Rulings and issues related to Ramadan P1

In the name of Allah

the Merciful Lord, the Giver of Mercy
Written by

Abdulmonem Mostafa Halimah

Abu Baseer Al-Tartousi

Translated by Walaa Halimah

Part one

1- Introduction 

All Praise is to Allah, we praise Him, seek His aid and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our soul and our evil actions . Whoever Allah guides none can misguide them and whoever Allah leaves to stray none can guide them. I bear witness that nothing has the right to be worshiped except Allah alone and without any partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad peace be upon him is His slave and Messenger.

﴿يَا أَيهَُّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللََّهَّ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلا تََموُتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ﴾

(You who believe, be mindful of Allah, as is His due, and die not except as Muslims (who are submissive to their Lord). [Al-Imran, 3: 102]

﴿يَا أَيهَُّا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالاً كَثِيراً وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللََّّهَ
الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَْرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَََّّه كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيباً﴾

(People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread countless men and women far and wide; be mindful of Allah, in whose name you make requests of one another. Beware of severing the ties of kinship: Allah is always watching over you). [Al-Nisa, 4: 1]

﴿يَا أَيهَُّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللََّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلاً سَدِيد اً . يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَََّّه وَرَسُولَهُ فَ قَدْ
فَازَ فَوْزاً عَظِيم اً﴾

(Believers, be mindful of Allah, speak in a direct fashion and to good purpose, and He will put your deeds right for you and forgive your sins. 

Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will truly achieve a great triumph). [Al-Ahzab, 33: 70-71]

Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of Allah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad peace be upon him. The worst of things are the newly invented matters in religion and every newly invented matter in religion is an innovation, every innovation is deviance and every deviance is in Hellfire.
 

To commence, there are two points of great importance that ought to be discussed and clarified. Firstly, the importance of removing the jurisprudent and intellectual obstacles that have piled up overtime preventing people from truly practicing the Sunnah. Those are the jurisprudent verdicts that can be found in the books of jurisprudence, which have been discussed and compiled without reference to authentic evidence from the Hadeeth and Sunnah of the prophet peace be upon him, but rather to the understanding and opinion of the scholars of jurisprudence. Overtime, people have become preoccupied with those numerous rulings, their terminologies and implications and have treated them as Islamic evidence of their own. Hence, some contemporary scholars of jurisprudence tend to refer their interpretations on certain topics to the understanding of earlier scholars of jurisprudence, without critically assessing them in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah, thereafter contemporary scholars become the object of reference for future scholars of jurisprudence. As a result of this, it has become scarce to find discussions or verdicts pertaining to the jurisprudence that directly link you to the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his teachings and no other.

Indeed, this is a great problem that scholars who are sincere to Allah should address, as a true scholar is the one who connects people to the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his Sunnah and draws them near to it, by guiding them directly to his sayings, actions and approvals. Such is the mission of a scholar and the point for which Allah Almighty instructed us to resort to the people of knowledge. He the Almighty said:

﴿ وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

([Prophet], all the messengers we sent before you were simply men to whom We have given the revelation: you [people], ask the people of knowledge if you do not know) [Al-Nahl, 16: 43]
That is, ask the people of knowledge so that they may direct you to the Sunnah of the prophet peace be upon him and to draw you near to his teachings and rulings. Thus, the duty and task of the scholar is to direct and guide people to the Sunnah; the more they are dutiful to this obligation the more they are deserving of such a status, the more trustworthy they are and the more they will be raised in this life and in the hereafter. Similarly, the further away they are from this methodology, the less deserving they become of the title and status of a scholar and an inheritor of the prophets.

Secondly, the pervasiveness of innovations in religion has become a widespread phenomenon to the point that many people worship and practice religious rituals away from the guidance and certification of Allah the Most High’s religion. They have lost track of the Sunnah and lost track of Muhammad peace be upon him, hence they innovate matters in the religion which, Allah has revealed no approval to and yet they presume that they are among the good doers. This unfortunate phenomenon is a result of the first point described above.

Hence, we find it necessary to reiterate a fundamental principal and condition of worship; that all acts of worship and any aspect of it are in no way acceptable unless they correlate and are in line with the Sunnah. Any act of worship which is not from the Sunnah or contradicts it, is a form of deviance and every deviance is in hell.{Essentially all acts of worship are banned and forbidden, unless there is evidence from the Qur’an or Sunnah that indicates its legitimacy as an act one may worship with. On the other hand, all worldly things that are non-ritualistic or religious are fundamentally allowed and permissible, unless there is evidence from the Qur’an or the Sunnah that suggests otherwise.}

Allah said, in relation to the obligation of following and imitation of the Prophet peace be upon him and the warning against contradicting or rebelling against it:

﴿فَلْيَحْذَرِ الَّذِينَ يَُُخالِفُونَ عَنْ أَمْرِهِ أَنْ تُصِيبَهُمْ فِتْنَةٌ أَوْ يُصِيبَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴾

(And those who go against his order should beware lest a trial afflict them or they receive a painful punishment) [Al-Nur, 24:63]
Imam Ahmad said, I have looked into the Qur’an and found thirty three references to the obedience of the Messenger, and kept reciting:

 (And those who go against his order should beware lest a trial afflict them) and then saying, ‘what trial?’ ‘shirk, deviance may befall his heart if he rejects some of his sayings and then be misguided and as a result perish’. It was also reported to him that some people leave Hadeeth and refer to the opinion of Sufian Al-Thawri, he said: I am astonished by people who leave the Hadeeth, having known its authentic connection with the Prophet and then leave it to go to the opinion of Sufian and others! Allah the most Exalted said: (And those who go against his order should beware lest a trial afflict them) ‘do you know what trial?’ ‘Kufr, Allah the Most Exalted sai, (and the trial is worse than killing). 

They leave the sayings and practices of the Messenger of Allah -peace and blessing be upon him- and are compelled by their desires to following others’ opinions!{Ibn Taymiyya, Alsarim Almaslool, p56}

Allah the Exalted said:

﴿قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُُِحبُّونَ اللَََّّه فَاتَّبِعُونِِى يُُْحبِبْكُمُ اللََُّّه وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللََُّّه غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ﴾

(Say, ‘If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; Allah is most forgiving, most merciful’) [Al-Imran, 3:31]

Hence, one of the signs of true love is following the prophet peace be upon him. Moreover, the extent to which one follows the prophet is an indication of how much they love Allah, and the extent to which one loves Allah should be reflected in by the extent to which they follow his Messenger peace be upon him.

Allah the Exalted also says:

﴿فَلا وَرَبكَ لا يؤُْمِنُونَ حَتََّّيَُُ يحكِمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثَُُّم لا يََِجدُوا فِِى أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجاً مَِِّما قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلمُوا تَسْلِيماً﴾

(By your Lord, they will not be true believers until they let you decide between them in all matters of dispute, and find no resistance in their souls to your decisions, accepting them totally) {In his explanation of this verse, Ibn Al-Qayim writes: ‘The most exalted swore by His own holy self -an oath that is emphasised further by the negation that comes before it- that creation shall never believe until they make His Messenger a judge in all their disputes, be they fundamental or subordinate, rulings of Shariah, rulings pertaining to resurrection or related to the attributes of the Lord etc. He further asserted that they will not believe either by just simply making His Messenger a judge unless their chests become clean of any discomfort but rather their chests find ease, comfort and acceptance. Furthermore, they shall not gain faith until they follow all that with absolute content, surrender and do not object nor oppose’. Kitab Altibyan Fi Aqsam Al-Quran: p270.} [Al-Nisa, 4: 65]

And He said:

﴿ذَلِكَ بِأَنهَُّمْ شَآقُّواْ اللََّه وَرَسُولَهُ وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ اللََّه وَرَسُولَهُ فَإِنَّ اللََّه شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ﴾

(That was because they opposed God and His Messenger) as in differed in their views and actions from what is pleasing to Allah and His Messenger and took the opposing and conflicting stance to theirs (and if anyone opposes God and His Messenger, God punishes them severely) [Al-Anfal, 8:13]

He also said:

﴿يَا أَيهَُّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُقَدِمُوا بَيَْْن يَدَيِ اللََِّّه وَرَسُولِهِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَََّّه إِنَّ اللَََّّه سََِميعٌ عَليمٌ . يَا أَيهَُّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَرْفَعُوا أَ صوَْْاتَكُمْ فَوْقَ صوَْْتِ النَّبى وَلَا تََْجهَرُوا  لَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ كَجَهْرِ بَعْضِكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ أَن تَُْحبَطَ أَعْمَالُكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ ﴾

(Believers, do not push yourselves forward in the presence of God and His Messenger) by putting your or anyone’s understanding or opinion before those of Allah and His Messenger (be mindful of God: He hears and knows all- believers, do not raise your voices above the Prophet’s, do not raise your voice when speaking to him as you do to one another, or your [good] deeds may be cancelled out without you knowing) [Al-Hujurat, 49:1-2] if simply raising one’s voice over the voice of the Messenger could lead to cancellation of all their good deeds- and nothing cancels out all good deeds except Shirk- then surely raising one’s sayings, understanding or judgment over the sayings and judgment of the prophet peace be upon him is more liable to cause one to have all their good deeds cancelled.
Furthermore, Abu Salamah reported that Abu Hurairah said to a man: ‘My nephew, if I tell you a saying by the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him then do not compare his saying to other sayings’ [Authentic Sunnan of Ibn Majah, p20] meaning; do not use the saying of the wise, the philosophers or jurists as evidence to the sayings of the prophet peace be upon him, as if his saying is in need for the support and agreement of others’, for this is contradictory to manners and the respect due to the prophet peace be upon him.

It has also been reported that whenever Abdullah Bin Omar said: ‘The Messenger of Allah peace be upon him said…’ and then somebody else said: ‘but Abu Baker and Omar said…’ he would say: ‘the heavens are about to rain stones on you! I say to you the Messenger of Allah says something and you tell me what Abu Baker and Omar said!’

This has been said about resorting to the sayings of Abu Baker and Omar, rather than the sayings of the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him despite their great status. Henceforth what can be said of resorting to the sayings of contemporary jurists and thinkers instead of the prophet’s is surely much more severe.

It has been authentically reported that the prophet peace be upon him said:

" خذوا عني مناسككم "

{Take your acts of worship from me}[Sahih Al-Jami’, No. 7884]

" صلْوا كما رأيتمونِى أصلْي "

{Pray as you have seen me pray},[Sahih Al-Jami’, No. 893]

" من أحدث فِى أمرنا هذا ما ليس فيه فهو ردٌّ "

{Whoever invents a matter in our religion then it is to be rejected},[Bukhari and Muslim]

" من صنْع أمراً على غير أمرنا فهو رد "

{Whoever does a practice that isn’t from our religion then it is to be rejected},[Sahih Al-Jami’, No. 63699]

" شرُّ الْأمور محدثاتها وكلُّ بدعة ضلالة "

{The worst of matters -in religion- are the invented ones and every innovation is deviance},[Muslim]

" شرُّ الْأمور محدثاتهُا وكلُّ محدثةٍ بدعةٌ وكلُّ بدعةٍ ضلالةٌ وكلُّ ضلالةٍ فِى النار "

{The worst of matters -in religion- are the invented ones, every newly invented matter is an innovation, every innovation is deviance and every deviance is in Hell}[Sahih Sunan Al-Nisa’ie, No. 1487]

And he said: 

" من كذَبَ عليَّ متعمداً فليتبوَّأ مقعدَه من النار "

{Whoever deliberately lies about me then let them await their place in Hell}.[Bukhari]

One form of lying about the prophet peace be upon him, is to innovate a matter in religion and then advocate it to people as part of the religion of the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

Because of all the aforementioned reasons, we will strive by the Will of Allah the Exalted, to establish the Sunnah in all the matters related to the fasting of the month of Ramadan that are included in this brief research which, I’ve entitled: ‘Rulings and Issues Related to Ramadan’. I ask Allah the Exalted to grant me success, accuracy and acceptance. He indeed is the most Hearing, Near and Respondent.