Sheiks

[jabba]

:salam2:
I've seen here so many times people ask questions and a fatwa is answered by some Sheik....I have no idea who the Sheik is usually. Aren't we supposed to get our information from the Quran and hadiths??

In the Prophet (PBUH)'s last sermon he says :.....O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray."

And isn't the Koran already complete and flawless, much better than any advise a Sheik could give (sorry to offend anyone), if we just read the Koran, maybe a chapter or even a surah a day, we might just find the answers we are looking for and not need to refer to someone else.

 

[alkathiri]

:salam2:

There is a big difference between ulema and us? Very big...
Allah raise the status of ulema.

 

[Optimist]

sister ... there is nothing wrong in your question ...

Allah (glorified He may be) says:

When there comes to them some matter touching (public) safety or fear, they make it known (among the people); if only they had referred it to the Messenger or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have understood it from them (directly). Had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allâh upon you, you would have followed Shaitân (Satan), save a few of you.

Qura'aan 4:83

So we are ordered to go to the people who know how to judge things and those are the ulema. What they do is exactly what you said: i.e. derive the rulings from the Islamic sources and if you go see any recognised fatwa site you will notice that they mention the ruling WITH the evidence. As our knowledge in Qura'aan and Sunnah is limited, we are more likely to reach an incorrect conclusion compared to those who know more than us. Ultimately, we follow Qura'aan and Sunnah. This is evident in the fact that we ulema differ, we are ordered to follow the one with the stronger evidence.

 

[Rosheen]

salaams thank you for bringing this up jabba, i was never sure why sheikhs were quoted or involved.

i sued to think sheikhs were rich arabs (a bit like princes)!

 

[Optimist]

the word "shiekh" simply means an old man ... the exact meaning (chieftain, prince, or scholar) depends on the context & the name coming after it ...

 

[Al-Kashmiri]

There are people who read the Qur'aan and reject the sunnah of the Messenger, sal-Allaahu `alayhi wasallam. They are known as Qur'aanee's and such people are kuffaar.

As for the shaykhs/shuyookh/mashaayikh (sing. shaykh, which in origin as optimist said, means old man). Then in an authentic hadeeth, have been described as the inheritors of the Prophets. The Prophets weren't like the Messengers; the Messengers came with a new message and the Prophets came to fulfill whatever message was present. Now the shuyookh, the `Ullemah or learned ones, they also fulfill the message in the sense that they are the ones who clarify the deen to the people. At the head of the `Ullema who inherited this knowledge were the Sahabah, and the Taabi`een ( the followers) and the atbaa' at-Tabi`een (those who followed them).

The above 3 generations are known as khayr un-naas, the best of mankind (see the famous hadeeth in Sahih Al-Bukhari which goes, "The best of mankind is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them.") and are also referred to as the salaf-us-saalih (pious predecessors).

Amongst them are well known, Imams, some of whom learnt from the companions. They were Shuyookh in their own rights! The deen has been trasmitted generation by generation and recorded in books due to the shuyookh. So how can we reject them?

Rejecting the shuyookh would mean to reject what they brought, so we might as well reject the books of ahaadeeth as well, for they came by way of shuyookh such as Imam Al-Bukhari etc.

I know of people who reject the shuyookh, because they reject the shuyookh they reject the sunnah, by rejecting the sunnah the walk into the realms of kufr, wana`uthoobillaah!

The salaf us-saalih, those who learnt through a direct link from the messenger, sal-Allaahu `alayhi wasallam would often say phrases (I'm paraphrasing) such as, "A sign of a mans love for sunnah is him loving the `Ullema, a sign for his hatred is abusing them." And the `Ullema are the shuyookh, they are the learned old men who know better than us. I can't imagine how much chaos there would be without them, subhaan Allaah. Actually I can cos I look at the Qur'aanees and imagine them on a large scale!

 

[jabba]

sister ... there is nothing wrong in your question ...

Allah (glorified He may be) says:



Qura'aan 4:83

So we are ordered to go to the people who know how to judge things and those are the ulema. What they do is exactly what you said: i.e. derive the rulings from the Islamic sources and if you go see any recognised fatwa site you will notice that they mention the ruling WITH the evidence. As our knowledge in Qura'aan and Sunnah is limited, we are more likely to reach an incorrect conclusion compared to those who know more than us. Ultimately, we follow Qura'aan and Sunnah. This is evident in the fact that we ulema differ, we are ordered to follow the one with the stronger evidence.

:salam2:
Thank you BarakAllah fiki!