Sadullah Khan – Appropriate use of common sense

Sadullah Khan
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The speaker discusses the use of common sense in actions and behavior, including branding animals on one's face. The Prophet's common sense and compassionate stance have been instrumental in navigating this practice, and it is common for animals to be branded on the sensitive parts of their body. The speaker also discusses the importance of having a clear understanding of the principles and values of the Quran and sun [The spirit.

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