Suhaib Webb – The Foundations Of Shari’ah lesson One Shari’ah’s Eight Characteristics
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Welcome to a journey now through,
Sharia
as well as the foundational
principles in general, which are generally seen as
such,
of the Sharia.
Why is this important? Well, number 1 is
it's important to own your own religious literacy.
When you own your own religious literacy, it
protects you from irrational conservatism
and irresponsible
kind
of lackadaisical
ease as it looks or liberalism, if you
will, as it looks at religion. And I
use these terms here linguistically, not politically.
And and, you know, this is unfortunate. We
don't see the
kind of functional literacy amongst Muslims anymore.
Many times people are asking questions that are
very clear, very very open.
They don't really need to ask, but they
ask anyways and that's perhaps because of a
a low self esteem coupled with the the
bully scholarship that exists out there. But, for
example, if we look at at the life
of the prophet
his companions,
for example, Amr ibn A'as, who was not
known as one of the major scholars of
Islam, who
when he has a * and he
realizes that it's an extremely cold night and
authentic narration, he says, you know, I was
scared that I would that I would I
would perish, so he makes.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sama does not
censor him for trying to think through an
issue. He has the tools,
if you will, to think through an issue.
We find also the authentic narration in Sahih
al Bukhari when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam tells the people to pray
and, of course, they become delayed. And a
group says the prophet did not know
that we will be delayed, so let's pray
asr. Now the other said, no. Let's stick
to the letter of the law. No matter
when we get
to even after Maghrib, we'll pray Asar. The
prophet
does not censor,
either of them for using
their mind and thinking through issues.
This happens on numerous
occasions and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is empowering people
to use guidance to think through challenges. So
it's very important that we have a base
literacy,
base literacy of our religion. As Imam al
Qarafi says very beautifully, whoever understands these foundations
of sharia
is really going to achieve a profound,
you know, literacy of Islam, understanding
of the functionality
of Islam, not dysfunctional scholarship, but proper
The unity amongst a community that is wrought
with disunity,
and infighting. And then finally, that we can
correct,
the constant kind of attacks thrown at Sharia,
that that have made the Sharia an object
of commodified hate,
in this century. And and I lived that
when I converted to Islam in 1992. One
of the reasons that I was attracted to
Islam is that there was an effort to
stop a mosque from being built in the
city that I lived in because of sharia,
because of their fear of sharia.
So if we do that, then we fall,
of course, into the general guidelines
says
So we ask Allah
as we begin this very important journey.
First of all, the word sharia is from
the word shara'a
umashra'a.
Well, mashra'a tulibul
is actually the place
where a person would take camels an oasis
in the middle of the desert for water.
And this is the literal meaning. Mashra'a
al Ibl. Of course, figuratively, it is applied
to Sharia
because religion is a source of life for
us in the desert of this dunya. That's
why Allah
says in
after
Oh, you who believe, answer the call of
Allah and his messenger when you are invited
to what will bring you life. So the
sharia,
is seen as a source of life in
the desert of this dunya, and this becomes
increasingly important
as the secular world begins to grow,
begins to metamorphosis,
if you will, that it is experiencing
and change in ways that are very subtle.
And we see now the creeping,
secular
really really starting to take hold of the
Muslim community through things like nomenclature and other
things that we can talk about inshallah in
another time.
When it comes to sharia as defined by
scholarship,
everything
that was revealed to the
prophet Everything that was revealed to him
And this of course includes the Quran
as well as the sunnah of the Prophet.
Alaihi wasallam. What we wanna talk about now
are the unique characteristics
of sharia
as mentioned in the books of law.
Right? So
when we talk about defining who we are,
it's very important that we do not allow
ourselves to define be defined
by anti Muslim bigots or those outside of
our community. We have our own definitions of
who and what we are, and we need
to be proud and bold and, in fact,
stern
on owning our own identities and definitions.
This is very important. The first thing that
Allah
taught Adam are the names of things.
When may when Muslims become unfamiliar with their
own nomenclature and religious terminology,
then that is going to be filled by
other sources of definitions
and terminology. And this is one of the
ways that we find ourselves falling into kind
of the creeping
sharia. So it's very important that we
a sharia from our own perspective
as mentioned by ancient as well as contemporary
scholars. So what we're going to talk about
now are some of the unique,
the unique qualities of a sharia. Number 1
is arabaniyah.
And arabaniyah
is a form of mobileara.
It's a form which means emphasis,
of course, from the word
Rub. Rub, of course, is our sustainer, our
creator.
And Allah
who in Surat 'ari Imran
commands us to be the people who are
constantly connected to him.
There's also
a
which is sahiyah. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, the Quran says very beautifully
that,
we are
commanded to be the people of Rabbaniyin.
We are to be commanded to be.
So the first quality is.
And is
a form of
of emphasis, which means that we are people
associated
with God,
that in everything we do, we are people
who live a life
connected to and related to
being dedicated in the service of the creator.
The word
Allah is the creator of all things,
And Allahu
in the Quran
commands us to be
people who are
constantly connected to Allah. Allah says,
however, you must be
meaning men and women of god.
By teaching
and studying
the book, the Quran.
Another narration which is
of the Quran,
Right? So the idea is that you are
like public educators
and actively engaged in studying and learning the
Quran so that it reminds you and teaches
you through the stories of the prophets and
the righteous people how to be people who
live for something greater, who live for Allah.
So one of the qualities of a Sharia
is that it is from Allah
that is from God.
We believe that the Quran is revealed from
Allah
As well as the sunnah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Allah
says
that the prophet
is not astray or misguided, but what he
speaks, what he teaches
is revelation from Allah
So the first is that we believe that
Allah
revealed the Sharia and, thus, when we have
disputes
or,
arguments and issues, then we return to the
sharia.
Allah says then return it
back to Allah and his messenger.
Right?
So when there's issues that pop up, return
it to the sharia.
SubhanAllah. And this is a very important thing
because clinging to the sharia is an act
of
deliberate worship,
but also an act of deliberate resistance and
liberation
from the impact of colonialism,
as well as the
ever encroaching secular that I talked about earlier.
The second quality that we believe of the
about the sharia is a shamulia, that it
is comprehensive.
So when we look in, for example, sot
abaqra, we find the issues of of sharia
guidance pertaining to acts of worship.
We find sharia guidance on things like marriage,
like on divorce, on writing contracts,
giving charity, acts of altruism.
We find acts related to how we talk
and engage others. We find warfare.
We find fasting and so many things just
in Surat Al Baqarah itself.
So we believe that the sharia
has what's called shumulia. It is comprehensive.
It doesn't just teach us how to live
in the masjid. It teaches us how to
live in all aspects of our lives.
SubhanAllah.
That's why the Quran says
at the end of Surah and Am. It
doesn't say
It says
mahiya wama mati. This is called mastarmimi
which means my entire life
and my entire death
are for Allah When we look at, for
example, the different,
types of
tafsir explanations of Quran,
We find tafsir related to language. We find
tafsir related to narrations. We find tafsir related
to Allah. We find tafsir of verses that
deal with marriage, that deal with divorce, you
name it.
We find every kind of aspect of life
there is a tafsir for it,
found in in the Quran.
Also, if we look at the books of
the sunnah, for example, if we look at
the Muwata of Imam Malik, we find that
the majority of the chapters
are actually dealing with aspects of life,
right, outside of the masjid and that the
minority of the chapters are dealing with specific
acts of worship.
So Shamulia is taking this
expansive definition of worship.
Everything that Allah loves
falls under the acts of worship. And because,
as we'll talk about later, the importance of
intention, everything we do
from spending time with our families to working
to sleeping to eating to working out to
prayer with a proper intention can be
an act of worship.
The 3rd unique quality of a sharia is
a taisir
warrafulharaj,
is facilitation
and removing hardship.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran says
Allah
wants ease for you. He doesn't want hardship
for you. And talking about Sayna Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa'alehi wasallam,
Allahu subhanahu wa ta'ala says
That the prophet removed the shackles and burdens
from them. And here's talking specifically
about the Mosaic law and just the,
you know, infinite number of particulars found in
that law that made it almost impossible for
people to live live it,
in ease and in a way that brought
about, like, you know, a connection to Allah.
So Allah sent Sayna Muhammad
to remove that hardship and to make religious
and facilitate religious expression. As the prophet said,
As related by Imam Muslim, I was sent
as a teacher
and a facilitator.
And that's why here,
the sheikh in the book that I'm reading
from, he says, You
know, and that's why the majority of rulings
actually in Sharia are permissibility,
and the minority of rulings in Sharia are
things which are forbidden.
And I remember prior to conversion, I was
like yo, if I become Muslim, I can't
do anything. And one of the old school
brothers was like no no no no. The
things that you can do are a minimal,
But the problem is in your life right
now, the majority of what you do is
the forbidden.
Right? But the majority is permissible. You just
don't do them.
But in your life right now, the majority
of what you do is the forbidden. So
the the goal of sharia is to ease
and facilitate and I heard, subhanAllah,
when we were reading Naylu'otaro,
Sheikh Ahmed Taharayan in
in Egypt, and I asked him, you know,
what madhab should I answer questions with? And
he said, a taisir.
Right? You should make sure that you facilitate
things for people. And when I was training
in Dala Ifta in Egypt, and I talked
to one of the scholars, Sheikh Imer Iffat
and doctor Mohammed Wissam, and one of the
things that they taught me was that when
answering questions, you have to facilitate
and not make things difficult for people when
possible. That's why the prophet said,
right,
bring happiness to people and don't push them
away. And that's why Imam al Shahl Tibi
in al Muwaffaqat in talking about the etiquette
of the mufti, he said the job of
the mufti is to carry people like a
physician. He doesn't over medicate.
He doesn't under medicate. If he over medicates,
then this will lead to liver poison, And
if he under medicates, of course, this is
going to aggravate the illness. So he says
so that the mufti then carries people on
what's easy
as long as it does not lead to
what we call isqaatatakif,
as long as it does not lead to
someone losing
right, the religion. Right? That's not taisir.
That's tasil.
Right? So when we talk about and we're
gonna talk about this in the future
when we talk about facilitation in sharia,
not to the point also that, a sha'at
Aviv mentions where there's nothing left of religion.
Right? So it's not about ease. It's about
achieving the haqq,
about achieving the truth in a way that
facilitates for people
and allows them to grow. We see Sayidina
Mu'ath radiAllahu anhu, and I remember reading this
hadith with Sheikhmatuhariyan
when, you know, the people complained about him
leading isha too long.
I believe the the hadith says and I'm
getting old now, so I may have forgotten.
Like, are you a source of fitna for
the people? And I remember Sheikh Ahmad Tehran
telling us, like, the job
of people is to make sure that they
do not overburden
others to the point that it pushes them
away from their religion while maintaining the vestiges
and the foundation the foundations, excuse me, of
the truth of the truth.
The 4th is riyatmosaleh
al bashar.
The 4th unique quality of the sharia is
to look after
what benefits people.
And, of course, we're gonna talk about this
later on, but benefits within the Islamic legal
framework fall under 3 areas. Number 1, abbururiyet.
Those things, without them, we could not survive.
Those things, without them, we could not survive,
like food.
So, of course, we have the axiom
right? That that the the the
the necessities
permit even the the impermissible
according to their measure.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said whoever is under
compulsion, under necessity to engage in the forbidden
to eat, to live,
then there's no sin in this as long
as they don't exceed and so on and
so forth. So the first is
which is seen as a necessity,
which we have to have in order to
live.
Okay.
A contemporary example of this is sometimes people
have to amputate limbs
in order to stay alive. If they didn't
amputate their limb, they would die. So, of
course, you know, amputating limbs for no reason
is not allowed, but here it's a dorora.
It's a dorora.
So so that that's an example, but we'll
get into that later on. The second is
alhaji.
It's something which is
a need but not
a doroora. So for example,
a good example would be like in certain
situations where the climate is, you know, not
of course overly hot towards killing people like,
air condition.
Right? People can live without it, but without
it, life may be hard.
So that's a Hajjah,
and and there are certain principles that touch
on al Hajjah because life could continue. It
may be a little difficult without it.
And,
there's an axiom very profound that says when
the Hajjah when this need becomes
communal,
right, it reaches the tipping point,
then it can reach the the the the
the level of
doroor.
As mentioned to me, one of our teachers.
And and this is a very interesting thing.
So here, we're not trying to give all
the answers and go through all the difficulties
and and negate, and create, like, you know,
different discussions. I just wanna introduce to you
the foundational issues.
Right? So number 1, when we talk about
al maslaha,
what is beneficial, Imam Al Ghazari
says very beautiful in al Mustasfa
that al maslaha is what benefits people. We
talk about it in the light of sharia,
which benefits the people without contradicting
the sharia. Of course, and that's an important
discussion that we'll have in the future
as we go through this journey together. And
we said that the masalih,
right, the iDuraq al masalih,
you know, reaching the masalaha is really what
sharia looks after, the general benefit of people.
That's why Allah says
Like, we sent you, oh, Muhammad, with what
benefits all people.
And even
Abbas says that every time Allah says,
oh, you believers, you're going to find a
a command that either brings a benefit or
protects you from harm, which brings the
which brings the benefit. And we said that
the maslaha is divided into 3. Number 1,
necessities,
talked about it. Number 2, needs
Needs. And then finally, attahsinet. Those things that,
you know, you don't really need it. You
don't have to have it, but it improves
your life and makes life better. And for
each one of those, there are a set
of principles and ideas that govern the Sharia
in the sense of how we employ and
engage,
the sharia. The 5th unique quality of a
sharia is
is that it is current
and that it is contextual.
And that's why, for example, if you look
at some of the major 5th councils, you
find them addressing issues that are happening,
and, in fact, in many cases, trying to
to guess what happens before it happens, for
example, in financial markets, right, what happens,
in certain areas. And this has been stifled
largely by dictatorships
and the continued
military
and economic and political aggression largely led by
the west
that, you know, we we we tend to
blame scholars, but look at Sheikh Salman Al-'Audah.
Where
is the world trying to free him?
People like to blame scholars, but where are
the people
to help those scholars? Right? Where are they
to to support those people who gave their
life to the deen?
So al Waqiya,
sometimes the absence of the sharia and and
the teachers of Sharia,
being, you know, contextual is because they live
in systems that don't want the Sharia to
be contextual.
They want the Sharia to be regulated to
the role of the church, right, within the
premodern
kind of Christian,
terminology,
And that's a problem because the sharia, as
we'll talk about, is built to be contextually
appropriate. And that's why, for example, without sacrificing
itself.
So that's why oftentimes the objects or verbs
are not mentioned in the Quran so that
people will place them there. That's why when
we study fiqh, I remember studying when I
was studying aqurban masadiq with Sheikh Mustafa Shah
Hazarir,
in
in Hadal Ubba in Cairo. And I asked
him, like, why does Sheikh Ahmed Dardir say
and like this and like that? He said
because he wants you to put the issue
there.
Right? He listed for you a number of
fiqh issues that were, you know, appropriate for
his age, but what are you going to
put now into Texas? It's subhanAllah.
SubhanAllah.
And and I remember
one of my last conversations with one of
the major scholars of Al Azhar,
when I was coming back to America, and
I mentioned the question I had received, And
he said, you you are better equipped to
answer this question than me because this is
your society.
These are the people that you live with.
These are the people who you understand
in your city.
And that's why Imam
and
will read
hopefully here in the future, which is a
book that deals with these foundational principles. He
knows that it is a farbukifaya.
It is a communal obligation that in every
city, there's a mufti
because that mufti is going to understand the
needs of that city.
Right? So that way, he is contextually
able to answer questions. Imam al Qarafi.
And, of course, we're not talking about in
the foundations of religion. That's very clear. We're
talking here specifically
about issues when there is a debate on
the meaning of a text,
when the application of a text is disputed,
or when there is no text. And here,
the mufti has to engage.
That's why Imam al Qarafi said if you
were to answer questions
of a people and you're unaware of their
language, the slang,
intricacies
of their language, you should lose your law
license.
Right? Because the sharia has to stay. Masha'Allah.
The the carriers of sharia have to stay
contextually appropriate.
If not, then the religion loses its value.
Right? People don't find value in it anymore
because it's not dealing with the issues of
their life. So the sharia
Right? It's something which is going to be
applicable
to certain situations
throughout time and specifically to situations
for which there is no
explicit guidance within the sacred text. For example,
when Sayna Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu and the
Sahaba,
right,
put the Quran in a text. Right? They
put it between two covers.
This is a response
to an to something that has happened,
and here they are, of course, dipping He's
dipping into what's called maqasr al sharia. Right?
The general things that bring about the benefit
of the Sharia, and he's able to stay
abreast of what's going on, subhanAllah,
and address something which has a need at
that moment.
The next is wudu
sharia
finosulsiha
that within the the context of legal verses
and legal hadith,
the sharia is clear.
The expression is very clear.
Pray as you see me
praying. Right? You'll, meat, animals that have died
of themselves is forbidden to. It's very clear.
Establish prayer.
5 prayers in a day. It's very clear.
And the prophet said al halal bayin wal
haram bayin. Right? The halal is clear and
the haram is clear.
So one of the unique qualities of the
sharia is that when it comes to legal
issues
and versus an a hadith that address legal
issues,
usually,
is very clear.
The expression could be understood by by by
most people.
The 7th is
that
it is not overbearing
and it does not burden people with things
that they're not able to do.
Sayda Aisha as
related by Imam al Bukhari said the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam did not order us
to do anything except we could handle it.
And Allahu subhanahu wa ta'ala,
in the Quran,
you know, he says very nicely
and very beautifully,
and very profoundly. Right?
Allah does not burden a soul with more
than it can handle.
And the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as
an example, people ask me, like, if I
bad thoughts in my heart, am I gonna
be judged by it? The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
The Allah has, you know, forbidden my community,
has excused my community for the evil thoughts
they have as long as they don't talk
about them or put them into action. So,
masha'Allah,
the absence of overburdening
commands and prohibitions,
adamatakleef,
bin mashaqwith those things which are hard on
people.
So not only does it remove hardship, it
doesn't demand
irrational hardship from people.
But it makes things easy, alhamdulillah. For example,
a woman makes up the days of fasting
that she misses while menstruating,
but she doesn't have to make up the
prayers. Why? Because the moshaka.
Imagine if she have to make up every
prayer she missed. That would be hard on
her,
but fasting is easy. It's only one day.
So here we see the sharia is not
trying to create an irrational
impossible
burden on someone and really, mashallah, as we
continue this journey together,
I hope you can see and appreciate that
beauty because it's really, really, subhanAllah, very nice.
And finally, alwa saltiyyah,
right, that the sharia
maintains the vital center.
I don't like to use the word moderation.
Moderation is a subjective word, Right?
Because the word
means the best camel.
Right? Here means something the best.
One of the meanings is the best Ummah.
Not necessarily the middle Ummah.
Right? But out of this, it's understood that
something that sits in the vital center usually
is the best.
Khalas, but we know that the prophet
when those people came to say to Aisha,
and they asked her about the worship of
the prophet
and she informed them.
Their reaction was what? Like, you know, they
said, you know, that
I'm I'm going to never sleep and pray.
I'm going to fast and never break my
fast. I said I'm never gonna get married.
When the prophet heard about this, he he
went to them in haste,
and he said to them, like, I sleep
and pray. I fast and I break my
fast and and and and fast and I'm
I'm merry.
Like, I marry women.
And whoever turns away from my sunnah is
not from me. This sunnah
of, you know, this moderation.
Prophet
said
Islam. Right? There's no monk type lifestyle in
Islam.
So one of the things that's very beautiful,
and in fact, sometimes it's almost too,
centered
for Muslims,
is that the Sharia is extremely nuanced,
responsible,
and at times,
forbearance
in dealing with issues
to the point that you're like,
people want more.
Allah says,
Do not be extreme. Either they want to
be overly loose
or overly stringent. So Alhamdulillah.
Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah. We we are now talking about
some of the
unique qualities of the sharia as we begin
this journey together.
And I just want to mention them to
you,
one more time
The first we talked about how sharia is
from this word, which means a watering hole.
Right? Something that people
take their camels to in an oasis in
the desert or themselves and they drink water
for survival.
Number 2 we we mentioned the the 8
qualities unique qualities of sharia. Number 1 is
rabaniyah.
Right? That it is related
coming from Allah from coming from God Almighty.
It's God's law. It's God's truth.
And that we as a community
are commanded to be godly
in our lives, and the way that we
live a godly life is by following
a sharia.
The second is that it is comprehensive.
As Imam Sha'afiri said, there's nothing that happens
except there is some kind of implicit or
explicit,
religious guidance on the issue.
The third,
taysir warafrulharaj,
right, is ease in removing
hardship. This is very important, man, and we're
gonna unpack these. So so don't you may
have questions now. It's great,
but let's let's ride the journey. Ride with
me a little as we unpack him, insha'Allah.
The 4th is Riyayat Musali al Bashr is
looking after the general good of all people,
not just Muslims,
of all people.
And and that that one is very profound.
And the 5th
is that it is current.
Right? It is it is contextually appropriate without
sacrificing
its principles, and sometimes we find people
All these have to be taken in in
in in in in in one package here.
Like, I may be contextually appropriate, but if
I'm not involved in
sacrificing the deen for the context.
At the same time, if I try to
employ the deen in a way that is
not
applicable to a given situation in any way,
shape, or form, then, also, I'm doing a
disservice to myself
and a disserve service to others. The 6th
is
is that it is clear
in its legal expressions. And we're gonna talk
about this inshallah in the future. It's beautiful,
man. It's really amazing, the great care that
comes into,
the expressions of law,
in Sharia.
And then the the 7th is Adam Utakleef
Bil Mushak.
Right? That it does not
ask us to do things that are impossible
and overbearing.
Right? It does not it does not burden
us with something we can't handle.
And then finally,
that it's rest in the vital center.
And insha'Allah,
we ask Allah
We ask Allah to bless you and bless
us. Next time, insha'Allah,
we're going to talk about Al Qawait,
the foundations
of sharia.
We're going to review a few of them
really quickly and then introduce the one that
is going to form the beginning of our
discussions,
that hardships
bring about
facilitation,
Bring about ease.
Keep us in your duas. I ask Allah
to bless you and protect you. I ask
Allah
Ask Allah to make this sincerely for his
sake
to bless us and all of the students
of knowledge.