When you find an authentic prophetic narration (Hadith Sahih), this is my school (madhab) March 5, 2007
Posted by aMuslimForLife in Fiqh, Hadith, Shafi, Traditional Islam.add a comment
Imam Shafi statement, “When you find a hadith that is Sahih then this is my madhab.”
Imam Nawawi (rahmatullah alayh) comments,
“This which Imam ash-Shaafi has said does not mean that everyone who sees a sahih Hadith should say “This is the mathhab of ash-Shaafi,” thus practicing on the zaahir (text/external or apparent meaning) of the Haditlh.
This most certainly applies to only such a person who has the rank of ijtihad in the madhhab. It is a condition that he overwhelmingly believes that Imam ash-Shaafi was unaware of this Hadith or he was unaware of its authenticity. And this is possible only after having made a research of all the books of ash-Shaafi and similar other books of the Ashaab of ash-Shaafi, those who take (knowledge) from him and others similar to these (books). This is indeed a difficult condition (to fulfill). Few are there who measure up to this (standard).
What we have explained has been made conditional because Imam ash-Shaafi had abandoned acting on the zaahir (text) of many Ahadith, which he say and knew. However, by him was established proof for criticism in the Hadith or its abrogation or it’s specific circumstance or its interpretation, etc. Hence, he was constrained to leave aside the hadith.”
(Ilaaus Sunan, Vol. 2, page 225)
Ashari and Maturidi School of Islamic Belief February 3, 2007
Posted by aMuslimForLife in Aqidah, Ashari, Maturidi, Traditional Islam.1 comment so far
The Ash’ari and the Maturidi Schools
By Nuh Keller
The tenets of faith of Ahl Al Sunna orthodoxy are given here in the same order as they appear in traditional Ash’ari references such as the Matn al-Sanusiyya and others. For more than a thousand years, such works have been learned at an early age by virtually all Maliki and Shafi’I scholars, by many Hanafis, particularly in the Near East, and by some Hanbalis – all of whom were taught that attainment of this knowledge was personally obligatory upon every Muslim, and who knew it simply as Islam, not Ash’arism.
The Maturidis mostly followed the Hanafi school of law and predominated in the lands beyond the Oxus in central Asia. Their tenets have not been given a separate treatment because according to Imam Taj al-Din al-Subki, they do not differ from the Ash’aris except on six questions, which excluding merely verbal differences are;
(1) Ash’aris believe that if God willed He could in principle punish the obedient and reward the disobedient, since He is free do anything, however He has promised though revelation to reward the obedient and punish the disobedient; while the Maturidis believe that he must in principles reward the obedient and punish the disobedient, and that His doing the opposite is absurd;
(2) Ash’aris believe that man is responsible to believe in God because of revelation, not merely because he is endowed with human reason, and that he has no responsibility prior to revelation, while Maturidis believe that man is responsible to believe in God even before revelation, by the mere fact of having reason;
(3) Ash’aris believe that divine attributes of agency such as creation, giviging life, giving death, resurrection the dead and so forth, are temporal; while the Maturidis believe they all are manifestations of a single beginnglessly eternal attribute termed “existentiation” (takwin);
(4) Ash’aris believe that God’s own beginninglessly eternal speech may be heard, while the Maturidis believe it may not;
(5) Most Ash’aris believe that in principle God may impose moral obligations that man cannot endure, while Maturidies believe this impossible; though both agree that in practice He never does;
(6) Ash’aris hold two views about the possibility of prophets committing lesser sins that are not sordid: the first being that they are possiblie for them to absentmindedly commit, while the second it that they are not. The Maturidis say this is impossible, and that they are divinely protected from both enormities and lesser sins, a position that Taj al-Subki concurs with (Tabaqat al Shafi’iyya al kubra, 3.386-388)
Whoever reflects on these questions can see they are relatively speculative and minor, and they mainly serve to underscore the broader agreement of the two schools on more central issues. This is why the Imams of Ahl al-Sunna consider both schools together to represent Sunni orthodoxy. As religious historian R.M. Speight of the Harvard Theological Seminary has noted: “as Sunni theology matured after the tenth century, scholars freely appropriated elements of thought from Maturidi and Ash’ari alike. No clear-cut lines of distinction between the Ash’ariyya and the Maturidiyya can be discerned in the later history of Muslim thought” (The Encyclopedia of Religion, 9.286)
Knowledge has its priority December 21, 2006
Posted by aMuslimForLife in Aqidah, Fiqh, Knowledge, Tasawwuf/Sufism, Traditional Islam.10 comments
Knowledge has its priority, the highest being aqidah, then fiqh and then tasawwuf.
Aqidah is to understand Allah, His Messenger and the Unseen. One does this by studying one of the Islamic texts on Aqidah from either the Ashari, Maturidi, and Athari (not Salafi) schools of Aqidah. A recognized Ashari text in Aqidah to study is Jawharat Tawhid by Imam Ibrahim Laqani. A recognized Maturidi text in Aqidah to study is Aqidah Nasafi by Imam Nasafi. A recognized Athari text in Aqidah to study is Aqidah Tahawi by Imam Tahawi.
Aqidah texts you want to avoid, the The Sharh of Imam Tahawi by Ibn Abu Al Izz, any text on Aqidah by Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Uthaymeen, Bin Baz and the likes.
Fiqh is to understand the rulings of the Shariah. One does this by studying one of the Islamic text of fiqh from either the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi or Hanbali schools of fiqh,
Tasawwuf is the science of how to put the rulings of the Shariah into practice with sincerity. One can do this by taking one of the valid tariqas of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, the Shadhili, Naqshabandis, Qadiris and the likes, or if one is able to find an upright shaykh to teach him how to purify his heart and to do his acts of worship with sincerity.
The vehicles needed to know and understand this properly is to first have a living shaykh teach you these sciences.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowedge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding” (Al Bukhari- Sahih)
If one is unable to find a living shaykh to teach them, then one can learn these sciences online through website like Sunnipath at www.sunnipath.com or Zam Zam Academy at http://www.zamzamacademy.com/ Zaytuna Institute also has a distance learning program at www.zaytuna.org .
If for some reason one is unable to access these website for whatever reason, then one must find a reliable book to study from, such as the Reliance of the Traveler by Ahmad Al Misri translated by Nuh Keller, and there are other resources available.
And Allah knows best.
University Islam & The Destruction of Islamic Learning September 1, 2006
Posted by aMuslimForLife in Education, Traditional Islam.3 comments
University Islam & The Destruction of Islamic Learning
by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Bismillahir Rahmanu Rahim,
I don’t have the intellectual energy to debate with Harvard students, and probably could not hold my own if I did, but:
The point of traditional education is not the ijaza system. Our critique of modern university-level “Islamic studies” is not that they take place at universities. Rather, the point of traditional education is its methodology, which centers on the student-teacher relationship and close contact between the two, and makes the student an “inheritor” of a scholarly methodology and way. Its basis is transmission, continuity, and reverence. Following the footsteps of one’s teachers is virtue. Change for its own sake is blameworthy. One starts with small texts in the key Islamic subjects, which must be mastered (and often memorized). Then, one builds on these, step-by-step, with progressively larger and more sophisticated texts. The goal is mastery of the knowledge, and to become an inheritor of the understanding, wisdom, and way of one’s teachers and predecessors. The point of the knowledge is inherently practical: one’s own practice, and serving the real-life needs of the community.
University-style “Islamic studies” is based on the modern academic system. Right from the beginning, one studies big fat books, in a “comparative” style where every imam, sheikh and mulla’s opinion seems to be considered, as if they carry the same weight. The system of teaching is lectures and examination. The student’s goal is passing the exam, and getting to the next year of study. There is no imperative to master anything. It is like university studies. I graduated with a specialist in Economics, but am now unable to remember the simplest of economic concepts. After forgetting what I crammed for exams, I have little knowledge of economics, and certainly no mastery. University-style Islamic studies is no different.
With this, the student does not identify with his professors. He does not see himself as having the sacred role of being an inheritor to their knowledge, understanding, and way. He does not imbue their taqwa and character. He does not interact closely with them, to intimately understand how they thing and respond to issues that come up. Instead of being a link in a strong chain, he is a mere individual. He is cut off from his tradition. He is a modern man.
At higher levels of study, the point at Shariah Colleges is “academic research”, where the point is to say something new: what you say is only of worth if it is new and different. Continuity is stale and pointless. Change is the way. This may be fine for Western knowledge, where there are no absolute sources of knowledge, but it does not work for Islam, for obvious reasons.
In Fowler’s, the following entry is of interest:
academic
”The serious uses of this word (first recorded in the late 16c.) remain firm, but a little more than a century ago (first noted 1886) it developed a depreciatory range of meanings as well, ‘unpractical, merely theoretical, having no practical applications’ , e.g. All the discussion, Sirs, is-academic. The war has begun already-H. G. Wells, 1929; The strike vote…was dismissed as ‘largely academic’ by Merseyside Health Authority-Times, 1990.” (The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, © Oxford University Press 1968)
Similarly, I would dismiss the knowledge of your typical Shariah college student as ‘largely academic.’ Having spent time in Damascus and Amman with dozens of such students, I can safely say that someone with similar intelligence but even very limited traditional study (e.g. 2 years) has more knowledge than a graduate student. Yes, the latter may have more Islamic information, but he usually cannot benefit himself or others with it…
Of course, there are exceptions. There are Shariah college students whose brilliance or study with traditional scholars on the side makes them exemplars. But this is the exception, and exceptions are ultimately of no consequence.
Imam Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari, in the early part of the 20th Century, warned against the dangers of non-madhhabism, writing a seminal article titled, Non-madhhabism is the bridge to non-religion. In a similar way, we can safely say that University Islam is the Way to Destroy Islamic Learning.
To close, Sidi Nazim Baksh wrote an excellent article on traditional learning: http://66.34.131.5/ISLAM/misc/tradition.htm
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani
Amman, Jordan
Tafsir: Recommended Commentaries of the Quran February 28, 2007
Posted by aMuslimForLife in Quran, Traditional Islam.Tags: commentaries of quran, commentary of quran, koran, meaning of quran, Tafsir
1 comment so far
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani was asked,
What one Arabic tafsir would you recommend that a person read at least once in a life time? What four Arabic Tafsirs would you recommend for a student of knowledge to have? And could you list them in order of priority. And if there is one or two more that you would please list.
And he replied:
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
(1) I asked a number of leading Damascene scholars–including Shaykh Abd al-Halim Abu Sha`r and Shaykh Abd al-Rahman Kharsa–regarding a tafsir they’d recommend a seeker of knowledge to read cover to cover. They all recommended Imam Sawi’s Hashiya `ala al-Jalalayn, a supercommentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn in 5 volumes.
This is summarized from Imam Jamal’s supercommentary on the same work, Hashiyat al-Jamal `ala al-Jalalayn. This work is twice the size, but also highly recommended–many scholars, including Shaykh Nuh Keller and Shaykh Adib Kallas, consider it an indespensible reference.
(2) Imam Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri mentions in his work on the principles of tafsir that there are four Qur’anic exegeses (tafasir, tafsir) that a serious researcher simply needs:
(a) In tafsir by transmission (tafsir bi’l ma’thur), Tafsir Ibn Kathir.
(b) In tafsir focussing on legal and religious deduction (tafsir ahkam al-Qur’an), Tafsir al-Qurtubi.
(c) In tafsir with focus on rational and theological discourse (tafsir fi’l ma`qulat wa’l kalam), al-Tafsir al-Kabir of Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.
(d) In interpretatrive and linguistic tafsir, Tafsir Abi’l Su`ud of Shaykh al-Islam Abu Su`ud al-Imadi, arguably the greatest scholar of the Ottoman Khilafa;
(e) As an encyclopedic tafsir that excels in all the above, and also contains deep spiritual allusions throughout, Tafsir Ruh al-Ma`ani of Imam Alusi, a great 19th Century jurist, theologian, and master of Qur’anic exegesis from Baghdad (Iraq). There are all reference works, however.
In the first steps of one’s path of knowledge, one would benefit by studying shorter works first (and referring to some of the above consistently, as one’s language and understanding of the Sacred sciences deepens).
These short works would include:
(a) Safwat al-Tafasir by Shaykh Sabuni. This is a three-volume contemporary tafsir based on the major classical tafsir works, and is highly recommended by traditional ulema.
(b) Tafsir al-Nasafi of Hafidh al-Din al-Nasafi. Also in three volumes.
(c) The abovementioned Hashiyat al-Sawi `ala al-Jalalayn.
(d) The Tafsir of Ibn Juzayy of al-Andalus. And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam, Faraz Rabbani