Innovation hotheads are like Ivan Petrovich Pavlov’s dogs
If the world of Islam is put into a snow globe, and an outsider peers in, he might be forgiven for thinking that those little people walking about on the streets are Pavlov’s dogs. Every time the outsider whispers the word bida, the people inside would go insane and start beating one another with shoes, [...]
Early study circles and their effect on transmission of Islamic knowledge
The early period of Islam was marked, first and foremost, by an intense activity in the development of sacred law. The debate was represented by two sides, that of ahl-al-ray and ahl-al-hadith- those who dispensed advise based on what was commonly practiced and logical against those who only related what the Prophet and the early [...]
The passing of knowledge
There is a famous Hadith that warns of a latter time, when knowledge will begin its exodus from the world. In that time, God:
…does not withdraw knowledge by extracting it from the hearts of men, rather He takes away the religious scholars. When no religious scholar remains, people take the ignorant as their leaders; these [...]
Abandoning weak hadiths
Over the last week or so, I had the occasion to re-read Prof Hashim Kamali’s “Hadith Methodology”, and was struck by statement he made about Da’if, or weak, Hadiths:
Many prominent contemporary ulama including Ahmad Muhammad Shakir, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Ajaj al-Khatib and Manna al-Qattan have advocated the view that the Da’if should be [...]
The divorce that made Muslim disunity possible
The noble jurist, Imam al-Shafi’i (767-819 AD) clearly regarded the Quran and Sunna as forms of prophetic revelation (wahy) in Islam. In al-Shafi’i’s legal magnum opus, Risala, the Quran is termed “revelation recited”, or wahy matlu, while the Sunna is termed “revelation not recited”, or wahy ghayr matlu. The distinguishing feature of wahy ghayr matlu [...]
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