Massoud Vahedi

As-Salamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh, In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Project Ihya is pleased to announce the release of the Introduction to our response series addressing some of the most common objections to the Hadith tradition, using Joshua Little's list of 21 objections as its framework. This project is the combined effort of the Project Ihya Research Team which is composed of traditionally trained scholars and academic researchers in the Islamic sciences, particularly Hadith, and modern academics as well as external reviewers. It seeks to present rigorous, accessible, and academically robust responses that engage both the classical Islamic tradition and contemporary historical scholarship. Researchers, students, and serious readers can expect to gain insight into many of the technical dimensions of Hadith studies in a manner that is rarely available in the English language. Throughout this series, complex questions and methodological issues will be examined in depth, supported by detailed examples and accompanied by clear, well-reasoned conclusions. Today, we are releasing the Introduction, which highlights several important epistemological and methodological frameworks that will be relevant throughout the discussions to come. The first response to Joshua Little's objections will be released shortly, God willing, with subsequent responses following periodically. Once the series is complete, all of the responses will be revised, expanded with additional notes, and compiled into a single volume, God willing. We ask Allah ﷻ to accept this effort, make it beneficial for the Ummah, and grant us sincerity, correctness, and acceptance. The Introduction is available for download at: https://projectihya.com/publications/

. هل أجاز شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية المسح على الخف الذي دون الكعب في الوضوء؟ .

"Quṭrub the Grammarian stated that Arabic words can be classified into three categories based on the relationship between their wording (lafẓ) and their meaning: 1. Words that differ in both wording and meaning. For example, rajul (man) and faras (horse) are distinct in both their wording and the concepts they denote. This category (#1) is known as tabāyun (dissimilarity or complete distinction). 2. Words that differ in wording but share the same referent. Although such words may carry different connotations or nuances, they ultimately denote the same entity. For example, the Names of Allah are distinct in their meanings and implications, yet they all refer to the one Divine Essence (al-tarāduf min bāb al-dalālah ʿalā al-dhāt). This category (#2) is known as tarāduf (synonymy). 3. A single word that has one wording but multiple meanings. For example, the word ʿayn can refer to the eye, a spring of water, or other meanings depending on the context. This category (#3) is known as mushtarak (homonymy). A student of knowledge * must * memorize this division, and not merely learn it passively, write it in an exam, and later forget it. Retain this knowledge within you until you die!" - Sh. 'Ali ibn Salih al-Marri

. ‏ذكر الكتاني في فهرس الفهارس: في البداءة برواية الحديث المسلسل بالأولية: «الراحمون يرحمهم الرحمن»، قال: "ليعلم الطالب أن مبنى العلم على التراحم". فهرس الفهارس (١/ ٩٣)

"إذا قال المجتهد: هذا حكم منصوص، أراد أنه ليس بقياس. و إذا قال المقلد: هذا منصوص، أراد أنه من قول الأئمة، لا من تخريجه أو تخريج المتأخرين." - الشيخ أحمد بن محمد شاعري الزيتوني

Spiderman: Brand New Ijtihad

Sign up link to study Maqasid al Shariah with Dr. Mahmoud Abdul Rahman We will study Tahdheeb Al Muwafaqaat first https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14x9UjnjfJD-89wVdZkKrtJA_ZbOTg8IleLJhVGTInLw/edit First class began today this will be the last week to sign up.

"Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Sa'di began teaching other students when he was only about 22 years old, despite him continuing his studies with his teachers at the same time. This indicates his early intellectual maturity, and that his teachers granted him permission to teach and lead his own sessions. - Sh. 'Ali ibn Salih al-Marri

فائدة: "أهل المشرق يقولون الأصفهاني أو الإصفهاني، وأهل المغرب يقولون الأصبهاني أو الإصبهاني. فالفاء لغة أهل المشرق والباء لغة أهل المغرب." - الشيخ سامي الصقير

"ما الفائدة من الإجماع إذا كان لابد له من مستند؟!" https://x.com/Yaser_Alnashmi/status/2082833387576787441

Muhammad Qasim Will Return on Avengers: Doomsday.

Martin Luther King Jr: "I have a dream." Muhammad Qasim: "Hold my alarm clock."

You can't demand respect for your favourite contemporary speaker on the grounds that "we need to respect our 'ulema" when that same contemporary speaker undermines the authority of past 'ulema as being naive by "banning coffee" and "banning the printing press." Maybe the first act of respect is avoiding the use of Orientalist tropes when talking about the past 'ulema.

قال الدكتور فؤاد بن يحيى الهاشمي: "أما كلام ابن تيمية وتلميذه ابن القيم في صرف كلام الإمام أحمد إلى الحديث الحسن، فهو تأويل متكلف تدفعه النصوص المتكاثرة والمفصلة عن الإمام أحمد في قبول الحديث الضعيف واستعماله، ناهيك عن أصحاب أحمد وتلامذته، ناهيك عن القاضي أبي يعلى، الذي يعد مرحلة مستقلة في بناء المذهب الحنبلي. مع ما في صرف كلام الإمام أحمد في الحديث الضعيف إلى "الحسن" من إشكالات علمية كبيرة لم تحل إلى الساعة."

Whether Baig is right or not, bringing up a broad secondary source is a vague way to protest. If you think Baig erred in interpreting a particular madhhab's view, bring a source from that particular madhhab. Also, it is worth noting that al-Jaziri's book is not that accurate - let alone being "canonical" (which the reviewer claims) - in discussing the views of the Four Madhhabs. Al-Zuhayli's work (which the reviewer did not cite) has been received much more warmly. But none of these works are perfect, which is why their summarized presentations of the madhhabs' views should be taken with caution and not treated as authoritative. Then the reviewer brings up the whole "it's contextual" argument, saying that the Shari'ah is not fixed, can change, etc., bringing up terms like maslahah and qawa'id fiqhiyyah to discuss how the ruling of music can change in the modern context. It beats me how qawa'id can be brought up here (unless maybe he wants to talk about the listener's intent and why they are listening to songs, but the point is vague), but the argument of maslahah is quite lacking as well. Maslahah is a posterior evidence, an evidence resorted to when textual proofs do not address a legal matter. If the reviewer wanted to nullify Baig's argument, he should have dedicated time and space discussing the authenticity and legal denotation of the hadiths proscribing music (which Baig cited and discussed at length). This he did not do, so why we should entertain the maslalah argument remains an open question.

I find some book reviews written by academics to be excessively pompous, sometimes just written for the sake of venting against the author and throwing in some ad hominems and insults in the way. In this review of Khalid Baig's book Slippery Stone (which is on the ruling of music; *spoiler*: Baig says it is impermissible), the reviewer honestly brings up some weak - yet very heated - objections against Baig. He objects to Baig's argument that the Four Madhhabs prohibit music by citing al-Jaziri's al-Fiqh ‘ala al-Madhahib al-Arba‘ah, which in his view articulates a more relaxed view. The problem here is that Baig cited primary sources for each madhhab and dedicated a separate entry for each.