Updated: Monday August 11, 2014/AlEthnien
Shawwal 15, 1435/Somavara
Sravana 20, 1936, at 09:48:45 AM
PAUSE AND REFLECT: QURANIC ADVICE
(English translation of Allama
Parwez’s article in Urdu entitled “Socha Karo” )
By S. Ishtiaq Ahmad
One of
the marvels of the Quran is its style. When dealing with a subject, whether
facts about the universe or the deep mysteries of the human brain, the language
is simple, clear, eloquent, and highly focused. As a result of this highly
focused way of expression, this comprehensive revealed book of nature and
complete code of conduct is so small that if it is printed in fine English
type, it will not spread over more than a few pages.
Here is
an example of this highly focused way of expression: Prophet Mohammad (P) had
been preaching the Quranic way of living to the people of
In
these few words the Quran has brought to light many hidden facts of human life.
The real significance and true import of these thought provoking words can only
be appreciated by those people (nations) who are aware of the power and scope
of human intellect and imagination. Suffice it to say that the Quran constantly
exhorts Muslims to reason, think, reflect, and deliberate. It goes so far as to
say, “the people who do not use these faculties are not human beings. They are
living their lives on the animal level, even worse than that. These are the
cursed people.” (7:179)
THE
IMPORTANCE OF THINKING
When
the Quran says that those who do not utilize their mental faculties are living
like animals, firstly it brings to light the power and importance of human
intellect, and secondly, it gives insight into the history of creation and
evolution. According to the Quran, as supported by modern scientific
discoveries, life (not the life of an individual or a species) started with the
creation of a single cell. This single cell, through evolutionary processes
reached the human form. In this evolutionary journey of life there are two
points worth noting:
People
with superficial knowledge usually reject the validity of the theory of
evolution on the grounds that human beings did not evolve into a higher
species. They ignore the fact that evolution no longer takes place in bodies or
forms. The evolution of life into human form is the beginning of intellectual
evolution and this evolution is still taking place. Consider from an
intellectual point of view that the cave dwellers of hundreds of thousands of
years ago and the moon conquering humans of today belong to the same species.
When it comes to intelligence, today’s humans are definitely different than the
cave dwellers of long ago.
The
purpose of divine revelation is to activate and polish the human intellect and
increase its field of activity. The Quran constantly appeals to reason and
experiment. It says, “These people do not ponder and reflect on the Quran. It
seems as if their minds have locked themselves up from the inside so that
nothing can get into them.” (47:24). According to the Quran, those people who
readily believe in anything without first questioning or thinking over it are
not Mumineen. While describing the traits of the Mumineen Allah says, “these
are the people who do not accept without scrutiny and deliberation.” (25”73)
They accept His signs on the basis of knowledge and insight. As far as the
vastness of the field of human thought and reflection is concerned, the Quran
says, “Allah brings forward the clues and hints in such a fashion thereby
enabling you to reflect on this life and the hereafter.” (2:219)
By
bestowing human beings with mental abilities, Allah distinguished them from
animals, and by bringing the hereafter into the purview of thought, believes
have been differentiated from the nonbelievers. Thus Ad-Deen (Islam) means the
use of thought and reflection in both lives, in this world and in the
hereafter.
As we
have already seen, according to the theory of evolution, human intelligence is
ever developing and increasing. Therefore, the level of mental abilities of the
people of a particular period in history cannot be considered the benchmark.
The above mentioned verses (47:24, 25:73, 2:219) describe Allah’s ordained way
of living (Islam). Man made religion endorses quite the opposite view. It
considers the intellectual achievements of a particular period in history as
the benchmark and rules out any further progress and development. Such attitude
brings human life down to the level of animals where the purpose of life is
repetition and maintenance of the status quo. Following the footsteps of one’s
forefathers as the purpose of life and allowing no change or development is
called conformity (taqleed). The word Taqleed is derived from the word qaladah
(collar). A collar is used to keep animals under control and to use them as
desired. Pondering the meaning of the word conformity (taqleed) shows its
effect on human beings. It discourages thought and reflection because first, it
is not based upon reason and second, century old thoughts cannot stand the test
of modern times. Instead of admitting its own fallibility and incompleteness,
religion forbids the use of reason. By this deception religion insulates itself
from all the ill effects of “disbelief” and “heresy.” If someone challenges and
criticizes such an attitude, the religious establishment incites the masses to
condemn the heretics because their ancestor’s school of thought is being
threatened. Conformity devoids the masses of thought and reason. When they are
incited emotionally their fury erupts like a volcano. The worst thing in the
world that can happen is when ignorance jumps into action and takes the law
into its own hands. Religion can buy some time by using such tactics, but
permanence is not its fortune. Religious minded nations always lag further
behind nations that use their imagination. Modern nations keep progressing and
gaining strength while “Islamic” nations stagnate and become weak to the point
there they cannot defend themselves. With the passage of time they wither away
and in the words of the Quran, “Neither heaven nor earth shed a tear over their
demise.” (44:29)*
As
mentioned earlier, the Quran stressed reflection on both worlds, i.e., this
world and the hereafter. This world means the outer physical universe. Allah
states that “the heavenly bodies and earth have been brought under control for
you (human beings) by Allah. There are signs for those who think and reflect.”
(45:13)
The
universe is controlled by the laws of nature, which are permanent and
unchangeable. These laws are made by Allah but can be discovered by human
thought. By discovering the laws of nature, hidden forces can be brought under
control and utilized for the benefit of humanity. With the ongoing development
of human knowledge, there will be more and more opportunities for the conquest
of nature.
When
religion declares the intellectual achievements of a particular time in history
as the last word, human knowledge freezes at that level and intellectual
stagnation sets in. Whenever a scholar or scientist makes a new discovery based
on modern thought and knowledge he is condemned to death by the religious
establishment on the grounds of heresy. This happens simply because these new
revelations are not in line with the thoughts of ancestors. European Christian
history of 16th and 17th century is the history of
conflict between religion and science. In that era scientists like Galileo and
Copernicus were persecuted simply because they said that the earth was round
and that it revolved around the sun. Finally western nations got tired of
religious interference and emancipated themselves from its hold. As a result,
today they are capable of reaching the moon. Their priests, even today, say the
universe came into being on some specific date. Nobody pays attention to this
kind of talk outside the four walls of the church.
DIVINE
VALUES OF LIFE
Developed
nations do not believe in the hereafter. In other words they do not believe in
Allah’s law of requital. This means that these nations do not believe the
spiritual side of life, which checks the excessive forces of the material side
and thus maintains equilibrium. As a result, the more these nations progress in
conquering the forces of nature, the more they turn the world into a living
hell, all the while dragging the whole of humanity into it because of the clash
of their mutual self-interests. According to Dr. Iqbal, the modern civilization
is suffering from self-inflicted wounds. It has made tremendous strides in the
fields of science and technology but cannot solve human problems.
The
Quran has brought both this world and the hereafter into the scope of human
thought. Thought, pertaining to this world, represents various branches of
scientific knowledge. Western nations, free from religious constraints, are
working hard to acquire more and more scientific knowledge. Acquiring
scientific knowledge is prescribed as a duty for every Muslim in the sixth
century. From among many Quranic verses on the subject, only one is being
quoted here. It says, “Have you ever pondered the system that brings rain (the
water cycle)? What are the laws governing the production of various crops, and
flowers and fruits of different varieties and colors? Have you ever pondered
the structure of mountains? These mountains look like unwieldy heaps of rock,
but their different colors point towards an evolutionary system. Human beings,
animals and cattle are of many different kinds and each species has its unique
properties.” (35:27-28) These two verses cover quite a few different fields of
scientific knowledge. After this statement the verse continues, “The Book of
nature is for everyone but only those who bow to the awe-inspiring grandeur of
its laws, who think and reflect upon these in the light of knowledge and
discernment. These are the people who are really entitled to be called ulema.”
In light of the above verses the word ulema can only be translated as
scientist. When Islam was practiced as a way of life, only a scientist was
called an aalim.
When
the Quranic way of life was downgraded to a religion, research in various
branches of knowledge came to a halt. Scientific knowledge became synonymous
with blasphemy and heresy. Whatever concepts about the universe were prevalent
at that time became the last word on the subject. Thinking or saying anything
against or different from those concepts was deemed as apostasy. For example,
according to religious beliefs man was made of clay. A rib was cleaved to
create woman from him. These two individuals initiated the spread of the human
race. The first man (Adam) was 60 yards tall. The sky was a lump of glass and
stars were studded in it like jewelry. The sun slept under Allah’s throne every
evening and angels brought it back up every morning. Hell is allowed to breathe
only twice a year; when it breathes out, we get summer, when it breathes in, we
get winter. The earth is flat and stationary. The tribes of
PREPARATION
FOR THE HEREAFTER: PROGRAM FOR THE FUTURE
This
inactivity in the field of studying and exploring the world around us and
failure to take advantage of the bounties of nature makes our life poor,
miserable, and meaningless. Lack of thought and preparation for the life in the
hereafter makes us losers in both worlds.
To
prepare us for the hereafter, the Quran makes mandatory the establishment of a
social structure based upon divine values. The characteristics of these values
and principles are as follows:
The
laws of nature and the revealed values both work in the same manner. The laws
of nature, like lasting principles, are firm and unchangeable. Human ingenuity,
in the light of these laws, derives new theories, makes new revelations, and
goes on making inventions of different kinds. Likewise, in a society that is
established upon divine revelations, the revealed values and principles provide
unchangeable boundaries. The society, within this framework draws up
operational details as demanded by the needs of the permanent values. The
operational details provide the society with up to date mechanisms to implement
the revealed values, and are regularly updated in accordance with the changing
times and the development of human thought. These values and principles are
themselves are not subject to change. The operational or administrative
details, in religious terminology, are called the Code of Religious Law (Shariat).
The method through which deletion and addition, modification and reform,
continues is called the exercise of judgement or innovation (ijtihad). This
means to innovate through intellectual exertion, i.e., the use of thought and
reflection, which the Quran so avidly supports.
CHANGE
OF DIRECTION
As long
as Islam retained its pristine form, i.e., a system of life based on divine
values, the system functioned in the manner mentioned above. There was rule of
human thought within the framework of divine values. Afterwards when the
Muslims lost the thread of reality, Islam was degraded to a religion. The
substance of Deen gave way to token beliefs and lifeless rituals. The ummah was
shackled by tradition. At this juncture two things happened:
Today
the Muslim nations, when it comes to progress in the material world as well as
in the world of values, stand exactly at the same spot as they did during the
Abbassid period and this status quo is the result of self imposed intellectual
paralysis. There is no curiosity, no motivation, no thought and reflection, no
research, and no pondering. Laws and principles, customs and traditions, and
the tenets of the Abbassid period have become the standard of judgement between
things Islamic and non-Islamic. Anything different or modern is labeled
non-Islamic. Living within the framework of God-given laws, principles and
guidelines is not the Islamic way of life anymore. On the contrary, blindly
following the customs and traditions and man-made laws of the Abbassid
monarchial period is thought to be the “real Islam”.
The
code of law enacted during that period is called fiqh and the system is called
the fiqhi school of thought. The original meaning of the words
tafaqquh-fid-deen was the understanding of the right program in the Quran. And
this understanding meant that the entire purpose of the Quranic message to man
should be kept in view. Thus the word fiqh, taken from that expression, which
is now called Islamic jurisprudence, had an original meaning quite distinct
from what is now attached to it.
HERO
WORSHIP
The
fiqh was compiled by human beings. No matter how venerable and reputable those
individuals were, they were still humans. Only Allah’s laws have the
characteristic of being eternal and unchangeable (6:116). Giving the same
status to man-made laws is to equate them with the laws of Allah, and this is
tantamount to shirk. One of the fundamentals of the Quran is that it does not
assign sovereignty to any individual or group; sovereignty rests with Allah
alone. The Quran states this fact unequivocally when it declares, “No human
being, even if Allah blessed him with the code of law, administrative powers,
and the office of prophethood, has the right to command the people to follow
him and not to follow Allah. He can only tell them to follow the Book which
they can read, reflect upon and to become the party of Allah.” (3:79)
There
is a practical flaw as well in making man made laws perpetual and unchangeable.
The laws enacted a thousand years ago might have been good enough to fulfill
and satisfy the needs of that time, but in no way can those laws serve the
purpose and achieve the objectives of a time period of a thousand years. They
cannot fit into changed environments. This is common regarding human lawmaking.
A law is drafted very carefully, legislators discuss it thoroughly two or three
times, amendments are made, legal experts scrutinize it point by point, and after
going through this painstaking process, while it is being printed there arises
the need for some new amendments. This is the state of affairs of human
lawmaking today. And this kind of painstaking care in law making was not
available a thousand years ago. We can get some devotional comfort by making
the laws of a bygone era permanent and unchangeable. But we cannot get any
practical help from them in dealing with the problems and needs of the daily
life of today.
In the
early days, dissent with fiqh was not objectionable. According to Dr. Iqbal’s
research from the first to the fourth century, not less than 19 schools of law
and legal opinion appeared in Islam. Some of these schools of thought, like
Hanafite, Hambilite, Shafiite, etc. etc. still exist. At a later stage the
school of thought of our forefathers was given the status of deen itself, and
any innovation through thought and reflection (ijtihad) became sinful. At that
point in time each sect sanctified its own school of thought and in order to preserve
and safeguard it, any deviation from it was made an un-Islamic act.
An
interesting and very important question arises at this point. When nobody
denies the fact that all the makers of these fiqhi laws were human beings, why
do the laws made by them get such a sacred status? They did so because the
Muslim masses were at that time (and still are) being made to believe that
these laws were not the creation of these jurists but rather were based upon
the sayings of the prophet Muhammad (P). any dissent from or objection to these
laws became synonymous with the rejection of the prophet’s sayings and
traditions (ahadith), and such an act is tantamount to blasphemy. By
attributing these laws to the prophet Muhammad (P), any discussion of them is
pushed out of the domain of thought and reflection and becomes a matter of
feeling and emotion, and when this happens, the sanctity attached to it puts it
beyond any criticism, thereby creating an explosive situation.
THE
MYTH OF NON BELIEF IN THE PROPHET’S (P) SAYINGS
(INKAAR-E-HADITH)
It was
explained above how the fiqh has been sanctified and put beyond any criticism.
As a result the moment someone questions or objects to these laws, which in
reality were exacted by the jurists, it is publicized widely that such person
does not believe in the sayings and traditions of prophet Muhammad (P). One can
easily imagine to what extent such publicity can inflame the public’s emotions.
This is the technique being practiced so successfully to keep the fiqhi laws
above any criticism.
This is
an extremely delicate situation. With utmost regard for the feelings of the
above-mentioned persons, I will try to explain and bring to light the truth
regarding the supposed inkaar-e-hadith and inkaar-e-sunnah. Does this purported
rejection really amount to the rejection of hadith and sunnah, or is it the
rejection of something else? Let us examine this question carefully. I would
like to mention at this point that I am only addressing those people who prefer
thought and reflection to emotions.
IMAN (CONVICTION)
First
of all it is important to express my Iman on the subject: as far as I am
concerned, anyone who doesn’t believe in the truthfulness of the Prophet’s (P)
sayings or deeds cannot be considered a Muslim. The reason is that the words and
deeds of the Prophet (P) constitute the very model which has been designated by
Allah as the “best role model” (uswah-I-hasanai) for Muslims to follow.
Rejection of this model amounts to the rejection of the prophethood itself as
well as the commands of Allah. That is why Allah Himself has safeguarded that
model (uawah) by preserving it in the Quran itself.
Having
said this, a question arises: if the inkar-e-hadith and sunnah, which draws
religious verdicts of blasphemy and heresy, is not the real issue (since both
agree that it is incumbent on Muslims to follow the Prophet’s (P) model), then
what is the point of contention? To deal with this question we have to know the
proper position of hadith and sunnah.
Nobody
can deny the facts that:
Imam
Bukhari has written that the total number of sayings he verbally heard from
people was 600,000. The people who narrated these sayings to Imam Bukhari were
not contemporaries of the Prophet, because there was a 200 year lapse between
them. None of these narrators claim that he personally heard the Prophet say
such and such thing. What narrators actually did was hear a particular saying
from one person who in turn heard it from another person, who heard it from yet
another person, and in this way the chain is ultimately linked to the Prophet.
Suppose
a witness testifies in a court of law that he himself did not see the actual
crime, but that he is just recounting whatever he heard from another person.
The court would throw out his testimony. This is because facts (and not
hearsay) constitute acceptable testimony. Then how can the hearsay of several
narrators spread over 200 years become reliable testimony?
However,
besides this long chain of narrators (isnad) the sayings of the prophet have
not been passed on verbatim. The first narrator passed on in his own words
whatever he understood from the statement of the prophet. Every narrator in
turn passed on his own summary of the account given by the previous narrator.
In this way the process was repeated several times and the sayings of the
prophet became available to Imam Bukhari.
To
illustrate the effect of this oral passage, lets create a scenario. Suppose you
are in a room. You whisper something to a friend sitting next to you. Then he
whispers the same sentence as well as he can remember to the next person. This
process goes on until the last person in the room whispers it back to you. You
would be surprised how your statement can be completely altered and twisted.
This is just one example of how meanings change in a single sitting. Just
imagine what would have happened to the meaning of a statement by the time it
reached a collector of hadith 200 years later. This is the process by which
600,000 statements of the Prophet (P) reached Imam Bukhari. He selected
approximately 6000 of those and rejected all the others. If repetitions are not
counted then we have close to 3000 ahadith. Imam Bukhari, not being a
contemporary of the prophet, obviously could not get all these ahadith certified
by the prophet. Bukhari included all those ahadith in his collection which in
his opinion were acceptable and rejected all those which he thought were
not genuine, his personal thoughts and opinions being the standard of judgement
for the acceptability of a hadith. Case in point: there is a difference of
opinion between Iman Abu Hanifah on whether iman can increase or decrease.
Because of this difference, Imam Abu Hanifah is not reliable or trustworthy
according to Bukhari. Furthermore, since Abu Hanifah was a resident of Koofa,
all the people who resided in Koofa were unreliable as well.
PERSONAL
THOUGHTS AND THE SELECTION OF AHADITH
Mr.
Abdus Samad Sarim wrote an article about the biography of Imam Bukhari in the
June 1981 issue of a
Evidently,
while making selections from the ahadith he probably selected those that
declared proceeds from sleeping partnerships and the slave trade as lawful.
This is not restricted to these two circumstances; he selected only those
ahadith which were in accordance with his personal thoughts and beliefs. The
point is that Bukhari all the other collectors included only those ahadith in
their collections which in their opinion were authentic and genuine.
THE
EXAMINERS AND APRAISERS OF HADITH REPORTERS
(ARBAB-E-JARH-O-TA’DIL)
Later
on some scholars of hadith thought of checking on the credibility and
trustworthiness of the isnad (chain of narrators). It was a good idea. But what
means and resources did they have at their disposal to ascertain the
credibility of reporters who died 150 to 200 years ago? Obviously they based
their opinion on whatever sketchy information was available to them. Here again
their opinion became the standard for testing reliability. In this regard
Maulana Maududi says,
“The
individuals who investigated the reliability of hadith reporters, they too were
human beings with all the human weaknesses. It is questionable that a reporter
considered to be reliable by these investigators was in fact reliable. To check
the memory, credibility and accuracy in reporting of each and every reporter is
a very, very difficult task.”
(ISMA-UR-RIJAL)
Yet
another aspect of hadith collecting was scrutinized by doctors of hadith
literature. They tried to verify whether the reporter of a particular hadith
and the narrator were contemporaries or not. If they were, had they met each
other? And if they had, did the reporter get a particular hadith from the same
narrator or some someone else? Maududi expresses his opinion as follows:
“Such
investigative work cannot be considered to be totally accurate. It is reliable
in the sense that it can be helpful in researching the traditions of the Holy
Prophet (P) and the lifestyle of his companions. But it would be wrong to put
our total trust in it.”
The
doctors of hadith classified them into various categories based upon their own
opinion of the trustworthiness of the reporter. One category is called sahih
(accurate), another dhaif (weak), and another is hussan. The six
sunni collections of hadith are called sahih, although Bukhari is considered to
be the most sahih.
The
term sahih gives an impression that these ahadith are most accurate and
authentic. But this is not the fact. These ahadith are called sahih because the
hadith scholars used the term. Nobody can say with certainty that these are the
sayings of our Prophet (P). That is why the words au
POSITION
OF HADITH
In
light of these explanations it becomes clear that the way these ahadith were
collected, scrutinized, and compiled, not even a single hadith can be
definitely and positively considered to be the saying of the Prophet. At the
most it can be said that this is a statement attributed to the Prophet.
In the
words of Maulana Maududi, “the fact is, any hadith which is attributed to the
Prophet can be questioned for accuracy and reliability. You (the hadith
devotees) are bound to accept every saying of the prophet which is duly
certified by the reporters. But this is not the criterion for us. A certificate
in no way is the litmus test for the authenticity if a hadith.”
In
another place he says,
“The
sayings of the prophet and the sayings we find in the books of ahadith are not
necessarily one and the same. The ahadith, because of the authority of the
reporters cannot be equal in status to the verses of the Quran. The Quranic
verses, beyond any doubt, are Allah’s revelations. On the contrary, in the case
of the sayings, the attribution of any word or deed to the prophet is always in
doubt.”
Incidentally,
Maulana Maududi and I have similar views. It is ironic that nobody labels
Maududi as munkar-I-hadith, but my views are denounced and publicized wide and
far. It is surprising that even Maududi himself and his jamat-e-islami are part
and parcel of this groundless propaganda.
ANOTHER,
BUT OPPOSITE VIEW
The
correct position of hadith has been explained above. But there are people with
different opinions:
“After
due investigation and verification the place and status of hadith is exactly
the same as that of the whole Quran itself. As a matter of fact the rejection
of hadith has the same effect on Iman and faith as the rejection of the
Quran…Refusal to believe in such ahadith, which meet the verification standards
and are deemed to be genuine by the scholars of sunnah, is tantamount to
profanity and synonymous with expulsion from the ummah. The ummah is in
agreement on the accuracy of Imam Bukhari’s and Muslim’s collections. The
accuracy of these ahadith is absolute.” (Jamat-e-islami)
If any
person who refuses to believe in even a single hadith from these two
collections, he/she becomes a non-believer and loses membership in the Muslim
ummah. For example, one of the hadith we are required to believe is from Bukhari,
“When the angel of death came to seize the soul of Moses (P), Moses slapped the
angel so hard that he went back to Allah.” If you refuse to believe in the
accuracy of this particular hadith, then according to the above-mentioned rule,
you are no longer in the fold of Islam.
THE
REAL MEANING OF INKAR-E-HADITH
When an
individual refuses to acknowledge the authenticity of a hadith what is he
actually refusing? As I have mentioned earlier, Imam Bukhari collected about
600,000 ahadith and approved only 3000 for his book, which in his opinion were
accurate and reliable. When a person says that a certain hadith is unacceptable
to him, then he is only refusing one thing: he is refusing to accept Imam
Bukhari’s opinion or verdict regarding that hadith. He is not refusing
to accept the truthfulness of the prophet, nor is he rejecting hadith and
sunnah as such. All he is doing is having a difference of opinion with Imam
Bukhari on some particular hadith. And a valid ground for rejecting anything
whether it be a hadith or practice or tradition or custom is if it is against
the Quran, which is undeniably the only book which contains Allah’s word. He is
not prepared to accept Imam Bukhari’s verdict as the end all and be all because
if the hadith is against the teachings of the Quran, the Prophet (P) could
never have said or done it in the first place. Therefore, inkar-e-hadith is not
the refusal to believe in the words of the Prophet (P), but rather it is the
refusal to blindly accept Imam Bukhari’s opinions and verdicts. Therefore, how
can someone become a non-believer just because he does not agree with Bukhari?
Last time I checked this was not a requirement of iman. Allah never made us
duty-bound to blindly accept the verdicts rendered by the hadith reporters and
collectors. Allah never stipulated that you can only be a Muslim if you believe
in the accuracy and soundness of Imam Bukhari’s opinion. Such an attitude is
hero worship with a heavy dose of emotionalism. To have Iman in the
infallibility of any human being is neither demanded in the Quran nor is a
requirement of common sense. However, the ummah is consuming itself in exactly
this emotionalism. The moment someone differs in opinion with Imam Bukhari
he/she is labeled an apostate, and this commotion is being created and
sustained by the religious establishment to the detriment of the Muslim nation.
CONTRADICTIONS
IN FIQH
It has
been explained earlier how the fiqhi laws were enacted and codified. These laws
are said to be based upon hadith. When the hadith were declared everlasting the
fiqhi laws got the same status automatically and turned into a very rigid code,
creating lasting divisions in the ummah.
One of
the proofs that the Quran is the word of Allah is that there are no
contradictions in it (4:82). This is not the case for ahadith. Mutually
contradictory ahadith can be found in any single collection of hadith. When
there are many differences and contradictions in the ahadith themselves, then
what of the fiqhi laws which are based on hadith? These contradictions are
responsible for the existence of so many mutually quarrelling sects within the
ummah. Ahadith provide the basis for the conflicting laws. Allama Mohammad
Aslam Jairajpuri gives an example:
“The
contradictions in the traditions were not limited to different geological
regions, there used to be contradictory traditions in the same locality. A case
in point is the statement of Abdul Waris bin Saeed. He said, upon his arrival
in
The
differences and contradictions in the traditions are not totally responsible
for this divisiveness in the ummah, religious individualism has to be blamed as
well. If central authority (the government) had kept religious lawmaking under
its own jurisdiction, the entire ummah would have had a single fiqha and been
saved from sectarian divisions brought about by personal fiqhas. The same
should have been done regarding the ahadith, and because of this centralism the
ahadith would not have been in such a state of affairs as well. As long as the
Anyway
we were trying to point out that the divergent nature of the fiqhi laws is due
to the contradictions in the ahadith on which these laws were based. Putting
aside the religious debate among various sects in the past, let us have a look
at the verdicts handed down by the
THOUGHTS
OF DR. IQBAL
A
thinking mind paused and reflected upon this pressing problem and came up with
a solution according to his own Quranic insight. Dr. Iqbal, in his sixth
lecture of the book Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,
discussed the problem in detail and presented the solution to this problem. The
most important issue was lawmaking. In this connection he presented his
arguments in these words,
“Turning
now to the groundwork of legal principles in the Quran, it is perfectly clear
that far from leaving no scope for human thought and legislative activity the
breadth of these principles virtually acts as an awakener of human thought…The
teaching of the Quran that life is a process of progressive creation
necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the world of its
predecessors, should be permitted to solve its own problems.”
Incidentally
Dr. Iqbal delivered these lectures in 1928 when his thoughts had matured.
Recently I came across an article written by him when he was still (let us say)
a student. This article was published in October 1904 of the magazine Makhzan.
This illustrates how a thinking mind even in very early stages moves in the
right direction. He says,
“The
immense changes in life have brought about such conditions where the opinions
of the past (ancient) jurists badly needs a revision. It is not my intent to
suggest that because of some inherent weaknesses the religious principles can
no longer fulfill the needs of the present civilization. My point is the past
jurists from time to time made rules based on the broad principles of the Quran
and hadith. Those rules were suitable and practicable in those particular
periods of time, but are unable to satisfy the needs and demands of the present
time. Just like, at present, there is a need of modern language and terminology
to explain the religious principles, similarly there is a need for a jurist of
high caliber for the latest interpretation of Islamic law. On the strength of
his intellectual capabilities and power of his imagination, this great jurist
should be able to rewrite and compile the Islamic law based on religious
fundamentals in a modern fashion; with the sheer strength of his imagination,
interpret the principles on such broad bases so as to satisfy the demands of
modern times.”
THE
CONCEPT OF
For
rewriting the fiqh, Dr. Iqbal presented the concept of
Shortly
after the creation of
At the
moment the only thing we can say is that whenever the Quran and human thought
will be free of these shackles, the first task worth completing for the ummah
will be to critically examine the traditions, Prophet’s biography, history and
Quranic exegesis, and fiqh in the light of Quranic teachings. All the material
which is in accordance with the Quran should be accepted, and that which is
against the teachings of the Quran should be discarded. Then within the
framework of the Quranic laws, principles, and guidelines, the ummah should by
mutual consultation, reconstruct the shariah according to the needs and demands
of modern time. Only at such a time will the state truly be called an Islamic
state and its laws the laws of shariah. Such a task can only be performed by a
great revolutionary who, in the words of Dr. Iqbal, approaches the problem in
the spirit of Omar (R), “the first critical and independent mind in Islam who,
at the last moments of the Prophet (P), had the moral courage to utter these
remarkable words, ‘The Book of God is sufficient for us.’”
Posted on August 11, 2014
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