Learn Islam II 2 nd Course – Sources of Legislation in Islam March, 5 th - 2003

1. Learn Islam II2nd Course – Sources of Legislation in IslamMarch, 5th - 2003 thelodhiacenter.org By, Mubashir Iqbal Brought to you by MSA & IISC Hear the lectures online: http://www.iisc.ca/

2. Review • Islam means the submission to the will of Allah • Islam has 6 articles of faith (Iman): • Belief in Allah, being the only Lord to be worshipped without any associations • Belief in Angels that Allah created to serve his purpose • Belief in Books that Allah revealed down to different prophets at different times • Belief in the Messengers that Allah sent to various nations at all times to guide people to the oneness of Allah. They all brought the same basic creed • Belief in the Day of Judgment, when each person will be judged according to his own deeds and the judgment will be fair • Belief in fate, the good of it and the bad • Islam has 5 pillars of worship: • Saying, “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasoolul Allah”: There’s no deity to be worshipped other than Allah, and that Muhammad is Allah’s messenger. • Performing the five daily prayers • Giving out charity on a yearly basis, roughly, 2.5% of the saved income, if eligible • Fasting the month of Ramadan from Dawn until sunset • Performing the pilgrimage to Makkah, once a lifetime, if eligible • Muslims believes Prophet Muhammad to be the last messenger sent by Allah, and Islam to be the final religion chosen by Allah fulfilling all the previous ones.

3. Review • The word Allah is the Arabic equivalent of God, however, it differs in some basic properties. It cannot be pluralized nor feminized in its form • There are over 1.2 billion adherents of Islam in the world, less than 20% are Arabs • Islam is the second largest religion, the fastest growing one, and the one there’s most questions about • There are about 10 million Muslims in North America • We follow, not worship, Muhammad, and face, not worship, Ka’bah in our prayers • Islam is probably the only religion which gives itself a name from the beginning. Quran calls this religion Islam… and also probably the only religion that is not named after a personality or a region

4. Sources of Legislation • Muslims are bound by testimony of faith to follow the guidelines and principles defined by Allah • Muslims are supposed to worship Allah all the time, day & night! • The Islamic concept of worship and deeds is broader than most of the other religions • In Islam, you could be worshipping without exerting any efforts. • In fact, even sleep could be considered a worship • The deciding factor is the intention a person has. • There’s a lot of emphasis on intention in Islam • So, where does a Muslim take his guidelines and practices of his life from? • Quran: the final revelation of Allah to humanity • Sunnah: acts, sayings, or reported incidents about the prophet • These are the two sources of legislation in Islam • No one in Islam has the right to change any of the rulings, or develop new ones; no matter how great the status of that person is.

5. Quran - introduction • Muslims believe that Allah reveals his message upon prophets for conveying to people • Muslims know several prophets received different revelations • Quran names four of them: Torah (Moses), Psalms (David), Gospel (Jesus) and the final one, Quran (Mohammad) • We believe that the only one that is left intact today is Quran • We believe that the currently-existing books of Bible do contain word of Allah. However, a lot of it was lost and is not in its pure form; it is mixed with other sayings of prophets, people…etc. • We mean by the Word of God (Allah) words that were given to the prophet in their exact form • For example, things that were revealed to Muhammad by Allah, and he preached them to people by meaning, we do not include in Quran, it is called Hadith Qudsi • Quran was revealed in Arabic, and is preserved until today in the same exact form • Muslims recite Quran in their five daily prayers, and in most places, Quran is read in its entirety every Ramadan

6. Quran - revelation • Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years • Some historical background: • Muhammad proclaimed being a prophet at the age of 40 • He was in Makkah until the age of 53 • He migrated to Madina and lived there until his death, at the age of 63. • This divides the Quran into two main parts, Makki & Madani. • Quran was not revealed in the same sequence as it is preserved today • Prophet would recite the verses as they were revealed upon him, ask his companions around him to write it down, then he would instruct them where to place these verses • Quran was revealed down chapter by chapter sometimes, and other times in chunks of verses • Quran was not collected in a form of a book until after the death of the prophet • In the meantime, thousands of companions of the prophet memorized Quran by heart • When Quran was read back by the companions, some of them read it in specific dialects. So there are some variance in reading of Quran. Some people misunderstand that for different versions. • After the spread of Islam, non-Arabic speakers distorted the readings of the Quran • So, the third Caliph (Governor), Uthamn, after the prophet united the Muslims to one reading of the Quran. • The earliest preserved Quran today is found in Istanbul and one copy in Tashkent, from the time of Uthman; this was two to three decades after the death of the prophet

7. Quran cont’d. • Quran, since, has been written down, memorized and passed down generation by generation by thousands of people in each generation • Even today, there are millions of people who know all of Quran by heart, even though it has never been easier to store Quran in paper or electronic format than today • Quran is composed of 114 chapters, all but one, start with, “In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” • Quran contains 6,236 verses and has over 77,000 words • Quran has been divided into thirty (30) parts to make it easier to read. It contains almost equal amount of reading in each part • Most of the long chapters are in the beginning of Quran, while the end of Quran contains most of the short chapters • First chapter is called, the Opening, (Fatihah). It contains 7 verses. This is the only mandatory chapter to be read in each prayer. Let’s hear it!

8. Hear Quran recited • Fatiha, the opening: • [1] In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. • [2] Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; • [3] Most Gracious, Most Merciful; • [4] Master of the Day of Judgment. • [5] Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek, • [6] Show us the straight way, • [7] The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

9. Hear Quran recited • Another chapter – a different person reciting: • In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. • [1] Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; • [2] Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; • [3] He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; • [4] And there is none like unto Him. • This was chapter 112

10. Quran - interpretation • An important thing to keep in mind: Quran contains ONLY what Allah said. • It does not contain why some verses were revealed, or the context of the revelation of Quran • To understand Quran and to extract rulings from it, a person needs to understand the other branches of science of interpretation (called: Tafseer) to make a statement about Quran. • Reasons of revelation, where and when did the revelation occur, and who was being addressed, is all understood through Tafseer. • When people just quote Quran to defame Islam, they are misleading people, because they do not clarify the context

11. Quran – interesting facts • Quran contains no biographical information of Muhammad, not at all • In fact, Mohammad’s name is mentioned ONLY 4 times in all of Quran • None of Muhammad’s friends, relatives or children’s names are mentioned in the Quran • There are several verses in the Quran that admonish Muhammad and his acts. For example: • Muhammad forgot to say, if Allah Wills, at one of the times and Allah reproached Muhammad for that • He neglected a blind man asking him questions about Islam, and a whole chapter was revealed reproaching Muhammad! • These kinds of verses strengthen Muslims’ belief that Muhammad was not the author of Quran • Quran also challenges for it to be proven wrong, or contradictory at anytime • Quran calls itself the perfect book, and challenges anyone to produce something like it… something as small as one chapter! The smallest chapter in the Quran contains three small verses

12. Quran – interesting facts • Quran contains numerous scientific facts and miraculous details about several science that amaze all the scientists who have studied Quran in detail • At the same time, Quran does not contain ANY errors, scientific, literal, historical or logical • Quran does assert that heavens and earth were created in six ‘days’ (not seven), but does not define days to be similar to human days at any point • Quran never asserted earth to be flat, in fact, it said it is like egg of an ostrich (Ch. 79) • Quran talks about the expansion of the universe, all of the heavenly matter being as one piece and it being exploded at one point in time (Ch. 21) • Quran states that moon light is borrowed light, while sun produces its own light (Ch. 25) • Quran states that everything in the universe ‘swims’ and that earth and the moon revolve (14 and others) • Quran stated the lowest point of earth to be in a region in Palestine (Ch. 30) • Quran stated that there are places where sea water meets river water, but does not mix (Ch. 55) • Quran states the embryonic stages in the development of human embryo in such a detail that the facts were confirmed after the development of high resolution microscopes • Quran states there are smaller objects than an atom • For more details on any of these facts, and what the scientists have said about it, please visit: http://www.it-is-truth.org/

13. Quran – interesting facts • Quran has a very interesting balance in the choice of words as well • Quran states the word dry land 13 times, while the word sea is mentioned 32 times. Taking the avg. we find: 29% dry, compared to 71% for sea • One verse in the Quran describes a period of time and it puts it in the following wording, • Three hundred years, and an additional 9 years. (18, 25) • There are several verses that start with, “They said (O Muhammad)”, to be exact, 332 times, and the word, “You say (reply – O Muhammad)” is also mentioned 332 times • Angels is mentioned 88 times, so is the word Satan • Paradise is mentioned 77 times, and so is the word hell • The word man is mentioned 24 times, and so is the word woman • The word month is mentioned 12 times in the Quran • The word prayers is mentioned 5 times • Quran is full of these kinds of facts, and they are considered only faith strengtheners by Muslims

14. Quran – its role • Quran is supposed to lay down the main principles and guidelines Muslims must follow in their lives • Quran tells us we need to pray, but does not define how to pray • Quran basically contains the whole philosophy of Islam, but does not fill it in with details • Again, Quran contains only the word of God, nothing else • This is where the second source of Islam comes into play, the Sunnah • All the details are filled in the lives of the Muslims by Sunnah

15. Sunnah • Sunnah literally means the path of… so Sunnah of Muhammad is the path of Muhammad • Sunnah contains several different kinds of subcategories under itself • Hadith, actions, sayings of the prophets • Seerah, biography of prophet • Athar, anything performed by the prophet’s companions • This is basically Islam’s second source of legislation, it, in effect, explains what Quran has to say • Knowledge of Sunnah is essential in understanding Quran itself, to understand the context of revelations • Prophet Muhammad used to stop his companions to write down everything he said, so his sayings could not get mixed with Quran • Later, when companions understood the difference, they started writing his sayings, but kept different records for each

16. Sunnah – its preservation • Muslim scholars worked really hard to preserve Sunnah of the prophet • Since the Arabian societies were mainly oral societies, they would always keep a chain of narration for each thing they said or quoted. • Similarly, Sunnah until today, is preserved not only as sayings of the prophet, but also the chains of narration up to those who compiled the books of ahadith (Prophet’s sayings and actions) • We have over 100,000 narrations preserved till today, each containing its chain of narration • Muslim Sunnah scholars (Muhadditheen) formulated a very detailed and systematic science of determining the level of authenticity of each narration. • Aside from preserving the chains of narration, they also kept the records of biographies of each person narrating ahadith • The records would contain the full name of the person, how knowledgeable he was, how strong his memory was, how many times did he make a mistake…etc. • Upon going through how scholars examine each narration, one becomes amazed on how detailed and marvelous the system is • Even today, we have scholars who have memorized thousands of narrations, each with the chain of narration and the authenticity of each narration

17. Sunnah – its role & application • The most reliable book of Sunnah today is the book called, “Sahih Al-Bukhari”. It contains over 7,000 narrations • There are other books that contain other narrations, Sahih Muslim, another 9,000 narrations and several others • Muslim scholars had always been very careful about the authenticity of narrations. For example, if there is a person who narrates a narration by meaning, the authenticity level goes down, even if it was only one word! • Sunnah alongside with Quran, provides Muslims with a very clear pathway to follow and it provides the foundation upon which Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) is based. • The laws extracted from Quran and Sunnah, through the use of Jurisprudence all combine to form the commonly-heard word, Shariah

18. Now is your Question time! Please do not hesitate to ask any question you have in mind! Thank you