Sadullah Khan – Appropriate use of common sense
![Sadullah Khan](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/sadullah-khan-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
That we learned from the life of our
beloved Prophet Muhammad
is the importance of engaging our aqal, our
intellect.
And as human beings,
this is important,
especially when deciding
on affairs
that requires judgement and decisions in our daily
lives.
This
requires
common sense.
And by common sense, I mean
a sound
practical judgment
concerning
everyday matters,
and the rational ability,
and the practical judgment
to realize the consequence
of our decisions.
Now though common sense is a basic capacity
that everybody has,
not everyone
uses it regularly.
An example of the use of common sense,
from the life of the Prophet
is documenting the Sahih of Imam Muslims,
When we know
that Prophet
Rasulullah
forbade
the branding
of,
or marking of an animal on the face.
People used to brand their animals. People do
it now too. Sometimes they put a kind
of a clip on their ear, or something,
or on the shank, or something. They make
a branding to know that this is their
property, for example.
And the Rasul forbade
the branding
of animals on their face, which was a
common practice at that time.
So an incident occurred, where the prophet's
cousin, Abdullah ibn Abbas
reports
that Ra'ar Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam imaran,
Musumu alwajihfaankar
razariq. He saw a
a donkey that had a branding
on its face.
The Prophet
disliked it,
and he objected to it. Because common sense
would beg the question,
Why would you brand an animal on the
most sensitive part of the body?
Why would you brand if you do brands,
if you do something, why would you choose
that particular part of the body? This is
from common sense. You don't require a law
degree,
or to have gone to some classes in
madrasa, or in a church or something to
learn this. This is common sense. Why would
you brand if you are branding?
Abdullah ibn Abbas listened to what the Rasul
said.
He knew that the Prophet forbade it, and
he also found that Rasul
disliked it.
And the reason why the Prophet
SAW obviously disliked it.
And then he decided
that he would brand his animals
at a spot
furthest away from the face.
And therefore,
he branded his animals on the ramp. Ibn
Abbasid he said,
He was the first person to do the
branding
on
on on on the on the flank
of the animal.
Now,
we realize here from this incident,
that there was a painful practice that was
prevalent in that society. Prevalent.
And nobody questioned it.
And that
practice of branding the animal on the face
was commonly employed.
You would assume that people with common sense,
would perhaps find an alternative
to that practice.
However, the Prophet
used his compassion as always.
His mercy and merciful character.
But also compassionate common sense to consider
that this practice is indeed painful.
And
there are less sensitive areas
on the body of an animal in which
this branding can take place.
Abdullah ibn Abbas Now the rasul didn't say
where you must brand.
Abdullah ibn Abbas then
took the Prophet's common sense and he used
his common sense. And he thought to himself,
if the face is the most sensitive part,
which part of the body would be least
difficult for the animal to bear when you
do brand it? And therefore he found that
part of the body that he used, the
rump.
And therefore,
the branding of the animal among the Arab
people became common, not on the face anymore,
because of that decision of the prophet, that
incident, and 'Abdu'l alayni Abbas' decision to do
it, it then became the norm.
All this from the ability,
the point is, to see things as they
are,
and where needs to be,
Finding better ways of doing things. And this
always requires
wisdom, but also common sense.
And the Prophet
always encouraged wisdom in judgment.
And he endorsed
improvising
in circumstances
where there were no clear directives. Sometimes there
are no clear directives.
There are general principles, but no clear directives.
What would you do in that circumstance?
And again, we find documented in the sunun
of Imamatirmili,
Mu'al bin Jabal companion of the Rasul
Very,
stern person, by the way, in his judgement
and decisions and so on. One of those
who took the pledge of allegiance of the
prophet before he came to Medina.
So, Mu'aaz bin Jabal was chosen by the
prophet to go to Yemen to teach the
people Islam.
And it's a very
moving incident where Rasul
commissioned him. And as Rasul commissioned him, he
advised him. And as he advised him, he
told, Mu'adh, when you come back next time,
you'll see my mosque, and you'll see my
grave. And then Mu'adh knew, you won't see
the Prophet
again.
So,
one of the things that Rasul
said to him was,
What would you do
if you have to make a decision that
requires your judgment?
What would you do if you required to
make your judgement? He said,
He said, I
will judge according to the book of Allah.
Then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
What if the judgment you're looking for is
not directly in the book of Allah?
Look at the Prophet's wisdom, and approach, and
openness, and frankness.
He said,
Then I will employ the practice and the
practical ways of the prophet of the prophet
The prophet said,
What if you don't find explicit guidelines
in the way in my way, in the
messenger's way? What if you don't find explicit
guidelines in that? Then he said,
He said,
I will then do my utmost in exercising
my highest judgement. I will do my utmost
in exercising my highest judgment, in striving to
form the best opinion, and nothing less.
In other words, I look at the kitabullah.
If it's not directly there, I look at
the sunnah of the rasulullah.
And if not there, I look at the
values and principles of the Quran and sunnah
now. However, I will exercise my best judgement
but nothing less than that. And the Rasul
said, Alhamdulillahiwafakah,
rasoolah rasoolillah
He said,
All praises due to Allah
who has rendered suitable the messenger of the
messenger of Allah
and cause him to be in agreement with
that which pleases
the Prophet of Allah. In other words, Rasulullah
in this example,
give us clear guidelines that we look and
find solutions in the Quran and the sunnah.
The principles and values are generally always there.
But when it comes to something not explicit,
you have to exercise
your reasoning and your common sense in keeping
with the principles and values of your faith.