Part 71

3 Asad Ibn Miisi, Abu Sa‘id (?-212 AH), wasa trustworthy scholar of hadith [Kitab al-Iman MZ,

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his works, he will not ascend. This view was passed down

* Mu‘ammar Ibn Rashid, Abu ‘Amr (?-153 A.H.), was a jurist, reciter of the Quran, and

trustworthy scholar of hadith. He was born and raised in Basrah. [Kitab a/-/man MZ, p. 260 and al-Zirikli, vol. 8, p. 190.)

Abu ‘Umar al-Talmanki Ibn Abmad Ibn Muhammad (2-429 A.H.) was a great authority on hadith and reciter of the Qur’4n and wrote several books on the Sunnah. He iived in Cordoba. Spain. [Kitab al-Iman MZ, p. 260.]

Mu‘awiyah Ibn ‘Amr Ibn al-Muhallab al-Azdi (?-214 A.H.) was a scholar of hadith, whom Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said was a trustworthy transmitter of hadith. [Kitab al-Jman MZ. p. 260.] Mu‘adh Ibn Asad (2-221 A.H.) was a scholar of hadith; several later compilers of hadith. including al-Bukhari, used some of his Sunans. [Kitab al-Iman MZ, p. 261.]

free and offers the prayers, and gives the zakah, and who fulfill their covenant when they make it, and who are patient in extreme poverty and ailment and at the time of panic. Such are the people of the truth and they are the pious ones”

This tradition concerning Abu Dharr has been passed down in more than one account. If it is indeed what the Prophet himself said, then there is no basis on which to dispute it, whereas if they have passed it down in some other form that bears the same meaning, then this indicates that it is a recognized usage in their [the Arabs’] language for one to say: “He verified the truth of his words by what

he did.” It has also been said by the Islamic authority al-Harawi: “Belief, all of it is tasdiq.”

Similarly the second reply holds that if the root of belief is tasdiq, then it is assent in something specific, just as ritual prayer is a particular kind of supplication, the pilgrimage involves heading toward a particular destination, and fasting involves abstaining from something in particular. Moreover, this type of tasdiq has certain essential attributes that are always associated with it and that have come to be included within the definition of the term when it is used in an absolute sense. For the absence of an essential property necessitates the absence of the entity in which this essential property inheres. Hence the dispute over terminology continues, the question being: Does belief convey the notion of work by implication, or by [logical] necessity?

It is worthy of note here that the greatest dispute among Orthodox Muslims is a dispute over words. After all, those who say that Iman is words are in agreement with all Orthodox Muslim jurists, such as Hammad Ibn Abi Sulayman, and he is the first to say, along with those who follow him from the people of the [city] of Kafah, that they are in agreement with all orthodox scholars over the fact that all sinners will be under threat and censure. If they say that their belief is as perfect and complete as that of Gabriel, then they are saying that in accordance with the view of the Islamic community, someone who has belief yet does not perform his required duties and commits forbidden acts deserves to be rebuked and punished. They are also saying that, in accordance with the community’s consensus, there are among those who have committed grave sins, individuals who will enter Hellfire. Those Orthodox Muslims who decline to call any major sinner a believer are in agreement that such a person shall not abide eternally in Hell. For there is

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no disagreement among Islamic jurists concerning those who have committed sins as long as they have confessed both inwardly and outwardly the truth of the message brought by the Prophet. And according to reports passed down on his authority by numerous independent sources, such individuals are under threat of punishment, and among them there are those whom Allah and the Messenger have stated shall enter Hell. However, none of them remain there eternally, nor are they considered to be apostates upon whom one may legitimately wage war. Nevertheless, there are some, such as the Kharijites and the Mu‘tazilites, who hold the heretical view that they do remain eternally in Hell, as well as the extremist Murji’ites, who maintain that we cannot be certain that any of them shall enter Hell and that, instead, we must withhold judgment on all such matters.

A view that has been attributed to the extremist Murji?ites holds unequivocally that belief cannot be ascribed to anyone with certainty. As for the Kharijites, one might reply to them by saying that if someone denies that the thief, the adulterer, the drinker of alcohol, or anyone else may be said to have belief, he does not thereby consider them to be apostates from Islam; rather, he may punish this one with flogging and that one by cutting off his hand. However, he would have none of them put to death except for the adulterer. And even if he did have him put to death, he would not have him put to death as an apostate, for the apostate is to be put to death by the sword after being called upon to repent, whereas this person is stoned without being called upon to repent. This indicates that even if he says that such individuals have no belief, he nevertheless does not consider them to be apostates from Islam, despite the manifest nature of their sins. Nor are they like the hypocrites who used to act outwardly as though they were Muslims while inwardly they were unbelievers. And as for hypocrites such as these, he would only have them punished for outwardly visible sins.

Based on the discussion of Iman, people disagree on whether the language contains legal terms that the Prophet (pbuh) shifted away from their original referents in the language, or whether these terms remain the same in the law as they were in the language, the Prophet (pbuh) not having added to their meanings. Do the words “prayer,” “zakah,” “fasting,” and “pilgrimage” retain the same meaning in legislation as in they do in the language, with only one addition, namely, legislative rules? Their intention is that Iman is mere tasdiq that takes place in the heart and by the tongue. The third group stated that the Legislator [the Prophet] changed these terms, as normal speakers do. Thus, they are linguistically

considered a figurative form of speech whereas, according to the norms of the Legislator, they are real. It is evident that the Legislator neither transferred nor changed these words but used them in a conditioned, not an absolute sense, as he uses their counterparts. Allah says: “. . . Pilgrimage to the House is a duty that people owe to Allah . . .” (3:97). Here He makes mention of a specific pilgrimage, namely, pilgrimage to the Ka‘bah in Makkah. Likewise He also says: “. . . [So it is not a sin] for those who perform pilgrimage or minor pilgrimage [‘umrah] . . .” (2:158). The word “pilgrimage” does not include just any destination; rather, it refers to a particular destination that is denoted by the word itself without any change in the language. And if the poet should say:

And I witness many disbandments on the part of the [Bani] ‘Awf, who seek out [literally, make pilgrimage to] the saffron-dyed turban of al-Zibirqan.

He would be speaking in accordance with linguistic usage, having qualified his expression with “making pilgrimage to the saffron-dyed turban of Zibirqan.” And of course, this particular pilgrimage is indicated by the use of the possessive construction [which would, translated literally, read, “the pilgrimage of the saffron-dyed turban . . .”]; likewise, the particular pilgrimage that Allah has commanded is also indicated with a possessive construction or by the use of the definite article. Hence if someone says, “the pilgrimage is a duty incumbent upon you,” the definite article makes it clear that what is referred to here is the pilgrimage to the House of Allah (that is, the Ka‘bah in Makkah); likewise, zakah is a name for something through which the soul is purified. For zakah of the soul is an increase in its goodness and its purification from evil; moreover, doing good for others is one of the greatest ways in which the soul may grow more righteous and pure. Allah says: “Take alms from their wealth in order to purify them and sanctify them with it . . ” (9:103). Abandoning evil deeds is another way in which one’s soul may be purified. Allah says: “. .. And had it not been for the grace of Allah and His mercy on you, not one of you would ever have been pure [from sins] ...” (24:21). The root of the soul’s purity is to be found in belief in the one and only Allah, and in being sincere toward Allah in one’s religion; hence Allah says: “__ And woe to the polytheists. Those who do not give zakah . . .” (41:6-7), a