Sadullah Khan – Appropriate use of common sense

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.