Between Knowledge & Understanding

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a note by Ustadz Swuhayb William Webb. 

Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Abu al-‘Ala’ Idris al-Qarafi al-Maliki (r.a.) said, “A person who clings to books is deviant, leading others to misguidance.” 

Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah explained saying that a student of knowledge may be gifted in reading and finding things in ancient texts that are rooted in things related to their times; that shaped the opinions found in them.  A true scholar is not only gifted in navigating the classics, but he sees them through the particular needs of the day. 

Dr. ThaHa Jabi al-‘Alwani said to Ustadz Swuhayb, “A person that thinks fiqh is concrete, has no fiqh.”  This, meaning fiqh is a dynamic that is ever changing to bring the best for a person in this life and the Hereafter. 

Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (r.a.) said, about all of this, “It is here that most people are negligent, failing to understand the goals of Islam.” 

As barbaric acts occur in the name of our faith, we may run into folks who are sincerely trying to preserve the tradition, invoking ancient opinions that support some of what we find horrifying today, inexcusable.  When admonished by today’s ethics and common sense, scholars and laymen, they may use the tradition to beat the “common” Muslim into submission.  Know, that such people are more concerned about preserving the lives of the Four A’immah, their students and the generations that passed, than they are in preserving ours.  We must not allow them the authority to intimidate us.  We are right in your gut feeling.  Imam al-Qarafi (r.a.) himself would be upset.



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