"The Greatest Understanding"

Praise and thanks are only for Allah, the Infinitely and Especially Merciful. O Allah, pray for your Messenger and grant him absolute peace.

By Allah's Grace and His Mercy, a new study group at our university has just embarked on a study of Aqeedat-ul-Waasitiyya. In this context, I was preparing for the first lesson when I was reminded of the wise words that one scholar mentioned at the beginning of his explanation of the more earlier and classical treatise on the same subject, Aqeedat-ut-Tahawiyyah. I thought it would be beneficial to share them with you, and with Allah is the success.

The following is my own translation of the foreword given by Sh. ibn Abi al 'Izz al-Hanafi (721-792 AH) in his explanation of Aqeedat-ut-Tahawiyyah. He was Chief Justice of the Damascus province, serving for a time in between for the Egyptian provinces in the same position. Amongst his famous teachers was the commentator of the Qur'an, ibn Kathir. There exists an English Translation of the work as published by Al-Attique Publishers, but this is an abridged one and so I have chosen to provide my own in an attempt to deliver more fully the feeling with which the author has written. The following excerpt is taken right after the author praises Allah and makes the two testifications.

As to what follows: then surely it is that the knowledge of the fundamentals of the religion is the most honourable type of knowledge. This is because the honour of any type of knowledge is due to the honour of what becomes known by it. And it is the the greatest fiqh...

[Tr: literally fiqh means "understanding" or "insight" but it has also gained a technical meaning of "jursitic rulings" because rulings are the result of understanding the sources of Islamic law. So later the author is comparing it with these "branch" rulings, e.g. what constitutes a valid contract, which derive from the "trunk" or the fundamentals of the religion.]

...when compared with the fiqh of the "branches". And that is why Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah's Mercy be upon him, named what he had said and compiled in as pages on the subject of the fundamentals of the religion: "The Greatest Fiqh". So the dependence of the slaves [of Allah] upon it supercedes any other dependence, and their need for it supercedes any other need. That is because, of a surety, the hearts do not possess any life, nor any enjoyment, nor any calm except by becoming well-acquainted with their Lord, their God, their Creator; through His Names, His Qualities and His Acts. By all of this, He becomes most beloved to them over all that is other than Him; and it becomes their endeavour to gain nearness to Him as opposed to all that is other than Him, from amongst the rest of the creation.

And it is from the impossibilities that the intellects should independently acquire this acquaintance and comprehend it in detail. Hence, the Mercy of the Al-Mighty and the Most Merciful demanded that the Messengers be commissioned with it; as teachers and callers to it; as bearers of glad tidings for those who responded to their call; as warners for those who opposed them.

He made the key to their call and the essence of their message acquaintance with the One to be worshipped, Glorified be He; through His Names, His Qualities and His Acts. That is because it is upon this acquaintance that the demands of the Message, all of it, are built upon - from its beginning to its end.

[End of Excerpt]

Time Value of Knowledge (Part II)

The right to all praise is Allah's. By His Mercy, what follows is an abridged translation of an excerpt from ibn Taymiyah's collection of fataawa, the Book on Uloohiyya (as promised in the last blog). I provide the headings to capture the main point of the section and some commentary intermittently where I feel it may be useful.

The concern of these set of passages is the importance of learning that which the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray for him and grant peace) was sent with. So after praising the Lord of the Worlds and asking for prayers and peace for the His Messenger, the author continues on to say:

[Beginning of Excerpt]

The only source of pleasure and salvation

...As to what follows: Then, indeed, there is no pleasure for the slaves [of Allah] nor any salvation on returning [to Allah], except by following His Messenger. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he will be admitted by Him to gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great victory. And whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses the limits set by Him, he will be admitted to a fire – abiding eternally therein – and for him is a disgraceful punishment [an-Nisaa`(4):13]. Therefore, obedience to Allah and His Messenger is the axis upon which all pleasure revolves, and is where all salvation permanently resides and does not leave.

[Ibn Taymiyah considers all our actions to be driven by two basic human motivations- whether done with religion in mind or not: to seek pleasure for oneself and to guard oneself from harm. Hence, he couches the objective of following Allah and His Messenger as a purely rational decision made to maximize pleasure and minimize harm. It is something he expounds on elsewhere - but since we are only going to have the excerpt then this is worth noting up front for the rest of the discussion.]

What counts as worship

For Allah created the creation for his worship, as He the Exalted states: And I have not created the Jinn and mankind except that they should worship me [adh-Dhaariyaat(51):56]. He has required them to worship purely through obedience to Him and obedience to His Messenger. Thus, there is no form of worship except that it is an obligatory or desirable act within the religion of Allah. Whatever is other than that, then it is a straying from His path.

Therefore, he (Allah's prayers be upon him and peace) stated: Whoever performs any act which is not in accordance with what we have sanctioned then it is rejected. This was recorded in the two Sahih works [Bukhari & Muslim - the wording is of the second]...

Worship and the role of the Messenger

Indeed, Allah has mentioned [the issue of] obedience to the Messenger and following his example in about forty different places in the Qur’an. Such as His, the Exalted’s, following statements:

• Whosoever obeyed the Messenger, then indeed, he has obeyed Allah. [an-Nisaa’(4):80];

• And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by the permission of Allah. And had they come to you when they had wronged themselves, and then asked Allah for forgiveness and the Messenger as well had asked forgiveness on their behalf, then would indeed have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Especially Merciful. But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge over all disputes between themselves and then do not find within themselves any sort of discomfort regarding your decision and submit with absolute submission [an-Nisaa’(4):64-65]; and

• Say: ‘Obey Allah and the Messenger. Then if you turn away then, verily, Allah does not love the disbelievers.’ [Aal-e-‘Imraan (3):32]. And He, the Exalted, says: Say: ‘If you love Allah then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive your sins’… [Aal-e-‘Imraan (3):31].

Thus, He made the love of the slave for his Lord necessitate the following of the Messenger. And He made close following of the Messenger cause for Allah’s love for His slave.

Even the Messenger needs Allah to tell him what is worship

And verily He, the Exalted, states, "And thus we have revealed to you an inspiration (or ‘the essence’) of our Command. You did not know what is the Book nor what is Faith. But we made it a light with which we guide whoever we wish from amongst our slaves" [ash-Shuraa(42):52]. So it is through what Allah has revealed to him that Allah guides whoever he wishes from amongst his slaves. As he, Allah's prayers be upon him and peace, himself is guided [only] through that by Allah the Exalted. As He, the Exalted, states, “Say: ‘If I err, then I would only err against myself. But if I am guided, then it is due to what my Lord has revealed to me.’” [as-Saba(34):50]...

Fruits of this knowledge

Thus, it is through Muhammad (may Allah pray for him and grant him peace) that disbelief is distinguished from faith, profit from loss, guidance from straying, salvation from disaster, the wrong path from the right, deviation from steadfastness, the people of Paradise from the people of Hellfire, the God-fearing from the rebellious and the preference for the way of those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favour of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of the truth, the martyrs and the righteous from the way of those upon whom is the Anger and of those who are astray.

Putting a value on this knowledge

Therefore, the souls are much more in need of knowing all that which he came with and of following him than of eating and drinking. For if these are neglected then one only acquires death in this world. But if that is neglected then one acquires the punishment of the Hereafter.

Hence, it is the duty of every single person to expend all their efforts and abilities to learn what he came with and to obey him as this is the path to salvation from the painful torment and to happiness in the house of blessings. And the path to that are the oral narrations and written transmissions. That is because the intellect, purely on its own, will not be enough for learning that. No. Like the light of the eye cannot see except when there is also a light that appears before it. Similarly, the light of the intellect will not find guidance except when there dawns upon it the Sun that is the Message. It is due to this that preaching the religion has always been from the most greatest duties in Islam and learning what Allah has commanded His Messenger has been obligatory upon all thinking creatures.

[End of Excerpt]

In conclusion, I hope this was something that inspires us all to reconsider not only the value of the knowledge that has been revealed to our Messenger (may Allah pray for him and grant him peace), but also the value (or even lack of value) of our own intellectual pursuits, unless they are guided by this light. May Allah adorn our hearts with faith and make us guided guiders.

Time Value of Knowledge

Allah is Great and Sublime. And how many a sign there is in the heavens and the earth that we, therefrom, are turning away.

The eyes, the ears, the brain and the ways of expression (al-Bayaan) that Ar-Rahman taught us; the writing with the Qalam that Al-Akram taught us: just amazing. And it was an extremely thoughtful observation of Shah Walliullah in Hujjat-ul-Baaligha along the lines that while the animal's guidance is placed within its instinct, the guidance of man has been placed outside of him; this is compatible with the fact that he has also been bestowed with the abilities to acquire, record, share and apply that knowledge (note that I don't recommed everything in that book be acted on without further investigation).

Given that the summer has now officially begun, much needed recovery from hard work is insha'Allah being acquired. But I'm asking myself, how much time-off can I really afford?

As part of the little effort just to make sure "something" is always happening to continue the learning of Arabic - Allah has allowed me to engage with the famous collection of fatawa of ibn Taymiyah (may Allah be especially merciful to him). The first "book" in this volumnous book is the "Kitab-ul-Uloohiyya" (The Book on Divinity) dedicated to defining worship and its motivations and establishing that it is only for Allah. But as anyone who knows the "ibn Taymiyah academic writing style" (as there is also the non-academic more focused type) there are a lot of tangents taken while addressing the main subject (as a tangent of my own: I actually think this is quite deliberate and may be inspired by the style of the Qur'an which exhibits this in at least in some surahs).

So when I came across his tangent (or elaborate corrollary - to give the benefit of the doubt) taking us onto discussing the importance of knowledge of the religion - especially that which comes through observing the statements and practices of the Prophet (may Allah pray from him and grant peace) - I have begun more to attach a time value to knowledge (yes, my business school education has tinted my glasses - though the anology may not fit perfectly). It may seem straightforward, but I never really attached that level of "opportunity cost" and what gets me going is that thought: what if we really did?

Speaking from personal experience as a full-time student in secular education and not neglecting the great favour of Allah and making mention of it, it has been how Allah guided me to spend my summer vacations and weekends that has allowed me at least to receive with more "involvement" and "itminaan" the message of the Qur'an as well as having more accessiblity to texts such as the above-mentioned fatawa.

For many going through the usual educational route (except perhaps teachers in universities), this time will never return. Never. Hence, I share at the start of the summer these few paragraphs from this scholar whose thought process has stunned so many and I (in my very limited reading) have not seen anything approaching that expanse in grasp of knowledge or subtelty in observation.

As I get to the point where I will insert that text, (ironically) I realise that my time has run out and I will have to wait a while before I share that with you (insha'Allah). So I hope I have said enough to whip up the thirst to know and they say that having to wait for something increases its delight when you actually incur it. I pray that that is the case at the next blog. Wassalamu alaikum.