The author, rahimahullaah, then said:
ودنْ بكتابِ الله والسننِ التي أتـت عـنْ رسـول الله تنجـو وتربـحُ
(2) And practice your religion based on the Book of Allaah and the Sunan which has come from the Messenger of Allaah so you will be saved and earn reward.
[Sunan is the the plural of Sunnah]
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"Din" is a commandment and is from the from the verb
دَانَ/يَدِينُ which means to practise one's religion. Shaykh Saaleh al-Fawzaan mentioned that here it means that
one should follow his religion according to the book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah, sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam.
We know that the Qur'aan (the book of Allaah) and the Sunnah are two of the sources of Islaam. We also know that Ijmaa` (consensus) and Qiyaas (Analogy) are the other two sources which the majority of scholars have generally accepted.
Qur'aan: This is the speech of Allaah that was revealed to the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam- the reciting of which is an act of worship.
Sunnah: The Sunnah according to the scholars of hadeeth is that which has been proven to be the statements, the actions, the tacit approvals and the descriptions of the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam.
Allaah said in Soorah al-Hashr: 7
وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا
And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) gives you, take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it)
The Sunnah is Wahiy (revelation) just like the Qur'aan. Allaah mentioned in Soorah al-Najm: 3-4
وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ
And he does not speak of (his own) desire.
إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ
It is not but a revelation that is revealed,
Ijmaa`: The
Unanimous agreement of
scholars from a
specific time (generation) on a
particular issue.
The evidence for Ijmaa` from the Qur'aan is when Allaah said Soorah al-Nisaa':115
وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَىٰ وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination.
From the Sunnah, we have the narration of al-Tirmidhi on the authority of Ibn `Umar that the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam said:
"Verily my Ummah will not agree upon error…"
An example for Ijmaa` would be what we discussed in the first line of poetry- where Abu Bakr compiled the Qur'aan and all the Sahaabah agreed to it.
Qiyaas: Extension of a ruling from an old case to a new case because both share the same effective cause (`illah).
The Main components of Qiyaas (known as Arkaan al-Qiyaas):
1. Original Case (Asl)
2. New Case (far`)
3. The ruling of the Original Case (hukm)
4. `Illah (Effective cause)
Let us take a real life situation as an example for Qiyaas:
A young boy is playing in his garden while his family is making BBQ. The boy comes near the fire, so his Mother tells him to stay away from the fire because it will burn him.
A few days later, the same boy is in the kitchen and notices that the food is being cooked on the stove while his mother is upstairs. The boy does not come near the fire and stays away from it- because it will burn him
Original Case: The boy is in the garden
New Case: The boy is in the kitchen
Hukm (Ruling): Stay away from the fire
`Illah (Effective cause): The fire burns
Once the Effective Cause (`Illah) is indentified, the ruling from the Original case is extended to the New case. A contemporary example would be drugs:
Khamr (Alcohol) is
Haraam because it
intoxicates.
Drugs are
Haraam because they
intoxicate.
The ruling is that it is Haraam and the `Illah (Effective Cause) is that it intoxicates- so the ruling is extended from the case of the Alcohol to the case of Drugs
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The Mu'allif (author) mentioned
"..which has come from the Messenger of Allaah..", meaning that the report has to be proven that it is from the Messenger of Allaah, sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam [i.e. the hadeeth is saheeh or hasan]
Generally, saheeh and hasan reports are those that can be cited as evidence. Saheeh being authentic, and hasan being lower than Saheeh.
Narrations are of two types: Mutawaatir and Aahaad.
For a report to be Mutawaatir, there are 4 conditions:
1. A large amount of narrators narrating the report.
2. There has to be a large amount of narrators at every stage (tabaq) of the chain.
3. It is impossible for these people to agree upon a lie.
4. The source of the khabar (narration) should be based on sense (i.e the sahaabi reporting should have seen it or heard it)
The Mutawaatir narrations convey sure knowledge and there is no need for anyone to check the authenticity once he finds out that the narration is Mutawaatir.
A real life example for this would be: Ask all the people on this forum if there exists a place called China. Everyone will affirm it even though over 90% of the Members may have never been to China. The reason why people believe in the existence of China is because it has been mentioned by a 'large' number of people and it is impossible for all of these people to agree upon a lie.
The Aahaad report can be divided into three:
• Mashhoor: In brief, this is the report that does not fulfil the conditions for Mutawaatir. It is the narration that has reached us through more than two routes (chains).
• `Azeez: This is the narration that has reached us through two routes.
• Ghareeb: This is the narration that has reached us through one route.
NOTE: The minimum number from any part of the tabaq (stage/level) of the sanad (chain) is taken so as to specify the type of report
As for Ahaad reports, there are 5 conditions for a report to be authentic as mentioned by Ibn Hajar in his book, Nukhbatul Fikr:
• The first: The raawi (narrator) is `adl (upright), the raawi has to be one who is practising in his religion and upright in terms of his honour. Note: What it means to be upright in terms of honour is that the raawi stays away and guards himself from anything that is dispraised in accordance to the shari`ah and in accordance to the `urf (custom of the people)
• As for the second then it is taamm al-Dabt (thoroughly accurate person). This applies to the narrators and is of two types: 1) Accurate in terms of memory 2) Accurate in terms of the book.
1) The narrator is accurate in terms of memory, which means their memory has to be very sharp.
2) If they are accurate in terms of their books then the narrators must safeguard their books in which they have the narrations from their teachers.
• As for the third: then every narrator must have heard it from the person he is narrating from i.e the sanad (chain) of the narration should be muttasil (continuous)
• Fourth: The narrator should not be shaadh(oppose someone who is more thiqah [reliable] than him)
• Fifthly, there should be no defects in the narrations
As for the Hasan ahaadeeth, if the narrator is less in his 'Dabt' (accuracy), then the narration is classified as Hasan.
There are some people who reject khabar Ahaad and do not take it into `Aqeedah. They say that they will only accept mutawaatir reports into `Aqeedah, and if a person was to only accept Mutawaatir narrations, then he would have rejected over 90% of the sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam as the mutawaatir reports are few in number. This was something that was NOT from the madh-hab of the Sahaabah.
From the many proofs that prove such claims to be baatil (invalid) is the hadeeth narrated by Imaam al-Bukhaari when the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam sent Mu`aadh ibn Jabal to the people of Yemen, He sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam said to him:
إنك تَقْدَمُ عَلَى قَوْمٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ، فَلْيَكُنْ أَوَّلَ مَا تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى أَنْ يُوَحِّدُوا اللَّهَ تَعَالَى
You are going to come across to a nation from the people of the book, so let the first thing you call them towards is the Oneness of Allaah…
The Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam sent Mu`aadh
(one Sahaabi) to convey the most important pillar of `Aqeedah and we learn that the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam did not send a group of them, rather only one of them.
And another proof from Bukhaari and Muslim are the narrations which mention that the Sahaabah turned their faces towards the ka`bah (turned away from Baytul Maqdis) based on the information that came to them from
one Sahaabi. This is further proof against those who reject khabar Ahaad into `Aqeedah.
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To elaborate briefly on رَسُول اللهِ (Messenger of Allaah): The first Messenger of Allaah was Nooh `alayhis-salaam, and the evidence for that is the report from Bukhaari and Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurairah (ra) [only part of it has been quoted]:
....أن الناس يأتون إلى نوح فيقولون له : أنت أول رسول أرسله الله إلى أهل الأرض .....
“… the people will come to Nooh and will say to him, ‘You are the first Messenger whom Allaah sent to the people of the earth…”.
As for the first prophet, then that was Adam `alayhis-salaam, and the evidence for that is that which was narrated by Ibn Hibbaan is his Saheeh where the Messenger of Allaah, sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam was asked about Adam –
was he a Prophet? He said, “yes, a Prophet to whom Allaah spoke.” [Remember every Messenger was a Prophet, but not every Prophet was a Messenger]
There are 5 that are the greatest from amongst the Prophets: Nooh, Ibraaheem, Moosa, `Eesa [`Alayhumus-salaam] and Muhammad sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam [This is in the order they came], and from the best of them was Muhammad sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam and then Ibraaheem `alayhis-salaam for they were the Khaleel of Allaah [Close friend of Allaah] and this is the most perfect form of love.
Allaah says regarding Ibraaheem `alayhis-salaam:
وَاتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ خَلِيلًا
"And Allaah did take Ibraaheem as a Khaleel [Soorah An-Nisaa': 125]"
As for Muhammad sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam, then the evidence is in Saheeh Muslim
إن الله اتخذني خليلاً كما اتخذ إبراهيم خليلاً
“Allaah has taken me as a close friend (khaleel) just as he took Ibraaheem as a close friend.”
[Remember that Muhammad sallAllaahu `alayhi wa-sallam was the best of the Messengers (and Prophets)].
As for the difference between a Messenger and a Prophet: Messengers were sent to disbelieving nations while Prophets were sent to believing nations. This was the view chosen by Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah in his book An-Nubuwaat and this definition seems to include all the Messengers and Prophets and Allaah knows best.
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Finally, the Mu'allif (author) mentions that
the one who sticks to the book of Allaah and the authentic narrations will be saved. The Mu`allif also mentions that he will earn reward, and this is that reward which is both in this dunya and in the 'aakhirah.
