1: The defence of the Sunnah Part 1.he defence of the Sunnah 2/2
- Hits: 1734
In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate
"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"
Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah
As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: The defence of the Sunnah 1/2
Introduction: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the leader of educators and the head of those whose faces and feet are white (from the effect of ablution); our Prophet Mohammed, and upon his family and all of his Companions.
In what is to follow: Allah – Exalted in Highness – has put the Sunnah of His Prophet - peace be upon him – at a paramount status, and uppermost position, as He entrusted to him - peace be upon him - with the duty of mission, the function of elucidation, so the Almighty said: ((and We have sent down unto you the Message; that you may explain clearly to men what is sent for them ...)) [An-Nahl: 44]. And ‘elucidation’ is a generic term for meanings with combined roots and ramified branches: One of them is: the elucidation of the same revelation by its manifestation through his tongue after it had been hidden.
The second one: the elucidation of its meaning and its interpretation to whoever had a need for that. He has also shown that the wrong-doing mentioned in His saying, Exalted He be: ((and confuse not their beliefs with wrong)) [Al An’am: 82], is false worship (1).
The third one: his actual elucidation, such as when he has elucidated prayer times to the asking person through his action (2).
The fourth: elucidation of what he has been asked about, concerning the provisions that are not in the Quran. The Quran then descends with their elucidation. Such as when he had been asked about the slandering of the spouse, the Quran came with the Li’aan (a solemn oath used in cases of unfaithfulness, and which attract a curse if untrue) and its equivalents (3).
The fifth: elucidation of what he has been asked about via inspiration, even though it is not Quran, such as when he had been asked about a man who entered the state of ritual Ihram in a cloak heavily embalmed with a saffron-based scent. Revelation came that he takes his cloak off and removes the effect of the scent (4).
The sixth: his elucidation of the provisions with the Sunnah as inception without question, such as when he prohibited donkey meats for them (5) and fixed term marriages (6).
The seventh: his elucidation to the people the permissibility of the thing by doing it himself, and not forbidding them to follow his example.
The eighth: his elucidation of the permissibility of the thing by approving it for them doing it while he is observing it, or teaching them that they do it.
The ninth: his elucidation of the permissibility of the thing spontaneously by keeping silent from prohibiting it, even though he does not authorize it verbally.
The tenth: that he arbitrates the Quran in affirming something, prohibiting it or permitting it, and formulates for that provision a set of conditions, impediments, restrictions, specific times, circumstances and particularities. The Lord –Exalted in Highness – then confers upon His Messenger its elucidation; such as His saying, Exalted He be: ((except for these, all others are lawful)) [An Nisa’ 24].
The allowance depends on the conditions of marriage, the absence of impediments, the time it is due and the suitability of the situation whereby it is lawful; so the Sunnah came with the elucidation of all that.
Everything he - peace be upon him - legislated for the nation is an elucidation from his part on behalf of Allah that this is his law and his religion, and there is no difference between what he reports from Him of rehearsed utterances and between His revelation, which is the equivalent of His words in terms of the obligation in following, and the contravention of the former is like the contravention of the latter (7).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) The Sahih of Bukhari: (32), and the Sahih of Muslim: (327).
(2) The Sahih of Muslim: (613). (3) The Sahih of Bukhari: (4745).
(4) The Sahih of Bukhari: (1789), and the Sahih of Muslim: (1180).
(5) Abu Dawood: (4604), At-Tirmidhi: (2663), Ibn Hibbaan: (12), authenticated by Al-Haakim: (1/109), and Adh-Dhahabi approved it. (6) The Sahih of Bukhari: (4216), and the Sahih of Muslim: (1407).
(7) I’laam Al-Muwaqqi’een: (4/97-104).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2: The defence of the Sunnah 2/2
If that was the status of the Sunnah and this is its importance, its denial, violation, tampering with it, doubting its authenticity, feigning of lies around it, which is what the deviant parties sought in the past, and the deviants seek latterly. All of that is considered a very serious matter, as that has the consequence of opening doors of evil, which tear down the structure of Islam, and that is for the following reasons:
Firstly: that the legal provisions of fundamental knowledge "beliefs", their elucidation and details depend on the Sunnah after the Quran and with it. Denial of the Prophetic Sunnah threatens doctrines with deficiency and ambiguity. It prejudices that which concerns divinities, prophecies, aural traditions and other that that from the issues of faith. Does a religion get established on deficient and ambiguous doctrines?!
Secondly: the elimination of the principles of practical legal provisions, "the principles of Islamic jurisprudence"; because this science addresses the evidence upon which provisions are formulated. Fundamentalists have agreed, by consensus, that the Sunnah is the second source of Islamic legislation, and based on this, denial of the Sunnah makes the Islamic jurisprudence at the mercy of the winds; due to it not being based on evidence and lacking foundations.
Thirdly: the disintegration of the applied branches of jurisprudence "ideological and comparative" because the bulk of jurisprudential issues and facts are based on the Sunnah of the Prophet, either through elucidation and clarification; such as the times, numbers and modalities of the prescribed prayers, or independently, such as expiation for one who spoils the fast of Ramadan, and the sentences of one who drinks intoxicants and the apostate, and manners, behaviour, virtuous deeds and so on.
Fourthly: The distortion of the sciences of the Holy Quran, due to it being based, in many of its cases, on the prophetic Sunnah, and the threat of the science of exegesis, due to it being based, in most of what it is presented with, on the prophetic Sunnah (1).
Thus, the denial of the Sunnah paves the way for doubting the Quran itself, and disrupts the verses that urge and incite to follow His Messenger - peace be upon him - and to take him as a role model, to arbitrate him, to accept his ruling, to favour obedience to him over the obedience to anyone else, so that the nation is left without a legislation of clear features and strong designation; as the principles of legislation and its branches have been exposed to fabrication and boldness.
The slur against the prophetic Sunnah is destruction to Islam in its beliefs, acts of worship, systems, morals, destruction to its unity and a cause of the Muslims lagging behind in the course of civilization.
Professor Mohammed Asad says: "The Sunnah had been a key to understanding the Islamic Renaissance since more than thirteen centuries, so why can’t it be the key to understanding our present disintegration?. Acting according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah - peace be upon him – is an action to preserve the entity of Islam and its advancement, and forsaking the Sunnah is the dissolution of Islam.
The Sunnah had been the steel frame upon which the edifice of Islam was established, and if you remove the structure of a building, would you be astonished (i.e. surprised) that the building collapses as if it is a house of cards? (2).
This is what the enemies of Islam are planning for, whether those showing hostility to it, the conspirators against it, or those wearing its cloak in deception and falsehood. But even if they endeavour what they can, they will not reach their desired goal, and sought purpose, but will remain reeling in purposeless confusion in overcast mazes with numerous sprains, difficult to exit, until they die with rage, anguish and hatred; because Allah - the Almighty – Has assigned His care to protect His religion from those who seek to harm it, and to protect its adherents from all those who seek them with evil, as indicated by His saying, the Almighty: ((Fain would they extinguish Allah's light with their mouths, but Allah will not allow but that His light should be perfected, even though the unbelievers may detest (it). It is He Who has sent His Apostle with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it).)) [At-Taubah: 32-33].
The concern of the bands of transgression - old and new - and their attempts to undermine the pure Sunnah are but like the concern for which Al A’sha said: Like the one who butted a rock one day to weaken it .He did not hurt it, and weakened the horn of the Ibex
They are, by their transgression, fabrication, abuse, falsification and false pretences, but wronging themselves and their religion: ((And soon will the unjust assailants know what vicissitudes their affairs will take!)) [Ash-Shu’ara’: 227].
In this oratory, we will take a pause by their fabrications and lies. We will expose their misconceptions and fabrications, refuting them, rebutting them, so that the truth is revealed and falsehood is exposed, and from Allah we draw help and we ask Him success. ((and my success can come but from Allah. In Him I trust, and unto Him I turn)).
Courtesy: The prophetic Sunnah - Dr. Ahmad Karima, P. 27, 28. & Islam at the Crossroads, p. 87.