Part 10

3 ghMa'idah (5): 13

3.1 The People of the Book and their Flard Hearts

Allah mentions that the hardness of their hearts led to two blameworthy characteristics,

1. Distorting the true meanings of words.

2. Their forgetting a portion of what they were admonished with, meaning by this: their abandoning and ignoring a portion of the wisdom and goodly exhortation given them. They forgot it, left acting upon it, and ignored it.

They also leave aside a portion of the beneficial knowledge they have been admonished with, hence their hearts do not accept admonition and exhortation, instead they censure those who

Refer to ibn Qutaybah, Za'wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith, p. 55.

THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE

learn that which makes them weep and softens their hearts, branding them story-tellers!

In their works, the People of Opinion state, quoting their teachers, that the fruits of knowledge indicate the nobility of that knowledge. So the fruit of whoever preoccupies himself with exegesis of the Quran is to narrate stories and admonish people, and the fruit of whoever preoccupies himself with their opinions and their knowledge is that he is able to give legal verdicts, pass judgments, and teach! Such people come under the meaning of the verse,

tA ade, Faria tte eet OMe AEST yepmsUINa AIGA gb 5S

They know the outward aspect of the life of this

world but are heedless of the Hereafter.'*

It is their intense love for this world and position that has made them like this. If only they would lessen their desire for this world and instead direct it to the Hereafter, if only they were sincere to themselves and the servants of Allah, they would then strictly follow what Allah has revealed to His Messenger and they would enjoin the people to this as well. As a result most people would not violate the dictates of fagwa, and the texts of the Book and Sunnah would suffice them, with only a few of them not being satisfied with them. These few, Allah would cause to return to the truth by way of those who had correctly understood the divine texts, and hence people would be left in no need of these concocted, false, subsidiary rulings and crafty tricks through which the doors to usury and other proscriptions have been opened. Today we see the proscribed being prescribed by way of

3.1 The People of the Book. and their Hard Hearts

the simplest of tricks and twists, just as the People of the Book used to do!

May Allah guide those who believe to the truth in those matters in which they have differed “and Allah guides whoever He wills to the Straight Path.’"**

May Allah send abundant blessing of peace upon our master, Muhammad, upon his family and his Companions until the Day of Judgment.

“Allah suffices for us and an excellent disposer of our affairs is He.”

THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE

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THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE

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Ablu'l-Kalam: Adherents to speculative theology, people seeking to explain the articles and premises of belief and to give evidences for them based on philosophy and logic.

Batiniyah: A sect of the Shi'a, the followers of Isma‘ll ibn Ja‘far. They were of the belief that the legal texts were merely superficial expressions carrying inner meanings that oppose what is outwardly understood of them, examples lie with their explanations of Paradise, Hell and the Last Day.

Hashwiyah: A term frequently used by the innovators to refer to Ahlu’l-Sunnah, the Ahl’l-Hadith, those who affirmed the Attributes of Allah. The first to use this term was ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubaid al-Mu'tazili who said that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ibn alKhattab was a Hashwi.

Jabariyyah: Followers of the school of Jahm ibn Safwan in his belief that all actions are decreed by Allah and man has no control over them at all, instead he is forced to do what he does.

Jahmiyah: Followers of Jahm ibn Safwan in his denial of the Names and Attributes of Allah.

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Karramiyyah: Followers of Muhammad ibn Karram (d. 255H), they divided into many sub-sects and were famous for their likening of Allah to His creation (tashbih).

Mutakaliimin: Speculative Theologians, adherents to kalam.

Mu ‘tazila: Followers of Wasil ibn ‘Ata’ al-Ghazzal who abandoned the circles of Hasan al-Basri. They negated the Attributes of Allah for fear of likening Him to His creation, yet affirmed His Names. From amongst their beliefs was that a person who committed a major sin was neither a believer nor a disbeliever, rather of a station between the two stations, but he would be consigned to Hellfire forever. They were from the rank and file of the Mutakallimin and gave precedence to their intellects over the divine texts.

Qadariyyah: Those who held the belief that man has complete free will in all that he does and that Allah has no control over him.

Qaramita: A sect holding the same belief as the Batiniyyah and followers of Maymiin ibn Daysan.

Falasifa: Those philosophers who promoted the ‘wisdom’ of the Greeks, the Greek philosophers who did not believe in the Resurrection as it is mentioned in the Book and Sunnah, nor did they affirm the Names and Attributes of Allah. From amongst their leaders was Aristotle, the student of Plato and from amongst their latter proponents was al-Farabi and ibn Sina.

INDEX OF ARABIC WORDS

Aliya: plaral of wali, friend, ally, loyal companion. From the word wildyah meaning loyalty and closeness, the opposite of enmity.

‘Ay: withholding the tongue from speaking, carefully considering each word before it is said.

Barzakh: barrier, isthmus, A barrier that is erected between the deceased and this life preventing him from returning and a generic teference to the life that commences after death.

Bayan: Speech, clarification, discourse. It is of two types: the first whereby the intended meaning is expressed clearly, whatever language it may be in, this category is not regarded as magic; the second whereby the intended meaning is expressed in eloquent, cleverly doctored phrases based upon specific rules such that one listening takes pleasure in hearing the words and they affect his very heart. This category is what has been likened to magic as it captivates and beguiles the heart and overcomes the soul to the point that the face of reality could be transformed to illusion and the one captivated perceive only that which the speaker wants him to perceive. This category can be used in a commendable fashion

THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE

and in a blameworthy fashion, As for the commendable form, it is to direct the person towards the truth and use these methods to aid the truth. As for the blameworthy form, it is to direct the person towards falsehood or envelop him in confusion such that the truth is seen as falsehood and falsehood as truth, This is completely blameworthy and has been likened to that which is completely blameworthy - magic

Bid‘ab: innovation, that which is newly introduced into the religion of Allah.

Da‘ weak; the hadith that is neither sahih nor hasan because it fails to meet one of their requirements. It is of varying degrees of severity, the most severe of which being mawdi‘, fabricated.

Dhang: taste, perceptivity, technically referring to spiritual experience, dhawg is a more temporary state of wad. One may receive some forms of inspiration in the heart as a result of these states however this inspiration should always be compared to the Book and Sunnah to ascertain its correctness.