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How can I begin without praising Allah the Exalted, who guided us to this; we could not have found guidance had He not guided us.
It’s always easy when you can prove something directly and clearly from the magnificent Qur’an. Even better if you can do it without getting into the technical jargon unheard from the tongue of the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah send prayers upon him and grant peace.
Consensus (or ijmaa’) of the Muslim nation on any religious issue is held by the vast majority of scholars to be the third source of Islamic evidence after the Book of Allah and the practice of the Messenger of Allah. It is one of the reasons they describe their school of thought as the Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah. Now, the Wise Qur’an doesn’t exactly use the word ijmaa’ and there is no unequivocal ayat that echoes the claimed Hadith, “My nation will never unite upon misguidance.” But recently I came across a beautiful explanation which suddenly made everything so clear, for me at least. For those who wish to enlist themselves as those who tried to “establish the deen”, I hope this will be a small treasure.
Now some “disclaimers” due to the reputation of the author. As divulged earlier, I’m trying to improve my Arabic reading by translating from – may my beloved brothers, who love Allah and His Messenger, that have difficulty with it forgive me – ibn Taymiyah’s collection of Fataawa. Perhaps it’d be easier on us all that I chose something less “divisive” and someone more “classical” and “mainstream”?
Well, a while back I myself cringed at the mention of his name; but critically engaging with his work to find fault with it has left me amazed that there seems much ado about nothing – just a huge misunderstanding. Personally, because ibn Taymiyah read so widely and wrote prolifically on any issue I can think of, I find him a short-cut to knowledge.
One more feature of his, insha’Allah, exhibited here are the amazing subtleties in the message of the Honourable Book that he demands the reader or listener to observe.
Let’s strike a deal: after this, (insha’Allah) I’ll put up an excerpt from Tafseer of al-Qurtubi on the issue of beauty. Today, by Allah’s Will, I’ll share excerpts from the generally accepted topic of “Unity and Division: its Reasons and Results” as labeled and presented by ibn Taymiyah (because I already translated it and it’s a cut n’ paste job). It’d be too lengthy (and perhaps boring for some) to quote completely here.
So I have: selected excerpts of the key arguments, provided sub-headings to highlight subtle points, and provided commentary to summarize the arguments in between.
But I still need to make it a two-part thing as I don’t have enough time today to present it all. The first part deals with the subtle but valid deduction that unity of the Muslim Nation not only relates to the general principles of the religion but also its specifics. And my success is not except by Allah.
A Guide on Unity & Division:
Reasons & Results [Part 1]
[Vol. 1, Majmoo’ al Fataawa libni Taymiyah, translated excerpts]
Establishing the deen while not dividing
Allah the Exalted says:
He has legislated for you as part of the religion what He exhorted (waşşaa bihi) Noah with and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what we exhorted Abraham, Moses and Jesus with – that you all establish the religion and not be divided therein… [ash-Shura(42):13].
He, Glory be to Him, has informed us that He legislated for us that which He exhorted Noah with, and that which He had revealed to Muhammad, may Allah send prayers upon him and grant peace, and what He exhorted the three mentioned [Prophets] with. And they are those who demonstrated great determination1 and from whom the covenant was taken, as in the statement of the Exalted: And when we took from the prophets their covenant and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary [al-Ahzab(33):7].
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1. In reference to the verse: So be patient,[O Muhammad], as were those of determination amongst the messengers…[al-Ahqaf(46):35].
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The weight of the command
And in His statement,“…what He exhorted Noah with and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what we exhorted…” the words “that which” and “revealed” have been used specifically for Muhammad, whereas the word “exhorted” occurs for all the other messengers….
[The author then proceeds to explain in detail why the Arabic word for “that” in “…that you all establish the religion and not be divided therein…” is linked with all three issues:
(i) what has been exhorted to the other Prophets,
(ii) what has been revealed to Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), and
(iii) what we have been legislated with as part of “the religion”.
He then continues:]
… Thus, indeed, it has been said that the pronoun [“all of you”] attached with the word “all of you, establish” (aqeemoo) refers to us. And it is also said that it refers to the messengers. And it is also said that it refers to all, and that seems to be the best [interpretation]. An example of this is: “I commanded you [singular] what I commanded Zaid: that you [singular] obey Allah. And I exhorted all of you [plural] with what I exhorted the children of so-and-so with: that, all of you, do it.” So in the first case, it stands for what to do, i.e. His legislating for you all to establish. In the second case, He legislates what he told them: "all of you, establish"; so that is again a substitution but by mentioning what the predecessors were told. In the third case, He legislated the exhortation of: “all of you establish”.
So when he speaks to us as a group, after informing us that it is a statement addressing us and also addresses them: it is learnt that the pronoun (“all of you”) refers to both parties. And that - if Allah so wills it is the most correct view…
Establish the religion without division – in its general and specific
[The author then establishes that even if the pronoun doesn’t refer to us, the fact that we have been legislated with what they have been exhorted with again brings upon us this duty of establishing the religion without dividing. The difference, it seems, is in the level of emphasis and Allah knows best. The author proceeds to enumerate four subtle inferences from this analysis; I only tie the key ideas as I have grasped them as follows:
- Establishing the religion without division is a general principle of the religion across all times: it is not part of the specifics of the laws individual to each Prophet’s time or just specific to our own Shari’ah. This is emphasized by making the mention of “Muhammad” in between the other prophets, rather than at the end.
- For us, this means establishing the complete religion without division:by virtue of mentioning the different Prophets we know that there were different rulings at different times. Though, the exhortation was common, the religion to be established had specifics that varied. So we have to establish the religion we have been legislated with, both its generaland specific, without dividing over its general and its specific. Personally, I think the author is also relying on the difference between the two phrases: “legislated for you from the religion” and “establish the religion”. And Allah knows best.
The author continues to build the argument:…]
Multiple causes of division
Further, Allah has also stated: …and they [those who were given the Scripture] did not divide except after knowledge had come to them – out of jealous animosity between themselves…[Aali-‘Imran(3): 19]. Thus, He informs us that their division was only after there had come to them the knowledge that clarified for them that which they should avoid (out of fear of Allah).[To be continued – by the Will of Allah]
Final remarks for today: My teacher in Aqeedah used to say, "ibn Taymiyah is not simple...". May Allah benefit us from his good and protect us from his harm and have mercy on the true seekers of His Face.
Wassallallahu wa sallama 'ala Muhammad wa ala ibaadillahissaaliheen.
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