A CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICE OF ISLAM — L.M.

ADETONA (2002)

 
   

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 CHAPTER ONE: ISLAM: DEFINITIONS AND MEANINGS

DEFINITIONS

Islam is derived from the Arabic words salm or silm. In both cases it stands for

submission, surrender, peace and submissiveness. According to Raghib,1 both words

which are derived from three Arabic radicals s-l-m connotes among other meaning

peace and as such, Islam stands for peace. When the letters are pronounced as Salima, it

means “to submit” or “to obey” and may also mean “to propose peace” as in the Muslim

greetings. When the word is pronounced as silma, it stands for submission as it is found

in such passages of the quran as the following which reads, inter alia:

“O believers, enter into (the religion of) submission (silm) wholly.”2

Islam therefore is a way of life based on peace and submission. It is based on peaceful

relationship between human being and his creator, peaceful relationship with fellow

human beings and peaceful relationship with other beings. It is also the way of life based

on submission to the Will of Allah.

The Name Islam is given by Allah the Creator to whoever follows the footstep of

guidance laid by Him from the time of Adam till the end of time. This is to say all

prophets from the time of Adam till the period of Muhammad were Muslims, Islam is

the way of life (religion) that has been ordained for man in progression from the

beginning and it came into perfection with Prophet Muhammad. In confirming its

perfection at this time, the Quran says:

Today, I have perfected for you your religion and have completed My favours

on you (and) have chosen Islam for you as a way of life.3

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The Qur’an also asserts that it has been the religion (the way of life) ordained and

acceptable to Allah. It states: “Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam...”4 and in another

passage, it warns thus: “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be

accepted of him and in the hereafter he will be one of the losers.”5

The fact of Islam being named by Allah differentiates it clearly from other religions who

take their names from their leaders, the places of their origin or from other sources. Such

religions include Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism all of which take their

names from their leaders or founders—Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha and Zoroaster

respectively while Judaism, the religion of the Jewish people took its name from the tribe

of Judah of the Judean country where it started.

The fact that the Qur’an specifies that Islam as a name was given by Allah also falsifies

the opinion of biased scholars who refer to Islam as Muhammadanism and Muslims as

Muhammadans. It is either that they are ignorant of the Qur’an—the primary source of

Islam or deliberately decide to distort facts. The Qur’an states it clearly, some directives

given to Muhammad that show Islam could not be his pet. A few of such passages are

as follows:

Muhammad is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) messengers have

passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your

heels (as disbelievers)?6

Say (O Muhammad) “I am only a man like you. It has been revealed to me that

your ilah (God) is one (Allah). So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord,

let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his

Lord.7

The name Muslim is also given by Allah to whosoever believes in the oneness of Allah.8

The Quran refers to Adam, Ibrahim, Nuh, Musa and cIsa in various passages as

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Muslims.9 The prophet Yacqub inducted his children with Islam and ensured that even

at deathbed, they were counseled to remain stead-fastly as Muslims.10

In fact, Islam is the description of the way of life of anybody who willingly decides to

submit live his/her life in accordance with the wish of Allah and doing this through

peace with himself, peace with his creator, peace with fellow human beings and peace

with other creatures.

B. MEANING OF ISLAMIC CONCEPT OF FAITH

Religions are of different dimensions and beliefs. Some religions are of belief in various

high powers in hierarchy and those are polytheistic in system. Some also have a system

of faith that unify these various deities and claim to be duotheistic while other still claim

to believe in only the existence of a Supreme Being and their faiths thus seen as

monotheistic. Of those that claim to be monotheistic Islam is one. We are aware that

Judaism and Christianity lay claim to the same faith. It is in the light of that that we shall

compare the Monotheism of Islam with those of Judaism and Christianity.

In Judaism, the rule is that none must associate with the Supreme Being referred to as

YAHWEH amongst them but there are two defects to this. The first being the elevation

of Ezrah (Uzayr) to the status of God’s son. The Uniqueness of the Supreme Being makes

it derogatory to him to be referred to as a Father of anybody or as having any such

relationship with any-body, no matter how close or distant the relationship may be.

The second defect is their making the ark of covenant God’s representative everywhere

and in all things. Their belief that the presence of the ark is God’s presence and the

absence of the ark is God’s absence is fallacious and is thus seen as a way of displaying

weak faith. By implication, the ark having been taken as God’s representative in all

things has been elevated beyond being an ordinary symbol but object of veneration and

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object through which God is felt. The above description shows that the Judaic

monotheism is a very weak one.

Christianity also claims to be monotheistic in nature. Prior to the Nicean Council of 325

C.E. Monotheistic Christianity was really in vogue as there was no part of the church

that had known the Christian creed developed by Bishop Athanasius otherwise known

as the Athanasian or the Trinitarian creed. The period after the Nicean council witness

this creed in which the God head is divided into three—God the Father, God the Son

and God the Holy Spirit yet the claim that all these three constitute a unity in Being and

in Existence. This can best be described as triune-monotheism or

Trinitarian-monotheism. Our conclusion on this cannot be more than resolving that the

Christian monotheism is also not flawless and as such not absolute.

The monotheism of Islam, however is distinct and absolute. It is sinful and criminal to

attribute to the God-head in this faith any kind of relationship the like of which man is

known for. This has been explicitly summarized in the Surah of the unity which goes

thus:

Say! He Allah is One, Allah is He on whom all depend, He begets not, nor is He

begotten and there is none like Him.11

The verse of the throne (ay at-al-kursiyy) also corroborates this when it reads, inter alia:

“Slumber overtakes Him not, nor sleep. To Him belong all in Heavens and on Earth

....”12

In precise, the monotheism of Islam is that in which all Power, Might, and Ability are

the exclusive possessions of Allah Who owns the universe, Who evolves it, Who creates

everything in it and beyond it and who shares His dominion with none but remains

Unique and Absolute in all things.

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It is this Unique Creator and Emanator of all things that is seen as One who has inducted

man to be subservient to His Authority in all aspects of his livelihood. It is the

confor-mity of man with this injunction that is referred to as Islam—a perfect way of

living a life in agreement with the way of Allah, in peace with fellow human beings and

with other creatures and it has been the way of life followed by all prophets from the

time of Adam to the era of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and a way of life being

followed by those who profess the faith of (Islam) and are Muslims till date.

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 NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. M.M. Ali, The Religion of Islam (Delhi: Taj Company, 1980), p. 2.

2. Surah 2:208.

3. Surah 5: 3.

4. Surah 3: 19.

5. Surah 3: 85.

6. Surah 3: 144.

7. Surah 18: 110.

8. Surah 61: 7.

9. See Surah 2: 130, 5:113 among others

10. Surah 2: 132-4.

11. Surah 112: 1-4.

12. Surah 2: 255.

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 CHAPTER TWO: TAWHID (UNITY OF ALLAH) AND SHIRK

(ASSOCIATION WITH ALLAH)

Tawhid is the technical term for the unity of Allah while its direct opposite is shirk—
association of partners with Allah. In this chapter, our intention is to establish what
constitutes each of these two terms and how they are in opposite of one another.
The unity of Allah is primarily established in the expression of the Kalimat-ush-Shahadah

which is the statement of Testimony that admits anybody into the fold of Islam. The

expression goes thus: Ashadu an Laillah illah Allah wahdahu, La Sharika lahu wa ash adu

anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu. I bear testimony that none is worthy of worship

except Allah. He is Unique without a deputy. I also bear testimony that the Holy Prophet

Muhammad is His Apostle and Messenger.

The above expression can be distinctly divided into two viz: the part of testimony to the

oneness of Allah and the other part of testimony to the prophethood of Muhammad.

The first part commences with a negative expression of negating the existence of any

being worthy of worship but concludes with an exceptional phrase excluding Allah

from the general negative implication of the expression thus establishing that it is only

Allah that is worthy of worship. This is the basis and bedrock of Islamic monotheism.

This first part constitutes the major expression of faith in Islam. Anything in contrary to

this is unacceptable.

The second part consists of an expression establishing the authenticity of the vehicle

through which the knowledge of the original testimony is known. It is the bearing in

mind of the fact that Muhammad though the apostle through whom the message of

Islam was perfected is not more than being Allah’s messenger.

Imam Al-Ghazzali explains this clearly in his exposé on the significance of the

Kaliamt-ush-Shahadah and identifies four major importance of the Kalimat. They are:

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 1. Dhat-ul-Allah (Essence of Allah): That the Kalimat-ush-Shahadah
established the essence of Allah as being a Unique Being without an equal
or a like. A Being whose existence cannot humanly be conceived, who is
Perfect in all the senses in which perfection is used and far distant from all
imperfection.

2. Sifat-al-Allah (Attributes of Allah): That the Kalimat keeps within itself in a

succinct manner, the attributes of Allah describing Him as All-Able Creator,
Unique with-out a like.

3. Afcal-Allah (Works of Allah): that the Kalimat also keeps within itself the fact
that Allah is the Actor that fashions everything in life whose works exceed
those of His beings and who is in no way comparable with other workers
who are themselves His works.

4. Haqqu Muhammadin. The correct position of The Holy Prophet Muhammad

is equally established in the second part of the Kalimah. The bearing of
testimony to the messenger-ship of Muhammad is only a sign that in like
manners, had believers during the era of previous prophets had borne
testimony to the messengership of such prophets. This states the fact that
like Muhammad, all prophets had such special positions with Allah yet their
status does not exceed that of being Allahs messenger or/and prophet.

Tawhid being the term used in expressing faith in the uniqueness of Allah, is the focus

of a Muslim in everything he does; hence a Muslim’s political, economic, religious and

even social activities are usually assessed from their compliance with the spirit of tawhid.

B. SHIRK (ASSOCIATIONISM)

Shirk, on the other hand, is defined as idolatry, paganism and polytheism. It is the act of

ascribing plurality to the Deity; an act of associating partnership with Allah.2 The unique

essence of Allah and His unrivalled capability require that the reverence man has for

Him should not be shared with any other mortal, object or imaginary phenomenon for

all these are things which came to existence out of the wish of Allah so they cannot be

compared with Allah from all points of reason. The Qur’an confirms this view through

the following query:

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 Or do they assign to Allah partners who have created so that the creation seemed

to them similar?3

No pain should be taken in responding to the above question, yet shirk is still manifested

in every nook and cranny of human society. The springing up of such groups as

“Chrislam” and “Chrislamherb” in our society is highly disturbing and it is in order to

put a stop to the further emergence of such syncretic groups and all other forms of shirk

that are pervading the contemporary society that we make this attempt.

KINDS OF SHIRK

The fact that shirk has permeated the contemporary society cannot be over-emphasized.

So it is desirable to explain its various kinds here. The Wahhabi writers give four

descriptions as follows:

i. Wherever a person ascribes knowledge (absolute) to other than Allah, it is a

form of shirk. This includes ascribing knowledge of hidden things to
soothsayers, scholars, astrologers, saints or any other set of people. This is
called shirk-al-ilmi.

ii. Ascribing power to any other than Allah is equally regarded as a form of
shirk. This is called shirk at-tasarruf. Whatever kind of power is included,
even if it is that of intercession. The Qur’an says:

Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is done? But those who take for protectors other

than Allah (say): “We only sever them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah.”

Truly, Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But Allah guides not

such as are false and ungrateful.

It is in light of the above that the Wahhabi scholars identify three kinds of intercession,

viz:

a. shafa ‘at al-wajahah (intercession from regards)

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 b. shafa ‘at al-mahabah (intercession from affection) and

c. shafa ‘at bi-idhni (intercession by permission).

They condemned all the three regarding them as part of ash-shirk al-tasarruf.

iii. The third description is the act of worshipping any other thing beside or
along with Allah. This kind of worship includes all confessions depicting
worship, act of bowing and prostrating, circumambulation and their likes.
This is called shirk al-ibadat.

iv. the fourth description is the engagement in, or organization of any kind of
ceremony, be it brief or elaborate, which depicts reliance on any other than
Allah. Once the reliance on another being besides Allah is involved, it is
categorized as shirk al-’adah. This may further include all forms of
superstitious beliefs, faith in such ornaments as beads and their powers
when used in special ceremonies; faith in men and luck are all included
(Hughes, n.d.).

The above descriptions give the various manners at which different people fall into shirk.

We do not have any disagreement with the descriptions except for the inclusion of all

forms of intercession in shirk. Various groups and sects hold divergent opinions on

different forms of intercessions as being a tenet of Islam. The Shi’ah sect and the Sufi

orders are good examples. However, the generality of the muslim sects uphold the

existence of shafa ’at bil idhni (intercession by permission) as being a privilege given to

the Holy Prophet Muhammad. The Wahhabis, however, regard faith in it on earth as

shirk al-tasarruf but do not deny the prophet having the concession in the hereafter

(Hughes, n.d.).

Mushin Khan, from another perspective, gives a classification of shirk. He classifies it

into three, viz:

i. Ash-shirk al-akbar (major shirk)

ii. Ash-shirk al-asghar (minor shirk)

iii. Ash-shirk al-khafy (inconspicuous shirk) (Khan, 1973).

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In his explanation of the first class, he further categorizes it into four classes:

a. Ash-shirk ad-dua’a (invocation): This implies invocation, supplication or

prayers to other deities beside Allah.

b. Ash-shirk al-niyyah wal ibadah’wal qasd: This implies intentions, purpose and
determination in acts of worship for the sake of Allah but directed towards
other deities.

c. Ash-shirk at-ta’ah: This implies rendering obedience to other authorities

against the order of Allah. This includes the trinitarian concept of God-head
and the worshipping of priests by sticking to their orders against the order
of Allah. On this the Qur’an says:

They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah and

(they take as their Lord) Christ, the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship

but One God. There is no god but He . . . . (Q. 9:31).

d. Ash-shirk al-Mahabbah: This implies showing the love which is due to Allah
alone. An inference could be drawn from the following Qur’an ayah which
says: Yet there are men who take (for worship) others beside Allah, equal
with (Allah): They love them as they should love Allah . . . . (Q. 2: 165).

ii. Ash-shirk al-asghar (minor shirk): This class of shirk covers all acts performed
to show off. Any act of ibadah embarked upon in order to gain praise, fame
or for worldly purposes falls under this.

iii. Ash-shirk al-khafy (inconspicuous shirk): This covers all inward

dissatisfactions with inevitable condition that has been ordained by Allah;
conscientious lamentation of an action falls under this (Khan, 1973).

The above classification by Khan shows that it is only the first class of shirk that is

extremely severe while the last two can be avoided with the application of full

consciousness in all actions. We further discover that all the descriptions of the Wahhabi

writers earlier mentioned fall under shirk al-akbar, with the exception of our observation

on shafa’at bil idhni. This is to say that both shirk al-asghar and shirk al-khafy in Khan’s

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classifications are excluded in the Wahhabi writers’ descriptions. A confirmation of the

avoidability of the two with full consciousness. On shirk al-khafy in particular, the

Prophet was reported to have said:

Shirk in the muslim nation is more inconspicuous than the creeping of black ant

on a black rock in the pitch darkness of the night. And this inconspicuous shirk

is expiated by saying thrice the following sentences within a day and a night.

The sentence is:

O Allah, I take your refuge from that I should ascribe anything as partner in your

worship and I am conscious of that and I beg your pardon for that sin which I

am not aware of (Khan, 1973).

ALLAH’S PUNISHMENT WITH REGARD TO SHIRK

Having stated how shirk is perpetuated in the contemporary society, it is in order to state

Allah’s punishment for it. Before doing that, however, it is pertinent that we mention

the causes of people committing shirk in the contemporary age and compare them with

causes of shirk in the ancient days.

The basic causes for all forms of shirk in the contemporary age is the search for power,

influence and wealth. This is why we find people patronizing en-masse the syncretic

and polytheistic religious leaders, all they want from them are wealth and might to

wield influence in society. What is however hidden from these people is that Allah is

the All-Powerful, the Mighty.

In contrast to the cause of shirk in contemporary society, the ancient people were

indulged in shirk out of excessive reverence for the Supreme Being, whom them thought

could not be directly approached but through lesser deities, each of whom they

supposed has a portfolio in the various affairs of life. This was the case in virtually all

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the communities in the ancient period. The irony of this was that those they relied on as

intermediaries could be of no benefit to them. The Qur’an describes their plight thus:

And those whom they invoke beside Allah have no power of intercession—only

he who bears witness to the truth and they know (him). If thou ask them, who

created them, they will say certainly Allah; how then are they deluded away

from the truth? (Yusuf Ali, 1989; Q. 43; 86-87).

Whatever the case may be, whoever indulges in the sin of shirk will be punished by

Allah. Shirk is regarded as a grievous wrongdoing in Islam (f Q.: 31:13).

It’s being a grievous wrongdoing cannot be much contested because Allah created the

earth and the heavens and all in between the two. He makes provisions for all these

creatures without consulting any other being, yet some people still give His glory to

created beings like themselves. Indeed this is wrongdoing. Ibn Mas’ud reported this:

I asked Allah’s apostle: “Which sin is the greatest?” He said: “To associate a

partner with Allah while He is your Creator” (Ismail b. Kathir, Beirut, n.d.)

Aside from shirk being a grievous wrongdoing, all mushrikun (polytheists) will inherit

hellfire. The Qur’an confirms this thus:

. . . whoever associates partner with Allah, Allah has forbidden him (the garden)

paradise and hellfire will be his abode. (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1982; Q. 5:72).

It is in the same vein that Allah has condemned those who uphold the trinitarian
doctrine. He regards them as disbelievers because of the blasphemous nature of their
belief:
They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a trinity. For there is no god

except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily, a

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 grievous penalty will befall the blasphemous among them (Abdullah Yusuf Ali,

1989; Q. 5:73).

The above verse is clearly referring to the Christians and also concludes with the threat

of a severe punishment which, of course, is hellfire as established earlier in the case of

all forms of shirk. The verse of course is referring to those who believe in the trinitarian

(Athanasian) creed among them (Christians).

Shirk, in all its forms, is a heinous sin that is not forgivable once the culprit persists in its

indulgence. The Qur’an says:

Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him. But He forgives

anything else to whom He pleases. To set up partners with Allah is to device a

sin most heinous indeed (Yusuf Ali, 1989; Q. 4:48)

Another verse says: Allah forgives not (the sin of) joining other gods with Him.

But He forgives whoever He pleases other sins than this. One who joins other

gods with Allah has strayed far, too far away from the right.

On the first verse Ibn Kathir cites a lot of ahadith which he classifies into thirteen groups,

each buttressing the non-forgivability of shirk. We shall only take few examples. The first

is a tradition which gives classes of sin and the level of their forgiveness:

There are sins that do not give Allah a direct concern. There are those which Allah will

not leave unpunished and the third group is that which Allah does not forgive. The one

that Allah does not forgive is shirk. The one that does not give Allah any concern is a sin

committed against one’s personal self in an issue between him and Allah, such as the

avoidance of prayer and fasting. The third which Allah will not leave unpunished is the

oppression of men among themselves (Ismail b. Kathir, op. cit.)

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The above categorization shows that all the three are punishable, but shirk is the only

unpardonable of the three. Another example is a tradition reported by Jabir thus:

A man came to the Prophet and sought for an admonition on two things that are

mandatory on a man. The Prophet says, “Whoever dies and does not associate

with Allah, paradise is compulsory for him. Whoever dies a partner with Allah,

hell is compulsory on him.”

Ibn Kathir also reports an enquiry of a man about a cousin of his thus:

I have a cousin who engages in forbidden acts. The Prophet asks: What of his

religion? The man responded: He prays five times a day and has faith in the

Oneness of Allah. The Prophet then responses (with the verse): Allah forgives

not that partners should be set up with Him. But He forgives anything else to

whom He pleases. To set up partners with Allah is to device a sin most heinous

indeed (Ibn Kathir, op. cit.)

Abul Khayri al-Baydawi (1982) is of the opinion that Allah will not forgive shirk, because

it is a sin which its culprits persists and a sin that does not conform with wisdom. A

similar view is expressed in Tafsir al-Jalalayni.

The only condition under which Allah forgives a polytheist is when he repents sincerely,

does not return to polytheism and remains a faithful servant of Allah. Describing such

forgiveness, the Qur’an reads thus:

Those who invoke not, with Allah, any other god, nor slay such life as Allah has

made sacred, except for just cause, nor commit fornication—and any that does

this (not only) meets punishment. (But the penalty on the Day of Judgment will

be doubled to him and he will dwell therein in ignominy—Unless he repents,

believes and works righteous deeds. For Allah will change the evil of such

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 persons into good, and Allah is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (Yusuf Ali, 1989; Q.

25:68-70).

As seen above, a polytheist, among other grave sinners, who repents, believes and

works righteously will be forgiven and be regarded as a believer.

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 CHAPTER THREE: ARTICLES OF FAITH IN ISLAM

The character and contents of Islam can be divided into two broad divisions, one is iman

(faith) while the other is din (religion), including the do’s and don’ts of life. Without the

first, the second cannot be carried out. If one does not have a true faith, his religion is

not yet established. Faith is what one has in his mind and allows it to reflect in his

religion and deeds. The faith of Islam encompasses the whole of man’s actions and ways

of life in general. Quran 4:136 says:

“O ye who believe. Believe in God and His apostle, and the scripture which He

hath sent to His apostle and the, scripture which He sent to those before (Him),

anyone who denieth God, His angels, His books, His apostles and the day of

judgement, hath far, far astray.”

The numbers of the articles of faith is given as six in the answers given to Angel Jubril’s

questions as stated in the second tradition of Al-Nawawi’s collection . . . “That you

should believe in Allah, His angels, His scriptures, His Messengers, the last day, and

al-Qadar, the decree of both good and evil.”

The ‘Ulama’ after looking at both the Quranic and the traditional views of these articles,

concluded that it should be recited as follows:

“I solemnly believe in Allah, in His Angels, His books, His Prophets, in the day

of judgement, in the destiny of good or bad.”

The articles of faith as it can be extracted from the above quotations are six and they are:

1. Belief in Allah

2. Belief in Angels

3. Belief in His books

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 4. Belief in Prophets

5. Belief in the last day

6. Belief in predestination

After the above enumeration, we shall now examine each of the articles accordingly:

I. BELIEF IN ALLAH

As Iman is the first pillar of Islam, so is faith in Allah the first article of faith. To have

faith in Allah is to believe that He was not created but that He created all things, and

that He exists everywhere and in all things, yet He transcends time and space.

Most of the recognized world religions recognize the fact that Allah is one and that He

has no helper nor partner. Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Judaism

all subscribe to this view. Islam lays an emphatic stress on this unity of Allah and it is

the main theme of the messages of all prophets. Q. 40:16, stresses the uniqueness of Allah

so also does Surat al-Ikhlas v. 1-4 which reads as follows:

“Say He Allah is one, Allah is He on whom all depend, He begets not nor is He

begotten and there is none like Him.”

Allah cannot be imagined as having any equal. This is emphasized in the following

Quranic verse:

Allah there is no God but He, the living, the self-subsistent, slumber overtakes

Him not nor sleep, His is what is in the heaven and what is in the earth, who is

he that intercedes with Him except with His permission? He knows what is

before them end what is behind (them) and they comprehend none of His

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 knowledge but what He pleases, His thrones extend over the heavens and the

earth and its supervision tires him not for He is High and Grand.

Allah is the first, the last and He who exists in all things. There is nothing His eyes cannot

perceive, yet nothing perceives Him and He has power over all things. A believer has to

worship Him alone and attribute no partner to Him, for there is no other God or goddess

who can provide what Allah provides. The Holy Prophet made it clear in the same

hadith where he enumerated the articles of faith that Allah should be worshipped as if

He is seen, for if He is not seen He sees all. That prophetic saying laid a great emphasis

in the belief of the unseen. Allah is above perception but His signs created by Him are

enough to believe in Him. Amongst His signs were the systematic rotations of both night

and day.

Allah does this for our benefits but only those who can think and reflect will gain from

the notices of His existence. The Qur’an says:

Blessed is He (Allah) who made constellation in the skies and placed there in a

lamp and a moon giving light; And it is He who made the night and the day to

follow each other for’ such who have the will to celebrate His praises or to show

their gratitude.

The sins enumerated above are Allah’s work so that people may reflect and be grateful

but instead due to lack of faith and inability of people to reflect, these objects were seen

as worshippable, forgetting. that none of them is ever permanent. The stars shine in the

night and in the morning the sun over takes them. Both Night and day are made

vicegerent of each other so that people may think of He who created all these things but

for lack of understanding many people fall astray by worshipping all these phenomenal

objects and other objects such as moun-tains, stones and rivers. The Quran queries those

who associate partners with Allah in the following verses:

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 “They indeed ascribe to Him as partners things that can create nothing, but are

themselves created? No aids can they give them nor can they aid themselves.”

Among the signs given by Allah are the creation of water, the sun, the moon, the star,

plants, man and animals. These are just like fingers all pointing to Allah as their creator

and as the architect of the universe and. from this those who can reason are bound to be

convinced that the reality behind the world phenomena is nothing but Allah.

Faith in Allah is supposed to be wholesome. Associat-ing partners with Him is shirk.

The learned Imam Abu Hanifah says:

Imam consists of confessing with the tongue believing with the mind and

acknowledging with the heart. Confession alone is not faith for were that faith,

all hypocrites would be true believers, nor is knowledge alone faith, for were it

faith all the people of the books would be true believers.

From the words of this scholar, one is convinced that not only the proclamation of the

“Kalimat Ush-Shahadah’’ that makes a Muslim, but by allowing the declared faith to

penetrate into all parts of one’s body. One has to worship Allah wholeheartedly but to

do this, he is bound to have a deep knowledge of Him (Allah). Islam is not against

searching for knowledge as we can see that the first revelation commences with “Read”

and another chapter of the Quran has its theme as “The Pen.” Both are signs of education

and learning. More importantly, Allah commands the searching for Him educationally,

when He addresses the Prophet in an Hadith al Qudusi (inspired revelation) as follows:

“Seek for Me before you worship Me. For how would he who knows me not,

worship Me?

The above expression shows that Allah deserves nothing but to be worshipped. In fact

the essence of His creating man and Jinn was to worship Him, so a Muslim should obey

23
 
Allah and follows His commands. A Muslim should be such a person as described in

the following Quranic verse:

Say: “Truly my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are all

for God, the cherisher of the worlds. No partner has He, this I am commanded

and I am the first of those who bow to His will.”

Islam lays much emphasis on oneness of Allah and His attributes and if one follows the

dictates of the attributes and emulates them he will not go astray. Abdul Rahman I. Doi

is of the opinion that ‘The reason given for this large number of names is that God may

always be addressed by a name suited to the need of His petitioner,’’

This is to say that if one needs sustenance, he would have to approach Allah by the name

Ar-Razaqi, if he needs mercy he addresses Him with the name Ar-Rahim. Abu Huraira

reports, that the Prophet said “Verily there are ninety-nine Names of Allah and

whosoever recites them shall enter paradise.” This is to say Allah’s names are

supplication. which can prevent man from fire. Allah is the first name and it means

someone who nece-ssarily exists by Himself, the time is unique and the English

translation—God does not convey the actual meaning of Allah. The word Allah does

not have feminine gender nor a plural form.

From Allah’s attribute one can extract His unity in relation to Himself alone, we can also

see His unity in relation to man and His unity in relation to the creatures in general. As

for the first one, the name “AHAD” is peculiar to Him alone; for the second one, an

example of the name ‘’RAHMAN” shows that Allah’s blessings is for man; while for the

third one “KHALIQ,” is an example that He is the Creator, He creates all things.

All attributes of Allah rest on four other attributes mentioned in Surat-ul-Fat’hah. They

are -

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 1. AR-RAB — The Sustainer

2. AR- RAHMAN — The Beneficent

3. AR-RAHIM — The Merciful

4. MALIK (yawmid-din) — The Master (King) of the day of judgment.

Few of the rest attributes include:

AL-HAFIZ — The Protector

AL-HAKIM — The Wise

AL-ALIM — The Knower (of all)

AL-HAZKQ — The Provider, etc.

The essence of all these attributes is a man’s ability to emulate those worthy of

emulation, so that the related hadith by Abu Hurairah could be effective on him. For

example, if a man showers mercy on a fellow man, He has emulated the attribute which

describes Allah as merciful and has done a good work which can earn him paradise.

II. BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF ANGELS

It is noteworthy that the first two articles of faith are the beliefs in the unseen, the belief

in the angels being the second of the two. The first is the belief in Allah who cannot be

perceived by any being, be it man or jinn (spirits). He is above perception even with

supernatural powers. The first creatures were the Angels. However another school of

thought had it that the Angels and jinn (spirits) were created simultaneously. This

argument was built on the fact that Azazil (Shaytan) was a jinn (spirit) and was once a

notable member of the angelic world until when he defied Allah’s order and he became

accursed.

The Arabic word for angels is malak, which has its plural as malaikah. They are created

from light. They do not eat, nor drink and neither do they sleep. They are all devoted to

25
 
Allah and they never defy His order. In support of their creation from light, Aisha

related that the Holy Prophet said jinn were created from fire while the Angels were

created from light. By their nature, the Angels are known to be immaterial, they do not

possess material bodies but they can assume any nature to deliver Allah’s messages to

mankind. It should also be noted that the Angels do not have spouses (wives or

husbands), they do not have gender distinction so they do not give birth to young ones

but were all created by Allah.

The Angels are sinless because they do not possess the freedom of free will, they do not

exceed what Allah permits them. This is confirmed in the Quran when Allah is

explaining the role to be played by angels in the hereafter for believers to be mindful of

their duties thus:

“O ye who believe; save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is

men and stones over which are appointed Angels stern-looking, severe, who fail

not (from executing) the commands they receive from God, but do precisely

what they are commanded.”

The above verse made it abundantly clear that. the Angels will not defy Allah’s orders

for they do not have the power to do so. They are numerous that not all of them engage

in specific duties, the works of some of them is just to celebrate the praises of Allah in

different postures and manners, while others are engaged in specific duties. The Qur’an

speaks in regards of their numbers as follows:

Praise be to Allah, who created out of nothing the heaven and the earth, who

made the Angels messengers) with wings, two, three or four pairs). He adds to

creation as He wishes, for God has power over all things.”

The above verse manifests the fact that the Angels are serving Allah as messengers, each

of them has his function and that they are created with wings which connotes power.

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Wing is used in different ways in Arabic translation. In a bird, wing means what it uses

for flying, that is, its power to fly, while in man, it means his hands, which also shows

an ability to do work. So in an Angel it means the power with which they carry out their

functions with a high degree of speed.

The Angels, as messenger of Allah, could not bring messages down to layman directly

because man is unlikely to endure waiting and listening to supernatural beings.

All the Angels as it has earlier been established, have their functions, despite the general

function of celebrating Allah’s praises. Some of them bear the throne of Allah which

stands for divine control of the universe. They serve as intermediaries through whom

the universe is controlled. The Arch-Angel Gabriel (Jubril) appeared to the Prophet in

human form to deliver messages, so also did he appear to other prophets except those

who used to speak to Allah directly. All these Prophets did see and hear the Angels who

brought messages to them. The Angel Jubril was also the angel that brought messages

to Muhammad. This was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and that Angels were also sent

to other Prophets, the Qur’an says:

“He does send down His Angels with inspiration of His commands, to such of

His servants He pleases (saying) “Warn (Man) that there is no God but I, so do

your duty unto me.”

The Angels also serve in strengthening believer’s faith, this they do in the following

words of the Qur’an:

. . . For such he has written faith in their hearts and strengthened them with a

spirit from Himself. . . .

The Angels also serve in executing divine punishment to the wicked ones. They also

pray for spiritual progress of man, they do not intend seeing men astray, they activate

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men spiritually against devils who entice men to evil. They join Allah in insuring

blessings on men. In this regard the Quran says:

“He it is who sends blessings on you as do His Angels, that He may bring you

out from the depths of darkness into light and He is full of Mercy Believers.”

There are also the honorable recorders who record all our deeds on earth, they are

known as the KIRAMAN KATIBINA. Each of us has two of them on our both sides. The

Angels would also intercede for men on judgement day.

There are some Angels for specified duties such as Archangel Jubril who revealed the

truth (Quran). Angel Israfil will sound the last trumpet which will announce the advent

of resurrection. Angel Israil is in charge of death, Angel Mikail is in charge of rain. Other

prominent ones include Angel Malik who is in charge of hell (43:77). Angel Ridwah is

in charge of paradise. It is also believed that every man is attended to by two Angels

who interrogate him in the grave immediately after burial. They are called MUNKAR

and NAKIR.

III. BELIEF IN THE DIVINE BOOKS

Muslims are commanded to have faith in all revealed books of Allah. These books were

sent to Prophets of Allah and the numbers of revealed books are one hundred and four.

Ten were revealed to Adams, Prophet Shitt had fifty while Idris received thirty and two

were also revealed to Ibrahim. Others were, Sabur revealed to Prophet Daud, Tawrah

to Prophet Musa, Injil to Prophet ‘Isa and the Qu’ran was revealed to Prophet

Muhammad (P.B.O.H.).

These books served as guidance to all the prophets and their people and they were

always revealed when Allah saw the need to reguide man on the right path. These

sacred books are called by many names in the Holy Qu’ran, they include Al-Kitab (kutub

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for plural) meaning “The book.” Az-Zabur—the Scripture. As sahifa (suhuf for plural)—

the sheets.

All these revealed books were sent to respective prophets to be used in warning their

people, before Allah’s chastisement were rained on them. The Quran says:

When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those

among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress so that

the word is proved true against them, then (it is) We will destroy them utterly.

Inspite of man being low spiritually compared with God, He (God) still has to

communicate with him (man). And this is done in one of the following ways as

des-cribed in the following verse of the Qur’an that:

“It is not befitting a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration,

or from behind a veil, or by sending of messenger to reveal with God’s

permission, what God wills: for He is most High most Wise.”

From the above verse, three modes of revelation are identified: The first one is through

inspiration, this can be termed as a mere suggestion thrown into the heart of man by

which he understands the substance of a message, whether it is a commandment, a

prohibition, an explanation or a solution of a great matter. Revelation through this way

is common to every man, it can even be an hasty suggestion in one’s mind. Such an hasty

suggestion however may come from other than Allah.

The second form of revelation to the above verse is that which occurs behind a veil, this

is neither a materiel veil nor a purdah. Revelation through veil can come through a

dream, a vision or a trance. These stages follow themselves in ascending order.

Revelation through a dream is common to every man, while a vision is like that revealed

to Prophet Ibrahim as regards Ismail’s case (i.e. the order that he should be slaughtered).

29
 
The third stage is a trance, an example of which is experienced by the saints. The highest

stage of revelation behind a veil is that of a trance.

The third mode of revelation is sending of a messenger through the archangel Jubril

which brought messages to the Prophets. This mode had come to an end after the

revelation of the Quran to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It is called wahyun

matiluwun (recited revelation) and it is restricted to the Prophets.

References are made to the books of Ibrahim, Da’ud, Musa, and ‘Isa in the Holy Qur’an

but they had been corrupted before the emergence of Qur’an. The Qur’an comes as the

mother of the books which summarizes all the previous books and modified Allah’s

revelation.

In Islam, it is believed that both scriptures and prophets were sent to the world by Allah

in accordance with the needs of the time as well as the relative developments of the

peoples concerned. Revealed books reflected the maturity of the minds of the recipients

and this maturity continued progressively until the time when Qur’an was revealed. At

that time, the maturity of man’s minds had been perfected hence the Quran was

revealed as the mother of the books-which contained messages for all time. It does not

restrict itself to the time of Prophet Muhammad alone. It is adequate for both moral and

spiritual development of man at all time and there is no other revealed books that can

come after it. Man was challenged by Allah to bring the likes of the Qur’an if they can

and this they cannot do for it is a perfect Book revealed by Allah for all time.

Though other books were corrupted as time went by, but the Qur’an would not be

corrupted for the fact that Allah has promised to safe guard it. The Qu’ran speaks of its

guidance thus:

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 We have without doubt, sent down the message; and we will assuredly guard it

from corruption.”

Another verse of the Quran speaks of how securedly the Quran is preserved and that

no corruption can intrude into it, when it reads thus:

No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it, it is sent down by one

full of wisdom, worthy of all praise.

Regarding these Quranic references showing divine guidance over the Qur’an, early

Muslim had also tried their best to see that portions of the Qur’an were not lost by

memorizing the whole of it and by revising it out of hand in their prayers or as a past-

time. There are still a good numbers of people who still maintain the glory earned by

these people, by keeping in their memory the whole of the Quran.

IV. BELIEF IN THE PROPHETS

After the faith in Allah, the Angels and the Scriptures, the next is the belief in the

Prophets. These are men like ourselves, they are numerous in number. They are the

pious ones chosen by Allah within a community to serve as guards to their respective

community. Prophets sent to villages, cities and communities at large. Each of these

prophets is called nabiy and amongst these anbiyau we have the Apostles. These are the

messengers given divine messages not only to themselves and their household alone

but also to guide a particular community with it. This is to say every nabiy is not a rasul

but every rasul is a nabiy.

A nabiy is given a divine inspiration orally while a rasul receives a divine book or books.

Both of them have the spiritual power of a saint and are not morally lacking in any form.

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Allah sends an apostle to every nation, so that warnings and glad tidings could be given

to the people and in order not to wrong them. The Qur’an says as follows in regard of

this:

“To every people (was sent) an apostle, when their apostle comes (before them)

the matter will be judged between them with justice and they will not be

wronged.”

The above verse shows that prophets were sent to people with messages. If the prophets

were followed or otherwise, justice would always be meted out accordingly by Allah.

It is no doubt that all prophets were men with modest examples of good conducts; they

possess all human virtues and free from all bad attitudes including associating partner

with Allah. There is an essence behind man’s creation, it is these prophets that guide

their fellow men towards the path of what they are created for. The essence of creation

is as follows in the following verse: “And I created man and jinn not except that they

worship me.” This shows how important the functions of the prophets are. Man is

bound to learn how to wor-ship Allah for it is compulsory that he should worship Him.

The prophets are the teachers towards the path of Allah, who leads man out of darkness

and into the light. Upon all these deeds of the Prophets, people still persecute and

maltreat them. They attended to them harshly and made them seek for Allah’s wrath

upon them in anger. Due to unkindness of their people, most of the Prophets could not

complete their messages before punishment was meted out to their peoples. But the

Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the last of all the Prophets, completed the message

which had started during the time of Adam, Ibrahim, Yacqub, Musa and ‘Isa, to mention

a few. All the prophets’ messages had their theme as the teachings of oneness of Allah

and enlightenment as regards transactions between man and man.

People, especially the chiefs and the merchants, went against them because they found

it uneasy to leave oppression, since they persecuted the prophets. The same was done

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to Muhammad (SAW)but he patiently persevered and with help and guidance from

Allah, he accomplished his mission and announced to his community on fulfilling his

mission that:

This day have I perfected for you, your religion, completed my favour upon you

and have chosen for you Islam as a religion.”

As I have written earlier before the message of Allah was finally completed by

Muhammad, the number of the previous prophets is said to be 124,000. Another school

of thought says it is 313 but only twenty-five are mentioned in the Qur’an and they are:

1. Adam — Adam 14. Dawud — David

2. Shitt — Shith 15. Shuayb — Jethro
3. Nuah —Noah 16. Sulayman — Solomon
4. Hud —Heber 17. Yunus — Jonah
5. Salih — Saleh/Mathusala 18. Dhul-kifl — Isaah/Ezekiel
6. Lut —Lot 19. Ilyas — Elias
7. Idris —Enoch 20. Al-Yasa — Elisha
8. Ibrahim —Abraham 21. Zakariyah — Zacharias
9. lsmail —Ishmael 22. Yahya — John the Baptist
10. Ishaq —Isaac 23. Harun — Aaron
11. Yacqub —Jacob 24. Isa — Jesus
12. Yusuf —Joseph 25. Muhammad (SAW)
13. Musa —Moses

Out of these 25 prophets, few of them were also exalted to a praised position and are

known by the name “Uzul-azim.” They were Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad

(SAW). All of them devoted themselves and dedicated themselves to the service of Allah

that special examples could be learnt from their histories.

CHARACTERS OF THE PROPHETS

As it had earlier been mentioned, prophets are those people with special characters that

make them the modest examples for their various people. They are men with

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exceptional ability to hold virtue. They are the best of men on earth and it was for this

character that they were made prophets. All prophets must possess these four qualities

plus their virtuous-ness before they are recognized as prophets. The qualities are:

1. Truthfulness—The prophets are always trustworthy, they do not tell lies,

and anything in relation to falsehood is not part of them.

2. Honesty—Prophets were always sincere and faithful to both their Lord

(Allah) and their people. They were always away from sins for if they were
to be insincere and we are to follow their footsteps, sins would become a
virtue.

3. Transmitting—Deliverance of message to the level of understanding of the

people was also a character of the Prophets, they explained and made their
people to understand the word of Allah. A prophet would be unjust if he
keeps parts of Allah’s messages to himself and do not release it to the benefit
of man.

4. Intelligence — All prophets were sensible and logical. If they were

inexperienced, the questions and attitudes of their people could have
falsified their messages and render them as impostors.

So also must a Muslim have faith that prophets were free from telling lies, committing

unkindful acts, and that they were pure and honorable, never did they go against Allah

in His injunctions and orders to them.

V. BELIEF IN THE LAST DAY

Before the faith of a Muslim becomes completed he is bound to have faith in the last day.

That is the day, he would be brought back to life after death. The day man would be

made to account for all his deeds. Ideologically, one is bound to believe in this for even

in human life, there are man-made laws, those who obey the laws are the eminent and

respected ones while those who violate the rules are the one that are sentenced to prison

or death on an appointed day by the court. So also does Allah give the judgment on the

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last day; those who have faith and follow Allah’s injunctions are blessed with paradise

while those who disobey Allah dwell in Hell-fire,

Every creature is created for a purpose: the star, the moon, the sun, and all other

creatures were all created for purposes. So it should be known that man is Allah’s

vicegerent on earth and who enjoys the services of all other creatures must also be

created for a purpose. An argument in support of this was advanced in the Qur’an as

follows:

“Does Man think that he will be left uncontrolled (without purpose)?”

Another verse also supports this when it reads as follows:

Did you then think that we had created you in jest and that you would not be

brought back to us (for account)?

The above verses show that man would be brought back to his Lord (Allah) to account

for all that he did on earth, for he was not just created but to serve his Lord. Man is

endowed with all right senses of thinking and of acting so if he fails to justify these

natural gifts from Allah, he must severely pay for it in the hereafter.

Based on extractions from the Quran, some scholars had concluded that belief is

summarily summed up to be the belief in Allah and the last day alone as we can see

from the following verses of the Qur’an:

And there are some people who say, we believe in Allah and the last day, and

they are not at all believers.

Another one is:

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 Whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good, he shall have reward

from Allah.

The belief in the day of judgement purifies the motives with which a deed is done. It

makes a man who upholds a faith work selflessly, with the fear of God in his heart

towards the attainment of nobler ends.

The Surat-ul-fat’ah, which is the opening chapter and a surah which is being read by

Muslims more than thirty times in our obligatory salat daily, also reminds us of the day

of judgment when it describes Allah as:

“Master of the day of judgement.”

The day of judgement (Yawmal-din) has other names beside this and each of the names

carried a sensible notion as regards the day. They are:

1. Yawmal akhir — The last day

2. Yawmal-Sa’ah — The hour
3. Yawmal-Ihsab — The day of reckoning
4. Yawmal-Qiyammah — The day of rising
5. Yawmal-akhira — The hereafter

All of these names are pointing to the fact that the day is coming when judgment
would be held and man would be made to account for whatever he does on earth.
It should be noted that one does not resurrect immediately he dies, this is according to

the following verse of the Qur’an:

“Before them is a partition till the day they are raised up.”

Islamic theologians have interpreted barzakh to mean a bridge over which every

deceased person must pass before the judgement day. It is from barzakh that a person

will have the taste of what types of judgement awaits him.

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On the day of resurrection, every man shall be at a crowded assembly which will be hot

except for those who do good in their lifetime. This place is called hasir (the gathering

place). The deeds of the people would be weighed and assessed; this is called wazn.

Then, every one would be called to account for his deeds; this is called hisab. Those who

are successful will go to Al-Janat (the paradise) while those who fail will surely go to hell

(Al-Jahamah).

From the above statements we have indirectly spoken of what life after death would

look like. So there would be two abodes after the judgement, one is Al-Janat, which is an

abode of those who do good, and they will dwell therein forever. Description of what

the jannat looks like are in the Qur’an; while that of hell, the second abode in the

hereafter, is also described in the Qur’an. An abode for the disbelievers and evildoers,

very strict and uncomfortable as a station or an abode. The inhabitants shall also dwell

in it forever.

Jahannamah has other names with which it is identified for its severity:
Hawiyah — A deep place where no one can stay.
Jahim — A blazing fire.
Sa’ir — The kindling of fire
Saqar — The heat of the sun which scorched man.
Laza — The flame of the fire.
Hutamah — A vehement fire.

VI. BELIEF IN QADAR

Taqdir or Qadar is the last article of faith as initially enumerated. The word has been

misconceived to be predestination or destiny, with the notion that whatever a man does

or whatever happens to him during his life time has been irrevocably pre-determined

for him by God. It is generally believed that whatever he does, be it good or otherwise

(evil), he does not do it freely, that it has been pre-determined by God. It is sure that if

this type of a notion is held by people, it reduces a man into a mere automation—a

37
 
machinery without mind, no self-will, no personality, then man would just be like a

mere puppet. The above conception cannot only be misleading but must be most

definitely detrimental to the Islamic way of life and the earlier this misconception is

erased the better for the coming ummah of Muslims. Common sense will tell us that it

does not befit Allah—the all comprehending and the Creator of all minds—to create

beings, make them commit sins and then punish them for the sins committed, if such a

situation sounds unreasonable and ridiculous to us, it is sure that Almighty Allah must

have known better about it too.

It should be noted that it was in our ignorance that we have cultivated this

misconception in our hearts that whatever is done or happens to us is from Allah be it

good or evil, this is to say we have attributed to Allah Almighty the quality of

mercilessness, callous and cruel indiscri-minate creator by propounding this theory of

pre-destination in the manner of which it is being used over the centuries. In disproving

this misconception, the Quran says:

Whoever does a right for his own soul does he go aright, and whatever goes

astray, to its detriment does he go astray, nor can the bearer of the burden bear

the burden of another, nor do we chastise until we raise an apostle.

Now to start with taqdir as one of the articles of faith, it should be clearly stated that the

taqdir of articles of faith is not a popularly propounded pre-destination but

premeasurement, according to Raghib, an Islamic scholar, “Taqdir means the making

manifest of the measure of a thing,” or simply MEASUREMENT. It is therefore rest

suitable and acceptable to refer to taqdir as pre-measurement and not predestination.

There is a word known as qada which is mistakenly used or mingled in usages with qadar

and qada of Allah, Raghib distinguishes between the two by explaining qadar as the

measure and qada as the decision or the bringing of this qadar into action. Thus when

Khalifah Umar ordered Abu-Ubaydah to give up a plague-stricken place to which Umar

38
 
refused to go and to remove his troops to a better spot, he was met with the objection

which goes thus:

“Do you fly from the qada of Allah?”

Umar replied: “I flew from the qada of Allah to the qadar of Allah.” This is to say that

‘Umar meant that if Allah exercised His qada at a place, another place was free from it

and that His qadar in that they should move to a peaceful and healthy atmosphere.

Qada is therefore the ordering of a thing to come to pass while qadar signifies the creating

of a thing, subject to a certain law. Taqdir is therefore the law of measure which is

working through the creation and this is exactly how the Qur’an uses it. The following

can serve as examples of Qur’anic injunction about qadar:

Who created everything, then ordained for it a measure.? (Q. 25:1)

“Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High who creates, then makes

complete, and who makes things according to a measure, then guides them to

their goal” (Q. 87:1-3).

The laws according to which food grows from earth, as regard the appearance of the

sun, the viceregency of day and night, the falling of rain are all called taqdir. Man is also

created according to proportion and therefore also has his taqdir. Beside the taqdir of his

life, there is also that similar to the law of growth and development in other things for

man; the Qur’an speaks of this thus:

“Of what things did he create him? Of a small life-germ. He created him, then

he made him according to a measure.”

According to the above definition, everything has its taqdir. Man’s taqdir is that he’ll have

two legs, mouth, eyes, hands and will eat; that of a bird is that it will fly with wings, of

39
 
animals is that it walks with four legs, of an amphibian is that it is to dwell in water,

while reptiles are to crawl. It should be known that the taqdir of different creatures are

bound to be different. A man is given birth to by a man and a gorilla by a gorilla; the

taqdir of fire is to burn, of stars is to shine, etc.

Taqdir, however, can be better explained into two broad divisions. These divisions are

not suggestive that taqdir is of two kinds, but an analysis which is to bring an

understanding of the real concept of taqdir through a fusion of the two divisions. They

are: Taqdir al-Haqidi and Takdir al-Maliki.

In Taqdir al-Haqidi, man has no say as regards his shape being different from that of other

creatures. His life span, man’s life depends on food, water, sleep and other necessary

things without which he may not be able to live. Men are born with different capacities,

capabilities, degrees or vision and genius, even wisdom. All these are under taqdir al-

haqidi. On them man has no power.

Taqdir al-Maliki, on the other hand, is one which man has control over all that he does,

the freedom of action and speech is vested in him. He does and does not at his own

discretion. The English proverb, “Every man is the architect of his own fortune,” is

derived from the Qur’anic verse which says:

“Who does a good (work), does it for his own soul and who does an evil work

does it against his (soul) and your Lord is never unjust to his servants.”

Another verse in support of this is when Allah says:

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 “Have we not created for him, two eyes, a tongue and two lips and guides (show)

him as regards the two ways.”

From the above injunctions we see that man had free will over most of the things he

does and that he would be accountable for his deeds on earth.

The Holy Quran, the prophets and the premises of the rewards for virtues and

punishment for evil would be meaningless if man is not given this free will to act as he

wishes on earth. In order not to confuse these two branches of taqdir, this example may

be tenable: A goat is tied to a stake with a long rope in a field within the prescribed circle

of its rope, with the stake at its centre but cannot go beyond it. If it does not move freely

within the given circle and feed on the grass, it will shape its own fate and suffer.

Similarly, man has been given the opportunity to move, to think in a limited way, in a

restricted circle of this world with the strong stake in the hand of Allah. Man possesses

freedom of action in this sense.

The holy Prophet of Islam (SAW) had asked his com-panions to argue less on taqdir

because of a lot of con-tradictions it causes. This is due to the manner in which some

Quranic verses are misconceived. And such misconception may lead to fanaticism. In

fact, Muslim scholars with fatalistic ideologies use some Ouranic verses to support their

fatalism. These verses include:

“There is no guide for one who Allah misguides, and none can misguide whom

Allah guides.”

Another is

41
 
 “And if Allah afflicts you with harm, there is none to remove it, and if He intends

good to you, there is none to repel His grace.”

To the best of my knowledge, the above two verses and the likes are just to establish

Allah’s complete mastery and omnipotence. In them, he shows that he has power over

all things and that its oar, control all things as He wishes, no matter how illogical it seem

to be but we must quickly remember that Allah being a God of love, mercy and justice

does not willfully misguide anyone but if he chooses to do so who can stop Him? Then

lies His mastery.

In the start, Allah sets all of us on the right path then leaves us to our direction, while

discussing the process of birth development in Surat-al-Ihsan, the Quran says:

“And we have guided him on the ways if (he wishes) he be thankful and if (he

wishes) he rejects.”

After leaving us to our discretion most people often abuse it and coat near destruction

which always to our benefit.

“And then do we try some of them by others so that they say: Are there they

upon whom Allah has conferred benefit from among us?

Does not Allah best know the grateful?

Allah may do this to correct man or may leave him to misguidance if the type involved

are the sort that have been yielding not to Allah’s word. To this sort of people Allah

adds in the Quran thus:

42
 
 “But whoever repents after his iniquity and reform himself, then surely Allah

will turn to him merci-fully: surely Allah is forgiving, merciful.”

If man respects words of guidance from Allah, he is usually guided and being made

firm on the right path but if he refuses the guidance and disobeys Allah, he leaves him

to misguidance and when he passes this stage and still fails to use his discretion to return

to Allah in repentance. This act some regard as fanaticism but to some it sounds as a

warning.

In conclusion it must be emphasized that on most occasion it is individual discretion

that decides his fate and when good happens to him, he is the cause as he is also the

cause if it is evil. On this the Quran says:

Whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have

wrought.

It further says that

“No bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another, and there is nothing for

man except what he strives for.”54

To explain the above two verses, the laws of light and darkness working in nature may

be applied, the sun is the source of all light, but if a man closes his windows and doors

and puts off the light, definitely every place becomes dark (within the room) and if he

chooses to remain in it for a considerable time, his eyes suffer the misfortune. This will

occur to him under the working of the divine laws but he himself is the real cause of the

darkness (or the misfortune).

43
 
 FOOTNOTES

1. Doi, A.R.I., The Cardinal Principles of Islam.

2. Q. 2: 255.

3. Q. 25: 61-62.

4. Q. 7: 191-192.

5. This technically means partnership with Allah. It’s real meaning is “to
associate to join one with another.”

6. Imam Ibn Kanifah Sharh Wasiyat Abu Hanifah,1231 A.H., p. 3.

7. Ref. Q. 51: 56.

8. Q. 6:162-163.

9. Doi, op. cit., p. 39.

10. Op. cit.

11. Muslim 53:10.

12. Q. 66: 6.

13. Q. 35:1.

14. Ref. Q. 2: 96.

15. Q. 16: 2.

16. Ref. Q. 8:50.

17. Q. 33:43.

18. Q.

19. Q. 53:26.

20. Ref. Q. 92: 97.

21. Ref. Q. 18: 99.

22. Ref. Q. 33: 11.

44
 
 23. Ref. Q. 2: 98.

24. Ref. Q. 43: 77.

25. Ref. Q. 40 : 11-46.

26. Ref. Q. 9: 36; 13: 43, etc.

27. Ref. Q. 26: 196; 35: 25, etc.

28. Ref. Q. 20: 133; 80: 93, etc.

29. Q. 17: 16.

30. Q. 42: 51.

31. Ref. Q. 7: 20; Q. 20: 120; Q. 114: 4-5.

32. Ref. Q. 2: 24.

33. Q. 15: 0.

34. Q. 41: 42.

35. Q. 10: 47.

36. Q. 51: 56.

37. Q. 5: 4.

38. Q. 75: 36.

39. Q. 23: 115.

40. Q. 2: 8.

41. Q. 2: 62.

42. Q. l: 4.

43. Q. 23: 100.

44. Q. 17: 15 44b. Sahih al-Bukhari, Riyadh as-Sahihuena, etc.

45. Q. 80 : 18 – 19.

46. Q. 41: 46.

45
 
 47. Q. 90: 7-8.

48. Q. 39: 36-37.

49. Q. 10: 107.

50. Q. 76: 3.

51. Q. 6: 33.

52. Q. 5: 37.

53. Q. 42: 30

54. Q. 53:38-39.

46
 
 CHAPTER FOUR: AS-SALAT — CANONICAL PRAYERS

Naturally, there is an instinct in man to always incline to the adornment and worship of

a greater being and to aspire to lofty goals through this exercise. Hence we find human

beings adoring various objects based on different convictions. There are people who

adore snails, bulls, stones celestial phenomena, such as stones, moon and sun. Even

those who claim to be atheists adore men like themselves unconsciously. It is due to this

natural instinct of man that Allah has from time immemorial provided him with

guidance on how best to serve and adore Allah through salat. Generations of believers

had always been commanded to observe canonical prayers (i.e., salat) in subservience to

Allah. Q6:162 explains that in following the manner adopted by prophet Ibrahim in

adoring Allah, the holy prophet should say (and of course act according to) the

following expression: “Say! Truly, my observance of salat and my service of sacrifice,

my life and my death are all for Allah, the creator of the worlds” while manifesting

himself to Musa as his Lord and sustainer and in making provision for the natural

human instinct in him to know how best to adore Him. Allah command Musa as follows:

“Verily! I am Allah, there is no god but I, so serve me only and establish regular salat for

celebrating my praise” (Q. 20:14);

and the Prophet cIsa while talking of who he was while still in the cradle said

among other things that: “And he (Allah) has enjoined on me observance of salat

and the payment of zakah as long as I live” (Q. 19:31).

The above examples show that every prophet of Allah that was sent on earth was
provided with sufficient guidance on how to serve Allah and it further indicates that
those who accepted the calls of these prophets all observed canonical prayers.

47
 
ESSENCE OF SALAT

The essence of salat is not just to make man absolutely subservient to Allah but to arouse

in him the consciousness of His creator’s awareness of his deeds and his creator’s

presence at every period of his life. Salat also serves as a regulator of every individual’s

relationship with his Creator. It gives him the assurance that his creator will ever remain

with him and provide for all his needs at every stage of his existence.

Salat also stands as a seed of spiritual cultivation and moral soundness in a Muslim. The

observance of salat five times a day will definitely improve him spiritu-ally. It will create

equilibrium between his spiritual and material needs and his aspirations in life. A

Muslim will as a result of constancy in salat cultivate the habit of taking care of his soul

along with his body. The emphasis on material things will be limited, as he will not

involve himself in any action that will disqualify him from the next salat. This brews in

him moral uprightness. His high spiritual spirit will always challenge his material

passion whenever the latter attempts to entice him to evil acts. This is why the Qu’ran

says:

Surely, salat keeps (one) away from indecency and evil.

The Holy prophet also said:

Whoever perform a salat which does not refrain him from committing an act of

indecency or evil, such salat only keeps him farther away from Allah.

Salat, when perfectly performed, is an act of remembrance of Allah and this act gives the

believer a rest of mind. The Qu’ran says:

48
 
 Those who believe and those whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance

of Allah. Surely in Allah’s remembrance do hearts find rest.

Someone who indulges in prayer further remembers Allah by standing firm by His

commandments and refraining from His prohibitions. These dual acts alone provides

tranquility for a Muslim.

Most of the time al-salat is observed in congregation. A salat observed in congrega-tion

is 27 times more meritorious than one observed individually. The magnitude of this

reward usually makes Muslims give preference to congregational prayer and this

congregational prayer also has its advantages. It promotes universal brotherhood of,

and equality, among men. There is no special place for anybody in the congregation.

Everybody is equal irrespective of status, colour, nationality or profession. A man of

influence who arrives late at a congregational prayer will take the next available space

in the rows even if it has to be beside a pauper or behind a servant. The congregational

salat generates and increase love and fellow feelings amongst people who converge to

pray together in most cases, five times in a day.

This congregation salat also instills discipline and obedience on the entire congregation.

Once rows are formed, no one is allowed to look hither and thither while praying nor

disturb the congregation in any other way. If for any reason, a person has to excuse

himself from the congregation, he does that silently without distracting the attention of

other members of the congregation. It also instils in the Imam a strict sense of

responsibility and able leadership. He is to be followed and no one should perform an

act of the salat before him. Conversely however, whenever he makes a mistake, members

of the congregation are to politely call his attention to such on which he is obliged to

make necessary corrections. The congregational salat thus provides a social ethnical

precept to Muslims that in whatever position they find themselves either as leaders or

followers, they must be disciplined, obedient and conscious of their duties.

49
 
The timing of salat is such that will make a believer constantly remember Allah and that

will serve as a cheek to him in his daily activities. The advantage of this is that all actions

embarked upon by a Muslim will come under scrutiny while submitting himself to

Allah in salat during the next period of prayer. He will be able to ponder over those

actions and assess himself and will make the necessary amendments. It also afford a

Muslim the opportunity of drawing a program full of virtues for himself in a day

because the first thing he does in the morning is the observance of salat and will also be

able to evaluate a day’s activities as the last thing he does in the night is also the

observance of salat. This should create a complete God-consciousness in him, endear

him to virtues and distant him from vices.

The foregoing advantages can however be derived from salat when it is properly

observed. As salat as enjoined in Islam is not merely a physical motion or a recital of the

Holy Book. It is an unprecedented formulae of intellectual meditation and spiritual

devotion, of moral elevation and physical exercise — all combined.

As salat is incumbent on every Muslim, sane and mature, even on those who are ill, a

few laxity in the physical performance involved. Whenever a worshipper is about to

observe salat, he should be free of all filth, perform ablution, make his intention known

and face the Ka’bah standing firm. This physical firmness should be accompa-nied by

mental alertness and attention. Turning one’s face towards the Qiblah (Ka’bah) also

symbolizes the discarding of all other thoughts except that of Allah alone. The various

postures in salat should produce equivalent submissive movements in the heart so as to

indicate the believer’s total humanity before his Creator and not reducing such

movements to mere physical exercise.

KINDS OF SALAT

There are various kinds of salat including the compulsory (fard), supererogatory (sunnah)

and ceremonial prayers. The compulsory Prayers. These are the five compul-sory daily

50
 
prayer. They are subh (early morning prayer), Zuhr (noon prayer), Asr (afternoon

prayer), Maghirb (sunset prayer), and Isha (night prayer). Each of these prayers is

accompanied by non-compulsory, voluntary prayer. Below shows their numbers as well

as when they are said i.e. before or after the compulsory prayer.

Supererogatory Prayers

These include such prayers observed in search of Allah’s blessings, favours, assistance

or guidance but that are not incumbent on all Muslims to observe. They include.

• Salat-ud-Duha — This is said after the sun has (fully) risen.

• Salat-ut-Tahajjud — This is said in the middle of the night.
• Salat-ut-Tarawih — These are said during the night of Ramadan.
• Salatal-Khussuf — This is said when there is an eclipse of the moon.
• Salat-ul-Kussuf — This is said when there is an eclipse of the sun.
• Salat-ul-Istisqa — This is said in making request for the rain.
• Salat-ul-Istikhara — This is said in seeking for Allah’s guidance on
particular issues.

CEREMONIAL PRAYERS

These are those prayers said on special occasion. They include:

• Salat-ul-Idayn — Prayers said during the two Ids of fitr (fast breaking) and adha
(ram slaughtering).
• Sala t-ul-uumu’ah — This is the weekly Friday prayer said in liar and zuhr
prayer
• A Raka’ah (Compete genuflexion) — This is only through genuflexion that
prayer can be said. A prayer consists of a number of genuflexion (see table 1).
A genuflexion is as contained in the following description.
— Standing firm, establishing the intention and saying the Takbirat al-ihram
— Recitation of surat -ul-fatihah (and an additional portion of the Qu’ran where
necessary).
— Moving the posture of Ruku (bending) and reciting therein a prayer.
— Returning to the standing posture: going to the posture of prostration
allowing the both palms, the knees and the toes of the two legs to be on the
surface of earth (on mats or what-ever).
— Going to the sitting posture (julus)
— Repeating the prostration once more (sajdah) the above is the description of

51
 
 a complete Raka’ah (genueflexion).

What we have been saying so far is to establish the fact that salatis the most fundamental

aspect of ‘Ibadat (subservience to Allah), we have given a resume of its purpose and

essence. It must be noted at this juncture that whoever avoids the observance of salatis

like a person who has abandoned his faith in Allah. The prophet was reported to have

said that whosoever does not observe salattill he dies will have none of his other deeds

on earth examined before being throw into hellfire.

The above does not constitute injustice in any form but a recompense for the person’s

subservience to other than Allah while on earth as it has been earlier estab-lished that

adornment of a greater being is an innate nature of man. And he who does not adore

Allah will adore a lesser being. Salat is the pillar of faith.

This essay may be concluded with this short story hoping that it will strengthen our

understanding of the essence of salat. Henry de Castro, a senior French officer posted to

Algeria during the days of French occupation, was once leading a contingent of 30 Arab

horsemen through the desert when he was informed by his men that the time had come

for the ‘Asr prayer. Without further ado, they dismounted, and without asking his

permission, they gave the call to prayer, lined up in rows and began to pray. De Castro,

affronted at what he considered arrogant and an undisciplined act on the part of the

Arab horsemen, nevertheless remained silent. Bringing his horse to a standstill, he

observed his men at their devotions. Somehow these orderly rows of men engaged in

earnest prayer made a deep impression on him. He became more touched by the

humility with which they prostrated themselves before their maker. He realized that it

was certainly not pride which had made them act as they did. Later when the prayer

was over, he questioned them about it and listened attentively to everything they had

to say. When he went back home, he began to make a study of Islam, first of all reading

a French translation of the Qu’ran, then travelling extensively in Arab countries to

observe the Islamic way of life. He eventually accepted Islam and became a Muslim. He

52
 
later wrote a book in French on how he had come to accept Islam. The book has been

translated into Arabic under the title AI-Islam: Khawatir wa Sawanih by the famous

Egyptian writer, Fathi Zuglul. In this narration, there is a recount of how it was the sight

of believers engaged in salat, bowing before Allah, which awakened in Henry de Castro

his true nature and inspired in him a feeling of submission to Allah.

53
 
 CHAPTER FIVE: ZAKAT — COMPULSORY ALMS GIVING

DEFINITION

Zakah, first and foremost, is a pillar of Islam. It has been defined in many ways ranging

from being a welfare contribution to a means through which wealth is purified. It is also

described as obligatory charity. It can however be defined technically as “a specific rate

taken at a specific time from a specific amount at a specific level and expended on

specific areas.” The above definition takes care of every aspect of zakat’s administration,

viz specific rate. Taken from a specified list from a specific amount, at a specific level

and expended on specific areas. These we shall explain for now as we proceed.

Nisab: This is the minimum level a Muslim’s material possession must have attained

before he becomes a person who can pay zakah. It is in order here to state that this is not

restricted to money or gold alone. It covers all human possession including

merchandise, agricultural produce and cattle. Whoever is seen to have possessed the

nisab is seen as rich and as such should allow a portion be deducted from his wealth to

those in need. In the prophetic period the nisab is fixed at 20 dinars for gold and 200

dirhams for currency. It all will amount to the same thing if paid in the value of gold or

currency. A dinar today is 51.3 U.S. dollars and a dirham 5.13 dollars. So the rough

estimate of the nisab today in cash is 5.13 x 200 dollars = 1026 dollars or its equivalent in

naira. If the dollar exchange rate is conservatively put at N120, this will give us

N133,120.00.

And as such, whosoever has a gross possession that is worth N133,120,00 and such

amount remains with him for a whole year, is liable to pay zakah.

It should be noted as a matter of emphasis that when one has currency as much as the

nisab and has other things such as farm produce, cows all up to the nisab, he has to pay

zakat on all of them put together. Zakat is, however, not due on such animals as horses,

54
 
moles, donkeys or on staves. Household utensils such as plates, chairs and mats are

equally not zakatable, such utensils however made of gold and silvers are zakatable and

as such should be counted while working the calculation for zakat.

It is disheartening to note that some people do not believe in disclosing their actual

possession for calculating the amounts due in zakat. They only pay a “huge sum” in zakat

as they desire. We should quickly note that what they give out is nothing but hibah or at

best sadaqah. The working of the zakah as well as the determination of the nisab require

expertise in both Islamic jurisprudence. Muslims should not mind whatever it costs to

ensure the real amount due as zakah from their properties is deducted.

ELIGIBILITY TO PAY ZAKAH

The following conditions are required before a person pays zakah

— Attainment of the nisab of one’s wealth.

— Full ownership of the properties.
— Remaining in one’s possession for a whole year at the time when the
collector (if any) arrives at the time one pays it out.
— Puberty is not one of the conditions in this regard. If there is a minor in
possession of wealth through inheritance or any other means that has
attained the nisab, his trustee(s) must ensure that zakah is paid annually from
the wealth.
— Equally, if it is discovered that a deceased leaving properties for inher-itance
had refused to pay zakah on the property before his death, the percentage
due must be deducted from the wealth before it is shared as inheritance by
his survivors.

RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAH

The Q9: 60 lists the categories of people who may receive zakah as follows.

1. The Poor. A person whose possession is insufficient for his livelihood. His
possession if it has attained the nisab but is still insufficient for the up keep
of his family needs. He can also accept zakah. He takes precedence over all

55
 
 others because it is most likely that he may never be in need of zakah after
that particular one. He must be a Muslim.

2. The Pauper. He is more an indigent person than the poor man. He is the
one who has absolutely nothing. He must be a freeborn Muslim to be
eligible.

3. The one who works on it even if he is rich. Working on it includes collecting

the data of those wishing to pay, those eligible to receive and calculating the
percentages” This is compensating him from the purse of what he works
for.

4. Those whose hearts are to be reconciled. This has been stopped since the
time of Umar b. Khattab. But contemporary happening haves have forced
some scholars to opine that it can be revalidated in operation. There are
some people who like the early period of Islam are being persecuted and
dispossessed of their properties for becoming Muslims. The case of former
Rev. Jomo is an example.

5. For the manumission of a slave.

6. A debtor not on account of indolence or viciousness who cannot settle the

debt himself.

7. The cause of Allah — Jihad of all forms.

8. The wayfarer. He is eligible only on 3 conditions

— That the journey is not criminally motivated.
— That he is poor while on that journey though may be very rich (at home).
— That he is a muslim.

56
 
 CHAPTER SIX: SAWM — FASTING IN THE MONTH OF RAMADAN

In Islam, fasting is of three kinds. The compulsory fast (which takes place in the

month of Ramadan, the voluntary fast and fast for expiation. The compulsory fast which

we are more concerned with here takes place in the month of Ramadan, the ninth month

of the lunar Hijrah calendar. The voluntary fast consist such other forms of fasting

embarked upon in search of Allah’s bounteous rewards mercy, guidance or assistance.

The voluntary fast include the voluntary fasts of Mondays and Thursdays, those of the

middle days of every lunar. calendar month — the 13th, 14th and 15th, the voluntary

fast of the first days of Muharram, the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, the

voluntary fasts of the first ten days of Dhul Hijah (the 12th lunar month) those of six

days in Shawwal (the 10 lunar month) those of a few number of days Rajab and Shaban

7th and 8th months respectively of the lunar calendar. There are other voluntary fasts.

The expiation fasting has always be included as an alternation in a number of

punishment prescribed for such crimes as breaking a compulsory fast willingly striking

a similitude between the back of one’s wife and one’s mother in order to divorce her and

in breaking of oath among others.

What really is fasting? Fasting is abstinence from food drink and sexual inter-course

from dawn till sunset from the perspective of Islam. Long before the holy prophet

Muhammad, there were many ways through which people embarked on fasting yet

these were the acceptable ways during their era. For example, the Quran speaks of the

fasting of Zakariyyah and Mariam, the mother of Iysa and that of speechlessness for a

specific period. The compulsory act of fasting is made incumbent on Muslims as

contained in Q2:183 thus:

57
 
 O ye who believe! Fasting is made obligatory on you as it was made obligatory

on those before you that you may fear Allah.

The purpose of fasting primarily is to entrench God’s consciousness in people. It also

brews the sentiment of love and brotherhood through abstinence that is general among

people during this period. It inculcate, a lot of moral and spiritual lessons in individuals,

such qualities that remain with them even after the period of fasting. Some people are

exempted from fasting for some practical reasons. This exemption goes to confirm the

fact that Islam desires no hardship on any particular being that ease (for them) while

remaining subservience to Allah. Those exempted include the ill, minors and those who

are on a long journey. Also exempted by extension to those mentioned above are the

aged, fostering mothers, pregnant women and the lunatics. Any of these whose

incapacitation is removed after the period of compulsory fasting is expected to fast back

the number of days omitted during the period of fasting while feeding of indigent

people is an alternative to this. For an indigent person himself being incapacitated, he is

expected to embark on some other good act, as it is believed Allah will overlook for him

those days missed (out of necessity) in fasting.

MOON-SIGHTING AND FASTING IN ISLAM

The contemporary Muslim world has faced a major problem of non-uniformity in the

commencement and termination of the compulsory Ramadan fast. This has been due to

non-consensus on the issue of moon sighting. It is very important in Islam that the

crescent of the new moon is sighted before it commences so also is it important that

crescent of the next moon is sighted before fasting stops.

The Qur’an commands in part of 2:185 that “so everyone of you who is present (at home)

during the month should spend it in fasting...” In interpreting this injunction, a school

of thought is of the opinion that every Muslim should physically sight the crescent of

58
 
the month of Ramadan before he commences his fasting. While another school is of the

opinion that the injunction directs that whoever is still alive and not incapacitated by

any other thing during the month should fast therein.

The opinion of the first school indicates that while some people might have fasted for a

few days, some may still be expecting the moon to appear. This opinion is based on Ibn’

Abbas’ response to Quraibah’s challenge that fasting in Syria was more than that of

Madinah by one. Ibn’ Abbas’ comment was that the Medinese started fasting when they

sighted the moon and should thus not be affected by happenings in Syria. A political

undertone could be read in Ibn’ Abbas’ statement. It is a fact beyond all doubts that if

the first opinion is adopted, some Muslims will definitely neglect fasting in parts of the

month of Ramadan and some will also fast in the month of Shawwal.

The interpretation of the second school of thought is more plausible and acceptable to

us. Firstly, the moon is not more than one and can not commence its appearance but

once. Secondly, the opinion “hu” in the verse cannot be referring to the crescent but a

reference that fasting should commence when the month starts and should cease when

the month ends. This can further be buttressed by another tradition that on a certain

occasion the people of Madinah were doubtful about the appearance of the new moon

of Ramadan and had decided not to fast until a man came from the desert and gave

evidence that he had seen the new moon. The Holy prophet took his evidence and

directed the people to fast. This is also an indication that Shahidah in the above Quranic

injunction is a reference to the month and not strictly to the crescent of the moon.

In furtherance of this fact, it is pertinent to establish firmly here, that the sighting of the

crescent is the primary prerequisite to fasting in the month of ramadan but it is its

sighting and not who sights it or where it is sighted that matters once the place falls

within the same geographical location. At least it was a desert man who sighted the

moon for which the prophet commanded the commencement of fasting in the narration

59
 
cited above. The man being a desert Arab did not hinder the prophet from commanding

the commencement of Ramadan fast.

In determining which area should be affected by a sighting at a particular place, one has

to take into consideration the difference in the hour of various nations. It is obvious that

when it is noon at a place it may be dawn elsewhere. The sighting of the moon at a place

whose day is a part of the night at another place cannot be effective at that other place.

This rule however does not cover the area where there are sometimes permanent

abnormality in the rotation of the day and the night. Such as a situation where the day

will be f or eight hours and the night six hours, or vice-versa. In this case a closed Muslim

state without such problem should inform them of when to commence fasting and when

to break it daily. It may be argued that during the early days of Islam, the Prophet and

his rightly guided caliphs could not communicate with a long distance, and for that,

each area was satisfied with its sighting of the moon. This might even be the cause of

the response of Ibn’ Abbas to Quraibah’s observation earlier noted. But, today there

have been improvements in human endeavours especially in the dual field of science

and technology. Islam is not against striving for knowledge and does not discourage

technological advancement. The Quran challenges man thus:

O Assembly of men and Jinn, if you desire to penetrate into the heavens and

earth do so but you cannot do that except by my leave.

It further encourages man to put into use all other world’s phenomena when it says:

And He has made subservient to you all things in the heavens and on the earth,

therein portents for those of you who can reflect.

The above verses and similar others are pointing to the fact that Muslim can adopt or

develop any technological means for the improvement of the ummah. This is to suggest

that discerning the appearance of the new moon through the use of astronomical

60
 
instruments or equipment may not be discouraged in its entirety. We should not forget

that observatories were established at strategic positions to discover among other things

the new crescent during the golden age of the Abbasid dynasty. This is however not to

suggest an adherent to the predications made by astronomers of accepting the use of a

calendar for fixing a beginning or an end of Ramadan or any event for that matter before

the new moon for the event is actually sighted.

SIGHTING OF MOON AS A FACTOR OF UNITY OF THE UMMAH

Every pillar and injunction of the ummah has its objective, the sighting of the moon is

not left in this regard. Firstly, Islam tends to unite the ummah by establishing trust in a

fellow Muslim brother as an underlying factors of moon sighting. The prophet laid the

example of believing in a man who came from the desert, his claim to have sighted the

moon without subjecting him to any rigorous scrutiny. This was a period that hypocrites

were too many among the desert Arabs. What at most could be done, according to the

authorities of Abdul b. Zayd, b. al Khattab, Imam Malik and Imam Shafi’ is believing in

the sighting of the moon by two trustworthy male Muslims. The above view is upheld

if those two Muslims are living in a region or an area where many people are looking

for the moon because of the possibility of sighting it easily or do not even look for it, the

sighting of only one truth worthy Muslim, whether male or female is regarded as

credible. And if the society is exercising any element of doubt, the claimant is only

required to make an oath to the effect that he has sighted the moon. After this, it becomes

imperative that all Muslims in the area commence fasting.

Like prayer, zakah and hajj, Muslims are also united with Ramadan fast because they all

engage in this auspicious devotional act irrespective of age and class. So, like prayer

whose hours of observance may vary from place to place, the difference in the period of

sighting the moon should be noted that in spite of the fact that noon in a continent may

be dawn in another, and for the fact that iftar period in a continent may be the period of

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sahur in another continent should not suggest inconsistencies. The law is that people

should fast from the dawn of their areas till the sunset of the place. This divergence in

our opinion should be a uniting factor just like the case of differences in colour,

language, race and tribes. They are all pointing to the fact that humanity is from just one

and the same source and also establishing the omnipotence of Allah.

The case of some people not fasting when they receive the reformation that the moon

has been sighted is not only a disuniting factor but an act of disobedience to Allah’s

injunctions and commandments. This is grievous and Allah has clearly warned in

various injunctions of the Qur’an against such disobedience which is described as zulm.

More disobedience is the act of fixing a particular date for the commencement and

ending of the Ramadan fast to the negligence of the sighting of the moon. The Qur’an

says that:

It is not befitting for a believing male and female that when Allah and His messenger

have decided an issue that they should bring forth an alternative opinion. Whoever

disobeys Allah and his messenger has indeed gone astray.

In this regard, we are of the opinion that since in Nigeria, both Northern and the

Southern parts share the same dawn and sunset, once the moon is sighted and the

information goes round, Muslim should all fast. The Islamic law does not give room for

unreasonable criticism such as why is it that the moon is always sighted from the area?

Nor does it allow further interrogation if it has earlier been stated that the informant is

a trustworthy Muslim, sane and of proven integrity or that he has made an oath in front

of the constituted authority in regard of his claim.

This, however, should not be a license for reckless declaration of dates of event as

witnessed in the 1415A.H. Eid-al-Kabir (Eid-ul-Adha) celebration in Nigeria when the

then Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki gave a directive that the Eid prayer,

including the slaughtering of animals of sacrifice, be held in the 9th Dhul Hijjah. This

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ceremony took place in spite of contrary opinions on the reasoning of the Sultan and his

Council of Ulama. In our opinion, the holding of the Eid-al-Kabir (Eid-ul-Adha) festival

on the said date was as a result of self-caprices especially when a confirmation had been

made by the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Lagos that the chosen date was wrong.

The factors of the event described above are in no way better than the people who would

always want to prefix the commencement date of Ramadan fast and those who would

not fast on the basis of the information for the commencement of the fast coming from

a tribe other than their own. It is our opinion that all Muslims should always be on the

lookout for the crescent of the new month on the 29th of Shaban, especially at those

places the moon can be easily sighted. The use of technological method in detecting it is

equally permissible but not using it in predicting the crescent. That may fail as Allah has

power over all things.

If Muslims can cooperate with themselves, repose trust in themselves and have faith in

the statements of their fellow brethren the dates of the commencement of fasting, its

termination, the dates of the Eid and in fact all Islamic events would be unique the world

over. The efforts of those working tirelessly in discerning a stable calendar for the

Muslim world is acknowledged yet confirmation of such dates has to be made with the

sighting of the moon. More acceptable will it be, if any designed instrument for the

ascertainment of a one-day-old moon among Muslim nations in invented. This will not

only be to the satisfaction of the majority of the world Muslims for it will bring to an

end and annual divergence of opinion among them but will also be a new breakthrough

in the world of technology.

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 CHAPTER SEVEN: HAJJ

Hajj is the fourth pillar of Islam. It is obligatory on those Muslims who have the means

to embark on the journey when there is threat of uncertainty on the way. Quran 3:97

says:

Pilgrimage is a duty men owe Allah, those who can afford the journey; but if any

deny faith, Allah stands not in need of any of His creatures.

It affords Muslims a unique opportunity of serving Allah at the same place in the same

way and in a very large number. People come from every part of the world to partake

in the exercise of hajj. It is a kind of conference that is not surpassed by any other one

anywhere in the world.

ESSENTIALS OF HAJJ

There are four basic essential rites of hajj, namely: Ihram, Tawwaf, Say and Wuquf

bil’arafat.

1. Ihram: This is the seamless two pairs of cloth adorned by male pilgrims and
long gown with a pair of trousers worn by women. It is its adornment that
admits all pilgrims the act of pilgrimage. Ihram is of three kinds based on
the kind of hajj a pilgrim is performing. They are:
• Tamattc — A process whereby a pilgrim combines the rites of Umar (lesser hajj
and hajj with a break in the adornment of ihram in-between the two.
• Qiran — This is a process whereby a pilgrim assumes the ihram with the
intention of performing both the rites of umar and hajj without putting off the
ihram in between.
• Ifrad — This is a process whereby a pilgrim adorns the ihram with the intention
of performing hajj alone. A Muslim in ihram is prohibited from the following
acts:
(i) cohabitation with spouses including touching or kissing with such a
lust for sexual passion.

(ii) Shaving or trimming of hair from any part of the body.

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 (iii) Cutting of the nails from the hands and toes.

(iv) Man should not cover his head while in ihram nor should he wear
covered shoes.

(v) Ladies should not cover their faces while in ihram.

(vi) Killing games or any form of hunting is prohibited while one is in

ihram.

Tawaf — This is the act of circumambulation round the kabah seven times. It is a

compulsory part of hajj. It is also done in three kinds. The first being tawaf-al-ifaciah. In

the tawaf a pilgrim must embark upon as part of hajj being the first action after assuming

the ihram. The second is the tawaf al-siyarat which is the circumambulation of visit and

the third being the farewell tawaf-tawwafal-wada which every pilgrim performs while

bidding Makkah farewell.

Say — This is the act of hastening between Safa and Marwa, two hilly areas within the

holy precinct of Makah. It is in recognition of a similar action embarked upon by Hajar,

the mother of Prophet Ismail after she had settled there along with her son by her

husband Prophet Ibrahim. Every pilgrim performs this act as a compulsory act of hajj

first and foremost after the compulsory tawaf thereafter as voluntary acts while still on

hajj.

Wuquf bil ‘Arafat — This is the standing on the plain of Mount Arafat and its surrounding

on the 9th day of Dhul-Hijah. Any pilgrim who is absent here will not be regarded as

having performed the year’s hajj. Pilgrims are expected to stay here from noon till

sunset. They are to perform the zuhr and ‘Asr prayers combined together.

There are other corollary acts of hajj such as the three days to be spent at Minna known

as the Ajyamu tashpik (during which the sacrificial slaughtering of animals is made). The

pelting of stones at Shaytan (Rajrn) at Aqabah, at three different places known as

Jamrahs Aqabah (Kubrah) Wusta and Sughra. Visit to madinah is also a meritorious act

65
 
which enable pilgrims visit the graves of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his two

companions, Abubakar and Umar.

All these acts are factors of bringing Muslim closer to their creator and to unify the

relationship between them.

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 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE QUR’AN

DEFINITION AND MEANING OF THE HOLY QUR’AN

Al-Quran can be defined as the original source from which all ordinances, principles,

guidance and information on Islam are drawn. This fact is summarily established in

Q2:2 thus:

This is a book whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off evil.

The word Qur’an is an infinitive noun from the root Qara’a, which signifies primarily

“he collected things.” It can also be translated as “he recited.” A school of thought has

it that the name al-Qura’n was informed by the fact that Qur’an gathers together in itself

the fruits of all other divine books as well a the fruits of all the world sciences. Based on

a prophetic foundation, Qur’an means a book that is or should be read because “it is the

most widely read” book on earth. The Qur’an has various other names as we can adduce

from the book itself. The names include:

(a) al-Kitab (Q2:2), this may be translated as the book which is complete in itself

(b) al-Furqan Q25:1), this means the criterion.

(c) Adh-Dhikrah. At-Tadhkirah (Q15:9), this means the sources of eminence to

man, the reminder.

(d) At-Tanzil (Q26:192). The Revelation.

(e) Ahsan al-Hadith (Q39:23). The best expression.

(f) Al-Mauciza (Q10:57). The Admonition.

(g) Al-Hukm (Q13:37). The Judgment.

(h) Al-Hikmah (Q17:39). The Wisdom.

(i) Al-Shifa (Q10:57) The Heading.

(j) Al-Huda (Q72:13). The Guidance

(k) Ar-Rahman (Q17: 82), The Mercy

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 (l) Al-Khair (Q3:103), The Goodness.

(m) Al-Bayan (Q3:137), The explanation.

(n) An-Ni’mah (Q93:11). The Blessing.

(o) Al-Burhan (Q4:175), The Argument.

(p) An-Nur (Q7:157), The Light.

(q) Al-Haqq (Q 7:81), The Truth.

Beside the above, there are other names by which the Qur’an is known. There are also

numerous other adjectival words applied to Qur’an. These included: al-Karim (Q56:77),

The Honourable al-Majid (Q85:21), The Glorious al-Hakim (Q36:2), The wise al-Mubin

(Q12:1), The one making things manifest, and al-Mubark (Q21:50), The Blessed.

MEANING AND CONCEPT OF REVELATION IN ISLAM

Revelation has been defined as an act of disclosing by divine means an informa-tion or

knowledge not previously known. Islam recognize three ways by which revelation is

made to man. The Qur’an in Surah 42:51 reads thus:

And it’s not for any being that Allah should speak to him (directly) except

through inspiration or behind the veil or by sending a messenger and revealing

by his permission what He pleases.

The above verse enumerates the three ways through which revelations are made. The

first being wahy, a literal usage of the word which connotes hasty suggestion thrown

into the mind of man. It is not a message in words but simply an idea which clears up a

doubt or a difficulty and it is not the result of a rigorous meditation. The second way is

“revelation behind the veil.” This refers to ru’ya (dreams) when asleep or kashf (vision)

when in a state of trance. The dreams of prophet Yusuf and that of the king of the city

who was imprisoned falls into this category. This is an indication that Allah reveals

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behind a veil certain truths in dream or visions. The prophet refers to those as mubash

sharat. Imam Bukhari reported the prophet as having said:

Nothing has remained of nubuwa (being a prophet) except mubash sharat.

When asked, “What was meant as mubash sharat!” he replies, “good versions.” The

guarded utterance of saints and the unpolluted things they hear all fall in this category.

The third way of revelation is that in which messenger, that is the archangel Jibril is sent

to recipient of the divine revelation in words. This is the highest form of revelation. This

form of revelation is exclusively limited to the prophets of Allah only. Some other people

were however recipient of this kind of message as contained in the Qur’an. This kind of

revelation is known as wahy maltiluwun (recited revelation). The first two forms of

revelation known as wahy khaffiyy (inner revelation) are, however, common to prophets

as well those who are not prophets.

COLLECTION AND COMPILATION OF THE QUR’AN

The prophet used to go to the cave Hira occasionally for meditation and used to visit the

cave all days through in the month of Ramadan. It is pertinent to note that prophet

Muhammad had been receiving the wahy khaffiyy long before he was called to

prophethood. He used to have visions as true and clear as day. He equally used to hear

certain voices giving him logical directives. It was during one of these nights when he

visited cave Hira during the month ofRamadan of 610 A.D. that the Angel Jibril

appeared to him to give him the first revelation. The prophet himself reported this thus:

He seized me and squeezed me to such an extent that I was quite exhausted.

The angel thus commanded him to read and he could not give an answer until the third

order came and he answered that he was not “one who can read.” The angel led him

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into reading the first five verses of the 96th chapter of the Quran. Thus did the revelation

start. The revelation continued for twenty-two years, two months and twenty two days.

The last verse “Today I have perfected for you your religion . . .” was revealed on 9th

Dhul Hijjah in the 10th year of Hijrah. The nature in which these messages came for the

above stipulated period was described by the prophet himself in the following words of

Harith b. Hisham,

It comes to me sometimes as the ringing of a bell and this is hardest on me, then

he leaves me and I remember from him what he says; and sometimes the angel

comes in the shape of a man and he talks to me and I remember what he says.

The Prophet used to recite the revealed verses to his companions who in turn learned

and revised them until they were recorded in memory. The Arabs were known for their

exceptional skills m the art of memorization so it could not be surprising finding a lot of

them as huffaz (memorizers of the Qur’an). The ability to memorize notwithstanding,

the prophet still had those scribes who got the Qur’an recorded for him. Various verses

are added where the prophets commanded that they should be written. Though not

lettered himself, the prophet knew how important it was to make records of things

especially in such an international commercial centre as Makkah where many learned

travelers and traders could easily lay their hands on the Quranic manuscripts, read them

and become convinced with their contents.

The prophet’s scribes included Zaid b. Thabit, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman b. Affan, Ali,

Zubay, Ubayy, Hanzala Abdullah, ibn Sacid, Abdullah b. Argara, Abdullah b. Rawaha,

Sharhubail, Khalid an Abah b. Sacid. Thus did the Qur’an get recorded. The recording

during this period was done on such materials as shoulder blades, palm leaves, stones,

etc.

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It must be noted at this juncture that none of the passages of the Qur’an got lost as later

reported by oricultalists because beside the recorders, there were more than sufficient

memorizers who would immediately note an omission if one was made in any of the

recorded materials. Most of these recorders were also themselves memoriz-ers of the

Qur’an.

PRESERVATION OF THE QUR’AN

The issue of the preservation of the Qur’an was with its author, hence the Qur’an says:

“Lo! We even have revealed the reminder and we verily are its guardian” (Surah 15:9).

So the various processes of preserving the Qur’an went through were under the

supervision of Allah. The first means of preservation for the Qur’an was the ability of

the companion of Allah to memorize the whole lot of it and his secretaries writing it

down. The Qur’an was first compiled in a book form during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr,

whose reign was characterized with the wars of Apostasy (Rida wars). After fierce battle

in the field of Yamamah, a reasonable number of the huffaz were killed and Umar

suggested to the caliph, Abu Bakr, to get the Qu’ran in book form in order not to lose

the whole of it with the death of the remaining hufazz. It took Abu Bakr some time before

he could consent to this, as “act that was not done by the prophet himself.” He ordered

a copy to be compiled from the manuscripts written under the direction of the holy

prophet. This was done following the arrangement of the oral recitation prevalent

during the time of the prophet. This copy remained with him till the end of his tenure

and he transferred it to Umar while he was dying. Umar later entrusted it to Hafsa, his

daughter, a widow of the prophet.

In spite of this standard copy, there were still in existent various other individual copies,

some of which were written in personal expressions and some not following the oral

recitations of the prophet. They were copied for personal uses. There were also four

famous copies that had found acceptance from our famous copies that had found

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acceptance in regions where Islam had been gradually accepted as the authentic copies.

These were the copies of Ubaiy b. Ka’b which had become famous in Damascus; the

copy of Abdullah b Mas’ud which had been accepted in Kufa; the copy of Abu Musa,

Abudullah alAshari which was reigning in Basra, and the copy of Miqdad bAmr which

was the text recognized in Hums.

The existence of these divergent versions will no doubt bring about varied renderings

and readings of the holy scripture. This would equally allow uncertainty among the

believers. The sharp side effect of the divergent reading was noticed by Hudhalfa whose

men during a campaign quarreled over the correct form of arrange-ments of revelations

of the Holy Qur’an. He was the one who called the attention of Caliph Uthman b. Affan

to this unfortunate situation. Bukhari reports the event thus:

Anas b. Malik relates that Hudhaifa came to Uthman and he had been fight-ing

along with the conquest of Armenia and along with the people of Syria with the

people of Iraq in Azerbaijah, and was alarmed at their variations in the mode of

reading (the Qur’an), and said to him, O Commander of the faithful, stop the

people before they differ in the holy book as the Jews and the Chris-tians, differ

in their scriptures. So Uthman sent words to Hafsa, asking her to send him the

Qur’an in her possession, so that they might make other copies of it and send the

original copy back to her.

Those who did the work for Uthman were Zaid b. Thabit, Abdullah b. Zubair, Said b.

Al-As and Abd al-Rahman b. Harith b. Hishamin has the dialect in case of differences

in the dialects of the various copies was to be preferred. This briefing of the Caliph gave

credence to the fact that the difference inherent in the variants because of its official

authority and the general desire for uniformity.

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CONTENTS OF THE QUR’AN

The Qur’an, unlike the books that came before it is of medium size. Religious books

before it are either too short like the Buddhist books or too long like the bible. It is

divided into one hundred and fourteen chapters, each of which is called a surah. Each

verse is called an ayah. It is further divided into thirty divisions each of which is called

a juzc or sixty parts, each of which is called a Hizab.

There were 93 of these chapters revealed to the prophet while he was in Makkah and 21

while he was in Medinah. The chapters are roughly arranged according to the length

with the exception of the first surah. These arrangements do not follow any chronological

order. Whenever there was a revelation, the prophet indicated its place in the order and

sequence of the Qur’an. The Qur’an discusses the principles of religious beliefs

including the pillars of Islam, eschatological issues including reward and punishment

in the hereafter. It speaks of the heaven and hell and the angelic world. The Qur’an also

speaks of institutions such as marriage, divorce, care for orphans and widows. It also

touches issues including prohibited degrees of relationship and inheritance. The Quran

gives guidance to Muslims on individual basis including good conducts, Islamic ethics,

treatment of guests, neighbours, orphans, wayfarers, the poor and the needy members

of the community.

The Qur’an lays great emphasis on justice in every matter. It enjoins traders to be just

while taking measurement of things, judges to be fair in their judgements and all and

sundry to be just in all issues even if it be against their souls. It stresses the need for

sense of accountability in everything as this will serve as a reminder for the

accountability to be made in the hereafter.

The Quran also contains information on the people of the past and their vicious and

virtuous deeds so that people may learn from their history. It contains the chronicles of

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the Ad people, the Thamud people and individuals like the prophets and notable people

of history like Karun, Fir’awn, Maryam, Ashiyyah, and their likes.

The chapter in the Qur’an are divided into two groups — the Makkans and the Madinese

surahs. The themes of the Makkan surahs include Allah’s mercies, man’s ingratitude for

and misuse of Allah’s gifts, the nature of Allah’s power, judgment, Hell and paradise.

The theme of the Medinese surahs include laws, comments on public events, statements

of policy, warning on the harassment of truth, reference to the domestic affairs of the

prophets admonition and legislation on the lives of believers. The early Makkan surah

are 59, the middle are 17 while the late are 14 surahs. In Medinah between the first two

years after Hijrah six surahs were revealed, three revealed in the third and fourth year

and nine surahs were revealed in the Ninth and tenth years after Hijrah.

THE INIMITABILITY OF THE QUR’AN (I’JAZAL-QURA’AN)

One of the striking surprises one finds in the Qur’an is its inimitability. The Qur’an since

its revelation had not been imitated in style and approach. Its arrangement did not look

like the arrangement of previous scriptures and could neither be regarded as a prose

nor poetry. A point in support of its inimitability is its intactness and preservation. For

believers this cannot be too surprising for Allah has promised to preserve it when He

says:

We have assuredly revealed the reminder and we shall surely preserve it (Q

15:9).

In the early days of Islam, the non-Muslim Arabs had attempted to produce its like

without a success and in the contemporary age those who have attempted to find faults

in its have been found wanting. Dr. Mingana, who recently made an attempt to discover

alterations in the Quranic text has failed. On the contrary, his discovery has set the

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question at rest. This issue of its long preservation as a point for its inimitability cannot

be supported by all and sundry. Muir, a known antagonist of Islam, writes, inter alia:

There is probably in the world no other book which has remained twelve

centuries with so pure text.

The Encyclopedia Britannica in its article on the “Koran” refers to the prophet as the best

of all prophets because of the truth the Qur’an gives him. It declares the success in the

following terms:

Most successful of all prophets and religious personalities.

The Qur’an poses the following challenges to whoever may be doubting its inimitability

thus:

And if you are in doubt as to that which we have revealed to our servant, then

produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses beside Allah if you are

truthful. But if you do (it) not and never shall you do (it), then be on your guard

against the fire of which men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the

unbelievers.

In response to those whose attack was based on the wrong allegation that he had forged

it, the Qur’an says:

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 Or, do they say: He has forged it. Say: Then bring ten forged chapters like it and

call upon whom you have besides Allah, if you are truthful (Q. 11: 13).

If they cannot produce ten, the Quran challenges further:

Or do they say: he has forged it? Say: then bring a chapter like this and invite

whom you can beside Allah, if you are truthful (Q.10:38).

In spite of repeated attacks on the contents of the Qur’an, it has not ever been possible

to produce its like. People had of recent attempted the publication of a fabricated

edition, yet they were not successful. Their intention was to create division among

Muslims and confusion in the minds of those who read the Qur’an by changing some

words, removing some words and twisting some. This vicious plot was discov-ered and

thus the Qur’an remains unpolluted. Thus confirming the verses,

Surely those who disbelieve in the reminder when it comes to them, and most

surely it is a mighty Book — falsehood shall not come to it from the fore nor from

behind, it is from the wise, the Praise one” (Q41:41-42).

and in an absolute manner of authority the Qur’an makes it clear without mincing words

that its like could not be evolved even with the combination of man and jinn. It reads

thus:

Say, if men and Jinn should combine together to bring the like of this Qur’an,

they could not bring the like of it, though some of them were aiders of oth-ers

(Q.17:88).

The above are the real challenges posed by the Qur’an itself. In spite of these challenges,

it contains a lot of things which no other revealed books possessed. It contains tangible

prediction some of which has come to past during the life of the prophet and some are

76
 
just being realized now. Such prediction included the defeat of the Romans and the

counter-defeat by them; the triumph of Islam and the inability of all forces (even if

combined) to annihilate it; the eternal schism in Christianity (Q5:15) and the dispersion

of the Israelites (Q7:160), to mention a few. It also contains scientific facts including the

biological metamorphosis of an embryo in the mother’s womb; the evolution of every

living thing from water; the rotation and revolution of the sun and the moon round the

orbits; formation of rain and the fertilization of plants are some of the instances. The

Qu’ran touches all other aspects of human endeavour.

Conclusively, on the inimitability of the Qur’an, the principal point is its intactness, to it

there has never been any addition, from it there was no omission and in it there occurred

no corruption. Its history is one clear as daylight, its authenticity is unquestionable and

complete preservation is beyond doubt.

IMPORTANCE OF THE QUR’AN TO MANKIND

The importance of the Qur’an to the Muslims cannot be overemphasized because they

use it for multidimensional purposes. The following can be easily enumerated:

1. The teachings on Islam are derived primarily from the Qur’an

2. Islamic legislation on day to day activities of Muslims including their

relationship with non-Muslims can be deduced from the Qur’an.

3. The Qur’an contains narration on the activities of the people of the past
including. the previous prophets of Allah, twenty five of whom were
mentioned by names in it. It also contains history of the previ-ous world
rulers who were tyrannical such as Jaluth (Goliath), Karun,Fir’awn, etc. The
people of cAd, Thamud and the people of Noah who did not heed Allah’s
warning.

4. The Qur’an contains guidelines on administration of states and this became

useful to Muslim rulers sent to man foreign states conquered by Islam.
These rulers administered their various provinces with rules of al-Islam.

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 Those states where Islamic rules are prevailing are still deriving their
primary sources of administrative guidelines from the Holy Qur’an.

5. ‘The Qur’an contains reported incidents which have historical values. The
Biography of the prophet to whom a chapter is named in Qur’an is first and
foremost derived from the Qur’an. The Qur’an also con-tains reports on the
people of the jahiliyyah period especially on their mode of dressing and their
plays. Reports on the style for administra-tion (shurah) adopted by the
prophet have historical values for later generations. It contains historical
data for further examinations and researches on the Arabs and Arabia for
historians.

6. The Qur’an is used for liturgical purposes. The Muslims read verses of the
Qur’an in their five daily prayers. They resort to Qur’an for all kinds of
spiritual problems they may have. They use the Qur’an in supplication to
Allah.

7. The place of the Qur’an in Arabic literature is another importance of the holy
book. Arabic being the language of the Arabs notwithstand-ing, they still
derive a lot of useful rules, styles and precedents for Arabic grammar and
literature in the Quran. Arabists the world over, including the non-Muslim
scholars of Arabic, attest to this fact.

8. In conclusion, the importance of the Qur’an goes beyond the above list as it
cannot be overemphasized in the day-to-day activities of the Muslims.

OPINION OF NON-MUSLIM WRITERS ON THE QUR’AN

In spite of the bias of non-Muslim writers against Islam and the Qur’an some of them,

especially among the Orientalists, cannot do but write good things in commenda-tion

of the Qur’an. This is so because they must have understood that any attempt to invent

a lie on the Qur’an will usually expose the incompetence and bias of the author making

such an attempt. In this supplementary note we shall recall some of the opinions of these

non-Muslim scholars:

1. John William Drager in his book A History of the Intellectual Development of

Europe (London, 1875, Vol. 1), pp. 343-4 writes, inter alia:

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 The Koran abounds in excellent moral suggestions and precepts; its composition

is so fragmentary that we cannot turn to a single page without finding maxims

of which all men must approve. This fragmentary construction yields texts, and

rules complete in themselves, suitable for common men in any of the incidents

of life.

2. James A Michener in his article “Islam, the Misunderstood Religion,” in

Reader’s Digest (1955) writes, inter-alia:
The Koran is probably the most often read book in the world, surely the most

often memorized, and possibly the most influential in the daily life of the people

who believe in it. Not quite so long as the New Testament, written in an exalted

style, it is neither poetry nor ordinary prose yet it possesses the ability to arouse

its hearers to ecstasies of faith.

3. Revd. M. Rodwell in his book The Koran (London, 1918, p. 15) writes:
It must be acknowledged, too that the Koran deserves the highest praise of its

conception of the divine nature, in reference to attributes of power, knowl-edge

and universal providence and unity — that its belief and trust in the one God of

Heaven and earth is deep and fervent, sententious oracular wisdom, and has

proved that there are elements, in it on which mighty nations and conquering

empires can be built-up.

4. F. F Arbuthnot in his The Construction of the Bible and the Koran (Lon-don,
1885, p. 9), writes:
From the literary point of view, the Koran is regarded as a specimen of the purest

Arabic, written in half poetry and half prose. It has been said that in some cases

grammarians have adopted their rules to agree with certain phrases and

expressions used in it, and that though several attempts have been made to

produce a work equal to its as far as elegant writing is concerned, none has yet

succeeded. It will thus be seen, from the above, that a final and compete text of

the Koran was prepared within twenty years after the death (AD 632) of

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 Muhammad and that this has remained the same, with-out any change or

alteration by enthusiasts, translators, or interpolators, up to the present time. It

is to be regretted that the same cannot be said of all the books of the old and New

Testament.

5. A.J. Arberry writes in his The Holy Koran: An Introduction with Selec-tions
(London, 1953, p. 25):
The Koran like the poetry, which it resembles in so many ways, is best sampled

a little at a time, and that little deserves and needs mediations. He (the reader)

will become gradually familiar with the Koran’s claim to be a confirmation of

earlier scriptures. He will observe how the Koran assumes knowledge of a

content of those scriptures, and only later expands the individual narratives into

something like connected stories. He now follows step by step the gradual

unfolding of the full prophetic powers; and when he comes to the polemic and

legislation, he is ready to receive and understand them.

6. Hartrig Hirschfeld writes in his New Researches into the Composition and
Exegesis of the Qur’an (London, 1902):
We must be surprised to find the Koran fountainhead of the sciences. Every

subject connected with heaven or earth, human life, commerce and various

trades are occasionally touched upon, and this gave rise to the production of

numerous monographs forming commentaries on part of the holy book. In this

way, the Koran was responsible for great discussion, and to it was di-rectly due

the marvelous development of all branches of science in the Mus-lim world. This

against not only affected the Arabs but also induced Jewish philosophers to treat

metaphysical and religious questions after Arab meth-ods. Finally, the way in

which Christian scholasticism was fertilized by Ara-bian theosophy need not be

further discussed.

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 CHAPTER NINE: OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND

GUIDANCE: HADITH (SUNNAH), IJMA AND QIYAS

This chapter is intended to expatiate on how authentic traditions of the prophet are

discovered and recorded as second primary source of information and guidance in

Islam, as well as touch Ijma and Qiyas as other sources (secondary) of information and

guidance. (a) Hadith. Hadith is the record of the sayings, actions and tacit approvals of

Prophet Muhammad, which these sayings, actions and approvals are called Sunnah, its

record is called hadith (ahadith, plural).

COLLECTION OF HADITH (TADWIN UL-HADITH)

Our concern here is with the modes and methods in which ahadith were collected. We

shall also study the various stages of collection.

(A) THE COMMENCEMENT OF COLLECTIONS

It has been argued in some quarters that the prophet forbade the writing of hadith

during his lifetime. Another opinion is that the actual collection did not commence until

the era of the Umayyads and particularly during the reign of cUmar b cAbdul-Aziz,

popularly known as Umar II. The reasons for these opinions can be summed up as

follows:

1. There are traditions in circulation against the collection of ahadith:

i. there exists an explanation that these traditions forbid the recording

of ahadith throughout the life of the prophet.

ii. There is also another explanation that the traditions forbid the
recording of Ahadith only in the early days of the prophet.

iii. There is the third explanation which says the traditions (against
recording of ahadith) were later abrogated by the prophet while he
encouraged the writing and recording of Ahadith.

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 2. The misconception of such terms as hadathana, akhbarana and can for
indicating oral transmission and making no reference to collated works.

3. The claim of the powers of the unique memory of the Arabs did not have
the immediate need to record ahadith because they could keep a lot of them
in memory.

4. The misconception of the terms tadwin and tasnif as meaning writing down
alone.

A critical look at the above reasons can be succinctly carried out as follows: The Ahadith

against the recording of ahadith: The traditions forbidding the recording of Ahadith

were transmitted by three Companions, Abu Sacd al-Khudri, Abu Hurrayrah and Zayd

b. Thabit. Al-Khudri’s hadith had two versions, one of which was transmitted by

Abdur-Rahman b. Zayd. The authorities agree unanimously that this Abdur Rahman

was a weak narrator and Al-Hakim (an authority on the sciences of ahadith) alleged that

Ibn Hibban accused him of reversing some ahadith and also completing the isnad of

interrupted ones. This kind of a transmitter needs not be taken seriously and be ignored.

The involvement of Abdur Rahman b. Zayd in Al-Khudri’s hadith renders it

unrespectable and untenable.

The same Abdur Rahman appears in the Abu Hurrayrah hadith and that can equally

not be accepted and can best be regarded as a weak tradition.

The third hadith being that linked with Zayd b. Thabit. The transmitter of the hadith

was al-Muttalib b. Abdullah. History reveals that Ibn. Abdullah did not meet Zayd b.

Thabit on earth, how then could he have heard from him? This hadith is not also seen

as scrupulous.

These expositions conveniently make it possible to disregard the existence of ahadith

(from the prophet) during his life time—or regard such ahadith as weak ones. The

misconception of terms such as Hadathana, Akhbarana and can as pointing to oral

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traditions is another reason put forward for the early recording of ahadith. However, In

the early period, such terms In most cases relate to authors. For example, a man who

read a tradition to his teacher could use the term hadathana. Students who recorded from

people make reference to such people’s scripts by starting with such terms as can. This

point is also establishing the fact that the terms were equally used for recorded

tradi-tions.

3. The process of the unique memory of the Arabs is not an issue of contention
but all the same, the Arabs used to commit things into writing. It is not only
illogical but also inconceivable that the large volumes of ahadith will for over
a century be committed to only memory when Islam itself via the Qur’an
lays emphasis on art of writing. In spite of the powerful memory of the
Arabs, the prophet still caused the Qur’an to be committed into writing, talk
less of his own traditions.

4. Lastly, the terms tadwin and tasnif do not nece-ssarily mean writing down.
Tadwin means systematic collection of data hence diwan stands for
collection of booklets. Tasnif, on the other hand connotes classification
according to subject matters. All the above (a-d) have helped us In
discarding the misconception of commencement of the period of the
collection and collation of ahadith. It can be said with certainties now, that it
commences during the era of the prophet. The prophet used to teach his
companions through verbal exhortations and was of the habit of repeating
important issues three times. He equally used to listen to the companions to
make sure that they had learned correctly from him.

The Prophet once charged the Muslims to Madinah not only to accommodate delegates

(from other places) but also to teach them the message of Islam. He used to ask these

delegates, questions to ascertain how far they had learnt from his companions. Ahadith

were equally collected from the writings of the Prophet. He wrote variously letters to

Kings, Rulers, Chieftains and Governors. These letters contain instructions concerning

zakah, taxes, forms of worship and other details of the religion of Islam.

People also put into various collections, practices of the Prophet which they witnessed

such as his actions on ablution, prayer, fasting and Hajj.

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COLLECTION OF HADITH DURING THE PERIOD OF THE COMPANIONS

The companions of the Prophet equally collected Ahadith. The students used to stay

with those who were versed in the knowledge of Ahadith among them at all times

serving them and learning from them. When they imparted any hadith, the students

either wrote it or memorized it. For example, people used to sit with Ibn cUmar but none

dared ask him questions till someone came from outside and asked him. Az-Zuhri

equally gives another method with which the companions and those after them

collected thus:

We sat with ibn al-Musayyab without questioning him, till someone came and

questioned him. The question roused him to impart hadith to us, or (sometimes)

began to Impart it at his own will. The above two methods were the commonest

during the era of the companions. People have been contending on which was

the better but majority opinions favour the two.

The companions who collated Ahadith and taught it to others include:

i. ABU HURRAYRAH who transmitted the highest numbers of Ahadith. He

transmitted one thousand two hundred and thirty six traditions as against
the erroneous number of five thousand, three hundred and seventy four
given by Baqr b. Makhalad. This number only represented the number
given of various channels through which he transmitted ahadith. Abu
Hurrayrah was reported to have collated books of ahadith and kept them
personal In his possession. At least, nine of his students were known to have
written ahadith from him.

ii. ABDULLAH IBN cUMAR transmitted two thousand, six hundred and thirty
Ahadlth. There is an authentic report that he had a written collection of
Ahadith. At least eight students wrote ahadith from him.

iii. ANAS B. MALIK who was the prophet’s personal aid for ten years
transmitted two thousand, two hundred and eighty six ahadith and had
sixteen students who wrote ahadith from him.

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 iv. C AISHAH, the widow of the Prophet transmitted two thousand, two
hundred and ten ahadith. Three persons were known to have her ahadith in
written form. They include her nephew cUrwah, one of the greatest scholars
among the tabfcun (successors to the companions of the prophet).

v. ABDULLAH B. ABBAS transmitted one thousand, six hundred and sixty

ahadith. He had nine of his students who had ahadith from him in written
form.

vi. JIBIR B. ABDULLAH transmitted one thousand five hundred and forty
ahadith. In the least, he had fourteen students who recorded ahadith from his
books.

vii. ABU SACD AL-KHUDRI transmitted one thousand, one hundred and
seventy ahadith. He was reported to have been opposed to writing down of
ahadith but according to Khatib, he himself wrote down some Ahadith in a
book form.

viii. ABDULLAH B. MASCUD transmitted seven hundred and forty eight

ahadith. His book of collection was left In possession of his own son.

ix. ABDULLAH B. AMR B. CAS transmitted seven hundred ahadith. He used to

write down ahadith during the life time of the prophet and titled the
collection As-Sahlfat-us-Sidiqah. At least seven of his students had ahadith
from him in written form.

x. UMAR B. AL-KHATTAB transmitted five hundred and thirty seven

ahadith.

xi. ALI B. ABU TALIB transmitted five hundred and thirty six ahadith. At least,
eight of his students had ahadith from him in written form.

xii. ABU MUSA AL-ASHARI transmitted three hundred and sixty ahadith.
Some of these were in posse-ssion of Ibn. Abbas in written formation.

xiii. AL-BARA’ B. CAZIB transmitted three hundred and five Ahadith and he
was known as a person who used to dictated to those who intend to learn
from him.

It is worthy of note that the number of ahadith transmitted by all the above companions

except Abu Hurrayrah and Abdullah b. cUmar may only be repre-senting the channel

which the transmission went through and the actual number transmitted may be much

85
 
lesser than those given above. However, the fact that these transmissions were done in

book forms are buttressing the fact that there actually had been ahadith, in written forms

as far back as the period of the companions.

COLLECTION OF HADITH DURING THE PERIOD OF THE SUCCESSORS

(TABICUN) AND THE EMERGENCE OF SYSTEMATIC COLLECTIONS

Consequent to the period of the companions, the carrying of knowledge of ahadith had

Improved tremen-dously and various methods had been discerned for its transmission

and collection. The methods can be enumerated as follows:

i. Sama’

ii. c Ard

iii. IJazah

iv. Munawalah

v. Kitabah

vi. Iclam

vii. Wasiyah

viii. Wajadah

i. Sama’ - This stands for the method whereby the teacher reads out the
Ahadith to the students. This could be done through oral recitations by the
teacher or the teacher reading from his own books. It enhances answering
of questions by the students and the teacher giving answers to the questions
raised. In the latter days of its existence some students used to appoint a
.person known as Mustamlis due to a large audience repeated loudly what
the teacher dictated. In another case, the mustamlis was a fast writer who
copied the dictation made by the teacher and re-dictated it to the students
or better still, he copied from his own or he dictated it to them. The system
also encouraged proof reading and revisions of materials copied.

ii. c Ard: This is a system whereby readings were made to the hearing of the
teacher. The teacher would initially have given out his book that would

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 have been copied and read back to him. In most cases, a person (qaric) would
read it out amongst the students while others compared notes on ahadith
recorded by them.

iii. Ijazah: This Is the method of permitting someone to transmit a hadith or a

collection of ahadith on the authority of a certain scholar without having read
the book to him. This system (in some cases) provided a kited of safeguard
for the text. For example, when “A” permitted “B” to transmit a collection
of hadith through the authority of “A” then “B” ought to find out a copy of
that collection with an ijazah which contains the name of “A.”

iv. Munawalah: This connotes the system through which an expert on hadith
hands over his manuscripts to another person with the authority to transmit
these Ahadith.

v. Kitabah: This is the act through which a person writes out a number of
ahadith but gives it to another person to transmit. This is regarded as
correspondence. This is said to have started since the early days. The
prophet used to dictate letters to governors and foreign rulers, these letters
contained injunctions that were later narrated and transmitted by his
companions. Official letters written by the caliphs were equally later
trans-mitted as ahadith. Scholars amongst the companions and those
(scholars) who rose much later used to compile written ahadith and send it
to their students. For example, Ibn Abbas wrote (ahadith) to Ibn Mulaikah at
Najdah.

vi. Iclam: This means Informing a person that you (the informer) has an
authority of another (certain) scholar to transmit ahadith on his order. Iclam
attracted series of controversies. Some scholars accepted it while others
rejected it.

vii. Wasiyah: This is the act of entrusting someone with a book of collections of
ahadith with the permission that the entrusted can transmit from that book.
For example, Abu Qilabah entrusted his book to Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani.

viii. Wajadah: This is one of the unscrupulous method of transmitting Ahadith.

It is a way whereby someone finds another person’s collections and
continues to transmit from it without permission. In some cases, the owner
of the collection may be known and in another case, he may not be known.

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B. CRITICISM OF AHADITH (NAQD-AL-HADITH)

The position occupied by hadith as the next to the Qur’an as a source of information and

guidance in Islam is itself the cause of all problems associated with it (hadith). The fact

that its contents must be followed at all times by the Muslims demand that it be clearly

criticized so as to avoid “foreign elements” as well as “fabricated injunctions” from

being mixed with genuine traditions. Criticism of Ahadith in our understanding, is the

effort to distinguish between what is correct and what is not correct. The act of criticism

in ahadith had really commenced since the period of the prophet. It became consolidated

however, during the era of the tabicun when systematic records of ahadith had been in

vogue. During the era of the prophet, criticism was easily carried out by companions

referring back to the prophet any doubt they may have in regard of an issue. The prophet

in turn will explain the issue and clear the ambiguity. Criticism of Ahadith was also

done during the era of the companions. Abu Bakr, cUmar, cAli Abdullah b. Omar and
c Aisha, all used to criticize ahadith without fear or favour. For example, Abu Bakr would

not accept any hadith unknown to him unless there were others to testify to its

authenticity. Once a grandmother came to solicit with him to adjudicate in a matter of

inheritance that she be given a share in the property of her grandson. Abu Bakr replied:

I have not found share for you in the book of Allah. I know not that the prophet

has fixed any share for such a case.

He did not stop at the above statement but commenced an enquiry until he found

companions including Mughirah (whom he trusted) who informed him that the prophet

had fixed one-sixth (1/6) for grandmother. Ali b. Abu Talib used to openly disregard

some innovations of people while Ibn Abbas used to criticize some judgements of cAli

from the point of view of some ahadith used by him. These criticisms were carried out to

ascertain the probity of those who transmitted the reports. Moreover, prior to the

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compilation of the recognized books, there were many books of Ahadith in circulation

which contained spurious and fabricated traditions.

The political instability that began during the reign of Uthman b. Affan and its

subsequent degenera-tion into various parties and sects also served as a major cause for

criticisms of ahadith during this period. Various parties forged ahadith to suit their selfish

caprices. More disturbing was the forgery done by pious men out of fear of

degeneration. They noticed laxity in the ummah and really wanted to avert it by forging

some words of exhortation and referring them back to the Holy Prophet Muhammad

(SAW). Yahya b. Said (d 760 A.D.) made the following remarks in this regard:

“I have not seen more falsehood in anyone than in those who have reputation

for goodness...

Here he means those whose reputations are good but yet indulge in forgery.

SCIENCES UNDER CRITICISMS (NAQD) OF HADITH

The unfaithful events described above led to the emergence of a standardized study on

criticism of hadith (Naqd al-Hadith) in order to “sift grain from shaft” and thus be able to

establish ahadith that are genuine. The criticism is however done under various sciences

in the study of hadith which include:

(a) c ilm al-Riwayat al-Hadith: This is the science of narration or technique of

traditions which is also known as mustalat-al-hadith.

(b) c ilm al-Jarh wal ta’dl: This is a science that deals with the criticisms of the
reporters of ahadith.

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PRINCIPLES GUIDING NAQD-AL-HADITH

The principles guiding criticisms of Ahadith are two namely, those related to the

transmission (isnad) and those related to the text (matn) of the traditions:

(a) Principles related to the transmission (isnad) include this following:

i. Every hadith must be related back to its original reporter through a

continuous chain of trans-mitters whose identity, unquestionable
character and high quality of head and heart must have been
established.

ii. Every hadith reporting a common event which must have been
witnessed by a large number of people must have been originally
reported by several narrators. All traditions who do not agree with
the above two can only be regarded as mawdu traditions.

iii. Principles related to the text (matn) of the traditions include the
following:
• A tradition must not be contrary to text of the Holy Qur’an. Ahadith are
meant to supplement the Qur’an.
• A tradition must not be contrary to another (tradition) already established
as authentic and reliable.
• An hadith must not conflict with the dictates of reason, natural laws and
common experience.
• Ahadith must not mention certain specific unreasonable rewards for
insignificant acts nor should they contain perilous gravity for minor
offences. Any tradition of this kind is to be rejected.
• Ahadith singing the praises of personalities, tribes and particular places are
to be disregarded.
• Traditions drawing scales of preference on Suwar (surahs) of the Qur’an
cannot be accepted because surahs in the Our’an carry the same message of
Allah and thus are equal in importance.
• Traditions which contain information on future occurrences with specific
dales are not only unacceptable but equally mischievous.
These principles relating to both isnad (chain of collectors) and to matn (text of

traditions) are also the principles used in discerning authentic traditions. It is important

to note at this juncture that the system of identifying all narrators in a chain form was

introduced in order to carry out the investigation about their life history and character.

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(B) IJMAC

Ijmac is generally agreed as the third source of Islamic jurisprudence among Muslim

jurists. It is the unanimity of all the learned Muslims of a particular age who have

attained the rank of Ijthad. Ijthad is the capacity for individual juridical interpreta-tion

upon a certain issue after the death of Muhammad, the prophet. It was said that the

Holy Prophet Muhammad himself once asserted that “My ummah will not agree on an

error,” pointing to the fact that jurist Muslims will not be misguided in decisions taken

by them. The learned scholars, when they are in agreement with an opinion as exposed

by a scholar after a senior effort, are seen to have supported such opinion and it then

becomes a reference in law. On the other hand, jurists may be gathered at a particular

venue to discuss a particular issue and eventually agree upon a decision, that decision

also becomes a reference point as an ijmac source.

During the period of the companions of the prophet, the punishment of eighty lashes of

drunkenness was a result of an opinion brought forward by Ali. B. Abi Talib. He opined

that a person who drinks, raves and while raving, he slanders (when talking

unconsciousness) and since punishment for slandering is 80 lashes of the cane, so should

a drunkard also be punished. This was upheld by all other scholars and it thus becomes

stipulated as a form of punishment for drunkenness.

Recently, jurists have come up with opinions on contemporary issues giving new

decisions based on their understanding of the spirits of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. For

example, taking usury is forbidden in Islam but it becomes extremely difficult to ignore

it in the contemporary world as the financial institutions may give it out as charity to

organizations that may eventually use it against the interest of the Muslims who have

rejected it. In that case, the jurists had given a decision that it can be taken but must be

distributed as charity to the needy and the indigents, individuals or organizations.

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(C) QIYAS

This is the fourth source from which the Muslims derive their source of law and

information. This is a way whereby a scholar directs that something be done using his

personal opinion based on his understanding of the Qur’an, the sunnah and sometimes

the decisions of scholars on a given issue (ijma). One of the bases for this was when the

prophet sent Mu’adh b. Jabal to Yemen as a judge and enquired from him what he

would use to judge. He responded that he would use the Qur’an. “What, if you cannot

find an explicit (guide for) the judgment there?” the prophet asked. I shall use the sunnah

of the prophet,” responded Mu’adh: “Yet if you do not find that sufficient ... (in a

particular case)?” the prophet further enquired. I shall use my discretion,” Muadh said.

The Prophet thereafter praised Allah who had guided the messenger of His prophet.

The above is an indication that scholars individual discretion can be resorted to when

explicit details cannot be found on a particular issue of law. Qiyas has so many

terminologies in use among different schools of thought. The hanafis, for example, refer

to it as ray and people who use it as Ahl-al-Ray.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdul, M.O.A., The Religion of Islam: Studies in Islam Series I (Islamic Publications
Bureau, Lagos, 1971).

Abdalati, Hammudah, Islam in Focus (Islamic Teaching Center, America, n.d.).

Adetona, L.M., The Abuse of Islamic Rites and Ceremonies in Contemporary Nigerian
Society (Albasit Productions, Lagos, 1995).

Ali, Muhammad, The Religion of Islam (Taj Co., Delhi, 1984).

Doi, Abdur Rahman, The Cardinal Principles of Islam (Islamic Publications Bureau,
Lagos, 1980).

Doi, Abdur Rahman, Shariah: The Islamic Law (TaHa Publishers, London, 1980).

   

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