Part of Rawnaq Al-Ilm (series completed)
· Lesson 14 of 50
The book of the elegance of knowledge among the wise | Episode (14) | Earth Guardians
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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“Is he who payeth adoration in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, bewaring of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (to be accounted equal with a disbeliever)? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed.” (39:9)
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The Splendor of Knowledge according to the Sages.
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By Dr. Hamza Ibn Fayi' Al Fathi.
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May Allah preserve him.
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The Guardians of the Earth.
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Sufyan Al Thawri said:
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The jurist and mujtahid, may Allah have mercy on him,
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who passed away in the year 161 AH.
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The angels are the guardians of the heavens,
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and the scholars of hadith are the guardians of the earth.
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Just as the angels are guards in the heavens,
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whom Allah has chosen for that task,
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the earth likewise has its guardians and its soldiers.
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They are the scholars and the protectors of the Sharia,
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most notably the hadith scholars and the bearers of the traditions,
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their preservers and their critics.
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They exerted themselves in this field,
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and traveled far and wide for its sake.
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They distinguished the authentic from the weak,
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and mastered the science of narration and its conditions,
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until it reached us sound and secure.
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Among them are the famous preservers of Islam,
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the authors of the Six and Nine Books,
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and the compilers of the other Musnad collections,
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who distinguished themselves through their skill and craft,
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and through their critical analysis and verification.
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There is evidence for this,
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including their work and their classifications,
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and the books on the narrators and the principles of the science,
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which were written solely to guard and protect the Sunnah.
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Imam Al Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz
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that a heretic fabricator was brought
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before the Caliph Harun Al Rashid.
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He ordered his execution,
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so the man said to him:
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"Why would you strike my neck?"
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He replied, "To rid the servants of Allah of you."
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The man said, "O Commander of the Faithful,
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what will you do about the thousand hadiths
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—or in one narration, four thousand hadiths—
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that I have fabricated among you?
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In them, I have forbidden the lawful
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and permitted the unlawful,
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while the Prophet, peace be upon him, never uttered a single letter of them."
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Harun Al Rashid replied to him:
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"What will you do, O enemy of Allah, about Abu Ishaq Al Fazari
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and Abdullah Ibn Al Mubarak?
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For they will sift through them thoroughly,
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and extract them letter by letter."
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Imam Malik would not be deceived by a narrator’s piety or asceticism
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unless he was also a master of this craft and discipline,
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one who had perfected the narration of hadith.
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He, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Indeed, this knowledge is religion,
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so be careful from whom you take your religion."
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"I met seventy men who would say,
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'The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,'
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by these pillars,"
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and he pointed to the mosque,
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"yet I did not take a single thing from them.
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Even if one of them were entrusted with a public treasury,
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he would be considered trustworthy,
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yet they were not people of this specific field."
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This was their standard in transmission and narration,
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in teaching and reporting.
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May Allah have mercy on them.