates or commits sodomy(A: provided it is legally established (def:nll.2(0:))) when they;(a) have reached puberty;(b) are sane;(c) and commit the act voluntarily;no IT.atter whether the person is a Muslim, nonMuslimsubject of the Islamic state, or someonewho has left Islam.
If the offender is someone with the capacityto remain chaste, then he or she is stoned todeath (def: 0]2.6), someone with the capacity toremain chaste meaning anyone who has had sexualintercourse (A: at least once) with their spouse ina valid marriage, and is free, of age, and sane
Aperson is not considered to have the capacity toremain chaste if he or she has only had intercoursein a marriage that is invalid, or is prepubescent atthe time of marital intercourse, or is someoneinsane at the time of marital intercourse who subsequentlyregains their sanity prior to committingadultery.If the offender is not someone with the capacityto remain chaste, then the penalty consists ofbeing scourged (def: O12.5) one hundred strip€sand banished to a distance of at least 81 km.l50 mi.for :me year.
Someone who commits fornication is notpunished if he says that he did not know it wasunlawful, provided he is a new Muslim or grew upin a remote (0: from Islamic scholars) wilderness,though ifneither of these is the case, such a personis punished.
An offender is not scourged in intenseheat or bitter cold, or when he is ill and recoveryis expected (until he recovers), or in a mosque, orwhen the offender is a woman who is pregnant,until she gives birth and has recovered fromchildbed pains
The whip used should be neithernew nor old and worn-out, but something in between.The offender is not stretched out whenscourged, or bound (0: as his hands are left looseto fend off blows)
or undressed (0: but rather anankle-length shirt is left upon him or her), and thescourger does not lay the stripes on hard (0: byraising his arm, such that he draws blood)
Thescourger distributes the blows over various partsof the body, avoiding the vital points and the face.A man is scourged standing; a woman, sitting andcovered (0: by a garment wrapped around her)
Ifthe offender is emaciated, or sick from an illnessnot expected to improve, then he or she isscourged with a single date palm frond (0; uponwhich there are a hundred strips, or fifty
If ahundred
such an offender is struck once with it.and if fifty, then twice), or with the edge of a garment.
If the penalty is stoning, the offender isstoned even in severe heat or cold, and even if hehas an illness from which he is expected torecover
A pregnant woman is not stoned until shegives birth and the child can suffice with the milkof another.*
When a person (who has reached pubertyand is sane) voluntarily:(a) accuses another person of adultery orsodomy, whether the accusation is in plain wordsor allusive words intended as an accusation;(b) and the accused is someone who could bechaste (def: O13.2) and is not the offspring of theaccuser;then the accuser is subject to the penalty for accusinga person of adultery without four witnesses(A: which, if it concerns his spouse, he mayobviate by public imprecation (dis: nl1.1)), nomatter whether he is a Muslim, non-Muslim subjectof the Islamic state, someone who has leftIslam, or is of a group that has a truce with Muslims.
Someone who could be chaste in this contextmeans someone who has reached puberty, issane, free, Muslim, and has not committed an actof fornication (0: that is punishable) (A: meaningit has not been legally established (def:r,11.2(0:)) ).
The penalty for making such an accusationwithout witnesses is to be scourged (def: 012.5)eighty lashes.
Accusations in plain words include suchexpressions as ""You have committed fornication,""and the like, while allusive words meanssuch expressions as ""You lecher,"" or ""Youwretch."" If the latter terms are accompanied bythe intention to accuse, they amount to an accusation,though if not, they do not
The accuser is theone whose word is accepted (A: when there is noproof, if he swears an oath) as to what he intendedby such allusive words.
If someone aCC\lses a whole group ofpeople of adultery who eould not possibly all beguilty, such as saying, ""All the people in Egypt areadulterers,"" he is disciplined (def: 017)
But whenhis accusation is not impossible, such as saying,""The So-and-so clan are adulterers,"" then he mustbear a separate penalty for every single person inthe group.
Someone who twice accuses someone ofadultery without witnesses is punished only once.Someone who accuses a person of adultery and ispunished for the accusation
but then againaccuses the person of the same act of fornication ismerely disciplined (def: 017).
When someone accuses a person whocould possibly be chaste (def: O13.2) of adultery,but the accuser has not yet been punished at thetime the accused subsequently commits an act offornication, then the accuser is not punished.
The penalty for accusing a person of adulterywithout witnesses is only carried out when theIslamic magistrate is present, and the accusedrequests that it be carried out
If the accused forgivesthe offender, there is no punishment.
When an accusation has been made, if theaccused dies (A: before the aeeuser has beenpunished), then his right (A: to demand that thepunishment be carried out) is given to his heirs.*
A person's right hand is amputated.whether he is a Muslim, non-Muslim subject of theIslamic state, or someone who has left Islam,when he:(a) has reached puberty;(b) is sane;(c) is acting voluntarily;(d) and steals at least a quarter of a dinar (n:1.058 grams of gold) or goods worth that much (A:at the market prices current) at the time of thetheft;(e) from a place meeting the securityrequirements normal (A: in that locality and time)for safeguarding similar articles (def: O14.3);(f) provided there is no possible confusion(dis: O14.2(3)) as to whether he took it by way oftheft or for some other reason.If a person steals a second time, his left foot isamputated; if a third time, then his left hand; andif he steals again, then his right foot
If he steals afifth time, he is disciplined (def: 017)
If he doesnot have a right hand (N: at the first offense), thenhis left foot is amputated
If he has a right hand butloses it after the theft (0: by an act of God) butbefore he has been punished for it, then nothing isamputated
After amputation, the limb iseauterized with hot oil (A: which in previous timeswas the means to stop the bleeding and save thecriminal's life).
A person's hand is not amputated when:(1) (non-(d) above) he steals less than theequivalent of] .058 grams of gold;(2) (non-(e)) he steals the article from aplace the does not meet normal requirements forsafeguarding similar articles (dis: below);(3) or (non-(f)) when there is a possible confusionas to why he took it, as when it was takenfrom the Muslim common fund (bayt ai-mal) (0:provided the person is Muslim, since he mighthave intended to use it to build mosques, bridges,or hospices), or when it belongs to his son orfather.
A place that meets normal security requirementsfor safeguarding similar articles means aplace appropriate for keeping the thing, this varyingwith the type of article, the different countries,and with the justness of the ruler or lack of it, aswell as the ruler's relative strength or weakness
Asuitable place for safeguarding fine clothes,money, jewels, and jewelry, for example, is alocked box; the place for trade goods, a lockedwarehouse with guards; the place for livestock, astable; the place for pallets and bedding, a shelf inthe house; and the place for a shroud, the grave.
If two persons jointly steal the equivalentof 1.058 grams of gold, then neither's hand isamputated.
A freeman's hand may not be amputatedby anyone besides the caliph or his representative(def: 025).
There is no amputation for forcible seizure(0: meaning someone relying on foree (N: totake people's money, who has a gang nearby toabet him in this)), snatching (0: meaning someonewho depends on running away and isunarmed), or betraying a trust (0: of somethingentrusted to him, such as a deposit for safekeeping),or appropriating something by disavowal (A:i.e
denying that the victim loaned or entrustedhim with such and such a thing), (0: because ofthe Prophet's (Allah bless him and give himpeace) saying,""There is no amputation for someone whoseizes by force, snatches and runs, or betrays atrust,""a hadith Tirmidhi classified as rigorously authenticated(sahih))
(A: But if one of the abovementionedpersons is a repeated offender whom itis in the interests of society to kill, the caliph maykill him.)
The caliph is obliged to summon whoeveruses a weapon (0: though force suffices to be considereda weapon, or taking money by dint ofone's fists) and makes people afraid to use theroad (0: no matter whether in the wilderness, avillage, or in the country; meaning he frightensthose who pass along the way by means of hisstrength or weapons)
If the highwaymanresponds to the summons before he has injuredanyone, then he is only disciplined (def: O17).If he steals the equivalent of 1.058 grams ofgold under the previously mentioned conditions(O14.1), both his right hand and left foot areamputated.(A: The difference between a highwaymanand someone who takes by forcible seizure (dis: O14.6)is that the latter does so within earshot ofhelp, while the offense of the highwayman is fargreater because he menaces the lifeline of thecommunity, its trade routes.)
If a highwayman kills someone, he mustbe executed, even when the person entitled toretaliation (def: O3) agrees to forgo it
If the highwaymanrobs and kills, he is killed and then leftcrucified for three days
If he wounds or maimssomeone, retaliation is taken against him, thoughit may be waived by those entitled to take it.
(N: The penalty for highway robbery,such as mandatory execution, crucifixion, andamputating the hand and foot, is cancelled if thehighwayman repents (A: desists, and gives himselfup) before he has been apprehended, thoughhe is still liable to retaliation (def: 03) by partiesentitled to it (A: for injuries or deaths he caused tovictims) and is financially responsible for restoringthe money he has taken.)*
Any beverage that intoxicates when takenin large quantities is unlawful both in small andlarge quantities, whether it is wine, (A: fermented)raisin drink, or something else.
The penalty for drinking is obligatorilyenforced against anyone who:(a) drinks;(b) has reached puberty;(c) is sane;(d) is Muslim;(e) does so voluntarily;(f) and knows it is unlawful (A: the restrictionsmentioned above (012.4) about the ignoranceof the prohibition of adultery also applyinghere).
The penalty for drinking is to be scourgedforty stripes, with hands, sandals, and ends ofclothes
It may be administered with a whip, but ifthe offender dies, an indemnity (def: 04.4) is due(A: from the scourger) for his death
If the caliph(def: 025) increases the penalty to eighty stripes, itis legally valid, but if the offender dies from theincrease, the caliph must pay an adjustedindemnity, such that if he is given forty-one stripesand dies, the caliph must pay 1141 of a full indemnity.
Someone who commits adultery severaltimes (0: or drinks several times, or steals severaltimes) before being punished is onlypunished once for each type of crime.
The penalty for a crime is not obviated bythe offender's having repented for it, with the soleexception of the highwayman, who is notpenalized at all (dis: O15.3) if he repents before heis caught.
It is not permissible to drink an intoxicantunder any circumstances, whether for medicine(0: or in bread, or to cook meat with it,) or out ofextreme thirst, with the sole exception of whenone is choking on a piece of food and there is noother means of clearing it from one's throat saveby drinking the intoxicant, in which case it isobligatory
(0: Sheikh aI-Islam (A: ZakariyyaAnsari) states, ""It may not be used for medicineor extreme thirst, though there is no prescribedpenalty for doing so, even when somethingbesides it is available."" The prohibition of using itfor medicine or extreme thirst refers to when it isunadmixed, as opposed to when it is compoundedwith something else that renders it completelyindistinguishable, such that no taste, color, orodor of it remains, in which case it is permissible.)
NONALCOHOLIC INTOXICANTS(Muhammad Shirbini Khatib:) The termbeverage (dis: O16.1) excludes plants, such ashashish, which hashish users eat
The two sheikhs(A: Rafi'i and Nawawi) report in their section onfoods the position of Ruyani that eating it isunlawful, though no legal penalty is fixed for it(Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rifa ma'ani alfaz alMinhaj(y73), 4.187).(al-Mawsu'a al-fiqhiyya:) Just as any beveragethat intoxicates when taken in large quantitiesis also unlawful in small quantities, so too it isabsolutely unlawful to use any solid substancedetrimental to mind or body which produces languoror has a narcotic effect, this prohibitionapplying to the amount that is deleterious of it, notto the minute, beneficial amounts prescribed totreat illnesses, for such substances are not unlawfulin themselves, but unlawful because they aredeleterious (Mawdu' al-ashriba
Tab'atamhidiyya Ii mawdu'at al-Mawsu'a al-fiqhiyya,no
1 (y134), 49).
Someone who commits an act of disobedienceto Allah Most High that entails neither a prescribedlegal penalty nor expiation, such asbearing false witness, is disciplined to the extentthe caliph (def: 025) deems appropriate
(0: Heexercises his own legal reasoning (ijtihad) anddoes what he thinks should be done, whetherimprisonment and beating, either one separately,or mere verbal reprimand
He may not administera more severe degree of punishment than what hefeels is strictly necessary
)
Disciplinary action may not reach theamount of the least prescribed legal penalty
Forexample, a freeman (0: if scourged) may notreceive forty stripes.
If the caliph sees fit not to take any disciplinaryaction, this is also permissible (0: when itconcerns a right owed to Allah Most High, for theruler is entrusted with using his own legal reasoning.But if it concerns a right owed to a fellowhuman being who has demanded that it be fulfilled(A: such as when someone has been cheated) it isimpermissible to do nothing
If a person is entitledto have another disciplined, but instead forgiveshim, the ruler may nevertheless discipline him).
(0: A father or grandfather (and on up) isentitled to discipline those under his care whenthey commit an act that is unbecoming
And somaya mother with her child
A husband is entitledto discipline his wife for not giving him his rights(def: m5.1)
A teacher may discipline a student.(A: Spanking a student, for example, is permissibleif there is a valid lawful purpose to be servedthereby, and the student's guardian has given theteacher permission
) )*
(A: An oath is a solemn statement to do orrefrain from something, or that something is true,such that if things tum out otherwise, the swearermust make an expiation (def: O20.2).)
An oath is only valid from a person (0:whether Muslim or non-Muslim) who:( a) has reached puberty;(b) is sane;(c) makes the oath voluntarily;(d) and intends an oath thereby.
The oath of someone whose tongue runsaway with him and who unthinkingly swears anoath, or someone who intends a particular oathbut unintentionally swears something else, doesnot count and is an unintentional oath (A: which ismentioned in the Holy Koran (n: at 5:89)).
An oath is only validly effected if sworn bya name of Allah Most High, or an attribute of Hisentity (dhat).(N: It is offensive to swear an oath by otherthan Allah if one merely intends it as an asseverationof one's statement, though it is unlawful to doso if one intends reverence to the thing sworn by.)
There are some names of Allah Most Highthat are applied to no one but Him, such as Allah,the All-merciful, the All-vigilant, and Knower ofthe Unseen
An oath sworn by any of these is validwithout restriction.
Other names of Allah may be conditionallyapplied to other than Him, such as Lord(Rabb) (n: rabb bayt meaning, for example, homeowner), the All-compassionate (al-Rahim) (n:rahim al-qa/b meaning softhearted), or theOmnipotent (ai-Qadir) (n: qadir 'alayhi meaningcapable of it; the second term of each of theseexamples indicating that Allah is not meant)
Anoath sworn by such names is validly effectedunless the swearer specifically intends somethingelse.
Other of Allah's names are applied toboth Him and His creatures, such as the Living(al-Hayy), the Existent (al-Mawjud), or the Seeing(al-Basir)
An oath sworn by such names is notvalidly effected unless the swearer specificallyintends it as an oath.
An oath sworn by the attributes of Allahthat are inapplicable to creatures, such as Allah'sglory, His exaltedness, His endless etemality, orthe Koran, is validly effected without restriction.
An oath sworn by divine attributes thatare sometimes used to allude to creatures, such asAllah's know/edge, His power, or His right, is validlyeffected unless the swearer intends somethingelse by them, such as meaning by know/edge thethings known, by power the things under its sway,or by right (n: the) acts of worship (n: that are Hisright), in which cases an oath has not been validlyeffected.
An oath is validly effected when a personsays, ""I swear by Allah that ..
,"" or ""I've sworn byAllah that
.
,"" unless the person merely intends toinform.
Unless one particularly intends it as anoath, an oath is not :validly effected when the followingexpressions are used: ""I will not do suchand such, by the life of Allah,"" or ""I resolve byAllah,"" or ""by the covenant of Allah,"" ""Hisguarantee,"" ""His trust,"" ""His sufficiency,"" or ""Iask you by Allah,"" or ""I swear by Allah that youmust do such and such.""*
If one swears, ""I will not eat this wheat,""but then makes it into flour or bread (A: and eatsit), one has not broken one's oath.If one swears, ""I will not drink from thisriver,"" but then drinks its water from a jug, onehas broken one's oath.If one swears, ""I will not eat meat,"" but theneats fat, kidneys, tripe, liver, heart, spieen, fish,or locusts, one has not broken one's oath.
If one swears, ""I will not enter the house,""but then does so absentmindedly, in ignorance ofits being the house, under compulsion, or by beingcarried in, then one's oath is not broken and is stillin effect.
When a person swearing an oath aboutsomething (0: in the future, affirming or denyingthat it will occur) includes the expression in sha'Allah (""if Allah wills"") before finishing the oath,then the oath is not broken in any event if hethereby intends to provide for exceptions
But ifhe merely says it out of habit, not intending tomake an exception to his oath, or if he says it afterhaving finished swearing the oath, then the exceptionis not valid (0: because when an oath hasbeen completed, its efficacy is established and not Ieradicable by a statement of exception).
An expiation is obligatory for someonewho swears and breaks an oath
If the swearer isentitled to expiate by the expenditure of property(def: O20.2( 1-3)), it is permissible for him to do sobefore or after breaking the oath
But if it consistsof fasting, then he may only do so after breakingthe oath.
The expiation consists of (N: a choice ofany) one of the following:(I) to free a sound Muslim slave;(2) to feed ten people who are (N: poor or)short of money (def: h8.8-1l) each 0.51 liters ofgrain (0: though it is not a condition that it begrain, but rather the type of food payable for thezakat of 'Eid al-Fitr (def: h7.6), even if not grain(A: and theHanafi school permits giving its valuein money));(3) or to provide clothing of any kind for tensuch persons, even if it consists of a wraparound orclothing previously washed, though not if ragged.If one is unable to do any of the above, onemust fast for three days
It is better to fast themconsecutively, though permissible to do so nonconsecutively.
(0: Someone eligible to receive zakatfunds or expiations because of being poor (def:hS.S) or short of money (def: hS.ll) may expiate Ibroken oaths by fasting.)*
To undertake the Islamic judgeship is acommunal obligation (def: c3.2) (0: for thosecapable of performing it in a particular area)
Ifonly one competent person exists who can performit, then it is personally obligatory for him todo so
If he refuses, he is compelled to accept (0:though he is only obliged to accept the judgeshipwhen it is in his own home area, not when it iselsewhere, for this would be like a punishment,involving as it does wholly leaving one's home).Such an individual person may not take a salaryfor it--(N: because in respect to him it has becomepersonally obligatory, and it is not permissible totake a wage for something personally obligatory,as opposed to something that is a communal obligation(A: for which accepting a wage is permissible))-unless he is needy (0: in which case theMuslim common fund gives him enough to coverhis expenses and those of his dependents, withoutwastefulness or penury
But if he agrees to judgewithout being paid (N: i.e
in expectation of thereward from Allah), it is better for him).
It is permissible to have two or morejudges in the same town.
It is not valid for anyone besides the caliph(def: 025) or his representative to appoint someoneas judge.
It is permissible for two parties to select a
third party to judge between them if he is competentfor the judgeship (def: O22.1) (0: providedthe case does not concern Allah's prescribedpenalties, (A: and they may select such a person)even when a judge exists)
It is obligatory for themto accept his decision on their case, though ifeither litigant withdraws his nomination beforethe third party gives his judgement, the latter maynot judge.*
The necessary qualifications for being anIslamic judge (qadi) are:(a) to be a male freeman;(b) to have full capacity for moral answerability(takliL def: c8.1);(c) to be upright (O24.4);(d) to possess knowledge (0: of the rulingsof Sacred Law, meaning by way of personal legalreasoning (ijtihad) (A: from primary texts), notmerely by following a particular qualified scholar(taqlid) (A: i.e
ifhe follows qualified scholarship,he must know and agree with how the rulings arederived, not merely report them)
Being qualifiedto perform legal reasoning (ijtihad) requiresknowledge of the rules and principles of theKoran, the sunna (A: in this context meaning thehadith, not the sunna as opposed to the obligatory),(N: as well as knowledge of scholarly consensus(ijma·
def: b7)), and analogy (def: IIIbelow), together with knowing the types of eachof these
(A: The knowledge of each ""type"" belowimplie, familiarity with subtypes and kinds, butthe commentator has deemed the mention of thecategory as a whole sufficient to give readers ageneral idea.)(I) The types of Koranic rules include, for example:(1) those ('amm) of general applicability todifferent types of legal rulings;
d(Il)) Justice(2) those (khass) applicable to only one particularruling or type of ruling;(3) those (mujmal) which require details andexplanation in order to be properly understood;(4) those (mubayyan) which are plain withoutadded details;(5) those (mutlaq) applicable withoutrestriction;(6) those (muqayyad) which have restrictions;(7) those (nass) which unequivocally decidea particular legal question;(8) those (zahir) with a probable legal signification,but which may also bear an alternativeinterpretation;(9) those (nasikh) which supersede previouslyrevealed Koranic verses;(10) and those (mansukh) which are supersededby later verses.(II) The types of sunna (A: i.c
hadith) include:(1) hadiths (mutawatir) related by wholegroups of individuals from whole groups, in multiplecontiguous channels of transmission leadingback to the Prophet himself (Allah bless him andgive him peace), such that the sheer number ofseparate channels at each stage of transmission istoo many for it to be possible for all to have conspiredto fabricate the hadith (A: which is therebyobligatory to believe in, and denial of which isunbelief (kufr));(2) hadiths (ahad) related by fewer than theabove-mentioned group at one or more stages ofthe transmission, though traced through contiguoussuccessive narrators back to the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace)
(n: If ahadith is transmitted through just one individualat any point in the history of its transmission, thehadith is termed singular (gharib)
If it is transmittedthrough just two people at any stage of itstransmission, it is termed rare ('aziz)
If its channelsof transmission come through only threepeople at any point of its history, it is termed wellknown(mashhur)
These designations do notdirectly influence the authenticity rating of thehadith, since a singular hadith, for example, mightbe rigorously authenticated (sahih), well authenticated(hasan) (N: hadiths of both types beingobligatory for a Muslim to believe in, thoughsomeone who denies them is TI1erely consideredcorrupt (fasiq), not an unbeliever (kaflr)), or notwell authenticated (da'if), depending on thereliabilityratings of the narrators and other factorsweighed and judged by hadith specialists);(3) and other kinds; (n: Yusuf Ardabili mentionsthe following in his list of qualifications forperforming legal reasoning (ijtihad):)(4) hadiths (mursa!) from one of those(tabi'i) who had personally met (N: not only met,but actually studied under) one or more of theprophetic Companions (Sahaba) but not theProphet himself (Allah bless him and give himpeace) (n: hadiths reported in the form, ""TheProphet said [or did] such and such,"" withoutmentioning the Companion who related it directlyfrom the Prophet);(5) hadiths (musnad) related through a contiguousseries of transmitters back to the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace);(0) hadiths (muttasil) related through a contiguousseries of transmitters (n: either from theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),such a hadith being termed ascribed (marfu'), orelse only from one of the Companions, such ahadith being termed arrested (mawquf));(7) hadiths (munqata') related through achain of transmitters of whom one is unknown (n:though if two or more are unknown, it is not consideredmerely incontiguous (munqata'), but ratherproblematic (mu'dal);(8) the positive and negative personal factorsUarh wa ta'dil) determining the reliability ratingsof the individual narrators of a hadith's channel oftransmission;(9) the positions held by the most learned ofthe Companions (Sahaba) on legal questions, andthose of the scholars who came after them;(10) and on which of these positions there isscholarly consensus (def: b7), and which are differedupon (Kitab aI-an war Ii a 'mal al-abrar fi fiqhaI-Imam al-Shafi'i (yll), 2.391).(n: The English glosses and remarks on themeanings of the above hadith terminology arefrom notes taken by the translator at a lesson withhadith specialist Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut.)(III) Types of analogical reasoning (qiyas)include:( 1) making an a fortiori analogy between actsp and q, where if p takes a ruling, q is even likelierto take the same ruling
For example, if saying""eff!"" to one's parents is unlawful (n: as at Koran17:23), one may analogically infer that beatingthem must also be unlawful;(2) making an analogy between acts p and q,where if p takes a ruling, one may infer that q isequally likely to take the same ruling
For example,if it is unlawful to wrongfully consume anorphan's property, then it must also be unlawful todestroy his property by burning it up;(3) and making an analogy between acts pand q, where if p takes a ruling, one may infer thatit is likely, though less certain, that q takes thesame ruling (A: because of a common feature inthe two acts which functions as the basis ('ilIa) fortheanalogy)
For example, if usurious gain (rib a)is unlawful in selling wheat (dis: k3.1), then it isalso unlawful in selling apples, the basis for theanalogy being that both are food.The meaning of knowledge of the above mattersis (A: for a judge) to know part of what is connectedwith the Koran, sunna (A: i.e
hadith), andanalogy, not complete knowledge of the Book ofAllah, total familiarity with the rules of the sunna,or comprehensive mastery of the rules of analogialreasoning but rather that which is pertinent togiving judgements in court (A: though an absoluteexpert in Islamic legal reasoning (mujtahid mutlaq)such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, orAhmad, is obliged to know what relates to everysubject matter in Sacred Law)
He must know thereliability ratings of hadith narrat.ors in strengthand weakness
When two primary texts seem tocontend, he gives precedence to:(I) those of particular applicability (khass)over those of general applicability (""amm);(2) those that take restrictions (muqayyad)over those that do not (mutlaq);(3) those whieh unequivocally settle a particularquestion (nass) over those of merely probabilisticlegal significance (zahir);(4) those which are litetal (muhkam) overthose which are figurative (mutashabih);(5) and those which supersede previous rulings,those with a contiguous channel of transmission,and those with a well-authenticated channelof transmission, over their respective opposites.He must also have knowledge of the Arabiclanguage its lexicon grammar word morphology and rhetoric.He must likewise know the positions of thescholars of Sacred Law regarding their consensusand differences, and not contradict their consensus(A: which is unlawful (dis: b7.2)) with his ownreasoning.If no one possesses the above-mentionedqualifications, and a strong ruler appoints an unfitMuslim to the bench such as someone who isimmoral, or who (A: is incapable of independentlegal reasoning (ijtihad) and) merely followsother qualified scholars (taqlid), or a child, or awoman, then the appointee's decisions areimplemented because of necessity, so as not to vitiatepeople's concerns and interests (A: and thisis what exists in our day, when the conditions foran Islamic judge are seldom met with));(e) sound hearing;(f) sound eyesight;(g) and the faculty of speech.(0: The author did not mention the necessarycondition of being a Muslim, evidently feeling thatuprightness ( (c) above) was sufficient to imply it.)
It is recommended that the judge be sternwithout harshness, and flexible without weakness(0: so the litigants do not despise or disdain him,for otherwise, people entitled to rights would notbe able to obtain them).
If the judge needs to appoint another personto handle a part of his caseload because it istoo heavy for him, then he may assign someone todeal with the extra cases if the person himself isqualified to be a judge
If the judge does not needto, he may not appoint such a person without specialpermission (A: from the regional ruler).
If the judge needs a court secretary, hemust be Muslim, upright (def: O24.4), sane, andlearned (0: meaning familiar with writing upplaintiffs' cases, recording what is done in eachcase and the judge's decisions, and must be able todistinguish between writing it correctly and incorrectly.The above four conditions are obligatory,there only remaining to be mentioned that the secretarymust be male and free).
The judge should not have a doorkeeper(0: if there is no crowd), though if he needs one,the doorkeeper must be sane, reliable, andunbribable.
When not in the area of his jurisdiction,the judge may not give legal decisions, aJJPointothers, or hear evidence (0: or claims).
He may not accept gifts except from someonewho customarily gave him gifts before hebecame judge, who is not a plaintiff, and whosegifts are not more lavish than those given beforethe judge's appointment
(0: The same is true forentertaining the judge as a guest, as well as lendingarticles to him which are of rentable value, such aslending him lodgings.) It is better for a judge notto accept any gifts
(0: And whenever gifts are notlawful to accept, he does not legally own them butmust return them.)
A judge may not decide cases involving hisson (0: son's son, and on down) or his father (0:father's father, and on up, or cases involving hispartner in a shared enterprise).
He should not decide cases when angry,hungry, thirsty, overwrought, exultant, ill, tired,flatulent, annoyed, or when the weather is irritatinglyhot or cold (0: it being offensive for a judgeto decide a case in any state that affects his temperamentfor the worse), though if he does, hisdecision is implemented.
The judge should not sit in a mosque todecide cases (0: lest voices be raised therein, andbecause he might need to bring in the insane, children,a woman in her period, or non-Muslims; forwhich reasons sitting in a mosque to decide casesis offensive)
But if his sitting in the mosque (0: inprayer, spiritual retreat (i'tikaf), or awaitinggroup prayer) happens to coincide with the comingof two litigants, then he may judge betweenthem (0: without it being offensive).
The judge should sit with tranquility andgravity (0: as it creates greater respect for himand makes it likelier that he will be obeyed)
Heshould have witnesses present and scholars ofjurisprudence to consult with on points of difficulty.If a case is not clear, he should postpone givinga decision on it
He may not merely imitateanother's decision on a case (A: but must be capableof expert legal reasoning (ijtibad) himself).
The judge handles the cases on a firstcome-first-served basis, one case per turn
If twoarrive at the same time, they draw lots to seewhose case will be heard first.The judge (0: obligatorily) treats two litigantsimpartially, seating both in places of equalhonor
attending to each, and so forth, unless oneis a non-Muslim, in which case he gives the Muslima better seat
He may not treat either litigantrudely, nor prompt one (0: as to how to state hiscase).
The judge may intercede with one of themon behalf of the other (0: meaning to ask the twoparties to settle their differences, which is what ajudge's ""intercession"" is
It does not take placeuntil after the truth has been established, whichobviates his unfairly inclining to either one) andhe may also pay one litigant what the other oweshim.
4 (N: When assigned to a new jurisdiction,)the judge first looks into the cases of the imprisoned,then orphans, and then of lost and founditems.*
If a plaintiff makes a claim that is not true,the judge considers it as if he had not heard it (0:and need not ask the defendant about it).When a claim is true, the judge asks thedefendant, ""What do you say?"" If the defendantadmits the claim is true, the judge does not give adecision on the case (A: there being no need to)unless the plaintiff asks him to
But if the defendantdenies the claim, then if the plaintiff has noproof, the defendant's word is accepted if heswears an oath to that effect
(0: This is when theclaim does not involve blood (A: Le
retaliation(def: (3) or indemnity (04))
If it does, then ifthere is obscurity in the matter, the plaintiffsword is accepted (N: provided fifty separate oathsare sworn by and distributed over all those entitledto take retaliation).) The judge does not havethe defendant swear an oath unless the plaintiffrequests it
If the defendant refuses to swear, thenthe judge has the plaintiff swear (A: that his claimis true), and when he does, he is entitled (0: towhat he -has claimed) (A: from the defendant).But if the plaintiff also refuses to swear, the judgedismisses both of them (0: from his presence)
Ifthe defendant is silent (0: not responding to theclaim against him) then the judge should say,""Would that you would answer, for unless you do,I'll give the plaintiff the opportunity to swear anoath."" If the defendant does not, then the plaintiffmay swear an oath, and if he does, he is entitled tohis claim.
If the judge knows the truth of the claim(0: against the defendant), and it concerns one ofthe prescribed penalties of Allah Most High,meaning for fornication, theft, rebellion, or drinking,then he may not sentence the defendant onthat basis alone (0: on the basis of his knowledgeof one of the above crimes
It is related of AbuBakr Siddiq (Allah be well pleased with him) thathe said,""Were I to see someone who deserved a prescribedlegal penalty, I would not punish himunless two witnesses attested to his deserving it infront of me."")But when the judge knows the truth aboutsomething other than prescribed legal penalties,he must judge accordingly (0: the necessary conditionfor which is that he plainly state that heknows, such as by saying, ""I know what he claimsagainst you to be true, and have judged youaccording to my knowledge"")
.
When the judge does not know the languageof the litigants, then he refers to upright(def: O24.4) persons familiar with it, providedthey are a number (0: two or more) sufficient tosubstantiate the claim (def: O24.7-10).Court Claims O23.2
If a judge gives a decision on a case butthen learns of an unequivocal text relating to it (0:from the Koran or mutawatir hadith (def:O22
l(d(II))))) ,a consensus of scholars, or an afortiori analogy (022.1( d(I1I))) , that controvertshis decision, then he reverses it..
A court claim is not valid except from aplaintiff possessing full right to deal with his ownproperty.
It is not valid to litigate over somethingthat is not determinately known (def: k2.1(e)),though some exceptions to this exist, such asclaiming a bequest.If the plaintiff is claiming a financial obligation(dayn), he must mention its type, amount,and description.If he is claiming some particular article (' ayn)(0: such as a house), he must identify it
If he isunable to (0; as when the article is portable, andout of town), then he must describe it (0: with adescription that would be valid for buying inadvance (def: k9.2(d,g))).
If a defendant denies a claim against him(A: and the plaintiff has no proof)
then his denialis accepted (A: provided he swears on oath), asalso when he says, ""lowe him nothing.""
If the claim is for a particular article that iscurrently in the possession of one of the litigants,then the word of the person who has it is acceptedwhen he swears an oath that it is his
If the articleis in the possession of both litigants (0: together,and there is no proof as to whose it is; or when itis in the possession of neither, such as when a thirdparty has it), then each swears an oath (0: that itdoes not belong to the other) and half the article isgiven to each ofthem.
When another person owes one something,but denies it, then one may take it from hisproperty without his leave (0: whether one hasproof of it Or not)
But ifthe person aeknowledgesthat he owes it to one, one may not simply take itfrom him (0: because a debtor may pay back adebt from whatever part of his property hewishes).*
It is a communal obligation (def: c3.2) toboth witness (A: i.e
observe) legal events and totestify to having witnessed them
If there is onlyone person to do so, then it is personally obligatoryupon him, in which ease he may not acceptpayment for it, though if it is not personallyobligatory, he may accept a fee.
Legal testimony is only acceptable from awitness who:(a) is free;(b) is fully legally responsible (mukallaf, def:c8.1) (0: as testimony is not accepted from a childor insane person, even when the child's testimonyregards injuries among ehildren that oeeurred atplay);(e) is able to speak;(d) is mentally awake;(e) is religious (0: meaning upright (O24.4)(A: and Muslim), for Allah Most High says,""Let those of rectitude among you testify""(Koran 65:2),and unbelief is the vilest form of corruption, asgoes without saying);(f) and who is outwardly respectable (0:respectability (muru'a) meaning to have the positivetraits which one's peers possess in one's particulartime and place
Sheikh ai-Islam (A:Zakariyya Ansari) says, ""Respectability is refrainingfrom conduct that is unseemly accordingto standards commonly acknowledged amongthose who observe the precepts and rules of theSacred Law."" It is according to standards commonlyacknowledged (def: f4.5) because there areno absolute standards for it, but rather it varieswith different persons, conditions, and places.Such things as eating and drinking (A: in themarketplace) or wearing nothing on one's headmay vitiate it (A: though the latter is of no consequencein our times)
as maya religious scholar'swearing a robe or cap in places where it is riotcustomary for him to do so).The testimony of an absentminded person(0: meaning someone who often makes mistakesand forgets) is not acceptable (0: because he isunreliable ).
Nor is testimony acceptable from someonewho:( I) has committed an enormity (0: meaningsomething severely threatened against in
anunequivocal text from the Koran or hadith (dis:book p) (N: though if someone who commits suchan act then repents (def: p77) and is felt to be sincerein this, he regains his legal uprightness and histestimony is accepted, provided he is tested afterhis repentance long enough to believe in itsgenuineness) ;(2) persists in a lesser sin (0: because it thenbecomes an enormity, as opposed to when onedoes not persist therein
A lesser sin is one that hasnot been severely threatened against in anunequivocal text);(3) or is without respectability (def:O24.2(f)),such as a street-sweeper, bathhouseattendant, and the like.(A: A legally corrupt or immoral person(fasiq) is someone guilty of (1) or (2) above.)
(A: Normal uprightness ('adala) for purposes other than giving testimonyin court means that one avoids (1) and (2) above, while (3) concerns court testimonyalone (N: i.e
uprightness for testimony in court means a person is none ofthe above).)
The testimony of a blind person isaccepted about events witnessed before hebecame blind, though not events witnessed after,unless they are public events that are discussedamong people, or when someone says somethingthe blind person hears (0: such as a divorce, forexample), and he takes the speaker by the handand conducts him to the judge and testifies as towhat he has said.
The testimony of any of the following isunacceptable:( I) a person testifying for his son (0: son'sson, and on down) or his father (0: father'sfather, and on up);(2) a person who stands to benefit (0: by hisown testimony);(3) a person who stands to avoid loss to himselfthrough his testimony;(4) a person testifying about his enemy;(5) or a person testifying about his own act.
The testimony of the following is legallyacceptable when it concerns cases involving property,or transactions dealing with property, suchas sales:(1) two men;(2) two women and a man;(3) or a male witness together with the oathof the plaintiff.
If testimony does not concern propcrty,such as a marriage or prescribed legal penalties,then only two male witnesses may testify (A:though the Hanafi school holds that two womenand a man may testify for marriage).
If testimony concerns fornication orsodomy, then it requires four male witnesses (0:who testify, in the case of fornication, that theyhave seen the offender insert the head of his penisinto ber vagina).
If testimony concerns things which men donot typically see CO: but women do), such aschildbirth, then it is sufficient to have two malewitnesses, a man and two women, or four women.*
en: This section has been added here by the translator because the caliphateis both obligatory in itself and the necessary precondition for hundreds of rulings(books k through 0) established by Allah Most High to govern and guide Islamiccommunity life
What follows has been edited from al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa alwilayatal-diniyya by Imam Abul Hasan Mawardi, together with three principalcommentaries on Imam Nawawi's Minhaj al-talibin, extracts from which are indicatedby parentheses and the initial of the commentator, Ibn Hajar Haytami (H:),Muhammad Shirbini Khatib (K:), or 'Abd ai-Hamid Sharwani (S:).)
(Mawardi:) The reason the office of supremeleadership has been established in SacredLaw is to fulfill the caliphal successorship toprophethood in preserving the religion and managingthis-worldly affairs
The investiture ofsomeone from the Islamic Community (Umma)able to fulfill the duties of the caliphate is obligatoryby scholarly consensus (def: b7), thoughscholars differ as to whether its obligatory characteris established through reason or throughRevealed Law
Some say that it is obligatory byhuman reason, because of the agreement ofrational individuals to have a leader to preventthem from wronging one another and to come betweenthem when conflict and arguments arise.Without authorities, there would be a chaos ofneglected people and a disorderly mob
Othershold that it is obligatory not through reason, butrather through Sacred Law, for the caliph performsfunctions that human reason might nototherwise deem ethically imperative, and whichare not entailed by reason alone, for reasonmerely requires that rational beings refrain fromreciprocal oppression and strife, such that eachindividual conform with the demands of fairnessin behaving towards others with justice and socialcohesion, each evaluating their course with theirown mind, not anyone else 's, whereas Sacred Lawstipulates that human concerns be consigned tothe person religiously responsible for them
AllahMighty and Majestic says,""You who believe, obey Allah and obey theProphet and those of authority among you""(Koran 4:59),thereby obliging us to obey those in command.namely the leader with authority over us
AbuHurayra relates that the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) said.""Leaders shall rule you after me, the godfearingof them ruling you with godfearingness and the
profligate ruling you with wickedness
So listen tothem and obey them in everything that is right; forif they do well, it will count for you and for them,and if they do badly
it will count for you andagainst them.""(al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa al-wilayat al-diniyya(y87),5-6)
(H: The caliphate is a communal obligation(def: d.2) just as the judgeship is (S: becausethe Islamic community needs a ruler to uphold thereligion, defend the sunna, succor the oppressedfrom oppressors, fulfill rights, and restore them towhom they belong).)
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A CALIPH(Nawawi:) Among the qualifications ofthe caliph are that he be:(a) Muslim (H: so that he may see to the bestinterests of Islam and the Muslims (K: it beinginvalid to appoint a non-Muslim (kafir) to authority.even to rule non-Muslims.) (S: Qadi 'lyadstates that there is scholarly consensus (def: b7)that it is not legally valid to invest a non-Muslimas caliph
and that if a caliph becomes a nonMuslim(dis: 08.7) he is no longer caliph, as a]sowhen he does not maintain the prescribed prayers(A: meaning to both perform them himself andorder Muslims to) and summon the people tothem, and likewise (according to the majority ofscholars) if he makes reprehensible innovations(bid'a, def: w29.3) (A: by imposing an innovationon people that is offensive or unlawful)
If thecaliph becomes a non-Muslim, alters the SacredLaw--(N: such alteration being of two types, oneof which consists of his changing the Law by legislatingsomething which contravenes it whilebelieving in the validity of the provisions of theSacred Law, this being an injustice that does notpermit rebellion against him, while the other consistsof imposing rules that contravene the provisionsof the religion while believing in the validityof the rules he has imposed, this being unbelief(kufr) (A: it is questionable whether anyonewould impose such rules without believing in theirvalidity ))-{)r imposes reprehensible innovationswhile in office, then he loses his authority andneed no longer be obeyed, and it is obligatory forMuslims to rise against him if possible, removehim from office, and install an upright leader in hisplace
If only some are able, they are obliged torise up and remove the unbeliever (A: whetherthey believe they will succeed or fail), though it isnot obligatory to try to remove a leader whoimposes reprehensible innovations unless theybelieve it possible
If they are certain that they areunable to (A: remove an innovator), they are notobliged to rise against him
Rather, a Muslim insuch a case should emigrate from his country (N:if he can find a better one), fleeing with his religion(A: which is obligatory if he is prevented inhis home country from openly performing acts ofworship)));(b) possessed of legal responsibility (def:cS.l) (K: so as to command the people, it beinginvalid for a child or insane person to lead);(c) free (K: so that others may consider himcompetent and worthy of respect);(d) male (K: to be able to devote himself fulltimeto the task, and to mix with men, the leadershipof a woman being invalid because of therigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith,""A people that leaves its leadership to awoman will never succeed"");(e) of the Quraysh tribe (K: because of the(H: well-authenticated (hasan)) hadith related byNasa'i,""The Imams are of the Qura ysh, ..a harlith adhered to by the Companions of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) andthose after them, this qualification beingobligatorywhen there is a member of Quraysh availablewho meets the other conditions) (H: though whenthere is not, then the next most eligible is a qualifiedmember of the Kinana tribe, then of thcArabs, thcn ofthe non-Arabs);(f) capable of expert legal reasoning (ijtihad)(H: as a judge must be (def: 022.1(d)) and witheven greater need (K: so as to know the rulings ofSacred Law, teach people, and not need to seekthe legal optmon of others concerninguprecedented events), scholarly consensus (def:b7) having been related concerning this condition,which is not contradicted by the statement of theQadi (A: 'Iyad) that ""an ignorant upright personis fitter than a knowledgeable corrupt one,"" sincethe former would be able to refer matters requiringexpert legal reasoning to qualified scholars.and moreover the remark applies to when theavailable leaders are not capable of legal reasoning(S: while possessing the other qualificationsfor leadership));(g) courageous (K: meaning undaunted bydanger, that he may stand alone, direct troops,and vanquish foes);(h) possessed of discernment (H: in order tolead followers and see to their best interests,religious or this-worldly, discernment meaning atminimum to know the various capacities of·people), sound hearing and eyesight, and thefaculty of speech (K: so as to decisively arbitratematters);(i) (H: and be upright (def: O24.4) as ajudgemust be, and with even greater need
But it isvalid, if forced to, to resort to the leadership of acorrupt person, which is why Ibn 'Abd ai-Salamsays, ""If there are no upright leaders or rulersavailable, then the least corrupt is given precedence"").
THE THREE WAYS A CALIPH MAY BE INVESTEDWITH OFFICEThe caliphate may legally be effected (K:through three means, the first of which is):(1) by an oath of fealty (H: like the onesworn by the prophetic Companions to Abu Bakr(Allah be well pleased with them)) which, accordingto the soundest position, is (H: legally bindingif it is) the oath of those with discretionary power toenact or disolve a pact (ahl ai-hail wa al-'aqd) ofthe scholars, leaders, and notables able to attend(K: since the matter is accomplished throughthem, and all the people follow them
It is not acondition that all those with discretionary powerto enact or dissolve a pact be present from everyremote region, or that there be a particularnumber present, as the author's words seem toimply, but rather, if discretionary power to enactor dissolve a pact exists in a single individual whois obeyed, his oath of fealty is sufficient.) (H: Asfor an oath of fealty from common people withoutdiscretionary power to enact or dissolve a pact, itis of no consequence) and they (H: those pledgingfealty) must possess the qualifications necessaryto be a witness (K: such as uprightness and so forth(def: O24.2)) (Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rifa ma'anialfaz al-Minhaj (y73) , 4.129-31, and Hawashi alShaykh'AM aI-Hamid al-Sharwani wa al-ShaykhAhmad ibn Qasim al-'Abbadi 'ala Tuhfa al-muhtajbi sharh al-Minhaj (y2), 9.74-76).(Mawardi:) When those with power to enactor dissolve a pact meet to select the caliph, theyexamine the state of the available qualified candidates,giving precedence to the best of them andmost fully qualified
whose leadership the publicwill readily accept and whose investiture peoplewill not hesitate to recognise
When there is onlyone person whom the examiners' reasoning leadsthem to select, they offer him the position
If heaccepts, they swear an oath of fealty to him andthe supreme leadership is thereby invested in him,the entire Islamic Community (Umma) beingcompelled to acknowledge fealty to him and submitin obedience to him
But if he refuses thecaliphal office, not responding to their offer, he isnot forced to comply-as investiture comes ofacceptance and free choice, not compulsion andconstraint-and they turn to another qualifiedcandidate (al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa al-wilayatal-diniyya (y87), 7-8);(2) (Nawawi:) and (H: the second means (K:through which it may be effected is)) by the caliphappointing a successor (H: meaning someoneafter him, even if it be his descendant or ancestor,for Abu Bakr appointed 'Umar (Allah be wellpleased with them) as his successor, and scholarlyconsensus (def: b7) was effected in recognizing itslegal validity
This type of investiture consists ofthe caliph appointing a successor while still alive,to succeed him after death
Though actually hissuccessor during his life, the successor's disposalof affairs is suspended until the caliph dies).If the caliph appoints a group to select a successorfrom among themselves, it is as if he hadappointed a successor (K: though the successor isnot yet identified) (H: resembling an appointmentin it being legally binding and Obligatory to acceptthe outcome of their choice) and they choose oneof their number (K: after the caliph's death,investing the person they select with the caliphate)(H: because 'Umar appointed a committee of sixto choose his successor from among themselves:'Ali, 'Uthman, Zubayr, 'Abd ai-Rahman ibn'AwL Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
and Talha, and afterhis death they agreed upon 'Uthman, (Allah bewell pleased with them));(3) and (H: the third means is) through seizureof power by an individual possessing thequalifications of a caliph (H: meaning by force,since the interests of the whole might be realizedthrough such a takeover, this being if the caliphhas died, or has himself obtained office throughseizure of power, i.e
when he lacks some of thenecessary qualifications.) (S: As for when theoffice is wrested from a living caliph, then if hehimself became caliph through seizure of power,the caliphate of his deposer is legally valid
But ifhe became caliph through an oath' of fealty (def:O25.4(1))or having been appointed as the previouscaliph's successor (def: O25.4(2)), then thedeposer's caliphate is not legally valid)
Atakeover is also legally valid, according to thesoundest position, by someone lacking moralrectitude (dis: o25.3(i)) or knowledge of SacredLaw (O25.3(f)) (K: meaning the caliphate of a perSOnlacking either condition is legally valid whenthe other conditions exist) (H: as is the takeover ofsomeone lacking other qualifications, even if hedoes not possess any of them (S: besides Islam, forif a non-Muslim seizes the caliphate, it is not legallybinding, and so too, according to most scholars,with someone who makes reprehensibleinnovations, as previously mentioned (dis:O25.3(a))).The caliphate of someone who seizespower is considered valid, even though his act ofusurpation is disobedience, in view of the dangerfrom the anarchy and strife that would otherwiseensue).
THE OBLIGATORY CHARACI'ER OF OBEDIENCETO THE CALIPH(K: Itis obligatory to obey the commandsand interdictions of the caliph (N: or his representative(def: O25.7-10)) in everything that is lawful(A: meaning it is obligatory to obey him in everythingthat is not unlawful, offensive, or merely inhis own personal interests), even if he is unjust,because of the hadith,""Hear and obey, even if the ruler plaeed overyou is an Ethiopian slave with amputatedextremities,""and because the purpose of his authority is Islamicunity, which could not be realized if obeying himwere not obligatory
It is also obligatory for him togive sincere counsel to those under him to theextent that it is possible.)
THE INY ALIDITY OF A PLURALITY OF CALIPHS(K: It is not permissible for two or moreindividuals to be invested with the caliphate (H: atone time), even when they are in different regions,or remote from one another, because of thedisunity of purpose and political dissolution itentails
If two ar.e simultaneously invested ascaliph, neither's caliphate is valid
If investedserially, the caliphate of the first of them is legallyvalid and the second is disciplined (def: 017) forcommitting an unlawful act, together with thosewho swear fealty to him, if they are aware of thefirst's investiture as caliph) (Mughni al-muhtaj ilama'rifa ma'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 4.132, andHawashi al-Shaykh 'Abd aI-Hamid aI-Sharwaniwa al-Shaykh Ahmad ibn Qasim al-'Abbadi 'alaTuhfa al-muhtaj bisharh al-Minhaj (y2), 9.77-78).
DELEGATING AUTHORITY TO THOSE UNDERTHE CALIPH(Mawardi:) The authority delegated to aminister of state may be of two kinds, full orlimitary.(1) Full ministerial authority is when thecaliph appoints as minister an individual who isentrusted with independently managing mattersthrough his own judgement and implementingthem according to his own personal reasoning(ijtihad).Appointing such an individual is not legallyinvalid, for Allah Most High says, quoting Hisprophet Moses (Allah bless him and give himpeace),.
And appoint for me a minister from my family,Aaron my brother; fortify me through him andhave him share my task"" (Koran 20:29-32),and if valid respecting the task of prophethood, itis valid a fortiori regarding the function of thecaliphate
Another reason is that the direction ofthe Islamic Community (Umma), which is thecaliph '$ duty, cannot be fully conducted alonewithout delegating responsibility; for him toappoint a minister to participate therein issounder than attempting to manage everythinghimself, a minister to help keep him from followingmere personal caprice, that he may thus befurther from error and safer from mistakes.The conditions necessary for such a ministerare the same as those for a caliph
exceptinglineage alone (dis: O25.3(e)), for the ministermust implement his views and execute his judgements,and must accordingly be capable of expertlegal reasoning (ijtihad)
He must also possess anadditional qualification to those required for thecaliphate, namely, by being specially qualified toperform the function he is appointed to.(2) Limitary ministerial authority is a lesserresponsibility and has fewer conditions, since therole of personal judgement therein is confined tothe views of the caliph and their implementation,this minister being, as it were, an intermediarybetween the caliph, his subjects, and theirappointed rulers; delivering orders, performingdirectives, implementing judgements, informingof official appointments, mustering armies, andinforming the caliph in turn of important events,that the minister may deal with them as the caliphorders
He is an assistant in carrying out mattersand is not appointed to command them or haveauthority over them
Such a ministry does notrequire an appointment but only the caliph's permission.
When the caliph appoints a ruler over aregion or city, the ruler's authority may be of twokinds, general or specific
The general may in turnbe of two types, authority in view of merit, whichis invested voluntarily; and authority in view ofsiezure of power, invested out of necessity.
Authority in view of merit is that which isfreely invested by the caliph through his ownchoice, and entails delegating a given limitaryfunction and the use of judgement within a rangeof familiar alternatives
This investiture consistsof the caliph appointing an individual to independentlygovern a city or region with authority overall its inhabitants and discretion in familiar affairsfor all matters of government, including sevenfunctions:(1) raising and deploying armies on the frontiersand fixing their salaries, if the caliph has notalready done so;(2) reviewing laws and appointing judgesand magistrates;(3) collecting the annual rate (khiraj) fromthose allowed to remain on land taken by Islamicconquests, gathering zakat from those obliged topay, appointing workers to handle it, and distributingit to eligible recipients;(4) protecting the religion and the sacrosanct,preserving the religion from alterationand substitution;(5) enforcing the prescribed legal meauresconnected with the rights of Allah and men;(6) leading Muslims at group and Fridayprayers, whether personally or by representative;(7) facilitating travel to the hajj for both pilgrimsfrom the region itself and those passingthrough from elsewhere, that they may proceed tothe pilgrimage with all necessary help;(8) and if the area has a border adjacent toenemy lands, an eighth duty arises, namely toundertake jihad against enemies, dividing thespoils of battle among combatants, and settingaside a fifth (def: 010.3) for deserving recipients.
Authority in view of seizure of power,invested out of necessity, is when a leader forciblytakes power in an area over which the caliph sub-sequently confirms his authority and invests himwith its management and rule
Such a leaderattains political authority and management bytakeover, while the caliph, by giving him authorization,is enabled to enforce the rules of the religionso that the matter may be brought frominvalidity to validity and from unlawfulness tolegitimacy
And if this process is beyond what isnormally recognized as true investiture of authoritywith its conditions and rules, it yet preservesthe ordinances of the Sacred Law and rules of thereligion that may not be left vitiated and compromised(al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa al-wi/ayat aldiniyya(y87) , 25-39).*
And Allah Most High and Glorious knowsbest what is correct (0: meaning that He knowsbest what actually corresponds to the truth, inword and deed, the author thereby denying theclaim to know better
There is scholarly disagreementas to whether the truth (A: about the rule ofAllah for a particular ruling) is really one or multiple(A: many scholars holding that all positionsof qualified mujtahids on a question are correct).In fact, it is one, the Imam who is right about it(Allah be well pleased with them all) receivingtwo rewards, one for his attempt and one for beingcorrect, while the one who is not is mistaken,receiving a reward for his effort and being excusedfor his mistake
All of which applies to particularrulings of Sacred Law (furu'), as opposed to fundamentalsof Islamic faith (usul, def: books u andv), in which the person wrong about them is guiltyof serious sin, as is anyone who contradicts thetenets of the orthodox Sunni Community (Ahl alSunnawa al-Jama'a)).*
(n: The first of the books translated as appendices to our basic text 'Umdatal-salik concerns the enormities alluded to above in the context of court testimony(dis: O24.3), and has been edited from the Kitab al-kaba'ir [Book of enormities]of Imam Dhahabi, who defines an enormity as any sin entailing either a threat ofpunishment in the hereafter explicitly mentioned by the Koran or hadith, a prescribedlegal penalty (hadd), or being accursed by Allah or His messenger (Allahbless him and give him peace)
)
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful andCompassionate.O Lord, facilitate and help
The sheikh,Imam, and hadith master (hafiz, def: w48.2(end))Shams ai-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn'Uthman Dhahabi (may Allah forgive him) said:Praise be to Allah for true faith in Him
His books,messengers, angels, and decrees
Allah bless ourprophet Muhammad, his folk, and those who supporthim, with a lasting blessing that will grant usthe Abode of Permanence near to Him.This is a book useful in knowing the enormities,both in general and in detail
May Allah byHis mercy enable us to avoid them
Allah MostHigh says,""If you avoid the enormities of what you havebeen forbidden, We shall acquit you of yourwrongdoings and admit you to a generous place toenter"" (Koran 4:31).In this text, Allah Most High promises whoeveravoids the enormities to admit him to paradise.The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""The five prescribed prayers, and from oneFriday prayer to another entail forgiveness forwhat is between them as long as you do not committhe enormities.""So we are obliged to learn what they are, that theMuslim may avoid them.*
Ascribing associates to Allah Most Highmeans to hold that Allah has an equal, whereasHe has created you, and to worship another withHim, whether it be a stone, human, sun, moon,prophet, sheikh, jinn, star, angel, or other.
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Allah does not forgive that any shouldbe associated with Him, but forgives what is otherthan that to whomever He wills"" (Koran 4:48).(2) ""Surely, whoever ascribes associates toAllah, Allah has forbidden him paradise, and hisrefuge is hell"" (Koran 5:72).(3) ""Of a certainty, worshipping others withAllah is a tremendous injustice"" (Koran 31:13).
The Koranic verses concerning this arevery numerous, it being absolutely certain thatwhoever ascribes associates· to Allah and dies insuch a state is one of hell's inhabitants, just aswhoever believes in Allah and dies as a believer isone of the inhabitants of paradise, even if heshould be punished first.*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Whoever intentionally kills a believer,his recompense shall be hell, abiding thereinforever, and Allah shall be wroth with him, damnhim, and ready for him a painful torment"" (Koran 4:93).(2) ""Whoever takes a life other than toretaliate for a killing orfor corruption in the landis as if he had slain all mankind"" (Koran 5:32).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""When two Muslims meet with drawnswords, both the slayer and the slain go to hell.""Someone said, ""0 Messenger of Allah, that is forthe slayer
But why the slain?"" And he replied,""Because he meant to kill the other.""*
Sorcery is an enormity because the sorcerermust necessarily disbelieve (dis: x.136), andthe accursed Devil has no other motive for teachinga person witchcraft than that he might therebyascribe associates to Allah (shirk).
Allah Most High says:(1) ""A sorcerer will never prosper whereverhe goes"" (Koran 20:69).(2) "" ..
But the devils disbelieved, teachingpeople sorcery"" (Koran 2:102).And Allah Most High says, concerning Harut andMarut,(3) ""The two do not teach anyone beforetelling them, 'We are only a temptation, so be notunbelievers,' but they learn from these two thatwhich they use to separate a man from his wife""(Koran 2:102).*
Allah Most High says:(1) But a generation followed them who dissipatedthe prayer and pursued [their] lusts, andthey shall find Ghayy [n: a ""valley in hell"" (Tafsiral-Jalalayn (y77), 402], save he who repents ..
""(Koran 19:59--QO).(2) ""Woe to those who pray, unmindful oftheir prayers"" (Koran 107:4-5).(3) ""'What has brought you to hell?' Andthey shall say, 'We were not of those whoprayed' "" (Koran 74:42-43).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The agreement that is between us and themis the prayer: whoever leaves it has disbelieved[dis: w18.2-5].""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Woe unto polytheists, who do not payzakat and are disbelievers in the hereafter""(Koran 41:6-7).(2) ""Those who hoard gold and silver,spending it not in the way of Allah, give themglad tidings of a painful torment, the day theyare roasted upon it in the fire of hell"" (Koran9:34-35).*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Your Lord decrees that you shall worshipnone but Him and treat your parents well,and if one or both of them reach old age with you,say not 'Uff!' to them nor upbraid them, but speaknoble words and lower the wing of humility tothem out of mercy"" (Koran 17:23-24).(2) ""And We enjoin man to be good to hisparents"" (Koran 29:8).p6,2 The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Shall I not tell you of the worst of the enormities?..
""and one of those he mentioned was undutifulbehavior to one's parents,*
Allah Most High says:""0 you who believe: fear Allah and forgowhat remains of usurious gain if you are believers.If you will not, then know of a declaration of war[against you] from Allah and His messenger""(Koran 2:278-79),
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""May Allah curse him who eats of usuriousgain (rib a) or feeds it to another [A: curse (la'n)meaning to put someone far from the divinemercy]
""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Verily, those who wrongfully eat theproperty of orphans but fill their bellies with fire,and shall roast in a blaze"" (Koran 4:10).(2) ""Approach not the orphan's property,save in exchange for that which is better"" (Koran
6:152).If the orphan's guardian is poor and consumessome of his charge's property withoutexceeding what is permissible, there is no harm init (A: no harm (1a ba's) being a technical term inSacred Law meaning that it is better not to)
Whatis in excess of the permissible is absolutely unlawful.(N: Scholars say that the guardian may lawfullyonly take whichever is less: the amount heneeds, or else the wage typically received for workcomparable to that performed for the orphan.)The criterion of the permissible is what is customaryamong people who are true believers free frombase, ulterior motives.*
Some scholars hold that lying about theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) isunbelief (kufr) that puts one beyond the pale ofIslam
There is no doubt that a premeditated lieagainst Allah and His messenger that declaressomething which is unlawful to be permissible orsomething permissible to be unlawful is pureunbelief
The question (A: as to when it is an enormityrather than outright unbelief) only concernslies about other than that.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""A lie about me is not the same as a lieabout someone else: whoever intentionally liesabout me shall take a place for himself in hell.""(2) ""Whoever relates words purportedlyfrom me, thinking it is a lie, is a liar.""
It is clear from this that narrating a forged(mawdu') hadith is not permissible.
(Ibn Kathir:) As for detecting forgedhadiths, there are many signs that enable one todo so, such as internal evidence of forgery inwording or content, including poor grammar, corruptmeaning, the mention of incredible rewardsfor inconsiderable efforts, or inconsistency withwhat is established in the Koran and rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) hadith
It is not permissiblefor anyone to relate such a hadith except by way ofcondemning it, to warn one of the ignorant publicor common people who might be deceived by it.There are many types of individuals who forgehadiths, induding those with corrupt convictionsabout basic tenets of Islamic faith, as well asdevotees who believe they are doing good by makingup hadith-like stories that encourage others todo good, avoid bad, or perform meritorious acts,that such stories may be acted upon (al-Bahith alhathithsharh lkhtisar 'ulum al-hadith (y61), 78).S (n: Having discussed lies and forgeries, we must strictly distinguish themfrom the hadith category called not well authenticated (da'if, lit
""weak""), sotermedbecause of such factors as having a channel of transmission containing anarrator whose memory was poor, one who was unreliable, unidentified by name,or for otherreasons
Such hadiths legally differfrom forgeries in the permissibilityof ascribing them to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and in otherways discussed at w48 below.)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever breaks a fast-day of Ramadanwithout an excuse or dispensation could notrequite it by fasting a lifetime, were he to do so [A:meaning that making up that day, while obligatory,does not remove the sin, though repentancedoes].""The above hadith is not well authenticated.(2) ""The five prescribed prayers, and fromone Friday prayer to another or from Ramadan toRamadan, expiate the sins between them as longas the enormities are avoided.""(3) ""Islam is based on five things: testifyingthat there is no god but Allah and that Muhammadis the Messenger of Allah, performing theprayer, giving zakat, fasting Ramadan, and thepilgrimage to the House (Kaaba).""*
Allah Most High says,""On that day, whoever turns his back tothem, unless pretending flight in order to reattack,or separating to join another unit, will bearthe wrath of Allah and his refuge will be hell, a terribleend"" (Koran 8:16).*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Approach not fornication, it is surely anindecency and evil as a way"" (Koran 17:32).(2) ""The fornicator and fornicatress,scourge them each a hundred stripes and let notpity for them take you"" (Koran 24:2).(3) ""The fornicator shall not wed other thana fornicatress or idolatress
The fornicatress, noneshall wed her but a fornicator or idOlator
That isunlawful for believers"" (Koran 24;3).(n: The latter verse ""was revealed when somepoor Muslim emigrants in Medina were consideringmarrying the polytheists' prostitutes, whowere wealthy, so that the prostitutes could providefor them
One opinion is that the Koranicprohibition concerned these people alone
A secondposition is that it was a general prohibition,but was superseded by the revelation of the subsequentverse,'And marry those of you who are withoutspouses' (Koran 24:32).""(Tafsir al-Ja/a/ayn (y77), 457))
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever fornicates or drinks wine
Allahtakes his faith from him as a man takes a shirt offover his head.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""The dispute [lit
""way against""] is onlywith those who oppress people and wrongfullycommit aggression in the land: these will have apainful torment"" (Koran 42:42).(2) ""They did not forbid each other the evilthat they did, and how wicked was what theywould do"" (Koran 5:79).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""All of you are trustees, and each isresponsible for those entrusted to his care.""(2) ""Any superior who misrules his followersshall go to hell
,.(3) ""There will come corrupt, tyrannous rulers:whoever confirms their lies and assists them intheir oppression is not of me, nor I of him, andshall not meet me at my watering place inparadise
""(4) ""He who shows no mercy will not beshown any
""(5) ""The worst of your rulers shall be thosewhom you detest and who detest you, whom youcurse and who curse you."" They said, ""0 Messengerof Allah, can we not throw them out?""And he replied, ""No, not as long as they maintainthe prescribed prayer [dis: O25.3(a(A:))] amongyou.""(6) ""You'll be anxious to lead, and this willbe a source of remorse to you on the Day of Judgement.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""They will ask you about wine andgambling
Say: There is great sin therein' ""(Koran 2:219).(2) .
0 you believe: wine, gambling, idols,and fortune-telling arrows are but filth of theDevil's handiwork, so shun them ..
"" (Koran
5:90).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Scourge whoever drinks wine
If hedrinks it again, scourge him again
If he drinks itagain, scourge him again
If he drinks it a fourthtime, kill him."" (N: The ruling of this hadith waslater superseded, for the Prophet (Allah bless'himand give him peace) was brought a drunkard for afourth time, but did not kill him, showing thatexecution had been superseded, though thehadith remains a proof that the crime of drunkennessis an enormity.)(2) ""Allah has cursed wine, and whoeverdrinks it, pours it, sells it, buys it, presses it foranother, presses it for himself, carries it, acceptsits delivery, or eats its price.""(3) ""Whoever drinks wine in this world shallbe forbidden it in the next.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Moses said, 'I surely seek refuge in myLord and yours from every arrogant person whodisbelieves in the Day of Reckoning' "" (Koran40:27).(2) ""Assuredly, Allah loves not those whohold aloof out of pride"" (Koran 16:23).(3) ""Such is the Final A bode
We grant it tothose who seek not exaltation in the land, nor corruption""(Koran 28:83).(4)
Turn not your cheek from people out ofpride, nor walk haughtily through the land, forAllah loves no one who is conceited and boastful""(Koran 31:18).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(l) ""Tyrants and the arrogant will be raisedon the Last Day as grain strewn underfoot thatpeople will walk upon.""(2) ""No one with the slightest particle ofarrogance in his heart will enter paradise."" A manremarked, ""But a man likes his clothes to be niceand his sandals good."" The Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said, ""Verily, Allah isbeautiful and loves beauty
Arrogance is refusingto acknowledge what is right and consideringothers beneath one.""(3) Allah Most High says, ""Greatness is Mygarment and haughtiness My mantle: whoevervies with Me for them I will throw into helL""(4) Salama ibn al-Akwa' recounts that a manwas eating with his left hand in the presence of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace).The Prophet told him, ""Eat with your right,"" towhich the man replied, ""I cannot,"" thoughnothing stopped him but arrogance
The Prophetsaid, ""May you not be able to."" And the mancould never lift his right hand to his mouth again.
The wickedest arrogance is that of someonewho exalts himself over people because of hislearning and gloats to himself about his superiority.The knowledge of such a person is of absolutelyno benefit to him
Whoever learns SacredKnowledge for the sake of the next world is unsettiedby his learning, his heart is humbled and hisego lowered
Such a person lies in wait for his selfishnessand never gives it free rein
He constantlytakes his ego to task and corrects it
Were he toneglect it, it would diverge from the right path anddestroy him
The person who seeks knowledge totake pride in it or to gain a position of leadership,looking disdainfully at other Muslims, thinkingthem fools and making light of them-all this isthe most enormous arrogance, and ""no one withthe slightest particle of arrogance in his heart willenter paradise.""*
Allah Most High says,""Shun the abomination of idols, and shunfalse testimony"" (Koran 22:30).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""On the Day of Judgement, the feet ofthe person who bore false witness will not stir fromtheir place before their owner is condemned tohell.""(2) ""Shall I tell you of the worst enor,mities?-worshipping others with Allah, showingdisrespect to parents, giving a false statement, andtestifying to the truth of a falsehood."" And hekept repeating it until we were telling ourselves[N: out of sympathy for him because of the strainofrepeating it], ""If only he would be sHent.""*
In more than one place in the Holy Koran,Allah recounts to us the story of Lot's people, andhow He destroyed them for their wicked practice.There is consensus among both Muslims and thefollowers of all other religions that sodomy is anenormity
It is even viler and uglier than adultery.
Allah Most High says:""Do you approach the males of humanity,leaving the wives Allah has created for you?But you are a people who transgress"" (Koran
26:165-66).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Kill the one who sodomizes and the onewho lets it be done to him.""(2) ""May Allah curse him who does whatLot's people did.""(3) ""Lesbianism by women is adultery betweenthem.""*
COULD BE CHASTE (def: 013.2)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Those who accuse believing women,unmindful though innocent, are cursed in thisworld and the next and shall receive a painful torment""(Koran 24:23).(2) ""Those who accuse innocent womenwithout producing four witnesses, scourge themeighty stripes"" (Koran 24:4).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Avoid the seven heinous sins ..
""and he mentioned charging believing women,unmindful though innocent, with adultery.
As for someone who accuses the Motherof the Faithful' A'isha of adultery after the revelationfrom heaven of her innocence (Koran 24:11-12), such a person is an unbeliever (kafir) denyingthe Koran and must be killed.*
Allah Most High says:""No prophet has been given to misappropriatewealth
Whoever does so shall bring whatthey have taken on the Day of Judgement""(Koran 3:161).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:"",.
By Allah, none of you shall wrongfullytake something save that he will meet Allah carryingit on Judgement Day, and I swear I will notrecognize any of you who is carrying a gruntingcamel, lowing cow, or bleating sheep when youmeet Allah."" Then he lifted his hands and said,""0 Allah, have I told them?""*
Allah Most High says,""Consume not one another's propertythrough falsehood, nor proffer it to those whojudge [between you] ..
"" (Koran 2:188).
The category of taking other's propertythrough falsehood includes such people as thosewho impose non-Islamic taxes (def: p32), thehighwayman who blocks the road, the thief, theidler
the betrayer of a trust, the cheater or adulteratorof trade goods, the borrower who denieshaving borrowed something, the person whostints when weighing or measuring out goods, theperson who picks up lost and found property anddoes not give notice of having found it, the personwho sells merchandise with a hidden defect, thegambler, and the merchant who tells the buyerthat the merchandise cost more than it did.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever appropriates a handsbreadthof land through falsehood shall be made to carryit, as thick as seven earths, around his neck onJudgement Day.""(2) ""For someone to put off repayment of adebt when able to pay is an injustice.""(3) A man said, ""0 Messenger of Allah, willmy mistakes be forgiven me if I am killed, in steadfastnessand anticipating Allah's reward, advancingand not retreating?"" He replied, ""Yes, exceptfor debts,""(4) ""Flesh nurtured on ill-gotten wealth willnot enter paradise
The hellfire has a better rightto it.""(5) ""There is a record that Allah will notignore the slightest bit of
It is the oppression ofAllah's servants.""
Oppression is of three types
The first isconsuming property through falsehood; the second,oppressing Allah's servants by killing, hitting,breaking bones or causing wounds; and thethird, oppressing them through spoken abuse,cursing, reviling, or aceusing them of adultery orsodomy without proof
The Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said in an address to thepeople at Mina,""Verily, your blood, property, and reputationsare as inviolable to one another as theinviolability of this day, this month, and this city ofyours.""*
Allah Most High says:""Thieves, male or female--::eut off theirhands in retribution for what they have earned, asan exemplary punishment from Allah
Allah isAlmighty and Wise"" (Koran 5:38).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Allah curse the thief whose hand is cutfor stealing a rope.""(2) ""If Muhammad's daughter Fatima stole,I would cut off her hand.""
A thief's repentance is of no benefit to himuntil he returns whatever he stole (dis: p77.3)
Ifmoneyless, he must have the victim absolve him offinancial responsibility.*
(A: The amount of money they ask makes nodifference, and like this, in being money takenthrough falsehood, are all measures imposedupon travellers without their free choice, such astariffs, mandatory currency exchange
visa fees,and so forth.)
Allah Most High says:""The recompense of those at war with Allahand His messenger and who strive for corruptionin the land is that they be killed or crucified, or ahand and foot cut off from opposite sides, orbanished from the land
That is their humiliationin this world, and an immense torment awaitsthem in the next"" (Koran 5:33).
Merely making people feel that the way isunsafe is to commit an enormity, so how then ifsuch a person should take money?*
An engulfing oath is one in which there ispremeditated lying
It is termed engulfing becauseit whelms its swearer in sin.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(I) ""The enormities are worshipping otherswith Allah, showing disrespect to parents, killing a human being, and.the engulfing oath.""(2) ""A man once said, 'By Allah, Allah willnot forgive So-and-so.' Allah said, 'Who is it thatswears I must not forgive So-and-so?
I forgive himand annul all your works.' ""*
Allah Most High says:(1) Allah guides not the profligate liar""(Koran 40:28).(2) ""May liars perish"" (Koran 51:10).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Lying leads one to wickedness andwickedness leads one to helL A man keeps lyinguntil Allah records that he is an inveterate liar.""(2) ""The marks of a hypocrite are three:when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promisehe breaks it, and when entrusted with somethinghe betrays the trust
""(3) ""A believer's natural disposition mightcomprise any trait other than treachery anduntruthfulness
""*
Allah Most High says:""Do not kill yourselves, for Allah is compassionatetowards you
Whoever does so, in transgressionand wrongfully, We shall roast in a fire,and that is an easy matter for Allah"" (Koran
4:29-30).The Prophet (Allar bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Of those before you, there was once awounded man who could not bear it, so he took aknife and cut his arm, and bled until he died
AllahMost High said, 'My slave has taken his life beforeI have, so I forbid him paradise.' ""(2) H\Vhoever kills himself with a knife willabide forever in the fire of hell, perpetually stabbinghis belly with it
Whoever kills himself withpoison will abide forever in the fire of hell, poisonin hand, perpetually drinking of it.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Whoso does not judge by what Allahhas revealed, those are the unbelievers"" (Koran5:44).(2) ""Those who conceal the clear explanationsand guidance We have revealed, after Wehave explained it in the Book to people, arecursed by Allah and those who curse"" (Koran
2:159).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""One judge shall go to paradise, and twoto hell
The judge who knows what is right andjudges accordingly shall be in paradise
The onewho knows what is right but intentionally judgesunjustly will go to hell, and so will the judge whojudges without knowledge.""Anyone who judges without knowledge or evidencefrom Allah and His messenger regardingthe matter he gives an opinion on is subject to thisthreat.(2) ""Whoever is appointed to judge betweenpeople is as though slaughtered without a knife.""
It is unlawful for a judge to rule on a casewhen angry, especially at a litigant
When ajudge's qualities combine an insufficiency of SacredKnowledge, unworthy intention, bad disposition,and lack of godfearingness, then his destructionis complete and he must resign and hasten tosave himself from hell.*
Allah Most High says:""None shall wed a fornicatress but a fornicatoror idolator
That is unlawful for believers""(Koran 24:3).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Three will not enter paradise: he who isdisrespectful to his parents, he who lets his wifefornicate with another, and women who affectmasculinity
""
Someone who suspects his wife of indecencybut pretends not to know because he lovesher is not as bad as someone who actually pimpsfor her
There is no good in a man withoutjealousy for his rights.*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,(1) ""Men are already destroyed when theyobey women.""(2) The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) cursed effeminate men and masculinewomen.(3) The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) cursed men who wear women'sclothing and women who wear men's.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) cursed the man who marries a womanafter her divorce solely to permit her first husbandto remarry her ( dis: n 7.7) and curse d the first husband.*
Allah Most High says,""Say: 'I find nothing in what has beenrevealed to me that is unlawful for a person to eatexcept unslaughtered meat, blood outpoured, orthe flesh of swine, for all this is filth' "" (Koran
6:145).Whoever premeditatedly eats these whennot forced by necessity is a criminal.*
Allah Most High says,""And your raiment purify"" (Koran 74:4).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace):(1) passed by two graves and said, ""The twoare being tormented, and not for anything excessive:one of them did not free himself of traces ofurine
while the other was a talebearer l def: r3].""(2) And he said, ""Take care to remove allvestiges of urine from your persons, because it isthe main reason for torment in one's grave.""Moreover, the prayer of someone who doesnot protect his person and clothing from urine isnot acceptable (A: which is how scholars interpretthe above hadiths, as applying to those who arenegligent in removing all traces of urine beforethey pray).*
(A: Meaning to take revenues other thanthose which are countenanced by Sacred Law suchas zakat or the non-Muslim poll tax Gizya) (N:
though the state may take taxes to the extentnecessary to prevent the general detriment).)
Such people are among those meant bythe words of Allah Most High,""The dispute is only with those who oppresspeople, and wrongfully exceed prope[ bmlnds inthe land: these will have a painfui torment""(Koran 42:42).
And in the hadith of the adulteress whopurified herself by voluntarily being stoned todeath, there is the Prophet's remark (Allah blesshim and give him peace),""She has made a repentance so sincere that ifeven a tax taker repented with the like of it, hewould be forgiven.""
He who imposes taxes resembles a highwayman,and is worse than a thief
But one whoburdens the people, imposing over new levies onthem, is more tyrannous and oppressive thansomeone more equitable therein who treats thoseunder him more kindly
Those who gather taxes,who do the clerical work, or who accept the proceeds,such as a soldier, sheikh, or head of a Suficenter (zawiya)-all bear the sin, and are eating of Iill-gotten wealth (dis: w49).*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""The hypocrites are trying to fool Allah,while it is He who is outwitting them
And whenthey stand to pray they do so lazily, showing off topeople, remembering Allah but little"" (Koran4:142).(2) ""0 you who believe: do not nullify yourcharity by reminding recipients of having given itand by offending them, like someone who spendshis money as a show for people"" (Koran 2:264).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""The first person judged on ResurrectionDay will be a man martyred in battle.""He will be brought forth, Allah will reacquainthim with His blessings upon him and theman will acknowledge them, whereupon Allahwill say, 'What have you done with them?' towhich the man will respond, 'I fought to the deathfor You.'""Allah will reply, 'You lie
You fought inorder to be called a hero, and it has already beensaid.' Then he will be sentenced and dragged awayon his face to be flung into the fire.""Then a man will be brought forward wholearned Sacred Knowledge, taught it to others,and who recited the Koran
Allah will remind himof His gifts to him and the man will acknowledgethem, and then Allah will say, 'What have youdone with them?' The man will answer, 'Iacquired Sacred Knowledge, taught it, and recitedthe Koran, for Your sake.'""Allah will say, 'You lie
You learned so as tobe called a scholar, and read the Koran so as to becalled a reciter, and it has already been said.' Thenthe man will be sentenced and dragged away onhis face to be flung into the fire.""Then a man will be brought forward whomAllah expansively provided for, lavishing varietiesof property upon him, and Allah will recall to himthe benefits bestowed, and the man will acknowledgethem, to which Allah will say, 'And whathave you done with them?' The man will answer,'1 have not left a single kind of expenditure Youlove to see made in Your cause, save that I havespent on it for Your sake.'""Allah will say, 'You lie
You did it so as to becalled generous, and it has alreapy been said.'Then he will be sentenced and dragged away onhis face to be flung into the fire.""(2) ""The slightest bit of showing off in goodworks is as if worShipping others with Allah.""
(A: When there is an act of obedience the servant intends to conceal butAllah reveals, then it is merely gratitude for Hisblessings to admit it to others andthank Him for it
When asked if one is fasting, for example, and one is, then oneshould say ""Praise be to Allah"" (al-Hamdu lillah).)*
Allah Most High says,""Do not betray Allah and His messenger, norknowingly betray your trusts"" (Koran 8:27).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""Someone who cannot keep a trust is devoidof faith
Someone who cannot keep an agreementis devoid of religion.""
A breach of faith in anything is very ugly)but in some matters is worse than others
A personwho cheats one for a pittance is not like a personwho betrays one concerning one's wife andmoney, perpetrating outrages.*
(A: Learning Sacred Knowledge for the sakeof this world means that if not for this-worldlyreasons, a person would not have bothered tolearn (dis: a3.I).)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Only the knowledgeable of His slavesfear Allah"" (Koran 35:28).(2) ""Those who conceal what Allah hasrevealed of the Book and purchase a trifling pricethereby, these but fill their bellies with hellfire""(Koran 2:174).(3) ""And Allah made a covenant with thosegiven the Book to explain it to people and notkeep it from them
But they flung it behind theirbacks"" (Koran 3:187).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Anyone who seeks Sacred Knowledge to viewith scholars, argue with fools, or win people'shearts will go to hell.""
Hilal ibn aI-'Ala' said, ""Seeking SacredKnowledge is arduous, learning it is harder thanseeking it, applying it is harder than learning it,and remaining safe from it is even harder thanapplying it.""*
Allah Most High says,""0 you believe: do not nullify your charity byreminding recipients of having given it and byoffending them"" (Koran 2:264).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""There are three people whom Allah will notspeak to, look at, or exonerate on the Day ofJudgement, and who will have a painful torment:he who wears the hem of his garment low [A: outof pride], he who reminds recipients of his charityto them, and he who sells merchandise swearingthat he paid more for it than he actually did.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Verily, We have created everything in adetermined measure"" (Koran 54:49).(2) ""Allah has created you and what you do""(Koran 37:96).(3) ""Whomever Allah leads astray has noguide"" (Koran 7:186).(4) ""And Allah knowingly led him astray""(Koran 45:23).(5) ""But you will not want to unless Allahwants"" (Koran 76:30).(6) ""And He inspired it [A: the human soul]its evil and its godfearingness"" (Koran 91:8).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace):(1) ""0 Messenger of Allah, what is faith?""And he replied, ""To believe in Allah, His angels,His messengers, the resurrection after death, andin destiny (qadr, def: u3.7-8), its good and evil.""(2) ""There are six whom I curse, Allahcurses, and who are cursed by every prophetwhose supplications are answered: he who deniesAllah's destiny, he who adds anything to Allah'sbook, he who rules arrogantly, he who considerswhat Allah has prohibited to be lawful, he whodeems it permissible to treat my family in waysAllah has forbidden [A: such as insulting or revilingthem],and he who abandons mysunna [A: outof disdain for it].""
Allah Most High says,""Do not spy"" (Koran 49:12).*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever listens to people who are averse tohis listening shall have molten lead poured into hisears on the Day of Judgement.""
This may not be an enormity (A: in somecases (dis: r6.4)).*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Cursing a believer is like killing him.""(2) ""When a servant curses something, thecurse rises up to the sky, where the doors of thesky shut it out, and then it falls back to earth,where the doors of the earth shut it out
Then itsearches right and left and when it does not findanywhere to go it comes back to the thing whichwas cursed, should it deserve it
H not, it returnsupon the person who uttered it.""(3) While the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) was on a journey, there was awoman of the Medinan Helpers (Ansar) riding acamel which annoyed her, whereupon she cursedit
The Prophet heard this and said, ""Take offwhat is on its back and release it, for it has beencursed."" And it is as if I can still see it now, walkingalong among the people, no one stopping it.*
Allah Most High says,""Fulfill covenants, for surely convenants willbe asked about"" (Koran 17:34).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""He who obeys me obeys Allah, and he whodisobeys me disobeys Allah
He who obeys theleader obeys me, and he who disobeys the leaderdisobeys me
,.(A: The leader referred to in the hadith is thecaliph of the Muslims or his authorized representative(dis: O25.5)
Whenever there is a group ofthree or more Muslims, it is sunna for a leader(amir) to be chosen
It is sunna to obey such aleader, and leaving him or not obeying him contraveneswhat is recommended, but is not unlawfuL)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Pursue not that which you have noknowledge of' (Koran 17:36).(2) ""[He is] the Knower of the Unseen, anddiscloses not His unseen to anyone [dis: w60.1],except to a messenger with whom He is pleased""(Koran 72:26-27).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever goes to a 'psychic' ('arraf) orfortune-teller and believes what he says has disbelievedin what has been revealed to Muhammad.""(2) ""Allah Most High says, 'One of My servantsreaches daybreak a believer, another anunbeliever
He who says, ""We have received rainby Allah's grace,"" is a believer in Me and a disbelieverin the planets
But he who says, ""We havereceived rain by the effects of such and such amansion of the moon, "" is an unbeliever in Me anda believer in planets' [A: if he thinks they have acausal influence independent of the will of Allah(dis: 08.7(17)))].' ""(3) ""Whoever goes to a 'psychic,' asks himabout something, and believes him, will not havehis prayer accepted for forty days.""*
AGAINST HER HUSBAND (def: m10.12)
Allah Most High says:""Men are the guardians of women, sinceAllah has been more generous to one than theother, and because of what they [men] spend fromtheir wealth
So righteous women will be obedient,and in absence watchful, for Allah is watchful.And if you fear their intractability, warnthem, send them from bed, or hitthem
Butiftheyobey you, seek no way to blame them"" (Koran
4:34).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Allah will not look at a woman who isungrateful to her husband, while unable to dowithout him.""(2) ""When a man calls his wife to his bed andshe will not come, and he spends the night angrywith her, the angels curse her until morning.""(3) ""It is not lawful for a woman to fast whenher husband is present, save by his leave
Nor topermit anyone into his house except with his permission.""(4) ""Whoever leaves her husband's house[A: without his permission], the angels curse heruntil she returns or repents.""(Khalil Nahlawi:) It is a condition for the permissibilityof her going out (dis: m10.3-4) that she takeno measures to enhance her beauty, and that herfigure is concealed or aIterea to a form unlikely todraw looks from men or attract them
Allah MostHigh says,""Remain in your homes and do not displayyour beauty as women did in the pre-Islamicperiod of ignorance"" (Koran 33:33).(al-Durar al-mubaha (y99), 160)*
(A: The opposite, maintaining the bonds ofkinship (silat al-rahim), means politeness, kindtreament, and concern for all one's relatives, evenif distantly related, corrupt, non-Muslim, or unappreciative.
Allah Most High says:""If you turn back, would you then cause corruptionin the land, severing your family ties?Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed anddeafened, and blinded their sight"" (Koran
47:22-23).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""He who severs his family ties will notenter paradise.""(2) ""Whoever believes in Allah and the LastDay, let him maintain the bonds of kinship.""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Every maker of pictures will go to thefire, where a being will be set upon him for eachpicture he made, to torment him in helL""(2) ""Whoever makes an image shall berequired [on the Last Day] to breathe a spirit intoit, but will never be able to do so.""(n: Other hadith evidence appears at w50,which discusses legal questions relating to theartistic, photographic, and televisual depiction ofanimate life.)*
Allah Most High says,""Obey not every wretched swearer; slanderer,going about with tales"" (Koran 68: 10-11).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""He who stirs up enmity among peopleby quoting their words to each other will not enterparadise
""(2) ""You find that among the worst people issomeone who is two-faced, showing one face tosome and another face to others.""(3) ""Do not tell me anything about my Companions,for I want to meet them without disquietin my heart.""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who slaps his cheeks, rips his pockets, orcalls out the cries of the pre-Islamic period ofignorance is not of us.""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Two qualities in people are unbelief: attackinganother's ancestry, and wailing over thedead.""(N: The hadith does not mean that these thingsput one beyond the pale of Islam, but that they arethe actions of the unbelievers.)*
Allah Most High says,""The dispute is only with those who oppresspeople and wrongfully commit aggression in theland: these will have a painful torment"" (Koran
42:42).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,(1) ""Allah has inspired to me that you are allto be h umble towards each other, such that no onetransgresses against or exalts himself aboveanother.""(2) Malik Rahawi said: ""0 Messenger ofAllah, I have been given of beauty that which yousee, and I do not like anyone to wear better sandalsthan I
Is this of presumptuous pride?"" Heanswered, ""This is not of presumptuousness,which rather consists of refusing to admit the truthand considering people inferior.""(3) ""A woman was tortured for a cat sheimprisoned until it died
She went to hell becauseof it, having neither fed nor watered it, for sheconfined it; nor yet having let it go to forage on thesmall creatures of the earth.""(4) ""Allah will certainly torture those whotorture people in this world.""
(A: The early Kharijite sect committed thesetransgressions
)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Do not commit transgressions; surelyAllah loves not the transgressors"" (Koran 2: 190).(2) ""Whoever disobeys Allah and His messengerhas gone manifestly astray"" (Koran 33:36).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""If someone says to his Muslim brother, 'Youunbeliever,' one of them deserves the name.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Those who hurt believing men andwomen who have done nothing to deserve it shallbear the burden of calumny 'and open sin"" (Koran33:S8).(2) ""Do not spy and do not slander oneanother"" (Koran 49:12).(3) ""Woe to whoover disparages othersbehind their back or to their face"" (Koran: 104:1).(4) ""Those who love that scandal should bespread concerning the believers shall have a painfultorment in this world and the next"" (Koran
24:19).The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim.He does not oppress him, hang back fromcoming to his aid, or belittle him
It is sufficientlywicked for someone to demean his fellow Muslim.""(2) ""By Allah, he does not believe
ByAllah, he does not believe
By Allah, he does notbelieve."" Someone asked, ""Who, 0 Messenger ofAllah?"" And he said, ""He whose neighboris notsafe from his evil conduct
""(3) Someone said, ""0 Messenger of Allah,So-and-so spends her nights praying and her daysfasting, but there is something in her tongue thatmaliciously injures her neighbors."" He replied,""There is no good in her, she will go to hell.""(4) ""When 1 was taken up in the Ascent(Mi'raj), I passed by people with fingernails ofcopper who were raking their faces and chestswith them
I asked, 'Who are they, Gabriel?' andhe said, 'They are those who slandered others [lit.""ate people's flesh""] and attacked their reputations.'""(5) ""No man charges another with corruptionor unbelief, save that the charge returnsagainst himself if the other is not as he said.""(6) ""Do not revile the dead, for they havegone on to what they have sent ahead.""*
Allah Most High says,""Verily, those who offend Allah and Hismessenger are cursed by Allah in this world andthe next, and He has prepared for them ahumiliating torment"" (Koran 33:57).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Abu Bakr, if you anger them [some ofthe poorer Emigrants], you anger your Lord.""(2) ""Allah Most High says: 'He who is hostileto a friend (wali) of Mine I declare war against.My slave approaches Me with nothing morebeloved to Me than what I have made obligatoryfor him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Mewith voluntary works until I love him
And whenI love him, I am his hearing with which he hears,his sight with which he sees, his hand with whichhe seizes, and his foot with which he walks
If heasks Me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeksrefuge in Me, I will surely protect him.' ""(n: This hadith is explained in detail at w33, whichdiscusses the friends (awliya') of Allah MostHigh.)*
Allah Most High says,"" ..
Nor walk haughtily through the land""(Koran 31:18).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""The caftan of the Muslim comes downto midcalf, there being no harm in what is betweenthis and the anklebones, though any of it belowthe anklebones is in hell
Whoever lets the hem ofhis garment drag on the ground out of pride, Allahwill not look at him.""(2) ""While a man was walking along in a newset of clothes, with a swagger to his step, pleasedwith himself, and his hair combed down, Allahcaused the earth to swallow him, and he will keepsinking until the Last Day.""*
Allah Most High says,""And the raiment of godfearingness is better""(Koran 7:26).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Only those with no share in the nextworld wear silk in this one.""(2) ""Wearing gold and Silk has been madeunlawful for the men of my Community but permissiblefor its women.""*
Allah Most High says,""Eat not of what the name of Allah has notbeen mentioned over; verily it is disobedience""(Koran 6:121).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""May Allah curse whoever slaughters inother than Allah's name.""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehimpeaee) said,""May Allah curse whoever changes the land'sproperty-line markers.""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The curse of Allah is upon whoever revilesmy Companions.""
'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be well pleasedwith him) said,""By Him who cleaves the seed and createsthe soul, it is the solemn word of the IlliterateProphet to me that none shall love me except abeliever, and none hate me except a hypocrite
""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The sign of faith is love of the Helpers(Ansar), and the sign of hypocrisy is hatred of theHelpers.""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""He who calls others to misguidance isguilty of a sin equal to the sins of all who followhim therein without this diminishing their ownsins in the slightest.""(2) ""He who inaugurates a good sunna [custom]in Islam earns the reward of it and of all whoperform it after him without diminishing their ownrewards in the slightest
And he who introduces abad sunna is guilty of the sin of it and of all whoperform it after him without diminishing their ownsins in the slightest.""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Allah curse women who wear false hair orarrange it for others, who tattoo or have themselvestattooed, who pluck facial hair or eyebrowsor have them plucked, and women who separatetheir front teeth for beauty, altering what Allahhas created.""(n: w51 discusses women removing facial hair.)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""The angels curse whoever points a blade [A:or other weapon] at his brother [until he ceases],even if it be his brother from his mother andfather.""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Paradise is forbidden to whoeverfalsely claims someone is his father, knowing he isnot.""(2) ""Do not wish for fathers other than yourown
For someone to wish for a different father isunbelief
""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Belief in a bad omen is polytheism (shirk).""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:( 1 ) ""Do not wear silk or brocade
Do notdrink from vessels of gold or silver or eat fromdishes made ofthem: these are for others [A: Le.non-Muslims] in this world, and for you in thenext.""(2) ""He who eats or drinks from vessels ofgold or silver but swallows hellfire into his belly.""*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""They did not mention him [Jesus] to youas an example except for argument
Rather, theyare quarrelsome people"" (Koran 43:58).(2) ""Those who argue about the signs ofAllah without authority having been given tothem have nothing in their hearts but pride, towhich they will never attain"" (Koran 40:56),
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""The man most hated by Allah is theobstinate arguer.""(2) ""No people went astray after havingbeen guided save that they were afflicted witharguing.""(3) ""Arguing over the Koran is unbelief.""(4) ""He who presses for something he knowsis false remains under the hatred of Allah until hegives it up.""(5) ""The thing I fear most for my Communityis the eloquent hypocrite.""(6) ""Modesty and being at a loss for wordsare two components of true faith, while vulgarityand long-windedness are two components ofhypocrisy.""*
Allah Most High says:""Woe to stinters who take their full sharewhen measuring goods from people but skimpwhen measuring or weighing out for them
Dothese not believe they will be raised to a momentousday
a day when people will stand before 'theLord of the Worlds?"" (Koran 83:1-6).
This is a type of theft, a breach of faith,and consuming others' property through falsehood.
Allah Most High says:*(1) ""None feels safe from Allah's devisingexcept people who are ruined"" (Koran 7:99).(2) "" ..
until, when they were exulting inwhat they had been given, We suddenly seizedthem"" (Koran 6:44).(3) ""Verily, those who do not hope to meetUs, who enjoy this world and feel at ease with it,and those who are oblivious to Our signs: theirrefuge is hell for what they have earned"" (Koran10:7-8).*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""None despairs of the mercy of Allahexcept people who disbelieve"" (Koran 12:87).(2) ""It is He who sends down the rain afterthey have lost hope"" (Koran 42:28).(3) ""Say: '0 My slaves who have been prodigalagainst yourselves, do not despair of the mercyof Allah' "" (Koran 39:53).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Let none of you die except thinking the bestof Allah.""*
Allah Most High says:""..
to show thanks to Me, and to yourparents ..
"" (Koran 31:14).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who does not thank people is unthankfulto Allah.""
One of the early Muslims said: ""Ingratitudefor a kindness is one of the enormities.Gratitude consists of reciprocating it or supplicatingfor the person.""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever denies others his surpluswater or pasturage, Allah shall deny him His blessingon the Day of Judgement.""(2) ""Do not sell surplus water.""*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) passed by a donkey whose face hadbeen branded and said,""Haven't you heard that I have cursed whoeverbrands or strikes the faces of livestock?""-and he forbade it.
The words ofthe Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) ""Haven't you heard that Ihave cursed ..
"" imply that he who has not heardthe warning against an act is not guilty of sin bycommitting it, though whoever has heard andknows is included in the curse
We hold that it islikewise with all these enormities, except thosewhich are necessarily known as being of the religion(def: fl.3(N:)).*
Allah Most High says:""Wine, gambling, idols, and fortune-tellingarrows are but filth of the Devil's handiwork, soshun it, that you may succeed
The Devil onlywants to create enmity and hatred between youover wine and gambling, and to prevent you fromremembering Allah and from prayer
Will you notthen desist?"" (Koran 5:90-91).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever says to his companion, ""Come, Iwill play you for stakes, must expiate by givingcharity,""If merely saying this is a sin that calls for charity inexpiation, what must one suppose about actuallydoing it?
It is a form of consuming others' wealththrough falsehood.*
Allah Most High says:"" ..
and al-Masjid al-Haram which We haveappointed equally for all people, he who staystherein as well as the desert dweller
Whoeverintends to violate it out of wrongdoing, We shallmake him taste a painful torment"" (Koran 22:25).(n: The words out of wrongdoing in the aboveverse mean ""by reason of doing wrong throughcommitting an act that is forbidden therein, evenif it merely consists of reviling one of the caretakers""(Tafsir al-lalalayn (y77) , 436).)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Of all people, the greatest in outrage againstAllah is he who kills in the Meccan Sacred Precinct,who kills someone who is not trying to killhim, or who kills because of the feuds of pre-Islamictimes.""
*
p73.1 The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(I) ''I've considered having a man leadpeople at prayer and going myself to those whohang back from attending the Friday prayer toburn their houses down upon them.""(2) ""Going to the Friday prayer is obligatoryfor every male who has reached puberty.""*
Included in this subject is the hadith ofHatib ibn Abi Balta'a (A: who sent a secret lettertelling of the Muslims' military plans to his relativesin Mecca in hopes that they would not gethurt) whom 'Umar (Allah be well pleased withhim) wanted to kill for what he had done, but theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) forbade'Umar to, as Hatib had fought at Badr (A:and by accepting Hatib's excuse, left nothing forany Muslim to criticize (dis: p75.3)).If someone's spying entails underminingIslam and its people, or the killing, captivity,enslavement, or plundering of the Muslims, or
anything of the like, then he is one of those whostrive for corruption in the land, destroying tillageand offspring, and he is subject to death
anddeserves the torment (A: of hellfire), may Allahsave us from it
Anyone who spies necessarilyknows that if ordinary talebearing is an enormity(dis: p45), a spy's carrying information is far moreabominable and heinous.*
(n: Commentaries by Imam Nawawi and'Abd al-Ra'uf Munawi have been added by thetranslator to some of the following hadiths.)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Beware of envy, for envy consumesgood works as fire consumes wood.""(2) ""None of you believes until he loves forhis brother what he loves for himself.""(Nawawi:) It is fitter to interpret this hadith asreferring to universal brotherhood, including bothMuslims and non-Muslims, such that one loves forone's non-Muslim brother what one loves for oneself,i.e
to enter Islam, just as one loves one'sMuslim brother to remain in Islam, this being "",hyit is desirable (mustahabb) to pray for the guidanceof non-Muslims
The hadith is understoodas denying that someone who does not love for hisbrother what he loves for himself has perfect faith,love meaning to want what is good and advantageousfor him, referring to religious love, not individualhuman love
For one's human nature mightwell dislike another's attaining the good, or surpassingoneself therein, though it is obligatory forone to resist this human tendency and pray forone's brother and desire for him what one desiresfor oneself
Someone who does not love for his
brother what he loves for himself is envious
andenvy, as Ghazali notes., is of three types (A: all ofthem unlawful)
The first is to wish that anotherperson cease to have something good in order toobtain it oneself
The second is to wish thatanother lose something good, even if one does notobtain it, as when one already has another like it,or does not want it, this being worse than the previoustype
The third is when one does not wishthat the other cease to have something good, butresents his having surpassed one in attainment orposition, accepting his parity with one but not hissuperiority
And this is unlawful as well, becauseone thereby objects to Allah's division of Hisfavor among His servants
Allah Most High says:""Are they the ones who apportion the mercyof your Lord?
It is We who have divided theirlivelihoods between them in this life, and raisedsome of them in degrees above others"" (Koran43:32).So whoever does not accept this division opposesAllah Most High in His apportionment and Hiswisdom
One must remedy one's human nature,make it accept destiny, and resist it by praying thatone's enemy be given what 'one's self-interestmight prefer him not to have (al-Arba'un aiNawawiyyawa sharhuha (y103), 40).
NOT LOVING THE PROPHET (ALLAH BLESS HIMAND GIVE HIM PEACE) MORE THAN ALLPEOPLEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""None of you believes until I am morebeloved to him than his wife, child, self, and allpeople.""(Munawi:) Kirmani says, ""Love of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)means the will to obey him and not disobey him,this being one of the obligations of Islam"" (Faydai-Qadir sharh ai-Jami' al-saghir (y91), 6.441).
CONTENDING WITH WHAT THE PROPHET(ALLAH BLESS HIM AND GIVE HIM PEACE)HAS BROUGHTThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""None of you believes until his inclinationsconform to what I have brought.""(Nawawi:) This means a person mustexamine his acts in light of the Koran and sunna,suspending his own inclinations and followingwhat the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) has brought
The hadith resembles theword of Allah Most High,""When Allah and His messenger havedecided a matter, no believer, male or female, hasa choice in their affair"" (Koran 33:36).(al-Arba'un al-Nawawiyya wa sharhuha (y103),
74)ACQUIESCING TO DISOBEDIENCEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Whoever of you sees something wrong, .let him change it with his hand (dis: book q)
Ifunable, then let him change it with his tongue
Ifunable, then with his heart
And that is theweakest degree of faith.""And in the hadith related by Muslim concerningoppressors:(2) ""Whoever fights them with his hand is abeliever, whoever fights them with his tongue is abeliever, whoever fights them in his heart is abeliever, Beyond that, there is not a mustard grainof faith.""This hadith proves that whoever dQes not condemnacts of disobedience in his heart or wish theywould cease is devoid of faith
Fighting with theheart includes asking Allah Most High to annihilatethe falsehood and its perpetrators, or improvethem.(3) ""Leaders will be placed over you thatsome of you will accept and some of you condemn.Whoever dislikes what they do is innocent
Whoevercondemns what they do is secure
But notwhoever accepts and follows them."" Someonesaid, ""Shouldn't we fight them?"" And he replied,""No, not as long as they maintain the prayer [dis:O25.3( a( A:))] among you.""
HELPING ANOTHER TO WRONGFULLY DISPUTEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who helps another to argue without rightremains under the hatred of Allah until he givesup.""
UNDERHANDEDNESSThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Plotting and duplicity are in the hellfire.""
DISAFFECTING A PERSON'S SPOUSE ORSERVANT FROM HIMThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who disaffects a person's wife or servantfrom him is not of us.""
VULGARITYThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Modesty is of faith, and faith is inparadise
Vulgarity is of rudeness, and rudeness isin hell.""(2) ""Allah detests the foulmouthed, vulgarperson.""
BEING LEADERLESSThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The death of someone who dies without theleader of a group over him is as if he had died inthe; pre-Islamic period of ignorance [A, leadermeaning the caliph (def: 025) or his representative,if they exist (dis: p40.2(A: n.""BENEFlTING AT A MUSLIM'S EXPENSE
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""Whoever eats food obtained at the expenseof a Muslim, Allah will feed him hellfire on JudgementDay
He who gains a prestigious reputationat the expense of a Muslim, Allah will reduce himto the position of the show-offs and boasters (def:p33.2) on JudgementDay
He who wears a garmentacquired at the expense of a Muslim, Allahwill dress him in a garment of fire on JudgementDay.""
SHUNNING A MUSLIM WITHOUT RIGHTThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever shuns his brother for a year is asthough he had spilled his blood.""(Munawi:) This means that avoiding him fora year deserves punishment in the hereafter just asspilling his blood does, and that both the personwho shuns someone and he who kills someone areinvolved in sin, though not On the same level, forthe use of a simile does not imply the parity of thesimile's subject to the thing with which it has beencompared
Shafi'i holds it is unlawful to shun aMuslim for three days unless there is a validreason such as the religious improvement of theperson avoiding the other or person beingavoided, or when the latter is morally corrupt orinvolved in reprehensible innovation (bid'a, def:w29.3) (Fayd ai-Qadir sharh al-Jami' al-saghir(y91),6.234).
INTERCEDING FOR THE GUILTYThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He whose intercession comes between acriminal and one of Allah's prescribed penaltieshas defied Allah in His command.""
SAYING SOMETHING THAT ALLAH DETESTSThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""A man says something Allah deteststhat he does not think twice about, for which heplunges into hellt dis: r1].""(2) ""A man says something pleasing toAllah, not imagining it amounts to what it does,fOT which Allah records His pleasure in him untilJudgement Day
And a man says something thatangers Allah, not imagining it amounts to what itdoes, for which Allah records His wrath againsthim until the day he meets Him.""SAYING ""MASTER"" (SA YYlD) TO A HYPOCRITE
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Do not say ""master"" to a hypocrite, for ifheis a master, you have angered your Lord Mightyand Majestic.""
BREAKING A PROMISEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The signs of a hypocrite are three: when hespeaks he lies, when he promises he breaks it, andwhen entrusted he betrays his trust.""(A: If one makes an ordinary promise to another person, it is sunna to keepthe promise, though it is strictly unlawful to make a promise that one has no intentionto keep, this being how scholars interpret the above hadith.)Lying and betraying a trust have been mentionedbefore, while here we are discussing promisebreaking
Allah Most High says,""Of them, there is one who promised Allah,'If He bestows of His generosity on us, we shallcertainly give charity and be of the righteous' ""(Koran 9:75).(n: Suyuti notes that the person referred toabove ""is Tha'laba ibn Hatib, who 'asked theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) topray that Allah would enrich him, so that he mightgive everyone their just due
So the Prophet supplicatedfor him and he became wealthy, but thenhe stopped coming to the Friday prayer, withdrewfrom the community, and refused to pay zakat, asAllah Most High says:""'But when He gave to them of His generosity,they hoarded it and turned away in aversion.So He punished them by putting hypocrisy intotheir hearts until the day they meet Him, becausethey broke their promise to Allah and lied' (Koran9:76-77).Some time after this, he brought the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) his zakat,but the Prophet told him, 'Allah forbids me toaccept it from you,' at which Tha'laba threw handfulsof dust upon his own head
He later (A: in thetime of the subsequent caliphate] took his zakat toAbu Bakr, but he would not accept it
Then to'Umar, but he would not accept it
Then he took itto 'Uthman, but he would not accept it either,and he died in the reign of 'Uthman"" (Tafsir alJalalayn(y77), 253).)NOT TRlMMING ONE'S MUSTACHE
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""He who does nottrim his mustache [def:e4.1(2)] is not one of us.""(2) ""Be different from the Zoroastrians:grow your beards and trim your mustaches.""
NOT PERFORMING THE HAJJ WHEN ABLE TO'Umar ibn Khattab (Allah be well pleasedwith him) said:""I've considered sending men to these citiesto see who has not made the pilgrimage, and collectthe non-Muslim poll tax Gizya, def: 011.4)from everyone possessing the means who has notperformed it [def: j 1.5-10]
They are not Muslims.They are not Muslims.""KEEPING AN INHERlT ANCE FROM AN HEIR
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever prevents his heirs from receivingtheir inheritance [dis: w52.1(234-36)], Allah willpreven this inheriting paradise
""
TALKING ABOUT HOW ONE'S WIFE MAKES LOVEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Among the worst people in Allah's sight onJudgement Day will be the man who makes love tohis wife and she to him, and he divulgesher secret.""
SODOMIZING ONE'S WIFEThe Prophet (Allah Bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who sodomizes a woman is accursed.""
INTERCOURSE WITH ONE'S WIFE DURINGMENSTRUATIONThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever has intercourse with a woman duringher period, or sodomizes a woman, or whogoes to a fortune-teller and believes him, has committedunbelief [A: if he considers any of thesepermissible]
""
LOOKING INTO ANOTHER'S HOUSE WITHOUTLEAVEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Were a man to look at you without permissionand you threw a rock at him and knockedout his eye, you would not have committed anyoffense
""(2) ""Whoever peeps into a house without itspeople's leave, they may put out his eye.""
EXCESSIVENESS IN RELIGIONAllah Most High says,""Say: '0 people ofthe Book, do not be excessivein your religion' "" (Koran 4:171).(Qurtubi:) According to exegetes, thisrefers to the extremism of the Jews concerningJesus in accusing Mary of fornication, and theextremism of the Christians in considering him agod
For both excessiveness and remissness areevil, and both may be unbelief (al-Jami' Ii ahkamat-Qur'an (y1l7), 6.21).The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Beware of going to extremes [in religion],for those before you were only destroyed throughexcessiveness
""(Munawi:) Ibn Taymiya says, ""His saying'Beware of going to extremes in religion' is a generalprohibition applying to all types of extremes,whether in beliefs or works"" (Fayd ai-Qadir sharhai-Jami' aJ-saghir (y91), 3.126).
NOT ACCEPTING A SWORN STATEMENTThe Prophet (Allah' bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever is sworn to in Allah's name,lethim accept it, for whoever does not has nothing todo with Allah in anything.""
STINGINESSAllah Most High says:(1) ""Whoever is watchful against the stinginessof his own soul, those are the successful""(Koran 59:9).(2) ""Here you are, called upon to spend inthe Way of Allah, and some of you are beingstingy, while whoever is stingy is only ungeneroustowards himself
It is Allah who is rich and youwho are the poor"" (Koran 47:38).The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:(1) ""What disease is worse than stinginess?""(2) ""Three things are deadly: avariceobe""yed, caprice yielded to, and opinionatedpeople's pride in their opinions.""
SIITING IN THE CENTER OF A CIRCLEThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) cursed whoever sits in the middle of acircle of people (A: because such a person seeshimself as better than they are).
PASSING IN FRONT OF SOMEONE PERFORMINGTHE PRAYERThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""If someone passing in front of a person per·forming the prayer knew of the penalty for it, itwould be better for him to wait for forty en: avariant has, ""a hundred years""].""(A: In front means within the length of theperson's prostration, or the distance to the barrierhe is using (def; f7) if it is not far.)(Munawi:) Ibn Daqiq al
'Eid says: ""A Malikischolar has distinguished four situations respectingthe sin of the person praying and the personwho passes in front of him [n: given P, the personpraying, and Q, the person passing in front ofhim]:(I) Q sins but not P when P is praying behinda barrier in a place that is not a commonly usedwalkway and Q passes in front of him when thereis another alternative (A: meaning another route,since to stop and wait is not considered an alternative,though it is superior);(2) P sins but not Q when P is praying in acommonly used walkway without a barrier, or at aconsiderable distance from one, and Q has noother alternative but to pass in front of him;(3) both P and Q sin when P is praying in circumstanceslike (2) above, if Q has an alternativeroute but passes in front of P anyway;(4) and neither P nor Q sin when P is prayingin circumstances like (1) above, if Q has no alternativeand passes in front of P.""(Fayd aI-Qadir sharh al-Jami' al-saghir (y91),
5.338)NOT LOVING ONE'S FELLOW MUSLIMSThe Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""By Him in whose hand is my soul, none ofyou will enter paradise until you believe, and noneof you will believe until you love each other
Shall1 not tell you of something which if you do it willcreate love among you?
Increase the custom ofgreeting each other with 'as-SaIamu 'alaykum.' ""(Kitab al-kaba'ir wa tabyin al-maharim (y36),35-181)*
(n: Most of the above enormities are agreed upon by all four schools ofjurisprudence
A more comprehensive list by Ibn Hajar Haytami is given belowat w52.)*
(Nawawi: (n: with commentary byMuhammad ibn 'Allan Bakri (B:))) SchoJarsstatethat repentance is obligatory for every sin (B:there being scholarly consensus (def: b7) that it isobligatory for both lesser sins and enormities, andfor both outward acts and inward ones such asmalice or envy).
When a person's disobedience is solelybetween him and Allah Most High, unconnectedwith another human being's rights, his repentancehas three conditions:(a) to desist from the sin;(b) to regret having done it (B: because of itsbeing disobedience, since regretting it for someother reason is of no consequence);(c) and to resolve never to commit it again.(B: Some hold that after having repented ofit, it is also a condition that one abandon the companyof whoever committed the act with one, andalso that one's repentance be purely for the sakeof Allah, a restriction that Ibn Hajar Haytamiembeds in the first condition above by saying,""to desist from the sin solely for the sake of Allah,since abandoning it out of fear, ostentation, orother motive besides Allah Most High is not considereddesisting."") If any of these conditions islacking, one's repentance is not valid.
If the act of disobedience is connectedwith the rights of another human being, repentancefor it has four conditions: the three mentionedabove, plus clearing oneself of the obligationowed to the other person
If this obligation isproperty or the like, one must return it (A: by anymeans, secretly or openly, even as an ostensiblegift) to him (B: i.e
to its owner, meaning to returnthe article itself if it still exists, or if it does not,then a substitute, whether this be its value or anequal amount of it)
(N: Becoming a Muslimeliminates all previous sins except those involvingrights or property owed to other people
Allahdoes not pardon these until they are restored orforgiven
)If the right in question is the penalty forcharging someone ""With adultery when there arenot four witnesses (def: 013) orthe like (B: such asa victim's right to retaliate (03) for a homicide orinjury) then one must give oneself up to him (B: topermit him to inflict the penalty due) or else askhim to forgive it
(B: The author's words seem toimply that the validity of repentance depends onperforming the above, of returning the propertyor giving oneself up--Le
when possible, forotherwise one intends to do so when possible, orasks the victim for amnesty-but the position ofthe Imam (A: Juwayni), which 'Izz ibn 'Abd alSalamand our author (n: Nawawi) also follow, isthat one's repentance is valid regarding the rightsof Allah Most High (N: through merely repenting),while the other person's right is an obligationthat remains upon one (dis: w53), as does the sinof not discharging it).If the wrong done to another consists of slander(def: r2), then one must have him pardon it(B: by informing him so he can forgive one,though informing him is only a necessary conditionwhen doing so will not cause even greaterharm, though if it will, as when one fears the otherwill kill one, informing him is not obligatory
Bothasking for the person's forgiveness and informinghim of what one said are only obligatory when hehas heard that he has been slandered
If he hasnot, then asking Allah's forgiveness is sufficient)(Riyad al-salihin (y107) , 10-11, and Datil alfalihinIi turnq Riyad al-salihin (y25), 1.88-91).*
(n: The discussion and analysis that follow are Imam Ghazali's, edited bythe Hanbali scholar IbJ)
Qudama Maqdisi from an earlier abridgement of GhazaWsIhya' 'ulum ai-din by 'Abd ai-Rahman ibn Jawzi, which Maqdisi shortenedto a single volume whose conciseness, ifless vivid than the Ihya', better lends itselfto the purpose of the present section, which is to discuss the practical implicationsof an important aspect of Sacred Law.)
(Ibn Qudama Maqdisi:) One should knowthat commanding the right and forbidding thewrong is the most important fundamental of thereligion, and is the mission that Allah sent theprophets to fulfill
If it were folded up and putaway, religion itself would vanish, dissolutionappear, and whole lands come to ruin.
Allah Most High says,*""Let there be a group of you who call to good,commanding the right and forbidding the wrong,for those are the successful"" (Koran 3:104).This verse explains that commanding theright and forbidding the wrong are a communalrather than a personal obligation (dis: c3.2), forHe says, ""Let there be a group of you.,."" and not,""All of you command the right."" So if enoughpeople do it (A: meaning that whenever a wrong isseen, one of those who see it corrects it), theresponsibility is lifted from the rest, those whoperform it being expressly mentioned as the successful.There are many verses in the Holy Koranabout commanding the right and forbidding thewrong.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""Those who keep within Allah's limitsand those who transgress them or allow them to becompromised may be compared to people on aship, some of whom must stay below deck in thehardest and worst place, while others get passageabove
When those below need water, they passthrough those on the upper deck, injuring andannoying them until those below reflect, 'If wewcre to stave a hole in the hull we could get waterwithout troubling those above.' Were those abovedeck to leave those below to themselves, all wouldbe destroyed, while if they were to help them, allwould be saved.""(2) ""Whoever of you sees something wrong,let him change it with his hand
If unable to, thenlet him change it with his tongue
If unable, thenwith his heart
And that is the weakest degree offaith.""(3) ""The best jihad is speaking the truth to anunjust ruler.""(4) ""When you see my Community toointimidated by an oppressor to tell him, 'You area tyrant,' then you may as well say goodbye tothem.""(5) ""Command the right and forbid thewrong, or Allah will put the worst of you in chargeof the best of you, and the best will supplicateAllah and be left unanswered
""
Abu Bakr (Allah be well pleased withhim) rose from his place, and after having praisedAllah Most High, said, ""0 people: you recite theverse,"" '0 you who believe: you are responsible foryourselves; those who go astray will not harm youif you are guided' (Koran 5:105),""while we have heard the Messenger of Allah(Allah bless him and give him peace) say,"" 'People who do not change somethingwrong when they see it are on the verge of asweeping punishment from Allah.' ""
There are four integrals (def: q2-5) incommanding the right and forbidding the wrong,the first of which is that the person doing so be legallyresponsible (def: c8.1), Muslim, and able to,these being the conditions for it to be obligatory,though a child of the age of discrimination (def:fl.2) who condemns something dishonorable isrewarded for doing so, even if it is not obligatoryfor him to.
MORAL RECTITUDE IS NOT A CONDITIONAs for requirements of moral rectitude inthe person giving the reprimand, some scholarstake this into consideration and say that a corruptperson is not entitled to censure, a position forwhich they adduce the word of Allah Most High,""Do you enjoin piety to others and forgetyourselves?"" (Koran 2:44),but there are no grounds in the verse for such aninference.
HAVING THE CALIPH'S PERMISSIONSome scholars stipulate that the persondelivering the censure must have permission to doso from the caliph (def: 025) or his regionalappointee, and do not grant that private individualsmay censure others
This is untrue, for theKoranic verses and hadiths all indicate that whoeversees something wrong and does nothing hassinned
Stipulating that there must be permissionfrom the caliph is mere arbitrary opinion
Oneshould realize that there are five levels of censure:explaining the wrong nature of the act, admonishingthe person politely, reviling him and harshness,forcibly stopping the act (such as by breakingmusical instruments or pouring out wine), andfinally, intimidation and threatening to strike theperson or actually hitting him to stop what he isdoing
It is the latter level, not the first four, thatrequires the caliph, because it may lead to civil disorder.The early Muslims' invariable practice ofreprimanding those in authority decisively provesby their consensus (def: b7) that there is no needfor a superior's authorization
If it be wonderedwhether a child is entitled to reprove his father, ora wife her husband, or for private citizens toreprove their ruler, the answer is that all are fundamentallyentitled to
We have distinguished thefive levels: the child is entitled to explain thenature of the act, to admonish and advise hisparents politely, and finally may censure at thefourth level by such things as breaking a lute,pouring out wine, and so forth
This is also thesequence that should be observed by a wife
As forprivate citizens with their ruler, the matter is muchgraver than a child's reproving his father, andcitizens are only entitled to explain the matter andadvise.
BEING ABLE TO CENSUREIt is a necessary condition that the personcondemning something wrong be able to do so.Someone who is unable is not obliged to condemnit except in his heart
The obligation is not onlylifted when physically unable, but also when onefears that problems (def: q2.7) will result for one,which also comes under the heading of inability.The obligation to censure the wrong is likewiselifted when one knows that the reproach will beineffective
Four situations may be distinguishedwith respect to this.(1) When one knows (def: q2.6) the wrongwill be eliminated by speaking or acting withoutthis entailing problems for oneself, one is obligedto censure it.(2) When one knows that speaking will beineffective and one will be beaten if one does, oneis not obliged to.(3) When one knows that one's censure willbe ineffective but it does-not entail problems forone, it is not obligatory, because of its ineffectiveness,though one is still recommended to censurethe act is order to manifest the standards of Islamand remind people of their religion.(A: Hadiths that seem to show the nonobligatorinessof commanding the right and forbidding thewrong are understood by Islamic scholars as referringto specific situations in which censure is ineffectual,and are not global statements about thisobligation's inapplicability to a certain era of history,such as our own or some future time
Commandingthe right and forbidding the wrong willbe obligatory until the Day of JUdgement.)(4) And when one knows that it will causeproblems for one but the wrong will be eliminatedby censuring it, such as with breaking a lute ordumping out wine when one knows one will bebeaten for it, then one is not obliged but ratherrecommended to, as is evident from the hadith,""The best jihad is speaking the truth to anunjust ruler.""There is no disagreement among scholars that it ispermissible for a single Muslim to attack battlelinesof unbelievers headlong and fight them evenif he knows he will be killed
But if one knows itwill not hurt them at all, such as if a blind manwere to hurl himself against them, then it is unlawful.Likewise, if someone who is alone sees a corruptperson with a bottle of wine beside him and asword in his hand, and he knows that the personwill chop his neck if he censures him for drinking,it is not permissible for him to do so, as it wouldnot entail any religious advantage worth givingone's life for
Such censure is only praiseworthywhen one is able to eliminate the wrong and one'saction will produce some benefit.
If one wants to censure something butknows it will result in one's companions also beingbeaten with one, it is not permissible for one to doso, because one is incapable of removing oneblameworthy thing without its leading to another.(N: It is not lawful to censure anything reprehensiblewhen doing so will lead to a thing or state thatis more reprehensible.)
Know only means what one believes willprobably result
Someone who thinks that it willcreate problems for him is not obligated to censure,though someone who does not believe thatproblems will result is obliged to.Cowardice does not enter into considerationhere, nor foolhardy courage, but rather the normaltemperament of someone with a sound disposition.
Problems means being beaten, killed,robbed, or acquiring a bad name in town
As forbeing reviled and disparaged, it is not an excuse toremain silent, for someone who commands what isright generally meets with it.*
The second integral of commanding theright and forbidding the wrong is that the thingcensured is something blameworthy that exists atpresent and is apparent.Blameworthy means that its occurrence isprohibited by Sacred Law, this being of widerscope than mere disobedience, for someone whosees a child or insane person drinking wine (A:which is not a sin in relation to them) is obliged topour it out and forbid them.That exists at present excludes someone whohas drunk wine and is now finished, and so forth.It also excludes something which will take placelater, as when there is evidence that a personintends to go drinking that night
There is no censurein such cases other than to appeal to the person'sconscience.Apparent excludes someone who conceals hisdisobedience at home and locks his door
It is notpermissible to spy on him
An exception is ifsomething is manifest to another outside thehouse, such as the sound of pipes and lutes
Someonewho hears them may enter and break theinstruments
If one smells the odor of wine outsidethe house, the sounder opinion is that it is permissibleto enter and condemn it.
ONE MAY NOT CONDEMN ANOTHER FORQUESTIONS INVOLVING DIFFERENCESAMONG SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCEIt is a necessary condition that the thingcensured be something whose blameworthiness isnot merely established by ijtihad (n: the independentlegal reasoning of a particular Imam)
Anyquestion in which there is ijtihad may not be acause for censure
A Hanafi, for example, maynot condemn a Shafi'i for eating somethingslaughtered without the Basmala (dis: j17.5(4)),nor a Shafi'i condemn a Hartafi for drinking somenonintoxicating raisin drink (N: nor a Muslim condemna non-Muslim for drinking wine (dis:011.5(1)))
(A: But if two individuals follow thesame school of Sacred Law and one commits anact that is unlawful or offensive in that school or ineach of the two's respective schools, it is obligatoryfor the other person to condemn the act evenwhen it involves the ijtihad of their Imam
And theShafi'i must condemn the Hanafi for eating somethingslaughtered without the Basmala, as theHanafi is doing something he believes to bewrong.)*
The third integral of commanding theright and forbidding the wrong is the person beingreprimanded
It is sufficient that he be a person,and is not necessary that he be legally responsible,as we have previously mentioned (q3.1) in respectto censuring a child or insane person.
The fourth integral is the censure itself,which has various degrees of severity and hasrules.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE WRONG ACTThe first degree consists of knowing thewrong act
One should not eavesdrop at another'shouse in order to hear the sounds of musicalinstruments, or try to catch the scent of wine, orfeel for an object concealed beneath someone'sshirt to see if it is a flute, or ask a person'sneighbors to see what he is doing
But if twoupright witnesses (def: O24.4) come and informone that someone is drinking, one may enter hishouse and take him to task.
EXPLAINING THAT SOMETHING IS WRONGThe second degree consists of explainingthat an act is wrong, since an ignorant person willoften do something he does not know isblameworthy, but will stop when he finds out
Soone must explain it politely, saying, for example:""People are not born scholars; we were unfamiliarwith many things in Sacred Law until scholarsmentioned them to us
Perhaps there are notmany in your hometown,"" and thus lead up to itdiplomatically so the person understands withoutbeing offended
To avoid the evil of remainingsilent when there is something wrong, only tocommit the evil of offending a Muslim when ablenot to, is like washing away blood with urine.
FORBIDDING THE ACT VERBALLYThe third degree of severity is to prohibitthe act by admonition, advice, and making theother fear Allah, mentioning the hadiths of divinepunishment for it and reminding the person howthe early Muslims behaved, all of which should bedone with sympathy and kindness, not harshnessor anger
The great danger here which one mustbeware of is that a learned person explaining thatsomething is wrong may be proud of his knowledgeand gloat over the lowliness of the other'signorance, which is like saving someone from afire by casting oneself into it
It is ignorant in theextreme, a deep disgrace, and a delusion from theDevil
The touchstone and test for this is to askoneself whether one would prefer the censuredperson to stop at his own or another's behest, orwhether one would prefer to forbid him oneself
Ifreproving him is difficult and weighs upon one,and one would prefer that someone else do it, thenone should proceed,for religion is the motive
Butif it is otherwise, then one is following mere personalcaprice and using the censuring of others asa means to display one's merit, and one shouldfear Allah and censure oneself first.
CENSURING WITH HARSH WORDSThe fourth degree of severity consists ofreviling the person and bearing down on him withsharp, harsh words
One does not resort to thisdegree unless one is unable to prevent the personby politeness, and he shows he wants to persist ormocks one's admonitions and advice
Revilinghim does not mean vulgarity and lies, but rathersaying ""You degenerate:' ""You idiot,"" ""Youignoramus,"" ""Do you not fear Allah?"" and soforth
Allah Most High quotes Ibrahim (uponwhom be peace) saying:""Fie on you and what you worship apart fromAllah!
Can you not think?"" (Koran 21:67).
RIGHTING THE WRONG BY HANDThe fifth degree consists of changing theblameworthy thing with one's hand, such as bybreaking musical instruments, pouring out wine,or turning someone out of a house wrongfullyappropriated
There are two rules for this degree:(1) not to do so when one can get the personto do it himself, i.e
if one can get someone toleave the land he has unjustly taken, one shouldnot drag or push him from it;(2) and to break the instruments, for exampie,just enough to obviate their being used for disobedienceand no more, or to be careful not tobreak the bottles when pouring out wine
If onecannot manage except by throwing rocks at thebottles or the like, then one may do so and is notobliged to cover the damages.If it be wondered whether one may break thebottles or drag someone by the foot out of awrongfully appropriated house to create fear, asan object lesson to others, the answer is that this isfor leaders alone and is not permissible for privateindividuals because of the obscurity of thedecision-making criteria in the matter.
INTIMIDATIONThe sixth degree is threatening and intimidation,such as by saying, ""Stop this or 1'11-""; andwhen possible this should precede actually hittingthe person
The rule for this level is not to make athreat that one cannot carry out, such as saying""or I'll seize your house,"" or ""take your wife hostage,""because if one says this seriously, it isunlawful, and if not serious, then one is lying.
ASSAULTThe seventh degree is to directly hit orkick the person, or similar measures that do notinvolve weapons
This is permissible for privateindividuals provided it is necessary, and that oneconfines oneself to the minimum needed to stopthe reprehensible action and nothing more
Whenthe action has been stopped, one refrains fromdoing anything further.
FORCE OF ARMSThe eighth degree is when one is unable tocensure the act by oneself and requires the armedassistance of others
Sometimes the person beingreproved may also get people to assist him, and askirmish may ensue, so the soundest legal opinionis that this degree requires authorization from thecaliph (def: 025), since it leads to strife and theoutbreak of civil discord
Another view is thatthere is no need for the caliph's permission.*'q6.0 THE ATTRIBUTES OF THEPERSON CENSURINGq6.1 Having presented in detail the rules forsomeone condemning the wrong, they may besummarized in three traits needed by the persongiving the reprimand:(1) knowledge of the (A: above-mentioned)appropriate circumstances for censure and theirdefinitions, so as to keep within lawful bounds;(2) godfearingness, without which one mightknow something but not apply it because of somepersonal interest;(3) and good character, the prime prerequisitefor being able to control oneself, for whenanger is aroused, mere knowledge and piousnessare seldom sufficient to suppress it if character islacking.REDUCING ONE'S DEPENDENCE ON OTHERSq6.2 Among the rules for commanding theright and forbidding the wrong is to depend less onothers and eliminate desire for what they have, soas not to have to compromise one's principles
Astory is told about one of the early Muslims whoused to get offal each day from the neighborhoodbutcher for his cat
He noticed somethingblameworthy about the butcher, so he returnedhome and turned out the cat before returning toreprimand the man, who retorted, ""From now on,I'm not giving you a thing for your cat,"" to whichhe replied, ""I did not censure you till I gave upboth the cat and any desire for what you have.""And this is the fact of the matter
One cannotreprimand others as long as one is anxious for twothings: the things people give one, and theirapproval and praise of one.q6.3 As for politeness in commanding the rightand forbidding the wrong, it is obligatory
AllahMost High says,""Speak unto him gentle words"" (Koran20:44)(A: this being to Pharaoh, the enemy of Allah, sohow then with one's fellow Muslims?) (MukhtasarMinhaj al-qasidin (y62), 123-30).*
J (n: Book r has been edited from Nawawi's al-Adhkar al-muntakhaba minka/am Sayyid al-Abrar and from al-Durar al-mubaha fi al-hazr wa al-ibaha, awork on the lawful and unlawful by the Hanafi scholar Khalil Nahlawi.)
(Nawawi:) Having previously discussedwhat Allah Most Glorious and Exalted has facilitatedof recommended invocation (dhikr) and thelike, I wish to add here the expressions which areoffensive or unlawful, that the book might fullyencompass the rulings on words and explain theircategories, mentioning the objects thereof thatevery religious person needs to know (al-Adhkar(yl02),450).
(Nawawi:) Every legally responsible personshould refrain from saying anything exceptwhen there is a clear advantage to speaking.Whenever speaking and not speaking are of equalbenefit
it is sunna to remain silent, for permissiblespeech easily leads to that which is unlawfulor offensive, as actually happens much or evenmost of the time-and there is no substitute forsafety
The Prophet (Allah) bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever believes in Allah and the LastDay, let him say what is good or remain silent.""This hadith, whose authenticity Bukhari andMuslim concur upon, is an explicit legal text indicatingthat a person should not speak unless whathe intends to say is good, meaning that the benefitof it is apparent to him
Whenever one doubts thatthere is a clear advantage, one should not speak.Imam Shan'i (Allah have mercy on him) said,""When one wishes to speak, one must first reflect,and if there is a clear interest to be served byspeaking, one speaks, while if one doubts it, oneremains silent until the advantage becomesapparent
""
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace):(1) ""0 Messenger of Allah, which of theMuslims is best?"" And he said, ""He who the Muslimsare safe from his tongue and his hand.""(2) ""A servant unthinkingly says somethingpleasing to Allah Most High for which Allah raiseshim whole degrees
And a servant unthinkinglysays something detested by Allah Most High forwhich he plunges into hell.""(3) ""The excellence of a person's Islamincludes leaving what does not concern him [def:w54].""(4) ""Do not speak much without mentioningAllah (dhikr), for too much speech without mentioningAllah hardens the heart, and the hardheartedare the farthest of all people from AllahMost High.""(5) ""All of a human being's words countagainst him and not for him, except commandingthe right, forbidding the wrong, and the mentionof Allah Most High (dhikr).""
The Master Abul Qasim Qushayri (Allahhave mercy on him) said, ""Safety lies in remainingsilent, which should be one's basis
Silence at theappropriate time is the mark of men, just asspeech at the appropriate time is one of the finestqualities
I have heard Abu 'Ali Daqqaq (Allah bewell pleased with him) say, 'He who is silent whensomething should be said is a tongueless villain' ""(ibid., 450-55).*
(N awawi:) Slander and talebearing aretwo of the ugliest and most frequently met withqualities among men, few people being safe fromthem
I have begun with them because of thewidespread need to warn people of them.
SLANDERSlander (ghiba) means to mention anythingconcerning a person that he would dislike,whether about his body,
religion, everyday life,self, disposition, property, son, father, wife, servant,turban, garment, gait, movements, smiling,dissoluteness, frowning, cheerfulness, or anythingelse connected with him.Mention means by word, writing, sign, orindicating him with one's eye, hand, head, and soforth.Body refers to saying such things as thatsomeone is blind, lame, bleary-eyed, bald, short,tall, dark, or pale.Religion includes saying that he is corrupt, athief, cannot be trusted, is a tyrant, does not careabout the prayer, does not watch to avoid filth,does not honor his father, does not spend zakat onwhat it should be spent on, or does not avoid slanderingothers.Everyday life includes saying that his mannersare poor; he does not care about others; doesnot think he owes anyone anything; that he talks,eats, or sleeps too much; or sleeps or sits when heshould not.Father refers to saying such things as that hisfather is corrupt, his father is an Indian, Nabatean,African, cobbler, draper, carpenter,blacksmith, or weaver (N: if mentionedderogatorily).Disposition includes saying that he has badcharacter, is arrogant, a show-off, overhasty,domineering, incapable, fainthearted, irresponsible,gloomy, dissolute, and so forth.Clothing means saying such things as that hissleeves are too loose, his garment hangs too low,is dirty, or the like
Other remarks can be judgedby the above examples
The determining factor ismentioning about a person what he would notlike.
As for talebearing (namima), it consists ofquoting someone's words to another in a way thatworsens relations between them.
THE EVIDENCE THAT SLANDERAND TALEBEARING ARE UNLAWFULThe above define slander and talebearing.As for the ruling on them, it is that they are unlawful,by the consensus (def: b7) of Muslims
Thereis much explicit and intersubstantiative evidencethat they are unlawfulfrom the Koran, sunna, andconsensus of the Muslim Community.
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Do not slander one another"" (Koran49: 12).(2) ""Woe to whomever disparages othersbehind their back or to their face"" (Koran 104: 1).(3) "" ..
slanderer, going about with tales""(Koran 68:11).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""The talebearer will not enter paradise.""(2) ""Do you know what slander is?"" Theyanswered, ""Allah and His messenger know best.""He said, ""It is to mention of your brother thatwhich he would dislike."" Someone asked, ""Whatif he is as I say?"" And he replied, ""If he is as yousay, you have slandered him, and ifnot, you.havecalumniated him.""(3) ''The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim.He does not betray him, lie to him, or hangback from coming to his aid
All of the Muslim isinviolable to his fellow Muslim: his reputation, hisproperty, his blood
Godfearingness is here [N:pointing to his heart]
It is sufficiently wicked forsomeone to belittle his fellow Muslim.""
MIMICKING ANOTHER'S IDIOSYNCRACIESWe have mentioned above that slander issaying anything about a person that he would dislike,whether aloud, in writing, by a sign, or a gesture.Anything by which one conveys a Muslim's(A: or non-Muslim's) shortcomings to another isslander, and unlawful
It includes doing imitationsof someone, such as by walking with a limp, witha stoop, or similar posture, intending to mimic theperson with such a deficiency
Anything of thissort is unquestionably unlawful.SlANDER IN PUBLISHED WORKS
Slander also includes the author of a bookmentioning a specific person in his work by saying,""So-and-so says such and such,"" which is unlawfulif he thereby intends to demean him
But if hewants to clarify the person's mistake so that otherswill not follow him, or expose the weakness of hisscholarship so others will not be deceived andaccept what he says, it is not slander, but ratheradvice that is obligatory, and is rewarded by Allahfor the person who intends it as such.Nor is it slander for a writer or other person tosay, ""Therc are those [or ""a certain group""] whosay such and such, whichisa mistake, error, ignorance,and folly,"" and so forth, which is not slanderbecause slander entails mentioning a particularperson or a group of specific individuals.
SLANDER BY ALLUSION AND INNUENDOWhen the person being spoken to understandswhom one is referring to, it is slander andunlawful to say, for example, ""A certain persondid such and such,"" or ""A certain scholar,""""Someone with pretensions to knowledge,"" ""Acertain mufti,"" ""A certain person regarded asgood,"" ""Someone who claims to be an ascetic;'""One of those who passed by us today,"" or ""Oneof the people we saw."" This includes the slander ofsome would-be scholars and devotees, who makeslanderous innuendoes that are as clearly understoodas if they were plainly stated
When one ofthem is asked, for example, how So-and-so is, hereplics, ""May Allah improve us,"" ""May Allah forgiveus,"" ""May Allah improve him,"" ""We askAllah's forbearance,"" ""Praise be to Allah who hasnot afflicted us with visiting oppressors,"" ""Wetake refuge in Allah from evil,"" ""May Allah forgiveus for lack of modesty,"" ""May Allah relenttowards us,"" and the like, from which the listenerunderstands the person's shortcomings
All of thisis slander and is unlawful, just as when one says,""So-and-so is afflicted with what we all are,"" or""There's no way he can manage this,"" or ""We alldo it.""
The above are but examples
Otherwise,as previously mentioned, the criterion for slanderis that one gives the person being addressed tounderstand another's faults.
LISTENING TO SLANDERJust as slander is unlawful for the one whosays it, it is also unlawful for the person hearing itto listen and acquiesce to
It is obligatorywhenever one hears someone begin to slanderanother to tell him to stop if this does not entailmanifest harm to one
If it does, then one isobliged to condemn it in one's heart and to leavethe company if able
When the person who hearsit is able to condemn it in words or change the subject,then he must
It is a sin for him not to
But ifthe hearer tells the slanderer to be silent whiledesiring him in his heart to continue, this, asGhazali notes, is hypocrisy that does not lift thesin from him, for one must dislike it in one's heart.
Whenever one is forced to remain at agathering where there is slander and one is unableto condemn it, or one's condemnation goesunheeded and one cannot leave, it is neverthelessunlawful to listen or pay attention to
What oneshould do is invoke Allah (dhikr) with the tongueand heart, or heart alone, or think about somethingelse to distract one from listening to it
Whenthis is done, whatever one hears under such circumstancesdoes not harm one as long as one doesnot listen to or heed the conversation
And ifafterwards one is able to leave the assembly andthe people are persisting in slander and the like,then one must leave
Allah Most High says:""When you see those engaged in idle discussionabout Our signs, keep apart from them untilthey speak of other things
And if the Devil makesyou forget, then do not sit with wrong-doingpeople after being reminded"" (Koran 6:68).
Ibrahim ibn Adham (Allah be wellpleased with him) answered an invitation to cometo a wedding feast, where some of those presentmentioned that a certain person who did notattend was ""unpleasant."" Ibrahim said, ""I myselfhave done this by coming to a place where othersare slandered,"" and he left and would not eat forthree days.
SLANDERING ANOTIIER IN ONE'S HEARTEntertaining bad thoughts about others(su' al-zann) is as unlawful as expressing them.Just as it is unlawful to tell another of the failingsof a person, so too it is unlawful to speak to oneselfof them and think badly of him
Allah Most Highsays,""Shun much of surmise"" (Koran 49:12).The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Beware of suspicions, for they are the mostlying of words
""There are many hadiths which say the same,and they refer to an established conviction orjudgement in the heart that another is bad
As forpassing thoughts and fancies that do not last, whenthe person having them does not persist in them,sch01ars concur that they are excusable, sincetheir occurrence is involuntary and there is no wayto avoid them
The Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,""For those of my Community, Allah overlooksthe thoughts that come to mind as long asthey are not uttered or acted upon.""Scholars say this refers to passing thoughts that donot abide, whether of slander, unbelief (kufr), orsomething else
Whoever entertains a passingnotion of unbelief that is a mere fancy whoseoccurrence is unintentional and immediately dismissedis not an unbeliever and is not to blame.The reason such things are excusable is that thereis no way to take precaution against them
Onecan only avoid continuing therein, which is whypersistence in them and the established convictionof them in one's heart is unlawful.Whenever one has a passing thought of slander,one is obliged to reject it and summon to mindextenuating circumstances which explain away theappearances that seem to imply the bad opinion.Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali says in the lliya':""A bad thought about someone that occurs inone's heart is a notion suggested by the Devil, andone should dismiss it, for the Devil is the most corruptofthe corrupt, and Allah Most High says,"" 'If a corrupt person brings you news, verifyit, lest you hurt others out of ignorance and thenregret what you have done' (Koran 49:6).It is not permissible to believe Satan, and if theappearance of wrongdoing can possibly be inter-, preted otherwise, it is not lawful to think badly ofanother
The Devil may enter the heart at theslightest impression of others' mistakes, suggestingthat one only noticed it because of one'ssuperior intelligence and discernment, and that""the believer sees with the light of Allah,"" whichupon examination often amounts to nothing morethan repeating the Devil's deceit and obscurities.If a reliable witness informs one of something badabout another, one should neither believe it nordisbelieve it, in order to avoid thinking badly ofelther of them
And whenever one has a badthought about a Muslim one should increase one'sconcern and respect for him, as this will maddenthe Devil and put him off, and he will not suggestthe like of it to one again for fear that one willoccupy oneself with prayer for the person.""If one learns of a Muslim's mistake by undeniableproof, one should advise him about it in privateand not let the Devil delude one into slanderinghim
And when admonishing him, one shouldnot gloat over his shortcoming and the fact that heis regarding one with respect while one is regardinghim with disdain, but one's intention shouldrather be to help him disengage from the act of disobedience,over which one is as sad as if one hadcommitted it oneself
One should be happier if hedesists from it without being admonished than ifhe desists because of one's admonishment.""These are Ghazali's words.
We have mentioned that it is obligatoryfor a person with a passing ill thought of another todispell it, this being when no interest recongnisedby Sacred Law conduces one to reflect upon it, forif there is such an interest, it is permissible toweigh and consider the individual's deficiency andwarn others of it, as when evaluating the reliabilityof court witnesses or hadith transmitters, and inother cases we will mention below in the sectionon permissible slander.PERMISSIBlE SLANDER
Slander, though unlawful, is sometimespermissible for a lawful purpose, the legitimatingfactor being that there is some aim countenancedby Sacred Law that is unattainable by othermeans
This may be for one of six reasons.
REDRESSING GRIEVANCESThe first is the redress of grievances.Someone wronged may seek redress from theIslamic ruler, judge, or others with the authorityor power to help one against the person who haswronged one
One may say, ""So-and-so haswronged me,"" ""done such and such tome,"" ""tooksuch and such of mine,"" and similar remarks.
ELIMINATING WRONGDOINGThe second is seeking aid in righting awrong or correcting a wrongdoer, such as by sayingto someone expected to be able to set thingsright, ""So-and-so is doing such and such, so warnhim not to continue,"" and the like
The intentionin such a case must be to take the measures necessaryto eliminate the wrong, for if this is not one'spurpose, it is unlawful.
ASKING FOR A LEGAL OPINIONThe third is asking for a legal opinion,such as by saying to the mufti, ""My father [or""brother,"" or ""So-and-so,""] has wronged me bydoing such and such
May he do so or not?"" ""Howcan 1 be rid of him,"" ""get what is coming to me,""""stop the injustice,"" and so forth
Or such as saying,""My wife does such and such to me,"" ""Myhusband does such and such,"" and the like
This ispermissible when necessary, but to be on the safeside it is best to say, ""What do you think of a manwhose case is such and such,"" or ""a husband [or""wife""] who does such and such,"" and so on, sincethis accomplishes one's aim without referring toparticular people
But it is nevertheless permissibleto identify a particular person, as is attestedto by the hadith in which Hind said,""0 Messenger of Allah, Abu Sufyan is astingy man ..
""and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) did not forbid her.
WARNING MUSLIMS OF EVILThe fourth reason is to warn Muslims ofevil and advise them, which may take severalforms, including:(1) Impugning unreliable hadith transmittersor court witnesses, which is permissible byconsensus of all Muslims, even obligatory,because of the need for it.(2) When a person seeks one's advice aboutmarrying into a certain family, entering into apartnership with someone, depositing somethingfor safekeeping with him, accepting such adeposit, or some other transaction with him, it isobligatory for one to tell the person asking whatone knows about the other by way of advising him.If one can accomplish this by merely saying,""Dealing with him is of no advantage to you,""""Marrying into the family is not in your interests,""""Do not do it,"" and similar expressions, then onemay not elaborate on the individual's shortcomings.But if it cannot be accomplished withoutexplicitly mentioning the individual, one may doso.(3) When one notices a student of SacredLaw going to learn from a teacher who is guilty ofreprehensible innovations in religious matters(bid'a, def: w29.3) or who is corrupt, and oneapprehends harm to the student thereby, onemust advise him and explain how the teacherreally is
It is necessary in such a case that oneintend to give sincere counsel
Mistakes are sometimesmade in this, as the person warning anothermay be motivated by envy, which the Devil hasduped him into believing is heartfelt advice andcompassion, so one must beware of this.(4) And when there is someone in a positionof responsibility who is not doing the job as itshould be done, because of being unfit for it, corrupt,inattentive, or the like, one must mentionthis to the person with authority over him so hecan remove him and find another to do the jobproperly, or be aware of how he is so as to dealwith him as he should be dealt with and not bedeluded by him, to urge him to either improve orelse be replaced.
SOMEONE UNCONCERNED WITH CONCEALINGTHEIR DISOBEDIENCEA fifth reason that permits slander is whenthe person is making no effort to conceal his corruptionor involvement in reprehensible innovation(bid'a), such as someone who openly drinkswine, confiscates others' property, gathers taxesuncountenanced by Sacred Law, collects moneywrongfully, or perpetrates other falsehoods, inwhich cases it is permissible to speak about whathe is unconcerned to conceal, but unlawful tomention his other faults unless there is some othervalid reason that permits it, of those we have discussed.
.IDENTIFICATIONThe sixth reason is to identify someone.When a person is known by a nickname such as""the Bleary-eyed,"" ""the Lame,"" ""the Deaf,""""the Blind,"" ""the Cross-eyed,"" or similar, it ispermissible to refer to him by that name if one'sintention is to identify him
It is unlawful to do so.by way of pointing out his deficiencies
And if onecan identify him by some other means, it is better.
These then, are six reasons Islamicscholars mention that permit slander in the abovecases (al-Adhkar (y102), 455-69).*
(Nawawi:) Having summarily mentionedthat talebearing (namima) is unlawful, with theevidence for this and a description of its nature,we now want to add a fuller explanation of it.Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali says, ""Talebearing is aterm that is usually applied only to someone whoconveys to a person what another has said abouthim, such as by saying, 'So-and-so says such andsuch about you.' In fact, talebearing is not limitedto that, but rather consists of revealing anythingwhose disclosure is resented, whether resented bythe person who originally said it, the person towhom it is disclosed, or by a third party
It makesno difference whether the disclosure is in word,writing, a sign, nodding, or other; whether it eoncernsword or deed; or whether it concerns somethingbad or otherwise
The reality of talebearingSaying ""The People Have Gone to Ruin"" r4.0lies in divulging a secret, in revealing somethingconfidential whose disclosure is resented
A personshould not speak of anything he notices aboutpeople besides that which benefits a Muslim torelate or prevents disobedience
Anyoneapproached with a story, who is told, 'So-and-sosays such and such about you,' must do six things:(1) disbelieve it, for talebearers are corrupt,and their information unacceptable;(2) tell the talebearer to stop, admonish himabout it, and condemn the shamefulness of whathe has done;(3) hate him for the sake of Allah Most High,for he is detestable in Allah's sight, and hating forthe sake of Allah Most High is obligatory;(4) not think badly of the person whom thewords are supposedly from, for Allah Most Highsays,'Shun much of surmise' (Koran 49: 12);(5) not let what has been said prompt him tospy or investigate whether it is true, for AllahMost High says,'Do not spy' (Koran 49:12);(6) and not to do himself what he has forbiddenthe talebearer to do, by relating it to others.""(Ibid., 471-72)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""When a man says, 'The people have gone toruin,' he is the most ruined of all.""
(Nawawi:) Khattabi says the hadith meansthat a person who continually finds fault withpeople and mentions their failings is the mostruined of all, i.e
he becomes worse than they arebecause of the sin he commits in disparaging andattacking them, which may also lead to conceitednessand seeing himself as better than they.Scholars concur that the condemnation onlyapplies to someone who says the like of this out ofcontempt for people, considering them inferiorand himself superior, despising the way they arebecause of his ignorance of the divine wisdom inAllah's creating them
But if one says it out of sadnessat seeing one's own religious failings andthose of others, there is no harm in it, just as thereis no blame in saying, ""For all I know, everyoneof the Prophet's Community (Allah bless him andgive him peace) performs the prayer."" This is howImam Malik explained the hadith, and othershave followed him therein (Sahih Muslim bi Sharhal-Nawawi (y93) , 16.175-76).*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Let none of my Companions inform me ofanything another of them has said, for I wish tocome out to you without disquiet in my heart.""(al-Adhkar (y102) , 473)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,Giving Directions to Someone Who Wants to Do Wrong r7.0""When there are only three of you, two ofyou may not speak together apart from the thirdunless you join a group of others, lest your doingso sadden him.""
(N ahlawi:) N awawi (Allah have mercy onhim) says this hadith prohibits two individualsconversing privately when a third is present, andlikewise prohibits three or more people fromdoing so when there is a single person apart fromthem
The prohibition indicates its unlawfulness,it being impermissible for a group to converseapart from a single individual unless he gives hispermission
Imam Malik (Allah have mercy onhim), our colleagues, and the majority of scholarshold that the prohibition is applicable at all times,whether one is at home or travelling, though some(A: Hanafi) scholars say that such converse is forbiddenonly while travelling, not when at home,for when travelling it may portend danger.
As for when there are four people and twoof them speak privately in low tones apart fromthe other two, scholars agree that there is no harmin this.
The prohibition oflistening to the conversationof people who are averse to one's listeninglikewise means it is unlawful, though only whenthe conversation does not entail harm to the listener,for if it does, one may listen to protect oneselffrom them (al-Durar al-mubaha (y99), 159).*
(Nahlawi:) It is not permissible to givedirections and the like to someone intending toperpetrate a sin, because it is helping another tocommit disobedience
Allah Most High says,""Do not assist one another in sin and aggres·sion"" (Koran 5:2).Giving directions to wrongdoers includes:(I) showing the way to policemen and ty·rants when they are going to commit injustice andcorruption;(2) teaching questions of Sacred Law tothose learning it in bad faith (N: i.e
who do notwant the knowledge to apply it in their lives, butfor some unworthy purpose);(3) teaching positions in Sacred Law that arerejected (A: meaning those that are not acceptedby any of the four schools of jurisprudence (dis:b7.6)) or weak (dis: w12.2), or anything else thatinforms people of how to commit disobedience toAllah Most High;(4) and permitting or authorizing a person todo something that entails disobedience, for accep·tance of disobedience is disobedience.(Ibid., 159-60)*
(Nawawi:) Primary texts from the Koranand sunna that it is unlawful to lie (dis: p24) areboth numerous and intersubstantiative, it beingamong the ugliest sins and most disgusting faults.Because of the scholarly consensus of the Community(Umma) that it is prohibited and theunanimity and amount ofthe primary textual evidence,there is little need to cite particular examplesthereof, our only concern here being toexplain the exceptions to what is considered lying,and apprise of the details.
PERMISSIBLE LYINGThe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""He who settles disagreements betweenpeople to bring about good or says somethingcommendable is not a liar.""This much is related by both Bukhari and Muslim,with Muslim's version recording that DmmKulthum added,""I did not hear him permit untruth in anythingpeople say, except for three things: war,settling disagreements, and a man talking with hiswife or she with him (A: in smoothing over differences).""This is an explicit statement that lying is sometimespermissible for a given interest, scholarshaving established criteria defining what types ofit are lawful
The best analysis of it I have seen isby Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali, who says: ""Speakingis a means to achieve objectives
If apraiseworthy aim is attainable through bothtelling the truth and lying, it is unlawful toaccomplish through lying because there is no needfor it
When it is possible to achieve such an aim bylying but not by telling the truth, it is permissibleto lie if attaining the goal is permissible (N: i.e.when the purpose of lying is to circumvent someonewho is preventing one from doing somethingpermissible), and obligatory to lie if the goal isobligatory
When, for example, one is concealinga Muslim from an oppressor who asks where he is,it is obligatory to lie about his being hidden
Orwhen a person deposits an article with one forsafekeeping and an oppressor wanting to appropriateit inquires about it, it is obligatory to lieabout having concealed it, for if one informs himabout the article and he then siezes it, one is financiallyliable (A: to the owner) to cover the article'scost
Whether the purpose is war, settling a disagreement,or gaining the sympathy of a victim legallyentitled to retaliate against one so that he willforbear to do so; it is not unlawful to lie when anyof these aims can only be attained through lying.But it is religiously more precautionary (def: c6.5)in all such cases to employ words that give a misleadingimpression, meaning to intend by one'swords something that is literally true, in respect towhich one is not lying (def: r10.2), while the outwardpurport of the words deceives the hearer,though even if one does not have such an intentionand merely lies without intending anything else, itis not unlawful in the above circumstances.""This is true of every expression connectedwith a legitimating desired end, whether one'sown or another's
An example of a legitimatingend of one's own is when an oppressor intendingto appropriate one's property inquires about it , inwhich case one may deny it
Or if a ruler asks oneabout a wicked act one has committed that issolely between oneself and Allah Most High (N:i.e
it does not concern the rights of another), inwhich case one is entitled to disclaim it, such as bysaying, 'I did not commit fornication,' or '} did notdrink.' There are many well known hadiths inwhich those who admitted they deserved punishmentwere given prompting (A: by the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace)) to retracttheir confessions
An example of a legitimatingdesired end of another is when one is asked aboutanother's secret and one disacknowledges it
Andso on
One should compare the bad consequencesentailed by lying to those entailed by telling thetruth, and if the consequences of telling the truthare more damaging, one is entitled to lie, thoughif the reverse is true or if one does not know whichentails more damage, then lying is unlawful.Whenever lying is permissible, if the factor whichpermits it is a desired end of one's own, it is recommendednot to lie, but when the factor that permitsit is the desired end of another, it is not lawfulto infringe upon his rights
Strictness (A:, asopposed to the above dispensations (rukhsa, def:c6.2)) is to forgo lying in every case where it is notlegally obligatory
""
The position of Ahl al-Sunna is that lyingmeans to inform another that something is otherwisethan it really is, whether intentionally or outof ignorance
One is not culpable if ignorant of it,but only if one lies intentionally, the evidence forwhich is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) made intentionality a condition whenhe said,""Whoever lies about me intentionally shalltake a place for himself in hell.""(al-Adhkar (y102), 510-12)*
(Nawawi:) Ghazali says: ""Among theforms of lying that are unlawful but not seriousenough to stigmatize their perpetrator as legallycorrupt (dis: O24.3) is the customary exaggerationof saying, 'I've told you a hundred times; or'asked after you a hundred times,' and so forth,since one does not thereby intend to inform theother how many times it has been, but only to indi·cate that it has been too many
In such cases, if thespeaker in fact has only asked after the other butonce, he is lying, though if he has asked after hima number of times considerably more than what isgenerally accepted, he is not committing a sin bysaying it, even if it has not been 'a hundred times.'There are intermediate degrees between thesetwo at which the exaggerator becomes a liar
""
The proof that exaggeration is sometimespermissible and not considered lying is the hadithrelated by Bukhati and Muslim that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,"" ..
As for AbulJahm, his stick never leaveshis shoulder, while Mu'awiya does not own athing,""it being understood that the latter owned the garmenthe was wearing, and the former set his stickaside when he slept and at other times
And Allahalone gives success (ibid., 515-16).*
(Nawawi:) Giving a misleading impressionis among the most important topics, beingfrequently met with and often abused
It befits usto examine the matter closely, and whoever learnsof it should reflect upon it and apply it
Havingpreviously mentioned that lying is severelyprohibited, and the danger that exists in sayingsomething without any particular intention, whatfollows below shows a safe alternative to these.
Giving a misleading impression means toutter an expression that ostensibly implies onemeaning, while intending a different meaning theexpression may also have, one that contradicts theostensive purport
It is a kind of deception.(A: It often takes the form of the speakerintending a specific referent while the hearerunderstands a more general one, as when a personasks a householder, ""Is So-and-so here?"" to whichthe householder, intending the space betweenhimself and the questioner rather than the spaceinside the house, replies, ""He is not here."")
Scholars say that there is no harm (def:p8.2(A:)) in giving a misleading impression ifrequired by an interest countenanced by SacredLaw that is more important than not misleadingthe person being addressed, or if there is a pressingneed which could not otherwise be fulfilledexcept through lying
When neither of these is thecase, giving a misleading impression is offensivethough not unlawful unless used as a means forwrongful gain or suppressing another's right
inwhich case it becomes unlawful
The above determineits permissibility
As for the hadith evidence,some of which permits it and some of which doesnot, it is to be interpreted in the light of the abovecriteria (al-Adhkar (y102) , 514).*
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Pursue not that of which you have noknowledge
The hearing, the eyesight, the heart:all will be asked about"" (Koran 17:36).(2) ""He utters not a word save that anobserver is present beside him"" (Koran 50:18).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""It is lying enough for a man to repeat everythinghe hears.""(Ibid., 512-13)
(Nawawi:) One of the things most sternlyprohibited and needful to warn people against iswhat the common
people say about sales tax andthe like (dis: p32), namely that ""this is the ruler'sright,"" or ""you have to pay the ruler's due,"" andso forth, of references to ""right,"" ""obligation,""and so on
This is one of the most objectionablepractices and ugliest of reprehensible innovations.Some scholars even hold that anyone who callsthese taxes a right thereby becomes an unbeliever,beyond the pale of Islam
But in fact, such a persondoes not become an unbeliever unless he actuallyconsiders it right while knowing it is unjust.The proper way to mention these is to say ""theruler's tax,"" ""revenue,"" or similar words
AndAllah alone gives success (ibid., 499-500).*
(Nahlawi:) Conversing about what is uselessor immoral means discussing acts of disobedience,such as stories about drinking sessions andfornicators when there is no legitimate purposeconnected with the conversation, which is unlawfulbecause it manifests one's own disobedience oranother's without there being any need to
IbnMas'ud (Allah be well pleased with him) said,""The greatest in sins on the Judgement Daywill be the one most given to speaking about theuseless and immoral
""
SPEAKING ABOUT WHAT DOES NOTCONCERN ONEAs for speaking about what does not concernone, such as the story of one's travels, and themountains, rivers, food, and clothes one sawwhile on them;lwhen it does not contain lies, slander,ostentation, or other things that are unlawful,it is not in itself prohibited
Rather, it may berecommended, as when inspired by a good intentionsuch as preventing others of accusing one ofbeing arrogant or proud of not speaking, allayinganother's timorousness, ch'eering up someone sador ill, amusing or getting along well with thewomenfolk, showing kindness to children, orsimilar motives
With these intentions it is notconsidered to bewhat does not concern one.
It is recommended and praiseworthy toleave anything that does not concern one (def:w54) because one squanders one's life by involvementin it and in mere amusement
The Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""The excellence of a person's Islam includesleaving what does not concern him,""including excess verbiage, meaning to elaboratemore than necessary about matters which do concernone, or to ask about things which are of noimportance; though it does not include clarifyingthe details of difficult Icgal questions, cspecially tothose of limited understanding, or thc need torepeat an exhortation, reminder, instruction, orthe like, since it might be necessary
But when it isunnecessary to add details, one should expressoneself succinctly and with brevity
The Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""Good tidings to him who avoids the excessin his speech and spends the excess of his money
""'Ali (Allah ennoble his countenance) said,""The best discourse is expressive, great,brief, and interesting.""(al-Durar al-mubaha (y99) , 135-36)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""Whoever speaks of the Book of Allah fromhis own opinion is in error.""
(Nahlawi:) The jurist Abul Layth says inBustan al-'arifin, ""The [above] prohibition onlyapplies to the allegorical parts of it (dis: w6), notto all of it, since Allah Most High says,"" 'As for those with deviance in their hearts,they pursue the allegorical of it' (Koran 3:7).""The Koran came as a proof of moralanswerability against all mankind and jinn, whileif interpreting it were not permissible, it could notbe a decisive proof
Since it is decisive, it is permissiblefor someone acquainted with the dialects ofthe Arabs and the circumstances under which variousverses were revealed to interpret it
As forwould-be exegetes who do not know the dimensionsof Arabic, the figurative, literal, and thetypes of metaphor, it is not permissible for them toexplain it beyond what they have heard, by way ofreporting and not actual interpretation
""The generality of the prohibition also entailsthat whoever does not know which verses abrogateothers and which are abrogated, the pointsupon which there is scholarly consensns (def: b7),and the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna, is not safefrom error if he interprets the Koran with nothingbeyond the implications of the Arabic
Mere linguisticfamiliarity with the language is insufficient,and one must also know what we have just mentioned.When one knows both, one may interpretthe Koran, and is not doing so by mere opinion(ibid., I58}.
(A: The above is equally true ofhadith
Koran and hadith commentariesare of tremendous importance to teachers, speakers, writers, and translators whoare preparing materials to present to Muslim audiences
The dictionary is notenough.)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""People will keep wondering and asking eachother until it is said, 'This is Allah's creation, butwho created Allah?' Whoever finds anything likethis, let him say, 'I believe in Allah and His messengers.'""(Ibid., 140)*r16.1 (Nahlawi:) Hypocrisy is when a person'soutward does not correspond to his inward, or hiswords to his deeds
It is of two kinds, hypocrisy inbelief and hypocrisy in acts
Hypocrisy in belief isanother name for concealed unbelief while outwardlyprofessing Islam
It is the very worst formof unbelief
Allah Mighty and Majestic says,""Verily the hypocrites shall be in the lowestabyss of hell"" (Koran 4:145)..t}nd this type consigns its perpetrator to hellforever
As for hypocrisy in act, it is that whichdoes not concern one's faith
It is also termed spokenhypocrisy, and consists of saying what contradictsone's true state
It is one of the greatest ofsins
It includes being two-faced, like the personwho, when two people are at odds, speaks wordsto each that confirm their respective sides, or tellseach what the other has said, or endorses theenmity of each, praises each, and promises each tohelp against the other
This is hypocrisy and more.But its blameworthiness applies only to worseningrelations between people, for if done to settletheir differences, it is praiseworthy.It is seldom that a person who visits leadersand important people is free of spoken hypocrisy.Someone told Ibn 'Vmar (Allah be well pleasedwith father and son), ""We visit our leaders andspeak, but when we leave, we say somethingelse."" He replied, ""In the days of the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) weconsidered this hypocrisy.""r16.2 As for assuaging those from whom oneapprehends harm (mudara), it is permissible,being done to obviate the damage and evil anticipatedfrom certain people, whether it be a ruler orsomeone else one has reason to fear (al-Durar almubaha(y99), 11&-18).*Hypocrisy r16.0
(Nahlawi:) Compromising one's principlesmeans religious lassitude and weakness,such as by saying nothing upon seeing acts of disohedienceor unlawful things when able to changethem without suffering harm
Such silence isunlawful
Its opposite is firmness in religion.Allah Most High says,""They fight in the path of Allah and fear notthe blame of whoever may blame them"" (Koran5:54).And the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""Speak the truth, even if bitter.""But when one's silence is to prevent damage tooneself or others, it is a permissible form ofassuaging those from whom one apprehends harm(mudara), and even recommended in some cases,as when it results in being sayed from injustice, oris a means to fulfill a right recognized by SacredLaw (ibid"" 112-13).*
(Nahlawi:) Ridicule entails showing disdain,sarcasm, or contempt for another in a waythat causes laughter, whether by mimickinganother's words or actions, by a gesture Qr byallusion
It is unlawful
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Those who demean believers who voluntarilygive charity- ridiculing those who findnothing to give but their own effort-it is Allahwho is ridiculing them, and they shall suffer apainful torment"" (Koran 9:79).(2) ""0 you who believe: let not some menderide others who might well be better than they;and let not some women ridicule others who mightwell be better than they
Do not belittle oneanother or insult one another with nicknames""(Koran 49:11).The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:.
A gate in paradise will open to one of thosewho mock people and a cry will be heard, 'Comehere, come here,' and he will come forward inconcern and anxiety, but when he reaches it, it willclose in front of him
And this will happen againand again, until the gate will open and the cry'Come here, come here' will be heard as before,but he will not approach because he knows it willonly close in front of him.""
Ridicule is only unlawful when it hurtsothers' feelings
As for someone who purposelymakes himself a laughingstock, perhaps such aperson enjoys it, and jokes about him areconsidered mere humor
What is unlawful is thesarcasm that offends the person ridiculed, becauseof the insult and disdain involved, such as bylaughing at his way of speaking, what he does,how he looks, or his physique because of a defecttherein
To laugh at any of these is to commitridicule that is unlawful (ibid., 126-27).*
(Nahlawi:) The necessary condition forthe permissibility of joking is that it does not containlies or occasion fright to a Muslim or a nonMuslimcitizen, because this hurts others, and weare forbidden to do so.
Excessive joking is blameworthy and forbidden,since it eliminates one's dignity andreserve, and creates resentment in certain situationsand people
It also causes immoderatelaughter, which kills the heart
The Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said to hisCompanions,""Who will take these words and apply them,or knows someone who will?"" Abu Hurayraanswered, ""I will, 0 Messenger of Allah,"" whereuponthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) took his hand and enumerated five things,saying:"" Avoid the unlawful and you will be the mbstreligious of people.""""Be satisfied with what Allah has alotted youand you will be the richest of people
""""Treat your neighbor well and you will be abeliever
""""Love for others what you love for yourselfand you will be a Muslim
""""A void excessive laughter, for too muchlaughter kills the heart.""(al-Durar al-mubaha (y99), 127-28)*
(Nahlawi:) Picking apart another's wordsconsists of attacking another's speech by revealingthe mistakes in it, whether its weak Arabic, meaning,or the intention of the speaker, as when onesays, ""This is true, but you do not intend the truthby it,"" when such an attack involves no othermotive than contempt for the other and displayingone's cleverness
It is unlawfuL The Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said:""Whoever forgoes to cavil when he is in thewrong will have a home built for him on the edgeof paradise
Whoever forgoes it when in the rightwill have a home built for him in the middle ofparadise
And whoever improves his own character,a home will be built for him in the highest partof paradise ...When a believer hears something true, itbefits him to accept it
If it is not true, but is unconnectedwith religious matters, he should remainsilent, though if connected with religious matters,hc is obliged to show that it is false and to condemnit if there is a chance that anyone will believehim, because this is forbidding the wrong.
GIVING A POSITIVE INTERPRETATION TOOTHERS' SEEMING MISTAKESNawawi (Allah Most High have mercy onhim) mentions, in the section of the introductionof Sharh al-Muhadhdhab about the behavior ofteacher and student, that ""it is obligatory for a studentto give a positive interpretation to everyutterance of his brothers that seems to be wronguntil he has exhausted seventy excuses
No one isincapable of this except a failure
""
READING WORKS THAT ARE BEYOND ONE'SUNDERSTANDING OR CAPACITYThe Sheikh ai-Akbar (A: Muhyiddin ibnal-'Arabi), Allah Most High sanctify his inmostbeing, writes in his letter about' the spiritual stationof annihilation in gnostic vision: ""When abook falls into a person's hands concerning a subjecthe knows nothing about [A: knows meaningthrough having studied it with sheikhs who aremasters of it] and has not learned by engaging in itat first hand, he should do absolutely nothing withthe book, but rather return it to those whom itconcerns
He should not believe, disbelieve, ordiscuss it at all"" (ibid., 131-32).*
(Nahlawi:) Disputation is what relates toclarifying various legal positions and making acaseior them, When the intention behind this is toembarrass one's opponent or display one'ssuperiority, it is unlawful or even unbelief accordingto some scholars, But when disputation isintended to reveal the truth, as is rare, then it ispermissible or even recommended, Allah MostHigh says,""Dispute with them with that which is better""(Koran 16:125),meaning, as Baydawi notes, by the best means ofdisputation, gently and affably, using the simplestapproach and most familiar premises, since thismore effectively cools opponents' vehemence andexposes their contentiousness (ibid., 132),*r22,0 ARGUINGr22.1 (Nawawi:) Arguing is importunateness inspeech to gain one's end, whether monetary orother, It may be intitiated by oneself or inresponse to another
If one objects that a personmust argue to obtain his rights, the reply is that thestem condemnation of it applies to those whoargue without right or knowledge, or someonewho adds abuse to his speech that is not necessaryto secure his rights, or is motivated to argue bynothing besides an obstinate desire to win and tofinish his opponent
As for someone who has beenwronged and makes his case in a way compatiblewith the Sacred Law, without belligerence, excessiveness,or importunateness, and not intendingmere obstinacy and abuse, it is not unlawful,though it is better to avoid it if there is any way todo so, for keeping one's tongue within the limits offair play during the course of an argument is virtuallyimpossible
Moreover, arguing produces rancorin hearts and causes animosity that can lead toactual hatred between two people, until eachcomes to be pleased when harm befalls the otherand to be displeased at the good, and unleashes histongue against the other's reputation
Whoeverargues runs the risk of these calamities
Atminimum, a quarrel comes to preoccupy one'sheart so that during the prayer one's thoughts turnto debating and arguing, and one does not remainas one should.r22.2 A certain person remarked, ""I have notseen anything that impairs one's religion,diminishes one's respectability, ends one's happiness,or preoccupies one's heart like arguing"" (aiAdhkar(yI02), 502-3).*
(Nahlawi:) It is forbidden to ask aboutanother's errors and blunders in order to tell themthey have made a mistake or to embarrass them,being unlawful because it entails injury to anotherand belittling him in front of people
But whenone's asking about mistakes is to learn or teach, orto test or sharpen students' minds or make themreflect, then it is recommended and desirable,because it facilitates the comprehension of religiousknowledge (al-Durar al-mubaha (y99) ,140).*
(Nahlawi:) Asking about and searchingout the faults of others is spying, which Allah MostHigh has forbidden by saying,""Do not spy"" (Koran 49:12),meaning to look for the shameful points of Muslims.The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said:(1) ""If you search for people's shamefulpoints, you corrupt them ..
""(2) ""0 you who have entered Islam withyour tongues but whose hearts faith has notentered: do not slander people, and do not ferretout people's shameful points
Whoever searchesout the shameful points of his brother, Allah Willsearch out his own shameful points, and if Allahsearches out a person's shameful points, be surethat He will disgrace him even if he should remainin the middle of his house.""(Ibid., 145)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""00 not show joy at the misfortune of yourbrother, lest Allah have mercy on him and afflictyou with misfortune
""(al-Adhkar (yl02), 474)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:(1) ""A believer is not given to reviling, cursing,obscenity, or vulgarity
""(2) ""Whatever contains vulgarity is madeugly by it, and whatever contains modesty is madebeautiful by it.""
(Nawawi:) Obscenity and vulgarity areforbidden, as is attested to by many well-knownand rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadiths,obscenity meaning to express ugly or vulgar mattersin plain words, even if they are true and thespeaker is being honest
One should insteadexpress such things by alluding to them in a politeway that nevertheless conveys what is meant, as isdone by the Holy Koran and authentic nobl,ehadiths
Allah Most High says:(1) ""It is permitted to you on the nights ofthe fast to enter unto your wives"" (Koran 2:187).(2) ""How can you take it [the marriage payment]back when you have entered unto oneanother!?"" (Koran 4:21).(3) ""But if you divorce them before you havetouched them ..
"" (Koran 2:237).There are many Koranic verses and authentichadiths that employ similar words
Scholars saythat comprehensible allusions should be used forthese and other matters one is hesitant to mentionby name
One alludes, for example, to sexualintercourse with a woman as ""going unto,""""lovemaking,"" ""sleeping with,"" and so forth, anddoes not use explicit words such as copulate or thelike; and similarly alludes to urinating and voidingexcrement as ""answering the call of nature,"" or""going to the bathroom,"" and does not simply say""defecate,"" ""urinate,"" and so forth
The same istrue of mentioning personal blemishes such as leprosy,halitosis, underarm odor, and the like,which one should refer to by polite words thatindicate what is meant
Other matters should bedealt with as in the above-mentioned examples.allof which applies to cases in which there is noneed to plainly refer to these things by name.When the need arises to explain or teach, and onefears that the listener may not grasp one's allusionor may misunderstand the meaning, one shouldplainly say the thing's name so that the real meaningis understood
And this is how one shouldinterpret the hadiths that have reached us whichcontain such straightforward expressions, as arisingfrom the needs we have mentioned, for communicatingclearly is more important than meredecorum
And Allah alone gives success (ibid ..(y102),508-9).
(Nahlawi:) Severity in speech and harshnessare blameworthy when out of place, theirproper place being in forbidding the wrong, ifgentleness and affability prove ineffective (dis:q5.5),as well as in imposing prescribed legalpenalties, and in reprimanding or discipliningthose who require it
Allah Most High says:(1) "" ..
And be harsh with them"" (Koran 9:73).(2) ""Let them find severity in you"" (Koran 9:123).(3) ""Let not pity for them seize you concerningthe religion of Allah"" (Koran 24:2).
Other than in the above-mentioned cases,it is praiseworthy for one to use amiable words,have a cheerful expression, and to smile
TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:""There is a dwelling in paradise whose outsidecan be seen from inside [A: from its lucidnessand purity]."" Abu Malik Ash'ari asked, ""Whoseshall it be, 0 Messenger of Allah?"" And he said,""He whose speech is fair, who feeds others, andwho spends the night standing in prayer whenpeople sleep.""(ai-Durar ai-mubaha (y99), 144-45)*
(Nahlawi:) To make a believer fear otherthan disobedience or coerce him to do somethinghe is averse to, such as giving a gift, marrying, orselling something-all this is hurting him, andhurting a believer is unlawful
The Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""Whoever frightens a believer, it is incumbentthat Allah not protect him from the terrors ofJudgement Day as a fitting recompense.""Najm al-Ghazzi says in Husn al-tanabbuh,""Among the works of the Devil is frightening,annoying, or alarming a believer, all of which isunlawful"" (ibid., 157-58).*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim) said,""When someone offers an excuse to his fellowMuslim and the latter does not accept it, hissin is like the crime of imposing taxes [dis: p32].""(Ibid., 157)
Allah Most High says:(1) ""As for the orphan, do not oppress him;and as for the beggar [dis: r39], turn him notaway"" (Koran 93:9-10).(2) ""Do not drive away those who call upontheir Lord morning and evening, seeking Hiscountenance: you are not responsible for anythingof their account, nor they for anything of yours,that you should drive them away and thus becomeofthe wrongdoers"" (Koran 6:52).(3) ""Lower your wing unto the believers""(Koran 15:88).(al-Adhkar (y102), 481-82)
(Nawawi:) It is very sternly prohibited toput off one's father or mother
Allah Most Highsays:""Your Lord decrees that you shall worshipnone but Him and treat your parents well
If oneor both of them reach old age while with you, donot say 'Uff' to them or put them off, but speakrespectfully to them
Lower for them the wing ofhumbleness, out of mercy, and say, '0 Lord, havemercy on them, as they raised me when I wasyoung' "" (Koran 17.24-25).(Ibid., 509)*
(N: Offensive, when used without furtherqualification by Hanafis (A: in their books on thelawful and unlawful (al-hazr wa al-ibaha)) meansunlawfully offensive (makruh tahriman), and itsruling is the same as the unlawful (A: is in theShafi'i school).)
(Nahlawi:) It is offensive to interruptsomeone else's words with one's own when thefonner consist of teaching Sacred Knowledge.Some scholars hold that to greet a group with ""asSalamu'alaykum"" when they are learning religiousknowledge is a sin
It is also offensive tointerrupt one's own words with speech of a differentkind when reciting Koran, supplicating,explaining the Koran, teaching hadith, oraddressing people, and while doing this, forexample
one tums to someone and tells him to gobuy some things needed at home.Conversation is offensive for anyone seatedlistening to a pious exhortation, or instruction, orin the presence of someone above his own level
Itis also offensive for such a person merely to tum tolook at something else, or to stir when there is noneed, all of which is poor manners, levity, precipitateness,and thoughtlessness
Rather, the onespeaking should set forth what he means to saywithout irrelevant asides until finished, and theperson addressed should heed the speaker, payingattention to him and listening until he finishes,without looking around, stirring, or talking; especiallyif the speaker is explaining the words ofAllah Most High or His messenger (Allah blesshim and give him peace)
But one is excused if apressing pbysical or religious need arises thattbere is no alternative but to fulfill, since necessityexcuses one from any rule whatever (A: but onlyto the degree demanded by necessity).DISRESPECT TO THOSE wrrn
AUTIIORITY OVER ONEIt is offensive to contend against the words ,o\$<.Jf"" r')\) l::!\:II'>J 4=--., r32.2of anyone with authority over one (A: countenancedby Sacred Law), or talk back, oppose,rebut, or disobey such a person in anything lawful(A: meaning not unlawful or offensive), the prohibitionapplying to such people as a follower withhis leader, son with his parents, student with histeacher, wife with her husband, or unlearned personwith a scholar
All of this is very ugly behaviorand deserves disciplinary action (def: 017), sinceeach of these is obliged to obey the one over them.
THIS·WORLDLY WORDS IN A MOSQUEIt is offensive to speak about this-worldlymatters, meaning words that would otherwise bepermissible, in a mosque when there is no excuse(A: if one makes a habit of it)
(N: The more reliableposition is that it is not offensive, but merelybetter not to (khilaf al-awla).)
SPEAKING DURING THE SERMONOF THE FRIDA Y PRAYERIt is offensive to speak during the sermonon Friday, whether it be to say ""Subhan Allah,""the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), or to command the right or forbidthe wrong, the reason for the prohibition beingthat listening to the Friday prayer sermon isobligatory, as it takes the place of two of the rak'asof the noon prayer, so that things offensive duringthe prayer are offensive while listening to the sermon.The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""When the imam is giving the sermon on Friday,and you tell your companion 'Listen,' youhave made an impertinent remark.""
SPEAKING WHEN THE KORAN ISBEING RECITEDIt is offensive to speak when the Koran isbeing recited, for listening to it and heeding it areabsolutely obligatory, whether one is performingthe prayer or not, and whether one comprehendsit or not (A: but only if its words are distinctlyaudible to one)
Allah Most High says,""When the Koran is recited, listen and payheed to it"" (Koran 7:204).
SPEAKING WITHOUT NEED TO AMEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEXIt is offensive for a male to speak withoutneed to a young woman who is not a member of hisunmarriageable kin (def: m6.1)
He should notsay ""Arhamkum Allah"" (Allah have mercy onyou) if she sneezes, greet her with ""as-Salamu'alaykum"" (A: which is unlawful in the Shafi'ischool) nor return her Salams if she says them (A:which is offensive for Shafi'is)
He should not saythese aloud, but to himself, all of which likewiseholds for a young woman's speaking to a man whois not a member of her unmarriageable kin(m6.2)
The prohibition of these is due to theProphet's having said (Allah bless him and givehim peace),""The adultery of the tongue is speech.""
SPEAKING WHEN LOVEMAKING OR INTHE LAVATORYIt is offensive to speak while lovemaking,or when in the lavatory or relieving oneself.It is offensive to laugh in circumstances inwhich speaking is offensive.
SPEAKING AFTER THE COMING OF DAWNBEFORE PERFORMING THE DA WN PRAYERIt is offensive to speak of this-worldlythings between dawn and performing the dawnprayer (subh)
Some hold this extends until sunrise(al-Durar al-mubaha (y99) , 145-49).CONVERSA nON AFTER PERFORMING
THE NIGHTFALL PRAYER (,ISHA)(Nawawi:) It is offensive for someone whohas prayed the nightfall prayer ('isha) to converseabout things permitted at other times, meaningpermissible words which would otherwise be thesame to say or not to
Discourse that is unlawful oroffensive at other times is even more sternly prohibitedor offensive at this time
As for conversationabout what is good, such as teaching SacredKnowledge, relating the words of the pious,describing noble qualities, or speaking to one'sguest, none of these is offensive, but rather theyare commendable (al-Adhkar (yl02), 504).*
(Nahlawi:) It is offensive (def: r32.0) togreet with ""as-Salamu 'alaykum"" anyone who is:(1) performing the prayer, reciting theKoran, invoking Allah (dhikr), reading hadith toothers, giving the Friday prayer sermon (khutba),or listening to any of these;(2) a student of jurisprudence repeating alesson over to himself to facilitate memorizing it,someone informing ordinary people of legal rulings,or anyone engaged in a lesson of SacredKnowledge;(3) giving the call to prayer or call to commence(iqama);(4) teaching;(5) seated waiting for the prayer, or saying""Subhan Allah"";(6) eating;(7) a corrupt person who does not concealhis acts of disobedience;(8) a young lady who is not a member ofone's unmarriageable kin (dis: r32.6);(9) someone who plays games that are notpermissible (dis: k29.5), slanders others, sings, isan old wag, a chronic liar, addicted to profitlessconversation, reviles others, or looks at women'sfaces, all of whom are offensive to greet unlesstheir repentance from these things is known;(10) someone who is enjoying his wife,whose nakedness is exposed, who is relieving himself,drowsy, asleep, or someone who is in abathhouse.
RESPONDING TO SALAMSIt is not obligatory to respond to someone'sSalams in circumstances where greeting himis uncalled-for, except for a corrupt person «7)above), whose Salams it is obligatory to return
Itis not obligatory to answer the Salams of someonewho is a child, intoxicated, or insane
Nawawi(Allah Most High have mercy on him) says in hiscommentary on Sahih Muslim, ""Scholars disagreeabout greeting non-Muslims with 'as-Salamu'alaykum' or returning their Salams
We hold thatit is unlawful to say it to them first, though isobligatory to return their greetings by saying 'Wa'alaykum' (and upon you), or simply, ""AlaYkum.'Other scholars hold it is permissible to greet themfirst with 'as-Salamu 'alaykum' "" (al-Durar almubaha(y99) , 150-51).*
Allah Most High says,""Do not praise yourselves: He knows bestwho is godfearing"" (Koran 53:32).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,.
Allah has inspired to me that you are all tobe humble towards each other such that no onetransgresses against or exalts himself aboveanother.""(al-Adhkar (yl02), 473-74)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""All of my Community shall be pardoned,save those who commit sins openly
Committingthem openly includes a man who does somethingshameful at night, and when morning comes,Allah having hidden his act, he says, '0 So-andso,last night I did such and such'; his Lord havingconcealed it for him at night, while in the morninghe pulls away the cover with which Allah had concealedit for him.""
(Nawawi:) It is offensive for a person whohas been afflicted with an act of disobedience orthe like to inform another of it
Rather, oneshould repent to Allah Most High by desistingfrom it at once, regretting what one has done, andfirmly resolving never to do the like of it again.These three things are the integrals of repentance,which is not valid without them
There is no harmin telling about a sin to one's sheikh or other personwho may be expected to teach one how todesist from the act or refrain from similar acts, orapprise one of the causes that led to it, or pray forone, and so forth
If such is the case, informinghim is commendable
It is only offensive to do sowhen no such interest can be served (ibid., 498).
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""When a man says something, then glancesleft or right, his words are a confidence to bekept
""(Ibid., 507)
(Nahlawi:) Telling a secret means toinform others of a remark, action, or state whichone learns of from someone who wants it toremain hidden, whether it be good or bad
This ishurting him, and hurting others is unlawfuLWhenever people meet, it is obligatory tokeep secret any act that occurs, any word spoken,or any state attributable to someone, when theseconcern something one would normally wish toremain confidential, while not being unlawfuL Ifunlawful, then:(1) If it is against Allah Most High alone anddoes not involve legal measures such as prescribedlegal penalties or disciplinary action (def: 017),then it must be kept secret.(2) If it involves legal measures, as do fornication(dis: 012) and drinking (016), then one hasa choice between revealing it or not, though it issuperior to conceal it.(3) If it involves another person's rights,then if concealing it entails harm to anyone, or if itconcerns prescribed legal measures such as retaliationfor an injury or death (def: 03), or coveringthe cost of an article destroyed through negligence,then if the person whose rights have beeninfringed is ignorant of it, one is obliged to makethe matter known, and must testify to it if askedto.(4) If it involves another's rights, but concealingit does not entail harm to anyone and itdoes not concern prescribed legal measures
or itentails one of these two, but the person concernedalready knows of it through another and one hasnot been asked to testify about it, then one isobliged to conceal the matter.(al-Duraral-mubaha (y99), 134)*
(Nawawi:) It is unlawful for a person tomention anything to another's servant, wife, son,and so forth that could disaffect them from him,unless one is commanding the right or forbiddingthe wrong
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""He who disaffects a person's wife or servantfrom him is not of us.""(al-Adhkar (yI02), 498)*
(Nawawi:) Cursing an upright Muslim isunlawful by unanimous consensus of all Muslims.The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Cursing a believer is like killing him.""THE PERMISSIBILITY OF CURSING THOSE WHOCOMMIT DISOBEDIENCE WHEN THEY ARENOT PERSONALLY IDE:-lTlf'IED OR KNOW:-l
It is permissible (A: but not rewarded byAllah) to curse those who possess blameworthycharacteristics, such as by saying, ""Allah curseoppressors,"" ""Allah curse the corrupt,"" ""Allahcurse picture makers,"" and so forth
Well-knownand rigorously authenticated (sahib) hadiths verifythat the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said:(1) ""Allah curse her who wears false hair andher who arranges it for another"";(2) ""Allah curse him who eats usurious gain(riba)"";(3) ""Allah curse those who make pictures"" ;(4) ""Allah curse him who surreptitiouslychanges property-line markers"";all of these being found in Bukhari, Muslim, orboth.As for cursing a particular person who commitssome act of disobedience, such as an oppressor,adulterer, maker of pictures, thief, or onewho consumes usurious gain; the hadith evidenceseems to suggest it is not unlawful, though Ghazaliindicates (A: and it is the most reliable opinion) ..that it is unlawful unless the person cursed issomeone we know has died in a state of unbelief,such as Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl, Pharaoh, Haman,and their likes
This, as Ghazali notes, is ""becauseto curse means to distance another from the mercyof Allah Most High, while we do not know howthe particular corrupt person or non-Muslim willend his life
As for those the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) personally cursed,perhaps it was because he knew they would die inunbelief
Praying that evil befalls a person is similarto cursing, even when against a tyrant, such assaying, 'May Allah not heal him,' 'May Allah notkeep him safe,' and similar remarks, all of whichare blameworthy [A: being unlawful, if of a Muslim].And likewise for cursing any animals orinanimate objects whatever-all this is objectionable[A: meaning offensive]"" (al-Adhkar (yl02),476-80).*
(Nahlawi:) It is unlawful to ask for moneyor other worldly advantage from someone one hasno right to ask, unless there is a necessity to
TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""One of you keeps begging until when hemeets Allah Most High, there is not a piece offlesh left on his face,""which is interpreted as referring to anyone whoasks when it is not permissible to do so
Thedegree of necessity that permits begging is whenone is unable to earn a living due to illness orweakness and does not have enough food to lastone day (al-Durar al-mubaha (y99), 139).*
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) As for the condemnationof musical instruments, flutes, strings, andthe like by the Truthful and Trustworthy (Allahbless him and give him peace), who""does not speak from personal caprice; It ISnothing besides a revelation inspired"" (Koran53:3-4),let those who refuse to obey him beware lestcalamity strike them, or a painful torment
TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:(1) ""Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as aguidancc and mercy to believers and commandedme to do away with musical instruments, flutes,strings, crucifixes, and the affair ofthe pre-Islamicperiod of ignorance.""(2) ""On the Day of Resurrection, Allah willpour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listeningto a songstress.""(3) ""Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heartas water does herbage.""(4) ""This Community will experience theswallowing up of some people by the earth,metamorphosis of some into animals, and beingrained upon with stones."" Someone asked,""When will this be, a Messenger of Allah?"" andhe said, ""When songstresses and musical instrumentsappear and wine is held to be lawfuL""(5) ""There will be peoples of my Communitywho will hold fornication, silk, wine, and musicalinstruments to be lawful..
,""All of this is explicit and compelling textualevidence that musical instruments of all types areunlawful (Kaff al-ra'a' 'an muharramat al-Iahw waal-sama' (y49), 2.269-70).
(Nawawi:) It is unlawful to use musicalinstruments--such as those which drinkers areknown for, like the mandolin, lute, cymbals, andfiute-or to listen to them
It is permissible to playthe tambourine at weddings, circumcisions, andother times, even if it has bells on its sides
Beatingthe kuba, a long drum with a narrow middle, isunlawful (Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rifa ma'anialfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 4.429-30).
SINGING UNACCOMPANIED BY MUSICALINSTRUMENTS(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) As for listening tosinging that is not accompanied by instruments,one should know that singing or listening to singingis offensive exeept under the circumstances tobe mentioned in what follows
Some scholars holdthat singing is sunna at weddings and the like, andof our Imams, Ghazali and 'Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salamsay that it is sunna if it moves one to a noble stateof mind that makes one remember the hereafter.It is clear from this that all poetry which encouragesgood deeds, wisdom, noble qualities, abstineneefrom this-worldly things, or similar pioustraits such as urging one to obey Allah, follow thesunna, or shun disobedienee, is sunna to write,sing, or listen to, as more than one of our Imamshave stated is obvious, since using a means to dogood is itself doing good (Kaff al-ra'a' 'an muharramatal-Iahw wa al-sama' (y49), 2.273).
DANCING(Nawawi: (n: with commentary byMuhammad Shirbini Khatib)) It is not prohibitedto dance «Shirbini:) which is not unlawfulbecause it is only motions made while standing orbowing
Furani and others have expressly statedthat neither is it offensive, but rather is permissible,as is attested to by the hadith related in theSahihs of Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peaee) stood before'A'isba (Allah be well pleased with ber) to screenher from view so that she could observe the Abyssinianssporting and dancing)--unless it is languid,like the movements of the effeminate(Mughni al-muhtaj ila ma'rita ma'ani altaz alMinhaj(y73), 4.430).*
(Ibn Qudama Maqdisi (dis: qO.I):) Thereare people misled by this world, saying, ""Cash isbetter than credit: this world is cash while the nextworld is credit."" And it is a point of deception, forcash cannot be better than credit unless theamount of each is equal
Now a person's life, whencompared to the hereafter, obviously does notamount to even a thousandth part before hebreathes his last, while someone who says that""cash is better than credit"" means ""provided thecredit equals the cash."" And this is the delusion ofunbelievers
As for those immersed by sin whiletheir faith in eternal truths remains sound, theyshare this delusion with unbelievers, by preferringthe present life to the hereafter, but their lot iseasier than the unbelievers' in that their basic faithwill keep them from unending punishment.
THOSE DELUDED BY ALLAH'SFORGIVENESSOther sinners delude themselves by saying,""Allah is generous, we but rely on His forgiveness,""while the learned tell us that if onelongs for something One pursues it, and if onefears something one shuns it
Whoever hopes forforgiveness while persisting in wrongdoing isdeluded
One must know that Allah Most High.with His vast mercy, is terrible in retribution, havingdecreed that unbelievers shall abide in hellforever (dis: w55) even though their unbelief doesnot hurt Him in the slightest
He has made some ofHis servants prey to infirmities and trials in thisworld, though He, Glorious and Exalted, is quiteable to eliminate them
Moreover, He has madeus fear His punishment
How can we not beafraid?
Fear and hope drive and arouse one toaction
That which does not spur one to works isdeception, as is clear from the fact that the ""hope""of most people makes them do nothing at all orprefer disobedience
It is odd that early Muslimsboth worked and feared, while nowadays, thoughfalling far short, people feel secure and tranquil asthough they knew more about the generosity ofAllah Most High than the prophets and the righteous.If it could be had by wishing, why did thelatter fatigue themselves and weep so much?
DoesAllah condemn the Jews and Christians for anythingbesides being this way when He says,""They grasp at the paltry things of this lowlife and say
'We shall be forgiven' ,
(Koran7:169).This delusion resembles that of people whodo both good and evil, but more of evil, whileimagining their good to be greater
One might seethem give a dirham as charity while having wrongfullyappropriated many times that amount, ormaybe even giving as charity something wrongfullyacquired, relying on such a donation, whichis like someone putting a dirham in one scalepan,a thousand in the other, and hoping the scale willbalance
Or another of them who thinks his goodacts are more than his evil ones, the reason forwhich is that he keeps track of the number of gooddeeds, but does not take himself to task for thebad ones, nor consider his sins
For example, hesays, ""Astaghfir Allah"" (May Allah forgive me)and ""Subhan Allah"" (Glory be to Allah) ahundred times a day, but then spends the rest ofhis day slandering Muslims and making uglyremarks, seeing the virtue of saying ""SubhanAllah"" and"" Astighfir Allah,"" but not the punishmentfor slander and forbidden speech.
Delusions generally occur among four kinds of people: Islamic scholars, devotees,would-be Sufis, and the wealthy.*
As for religious scholars, some master thelegal and rational sciences but neglect to examinetheir outward habits and practices, not keepingtheir external self from sin or making it faithful inobedience
They are deluded by their learning andfeel sure they rate high with Allah
If they were tolook with the eye of insight, they would see thatthe whole point of knowing about religious practiceis to apply it
Without works, it is useless.Allah Most High says,""He who purifies it [the soul] has succeeded""(Koran 91:9),not, ""He who knows how to purify it has succeeded.""If the Devil reminds such a person of thevirtues of learned people, let the person for hispart remember what has reached us about corruptscholars, such as Allah's saying,"" ..
like a donkey laden with books"" (Koran
62:5).THOSE WHO NEGLECT THEIR INWARD FAULTSOthers master religious learning and itsoutward perfornlance, but do not examine theirhearts to eliminate the blameworthy traits thereinsuch as pride, envy, ostentation, and seeking exaltationor fame
These have made their exteriorseemly while neglecting their interior, forgettingthe words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace),""Allah does not look at your appearance orproperty, but only at your hearts and works.""Such people apply themselves to works butdo not apply themselves to hearts, though theheart is the real foundation, since no one is saved""except he who comes to Allah with a pure heart""(Koran 26:89).They resemble someone who sows grain thatcomes up with weeds choking it out, but whenordered to weed it, merely trims away the weeds'twigs and stems, neglecting the roots, which takestronger hold
.Another segment of scholars know that theseinner qualities are condemnable, but out of selfsatisfactionfeel they are above them, and thatthey are too good as far as Allah is concerned forHim to afflict them with such traits, that only commonpeople have them and not people at theirown level of learning
When symptoms of arroganceor avidness for leadership appear in suchpeople, one of them may say, ""This is not arrogance,but only seeking to exalt Islam, display thenobility of religious learning, and to spite thosegiven to reprehensible innovations
Were I towear clothes less fine or sit with a lower class ofpeople, the enemies of religion would smirk, andgloat at my humiliation, which amounts tohumiliating Islam."" And he forgets about delusion,and that it is Satan who has seduced him withthis, which is plain from the fact that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) and his Companionswere humble in manner and preferred theway of poverty and lowliness.Still other scholars have acquired religiousknowledge, purified their exterior actions, makingthem seemly with obedience, and examinedtheir hearts, purifying them of ostentation, envy,pride, and the like, and yet there remain snares ofthe Devil and tricks of the ego hidden in the recessesof their hearts which they have failed to noticeand thus neglected
You might see one of themspending the night and day in learningvarious religious sciences, organizing them,and polishing up their terminology, such a personthinking his motive is the desire to manifest thereligion of Allah Most High, while the real motivemight be to make a name for himself and enhancehis prestige
Perhaps too, his published work isnot entirely frec of self-praise, whether overtly, bywide, sweeping claims, or covertly, by attacks onothers, to show by attacking them that he is betterthan
they are and more knowledgeable
Suchkinds of behavior and similar ones are hiddenfaults which few discern but the wisest andstrongest
Those as weak as we are have little hopeof doing so, but at least a person should be awareof his own defects and wish they were corrected.There is hope for someone whose good acts makehim happy and wicked ones make him sad, unlikesomeone who applauds himself and thinks himselfthe best of men.
The above are the delusions of those whomaster important branches of Sacred Knowledge.How then for those who content themselves withstudying fields not essential to them, neglectingthe important ones?
THEOLOGICAL POLEMICISTSAmong them are those who busy themselveswith theological polemics against hereticalbeliefs, and refuting the unorthodox
Scholarsengaged in this are of two types, those in thewrong and those in the right, the former advocatingsomething other than the sunna, the latteradvocating the sunna
Both are deluded
The misguidednessof those in the wrong is obvious (A:since they have left the Koran and sunna which aredivinely protected)
As for those in the right, theirdelusion is in believing that arguing is the mostimportant activity and greatest spiritual work inthe religion of Allah Most High
They maintainthat one's religion is not eomplete until one hasmade lengthy investigations into one's beliefs, andthat someone who simply believes in Allah andHis messenger without preparing a case for it isdeficient in faith
Because of this mistaken presumption,they spend their lives learning how todispute, conducting in-depth studies of statementsof theological controversics until their spiritualinsight eventually goes blind
They do not pauseto consider that the early Muslims, whom theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) testifiedwere the very best of mankind, and wholived to see many a reprehensible innovation(bid'a) and deviant belief, did not expose themselvesand their religion to quarreb and disputation,or busy themselves therein at the expenseof their hearts and works
They did not talk aboutit at all, except under necessity to refute misguidance.And if they saw someone persisting inblameworthy innovation, they had nothing moreto do with him, without further debate or argument.The hadith has reached us,""No people went astray after having beenguided save that they were afflicted with arguing.""
SERMONIZERSOthers spend their time in homilies topeople, the highest class of whom speak abouttraits of the self and qualities of the heart such asfear, hope, patience, gratitude, reliance on Allah,abstinence, certainty, and sincerity; thinking thatby merely speaking of them, even if they do nothave them, they acquire them
Such people call toAllah while they themselves flee from Him
Theyare among the most deluded
And some of themturn from the proper way of exhorting others torelating baseless tales, adding words that areneither acceptable to Sacred Law nor to humanintelligence, in an attempt to say something novel.
LEARNING HADITH FOR THE SAKEOF MAKING A REPUTATIONOthers spend their time in listening tohadiths, gathering variants and rare chains oftransmission or chains remarkable for havingcome through but few transmitters of advancedyears
The concern of one of them is to go fromcity to city, seeing sheikhs in order to drop names,saying, ""I relate from So-and-so,"" ""I've met Soand-so,"" or ""I know chains of transmission noone else does.""ARABlSTS
Others devote their time to advancedstudies in Arabic grammar .
lexicography .
andpoetry, claiming they are the scholars of theIslamic Community.
dissipating their lives insubtleties of grammar and diction
If they stoppedto think, they would realize that someone whowastes his lifetime in the knowledge of the languageof the Arabs is like someone who wastes itin knowledge of the language of the Turks
Arabicis only distinguished above the latter in that theSacred Law has come in it
As for lexicology ..there are only two areas in which it is necessary forone to gain an understanding of rarc words: thoseof the Koran, and those of the hadith
As forgrammar .
one but needs enough to use the languageproperly.
The really fortunate person is he whotakes of each thing the amount that is critical tohim and then goes on to apply it, putting his effortbehind it and purifying it of imperfection
Andthis is the real aim.*
Devotees are of various types, includingthose remiss about obligatory acts while engagingin extra devotions and supererogatory works.
Sometimes they are so worried aboutusing water for purification that it reaches thelevel of obsessive doubt (waswasa) about the validityof their ablution
You might see one of themunsatisfied with water the Sacred Law deems fitfor ablution, imagining remote possibilities that itcould be affected with something 'Jnclean, whilenot having such concern for the lawfulness of thesource of the food he eats
Were he to reversethese two, applying the care he takes for the waterinstead to his food, he would be closer to the practiceof the early Muslims
'Umar (Allah be wellpleased with him) performed ablution from thewater jar of a Christian despite signs that it mightwell be unclean, while he used to refrain frommany kinds of permissible things for fear of fallinginto the unlawful.
Others are so bedeviled by inner misgivingsat their initial Allahu Akbar in the prayer thatthey may miss a rak'a with the imam
And likethem are those with obsessive doubts about theproper pronunciation of the letters of the Fatihaand other spoken elements of the prayer
One ofthem may take precaution upon precaution indoubling the doubled letters, distinguishing .i'from .1>, and so forth, beyond the necessary,until he is finally so concerned about it that hedoes not think about anything else, neglecting themeaning of the Koran and the lessons he should betaking from it
And this is among the ugliest formsof delusion, for people are not required to pronouncethe letters when reciting the Koran withmore precision than that with which classicalArabic is normally spoken
Such people are as ifdelivering a message to a ruler, the messenger fastidiouslypronouncing each letter and repeatingthose he is unsatisfied with, having quite forgottenthe purpose of the message and the dignity of theassembly before whom he is delivering it
Howrichly such a person deserves to be thrown out andtaught a lesson.
A third group is deluded by reciting theKoran, which they rush through, perhaps finishingtwice a day, the tongue of one of them beingoccupied therein while his heart is wanderingthrough the valleys of daydream, not reflecting onits meanings, heeding its exhortations, or obeyingits ordinances and prohibitions
Such a person ismisled, believing the Koran is only intended forreciting
He is like someone to whom his masterhas written a letter charging him with certain mattersand forbidding him others, while the servantdoes not bother the understand it or carry it outbut simply memorizes it and repeats it, thinkingthat this is the purport of it, while violating themaster's commands and prohibitions
Othersrelish the sound of their own voice in reciting theKoran, disregarding its significance
One shouldexamine one's heart as to whether one is enjoyingthe meter, the sound, or the meaning (A: thoughit is not blameworthy to enjoy the meter or sound,unless one is unconcerned with the meaning).
Others are deceived by fasting, and frequentlypractice it, but do not restrain theirtongue from slander and useless words, keep theirbelly from ill-gotten or unlawful food with whichto break their fast, or free their heart from ostentation.
Others are deluded by going on pilgrimage,departing for it without restoring the rights ofpeople they have wronged (dis: p77.3), meetingtheir financial obligations, asking the permissionof their parents, or obtaining lawfully gotten provision.And this may be after having fulfilled theobligatory hajj, while they neglect obligatory actsof worship enroute, are unable to purify their garmentsand person, and do not refrain from unpermittedsex or getting into arguments, despitewhich they think all is well with them, being selfdeceived.
Others command the right and forbid thewrong, while forgetting themselves.
Others include the imam who leads thegroup prayer at the mosque, but when someonemore godfearing or knowledgeable is allowed tolead in his stead, it weighs heavily on him
Or themuezzin who calls to the prayer, believing he isdoing it for the sake of Allah, but when someoneelse gives the call in his absence, it annoys him andhe says, ""He has infringed on my position.""
Others eschew material possessions, contentwith poor clothes and food and with living inmosques, thinking that they have reached therank of the abstinent (zuhhad)
while they are avidfor leadership and prestige
In fact, they havegiven up the lesser of two matters while gettinginvolved in the more deadly.
Still others enthusiastically performsupererogatory acts while not being concerned forthe obligatory ones
You may see one of themsavoring the midmorning or night vigil prayer, butfinding no satisfaction in the prescribed prayer,nor hastening to pray it at the first of its time
Sucha person has forgotten the Prophet's words (Allahbless him and give him peace) relating that AllahMighty and Majestic said,""Those near to Me do not approach Me withanything like that which I have made obligatoryupon them.""
There is no spiritual labor without its dangers,and those who do not know them fall prey tothem
Whoever wishes to learn them should studythe dangers of ostentation that exist in acts of worship,from fasting and prayer to all the rest, in thechapters set forth in this book (A: i.e
IbnQudama's source here, Ghazali's lhya' 'ulum aidin).
The deluded among them are of varioustypes
Some are deluded by the dress, terminology,or demeanor of the Sufis
They imitate thesincere Sufis (dis: w9) externally, but do not taxthemselves with spiritual struggle or self-discipline.Rather, they pounce upon and quarrel overwealth that is unlawful
doubtful, or from rulers(dis: p32.3), rending each other's honor wheneverthey are at cross-r:urposes
The delusion of theseis obvious
They are like an old woman who hearsthat the names of courageous, valiant soldiers areinscribed in the official roster and they are cededwhole tracts of land
Feeling a longing within herself,she dons hauberk and helmet, learns a fewheroic stanzas and the details of their apparel andcharacteristics, and then sets out for the camp.Her name is duly entered in the lists, but when shereports for inspection, she is ordered to take offthe helmet and armor to see what is underneath,and to be tried in combat
When she complies, itturns out that she is a feeble old crone, and she istold, ""You only came to mock the king and hiscourt!-Take her away and throw her under theelephant's feet."" And she is flung under it to betrampled.Thus will be the state of pretenders to Sufismon the Day of Judgement, when they standrevealed and are brought before the SupremeJudge, who looks at hearts, not patched clothes orSufi dress.
Others claim to have attained to gnosisand contemplative knowledge of the Divine, tohave passed through spiritual stations and states,and to have reached nearness to Allah, while theyknow nothing of any of this except the words
Youmight see one of them reiterating these terms,thinking it above the combined learning of thefirst and last, and looking with condescensionupon the scholars of Sacred Law, hadith, andother disciplines, to say nothing of ordinary Muslims.Sometimes a common person will keep theircompany for many days, picking up these artificialphrases and parroting them as if he were speakingdivine revelation, with sneering contempt forscholars and worshippers, saying that they areveiled from Allah (A: which could be true, thoughsaying it by way of self-praise is very wrong) whilehe has attained to the Truth, and that he is one ofthose brought near to Allah-while Allah considershim a debauched hypocrite, and the transformedones know him to be an ignorant fool whohas not acquired sound knowledge, perfected hischaracter, or kept watch over his heart, butmerely pursued his own fancy and memorized alot of gibberish.
Others roll up and put away the carpet ofthe Sacred Law, rejecting its rulings and consideringthe unlawful and the lawful to be equal, saying,""Allah does not need my works, so whyshould I bother?"" One of them may say, ""Outwarddevotions have no value, only hearts meananything
Our hearts are aflame with the love ofAllah Most High, and we have attained to gnosisof Him
If we are bodily immersed in this world,yet our hearts are in worshipful seclusion in thepresence of the Divine
Outwardly we may give into our desires, but not in our hearts."" They claimto have surpassed the rank of the common people,beyond the need to school the lower self withphysical devotions, and that gratifying bodily lustsdoes not divert them from the path of Allah MostHigh because of their firmness therein
They exaltthemselves above the level of the prophets (uponwhom be peace) who used to weep for years overa single mistake.
(n: As no age is without pretenders to Sufism, the following texts willhopefully be useful in letting some principal Sufis describe in their own words thedelusions of those who consider themselves ""above the Sacred Law."")
(Ibn 'Ajiba:) Someone said to Junayd,""There is a group who claim they arrive to a statein which legal responsibility no longer applies tothem."" ""They have arrived,"" he replied, ""but tohell"" (Iqaz al-himam fi sharh al-Hikam (y54),
210).(Ghazali:) When anyone claims there is astate between him and Allah relieving him of theneed to obey the Sacred Law such that the prayer,fasting, and so forth are not obligatory for him, orthat drinking wine and taking other people'smoney are permissible for him-as Some pretendersto Sufism, namely those ""above the SacredLaw"" (ibahiyyun) have claimed-there is nodoubt that the imam of the Muslims or his representativeis obliged to kill him
Some hold thatexecuting such a person is better in Allah's sightthan killing a hundred unbelievers in the path ofAllah Most High (Hashiya al-Shaykh Ibrahim alBajuri(y5), 2.267).
(Muhyiddin ibn al-'Arabi:) When we seesomeone in this Community who claims to be ableto guide others to Allah, but is remiss in but onerule of the Sacred Law--even if he manifests miraclesthat stagger the mind-asserting that hisshortcoming is a special dispensation for him, wedo not even turn to look at him, for such a personis not a sheikh, nor is he speaking the truth, for noone is entrusted with the secrets of Allah MostHigh save one in whom the ordinances of the SacredLaw are preserved (Jami' karamat al-awliya(y95),1.3).
(Sheikh Ahmad al-'Alawi:) The friend ofAllah (wali) is not divinely protected from error,for which reason he is to be feared for and his wordis not to be relied upon when it exceeds what hasbeen conveyed by the sunna concerning matters ofthe afterlife, because he is suspended from makingany new provisions in the Sacred Law, and inrespect to the prophets (upon whom be peace) heis not a guide
He is only entitled to believe whatthe Lawgiver has informed of.""Today I have perfected your religion for youand completed My favor upon you, and I pleasethat Islam be your religion"" (Koran 5:3).The gnostic in the first of his states is stronglyaffected by the initial impact, and will sometimestry to take on a discussion of the affairs of theafterlife, as opposed to the final state, in which hemay be so quiescent that an unknowing observermight assume its strength had waned, though thisis rather the result of his perfection and firmness inhis station
It has been said that the way begins inmadness, proceeds to arts, and ends in quietude.So one is obliged, whenever one's rapture subsides,to return to what the Lawgiver has stated,without personal figurative interpretations
Thisis why our author says, ""Faith is incisive,"" meaningthat one cuts the self short whenever it wantseminence and elevation
The gnostic's spiritualwill, exalted above all else, plust carry him beyondwhat we have just mentioned
For he is outsideour phenomenal frame of reference and all it contains,and whenever he wants to speak aboutthings of the afterlife his words are high, unintelligible,and a source of trouble to both those whobelieve him and those who do not, which is why heis forbidden speech about it, and as much as heincreasingly forgoes it, he increases in nearness toAllah and in safety
Sufis call this station subsistence(baqa')
Before a diSCiple is firmly establishedtherein, it is to be feared that he will beovertaken by misfortune because of his lack of afoothold in the state of subsistence, a juncture thathas been called ""from annihilation to subsistence,or annihilation to perdition"" (al-Minah al-quddusiyyafi sharh al-Murshid al-mu'in bi tariq alSUfiyya(y8), 67-68).
('Abd aI-Karim Jili:) My brother, Allahhave mercy on you, I have travelled to theremotest cities and dealt with all types of people,but never has my eye seen, nor ear heard of,nor is there any uglier or farther from the presenceof Allah Most High than a certain group who pretendthey are accomplished Sufis, claiming forthemselves a lineal spiritual tradition from theperfected ones and appearing in their guise, whilethey do not believe in Allah, His messengers, orthe Last Day, and do not comply with the responsibilitiesof the Sacred Law, depicting the states ofthe prophets and their messages in a manner thatno one with a particle of faith in his heart canaccept, let alone someone who has reached thelevel of those to whom the unseen is disclosed andwho have gnostic insight
We have seen a greatnumber of their luminaries in cities in Azerbaijan,Shirwan, Jilan, and Khurasan, may Allah cursethem all (Idah al-maqsud min wahdat al-wujud(y98),17-18).
The delusions of those ""above the SacredLaw"" are beyond number, all of it mistakes andinner suggestions with which the Devil has trickedthem because of their having taken up spiritualstruggle before they mastered the rules of the SacredLaw, and they did not connect themselveswith a sheikh of learning and religion worthy ofbeing followed (dis: w9.5-9).
Other students of Sufism proceed on theright path, engage in spiritual struggle, begin toactually travel in the way, and the door of gnosis,contemplative knowledge ofthe Divine, opens tothem
But when they sniff the first traces of thisknowledge, it surprises them and they exult in itand are pleased by the strangeness of it, until theirhearts become fettered with turning to it andthinking about it, and how it was disclosed to thembut not others
And all of this is delusion, for thewonders met with in the path of Allah Gloriousand Exalted are endless
If one stops with a particularmarvel and becomes enamored with it,one's progress falters and one fails to reach thegoal
Such a person is like someone going to see aking, who notices a garden at the palace gate withflowers in it, the like of which he has never seen,and who stops to look at them until there is nolonger time to meet the king.*
The deluded among the wealthy are ofvarious types
Some of them eagerly buildmosques, schools, hospices, aqueducts, whateverpeople can see, and write their names upon themto perpetuate their memory and keep it alive aftertheir death, while if one of them were called uponto spend a single dinar on something that did nothave his name on it, it would be a burden for him.If not for the fact that his aim is other people andnot Allah Himself, this would not be so hard forhim, as Allah is looking at him whether he writeshis name or not.Others spend money embellishing mosqueswith ornamentation and bas-reliefs, which areprohibited by Sacred Law and distracting to thepeople praying in them
The aim in prayer ishumble awe and an attentive heart, while thisornamentation spoils the hearts of those praying.And if the money spent on such things is from anunlawful source to begin with, so much greater thedelusion
Malik ibn Dinar (Allah have mercy onhim) said, ""A
man came to a mosque, stopped atthe entrance, and said, 'Someone like me does notenter a house of Allah'-for which he wasaccorded the rank of those with perfect faith(siddiq)."" And this is how we should reveremosques, by seeing them as defiled by our enteringthem with our self as bad as it is, an affront tothem; not by seeing to their defilement with theunlawful and with this-worldly embellishment,trying to outdo Allah Most High
The delusion ofsomeone who does this is in thinking the wrong tobe right.
Others protect their money, holding fastto it with the tight fist of greed, and then occupythemselves with bodily works of worship that donot cost much, like fasting, prayer, or reciting thewhole Koran
They are deluded, for stinginess isdeadly (dis: p75.25) and has taken over theirheart
They need to rid themselves of it by spendingof their wealth, but are too busy withsupererogatory works to do so
They are likesomeone who, when a snake has entered hisclothes, sets about cooking up a syrup of vinegarand honey to reduce his bile.
There are others whose selfishness will notlet them give anything but zakat
One of them maypayout the worst property he has, or give it tothose of the poor who are useful to him, vacillatingbetween which of his ulterior motives can best beserved, or as to whom he may have use for in thefuture or is ""good for something"" in particular.Another may deliver his zakat to a prominentpublic figure so he will consider him to be someoneand later fulfill his needs
And all of thisinvalidates the intention, the person who does itbeing deluded by wanting recompense fromothers for worshipping Allah Most High.
Some wealthy people and others aredeluded by frequenting circles of dhikr (remembranceof Allah), thinking that merely attendingthem will take the place of works and of a soberlook at the afterlife, though it is not so, for circlesof dhikr are only' commendable in that they motivateone to do good
And anything that is a meansto something else is pointless if it does not achieveit
When one ofthem hears something that createsfear of divine punishment, he says nothing morethan, ""0 Protector, keep us safe:' or ""I takerefuge in Allah,"" thinking he has done all that isnecessary
He is like a sick person who comes to agroup of doctors to hear what is happening
Or ahungry person who visits someone who candescribe delicious food to him, and then leaves
Itdoes not do him much good
And likewise withhearing acts of obedience described withoutapplying them: every admonition that does notchange something within one that affects one'sactions is a case against one.*
If it be objected that I have not mentioneda single action which is free of delusion, the replyis that the matter of the afterlife hinges upon onething alone: straightening out one's heart
And noone is incapable of it except someone whose intentionis insincere
If a person were as concernedabout the next world as this one, he would certainlyachieve it
The early Muslims did so, and sohave those who have followed them in excellence.Thrce things can be used to help rid oneself ofdelusions:(1) intelligence, the real light bywhieh a personsees things as they are;(2) knowledge, through which a personknows himself, his Lord, his this-worldly life, andthe life to come;(3) and learning, by which we mean learninghow to travel the way to Allah Most High, the pitfallstherein, and lcarning what will bring onenearer and guide one, all of which may be found inthis book (dis: s3.11(A:)).When a person has done all this, he should bewary lest the Devil beguile him and make himdesirous for leadership, or lest he feel secure fromAllah's devising (def: p66)
Fear should never beabsent from the hearts of the friends (awliya') ofAllah
We ask Allah to protect us from delusionand that we may end our lives well
Truly, He isnear and answers supplications (MukhtasarMinhaj al-qasidin (y62), 237-50).*
(Nawawi:) Allah Most High says,""Whoever leaves home to emigrate to Allahand His messenger but whom death overtakes:paying his recompense falls to Allah"" (Koran4:100).The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said:""Works are only according to intentions, anda man only receives what'he intends
Whoever'semigration was to Allah and His messenger hastruly emigrated to Allah and His messenger; andwhoever's emigration was for worldly gain or towed a woman, his is for that to which he emigrated.""This is a hadith whose authenticity Bukhariand Muslim agree upon, and there is completescholarly consensus on the greatness of its rankand majesty
It is one of the cornerstones, fundamentalsupports, and most important integrals offaith
Imam Shafi'i (Allah have mercy on him)said it enters into seventy chapters of jurisprudence.He also said it constitutes one-third ofSacred Knowledge.
SINCERITY (IKHLAS)Allah Most High says:(1) ""Nor were they commanded save to worshipHim, sincere to Him in their religion"" (Koran98:5).(2) ""So worship Allah with sincerity""(Koran 39:2).
The Master Abul Qasim Qushayri (Allahhave mercy on him) said: ""Sincerity is to makeAllah one's sole aim in acts of obedience, meaningto intend by one's obedience to draw nearer toAllah Most High and nothing else, whetherhypocrisy before others, acquiring esteem in theireyes, love of their praise, or anything besidesdrawing nearer to Allah
One could say that sincerityis purifying the mind from paying attentionto one's fellow creatures.""
Abu 'Uthman (Allah have mercy on him)said, ""Sincerity it to forget to regard men by continuouslyregarding their Maker."" He also said,""The sincerity of ordinary people is that which isfree of self-interest, while the sincerity of the electis that which comes over them, not from them, foracts of worship appear in them from which theyare at a remove, and neither observe nor consider""(al-Majmu' (y108), 1.16-17).
(Nawawi:) Abu Yazid (Allah Most Highbe well pleased with him) said:""For twelve years I was the blacksmith of mysoul; for five, the mirror of my heart; for one yearI observed what was between them, and 10,around my waist I found the girdle of unbelief(zunnar) in plain view
So I worked for five yearsat cutting it, seeking a way to dissever )1, until atlength this was revealed to me and looking at mankind,I saw them as dead and prayed a fourfoldAllahu Akbar over them.""Sufficient to show the subtlety of the hidden.:ness of ostentation is the difficulty with which thismaster recognized it, who had few equals in thispath
As for his remark ""I saw them as dead,"" it isof the greatest worth and excellence, words thatexpress this meaning being seldom met with outsidethose of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace)
What it signifies is that when heunderwent this spiritual struggle and his lower selfbecame trained and his heart enlightened, whenhe had mastered the self, subdued it, taken fullpossession of it, and made it submit in everything,he looked at all creatures and found them as ifdead, without discoverable trait
They could notharm or benefit, bestow or keep back, give life ordeath, join or separate, bring close or make far,save or damn, give sustenance or withhold it; theypossessed neither benefit nor harm to themselves,neither life nor death, nor resurrection
Now, thedead are dealt with, regarding these things, asdeceased, and they are not feared, nor are hopesplaced in them, nor does desire arise for what theyhave
We do not do anything for their sake, refrainfrom anything for their sake, or forgo any actof obedience to Allah for their sake, any morethan we would to win the praise of the dead
They, are not shown-off in front of, their favor is notsought through flattery or compromise of principles,and they do not occupy one's attention.They are not held in contempt or disparaged; theirdefects are unmentioned, their shameful pointsunsought out, their mistakes uncriticized; thoughif penalties prescribed by Sacred Law are incurred,we enforce them
In short, they are asthough nonexistent in everything we have mentioned,the decisions of Allah Most High holdingsway over them
Whoever deals with them accordinglyhas attained to the good of this world and thenext
May Allah Most Generous give us success inrealizing it (Bustan al- 'arifin (yl04), 131-34).
BEING TRUE (SIDQ)(Nawawi:)As for being true, Allah MostHigh says,""0 you who believe, fear Allah, and be withthose who are true"" (Koran 9:119).
Sahl ibn 'Abdullah Tustari said, ""The servantwho compromises his principles, for himselfor another, will never catch even a scent of beingtrue
""
It is related that Harith al-Muhasibi(Allah have mercy on him) said: ""A person who istrue would not care if his whole value vanishedfrom the hearts of men for the sake of bettering hisheart
He does not like people seeing the smallestbit of his good acts, and does not mind their noticingthe worst of them, for to be otherwise wouldshow he wants to be more in their eyes, and thisis out of character for those of great faith(siddiqin)
""
Dhul Nunal-Misri (Allah have mercy onhim) said: ""Truth is the sword of Allah
Whateverit is put to, it cuts"" (al-Majmu' (y108) , 1.17).*
(Ibn 'Ata' IlIah:) I know of nothing moreuseful to you than four matters: surrender toAllah, to humbly entreat Him, to think the best ofHim, and to perpetually renew your repentance toHim, even if you should repeat a sin seventy timesin a day.
SURRENDER TO ALLAHSurrender to Him gives you relief in thepresent life from having to plan while He does,triumph in the next life through the supremefavor, and safety from the idolatry of contention,for how should you contend with Him for somethingyou do not own with Him?
Cast yourselfamidst His kingdom, meager in its plentitude andinsignificant in its vastness, and He will plan foryou as He does for it
Do not leave the slavehoodthat is yours for claims to a lordship that you haveno claim to
To plan and choose for oneself areenormities with respect to hearts and inmostsouls, as you find it the Book of Allah Most Highwhere Allah says:""Your Lord creates whatever He wills andchooses, and they do not have a choice
Glory beto Allah above what they associate with Him""(Koran 28:68).
EARNESTLY ENTREATING ALLAHAs for earnestly entreating Allah, in it liesthe coming of increase, lifting of hardships,enwrapment in mantles of divine gifts, and safetyfrom affliction
One is repaid for it in times ofhardship by the Master's undertaking one's protection,and in times of ease by His seeing to one'sgain
It is the greatest threshold and straightestway
It is effectual despite unbelief, so how eouldit be ineffectual with faith?
Have you not heardthe words of Allah Most High:""And when you are touched by affliction atsea, those to whom you pray besides Him are lost,but when He delivers you to shore, you turn away.Surely man is an ingrate"" (Koran 17:67)-meaning that He answers you
Earnest entreatyis the door Allah Most High has placed betweenHimself and His servants
Gifts come to whomeverbetakes himself to it, and spiritual favorsunceasingly reach whoever stands before it
Whoeverenters unto Him by it attains to the reality ofdivine assistance
And whenever He releases untoyou through it, He bestows of every good thing inthe most lavish gift giving, as is found in the Bookof Allah Most High where Allah says,""If only they had earnestly entreated Uswhen Our vengeance reached them"" (Koran
6:43).THINKING THE BEST OF ALLAHAs for thinking the best of Allah, how tremendousit is for whomever Allah has blessed withit
Whoever has it does not lack the slightest bit ofgood, and whoever lacks it will never find any.You will never have a better excuse to Allah thanit, or one more profitable
Nor anything that betterleads you to Allah or is more guidance giving.It informs one what Allah will make of one andgives good tidings the like of whose words no eyehas ever read nor tongue given utterance to
Thisis found in the sunna of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace), where he says, quotingAllah,""I am nigh to what My servant expects ofMe.""
CONTINUALLY RENEWED REPENTANCEAs for continually renewing one's repentanceto Allah, it is the wellspring of everyspiritual rank and station from first to last,inwardly and outwardly
There is no excellence inone who lacks it, and nothing lacking in one whohas it
It is the key to every good, outwardly andinwardly, the very soul of stations of wisdom, andthe reason men are made friends of Allah(awliya')
If the repentance of the Axis of theWorld (Qutb) were like that of the ordinary righteousperson because of equality in station, thehigher of them would not surpass the other for hisexaltedness of rank and tremendousness ofspiritual certainty
Allah Most Glorious andExalted has not made any rank below it exceptthat of wrongdoing, as Allah Most High says,""Whoever does not repent, they are thewrongdoers"" (Koran 49:11),it being required from every messenger andprophet, every great-faithed one (siddiq) andfriend of Allah (wali) , every godfearing pious person,misguided profligate, and every doomedunbeliever
You may find this in the Book ofAllah Most High where Allah Glorious andExalted says,""0 people: fear your Lord"" (Koran 4:1),godfearingness being through repentance to Himand regret before Him
The repentance of thosewho do evil lies in abandoning it, while the repentaneeof those who do good lies in not halting withtheir good, whether it consists of spiritual effort orits rewards
The repentance of both is the same:not to stop at it."" ..
the faith of your father Ibrahim
He hasnamed you Muslims"" (Koran 22:78).It was of Ibrahim's faith not to halt with what passesaway, or fix his regard on existent things
Inquoting him to us, Allah Most High says,""I love not things which pass away"" (Koran 6:76).
In general,someone who cannot benefitfrom a little will not benefit from a lot (A: since alot of work does not avail without sincerity), andsomeone who cannot profit from a hint will notprofit from a plain remark
When Allah gives youunderstanding, your hearing will not cease noryour benefiting be restricted to a certain time.May Allah give us and you to understand Him,give us and you to hear Him, dissever us fromeverything besides Him, enter us into His shadeand protection, and make us of those to whom Hehas given spiritual insight, guidance, and a yearningfor His nearness
May He not scatter the intentionof our hearts but rather center our purpose onHim, and remove our cares by bringing us to ourdestination
Ameen.May there be safety for the whole group, andblessings and peace upon the Best of Messengers(al-Hikam al- 'Ata'iyya wa al-munajat al-ilahiyya(y56),103-9).*
(Muhammad Sa'id Burhani:) Do not limityourself to deep words and profound spiritualallusions but make provision for the afterlifebefore death comes, when fine words will be lostand the rak'as you prayed by night or day willremain.
Give voluntary charity as much as possible,for you owe more than merely the zakatobligatory
Make provision for the afterlife by givingwhile you have health and want to cling to yourmoney out of fear of poverty, seeing life beforeyou
Allah Most High says,""Whoever is watchful against the stinginessof his own soul, those shall be the successful""(Koran 59:9).meaning they shall be saved.
Never obey anyone of Allah's servants,even father or mother, in an act of disobedience toAllah, for there is no obedience to a creature indisobedience to the Creator.
Do not wrong another person, for wrongsdone to others are clouds of darkness on the Dayof Judgement
Wronging others includes notdoing what Allah has obliged you to do for them.
Beware of enmity against anyone who hassaid, ""La ilaha ill Allah"" (There is no god butAllah), for Allah has honored them with faith,and particularly the righteous of them, for AllahMost High says in a rigorously authenticated(sahih) hadith,""He who makes an enemy of a friend ofMine, I declare war against.""
Tell the truth when you speak
It is one ofthe worst betrayals to tell your brother somethinghe thinks you are being honest about when thematter is otherwise.
Be honest in your clothes and dress
It isan outrage against Allah to appear to His servantsin the guise of the righteous while secretly contradictingit with the works of the wicked.
Recite the Koran and contemplate itsmeanings
Reflect while reading it on the qualitiesAllah has praised, with which He describes thepeople He loves
Acquire these qualities yourselfand shun those Allah has condemned
Do yourutmost to memorize the Holy Koran by acts as youdo bywords.
Never explain a verse of the Holy Koranby your own opinion, but check as to how it hasbeen understood by the scholars of Sacred Lawand men of wisdom who came before you
If youcomprehend something else by it and what youhave understood contradicts the Sacred Law, forsakeyour wretched opinion and fling it against thewall.
Beware lest you ever say anything thatdoes not conform to the Sacred Law
Know thatthe highest stage ofthe perfected ones (rijal) is theSacred Law of Muhammad (Allah bless him andgive him peace)
And know that the esoteric thatcontravenes the exoteric is a fraud.
Take care to eat lawful food bought with alawful income, for the entire body of someonewho eats what is lawful, his hearing, eyesight,hands, and feet, are disposed to obey Allahwhether he wishes to or not; while the whole bodyof someone who eats the unlawful is disposed todo wrong whether he wants to or not.
Keep the thought of Allah Mighty andMajestic ever before you with respect to what Hetakes from you and what He gives
He takes awaynothing except that you may show patience andwin His love, for He loves the patient, and whenHe loves you, He will treat you as a lover does hisbeloved
And so too, when He gives to you, Hebestows blessings upon you that you may givethanks, for He loves the thankful.
Do not walk a step, take a bite, or make amove without intending thereby to draw nearer toAllah.
Perform the remembrance of Allah(dhikr) silently and aloud, in a group and whenalone, for Allah Most High says,""Remember Me: I will remember you""(Koran 2:152).It is sufficient as to its worth that Allah is rememberingyou as long as you are remembering Him.
Give frequent utterance to the axiom ofIslam ""La ilaha ill Allah"" (There is no god butAllah), for it is the greatest invocation (dhikr), asis mentioned in the hadith,""The best thing I or any of the prophetsbefore me have said is 'La ilaha ill Allah.' ""
'Umaribn Khattab (Allah be well pleasedwith him) said:""As we sat one day with the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace), a manwith pure white clothing and jet black hair came tous, without a trace of travelling upon him, thoughnone of us knew him
He sat down before theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)bracing his knees against his, and resting his handson his legs, said: 'Muhammad, tell me aboutIslam.' The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless himand give him peace) said: 'Islam is to testify thereis no god but Allah and that Muhammad is theMessenger of Allah, and to perform the prayer,give zakat, fast in Ramadan, and perform the pilgrimageto the House if you can find a way.' Hesaid: 'You have spoken the truth,' and we weresurprised that he should ask and then confirm theanswer
Then he said: 'Tell me about true faith(iman),' and the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) answered: 'It is to believe inAllah, His angels, His inspired Books, His messengers,the Last Day, and in destiny, its good andevil.' 'You have spoken the truth,' he said, 'Nowtell me about the perfection of faith (ihsan),' andthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)answered: 'It is to adore Allah as if you see Him,and if you see Him not
He nevertheless sees you.''Tell me ofthe Hour,' said the visitor, and he wastold: 'The one questioned knows no more about itthan the questioner.' 'Then tell me of its portents,'he said, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) replied: 'That the slave woman shallgive birth to her mistress, and that you shall seebarefoot, naked, penniless shepherds vying inconstructing high buildings.' Then the visitor left.I waited a while, and the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) said to me, 'Do you know,'Umar, who was the questioner?' and I replied,'Allah and His messenger know best.' He said, 'Itwas Gabriel, who came to you to teach you yourreligion' "" (Sahih Muslim (y92), 1.37-38).*
""Islam is to testify there is no god butAllah and that Muhammad is the Messenger ofAllah, and to perform the prayer, give zakat, fastin Ramadan, and perform the pilgrimage to theHouse if you can find a way.""
(Nawawi:) The sheikh and Imam IbnSalah (Allah have mercy on him) said: ""Being aMuslim is outwardly established by one's sayingthe two Testifications of Faith (Shahadatayn) (N:even if they are not spoken in Arabic)
TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) onlyadded the prayer, zakat, the pilgrimage, and thefast because they are the most patent and greatestof Islamic observances
One's submission (istislam)is perfected through performing them, andneglecting them suggests that one has dissolved orvitiated the terms of one's compliance
Moreoverthe termfaith (iman) encompasses all of the thingsby which Islam is explained in this hadith, andindeed, all acts of obedience, for they are thefruits of the inner conviction that is the underlyingbasis of faith, and are what strengthen, complete,and preserve it.""
The position of Muslim orthodoxy is thatno Muslim becomes a non-Muslim through sin.Muslims of heretical sectarian groups and those ofreprehensible innovations (bid'a) are not therebynon-Muslims (dis: w47.2).
Any Muslim who denies something that isnecessarily known (def: fl.3(N:) to be of thereligion of Islam is adjudged a renegade and anunbeliever unless he is a recent convert or wasborn and raised in the wilderness or for some similarreason has been unable to learn his religionproperly
Muslims in such a condition should beinformed about the truth, and if they then continueas before, they are adjudged non-Muslims,as is also the case with any Muslim who believes itpermissible to commit adultery, drink wine, killwithout right, or do other acts that are necessarilyknown to be unlawful (Sahih Muslim bi sharh atNawawi(y93), 1.147-50).*
""[True faith] is to believe in Allah, Hisangels, His inspired Books, His messengers, theLast Day, and in destiny, its good and evil.""
BELIEF IN ALLAH(Muhammad lurdani:)To hclievc inAliahmeans in His existence, His sole godhood(rububiyya, that no one else participates in Hisattribute of divinity or in the rights He has .overHis creatures), His Oneness and uniqueness(wahdaniyya), and that He is characterized byevery perfection and exalted above any imperfectionor impossibility (dis: vI).
BELIEF IN ANGELSTo believe in His angels means in beingswith bodies of light who are capable of changingform to assume various appearances
Believemeans to be convinced that they exist, and arehonored servants who do not disobey what Allahorders them to do, but do whatever they are commanded.Only Allah Most High knows how manythere are, but a hadith relates that there is not afoot of space in the seven heavens that does notcontain an angel standing in prayer, bowing, orprostrating
We are obliged to know ten individualangels:(1) libril (Gabriel);(2) Mika'il;(3) Israfil;(4) 'Azra'il;(5) Munkar;(6) Nakir;(7) Ridwan;(8) Malik;(9 and 10) and the two scribes who recordone's good and bad deeds, each of whom is calleda ""present observer.""
BELIEF IN ALLAH'S INSPIRED BOOKSTo believe in His inspired Books meansthose which He revealed to His messengers,believe meaning to be convinced that they are theword of Allah Most High, and all they contain isthe truth.(A: The obligation of belief applies to theoriginal revelations, not the various scriptures inthe hands of non-Muslims, which are textuallycorrupt in their present form.)Scholars differ as to how many Books thereare
Some hold they numbe.r 104, and some sayotherwise
One is obliged to know four particularBooks:(1) the Tawrah (Torah), revealed to ourliegelord Musa (Moses);(2) the Injil (Evangel), revealed to ourliegelord 'Isa (Jesus);(3) the Zabur (Psalms), revealed to ourliegelord Dawud (David);(4) and the Qur'an (Koran), revealed to ourliegelord Muhammad (Allah bless them all andgive them peace).
BELIEF IN ALLAH'S MESSENGERSTo believe in His messengers means to beconvinced that Allah Most High sent them to menand jinn (khalq) to guide them to the path of theTruth, and that they have told the truth abouteverything they have conveyed from Allah MostHigh
It is obligatory to know twenty-five particularmessengers:(1) Adam;(2) Idris (Enoch);(3) Nuh (Noah);(4) Hud;(5) Salih;(6) Lut (Lot);(7) Ibrahim (Abraham);(8) Isma'il (Ishmael);(9) Ishaq (Isaac);(10) Ya'qub (Jacob);(11) Yusuf (Joseph);(12) Shu'ayb;(13) Harun (Aaron);(14) Musa (Moses);(15) Dawud (David);(16) Sulayman (Soloman);(17) Ayyub (Job);(18) Dhul Kif!
(Ezekiel);(19) Yunus (Jonah);(20) Ilyas (Elias);(21) al-Yasa' (Elisha);(22) Zakariyya (Zacharias);(23) Yahya (John);(24) 'Isa (Jesus);(25) and Muhammad (Allah bless them alland give them peace).
BELIEF IN THE LAST DAYTo believe in the Last Day means the Dayof Resurrection, called the last because it is notfollowed by night
Believe means to be convincedthat it will come to pass with all it implies, includingthe resurrection of the dead, their reckoning,the weighing of their good deeds against their badones, their passing over the high, narrow bridgethat spans the hellfire (sirat), and that some will beput in hell out of justice, and some in paradise outof Allah's pure generosity
(n: The eternality ofparadise and hell is discussed at w55.)
BELIEF IN DESTINY, ITS GOOD AND EVILTo believe in destiny, its good and evilmeans to be convinced that Allah Most High hasordained both good and evil before creating creation,and that all that has been and all that will beonly exists through Allah's decree, foreordinance,and will
Early Muslims used to answer whoeverasked about destiny by saying, ""It is knowing thatwhat hits you was not going to miss, and what missesyou was not going to hit"" (af-Jawahir affu'lu'iyyaIi sharh af-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya (y68),
35-37).(N:) As for Allah's ereating acts, webelieve that the real doer of everything is Allah.He is the one who burns, not the fire or the personwho lighted the fire; He is the one who cuts, notthe knife or the person holding the knife; He is theone who drowns a man, not the water or the personwho threw him in, and so forth
Here, peoplealways raise the question that if Allah Most Highis the real doer, why are people held responsible?The answer is that Allah Most High does not holdpeople responsible for creating the act, but ratherfor choosing the act
One proof of this is that a personwho cannot choose is not held responsible,such as someone asleep, insane, a child, forced,unremembering, or someone who makes an honestmistake
The legal .responsibility of suchpeople is lifted because they lack full voluntarychoice
Another proof is that Nimrod sinned forchoosing to burn Ibrahim (upon whom be peace)even though Ibrahim did not burn (Koran 21:69);and that Ibrahim (upon whom be peace) becamethe Friend of the All-merciful for choosing to sacrificehis son out of obedience to Allah, eventhough his knife did not cut and his son was notsacrificed (Koran 37:105), all of this showing thatthe servant is held responsible for his choice,which scholars of the divine unity (tawhid) termthe servant's acquisition (kasb).As for Allah's eternally preexistent knowledge,we believe that Allah knows everythingbefore, during, and after it is, and knows how it iswhen it occurs
But does the servant have access tothis knowledge?
Not at all
So the servant choosesto do acts on the basis of a desire within himself,not because he knows Allah's knowledge, and heis held responsible for his choice even though itcorresponds with Allah's eternally preexistentknowledge.It is clear from the above that belief in destinymeans that Muslims believe Allah has destinedand ordained matters in past eternity, and thatnothing in existence lies outside of His eternalwill, and He is the Creator of everything, while theservant is only held responsible for his ownchoices (Mudhakkiratfi al-tawhid (y113), 41-42).
""[The perfection of faith] is to adore Allahas if you see Him, and if you see Him not, Henevertheless sees you.""
(Muhammad Jurdani:) To adore Allah asif you see Him means to obey Him while sincere inThe Perfection of Faith (Ihsan)worship, humble, lowly, and fearful, as thoughone beholds Him
And if you see Him not, Henevertheless sees you means that if one is not as ifbeholding Him in worship, but oblivious to thiscontemplation, one should nevertheless persist inexcellence of performance and imagine oneselfbefore Allah Most High and that He is looking atone's inmost being and outward self, to therebyattain to the basis of perfection
Scholars mentionthat there are three spiritual stations a servantmay have in his worship:(1) to worship in a way that fulfills its obligations,by observing all its conditions and integrals;(2) to do this while immersed in the sea ofgnostic inspiration (mukashafa) until it is as if theworshipper actually beholds Allah Most High,this being the sta.tion of contemplative spiritualvision (mushahada);(3) and to worship as mentioned above,though mainly aware that Allah sees one, thisbeing the station ofvigilanee (muraqaba).All three of these are of the perfection of faith(ihsan), but the perfection required for the validityof worship is only the first, while perfection inthe latter senses is the mark of the elect, and notpossible for many (al-Jawahir al-lu' lu'iyya fi sharhal-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya (y68), 37-38).*
(Ghazali:) Praise be to Allah, who originates all and returns it, who does as He wills, Heof the noble Throne and overwhelming force, theGuide of His elect servants to the wisest path andstraightest way, who has blessed them, after havinghad them attest to His oneness, by preservingthe tenets of their religion from the darknesses ofdoubt and misgivings, bringing them through Hisprovidence and guidance to follow His chosenMessenger and the example of his noble and honoredCompanions; He who manifests Himself andHis acts to His servants through His sublime attributes,of which none possess knowledge savethose who give heed with a present mind.
HIS DNENESSHe is one in being without partner, uniquewithout peer, ultimate without opposite, alonewithout equal
He is one, preeternal, beginninglesslyuncreate, everlastingly abiding, unceasinglyexistent, eternally limitless, the ever selfsubsistingthrough whom all else subsists, everI enduring, without end
He is, was, and ever willbe possessed of all attributes of majesty, unannihilatedby dissolution or separation through the passageof eons or terminus of interims
He is theFirst and Last, the Outward and Inward, and Hehas knowledge of everything.
HIS TRANSCENDENCEHe is not a body with a form, or a limitary,quantitative substance, not resembling bodies inquantifiability or divisibility, or in being a substanceor qualified by substance, or being anaccident or qualified by accidents
He does notresemble anything that exists, nor anything thatexists resemble Him
There is nothing whatsoeverlike unto Him, nor is He like unto anything
He isnot delimited by magnitude, contained by places,encompassed by directions, or bounded byheavens or earth
He is 'established on theThrone' (mustawin, Koran 20:5) in the way Hesays and the meaning He intends, 'established' ina manner transcending contact, settiedness, fixity,indwelling, or movement
The Throne does notAllah v1.2bear Him up, but is borne up by the subtlety of Hisinfinite power, as are the angels who carry it, andall are powerless in His grasp
He is above theThrone, the heavens, and all else to the farthestreaches of the stars, with an aboveness that doesnot increase His nearness to the Throne orheavens, or His distance from the earth and whatlies beneath it
He is as exalted in degree abovethe Throne and the heavens as He is above theearth and its depths, though He is near to everythingin existence, nearer to a servant than his ownjugular vein, and is witness to everything
Hisnearness no more resembles the nearness ofobjects to one another than His entity resemblesthe entities of objects
He does not indwell in anything,nor anything indwell in Him
He is asexalted above containment in space as He is aboveconfinement in time
He was, before creating timeand space, and is now even as He was
He is distinguishedfrom His creation by His attributes
Thereis nothing in His entity other than Him, nor is Hisentity in what is other than Him
He is beyondchange and motion: events neither occur withinHim nor changes befall Him
He remains in Hisattributes of majesty exalted above change, and inthe attributes of His perfection beyond needingany increase in perfection
The existence of Hisentity is known by human reason, and in the afterlifeis beheld by the eyesight of the righteous as abeatitude and favor, to consummate their perfectjoy with the sight of His Noble Countenance.
HIS LIFE AND ALMIGHTY POWERHe Most High is living, almighty, overmastering,triumphant, unaffected by inability orweakness; unsusceptible to drowsiness, sleep,annihilation, or death; possessed of absolutesovereignty and might, of irresistible power andforce
His is the majesty and sway, the creationand command
The heavens are enfolded in Hisright hand and all beings are powerless in Hisgrasp
He alone creates, begins, gives existence,and originates
He creates all beings and theiracts, ordains their sustenance and terms
Nothingpossible is out of His grasp, the disposal of no matteris beyond His power
The number of thingsHe can do is limitless, the amount He knows isinfinite.
HIS K.NOWLEDGEHe knows all things knowable, encompassingall that takes place from the depths of theearth to the highest heaven
He knows without anatom's weight in the earth or heavens escaping Hisknowledge
He knows the creeping of a black antacross a great stone on a lightless night, and themotion in the air of a particle of dust on a windyday
He knows the concealed and the yet morehidden, the buried recesses of hearts, the movementof thought, and the opacities of the inmostsoul; with preeternal, beginningless knowledgethat He has always possessed from the limitlessreaches of past eternity, not with awarenessoriginating within Him through being imparted orconveyed.
HIS WILLHe Most High wills all that exists anddirects all events
Nothing occurs in the physicalor spiritual world, be it meager or much, little orgreat, good or evil
of benefit or detriment, faithor unbelief, knowledge or ignorance, triumph orruin, increase or decrease, obedience or sin; savethrough His ordinance, apportionment, wisdom,and decision
What He wills is, and what He doesnot will is not
Neither sidelong glance nor passingthought is beyond His design
He originates alland returns it, does what He wills, and none canrepulse His command
There is no rescinding Hisdestiny, no flight for a servant from disobeyingHim except through divinely given success thereinand mercy, and no strength to obey Him savethrough His choice and decree
If all mankind,jinn,angels, and devils combined their efforts tomove or to still a single particle of the universewithout His will and choice, they would be unableto
His will, like His other attributes, exists in Hisentity and He ever possesses it
He has willed frompreeternity the existence of all things at the timesAllah v1.5He has chosen
They occur at the times which Hehas destined from beginningless eternity, occurringneither before nor after, but taking place inaccordance with His knowledge and will, withoutsubstitution or alteration
He directs events withoutsuccessive thoughts or waiting for time toelapse, which is why nothing diverts Him fromanything else.
HIS HEARING AND SIGHTHe Most High is all-hearing and allseeing.He hears and sees, no sound howeverslight eluding His hearing, and no sight howeverminute escaping His vision
Distance does notobscure His hearing nor darkness hinder His vision.He sees without pupil or eyelids, and hearswithout ear canal or ears, just as He knows withouta heart, seizes without limb, and creates withoutimplement
His attributes no more resemblethe attributes of His creatures than His entityresembles the entity of His creatures.
HIS SPEECHHe Most High speaks, commands, forbids,promises, and warns, with beginninglesslyeternal speech that is an attribute of His entity,not resembling the speech of creatures in being asound generated by the passage of air or impact ofbodies, nor in letters articulated by compressingthe lips or moving the tongue
The Koran, Torah,Evangel, and Psalms are His Books, revealed toHis messengers (upon whom be peace)
TheKoran is recited with tongues, written in 'books,and memorized in hearts despite being beginninglesslyeternal, an attribute of the entity ofAllah Most High, unsubject to disseverance andseparation by conveyance to hearts or pages.Moses (Allah bless him and give him peace) heardthe speech of Allah without sound or letter, just asthe righteous see the entity of Allah Most High inthe afterlife without substance or accident.Since Allah possesses all of the above attributes,He is living, knowing, omnipotent, willing,hearing, seeing, and speaking by virtue of His life,power, knowledge, will, hearing, sight, andspeech, not merely by virtue of flis entity.
HIS ACTSEverything besides Him Glorious andExalted exists through His action, proceedingfrom His justice in the best, fullest, most perfectand equitable way
He is wise in His acts and justin His decrees
His justice is not comparable to thejustice of His servants, since injustice may only beimagined from a servant through his disposal ofwhat belongs to another, while this is inconceivablefrom Allah Most High, since nothing belongsto anyone besides Him that He should unjustlydispose of it
Everything besides Him, be ithuman, jinn, angel,
devil, heaven, earth, animal,vegetable, mineral, substance, accident, intelligible,or sensory, is contingent, and was broughtinto existence through His power after not being,created by Him after it was nothing
He aloneexisted in preeternity, and nothing else
He thenoriginated creation, that His omnipotence mightbe manifest, His prior decree effected, and Hiseternal word realized; not from needing or requiringanything in creation
Our origination, beginning,and responsibility are of Allah's generosity,not because of their being obligatory for Him, andHis blessings and benefaction exist because of Hisfavor, not because of being due from Him
Everythingthat exists is indebted to Him for Hisgenerosity and goodness, His blessings andbenevolence; for He is well able to pour all mannerof torments upon His servants and try themwith every variety of suffering and illness, andwere He to do so, it would be just on His part andnot wicked or unfair
He Mighty and Majesticrewards His servants, the believers, for their actsof obedience because of His generosity and in fulfillmentof His word, not because of their deservingit or His owing it to them
He is not obliged to
anyone to do anything, nor is injustice on His partconceivable, for He does not owe any rights toanyone
The obligation of men and jinn to performacts of obedience is established by His havinginformed them of it upon the tongues of theprophets (upon whom be peace), and not byunaided human reason
He sent the prophets andmanifested the truth of their messages byunmistakable, inimitable miracles
They havecommunicated His commands, prohibitions,promises, and warnings, and it is obligatory formankind and jinn to believe in what they haveconveyed.*
Allah Most High sent Muhammad (Allahbless him and give him peace), the Qurayshiteunlettered prophet, to deliver His inspired messageto the entire world, Arabs and non-Arabs,jinn and mankind, superseding and abrogating allprevious religious systems with the Prophet's SacredLaw, except for the provisions of them that thenew revelation explicitly reconfirmed
Allah hasfavored him above all the other prophets andmade him the highest of mankind, rejecting anyone'sattesting to the divine oneness by saying""There is no god but Allah,"" unless they alsoattest to the Prophet by saying ""Muhammad is theMessenger of Allah."" He has obliged men andjinn to believe everything the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) has informed us concerningthis world and the next, and does not acceptanyone's faith unless they believe in what he hastold us will happen after death.
THE TRIAL OF THE GRAVEThe first of these matters is the questioningof Munkar and Nakir, two tremendous, aweinspiringpersonages who sit a servant upright inhis grave, body and soul, and ask him about theunity of Allah and the messengerhood of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace),saying, ""Who is your Lord, what is your religion,and who is your prophet?"" It is they who trypeople in the grave, their questioning being thefirst ordeal after death
It is also obligatory tobelieve in the torment of the grave, that it is a fact,is just, and affects both body and soul, in the wayAllah wills.
THE SCALEIt is obligatory to believe in the scale,which consists of two scalepans and a balance indicatorbetween them and is as great in size as thethickness of the heavens and earth
It weighs a servant'sdeeds through the power of Allah MostHigh, and the weights placed on it are as fine as anatom or mustard seed, that justice may be perfectlydone
The pages recording one's good deedswill be placed in a form pleasing to behold on theside of the scale for Light, weighing it downaccording to their rank with Allah, through Hisgenerosity, while the pages recording one's baddeeds will be placed in an ugly form on the side ofDarkness, diminishing the weight of the oppositeside through Allah's justice.
THE BRIDGE OVER HELLIt is obligatory to believe in the bridgeover hell (sirat), a bridge spanning the breadth ofhell, sharper than a sword and finer than a hair,which unbelievers' feet shall slip from by Allah'sdecree and plunge them into hell, and the feet ofbelievers shall be made fast upon by Allah'sgenerosity, and from thence they shall be conductedto the Final Abode.
THE WATERING PLACEIt is obligatory to believe in a wateringplace people will come to, the watering place ofMuhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace),which believers will drink from before enteringparadise, after having crossed the bridge overhell
Whoever drinks from it will never thirstagain
Its width is a month's journey across, itsHis Messenger v2.3water whiter than milk and sweeter than honey,and there are as many pitchers around it as stars inthe sky
Two aqueducts pour into it fromKawthar, a spring in paradise
.
THE FINAL RECKONINGIt is obligatory to believe in the FinalReckoning and the disparity in the way variouspeople are dealt with therein, some made to answer,others pardoned, and some admitted toparadise without reckoning, being the intimates ofAllah (muqarrabun)
Allah Most High shall askwhomever He wills of the prophets if they haveconveyed their message, ask unbelievers why theydenied the messengers, ask those of reprehensibleinnovation (bid'a) about the sunna, and ask Muslimsabout their works.
BELIEVERS SHALL DEPART FROM HELLIt is obligatory to hold that true believersin the oneness of Allah (N: who follow theprophet oftheir age (dis: w4.4)) will betaken outof hell after having paid for their sins, through thegenerosity of Allah Mighty and Majestic
No onewho is a true monotheist will abide in the fireforever.
THE INTERCESSION OF THEPROPHETS AND RIGHTEOUSIt is obligatory to believe in the intercessionof first the prophets, then religious scholars,then martyrs, then other believers, the intercessionof each one commensurate with his rank andposition with Allah Most High
Any believerremaining in hell without intercessor shall betaken out of it by the favor of Allah, no one whobelieves remaining in it forever, and anyone withan atom's weight of faith in his heart will eventuallydepart from it.
THE EXCELLENCE OF THEPROPHETIC COMPANIONS (SAHABA)It is obligatory to believe in the excellence(dis: w56) of the prophetic Companions (Allah bewell pleased with them)
One must think the bestof all of the Companions of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), and praise themjust as Allah Mighty and Majestic (n: e.g., atKoran 3:110) and His messenger have praisedthem (Allah bless them all and give them peace).*
All of the foregoing has been conveyed byprophetic hadith and attested to by the words ofthe early Muslims
Whoever believes it with deepconviction belongs to those of the truth, who followthe sunna, and distinguishes himself from thefaction who have strayed, the sect adhering to reprehensibleinnovation (bid'a)
We ask Allahthrough His mercy for perfect certainty and steadfastnessin religion, for ourselves and all Muslims;He is the Most Merciful of the MercifuL MayAllah bless our liegelord Muhammad, and everychosen servant (Ihya' 'ulum ai-din (y39), 1.79-83).*
(n:) This section uses a system of transliteration like that of Martin Lings'sMuhammad, with a few changes such as symbolizing the letter j; as d.h insteadof +, to better represent the classical pronunciation, and the use of parentheses atthe end of words for letters not pronounced when one pauses after them, and atthe beginning of words for letters not pronounced when the final vowel of the previousword is elided with what follows it
The letters are:Arabic English Arabic English Arabic English(short vowels) (long vowels) (dipt hongs)
(Martin Lings:) The Arabs sometimes call themselves ""the people ofQad"" because they claim thatthey alone possess the letter tjiid, which sounds likea heavy ""d"" pronounced far back in the mouth
It is normally transcribed, as here,by 4
Analogously
s
!
and?
(n: dh below) stand for other characteristic heavyback consonants, whereas d, s, t, and z stand for the corresponding front consonants,which are pronounced more or less as in English
The letter !l is a tenselybreathed II sound; q is a guttural k sound; th is to be pronounced as these lettersin think, dh as they are in this, gh like a French r, kh like ch in Scottish loch
Theasper • denotes the letter 'ayn, which is produced by narrowing the passage in thedepth of the throat and then forcing the breath through it
The apostrophe 'denotes the ""hamzah of discontinuity,"" which means a slight catch in the breath.Since in English initial vowel sounds are regularly preceded by this catch, the initialhamzah has not been transcribed here, e.g
A/.Imad, not 'Al;zmad
The ""hamzahof continuity"" indicates the running oftwo words into one by the elision, atthe beginning of the second word, of the first letter of the definite article al-, thea of which is always elided except at the beginning of a sentence, This elision isshown here simply by the omission of the letter in question, e.g
Abu I-'As, notAbu al-'As; the continuity has the effect of shortening any long vowel whichimmediately precedes this hamzah
The first letter of the Divine Name Allah isalso elided except except at the beginning of a sentence or when it stands alone,e.g
bismi Llah ...The short vowels a, i, u are like the vowel sounds of sat [n: like the vowelsound of set in American pronunciation], sit, soot; ii ..
is like the vowel sound ofbare [n: like that offJat for Americans], but back consonants next to it attract itto that of bar; rand it are like the vowel sounds of seen and soon; ay is betweenthose of sign and sane; aw is like that of cow (Muhammad (y75), 348).
PURIFICATION(e5.5) Before ablution (wudu): ""Bismi L1iih(i),"" or optimally, ""BismiLHihi r-Rahmani r-Rahim.Prior to this, it is sunna to say, ""A'iidhubi L1ahi mina sh-shay!ani r-Rajim,""and to add, after the Basmala, H AI-I}amdu Ii L11ihi 'ala l-Islami wa ni'matih(i), al-amdu Ii L11ihi lladhlja'ala l-ma'a tahuran wa 1-lsHima nura(n)
Rabbla'udhu bikamin hamaziHi ah-shayatina wa a'udhu bika Rabbi an yahdurun .
,If one neglects to say the Basmala at the first of ablution, one pronounces itduring ablution, saying, ""Bismi Lliihi awwalahu wa akhirah.""
(eS.lS) After ablution (wudu): ""Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Llahu wahdahula sharika lah(u), wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh(u);Allahumma j'alni mina t-tawwabin(a), wa j'alni mina l-mutatahbirin(a), wa j'ainimin ibadika s-salihin(a); subhanaka Llahumma wa bi hamdik(a), ash-hadu an lailaha illa ant(a), astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk.""
(e9.1(S)) Before entering the lavatory: ""Bismi Llah(i), AlIahumma innia'iidhu bika mina l-khubuthi wa I-khaba'ith""; and after leaving: ""Ghufranak(a),al-l;1amdu Ii L1iihi lladhT adh-haba 'anniya I-adha wa 'afan!.""
(ell.l(l)) Before the purificatory bath (ghusl): ""Bismi Lllihi r-Ra!)mlinir-Ra!)im
""
(e12.17(1)) Before dry ablution (tayammum): ""Bismi LUihi r-Ral)mani rRapTm.""
THE CALL TO PRAYER(f3.6) The call to prayer (adhan) is: ""Alilihu akbaru LIahu akbar, Alllihuakbaru LUihu akbar, ash-hadu an Iii i1iiha illa Llah, ash-hadu an Iii iliiha ilia Lllih,ash-hadu anna MUQammadan rasiilu Llah, ash-hadu anna Mul)ammadan rasiiluLlah; I)ayya 'ala ~-~al1:ih; I)ayya 'ala ~-~allih; Ipyya 'ala I-fala!), Ipyya 'ala I-falalj:[and here, before the dawn prayer only: ""A~-~alatu khayrun mina n-nawm, a~~alatu khayrun mina n-nawm"";] AHiihu akbaru Lliihu akbar, Iii iliiha ilIa Lliih.""(See note f3.9(3(A:)) about the pauses between the sentences.)
(f3.6) The call to commence (iqama) is: ""Alllihu akbaruLilihu akbar, ashhaduan Iii i1liha ilia Lliih,ash-hadu anna Mul;1ammadan rasiilu Llah, l)ayya 'ala~~alli(ti) I)ayya 'ala l-faUil;1, qadi qamati ~-~ala(tu) qadi qamati ~-~aliih, Alliihuakbaru Lliihu akbar, Iii iliiha ilIa Lliih.""
(f3.II, second par.) The reply to ""Come to the prayer"" (l;1ayya 'ala~~allih) and ""Come to success"" (Qayya 'ala l-falap) is: ""Liil;1awla wa Iii quwwataillabi Lliih.""
(f3.11, second par.) The reply to ""The prayer is better than sleep"" (a~~aliitu khayrun mina n-nawm) in the call to the dawn prayer is: ""~adaqt(a) wabarirt.""
(f3.11, third par.) The reply to ""The prayer is commencing"" (qadi qamati?-~alah) is: .
Aqamaha Llahu wa adamahii rna damati s-samawatu wa l-ar~( u) waja'alanTmin ~ali~fahliha.""
(f3.12) After blessing the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)subsequently to the call to prayer or call to commence, one adds: ""AIHihummaRabba hlidhihi d-da'wati t-tammati wa ~-~alatl l-qa'ima(ti), ati SayyidanaMu\:tammadani l-wasilata wa I-fa~lata wa d-darajata r-rafi'a(ta), wa b'ath-humaqaman ma\Imiidani lladhTwa'adtah.""DESCRlPTION OF THE PRAYER
(fS.13) The Opening Supplication (Istiftah): ""Wajjahtu wajhf Ii lladhifatara s-samliwati wa l-arda hanifan Musliman wa rna ana mina I-mushrikfn; lnna~a""atl wa nusukl wa ma~'yaya wa mamatf Ii Lliihi Rabbi 1-'AlamTna Ii:!
sharikalah(u)
wa bi dhalika umirtu wa ana min a I-Muslimfn.""
(f8.16) Saying, ""I take refuge
etc."" (ta'awwudh): ""A'udhu bi Lllihi minash-Shay!ani r-rajlm.""
(f8.17) The Fatiha:""In the name of Allah, Most Merciful andCompassionate
All praise be to Allah, Lord ofthe Worlds, Most Merciful and Compassionate,Master of the Day of Reckoning
You alone weworship, in You alone we seek help
Guide us inthe straight way, the way of those You haveblessed, not of those whom wrath is upon or thosewho are lost"" (Koran 1:1-7).
(f8.19) After the Fatiha: ""Amin.""
(f8.30, fourth par.) The minimal dhikr when bowing: ""Sub\lana Rabbiya1-'AdpTm.""(f8.30, fifth par.) The optimal'dhikr when bowing, after having said theabove: ""Alllihumma laka raka'tu wa bika amantu wa laka aslamt(u); khasha'alaka sam'fwa ba~arrwa mukhkhlwa 'adhamTwa rna staqallat bihi qadamT.""
(f8.32) The minimal dhikr when straightening back up from bowing:""Sami'a Lliihu Ii man \:t~midah,"" and when one reaches the upright position,""Rabbanii laka l-\:tamd(u), mil'a s-samiiwati wa mil'a l-ar~i wa mil'a rna shi'ta minshay'in ba'd.""(f8.32) It is optimal, after having said the above, to add: ""Ahla th-thana'i waI-majd(i), a~aqqu rna qala l-'abd(u), wa kulluna laka 'abd(un), Iii mani'a Ii rnaa'tayta wa Iii mu'tiya Ii rna mana't(a), wa Ia yanfa'u dha l-jaddi minka l-jadd.""
(f8.35(5)) The minimal dhikr when prostrating: ""Subl,lana Rabbiya \-(f8.35(5), second par.) It is optimal, after having said the above, to add:""Alllihumma laka sajadtu wa bika amantu wa laka aslamt(u), sajada wajh""ili lIadhTkhalaqahu wa ~awwarahu wa shaqqa sam'ahu wa ba~arahu bi i}awlihi wa quwwatih(i), tabaraka LIahu Al)sanu I-Khaliqin.""
(f8.37(4)) When sitting back between prostrations: ""Allahumma ghfir Iiwa rl,lamni wa 'afinl wa jburnI wa hdini wa rzuqni.""
(fSAS) The minimal Testification of Faith (Tashahhud): ""At-tai}iyyatu IiLliih(i), salamun 'aJayka ayyuha n-Nabiyyu wa rai}matu Lllihi wa barakatuh,saliimun 'alayna wa 'alii 'ibiidi Lllihi ~-~iili\;lIn, ash-hadu an Iii Haha illa LIahu waanna MUQammadan rasiilu Lliih.""(fB.45, second par.) The
optimal Testification of Faith: ""At-taltiyyatu 1-mubarakatu ~-!}a1awiitu !-!ayyibatu li Llah, as-salamu 'alayka ayyuha n-Nabiyyuwa rattmatu Lliihi wa barakatuh, as-salamu 'alaynii wa 'ala 'ibiidi LHihi ~-~alii}in.ash-hadu an liiiliiha illa Lliih(u), wa ash-hadu anna Mu~ammadan raSillu Lliih.""
(fBAS, fifth par.) The minimal Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) in the Testification of Faith (Tashahhud): ""Alliihumma ~al1i'alii Mu~ammad.""(f8.45, sixth par.) The optimal Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) in the Testification of Faith (Tashahhud): ""Alliihumma ~alli 'alaMui}ammadin wa 'ala aIi MUQammadin kama ~allayta 'ala IbrahTma wa 'ala aliIbrahrm(a), wa barik 'ala Mugammadin wa 'ala ali Mul]ammadin kama barakta'ala IbrahTma wa 'ala ali IbrahTm(a), fi 1-'iilamTna innaka \1amldun majId."" It isdesirable to add the word sayyidina (our liegelord) before each mention of thenames Muhammad and Ibrahim, saying, ""AlIiihumma ~alli 'ala SayyidinaMul,lammadin wa 'ala ali Sayyidina Mul,lammadin kama ~allayta 'alii SayyidinaIbrahlma ..
"" etc.
(f8A6) The supplication after thc Testification of Faith (Tashahhud):""Alla:humma ghfir 11 rna qaddamtu wa rna akhkhartu wa rna asrartu wa rna a'iantuwa mii asraftu wa rna anta a'lamu bihi minnt, anta I-Muqaddimu wa anta IMu'akhkhir(u), Iii iliiha ilIa ant.""
(f8A7) The minimal Salams to close the prayer: ""As-Salamu 'alaykum.··(f8.47, second par.) The optimal Salams to close the prayer: ""As-saIamu'alaykum wa ral)matu Lliih.""
(fS.50) Post-prayer dhikr:(5) ""Astaghfiru Lliih(a).""(6) ""Allahumma anta s-Salamu wa minka s-saHim(u), tabiirakta yiiDhaI-Jaliili wa 1-Ikram.""(7) ""Alliihumma la miini'ali ma a'!ayt(a), wa Iii mu'!iya Ii ma mana't(a), wala yanfa'u dha I-jaddi minka I-jadd.""(8) ""Subl}ana Lliih(i).""(9) ""Al-I]amdu Ii Lliih(i).""(10) ""Allahu akbar(u).""(11) ""La iliiha illa Lliihu wal}dahu Hi sharika lah(u), Iahu I-mulku wa lahu 1-IJamdu wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadir.""
(f8.S3) The supplication (qunut) in the dawn prayer after straightening upfrom bowing jn the second rak'a, where, if praying alone, one uses the Twhereverit is italiciz(!d below, while if leading a group, one substitutes ii for each italicizedT: ""Alllihumma hdinrfiman hadayt(a), wa 'afinTfiman 'afayt(a), wa tawallanTliman tawallayt(a), wa barik ii[lana if leading a group] lima a'tayt(a), wa qinTsharra ma qagayt(a), fainnaka taq"" It is commendable to add ""wa Iiiya'izzu man 'adayt(a),"" before the word tabiirakta in the last sentence.
SUPEREROGATORY PRAYERS(f10.S, second paL) When praying witr after tarawih, one adds the followingto the above supplication (qunut): ""Allahumma inna nasta'Tnuka wa nas-taghfiruka wa nastahdika wa nu'minu bika wa natawakkalu 'alayka wa nuthni'alayka l-khayra kullah( u), nashkuruka a la nakfiruk( a), wa nakhla'u wa natrukuman yafjuruk(a), Allahumma iyyiika na'budu wa laka nusallTwa nasjudu ilIaykawa nas'ii wa nailfid(u), narjii r~mataka wa nakhshii 'adhiibaka inna 'adhiibaka 1-jidda bi l-kuffari mull}iq.""
(f10
10, second par.) A substitute for two rak'as of greeting the mosque:""Sub!,1ana Llahi wa l-!)amdu Ii Lllihi wa Iii iliiha ilIa LJahu, wa Lliihu akbar.""
(f10
12, third par.) The supplication of the prayer for guidance (istikhara):""Allahumma inni astakhlruka bi 'ilmika wa staqdiruka bi qudratika waas'aluka min fa<;llika 1-'ad.hTm, fa'innaka taqdiru wa Iii aqdir(u), wa ta'lamu wa Iiia'lam(u), wa anta 'Alliimu I-Ghuyiib(i), AlIiihumma in kunta ta'lamu anna hiidhaI-amra khayrun lifi dinlwa ma'iishTwa 'iiqibati amr7[a variant has"" 'iijili amrlwaiijilih(i)"" in place of the italicized] fa qdurhu Ii wa yassirhu Ii thumma barik Iifih(i), wa in kunta ta'lamu anna hadha I-amra sharrun ITfidini wa ma'ashiwa'aqibati amrT[the variant has"" 'ajili amrTwa ajilih(i)"" as before] fa ~rifhu 'anniwa~rifni'anhu wa qdur liya l-khayra haythu kana thumma ra(Ninibih(i),"" then onementions the matter at hand.
THE FRIDAY PRAYER(fl8.9(e) third par.) Minimal sermon (khutba) for the Friday prayer:""Inna 1-!,1amda Ii Lliih, na!,1maduhu wa nasta'Tnuhu wa nastaghfiruh(u), na'iidhubi Ll1i.hi min shuriiri anfusinii wa min sayyi'liti a'mlilina, man yahdi LHihu fa lamu~illa lah(u), wa man yu~!il fa Iii hiidiya lah(u), wa ash-hadu an Iii iliiha illaLliihu wahdahu la sharum lah(u), wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu warasiiluh(u), ~alla Lliihu 'alayhi wa sallama wa 'alii alihi w; a~-i)abih(i), ya ayyuhalIadhina amanu ttaqu L11i.ha haqqa tuqiitih(i), wa liitamutunna ilIa wa antum Muslimiin(a)
'Yii ayyuha n-nii;u ttaqu Rabbakumu lladhi khalaqakum min nafsinwii!,1idatin wa khalaqa minha zawjah'ii wa baththa minhuma rijalan kathlran wanisii'a(n), wa ttaqu Lliiha lladhTtasa'ali.ina bihi wa l-artJiim(a), inna Lliiha kana'alaykum raqTha(n).' ""
THE PRAYER ON THE TWO 'EIDS(f19
8, last par
) The Allahu Akbars and additional dhikf of 'Eid al-Adha:""Allahu akbaru Llahu akbaru Lllihu akbar, Iii iHiha ilIa LlTh, Alra:hu akbaruLliihu akbar(u), wa Ii LHihi I-~amd."" It is commendable to add to this: ""Amihuakbaru kabTra(n), wa l-I:lamdu Ii Lliihi kathira(n), wa subl;lana L1iihi bukratan waa~ila(n), Hiiliiha ilIa Llahu wa Hi na'budu imi iyyiih(u), mukhli~ina lahu d -din(a),wa law kariha I-kiifiriin
Ui ilaha ilIa Lliihu wal}dah(u), §adaqa wa'dah(u), wana~ara 'abdah(u), wa a'azza jundah(u), wa hazama l-ai)zaba wa!,1dah(u), ia ilahailla Lliihu wa Lllihu akbar.""
THE DROUGHT PRAYER(f2l.3, second par.) In the drought prayer, the imam says the followingnine times before the first sermon (khutba) and seven times before the second:""Astaghfiru Uiha l-'Aqhima lladhi la ilaha illa huwa I-J:Iayya I-Qayyiima waatiibu ilayh.""(f2l.3, fourth par.) He frequently says"" Astaghfiru Liah,"" the Blessings onthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and supplicates Allah with thefollowing Koranic verses: ""Istaghfirii Rabbakum innahu kana ghaffara(n), yursilis-sama'a 'alaykum midrara(n), wa yumdidkum bi amwalin wa banlna wa yaj'allakumjannatin wa yaj'allakum anhara.""(f21.3, seventh par.) The drought prayer supplication: ""Allahumma sqinaghaythan mughTthan hani'an mari'an sal;ll;lan 'amman ghadaqan tabaqan mujalliIanda'iman ilci yawmi d-din
Alliihumma inna bi l-'ibadi wa I-biladi min al-jahdiwa l-jii'i wa d-danki rna la nashkii ilia ilayk(a), A1liihumma anbit lanaz-zar'a waadirra lana ~-~ar'a wa anzil 'alayna min barakati s-sama'(i), wa anbit lana minbarakati I-an~i wa kshif 'anna mina I-bala'i rna Hi yakshifuhu ghayruk.""
(f21.6) 'When thunder is heard: ""Subqana lladhT yusabbil]u r-ra'du biI:]amdihi wa l-maHi'ikatu min khlfatih.""When lightning is seen: ""Subgana man yurTkumu I-barqa khawfan wa!ama'a(n).""
(f21.7) Supplication against too much rain: ""AlIahuma hawalayna wa IiI'alayna; Alliihumma 'ala d.h-d.hiriibi wa I-akiimi wa bu~iini l-awdiyati wa manabitish-shajar
""VISITING mE SICK
(g1.4) Supplication for Allah to heal a sick person: ""AUiiliumma Rabba nNasiadh-hibi I-ba'sa wa shfi wa anta sh-Shiifi la shafiya ilIii anta shifa'an IiiyUghiidiru alaman wa Iii saqama(n).""mE FUNERAL PRAYER (JANAZA)
(g4.1O) Supplication after the third Allahu Akbar of the funeral prayer:""Alliihumma hiidhii 'abduka wa bnu 'abdik(a), kharaja min rawl:]i d-dunya wasa'atiha, wa mal)bubuhu wa aJ:tibba'uhu fiha, mr dJlUlmati I-qabri wa rna huwalaqTh(i), kana yash-hadu an Ia iliiha ilIa anta wagdaka la sharika lak(a), wa annaMUQammadan 'abduka wa rasiiluk(a), wa anta a'lamu bihi minna
Allahummainnahu nazala bika wa anta ghaniyyun 'an 'adhabihi wa qad ji'naka raghibTnailayka shufa'a'a lah(u)
Allahumma, in kana mUQsinan fa zid ITil)sanih(i), wa inka.na musi'an fa tajawaz 'anhu wa laqqihi bi raJ:lmatika rigak(a), wa qihi fitnata 1-qabri wa 'adhabahu wa fsal} labu if qabrihi wa jiifi I-arqa 'an janbayhi wa laqqihibi ral;tmatika I-amna min 'adhahika J:latta tab'athahu aminan ilil jannatika yaArJ:lama r -RaJ:rimin
""(g4.11) One may add the following, before the above supplication:""AUlihumma ghfir Ii I,layyinii wa mayyitina wa shiihidina wa gha'ibina wasaghtrinii wa kabTrina wa dhakarina wa unthana
Alliihumma man aJ,tyaytahuminna fa I}yihi 'ala I-Islam, wa man tawaffaytahu minna fa tawaffihi 'ala l.:Jiniin.""(g4.11 , second par.) If the deceased is a child, one may say, with the aboveaddition: ""Allabumma j'alhu faratan Ii abuwayhi wa salafan wa dhukhran wa'id.hatan wa 'tibaran wa shiifi'a(n), wa thaqqil bihi mawiizTnahuma wa frighi ~-~abra 'alii quliibihima."" .
(g4.12) After the fourth Allahu Akbar of the funeral prayer:""Allahumma Iii taq.rimna ajrahu wa hitaftinnaba'dahu wa ghfir lana wa lah( u).""
(g4.13(f)) The minimal supplication after the third Allahu Akbar of thefuneral prayer: ""Alliihumma ghfir Ii hadha I-mayyit.""
BURIAL(g5.4(1) When putting the deceased in the grave: :'Bismi Lliihi wa 'alamillati rasiili Lliihi ~alia Lhihu 'alayhi wa sallam.""
(g5.6) With the first handfuls of earth in burying the dead:First handful: ""Minha khalaqnakum.""Second handful: ""Wa fiha nu'i""dukum.""Third handful: ""Wa minha nukhrijukum taratan ukhra.""
(g5.6(2) Supplication for the person buried: ""Alliihumma thabbit-hu,Allahumma laqqinhu !.lUjjatah(u).""
(g5.8, second par.) Greeting to buried believers: ""Salamun 'alaykum daraqawmin mu'minln(a), wa inna in shii' Alliihu bikum liipiqiin.""
(g6.2(1-3)) Condolences:To a Muslim who's lost a Muslim: ""A'd.hama Lliihu ajraka wa aJ:lsana'aza'aka wa ghafara Ii mayyitik(a).""To a Muslim who's lost a non-Muslim: ""A'dpama L1iihu ajraka wa aq.sana'aza'ak(a).""To a non-Muslim who's lost a Muslim: ""A~sana Lliihu 'aza'aka wa ghafara Iimayyitik(a).""
ZAKAT(h8.4) Supplication by the zakat recipient for the zakat giver: ""AjarakaLIahu fimaa'!ayt(a), wa baraka laka fima abqayt(a), waja'alahulaka!ahiira(n).""
FASTING RAMADAN(il.25) Dhikr upon breaking one's fast: ""Alliihumma laka ~umtu wa 'aliirizqika af!:art.""
(i3.2, last par.) Supplication for Laylat al-Qadr: ""Alliihumma innaka'afuwwun tuttibbu I-'afwa fa 'fu 'anni.""
THE PILGRIMAGE,(j3.4) The pilgrim chant of ""Labbayk"": ""Labbayka Lilihumma labbayk,labbayka Iii sharum laka labbayk, inn a 1-l}amda wa n-ni'mata laka wa l-mulk, Iiishaiika lak."" (Thrice.)Then one says the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), and then asks Allah for paradise and seeks refuge in Him from hell by saying:""Allahumma innI as'aluka l-jannata wa na'Imahii wa riqwanak(a), wa a'i'idhubika min sakha!ika wa n-nar.""(j3.4, last par.) If one sees something pleasing (or offensive) while in ihram,one says: ""Labbayka inna l-'aysha 'ayshu l-akhira.""
(j4.2) Supplication upon first seeing the Kaaba: ""Allahumma zid hadha 1-bayta tashrifan wa takrIman wa ta'qhi'man wa muhiiba(tan), wa zid man sharrafahuwa 'aqhdpamahu mimman hajjahu wa 'tamarahu tashrIfan wa takrIman wata'qhlman wa birra(n), Alliihumma anta s-Saliimu wa minka s-salamu fa ttayyiniiRabbana bi s-saliim.""
(j5.3(2-3)) When kissing the Black Stone: ""Alllihu akbaru Lilihu akbaruLliihu akbar(u), Alliihummaimanan bika wa ta§dIqan bi kitabika wa wafii'an bi'ahdika wa ttibii'an Ii sunnati nabiyyika ~alla Lilihu 'alayhi wa sallam.""U5.5) When passing the Kaaba's door in circumambulation: ""AIHihummainna hiidha I-bayta baytuka wa'l-lJarama l)aramuka wa I-amna amnuk(a), wah[dhii maqamu 1-'a'idhi bika mina n-nar.""US
6) When passing the corner by Hijr Isma'il: ""Alliih umma inni a 'iidh u bikamina sh-shakki wa sh-shirki wa sh-shiqaqi wa n-nifaqi wa su'i l-akhliiq(i), wa su'iI-munqalabi fi I-mali wa I-ahli wa I-walad.""U5.7) When passing the rainspout at the top of the Kaaba (Mizab al-Rahma):""AlHihumma ad.hilIanT fi d.hillika yawma Hi d.hilla ilIa d.hilluk( a), wa sqinTbi ka'sinabiyyika Mul}ammadin ~alla L1iihu 'alayhi wa: sallama mashraban hani'an laadhma'u ba'dahu abada(n).""(j5.8) When between the third corner and the Yamani corner: ""Alliihummaj'alhu ~ajjan mabriiran wa sa'yan mashkiiran wa 'amalan maqbiilan wa tijaratanIan tabiir(a), ya 'Azlzu yii Ghafiir.""
(j5.13, fourth par.) When trotting in first three rounds of circumambulation:""Alliihumma j'alhu lJajjan mabriiran wa sa'yan mashkuran wa dhanbanmaghfiira(n).""(j5.13, fifth par.) When performing the last four rounds of circumambulation:""Rabbi ghfir wa r\lam wa 'fu 'amma ta'lam(u), innaka anta I-A'azzu 1-Akram( u), Rabbana atina fi d-dunya I).asanatan wa fi I-akhirati l}asanatan wa qina'adhaba n-nar.""
(j5.18, second par.) Supplication after two rak'as at the Station ofIbrahim: ""Alliihumma hadha baladuka wa l-masjidu I-l}aramu wa baytuka 1-I}aram(u), wa ana 'abduka bnu 'abdika wa bnu amatik(a), ataytuka bi dhiinubinkathiratin wa kha!aya jammatin wa a'malin sayyi'a(tin), wa hiidhii maqamu1-'iI'idhi bika mina n-nar; fa ghfir 11, innaka anta I-Ghafiiru r-Ral}""im
Alliihummainnaka da'awta 'ibiidaka ilii baytika I-Q.anim wa qad ji'tu taliban raQ.mataka muttabi'anmar9atika wa anta muthib(un), fa ghfir liwa r!Jamnl, innaka 'alii kullishay'in qadir:'
(j6.2(2)) Dhikr on Safa: ""Lii iliiha ilia L1iihu wal}dahu Iii shaiika lah(u),lahu I-mulku wa lahu I-Q.amdu yul}Ylwa yumlt(u), bi yadihi l-kbayru wa huwa 'alakulli shay'in qadir
Ui' illiha ilIa L1ahu w~dahu Iii shaiika lah(u), anjazawa'dah(u), wa na~ara 'abdah(u), wa hazama l-alJzaba waf.l,dah(u), Iii iliiha iliaLIahuwa Iii na'budu ilIa iyyahu mukhli§i'na lahu d-di'na wa law kariha I-kiifiriin.""
(j6.5) Supplication between Safa and Marwa: ""Rabbi ghfir wa r!Jam watajliwaz 'ammli ta'lamu innaka anta l-A'azzu I-Akram(u), Alliihumma Rabbanalitinii fi d-dunyii ~asanatan wa fi l-akhirati ~asanatan wa qinii 'adhaba n-nar.""
(j7.3) On the way to 'Arafa: ""Allahumma ilayka tawajjaht(u), wa Iiwajhika l-karTmi aradt(u), fa j'al dhanb'i maghfiiran wa ~ajji' mabruran wa r!JamnIwa Hi tukhayyibnT.""
(j8.2, second par.) When standing at 'Arafa: ""La iliiha ilia L1iihu waJ.tdahu
Iii sharika lah(u), lahu I-mulku wa lahu l-~amdu wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadIr.""
(j9.2) When standing at al-Mash'ar al-Haram: .
Alliihumma kama awqaftanafihi wa araytanii iyyah(u), fa waffiqna Ii dhikrika kama hadaytana, wa ghfirwww.islamicbulletin.comTransliteration of Dhikr and Supplications w1.58lana wa r!;lamna: kama: wa'adtana bi qawlika wa qawluka l-baqq( u): Fa idha afa9~tum min 'Araflitin fa dhkuru Llaha 'inda I-Mash'ari I-I:Iaram(i), wa dhkurtihukama hadakum wa in kuntum min qablihi la min a g-qallin(a), thumma afiQu minI}aythu afaga n-nlis(u), wa staghfiru Llaha inna Llliha ghafITrun rai)im
Rabbanaiitina fi d-dunya basantan wa fi l-akhirati l;1asanatan wa qina 'adhaba n-nar.""
09.8(2)) Supplication after cutting one's hair: ""Alliihu akbaru Llahuakbaru Llahu akbar(u), wa Ii LUihi 1-l}amd.""
011.3) Supplication after farewell circumambulation: ""Allahumma innaI-bayta baytuka wa I-'abda 'abduka wa bnu 'abdayk(a), ~amaltanl 'ala rna .sakhkharta Ii min khalqika patta ~ayyartanT fibiladika wa ballaghtanibi ni'matikahatta a'antani 'ala qada'i manasikik(a), fa in kunta radita 'annT fa zdad 'annTriga(n), wa ilia fa munna I-'ana qabia an tan' a 'an baytik~ dari wa yab'uda 'anhumazan, hadha awanu n~iriifnn adhinta If, ghayra mustabdilin bika wa labi baytikawa Iii raghibin 'anka wa hi 'an baytik(a), AHahumma fa a~-Qibniya l-'afiyata fibadanT wa 1-'i~mata fi dini wa alfsin munqaIabi wa rzuqni I-'amal bi Watika rnaa.bqaytanT wa jma' Ii khayrayi d-duny1I wa l-iikhira(ti), innaka 'alii kulli shay'inqadir."" Then one blesses the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).
(j13.I) Supplication when entering a mosque: ""Bismi Llahi wa l-Ifamdu IiLlah(i), AIliihumma ~alli 'ala Sayyidina Mulfammadin wa 'alli alihi wa a~-Qabihiwa sallim
Alllihumma ftal].\i abw1Iba ra1:Jmatik.""
(j 13.2) Greeting the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace): ,
Assallimu'alayka ya Rasiila Lllih(i), as-sallimu 'alayka ya Nabiyya LUih(i), assalamu'alayka ya Khirata Llah(i), as-saJlimu 'a\ayka ya Khayra Khalqi Llah(i) ,as-sa\1Imu 'aJayka ya I;Iabiba Ll1Ih.""
MARRIAGE(m2 .17) Sunna address (khutba) before making a marriage proposal: ""AIIfamduIi LIah(i), wa ~-~alatu wa s-salamu 'alli rasiili LHih(i) ~aIla Ll1Ihu 'alayhi wasaIlam(a), rr~1kum bi taqwa LHih(i), ji'tukum kha~iban kaiimatakum [and hereone mentions her name].""(m2.17, second par.) Sunna address before marrying: ""Uzawwijuka
'alamaamara Lllihu Ta'lila bihi min imsakin bi ma'rUf(in), aw tasiilfin bi il].san(in).""
(m3.2(a)) Words that effect a marriage: ""Zawwajtuka,"" or ""Ankal}tuka.""(m3.2(b)) The spoken acceptance: ""Tazawwajtuha,"" or ""Qabiltuniklil;laha
""
(m5.3) Supplication for the wedding night: ""Baraka Llahu Ii kullin minnaIt ~aQibih.""
AMULETS AND PROTECTIVE WORDS(w17.2
second par.) Supplication for fearful situations: ""A'udhu bikalimati LUihi t-tammati min ghagabihi wa min hamaziili sh-shaya!lna anyahdurun ""
SUPPLICATING ALLAH (TAWASSUL) THROUGH THE PROPHET (ALLAH BLESSHIM AND GIVE HIM PEACE) IN THE PRAYER OF NEED(w40.3, second par.) Supplicating Allah through the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace): ""Alliihumma inni' as'aluka wa atawaijahu ilayka binabiyyT Mu~ammad(in), Nabiyyi r-Ra/;lma(ti), ya Mu/;lammadu innT astashfa'ubika 'ala Rabblfi~aiatili tuq9a II, AII3:humma shaffi'hu fiyya.""(w40.4, second par.) Another form: ""Allahumma innlas'aluka wa atawajjahuiJayka bi nabiyyina MutIammad(in), Nabiyyi r-RaQma(ti), ya MUQammaduinnratawajjahu bika iIa Rabbifa yaq9iya ~ajatl,"" and one mentions one's need.*
(n:) Those who want to tape-record a native speaker of Arabic reciting thedhikr of this volume-an easier way to learn than using only the transliterationsprovided above-may wish to use the following index as a taping sequence:(e5.5) Before ablution (wudu)(eS.18) After ablution(e9.1(S)) Before and after using the lavatory(ell.1 (1)) Before the purificatory bath (ghusl)(e12.17(1)) Before dry ablution (tayammum)(f3.6) The call to prayer (adhan)(f3.6) The call to commence (iqama)(f3.11, second par.) Replies to ""Come to the prayer"" and ""Come to success"" inthe call to prayer(f3.11, second paL) Reply to ""Prayer is better than sleep"" in the call to the dawnprayer(f3.ll, third par.) Reply to ""The prayeris commencing"" in the call to commence(f3.12) After blessing the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) subsequentto the call to prayer(f8.13) The Opening Supplication of the prayer (Istiflah)(f8.16) ""I take refuge
etc:' (ta'awwudh)(f8.17) The Fatiha(f8.19) After the Fatiha(fS.30, fourth par.) The minimal dhikr when when bowing(fS.30, fifth par.) The optimal dhikr when bowing(f8.32) The minimal dhikr when straightening up(f8.32) The optimal dhikr when straightening up(f8.35(5)) Minimal dhikr when prostrating(f8.35(5), second par.) Optimal addition to this(f8.37(4)) When sitting back between prostrations(f8.45) Minimal Testification of Faith (Tashahhud)(f8.45, second par.) Optimal Testification of Faith(f8.45, fifth par.) Minimal Blessing;, on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) after the Testification of Faith(f8.45, sixth par.) Optimal Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) after the Testification of Faith(f8.46) Supplication after the Tcstification of Faith(f8.47) Minimal Salams to close the prayer(f8.47, second pal.) Optimal Salams to close the prayer(f8.50) Post-prayer dhikr(f8.53) Supplication (qunut) in the dawn prayer after straightening up from bowingin the second rak'a(f10.5, second par.) Addition to the above supplication (qunut) when praying witrafter larawih(f10.10, second par.) Substitute for two rak'as of greeting the mosque(f10.12, third pal.) Supplication of the prayer for guidance (istikhara)(f18.9(e)) Minimal sermon (khutba) for the Friday prayer(fl9.8, last par.) The Allahu Akbars and additional dhikr of 'Eid al-Adha(f21.3, second paL) Dhikr said by the imam in drought prayer before sermon(khutba)(f21.3, fourth paL) Koranic supplication used during the drought prayer(f21.3, seventh paL) The drought prayer supplication(f21.6) Dhikrfor thunder and lightning(f21.7) Supplication against too much rain(g1.4) Supplication for Allah to heal a sick person(g4.10) Supplication after the third Allahu Akbar of the funeral prayer(g4.11) Addition said prior to the above supplication(g4.1l, second par.) Supplication said with the latter addition if the deceased is achild(g4.12) After the fourth Allahu Akbar of the funeral prayer(g4.13(f)) Minimal supplication after the third AllahuAkbar of the funeral prayer(gS .4(1) When putting the deceased in the grave(gS.6) With the first handfuls of earth in burying the dead(gS.6(2)) Supplication for the person buried(gS.8, second par.) Greeting to buried believers(g6.2(1-3)) Condolences to those who have lost next of kin(h8.4) Supplication by the zakat recipient for the giver(i1.25) Dhikr upon breaking one's fast(i3.2, last par.) Supplication for Laylat al-Qadr(j3.4) The pilgrim chant of ""Labbayk""(j3.4, last par.) If one sees something pleasing (or offensive) while in ihram(j4.2) Supplication upon first seeing the Kaaba(j5.3)2-3)) When kissing the Black Stone(j5.5) When passing the Kaaba'$ door in circumambulation(j5.6) When passing the corner by Hijr Isma'il(j5.7) When passing the rainspout at the top ofthe Kaaba (Mizab al-Rahma)(j5.8) When between the third corner and the Yamani corner(j5.13, fourth par.) When trotting in the first three rounds of circumambulation(j5.13, fifth par.) When performing the last four rounds(j5.18, second par.) Supplication after two rak'as at the Station ofIbrahim(j6.2(2)) Dhikr at Safa(j6.5) Supplication between Safa and Marwa(j7.3) On the way to 'Arafa(j8.2, second par.) When standing at 'Arafa(j9.2) When standing at al-Mash'ar al-Haram(j9.8(2)) Supplication after cutting one's hair(j11.3) Supplication after the farcwell circumambulation(j13.1) Supplication when entering a mosque(j13.2) Greeting the Prophct (Allah bless him and give him peace)(m2.17) Address (khutba) before making a marriage proposal(m2.17, second par.) Address before marrying(m3.2(a)) Words that effect a marriage(m3.2(b)) The spoken acceptance(m5.3) Supplication for the wedding night(w17.2, second par.) Supplication for fearful situations(w40.3, second par.) Supplicating Allah (tawassul) through the Prophet*
(Ghazali:) The way that the medicines ofacts of worship work, their limits and amountsbeing specified and determined by the prophets,cannot be comprehended by the apparatus ofintellectuals' ""intelligence."" Rather, it is necessaryto follow the example of the prophets, towhom these properties are perceived throughprophetic light, not the apparatus of the mind.If a philosopher denies the possibility of suchproperties, in the numbers of thc rak'as of theprayer, stoning the pillars at Mina, the number ofhajj integrals, or any of the acts of worship in SacredLaw
he will not find any difference in principlebetween such properties and those of thevarious medicines, for example, or the stars
If hesays, ""I have tested something of both astronomyand medicine, and found them to be correct, sothat my heart has accepted them and I no longerthink them farfetched or reject them; while I havenot tried this, so how can I know it exists, or investigateit, should I acknowledge its possibility?""-Iwould answer, ""But you do not '\lways confineyour acceptance to what you have personallytried
Rather, you accept information from otherswho have, and you follow them
Let us imagine aman who reaches physical and mental maturitywithout ever experiencing a disease, but who thenfalls ill
He has a coneerned father with skill inmedicine, whose claims to medical knowledge hehas heard as long as he can remember, and hisfather now compounds some medicine and says,This is appropriate for your disease and will cureit.' How much will the patient's intellect demand,even if the medicine is bitter and tastes unpleasant?Will he take it, or will he call the doctor a liar,saying, 'I do not see the suitability of this medicinefor effecting a cure, since I've never tried it.' Youwould doubtless consider him a fool for this
Andjust so do the knowledgeable who possess spiritualinsight consider your reservations.""If such a person says: ""But how can I be certainof the sincerity of the Prophet's concern(Allah bless him and give him peace), and hisknowledge of this medicine?"" I reply, ""How didyou learn of your father's concern when it wa..<; notsomething physically perceptible?
You acquiredincontestably certain knowledge of it by the evidenceof how he has always behaved and byobserving his actions, their causes and results
Sotoo, whoever examines what the Prophet said(Allah bless him and give him peace) .and theaccounts in hadiths of his concern for guidingothers and his kindly way of urging them with graciousnessand tact to improve their character andforget their differences - in a word, urging themto accept the only means capable of improvingtheir religious and this-worldly concerns-whoeverexamines these will gain complete certaintythat the Prophet's concern towards his Communitywas greater than a father's for his son
Whenone considers the wondrous deeds that appearedat his hands (Allah bless him and give him peace),the wonders of the unseen imparted by the Koranthrough his tongue and conveyed by prophetichadith, when one looks at what he said about thelatter days which has come tq pass.al'; he foretold;one' gains absolute certainty that he reached thesphere which lies above and beyond the mind, andthat the eye which opens onto the unseen thatnone but the elect know, of matters unfathomableto intellects, was opened for him (al-Munqidh minal-dalal (y41), 58, 67-69).*
PROPHET'S MESSAGE (from al.S)
(n:) This section has been translated to clarify some possible confusionsamong Muslims as to Islam's place among world religions
The discussion centerson three points:(1) Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the last prophet andmessenger
Anyone claiming to be a prophet or messenger of Allah after him orto found a new religion is a fraud, misled and misleading.(2) Previously revealed religions were valid in their own eras, as is attestedto by many verses of the Holy Koran, but were abrogated by the universal messageof Islam, as is equally attested to by many verses of the Koran
Both pointsare worthy of attention from English-speaking Muslims, who are occasionallyexposed to erroneous theories advanced by some teachers and Koran translatorsaffirming these religions' validity but denying or not mentioning their abrogation,or that it is unbelief (kufr) to hold that the remnant cults now bearing the namesofformerly valid religions, such as ""Christianity"" or ""Judaism,"" are acceptable toAllah Most High after He has sent the final Messenger (Allah bless him give himpeace) to the entire world (dis: 08.7(20)): This is a matter over which there is nodisagreement among Islamic scholars, and if English-speaking Muslims at timesdiscuss it as if there were some question about it, the only reason can be that noone has yet offered them a translation of a scholarly Koranic exegesis (tafsir) toexplain the accord between the various Koranic verses, and their agreement withthe sunna
The few passages translated below will hopefully be of use until this hasbeen done.(3) Islam is the final religion that Allah Most High will never lessen or abrogateuntil the Last Day
A hadith that seems to imply that ""a tenth ofIslam"" willbe enough for Muslims in the latter days is discussed at the end of the section.
MUHAMMAD IS THE LAST PROPHETAND MESSENGER (ALLAH BLESSHIM AND GIVE HIM PEACE)(Ibn.Kathir:) Allah' Most High says:""Muhammad is not the father of any manamong you, but the Messenger of Allah and theLast of the Prophets
And Allah has knowledge ofeverything"" (Koran 33:40).This Koranic verse is an unequivocally decisiveprimary text establishing that there will be noprophet after him
And since' there will be noprophet (nabi), it follows a fortiori that there willbe no prophetic messenger (rasul)
The Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said:(1) ""Messengerhood and prophethood haveceased
There will be no messenger or prophetafter me.""(2) ""My likeness among the prophets is as aman who, having built a house and put the finishingtouches on it and made it seemly, yet left oneplace without a brick
When anyone entered it andsaw this, he would exclaim, 'How excellent it is,but for the place ofthis brick.' Now, I am the placeof that brick: through me the line of the prophets(Allah bless them and give them peace) has beenbrought to completion.""(3) ""I have been favored above the prophetsin six things: I have been endowed with consummatesuccinctness of speech, made triumphantthrough dread, war booty has been made lawfulfor me, the whole earth has been made a purifiedplace of worship for me, I have been sent to allcreated beings, and the succession of prophets hasbeen completed in me.""Allah Most Blessed and Exalted has stated inHis Book, as has His messenger (Allah bless himand give him peace) in hadiths of numerouschannels of transmission (mutawatir, def:o22.1(d(II))) that there will be no prophet afterhim, so that everyone may know that whoeverclaims this rank thereafter is a lyinl?>' pretender,misled and misleading, even if he should stagemiracles and exhibit all kinds of magic, talismans,and spells (Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim (y60),
3.493-94),THE ABROGATION OFPREVIOUSLY REVEALED RELIGIONS(Imam Baghawi:) The Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said:""By Him in whose hand is the soul ofMuhammad, any person of this Community, anyJew, or any Christian who hears of me and dieswithout believing in what I have been sent withwill be an inhabitant of hell.""This is a rigorously authenticated (sahih)hadith that was recorded by Muslim (Sharh alsunna(y22), 1.104-5).
(Ibn Kathir:) Allah Most High says:""Surely those who believe, those of Jewry,the Christians, and the Sabaeans--whoever hasfaith in Allah and the Last Day, and works righteousness,their wage awaits them with their Lord,and no fear shall be upon them, and neither shallthey sorrow"" (Koran 2:62).Suddi states that the verse ""Surely those whobelieve, etc
"" was revealed about the former companionsof Salman the Persian when he mentionedthem to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), relating how they had been, saying, ""Theyused to pray, fast, and believe in you, and testifythat you would be sent as a prophet."" When hehad finished praising them, the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) replied, ""Salman,they are the denizens of hell,."" which came to discomfitSalman greatly, and so Allah revealed thisverse.The faith of the Jews was that of whoeveradhered to the Torah and the sunna of Moses(upon whom be peace) until the coming of Jesus.When Jesus came, whoever held fast to the Torahand the sunna of Moses without giving them upand following Jesus was lost.The faith of the Christians was that whoeveradhered to the Evangel and precepts of Jesus,their faith was valid and acceptable until the comingof Muhammad (Allah bless him and give himpeace)
Those of them who did not then followMuhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)and give up the sunna of Jesus and the Evangelwere lost.The foregoing is not contradicted by thehadith relating that the verse,""Surely those who believe, those of Jewry,the Christians, and the Sabaeans-whoever hasfaith in Allah and the Last Day ..
""was followed by Allah revealing,""Whoever seeks a religion other than Islamwill never have it accepted of him, and he will beof those who have truly failed in the hereafter""(Koran 3:85),for the hadith merely confirms that no one's wayor spiritual works are acceptable unless they conformto the Sacred Law of Muhammad (Allahbless him and give him peace) now that he hasbeen sent with it
As for people prior to this, anyonewho followed the messenger of his own timewas guided, on the right path; and was saved (Tafsiral-Qur'an al-'Azim (y60), 1.103).
ISLAM IS THE FINAL RELIGION THATALLAH WILL NEVER ABROGATE UNTIL THELAST DAY(Ibn Kathir:) Allah Most High says,""Today I have perfected your religion for youand completed My favor upon you, and I pleasethat your religion be Islam"" (Koran 5:3),meaning, ""So accept it for yourselves, for it is thereligion Allah loves and accepts, with which Hehas sent the best of noble messengers and hasrevealed in the most sublime of His Books."" 'Aliibn Abi Talha relates from Ibn' Abbas that""Today I have perfected your religion for you ...means Islam, Allah thereby informing Hisprophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) andthe believers that He has perfected their faith forthem, so they will never require anything more.He has completed it and will never diminish it, ispleased with it and will never detest it (ibid.,
2.12).(Qurtubi:) It is likely that by"" ..
I please that your religion be Islam"" (Koran5:3),Allah means, ""I am pleased with your Islam thatyou follow today as a religion that will endure in itsperfection until the end of time, and I will causenothing of it to be abrogated"" (al-Jami' Ii ahkamal-Qur'an (y117) , 6.63).
(n: The following hadith has been representedby some contemporary Muslims asmeaning that a tenth of Islam will be enough forMuslims in the latter days, a misunderstanding feltto merit the explanation provided by the commentarybelow
)The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said:""Verily you are in a time when whoever ofyou abandons a tenth of what he has been commandedshall be lost
Thcre will come a time whenwhoever practices a tenth of what he has beencommanded will find salvation.""Verily you('Abd al-Ra'uf Munawi:) 0 Companions ofthe Prophetare in a timecharacterized by safety, and the glory ofIslamwhen whoever of you abandons a tenth ofwhat he has been commandedmeaning of the obligation to command
theright and forbid the wrong (def: ql), for it is notpermissible to interpret this utterance as applicableto all that has been commanded, it beingunderstood that a Muslim has no excuse for neglectingthings which are personally obligatorywill be lostto destruction, since the religion of Islam isnow strong and there are many who aid it, so thatyour abandoning it is a shortcoming for which noone is excused under such circumstances.There will come a timein which Islam will weaken, tyrants multiply,corruption spread, lying pretenders grow numer·OUS, and those helping the religion grow few, sothat Muslims will be excused for leaving somethings out of sheer incapacity, without being guiltyof remissnesswhen whoeverof the people of that time which containstrials and afflictionspractices a tenth of what he has been commandedwill find salvationbecause he is under duress, and Allah chargesno soul with more than it is capable of, as He says,""Fear Allah as much as you are able to""(Koran 64:16).Tirmidhi recorded this hadith, which hetermed singular (gharib), while Ibn J awzi listed itin his work on hadith forgeries, mentioning thatNasa'j said it was unacknowledgeable, havingbeen conveyed through Nu'aym ibn Hammad, anunreliable transmitter (Fayd at-Qadir sharh alJami'aZ-saghir (y91), 2.556).
ACCURSED"" (from a2.2(8))*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""This world and all it contains are accursed,except for the remembrance of Allah Most High,that which He loves, someone with Sacred Knowledge,or someone learning it.""This world and all it contains are accursed(Muhammad Ibn 'Allan Bakri:) meaningremote from Allah,except for the remembrance of Allah MostHigh,
that which He loves, someone with SacredKnowledge, or someone learning it.Acts of obedience are not of this world, norare the purified ones, of the prophets and friendsof Allah (awliya', def: w33)
The agreement betweenthe primary texts that condemn this worldand those that praise it lies in understanding theformer as referring to what distances one fromAllah Most High, while the latter refer to whatbrings one closer to Him (Dalil al-falihin Ii turuqRiyad al-salihin (y25), 7.197).*
(Ghazali:) Those who are profligate in disregardingthe literal meaning of texts go so far asto alter most or all scriptural evidences andproofs, metaphorically interpreting even thewords of Allah Most High,""Their hands shall speak to us and their feetshall testify"" (Koran 36:65),and,""They will say to their skins, 'Why have youtestified against us,' and they will reply, 'Allah hasmade us speak, as He has made all to speak' ""(Koran 41:21),likewise explaining away the questions of Munkarand Nakir (def: v2.2), the scale (v2.3), the bridgeover hell (v2.4) , the final reckoning (v2.6), andthe words of the people of hell to the people ofparadise,""Pour water upon us, or of that which Allahhas provided you"" (Koran 7:50),claiming that all this is ""what their state would sayif it could speak.""
Others have gone to the opposite extremeof barring all figurative interpretation, amongthem Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Allah be well pleasedwith him), who even forbade metaphoricalinterpretation of Allah's words,., 'Be!' and it is"" (Koran 36:82),some of his school claiming that this is an actualutterance of articulated letters and a voice, proceedingfrom Allah Most High at every moment,commensurate in number with every existentbeing
I have heard some members of his schoolsay that he forbade metaphorical interpretation ofall but three expressions, namely the Prophet'shaving said (Allah bless him and give him peace):(1) ""The Black Stone is the right hand ofAllah in His earth"" ;(2) ""The heart of the believer is between twoof the fingers ofthe All-merciful"";and,(3) ""Verily, I find the breath of the Allmercifulfrom the direction of Yemen
""Literalists have shown an inclination towardsprohibiting all figurative interpretation, whilewhat one should believe of Ahmad ibn Hanbal(Allah be well pleased with him) is that he knewthat Allah's 'establishment on the Throne' did notconsist of being at rest, any more than His 'comingdown' consisted of physical motion, but rather heforbade figurative interpretation in order to closethe discussion in the interests of the people, foronce the door is opened, the rift widens and thematter gets out of control, exceeding the boundsof moderation
And since what is beyond themoderate is without limits, there is no harm insternly warning against figurative interpretation,a position that is attested to by the behavior of theearly Muslims
who used to say, ""Accept suchthings as they have come,"" When asked aboutAllah's 'establishment on the Throne', ImamMalik (Allah have mercy on him) said ..
'Establishment'is known, the how of it is unknown,belief in it is obligatory, and questions about it are
reprehensible innovation (bid'a).""
Another group of scholars have taken amoderate position, admitting figurative interpretationof all matters connected with the attributesof Allah Most Glorious (n: i.e
by explaininganthropomorphic words in a way befitting thedivine attributes (def: vI), interpreting His'hand', for example, as an allusion to His omnipotence),while leaving all matters connected withthe afterlife to their outward literal purport, prohibitingany metaphorical interpretation of them.These are the Ash'aris (dis: w57),
The Mu'tazilites (N: a philosophicalschool that subjected the fundamentals of Islam torationalistic theories) went further, metaphoricallyexplaining the inhabitants
of paradise'sseeing of Allah Most High (v1.3, end), His hearing,His sight, and the nocturnal ascent (mi'raj) ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).claiming that it was not in the body
They alsoexplained away the torment of the grave, thescale, the bridge over hell, and a number of thematters of the afterlife, though they acknowledgedthe bodily resurrection and judgement, thereality of paradise with the physical pleasures itsinhabitants will enjoy of foods, scents, andlovemaking; and the reality of the hellfire assomething that incinerates skin and melts fat.The philosophers went even further than theextremes reached by the Mu'tazilites, explainingeverything that has reached us about the afterlifeas being metaphorical, reducing it to intellectualor spiritual states of pain and mental enjoyments,denying the bodily resurrection and judgement,saying that souls subsist forever and will bepunished or rewarded with torment and pleasureundetectable by the senses
It is these who are ther(lal profligates.
The way of moderation between all thisdissolution on the one hand, and the rigidity of theHanbalis on the other, is a very fine line and difficult'toperceive, one which few people knowexcept the successful
(n: Sections vl-v2 describeGhazali's ""way of moderation"" in detail.) (Ihya''ulum ai-din (y39), 1.92)
GOD"" (ITTIHAD) (from a4.3)*
(Ghazali:) The concept of divine indwelling(n: e.g
""God incarnate"" in a human being)may mean one of only two things:(1) The first is the relation between an objectand the place it occupies, which can only exist betweentwo spatially extended things, and is clearlyimpossible for the One who is beyond all corporeality(dis: v1.3).(2) The second is the relation between a substanceand accident, for an accident exists bymeans ofa substance (n: the accident of 'redness',for example, being incapable of subsisting independentlyof particular red things), a relationwhich can be expressed as its subsisting throughthe substance
But this is impossible for anythingthat is already self-subsistent, and one cannotmention Allah Most High in such a connection,for it is impossible that something self-subsistentshould subsist through another self-subsistent;there remaining only the mode of corporealbodies physically adjacent, where 'indwelling'cannot even be conceived between two servants,let alone between the servant and the Lord MostHigh.
""UNION WITH GOD"" (ITTIHAD)""Union with God"" is even more patentlyfalse, since saying ""The slave has become theLord"" is self-contradictory, it befitting the LordMost Glorious to be held above speaking absurditiesof Him, while it can be categoricallyaffirmed that any statement claiming that bnething has become another concurrently existingthing is impossible, for if the existence of bothZayd and 'Amr, for example, is acknowledged,and someone asserts that Zayd has become 'Amrand united with him, then this unification mustentail one of four things, beyond which there is noother possibility:(1) that both exist;(2) that neither exists;(3) that Zayd exists but 'Amr does not;(4) or that' Amr exists but Zayd does not.Now if both exist, neither has become theother, but rather each exists
At the very most,they might occupy the same locus, which does notnecessarily entail unification, since qualities suchas knowledge, will, and power, for example,might exist together in one individual withouteach requiring a separate locus, while it is plainthat power is not knowledge or will, and they havenot ""unified.""If neither exists «2) above), they have notunified but have both ceased to exist, with theresult perhaps of a third thing.And if one of them exists but the other doesnot, then they cannot have unified, for an existentthing cannot ""be one"" with a nonexistent thing.So union between two concurrent things isabsolutely impossible, even if they are alike, letalone if they are different.
""UNION"" IN POETIC LICENSEWhenever union is mentioned and it issaid that ""heis him, "" it is only by way of figurativeextension and poetic license, conformable withthe usage of Sufis and poets
who employmetaphorical means to enhance their words'effect upon listeners' understanding, as when apoet says, HI am my beloved and my beloved isme,"" which is a metaphor on the part of the poet,who does not mean that in fact he is him, but onlythat it is as though he were him
for his concern isnow wholly absorbed in him, just as his concernwas absorbed in himself, and so he expresses thiscondition as union, by way of poetic license
Andthis is how one should interpret the words of AbuYazid, ""I sloughed off my ego as a snake sheds itsskin, and looked, and I was Him,"" meaning thatwhoever sloughs off the desires, caprices, andconcerns of their ego no longer has any capacity orconcern save for Allah Most High, and whennothing enters a servant's heart besides theMajesty and Beauty of Allah and he becomeswholly immersed therein, he is ""as though he wereHim,"" not that he actually is Him
There is a differencebetween saying ""as though he were him""and saying ""he is him,"" though ""as though hewere him"" may be expressed by saying ""he ishim,"" just as poets sometimes say, ""It is as thoughI were my beloved,"" and at other times, ""I am mybeloved
""And this can occasion a misstep, for someonewithout a firm footing in rational knowledgemight not distinguish between one sense and theother, and looking at his own perfection, embellishedwith the dazzling raiment of the Truth,think that he is Him, saying, ""I am the Truth,""while he has made the mistake of the Christianswho saw this in the person of Jesus (on whom bepeace) and said that he was the Divinity
For thatmatter, the person errors who looks in a mirrorreflecting a colored image and thinks it is theimage of the mirror and the color is the color of themirror, while this can never be, for the mirror iscolorless in itself, and its nature is to reflect coloredimages in a way that makes those observingmere appearances think they are the appearanceof the mirror itself, just as a child, when he seessomeone in a mirror, may think the person is actuallyin the mirror
So too, the heart in itself is withoutform or configuration, and its own structure ismerely to conform to intellectual impressions offigures, forms and realities, such that whateverenters it is as if in union with it, not that it is inactual fact truly united with it
When someonewho does not know of glasses or wine sees a glassof wine, he may not realize the difference betweenthem, and will sometimes say there is no wine, andsometimes that there is no glass.The words ""I am the Truth"" either mean thesame as the poet's saying HI am my beloved andmy beloved is me,"" or else the speaker has madethe same mistake as the Christians in believing inthe union of divinity and humanity
If it is true heactually said it, Abu Yazid's utterance, ""Glory beto me, how great is my state"" either passed his lipsby way of quoting Allah Most High, just as, if hehad heard and repeated,""There is no god but Me, so worship Me""(Koran 20:14),it would be interpreted as a quote--or else he wasattesting to the fullness of the share of inner purityhe beheld within himself, and spoke of the purityof his soul by saying ""Glory be to me,"" seeing thegreatness of his state in relation to the state ofmost of humanity, and saying, ""How great is mystate,"" while knowing his purit}' and the magnitudeof his state were in comparison to otherpeople, not the sacred purity of the Lord MostHigh or His greatness, this utterance passing hislips while in a state of spiritual intoxication andbeing overcome by a state, since the return to sobrietyobliges one to hold one '8 tongue from wordsthat mislead, and while intoxicated perhaps hewas unable to do this
If one goes beyond boththese two interpretations to actual ""union withGod,"" it is manifestly absurd, and one should notso esteem people's rank that one aceepts theabsurd
One should know men by their havingspoken the truth, not that it is the truth by eertainmen having spoken it (al-Maqsad al-asna sharhasma' Allah al-husna (y40) , 146-50).
(n:) Among the disservices done to Islam by some Western scholars istheir tireless insistence that the Sufi term wusul (""to arrive"") be translated as if itmeant ittihad (""to unify"") with the result that their translations of Sufi works arefilled with talk of ""union with God,"" a rendering that has come to be traditionaland authoritative among them, while it is a fallacious conception that the mastersof Sufism from every age have taken pains to dissociate themselves, their method,and their students from
So it is perhaps fitting to conclude this section with twoof the aphorisms of the great Shadhili master Ibn 'Ata' Illah, who said:""Your reaching Allah is your reaching theknowledge of Him, for other than that, Our Lordis too exalted for anything to be joined with Himor for Him to be joined with anything"";and said,""The affirmation of electhood does notnecessitate a negation of the fact of being human.Election is merely like the rise of the daylight'ssun: it appears on the horizon without being partof it
Sometimes He takes it from you and returnsyou to your own bounds
For daylight is not fromyou to yourself
It comes over you.""(al-Hikam al-'Ata'iyya wa al-munajat al-ilahiyya(y56), 59, 66, aphorisms 213 and 249)
(Muhammad Hamid:) What is obligatoryfor a human being to know is that Allah theCreator, glory be to Him, is absolutely free ofneed (ai-Ghani) of anything He has created, andfree of need for the heavens or the earth
He istranscendently beyond ""being in .the sky"" or""being on earth'"" in the manner that things are inthings, created beings in created beings, or thingsin circumstances are encompassed by their circumstances,for it is He who""There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him,and He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing"" (Koran42:11), and,""He did not give birth, nor was He born, andthere is none who is His equal"" (Koran 112:3-4).Aside from all the proofs from the Koran andsunn'l, the rational evidence is decisive that AllahMost High is absolutely beyond any resemblanceto created things, in His entity, attributes, andacts
The noble Koranic verse,""He is Allah in the heavens and the earth; Heknows your secrets and what you reveal, andknows what you are earning"" (Koran 6:3),means that He Most Glorious is the one who isrightfully worshipped in both the heavens andearth, who alone possesses the attribute of divinityin both; and the inhabitants of the heavensknow He is the True God, just as the inhabitantsof the earth know it, and the former worship himjust as the latter do (Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'il alShaykhMuhammad ai-Hamid (y44) , 2.20-21).
(Qurtubi:) Allah Most High says,""Do you feel secure that He who is in theheavens will not make the earth swallow you whileit quakes?"" (Koran 67:16),which may mean, '""Do you feel secure that Hewho is the Creator of whomever is in the heavenswill not make the earth swallow you, as He didKorah?"" The more exacting hold that it (n: i.e
inthe heavens) signifies, ""Do you feel secure fromHim who is over the heavens,"" just as Allah says,""Journey in the earth"" (Koran 9:2),meaning over it; not over it by way of physical contactor spatialization
but by way of omnipotentpower and control
Another position is that itmeans, ""Do you feel secure from Him who is over('ala) the heavens,"" i.e
just as it is said, ""So-andsois over Iraq and the Hijaz,"" meaning that he isthe governor and commander of them
Thehadiths on this subject are numerous, rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih), and widely known, andindicate the exaltedness of Allah, being undeniableby anyone save an atheist or obstinateignoramus
Their meaning is to dignify Allah andexalt Him above what is base and low, to characterizeHim by exaltedness and grandeur, not bybeing in places, particular directions, or withinlimits, for these are the qualities of physicalbodies
The hands are only raised skyward whenone supplicates because the sky is from whencedivine revelation descends and rains fall, the placeof purity and the wellspring of the purified ones ofthe angels, and that servants' works are raised toitand over it are the Throne and His paradise-justas Allah has made the Kaaba the direction of supplicationand the prayer
He created all places andhas no need of them
He was without space or timein His beginningless eternality before creatingspace and time, and is now as He ever has been(al-Jami' Ii ahkamal-Qur'an (y1l7), 18.216).*
(Muhammad Amin Kurdi:) Sufism is aknowledge through which one knows the states ofthe human soul, praiseworthy or blameworthy,how to purify it from the blameworthy and ennobleit by acquiring the praiseworthy, and tojourney and proceed to Allah Most High, fleeingunto Him
Its fruits are the heart's development,knowledge of God through direct experience andecstasy, salvation in the next world, triumphthrough gaining Allah's pleasure, the attainmentof eternal happiness, and illuminating and purifyingthe heart so that noble matters disclose themselves,extraordinary states are revealed, and oneperceives what the insight of others is blind to(Tanwir al-qulub fi mu'amala 'Allam al-Ghuyub(y74),406).
(Nawawi:) The way of Sufism is based onfive principles: having godfearingness privatelyand publicly, living according to the sunna in wordand deed, indifference to whether others accept orreject one, satisfaction with Allah Most High indearth and plenty, and returning to Allah in happinessor affliction
The principles of treating theillnesses of the soul are also five: lightening thestomach by diminishing one's food and drink, takingrefuge in Allah Most High from the unforeseenwhen it befalls, shunning situations involvingwhat one fears to fall victim to, continually askingfor Allah's forgiveness and His blessings upon theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)night and day with full presence of mind,
andkeeping the company of him who guides one toAllah (al-Maqasid/i bayan ma yajibu ma'rifatuhumin aI-din (yl06), 83-84, 87).
(Ahmad Zarruq:) Aspects of Sufism,defined, delineated, and explained, amount tonearly two thousand, all ofthem reducible to sincerityin turning to Allah Most High, something ofwhich they are only facets, and Allah knows best.The necessary condition of sincerity of approach isthat it be what the Truth Most High accepts, andby the means He accepts
Now, something lackingits necessary condition cannot exist,""And He does not accept unbelief for His servants""(Koran 39:7),so one must realize true faith (iman),""and if you show gratitude, He will accept it ofyou"" (Koran 39:7),which entails applying Islam
So there is no Sufismexcept through comprehension of Sacred Law, forthe outward rules of Allah Most High are notknown save through it, and there is no comprehensionof Sacred Law without Sufism, forworks are nothing without sincerity of approach,as expressed by the words of Imam Malik (Allahhave mercy on him):""He who practices Sufism without learningSacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learnsSacred Law without practicing Sufism corruptshimself
Only he who combines the two provestrue.""(Jqaz al-himam fi sharh al-Hikam (y54), 5-6)
(n:) As for the meaning of proving true, its sheikhs say that Sufism is nota fixity on a particular type of worship, but rather the attachment of the heart toAllah Most High, mere honesty therein demanding that whenever something ispreferred by the standards ofthe Sacred Law for someone in one's circumstances,one does it
This is why we find that Sufis have served Islam in a wide variety ofcapacities
Many of the scholars cited throughout the present volume, for example,also had the higher education of Sufism, among them Imam MuhammadAmin Ibn 'Abidin, Sheikh aHslam Zakariyya Ansari, Muhammad AbulMawahib, Sheikh Ibrahim Bajuri, Muhammad Sa'id Burhani, 'Abd al-WakilDurubi, Imam Ghazali, Muhammad Hamid, Imam Abu Hanifa, Sheikh MuhammadHashimi, Imam Ibn Hajar Haytami, Ibn 'Ajiba, Ibn 'Ata' lilah, Imam 'Izzibn· 'Abd ai-Salam, the author of our basic text Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri,Muhammad 'Abdullah Jurdani, Muhammad Amin Kurdi, Imam Malik, 'Abd alRa'ufMunawi, Zayn ai-Din Mallibari, Yusuf Nabahani, 'Abd al-Ghani Nabulsi,Khalil Nahlawi, Imam Nawawi, 'Abd al-Wahhab Sha'rani, Imam Taqi aI-DinSubki, Jalal ai-Din Suyuti, Hakim Tirmidhi, and others.Among the Sufis who aided Islam with sword as well as pen, according toB.G
Martin's Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth Century Africa (y86), are suchmen as the Naqshbandi sheikh Shamil Daghestani, who fought a prolonged waragainst the Russians in the Caucasus in the nineteenth century; Sayyid Muhammad'Abdullah ai-Somali, a sheikh of the Salihiyya order who led Muslims againstthe British and Italians in Somalia from 1899 to 1920; the Qadiri sheikh 'Uthmanibn Fodi, who led jihad in Northern Nigeria from 1804 to 1808 to establish Islamicrule; the Qadiri sheikh 'Abd ai-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, who led the Algerians againstthe French from 1832 to 1847; the Darqawi faqir ai-Hajj Muhammad al-Ahrash,who fought the French in Egypt in 1799; the Tijani sheikh aI-Hajj 'Umar Tal, wholed Islamic jihad in Guinea, Senegal, and Mali from 1852 to 1864; and the Qadirisheikh Ma' al-' A ynayn al-Qalq ami, who helped marshal Muslim resistance to theFrench in northern Mauritania and southern Morocco from 1905 to 1909.Among the Sufis whose missionary work Islamized entire regions are suchmen as the founder of the Sanusiyya order, Muhammad' Ali Sanusi, whose effortsand jihad from 1807 to 1859 consolidated Islam as the religion of peoples from theLibyan Desert to sub-Saharan Africa; the Shadhili sheikh Muhammad Ma'rufand Qadiri sheikh Uways al-Barawi, whose efforts spread Islam westward andinland from the East African Coast; and the hundreds of anonymous Naqshbandisheikhs who taught and preserved Islam among the peoples of what is now thesouthern Soviet Union and who still serve the religion there despite official pressure.It is plain from the example of these and similar men that the attachment ofthe heart to Allah, which is the main emphasis of Sufism, does not hinder spiritualworks of any kind, but may rather provide a real basis for them
And Allah alonegives success.
('Abd al-Wahhab Sha'rani:) The path ofthe Sufis is built of the Koran and sunna, and isbased upon living according to the morals of theprophets and purified ones
It may not be blamedunless it violates an explicit statement from theKoran, sunna, or scholarly consensus (def: b7),exclusively
If it does not contravene one of these,the very most that one may say of it is that it is anunderstanding a Muslim man has been given, solet whoever wishes act upon it, and whoever doesnot refrain, this being as true of works as of understanding.So no pretext remains for condemning itexcept one's own low opinion of others (dis:r2.14), or interpreting what they do as ostentation,which is unlawful.Whoever carefully examines the branches ofknowledge of the Folk of Allah Most High willfind that none of them are beyond the pale of theSacred Law
How should they lie beyond the paleof the Sacred Law when it is the law that connectsthe Sufis to Allah at every moment?
Rather, thereason for the doubts of someone unfamiliar withthe way of the Sufis that it is of the very essence ofthe Sacred Law is the fact that such a person hasnot thoroughly mastered the knowledge of thelaw
This is why Junayd (Allah Most High havemercy on him) said, ""This knowledge of ours isbuilt of the Koran and sunna,"" in reply to those ofhis time or any other who imagine that it is beyondthe pale of the Koran and sunna.The Folk unanimously concur that none is fitto teach in the path of Allah Mighty and Majesticsave someone with comprehensive mastery of theSacred Law, who knows its explicit and implicitrulings, which of them are of general applicabilityand which are particular, which supersede othersand which are superseded
He must also have athorough grounding in Arabic, be familiar with itsfigurative modes and similes, and so forth
Soevery true Sufi is a scholar is Sacred Law, thoughthe reverse is not necessarily true.To summarize, no one denies the states of theSufis except someone ignorant of the way theyare
Qushayri says, ""No era of the Islamic periodhas had a true sheikh of this group, save that theImams of the scholars of that time deferred tohim, showed humility towards him, and visitedhim for the benefit of his spiritual grace (baraka).If the Folk had no superiority or election, the matterwould have been the other way around"" (alTabaqatal-kubra al-musamma bi Lawaqih alanwarfi tabaqat al-akhyar (y124), 1.4).*
SUFI SHEIKHS(Ahmad Zarruq:) The conditions of asheikh to whom a disciple may entrust himself arefive:(a) sound religious knowledge;(b) true experience of the Divine;(c) exalted purpose and will;(d) a praiseworthy nature;(e) and penetrating insight.Someone with all five of the following is not fit tobe a sheikh:(1) ignorance of the religion;(2) disparaging the honor of the Muslims;(3) involvement in what does not concernhim;(4) following caprice in everything;(5) and showing bad character without a secondthought.If there is no sheikh who is a true guide (murshid,def: w9.7), or there is one, but he lacks oneofthe five conditions, then the disciple should relyon those of his qualities that are perfected in him,and deal with him as a brother (A: meaning thesheikh and disciple advise one another) regardingthe rest (Kitab qawanin hukm al-ishraq ita kaffaal-Sufiyya fi jami' al-afaq (y121), 119).
THE PURPOSE OF TAKINGA SHEIKH AND A PATH(Muhammad Hashimi:) As for when thepath is merely ""for the blessing of it"" and thesheikh lacks some of the conditions of a trueguide, or when the disciple is seeking severaldifferent aims from it at once, or the disciple'sintention is contrary to the spiritual will of the:>heikh, or the time required is unduly prolonged,or he is separated from his sheikh by the latter'sdeath or the exigencies of the times and has not yetcompleted his journey to Allah on the path orattained his goal from it-then it is obligatory forhim to go and associate with someone who cancomplete his journey for him and convey him towhat he seeks from the path, as it is notpermissible for him to remain bound to the firstsheikh his whole life if it is only to die in ignoranceof his Lord, claiming that this is the purpose of thepath
By no means is this the purpose
The purposeof the path is to reach the goal, and a paththat does not reach it is a means without an end.The path was made for travel on it with the intentionof reaching one's goal, not for remaining andresiding in even if this leads to dying in ignoranceof one's Lord
The meaning of a true disciple isone who forthrightly submits himself to a livingsheikh who is a guide (murshid) during the days ofhis journey to Allah Most High so that the sheikhmay put him through the stages of the journeyuntil he can say to him, ""Here you are, and here isyour Lord"" (ai-Hall al-sadid Ii ma astashkalahu almurid(y46), 7).
(n:) Muhammad Hashimi's above words about submitting oneself to a livingsheikh refer to matters within the range of the permissible or recommended,not what contradicts the Sacred Law or beliefs of Islam (def: vl-v2), for no truesheikh would ever countenance such a contravention (dis: s4.7), let alone have adisciple do so, a fact that furnishes the subject of the remaining articles of this section.
('Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salam:) The Sacred Lawis the scale upon which men are weighed and profitis distinguished from loss
He who weighs heavi1yonthe scales of the Sacred Law is of the friends(awliya') of Allah, among whom there is disparityof degree
And he who comes up short in thescales of the Sacred Law is of the people of ruin,among whom there is also disparity of degree
Ifone sees someone who can fly through the air,walk on water, or inform one of the unseen, butwho contravenes the Sacred Law by committingan unlawful act without an extenuating circumstancethat legally excuses it, or who neglectsan obligatory act without lawful reason, one mayknow that such a person is a devil Allah has placedthere as a temptation to the ignorant
Nor is it farfetchedthat such a person should be one of themeans by which Allah chooses to lead men astray,for the Antichrist will bring the dead to life andmake the living die, all as a temptation and afflictionto those who would be misled (ai-Imam al'Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salam wa atharuhu fi al-fiqh alIslami(y38) , 1.137).
THE STORY OF KHIDRAND MOSES(A:) There is sometimes discussion as to whether the story of Khidr andMoses (Koran 18:65-82) does not show that exceptions to Islamic Law are possible.In fact, the verses give no grounds for such an inference, for two reasons.The first is that the context of the story is the age of Moses, not the age of Muhammad(Allah bless him and give him peace), whose Sacred Law is distinguishedabove that of any of the previous prophets by being final and inabrogable (dis:w4.2-7)
The second reason is that Khidr, as the vast majority of scholars affirm,was himself a prophet and his actions were given to him to perform by divine revelation(wahy), this invalidating any comparison between Khidr's exceptionality tothe law of Moses and that of any individual born in our own times, for there is noprophet born after the time of Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).It might be wondered why Allah Most High mentions the story of Khidr andMoses in the Koran at all, if the exceptionality of Khidr was restricted to the timeof Moses
The answer is that there is much wisdom in the story, such as that someparticular excellence not found in the superior of two things or people may wellbe found in the inferior of them, for Moses was a prophetic messenger (rasul)while Khidr was only a prophet (nabi); that there are secrets given to certain ofAllah's servants which not everyone in the Community (Urn rna) is responsible toknow; that one should learn wisdom wherever one can; and that no matter howmuch one knows, one should not claim to have knowledge
And Allah knowsbest.SUflSM AND ORTHODOXY
(' Abd al-Qahir Baghdadi:) The bookTarikh al-Sufiyya [The history of the Sufis] byAbu 'Abd ai-Rahman Sulami, comprises the biographiesof nearly a thousand sheikhs of the Sufis,none of whom belonged to heretical sects and allof whom were of the Sunni community, with theexception of only three of them: Abu Hilman ofDamascus, who pretended to be of the Sufis butactually believed in incarnationism (hulul, def:w7.1); Husayn ibn Mansur al-HaUaj, whose caseremains problematic, though Ibn ' Ata', IbnKhafif, and Abul Qasim al-Nasrabadhi approvedof him; and al-Qannad, whom the Sufis accused ofbeing a MU'tazilite (def: w6.4) and rejected, forthe good does not accept the wicked (Usul ai-din(y23),315-16).
(n:) Anyone who has made a serious study of ""philosophy"" must acknowledgethat the term has been applied to a great many widely varying proceduresand styles of thought throughout its long history, and that there is little substantialagreement among philosophers as to what philosophy is or should be
WhatNawawi and other Islamic scholars seem to have in mind when they speak of theunlawful character of philosophy is not the efforts at a logical critique of themethodology of the sciences which have been seen particularly in this century, butrather cosmological theories and all-too-human attempts to solve ultimate questionsabout man, God, life after death, and so forth, without the divinely revealedguidance of the Koran and sunna: Any opinion that contradicts a well-knowntenet of Islamic belief that there is scholarly consensus upon (ijma', def: b7) isunbelief (kufr), and is unlawful to learn or teach, except by way of explaining thatit is unlawful
And Allah knows best.*
(N:) The unlawfulness of the ""sciences of the materialists"" refers to theconviction of materialists that things in themselves or by their own nature have acausal influence independent of the will of Allah
To believe this is unbelief (dis:o8.7(17))that puts one beyond the pale of Islam
Muslims working in the sciencesmust remember that they are dealing with figurative causes (asbab majaziyya),not real ones, for Allah alone is the real cause.
(Salih Mu'adhdhin:) To clarify the reasonfor scholarly disagreement within one legalschool, we may say that scholars divide eachschool into various levels, the most important ofwhich (N: after the Imam) may be characterizedas follows:(I) the first level, composed of those qualifiedto do ijtihad (independent legal reasoning)within the school, deploying it according to thegeneral methodological principles established bytheir Imams, and who transmit the words of theImam, such scholars being called colleagues,including men like Muzani;(2) the second level, composed of thosequalified to do ijtihad on particular legal questionsthat were not discussed by the Imam of the school,including such
scholars as Imam Ghazali;(3) the third level, composed of those qualifiedto do textual exegesis, and who because oftheir comprehensive mastery of the works of theschool, specialize in interpreting the positions oftheir Imams that require details and explanationto be properly understood, and in specifying theprecise meaning of rulings which might otherwisebe understood equivocally; including such scholarsas the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries, Juwayni;(4) and the fourth level, which is composedof those qualified to weigh various scholarly positionsand judge which is the soundest, evaluatingtheir Imams' positIons in terms ofthe reliability ofthe narrators of the channels of transmission ofthe opinion from the Imam, or in terms of theunderstanding shown in treating particular legalquestions; and who may then say which is thestronger or more suitable position; this levelincluding such men as the Two Sheikhs, Rafi'i andNawawi.It is apparent from the foregoing that scholarlydifferences may occur at each of the levels: inthe deductions of the colleagues and their ijtihadwithin the general methodological principles ofthe school, in judging one position of the Imam ofthe school to be sounder than another of his positions,or in judging one position's channel of transmissionto be sounder than another's; all of whichtake place according to the evidence available tothe particular scholar and his understanding of theImam's words (,Umdat al-salik (y90) , 18).IT fS OBLIGATORY TO JUDGE ACCORDING
TO THE STRONGEST POSITION IN A SCHOOL(Zayn aI-Din Mallibari:) AI-'Iraqi and IbnSalah have recorded scholarly consensus (def: b 7)that it is not permissible to judge' by other than thestrongest legal position in a school, as Subki hasexplicitly stated at length in several places in hisFatawi, considering it to be ""judging by other thanwhat Allah has revealed,"" since Allah Most Highhas made it obligatory for mujtahids (def:022.1(d)) to adopt the position for which the evidenceis strongest, and has made it obligatory fornon-mujtahids to follow the ijtihad of mujtahids inall works that are personally obligatory (dis:b2.1).
THE STRONGEST POSITIONIN THE SHAFI'I SCHOOLlalal Bulqini relates from his father (A:Siraj ai-Din) that ""the soundest position in the [A:Shafi'i] school for court rulings and formal legalopinions (fatwa) [n: in order of which must beaccepted first when available] is what Nawawi andRafi'i agree upon; then Nawawi's position; thenRafi'i's; then what has been judged strongest bythe majority of scholars; then by the most knowledgeable;then by the most godfearing."" Oursheikh (A: Ibn Hajar Haytami) states that this iswhat has been agreed upon by the most exactingof the later scholars, and is the position oursheikhs have enjoined us to rely on (Kitab fath al-Mu'inbi sharh Qurra al.'ayn bi muhimmat ai-din(y85), 348).w13_0 SLAVERY IN ISLAM(from c3.4) (see also k32)*w13.1 (Titus Burckhardt:) Slavery within Islamic culture is not to be confusedwith Roman slavery or with the American variety of the nineteenth century; inIslam the slave was never a mere ""thing."" If his master treated him badly, hecould appeal to a judge and procure his freedom
His dignity as a Muslim wasinviolable
Originally the status of slave was simply the outcome of having beentaken as a prisoner of war
A captive who could not buy his own freedom bymeans of ransom remained in the possession of the captor until he had earned hisfreedom by work or until he was granted liberty by his master (Moorish Culturein Spain (y32) , 30).*
IN LEGAL RULINGS (from c6.4, end)
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) There are a numberof states one may have in following the legal positionof an Imam other than one's own, amongthem:(1) to believe that the other Imam's positionon the particular question is stronger, in whichcase it is permissible to follow him in deference towhat one believes to be the sounder position;(2) to believe that the position of one's ownImam is stronger, or not to know which Imam hasthe stronger position on the question, in both ofwhich cases it is permissible to follow the positionof the other Imam whether or not one therebyintends to take the way that is religiously moreprecautionary (dis: c6.5), in which case it is notoffensive, though if it is a mere stratagem that isnot intended as such (N: i.e.notintendedas beingreligiously more precautionary) it is offensive;(3) to intend by following the other Imam totake a dispensation when there is a need for it (N:such as a Shafi'i circumambulating the Kaaba at acrowded hajj (dis: j5.16(b)) who follows the positionof Abu Hanifa that touching a woman doesnot nullify one's ablution), in which case it is permissibleto follow the other Imam, unless onebelieves both that the position of one's own Imamis stronger, and that it is obligatory to follow themore knowledgeable of the two;(4) to intend merely following the easier wayof taking a dispensation when (N: neither (2) nor(3) above is the case , and) one does not believethat it is the stronger position, in which case followingit is not permissible, as Subki says, ""becauseone is then merely pursuing one's own caprice,and it is not for the sake of religion"";(5) to do this frequently, so as to become oneof those who seek out dispensations (dis: c6.4),taking the easiest ruling from every school, whichis also forbidden, as it connotes a dissolution ofthe limits of legal responsibility;(6) to assemble by such a procedure a singlecomposite act that is unacceptable by the consensusof scholars (def: b7), which is impermissible,such as when a Shafi'i follows Imam Malik in consideringdogs to be physically pure, but only wipespart of his head when performing ablution(wqdu), for in such a case his prayeris not consideredvalid by Malik, because he has not wiped hiswhole head, nor yet by Shafi'i, because of thephysical impurity of dogs (N: though it is unobjectionableto piece together such a composite act byway of following the scholarly evidences supportingeach part, if one is qualified to appreciate them(def: 022.1 (d)), since then one has become a mujtahidon the question);(7) or to follow one's original Imam in doingan act whose consequences are stilI in effect whenonesubsequentIy intends to follow another Imam,despite the continued existence of the first act'sconsequences; such as a Hanafi who, by right ofbeing a neighbor, acquires a piece of land bypreempting a neighbor's sale of it to another(shuf' a , def: k21) (N: since one of the purposesthat permit preemption in the Hanafi school is toprevent property adjacent to one's own frombeing acquired by an objectionable neighbor (n:though the Shafi'i school does not allow preemptionfor such a reason (dis: k21.0(N:))))-butwhen a second neighbor for the same reasonpreempts the Hanafi's taking possession of theland, the Hanafi refuses to allow the secondpreemption on the pretext that he now follows theShafi'i school on the question, which is not permissiblebecause it confirms that he is mistaken,either by following the first opinion or by followingthe second, while he is but a single responsibleindividual.(al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48), 113-14)*
(n:) The metric equivalents of the Islamic weights and measures mentionedin the present work are as follows:1 mithqal 4.235 grams1 dinar 1 mithqal = 4.235 grams1 dirham = 2.9645 grams1 rit!
381.15 grams1 mudd = 0.51 liters1 sa' = 2.03 liters5 awsuq 609.84 kilogramsQullatayn 216 liters1 dh ira , 48 centimetersThe distance permitting shortening prayers = 81 km.!
50 mi.
HOW THE EQUIVALENTS WERE ARRIVED ATThe weight of the classic Islamic gold dinar, one mithqal, is the basis forvirtually all the other weights and measures mentioned above
The present volume'sestimate of this all-important criterion is based on numismatic studies ofancient glass disc mithqal-weights, most of them dating back to A.H
164/A.D
780,which were originally produced as the standard to gauge the weight of the Islamicdinar, the difference in the weight of all such discs discovered up to the presenttime not exceeding a third of a milligram
Particularly impressive for accuracy isa study by P
Casanova, who conducted weight tests of several hundred intactspecimens of such glass discs, each 18 mithqals, and found them to wcigh 76.23grams, from which one may infer a mithqal value of 4.235 grams, a result that isespecially reliable because it is not possible for the error factor therein to exceed1118 per mithqal (al-Makayil wa al-awzan al-Islamiyya (y50), 9-10)
This studyfurnished the estimate used by the present volume.The weight of the dirham is 7/10 of the weight of the mithqal (Mughni aImuhtaji/a rna'rifa ma'ani alfaz al-Minhaj (y73), 1.389), or 2.9645 grams.The weight of the rit!
has been estimated by Nawawi as 128 and 417 dirhams(Fayd al-Ilah ai-Malik (y27) , 1.15), equalling 128.5714285 dirhams, or 381.15grams.The mudd is a volume measure that in the Arabic of e5.25 is estimated interms of a weight, 1 1/3 rit!, the weight of water being understood to furnish thebasis for conversion to volume, just as it is at e1.ll, where qullatayn is defined interms of both
One and one-third rill is 508.1999 grams, giving us a mudd of0.5081999 liters, rounded off to 0.51 liters in the translation.The sa' is 5 1/3 ritls (dis: AI
e5.25) orfour mudds, equalling 2.0327996 liters,rounded off to 2.03 liters in the translation.Five awsuq amounts to 1600 ritls (dis: Ar
h3.4), considered as a weight (faydal-Ilah ai-Malik (y27), 1.248), equalling 609.84 kilograms.Qullatayn is estimated at el.11 as about 500 rills (190.575 liters), or 1 114dhira', (lit
cubit, meaning the Shafi'i dhira', for otherwise the term has beenapplied to a wide variety of measures) in height, width, and length, from whichone may infer that the dhira' is 46.03 centimeters
The translator found both thesemetric equivalents satisfactory, but in deference to the ijtihad of Sheikh MuhammadAmin Kurdi in Tanwir al-qulub fi mu'amala 'Allaml1l-Ghuyub (y74), 172,and Sheikh Ridwan al-'Ada!
Baybars in Kitab rawda al-muhtajin Ii ma'rifaqawa'id ai-din (y29), 186, who both estimate the dhira' at 48 centimeters, the Jatterfigure has been adopted, and it yields an estimated qullatayn volume of 216 liters(a cube of 60 centimeters on each side) which may be considered religiouslymore precautionary than the above qullatayn estimate, since the greater estimatefulfills the legal requirements of the lesser estimate, though not vice versa.Adopting a dhira' estimate of 48 centimeters rather than 46.03 centimetersyields a distance permitting shortening p'rayers (masafa al-qasr) of 80.640kilometers (Tanwir al-qulub fi mu'arnala 'Allam al-Ghuyub (y74), 172), ratherthan the 77.3304 kilometers inferable from the lesser estimate; and the greaterestimate has been preferred here as well, since it enters into a great many rulingsand is religiously more precautionary in the sense explained abeve
It has beenrounded off in the translation to 81 km.!
50 mi.*
(Qurtubi:) It is of the inviolability of theKoran:(1) not to touch it except in a state of ritualpurity (dis: w16.2), and to recite it when in a stateof ritual purity;(2) to brush one's teeth with a toothstick(def: e3), remove food particles from betweenthem, and freshen one's mouth before reciting,since it is the way through which the Koran passes;(3) to sit up straight if not in prayer, and notlean back;(4) to dress for reciting it as if intending tovisit a prince, for the reciter is engaged in intimatediscourse;(5) to face the direction of prayer (qibla) torecite;(6) to rinse the mouth out with water if oneexpectorates mucus or phlegm;(7) to stop reciting when one yawns
forwhen reciting, one is addressing one's Lord in intimateconversation, while yawning is from theDevil;(8) when beginning to recite, to take refugein Allah from the accursed Devil (def: wl.IS) andsay the Basmala (w1.6), whether one has begun atthe first of the sura or some other part one hasreached;(9) once one has begun, not to interruptone's recital from moment to moment with humanwords, unless absolutely necessary;(to) to be alone when reciting it, so that noone interrupts one, forcing one to mix the wordsof the Koran with replying, for this nullifies theeffectiveness of having taken refuge in Allah fromthe Devil at the beginning;(11) to recite it leisurely and without haste,distinctly pronouncing each letter;(12) to use one's mind and understanding inorder to comprehend what is being said to one;(13) to pause at verses that promise Allah'sfavor, to long for Allah Most High and ask of Hisbounty; and at verses that warn of His punishmentto ask Him to save one from it;(14) to pause at the accounts of bygonepeoples and individuals to heed and benefit fromtheir example;(15) to find out the meanings of the Koran'sunusual lexical usages;(16) to give each letter its due so as to clearlyand fully pronounce every word, for each lettercounts as ten good deeds;(17) whenever one finishes reciting, to attestto the veracity of one's Lord, and that His messenger(Allah bless him and give him peace) hasdelivered his message, and to testify to this, saying:""Our Lord, You have spoken the truth, Yourmessengers have delivered their tidings, and wearc witnesses to this
0 Allah, make us of thosewho bear witness to the truth and .who act with justice"";after which one supplicates Allah withprayers;(18) not to select certain verses from eachsura to recite, but rather recite the whole sura:(19) ifone puts the Koran down, not to leaveit open;(20) not to place other books upon theKoran, which should always be higher than allother books (N: though the books of each shelf ofa bookcase, for example, are considered separatelyin this), whether they are books of SacredKnowledge or something else;(21) to place the Koran on one's lap whenreading, or on something in front of one
not onthe floor;(22) not to wipe it from a slate with spittle,but rather wash it off with water; and if one washesit off with water, to avoid putting the water wherethere are unclean substances (najasa) or wherepeople walk
Such water has its own inviolability,and there were those of the early Muslims beforeus who used water that washed away Koran toeffect cures;(23) not to use sheets upon which it has beenwritten as bookcovers, which is extremely rude,but rather to erase the Koran from them withwater;(24) not to let a day go by without looking atleast once at the pages of the Koran;(25) to give one's eyes their share of lookingat it, for the eyes lead to the soul (nafs), whereasthere is a veil between the breast (N: i.e
the placewhere it is remembered) and the soul, and theKoran is in the breast
When one recites it frommemory, only one's ears hear and convey it to thesoul; while if one is looking at the words, both eyeand ear participate in the performance, dischargingit more completely, and the eyes as well as thecars are given their due;(26) not to trivially quote the Koran at theoccurrence of everyday events, as by saying, forexample, when someone comes,""You have come hither according to adecree, 0 Moses"" (Koran 20:40),or,""Eat and drink heartily for what you havedone aforetimes, in days gone by"" (Koran 69:24).when food is brought out, and so forth;(27) not to recite it to song tunes like those ofthe corrupt, or with the tremulous tones of Christiansor the plaintiveness of monkery, all of whichis misguidance;(28) when writing the Koran to do so in aclear, elegant hand;(29) not to recite it aloud over another'sreciting of it, so as to spoil it for him and make himresent what he hears, making it as if it were somekind of competition;(30) not to recite it in marketplaces, places ofclamor and frivolity, or where fools gather;(31) not to use the Koran as pillow, or leanupon it;(32) not to toss it when one wants to hand itto another;(33) not to miniaturize the Koran, mix into itwhat is not of it, or mingle this-worldly adornmentwith it by embellishing or writing it with gold;(34) not to write it on the ground or on walls,as is done in some new mosques;(35) not to write an amulet (def: w17) with itand enter the lavatory, unless it is encased inleather, silver, or other, for then it is as if kept inthe heart;(36) if one writes it (N.: with saffron, forexample on the inside of a dish) and then (N: dissolvesthe writing into water and) drinks it (N: fora cure or other purpose), one should say the Basmala(def: wl.6) at every breath and make a nobleand worthy intention, for Allah only gives to oneaccording to one's intention;(37) and if one finishes reciting the entireKoran, to begin it anew, that it may not resemblesomething that has been abandoned.(al-Jami' Ii ahkam al-Qur'an (y117), 1.27-31)
(Imam Baghawi:) 'Abdullah ibn AbuBakr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Hazmreported that the letter that the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) wrote (N: i.e
dictatedand had sent) to 'Amr ibn Hazm containedthe injunction that""none may touch the Koran but someone in astate of ritual purity.""(Shu'ayb Arna'ut:) This is a rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) hadith, and was related inal-Muwatta' (y82) , 1.199, in the section on theKoran, the chapter of ""The Demand to PerformAblution for Whoever Touches the Koran."" Abu'Umar states, ""There is no disagreement reportedfrom Malik that this hadith is mursal [def:022.1(d(II(4)))], though it has also been relatedthrough a good channel with a contiguous series oftransmitters (musnad) from the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), the letter itselfbeing well known to specialists in the field ofprophetic biography and so famous among scholarsthat its renown suffices it from the need for apedigree [dis: w48.3]."" The hadith has variousother channels of transmission and corroboratoryevidences that strengthen it and raise it to thedegree of rigorously authenticated (sahih)
Seethem in Nasb al-raya (y135), 1.196-99 (Sharh alsunna(y22), 2.47-48).*
(Mansur 'Ali Nasif:) Protective or healingwords are permitted by Sacred Law and are calledfor when there is need for them, provided threeconditions are mt:t:(a) that they consist of the word of AllahMost High, His names, or His attributes (n: thehadiths prohibiting amulets being interpreted asreferring to the beads and so forth that were usedin the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (dis:w17.3));(b) that they be in Arabic;(c) and that the user not believe the wordshave any effect in themselves (n: which is unbelief,as at 08.7(17)), but are rather empowered todo so by Allah Most High.Amulets are like protective or healing words(ruqya) in the need for these eonditions
AndAllah knows best (al- Taj al-jami' Ii al-usul fiahadith al-Rasul (y100), 3.219).
(Nawawi:) One may adduce as evidencefor their permissibility the hadith of 'Amr ibnShu'ayb, from his father, from his grandfather,that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him andgive him peace) used to teach them for fearful situationsthe words, .""I seek refuge in Allah's perfect words fromHis wrath, the evil of His servants, the whisperedinsinuations of devils, and lest they come to me.""'Abdullah ibn 'Amr used to teaeh thesewords to those of his SOns who had reached the ageof reason, and used to write them and hang themupon those who had not (al-Majmu' (yI08), 2.71).
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) A group of ten riderscame to the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace), who had nine of them swear a covenantwith him, but would not let the tenth do so.They asked, ""What is the matter with him?"" andthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)replied that there was an amulet on his upper arm.so the man cut it off, and the Prophet let him swearhis covenant, after which the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said,""Whoever hangs one has ascribed associates(shirk) to Allah.""It is obligatory to interpret the above as referringto what they used to do of hanging a bead onthemselves and calling it an ""amulet"" (tamima).and the like, believing it would protect them fromcalamities
Without a doubt, to believe this isignorance and misguidance, and one of the worstenormities, since if it is not associating others withAllah (shirk), it leads to it, for nothing can benefitor harm one, prevent or turn aside, except forAllah Most High (al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf al-kaba'ir(y49), 1.166).
(n:) This section discusses the view of some contemporary Muslims thatsomeone who purposely misses one or more prescribed prayers need not makethem up, which some say is because whoever intentionally neglects an obligatoryprayer thereby becomes an unbeliever (kafir), and unbelievers are not obliged topray
Besides being a weak position that contravenes all four schools of jurisprudence,those who miss prayers and neglect to make them up because of adoptingthis view will meet their Lord without having performed the first thing they shallbe asked about on the Day of Judgement, their obligatory prayers
The followingdiscussion, in explaining why the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars holdthat making up missed prescribed prayers is obligatory, centers on two points:(1) that a Muslim who misses a prayer out of uneoncern cannot by that faetalone be considered an unbeliever;(2) and that the view that a prayer purposely missed cannot be made up isincorrect.
A MUSLIM WHO NEGLECTS A PRAYERDOES NOT THEREBY BECOMEAN UNBELIEVER(N:) The Hanafis, Malikis, and Shafi'is allhold that someone who misses the prayer out oflaziness is a Muslim, and that missing the prayerdoes not entail his being an unbeliever
Nawawisays, ""This is what the vast majority of early andlater seholars have held"" (al-Majmu' (y108),3.16)
As for the Hanbalis, they have two views,the first being that sueh a person becomes anunbeliever and is dealt with as a renegade fromIslam (def: 08.2), while the second view is that hedoes not become an unbeliever, and this is whatIbn Qudama, in al-Mughni (y63), 2.329, hasdeclared to be the soundest position
The opinionthat such a person becomes an unbeliever hasbeen ascribed to 'Ali ibnAbi Talib (Allah ennoblehis countenance), Ibn al-Mubarak, Ishaq ibnRahawayh, and some Shafi'is.
THE EVIDENCE THAT SOMEONEWHO NEGLECTS THE PRAYER ISAN UNBELIEVERThose who hold that whoever misses aprayer becomes an unbeliever adduce the followingevidence:(1) The hadith of Jabir (Allah be wellpleased with him) that he heard the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace) say,""Between a man between polytheism andunbelief is the nonperformance of the prayer,""which was related by Muslim.(2) The hadith of Burayda (Allah be wellpleased with him) that the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said,""The covenant between us and them consistsof the prayer: whoever leaves it has disbelieved,""a hadith related by Tirmidhi and Nasa'i, theformer saying that it was well authenticated(hasan).(3) The words of 'Abdullah ibn Shaqiq'Uqayli, one of those (tabi'i) who met and studiedunder some of the Companions, and someonewhose eminence is agreed upon,""The Companions of Muhammad (Allahbless him and give him peace) did not view thenonperformance of anything as unbelief besidesthe prayer,""which was related by Tirmidhi in the Book ofFaith with a rigorously authenticated (sahih)channel of transmission.(4) And the Prophet's saying (Allah blesshim and give him peace):""The first thing you lose from your religion iskeeping trusts, and the last thing you lose is theprayer,""Imam Ahmad commenting that nothing remainsof whatever the last has gone.
THE EVIDENCE THAT SOMEONEWHO NEGLECTS THE PRAYERIS NOT AN UNBELIEVERThose who hold that whoever neglects aprayer does not thereby become an unbelieveradduce the following evidence:(1) The hadith of'Ubada ibn Samit (Allah bewell pleased with him) that he heard the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) say:""Allah has made five prayers obligatory:whoever performs their ablution well and praysthem in their time, completing the bowing, thehumility, and the awe that is due in them, hasentered a solemn pact with Allah to forgive him.And whoever does not, has no pact with Allah:should He want, He will forgive him, and shouldHe want, He will torment him,""which is a rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadithrelated by Abu Dawud and others through multipleauthentic channels of transmission
The evidenceof the hadith is that the case of someonewho does not pray is up to Allah's consideredchoice, meaning that Allah could choose not totorment him, while it is necessarily establishedthat unbelievers will be tormented and enter hell(n: necessarily established in that the words of theKoran will necessarily be realized against them,just as Allah has stated (dis: w55 .3(2)))-a considerationwhich with the above hadith indicates thatsomeone who neglects to pray is not an unbeliever.(2) The words of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace),""Whoever dies knowing that there is no godbut Allah shall enter paradise,""a hadith related by Muslim that in its generalityimplies that someone who does not perform theprayer but believes that there is no god but Allah,will enter paradise, whereas if he were an unbeliever,he would not enter it
There are many similarhadiths that imply this in their generality.(3) That Muslims from earliest times to thepresent have considered the Muslim who missesthe prayer to be entitled to inherit by way of estatedivision and be inherited from
If in their view hewere an unbeliever, he would not inherit or beinherited from (dis: L5.2).(4) And the consensus of Muslims that thebody of someone who neglects the prayer must bewashed and prayed over
Were he an unbelieverin their view, they would not wash, shroud, orpray over him.
A DISCUSSION OF THE EVIDENCEScholars reply as follows to the hadithsadduced by those who claim that whoever missesthe prayer is an unbeliever:(1) The point of the hadiths is to emphasizethe enormity of the crime of whoever misses theprayer and to liken him to unbelievers, not that itis actual unbelief
Other hadiths make their pointin this way, such as the words of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace),""Reviling a Muslim is corruption and fightinghim is unbelief,""and similar ones.(2) Their meaning is that the person whomisses the prayer is like unbelievers in certainrespects, such as that he is obligatorily executed(dis: f1.4)
Scholars have had recourse to thisinterpretation in order to reach an accord betweenthese texts of the Sacred Law and its basic principles,since a Muslim, of course, may not bejudged an unbeliever unless there is absolute certaintyof it, or be considered an unbeliever forsomething without unquestionable evidence thathis act, statement, or belief is in fact unbelief ,(kufr)
It thus appears that the strongest positionis that someone who misses the prayer out of neglectis not an unbeliever, for besides the texts thatimply his unbelief, others imply the contrary, andthe former can bear an aiternatejnterpretation.
MAKING UP MISSED PRAYERSAs tp whether it is obligatory to make upprayers missed without an excuse, this is a questionraised nowadays by some students of jurisprudence,in an era when deliberate nonperformanceof obligatory prayer and fasting has become frequent.They believe that the position well knownto both scholars and ordinary people that it isobligatory to make up missed prayers and fastdaysmight be a deterrent from repentance, andthey look to eliminate it by adopting the opinionsof certain scholars, advancing the position of IbnHazro, Ibn Taymiya, and others, while what isobligatory is to defer to the Koran and sunna forthe final decision, as the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) has said,""None of you believes until his inclinationsconform to what I have brought,""and it is obligatory to know what the evidencebears out, since one should, as has been said,""know men by their having spoken the truth, notthat it is the truth by certain men having spokenit."" So we will expound the question with its evidence,and then see what the evidence shows.
The vast majority of scholars, includingthose of the four main schools of jurisprudence,have concluded that it is obligatory to make updeliberately missed prayers and fast-days, andhave even reported scholarly consensus (def: b7)on the obligatory character of making them up, asis mentioned in (n: the Hanbali) al-Mughni (y63),2.332; (n: the Hanafi) Sharh al-'inaya 'ala alHidaya(y21), 1.4S5; and in (n: the Shafi'i) alMajmu'(ylOS), 3.71; while Ibn Hazm, IbnTaymiya, and Ibn al-Qayyim conclude that someonewho deliberately does not perform the prayeruntil its time is finished can never make it up, butshould do as much good and perform as manysupererogatory prayers as possible in order to tipthe balance in his favor on the Day of Judgement,and repent and ask forgiveness of Allah Mightyand Majestic.
THE EVIDENCE THAT SOMEONE WHOMISSES A PRAYER MUST MAKE IT UPThe scholarly majority adduce the followingevidence:(1) The words of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace),""When any of you sleeps through the prayeror forgets it, then let him pray it when he remembers,for Allah Mighty and Majestic says,"" 'Perform the prayer for My remembrance'(Koran 20:14),""a hadith related by Muslim
The evidence thereinis that despite sleep and forgetfulness being lawfulexcuses, the obligation to perform the prayer isnot eliminated by its time having passed, and theperson who has slept or forgotten is required tomake it up
So the prayer of someone who hasmissed it without excuse a fortiori remains stillobligatory for him to pray, and is a fortiori mandatoryto make up
The hadith moreover showsthat obligatory acts of worship, just as they mayinitially occur at their specific time, may also validlyoccur after this time
The delay being a sin isa separate issue: if one excusl)bly delays theprayer, there is no sin, while if one delays it withoutexcuse, the sin occurs--but the hadith showsthat a prayer's relationship to its specific time isnot an intrinsic relationship entailed by its verynature, such that an obligatory prayer cannot becalled an obligatory prayer unless it occurs withinits proper time
Rather, it may occur after its timeand still be termed an obligatory prayer.(2) The words of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace),""A debt to Allah has better right to be fulfilled,""a hadith related by Bukhari and Muslim
Thehadith's context is that of making up another person'shajj (dis: j1.9), and the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) likened the missed worshipto a debt, similar hadiths existing about fasting,proving that acts of worship, when missed,regardless of the reason, become a debt that mustbe repaid just as other debts are, and with evenbetter right
We say ""regardless of the reason""because the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) did not ask the questioner about the reasonfor its having been missed
And if this is establishedin relation to making up the worship ofanother, it holds with still better right for makingup one's own missed acts of worship.(3) It is rigorously authenticated that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) wasprevented from performing the midaftemoonprayer ('asr) until the sun had set because of fightingunbelievers at the Battle of the Confederates,when the prayer of peril (def: f16) had not yetbeen legislated, and he said,""May Allah fill their graves and houses withfire, as they have occupied us from performing themidmost prayer until the sun set,""a hadith related by Bukhari and Muslim
The evidencetherein is that missing the prayer wasexcused here, whether because of forgetfulness orabsentmindedness in view of the fighting, orbecause delaying the prayer was permissibleunder such circumstances before the prayer ofperil had been legislated-but in either case itshows that a prayer may be validly performedafter its time has finished.(4) The words of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace),""Someone fasting who unintentionally vomitsis not obliged to make up his fast, but whoevercauses himself to vomit must make it up,""the evidence therein being that it mentions twosituations in which the fast is broken, the firstbeing when it is excusably broken, namely, bysomeone overcome by vomiting, which does notlegally vitiate his fast and which he is therefore notobliged to make up; and the second being when itis inexcusably broken, where, by consensus of allscholars, the person has committed a sin by breakingit and the very words of the hadith oblige himto make it up
And this is the significant point, thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)declared it obligatory for whoever breaks the fastwithout excuse to make it up, which proves that anact of worship missed without excuse is obligatoryto make up afterwards, even if the person whodelays it past its time has committed a sin bydoing so.REPLIES TO THE OBJECfIONS OF IBN HAZM
CONCERNING THE VALIDITY OF MAKINGUP MISSED PRAYERSIbn Hazm and those who agree with himadduce the following evidence:(1) The word of Allah Most High,""Woe to those who pray, unmindful of theirprayers"" (Koran 107:4-5),and His word, Mighty and Majestic,""But a generation followed them who dissipatedthe prayer and pursued [their] lusts, andthey shall find Ghayy [n: a ""valley in hell"" (Tafsiral-jalalayn (y77), 402)]"" (Koran 19:59),the evidence therein being that if the person whointentionally missed the prayer could perform itafter its time, there would not be any woe to him,nor would he find Ghayy.(Reply:) Both these verses refer to those whodo not repent
There is no disagreement aboutthis, as is attested to by the rest of the secondverse,"" ..
save he who repents, believes, and doesgood"" (Koran 19:60),there being no disagreement about the validity ofthe meaning, though there is about the means ofrepentance
Does someone who has repentedmake the prayers up, or does he performsupererogatory prayers (dis: w18.9(8)) in theirstead?
The scholarly majority do not claim that he'who makes them up has properly performedthem.(2) The prayer has a set time, there being nodifference between someone who prays it beforeits time and someone who prays it after
Becauseboth have prayed it in other than its time, bothhave transgressed against Allah's limits, andAllah has said,""Whoever transgresses against Allah's limitshas wronged himself' (Koran 65:1).Otherwise
defining the time would be pointless.Scholars agree that the prayer of whoever praysbefore the prayer's time does not suffice, and sotoo must be the prayer of whoever prays after it.(Reply:) As for the prayer having a definitetime, the scholarly majority do not disagree aboutthis, and the suggestion that they do not distinguishbetween someone who prays during the timeand someone who prays after it is not true
It isregrettable to accuse them of this when it is baseless.(3) Making up missed prayers requires anevidential basis, and there is not any (since in IbnHazm's opinion, analogical reasoning (qiyas, def:022.1 (d(HI))) is not an acceptable form of legalevidence, which for him can only consist of theKoran, sunna, and scholarly consensus): if it wereobligatory, Allah Most High or His messenger(Allah bless him and give him peace) would haveexplained it.(Reply:) As for the statement that making upa missed prayer requires an evidential basis, andthere is not any; the evidence exists, and we havepresented it (dis: w18.8) and shall clarify itfurther.(4) It is invalid to make an analogy betweensomeone who intentionally tl1isses a prayer andsomeone who forgets it and the like, for intentionalityis the opposite of forgetfulness
Someonewho intentionally misses a prayer is disobedient,while someone who forgets is not.(Reply:) The validity of the analogy betweenthe person who intentionally misses it and the personwho unintentionally misses it has been previouslydiscussed in the evidence of the scholarlymajority (w18.8(4))
.(5) Narrations from the prophetic Companionsattest to the fact that delaying the prayer pastits time is unlawful
If making up a prayer couldsuffice in its stead, these would have no meaning.(Reply:) The unlawfulness of delaying theprayer past its time is agreed upon, and no onesays that it is permissible.(6) The prayer of peril (def: f16) is evidencethat it is not possible to delay a prayer past itstime, and so is the prayer ofthe sick person (f14).(Reply:) As for the prayers of peril and illness,the scholarly majority acknowledge themand do not permit delaying the prayer because ofperil or illness
The prayers of the imperilled orsick person, which do not require many of theintegrals and
conditions required by a normalprayer, attest to the position of the majority thatthe Sacred Law does not lift the obligation of theprayer from such people as it does from a womanin her menstrual period
Rather, because it isimpossible for the imperilled and sick person tocurrently perform the prayer while observing allits conditions and integrals, their only alternativeis to either make it up later or perform it whiledesregarding some of them, so the latter is permittedfor them in order to obviate an accumulationof unperformed prayers, and Allah knows best.And if the responsibility for performing theobligatory prayer is not lifted from the imperilledor sick person, how should it be lifted from theperson who intentionally misses it?(7) It is inadmissible to adduce the hadith ofthe delayed prayer at the Battle of the Confederates(dis: wI8.8(3)) because the discussion herecenters on the person who commits disobedienceby delaying it, while the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) was not disobedient therein,and whoever ascribes disobedience to the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) has committedunbelief (kufr).(Reply:) Adducing this hadith is not inadmissibleas he claims, but is like adducing the cases ofthe sleeper or forgetful person, in illustrating theconceivability of the existence of an obligationafter its original time has ended.(8) As for the obligatory character of repentanceand doing as many supererogatory acts ofworship as possible (n: in place ofthe missed one),the evidence is the word of Allah Most High,""But a generation followed them who dissipatedthe prayer and pursued [their] lusts, andthey shall find Ghayy, save he who repents,believes, and does gOOd, for those shall enterparadise""(Koran 19:59-60),and many similar ven;es in the Book of Allah MostHigh
Another proof is the words of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace):""The first of people's works that they shall becalled to account for on the Day of Judgement isthe prayer
Our Lord Holy and Exalted will say toHis angels, while knowing better than they, 'Lookat the prayer of My servant: did he perform it infull, or fall short of it?' If it is complete, it will beinscribed as complete, while if anything is missingfrom it, He will say, 'Look to see if My servant hasany supererogatory worship,' and if he has, Allahwill say, 'Complete My servant's obligatoryprayers for him from his supererogatory ones.'And he will be dealt with likewise in his otherworks.""(Reply:) Whoever reflects on the evidence ofboth sides will notice the following:(a) The difference of opinion is less at thepractical level than at the theoretical, for IbnHazm requires the person who intentionally missesthe prayer to perform as many supererogatoryprayers as the missed obligatory one and more, soas to be counted for his obligatory prayer on theDay of Judgement
We say ""and more"" becausehe states in al-Muhalla that ""there is a certainamount of good in the obligatory prayer and a certainamount in the supererogatory, so the cumulativeamount of good when many supererogatoryprayers are performed must equal some fractionor more of the amount in the obligatory prayer""(al-Muhalla (y58), 2.332), whereas the scholarlymajority require the person, for each missedobligatory prayer, to pray one like it, termed amakeup
So the difference of opinion goes back tothe intention and the name of such a prayer
Dowe call it supererogatory or a makeup, and doesthe person praying it intend an unconditionalsupererogatory prayer to take the place of themissed obligatory prayer, or intend the missedobligatory prayer?
The difference, as we said, ismainly theoretical.It is clear from the foregoing that Ibn Hazm isnot opening a way out of performing obligatoryprayers for those who miss them
Rather, he isseverer on them, requiring that they performmore supererogatory prayers than the obligatoryones they missed
To further clarify, we note thatIbn Hazro and the others who hold that it is invalidto make up missed prayers only say this to make itharder on the person who does not pray, becausethey feel that making up missed prayers has beenlegislated as a mercy to someone who has sleptthrough the prayer or forgotten it, or to otherswith lawful excuses
As for the person who sins bydeliberately not performing it, he does notdeserve this mercy, and they feel that his sin is tooenormous to be expiated by makiilg it up
This isa point that deserves attention, because it is theopposite of what most of those who advocate thisview understand.(b) It will be noticed from Ibn Hazm's evidencethat he thinks the scholarly majority considerthe makeup of the person who has sleptthrough the prayer and the makeup of the personwho has deliberately missed it to be equivalent inevery respect, and that they likewise consider themakeup of the person who has sinned by missingthe prayer to be equivalent to performing it in itspropertime
He says, ""From whence does he whopermits its intentional nonperformance until itstime is up derive this pennissibility, ordering theperson to pray it after its time, and informing himthat it fulfills his obligation-without Koran, asound or even weak hadith, a statement from aprophetic Companion, or analogy?"" (al-Muhalla(y58) , 2.330)
Glory be to Allah!
Whoever saidthat it is permissible to intentionally miss theprayer?
As we have previously mentioned, thescholarly majority hold that the person who intentionallymisses it should be killed (dis: HA)
Is heexecuted for doing something permissible?
MayAllah have mercy on Ibn Hazm, who was notaccurate in this, and to say otherwise would havebeen more proper for him.
Is the person who misses the prayer withoutexcuse like someone who has an excuse, inbeing able to validly perform the obligatoryprayer after its time in the name of an obligatoryprayer, even if all scholars agree he has committeda sin by thus delaying it?
This is the area of disagreement.The scholarly majority, adducing theforegoing evidence, hold that he may validly doso, while Ibn Hazm says this is invalid, because anunexcused person is not like an excused one.But Ibn Hazm agrees with the majority thatsomeone who intentionally vomits while fastingRamadan (dis: w18.8(4)) has committed a sini.e
is unexcused-and yet is obliged to make upthe fast
This fact establishes the rule for thescholarly majority, if not for Ibn Hazm, becausesuch an individual is an unexcused person who hasdeliberately vitiated his time-restricted act of worship,and the Lawgiver has made it obligatory forhim to make it up---so why should it not beobligatory for other unexcused persons to makeup similar acts of worship?
This demonstrates thatthe scholarly majority's opinion is correct
And ifIbn Hazm may be excused because he does notaccept analogical reasoning (qiyas), what excuseis there for those who employ analogical reasoningas evidence, and yet aecept his opinion?Nawawi says: ""There is consensus among allscholars who matter that whoever
deliberatelymisses the prayer is obliged to make it up
AbuMuhammad 'Ali Ibn Hazm contravened them inthis, saying that such a person can never make upthe prayer and that doing so can never be valid.What he has said, besides being a violation ofscholarly consensus (dis: b7.2), is untrue from thestandpoint of evidenee, and despite a prolongeddiscourse to prove his contention, what he mentionsis devoid of anything that bears it out"" (alMajmu'(y108), 3.71).(Qada' al-'ibadat wa al-niyaba fiha (y114),
198-211)
(n: The Egyptian mufti HasanaynMuhammad Makhluf was asked for a formal legalopinion (fatwa) concerning the ruling for fastingRamadan by Muslims living in northern Europe,where the period of fasting during the day mayreach 19 hours, 22 hours, or even more
What followshal> been translated from the answer hegave.)(Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf:) Fasting,as defined by Sacred Law, begins at the coming ofdawn and ends at sunset of each day, its time spanvarying with the different situations of variouscountries
No matter how long this period is, itsmere length is not considered a legitimate excusepermitting one not to fast
It is only permissiblenot to fast (N: a day or more of Ramadan, makingup the missed fast-day by fasting a day in its placelater in the year) if one believes it probable thatfasting the whole day will lead to illness or exhaustionthat will harm one (dis: c7.2) (N: for example,such that one cannot continue working), whetherthis belief is because of:(1) a symptom that appears;(2) having previously tried to fast this long(N: until unable to do so because of weakness, dizziness,etc., and then having eaten);(3) or being informed by a competent physician.The ruling in such a case is like that of someonewho is ill and fears destruction
an increase inhis ailment, or a delay in his recovery were he tofast
This is the general basis of the dispensationnot to fast and of leniency for those responsible forthe obligations of Sacred Law
Everyone whoknows himself and is aware of the reality of hiscase will know whether it is lawful or unlawful forhim not to fast
When one's fasting the long periodwill lead to illness, debility, or exhaustion.whether these are certainly established or whetherconsidered likely because of one of the abovementionedmeans of knowledge, it is permissiblefor one to take the dispensation not to fast; andwhen fasting will not lead to this, it is unlawful forone not to fast
People differ in this respect, andfor the condition of each there is a particular ruling(Fatawa shar'iyya wa buhuth Islamiyya (y79),
1.271-73).PRAYING(A: If one's location does not have one or more of the prayer times (n:such as true dawn (def: f2.1(4(n:)), sunrise, etc., due to the extreme northerlylatitude), then one should pray at the same time as the closest city that has the truetimes (n: though for each degree of longitude that this closest city lies to the eastof one's location, the prayer time of the city will arrive earlier than at one's ownposition by four minutes, and one may wish to compensate for this error factor bythe appropriate calculations, i.e
not praying simultaneously with that city'stimes, but rather after its time by four minutes for each degree of longitude it liesto the east, or before its time by four minutes for each degree of longitude it liesto the west
In any case, as pointed out at f2.12, if onc's prayer times for a numberof days are later found to have been mistaken, one only needs to make up oneday's prayers
As for learning the time of the closest city having the true times, thebest means as of this writing is the pocket-size computer designed by a Syrianengineer and marketed under the name of ""Prayer Minder,"" that is based on preciseastronomical data, programmed for fifty years, and when given various cities'geographical coordinates supplied in the accompanying booklet, provides theprayer times of most major cities in the world).)(N: For both the dawn prayer (subh) and the dawn that marks the beginningof fast-days of Ramadan, if there is sunset and sunrise at one's location but nottrue dawn because of the persistence of twilight all night, one copies the nearestcity that has the true times in terms of the amount of time by which dawn in thatcity precedes sunrise there
Thus if dawn in this nearest city precedes sunrise by90 minutes, one's own ""dawn"" occurs 90 minutes before the sunrise in one's owncity
And similarly for the amount of time by which nightfall ('isha) follows thesunset prayer (maghrib).)
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) The wirds (n: a particularamount of daily dhikr or Koran recital)Sufis customarily recite after prayers, according totheir degree of spiritual advancement, have anauthentic legal basis in the hadith related byBayhaqi that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,""To invoke Allah Most High (dhikr) withpeople after the dawn prayer until sunrise is morebeloved to me than this world and all it contains,and to invoke Allah Most High with people afterthe midafternoon prayer until
sunset is morebeloved to me than this world and all it contains.""Be cause the Sufis' practice of joining to recitewirds and dhikr after the dawn prayer and at othertimes has a rigorously authenticated (sahib) basisin the sunna, namely the above-mentionedhadith, there can be no objection to their doing so(al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48), 76).
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:) Ahmad, Bukhari,Muslim, and Nasa'i relate that the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""May Allah curse the Jews and Christians;they have taken the tombs of their prophets asplaces of worship,""and Ahmad, Bukhari, Muslim, and Nasa'i alsorelate the hadith,""They are the ones who, when a righteousman among them died, would build a place ofworshipupon his grave and paint those icons in it.They will be the wickedest of creation in Allah'ssight on the Day of Judgement.""The reason for considering it an enormity totake a grave as a place of worship is obvious, forthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)cursed those who did this with the graves of theirprophets, and considered those who did it with thegraves of the righteous to be ""the wickedest of creationin Allah's sight on the Day of Judgement.""Taking a grave as a place of worship means topray on the grave or towards it
The prohibition,moreover, applies exclusively to the grave ofsomeone venerated, whether a prophet or friendof Allah (waH, def: w33), as is shown by thehadith's wording ""when there was a righteousman among them""; for which reason our colleaguessay that it is unlawful to perform theprayer towards the graves of the prophets orfriends of Allah ""for the blessing of it"" (tabarruk,dis: w31) or out of reverence for it, that is, undertwo conditions:(a) that the grave is of someone who is honoredand venerated;(b) and that the prayer is performed towardsor on the grave with the intention of gaining theblessing of it, or out of reverence for it.That such an action is an enormity is clear from theabove hadiths (A: though if either condition islacking, performing the prayer near a grave isunobjectionable) (al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf al-kaba'ir(y49), 1.148-49).*
('Ala' ai-Din 'Abidin:) Our prophetMuhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace),who was truthful in all that he did and said,has informed us of matters that are mandatorypersonallyobligatory for each of us-to believe,accept, and not doubt or be sarcastic about theslightest bit of
Among the things of which heinformed us is that Allah Most High has createdangels (def: u3.3) that are pure spirits, neithermasculine n0r feminine, and created
jinn, fierybeings that can assume various forms
The goodjinn are Muslims and believers, and will be with usin paradise, where we will see them but they willnot see us--the opposite of this world-while theimmoral and wicked of them are called devils,being of the offspring of Satan, who used to be inparadise, but disobeyed the command of his Lord,and is now""of those reprieved till the day of a known time""(Koran 15:37-38).(al-Hadiyya al-'Ala'iyya (y4), 460-63)
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEENJINN AND ANGELS(Muhammad Sa'id Burhani:) The differencebetween jinn and angels is that angels arecreated of light, while jinn are created of fire.Angels (upon whom be peace) do not reproduce.while jinn do
Angels do not commit disobedience,while jinn include both the obedient and thedisobedient, both believer and unbeliever, therebellious of them being called devils
Jinn assumevarious forms, both noble and base, such as that ofa snake and the like, while the angels (upon whombe peace) only assume noble forms, like that of ahuman being
Angels live in the heavens andearth, while jinn live only on earth
Angels are notcalled to account on the Day of Judgement, butrather enter paradise, and whoever disparagesone of them has committed unbelief
Angels likecircles of religious learning and dhikr, and supplicateAllah to bless our Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) and us, and they ask forgivenessfor those on earth
They rejoice at whoevervisits the ill or seeks religious knowledge, out ofpleasure with what he is doing (ibid
, 463).*
(A:) The nakedness (""awra) of a woman that she is forbidden to reveal differsin the Shafi'i school according to different circumstances
In the privacy of thehome, her nakedness is that which is between the navel and knees
In the prayer(n: or hajj, as at j3.24) it means everything besides the face and hands
And whenoutside the home on the street, it refers to the entire body (N: or for Hanafis, allbut the face and hands (dis: m2.8), just as in prayer).*
(N:) All four schools of jurisprudence agree that it is obligatory for atraveller in a vehicle to stand and to face the direction of prayer (qibla) (n: andperform the prayer's other physical integrals) when performing a prescribedprayer.' If it is impossible to stand or to face the direction of prayer (A: or accordingto Hanafis, if it poses a hardship (dis: below)), and one cannot stop and prayon the ground, then one prays as best one can ill the vehicle
According to Hanafisand Malikis, such a prayer does not have to be made up when one is again able toperform it properly
though for Shafi'is, one must make it up.
(A:) In the Hanafi school
if one is travelling in a bus or the like where facingthe direction of prayer (qibla) poses a hardship (n: and one does not expect thevehicle to stop before the time for prayer has finished (dis: below, end)), one mayvalidly perform the obligatory prayer in one's seat facing the direction of travel.Tahtawi writes:"" ..
The words of ai-Durar allude to whatwe have mentioned, where the author says,' ..
because such a person is able to face the directionof prayer (qibla) without hardship .
.' theimplication being that when it is not possible toface the direction of prayer, or when there ishardship in doing so, one is not obliged to face thedirection of prayer; and the implications of legaltexts are evidence, as will not be lost on anyone.As for the words of Majma' al-riwayat that 'if oneis unable to [A: face the direction of prayer], onerefrains from praying,' they are interpretable asreferring to when one expects the excuse [A: fornot facing it} to pass before the prayer's time isover"" (Hashiya 'ala Maraqi al-falah sharh Nur alidah(y127), 269).(n: The Hanafi school does not permit joining two prayers in the time of oneof them because of travelling (def: f15.9), so one may not do so when taking theabove-mentioned dispensation (dis: c6.4, last par.).)*
INTENTION OF PRAYER (from f8.3)
('Abdal-Wahhab Sha'rani:) I have heardSheikh ai-Islam Futuhi al-Hanbali (Allah havemetcy on him) say: ""Those with neurotic misgivingsburden themselves with the 'words of theintention' they have made up and busy themselvesin uttering, while none of this is authenticated asbeing from the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace), who only used to intend with hisheart, as did his Companions
Neither he nor theCompanions were ever heard to say other than'Allahu akbar.' Were it conceivable that AllahMost High might require a rational person to pray'without an intention,' it would be like a commandthat could not be carried out
Consider the personwho goes to the washroom to perform ablution.Ask him where he is going and he will say, 'To performablution.' And ask him when he goes to themosque, 'Where to?' and he will say, 'To pray.'How can a sane man with such a purpose in viewdoubt that he is intending ablution or prayer?
It'sa kind of madness"" (Lata 'if al-minan wa al-akhlaq(yI22),2.66-67).
(Ghazali:) Prayer is composed of invocation(dhikr), Koran recital, bowing, prostration,standing, and sitting
Without a doubt, the pointof reciting the Koran and dhikr is to glorify andpraise, to humbly entreat and supplicate, whilethe one being addressed is Allah Mighty andMajestic
He whose heart is veiled by inattentionis veiled from Allah, not apprehending or contemplatingHim, but oblivious of whom he isspeaking to, merely moving his tongue out ofhabit
How far this is from what is meant byprayer, which has been established to polish theheart, renew one's remembrance of Allah Mightyand Majestic, and to deepen the ties of faith inHim
As for bowing and prostrating, the point ofthem is eertainly veneration, for if not, nothingremains but movements of the spine and head.Hasan al-Basri said, ""Every prayer performedwithout presence of heart is closer todeserving punishment,"" while it is related fromMu'adh ibn Jabal that ""whoever knows who is onhis right or left intentionally while at prayer has noprayer."" And the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,""Truly, a servant performs the prayer withouta sixth of it being recorded for him or a tenth,but only as much as he eomprehends.""Had these words come from anyone else,they would have been adopted as ""a school ofthought."" How then can we not go by them?
'Abdal-Wahid ibn Zayd said, ""Scholars concur thatnone of a servant's prayer counts for him exceptwhat he comprehends,"" a position he consideredestablished by scholarly consensus (ijma').Innumerable statements of similar purport havereached us from godfearing scholars and thoseknowledgeable in the way of the hereafter
Butwhile the truth lies in returning to the evidence ofprimary texts and hadiths, and the evidence iscompelling that presenee of mind is a condition forprayer, the context in which formal legal opinioncan define outward moral responsibility is limitedby the extent of people's shortcomings, and it isnot possible to require them to have full presenceof mind throughout the prayer, which hardly anyonecan do except for very few (Ihya' 'ulum ai-din(y39),1.143-44).*
(Jaial ai-Din Suyuti:) Having long heardquestions concerning the rosary (subha) as towhether thefe is a basis for it in the sunna, I havecompiled in this section the hadiths and accountsof early Muslims that relate to it.Ibn 'Arnr said, ""I saw the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) count the times hesaid 'Subhan Allah' on his hand.""Safiyya said, ""The Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) entered the room where I satwith four thousand date stones in front of me andhe asked, 'What is this, 0 daughter of Huyay?' Isaid, '1 am saying ""SubhanAllah"" with them.' Hereplied, 'I've said ""Subhan Allah"" more timesthan this since you've begun,' and I said, 'Showme how, 0 Messenger of Allah.' He said, 'Say,""Subhan Allah the number of everything He hascreated."" , ""
As One scholar has said, ""Counting thetimes one says 'Subhan Allah' on one's fingers issuperior to doing so on a rosary because of thehadith of Ibn 'Amr, though it has been said that ifthe person saying it is safe from mistakes in counting,his fingers are better, while if not, then sayingit on a rosary is more suitable
Some of the mostrenowned Muslims have used rosaries, those fromwhom the religion is taken and who are reliedupon, such as Abu Hurayra (Allah be well pleasedwith him), who had a string with two thousandknots in it, and did not use to go to sleep beforesaying 'Subhan Allah' with it twelve thousandtimes.""'Umar al-Maliki said, ""I saw my teacherHasan al-Basri with a rosary in his hand and said,'Teacher, with your great eminence and the excellenceof your worship, do you still use a rosary?'and he replied, 'Something we have used at thebeginning we are not wont to leave at the end
Ilove to remember Allah with my heart, my hand,and my tongue.' "" And how should it be otherwise,when the rosary reminds one of Allah MostHigh, and a person seldom sees one save that heremembers Allah, this being among the greatestof its benefits (al-Hawi Ii al-fatawi (y130) , 2.2-5).*
FRIDAY PRAYER (from f10.2)
(Hasan Saqqaf:) As for the sunna rak'asprayed before the Friday prayer, there are hadithsabout them, such as the following:(1) ""The Messenger of Allah (Allah blesshim and give him peace) used to pray four rak 'asbefore the Friday prayer and four after it.""The hadith master (hafiz, def: w48.2(end)) WaliaI-Din aI-'Iraqi states that its channel of transmissionis good, the hadith containing an explicitreference to the sunna rak'as before the Fridayprayer.(2) Ibn Majah relates, with a rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih) channel of transmission,that Abu Hurayra (Allah be well pleased withhim) said, ""Sulayk Ghatafani arrived while theMessenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace) was giving the Friday prayer sermon(khutba), and the Messenger of Allah said to him.'Did you pray before you came?' and he said no,to which the Prophet replied, 'Then pray tworak'as, keeping them brief.' ""The words of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) ""before you came"" furnishexplicit proof of the sunna rak'as before the Fridayprayer, for the rak'as of greeting the mosque(def: f10
10) are not performed before onearrives
Apparently Sulayk lived near themosque, so the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) thought that he had prayed beforecoming, and when he informed him that he.had, not, he ordered him to pray them.(3) Nafi' relates that ""Ibn 'Umar used topray at length before the Friday prayer, performingtwo rak'as in his home, saying that the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace) used to do this,""a hadith related by Abu Dawud, and by Ibn Hibbanin his Sahih.It is thus very plain and clear that the sunnarak'as before the Friday prayer are rigorouslyauthenticated as being the practice of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace), his Companions,and the early Muslims, and have beenaccepted as such by Islamic scholars.
THE SECOND CALL (ADHAN)TO FRIDAY PRAYERThe sunnas before the Friday prayer,meaning the two or four rak'as before it, are a confirmedsunna (def: c4.1)
The Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) used to pray fourrak'as in his house, which adjoined the mosque,_ after the beginning of the noon prayer's time,Then he would enter the mosque and ascend thepulpit (minbar), whereupon the muezzin wouldgive the call to prayer (adhan) and the Prophetwould rise for the sermon
The call to prayer thustook place after the prayer's time had begun andafter praying four rak'as
People only used
toknow when the prayer's time had initially comethrough their own intuition, and it was thus thatthe matter remained during the caliphates of ourJiegelord Abu Bakr and our liegelord 'Umar(Allah be well pleased with them)
Then ourliegelord 'Uthman (Allah be well pleased withhim) established the sunna of a second call toprayer, this second one being the first in order ofoccurrence; which is to say, the second call toprayer that was established ;is a sunna by ourliegelord 'Uthman is the one that is before the caBto prayer that occurs after the imam ascends thepulpit
So he made this second call to prayer-which is the first of the two to occur-a means ofannouncing to people that the prayer's time hadcome; namely, the noon prayer's time, when thesun has just passed its highest point in the sky forthat day
As for the first call to prayer that existedin the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), it remained in its place, whichwas after the imam had ascended the pulpit, itbeing the second in order of occurrence but thefirst to be legally established.Our liegelord 'Uthman's doing this was agood act that was confirmed by the consensus(ijma') of the prophetic Companions, not a singleone of whom criticized him for it or opposed it;nor did any of those who came after them.Moreover, it is established that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) said,""Hold fast to my sunna and the sunna of theRightly Guided Caliphs; clamp your [very] teethupon it,""a rigoTously authenticated (sahih) hadith relatedby Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, ImamAhmad, and Hakim
If someone objects that'Uthman innovated this call to prayer, controvertingthe sunna that existed in the time of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace), theanswer is that such a person is in the wrong andmistaken for a number of reasons, among them:(1) that he is accusing our liegelord 'Uthmanof violating the sunna and inaugurating a reprehensibleinnovation (bid'a), an accusation sucha person has no right to make (dis: w56.1);(2) that he is charging the prophetic Companionswho confirmed the correctness of ourliege10rd 'Uthman's act with confirming him upona falsehood (bati!), disregarding the Companions'consensus
Islamic scholars and specialists in fundamentalsof Sacred Law state that the opinionand position of a Companion, when it becomeswidely acted upon and no one is known to objectto it, is considered to have become a scholarly consensus(ijma', def: b7) and is thus a decisive proof,Imam Nawawi being among those who explicitlyrecord this, in his commentary on Sahih Muslim((y93), 1.31);(3) and that the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) gave us an order, saying,""Hold fast to my sunna and the sunna of theRightly Guided Caliphs ..
""so that our liege lord 'Uthman's act is a sunna thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)clearly enjoins us to adhere to in this straightforwardhadith.It is thus plain that whoever seeks to eliminateor annul the second eall to Friday prayer isstriving to effect a blameworthy innovation and isin reality contravening the sunna, for he has abandonedthe injunction that the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) commanded us to obey(""al-Adilla al-jaliyya li sunna al-jumu'a al-qabliyya""(y120), 2-4).
(from f10.15)*(n:) This section has been translated to clarify some possible misunderstandingsofthe concept ofinnovation (bid'a) in Islam, in light ofthe prophetic badith,"" ..
Beware of matters newly begun, forevery matter newly begun is innovation
everyinnovation is misguidance, and every misguidanceis in hell.""The discussion centers on three points:(1) Scholars say that the above hadith does not refer to all new things withoutrestriction, but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law attests to the validityof
The use of the word every in the hadith does not indicate an absolutegeneralization, for there are many examples of similar generalizations in theKoran and sunna that are not applicable without restriction, but rather are qualifiedby restrictions found in other primary textual evidence.(2) 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 conflictwith established principles of Sacred Law, and to reject things that were otherwise.(3) New matters in Islam may not be rejected merely because they did notexist in the first century
but must be evaluated and judged according to the com-prehensive methodology of Sacred Law, by virtue of which it is and remains thefinal and universal moral code for all peoples until the end of time.
(,Abdullah Mahfuz Ba'alawi:) There aremany generalities in the Koran and sunna, all ofthem admitting of some qualification, such as theword of Allah Most High,(1) "" ..
And that a man can have nothing,except what he strives for"" (Koran 53:39),despite there being an overwhelming amount ofevidence that a Muslim benefits from the spiritualworks of others (dis: w35.2), from his fellow Muslims,the prayers of angels for him, the funeralprayer over him, charity given by others in hisname, and the supplications of believers for him;(2)
""Verily you and what you worship apartfrom Allah are the fuel of hell"" (Koran 21:98),""what you worship"" being a general expression,while there is no doubt that Jesus, his mother, andthe angels were all worshipped apart from Allah,but are not what is meant by the verse;(3) ""But when they forgot what they hadbeen reminded of, We opened unto them thedoors of everything"" (Koran 6:44),though the doors of mercy were not opened untothem;(4) and the hadith related by Muslim that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""No one who prays before sunrise and beforesunset will enter hell,""which is a generalized expression that definitelydoes not mean what its outward generalityimplies, for someone who prays the dawn andmidafternoon prayers and qeglects all otherprayers and obligatory works is certainly notmeant
It is rather a generalization whoseintended referent is particular, or a generalizationthat is qualified by other texts, for when there arefully authenticated hadiths, it is obligatory toreach an accord between them, because they arein reality as a single hadith, the statements thatappear without further qualification being qualifiedby those that furnish the qualification, thatthe combined implications of all of them may beutilized.
INNOVATION (BID'A) IN THE LIGHTOF THE SUNNA OF THE PROPHETCONCERNING NEW MATTERSSunna and innovation (bid'a) are twoopposed terms in the language of the Lawgiver(Allah bless him and give him peace), such thatneither can bc defined without reference to theother, meaning that they are opposites, and""things are made clear by their opposites."" Manywriters have sought to define innovation (bid'a)without defining the sunna, while it is primary,and have thus fallen into inextricable difficultiesand conflicts with the primary textual evidencethat contradicts their definition of innovation.whereas if they had first defined the sunna, theywould have produced a criterion free of shortcomings.Sunna, in both the language of the Arabs andthe Sacred Law, means way, as is illustrated by thewords of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace),""He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam[dis: p58.1(2)] ..
And he who introduces a badsunna in Islam ..
,""sunna meaning way or custom
The way of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) ingiving guidance, accepting, and rejecting: this isthe sunna
For ""good sunna"" and ""bad sunna""mean a good way or bad way, and cannot possiblymean anything else
Thus, the meaning of sunna isnot what most students, let alone ordinary people,understand; namely, that it is the prophetic hadith(n: as when sunna is contrasted with Kitab, i.e.Koran, in distinguishing textual sources), or theopposite of the obligatory (n: as when sunna, i.e.recommended, is contrasted with obligatory inlegal contexts)
since the former is a technicalusage coined by hadith scholars, while the latter isa technical usage coined by legal scholars and'specialists in fundamentals of jurisprudence
Bothofthese are usages oflater origin that are not whatis meant by sunna here
Rather, the sunna of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) ishis way of acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting,and the way of his Rightly Guided Caliphswho followed his way of acting, ordering, accepting,and rejecting
So practices that are newlybegun must bc examined in light of the sunna ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)and his way and path in acceptance or rejection.Now, there are great number ofhadiths, mostof them in the rigorously authenticated (sahih)collections, showing that many of the propheticCompanions initiated new acts, forms of invocation(dhikr), supplications (du'a'), and so on, thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)had never previously done or ordered to be done.Rather, the Companions did them because oftheir inference and conviction that such acts wereof the good that Islam and the Prophet of Islamcame with and in general terms urged the like ofbe done, in accordance with the word of AllahMost High,""And do the good, that haply you may succeed""(Koran 22:77),and the hadith of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace),""He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islamearns the reward of it and of all who pcrform itafter him without diminishing their own rewardsin the slightest.""Though the original context of the hadith was givingcharity, the interpretive principle establishedby the scholarly consensus (def: b7) ofspecialistsin fundamentals of Sacred Law is that the point ofprimary texts lies in the generality of their lexicalsignificance, not the specificity of their historicalcontext, without this implying that just anyonemay make provisions in the Sacred Law, for Islamis defined by principles and criteria, such thatwhatever one initiates as a sunna must be subjectto its rules, strictures, and primary textual evi·dence.From this investigative point of departure,one may observe that many of the prophetic Companionsperformed various acts through their ownpersonal reasoning (ijtihad), and that the sunnaand way of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) was both to accept those that were actsof worship and good deeds conformable with whatthe Sacred Law had established and not in conflictwith it; and to reject those which were otherwise.This was his sunna and way, upon which his caJiphalsuccessors and Companions proceeded, andfrom which Islamic scholars (Allah be wellpleased with them) have established the rule thatany new matter must be judged according to theprinciples and primary texts of Sacred Law: whateveris attested to by the law as being good isacknowledged as good, and whatever is attestedto by the law as being a contravention and bad isrejected as a blameworthy innovation (bid'a).They sometimes term the former a good innovation(bid'a hasana) in view of it lexically beingtermed an innovation, but legally speaking it is notreally an innovation but rather an inferable sunnaas long as the primary texts of the Sacred Lawattest to its being acceptable.We now turn to the primary textual evidencepreviously alluded to concerning the acts of theCompanions and how the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) responded to them:(1) Bukhari and Muslim relate from AbuHurayra (Allah be well pleased with him) that atthe dawn prayer the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said to Bilal, ""Bilal, tell me whichof your acts in Islam you are most hopeful about,for I have heard the footfall of your sandals inparadise,"" and he replied, ""Lhave done nothing Iam more hopeful about than the fact that I do notperform ablution at any time of the night or daywithout praying with that ablution whatever hasbeen destined for me to pray.""Ibn Hajar
Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari that ""thehadith shows it is permissible to use personalreasoning (ijtihad) in choosing times for acts ofworship, for Bital reached the conclusions hementioned by his own inference, and the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmedhim therein."" Similar to this is the hadith inBukhari about Khubayb (A: who asked to praytwo rak'as before being executed by idolators inMecca), who was the first to establish the sunna oftwo rak'as for those who are steadfast in""going totheir death
These hadiths are explicit evidencethat Bilal and Khubayb used their own personalreasoning (ijtihad) in hoosing the times of acts ofworship, without any previous command or precedentfrom the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) other than the general demand to performthe prayer.(2) Bukhari and Muslim relate that Rifa'aibn Rafi' said, ""When we were praying behind theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) andhe raised his head from bowing and said, 'Allahhears whoever praises Him,' a man behind himsaid, 'Our Lord, Yours is the praise, abundantly,wholesomely, and blessedly therein.' When herose to leave, the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) asked who said it, and when theman replied that it was he, the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said, 'I saw thirtyoddangels each striving to be the one to write it.' ""Ibn Hajar says in Fath al-Bari that the hadith ""indicatesthe permissibility of initiating new expressionsof dhikr in the prayer other than the onesrelated through hadith texts, as long as they do notcontradict those conveyed by the hadith [n: sincethe above words were a mere enhancement andaddendum to the known, sunna dhikr].""(3) Bukhari relates from 'A'isha (Allah bewell pleased with her) that ""the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) dispatched a man atthe head of a military expedition who recited theKoran for his companions at prayer, finishingeach recital with al-Ikhlas (Koran 112)
Whenthey returned, they mentioned this to the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace), who toldthem, 'Ask him why he does this,' and when theyasked him, the man replied, 'Because it describesthe All-merciful, and I love to recite it.' TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) saidto them, 'Tell him Allah loves him.' ""In spite of this, we do not know of any scholar whoholds that doing the above is recommended, forthe acts the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) used to do regularly are superior, thoughhis confirming the like of this illustrates his Sunnaregarding his acceptance of various forms ofobedience and acts of worship, and shows he didnot consider the like of this to be a reprehensibleinnovation (bid'a), as do the bigots who vie witheach other to be the first to brand acts as innovationand misguidance
Further, it will be noticedthat 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 himand give him peace) said ,""Pray as you have seen me pray,""despite which he accepted the above examples ofpersonal reasoning because they did not departfrom the form defined by the Lawgiver, for everylimit must be observed, while there is latitude ineverything besides, as long as it is within the generalcategory of being called for by Sacred Law.This is the sunna ofthe Prophet and his way (Allahbless him and give him peace) and is as clear as canbe
Islamic scholars infer from it that every act forwhich there is evidence in Sacred Law that it iscalled for and which does not oppose anunequivocal primary text or entail harmful consequencesis not included in the category of reprehensibleinnovation (bid'a), but rather is of thesunna, even if there should exist something whoseperformance is superior to it.(4) Bukhari relates from Abu Sa'id al-Khudrithat a band of the Companions of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)departed on one of their journeys, alighting at theencampment of some desert Arabs whom theyasked to be their hosts, but who refused to havethem as guests
The leader of the encampmentwas stung by a scorpian, and his followers triedeverything to cure him, and when all had failed,one said, ""If you'd approach the group campednear you, one of them might have something
"" Sothey came to them and said, ""0 band of men, ourleader has been stung and we've tried everything.Do any of you have something for it?"" and one ofthem replied, ""Yes, by Allah, I recite healingwords [ruqya, def: wI7] over people, but byAllah, we asked you to be our hosts and yourefused, so I will not recite anything unless yougive us a fee."" They then agreed upon a herd ofsheep, so the man went and began spitting andreciting the Fatiha over the victim until he gQt upand walked as if he were a camel released from itshobble, nothing the matter with him
They paidthe agreed upon fee, which some of the Companionswanted to divide up, but the man who haddone the reciting told them, ""Do not do so untilwe reach the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) and tell him what has happened, to seewhat he may order us to do."" They came to theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) andtold him what had occurred, and he said, ""Howdid you know it was of the words which heal\ Youwere right
Divide up the herd and give me ashare
""The hadith is explicit that the Companion had noprevious knowledge that reciting the Fatiha toheal (ruqya) was countenanced by Sacred Law,but rather did so because of his own personalreasoning (ijtihad), and since it did not contraveneanything that had been legislated, the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmedhim therein because it was of his sunna and way toaccept and confirm what contained good and didnot entail harm, even if it did not proceed from theacts of the Prophet himself (Allah bless him andgive him peace) as a definitive precedent.(5) Bukhari relates from Abu Sa'id alKhudrithat one man heard another reciting alIkhlas(Koran 112) over and over again, so whenmorning'came he went to the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) and sarcastically mentionedit to him
The Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said, ""By Him in whose hand ismy soul, it equals one-third of the Koran.""Daraqutni recorded another version of this hadithin which the man said, ""J have a neighbor whoprays at night and does not recite anything but alIkhlas.""The hadith shows that the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) confirmed the person'srestricting himself to this sura while praying atnight, despite its not being what the Prophet himselfdid (Allah bless him and give him peace), forthough the Prophet's practice of reciting from thewhole Koran was superior, the man's act waswithin the general parameters of the sunna andthere was nothing blamewort!1y about it in anycase.(6) Ahmad and Ibn Hibban relate from 'Abdullahibn Burayda that his father said, ""I enteredthe mosque with the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), where a man was at prayer,supplicating: '0 Allah, I ask You by the fact thatI testify You are Allah, there is no god but You,the One, the Ultimate, who did not beget and wasnot begotten, and to whom none is equal; and theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said, 'By Him in whose hand is my soul, he hasasked Allah by His greatest name, which if He isasked by it He gives, and if supplicated Heanswers
' ""It is plain that this supplication came spontaneouslyfrom the Companion, and since it conformedto what the Sacred Law calls for, theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) confirmedit with the highest degree of approbationand acceptance, while it is not known that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) hadever taught it to him (Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa-alJama'a(y119), 119-33).
COMMENTARY ON THE HADITH""'EVERY INNOVATION IS MISGUIDANCE""'The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,"" ..
Beware of matters newly begun, forevery innovation is misguidance.""Beware of matters newly begun(Muhammad lurdani:) meaning, ""Distanceyourselves and be wary of matters newly innovatedthat did not previously exist,"" i.e
thingsinvented in Islam that contravene the Sacred Law,for every innovation is misguidancemeaning that every innovation is the oppositeof the truth, i.e
falsehood, a hadith that has beenrelated elsewhere as:for every newly begun matter is innovation,every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidanceis in hellmeaning that everyone who is misguided,whether through himself or by following another,is in hell, the hadith referring to matters that arenot good innovations with a basis in Sacred Law.It has been stated (A: by 'Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salam)that innovations (bid'a) fall under the five headingsof the Sacred Law (n: i.e
the obligatory,unlawful, recommended, offensive, and permissible):(1) The first category comprises innovationsthat are obligatory, such as recording the Koranand laws of Islam in writing when it was fearedthat something might be lost from them; the studyof the disciplines of Arabic that are necessary tounderstand the Koran and sunna such as grammar,word declension, and lexicography; hadithclassification to distingUish between genuine andspurious prophetic traditions; and thephilosophicalrefutations of arguments advanced by theMu'tazilites (def: w6.4) and the like.(2) The second category is that of unlawfulinnovations such as non-Islamic taxes and levies(dis: p32), giving positions of authority in SacredLaw to those unfit for them, and devoting one'stime to learning the beliefs of heretical sects thatcontravene the tenets of faith (def: vl-2) of Ahlal-Sunna.(3) The third category consists of recommendedinnovations such as building hostels andschools of Sacred Law, recording the research ofIslamic schools of legal thought, writing books onbeneficial subjects
extensive research into fundamentalsand particular applications of SacredLaw, in-depth studies of Arabic linguistics, thereciting of wirds (def: w20) by those with a Sufipath (A: or circles of dhikrin which the movementof the participants increases their remembrance ofAllah), and commemorating the birth (mawlid,dis: w58) of the prophet Muhammad (Allah blesshim and give him peace) and wearing one's bestand rejoicing at it,(4) The fourth category includes innovationsthat are offensive, such as embellishingmosques, decorating the Koran, and having abackup man (muballigh) loudly repeat the spokenAllahu Akbar ofthe imam when the latter's voiceis already clearly audible to those praying behindhim.(5) The fifth category is that of innovationsthat are permissible, such as sifting flour, usingspoons, and having more enjoyable food, drink,and housing.(al-Jawahir al-lu'lu'iyya fi sharh al-Arba'in alNawawiyya(y68), 220-21)
(' Ahdullah Muhammad Ohimari:) In hisal-Qawa'id al-kubra, 'Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salam classifiesinnovations (bid'a), according to theirbenefit, harm, or indifference, into the fivecategories of rulings: the obligatory, recommended,unlawful, offensive, and permissible;giving examples of each and mentioning the principlesof Sacred Law that verify his classification.His words on the subject display his keen insightand comprehensive knowledge of both the principlesof jurisprudence and the human advantagesand disadvantages in view of which the Lawgiverhas established the rulings of Sacred Law.Because his classification of innovation(bid'a) was established on a firm basis in Islamicjurisprudence and legal principles, it was confirmedby Imam Nawawi, Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani,and the vast majority of Islamic scholars, whoreceived his words with acceptance and viewed it, obligatory to apply them to the new events andcontingencies that occur with the changing timesand the peoples who live in them
One may notsupport the denial of his classification by clingingto the hadith ""Every innovation is misguidance,""because the only form of innovation that is withoutexception misguidance is that concerningtenets offaith, like the innovations ofthe Mu'tazilites,Qadarites, Murji'ites, and so on, that contradictedthe beliefs of the early Muslims
This isthe innovation of misguidance because it is harmfuland devoid of benefit
As for innovation inworks, meaning the occurrence of an act connectedwith worship or something else that did notexist in the first century of Islam, it must necessarilybe judged according to the five categories mentionedby 'Izz ibn 'Abd ai-Salam
To claim thatsuch innovation is misguidance without furtherqualification is simply not applicable to it, for newtpings are among the exigencies brought intobeing by the passage of time and generations, andnothing that is new lacks a ruling of Allah MostHigh that is applicable to it, whether explicitlymentioned in primary texts, or inferable fromthem in some way
The only reason that Islamiclaw can be valid for every time and place and bethe consummate and most perfect of all divinelaws is because it comprises general methodologicalprinciples and universal criteria, together withthe ability its scholars have been endowed with tounderstand its primary texts, the knowledge oftypes of analogy and parallelism, and the otherexcellences that characterize it
Were we to rulethat every new act that has come into being afterthe firs.t century of Islam is an innovation of misguidancewithout considering whether it entailsbenefit or harm, it would invalidate a large shareof the fundamental bases of Sacred Law as well asthose rulings established by analogical reasoning,and would narrow and limit the Sacred Law's vastand comprehensive scope (Adilla Ahl a[-Sunna waal-Jama'a (y1l9), 145-47).
(Nawawi:) Muslim orthodoxy affirms theexistence of miracles vouchsafed to the friends ofAllah (awliya', def: w33) , and that they occur andexist throughout aU eras of history ,as is attested to'by both rational evidence and the explicit texts ofverses of the Holy Koran and numerous prophetichadiths
As for the Koranic verses, they include:(1) the word of Allah Most High in the storyof Maryam,"" 'Shake the trunk of the palm tree towardsyou, and it will let fall fresh ripe dates upon you' ""(Koran 19:25),while Maryam, by scholarly consensus, was not aprophet (n: Qurtubi says, ""By the word 'shake,'Allah ordered her to jar the withered palm trunk,that she might behold another of His miracles inreviving the lifeless tree"" (al-Jami' Ji ahkam alQur'an(y117), 11.94));(2) ""Every time Zakariyya entered theSanctuary, he found provision with her
He said,'0 Maryam, from whence has this come to you?'And she said, 'It is from AUah' "" (Koran 3:37)(n: Qurtubi says, ""When Zakariyya used to enterwhere she was, he would find the fruits of wintertimewith her in summer, and the fruits of summertimein winter, so he asked her, '0 Maryam,from whence has this come to you?' And she said,'It is from Allah' "" (al-Jami' Ii ahkam al-Qur'an(y117),4.71));(3) from the story of Sulayman's companion(N: who ""possessed knowledge of the Book,"" andinstantly brought from afar the throne of theQueen of Sheba to Sulayman (upon whom bepeace)),"" ..
'I will bring it to you before your glancereturns to yourself"" (Koran 27:40)(n: Qurtubi says, ""According to most Koraniccommentators, 'he who possessed knowledge ofthe Book' was Asuf ibn Barkhiya of the Israelites,a siddiq (lit
""one of great faith"") who knew thegreatest name of Allah, which if He is asked by itHe gives, and if supplicated He answers (al-Jami'Ii ahkam al-Qur'an (y117), 13.2(4));(4) and finally, all the miraculous events thattook place in the story of the People of the Cave(Koran 18), who by scholarly consensus were notprophets.As for hadiths that furnish evidence of miracles,there are many, such as:(1) the hadith of the three people who tookshelter in a cave, and when a great stone sealed offits entrance, each in turn made supplication toAllah, and the stone was moved aside for them, ahadith recorded in the Sahihs of Bukhari andMuslim;(2) and the famous hadith recorded byBukhari and others about the story of Khubayb alAnsari(Allah be well pleased with him), a Companionof the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace), of whom BintHarithsaid: ""By Allah,I never saw a better prisoner than Khubayb
ByAllah, one day I found him eating from a bunch ofgrapes in his hand, though he was manacled inirons and there was no fruit in all of Mecca.""The hadiths, narratives of the Companions,and accounts of the early and later Muslims on thissubject are beyond number, and there is a sufficiencyin those we have just mentioned (Bustan al'an/in (y104) , 142-54).
KINDS OF MIRACLES(Ibrahim Bajuri:) An inimitable propheticmiracle (mu'jiza) is an event contravening naturallaws that appears at the hands of someone whoclaims to be a prophet and is challenged by thosewho deny this, such that the deniers are unable toperform the like of it
Such inimitable miracles aredistinguished from:(1) miracles of divine favor (karamat) whichappear at the hands of servants of manifest righteousness(N: who are not prophets, as opposed tothe above);(2) miracles of provender (ma'una) (N: suchas food being miraculously increased to feed amultitude), which appear at the hands of ordinarypeople to save them from hardship;(3) miracles of delusion (istidraj), which consistof supernatural events that appear at thehands of an unrighteous person as a manifestationof Allah's intention to deceive him and lead himfurther astray;(4) miracles of humiliation (ihana), whichare supernatural events that appear at the handsof someone to show the falsity of his claims, ashappened to (N: the false prophet) Musaylima theLiar, who spat in the eye of a one-eyed man torestore his sight, and the man's good eye wentblind;(5) miracles portending a prophetic mission(irhas), which occur before
prophethood or messengerhoodto establish the way for it, such as thecloud that gave shade to the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) (N: in his youth, movingas he did and stopping as he did, while he was journeyingwith a caravan to Syria) before his propheticmission;(6) and sorcery (sihr) and also stage magic(sha'badha), which is accomplished by sleight ofhand, making the illusory seem real.(Sharh lawhara al-tawhid al-musamma Tuhfa aImurid(y24) , 133)
(A:) To hold that things have properties that cause benefit or harm independentlyof the will of Allah is unbelief (kufr), whether such properties are considerednatural or supernatural
But the contention of certain people that showingveneration (ta'zim) for the righteous or that obtaining blessings (tabarruk)through them or their effects constitutes worship of them or associating otherswith Allah (shirk) is not supportable by the prophetic sunna, which attests to thecontrary, as maybe seen from the following hadiths:(1) Bukhari relates that 'Uthman ibn 'Abdullahsaid: ""My wife sent me to Umm Salamawith a cup of water [here the subnarrator Isra'ilclosed three fingers to show its size] in which to dipa lock containing some of the Prophet's hair(Allah bless him and give him peace)
Whenever aperson was suffering from the evil eye or an illness,they would send her a vessel of water [A:which Umm Salama would dip the hair in, fortreating the ill by their drinking it or washing withit]
I looked into the metal bell [N: holding thelock of hair 1 and saw some red hairs
""(2) Bukhari relates from Abu Musa that ""theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)called for a vessel of water, washed his hands andface in it, spat a mouthful of water back into it andthen said to Abu Musa and Bilal, 'Drink from itand pour the rest over your faces and chests.' ""(3) Bukhari relates from Mahmud ibn Rabi'that ""when the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) performed his ablution, the Companionsalmost fought over the excess water.""The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) would never have permittedthe like of this if there were any suspicion of associating partners with Allah(shirk) in it
In each of the above hadiths and others, there is a clear basis for thelegal validity of obtaining blessings through the effects of the righteous (tabarruk),as it was done with the Prophet's consent and wish by the Companions, thisbeing the reason that Muslims after them have also done so
And Allah knowsbest.*
DECEASED (TALQIN) (from g5.6(1))
(N:) Instructing the deceased (talqin) iswhen a Muslim sits beside the grave of his fellowMuslim after burial to speak to him, remindinghim of the Testification of Faith ""There is no godbut Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger ofAllah,"" and certain other matters of belief, suchas that death is real, paradise is real, hell is real,and that Allah shall raise up those who are in theirgraves-and praying that the deceased will provesteadfast when the two angels question him
Itdoes not have a particular form, but rather anythingthat accomplishes the above is called ""instructingthe deceased."" The following evidencemay be adduced for its validity in Sacred Law:(1) The rigorously authenticated (sahih)hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) ordered that the bodies of theidolators slain on the day of Badr be thrown into awell whose interior was uncased with stones, thenhe approached the well and began calling theunbelievers by their names and fathers' names,saying: ""0 So-and-so son of So-and-so, and Soand-so son of So-and-so: it would have been easierhad you obeyed Allah and His messenger
Wehave found what our Lord promised to be true;have you found what your Lord promised to betrue?"" To which 'Umar said, ""0 Messenger ofAllah, why speak to lifeless bodies?"" And hereplied, ""By Him in whose hand is the soul ofMuhammad, you do not hear my words betterthan they do.""(2) The Prophet (Allah bless him and givebim peace) said:""When a servant is laid in his grave and hisfriends have turned from him and he hears thefootfalls of their sandals, two angels come to him,sit him upright, and ask him, 'What were you wontto say of this man Muhammad (Allah bless himand give him peace)?' The believer will answer, 'Itestify that he is the slave of Allah and His messenger,'and it will be said, 'Look at your place inhell, Allah has changed it for a place in paradise,'and the man will behold both of them ...
""(3) 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (Allah be wellpleased with him) relates that when the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) used to finishburying someone, he would stand by the graveand say, ""All of you, ask Allah to forgive yourbrother and make him steadfast, for he is nowbeing asked
""(4) Abu Umama said, ""When I die, do withme as the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) ordered us, saying, 'When one of yourbrothers dies and you have smoothed over theearth upon his grave, let one of you stand at thehead of the grave and say, ""0 So-and-so son of Soand-so [n: the latter ""So-and-so"" is feminine,naming the deceased's motherl""-for he willhear, though he cannot reply-and then say, ""0So-and-so son of So-and-so,"" and he will situpright; and then say, ""0 So-and-so son of Soand-so,"" and he will say, ""Direct me, Allah havemercy on you,"" though you will not hear it, butshould say, ""Remember the creed upon whichyou departed from this world, the testificationthat there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad isHis slave and messenger, and that you acceptedAllah as your Lord, Islam as your religion,Muhammad as your prophet, and the Koran asyour exemplar."" For then the two angels Munkarand Nakir will take each other's hand and say,""Let us go, what is there to keep us beside someonewho has been instructed how to make hisplea?"" ,,
A man said, '0 Messenger of Allah, what ifone does not know the name of his mother?' andhe answered, 'Then one should mention his descentfrom his mother Eve, saying, ""0 So-and-soson of Eve ..
"" , ""Tabarani related this hadith in his al-Mu'jam alkabir,and Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani has said that ""itschain of transmission is sound"" (Talkhis al-habir fitakhrij ahadith al-Rafti al-kabir (yI5), 2.143).Some scholars have said that this hadith is not wellauthenticated (da'if), while others have gone tothe extreme of calling it a forgery.
DISCUSSION OF THE EVIDENCEThe first three ofthe above hadiths, all ofthem rigorously authenticated (sahih), show that:(1) a dead person hears the words of a livingperson speaking to him and even the sounds ofmovement around him;(2) the dead are questioned in their graves;(3) and that it is legally valid after burial fora living person to ask Allah to forgive thedeceased and make him steadfast for the questioningof the two angels,As for the fourth hadith, scholars have feltcomfortable with it, saying that if the deceased canhear, we should let him hear these words which heis in the direst need of in such circumstances, andeven if the hadith that has conveyed them is notwell authenticated, its content is valid and true.The foregoing is what has been said aboutinstructing the deceased (talqin), so whoever doesit cannot be blamed, since they have something ofa case for it; and whoever does not cannot beblamed, because they do not consider the case sufficient.In any event, we should be anxious to promotelove and brotherhood between Muslims,and not divide the ranks with questions like this,for the important thing is our belief in the onenessof Allah, and the unity of the Islamic Community.
ALLAH (AWLIYA') (from g5.7(4))
Allah Most High says:*""Verily the friends of Allah, no fear shall beupon them, nor shall they sorrow, those whobelieve and are godfearing, Great tidings aretheirs in this life and the world to come, There isno changing the words of Allah, that is the supremetriumph"" (Koran 10:62-64).
(n:) The following rigorously authenticated(sahih) hadith has been translated belowwith two commentaries, one by 'Abd al-Ra'ufMunawi (M:) and the other by Muhammad ibn'Allan Bakri (B:),The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said:""Allah Most High says: 'He who is hostile toa friend (waH) of Mine I declare war against
Myslave approaches Me with nothing more belovedto Me than what I have made obligatory for him,and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me withvoluntary works until I love him
And when I lovehim, I am his hearing with which he hears, hissight with which he sees, his hand with which heseizes, and his foot with which he walks
If he asksMe, I will surely give to him, and ifhe seeks refugein Me, I will surely protect him.' ""He who is hostile to a friend (wali) of Mine(M: friend meaning the knower of Allah ('arifbillah) who is constant in obedience to Him andsincere in his acts of worship)(B: that is, he who is close to Allah by hisdevotion to Him through obeying His commandsand shunning the acts He has forbidden)I declare war against(M: I inform him that I shall make war uponhim, meaning that Allah will deal with him as oneat war does, namely, with theophanies against himof manifestations of omnipotent force andmajesty, this being the ultimate threat
The wordshostile to a friend (wali) mean hostile to him forbeing a friend (waH), not just any hostility whatever.It excludes such things as taking him to courtto have him fulfill an obligation
Rather, hostilityto him for being a friend of Allah is to deny it outof mere obstinacy or envy, or to disparage orabuse him, and similar kinds of ill-treatment
Andwhen the peril of being hostile toward such a personis appreciated, the reward for friendship withhim may likewise be inferred)(B: I declare war against means I shall fightthis enemy for him, i.e
destroy him
And this is avery severe threat for opposing or having enmitytowards someone Allah loves
Too, the affirmationof Allah's fighting the enemies of His friendsentails the affirmation of His friendship for thosewho befriend them).My slave approaches Me with nothing morebeloved to Me than what I have made obligatoryfor him(B: meaning the performance of what I havemade obligatory for him, whether individually orcommunally
The obligatory is more beloved toAllah than voluntary devotions because it is moreperfect, since the command to do it is absolute,implying a reward for its performance and punishmentfor its nonperformance, as opposed to voluntarydevotions, whose nonperformance isunpunished, and which, it is said, amount to butone-seventieth of the value of an obligatory act),and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me withvoluntary works until I love him
And when I lovehim
I am his hearing(B: the protector of his hearing)with which he hears(B: meaning He who keeps it from being usedto hear what is not permissible to listen to, such asslander, talebearing, and the like),his sight with which he sees(B: safeguarding it from what is unlawful tolook at),his hand with which he seizes(B: so that he takes only what is lawful),and his foot with which he walks(B: so that he walks only to what is permitted)(M: in summary, whoever draws near toAllah through what is obligatory; and thenthrough voluntary works, Allah draws him nearerand elevates him from the level of true faith(iman) to the level of the perfection of faith(ihsan, dis: u4) such that the knowledge in hisheart becomes visible to the eye of his spiritualperception
To fill one's heart with knowledge ofAllah effaces what is other than Him, so that onespeaks not except of Him, moves not save at Hisbehest, and if one looks, it is through Him, and ifone seizes, it is through Him
And this is the consummateawareness of the oneness of Allah)(B: the consequence of which is the preservationof the individual's whole person, so that heforsakes selfish desire and is wholly absorbed inobedience
Another interpretive possibility is thatthe hadith is a metaphor for Allah's help and assistance,as if Allah Most High, figuratively speaking,were to play the role of the senses with whichthe individual perceives and the limbs he relies on.A variant has the addendum:)so that through Me he hears, through Me hesees, through Me he seizes, and through Me hewalks(M: concerning which, the sheikhs of theSufis (Allah Most High be well pleased with them)have had disclosures of the hidden and experientialindications that would make crumbled bonesquake
But these are of no use save to those whotread their path and come to know the wellspringfrom which they drink, as opposed to those whodo not, and .are not safe from grave error and fallinginto the abyss of believing that Allah canindwell in created things (hulul, dis: w7.1), or thatother than Him can unite with Him (ittihad,w7.2)(B: this then, and those who fancy that otherthan Allah can unite with Him or that Allah canindwell in created things claim that the import ofthe hadith is not figurative but literal, and thatAllah, far exalted above what they say, actuallypermeates or unifies with one, may Allah renderthem even viler).If he asks Me, I will surely give to him(M: what he asks, as happened to many of theearly Muslims),and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surelyproteethim(M: from what he fears, this being the way ofa lover with his beloved
His unquestionablepromise, solemnified by the form of the oath (n: inthe words ""I will surely""), entails that whoeverdraws near to Him through the above will'not havehis prayer (du'a') rejected).(Dalil al-falihin Ii turuq Riyad al-salihin (y25) ,3.344-46, and Fayd ai-Qadir sharh aI-Jami' alsaghir(y91), 2.240-41)*
(Nawawi:) The Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) said,""I had forbidden you to visit graves, but nowvisit them ...
""This is one of the hadiths that comprise boththe ruling that supersedes a previously valid rulingand the one superseded
It explicitly states thatthe prohibition of men visiting graves has beenlifted
Scholars unanimously concur that visitingthem is sunna for men
As for women, there is dis-agreement among our colleagues about them,those who hold that women may not visit themsaying that women are not intended by an addressto men (n: the Arabic male plural imperativezuruha) (N: though the sounder position in theShafi'i school is that woman may visit graves aslong as it does not entail blameworthy things suchas displays of grief, mixing of men and women,and the like
The hadiths prohibiting women fromvisiting graves are interpreted by Shafi'i scholarsas applicable to the time before the prohibitionwas lifted by the above hadith) (Sahih Muslim biSharh al-Nawawi (y93), 7.46-47).*
THE DECEASED (from gS.8, end)
(Muhammad Makhluf:) As for recitingthe Koran for the deceased, whether at his graveor far from it, scholars disagree as to whether thereward for it reaches him
The scholarly majorityhold that it does reach him, and this is the truth,especially if the reciter afterwards donates thereward of what he has read to the deceased
Insuch a case the reciter also receives the reward forhis recital without this diminishing anything fromthe reward of the deceased (Fatawa shar'iyya wabuhuth Islamiyya (y79), 2.303).
(N:) The position of Hanafis and Hanbalisis that a Muslim is entitled to donate the reward ofany kind of worship he performs to whomever hewishes of the Muslim dead
As for Shafi""is andMalikis, they distinguish between acts that arevalid to perform in another's stead and thosethat are not, the former being valid to donatethe reward oftothe deceased, while the latter arenot, though the later scholars of theShafi'is andMalikis incline toward the validity of donating thereward for any kind of worship whatever to thedead
The Hanafis and Hanbalis adduce the followingevidence to support their position:(1) Bukhari and Muslim relate that theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) sacrificedtwo rams of predominately white color,one for himself and the other for his Community(Umma)
The evidence therein is that the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) offered sacrificeanimals and donated the reward to his Community,which includes both the living and thedead, both those who existed at his time and thosewho came after.(2) Anas relates that he said to the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace): ""0 Messengerof Allah, we give in charity, perform thepilgrimage, and supplicate for our dead
Does thisreach them?"" He replied, ""Yes, indeed it reachesthem, and they rejoice thereat just as one of yourejoices at the gift of a tray of food.""(3) The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said, ""Whoever dies with an obligatoryfast to perform, his responsible familymember may fast it in his stead.""(4) The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said, ""Recite YaSin [Koran 36] overyour dead.""(5) Allah Mighty and Majestic has informedus that the angels ask forgiveness for believers, asHe says,""The angels glorify their Lord with praise andask forgiveness for those on earth"" (Koran 42:5),and He praises believers who ask forgiveness fortheir brethren, by saying,"" ..
And those who come after them say,'Lord, forgive us and our brethren who have precededus in faith' "" (Koran 59:10).(6) And the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) used to supplicate for those heperformed the funeral prayer over-the evidencein all of the above being that supplications (du'a')are an act of worship, for the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) said,""Supplication is worship,""while the above texts clearly show that supplicationsbenefit others besides the one who makesthem, even when the other does not ask for thesupplication to be made for him.The foregoing provides evidence that thedeceased benefits from all types of worship,whether monetary or physical, since fasting, pilgrimage,supplications, and asking forgiveness areall physical acts of worship, and Allah Most Highconveys the benefit of them to the deceased-andso it must also be with other works (Qada' al'ibadat wa al-niyabafiha (y114) , 400(403).*
ACCEPTING ZAKAT (from h8.8(2))
(Ghazali:) If someone attammg knowledgeof Sacred Law would be prevented fromdoing so if he were to engage in earning a living, heis considered ""poor"" (N: in respect to the permissibilityof his accepting zakat), and his ability toearn is not taken into consideration
But if he ismerely a devotee whose gaining a livelihoodwould busy him from his religious devotions andschedule of supererogatory worship, then he mustgo earn a living, for earning is more importantthan devotions....
The seeond category consists of those whoare short of money (miskin), i.e
whose incomedoes not cover their expenses
Someone mightpossess a thousand dirhams and be ""short ofmoney,"" while another might possess nothing butan axe and a rope and be self-sufficient
The modestlodgings one lives in and the clothes that coverone
to the degree required by one's condition, donot negate one's being short of money
Nor dohousehold furnishings, meaning those which oneneeds and are suitable for one
Nor does possessingbooks of law negate one's being short ofmoney (n: if one is a student of Sacred Law acceptingzakat, as above), for if one owned nothing butbooks, one would not be obligated to pay thezakat of 'Eid al-Fitr (dis: h7.1), since books arelegally considered as clothing and furnishings are,in that one needs them
One should, however,take the way of greater precaution in curbingone's need for books
Books are only needed forthree purposes: teaching, personal benefit, andreading for entertainment
As for the need ofreading for entertainment, it is not considered legallysignificant, such as with books of poetry, historicalchronicles, and similar, which are of nobenefit in the hereafter and no use in this lifeexcept reading and enjoyment
Such books mustbe sold to pay what is due when one owes an expiation(dis: O20.4) or the zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr,andsomeone possessing them is not considered shortof money
As for the need to teach, if one needs abook to earn a living, as do trainers, teachers, orinstructors who wqrk for a salary, such books arethe tools of their trade and are not sold to pay thezakat of 'Eid al-Fitr, nor are the tools of a tailor orany other professional
Nor are one's books sold ifone teaches to fulfill the communal obligation(def: as.1); possessing them does not negate one'sbeing short of money, for this is an importantneed.As for personal benefit and learning frombooks, such as keeping books of medicine to treatoneself or books of pious exhortations to read andtake admonition from, if there is a doctor or anexhorter in town, one does not need them, while ifthere is not, one does
Further, one may not happento need to read a book except after a time,in which case the period in which one needs itshould be stipulated, the most reasonable criterionfor which would seem to be that whatever oneis not in need of during the course of a year onedoes not really need, for someone with food inexcess of his needs for one day is obliged to pay thezakat of 'Eid al-Fitr, and if we stipulate the needfor food as being that of one day, we should considerthe need for furnishings and clothing as oneyear, summer clothing not being sold in winter,for example
Books, clothing, and furnishingswould seem to be alike in this
Or someone mighthave two copies of a book and not need both, suchthat if he were to say that one is more accuratewhile the other is of finer quality, so both areneeded, we would tell him to be satisfied with themore accurate one and sell the finer, forgoingmere entertainment and lUxury
If one has twobooks on a subject, one of which is comprehensiveand the other abridged, then if personal benefit isthe purpose, one should keep the more comprehensive,while if one needs them to teach, onemay require both, since each possesses a virtuenot found in the other
Similar examples areinnumerable and the discipline of jurisprudencecannot cover them all
Rather, the above havebeen mentioned because of widespread abuse,and to apprise of the merit of the above criterionover others
For it is impossible to deal with allcases, which would entail estimating the amount,number, and kinds of household furnishings andclothes, the spaciousness of a house or lack of it,and so forth, there being no firm limits to suchmatters
But the legal scholar must use personalreasoning (ijtihad) with respect to them andapproximate the criteria that seem likeliest tohim, braving the danger of falling into things ofdoubtful legality, while a godfearing person willtake the path that is religiously more precautionary,leaving what causes him doubt for what doesnot
There are many gray areas between the twoclear-cut extremes, and nothing can save one fromthem except following the way of greater precaution(lhya' 'ulum ai-din (y39), 1.199).
MASTURBATION (from i1.18(9))*
(N:) Masturbation with one's own hand is unlawful
Imam Shafi'i (Allahbe well pleased with him) was asked in connection with masturbation about theword of Allah Most High:Hoo
those who guard their private parts, savefrom their wives or [bondwomen] whom theirright hands own, for these are not blameworthy.But whoever seeks beyond that, those are thetransgressors"" (Koran 23:5-7),and said that these Koranic verses restrict permissible sex to what is mentioned inthem, since the last verse denies that anything besides this is lawful.w3R.O KEEPING SILENT ALL DAYIS OFFENSIVE (from i1.32)w38.1 (0:) It is offensive for anyone to keepsilent the whole day until night when there is noneed, as is attested to by the hadith related by AbuDawud that 'Ali (AUah be well pleased with him)said, ""I have memorized from the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace) that noone is considered an orphan after puberty and noone may remain silent until nightfall."" AndBukhari relates that Abu Bakr Siddiq (Allah bewell pleased with him) said to a woman on hajjwho had resolved to keep silent, ""Speak, for thisis not permissible but is a practice of the preIslamicperiod of ignorance.""Rather, one should occupy the tongue withKoran, dhikr, or other acts of obedience performedwith the tongue (Fayd ai-flah ai-Malik(y27),1.284).*
(Muhyiddin ibn al-' Arabi:) Diligently perfornIthe night vigil prayer (tahajjud, def: f10.8)every night of the year, and do not neglect to supplicateAllah each night, letting part of your supplicationbe for forgiveness and well-being in yourreligion, this-worldly concerns, and the hereafter,for you do not know which night of the year willcoincide with Laylat al-Qadr (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya(y55) , 4.486).
(n: Special vocabulary:*Tawassul: supplicating Allah by means of an intermediary, whether it be aliving person, dead person, a good deed, or a name or attribute of Allah MostHigh.)
(Yusuf Rifa'i:) I here want to convey theposition, attested to by compelling legal evidence,of the orthodox majority of Sunni Muslims on thesubject of supplicating Allah through an intermediary(tawassul), and so I say (and Allah alonegives success) that since there is no disagreementamong scholars that supplicating Allah through anintermediary is in principle legally valid, the discussionof its details merely concerns derived rulingsthat involve interschool differences, unrelatedto questions of belief or unbelief,monotheism or associating partners with Allah(shirk); the sphere ofthe question being limited topermissibility or impermissibility, and its rulingbeing that it is either lawful or unlawful
There isno difference among groups of Muslims in theirconsensus on the permissibility of three types ofsupplicating Allah through an intermediary(tawassul):(1) tawassul through a living righteous personto Allah Most High, as in the hadith of theblind man with the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) as we shall explain;(2) the tawassul of a living person to AllahMost High through his own good deeds, as in thehadith of the three people trapped in a cave by agreat stone, a hadith related by Imam Bukhari inhis Sahih;(3) and the tawassul of a person to AllahMost High through His entity (dhat), names, attributes(dis: w29.2(6)), and so forth.Since the legality of these types is agreedupon, there is no reason to set forth the evidencefor them
The only area of disagreement issupplicating Allah (tawassul) through a righteousdead person
The majority of the orthodox SunniCommunity hold that it is lawful, and have supportinghadith evidence, of which we will contentourselves with the Hadith of the Blind Man, sinceit is the central pivot upon which the discussionturns.
THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MANTirmidhi relates, through his chain of narratorsfrom 'Uthman ibn Hunayf, that a blind mancame to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and said, ""I've been afflicted in myeyesight, so please pray to Allah for me."" TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said: ""Go make ablution (wudu), perform tworak'as of prayer, and then say:"" '0 Allah, I ask You and turn to Youthrough my prophet Muhammad, the Prophet ofMercy; 0 Muhammad, I seek your intercessionwith my Lord for the return of my eyesight [and inanother version: ""for my need, that it may be fulfilled.0 Allah, grant him intercession for me""].' ""The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)added, ""And ifthere is some need, do the same
""Scholars of Sacred Law infer from this hadiththe recommended character of the prayer of need,in which someone in need of something fromAllah Most High performs such a prayer and thenturns to Allah with this supplication together withother suitable supplications, traditional or otherwise,according to the need and how the personfeels
The express content of the hadith proves thelegal validity of tawassul through a living person(n: as the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) was alive at the time)
It implicitly provesthe validity of tawassul through a deceased one aswell, since taw\lssul through a living or dead personis not through a physical body or through a lifeor death, but rather through the positive meaning(ma'na tayyib) attached to the person in both lifeand death
The body is but the vehicle that carriesthat significance, which requires that the personbe respected whether alive or dead; for the words""0 Muhammad"" are an address to someone physicallyabsent-in which state the living and deadare alike-an address to the meaning, dear toAllah, that is connected with his spirit, a meaningthat is the ground of tawassul, be it through a livingor dead person.
THE HADITH OF THE MAN IN NEEDMoreover, Tabarani, in his ai-Mu'jam aisaghir,reports a hadith from 'Uthman ibn Hunayfthat a man repeatedly visited 'Uthman ibn 'Affan(Allah be well pleased with him) concerningsomething he needed, but 'Uthman paid no attentionto him or his need
The man met Ibn Hunayfand complained to him about the matter-thisbeiilg after the death of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) and after the caliphatesof Abu Bakr and 'Umar--so 'Uthman ibnHunayf, who was one of the Companions who collectedhadiths and were learned in the religion ofAllah, said: ""Go to the place of ablution and performablution (wudu), then come to the mosque,perform two rak'as of prayer therein, and say,"" '0 Allah, I ask You and turn to Youthrough our prophet Muhammad, the Prophet ofMercy; 0 Muhammad, I turn through you to myLord, that He may fulfill my need,'""and mention your need
Then come so that I cango with you [N: to the caliph 'Uthman]."" So theman left and did as he had been told, then went tothe door of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (Allah be wellpleased with him), and the doorman came, tookhim by the hand, brought him to 'Uthman ibn'Affan and seated him next to him on a cushion.'Uthman asked, ""What do you need?"" and theman mentioned what he wanted, and 'Uthmanaccomplished it for him and then said, ""I hadn'tremembered your need until just now,"" adding,""Whenever you need something, just mention it.""Then the man departed, met 'Uthman ibnHunayf, and said to him, ""May Allah reward you!He didn't see to my need or pay any attention tome until you spoke with him."" 'Uthman ibnHunayf replie.d, ""By Allah, I didn't speak to him,but I have seen a blind man come to the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and complain to him of the loss of hiseyesight
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said, 'Can you not bear it?' and theman replied .
'0 Messenger of Allah, I do not haveanyone to lead me around, and it is a greathardship for me.' The Prophet (Allah bless hiniand give him peace) told him, 'Go to the place ofablution and perform ablution (wudu), then praytwo rak'as of prayer and make these supplications.'"" Ibn Hunayf went on, ""By Allah, wedidn't part company or speak long before the manreturned to us as if nothing had ever been wrongwith him.""This is an explicit, unequivocal text from aprophetic Companion proving the legal validity oftawassul through the dead
The account has beenclassed as rigorously authenticated (sahih) byBayhaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami.
'THE AUTHENTICITY OF 'THE HADITHOF 'THE BLIND MANTirmidhi has stated that thehadith of theblind man is ""a hadith that is well or rigorouslyauthenticated but singular, being unknown exceptthrough this chain of narrators, from the hadith ofAbu Ja'far, who is not Abu Ja'far Khatmi,"" whichmeans that the narrators of this hadith, despiteAbu Ja'far being unknown to Tirmidhi, wereacceptable to the degree of being well or rigorouslyauthenticated in either case
But scholarsbefore Tirmidhi established that Abu Ja'far, thisperson unknown to Tirmidhi, was Abu Ja'farKhatmi himself
Ibn Abi Khaythama said, ""Thename of this Abu Ja'far, whom Hammad ibnSalama relates from, is 'Umayr ibn Yazid, and heis the Abu Ja'far that Shu'ba relates from,"" andthen he related the hadith by the channel of transmissionof 'Uthman from Shu'ba from Abu Ja'far.Ibn Taymiya, after relating the hadith of Tirmidhi,said, ""All scholars say that he is Abu Ja'farKhatmi, and this is correct."" Reflect on this
Thehadith master Ibn Hajar notes in Taqrib al-tahdhibthat he is Khatmi, and that he is reliable(saduq)
Ibn 'Abd aI-Barr likewise says that he isKhatmi in al-Isti'ab fi rna'rita al-ashab
Moreover,Bayhaqi related the hadith by way of Hakim andconfirmed that it was rigorously authenticated(sahih), Hakim having related it by a chain oftransmission meeting the standards of Bukhariand Muslim, which the hadith master Dhahabiconfirmed, and Shawkani cited as evidence.Dhahabi and Shawkani, who are they?
The meaningof this is that all the men of the hadith's chainof transmission are known to top Imams of hadithsuch as Dhahabi (and who is severer than he?),Ibn Hajar (and who is more precise, learned, orpainstaking than he?), Hakim, Bayhaqi, Tabarani,Ibn 'Abd aI-Barr, Shawkani, and even IbnTaymiya
This hadith was recorded by Bukhari inhis al- Tarikh al-kabir, by Ibn Majah in his Sun an,where be said it was rigorously authenticated(sahih), by Nasa'i in 'Amal al-yawm wa al-layla,by Abu NU'aym in Ma'rifa al-Sahaba, by Bayhaqiin Dala'i/ al-nubuwwa, by Mundhiri in ai- Targhibwa al-tarhib, by Haythami in Majma' al-zawa'idwa manba' al-fawa'id, by Tabarani in al-Mu'jamai-kabir, by Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih, and bvothers
Nearly fifteen hadith masters (huffa;,hadith authorities with more than 100,000 hadithsand their chains of transmission by memory) haveexplicitly stated that this hadith is rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih)
As mentioned above, it hascome with a chain of transmission meeting thestandards of Bukhari and Muslim, so there isnothing left for a critic to attack or slanderer todisparage concerning the authenticity of thehadith
Consequently, as for the permissibility ofsupplicating Allah (tawassul) through either a livingor dead person, it follows by human reason,scholarship, and sentiment, that there is flexibilityin the matter
Whoever wants to can either taketawassul or leave it, without causing trouble ormaking accusations, since it has been thisthoroughly checked (Adilla Ahl ai-Sunna wa aIJama'a(y119), 79-83).
(n:) It is well to review some salient features of the above article, such as:(1) that there are two hadiths, Tirmidhi's hadith of the blind man and Tabarani'shadith of the man in need to whom 'Uthman ibn Hunayf related the storyof the blind man, teaching him the tawassul that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) had taught the blind man.(2) Tirmidhi's hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih), being the subject ofthe above il1vestigation of its chain of narrators, the authenticity of which is establishedbeyond a reasonable doubt and attested to by nearly fifteen of the foremosthadith specialists ofIslam
The hadith explicitly proves the validity of suppJieatingAllah (tawassul) through a living intermediary, as the Prophet (Allah bless himanrl.give him peace) was alive at the time
The author ofthe article holds that thehadith implicitly shows the validity of supplicating Allah (tawassuI) through adeceased intermediary as well, since:The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told the blind man to goperform ablution (wudu), pray two rak'as, and then make the supplication containingthe words, ""0 Muhammad, I seek your intercession with my Lord for thereturn of my eyesight,"" which is a call upon someone physically absent, a state inwhich the living and the dead are alike.Supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a living or deceased intermediary is, inthe author's words, ""not tawassul through a physical body, or through a life ordeath, but rather through the positive meaning attached to the person in both lifeand death, for the body is but the vehicle that carries that significance.""And perhaps the most telling reason, though the author does not mention it,is that everything the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) ordered to bedone during his lifetime was legislation valid for all generations until the end oftime unless proven otherwise by a subsequent indication from the Prophet himself(Allah bless him and give him peace), the tawassul he taught during his lifetimenot requiring anything else to be generalized to any time thereafter.(3) The authenticity of Tabarani's hadith of the man in need during thecaliphate of 'Uthman (Allah be well pleased with him) is not discussed by the articlein detail, but deserves consideration, since the hadith explicitly proves thelegal validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through the deceased, for 'Uthmanibn Hunayf and indeed all the prophetic Companions, by scholarly consensus(ijma'), were legally upright ('udul, dis: w56) , and are above being impugned withteaching someone an act of disobedience, much less idolatry (shirk)
The hadithis rigorously authenticated (sahih), as Tabarani explicitly states in his al-Mu'jamal-saghir (y 131), 1.184
The translator, wishing to verify the matter further, tookthe hadith with its chain of transmitters tohadith specialist Sheikh Shu'aybArna'ut, who after examining it, agreed that it was rigorously authenticated(sahih) as Tabarani indicated, ajudgement which was also confirmed to the translatorby the Moroccan hadith specialist Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari,who characterized the hadith as ""very rigorously authenticated,"" and noted thathadith masters Haythami and Mundhiri had explicitly concurred with Tabaranion its being rigorously authenticated (sahih)
The upshot is that the recommendednessof tawassul to Allah Most High-through the living or the dead-is theposition ofthe Shafi'i school, which is why both our author Ibn N aqib at j13 .2, andImam Nawawi in his al-Adhkar (yl02), 281-82, and al-Majmu' (y108), 8.274,explicitly record that tawassul through the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and asking his intercession are recommended
A final article below by aHanafi scholar concludes the discussion.CALLiNG UPON THE RIGHTEOUS
(Muhammad Hamid:) As for calling upon(nida') the righteous (n: when they are physicallyabsent, as in the words ""0 Muhammad"" in theabove hadiths), tawassul to Allah Most Highthrough them is permissible, the supplication(du'a') being to Allah Most Glorious, and there ismuch evidence for its permissibility
Those whocall on them intending tawassul cannot be blamed.As for someone who believes that those calledUpOH can cause effects, benefit, or harm, whichthey create or cause to exist as Allah does, such aperson is an idolator who has left Islam (dis:08.7(17))-Allah be our refuge!
This then, and acertain person has written an article that tawassulto Allah Most High through the righteous isunlawful, while the overwhelming majority ofscholars hold it is permissible, and the evidencethe writer uses to corroborate his viewpoint isdevoid of anything that demonstrates what he istrying to prove
In declaring tawassul permissible,we are not hovering on the brink of idolatry(shirk) or coming anywhere near it, for the convictionthat Allah Most High alone has influenceover anything, outwardly or inwardly, is a convictionthat flows through us like our very lifeblood.If tawassul were idolatry (shirk), or if there wereany suspicion of idolatry in it, the Prophet (AllahMost High bless him and give him peace) wouldnot have taught it to the blind man when the latterasked him to supplicate Allah for him, though infact he did teach him to make tawassul to Allahthrough him, And the notion that tawassul is permissibleonly during the lifetime of the personthrough whom it is done but not after his death isunsupported by any viable foundation from SacredLaw (Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'il al-ShaykhMuhammad ai-Hamid (y44), 2.39).*
(A:) Many contemporary scholars hold it is unlawful to buy, sell, use, orgrow tobacco, because of the unlawfulness of consuming what has been proven tobe harmful, which is attested to by the word of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace),Let there be no harming, nor reCiprocatingharm;'a well-authenticated hadith (n: of which MuhammadJurdani says, ""The ostensive meaning of thishadith is the prohibition of all forms of harmful- .ness, great or small, since the grammaticalindefinite [n: of the words ""harming"" and""reciprocating harm""] in a negative context indicatesgenerality"" (al-Jawahir al-lu'lu'iyya fi sharhal-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya (y68), 244).)
EVIDENCE OF THEHARMFULNESS OF SMOKING(Richard Doll and R
Peto:) ...
Particularly large and impressive studieshave been carried out in the United States (by the American Cancer Society andthe National Cancer Institute), in Japan (by Hirayama), and in Sweden, and allpoint to the conclusion that, in countries in which many cigarette smokers havebeen smoking regularly since early adult life, lung cancer is some 10 to 15 timescommoner in regular cigarette smokers than in lifelong non-smokers and up to 40times commoner in very heavy smokers ....These observations that smokers were at far greater risk of lung cancer thannonsmokers did not, in themselves, prove that smoke caused the disease,although it was difficult to think of any other way in which such a close quantitativerelationship could have been produced; but other observations effectivelyexclude any alternative [n: emphasis the translator'S]
These include the fact thatthe relative risk of lung cancer increased with decreasing age of starting to smokeand decreased with the number of years that smoking had been stopped; that theincrease in incidence appeared at an appropriate time after the increase incigarette sales (after due allowance is made for a spurious increase due toimproved diagnosis) and with an appropriate lag in time between the increaseamong men (who started to smoke cigarettes early this century) and that amongwomen (who started about a quarter of a century later); and that there is a generalparallelism between the incidence of the disease in different countries and socialand religious groups and the corresponding figures for the consumption ofcigarettes
(Furthermore, it was found that when extracts of cigarette smoke wereapplied repeatedly to the skins of laboratory mice many tumours developed.)(Oxford Textbook of Medicine (y76), 4.61)(n: The foregoing is a statement by competent medical authorities that smokingis harmful to the body.)
(Sulayman Bujayrmi:) Whatever harmsthe body or mind is unlawful, from which theunlawfulness of the well-known tobacco (dukhan)is known (Tuhfa ai-habib 'ala Sharh ai-Khatib aimusammabi al-Iqna' fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja' (y6),4.276).(A: This is an explicit text (nass) from a Shafi'i scholar that establishes theruling for smoking in our school
As for the evidence that growing, buying, andselling tobacco is unlawful, it consists in the principle of Sacred Law that whateverleads to the unlawful is itself unlawful
A number of Islamic scholars haveexplicitly declared the total prohibition of tobacco, among them Hashim alKhatib,'Ali al-Daqar, Badr ai-Din al-Hasani, Sheikh al-Qalyubi, and MuhammadHamid
In past centuries, before the harmfulness of tobacco had been scientificallyestablished, some formal legal opinions (fatwas) were given that smokingwas merely offensive
In light of what we know today about the harm tobaccocauses, such opinions are plainly no longer the reliable position for Jatwa
Ifuneducated Muslims who follow these opinions may plead ignorance, Islamicscholars, for their part, should fear Allah and remember that there is scholarlyconsensus that it is not lawful to judge by other than the soundest and most reliableposition (dis: w12.2)
Someone with knowledge is obliged to teach peoplewhat is closer to Islam.)
(A:) In addition to the fact that they are usurious (riba, def: k3), buyingand selling insurance policies are unlawful because of the Prophet's prohibition(Allah bless him and give him peace) of sales in which there is chance or risk(gharar)
Muslim relates from Abu Hurayra that""The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless himand give him peace) prohibited sales of 'whatevera pebble thrown by the seller hits,' and sales inwhich there is chance or risk (gharar).""
(Nasir al-Motarrizi:) Gharar is chance orrisk, meaning it is not known whether it will cometo be or not, such as selling fish in the water orbirds on the wing
It includes transactions ofunknown things, the particulars of which are notfully comprehended by the buyer and seller (alMughribfi tartib al-Mu'rib (y94), 2.100).
(n;) Urging the permissibility of insurance, one Muslim modernist haswritten that the very precise statistical data possessed by insurance companiesconcerning the probabilities of various eventualities makes what they are sellingdeterminately known (ma'lum)
This argument fails when one realizes that statisticaldata from a group of events yields probability figures that, properly speaking,are a description of the group as a whole, and are only analogically appliedto the individual events within it
When generalized to similar groups of events inthe future, such probabilities yield commercially useful knowledge about thelikelihood of a particular outcome for these future groups
But they cannot and donot tell what the outcome will be for any particular member of the group
in thiscase the particular insurance policy
Thus
a ""17 percent probability"" that circumstanceswill enable one to collect such and such an amount on a policy is amere description of the whole group of previous policy holders in similar circumstances,which does not tell whether one will collect the amount or not
Onemay collect a certain amount or may not collect it, which is precisely the ghararthat is unlawful.
(A:) When one needs a car in a country whose laws force one to have carliability insurance, buying the insurance has effectively become a tax, and is themoral responsibility of the lawmakers, not the person forced to comply.*
AL-HARB) (from k3.0, end)
(Muhammad Hamid:) A formal legalopinion (fa twa) given by the mufti of Dar al'Ulum and his assistant in Deoband, India, statesthat dealing in interest (riba, def: k3.0(N:)) is permissiblebetween Muslims and non-Muslims inenemy lands (dar al-harb), meaning areas inwhich the rules of Islam do not exist, such countriesnot holding its validity or believing in it
Thisfatwa states that it is permissible for a Muslim toboth take interest (riba) and give it, and claimsthat India is an enemy land (dar al-harb), so thereis no objection to dealing in interest there, and itlastly permits Muslims to put their money in thebanks of non-Muslims and take interest fromthem, and likewise permits them to loan the statemoney for interest
That is a summary of the contentsof the fatwa
It bases the permissibility ofdealing in interest (riba) with non-Muslims inenemy lands (dar al-harb, def: w43.5) on the opinionof Imams Abu Hanifa and Muhammad ibnHasan Shaybani, the colleague of Abu Hanifa(Allah Most High have mercy on them)
Withouta doubt, this is what the two Imams have explicitlystated, and is the position of the Hanafi school, asconveyed in both its main texts and their commentaries.Imams Shafi'i and Abu Yusuf, the eoUeagueof Abu Hanifa, (Allah Most High have merey onthem) eontradiet this opinion
What I, whileunqualified to intervene in positions that are differedupon by mujtahid Imams (def: 022.1(d)),would nevertheless like to direet attention to isthat the dissenting opinion of Shafi'i and AbuYusuf is not a feeble viewpoint unsupported byevidenee-by no means is that the ease
Their positionon an issue like this deserves to be given itsdue, so that one ean fully live up to the demands ofreligion
Nothing aetualizes one's innoeenee liketaking reasonable preeautions, and perhaps a lookat the evidenee will diet ate doing so.
THE EVIDENCE OF ABU HANIFAAND IMAM MUHAMMADThe evidenee of Abu Hanifa and Muhammadfor the permissibility of taking interest (riba)from non-Muslims in enemy lands (dar aI-harb) isthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peaee)having said,""There is no usury (riba) between the Muslimand the hostile non-Muslim in enemy lands (daral-harb ),""sueh that their property is lawful to us in their ownlands
It is permissible for a Muslim who is thereunder a safe-eonduet to take it from them withtheir approval, unless it is by way of deeeit, whiehis unlawful beeause it violates the safe-eon duetagreement they have effeeted with him that permitshim to enter their lands under stipulation thathe honor it, it being unlawful for him to violate it.As for when one of them enters our lands under asafe-eonduet, it is not permissible to deal ininterest (riba) with him, for our safe-eonduetagreement with him makes his property inviolableto us, exeept what he transaets in a lawful way freeof sin or blame, for the lands are those of Islam.
THE EVIDENCE OFSHAFI'I AND ABU YUSUFShafi'i and Abu Yusuf hold that hostilenon-Muslims in their own lands are like those ofthem with a safe-conduct agreement in our lands:just as dealing in interest (riba) with one of them inour lands is not lawful, neither is dealing in it withthem in theirs
They say that the above-mentionedhadith is singular (gharib), meaning it has reachedus through but one single narrator
Kamal ibn alHumamstates in Fath ai-Qadir that Shafi'i relatesfrom Abu Yusuf that Abu Hanifa only held thisposition because a certain sheikh related fromMakhul that ""the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,"" 'There is no usury (riba) between enemynon-Muslims,'H[N: Makhul adding,] and I think he said, 'andpeople who are Muslims.' "" Bayhaqi reports thatShafi'i said, ""This hadith is not authenticated andthere is no evidence in it."" The Hanafi Sarakhsisays in ai-Mabsut, ""This hadith is mursal [n: i.e.reported by one of those (tabi'i) who had personallymet and studied under one or more of theprophetic Companions (Sahaba) but not theProphet himself (Allah bless him and give himpeace), hadiths reported in the form of quotingthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)without mentioning the name of the Companionwho related it directly from him], though MakhulI [n: the tabi'i in this case] is a reliable narrator, anda mursai hadith from someone like him is acceptableas evidence ...
""
(n: Several pages follow, discussing theevidence and ijtihad of Abu Hanifa and ImamMuhammad, as to why they allow:(a) taking interest (riba), not giving it;(b) from an enemy non-Muslim, not from aMuslim;(c) when both parties are in enemy lands(dar al-harb), not when either party or both are inMuslim lands.)...
Thus, what the Jatwa of the mufti of Daral-'Ulum ofDeoband says about the permissibilityof the Muslim giving interest (riba) to non-Muslimsin enemy lands (dar al-harb) being like thepermissibility of taking it from them, is wrong andunacceptable because it flatly contradicts theauthoritatively transmitted position of the Hanafischool, as Imam Sarakhsi has explicitly stated inal-Sayr al-kabir wa sharhuhu, for the recordedposition of the Hanafi school is for the permissibilityof taking it from them only, not the permissibilityof giving it to them ....This then, and it should be noted that Muslimsin enemy lands (dar al-harb) dealing witheach other in interest (riba) is not lawful, eventhough the above-mentioned fatwa does not directitself to the question ....As for the fatwa's permitting Muslims to puttheir money in non-Muslims' banks for interest(riba), and to loan the state money for interest,this could only be done conformably with theopinion of Abu Hanifa and Imam Muhammadif the Muslim were in enemy lands (dar al-harb)and put his money in the enemy non-Muslims'bank there, and similarly with loaning the statemoney for interest
As for doing it in Muslimlands, it is not permissible, no matter whether thebank is located in Muslim lands or enemy lands,for the Muslim is forbidden to do such a thing inMuslim countries because Islam's rulings applythere, and scholars stipulate for the permissibilityof his dealing in interest (rib a ) that firstly it be withnon-Muslims, and secondly in enemy lands, so theprohibition applies in either case.
WHAT 1S MEANT BY ""ENEMY LANDS""(DAR AL-HARB)As for the fatwa's claim that India is anenemy land (dar al-harb), it is not in its generalitytrue
Because areas where Muslims reside andthere is a remnant of Islam's rules-even if this islimited to marriages and what pertains to them,for example-are considered Muslim lands
AMuslim land does not become an enemy landexcept under three conditions:(a) that the security of Muslims through theirleader no longer exists and the security of nonMuslimshas taken its place;(b) that they have been surrounded on allsides such that it is impossible for the aid of Muslimsto reach them;(c) and that not a single one of Islam's rulesremains therein (N: which effectively means thatnone of the lands that Islam has spread to and inwhich something of it remains can be consideredan enemy land
As for other countries, enemylands (dar al-harb, lit, ""abode of war"") consist ofthose with whom the Muslim eountries (dar alIslam)are at a state of war) (n: in the light ofwhich, it is clear that there is virtually no countryon the face of the earth where a Muslim has anexcuse to behave aifferently than he would in anIslamic country, whether in his commercial orother dealings).(Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'il al-Shaykh Muhammadai-Hamid (y44) , 2.267-79)
PROTECTING LENDERS FROMLOSS DUE TO INFLATION(n:) Muhammad Amin ibn 'Abidin records that if one borrows ten fils (amonetary unit) which then lose all their value (kasada), one is not obliged.according to Abu Hanifa, to repay anything but the same amount of them
AbuYusuf and Imam Muhammad, however, hold that one is obliged to repay theirvalue (A: as it stood at the time of the loan) in silver (A: and since it is a financialobligation, the lender is entitled to accept other than silver in its place, such as thesilver's value in currency at the market prices current on the day of repayment)(Hashiyat radd al-muhtar 'ala al-Durr al-mukhtar sharh Tanwir al-absar (y47),5.162)
As for a lawful alternative to interest for protecting the lender from losingmoney because of simple inflation (which in contradistinction to the above is amere decrease in the value of currency)
the best means would seem to be to initiallyloan a specific amount of gold or silver, and then repay the loan with thesame amount of gold or silver, or its value in currency at the market prices currenton the day of repayment, if the lender will accept this in place of it, as in (A:)above.*
(Muhammad Amin ibn 'Abidin:)(Question:) ""So-and-so bequeathed[wasiyya, def: Ll.O(A:)] all of his property to anonfamily member and died insisting on this, andonly a wife survived him
She did not agree to permitthis bequest [N: by waiving her own estatedivision share of one-fourth]
What is the rulingon it?""(Answer:) ""Bequeathing more than a third ofone's property is not lawful when there is an estatedivision heir [n: or more than one] who deservesthe whole estate
As for when an heir does notdeserve the whole estate, such as a husband [N:whose maximal estate division share is one-half(dis L6.3)] or wife [N: whose maximal share isone-fourth (dis: L6.4)] [A: or when there are noeligible estate division heirs at all], then it is permissibleto bequeath more than a third of one'sproperty"" (al-'Uqud al-durriyya fi tanqih alFatawaal-Hamidiyya (y53), 2.310).
OBLIGATIONS (from m5.I, end)*
(Abu Ishaq Shirazi:) A woman is notobliged to serve her husband by baking, grindingflour, cooking, washing, or any other kind of service,because the marriage contract entails, forher part, only that she let him enjoy her sexually,and she is not obligated to do other thar
that
(A:Rather, it is considered sunna in our school for thewife to do the housework, and the husband (whois obliged to support her) to earn the living, sincethis is how the Prophet (Allah bless him and give.him peace) divided the work between Fatima and'Ali (Allah be well pleased with them)) (alMuhadhdhabfi fiqh ai-Imam al-Shafi'i (yI25),
2.68).A WIFE'S MARITAL OBLIGATIONSIN THE HANAFI SCHOOL(Nahlawi:) The wife's serving her husbandat home-by cooking, cleaning, and bakingbread-is religiously obligatory for her, and if shedoes not, she is committing a sin, though it is notsomething that she may be forced to do by thecourt (al-Durar al-mubaha fi ai-hazr wa ai-ibaha(y99),I72).
CONTRACEPTION (from m5.5)*
(Yusuf Qaradawi:) Islam has encouragedprolific reproduction and blessed children, maleand female
But birth control has been made a dispensationfor the Muslim when rational motivesand real necessities call for it
The prevalentmeans people resorted to for preventing ordiminishing births in the time of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) was coitusinterruptus, placing the sperm outside the wombwhen ejaculation was felt imminent, and theprophetic Companions did this during the time ofprophethood and divine inspiration
Bukhari andMuslim relate from Jabir, ""We used to practicecoitus interruptus in the time of the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace), Whilethe Koran was being revealed."" And in SahihMuslim: ""We used to practice coitus interruptusin the time of the Messenger of Allah (Allah blesshim and give him peace)
Word of this reachedhim and he did not prohibit it.""A man came to the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) and said: ""0 Messenger ofAllah, I have a bondwoman with whom I practicecoitus interruptus
I do not want her to getpregnant, but I want what men want
The Jews saythat coitus interruptus is a lesser form of killingone's children."" The Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said:""The Jews have lied
If Allah wanted tocreate it, you would not be able to prevent it.""(al-Halal wa al-haramfi aI-Islam (yllO), 191-92)
THE OFFENSIVENESS OFCONTRACEPTION IN THESHAFI'J SCHOOL(Ghazali:) It is of the etiquette of intercoursenot to practice coitus interruptus, therebeing disagreement among scholars as to the permissibilityor offensiveness of doing so, though thecorrect position in our opinion is that it is permissible,As for its offensiveness, offensive is a termapplied to things whose prohibition is closer to theunlawful, things whose prohibition is closer to thepermissible, and things involving merely the non-
performance of something meritorious; and it (n:coitus interruptus) is offensive in this third sense,the nonperformance of a meritorious act, just as itis said, for example, that ""it is offensive for someonein a mosque to sit without invoking Allah(dhikr) or praying,"" or ""it is offensive for someoneliving in Mecca not to perform the hajj everyyear."" The meaning of this offensiveness is merelythat it is forgoing what is fitter and morepraiseworthy, as we established earlier in explainingthe virtue of having a child (Ihya' 'ulum ai-din(y39) , 2.47).
UNBELIEF (from 08.7(11))*
(Muhammad 'Alawi Maliki:) Manypeople error, may Allah correct them, in understandingthe real reasons that put a personbeyond the fold of Islam and necessitate that he beconsidered an unbeliever
One sees them rushingto judge Muslims as unbelievers for mere contraventionsof Sacred Law, until there is hardly aMuslim on the face of the earth, save a handful.While we endeavor to excuse such people and givethem the benefit of the doubt, saying that perhapsthey have a good motive such as the intention tofulfill the obligation to command the right and forbidthe wrong, what has escaped them is that performingthe duty of commanding the right andforbidding the wrong requires wisdom and goodlyexhortation, and ifthe matter requires argument,it must be with that which is better, as Allah MostHigh says,""Call to the path of your Lord with wisdomand goodly-exhortation, and argue with them withthat which is better"" (Koran 16:125),for this is likelier to gain acceptance and achieveone's purpose, and to.do otherwise is error andfolly.If one tries to convince a Muslim-whoprays, fulfills the obligations of Allah, avoids whatHe has prohibited, invites people to His religion,maintains His mosques, and keeps His covenants--to accept something one feels is the truth,but he views the matter to be otherwise, and theopinion of Islamic scholars affirming and denyingit has been divided since time immemorial, and hewill not agree with one's point of view; then if onecharges him with unbelief merely because heopposes one's opinion, one has committed linenormous wrong and a grievous sin that Allah hasforbidden, having rather called us to criticize withwisdom and graciousness
There is scholarly consensusthat it is unlawful to charge with unbeliefanyone who faces Mecca to pray, unless he deniesthe Almighty Creator, Majestic and Exalted,commits open polytheism that cannot beexplained away by extenuating circumstances,denies prophethood, or something which is necessarilyknown as being of the religion, or which ismutawatir (def: o22.1(d(II))) (N: whether the latteris of the Koran or hadith), or which there isscholarly consensus upon its being necessarilyknown as part of the religion
Necessarily knownmeans such things as the oneness of Allah, theattributes of prophethood, that prophetic messengerhoodhas ended with Muhammad (Allahbless him and give him peace), the resurrection onthe Last Day, the Final Reckoning, the recompense,and paradise and hell-the denier of any ofwhich is an unbeliever, and which no Muslim hasan excuse for ignorance of, unless he is a new convertto Islam, who is excused until he can learn,but not afterwards.To judge a Muslim to be an unbeliever foranything besides the above is a very dangerousthing, as has come in the hadith,""If someone says to his fellow Muslim, 'Youunbeliever,' one of them deserves the name.""I t is not valid for such a judgement to proceedfrom anyone except someone who knows thethings that involve unbelieffrom those that acquitone of it in the light of the Sacred Law, and thestrict demarcation between faith and unbeliefaccording to the standards of the Law of Islam
Itis not permissible for any human being to rushonto the field and charge another with unbelief onthe basis of opinions and imaginings without havingchecked and made sure, and without firmknowledge
Otherwise the torrent would flood thevalley floor, and not a Muslim would remain onthe face of the earth, except a few
The Imam ofthe Two Sanctuaries (n: Juwayni) has said, ""If wewere asked to distinguish the expressions thatdeserve to be considered unbelief from those thatdo not, we would reply that this is a wish for somethingpointless to wish for, being too distant areach and too stony a path to tread, involving as itdoes the very bases of the science of divine unity;someone who does not attain to the furthestreaches of the facts cannot arrive at anything reliableto vindicate his criteria for unbelief.""Because of this, we urge the utmost caution,in other than the above-mentioned cases, againstcareless accusations of unbelief, for they areextremely dangerous
And Allah guides to thebest of ways, and unto Him is the final destination(Mafahim yajibu an tusahhaha (y83), 5-7).
DEVIATIONS AND ABERRATIONSTHAT ARE UNQUESTIONABLY INVALID(Muhammad Sa'id Buti:) We do not considerdeviations and aberrations to include anyposition reflecting a disagreement betweenIslamic scholars resulting from their differenceson derived rulings or particular applications ofSacred Law, for these all return to its basicmethodology
Rather
we categorically affirmthat this is a normal variance entailed by thevery nature of the case (dis b6.2) and itsmethodological bases, though we subject thesevarious viewpoints to an examination of which isthe soundest, classifying them according to theirrelative strengths and weaknesses
each of usthrough his own reasoning (ijtihad) and judgement.Nor do deviant and aberrant opinions necessarilyentail the unbelief of the people who holdthem, or being beyond the pale of Islam
Rather,there are some opinions so deviant that they reachthe degree of negating what is necessarily knownas being of the religion, leading to what theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)termed open unbelief; others whose deviancereaches only the degree of being a violation of themethodological principles concurred upon byscholars of the Arabic language and hence byscholars of Islamic Law, entailing blameworthyinnovation (bid'a)
and perhaps corruption andturning from the truth without excuse; and stillothers whose deviance and aberrance wavers betweenreaching actual unbelief and merely fallingwithin the bounds of corruption and blameworthyinnovation, the honest and sincere investigatornot finding any firm basis to consider them unbe-I lief, yet not being able to accept with confidencethat they are only a marginal deviance that doesnot compromise the person who holds them or puthim outside of Islam
In dealing with this categoryof deviations and intellectual aberrances, we preferto follow the way of greater precaution
whichin this context consists of understanding people'sstates insofar as possible as if they were still withinthe fold of Islam and under its rubric
For the mistakeof giving them the benefit of the doubt doesnot entail the losses entailed by making a mistakeby not giving them it and accusing them of unbeliefand having left Islam
Despite which, we spareno effort to explain their corruption, and that theyhave innovated something Allah Mighty andMajestic has not given leave to; explaining theirdeviation from the methodology agreed upon bythe scholars of this Community and warningpeople not to be misled by them or affected bytheir falsehoods (al-Salafiyya marhala zamaniyyamubaraka la madhhab Islami (y34) , 109-10).*
(A:) Weak (da'if) is a term for any hadithwith a chain oftransmission containinga narrator whose memory was poor, one who was not trustworthy, notidentified by name, or for other reasons
But weak cannot simply be equated withfalse
Were this the case, mere analysis ofthe transmitters would be the universalcriterion for acceptance or rejection of particular rulings based on hadiths
Whilescholars do use this measure in upgrading the work of preceding generations oflegal authorities, they have not employed it as a simplistic expedientto eliminateevery piece of legal information that is connected with a weak hadith, because ofvarious considerations.
MULTIPLE MEANS OF TRANSMISSIONOne of these is that when a piece of information is received through ameans of transmission that mayor may not be trustworthy, we generally havedoubts about it
But when one and the same piece of information reaches usthrough several completely different channels, even though each one mayor maynot be trustworthy, the logical probability of the information's falsity is muchreduced
And if we receive the very same piece of information from ten suchchannels, the possibility of its falsity does not usually even come to mind.This verificatory principle has two important implications, one being theobligatory nature of belief in hadiths that are mutawatir (def: 022.1(d(JI))), andthe second being the weight that hadith scholars give to multiple means of transmission,which can raise a hadith from well authenticated (hasan) to rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih), or from weak (da'if) to well authenticated, as described inthe following account of a hadith's reclassification by a major specialist in hadithforgeries.('Ali Qari:) The hadith ""I am the city ofknowledge and' Ali is its gate,"" was mentioned byTirmidhi in his Jami', where he said it wasun acknowledgeable
Bukhari also said this, andsaid that it was without legitimate claim to authenticity.Ibn Ma'in said that it was a baseless lie, asdid Abu Hatim and Yahya ibn Sa'id
Ibn Jawzirecorded it in his book of hadith forgeries, and wasconfirmed by Dhahabi and others in this
IbnDaqiq al-'Eid said, ""This hadith is not confirmedby scholars, and is held by some to be spurious.""Daraqutni stated that it was uncorroborated
IbnHajar 'Asqalani was asked about it and answeredthat it was well authenticated (hasan), not rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih), as Hakim had said,but not a forgery (mawdu') as Ibn Jawzi had said:This was mentioned by Suyuti
The hadith master(hafiz) Abu Sa'id 'Ala'i said, ""The truth is that thehadith is well authenticated (hasan), in view of itsmultiple means of transmission, being neitherrigorously authenticated (sahih) nor weak (da'if),much less a forgery"" (Risala al-mawdu'at (y112),(A:) Thus, when the person who has related a hadith is an Islamic scholar ofthe first rank, it is not enough for a student or popular writer to find one chain oftransmission for the hadith that is weak
There are a great many hadiths withseveral chains of transmission, and adequate scholarly treatment of how theseaffect a hadith's authenticity has been traditionally held to require a master(hafiz), those like Bukhari, Muslim, Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, or Suyuti who havememorized at least 100,000 hadiths-their texts, chains of transmission, andnificance-to undertake the comparative study of the hadith's various chains oftransmission that cannot be accurately assessed without such knowledge
Today,when not one hadith master (hafiz) remains in the Muslim Community, we do notaccept the judgement of any would-be reclassifiers ofhadith, no matter how largetheir popular following, unless it is corroborated by the work of previous hadithmasters.
Another reason why weak cannot simply be equated with false is the factthat weak is an attribute of the hadith's chain of transmission, while false is anattribute of the hadith's text
These are two different things, and the relationshipbetween their respective reliabilities is a probabilistic expectation (istinbat) thatis neither strictly causal, nor yet a necessary logical implication (lazim), therebeing four logical possibilities for any hadith:(1) a sound text and sound chain of transmission, as with well-authenticated(hasan) or rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadiths;(2) a sound text and an unsound chain of transmitters, reflecting the possibilitythat a transmitter with a poor memory, or unknown to the person whorecorded the hadith, or one not trustworthy, is in principle capable of relating thehadith correctly;(3) an unsound text and unsound chain of transmitters, as with hadiths thatare forged (mawdu');(4) or an unsound text and a sound chain of transmitters, reflecting the possibilitythat one of those who classify the personalities and reliability of varioushadith transmitters could in principle make an error in their ijtihad regarding aparticular person.Because of the distinction between text and transmission, forms of evidenceother than the authenticity rating of the chain of narrators are sometimes admissible,as when there is a consensus of legal scholars who have received the hadithwith acceptance, which is an acknowledged form of corroboration for hadiths ofthe second type mentioned above.(Isma'il Ansari:) Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani says:""Among the characteristics that necessitateacceptance is for scholars of Sacred Law to haveconcurred on applying the implications of ahadith
Such a hadith is acceptable, even obligatoryto apply, as a number of the Imams of fundamentalsof Islam (usul) have explicitly stated.Shafi'i, for example, says, 'What I have said aboutwater when its taste, odor, and color change, hasbeen related from the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) through a channel of transmissionthat hadith scholars do not confirm thelike of, but it is the position of all scholars withouta single dissenting voice I know of.' And he said ofthe hadith 'There is no bequest to an estate divisionheir'-'Scholars of hadith do not corroborateit, but all scholars receive it with acceptance andapply it.' ""Ibn al-Qayyim, in his !'lam al-muwaqqi'in,when discussing the hadith of Mu'adh aboutjudgements (A: in which the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) asked Mu'adh ibn Jabalwhen dispatching him to Yemen how he wouldjudge, to which Mu'adh replied that he wouldjudge first by the Koran, then by the sunna, andthen by his own reasoning (ijtihad)), says, ""Legalscholars accept it and employ it as evidence, fromwhich we learn that they hold it to be rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih), just as we learn of theauthenticity of the Prophet's saying (Allah blesshim and give him peace):(1) ""'There is no bequest to an estate divisionheir.'(2) ""'[The hadith about the sea,] Its water ispurifying,'(3) ""'When buyer and seller differ about theprice they have agreed upon and the merchandisestill exists, each swears [N: that his side of tliestory is correct] and [N: if they cannot agree 1 theycancel the sale.'(4) ""'The killer's extended family is responsiblefor the indemnity ..""Even if these hadiths are unauthenticated intheir chains of transmission, since virtually allscholars have related them, the hadiths' authenticity,which they accept, eliminates their need toverify the channels of transmission, and so it is toowith the hadith of Mu'adh: the fact that all scholarshave adduced it as evidence eliminates theneed for their checking its means of transmission.""And Ibn 'Abd ai-Barr says in al-Istidhkar,concerning Tirmidhi's having related that Bukharisaid of the hadith of the sea ""Its water is purifying""that it was rigorously authenticated (sahih)""Hadith scholars do not consider hadiths with thelike of its chain of transmission to be rigorouslyauthenticated (sahih), though I hold it to be so,because scholars have received it with acceptance""(al-Isaba fi nusra al-Khulafa' al-Rnshidinwa al-Sahaba (yl0), 11.8-9).(A:) Among the primary textual evidence for the admissibility of suchhadiths is the word of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):""Allah will never make my Community concurupon misguidance, and Allah's hand is overthe group.""So it is inadequate for someone who proposes to annul a ruling of Sacred Lawto adduce that the hadith supporting it has a weak chain of transmission, unless hecan also establish both that there are not a number of similar variants or alternatechannels of transmission that strengthen it, confirming this by means of a text bya hadith master (hafiz); and that the meaning of the hadith has not been receivedwith acceptance by the scholars of the Muslim Community.*
(A:) A Muslim may take wages for lawful work from a government whosemain income is non-Islamic tax revenueS on condition that at least some of thegovernment's property is from lawful transactions such as the money taken fromcustomers paying for postal services, etc.; the legal basis for which is the principlethat ""the legitimate in Sacred Law is that whose origin is unknown,"" meaning notestablished to be unlawful
Similarly, it is lawful to accept money from a merchant,for example, who deals in interest with a bank, since one is able to presumethat the money one is accepting is from the lawful part of his wealth.
('Abd al-Ghaffar 'Uyun ai-Sud:) Oneshould realize that the prohibition of picture makingis extremely severe, that it is counted amongthe enormities, and the threats against doing it arevery emphatic
Bukhari and Muslim relate that aman came to Ibn 'Abbas (Allah be well pleasedwith him and his father) and said, ""My livelihoodcomes solely from my hands, and I make these pictures.Can you give me a legal opinion aboutthem?"" Ibn 'Abbas told him, ""Come closer,"" andthe man did
""Closer ,"" he said, and the man did,until he put his hand on the man's head and said:""Shall I tell you what I heard from the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace)?I heard the Messenger of Allah say,.
'Every maker of pictures will go to the fire,where a being will be set upon him to torment himin hell for each picture he made.'""So if you must, draw trees and things without animatelife in them,""And Tinnidhi relates that the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) said,""On the Day of Judgement, part of thehellfire wiil come forth with two eyes with whichto see, two ears with which to hear, and a tonguewith which to speak, saying, 'I have been orderedto deal with three: he who holds there is anothergod besides Allah, with every arrogant tyrant, andwith makers of pictures.' ""And Bukhari, Tirmidhi, and Nasa'i relate theprophetic hadith from Ibn 'Abbas,""Whoever makes a picture, Allah shall torturehim with it on the Day of Judgement until hecan breathe life into it, and he will never beable to.""
IMITATING THE CREATIVE ACT OF ALLAHThe reason for the unlawfulness of pictorialrepresentation is that it imitates the creativeact of Allah Most High, as is indicated by thehadith related by Bukhari and Muslim that' A'isha(Allah be well pleased with her) said, ""TheProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)returned from a trip, and I had draped a cloth withpictures on it over a small closet
When he saw it,he ripped it down, his face COlored, and he said,"" , 'A'isha, the people most severely torturedby Allah on the Day of Judgement will be thosewho try to imitate what Allah has created,' ""the representation in question consisting ofwinged horses, as is mentioned in Muslim's version.(A: If the sole basis for the prohibition ofpictures was that they were worshipped in preIslamictimes as gods, as has been claimed by certaincontemporary scholars, there would havebeen no point in the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) tearing the cloth down, since'A'isha was not an idol worshipper or raisedamong idolators.)
PROCURING PICTURESThe foregoing hadiths show that producingrepresentations is unlawful under any circumstances,and just as making a picture isunlawful, so too is procuring one, because thethreat that pertains to the maker pertains to theuser, for pictures are only made tp be used.
(A:) The determining factor in the prohibition of procuring images is thepurpose for which they are procured
For example, someone who buys cookieswith the shape of animals is not doing wrorig if his purpose is to eat, though themaker of them is doing wrong
And similarly with books containing pictures, ifthe buyer intends obtaining the text, then the presence of pictures is the fault ofthe printer, not the buyer
The same holds for photographs (dis: w50.9) requiredfor official documents: the authorities are responsible for the sin, not the individualforced to comply
As for dolls, making them is unlawful, though using themis merely offensive
And with rugs, making pictures in them is unlawful, thoughusing such rugs is permissible.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGESRegarding the prohibition, it makes nodifference whether the figure is three-dimensional(lit
""has a shadow"") or not, meaning when it hasa solid form; as opposed to when it is portrayed onpaper, a garment, a wall, or something else
Thisposition (N: of there being no difference betweenimages that are three-dimensional or otherwise)was held by the majority of the Companions,those who came after them, and the following generation,as is mentioned by Nawawi
Some of theearly Muslims held that two-dimensional imageswere permissible, a view for which they adducedthe Abu Talha hadith related by Bukhari andothers, in which an exception is made for imagesdepicted on cloth; But Nawawi understands theexception as referring to the depiction of trees andsimilar objects without animate life, interpretingthe hadith this way to reach an accord between itand the above hadith (w50.2) about the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) tearing downthe cloth with which' A'isha had covered the smallcloset, for it consisted of mere drawn images withoutthree dimensions
Nawawi says, ""The viewthat non-three-dimensional images are unobjectionableis a falsehood,"" declaring it invalid
But ifnot an outright falsehood, it is a position that theevidence is against
(A: This was the position ofsome of the later followers of Imam Malik
As forthe Imam himself, he held that pictures were asunlawful as statues.)
IMAGES PREVENT ANGELS FROMENTERING A HOUSEAnother reason pictures are unlawful isthat they prevent angels from entering the housewhere they are found (N: meaning the angels ofmercy, though protecting angels enter suchhouses), as is attested to by the hadith related byBukhari that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) said,""Angels do not enter a house in which thereare pictures,""house meaning any place a person is, whether it bea building
tent
or other
Qurtubisays, ""Angelsdo not enter a house where there are picturesbecause the person who puts them there is imitatingnon-Muslims, who put pictures in their homesand 'honor them, the angels abandoning such aperson for this.""Nasa'i relates that Abu Hurayra (Allah bewell pleased with him) said, ""Gabriel (uponwhom be peace) asked the Prophet for permissionto enter his house, and when the Prophet told himto come in, Gabriel replied, 'How can I come inwhen there is a curtain in your house with pictureson it?
You should either remove their heads ormake it a mat to walk on, for we angels do notenter a house in which there are pictures,' "" whichshows that the pictures that prevent angels fromentering are those that retain their original formand are in an unhumiliated deployment
As forimages that are abased and walked upon by feet,or those whose form has been altered, these donot bar the angels' entry
altered meaning theonlooker imagines it is not the form of a livingbeing
as is clearly implied by the version of thishadith related in the Sunan as .
' ...
Order that theheads of the images be removed so they resemblethe form of trees.""
PORTRAITSSome people might think there is no harmin having portraits made today because they arenot full length but are rather from the chest up,imagining this to be permissible from the words ofthe scholars that ""if a picture lacks a portion withoutwhich the figure could not liye, there is noharm in it
"" This is a mistake that should be abandoned,for by the expression without which thefigure could not live, scholars mean that the beholder'smind does not register the figure is a livingone but rather perceives it as dead
Now,someone looking at pictures of only the upper halfdoes not apprehend the figure as dead, but ratheras living, save only that the lower half is as thoughsunken in a place that conceals it, or covered bysomething, which is because the lower half is notmet by the viewer's gaze, and the area in view ismerely confined to the upper half
For this reason,some scholars prohibit portrayal of the headalone, and whoever reflects on Gabriel's words,""Order that the heads of the figures be removedso that they resemble trees,"" can plainly see thetruth of what we have mentioned.
Others suppose that the sole reason forprohibiting pictures is that they were worshippedas gods apart from Allah, and that today there isno longer any danger of it, so there is no harm inhaving them
And this is totally wrong, for thebanning of images is not only because they wereworshipped, but also because of their imitatingthe creative act of Allah Most High, and the emulationtherein of non-Muslims.To summarize, the use of pietures comes ofweakness of faith and unconcern for religious matters.Whoever prefers what his Master wishesabove what gratifies his own ego and what hewould personally care for will stay as far fromthem as possible (al-Riyad al-nadirasuratayy al-Fatiha wa al-Baqara1.139-44).PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANIMATE LIFEfi ta/sir(y133),
(n: Photography did not exist in previous eras of Islamic scholarship, andcontemporary scholars are divided about it
Some, like Muhammad BakhitMuti'i, contend that photography is not picture making, but merely ""the retentionof an object's shadow"" (habs al-zill) and therefore permissible, while others,like the author of the passage below, have not accepted such reasoning
Becauseof scholarly disagreement concerning its permissibility, one is not entitled to condemnMuslims who use photographs, though one may still distinguish betweenthis dispensation (rukhsa, def: c6.3) and what is the stronger position and moreprecautionary in religion, and to this end the following article has been translated.)(Muhammad Hamid:) A factual questionarises here, namely that the photographic devieedoes not act except through an agent, who causesthis ""shadow"" to be fixed and retained by aimingand focusing the camera at a particular object topermit this fixation and make this retentionappear
But since this is really an aquisition and isprecisely image making, and since the prohibitionof making pictures by the hand alone is not merelybecause of the hand""s motion but because of whatit thereby produces, then if the result is the same,should not the ruling also be?
Moreover, handmadeimages do not give the picture the fidelity ofthe camera-made image, which delineates features;conveys reality, and reveals details so thatnothing great or small escapes it, being thus ablerthan the unaided hand to achieve pictorial representation,beeause of which the prohibition ofmaking pictures thereby applies to it with still betterright, and can never be mitigated by the merefact that it consists in pressing a button as long aswhat is .forbidden is even more fully realizedthereby, since matters are judged by theirintended outcomes; in permissibility or beingunlawful
Just as killing someone by pressing aparticular button on a device is unlawful, so toomaking a picture by this pressure is unlawful inview of the effect and result
Nor does the fact thatit is widespread among people justify it
It is nodifferent than interest (riba), adultery, drinking,gambling, or other blameworthy acts whose nighthas overspread the people and darknessenveloped them
The commonness of somethingthat is wrong never makes it permissible
Andgroping for support from Sacred Law for each newreprehensible practice that appears is a dangerousmisstep that forebodes great evil
Allah MostHigh says,'These are Allah's limits, so transgress themnot, for whoever goes beyond Allah's limits, thoseare the wrongdoers"" (Koran 2:229).(Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'il al-Shc..:;kh Muhammadai-Hamid (y44), 1.164-(5)
TELEVISION:(n:) The Council ofIslamic Scholars (Majlisul Ulama) of Port Elizabeth,South Africa, have published a booklet on Islam and television in which they listthe factors present in television that are unlawful or offensive, the existence of anyone of which is sufficient to make watching it a violation of Sacred Law, including:(1) pictures of animate objects and picture making (dis: w50);(2) music (r40.1);(3) immorality, nudity, illicit sex, pornography, etc
(m2.3-8);(4) obscene language (r26.2);(5) incitement to fornication (pI2);(6) negation of modesty (haya', dis: r26.1(2));(7) scenes of violence, sadism, and crime in general portrayed (r 13.1);(8) the addictive influence exercised by TV;(9) it encourages the acceptance of aggression as a mode of behavior(p48.1);(10) it encourages imitation ofthe crimes portrayed (r7.1(3,(end)));(11) the brainwashing action of TV, especially on the young (t3.16);(12) TV stunts intellectual growth (w41.3);(13) it wastes time (r13.3);(14) it interferes with one's religious duties and one's necessary and importantworldly duties (k29.5(4));(15) it diverts one's attention from the remembrance of Allah (rl.2(S));(16) and it falls under the category described by Islam as pointless amusement(lahw, def: rI3.3).(MajJisul Ulama:) In the face of this formidable array of evil factors andharmful effects no one can have any doubt of the illegality oftelevision in Islam.Television, as has been seen, is an embodiment of sin and immorality
Islam cannever condone or permit an institution which plays havoc with the spiritual, mental,and moral development of mankind (Islam and Television (y78), 20-21).*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""May Allah curse women who wear false hairor arrange it for others, who tattoo or have themselvestattooed, who pluck facial hair or eyebrowsor have them plucked, and women who separatetheir front teeth for beauty, altering what Allahhas created.""
(Ibn Hajar ""Asqalani:) Nawawi says that""an exception from the prohibition of pluckingaway facial hair is when a woman has a beard,mustache, or hair growing between her lower lipand chin, in which cases it is not unlawful for herto remove it, but rather is commendable (mustahabb),""the permissibility being on conditionthat her husband knows of it and gives his permission,though it is prohibited if he does not,because of the deception it entails (Fath ai-Ban(y17),10.378).*
(A:) Ibn Hajar's purpose in al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf al-kaba'ir is to warnreaders against any act that an Islamic scholar has classified as an enormity.Because of the wider scope of the work, he does not confine himself, as doesImam Dhahabi, to sins agreed upon by scholars as being enormities, but alsorecords those which are differed about, mentioning them by way of furnishing afuller definition of godfearingness (taqwa).INWARD ENORMITIES(1) Associating others with Allah Most High(shirk);(2) the lesser form of associating others withAllah (shirk), which is showing off in good works;(3) anger without right, malice, and envy;(4) arrogance, pride, and conceit;(5) cheating others;(6) hypocrisy;(7) excesses against others;(8) keeping aloof from others out of pride orcontempt for them;(9) conversations about what does not concernone (def: w54);(10) acquisitive greed;(11) fear of poverty;(12) resentment about what Allah MostHigh has destined;(13) admiring the rich and honoring them fortheir wealth;(14) sarcasm towards the poor because oftheir poverty;(15) avarice in holding on to one's possessions;(16) vying with others for worldly gain andtaking pride in it;(17) adorning oneself for the sake of one'sfellow creatures with what is unlawful as adornment;(18) compromising one's principles (def:r17);(19) enjoying being praised for what onedoes not do;(20) being too occupied with others' faults tonotice one's own;(21) forgetting one's blessings;(22) zealotry for other than Allah's religion;(23) being unthankful;(24) not accepting fate (dis: w59);(25) for a person not to take the rights ofAllah Most High and His commands seriously;(26) sarcasm towards, looking down on, orhaving contempt for the servants of Allah MostHigh;(27) following one's caprice and ignoring thetruth;(28) plotting and treachery;(29) wanting the life of this world (N: morethan the next);(30) obstinately opposing the truth;(31) thinking badly of a Muslim or not givinghim the benefit of the doubt;(32) not accepting the truth when it conflictswith one's own preference, or when it comes fromsomeone one dislikes;(33) exulting in disobedience;(34) persisting in disobedience;(35) loving to be praised for one's acts ofobedience;(36) satisfaction with the life of this worldand being contented with it;(37) forgetting Allah Most High and the nextworld;(38) anger for the sake of one's ego and vindicatingor justifying oneself when in the wrong;(39) feeling secure from Allah's intrigue bycommitting acts of disobedience while relying onHis mercy;(40) despairing of Allah's mercy;(41) thinking badly of Allah Most High;(42) loss of all hope in Allah's mercy;(43) learning Sacred Knowledge for the sakeof this world;(44) concealing Sacred Knowledge;(45) not applying what one knows (N: inmatters that occur);(46) claims to knowledge, mastery of theKoran, or any act of worship, made out of prideand boastfulness;(47) neglect that results in the loss of peoplesuch as Islamic scholars, or sarcasm towards them;(48) intentionally lying about Allah MostHigh;(49) intentionally ,ying about the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace);(50) inaugurating a reprehensible innovation;(51) abandoning the sunna; .WI!lj (0\)(52) disbelief in destiny;(53) not fulfilling the terms of an agreement(A: if one intends this from its outset);(54) love of oppressors or the immoral, nomatter what the type of their immorality;(55) hating the righteous (N: for their righteousness);(56) harming the friends of Allah (awliya')and enmity towards them;(57) reviling destiny;(58) saying something that causes great harmor extensive damage, something that angers AllahMost High but to which the speaker payslittle attention;(59) being ungrateful to someone who doesone a kindness;(60) neglecting to say the blessings on theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)when one hears his name mentioned;(Yusuf Nabahani:) Ibn Salah says: ""Oneshould be diligent about writing Allah's blessingsand peace on the Messenger of Allah (Allah blesshim and give him peace) whenever he is mentioned,and not grow weary of repeating it as oftenas it occurs, for this is one of the greatest benefitsattained by students of hadith and their copyists,while someone oblivious to it misses an enormousreward
The blessings thus recorded are a writtenprayer, not words being quoted, so they are notrestricted to the written version of the text that isrelated or the words of the original
..
One shouldavoid writing it in two defective styles, one ofwhich is deficient in form, i.e
alluding to theblessings by two letters or the like, as certain lazy,ignorant, or unlearned people do, writing pbuhinstead of 'Allah bless him and give him peace';while the other is deficient in meaning, i.e
by notadding the words 'and give him peace' "" (Sa'adaal-darayn fi al-salat 'ala Sayyid al-Kawnayn (y96),189);(61) such hardheartedness as would preventone from feeding a needy person, for example;(62) acquiescing to any enormity;(63) aiding someone in committing an enormity;(64) persisting in wickedness and obscenityuntil people fear one for one's evil;(65--{)6) cutting minted coins (N: into segmentsof which some are smaller than others andcause loss to users, and because it is destruction ofMuslim moneys); or minting it in a fraudulent waythat if people knew of, they would not accept;PURIFICATION(67) eating or drinking from a gold or silvervessel;(68) forgetting the Koran, any of its verses,or even a single letter (A: the prohibition offorgetting the Koran being taken literally by theShafi'i school, according to whom repentanceentails rememorizing what has been forgotten,though not for Malik and Abu Hanifa, who interpretforgetting as abandoning its implications);(69) disputation and picking apart another'swords--meaning to argue with another seekingmerely to win or defeat him-when discussing theKoran or religion;(70) defecating on a path;(71) not eliminating all traces of urine fromone's person or clothes;(72) omitting any of the integrals of ablution(wudu);(73) omlttmg any of the integrals of thepurificatory bath (ghusl);(74) disclosing one's nakedness when thereis no need, including entering a (N: public)bathhouse without a covering;(75) sexual intercourse with a woman duringmenstruation;THE PRAYER(76) deliberately not performing the prescribedprayer;(77) deliberately performing the prayerbefore or after its time without an excuse such astravel or similar;(78) sleeping on a roof that lacks a wallaround its edges;(79) omitting an obligatory feature of theprayer;(80) lengthening one's hair with false hair, orhaving it done;(81) tattooing, or having it done;(82) sharpening the teeth or having it done;(83) plucking eyebrows or facial hair, or havingit done;(84) walking in front of someone at prayerwho has placed a barrier before himself;(85) the people of a village or town all hangingback from praying one of the five prescribedprayers in congregation when the conditionsobliging them to perform it in a group exist;(86) for an imam to lead a group of peoplewho dislike him;(87) leaving a row of people at prayer incomplete;(88) not straightening the row of peoplepraying;(89) getting ahead of the imam in the actionsof the prayer;(90) raising one's eyes to the sky during theprayer;
i)L..aJi(91) turning (N: one's chest) to either sidewhen performing the prayer;(92) putting one's hands on the hips while atprayer;(93-98) taking graves as places of worship(def: w21.1); lighting lamps over them; takingthem as idols; circumambulating around them;putting one's hands on them; or performing theprayer towards them;(99-100) travelling alone «Ibn HajarHaytami:) ...
The position ofIbn Khuzayma thatthis is disobedience is interpreted as referring tosomeone who knows that considerable harmwould result from his travelling alone or with onlyone companion); or for a woman to travel alonewhere indecencies may occur (N: which is an enormityif this is likely, but merely unlawful if it isnot);(101) cancelling a trip or returning from onebecause of a ""bad omen"";(102) neglecting to pray the Friday prayer incongregation when there is no excuse, even if onesays one is ""performing the noon prayer (zuhr)alone"";(103) stepping over people seated in themosque for the Friday prayer;(104) sitting in the center of a circle of people;UNLAWFUL DRESS(105) for an adult male to wear pure silk (orcloth whose weight is mostly silk, even if it doesnot show) without an excuse such as preventinglice or itching;(106) a male wearing gold, such as a ring, orwearing silver other than rings;(107) men imitating wOJllen in things usuallyconsidered characteristic of women's dress,speech, and so forth; or vice versa;(108) a woman wearing a thin garment thatreveals her body contours, or her inclining (N:showing desire for others) and making othersincline towards her;(109) having one's wraparound, robe,sleeves, or turban ends overly long from conceit;(110) having a strutting gait;(111) dying the beard or hair black for otherthan jihad or the like;(112) for a person to say after it rains, ""Thecoming of such and such a star has brought usrain,"" believing it to have an effect;THE FUNERAL PRAYER(113) clawing or slapping one's cheeks andthe like (N: out of grief);(114) ripping one's collar;(115) cries of lamentation;(116) listening to them;(117) shaving off or pulling out one's hair;(118) cries of ""woe"" or ""disaster"" in afflictions;(119) breaking the bones of the dead (A: orautopsies);(120) sitting on graves;(121) praying upon graves or lighting lampsover them;(122) women visiting graves (dis: w34.1,end);(123) women following funeral processions;(124) healing or protective words (ruqya)(N: that violate the conditions of Sacred Law (dis:wI7.1));(125) hanging on an amulet (dis: wI7.3);(126) disliking to meet Allah Most High;ZAKAT(127) not paying zakat;(128) delaying payment after it is due, withoutlawful excuse;(129) for a creditor who knows that hisdebtor cannot pay to show greed towards him bypestering him or detaining him;(130) dishonesty in handling or takingcharity;(131) collecting un-Islamic taxes or gettinginvolved with any of the proceeds thereof (dis:p32);(132) someone asking for charity who is notin need of it because of either having money orbeing able to earn some, but who rather asks outof greed or acquisitiveness;(133) asking for charity with irritating insistencethat injures the person being asked;(134) not giving a relative the charity he hasbeen compelled to ask one for, when able to giveit and there is no excuse not to;(135) reminding recipients of one's charity tothem;(136) not giving access to one's surplus waterwhen the person asking it is in need of it;(137) being ungrateful for Allah's creatures'kindness to one, which entails being ungrateful forAllah's kindness to one;(138) to ask for anything besides paradisewith the words ""for Allah's sake"" (bi wajh Allah);(139) not to give to someone who asks ""forAllah's sake"";FASTING(140) not fasting a day of Ramadan;(141) breaking one's fast during it;(142) delaying making up a fast-day ofRamadan missed without excuse;(143) a woman fasting a day that is notobligatory for her to fast immediately, when herhusband is present and without his consent;(144) fasting on the two 'Eids, or on thethree days that follow 'Eid al-Adha (Ayam alTashriq);(145-46) nonperformance of a period ofspiritual retreat (i'tikaf) that one has vowed for acertain time; or vitiating it by something such aslovemaking;(147) lovemaking in a mosque, even if not inspiritual retreat (i'tikaf);THE PILGRIMAGE(148) nonperformance of the pilgrimage(hajj) until one's death, after having been able toperform it;(149) lovemaking on hajj or 'umra beforepartial release from ihram (def: j9.13);(150) for someone in ihram for hajj or 'umrato kill a game animal;(151) a woman entering ihram for asupererogatory hajj or 'umra without her spouse'spermission;(152) not considering the Kaaba sacrosanct(N: i.e
not respecting it as one should);(153) violating the- sanctity of the MeccanSacred Precinct (Haram) (dis: p72);(154-59) frightening the people of theProphet's city of Medina (upon its overseer be thebest of prayers and peace); intending evil towardsthem; inaugurating an innovation (bid'a) therein,meaning a sin (N: like the opening of banks), orsheltering whoever does such a thing; cutting thetrees of Medina; or cutting its grass;(160) nonperformance of the 'Bid al-Adhasacrifice by someone (N: such as a Hanafi) whoholds it to be obligatory and is able to perform it;(161) selling the hide of an 'Bid al-Adha sacrificeanimal;(162-65) mutilating an animal by cutting offpart of its nose or ear or the like; branding an animal'sface; taking an animal as a target; or killingone for other than food;(166) not killing and slaughtering as quicklyand painlessly as possible;(167) slaughtering in the name of other thanAllah (N: is an enormity) when it is not outrightunbelief, as when one does not intend the reverenceof worship to the person for whom it isslaughtered (N: in which case it is not unbelief);(168) to release a camel to roam and pasturefreely for the rest of its life unridden and unused,in fulfillment of a vow;(169) calling someone ""the King of Kings"";(170) to take an intoxicant such as hashish,opium, henbane, ambergris, and the like, of substancesthat are not ritually unclean (najis);(171-73) to eat blood outpoured; pork; orunslaughtered meat;(174) to burn an animal with fire;(175-77) to consume something unclean(najis); revolting; or harmful;TRADE(178) selling a freeman as a slave;(179-85) consuming usurious gain (riba, def:k3); feeding the proceeds to others; recording atransaction involving it in writing; being a witnessto one; acting as a go-between for two partiesdealing in it; abetting it; or taking it through a subterfugeby someone who holds the subterfuge tobe unlawful;(186) not lending one's stud animal for use;(187) consuming wealth gotten throughinvalid transactions, or any other unlawful earnings;(188) hoarding a commodity for later sale ata high price when it becomes scarce;(189-93) selling grapes, raisins, or similar tosomeone who will make wine out of them; orwood or the like to someone who will make a musicalinstrument; weapons to non-Muslims whowill use them against us; wine to someone who willdrink it (N: as opposed to selling it to a vinegarmaker, for example); or hemp or similar to someonewho will use it as a drug;(194) having someone ""bid up"" a price tofool another bidder;(195-96) undercutting another's price ordeal (def: k4.7);(197) cheating in sales or the like, such as bynot milking a dairy animal for several days beforethe sale to give the impression she's a good milkproducer;(198) selling merchandise at a higher priceby lyingly swearing that it was purchased for morethan it was;(199) plotting and deceit;(200) selling short-measure, short-weight
orshort -footage;(201) any loan made to benefit the lender;(202) to borrow money with the intentionnot to repay;(203) to borrow money when one has nohope of repaying it, as when one does not urgentlyneed it, there is no obvious source to get themoney to repay, and the lender is ignorant of theborrower's condition;(204) fora borrower who can afford to payback a debt to delay doing so without excuse whenasked to repay;(205) consuming an orphan's property;(206) spending money, no matter how little,on something that is unlawful, even if only a lessersin;(207) to annoy one's neighbor, even if a non-Muslimsubject, by thy likes of having a view overlookinghis walls, or building somethinguncountenanced by Sacred Law that is a nuisanceto him;(208) to build higher than one needs to, out of pride;(209) surreptitiously changing property-line markers;(210) misleading a blind person from the way;(211-12) doing something to a dead-endpath or street without the permission of the peopleliving on it; or doing something to a street thatresults in considerable and unlawful annoyance topeople passing along it;(213) for someone (who holds that it is notpermissible) to do something not customarily toleratedto a shared wall without the other owner'spermission;(214) for the guarantor of a debt to refuse tocover the debt that he has guaranteed with aguarantee he believes to be valid;(215) for one member of a partnership tocheat the other;(216) for a person commissioned as an agentto betray the trust of the person who commissionedhim;(217) for a person to make a formal acknowledgementthat he owes one of his heirs or a nonheira debt, or that he has property belonging tosuch a person in his possession, when this is nottrue (N: but is rather done to cheat his estate divisionheirs of their just due, by thus effectively""willing"" (wasiyya, def: Ll.O) more than the law""ful one-third of his property to such a person, whowould be able to collect it as if it were his own,after the former's death);(218) for an ill person not to make a formalacknowledgement of his debts or the articles in hiskeeping that belong to others when no one elsewhose word is acceptable knows of them excepthis heirs;(219-20) a lying acknowledgement or denialof being someone's son;(221-23) to employ an article lent for use('ariyya) in other than the employment authorizedby its lender; for the borrower to relend it to athird party without the original lender's permissionwhen the borrower holds that such relendingis not permissible; or for the person to whom thearticle has been lent to use it beyond the timestipulated by the lender;(224) wrongful appropriation, meaningunjustly taking another's property (N: or right);(225) to delay paying someone his wages, ornot giving them to him after the work has beencompleted;(226) for someone (who holds it is unlawful)to build at 'Arafa, Muzdelifa, or Mina;(227) to forbid people things that are permissibleto them, both in general and in particular;(228) renting any part of the street toanother and taking payment for it, even if it iswithin the confines of one's property or store;(229) taking over water that is free for an touse, or forbidding such water to travellers;(230) violating the stipulations of thefounder of a pious endowment (waqf);(231-32) to use a lost and found article withouthaving fulfilled the conditions of advertising itbefore taking possession of it (dis: k27); or concealingit from its true owner after one knowswho he is;(233) not having witnesses attest to one'shaving found a foundling child;INHERITANCE AND BEQUEST(234-36) harming heirs in bequests; willingmore than a third of one's property in bequests(dis: L3.1); or to fraudulently affirm that part orall of one's property belongs to some non-heir, orthat one owes a debt that does not really exist,when this is done to prevent the estate from goingto one's rightful heirs; or to falsely affirm that adebt someone owes one has been paid off; or tosell something for a token price or buy somethingat an exorbitant sum when it is done to keep propertyfrom one's heirs, or to donate a third of one'sproperty to a charity not for Allah's sake butrather to diminish the shares of the heirs-all thisis included.in ""harming others in bequests"";(237) betraying one's trusts, such 'as withrespect to articles given to one for safekeeping,put up as collateral, rented to one, and so forth;MARRIAGE(238-40) looking with lust at a woman who isnot one's unmarriageable kin (mahram, def:m6.1) when temptation is apprehended (A: ifthere is no temptation, it is unlawful, but not anenormity); touching such a woman; or being alonewith her when neither party has one of theirunmarriageable kin present to remind them of thelimits of decorum--even if only a female-and thewoman has no husband present;(241-42) slander (def: r2); or accepting andacquiescing to it by not objecting when it is heard;(243) giving one another dislikednicknames;(244) ridicule or mockery towards a Muslim;(245) talebearing (namima, def: r3);(246) being two-faced with people (dis:r16.1), while devoid of honor in Allah's sight;·(247) calumny;(248) for a guardian to keep a woman under
JUSTICE2.3-230)(n:) Some twenty-five of the enormities listed by Ibn Hajar have beenomitted above because of being repetitions or about matters that are rare
Asstated in the preface, many scholars do not consider all of the foregoing to beenormities, among them Abu Talib Makki, who restricts them solely to sinsexplicitly designated as enormities by the primary texts.
(Abu Talib Makki:) ...
My own position,to join between the different views mentionedabove, is that they are seventeen in number
Fourof them are of the works of the heart:(1) associating others with Allah Most High(shirk);(2) persisting in disobedience to Allah MostHigh;(3) despairing of the mercy of Allah MostHigh;(4) and feeling secure from the design ofAllah Most High (def: p66).Four are of the tongue:(5) testifying to the truth of a falsehood;(6) charging someone who could be chaste(def: of3.2) with adultery;(7) swearing an engulfing oath, meaning onewhich negates something true and affirms somethingfalse, termed engulfing because it engulfs itsswearer in the wrath of Allah Most High, or inhellfire;(8) and sorcery, meaning words and acts thattransmute substances, alter people (n: changingone's love for someone to hate, for example), orremove meanings from the things for which theywere created.Three are of the stomach:(9) drinking wine or other intoxicatingbeverages;(10) wrongfully consuming an orphan'sproperty;(11) and knowingly consuming usurious gain(riba).Two are of the genitals:(12) adultery;(13) and sodomy.Two are of the hands:(14) murder;(15) and theft.One is of the feet:(16) fleeing from combat with unbelieverswhen one is not outnumbered by more than two toone, unless falling back to regroup or separatingto join another unit, believing one will attackagain.And one is of the whole body:(17) a person's undutiful treatment of hisparents, meaning, in summary, that when theyswear an oath for him to do something that is notblameworthy, he does not fulfill their oath; if theyask him for something they need, he does not giveit to them; if they trust him, he betrays them; ifthey are hungry, he eats his fill and does not feedthem; and if they revile him, he strikes them;Other scholars hold that any sin that is deliberateis an enormity ..
but what we ha\fe mentionedof the above bodily traits is among thesoundest and most equitable opinions, is whatscholars
agree upon, and is what is conveyed by agreat number of primary texts
These, then, arethe deadly enormities that if one avoids them,one's wrongs will be forgiven and one'ssupererogatory works that are like in kind to thefive duties that are the pillars of Islam (N: i.e
theTestification of Faith ""La ilaha ill Allah Muhammadunrasul Allah,"" the prayer, zakat, fastingRamadan, and ham-are counted for one
Thereason for this is because the pillars of Islam andthese enormities are antipodal counterparts,antithetical to each other in magnitude and significance,the enormities being so great that avoidingthem expiates the other, lesser sins, and if the fiveduties that are the pillars of Islam are fully performed,they too expiate other wrongdoings, theservant is rewarded for his supererogatory works,and his bad deeds are changed for good ones
Sucha person attains to great favor, and paradise is tobe hoped for him and the stations of those whostrive, for he is of the outstrippers in good deeds.Allah Most High says,""If you avoid the enormities of what you havebeen forbidden, We shall acquit you of yourwrongdoings"" (Koran 4:31),and says, after mentioning the enormities,"" ..
save he who repents, believes, and worksrighteousness: those Allah will change their baddeeds for good"" (Koran 25:70).And the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) said,""The five prayers entail forgiveness for whatis between them as long as the enormities areavoided.""When the enormities are committed, theyannul (N: supererogatory) good deeds just as thefive duties of Islam annul the bad deeds that occurbetween them other than
the enormities, whichare too great for them to annul (N: but ratherrequire a sincere repentance in order to be forgiven).So with a servant's committing enormities,nothing can remain for him on Judgement Day ofhis good works except the five duties of Islam, theenormities having devoured all his supererogatoryworks: hell is to be feared for such a person, andthe stations of the profligates, and he has trulywronged himself, which Allah Most High warnsbelievers against by saying,""0 you who believe, obey Allah and obey theProphet, and do not nullify your works"" (Koran47:33),and,""Nay, but whoever earns a wicked deed andis encompassed by his error, those are the inhabitantsof hell"" (Koran 2:81),referring, it is said, to enormities that encompassone's good deeds and efface them (Qut al-qulub(y81),2.148-49).
(Shu'ayb Arna'ut:) Bukhari and Ahmadrelate that Jabir ibn 'Abdullah said, ""I heard of ahadith that a certain man had heard from the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace), so I bought a camel, cinched my saddle onit, and travelled for a month to reach him, comingupon him in Damascus, the man being 'Abdullahibn Unays
Itold the doorman, 'Tell him labiris atthe door,' and the reply came, 'Ibn 'Abdullah?'and when I said yes, he rushed out,
stepping onthe hem of his garment
He embraced me and Ireturned his embrace and said, 'Tell me the hadithI am informed you heard from the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace) aboutretaliation
I have been afraid that you or I woulddie before I heard it.' He said, 'I heard the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace) say:People shall be mustered on the Day ofJudgement naked, uncircumcized, and possessionless,and a call will be made to them in a voicethat those who are far shall hear as well as thosewho are near, saying: 'I am the King, 1 am He whogives recompense: it is not meet for any inhabitantof hell to enter it while any of the inhabitants ofparadise owes him something until I exact it ofthem
And it is not meet for any inhabitant ofparadise to enter it while he owes any of theinhabitants of hell something until I exact it fromhim, even if it be the requital of a single slap of theface.' "" We asked the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace), ""How will this be, when wewill meet Allah Mighty and Majestic naked, uncircumcized,and without a thing?"" And he said,""With good and bad deeds."" , ""(Sharh al-sunna (y22) , 1.280--81)*
The Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The excellence of a person's Islam includesleaving what does not concern him.""The excellence of a person's Islam(Muhammad Jurdani:) Meaning the fullnessand perfection of a person's Islam and his submissionto its rulesincludes leaving what does not concern himmeaning that which is not connected withwhat is important to one, be it in word or deed.The matters that concern a person are those connectedwith necessities of life in gaining a livelihoodand having a safe return in the afterlife.These do not amount to much in comparisonwith what does not concern one (al-Jawahiral-Iu'lu'iyya fi sharh al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya(y68),99).
(n:) The view that the punishment of unbelievers in hell is not eternal hasbeen misrepresented by some Muslim writers and Koran translators as if it werea matter over which there is scholarly disagreement, or as if the proof of it fromthe Koran, hadith, and consensus of Muslims (ijma', def: b7) were capable ofbearing more than one interpretation
The present section, by two of the foremostSunni scholars in tenets of Islamic belief (usul), has been translated to clarify thequestion.
('Abd al-Qahir Baghdadi:) The scholarsof Ahl al-Sunna and all the previous righteous ofthe Muslim Community are in unanimous agreement(ijma') that paradise and hell are eternal,and that the bliss of the inhabitants of paradiseand the torment of unbelievers in hell will endureforever (Usui ai-din (y23) , 238).
(Taqi ai-Din Subki:) The faith of Muslims.is that paradise and hell do not perish
AbuMuhammad Ibn Hazm having transmitted scholarlyconsensus (ijma') on this point and on the factthat whoever denies it is an unbeliever (kafir) byscholarly consensus
And there is no doubt of this,for it is necessarily known (def: fl.3(N)) as part ofthe religion ofIslam, and proof after proof bears itout
Allah Most High says:(1) ""Nay, but whoever earns a wicked deedand is encompassed by his error, those are theinhabitants of hell, abiding therein forever""(Koran 2:81).(2) ""Verily those who disbelieve and die asunbelievers; the curse of Allah, the angels, andpeople, one and all, is upon them, abiding thereinforever; the torment shall not be lightened fromthem, nor shall they be respited"" (Koran 2:161-62).(3) ""Whoever of you leaves his religion anddies as an unbeliever, those are they whose workshave failed in this world and the next, and thoseare the inhabitants of hell, abiding thereinforever"" (Koran 2:217).(4) ""Those who disbelieve, their friends arethe evil ones, who lead them from the light todarknesses
Those are the dwellers of hell, abidingin it forever (Koran 2:257).(n: There follow some fifty-six Koranic verses of similar purport which havebeen left un translated for the sake of brevity:2:162 23:103 2:167 35:363:116 32:14 2:102 17:974:14 25:69 3:22 40:49-504:93 33:64-65 4:56 42:454:168-69 39:72 4:121 69:366:128 41:28 5:37 78:307:36 43:74-75 11:8 87:139:63 47:15 11:16 90:209:68 59:17 14:21 82:16.)10:27 64:10 14:2911:106-7 72:23 23:10813:5 98:6 29:2316:29 2:86 45:3521:99 32:20 22:22...
The other verses that mean the same thing arevery many, a fact that eliminates the possibility ofexplaining them away figuratively and necessitatescomplete conviction of them; just as the versesproving bodily resurrection, because of theirgreat numbers, eliminate any possibility of explainingthem away figuratively
We adjudgewhoever explains these verses as if they werefigurative to have committed unbelief because ofthe knowledge which the evidence en masseaffords
And so it is too with the very numerousand intersubstantiative hadiths about this, such asthe Prophet's saying (Allah bless him and give himpeace):(1) ""Whoever kills himself with a knife willabide in the fire of hell, perpetually stabbing hisbelly with it, undying therein forever
And whoeverhurls himself from a mountain and kills himselfshall abide in the fire of hell, perpetuallyfalling to his death, undying therein forever.""(2) ""As for the inhabitants of hell who are itspeople, they shall be undying therein and unliving.""(3) ""When the people of paradise go toparadise and the people of hell go to hell, Deathshall be brought forward, placed betweenparadise and hell, and slaughtered
And a criershall be heard, '0 people of paradise, there is nodeath; 0 people of hell, there is no death!' ""And there is the like ofthe above evidence concerningparadise, as Allah Most High says:(1) ""Those who believe and do good works,they are the dwellers of paradise, abiding thereinforever (Koran 2:82).(2) ""Whoever obeys Allah and His mesosenger, He will admit them to gardens beneathwhich rivers flow, abiding therein forever
That isthe mighty triumph"" (Koran 4:13).(n: Thirty-eight verses of similar purport follow, which have been leftuntranslated, as before, for brevity:2:82 11:23 23:11 56:173:15 10:26 25:15 57:1210:62 11:108 25:76 58:223:198 13:35 29:58 50:344:13 14:23 4:122 64:94:57 15:48 39:73 65:115:85 18:3 41:8 95:65:119 18:107 43:71 98:8.)9:89 20:76 41:309:100 21:102 48:5...
So these are the verses we can recall about theeternality of paradise and hell
We have mentionedhell first because we've come across a workabout hell perishing by one of the people of thepresent era
We have quoted about one hundredKoranic verses, approximately sixty concerninghell, and forty on paradise
Immortality (khuld) orwords derived from it are found in thirty-four ofthose dealing with hell and thirty-eight of thoseabout paradise
Everlastingness (ta'bid) has beenmentioned in conjunction with immortality in fourof those dealing with hell, and mentioned eighttimes abou t paradise, seven of them in connectionwith immortality
Never leaving and so forth hasbeen plainly stated in over thirty verses
The consequenceof the concatenate and intersubstantia·tive character of these and similar verses isabsolute certainty that what Allah Most Highthereby intends is their literal meaning and significance.It is not something in which the outwardsense might be used to imply other than the plainpurport, which is why Muslims unanimously concurupon faith in it, descendants having taken itfrom ancestors in unbroken succession from theirProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
It isintegrally embedded in the innate faith (fitra) ofthe Muslims, necessarily known as part of thereligion of Islam, and even held by all non-Muslimsects
Whoever denies it is an unbeliever (kafir),and whoever explains it away figuratively is thesame as someone who figuratively explains awayKoranic verses about the bodily resurrection,meaning that he too is an unbeliever, becauseknowing the verses necessitates belief.I have come upon the above""mentionedwork, whose author notes three positions aboutparadise and hell perishing: that both end, whichhe declares none of the early Muslims have said;that neither ends; and that paradise remains buthell ends; the latter of which he inclines towardand adopts, saying that it is the position of theearly Muslims (salaf)
Allah be our refuge fromthis!
I exonerate the early Muslims from it and donot believe a single one of of them said it
Thereare only some words that have been ascribed tocertain individuals of them that are to be taken asall problematic utterances are, meaning they areconstrued and interpreted in light of other thantheir ostensive sense, for just as there occurexpressions requiring such exegesis in Koranicverses and hadiths, so too words occur in the discourseof scholars that must be fittingly explained.Whoever takes words of early Muslims that werespoken to motivate people to do good or be afraidof doing evil and so forth, and interprets them literally,recording them as if they were a ""school ofthought"" has misled himself and others
Nor is thisscholarship, for the way of scholars is to uncoverthe meaning of words and what is intended bythem
When we are certain that what has beenascribed to a speaker is his actual position on amatter and his belief, we attribute it to him
Butunless we are certain, we do not attribute it to him,this being especially true of basic tenets of Islamicbelief like the above, about which Muslims unani-mously agree on one position
How can one proceedto the opposite of what they believe and thenattribute it to the greatest of Muslims and exemplarsof the believers, considering it a topic ofscholarly disagreement as if it were a questionabout ablution (wudu)?
How remote whoeverdoes this is from knowledge and guidance!
This isa reprehensible innovation (bid'a) of the mostominous and ugliest sort, and Allah has knowinglyled whoever says it astray ....(n: Several pages follow, examining various objections to the eternality ofhell raised by the above-mentioned author, some of them citing statementsascribed to early Muslims, which, as Subki points out, apply to disobedient Muslimswho will one day leave the hellfire, not to unbelievers, polytheists, or thelikes of Pharaoh and Satan
Only a few of these objections could be translatedbelow because of their length
)(Objection:) There is a hadith in the Musnadof Ahmad that herbiage will one day grow on thefloor of hell.(Reply:) It is not in the Musnad of Ahmad,but in others, and is a weak hadith
If it wererigorously authenticated (sahih), it would beinterpreted as referring to the level where disobedientMuslims ('usat) are.(Objection:) Harb Kirmani said, ""I askedlshaq about the word of Allah Most High,except as your Lord wills' (Koran11:107),""and he replied, 'This verse applies to every threatof punishment in the Koran.' "" Andit is relatedfrom Abu Nadra that one of the Companions ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said, ""This verse applies to the entire Koranwherever the words' Abiding therein forever' arementioned
""(Reply:) If authenticated, these statementsare interpreted as applying to disobedient Muslims,for the departure of Muslim sinners from hellis not explicitly stated in the Koran, but only in thesunna, and is through intercession (dis: v2.8)
Sothe meaning of these statements is to show theagreement between the Koran and sunna on this,for the early Muslims had great fear, and did notfind in the Koran that true monotheists wouldleave hell, and were afraid of unending punishment.(Objection:) Allah has informed us that Hismercy encompasses everything (Koran 7:]56),and has said, ""My mercy has outstripped Mywrath"" (Sahih al-Bukhari (y30), 9.411), while ifone hypothesizes an unending torment, there is nomercy at all.(Reply:) The hereafter is of two abodes, anabode of mercy unmixed with anything else,which is paradise; and an abode of tormentunmixed with anything else, which is hell; thisbeing a proof of A'llah's omnipotence, while thepresent life is compounded of both
So if by saying,""If one hypothesizes an unending torment,there is no mercy at all,"" one means to absolutelydeny that there is any mercy, it is not true, forthere is the very perfection of mercy in paradise;while if one means there is no mercy in hell, wereply that even if one holds that mercy and tormentare things, Allah Most High says (n: in theremainder of the verse ""My mercy encompasseseverything"") ,""I shall inscribe it for those who are godfearing""(Koran 7:156).(Objection:) It is established that Allah is allwiseand all-compassionate, and that wicked souls(who, if they were returned to this world, wouldgo back to their wrongdoing) are unfit to dwell inthe abode of peace
Now, if given a torment thatwould purge their souls of this evil, it would betenable with respect to the divine wisdom, but asfor creating souls who do evil in this world and forwhom there is nothing but torment in the next,this is a contradiction than which few things aremore inconsistent with wisdom and mercy
This iswhy Jahm denied that Allah is the Most Mercifulof the Merciful, but rather said that He does whateverHe wills, and those who follow Jahm's path,like Ash'ari and others, do not hold that He actuallyhas wisdom or mercy
But since it is establishedthat He is all-wise and all-compassionate,and the falsity of Jahm's position is realized, thisnecessitates that we affirm what wisdom andmercy entail-so the position of the Mu'tazilitesconcerning His wisdom and mercy, as well as thatof the Qadarites, determinists, and deniers of thedivine attributes, are equally false, and the mostglaring of their errors is considering hell eternal.That is what their positions imply, while Allah hasinformed us that the inhabitants of paradise andhell will not die, so they must have some abode,and it is impossible that they should be tormentedafter entering paradise, so no alternative remainsexcept the abode of happiness
A living being isnever without either pleasure or pain, and if painis excluded, this necessarily implies eternal pleasure.(Reply:) Having openly said what he has saidat the end of the above, this person implies thatSatan, Pharaoh, Haman, and all unbelievers willend up in eternal bliss and perpetual enjoyment,something that no Muslim, Christian, Jew,polytheist, or even philosopher has ever said.Muslims believe that paradise and hell lastforever, while a polytheist holds that there will beno resurrection, and a philosopher believes thatwicked souls will be in a state of pain
So we do notknow of anyone who has made the statement thisman has, which entails leaving Islam, because ofthe knowledge afforded by the
sheer amount ofthe evidence against it
Glory be to Allah MostHigh, who says,""Those who disbelieve in the signs of Allahand in meeting Him, it is they who shall despair ofMy mercy"" (Koran 29:23),and says,""Whenever it abates, We shf\U increase forthem the blaze"" (Koran 17:97).Allah's prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) has informed us that Death shall beslaughtered between paradise and hell, whichwithout doubt could only be done to show thepeople of hell's despair and their certainty of livingforever in torment
Were they to move on topleasure and enjoyment, it would be a great hopefor them, better than death, and they would bewithout despair
How can anyone who believes inthese verses and hadiths say such a thing?
What hesaid about wisdom is ignorance, and what he saidabout Ash'ari (Allah be well pleased with him) isa deliberate lie against him that we seek refuge inAllah Most High from.(Objection:) One could hold that souls arecleansed of wickedness by this torment and thenbecome Muslims.(Reply:) Allah be our refuge!
Their becomingMuslims in the hereafter will be of no benefitto them, by unanimous consensus of Muslims, andby the word of Allah Most High,""Its faith will not benefit any soul that did notbelieve before"" (Koran 6:158).(Objection:) What wisdom is there in creatingsuch people?(Reply:) The wisdom lies in making manifestthe divine omnipotence so that believers may contemplateit and reflect upon the immensity of themajesty of Allah Most High, who has the poweron the one hand to create the angels, the righteous,the prophets, and the Liegelord of CreationMuhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace);'and the power on the other hand to createPharaoh, Haman, Abu Jahl, the fiends ofjinn andmankind, and Satan, the Chief of Misguidance;and who has the power to create the two finalabodes, each pure and unadmixed: one for everlastinghappiness, the other for agonizingtorment, and yet a third abode, this world, compoundedof both
Glory to Him whose omnipotenceis such, and whose magnificence is soexalted!
Allah Most Glorious is well able to createall people as obedient believers, but He MostGlorious has willed to manifest the thing and itsopposite, those who know to know it, and thosewho are ignorant to be ignorant of it, knowledgebeing the origin of all felicity and that from whichtrue faith and obedience grow, and ignorancebeing
the origin of all damnation and that fromwhich all unbelief and disobedience grow
I havenot seen anything ruinous to the affairs of thisworld or the next save that it was the result ofignorance, which is truly the most baneful of allthings
.
Whoever says that heaven or hell perishis an unbeliever (al-Rasa'il al-Subkiyya (y52),196-208).*
(Nawawi: (n: with commentary by lalal alOinSuyuti)) The prophetic Companions (N:meaning anyone who personally met the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) and diedbelieving in Islam) are all legally upright ('adal,def: O24.4), both those of them who took part inconflicts (dis: w56.3) and those who did not, byunanimous consensus of all scholars whose opinionmatters
«Suyuti:) Allah Most High says,""Thus have We made you a justly balancednation"" (Koran 2: 143),meaning upright, and He says,""You are the best nation ever brought forthfor people"" (Koran 3:110),the address being to those who were alive at thattime
And the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said,""The best of people are those of my time.""(Tadrib al-rawi fi sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi (y109),
2.214))(Wasiyyullah 'Abbas:) Among the evi-.dence of the legal uprightness ('adala) ofthe Companionsis the word of Allah Most High:(1) ""Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,and those with him are hard against the unbelievers,compassionate towards one another
You seethem bowing and prostrating, seeking bountyfrom Allah and His good pleasure
Their mark isupon their faces from the effect of prostrationthatis their likeness in the Torah; and their likenessin the Evangel is as a grain that sends forth itsshoot, strengthens it, and it thickens and risesstraight upon its stalk, pleasing the sowers, thatthrough them He may enrage the unbelievers.Allah promises those who believe and do goodworks of them forgiveness and an immensereward"" (Koran 48:29).(2) "" ..
And the outstrippers, the first of theEmigrants and the Helpers, and those who followedthem in excellence: Allah is pleased withthem, and they are pleased with Him, and He hasprepared for them gardens· under which riversflow, abiding therein forever
That is the mightytriumph"" (Koran 9:1(0).(3) "" ..
it is for the poor Emigrants, whowere forced out of their homes and possessions,seeking bounty from Allah and His pleasure, aidingAllah and His messenger: those are the oneswho are true"" (Koran 59:8).(4) ""Allah was pleased with the believerswhen they swore fealty to you under the tree, andHe knew what was in their hearts, sent down tranquilityupon them, and rewarded them with a nighvictory"" (Koran 48:18).And as for evidence from the prophetic sunna, theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said,""Do not revile my Companions, for by Himin whose hand is my soul, were one of you to spendgold equal to Mount Uhud, you would not attainthe reward of the handsful of one of them or evenhalf of it [N: because what they spent benefitedIslam more].""(n: While there is no disagreement among scholars that merely being a Companionis itself an excellence and rank that cannot be reached by anyone whocame after them, one may appreciate yet another facet of their position with Allahby considering the hadith,""When a human being dies, his work comesto an end except for three things: ongoing charity,knowledge benefited from, or a pious son whoprays for him,""which scholars say shows that whenever a member of the Muslim Communitybenefits from religious knowledge transmitted by a Companion from the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace), the reward for it is counted among the Companion'sworks
To realize the station of 'Vmar, for example (Allah be wellpleased with him), one has only to reflect on the number of Muslims throughoutthe centuries who have benefited from the hadith,""Works are only according to intentionsenters into the validity of virtually every act of worship in a Muslim's life(dis: t1.1), and which no one besides 'Umar (Allah be well pleased with him)related from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
Or consider thehadith,""He who inaugurates a good sunna [custom]in Islam earns the reward of it and of all who performit after him without diminishing their ownrewards in the slightest..
""and reflect that 'Uthman (Allah be well pleased with him) ordered the Koran tobe gathered into the single volume that innumerable Muslims have recited andstudied from that century to this, 'Uthman's share therein being renewed, accordingto the above hadith, each time a Koran is opened
Nor is it difficult to imaginea similar rank for those whose efforts and jihad led to whole nations and theirposterity becoming
Muslims down to the present age, from which examples andsimilar ones we may understand the superiority of both our Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace), who is the exemplar of all who worship Allah on the faceofthe earth until the end oftime, and ofthe early Muslims in general over all thosewho came after them.)There is schOlarly consensus of the SunniCommunity that all the Companions are legallyupright
Khatib (N: Baghdadi) says: ""There aremany hadiths of this purport, everyone of them inconformity with the explicit text of the Koran, allof which attests to the purity of the Companionsand necessitates the conviction of their uprightnessand faultless character
None of themrequires the exoneration of other human beingsalongside the declarfltion of their unimpeachabilityby Allah Most High, who is well aware oftheirinmost state
Thus are they characterized untilone of them should prove to have deliberatelycommitted an act unexplainable as anythingbesides intentional disobedience, uninterpretableby extenuating circumstances, that they should beconsidered to have lost their legal uprightness; butthis Allah has declared them innocent of, and hasraised their station in His sight
Had none of whatwe have mentioned reached us from Allah Mightyand Majestic or His messenger (Allah bless himand give him peace) concerning them, the mereway they were-their emigration, jihad, backingof Islam, spending of lifeblood and possessions,slaying of fathers and sons, sincere advice in religion,and strength of faith and certitude-wouldnecessitate the conviction of their uprightness, thecertainty of their blamelessness, and theirsuperiority over any appraisers or vindicatorscoming after them until the end of time.""As for the beliefs of the Mu'tazilites, andthose of the Shiites who reject the legitimacy of thefirst three caliphs (n: these being termed Rawafid(lit
""Rejectors""), including the Twelver Shiites,as opposed to the Ghulat (""Extremists"") on theone hand, who may believe that 'Ali is God, orthat Gabriel (upon whom be peace) made a mistakein delivering the Koran to Muhammad(Allah bless him and give him peace) instead of'Ali, and because of such convictions are unquestionablyunbelievers; and as opposed to, on theother hand, the Mufaddila (""Preferers""), such asthe Zaydis, who believe that 'Ali had a betterclaim to the imamate than the first three caliphs,though the latters' caliphates were neverthelesslegally valid-which distinctions are courtesy ofSheikh Yusuf Rifa'i)-it is sufficient to mentionthe position of Ibn Kathir, who says: ""All of theCompanions are legally upright according to thePeople of the Sunna and Community (A hi alSunnawa al-Jama'a)
The view of the Mu'tazilitesthat all of the Companions are upright exceptthose who fought against 'Ali (dis: w56.3) isuntrue, base, and unacceptable
As for the varioussects of Shiites (Rawafid), their ignorance,lack of intelligence, and their contention that theCompanions all committed unbelief except forseventeen of them, whom they name, it is gibberishwithout any corroboration except the corruptopinion of benighted minds and capriceblindly pursued, and which does not even deservea rebuttal, so patent is the evidence to the contrary""(Kitab fada'il al-Sahaba (y3), 1.13-16).
(Ghazali:) The true imam after the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give himpeace) was Abu Bakr, then 'Umar, then'Uthman, and then 'Ali (Allah be well pleasedwith them)
The Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) never explicitly appointed animam at all, since if one had been designated, hewould have been likelier to have been known thanthe individuals appointed to oversee various lessercommissions of authority, or those assigned tolead the armies in various countries, and the identityof these was not hidden from anyone, so howshould the identity of an imam have been?
And ifit had been known, how should it have been lost soas not to have been conveyed to us?
Abu Br.kr wasthus not installed as imam save through beingchosen and sworn fealty to, and as for thehypothesis that the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) explicitly appointed someoneelse, it amounts to an accusation against all theCompanions of contravening the Messenger ofAllah (Allah bless him and give him peace), whichis a violation of scholarly consensus (ijma'), andsomething that no one has had the effrontery toinvent except the Shiites (Rawafid)
The Peopleofthe Sunna and Community (Ahl al-Sunna wa alJama'a)believe in the blamelessness of all theCompanions, and praise them as Allah MostGlorious and Exalted has praised them, and as hasHis messenger (Allah bless him and give himpeace)
The events that occurred betweenMu'awiya and 'Ali (Allah be well pleased withboth of them) proceeded from the personalreasoning (ijtihad) of each, not from any avid nessof Mu'awiya for the imamate
'Ali (Allah be wellpleased with him) believed that delivering upthose responsible for the death of 'Uthman,because of the numerousness of their clans andtheir dispersal throughout the army, would lead toan upheaval in the matter of the supreme leadershipat its very inception, and he felt that to postponedealing with them would be fitter; whileMu'awiya believed that in view of the enormity oftheir crime, to delay their apprehension wouldincite people against the leadership and causeneedless loss of life
Some of the most outstandingscholars of Sacred Law have held that both sides ina disagreement between those qualified to doindependent legal reasoning (ijtihad) are correct,while others hold that only one side is; but no oneof any scholarly competence has ever suggestedthat 'Ali was in error (lhya' 'uium ai-din (y39),1.102).*
(n:) In fundamentals of Islamic faith (usul), virtually all of the scholarsquoted in the present volume are Ash'aris, whose school of thought has been presentedfor readers to examine themselves in sections u3, vI, v2, and w8
Theschool's position on figurative interpretation (ta'wil) of primary texts has alsobeen discussed at a4.2 and w6.3, the latter of which explains that like all orthodoxMuslims, the Ash'aris interpret matters of the afterlife-heaven, hell, and soon-as literal realities, while interpreting certain expressions referring to attributesof Allah Most High-His 'hand', 'eyes', and the like-as figurative, meaningas allusions to His power, omniscience, and so forth
Though many, like ImamAsh'ari himself and Imam Nawawi, consign the knowledge of the real meaning ofsuch expressions to Allah (tafwid), others of the school, originally in reply toanthropomorphists of their time, have found figurative interpretations both moreuseful to Islam, and ultimately, more convincing
To support their position, theyadduce that since words such as hand must be either figurative (majazi) or litcral(haqiqi), and since the literal meaning of hand is a bodily limb, an attribute thatis unbelief (kufr) to ascribe to Allah Most High, the only other possibility is thatit is figurative
The Koran contains many examples of figures of speech, such as,""Whoever was blind in this life shall be blindin the hereafter, and even further astray"" (Koran 17:72),which does not refer to the physieally blind in this life, but rather to those blind,figuratively speaking, to the signs of Allah and heedless of His warnings
Or theverse,""Today We forget you, as you have forgottenthis day of yours"" (Koran 45:34),in which Allah's forgetting cannot be literally interpreted as a divine attribute, forAllah forgets nothing, but must rather be understood in its intended figurativesense as meaning that Allah will abandon unbelievers to their punishment
Likevirtually all languages of mankind, the ancient classical Arabic in which the HolyKoran was revealed abounds in metaphors, metonyms, figures of speech, andrhetorical embellishments-indeed, a revelation devoid of such features wouldhave had little claim to eloquence among the Arabs-and the figurative interpretationsof the Ash'aris are in general supported by compellingly similar linguistieexamples, parallels, and lexieal precedents drawn from the language's long history.Despite which, because of the possibility that Allah intends somethingother by such expressions than the particular interpretations suggested byscholars, the best and safest path for a Muslim is consignment of the knowledgeof such things to Allah (tafwid), unless forced to refute anthropomorphists, whodo not in effect worship the transcendent deity of Islam but rather a form likethemselves, something unquestionably rejeeted by the Koranic verse,""There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him""(Koran 42:11).The Ash'ari school has naturally earned the criticism of misconceived contemporaryefforts to revive anthropomorphism, the excesses of whose proponentshave inspired the author of the section below to remind Muslims of thefundamentally orthodox character of the school that has represented themajority of Sunni Muslims for the greater part of Islam's history.
(Muhammad' Alawi Maliki:) Many sonsof Muslims are ignorant of the Ash'ari school,whom it represents, and its positions on tenets ofIslamic faith, and yet some of them are not godfearingenough to refrain from accusing it ofdeviance, departure from the religion of Islam,and heresy about the attributes of Allah
Thisignorance of the Ash'ari school is a cause of rendingthe unity of Ahl al-Sunna and dispersing itsranks
Some have gone so far as to consider theAsh'aris among the categories of heretical sects,though it is beyond me how believers can belinked with misbelievers, or how Sunni Muslimscan be considered equal with the most extremefaction of the Mu'tazilites, the lahmites.""Shall We deal with Muslims as We do criminals?How is it that you judge?"" (Koran 68:35-36).The Ash'aris are the Imams of the distinguishedfigures of guidance among the scholars ofthe Muslims, whose knowledge has filled theworld from east to west, and whom people haveunanimously concurred upon their excellence,scholarship, and religiousne.ss
They include thefirst rank of Sunni scholars and most brilliant oftheir luminaries, who stood in the face of theexcesses committed by the Mu'tazilites (dis:w6.4), and who constitute whole sections of theforemost Imams of hadith, Sacred Law, andKoranic exegesis
Sheikh aI-Islam Ahmad ibnHajar 'Asqalani, the mentor of hadith scholarsand author of the book Fath al-Bari hi sharh Sahihal-Bukhari, which not a single Islamic scholar candispense with, was Ash'ari
The sheikh of scholarsof Sunni Islam, Imam Nawawi, author of SharhSahih Muslim and many of other famous works,was Ash'ari
The master of Koranic exegetes,Imam Qurtubi author of al-Jami' li ahkam alQur'an,was Ash'arL Sheikh ai-Islam Ibn HajarHaytami, who wrote al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf alkaba'ir,was Ash'ari
The sheikh of Sacred Lawand hadith, the conclusively definitive ZakariyyaAnsari, was Ash'ari
Imam Abu Bakr Baqillani;Imam 'AsqaJani; Imam Nasafi; Imam Shirbini;Abu Hayyan Tawhidi, author of the Koranic commentaryal-Bahr al-muhit; Imam Ibn Juzayy,author of al- Tashil fi 'ulum al-Tanzil; and othersallof these were Imams of the Ash'aris
If wewanted to name all of the top scholars of hadith,Koranic exegesis, and Sacred Law who wereImams of the Ash'aris, we would be hard put to doso and require volumes merely to list these illustriousfigures whose wisdom has filled the earth fromeast to west
And it is incumbent upon us to givecredit where credit is due, recognizing the merit ofthose of knowledge and virtue who have servedthe Sacred Law of the Greatest of Messengers(Allah bless him and give him peace)
What goodis to be hoped for us if we impugn our foremostscholars and righteous forebears with charges ofaberrancy and misguidance?
Or how should Allahgive us the benefit of their scholarship if webelieve it is deviance and a departure from the wayofIslam?
I ask you, is there a single Islamic scholarof the present day, among all the Ph.D.'s andgeniuses, who has done what Ibn Hajar 'Asqalanior Imam Nawawi have, of the service rendered bythese two noble Imams (Allah enfold them in Hismercy and bliss) to the pure prophetic sunna?How should we charge them and all Ash'aris withaberrancy when it is we who are in need of theirscholarship?
Or how can we take knowledge fromthem if they were in error?
For as Imam Zuhri(Allah have mercy on him) says, ""This knowledgeis religion, so look well to whom you are takingyour religion from.""Is it not sufficient for someone opposed to theAsh'aris to say, ""Allah have mercy on them, theyused their reasoning (ijtihad) in figuratively interpretingthe divine attributes, which it would havebeen fitter for them not to do""; instead of accusingthem of deviance and misguidance, or displayinganger towards whoever considers them to be ofthe Sunni Community?
IT Imam Nawawi, 'Asqalani,Qurtubi, Baqillani, al-Fakhr al-Razi,Haytami, Zakariyya Ansari, and others were notamong the most brilliant scholars and illustriousgeniuses, or of the Sunni Community, then whoare the Sunnis?I sincerely entreat all who call others to thisreligion or who work in the field of propagatingIslam to fear Allah respecting the honor of theCommunity of Muhammad (Allah bless him andgive him peace), especially its greatest sages andscholars in Sacred Law
For the Community ofMuhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)is possessed of goodness until the Final Hour,while we are bereft of any if we fail to acknowledgethe worth and excellence of our learned(Mafahim yajihu an tusahhaha (y83), 38-40).*
(Jalal aI-Din Suyuti:) The Sheikh of Islamand hadith master of his lj.ge, Ahmad ibn Hajar(N: 'Asqalani) was asked about the practice ofcommemorating the birth of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), and gave the followingwritten reply: ""As for the origin of thepractice of commemorating the Prophet's birth(Allah bless him and give him peace), it is an innovation(bid'a) that has not been conveyed to usfrom any of· the pious early Muslims of the firstthree centuries, despite which it has included bothfeatures that are praiseworthy and features thatare not
If
one takes care to include in such a commemorationonly things that are praiseworthy andavoids those that are otherwise, it is a praiseworthyinnovation (dis: w29.2), while if one does not,it is not.""An authentic primary textual basis fromwhich its legal validity is inferable has occurred tome, namely the rigorously authenticated (sahih)hadith in the collections of Bukhari and Muslimthat 'the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) came to Medina and found the Jews fastingon the tenth of Muharram ('Ashura'), so he askedthem about it and they replied, ""It is the day onwhich Allah drowned Pharaoh and rescuedMoses, so we fast it in thanks to Allah MostHigh,"" , which indicates the validity of givingthanks to Allah for the blessings He has bestowedon a particular day in providing a benefit or avertingan affliction, repeating one's thanks on theanniversary of that day every year, giving thanksto Allah taking any of various forms .of worshipsuch as prostration, fasting, giving charity, orreciting the Koran
And what blessing is greaterthan the birth of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), the Prophet of Mercy, on thisday?
In light of which, one should take care tocommemorate it on the day itself in order to conformto the above story of Moses and the tenth ofMuharram, though those who do not view thematter thus do not mind commemorating it on anyday of the month, while some have expanded itstime to any day of the year, whatever exceptionmay be taken at such a view.""The foregoing is in regard to its legal basis.As for what is done therein, it should be confinedto what expresses thanksgiving to Allah MostHigh, of the like of the above-mentioned practicessuch as reciting the Koran, feeding others, givingcharity, and singing something of the odes thatpraise the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) or encourage one to do with less of thisworldlythings, inspiring the hearts of the listenersto do good and to work for the hereafter
As forwhat is added to this, of listening to singing,amusement, and so forth, what should be said of itis that the permissible therein that displays rejoicingover the day is of no harm if conjoined with it,while what is unlawful, offensive, or unpraiseworthy(khilaf al-awla) is forbidden"" (al-Hawi Ii alfatawi(y130) , 1.196).
(from w52.1(24)lliINGS INCONSISTENT WHlilliE ACCEPTANCE OF FATE
(Ghazali:) Complaining, no matter whatthe circumstances, is inconsistent with acceptingfate
Criticizing food and finding fault with it is arejection of what Allah Most High has destined,since blaming what is made is blaming the maker,and everything is Allah's work
For a person to saythat ""poverty is an affliction and trial,"" or ""havinga family to support is worry and fatigue,"" or""working for a living is a burden and hardship""allthis is inconsistent with accepting fate
Oneshould rather leave the plan to its planner, thekingdom to its king, and say, as 'Vmar did (Allahbe well pleased with him), ""I do not care whetherI become rich or poor, for I don't know which isbetter for me.""
THINGS THAT ARE NOT INCONSISTENTWITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF FATEAs for prayers (du'a'), Allah requires us toworship Him thereby, as is substantiated by thegreat many supplications made by the Messengerof Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) andall the prophets (upon whom be peace)
Prayingfor forgiveness, for Allah's protection of one fromacts of disobedience, and indeed for all means thatassist one to practice one's religion--none of theseis inconsistent with accepting what Allah MostHigh has destined, for Allah demands the worshipof supplications from His servants so that theirprayers may bring forth the purity of His remembrance,the humility of soul, and the softening ofearnest entreaty so as to polish the heart, open itto spiritual insight, and obtain the manifold blessingsof His kindnesses--just as carrying a pitcherand drinking water are not inconsistent with theacceptance of Allah's having decreed thirst
Asdrinking water to eliminate thirst is merely toemploy one of the means that the
Creator ofmeans has arranged, so too is prayer an instrumentalrelation that Allah Most High has devisedand ordered to be used
To employ such means, inconformity with the normal way Allah Most Highdeals wi th the world (sunna Allah) , is not inconsistentwith full confidence in divine providence(tawakkul)
Nor is hating acts of disobedience,detesting their perpetrators and causes, or strivingto remove them by commanding the right andforbidding the wrong (ql); none of which isinconsistent with accepting fate, though somedeluded good-for-nothings have erred in this,claiming that since acts of disobedience, wickedness,-and unbelief are from the destiny and decreeof Allah Mighty and Majestic, accepting them isobligatory-while this is rather from their lack ofunderstanding and blindness to the deeper purposesof Sacred Law
For Allah requires that weworship Him by condemning acts of disobedience,hating them, and not acquiescing to them, andblames those who accept them by saying:""They willingly accept a worldly life [dis: w5]and are contented with it"" (Koran 10:7);and,""They accept to remain with the women whostay behind; Allah has set a seal upon their hearts""(Koran 9:87).And in a famous hadith,""Whoever sees something wrong and acceptsit is as though he had committed it.·JIt might be objected that Koranic verses andhadiths exist about accepting what Allah MostHigh has destined, while it is impossible andinconsistent with the divine unity that acts of disobedienceshould not be through Allah's havingdecreed them, and yet if they are from the decreeof Allah Most High, then hating and detestingthem is hatred of the decree of Allah, so how canone reconcile these two seemingly contradictoryaspects or join between the acceptance and hatredof one and the same thing?
The answer to this isthat acceptance and displeasure are only inconsistentwhen directed towards a single aspect ofsingle object in a single respect
For it is not inconsistentto dislike something in one respect andaccept it in another, as when one's enemy dieswho was the enemy of another of one's enemiesand was striving to destroy him, such that one dislikeshis death insofar as the nemesis of one'senemy has died, yet accepts it in that at least oneof them has died
And so too, disobedience hastwo aspects, one regarding Allah Most High, sinceit is His effect, choice, and will, in which respectone accepts it out of deference to the Sovereignand His sovereignty, assenting to His disposal ofthe matter; and another aspect regarding the perpetrator , since it is his acquisition and attribute(dis: u3.8), the sign of his being detested and odiousto Allah, who has afflicted him with the causesof remoteness and hatred, in respect to which he iscondemnable and blameworthy
And this clarifiesthe Koranic verses and hadiths about hatred forthe sake of Allah and love for the sake of Allah,being unyielding towards the unbelievers, hardagainst them, and detesting them, while acceptingthe destiny of Allah Most High insofar as it is thedecree of Allah Mighty and Majestic (Ihya' 'ulumai-din (y39) , 4.300-303).
(Ibn Hajar Haytami:)*(Question:) ""Is someone who says, 'Abeliever knows the unseen (al-ghayb),' therebyconsidered an unbeliever, because of Allah MostHigh having said:"" 'No one in the heavens or earth knows theunseen except Allah' (Koran 27:65),""and,"" '[He is] the Knower of the Unseen, and disclosesnot His unseen to anyone ..
' (Koran72:26),""or is such a person asked to further explain himself,in view of the possibility of knowing somedetails of the unseen?""(Answer:) ""He is not unconditionally consideredan unbeliever, because of the possibility ofotherwise construing his words, for it is obligatoryto ask whomever says something interpretable aseither being or not being unbelief for furtherclarification, as has been stated in [n: Nawawi's]al-Rawda and elsewhere ....""If asked to explain and such a personanswers: 'By saying, ""A believer knows theunseen,"" I meant that Allah could impart certaindetails of the unseen to some of the friends ofAllah (awliya')'-this is accepted from him, sinceit is something logically possible and its occurrencehas been documented, it being among thecountless miracles [karamat, dis: w30] that havetaken place over the ages
The possibility of suchknowledge is amply attested to by what the Koraninforms us about Khidr (Allah bless him and givehim peace), and the account related of Abu BakrSiddiq (Allah Most High be well pleased withhim) that he told of his wife being pregnant with aboy, and thus it proved; or of 'Vmar (Allah MostHigh be well pleased with him), who miraculouslyperceived [n: the Muslim commander]Sariya and his army who were in Persia, and whileon the pulpit in Medina giving the Friday sermon,he said, '0 Sariya, the mountain!' warning themof the enemy ambush intending to exterminate theMuslims
Or the rigorously authenticated (sahih)hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said of 'Vmar (Allah Most High bewell pleased with him),(, 'He is of those who are spoken to [Le
preternaturallyinspired].'"" ...
What we have mentioned about theabove Koranic verse [n: on the unseen] has beenexplicitly stated by Nawawi in his Fatawa, wherehe says: 'It means that no one except Allah knowsthis independently and with full cognizance of allthings knowable
As for [n: knowledge impartedthrough] inimitable prophetic miracles (mu'jizat)and divine favors (karamat) it is through Allah'sgiving them to know it that it is known; as is alsothe case with what is known through ordinarymeans' "" (al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48), 311-13).
(Muhammad Hamid:) Allah Most Gloriousis the All-knower of things unseen and theirinmost secrets, with primal, intrinsic, supernaturalknowledge whose basis no one else has ashare in
If any besides Him has awareness orknowledge, it is through their being made awareor given knowledge by Him Magnificent andExalted
They are unable-being servants withoutcapacity-to transcend their sphere or gobeyond their limit to draw aside the veils fromthings unseen, and if not for His pouring somethingof the knowledge of these things upon theirhearts, they would know nothing of it, little ormuch
Yet this knowledge is disparate in degree,and some of it higher than other of it and morecertainly established.The divine inspiration of it to prophet messengersis beyond doubt and above question, likethe rising sun in its certitude and clarity, of whichthe Koran says,""[He is] the Knower of the Unseen, and disclosesnot His unseen to anyone, save a messengerHe approves: for him He places protectors beforeand behind"" (Koran 72:26-27),protectors meaning guards from among theangels, so that nothing of it is leaked to devilswhen it is being delivered to the Messenger (Allahbless him and give him peace), to safeguard itsinimitability and it remain a unique prophetic sign(mu'jiza)
•The miraculous perceptions (kashf) of thefriends of Allah (awliya') are a truth we do notdeny, for Bukhari relates in his Sahih from AbuHurayra(AlIah Most High be well pleased withhim) that the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) said:""In the nations before you were people whowere spoken to [Le
inspired] though they werenot prophets
If there is anyone in my Community,it is 'Umar ibn Khattab.""and Muslim relates in his Sahih from 'A'isha(Allah Most High be well pleased with her) thatthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)said: .""There used to be in the nations before youthose who werc spoken to
Ifthere are any in myCommunity, 'Umar ibn Khattab is one of them.""But this intuition (ilham) does not equal the divineinspiration (wahy) of the prophets in strength (n:of certainty), because of the possibility that whatis apprehended by the friend of Allah (wali) ismerely the thoughts of his own mind
As it issometimes admixed, and other things are mistakenfor it, the possibility of error exists in it, and itcannot be a basis for establishing legal rulings or acriterion for works.As for what astrologers and fortune-tellerssay, there is no way it can be accepted, for soothsayingwas annulled when the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) was sent and theheavens were safeguarded by stars, after whichdevils no longer had access to the heavens as theyhad had before, to eavesdrop on what angels weresaying about the events on earth that Allah MostGlorious informed the angels of before they happened(n: Koran 15:17-18 and 72:8-10)
The HolyKoran is explicit that""they [the devils] are prevented from hearing""(Koran 26:212),and in a hadith,""Whoever goes to a 'psychic' ('arraf) orfortune-teller and believes what he says has disbelievedin what has been revealed to Muhammad[Allah bless him and give him peace].""The things that such people inform of thatactually come to pass belong to the category ofcoincidence, which is not given the slightest valuein Islam.All of which is on the topic of the unseen generally.As for the Final Hour, Allah Most High hasveiled the knowledge of the time it will occur fromall creatures entirely, and no one, archangel orprophetic messenger, knows when it will be, theKoranic verses and hadiths being intersubstantiativeand in full agreement on this
Were I to listthem it would be a lengthy matter, and what I havementioned is adequate and sufficient forwhomever the divine assistance reaches (Rudud'ala abatil wa rasa'il al-Shaykh Muhammad alHamid(y44), 2.61-63).*
uncle of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and born before himby two years
In the pre-Islamic period of ignorance he was responsible for thecustodianship ofthe Sacred Precinct and giving water to its visitants
He enteredIslam and emigrated to Medina before Mecca was conquered by the Muslims, anddied in Medina in A.H
32 (al-Shifa (y116), 1.181).
exegete of the present century who was a member of a family of scholars fromHorns, Syria
He completed his three-volume commentary on the first two surasof the Koran, al-Riyad al-nadira fi tafsir suratayy al-Fatiha wa al-Baqara [The verdantgardens: an exegesis of the suras al-Fatiha and al-Baqara], sometime before
134311924-25 (A).al-Nabulsi, born in Damascus in 10S011641
He was a prolific HanafiImam, mufti, Sufi, and poet, the author of nearly five hundred books and treatisesin the natural and religious sciences, among them Idah al-maqsud min wahdat alwujud[Clarifying what is meant by the 'unity of being'], in which he explains thatby the 'unity of being' Sufis do not mean that the created universe is God, forGod's being is necessary (wajib al-wujud) while the universe's being is merely possibleGa'iz al-wujud), i.e
subject to nonbeing, beginning, '!nd ending, and it isimpossible that one of these two orders of being could in any sense be the other,but rather the created universe's act of being is derived and subsumed by thedivine act of creation, from which it has no ontie independence, and hence is onlythrough the being of its Creator, the one true Being
'Abd ai-Ghani travelled toBaghdad, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Hijaz, returning to settle in Damascus,where he authored most of his works and died in 1143/1733 (ldah al-maqsudmin wahdatal-wujud (y98), 30; Sheikh 'Abd ai-Rahman Shaghouri; and n).
and in 1289/1872 completed his major work, comprising the most reliable positionsof the later Shafi'i school in a ten-volume exegesis of Ibn Hajar Haytami'sinterlineal commentary on Nawawi's Minhaj al-talibin [The seekers' road],(Hawashi al-Shaykh 'Abd ai-Hamid al-Sharwani (y2), 10.432-33).
www.islamicbulletin.com'Abd aI-Qadir al-Jaza'iri x8Jilan, born in 768/1365
A great-grandson of 'Abd ai-Qadir al-Jilani, he was aSufi, gnostic, and scholar of Sacred Law who authored many works, among themost famous of which is his al-Insan al-kamil fi ma'rifa al-awakhir wa al-awa'il[The perfected man: on the knowledge of last and first things]
He died in 83211428 (al-A 'lam (y136), 4.50).
al-Hasani al-Jaza'iri
Born in Qaytana, Algeria, in 122211807, he was a leaderof men, fighter for Islam (mujahid), and the author of the three-volume Sufi classical-Mawaqif [Standpoints] that attests to both his mastery of the traditionalIslamic disciplines and adepthood in the mystic path
Originally educated inOran, he later performed the pilgrimage to Mecca with his father, visitingMedina, Damascus, and Baghdad
In 124611830, when the French enteredAlgeria, his fellow countrymen swore fealty to him and made him their leader,and he stood in the face of the invasion, personally leading his army into battleagainst the enemy until 1263/1847, when the Sultan of the West 'Abd ai-Rahmanibn Hisham made a peace with the French, and 'Abd ai-Qadir was taken toToulon
In 128111864-65 he was allowed to move to Damascus, where he died in130011883 (ibid., 4.45-46).
Muhammad ibn' Abdullah ai-Baghdadi, a Shafi'i scholar, Imam in fundamentalsofIslam (usul) , and heresiologist who was born and raised in Baghdad, later movingto Nishapur
He was a teacher who used to lecture in seventeen subjects to students,and was the author of Usul ai-din [The fundamentals of the religion] andal-Farq bayn al-firaq [The distinction between heretical sects], both major workson the beliefs of Ahl al-Sunna
He died in Asfara'in in 429/1037 (ibid., 4.48; andTabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 5.136).
'Abd 'Awf al-Qurashi, among the ten Companions whom the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) affirmed would enter paradise
An early convert toIslam, he emigrated twice in the path of Allah, first to Ethiopia and then toMedina, and was one of those who fought in the battle of Badr
He died in A.H.31 in Medina and is buried in al-Baqi' cemetery there (al-Shifa (y116), 1.281).xU 'Abd ai-Rahman Ba'alawi (b7.6) is 'Abd aI-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibnHusayn ibn 'U mar Ba 'alawi, Shafi'i scholar and the mufti of Hadramawt, Yemen.He finished writing Bughyat al-mustarshidin fi talkhis fatawa ba'd al-a'imma minal-muta' akhkhirin [The goal of guidance-seekers: a summary of the formal legalopinions of certain later Imams] in 125111835 (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.333).
al-Jawzi, born in Baghdad in 508/1114
A Hanbali Imam and one of thegreatest scholars of his age in history and hadith, he authored nearly threehundred works in the sciences of hadith, Arabic grammar, Koranic exegesis, history,Sufism, physiognomy, medicine, and biographies of famous Muslims
He issometimes confused with Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, whom he was not related to,though the former's name (lit
""son of the superintendent of the Jawziyya"") wasderived from the name of the Jawziyya School founded by a grandson of Ibn alJawziin Damascus where Ibn Qayyim's father worked: Ibn al-Jawzi died inBaghdad in 597/1201 (ibid., 3.316; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
'Awad al-Jaziri, born in Gezira Shandawil, Egypt, in 1299/1882
Educated at alAzhaTUniversity in Cairo, he later taught there and authored his well known fivevolumework on comparative Islamic law, al-Fiqh 'ala al-madhahib al-arba'a[Jurisprudence according to the four schools]
He died in Helwan, Egypt, in 1360/1941 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 3.334-35).
ibn 'Abd ai-Rahman al-Shaghouri, born in Homs, Syria, in 133211914
A Shafi'ischolar, poet, and Sufi, he moved at a young age to Damascus, where he was educatedin Arabic grammar and lexicology, Sacred Law, and the Islamic religioussciences by such sheikhs as Husni al-Baghghal, Muhammad Barakat, 'Ali alDaqar,Isma'il al-Tibi, Lutfi al-Hanafi, and others, and in Sufism by SheikhMuhammad Hashimi, with whom he associated more than twenty years as a discipleand as the leader of his chorus of singers of mystical poetry (munshidin) atpublic circles of dhikr
Originally a weaver, then mechanic of textile machinery,and later foreman of technicians at a fabrics plant, he was instrumental in unionizingworkers in the present century in Damascus, and served on the executive committeethat led the Syrian Textile Workers' Union in a successful forty-day strikefor workmen's compensation
He represented Syria in the United Arab Workers'Union, and has since led an active public life in seeing to the needs of Muslims
ASufi adept, he has composed a volume (diwan) of his own poetry similar in toneand content to that of Sheikh Ahmad aI-'Alawi, whose tariqa he is the heir andsheikh of in Damascus
In lessons with students, he teaches not only from classictexts like those of Sha'rani, and Ibn al-' Arabi's al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya [MeccanRevelations], but from the poetry, usually sung as odes before it is exposited, ofsuch masters as Ibn al-Farid, al-Ghawth Abu Madyan, 'Abd ai-Ghani Nabulsi,Ahmad al-'Alawi, and himself, explaining that their words are ""scientific texts""(mutun 'ilmiyya) that may be correctly or incorrectly understood, depending onwhether one has the knowledge and depth of Islamic learn!ng to recognise theirprofound accord with the Sacred Law and faith of Islam
For this reason his tariqaemphasizes not only the illumination of the heart through dhikr, particularly bythe solitary retreat (khalwa) under his strict supervision, but also the mastery ofthe tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna from classic Ash'ari texts which provide themeanings that are only given life and seriously comprehended through the gnosisof those who remember Allah much and whom Allah remembers
Sheikh 'Abd alRahmancurrently works as a professor of Islamic faith ('ilm ai-taw hid) and thesciences of Arabic at a religious academy in Damascus (n).
Arifin ibn 'Ali ibn Zayn al-'Abidin al-Munawi, born in 95211545
A majorShafi'ischolar in the religious and traditional sciences, he lived in Cairo, where hedevoted himself to research and writing, producing nearly eighty works, of whichperhaps the most signal contribution is his six-volume Fayd ai-Qadir sharh alJami'al-saghir [The outpouring of the Omnipotent: an exegesis of ""The minorcompendium""], a commentary on a famous hadith collection by Suyuti
Towardsthe end of his life, he weakened himself through lack of food and sleep, becameill, and finally had to dictate his works to his son
He died in 103111622 (al-A 'lam(y136), 6.204; and n).
Khallaf, a twentieth-century Arabist, scholar, and specialist in Islamic jurisprudence.Born in 1305/1888 in Kafr al-Ziyat, Egypt, he graduated from the schoolof Islamic judiciary in Cairo in 1912, and also served as an inspector of Islamiccourts in Cairo and as a member of the Academy of the Arabic Language
He wasappointed assistant professor of Islamic jurisprudence in the Faculty of Law at theUniversity of Cairo in 1935 and became full professor in 1948, authoring severalworks on Sacred Law and Koranic exegesis, among them 'llm usul al-fiqh [Thescience of the fundamentals of Islamic jurisprudence], which is widely used in universitiesthroughout the Islamic world
He died in Cairo in 137511956 (al-A 'lam(y136) , 4.184).
al-Hanafi al-Sha'rani, born in 898/1493 in Qalqanshada, Egypt
A Shafi'i scholarand prolific author of works in Sufism, Sacred Law, and tenets of faith, he is probablymost famous in the legal sphere for his classic, al-Mizan al-kubra [Thesupreme scale], in which he comparatively studies the rulings of all four Sunnischools of Sacred Law as if they were a single school, treating their differencesaccording to their difficulty as either strictness ('azima) or dispensation (rukhsa).He was also a sheikh and adept in Sufism, among its outstanding Arab spokesmen,showing the unity between law and way in works that have remained popularto this day, among them Lata'if al-minan wa al-akhlaq [Subtleties of gifts andcharacter], Lawaqih al-anwar al-qudsiyya [The fecundating sacred illuminations],and Kitab al-yawaqit wa al-jawahir fi bayan 'aqa'id al-akabir [The book ofrubies and jewels: an explanation of the tenets of faith of mystic luminaries]
Hedied in Cairo in 973/1565 (ibid., 4.180-81; andn).
knew Hasan al-Basri and other spiritual figures of his time, and was among thosegiven to praying at night ,for forty years performing the dawn prayer (subh) withthe ablution (wudu) he had made for the nighfall prayer ('isha) (al-Tabaqat alkubra(yl24), 1.46).
al-Wahid ibn Sa'id al-Durubi, Shafi'i sheikh, Sufi, and imam of Jami' DarwishPasha (al-Darwishiyya) Mosque in Damascus
Born in 133311914 in Homs, Syria,he moved at the age of eighteen to Zabadani, where he read various Shafi'i workswith Sheikh Ibrahim Tayyib al-Ghazzi, teacher in the school of Islamic judiciary,and with Sheikh Muhammad Salim Taha, the mufti of Zabadani
He studied anumber of Shafi'i legal classics with them during his eighteen-year residence thereincluding al-Iqna' fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja' [The persuading: an explanation of theterms in ""Abu Shuja""'] by Muhammad Shirbini Khatib, the Hashiya [Commentary]of Sheikh Ibrahim Bajuri, and others in Shafi'i law, as well as works on fundamentalsof Islamic belief ('ilm al-tawhid), hadith, Koranic exegesis, andSufism, before moving in 1950 to Damascus, where he was appointed imam of theDarwishiyya
The translator can attest to both his remarkable memory, whichholds a number of traditional works in the Islamic sciences (mutun) in theirentirety, and to his deep comprehension of Sacred Law and its ancillary disciplines,enriched by over thirty-five years of reading and discussion in his libraryand bookshop off the courtyard of the mosque
He has published a number of theworks of scholars and mystics, among them a volume of poetry by 'Abd aI-GhaniNabulsi entitled Diwan al-haqa'iq wa majmu' al-raqa'iq [The collected poems ofhigher spiritual realities and compendium of heartfelt subtleties], Sheikh Ahmadal-'Alawi's Diwan [Collected poems] andal-Minahal-quddusiyyafisharhal-Murshidal-mu'in bi tariq al-Sufiyya [Sacred gifts: a Sufi exegesis of ""The helpingguide""], Abul Mawahib Shadhili's Qawanin hukm al-ishraq [The laws of thedawning of illumination], and others
'Umdat al-salik was chosen to be translatedfor the present volume at his suggestion
His first sheikh in Sufism was Sa'd ai-Dinal-Jabawi of the Sa'diyya tariqa in Horns, who sent him to Sheikh MuhammadHashimi when he moved to Damascus
As someone who knows through firsthandexperience, he emphasizes the need for students of the Islamic disciplines to havea spiritual path to train the heart and avoid the dangers of pride and unworthyintention inherent in acquiring and teaching such knowledge
If there are increasinglyfewer scholars like Sheikh' Abd al-Wakilleft in the world, it may happenthat Allah will make the present work endure as a testimony to future generationsof Muslims as to the seriousness and depth with which men like him understoodSacred Law, for the spirit that imbues the book is his (n).
well pleased with him), one of the most renowned Companions of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace), an ascetic whose keen intelligence wasreflected in his devotion to worshipping Allah Most High, which he did until theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had to remind him, ""Verily, yourbody, your wife, and your eyes have rights upon you ...
"" Among the main transmittersof hadiths, he was literate before entering Islam
He participated in theMuslim's battles, and at the end of his life lost his eyesight, dying in 65/684 (alA'lam(y136), 4.111).
a reliable hadith transmitter (thiqa) whose hadiths are recorded in Bukhari, Muslim,and other main collections, and who lived and served as a judge in Medina.He died in A.H
135 at seventy years of age (Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16), 297).
al-Aslami
One of those who met and studied underthe Companions, hewas the judge of Merv (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R.) and a reliable hadithtransmitter (thiqa) whose hadiths are recorded in all six main hadith collections.He died in AR 105 at one hundred years of age (ibid., 297; and n).
[Correspondences] of al-Shatibi in fundamentals of Islamic jurisprudence, andwas among the religious scholars of Dumyat, Egypt, at the turn of the present century(Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
aI-Haddad al-Ba'alawi, a contemporary Shafi'i scholar who was born in alDeys,South Yemen, in 1923
He studied at religious academies in Hadramawt,was appointed as a judge in 1946, as presiding head of the court of appeals inMukalla in 1960, and as head of the judiciary of Hadramawt in 1965, a positionfrom which he resigned in 1970
In 1976 he was appointed lecturer in 'Aden University(al-Sunna wa al-bid'a (y20), back cover).
al-Siddiq ibn Ahmad al-Ghimari, born in Tangiers, Morocco, in 1328/1910, adescendant of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) through Hasan,the son of 'Ali and Fatima (Allah be well pleased with them), and on his mother'sside from the Moroccan Sufi Ibn 'Ajiba
A specialist in Maliki and Shafi'i jurisprudence,fundamentals of Islamic law and faith (usul), and Arabic lexicology, he isamong the foremost living hadith experts (muhaddithin) and scholars in SacredLaw
He first studied the Islamic sciences under the traditional scholars ofMorocco of his day ,among them his father, the hadith specialist Muhammad ibnSiddiq Ghimari, and Sheikh 'Abbas Bannani, after which he attended theQarawiyyin Madrasa in Fez, and then al-Azhar, whose scholars took him as anauthority and reference in the sciences ofhadith, and where he studied under suchsheikhs as the grand mufti of Egypt Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i before returningto Morocco, where he deepened his knowledge of hadith under the tutelage of hisbrother, the hadith master (hafiz) Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Siddiq
He hasauthored nearly 150 books and treatises on the sciences of Islam, which amplyattest to his rank among contemporaries, among the most famous of which are hisBida' al-tafasir [The blameworthy innovations of Koranic exegeses], and al-Raddal-muhkam al-matin [The invincibly strong rebuttal], which explains in detail whySunni Islam rejects the innovations of the Wahhabi sect in faith and works
He isthe sheikh of the Siddiqiyya branch of the Shadhili tariqa, and presently lives andteaches at the order's zawiya in Tangiers (Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf; and n).
reliable transmitter (thiqa) who related hadiths from such narrators as' Abdullahibn Suraqa and 'Abdullah ibn Abi Jadh'a (Allah be well pleased with them), andwhose hadiths appear in the collections of Bukhari, Muslim, and others
He diedin A.H
108 (Siyar a 'lam al-nubala' (y37), 1.6, 11.110; and Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16),
307).well pleased with him), a prophetic Companion who lived in Medina, swore fealtyto the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) at 'Aqaba, and fought at thebattle of Uhud
He died in Damascus in A.H
54 during the caliphate of Mu'awiya(Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16), 296).
Musa, Abu 'Abd aI-Rahman al-Sulami, born in Nishapur, Persia, in 325/936
AShafi'i scholar and one of the foremost historians and sheikhs of the Sufis, hewrote over a hundred works, among the most widely read of them his Tabaqat alSufiyya[The successive generations of Sufis]
He died in Nishapur in 412/1021 (alA'lam(y136), 6.99; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yI28), 4.143).
Abu 'Ali al-Daqqaq, the Imam of the Sufis of his time and sheikh of Abu!
QasimQushayri
Originally from Nishapur, he learned Arabic there and fundamentalsof Islamic faith and law, after which he travelled to Merv, where he studied Shafi'ijurisprudence and became an outstanding scholar, and then took the way ofSufism, applying himself to living what he had learned
He died in A.H
405(Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 4.329-30).
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (Allah be well pleased with him) one of the greatest Companionsof the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
Born fifty-one yearsbefore the Hijra (A.D
573) in Mecca, he was a prominent and wealthy figureamong the Quraysh, learned, noble, and brave, and became the first adult maleto accept Islam from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and thefirst of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs after him
He forbade himself wine inthe pre-Islamic period and did not drink
A man who saw many remarkableevents during the lifetime ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), hefought in the Muslims' battles, bore their hardships, and spent his wealth to establishIslam
'Umar ibn Khattab (Allah be well pleased with him) once attested thatif the faith of Abu Bakr were placed on one side of a scale and the faith of theentire Muslim Community (Umma) on the other, Abu Bakr's would outweigh it.An eloquent speaker who was clement and forbearing towards all, he neverthelesspossessed a tremendous personal courage and presence of mind that savedthe day after the Prophet's death (Allah bless him and give him peace) when thedesert Arabs turned from Islam and attacked the Muslims
If not for Abu Bakr'svaliant and decisive leadership of the swift, hard-fought campaign that ended theinsurrection, Islam might well have been lost and Allah not worshipped on theface of the earth
During his caliphate, Syria and Palestine were added to theIslamic lands as well as much of 'Iraq
He died in Medina in 13/634 (al-A'lam(yI36), 4.102; and n).
Muhammad ibn Ja'far, Abu Bakr al-Baqillani
An Islamic judge who was born inBasra in 338/950, he became one of the foremost figures in Islamic scholastictheology ('ilm al-kalam), and because of his logical acumen and swift, unhesitatingreplies, the caliph 'Adud al-Dawla dispatched him as an envoy to the Byzantinecourt in Constantinople, and he debated with Christian scholars in thepresence of their king
He lived most of his life in Baghdad, where he authored anumber of works on tenets of Islamic belief, and died in 403/1013 (al-A'/am(y136), 6.176).
w34 Abu Darda' (a2.4) is 'Uwaymir ibn Malik ibn Qays ibn Umayya, AbuDarda' al-Khazraji (Allah be well pleased with him), one of the Medinan Helpers(Ansar) and Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), asnotable among his contemporaries for his superb horsemanship as for his pietyand wisdom in giving legal judgements
Before the prophetic mission he was firsta merchant in Medina, and then devoted himself exclusively to worship, thoughwhen he became a Muslim he gained renown for his considerable courage in fightingfor Islam
He was one of those who memorized the entire Koran during thelifetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and whenMu'awiya, then a regional governor, appointed him to the judiciary in Damascusat the behest of 'Umar, he became its first judge
He died in Damascus in 32/652(al-A 'lam (y136), 5.98}.
Bashir al-Azadi al-Sijistani, born in 2021817 in Sijistan, Persia, a Shafi'i scholarwho, through numerous journeys to gain knowledge of the prophetic traditions,became a hadith master (hafiz) and the Imam of the science in his time
Muhammadibn Ishaq al-Saghani once remarked of him, ""Hadith was made subject toAbu Dawud as iron was made subject to the prophet Dawud (upon whom bepeace)."" And hadith master Musa ibn Ibrahim said: ""Abu Dawud was created inthis world for hadith, and in the next world for paradise
I have never seen betterthan he."" Hakim observed, ""Abu Dawud was the undisputed Imam of the peopleof hadith in his age."" He died in Basra in 275/889 (ibid., 3.122; Tabaqat alShafi'iyyaal-kubra (y128), 2.293; and al-Targhib waal-tarhib (y9), 1.20).
Greatest Imam, born in A.H
80 in Kufa
He was the scholar of Iraq and theforemost reprcsentative and exemplar of the school of juridical opinion (ra'y).The Hanafi school, which he founded, has decided court cases in the majority ofIslamic lands for the greater part of Islam's history, including the Abbasid andOttoman periods, and maintains its preeminence in Islamic courts today
AbuHanifa was the first to analyse Islamic jurisprudence, divide it into subjects, distinguishits issues, and determine the range and criteria for analogical reasoning(qiyas) thcrein
Shafi'i used to say of him, ""In jurisprudence, all scholars are thechildren of Abu Hanifa."" The Imam and his school have been misunderstood bysome who have believed that the Imam's knowledge of hadith was largely limitedto what was transmitted by the narrators of Kufa, especially through the CompanionIbn Mas'ud
In fact, the Imam was a hadith expert who had all the hadiths ofthe Companions of Mecca and Medina in addition to those of Kufa, and onlylacked the relatively few channels of narrators who were in Damascus
His Musnad[Ascribed traditions] is comparable in size to the Muwatta' of Imam Malikand the Musnad of Shafi'i which the latter based their respective schools upon,and when one reads Muwatta' aI-Imam Muhammad, Malik's work which AbuHanifa's disciple Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani studied and annotated forthree years under Malik at Medina, one gains complete conviction from Muhammad'snotes that virtually every hadith therein was familiar to Abu Hanifa beforehe arrived at the positions of his school, all of which is a persuasive case againstthe suggestions of the unlearned that Abu Hanifa did not know hadith
Nevertheless,the Imam was of an age that was plagued by hadith forgers, and he waswww.islamicbulletin.com
moved by his extreme piety to reject any hadith that he was not reasonably surewas authentic, for which reason he applied a relatively selective range of hadithevidence in Sacred Law
His school, for example, does not accept qualificationsor modifications of any ruling established by a Koranic verse (takhsis ayah) whensuch qualification comes through a hadith with but one, even if rigorously authenticated(sahih), channel oftransmission, but only iiit comes through a hadith withthree separate channels of transmission
So despite Abu Hanifa's being a hadithspecialist, his school reflects a legacy of extensive use of analogy and deductionfrom specific rulings and general principles established by primary texts acceptableto the Imam's rigorous standards, as well as the use of inference and juridicalopinion as to what conforms to the human interests in general protected andfurthered by Sacred Law.With his legal brilliance, he was equally well known for his piety and asceticism,and though he had wealth from a number of shops selling cloth, to which hemade occasional rounds in superintending their managers, he devoted his fortuneto helping students and researchers in Sacred Law, and many a scholar was torealize how much the Imam's financial help had meant when it was discontinuedafter his death
He shunned sleep at night, and some called him the Peg becauseof his perpetual standing for prayer therein, often reciting the entire Koran in hisnightly rak'as
He performed the dawn prayer for forty years with the ablution(wudu) made for the nightfall prayer, would only sleep a short while between hisnoon and midafternoon prayers, and by the end of his life, had recited the HolyKoran seven thousand times in the place where he died
He would never sit in theshade of a wall belonging to someone he had loaned money, saying, ""Every loanthat brings benefit is usury."" He died in Baghdad in A.H
150 at seventy years ofage, leaving an intellectual and spiritual legacy that few scholars have everequalled (al-Tabaqat al-kubra (yI24), 1.53-54; al-Targhib wa al-tarhib(y9), 1.13; Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut; and n).
Abu Hatim al-Hanzali, born in Rayy, Persia, in 195/810
He was a Shafi'i hadithmaster (hafiz) who was a contemporary of Bukhari and Muslim
He travelledmuch during his lifetime, to Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia, and wrote a numberof works in the field of hadith
He died in Baghdad in 277/890 at eighty years ofage (al-A 'lam (y136), 6.27; and Tabaqat al-Shaji'iyya al-kubra (y128), 2.207).
Hayyan al-Tawhidi
Born in Shiraz, Persia, where he taught in A.H
400, he wasan Imam in Arabic grammar and lexicology, a scholar in Shafi'i jurisprudence,history, and Sufism
Though stigmatized by Ibn J awzi and Dhahabi as having corruptbeliefs, Taj ai-Din Subki studied his works and declared: ""Nothing has beenestablished to my satisfaction about Abu Hayyan that gives reason to vituperatehim
I have examined a great deal of what he said, and found nothing except a fewthings indicating that he had a strong personality and disdained his contemporaries,which does not deserve the criticism he has received"" (Tabaqat alShafi'iyyaal-kubra (y128), 5.286-88).
first promulgated his heretical innovations in Damascus, where he taught thatevery human being endowed with beauty,was infusediwith the spirit of the'Deity,He is also related to have said that whoever held his beliefs had no obligation toobey the Sacred Law (Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf),
well pleased with him), one of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) and the greatest of them in memorizing and relating hadiths,He came to Medina when the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) wasat Khaybar, and he became a Muslim in A.H
7
He oversaw affairs at Medina fora time, and in the caliphate of 'Umar was made governor of Bahrain, though'Umar found him too lenient and devoted to worship, and removed him, andwhen he later wanted to reinstate him, Abu Hurayra refused
He lived most of hislife in Medina and died there in 59/679 at seventy-seven years of age (al-A 'lam(y136), 3.308).
aI-Shirazi, a Shafi'i Imam, teacher, and debater
Born inFayruzabad, Persia, in 393/1003, he studied in Shiraz and Basra before coming toBaghdad where he displayed his genius in Sacred Law, becoming the mufti of theIslamic Community (Umma) of his time, the sheikh of the Nizamiyya Academywhich the vizier Nizam al-Mulk built in Baghdad to accomodate Abu Ishaq'sstudents
He was known for the persuasiveness with which he could urge a case indiscussions, and he authored many works, among the most famous of them histwo-volume al-Muhadhdhab fi fiqh ai-Imam al-Shafi'i [The rarefaction:{)n thejurisprudence of Imam Shafi'i] wltich took him fourteen years to produce, andwhich furnished the basic text for Nawawi's al-Majmu': Sharh al-Muhadhdhab[The compendium: an exegesis of ""The rarefaction""]
He died in Baghdad in 476/1083 (ibid., 1.51; and n).
the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) of whom little else is known
Noone else among the Companions had this agnomen, though scholars disagree asto his true name, whether it was Qushayr, Yusayr, Qaysar, or Qays
He was oftheQuraysh, though some have mistakenly supposed that he was of the people ofMedina (Fath al-Bari (yI7), 11.590).
Abu Ja'far al-Khatmi, a reliable hadith transmitter (saduq) who was thecontemporary of some of the generation who met the prophetic Companions,though it is not established that he himself met any of them
Hadiths related byhim appear in the collections of Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah.Originally from Medina, he lived in Basra and died sometime after A.H
100 (Taqribal-tahdhib (yI6), 432).
a noble of the Quraysh in Mecca, and enemy of Allah and His prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace)
He was slain at the battle of Badr in 21624(al-A'lam (yI36), 5.87; and al-Shifa (y116), 1.270).
paternal uncle ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
A noble oftheOuraysh, he was among the greatest in enmity against the Muslims, a proud andwealthy man who would not follow a religion brought by his brother's son
Suratal-Masad (Koran 111) was revealed in connection with him
He died after thebattle ofBadr in 2/624 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.12).
the Imam of Ahl al-Sunna in tenets of faith, born in Basra in 260/874
Adescendant of the Companion Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, he was a Shafi'i scholar andthe founder of the school of tenets of faith that bears his name and reflects hispowerful intellect and profound knowledge of the Holy Koran and hadith
ImamIbn Hajar Haytami has defined Sunni Muslims (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a) as""those who follow Abul Hasan Ash'ari and Abu Mansur Maturidi, the TwoImams of Ahl al-Sunna."" The substantive differences between the two Imamsamount to about six questions, though because the scholars of the Maturidi schoolwere mainly confined to the lands beyond the Oxus before the Mongol depredations,and decimated thereafter, the Ash'ari school has been the standard-bearerfor the faith of Sunni Islam for most of its history
Originally educated in theschool ofthe Mu'tazilites (dis: w6.4), Imam Ash'ari saw the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace) in a dream three times one Ramadan, who told him, ""0'Ali, support the positions that have been transmitted from me, for they are thetruth,"" after which he abandoned the MU'tazilites and became the champion ofIslamic orthodoxy as embodied in the Koran and hadith, defending it alike fromthe danger of image-worship by interpreting the divine attributes anthropomorphically,and the danger of denying the positive significance of the attributes ofAllah and the life of the hereafter by explaining them away
Imam Ash'ari did notgive figurative interpretations (ta'wil, dis: w6.3, w57) to problematic expressionsof divine attributes, but rather urged they be accepted as they have come withoutsaying how they are meant, while affirming that Allah is absolutely beyond anylikeness to created things; though later members of his school did give suchinterpretations in rebuttal of anthropomorphists, preserving the faith of Islamfrom their innovations in the same spirit and with the same dedication that theImam had preserved it before them by his rebuttals of the Mu'tazilites
Heauthored nearly three hundred books and treatises on all aspects of the faith ofAhl al-Sunna, and died in Baghdad in 324/936 (ibid., 4.263; al-Fatawa alhadithiyya(y48), 280; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yI28), 3.347-49; A; and n).
Abu aI-Hasan al-Mawardi, born in Basra in 364/974
The head of the judiciaryunder the Abbasid caliph al-Oa'im bi Amr lilah, he was one of the foremostShafi'i scholars of his era, and published major works in Islamic jurisprudence,Koranic exegesis, principles of law, and literature, of which his work on the caliphaJsystem of Islamic government al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa al-wilayat aldiniyya[The rules of power and positions of religious authority] is still among themost professional available
He was respected by the caliphs of his time, and occasionallyinterceded for someone with them
He died in Baghdad in 450/1058 ateighty-six years of age (al-A'lam (y136), 4.327; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra(y128), 5.267; and n).
al-' Adawi (Allah be well pleased with him), a Companion of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace)
Some commentators say that the Prophet'sadvice (Allah bless him and give him peace) to a woman not to marry him because""he never leaves his stick"" was an allusion to his perpetual travels away fromhome, while others say it referred to his harshness towards women (al-Futuhat airabbaniyya(y26), 7.13).
of Samarkand (in present-day Uzbek S,S.R.), called the Imam ofGuidance, a principle Hanafi scholar who authored works in Sacred Law,Koranic exegesis, and Islamic ethics and character (akhlaq), among the most famousof which were his Tanbih al-ghafilin [The apprising of the heedless] and Bustanal-'arifin [The grove of the gnostics]
He died in A,H
383 (al-Shifa (y1l6),
1.51).Abu al-Qasim ai-Baghdadi
Imam of the Sufis, he comprehensively joined betweenlaw and way, outward and inward, one of the most renowned mystics ofIslamic history and at the same time an outstanding scholar of Sacred Law in theschool of Abu Thawr
The historian Ibn al-Athir described him as ""the Imam ofthe World of his time."" Junayd once defined Sufism as ""dissociating the beginninglesslyeternal from tbat which originates in time (iirad al-qadim 'an alhadith),""and on another occasion simply as ""the experience (al-dhawq),"" bothof which are typical of his succinctness
Though he left few written works, his sayingsare preserved among the Sufis, to whom he remains an important authorityin the path, He died in Baghdad in 297/910 (al-A 'lam (yI36), 2.141; and n).
Ahmad ibn Mahmawayh, Abu al-Qasim al-Nasrabadhi al-Naysaburi, born inNasrabad, Persia
He was the sheikh of the Sufis of Khurasan in his time, and ascholar in hadith who studied with Ibn Khuzayma and others
Among those whotransmitted hadiths from him were Imam Hakim, Sulami, and Abu' Ali Daqqaq.At the end of his life he went on pilgrimage and remained close to the Kaaba inMecca until his death in A.H
367 (Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 16.263-64; andTabaqat al-Sufiyya (y129), 484).
Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, born in Khurasan in 376/986
He was a Shafi'ischolar, Koranic exegete, and Sufi master who lived in Nishapur and authoredseveral works, of which his al-Risala al-Qushayriyya [The Qushayri letter] isperhaps the most famous
He died in Nishapur in 465/1072 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 4.57;and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 5.153).
(Allah bless him and give him peace) wbo were known by this name, the onereferred to by tbe hadith of our text being al-Harith ibn Haritb, Abu Malik alAsh'ari(Allah be well pleased with bim) , who later settled in Syria
Hadiths fromhim have been recorded by Muslim, Tirmidhi, and Nasa'i (Taqrib al-tahdhib(y16), 145; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
(Allah be well pleased with him), one of the Companions of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) who conquered and ruled new lands forIslam
Born in Yemen twe:lty-one years before the Hijra (A.D
602), it is relatedthat he had the most beautiful voice of any of the Companions in reciting theKoran
He came to Mecca when Islam appeared and accepted it, and emigratedto Ethiopia, after which the Prophet (AHah bless him and give him peace)appointed him to govern Zabid and' Aden in Yemeri
In A.H
17, 'Umar made himgovernor of Basra, from whence Abu Musa proceeded to conquer Ahvaz andIsfahan, which 'Uthman, in his caliphate, confirmed him as governor over butlater removed him, whereupon Abu Musa went to Kufa, whose inhabitants asked'Uthman to appoint him as governor over them, which he did
Upon 'Uthman'sdeath, 'Ali confirmed his appointment, but when 'Ali asked the people of Kufa toaid him in the Battle of ai-Jamal, Abu MUSil ordered them not to participate, and'Ali rescinded his confirmation
He died in Kufa in 44/665 (al-A'lam (y136),
4.114).Basra, a reliable hadith narrator (thiqa) of the generation who met and studiedunder the Companions
His hadiths appear in the collections Bukhari, Muslim,Tirmidbi, Nasa'i, and others
He died in A.H
108 or 109 (Taqrib al-lahdhib (y16),
546).al-Asbahani, born in Isfahan, Persia, in 336/948
He was a Shafi'i scholar, hadithmaster (hafiz), and historian, who was reliable in memory and transmission
Heis perhaps most famous for his ten-volume Hilya al-awliya' [The adornment of thesaints], in which he records the lives and sayings of the early Muslims and friendsof Allah (awliya')
He died in Isfahan in 430/1038 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.157; andTabaqal al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 4.18).
Salah ai-Din al-' Ala'i, horn in Damascus in 69411295
He was educated in Damascusand became a hadith specialist and Shafi'i scholar, authoring many works inboth Sacred Law and hadith
After much travel, he settled in Jerusalem, where hetook a post as a teacher in al-Salahiyya school in A.H
731, and later died there in76111359 (al-A'lam (y136), 2.321).
al-Khazraji (Allah be well pleased with him) one of the Medinan Helpers(Ansar), a Companion ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) whowas horn ten years before the Hijra (A.D
613)
He constantly kept the companyofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and some 1,170 hadiths wererelated by him
He participated in twelve of the Muslims' battles, and died inMedina in 74/693 (ibid., 3.87).
'Abd al-Manaf, Abu Sufyan (Allah be well pleased with him), born fifty-sevenyears before the Hijra (A.D
567)
One of the nobles of the Quraysh in the preIslamicperiod, he was a Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and the father of Mu'awiya, head of the Umayyad caliphate
He led theMeccan idolators against the.Muslims in the battles of Uhud and the Confederates,and entered Islam the day Mecca was conquered by the Muslims
A redoubtablewarrior, he lost one eye fighting for Ishlm in the battle of Ta'if, and the otherin the battle of Yarmouk, becoming totally blind
He died in Medina in 31/652(ibid., 3.201).
well pleased with him) a Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) who was born thirty-six years before the Hijra (A.D
585) in Medina
Asuperb and valiant archer, he was one of the most celebrated Medinan Helpers(Ansar), swearing fealty to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) at'Aqaba, and fighting in the battles of Badr, Uhud, and the rest
He died in Medinain 34/654 (ibid., 3.58-59).
al-Harithi al-Makki
Born in Iraq between Baghdad and Wasit, he was a Sufi,preacher (wa 'iz), ascetic, and scholar of Sacred Law
His most influential work isprobably the two-volume Qut al-qulub fi mu' amala al-Mahbub wa was!
tariq aimuridila maqam al-tawhid [The sustenance of hearts: on dealing with theBeloved, and a description of the way to seekers of the spiritual station of witnessingthe divine unity], a direct ancestor in its arrangement and style to Ghazali'sIhya' 'ulum ai-din [Giving life to the sciences of the religion]
He died inBaghdad in 386/996 (ibid., 6.274; and n).
(Allah be well pleased with him), a Companion ofthe Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace)
He was with 'Ali in the battle ofSiffin, and later settledin Syria
Some 250 hadiths are related from him by Bukhari and Muslim
He diedin Homs in 81nOO, the last of the Companions to die in Syria (al-A'lam (y136),
3.203).'Uthman al-Hiri, originally from Rayy, Persia
He was a Sufi who first kept thecompany of Yahya ibn Mu'adh and Shah al-Kirmani, and then travelled toNishapur, where he met Hafs ai-Haddad, who married his daughter to Abu'Uthman and took the the way from him
At his hands the path of Sufism spreadin Nishapur, where he died in A.H
292 (al-Tabaqat al-kubra (yI24), 1.86; andTabaqat al-Sufiyya (yI29), 170).
Abu Ya'la al-Mawsuli
He was a hadith master (hafiz) who was knownas the Hadith Scholar of Mosul (in northern Iraq), and people undertook journeysto learn from him
He compose several collections of hadith and was nearly onehundred years old when he died in Mosul in 307/919 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.171).
the famous Sufi born in 188/804 in Bistam, a city between Khurasan and Iraq
Hisgrandfather was a Zoroastrian who became a Muslim
Many miracles and ecstaticutterances are attributed to Abu Yazid, whom some consider to have been thefirst to speak of the 'unity of being' (wahdat al-wujud, dis: x5) in a direct way.Among his numerous sayings on Sufism is ""When Allah loves a servant, Heimbues him with three attributes as a proof of His love: generosity like that of thesea, beneficence like that ofthe sun, and humility like that ofthe earth."" When aprominent scholar once asked him from whence he had acquired his knowledge,he replied that it was from applying the maxim, ""Whoever applies what he knows,Allah bequeaths him knowledge of what he did not know."" He died in Bistam in2611875 at seventy-one years of age (ibid., 3.235; ai-Imam al-'Izz Ibn 'Abd alSalam(y38), 1.136; al-Tabaqat al-kubra (y124), 1.77; and Tabaqat al-Sufiyya(y129),67).
Yusuf aI-Kufi ai-Baghdadi, born in Kufa in 1131731
He was the companion andstudent of Abu Hanifa, and the first to propagate his school
A hadith master(hafiz) and one of the most brilliant judicial minds in Islamic history, he served asjudge in Baghdad during the caliphates of al-Mahdi and al-Hadi, and as head ofthe judiciary under the caliph Harun ai-Rashid, who made the rulings of theHanafi school the official state code for the entire Abbasid period
He was thefirst to write works on the fundamentals of Hanafi jurisprudence, a mujtahidImam with an extensive knowledge of Koranic exegesis who authored works inhadith in addition to his many books and treatises in Sacred Law
He died inBaghdad in 1821798 (al-A'lam (y136), 8.193; and n).
High
Created by Allah without father or mother, commentators rdate that helived 960 years, the Father of Mankind whose story is mentioned in many placesin the Holy Koran (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 1.39; and n).
Muhammad Rayhan, born in Jarash, Jordan, in 1944
He is a Sufi ofthe HashmiDarqawitariqa who first took the way in 1961 from Sheikh Muhammad Sa'idKurdi, the successor in Jordan of Sheikh Muhammad Hashimi of Damascus
Heserved Kurdi until his death in 1972, and among the teachings he had from him arethe words, ""The remembrance of Allah is the charter of saintship (al-dhikr manshuraI-wiIaya)""
He read Shafi'i jurisprudence with his sheikh as well as withSheikh Barakat, the late mufti of Irbid, Jordan, and he currently studies withSheikh Yunus Hamdan in Amman, where he lives and has a grocery store (n).
Asad, Abu 'Abdullah al-Shaybani, Imam of Ahl aI-Sunna, born in 1641780 inBaghdad, where he grew up as an orphan
For sixteen years he travelled in pursuitof the knowledge ofhadith, to Kufa, Basra, Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Damascus,Morocco, Algeria, Persia, and Khurasan, memorizing one hundred thousandhadiths, thirty thousand of which he recorded in his Musnad [Ascribed traditions].Imam Ahmad was among the most outstanding students of Shafi'i, whowhen he left Baghdad for Egypt, said, ""In departing from Baghdad, I have left noone in it more godfearing, learned in Sacred Law, abstinent, pious, or knowledgeablethan Ibn Hanbal.""Out of piety, Imam Ahmad never gave a formal legal opinion (fatwa) whileShafi'i was in Iraq, and when he later formulated his school of jurisprudence, hemainly drew on explicit texts from the Koran, hadith, and scholarly consensus,with relatively little expansion from analogical reasoning (qiyas)
He was probablythe most learned in the sciences of hadith of the four great Imams of SacredLaw, and his students included many of the foremost scholars of hadith
AbuDawud said of him: ""Ahmad's gatherings were gatherings of the afterlife: nothingof this world was mentioned
Never once did I hear him mention this-worldlythings."" And Abu Zur'a said: ""Ahmad was even greater than Ishaq [Rahawayh]and more knowledgeable in jurisprudence
I never saw anyone more perfect thanAhmad."" He never once missed praying in the night, and used to recite the entireKoran daily
He said, ""I saw the Lord of Power in my sleep, and said, '0 Lord,what is the best act through which those near to You draw nearer?' and Heanswered, 'Through [reciting] My word, 0 Ahmad.' I asked, 'With understanding,or without?' and He answered, 'With understanding and without.' "" IbrahimaI-Harbi noted of Ahmad, ""It is as though Allah gathered in him the combinedknowledge of the first and the last.""Ahmad was imprisoned and tortured for twenty-eight months under theAbbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim in an effort to force him to publicly espouse theMu'tazilite position that the Holy Koran was created, but the Imam bore upunflinchingly under the persecution and refused to renounce the belief of Ahl alSunnathat the Koran is the uncreated word of Allah, after which Allah deliveredand vindicated him
When Ahmad died in 2411855, he was accompanied to hisresting place by a funeral procession of eight hundred thousand men and sixtythousand women, marking the departure of the last of the four great mujtahidImams ofIslam (al-A'iam (y136), 1.203; Siyara'[am al-nubala' (y37), 11.198-99;al- Tabaqat al-kubra (y124), 1.55; al-Targhib wa al-tarhib (y9), 1.17; and n).
aI-' Abbas al-'A1awi, born in Mostaghanem, Algeria, in 129111874
He was a Sufi,Maliki scholar, Koranic exegete, poet, and the sheikh and renewer of the Shadhilitariqa, of which he founded the 'Alawi-Darqawi order that bears his name
Histeaching stressed the threefold nature of the Muslim religion (din) as mentionedin the Gabriel hadith (dis: ul): Islam, represented by one's inward and outwardsubmission to the rules of Sacred Law; true faith (iman), in the tenets of faith ofAhl aI-Sunna; and the perfection of faith (ihsan), in the knowledge of Allah whichthe way of Sufism provides the means to
He authored works in each of thesespheres, though his most important legacy lay in the spiritual way he founded,which emphasized knowledge of Allah (ma'rita) through the practice of solitaryretreat (khalwa) under the supervision of a sheikh, and the invocation (dhikr) ofthe Supreme Name.Europeans visited the sheikh, but some who met him later wrote works thattried to assimilate him to a sort of perenniaIist philosophy that would consider allreligious traditions as valid an<:\ acceptable reflections of but a single truth, substitutingtraditional spirituality versus modern materialism for Islam versus unbeliefThe sheikh's own works emphatically deny their philosophy, and the reasonAllah afflicted them with it would seem to be that they did not remain with thesheikh long enough to absorb his state or become as he was, a follower of the wayof the prophets and purified ones, rather taking their affiliation with him as ameans to legitimize opinions they had from the first and were unwilling to everrelinquish, remaking the master, as it were, in their own image
The true measureof a spiritual way, however, does not lie in books produced by writers, in thewrong or in the right, but in the hearts it opens to knowledge of divine realitiesconveyed by prophetic revelation, and in this Sheikh Ahmad al-'Alawi, whoseorder has spread to the farthest reaches of the Muslim world, certainly stands asone of the greatest Sufi masters of Islamic history
He died in Mostaghanem in1353/1934 (al-A 'lam (y136), 1.258; Sheikh 'Abd ai-Rahman Shaghouri; and n).
al-Rumi, Shihab ai-Din Ibn al-Naqib al-Misri
His father was a Christian convertto Islam from Antakya, Turkey, who was originally captured and made a slave bya Muslim prince who then educated him and set him free, whereupon he servedthe prince as a captain (naqib) and later became a Sufi in the Baybarsiyya ofCairo, where his son was born in 70211302
Ahmad grew up among Islamicscholars, memorizing the Holy Koran in its seven canonical readings (qira'at),and at the age of twenty studied Sacred Law, which he pursued until he excelledat it
Among his sheikhs were the great Shafi'i mujtahid and hadith master (hafiz),Imam Taqi ai-Din Subki in Islamic jurisprudence, the hadith master Ibn Mulaqqinin the sciences of hadith, and Abu Hayyan in Arabic grammar
A master ofKoran recitation, Shafi'i law, Koranic exegesis, fundamentals of Islamic faith andlaw, Arabic, and Sufism, he memorized a great many hadiths, expeciaUy thoseconnected with dhikr and devotions, and worked at length correcting and refiningAbu Ishaq Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab (The rarefaction], condensing Shirazi's alTanbih(The notification], and annotating Nawawi's Minhaj al-talibin (The seekers'road], all of which are reflected in his most famous work, 'Umdatal-salik wa'uddat al-nasik (The reliance of the traveller and tools of the worshipper], thebasic text of the present volume, which follows the order of Shirazi's alMuhadhdhaband the conclusions of Nawawi's Minhaj in a work he seeminglydesigned and edited for practical application in life, avoiding rare and obscurelegal questions, and presenting only the soundest positions of the school
Henever gave formal legal opinions or accepted an official teaching position, butrather applied himself to worship, writing, and teaching a relatively small circle ofstudents
Those who knew him described him as learned, humble, quiet, dignified,intelligent, polite, godfearing, and ascetic
Despite his rigorous self-disciplinein worship, he had a good sense of humor and a talent for relating amusinganecdotes
Devoted like his father to Sufism, he performed the hajj several times,and stayed for extended periods near the Kaaba
He died of the plague in the mid-dIe of Ramadan at sixty-seven years of age in Cairo in 769/1368 (al-A'lam (y136),1.200; 'Umdatal-salik wa 'uddat al-nasik (y90), 7; and n).
ibn Hamdan, Abu al-Husayn al-Quduri, born in Baghdad in 362/973
He was ascholar in Sacred Law who became the Hanafi school's foremost representative inIraq
His most famous work is Kitab al-Quduri [Quduri's book], which hasremained a classic in the school for nearly a thousand years
He also authored theseven-volume al-Tajrid (The abstract] on differences between the Shafi'i andHanafi schools, and died in Baghdad in 428/1037 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.212).
Abu al-'Abbas Zarruq al-Bumusi, born in Fez, Morocco, in 846/1442
He was aSufi, Maliki scholar, and hadith specialist who studied Sacred Law in Fez, Cairo,and Medina
He then became dedicated to Sufism, withdrew from the world, andtook to a wandering life
He was one of the most renowned sheikhs of the Shadhilitariqa and authored a number of works, well written and concise, that attest totheir author's illumination in the spiritual way
He died in Takrin, Libya, in 89911493 (ibid, 1.91; and n).
(Allah be well pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) and Mother of the Faithful, born of the Quraysh nine years before theHijra (A.D
613) in Mecca
She was the most knowledgeable of Muslim women inSacred Law, religion, and Islamic behavior (adab), having mimied the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) in the second year after the Hijra, becomingthe dearest of his wives to him in Medina
She related 2,210 hadiths from theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
and after his death, leading figuresof the Companions would come and ask her for legal opinions, which she wouldsupply
She died in Medina in 58/678 (al-A 'lam (yl36), 3.240).
Amin ibn 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz 'Abidin, born in Damascus in 124411828.The son of Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn 'Abidin, he was a first-rank Hanafischolar in his own right who was appointed during his lifetime to many posts in theIslamic judiciary
He travelled to Istanbul and was one of the members of thepanel of scholars who authored al-Majalla [The lawbook], among the most famousworks on Islamic governmental law produced during the Ottoman period.Though he originally wrote his al-Hadiyya ai- 'Ala'iyya [The gift of 'Ala'] as aprimer in Sacred Law for schoolchildren, it has become an important Hanafi legalreference for subsequent scholars
Appointed as a judge in Tripoli, Lebanon, in1292/1875, he later returned to Damascus, where he died in 1306/1889 (ibid ..6.270; and n).
al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (Allah be well pleased with him), the Friend (WaH) ofAllah, Commander of the Faithful, and fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs,born of noble lineage in Mecca twenty-three years before the Hijra (A.D
600) andraised from the age of five by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) ,who was the son of 'Ali's paternal uncle and later married his own daughterFatima to him
When the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) paired offthe Meccan Emigrants and Medinan Helpers as brothers, he told 'Ali, ""You aremy brother."" Strong, young, and valiant, he bore the Muslims' standard into battleafter battle, was a renowned swordsman, and at Khaybar the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) attested to 'Ali's love of Allah and Allah's love of'Ali
He was of the ten who were informed that they would enter paradise, andwas the first male to accept Islam from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), as well as the first to pray behind him
When 'Ali became caliph in A.H.35 after the death of 'Uthman, he made Kufa his capital and patiently bore upunder the dissension and civil strife with which the Muslims were afflicted duringhis caliphate (dis: w56.3)
Heroically courageous, a wise and fair judge, a speakerof surpassing eloquence, and a sea of spiritual wisdom, he was among the mostlearned of the Companions, and related hundreds of hadiths
His signet ring wasengraved with the words, ""Allah is the King"" (Allah ai-Malik)
When he wasassassinated while at prayer by a Kharijite at Kufa in 40/661 , his last words were,""There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah"" (al-A'lam(y136), 4.295; al-Tabaqat al-kubra (y124), 1.20; and n).
tribe
He lived in Homs, Syria, and was of the generation who were contemporarieswith some of those who met the prophetic Companions, but it is notestablished that he himself met any of them
He was an honest hadith transmitter,but made occasional mistakes
He died in A.H
143 (Taqrib al-tahdhib (yI6), 402).
born in Damascus in 129411877
He was a Shafi'i scholar known among his contemporariesfor his learning, piety, and efforts in the cause of Islam
Of a wealthyfamily, he brought about a virtual renaissance of Islamic learning in Damascus byfounding, al-Jami'iyya al-Ghurra', an institutioll-Of more than eleven separateschools that provided food, clothing, housing, and traditional instruction to needystudents, particularly those from outlying rural areas and the Horan Plain southof Damascus, who returned to their homes to teach a whole generation of Muslimsthe religion
During the French occupation he travelled the Syrian countrysideto towns and villages with the hadith scholar Badr al-Din al-Hasani,explaining to people the obligatory character of armed jihad against the colonialists.He was a sheikh of the Tijani tariqa who had all his students take theway, and many considered him a friend (wali) of Allah Most High
An ascetic inhis private life, he spent himself, his wealth, and his life in the service of Islam, anddied in Damascus in 136211943 (Tarikh 'ulama' Damashq (yl), 2.586-90; Sheikh'Abd ai-Rahman Shaghouri; and n).
born in Herat, Afghanistan
One of the foremost Hanafi scholars of histime, he lived in Mecca, and it is related that he used to earn his income by writingout one copy of the Holy Koran each year embellished with marginal notes containingcommentary and canonical readings (qira'at), and selling it to live on theproceeds until the following year
He authored a number of works in Hanafi jurisprudence,fundamentals of Islamic faith, the sciences of hadith, Sufism, history,Arabic lexicology, and Koranic exegesis, though the most frequently used of hisworks may well be his litany al-Hizb al-a'zam [The supreme daily dhikr], in whichhe gathered hundreds of supplications from prophetic hadiths and divided theminto seven parts, one to be read each day of the week-a litany that forms an integralpart of Muhammad al-Juzuli's celebrated manual of dhikr, Dala'i/ al-khayrat[Guides to blessingsj
He died in Mecca in 1014/1606 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.12;and n).
Sayf aI-Din al-Amidi, a specialist in fundamentals of Islamic law and faithwho was born in 55111156 in Amid (present-day Diyarbakir, Turkey)
Originallya Hanbali, he became a Shafi'i when he came to Baghdad to study hadith, afterwhich he travelled first to Damascus and then to Cairo, where he taught andbecame widely known
Some scholars there later grew envious of his reputationand accused him of
heresy , forcing him to leave Cairo secretly and take refuge inHama,Syria, from whence he proceeded to Damascus
He wrote some twentyworks, the most famous of which is his four-volume al-Ihkam Ii usul al-ahkam[The proficiency: on fundamentals oflegal rulings]
He died in 63l/1233 (aI-A' lam(yl36), 4.332; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 8.306).
be well pleased with him), a Medinan Helper and Companion of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace)
He participated in the Battle ofthe Confederatesand in subsequent battles, and when the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) appointed him governor over Najran, he wrote him a lengthy letter ofcovenant containing legislation and instruction
He died in 53/673 (al-A'lam(y136),5.76).
ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As, a reliable hadith narrator (saduq) ofthe generation ofwhom some met the Companions
His hadiths were related by Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi,Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah
He died in A.H
118 (Taqrib al-tahdhib (yI6), 423).
pleased with him), a Medinan Helper and Companion of the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace)
Born ten years before the Hijra (A.D
612) in Medina,he entered Islam while young, was the personal servant of the Prophet during thelast ten years of his life (Allah bless him and give him peace), and related over2,200 hadiths
After the Prophet's death (Allah bless him and give him peace), hetravelled to Damascus and later settled in Basra
The Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) prayed that Allah would bless him with abundance (baraka)in his wealth, life, and offspring, and grant him forgiveness; and he becameamong the wealthiest of men, had over 120 children and grandchildren at the timeof his death, an orchard that bore fruit twice a year, and he lived until he was tiredof living any longer, dying in Basra at one hundred years of age in 93/712, the lastof the Companions to die there (al-A'lam (y136), 2.24-25; and al-Shifa (y116),
1.47).according to Imam Nawawi alive at the present day among the Jews
He will comeforth at the end of time, claim to be a deity, and work wonders, bringing forth aheaven, a hell, and mountains of bread, though he will be unable to enter Meccaor Medina
The prophet 'Isa (upon whom be peace) will slay him at his Final Coming(al-Shifa (y116); 1.663; and A).
(upon whom be peace), a siddiq (great-faithed one) who was steadfastly true toAllah and to his fellow men, a friend (waH) of Allah Most High to whom Allahvouchsafed many miracles (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 3.315).
Ibrahim (upon whom be peace), the prophet and messenger of Allah Most High,who mentions him in various places in the Holy Koran
He is best known for hisproverbial steadfastness and patience in affliction (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65),2.58; and al-Shifa (y116), 1.293).
born in al-' Aziziyya, Egypt
He was a scholar of Shafi'i jurisprudence and hadithwho authored various works, of which his three-volume al-Siraj al-munir sharh al·Jami' al-saghir [The Hghtgiving lamp: an exegesis of ""The minor compendium""],a commentary on a famous hadith collection by Suyuti, is perhaps the most wellknown
He died in Bulaq in 1070/1660 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 4.258).
only as the ""Angel of Death"" (Malak al-Mawt)
In reality it is Allah who reclaimsthe souls of men from their bodies, but He does so by means of the Angel ofDeath, whom He orders to take a person's soul when the time arrives
' Azra'il hashelpers in this from the angels of mercy and angels of torment, depending onwhom the deceased is, and they draw out the spirit of the deceased until it reachesthe throat, when 'Azra'il takes it himself
The whole world has been made as if itwere the size of an open palm for him, and he takes the soul of anyone he wishes,from east to west, without difficulty (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 2.40, 3.415;and n).
Badr ai-Din ibn 'Abd ai-Rahman al-Hasani, born in Damascus in 126711850
Theson of a Moroccan Maliki scholar, Badr aI-Din followed the Hanafi school andbecame the hadith scholar of Damascus of his time
He memorized the HolyKoran, the Sahihs of Bukhari and Muslim with their texts and channels of transmission,and twenty thousand verses of the rhyming mnemonic texts (mutun) thatIslamic scholars formerly used to commit to memory to have a framework withinwhich to remember and understand the more detailed works of the Islamic sciencesthat they would read with their sheikhs
After this, he devoted himself toworship and teaching, living an ascetic life of fasting and service to the Muslimcommunity
He wrote works in many fields, including hadith, tenets of Islamicfaith, Koranic exegesis, mathematics, logic, and Arabic grammar
The attributionto him of the formal legal opinion (fatwa) mentioned at e14.1 of the presentvolume was made by Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut, Sheikh' Abd al-Wakil Durubi, andothers
He died in Damascus in 1354/1935 (al-A'lam (y136) , 7.157-58; and n).
Abu Muhammad Muhyi al-Sunna al-Baghawi, born in Bagha, Persia, in436/1044
Known to contemporaries as the Reviver ofthe Sunna, he was an Imamin Shafi'i jurisprudence, hadith, and Koranic exegesis, writing valuable works ineach, among them his sixteen-volume Sharh al-sunna [The explanation of thesunna]
which proceeds through the usual chapter arangement of works on Shafi'ijurisprudence, discussing the hadiths and Koranic verses upon which the rulingsof the school are based, and how the various other Imams have understood them.His commentary on the Holy Koran Lubab al-ta'wil fi ma'alamal-Tanzil [Thequintessence of interpretation: on features of the Revelation], has also provedvery popular among scholars and been printed in several editions
He died inMerv (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R.) in 510/1117 (al-A'lam (y136) , 2.259;and n).
Bajur; Egypt, in 1198/1784
Educated at al-Azhar, he was one of the foremostShafi'i scholars and theologians of his time, authoring over twenty works andcommentaries in Sacred Law, tenets of faith, Islamic estate diVision, scholastictheology, logic, and Arabic
In A.H
1263 he was appointed Sheikh of al-Aihar, anoffice he remained in until his death in Cairo in 128811860 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 1.71).
x 102 Baydawi (r21.1) is 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali, Nasirai-Din ai-Shirazi al-Baydawi, born in Bayda, near Shiraz, Persia
He was a Shafi'ischolar, judge, and Koranicexegete whose commentary Anwar al-Tanzil wa asraral-ta'wil [The lights of the Revelation and secrets of interpretation] is so wellknown that whenever scholars mention ""The Judge"" (aI-Qadi) in the context ofKoranic commentary, it is Baydawi who is meant
He wrote a number of otherscholarly works in tenets of faith, jurisprudence, and Arabic, as well as a historyin Persian
After serving as a judge in Shiraz, he moved to Tabriz, where he diedin 685/1286 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.110; and n).
born in Khasrajand, a village around Bayhaq near Nishapur, Persia, in 384/994.A principle hadith master (hafiz) and Shafi'i Imam, he was raised in Bayhaq, buttravelled to gain Sacred Knowledge to Baghdad, Kufa, Mecca, and other cities.Dhahabi was to say of him, ""Had Bayhaqi wanted to found his own school of jurisprudenceand be its mujtahid, he would have been able to, because of the vastrange of subjects of which he was a master, and his knowledge of scholarly differences.""Bayhaqi's works amount to nearly one thousand volumes, treating thesciences of hadith, Koranic exegesis, Sacred Law, tenets of faith, and other subjects.The Imam of the Two Sanctuaries Juwayni once observed
""Every Shafi'ischolar is indebted to Shafi'i except Bayhaqi, to whom Shafi'i is indebted for hiswriting so many works strengthening the school, expanding questions on whichthe Imam had been brief, and supporting his positions."" He died in Nishapur in458/1066 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.116).
and written about Sufism and Muslim Africa since 1963
The preface to his MuslimBrotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa was written in Bloomington,Indiana, in 1976
Tjle book accurately reports the names and dates of the eventsit discusses, though its explanations of Muslim figures, their motives, and theirplace within the Islamic world are observed through the lens of unbelief (kufr).giving an inverted image of many of the realities thus beheld
and perhapscalling for a word here on the literature that has been termed Orientalism, or inthe contemporary idiom, ""area studies.""It is a viewpoint requiring that scholarly description of something like"" AfricanIslam"" (Martin's phrase) be first and foremost objective
The premises of thisobjectivity conform closely, upon reflection, to the lived and felt experience of apost-religious, Western intellectual tradition in understanding religion; namely,that comparing human cultural systems and societies in their historical successionand multiplicity leads the open-minded observer to moral relativism, since nomoral value can be discovered which on its own merits is transculturally valid.Here, human civilizations, with their cultural forms, religions, hopes, aims,beliefs, prophets, sacred scriptures, and deities, are essentially plants that growout of the earth, springing from their various seeds and soils, thriving for a time,and then withering away
The scholar's concern is only to record these elementsand propose a plausible relation between them.Such a point of departure, if de rigueur for serious academic works like MuslimBrotherhoods, is of course non-Islamic and anti-Islamic
As a fundamentalincomprehension of Islam, it naturally distorts what it seeks to explain, yet withan observable disparity in the degree of distortion in any given description thatseems to correspond roughly to how close the object of explanation is to the coreof Islam
In dealing with central issues like Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace), the Koran, or hadith, it is at its worst; while the further itproceeds to the periphery
such as historical details of trade concessions, treaties,names of rulers, weights of coins, etc., the less distorted it becomes
In eithercase, it is plainly superior for Muslims to rely on fellow Muslims when Islamicsources are available on a subject (and there are few imaginable subjects thatIslamic scholars have not discussed in detail and written highly interesting andprofessional works about), if only to avoid the subtle and not-so-subtle distortionsof non-Islamic works about Islam
One cannot help but feel that nothing badwould happen to us if we were to abandon the trend of many contemporary Muslimwriters of faithfully annotating our works with quotes from the foundingfathers of Orientalism, if only because to sleep with the dogs is generally to risewith the fleas
And where Islamic works cannot be found and non-Islamic sourcesare used, we should keep in mind that their premises are those of unbelief, andhow this colors the whole process of scholarly inquiry
We find in Muslim Brotherhoods,for example, a discussion of a hypothesized alteration in the ""carbondioxide-oxygen balance in the brain,"" resulting from communal remembrance ofAllah (dhikr) and producing a susceptibility to visions, hallucinations, and intenseemotional experiences that enabled African Sufi brotherhoods to ""generatemuch love and devotion"" between members, who could thereby be more successfullydirected towards collective action
When one looks at the men beingexplained, however, those who risked their lives in jihad against the enemies ofAllah for four, twelve, fifteen, twenty-one, or thirty-five years, an explanation oftheir motivations that downplays faith in Allah and His messenger (Allah blesshim and give him peace) must surely need a great deal more to be convincing thanthis type of fatuous detail
Or the suggestion that a mujahid scholar who hadmemorized the Holy Koran and the Sahih collections of Bukhari and Muslim, andlived and taught the strictest adherence to Islam by precept and example for alifetime of seventy years ('Umar Tal, x355) might have committed suicide after adefeat in battle-a report based on a single story told by a blacksmith of unknownveracity some twenty-six years after the event--such aspects show little appreciationof psychological absurdities in an Islamic context.Though there is little doubt that B.G
Martin's work is a sincere attempt tounderstand its subject matter, and one that incidentally uses much original Africansource material, it should be understood by Muslims for what it is, an aceountof ""African Islam""--of religious men, sacrifices, and motives-from apoint of view that has been sanitized of anything religious to guard its ""objectivity""(Muslim Brotherhoods (y86), preface and bibliography; Sharif 'AbdulKarim;and n).x 105 Bilal (w29.2) is Bilal ibn Rabah, Abu 'Abdullah al-Habashi (Allah be wellpleased with him), the muezzin of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and his watchman over the Muslim common fund (bayt aI-mal)
A hadithsays of him, ""Bilal is the foremost ofthe Ethiopians
"" One of the earliest convertsto Islam, he was present at every battle with the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace), and when the latter died, Bilal called the Muslims to prayer for his lasttime
He lived in Medina until Muslim armies were dispatched to Syria and thentravelled with them, dying in Damascus in 20/641 (al-'Alam (y136), 2.73).
who killed Khubayb ai-Ansari (x220) (Fath al-Bari (y17), 7.382).x 107 Bukhari (Introduction) is Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim ibnMughira, Abu 'Abdullah al-Bukhari, born in Bukhara (in present-day UzbekS.S.R.) in 194/810
Raised as an orphan, he was aShafi'i scholar who Icarned SacredLaw in Mccca from' Abdullah ibn Zubayr al-Humaydi, the disciple of Shafi'i,and he became the greatest Imam in hadith that the world has ever known
Hebegan his long travels in search of hadith in A.H
210, visiting Khurasan, Iraq,Egypt, the Hijaz, and Syria, hearing hadiths from nearly a thousand sheikhs,gathering some 600,000 prophetic traditions from which he selected the approximately4,400 (not counting those repeated) that compose his Jami' al-Sahih[Rigorously authenticated collection]
Choosing them for their authenticity, hewas the first scholar in Islam to compile a work on this basis, and his book is theforemost of the six gryat hadith, collections
Ibn Khuzayma said of him, ""No oneunder the sky is more knowledgeable in hadith,"" and Abu 'Umar al-Khaffaf oncereferred to him as the ""pure, godfearing scholar whom I have never seen anyonecomparable to, Muhammad ibn Isma'il Bukhari, twenty times greater in knowledgeof hadith than Ishaq [Rahawayh], Ahmad, or anyone else."" At the end ofhis life some bigots attacked him for not agreeing with their misunderstanding ofthe uncreatedness of the Koran, and for his steadfastness in the convictions of Ahlal-Sunna they hounded him from Bukhara to Samarkand, where he died in the villageof Khartan in 256/870 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 6.34; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra(y128), 2.212-14; al-Targhib wa al-tarhib (y9), 1.19; N; and n).
al-Aslami (Allah be well pleased with him), a Companion of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) who entered Islam before the battle of Badr andparticipated in the siege of Khaybar and conquest of Mecca
He related 167hadiths
He lived in Medina, later moved to Basra, and finally to Merv (inpresent-day Turkmen S.S.R.), where he died in 63/683 (al-A'lam (y136), 2.50;and n).
'Umar, Abu al-Faraj al-Darami, born in Baghdad in 358/969
A gifted speaker inArabic, he was a mathematician and legal scholar who did in-depth research in theShafi'i school and produced a number of copious works including Jami' al-jawami'wa muda' al-bada'i' [The compendium of compendiums and storehouse of wonders],which details the positions of the school and evaluates the evidence forthem, and al-Istidhkar [The reminding], which contains a large number of rarelegal questions
He died in Damascus in 44911057 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.254; andTabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 4.182--85).
al-Daraqutni, born in Dar al-Qutn, a neighborhood in Baghdad, in 306/919
Hewas a Shafi'i scholar who was among the Imams of his time in hadith, and the firstto record the canonical readings of the Holy Koran (qira'at) in a work
He travelledto Egypt, where he helped Ibn Hanzaba compose his Musnad [Ascribedtraditions] and then returned to Baghdad
He wrote a number of works on hadith,the most famous of which is his Sunan [Sunnas]
He died in Baghdad in 385/995(al-A'lam (y136), 4.314).
Allah Most High to Bani Isra'il
He was the first to forge iron into chain maiL andis mentioned more than once in the Holy Koran
While still a boy, he slew thegiant Jalut (Goliath), a deed for which King TaIut (Saul) gave him his daughter inmarriage and half his kingdom
Dawud lived with the king for forty years until thelatter's death, after which he lived another seven years and then died too (alFutuhatal-ilahiyya (y65), 1.204).
ibn Qaymaz, Abu 'Abdullah Shams ai-Din al-Dhahabi, the great Shafi'i hadithmaster (hafiz) and historian of Islam, born in Damascus in 673/1274
Of Turkomanorigin, he first studied in Damascus and then travelled to Cairo and othercities in pursuit of Sacred Knowledge
He authored nearly a hundred works, someof them of considerable size, like his twenty-three volume Siyar a'lam al-nubala'[The lives of noble figures], or his thirty-six volume Tarikh aI-Islam al-kabir[Major history ofIslam]
In addition to his mastery of hadith, he was also an Imamin canonical Koranic readings (qira'at) and textual criticism
He went blind aboutseven years before his death, and died in Damascus in 74811348 (al-A'lam (y136),5.326; Kitab al-kaba'ir (y36), 23-25; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128),
9.1(0) .High to Bani Isra'il
He was the third prophet to succeed Musa (upon whom bepeace), and commentators relate that he was nicknamed Dhul Kifl (lit
""He oftheGuarantee"") because he gave his guarantee to the wicked of Bani Isra'il that hewould ensure the appearance on a particular day of seventy prophets whom theywished to kill, putting up his own life in forfeit, after which he told the prophets,""Go, it is better that I should he killed than you."" When the time for the executionarrived and Dhul Kifl was asked about them, he merely said he did not knowwhere they had gone, after which Allah Most High saved him too (al-Siraj almunir(y72), 1.158).
al-Misri, the famous Egyptian ascetic and saint
One of the greatest ofthe early Sufis, he was of Nubian origin and had a gift for expressive aphorisms,of which a large number have fortunately been preserved
He was the first inEgypt to speak of the states and spiritual stations of the way
The Abbasid caliphal-Mutawakkil charged him with heresy (zandaqa) and had him brought to him,but upon hearing Dhul Nun speak he realized his innocence and released him,whereupon he returned to Egypt
He died in Giza in 245/859 (al-A'lam (y136),2.102; and n).
peace), created from him to become the Mother of Mankind
She was namedHawa' because she was created directly from a living being (hayy), Adam, in hissleep without his being aware of it or feeling any pain therefrom (al-Siraj al-munir(y72),1.49).
Abu 'Abdullah Fakhr ai-Din al-Razi, hom in Rayy, Persia Gust south ofpresent-day Tehran, Iran), in 544/1150
A Shafi'i scholar of genius and a mujtahidImam in tenets of faith, he was among the foremost figures of his time in masteryof the rational and traditional Islamic sciences, and preserved the religion of Ahlal-Sunna from the deviations of the Mu'tazilites, Shiites, Anthropomorphists,and other aberrant sects of his era by authoring a number of brilliant works thatcame to enjoy a wide readership among his contemporaries and have remainedpopular with scholars to this day
His thirty-two-volume Koranic exegesis Mafatihal-ghayb [The keys of the unseen] is one of the most famous of his works, thoughhe also wrote on tenets of belief, heresiology, fundamentals of Islamic law andfaith, scholastic theology, rhetoric, geometry, and poetry in Arabic and Persian,in both of which he was a preacher of considerable eloquence
His efforts to purifyIslam from the heresies of anthropomorphists reached the point that when unableto answer his arguments against them, they resorted to writing ugly remarks andinsinuations on scraps of paper and attaching them to the pulpit (minbar) fromwhich he gave the Friday sermon
He arrived one day and read one of these, andthen spoke to those present in an impassioned voice, saying: ""This piece of papersays that my son does such and such
If it is true, he is but a youth and I hope hewill repent
It also says that my wife does such and such
If it is true, she is a faithlesswoman
And it says that my servant does such and such
Servants are wont tocommit every wrong, except for those Allah protects
But on none of these scrapsof paper-and may Allah be praised!-is it written that my son says Allah is a corporealbody, or that he likens Him to created things, or that my wife believes that,or my servant-So which of the two groups is closer to guidance?"" He travelledto Khawarzim and Khurasan, and finally to Herat, Afghanistan, where he died in606/1210 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.313; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128),
8.81-89).of Giza, Egypt, in 1930
He memorized the Holy Koran at nine years ofage and in 1946 entered al-Azhar, where he studied at the secondary level andthen at the College of Arabic Language, from whence he received his first degreein 1959, after which he pursued his studies in the language to receive a master'sdegree in 1960
In 1%5 he joined al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy, which,according to the terms of its charter, is ""the highest scholarly body for Islamicresearch"" and is presided over by the Sheikh of al-Azhar
In addition to research,propagating Islam (da'wa), sending delegates to Muslim countries to teach, andchecking and certifying new books for accuracy and conformity with the tenets ofIslam, the academy also examines all Korans published in Egypt and those sent toit from abroad for authorization
Sheikh Fath Allah worked in the latter capacityuntil 1971, when he was sent as al-Azhar's delegate to Tripoli, Lebanon, to fosterIslamic education through teaching and publishing
In 1977, he returned to theacademy's General Department of Research as trustee, and was subsequentlynamed as General Director of Research, Writing, and Translation in 1985, theposition he currently holds
The present volume, The Reliance of the Traveller,was submitted to the academy for checking and authorization on 14 May 1990 andwas certified on 11 February 1991 (n).
with her) born to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace)and his wife Khadija eighteen years before the Hijra
With Maryam, the motherof the prophet 'Isa (upon whom be peace), Fatima is the purest and best ofwomenkind
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) gave her to 'Aliibn Abi Talib in marriage when she was eighteen years old
and they had four children,ai-Hasan, al-Husayn, Umm Kalthum, and Zaynab
She was the only one ofthe Prophet's children to survive him (Allah bless him and give him peace),though she died after him by only six months in A.H
11, at twenty-nine years ofage (al-A (lam (yI36), 5.132; and al-Shifa (y1l6), 1.412).
Abu al-Qasim al-Furani, born in Merv (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R.) in388/998
He was a Shafi'i scholar in applications ofIslamic jurisprudence and fundamentalsof law and faith who authored works in Sacred Law, scholarly differencesof opinion, tenets of faith, and heresiology
He died in Merv in 461/1069 (alA'lam(y136), 3.326).
ibn' Abd al-' Aziz, Abu al-Baqa al-Futuhi ai-Han bali, also known as Ibn ai-Najjar,born in 898/1492
He was an Egyptian Hanbali scholar, judge, and author
'Abdal-Wahhab Sha'rani once said of him, ""I kept his company for forty years, andnever saw anything reprehensible in him, nor anyone who spoke better than he orshowed more politeness to those he sat with."" He died in 97211564 (ibid., 6.6).
descended to the prophets of Allah Most High bearing the divine revelation
Heis also the angel entrusted with visiting Allah's punishments upon men, for whichreason Bani Isra'il have traditionally feared him
A hadith relates that 'Umaronce asked the Jews about Gabriel, and they said, ""He is an enemy of ours, forhe reveals our secrets to Muhammad and is the one entrusted with making theearth swallow (khasf) those to whom it happens, and with inflicting every divinepunishment."" Qurtubi records the position of some Koranic exegetes that Gabrielis meant by the verses, ""Do you feel secure that he who is in the heavens [lit.""sky""] will not make the earth swallow you while it quakes?
Or do you feel securethat he who is in the heavens will not send a storm of pebbles against you, that youshall know how My warning is?"" (Koran 67:16-17)
Allah Most High alsodescribes Gabriel as ""a noble messenger endowed with power, of station withHim of the Throne, obeyed there and trustworthy"" (Koran 81:19-21) (al-Jami' Iiahkam al-Qur'an (y1l7), 18.215; al-Shifa (y116), 1.710; and al-Siraj al-munir(y72), 1.79,4.344).
ibn Ahmad, Abu Hamid Hujjat ai-Islam al-Ghazali al-Tusi, the Shafi'i Imam,Proof of Islam, and Sufi adept born in Tabiran, near Tus Gust north of presentdayMashhad, Iran), in 450/1058
The Imam of his time, nicknamed Shafi'ithe Second for his legal virtuousity, he was a brilliant intellectual who first studiedjurisprudence at Tus, and then travelled the Islamic world, to Baghdad, Damascus,Jerusalem, Cairo, Alexandria, Mecca, and Medina, taking Sacred Knowledgefrom its masters, among them the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries Juwayni,with whom he studied until the Imam's death, becoming at his hands a scholar inShafi'i law, logic, tenets of faith, debate, and in the rationalistic doctrines of thephilosophical schools of his time, which he was later called upon to refute
WhenJuwayni died, Ghazali debated the Imams and scholars of Baghdad in thepresence of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who was so impressed that he appointedhim to a teaching post at the Nizamiyya Academy in Baghdad, where word of his'brilliance spread, and scholars journeyed to hear him.His worldly success was something of a mixed blessing, and in mid-career,after considerable reflection, he was gripped by an intense fear for his soul and hisfate in the afterlife, and he resigned from his post, travelling first to Jerusalem andthen to Damascus to purify his heart by following the way of Sufism
In Damascushe lived in seclusion for some ten years, engaged in spiritual struggle and theremembrance of Allah, at the end of which he emerged to produce his masterpiecelhya' 'ulum aI-din [Giving life to the religious sciences], a classic among thebooks of the Muslims about internalizing godfearingness (taqwa) in one's dealingswith Allah, illuminating the soul through obedience to Him, and the levels ofbelievers' attainments therein
The work shows how deeply Ghazali personallyrealized what he wrote about, and his masterly treatment of hundreds of questionsdealing with the inner life that no one had previously discussed or solved isa performance of sustained excellence that shows its author's well-disciplinedlegal intellect and profound appreciation of human psychology
He also wrotenearly two hundred other works, on the theory of government, Sacred Law, refutationsof philosophers, tenets offaith, Sufism, Koranic exegesis, scholastic theology,and bases ofIslamic jurisprudence
He died in Tabiran in 505/1111 (al-A 'lam(y 136) , 7.22; lhya' 'ulum ai-din (y39), 1.330; al-Munqidh min al-dalal (y41),46-50; al-Shita (y116), 2.602;N; and n).
Abu 'Abdullah al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, born in Nishapur, Persia, in 3211933
A Shafi'i scholar, hadith master, and Imam, he journeyed far in quest ofknowledge of prophetic traditions, travelling to 'Iraq, to the Hijaz, and then to thelands beyond the Oxus, hearing hadiths from nearly two thousand sheikhs
Hewas appointed to the judiciary in Nishapur in A.H
359, whence the nickname alHakim(the Magistrate), and subsequently in Jurjan, but refused the secondposition.He was among the most knowledgeable scholars in distinguishing rigorouslyauthenticated from poorly authenticated hadiths, and among the most prolific.Ibn' Asakir estimates that Hakim's works on hadith and other subjects amount toapproximately fifteen hundred volumes, though he is most famous for his fourvolumeal-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahihayn [The addendum to the two ""Sahih"" collectionsof Bukhari and Muslim]
He died in Nishapurin 40511014 (al-A 'lam (y136) ,6.227; and Tabaqatal-Shafi'iyyaal-kubra (yI28), 4.155).x:130 Hakim Tirmidhi (w9.4) is Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn ai-Hasan ibn Bishr,Abu' Abdullah aI-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, a muezzin and author originally from Termez(in present-day Uzbek S.S.R.)
A Sufi and Shafi'i scholar in Sacred Law,hadith, and tenets of faith, he was exiled from his native Termez over a book itsinhabitants did not agree with, and went to Balkh (present-day Wazirabad,Afghanistan), where he was welcomed and honored
He wrote a number of worksin hadith, Sacred Law, and Sufism, among which his Nawadir al-usul [Rare hadithsources] is perhaps the best known
He died in Balkh at ninety years of age, probablyaround A.H
320 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.272; and Tabaqatal-Shafi'iyya al-kubra(y128), 2.245; and n).
was to build a tower of baked bricks so that Pharaoh, imagining Allah to bea corporeal entity in the sky, might climb up and look for him (al-Futuhat alilahiyya(y65), 3.349-50).x 132 Hammad ibn Salama (w40.5) is Hammad ibn Salama ibn Dinar, AbuSalama al-Basri, the mufti of Basra and a trustworthy memorizer and principlenarrator.of hadith, though his memory grew poor in his advanced years
Dhahabirelates that he was an Imam in the field of Arabic, and an author and scholar inSacred Law who uncompromisingly opposed reprehensible innovations (bid'a).He died in 167n84 (al-A'lam (y136), 2.272).x 133 Harb Kirmani (w55.3) is Harb ibn Isma'il, Abu Muhammad al-Kirmani,a Hanbali scholar who studied under Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibnRahawayh, and others
Dhahabi states that his Masa'il [Legal questions] is amongthe most valuable works in the Hanbali school
He died in A.H
280 at about ninetyyears of age (Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 13.244-45).x 134 Harith al-Muhasibi (t1.8) is al-Harith ibn Asad, Abu 'Abdullah alMuhasibi,born in Basra
Notable for his abstinence and self-discipline, he was theteacher of most of the Sufis of Baghdad in his time, a scholar in fundamentals oflaw and faith who possessed considerable eloquence in giving sermons
Amonghis sayings is, ""The finest people of this Community are those whose hereafterdoes not prevent them from attending to their this-worldly concerns, nor thisworld prevent from attending to their hereafter."" He authored works on Sufism,asceticism, and rebuttals of the Mu'tazilites, and died in Baghdad in 243/857 (alA'lam (y136) , 2.153).
Ya'qub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (upon whom be peace), the prophet of Allah MostHigh to Bani Isra'il and brother and vizier of the prophet Musa (upon whom bepeace)
Commentators relate that he died a year before the death of Musa duringthe forty years Bani Isra'il were wandering in the desert, having gone forth withhis brother to some caves, where he died and was buried by him (al-Futuhat alilahiyya(y65), 1.56, 3.89).
sorcery to the wicked, as a temptation and trial from Allah, who commanded thetwo to warn people not to learn it from them
Ghazali explains sorcery as ""a typeof learning deduced from the knowledge of properties of substances and arithmeticalrelations concerning the positions of stars, from which properties a form istaken resembling the image of the victim, and the stars are observed for a particulartime to come, when words of unbelief (kufr) and obscenity, violating the SacredLaw, are pronounced, whereby the help of devils is sought, and throughwhich, by virtue of natural rebations of instrumentality that Allah has disposedand arranged, strange states are brought about in the person ensorcelled.""Another position is that the two angels were sent down to teach men sorcery sothat the difference between sorcery and inimitable prophetic miracles (mu'jiza,def: w30.2) might be recognized, and people not be misled by sorcerers, of whommany existed at that time and some claimed to be prophets (al-Futuhatal-ilahiyya(y65), 1.87; and al-Siraj al-munir (y72), 1.82).x 137 Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf (L10.2) is a contemporary Egyptianscholar, the son of the Maliki scholar Muhammad Makhluf
The former grandmufti of Egypt (mufti al-diyar al-Misriyya), he is a member of the Faculty of OutstandingIslamic Scholars at al-Azhar University, and a member of the foundingcouncil of the Islamic World League (Mafahim yajibu an tusahhaha (y83), 30).x 138 Hasan al-Basri (w26.1) is ai-Hasan ibn Yasar, Abu Sa'id al-Basri, born inMedina in 211642 and raised at the side of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be well pleasedwith him)
He was the Imam of Basra and scholar ofthe Islamic Community of histime; learned, eloquent, devout, courageous, and held in such awe by contemporariesthat he could walk into the chambers of rulers and command the rightand forbid the wrong, which he did on several occasions without fear of whoevermight blame him
Ghazali said of him; ""His speech was the closest of any to thatof the prophets, and his guidedness the closest of any to that of the Companions.""He died in Basra in 110/728 (al-A'lam (y136), 2.226).
Hashim al-Saqqaf al-Husayni, a contemporary Shafi'i scholar who lives inAmman, Jordan
His sheikhs include Hashim Majdhub of Damascus in Shafi'ijurisprudence, Muti' Hammami in estate division, and Muhammad Hulayyil ofAmman in Arabic grammar, and he has been given written authorizations in theShadhili tariqa and hadith from Sheikh 'Abdullah Ghimari of Tangiers
Heteaches a circle of students in Amman and has published over forty-five books andtreatises on tenets of faith, jurisprudence, and heresiology (n).
ibn' Abdullah ai-Khatib, born in Damascus in 1304/1890
He was a Shafi'ischolar, public speaker, and teacher who studied under nearly twenty-eight oftheforemost sheikhs of his time in Damascus and received written authorizationsfrom each of them to teach the subjects he read with them
He knew the HolyKoran by heart and was a master of its recitation and exegesis
Of the Qadiritariqa, he was one of the scholars who travelled the Syrian countryside during theFrench occupation and urged the Muslims to rise in jihad against it
He taught inthe Umayyad Mosque, the Sulaymaniyya Takiya, and at the QalbaqjiyyaMosque, where he devoted the latter part of his life to teaching students
Heauthored a number of treatises and pamphlets on contemporary religious issues,and died in Damascus in 1378/1958 (Tarikh 'ulama' Dimashq (yl), 2.710-14).
be well pleased with him), born thirty-five years before the Hijra (A.D, 586), aCompanion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who was presentat every battle with him
Among the greatest archers of the Companions, an outstandinghorseman of the Quraysh, and a poet from the pre-Islamic period ofignorance, he had extensive trade dealings, and the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) selected him as his envoy to the Muqawqis of Alexandria
He diedin 30/650 in Medina (al-A'lam (y136) , 2.159).
ai-Din al-Haythami, born in Cairo in 735/1335
He was a Shafi'i scholar, hadithmaster (hafiz), and Imam who compiled many hadith collections, among the mostfamous of which is his ten-volume Majma' al-zawa'id wa manba' al-fawa'id [Compendiumof hadiths not mentioned in the six main collections, and wellspring ofinformation], which has become a virtual necessity for modern students of hadith.He is sometimes confused with Ibn Hajar Haytami, whom he is unrelated to
Hedied in 807/1405 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.266; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
Abu 'Umar al-Bahili
A hadith master (hafiz) and Imam who was a reliable(saduq) transmitter, he died in A.H
280 or 281 (Siyar a'lam al-nubula' (y37),
13.309-10).Manaf (Allah be well pleased with her), the mother of the caliph Mu'awiya andwife of Abu Sufyan, the Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace)
She was an eloquent and courageous woman of the Quraysh who wasnoted for her outstanding poetry
At first a bitter foe of Islam and the Muslims,she entered Islam after the conquest of Mecca and made good her Islam
She hadextensive trade dealings in the caliphate of 'U mar, was present at the battle ofYarmouk, and with her poetry inspired and encouraged the Muslim forces in theirjihad against the unbelievers on the Syrian campaign
She died in 14/635 (al-A 'lam(y136) , 8.98).
whom be peace), the Arabian prophet of Allah Most High to the people of 'Ad,in the northern part of what is now the Hadramawt region of South Yemen
Theywere idol worshippers and Hud called them to worship the one God, but theycried lies to him and were destroyed for their unbelief (al-A 'lam (y136), 8.101;and Koran 26:123-40).
al-Hallaj, originally from Bayda, Persia, but raised in Wasit, Iraq
Hekept the company of lunayd, Abu al-Husayn al-Nuri, 'Amr al-Makki, and othersof the Sufis
Sulami records that most of the sheikhs of his own time rejected alHallajand denied that he had any standing in the Sufi way, though others praisedhim, among them Muhammad ibn Khafif (xl66), who called him ""a godly scholar.""Allah knows best as to his spiritual state, but he was executed in Baghdad in309/922 for saying ""Ana al-Haqq"" (""I am the Truth,"" i.e
God), and among theevidence that he wronged himself was that his former sheikh, lunayd, was amongthose who gave the verdict that he should die (Tabaqat al-Sufiyya (y129), 307-8;and n).
Jewish tribe of Bani Nadir
Huyay participated in their plan to invite the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) to a meal to kill him, but Gabriel warned himof it and he got up and left, after which he sent a messenger telling them that theyhad vitiated their solemn covenant and would have to leave Medina
The triberesettled in Khaybar, from whence they endeavored to recoup their losses bysending a delegation of their leaders, among them Huyay, to Mecca to enter intoa pact with Abu Sufyan, Safwan ibn Umayya, and other leaders of the Qurayshto extirpate the Muslims
The pact eulminated in the Battle of the Confederates,after which Huyay was captured and executed with the Medinan Jewish tribe ofBani Qurayza, whom he had also persuaded to violate their covenant with theMuslims by joining the hostilities against them (Muhammad (y75), 203, 215, and
268).well pleased with him), born three years before the Hijra (A.D
619) in Mecca
Hewas the cousin and Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) and kept his company during his lifetime, relating some 1,660 hadiths fromhim
Among the most knowledgeable of the Companions, much Koranic exegesisis also related from him, and the caliph 'Umar used to call for Ibn 'Abbas whenhe could not reach a conclusion on a particular legal question, telling him, ""Thisand the likes of it are what you are for,"" and he would adopt Ibn' Abbas's judgementon the matter without consulting anyone else
His memory was phenomenal,and when the poet Ibn Abi Rabi' delivered an eighty- stanza ode in his presence,Ibn 'Abbas could recite it by heart upon hearing it the once
The scholarof the Muslims of his time, he was visited by many people seeking knowledge ofthe lawful and unlawful, poetry, Arabic, and geneology
He went blind in his lateryears and resided at Ta'if, where he died in 68/687 (ai-A 'lam (y136) , 4.95).
al-Barr, born in Cordova (in present-day Spain) in 368/978
A major hadith master(hafiz), Maliki scholar, and author, he was nicknamed the Hadith Master ofthe West, and was known for his travels throughout Andalusia in pursuit ofhadith
He was appointed to the judiciary more than once, and authored works inhadith, Sacred Law, biographies offamous Muslims, canonical Koranic readings(qira'at), geneology, and history
He died in Shatiba in 463/1071 (al-A'lam(y136),8.240).
Harb ibn Shidad, Abu Bakr al-Nasa'i, born in Baghdad in 185/801
A historian,hadith master (hafiz), and the Imam of his own now-extinct school of jurisprudence,he authored a fifty-volume history entitled al-Tarikh ai-kabir [The majorhistory], of which Daraqutni said, ""I know of no work richer in notes (fawa'id)than his history,"" but of which only fragments remain
He died in Baghdad in279/892 (al-A 'lam (y136), 1.128).
born in Morocco in 116011747
He was a Maliki scholar, Sufi, and Koranicexegete who authored works in Arabic grammar, Sufism, Maliki biographies, andhistory, as well as a mystical Koranic exegesis called al-Bahr al-madid fi tafsir alQur'an aI-Majid [The far-stretching sea: an exegesis of the Noble Koran] in fourvolumes
He took the Shadhili tariqa from the Moroccan master al-' Arabi al-Darqawiby way of his deputy, Muhammad Buzaydi (not the Muhammad Buzidi whowas the sheikh of Ahmad al-' Alawi), and Darqawi addresses him in various placesof his al-Rasa'i/ al-Darqawiyya [The Darqawi letters]
He is said to have writtensome seventeen commentaries on the Hikam [Aphorisms] of Ibn 'Ata' IUah, ofwhich his Iqaz al-himam fi sharh al-Hikam [The awakening of spiritual powers: acommentary on ""The aphorisms""] is the most widely known
He died in 'Anjara,Morocco, in 1224/1809 (ibid., 1.245; Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari;and n).
Abbas ai-Adami, of Baghdad
A Sufi ascetic and devotee, it is related that for aspace of years he would recite the whole Koran daily, but later spent more thantwenty years finishing it but once, for his pondering its meanings
He died inBaghdad in A.H
309 (Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 14.255-56).
aI-Fadl Taj aI-Din Ibn' Ata' Illah al-Iskandari, Sufi Imam and authorofal-HikamaI-'Ata'iyya [The aphorisms of 'Ata'], one of the greatest works of the Shadhilitariqa, in which he was the second successor to Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadhili himself.Originally from Alexandria, he moved to Cairo, where he attracted a largefollowing and gave public lectures that were well attended
He was a scholar inArabic grammar, hadith, Koranic exegesis, fundamentals of law and faith, andjurisprudence; and Dhahabi notes that when he spoke at al-Azhar Mosque, hewould combine the words of the Sufis with hadiths, stories of the early Muslims,and scholarly topics
Among the words he conveyed from the founder of his orderwere, ""This path is not monasticism, eating barley and bran, or the garrulousnessof affectation, but rather perseverence in the divine commands and certainty inthe divine guidance."" He was also the sheikh of the Shafi'i Imam Taqi ai-DinSubki, whose son Taj ai-Din feels that Ibn 'Ata' Illah was more probably a Shafi'ithan a Maliki, as others have held
But his true legacy lies in the path he servedand the disciples he left to further it, their hearts opened to the knowledge ofAllah Most High through his instruction in the mystic way, which his Hikam andother works amply attest to his profound mastery of
He died in Cairo in 709/1309(al-A'lam (y 136) , 1.221-22; al-Durar al-kamina (y13) , 1.273-74; Tabaqat alShafi'iyyaal-kubra (yI28), 9.23; and n).
Abu al-Fath Taqi ai-Din al-Qushayri, born in Yanbu' on the Hijaz side ofthe RedSea, and known, like his father and grandfather, as Ibn Daqiq al- 'Eid
He was aShafi'i mujtahidImam who was educated in Damascus, Alexandria, and in Cairo,where he was appointed to the judiciary in A.H
695
One of Islam's great scholarsin fundamentals of law and belief, he authored ai-lim am bi ahadith al-ahkam [Anoutline of the hadiths for the rulings of Sacred Law] and other works in law, principlesof jurisprudence, hadith, tenets of faith, and poetry, and died in Cairo in70211302 (al-A'lam (y136) , 6.283; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yI28),
9.207).Abu al-Fadl Shihab ai-Din Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, born in Cairo in 77311372
A Shafi'i Imam and hadith master (hafiz), he reached the level of Commanderof the Faithful in Hadith, the only rank above that of hadith master (hafiz).He first learned literature and poetry, but then devoted his considerable talentsto hadith, which he studied under the renowned African master al-Zay\a'i andothers in Cairo, Yemen, and the Hijaz
His works were popular in his own lifetimeand were hand-copied by the greatest scholars of the era and given by kings to oneanother as gifts
Known as Sheikh ai-Islam, scholars travelled to take knowledgefrom him, and he was appointed to the judiciary in Egypt several times
Heauthored a number of works on hadith, history, biography, Koranic exegesis,poetry, and Shafi'i jurisprudence, among the most famous of them his fourteenvolumeFath al-Bari bi sharh Sahih al-Bukhari [The victory of the Creator: acommentary on the ""Sahih"" of Bukhari] which few serious students of Islamicknowledge can do without
He died in Cairo in 85211449 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 1.178;Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut; Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf; and A).
Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Hajar, Abu al'Abbas Shihab ai-Din al-Haytami alMakki,born in 909/1504 in Abu Hay tam , western Egypt
He was the Shafi'i Imamof his time, a brilliant scholar of in-depth applications of Sacred Law, and withImam Ahmad al-Ramli, represents the foremost resource for legal opinion(fatwa) for the entire late Shafi'i school
He was educated at al-Azhar, but latermoved to Mecca, where he authored major works in Shafi'ijurisprudence, hadith,tenets of faith, education, hadith commentary, and formal legal opinion
His mostfamous works include Tuhfa al-muhtaj bi sharh al-Minhaj [The gift of him in need:an explanation of ""The road""], a commentary on Nawawi's Minhaj al-talibin [Theseekers' road] whose ten volumes represent a high point in Shafi'i scholarship; thefour-volume al-Fatawa al-kubra al-fiqhiyya [The major collection of legal opinions1;and al-Zawajir 'an iqtiraf al-kaba'ir [Deterrents from committing enormities],which with its detailed presentation of Koran and hadith evidence andmasterful legal inferences, remains unique among Muslim works dealing withgodfearingness (taqwa) and is even recognized by Hanafi scholars like Ibn 'Abidinas a source of authoritative legal texts (nusus) valid in their own school
Aftera lifetime of outstanding scholarship, the Imam died and was buried in Mecca in974/1567 (al-A'lam (y136), l.234; A; and n).
aJ-Zahiri, born in Cordova (in present-day Spain) in 384/994
A gifted author,minister in government, poet, and the scholar of Andalusia in his era, he followedImam Dawud al-Zahiri (""the literalist""), a student ofImam Shafi'i who acceptedonly the Koran, hadith, and scholarly consensus (ijma') as sources of evidence inSacred Law, denying the validity of analogical reasoning (qiyas)
As nothingremains of Dawud's writings, Ibn Hazm, with the Sufi Muhyiddin ibn al-' Arabi,remains virtually the only written representative of the Zahiri school.Though he authored works on heresiology, poetry, logic, history, biography,grammar, and fundamentals of Islamic Law, Ibn Hazm is perhaps most famousfor an eleven-volume work in his own school of jurisprudence entitled al-Muhalla[The embellished], whose good aspects are somewhat alloyed with bitter attackson other Imams of jurisprudence, misrepresentations of their lines of evidence,and abuse of any who would disagree with his own methodological premises, noneof which have traditionally been the hallmarks of Islamic scholars
Were one toeliminate these features from it, as Ibn al-' Arabi did in an unfortunately lostwork, much would remain that would be valuable
Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani praisesIbn Hazm's accuracy in relating hadiths, and because of his extremism in restrictingthe validity of scholarly consensus (ijma') to the prophetic Companions exclusively,when he does report consensus on an issue, it carries particular weight
Hisacrimonious way of making a case against opponents has endeared him to somecontemporary Muslim students, but few of the great scholars of Islam haveaccepted many of his premises.or conclusions, not only because of his unfairattacks and misrepresentations, but also because of the inflexibility of the Zahirischool's method, whose inability to use analogy makes it something of a dinosaurin dealing with a changing world
The scholars of his time agreed that Ibn Hazmwas misguided, warned their rulers against the strife he was causing, and the commonpeople from approaching him, and he was exiled and fled to Labia in theAndalusian countryside, where he died in 456/1064 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.254; N;and n).
Mu'adh ibn Ma'bad, Abu Hatim al-Tamimi al-Busti, born in Bust (in present-dayAfghanistan)
A Shafi'i Imam and hadith master (hafiz), he was an extremely prolificauthor whom Yaqut once said ""produced works in the sciences of hadith thatno one else could have written."" In his search for knowledge of hadith, he travelledto Khurasan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, and Nishapur,before returning to his native city, after which he served as a judge for a period inSamarkand
He authored al-Anwa' wa al-taqasim [Types and categories], alsoknown as al-Musnad al-sahih [Authenticated ascribed traditions] and other voluminousworks in hadith, encyclopediology, biography, and history, and died inBust in 354/965 (al-A 'lam (y13t1) , 6.78; and Tabaqatal-Shafi'iyyaal-kubra (y128),
3.131).ibn 'Abdullah, Abu al-Qasim Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi of Granada (in present-daySpain), born in 69311294
He was a Maliki scholar and Imam in Koranic exegesisand Arabic lexicology who also did research in fundamentals of Sacred Law andhadith
His Koranic commentary al- Tashilli 'ulurn al- Tanzil [The facilitation ofthe sciences of the Revelation] enjoys a prodigious reputation and is widelyquoted
He died in 741/1340 (al-A 'lam (y136), 5.325; and n).
Dara', Abu al-Fida' 'Imad ai-Din, born in 70111302 in a village outside of Damascus,where he moved with his brother at the age of five
He later travelled in pursuitof Sacred Knowledge, becoming a principle Shafi'i scholar, hadith master(hafiz), and historian who authored works in each of these fields, though he isperhaps best known for his four-volume Tafsir al-Qur' an al-'Azim [Commentaryon the Mighty Koran], which reflects its author's magisterial command of the sciencesof hadith
He died in Damascus in 774/1373 (al-A 'lam (y136), 1.320).x 166 Ibn Khafif (w9 .11) is Muhammad ibn Khafif ibn Isfikshar, Abu' AbdullahaI-Shirazi, born in 276/890
The son of a prince, he later turned to asceticism, wanderedmuch, and became a Sufi of whom Sulami said, ""He is today the Sheikh ofSheikhs ...
No Sufi remains who is more advanced than he
He kept the companyof Ruwaym ibn Ahmad and Ibn 'Ata', met al-Hallaj, and is among the most knowledgeablesheikhs in outward learning, strictly adhering to the Koran and sunna,a Shafi'i scholar."" He lived in Shiraz, Persia, where he died at ninety-five years ofage in 371/982 (ibid., 6.114; and Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 16.342-47).
Abu Zayd Ibn Khaldun, born in Tunis in 732/1332
He was a philosopher and historianwho grew up in Tunis and travelled to Tlemcen, Fez, Granada, andAndalusia, where he was appointed to various governmental positions, which helost through the vicissitudes of the day and eventually returned to Tunis
He thenset out for Egypt, where the sultan al-Zahir welcomed and honored him, appointinghim to the Maliki judgeship, a position from which he was dismissed for preferringhis native Tunisian dress during the hours of work over the customaryjudicial robes, but to which he was later reinstated
He is most famous for hisseven-volume al-'lbar wa diwan al-mubtadi' wa al-khabar fi tarikh al-'arab wa aI'ajam wa al-barbar [The reflections and record of subject and predicate: a historyof the Arabs, Persians, and Berbers], whose al-Muqaddima [The prolegomenon]is considered the world's first work on social theory
He died in Cairo in 808/1406(al-A flam (136), 3.330).
Bakr al-Sulami, born in Nishapur, Persia, in 223/838
He was a Shafi'i scholar andmujtahid, the Imam of Nishapur in his time, a hadith specialist who travelled forSacred Knowledge to Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt
Heauthored more than 140 works, among them his main contribution to the scienceofhadith, Mukhtasar al-Mukhtasar [The abridgement of ""The abridgment""], alsoknown as his Sahih
He died in Nishapur in 311/924 (ibid., 6.29; and Tabaqat alShafi'iyyaal-kubra (y128), 3.109).
aI-Baghdadi, born in Niqya, a village near al-Anbar, Iraq, in 157/775
Among thegreatest Imams of hadith and in knowledge of its narrators, Imam Ahmadreferred to him as ""the most knowledgeable of us in transmitters of hadith,"" andDhahabi called him the ""Master of Hadith Masters."" His father left him a largefortune which he spent in learning and gathering hadiths
He once said, ""I havewritten a million hadiths with my hand."" He lived in Baghdad, authored a numberof valuable works on the sciences of hadith, and died while on hajj in 233/848 (alA'lam(y136), 8.172-73).
Ibn Majah al-Qazwini, of Qazvin, Persia, born in 209/824
He was a hadithmaster (hafiz), Imam, and Koranic exegetewhose travels in pursuit of knowledgeof hadith led him to Basra, Baghdad, Syria, Cairo, the Hijaz
and Rayy, and enabledhim to author his Sunan [Sunnas], one of the six principle collections ofSunni Islam
He died in 273/887 (ibid., 7.144; and al-Targhib wa al-tarhib (y9),
1.21).'Abd aI-Rahman al-Hadhali (Allah be well pleased with him), of Meeca
One ofthe greatest of the Companions in virtue, intelligence, and in closeness to theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace), he was among the earliest convertsto Islam, the first to recite the Holy Koran aloud in Mecca, and a trusted servantofthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who kept his secrets, carriedhis sandals, and accompanied him while travelling or at home
'Vmar once referredto him as ""a vessel replete with knowledge."" He made both the emigrationto Ethiopia and to Medina, was present at the battle of Badr and all the others,and was put in charge of the Muslim common fund (bayt ai-mal) at Kufa after theProphet's death (Allah bless him and give him peace), though he returned toMedina during the caliphate of 'Vthman
He loved perfume and when he lefthome, people could tell where he had passed by the beautiful scent
Among thegreat scholars of the Companions, he related 848 hadiths, and died in Medina in32/653 at about sixty years of age (al-A'lam (y136), 4.137; and al-Shifa (y116),
1.214).'Abd aI-Rahman al-Hanzali al-Tamimi, originally of Merv (in present-dayTurkmen S.S.R), born in 1181736
He was a hadith master (hafiz) and scholar ofSacred Law and Arabic who spent nearly his whole life travelling, whether forhajj ,jihad, or trade, and he joined in his person between learning, generosity, andcourage
The first author in Islam to produce a work onjihad, he died in Hit, Iraq,after a battle with the Byzantines in 1811797 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 4.115).
Abu' Abdullah al-Zura'i Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, born in Damascus in 691/1292.He was a Hanbali hadith scholar and author who wrote a number of works, amongthem Zad al-ma'ad [The provision for the return] in hadith, and I'lam almawaqqi'inLThe instruction of those who sign formal legal opinions] in fundamentalsof Islamic law
His most significant contribution however, was his editingand preparing for publication the writings of Ibn Taymiya, whose devoted pupilhe was
He went to prison with his sheikh in the citadel of Damascus and sufferedwith him until Ibn Taymiya's death in 728/1328, when he was released
He thereafterworked to spread and popularize the master's ideas, as dedicated to himafter his death as he had been in life, supporting him in what was right and whatwas wrong
A specimen of the latter is Ibn al-Qayyim's al-Qasida al-nuniyya [Oderhyming in the letter n], a lengthy poem on tenets of faith that is filled with corruptsuggestions about the attributes of God, which Imam Taqi ai-Din Subki analysesin detail in his ai-Say!
al-saqil [The burnished sword], giving the verdict that thepoem's anthropomorphisms of the Divinity are beyond the pale of Islam
Thepoem could not be openly circulated in Ibn al-Qayyim's lifetime but only secretly,and it seems that he never abandoned it, for the Hanbali historian and biographerIbn Rajab heard it from its author in the year of his death.A second unfortunate peculiarity the poem shares with some of Ibn alQayyim'sother works on Islamic faith is that it presents the reader with a falsedilemma, namely that one must either believe that Allah has eyes, hands, adescending motion, and so forth, in a literal (haqiqi) sense, or else one has nullified('attala) or negated (nata) these attributes
And this is erroneous, for the literalis that which corresponds to an expression's primary lexical sense as ordinarilyused in a language by the people who speak it, while the above words areclearly intended otherwise, in accordance with the Koranic verse, ""There isnothing whatsoever like unto Him"" (Koran 42:11), for ifthe above were intendedliterally, there would be innumerable things like unto Him in such respects as havingeyes, hands, motion, and so forth, in the literal meaning of these terms
Thewould-be dilemma is also far from the practice of the early Muslims, who usedonly to accept such Koranic verses andhadiths as they have come, consigning theknowledge of what is meant by them-while affirming Allah's absolute transcendenceabove any resemblance to created things-to Allah Most High alone, withouttrying to determinately specify how they are meant (bi la kayf), let alonesuggesting people understand them literally (haqiqatan) as Ibn al-Qayyim triedto do.While granting that his other scholarly achievements are not necessarily compromisedby his extreme aberrances in tenets of faith, it should not be forgottenthat depicting the latter as a ""reform"" or ""return to early Islam"" represents ablameworthy innovation on his part that appeared more than seven centuriesafter the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and his Companions.A particularly unsavory aspect of it is that in his attempts to vindicate thedoctrine, Ibn al-Qayyim casts aspersions upon the Islam of anyone who does notsubscribe to it, at their forefront the Ash'ari school, whom his books castigate as""Jahmiyya"" or ""Mu'attila,"" implying, by equating them with the most extremefactions of the Mu'tazilites, that they deny any significance to the divine attributes,a misrepresentation that has seen a lamentable recrudescence in parts ofthe Muslim world today
Whether such views are called ""fundamentalism"" orsome other name, the scholars of the Muslims remember history, and that it wasAbu Hanifa who first observed, ""Two depraved opinions have reached us fromthe East, those of Jahm, the nullifier ofthe divine attributes [dis: x202], and thoseof Muqatil [n: ibn Sulayman al-Balkhi
d
ca
A.H.150], the likenerofAliah to Hiscreation."" To make of these two an either-or for Muslims, or depict the latter as""sunna"" when it has been counted among heresies and rejected by the MuslimCommunity for the first seven centuries of Islam that preceded Ibn al-Qayyim andhis mentor Ibn Taymiya, is to say the least difficult to accept, and it would seemfitter to simply acknowledge that Ibn al-Qayyim was a talented author in fundamentalsof law, hadith, and other fields, but unfortunately enamored with histeacher to the extent of following him in innovations (bid'a) in tenets of faith andmisrepresenting the positions of those who opposed them
He died in Damascusin 75111350 (al-A'iam (yl36), 6.56; ai-Say!
al-saqil (y70) , 2-192; Sharh al-Qasidaal-nuniyya (y45), 1.268-88; Siyara'iam al-nubala' (y37), 7.202; and n).x 175 Ibn Oudama (wI8.2) is 'Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Oudama, AbuMuhammad Muwaffaq ai-Din al-Jama'ili al-Maqdisi, born in Jama'iI, Palestine,in 54111146
A Hanbali scholar and Imam, he was educated in Damascus, and wasthe author of the nine-volume al-Mughni [The enricher] in Hanbali jurisprudenceas well as other works in fundamentals of Sacred Law, tenets of faith, geneology,biography, and Koranic exegesis
He travelled to Baghdad in A.H
561 and livedthere four years before returning to Damascus, where he died in 620/1223
Bothhe and the subject of the next entry were called Ibn Oudama al-Maqdisi, as wereothers, all from a single family that was blessed with Hanbali scholars (al-A'lam(y136), 4.67; and n).x 176 Ibn Oudama al-Maqdisi (qO.1) is Ahmad ibn 'Abd ai-Rahman ibnMuhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Oudama al-Maqdisi, born in Damascusin 65111253
He studied hadith and Hanbalijurisprudence with his father, whowas head of the judiciary (qadi al-qudah), and when he was himself appointed asa judge before thirty years of age, he performed the office diligently and well
AHanbali scholar of great personal virtue and integrity, he taught at many schoolsin Damascus, and was a well-known preacher at Friday prayers on MountOasiyun
He participated in the campaign in which the sultan Malik Mansur liberatedTripoli, Lebanon, from foreign occupation, and died in Damascus at thirtyeightyears of age in 689/1290 (Mukhtasar Minhaj al-qasidin (y62), 8).x 177 Ibn Salah (b7.6) is 'Vthman ibn 'Abd aI-Rahman Salah ai-Din ibn'Vthman ibn Musa, Abu 'Amr Taqi aI-Din al-Shahrazuri, born in Sharkhan ofKurdish deseent in 577/1181
One ofthe greatest Shafi'i Imams in knowledge andgodfearingness, he was a hadith master (hafiz) who studied in Mosul, Baghdad,Nishapur, Merv, and in Damascus under Hanbali Imam Muwaffaq ai-Din IbnOudama al-Maqdisi
He taught for a period in the Salahiyya School in Jerusalem,after which he returned to Damascus, where he was appointed as the head of Daral-Hadith
He authored a number of works in Shafi'i jurisprudence, Koranicexegesis, hadith, the methodOlogy of formal legal opinion, and biography, anddied in Damascus in 643/1245 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.207-8; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyyaal-kubra (yi28), 8.326; and Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf).
'Abdullah, Abu al-'Abbas Taqi ai-Din Ibn Taymiya al-Harrani, born in Harran,east of Damascus, in 66111263
A famous Hanbali scholar in Koranic exegesis,hadith, and jurisprudence, Ibn Taymiya was a voracious reader and author ofgreat personal courage who was endowed with a compelling writing style and akeen memory
Dhahabi wrote of him, ""I never saw anyone faster at recalling theKoranic verses dealing with subjects he was discussing, or anyone who couldremember hadith texts more vividly."" Dhahabi estimates that his legal opinionson various subjects amount to three-hundred or more volumes.He was imprisoned during much of his life in Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascusfor his writings, scholars of his time accusing him of believing Allah to be a cor-poreal entity because of what he mentioned in his al-'Aqida al-Hamawiyya, andal-Wasitiyya and other works, such as that Allah's 'hand', 'foot', 'shin', and 'face',are literal (haqiqi) attributes, and that He is upon the Throne in person
The errorin this, as mentioned above at x174, is that suggesting such attributes are literal isan innovation and unjustifiable inference from the Koranic and hadith texts thatmention them, for the way of the early Muslims was mere acceptance of suchexpressions on faith without saying how they are meant, and without additions,subtractions, or substituting meanings imagined to be synonyms, while acknowledgingAllah's absolute transcendence beyond the characteristics of createdthings, in conformity with the Koranic verse, ""There is nothing whatsoever likeunto Him"" (Koran 42:11)
As for figurative interpretations that preserve thedivine transcendence, scholars of tenets of faith have only had recourse to themin times when men of reprehensible innovations (bid'a), quoting hadiths andKoranic verses, have caused confusion in the minds of common Muslims as towhether Allah has attributes like those of His creation or whether He is transcendentlybeyond any image conceivable to the minds of men
Scholars' firmness incondemning those who have raised such confusions has traditionally been veryuncompromising, and this is no doubt the reason that a number of the Imams ofthe Shafi'i school, among them Taqi al·Din Subki, Ibn Hajar Haytami, and al-'IzzIbn Jama'a, gave formal legal opinions that Ibn Taymiya was misguided and misguidingin tenets of faith, and warned people from accepting his theories
TheHanafi scholar Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari has written, ""Whoever thinks thatall the scholars of his time joined in a single conspiracy against him from personalenvy should rather impugn their own intelligence and understanding, after studyingthe repugnance of his deviations in belief and works, for which he was askedto repent time after time and moved from prison to prison until he passed on towhat he'd sent ahead.""While few deny that Ibn Taymiya was a copious and eloquent writer andhadith scholar, his career, like that of others, demonstrates that a man may beoutstanding in one field and yet suffer from radical deficiencies in another, themost reliable index of which is how a field's Imams regard his work in it
By thismeasure, indeed, by the standards of all previous Ahl al-Sunna scholars, it is clearthat despite a voluminous and influential written legacy, Ibn Taymiya cannot beconsidered an authority on tenets of faith, a field in which he made mistakes profoundlyincompatible with the beliefs of Islam, as also with a number of his legalviews that violated the scholarly consensus (ijma') of Sunni Muslims
It should beremembered that such matters are not the province of personal reasoning (ijtihad),whether Ibn Taymiya considered them to be so out of sincere conviction.or whether simply because, as Imam Subki said, ""his learning exceeded his intelligence.""He died in Damascus in 728/1328 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.144; al-Duraral-kamina (y13) , 1.144-55; al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48) , 114; al-Rasa'if alSubkiyya(y52) , 151-52; al-Sayfal-saqil (y70) , 6; Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf; and n).
al-' Adawi (Allah be well pleased with him), born to one of the noblestfamilies of the Quraysh in Mecca ten years before the Hijra (A.D
613)
He was aCompanion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who emigratedto Medina with his father 'Umar ibn Khattab and was raised in Islam
Though tooyoung to fight at Badr, he was daring and courageous, and participated in the Battleof the Confederates and the conquest of Mecca
One of the most knowledgeableof the Companions, he gave formal legal opinions to Muslims for sixty yearsand related 2,630 hadiths
He fought in jihad in North Africa on two separatecampaigns, lost his eyesight at the end of his life, and was the last of the Companionsto die in Mecca, in 73/692 (ai-A 'lam (y136), 4.108; and n).
ibn Arghu ibn Faligh (upon whom be peace), the prophet and messenger of AllahMost High
The blessing upon ""Ibrahim and the folk of Ibrahim"" in the final Testificationof Faith (Tashahhud) of the prayer (salat) refers to the prophets,siddiqs (great-faithed ones), martyrs, and pious of his descendants
for all theprophets (upon whom peace) of Bani Isra'il were descended from Ishaq,Ibrahim's son by Sarah, while the only prophet descended from Isma'il, his son byHajar, was the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).Ibrahim is mentioned in various places in the Holy Koran, which records how hebuilt the Kaaba with his son Isma'il, how he smashed the idols of his people
andhow he obeyed what he was bidden to do in a dream by going to sacrifice his son,who did not have to be sacrificed in the end, but for which Ibrahim became theFriend of the All-merciful (Khalil ai-Rahman)
He is buried in ai-Khalil (Hebron)in Palestine (al-Futuhat aZ-ilahiyya (y65), 1.102; al-Futuhat al-rabbaniyya (y26),2.348; and n).
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) of Mariya the Copt, theProphet's concubine who was given to him by the Muqawqis of Alexandria.Ibrahim was born in A.M
8, and when he died before reaching two full years ofage, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, ""Verily, 0 Ibrahim,we are in deep sorrow over your departure"" (Sheikh Yunus Hamdan; and n).
al-Tamimi al-Balkhi, an early Sufi saint and ascetic
Originally born into awealthy family of Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), he eschewed the comfortablelife, studied Sacred Law, and then travelled to Baghdad, after which he wanderedat length through Iraq, Syria, and the Hijaz, taking knowledge from manyfamous scholars while supporting himself by working as a reaper, porter, guardfor orchards, and miller
He fought in jihad against the Byzantines, and when aslave brought him the news at Massisa (south of present-day Antakya, Turkey)that his father had died, leaving him a tremendous fortune in Balkh of which theslave was carrying ten thousand dirhams, Ibrahim freed him and gave him thedirhams, informing him that he had no desire for the rest
He used to fast whethertravelling or not, always spoke faultless Arabic, and many of his sayings havebeen preserved
When he attended the homilies of Sufyan al-Thawri, the latterwould curtail his words for fear of making a mistake
He died, probably at Sufnanon the southern Byzantine frontier, in 1611778 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.31; and n).
teacher in the school of Islamic judiciary in Zabadani, northwest of Damascus,and the sheikh and mentor of Sheikh 'Abd al-Wakil Durubi, who was with himfrom approximately 1933 to 1950 (n).
to commentators, was Akhnukh ibn Shith ibn Adam (upon whom be peace)
Thegrandfather of the prophet Nuh, he was called ""ldris"" for his devoted study(darasa) of Sacred Scripture, since when Allah made him a prophet, He revealedto him thirty-three pages
He was a tailor, and the first to write with a pen, sew,and wear cloth garments (skins were worn before him), the first to take weaponsand fight unbelievers in jihad, and the first to study astronomy and mathematics.He is mentioned in the Holy Koran (19:56-57), where he is described as a siddiq(lit
""great-faithed one"") and prophet, and Allah says, ""We raised him to a highplace,"" which refers to the fourth heaven where he presently is, having been seenthere by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) on the night of his nocturnalascent (mi'raj), as mentioned in a rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith(al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 3.67).
(upon whom be peace), a prophet of Allah Most high who was a descendant of theprophet Harun, brother of Musa (upon whom be peace)
Commentators relatethat he was sent to a tribe of Bani Isra'il who lived around Baalbek (in present-dayLebanon) under King Arhab, who erected a huge gold statue with four faces thathe called Baal and had them worship
Satan used to enter the statue and issuecommands and prohibitions to its priests, who would memorize his directives andconvey them to the people, while Uyas called them to the worship of the one God.As Ilyas saw that the people but followed their king, he convinced the king toenter his religion, and there was a period of guidance, after which the king forsookthe true path and returned to his former ways, with great anger and spite againstIlyas
He was forced to flee tothe mountains and live in caves and ravines on herbsand fruits, while the people sought in vain to find and slay him
After living thusfor seven years, llyas supplicated Allah Most High to relieve him of them, andAllah made his companion al-Yasa' a prophet in his stead (ibid., 2.58, 3.550).
Abu al-Fadl Zayn ai-Din ai-Hafiz al-'Iraqi, born in 725/1325 in Razanan, nearArbil, Iraq
A Shafi'i scholar of Kurdish origin, he moved with his father whilestill young to Cairo, where he was educated and became one of the greatest hadithmasters (huffaz) of his time
He travelled to the Hijaz, Syria, and Palestine beforereturning to Egypt, where he settled and authored works in hadith, fundamentalsof Islamic law and faith, principles of jurisprudence, prophetic biography, andbiographies of Islamic scholars
He died in Cairo in 806/1404 (al-A'lam (y136),3.344; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
messenger of Allah Most High to Bani Isra'il, who denied him and plotted againsthim
He was known as the Word of God because Allah created him without afather by the mere word ""be"" (kun), whereupon his mother Maryam conceivedhim
Among the inimitable prophetic miracles (mu'jizat) vouchsafed to him wasthat by the leave of Allah he raised the dead, made the blind see, healed lepers,and when he molded a bird from clay and breathed into it, it became a living bird.It is related that when the Sacred Law was summarized before him by a lawyer inthe words ""It is that you love the Lord your God with your whole heart, wholesoul, whole strength and whole mind; and that you love neighbor as yourself,""'Isa confirmed him in this
When Bani Isra'i1 wanted to kill him, Allah Most Highsaved him, as described in the words of the Holy Koran, ""They did not slay himor crucify him, but thus was it made to seem to them"" (Koran 4:157), referring towhen Yahuda, chief of the Jews, met with a band of his people to kill 'Isa out offear of his message, but Allah sent Gabriel to 'lsa to lead him to a covered alleywaythat had a skylight, through which he was taken up to the sky
When Yahuda,in pursuit, ordered one of his companions to follow him into the passageway andmurder him, Allah cast the likeness of 'Isa upon the man as he entered, and whenhe came out again after a fruitless search, the Jews attacked and killed him, thinkinghim to be 'Isa, and hung him upon a cross (al-Shifa (y116), 1.192; al-Siraj almunir(y72) , 1.213, 1.216--17, 1.220; and n).
peace), the prophet of Allah Most High and son of the prophet Ibrahim andSarah
All the prophets of Bani lsra'il were descended from Ibrahim through him,and commentators relate that he lived 180 years (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65),
1.102, 2.57).Ya'qub Ibn Rahawayh al-Hanzali al-Tamimi, originally of Merv (in present-dayTurkmen S.S.R.), born in 161n78
The scholar of Khurasan of his time, he iscounted among the great hadith masters (huffaz) of Islam
He travelled in pursuitof knowledge to Iraq, the Hijaz, Syria, and Yemen, hearing hadiths from suchsheikhs as Ahmad, Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, and others, and heauthored numerous works in the science, including his four-volume Musnad [Ascribedtraditions]
Khatib Baghdadi once said of him, ""He combined in his personhadith, Sacred Law, scholarship, truthfulness, piety, and abstinence,"" andDarami observed, ""His sincerity was greater than the peoples of the east andwest."" He settled in Nishapur, and died there in 238/853 (al-A 'lam (y136), 1.292).
peace), the prophet of Allah Most High
The son of Ibrahim and Hajar, he wasborn before the prophet lshaq, and was eighty-nine years old when his fatherdied, after which he lived another forty-one years
He is called the Father of theArabs because he married into the tribe of Jurhum, from whom the Arabs aredescended (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65) , 1.102,2.57; and al-Shifa (y116) , 1.296).
Egyptian scholar of hadith and Sacred Law who works at the Department ofIslamic Legal Opinion (Da'ira al-Ifta') in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (A; and N).
the Sur, a hom-like trumpet whose call will usher in the events ofthe Last Day (alShifa(y116), 1.709; and n).
Yusuf al-Hamdani al-Shaybi'i of Kufa, born in A.H
100
He was a memorizer andtrustworthy narrator whose hadiths appear in the works of both Bukhari and Muslim.It is related that he had a book of hadiths he memorized from
Shaqiq al-Balkhisaid of him, ""I learned awe (khushu') from Isra'il
We would be around him,and he would not know who was on his right or left, for his absorption in thehereafter, so I knew him for a pious man."" He died in A.H
160 (Siyar a'iam alnubala'(y37), 7.355-60).
ibn Abu al-Qasim ibn ai-Hasan, 'Izz al""Din al-Sulami, nicknamed the Sultan ofScholars, born in Damascus in 577/1181
A Shafi'i scholar and mujfahid Imam, hewas educated in Damascus, went to Baghdad inA.H
599, and then returned to hisnative city, where he first taught and gave the Friday sermon at the Zawiya of alGhazali,and then at the Great Umayyad Mosque
When the ruler al-Salih Isma'ilibn aI-'Adai willingly surrendered the Palestinian citadel of Safad to the Franks,Ibn 'Abd ai-Salam condemned him from the pulpit and omitted mentioning himin the post-sermon prayer, for which he was imprisoned
Upon his release, hemoved to Cairo, where he was appointed as judge and imam of the Friday prayer,gaining such public influence that he could (and did) command the right and forbidthe wrong with the force of law
He later resigned from the judiciary andremained at home to produce a number of brilliant works in Shafi'i jurisprudence,Koranic exegesis, methodological fundamentals of Sacred Law, formal legalopinion, government, and Sufism, though his main and enduring contributionwas his masterpiece on Islamic legal principles Qawa'id al-ahkam fi masalih alanam[The bases of legal rulings in the interests of mankind]
It is recorded thathe kept the company of Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadhili, founder of the Shadhilitariqa, and his works on Sufism bespeak an understanding of the way
He died inCairo at the age of eighty-one in 66011262 (al-A'lam (y136) , 4.21; al-Imamal-'/zzibn 'Abd ai-Salam (y38), 1.130-31; and n).
(Allah be well pleased with him), a Medinan Helper and Companion of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who was born sixteen years beforethe Hijra (A.D
607)
He participated in all the Muslims' battles except Badr
Aprolific narrator of hadith, 1,540 traditions have been related from him byBukhari, Muslim, and others
In later years he used to teach in the Prophet'smosque, and was the last of the Companions to die at Medina, in 78/697 (al-A 'lam(y136), 2.104; and al-Shita (y116), 1.154).
(in present-day Vzbek S.S,R.), a writer who inaugurated reprehensible innovations(bid'a) in tenets of faith, founding the Jahmiyya school that bore his name.His doctrines first appeared in Termez, and represented among other things adenial of the Divine attributes afftnned by the Koran and hadith, claiming thatAllah was beyond them; that man's acts were purely determined by Allah; thatAllah was ""everywhere""; and that the Koran was created
He was killed by Salamibn Ahwaz in Merv (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R.) in 128n45 for denying thatAllah spoke to Moses (al-A'lam (y136), 2.141; Sharh al-sunna (y22), 1.172; andSiyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 6.26-27).
Jala1 ai-Din al-Kinani al-Bulqini, born in 763/1362
He was an EgyptianShafi'i scholar and hadith specialist who succeeded his father Siraj ai-Din as theforemost Shaft'i authority of his time for formal legal opinion (fatwa)
Appointedto the Islamic judiciary in Egypt several times, he served as a judge until the endof his life, and authored works in Sacred Law, Koranic exegesis, hadith commentary,and admonitions (wa'z)
He died in Cairo in 82411421 (al-A'lam (y136),
3.320).'Abdullah ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad, Abu al-Ma'ali Rukn ai-Din Imam alHaramaynal-Juwayni, a scholar in tenets of faith and the Imam of the Shaft'ischool of his time, originally from Juwain (in present-day Afghanistan), born in419/1028, He was educated by his father, and after his death read his father'sentire library and then took his place as teacher at Nishapur, though he was laterforced to travel to Baghdad because of trouble between the Ash'aris, Mu'tazilites,and Shiites
After meeting the greatest scholars of Baghdad, he went on toMecca, living in the Sacred Precinct for four years, after which he moved toMedina and taught and gave formal legal opinion (fatwa), gaining his nickname,the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries, i.e
of Mecca and Medina
At length hereturned to Persia, where the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, having built a first NizamiyyaAcademy in Baghdad for Abu Ishaq Shirazi to teach in, built a second one for al-Juwayni at Nishapur
It was here the Imam wrote in earnest, completing his fifteen-volume Nihaya al-matlab fi diraya al-madhhab [The utmost of what issought: on understanding the evidence of the Shafi'i school] which no one in thefield of Islamic law had ever produced the like of, as well as other works in tenetsoffaith, Ash'ari theology, fundamentals ofIslamic legal methodology, and Shafi'ilaw
Among his greatest legacies to Islam and the Muslims was his pupil Ghazali,who is said to have surpassed even the Imam at the end of his life
He died inNishapur in 47811085 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.160; Introduction to Sharh al-Waraqat(y64), 3-4; Tabaqatal-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 5.165; andn).
ibn Muhammad, Abu Muhammad, Abu Hudayb al-'Abbadi al-Balqawi,born in 1953 in Khilda, in the al-Balqa' region of Jordan to the northwest ofAmman
He took the Shadhili tariqa from Sheikh 'Abd aI-Rahman Shaghouri ofDamascus in 1977, and has studied Arabic grammar, tenets of faith, Shaii'i jurisprudence,and hadith with Sheikh Yunus Hamdan
He lives in Khilda, where hepresently manufactures and distributes concrete building blocks (n).
aI-Hamid ibn Mas'ud, Kamal aI-Din Ibn al-Humam, born in Alexandria in790/1388
He was among the foremost Imams of the Hanafi school, and a scholarin Sacred Law, hadith, tenets of faith, Koranic exegesis, estate division,mathematics, Arabic lexicology, and logic
He was educated in Cairo, and livedfor a time in Aleppo, Mecca, and Medina before returning to Egypt, where thecame to enjoy considerable prestige among the rulers and heads of state
Hismajor work is the eight-volume Fath ai-Qadir [Triumph of the Omnipotent], acommentary on Marghiyani's al-Hidaya [Guidance]
Though unfinished by itsauthor, it ranks among the greatest Hanafi works for explaining primary textualevidence from the Koran and hadith and the reasoning of the school's Imams inderiving rulings from them
He died in Cairo in 861/1457 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 6.255;and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
a Hanafi scholar of Damascus
He did not live to publish his al-Durar al-mubahafi al-hazr wa al-ibaha [The uncovered pearls: on the unlawful and lawful], but diedin Damascus in 135011931, after which his sons printed the work (al-Durar almubaha(y99) , 235; and Mu'jam al-mu'allifin (y69), 4.121).
aI-Baghdadi, born in Ghuzayya, midway between Kufa and Mecca, in39211002
He .was a Shafi'i scholar, hadith master (hafiz), and historian who wasraised in Baghdad and travelled to Mecca, Basra, al-Dinawar, Kufa, and othercities in quest of hadith before returning to Baghdad, where his ability won recognitionfrom the caliph's vizier Ibn MusaUam
A turn in political fortunes towardthe end of his career caused him to leave Baghdad for a period, during which hetravelled to Syria and resided in Damascus, Sur, Tripoli, and Aleppo beforereturning
He authored some fifty-six works in hadith, Sacred Law, and history,though he is best known for his fourteen-volume Tarikh Baghdad [The history ofBaghdad]
In his final illness he made a pious endowment of his entire library anddistributed his money and property to charitable causes
He died in Baghdad in46311072 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.172; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128),
4.29).Sulayman al-Khattabi of Bust, Afghanistan, born in 319/931
An Imam in Shafi'ijurisprudence, hadith, and Arabic lexicology, he studied hadith in Mecca, Basra,Baghdad, and Nishapur, and later taught many students, including the hadithmaster (hafiz) aI-Hakim
He wrote a number of works in Sacred Law and hadith,but is perhaps best known for his outstanding four-volume commentary on theSunan of Abu Dawud, Ma'alim ai-Sun an [The waymarks of 'The sunnas'""]
Hedied in Bust in 388/998 (al-A'lam (y136), 2.273; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya alKubra(y128), 3.282).
al-'Abbas al-Khidr (upon whom be peace), who is referred to in the story ofMoses in sura al-Kahf of the Holy Koran (18:65)
It is said that he was of BaniIsra'il, while others relate that he was a prince who left his this-worldly possessionsfor a life of asceticism and devotions
He was nicknamed al-Khidr (derivedfrom ""greenness"") because when he sat on withered patch of vegetation it wouldbecome thriving and green
Scholars disagree as to whether he is presently alive,though most believe he is and will remain so until the Day of Judgement becauseof having drunk of the water of life-and also as to whether he is a prophet, angel,or friend of Allah (waH), the majority holding him to be a prophet (al-Futuhat alilahiyya(y65), 3.35; al-Siraj al-munir (y72), 2.391; and A).
ibn J ahjaba (Allah be well pleased with him), one of the Medinan Helpers and aCompanion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
Dispatched onthe raid of ai-RaW, Khubaybwas captured and later sold in Mecca to the sons ofal-Harith ibn 'Amir, whom he had previously slain at the battle of Badr
Heremained their prisoner until his killers assembled, and they took him to Tan'im,outside the Sacred Precinct, where he asked to be allowed to pray two rak'as,after which he said, ""By Allah, were I not afraid of your thinking I fear death, 1would have prayed more."" Then he supplicated, ""0 Allah, reckon them innumber, kill them one by one, and let none of them remain alive."" Then 'Uqbaibn al-Harith rose and killed him, Khubayb thus being the one to establish thesunna for Muslims being killed to pray two rak'as (Siyar a 'lam al-nubala' (y37),
1.246-47).al-Kirmani, born in 717/1317
A scholar of hadith and Sacred Law originally fromKinnan, Persia, he became famous in Baghdad, where he taught for thirty years;He resided for a period in Mecca, where he devoted himself to writing his twentyfive-volume commentary on Bukhari's Sahih called al-Kawakibal-darari fi sharhSahih al-Bukhari [The brilliant stars: an exegesis of ""Sahih al-Bukhari""]
He alsoauthored works on Koranic commentary and fundamentals of Islamic law andfaith .
He died in 786/1384 on his return from hajj to Baghdad, where he wasburied (al-A 'lam (y136), 7.153).
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, a cousin of the prophet Musa (upon whom be peace), as hisfather Yas-hur and Musa.'s father 'Imran were brothers
He believed in Musa,though he later grew jealous of Musa's being sent as a prophet and Harun's beingan Imam, and finally became an unbeliever because of his wealth, seeking to besuperior to Musa by wearing his garments long and by oppressing Bani Isra'i!when Pharaoh appointed him over them
Allah gave him such wealth that carryingthe very keys to it weighed heavily on a group of strong men, and when hispeople told him not to exult in it but to seek the life of the next world by spendingit in obedience to Allah, he replied that he had only been given it because of hisknowledge, for he was the most learned of them in the Torah after Musa (uponwhom be peace)
One day, as he came out in his finery to the people, some ofwhom envied him for his wealth and success, Allah caused the earth to swallowboth him and his house (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 3.359-62).
prophet of Allah Most High to the people of Sadhum (Sodom)
His father Haranwas the brother of the prophet Ibrahim (upon whom be peace)
Commentatorsrelate that they lived in Babylon in Iraq, but emigrated west, Ibrahim settling inPalestine, and Lut in Jordan, from whence he was sent to Sadhum
The story ofLut and the people of Sad hum is told in the Holy Koran (7:80-84), and how AllahMost High rained down stones upon them and destroyed them for their wickedpractice of sodomy (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 2.58-59, 2.161-62).
Fadil ibn Muhammad May'man, Abu ai-Anwar Ma' al-' Anayn al-Qalqami,born near Walata in the Hawd of southeastern Mauritania in 1831
Of Mauritanianand Moroccan descent, he was a traditional religious figure, Sufi sheikh ofthe Qadiri order, and a prolific writer who was also widely known as a digger ofwells and energetic founder of Sufi hospices (zawaya)
He participated, aftermaking a personal alliance with the Sharifian dynasty of Morocco, in armed resistanceto the French in which he lost several sons, dying in Tiznit in southernMorocco in 1910 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 7.243; and Muslim Brotherhoods (y86) , 125).
Abu Muhammad al-Khazraji (Allah be well pleased with him) of Medina, born inA.H
6
He met the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) when four yearsold in his family's home, where the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)spat a mouthful of water from the family well upon his face for the blessing of it.An Imam and reliable transmitter, he related hadiths from Abu Ayyub ai-Ansari,'Ubada ibn al-Samit, and others; and among those who related hadiths from himwere Anas ibn Malik, Makhul, and Zuhri
He died in A.H
99 at ninety-three yearsof age (Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 3.519)
'Abdullah al-Shamil, born in Kabul, Afghanistan
The scholar of Syria of histime, he was a freed slave who learned Sacred Law and travelled to many placesin search of knowledge, among them Iraq, Medina, and Damascus, where hesettled
Imam Zuhri said of him, ""No one of his time had more insight in givingfonnallegal opinions."" He died in Damascus in 1121730 (aI-A' lam (y136), 7.284).
al-Himyari, the mujtahid Imam born in Medina in 93/712
The second ofthe four greatest Imams of Sacred Law, his school has more followers than that ofanyone besides Abu Hanifa
He was known as the Scholar of Medina, and was asrenowned for his sincerity, faith, piety, and godfearingness as for his command ofthe sciences of hadith and knowledge of Sacred Law.His generosity was legendary,as was his love for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
whomhe held in such awe and respect that he would not mount his horse within the confinesof Medina out of reverence for the ground that enclosed the Prophet's body(Allah bless him and give him peace)
His piety was such that he was never tooproud to say he did not know when asked about matters he was not sure of, andhe would not relate·a hadith without first performing ablution
He was the authorof al-Muwatta' [The trodden path], the greatest hadith collection of its time,nearly every hadith of which was accepted by Bukhari in his Sahih
His discipleImam Shafi'i used to say (;If it, ""After the Book of Allah, no book has appearedon earth that is sounder than Malik's."" He was uncompromising in his religionand kept far from the rulers and princes of his time
When he gave the opinion thatthe caliph ai-Mansur should be removed and Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah of 'Ali'sfamily be instated, the caliph's uncle Ja'far ibn Sulayman, governor of Medina,had Malik scourged seventy lashes, dislocating his shoulder
The only effect ofthis was to increase the Imam's highmindedness and dignity, and when ai-Mansurlearned of it, he apologized profusely and asked Malik to write a book of Islamicjurisprudence that he could enjoin with the force of law upon all Muslims regardlessof their school, but the Imam refused
He authored outstanding works in SacredLaw, hadith, and Koranic exegesis, and left behind a host of brilliant scholarshe had trained as part of his great legacy to Islam and the Muslims
He died inMedina in 1791795 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.257; al-Muwatta' (y82), introduction; alTarghibwa al-tarhib (y9) , 1.14; Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut; and n).
who receive his orders
His place in the midst of hell is connected to all parts of itby bridges which the angels of torment pass upon, above its inhabitants, and hesees the farthest reaches of it as easily as he sees the closest (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya(y65) , 4.96) ..
the time of Ibn 'Abbas
He was an early Sufi and scholar who studied under Hasanal-Basri, from whom he related hadiths, as well as from Anas ibn Malik, Ibn Sirin,and others
Pious and abstinent, he lived from the work of his own hands, copyingout Korans for payment
Among his sayings is, ""Since coming to know people Ihave not enjoyed their praise or disliked their blame, for those who praise exag-gerate, and those who blame exaggerate."" He died in Basra in 1311748 (al-A'iam(y136), 5.260-61; Siyara'lam al-nubala' (y37), 5.362-64; and n).
pleased with him) of Yemen, a prophetic Companion
It is related that when hereturned to his people after visiting the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), the latter sent them a letter that said, ....
I enjoin you to goodness towardshim, for he is looked up to,"" and the Hamdan tribe gathered eighty-nine camelsthat they presented him as a gift (al-Isaba fi tamyiz aI-Sahaba (y14), 3.334-35).
scholar and hadith specialist of the present century
A teacher in the Zaynabi FridayMosque in Cairo, his most well known work is the five-volume ai- Taj al-jami'Ii al-usul fi ahadith ai-Rasul [The crown containing the fundamentals of SacredLaw from the hadiths of the Prophet], which, with its 5,887 hadiths, is among thebest works on the primary texts for the rulings of the Shafi'i schooL He died sometimeafter 137111951 (al-A'lam (y136) , 7.301; and n).
and Sufism
He took an English degree at Oxford and later lectured at Cairo University,mainly on Shakespeare, for twelve years
In 1952 he returned to England,took a degree in Arabic at London University, and was appointed in specialcharge of the Arabic manuscripts at the British Museum
Sheikh 'Abd al-Wakilremembers him visiting Sheikh Muhammad Hashimi in Damascus whenresearching his book on Sheikh Ahmad al-'Alawi, A Sufi Saint of the TwentiethCentury
Among his other works are his outstanding prophetic biographyMuhammad, as well as What Is Sufism?, Shakespeare in the Light of of Sac red Art,Quranic Arts of Calligraphy and Illumination, and Ancient Beliefs and ModernSuperstitions.Despite many excellent passages of genuine insight, the latter work and partsof his others diverge from the teachings of Islam on such questions as the validityof non-Islamic religions ( dis: w4, x348), and the suggestion that all the inhabitantsof hell will enter paradise (Muhammad (y75), 94), adducing the words of theKoran referring to hell's eternality, "" ..
except as your Lord wills"" (Koran 6:128,11: 107, previously discussed in the twentieth paragraph of w55.3), together witha hadith to the effect that Allah will remove from hell a people (Ar
qawm, andin Bukhari's version ""some peoples"" (aqwam)) who did no good at all, and enterthem into paradise (Sahih al-Bukhari (y30) , 9.398-99; and Sahih Muslim (y92),1.170)
Some scholars understand the hadith as alluding to those who did no goodin this life beyond mere acknowledgement of Allah and His messenger, even ifthis minimal· amount of faith was not perceptible to the angels previously commandedto remove those with ""a grain offaith in their hearts"" from the fire; whileothers say it refers not to those who refused to believe in the prophetic messengerssent to them, but rather to those who lived in the times between the coming of successivemessengers such that Allah's commands did not reach them
Both groupsof scholars interpret the hadith in this way to reach an accord between it and themore than fifty Koranic verses mentioned above at w55.3 that clearly prove thatunbelievers shall remain in hell forever, for it is understood among scholars thatwhile abrogation (nasikh wa mansukh) enters into certain primary texts aboutrites and acts, it does not under any circumstances enter into texts about tenets offaith ('aqida), such that one Koranic text should be believed and another discarded.Rather, we look for a more comprehensive explanation thatjoins betweenall the texts, for all are the truth
Despite such interpretive shortcomings.Lings's works are generally of a high quality, and some, like his What Is Sufism?and Muhammad are unsurpassed in their genre, and seem destined to contributemuch to the understanding of Islam in the West
He presently lives in England(Muhammad (y75), inside back cover; Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut; N; and n).
the wicked, discussed above atx136 (n).
and his wife Hanna, who when pregnant with Maryam, vowed to dedicate thechild she bore to the service of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and at her birthaccordingly named her Maryam, meaning ""servant of her Lord."" The purest ofwomenkind, she was a siddiqa (lit
""great-faithed one""), and miraculously conceivedthe prophet 'Isa (upon whom be peace)
Both she and her child were unfortunatelylater taken as objects of worship by some sects of Christians because ofthe strangeness of 'Isa's birth without a father, though as commentators point out,by such reasoning the prophet Adam (upon whom be peace) might better deserveto be worshipped, since he had neither father nor mother (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya(y65), 1.262--63, 1.269; and n).
al-Maydani, of Damascus, born in 1222/1807
A Hanafi scholar whostudied under Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn 'Abidin and authored works in SacredLaw, hadith commentary, tenets of faith, and Arabic grammar, his best knownwork is the four-volume al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab [The quintessence: an exegesisof ""The book""], which expounds Ahmad Quduri's classic inHanafijurisprudenceKitab al-Quduri
He died in 1298/1881 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.33).
together with Gabriel in the Holy Koran (at 2;98) because he is the angelof sustenance (rizq) , the life of the body; just as Gabriel is the angel of revelation(wahy), the life of the spirit (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 1.84; al-Shifa (y116),1.710; and al-Siraj a/-munir (y72) , 1.79).
'Abd ai-Rahman al-Khazraji (Allah be well pleased with him), born twenty yearsbefore the Hijra (A.D
603)
A Medinan Helper, he was among the greatest of theCompanions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in the knowledgeof the lawful and unlawful, and one of the six who gathered the Koran in thelifetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
He participated inthe battles of Badr, the Confederates, and all the others
After the campaign ofTabuk, he was sent as a judge and teacher to the people of Yemen, where heremained until Abu Bakr had been made caliph following the Prophet's death(Allah bless him and give him peace), when he returned to Medina
He went withAbu 'Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah on the Syrian jihad, which he assumed command ofwhen Abu 'Ubayda died of the plague, and he was confirmed in the position by'Umar
He died of the plague in the same year, 18/639, and was buried in the JordanRift Valley to the west of present-day Irbid, Jordan (al-A 'lam (y136), 7.258;and n).
ibn 'Abd ai-Shams ibn 'Abd Manaf (Allah be well pleased with him), born inMecca twenty years before the Hijra (A.D
603)
A noble of Quraysh, collected,eloquent, and dignified, he entered Islam the day Mecca was conquered (A.H
8),and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) made him one of the scribeswho recorded the Koran in writing
He later became the governor of Syria and inA.H
41 assumed the Islamic caliphate, founding the Umayyad dynasty whose capitalwas Damascus
His reign was one that added great conquests to the domainsof Islam, which was established in his time as the religion of peoples across NorthAfrica to the Atlantic Ocean, as well as Sudan, many of the islands of Greece, andthe Dardenelles
He was the first to use the Mediterranean for naval jihad, andthe first to build mihrabs (niches) in mosques, He died in Damascus in 60/680 (alA'/am (y136) , 7.261-62).
Abu 'Abdullah al-Thaqafi (Allah be well pleased with him), born in Ta'iftwentyyears before the Hijra (A.D
603)
A Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) who was noted for his keen intellect, he entered Islam in A.H.5, was present at Hudaybiya, fought against the false prophet Musaylima at alYamama,and also took part in the northern jihads that opened Syria-Palestinefor Islam, losing an eye at the battle of Yarmouk
The caliph 'Umar made himgovernor of Basra, and he conquered several new lands for Islam before 'Umarremoved him from the position, though he later instated him as governor of Kufa,an office which the caliph 'Uthman first confirmed him in, but then removed him.He stayed alooffrom the discord between 'Ali and Mu'awiya, and the latter afterwardsmade him governor of Kufa a second time, and he remained in the positionthe rest of his life
He related 136 hadiths from the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), and died in Kufa in 50/670 (ibid., 7.277).
ibn Hashim, Abu al-Qasim (Allah bless him and give him peace), theunlettered Qurayshite Arabian prophet of Allah Most High to the entire world,the greatest and most influential human being in the history of mankind, born onthe twelfth of Rabi' Awwal, fifty-three years beforthe Hijra (A.D
571), in Mecca.The son of 'Abdullah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb of Bani Zahra,his father died before his birth, leaving him an orphan
He first grew up in thedesert, being nursed there for two years by Halima al-Sa'diyya, and when hismother died in his seventh year, his grandfather 'Abd al-Muttalib became hisguardian
Despite being raised as an orphan, he developed the noblest character,and was known among his people as the Truthful and Trustworthy (al-Sadiq alAmin).He first worked as a shepherd and then engaged in trade, travelling toSyria twice, and he married the owner of the goods he managed, the wealthy,beautiful, and virtuous Khadija bint Khuwaylid at her request when he wastwenty-five years of age.When he was forty, Allah Most High chose him to be the last of the successionof His prophets, sent to all mankind and jinn to teach them the religion ofIslam, the most perfect and comprehensive system for felicity in this world andunending happiness in the next
The essence of the new religion was to proclaimthat there was no god but the one living eternal God, Allah, who is without son,associate, or partner; to call to the worship of Him alone, obedience of His lawsalone, and the recognition that the only superiority men possess over one anotheris in their godfearingness (taqwa) and sincerity in servanthood to Him; and towarn men that they would be accountable for their actions on a Day of Judgement,whence they would enter paradise or hell
In a word, it enjoined highmindednessand nobility and forbade all that was contemptible and base,ordering man to use every means to realize the right and eliminate the wrong.After thirteen years of calling people in Mecca to Islam and enduring the persecutionof idolators there, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) wasinvited by a delegation of the notables of Medina (then called Yathrib) in thenorth to end their immemorial feuds by agreeing to rule them, and his emmigration(hijra) to them was to mark the beginning ofthe Islamic cakmdar
At Medina,a new phase began, deputations were sent to various peoples to invite them toIslam, and finally Allah ordered the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)to fight to free mankind from the servitude of false gods and other men, and leadthem to the light of revealed monotheism
In this undertaking, though a gentleand peaceable man, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) risked hisperson in some twenty-seven separate battles, including Badr in A.H
2 andUhud in AH
3, both against the idolators of Mecca; Bani Nadir in A.H
4; the Confederatesand Bani Qurayza in AH
5; Khaybar and the conquest of Mecca in A.H.7; Hunayn in AH
8; and Tabuk in AH
9
Never in his life did the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) flee from battle or turn his back to the enemy, evenin the deadliest peril, and by ten years after the Hijra, Allah was worshipped in theArabian peninsula, and the one true religion had been established.While abrogating the laws of all prior religions regarding particular religiousrites and works (furu'), it was equally the primordial religion, identical with themessage of every previously sent prophet in tenets of faith (usu\), in terms ofenjoining belief and worship of the {)ne Supreme Being alone, in which senseMuslims say, ""We differentiate between none of His messengers"" (Koran 2:285),for all taught pure monotheism
At the same time, Allah Most High mentions theprophets by saying, ""Those are the messengers, We have favored some above
others"" (Koran 2:253), and He vouchsafed favors to Muhammad (Allah bless himand give him peace) that no prophet had previously been given; among them thathe was sent to all mankind, not just a particular tribe or race; that he was the finalprophet and messenger; that his followers are greater in number than those of anyother prophet; that he was sent as a mercy unto the worlds; and that he wasgranted the magnificent and incomparable Arabic Koran, a living miracle whichno one has ever been able to compose anything similar to, which remains in its textualpurity as it was revealed, preserved from alteration by human hand until theend of time
By any standards, no one has so profoundly influenced so many, inday to day manners, speech, dress, worship, belief, and culture, as has theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace), who died in Medina, his messagedelivered and mission wonderfully accomplished, in 11/633 (al-A'lam (y136),6.218-19; al-Siraj al-munir(y72), 1.166; Suturmin hayatMuhammad (y115) , 2-4;and n).
'Abd aI-Latif al-Jurdani, born in Dumyat, Egypt
One of the great Shafi'i scholarsof nineteenth-century Egypt, he studied under Sheikh Ibrahim Bajuri andauthored a number of valuable works in hadith commentary, tenets of faith, andSacred Law, in the latter field being best known for his four-volume Fath al'Allam bi sharh Murshid al-anam [The victory of the All-knowing: an exegesis of""The people's guide""], a commentary on a shorter work by himself
He died inDumyat in 133111913 (al-A'lam (yI36), 6.244; and n).
Jamal ai-Din al-Shadhili of Cairo
He was an Islamic scholar, Sufi sage, andauthor of considerable eloquence in all aspects of the Sufi way
Among his worksis Qawanin hukm al-ishraq [The laws of the dawning of illumination], which' Abdal-Wahhab Sha'rani describes as ""a marvelous work which no one else has producedanything comparable to, and which attests to the fullness of its author'sexperience in the path."" He lived near al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, and died sometimeafter A.H
851 (al-Tabaqatal-kubra (y124), 2.67, 2.74).
Moroccan Sufi of the Darqawi tariqa who went to the Hijaz on pilgrimage, andwhen he returned in 1799 via Egypt, which was under attack by the French, hegathered a force of Tunisians and Moroccans, many of whom lived in Cairo, tofight the invaders
He later fought the forces of the Bey of Constantine from themountains of eastern Algeria, from which he was eventually dislodged and fledwestward to the Oran region where he joined Muhammad ibn Sharif, after whichhistory records nothing further of him (Muslim Brmherhoods (y86) , 43-44).
ibn 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Maliki, a descendant ofthe Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace)
A contemporary Meccan scholar ofhadith, MaIikijurisprudence,Koranic exegesis, tenets of faith, and prophetic biography, he was bornto a family of traditional Maliki scholars of ancestral residence in the Holy Cityand educated by his father, al-Sayyid 'Alawi MaIiki, who authorized him to teachevery work he read with him, which he began to do while still in his childhood
Hehas a doctorate in hadith from al-Azhar, and has travelled to Morocco, Egypt,Pakistan, and India to learn hadiths, gather manuscripts, visit scholars, andrecord their knowledge
In A.H
139011970 he was appointed full professor in thecollege of Sacred Law at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, and after his father'sdeath, the scholars of Mecca met in his home to ask him to accept his father's positionas teacher in al-Masjid al-Haram, which he did
He has authored a numberof works on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), Sacred Law, andtenets of faith, including Muhammad al-insan al-kamil [Muhammad, the perfectman], Mafahim yajibu an tusahhaha [Notions that should be corrected], andMawatta' ai-Imam Malik ibn Anas riwaya Ibn al-Qasim [""The trodden path"" ofImam Malik ibn Anas in the transmission received from Ibn al-Qasim]
Currentlyprevented from teaching in both the Sacred Mosque and the university, he givesfree traditional Islamic instruction in Arabic grammar, hadith, Maliki jurisprudence,and other subjects at his own residence and mosque on Maliki Street in theRusayfa district of Mecca (al-Ta'i' al-sa'id (y84) , 3-4; and n).
'Abdullah al-Sanusi aI-Khattabi al-Hasani aI-Idrisi, born in Mosteghanem,Algeria, in 120211787
The founder of the Sanusi tariqa, he was a scholar of theKoran, hadith, and Maliki jurisprudence, and a Sufi adept whose sheikhsincluded aI-'Arabi al-Darqawi and Ahmad Tijani, the respective founders oftheDarqawi and Tijani orders
He was a prolific writer who produced more than fortybooks, poems, and treatises in Sacred Law, hadith, fundamentals of jurisprudence,tenets of faith, history, geneology, and mathematics
He travelled to Fez,Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, and Mecca, and in 1842 founded his main Sufi center(zawiya) near ai-Bayda in Libya
His order worked continuously for the next fifteenyears to proselytize for Islam in a sustained southerly movement along thetrade routes to the interior of Africa, with considerable success in establishing thereligion throughout the sub-Saharan region
Leaving the order's affairs in thehands of a deputy, he travelled to Mecca and remained there until 1853 , when hereturned to establish a new center in the east of Libya, at Jaghbub, where he spentthe final productive years of his life, and died in 1286/1859 (al-A'lam (y136),6.299; and Muslim Brotherhoods (y86), 101-14).
'Allan ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn 'Allan aI-Bakri ai-Siddiqi, born in Meccain 99611588
He was a Shafi'i scholar of hadith, Sacred Law, Koranic exegesis, andother subjects, which he acquired from the sheikhs of his time, memorizing theKoran in ail of its canonical readings (qira'at), and becoming learned enough inShafi'i jurisprudence to be named mufti of Mecca at the age of twenty-four.Called the Suyuti of His Time, he authored works about the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace), as well as in Koranic exegesis, hadith, Sacred Law, formaIlegalopinion, Sufism, tenets offaith, history, and Arabic grammar
His twohadith commentaries, al-Futuhat al-rabbaniyya 'ala al-adhkar al-Nawawiyya [Thegodly victories: an exegesis of Nawawi's ""Remembrances of Allah""], and Datil alfalihinIi turuq Riyad al-salihin [The guide of the successful to the ways of ""Thegardens of the righteous""], are both extremely professionaI and attest to hisknowledge of Sacred Law and hadith
He died in Mecca in 1057/1647 and wasburied near Sheikh ai-Islam Ibn Hajar Haytami (al-A'lam (y136) , 6.293; alAdhkar(y102) , 7-10: and n).
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz 'Abidin, born in Damascus in 119811784
Originally aShafi'i, he changed his school and became the HanaH Imam of his time
His mostfamous work, the eight-volume Hashiya radd al-muhtar 'ala ai-Dun al-mukhtar[The enlightenment of the baffled: a commentary on ""The choice pearls""], ishighly thought of by Hanafi scholars, who consider every word of it an authoritativetext (nass) in the school
He also authored works in fundamentals of Islamiclaw· and faith, formal legal opinion, Koranic exegesis, and estate division, anddied in Damascus in 1252/1836 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.42; A; and n).
Allah al-Irbali al-Kurdi, born in Arbil, Iraq
Of Kurdish origin, he was Shafi'ischolar who was among the greatest Naqshbandi masters of the last century.Instructed and authorized in the Sufi path in Iraq by Sheikh 'Umar Diya' ai-Dinibn 'Uthman Siraj ai-Din al-Naqshbandi, he travelled to the Hijaz on hajj andstayed in Mecca for a year before proceeding to Cairo, where he studied SacredLaw and other subjects at ai-Azhar, an education he turned to good account in hisTanwir al-qulub fi mu'amala 'Allam al-Ghuyub [The enlightenment of hearts: onone's dealings with the Knower ofthe Unseen], a manual on tenets offaith, Shafi'iLaw, and the path of Sufism as taught by his masters
Of great personal sincerity,sanctity, and spiritual will, he gained a large following in Cairo and became thesheikh of his time in guiding seekers to the truth, placing particular emphasis inhis training on the insight that only Allah Most High has any effect in the world,and that He is beyond any resemblance to created things
He authored a numberof works in Sacred Law, tenets of faith, and Sufism, and Allah vouchsafed manygraces to him during his lifetime, the greatest of which was his firm adherence tothe Koran and sunna
He died in Cairo in 133111914 (al-A 'lam (y136), 6.43; Tanwiral-qulub (y74), 1-55; and n).
born in al-Muti'a, upper Egypt, in 127111854
The grand mufti of Egyptand one of the leading Hanafi scholars of his time, he was educated at al-Azhar,where he subsequently taught before being appointed first as judge in A.H
1297,and then as mufti in 1333/1914, which office he held for seven years
After contactwith Jamal al-Din ai-Afghani, he became one of the bitterest foes of the ""IslamicReform"" movement of Afghani and Afghani's pupil and fellow Mason, Muhammad'Abduh
An author of works in Sacred Law, formal legal opinion, fundamentalsof jurisprudence, tenets of faith, and Koranic exegesis, he was a godfearingtraditional scholar who chose to lose his position as mufti rather than bow to governmentpressure to issue an opinion that a Muslim who had killed a Christiandeserved to be executed for it (dis: 01.2(2))
His legal opinion on the purity(tahara) of alcohol (dis: eI4.1(7)) appeared in the magazine ai-Islam, publishedat al-Azhar in Cairo in 1938, while his opinion on the permissibility of photographs(dis: w50.9) was mentioned to the translator by Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut,Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari, and others
He died in Cairo in 135411935 (al-A'lam (y136) , 6.50; Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari; SheikhShu'ayb Arna'ut; and n).
prominent Hanafi scholar of the present century who was born in Hama, Syria, in1328/1910
Orphaned while young, his brother the poet Badr ai-Din aI-Hamidsent him after primary school to the Dar al-'Ulum Islamic Secondary School, andthen to Aleppo, where he enrolled in the Khusrawiyya School of Islamic Law, runat the time by a number of leading Hanafis such as Sheikh Ahmad Zarqa, SheikhAhmad al-Kurdi the Hanafi mufti of Aleppo, and others
Upon finishing, hereturned to Hama and then travelled to Egypt where he attended al-Azhar,receiving a number of higher degrees in Sacred Law, specializing in judicialstudies and taking a certification for the Islamic judgeship, though when he camehome he preferred instead to teach and lead the Friday prayer at the SultanMosque, and to continue his education under the sheikhs of Hama of his time,including Muhammad Sa'id al-Jabi, Muhammad Tawfiq ai-Sabbagh, and themufti of Hama Muhammad Sa'id Na'sani
He also took the Sufi path from SheikhMuhammad Abu aI-Nasir al-Naqshbandi of Homs
He wrote a number of booksand treatises on tenets of faith, Koranic exegesis, Sacred Law, and formal legalopinion, of which the best known is the two-volume Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'ifal-Shaykh Muhammad ai-Hamid [RebuttalS of falsehoods, and the letters ofSheikh Muhammad Hamid], comprising letters, articles, and answers to questionson Sacred Law sent to him from all parts of the Arab and Islamic world.When he died in 1389/1969, all of Hama.joined his funeral procession, and his passingwas mourned in Damascus and other cities by public figures and religiousscholars alike (Shuruh Risala al-Shaykh Arslan (y51), 286-87).
Farqad, Abu 'Abdullah al-Shaybani, born in Wasit, Iraq, in 1311748
A mujtahidImam of powerful intellect, prodigious mastery of Koranic and hadith primarytexts, and the matchless legal training of being educated by Imams Abu Hanifa,Abu Yusuf, and Malik, he was among the greatest figures in the history of Islamicjurisprudence
He was raised in Kufa where he first met Abu Hanifa, joined hisschool of thought, and distingu,ished himself before moving to Baghdad, where hewas appointed by Harun ai-Rashid to the judiciary
He was among the sheikhs ofImam Shafi'i, who once observed, ""If I wished to say that the Koran was revealedin the language of Muhammad ibn Hasan, I could say it, for the purity of hisArabic."" He wrote a large number of works in Sacred Law and its methodology,as well as in the sciences of hadith, and it is related that when Imam Ahmad wasonce asked, ""From whence did you acquire these legal subtleties?"" he replied,""From the books of Muhammad ibn Hasan."" He died in 189/804 in Rayy, Persia(al-A'lam (y136), 6.80; Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 9.134-36; Sheikh Shu'aybArna'ut; and n).
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd ai-Rahman ibn Abu Jam'a al-Hashimi,born in Sabda near Tlemcen, Algeria, in 129811880
He was a Sufi, Maliki scholar,author in tenets of Islamic faith, and the successor in the East of Sheikh Ahmadal-'Alawi
Educated in Algeria before emigrating with his sheikh Muhammadibn YaIlis to Damascus, he completed his studies in Syria with a number of thesheikhs of his time, among them Badr ai-Din aI-Hasani, Muhammad Ja'far aIKattani,Tawfiq al-Ayyubi, and others
Ibn Yallis authorized him to give the generallitany(al-wird al-'amm) of the tariqa to those who wanted it, but it was notuntil after Ibn Yallis's death that the great renewer of the Shadhili tariqa SheikhAhmad al-'Alawi (who had had the same sheikh as Ibn Yallis's teacher) came toDamascus on his way to hajj in 135011931 and authorized Hashimi as a sheikh inthe order's' Alawi-Darqawi branch that he had founded, giving him full authorityin all aspects of the way, including the solitary retreat (khalwa) that al-'Alawiemphasized
Hashimi's spiritual presence, humility, and ability to guide seekersto the truth gained him many disciples, and whot""versought Allah did not go awaydisappointed
He taught Islam at all levels, in classes at his home and in mosques,and would not permit disciples' ignorance in Islamic law or tenets offaith, the latterof which he taught from traditional Ash'ari classics and his own Miftah aljannafi sharh 'aqida Ahl al-Sunna [The key to paradise: an explanation of thefaith of Ahl al-Sunna]
He gave written authorizatiQns during his lifetime to anumber of sheikhs in the path, among them 'Abd aI-Qadir 'Isa of Aleppo, authorof Haqa'iq 'an al-Tasawuf [Facts about Sufism]; Muhammad Sa'id Burhani, hisimmediate successor in Damascus; and Muhammad Sa'id al-Kurdi, who broughtthe Shadhili tariqa to Jordan
When he died in Damascus in 138111961, he left alegacy not only of his writings, but also the illumined hearts of those he had led toAllah, and it was they who, out of regard for the master, renamed the tariqa theHashimi-Darqawi way after his death (Tarikh 'ulama' Damashq (yl), 2.747-51;Sheikh 'Abd aI-Rahman Shaghouri; and n).
Makhluf al-'Adawi al-Maliki, born in Bani 'Adi, Egypt, in 128811871
He was aMaliki scholar who was educated at al-Azhar University, where he taught andbecame a member of its supervisory board, in which capacity he founded andorganized al-Azhar Library
After later appointments, first as sheikh of theAhmadi Mosque and then as general director of religious academies, he retired inAH
1334 to devote himself to teaching Islamic theology (tawhid), philosophy,and fundamentals of law and faith .
He authored some thirty-seven works inKoranic exegesis, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and other subjects, and died inCairo in 1355/1936 (al-A'lam (y136) 6.96).
Bakr, born is 1853 in Moroni on Grand Comoro Island, which lies between thenorthern tip of Madagascar and the East African Coast
He was a social reformer,preacher, and the sheikh of the Yashrutiyya branch of the Shadhili tariqa in EastAfrica, which is credited with contributing to a considerable expansion of Islamthere, and is reported to have had, before the sheikh's death, many hospices(zawaya) along the islands and mainland of the East African Coast, includingMadagascar, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Pemba, Mauritius, Mafia Island, and theComoros, as well as in Kenya, Tanganyika, and even far-off New Guinea
Hedied in 1905 and was buried at his zawiya on Grand Comoro Island (MuslimBrotherhoods (y86) , 152-58).
ibn Muhammad Sa'id ibn Mustafa ibn 'Ali al-Daghestani al-Burhani, aHanafi scholar in fundamentals of law and faith, Sufi, and commentator who wasborn in Damascus in 1311/1894
He fought against the French at the outset of theforeign occupation of Syria in 1920, after which he returned to Damascus to studythe Islamic sciences,first with his father, and then with scholars such as 'Abd aIQadiral-Iskandari, Badr aI-Din al-Hasani, the mufti of Damascus 'Ata Allah aIKasam,and others
After first taking the Naqshbandi way from Sheikh Abual-Khayr al-Maydani, he became a disciple of Sheikh Muhammad Hashimi
Hetaught at the Tawba and Umayyad Mosques, and upon his retirement devotedhimself to helping Sheikh Hashimi, who was to appoint him as his successor
Avoracious reader, he edited, annotated, and prepared indexes for a large numberof books and treatises, among them' Ala'al-Din 'Abidin's classic primer in Hanafilaw, al-Hadiyya al-'Ala'iyya [The gift of 'Ala'], and Sheikh MuhammadHashimi's Sharh Shatranj al-'arifin [Explanation of ""The chess of the gnostics""],a mystical commentary on a chessboard-like diagram ascribed to Sheikh Muhyiddinibn al-'Arabi
He died in 1386/1967 in Damascus (Shuruh Risala al-ShaykhArslan (y51), 281-82; and Tarikh 'ulama' Dimashq (yl), 2.794).
Ramadan al-Buti, born of Kurdish descent in 1350/1931 in Damascus
Theson of one ofthe foremost Shafi'i scholars of his time, Mulla Ramadan, he studiedArabic grammar, logic, and philosophy with his father, as well as Shafi'i jurisprudenceand fundamentals of Islamic law and faith, and after graduating from the a1-Tawjih al-Islami Institute in Damascus, travelled to Cairo and took a degree fromal-Azhar before returning to Syria, where he taught first in Horns and then inDamascus at the College of Sacred Law
He took a doctorate in principles ofIslamic legal methodology from the University of Damascus in A.H
1385, and wasappointed as a professor there in the Faculty of Sacred Law and Arts
He has writtenmany works, among them Fiqh al-sira [Sacred Law inferred from the propheticbiography], and al-Lamadhhabiyya akhtar bid'a tuhaddidu al-shari'aal-IsLamiyya [Not following a school of jurisprudence is the most dangerous innovationthreatening Islamic Sacred law], while his most recent work, al-Salafiyyarnarhala zamaniyya mubaraka La madhhab Islami [The ""way of the early Muslims""was a blessed historical epoch, not an Islamic school ofthought], has gaineda wide readership
He lives in Damascus, where he writes, teaches at the university,and gives well-attended public lectures at several mosques (Shuruh Risala aiShaykhArslan (y51) , 283; and n).
aI-Din al-Shirbini al-Khatib of Cairo
A Shafi'i Imam and Koranic exegete ofknowledge and piety, he studied in Cairo under Imam Ahmad al-Ramli, as wellas Nur aI-Din Mahalli, Ahmad Burullusi, and others, who authorized him to giveformal legal opinion and instruction
He educated a multitude of scholars, and hisworks won recognition in their author's lifetime for their outstanding clarity andreliability, among the most famous of them his four-volume Mughni al-muhtaj itarna'rita rna 'ani alfaz al-Minhaj [The enricher of him in need of knowledge of themeanings of the words of ""The seekers' road""], a commentary on Nawawi'sMinhaj al-talibin; and his Koranic exegesis al-Simj al-munir fi ai-i'ana 'ala ma'ritaba'd kalam Rabbina ai-Hakim al-Khabir [The light-giving lamp: an aid in knowingsome of the words of our Lord, the All-wise and All-knowing]
He died inCairo in 977/1570 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.6; Mughni al-muhtaj (y73) , 4.548; and n).
Suwayd governorate of Egypt in about 1934 and was educated in Cairo, where hegraduated from the College of Arts at Cairo University
In 1985 he was appointedto his current post as Director of the Department of Translation at al-Azhar'sIslamic Research Academy (Sheikh Fath Allah Ya Sin Jazar).
ibn al-'Arabi, Abu Bakr Muhyi ai-Din al-Hatimi al-Ta'i, The Greatest Sheikh (alShaykhai-Akbar), born in Murcia (in present-day Spain) in 560/1165
A mujtahidImam in Sacred Law, Sufism, Koranic exegesis, hadith, and other Islamic sciences,and widely regarded as a friend (wali) of Allah Most High, he was theforemost representative of the Sufi school of the 'oneness of being' (wahdat alwujud,dis: x5), as well as a Muslim of strictliteral observance ofthe prescriptions'of the Koran and sunna
He first took the way of Sufism in AH
580, and in theyears that followed authored some six hundred books and treatises in the courseof travels and residences in Fez, Tunis, Alexandria, Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad,Mosul, Konya, Aleppo, and finally Damascus, where he lived till the end of hislife and completed his al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya [The Meccan revelations] andFusus al-hikam [The precious stones of the ring-settings of the wisdoms]
Sinceinterest in his work continues among even non-Muslim scholars, a number of hermeneuticalobstacles are worth mentioning here that have in some measure so farhindered serious efforts to understand the sheikh's works, by friend and foe alike.The first is lack of common ground with the author, who has written, ""We area group whose works are unlawful to peruse, since the Sufis, one and all, use termsin technical senses by which they intend other than what is customarily meant bytheir usage among scholars, and those who interpret them according to their usualsignificance commit unbelief."" While this may not be particularly intimidating tosomeone who is already an unbeliever, it does at least implicitly deny the validityof a do-it-yourself approach to the sheikh's thought and point up the relevance ofthe traditional maxim, Knowledge is to be taken from those who possess it.A related difficulty is that the context of much of Ibn al-'Arabi's Futuhat andother works is not only the outward Islamic sciences, but also their inner significance,not by any means an ""esoteric symbolism"" that nullifies the outward contentof the sheikh's inquiries, but a dimension of depth, a reflective counterpartto their this-worldly significance whose place and existential context is the worldof the spirit, to which the physical universe-in which many of his would-be interpretersare firmly enmeshed and know nothing besides, especially those who areatheists-is like a speck of dust in the sea
While the present discussion cannotadequately do justice to the topic, one may yet observe that the heart of someonefamiliar only with the ""What will I eat,"" ""What will I say,"" ""Will it prove feasible,""and other physical and intellectual relations of instrumentality that makeup this world is no more capable of real insight into the world of someone like thesheikh than a person inches away from a giant Monet is capable of seeing the picturehe believes is ""before his very eyes."" The way of Ibn al-'Arabi is precisely away, and if one has not travelled it or been trained to see as Ibn al-' Arabi sees, onemay well produce intelligent remarks about one's perceptions of the matter, asattested to by a whole literature of ""historical studies"" of Sufism, but the factremains that one does not see.A third difficulty is the problem of spurious interpolations by copyists, asonce happened to 'Abd al-Wahhab Sha'rani, who had to bring his own handwrittenmanuscript to court to prove he was innocent of the unbelief that enemies hadinserted into his work and published in his name
The Hashiya of Ibn 'Abidinnotes that this has also happened to the Fusus al-hikam of Ibn al-'Arabi, thedetails being given in a promulgation by the Supreme Ottoman Sultanateexonerating the author of the statements of unbelief (kufr) it said that Jews hadinterpolated into the work
This is supported by the opinion of Mahmud MahmudGhurab, an Ibn al-'Arabi specialist of Damascus who has published more thantwelve books on the sheikh's thought, among them al-Fiqh 'ind al-Shaykh alAkbarMuhyiddin ibn al-'Arabi [Sacred Law according to the Greatest Sheikh,Muhyiddin ibn al-'Arabi], which clarifies Ibn al-'Arabi's position as a ZahiriImam and mujtahid in Sacred Law; and Sharh Fusus al-hikam [Exegesis of ""Theprecious stones of the ring-settings of the wisdoms""], in which Ghurab indicateseighty-six passages of the Fusus that he believes are spurious, adducing that theycontradict the letter and spirit of al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, which must be givenprecedence because we possess a manuscript copy in the author's own handwriting,while there are no such copies of the Fusus.One may summarize the above-mentioned difficulties and others by the generalobservation that without a master with whom to read these texts, someonewho has himself read them with a teacher aware of their place in the whole of thesheikh's work, one is in danger of projecting one's own limitations onto theauthor
This happens in our times to various groups of interpreters, among themnon-Muslim ""Sufis"" who have posthumously made Ibn al-' Arabi an honoraryMason, saying that he believed all religions to be equally valid and acceptablewhichGhurab says is an ignorant misreading, and to which the sheikh himself furnishcsa sufficient reply in his account of his convictions ('aqida) at the first of theFutuhat where he says, ""Just as I charge Allah, His angels, His entire creation,and all of you to bear witness upon me that I affirm His unity, so too I charge HimMost Glorious, His angels, His entire creation, and all of you to bear witness uponme that I believe in the one He has elected, chosen, and selected from all His existence,Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), whom He has sent to allmankind entirely (ilajami' al-nas kaffatan) to bring good tidings and to warn andto call to Allah by His leave"" (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (y55), 1.38)
It is fairlyobvious that his being sent to all mankind would be pointless if all other religionswere not now abrogated, as would jihad, something that Ibn al-'Arabi discusses,before going on to explain its spiritual side, in what is unmistakably a treatmentof its outward military aspect and rules, believer against unbeliever, sword againstsword, which Ghurab points out would be meaningless if both sides were uponguidance
Finally, in a chapter entitled ""The Levels of the Inhabitants of Hell""(al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (y55), 1.301), the sheikh clearly explains that while disobedientMuslims ('usat) will one day leave the hellfire, those who associatedothers with Allah (mushrikun) and the Jews and Christians (Ahl al-Kitab) whodid not accept the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) after his comingwi)) remain in hell forever-which is as far from the universal validity of all religionsas anything could be.Other interpreters who error are well-meaning Muslims who do not and cannotunderstand the sheikh's work, which they read in their native Arabic as if itwere a newspaper and then level accusations of unbelief against the author on thebasis of what comes to their minds while doing so
For all groups of interpreters,there is a pressing need for scholarly modesty and candor about our exegeticallimitations, and to draw attention to the fact that without a guide in reading thesheikh's thought, one is adrift in a sea of one's own guesswork.Aside from these basic hermeneutic requirements for reading the work ofIbn al-'Arabi, other, existential qualifications are needed, for as mentionedabove, the sheikh's method is a way, and as such entails not only curiosity, butcommitment and most of all submission to Allah Most High as the sheikh had submissionto Him, namely through Islam-as well as other conditions mentioned byIbn Hajar Haytami in a legal opinion in which, after noting that it is permissibleor even meritorious (mustahabb) to read the sheikh's works, but only for the qualified,he writes: ""Imam Ibn al-'Arabi has explicitly stated: 'It is unlawful to read[the Sufis'] books unless one attains to their level of character and learns themeaning of their words in conformity with their technical usages, neither of whichis found except in someone who has worked assiduously, rolled up his sleeves,abandoned the wrong, tightened his belt, filled himself replete with the outwardIslamic sciences, and purified himself from every low trait connected with thisworld and the next
It is just such a person who comprehends what is being saidand is allowed to enter when he stands at the door.' "" The sheikh outlines what isentailed by working assiduously in a series of injunctions (wasaya) at the end ofhis Futuhat «y55), 4.444-551) that virtually anyone can benefit from, and bywhich one may infer some of the outward details of the sheikh's way
By allaccounts, he lived what he wrote in this respect, and his legacy bears eloquem testimonyto it
He died in his home in Damascus, a copy of Ghazali's lhya' 'ulum aldinon his lap, in 63811240 (al-A 'lam (y136) , 6.281; al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48) ,296-97; al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (y55), 1.38, 1.301, 2.425, 4.444-551; Hashiyaradd al-muhtar (y47) , 4.238; Sharh Fusus al-hikam (y42) , 475-98; MahmudMahmud Ghurab; Sheikh 'Abd ai-Rahman Shaghouri; A; and n).
Durubi and Yasin 'Arafa who lives in Damascus
He frequently visits the Dar- .wishiyya to sit with the circle that gathers there, and is about Sheikh 'Abd alWakil'sage (n).
born in 211642
A Koranic exegete of the generation who followed that of theCompanions, he is referred to by Dhahabi as ""the sheikh of Koran reciters andinterpreters"" and took his knowledge of Koranic exegesis from Ibn 'Abbas, withwhom he read the Koran three times, stopping at every verse and asking him howand in reference to what it was revealed
He moved from place of place and finallysettled in Kufa
Unable to hear of anything strange or marvelous without personallygoing to investigate, he went to the Well of Barahut in Hadramawt, Yemen,which is said to contain the souls of unbelievers and hypocrites, and went to Babylonto look for Harut and Marut
It is said he died while prostrate in prayer, in 1041722 (al-A 'lam (y136), 5.278; and Mu'jam al-buldan (y43), 10405).
Salama, Abu Muhammad Zaki ai-Din al-Mundhiri, born in Egypt in 58111185.He was a Shafi'i scholar, historian, lexicographer, and the hadith master (hafiz)of his time, a saintly ascetic who was regarded by contemporaries as a friend (wali)of Allah Most High
He studied hadith under masters in Mecca, Damascus, Harran,al-Ruha, and Alexandria before returning to Cairo, where he.was appointedas sheikh in the Dar al-Hadith al-Kamaliyya
He held this position for twentyyears, teaching, writing, and not leaving the school except for the Friday prayer,and he authored a lexicon, a history, and a number of works on hadith, of whichthe four-volume al-Targhib Wll al-tarhib [The instilling of desire and fear] is themost well known
He died in Cairo in 657/1258 (al-A'lam (y136) , 4.30; andTabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 8.259).
in their graves, as discussed above at v2.2 and w32.1(2) (n).
ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (upon whom be peace), the prophet and messenger ofAllah Most High to Bani lsra'il
He is mentioned in many places in the HolyKoran, among them sura al-A'raf, which tells of the two great signs that Allahvouchsafed to him to convince Pharaoh to let Bani Isra'illeave Egypt with him.The first of these was that when he cast his staff, it became a snake, while the secondwas that when Musa drew forth his hand from his bosom, it illumined theearth to the sky, after which he returned it to his bosom and it became as it hadbeen
But the members of Pharaoh's council told him that Musa was merely a sorcerer,and Pharaoh refused to heed what he had been shown
The Korandescribes the afflictions that were visited on Pharaoh's people in the wake of hisrefusal, how Musa left Egypt with Bani Isra'il, the drowning of Pharaoh and hishost, and the wanderings of Bani Isra'il in the desert for forty years, during whichMusa's brother Harun died, and then Musa a year later (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya(y65), 1.56; Qisas al-anbiya' (y59), 296; al-Siraj al-munir (y72), 1.499; and n).
Habib al-Hanafi al-Wa'ili, born in al-Yamama in a village now known as alJubaylain the Najd highlands of eastern Arabia
It is related that he wrote a letterto the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) after the conquest of Mecca,saying: ""From Musaylima the Messenger of Allah to Muhammad the Messengerof Allah
Peace be upon you
To commence: I have been given to share with youin the matter
We shall have halfthe earth and the Quraysh have half, though theQuraysh are a people who transgress."" The Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace) answered, ""From Muhammad the Messenger of Allah to Musaylima theLiar
Peace be upon whoever follows guidance
To commence: the earth belongsto Allah, who bequeaths it to whomever He wills of His servants, and the outcomeis to the godfearing."" Musaylima composed rhyming verse in attempts to imitatethe Koran, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) died before hecould finish him, though when Abu Bakr became caliph he gathered a large armyhe placed under the leadership of Khalid ibn al-Walid, who proceeded toYamama and attacked Musaylima in A.H, 12 in a pitched battle that extirpated thefalse prophet and his followers, but at a cost of some 1,220 Muslim lives, 450 ofwhom were Companions (aZ-A'lam (y136), 7.226).
al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, born in Nishapur, Persia, in 204/820
A Shafi'ischolar, and a hadith master (hafiz) and Imam second only to his mentor Bukhari,he was the author of the famous hadith collection Sahih Muslim [The rigorouslyauthenticated collection of Muslim], which has inspired many commentaries andis considered among the greatest works on hadith in Islam
Besides studying withBukhari, he travelled to the Hijaz, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, learning hadiths fromover 220 of the principle sheikhs of the time, including Ahmad and Ishaq ibnRahawayh
While some scholars have considered Muslim's Sahih to be greaterthan Bukhari's because of the excellence of its arrangement and other editorialfeatures, the truth is that Bukhari's collection is superior because of its additionalstrictures for a hadith's admissibility as ""rigorously authenticated"" (sahih)
ImamMuslim also wrote a number of other works in hadith, and died in Nishapur in261/875 (ibid., 7.221; Sharh Sahih Muslim (y93), 1.1-3; Siyar a'lam al-nubala'(y37), 12.557-61; al-Taj al-jami' Ii al-usul (yl00), 1.16; and n).
Abu Sa'd al-Naysaburi al-Mutawalli, born in Nishapur, Persia, in 426/1035
AShafi'i Imam and scholar in Sacred Law, principles of jurisprudence, and tenetsof faith, he studied in Merv (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R) under 'Abd alRahmanFurani (xI24) and authored Tatimma al-Ibana [The completion of ""Theexplanation""], a voluminous commentary on a work by Furani
He also studiedShafi'i jurisprudence under the sheikh of Imam Baghawi, aI-Qadi Husayn ibnMuhammad Marwazi, and took hadith from Abul Qasim Qushayri before succeedingAbu lshaq Shirazi as the sheikh of the Nizamiyya Academy atBaghdad, where he died in 478/1087 (ibid., 3.323; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya a.lkubra(yI28), 5.106-7).
Egypt, born in 1751791
A Shafi'i scholar of Sacred Law and student of the Imamhimself, he was so expert at arguing a case that Shafi'i once remarked of him,""Were he to debate the Devil, he would win."" Abu Ishaq Shirazi described himas ""an ascetic scholar and mujtahid, a debater of considerable skill at presentingan argument with an aptitude for subtle shades of meaning."" He wrote a numberof works in Sacred Law, of which his summary of the school's rulings, alMukhtasar[The epitome], is perhaps the most famous
Devoted to worship, if hemissed a prescribed prayer in congregation he would pray it twenty-five timesalone, and it was his practice to wash the dead without payment in hope of Allah'sreward, saying, ""I do it to soften my heart."" He died in 264/878 (al-A'lam (y136) ,1.329; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yI28), 2.93).
prisoner by 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, he grew up in Medina to become the mufti andImam of the generation that followed the Companions
He was one of the sheikhsof Imam Malik, relating hadiths from Ibn 'Umar, 'A'isba, Abu Hurayra, AbuSa'id al-Khudri, and others
Not a single mistake is known in all the hadiths herelated, and Imam Bukhari was to say, ""The most rigorously authenticated channelof transmission is that of Malik from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar."" He died in117n35 (al-A'lam (y136), 8.5; and Siyara'lam al-nubala' (y37), 5.95-97).
Abu al-Makarim Najm ai-Din al-Ghazzi, born in Damascus in 97711570
He wasa Shafi'i scholar, researcher, litterateur, biographer, and historian who composeda number of books and treatises, including his well-known biographical collectional-Kawakib aI-sa 'ira fi tarajim a'yan al-mi'a al- 'ashira [The moving stars: on biographiesof notables of the tenth century]
He died in Damascus in 106111651 (alA'lam(y136), 7.63; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
after burial, as mentioned above at v2.2 and w32.1(2) (n).
Hafiz ai-Din al-Nasafi ofIdhaj, a village near Isfahan, Persia
Among thegreat Hanafi Imams of his time, he authored major contributions in methodologicalfundamentals of Sacred Law, Hanafi jurisprudence, and tenets of faith,though he is most famous outside of his school for his three-volume Koraniccommentary Madarik al-Tanzil [Realizations of the Revelation], which placesparticular emphasis on the lexical and grammatical dimensions of Koraniciriterpretation
He died in Idhaj in 710/1310 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.67).
Bahr ibn Dinar, Abu 'Abd ai-Rahman al-Nasa'i, originally of Nasa, Persia, bornin 215/830
He was a Shafi'i scholar and judge, a hadith master (hafiz) and Imam.Educated in hadith by scholars like Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, Abu al-Qasim Tabarani,and others during travels to Khurasan, Iraq, Syria, the Hijaz, and the ArabianPeninsula, he eventually settled in Egypt
It is related that he used to fast everyother day, and was fond of women, having four wives whom he took turns with aswell as a number of concubines
While he authored works on the merits of theCompanions and an outstanding volume on the excellences of Imam' Ali ibn A biTalib (Allah be well pleased with him), his main work is his Sunan [Sunnas], oneof the six great hadith collections of Islam
Daraqutni said of him, ""Abu' Abd alRahmanleads all others of his time who are mentioned in the field of hadith,"" andwhen Dhahabi was asked who was more learned, Nasa'i or Muslim, he repliedthat the former was, a verdict that Imam Taqi ai-Din Subki concurred with
Aftera lifetime of worship and of devotion to Sacred Knowledge, Nasa'i was martyredin 303/915 in Damascus for his love of'Imam 'Ali by remnants of the Kharijite sect,who gave him a beating from which he died (ibid., 1.171; and Tabaqat alShafi'iyyaal-kubra (yI28), 3.14-16).
Ali, Abu al-Fath Burhan aI-Din al-Mutarrizi
born in Jurjaniyya, Khawarizm (inpresent-day Turkmen S.S.R.), in 538/1144
A Hanafi scholar and poet, he was aspecialist in Arabic Jexicology and grammar who wrote a number of works ofwhich his al-Mughrib fi tartib al-MU'rib [The causer of wonder: on the order of""The clarifier""], an exposition of a shorter rhymed work on lexicology of his owncomposition, is still among the best books available for rare words appearing inHanafilegal texts
He died in Khawarizm in 610/1213 (al-A'lam (y136), 7.348;and n).
Abu Zakariyya Muhyi aI-Din al-Nawawi, born in the village of Nawa on theHoran Plain of southern Syria in 631/1233
He was the Imam of the later Shafi'ischool, the scholar of his time in knowledge, piety, and abstinence, a hadith master(hafiz), biographer, lexicologist, and Sufi
When he first came to Damascus inA.H
649, he memorized the text of Abu Ishaq Shirazi's al-Tanbih [The notice] infour and a half months, then the first quarter of Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab [Therarefaction], after which he accompanied his father on hajj, then visited Medina,and then returned to Damascus, where he assidously devoted himself to masteringthe Islamic sciences
He took Shafi'i Law, hadith, tenets of faith, fundamentalsof jurisprudence, Arabic, and other subjects from more than twenty-twoscholars of the time, including Abu Ibrahim Ishaq al-Maghribi, 'Abd aI-Rahmanibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, and others, at a period of his life in which, as Dhahabinotes, ""his dedication to learning, night and day, became proverbial."" Spendingall his time in either worship or gaining Sacred Knowledge, he took some twelvelessons a day, only dozed off in the night at moments when sleep overcame him,and drilled himself on the lessons he learned by heart while walking along thestreet
Fastidious in detail and deep in understanding of the subjects he thus mastered,he authored many great works in Shafi'ijurisprudence, hadith, history, andlegal opinion, among the best known of which are his Minhaj al-talibin [Theseekers' road1, which has become a main reference for the Shafi'i school, Riyadal-salihin [The gardens of the righteous1 and Kitab al-adhkar [The Book ofremembrances of Allah] in hadith, and his eighteen-volume Sharh Sahih Muslim[Commentary on Muslim's ""Sahih""]
He lived simply, and it is related that hisentire wardrobe consisted of a turban and an ankle-length shirt (thawb) with asingle button at the collar
After a residence in Damascus of twenty-seven years,he returned the books he had borrowed from charitable endowments, bade hisfriends farewell, visited the graves of his sheikhs who had died, and departed,going first to Jerusalem and then to his native Nawa, where he became ill at hisfather's home and died at forty-four years of age in 676/1277, young in years butgreat in benefit to Islam and the Muslims (al-A'lam (y136), 8.149; Mughni almuhtaj(y73), 4.545-47; Riyad al-salihin (y107), introduction; Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf;A; and n).
man to claim he was God, to tyrannize people, and to put a crown on his head, hewas the enemy ofthe prophet Ibrahim (upon whom be peace), whom he threwinto a fire and tried to bum, though Allah Most High commanded the fire to becool and harmless to Ibrahim
After this, according to commentators, Nimrudhwas killed when Allah sent an affliction of gnats upon his people as a punishment(al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65) , 1.210,3.135).
Abu' Abdullah al-Khuza'i, originally of Merv (in present-day TurkmenS.S.R.), who lived in Egypt
A scholar who knew the rules of Islamic estate division(fara'id), he is considered by Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani to hi:: an honest hadith narratorwho had a poor memory and made many mistakes in transmission, thoughMuhammad Zahid al-Kawthari and others have drawn attention to a number ofhadiths he related containing corrupt convictions about basic tenets of faith
Hedied in A.H
228 (Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16), 564; and n).
be peace), the first prophet sent by Allah Most High after Idris
The first to bringa revealed law (shari'a), to warn against polytheism (shirk), and the first whosepeople were punished for rejecting his message, he was a carpenter by trade whowas sent to his people when fifty years old
Commentators relate that his truename was' Abd al-Ghaffar, but he became known as Nuh for his copious weeping(naha) over his having prayed to Allah to extirpate his corrupt people, who, afterrejecting his message for 950 years, were drowned in a flood
Allah preserved Nuhand the believers from the Deluge by inspiring him to build an Ark which carriedthem safely upon the waters
All the inimitable miracles (mu'jizat) that Allahvouchsafed to Nuh pertained to his person, for he lived a thousand years withoutloss of strength or his hair turning gray, even though he fasted perpetually, and noone ever bore the afflictions he endured from his people throughout his life (aiSirajal-munir (y72) 1.345, 1.484; and n).
born in 1939 in 'Ayn Janna, near 'Ajlun, Jordan
His father was a Shafi'ischolar who was educated in Damascus under Sheikh' Ali al-Daqar, and when hereturned to Jordan, studied various works of the Islamic sciences (among themGhazali's Ihya 'ulum ai-din, which he read seven times) and taught his four sonsSacred Law, grammar, and tenets of faith before sending them, each in their tum,to Damascus for an Islamic education
Nuh went in 1954, spending seven years inthe Islamic preparatory and secondary schools of al-Jama'iyya al-Ghurra'founded by his father's sheikh, where in addition to secular subjects, he studiedtenets of faith and Shafi'i jurisprudence from works like 'Umdat al-salik [Thereliance of the traveller], Matan Abi Shuja' [The text of Abu Shuja'], andNawawi's Minhaj al-talibin [The seekers' road] with such sheikhs as 'Abd alKarimal-Rifa'i, Ahmad al-Basrawi, 'Abd a1-Razzaq al-Himsi, Nayyif al-'Abbas,Mahmud al-Ranqusi, and the judge Muhammad Khayr al-Shamma', and duringwhich time he also attended the lessons of Sheikh Muhammad Hashimi, fromwhom he took the daily dhikr (wird) of the Shadhili tariqa
After secondaryschool, he attended the College of Sacred Law at the University of Damascus forfour years, much of his study devoted to Hanafi jurisprudence, under Mustafa alZarqa,Wahbi a1-Zuhayli, 'Abd ai-Rahman al-Sabuni, Amin al-Misri, 'Abd a1-
Fattah Abu Ghudda, Muhammad al-Mubarak, Fawzi FayduUah, and others
Hegraduated in 1965 and returned to Jordan, where he joined the armed forces andworked with Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad al-'Azam whom he succeeded asmufti in 1972
In 1977, he went to Cairo and spent three years in the master'sdegree program at a1-Azhar, where he studied fundamentals of law and beliefunder Sheikh 'Abd aI-Ghani 'Abd aI-Khaliq, comparative jurisprudence withSheikh Hasan al-Shadhili, and heard the late rector of al-Azhar Sheikh 'Abd aIHalimMahmud lecture on Sufism
It was during this period that he wrote hisQada' al-'ibadat wa al-niyaba fiha [Making up acts of worship and performingthem for others] with Sheikh Muhammad aI-Anbadhi as his supervisor, for whichhe received his master's degree in 1980
The following year, he enrolled in thedoctoral program at the University of Imam Muhammad ibn Sa'ud in Riyadh, andin 1986 took a doctorate for his second main work, Ibra' al-dhimma min huquq al'ibad [Fulfilling one's obligation to give others their rights].From the time of his appointment as mufti in 1972, Sheikh Nuh has dischargedthe duties of his office with energy and competence, writing hundreds offormal legal opinions in response to questions on all aspects of the religion ofIslam, many of them published in the Armed Forces monthly religious journaI alTadhkira[The reminder], in addition to lectures, books, and articles on SacredLaw, prophetic biography, tenets offaith, and other topics
During his tenure, theJordanian Army has been .distinguished by having an imam in every unit who isnot only part of it wherever it goes, but leads the obligatory prayers, gives weeklyreligious lessons, answers questions about Islam, and is subject
to regularrefresher courses in Shafi'i jurisprudence, hadith, Koran, and tenets of faith
Inthe course of helping with the present volume, though busy with official duties,Sheikh Nuh generously spent his after-work hours with the translator in sessionsoften extending late into the night at his own home, never refusing any service hecould render or declining to research any question connected with Sacred Law,and never asking for anything in return
He presently lives in Marj aI-Hamam,near Amman, Jordan (n),
northwestern United States
Born in 1954 and raised as a Roman Catholic, heworked as a commercial fisherman in the North Pacific for a space of years betweentravelling in the off-seasons and attending institutions of higher learning.He studied philosophy, concentrating mainly on the epistemology of ethicaltheory, with Andrew J
Bjelland at Gonzaga University and with the Frenchphilosopher Paul Ricoeur, author of The Symbolism of Evil and The Conflict ofInterpretations, at the University of Chicago
It was at the latter that he firststudied classical Arabic with Carolyn Killean and Galal Nahhal, then with SalimHermis Yunus in Cairo-where he became a Muslim at al-Azhar by the mercyand grace of Allah in 1977-and then with Claude Audebert at UCLA, fromwhich he received a degree in philosophy in 1980
Moving to Jordan, he pursuedhis learning of Arabic at the University of Jordan under Hala Nashif and latertaught English at Yarmouk University
He took the Shadhili tariqa in 1982 inDamascus from Sheikh 'Abd aI-Rahman Shaghouri, his teacher in the way oftasawwuf from that time
In need of a basic manual of Islamic law, in the fall of1982 he bought the copy of 'Umdat al-salik wa 'uddat al-nasik that with the helpand instruction of Sheikh' Abd al-W akil Durubi and Sheikh N uh 'Ali Salman wascompleted in annotated translation as the present work, The Reliance of theTraveller, in 1990
Among his other teachers is Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut, withwhom he studies Hanafi jurisprudence
He presently lives in Amman (n).
Algeria who went to Paris in 1879, studied at the School of Living Eastern Languages,and was appointed as secretary of the Department of Oriental Numismatics,after which he became a professor of Arabic at the University of Francein 1909
He journeyed to Cairo three times and published works about Ibn Khaldun,Egypt, and studies on Islamic coinage, weights, and measures
He died inCairo in 1334/1924 (al-A'lam (yI36), 2.78).
kings of ancient Egypt, though applied in the Koran to al-Walid ibn Mus'abibn Rayyan, the king at the time of the prophet Musa (upon whom be peace).Described in many places in the Holy Koran, Pharaoh was the personification ofevil for his enmity towards the prophet Musa and crimes against God and man
Helived more than four hundred years and was drowned in the Red Sea at the headof his armies while pursuing Bani Isra'it (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 1.51; alShifa(y116), 1.211; and n).
al-Yahsabi, born in Sabta (present-day Ceuta, on the Strait of Gibraltar) in47611083
The Imam of western Muslimdom in hadith and Arabic lexicology, hewas a gifted Maliki scholar and author who wrote a number of books in the sciencesof hadi th, Maliki jurisprudence, and history, though he is best rememberedfor his two-volume al-Shifa bi ta'rif huquq ai-Mustafa [The cure, in outlining theattributes of the Chosen One], universally acknowledged as among the finestworks ever written on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
He wasappointed as the judge (Ar
qadi, whence the nickname) of Sabta, then Granada,and finally Marrakesh, where he died of poisoning, allegedly by a Jew, in 544/1149(al-A'lam (y136), 5.99).
Abbas Shihab ai-Din al-Qalyubi, of Qalyub
Egypt
He was a Shafi'i scholar inSacred Law and hadith, a physician, and the author of a number of books, commentaries,and treatises in Islamic jurisprudence, hadith, medicine, history, andgeography
He died in 1069/1659 (ibid., (y136), 1.92; Rudud 'ala abatil (y44),1.646; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Ama'ut).
ai-Sufi of Wasit, Iraq, who used to travel without any provisions, and metmany of the sheikhs of his time
From the fact that he related some of the sayingsof al-Hallaj, he may be supposed to have died after the latter's death in 309f922(Tabaqat al-Sufiyya (yI29), 165; and n).
al-Sadusi, of Basra, Iraq, born in 611680
Blind from birth, he was a hadithscholar and Imam of Koranic exegesis, Arabic, and genealogy who met andrelated hadiths from many of the prophetic Companions and from those whocame after them, including Anas ibn Malik, Abu aJ-Tufayl al-Kinani, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, and others
Ahmad once called him ""the most learned person inBasra."" He died of the plague in Wasit in 1181736 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.189; andSiyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 5.269-70).
Ya'rab ibn Qahtan
It is related that her father, the king of Yemen, was unable tofind a suitable wife among the princesses of outlying kingdoms, so he instead wedRayhan bittt al-Sakan, a woman of the jinn, and from their marriage was bornBilqis, who inherited his kingdom
The Holy Koran tells how the hoopoe ofSulayman (upon whom be peace) went to her kingdom and saw the queen and herpeople prostrating to the sun, and describes the events that led to her acceptingIslam from SUlayman
Commentators relate that Sulayman then married her andconfirmed her in her kingdom, ordering the jinn to build three incomparablepalaces for her in Yemen, where he would visit her each month for three days, andthat her reign lasted as long as his (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 3.309-18).
Farah, Abu 'Abdullah aI-Ansari al-Qurtubi, of Cordova (in present-day Spain).A Maliki scholar and hadith specialist, he was one of the greatest Imams ofKoranic exegesis, an ascetic who divided his days between worship and writing.Educated in hadith by masters like 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Yahsabi and ai-Hasanibn Muhammad al-Bakri, he wrote works in the sciences of hadith and tenets offaith, though his enduring contribution' is his twenty-volume al-Jami' Ii ahkam alQur'an [The compendium of the rules of the Koran], from which he mainly omittedthe stories and histories customary in other commentaries, and recordedinstead the legal rulings contained in the Koran and how scholars have inferredthem, together with canonical readings (qira'at), Arabic grammar, and which versesabrogate others and which are abrogated (nasikh wa mansukh)
Scholars haveused it extensively ever since it was written
It is related that Qurtubi disdainedairs, and used to walk about in a simple caftan with a plain cap (taqiyya) on hishead
He travelled east and settled in Munya Abi al-Khusayb in upper Egypt,where he died in 671/1273 (ai-A'iam (y136), 5.322; al-Jami' Ii ahkam ai-Qur'an(y117), 1.6-7; Sheikh ShU'ayb Arna'ut; and n).
ibn al-Fadl ibn aI-Hasan, Abu al-Qasim al-Rafi'i of Qazvin, Persia, born in55711162
The Imam of his time in Sacred Law and Koranic exegesis, he represents,with Imam Nawawi, the principle reference of the late Shafi'i school
Hismain work, a commentary on Ghazali's al-Wajiz [The synopsis] entitled Fath ai'Aziz Ii sharh al-Wajiz [The victory of the Invincible: an exegesis of 'The synopsis""]was later to furnish the textual basis for Nawawi's Minhaj ai-tali bin (Theseekers' road]
Taj aI-Din Subki noted of its author: ""Imam Rafi'i was steeped torepletion in the sciences of Sacred Law, Koranic exegesis, hadith, and fundamentalsof Islamic legal methodology, towering above his contemporaries in thetransmission of evidence, in research, guidance, and in attainment ...
It was as if .jurisprudence had been dead, and he revived it and spread it, raising its foundationsafter ignorance had killed and buried it."" He authored works in Sacred Lawand history, and taught Koranic exegesis and hadith in Qazvin, where the hadithmaster (hafiz) Mundhiri was among his students
Known as a pure-hearted asceticwho followed the mystic path, Nawawi observed of him that he ""had a firm standingin righteousness, and many miracles were vouchsafed to him."" He died inQazvin in 62311226 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.55; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yI28),8.281-85; and n).
Medicine, University of Oxford, Gre.en College, Oxford, U.K
(OxfordTextbook of Medicine (y76), xiv).
Ahmad Baybars, Abu al-Na'im al-Jazari, born in 126411847 in Jazira al-Qibab,Egypt
He was a Shafi'i scholar and Sufi who authored works of litanies of theBlessings upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and SacredLaw, among the latter his Rawda al-muhtajin Ii ma'rifa qawa' id ai-din [The gardenof those in need of knowing the fundamentals of the religion], which is distinguishedby its clear presentation and discussions of contemporary legal questions.He died sometime after 1323/1905 (Mu'jam al-mu'allifin (y69), 4.165; and n).
Mu'adh al-Zuraqi (Allah be well pleased with him), a Medinan Helper and Companionof the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
He was among thosewho fought at the battle of Badr, and related twenty-four hadiths from theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
He died in 41/661 (aI-A' lam (y 136),
3.29).Studies, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford,Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, U.K
(Oxford Textbook of Medicine (y76), xvi).
'Abd Manaf (Allah be well pleased with him)
A Companion of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) who entered Islam the day Mecca was conquered,he later settled in Medina, where he died in A.H 42 (al-Shifa (y116),1.165; and Taqrib al-tahdhib (yI6), 210).
Fakhr ai-Islam al-Ruyani, of Ruyan in Tabaristan, Persia, born in 315/1O25
Hewas a Shafi'i Imam who was educated under the sheikhs of his time in Bukhara,Ghazna, Nishapur, Rayy, and Isfahan, and founded a school in Amul, Tabaristan(just south of the Caspian seacoast northeast of present-day Tehran, Iran).He once said, ""If all Shafi'i's books were burned, I could dictate them anew frommemory
"" Renowned in his lifetime for his scholarship and honored by the vizierNizam al-Mulk, he authored Bahr al-madhhab [The sea of the school], one of themost extensive works in Shafi'i jurisprudence
He died in 402/1108 (al-A'lam(y136) , 4.175; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (yl28), 7.193-94).
ibn 'Abd Manaf, Abu Ishaq al-Zuhri al-Qurashi (Allah be well pleased with him),born twenty-three years before the Bijra (A.D
600)
Among the great Companionsof the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), he entered Islam atseventeen years of age, fought at the battle of Badr, and led the Muslims to victoryat the battle of Qadisiyya, conquering Iraq and the cities of Persia for Islam
Hewas the first Muslim to release an arrow in the path of Allah, and was one of theten informed he would enter paradise
Appointed as governor of Kufa during thecaliphate of 'Umar, he was confirmed therein for a period by 'Uthman but thendismissed, after which he returned to Medina
He later lost his eyesight, and diedat home in 'Aqiq, about ten miles from Medina, in 55/675 (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.87;Taqrib al-tahdhib, (y16), 232; and n).
Akhtab ibn Sa'ya (Allah be well pleased with her), a descendant of the prophetHamn (upon whom be peace)
The daughter of Huyay, a notable of the Jewishtribes of Bani Qurayza and Nadir, when her husband was killed at Khaybar, shefell the lot of Dihya a1-Kalbi and was presented to the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace), who freed her and married her
Safiyya was a noble andreligious woman who possessed beauty and intelligence, and it is related that shehad a bondswoman during the caliphate of 'Umar who went to him and said,""Safiyya loves Saturday and has connections with the Jews,"" whereupon 'Umarsent for her and inquired about it, and she replied, ""As for Saturday, I have notloved it since Allah gave me Friday in its place, and as for the Jews, I have kinfolkamong them and maintain my family ties."" When she asked her servant whatmade her do what she did, she was told, ""The Devil,"" to which Safiyyaresponded, ""You may go now, you are free."" She died in Medina in 50/670 (alA'lam (y136), 3.206; and Siyar a 'lam al-nubala' (y37), 2.232-33).
ibn Hudhafa (Allah be well pleased with him), of Mecca, a Companion of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
A noble of the Quraysh renownedfor his eloquence and generosity, he entered Islam after the conquest of Meccaand made good his Islam, being among those who fought in the battle of Yarmouk.He related thirteen hadiths, and died in Mecca in A.H
41 (al-A 'lam (y136),3.205; and Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 2.562-67).
al-Tustari, of Shushtar, Persia, born in 200/815
An Imam ofthe Sufis andscholar who wrote on Koranic exegesis and Sufism, no one of his time resembledhim in piety, asceticism, and devotions, and he was vouchsafed many miracles.Fine aphorisms on sincerity and self-discipline are related from him, and it isrecorded that he met Dhul Nun al-Misri in Mecca in the year of the latter's hajj.He died in 283/896 (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.143; al-Risala al-Qushayriyya (y118), 400;and n).
(Allah be well pleased with him)
Among the Companions who sworefealty to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him) under the tree, he was acourageous archer and runner who participated in seven battles with theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) including Khaybar and Hunayn,and fought in the Muslim jihad in North Africa during the caliphate of 'Uthman.He related some seventy-seven hadiths, and died in Medina in 74/693 (al-A'lam(y136), 3.113; and n).
ibn Tamud ibn Ghabir ibn Sam ibn Nuh (upon whom be peace), the prophet ofAllah Most High to the people of Thamud, who carved homes in the rock ofmountainsides
He lived before the time of Shu'ayb and Musa (upon whom bepeace), and was sent to guide his people, though all but a very few denied him.When Allah enjoined them to allow a she-camel to graze and water freely as a signto them, they hamstrung and killed it, and in punishment were taken by a greatearthquake from beneath and a cry (sayha) from the sky, which slew them whilesitting upon their knees in their homes (al-A'lam (y136) , 3.188; at-Futuhat atitahiyya(y65) , 2.158; and al-Siraj al-munir (yn) , 1.488-90).
Damascus in 1947
He is a contemporary Shafi'i scholar who studied Sacred Lawwith Sheikh 'Abd aI-Karim al-Rifa'i, Sheikh Muhammad 'Awad, and SheikhJamal aI-Din al-Sayrawan
In 1972 he took a degree in pharmacy from the Universityof Damascus, and now lives in Amman (n).
well pleased with him), a Companion of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace)
Originally a devout Zoroastrian from near Isfahan, Persia, he convertedto Christianity and travelled to a series of ascetic masters, serving each inturn until their death, in Damascus, Mosul, Nusaybin, and Ammuriyya (in present-day Turkey), whence he was directed to seek out a new prophet from Meccawhose time was imminent
Enslaved on the way, he was sold to a Jew of BaniQurayza, met the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in Medina, andthree years later with the help of his fellow Muslims was able to purchase his freedomfrom his master
Digging the trench before the Battle of the Confederateswas his idea
He was a physically strong man of wisdom and learning who was wellacquainted with the books of the Persians, Greeks, and Jews; when' Ali was onceasked about him he said, ""He was a man of us and for us, the line ofthe prophetichouse, and in relation to you was as the sage Luqman, having learned the firstknowledge and the last, read the first scripture and the last: an inexhaustible sea.""He related some sixty hadiths, and died in 36/656 (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.111-12; andSiyara'lam al-nubala' (y37), 1.505-11).
Shams al-A'imma al-Sarakhsi of Serakhs (in present-day Turkmen S.S.R.)
Hewas a great Hanafi Imam, mujtahid, judge, and the author of the encyclopedic alMabsut[The extensive], whose thirty volumes he dictated to students from anunderground cell where he was imprisoned in Uzjand near Fergana (in presentdayUzbek S.S.R.) for advising a local chief in the matter of religion
He wrote anumber of outstanding works in Hanafi jurisprudence and methodological principlesof Sacred Law, and died in Fergana in 483/1090 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.315;and n).
Mahmiyya al-Kinani (Allah be well pleased with him)
A physically powerful manwho could outstrip horses for his fleetness of foot, he was a brigand in the preIslamicperiod of ignorance who participated in many raids, but afterwardsbecame a Muslim who made good his Islam
Ibn 'Asakir believes him to haveknown the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), though Ibn Hibban considershim among those (tabi'in) who met only the Companions
In 23 A.H., thecaliph 'Umar (Allah be well pleased with him) placed Sariya at the head of anarmy which he dispatched to Persia, and when he was later giving the Fridayprayer sermon in Medina, it came to his mind that the army was encountering theenemy in the middle of a valley near a mountain
They seemed to 'Umar to be onthe verge of fleeing, so he called out in th(; midst of the sermon, ""0 Sariya, themountain!
the mountain!"" raising his voice, which Allah miraculously caused toreach the hearing of Sariya and the army, and the Muslims rallied to the side ofthe mountain and fought the enemy from a united front until Allah gave them thevictory
Imam Bayhaqi related this with a well-authenticated (hasan) chain oftransmission from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar, and the story is corroborated by anumber of other parallel accounts of the event
It is said that Sariya also won Isfahanfor Islam through peaceful negotiation (al-Isaba fi tarnyiz al-Sahaba (y14),2.2-3; and Usud al-ghabafi rna'rifa al-Sahaba (y57), 2.306).
Allah Most High
Originally of the angels in kind but of the jinn in works, he wascast down from a high degree of obedience and faith through his pride and disobedienceto Allah when ordered to prostrate out of respect to Adam (uponwhom be peace)
He was then respited until the Last Day, as a trial and afflictionfor those who would accept his misguidance, though he has no power exceptthrough Allah's will and no influence over Allah's righteous servants (al-Siraj alrnunir(y72), 1.48; and n).
ibn Hasan ai-Somali, born in 1864 near Bohotle, in north central Somalia.A scholar in Shafi'i jurisprudence, the Koran, and hadith, he was an importantSomali intellectual and religious leader who led resistance to the British andItalians in his country for more than two decades (1899-1920)
He studied for fiveor six years in Mecca under Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih ai-Rashidi, founder ofthe Salihiyya tariqa of which he was made a sheikh before returning to Somalia viaAden in 1895
Among his recorded speeches are the words: ""Unbelieving men ofreligion have assaulted our country from their remote homelands
They wish tocorrupt our religion, to force us to accept Christianity, supported by the armedforce of their governments, their weapons, their numbers
You have only yourfaith in God, your arms and your determination
Do not be frightened by theirsoldiers or armies: God is mightier than they ...
"" Bradford Martin relates thatwith the Salihiyya tariqa as an organizational basis, Sayyid Muhammad mounteda military movement that was perhaps longer sustained and more successful thanany other movement led by an African Muslim leader of the nineteenth or earlytwentieth century, for twenty years tying the hands of the British and Italians andmaking them spend huge sums and many lives on purely military operations;through which means he maintained and defended traditional Somalian Muslimvalues and ways of life
He died, possibly of influenza, in 1920 at fifty-six years ofage (Muslim Brotherhoods (y86) , 179-200).
he received his early education
He later studied in the West and received his B.S.from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.A and Ph.D
fromHarvard, where he studied the history of science and learning with special concentrationon Islamic science and philosophy
He has taught at Tehran University,the American University in Beirut, Temple University, and GeorgeWashington University, and is the author of a number of work .
that are amongthe best available in English on the relevance ·of traditional Islamic sciences andmystical disciplines to the situation of modern man, including Ideals and Realitiesof Islam, Man and Nature, Islamic Science: an Illustrated Study, :lnd Sufi Essays.The translator is indebted to his writings for being among the reasons he becamea Muslim
While from a Shiite background, Hossein Nasr has a firmer footing intraditional Islamic knowledge than many other western interpreters of Islam,Muslim or non-Muslim, and his works are generally free ofthe mistakes in detailfound in others' books, though some passages are occasionally colored by thecomparative religions approach (dis: x348) that mars the writings of a number ofcontemporary Muslim intellectuals
He lives and teaches in the United States(Ideals and Realities vf Islam (yl01), 4; and n).
'Uthman ibn Shafi' ibn al-Sa'ib ibn 'Ubayd ibn 'Abd Yazid ibn Hashim ibn alMuttalibibn 'Abd Manaf, Abu 'Abdullah al-Qurashi al-Makki al-Shafi'i,descended from the great-grandfather of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace)
Born in 1501767 in Gaza, Palestine, Shafi'i was the Imam of theWorld, the mujtahid of his time, one of the most brilliant and original legalscholars mankind has ever known
An orphan brought to Mecca when two yearsold and raised there by his mother in circumstances of extreme poverty and want,he memorized the Holy Koran at age seven, the Muwatta' of Imam Malik at ten,and was authorized to give formal legal opinion (fatwa) at the age of fifteen by hissheikh, Muslim ibn Khalid al-Zinji, the mufti of Mecca
He travelled to Medinaand studied under Imam Malik, and then to Baghdad, where he was the studentof Imam Muhammad ibn Hasan Shaybani, the colleague of Abu Hanifa
InBaghdad, Imam Shafi'i produced his first school""Ofjurisprudence (al-madhhab alqadim),but when the persecution arose over the uncreatedness of the Koran (dis:x72), he spoke to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and they mutually agreed that rather thanrisk the loss of both of Islam's living mujtahids, they should part company, Shafi'itravelling with his books and belongings to Cairo, and Ahmad remaining in Iraq.It was in Cairo that in the astonishing space of only four years, Shafi'i conceivedand edited a second, entirely new school of jurisprudence (al-madhhab al-jadid),embodied in his seven-volume al-Umm [The mother].The Imam and his legacy are monumental
His al-Risala [The letter] was thefirst work in the history of mankind to investigate the theoretical and practicalbases of jurisprudence
In Koranic exegesis, he was the first to formulate the principlesofthe science of which verses abrogate others and which are abrogated ('ilmal-nasikh wa al-mansukh)
His knowledge of the Koran and sunna and of theaccord between the differen t elements of each and the condi tionality and explanationof some by others were incomparable
His Arabic style and diction wererecorded and used as lexical evidence by later grammarians and lexicologists, anddespite his surpassing eloquence in the language, being Arabic in tongue, residence,and historical epoch, he studied it in depth for twenty years, and throughthe medium of it grasped the Koran and sunna
He paved the way for the enormousimportance attached by subsequent generations of Muslims to the study ofprophetic hadith, as reflected in the fact that most of the Imams in the field wereof his school, including Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i
IbnMajah, Bayhaqi, ai-Hakim, Abu Nu'aym, Ibn Hibban, Daraqutni, IbnKhuzayma, Ibn Salah, al-'Iraqi, Suyuti, Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, Nur ai-Din Haythami,Mundhiri, Nawawi, Taqi ai-Din Subki, and others
Imam Muhammad ibnHasan Shaybani said of him, ""If the scholars of hadith speak, it is in the languageof Shafi'i,"" and Hasan ibn Muhammad Za'frani observed, ""The scholars ofhadith were asleep and awoke when Shafi'i woke them."" Imam Ahmad said, ""Noone touches an inkwell or pen with his hand, save that he owes a debt to Shafi'L""By the time Shafi'i reached Cairo in A.H
199, his fame had spread to the horizons,scholars from all parts of the Muslim world travelled to hear him, and hisstudent and scribe Rabi' ibn Sulayman was to say, ""I have seen seven hundred ridingcamels tethered at Shafi'i's door, belonging to those who came to hear himexposit his writings."" The author of some 113 works, it was nonetheless Shafi'i'shope that ""people would learn this knowledge without ascribing a single letter ofit to me,"" and as Zakariyya Ansari remarked, ""Allah granted his wish, for oneseldom hears any position of his, save that it is ascribed to others of his school withthe words, 'Rafi'i, or Nawawi, or Zarkashi says .
.' and the like."" Of proverbialgenerosity, it is recorded that when he once brought ten thousand dinars fromYemen, he pitched a tent outside of Mecca and had given it all away to passersbybefore the day ended
He was moderate in dress, and his ring bore the inscription,""Allah suffices Muhammad ibn Idris as a reliance."" He once said, ""Knowledge isnot what is memorized, but only what benefits,"" and this conviction imbued hispersonal religious life, for he divided his night into three parts, in thefirst of whichhe would write, in the second pray, and in the third sleep
He recited the entireKoran each day at prayer, and twice a day in Ramadan
When a remark was oncemade to him about his using a walking stick, he said, ""I do it to remind myself thatI am on a journey out of this life."" A man of intense spiritual presence who couldtruthfully say of himself, ""I have never told a lie,"" his students were in such aweof him that they could not take a drink of water while he was looking on
Amonghis pupils were a number of the Imams of the time such as Ahmad, Rabi' ibnSulayman, al-Muzani, Dawud ibn Khalaf al-Zahiri, and others
He studied andtaught Sacred Law in Cairo until his death at fifty-three years of age in 204/820,the end of a lifetime of service to Islam and the Muslims by one of the greatest inknowledge of the Koran and sunna (al-A'iam (y136), 6.26; al-Majmu' (y108),1.8-10; 'Umdat al-salik (y90) , 9-10; al-Tabaqat al-kubra (y124) 1.50-52; and n).
who helped spread the Naqshbandi tariqa throughout Caucasia and fought withthe Muslim jihad there against Czarist Russia for some thirty-five years
Hissheikh was Mulla Muhammad al-Ghazi al-Kamrawi, whose military career beganwhen Russia declared protection for Christians in Khurjistan and then formalannexation of the region from Safavid Persia in 1215/1800
AI-Ghazi (lit
""theWarrior"") recruited hundreds of thousands of soldiers from his Naqshbandi dervishesand fought until his death in 124811832, when his successor aI-Amir Hamzaal-Khanzaji took over but was martyred the same year, after which the jihad'sleadership devolved to Sheikh Shamii
He fought many pitched battles with theRussians in the twenty-seven years of jihad that followed, in 1260/1844 freeingDaghestan of the unbelievers and capturing thirty-five of their cannon, which provokedRussia to send an even larger army to finish the mujahidin, who fought onfifteen more years until 127911859, when the sheikh was captured
Advanced inyears, he was banished to Turkey, whence he travelled to Medina in hope of beingburied there with the Companions and early Muslims
He spent the last of his lifeworshipping in the Rawda of the Mosque of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) between the pulpit and the noble tomb, and when he died he was interred,according to his wish, in al-Baqi' Cemetery (ai-Muslim un fi al-Ittihad alSufyati'abr al-tankh (y28), 1.65, 1.149, 1.154-55, 1.398).
al-Shawkani, born in Shawkan near Khawlan, Yemen, in 1173/1760
A majorscholar in Sacred Law and hadith, he was educated in San'a, where he wasappointed as an Islamic judge in A.H
1229, a position he held throughout his life.He authored 114 works in hadith, biography, Sacred Law, Koranic exegesis, fundamentalsof Islamic jurisprudence, and tenets of faith, though his greatest workwas his eight-volume hadith commentary Nayl al-awtar min asrar muntaqa alakhbar[The realization of desires, from the secrets of selected hadiths]
He diedin San'a in 125011834 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.298).
be peace), a prophet of Allah Most High who was nicknamed the Speaker of theProphets for the fairness of his exhortations to the folk of Madyan, who wereunbelievers who cheated when weighing and measuring out goods to people
Hewas descended of Ibrahim (upon whom be peace) and came after Hud and Salih,only a short time before Musa
Commentators relate that when his peoplerepeatedly rejected his call to pure monotheism, Shu'ayb and those who believeddeparted from them, and Allah opened up to them one of the gates of hell, afflictingthem with the most extreme heat
They entered tunnels to flee from it, butfound it the more unbearable, so some of them came out onto an open plain,where they found a cloud above them and with it, a cool, pleasant breeze
Theycalled the others to come and join them until the entire people were assembledunder it, whereupon Allah caused the earth to quake, changed the cloud to fire,and burned them to ashes (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.165-66; and al-Siraj al-munir (y72) ,
1.495).ibn 'Ali, Abu Usama al-Arna'ut, born in Damascus in 1928, two years after hisfather's emigration for religious reasons from Shkoder, Albania
He is a scholarof hadith, Hanafi law, Koranic exegesis, and Arabic grammar and lexicology whohas edited many classic Islamic works from old manuscripts
Educated in Damascus,he studied Hanafi jurisprudence with sheikhs such as 'Abd al-Razzaq alHalabi,Nuh al-Albani, Sulayman al-Ghawji, and others, and hadith terminologyunder 'Abdullah al-Habashi, Sheikh ai-Kallas, and Salihal-Farfur, with the latterof whom he also read the eight-volume Hanafi Hashiya rood al-muhtar of Ibn'Abidin during the course of seven years, and the Koranic commentaries ofZamakhshari and Nasafi
Among the better known scholars of his profession, hehas edited, annotated, and judged the hadiths of more than eighty works to date,of which the most famous is perhaps the five-volume Zad ai-rna 'ad [The provisionfor the return] by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, though he feels that his most importantscholarly contribution lies in the editing of three works: Sharh al-sunna [Theexplanation ofthe sunna] by Imam Baghawi, which presents the primary Koranicand hadith textual evidence for rulings of Sacred Law; Sharh mushkil ai-athar[The explanation of problematic hadiths] by Imam Tahawi, which explains theaccord between ostensible contradictions among hadiths in terms of which onesare understood, abrogated, or conditioned by others or by the Koran; and alIhsanfi taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban [The proficiency: on facilitating the ""Rigorouslyauthenticated hadith collection"" of Ibn Hibban], whose basic text is 'Ala' ai-DinFarisi's commentary on the Sahih of Ibn Hibban
The preparation of these works,each of which has sixteen volumes, was by no means a mere exercise in editing.With Ibn Hibban, for example, the original text consisted of eight volumes, towhich Sheikh Shu'ayb supplied the equivalent of eight additional volumes of hisown notes and commentary
In our times, as sheikhs qualified to teach the classicworks of the Islamic sciences grow steadily fewer, Shu'ayb's hope is that suchexpanded and annotated editions will to some extent fulfill the educational needsof the Muslims who read them
Though he will probably be remembered for hiswork in hadith, he strongly believes that Muslims should take their religion fromthose with the best understanding of the primary texts of the Koran and prophetictraditions, at their forefront the Imams of the four schools
""They are explainers,not popes,"" he says, ""but in each of their schools there afterwards followed ahundred or more scholars who refined and added to their work, men whose staturein Islamic knowledge was like mountains, any of whom could put fifteen ofthe scholars available today in his pocket."" He presently lives in Amman, wherehe supervises the research staff and library of the Mu'assasa al-Risala publishinghouse (n).
of Wasit, Iraq, "",.id then of Basra, born in 82nOl
A reliable narrator and proficienthadith scholar, he was the first to search in Iraq for knowledge of the reliabilityof various hadith transmitters and to defend the sunna
Imam Shafi'i said ofhim, H If not for Shu'ba, hadith would have been unknown in Iraq."" He was notedfor his devotions in his personal life, and died in 160n78 (al-A'lam (y136) , 3.164;and Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16), 266).
Abu Hafs Siraj ai-Din al-Kinani al-Bulqini, born in Bulqina, Egypt, in 724/1324.A Shafi'i mujtahid Imam, hadith master (hafiz), and judge, he was educated inCairo and gained recognition as the foremost representative of the Shafi'i schoolin his time
In A.H
769 he was appointed to the judiciary in Damascus
Heauthored a number of works in Shafi'i jurisprudence, hadith, and formal legalopinion, and died in Cairo in 805/1403 (al-A 'lam (y136), 5.46; and n).
Muhammad al-Suddi, originally of the Hijaz and then of Kufa
An Imam ofKoranic exegesis whom Ahmad ibn Hanbal names as a reliable narrator, herelated hadiths from the Companions Anas ibn Malik, Ibn 'Abbas, and 'AbdKhayr al-Hamdani, while his hadiths were related by Shu'ba, Sufyan al-Thawri,Isra'il, and others
He died in A.H
127 (Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 5.264-65).
'Abdullah al-Thawri of Kufa, born in 971716
The Imam of hadith masters (huffaz)of his time and among the foremost in Sacred Knowledge and godfearingness,he possessed a phenomenal memory and was able to say, ""I have neverlearned something and then forgot it."" His father began educating him whileyoung, and he studied under nearly six hundred sheikhs, the most important ofwhom were those who transmitted hadiths from Companions like Abu Hurayra,Jarir ibn 'Abdullah, Ibn 'Abbas, and others
A number of principle Imams tookhadiths from him, such as Ja'far al-Sadiq, Abu Hanifa, al-Awza'i, Shu'ba, (all ofwhom died before he did) and a number of others
He once said, ""I've neverheard a hadith of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) without actingupon it, even if only once."" He authored a number of works in hadith and Islamicestate division, and many of his aphorisms have been rec.orded, among them,"" Asceticism is not eating coarse food or wearing poor clothes, but rather expectinglife not to last, and being watchful for death."" He died in 1611778 (al-A'lam(y136), 3.104-5; and Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37), 7.229-43).
pleased with him), of the Ghatafan tribe, a Companion of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace)
The incident mentioned in the hadith of the text(at w28.1) was related by Muslim and others, and is virtually the only informationknown about him (Usud al-ghaba fi ma'rifa al-Sahaba (y57) , 2.441-42).
the prophet of Allah Most High and son of the prophet Dawud
He knew the languageof birds, inherited the kingship of Bani Isra'il from his father, and had anarmy of birds, jinn, and men
Allah Most High subjected the winds to his command,and according to commentators, he possessed a great platform that couldhold all he needed of palaces, tents, belongings, horses, camels, men, and jinn;and whenever he desired to make war, travel, or sojourn in any land on earth, hewould laden it and command the winds to convey it there, and it would travel amonth's journey in a single day
Many wonders are recorded of him in the HolyKoran and its commentaries, and he is said to have ruled for forty years before hisdeath at the age offifty-two (Qisas al-anbiya' (y59), 498-519).
born in Bujayrm, Egypt
in 133111719
He was a Shafi'i scholar whomoved to Cairo at a young age, was educated at al-Azhar, and later taught there.Though he lost this eyesight, he produced a number of famous commentaries onShafi'i classics, among them his four-volume al- Tajrid [The abstract], and TuhfaaI-Habib [The gift of the beloved], a commentary on Shirbini's al-lqna' [The persuading]also in four volumes
He died in the village of Mastiyya, near Bujayrm,in 122111806 (al-A'lam (y136), 3.133).
ai-Din, lalal ai-Din al-Suyuti, born in 849/1445
He was a Shafi'i mujtahid Imam,Sufi, hadith master (hafiz), and historian, a prolific writer who authored works invirtually every Islamic science
Raised as an orphan in Cairo, he memorized theKoran at eight, then several complete works of Sacred Law, fundamentals ofjurisprudence, and Arabic grammar; after which he devoted himself to studyingthe Sacred Sciences under some of the foremost sheikhs of the time in each discipline,among them Siraj ai-Din Bulqini, with whom he studied Shafi'i jurisprudenceuntil his death; Sharaf ai-Din al-Munawi, with whom he read Koranicexegesis; Taqi ai-Din al-Shamani in hadith and the sciences of Arabic; and others.He travelled to gain Sacred Knowledge to Damascus, the Hijaz, Yemen, India,Morocco, and the lands south of Morocco, as well as to centers of learning inEgypt such as MahalIa, Dumyat, and Fayyum.When he reached forty years of age, he abandoned the company of men forthe solitude of the Garden of al-Miqyas by the side ofthe Nile, avoiding his formercolleagues as though he had never known them, and it was here that he authoredmost of his nearly six hundred books and treatises
Wealthy Muslims and princeswould visit him with offers of money and gifts, but he put all of them off, and whenthe sultan requested his presence a number of times, he refused
Blessed with successin his years of solitude, it is difficult to name a field in which Suyuti did notmake outstanding contributions, among them his ten-volume hadith work Jam'al-jawami' [The collection of collections]; his Koranic exegesis Tafsir al-Jalalayn[The commentary of the two Jalals], of which hc finished the second haIf of anuncompleted manuscript by 1 alai al-Din Mahalli in just forty days; his classic commentaryonthe sciences of hadith Tadrib al-rawi fi sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi [Thetraining of the hadith transmitter: an exegesis of Nawawi's ""The facilitation""];and many others
A giant among contemporaries, he remained alone, producinga sustained output of scholarly writings until his death in Cairo at sixty years of agein 91111505 (al-A 'lam (y136), 3.301-2; Tadrib al-rawi (y109), 1.11-12; and n).
al-Qasim al-Lakhami al-Tabarani
born in Acre, Palestine, in 260/873
A greathadith master (hafiz) and Koranic commentator, he travelled to listen to hadithmasters for sixteen years, to the Hijaz, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, Persia, and the ArabianPeninsula, meeting approximately a thousand sheikhs
He finally settled inIsfahan, Persia, where he related hadiths for sixty years
was visited by scholarsfrom all parts of the Muslim world, and authored his three main hadith collections,the largest of which is his twenty-five-volume al-Mu'jam al-kabir [Themajor lexicon], called a ""lexicon"" because of the alphabetical arrangement of itsnarrators
When once asked how he acquired such a prodigious store of hadithknowledge, he answered, ""By sleeping on reed mats for thirty years."" He died inIsfahan in 360/971 (al-A'lam (y136), 3.121; Siyar a 'lam tfl-nubala' (y37), 16.119-23; al-Targhib wa al-tarhib (y9), 1.21; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Ama'ut).
specialist in fundamentals of Islamic jurisprudence born of Kurdish parents in alFalluja,to the west of Baghdad, in 1935
After receiving his elementary and secondaryeducation in Iraq, he attended al-Azhar, where he studied under Sheikh'Abd aI-Ghani 'Abd al-Khaliq, author of Hujjiya al-sunna [The evidentiarycharacter ofthe sunna], and other scholars and graduated in 1959 from the Collegeof Sacred Law, then pursued his postgraduate studies to receive a master's degreeand his doctorate in 1972
He has taught Islamic law and its principles at the Universityof Imam Muhammad ibn Sa'ud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is a member ofthe founding council of the Muslim World League in Mecca, a member of theOrganization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Islamic Fiqh Academy at Jedda,and president of the Fiqh Council of North America
He has edited and annotatedthe six-volume al-Mahsul fi 'Urn al-usul [The summary: the science of the principlesof Islamic jurisprudence] by al-Fakhr al-Razi, currently under preparationfor its second printing, and has authored Adab al-ikhtilaf fi ai-Islam [The properway of scholarly disagreement in Islam], Usul al-fiqh al-Islami [The bases ofIslamic jurisprudence], and al-IjtihOO wa al-taqlid fi ai-Islam [Personal juridicalreasoning versus following qualified scholarship in Islam], the latter two of whichhave been recently translated into English
The International Institute of IslamicThought, which Dr
al-'Alwani helped found in 1981, is an autonomous, non-profitorganization dedicated to articulating the relevance of Islam to the problems ofthought and life of contemporary Muslims, and promoting and serving Islamicresearch throughout the world
From its headquarters in WashingtonD
C., and with offices from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur, it conducts specialized seminars,commissions the production of scholarly works, grants research scholarships,and disseminates an impressive array of publications to interested scholarsaround the globe
He has headed the institute as president since 1986 (n).
in Tahta, near Asyut, Egypt
He was educated at al-Azhar, where he was laterappointed sheikh of the Hanafi school
He is best known for his Hashiya al-durral-mukhtar [The commentary on ""The choice pearls""], a commentary on thebasic text of Ibn 'Abidin's famous Rood al-muhtar [The enlightenment of thebaffled]; and his Hashiya 'ala Maraqi al-falah sharh NUT al-idah [Commentary on""The ascents of felicity: an exegesis of 'The light of clarity' ""]
He died in Cairoin 123111816 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.245).
al-Tamimi al-Qurashi (Allah be well pleased with him), born twenty-eight yearsbefore the Hijra (A.D
596) in Mecca
Among the most courageous and generousCompanions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), he was of thefirst eight men to enter Islam, of the ten informed that they would enter paradise,and one of the committee (shura) 'Vmar chose to name his caliphal successor.Present with the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) at the battle ofVhud, Talha stood unflinchingly by his side during the reverses suffered there,and swearing to remain with him to the death if need be, sustained twenty-fourwounds from which he later recovered to fight in every subsequent battle
He hadextensive trade dealings in Iraq, and never allowed a member of his clan to sufferwant or debt save that he would pay for their needs at his own expense
He waskilled at the Battle of aI-Jamal at the side of 'A'isha in 36/656 and buried in Basra(ibid., 3.229).
ibn Tamam, Abu ai-Hasan Taqi ai-Din al-Subki, born in Subk, Egypt, in 683/1284
The Shafi'i scholar and Imam of his time, he was a brilliant intellectual,hadith master (hafiz), Koranic exegete, and Islamic judge who was described byIbn Hajar Haytami as ""the mujtahid Imam whose imamate, greatness, and havingreached the level of ijtihad are agreed upon,"" and by Dhahabi as ""the mOstlearned, eloquent, and wisest in judgement of all the sheikhs of the age."" Educatedin Cairo by such scholars as Ibn Rif'a in Sacred Law, 'Alam ai-Din Iraqi inKoranic exegesis, and Sharaf ai-Din al-Dimyati in hadith, he also travelled toacquire knowledge ofhadith from the sheikhs of Syria, Alexandria, and the Hijaz,after which, as Suyuti records, ""he devoted himself to writing and giving legalopinion, authoring more than 150 works, his writings displaying his profoundknowledge of hadith and other fields and his magisterial command of the Islamicsciences
He educated the foremost scholars of the time, was a painstaking, accurate,and penetrating researcher, and a brilliant debater in the disciplines
No previousscholar attained to his achievements in Sacred Law, of masterful inferences,subtleties in detail, and carefully worked-out methodological principles."" Salahai-Din Safadi said of him, ""People say that no one like him had appeared sinceGhazali, though in my opinion they thereby do him an injustice, for to my mindhe does not resemble anyone less than Sufyan al-Thawri."" With his vast erudition,he was at the same time a godfearing ascetic in his personal life who was devotedto worship and mysticism, though vigilant and uncompromising in matters ofreligion and ready to assail any innovation (bid'a) or departure from the tenets offaith of Ahl al-Sunna
In addition to al-Takmila [The completion], his elevenvolumesupplement to Nawawi's Sharh al-Muhadhdhab [The exegesis of ""Therarefaction""], he also authored the widely quoted Fatawa at·Subki [The legalopinions of Subki] in two volumes, as well as a number of other works on tenetsof faith, Koranic exegesis, and fundamentals of Islamic law, in the latter of whichhis three-volume al-Ibhaj fi sharh al-Minhaj [The gladdening: an exegesis of ""Theroad""], an exposition of Baydawi's al-Minhaj on the methodological bases oflegalijtihad, has won lasting recognition among scholars
In A.H
739 he moved fromCairo to Damascus, where he was appointed to the judiciary and presided forseventeen years, at the end of which he became ill, was replaced by his son Taj alDin,and returned to Cairo, where he died twenty days later in 756/1355 (ibid.,4.302; al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya (y48), 114; al-Rasa'i/ al-Subkiyya (y52), 9-13;Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf; and n).
Ibn Ishaq mentions him among those who helped build the Mosque of alDirar(Koran 9:107) by which they intended, out of hypocrisy and unbelief, tocompete with the Mosque of Quba' and disunite the Muslims, and in hopes thatthe longtime enemy of Islam Abu 'Amir the Monk would return from Syria todefeat the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and make the mosque hiscenter
This Tha'laba is sometimes confused with Tha'laba ibn Hatib ibn' Amr ibn'Ubayd ibn Umayya al-Aws, who fought at Badr and was martyred at Uhud
Thehadith mentioned in the text (p75.15) of the former Tha'laba's nonpayment ofzakat was researched by Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani, who said that its chains of transmissionare weak, as they come through 'Ali ibn Yazid aI-Alhani, an extremely unreliable(matruk) hadith narrator (al-I saba fi tllmyiz al-Sahaba (yI4) 1.200-201; alSirajal-munir (y72) , 1.649; and Zad al-masir fi 'Um al-tafsir (y12), 3.474).
'Isa al-Sulami al-Tirmidhi, of Termez (in present-day Uzbek S.S.R.), born in 209/824
A hadith master (hafiz) and Imam who was a student of Bukhari, Ishaq ibnRahawayh, and others, he travelled in pursuit of knowledge to Khurasan, Iraq,Medina, and Mecca, and authored a number of works in history and hadith,among the most famous of which are his five-volume al-Jami' al-leab;r [The majorcollection], also known as Sahih al-Tirmidhi; and his al-Shama'il al-nabawiyya[The prophetic traits], which describes in detail the person, manners, and appearanceof the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
'Umar ibn 'Allak saidof Tirmidhi, ""Bukhari died without leaving anyone in Khurasan like Abu 'Isa inknowledge, memory, piety, and asceticism ...
"" In later life he became blind, anddied in Termez in 279/892 (al-A'lam (y136), 6.322; and Siyar a'iam al-nubala'(y37),13.270-73).
who was born in Horence, Italy, the son of the Swiss sculptor CarlBurckhardt and a member of a patrician family of Hasle
Although he first followedhis father's profession, his strong attraction to oriental art led him to atheoretical study of eastern doctrines and repeated journeys to Islamic countries.After some years of studying the history of art and oriental languages, he becamedirector of the Graf-Verlag publishing house; which specialized in facsimile editionsof ancient manuscripts
In 1972 he was appointed to UNESCO for the preservationof the ancient city of Fez
He is the author of The Moorish Culture inSpain, one of the best and most sensitive works on an Islamic civilization; Art ofIslam: Language and Meaning; Sacred Art in East and West; An Introduction toSufi Doctrine; and Letters of a Sufi Master, a translation of the Rasa'it [Letters] ofal-'Arabi al-Darqawi
His books on Sufism have a wide readership, both Muslimand non-Muslim, for which reason it is worth mentioning here two points ofdeparture in them that occasionally obscure the spirit of what they are intendedto explain.The first is his transposition of Sufi theosophy to Platonic philosophical language,not only in ordinary
needful metaphysical distinctions such as 'being','act', and 'essence', but also in substantive doctrinal conceptions of the Platonicworldview such as 'immutable essences', 'archetypes', 'Ideas', and so forth, whichat Burckhardt's hands often generate passages of philosophical interest, butwhose connection with their explanadum, Sufism, is not clear or convincing
ForSufis, whatever vocabulary they may choose, behold the Truth by the sun ofdivine revelation, not the movements of human introspection, and in a word, areillumined, while Plato is unillumined.The second point of departure is a comparative religions approach to Islamand Sufism which understands them according to the ""essential unity"" (and universalvalidity) of all religions
On this point, Islam dearly teaches that all truereligions, as originally revealed, were identical in fundamentals of belief (usuI)such as the oneness of God, the Final Judgement, and heaven and hell, in whichsense ""we make no distinction between any of His messengers"" (Koran 2:285),though each prophetic messenger brought particular rules and rites (furu') thatdiffered to some extent from those of previous messengers, and ""to every nationWe appointed a worship"" (Koran 22:67)
So while the anciently revealed religionsthat are found today naturally show some similarities to Islam, this fact does notprove their ""essential unity"" with it as they presently exist, for the One whorevealed the religions informs us not only that their beliefs and scriptures havesince been altered by the hands of men, who ""changed the words from their placesand forgot a share of what they were reminded of' (Koran 5:13), but also thattheir rites and laws have been abrogated by those revealed to the Final Messenger(Allah bless him and give him peace), which is why ""whoever seeks other thanIslam as a religion will never have it accepted from him"" (Koran 3:85)
This is howAllah Most High has explained the similarities and differences between religions,and any comparative approach beyond this can never lay claim to the truth.Aside from such ideas, which are far from Islam, the works of TitusBurckhardt contain many original discussions of the meaning of Islamic art, afield which few westerners have equalled his depth in and appreciation of, and forwhich he is likely to be remembered
He died in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1984(Art of Islam (y31), inside back cover; and n).
al-Khazraji (Allah be well pleased with him), born thirty-eight years beforethe Hijra (A.D
586)
A Medinan Helper and Companion of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), he was known for his personal piety, and wasamong those who foughtat the battle of Badr, as well as the others, and in the conquestof Egypt
He related 181 hadiths from the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) and became the first person appointed as an Islamic judge in Palestine,where he died, in either Ramla or Jerusalem, in 34/654 (ai-A' lam (y 136), 3.258).
injure the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and once even incited'Uqba ibn Abi Mu'it to spit in his face
When he told the Prophet (Allah bless himand give him peace) after Badr that he was feeding a horse each day in Meccaupon which he would kill him, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)replied, ""It is I who shall slay you, Allah willing,"" and kept his word the followingyear at the battle of Uhud, where he killed him with a stab from a short spear
Ahadith declares, ""The wretchedest of men is whoever kills a prophet, or a prophetkills"" (al-Shifa (y116), 1.238-39).
Adawi (Allah be well pleased with him), born forty years before the Hijra (A.D.584) in Mecca
He was one of the greatest Companions of the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace), as renowned for his tremendous persona!
courageand steadfastness as for his fairness in giving judgements
Among the heroes ofthe Meccan nobles in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, he entered Islam fiveyears before the emigration to Medina, and Ibn Mas'ud was later to observe, ""Wewere not able to pray by the Kaaba until 'Vmar became Muslim."" He fought inall the battles of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and was swornfealty to as the second caliph of Islam on the day of Abu Bakr's death
During histen-and-a-half-year caliphate, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, and all the ArabianPeninsula were added to the dominions of Islam, and about twelve thousandmosques were built
He related 537 hadiths from the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace) and was the first to date Islamic events from the year of the Hijra.His sayings, addresses, and letters were of great eloquence, and a memorableevent seldom befell him without his composing a line of poetry about it
His ringwas inscribed with the words, ""Death suffices as an admonition, 0 'Vmar.""Stabbed by a slave while performing the dawn prayer, he died three nightslater in 23/644 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.45-46).
Muhammad Barakat al-Shami al-Biqa'i, A scholar of Shafi'i jurisprudence andrhetoric, he was originally from al-Biqa', north of Damascus, Syria, and was educatedat al-Azhar, where he studied under Sheikh Ibrahim Bajuri
He then movedto Mecca and authored his two-volume commentary on 'Umdat al-salik [Thereliance of the traveller] entitled Fayd al-Ilah ai-Malik Ii hall allaz 'Umdat alsalikwa 'uddat al-nasik [The outpouring of the Sovereign Divinity in solving thewords of ""The reliance of the traveller and tools of the worshipper""], which hewrote because, in his words, ""there was no explanative work to solve its wordsand clarify its meanings except for one commentary by the great teacher al-Jawjari,which is a valuable exegesis of the familiar short work, but which containsinterpolations and misprints unnoticable to any save someone with experience inauthoring works of Sacred Law, as well as some obvious errors
It has remainedthus because it was printed in Mallibar, there being no one in those lands to correctit ...
"" He also authored a work on rhetoric about types of metaphors, anddied sometime after 1307/1890, the date he completed Fayd al-Ilah ai-Malik(ibid., 5.65; and Fayd al-Ilah aI-Malik (y27), 1.2-3,2.224,2.355).
was available than that he was a disciple of the early ascetic and mystic, Hasan aIBasri,as is mentioned in Suyuti's narrative at w27.2 (n).
al-Kidiwi, born in Halwar, near Podor in the Gidi district of northern Senegal in1794
A Tijani sheikh of impressive education, intellect, and remarkable organizationaltalents, he conducted jihad against French troops and pagan indigenouspeoples in Guinea, Senegal, and Mali from 1852 to 1864
He first studied Arabicand Islamic subjects with his father, and by the time he left home to studyelsewhere, had not only memorized the Koran, but also the two Sahihs of Bukhariand Muslim
He taught the Sacred Sciences in Satina for about twelve years, duringwhich period he joined the Tijani tariqa, a new order founded only thirteenyears before his birth which was then spreading through West Africa fromMauritania
He first took the way from Sheikh 'Abd ai-Karim ibn Ahmad alNaqil,but in less than two years decided to perform the hajj, and made his wayeastward across Africa to the Hijaz, where he fulfilled the pilgrimage and completedhis training in the tariqa with the Moroccan sheikh Muhammad al-Ghali alTijani.He stayed with the latter for three years in Medina before being authorizedas an independent sheikh
After performing hajj again, he returned first to Cairo,where he authored a Koranic commentary, and then set off in 1830 for WestAfrica
Enroute, he stopped for a series of residences in various cities, amongthem Sokoto, Nigeria, where he remained six years with Muhammad Bello, theson of the Fulani mujahid 'Uthman ibn Fodi (x364), writing and acquiring thefirsthand military and administrative expertise that he was later to use in his jihadin West Africa, the plans for which he was beginning to formulate in his mind.Returning to his homeland after twenty years, he recruited many to t·he Tijanitariqa, which he marshalled for the purposes of jihad
In his military campaigns,which are too numerous to record in detail here, he fought occasional skirmisheswith the French, but his main efforts were directed at spreading Islam eastward byfighting the pagan Bambara people of Karta and Segu, which he did with considerablesuccess at the head of an army that at its peak numbered some thirtythousand men
His force was well disciplined and applied Islamic law, as forexample at the surrender of Karta, where 'Umar ordered the indigenous idols bebrought out to be smashed at his own hands with an iron mace
His opinions paralleledthose of Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi and Muhammad 'Ali Sanusi on manyissues, and he admired the writings of Sheikh 'Abd al-Wahhab Sha'rani
He diedin Ghoro, Mali, in 1280/1864 after an escape from being besieged in Hamdallahiduring an unsuccessful bid to take Masina (Muslim Brotherhoods (y86), 6&-98).
(Allah be well pleased with her), not the Prophet's daughter (Allahbless him and give him peace) of that name, but the half-sister of the caliph'Uthman from his mother
Among those who entered Islam very early, when shelearned that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had left forMedina, she set out on foot to follow him, refusing to return when her brotherscaught up with her to take her back
She related hadiths from the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) that are recorded in the collections of both Bukhariand Muslim, and died in about 33/653 (al-A'lam (y136), 5.231).
ibn 'Umar, Umm Salama al-Makhzumiyya (Allah be well pleased withher), Mother of the Faithful, one of the wives ofthe Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace)
One of the most intelligent and refined of women, she enteredIslam in the early years and emigrated with her first husband, Abu Salama, toEthiopia before emigrating to Medina, where her husband died
Abu Bakr thenasked for her hand in marriage but she refused, after which the Prophet (Allahbless him and give him peace) proposed to her and she accepted, marrying him inA.H
4
She lived a long life, relating 378 hadiths from the Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him peace), and died in Medina in 621681 (ibid., 8.97-98; and Taqrib .al-tahdhib (y16), 754).
pleased with him)
One of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him andgive him peace), he was an archer, poet, and reciter of the Koran who was knowledgeablein Sacred Law
He was one of those who helped gather the Holy Koran,and he related fifty-five hadiths from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace)
He participated in the Muslim conquest of Egypt with 'Amr ibn al-'As,and ruled it for a time before being relieved of command, after which he tookcharge of Muslim naval military expeditions, and later died in Egypt in 58/678 (alA'lam(y136), 4.240).
(Allah be well pleased with him), born in Mecca forty-seven years beforethe Hijra (A.D
577)
He was the third caliph of Islam and one of the ten whom theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace) informed they would enterparadise
Of noble lineage, wealthy, and extremely handsome, he entered Islamshortly after the prophetic mission began, and among his greatest works was tooutfit the ""army of hardship"" for the expedition to Tabuk, donating threehundred camels with their equipage and one thousand gold dinars, whereuponthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, ""Nothing 'Uthman doesafter today will harm him."" He accepted the caliphate after 'Umar's death in A.H.23, and during His tenure, Armenia, Caucasia, Khurasan, Kirman, Sijistan,Cyprus, and much of North Africa were added to the dominions of Islam
Hecompleted the gathering of the Koran begun by Abu Bakr, who had collected thewritten fragments of it that the Companions possessed, which 'Uthman nowcalled for to be checked and collated with those who had memorized it, writteninto a single volume, and ordered everything else to be burned before he had thetext copied and sent to all parts of the Muslim world
He related 146 hadiths fromthe Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), who married two of hisdaughters to him at different times, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum, for whichreason 'Uthman was called He of the Two Lights (Dhul Nurayn)
At the end ofhis caliphate in 35/656, groups of men came from Egypt, Basra, and Kufa, complainingthat 'Uthman had placed members of his clan, Bani Umayya, in prominentpublic offices, and demanded he remove them
When he refused, they surroundedhis house in an attempt to force him to resign, but he would not, andfinally some of them climbed over the walls of his home and murdered him as hesat reading the Koran (ibid., 4.210; and Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut).
from Bukhara
He was a reliable transmitter (thiqa) whose hadiths wererecorded in the works of Bukhari, Muslim, and in the other main collections
Hedied in A.H
209 (Taqrib al-tahdhib (y16), 385).
of Medina
A reliable hadith transmitter of the generation who cameafter the Companions, his hadiths were recorded in the collections of Bukhari,Muslim, Tirmidhi, and others
He died after A.H
120 (ibid., 385; and Siyar a'lamal-nubala (y37), 5.187).
Maratta in northern Nigeria in 1754
An Islamic scholar and Qadiri sheikh froma family of learned Muslims, he led the Fulani jihad in northern Nigeria with hisyounger brother 'Abdallahi and son Muhammad Bello
Having memorized theKoran and learned Maliki jurisprudence, hadith, and Arabic grammar whenyoung, he became an accomplished scholar, author, poet, and Sufi
He recordedhis experience of a stage of the mystic way in the words, ""When I reached the ageofthirty-six, God stripped the veil from my sight, the imperfection from my hearingand sense of smell, the flatness from my taste, the knots from my hands, andthe heaviness from my feet and body
I saw things far away like near things andheard distant sounds like close ones
I smelt the good smell of the worshipper ofGod, sweeter than any sweetness, and the bad odor of the sinful man, morerepugnant than any putrefaction ...
"" Though he authored a number of works inArabic on Sufism, theology, and Sacred Law, his particular concern was syncretism,the compromise of Islam by admixture of pagan elements indigenous tothe Nigeria of his time
These aberrant practices led first to an emigration (hijra)by him and his Qadiri followers from the lands of Gobir to the north and west, andthen galvanized them to undertake a jihad that would physically bring all the regionto orthodox Islam
It began with a vision of 'Abd aI-Qadir al-Jilani, whofastened upon him ""the sword of Allah to draw against His foes,"" and 'Uthmanand his army were to fight for four years, mainly against the Gobir and Habepeoples, their hardest campaign being the siege on the Gobir capital of Alkalawain 1806, which lasted two years
With its surrender, the Habe will to resist also disappearedand 'Uthman and his forces had effectively won the war
He divided theleadership of the Islamic state between his brother and son, and then retired tostudy and to teach his many students until his death in Sifawa in 1817 (MuslimBrotherhoods (y86), 15-25).
'Amr of Aws (Allah be well pleased with him)
A Companion of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace) who participated in the battle of Uhud andthose after it, he was appointed during 'Umar's caliphate as governor of southernIraq (al-Sawad), and in 'Ali's time as governor of Basra
After the Battle of alJamalhe went to live in Kufa, where he died in the caliphate of Mu'awiya sometime after 411661 (al-A'lam (y136), 4.205).
Khayr, Abu 'Amr Diya' aI-Din al-Marani al-Kurdi al-Mawsuli, born near Mosul,Iraq, in 51611123
A Shafi'i scholar of Kurdish descent described by Taj aI-DinSubki as ""the most learned Shafi'i of his time in jurisprudence and fundamentalsof law and faith,"" he first studied Sacred Law in Arbil, Iraq, and then Damascusbefore moving to Cairo, where he settled
He was appointed as head ofthe Egyptianjudiciary by Sultan Salah aI-Din Ayyubi in A.H
566, though he later left theposition and devoted himself to teaching and writing
He authored a commentaryon Abu Ishaq Shirazi's al-Luma' [The effulgences] in fundamentals of jurisprudence,but is best known for his twenty-volume work in Shafi'i law, al-Istiqsa' Iimadhahib al-fuqaha' [The comprehensive: on jurists' schools of thought], a commentaryon Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab [The rarefaction]
He died in Cairo in 60211206 (ibid., 4.212; Siyar a'lam al-nubala' (y37) , 22.291; and Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyyaal-kubra (yI28), 8.337).
born in Brava on the southern Somalian coast in 1847
He studied Shafi'i jurisprudence,Koranic exegesis, Arabic grammar, and Sufism in his hometown beforetravelling to Baghdad, the headquarters of the Qadiri order to which he belonged,for fuller instruction in the way
After a number of years of study there withSheikh Mustafa ibn al-Sayyid Salman al-laylani, he received authorization as asheikh in the tariqa and returned home
Possessed of considerable organizationalcapacity, leadership, and spiritual gifts, he won numerous adherents, many ofwhom he trained for missionary activities, and his Uwaysi-Qadiri tariqa iscredited with a considerable expansion of Islam in Tanganyika, southernSomalia, and eastern Zaire
He also founded agricultural settlements at BHad alAminand at Biolay, 150 miles north of Brava, where he was assassinated at theage of sixty-three in 1909
B.G
Martin states: ""In its spread from Brava to Zanzibarto the mainland of Tanganyika and then westward into the Congo, theUwaysiya Qadiriya became a major Muslimmovement in East Africa
Though itbegan as early as 1883, Qadiri proselytization is still continuing
In a region whereadherence to a tariqa is synonymous with conversion to Islam, such a movementassumed more than ordinary significance"" (Muslim Brotherhoods (y86) , 152-65,
176).Abu Zar'a Wali al-Din al-'Iraqi, born in Cairo in 762/1361
Of Kurdish descent,he was the son of Zayn ai-Din al-'Iraqi (xI88) and like him, was also a Shafi'ischolar and hadith master (hafiz)
His father took him to Damascus, where he waseducated, and when he returned to Cairo, he succeeded lalal Bulqini as the headof the judiciary, though his uncompromising attitude towards rulers caused him tobe later removed from office
He authored 'a number of works in Sacred Law,hadith and its sciences, Muslim biographies, and formal legal opinion, and died inCairo in 82611423 (al-A 'lam (y136), 1.148).
and annotated Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Fada'i[ al-Sahaba [The excellences ofthe prophetic Companions] as his doctoral thesis at Umm al-Qura University inMecca, His two-volume dissertation was first published in Beirut in 140311983 (n).
prophet of Allah Most High
Also known as Isra'il, the offspring of his twelve sonscomposed the twelve tribes of Bani Isra'il, who took their name from him
He ismentioned in the Holy Koran in various places, among them sura Yusuf, namedfor his son,
who was also a prophet
Commentators record that he lived for 147years (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 2.433; and n).
of Allah Most High born to the prophet Zakariyya and his wife, who was the maternalaunt of 'Isa (upon whom be peace), though Yahya was born before 'Isa.Commentators record that he was descended through Zakariyya from Sulayman(upon whom be peace), and that he was the last one sent before 'Isa to Bani Isra'il,who killed him when he was 120 years old, just as they had killed his father (alShifa(y116), 1.192).
al-Ta'i al-Yamami
Originally of Basra, he lived in Medina for ten years, takinghadiths from the foremost of the generation that followed the Companions, andthen moved to Yamama, in the Najd, where he was famous as a hadith scholar,though he later suffered for his outspoken condemnation of some of the policiesof the Umayyad caliphs
One of the leading early hadith Imams, some have consideredhim even more learned than Zuhri
He died in 1291747 (al-A'lam (y136),
8.150).al-Najjari, originally of Medina
An Islamic judge first in Medina and laterin Iraq,he was one of the main figures in the early science of hadith, and al-Jumhi said ofhim, ""I have not seen anyone who resembled Zuhri more closely than Yahya ibnSa'id
If not for the two of them, many sunnas would have been lost."" He died inal-Hashimiyya, Iraq, in 1431760 (ibid., 8.147).
peace), whom Allah Most High made a prophet and messenger to Bani Isra'i!after Ilyas (x186) was raised up from among them
Allah inspired and aided him,and his people believed in him and honored him, applying the Sacred Law amongthemselves until his death (al-Futuhat al-ilahiyya (y65), 2.58, 3.550).
'Abd al-Wakil Durubi's of about his own age who has visited him almost daily forthe past thirty-five years and been his business partner in editing and publishinga number of classic works on Sufism and Shafi'i jurisprudence (n).
Nun), was the prophet of Allah Most High to the people of Nineveh (in presentdayIraq) whom, as commentators relate, he called to the worship of Allah alone,but who rejected him and his message until he at length grew angry with them anddeparted, informing them that Allah's punishment would be visited upon them inthree days
When he left them and boarded a ship, his people saw the seriousnessof their plight and made a deep and sincere repentance, all of them coming forthfrom their dwellings to beg Allah to tum aside His punishment, and when itappeared above like a section of darkest night, Allah caused it to revolveharmlessly overhead
A storm at sea meanwhile assailed the ship carrying Yunus,and in the course of it, the passengers saw that their only hope was for one of theirnumber to lighten ship by jumping overboard, but when they drew lots to see whoit would be, the lot feU to Yunus
Unwilling to put him off, they cast lots again andagain, but each time it fell.to the prophet, and at length they saw that some greatmatter was afoot and let him go
As he took to the water, a great fish swallowedhim and he remained in its belly for some days, regretting his anger towards hispeople, and expressing his abject humility towards Allah with the words, ""Thereis no god but You, glory be to You, verily I was ofthe wrongdoers,"" and Allahsaved him by causing the fish to cast him up on the shore (Qisas al-anbiya' (y59),
286-93).Jamus, Abu Anas, born in the Marka area east of Amman, Jordan, in 1944
Educatedin Amman, he served as a teacher for four years in the Jordanian Armybefore becoming the imam of a mosque under the Ministry of Endowments (Wizaraal-Awqaf) in 1968
He took the Shadhili tariqa from Sheikh MuhammadSa'id Kurdi in the summer of 1967, and by the time ofthe sheikh's death five yearslater, was one of his most advanced disciples
He studied Shafi'i jurisprudencewith both his sheikh and with the mufti of lrbid, Sheikh Barakat, and in 1982 tooka degree from the University of Jordan in Sacred Law
He has been the translator'sneighbor since 1983, and was one of those who generously agreed to checkthe Arabic of the present volume before it was submitted for publication
One ofthe signs of Allah in humility, kindness, and patience, he currently lives inAmman, where he teaches Arabic grammar, Shafi'i jurisprudence, and Koranrecital to a small circle of students (n).
Allah Most High whose story is recounted by the Holy Koran in the sura thatbears his name; how his brothers, jealous of the love theirfather had for him, casthim into a well, how he was sold into slavery in Egypt, later rising to a high positionthere, and the forgiveness he showed them when they came to him in theirhour of need (Koran 12; and n).
of Ardabil, Azerbaijan
He was a Shafi'i scholar whom Ibn QadiShuhba described as ""tremendous in Sacred Knowledge,"" and who authoredKitab ai-an war Ii a'mal al-abrar [The book of lights for the works of the pious 1 inSacred Law
He died in Ardabil in 799/1397 at over seventy years of age (al-A 'lam(y136), 8.212).
al-Nabahani, born in the village of Ijzim, Palestine, in 1265/1849
He was a Shafi'ischolar, Sufi, judge, poet, and the author of works in Sacred Law, tenets of faith,prophetic biography, hadith, heresiology, and Sufism, including his two-volumeJami' karamat al-awliya' [Compendium of the miracles of the friends of Allah],Wasa'iJ al-wusul ila shama'i/ al-Rasul [The means of knowing the attributes of theProphet], Sa'ada al-darayn fi al-salat 'ala Sayyid al-Kawnayn [Felicity in thisworld and the next through the blessings upon the Liegelord of the Two Abodes],and forty-five others, among them some of the most beautiful works that exist incommemoration of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
He waseducated at al-Azhar, edited a newspaper in Istanbul for a period and correctedthe books if published, and then returned to be appointed to the judiciary inBeirut, a capacity in which he served for twenty years before moving to Medina.After the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to Ijzim, where he diedin 1350/1932 (ibid., 8.218; Wasa'i/ al-wusul (y97) , 11; and n).
Islamic scholar, author, and poet, he memorized the Holy Koran before age tenand completed his education at al-Azhar, where he took a doctoral degree withhighest honors in 1973
He has written more than twenty works which have gaineda wide readership in the Islamic world, but is probably best known for his al-Halalwa al-haram fi ai-Islam [The lawful and unlawful in Islam] which, although it containssome unreliable positions in Sacred Law, represents an original effort tomake the comprehensive rules of Islam accessible and understandable tononspecialists
and shows its author as a modem thinker concerned with joiningbetween the principles of the religion and the problems of the times
He is currentlythe Dean of a college of Sacred Law in Qatar (al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya(ylll), back cover; and n).
born in Kuweit in 135111932
A Shafi'i scholar, former minister of state,educator, Sufi, and author, he was given his primary education in the Holy Koranby Sheikh Ahmad al-'Aqil in Kuweit, and studied Sacred Law in Damascus andShafi'i jurisprudence under Sheikh Muhammad Muhammad Salih of Kuweit andothers
His father, al-Sayyid Hashim al-Rifa'i, was the captain of a pearl-harvestingsailing ship
then a state official, and finally an advocate in the Shari'a courtof Kuweit
Sheikh Yusuf is descendant of the Prophet (Allah bless him and givehim peace) through the friend (wali) of Allah Most High, Sheikh Ahmad atRifa'i.He was made a member of Parliament in Kuweit in 1963, minister of telecommunicationsand postage in 1964, and he served as the minister of state from1965 to 1970
He is also a sheikh ofthe Rifa'i tariqa founded by his ancestor, havingbeen authorized in Zabadani, near Damascus, by Sheikh Makki al-Kattani,whose teacher Ibrahim al-Rawi was the student of Sheikh Abu al-Huda alSayyadi,one of the outstanding recent figures in the Rifa'i way, which Yusufnotes is especially distinguished, like its founder, for its rigorous adherence to theSacred Law, outwardly and inwardly
The value of Sufism in Islam, he believes,is not only as a means to spiritual sincerity, but as a powerful force to convey Islam(da'wa) to non-Muslims and to regenerate the religion in the Muslim heartlandsfrom within
Among his written works are Khawatir fi al-siyasa wa al-mujtama'[Thoughts on politics and society], comprising articles on contemporary issuessuch as the need for Muslims to defend the rights of Muslim minorities in nonMuslimcountries; Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a aw al-Radd al-muhkam almani''ala munkarat wa shubuhat Ibn Mani' [The evidences of the Sunni Community,or, The unassailably proficient rebuttal of the blameworthy and doubtfulpoints of Ibn Mani'], which he wrote in response to a contemporary's attack onSheikh Muhammad 'Alawi Maliki for the latter's having contradicted the tenetsof the Wahhabi sect on a number of questions; and Adilla al-qunut fi salat alclajr[The evidences for standing in supplication at the dawn prayer]
He takes a keeninterest in the problems of Muslims today, and at a recent symposium in Ammanwith Sheikh' Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari and Sheikh Hasan Saqqaf, he voicedhis concern for the obstacles to the current Islamic revival and world propagationof Islam that are being put in its way by ""fundamentalists"" whose view of Allah isanthropomorphic, view.of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) isthat he is over-venerated and loved by Muslims, and view of Muslims is that theyare unbelievers or immersed in unlawful innovations (bid'a)
The unity of theCommunity and its future, he said, lie in holding fast to the agreed-upon schoolsof jurisprudence and tenets of faith, directing our efforts to non-Muslims; not intrying to convince Muslims that everything their forefathers believed was a mistake.He presently directs the al-Iman School, founded in 1973 in Kuweit, whichprovides Islamic and secular education patterned on the al-Azhar model at theelementary, preparatory, and secondary levels
He is a familiar figure at Islamicconferences around the world, and in 1988 was elected as president of the WorldUnion of Islamic Propagation and Information at its London conference (n).
who was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1947 and raised in Duxbury, wherehis family has lived for several generations
He entered Islam in 1970 in Beirut,and in 1971 became the student of the hadith expert Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf alBannuriof Pakistan
After six years of study, the sheikh, author of Ma'arif alSunan[The knowledges of ""The sunnas""], a six-volume commentary on Jami' alTirmidhi[The hadith collection of Tirmidhi], and other works, authorized him toteach and relate the hadiths he had read before him and on which he had commented.Yusuf has since taught hadith and principles of jurisprudence (usul alfiqh)in Pakistan, served as advisor on Islamic education to the late President Ziaal-Haqq (Allah have mercy on him), been headmaster of the only private Muslimcollege in Sri Lanka-where he taught 'Umdat al-salik, the main text of the presentvolume-lectured at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, andserved as Chief of the Translation Bureau at the Islamic Research Institute there.In June, 1989, after nearly twenty years abroad, he was appointed as researchcoordinator for the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Washington,D.C.A veteran Islamic translator, his more than ten works include English versionsof a Hanafi manual of Sacred Law as well as Kitab al-halal wa al-haram [Thebook of the lawful and unlawful] from Imam Ghazali's Ihya' 'ulum ai-din [Givinglife to the religious sciences], Usul al-fiqh al-Islami [The bases of Islamic jurisprudence],and al-Ijtihad wa al-taqlid fi ai-Islam [Personal juridical reasoning versusfollowing qualified scholarship, in Islam], both by Dr
Taha Jabir al-'Alwani
Hismost recent effort, a pioneering translation of his own Arabic edition of Abu Bakral-Jassas's multi-volume Koranic exegesis Ahkam al-Qur'an [Legal interpretationsof the Koran 1, seems destined for wide recognition and use, representing thedefinitive Hanafi work on deducing legal rulings from the Holy Koran
Hepresently lives in Sterling, Virginia (n).
x384 Zakariyya (u3.5) is Zakariyya ibn Ladun ibn Muslim ibn Saduq ibnHashban ibn Dawud ibn Sulayman (upon whom be peace), a prophet of AllahMost High to Bani Isra'il
The Holy Koran mentions how Allah gave him a son,the prophet Yahya, in his old age to inherit his knowledge and prophethood, andhow, when his wife's sister gave birth to Maryam and vowed her to the service ofthe Sacred Temple, Zakariyya undertook to care for her in a room in the temple,where he brought her food, drink, and other necessities
Allah Most Highdescribes him and family as ""vying in pious deeds, calling upon Us in hope andfear, and humble to Us"" (Koran 21:90) (Qisas al-anbiya' (y59), 543-44).
ibn Ahmad ibn Zakariyya, Abu Yahya Sheikh al-Islam al-Ansari, born in Sanika,Egypt, in 823/1420
Known as the Sheikh of Sheikhs, he was the Shafi'i scholar ofhis time, a hadith master (hafiz), judge, and Koranic exegete
He was educated inCairo in circumstances of such poverty that he used to have to leave the mosqueby night to look for watermelon rinds, which he would wash and eat
When hisknowledge later won him fame and recognition, he was to receive so many giftsthat his income before his appOintment to the judiciary amounted to nearly threethousand dirhams a day, which he spent to gather books, teach, and give financialhelp to the students who studied with him
When Sultan Quytubay al-lurkasiappointed him as head of the judiciary in Cairo, he accepted the post with reluctanceafter being repeatedly asked, but when the sultan later committed a wrongact and he sent him a letter upbraiding him, the sultan dismissed him and hereturned to teaching
He authored works in Sacred Law, the sciences of Koranand hadith, logic, Arabic, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and Sufism, and wasthe sheikh ofImam Ibn Hajar Haytami
He died in 926/1520 at one hundred yearsof age (al-A'lam (y136), 3.46).
Badr ai-Din al-Zarkashi, born in Egypt in 745/1344
Of Turkish origin, he wasa scholar of Shafi'i jurisprudence, fundamentals of law, hadith, and literature,who wrote many works, among them his three-volume ai-Bahr al-Muhit [Theencompassing sea], on Islamic legal principles
He died in 794/1392 (ibid., 6.60).
Abi Talib, Abu al-Husayn al-Shahid al-' Alawi al-Hashimi, born in 79/698
He wasan Imam of Sacred Law who lived in Kufa, Iraq, where Imam Abu Hanifa knewhim and once said, ""I never saw anyone of his time more knowledgeable in SacredLaw, faster to answer, or clearer in discourse."" Two works have been ascribed tohim, the recently discovered Majmu' fi al-fiqh [Collection in Sacred Law], whichif his, is the oldest recorded work in Islamic jurisprudence; and Tafsir gharib alQur'an[Explanation of rare words in the Koran], whose ascription likewiseremains unestablished
At the end of his life he headed an uprising against theUmayyads, and was killed in Kufa in 122/740 (ibid., 3.59).
(Allah be well pleased with him), born in Medina eleven years before the Hijra(A.D
611) and raised in Mecca
Among the great Companions of the Prophet(Allah bless him and give him peace), he was one of the scribes who recorded theKoran in writing
His father was killed when he was six years old, and he emigratedat age eleven to Medina, where he learned the religion of Islam and laterbecame one of the Companions' principle scholarly resources in deciding cases,giving formal legal opinion
in Koranic recitation, and inheritance
When thecaliph 'Umar used to travel from Medina, he would leave Zayd in his place untilhe returned
Ibn 'Abbas, with his immense erudition, used to visit him at home totake knowledge from him
He was among those who gathered the Koran in thetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and checked it with him,who wrote it in the time of Abu Bah, and who copied out the Korans that'Uthman sent to the cities of the outlying Islamic lands
He related ninety-twohadiths, and when he died in 45/665, Abu Hurayra said, ""The scholar of thisnation has died today; haply Allah will make Ibn' Abbas his successor"" (ibid.,
3.57).ai-Din ibn 'Ali ibn Ahmad al-Mallibari, originally of Mallibar, India
A Shafi'ischolar who studied under Imam Ibn Hajar Haytami, he authored Qurra al-'aynbi muhimmat ai-din [The gladdening of the eye with the essentials of the religion]and its commentary Fath al-Mu'in [The victory of the Helper]; as well as lrshadal- 'ibad ila sabil al-rashad [The guidance of servants to the way of wisdom]
Hedied in 987/1579 (ibid
3.64; Mu'jam al-buldan (y43), 5.196; and A).
al-Asadi al-Qurashi (Allah be well pleased with him), born twenty-eight yearsbefore the Hijra in Mecca
One of the most courageous of the Companions of theProphet (Allah bless him and give him peace), he entered Islam at the age of sixteen,was one of the ten informed they would enter paradise, and was the first todraw a sword for Islam, participating in the battles of Badr , Uhud, and others
Hewas the son of the paternal aunt of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give himpeace), and 'Uma); considered him one of those qualified to be caliph after him.A wealthy man with wide trade dealings, his property was sold after his death forforty million dirhams
He was assassinated by Ibn Jarmuz in 36/656 on the day ofthe Battle of al-J amal, about twenty-one miles outside of Basra (al-A 'lam (y136) ,
3.43).Shihab, Abu Bakr al-Zuhri of Medina, born in 58/678
Of the generation that metthe Companions, Zuhri was reportedly the first to record prophetic traditions inwriting, and one of the most important early scholars in hadith and Sacred Law.He visited Syria and settled there, and the caliph 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz wroteto some of his officials, ""See well to Ibn Shihab (Zuhri], for you will find no onemore knowledgeable in the sunnas of the past than he."" He died in 124n42 inShaghb, at the northern extremity of the Hijaz where it becomes Palestine (ibid.,7.97).*