Part of Concepts of Ahl as-Sunnah — Collected Episodes (series completed)
· Lesson 46 of 77
Summary of Sunni concepts | 29- Concepts about some jurisprudential rules | Concepts (408-427)
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Transcript
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A summary of the concepts of the Ahl al-Sunnah.
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The principle: "Necessity renders the prohibited permissible."
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Scholars derived this principle from the words of Allah the Almighty:
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"He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah."
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“He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swineflesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” (2:173)
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"Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."
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They stated: "Every prohibited thing to which a person is compelled, the Most Merciful has made permissible for him."
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Necessity is defined as a situation where a person fears that, should it occur, it would result in harm to his life or a part of it,
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Or to his intellect, his wealth, the loss of his honor, or what is permitted in this regard.
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The constraints of the necessity that permits the prohibited.
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The necessity that permits the prohibited has specific criteria and constraints.
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The first is that the necessity must be actual and present, not merely expected or anticipated.
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The second is that there must be no other permissible or less objectionable means to avert the necessity other than committing the prohibited act.
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The third is that one must limit the commission of the prohibited act to the minimum required to avert the necessity.
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This is based on His saying: "Neither desiring nor transgressing."
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For example, when eating something forbidden, one must not exceed what is necessary to sustain life and maintain one's strength.
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The fourth is that the prohibited act must not cause harm to others.
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For instance, it is not permissible to comply with coercion to kill another person.
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This is because preserving the life of the one coerced to kill and the one ordered to be killed are necessities of the same degree.
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Both are governed by the objective of preserving life.
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The life of the one coerced is not more worthy of preservation than the life of the one ordered to be killed.
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The fifth is that the necessity must be overwhelming.
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Such as a person being coerced into consuming a prohibited substance by threats, for example, of being killed or tortured if he does not eat it.
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This applies even if he finds permissible food available.
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The sixth is that the person in necessity, if they are a figure of knowledge and da'wah, must not fall into something that would lead people astray in their religion.
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All these constraints must be met in every necessity that is claimed.
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Only then does it render the prohibited permissible.
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If some constraints are met while others are not, it does not constitute a necessity.
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The removal of hardship in the religion.
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It is not valid to use the words of Allah the Almighty as an argument:
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“And strive for Allah with the endeavour which is His right. He hath chosen you and hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture), that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind. So establish worship, pay the poor-due, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protecting friend. A blessed Patron and a blessed Helper!” (22:78)
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“And strive for Allah with the endeavour which is His right. He hath chosen you and hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture), that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind. So establish worship, pay the poor-due, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protecting friend. A blessed Patron and a blessed Helper!” (22:78)
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To waive any religious obligation for a person
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Under the pretext that it causes him hardship.
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Rather, the verse indicates that the religious obligations, in their entirety, contain no hardship.
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“And strive for Allah with the endeavour which is His right. He hath chosen you and hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture), that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind. So establish worship, pay the poor-due, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protecting friend. A blessed Patron and a blessed Helper!” (22:78)
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This is also evidenced by the fact
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That it mentions at its beginning the command to strive in the way of Allah with the striving due to Him.
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This implies that there is not the slightest hardship in fulfilling this obligation,
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Nor in the rest of the religious obligations.
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An obligation is only waived, substituted, or postponed
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If the hardship is due to an emergent matter for the person,
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External to the essence of the obligation itself.
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Such as a sick person postponing the obligatory fast
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Due to the hardship and difficulty he experiences in fasting
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Because of the illness that has befallen him.
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Or like shortening the prayer due to travel and the difficulty it entails.
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The removal of hardship in purification.
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Among the hardships that have been removed is also
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The hardship of praying without wudu,
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Or the belief that purification is impossible when water is unavailable,
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Or when one is unable to use it.
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This is addressed by the legislation of purification through tayammum.
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Allah the Almighty said after legislating tayammum,
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As a substitute for water in the event of its absence,
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Or the inability to use it:
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“O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.” (5:6)
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"But He intends to purify you."
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“O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.” (5:6)
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Obligations are within the capacity and ability of the soul.
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Likewise, the words of Allah the Almighty:
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“Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou, our Protector, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.” (2:286)
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Do not mean the waiving of an obligation
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Because a person claims it is beyond his capacity.
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Rather, it means that a human is obligated according to their capacity,
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And that all obligations are within the soul's capacity and ability.
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The commands and prohibitions of Allah are part of ease and leniency.
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The commands and prohibitions of Allah the Almighty,
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And the wisdom and benefits resulting from them,
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Are the very essence of ease and leniency for people in this world and the Hereafter.
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As for the difficulty the soul experiences due to an obligation,
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It is a manageable difficulty,
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And it must be endured to attain the bliss of the Hereafter.
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For bliss is not attained through comfort.
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Whoever prefers comfort loses comfort.
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Al-Mutanabbi said:
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"If souls are great,
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The bodies grow weary in pursuit of their desires."
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Allah the Almighty said after legislating fasting and detailing its rulings:
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“The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong). And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, (let him fast the same) number of other days. Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth not hardship for you; and (He desireth) that ye should complete the period, and that ye should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that peradventure ye may be thankful.” (2:185)
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Every command from Allah the Almighty to us
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Is ease, in which there is no hardship.
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There is no ease, leniency, or removal of hardship greater than something that leads to Paradise and saves one from Hellfire,
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Whether it is a prohibition, an obligation, or a permission.
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The criteria for concessions and facilitation.
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For concessions, facilitation, and the removal of hardship when the situation requiring them arises, there are criteria and constraints.
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First:
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The certain—not speculative—realization of the excuse that warrants taking the concession.
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Second:
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The existence of evidence for taking the concession,
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And not contradicting the legal texts regarding the matter.
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Third:
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Limiting it to the area of need or necessity.
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Fourth:
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The concession must be issued by a scholar knowledgeable of the rulings and the reality,
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So that the understanding of the issue and the realization of its context in reality can be achieved.
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General affliction (umuum al-balwa).
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General affliction pertains to matters related to religious obligation.
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It is an event that occurs comprehensively,
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Such that it is difficult for those obligated to avoid it,
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Or to guard against it,
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Except with excessive hardship that necessitates facilitation and leniency.
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The obligated need to know its ruling.
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Examples include:
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First:
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The leniency regarding the saliva of a cat, due to the difficulty of avoiding it,
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Because they are among those who roam around us.
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Second:
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The purification of the ground for impurities clinging to the soles of shoes or sandals.
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The criteria for applying the principle of general affliction.
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First:
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Verifying its occurrence in the incident in question.
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If an exception to its generality is found,
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Then acting upon it for the sake of a concession ceases,
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And one must turn to what is excluded from it.
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If a person faces two paths and must take one of them,
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And the first is muddy and mixed with the impurities of houses and dwellings,
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While the other is free from that,
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One must take the second path.
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If he takes the first, he is not excused for the impurity that attaches to him,
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Because it is not difficult to avoid it.
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Second:
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The opinion regarding it in the matter must be issued by a mujtahid knowledgeable of the fiqh rulings and the reality,
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To enable the realization of its context.
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Third:
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The facilitation resulting from general affliction must be restricted
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To the situation in which it is realized, and it ceases when that situation ends.
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The principle of blocking the means (sadd al-dhara'i').
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Prohibitions in Islam:
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Some are prohibited in themselves,
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And some are prohibited because of something else.
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That which is prohibited because of something else
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Is what is forbidden not because it is inherently prohibited,
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But because of what it will lead to—falling into that which is prohibited in itself.
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An example:
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The prohibition of insulting the gods of the polytheists
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If it serves as a means to insult Allah the Almighty.
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Allah the Almighty said:
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"And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge."
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Even though insulting the gods of the polytheists
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Is in itself an annoyance to the polytheists and an insult to their gods,
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And it is permissible or praiseworthy in itself,
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Were it not for the fact that it leads to falling into the forbidden,
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Which is insulting Allah the Almighty.
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So the verse explicitly forbids the permissible
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Because of what it leads to, which is not permissible.
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If Allah the Almighty forbids something, He forbids its means.
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If Allah the Almighty forbids something,
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And it has paths and means that lead to it,
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He forbids them and prevents them,
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To realize His prohibition and establish it.
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For if He permitted the means and paths leading to it,
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It would be a nullification of the prohibition and an enticement for the soul toward it.
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The wisdom of Allah the Almighty refuses that entirely.
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Everything that causes one to miss an obligation is prohibited.
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Everything that causes one to miss an obligation and distracts from it is prohibited,
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Even if it is originally permissible.
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An example is Allah's prohibition of buying and selling
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After the call to the Friday prayer.
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Allah the Almighty said:
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“O ye who believe! When the call is heard for the prayer of the day of congregation, haste unto remembrance of Allah and leave your trading. That is better for you if ye did but know.” (62:9)
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“O ye who believe! When the call is heard for the prayer of the day of congregation, haste unto remembrance of Allah and leave your trading. That is better for you if ye did but know.” (62:9)
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No compulsion in recommended or permissible acts.
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Recommended and permissible acts, and matters of choice,
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Cannot be used to compel people.
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If Allah opens a door of recommended acts for you,
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Do not compel people to be like you in it.
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For the doer of recommended acts is rewarded, and the one who leaves them is not blamed.
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Perhaps Allah has opened for the one who left what you are doing of recommended acts
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Another door among them,
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In which he is more active and more capable.
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And it is even more appropriate that there is no blame on one who does or leaves a permissible act.
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This is the meaning of it being called "permissible."
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Likewise, obligations that offer a choice between several options:
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It is not valid to compel people to one specific matter within them.
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Such as the expiation for breaking an oath.
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The one who breaks an oath has the choice between feeding ten needy people or clothing them,
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Or freeing a slave.
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If he cannot find these, he turns to fasting for three days.
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Likewise, the expiation for the prohibitions of Ihram:
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A person is given the choice between fasting, charity, or sacrifice.
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A concession is a charity from Allah.
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A concession is a charity from Allah,
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So it is recommended to accept it without searching for its wisdom or linking it to it.
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Allah the Almighty granted the concession of breaking the fast in the cases of illness and travel,
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Provided that the sick person makes it up when he recovers,
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And the traveler when he settles.
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It is not the severity of the illness or the hardship of travel that the ruling is attached to,
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But rather illness and travel in an absolute sense,
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To intend ease for people, not hardship.
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We do not know all of Allah's wisdom in attaching the concession to absolute illness and absolute travel.
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The correct approach, in any case, is to take matters in the form that Allah intended in this religion,
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For He is wiser than us and more knowledgeable of the near and far benefits behind His concessions and firm rulings.
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Rigor is not requested to allow for a concession.
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Rigor is not requested to allow for a concession.
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If rigor is valid in the rulings of transactions when people are corrupt,
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To serve as a deterrent remedy and a blocking of means,
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Then the matter regarding acts of worship is different,
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As they are an account between the servant and his Lord,
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And the interests of the servants are not directly attached to them
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Like the rulings of transactions, in which the outward appearance is considered.
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As for the outward appearance in acts of worship, it is of no avail
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Unless it is based on the piety of the hearts.
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Evidence is required for a concession.
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An accepted concession is that which Allah has permitted,
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And for which there is evidence and a legal text.
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Not what has been issued by some scholars as rare opinions,
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In which they deviated from the majority and their middle path in the religion.
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Such a thing is referred to as
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"concessions" by some scholars, metaphorically speaking,
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though what is intended by this are their slips,
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and those matters in which they granted concessions contrary to the truth.
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This is what is meant by the statement of the scholars:
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"Whoever tracks the slips and concessions of the scholars falls into heresy."
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Ibn Hazm has narrated the consensus
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that tracking the concessions of the schools of thought
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without relying on a legal proof
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is an act of immorality that is not permissible.
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Moderation in adopting and applying the principles of fiqh.
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The jurists derived principles of fiqh
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from the texts of the Book and the Sunnah,
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and they established them as comprehensive, general references
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to which one refers regarding what arises in people's lives
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of cases and events,
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in order to reach the legal ruling concerning them.
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The foundation for establishing legal rulings
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is the texts of the Book and the Sunnah;
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the principles of fiqh were only created
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as a summary of the implications of the texts,
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and as general, comprehensive references for them.
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Based on this,
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using a principle of fiqh to derive rulings
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is, in essence, an inference from the texts of the Book and the Sunnah.
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Moderation in viewing the principles of fiqh
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means adopting them with this understanding,
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neither neglecting them under the pretext that they are not proofs in and of themselves,
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nor that they are not texts from the two revelations,
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nor being excessive in applying them
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to the point of opposing the texts of the Book and the Sunnah with them.
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The basic principle regarding things is permissibility.
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This is indicated by the saying of Allah the Exalted:
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“He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.” (2:29)
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as the verse was presented in the context of bestowing favor,
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that Allah created what is on earth for our benefit.
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It is also understood from this concept
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that what contains harm is excluded from that,
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and it is part of the perfection of the blessing that He prohibited it for us.
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The nature of the incapacity that provides an excuse.
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Whoever is unable to perform a commanded act, such as an obligation or the like,
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that obligation is lifted from him,
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as indicated by the proofs.
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Allah the Exalted said regarding jihad:
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"There is no blame upon the blind, nor any blame upon the lame,
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nor any blame upon the sick."
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And Allah the Exalted said regarding general commands:
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“So keep your duty to Allah as best ye can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for your souls. And whoso is saved from his own greed, such are the successful.” (64:16)
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And the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
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"If I command you to do something, then do as much of it as you are able."
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However, a person is not excused unless he
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has exerted his effort to perform what he is commanded to do,
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then became unable and found no means to perform it,
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as is understood from the saying of Allah the Almighty
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regarding those unable to migrate from the lands of polytheism.
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“Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan and are not shown a way.” (4:98)
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“Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan and are not shown a way.” (4:98)
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Incapacity to perform the entirety of a commanded act
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does not negate the obligation to perform what is within one's power.
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For whoever has had his hand severed,
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the washing of the hand in wudu is lifted from him,
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but he remains obligated to wash the remainder of his arm
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up to the elbow.
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The scholars derived this principle
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from the saying of Allah the Exalted:
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“So keep your duty to Allah as best ye can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for your souls. And whoso is saved from his own greed, such are the successful.” (64:16)
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This is the requirement of fearing Allah according to one's ability.
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This is also indicated by his saying, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:
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"If I command you to do something, then do as much of it as you are able."
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Recorded by al-Bukhari.