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Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem
assalamu alaikum
Have you seen a Faqih? Reason and Knowledge in Islam
by Shaykh Gibril F. Haddad
1. Reason
The Prophet said: "Lo! Verily, there is in the body
a small piece of flesh; if it is good the whole body is good and if it is corrupted
the whole body is corrupted; lo! it is the heart . " 1
Al-Nawawi said: This hadith was used as proof that the seat of the mind is
the heart (al-`aql fi al-qalb) and not the head. There is a well-known difference
of opinion concerning this . The position of our [Shafi`i] scholars and the
overwhelming majority of the scholars of kalam is that it is the heart, while
Abu Hanifa said it is the brain, and it might also be said to be the head. The
philosophers are said to hold the first position, the physicians the second.
Al-Maziri said: "Those who hold that it is in the heart adduced as proof Allah's
saying (Have they not travelled in the land, and have they hearts wherewith to
feel and ears wherewith to hear? For indeed it is not the eyes that grow blind,
but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow blind)( 22:46 )
and (Lo! therein verily is a reminder for him who has a heart, or gives ear
with full intelligence)(50:37). " 2
The Prophet said, pointing to the heart: "Fear of Allah
is right here" (al-taqwahahuna). 3
Another narration states: "Verily, Allah looks not at your bodies nor at your
faces but He looks at your hearts."4
Imam al-Nawawi stated that these two narrations were also used as proof that
the seat of the mind is the heart and Ibn Hajar similarly adduced all the above
texts as evidence of the same. 5
`Ali ibn Abi Talib ( said at the battle of Siffin: "The seat of reason is the
heart (al-`aqlu fi al-qalb), that of mercy is the liver, that of sympathy is the
spleen, and that of breath is the lung." 6
Imam Ahmad defined reason (al-`aql) thus: "One of different types of necessary
types of knowledge that characterize animate beings endowed with speech. Its
seat is the heart. "7
Another authoritative definition was given by Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari:
"Lexically it means 'prevention' (al-man`), as it prevents its possessor from
straying from the correct path. By convention it denotes instinct (ghariza)
through which one is prepared to comprehend the theoretical sciences. It is
also said to be a light cast into the heart. "8
Shaykh Tajal-Din ibn`Ata' Allah al-Sakandari related in
Lata'if al-Minan from Shaykh Abu al-`Abbas al-Mursi that the latter said:
"Once I recited (By the fig and the olive)(95:1) until I arrived at His saying
(Surely We created man of the best stature Then We reduced him to the lowest
of the low)(95:4-5).
I reflected upon the meaning of these verses, and Allah inspired to me that
their meaning is (Surely We created man of the best stature - in soul and mind
- (ruhanwa`aqlan), (Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low - in ego and
lust - (nafsanwahawa). "9
2. Knowledge and the Knowledgeable
Among the sayings of `Ali ibn Abi Talib-- Allah be well-pleased with him --
on this topic, narrated by Abu Nu`aym with his chains:
* From Abu Araka:
"I have seen a remnant of the Companions of Allah's Messenger. I see no-one
that resembles them. By Allah! They used to rise in the morning disheveled,
dust-covered, pale, with something between their eyes like goat's knees, as
they had spent the night chanting Allah's Book, turning from their feet to their
foreheads. If Allah was mentioned they swayed the way trees sway on a windy
day, then their eyes poured out tears until - by Allah! - they soaked their clothes.
By Allah! It is as if folks today sleep in indifference. "
* From al-Hasan ibn`Ali:
"Blessed is the servant that cries constantly to Allah, who has known people
while they have not known him, and Allah has marked him with His contentment.
These are the true beacons of guidance. Allah repels from them every wrongful
dissension and shall enter them into His own mercy. They are not the wasteful
tale-bearers (10) nor the ill-mannered self-displayers. " 11
From `Asim ibn Damura:
"The true, the real faqih is he who does not push people to despair from Allah's
mercy, nor lulls them into a false sense of safety from His Punishment, nor
gives them licenses to disobey Allah, nor leaves the Qur'an for something else.
There is no good in worship devoid of knowledge, nor in knowledge devoid of understanding,
nor in inattentive recitation. "
* From `Amr ibn Murra:
"Be wellsprings of the Science and beacons in the night, wearing old clothes
but possessing new hearts for which you shall be known in the heaven and remembered
on the earth. "
* "Thus does Knowledge die: when those who possess
it die. By Allah, I do swear it! The earth will never be empty of one who establishes
the proofs of Allah so that His proofs and signs never cease. They are the fewest
in number, but the greatest in rank before Allah. Through them Allah preserves
His proofs until they bequeath it to those like them (before passing on) and
plant it firmly in their hearts.
By them knowledge has taken by assault the reality of things, so that they found
easy what those given to comfort found hard, and found intimacy in what the
ignorant found desolate. They accompanied the world with bodies whose spirits
were attached to the highest regard. Ah, ah! How one yearns to see them!"14
Al-Hasan al-Basri:
"Have you ever seen a faqih? The faqih is he who has renounced the world,
longs for the hereafter, possesses insight in his Religion, and worships his
Lord without cease. "12
Sahl ibn`Abd Allah al-Tustari:
Al-Barbahari said: I heard Sahl say:
"Allah created the world and placed in it those who are ignorant and those who
have knowledge. The best knowledge is that which one acts upon. For knowledge
is all a proof [against oneself] except what is put into practice. But what
is put into practice is all wind except what is sound and correct. As for what
is sound and correct: I do not declare with certainty any act to be so, except
what Allah wills."15
Imam al-Awza`i:
Baqiyya ibn al-Walid said that al-Awza`i said:
"O Baqiyya! Do not mention any of your Prophet's Companions except kindly.
O Baqiyya! Knowledge (al-`ilm) is whatever came to us from the Companions of
Muhammad. Whatever did not come to us from them, is not knowledge. "16
Imam Malik:
* From Ibn al-Qasim: "I heard Zayd ibn Aslam say: (And
unto each of them We gave judgment (hukm) and knowledge)(21:79) that wisdom
(al-hikma) is reason (al-`aql).
What comes to my heart is that wisdom is superlative understanding (al-fiqh)
in Allah's Religion. What clearly shows this is that you may see someone quite
reasonable and clear-sighted in worldly matters, and someone else weak in worldly
matters but knowledgeable and judicious in the matter of his Religion. Allah
gave him this but deprived the former of it. This wisdom, therefore, is superlative
understanding in Allah's Religion. "17
From Ibn Wahb: "In the verse (and he shall instruct them in the Book and
in wisdom)(2:129, 62:2), 'wisdom' is the Sunna. In the verses (And We gave him
wisdom when a child)(19:12), (He said: I have come unto you with wisdom)(43:63),
(And He will teach him the Scripture and wisdom)(3:48), (And bear in mind that
which is recited in your houses of the revelations of Allah and wisdom)(33:34),
'wisdom' is obedience of Allah, observance of Him, superlative understanding
in the Religion, and deeds in conformity with it. " I also heard Malik say:
"Wisdom and knowledge are a light by which Allah guides whomever He pleases;
it does not consist in knowing many things. "18
Imam al-Shafi`i:
"Knowledge is what contains the words: 'Narrated to us.' All else is satanic
whisperings. 19
"Knowledge is what benefits. Knowledge is not what one has memorized. "
This is a corrective for those content to define knowledge as "the knowledge
of the proof" (ma`rifa al-dalil). (He gives wisdom to whomever He will, and whoever
receives wisdom receives immense good) (2:269). 20
"You [the scholars of hadith] are the pharmacists but we [the jurists] are
the physicians. " This was explained by `Ali al-Qariin his book Mu`taqad Abi Hanifa al-Imam
(p. 42):
"The early scholars said: The hadith scholar without knowledge of fiqh is like
a seller of drugs who is no physician: he has them but he does not know what
to do with them; and the fiqh scholar without knowledge of hadith is like a
physician without drugs: he knows what constitutes a remedy, but does not dispose
of it."
Imam Ibn Hibban al-Busti:
Among Ibn Hibban's notable remarks in his Sahih:
His definition of "knowledge" to mean
"knowledge of the Sunna" in the Prophet's hadith
"Time shall grow short and knowledge decrease,"20 in view of the increase of
every other type of knowledge in modern times.
Imam Ibn `Ata' Allah al-Sakandari:
"The Knowledge That Benefits is That Whose Rays Expand in the Breast and
Whose Veil is Lifted in the Heart. "
Ibn `Ata' Allah, Hikam(#213).
3. NOTES
1 Narrated from al-Nu`man ibn Bashir in the Six Books . The
complete hadith states:
"Verily, the lawful is manifest and the forbidden is manifest, but between
them there are dubious matters which many people do not know . Therefore, whoever
bewares of dubious matters has made himself exempt [of guilt] for the sake of
his religion and his honor, and whoever falls into dubious matters, falls into
the forbidden.
It is as with the shepherd that grazes his herd around guarded grounds: he greatly
risks grazing it inside it . Lo! Every king possesses guarded grounds. Lo! Verily,
Allah's guarded grounds are His prohibitions .
Lo! Verily, there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is good the whole
body is good and if it is corrupted the whole body is corrupted; lo! It is the
heart . "
2 Al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim (1972 ed. 11:29).
3 Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Muslim, and in various wordings
from Abu Hurayra, Anas, and others by al-Tirmidhi (hasan ghar�b), Ahmad , al-Tabarani,
Abu Ya`la, and Abu Nu`aym. Also narrated from Wabisa ibn Ma`bad al-Asadi by Ahmad
with the wording:
"Righteousness (al-birr) is whatever your chest becomes dilated in doing,
while iniquity (al-ithm) is whatever your chest becomes constricted in doing,
regardless of what people recommend . "
4 Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Muslim and Ibn Majah.
5 Respectively in Sharh Sahih Muslim (16:122) and Fathal-Bari(1959
ed. 1:129).
6 Narrated from `Iyad ibn Khalifa by al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad (p.
192) with a fair (hasan) chain because of Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Ta'ifi, and
al-Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-Iman (3-4:161).
7 Ahmad ibn Hanbal in Tabaqatal-Habanila(2:281).
8 Zakariyya al-Ansari, al-Hudud al-Aniqa(p. 67).
9 In al-Suyuti, Asrar Tartib al-Qur'an (p. 153).
10 Those who fanned dissension between `Ali and the other
Companions.
11 The Khaw�rij.
12 As cited by al-`Ayniin `Umda al-Qari, Book of `Ilm, in
his commentary on the hadith:
"He for whom Allah desires great good, He grants him understanding in the
Religion" .
Cf. Ibn al-Jawzi, Manaqib al-Hasan al-Basri (p. 16).
13 Cited by Ibn al-Jawzi in his chapter on `Ali in Sifat al-Safwa.
14 Ibn al-Jawzi, Sifaal-Safwa2(4):10 (#570) and 1(2):203
(#254); Abu Nu`aym, Hilya al-Awliya' (6:155) and s.v. "Abu Hashim"; Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Sufiyyawa al-Fuqara', beginning of volume 11 of his Majmu`a al-Fatawa entitled
al-Tasawwuf; al-Harawi al-Ansari, Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, 1983 Mawlayied. (p. 1, 159);
Shaykh `Abdal-Qadir al-Gilani, al-Ghunya (p. 840); `Abdal-Rahman Jami, Nafahat al-Uns,
ed. M. Tauhidipur, 1336/1957 (p. 441).
15 In Ibn Abi Ya`la, Tabaqatal-Hanabila( 2:18 ). Sahl also
said:
"No-one is given a better knowledge than that by which he increases his utter
dependence on Allah."
Abu Nu`aym, Hilya al-Awliya' (10:204 #14934).
16 Cited by al-Dhahabi in Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' (1997 ed.
7:95) and Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari(1959 ed. 13:291).
17 As cited by al-Tabari in his Tafsir (verse 21:79) and al-Mahdawi in
al-Tahsil as quoted by Hamid Lahmar in al-Imam Malik Mufassiran (p. 279). Related
to Malik's words, note the Prophet's hadith:
"Most of the people of Paradise are the naive (al-bulh). "
Narrated from Anas by al-Bazzar in his Musnad (#1983) who graded it weak, while
al-Qurtubi declared it sah�h in his Tafsir (verses 26:83-89), but this was questioned
by al-`Iraqi in al-Mughni`an Haml al-Asfar, who quoted Ibn `Adi's rejection of
the hadith in al-Kamilfi al-Du`afa' (3:313 #773).Ibn `Adi said "condemned as narrated
through this chain" (h�dha al-had�th bi h�dha al-isn�d munkarun), and did not mean
the content of the hadith, as its veracity is confirmed by the Prophet's hadith
narrated from Abu Hurayra by Muslim:
" Paradise says: None enters me except the weak and wretched among the people
and their simple-minded (ghirratuhum) . "
The best grading for the chain of Anas's narration is that of "soft" (layyin)
in al-Fattani's Tadhkiraal-Mawdu`at (p . 29) and al-`Ajluni's Kashf al-Khafa' (1:164,
1:286) because of Salama ibn Rawh. See also al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal (26:113
#5465), al-Quda`i'sMusnadal-Shihab(2:110 #989-990), al-Suyuti's al-Durar al-Muntathira(p.
93 #68), al-Sakhawi's al-Maqasid al-Hasana(p. 74), and al-Zarkashi's al-Tadhkira (p.
170).
The hadith is also narrated with a weak chain from Jabir as stated by Ibn `Adi(1:191
#31), Ibn al-Jawzi in al-`Ilalal-Mutanahiya(2:934-935 #1558-1559), and Ibn Hajar in
Lisanal-Mizan(1:240 #755).
The ghirr and bulh are those who were ignorant of evil ways in the world but knowledgeable
in their Religion, as explained by Abu `Uthman and al-Awza`i in Kashf al-Khafa'
and Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' (1997 ed . 7:92), also al-Munawi in Fayd al-Qadir (2:79);
or those whose hearts were guileless towards people as stated by Ibn Qutayba in
Ta'wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith (1995 ed . p . 270 =3D 1972 ed . p . 297); or those
who lacked skill in worldly ways as explained by al-Nawawi in Sharh Sahih Muslim
and al-Suyuti in al-Dibaj(6:191 #2847); or those like old women, beduins, and
their like, who remained staunch in their Religion as stated by al-Qari in Al-Asrar al-Marfu`a (p
. 125-127 #53) . The "Salafi" editor of the latter, M. L. al-Sabbagh, rejected
the hadith as munkar and exclaimed: "Islam was never for one day a Religion that
supports naiveness or the simple-minded!" This is refuted by Muslim's narration
from Abu Hurayra quoted above, as well as al-Tirmidhi (ghar�b), Abu Dawud, Ahmad
, al-Hakim (1:43), and `Abdal-Razzaq's narration from him that the Prophet said:
"The believer is guileless and noble (al-mu'minughirrunkar�m) while the wicked
man is perfidious and miserly (wa al-f�jirukhibbunla'�m)":
a fair narration as indicated by al-Dhahabi in his Talkhis and stated by Ibn
Hajar in al-Ajwiba`ala al-Qazwini[al-Qari'sMirqat1994 ed.1:546-549] and al-Suyuti as
quoted in `Awn al-Ma`bud.
Al-Bayhaqi also narrated from Abu Hurayra, as stated in al-Qari'sal-Mirqat(1994
ed.8:813):
"The believer is easy and lenient (hayyinunlayyinun) to the point that you
will think him a fool (ahmaq) in his leniency . "
Ibn al-Athir cites some of these narrations under the entries b-l-h and gh-r-r
in al-Nihaya(1:154, 3:353), as well as Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Razi in Mukhtar al-Sihah (p.26).
18 In Ibn `Abdal-Barr, Jami` Bayanal-`Ilm(1:83-84),
al-Qadi `Iyad, Tartibal-Madarik(2:62), al-Shatibi, al-Muwafaqat(4:97-98).
19 Al-Shafi`i, Diwan as cited by al-Qari in his introduction
to Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar.
20 Narrated from Abu Hurayra by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud,
and Ibn Majah:
"Time shall grow short, knowledge decrease, dissensions appear, avarice confront the
people, and massacres abound . "
He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, what is the latter?" He replied: "Killing,
killing!" See the discussion of this hadith in al-`Iraqi's Tarhal-Tathrib (4:26
-29).
Allah's blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions
.
GF Haddad �
[1999-06-30]
And The Following Question:
Recently you quoted a hadith in one of your posts saying that the Prophet
told us to follow the "fatwa of our hearts" even if it's contrary to the fatwa
of others. I would like for you to elaborate more on this narration. The little
knowledge that I do possess, makes it hard for me to believe that because it opposes
the ayats in the Qur'an telling us not to follow our vain desires, which stem
from the heart.
Make no mistake: The hadith in no way contradicts the aya cited but rather
confirms it, in the sense of following your heart in issues that raise an ethical
scruple in you even if people give you fatwa to go ahead. Meaning, if your heart
tells you there is something wrong with it, then leave it. This explanation is
confirmed by another hadith that states: "Sin (al-ithm) is whatever pricks the
conscience. " And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril
GF Haddad �
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Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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