Part 72

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verse in which commentators have interpreted the word zakah to be the equivalent of belief in the one and only Allah.

The Prophet (pbuh) stated the amount due in zakah and called it “the legally required zakah.” So whenever one uses “the” with the word zakah it means the amount due, and the time of it is decided. However, it is known that the noun zakah means purity of the same kind that increases the good in the soul and removes its wickedness. Likewise, the word tayammum, performing ablution without water,’ is used according to its well-known linguistic meaning in the verse where Allah says: “. . . Then take for yourselves clean sand or earth and rub therewith your faces and hands . . .” (5:6). Thus the word tayammum is used in its normal conventional linguistic manner, as Allah ordered people to touch the sand or earth and then to rub them off the face and hands. Thus the word tayammum, as used by the jurists, implies the act of rubbing. However, the Prophet (pbuh) differentiated between the initial rubbing of the sand or soil and the wiping of the face and hands that comes afterward. When Iman was ordered, its meaning was used in a conditioned sense to the belief in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. Likewise, the word Islam is conditioned to submission to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the words. Such is also the case with the word kufr, unbelief, when used in a conditioned sense. As for the word for “hypocrisy,” it has been said that the Arabs had not been accustomed to using this word. However, it is taken from their speech; for the verb nafaqa resembles the verb kharaja, meaning to emerge, go out, ot depart. From it we have expressions such as nafaqat al-dabbah, the beast of burden died, nafiqa’ al-yarbii‘, the jerboa’s burrow, and nafaq fil-ard, @ tunnel in the earth. Allah says: “. .. Then if you were able to seek a tunnel in the ground . . .” (6:35). As for the hypocrite, he is the one who has departed from the belief inwardly after having entered it outwardly. Hence, the word for “hypocrisy” is conditioned as being hypocrisy with respect to belief, that is, a hidden departure from belief. There are those who refer to someone who has departed from obedience to the king as a hypocrite toward the king; however, the hypocrisy referred to in the Qur’an is hypocrisy toward the Messenger.

* Tayammum is a form of ablution practiced when water is not available. A Muslim strikes his hands on clean earth, passes the palm of each on the back of the other, blows off the dust from them, and then passes them, in a rubbing manner, on the face. After doing this, a person is permitted to pray

So when Allah and His Messenger addressed the people with these words, it was done in a specified, conditioned manner and not in an absolute manner, which could bear different interpretations. The Messenger clearly stated these testrictions, so that it could neither be said that the words had been taken directly from their linguistic usage nor that legislative rules were added without altering the words, but that the words were used specifically in the way the Legislator intended them to be. They were not used absolutely [i.e., with no restrictions]. For example, the Prophet (pbuh) said: “Establish prayer regularly.” He said so only after he had made clear the kind of prayer that was ordered. So the definition was applied to the prayer they knew. That is, the word “prayer” was not revealed to them before they knew what was meant by this word. Therefore, if anyone who says concerning the word “prayer” that it is used in a general sense based on linguistic usage, or that it has an inclusive meaning since it is used sometimes in a general sense and sometimes in a legal sense based on Islamic law, then such claims are weak. For this word is only used either in a command or a report. An example of a report would be Allah’s saying: “Have you [Oh, Muhammad] seen him who prevents a slave when he prays?” (96:9—10), as well as the chapter of the Qur’an entitled Strat Iqra”, Recite, which is one of the first chapters of the Qur’an to be revealed. Some of the unbelievers of the Prophet’s (pbuh) day, either Abu Jahl or some other than him, forbade him from praying, saying: “If 1 see him praying, cut off his head.” However, when he found him prostrated [before Allah], he saw something so terrifying that he turned on his heels and fled. For Allah says: “Have you [Oh, Muhammad] seen him who prevents a slave when he prays?” (96:9-10); here what is intended is a particular sort of prayer, not one that is detailed and comprehensive.

Also on the morning following al-Mi‘raj, Ascension Night, during which the five daily prayers were ordered, the Prophet (pbuh) established the prayers at their prescribed times to the people. The Prophet (pbuh) was led by Gabriel in prayer, and he in turn led the Muslims. So after that, when it was said: “establish the prayer,” they knew that this was the prayer intended. It has been said that prior to this he had two prayers, one at the beginning of the day and the other at the end. For he did not address any of these words because their meanings are known to them, for such words would not be used in a comprehensive, restrictive sense so as to include every sort of pilgrimage, supplication, or fasting. This would only

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apply if the words were used in an absolute, unrestricted sense, which is not the case.

So also with the words Iman and Islam, the meanings were clearer to the Muslims than that of any other matter. And when Gabriel asked the Prophet (pbuh) about Iman and Islam, while the people were listening, the Prophet (pbuh) remarked: “This is Gabriel. He has come to you in order to teach you in matters of your religion.” That is, Gabriel came to show them the real and complete meanings of these words, so they would not just be satisfied with the lowliest realities to which these words referred. This we read in a sound hadith. The Prophet (pbuh) said: “The poor is not that feeble person who is satisfied with one or two mouthfuls or with one or two dates, but rather the one who does not possess enough to prevent him from needing the help of others; people do not remember him or give him alms; and he does not beg importunately.” Indeed, people used to know the poor person as someone who is needy. To them the poor was one who showed his need by begging. But the Prophet (pbuh) pointed out that if someone shows his need by begging and is given things by people, then his poverty diminishes [by their giving to him], and begging for him thus becomes a sort of occupation. Hence, ifhe is a poor person who deserves to be given zakah if his needs are not met from any other source, and if he finds someone who gives him all he needs, then he is no longer labeled as poor. But the poor is the needy person who does not beg, and is not recognized nor given alms. This is the one who should be given priority to receive alms because he is truly destitute. Such a person is different from the one whose poverty stops by his receiving from those he begged from. The same applies to the Prophet’s (pbuh) saying: “Islam is built on five [pillars].” Here he means that all these five are duties of any Muslim, for it is not enough for one to utter the two testimonies of belief, that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger. Also one should not be satisfied with general Iman but only with a detailed Iman. For this reason Islam was described in this manner.

Muslims are in full agreement about the fact that whoever does not utter the two testimonies of belief is an unbeliever. However, they differ over whether to consider someone who abandons any of the four deeds [i.e., prayer, zakah, fasting, and pilgrimage] as an unbeliever. If we say that Orthodox Muslims are in agreement that whoever commits a sin is not considered an unbeliever, we are referring to sins such as drinking alcohol or committing adultery. But there is a famous dispute over whether to consider those who abandon the pillars of Islam

‘Abd Allah Ibn ‘Amr has said: “Whoever drinks wine in the evening shall greet the following morning as a polytheist, and whoever drinks in the morning shall enter upon the evening as a polytheist.” Ibrahim al-Nakh‘T was once asked: “How can this be?” He replied: “This is because [on account of drinking wine], he abandons prayer.” Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Akhnas has said in his book: “Whoever drinks an intoxicating beverage is liable to neglect prayer, and whoever neglects prayer has departed from belief.” And among the things that clarify this is that when Gabriel asked the Prophet (pbuh) about Islam, Iman, and Ihsan, it was at the end [of the period of the establishment of Islam], after the legislation of the pilgrimage; and the pilgrimage was not established until the year 9 or 10 A.H.