Suhaib Webb – The Branches of Faith Sh Mahmoud Hijazi
AI: Summary ©
Dr. reminded us of Dr. Fatiha's name and experience in the Arabic language field. Dr. Fatiha will be translating the book he will be discussing, and the book's structure is based on the Quran. The importance of faith and love for Islam is emphasized, citing two verses in the title, one of which is the man himself. The church's understanding of the Quran is a prerequisite to understanding and interpreting the Quran, and faith in Allah is said and proclaimed in theippedha. The book's title is a bridge between Christian understanding and the Muslim understanding of it, and faith in the sunGeneration is said and the sunGeneration is the title of the book.
AI: Summary ©
It's my honor and my pleasure to introduce
everyone to doctor Mahmoud Hijazi.
Actually, the son of one of our professors
in Azhar, doctor Fatiha Jazhi, who was the
former dean,
there in the college of Arabic, especially in
the department of Balakha.
Sheikh Mahmoud, he is a graduate of Al
Azar University with a specialization
in, local Arabia and the different sciences related
to Arabic language. And also
he's currently a teacher, in the Azhar system.
And actually one of,
one of our
someone that we have like a lot of
love for and someone that I've known. And
I've known him actually more than 20 years.
Taqrib Ashwin Sanah
SubhanAllah.
And we spent time together in Egypt. So
he's going to be coming to Swiss every
week here live,
teaching the book of the Imam Al Bayhaki,
Shoaib al Iman, the branches of Iman. We
have a doctor Marwa Ibrahim who is doing
her PhD, soon to be a doctor inshallah,
at University of North Carolina.
She's going to be translating, and then I
will be in the comments making sure that
they get any relevant questions.
In the name of God the merciful and
the compassionate
and we send our sings and praise and
salutations
upon
prophet Muhammad
The Sheikh welcomes you warmly
at this meeting, at this gathering
and introduces,
the book he will be discussing, which he
recommends as a book that
every Muslim should read or know about.
It is an abridged version of a book
on the branches of faith by Imam al
Bayhaghi,
and it was abridged in this current version
by who's
of Shafi'i
from the Shafi'i tradition.
He explains that it is a short book
but contains
great knowledge,
and it contains
the information,
as well as
quotes from Hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam on how we understand the branches of
faith.
The sheikh
mentions the Hadith that there are over
70 branches of faith.
The highest is to bear witness that there
is no God but Allah and that Mohammed
sallallahu alaihi wasallam is his messenger,
and the lowest
is to remove any harm from the road.
And modesty is also of faith.
Said,
why then Tahareem
The sheikh introduces
the the contents of the book.
He begins with the important branch of Iman
that is
explained in the book and that one being
love of Allah
and fear of Allah.
And
the Muslims
the Muslims
should have both
fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and love
for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and should find the balance between the 2.
And that will be explained in the book.
The second most important
aspect of faith or branch is
love for the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
And,
and then followed after that is explaining,
the
duties of the Muslim towards people,
and society.
The sheikh is explaining that Imam Al Bayhafi,
the author of this book,
has
a great place in Islamic tradition.
He has published over a 1000 works
and a
very different topics covering,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and his characteristics,
the Sahaba, the friends of the prophet,
and so on. And he recommends
to,
check out Alsheikh Al Bayhirki's
works and learn about him, Imam Al Bayhirki,
through through the Internet.
The sheikh is explaining the providing a background
for
the life of the author who abridged
the book by Sheikh Alba Imam al Bayhafi.
The abridged version we are reading is, bridged
by Sheikh Al Qazwini who's of Shafi'i from
the Shafi'i tradition. He was born in Tabriz
in 653
Hijri by the Hijri calendar.
He was a legal jurist who traveled to
Syria, Damascus and was appointed head of the
jurist there.
And he was buried in Egypt near
the Safay burial site.
The Sheikh is explaining to us that the
opening of the book,
begins with
of thank thanking Allah
sending praise and salutations upon prophet Muhammad
and that he explains that
the reason for the believers joy or happiness
in this life is to is,
is to be a follower of,
of the prophet Sira or the prophet's,
life and and guide guidance
and and that would lead Insha'Allah the believer
to gain closeness to Allah both in this
world and in the akhir insha'Allah.
And he he explains the structure of the
the the subsequent chapters which will begin always
with a verse of the Quran
followed by a Hadith of prophet Muhammad to
support and followed,
by the,
the
the takeaways for for the reader inshallah.
The sheikh is,
citing a verse in the Quran, chapter 5
verse 15. There has come to you from
Allah a light and a clear book.
And the sheikh explains that the light was
mentioned before the clear book, and the light
here being the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and his sunnah,
And the book being the Quran.
We understand this to mean that understanding the
Quran,
understanding the sunnah of prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam is a prerequisite to understanding and interpreting
the Quran.
So he encourages
everyone to base their understanding of the Quran
on their on an understanding of the life
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
his hadith.
And not to sort of try and understand
the Quran,
separate from the life of the prophet.
No.
We come now to the first branch
and, the first branch being faith in Allah.
For anyone who enters Islam, faith in Allah
is
said and proclaimed in the shahada as,
we as a statement of bearing witness that
Allah, there
is no god but Allah, and prophet Muhammad
is his messenger.
The verses that are cited here in in
support of,
to start or to begin this this this
discussion of this important branch in Islam,
are 2 verses. The first verse is,
chapter 2 verse
285.
Oh, you who believe, sorry. The believers
believe in Allah, and I I'm translating,
just a section of the of the verse.
So believers believe in Allah, and Surat An
Nisa,
verse 136,
all you who believe, believe in Allah.
Islam Islam Islam
Islam
Islam
Islam
Islam
Islam Islam
So the sheikh is explaining
Iman and and explaining that the word am
is the root of the word Iman and
it comes from safety. The opposite
of iman, therefore, is fear.
So safety,
is is a core concept in in
in iman.
What is Islam then? Islam
in
translated in English, it means peace.
And so
the believer
with both Iman and Islam
has both experiences both safety and peace.
And the place of Iman is in the
heart.
Iman is
belief that
God exists
and,
and then we
we we
we follow, inshallah, the rest of, the explanation
with the Sheikh.
So the sheikh is explaining that belief in
god and belief in god's existence
is then followed by obedience. And obedience to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and and then the
belief in in Allah's,
messengers and and apostles and,
believing that prophet Muhammad
is the last messenger. The final messenger also
requires obedience,
to to prophet Muhammad
and the sheikh explains that
we make no distinction between any of the
prophets.
We we don't we don't distinguish between,
the
messengers that Allah
has sent, and we believe that Sayyidina Muhammad,
prophet Muhammad, is the final messenger.
Al
when
Iman is of 2 kinds. Iman can be
an
both an inward iman and an outward iman.
The inward iman takes the form of,
for example, intentions that we make when we
worship Allah. We we have to
make the intention
inwardly.
The outward iman are the actions that we
we may take such as
praying, giving charity, performing pilgrimage,
and they're both forms of obedience to Allah.
The sheikh is citing a a Hadith of
reported that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam
said I have been
commanded to fight against the people until they
testify that there is no god but Allah
and that
the messenger and that Muhammad
is the messenger of Allah.
The sheikh explains that this
commandment to fight is not,
is not to take up arms and create
an army and force people to proclaim the
oneness of God, that would be a very
incorrect understanding. What we understand
is that if a Muslim is forced to
fight, he must defend himself but must never
initiate aggression.
The
incorrect understanding of this hadith would be inconsistent
with the Quran. I
have
my faith,
and you have your faith,
which is
which is in the Quran and would be
inconsistent if one were to interpret the hadith
incorrectly.
The sheikh will expand further on the meaning
of the hadith that was mentioned at our
next meeting given the time constraints,
and he makes dua for all of you.