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Sh. Ali Tantawi (may Allah shower him with Mercy) says in his book (A General Description of the Religion of Islam):
“I said one time to my students: (If a foreigner was to come to you and say that he has only one hour [to spare], in which he wants to understand [from you] what is ‘Islam’: How are you going to explain to him ‘Islam’ in this hour?
They said:
(Such a thing is impossible, he first has to study Tawheed and Tajweed, Tafseer,
Hadith, Fiqh, and Usul, and then delve into issues and questions, which he wouldn’t be able to get out of before five years).
So I said:
(Subhan Allah! Wasn’t it that a Bedouin would come to the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him), and would stay with him for a day or part of a day, and understand from him what is Islam, then carry it with him to his people, and he becomes for them a guide and a teacher, and acts for Islam as [an ambassador] and a caller?
Clearer than that: Didn’t the Messenger explain the whole Religion in the (Hadith of Jibril) in three sentences, in which he spoke about: Iman, Islam, and Ihsan?
So why don’t we explain it today in an hour?).
So what is Islam? And how does one enter its fold?
Reference:
- Ta’reef ‘aam Bideen al-Islam (A General Description of the Religion of Islam) p. 32 – Sh. Ali Tantawi
قال الشيخ الطنطاوي مرة لتلاميذه: لو جاءكم رجل أجنبي، فقال لكم: إن لديه ساعة من الزمن يريد أن يفهم فيها ما الإسلام، فكيف تفهمونه الإسلام في ساعة؟
قالوا: هذا مستحيل، ولا بد له أن يدرس التوحيد والتجويد، والتفسير والحديث والفقه والأصول، ويدخل في مشكلات ومسائل، لا يخرج منها في خمس سنين. قال الشيخ لتلاميذه: سبحان الله، أما كان الإعرابي يقدم على رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم، فيلبث عنده يوما أو بعض يوم، فيعرف الإسلام ويحمله إلى قومه فيكون لهم مرشدا ومعلما، ويكون للإسلام داعيا ومبلغا؟!
وأبلغ من هذا، أما شرح الرسول، صلى الله عليه وسلم، الدين كله في حديث (سؤال جبريل) بثلاث جمل، تكلم فيها عن: الإيمان، والإسلام، والإحسان؟ فلماذا لا نشرح الإسلام اليوم في ساعة؟!
Abstract: “To the callers of Nationalism I say: Die in your rage!”
A Brief Word
كلمة صغيرة
Published in 1954 [1]
By: Shaykh Ali Tantawi
الشيخ علي طنطاوي
(may Allah shower him with Mercy)
Translated by: Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem Translation Team ©
Sh. Ahmad Deedat in a visit to Sh. Ali Tantawi (around 1994) [2]
What do the members of one family do?
They all live together in one home, they eat on one table, they start their day together, and end their day together. They share with each other [feelings of] mutual love and compassion. They feel for the sick and ask about the absent. They stand together as one line in the face of the various events and afflictions.
Isn’t this the description of one Family?
We are then one Family.
That is what I said to myself when we were in the conference [3], and among us was a Moroccan, an Algerian, a Tunisian, an Egyptian, an Iraqi, a Syrian, a Lebanese, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, and other brothers from Iran, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Caucasus, and others who I do not remember right now … Around 70 men who had never met before, and none had even heard the others name before. Each one from among them wearing a different outfit from the other, speaking with a different tongue from the other, and having different features from the other.
If you strived to gather all these various and contrasting people –externally- , you couldn’t have gathered a more diverse group than this group.
However, this group resided in one hotel, and ate on one table. They stood up for prayers in one line, behind one Imam. Some fell ill (and I was among those who fell ill) and the rest altogether showed him great [mercy and] compassion. One of them died, so the remaining were deeply saddened by that. Each one of us felt from the very first hour that he is among his brothers, [brothers] whom he had known and they have known him for ages, he loves them and they love him.
How did this miracle come to be?
How was it that all these various kingdoms of Islam gathered altogether in that Hotel, and were as if they were one family [with a bond] which most families that are connected by blood and lineage would hope that they would share just a fraction of what this family has, from the different aspects of love and the ties of compassion?
How was it that in one short moment, all those barriers of language, countries, costumes, and ideas faded away, such that it would appear that there isn’t among them an Arab, a Persian, a Turkish, a Kurd, a Caucasian, a blonde man and another dark skinned, neither is there anyone close and another distant?
How was it that all what the enemies of Islam spent long centuries in building, from the hurdles they placed for establishing unity in our religion and obstacles they placed in establishing brotherhood for Allah’s sake, was destroyed in a single day?
That is the secret of Islam.
So say to the callers of Nationalism: Die in your rage; for the future belongs to us. You have set up a fort, but it is a fort made of ice, which once the sun of Islam rises again, it would turn into puddles of mud for our feet to step on.
* * * * *
Reference:
[1] Fusul fi al-Da’wah wa al-Islah (فصول في الدعوة والإصلاح) p. 293 – 294
[2] Reference for pictures: https://alsiratalmustaqeem.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/calling-to-the-foundations-before-the-branches/
[3] The conference was The Islamic conference for saving Palestine which was held in Jerusalem during late 1953. You can refer to its details in episode 138 from the book “al-Zikrayat”, and it can be found in the 5th volume.
Abstract: “Fire today is burning at the stem of the tree, so let’s focus our efforts on the stem and let’s leave the branches and the leaves for now”.
Calling to the Foundations [of Islam] before its Branches
الدعوة إلى الأصول قبل الفروع
Broadcasted in 1972 [1]
By: Shaykh Ali Tantawi
الشيخ علي طنطاوي
(may Allah shower him with Mercy)
Translated by: Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem Translation Team
Sh. Ahmad Deedat in a visit to Sh. Ali Tantawi (around 1994) [2]
Islam today is in need for us to call to it all over again!
I do not mean by that calling the opposing disbelievers [to Islam], since that is mandatory, however [what I mean] and what we are facing [today] is [something] more obligatory and closer to us [than that], and that is: Calling [our] young Muslim men and women to Islam!
Do not be surprised [by that], for indeed most of the young Muslims do not [in reality] know what is Islam!
Even those who pray among them and those who fast, [you will find that] many of them pray and fast as a matter of habit, but do not know the secrets of praying and fasting, and do not know from the rulings [of prayers and the rulings of fasting], except very little.
So, how are we to call those young Muslims to Islam?
I know from among the righteous callers to Allah, those who whenever a young [Muslim] comes to him eager to learn [about Islam] and [hoping to seek the path of] righteousness, they do not start them with that which the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him) started with, namely correcting the Aqeedah (i.e. the beliefs and creed), then teaching them about the major sins and transgressions that are agreed upon so that they may avoid it, and [teaching them] the principle obligations [of the Religion] … [namely the obligations] that are agreed upon, so that they may act upon them.
No!
[What we see however is that this caller to Allah] does not start with any of that, rather starts them with: Growing the beard!?
Now, I am not in any way objecting to growing the beard, neither am I making shaving it acceptable, rather [what I am doing here is] giving an example of those who leave calling to the major principles and pillars of Islam and start with what is supposed to come later.
They exert [great] efforts in convincing the young Muslim man [coming to them] to let his beard grow, and had they exerted that effort in correcting his Belief instead and establishing in him the pillars of this Religion they would have achieved what they intended.
[The reason for this] is that one of the most difficult things on a young man is to grow his beard. However, had you started by introducing him to Allah (the Exalted) so that the reverence and glorification of Allah is established within him, he would have grown his beard from himself without any objections.
[On the other hand], if [the first thing] you start him with [is ordering him to grow his beard] and so he does it while despising it, he may reach a point where he finds it difficult on him to continue with it and has to leave it, and may leave with it the Religion altogether.
This is something we have witnessed time and time again.
Now, this is just an example, so let no one from among the listeners say that Tantawi is calling to shave their beards and is opposing the Sunnah. We are indeed in a critical time, and Islam is being attacked in its own Land, and Faith itself is being threatened. We are now facing a real danger and an explicit disbelief. So let us delay [spending time investigating and] researching the Sunan (i.e. the non-obligatory recommended actions) and the Makrouhat (i.e. the non-prohibited disliked actions), rather let’s even delay researching the things which are a matter of difference [of opinion] between the scholars of the four Mazahib (i.e. Schools of Islamic Fiqh), and spending time investigating whether these actions are prohibited or only disliked!
* * * * *
Sh. Ali Tantawi on Mount Qasioun, Syria [2]
The Imam of the Haram (i.e. the Grand Mosque of Mecca) during the last Friday Sermon said a very precise word: he said that the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him) remained in Mecca for 13 years, not calling [the people] to anything except to correcting their Beliefs and establishing Tawheed (Monotheism) within them.
After Tawheed was [firmly] established within their souls and their Aqeedah was corrected, the specifics of the Islamic legislation were revealed after that, along with the verses that spoke about the [various] rulings of Islam.
Why don’t the Scholars, the Muslim leaders, and the callers to Allah do as the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him) had done before?
Tawheed is the main principle and foundation [of Islam], so why then do we see [many] who are starting with the branches that are growing out of the branches before even having established the roots and the foundations?
A man from Germany once came to Damascus after Allah had guided him to Islam. He wished to know more about his Religion, and learn its rulings so that he becomes strongly grounded in it. The people guided him to a Shaykh, [so that he can learn from him].
[Now what was the first thing that that Shaykh started him with?]
The first thing [the Shaykh] started with was: telling him about growing the beard and getting circumcised!!
He then started teaching him about the rulings pertaining to cleansing yourself [after using the washroom], and the difference of opinion regarding the boundaries of the face!
[Does the northern limits of the face] start from the forehead or [does it start from] the first location of growth of the hair?!
He then starting explaining to him about how not to hit the water during ablution as this is a disliked action. He then spent with him a whole year, in which he learned nothing more than the different categories of water, and how it is divided into seven categories: pure and purifying that is not disliked [to use], pure and purifying but disliked [to use], pure but not purifying, and so on … Also what is the ruling of ghee/butter if a mouse were to fall into it, and what is the ruling of the well in which a cat dies!
Trust that I am telling you exactly what happened …
What happened after that was that this man went back to Germany and returned back to his old religion!
I am not here to talk about the [situation of] non-Muslims; rather my main concern here is the Muslim youth [of today] who are in [a dire] need to being called to Islam all over again.
The enemies of Islam [today] are setting up their nets to catch those Muslims. These nets are unfortunately as soft as silk.
They place in these nets everything a young Muslims may desire, from the various shades of beauty and the different adornments. They try to attract them with women, pictures, and amusements.
They speak to them in a language they understand, and capture them in the name of [Freedom].
Freedom of thought, freedom of mixing, and freedom from all and every restrain. With [these traps], and its likes, they have managed to capture many of the young Muslims and have managed to take them into their lines.
Now when Allah inspires one of those young Muslims to return back to his Religion, and he gets in contact with one of the scholars [of the Religion], what does he find?
I am merely describing the illness and establishing facts, so let no of you blame me.
He either gets in contact with a Shaykh from among the Sufi Tariqas (i.e. Sufi orders). That Shaykh would teach him about that Sufi order and make him from its followers. He would oblige him to perform matters that were never performed by the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings upon him), or his companions, or [anyone from] the earlier generation, and would say to him that this is the Religion!
Or that young Muslim may instead get in contact with a Shaykh who has busied himself with Fiqh, [Fiqh] as it was studied from 50 or 60 years ago, namely that the student would read to his teacher some books of Fiqh until he understands it, then he starts reading it to others and explaining it to them, not searching for the basis or the evidence [behind these rulings he is learning], and not distinguishing between what has been established through the [Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger], or that which is derived from customs or from an Ijtihad, which can err or be correct. He would receive the statements of those later scholars of Fiqh as if they were the Religion that should not be altered or changed.
Or that Shaykh can be from among those who only concerns themselves with the outer appearances, or concern themselves with the structure rather than the higher purpose. The Shaykh would enrol him in his meetings [or in his] group/organization, until he gets accustomed to delving only into specific topics which he does not surpass. He would focus on the present day politics, more than he would focus on [attaining a] proper upbringing and [gaining an] internal purification …
Now, I am not saying that all the Scholars and callers of Allah are like this, No, rather among them are scholars and teachers who are acting upon this religion [as one should]. However, these are very few, while the majority are focusing on the branches and the leaves rather than focusing on the foundations. The majority has established for themselves a narrow space which they dwell in, [a space] which they do not even look passed or realize what lies behind it. They do not realize the dangers which are surrounding Islam, nor do they know what the enemies of Islam are up to.
These [scholars] do not realize that Islam has become a stranger once again, just as it was when it started. It became a stranger in its Lands, [a stranger] among its people. The Masjids are filled with worshippers, the people are fasting Ramadan, and the pilgrims are in increasing in number year after year, but the Prayers, Fasting, and Pilgrimage has lost, among many [of the Muslims] its soul and essence, and what remains is only its form.
The poisons of the enemies of Islam has entered [our] communities, [has even spread among] those who observe prayers and fast, and has entered their homes. It entered the [minds and] thoughts of their men, [it reached] the dresses of their women, the curriculums of their schools, and the laws of their courts!
* * * * *
Islam today is being threatened from its [very core and] foundation, thus it becomes prudent upon us to prepare new plans … plans with which we can push back the plots of our enemies. Let’s start with the [most basic of] principles, which is Tawheed, then let’s move onto [calling the people to] abandoning that which is prohibited, then performing the obligations, and after that we can discuss the growing of the beard, the shortening of the garments, and the mentioning of the name of Allah before eating, and [all the] other branches.
If a thorn was to enter the finger of a child, enter between his nail and his skin, and gets stuck there. The father would be concerned about what happened and would rush his child to the doctor [to remove that thorn].
However, if the child was suffering from a tumor and was going to undergo surgery, if he was facing death at any moment, and the doctor sees that thorn in the child’s hand, [the doctor] will not even give it a second look, since he is more concerned about what is more critical, namely saving the child’s life from that imminent death.
The matter is, by Allah, very serious, and Islam is being threatened.
Many of the young Muslims, from among our sons [and daughters], have already been drawn to the enemies of Islam. Therefore, we ought to make our major concern to protect the foundations of this Religion, and to focus on the beliefs, obligations, and prohibitions.
Fire [today] is burning at the stem of the tree, so let’s focus our efforts on the stem and let’s leave the branches and the leaves for now.
* * * * *
Reference:
[1] Fusul fi al-Da’wah wa al-Islah (فصول في الدعوة والإصلاح) p. 123 – 127
[2] Reference for pictures: http://www.tntawy.com/
Sh. Mustafa Al-Tantawi (d. 1925CE) – Father of Sh. Ali Tantawi
Sh. Mustafa ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Mustafa, the father of Shaykh Ali al-Tantawi, May Allah have mercy on them.
He was from the scholars known for their knowledge among the scholars of Shaam (Levant), and to him the responsibility of [issuing] Fatwas in Damascus was passed.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) was from the lead Jurists and one of the respected teachers and educators.
Sh. Mustafa worked as a school principal, in the same school Sh. Ali was educated in. That school spanned all grades, from Kindergarten to High School. After he left his work in the school in 1918 CE, he worked as the Head of the Diwan (Council) of the Court of Appeals.
He continued to work there until the time of his death in 1925 CE.
Shaykh Ali was 16 years old at the time.
May Allah have mercy on him
Reference:
That is the Problem!
by
Sh. Ali Tantawi
(May Allah have Mercy on him)
Published 1955 [1]
Translated & Edited by Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem team
___________________
I met an Egyptian writer who kept talking to me about Islam: its beauty, completion, perfection, and the importance of adhering and being committed to it.
He told me that he is a zealous passionate Muslim … Although, he may skip some Prayers due to work requirements … He is not consistent in his fasting because he fears it might have negative effects on his Health … He might occasionally drink alcoholic beverages during official parties or when at big hotels, going along with the prevalent social conventions … and that, he might have committed some [major] sins …
But that with that he is a Muslim, [who has submitted to Allah] … A passionate zealous Muslim!
I said: What are the signs of your Islam, if you leave prayers and fasting, drink alcohol, and commit these sins?
So he said: Signs?
You want [some] signs?
Ok, let me tell you: The signs of my Islam is that if I heard anyone attacking Islam, even if he was the greatest of people, I would do so-and-so …
And he then set forth, with great passion and in a rattling voice, describing what he does with whoever attacks Islam with [even the slightest of] words. As for his own attack on Islam, with his deeds [and actions], then he sees it as nothing, for that is the extent of his understanding of Islam!
He thinks that it is sufficient for him so that he can be from the [observant] Muslims that he [just] defends this Religion, even if he does not abide by its orders or refrain from its prohibitions, or act upon its rulings; like a “soldier” who does not wear his army’s uniform, nor carry their weapon … He does not enter their camps, nor walk among their lines, yet with that, he still [sees himself as] an active soldier because he does not let anyone slander the army or speak [ill] of it!
This is one of the strange understandings of Islam, and if one was to survey the image of Islam in the souls [and minds] of the people, he would see from its variety truly strange astounding matters.
There is a man, who does not pray except in the first congregation, and his tongue does not tire from the remembrance and glorification [of Allah]. He considers himself, and his friends consider him, from the pious and the righteous. Yet with that, he cheats when he sells, he turns back on his promises, he deceives through strange trickeries so that he can [unlawfully] eat the wealth of the people, [through means] which Iblees himself would be incapable of coming up with! Then, he does not stop until he has fashioned for [this deception of his] a cloak of permissibility from the words of the Fuqahaa [2] and from the articles of the Law. He conceals it with these, so that no Judge and no Ruler can get to him. He sees Islam limited to the congregational prayers, the repetition of Remembrance and Awraad [3]. As for interactions with others, then that is a different matter … A matter to him that is neither here nor there, and has nothing to do with the Religion!
And there is a woman who prays, fasts, and recites the Quran. She weeps [heavily] whenever she hears a reminder … She then goes out after that uncovered … Exposing her neck, hair, and chest!
And over there is [another] man, whom I [personally] know, who has transgressed against himself. He does not hold onto anything that is permissible, nor does he hold back from anything that is forbidden. He does not care through which means he gets his food when he is hungry, and does not care when he has a desire for women where he plants his seed. Yet, with all of that, he does not bear hearing anything ill said about the allies of Allah or the righteous … He shakes in anger, for Allah’s sake, until it is not known what he will do with this anger! Islam to him is [merely] being well mannered with the allies of Allah, drawing near to them, and seeking their blessings!
And here is another Muslim, establishing and strongly adhering to the acts of worship, keeping distant from that which is forbidden, however, he is a follower of Communism or a follower of Freemasonry, and prefers his brother in it, even if he was a Jew or a Christian, over his brother in Islam, and does not see any issue in this!
And a third one with a sound creed and belief, truthful in his dealings and transactions, he does not adopt any ideology or follow any sect that goes against Islam, but does not pray or fast!
* * *
Now, if we were to leave these individuals, and look at the Callers to Allah; those whom we hope will be a support for Islam and a means to returning it’s people to it, we would also see many of them differing in identifying the road which will lead to Allah, and we would find that Islam in the souls and minds of each one of them has a different picture than what is in the souls and minds of the others, even though all of them are callers to it!
This one, sees that Islam is in following one Madhhab [4] from the four Madhahib and stopping at the fatwas issued by the later Fuqahaa of the Madhhab, even if that fatwa was based on a specific custom that has changed and no longer applies today, or was based on an Ijtihad and a stronger viewpoint has become apparent in the Ijtihad of another, which the needs of today calls to it and the interest necessitates it; he considers the departure from the Hashiya of ibn Abideen [5] as a departure from the Religion! He believes that the door of Ijtihad has been shut until the Day of Judgement, as if it is impossible for Allah (and we seek refuge in Allah from this!) to create an intellect like the intellect of Abu Hanifa, or a view like the view of Al-Shafie, or a vision like the vision of Malik, or a narration like the narration of Ahmad. He sees that everything that can be derived from the Book and the Sunnah has already been derived, and that they have been squeezed dry like a lemon is squeezed, and that it is no longer permitted for anyone to deduce a ruling from them or to derive any evidence from them. He sees them only suitable for seeking their blessings and for kissing them. He sees them suitable for reading the Quran [for example] with no understanding or reading “Al-Bukhari” so that it may rain … Believing that a house that has the book of “Al-Bukhari” in it cannot catch fire or flood … even though, if you threw the book in fire it would burn, and if you threw it in water it would get wet and sink!
And another [caller to Allah] sees Islam is in leaving the Madhahib altogether and returning to the Sunnah, so everyone who is capable of reading Al-Bukhari and Muslim and Majma’ Al-Zawaid, and can search into the names of the narrators in Al-Taqreeb or Al-Tahzeeb, then he ought to do his own Ijtihad, and Taqlid [6] becomes forbidden on him. They call this strange Fiqh, which is similar to the Fiqh of Burd [7] (the father of Bashar), the “Fiqh of the Sunnah”; they do not realize that arriving at prophetic traditions and realizing its chains and its level is one thing, and deriving rulings from it is another, and that the Muhaditheen (i.e. Scholars of Hadeeth) are like pharmacists, while the Fuqahaa are like doctors. A pharmacist memorizes the names of the medicines and knows its different types and categories, that which a doctor does not know, yet he is not able to diagnose an illness or cure the sick, and that among the companions themselves, there were only a hundred who issued Fatwas, and that the remaining hundred thousand Muslims who the Messenger of Allah (Blessings and peace upon him) died and left behind used to return back to those hundred for fatwas and did not do Ijtihad for themselves. And that if an Imam from the Imams was not aware of a specific narration from the narrations, then the followers of his Madhhab got a chance to examine and study this narration during the long centuries that followed, and that they were more fearful of Allah and more caring for their religion than to go against an authentic narration because of a view of their Imam or someone other than their Imam. And that the Madhhab did not consider the narrations alone; rather they took the narrations, along with what the companions, the Tabi’een, and those who followed them said about them, and recorded all these explanations and consecutive understandings, and then deduced from them a ruling. Whoever neglects all these efforts of the scholars of the Ummah, is like the one who sees a plane flying after all what has gone into it from consecutive efforts and sequential improvements, and then leaves all this and ignores it and attempts to fly with wings which he builds himself, like what was done by Abbas ibn Firnas!
These calls to prevent Taqlid in the Religion are false calls, because in every field there are specialists just as there are those who are foreigners and strangers to it. When a stranger wishes to know a ruling, he returns back to the specialists of that field, just as the layperson who wishes to find a cure for his illness or wishes to build his house or wishes to fix his watch; he refers back to the doctor, engineer, or watch repairman, and follows them in what they arrive to from Ijtihad [8].
* * *
All these callers are forever in a state of dispute, each one of them grabbing the other by the throat, forever in a constant debates and argumentations, exchanging refutations and replies, not in Egypt, Shaam, and Iraq alone, rather in the Lands of Islam altogether. I have witnessed in Karachi those who are known as Ahle-Hadeeth, and others who are [strictly] adherent to the views of the later Fuqahaa of the Hanafis, not diverting from it even by a hair’s breadth, as if it is the revealed book. Those who are upon the path of Sufism, and others who are different than these and those. The disputes and disagreements is well established between them. I have also witnessed similar disputes in the Religion in Indonesia as well.
As for their opponents, the opponents of all of these groups altogether, and the opponents of Islam, from among the Baathists, the communists, the atheists, and the spreaders of corruption from among the followers of the orientalists, are watching and looking on at these disputes. They are rejoicing and are moving forward in the various fields which we have left vacant and are proceeding in them alone, enjoying themselves and doing as they wish.
And Islam, which Muhammad ibn Abdullah (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came with, is One … having one understanding, so why all these disputes?
How are we to bring Islam closer to the people’s understanding, and to make it familiar to those who do not know it and present it to them upon its reality: easy, clear, and rational, if we are differing upon the image which we ought to present Islam upon?
I am not saying that we should unify the understanding and forbid from any differences, for I do not think that this can be, for if your Lord had willed He would have made the people as one nation, rather what I am saying is that we ought to agree on the basic foundations which we shall call to Islam through, and the image which we should use to present Islam to the students in schools, to the general Muslims in the mosques, and to the foreigners in the West, so that we can confidently say to them: This is the principle foundations of Islam, and these are its pillars, and this is the way through which you can enter it.
We should not shock anyone of them with the disputes in understandings of specific verses, or about the matters of Ijtihad and Taqlid, or carry them into individual views which are not established and endorsed by all.
So what is the possible practical methodology through which we can achieve this end? Can this be achieved through a conference attended by the scholars of the Muslims, or should it be administered by a specific institute from the academic institutes, or should it be done by someone from among the Muslims? What is the manner to achieve this?
* * *
After which, I had initially prepared an article different from that which I have written [above], however, what our brother Ustadh Abu Ayman wrote in the last issue of the “Muslimoun” [magazine] pushed me into thinking about this problem and presenting it to the writers in this magazine, as well as to its readers, so that they may contemplate upon it too, so that perhaps they can find a solution.
* * *
Reference:
[1] Fusool fi Al-Da’wah wa Al-Islaah p. 77-85
[2] Islamic Jurists
[3] Awraad is the plural of Wird and it is a prescribed or set amount of recitation, supplications, and remembrance which one repeats every day.
[4] Madhhab is the generic term for a school of thought within Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
[5] He is Muhammad Ameen ibn `Aabideen ash-Shaami, a prominent Islamic scholar and Jurist who lived in the city of Damascus, Syria during the Ottoman era. His most famous work was Radd al-Muhtar ala Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, is considered an authoritative text of Hanafi fiqh till this day.
[6] Taqlid literally means "to follow (someone)", "to imitate". In Islamic legal terminology, it means to follow a Mujtahid in religious laws and commandment as he has derived them, that is, following the decisions of a religious expert without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of Fiqh without seeking an explanation of the processes by which they arrive at it.
[7] Bashar was the name of a boy who used to write poetry criticizing and speak ill of people, during his childhood. The people would go to his father, Burd, to go complain about his action, who would hit him as a result. When this repeated many times, Bashar told his father, Burd: “Tell them next time that my son is blind, and Allah says {No blame is there upon the blind} [al-Nur 24:61]”. So the next time this happened, the father told them as he was told, so they said: “Verily, this understanding (or Fiqh) of Burd is more difficult on us then the poetry of Bashar!”
[8] A few short paragraphs, after this, were left out of the translation. The Shaykh gives other examples of disputes between different groups in matters of Aqeedah, and then discusses Sufism and the division of people regarding it, as well as various groups and sects. We felt that these paragraphs may distract from the main point being conveyed by this article, and the examples the Shaykh gave which have been translated are sufficient in conveying the point being made. Those interested can refer to the original Arabic in the above mentioned reference.
[9] Abu Ayman is Saeed Ramadhan, owner of ‘Al-Muslimoun’ magazine, which this article was published in. He used to write an opening to the new magazine releases, and would sign it off most of the time with his Kunya, however, he would occasionally write his full name (Mujahid).
Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem 