Quran and Sunnah VS Personal Opinions, desires and Logic.

Mabsoot

Amir
Staff member
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I have written the following mini-article which inshaAllah is a good reminder for us, and hopefully the evidences be used as guiding principles for our Islamic sharing on this website.

Importance of the Quran, the Sunnah and utilising the Scholars.

As Muslims we need to learn Islam according to the Quran and Sunnah, with the explanations by the early Muslims, and we should understand that Islamic ruling / fatawa are given by the Ulema. It simply can not be based upon our own personal opinions, philosophies or even logic.

The Quran and the Sunnah is our perfect source.

The Quran is the word of Allah, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad :saw: via the Angel Gabriel. The Sunnah is the teaching of the Prophet :saw: from his words and It is not for us to reject or ignore a hadith, because our own personal desires or thoughts say otherwise.

Allah said in the Qur'an: “Your companion (Muhammad) is neither astray nor being misled. Nor does he speak of his own desire. It is (only) the revelation with which he is inspired” (Surah An-Najm 53:2-4).

The Sunnah is based upon the words, actions and approvals of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) did not teach anything that was not revealed to him from Allah the Most High.

Imam Ahmad, rahimahullah said in his work Usul as-Sunnah, that the Sunnah explains the Quran and there is no Qiyas in the Sunnah. - Qiyas means that a person can not use analogical reasoning of the Sunnah.

Unfortunately, some individuals choose to ignore the Sunnah. They make varying excuses due to either their ignorance or arrogance, or perhaps even both.

The Prophet of Allah :saw: said:
“I have been given the Qur'aan and something similar to it besides it. Yet a time will come when a man leaning on his couch will say ‘follow the Qur'aan only; what you find in it permissible, take as permissible, and what you find as forbidden, take as forbidden’. But verily what the Messenger of Allaah has forbidden is like what Allaah has forbidden” Authentic Hadith (Ahmad, Abu Dawood)

“Whosoever obeys the Messenger, has indeed obeyed Allaah” (Surah An-Nisa 4:80)

“But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O’ Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept them with full submission” (Sura An-Nisa 4:65)

“It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decreed by Allaah and His Messenger to have any choice in the matter. If anyone disobeys Allaah and His Messenger he is clearly astray” (Surah Al-Ahzab 33:36)

The Prophet :saw: said:
“I have left two things among you, as long as you hold fast to them you will never go astray. They are the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger" (Al-Muwatta)

The Importance of the Scholars:

Narrated By Abdillah Ibn Amr Ibn 'Aas (radiallahu 'anhu) he said: I
heard the Prophet :saw: say :"Allah does not take away knowledge by taking it away from the hearts of the worshippers. But he takes knowledge by taking away the Ulama
(Scholars) until there are hardly any scholars then the people will take ignorant leaders and they will be asked questions and they will give rulings without knowledge so hence they go astray and lead others astray."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

The learned scholars who spend their days and nights, enduring hardships in seeking knowledge of Islam to help the Ummah. They understand topics of the Deen based not merely by one or two ayaat or hadith, but with the scope of knowledge needed to make answers and verdicts. - The hadith above shows the importance of the scholars, the fact that by taking the scholars away Allah takes knowledge away.

Brothers and sisters, Muhammad Ibn Sireen (rahimahullah) said, "This religion is knowledge so therefore beware of who you take your knowledge from". Another statement of the past scholars is "Do not take from a Suhufi (one who reads books and never studied under the scholars) nor a Mushafi (one who reads Qur'an but never studied the rules of Tajweed or Tafseer under the scholars).

People who can give Fatwa are the elite known scholars, nobody else. It is not right for an individual to come along and give their own opinions on matters of the Deen. Whether its a matters of science of hadith, tafsir, fiqh or Aqeedah. A person can not merely negate matters of shariah because they do not like it. Unfortunately, these days individuals cite they are using "logic" in order to give what are in fact their personal erroneous desires and philosophies.

We must look to the early sources and respect the matters of the early Muslims and the scholars of our times. Remember again, the Prophet :saw: said that Allah removes the knowledge, by the removal of the scholars. When people start taking their rulings and understanding of the Deen from the ignorant people who do not bring evidences or the statements of the scholars, this is when our personal beliefs and the Ummah itself become weaker.

May Allah guide us to what is the best way and make things easier for us, amin

Wasalamu alaykum
 

abu'muhammad

Junior Member
Wasalaamu alaykum wa'rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,

jazakAllahu khayr.

Who can give a Fatwa?

It is reported that Imâm Mâlik – Allâh have mercy on him – was asked, “Who is allowed to give religious rulings (fatwâ)? He replied:

Issuing fatwâ is not allowed except for a person who knows what the people have differed in. It was said, ‘Do you mean the different views of the people of opinions (those who depend more on analogy and speculation)? He replied, “No, [I mean] the different views of the Companions of Muhammad – Allâh’s praise and peace be upon him. And he must also know the textual evidence that abrogates [other rulings] and that which is abrogated [by other texts], both in the Quran and the hadîth of Allah’s Messenger – Allâh’s praise and peace be upon him. Such a person can issue fatâwâ.

Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr, Jâmi’ Bayân Al-’Ilm wa Fadlihî article 1529.


It is reported that ‘Abdullâh b. Al-Mubârak – Allâh have mercy on him – was asked, “When can a person issue an edict (fatwâ)?” He replied, “When he is knowledgeable about the narrations (hadith and traditions of the Salaf), and has insight into [juristic] opinion.

Ibid. article 1532.
 

justoneofmillion

Junior Member
:salam2:

Akhi if I may, logic is just a doorstep for individuals who have other references than that of Islam. One has to use common familiarities which are not faith based. It is just a way to lay the ground for a certain dialogue to take place.To consider logic as a completely opposite to Islam or as a threat to it , is like denying any sense to the mathematical patterns that govern the universe and consider them to be the result of a random casualty.

For example,If you say to a non Muslim that a beard has to have a certain length , that a woman has to inherit 2 times less than a man or that Riba is Haraam in today's world. They are not gonna understand it , because it needs faith to comprehend and adopt certain ruling for oneself,things that would be faith based for Muslims even as to their personal internal struggle and trust in Allah swt.

Even we are Muslims Alhamdulillah because it makes sense to us, nobody is forcing it on us,it is a certain awareness of plausibility we are caught by.There are thing you can not explain and that only Allah swt know best.

Once the person is a Muslim than of course the Quraan and Sunnah take a totally different dimension and become a superior reference and authority to them above anything, anybody can come up with.

If we Quote a hadeeth or an ayah every time we talk to somebody that is a non Muslim and say simply" Well it is because the Quraan or the Sunnah,Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziya,al Qurtubi or AS Shatibi...etc say so", they are not gonna understand.

Even on the internet it is easy to copy paste information or fatwas every time we are asked something,but if one lives Islam,then he should be able to give a certain basic information on his own.We are talking to humans they wanna know how we live and understand our faith,else they could just Google everything down.We have to give examples from the world they are surrounded by, through references they might identify with,otherwise we might as well stop doing Dawah and talking about Islam in our daily lives to people, If every time they ask us we tell them to addresses such and such scholar they never heard of.

Once a person is Muslim, of course only qualified scholars can give fatwas, the data is huge and it takes them lifetimes to study a certain subject to even attain such levels if at all.Someone like Sheikh Al Albani rahimoulla , who had memorized more than 150 thousand hadeeth ,he could just pull out of nowhere in a discussion,Mashallah and he grant him Firdaws among the closest ones.

A lot of people who have embraced islam ,the first thing they say is"because it makes sense".They did become Muslim thanks to Allah swt guidance but also through meeting a regular Muslim who they might have had a discussion with in their city, country,job or university..etc. They did not do it, because they were in touch with top scholars. Have I misunderstood the sense of your post maybe ?. You are doing a great job and I don't wanna upset you.

I might be wrong, feel free to disagree.Am really genuinely trying to understand for myself and people like myself ,who are regular Muslims and who just happen to feel passionate about their faith and instinctively wanna share it with others in their daily lives, without the intention of necessarily making a living out of it.Allah Maak.


Wallahu Allam wa Alla Wa Ahkam.
 

Abu Talib

Feeling low
Wa`alaykumassalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatu

Great piece of advise akhee. Shaykh Albanee (RahimaUllah) had also mentioned Sharee'ah should be understood by Qur'aan and Sunnah not by ones intellect.

Unfortunately some say Fatwas are opinions of Scholars and shouldn't treat them as verdicts or following them is Taqleed.
 

justoneofmillion

Junior Member
Wa`alaykumassalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatu

Great piece of advise akhee. Shaykh Albanee (RahimaUllah) had also mentioned Sharee'ah should be understood by Qur'aan and Sunnah not by ones intellect.

Unfortunately some say Fatwas are opinions of Scholars and shouldn't treat them as verdicts or following them is Taqleed.
:salam2:Akhi,intellect is not a source, it is a tool ,that Allah swt has endowed us with,it is like breathing one can not just shut his or her thinking process by clicking on a button.Plus the sheikh is obviously referring to how Muslim's approach should be.Take care.
 

Mabsoot

Amir
Staff member
:salam2:

Akhi if I may, logic is just a doorstep for individuals who have other references than that of Islam....

I might be wrong, feel free to disagree.Am really genuinely trying to understand for myself and people like myself ,who are regular Muslims and who just happen to feel passionate about their faith and instinctively wanna share it with others in their daily lives, without the intention of necessarily making a living out of it.Allah Maak.


Wallahu Allam wa Alla Wa Ahkam.

Wa alaykum salam wa rahmatullah,

What is meant by what I wrote is about those who fail to use the Quran and Sunnah and use "logic" to bring their own conclusions which may contradict the Islamic teachings. For example, they may say that certain matters of Aqeedah, such as attributes of Allah are to be taken metaphorically etc

Of course, Islam is scientific and a logical Religion in the sense it is perfect. Everything does "make sense" and come together, and you are right a lot of people have come to accept Islam due to this nature. - However, this is quite different to us issuing our own answers to questions using logic at the expense of authentic Islamic sources i.e the Quran and the Sunnah. -

The scholars are those who can use their vast knowledge of the Islamic sciences to answer questions, they may give opinions such as in fiqh issues which may or may not be right, and which in essence will always be based on evidences. -

Wasalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah
 

bari

Junior Member
:salam2:
Brother abu talib, I assume you have problems with any scholars of the west. Besides Albani (Rahimaullah) no opinion is valid?
 

Abu Talib

Feeling low
:salam2:
Brother abu talib, I assume you have problems with any scholars of the west. Besides Albani (Rahimaullah) no opinion is valid?

Wa`alaykumassalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatu

What makes you assume like that? Who are Scholars of west?
 

arzafar

Junior Member
I think coupled with Qurab and Sunnah, one has to take into consideration the understanding of the Salaf. This is where a lot of the deviant sects have messed up big time. They have all the right texts in front of them but they interpret them according to their own will. Rather they conform the interpretation according to their preconceived beliefs.
 

khangul

your sister
I think coupled with Qurab and Sunnah, one has to take into consideration the understanding of the Salaf. This is where a lot of the deviant sects have messed up big time. They have all the right texts in front of them but they interpret them according to their own will. Rather they conform the interpretation according to their preconceived beliefs.

:salam2:


like wahdatull wujuood
 

Aapa

Mirajmom
Assalaam walaikum,

It is a process of acceptance and understanding. Hey, Islam is simple. It is clear. It is concise.

The more a person adheres to faith the more we do not wish to displease Allah.
The closer a person comes to Allah, one Fears Allah. One wishes to be an obedient slave.

As one becomes serious the thought that we will be questioned about our thoughts,words, and deeds takes on a deeper meaning.

Desire is something we have to work on. We have to be logical, alert and honest when we practice our faith. And we have the tools..the Quran and Sunnah.

That is why community is so important in Islam. If I don't know...I ask the group.
 

ayesha.ansari

Junior Member
Islam Is mashAllah, a clear, AND great religion, MashAllah,,,, it is guidance for the the human being, what ever whey they live, and for every time,,,, Quran is our Holy book, and it have what, God says to Muslims and the whole world. all of us should have to follow Islam and Quran, with strong belief..
 

sachin4islam

Junior Member
Assalamu Alaikum:

I think Br. Mabsoot authored this mini-article specially for me.

As a matter of fact,if an individual is surrounded by a crowd (all comprising the crowd sure that they are correct than the others in the crowd) all shouting towards the individual hear me I am correct based on authentic knowledge,the poor Non-knowledgeable individual can only astray from straight path,until mercy of Allah (SWT) blesses the individual.

I am not different circumstantially from such an individual. Still awaiting mercy of my Lord.

Regards.
 

strive-may-i

Junior Member
seed of faith , constant nurturing to grow into a tree...

:salam2:

knowledge results from right mix of perception, learning and reasoning; is required to achieve the desired goal

So one is aware there is creator, one knows there is some purpose for life.... seed is sown, one shows faith with purpose of life, then then starts seeking more, an enlightenment sparks, with hope seed sprouts, the roots go deeper wanting to stay firm, seeks more n more, tap deeper into the enriching source, so as to become bigger and stronger, withstand the test of time and tide, avoiding toxins, Spread wide, bear fruit, rewarding experience...
[Here its about Almightys awareness, discovering the message of existence, following the message, wanting to stay closer to it, seeking deeper n deeper, so that the imaan becomes stronger, wanting to be closer to the source, wanting it to be purer more n more..... its like a tree ]

So it starts with a reasoned need (logically explained simple need). But every individual is limited by his intelligence, his memory , and as one wants to spread and grow the faith, one should be equipped, willing to work for it. And to survive the tests, one has to mature like a tree. But unlike a tree, the person has to always be at same calibre and not fall from grace, and unlike a tree, the ego, desires, wrong influences can make this deep roots tap into wrong ... Hence for greater rewards, ones faith , practice, knowledge has to also step up, match each other.... and it can get all the more challenging, demanding . Personal opinion, then takes a back seat, seeking and looking deeper into source [Quran, hadees] begins to makes sense... And as new questions of how to remain closer arises, we deduce from what is known. Almighty has made us collectively capable of getting it right. Human collective intelligence, intellect starts to deduce from Quran and Hadees... piling means methods and material over time....One cannot rely on ones intelligence always, fearing straying away, starts to seek from a proven, equally and or more righteous, and follow it, if acceptable ....!

Islamic shariah is along these lines, is what I have come to realize....
 

Omar3rd

New Member
:salam2:
Jazakallahu Khair brother.This article is really beneficial.

What I understood from this article:

The Quran and the Sunnah is our perfect source.

What is Quran?

The Quran is the word of Allah, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad via the Angel Gabriel.

What is Sunnah ?

The Sunnah is based upon the words, actions and approvals of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) did not teach anything that was not revealed to him from Allah the Most High.

What is usul as-sunnah and Qiyas?

Imam Ahmad, rahimahullah said in his work Usul as-Sunnah, that the Sunnah explains the Quran and there is no Qiyas in the Sunnah. - Qiyas means that a person can not use analogical reasoning of the Sunnah.

Why some individuals ignore Sunnah of beloved prophet (SAW)?

Unfortunately, some individuals choose to ignore the Sunnah. They make varying excuses due to either their ignorance or arrogance, or perhaps even both.

What Allah (SAW) said in Quran about Sunnah?

“Whosoever obeys the Messenger, has indeed obeyed Allaah” (Surah An-Nisa 4:80)

“But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O’ Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept them with full submission” (Sura An-Nisa 4:65)

“It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decreed by Allaah and His Messenger to have any choice in the matter. If anyone disobeys Allaah and His Messenger he is clearly astray” (Surah Al-Ahzab 33:36)
Allah said in the Qur'an: “Your companion (Muhammad) is neither astray nor being misled. Nor does he speak of his own desire. It is (only) the revelation with which he is inspired” (Surah An-Najm 53:2-4).

What prophet (SAW) said about Sunnah?


The Prophet of Allah said:

“I have been given the Qur'aan and something similar to it besides it. Yet a time will come when a man leaning on his couch will say ‘follow the Qur'aan only; what you find in it permissible, take as permissible, and what you find as forbidden, take as forbidden’. But verily what the Messenger of Allaah has forbidden is like what Allaah has forbidden” Authentic Hadith (Ahmad, Abu Dawood)

The Prophet said:

“I have left two things among you, as long as you hold fast to them you will never go astray. They are the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger" (Al-Muwatta)

What Prophet (SAW) said in Hadith about importance of Scholars?

Narrated By Abdillah Ibn Amr Ibn 'Aas (radiallahu 'anhu) he said: I
heard the Prophet say :"Allah does not take away knowledge by taking it away from the hearts of the worshippers. But he takes knowledge by taking away the Ulama

(Scholars) until there are hardly any scholars then the people will take ignorant leaders and they will be asked questions and they will give rulings without knowledge so hence they go astray and lead others astray."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

Who are the Scholars of Islam?

The learned scholars who spend their days and nights, enduring hardships in seeking knowledge of Islam to help the Ummah. They understand topics of the Deen based not merely by one or two ayaat or hadith, but with the scope of knowledge needed to make answers and verdicts. - The hadith above shows the importance of the scholars, the fact that by taking the scholars away Allah takes knowledge away.

Who should we take Islamic knowledge from?

Brothers and sisters, Muhammad Ibn Sireen (rahimahullah) said, "This religion is knowledge so therefore beware of who you take your knowledge from".

We must look to the early sources and respect the matters of the early Muslims and the scholars of our times. Remember again, the Prophet said that Allah removes the knowledge, by the removal of the scholars. When people start taking their rulings and understanding of the Deen from the ignorant people who do not bring evidences or the statements of the scholars, this is when our personal beliefs and the Ummah itself become weaker.


Who are Suhufi and Mushafi?

Another statement of the past scholars is "Do not take from a Suhufi (one who reads books and never studied under the scholars) nor a Mushafi (one who reads Qur'an but never studied the rules of Tajweed or Tafseer under the scholars).

Who has right to give Fatawa in Islamic Shariah?

People who can give Fatwa are the elite known scholars, nobody else. It is not right for an individual to come along and give their own opinions on matters of the Deen. Whether its a matters of science of hadith, tafsir, fiqh or Aqeedah. A person can not merely negate matters of shariah because they do not like it. Unfortunately, these days individuals cite they are using "logic" in order to give what are in fact their personal erroneous desires and philosophies.


Brother correct me if I understood your article wrong and forgive me if I did mistake by quoting your article incorrectly.

:salam2:
 

Wannabemuslim

Junior Member
:salam2: This has been something (ironicly) worrying me for some time, i get tired of some muslims using the Quran and islam as an excuse for there own opinions. And that is very easy to do.
 
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