Miscellaneous

Sidi Abdullah asked me in an email:

“I was noting that in the recent discussion about Shafi’i fiqh and the Maliki madhab, there was no actual articulation of exactly what people love about Shafi’i madhab.  So I am assigning it to you in, say, 250 words or less, insha’llah.”

My Response:

Wa’alaykum Salam my beloved Sidi Abdullah,

It is interesting that you have asked me this question as I have been working on an article I titled “What They Said about Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī”. I have decided to take this opportunity to utilize the quotes I translated for that article so that I can shed light on this important issue. Though I do not speak for every Shāfi’ī and their personal reasons for choosing this madh-hab to guide them along their path in seeking divine legal knowledge, what I am producing in this response is five objective reasons that do not, in themselves surpass 250 words, though their explanations unfortunately surpass 250 words. I am certain that many Shafi’is will echo the same reasons, and may even add more. The following are the five reasons I chose this school: Imam Ash-Shafi’i’s spectacular learning and teaching career, his authoring of the Risālah as well as other works that have come to us only in pieces, the fact that both Imāms Mālik and Ahmad attested to his immense understanding of law, his mastery of the language, and the overall strength of his school in relying upon hadith.

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Alhamdulilah for the vastness and beauty of Islam! For those who enjoy comparitive fiqh, you will enjoy the discussion that will continue. For those who do not or who feel that “ikhtilaaf” is not a mercy, then do not read further. Before I begin this discussion I want to get a few things out of the way:

1) This is an issue of what is recommended vs what is not. Not an issue of obligation, thus no one should be cutting throats over this issue. 2) I fully respect the ijtihad of the scholars who deem sadl (hands on the side) to be the verdict of the Maliki school. I simply disagree that this was the established view of the Medinites. 3) This is a discussion regarding this issue, and I expect all those involved to be loving, gentle, and caring.

Now for the crux of the matter. I forward, oh beloved Sidi Abdur-Rahman, that qabd (the act of placing the right hand on the left in Salah) was in fact the view of Ahlul Medinah. It was also considered Mustahabb by Imam Malik and the school. I shall present the reasons below:

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Compiled by Abul Layth

For some time now it has been my intent to do a research paper on the beard. Then I came across the fatwa of Shaykh Muhammad Al-Akiti that surpassed anything that my lowly uneducated soul could produce. With the encouragement of Brother Hussain, I have decided to do my own minimal research and to summarize the research of Shaykh Muhammad while adding a few more quotes prior to it. Ibn Hajr Al-Haytami mentions the following in his Tuhfat Al-Muhtāj:

قال الشيخان يكره حلق اللحية واعترضه ابن الرفعة في حاشية الكافية بأن الشافعي رضي الله تعالى عنه نص في الأم على التحريم قال الزركشي وكذا الحليمي في شعب الإيمان وأستاذه القفال الشاشي في محاسن الشريعة وقال الأذرعي الصواب تحريم حلقها جملة لغير علة بها كما يفعله القلندرية

 ”The two Shaykhs (i.e. Nawawī and Rāfi’ī) considered it makruh to shave the beard. Ibn Ar-Rifa’ah opposed [their opinion] in Hāshiyat Al-Kāfiyah due to the fact that there is a decisive proof (nass) from Imam Ash-Shāfi’ī in his Al-Umm for it being harām to shave the beard. Az-Zarkashī stated that the same was stated by Al-Halīmī in his Shu’ab Al-Imān, as well as his teacher Al-Qaffāl Ash-Shāshī in Mahāsin Ash-Shari’ah and Al-Adhru’ī stated, ‘And what is correct is that it is harām to shave it as the Qalandaris do.’”

Without going into incredible detail the following scholars according to the above quote, as well as the articles that will follow conclude the following:

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I have been thinking for the last few months that I should start a Shafi’i fiqh series on Salah. Why? Well, after all this is “Seeking Ilm” and I have noticed that as of late we have many Shafi’i subscribers/readers. In fact our site is linked on about 5 different pro-shafi’i websites. Also, I feel like I need to solidify myself better in the madh-hab and what better than way than to study. These points encourage me to do more for the western-shafi’is. I have written several research articles on Salah in Shafi’i fiqh. All of them thus far include the following:

• Saying the Basmalah aloud in the Salah
• The Obligation of Reciting Fatihah behind the Imam in Salah
• Placing the Knees on the ground before the Hands in Salah
• Rafa’ Yadayn (raising the hands in the Salah) - a 40+ page article that I never published
• Many other articles on Taharah etc.

I started on a couple more within the past but left them as I was sidetracked with debates. This series of research articles will not be small. Generally when I research fiqh issues, I delve into them rather deeply. An example is the article on the obligation of reciting Al-Fatihah that includes 21 pages of proofs. Originally I had more than that but I felt like I was including to much. Basically, if I start this project, I will be re-editing the material I have already researched, adding more proofs and statements from the Imams of the school. 

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As-Salamu ‘Alaykum brethren,

Alhamdulillah, after a few hours of hard mental labor and finger clicking we have revamped the downloadables section. Currently we have around 15 books we feel are important to the beginning seeker or intermediate learner. Once we decide whose lectures we will be putting up for download, we will send out another post informing the SI readers. If there is content you would like available in the downloadables section feel free to contact us at seekingilm@hotmail.com or just post a comment in this thread. File size does not matter!

Be sure and check back frequently as we will be uploading more material within the next few weeks insha’allah.

Robert Spencer is at it again. Yes, as you all know, manipulating texts to promote his islamophobic dogma or misinformation (if you would like to say “lies” as that may be more accurate). I have read several of his worthlessly inaccurate (as well as a waste of money) books and each time have been made to chuckle at his ignorance regarding Islamic scripture. As I was looking through sites that link Seekingilm.com, I happen to cross one of his articles that he so poorly wrote as of recent. Apparently he used a reference on Al-Khadir that Ibn Sa’ad prepared for Seekingilm.com. So I went to the ridiculously researched article that can be found here and decided to respond to two things that made me chuckle.

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One of our dear teachers, an instructor at Zaytuna, and no less than a graduate from the ancient Al-Qarawiyyin, Ustadh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali has written an excellent piece on a commonly-mentioned hadith from Sahih Muslim.

Many have probably been troubled by the meaning of the hadith at some level. Insha Allah, the article will prove to be beneficial and will give us a better understanding of the noble hadith.

Click here for the document (external link).

Please visit the Lamp Post website for more beneficial material, particularly from the Maliki madhhab.

Unfortunately, it seems, some are under the impression that Seekingilm.com has some kind of connection with Shaykh Nuh or Sufi Shaykhs. Seekingilm.com has no affiliation to Shaykh Nuh or any other sufi Shaykh. We do not speak for Shaykh Nuh, nor any other Sufi Shaykhs. The content posted on this website is the sole opinion of the authors. We would like to make clear that Seekingilm has no relation too, affiliation with, or connection to Shaykh Nuh Keller or any other Shaykh.

Some of the members on this site may refer to Shaykh Nuh, or other Sufi Shaykhs, within articles, but none of the Seekingilm staff speaks for or represents their opinions. Seekingilm has never claimed such a view, nor is such propogated or promoted by Seekingilm.com’s staff.  We assert that there is no such thing as copyright to divine knowledge. It is for all of mankind, and should be spread freely to all those who seek it. Thus we hold that audio clips - unless sold by the respective orator with the intent of profit - as well as articles fall under  ”open source” regulations (or lack thereof). If anyone disagrees with this stance you have one of two choices:

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The SeekingIlm staff has already shown that Khidr is most probably alive, and was definitely alive during the time of Imam An-Nawawi, many years after the death of the Nabi (’alayhis salaam). So, now that we have established this fact I would like to know what you would ask him. I will begin with some of my questions:

I would ask him, if I ever meet him as others have: “What is your favorite food? Where do you stay so I can come visit you more often - or are you a hermit? Who do you believe was the greatest scholar of the Muhammedan Ummah? Besides ‘arabi, what other language(s) are you fond of? Did you ever marry or do you think women are a waste of energy? How tall was Musaa? What is your favorite literary works? of Everything you learned in your entire existence, which dunya-related knowledge do you find most useful?

Please share!

Mark Twain was an American author and idiot. Americans today read his books, like that of Huckleberry Finn etc. It so happens that this ‘heathen’ from America set foot upon the blessed land of the Muslims, he polluted it with his stench and impurity. When Mark Twain wrote of his travels amongst the “Mohammedans”, he claimed that they were unclean, dirty people, as well is morally inferior, and therefore culturally backwards. The dirty old man stated in his worthless work The Innocents Abroad:

“Mosques are plenty, churches are plenty, graveyards are plenty, but morals and whiskey are scarce. The Koran does not permit Mohammedans to drink. Their natural instincts do not permit them to be moral. They say the Sultan has eight hundred wives. This almost amounts to bigamy. It makes our cheeks burn with shame to see such a thing permitted here in Turkey. We do not mind it so much in Salt Lake, however.”
 

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*edited*

Their awards are over so the critique is gone.