Massoud Vahedi

Sunnah vs. Hadith ‘Abdurrahman Ibn Mahdi said: “Al-Awza'i is an Imam when it comes to the Sunnah, but not in Hadith. Sufyan [ibn Uyaynah] is an imam in Hadith, but not in the Sunnah. Malik is an imam in both [the Sunnah and Hadith].” —————————————————————————— By this he meant that Imam Malik was skilled in both knowing hadiths - in their transmitted and authentic form - and which ones are actable and which ones are not (i.e. which hadiths are normative and legally relavant). Al-Awza'i had a strong juristic acumen and was on the mark in many legal issues, but he seemed to over rely on weak hadiths and use them as foundational proofs in areas where they were not relavant. Sufyan was a great hadith memorizer and could appraise a hadith's authenticity, but he did not have the juristic skill or acumen of Imam Malik and other Imams to identify which hadiths are actable and which ones are not.

"Be the hero who is unsung on Earth, praised in the Heavens." - Dr. Suheil Laher

"Every single hadith that the narrator al-Harith al-A'war is alone in narrating from 'Ali radiya Allahu 'anhu is rejected and worthless [with respect to its authenticity]." - Sh. Ibrahim ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Sallum

Majd al-Dīn al-Fīrūzābādī said: "The chapters (collecting narrations) concerning the virtues of Jerusalem, the Rock (Sakhrah), 'Asqalan, Qazwin, al-Andalus, and Damascus do not contain any authentic hadith. The only exceptions for this are the hadith, 'Journeys are not undertaken except towards three masjids,' and the hadith, 'He (peace be upon him) was asked concerning the first masjid that was set on the Earth. He (peace be upon him) said: "It was al-Masjid al-Haram." It was said, "Then what?" He (peace be upon him) said: "Then al-Masjid al-Aqsa."'" - Sifr al-Saʿādah

Scholar preaching Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat: "There is no such thing as Dar al-Islam or Dar al-Harb in the modern world, it's all just one human civilization. We need to think of the world as one village." Same scholar preaching Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat: "We allow interest-based transactions in the West because of the Hanafi position that allows dealing with Riba in Dar al-Harb. And the West is considered Dar al-Harb..."

"It is reported that in the latter parts of his life, Imam Ahmad used to frequently recite Surat al-Kahf as mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in Manaqib al-Imam [Ahmad]. The secret behind that - and Allah knows best - is that the Prophet peace be upon him said: 'You will be tried in your graves [in a manner which will be] like or near the fitnah of Masih al-Dajjal.' It is well-known that whoever memorizes from the first ten verses of Surat al-Kahf, they will be protected from the fitnah of the Dajjal. So if the fitnah of the grave is like the fitnah of the Dajjal or near it, and a person frequently reads from Surat al-Kahf, then perhaps Allah will protect them from this great fitnah [of the grave as well]." - Shaykh Fahd al-Mutairi

"Knowledge does not benefit you automatically. You must purify your hearts, O brothers! You are jealous of so-and-so, sensitive with another person, have issues with a third person, and so on, and yet you still want to benefit from your knowledge? How is this possible, my brother?! Ibn Rajab said: 'Knowledge is a [divinely decreed] light that penetrates the heart of the [righteous] servant.' But your heart is *full of* envy, malice, and annoyance towards some of your Muslims. We seek Allah's refuge from His wrath! How can this heart full of jealousy and malice towards one peers and contemporaries - from the believers and fellow students of knowledge - have this light? That is not how things are done! As the poem goes: 'That is not the way camels are led [to drink], O Sa'd!' You want knowledge? Purify your heart! Purify it, my brother. Purify it from what? From malice, hatred, envy, animosity, and severing family relations. You mention such and such fact you've learnt or say, 'I have memorized this book,' but towards where are you actually heading if you have the above problems? Imam Ahmad used to say: 'Do not increase the number of proofs against yourself!' The foundation of knowledge is the fear of Allah Most High. Don't accumulate the number of proofs against yourself by learning and memorizing all these issues, yet you lack this foundation." - Sh. 'Abd al-Mannan Muhammad 'Abd Allah Maqbul

"The online Da'wah scene would instantly improve if half of the speakers involved became full-time Uber drivers and the other half took mandatory therapy sessions." –– one of my friends

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin changed his position on a number of legal issues. Quite a few of these changes relate to the chapter of Haydh, and are interesting to note: 1) he used to consider the Kudrah before the Haydh to assume the ruling of Haydh if it was accompanied with contextual indicators (such as pain and cramps), but then he abandoned this position and said that Haydh is only the blood, and the Kudrah coming before it is disregarded. 2) He first opined that Nifas has no maximum time period, but then he left this position and said that its maximum is 40 days. 3) He first held the view that the Mustahadah should make Wudu at the time of every Salah, but then he left this view, saying that her purification is not invalidated by their state, as long as none of the other customary invalidators of Wudu occur.

Imam al-Ghazali said: "The most foolish of people are the ones most convinced of their own intellectual acumen, whereas the truly intelligent are distinguished by self-scrutiny and a consistent willingness to seek the counsel of learned scholars."

"The number of people who are able to say the Shahadah at the point of death are very few. Perhaps I mentioned previously a story, and there is nothing to prevent one from mentioning it again, since it is a necessary spiritual reminder for all of us. I asked a noble doctor who works at a university hospital: How many people have you witnessed at their deathbed [in your work experience]? He mentioned a number that was close to 1700. I said: Of those 1700, how many of them did you see utter the Shahadah [before dying]? He said: Maybe four or five. La ilaha illallah! La ilaha illallah! This is because - and we ask from Allah well-being ('afiyah), a good end, and being able to say it at the end of life - many people are busy with their world, don't take these things seriously, and hope to keep living even at that point, and fear that if they say it at that stage they will die, so they refrain from saying it. And perhaps many of them were heedless of this during their lives, so they are not given tawfiq to say it. One is not facilitated in saying it in this place unless one who constantly says it, remembers it, and bears it in their mind at all times; this is the one who remembers it and says it ... Then later on I re-examined this issue with the doctor. He said: the number of deaths [from the original 1700] have now increased. I asked: what about the number of people who say the Shahadah? He said: They did not increase. La ilaha illallah! I said to him: Brother, what do they say to you [when dying]? He stayed silent for a while, and then said: Some of them say insults, some of them curse, and some of them say the most disgusting of words. We ask Allah for our well-being and security. For this reason, let a person accustom his tongue in saying the kalimah at all times, for it is not an easy thing to say at all [at the point of death]." - Dr. Mansur al-'Idi

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz stated: “Whoever turns his religion into a matter of disputation will inevitably be prone to frequent changes in his position.”

Sulayman 'alayhi al-Salam is reported to have said: "If speech is silver, then silence is gold.”

Why Arabic Syntax Matters In Surat al-Buruj (verses 14-15), Allah says: ( وهو الغفورُ الودودُ * ذو العرشِ المجيدُ) The word al-Majid (lit. Glorious) could actually be read in two ways: al-Majidu (المجيدُ), or al-Majidi (المجيدِ), which are known as the nominative (al-raf') and genitive (al-jarr) states respectively. If the word al-Majid is read in the nominative state, then it will be read here as denoting an attribute of Allah: "He is the Lord of the Throne, and [He is] the Most Glorious." But if it is read in the genitive state, then it will be an attribute of the Throne: "He is the Lord of the Glorious Throne." Both of these readings are valid (see Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 14/313). Note how this difference in syntax plays a role in Qur'anic translations. Abdel Haleem picks the nominative reading, while Pickthall adopts the genitive reading (The Glorious referring to Allah vs. the Throne).

Three Muftis, Three Answers! It is reported that a man went to Imam Abu Hanifah and said: "I am doubtful of whether I divorced my wife." The Imam said: "Nothing is due upon you until you become certain that you did [issue a pronouncement of divorce]." The man then asked Sufyan al-Thawri the same question, who said: "It will not harm you [to assume you issued a divorce and] declare your intention to take her back [as your wife]." Then he went and posed the question to Sharik al-Qadi, who said: "Issue the divorce upon her, and then take her back." The man then went to Zufar ibn al-Hudhayl – the student of Imam Abu Hanifah – and related to him the various verdicts issued in the matter. Zufar said: "As for the Imam [Abu Hanifah], his verdict is based on the law, al-Thawri ruled in accordance with caution and forbearance, while Sharik gave a judgement that is grounded on reason." Then Zufar provided an example to demonstrate these three paradigms. Suppose a man doubts whether his garment has been contaminated with filth: should he wash it or assume that it is pure? If he went to Imam Abu Hanifah, he would say that there is nothing upon him unless he becomes certain that filth has contaminated the garment. If he went to al-Thawri, he would say that there is no harm in washing it. And if he went to Sharik, he would say that one should urinate on the garment [to make sure it becomes filthy], and then wash it! - cited in Mulla 'Ali Qari's Sharh Musnad Abi Hanifah

من اللبنات العلمية المشكِّلة لبناء الحافظ ابن حجر العسقلاني (مؤلفات الحافظ مغلطاي)، وكان لابن حجر اعتناء فائق بها على حصافة في التلقي وفطنة في الأخذ، فلا يتقلد ما فيها بمجرد ذكر مغلطاي له، وإنما كما قال عن نفسه في «تهذيب التهذيب»: (وقد انتفعتُ في هذا الكتاب المختصر بالكتاب الذي جمعه الإمام العلامة علاء الدين مغلطاي على «تهذيب الكمال»، مع عدم تقليدي له في شيء مما ينقله، وإنما استعنت به في العاجل، وكشفت الأصول التي عزا النقل إليها في الآجل، فما وافق أثبتُّه وما باين أهملتُه). وهذه طريقته في «فتح الباري». وقد ذكر الحافظ ابن حجر في ترجمة الحافظ علاء الدين مغلطاي أن كتبه -على كثرة فائدتها، وعزة نقولها، وحسن جمعها- تشتمل على أوهام. وعلق الحافظ السخاوي فقال: (والحق أنه كثير الاطلاع، واسع الدائرة في الجمع، ومن يكون كذلك لا يُنكر ما يتفق له من الأوهام). وهذا السبب الذي ذكره السخاوي حق في طبيعة الإنسان، فالمكثر يعرض له من الغلط ما لا يعرض لغيره. لكن ابن حجر لا يريد الأوهام التي تتفق لكل أحد بحكم النسيان أو الذهول، وإنما يشير إلى قدر زائد اختصت به كتب مغلطاي، وإلا ما استدعى التنبيه على ذلك في ترجمته. وفتش عن تعقبات الحافظ ابن حجر على مغلطاي في «فتح الباري» و«تهذيب التهذيب» تجدها جمة. ويصلح إفرادها في بحث لطيف. وقد يكون من أسباب كثرة أوهام مغلطاي، ما تلمسه من ترجمته، مما وصفه به العلماء: ١) كثرة اعتماده على المطالعة بنفسه والقراءة لوحده، مع قلة مشايخه وندرتهم. قيل في ترجمته: (وأكثر جداً من القراءة بنفسه). وقيل: (وكان ساكناً، جامد الحركة، كثير المطالعة والكتابة والدأب). حتى إن العلماء لم يسلِّموا له السماع من عددٍ من المشايخ قد ادعى السماع عليهم، ولم يقروا له ادعاءه التلمذة على ابن دقيق العيد، ولم يرضوا منه ادعاءه الإجازة من فخر الدين ابن البخاري. ٢) كثرة اشتغاله بتصحيح كلام السابقين، واعتراضه على الأئمة المتقدمين، وبيان المآخذ في كلام السالفين. وكثير من كتبه تصحيحات واستدراكات. وقيل في ترجمته: (عدة تصانيفه نحو المائة أو أزيد، وله مآخذ على أهل اللغة وعلى كثير من المحدثين). فهذان سببان يصلح كل واحد منهما لأن يزيد من أوهامه رحمه الله، فكيف إذا اجتمعا في واحد؟ لأن الاقتصار على الكتب والمطالعة -لا سيما في المخطوطات المنسوخة الأولى- يوقع في الوهم. ثم الاشتغال بالتصحيح والتعقب والاستدراك والمؤاخذة أبلغ في وصل الرجل بالوهم والغلط؛ لأنه إذا خطَّأ العالِم الأولَ فكأنما قال: "المصيب أحدنا". ويصير كلما تعقب عالماً أو استدرك عليه في مسألة كأنما يقامر على غلط العالم وصوابِ نفسه، فيرتفع احتمال وقوعه في الوهم والغلط، بخلاف من لم يشغل نفسه بالتصحيح لأهل العلم والاستدراك عليهم. والتسبيب بهذين أظهر عندي مما سبب به السخاوي رحمه الله.