Part 2

12 / ~ - 6 , . _,r---:~:: -=-~1-J --~j~_,t·v.... .,~,._,~ ~-;.. ~cJJ~r----~,J\1""'_. 4U\~~~~ And they ask you as to what they shou l d spend. Say, 'What is bey o nd y o u r needs.' Thu s , Allaah makes clearto you allHis laws in order that you may give thou g ht. 8

They ask you abou t the spoils of war. Say: 'The spoils ofwar are forAllaah and the Messenger.' So fear Allaah and set straight all matters of difference amongst yourselves. And obey Allaah and His Messenger ifindeedyou are believers. 9

13 signs to indicatefixed periods oftime for mankind and forthe pilgrimage.' It is not righteousness that you enter houses from the back bu t righteousness is (the qu a lity of) the one who fears Allaah; So enter houses throu g h their proper doors, and fear 10 Allaah so that you may be successfu1.

14 months. Say, 'Fighting therein is a great transgression, bu t preventing mankind from following the way ofAllaah, to disbelieve in Him, to prevent access to Al-Masjid Al-Haraam (in Makkah) and to drive ou t it's inhabitants are greater transgressions; andfitnah is worse than fighting.And they will never stop fightingyou u n til they t u r n you back from y o u r religionifthey can. And whosoever amongst y o u tu r ns back from his religionand dies a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this lifeand in the Hereafter, and they will be dwellers ofthe Fire, abiding therein forever.,Il

However, after the death of the Messenger (~), the ummah differedon legalrulings ofthe Sharee 'ah. These rulings, however, did not impose on the principlesofthe Sharee 'ah nor it's root sources. 12

We allknow for definitethat none ofthe scholars who are trusted and reliedupon with respect to their knowledge, trustworthiness and religion,intentionally oppose that which the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (~) indicate.As, whoever is typified with knowledge and religion,then their guiding principle must be attainingthe truth, and whosoever's intentionis to seek the truth then Allaah will make it easy for him; listen to the saying of Allaah, the Most High,

_Ajj~~)~S /""' , /,. I;tJI~~; ;

12 i.e., the existence of disagreement within subsiduary issues do not affectnor harm the fundamentals ofthe religionnor it's root sources which are the Qu r ' aan andSunnah.

15 derstand and remember; then is there any that wiU 13 remember (or receive admonition).

0~s~;0~t~z,:e~ & '~::." n~-->"'< .... J~ ~~ As for he who gives (in charity ) and keeps his du t y 14 and fears (AIIaah),and believes in al-Husnaa; We 15 will make smooth for him the path ofease.

Nevertheless it is indeedpossible for the likes ofthese scholars to commit mistakes in the Laws ofAllaah, the Most High, bu t not, 16 however, in the fundamentals aforementioned briefly.

These mistakes must occur; they have to exist because the hu m an is ju s t as Allaah, the Most High, has describedhim in His saying,

13 Soorah al-Qamar (54): 17

14 i.e., to believe in the Shahaadah and what itcomprises ofbeliefand it's rewarding consequences.

16 This is the conditionofthe majority ofthe scholars. Some scholars have however mentioned that a nu m ber ofscholars fellinto error and stood in opposition to certain fundamentals ofthe Ahlus-Sunnah due to their ijtihaad.

Shay k h allslaam Ibn Tay m iy y a h states as recordedin Majmoo 'al-Fataawa ( 19/ 191 ): " ... many ofthe Mujtahidoon of the Salaf and those later on have said and performed deeds which are innovations. They however, didnot know these deeds to be acts ofinnovation due to weak b.adeeths which they believed to be authentic, or incorrectly understanding verses of the Qu r 'aan or due to an opinion they exerted in an issue which had textual evidences they were not aware of..."

16 ~\o... ,..• ,P~~~~_J ...... ~

... and man was created weak. 17

Man is weak in his knowledge and perception, and he is weak in his u n derstanding and comprehension. As a result, mistakes will emanate from him in some matters.

Here, I will su m marise what Iwant to mention concerning the cau s es 18 behind mistakes committed by the scholars into the following six categories. Bear in mind however, that there are many reasons in reality, it is 'an ocean which has no shore'. The one who has insight and knowledge ofthe say i ngs ofthe scholars knows these widely spread cau s es for the differences.l9

18 The Sh:.tykh in factmentioned two cau s es in the firstcategory. They have however been <;eperated in this translation for reasons ofclarity and thus exist in allas seven categories. The origin of this work is a lecture delivered by the Shay k h which is available on tape from Maktabah al-Wa'yee al-Islaamee, K.S.A. It has since been published many times, most recently amongst a collectionofthe Shaykhs statements and rulings on the subject are of 'Knowledge' pu b lished by Daar AthTharayyaa, Riyaadh. Kitaab al-'Ilm p. 265-286.

19 Shaykh-ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah has a work on this subject: Raj' al-Malaam 'anal-A 'immah al-A 'laam (Lifting the blame off the famous Scholars). Additionally, Ibn Ru s hd's work Bidaayah al-Afujtahid wa-Nihaayah al-A1uqtasid is somewhat unique in often stating reasons for the differentstances taken by the scholars in issues offiqh.

17 The relevant evidence was not known to the scholar who erred in his judgment.

This reason is not unique to those who came after the era of the Companions, but it includes the Companions themselves as well. I will give two examples involving the Companions forthis category:

(i) We know due to the report established in S.ab.eeb. al-Bukhaaree and other sources, that when the Chief ofthe Believers 'Umar Ibn al-Khattaab, rad.iyallaahu 'anhu, was travelling to Shaam; along the way, someone mentioned to him that a plague had broken out there. So he stopped and started to seek counsel from the Companions, radiyallaahu 'anhum. He counseled both theMuhaajiroon and the An~aar and the Companions differedon this issue which resulted in two opinions, the correctone being that they should not travel to Shaam but return to Madeenah. During this deliberation and consultation, 'Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn' Awf, who had been preoccupied and therefore not initiallypresent, turned up and remarked: "I have with me some knowledge on this matter. I heard the Messenger ofAllaah em)say, 'Ifyou hear ofit (i.e. a plague) being in a land, do not go there, and if it breaks out in a land which you are in, do not leave in flee of it '." 20

So, this ruling was unknown to the major Companions from the Muhaajiroon andAn~aar until 'AbdurRahmaan Ibn 'Awf came and informed them ofthis b.adeeth.

(ii)'Alee Ibn Abee Iaalib,rad_iyallaahu 'anhu, and 'Abdullaah Ibn 'Abbaas, rad.iyallaahu 'anhumaa, were ofthe opinion that the woman

20 S.ah.eeh. al-Bukhaaree [Eng. trans!. 4/452/no.679] and S.ah.ee!J. Muslim IEng. trans!. 4/1204/no.5504].

18 21 longer waiting period(a!- 'Jddah ), whichever ofthe two itmaybe: either four months and ten days or up until giving birth. Consequently, ifshe was to give birth before the four months and ten days, her waiting periodwould not be complete until the four months and ten days elapse. Similarly ifthe four months and ten days pass and she has not yet delivered, she is to remain in her waiting period until she does so.

This is because Allaah, the Most High, says,

-':\'"~: ~~~~u ·i~dJC;:\i\~~-- . .. <0 - : - - ~!J

... and forthose who are pregnant, their waiting peno. d.ts u p u n tt 'I t h ey de I'tver ... 22

... and those ofyou who die and leave behind wives, 23 they shou l d wait for fou r months and ten day s ...

Each verse is more general than the other depending on the angle they are viewed in,24 The way to reconciletexts ofthis nature, is to

21 The time prescribed by the Sharee 'ah for a woman to remain without remarrying afterbeing divorced or widowed.

24 i.e. the firstverse concerns the pregnant woman whether divorced or widowed, and the second verse concerns the widowed woman whether pregnant or not. So, the dilemma is: which is the verdict for the woman who is both pregnant and widowed?

19 There is no way ofachieving this except by adopting the position 'Alee and Ibn 'Abbaas, rad_iyallaahu 'anhum, took. However, the Sunnah is over and above that; as it has been established from the Prophet in the h.adeeth concerning Su b ay ' ah ai-Aslamiyyah, that she gave birth afterthe death ofher husband by some nights and the 25 Messenger ofAllaah permitted her to get married.

The meaning ofthis is that we stickto and act by the general verdict found in the verse in Soorah at-Ialaaq,also known as Soorah an26 Nisaa 'as-Sughra, where Allaah, the Most High, says,

" ... and for those who are pregnant, their waiting period is u p u n til they deliver... "

I have no doubt that ifthis h.adeeth was known to 'Alee and Ibn 'Abbaas, they would have most definitelyadhered to it and not held the opinion they did.

25 So, even thou g h 'Alee and Ibn 'Abbaas, rad_iyallaahu 'anhum, pu t a sou n d and correctprincipleinto practice,itis not acceptedhere due to the presence ofa direct ju d gment from the Prophet (~) on this issue. This is one ofnumerous evidences for a well established and y e t violated fundamental principlewhich governs the Mu s lim's attitude towards his religionas a whole, this principlebeing: The texts of the Sharee 'ah are given precedence over the hu m an intellect.This does not imply that the hu m an intellecthas no role to play, as Allaah has blessed mankind and singled him ou t with this distinctsublime feature, Allaah has also praised those who use their intellect;bu t the point here is that the Mu s lim's relationship to his religionis and alway s shou l d be via complete submission. Ou r intellectmay well show us why so many things in Islaam are very logical,bu t it is not becau s e we have u n derstood the wisdom behind a certainruling that we then choose to follow it. We su b mit to Allaah's laws because ofthe very factthat they are His laws and we are His slaves.

26 i.e. the smaller chapter, which deals with issues concerning women; tliemain chapter being Soorah an-Nisaa' (4).

20 The relevant l!adeeth is known to the scholar, bu t he does not have any confidencein it's narrator and regards it to be in contradictionto a stronger evidence, so he holds on to that which he believes is stronger.

We will put forward another example involving the Companions themselves and not those afterthem.

Faatimah bint Qays, ragjyallaahu 'anhaa, was divorced by her husband forthe thirdand finaltime. He arranged for wheat to be sent to her as a means ofsustenance during her waiting period. She, however, belittledit and refused to accept it. They then took their case up with the Prophet (*), whereupon, he informed her that she in 27 facthad no legalclaim to any maintenance nor accommodation. This was so, because it was the last and finalirrevocable divorce; and for a woman in such a position, their exists no binding duties upon the (former) husband with respect to maintenance and housing, barring the case ofthe pregnant woman as Allaah says,

And ifthey are pregnant, then maintain them u n til they deliver... 28

'Umar, to say nothing ofhis knowledge and excellence, was unaware of this sunnah and held the view that the woman in such a predicament was entitledto maintenance and housing. He rejected the h.adeeth ofFaatimah on the basis that she may have forgotten