Zakariyya Harnekar – Naseehah Hadith contagion and pandemics 28 Feb 2021
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Once again.
In our last,
last year discussion we were having,
we looked at this verse of,
or sorry, this adith rather, in which Rasulullah
Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
Right?
Neither harm yourself nor harm
the next person,
nor mutually harm one another.
And we spoke about a number of things
in relation to this, But one of the
things that we touched on was the the
of
the Sharia
the
of the Sharia. What do we say? What
do these?
The
of the Sharia,
they
tell us what it is
that
the Sharia,
as a whole,
seeks to attain the outcomes
the outcomes
that the Sharia seeks to attain.
And we said
that
it seeks
the preservation of life and everything that falls
under that. Sorry.
Firstly, primarily,
the preservation of deen
and everything that comes under that.
The preservation of life,
secondly, and everything that comes under that.
The preservation of intellect
and everything that follows on from that.
The preservation of progeny and everything that follows
on from
The preservation of
wealth and everything
that follows on from that.
That is not to say
that
there are other things that the Sharia doesn't
seek to preserve that should be preserved. No.
Rather,
the looked at that as a comprehensive
list
of all things beneficial
for human beings.
Anything that one can consider and can think
of as beneficial,
they fall under those 5 broad categories.
They fall under those 5
broad categories.
So, essentially,
the sharia is there
To to if I were to put it
into simpler terms, the Sharia is there
to attain benefit
for the adherence of that Sharia,
to attain benefit,
and to repel
harm,
to attain benefit
and to repel harm.
Now
that principle
is one that, you know, many may lay
claim to.
Actually,
most systems of law,
whether it be a religious system of law
or
or not,
they would say the same thing.
They would say the same thing. I can
take somebody with no deen,
an atheist.
You would tell you that the purpose of
of law would be the same for for
them. However, the difference is
that how we arrive at that,
how we arrive at that conclusion,
is not simply by our intellect,
and there's nothing wrong with using your intellect.
But we do not depend on our intellect
to define the details of that.
Rather, we look
to the Quran
and the Sunnah of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
and what we can use our intellect
to deduce
from those sources.
Right?
But, personally,
the the the divine text,
That leads us to some
conclusions.
The first is that,
anything
that may seem like it's good and beneficial,
but it goes against
the sources of Islamic law,
that is not in accordance with the Maqasid
of the Sharia.
Why I'm telling you this is because in
our time,
there is an overemphasis
on this concept of the Maqasid al Sharia
to such an extent that people try to
abuse it
to justify
almost anything.
They abuse the concept of the Maqasid al
Sharia
to basically,
justify
what they may call secular ethics or humanist
ethics.
However, that is not the purpose of the
Maqasid al Sharia. That is an abuse of
the Maqasid al Sharia,
and it is unjustified
when understanding
the Islamic philosophy of the Maqasid al Sharia.
And that is,
it is the sources of the Quran and
Sunnah, primarily.
Then
analogy is based on the Quran and Sunnah,
and this scholarly consensus of this ummah
that define what the Maqasid are.
So anything that goes against those sources
are, in fact, not part of the Maharsid.
They are against the Maharsid
because they go against what defined
the Maharsid.
And everything
that goes against
the thing that defines it leads to a
contradiction,
and that
is not sustainable
or cannot be considered.
Now I don't know if I may have
lost anyone in what I was saying there.
I know it is very technical, but it's
an important,
it's an important lesson
that shapes our thinking
as, as Muslims.
And if I were to put it simply,
it will simply boil down to this.
As Muslims,
as adherence of the deen of Islam, as
believers in Allah,
we want to attain
all benefit that there is to attain,
and we want to avert all harm that
there is to avert.
But it is
the Quran and the Sunnah, and what comes
from the Quran and Sunnah
that tells us what is beneficial,
and that tells us what is harmful.
We don't just make that up with our
own minds.
And Allah
teaches us this lesson in the Quran.
Allah teaches us this lesson in the Quran
by using an extreme example,
And Allah often and and Allah sometimes uses
extreme examples to teach a lesson emphatically.
And this verse is I think it comes
in Surah Al Maidah. Allah Subhanahu wa
If we had prescribed for them, we had
told them.
What does that mean?
To kill.
And
yourself. Kill yourselves.
Means to exit.
From
is a plural of
their home,
exit
your homes.
Would not have done it.
Would not have done it.
Except for a few from amongst them.
Just analyze that with me. What is Allah
saying?
Allah's
using a conditional sentence. Right? It's
a hypothetical situation.
If we had to tell them to do
this
If we had to tell them to do
this. The verses in Surah Nisa, verse number
66.
If we had to tell them,
heal yourselves
and exit from your homes. I just told
you the Makassid of the sharia is what?
Preserve life. Or it was firstly preserved deen,
preserve life.
Preserve intellect, preserve progeny, preserve wealth. What's Allah
saying here? If we had told him, kill
yourselves, which is the exact opposite of preserved
life.
And if we had told him, exit from
your homes, which is the exact opposite of
preserved wealth.
Allah says, most of them would not do
it except for a few from amongst them.
Only a few from them would do
it, but then Allah says,
And if
they had done
that which they were admonished with or that
which they were commanded to do.
It would have been better for them.
I'm actually gonna put the verse on there.
I'm just kidding.
The
sync pops up right at the exact verse.
Maybe I was researching this the last time
I used this website.
I'm gonna put the meaning up as well.
And if we had declared upon them, kill
yourselves or leave your homes, they would not
have done it except for a few of
them. But if they had done what they
were instructed, it would have been better for
them in a firmer position.
What's Allah telling us here?
Allah's telling us, yes. The Quran and Sunnah
and all of those sources, they define for
you that you must preserve life, that you
must preserve,
wealth, and all of those things.
But the first thing that you must preserve
is the command of Allah,
and it's out of Allah's favor upon us.
It's out of Allah's fadl, out of Allah's
karam, out of Allah's generosity,
that he only instructed us to do things
that are beneficial for
us, that are that that bring us more
comfort and joy and and and luxury. It's
only Allah's
qadil and karam that he commanded us like
that.
But if Allah had told us to do
things that seem detestable to us,
then it still would be better for us
to obey Allah than to not obey. Why?
Because we he is Allah, and we are
us. He is
the the the Malik. He is the Ilah,
and we are the Abd.
It's our responsibility. It's it's within our nature.
It's conformant with our nature that we obey.
That is that is essentially who we are.
Right? And so
it's important to know
that the primary responsibility,
the primary thing that he sought from us
is to obey Allah's command.
And Alhamdulillah,
Thooma Alhamdulillah,
this verse is only detailing a hypothetical solution
or a hypothetical scenario.
Allah did not command us to kill ourselves.
Allah did not command us to, to leave
our homes, to be expelled from our homes.
No.
Allah didn't.
But if Allah had,
then it would have been virtuous,
good for us, and beneficial in this life,
and in the next, to obey Allah.
There were people whom Allah did come on
to do such things,
like
our father Ibrahim alaihis salam.
Allah told him in his dream, he saw
that he took his son
and slaughter him.
What was the response? And we know the
dreams of the are revelation.
What was the response of Ibrahim
The response was that he went to his
child,
Ismail, alaihis salam, and told him, oh, my
beloved son,
I saw in a dream
that I'm slaughtering you. Tell me what your
opinion is.
And what was the response of Ismail Al
Asraf?
Oh, my beloved father,
do what you have been commanded to do.
You will find me of those that are
patient.
You will certainly find me of those that
are patient.
And we know the story. Ibrahim alaihi salam
took his son, Ismail alaihi salam,
Stepan whispered to them on the way and
tried to dissuade them.
But they went to the place where
Ibrahim alaihis salam would slaughter him.
When he laid him down on his side,
and the 2 of them had submitted,
and
then
You have proven the dream too too,
and that's the way we reward the,
the ones who do virtuous deeds, the ones
that have.
And then Allah
sent the ram, and the ram got slaughtered,
and it was a mercy for for all
times.
So
the question is not
our responsibility.
It's not to assist things in light of
whether they bring us luxury and pleasure.
Our responsibility
is to ensure that what we are doing
is in conformity
with the teachings of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, with the Quran,
and to be convinced
that therein lies benefit for us. That is
what will truly bring us benefit.
That is what will truly bring us benefit.
And we don't do that in a superficial
way. Like, you just take, the superficial meaning
of a verse. No. The responsibility
to do that, to go through that process
is the responsibility
of the astute and proficient scholars of Islam.
Right?
The responsibility
of the astute and proficient scholars of Islam.
And what indicates to that is some of
the very next hadith
in this book,
wherein
Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam teaches us
how to how to take precautions.
We we it is that you can forego
something of deen to preserve something of life.
We it is that you can preserve we
it is that you can forego something of
life to preserve something of wealth.
Right? It's the it's the huge scholars of
Islam, the ones that are the the expert
scholars of Islam, that look into the source
of Islam, and then tell the rest of
us
what's the order of priority of those things.
And I give you some examples.
To fast is a matter of being
The first is a matter of. It's a
it's a act of.
To perform salah is a act of or?
All of them all of them definitely have
benefits.
Fasting has benefits.
Performing salah is benefits,
But the majority of the benefit accrues to
the.
Right? So we consider them,
more.
Everything has both
benefits. But the majority of the benefit accrues
to.
However, these times where Allah himself tells us
that, you know, don't fast.
Yeah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, don't
fast now.
Rasulullah tells us the same. What Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says to us, shorten your prayer.
You you're supposed to perform 4 raka'at, that's
the general command, but now only perform 2.
You were supposed to do it for me
at a specific time. Now I let you
do it in,
I let you combine them.
So it's a compromising deen to some extent,
to preserve
your comfort in life. But who defines when
that must happen? It's the very sources of
Islam.
You can't always just pick it up superficially,
but the ones that have a broad understanding
of all of the Ayat of the Quran,
and of all of the Hadith,
they are the ones that do that.
It's their job to sift through the the
teachings of Rasulullah
and,
teach us that.
And, yeah, I want to present you a
Hadith of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
We teach you something important.
We oftentimes think that to be hard is
to be pious.
To do more is to be pious.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tells us in this
hadith.
Hadith is from Bukhari,
he saw a crowd around a man. The
man was being shadowed.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked, what is this?
They said, a fasting person,
who is is fasting.
It is not an act of piety
to fast while traveling.
It is not an act of piety
to fast while traveling. Why? When you're traveling,
you need your strength, you need to have,
Michelle, etcetera. Yes. Okay. Traveling in that time
was a lot harder than traveling now.
But
there's a lesson in it.
It's not always the most pious thing to
do the hardest thing.
There are times
there are times, like, when a person is
is is making tahvib of the nafs, straining
their nafs, where you can do such things.
But in general,
to do the hardest thing is not necessarily
to do the most biased thing.
And that is a misunderstanding
that many people have.
Sometimes Allah gives you gifts of ease. Here,
again, is an example of
taking, like, listening something of being,
and preferring something of comfort of life.
But who decides that order of priority? What
can be compromised for? That comes from the
very sources of of Islam, the Quran,
the Sunnah,
the consensus,
and, and analogies on the Quran in Sunnah.
The
the the expert scholars of Islam, they spend
their time, their days and their nights reading,
studying,
looking at our context in light of the
sources of Islam.
They then provide us with guidance in terms
of,
positions
the position of Islam on various things. It's
not an easy task.
It's not an easy task. We should appreciate
it, and we should speak to,
those sources of Islam that regarded. And I
know this was
maybe somewhat technical, a bit all over the
place.
But
the conclusion of it is
the conclusion of it is, it is through
obedience
to Allah's
book
and to the sunnah of his messenger, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Not with a superficial understanding,
but with a deep understanding
of those people who dedicate their lives to
understanding these sources,
that we will attain
benefit to benefit for ourselves in this life
and in the next.
But it comes through obedience,
not arrogating
the responsibility
of deciding what is good and bad to
our own,
to our own baseless thoughts
and to our own our own desires. May
Allah
guide us and make us a people that
through our obedience,
we attain,
true benefit in this life. And the next,
Oh, I'd love to have taken some comments
and discussion now, but our our time is
tight.
So we'll speak again next week.
Let me just see. Okay. There is a
okay.