#revert

Do not seek an easier life.

As most adherents of the Shafi‘i school are villagers and manual labor- ers, they are prone to filth and closer intermingling of the sexes. However, the Shari‘a aims at physical cleanness, spiritual purity, and moral chastity, and trains and educates the soul. Thus this school states that one’s ablution is invalidated by touching the skin of a woman whom he can legally marry and by a small amount of filth on his body or clothes. The Hanafi school, most of whose adherents are more socialized and civilized, says that neither of these invalidate one’s ablution.

Consider a manual laborer and a gentleman. Pursuing his livelihood, the former comes into contact with dirty things and mixes with unknown women. As he might be unable to resist the associated temptations, the Shari‘a warns him with a heavenly tune: “You’ll lose your ritual purity if you touch the women. Your Prayers will be invalid if you become tainted.” The gentleman, in line with social custom and common morality, and provided he remains chaste and modest, does not have to mix with unknown women and seldom becomes dirty. In the Hanafi school, therefore, the Shari‘a shows its permis- sive side and saves the gentleman from scruples: “Simply touching her with your hand does not invalidate your ablution. If you can’t remove the dirt from your body or clothes, any amount less than three grams is permitted. So, you don’t have to renew your ablution.”

These examples are like two drops from an ocean. Try to judge in this way the Shari‘a ordinances according to Imam Sha‘rani’s criteria.

All-Glorified are You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

By Shaikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani

Fifty First Discourse

Part 6

Narrated `Aisha:

The Prophet (ﷺ) in his fatal illness, called his daughter Fatima and told her a secret because of which she started weeping. Then he called her and told her another secret, and she started laughing. When I asked her about that, she replied, The Prophet (ﷺ) told me that he would die in his fatal illness, and so I wept, but then he secretly told me that from amongst his family, I would be the first to join him, and so I laughed."

QUESTION: Given that the truth is one, how can the rulings of these various legal schools be true?

ANSWER: The same water functions in five different ways when given to five sick people. It will cure the first person’s illness, and so, according to the science of medicine, it is necessary. It will be like poison for the second person, making him even sicker, and therefore is medically forbidden. It will be slightly harmful for the third person, and therefore should be avoided. It will be beneficial for the fourth person, and thus medicine advises it. It will be neither harmful nor beneficial for the fifth person, and because he can drink it with good health it is medically permissible. Thus all five approach- es are valid. Can you argue that water is only a cure, and that it must be con- sumed regardless of its effect?

Similarly, Divine Wisdom requires that Divine ordinances of secondary importance should differ according to those who follow them. This results in different schools, all of which are right. For example, most members of the Shafi‘i school are closer to village life and less familiar with the social life that makes the community like a single body. This is why, in a congrega- tional Prayer, each one recites Suratu’l-Fatiha behind the imam to unbur- den themselves at the Court of the Dispenser of needs and relate their pri- vate wishes. This is right and pure wisdom.

It was narrated from Ibn Abbas:

The Mystery of Time and Knowledge.Part1

Q: It appears that the time of the coming of rain and the sex of the baby in the mother's womb can be known in advance. Are these then no longer to be counted among the "five mysteries" mentioned in the Qur'an? The question concerns the mystery of "time" and "knowledge" which governs all five things mentioned in the verse:

The knowledge of the Hour is with God. It is He Who sends down rain, and He Who knows what is in the wombs. And no one knows what it is that he will earn tomorrow and no one knows in what land he is to die. God is all-knowing, All-Aware. (Luqman 31:34)

Let us look at each of the five briefly in the order given.

God alone knows when and how the Hour, the Resurrection will happen. As the Qur'an states this as a fact and principle, it is improper for a Muslim to offer an opinion on the matter without saying "God knows." We affirm the truth of this from the well-known hadith that tells when the archangel Gabriel came and asked the Prophet to explain iman, Islam, and ihsan. Gabriel confirmed the answers he got by saying "sadaqta" (he has spoken truth). Gabriel's last question was: "When will the Resurrection take place?" The Prophet answered, "The one asked does not know more than the one asking." Thereafter, he mentioned certain of the signs and portents of events that would occur close to the time of the Resurrection. Such was the courtesy of the Prophet when asked about one of the "five mysteries." Both the Prophet and Gabriel in fact had some certain knowledge of it, but only God knows when it will happen.

As for how the Resurrection may take place, in terms of likely physical causes, we may surmise many, any of which might suffice to bring it about: such as, a comet striking the earth, or the sun, according to the laws of thermodynamics, extinguishing or exploding, or people may unintentionally initiate some sort of chain reactions beyond their control, and so on and so forth. But, again, only God knows the when and how.

The second "mystery" mentioned in the verse is that it is God who sends down the rain. This is one of the two points raised in the question. People claim to know when it will rain by meteorological analysis, and therefore argue that there is no longer any point in counting rain as one of the mysteries. No doubt some people who put forward such claims have it in mind to generate unease and doubts about the perfection of the Book and the faith. Muslims must nevertheless deal sensitively with such questions, even if they conceal a blasphemous intent.

I begin by asking how much of what people claim to know though modern science and technology is truly related to the unseen or what is beyond our perception. In fact, their guesswork about rainfall, done after all the conditions for it and the signs of it have already begun to be experienced in the visible world, has nothing to do with knowing the Unseen (ghayb) at all.

Let me explain this by a simple example.

Turn off the ventilation of a room full of people, and introduce some carbon dioxide into the air in the room, measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Then make a forecast about how many minutes later the people in the room will feel some kind of headache. What if our forecast turns out to be accurate? Will we have known the Unseen? No. The Unseen is defined precisely as that which God assigns only Himself to know. Guessing whether (or roughly where) it will rain tomorrow is not knowing the Unseen. Knowing in all details where, when and how much rain will fall, let's say, in one, five or ten years' time-that would be knowing the Unseen. Let alone in one or five years' time, can people forecast even how much rain will fall the next day? Moreover, we sometimes see that what the meteorologists forecast does not turn out to be accurate; sometimes, even the opposite of what was forecast takes place. That tells us that they do not know for certain, but only make calculated guesses.