rt > C7 irr = A 7 8 LESSON OBJECTIVES Learn and memorize ayaat 26-40 of Surat-ul-Qiyamah. How humans depart this life and return to their Lord. Concerning verses 34 and 35, it is said that the Messenger of Allah grabbed Abu Jahl (one of the enemies of Islam in Makkah) and said, “Terrible punishment is very close to You, itis so close! I say again the terrible pun- shment is very close to you, it is so very close!” Then Abu Jahl said, “With what do you threaten me? Neither you nor your lord ‘can do anything to me. I am the best man in this valley. “So Allah revealed verses 34 and 35. (Reported in At-Tabari Book of Tafscer)fanlil aya(75:26) No, when the soul almost reaches the throat at the time of death (75:27) And the people around the dying person say, “Is there a healer that can heal him by recit- ing a prayer over him (this was a common practice for doctors back then)? (75:28) And the dying person realizes it is the end. (75:29) And his two legs will stick together and get twisted because of the pain and difficulty of death. (75:30) On that day you will be taken to your Lord. 31) But he (the dying disbeliever) didn’t believe in Allah’s message or pray when he was alive. (75:32) Instead he rejected the truth and turned away from it (75:33) Then he walked to his family in an arrogant show-off way (75334) (How can you be so arrogant in rejecting your creator?) It had been better for you to believe because punishment is close to you, so close! (75:35) I say it had been better for you to believe because punishment is close to you, so close! (75:36) Does man think that I will just leave him to do whatever he likes and then just be left in the grave? (75:37) Wasn't he once a small thing (in his mother’s womb)? (75:38) Then he became like a (hanging) blood clot, then he was molded and made a complete human being (75:39) Then He made him either a male or a female (75:40) Isn’t the one who created people the first time capable of bringing the dead back to life? 1. The Difficult Time of Death: 2. The Journey back to Allah: The time of death is a very serious time. When a man dies he is wrapped with the Those who obeyed Allah throughout their Kafan, or wrapping material. The people lives will have a much easier death than wrap his legs together, as Allah said in these those who disobeyed Allah or disbelieved in ayaat, as well as the hands and the rest of the Him. The Angel of Death and the Angels of body. The dead person at that time will enter Mercy will be gentle with good servants of a different kind of life. It may be a wonderful Allah when their soul is taken away. On the life or a horrible one. It all depends on the other hand, he and the Angels of Punishment person’s behavior and how he spent his time will be firm with evil people as they die. on earth. Good Muslims will gain Allah’s mercy and go to Jannah. These are the peoplewho believed in Allah, followed the Prophet's example, prayed and worshiped on time and in the proper manner and demon- strated great manners. On the other hand, disobedient Muslims and the disbelievers will suffer Allah’s wrath and end up in Hell fire. They are the ones who disbelieved in Allah or disobeyed Him most of the time. ‘They were lazy when it came to prayer and worship, and even if they did pray, they may not have performed it properly. They demon- strated insincerity and bad manners. eee ker Day of Judgment? What should we say when we read or hear the last ayah? Abu Hurayrah os ati 5, reported that Rasoolullah used to read verse (75:40) and say," 3h bala, “or” Yes,” or " 4 bin— sub- hanaka bala, meaning praise be to you, yes.” In another hadeeth, Rasoolullah said, “Yes, and to this I am a witness.” This shows how ‘we should interact with the Qur'an. If we truly feel the Qur’an when we read it, then we should naturally say, “O Allah, yes,” when Allah asks a similar question to the one in this verse. What will happen to the believers at their time of death? Why did the disbelie eae © What should we say when we read or hear the last ayah of the surah? Aes eee eee eee ee ene eeeWhat is Figh and what is Shari’ ah? Peeing: Olen EL) | ame What is Figh and what is Shari’ah? Maqasid-ush-Shari'ah: The aims of Divine Rules Where does Figh come from? The rules of Figh The main schools of Figh SYM AOLeU UU OG ss Linguistically, Figh means “deep and insightful understanding.” Many people see birds flying in the air. A person with Figh the same thing but understand that the g south for the winter, or build- nests to lay eggs. A person with even deeper Figh sees Allah’s mercy that holds the bird up in the sky when they fly because it is and taught them ly to collect food, Allah that gave them wing to fly. When the birds go e a person with deep Fiqh sees haw the crea- tures never get stressed out about where they will find their next meal. The animals show complete dependence on Allah.Ancient greek philosophers and scientists, used to assume that human eyes sheds ‘unseen light on objects to see. Later Muslim scientists like fbn-wi-Haytham and others rightly noted that objects reflect light to the eye and enable it to see. Throughout history, people have observed fruits falling down from the trees. Isaac Newton referred the falling of the fruits to the Law of Gravity that ‘exist throughout the universe. Many people see banks as they drive down the road and billboards and pictures of men and women displaying their bodies in ‘order to sell something, A person with Figh sees a society that is on the verge of being destroyed by Allah's anger and so he or she works tirelessly to teach and warn people. Nakedness is not 00d, rather it is people listening to the Shaitan who swore in the Quran that he will try to trick people to take off their clothes in order to prove that they are just animals and he is better than them. Itis said that Imam Al-Bukhari once traveled to a man to hear a hadeeth from him. ‘As he approach he saw the man was trying to catch one of his cattle, The man lifted his zgarment pretending to have food in it. When the animal came close he caught it: Imam ‘Al-Bukhari saw this, turned and started to walk away. When he was asked why he did- n't approach the man about the hadeeth he explained that if the man was willing to deceive an animal, he may also deceive men. And since Al-Bukhari was very sensitive ‘on the authenticity of Hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, he could not take that chance. This story shows the level of Figh of Imam Al-Bukhari and his deep understanding of human nature. Consider the standards that you hold yourself to. Before reading the story did you consider yourself an honest person? After reading the story do you think Imam Al-Bukhari would consider you honest enough to be trusted with the hadeeth of | the Messenger of Allah?So what is Fiqh? Most of the time when the word “Figh” is used the person is referring to the rules deduced through insightful understanding the texts of Quran and Sunnah. So under- standing the rules of how to pray, fast, buy, sell, get married, distribute inheritance, ete. are all considered Figh. Imam Al-Shafi’e defined Figh as, “Knowing the actionable Shari’a rules that are deduced from the detailed evidences (found on the Quran and Sunnah).” In this definition Imam Al-Shafi’e, may Allah be blessed with him, limited Figh to what is “actionable”. In other words, understanding the nature of heaven, hell or studying names of the prophets is not con- sidered part of Fiqh. ge 8 pel Ca 2B ae a ge) Olde gl op Raglee oe phy ssbtlely, "ell Baa Le hog oat Muawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan narrated that the Messenger of Allah, #, said, “When Allah wants good for a person, Allah gives that person insightful understanding of Islam.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim) Hadec h Shareef What is Shari’ah? Shari’ah is the collection of rules and principles established with the intent of organizing life affairs. In America the con- ‘gress passes rules and establishes principles in order to protect and develop the society. ‘As Muslims we believe that the only one who has the right to make or establish major laws is Allah. Allah created us so we have no right to tell Allah the rules. This would be similar to a child going to his parents and saying, “Dad, I know you said the rule is not to play with matches. However, I don’t like this rule so | am changing it.I will be playing with matches from now on and I expect you to allow it.” The bottom line is that we cannot make up rules and tell Allah to reward us for following the rules that we made up.What is the difference between Shari’ah and Fiqh? Shariah is, linguistically, the source of water that all people need and come to drink from to live properly. Figuratively, Shari’ah is Allah’s law which maintains the spiritual and physical life for mankind. Figh is our intellectual tools to properly understand Allah’s law. As we need utensils and tools to irrigate ourselves and living things drawn from water sources, we also need Figh tools to apply Shariah properly in our daily life. Our job is not to make the law but to use our minds to figure out what the law is. So Shari‘ah is always right and per- fectly just. Fiqh, on the other hand, could be right and could be wrong if we make a mis- take in our understanding. If a person does his or her very best to figure out what the most correct ruling is and is in fact correct then they would get two ‘good deeds. If they are wrong, out of Allah’s mercy, they still get one good deed for trying For example, Allah made good food (Tayyibaat) lawful while He prevented us from consuming harmful food (Khabaaith). Prophet Muhammad had also demonstrated through his Sunnah what to eat and drink and what to avoid in more details. Allah says in Surat-ul-Araf: 5 eBid 25} 157 SiN ESS “And he legalizes good food for them and prohibits the bad” (7:157) Therefore, we know for sure that eating Jamb and beef is halal while eating pork or drinking wine is haram. However, there are some consumable items that people invented later like smoking and drugs. Are these items halal or haram? Here, the Fugahaa, or Fiqh scholars exerted their efforts to figure out proper answers to these questions. For exam- ple, they all agreed that drugs, like cocaine is absolutely haram, while they differed on the issue of tobacco; some said it is haram while others considered it as makrooh, or disliked, or discouraged but short of haram. ‘The Jewish tribe of Bani Quraithah had a peace treaty with the Messenger of Allah, but in the middle of the battle of the ditch (Ghazwat-ul-Khandaq) they betrayed the agreement and_ switched sides. After the battle the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wanted to quickly attack them before they had a chance to send an army into Madina. So he gave the command to his companions, “No one is allowed to pray Asr except at Bani Quraithah.” So the Muslim army took off. On the road they realized that they were going to miss their Asr prayer if they ‘waited till they got to their destination. Some decided to obey the literal meaning of the order and they didn’t pray until they reached Bani Quraithah. Others said that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was only encouraging them to go faster but didn’t intend to make them miss their prayer. So that group prayed on the road. Later the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, heard what happened and didn't object to what either group did.Think for yourself ‘The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, forbade us from sitting at a table where alcohol is served. The Quran requires us to be kind with our parents, even if they are non- Muslim, Sr. Sofia converted to Islam. Her parents are non-Muslim and they always drink aleo- hol at parties. The first family reunion for Sr. Sofia is coming up in one week since she has converted to Islam. All of her cousins will be there and she hasn’t seen them in a couple of years. Her parents want her to come, but they insist that they cannot break the tradition of serving alcohol at the family reunion. Should Sr. Sofia go or not? If she does what should she do when her family starts drinking?CHAPTER | ' Co Nala Olea) neat G) The Concept of Maqasid-ush-Shariah ED The five Aims of Islamic Law The idea of Magasid-ush-Sariah was for- 4 VOCABULARY a mulated and crystallized by the Andulasian Imam Ash-Shatibi, in his book Al- a Muwafagat. His thorough studies and under- ET or a standing of the Qur’an and Sunnah led him to extract five major aims of Shariah, or Islamic Law. Although all these aims are embedded in the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as in the scholars’ books written later, he was the first one to present Magasid-ush-Shariah in one defined format. Later, the scholars of Islam accepted his work. However, some scholars attempted to add some additional aims of the Islamic Law, but none of these additions have received the consensus given to Ash-Shatibi original five aims of Shariah that are discussed in this chapter.Imam Abu Ishaq Ash-Shatibi was an Andalusian scholar following the Maliki Granada. The date and place of his birth is al-Gharnati”. His family's descent was from the Banu Lakhm. He was known as "Abu Ishaq” and his most well-known surname was Ash-Shatibi, although he was also known as "Al-Lakhmi’, "Al-Gharnati’, and Al-Maliki”. His surname, "Ash-Shatibi’, points to the city of Shatibah Xativa, which indicates that he was a descendant of the migrants from that town. Imam Ash-Shatibi wrote many Figh books, but the most famous and important This is the best known book of Imam Shatibi. Itis on the topic of Usul-ul-Figh - Islamic objectives). It was published by in four vol- umes in Arabic but later translated and pub- lished into English as The Reconciliation of the Fundamentals of Islamic Law. Why is the word “magasid” plural? Ask yourself, why do I study math in school? The answer might include: + To keep my parents happy + To get good grades. * So that I can graduate. So that I can work as an engineer. Your list might look a little different than this, but you will definitely have more than one aim in your study of math or any subject. In the same way the rules of Islam have mul- tiple aims or objectives. The rules for Salah for example aim to: * Develop and protect the individual's relationship with Allah. * Satisfy your spiritual needs through proper connection with Allah madhab. He died 1388 (Sth Shabaan 790 H) in unknown. Imam Ash-Shatibi’s full name was ‘brahim bin Mosa bin Muhammad al-Shatibi book was Al-Muwafaqaat fi Usool al-Shariah. Jurisprudence and Maqasid Al-Sharia (higher VOW Coa ee UUs sae Higher O. * Encourage cleanliness because you can- not pray with najasa on you. * It protects you from doing bad deeds. Salah breaks up your day so that you don't go for too long a time without thinking about Allah. It develops the Muslim community by getting us to pray together. Who gets the benefit? Go back and look at the list of reasons why you study math. Notice that even though there are a lot of overlapping reasons, the benefit from all of them either come back to you, your family or the community. Even if you said that you are doing it for the sake of Allah, the benefit of serving Allah comes back to you. Nothing you do can give a bene- fit to Allah. Now look at the sample list of aims for the rules for Salah. Who gets the benefit from the rules? Here lies a very important lesson. Allah is All-Wise, so Allah does everything for a reason. Allah also does- n't need anything from us or anyone else. Therefore, every rule from Allah has a bene- fit, or multiple benefits in them that relate tovg gyi uid rb aly “Allah commands justice and goodness” ( 107 ste € CY Gash ) BS AIS } “And I did not send you except as a mercy to mankind and jinn.” This verse is important because it tells us that we will find goodness in all of Allah’s rules. What are Maqasid-ush-Shariah? As we have seen, the benefit from all of Allah’s rules is for us. Most importantly we find that most of Allah’s rules aim to preserv- ing and protecting our critical needs and necessities. These critical necessities are: * Safeguarding religion (Hifth-ud-Deen). * Safeguarding life (Hifth-un-Nafs). * Safeguarding human mind and sanity (Hifth-ul-Aq). + Safeguarding reproductive process of mankind (Hifth-un-Nasl). * Safeguarding money and wealth (Hifth- ul-Mal). After the critical needs After the critical needs are met Allah placed rules to remove hardship from us and give us a high quality of life. Some of the rules that reduce hardship include: * When traveling we are allowed to break our fast, combine and shorten prayers. * Those who cannot pray standing can pray sitting or laying down. ‘+ Hunting was allowed as an exception to the rule that animal meat must be slaugh- tered. ‘+ Permission was given to the victim’s family to forgive the murderer from the death penalty. * Divorce was allowed to alleviate the hardship of marriage when the two have irreconcilable differences. So we find that the five pillars and Jihad protect our religion and keep our faith strong and growing. To protect our lives Allah com- manded us to eat what is good and forbade ‘us from a few harmful foods. Allah com- manded us to think and learn and forbade us from anything that harms our minds like alcohol. The rules of marriage protect the family and the reproductive process for mankind. To preserve our wealth, Allah com- ‘mands us to earn an honest living and for- bids getting money unjustly by stealing or taking Riba. are met, what comes next? A for the rules that encourage the high- est quality of life, they include: * It is encouraged to always be ina state of wudu. * It is encouraged to wear something that smells nice when you go to the Masjid. ‘* Families are encouraged to be extra kind and forgiving with each other. * Extra prayer, reading Quran and fasting is encouraged. * Allah encourages us to dress in a beau- tiful way.Be Nai welt itl ae G) The sources of Figh €) The tools of Ijtihad €) Keys of Proper Understanding of Figh 3 The rules of Figh come either directly or ey VOCABULARY a indirectly from Allah. When they come explicitly from Allah we find them in the 7 Quran or Sunnah. The rule that drinking a Latta blood is forbidden, for example, comes dL = mitting the killing of dangerous snakes In many times rules are not so clearly and explicitly stated. It then becomes the job of Diesel ules eagles) scholars to evaluate and weigh all of the dif- ferent evidence on the topic to deduce and Cai extract what they believe Allah’s rule is. This process is called “Ijtihad” which means to ES rl Nile Sabet work hard and do your best. Even though ore scholars do their best, there is still the possi- CUE NULL Seemed ate bility of making a mistake or that a particular question has two or more right answers. So in plate many questions we might find several differ- ALA We Prey ent opinions. In this case the Messenger of Bis pene upon im ai a hoe who gets it right gets two rewards, and the one who gets it wrong still gets one.Tools for Making Ijtihad and Arrive to Islamic Rules When a scholar wants to make Itihad regarcling a question he or she must extract their knowledge from the following sources: * The verses from the Quran. * The sunnah which includes the hadeeth and the example of the life of the Messenger of Allah, and in the absence of any explicit text on a certain issue, scholars go to the fol- lowing additional tools: «The general principles deduced from the Quran and Sunnah, which are the general aims and spirit of the Sharia. * Qiyas, which mean by analogy is the current case similar to a previous case so that it would get the same ruling, ‘ Iimaa’, which means the consensus of previous scholars regarding the issue. Some Imams have used the following additional sources when they could not find answers and solutions to the emerging and new issues in the above agreed upon sources. * The statements and opinions of Sahabah; the companions of the Prophet. ‘*“Urf, which means considering any dif- ferent customs or habits in the area that could have an impact on the ruling. + Istihsan, which is practices that are found beneficial by the Imams. * Al-Masaleh Al-Mursalah; which are practices and things that are helpful to the majority of Mustims and humans for a long and enduring time. Keys of Proper Understanding Proper understanding of verses from the Quran or hadeeth can also be very challeng- ing. Scholars must have basic keys of knowl- edge to properly understand the Qur’an and Sunnah, and extract rules from them proper- ly. These keys include: * Understanding Arabic language. * Asbab-un-Nuzool; knowing the reasons behind every Qur’anic revelations and cir- cumstances, * An-Nasikh wal Mansookh; knowing the Ayaat and Hadeeth chronology. * Al-Aam wal Khaas; differentiating between general statements and special ones. * Al-Mutlaq wal Muqayyad; differentiat- ing between absolute statements and specific ones. Understanding Arabic Language Since the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic and the Prophet expressed his guidance using this special language, these two main texts of Islam have originated and remained written in the Arabic language. Although these texts were translated to many other lan- ‘guages, crisp understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah can only be attained by master- ing the Arabic language. Imam Ash-Shatibi held that the language of the Quran and ‘Sunnah is the key for Ijtihad. “Ifit is estab- lished that a person is a beginner in his understanding of the Arabic language, then he is a beginner in understanding Shari'ah; if he is average in his understanding of Arabic, then he is average in his understanding of Shari’ah and if he attains mastery in his ‘understanding of Arabic, then the same will hold true for his understanding of Shari’ah.Thus, [if he masters the language] his under- standing of the Shari’ah and its objectives will be like the understanding of the Companions.” Many early scholars were not originally Arab, however, they mastered Arabic and became great scholars of Islam. Imams Al- Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah and many others are few examples. Knowing the Circumstances of Revelation ‘The companion Tbn Abbas was asked once about the verse, “Don't think that those who are happy with what they have and love to be praised for what they didn’t do are saved from the punishment.” A man said, “If everyone who is happy with what he has and like to be ‘ praised for what he didn’t do is punished, then we would all be punished.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, your problem with this verse? The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, called the Jews and asked them about something (probably about something in their Torah). They held back the answer and gave him a different answer. They then pretended to have answered the question and they acted as if they deserved to be praised for being, cooper- ative. They were also pleased with them- selves for not giving up the information requested. Then Ibn Abbas read the verses, “Allah took an oath from those who were given the book to clearly present it to people and not to keep it secret. They then put it behind their backs as if they didn’t know about it and sold it for a small pathetic price. Don't think that those who are happy with what they have...” ‘As you can see from this story, if scholars don’t know the reason why verses were revealed then it could lead to misunderstand ing the verse.The Holy Qur’an was revealed in pas- sages and suwar over the period of twenty three lunar years at the time of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. He also transmitted his guidance and ahadeeth throughout his life after prophethood. During the revelation period, Islamic principles and rules were transmitted gradually to the early Muslim community. As the community developed and moved from Makkah to Madina, Islamic rules were developed more and sometimes changed to suit the growing, more advanced and matured community. In some cases, some later ayaat have abrogated and replaced the rules that came in earlier ayaat or ahadeeth. For example, Alchohol Most of the verses in the Qur’an are gen- eral guidance to all people. However, some verses came for special occasions or special individuals. For example, Allah ordered the wives of the Prophet to cover all their bodies including their faces, as in Surat-ul-Ahzab, He says, “When you ask [the wives of the Prophet] for anything, ask them from behind a curtain. That will be purer for your hearts as well as their hearts. However, this is only special rule for the wives of the Prophet. As for general Muslim women, they can reveal their faces and hands, as Allah says in Surat-un-Nur, “Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and remain chaste and not to reveal their adornments -- save what is nor- mally apparent thereof.” Companion Tbn Knowing “An-Nasikh wal Mansookh” and the Chronology of the Revelation ‘was not prohibited in Makkah and the early years of Madina. Allah, then, ordered the ‘early Muslims not to pray when they are drunk, later Allah forbade wine once and for all. Therefore, the later ayaat (Nasikh) have replaced the earlier one (Mansookh) , after the Muslims gained stronger faith and knowledge, and became able to quit addic- tion for the sake of Allah. Also, some ahadeeth have abrogated earlier ahadeeth. According to the vast majority of scholars, an ayah can abrogate, or remove the effect of another ayah or a hadeeth, while a hadeeth can abrogate another earlier hadeeth but can- not abrogate an earlier ayah. Differentiating between General statements and Special Ones Abbas explained “normally apparent” as the face and hands, including the ring. Not dif- ferentiating between the general and special statements in the Qur'an caused some people to make it obligatory for all Muslim women to cover their faces and hands. Allowing the Prophet to marry more than four wives is a special rule for him to achieve certain objectives for Islam and Muslims. The Arabian society was diverse, and marriage ‘was one of the most effective ways to main- tain strong relations with different tribes and societal segments. The Prophet married ladies from Quraish, Jews, Christians and other backgrounds. Also, he married ladies to achieve religious, moral and strategic objec- tives. He married Zainab bint Jahsh to abro-gate adoption. He also married Ramla bint Abi Sufyan to provide care for her after she migrated from Africa to Madina and to soften the position of Abu Sufian, the leader of Quraish, against Islam and Muslims. Abu Sufyan and all the tribe of Quraish embraced Islam later. Ummu salamah was a wise old lady from Bani Asad who lost her husband and became without anyone to care for her. ‘The Prophet advised her to make du’aa’ to help her in this situation. The Prophet later offered to marry her. Later, she counseled the Prophet in very delicate situations that threat- ened the stability of the Muslim society. These are only few of the reasons that the prophet was allowed to marry more than four wives as a special rule. Previous prophets had been also allowed to marry multiple wives. Differentiating between Absolute Statements and Specific Ones Similar to the above subject, there are absolute statements in the Qur’an and specif- ic ones. If scholars notice the verses that include absolute rules but ignore specific ‘ones, they will miss the total wisdom of the Qur’an and Islam. Most of the verses in the Qur'an are general guidance to all people. ‘However, some verses came for special occa~ sions or special individuals. ‘An example of verses revealed for special ‘occasions, are many verses that call for fight- ing the disbelievers and infidels everywhere in Arabia. These verses are special for fight- ing the vicious polytheists of Quraish at the time of Prophet to protect Islam as it was developing for the first time. However, Jihad rules have developed later and it was encour- aged only when Islam and Muslims are in grave danger. Allah says, "And fight in God's cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression ~ for surely, God does not love aggressors. (2:190)CHAPTER | CHAPTER OUTLINE @)_ Main subjects of Figh. © The rules of Figh What are the categories mf for the rules of Fiqh? Allah gives us rules for everything in Islam. Islam is a complete way of life that governs the whole society. Scholars have divided the subjects of Figh into two main domains; Ibadat (worships) and Mu’amalat (daily life practices). Traditionally scholars have categorized the rules of Fiqh into gener- al categories in a specific order. The order from one book may look like: Thadat © Taharah * Wudoo’ * Salah * Zakah * Siyam, Sawm (fasting) * HajMu’amalat * The Rules for Food *Marriage *Divorce *Oath’s “Business transactions “Inheritance law *Judicial Law *The punishments for harming others *The hudood; Capital Penalties *Jihad and Rules of War The idea is that the rules for acts of wor- ship are put first because the highest priority is to maintain your relationship with Allah. The highest form of worship is Salah so it is first. Before you can pray you need to be clean and you need to have wudu so the rules for cleanliness and wudu are what the books of Figh begin with. When you apply Islamic practices in your life there are a number of actions that you perform. Not all of these actions are of equiv- alent importance. Knowing the importance of different rules is very important when you have to weigh betwéen two or more rules. The rules of Figh can be broken into the fol- lowing categories: *+ Obligatory (_=\,): Meaning if you do the action you will be rewarded and if you do not you will be punished. Example: The five daily Prayers, fasting Ramadan, paying Zakah, performing Haj fulfilling contracts, and telling the truth. * The example of the Messenger of Allah (Sunnah): Meaning the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, did the action all the time or almost all of the time. If you do this action you will get a reward. If you do not do it a few times you do not get punished. However, if you intentionally ignore the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, your Islam will be deficient. * Encouraged (Mustahab _-1): If you do the action you will be rewarded and if you do not you will not be punished. Example: Optional prayers, optional fasting, and helping Muslims. + Permissible (Mubah -. ): If you do it you do not get a reward unless you do it with the intention of serving Allah. If you do not do it you do not get a punishment. Example: Eating lawful food. * Discouraged (Makrooh =): Ifyou do it, you will not be penalized, but if you avoid it you will be rewarded. Example: Over Eating, wasting water and other, resources + Forbidden (Haram > ): If you do not do it you get a reward and if you do it you will get punished. Example: Fornication, Riba, lying, cheating, eating pork and drink- ing wine and beereee 2 AB Dp DB: NB ase Al pce y petal oy Gland ge cll! rae Ugole, YEA agin Ga aLAly be OE OMEN DBs coy ae ey el Fel GEES! Ao W gar the JST OL VT aad yp HEL HO en LE Cocke 131 aad AO Oly ath bens gal gar oly Na ay Was Lt AG 18 lS LH ale srbatlelyy An-Numan Ibn Bashir «+ i.) narrated that the Prophet # said, “Lawful practices are clear, so are the unlawful ones. Between them are doubtful or suspicious practices that many people do not care about. Anyone who avoids doubtful mat- ters will safeguard his faith. But anyone who falls in the suspi- cious practices is like the one who comes near dangerous and forbidden territory and then falls in it. Every king has his own territory, and the territory of Allah on Earth is His forbidden faram) practices. There is a small tissue in every body that if is good the whole body will be good, but if it becomes bad, the whole body will follow suit, it is the heart. Reported By Al-Bukhari Think for yourself In Islam it is obligatory to pray on time. It mum and pray. There is water in the bath- is also forbidden to make tayammum when. room but if he goes to make wudu there is a you have the ability to get to water. good chance that he will miss his prayer. Omar woke up from a nap and realized What should Omar do? that he has two minutes to make his prayer on time. He has enough time to make tayam-ea Selene | eee The Main Muslim Schools of Figh Minor Muslim Schools of Figh The Four Imams PN eM ues Toute ela ae Ln The reasons behind the development of the schools of Fiqh of VOCABULARY a As we have seen, the study of Fiqh covers, all of the rules that govern our lives. Researching all of the Quran, hadeeth, and opinions of the companions to determine the ‘most correct opinion on an emerging life aspect can be an exhaustive process. A few years after the passing of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, scholars found it easier to rely on each other's work rather than to build a whole body of opinions from scratch. For this reason, Mathahib, or the schools of Figh, have developed over the early centuries of Islam and stayed with us until our contemporary days. The main schools of Figh that developed and continued until now are: * The Hanafi School, or Mathahib, . The Maliki School, or Mathahib, * The Shafi’ee School, or Mathahib, . The Hanbali School, or Mathahib, There are other schools of Fiqh that serves minor segments of the World Muslim communi: ty like the Shi’ah with its two schools; Jafari and Zaidi, Tbadi and Thahiri small Muslim commu nities. In this book, we are going to briefly cover the four major schools of Fiqh, or Mathahib, in the Muslim WorldHANArL HANBAU Maule Siar Isa i zai orate 16301 In this four-part series on the Four great imams of Figh (Islamic jurisprudence), we will see that each one of the imams has a spe- cial and enduring role in our Islamic history. Imam Abu Haneefah was the trailblazer when it came to codifying Figh and establish- ing the basics of how it should be studied. His knowledge and intelligence was out- standing. He possessed great logical abilities and communication skills, which enabled him to attract the attention and commitment of a great number of students, thus create the first major Mathhab, or school of Figh. Imam Malik, the Imam of Madina had the advantage of living in Madina, were the Prophet taught Sahabah about Islam and met with thousands of the Tabi‘een; the students of Sahabah. He stressed the importance of Hadeeth in the field of Figh through his first of a kind landmark collection of Hadeeth and. Figh, Al-Muwatta. His intelligence was also remarkable, therefore, people at his time used to say, “Nobody should give fatwa (Islamic ruling) as long as Imam Malik is in Madina.” Map of the World showing where the different Islamic schools of Figh are followed. An Introduction to the Four Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence Imam Ash-Shafi'iee studied and taught Figh in Makkah, Madina, Jerusalem, Iraq, Egypt and elsewhere. He authored the first book of Figh; Al-Umm, and the first book of Usul-ul-Figh; Ar-Risalah, which taught countless numbers of people the principles and methodology of Islamic Law throughout the world and across centuries. He revolu- tionized the study of Figh by establishing the field of Usul-ul-Figh, or the methodology formulating Islamic rules. He was a student of great Imams like Malik and a teacher of great ones, also, like Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. For the last of the four great imams, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his contribution went beyond just Figh. Although he was one of the greatest jurists and scholars of Hadeeth of his time, pethaps his greatest legacy was his courage to stand for the mainstream beliefs of Islam as they were imparted to Prophet Muhammad ? in the face of deviation, perse- cution and imprisonment at the hands of the political authority. For this reason, Imam Ahmad’s legacy is far more than just the establishment of the Hanbali Mathhab, but also includes the preservation of core Islamic beliefs against political oppression.CHAPTER -ma! Gael ie) eae The Hanafi School of Figh A Brief Profile of Imam Abu Haneefah. What is the Hanafi School? The Hanafi Schoo! was the first formal school of Figh that was developed in the Muslim World during the early second centu- ry of Islam. The main collection of Fiqh opin- ions for the Hanafi School was developed by Imam Abu Haneefah, An-Nu’man Ibn Thabit and his students Abu Yousuf, Muhammad Ibn Al-Hasan Ash-Shaybani, Zufar and many others. Imam Abu Haneefah, sometimes called Al-Imam-ul-Atham, or the greatest Imam, was the first of the four major Imams. He pri- marily lived in the generation of At-Tabicen; the generation that met the Sahabah (com- panions of Prophet Muhammad) who lived during the first century of Islam. It is even said that An-Numan Ibn Thabit had met a few of the Prophet's companions including Anas ibn Malik os wi,,, and heard from him the hadeeth, plane JS de Lan J glad! LIL" “The pursuit of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim.” Today the Hanafi School of religious opinions has probably more followers than any other school.MRM es a MRS EL A Imam Abu Haneefah’s Life Story in Brief Abu ?aneefah, An-Nu’man Ibn Thabit Ibn Zuta Ibn Mah, was born in the year 80 A.H. (after Hijrah, corresponding to 699 AD.), around seventy years after the passing of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and died in the year 150 A. H. His birth was in the city of AKoofah in‘Iraq, during the time of the Umayyad Khaleefah (caliph) Abd-ul-Malik ibn Marwan. His father, Thabit bin Zuta, a trader originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, was 40 years old at the time of ‘Abu ?aneefah’s birth. His grandfather Zuta was captured during the Muslim conquest of Afghanistan. Therefore, his ancestry is of non-Arab. The historian Al-Khatib-ul- Baghdadi records a statement from Im?m ‘Ab? ?aneefah's grandson, Ismail Ibn Hammad, who claimed that Ab? ?aneefah's, lineage was of Persian origin. Since An-Nu’man’s father and grandfa- ther were merchants, Abu Haneefah grew up the same. However, business didn’t sway him away from seeking and specializing in Islamic knowledge and affairs. It is narrated that Abu Haneefah once said, “When I was young, I met Imam Al-Sha’bi who asked me, ‘where do you go?’ I said “I go to the mar- ket’, he said, ‘T mean, to what scholars and teacher you go to” I said, “I only go to them a little!” Then he said, “don’t be a fool, com- mit yourself to knowledge and scholars, I see you active and intelligence.” His words came Straight into my heart, so I focused on know!- edge, and committed myself to scholarship, so Allah blessed my new path.” Imam Ab? ?aneefah was thirteen years old when Anas Ibn Malik «+ li -s,, Prophet Muhammad's personal attendant died in 93 AH. The author of Al-Khayrat-ul-Hisan col- lected information from books of biographies and cited the names of Sahabah whom it is reported that the Abu Haneefah had trans- mitted hadith from, He counted them as six- teen, including Anas ibn Malik, Jabir ibn Abd-Allah and others + ii_,,. Therefore, historians give Imam Abu Haneefah the sta- tus of Tabi’ee because he saw some of the Sahabah and learned from them.Abu Haneefah studied Figh with many scholars in addition to the Sahabah. Some historians say that Abu Haneefah was a stu- dent to more than four thousand Scholars including Imam Malik, Al-Layth Ibn Sa’d, Tawoos Al-Yamani, Ataa’ Ibn Rabah, Hammad Ibn Abi Sulayman and many oth- ers. However, his principal teacher and men- tor was Hammad Ibn Abi Sulayman who taught him for eighteen years. Later, Abu Haneefah took his teacher's position of schol- arship in Baghdad when he passed away in 120 AH. when Abu Haneefah was forty years old, ‘Abu Haneefah left Iraq for Makkah in 130 AH. to seek knowledge and to avoid the per- secution of some Omayyad leader who want- ed to hire him in a government position, like a judge. Abu Haneefah refused because he may have become a part of bad decisions or positions made by the political leaders like executing some of the opposition leaders in volatile Iraq at that time. After the Abbasid Khilafah was over- thrown and replaced the Omayyads, Imam Abu Hanifah returned to Iraq in 146 A.H. (767 A.D), when Abu Ga’ far Al-Mansoor became the Khaleefah. The Abbasid Khaleefah offered Abu Haneefah the post of Chief Judge of the Muslim Khilafah, when he built Baghdad as a new capital. The Imam declined the offer, choosing to remain an independent scholar. His student Abu Yousuf was appointed Qadi Al-Qudah (Chief Judge of the State) instead. In his reply to Al-Mansoor, Ab? ?aneefah said that he was not fit for the post. Al- Mansur, who had his own political motives for offering the post, lost his temper and accused Ab? ?aneefah of lying. "If 1 am ly Ab? ?aneefah said, "then my statement is cor- rect. How can you appoint a liar to the exalt- ed post of a Chief Qadi (Judge)? Infuriated by this reply, Al-Mansoor arrested the Imam, locked him in prison and even tortured him. He was never fed nor cared for, and that was the second time this great Imam was persecuted. Even in prison, Abu Haneefah continued to impart his wis- dom and teach those who were permitted to come to him, Due to the complex situation of his time and the evident deviations from the straight path, Imam Abu Haneefah wrote his famous book Al-Figh Al-Akbar (The Greater Understanding). The book was on matters of faith and creed, which is the most important subject of Islam, therefore, he called it rightly, the Greater Understanding. In 150 A.H. (767 A.D.), Ab? aneefah died in prison. It was said that around 50,000 peo- ple attended his funeral. Janazah prayer had to be repeated a few times for the many peo- ple who had amassed before he was actually buried. At that time, people did not have the luxury of microphones, technology ot sophis- ticated logistics and facilities. On the authori- ty of the historian al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi, the author of Tareekh Baghdad (The History of Baghdad), it can be said that for a full twentydays people went on performing funeral prayers for him, Later, after many years, the ‘Ab? ?aneefah Mosque was built in the Athamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad. Abu Haneefah was very humble and careful with the pursuit of the truth. If he had an opinion and found some additional evi- dence on the topic he was prepared to imme- diately change his opinion. He once told his greatest student, Abu Yousuf, “Don’t write everything that I say. I might have an opinion today and then change it tomorrow. Then I might change my opinion again after that.” Great Imams and scholars who specialize in Figh are soon to realize that Abu Haneefah is a main reference of Islamic Jurisprudence until our times. Imam Ash-Shafi'ee once said, “Whoever wants to immerse in Figh, he will be dependent on Abu Haneefah.” In addition to being a great scholar he was also a successful business man. He operated a business that dealt in silk and clothing. Imam ‘Abu Haneetha, once, sent to his business part- ner a large shipment of clothing. He gave him special instructions that one of the articles of clothing had a flaw in it and whoever buys the article of clothing must be told about the flaw and given a discount on it. His business part- ner, Hafs ibn Abd-Al-Rahman, sold all of the shipment and forgot to mention the flaw to the buyer. Since they could not find the buyer Abu Haneefa donated all of the money from the sale of the whole shipment to charity. This amount- ed to about 30,000 dinars all because he was extremely careful to protect his money from anything haram or even questionable. * Saudi Arabia “uh Abu HanifaThe Foundation of the Hanafi School Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib wi. had moved the Islamic capital from Madina to Al-Koofah, in Iraq. Therefore, many of the first generation Muslims had moved with him and settled there. The Hanafi School of Islamic Law has based many of its rulings on the Hadeeth and knowledge transmitted by those early Muslims residing in Iraq. Thus, the Hanafi School came to be known as the Koofan or ‘Iraqi’ school in earlier times. Ali Ibn Abi Talib and “Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ood +t) -, formed much of the base of the school, as well as other personalities related to Ali ce )_.4, and Prophet Muhammad's direct relatives (or Aal-ul- Bay?). Abu Haneefah had studied with scholars like Muhammad al-Bagir, Ja'far al-Sadiq, and Zayd ibn Ali among many others who were the students of Ali and Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ood and other Sahabah in Iraq. Many jurists and historians had reportedly lived in Al-Koofah, including Abu Haneefah’s main teacher, Hammad ibn Sulayman. Imam Abu Haneefah studied with Hammad and many other scholars who settled in that area. Later, he became the most important Fagih, or jurist in that time, The Hanafi School Sources and Methodology Imam Abu Haneefah and his school derived Islamic law from the following sources: + The Holy Qur'an, The authentic Hadeeth (narrations of Prophet Muhammad). However, Imam Abu Haneefah was so cautious to accept the Hadeeth narration, especially in volatile Iraq. because zealots of different deviant groups would easily invent ahadeeth to support their Figh and political positions. No authentic col- lections of Hadeeth were available at that time, Imams Ahmad, Al-Bukhar, Muslim and others came many years after Imam Abu Haneefah. * Ijmaa’; The consensus of the Muslim community (Ima). Imam Abu Haneefah use to recognize and follow the consensus of Sahabah, or scholars of his time in certain Figh issues. * Qiyas; analogical reasoning (qiyas). Imam Abu Haneefah is regarded by many scholars as the first to formally adopt and institute analogical reason as a part of Islamic Law. ‘ Istihsan; juristic discretion. In Arabic: istihsan means “to approve,” or “to sanc- tion”. It is the use of one’s own judgment to determine the best solution to a religious problem that cannot be found in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Most scholars and authorities restrict the use of isti?s?n to cases that can- not be satisfactorily solved by applying anal- ogy (Qiyas) and consensus of opinion. The followers of Hanafi School see istihsan as a form of analogy (Qiyas) because any judg- ment about what is best necessarily follows careful consideration of all alternative solu- tions. * ’Urf; the customs of the local popula- tion enacting said law with the condition that it does not violate the Qur'an or Sunnah. Contemporary Followers of Hanafi School According to some reports Abu Haneefah’s followers make up at least 1/3 of the world’s Muslim population, some even estimate the figure to be around 1/2 of the Muslim population. The Hanafi School fol- lowers can be particularly found in Pakistan, India, Bengladish, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and other areas around the world,CHAPTER | -Eae Neon Ene ‘The Maliki School of Figh Imam Malik, a brief Profile The Maliki School's Sources and Methodology What is the Maliki School? The Maliki School was founded around Imam Malik ibn Anas. He was born in Madina in the year 93 after Hijra and lived for 86 years before passing away in 179A.H. He never traveled outside of Madina to seck knowledge since all great students of Sahabah and other scholars used to live there Therefore, he stayed in Madina and studied with all of the scholars there until he was rec- ognized as the greatest Imam in Madina. As his knowledge spread in the Muslim World through his students, Imam Malik became known as one of the greatest scholars in the Muslim World and many started to travel to Madina to study with him. It is said that he became the fulfiliment of a hadeeth in which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “There is just about to come a time when people would ride their camels quickly looking for knowledge and not find anyone with more knowledge than the scholar of Madina.” (Tirmithi) Imam Malik also wrote one of the most important books of hadeeth called the “Muwatta (The Approved).” In it he collected some of the most important narrations of hadeeth and opinions of companions in the different categories of Fiqh. Imam Al-Shafi'e said about the book, “After the Quran, there is not a book on the face of the earth that is, more beneficial than the Muwatta of Imam Malik.”Imam Malik, a Brief Profile He is Malik Ibn Anas Tin Malik Tbn Abi Amer Al-Asbahi. He was the great grandson of the Sahabi Abu Amer Al-Asbahi. Born in 93 AH. Malik Ibn Anas grew up at a time when Madina was full with a generation of the students of the companions of the Prophet. He attended many of the learning and discussion assemblies of great Imams like Imam Abu Haneefah, Gafar AlSaadiq, ‘Az-Zuhri and many others. He was 86, when he died in 179 AH. in Madina. Imam Malik spent all his time in Medina. Imam Malik was the second of the four major Imams. Some scholars believe that he was the one referred to in he hadeeth of the Prophet where he says, "Very soon, people will beat the flanks of camels in search of knowledge, and they shall find no-one more knowledgeable than the knowledgeable scholar of Madina." (Reported by Al- ‘Tirmidhi, An-Nasa‘i, Ahmad and others). Imams al-Qadi “Iyad, Ath-Thahabi, Sufyan ibn “Uyayna, “Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn Mahdi, Ibn Ma‘in, Dhu‘ayb ibn “Imama, Ibn al-Madini believe that the Prophet meant Imam Malik. Al-Muwatta’; the First Hadeeth Collection Malik Ibn Anas lived at a time when forgeries of the Hadeeth were widespread especially in Iraq and elsewhere when inter- nal unrest was common in the Muslim Ummah. Due to conflicts between the Omayyad and Abbasied Dynasties, in addi- tion to the split of Shi’h groups away from the mainstream Muslim Ummah, many deviant individuals were tempted to fabricate narrations to support their factions and relate those narrations to Prophet Muhammad ‘Therefore, Imam Malik took great care of selecting authentic Hadeeths in one volume called Al-Muwarra’ (The Approved) and made it as a reference for scholars and gener- al Muslims. Asa result his popularity began to increase. Many people started to quote him and study at his hand Imam Malik’s landmark work was the first hadeeth collection ever. He compiled in his book around one thousand and eight hundred of the sound narrations of the Prophet together with the sayings of the ‘Companions (Sahabah), their students (Tabi‘een) , and those after them. Imam Al- Shafi‘i described Al-Muatta’ as the most authentic book on earth after the Qur’an, nearest book on earth to the Quran, most correct book on earth after the Qur'an, and ‘most beneficial book on earth after the Qur'an”. This was around a century before the work of Imam Al-Bukhari. Imam Malik said: "I showed my book to seventy jurists of Madina, and every single one of them approved me on it (kulluhum wata’ani “alayh), so I named it ‘The Approved.” Imam Al-Bukhari said that the strongest of allImam Malik Bin Anas chains of transmission was "Malik, from Nafi’, from Ibn “Umar.” The scholars of hadeeth call it the Golden Chain, and there are eighty narrations with this chain in the Muwatta’. Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said that Malik was the first who compiled a book formed exclusively of authentic hadeeth. Abu Bakr ibn Al--Aral said: "The Muwatta’ is the first foundation and the core hadeeth collection, while al- Bukhari’s book is the second foundation in this respect. Upon these two all the rest have built their works and colloections, such as Muslim and al-Tirmidhi.” Malik composed it in the course of forty years, having started with ten thousand narrations until he reduced them to their present number of under 2,000. Teachers of Imam Malik It is interesting to know that Imam Malik’s mother encouraged him to study with the Great Imams of Madina. When he was ten years old, she bought him the clothes usually womby scholars. He then went to the Prophet's Masjid in Madina and studied with great Tabi’een and scholars and hadeeth nar- rators. It is narrated that he studied with almost a thousand of scholars including three hundred Tabi’ees. Among those Malik narrat- ed from in the Muwatta’: Nafi’ Maula Ibn Omar, Ibn Hurmuz, Rabee’ah fbn Abdurrahman, Ibn Shihab Az-Zuhri, Sa’ced Ibn-ul-Musayyib, Ayyub al-Sakhtyani, Ja°far ibn Muhammad (al-Sadiq), Zayd ibn Aslam, Ata’ al-Khurasani, al-Zuhti, Ibn al- Munkadir, “Alqama, Nafi” the freedman of Ibn “Umar, and others. Among those who narrated from Malik: al-Zuhri, Ibn Jurayj, Abu Haneefah, al-Awzaa’i, Sufyan al-Thawri, Shu'bah, Abdullah Tbn-ul-Mubarak, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Ash-Shaybani, “Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Wake" ibn-ul- Jarrah, Yahya al-Qattan, al-Shafi'ee, Tn Wahb, Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi, “Abd al- Razzaq, and many others.‘i Ja’far Al-Mansoor apologized to Imam Malik The Persecu tion of Imam and claimed that he didn’t know about this Malik persecution nor ordered it, and that he pun- ished the governor of Madina before he was forgiven by Imam Malik. Imam Malik was a man of truth, and never compromised his religious beliefs nor the tne of lam and Molina, Therefore Imam Malik passes during his career he made certain statements and took some positions that were used away against him by the governor of Madina Ja’far Tbn Sulayman, who imprisoned Imam Malik In the year 179 A.H. during the month of and tortured him until he harmed his shoul- Rabee’-uth-Thani Imam Malik became very der and almost paralyzed his hand. Some his- ill for three weeks then he peacefully passed torians relate Imam Malik’s releasing of his away. Later he was buried in Al-Baqee’, hands during standing in Salah to this sad close to Al-Masjid-un-Nabawi, where injury. It is narrated that the Khaleefah Abu Prophet Muhammad is now buried. Imam Malik said: “Knowledge is not knowing a lot of information. Knowledge is a light that Allah places in hearts.” Imam Malik said, “A person who seeks knowledge must be calm, collected and have a fear of Allah in his heart. Knowledge is good for the person who is blessed to get the good from it, It is something that Allah hands out. So do not give people power over you. It is part of the happiness of a person to be blessed to acquire what is good. It is part of the sadness of a person to always miss what is good and get more humiliation. It is a humiliation for his knowledge for a man to share his knowledge with someone who doesn’t obey him.” When Imam Malik wanted to share a hadeeth, he would make wudu, dress nicely and put on perfume. Then he would sit in a calm manner and share the hadeeth. When he was asked about this he said: “I like to honor the speech of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, so I do not share his hadeeth without wudu.”Maliki School Sources and methodology The sources of Maliki School: * The Qur'an, * The Prophet's traditions (hadeeth), * Consensus (pts). The Malikis used to specify the consensus as that of the scholars of Madina, as it was the dwelling place of the Prophet, the four guided caliphs and the _ Sahabah. Overtime, however, the school came to understand consensus to be that of scholars, known as 'ulama, © The Statements and opinions of Sahabah. * Analogy (giyas). * Common Interest (Le Aight i hey. Astislah or AL-Masalih- ul-Mursalah); In the absence of clear instruc- tion in the Qur’an or the Sunnah on an emerging issue, scholars may come up with solutions that serve the common interest of the Muslim society. * Blocking Harms ( wit! 4. Sadd-uth- Thara‘ie). Scholars may prohibit some origi nally lawful actions if they may lead to harms against Muslim individuals or groups, like barring women from going out at night to insecure areas to protect them from criminal acts, or drinking from polluted sources of water, or traveling to countries infested with vicious diseases and viruses. Look at the chapter heading fort =a tta book. Why do you think Imam Malik put those in that order?The Shafi’ee School of Figh SSSON OBJECTIVES ‘The Shaf'iee School of Fiqh Imam Ash-Shafee, a brief Profile Imam Muhammad Ibn Idrees Ash- Shafi’ee was the third of the four Great Imams. Ash- Shafi‘ee was born in the year 150 A.H. (767 AD) which was the same year of Imam Abu Hanifah’s death. He was born Gaza, Palestine. Imam Ash-Shafiee's father died when he was very young, therefore, his. mother decided to move back to her family in Makkah, who were originally from Yemen. She was a great, but poor lady. She guided her child to seek Islamic knowledge and work towards scholarship. She wanted him to follow the path of his great grandfather Prophet Muhammad ?. School’s Sources and Methodology As a young man, he was taught by schol- ars in Makkah the Holy Qur'an, Hadeeth, Arabic grammar, literature, and history. He memorized the whole Quran at the age of seven. Later, he began to study Figh, and memorized the most popular book of Hadeeth and Figh at the time, Imam Malik’s Al-Muwatta’, at the age of ten and he memo- rized it in nine nights according to some reports. As he grew up in Makkah he developed his abilities in Arabic and literature until he became known as an expert in the field. He also studied Islamic Law under the Mufti ofPane & Egypt oO Saudi Arabia ley Pyemen ‘Map of Imam Shafi'ee travels Makkah, Muslim ibn Khalid Al-Zanji, and he quickly became an expert in that also. When he was fifteen years old he was given permis- sion to give fatwa for his outstanding under- standing and knowledge. Itis interesting to know that because of his family’s poverty, the young Shafi’ee could not afford proper writing materials. Therefore, he took notes on animal skins and bones. Learning Under Imam Malik When he was thirteen, the governor of Makkah encouraged him to travel to Madinah and study under Imam Malik him- self. Imam Malik was very impressed with the intelligence and thinking skills of the young Shafi’ee. Thus, he supported him financially to ensure his consistency on the study of Figh. In Madinah, Ash-Shafi'i flourished in the academic environment in Al-Ma: Nabawi. He also studied under Imam. ‘Muhammad Ibn-ul-Hasan Ash-Shaybani, one of the greatest students of Imam Abu Hanifah. This familiarized Ash-Shafi‘ee with the diverse viewpoints of the study of Fiqh, and he greatly benefited from the various approaches of Fiqh. When Imam Malik died in 179 AH. (795 AD), Imam Ash-Shafi’ee became one of the world’s most knowledge- able scholars, even though he was under thirty years of age. His Travels for Knowledge Unlike Imam Malik, Imam Ash-Shafi’ee traveled extensively throughout the Islamic World of that time. The first professional trip for him was to Yemen when he was hired as a judge there by Abbasid waali, or governor. There, he could not stand the political envi- ronment which was impure, compared to the academic and spiritual atmosphere he had enjoyed in Makkah and Madina, He was firm on his high principles and refused to compro- mise to some corrupted politicians and busi- ness people. He insisted to be fair and honest in his rules as a Muslim judge, therefore, peo-ple of narrow and selfish interests managed to cause him trouble and remove him from his post. Ash-Shafi‘ee was arrested and carried in chains to Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate with falsified charges of supporting Shi'a rebels in Yemen. Allah had different plans than those of Ash-Shafi’ee’s wicked adversaries. Khaleefah Harun Al-Rashid met with Imam Shafi’ee and became very impressed with his eloquent and persuasive defense. Asa result, Ash-Shafi’i was encour- aged to stay in Baghdad to contribute to the Islamic knowledge in the region. Al-Shafi’i agreed but smartly decided to stay away from professional politics. During his stay in Iraq, Imam Ash-Shafi’ee enjoyed the opportunity to immerse in the Hanafi School of Figh. There, he had an aca- demic reunion with his old teacher, Muhammad Ash-Shaybani, who taught him the minute details of the jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifah and his school. Although he never met Imam Abu Hanifah, he appreci- ated the intelligence of that great Imam and his disciples, but remained independent in his look at different issues of Figh. When Imam Ash-Shafi’ee reached Baghdad he only had six students with him as he entered the main Masjid. At that time there were some fifty scholars teaching in the mosque to collections of students. It didn’t take very long until all of the other scholars and students in the masjid began joining the lessons of Imam Ash-Shafi’ee. He also met with the scholar Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and they studied together. The two great Imams developed a great relationship and benefited a lot from each other. Although Imam Ash-Shafi’ee was fourteen years older than Imam Ahmad, the earlier used to consid er the latter as his teacher, something that Imam Ahmad used to deny and say the oppo- site. However, their relation was an ideal Islamic brotherhood and mutual respect. 7 SA ae OS aR 8 During his thirties and forties, Imam Ash- Shafi‘ee traveled throughout Bilad-ush- Sham (Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon) and the Arabian Peninsula. He continued to give lectures and address large groups of stu- dents and taught them his new school of jurisprudence. Among his students was Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, the founder of the fourth school of Figh, the Hanbali School. Imam Ash-Shafiee returned to the capital Baghdad, but was surprised that the new Khaleefah, Al-Ma’mun, had followed a devi- ated path of Al-Mu'tazilah, a minority school of thought which departed from the main- stream Islam in certain issues. They believed in Khalq-ul-Qur’an (the creation of the Qur'an) rater than the Tanzeel (revelation) of the Qur'an, among other new inventions they had in the Islamic faith. Saying that the Qur'an was created, not revealed, would open the door for people later to say, it is deficient, since every creation is subject to deficiency and decay. The Qur’an is the words of Allah that can never be deficient or in need of revision or renewal. Al-Ma'mun used to persecute those who disagreed with him like Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and oth-Ash-Shafi’ee’ s Final Journey Imam Ash-Shafi’ee made his final move to Egypt, where he revised many of his legal opinions and originated usul al-Figh, or The Methodology of Figh, which guides scholars through jjtihad to derive and formulate of Islamic rules. His landmark book Ar-Risalah was the first book ever to be authored in Usul-ul-Figh. He also wrote his other land- mark book Al-Umm in Figh, or Islamic Law in which he laid down almost all his jurispru- dence including his revisions to earlier opin- In Egypt, a different environment, he a indeed developed a new collection of reli- gious opinions where he changed his mind from some previous opinions he had held in Arabia, Iraq and Bilad-ush-Sham. There he wrote “Al-Umm"” which is a huge collection of about a five-volume book on Figh, or Islamic Jurisprudence. Even though Imam Ash-Shafi’ee started as a Maliki, he became universally recognized for his independent brilliance in Quran, Figh, Hadeeth, Arabic “ language, and grammar. Many scholars stud- ied under Imam Ash-Shafi’ee and many scholars built on his work to form the yy 3 Tae buried in Cairo. Later, his teachings have Shafi’ee School of Figh that is still very influ- eee : : slamic World, Nowadays, followers of Imam tial today. ys, cae Ash-Shafi’ee can be found in Indonesia, Imam Ash-Shafi’ee's final distination in Malysin, the Far Bast, Turkey, Beypy i sae kuna pak sie Aa Somalia, Ethiopia, East Africa, and elsewhere crystallized his School of Figh and left his Sonne oe vena legacy. He finally passed away and wasThe Methodology of Iman Ash-Shafi’ee Throughout his last period of life, Imam Ash-Shafi’ee strived to reconcile between two competing methodologies of Islamic Law. The first was the methodology of Ahl-ur-Rai, or the people of reason which was advocated by Imam Abu Haneefah, who tried to under- stand the Qur’an and the Sunnah texts through the letter and the spirit of the indi- vidual ayaat and ahadeeth. He and his school thought that this methodology is better to derive proper Islamic rules from the revealed texts. The other methodology is that of Ahl- ul-Hadeeth, or the people of Hadeeth, who focused more on the letter of the Hadeeth and the actual practice of Prophet Muhammad. This methodology is advocated by Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and other less prominent scholars Imam Al-Shafi’i sought to reconcile the two methodologies and introduce a clear methodology for reaching at Islamic rules through revealed texts and reason together known as usul-ul-Figh. His seminal work, Ar-Risalah was not a book of Figh and Islamic rules, rather it provides scholars and students the knowledge and skills to derive and extract Islamic rules from the Qur'an, Sunnah and jjtihad through logical skiills which Allah ordered Muslims to exert for reaching the truh. In his book, Ar-Risalah, Imam Al-Shafi’ee delineated his methodology of deriving Islamic rules. He outlined only four sources of Islamic law: 1. The Quran 2. The Sunnah 3. Ijmaa’, or consensus among the Muslim community 4. Qiyas, or analogical deduction,The Hanbali School of Fiqh LESSON OBJECTIVES <" 3 The Hanbali School of Figh Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, a brief Profile The Hanbali School's Sources and Methodology The Hanbali School was founded on the work of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal Ash- Shaybani who was born in Baghdad and died there at the age of 77. He made many travels all over the Muslim world to seek knowledge and collect the Hadeeth of Prophet Muhammad. He compiled the largest Hadeeth encyclopedia of that time in addi- tion of other great books. He stood tall against the tyranny of three Abbasid caliphs and their deviant Mu’tazili supporters who advocated the non-mainstream ideas. His strife for the purity of faith brought to him peoples’ following and respect until these days. Imam Ash-Shafi’ee said when he left Baghdad to go to Egypt, “I left Baghdad and I didn’t leave a person there with more fear of Allah and more Figh than Ibn Hanbal.” Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani was born in the year 164 A.H. (778 AD) in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Baghdad was the hub for Islamic scholarship where three of the four Imams have been bom or lived there. Imam Ahmad memorized the whole Qur'an at ten, and much of Prophet Muhammad sayings ?.Ahmad Bin Hanbal Saudi Arabia “eh 1 Pyemen Like Imam Ash-Shafi‘ee, Imam Ahmad lost his father when he was a small child. ‘Therefore, he had to work in a post office to help support his family when he was a young boy. He could also have enough time and energy to study with Imam Abu Haneefa’s foremost students, Abu Yusuf. He learned the basics of Figh such ijtihad (intellectual deci- sion making), and qiyas (analogical deduc- tion). Imam Ahmad had also studied with Hadeeth scholars of Baghdad, including Haitham ibn Bishr and Yahya Ibn Maen, who became later one of the teachers of Imam Al-Bukhari. He was so passionate about collecting and screening the Hadeeth of Prophet Muhammad ? He would wait for a long time after fajr outside of the homes of his teachers, ready to start that day’s lesson. After studying in Baghdad, he traveled Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, and Syria. During his trips, he met Imam Ash-Shafi’ee in Makkah. Ash-Shafi’ee helped the young Ahmad to move beyond just memorizing Hadeeth and Figh, instead, to understand the ‘Map of Imam Ahmad travels throughout the Arabian Peninsula in search of knowledge methodology guidelines behind them. This collaboration between these two great imams shows that the schools of Islamic law were collaborating for the sake of Allah, not com- peting. When Imam Ash-Shafi’ee left Baghdad, he said, “Iam leaving Baghdad when there is none more righteous, nor more knowledgeable in Fiqh than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.” Although Imam Ahmad initially learned Figh from Ash-Shafi‘ee but eventually he studied with more than a hundred scholars including Sufyan Tbn Uyaynah, Yahya Ibn Sa’eed Al-Qattan, Wake’ Ibn-ul-Jarrah, Imam Abu Yousuf, Abdurrahman Ibn Mahdi and many others. This huge exposure to great scholars made him an independent scholar of Figh and Hadeeth.AS eR Ahmad ibn Hanbal the Scholar Imam Ahamd started his journey as a scholar of Figh and Hiadeeth early on in his life in Baghdad. He taught his students who came to him from Iraq and abroad. Some of his students came from remote places like Bukhara in the East and Al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, in the west. Among his stu- dents, one can notice great names like Imams Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Yahya Ibn Ma‘een, Abdurrazzaq As-San’aani, Bagiy Ibn Mukhlad in addition to Salih and Abdullah, the sons of Imam Ahmad himself, When Imam Ahmad was forty years old, his mentor Imam al-Shati’ee passed away. At this point, Imam Ahmad began to teach Hadeeth and Figh to the people of Baghdad Students would flock to his lectures, and he especially took care of the poorer ones, keep- ing in mind his own humble origins. Despite being in the capital of the Muslim world, Baghdad, Imam Ahmad refused to be attracted to a life of luxury and wealth. He continued to live on very humble means, and rejected the numerous gifts that people would offer him, instead choosing to live on whatever small amounts of money he had. He especially insisted on not accepting gifts from political figures, ensuring his independ- ence from the political authority which could affect his teachings Imam Ahmad is best known also for his tremendous work in the field of collecting Hadeeth. While Sahih Al-Bukhari has around 7500 narrations, Imam Ahmad’s musnad has about 40,000. It is true that not everything in Imam Ahmad’s collection is sahih. However, the overall quality of the narrations in his book is equal to or exceeds many books of Hadeeth that don’t collect near as many Hadeeth. Out of all of the 40,000 ahadeeth in his book it is said that probably only four are baseless. The Mihnah; The Persecution Imam Ahmad was in Baghdad during the time of the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun, who reigned from 813-833. Although al-Ma’mun ‘was known for his developing Baghdad as a worldelass center for science and civilization, he was under the influence of a group called the Mu’tazila. Mu'tazili philosophy champi- oned the role of rationalism in all aspects of life, including faith. Thus, instead of relying on the Quran and Sunnah to understand Allah, they relied on philosophy that was first developed by the Ancient Greeks. One of the most dangerous beliefs they had was that the Quran was a created book, instead of being the un-created literal word of AllahAl-Ma'mun was obsessed with Mu’tazili ideas, and imposed this new and dangerous belief system on everyone in the Islamic World under his rule ~ including the schol- ars. While many scholars have avoided to flatly oppose the Mu’tazili thought system fearing persecution, Imam Ahmad refused to compromise. Al-Ma’mun then started a persecution campaign against opposing scholars which was known later as the Mihna, Any scholar who refused to accept Mu’tazili ideas was severely persecuted, punished and killed in some cases. Imam Ahmad, the chief scholar of Baghdad, was brought before al-Ma’mun and pressured to abandon his mainstream Islamic beliefs. Imam Ahmad refused the intimidation as expected and was, later, tor- tured and imprisoned. His treatment at the hands of the political authority was extreme- ly severe. He was whipped like criminals until he fainted. The even hanged him upside down from his heels to make whipping harsher and more humiliating. Imam Ahmad persevered and stood firm on his true beliefs like a mountain. People outside the prison were waiting to see if Imam Ahmad was going to agree to Al- Mu’tazilah’s positions on the “creation of the Qur'an” issue and other deviations they were advocating. He held to the mainstream Islamic beliefs, and thus served as an inspira- tion for Muslims throughout the Muslim World and across Muslim generations until the current one . Imam Ahmad set the exam- ple of a true faithful scholar who taught Muslims by action not to give up their beliefs regardless of the pressure imposed on them by political, social or any other authority. He persevered for almost thirty years (198-227 A\H.) under three Khaleefas who supported Mu'tazili ideas; Al-Ma’mun, AIMu’tasim and ‘Al-wathig, In the end, Khleefah Al- Mutawakkil came to power in 232 A.H. (847 A.D.) and decided to ban the Mu’tazili propa- ganda, and restored Imam Ahmad as the Imam of Baghdad and made him resume his lessons in the Main Masjid. Imam Ahmad regained his freedom to teach the people of Baghdad. Now he became able to finish writing his Hadeeth encyclope- dia, Al-Musnad which was the largest and unprecedented Hadeeth collection at that time. The Imam organized the book around the Sahabah who narrated the Hadeeth of the Prophet. He mentioned each Sahabi or Sahabiyyah who narrated the Hadeeth, and then list all the Ahadeeth he or she narrated from the Prophet.Imam Ahmad Passes Away At the age of seventy seven, Imam Ahmad passed away in Baghdad in 241 A.H. (855 A.H). History books report that around one million people participated in his funeral and that all Baghdad shops closed that day. His popularity and legacy was not only for his superiority in knowledge and Fiqh, nor only for his unprecedented Hadeeth compila- tion, rather, it was mostly for his vital and historic role in preserving the true Islamic beliefs in the face of deviation, tyranny and vicious political persecution. Imam Ahmad'’s legacy continued through his millions of followers until today in Arabia, Bilad-ush-Sham and elsewhere. His followers included great scholars and leaders across the generations like Abdul Qadir al- Gilani, Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn-ul-Qayyim, Ibn Katheer, and Muhammad ibn Abd-ul- Wahhab who all spread his school of Fiqh and religious opinions. Hanbali School’s Methodology Imam Ahmad is the founder of AhI-ul- Hadeeth, which is a school of Figh that calls for giving Qur’an and Sunnah more impor- tance than reason whenever possible. Therefore, here are his sources of jurispru- dence: + The Qur'an The Sunnah ‘* The Opinions of the Sahabah + Qiyas (when there is no divine text or Sahabi opinion) It should be noticed that Imam Ahmad ‘was the only Imam who did not consider Jjmaa’, or consensus of Sahabah, or later gen- erations of scholars as one of his sources of Islamic ruling. He contended that it is impos- sible for all scholars of any generation to agree on a judgment concerning an emerging issue that is not addressed by the Qur’an or Sunnah. If it is addressed by divine revela- tion then there no need to go to human opin- ion.Cocaine The harmful effects of illegal drugs. Where Islam stands concerning illegal drugs? ‘There are two ways in which people use drugs today. One use of drugs is for medical purposes which Islam encourages, rather makes mandatory if doctors believes it is a must for the patient's life and wellbeing, The other use of drugs is for personal pleasure. This use of drugs is illegal and also Haram, or forbidden in Islam. Taking illegal drugs harms the human body, mind, and society. It also hooks people to addiction, which usually ruins people's health, economy, family life and makes him or her connected to unneces- sary substance probably more than being connected to his Lord.You have most likely been to a “drug store”. Ata local “drug store”, they sell “legal” drugs. Such drugs are used for med- ical purposes. They are created to heal. Common legal drugs are Tylenol, Advil and antibiotics. When your stomach hurts, your Legal Drugs and Illegal Drugs parents, or doctor, might tell you to take a small dose of Advil. They come in a bottle in a liquid form or in pills. There is another “type” of drugs that are used for pleasure, and not for medical purposes. LEGAL DRUGS | TYLENOL] ADVIL ASPIRIN CHILDREN'S MOTRIN ILLEGAL DRUGS| COCAIN | HEROIN MARIJUANA | LSD Around 208 million people consume ille- gal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs. Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. Based on a survey by the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, 45% of high school students in the US drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot during a one-month period, The Use of Illegal Drugs around E3 the World In Europe, recent studies among 15 and 16-year-olds suggest that use of marijuana varies from under 10% to over 40%, with the highest rates reported by teens in the Czech Republic (44%), followed by Ireland (39%), the UK (38%) and France (38%). In Spain and the United Kingdom, cocaine use among 15- to 16-year-olds is 4% to 6%. Cocaine use among young people has risen in Denmark, Italy, Spain, UK, Norway and France.The Dangerous of Illegal Drugs Many people use illegal drugs like mari- juana, Cocaine and Heroin to attain personal pleasure and relaxation. Therefore, these types of drugs are also called recreational and narcotic drugs. This use of illegal drugs is illegal and is proven harmful, dangerous, and asa result, Muslim scholars have ruled that it is Haram. Illegal drugs are also referred to as narcotics. Illegal drugs have hurt many peo- ple and devastated their lives. Often times it has even killed them or they have ended up them up in prison with notorious criminals. Last year you learned about alcohol which is also a drug. It is one of the few drugs that is not illegal, unfortunately, in many parts of the world including many ‘Muslim countries. It is also used for personal pleasure. Most of the illegal drugs can change the way your mind works. For example, a person who has taken LSD may think he has great powers. This may convince him that he has the ability to fly. Other drugs, like heroin, can be addictive. After taking heroin over a peri- od of time, the user may feel that he cannot live without it. As he/she takes more and more, his/her body can get severely dam- aged by the drugs. This is how drugs are so dangerous. First, it fools the mind. It allows the mind to grow illusions that don’t exist, such as the ability for man to fly. If someone thought they could fly, they might go and jump off of a very high building. Or go on the highest mountain, spread their arms and try to fly. Then, when he tries to fly off a building, he fails and falls dead. A person with a sane and clear mind would never do something like this, The second danger of drugs like cocaine, heroin, opium, marijuana, among others, is that it is addictive. Addiction causes the user to continue using drugs. The user will want to take drugs regularly, even if it was destroying his body and brain and make him broke. Therefore, addiction to drugs usually leads many people to crime. Most of these drugs are very expensive. The fastest way to get money is to steal. By stealing, the addiction becomes more than just a danger to the user himself. He/she is now a danger to society. The moral conse- quences, moral insensitivity, weakening of the will-power, and neglect of responsibilities are also well known Eventually, addiction to drugs renders a person a diseased member of society. Furthermore, drug addiction may result in the destruction of the family or even in a life of crime. Since obtaining drugs involves a great outlay of money, a drug addict may well deprive his family of the necessities of food, health, security and education in order to buy drugs. He or she may resort to an ille- gal means like prostitution, bribery or black- mail to pay for them.Short-Term Effects of Cocaine Cocaine causes a short-lived intense high that is immediately followed by the oppo- site—intense feelings of depression and edgi- ness and a craving for more of the drug, People who use it often don’t eat or sleep properly. They can experience greatly increased heart rate, muscle spasms and con- vulsions. The drug can make people feel paranoid, angry, hostile and anxious, even. when they aren't high. Long-Term Effects In addition to those effects already men- tioned, cocaine can cause irritability, mood disturbances, restlessness, paranoia and audi- tory (hearing) hallucinations. Tolerance to the’ drug develops so that more is needed to pro- duce the same “high.” ‘Coming down from the drug causes severe depression, which becomes deeper and deeper after each use. This can get so severe that a person will do almost anything to get the drug—even commit murder. And if he or she can’t get cocaine, the depression can get so intense it can drive the addict to sui- cide. Marijuana, the Most Popular Drug Marijuana is the most commonly used drugs around the world. It is more affordable than other narcotic drugs and relatively less harmful. According to the United Nations, 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana, Although some people think it is not addictive, studies show that it is addictive as well as harmful. In its report on marijuana, the National Institute of Health in the United States (NIH) stated: “Marijuana is usually smoked in hand- rolled cigarettes (joints) or in pipes or water pipes (bongs). It is also smoked in blunts— Cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with a mixture of marijuana and tobacco. ” “Marijuana... raises heart rate by 20-100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. In one study, it was esti- mated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug. This risk may bbe greater in older individuals or in those with cardiac vulnerabilities.” “Marijuana use may have a wide range of effects, particularly on cardiopulmonary and mental health. Marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, and frequent marijuana smokers can have many of the same respiratory prob-lems experienced by tobacco smokers, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, and a heightened. risk of lung infections. One study found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health prob- lems and miss more days of work than those who don’t smoke marijuana, mainly because of respiratory illnesses. It is not yet known whether marijuana smoking contributes to risk for lung cancer.” “Marijuana also affects brain develop- ment, and when it is used heavily by young people, its effects on thinking and memory may last a long time or even be permanent. A recent study of marijuana users who began using in adolescence revealed substantially. reduced connectivity among brain areas, responsible for learning and memory. And a large long-term study in New Zealand showed that people who began smoking mar- jjuana heavily in their teens lost an average of 8 points in IQ between age 13 and age 38. Importantly, the lost cognitive abilities were not fully restored in those who quit smoking, marijuana as adults.” “A number of studies have linked chronic ‘marijuana use and mental illness. High doses of marijuana can produce a temporary psy- chotic reaction (involving hallucinations and paranoia) in some users, and using marijuana ‘can worsen the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia. A series of large studies following users across time also showed a link between marijuana use and later devel- ‘opment of psychosis. This relationship was influenced by genetic variables as well as the amount of drug used, drug potency, and the age at which it was first taken—those who start young are at increased risk for later probiems. Associations have also been found ‘between marijuana use and other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts among adolescents, and personality disturbances, including a lack of motivation to engage in typically rewarding activities. More research is still needed to confirm and better understand these linkages. ‘Marijuana use during pregnancy is asso- ciated with increased risk of neurobehavioral problems in babies. Because THC and other compounds in marijuana mimic the body's own endocannabinoid chemicals, marijuana use by pregnant mothers may alter the devel- oping endocannabinoid system in the brain of the fetus. Consequences for the child may include problems with attention, memory, and problem solving. Additionally, because it seriously impairs judgment and motor coordination, marijuana contributes to risk of injury or death while driving a car. A recent analysis of data from several studies found that marijuana use more than doubles a driver's risk of being in an accident. The combination of marijuana and alcohol is worse than either substance alone with respect to driving impairment.” These harmful effects are resulting from the use of the least dangerous drug; marijua- na, More Severe harms are definitely conse- quent of the use of other types of drugs like cocaine, heroin, opium and others. These devastating physical and psychological harms made Muslim scholars render unani- ‘mous ruling that narcotic drugs are all for- bidden in Islam. Is There Hope for drug users? “Long-term marijuana users trying to quit report withdrawal symptoms including irri- tability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which can make it difficult to abstain. Behavioral inter- ventions, including cognitive-behavioral ther- apy and motivational incentives (ie., provid- ing vouchers for goods or services to patients who remain abstinent) have proven to beee eee 3 ex effective in treating marijuana addiction. Although no medications are currently avail- able, recent discoveries about the workings of the endocannabinoid system offer promise for the development of medications to ease withdrawal, block the intoxicating effects of marijuana, and prevent relapse.” People Addicted on other illicit drugs may also quit, but by exerting stronger will power, sharper determination and support from profession- als Why Do People Take it? Just like alcohol, illegal drugs bring a short period of pleasure and relaxation. Such drugs are taken as a means of escape from realm of fantasy and imagination. It is the inner reality of one's feelings and the enough to use it once out of curiosity to get outer realities of life and religion into the addicted to it for life in many cases. Isalamic Attitudes Towards Drugs Islam is opposed to the use of any drugs and societies socially, economically and med- except for those which are medically pre- ically. scribed. Drugs are scientifically harmful to Reviewing the sayings of Allah and the the human mind and body. Using drugs also Prophet in substance consumptions will lead goes against the Aims of Islamic Law which us to the above argument; that drugs are pro- includes safeguarding life, mind, and wealth. hibited. Allah says in the Qur'an: Mlicit drug use is also devastating to families SAYS ROH a pe EK tld cS AGN IISA GM > SSA gis ON As etl 2 hes oath at BSB a Fae oll Sele LH SI NG pho ot Lass 157 apn @) GAIA GAs Lied anes, Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures), in the law and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and for- bids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him, itis they who will prosper."(157) —7Notice that Allah sets in this important Ayah the general criteria for what is Halal (lawful) and what is Haram (unlawful). Allah particularly says, “He allows them as lawful what is good(and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure).” So whatever is good for people's health and well being is Halal and whatever is bad for them it is Haram. In this case, if doctors determine that a certain substance is fatal or detrimental to people’s health, Muslim scholars will rule it Haram, because Allah orders Muslims to preserve and safeguard human life, and this is one of the higher aims of Islamic Law. Allah also says, 91-90 sas ¢ (OY » A OG ASI JST Ps saat 2a oes sft Ap tial pat Je uals at O ye who believe, intoxicants, gambling, sacrificing to idols and divining by arrows are but abominations and Satanic devices. So turn wholly away from each of them that you may prosper. Satan desires only to create enmity and hatred between you by means of intoxicants and gambling and to keep you back from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. Surah 5:90-91 Analytical Look at the Ayaat The above ayaat, specially the latter, rep- resent one of the most powerful types of pro- hibition in the Quran, as it covers the follow- ing important points: - These ayaat generally forbid harmful and intoxicant substances. Khamr, in Arabic language, is “cover” from which the word Khimar, or the women head cover is derived. Therefore, Khamr got this name because it covers and clouds the mind and judgment. - They equate intoxicants with idolatrous practices, which God has so severely forbid- den in the Qur’an: "Avoid the filth of wor- shipping idols and avoid falsehood’ - The ayaat intoxicating drinks as a dis- grace. - They classify intoxicants on a par with gambling and games of chance, idolatrous practices which have been pronounced as absolutely forbidden. - They brand them as devised by Satan. And that Satan manipulates the people away from the remembrance of God, which is, always a source of peace and reassurance. - The implication here is to avoid intoxi- cants in all forms and situations, including drinking, trading and carrying or freighting them, or giving them as gifts, etc. - They make the avoidance of intoxicants a precondition for prosperity. A believer can- not be happy with himself while practicing what is detrimental to his success and happi- ness. - Intoxicants stir enmity and hatred between people. - Prayer is prevention against indecency and sinfulness, and it is through intoxicants that people are prevented from observing the duty of prayer.Using Intoxicants and Narcotic Drugs is a Crime and Haram Muslim scholars, based on the above, consider all narcotic drugs dangerous to faith and lead people away from God. The Muslim jurists were unanimous in prohibiting those drugs which were found during their respective times and places. Therefore, all scholars of diverse schools of Figh consider narcotic drugs haram. Allso, as in almost all countries around the world, using illicit drugs is a crime in all Muslim countries. There are strict punishments for anyone who commits this crime. Some Muslim coun- tries punish professional drug traffickers with death. eee es eg ey ingen ie hare oat af aieienictue eran (ue ful or not permitted), hee een ae Logical Basis for Prohibiting of Narcotic Drugs Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, opium, this psychological fact are the physical and the like are definitely included in the effects: bodily lassitude, dullness of the prohibited category of khamr. It is well nerves, and decline in overall health. known that the use of such drugs affects the sensory perceptions, making what is near Islam, then, has prohibited narcotic drugs seem distant and what is distant seem near. as a consequence of the prohibition of intoxi- The use of drugs produces illusions and hal- cating drinks (alcohol), Such intoxicants are lucinations, so that the real seems to disap- felt to be the main cause of all serious crimes. pear and what is imaginary appears to be This prohibition is absolute. Drinking, eating, real, sniffing, smoking or injecting intoxicants and narcotics, trading in them, and indeed the Drug usage in general impairs the faculty mere handling of any of them, are considered of reasoning and decision-making. Added to haram in Islamic law.It should be noticed that using one type of drugs reportedly leads to the use of the other. Marijuana users usually leap to using more dangerous types of drugs. Therefore, each type of drug may serve as the spring- board to another. Many marijuana users When we recall the principle that drugs are impure and harmful, there can be no doubt in our minds concerning the prohibi- tion of such detestable substances such as drugs, which cause so much physical, psy- chological, moral, social and economic harm. ended up using cocaine and heroin. Sarpa Salpa, known commonly as the Salema porgy, is a species of sea bream, recog- nizable by the golden stripes that run down the length of its body, and which can cause hallucinations when eaten.[1] Its relatively common off the coasts of South Africa, Tenerife, Malta and Cyprus, but has occasionally been found as far north as Great Britain. Males are typically 15 to 30 centimeters in length, while females are usually 31 to 45 cen- timeters. Sarpa salpa_was reportedly consumed as a recreational drug during the time of the Roman Empire.[3] The fish became widely known for its psychoactivity following widely publicized articles in 2006, when two men ingested it at a Mediterranean restaurant and began to experience many auditory and visual hallucinogenic effects.[3] These hallucina- tions, described as frightening, were reported to have occurred minutes after the fish was ingested and had a total duration of 36 hours. Ichthyoallyeinotoxism, or hallucinogenic fish poisoning, is common in other species of fish but not in Sarpa salpa, which is not normally psychoactive. It is, in fact, often served as a dish at seafood restaurants in the Mediterranean area. It is presently believed that the fish ingests a particular algae or phytoplankton which renders it hallucinogenic. The effects described are similar to those of indole tryptamine psychedelics, Source: http:/ /en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Sarpa_salpa CONCLUSION It is obvious that the pleasure of drugs is far outweighed by the problems. As man learns more, he finds many things in nature that can be used to help people. Remember, God created everything on Earth. It is up to man to use these things wisely. The proper ‘medical use of certain drugs can help us. The use of drugs for pleasure cannot. Islam teaches us to be better citizens, because it prohibits us from abusing ourselves and others with drugsCHAPTER 4 -E are 4 } The types of tobacco people usually use. ‘The harmful effects of using tobacco. Where Islam stands concerning using tobacco. ; Tobacco is another substance that came to use after the time of Prophet Muhammad. Now, smoking, chewing and inhaling tobacco is practiced by billions of people around the world, including hundreds of millions of Muslims, unfortunately. People usually con- sume tobacco through smoking cigarettes, cigars and hookahs, among other less com- ; mon means. They also sniff or chew tobacco at home, work, coffee shops and restaurants. This addiction is now proven harmful to the human body, along with other economical and social harms to the family and the larger society The National Institute of Health reported that in 2011, 26.5% of the U.S. population age 12 and older (approximately 68.2 million peo- ple) used a tobacco product at least once in the month prior to being interviewed. This figure includes 2.5 million young people aged 12 to 17 (10% of this age group). In addition,dl almost 56.8 million Americans (22.1% of the population) were current cigarette smokers; 12.9 million smoked cigars; more than 8.2 million used smokeless tobacco; and over 2.1 million smoked tobacco in pipes. Current smoking rates among 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students reached an all-time low in 2012. According to the Monitoring the Future survey, 4.9 percent of 8th-graders, 10.8, percent of 10th graders, and 17.1 percent of 12th-graders reported they had used ciga- rettes in the past month. Although unaccept ably high numbers of youth continue to smoke, these numbers represent a significant decrease from peak smoking rates (21 % in 8th-graders, 30 percent in 10th-graders, and 37 percent in 12th-graders) that were reached in the late 1990s. The use of hookahs has also remained steady at high levels since its inclusion in the survey in 2010-past year use was reported by 18.3% of high schooi seniors. Meanwhile, past year use of small cigars has declined since 2010 yet remains high with 19.9% of 12th graders reporting past year use. Current use of smokeless tobacco remained steady among all grades in 2012-2.8 percent of 8th graders, 6.4 percent of 10th graders, and 7.9 percent of 12th graders reported past month While recreational drugs are intoxicant and harmful to the brain and body, tobacco is not considered intoxicant, but still harmful physically To understand tobacco, we should resort again to the reports of the National Institute of Health in the United States. NIH describes tobacco as a type of addictive drug. It says Tobacco is Addictive Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco products—including cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco—contain the addictive drug nicotine. Therefore, many sc entists, consider tobacco a type of drug, itis legal though. Nicotine is readily absorbed into the bloodstream when a tobacco product is smoked, chewed, or inhaled. A typical smoker will take 10 puffs on a cigarette over a period of 5 minutes that the cigarette is lit. Thus, a person who smokes about 1? packs (30 cigarettes) daily gets 300 “hits” of nicotine each day. Upon entering the bloodstream, nicotine immediately stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone epinephrine (adrena: line), Epinephrine stimulates the central nerv- ous system and increases blood pressure, res- piration, and heart rate. Like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, nico- tine increases levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which affects the brain pathways that control reward and pleasure. For many tobacco users, long-term brain changes induced by continued nicotine exposure result in addiction—a condition of compul- sive drug seeking and use, even in the face ofnegative consequences. Studies suggest that additional compounds in tobacco smoke, such as acetaldehyde, may enhance nicotine’s effects on the brain. When an addicted user tries to quit, he or she experiences withdrawal symptoms including irritability, attention difficulties, sleep disturbances, increased appetite, and powerful cravings for tobacco. Treatments can help smokers manage these symptoms and improve the likelihood of successfully quitting.” Adverse Effects of Tobacco on Health ‘The National Institute of Health warns the world against fatal health effects of tobac~ co consumption. It declares, “Cigarette smok- ing accounts for about one-third of all can- cers, including 90 percent of lung cancer cases. Smokeless tobacco (such as chewing tobacco and snuff) also increases the risk of cancer, especially oral cancers. In addition to cancer, smoking causes lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and increases the risk of heart disease, including stroke, heart attack, vascular disease, and aneurysm, Smoking has also been linked to leukemia, cataracts, and pneumonia. On average, adults who smoke die 14 years earli- er than nonsmokers. Although nicotine is addictive and can be toxic if ingested in high doses, it does not cause cancer—other chemicals are responsi- ble for most of the severe health con: quences of tobacco use. Tobacco smoke is a complex mixture of chemicals such as carbon monoxide, tar, formaldehyde, cyanide, and ammonia—many of which are known car- cinogens. Carbon monoxide increases the chance of cardiovascular diseases. Tar expos- es the user to an increased risk of lung can- cer, emphysema, and bronchial disorders. Pregnant women who smoke cigarettes run an increased risk of miscarriage, stillborn or premature infants, or infants with low birth weight. Maternal smoking may also be associated with learning and behavioral prob- lems in children. Smoking more than one pack of cigarettes per day during pregnancy nearly doubles the risk that the affected child will become addicted to tobacco if that child starts smoking.” Tobacco is Harmful even to Nonsmokers! The NIH even warns non-smokers from the tobacco smoke near them. It as: “While we often think of medical conse- quences that result from direct use of tobacco products, passive or secondary smoke also increases the risk for many diseases. Secondhand smoke, also known as environ- mental tobacco smoke, consists of exhaled smoke and smoke given off by the burning end of tobacco products.Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase theit risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. In addi- tion, secondhand smoke causes respiratory problems, such as coughing, overproduction of phlegm, and reduced lung function and respiratory infections, including pneumonia and bronchitis, in both adults and children. In fact, each year about 150,000 ~ 300,000 chil- dren younger than 18 months old experience respiratory tract infections caused by second- hand smoke. Children exposed to secondhand smoking are at an increased risk for sudden infant Tobacco is not specifically mentioned by name in the Qur'an as being haram, like Kham, or intoxicants, but many Muslim scholars say it is forbidden because it is scien- tifically proven that it harms the body. They also, base their judgment on the Ayah 6:157, ‘mentioned above, “He allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them. from what is bad (and impure).” Also, they refer to the sayings of Allah, ” Do not kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah has been to you Most Merciful! (29) As you saw in the scientific information in the previous sections, smoking is detri- mental to health and it gradually and slowly kills people every day. Prophet Muhammad said, “Do not harm yourself nor harm others.” Reported by Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah death syndrome, ear problems, and severe asthma, Furthermore, children who grow up with parents who smoke are more likely to become smokers, thus placing themselves (and their future families) at risk for the same health problems as their parents when they become adults. Although quitting can be difficult, the health benefits of smoking cessation are immediate and substantial—including reduced risk for cancers, heart disease, and stroke. A 35-year-old man who quits smoking will, on average, increase his life expectancy by 5 years.” Islamic Ruling on Tobacco Use ‘Smoking and using tobacco is harmful to oneself as well as harmful to others around the smoker as medical sources prove. ‘The Prophet also said, Allah abhors for you three attitudes, talk- ativeness, wasting money and excessive ques- tions, Reported by Imam Al-Bukhari and Muslim In its Fatwa, religious ruling, the Fatwa authority of Egypt ruled that tobacco use is, haram and stated that scholars from all four schools of Figh have ruled the same. ‘Some scholars simply say it is makruh (strongly disliked) contending that there is no Ayah or Hadeeth that prohibits smoking, tobacco explicitly.Itis striking to know, that the National Institute of Health considers addiction to tobacco a chronic disease. However, this “chronic disease” is curable. NIH explains that “tobacco addiction is a chronic disease that often requires multiple attempts to quit. Although some smokers are able to quit without help, many others needEffective Treatments assistance. Both behavioral interventions (counseling) and medication can help smok- ers quit; but the combination of medication with counseling is more effective than either alone.” Behavioral treatments employ a variety of methods to assist smokers in quitting, rang- ing from self-help materials to individual counseling, These interventions teach indi- viduals to recognize high-risk situations and develop coping strategies to deal with them, The US. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) has established a national toll-free quitline, 800-QUIT-NOW, to serve as. ‘an access point for any smoker seeking infor- mation and assistance in quitting. NIDA is also supporting research to expand the avail ability of behavioral therapies by developing interventions using alternative delivery for- mats, such as web-, computer-, PDA- or text based modalities, all of which may benefit hard-to-reach populations and increase access to treatment options for millions of smokers. Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT: were the first pharmacological treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (EDA) for use in smoking ces- sation therapy. Current FDA-approved NRT products include nicotine chewing gum, the nicotine transdermal patch, nasal sprays, inhalers, and lozenges. NRTs deliver a con- trolled dose of nicotine to a smoker in order to relieve withdrawal symptoms during the smoking cessation process. They are most successful when used in combination with behavioral treatments, for Tobacco Addiction Bupropion and varenicline are two FDA- approved non-nicotine medications that effectively increase rates of long-term absti- nence from smoking. Bupropion, a medica- tion that goes by the trade name Zyban, was approved by the FDA in 1997 for use in smoking cessation. Varenicline tartrate (trade name: Chantix) targets nicotine receptors in the brain, easing withdrawal symptoms and blocking the effects of nicotine if people resume smoking. Current Treatment Research Scientists are currently pursuing many other avenues of research to develop new smoking cessation therapies. One promising type of intervention in development is a nico- tine vaccine, which would induce a strong immune response to nicotine in the blood stream, blocking its access to the brain and thereby preventing its reinforcing effectsWhat is gambling? ‘Types of gambling. Gambling: haram or halal? What are the harms of gambling? Before Islam, gambling was a social evil Islam forbids gambling in all ways and ‘When Islam came, Allah strictly forbade all forms. Any money gained through gambling, forms of gambling, including betting, lottery, is considered haram. and other games of chance. Gambling has unfortunately become an acceptable practice Taking someone else's money by winning in Muslim society due to its wide scale pro- a game of chance is distasteful to Islam. It is a motion by the media, Many governments basic principle of Islam that a person should legalize and even organize gambling and lot- not take money which he has not earned or tery activities. In some cases, they devote worked for or exchanged it with halal prod- portions of the lottery profits to charity uct. This is for reasons of fairness and justice. Maysir is the Arabic word for gambling in the Qur’an. It is derived from a root wordthat literally means “easy” and “something attained easily with almost no effort.” Qimaar is another Arabic word for gambling. Traditional gambling involves games of chance, like rolling dice or playing cards. If the player happens to roll or pick the right numbers on the dice or cards, he would sim- ply win. But if he misses, he will lose his money in a matter of minutes or even sec- onds Rihan, or betting, was another ancient form of gambling. In old times people used to bet money on horse races, fights and other games and sports. In this case, a person would bet his money on a horse to win the In every era and every land, gambling is practiced in a variety of ways. Gambling today takes countless different forms. Nevertheless, gambling in all its forms is pro- hibited. Here are the most common kinds of gambling available today: Games Ce Fike race or a knight to win the fight. If he bet on | i the winner, he will double or triple his money, but if he loses, his money is totally gone. Every transaction in which gain and loss is due to mere luck and chance is considered gambling in Islam. When gambling is involved, it means that the winner takes the money of the loser without having lawfully earned it. Islam teaches us to follow the prop- er practice in earning money through our halal work and effort, not relying on mere chance. Consequently, gambling was declared unlawful. Today gambling has taken many forms, such as betting and lottery. These are among the most well known forms of gambling, GAMBLING TODAY iGames of Chance Among the most widespread practices today are slot machines, jackpots, roulettes, cards games, Bingo and many other games. Casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere in America and around the world provide thou- sands of ways for some gamblers to win and millions of others to lose their money Betting Betting on the outcome of horse and dog races, rodeo, boxing, wrestling matches and other prize fights have become popular forms of gambling, Even very popular sports like soccer, baseball, football, basketball, and hockey have unfortunately become subjects for betting, and gambling. Attempts on the part of professional gamblers to fix the out- come of such games have caused numerous problems. Other common forms of gambling include roulette, card and dice games, and bingo. Take the case of two persons compet- ing in a race on the condition that the loser pays the winner $100; or that a person says, If it rains today, I will give you $100, and if it does not rain, you will have to give me $100.” Since one party gains and the other loses in a mere chance game, it falls under the definition of gambling. Lottery You probably heard about some people who won millions of dollars in lottery. How can the lottery companies afford to give out these huge prizes? You know that millions of people buy lottery tickets hoping that they will win the grand prize, but they don’t. Over 99% of those who buy lottery tickets or involve in other forms of gambling lose their money to lottery and gambling companies. Lottery is just one of the most popular forms of gambling today. Each and every kind of lottery is included within gambling and is prohibited. The lottery business has now reached an international level. Usually, lottery is conducted through a big corpora- tion. This corporation makes business selling, lottery tickets to its customers. With a lotteryyou buy numbers that are usually on a ticket, and different prizes are given to the winning numbers. The purchaser of a lottery ticket does not buy the ticket with the intention of just buying it, but he or she buys it on the basis of it being a possible winner. That is the reason why this is not merely trade or busi ness venture, but rather it is an act of sin to buy these or even to sell them. When few people win millions of dollars in lottery, mil: lions others lose their money. This is a waste of wealth that Islam strongly prohibits. Are Free Draws Haram? No. Various companies and organizations sometimes do promotions for their products and services by making free draws. People don’t have to pay money, they only have to fill out forms or write their names on cards to qualify for certain prizes like cars or air tick- ets, Then the company officials draw one or more forms that carry winners’ names and grant them different prizes. This kind of free draw is not haram, as long as you don’t have to pay money and the prizes are halal PROHIBITION OF GAMBLING In the jahiliyyah era, the time before Islam, a person would gamble away his wealth, possessions, and even his wife. When losing them, he would go so disappointed at his quick and unexpected loss that his anger would be inflamed. He would be angry to see his belongings suddenly in the hand of the winner. This situation created much hatred between people so much that fights and quarrels would erupt between different indi- viduals. Often, these fights would involve an entire tribe, and it would last for many years. Arabian history tell us that a war erupted and continued for forty years as a result of horse race between two hoses called “Dahis” and “Al-Ghabraa.” In Islam, gambling is strictly prohibited. In the Glorious Qur’an, we see that gambling is mentioned while being associated with wine (khamr). Wine, games of chance, idols and dividing arrows are Satan’s handiwork. In the early days of Islam, the Prophet = was questioned regarding the permissibility of gambling and alcohol. God describes mai which we often translate as “games of chance” or gambling, as “abomination devised by Satan” which all Muslims should avoid at all costs. The first verse that was revealed regarding this, is in Surah Bagarah, which is as follows: it, bis Sis Giles y ib Ss ee 43584 Cylon REIS "They ask you concerning wine and gam- bling. Say, In them is great sin and some benefit for people; but the sin in them is greater than their benefit.” [2:219]In the above ayah, the permission to deal with wine and gambling is not clarified. Soon after understanding this verse, the highly ranked companions of the Holy Prophet = abstained from them. General public, howev- er, were still involved in them and the Prophet = had not said anything that indicat- ed their prohibition, until Allah revealed the following verse: SG Sa vag Osa ket “Oh believers! Intoxicants and gambling, ‘worshipping stones and divination by arrows are impure, of Shaytan’s handiwork: refrain from such abomination that ye may prosper.” [5:90] In the above verse, the total prohibi- tion of alcoholic drinks and gambling has been clearly revealed. As you can see, alcohol and gambling have always been associated together. This is true in almost every society that offers gambling as a form of entertain- ment. Getting drunk and gambling have many things in common. Both are created for the temporary pleasure that at the same time allows us to lose focus on more impor- tant things, such as the remembrance of Allah (lis sin and worshipping Him. There are many ahadeeth that speak of different games often used for gambling, showing that they are all forbidden to play. she won? ‘Suppose that a Muslim committed the sin of gambling and won some money or lots of it. Then he or she realized that this was an awful thing to do. What should he or she do with the money he or Contemporary scholars of Islam said that itis haram for the win- ner of lottery, betting or any other forms of gambling to keep the money and use it. Scholars advise the person to give it to poor people or charity organizations. Some scholars, however, recommend that poor people or charity organizations should be told not to use this ‘money for buying food or spending on spiritual matters like buying Qur’ans, prayer rugs, or going to Hajj. The wisdom behind that is not to make people eat food or worship Allah the use haram money. This type of money, they say, should be used in paying utility bills, buy ‘gas for the car, buying appliances and other household items, repair- ing broken machines, buying travel tickets, etc. GS Ee ee eeRete erent foe yee ‘The gambling industry has grown tenfold in the US. since 1975. ‘Thirty-seven states now have lotteries. 15 million people display some sign of gambling addiction. ‘Two-thirds of American adults placed some kind of bet every year. Gambling profits in casinos are more than $30 billion, while lotteries are about $17 billion annwally. Players" with household incomes under $10,000 bet nearly three times as much on lotteries as those with incomes over $50,000. In 1973, state lotteries had $2 billion in sales. By 1997, the revenues reached $34 billion. ‘Gambling among young people is on the increase: 42 percent of 14-year-olds, 49 percent of 15.year-olds, 6 percent of 16-year-olds, 76 percent of 18-year-old. ‘There are now approximately 260 casinos on Indian reservations (in 31 states and with $6.7 billion in revenue). Internet gambling has nearly doubled every year since 1997 ~ in 2001 it exceeded $2 billion. The Internet boasts 110 sport-related gambling sites. ‘According to the American Psychological Association, the Internet could be as addictive as alcohol, drugs, and gambling. After casinos opened in Atlantic City, the total number of crimes within a thirty-mile radius increased 100 percent. The average debt incurred by a male pathological gambler in the US. is between $55,000 and $590,000 (it is $15,000 for female gamblers). ‘The average rate of divorce for problem gamblers is nearly double that of non-gamblers. ‘The suicide rate for pathological gamblers is twenty times higher than for non-gamblers (one in five attempts suicide). Sixty-five percent of pathological gamblers commit crimes to support their gambling habit.EVIL EFFECTS OF GAMBLING Some people claim that they gamble just for fun and don't spend a lot of money. Such people are doing a great sin, because they are not avoiding gambling, but instead they are using it for entertainment. This may eventu- ally drag them to become addicted to gam- bling and over the years they lose so much money on this insanity. Gambling indeed is a very addictive entertainment. Gambling entails religious, social, ‘moral and economic harms. Some of them. are enumerated below: 1. Gambling distracts those who partake the game from the remembrance of Allah and prayer. When a gambler sits continuously for hours together, he is so absorbed in it that he forgets everything around him; rather he becomes unconscious of his own self. He for- gets his houscholds and family. How, then, can he take care of his prayer? 2. Gambling sows the seeds of disputes and quarrels among the gamblers which ulti- mately assume hatred among them. This point is made clear in the following verse : Sai Ke esd aI, Soke ih sigaast Jp Ma poi “Only would Satan sow hatred and strife among you, by wine, and games of chance and turn you aside from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer. Will you not, there- fore, abstain from them?” (5:91) 3. The sin of gambling is greater than its benefit. 4, It corrupts morals, making people sluggish in waiting to get wealthy by luck and chance. It turns their heads away from hard work and production through agricul- ture, industry, business-the foundation stone of social living and human prosperity. 5, It enslaves the gambler, who becomes a ‘mute slave in the hands of gambling and sel- dom succeeds in abandoning it. When he earns some benefit, his greed for gambling increases and when he loss the game, even then his interest in the games of chance increases to make good the loss. In this way, he remains awfully engaged in gambling ‘until he becomes poor. 6. It brings about a sudden chaos in the countries due to sheer waste of wealth by los- ing the game. 7. Ttusurps the wealth of towns and transfers it to the hands of the mischief-mon- gers within and outside the country. Thus gambling is a root-cause of countless eco- nomic evils, reducing many rich people to poverty and ultimately forcing them to com- mit suicide, 8, Gambling is usually associated with increase of crime, suicide, divorce and other major epidemics in the society. We seek refuge in Allah from gambling and its ancillary sins.CHAPTER 1 =a Ge Nai: he): 2 ee Learn about the things that waste time and energy. Recognize that games and entertainment can be addictive an act as “mental drugs.” Realize that “mental drugs” can distract people's attention away from worship, studying and other serious things in life. In the previous lessons on “Tobacco” and “drugs,” you learned about their harms and dan- gers to us. However, harm doesn’t stop there. In this lesson, you will learn about other kinds of “drugs,” that are not necessarily intoxicants or used to cure “mental” patients. Let us learn about some harmful habits and addictions that can hurt you like the addictive substances do . Muhammad learns many lessons In the 8th grade class, Teacher Hiba walked inside the classroom. “Assalamu Alaykum class,” she greeted the class. “Wa’alaykum As-Salam,” the class cheerfully responded. “Everyone, please get out yesterday's homework and place it on your desks, Iwill come around to check them.” The teacher said. [As soon as everyone placed their notebooks on their desks, Teacher Hiba began walking through the class checking. Muhammad was nervous. He hadn't done his homework. He couldn’ stop play- ing his video game until he finished at least the 5th level. “Muhammad?” Sr-Hiba interrupted his thoughts. “Yes, Teacher Hiba?” Muhammad was scared. “Your notebook is empty,” Teacher Hiba said confused. “TL know Teacher Hiba, I’m sorry, I promise, this will be the last time,” Muhammad said apologeti- cally. “You're a good student Muhammad; I don’t expect this from you. Stay after class so we can talk about it,” Teacher Hiba said. “Yes Teacher Hiba.” Muhammad said Teacher Hiba continued to check around for homeworks. Layan was getting nervous. She only half-completed the homeworks assignment. Layan was up late watching TV. She thought she could E26.wake up early this morning and do it quickly. But the homework was a lot longer and harder than expected, “Layan?” Teacher Hiba called her. “Yes, Teacher Hiba?” Layan said nervously. “You did not complete your assignment.” Teacher Hiba said confused. “Yes, know. I'm sorry. I.umm. it was hard,” Layan explained. “Tknow you're a good student. But I will have to ask you to stay after class for a talk.” Teacher Hiba said. “Yes, Teacher Hiba” Layan said with guilt. When class was over, all the students left the classroom, Muhammad, Layan, and Omar stayed behind. “Why are you still here Omar"? Layan asked. “Teacher Hiba saw my ed-player in my bag.” “Oh, why would you bring that to school?” Mohammad asked. “{ guess I got addicted to this one song. I wanted to listen to it during my break.” ‘“ls that so?” Teacher Hilba was coming back after running an errand. “Sr-Hibal” all three exclaimed. “Wm sorry, I did not mean to eavesdrop. But 'm glad I heard that. Take a seat you three.” Teacher Hiba said kindly. Muhammad, Layan, and Omar sat on their chairs. “About the music, you said it was addictive?” Teacher Hiba asked Omar. “Well, one song is. kind of..” Omar said. “Right...so addictive that you were willing break the school policy about bringing the cd-player to school?” Teacher Hiba asked. (Omar didn’t have anything to say. Sr. Hiba continued. “Do you know one big reason why alcohol and drugs are dangerous?” “Because they are addictive?” Layan answered. “Yes, you don’t want to stop. Anyone who takes drugs will get addicted to it. Irhe/she did not have the money to buy it, he/she might go steal money to get it. Addiction is a powerful. This is also why it’s dangerous. It's hard to control. You might commit a crime, rr break a school rule, like you did Omar.” Teacher Hiba explained. “'m so sorry...” Omar couldn’ look up to the teacher, he was so ashamed. “Now, Muhammad and Layan.” Teacher Hiba said, “Yes Teacher Hiba?” Muhammad and Layan both responded. “Do you have a good reason for not completing the homework assignment?” Neither Muhammad nor Layan knew how to respond. “This is a concern for me. Ithas been a pattern. You were doing excellent at the beginning of the year.” Teacher Hiba said worried. “Are our grades getting lower?” Layan asked worriedly. “Thate to say this, because I know you are good students. But your grades have been affected. Whatever itis that’s causing these distractions should be stopped immediately. I suggest that the instant you go home, you start on the important activities. Don’t let any ‘mental drugs’ become a dis- traction. I will give you two another chance to make-up last night's assignment,” Teacher Hiba said smiling. “Thank you so much Teacher Hiba.” Muhammad and Layan said gratefully, Muhammad went home thinking about what Teacher Hiba said. Video games are definitely not worth getting bad grades in school. ‘As soon as Muhammad got home, he went straight to his room. He got his books and homework out, and started to work on it. It took Muhammad an hour to do it. Finally, he was done, “Alhamdullilah, am done with my homework.” Muhammad said, satisfied. He looked at the clock. It was 20 minutes till Salatul-Asr. He had some time left to finish level 6 on his new video game, Muhammad turned on the video game and began playing. Before he knew it, he was on level 7. Muhammad’s mother was calling him; “Muhammad, dinner’s ready.”Muhammad did not hear his mother calling him. He was too involved with the game. Muhammad's mother sent Hani to get his brother. “Muhammad!” Hani shouted. “What?!” Muhammad said, eyes on the T.V. “We've been waiting for you, come on, I'm hungry.” “Okay, okay..wait.” Muhammad paused the game, washed up, and went for dinner, After dinner, Muhammad's mom, said: “Everyone go make wudoo’, It’s almost time for Maghrib.” Muhammad gasped. He had totally forgotten about Salat-ul-Asr. “What's wrong Muhammad?” “T missed Salatul Ast!” “But I asked you earlier if you prayed Asr, and you nodded your head..” “You did?” “Yes, were you not listening to me? You were playing that video game of yours. I suppose that is more important than listening to your parents. And now, missing your salah? How could you?2!" Muhammad's mother said angrily. “Oh..'m so sorry. I was planning to pray.” Muhammad tried to explain. “Yes and the video game changed your plan to pray?? Should I take away this video game away from you Muhammad? Ever since you've been playing it, you have been mote distant with your fami- ly. You are not listening to me when [talk to you. Don't you see what's happening? ‘This video game interfering with your responsibilities. How can you miss your salah?!” Muhammad’s mother was getting extremely angry. “I'm sorry,” Muhammad said ashamed. “Don't be sorry to me, you have committed a crime against Allah ws sim ‘Go make wudoo' and ask forgiveness from Allah ain.” “Oh mama, | feel so bad.” Muhammad couldn't stop saying, “L realize how dangerous it is. Like Teacher Hiba said, I have turned the video game into a mental drug. Astaghfirallah, how can I miss my prayers. Tm going to go make up Salat-ul-Asr and repent to Allah sim. Inshallah, I'll never let any- thing become more important than praying to Allah px: six.” Muhammad told his mother. Immediately, Muhammad made wudoo’ and prayed. After he finished, he looked at the clock. One more hour until Isha prayer. Normally, he would have thought about going to the next level on his video game. But now, he went and got a copy of the Holy Qur'an and started to recite verses. ‘The next day, Muhammad met Omar at school. Omar said to Muhammad, “I decided not to let the internet ruin my life.” “Flow is that?” Muhammad asked. “Every day I spend around three hours on it. Some nights I go to bed, but I could not sleep, so 1 sneak back to the computer and stay up very late. I find some school friends up late too chatting, like me. A few times, | get to see bad stuff! Astaghfirullah, sometimes I let myself go with it, but afterward feel so bad I did. If I did not stop myself, I would get addicted to wasting my life on the Internet, with- ‘out much good out of it,” Omar explained. “You know Omar, Iam not into the internet, but I almost got addicted to the video games. This made me forget about salah, schoolwork, my family and other important things. I also decided to be balanced. I am learning now to love worship, knowledge and family more than games and entertain- ment”, Muhammad said. “L know, we sometimes say we love Allah more than anything else but, astaghfirullah, we inside love playing games more than reading Qur’an or praying,” Omar complained. “That is shaytan, he encourages us to get addicted to these mental drugs as teacher Hibah said. He makes us give more time to games and TV than to worship, knowledge and other important things. This way he sets us apart from loving Allah and worshipping him as we should.”Mental Drug: Examples of Mental Drugs are much of: 1. Video Games 6. Movies 2. T.V. Shows 7. Chatting; Facebook, Watsapp, etc 3. Internet 8. Music, songs and dancing 4, Comedy, jokes, 9. Bad pictures and videos 5. Celebrities and athletes’ news, pictures and fashions 10. Arcade games FAITH IN ACTIO! >® Always give your full attention to worshipping Allah, obeying and helping your parents, studying and other serious daily life matters. ree , BB Wp JB JB ee oo) ol M554 al oe ’ : Leb ees os JL So ULB py te LG Sys" pbs eT ol ce he ey Sob pb ante oe « alii! celily le Salyy "OGL Loeb dee mere 69 SLIT Abu Barzah Al-Aslamiy narratated that Rasoolullah said: "The servant's feet would not move during the Day of ‘ Judgment until he is questioned about: 1. What he did during his lifetime, 2. How he used his knowledge, 3. How he earned his money and where he spent it, 4, And how he utilized his body.”