Massoud Vahedi

Unfortunate fact: Many of the individuals who translate medieval works that predominantly contain hadiths know nothing or little about the hadith sciences. This causes them to end up mistranslating or very weakly capturing the intricacies tied to the field's terms. In the area of narrator criticism, if you translate "shaykh" as "authority" or "scholar" when it was used to describe a narrator, you have missed the point (it's actually not a positive statement to make concerning a narrator). If a narrator is called "suwaylih" (صويلح), it is an error to translate it as "pious person". This translation is incorrect since the term holds a technical meaning in the hadith sciences, and indicates a mild criticism of a narrator, such that their hadiths can only be accepted as supporting evidence. There are many more examples of this, but this is just to scratch the surface. Using linguistic dictionaries to translate a field's technical terms is an egregious mistake, and leads to translation errors like this.

It seems that "irrelevant" Fiqh is (sometimes) just a mirror for our own deep-rooted insecurities or apathy about Allah's law being effected in the real world. There are many other fault lines (besides the pedagogical one mentioned by Shaykh Liaquat) from which this tunnel-vision stems. One of those reasons that are often in Western students of knowledge who display this sort of attitude is the apathy it seems to display vis-à-vis application of Allah's law in the real world. If it is not apathy, then it is at least a lack of creativity or determination in looking for ways for Allah's law to become sovereign in the earth. Many of these chapters are only irrelevant in the small bubble in which Muslims in the West find themselves. For example, rulings that relate to Islamic judiciary are "irrelevant" to the West (even though they are not, as briefly discussed earlier), but they are very relevant to the rest of the Muslim world, even if that may be in a capacity that is somewhat hamstrung. It's easy to say that governments are sellouts who hate the religion (not that this is an invalid observation for many governments) but the fact remains that part of the reason that many Muslim governments imported foreign laws (according to some scholars like Muhammad Sa'id Al-Bani and Mustafa al-Zarqa) was that the traditional class was not able to present fiqh in a manner dynamic enough to deal with their needs. Meanwhile, Western law was able to do just that, and the rest is history. In any case, many of these chapters are very much applicable in the Muslim world, either right now in the limited window that these governments give to fiqh to operate, or in the future given the right circumstances (either in the few countries that Allah accorded new opportunities, or through strategic planning through bodies that influence some decisions, like think tanks or trying to work within legal institutions), but a student can only hope to be part of the reward associated with bringing the sovereignty of Allah's commandments in the world when they are actually interested in knowing what Allah revealed about these topics. As much as we complain about our lands, the reality is that most students of knowledge prefer to stay away from "dirty" work that would be needed to change anything, and the way we discuss things can sometimes (inadvertently) convince ourselves that the best use of our lives is to live in a small Western enclave of Muslims where we can help them hold onto the little Islam that they have in these lands that will never truly be "home" to Islam, as much as they may feel like home to their Muslim inhabitants. Allah gives a sincere seeker opportunities based on their desire to fulfill Allah's directives. When that sincere fervour for these sorts of Islamic objectives is absent in us, then we are effectively showing Allah that we do not want any chances to work towards these ends. When that happens, either we find that these doors do not open for us, or that we are unprepared to do anything when those doors open. Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him) once said "Don't worry about whether what you are studying is relevant; study hard, and Allah will ensure that it becomes relevant." قَالُوٓا۟ أُوذِينَا مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَأْتِيَنَا وَمِنۢ بَعْدِ مَا جِئْتَنَا ۚ قَالَ عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُهْلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفَكُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرَ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ ١٢٩ They said: We were persecuted before your coming to us, and after your coming. He (Musa, upon him be peace) said: It may be that your Lord is going to destroy your adversary and make you viceroys in the earth, that He may see how you act

مستوى العنجهية التي يصل إليها بعض الأكاديميين العرب مخيف جدا. هذا الكلام لوائل حلاق في لقاء حديث معه على الجزيرة (أشك أنها صياغته فهو ركيك العبارة)، تأملوا إلى أي مدى يمكن أن يصل الإنسان، يقول: "وإنني لأستأذن القارئ العربي في توجيه ملحوظة تحذيرية أخرى؛ فبناء على ما خبرته طوال عقدين أو ثلاثة من الزمان، استرعى انتباهي تزايد فئة من الشباب الذين يندفعون في الجدال، وينافحون باستماتة عن أطروحات بعينها دون زاد كاف من القراءة، حتى في أدق التخصصات حصرا. بل إن العجب ليبلغ مداه حين يتصدى البعض لمجادلتي في صميم نتاجي الفكري، وهم لم يقفوا عليه إلا من خلال شذرات مقتطعة وقبسات متفرقة؛ وهذا المسلك -إن جاز الوصف- ليس معيبا فحسب، بل هو عين الجهل وذاته. لذا، فإنني أهيب بالمهتمين بهذا الشأن أن يستفيضوا في قراءة هذا الكتاب -أو أي سفر جاد- قراءة فاحصة متدبرة، وإلا فليمسكوا ألسنتهم عن الخوض فيه؛ إذ لا يغني عن المرء قراءة فصل هنا أو هنالك، ولا يكفيه اعتصار المقدمة والخاتمة لإصدار حكم جازم. فلو كان الاجتزاء كافيا، لما أفنيت من عمري خمس سنوات في تسطير 550 صفحة". انتهى كلامه. يبدو أن وائل حلاق منزعج من النزعة النقدية لبعض كتاباته التي بدأت منذ زمن عند شباب غير منبهر بأطروحاته ويراجع كلامه بدقة بحثية، ولهذا يواجهها بهذا الخطاب الاستكباري الاستعلائي الضعيف، ويطلق ملحوظاته "التحذيرية" ويدعو إلى إمساك الألسنة عن نقده! ويقرر أن الآخر الذي ينقده لم يقرأ كتبه كاملة (فهو جالس في دماغه) ولم يدرس مثلما درس هو وأفنى من عمره خمس سنوات في تسطير كتبه! والواقع أن وائل حلاق أوهى بكثير مما يروَّج له، وما زلت أذكر حين أعددت عام 2017 ضمن الماجستير دراسة نهائية لأحد المساقات حول الشريعة الإسلامية، وكانت بعنوان "صورة الحكم الإسلامي بين وائل حلاق وبين كتب التراث الإسلامي"، أنني صُدمت من قصور اطلاعه على تراث الشريعة الإسلامية، واقتصاره على جوانب كاد يحصر فيها مفهوم "الشريعة". ثم زاد عجبي كيف يمكن لمثل هذا المتخصص الأكاديمي أن يشيد بمحمد شحرور الجاهل تماما بالشريعة وبالتراث، والذي لا يعد خطابه أكاديميّا علميا بل خطاب هاوٍ مؤدلج مليء بالمغالطات العلمية. وقد وثقت "تطبيلات" حلاق لشحرور في عدة كتابات له في مقال كامل، يُظهر مدى تقدير حلاق للشريعة وأصول الفقه الإسلامي. رابط مقال "وائل حلاق بين إحياء الشريعة وإحياء محمد شحرور!": https://ghirascenter.org/2026/01/%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%84-%d8%ad%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%82-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%a5%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b9%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a5%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%85/ وهذا رابط مقال آخر بعنوان "المجتمع الجاهلي والدولة الحديثة: بين سيد قطب ووائل حلاق"، يكشف عن أبرز إشكاليات أطروحة حلاق في "الدولة المستحيلة": https://ghirascenter.org/2025/10/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ac%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%84%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%88%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%ab%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b3/

Please watch this excellent talk from Dr Talal Al-Azem, as it relates to the themes of this post. At roughly the 34:50 minute mark, he talks about how some scholars warned that the overreliance on the shuruh and hawashi led to the "dulling of the intellects" of many students. https://www.facebook.com/seekersguidanceorg/videos/1481859503579527

- Speaker: "Taqyid al-Mubah is permissible in our times and circumstances." Okay, let's then do Taqyid of Taqyid al-Mubah.

اللبدي له في حاشيته اتجاهات قريبة من منهج الشيخ مرعي في اتجاهاته، بل إن بعضها موافق للشيخ مرعي في اتجاهاته. ومثال ذلك: اتجاه الشيخ مرعي في مسألة من فقد التراب ووجد الصعيد أو الرمل، هل يتيمم بها أو يكون حكمه حكم فاقد الطهورين؟ فالمذهب أن حكمه حكم فاقد الطهورين؛ لأن الرمل والصعيد غير التراب لا يصح التيمم بهما. وقال في الغاية وشرحه: ﴿ويتجه﴾ ﴿تيممه﴾ ⁃ أي: فاقد الطهورين ⁃ ﴿عند عدم تراب بكل ما تصاعد على الأرض من نحو رمل كنحيت حجارة، وجص ونورة﴾ وكحل ﴿أولى من صلاته على حسب حاله خروجًا من خلاف من أوجبه﴾، كأبي حنيفة، وهو رواية عن أحمد واختيار ابن أبي موسى والشيخ تقي الدين، والمذهب خلافه. وقال اللبدي: «ويتجه عندي أنه يصح التيمم بالرمل ونحوه عند عدم التراب، فهو أولى من صلاته حينئذ على حسب حاله، بل يجوز التيمم إذًا بما تصاعد على الأرض من حجر وغيره».

Now if you want to look at this logically, you will notice there is a contradiction here. If al-Albani believed that no Zakah was due on trade merchandise (which was in fact his view), then he would have responded to al-Buti straightforwardly in the supposed debate by saying that there is no Zakah due on commerce goods and the amount owing is zero! Why would he hesitate to al-Buti's question and not give a response?! Is this logical? It is not logical. Yet, I see thousands of people liking these posts, not answering themselves if whether the contents of the second post are consistent with the first. In actual fact, the transcript provided is NOT that of the debate between al-Albani and al-Buti. It was between al-Buti and al-Albani's STUDENT Muhammad 'Id 'Abbasi (which could be verified by a simple search online). Blame the student if you want, fault him for his lapses, but don't pit this on someone else. Also, anybody who has some experience with the munazarat literature knows this: none of us were present during these debates. We don't know 100% what happened and any accounts will likely be biased. The transcript of the debate between al-Buti and Muhammad 'Id 'Abbasi is the one provided by al-Buti. Muhammad 'Id 'Abbasi disputes details of the account in his book.

Be Fair in Your Criticism, Lest You Contradict Yourself I found that in an attempt to prove the deviance of Sh. Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, this brother (وفقه الله) provided the alleged transcript of a debate between Sh. al-Albani and Sh. al-Buti. In the supposed debate, al-Albani could not answer any basic questions, like the question of how much Zakah should be paid on a given quantity of trade merchandise (see Picture 2) Then, a few hours later, the brother posted an article written by Dr. Gibril Haddad, critiquing al-Albani for many of his aberrant legal positions. Among those aberrant positions is al-Albani's view that there is no Zakah due to trade merchandise (Picture 4, "Al-Albani's Innovations in the Religon").

Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Nadwi states that the custom of teaching the canonical Six Books of Hadith in the Indian Subcontinent can be traced to the persistant efforts of Shah Wali Allah al-Dehlawi, who dedicated his entire life towards reviving the study of the prophetic Sunnah. Other researchers agree with this, saying that thanks to al-Dehlawi's efforts, the discipline of Hadith became a necessary and indispensable field of study in Indian madrasah curriculums, with this legacy living on until the present day.

My academic article, "A Ḥanbalī Scholar’s Reply to a Pseudo-Mujtahid: Al-Saffārīnī’s Epistle On Taqlīd," has been published by De Gruyter in the Canon and Censorship in Islamic Intellectual History anthology. My article examines the legal thought of eighteenth-century Ḥanbalī scholar Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Saffārīnī, focusing on his robust defense of taqlīd and the authority of the four Sunni legal schools. This chapter highlights al-Saffārīnī’s critique of literalism, his stipulation of rigorous criteria for ijtihād, and his broader aim of maintaining legal coherence and epistemic stability in order to forestall epistemic anarchy. You can read the article here: https://www.academia.edu/164617611/A_%E1%B8%A4anbal%C4%AB_Scholars_Reply_to_a_Pseudo_Mujtahid_Al_Saff%C4%81r%C4%ABn%C4%ABs_Epistle_On_Taql%C4%ABd

When the Rukhsah for Qasr Isn't Optional? It is reported that Ibn 'Abbas said: “Whoever prays four [rak'ahs] while traveling* is like one who prays two [rak'ahs] while in residence.” * for Dhuhr, 'Asr, etc.

أخرج ابن مردويه عن ابن عباس في قوله : { وجوه يومئذ ناضرة إلى ربها ناظرة } قال : "تنظر إلى وجه ربها." - الدر المنثور في التأويل بالمأثور

لا اجتهاد في: ١ - الأحكام الشرعية التي ورد فيها نصاً قطعي الدلالة خصوصاً إن فُسر من قبل النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام كقطع يد السارق. ٢ - ما حصل إجماع على حكمه حتى لو لم يصلنا مستند هذا الإجماع أو كان مستنده ظني الثبوت أو الدلالة، مثل القول في أن دية المرأة نصف دية الرجل. ٣ - ما عُرف من الدين بالضرورة وهذا راجع للنوعين السابقين بوجه من الوجوه لكني أفردته كونه يكثر الكلام فيه، وما عُلم من الدين بالضرورة الذي يكفر جاحده نعني به ما يعرفه الخواص والعوام من غير قبول للتشكيك كوجوب الصلاة والصيام وحرمة الزنا ( شرح المحلي على جمع الجوامع مع حاشية شيخ الإسلام زكريا الأنصاري ج٣ ص٢٢٢) وهذا الأمر يعترض عليه دعاة الفكر العلماني فهم يعدون ذلك جموداً وتخلفاً، لذلك ترى منهم من يدعو لإعادة النظر في حكم حرمة الخمر وحرمة الربا ومنهم من ينادي بأعلى صوته بوجوب السماح بالزواج المدني وبهتك التشريع الذي يحرم زواج المسلمة من غير مسلم. وإعادة النظر في القطعيات يؤول إلى الولوج في حومة الفساد وانهيار المعرفة البشرية. ( من بحث كتبته حول التقليد الاجتهاد )

Sh. ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Khatīb (d. 1288) had four sons: Sh. Abu al-Khayr, Sh. Abu al-Faraj, Sh. Abu al-Fath, and Sh. Abu al-Nasr, and he decided to teach each of them a different Madhab; Sh. Abu al-Faraj studied the Hanafī Madhab with Sh. ‘Abdullāh al-Halabī, Sh. Abu al-Khayr studied the Shāfi‘ī Madhab with his father Sh. ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Khatīb, Sh. Abu al-Fath studied the Hanbalī Madhab with Sh. Hasan al-Shattī, and Sh. Abu al-Nasr studied the Mālikī Madhab with Sh. Mustafā al-Maghribī al-Tihāmī A group of people criticized him for this, but he paid them no attention, until he saw al-Imām al-Shāfi‘ī in his dream who commanded him to return them all to the Shāfi‘ī Madhab And so he returned them, after having each spent 4 years studying their respective Madhab ‘Ulamā’ Dimashq 13th C., 2/687

[مس الصغير المصحف] ¤ المذهبُ أنَّه لا يجوز للصبيان مسُّ المصحف؛ فلا يجوز لوليِّهم ولا لمعلِّمهم تمكينُهم من مسِّه. وقد استثنوا من ذلك مسَّ الصغير للَّوح الذي فيه قرآن؛ فيجوز في المذهب مسُّ الصبي للَّوح من الموضع الخالي من الكتابة رفعًا للمشقَّة، ويُمنع من مسِّ موضع الآيات المكتوبة لعدم الحاجة إلى ذلك، إذ يُستغنى عنه بمسِّ الموضع الخالي. ⁃ وينقل بعض المعاصرين عن المذهب في مسِّ الصغير للمصحف وجهين أو قولين، والصحيح أن مسَّ الصغير للمصحف - على معتمد المذهب في المنع- ليس فيه إلا المنع، وإنما الوجهان أو القولان في مسِّ الصغير للَّوح الذي فيه قرآن وليس في المصحف. ⁃ ولكن قال اللبدي عن مس الصغير للمصحف: وهذا لا يسع الناس غيره، فإنه يشق تحرُّز الأولاد الذين في المكاتب عن مسِّ اللوح أو المصحف بدون وضوء، والحاجة داعية لذلك، فالقول بجوازه حينئذٍ وجيه.

This is an extremely important post by Maulana Uwais Namazi, revealing that the laws of certain Muslim-majority governments actually betray the very essence of the madhhab's rulings that they purport to follow. In one key segment of his post, he says: "Consider the above in light of decisions made by a certain regime claiming to represent Islam and the tradition. As I have noted elsewhere and alluded to above, I consider their rash decision to ban all forms of education for girls, which bizarrely includes Islamic education in Mosques and seminaries, reactionary and part of the ongoing culture wars, whose indigenous manifestations have been some of the most hostile across the globe. The secularists have proven just as militant as the Islamists." To read the full post: https://www.facebook.com/unamazi/posts/pfbid02RBuToA5CWnq7WYCZLkdfL2mYrizRzNuVDqjKQNhkgqjmtnACJhwUjs5zKLXQgkWil

There is probably nothing better than independantly developing a 'working theory' or argument and then finding out that a scholar developed the same argument as you did centuries earlier, using similar lines of reasoning and steps. It is a good and reassuring sign that you are developing the 'common sense' and type of faculty required for that discipline.

A full translation of a beginner level Hanbali text which covers creed, jurisprudence, and spiritual purification. The text was translated by a friend of mine named Michael Parchment with some minor edits from me. I am publishing it on my blog with his consent. Since it is meant to be a beginner level text, I included footnotes throughout in places I felt required further elaboration or clarification, sourcing them from my notes on Akhsar, Dalil, and Ibn Balbaan's Mukhtasar al-Ifadaat. Texts like these are more suitable for the masses to be taught from rather than usual texts like Akhsar, Dalil, etc. which are more suitable beginner level texts for serious students. Khair, I hope you all find it beneficial. May Allah accept from the original publisher, Muhammad al-Khalafi, Michael and myself. https://rameezabid.substack.com/p/the-comprehensive-treatise-a-preliminary

Ust. Saimah Yacoob's concerns with the course of Dr. Sohaib Saeed.