Massoud Vahedi

Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi played an immense role in defending the Turāth during the latter parts of the 20th century, but in the West there is an unhealthy infatuation with him. Some speakers in the West elevate his statements or legal positions to the level of absolute proofs to shield themselves from criticism whenever they speak of "reform". It is as if they are saying: "How can you criticize me when al-Qaradawi held the same view?" Al-Qaradawi was a great writer and thinker, but his legal methodology was not consistent (e.g. on some issues, he says the statement of a Companion is a legal proof, in other issues, he says it is not). Some of his positions are indeed problematic, and they have been been rightfully criticized, like the issue of when a non-Muslim woman converts to Islam and the status of her marriage with her husband who does not convert (as Dr. al-Naji Lamin notes, Qaradawi did not interpret Ibn al-Qayyim's words on the topic correctly). This also serves as a warning that even figures who speak a lot about the importance of maqasid - like al-Qaradawi - can actually end up violating the most basic and intuitive rulings concerning them.

الأصل أن ما جعله المرداوي المذهب في «الإنصاف» هو الذي في «تصحيح الفروع»، وهو كذلك الذي في «التنقيح». لكن هناك مسائل جعل المرداوي المذهب فيها في «الإنصاف» غير الذي في «تصحيح الفروع»، وأحيانا يتفق «الإنصاف» و «تصحيح الفروع» على حكم، ويخالف ذلك في «التنقيح». وهذا الخلاف بين كتب المرداوي الثلاثة قد يكون من أسباب الخلاف بين «المنتهى» و «الإقناع». 📕 مدارج تفقه الحنبلي

Haqiqatjou's Cat: “In the absence of evidence and lack of further verification, the Cat Video is both AI-generated and completely real."

This is from al-Jaziri's Umdah al-Safwah. You will see that Ibn al-Najjar says (جوابي كذلك). His answer is actually in line with the rest of the prohibitionists cited before him. Al-Jaziri's comment explaining the context of these fatwas comes after.

When A Misreading Leads to an Incorrect Inference The Shaykh who wrote this post has drawn a questionable inference. Claim: The claim being made by the Shaykh in this post is that as opposed to many other jurists in his time, the Hanbali scholar Shihab al-Din Ahmad b. al-Najjar permitted coffee, and excused the other Muftis who forbade it. Reality: Shihab al-Din Ahmad b. al-Najjar did not permit coffee; like other Egyptian scholars mentioned by al-Jaziri in this chapter, he actually sided with the prohibitionists from the other schools. He indicated this stance by clearly appending to the other Fatwas prohibiting coffee (جوابي كذلك). The rest of the statement (فقد علمت أن فتوى هؤلاء ...) is not that of Ibn al-Najjar (as the Shaykh here assumes), but al-Jaziri's commentary on all of the previous Fatwas. It is al-Jaziri who is excusing all the prohibitionists, * not * Ibn al-Najjar.

25 year olds when they finish reading Shaykh 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi's book on the permissibility of smoking and Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaziri's book on the permissibility of drinking coffee on the same day. P.S. I am not 25.

قال القرافي رحمه الله: "...لا يقال هذا مذهب مالك أو الشافعي إلا فيما يختص به لأنه ظاهر اللفظ في الإضافة و الاختصاص."

Ala' al-Din al-Baji (d. 714), the expert faqih and legal theorist under whom Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756) had studied the science of usul al-fiqh, would not pronounce a fatwa on any issue unless he was convinced by the evidence (dalil) behind it. If he was not convinced by the legal proof, he would simply say: "The position of al-Shafi'i is such-and-such", or "The correct opinion according to the scholars of the school is such-and-such", refraining from affirming it himself. -Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyyah al-Kubra 10/341

Sharing a poorly made AI generated video without any verification is a ridiculously bad move. But all of this is worth it because it guarantees a thousand likes on Twitter/X.

In just roughly a decade, American Fiqh went from - "We have to follow the qawl rajih and make sure we are sticking to the truth," to - "We have to do talfiq between this shadhdh position found in a random book of comparative fiqh (which we're not even sure that Imam held) with a weak 3rd riwayah in the Hanbali school so we can make sure our life is easy as possible as Muslim Minorities." Now it's all pragmatism, utility, and optics, where we're holding on to some type of Ikhwanized Fiqh that has no principles or consistency.

The great Maliki Shaykh and final of the Muhaqiqqin (proficient verifiers) in al-Ahsa' (Saudi Arabia) was Shaykh Muhammad b. Ibrahim Al Shaykh Mubarak.* He was proficient in 3 madhhabs (Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali), and would lead classes devoted to each one in particular. He had students who ended up specializing in one of the above schools. - summarized from Shaykh Qays b. Muhammad Al Shaykh Mubarak *not to be confused with Shaykh Muhammad b. Ibrahim, who was a Hanbali and the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia

A good critique written by Shaykh Kehlan regarding Dr. Bashshar's rejection of the hadiths concerning the Mahdi: https://www.facebook.com/kehlan.salman/posts/pfbid0VQK32BqNCnmpCBge9ZYuZ2BUgzatdgJXfCQhrH4ReeCfi4ztfTRojh1WXNcPQQyol

Shaykh Maher al-Fahl - a major Iraqi hadith scholar - has heavily criticized Dr. Bashshar 'Awwad Ma'ruf for his mistakes in his tahqiqat, and has shown that Dr. Ma'ruf contradicts himself numerous times in the gradings he issues for hadiths found in the Sunans of al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. Today, you will find many people promoting and sharing Dr. Ma'ruf's views/statements on a whole host of issues, but the fact of the matter is that many of them are weak and unsupported positions. People who study hadith sooner or later realize that his tahqiqat, while helpful, should be read with caution.

مميزات المذهب الحنبلي في الأصول: قال الشيخ الفاضل محمد بن عبدالرحمن آل إسماعيل الحنبلي: "ولو نظرنا في أصول مذهب أحمد لوجدنا مذهبه فيه: 1- القول بالمصالح المرسلة ويقول بها المالكية ولا يقول بها الشافعية. 2- القول بالاستحسان ويقول به الحنفية ويتوسعون فيه ويرد الشافعية بل نسب للشافعي رحمه الله قوله: ((من استحسن فقد شرَّع)) في مقام الذم والتنفير. 3- الأصل في الأعيان الانتفاع ويقول به المالكية ولا يقول به الشافعية. 4- الأصل في الأشياء الحل ولا يقول به الشافعية. 5- القول بسد الذريعة ويقول به المالكية ولا يقول به الشافعية. 6- كل العقود مباحة إلا ما ورد نص بتحريمه ويقول به المالكية ولا يقول به الشافعية. 7- الجمع بين الدليلين بمعنى إعمالهما لا إلغاء أحدهما".

قال عبد الرزاق السنهوري: "إن الفقه الإسلامي هو كثوب، راعى الشارع في صنعه جسم من يلبسه وكان صغيرا، ولحظ في صنعه نمو الجسم في المستقبل. فبسط في القماش بحيث يمكن توسيع الثوب مع نمو الجسم."

_ يقولُ الأستاذ محمد أبو زهرة : " إن القارىءَ لهذا الكتابِ الذي قالَ أهلُ الخبرةِ فيه: إنه مِن عجائب الدهر، يرى كيف وضع النظرياتِ الجامعة، وكيف أن الفقهَ الإسلامي ليس حلولًا جزئيةً لا تربطها قاعدةٌ، ولا يضبطها ضابطٌ فكري، بل أسسَّ جامعة ضابطةً، ولو أن فقهًا كان يعد حلولًا جزئية لكان الفقه الحنبليّ ؛ لأنه فقهٌ يقوم على الآثارِ السلفية، سواء أكانت أحاديثَ عن رسول الله ﷺ ، أم كانت أقضيةً وفتاوى للسلفِ الصالح، وكان يفتي في الوقائعِ ولا يفرض فروضًا، ولا يجمع المسائلَ في قياسِ فيجعل العلة مطردة، ومع هذه المظاهرِ الخاصة بالفقه الحنبلي، قد جمعت قواعده وضبطت مسائله في ضوابطٍ جامعة لا تشذ فروعها، وتستقيم أحكامُها، فدلَّ ذلك على أنه لم تكن الفتاوى حلولًا تعتمد على الخواطرِ السانحةِ بل كانت تعتمد على مناهجَ ومسالكَ ثابتةٍ بعناصرٍ وثيقةِ الربط "  ويقولُ الدكتور أحمد الخليل: " لو لم يكن لابنِ رجب إلا هذا الكتاب لكان كافيًا في الدلالةِ على إمامتِه" . والعَجَبُ- بعد ذلك كلِّه- أن مؤلفَه يقولُ في المقدمةِ: "... فلقد سنحَ بالبالِ، على غايةٍ مِن الإعجال؛ كالارتجالِ أو قريبًا مِن الارتجال؛ في أيَّام يسيرة وليال.....!!! " للهِ درّك يا إمامُ وعلى اللهِ أجرُك رحمه الله رحمةً واسعةً. pdf: https://t.me/moltqaahlalhadith/36863

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Ṣāhūd points out that in the well-known report where Imām Aḥmad set the memorization of 400,000 hadiths as a minimum, he was referring to the level required to be considered a faqīh (jurist), not a muḥaddith. In fact, the threshold for being recognized as a muḥaddith would likely have been even higher in the Imām’s view.

The author of this travelogue is Shaykh Ammar Jakda, a leading scholar in the Greater Toronto community and an instructor at Tamhid Institute. Make sure to benefit from his works and writings, as they have gems and insights you will not find elsewhere.