Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Prophets and saints life in their graves.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Sheikh Nazim has always taught us and we believe that the Prophets and the saints are alive in their graves. There are many accounts of graves of saints being dug up (for instance because of a new road being built or other construction work) and their bodies being found intact, often with an associated beautiful smell of the surrounding earth, as of roses.

Here is a link to a pdf with several hadith attesting to the fact and this helps to underline the absolute abhorrence we have of what the Saudis/Wahhabis propose to do with our beloved Prophet´s grave and to show what ignorant callous people they really are.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Ijtihad.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I´ve seen some intelligent pieces on the net recently about the subject if ijtihad, here is a link to one I saw today. The two replies by Umm Taqwa are very knowledgeable and clear also and it is worth following the link at the end of them for further reading on Jurisprudence where chapter nineteen deals with the subject in more depth.

Here are some quotes which I picked out as I am concerned not only that ijtihad may have fallen into disuse but also that enthusiastic but uneducated people may fasten on the idea as being an example of how Islam is more liberal and flexible than the modern ideas of law and government and somehow allows anyone to make their own judgements and laws based on their own thinking ( which is clearly not the case as the last paragraph shows);

Notwithstanding the fact that human reason always played an important role in the development of Shari'ah through the medium of ijtihad, the Shari’ah itself is primarily founded in divine revelation.


The quest for better solutions and more refined alternatives lies at the very heart of ijtihad, which must, according to the classical formulations of usul alfiqh, never be allowed to discontinue. For ijtihad is wajib kafa’i, a collective obligation of the Muslim community and its scholars to exert themselves in order to find solutions to new problems and to provide the necessary guidance in matters of law and religion.




The principal objective of usul al-fiqh is to regulate ijtihad and to guide the jurist in his effort at deducing the law from its sources. The need for the methodology of usul al-fiqh became prominent when unqualified persons attempted to carry out ijtihad, and the risk of error and confusion in the development of Shari'ah became a source of anxiety for the ulema. The purpose of usul al-fiqh is to help the jurist to obtain an adequate knowledge of the sources of Shari’ah and of the methods of juristic deduction and inference. Usul al-fiqh also regulates the application of qiyas, istihsan, istishab, istislah, etc., whose knowledge helps the jurist to distinguish as to which method of deduction is best suited to obtaining the hukm shar'i of a particular problem. Furthermore, usul al-fiqh enables the jurist to ascertain and compare strength and weakness in ijtihad and to give preference to that ruling of ijtihad which is in close harmony with the nusus.

Basic General Knowledge about Islam.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

For anyone new to Islam who wants some basic general knowledge of it they could do worse than go here .

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Shariat Law in Ontario ?

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here´s my last post on Blog Ladder from yesterday which addresses a fairly important issue.

Today´s entry #4.

Recently Nis informed me that Ontario Province in Canada was considering letting Muslims judge themselves on certain issues, like divorce and child custody, by Islamic shariat law. (See comments to post on 9th September.) He asked me for my “take” on it.I´ve been a bit busy and a bit stressed recently with all the stuff around Bilquis´s health problems and the return to our home in need of certain attentions.

Anyway, I´ve given it a bit of thought meanwhile and just want to point out a couple of things First of all around the matter of Islamic qualifications for making judgements.

Normally for someone to be able to make judgements within the Islamic Shariat it is necessary to have a very rigorous education. Normally this includes much memorisation of both Quran and Hadith and years of study and training.. Obviously most people know what Quran is but there is perhaps some general lack of information as to what hadith is. In order to find something out about this I would refer the reader to these two sites.Hadith and sunna and Mishkat al Masabih .
Basically Hadith are authenticated sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) and descriptions of his actions which are the twin source of Islamic law together with the Koran.

The first point then is the realistic possibility of finding people who are suitably educated.Given that this were possible one then has to consider that the situation in which nearly all Muslims live these days is not Islamic. The countries that they live in and the people whom they are surrounded by do not conform to Islamic law and therefore the circumstances are extraordinary with regard to the application of Shariat.

The second point is the wisdom that is necessary for anyone to be able to execute Islamic law under these circumstances. It is simply no use applying traditional Islamic law straight from text book examples when the extenuating circumstances have never existed in any Islamic situation before and it would be very hard to find any similar text book examples from which to make a judgement.The situation is a very delicate one and primed to be explosive.

The living wisdom and inspiration granted to an illuminated person such as Sheikh Nazim when applied to new Muslims living in western situations has often raised a few eyebrows in Islamic quarters although it is easy to see the deep wisdom in allowing certain flexibilities and unorthodox methods when dealing with these unusual and, until now, unknown circumstances.

So first of all one has to be sure that there are the necessary traditional requirements to know shariat law and then one has to be sure that there is the necessary wisdom to apply it.

Having said that I would also like to mention that I think that it is very open minded of the Ontarians (?) to consider such a proposal and very encouraging that the Muslims have been taken seriously in the needs of their legal circumstances and family life and traditions. Perhaps under carefully controlled or rather monitored, conditions it would be an interesting and fruitful experiment which could lead to similar solutions in other multi cultural communities.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Hadith.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF HADITH

Hadith is a verbal noun derived from the Arabic root verb hadatha which means to occur, to relate, to speak, and to report. Thus, the term Hadith literally means "communication, story, conversation: religious or secular, historical or recent." The term Hadith in its literal sense appears both in the Qur'anic texts and Hadith literature. For example, in the Qur'an we come across this citation:"Has the Hadith (story) of Musa reached you."
In the Hadith literature it is reported that the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: "The best Hadith (communication) is the Book of Allah."
It may be appropriate to point out that the term Hadith also has the connotation of 'new' being used as an antonym of 'old' (qadim). The technical meaning of the term Hadith has been defined by the fuqaha' (Muslim jurists) as "the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam)", while the muhaddithun (scholars of Hadith) define it as "the words, practices, tacit approval of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), or description of his sifat (features) meaning his physical appearance."
Hadith and SunnahClosely connected to the term Hadith is the term Sunnah. Sunnah (pl. Sunan) is a verbal noun derived from the Arabic root verb sanna which means to introduce, prescribe or establish. The technical meaning of the term Sunnah is the mode of life of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam).
The two terms Hadith and Sunnah are translated as Traditions of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). They are often interchangeably used but nevertheless there is a subtle difference between the two terms. In short, Sunnah represents what was practised by the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), while hadith is the record of what the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said and practised. Thus, a Hadith may not contain any Sunnah as in the following example:"The best of you is the one who studies the Qur'an and teaches it".
Or, on the other hand, it may contain one or more Sunnah as, for example, in the Ahadith (sing. Hadith) dealing with matters pertaining to the mode of 'ibadah (worship) like the Sunnah of the Salaah (obligatory prayers), the rites of Hajj (pilgrimage), the etiquette of siyaam (fasting) etc.
Muslim jurists define Sunnah as "what has been transmitted on the authority of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) which includes his saying, practice and tacit approval." The muhaddithun (scholars of Hadith) define this term as "that which has been reported on the authority of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) and includes his saying, practice, and tacit approval, and, inter alia, description of his physical appearance, moral character and way of life, before prophethood was confirmed upon him or after that.
In effect, Sunnah is primarily of three kinds:
1. Al-Qawl i.e. verbal teaching of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). For example, Hadrat Abu Hurayrah (Radhiallaahu Ánhu) reported that the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: 'The best house, amid the Muslim community, is one in which an orphan is treated well, and the worst house is one in which an orphan is ill-treated."2. Al-fi'l i.e. practical teaching done by the Prophet through practical demonstration like the method of performing the Wudhu (ablution), Salah (obligatory prayers), the mode of siyam (fasting.) and the per performance of hajj (pilgrimage).3. Al-Taqrir i.e. tacit approval which may be explained as an act done in the presence of the Prophet (Alayhis salaam)(Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) and he either approved of it or censured it. For example, the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) forbade his Companions (Radhiallaahu Ánhu) from wearing silk and gold rings.

Continue reading here.

Further information here.

The Purpose and the Meaning of Human Life.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.


051.056 YUSUFALI: I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. PICKTHAL: I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.
SHAKIR: And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me...

and from Muhammad Assad´s translation;

WORSHIP.

(56) And [tell them that] I have not created the invisible beings [For a full discussion of the term jinn (“invisible beings”), see Appendix III. As pointed out by most of the philologists - and stressed by Razi in his comments on the above verse - this term includes also the angels, since they, too, are beings or forces “concealed from man’s senses”.] and men to any end other than that they may [know and] worship Me. [Thus, the innermost purpose of the creation of all rational beings is their cognition (marifah) of the existence of God and, hence, their conscious willingness to conform their own existence to whatever they may perceive of His will and plan: and it is this twofold concept of cognition and willingness that gives the deepest meaning to what the Quran describes as “worship” (ibadah). As the next verse shows, this spiritual call does not arise from any supposed “need” on the part of the Creator, who is self-sufficient and infinite in His power, but is designed as an instrument for the inner development of the worshipper, who, by the act of his conscious self-surrender to the all-pervading Creative Will, may hope to come closer to an understanding of that Will and, thus, closer to God Himself.]