April 12, 2015

Millat Nagar, Andheri-Jogeshwari

The weekly ijtema of Andheri-Jogeshwari unit at Millat Nagar was addressed by the renowned scholar, Jb Rashid Khan sb and the topic chosen did seem to be a very difficult one – Islamic Jurisprudence and its basics but the speaker did make it easy for the audience to understand.

The lecture began with the recitation of the verse 122 of Surah Tauba whereby the Lord has ordained for a group of the believers to obtain ‘sound knowledge in religion’ (Le ya-ta-faqqahu fid Deen). This was followed by the sharing of the hadees of Hazrat Ali whereby the seeking guidance from the fuqaha is spoken about by the Prophet (pbuh) (Tushawarunal Fuqaha)

Fiqah – the speaker explained, is an in-depth study and the required understanding comes only through deep diving, comprehending between the lines meaning and not just shallow swimming on the shore.

Ibaratun Nas & Isharatun Nas:
Nas was explained as the Quran and the Hadees. Ibaratun Nas is the text of the Nas and its literal meaning. Isharatun Nas is the deep meaning which only the Faqeeh can interpret who sees the picture in totality. The speaker made the topic easy by sharing relevant examples for each topic. To explain this better, the hukm in the Quran of the lactation of the child by the mother was prodded and the point made how Isharatun Nas has helped the Fuqaha to interpret the true picture of the Allah’s order.

The learned speaker also emphasized the importance of Ibaratun Nas, as it makes clear the Divine commands.

To emphasize the importance of Tafaqquh fid Deen, the learned speaker gave the example of the ambassador to Yemen in the times of the Prophet (pbuh), Hazrat Muadh ibn Jabal. Hazrat Muadh was sent to Yemen to teach Islam to the people living there. Though Yemen was always considered to be a place of hikmat and hikmat of Yemen was well known and despite the mother tongue of Yemen being Arabic, there isn’t any mention of the Yemeni people telling Hazrat Muadh to just teach them the Quran and Hadees and the people would derive the meaning themselves.
Instead Hazrat Muadh was the Mujtahid and Faqeeh who the people of Yemen respected and learned the basics of Islam from. They would seek consultation from Hazrat Muadh on all aspects of Deen.

‘Our society’s ills are due to lack of Tafaqquh fid Deen’, said the speaker.

When giving Dawat-e-Deen, taking care of the mindset of the madoo is important. The speaker stressed on this point by giving the example of Hazrat Ibraheem (as) and Namrud – the wise turning of the discussion by Hazrat Ibraheem from Life & Death question to the Raising of the Sun from West instead of East.

‘Debate is done with the motto of defeating somebody but Dawat is done to win somebody, hence one should be very careful when giving Dawah and avoid unnecessary debating.’

Hukm in Fiqah was explained as below:

The speaker explained the tree structure of the Hukm in Fiqah.
• Mansoos is the hukm where Nas is available, mention is available in the Quran/Hadees, Gair-Mansoos is the opposite
• Mutaaridha is the one where differing set of views are available in the Nas. For this, the Mujtahid’s role is chalked out and he clears the confusion by seeing the chronology, the practice of the sahaba, and similar other factors
• Gair-Mutaaridha is one where the evidence in Nas is consistent. So no dispute between different sources
• Mohtamila is one where the Nas can have different meaning and hence the Mujtahid makes the meaning specific
• Mohkama is one where the Nas is clear cut and the meaning can be derived without any doubt

The speaker explained how NO Ijtehad is allowed in Ahkam which are Mansoos-Gair Mutaaridha-Mohkam.

Daleel-e-Tafseeli: Weighed upon 3 criteria before accepting anything as Daleel:
1. Suboot
2. Dalalat
3. Maaridha

The Mujtahid inspects any Daleel on the 3 criterion. A very meticulous task involving several steps:

1. Suboot – Ayat Quran or Sahih Hadees
2. Dalalat – The meaning the Mutahid has taken is the same which was the original meaning of the words of the Quran or the Prophet, ‘Jo Maine matlab akhaz kiya, wohi mansha Allah aur uske Rasool ka tha ke nahin’. Example shared here was the Banu Quraiza event of praying the Asar by the 2 groups of Sahaba
3. Maaridha – As explained above, clearing the dispute between the differing views is the third step.

When all the 3 conditions are met, then only it is said to be Daleel-e-Taam (Complete in all sense).
As Hadees is Ilm-e-Zanni, hence it was explained how one hadees might be termed Sahih by Imam Tirmidhi and the same can be termed Daeef by Imam Bukhari.

To illustrate it further, the speaker shared the Ahadees related to Offering of Namaz without Surah Fatiha, the Hukm on this. How one school of thought has taken one word (Laa) to mean differently than other and the meaning has changed respectively.

The speaker made the point that Tafaqquh fid Deen is not an easy task as it is made out to be nowadays. No amount of Arabic learning can make it achievable for us, as we will always have a language barrier, Arabic not being our mother tongue.

Also, stressing on the word used in the Quran, (Le ya-ta-faqqahu fid Deen) instead of just (Le-Yuf-qehu fid Deen) makes the stress crystal clear on the depth of the subject.

To share a rough estimate on figures, out of approx. 1 Lakh Sahaba, just 20 were the Sahib-e-Fatwa and some say just 7 were the Mujtahid.

The 50-minute address was followed by Question & Answer session on the topic, which also helped quell doubts of the eager audience. Post Dua, the 1-hour long lecture came to an end.