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Do we Need A New Understanding of Islam?
Author : Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalayleh
Date Added : 01-03-2015

Do We Need A New Understanding of Islam

 

 

Islam is Allah`s religion which He has approved to all mankind and through which he has sealed heavenly laws, completed virtuous behavior, and observed man`s nature and honor on this earth. It is so clear that it is understood by people from different backgrounds. Allah Says in the Noble Quran (What means): "Say thou: "This is my way: I do invite unto God,- on evidence clear as the seeing with one’s eyes,- I and whoever follows me. Glory to God! and never will I join gods with God!" [Yousef/108]. In light of the gruesome events befalling our nation at this critical time along with the acts committed in the name of Islam, some calls have emerged and these promote drawing a new map to Islam based on a new understanding of it. Unfortunately, these calls found a fertile soil for their growth due to the previously mentioned acts from which Muslims themselves have suffered before others. Therefore, are we really in need for a new understanding of Islam through drawing a new map to it and rephrasing texts of the Quran and Sunna (Prophetic tradition)?

Such calls contain a great deal of extremism that outweighs that which we are already facing. The repercussions will be so disastrous that the door will be wide open for more extremism and violence through providing different pretexts for extremists and everyone who has a tendency for extremism. These calls will appear as an invitation to waging war against Islam and a golden opportunity to attack it, and may be they are already as such whether their proponents had good intentions or not.

Undoubtedly, we are in a dire need to carry out serious reconsiderations of our understanding to Islam. If we are to define the nature and form of these reconsiderations, then we had better say that today we are in need for a sound understanding of our religion and its texts, and that we should start filtering it from impurities and ideas which are taken for granted by some scholars and  laymen. As a result, these have infected the Islamic mind with illnesses, which influenced our methodology of thinking and understanding. Thus, these acts and repercussions were a definite result for such illnesses.

Sound understanding of Islam must be built on sound bases: First, adherence to the Quran. Second, sound adherence to the Prophet`s Sunna. Third, sound understanding of their texts in light of the overall rules and intentions of Islamic Sharia in alienation from any deviations, distortions, or subjective interpretation of texts to support a certain thought or belief, or justify a certain act. This understanding must also be based on the rules and principles of Ijtihad (independent reasoning), and the suitable Ijtihad of earlier scholars, which are connected with the principles of Islamic Sharia and takes the wants and needs of this era into consideration, and agree with the overall  intentions and rules of Islamic Sharia.  By Filtering lots of opinions, acts of Ijtihad, and books of Jurisprudence in general, I don`t mean deleting them altogether, rather, intend to make their reader realize that they targeted a certain time or circumstance that doesn`t fit our era; or they came within the framework of an act of Ijtihad that had deviated from the methodology of sound understanding to the nature of our religion and its relation to life. This filtering doesn`t harm us or undermine our Islamic jurisprudence or belittle its status, God forbids, because Al-Imam Ahmad (May Allah have mercy on him) said that opinions of scholars are either adopted or dismissed except those of our Prophet (PBUH). Therefore, it isn`t permissible to shed blood, violate peoples` honor and usurp their properties based on some scholars` views which contradict the texts of the Quran and the Sunna as well as the overall intentions of Islamic Sharia. Such views are even regarded more sacred than the Quran and the Sunna through being adopted as a basis for reasoning instead of the Quranic texts, the sound Sunna and the methodology of Ijtihad which is based on sound understanding.

We must realize that since the death of our Prophet (PBUH) until today, our history has witnessed many scholars, Mujtahideen (Those who resort to independent reasoning), and thinkers, who did their best within the frame of their daily life, community and time. Thus, it isn`t acceptable for any group or sect during any stage of our history to impose the view of a particular scholar on others as the true religion which can`t be subjected to Ijtihad or interpretation and which should be imposed with the sword as a mercy to all creatures!! Nowadays, our Islamic world is actually witnessing a living example of this.

Yes, today we are in need for a sound understanding of Islam, but not a new one because sound understanding paves the road for our nation to overcome its illnesses and achieve its renaissance. And Allah Knows Best.

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Is it permissible for one who sacrifices on behalf of another, with the latter's permission, to eat from the sacrifice?

It is permissible for someone who sacrificed on behalf of another with their permission to eat from it with their permission, and they stand in their place (act as their representative) in distributing it.
 
It is stated in Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (Vol.8/P.141): "And he—meaning the one sacrificing on his own behalf, provided he has not apostatized—has the right to eat from a voluntary sacrifice and his sacrificial gift; rather, it is recommended. As for an obligatory sacrifice, it is forbidden for him to eat from it, whether it was designated as such initially or as a liability in his dhimmah. And excluded by what has preceded is if he sacrifices on behalf of another, or if he apostatized, then it is not permissible for him to eat from it, just as it is absolutely impermissible to feed a disbeliever from it."(The text I found indicates the impermissibility of eating) ???
 
And it is stated in Hashiyat al-Jamal ‘ala Sharh al-Manhaj (Vol.5/P.262): "If a person offers a sacrifice on behalf of a living person with their permission, does he act as their representative in distributing it—on the grounds that permission to sacrifice is permission to distribute it—or does it depend on their explicit permission? This requires consideration, but the first view is not far-fetched." And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on istibra' and how is it performed?

Istibra' (cleansing from urine) is recommended. It is for a person to ensure that nothing remains of urine in its passage before performing istinja'. Its method is: to clear the throat (or cough slightly), shake the penis (meaning to pass fingers along it to expel any remaining urine if needed), and walk a few steps to the extent that one thinks nothing of urine remains if walking is needed. Each person knows his own nature best. The preferred opinion is that this differs among people. The objective is for one to think that nothing remains in the urinary passage that he fears will exit later. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

A man led the people in prayer as imam, and at the end of the prayer he performed a prostration of forgetfulness (*sujūd al-sahw*) because he had omitted a short *sūrah* after al-Fātiḥah. What is the ruling on his prayer and that of those praying behind him?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
According to the Shāfiʿī school, it is sunnah to recite a sūrah after al-Fātiḥah in the prayer. One who omits it has a valid prayer, and no prostration of forgetfulness (sujūd al-sahw) is prescribed for omitting it. If someone performs sujūd al-sahw for its omission while knowing the ruling and remembering it, his prayer is invalidated. But one who is ignorant of the ruling, or who did so out of forgetfulness, his prayer is not invalidated, because this is among the matters that are obscure to people, and ignorance of it is not restricted to those who recently entered Islam.
Shaykh al-Islām al-Shams al-Ramlī said in Nihāyat al-Muḥtāj ilā Sharḥ al-Minhāj (Vol.2/p.70): “The remaining sunnahs are not compensated for by prostration, such as the remembrances (adhkār) of bowing and prostration, that is, the opening supplication (duʿāʾ al-iftitāḥ) and the sūrah, in accordance with the base rule, because they are not of the same nature as what has been reported [as compensable]. If one prostrates for any of them deliberately, his prayer is invalidated, unless he is excused due to ignorance. As for the objection raised that the ignorant person does not know that sujūd al-sahw is prescribed, and whoever knows it knows its place, this is refuted by denying such a necessary connection, for the ignorant person may hear only that sujūd al-sahw is prescribed before the salām, and so assume that it applies to every sunnah and is not restricted to its prescribed place.”
This is among the matters that are obscure, in which the mukallaf is excused for ignorance, as stated by al-Shabrāmallisī in his Ḥāshiyah ʿalā Nihāyat al-Muḥtāj (Vol.2/p.70).
However, if the imam prostrates, and the follower (maʾmūm) presumes that his imam’s prostration is for a reason for which one does not prostrate, it is not permissible to follow him in it, so long as the follower knows the ruling.
Accordingly, the prayer of one who did not recite a sūrah after al-Fātiḥah is valid, and sujūd al-sahw is not prescribed for it. Whoever prostrates out of ignorance or forgetfulness, his prayer is valid, because this is among the issues hidden from the general public. But whoever prostrates while knowing the ruling and remembering it, his prayer is invalidated. And Allah Almighty knows best.

Is it permissible for a pious Muslim woman to stay with her husband who had quit praying out of laziness?

Quitting prayer is one of the major grave sins that come after disbelieving in Allah, but the wife of such a person isn`t considered divorced, rather, she should exert all her efforts in order to bring him back to the way of Islam. However, if his sin is likely to lure her from the way of Islam, then she had better separate from him by lawful means such as Mokhal`aa (When a wife pays a compensation for her husband in return for divorcing her). Moreover, if she exercises patience, and remains steadfast on her faith, then there is no harm in doing that.

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