Mirza Yawar Baig – Benefit of differences
AI: Summary ©
The importance of disagreeing with opinion in a legal process is highlighted, with the focus on achieving a better picture of the whole. Prayer in the land of the sun and praying in the land of the sun are also discussed. hypothetical questions and scenarios are considered, including a man who approached a woman with a difficult time finding a partner and a man who approached a different man who said he would not do anything until they had a chance to see the truth. The importance of respecting each other's opinions and doing things like notifying them of their differences is emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
I want to talk to you about a
very important thing today,
which
is something which is extremely important for us
to understand and learn.
And that is the issue of
what we call Adawul Iftilaaf.
The etiquette of disagreement.
This is a
good thing
to have a difference of opinion.
Is not a fight between people.
It's not a between 2 people.
It is Iftalaf.
It is
disagreement, a difference of opinion
about a particular matter of din.
This is very important to understand.
Therefore, if there is a difference of opinion,
1st and foremost,
the thing to do is to
understand
that
like in any technical matter,
for example, if you go to a doctor,
suppose you have some you feel some pain.
So you go to a doctor or a
PCP or somebody and then he prescribes various
tests so on so on so. And then
he finally
says that you need an operation.
Right?
So, okay. I need an operation.
Then somebody says why don't you get another
opinion, second opinion?
So for the second opinion, who do you
go to?
Do you go to your Sheikh
because he has had his quran?
Because he has made his above the siyasita?
Do you go to him for that?
No.
Do you go to that for that second
opinion, do you go to a engineer
or a rocket scientist or somebody who's on
this international space station? No. You go to
another physician. You go to another doctor. A
specialist in that specific area. Right?
Now this is normal normal sensible logic. But
finally, for some reason, with Islam, we we
forget this.
For Islam, everybody thinks that they have the
right to have Iftalah with everybody
else. So first and foremost, we have to
understand what is the extent of my knowledge?
Do I know enough
to be able to disagree?
To be able to disagree
on a point of *, you must have
*. You can't disagree. No. I don't like
this.
Your like or dislike has nothing to do
with *.
Like and dislike is enough. I like something.
I don't like something.
And this is fine. I'm doing nothing wrong
with that, but don't bring that into the
area of
the knowledge of the just like we don't
bring it into the area of any specialized
knowledge.
So that's the first thing to understand, our
own limitations.
Second thing to understand is that when there
is
a genuine
difference of opinion,
both parties
have the same goal. And what is the
goal? To arrive at the truth.
Right? If the goal is different, supposing I
have a difference
or I I say I have a different
opinion
with you
with Arshar Abdulah.
But actually, I want to show that I
have more knowledge. I want to put him
down. I want to make him look like
a fool. Then there is a this shaitan
in this.
Right? This shaitan because I don't have a
different I I want to make him look
bad compared to me. That this is shaitan.
They they make make a and stop this.
Don't talk.
Different opinion must be focused on one thing,
which is to get at the truth. So
that is why in Islam, different different opinion
is is recognized and encouraged.
Because our our our our,
AIMA and our scholars, they have said the
benefit of difference of opinion is I am
looking at something from one angle. He is
looking at the same thing from another angle,
and together, we get a much better picture
of the whole.
Instead of, if both of us were looking
at it from the same angle, then we
would be seeing only one side. You never
see the opposite side.
Right? There is a famous story of 5
blind men
who wanted to see an elephant.
Yeah. You must have heard this word. Right?
So they wanted to see it. So that's
how do you see it? The guy is
blind. So how do you see elephant? Okay.
We'll take you to the elephant and, you
know, you can feel the elephant and so
on so on and try to figure out.
So they went and somebody they went around
the elephant. Somebody caught the tail of the
elephant, then he put his hand around it.
He felt the tail of the one guy
caught the trunk of the elephant. Another guy
caught the ear of the elephant. Another guy
went to the legs of the elephant and
so on. So when they came back, they
asked them, what what does elephant look like?
The man said the elephant looks like a
tree trunk.
You know, one long, big trunk.
Elephant like a trunk. I said, what about
you?
He said the elephant is like a rope.
The rope with some hair at the end
of it. There is elephant. Rope is it.
And he said, I heard what about you?
He said, no. It's like a snake. It's
like a big snake,
big thick snake, which moves here and there.
He said, what about you? He said, no.
Elephant is like a fan.
Flat fan.
Yeah.
So basically, they're talking about the elephant.
But because they only see that one piece,
that guy who said fan is he looked
at, he felt the ear of the elephant.
That's all he knows.
With
you can see the entire elephant.
Now give you two examples.
Is nothing new.
It's not it's not a modern thing that
is happening in our time. No.
The way it is happening in our time,
that is new, which
is
with degenerates
into personal conflict. This is new.
Making videos and and pronouncing
on this shirk and that shirk, this is
new.
May Allah bless you. This is haram.
But with salafu alayhi, the Sahaba
differed on many matters. But one of the
most important and and famous matters from the
seerah
is the difference of opinion
between the zava on a matter of iwada
of salah.
Now what is more important than a matter
of?
And that is the one thing which is
the
the peak of the matter.
What happened was that after the the Rasul
Khandak, Rasul
Hajab, the Saba were taking off their armor.
Rasool Rasool Rasool was taking off his armor.
Jibreel Islam came.
And he said, Yeah, Mohammad How is it
that you are taking off your armor and
your job is not complete?
Said what?
He said Allah
has ordered you to go and take care
of the because
these people, they they were traitors
and they betrayed you.
And Allah is
wants you to settle that matter. You cannot
take off your armor until the matter is
settled.
So go.
So Rasul Rasul Rasul Rasul called us Abba
and he ordered them to go into the
land of the Manu Qureshah, which was far
away from Adina.
And he said, pray
in the land of the Banu Qureshah.
So the Sahaba left.
Now they are marching. As they are marching
towards the land of the sun is setting,
time of is
finishing.
So when it look like the time of
asr will finish, time of will come, some
of them they stopped and some of them
said, look, we have to pray asr. We
cannot leave the salah
and not pray and the time is gone.
So we have to stop and pray.
The other Sabbath, they said, no. This is
the of the Rasool, Alaihi Salam.
To go against the of the Rasool is.
So we cannot do that. Rasul also
knew that the sun will set, but he
told us go and pray in the land
of Banu Quraydah. And if you cannot pray,
then we have to make there.
And we pray
as as
in that land, but we cannot pay before.
So now there is a major difference of
opinion on a matter of salah. It's a
difference of interpretation
about the
and the. Right? So what did they do?
Some of them who followed one line,
they stopped and they prayed
within its time. Others continue to march.
And when they reach the place of obviously
time for Assar was gone. It was time
for. So they prayed Salatul Assar as.
Now did they pronounce Takfir on each other?
Did they say?
You went against the Rabi? Did they say
that? No.
They came back from and they said they
mentioned they told,
this is what happened. We had this different
opinion,
and we did this and so and so
did that. And the said both of you
are correct. No problem.
Another very famous
different opinion, actual debate
was between 2 of the greatest of the
of this of this deal.
Actual debate.
Now,
Imam Abu Hanifa
was about 12 or 14 years older than
Imam Malik.
So he was a great scholar, plus he
was also a
older.
Imam Malik was younger but also a great
scholar.
Now one of the things was the fundamental
difference of India was that, Ema Malik used
to say when he would sit in his
buddhist, he would say, be careful
about the people of Rai,
people of opinion.
Right? And this was a
reference to because
the has
a lot of,
position for a a lot of important for
life.
Again, by right, I don't understand this to
mean anybody's life. This is we're talking here
about the istihad of the people of of
the
who have the right to make istihad. It's
not somebody's opinion.
So they had a meeting
after Hajj in Mina.
This meeting was witnessed by another of the
great olamah
from Egypt and his name was
Alayd bin Saad.
So he has written a detailed description of
the meetings. I won't go into the whole
thing. Just a couple of points.
One point on which they differed was
said, don't ask questions
about things that have not occurred.
For example, supposing you say, you know, if
I'm in the International Space Station, which is
orbiting the earth,
which direction should
I face to to pray salah?
If my mother's position was, when are you
going there? Are you going there now? Are
you going there tomorrow or day after?
No. No. I'm not going. I if I'm
there, Imam Ali used to say, don't waste
my time. Go away.
No. If
if you have a situation, come ask for
an opinion. Ask for a ruling. If you
don't have a situation, forget it. And he
used to say this was the position also
of.
He said, don't waste my time with
hypothetical questions
instead of sticking to the truth.
So he asked this question.
You are in Madinah
where
there is stability.
Right? Nothing is changing there. There is stability.
I am in
the middle of the
in Baghdad
and Kufa. I'm in the middle of the
kingdom.
We have issues every day.
So we come up with
hypothetical issues because these issues come up. This
is for example,
there's a question
that
there was a man who went with the
army
and he did not come
back. His wife waited
and she waited for a few years.
He still didn't come back. So she married
somebody else.
Immediately after she married somebody else, his man
came back.
So now what?
There's been no formal.
So what is the opinion?
Said, this is a hypothetical question.
Imam Abu Hanifa said, no, it is not.
This this thing has happened in our place.
Then he gave an example. He said, a
man came to Rasool Salam
and he said to him, you Rasool Allah,
if I am at home, if I am
in my house, a man comes and ask
me and tell me, give me your money.
What should I do?
Rasool said, don't do it. Don't do it.
He said, if the man imagine, everything is
if. Right? If this hasn't happened to me,
if this happens.
So he said, if then he attacks me,
what shall I do? He said, fight him.
He said, in the fight, if I kill
him, what happened? He said,
he will go to the other. So this
is the hardest. You know, I know all
this.
He's asking hypothetical question.
Did not say, did it happen to you?
Why are no. He said, he gave an
answer. When he asked him not 13 questions,
he gave answers.
Imam Malik remains silent.
There are 3 other matters which they talked
about. I won't go into the details. But
after this whole thing finished
and they left,
he
decided he wanted to go and ask what
did you think of your
partner or adversary or opponent whatever you want
to call it? So he said I went
to mam Ali Rahdul Ali. He said what
do you think of Abu Hanifa Rahdul Ali?
Ma'am Malik says
I have never met a more intelligent man
in my life.
He said I have debated He said, I
have met many, many people, but he is
a true jurist.
And his mind is so incisive and his
arguments are so convincing that if you if
he gives you a piece of iron and
tells you it is gold, you will believe
it.
Then he
went to
Allah.
He said, what do you think about Imam
Malik?
He said, I have debated with 100 of
people but I have never come across a
man who is so eager
and so quick and so
willing to accept the truth.
He's crazy opponent. He says he's the most
willing to accept the truth. He won't stick
to something.
Then what happened after that? What happened after
that was Imam Abu Hanifa Wa Ta'ala sent
his son, Hammad,
to Madinah
to study under Imam Malik.
I imagine this would not have happened if
the debate had not happened.
And then what happened was
that Imam Malik
was
approached by Al Mansur who was the Khalifa,
Abbasi Khalifa. Al Mansur said that the Muwatta
is such a beautiful
and authentic book.
Incidentally, Imam Bukhari took the whole time to
Bukhari.
Complete
book. So he said,
he approached him and said, take this book.
I said, I will have this book engraved
in gold
and put inside the cover. And I will
issue a addict to say
that nobody must study anything other than the
war. And I will say that the
the studies and the school of everyone else
is
finished. Only yours.
He
said no.
He said, do not do anything like that.
He said, if Rasool Allah Subhan
sunnah and if he's hadith, if Allah wants
wanted to preserve them in different places in
different ways.
And then he said that
all
over the world.
Because one of the questions Imam Malik said,
listen to the people the consensus of the
people of Badinah because he's going by what
Nabi Sadat said about the He
said the of Allah, the sunat of Rasool
Allah, and in the absence of these two,
the,
Ijma'a,
Baynur Walama,
between the alama and the rakhias. So Ijma'a
for the the consensus,
Imam Malik said, take consensus of the people
of Madinah because the Quran was revealed in
Madinah. It was not revealed in the Euphrates.
Meaning, Iraq.
Meaning, first place. He used to say this.
When he said this
Hanifa said, how many people were in Madina?
He said 10,000 people. He said there were
a 120,000
people who went for Hajj
who prayed the Jannaza for Rasool Rasool Rasool
Rasool Rasoolam. He said, what happened to the
others?
Only 10 are here. What about out of
120,
10 are here, 110,000
He said all over the world because especially,
sir, send
people all over the world.
He said, where is in Egypt?
Right? And he gave he he narrated names
of many people. He said, where is so
so so so. Why
the?
Where was he? He's in Syria.
So different people, different place. Right?
So
he said consensus not only of the consensus
of scholars.
So when,
Al Mansoor came and he said this, you
know,
he said the Sahaba are spread all over
the world,
and we respect them and we take their
opinion from wherever they are. Not only from
Madin.
So the point I wanna make for you
is that this started with a different opinion.
It started with some
strong positions.
And in interestingly,
as far as the was concerned for all
of these things, neither
changed their position. They remained on the same
position. But
the the effect of the of the disagreement
was
love between the two increased.
Respect for each other increased.
Learning from each other increased.
And this brought about
integrity and
it had
in the Ummah. And this was what Saad
bin, this was what Allah said
that you have joined the Ummah together
through your dispute.
The reason I'm saying this is because this
is a very common thing nowadays. Right? We
we get into
difference. First of all, we may we have
difference opinion, and we have no right to
have the difference because we don't have the
knowledge. Number 1. Number 2, where we have
the,
difference of opinion, it ends up with
fighting between people. Please understand.
It is far better
to lose an argument and maintain a friendship
than to win the argument and destroy the
friendship.
Friendship is far more important than winning any
argument.
Always. Please understand this. Do do not allow
an argument to spoil your relationship. Relationships
are far more important
than
arguments.
Today, the argument is there. Tomorrow is not
there. Matter is over. The relationship is still
there. Right? So that is why I remind
myself to you. Let us keep hearts together.
If somebody has a different or different opinion,
hamdullilah. No problem. He has a dari. You
have a dari. If you need to tell
them, explain to them. That's it. We have
been told to
We have been told to convey. We have
not been told to convince. We have not
been told to convert somebody to our point
of view. No. Convey. This is my. This
is what I'm telling you. If you take
it,
you don't take it. No problem.
Because at the end of the day, you
will stand before Allah by yourself. I will
stand before Allah by myself. Allah will not
question you about me or me about you.
So do not allow arguments
and differences of opinion to
separate us from each other. We are all
Alhamdulillah
brothers and sisters to one another because of
Islam. Let us make sure that that is
the uppermost
and supermost thing in our mind. Mind.
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