After yet another anniversary of the abolishment of the Khilafah state it is important for us to reflect upon its history and the reaction of the Muslims towards its demise and eventual destruction. It is assumed by some that the Muslims and their scholars did not react to the call for the abolishment of Khilafah and that they did not realise its significance. This is untrue, history is a testament to the reaction of the Muslims, their struggle to maintain it and their pain at the eventual removal of the shade of Allah (swt) from the earth. The example of the Muslims of India and its renowned Khilafat Movement demonstrates this.
Before elaborating upon the reaction of the Muslims in India, it is important to understand the background of how the Islamic rule reached Indian subcontinent which is now home to approximately half the Islamic Ummah numbering more than half a billion Muslims, with approximately 250 million Muslims in India, 160 million in Pakistan and 120 million in Bangladesh. Indeed Urdu has now become probably the most widely spoken language of the Ummah, even more widespread than Arabic.
History of the Khilafah in India
In the year 711CE, Muslim traders were sailing in the Indian Ocean from Ceylon near the coast of Sind. However, the ship was looted and the Muslims were captured and imprisoned. The news reached the capital of the Islamic Khilafah state. Where the Khalifah al-Walid b. ‘Abdul Malik heard about this. Then he sent a message to Hujjaj b. Yusuf, the Wali (governor) of Baghdad to demand the apologies from the ruler of Sind and rescue the Muslims. An army was dispatched lead by one of the most brilliant sons of this Ummah. The name of this youthful figure occupies a very high position in the hearts of the Muslims especially of the Indian subcontinent. It was upon the shoulders of this man that fell the responsibilities of leading the Islamic Khilafah army into a foreign land. The name of this man was Muhammad b. Qasim al-Thaqafi, the opener of bilad al hind.
When the Islamic Khilafah state army reached Debal (near modern day Karachi), Muhammad b. Qasim and presented his demands to Raja Dahir. The Raja resisted the demand and thus, was inevitably defeated by the Muslims and his kingdom captured.
After this, Muhammad b. Qasim followed up his initial success with further encounters because it is the duty of Muslims to make the word of Allah ‘azza wa jall the highest. The Islamic Army, driven by the Islamic Aqeedah, penetrated as far as Multan. Within three years, by 714 CE, the whole of Sind and lower Punjab were brought under the rule of the Islamic Khilafah.
In the conquest of the north-western part of the subcontinent of India, the army took the idol worshippers from darkness into the light of Islam. His administration made no distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. In the conquered territories he reinstated non-Muslim officials to their former positions.
Muhammad b. Qasim told the administrators of the Khilafah, "Deal honestly between people and the State. Fix taxes according to the ability of the people to pay."
It was during the time of Khalifah Hisham b. ‘Abdul Malik from 724 to 743 CE that the Khilafah State conquered the regions of Kashmir and Kangra. And during 754-75 under the ‘Abbasid Khalifah Abu Ja’far Al-Mansur, Kandahar was opened and efforts were made to consolidate and spread the frontiers of the Khilafah state in the Indian subcontinent. It was between 786 and 809 CE, during the Khilafah of Harun ar-Rashid that the Islamic Army extended the frontiers of Sind westwards into Gujarat (now presently in India). It was during this time that Muslim soldiers settled down and new cities started to flourish. From this time onwards, large numbers of the Indians were lifted from their baseless social caste structures of disbelief and brought under the shade of global brotherhood. They were guided from the darkness of ignorance and Kufr to the Nur of Islam, worshipping Allah ‘azza wa jall and discarding their false idol gods. Islam ruled over most of what is known today as India, Pakistan, Kashmir and Bangladesh for over a thousand years.
Contrary to how the Orientalists portray the history of India, we must realise that it was a Wilayah of the Khilafah. Due to negligence of some of the Khulafah it was unsupervised in some periods and left to run by itself. However the ahkam shariah were applied by the rulers and it was part of Dar al-Islam until the British colonised it.
The Muslim historians like Ibn Kathir al-Damishqi (died 774 AH) in his famous work al-Bidayah wan-Nihaya mentioned India as part of Dar al-Islam, he also quoted some ahadith about its conquest. Abu Huraira (ra) narrated: “My true friend, Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, “The armies of this Ummah will be sent to Sindh and India.” If I get the opportunity to participate in it and am martyred then that is one (auspicious) thing, and if I return then I will be the free Abu Hurayrah. The Exalted Lord would have given me freedom from Hell.” [Ahmad]
India remained as a province of the Khilafah throughout the Delhi Sultanate (1205-1526 CE) and Mughal period (1526-1857 CE) except during Akbar’s rule (1556-1605 CE) as he apostatised from Islam and formed a new religion called Deen-e-Illahi.
During the last quarter of the twelfth century, Muhammad of Ghor invaded the Indo-Gangetic plain, conquering in succession Ghazni, Multan, Sindh, Lahore, and Delhi. Qutb-ud-din Aybak, one of his generals became Sultan of Delhi. In the 13th century, Shams ud din Iltumish (1211-1236), a former slave-warrior of a Turkic origin came to power in Delhi, which enabled future sultans to push in every direction; within the next 100 years, what became known as the Delhi Sultanate extended its way east to Bengal and south to the Deccan. The sultanate was ruled by five dynasties who rose and fell: the Slave dynasty (1206-90), Khalji dynasty (1290-1320), Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and Lodi dynasty (1451-1526).
Babur, who originated from Central Asia, took over Delhi in 1526 and became the first of the Mughal rulers. After his death in 1530, his son Humayun (1530-56) came to power. According to a document available in the State Library of Bhopal, Babur left the following will to Humayun, it demonstrates that regardless of his flaws he cared for the implementation of Islam in a just manner:
“My son take note of the following: Do not harbour religious prejudice in your heart. You should dispense justice while taking note of the people's religious sensitivities, and rites. Avoid slaughtering cows in order that you could gain a place in the heart of natives. This will take you nearer to the people.
Do not demolish or damage places of worship of any faith and dispense full justice to all to ensure peace in the country. Islam can better be preached by the sword of love and affection, rather than the sword of tyranny and persecution. Avoid the differences between the Shias and Sunnis. Look at the various characteristics of your people just as characteristics of various seasons.”
We have to be careful where we take our history from as much of the history of India and the Islamic rule was written by the Orientalists. We do admit that some of the Muslim rulers of India misapplied some of the Islamic rules and committed some injustices. However under their rule the Indian sub-continent remained part of Dar al-Islam (land of Islam) as the Islamic system was implemented. The court records which still exist in some of the major cities show that there was no other source of law referred to other than the Islamic Shariah. Misapplication does not nullify a Khalifah’s rule as well as a Wali’s (governor) or an Amil’s (mayor). There are many ahadith that establish the obligation of obedience to the rulers even if they are oppressive as long as they do not commit Kufr Bu’ah (open disbelief) and implement the Shariah.
Anas b. Malik reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "Do hear and obey, even if you were ruled by an Abyssinian slave, whose hair is like the raisin". In another narration He (saw) said: "As long as he leads you by the Book of Allah."
Muslim reported from ‘Auf b. Malik who reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: "The best of your Imams are those whom you love and they love you and you pray for them and they pray for you; and the worst of your Imams are those whom you hate and they hate you and you curse them and they curse you." We asked: "O Messenger of Allah, shall we not then declare war on them?" He (saw) said: "No! As long as they establish prayer among you. Behold if anyone was ruled by a Wali and saw him committing a sin, let him hate the sin committed against Allah, but let him not withdraw his hand from obedience."
Ahmad and Abu Dawud reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "O Abu Dharr, what would you do if some Walis possessed the booty and deprived you of it?" He said: "By He Who sent you with the Truth, I would raise my sword and fight until I join you." Upon this he (saw) said: "Let me tell you something that would be better for you than that. Remain patient and bear it until you join me."
The fact that India remained as part of the global Khilafah has also been discussed by non-Muslim authors such as the Hindu author Shashi S. Sharma in his book ‘Caliphs and Sultans – Religious ideology and political praxis’ admits this. He says:
“Throughout its existence the Delhi Sultanate (1205-1526), remained a legal part of the worldwide Muslim empire functioning under the de jure suzerainty of the Abbasid caliphs. Sultans considered themselves the deputies of the caliph and derived their validity of their administrative and legal authority only on the basis of delegation. Since the supreme authority of the community legally remained with the caliph, every king and potentate claimed to exercise governmental power for, and on behalf of the Imam of Islam.” [Shashi S. Sharma, Caliphs and Sultans – Religious ideology and political praxis, pg. 247]
“Muhammad Shah Bahamani III (1463-82), paid tributes to the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II as the one deserving to be the Khalifah. The kingdom of Bijapur adopted the Turkish (Uthmani) symbol as its royal emblem. Malik Ayaz, one of he leading nobles of Gujarat addressed Sultan Salim I as ‘Khalifah on earth’. Subtle evidences of the great esteem in which Mughal rulers held the Sultan of Turkey can also be gleaned from the few correspondences that flew between Delhi and Istanbul…In a letter to Sultan Suleiman, Humayun (ruler of India) addressed him as the ‘Khalifah of the highest qualities’ and prayed for eternal perpetuation of his caliphate. He quotes a Quranic verse to indicate to the Sultan that ‘He (God) has sent thee as the Khalifah on the earth’…Sultan Ibrahim sent a letter to Shahjahan in which he proclaimed himself as the ‘Refuge and asylum of the monarchs of the world’ who has been bestowed the good fortune to occupy the throne of Khilafat. Ahmad Aqa, the Turkish envoy brought a missive from his Sultan to the court of Aurangzeb in 1690 which was thick with Quranic quotations and references to the Sultan as the Khalifah of Islam. In 1723, Muhammad Shah (1719-1748) resumed Mughal correspondence with the Porte in Istanbul. In his letter, Muhammad Shah styles the Sultan ‘the asylum of the greatest Sultans’, ‘the protector of the most honoured kings’, the ‘adorner of the exalted throne of Khilafat’, and the ‘spreader of the precepts of shariat’”. [Shashi S. Sharma, Caliphs and Sultans – Religious ideology and political praxis, pg. 248-249]
Certain antiquities also show the link between the Khilafah and India. For example silver coins at Sultan Shamsuddin Altamash’s (1211-36) time who was the Wali of India bore the name of the Khalifah Al-Mustansir on one side and on the other side his own as helper of the Khilafah.
Even after the sack of Baghdad in 1258 CE which resulted in the death of the Khalifah Al-Mustasim, coins in India bore his name.
India also gave birth to great scholars under the Islamic rule like Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi
(died in Delhi, 1624 CE), also known as Mujaddid Alf Thani. He was well known as a scholar of Fiqh, he wrote 536 letters collectively entitled ‘Collected Letters’ or ‘Maktubat’, to the Ottoman rulers conveying his ideas.
Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703-1762 CE) is one of the most respected Ulema of India and is accepted and revered by all the various groups and schools of thought in South Asia and beyond. He was a prolific writer who wrote extensively on several Islamic topics. His works include an instrumental and one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an from Arabic into Urdu, as well as one into Sanskrit, contrary to the will of many of his Muslim contemporaries who believed that the Quran should be left in its original language. Later Indian Islamic scholars, however, accepted such efforts and rather than criticise this, they welcomed it. Other famous works of his include Hujjat al-Balagha amd Al-Tafheemat al-Ilahia. Shah Waliullah wrote about the Khilafah in his work, ‘Izalat al Khafa’ he said that, "Khilafah is the leadership of people united in a commonwealth which comes into existence for the establishment of the Deen including revival of religious branches of learning, institution of Islamic ritual observances, organization of jihad… marshalling an army, remunerating the combatants, creating a judicial system and enforcing the laws, curbing of crimes… All these functions have to be performed by it as if it were deputising and representing the Prophet (saw).”
The permission of Wilaya Amma (General governorship) in Islam
The Indian sub-continent was given Wilaya Amma (General governorship) by the Khulafah which is an acceptable form of Governership according to the Shariah rules. It is true that the Khulafah became negligent in their responsibilities of inquiring about the Wilayat (provinces) and directly appointing and removing the governors, it became a norm for them to accept whoever came to power in different provinces rather than directly select them. Nevertheless the fact that they accepted them means that their authority was validated by the Khalifah.
The following is an explanation of the two types of Wilayah along with the Islamic evidences for this from the english translation of the book ‘The Ruling System in Islam’ by Sheikh Taqi ud-deen an-Nabhani and Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zalloom:
“The Wali (Governor) is the deputy of the Khaleefah; he performs what the Khaleefah authorises him to do on his behalf. According to Shar’a, the Wilayah has no specific limit, thus any body appointed by the Khaleefah to act on his behalf over any matter of ruling would be a Waali in that matter in accordance with the terms the Khaleefah used in his appointment. However, the Wilayah over countries is geographically specified, because the Messenger of Allah (saw) used to specify the area over which he appointed the Wali, i.e. where he invests the Ameer with the Imarah.
There are two types of Wilayah: general and specific. The general one includes all the ruling matters within the Wilayah. Appointing someone to that Wilayah would mean that the Khaleefah delegates to the Wali the Imara of a country or a province, as a Wilayah over all its people for supervising all the normal functions. Thus he would have a general responsibility of supervision. As for the specific Imara, this means that the Ameer would be restricted to running the armed forces, governing the citizens, protecting the territories, or defending the women and children in that country or province. He does not have a say in the judiciary or the collecting of Kharaj and Sadaqah. The Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed Walis with general responsibilities (Wilayah 'Amma) , such as when he appoimted 'Amru b.Hazm over Yemen. He also appointed Walis with specific functions (Wilayah Khassa), such as when he appointed Ali b. Abi Talib over the judiciary in Yemen. The Khulafa'a followed in the Messenger of Allah's (saw) footsteps. 'Umar Ibnul-Khattab appointed Mu'aiwya b. Abi Sufyan as general Wali over Ash-Sham, while Ali b.Abi Talib appointed Abdullah b. Abbas over Basra with restrictive powers (Wilayah Khassa) to run all the affairs except for the funds, which was assigned to Ziad
There used to be two types of Wilayah in the early times: The Wilayah of Salah and the Wilayah of Kharaj. Therefore we find that history books use two terms in their reference to the Wilayah of Ameers: The first is the Imara over the Salah and the other the Imara over the Salah and the Kharaj. In other words the Ameer could either be appointed over both the Salah and the Kharaj, or over the Salah only. The word Salah, in the context of the Wilayah or the Imara, does not mean only leading the people in their prayer, but it means governing all their affairs except the funds. This is because the word Salah is used to mean ruling except for the levy of funds. Therefore, if the Wali had combined both the Salah and the Kharaj, his Wilayah would then be general (Wilayah 'Amma). If his Wilayah had been restricted to the Salah or the Kharaj, his Wilayah would then be specific (Wilayah Khassa). Either way, this would be left to the Khaleefah's own arrangements, as he reserves the right to restrict the Wilayah to the Kharaj, or to the judiciary, or he could confine the Wilayah to other than the Kharaj, the judiciary and the army. He could do what he deems best for the running of the province or the Wilayah. This is because Shar'a has not determined for the Wali certain duties, and it is not obliged that he should perform all the duties of ruling. It has, however, determined that the Wali's or the Ameer's duties be ruling and authority, and that he is the deputy of the Khaleefah, and he should be an Ameer over a specific area. All this is derived from the actions of the Messenger of Allah (saw). However Shar'a entitles the Khaleefah to appoint a Wali as either a general Wilayah ('Amma) or a specific one (Khassa) according to his own discretion, and all this is reflected in the actions of the Messenger of Allah (saw).
It was mentioned in the Seerah of ibn Hisham that the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed Farwa b. Musayk over the tribes of Murad, Zubair and Mizhaj. He sent Khalid b. Sa'eed b. Al-'Ass with him as Wali over the Sadaqah.
It also mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (saw) sent Ziad b. Labeed Al-Ansari as a Wali over Hadhramawt and its Sadaqah. He also sent 'Ali b. Abi Talib to Najran to collect their Sadaqah and their Jizya. He also sent him, as a judge over Yemen ,as reported by Al-Haakim.
In the book of Isti'aab it is mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (saw) sent Mu'az b. Jabal to Al-Janad to teach the people about the Quran, the laws of Islam and to judge between them. He authorised him as well to collect the Sadaqah from the 'Amils in Yemen. The Seerah of ibn Hisham also reports that the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed ibn Umm Maktum over the salah in Al-Madinah when he went out for Uhud.” [The Ruling System in Islam, Sheikh Taqi ud-deen an-Nabhani & Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zalloom, Al-Khilafah Publications]
British invasion of India & the reaction of Muslims
As a result of the constant devilish conspiracies by the Colonialists and an intellectual decline in the Muslim Ummah at large, the Kafireen began to see their desired opportunity to dominate over the Indian sub-Continent. In 1600 CE the East India Company was established by the British. It was the beginning of a painful era where the British and other European colonialists looted the lands and pillaged the resources of the Ummah, they also ignited flames of hatred between the Muslim and non-Muslim citizens.
The British invaded the Indian subcontinent in 1819, where it was faced with strong resistance from the Muslims. The war continued with alternate success between the Islamic authority in the subcontinent and invading Britain with the help of some kufr forces of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and others. Britain could not achieve stability and control over it except after 27 years of vigorous wars with the Muslims, i.e. in 1846.
During this period as the authority of the Mughal Wilayah was weakening over different parts of India, some of the rulers of other parts started to seek support and legitimacy from the Khalifah in Istanbul. For example, the Queen of Cannore sent a diplomatic message to Sultan Abdul Hamid I in 1779, in which she “petitioned the Khalifah to protect her against the aggression of the English East India Company”. Tipu Sultan of Mysore sought and received a letter of recognition from the Khalifah that recognised him as the ruler of Mysore.
After the British colonialists removed the Islamic rule from India the Muslims remained loyal to the Khalifah in Istanbul. Some continued the Jihad against them like the famous Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed. Other Ulema continued to agitate and organise the Jihad against the colonialists especially those in Yaghestan (usually referred to the Pushtoon tribal belt of the eastern half of Afghanistan, comprising of Herat, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni and Kabul during the British rule in India).
When the Greco-Turkish war ended in favour of the Uthmani Khilafah, the Muslims of India rejoiced and held a formal meeting in Lucknow under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Bari to felicitate the Sultan. However when the Khilafah received setbacks in the Balkan and Tripolitan wars, the Muslims were in uproar against the Western powers attempt to weaken the Khilafah.
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, one of the undisputed activists who supported the Khilafah and was also known for his anti-British stance had just returned from Britain after completing his graduation from Lincoln College. In 1914, he wrote the thirty-six hour sitting editorial 'The choice of Turks' as a reply to the article that appeared in London Times. When the Balkan Wars began in 1912, he appealed for funds in aid of Turkish victims and also sent a medical mission.
Sheikh ul-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Hasan, the head of Daral Uloom Deoband, the most well known Islamic University in India worked tirelessly to collect money to send to the Khilafah to help in the Balkan and Tripoli wars. Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani wrote about him: “The bloody war in the Balkans and Tripoli had created a sad effect on the mind and heart of Maulana Mahmood Hasan. This led him to tread the path set by his predecessor, Maulana Qasim Nanautvi (who was the co-founder of Dar al Uloom Deoband and had cooperated with the Khalifah during the Soviet-Turkish war). Maulana Mahmood Hasan devoted himself to the cause of Islam and extended all possible help to the Ottoman Empire. He issued a Fatwa to close down Daral Uloom Deoband, collected donations for the Ottoman Empire, send student delegations to Turkey, himself leading one delegation. He, however was not satisfied with the help he had provided to the Ottoman Empire. The main reason was the outcome of the Balkan war that completely unnerved Muslim visionaries like him. They knew that the Whites of Europe were conspiring to extinguish the light emanating from the candle of Islam. Moreover, the treachery of British rulers such as Mr. Squibb, atrocities committed upon Muslims by Russia and the division of Turkey had strengthened the belief that the time had come for the Whites to accomplish the long cherished dreams of Gladstone.” [Naqsh-e-Hayat, Vol. 2, pg. 140]
During the First World War, mosques in India rang with fervent prayers whose Khutba would invoke the benediction of Allah for the well-being of the Sultan and the success of his armies in their effort to destroy the forces of Kufr. When Maulana Shaukat Ali, another great personality was asked why he read the Khutba in the name of the Sultan of Turkey, he replied: “you can’t blame me if he Caliph of Islam also happens to be the Sultan of Turkey”. [The Khilafat Movement, Gail Minault, Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 55]
The Khilafah acknowledged the efforts of the Muslims of India and asked them to aid it and rebel against the British.
The Arabic newspaper of the Khilafah called ‘Aljawait’ was published in Istanbul, its capital. The manager of ‘Aljawait’ issued a complimentary copy for the students of Daral Uloom Deoband in India, which was eight thousand miles away from Istanbul. [Sawaneh Qasmi, Vol 2, p. 329]
Sheikh ul Hind Maulana Mahmud Hasan mentioned earlier directly supported the Khilafah and worked hard for its maintenance. He travelled to Hijaz where he met the Wali (governor) of the Khilafah in Makkah and the assistants of the Khalifah. The Wali gave documents to the Sheikh to help in the struggle of the Muslims of India against the tyranny of the British. The foremost of these documents was an appeal from the Wali to the Muslims of India. In his appeal, the Wali of Makkah praised Sheikh ul Hind for launching the struggle against the colonial British rule and also exhorted Muslims of India to extend their full support. He also assured the Muslims of India of material support from this movement from the Khilafah. The document written by the Governor of Makkah is known in history as Ghalib Namah. After performing Hajj in 1334 AH, the Sheikh also met with Anwar Pasha and Jamal Pasha, who were officials of the Khilafah. Anwar Pasha also wrote a letter of appeal for the Muslims of India, appreciating their constant struggle against the British tyranny. The wording of the letter was similar to the Ghalib Namah, assuring the material support of the Uthmani Khilafah to the Muslims of India in their struggle against the British. The letter also exhorted all citizens and employees of the Uthmani Khilafah to have full confidence in Sheikh ul Hind and provide material support to his movement. Copies of these letters were made, smuggled into India in the face of all the challenges posed by the British intelligence services and later distributed in the whole of Yaghestan. [The Prisoners of Malta (Asira'n-e-Malta), Maulana Syed Muhammad Mian, Jamiat Ulama -I-Hind]
The Muslims of India were aware of the treachery of Sharif Hussain and his rebellion backed by the British, they protested strongly against cutting of food supplies to Hijaz by the British.
“In spite of all propaganda of Colonel T.E. Lawrence, including his enchanting and emotional speeches in Arabic and secret agreement between Sharif Hussain and Sir Henry MacMahon, ordinary residents of Hijaz were not interested in revolting against the Turks. To achieve this goal, the British government resorted to a very inhuman and barbaric tactic. Sheikh ul Islam Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani has described it in the following words: ‘Food supplies to Hijaz were cut off. The last consignment of food shipment to Hijaz reached in the month of Safar 1334 AH. Since the food supplies were completely cut off, prices soared and people began to starve. Due to the protest of Indian Muslims, Fairozi Aganboat sailed from Calcutta with a few thousand sacks of rice in the month of Jamadi Al-Saani 1334 Hijri. That too was forcefully offloaded at the port of Aden. It was allowed to reach Jeddah only after the political influence of the Ottoman Empire had completely diminished from Hijaz.’” [The Prisoners of Malta (Asira'n-e-Malta), Maulana Syed Muhammad Mian, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, English edition, p. 45]
Sheikh ul Hind, Maulana Mahmood Hasan, the head of Daral Uloom Deoband who was mentioned earlier was imprisoned by the British in Malta for 3 years due to him sticking to the truth and not disowning the Uthmani Khilafah. The British wanted him to issue a Fatwa disowning the Uthmani Khilafah and supporting Sharif Hussain. Shaikhul Hind was arrested by the traitor Sharif Hussain in Hijaz (Makkah) on 23 Safar, 1335 A.H. He and other Ulema were sent to Malta via Cairo by a ship on 29 Rabius Thani 1335 A.H. corresponding to 21 February 1917. The other Indian Ulema included Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, Maulana Aziz Gul, Maulana Hakeem Nusrat Hussain and Maulana Waheed Ahmad who were all clamped in the prison by the British. Maulana Mahmood Hasan remained in prison for 3 years and 4 months. He was released and reached Bombay on June 8, 1920. This time of returning from Malta synchronized with the period of the beginning of the Khilafat Movement in India. [The Prisoners of Malta (Asira'n-e-Malta), Maulana Syed Muhammad Mian, Jamiat Ulama -I-Hind]
Nizaratul Maarif (The Academy of Quran Learning) was established in the year 1321 AH, headed by the Mujahid, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, its aim was to develop Muslim intellectuals to counter anti-Islamic propaganda and promote the Islamic thought. The British realised the threat it posed, this can be seen by the report entitled ‘The petition of the British Queen vs Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi’ by Central Intelligence Department (C.I.D) of the British government, it states:
“Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi could not use Darul Ulomom Deoband as a training camp for his missionaries (Mujahideen). He therefore decided to establish a Madrasa (Nizaratul Maarif) in Delhi to achieve this purpose…As is evident from its name, the Madrasa was established to interpret the Qur’an and its teachings in a correct perspective. It also taught the Arabic language. ” [The petition of the British Queen vs Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Section 17]
“Besides these teachings which Nizaratul Maarif used to impart, what was unlawful, it also used to be a secret meeting place for the conspirators.” [The petition of the British Queen vs Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Section 20]
The British were referring to the fact that Nizaratul Maarif became a meeting point and centre for Muslim revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the British governments rule in India. These included Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
The Muslim Ulema, thinkers and activists called for the boycott of foreign goods and non-cooperation with the British government. Meetings were organised in order to rally the masses to support these issues. The meetings were organised under the banner of Mo’tamar al-Ansar (The Workers Conference) and various newspapers such as Al-Hilal of Maualana Abul Kalam Azad and The Comrade of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar. Both Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Maulana Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar were put behind bars for publishing anti-British articles in their newspapers. The latter spent four years in prison between 1911 and 1915CE.
The allegiance of the Muslim intelligentsia of India at that to the Khilafah is unquestionable. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad summed up their view when he wrote in his newspaper al-Hilal on 6th November 1912 that the Ottoman Sultans possessed the only sword which Muslims had for their protection. Insofar as the “caliphate was essentially a religious integration of the shari’a”, it became “necessary by revelation, is of God’s institution and that obedience to its authority is farz, or positively commanded”.
The Khilafat Movement
In September 1919, Maulana Muhammad Ali and his brother Shaukat Ali, together with Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, and Hasrat Mohani, started a new organization, the Khilafat Movement (1919-1924). Their avowed aim was to use whatever leverage they had to protect the Khilafah. They organized Khilafat Conferences in several northern Indian cities. It is noticeable that the scholars and activists that were part of the Khilafat movement came from different schools of thought and backgrounds, for example Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was known to be a ‘ghayr taqleedi’ (non-taqleedi – who believed Taqleed to Mazahib is prohibited) and Maulana Mahmood Hasan was Deobandi who are followers of the Hanafi Mazhab yet they were united in the objective of working for the maintenance of the Khilafah.
In 1919, the Bombay Khilafat Committee agreed on two important organisational goals: “first, to urge the retention of the temporal powers of the Sultan of Turkey as Caliph, and second to ensure his continued suzerainty over the Islamic holy places.”
Delivering the presidential address at the Calcutta meeting of the Bengal Provincial Khilafat Conference in 1920, Maulana Azad discussed the importance of Khilafah he declared, “the purpose of this institution was to organise and lead the Muslim community in the right path, to establish justice, to bring about peace, and to spread God’s word in the world. For all this it was absolutely necessary for the caliph to possess temporal power”. Maulana Azad had no doubt that “without an Imam, their lives were un-Islamic and that they would be damned after death”.
Maulana Azad published a book in 1920 called Masla-e-Khilafat (The Issue of Khilafah), he stated: “Without the Khilafah the existence of Islam is not possible, the Muslims of India with all their effort and power need to work for this”.
In the same book page 176 Maulana Azad said, “There are two types of ahkam shariah, the first is related to the individual like the commands and prohibitions, the fara’id (obligations) and wajibat in order to perfect oneself. The second is not related to the individual but is related to the Ummah, nation, collective obligations and state politics like the conquering of lands, political and economic laws”.
According to Peter Hardy, Maulana Azad believed that, “The Muslim who would separate religion and politics for Muslims is an apostate who works silently”.
The loss of political power in India and the threat posed by a combination of forces to the temporal authority of the caliph, was so worrisome for the leaders of the Muslim community that some of them felt compelled to issue fatwas ‘in favour of migration (hijra)’ from India.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad issued a fatwa which was published in the daily Ahl-e-Hadith of Amritsar on 30 July 1920. In his fatwa he urged Hijrat from India as an alternative to non-cooperation with the British.
Maulana Abdul Bari’s fatwa said, “every Muslim residing here should adopt non-cooperation but if (that is) impossible, should proceed for hijrat”. Maulana Shaukat Ali issued a statement on behalf of the Central Khilafat Committee, “expressing the hope that all dedicated Muslims would stay in India and work for the non-cooperation. Only if it did not succeed would they consider resorting to hijrat”. The impact of the fatwa was electrifying and thousands of Muslims preferred to leave the Dar al harb of India where their religious rights symbolized in the position of the Turkish Caliph was being infringed.
The question of Khilafah was not only a political question but a matter of ‘redemption or damnation’. If Turkey lost her territory, Islam as an ideology, would be in danger. Maulana Shaukat Ali gave voice to this sentiment in his presidential speech in the tenth session of All India Khilafat Conference on 27 December 1923, “So long as one inch of the Jazirat-ul Arab is under non-Muslim influence, a Muslim cannot have peace of Mind”. [The Indian Muslims, Shan Muhammad, Meenakshi Prakashan, 1981, Vol. VII; p.209]
The Islamic obligation of having a Khalifah was underlined by Mohammed Asaf Ali in a letter written to the editor of Comrade on 2 November 1921, “the prestige of Turkey is Synonymous with the prestige of Islam, and the existence of the Ottomon Empire is essential for the secular (i.e. temporal) progress of the Moslem races…Islam as a civilizing force will disappear with the dissolution of the Ottomon empire…If Turkey falls, Islam cannot stand. Turkey is, therefore, the back bone of Islam”. This view point was supported by Maulana Muhammad Ali who averred that such a position also reflected the general opinion of the common Muslim.
The meeting of the Anjuman Moid-ul-Islam held under the aegis of the Firangi Mahal at Lucknow on January 26, 1919 resolved: “That this meeting of the Ulemas of Firangi Mahel, while expressing its firm and sincere devotion to Sultan Mohammed VI, emphatically declares that according to the true doctrines of Islam, none but the present Sultan of Turkey is the rightful Caliph and that Islam never allows the interference of non-Muslims in deciding the question of Caliphate”.
In fact, many scholars at that time like Syed Sulaiman Nadvi emphasised the obligation of the having a Khalifah. Maulana Nadvi states that “..Allama Nasfi, Imam Razi, Qazi Uzud, among other eminent authorities, deal with the subjects exhaustively in their books and should be considered final authorities on the point. An authentic tradition of the Prophet in Sahi Muslim explicitly declares that if a Mussulman dies without acknowledging the Imam of his times he dies the death of a Kafiri”. [The Muslim Outlook, March 1920]
Maulana Muhammed Ali in a speech delivered by him in Paris in 1920: “The Khilafat is the most essential institution of the Muslim community throughout the world. A vast majority of the Muslims in the world recognize the Sultan of Turkey to be the Commander of the Faithful, and the successor of the Khalifa of their prophet. It is an essential part of this doctrine that the Khalifa, the Commander of the Faithfull, should have adequate territories, adequate military and naval resources, adequate financial resources”.
Syed Hussain, who was sharing the podium with Muhammed Ali in the Paris meeting said: “If Islam is to exist in the world, then it is absolutely necessary that Islam should have a Caliphate. That has been the history and tradition of Islam ever since its foundation fourteen hundred years ago”.
Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar also stated: “The ruler of Turkey was the Khalifah or successor of the Prophet and Amir -ul- Mu’mineen or chief of the believers and the Khilafah is as essentially our religious concern as the Quran or the Sunnah of the Prophet." [My Life a Fragment, Mohammed Ali Johar, pg.41]
In fact the Ulema took a leading role in the Khilafat movement. The following are some key points from a declaration made at a conference held for the UIema in India on 5th & 6th April 1920, in which many Ulema attended:
- Point 1 of the declaration: The Ulema must work to establish a public opinion for the issue of Khilafah.
- Point 2: The hypocrite (munafiq) scholars and those scholars against this issue must be boycotted.
- Point 7: The Ulema must obtain an oath from their followers that they will exert their lives and hearts by speaking and writing in support of the issue of Khilafah.
- Point 9: Muslims must keep away from the constitutional elections.
The following are some points from the declaration made at the 2nd All India Conference of Jamiat al Ulema Hind, held on 19 & 20th November 1920 in Delhi also demonstrate their support for the issue of Khilafah:
- The English are the biggest enemy of Islam and the Muslims and to oppose them is Fard.
- Protecting the Ummah and protecting the Khilafah is a pure Islamic need. If brothers in this country help and cooperate for this issue, many thanks to them for this.
Sheikh ul-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Hasan, the head of Dar al-Ulum Deoband who was mentioned earlier was released from prison and returned to Bombay on 20th of Ramadhan 1338 AH, corresponding to June 8th 1920. Upon his return he actively participated in the Khilafat movement. His successor, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani wrote, “After bearing hardships of the prison and exile when Hazrat Shaeikul Hind Rahmatullah Alaih returned to India, we found no change in his spirit to fight the colonial regime and his hatred towards the British. The imposition of martial law in the country, the implementation of the Rawlatt Act and the Jalianawala Bagh massacre within the country, and the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, and the inhuman behaviour with the Turks outside India upset him. The moment he set foot in Bombay, he met Maulana Shaukat Ali and other members of the Khilafat Committee. Maulana Abdul Bari from Firangi Mahal, Lucknow, and Mahatma Ghandi from Ahmedabad came to receive Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan in Bombay. Having talked to them and other leaders of the Khilafat Committee in open and seclusion, Shaikhul Hind too approved the launching of the ‘Non-violence’ movement to liberate India.” [Naqsh-e-Hayat, Vol 2, p.247]
The text of one of the fatwa’s of the Sheikh demonstrates his view of the Khilafah towards co-operating with the colonialists. Even though it was issues in 1920, many of the points he mentioned are still applicable today. He said:
“The enemies of Islam have left no stone unturned to strike against and harm the honour and prestige of Islam. Iraq, Palestine and Syria that were won over by the Prophet’s companions and his followers, after innumerous sacrifices, have once again become the targets of greed of the enemy of Islam. The honour of Khilafat is in tatters. Khalifat-ul-Muslimin (Muslim Caliph), who used to unite the entire community on this planet; who as vice-regent of Allah on this earth used to implement the universal law of Islam; who used to protect the rights and interests of Muslims and who used to preserve and ensure that the glory of the words of the Creator of this universe be preserved and implemented, has been surrounded by the enemies and made redundant…The flag of Islam is flying low today. The soul of Hazrat Abu Ubaidah (RA), Sa’d Bin Abi Waqas (RA), Khalid Bin Walid (RA) and Abu Ayub Ansari (RA) is restless today. Why is it so? It is because Muslims have lost their dignity, their honour and their self-respect. The bravery and religious fervour that was their forte and heritage, they have lost these due to their ignorance and over-indulgence in frivolities.
It is not only that in times of difficulty a Muslim does not help a fellow Muslim, but tragically that the eagerness to earn the goodwill and friendship of a kafir has led a brother to chop the head of his own brother. Muslims have drunk the blood of Muslims. Muslims have dipped their hands in the blood of their own brothers.
O’ the Children of Islam! And O’ the lovers of this great Nation! You know it better than me that the thunder and fire that burnt the tents in Islamic world and put on fire the castle of Islamic Khilafat were derived from the hot blood of Arabs and Indians. And the power of wealth with which the Christians have succeeded in subjugating Muslim nations, a great chunk of it was from your hard labour.
Thus, is there any stupid and thick-headed Muslim who won’t understand the results of cooperation with the Christians? And this too in a situation when a drowning man seeks the help of a haystack and looks for a way out for cooperation that would save him from drowning?” [From the Fatwa of Maulana Mahmood Hassan on 16th Safar 1339 Hijri, corresponding to October 29, 1920, Gregorian year, The Prisoners Of Malta (Asira'n-e-Malta), Maulana Syed Muhammad Mian, Jamiat Ulama -I-Hind, English edition, p. 78-79]
Unlike some amongst the Ulema today who say that politics and Islam are separate, the Ulema at that time realized that they are inextricably linked. Just before the destruction of the Khilafah, the fourth session of Jamiat ul-Ulama Hind was held in Gaya on 24 December 1923. In this session learned scholars and teachers of Islam, assembled from all parts of India, discussed in great detail the question related to the political future of the Muslim community. After exhaustive deliberations, the session came to the unanimous view that politics and religion are inseparable components of Islam.
Seeing the wide influence that the Khilafat movement held even the Hindu, father of the current Indian state, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi joined it and became a member of the Central Khilafat Committee.
However after the destruction of the Khilafah at the hands of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk on 3rd March 1924, the movement died. Many then saw the restoration of the Khilafah as impossibility and started to focus on how to liberate India from British colonialism.
A day after the abolition of Khilafah, Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar said, as reported by the Times newspaper on 4th March 1924, "It is difficult to anticipate the exact effects the ‘abolition’ of Khilafah will have on the minds of Muslims in India. I can safely affirm that it will prove a disaster both to Islam and to civilization. The suppression of the time honoured institution which was, through out the Muslim world, regarded as a symbol of Islamic unity will cause the disintegration of Islam..."
How true his words were, after its abolition the Muslim world has witnessed exactly what he said. Today more than eighty years after its destruction, the Caliphate has again become a buzzword in the media as politicians, thinkers and the leaders of the West fear its return and Muslims yearn for its re-establishment. The president of the United States, George W. Bush said in a news conference in front of the White House on Wednesday, 11th October 2006, “extremists are trying to intimidate rational people in order to topple moderate governments and to extend the caliphate. The stakes couldn't be any higher, as I said earlier, in the world in which we live. There are extreme elements that use religion to achieve objectives. And they want us to leave. And they want to topple government. They want to extend an ideological caliphate that has no concept of liberty inherent in their beliefs.”
The West needs to realise that the Khilafah is an intrinsic part of Islam which instead of condemning they need to understand and will have to engage with in future when it is re-established.
The Muslims of the Indian subcontinent have not forgotten the necessity of the Khilafah. Many groups, scholars and thinkers today are calling for its return even within the sub-continent. This is evident from the call of Hizb ut-Tahrir to Dr. Israr Ahmad’s Tanzeem e-Islami in Pakistan, from Khilafat Andolan and Khilafat Majlis in Bangladesh to the now banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and many others.
The Khilafah will return and its rule will again liberate the Indian sub-continent as is established from the following ahadith about the future as well as others.
Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet (saw) said: "A group of you will conquer India, Allah will open for them [India] until they come with its kings chained - Allah having forgiven their sins - when they return back [from India], they will find Ibn Maryam in Syria." [Na'im b. Hammad in al-Fitan reports that Abu Huraira]
Thawban reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "Two groups of my Ummah Allah has protected from the Hellfire: a group that will conquer India and a group that will be with 'Isa ibnu Maryam" [Ahmad and An-Nisa'i].
May Allah (swt) allow us to participate in the Khilafat Movement of today as our predecessors did in the past.
Abu Ismael al-Beirawi
Ramadhan 1427AH
October 2006
Urdu translation of article - Inpage file
The Arabic translation is in process, it will be posted soon.
Note:
AH = After Hijra (The migration of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) to Madina, the Islamic Calendar is lunar and begins from this date).
CE = Common Era i.e. the normal solar calendar.
This article can be published in magazines, journals, websites, etc. Please accredit the article correctly and I request that you inform me of its publication through posting a comment on my blog.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Free online translation from Arabic to English - Google translate
The following is an excellent site that translates Arabic text into English and vice versa. It also has the option to translate whole websites. Although the translation is not exact, it is still useful especially if you know the subject matter as is the case with Islamic subjects. Check it out:
http://translate.google.com
http://translate.google.com
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Bush attacks concept of Caliphate again
The following is an extract from the news confrerence of President Bush in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday, 11th October in which he attacks the concept of Khilafah (Caliphate).
QUESTION: Senator Warner says Iraq appears to be drifting sideways. And James Baker says a change in strategy may be needed.
Are you willing to acknowledge that a change may be needed?
BUSH: We're constantly changing tactics to achieve a strategic goal. Our strategic goal is a country which can defend itself, sustain itself and govern itself.
The strategic goal is to help this young democracy succeed in a world in which extremists are trying to intimidate rational people in order to topple moderate governments and to extend the caliphate.
The stakes couldn't be any higher, as I said earlier, in the world in which we live. There are extreme elements that use religion to achieve objectives. And they want us to leave. And they want to topple government. They want to extend an ideological caliphate that has no concept of liberty inherent in their beliefs.
They want to control oil resources and they want to plot and plan and attack us again. That's their objectives.
And so -- and our strategic objective is to prevent them from doing that. And we're constantly changing tactics to achieve that objective. And I appreciate Senator Warner going over there and taking a look.
I want you to notice what he did say is: If the plan is now not working, the plan that's in place isn't working, America needs to adjust. I completely agree. That's what I talked to General Casey about.
I said: General, the Baghdad security plan is in its early implementation. I support you strongly but, if you come into this office and say we need to do something differently, I support you. If you need more troops, I support you. If you're going to devise a new strategy, we're with you. Because I trust General Casey to make the judgments necessary to put the tactics in place to help us achieve an objective.
And I appreciate Jimmy Baker's willingness to -- he and Lee Hamilton are putting this -- they got a group they put together that -- I think it was Congressman Wolf's suggestion -- or passed into law.
We supported the idea. I think it's good to have some of our elder statesmen -- I hate to call Baker an elder statesman -- but to go over there and take a look and to come back and make recommendations.
Somebody said he said, "Well, you know, cut-and-run isn't working." That's not our policy.
Our policy is to help this country succeed, because I understand the stakes. And I'm going to repeat them one more time. As a matter of fact, I'm going to spend a lot of time repeating the stakes about what life is like in the Middle East.
It is conceivable that there will be a world in which radical forms -- extreme forms of religion fight each other for influence in the Middle East; in which they've got the capacity to use oil as an economic weapon.
And when you throw into that mix a nuclear weapon in the hands of a sworn enemy of the United States, you begin to see an environment that would cause some later on in history to look back and say, "How come they couldn't see the problem? What happened to them in the year 2006? Why weren't they able to see the problems now and deal with them before it came too late?"
And so Iraq is an important part of dealing with this problem. And my vow to the American people is I understand the stakes, and I understand what it would mean for us to leave before the job is done.
And I look forward to listening to how -- what Jimmy Baker and Lee Hamilton say about how to get the job done.
I appreciate them working on this issue, because I think they understand what I know: The stakes are high.
And the stakes are high when it comes to developing a Palestinian state so that Israel can live at peace.
And the stakes are high when it comes to making sure the young democracy of Lebanon is able to fend off the extremists and radicals that want to crater that democracy.
This is a real challenge of the 21st century. I like to tell people we're in an ideological struggle. And it's a struggle between extremists and radicals and people of moderation who want to simply live a peaceful life.
And the calling of this country and in this century is whether or not we will help the forces of moderation prevail. That's the fundamental question facing the United States of America beyond my presidency.
And you can tell I've made my choice. And I made my choice because the most solemn duty of the American president, in government, is to protect this country from harm.
Source
See also: Bush afraid of Caliphate in Iraq
QUESTION: Senator Warner says Iraq appears to be drifting sideways. And James Baker says a change in strategy may be needed.
Are you willing to acknowledge that a change may be needed?
BUSH: We're constantly changing tactics to achieve a strategic goal. Our strategic goal is a country which can defend itself, sustain itself and govern itself.
The strategic goal is to help this young democracy succeed in a world in which extremists are trying to intimidate rational people in order to topple moderate governments and to extend the caliphate.
The stakes couldn't be any higher, as I said earlier, in the world in which we live. There are extreme elements that use religion to achieve objectives. And they want us to leave. And they want to topple government. They want to extend an ideological caliphate that has no concept of liberty inherent in their beliefs.
They want to control oil resources and they want to plot and plan and attack us again. That's their objectives.
And so -- and our strategic objective is to prevent them from doing that. And we're constantly changing tactics to achieve that objective. And I appreciate Senator Warner going over there and taking a look.
I want you to notice what he did say is: If the plan is now not working, the plan that's in place isn't working, America needs to adjust. I completely agree. That's what I talked to General Casey about.
I said: General, the Baghdad security plan is in its early implementation. I support you strongly but, if you come into this office and say we need to do something differently, I support you. If you need more troops, I support you. If you're going to devise a new strategy, we're with you. Because I trust General Casey to make the judgments necessary to put the tactics in place to help us achieve an objective.
And I appreciate Jimmy Baker's willingness to -- he and Lee Hamilton are putting this -- they got a group they put together that -- I think it was Congressman Wolf's suggestion -- or passed into law.
We supported the idea. I think it's good to have some of our elder statesmen -- I hate to call Baker an elder statesman -- but to go over there and take a look and to come back and make recommendations.
Somebody said he said, "Well, you know, cut-and-run isn't working." That's not our policy.
Our policy is to help this country succeed, because I understand the stakes. And I'm going to repeat them one more time. As a matter of fact, I'm going to spend a lot of time repeating the stakes about what life is like in the Middle East.
It is conceivable that there will be a world in which radical forms -- extreme forms of religion fight each other for influence in the Middle East; in which they've got the capacity to use oil as an economic weapon.
And when you throw into that mix a nuclear weapon in the hands of a sworn enemy of the United States, you begin to see an environment that would cause some later on in history to look back and say, "How come they couldn't see the problem? What happened to them in the year 2006? Why weren't they able to see the problems now and deal with them before it came too late?"
And so Iraq is an important part of dealing with this problem. And my vow to the American people is I understand the stakes, and I understand what it would mean for us to leave before the job is done.
And I look forward to listening to how -- what Jimmy Baker and Lee Hamilton say about how to get the job done.
I appreciate them working on this issue, because I think they understand what I know: The stakes are high.
And the stakes are high when it comes to developing a Palestinian state so that Israel can live at peace.
And the stakes are high when it comes to making sure the young democracy of Lebanon is able to fend off the extremists and radicals that want to crater that democracy.
This is a real challenge of the 21st century. I like to tell people we're in an ideological struggle. And it's a struggle between extremists and radicals and people of moderation who want to simply live a peaceful life.
And the calling of this country and in this century is whether or not we will help the forces of moderation prevail. That's the fundamental question facing the United States of America beyond my presidency.
And you can tell I've made my choice. And I made my choice because the most solemn duty of the American president, in government, is to protect this country from harm.
Source
See also: Bush afraid of Caliphate in Iraq
Those who truly fear Allah are the Ulema...
"…Those truly fear Allah among His servants are those who have knowledge (Ulema). For Allah is Exalted in Might and is Forgiving." [Al-Fatir: 28]
Regarding "…Those truly fear Allah among His servants are those who have knowledge…"
Ibn Kathir stated that, "The more the knowledge of Allah and His (swt) power is complete, the more He (swt) will be feared by those who have the complete knowledge."
Imam Al-Qurtubi said that, "The scholars are those who know the power of Allah (swt). They are in no doubt of his (swt) punishment no mater what the sin is."
It was narrated by Ali ibn abi Talha that Ibn Abbas (ra) said, "The scholars are those who know that Allah is capable of anything."
Al-Rabee narrated that Ibn Abbas (ra) said, "He who dos not fear Allah (and His punishment) is not a scholar."
Ali ibn abi Talib (ra) said, "The true faqih is the one who will not make the people give up or lose hope in Allah’s mercy; an does not belittle disobedience to Allah; and does not make the people feel protected from Allah’s punishment; and does not leave the Qur’an deliberately (when judging) to judge by other than the Qur’an. A worship not based on knowledge has no value. And a knowledge with no understanding has no value. And a recitation without reflection has no value."
"For Allah is Exalted…" i.e. the One who punishes and rewards should be feared.
The amount of Islamic knowledge, however varies from individual to individual. Therefore, some will know more than others and will need to teach those whose knowledge is less. Those who have the knowledge of the Islamic rules are called ulemaa'. While they do not occupy any spiritual position in Islam, they are given more responsibility then others due to the knowledge they posses. They are the ones who teach the Ummah their Deen, help guide them through the problems of life and direct them to the Islamic priorities. Allah (swt) made it clear that His revelation is to be openly declared to all:
"And Allah took the covenant from those who had received the scripture to make it known and clear to mankind and not to hide it" (TMQ 3:187)
He (swt) has warned against hiding the knowledge, which He (swt), has entrusted us with. He
(swt), says:
"Those who hide the proofs and the guidance which We revealed, after We had made it clear in the scripture, on them shall be Allah's curse and the curse of those who are entitled to curse." (TMQ 2:15 9)
Allah's Messenger (saw) informed us of the status and importance of the scholars when he (saw) said, "Whomever Al1ah wants goodness for, he makes him understand the Deen (Islam)." [Al-Bukhari]
He (saw) also said, "The scholars on earth are like the stars in the sky. People are guided by them in the darkness of the land and the sea. If the stars are covered, people would get lost." [Ahmad]
So we are told by the Messenger (saw) himself that scholars play an important role in guiding the Ummah and championing its cause. They are most needed nowadays at a time when Islam is no longer implemented, shirk of legislation is the law of Muslims, division and fragmentation pervade the Ummah, and the Western nations dominate over us. They are desperately needed now to show the Ummah how to re-establish Islam, unite as one body and take control of the international arena. It is the scholars who must lead the Ummah in its struggle against the tyrant rulers who not only insist on implementing western laws on Muslims, enslaving them to imperialist masters, but also imprisoning, torturing and killing those who want to simply live by Islam. The Islamic scholars of the past played such a leading role. They always stood firm and favoured Islam and the well-being of the Muslim Ummah over any other interest, and sometimes even at the expense of their own lives. They feared no one but Allah (swt) and thus they spoke the truth with absolutely no compromise of Islam. This was especially the case when it came to the rulers and how they conducted their affairs.
Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever sees an unjust ruler breaking the prohibition of Allah, breaking His covenant, disagreeing with the Sunnah of the Prophet, committing sins and creating animosity against the servants ofAI1ah, and he does not say or do anything against it, then it is the right of Allah to put him where he belongs (hell)." (reported by At Tabbai in At-Tarikh and Ibn Al-Atheer in AI-Kamel).
Muhammad (saw) also said, "There will be unjust rulers who cause hardship to their people. Whoever went along with their lies and helped them with their injustice, he is not from me nor am I from him, and he will not drink from the Al-Hawd (pond)" (Ahmad, An-Nisa'ii, At-Tirmithi).
The following accounts are examples of how the scholars remained steadfast to Islam and did not remain silent in correcting the rulers of their time. Their love of Allah was far greater than any fear of torture the ruler could administer.
1 - The scholar Imam Sufiyan At-Thawri said "when AI-Mahdi Abu Jaa'far AI-Mansoor (the Khalifah came to Hajj, he asked for me. So [his men] watched the house and took me at night. When I was before him, he sat me close to him. He said, "Why don't you stay close to us where we can consult you in our affair. Whatever you tell us to do, we will comply with it." I [Sufiyan] said to him, "How much did you spend on this trip [for Hajj] of yours." He said, "I don't know. I have trustees and appointees [to take care of these matters]. "I said, "What excuse will you have tomorrow when you stand in front of Allah (swt), and He asks you about it?" (Sufiyan then related the example of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab). Omar Ibn Al-Khattab asked his servant, when he performed Hajj, for how much did he spend on their trip? He said, "O Ameer of the believers, I spent 18 Dinars." Omar said, "We overspent from the Muslims treasury" (Sufiyan then added) You know, Ibn Mas'ood reported that the Prophet said, "A person who spends from the wealth of Allah and His Messenger [extravagantly], will be rewarded hell." One of Abu Ja'faar's aids said (to Sufiyan) "You say this to the Ameer of the believers!?" Safiyan answered him, with the dignity and strength of the believers: "Silent! It is Haman (minister of Pharaoh) who destroyed Pharaoh and Pharaoh destroyed Haman. (Meaning the one who gave advice and the one who should follow the advice destroyed one another when they did not do as they should.)."
2 - Hajeej Az-Zayyat was a scholar at the time of Hajjaj who was a tyrant governor of Iraq. Al-Hajjaj asked him, "What do you think of me?" Az-Zayyat replied, "I say you are one of the enemies of Allah. You break Allah's laws and you kill for mere doubt." Al-Hajjaj asked him, "What do you say about the Ameer of the believers Abdul Malik bin Marwan?" He said, "He is a bigger sinner than you. You are but one of his sins." Al-Hajjaj ordered him to be tortured. They split bamboo sticks and tied his flesh with it. Then they started splitting the sticks tearing his flesh with it. He died shaheed. He was only 18 years old; may Allah (swt) have mercy on him.
3 - Sulayman bin Abdul Malik stopped by Medinah on his way to Mecca. He sent for a scholar named Abu Hazem. Once Abu Hazem entered, Sulayman asked him, "Why do we hate death?" Abu Hazem replied, "Because you ruined your hereafter and took care of your life. So you hate to go from luxury to ruin. Then after giving him sincere advice, Sulayman asked him, "What do you say of me?" Abu Hazem said, "Do not push me to answer." He said, "It is advice. You must tell me." Abu Hazem said, "Your forefathers overpowered the Muslims and took over the ruling position without the Muslims consultation or approval. They also killed a great number of them. You should know their behaviour and what was thought of them. One of the people said, "How could you say this!" Abu Hazim said, "Allah took the covenant from the scholars to explain things to the people and not to hide (true knowledge)"
Imam Malik bin Anas stated: "It is a duty upon every Muslim whom Allah has given some knowledge or fiqh to confront any ruler, command him to do good, forbid him from evil. This differentiates the scholar from others when they approach a ruler. This is the status that is not surpassed."
The reader should compare the positions taken by the scholars of the past against unjust, yet legitimate Khalifahs and governors and those taken by nowadays scholars. Al-Jaahith reported in Al-Byan wat Tabiyeen that Muhammad (saw) was asked, "0 Messenger of AI1ah, who is the worst people?" He replied, "The scholars, if they become corrupt."
Imam Ali is reported to have said, "Two types of people I cannot tolerate are - a scholar who is shameless and an ignorant worshiper. The ignorant worshipper fools the people with his worship and the scholar with his shamelessness."
If these scholars were true Islamic scholars they would show the people by example, standing by the Islamic rule, even if it costs them their lives. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal realised his role as a scholar who is to show the Ummah that the Muslim is to fear none but Allah. He stated, "If the scholar uses Tuqyah (concealment of knowledge for one's own protection) in his answers, the ignorant person does not know, when will the Truth become known!"
These scholars have misled many people, especially those who have taken them as idols without knowing it. While denouncing imitation, they keep repeating what their scholars say, rejecting the tangible. We remind our brothers and sisters of a basic part of our Aqeedah called al-walaa wal- baraa' (allegiance to the believers and its supporters and denouncing the disbelievers and their supporters).
When a ruler rules by Kufr and scholars support him, what is their Islamic verdict? And what is our position vis-à-vis them? 0 Allah, have we conveyed the Message? 0 Allah be our witness!
Imam AI-Ghazali in Ihya'a Uloom id-Deen, volume 7, page 72 said, "This was the way and tradition of the scholars: commanding good and forbidding evil. They cared less for the might of the rulers. They depended on Allah's blessing to protect them and accepted Allah's rule of giving them the Shahadah. When their intentions were pure, their words softened the hard hearts. But now, greed has tied up the scholars tongues and made them quiet. Even if they talk, their speech will help none of the affairs at hand and thus they will fail. Had they told the truth and intended to give knowledge its due right, they would have succeeded. The corruption of the people is due to the corruption of the rulers; the corrupt rulers exist due to the corruption of the scholars (for the scholars are not speaking out against these rulers); and the corruption of the scholars is due to the love of wealth and power.
Whoever is dominated by the love of this world, he is so preoccupied that he is unable to question the general public. If he cannot even question the general public of their duty, then how will he have the capacity and the courage to question the rulers and those in higher positions?"
Regarding "…Those truly fear Allah among His servants are those who have knowledge…"
Ibn Kathir stated that, "The more the knowledge of Allah and His (swt) power is complete, the more He (swt) will be feared by those who have the complete knowledge."
Imam Al-Qurtubi said that, "The scholars are those who know the power of Allah (swt). They are in no doubt of his (swt) punishment no mater what the sin is."
It was narrated by Ali ibn abi Talha that Ibn Abbas (ra) said, "The scholars are those who know that Allah is capable of anything."
Al-Rabee narrated that Ibn Abbas (ra) said, "He who dos not fear Allah (and His punishment) is not a scholar."
Ali ibn abi Talib (ra) said, "The true faqih is the one who will not make the people give up or lose hope in Allah’s mercy; an does not belittle disobedience to Allah; and does not make the people feel protected from Allah’s punishment; and does not leave the Qur’an deliberately (when judging) to judge by other than the Qur’an. A worship not based on knowledge has no value. And a knowledge with no understanding has no value. And a recitation without reflection has no value."
"For Allah is Exalted…" i.e. the One who punishes and rewards should be feared.
The amount of Islamic knowledge, however varies from individual to individual. Therefore, some will know more than others and will need to teach those whose knowledge is less. Those who have the knowledge of the Islamic rules are called ulemaa'. While they do not occupy any spiritual position in Islam, they are given more responsibility then others due to the knowledge they posses. They are the ones who teach the Ummah their Deen, help guide them through the problems of life and direct them to the Islamic priorities. Allah (swt) made it clear that His revelation is to be openly declared to all:
"And Allah took the covenant from those who had received the scripture to make it known and clear to mankind and not to hide it" (TMQ 3:187)
He (swt) has warned against hiding the knowledge, which He (swt), has entrusted us with. He
(swt), says:
"Those who hide the proofs and the guidance which We revealed, after We had made it clear in the scripture, on them shall be Allah's curse and the curse of those who are entitled to curse." (TMQ 2:15 9)
Allah's Messenger (saw) informed us of the status and importance of the scholars when he (saw) said, "Whomever Al1ah wants goodness for, he makes him understand the Deen (Islam)." [Al-Bukhari]
He (saw) also said, "The scholars on earth are like the stars in the sky. People are guided by them in the darkness of the land and the sea. If the stars are covered, people would get lost." [Ahmad]
So we are told by the Messenger (saw) himself that scholars play an important role in guiding the Ummah and championing its cause. They are most needed nowadays at a time when Islam is no longer implemented, shirk of legislation is the law of Muslims, division and fragmentation pervade the Ummah, and the Western nations dominate over us. They are desperately needed now to show the Ummah how to re-establish Islam, unite as one body and take control of the international arena. It is the scholars who must lead the Ummah in its struggle against the tyrant rulers who not only insist on implementing western laws on Muslims, enslaving them to imperialist masters, but also imprisoning, torturing and killing those who want to simply live by Islam. The Islamic scholars of the past played such a leading role. They always stood firm and favoured Islam and the well-being of the Muslim Ummah over any other interest, and sometimes even at the expense of their own lives. They feared no one but Allah (swt) and thus they spoke the truth with absolutely no compromise of Islam. This was especially the case when it came to the rulers and how they conducted their affairs.
Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever sees an unjust ruler breaking the prohibition of Allah, breaking His covenant, disagreeing with the Sunnah of the Prophet, committing sins and creating animosity against the servants ofAI1ah, and he does not say or do anything against it, then it is the right of Allah to put him where he belongs (hell)." (reported by At Tabbai in At-Tarikh and Ibn Al-Atheer in AI-Kamel).
Muhammad (saw) also said, "There will be unjust rulers who cause hardship to their people. Whoever went along with their lies and helped them with their injustice, he is not from me nor am I from him, and he will not drink from the Al-Hawd (pond)" (Ahmad, An-Nisa'ii, At-Tirmithi).
The following accounts are examples of how the scholars remained steadfast to Islam and did not remain silent in correcting the rulers of their time. Their love of Allah was far greater than any fear of torture the ruler could administer.
1 - The scholar Imam Sufiyan At-Thawri said "when AI-Mahdi Abu Jaa'far AI-Mansoor (the Khalifah came to Hajj, he asked for me. So [his men] watched the house and took me at night. When I was before him, he sat me close to him. He said, "Why don't you stay close to us where we can consult you in our affair. Whatever you tell us to do, we will comply with it." I [Sufiyan] said to him, "How much did you spend on this trip [for Hajj] of yours." He said, "I don't know. I have trustees and appointees [to take care of these matters]. "I said, "What excuse will you have tomorrow when you stand in front of Allah (swt), and He asks you about it?" (Sufiyan then related the example of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab). Omar Ibn Al-Khattab asked his servant, when he performed Hajj, for how much did he spend on their trip? He said, "O Ameer of the believers, I spent 18 Dinars." Omar said, "We overspent from the Muslims treasury" (Sufiyan then added) You know, Ibn Mas'ood reported that the Prophet said, "A person who spends from the wealth of Allah and His Messenger [extravagantly], will be rewarded hell." One of Abu Ja'faar's aids said (to Sufiyan) "You say this to the Ameer of the believers!?" Safiyan answered him, with the dignity and strength of the believers: "Silent! It is Haman (minister of Pharaoh) who destroyed Pharaoh and Pharaoh destroyed Haman. (Meaning the one who gave advice and the one who should follow the advice destroyed one another when they did not do as they should.)."
2 - Hajeej Az-Zayyat was a scholar at the time of Hajjaj who was a tyrant governor of Iraq. Al-Hajjaj asked him, "What do you think of me?" Az-Zayyat replied, "I say you are one of the enemies of Allah. You break Allah's laws and you kill for mere doubt." Al-Hajjaj asked him, "What do you say about the Ameer of the believers Abdul Malik bin Marwan?" He said, "He is a bigger sinner than you. You are but one of his sins." Al-Hajjaj ordered him to be tortured. They split bamboo sticks and tied his flesh with it. Then they started splitting the sticks tearing his flesh with it. He died shaheed. He was only 18 years old; may Allah (swt) have mercy on him.
3 - Sulayman bin Abdul Malik stopped by Medinah on his way to Mecca. He sent for a scholar named Abu Hazem. Once Abu Hazem entered, Sulayman asked him, "Why do we hate death?" Abu Hazem replied, "Because you ruined your hereafter and took care of your life. So you hate to go from luxury to ruin. Then after giving him sincere advice, Sulayman asked him, "What do you say of me?" Abu Hazem said, "Do not push me to answer." He said, "It is advice. You must tell me." Abu Hazem said, "Your forefathers overpowered the Muslims and took over the ruling position without the Muslims consultation or approval. They also killed a great number of them. You should know their behaviour and what was thought of them. One of the people said, "How could you say this!" Abu Hazim said, "Allah took the covenant from the scholars to explain things to the people and not to hide (true knowledge)"
Imam Malik bin Anas stated: "It is a duty upon every Muslim whom Allah has given some knowledge or fiqh to confront any ruler, command him to do good, forbid him from evil. This differentiates the scholar from others when they approach a ruler. This is the status that is not surpassed."
The reader should compare the positions taken by the scholars of the past against unjust, yet legitimate Khalifahs and governors and those taken by nowadays scholars. Al-Jaahith reported in Al-Byan wat Tabiyeen that Muhammad (saw) was asked, "0 Messenger of AI1ah, who is the worst people?" He replied, "The scholars, if they become corrupt."
Imam Ali is reported to have said, "Two types of people I cannot tolerate are - a scholar who is shameless and an ignorant worshiper. The ignorant worshipper fools the people with his worship and the scholar with his shamelessness."
If these scholars were true Islamic scholars they would show the people by example, standing by the Islamic rule, even if it costs them their lives. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal realised his role as a scholar who is to show the Ummah that the Muslim is to fear none but Allah. He stated, "If the scholar uses Tuqyah (concealment of knowledge for one's own protection) in his answers, the ignorant person does not know, when will the Truth become known!"
These scholars have misled many people, especially those who have taken them as idols without knowing it. While denouncing imitation, they keep repeating what their scholars say, rejecting the tangible. We remind our brothers and sisters of a basic part of our Aqeedah called al-walaa wal- baraa' (allegiance to the believers and its supporters and denouncing the disbelievers and their supporters).
When a ruler rules by Kufr and scholars support him, what is their Islamic verdict? And what is our position vis-à-vis them? 0 Allah, have we conveyed the Message? 0 Allah be our witness!
Imam AI-Ghazali in Ihya'a Uloom id-Deen, volume 7, page 72 said, "This was the way and tradition of the scholars: commanding good and forbidding evil. They cared less for the might of the rulers. They depended on Allah's blessing to protect them and accepted Allah's rule of giving them the Shahadah. When their intentions were pure, their words softened the hard hearts. But now, greed has tied up the scholars tongues and made them quiet. Even if they talk, their speech will help none of the affairs at hand and thus they will fail. Had they told the truth and intended to give knowledge its due right, they would have succeeded. The corruption of the people is due to the corruption of the rulers; the corrupt rulers exist due to the corruption of the scholars (for the scholars are not speaking out against these rulers); and the corruption of the scholars is due to the love of wealth and power.
Whoever is dominated by the love of this world, he is so preoccupied that he is unable to question the general public. If he cannot even question the general public of their duty, then how will he have the capacity and the courage to question the rulers and those in higher positions?"
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Through his statement Musharraf has confirmed American allegations of infiltration into Afghanistan
Musharraf’s statement that he has received reports that points to the possibility of certain retired ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) officers aiding Taliban, amounts to an explicit confirmation of American and Afghani allegations of Pakistan’s infiltration and interference in Afghanistan. Hence by authenticating American accusations, Musharraf has once again exposed his true face. If we assume that Musharraf’s statement did actually has some truth attached to it even then there is no possible rational explanation as to why it was felt necessary to confess on American national media? After all what national interest will be served through this blunder? Consequently the American government and its media will further increase pressure on Pakistan; basing their arguments on this very statement. And under the pretext of this so-called American pressure Musharraf will once again portray himself as “helpless” and “coerced” (Majboor) to detain retired and serving officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Musharraf’s treachery has become so open and has reached to such a blatantly absurd level that he cannot offer a single logical argument to justify his actions except repeating the mantra of “compulsion” (Mujboori). Hence after passing through Wana, the crusade that was waged in Afghanistan under the guise of “Pakistan first” will be extended to the whole of Pakistan. But unfortunately, in this battle − unlike Iraq and Afghanistan − not a single American soldier will be killed since, thanks to Musharraf, Pakistan’s armed forces, intelligence agencies and police will be the one conducting these operations. Moreover, this battle will not be just between administration and the people of Pakistan but it is feared that it will be a war among different institutions of the state. Musharraf’s current statement, like his previous statements, is precisely according to his policy of ‘waving the red rag to a bull’. This policy is also the central theme of Musharraf current book. This book is more of a charge-sheet against Pakistan and less of an autobiography of Musharraf. Globally, the book presents Pakistan’s distorted image as a country, which is the largest nuclear proliferator in the world as well as a country that is the biggest source of extremism and terrorism, which the West should be very cautious about. To make Pakistan a future target, these two charges were very essentials whose confession has been extracted from none other than the chief of the army staff and the president of the country himself. Pakistan is the strongest Muslim country in the Muslim Ummah and America fears that in the near future if the Khilafah is established here it will pose a major threat to the American hegemony. That is why America is wagging an intense criminal propaganda against Pakistan before the establishment of the Khilafah and Musharraf is her most important pawn in this project. O people of powerful and authority! Would you continue to permit this traitor to seriously harm the interest of Pakistan and the Muslims? Hasn’t the time come yet that you establish the Khilafah to liberate the Muslims from the slavery of the West and guide them to the honor and triumph they deserve?
Naveed Butt, Pakistan
2nd Oct, 2006
Naveed Butt, Pakistan
2nd Oct, 2006
Monday, October 9, 2006
Q&A: Mongol invasion, Ibn Taymiyyah's fatwa & the Khilafah
The following is a translation from arabic.
Question: Can you explain the fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah, with respect to fighting the invading Tartars, and his proclamation of Jihad against them? There are some who argue, that from this fatwa we can deduce that this is the methodology to establish the Khilafah, as the Khaleefah was reappointed after this Jihad? Also that there was no need for the Khaleefah to be present to fight the Jihad? Also the hadith “There will always be party (‘asaabah) from my Ummah who will fight according to the command of Allah, defeating their enemies. They will not be harmed by those who go against them until the Final Hour reaches them while they are upon that.”, can it not be argued that this applied to ibn Taymiyyah and the Muslims who fought alongside him against the Tartars?
Answer: The fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah is correct in terms of its subject, which was to fight the Tatars who attacked the Muslims since jihad in this situation was an individual obligation (farD ‘ayn). It was obligatory on the Islamic Ummah to fight the kuffar to eliminate and expel them from the lands of the Muslims. Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) was from the distinguished ‘Ulamah who encouraged the Muslims to fight. He was at the forefront of the Ulamah and the Muslims. He held position that was grave and well known regarding the fighting of the Tatars.
As for what the question mentioned in terms of the deductions and comments regarding this, they are not correct for the following reasons:
Firstly: the question mentioned that the Muslims fought even though there was no Khaleefah since the Tatar had killed the Khaleefah in Muharram 656 AH when they ransacked Baghdad. Then the question mentions also that if the Muslims had not fought under the pretext that there was no Khaleefah then they would have been destroyed and wiped off from the face of the earth.
Who said Jihad cannot take place except when there is a Khaleefah and it is fought under him? Jihad continues under the leadership of any Ameer whether he is pious or not as mentioned in the noble hadeeth. Thus jihad is undertaken under the leadership of any Muslim ruler whether he is Khaleefah or not as long as the fighting is against the kuffar. So any Muslim ruler who mobilizes the army to fight the kuffar such fighting is correct. It is well known that the Islamic lands had walis and the wali is a ruler. When the Khaleefah was killed the walis were present. And with their armies they opposed the Tatars. This took place in the wilayah of Sham during the time of Ibn Taymiyyah. It also took place in the wilayah of Egypt during the time of ‘Izz b. Abd as-Salam when the Tatar were defeated at the battle of ‘Ayn Jalut. So the Muslims were fighting and the armies were fighting. And there were walis present in the respective wilayaahs.
This is in regard to Jihad generally and mobilization of the armies to fight whether there is a Khaleefah or not. As for when the lands of the Muslims are attacked by the kuffar, it is incumbent on every person who is able to bear weapons to fight the aggressor and repel his aggression. This does not require the permission of the ruler to fight, even the woman can go out to fight without the permission of her husband and the servant can go out without the permission of his master.
Second: the question mentioned also that the Muslims reestablished the Khilafah by fighting and they established a new Khaleefah. The questioner wishes to say that the method to reestablish the Khilafah today is through fighting.
The reality of what happened is not like this. Rather when the Khaleefah was killed Muslims had walis. The Muslims together with their walis were looking to find who had survived from Banu al-‘Abbas so that they can give bay’ah to one of them. In the same year in which the Khaleefah was killed, some of Banu Al-Abbas were able arrive at Egypt which was the strongest wilayah in the Muslim lands at that time. One of them took an army and returned wishing to restore the Khilafah to Baghdad, but he was not able to do so. Many were killed and the leader of the army did not return to Egypt.
The Muslims continued to search for someone from Banu al-Abbas for whom they can give the pledge of the Khilafah. The situation continued until Rajab 659 AH when one person from Banu al-‘Abbas from the relatives of Khaleefah al-Mu’tasim billah whom the Tartars killed, reached Cairo, where a council of governors (walis) was held in the presence of the Ulama, and after they had checked his lineage and ability they gave him the Bay’ah of Khilafah. The Khilafah remained in Cairo since that time for 300 years until it transferred to the Ottoman Sultan Saleem and the seat of the Khilafah moved to Istanbul.
Thus, the Muslims did not fight the Tatar in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah to reestablish the Khilafah. They fought the Tatars who were advancing on the Muslim lands. This is clear. The Khialafah was not established in Sham but in Cairo. Also, the reality of the interruption to the Khilafah those days is not the same as today. The Muslims in those days had walis ruling them by Islam. So the land was dar al-Islam. They used to give obedience to Banu al-‘Abbas and they were looking for someone who had survived from them in order to appoint him as Khaleefah, and this is what happened on Rajab 659 AH. They used to consider the Khilafah as continuing among the Abbasids.
As for today, the land is one of daar ul-Kufr. The Khilafah has been destroyed and it ceases to exist. The reality of its reestablishment is like the reality of establishing the state in Madinah al-Munawwarah. The method should be the same method through which the Messenger (saw) established the state in Madinah ie via the Ummah by seeking the Nusrah (help) from the strongest faction from the Ummah.
As for the hadeeth of the chosen group that Muslim has narrated: There will always be party (‘asaabah) from my Ummah who will fight according to the command of Allah, defeating their enemies. They will not be harmed by those who go against them until the Final Hour reaches them while they are upon that.’ And in the narration: ‘Victorious over those who oppose them’. Bukhari narrates it with close wording.
This hadith is applicable to any group that is able, in terms of numbers and preparation, to fight the enemy. The purpose of the fighting is to achieve the victory, vanquish the enemy and be dominant over it. It is not a group which merely fights but it is a fighting group which has been described by the Messenger (saw) as: ‘vanquishing their enemies’ and in another narration: victorious over those who oppose them.’ So the group must be in a situation of means and number that enables it to achieve the victory and vanquish the enemy and become dominant over it. Or the group must work to establish the state that is able to achieve the victory, vanquish the enemy and become dominant over it.
The hadith applies to the Muslims those who fought the Persians and the Romans in the time of the Islamic state and the Muslims who fought the crusaders and finished them off in the time of Salah ud-din and the Muslims of Sham and Egypt who fought the Tatar and defeated them in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah and Izz b. ‘Abd us-Salam. It also applies to us today because we are working to establish the state that will be able to fight the enemy, vanquish it, achieve the victory and gain dominance. This is what most likely can be understood from the aforementioned hadith.
It is worth mentioning that the saying of the Messenger (saw) ‘There will always be..’ [laa tazaalu] does not mean the Muslim group which fights the enemy, defeats them, and achieves victory over them continues through the years, rather it means it is present in most of the times and ages. The interruption of its existence will be for some periods, which when compared to the age of nations it will be short. We pray to Allah (swt) that the establishment of the state that will fight the enemy, vanquish it and defeat it will not be delayed. Verily, Allah is All- Powerful, Irresistible.
Question: Can you explain the fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah, with respect to fighting the invading Tartars, and his proclamation of Jihad against them? There are some who argue, that from this fatwa we can deduce that this is the methodology to establish the Khilafah, as the Khaleefah was reappointed after this Jihad? Also that there was no need for the Khaleefah to be present to fight the Jihad? Also the hadith “There will always be party (‘asaabah) from my Ummah who will fight according to the command of Allah, defeating their enemies. They will not be harmed by those who go against them until the Final Hour reaches them while they are upon that.”, can it not be argued that this applied to ibn Taymiyyah and the Muslims who fought alongside him against the Tartars?
Answer: The fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah is correct in terms of its subject, which was to fight the Tatars who attacked the Muslims since jihad in this situation was an individual obligation (farD ‘ayn). It was obligatory on the Islamic Ummah to fight the kuffar to eliminate and expel them from the lands of the Muslims. Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) was from the distinguished ‘Ulamah who encouraged the Muslims to fight. He was at the forefront of the Ulamah and the Muslims. He held position that was grave and well known regarding the fighting of the Tatars.
As for what the question mentioned in terms of the deductions and comments regarding this, they are not correct for the following reasons:
Firstly: the question mentioned that the Muslims fought even though there was no Khaleefah since the Tatar had killed the Khaleefah in Muharram 656 AH when they ransacked Baghdad. Then the question mentions also that if the Muslims had not fought under the pretext that there was no Khaleefah then they would have been destroyed and wiped off from the face of the earth.
Who said Jihad cannot take place except when there is a Khaleefah and it is fought under him? Jihad continues under the leadership of any Ameer whether he is pious or not as mentioned in the noble hadeeth. Thus jihad is undertaken under the leadership of any Muslim ruler whether he is Khaleefah or not as long as the fighting is against the kuffar. So any Muslim ruler who mobilizes the army to fight the kuffar such fighting is correct. It is well known that the Islamic lands had walis and the wali is a ruler. When the Khaleefah was killed the walis were present. And with their armies they opposed the Tatars. This took place in the wilayah of Sham during the time of Ibn Taymiyyah. It also took place in the wilayah of Egypt during the time of ‘Izz b. Abd as-Salam when the Tatar were defeated at the battle of ‘Ayn Jalut. So the Muslims were fighting and the armies were fighting. And there were walis present in the respective wilayaahs.
This is in regard to Jihad generally and mobilization of the armies to fight whether there is a Khaleefah or not. As for when the lands of the Muslims are attacked by the kuffar, it is incumbent on every person who is able to bear weapons to fight the aggressor and repel his aggression. This does not require the permission of the ruler to fight, even the woman can go out to fight without the permission of her husband and the servant can go out without the permission of his master.
Second: the question mentioned also that the Muslims reestablished the Khilafah by fighting and they established a new Khaleefah. The questioner wishes to say that the method to reestablish the Khilafah today is through fighting.
The reality of what happened is not like this. Rather when the Khaleefah was killed Muslims had walis. The Muslims together with their walis were looking to find who had survived from Banu al-‘Abbas so that they can give bay’ah to one of them. In the same year in which the Khaleefah was killed, some of Banu Al-Abbas were able arrive at Egypt which was the strongest wilayah in the Muslim lands at that time. One of them took an army and returned wishing to restore the Khilafah to Baghdad, but he was not able to do so. Many were killed and the leader of the army did not return to Egypt.
The Muslims continued to search for someone from Banu al-Abbas for whom they can give the pledge of the Khilafah. The situation continued until Rajab 659 AH when one person from Banu al-‘Abbas from the relatives of Khaleefah al-Mu’tasim billah whom the Tartars killed, reached Cairo, where a council of governors (walis) was held in the presence of the Ulama, and after they had checked his lineage and ability they gave him the Bay’ah of Khilafah. The Khilafah remained in Cairo since that time for 300 years until it transferred to the Ottoman Sultan Saleem and the seat of the Khilafah moved to Istanbul.
Thus, the Muslims did not fight the Tatar in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah to reestablish the Khilafah. They fought the Tatars who were advancing on the Muslim lands. This is clear. The Khialafah was not established in Sham but in Cairo. Also, the reality of the interruption to the Khilafah those days is not the same as today. The Muslims in those days had walis ruling them by Islam. So the land was dar al-Islam. They used to give obedience to Banu al-‘Abbas and they were looking for someone who had survived from them in order to appoint him as Khaleefah, and this is what happened on Rajab 659 AH. They used to consider the Khilafah as continuing among the Abbasids.
As for today, the land is one of daar ul-Kufr. The Khilafah has been destroyed and it ceases to exist. The reality of its reestablishment is like the reality of establishing the state in Madinah al-Munawwarah. The method should be the same method through which the Messenger (saw) established the state in Madinah ie via the Ummah by seeking the Nusrah (help) from the strongest faction from the Ummah.
As for the hadeeth of the chosen group that Muslim has narrated: There will always be party (‘asaabah) from my Ummah who will fight according to the command of Allah, defeating their enemies. They will not be harmed by those who go against them until the Final Hour reaches them while they are upon that.’ And in the narration: ‘Victorious over those who oppose them’. Bukhari narrates it with close wording.
This hadith is applicable to any group that is able, in terms of numbers and preparation, to fight the enemy. The purpose of the fighting is to achieve the victory, vanquish the enemy and be dominant over it. It is not a group which merely fights but it is a fighting group which has been described by the Messenger (saw) as: ‘vanquishing their enemies’ and in another narration: victorious over those who oppose them.’ So the group must be in a situation of means and number that enables it to achieve the victory and vanquish the enemy and become dominant over it. Or the group must work to establish the state that is able to achieve the victory, vanquish the enemy and become dominant over it.
The hadith applies to the Muslims those who fought the Persians and the Romans in the time of the Islamic state and the Muslims who fought the crusaders and finished them off in the time of Salah ud-din and the Muslims of Sham and Egypt who fought the Tatar and defeated them in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah and Izz b. ‘Abd us-Salam. It also applies to us today because we are working to establish the state that will be able to fight the enemy, vanquish it, achieve the victory and gain dominance. This is what most likely can be understood from the aforementioned hadith.
It is worth mentioning that the saying of the Messenger (saw) ‘There will always be..’ [laa tazaalu] does not mean the Muslim group which fights the enemy, defeats them, and achieves victory over them continues through the years, rather it means it is present in most of the times and ages. The interruption of its existence will be for some periods, which when compared to the age of nations it will be short. We pray to Allah (swt) that the establishment of the state that will fight the enemy, vanquish it and defeat it will not be delayed. Verily, Allah is All- Powerful, Irresistible.
The Development of Fiqh
Adapted from Chapter of Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah (The Islamic Personality) Volume 1 by Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani
Fiqh is one of the most important Islamic disciplines having the greatest effect on society. It is one of the most important branches of the Islamic culture. That is because the Islamic culture is the Kitab and Sunnah and whatever is relied upon and laid down in order to understand the Kitab and Sunnah. Even though the Islamic culture includes sciences of the Arabic language, hadith and tafseer, the most prominent thing that appears from it are the thoughts which relate to the viewpoint about life and the solutions which treat the problems of life. In other words, it appears in the beliefs ('aqaid) and Shari'a rules because they are a practical culture adopted to face life’s problems which, in most cases, contains thoughts about beliefs and solutions i.e. the rules. Fiqh is nothing other than the knowledge of these rules.
The Islamic culture and the learning of Shari'a rules began from the time the Messenger (saw) was sent. The Messenger (saw) was the only reference point for the shari'a rules, because he was sent to teach people Allah's deen. He (swt) said:
“O Messenger (saw)! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message.”[TMQ 5:67]
He (swt) said:
“And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad[saw]) the reminder and the advice (the Quran), that you may explain clearly to them.” [TMQ 16:44]
With the exception of the Messenger (saw), no Muslim has the right to independently put forward an opinion regarding any viewpoint or ruling. Due to the Messenger's (saw) presence among the Muslims at his time, referring to him regarding anything they came across was easy. However, it was not permitted for any of them to give his own opinion regarding any event. That is why, when they came across an event or a dispute arose or one of them had an idea, they would refer to the Messenger (saw). And he (saw) would give an opinion, settle their disputes and answer their questions, sometimes with an ayah and sometimes with a hadith. As for what has been reported that certain Sahaba exercised ijtihad in the time of the Messenger (saw) and pronounced judgments according to their own ijtihad in certain disputes or that they deduced, through their own ijtihad, the rule regarding certain events. This does not make these ijtihads a source for shari'a rules. Rather they constitute an understanding of the Shari'a, in accordance with the order of the Messenger (saw). They constitute the application of the Shari'a, relying on the Kitab and Sunnah as understood by those mujtahidin. This is demonstrated by the circumstance in which these ijtihads took place. It has been reported that the Prophet (saw) sent 'Ali b. Abi Talib (r.a.) to Yemen as a judge. He (saw) told him: “May Allah guide your heart and affirm your tongue. When two disputants sit before you, do not pronounce judgment until you have listened to the latter just as you did with the former. It is more proper (for you to does this) so that the judgment becomes manifest to you.”
It has been reported that the Prophet (saw) sent Mu'az b. Jabal to Yemen and he (saw) said to him: “With what will you judge when you come upon a judgment which you do not find in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger. What judgment will you give?” Mu'az said: 'I will exercise my own ijtihad.’ The Messenger (saw) said: “'Praise be to Allah who has made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to accord with what Allah and His Messenger are pleased with.” [Ahmad: 5/230, Abu Dawud:3592, at-Tirmizi:1327]
It is reported that some people were disputing over a hut between themselves. So Hudhayfa was sent to judge between them. And he (saw) said to 'Amr b. al-'As: “You give judgement for this issue.” So 'Amr said: Shall I exercise ijtihad while you are present? He (saw) said: “Yes. If you are right you will get two rewards and if you make a mistake you will get one.”
All of these reports and other such examples indicate that the ijtihadats taking place in the days of the Messenger (saw), from the Muslims in his time, were in accordance with his order. Therefore, he was their source. Thus, the time of the Messenger (saw) was a time in which the source of the entire Islamic culture existed. That continued ever since he was sent until his death, within a period of time not exceeding twenty two years and a few months, in which the whole Quran was revealed and the sublime Sunnah was made complete. They are the only texts considered as the source of thoughts, rules and culture in Islam.
With the death of the Messenger (saw), in the eleventh year of the Hijra, began the age of the Sahaba. It is an age of tafseer, opening of the doors of deduction (istinbat) for issues that did not possess a (clear) text. The Sahaba saw that not all of the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah were disseminated widely amongst the people such that they are accessible to each and every person. Because the texts of the Quran were written down on special parchments preserved in the house of the Messenger (saw) and preserved in the houses of certain Sahaba. And the Sunnah had not been written down yet. They saw that the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah legislated rules for events and issues which took place at the time of legislation. Rules were not legislated for events and issues that had only a possibility of taking place. Events and issues took place and needs arose amidst the Muslims which did not take place during the time of the Messenger (saw). There were no clear texts for the problems arising later which would state their ruling. Likewise, they saw that not every Muslim was qualified to refer to the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah for himself and understand the ruling indicated by them. Since the masses cannot understand the texts except by means of someone who will make them understand the rules of Islam. Therefore, they realised that it was incumbent on them to disseminate the Noble Quran and the hadiths of the Messenger (saw) among the Muslims. So, they undertook the responsibility of compiling the Quran and from this compilation they made many copies which they circulated amongst the Muslims. And they took precautions ensuring the trustworthiness of the narration of the Sunnah and the trust in the scrutiny of the narrators. They also realised that it was incumbent on them to demonstrate to the Muslims the necessary clarification and explanation of the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah. So they began to teach people the deen. Then they took the view that they should provide people with legal verdicts for the events and issues happening to them for which there was no (clear) text. Thus, they began to deduce rules which were necessary for the issues that took place. Due to this they undertook the obligation of the deen in the best manner possible.
The methodology according to which the Sahaba proceeded in the Shari'a rules is that when they found a text (nass) in the Quran or Sunnah which indicates the ruling on an incident that has happened, they stopped at the limit of this text, and they confined their efforts to understanding the text and becoming acquainted with what is intended in it, in order to attain its correct application on the reality. If they did not find a text in the Quran and the Sunnah indicating the ruling on incidents that they are confronted with, they made ijtihad to deduce its ruling. In their ijtihad they used to rely on their own understanding of the texts of the Shari'a, and their knowledge of the Shari'a that they obtained from directly speaking to the Messenger (saw) and witnessing the revelation of the verses and their application on incidents. By studying the incidents for which they made ijtihad, one notices that they used to make analogy between (an incident) which had a text with one that did not have a text, and they used to consider the acquisition of a benefit (maslaha) and repulsion of a harm (mafsada) as an 'illah (legal cause) for rulings. And they used to consider the benefit (maslaha) indicated by the Shari'a as the true benefit (maslaha). They used to make analogy between the benefit (maslaha) (for which no text was mentioned) with a benefit for which a text was mentioned. They did not hold their own opinion about a maslaha (benefit) because holding an opinion (which is from oneself) is forbidden. The historians, muhaddithun and fuqaha (jurists) transmitted many ijtihadats of the Sahaba. By studying these ijtihadats the extent of their adherence to the Shari'a and the extent of their advancement in understanding the Shari'a becomes clear. A story was brought to the attention of Umar, about a man who was killed by his stepmother and her lover. 'Umar hesitated: are many people to be killed for the murder of one person? 'Ali said to him: What do you think if a group participated in the theft of a slaughter camel. So this one took a part and that one took another part. Would you cut their hands? He said: Yes. Ali said: well it is the same thing. So Umar acted upon Ali's opinion and wrote to his 'Amil: ‘kill them both for if the whole population of San'aa participated I would have had them killed’.
And when they disagreed about the question of joint share, when a woman died leaving a husband, mother, uterine brothers and full brothers. Umar used to give the husband half, the mother a sixth, and the uterine brothers a third. So nothing remained for the full brothers. It was said to him: Suppose our father was a donkey. Are we not from one mother? So he changed his view and gave them a share. They used to acquaint themselves with the maslaha (benefit) for which the text came, if it was understood from the text. Another example is when Allah (swt) said:
“As-sadaqat (zakat) are only for the Fuqara (poor), and al-masakin (needy) and those employed to collect (the funds); and for to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam).” [TMQ 9:60]
So Allah made those whose hearts have been reconciled to Islam a source of expenditure from the sources of zakat. It has been established that the Prophet (saw) used to give money to people whose hearts had been reconciled to Islam. After the death of the Messenger (saw) it is narrated about 'Umar that he forbade the payment of those whose hearts had been reconciled (al-mu'allaftu qulubuhum). He told them: ‘Allah has made Islam strong and so Islam has no need of you, either you stick to Islam or else between you and us is the sword.’ 'Umar was of the view that the inclining of hearts towards Islam was there because the state was weak because the expression 'reconciling hearts' (ta'leeful al-qulub) indicates this. For when are hearts reconciled except when you are in a state of need? Umar took the opinion that the need to reconcile hearts ended when Islam became strong. And without the need to reconcile hearts the 'illah (legal cause) is not applicable, due to this the hukm also is not applicable.
The Sahaba used to investigate and ask the people about the Shari'a texts regarding matters they did not know. And they (may Allah be pleased with them) used to be all gathered together in the Hijaz, discussing the Kitab and Sunnah. If in the Kitab and Sunnah they did not find a hukm for the issue they are looking for, they would ask Muslims if anyone of them knows that the Messenger of Allah (saw) passed a judgement for this issue. That is why they used to refer to each other and get together to discuss its issue and give an opinion for it. Abu Bakr and 'Umar used to deduce rules and refer to the people. Al-Baghawi has narrated in his Masabih al-Sunnah: “When a dispute was reported to Abu Bakr he used to look into the Book of Allah. If he found something to judge between them, he gave that judgement. And if it is not found in the Book. And he knew a sunnah from the Messenger of Allah regarding that matter, he would give judgement by it. Failing that he would go out and ask the Muslims; such and such matter has come to me, do you know of any judgement given by the Messenger of Allah (saw) pertaining to this?' Probably the whole group would agree mentioning a judgment by the Messenger of Allah (saw). Abu Bakr would say: 'Praise be to Allah Who has made people amongst us memorise (issues) concerning our Prophet (saw).' If he failed to find a sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw) he gathered the heads of people and the best amongst them and consulted them. If they had a consensus on a matter he would judge with that. It has been reported that 'Umar used to consult the Sahaba despite his knowledge of fiqh. To the point when an incident would be referred to him he would say: Call 'Ali for me, call Zayd. He used to consult them and settle the dispute with whatever they were agreed upon. Due to the Sahaba referring to each other, differences of opinion between them were rare because each Sahabi expressed to another Sahabi his own perspective and the evidences he educed. Their view on the whole was true and correct and each one referred to each other. And even though their views differed in certain rules, but their differences were rare and it was in understanding and not in the method of understanding.
When the conquests expanded and the Sahaba became separated in various cities and it became difficult for those Sahaba to meet, every time an incident presented itself which had not text. Each Sahaba gave his own opinion without expressing it to others or referring to others due to the difficulty of meeting, since the cities were distant from each other. And also due to the need to give an opinion on an incident occurring in the city in order to give judgement by it. In every Muslim city there was one or more Sahaba. They were the reference point for rulings. They used to deduce rules which had no text and assume the task of clarifying and explaining the text just as they took the responsibility of teaching the people the Kitab and Sunnah. The Sunnah had still not been written down, therefore the opinions of Sahaba differed about a single incident and each one had an evidence for the opinion he had educed and gave legal verdicts with. However, all of these opinions were Shari'a rules and were acceptable to all of them, since their disagreement was only in their understanding. As for their method of ijtihad, it was one. Which is to consider the text of the Quran and hadith and examine the texts, and insure that the accredited maslahas (benefit) are the ones only indicated by the Shari'a, and make analogy to issues and maslahas. The unity of the methodology in ijtihad did not allow the difference in understanding to have any effect. On the contrary, it was one of the reasons for the growth and expansion of fiqh. Their legal verdicts (fatwas) were according to the incidents and issues that took place. The range of their disagreement did not widen and nor did it overstep the furu' (branches of fiqh). The disagreement of the Sahaba in furu' is attributable to two reasons:
First: That most of the texts of the Quran and Sunnah are not definite in indicating what is meant rather they are of speculative meaning (zanniyya al-dalala). Also, they are liable to indicate this or that meaning due to the text sharing two or more linguistic meanings or the text being general such that it is open to specification. Each Mujtahid attempted to understand the text according to what was preponderant from the qara'in (indications).
Second: The Sunnah had not yet been recorded in written form. There was no unanimity on the body of hadith which had spread among Muslims so as to be a common reference. Rather, the hadith was circulated via transmission and memory. Perhaps a mujtahid in Egypt knew a hadith but a mujtahid in Damascus did not know it. Many a time certain mujtahidin would retract from another mujtahid's fatwa when they came to know that someone else knew of a Sunnah that they did not know. This led to disagreements in furu' (branches of fiqh) but the evidences and principles concerning them did not differ, therefore their method of ijtihad did not differ.
In short, the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them) were scholars of the Shari'a. They learnt the Quran and acquired the hadith. And took it upon themselves to implement the rules of Islam by mixing with the one responsible for the Message, our master Muhammad (peace and blessings on him). They used to rule the people, judge between them and teach them their deen. They used to be a light for the inhabitants of the country who lived there and trustees of the Shari'a, and in calling people to Islam they were true believers. Reciting the Quran to people and teaching them the laws and rules. In teaching people Islam they use to follow a practical course. So they taught the people the Islam and its rules and the method by which they would benefit in solving the problems of life with those rules. They were rulers and at the same time they were teachers. The people approached the Sahaba and receiving the culture from them, taking Islam and understanding the rules. The opinions in ahkam that they clarified were termed as 'legal verdicts' (fatawa). The fatwa of about one hundred and thirty companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw) (among which there are men and women) have been preserved. There were seven out of these who were the most knowledgeable and gave the most opinions. They have been called the al-mukaththirun (those who were prolific in giving opinions). And they are: 'Umar, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, 'A'isha, Zayd b. Thabit, Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn 'Umar. The Khalifahs, Walis and the rest of the rulers were fuqaha in ahkam, scholars of the Shari'a and busy with fatwa. That is why Islam was embodied in them. Their minds were filled with its culture and their thoughts originated from this culture. They are the ones who implemented these orders, prohibition and rules. So the Khalifah and the Wali were the same people who thought, acted, understood and ruled. That is why their actions used to be correct, and their affairs were on the right path, and their lives were elevated, and their manner of speaking with the people was honest, and their rules adherent to the path of Islam with extreme precision. A group from the Tabi'un stuck to the Sahaba and learnt Quran from them, reported the Sunnah from them, memorised their legal verdicts and their methods of deduction of ahkam. There were those who used to give legal verdicts in the lifetime of the Sahaba like Said b. al-Musayyab in Madinah and Said b. Jubayr in Kufa. Thus, we find after all the Sahaba had gone, the Tabi'un succeeded them in fiqh and istinbat (inference of rules). They used to deduce rules according to their own ijtihad. They used to first look to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw), if they did not find anything there they would study the fatwa (legal verdicts) of the Sahaba. They used to have opinions concerning the Fatwas of Sahaba from a jurisprudential perspective and they used to outweigh one statement over another. They used to take the opinions of some of them or they might even differ with the Sahaba. The Tabiuns method of inferring rules was the same method of the Sahaba. That is why their fatwas were according to the incidents and issues that took place without the presence of any assumptions. Rather it is according to the incident that you will find the fatwas. The range of disagreement did not become wide between them and nor did the reasons for disagreement on which the Sahaba disagreed overstep the mark, which used to relate to the understanding of the text and not to the Shari'a evidences. Therefore, there were no disagreements amongst Muslims which effected life.
The effect of disputes and debates on Islamic jurisprudence
Two events took place during the time of the Sahaba: The first is the civil war (fitna) regarding 'Uthman. And the second is the debates which took place between the 'Ulama. This resulted in disagreements over the types of Shari'a evidences, which led to the presence of new political groups, which in turn led to the presence of various juristical schools of thought. That is because after 'Uthman (r.a.) was murdered and the bay'a (pledge) of the Khilafah was given to 'Ali b. Abi Talib with whom Mu'awiyya b. Abu Sufyan disputed, and war broke out between the two factions and ended with the judgement of the two arbitrators. This resulted in the formation of new political groups which had not existed before. These groups came to have new opinions. The opinion began politically concerning the Khalifah and the Khilafah. Then it included most of the remaining ahkam. A group of Muslims arose who loathed Uthman for his policies during his khilafah and they resented Ali's acceptance of arbitration (tahkeem). And they were angry over Mu'awiyyah for seizing the Khilafah by force. So they rebelled against all of them. Their view was that Muslims should give pledge to the Khalifah of the Muslims purely according to their choice without coercion or force. And that whoever qualifies for the Khilafah he is eligible to be khalifah. Muslims should give bay'a to him and the Khilafah will be contracted to him by the pledge as long as he is a man, Muslim and just even if he was a Ethiopian slave. And that obedience to the Khalifah is not obliged except if his matter was within the limits of the Kitab and Sunnah. These people did not take rulings reported in hadith narrated by 'Uthman, Ali, Mu'awiyya or if a hadith was narrated by a Sahaba who supported any one of them. They rejected all of their hadiths, opinions and legal verdicts. And they outweighed what was narrated by those they approved of. They only considered their opinions and their own scholars to the exclusion of others. They had their own fiqh, and they are the Khawarij. Another group from the Muslim arose which adored 'Ali b. Abi Talib (r.a.) and loved his decedents. They took the view that he and his descendants had greater right to the Khilafah over anyone else. And they believed he was the wasi (trustee) to whom the Messenger bequeathed the Khilafah after him. They rejected many hadiths narrated about the Messenger (saw) by the majority of the Sahaba. They did not depend on the views of the Sahaba and their legal verdicts. They only relied on the hadiths narrated by their Imams and the family of the Prophet (saw). And relied on the legal verdicts originating from them. They had their own fiqh, and they are the Shi'a. As for the majority of the Muslims they did not adopt the opinions adopted by the aforementioned groups. They took the view that the pledge should be given to a Khalifah from Quraysh, if such a person was found, and they conveyed, without a single exception, great respect, affection and loyalty to all the Sahaba. And they interpreted the disputes between them as being ijtihad in speculative shari'a rules which were not linked to belief (iman) or disbelief (kufr). They used to use as proof every authentic hadith narrated by a Sahabi without any discrimination between the Sahaba. Since, for them, all of the Sahaba were trustworthy. And they took all the fatwas and opinions of the Sahaba. Due to this their ahkam did not accord with the ahkam of the other political groups in a number of topics due to their disagreement regarding ruling, method of istinbat (inference of rules) and in the types of evidences.
From this it becomes clear that the civil war (fitna) when it happened, it created a jurisprudential and political condition which led to disagreements which had an impact on history. However the disagreement was not over the shari'a but in the understanding of the shari'a. That is why all of the people who disagreed were Muslim even though their disagreement exceeded the furu' and rules to the foundations, evidences and the method of inference.
As for the debates which took place between the 'Ulama. It led to juristic disagreements but did not lead to political disagreements. Because the disagreement was not over the khalifah, the Khilafah or the ruling system. It was over the rules and their deduction. The basis of that was that debates and disagreements took place between the certain mujtahidin which led to a disagreement over the method of inference (istinbat). In Madina Islamic discussions concerning the deduction of rules took place between Rabi'a b. Abi 'Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri. Which led many fuqaha (jurists) of Madina to withdraw from Rabi'a's sessions until they came to give him the title of 'Rabi'at ar-ra'i'. A similar thing also happened in Kufa between Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and al-Sha'bi. From these debates a number of opinions came to be formed about the method of deducing rules until the Mujtahidin came to have difference methodologies in ijtihad. In the middle of the 2nd century A.H. these different methods of ijtihad became apparent and so did the disagreements concerning them, and various views were formed. The Tabi'un used to be close to a group of 'Ulama and mujtahidin, so they came to follow their method. Though, for those who came after them the scope of the disagreement became wider. The reasons for their disagreement did not stop at the understanding but extended to reasons linked to Shari'a evidences and linguistic meanings. It was in this manner that their disagreements took place in the furu' (branches of fiqh) and usul (principles of jurisprudence). They came to form factions, each faction had its own school (mazhab). Owing to this the mazhabs were formed. The schools were many, more than four, five six and more. The disagreement of the mujtahidin over the method of ijtihad is attributable to their disagreement around three issues: first the sources from which the shari'a rules are deduced. Second, the perception of the Shari'a text. And third, disagreement over certain linguistic meanings which are applied in understanding the text.
As for the first it is attributable to four issues:
1. The method of authenticating the Sunnah and the criterion by which one narration is preferred over another.
That is because the authentication of the Sunnah assumes the task of authenticating its narration and the manner of narration. The mujtahidun differed on the method of authentication. Some of them advanced the mutawatir (concurrent) and mashur sunnah as proof and outweighed whatever was narrated by the trustworthy amongst the fuqaha. This meant that they gave the mashur hadith the same hukm (value) of the mutawatir and they used it to specify the 'amm (general) in the Quran. There were those who gave preponderance to what the people of Madina were unanimously agreed upon and disregarded the isolated hadiths (khabar al-ahad) which went against it. And there were those who advanced as evidence what upright ('udul) and trustworthy (thiqat) transmitters narrated whether they were from the fuqaha or not, whether they were from the family of the Prophet (saw) or not, and whether it agreed with the people of Madina or went against it. Amongst them there were those who took the view that hadith transmitters are not to be considered except if they are from their Imams. They had a specific method in transmitting the hadith, in its consideration and use. And they had specific transmitters on which they relied but did not rely on others. Some mujtahidin differed with regards to the mursal hadith. Which is what a Tabi'i narrates directly from the Prophet (saw) while omitting the sahaba. Amongst the mujtahidin there were those who would use the mursal hadith as proof and there were those who did not.
So this disagreement regarding the method of authenticating the sunnah led to some of them using a sunnah as proof which the other did not use. And some of them gave preference to a sunnah which was of lesser preference to others. And this took the disagreement to the manner in which the Sunnah is taken as a Shari'a evidence. So the disagreement in the Shari'a evidences took place.
2. Disagreement regarding the legal verdicts of Sahaba and their evaluation. The mujtahidin and the Imams differed with regards to the jurisprudential legal verdicts which came from individual Sahabas. There were those who took any one of these fatwas and did not restrict themselves to any particular one but did not turn away from all of them either. And there were those who took the view that they constituted only individual jurisprudential legal verdicts ensuing from people who are not infallible, so the scholar has the right to take any one of the fatwas or give legal verdicts which go against all of them. They viewed them as Shari'a rules which have been deduced and not as Shari'a evidences. And there were those who took the view that certain Sahaba were infallible (ma'sum) and his view is to be takes as a Shari’a evidence. So his sayings constitute the sayings of the Prophet (saw) and his actions constitute the actions of the Prophet (saw), and his consent constitutes the consent of the Prophet (saw). As for other Sahaba they are not infallible (ma'sum) so their views are not to be taken at all, not in the capacity of a Shari'a evidence and not in the capacity of a Shari'a rule. Also, there were those who took the view that one should not take from certain Sahaba because of their participation in the civil war (fitna) and those who did not participate, one can take from them. Consequently, another facet of this difference of opinion arose about evidences.
3. Disagreement in qiyas (analogical deduction). Some mujthahdin rejected the use of qiyas as an evidence and they disclaimed its status as a Shari'a evidence. Among them there were those who advanced qiyas as a proof and considered it a Shari'a evidence after the Quran, Sunnah and ijma' (consensus). However, despite their agreement that it constitutes a proof, they disagreed as to what qualifies as an 'illah (legal cause) for the hukm, and on what qiyas is based. As a result the difference of opinion surrounding evidences arose.
4. Disagreement over ijma' (consensus). The Muslims agreed on the consideration that ijma' is a proof. Some of them viewed the ijma' of the Sahaba as a proof and some of them saw the ijma' of the Prophet's family as proof. Some saw the ijma' of the ahl halli wal 'aqd (the influential and leading figures) as proof and some saw the ijma' of the Muslims as proof. There were those who viewed ijma' as a proof because it constituted an agreement on an opinion, therefore, if they agreed on a matter and advanced a view then it is considered an ijma' which is used as an evidence. And there were those who viewed the recognised ijma' as a proof not because it constitutes an agreement on an opinion but because it reveals an evidence. So the Sahaba, family of the Prophet (saw) and the people of Madina had companionship with the Messenger (saw) and saw him. And they are trustworthy ('udul). When they hold a Shari'a opinion but do not cite its evidence, their opinion is considered as disclosing the opinion as having been stated by the Messenger (saw), or he acted upon it or was silent over it. Thus, they reported a hukm but did not report its evidence due to it being widely known amongst them. Therefore, the meaning of ijma' constituting a proof for them is that it reveals an evidence. That is why their agreement and reminding each other, and then giving their opinion, is not considered an ijma'. Rather the ijma is that they should give an opinion without reaching an agreement on it. Therefore another difference of opinion came regarding the evidences.
These four issues have increased the rift of disagreement between the mujtahidin. They are not considered as disagreement over the understanding of the text as was the case in the time of the Sahaba and Tabi'in, but it passed that and became a disagreement over the method of comprehension. In other words, it is not considered as a disagreement over the rules but it surpassed that and became a disagreement over the method of deducing rules. That is why we find some mujtahidin taking the view that the Shari'a evidences are the Kitab, Sunnah, saying of Imam 'Ali (r.a.), ijma' of the family of the Prophet (saw) and the mind, they are the Shi’a. Some of them like those from the Mazhab of Abu Hanifah took the view that the Shari'a evidences are the Kitab, Sunnah, ijma', qiyas, istihsan (juristic preference), the opinion of the Sahabi (mazhab al-sahabi), and the Shari'a of the people of before (shari' min qablina). Some of them were of the opinion that the evidences were the Kitab, Sunnah and ijma', they are the Zahiri’s (literalists). And there were those who held that the evidences were the Kitab, Sunnah, ijma', qiyas, al-masalih al-mursala (considerations of public interest) like As-Shafi, etc... That is why they disagreed about the Shari'a evidences. This led to the differences in the methodology of ijtihad.
As for the second issue to which differences in the method of ijtihad is attributed, it is how the Shari'a text is viewed. Some of the mujtahidin restricted themselves to the understanding of the expression mentioned in the Shari'a text. And they stopped at the limits of the meanings they indicated and confined themselves to these meanings. They have been called the Ahl al-hadith (people of Hadith). Others among the Mujtahidin were called Ahl al ra’i (people of opinion) due to their reliance on the meanings derived from the text, shari’ah principles and Qiyas.
It is from here that many have said that the mujtahidin are divided into two groups: Ahl al-hadith and Ahl al-ra'i.
The scholars attributed to Ahl al-hadith were centered around Madinah, among the Tabi’een attributed to them in Medinah were Sa’eed ibnu Musayyib, Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri, Yahya, and Rabiah-ar-Ra’i, ‘Urwa, Abu Bakr bin ‘Ubaid bin Harith, Qasim bin Muhammed bin Abu Bakr, ‘Ubaidullah, Sulayman bin Yassar, Khaija bin Zaid bin Thabit.
The scholars attributed to Ahl al ra’I were centered around Kufah in Iraq. Among the Tabi’een attributed to them in Kufah were Ash-Sha’bi, Hasan al-Basri, and Ibrahim an-Nakha’ee, Hammaad, Alqamah bin Qais, Masjood bin Ajdah.
This division does not mean that the Ahl al-ra'i in their legislation they do not refer to the hadith and that the Ahl al-hadith in their legislation they do not refer to ra'i (opinion). Rather, all of them take hadith and ra'i (opinion) because all of them agree that hadith is a Shari'a proof, and that ijtihad using ra'i in understanding the intelligible aspect of the text is a Shari'a proof. What becomes apparent to anyone who scrutinises this is that the issue is not the proponents of hadith or ra'i themselves. Rather, the issue is the evidence on which the Shari'a evidence depends. That is because the Muslims relied on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw), if they did not find that clearly stated they operated their own opinion in deducing that from them. So the rule which is clearly stated like: “Allah has permitted trading and forbidden riba (usury).” [TMQ 2:275] its evidence is considered the Book of Allah. And anything clearly stated in the hadith such as: “Let not a man conduct a transaction against the transaction of his brother”, its evidence is considered the hadith. As for anything other than this like the prohibition of leasing property or such as the conquered land coming under the control of the bayt al-mal (treasury) and its use by all the people etc. It is considered an opinion (ra'i) even if it is based on the Kitab and Sunnah. So they called everything that did not have a clear text an opinion (ra'i) even if they acted upon it due to a comprehensive rule (hukm kulliy) or it was deduced from the Kitab and Sunnah. The truth is that this ra'i which is acted upon via a comprehensive rule (hukm kulliy) or general principle or it has been deduced from an understanding of the text mentioned in the Kitab and Sunnah it is not called an opinion but rather it is a Shari'a rule (hukm shar'i) since it is a view based on an evidence, it constitutes adherence to the evidence.
The basis of dividing the mujtahididn into Ahl al-hadith and Ahl al-ra'i stems from the fact that some fuqaha scrutinised the foundations on which the inference (istinbat) had been built. It became clear to them that the meanings of the shari'a rules are comprehensible, and they were revealed to solve the problems of people and to obtain benefits (masalih) for them and avert harms (mafasid) that come their way. Therefore, it is essential to understand the texts as widely as possible, encompassing everything indicated by the expression. On this basis they came to understand and outweigh one text over another and make deductions for issues that did not have a (clear) text. Certain fuqaha devoted their attention to the preservation of the isolated hadith (khabar al-hadith) and the fatwas of the Sahaba. In their inferences they took the path of understanding these isolated hadiths and reports about the Sahaba within the limits of its texts, and they applied them on events that occurred. As a consequence, disagreement arose concerning the consideration of texts as shari'a evidences and whether to consider the 'illah (legal cause) or not.
The origin of the question of using ra'i is that there are evidences which prohibit its use. So in the Sahih of Bukhari, on the authority of 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr who said: 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'As overcame us with proof. I heard him say: “Allah will not deprive you of knowledge after he has given it to you, but it will be taken away through the death of the religious learned men with their knowledge. Then there will remain ignorant people who, when consulted, will give verdicts according to their opinions whereby they will mislead others and go astray.” 'Awf b. Malik al-Ashja'i narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “My Ummah will become divided into some seventy sects, the greatest will be the test of the people who make analogy to the deen with their own opinions, with it forbidding what Allah has permitted and permitting what Allah has forbidden.” Ibn 'Abbas said that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Whoever speaks about the Quran with his own opinion, let him reserve his place in the fire”. These hadiths are explicit in their censure of the use of ra'i. However, the ra'i is not the same ra'i employed by the scholars of ra'i like the Hanafis. Rather the blameworthy ra'i is that of speaking about the Shari'a without any authority. As for the ra'i which is premised on a shari'a basis, the hadiths and reports about the Sahaba (athar) indicate that it is a shari'a rule not to be considered as a taking a objectionable ra'i. The Prophet (saw) has permitted the judge to exercise his own ijtihad and awards him, despite making a mistake in exercising his own opinion, one reward, if his aim was to gain knowledge of the truth and follow it. The Prophet (saw) ordered the Sahaba on the day of the (battle of) Ahzab (the confederates) to pray the mid-day ('asr) prayer in Bani Qurayza. Some exercised their own ijtihad and prayed on the way, they said it does not mention any delay rather what he meant was to advance quickly, thus they looked into the meaning. The others exercised their ijtihad and delayed the prayer until Bani Qurayza. They prayed the 'asr prayer at night, thus they looked at the wording. The Messenger (saw) accepted both groups, each one on his own opinion. Mu'az narrated 'that when the Messenger of Allah (saw) sent him to Yemen he said: “What will you do when a judgement presents itself. Mu'az said: 'I will judge by what is in the Book of Allah. He (saw) said: But what if it is not in the Book of Allah? He said: I will judge by what is in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw). He (saw) said: But what if it is not in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah? He replied: I will exercise my own ijtihad, it does not bother me. He said: So the Messenger of Allah beat my chest and said: “Praise be to Allah who has made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to accord with what pleases the Messenger of Allah.” [Ahmad: 5/230, Abu Dawud:3592, at-Tirmizi:1327]
So this is the ra'i on which the fuqaha, and the mujtahidin proponents of ra'i proceeded on in acting upon the sunnah. It is the ra'i which is based on the text. They are also the Ahl al-hadith even if they were called the Ahl al-ra'i. Even the Hanafis who have become famous as Ahl al-ra'i are agreed that the opinion of Abu Hanifah is that the hadith other than the sahih, i.e. the hasan, is more entitled to be followed than qiyas or ra'i. So he gave precedence to the hadith of qahqaha (laughing aloud), even though it is hasan, over qiyas and ra'i. And he prevented the hand of a thief to be cut for a theft whose value is less than ten dirhams but the hadith did not reach the level of sahih, rather it is hasan which indicates that ra'i for them is an understanding of the text. They gave qiyas a status lower than the hasan hadith let alone the hadith which is sahih. This indicates that what is intended by ra'i is the understanding of the text and the ra'i which is based on the text. So the Ahl al-ra'i are Ahl al-hadith also.
As for the third issue which led to disagreements over the method of deducing rules, it concerns certain linguistic meaning which are applied in understanding the text. The disagreement between the mujtahididn arose from the styles of the Arabic language and whatever they indicated. There were those who took the view that the text was a proof for establishing the hukm from its wording (mantuq), and for proving the opposite of this hukm from the opposite understanding (mafhum al-mukhalif). And there were those who view the unspecified 'amm (general) as definite (qat'y) in dealing with all its parts, and there those who saw it as speculative (zanni). And there were those who viewed the general order as tantamount to an obligation, they did not deviate from this except when there was a qarina (indication) to the contrary. So the order obliges an action. And some of them used to take the view that an order was merely a request to do an action, it is the qarina (indication) which clarifies whether it is an obligation or otherwise. As a result, disagreements arose concerning the understanding of the texts and let to disagreements in the method of ijtihad.
Thus, in this manner the disagreement between the generation of the Tabi'in arose in the methodology of deducing ahkam and each mujtahid came to have his own special methodology. From this disagreement over the method of deducing rules arose various juristic schools which led to the growth of the jurisprudential wealth and made fiqh flourish in its entirety. This is because differences in understanding is natural and it assists the development of thought. The Sahaba used to disagree amongst themselves. 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas disagreed with 'Ali, 'Umar, Zayd b. Thabit even though he had learnt from them. Many of the Tabi'un disagreed with certain Sahaba yet they took knowledge from them. Malik went against many of his Shaykhs and Abu Hanifah disagreed with Ja'far al-Sadiq concerning certain issues despite learning from him. Al-Shafi'i disagreed with Malik in many issues even though he had learnt from him. Thus, the 'Ulama used to disagree with each other, and students disagreed with their shaykhs and teachers. They did not consider that as bad manners or rebellion against their shaykhs. This is because Islam encourages people to do ijtihad. Every scholar has the right to comprehend and make ijtihad and not be confined to the view of a Sahabi or Tabi'i and nor to be confined to the opinion of a shaykh or teachers.
The Flourishing of Islamic Jurisprudence
The Muslims generally used to make taqleed to the mujtahidin despite their disagreements, since the basis of their disagreements was the Shari'a evidence. So the understanding of every mujtahid of the address of the Legislator (khitab al-shaari') is considered a Shari'a rule with respect to him and with respect to the one who makes taqleed to him. Because, the address of the Legislator is the hukm shar'i (shari'a rule) and the understanding of the Legislator's address is a Shari'a rule, but in respect to the one who understood it and in respect to the one who follows him in this understanding. Those who attained the understanding of the Legislator's address used to make ijtihad. Those who did not reach the level of ijtihad used to follow, in ahkams, those who had reached the level of ijtihad and practised ijtihad. The issue was not that of following the faqih personally just as the issue is not one of making taqleed to a mazhab. Rather, the issue is about adopting the hukm shar'i deduced by the faqih and acting upon it. Since, the Muslim is ordered to follow the Shari'a rule only and to act upon it and not follow a mazhab or person, or act according to any particular mazhab or follow any particular person. When he is able to reach the hukm shar'i through his own ijtihad he should do that, if not he should adopt a hukm deduced by someone else. In the early ages the mujtahidun could be counted by the thousands. That is why we find that the mujtahidun whom the Muslims used to follow were not restricted to four, five, six or any number of mazhabs. Yet there were many mazhabs and numerous mujtahidun. Each group used to follow rules deduced by each mujtahid whether he was from a mazhab or not. For example, the general population of Kufa acted upon the fatwa of Abu Hanifah and Sufyan al-Thawri but the Shi'a used to act upon the mazhab of Ja'far al-Sadiq. The practise of the people of Makkah used to be according to the fatwa of Ibn Jurayj and the people of Madina on the fatwas of Malik. And the people of Basra on the fatwas of 'Uthman. And the people of al-Sham on the fatwas of al-Awza'i and the people of Egypt on the fatwas of Ibn Sa'd, and the people of Khurasan on the fatwas of 'Abd Allah b. al-Mubarak, some of the people of Yemen on the fatwas of Zayd b. al-Husayn. Many of the Muslims used to follow the fatwas of Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, Ibn Abi Layla, 'Ikrama, Rabi'a al-ra'i, Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri, al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Layth b. Sa'd, Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, Ishaq b. Rahwayh, Abi Thawr, Dawud al-Zahiri, Ibn Shubrama and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari. All of them were mujtahids and belonged to mazhabs.
Each mazhab had its own method of ijtihad and a specific opinion regarding the ahkam. Many of the mujtahidin and Imams were judges and rulers in the respective countries. The disagreements of the Imams, judges and rulers led to differences in ahkam. Each one judged with his own opinion or according to the opinion of a faqih whose opinion he holds. This resulted in the presence of different judgements in the state, due to this there were 'Ulama who were obviously inclined towards unifying the ruling by which judgement is given and wanted the Khalifah to issue an order for people to adhere to it. At that time, certain people who knew about the situation of the society took the view that a comprehensive book should be written to which judges and other will refer, to lighten the burden of the judges and make it easy for the litigants.
Ibn al-Muqaffa' wrote a letter to the Khalifah al-Mansur regarding this matter, in which it was mentioned: 'What the Ameer al-mu'minin sees, regarding the matter of those two cities; Basra and Kufah and other cities and regions, of the differences of these contradictory rulings which has reached great proportions regarding rulings relating to life, chastity and property. The rules concerning life and chastity allowed in Basra is forbidden in Kufah, such disagreements are taking place in the heart of Kufah, something is allowed in one area but not in another’. However, al-Mansur did not act according to this letter although he was influenced by it. His influence made him to make the Fuqaha and the muhaddithun to record what has reached them until people had references to which they could refer. The reason for al-Mansur not acting upon the opinion of Ibn al-Muqaffa' in laying down a constitution and canons for the state, which would have brought the people to together on specific ahkams was what happened between him and Malik. Ibn Sa'd narrated in al-Tabaqat that Malik b Anas said: ‘When al-Mansur made hajj he said to me: I have taken the decision to order people to follow the books which you have written. They will be copied, then I will send a copy to every Muslim city and I will order them to act upon them and not refer to any other works. So I said O Ameer al-Mu'minin! Do not do this. The people already hold opinions, and they have heard hadiths and narrated reports, each people took what it already had followed it, leave the people, let the people of each country chose for themselves.' Owing to this, the mazhabs and opinions were not unified and ijtihad and ra'i remained with the people in adopting the hukm they deemed correct. And the choice remained for judges and rulers to judge with what they deemed as appropriate. Due to this, each Imam of fiqh has students who came to study their opinions and explain his school. And the outlook towards this disagreement which took place changed and it became a science on its own right, they called it the science of disagreement ('ilm al-khilaf). They studied it just as they studied usul al-fiqh. They said that the disagreements of the Imams was a mercy (rahma). The student of each Imam used to expand on the furu' (branches of fiqh). It was this expansion which preserved the mazhabs of certain mujtahidin and but was the reason for the extinction of others. Al-Awza'i, al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Thawri and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari are some of the greatest Imams in terms of their breadth of knowledge and ijtihad. However they did not expand in furu' but confined themselves to the usul, and they did not have students who would expound the position of their mazhab, that is why they were not acted upon and they did not spread.
As for the rest of the Imams such as Abu Hanifah, Ja'far al-Sadiq, Zayd b. al-Husayn, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad b. Hanbal and Malik, they had students and followers, so their mazhabs were recorded and continued to exist. Despite the restrictions imposed by Abu Ja'far al-Mansur on Ja'far al-Sadiq and others from the family of 'Ali, he deduced rules and he had students from the Shi'a and others. They recorded his opinions and looked upon them as something akin to the sunnah. His mazhab spread in many regions of the world. Abu Hanifah used to have many students, the most well known are Abu Yusuf, Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Zufar. They were all mujtahids like Abu Hanifah. Although they mixed their opinions with his, the credit goes to them for recording the mazhab of Abu Hanifah. It is the same for Imam Malik. He used to reside in Madinah, he had many students who were widely known, especially for scrutinising the hadith and transmitters of hadith, especially in regard to the book al-Muwatta. His students after him used to record his fatwas and expand on the furu' and give their views on issues. Despite Malik's fame the credit for spreading his mazhab goes to his students. As for al-Shafi'i he had established his towering fame by his own hands in usul al-fiqh. Which is indicated by what comes in the large work al-Umm which along with al-Risala and Ibtal al-Istihsan are the greatest samples of intellectual awakening in that age. His students, such as al-Rabi' and al-Muzani, who proceeded according this method and studied his opinions and expanded his mazhab and so it spread far and wide. Likewise for Ahmad b. Hanbal. Despite the dominant prevalence of hadith in his mazhab, he had students who expanded his mazhab for him and studied his opinions. The credit first and foremost goes to those students, not only for spreading the mazhab of their teachers and Imams but also for the exposition of the fiqh and ensuring that it flourished, until their age was considered more radiant than the age of the Imams. Since, it was in this age that the commentaries of ahkam and clarification of evidences took place. Thus, the fuqaha rushed ahead in studying fiqh and explaining it especially the science of usul al-fiqh which is the true basis of fiqh. The situation of fiqh continued to spread until it flourished greatly. The pinnacle of its bloom, after the century in which the mazhabs were formed, was in the fourth century A.H.
The Decline of Islamic Jurisprudence
After the era of the students of mujtahidin came the adherents and followers of the mazahib. They did not continue on the path which the Imams and scholars of mazahib followed in ijtihad and in the inference (istinbat) of rules. And nor did they continue on the path taken by the students of the mujtahidin in terms of studying the evidence, clarifying the angle of deduction and the branching out of the rules, and exposition of issues. The followers of each Imam or the scholars of each mazhab were only concerned about taking the side of their own mazhab, supporting its furu' and usul in all of the issues. They were not interested in studying the soundness of the daleel and outweighing the preponderant evidence over the weaker evidence even if it went against their mazhab. Sometimes they were concerned to establish the proofs for the correctness of the view they have taken and invalidate the proofs against it. And at other times their interest was devoted to extolling the Imams and the scholars of the mazahib. This preoccupied the scholars of the mazahib and distracted them from the primary source which is the Quran and Sunnah. A person, among them, did not refer to the text of the Quran or Sunnah, except for the purposes of finding anything that will support the mazhab of his Imam. Accordingly, their studies were confined to their mazhabs. And their zeal for absolute ijtihad and reference to the primary sources in order to derive rules from them became weak. Their eagerness for ijtihad was restricted to their mazhab or to one issue, or simply to make taqleed without scrutiny. Their dependence on taqleed reached the point where they said: any ayah or hadith which goes against what out scholars have said - i.e. our mazhab- it is to be interpreted (to accord with what we say) or it has been abrogated. They made the following of a mazhab an obligation on the Muslim. And they began to study, in Islamic institutions such as al-Azhar, the saying of the author of Jawhara al-Tawheed fi wujub al-taqleed: ‘An obligation it is to follow the learned amongst them. Thus the people spoke with a language understood by them’. [Better translation needed of this]
Rather, they believed that the door of ijtihad should be closed for the Muslims. They held that ijtihad was not permitted until many of the 'Ulama, from amongst those who were qualified for ijtihad and who had the aptitude for ijtihad, did not dare to perform ijtihad or say that they were mujtahids. This decline started towards the end of the 4th century A.H. although in the beginning, until the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th there was some progress. Mujtahidun and scholars were present at a time when the likes of al-Qaffal were advocating the closing of the door of ijtihad. However, from the begging of the 7th century until the end of the 13th century A.H. the decline was complete but it was within the limits of Islam. The decline was in thought but the jurisprudential opinions remained Islamic. As for after the 13th century i.e. from 1274 A.H. till now, the decline has reached the point where the shari'a rules have become mixed with un-Islamic laws and the situation reached the worst possible state of decline.
It was due to this jurisprudential decline that it made it difficult for people to act upon the shari'a rules. So after the Islamic Shari'a had been suitable for the entire world, they made it difficult even for its adherents until they were forced to adopt other laws. Many pious Muslims began to argue about a shari'a which was not the Islamic Shari'a. Towards the end of the 'Uthmani state it was the ignorance of Islam and the ignorant fuqaha which was the principle reason for the backwardness of the Muslims and the end of their state. There were fuqaha who were rigid and always ready to give fatwa forbidding anything new and forbid the thoughts of any thinker. The curiously ludicrous and lamentable thing that happened was that when coffee appeared some scholars gave fatwa forbidding it and when people wore the fez the fuqaha gave the fatwa that it was forbidden to wear it, and when the printing press appeared and the state decided to print copies of the Quran, some fuqaha forbade it to be printed. The telephone appeared and some fuqaha forbade people to speak through it, and many other issues followed. Until the consequence in Islamic jurisprudence was that the Muslims became completely ignorant of it. The issue changed from studying the Shari'a rules to studying western laws. And law schools were founded, those schools whose presence in the Muslims countries is shameful for them. And towards the end of the 'Uthmani state - the Islamic state and its leader the Khalifah of the Muslims - decided to imitate western jurisprudence in the codification of law. Thus they introduced the Majalla in 1282 A.H. as a civil law and a grand edict was issued in 1293 A.H. to put it into effect. And before they had drawn up the Ottoman penal code in 1274 A.H. They introduced that in place of the hudud, criminal (jinayat) and discretionary punishments (ta'zeer). And in 1276 A.H. they introduced the Law of Rights and Commerce in 1276 A.H. Then they introduced the constitution in order to abolish the Khilafah system in its entirety in 1294 A.H. However, it was abolished and then reinstituted in 1326 A.H. (1907 C.E.). However, they tried to make it agree with Islam and kept the Khilafah system. In this way, fiqh (comprehension) declined and became laws and the Shari'a rules were abandoned and rules other than from Islam were adopted under the pretext that they agreed with Islam. An erroneous notion became prevalent that whatever agrees with Islam it is taken from any human being. And the zeal of the 'Ulama waned and they, all of them, became muqallidin (followers). However, that is seen as coming under the shadow of Islam. But after the end of the Khilafah and the kuffars occupation, from the English and French. Then the Muslim countries became states on a nationalistic basis whether Arab, Turk or Iranian etc. The Islamic fiqh was wiped out from existence from the relationships of people, and from education and learning. It was not studied except in certain countries, such as al-Azhar in Egypt, Najaf in Iraq, Zaytuna in Tunisia, however they were studied in the same manner as Greek philosophy was studied, as fanciful philosophy and in a theoretical manner. The decline reached shocking levels since the Islamic fiqh vanished from existence from people's relationships.
Fiqh is one of the most important Islamic disciplines having the greatest effect on society. It is one of the most important branches of the Islamic culture. That is because the Islamic culture is the Kitab and Sunnah and whatever is relied upon and laid down in order to understand the Kitab and Sunnah. Even though the Islamic culture includes sciences of the Arabic language, hadith and tafseer, the most prominent thing that appears from it are the thoughts which relate to the viewpoint about life and the solutions which treat the problems of life. In other words, it appears in the beliefs ('aqaid) and Shari'a rules because they are a practical culture adopted to face life’s problems which, in most cases, contains thoughts about beliefs and solutions i.e. the rules. Fiqh is nothing other than the knowledge of these rules.
The Islamic culture and the learning of Shari'a rules began from the time the Messenger (saw) was sent. The Messenger (saw) was the only reference point for the shari'a rules, because he was sent to teach people Allah's deen. He (swt) said:
“O Messenger (saw)! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message.”[TMQ 5:67]
He (swt) said:
“And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad[saw]) the reminder and the advice (the Quran), that you may explain clearly to them.” [TMQ 16:44]
With the exception of the Messenger (saw), no Muslim has the right to independently put forward an opinion regarding any viewpoint or ruling. Due to the Messenger's (saw) presence among the Muslims at his time, referring to him regarding anything they came across was easy. However, it was not permitted for any of them to give his own opinion regarding any event. That is why, when they came across an event or a dispute arose or one of them had an idea, they would refer to the Messenger (saw). And he (saw) would give an opinion, settle their disputes and answer their questions, sometimes with an ayah and sometimes with a hadith. As for what has been reported that certain Sahaba exercised ijtihad in the time of the Messenger (saw) and pronounced judgments according to their own ijtihad in certain disputes or that they deduced, through their own ijtihad, the rule regarding certain events. This does not make these ijtihads a source for shari'a rules. Rather they constitute an understanding of the Shari'a, in accordance with the order of the Messenger (saw). They constitute the application of the Shari'a, relying on the Kitab and Sunnah as understood by those mujtahidin. This is demonstrated by the circumstance in which these ijtihads took place. It has been reported that the Prophet (saw) sent 'Ali b. Abi Talib (r.a.) to Yemen as a judge. He (saw) told him: “May Allah guide your heart and affirm your tongue. When two disputants sit before you, do not pronounce judgment until you have listened to the latter just as you did with the former. It is more proper (for you to does this) so that the judgment becomes manifest to you.”
It has been reported that the Prophet (saw) sent Mu'az b. Jabal to Yemen and he (saw) said to him: “With what will you judge when you come upon a judgment which you do not find in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger. What judgment will you give?” Mu'az said: 'I will exercise my own ijtihad.’ The Messenger (saw) said: “'Praise be to Allah who has made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to accord with what Allah and His Messenger are pleased with.” [Ahmad: 5/230, Abu Dawud:3592, at-Tirmizi:1327]
It is reported that some people were disputing over a hut between themselves. So Hudhayfa was sent to judge between them. And he (saw) said to 'Amr b. al-'As: “You give judgement for this issue.” So 'Amr said: Shall I exercise ijtihad while you are present? He (saw) said: “Yes. If you are right you will get two rewards and if you make a mistake you will get one.”
All of these reports and other such examples indicate that the ijtihadats taking place in the days of the Messenger (saw), from the Muslims in his time, were in accordance with his order. Therefore, he was their source. Thus, the time of the Messenger (saw) was a time in which the source of the entire Islamic culture existed. That continued ever since he was sent until his death, within a period of time not exceeding twenty two years and a few months, in which the whole Quran was revealed and the sublime Sunnah was made complete. They are the only texts considered as the source of thoughts, rules and culture in Islam.
With the death of the Messenger (saw), in the eleventh year of the Hijra, began the age of the Sahaba. It is an age of tafseer, opening of the doors of deduction (istinbat) for issues that did not possess a (clear) text. The Sahaba saw that not all of the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah were disseminated widely amongst the people such that they are accessible to each and every person. Because the texts of the Quran were written down on special parchments preserved in the house of the Messenger (saw) and preserved in the houses of certain Sahaba. And the Sunnah had not been written down yet. They saw that the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah legislated rules for events and issues which took place at the time of legislation. Rules were not legislated for events and issues that had only a possibility of taking place. Events and issues took place and needs arose amidst the Muslims which did not take place during the time of the Messenger (saw). There were no clear texts for the problems arising later which would state their ruling. Likewise, they saw that not every Muslim was qualified to refer to the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah for himself and understand the ruling indicated by them. Since the masses cannot understand the texts except by means of someone who will make them understand the rules of Islam. Therefore, they realised that it was incumbent on them to disseminate the Noble Quran and the hadiths of the Messenger (saw) among the Muslims. So, they undertook the responsibility of compiling the Quran and from this compilation they made many copies which they circulated amongst the Muslims. And they took precautions ensuring the trustworthiness of the narration of the Sunnah and the trust in the scrutiny of the narrators. They also realised that it was incumbent on them to demonstrate to the Muslims the necessary clarification and explanation of the texts of the Kitab and Sunnah. So they began to teach people the deen. Then they took the view that they should provide people with legal verdicts for the events and issues happening to them for which there was no (clear) text. Thus, they began to deduce rules which were necessary for the issues that took place. Due to this they undertook the obligation of the deen in the best manner possible.
The methodology according to which the Sahaba proceeded in the Shari'a rules is that when they found a text (nass) in the Quran or Sunnah which indicates the ruling on an incident that has happened, they stopped at the limit of this text, and they confined their efforts to understanding the text and becoming acquainted with what is intended in it, in order to attain its correct application on the reality. If they did not find a text in the Quran and the Sunnah indicating the ruling on incidents that they are confronted with, they made ijtihad to deduce its ruling. In their ijtihad they used to rely on their own understanding of the texts of the Shari'a, and their knowledge of the Shari'a that they obtained from directly speaking to the Messenger (saw) and witnessing the revelation of the verses and their application on incidents. By studying the incidents for which they made ijtihad, one notices that they used to make analogy between (an incident) which had a text with one that did not have a text, and they used to consider the acquisition of a benefit (maslaha) and repulsion of a harm (mafsada) as an 'illah (legal cause) for rulings. And they used to consider the benefit (maslaha) indicated by the Shari'a as the true benefit (maslaha). They used to make analogy between the benefit (maslaha) (for which no text was mentioned) with a benefit for which a text was mentioned. They did not hold their own opinion about a maslaha (benefit) because holding an opinion (which is from oneself) is forbidden. The historians, muhaddithun and fuqaha (jurists) transmitted many ijtihadats of the Sahaba. By studying these ijtihadats the extent of their adherence to the Shari'a and the extent of their advancement in understanding the Shari'a becomes clear. A story was brought to the attention of Umar, about a man who was killed by his stepmother and her lover. 'Umar hesitated: are many people to be killed for the murder of one person? 'Ali said to him: What do you think if a group participated in the theft of a slaughter camel. So this one took a part and that one took another part. Would you cut their hands? He said: Yes. Ali said: well it is the same thing. So Umar acted upon Ali's opinion and wrote to his 'Amil: ‘kill them both for if the whole population of San'aa participated I would have had them killed’.
And when they disagreed about the question of joint share, when a woman died leaving a husband, mother, uterine brothers and full brothers. Umar used to give the husband half, the mother a sixth, and the uterine brothers a third. So nothing remained for the full brothers. It was said to him: Suppose our father was a donkey. Are we not from one mother? So he changed his view and gave them a share. They used to acquaint themselves with the maslaha (benefit) for which the text came, if it was understood from the text. Another example is when Allah (swt) said:
“As-sadaqat (zakat) are only for the Fuqara (poor), and al-masakin (needy) and those employed to collect (the funds); and for to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam).” [TMQ 9:60]
So Allah made those whose hearts have been reconciled to Islam a source of expenditure from the sources of zakat. It has been established that the Prophet (saw) used to give money to people whose hearts had been reconciled to Islam. After the death of the Messenger (saw) it is narrated about 'Umar that he forbade the payment of those whose hearts had been reconciled (al-mu'allaftu qulubuhum). He told them: ‘Allah has made Islam strong and so Islam has no need of you, either you stick to Islam or else between you and us is the sword.’ 'Umar was of the view that the inclining of hearts towards Islam was there because the state was weak because the expression 'reconciling hearts' (ta'leeful al-qulub) indicates this. For when are hearts reconciled except when you are in a state of need? Umar took the opinion that the need to reconcile hearts ended when Islam became strong. And without the need to reconcile hearts the 'illah (legal cause) is not applicable, due to this the hukm also is not applicable.
The Sahaba used to investigate and ask the people about the Shari'a texts regarding matters they did not know. And they (may Allah be pleased with them) used to be all gathered together in the Hijaz, discussing the Kitab and Sunnah. If in the Kitab and Sunnah they did not find a hukm for the issue they are looking for, they would ask Muslims if anyone of them knows that the Messenger of Allah (saw) passed a judgement for this issue. That is why they used to refer to each other and get together to discuss its issue and give an opinion for it. Abu Bakr and 'Umar used to deduce rules and refer to the people. Al-Baghawi has narrated in his Masabih al-Sunnah: “When a dispute was reported to Abu Bakr he used to look into the Book of Allah. If he found something to judge between them, he gave that judgement. And if it is not found in the Book. And he knew a sunnah from the Messenger of Allah regarding that matter, he would give judgement by it. Failing that he would go out and ask the Muslims; such and such matter has come to me, do you know of any judgement given by the Messenger of Allah (saw) pertaining to this?' Probably the whole group would agree mentioning a judgment by the Messenger of Allah (saw). Abu Bakr would say: 'Praise be to Allah Who has made people amongst us memorise (issues) concerning our Prophet (saw).' If he failed to find a sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw) he gathered the heads of people and the best amongst them and consulted them. If they had a consensus on a matter he would judge with that. It has been reported that 'Umar used to consult the Sahaba despite his knowledge of fiqh. To the point when an incident would be referred to him he would say: Call 'Ali for me, call Zayd. He used to consult them and settle the dispute with whatever they were agreed upon. Due to the Sahaba referring to each other, differences of opinion between them were rare because each Sahabi expressed to another Sahabi his own perspective and the evidences he educed. Their view on the whole was true and correct and each one referred to each other. And even though their views differed in certain rules, but their differences were rare and it was in understanding and not in the method of understanding.
When the conquests expanded and the Sahaba became separated in various cities and it became difficult for those Sahaba to meet, every time an incident presented itself which had not text. Each Sahaba gave his own opinion without expressing it to others or referring to others due to the difficulty of meeting, since the cities were distant from each other. And also due to the need to give an opinion on an incident occurring in the city in order to give judgement by it. In every Muslim city there was one or more Sahaba. They were the reference point for rulings. They used to deduce rules which had no text and assume the task of clarifying and explaining the text just as they took the responsibility of teaching the people the Kitab and Sunnah. The Sunnah had still not been written down, therefore the opinions of Sahaba differed about a single incident and each one had an evidence for the opinion he had educed and gave legal verdicts with. However, all of these opinions were Shari'a rules and were acceptable to all of them, since their disagreement was only in their understanding. As for their method of ijtihad, it was one. Which is to consider the text of the Quran and hadith and examine the texts, and insure that the accredited maslahas (benefit) are the ones only indicated by the Shari'a, and make analogy to issues and maslahas. The unity of the methodology in ijtihad did not allow the difference in understanding to have any effect. On the contrary, it was one of the reasons for the growth and expansion of fiqh. Their legal verdicts (fatwas) were according to the incidents and issues that took place. The range of their disagreement did not widen and nor did it overstep the furu' (branches of fiqh). The disagreement of the Sahaba in furu' is attributable to two reasons:
First: That most of the texts of the Quran and Sunnah are not definite in indicating what is meant rather they are of speculative meaning (zanniyya al-dalala). Also, they are liable to indicate this or that meaning due to the text sharing two or more linguistic meanings or the text being general such that it is open to specification. Each Mujtahid attempted to understand the text according to what was preponderant from the qara'in (indications).
Second: The Sunnah had not yet been recorded in written form. There was no unanimity on the body of hadith which had spread among Muslims so as to be a common reference. Rather, the hadith was circulated via transmission and memory. Perhaps a mujtahid in Egypt knew a hadith but a mujtahid in Damascus did not know it. Many a time certain mujtahidin would retract from another mujtahid's fatwa when they came to know that someone else knew of a Sunnah that they did not know. This led to disagreements in furu' (branches of fiqh) but the evidences and principles concerning them did not differ, therefore their method of ijtihad did not differ.
In short, the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them) were scholars of the Shari'a. They learnt the Quran and acquired the hadith. And took it upon themselves to implement the rules of Islam by mixing with the one responsible for the Message, our master Muhammad (peace and blessings on him). They used to rule the people, judge between them and teach them their deen. They used to be a light for the inhabitants of the country who lived there and trustees of the Shari'a, and in calling people to Islam they were true believers. Reciting the Quran to people and teaching them the laws and rules. In teaching people Islam they use to follow a practical course. So they taught the people the Islam and its rules and the method by which they would benefit in solving the problems of life with those rules. They were rulers and at the same time they were teachers. The people approached the Sahaba and receiving the culture from them, taking Islam and understanding the rules. The opinions in ahkam that they clarified were termed as 'legal verdicts' (fatawa). The fatwa of about one hundred and thirty companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw) (among which there are men and women) have been preserved. There were seven out of these who were the most knowledgeable and gave the most opinions. They have been called the al-mukaththirun (those who were prolific in giving opinions). And they are: 'Umar, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, 'A'isha, Zayd b. Thabit, Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn 'Umar. The Khalifahs, Walis and the rest of the rulers were fuqaha in ahkam, scholars of the Shari'a and busy with fatwa. That is why Islam was embodied in them. Their minds were filled with its culture and their thoughts originated from this culture. They are the ones who implemented these orders, prohibition and rules. So the Khalifah and the Wali were the same people who thought, acted, understood and ruled. That is why their actions used to be correct, and their affairs were on the right path, and their lives were elevated, and their manner of speaking with the people was honest, and their rules adherent to the path of Islam with extreme precision. A group from the Tabi'un stuck to the Sahaba and learnt Quran from them, reported the Sunnah from them, memorised their legal verdicts and their methods of deduction of ahkam. There were those who used to give legal verdicts in the lifetime of the Sahaba like Said b. al-Musayyab in Madinah and Said b. Jubayr in Kufa. Thus, we find after all the Sahaba had gone, the Tabi'un succeeded them in fiqh and istinbat (inference of rules). They used to deduce rules according to their own ijtihad. They used to first look to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw), if they did not find anything there they would study the fatwa (legal verdicts) of the Sahaba. They used to have opinions concerning the Fatwas of Sahaba from a jurisprudential perspective and they used to outweigh one statement over another. They used to take the opinions of some of them or they might even differ with the Sahaba. The Tabiuns method of inferring rules was the same method of the Sahaba. That is why their fatwas were according to the incidents and issues that took place without the presence of any assumptions. Rather it is according to the incident that you will find the fatwas. The range of disagreement did not become wide between them and nor did the reasons for disagreement on which the Sahaba disagreed overstep the mark, which used to relate to the understanding of the text and not to the Shari'a evidences. Therefore, there were no disagreements amongst Muslims which effected life.
The effect of disputes and debates on Islamic jurisprudence
Two events took place during the time of the Sahaba: The first is the civil war (fitna) regarding 'Uthman. And the second is the debates which took place between the 'Ulama. This resulted in disagreements over the types of Shari'a evidences, which led to the presence of new political groups, which in turn led to the presence of various juristical schools of thought. That is because after 'Uthman (r.a.) was murdered and the bay'a (pledge) of the Khilafah was given to 'Ali b. Abi Talib with whom Mu'awiyya b. Abu Sufyan disputed, and war broke out between the two factions and ended with the judgement of the two arbitrators. This resulted in the formation of new political groups which had not existed before. These groups came to have new opinions. The opinion began politically concerning the Khalifah and the Khilafah. Then it included most of the remaining ahkam. A group of Muslims arose who loathed Uthman for his policies during his khilafah and they resented Ali's acceptance of arbitration (tahkeem). And they were angry over Mu'awiyyah for seizing the Khilafah by force. So they rebelled against all of them. Their view was that Muslims should give pledge to the Khalifah of the Muslims purely according to their choice without coercion or force. And that whoever qualifies for the Khilafah he is eligible to be khalifah. Muslims should give bay'a to him and the Khilafah will be contracted to him by the pledge as long as he is a man, Muslim and just even if he was a Ethiopian slave. And that obedience to the Khalifah is not obliged except if his matter was within the limits of the Kitab and Sunnah. These people did not take rulings reported in hadith narrated by 'Uthman, Ali, Mu'awiyya or if a hadith was narrated by a Sahaba who supported any one of them. They rejected all of their hadiths, opinions and legal verdicts. And they outweighed what was narrated by those they approved of. They only considered their opinions and their own scholars to the exclusion of others. They had their own fiqh, and they are the Khawarij. Another group from the Muslim arose which adored 'Ali b. Abi Talib (r.a.) and loved his decedents. They took the view that he and his descendants had greater right to the Khilafah over anyone else. And they believed he was the wasi (trustee) to whom the Messenger bequeathed the Khilafah after him. They rejected many hadiths narrated about the Messenger (saw) by the majority of the Sahaba. They did not depend on the views of the Sahaba and their legal verdicts. They only relied on the hadiths narrated by their Imams and the family of the Prophet (saw). And relied on the legal verdicts originating from them. They had their own fiqh, and they are the Shi'a. As for the majority of the Muslims they did not adopt the opinions adopted by the aforementioned groups. They took the view that the pledge should be given to a Khalifah from Quraysh, if such a person was found, and they conveyed, without a single exception, great respect, affection and loyalty to all the Sahaba. And they interpreted the disputes between them as being ijtihad in speculative shari'a rules which were not linked to belief (iman) or disbelief (kufr). They used to use as proof every authentic hadith narrated by a Sahabi without any discrimination between the Sahaba. Since, for them, all of the Sahaba were trustworthy. And they took all the fatwas and opinions of the Sahaba. Due to this their ahkam did not accord with the ahkam of the other political groups in a number of topics due to their disagreement regarding ruling, method of istinbat (inference of rules) and in the types of evidences.
From this it becomes clear that the civil war (fitna) when it happened, it created a jurisprudential and political condition which led to disagreements which had an impact on history. However the disagreement was not over the shari'a but in the understanding of the shari'a. That is why all of the people who disagreed were Muslim even though their disagreement exceeded the furu' and rules to the foundations, evidences and the method of inference.
As for the debates which took place between the 'Ulama. It led to juristic disagreements but did not lead to political disagreements. Because the disagreement was not over the khalifah, the Khilafah or the ruling system. It was over the rules and their deduction. The basis of that was that debates and disagreements took place between the certain mujtahidin which led to a disagreement over the method of inference (istinbat). In Madina Islamic discussions concerning the deduction of rules took place between Rabi'a b. Abi 'Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri. Which led many fuqaha (jurists) of Madina to withdraw from Rabi'a's sessions until they came to give him the title of 'Rabi'at ar-ra'i'. A similar thing also happened in Kufa between Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and al-Sha'bi. From these debates a number of opinions came to be formed about the method of deducing rules until the Mujtahidin came to have difference methodologies in ijtihad. In the middle of the 2nd century A.H. these different methods of ijtihad became apparent and so did the disagreements concerning them, and various views were formed. The Tabi'un used to be close to a group of 'Ulama and mujtahidin, so they came to follow their method. Though, for those who came after them the scope of the disagreement became wider. The reasons for their disagreement did not stop at the understanding but extended to reasons linked to Shari'a evidences and linguistic meanings. It was in this manner that their disagreements took place in the furu' (branches of fiqh) and usul (principles of jurisprudence). They came to form factions, each faction had its own school (mazhab). Owing to this the mazhabs were formed. The schools were many, more than four, five six and more. The disagreement of the mujtahidin over the method of ijtihad is attributable to their disagreement around three issues: first the sources from which the shari'a rules are deduced. Second, the perception of the Shari'a text. And third, disagreement over certain linguistic meanings which are applied in understanding the text.
As for the first it is attributable to four issues:
1. The method of authenticating the Sunnah and the criterion by which one narration is preferred over another.
That is because the authentication of the Sunnah assumes the task of authenticating its narration and the manner of narration. The mujtahidun differed on the method of authentication. Some of them advanced the mutawatir (concurrent) and mashur sunnah as proof and outweighed whatever was narrated by the trustworthy amongst the fuqaha. This meant that they gave the mashur hadith the same hukm (value) of the mutawatir and they used it to specify the 'amm (general) in the Quran. There were those who gave preponderance to what the people of Madina were unanimously agreed upon and disregarded the isolated hadiths (khabar al-ahad) which went against it. And there were those who advanced as evidence what upright ('udul) and trustworthy (thiqat) transmitters narrated whether they were from the fuqaha or not, whether they were from the family of the Prophet (saw) or not, and whether it agreed with the people of Madina or went against it. Amongst them there were those who took the view that hadith transmitters are not to be considered except if they are from their Imams. They had a specific method in transmitting the hadith, in its consideration and use. And they had specific transmitters on which they relied but did not rely on others. Some mujtahidin differed with regards to the mursal hadith. Which is what a Tabi'i narrates directly from the Prophet (saw) while omitting the sahaba. Amongst the mujtahidin there were those who would use the mursal hadith as proof and there were those who did not.
So this disagreement regarding the method of authenticating the sunnah led to some of them using a sunnah as proof which the other did not use. And some of them gave preference to a sunnah which was of lesser preference to others. And this took the disagreement to the manner in which the Sunnah is taken as a Shari'a evidence. So the disagreement in the Shari'a evidences took place.
2. Disagreement regarding the legal verdicts of Sahaba and their evaluation. The mujtahidin and the Imams differed with regards to the jurisprudential legal verdicts which came from individual Sahabas. There were those who took any one of these fatwas and did not restrict themselves to any particular one but did not turn away from all of them either. And there were those who took the view that they constituted only individual jurisprudential legal verdicts ensuing from people who are not infallible, so the scholar has the right to take any one of the fatwas or give legal verdicts which go against all of them. They viewed them as Shari'a rules which have been deduced and not as Shari'a evidences. And there were those who took the view that certain Sahaba were infallible (ma'sum) and his view is to be takes as a Shari’a evidence. So his sayings constitute the sayings of the Prophet (saw) and his actions constitute the actions of the Prophet (saw), and his consent constitutes the consent of the Prophet (saw). As for other Sahaba they are not infallible (ma'sum) so their views are not to be taken at all, not in the capacity of a Shari'a evidence and not in the capacity of a Shari'a rule. Also, there were those who took the view that one should not take from certain Sahaba because of their participation in the civil war (fitna) and those who did not participate, one can take from them. Consequently, another facet of this difference of opinion arose about evidences.
3. Disagreement in qiyas (analogical deduction). Some mujthahdin rejected the use of qiyas as an evidence and they disclaimed its status as a Shari'a evidence. Among them there were those who advanced qiyas as a proof and considered it a Shari'a evidence after the Quran, Sunnah and ijma' (consensus). However, despite their agreement that it constitutes a proof, they disagreed as to what qualifies as an 'illah (legal cause) for the hukm, and on what qiyas is based. As a result the difference of opinion surrounding evidences arose.
4. Disagreement over ijma' (consensus). The Muslims agreed on the consideration that ijma' is a proof. Some of them viewed the ijma' of the Sahaba as a proof and some of them saw the ijma' of the Prophet's family as proof. Some saw the ijma' of the ahl halli wal 'aqd (the influential and leading figures) as proof and some saw the ijma' of the Muslims as proof. There were those who viewed ijma' as a proof because it constituted an agreement on an opinion, therefore, if they agreed on a matter and advanced a view then it is considered an ijma' which is used as an evidence. And there were those who viewed the recognised ijma' as a proof not because it constitutes an agreement on an opinion but because it reveals an evidence. So the Sahaba, family of the Prophet (saw) and the people of Madina had companionship with the Messenger (saw) and saw him. And they are trustworthy ('udul). When they hold a Shari'a opinion but do not cite its evidence, their opinion is considered as disclosing the opinion as having been stated by the Messenger (saw), or he acted upon it or was silent over it. Thus, they reported a hukm but did not report its evidence due to it being widely known amongst them. Therefore, the meaning of ijma' constituting a proof for them is that it reveals an evidence. That is why their agreement and reminding each other, and then giving their opinion, is not considered an ijma'. Rather the ijma is that they should give an opinion without reaching an agreement on it. Therefore another difference of opinion came regarding the evidences.
These four issues have increased the rift of disagreement between the mujtahidin. They are not considered as disagreement over the understanding of the text as was the case in the time of the Sahaba and Tabi'in, but it passed that and became a disagreement over the method of comprehension. In other words, it is not considered as a disagreement over the rules but it surpassed that and became a disagreement over the method of deducing rules. That is why we find some mujtahidin taking the view that the Shari'a evidences are the Kitab, Sunnah, saying of Imam 'Ali (r.a.), ijma' of the family of the Prophet (saw) and the mind, they are the Shi’a. Some of them like those from the Mazhab of Abu Hanifah took the view that the Shari'a evidences are the Kitab, Sunnah, ijma', qiyas, istihsan (juristic preference), the opinion of the Sahabi (mazhab al-sahabi), and the Shari'a of the people of before (shari' min qablina). Some of them were of the opinion that the evidences were the Kitab, Sunnah and ijma', they are the Zahiri’s (literalists). And there were those who held that the evidences were the Kitab, Sunnah, ijma', qiyas, al-masalih al-mursala (considerations of public interest) like As-Shafi, etc... That is why they disagreed about the Shari'a evidences. This led to the differences in the methodology of ijtihad.
As for the second issue to which differences in the method of ijtihad is attributed, it is how the Shari'a text is viewed. Some of the mujtahidin restricted themselves to the understanding of the expression mentioned in the Shari'a text. And they stopped at the limits of the meanings they indicated and confined themselves to these meanings. They have been called the Ahl al-hadith (people of Hadith). Others among the Mujtahidin were called Ahl al ra’i (people of opinion) due to their reliance on the meanings derived from the text, shari’ah principles and Qiyas.
It is from here that many have said that the mujtahidin are divided into two groups: Ahl al-hadith and Ahl al-ra'i.
The scholars attributed to Ahl al-hadith were centered around Madinah, among the Tabi’een attributed to them in Medinah were Sa’eed ibnu Musayyib, Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri, Yahya, and Rabiah-ar-Ra’i, ‘Urwa, Abu Bakr bin ‘Ubaid bin Harith, Qasim bin Muhammed bin Abu Bakr, ‘Ubaidullah, Sulayman bin Yassar, Khaija bin Zaid bin Thabit.
The scholars attributed to Ahl al ra’I were centered around Kufah in Iraq. Among the Tabi’een attributed to them in Kufah were Ash-Sha’bi, Hasan al-Basri, and Ibrahim an-Nakha’ee, Hammaad, Alqamah bin Qais, Masjood bin Ajdah.
This division does not mean that the Ahl al-ra'i in their legislation they do not refer to the hadith and that the Ahl al-hadith in their legislation they do not refer to ra'i (opinion). Rather, all of them take hadith and ra'i (opinion) because all of them agree that hadith is a Shari'a proof, and that ijtihad using ra'i in understanding the intelligible aspect of the text is a Shari'a proof. What becomes apparent to anyone who scrutinises this is that the issue is not the proponents of hadith or ra'i themselves. Rather, the issue is the evidence on which the Shari'a evidence depends. That is because the Muslims relied on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw), if they did not find that clearly stated they operated their own opinion in deducing that from them. So the rule which is clearly stated like: “Allah has permitted trading and forbidden riba (usury).” [TMQ 2:275] its evidence is considered the Book of Allah. And anything clearly stated in the hadith such as: “Let not a man conduct a transaction against the transaction of his brother”, its evidence is considered the hadith. As for anything other than this like the prohibition of leasing property or such as the conquered land coming under the control of the bayt al-mal (treasury) and its use by all the people etc. It is considered an opinion (ra'i) even if it is based on the Kitab and Sunnah. So they called everything that did not have a clear text an opinion (ra'i) even if they acted upon it due to a comprehensive rule (hukm kulliy) or it was deduced from the Kitab and Sunnah. The truth is that this ra'i which is acted upon via a comprehensive rule (hukm kulliy) or general principle or it has been deduced from an understanding of the text mentioned in the Kitab and Sunnah it is not called an opinion but rather it is a Shari'a rule (hukm shar'i) since it is a view based on an evidence, it constitutes adherence to the evidence.
The basis of dividing the mujtahididn into Ahl al-hadith and Ahl al-ra'i stems from the fact that some fuqaha scrutinised the foundations on which the inference (istinbat) had been built. It became clear to them that the meanings of the shari'a rules are comprehensible, and they were revealed to solve the problems of people and to obtain benefits (masalih) for them and avert harms (mafasid) that come their way. Therefore, it is essential to understand the texts as widely as possible, encompassing everything indicated by the expression. On this basis they came to understand and outweigh one text over another and make deductions for issues that did not have a (clear) text. Certain fuqaha devoted their attention to the preservation of the isolated hadith (khabar al-hadith) and the fatwas of the Sahaba. In their inferences they took the path of understanding these isolated hadiths and reports about the Sahaba within the limits of its texts, and they applied them on events that occurred. As a consequence, disagreement arose concerning the consideration of texts as shari'a evidences and whether to consider the 'illah (legal cause) or not.
The origin of the question of using ra'i is that there are evidences which prohibit its use. So in the Sahih of Bukhari, on the authority of 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr who said: 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'As overcame us with proof. I heard him say: “Allah will not deprive you of knowledge after he has given it to you, but it will be taken away through the death of the religious learned men with their knowledge. Then there will remain ignorant people who, when consulted, will give verdicts according to their opinions whereby they will mislead others and go astray.” 'Awf b. Malik al-Ashja'i narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “My Ummah will become divided into some seventy sects, the greatest will be the test of the people who make analogy to the deen with their own opinions, with it forbidding what Allah has permitted and permitting what Allah has forbidden.” Ibn 'Abbas said that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Whoever speaks about the Quran with his own opinion, let him reserve his place in the fire”. These hadiths are explicit in their censure of the use of ra'i. However, the ra'i is not the same ra'i employed by the scholars of ra'i like the Hanafis. Rather the blameworthy ra'i is that of speaking about the Shari'a without any authority. As for the ra'i which is premised on a shari'a basis, the hadiths and reports about the Sahaba (athar) indicate that it is a shari'a rule not to be considered as a taking a objectionable ra'i. The Prophet (saw) has permitted the judge to exercise his own ijtihad and awards him, despite making a mistake in exercising his own opinion, one reward, if his aim was to gain knowledge of the truth and follow it. The Prophet (saw) ordered the Sahaba on the day of the (battle of) Ahzab (the confederates) to pray the mid-day ('asr) prayer in Bani Qurayza. Some exercised their own ijtihad and prayed on the way, they said it does not mention any delay rather what he meant was to advance quickly, thus they looked into the meaning. The others exercised their ijtihad and delayed the prayer until Bani Qurayza. They prayed the 'asr prayer at night, thus they looked at the wording. The Messenger (saw) accepted both groups, each one on his own opinion. Mu'az narrated 'that when the Messenger of Allah (saw) sent him to Yemen he said: “What will you do when a judgement presents itself. Mu'az said: 'I will judge by what is in the Book of Allah. He (saw) said: But what if it is not in the Book of Allah? He said: I will judge by what is in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saw). He (saw) said: But what if it is not in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah? He replied: I will exercise my own ijtihad, it does not bother me. He said: So the Messenger of Allah beat my chest and said: “Praise be to Allah who has made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to accord with what pleases the Messenger of Allah.” [Ahmad: 5/230, Abu Dawud:3592, at-Tirmizi:1327]
So this is the ra'i on which the fuqaha, and the mujtahidin proponents of ra'i proceeded on in acting upon the sunnah. It is the ra'i which is based on the text. They are also the Ahl al-hadith even if they were called the Ahl al-ra'i. Even the Hanafis who have become famous as Ahl al-ra'i are agreed that the opinion of Abu Hanifah is that the hadith other than the sahih, i.e. the hasan, is more entitled to be followed than qiyas or ra'i. So he gave precedence to the hadith of qahqaha (laughing aloud), even though it is hasan, over qiyas and ra'i. And he prevented the hand of a thief to be cut for a theft whose value is less than ten dirhams but the hadith did not reach the level of sahih, rather it is hasan which indicates that ra'i for them is an understanding of the text. They gave qiyas a status lower than the hasan hadith let alone the hadith which is sahih. This indicates that what is intended by ra'i is the understanding of the text and the ra'i which is based on the text. So the Ahl al-ra'i are Ahl al-hadith also.
As for the third issue which led to disagreements over the method of deducing rules, it concerns certain linguistic meaning which are applied in understanding the text. The disagreement between the mujtahididn arose from the styles of the Arabic language and whatever they indicated. There were those who took the view that the text was a proof for establishing the hukm from its wording (mantuq), and for proving the opposite of this hukm from the opposite understanding (mafhum al-mukhalif). And there were those who view the unspecified 'amm (general) as definite (qat'y) in dealing with all its parts, and there those who saw it as speculative (zanni). And there were those who viewed the general order as tantamount to an obligation, they did not deviate from this except when there was a qarina (indication) to the contrary. So the order obliges an action. And some of them used to take the view that an order was merely a request to do an action, it is the qarina (indication) which clarifies whether it is an obligation or otherwise. As a result, disagreements arose concerning the understanding of the texts and let to disagreements in the method of ijtihad.
Thus, in this manner the disagreement between the generation of the Tabi'in arose in the methodology of deducing ahkam and each mujtahid came to have his own special methodology. From this disagreement over the method of deducing rules arose various juristic schools which led to the growth of the jurisprudential wealth and made fiqh flourish in its entirety. This is because differences in understanding is natural and it assists the development of thought. The Sahaba used to disagree amongst themselves. 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas disagreed with 'Ali, 'Umar, Zayd b. Thabit even though he had learnt from them. Many of the Tabi'un disagreed with certain Sahaba yet they took knowledge from them. Malik went against many of his Shaykhs and Abu Hanifah disagreed with Ja'far al-Sadiq concerning certain issues despite learning from him. Al-Shafi'i disagreed with Malik in many issues even though he had learnt from him. Thus, the 'Ulama used to disagree with each other, and students disagreed with their shaykhs and teachers. They did not consider that as bad manners or rebellion against their shaykhs. This is because Islam encourages people to do ijtihad. Every scholar has the right to comprehend and make ijtihad and not be confined to the view of a Sahabi or Tabi'i and nor to be confined to the opinion of a shaykh or teachers.
The Flourishing of Islamic Jurisprudence
The Muslims generally used to make taqleed to the mujtahidin despite their disagreements, since the basis of their disagreements was the Shari'a evidence. So the understanding of every mujtahid of the address of the Legislator (khitab al-shaari') is considered a Shari'a rule with respect to him and with respect to the one who makes taqleed to him. Because, the address of the Legislator is the hukm shar'i (shari'a rule) and the understanding of the Legislator's address is a Shari'a rule, but in respect to the one who understood it and in respect to the one who follows him in this understanding. Those who attained the understanding of the Legislator's address used to make ijtihad. Those who did not reach the level of ijtihad used to follow, in ahkams, those who had reached the level of ijtihad and practised ijtihad. The issue was not that of following the faqih personally just as the issue is not one of making taqleed to a mazhab. Rather, the issue is about adopting the hukm shar'i deduced by the faqih and acting upon it. Since, the Muslim is ordered to follow the Shari'a rule only and to act upon it and not follow a mazhab or person, or act according to any particular mazhab or follow any particular person. When he is able to reach the hukm shar'i through his own ijtihad he should do that, if not he should adopt a hukm deduced by someone else. In the early ages the mujtahidun could be counted by the thousands. That is why we find that the mujtahidun whom the Muslims used to follow were not restricted to four, five, six or any number of mazhabs. Yet there were many mazhabs and numerous mujtahidun. Each group used to follow rules deduced by each mujtahid whether he was from a mazhab or not. For example, the general population of Kufa acted upon the fatwa of Abu Hanifah and Sufyan al-Thawri but the Shi'a used to act upon the mazhab of Ja'far al-Sadiq. The practise of the people of Makkah used to be according to the fatwa of Ibn Jurayj and the people of Madina on the fatwas of Malik. And the people of Basra on the fatwas of 'Uthman. And the people of al-Sham on the fatwas of al-Awza'i and the people of Egypt on the fatwas of Ibn Sa'd, and the people of Khurasan on the fatwas of 'Abd Allah b. al-Mubarak, some of the people of Yemen on the fatwas of Zayd b. al-Husayn. Many of the Muslims used to follow the fatwas of Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, Ibn Abi Layla, 'Ikrama, Rabi'a al-ra'i, Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri, al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Layth b. Sa'd, Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, Ishaq b. Rahwayh, Abi Thawr, Dawud al-Zahiri, Ibn Shubrama and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari. All of them were mujtahids and belonged to mazhabs.
Each mazhab had its own method of ijtihad and a specific opinion regarding the ahkam. Many of the mujtahidin and Imams were judges and rulers in the respective countries. The disagreements of the Imams, judges and rulers led to differences in ahkam. Each one judged with his own opinion or according to the opinion of a faqih whose opinion he holds. This resulted in the presence of different judgements in the state, due to this there were 'Ulama who were obviously inclined towards unifying the ruling by which judgement is given and wanted the Khalifah to issue an order for people to adhere to it. At that time, certain people who knew about the situation of the society took the view that a comprehensive book should be written to which judges and other will refer, to lighten the burden of the judges and make it easy for the litigants.
Ibn al-Muqaffa' wrote a letter to the Khalifah al-Mansur regarding this matter, in which it was mentioned: 'What the Ameer al-mu'minin sees, regarding the matter of those two cities; Basra and Kufah and other cities and regions, of the differences of these contradictory rulings which has reached great proportions regarding rulings relating to life, chastity and property. The rules concerning life and chastity allowed in Basra is forbidden in Kufah, such disagreements are taking place in the heart of Kufah, something is allowed in one area but not in another’. However, al-Mansur did not act according to this letter although he was influenced by it. His influence made him to make the Fuqaha and the muhaddithun to record what has reached them until people had references to which they could refer. The reason for al-Mansur not acting upon the opinion of Ibn al-Muqaffa' in laying down a constitution and canons for the state, which would have brought the people to together on specific ahkams was what happened between him and Malik. Ibn Sa'd narrated in al-Tabaqat that Malik b Anas said: ‘When al-Mansur made hajj he said to me: I have taken the decision to order people to follow the books which you have written. They will be copied, then I will send a copy to every Muslim city and I will order them to act upon them and not refer to any other works. So I said O Ameer al-Mu'minin! Do not do this. The people already hold opinions, and they have heard hadiths and narrated reports, each people took what it already had followed it, leave the people, let the people of each country chose for themselves.' Owing to this, the mazhabs and opinions were not unified and ijtihad and ra'i remained with the people in adopting the hukm they deemed correct. And the choice remained for judges and rulers to judge with what they deemed as appropriate. Due to this, each Imam of fiqh has students who came to study their opinions and explain his school. And the outlook towards this disagreement which took place changed and it became a science on its own right, they called it the science of disagreement ('ilm al-khilaf). They studied it just as they studied usul al-fiqh. They said that the disagreements of the Imams was a mercy (rahma). The student of each Imam used to expand on the furu' (branches of fiqh). It was this expansion which preserved the mazhabs of certain mujtahidin and but was the reason for the extinction of others. Al-Awza'i, al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Thawri and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari are some of the greatest Imams in terms of their breadth of knowledge and ijtihad. However they did not expand in furu' but confined themselves to the usul, and they did not have students who would expound the position of their mazhab, that is why they were not acted upon and they did not spread.
As for the rest of the Imams such as Abu Hanifah, Ja'far al-Sadiq, Zayd b. al-Husayn, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad b. Hanbal and Malik, they had students and followers, so their mazhabs were recorded and continued to exist. Despite the restrictions imposed by Abu Ja'far al-Mansur on Ja'far al-Sadiq and others from the family of 'Ali, he deduced rules and he had students from the Shi'a and others. They recorded his opinions and looked upon them as something akin to the sunnah. His mazhab spread in many regions of the world. Abu Hanifah used to have many students, the most well known are Abu Yusuf, Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Zufar. They were all mujtahids like Abu Hanifah. Although they mixed their opinions with his, the credit goes to them for recording the mazhab of Abu Hanifah. It is the same for Imam Malik. He used to reside in Madinah, he had many students who were widely known, especially for scrutinising the hadith and transmitters of hadith, especially in regard to the book al-Muwatta. His students after him used to record his fatwas and expand on the furu' and give their views on issues. Despite Malik's fame the credit for spreading his mazhab goes to his students. As for al-Shafi'i he had established his towering fame by his own hands in usul al-fiqh. Which is indicated by what comes in the large work al-Umm which along with al-Risala and Ibtal al-Istihsan are the greatest samples of intellectual awakening in that age. His students, such as al-Rabi' and al-Muzani, who proceeded according this method and studied his opinions and expanded his mazhab and so it spread far and wide. Likewise for Ahmad b. Hanbal. Despite the dominant prevalence of hadith in his mazhab, he had students who expanded his mazhab for him and studied his opinions. The credit first and foremost goes to those students, not only for spreading the mazhab of their teachers and Imams but also for the exposition of the fiqh and ensuring that it flourished, until their age was considered more radiant than the age of the Imams. Since, it was in this age that the commentaries of ahkam and clarification of evidences took place. Thus, the fuqaha rushed ahead in studying fiqh and explaining it especially the science of usul al-fiqh which is the true basis of fiqh. The situation of fiqh continued to spread until it flourished greatly. The pinnacle of its bloom, after the century in which the mazhabs were formed, was in the fourth century A.H.
The Decline of Islamic Jurisprudence
After the era of the students of mujtahidin came the adherents and followers of the mazahib. They did not continue on the path which the Imams and scholars of mazahib followed in ijtihad and in the inference (istinbat) of rules. And nor did they continue on the path taken by the students of the mujtahidin in terms of studying the evidence, clarifying the angle of deduction and the branching out of the rules, and exposition of issues. The followers of each Imam or the scholars of each mazhab were only concerned about taking the side of their own mazhab, supporting its furu' and usul in all of the issues. They were not interested in studying the soundness of the daleel and outweighing the preponderant evidence over the weaker evidence even if it went against their mazhab. Sometimes they were concerned to establish the proofs for the correctness of the view they have taken and invalidate the proofs against it. And at other times their interest was devoted to extolling the Imams and the scholars of the mazahib. This preoccupied the scholars of the mazahib and distracted them from the primary source which is the Quran and Sunnah. A person, among them, did not refer to the text of the Quran or Sunnah, except for the purposes of finding anything that will support the mazhab of his Imam. Accordingly, their studies were confined to their mazhabs. And their zeal for absolute ijtihad and reference to the primary sources in order to derive rules from them became weak. Their eagerness for ijtihad was restricted to their mazhab or to one issue, or simply to make taqleed without scrutiny. Their dependence on taqleed reached the point where they said: any ayah or hadith which goes against what out scholars have said - i.e. our mazhab- it is to be interpreted (to accord with what we say) or it has been abrogated. They made the following of a mazhab an obligation on the Muslim. And they began to study, in Islamic institutions such as al-Azhar, the saying of the author of Jawhara al-Tawheed fi wujub al-taqleed: ‘An obligation it is to follow the learned amongst them. Thus the people spoke with a language understood by them’. [Better translation needed of this]
Rather, they believed that the door of ijtihad should be closed for the Muslims. They held that ijtihad was not permitted until many of the 'Ulama, from amongst those who were qualified for ijtihad and who had the aptitude for ijtihad, did not dare to perform ijtihad or say that they were mujtahids. This decline started towards the end of the 4th century A.H. although in the beginning, until the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th there was some progress. Mujtahidun and scholars were present at a time when the likes of al-Qaffal were advocating the closing of the door of ijtihad. However, from the begging of the 7th century until the end of the 13th century A.H. the decline was complete but it was within the limits of Islam. The decline was in thought but the jurisprudential opinions remained Islamic. As for after the 13th century i.e. from 1274 A.H. till now, the decline has reached the point where the shari'a rules have become mixed with un-Islamic laws and the situation reached the worst possible state of decline.
It was due to this jurisprudential decline that it made it difficult for people to act upon the shari'a rules. So after the Islamic Shari'a had been suitable for the entire world, they made it difficult even for its adherents until they were forced to adopt other laws. Many pious Muslims began to argue about a shari'a which was not the Islamic Shari'a. Towards the end of the 'Uthmani state it was the ignorance of Islam and the ignorant fuqaha which was the principle reason for the backwardness of the Muslims and the end of their state. There were fuqaha who were rigid and always ready to give fatwa forbidding anything new and forbid the thoughts of any thinker. The curiously ludicrous and lamentable thing that happened was that when coffee appeared some scholars gave fatwa forbidding it and when people wore the fez the fuqaha gave the fatwa that it was forbidden to wear it, and when the printing press appeared and the state decided to print copies of the Quran, some fuqaha forbade it to be printed. The telephone appeared and some fuqaha forbade people to speak through it, and many other issues followed. Until the consequence in Islamic jurisprudence was that the Muslims became completely ignorant of it. The issue changed from studying the Shari'a rules to studying western laws. And law schools were founded, those schools whose presence in the Muslims countries is shameful for them. And towards the end of the 'Uthmani state - the Islamic state and its leader the Khalifah of the Muslims - decided to imitate western jurisprudence in the codification of law. Thus they introduced the Majalla in 1282 A.H. as a civil law and a grand edict was issued in 1293 A.H. to put it into effect. And before they had drawn up the Ottoman penal code in 1274 A.H. They introduced that in place of the hudud, criminal (jinayat) and discretionary punishments (ta'zeer). And in 1276 A.H. they introduced the Law of Rights and Commerce in 1276 A.H. Then they introduced the constitution in order to abolish the Khilafah system in its entirety in 1294 A.H. However, it was abolished and then reinstituted in 1326 A.H. (1907 C.E.). However, they tried to make it agree with Islam and kept the Khilafah system. In this way, fiqh (comprehension) declined and became laws and the Shari'a rules were abandoned and rules other than from Islam were adopted under the pretext that they agreed with Islam. An erroneous notion became prevalent that whatever agrees with Islam it is taken from any human being. And the zeal of the 'Ulama waned and they, all of them, became muqallidin (followers). However, that is seen as coming under the shadow of Islam. But after the end of the Khilafah and the kuffars occupation, from the English and French. Then the Muslim countries became states on a nationalistic basis whether Arab, Turk or Iranian etc. The Islamic fiqh was wiped out from existence from the relationships of people, and from education and learning. It was not studied except in certain countries, such as al-Azhar in Egypt, Najaf in Iraq, Zaytuna in Tunisia, however they were studied in the same manner as Greek philosophy was studied, as fanciful philosophy and in a theoretical manner. The decline reached shocking levels since the Islamic fiqh vanished from existence from people's relationships.
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Pluralism and Religious freedom sacrificed to preserve British Secularism
by Abid Mustafa
(Saturday October 07 2006)
"By pressing ahead with the forced secularisation of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths."
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw again courted controversy by suggesting that Muslim women should remove the veil. Previously, Straw caused immense hue and cry amongst Muslims and non-Muslims alike, when he authorised the war against Iraq, and denied any link between Britain’s foreign policy and home grown terror.
But Straw is not the only minister who is denigrating the Islamic character of Muslim community in Britain. Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, called for a "new and honest debate" on the merits of multiculturalism. Home Secretary John Reid said that Muslims parents should spy on their children. It is obvious that the British government has embarked on a crusade to trounce its cherished principles of pluralism, and freedom of religion in a last ditch attempt to preserve secular Britain.
Since September 11, under the pretext of the war on terror, the West has undertaken a host of measures specifically aimed at Muslims living in the West. These measures include arbitrary arrests, physical torture, imprisonment without trial, surveillance of mosques, muzzling of Imams, and deaths in police custody. Some have even been forced to become spies. Muslims have also witnessed the endless vilification of Islam by the western media.
All this has left an indelible impression on Muslim minds that secular democracies in the West are incapable of guaranteeing Muslims the peace and security to practice their religion.
The plight of Muslims living under secular dictatorships supported by the West is much worse. In countries like Uzbekistan, Muslim males are routinely arrested for having a beard or visiting the Mosques too often. In Turkey, Muslim women who opt for university education are forced to abandon their hijab.
But the fiercest punishment is reserved for those who seek to criticize these tyrannical regimes; imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings can routinely be found in such countries. So we also find Muslims living in the Muslim world convinced that secularism is flawed and unfit to govern them.
Even non-Muslims living under secularism feel that their religion is vulnerable. Many Christians in the West view gay bishops, women priests, illegitimate children, and the commercialization of Christmas as malicious attempts by secular fundamentalist to subvert Christian values and replacing them with secular ones.
Likewise, secularism has failed to protect the Christian sects in Northern Ireland and safeguard the lives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim people living in Palestine. India, the largest secular state in the world, is prone to religious violence where Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are all victims of secularism. So, just like Muslims, non-Muslims are also looking for an alternative system that can provide them with an opportunity to practise their religion in peace.
Islam is the sole ideology in the world where people of different faiths can worship and perform their religious duties without experiencing reprisals or insecurity. In practice this is secured by the Caliphate state. In the past the Caliph safeguarded the rights of non-Muslims and Muslims alike, without discriminating between them. Take the case of Palestine: under the shade of the Caliphate, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony, a feat unrivalled in the history of mankind.
By pressing ahead with the forced secularisation of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths.
Source: Media Monitors Network
(Saturday October 07 2006)
"By pressing ahead with the forced secularisation of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths."
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw again courted controversy by suggesting that Muslim women should remove the veil. Previously, Straw caused immense hue and cry amongst Muslims and non-Muslims alike, when he authorised the war against Iraq, and denied any link between Britain’s foreign policy and home grown terror.
But Straw is not the only minister who is denigrating the Islamic character of Muslim community in Britain. Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, called for a "new and honest debate" on the merits of multiculturalism. Home Secretary John Reid said that Muslims parents should spy on their children. It is obvious that the British government has embarked on a crusade to trounce its cherished principles of pluralism, and freedom of religion in a last ditch attempt to preserve secular Britain.
Since September 11, under the pretext of the war on terror, the West has undertaken a host of measures specifically aimed at Muslims living in the West. These measures include arbitrary arrests, physical torture, imprisonment without trial, surveillance of mosques, muzzling of Imams, and deaths in police custody. Some have even been forced to become spies. Muslims have also witnessed the endless vilification of Islam by the western media.
All this has left an indelible impression on Muslim minds that secular democracies in the West are incapable of guaranteeing Muslims the peace and security to practice their religion.
The plight of Muslims living under secular dictatorships supported by the West is much worse. In countries like Uzbekistan, Muslim males are routinely arrested for having a beard or visiting the Mosques too often. In Turkey, Muslim women who opt for university education are forced to abandon their hijab.
But the fiercest punishment is reserved for those who seek to criticize these tyrannical regimes; imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings can routinely be found in such countries. So we also find Muslims living in the Muslim world convinced that secularism is flawed and unfit to govern them.
Even non-Muslims living under secularism feel that their religion is vulnerable. Many Christians in the West view gay bishops, women priests, illegitimate children, and the commercialization of Christmas as malicious attempts by secular fundamentalist to subvert Christian values and replacing them with secular ones.
Likewise, secularism has failed to protect the Christian sects in Northern Ireland and safeguard the lives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim people living in Palestine. India, the largest secular state in the world, is prone to religious violence where Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are all victims of secularism. So, just like Muslims, non-Muslims are also looking for an alternative system that can provide them with an opportunity to practise their religion in peace.
Islam is the sole ideology in the world where people of different faiths can worship and perform their religious duties without experiencing reprisals or insecurity. In practice this is secured by the Caliphate state. In the past the Caliph safeguarded the rights of non-Muslims and Muslims alike, without discriminating between them. Take the case of Palestine: under the shade of the Caliphate, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony, a feat unrivalled in the history of mankind.
By pressing ahead with the forced secularisation of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths.
Source: Media Monitors Network
Friday, October 6, 2006
Video: Demonstration in al-Khalil (Hebron), Palestine for Khilafah
The following is the link to a video of a large demonstration that took place on 28th Rajab 1427 AH (22nd August 2006), the 85th Hijri anniversary of the destruction of the Khilafah. Similar demonstrations took place throughout Palestine including in Ramallah (West Bank).
Video of demonstration
Video of demonstration
Thursday, October 5, 2006
America could neither dare to wage an open war against Pakistan five years ago nor has the courage to do so today
As usual on reaching the United States Musharraf’s eagerness to support his master increases manifold. Musharraf’s statement that America threatened to bomb Pakistan is in fact a failed attempt to conceal his treachery under the cover of so-called coercion. In fact, America does not need to pressurize or threaten traitors like Musharraf; rather a simple phone-call or an instruction is enough to get the job done. This fake threat was for the public consumption and to help Musharraf with an excuse to give to the Ummah for supporting the US. The reason for repeating the same old fake threat now, after five years, is that Musharraf wants to show the Ummah that even today he is compelled to follow American diktat. The reason being that if we didn’t kill our own Muslim brothers in the tribal belt and refused to support the American crusade in Afghanistan, America has the capability to send us back to the stone age. Hence it’s better for Pakistan to continue to serve and ‘bootlick’ America. (Astagfirullah-il-Azeem)
The fact is that America was neither in a position to impose a war on Pakistan five years ago nor she has the courage to do so today. Regarding the issue of “hot pursuit,” a coward army like the American’s, which dare not to go outside the green zone; how come they could conduct an operation inside Pakistan’s territory bypassing one hundred thousand strong fully equipped
Pakistan combat troops guarding the Pakistani frontiers. This is only possible when traitors like Musharraf himself guarantee their safety. America would never like to conduct military operations inside Pakistan’s territory when he has Pakistani troops available to be sacrificed, (thanks to Musharraf!). America’s strength could be easily gauged from their failure in weaker countries like Afghanistan and Iraq that were already too fragile because of continued fighting and sanctions. Pakistan is the strongest Muslim country and the only Muslim nuclear power.
American bases in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia were an easy target for Pakistani missiles and fighter war planes five years ago. Moreover, had there been a sincere leadership, an attack on Pakistan was impossible for America. Furthermore, a power that is highly equipped but their soldiers are not ready to sacrifice their lives is already destroyed along with their arsenal. We had already witnessed that with Israel in the recent war aggression on Lebanon and in the shape of the death of American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is true that America possess much more cavalry and military arsenals than what Pakistan possess but since Pakistan has the capability to cause more damage to America than what America could bear that is why America would never have committed the mistake of attacking Pakistan. As for the hoax of the Indians siding with America, we ask why would India involve itself in a foreign war that could maximum benefit her with destruction of Pakistan but at the cost of himself reaching the Stone Age because of a nuclear war? What about making herself as an easy vulnerable prey to its Eastern enemy ‘People Republic of China’. And after this war the division of this weak Indian state into many stateless would not have taken much time. This is the “balance of power” because of which India and America could not impose an open war on Pakistan. And even if they conducted this mistake, even then it was impossible to subjugate Pakistan through military means the same way as they failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. But agent rulers like Musharraf scared the people and not only committed genocide of the innocent Muslim of Afghanistan but made it possible for America to control the Pakistani land and Air space without firing even a single bullet. Whilst on other side, despite bombing with thousands of tons of ammunition America could not subjugate Iraq and Afghanistan!!!
As for the threat of “sending Pakistan back to the Stone Age” is concerned; the threat is there now. If America and India had the capability to completely control Pakistan they would not wait a moment in imposing a war over Pakistan. The question is what wisdom did we show by granting our neighbourhood to our enemy? What military strategy is this to allow opening of FBI offices and granting airbases to the enemy inside the country? The answer is simple. An agent ruler does not care about the interest of their people; they care for the interest of the master. Because of Musharraf America was not only able to crush Afghanistan but further enslaved Pakistan by placing their troops and secret agencies inside the country. Moreover, it is obvious to the people the situation of the strategic assets in the name of whose “protection” the Afghani Muslims were sold. Kashmir policy is U-turned and Jihad is declared as terrorism. Atomic scientist A.Q. Khan detained and senior scientist of KRL are forced into retirement. Not just this, upon American instruction a campaign is undergoing to change the Islamic identity of Muslims completely. Change in syllabus, promotion of cable culture, patronizing vulgarity and lewdness in the name of soft image are just a few important policies in this regard. What further proof is required to the Musharraf treachery that people were continuously being told that Pakistani land will not be used for bombarding Afghanistan? But later it was disclosed that American planes made 50000+ sorties from Airbases of the Pakistan Air Force to bomb the Muslims of Afghanistan.
A Muslim prefers the death of honour to the life of humiliation and slavery. But what these Islamic trait have to do with coward and traitor rulers like Musharraf? They just want to save their seat and make millions by writing a bunch of lies and selling his Iman. The days of these traitor rulers are numbered. Insha Allah soon the Ummah will get rid of these rulers by establishing Khilafah. And that will be the day of rejoicing for the Momineen.
Naveed Butt - Pakistan
As for the threat of “sending Pakistan back to the Stone Age” is concerned; the threat is there now. If America and India had the capability to completely control Pakistan they would not wait a moment in imposing a war over Pakistan. The question is what wisdom did we show by granting our neighbourhood to our enemy? What military strategy is this to allow opening of FBI offices and granting airbases to the enemy inside the country? The answer is simple. An agent ruler does not care about the interest of their people; they care for the interest of the master. Because of Musharraf America was not only able to crush Afghanistan but further enslaved Pakistan by placing their troops and secret agencies inside the country. Moreover, it is obvious to the people the situation of the strategic assets in the name of whose “protection” the Afghani Muslims were sold. Kashmir policy is U-turned and Jihad is declared as terrorism. Atomic scientist A.Q. Khan detained and senior scientist of KRL are forced into retirement. Not just this, upon American instruction a campaign is undergoing to change the Islamic identity of Muslims completely. Change in syllabus, promotion of cable culture, patronizing vulgarity and lewdness in the name of soft image are just a few important policies in this regard. What further proof is required to the Musharraf treachery that people were continuously being told that Pakistani land will not be used for bombarding Afghanistan? But later it was disclosed that American planes made 50000+ sorties from Airbases of the Pakistan Air Force to bomb the Muslims of Afghanistan.
A Muslim prefers the death of honour to the life of humiliation and slavery. But what these Islamic trait have to do with coward and traitor rulers like Musharraf? They just want to save their seat and make millions by writing a bunch of lies and selling his Iman. The days of these traitor rulers are numbered. Insha Allah soon the Ummah will get rid of these rulers by establishing Khilafah. And that will be the day of rejoicing for the Momineen.
Naveed Butt - Pakistan
28.09.06
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