Science of Pillars of Islam: Obligation to Study the Path

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Tomb of our noble father, prophet Abraham a.s - Hebron

We return to this science because it is very very important yet crucial. It is obligatory for every Muslim to study about their own path. Those who neglect it will be sinful. This is the order of the path as what has been generally mentioned by noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w: "Getting the knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim."

Other than that, it is obligatory for every Muslim to ma'arifatullah. What is this term means? It means knowing Allah or the God. Learning about His characteristics which bring everyone to confidence. It has been explained in the Zubad: "Early obligatory on human-being is to know their Lord as possible as they can."

Another explanation from the sermon of Habeeb Tahir bin Hussain mentions: "Be known to you dear brothers and sisters. Indeed the root and branches of religion is to know whom should we direct our worship to before we perform acts of worship. And that is the fact of the testimony of faith."

It is almost similar to an officer who works with the employer or his boss. The employer gives him his wages for the job. When he do his task, he should also know what is his job about, its rule and regulation and its specification. The Lord is our Boss. He gave us sustenance which is His grace in term of air for us to breath, minerals in the earth for us to stay sustainable (one of my current institution getik's mottos is sustainability, lol), natural resources, and etc for creatures to do a job for Him which is to worship Him and to glorify Him. 

If we know the interpretations of the testimony of faith, we should also know the Lord. And everyone should also aware about the jazam on the rightful with evidence which is rational with evidences and their explanations.

Definition of Jazam

This is the definition according to the science of usool. It means the strong faith or the faith without doubt. According to today's terminology, it means a firm faith, strong with a basis and without any compromise. Jazam also means unanimous and final decision. 

Division of Jazams 

Division of jazams refer to four types of people regarding their attitude toward their knowledge and sciences regarding the path. I am not sure how to clearly explain about these but one needs to ask their teachers and clerics regarding these terms. Find the right ones and not those who are like the 'scriptures on the donkey' although they look like a cleric. In certain creed science books, the terms are quite ambiguous because of the language style used are backward. We have to update those kitabs in term of language style too. Using simple words and checking compatible terms especially in modern languages such as modern English and according to the field such as the law.

1. Ma'arifa 

Ma'arifa refers to a person who knows and realize that he knows about these particular sciences. He is a specialist in his field of knowledge and is not stingy with his knowledge. Instead he shares it with others since he knows the obligation and his responsibility to spread the knowledge or science about the Lord in the society who needs it. This person does not associate his knowledge with money or materialism. He only teaches it for His sake and not to make a living. This is the type of human which refers to past imams that we learned about some of them in our schools or in our fellow brothers' and sisters' sites. The Lord says in glorious Quran surah al-Baqara verse 41 which means: "...never change My verses with lower price, and only to Me should you be dependent!!!" This type of person is represented by minority of people in the earth.    

2. Taqlid Shaheed

A person who knows but he does not realize that he knows about the Lord. Maybe he knows that he is aware about the Lord, but due to few problems he does not know how to use his knowledge and could not spreading it widely. There are few factors or reasons which lead to these such as occupied, financial problem, didn't given the chance by people or environment around. But if given the chance, having sufficient financial support and his worldly occupation being loosen up that he could benefit society with the wisdom and knowledge that he posses.   

3. Jahel Murakkab

I always heard this term, hahaha. In Malay it is used to mean bodoh nak mampos but the definition according to the science is slightly different if without the twice word. This is actually a tasawwuf science term but not many are aware about this and using it even in daily speeches without knowing the definition. It refers to double ignorance. He is ignorant and aware that he is ignorant. He is humble with his ignorance and asking others who are more knowledgeable than him. This kind of person always attend the sciences lecture in masjids. He is easy to accept advises, listening to others and is open toward criticism on his ignorance. This kind of person needs to only learn more and his ignorance will shy away. 

4. Taqlid Bateel

This refers to an ignorant person who is not aware that he is ignorant. If he has an assumption, he would treat it as his faith without checking it with others who are more knowledgeable than him. It also refers to a civilian who is ignorant and refuses to accept his ignorance or stupidity. Noble prophet Jesus a.s mentions this as ahmaq or in rudimentary word means stupid! Many tasawwuf specialists use the word Jahel Murakkab twice to refer to this type of person since he is ignorant in term that he has no knowledge in certain science and he is ignorant because of his attitude. In the easiest way to explain this, he is stupid but he thinks that he is a smarty ass. This type of person is in the majority of society in the world and they could easily being influenced by rumors or fake news like what we always read in comments in youtube or other sites by those who call themselves as anti-Islam or Western civilization ass-wipers. It is not only unique to these people but there are also these kind of people in Muslim society as well as other society in the world. Those fanatics are in this group of person. Sorry for some rude words as it is easier to explain in street way of talking, haha.

Closing

Next time insha Allah we would learn about the definition of daleel or evidence according to our path sciences. There are also definitions for taqlid, fanaticism and taqlid bateel/jahel murakkab twice. When we look around, watching TV programs like forum in Western medias, accusations of political parties on each other, quarrels between Muslim denominations or movements and etc... We could see all of these and compare it what we get from this division of jazams.     

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!  

Science of the Pillars of Islam

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I read again this basic book about the Introduction toward the Path. It was our childhood textbook but my parents still keep it with them. I'm so touched to see it again and I silently put it into my bag. So, it's now in my hand and I flip it over and over. But I would also like to first talk about Shi'a Muslims. If it's not suitable I would be thinking to private this site so it would be a closed one. Just sharing what I discussed with brothers.

About Shi'a Muslims

This kitab that I read is from Orthodox Sunnah side. But as to say, I am aware that our Shi'a brothers and sisters also have their own kitabs regarding Pillars of the Faith and Path. I had analyzed their treatises because I also have their treatises. But I would further read and analyze their kitabs only when I finished my Quranic and Hadith studies and it is for the sake of unification. I am sick of accusations over each other. I watched our TV channel about Shi'a in our country and I found that we should not accuse our Shi'a brothers since Shi'a Ali has many branches. What I fear is that we might also falsely accuse the Ahlul Bayt. 

I make friends with people regardless faith and also denominations and it includes my fellow Shi'a brothers. I found that those who were in contact with me were nice people and I don't care whatever Taqiyya that people wanted to label them with. I prayed beside an Iranian Shi'a Muslim in the Masjidil Haram I didn't make any note about that but I am sure the Lord is noting it. The brother knows that I am a Sunnah Muslim and I was also aware that he is a Shi'a Muslim. We talked about many things including about cars and the Sunnah Muslim of Kurds ethnicity in his country.

Before we go further to our introduction about Orthodox Sunnah sciences, I would first put into the light about the view of our Shi'a brothers regarding the Path. Yesterday, I had contacted a Shi'a Muslim brother in Iran and asked him regarding their jurisprudence since I feel quite offended by the special program about Shi'a Ali and Ahlul Bayt. I discussed many things with him for about 3 hours and it includes about soul but I refused to talk further about soul because we have no knowledge about it but only the God knows. I don't totally buy anything that had been shown in the media because we know that it could also be an agent to spread propaganda and accusations to other sides. Generally, our Shi'a brothers have 5 Pillars of Faith in which they call it as Usuluddin. Then, they have the branches of the Path known as the Furu'uddin which are the 10 Pillars of the Path. Their jurisprudence is according to the jurist, Imam Ja'afar as-Saadiq. His real name is Ja'afar bin Muhammad bin Hussain bin Ali bin Abi Talib. His school of jurisprudence is widely known as the Ja'afari school.

In certain part, I found that I also share the same thing of Furu'uddin with Shi'a brothers' school of jurisprudence for example, in the dietary. I found that not all of the people in Sunnah side are attached to this kind of dietary as I looked around. I don't take fishes without scale, or that I can't see its scale. So I avoid every fish even with scales as I don't want any problem with ritual purity. In fact, I feel scared looking at blood dripping from fish's mouth at the market. I only take them when I am forced to take it like respecting people who prepared the food or the host or sometimes people will call me a rude guest, hehehe. I and my little sister don't take squid too. But I don't know if it is halal too as some of that kind of thing is known as Cuttle-fish in English. I think it's safe with chicken, beef, mutton, fruits or veggies if meats are non-Halal. Maybe next time we would compare our pillars of Path with Shi'a brothers'. For the time-being details about Shi'a side would only be kept in my notebook.

Introduction

Salawat, peace and blessings for prophet Muhammad s.a.w, his family members, and companions and for those who follows his path to the eternity. Be known that, the greatest grace of the God given to human-being and universe is Islam and Faith. Because of these two graces and blessings of the God, He created the reasons for human-being to enter His paradise for eternity and the salvation from the torments of hell due to obedience and worship to Him. Thus, according to the meanings; Without Islam and the Faith, nobody would have the right to enter the paradise.   

It is obligatory for Muslims who knows to differentiate what is right and what is wrong, sane, reaching their puberty and adulthood to study the Pillars of the Religion and the Pillars of Faith. They must learn the Jurisprudence and the origin of the Path. Muslims must understand the Pillars of Islam and Faith as to be grateful to the God and to perform worship by obeying the rules and conditions through the knowledge. For these, please check this post about Second Hadith of Forty Hadiths and Third Hadith of Forty Hadiths.

The Science of Pillars of Islam

Before knowing what is Islam, a person needs to know the meaning and the interpretation of the Testimony of Faith. This is known as the Usuluddin or the Origin of the Path. It is also known as the introduction to Tawheed. It is the science which brings us to get to know our Lord and His Holy characteristics.

Through this science, a person will know the obligatory characteristics, the impossible characteristics and permissible characteristics of the Lord. With this knowledge a person will also know about noble prophets and messengers of the God. Through this knowledge, a person will know about those prophets and messengers' obligatory characteristics, permissible characteristics, and also impossible characteristics. 

So, this is how a person understood the meaning of the Testimony of Faith which means: "I bear witness that there is no gods but only the God and Muhammad s.a.w is His servant and messenger." Everything must begin from the basis and must return to the basis, over and over.

Miscellaneous Sciences of the Path

According to the book, other miscellaneous sciences in the Path for example the Jurisprudence is crucial too. In Arabic we call this as Fiqh. What I understood from this is that; It is the external component of the Path and the Path is known as the Shari'a Islamiah or the Divine Way of the God. This is what I mean that medias like the article writers in Western newspapers or researches need to understand before rambling about Shari'a here and Shari'a there. 

It is best to shut up if we know nothing about what we are trying to talk about if we have no 'knowledge' as it would be more peaceful. There are sciences within this particular term that we are talking about. When we talk about Political Science, there are scholars in it. So, in the Sciences of Shari'a there are also scholars in it so we don't act like we are scholars if we have no capacity of a scholar to talk about it or criticize it. Orientalism is out of the issue because it's the study by a bunch of people who looks at a certain matter as an outsider and not as an insider. Previously, as an example, I was a Buddhist but when I returned to Islam; I never attack any tenet of Buddhism at all because I realize that I am now an outsider unless if I become a practicing Thera (high rank monk or a venerable one) to criticize the tenets. That would then be a different thing. I could still remember some practices and pujas that I had performed while being a Buddhist but I just about talk them with the public only for general knowledge.  

In order for the Path to be accomplished, we need all of the components together. It is obligatory on every Muslim to know and to practice with it. It is a sin for a person who is ignorant about the jurisprudence and never take any effort to learn it. 

Why is this Science of Fiqh important? The importance are:

1. A person can differentiate obligatory and optional practices.

2. A person can differentiate what is halal and what is haram. Halal primarily means legal and haram means illegal in which everybody must respect the matter.

3. A person can differentiate what is detested and what is licit. 

So, a faithful believer should not perform acts of worship without knowing its sciences as what has been mentioned in the Zubad: "The acts of worships of those who perform them without knowing anything about its sciences will be rejected and not accepted by the Lord."       

Insha Allah if we have time, we would check more details about basic things may Allah guide us and strengthen our faith to Him through His messenger and servant, Muhammad s.a.w.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!