Asalamoalaikom wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu. . .
Can you provide reference for what Imaam Maalik said?
It says on page 65 under the heading of
moving the finger in tashahud.
"when he raised his finger, he would move it, supplicating with it [9]", and he used to say,
" It is surely more powerful against the devil than iron meaning the forefinger." (you've explained that Alhumdulillah).
Now in the foot notes it says:
[9] ibid. About
"supplicating with it", Imaam Tahaawi said,
"This the evidence that it was at the end of the prayers." Hence there is evidence in this that the Sunnah is to continue
pointing and moving the finger until the tasleem, for the supplication is until then.
This is the view of Maalik and other.
As for Imaam Ahmad- then the question that was asked to him was about Ishaarah (pointing) of the finger and not Tahreek (moving) of the finger [As far as I remember]. And he replied that Ishaarah should be done vigorously- and thus scholars mention that this means one should have his finger pointed throughout the entire Tashahhud.
I'll quote the book again. Same reference as above. Infact the above paragraph continues as:
Imaam Ahmad was asked,
"Should a man point with his finger during prayers?" He said
,"Yes vigorously." (Mentioned by Ibn haani in his
Masaa'il of Imaam Ahmad,1/80).
From this is it clear the moving the finger in tashahhud is a proven sunnah of the prophet, and it was practiced by Ahmad and other imaams if the sunnah.
Another reason why that would not be the opinion of Imaam Ahmad was because the hanaabilah did not establish this opinion in their books.
I can see what you are saying akh, but the last two sentences he added after quoting Imaam Ahmad made me type what I typed. I was in a hurry so I didn't quiet typed everything.
He actually adds a bit of defensive words after that:
Therefore, those who think it is pointless and irrelevant and has nothing to do with the prayer, should fear Allaah, since because of this,
they do not move their fingers although they know it to be established sunnah; and they take great pains to interpret it in a way which is inconsistent with 'Arabic way of expression and contrary to the understanding of the imaams with regards to it
. . .(a bit of bashing of scolding for those who defend the imaam when they want and leave them as they desire, then). . .
Further the hadeeth thay he would not move his finger does not have an authentic isnaad, as I have explained in Da'eef Abi Daawood (175). Even if it were authentic it is negatory, while the above hadeeth is affirmatory: the affirmatory takes precedence over the negatory , as is well known amongst the scholars.
Even the narration about it being powerful against the devil is referring to Ishaarah.
yes, I think I misunderstood that one before.
I do not know about Ibn `Umar's narration- will appreciate if you can give reference and the narration.
It's about Pointing too I think, even though it's under the
"moving the finger in tashahhud" heading.
Page 65 foot note for the 6th hadith ( which is:. . .
point with finger adjacent to the thumb towards the qiblah, and fix his sight on it (i.e the finger)[6])
Foot note for [6]:
Muslim, Abu 'Awaanah and Ibn khuzaimah. Humaidi(13/1) and Abu Ya'laa(275/2) added with the saheeh sanad on the authority of Ibn 'Umer:
"and this is the shooting of the devil; no-one will forget when he does this", and Humaidi raised his finger. Humaidi also said that Muslim bin Abi Maryam said,
" A man related to me that in a church in syria, he saw images of the Prophets depicted like this," and Humaidi raise his finger. This is an extremely strange remark, but it's sanad up to "the man" is saheeh.
^That one is interesting and Strange as the Sheikh said.
To be honest... since we all are general people and not at the level of Ijtihaad- at one point we will have to do taqleed. There is nothing wrong if you find Sh. al- Albaanee's opinion as stronger and do taqleed of it... as you are blind following a reliable scholar.
Inshaa'Allaah. I'm actullay bit more than just concious of bid'aahs now that I came to know that my ancestral practices and ideology has many of them. So I just want to do my best to make sure I'm not moving on a path 180 degree opposite of that of the Sunnah.
Just like how you have ikhtilaaf in Fiqh, you have lot of that in Hadeeth too.
Fiqhi stuff is usually confusing, I like this better. It "
is" confusing at times but interesting all the same.
It is not really advised for the begineers to go into variety of opinions- especially if you are aiming to seek knowledge in an academic manner.
Jazaakallah khair for your advice, I'll try working on bottling my curiosity for a while.
If you can find a qualified teacher and start studying with him/her- this would be excellent. If not, try study arabic by yourself and start listening to the scholars... once your arabic is at a good level.
The latter has been done by many in the west- all it requires is: sincerity and you should be hard-working.
Finding a teacher is a bit impossible at the moment. I'm trying to get some things myself and try to understand by asking questions online. Not really appreciated by many, but its hard to resist when I've got a question bugging me.
I can be sincere and hardworker but without a teacher I'm not consistent (one big problem!), and most definitely not organized (Another BIG problem). I started this thread to learn "something" and Alhumdulillah it's working a bit. As for Arabic, I'm just going through understanding Quraan a little first (Nouman Ali Khan's tafseer). I hope I can continue. . . Because I'm distracted pretty easily.
If you cannot study it with a teacher- then you can try read up on some books in english. I think Bilaal Philips has a very good one. Do remember that these kind of books require you to read them quite a few times- in addition to listening to lectures on this particular topic.
I love Sheikh Bilaal Philips for the sake of Allaah. He's excellent Mashaa'Allaah. if you can direct me to some Good books (names) and lectures (links) It'll be great.
Sorry- not very familiar with the rules.
I made a list in post
49, add them to the first post after you read them yourself Inshaa'Allaah.
Jazaakallah khair.
P.S. I typed the whole thing from the book, forgive me for the "typos", if there are any.