Creed of Imam al-Tahawi - Part 5

The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi - Part 5

The Divine Acceptance of Classical Texts

There are some books that are better than other books, but they don't have the same level of acceptance. And, I mean why the (الألفية - Al-Fiyah) of Ibn Malik? There's a lot of grammar books have been written. Imam Suyuti wrote a brilliant summation of Arabic in a thousand lines, but it's not studied like the (الألفية - Al-Fiyah) is.

Why is that? Why the (الآجرومية - Al-Ajrumiyyah)? Why (رياض الصالحين - Riyad as-Saliheen)? Most of the ulema say, there are untold number of forty hadith collections. Why Imam Nawawi's? So, it just, it has that acceptance. It's a very early creed.

The Universality of Imam al-Tahawi's Creed

It's the creed of Abu Hanifa (رضي الله عنه - radhi allahu anhu). It's something everybody claims the creed, like a lot of different groups claim the creed of Imam Tahawi and interpret it in their own ways. But that's why my teacher Shaykh Abdullah ibn Bayyah said that the best thing to do was read it without a commentary. Just study it as it is. Don't try to impose your own understanding on it, because it's very clear. It doesn't need much commentary at that level.

You can go into commentary, that's fine, but it doesn't need it. It's a very clear creedal statement. One of the things that strikes me about this creed is the way Imam Tahawi has seemed to have gone out of his way to include as many people as Muslims.

I mean, you don't see him pronouncing (تكفير - takfir) if you do this, you are non-Muslim. In fact, he says the reverse. So, this is a very, as he mentions, a very early creed. And I find it amazing, contrasting it from when it was written 1100 years ago until today.

The Danger of Takfir in Islamic Tradition

Well, (تكفير - takfir), which is excommunicating or declaring people non-Muslim or outside of the faith. تكفير (Takfir) is something that was considered very, very dangerous early on.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said in a sound hadith that (من قال لأخيه يا كافر فقد باء بها أحدهما - man qala li-akhihi ya kafir faqad ba'a biha ahaduhuma), whoever declares another Muslim a kafir, one of them is kafir. [Sahih al-Bukhari 6103, Sahih Muslim 60] In other words, if you are wrong about that, then you are a kafir.

In (محرمات اللسان - Muharramat al-Lisan), which is a book I translated on the prohibitions of the tongue, one of the things that Muhammad al-Hassan says in his commentary is written by Imam Ali Aqobi from Mauritania. One of the things that he says in the commentary is if somebody says to you, (يا زاني - ya zani), oh fornicator, it's not

permitted for you to call him a fornicator. You can say (أنت كذاب - anta kadhdhab), you are a liar, but you can't say, (أنت زاني، بل أنت زاني - anta zani, bal anta zani). But if he calls you a kafir, you can say you are a kafir.

The Early Salaf's Position on Takfir

And that's why some of the early salaf said (لا أكفر إلا من كفرني - la ukaffiru illa man kaffarani). I do not deem anyone a kafir unless they deem me a kafir. In other words, by calling me a kafir, I'm going to say they're a kafir because of that hadith. One of us is kafir. So to call another person kafir is kufr.

And one of the things about the early Muslims, they didn't even call, if you look at how they talked about individuals, they wouldn't say to an individual like Abu Sufyan (أنت كافر - anta kafir). They'd call him (عدو الله - adu wallah), enemy of God. But they didn't know Abu Sufyan. I mean there's a (خلاف - khilaf) in the Ash'ari and the Maturidi aqidah.

The Ash'ari and Maturidi Positions on Kufr

The Ash'ari say that kufr is a permanent state. That somebody is a kafir eternally with God. The Maturidi say that kufr is a temporary state. And what you die on is what determines your ultimate state. So it's a (خلاف - khilaf).

So for instance, for the Ash'aris, Abu Sufyan was a believer even when he was fighting the Prophet. He just didn't know it yet. Whereas in the Maturidi, he was a kafir who became a believer. It's a (خلاف - khilaf) amongst these mutakallimun. I mean it's a point of dissension.

Imam al-Qurtubi on Umar ibn al-Khattab

But what's interesting about that is the idea, if you look at the Ash'ari position, that is why Imam al-Qurtubi says that Umar ibn al-Khattab was beloved to God when he was prostrating to idols in Mecca. He was beloved to God. Because God knew who Umar was.

So if you see Umar, you call him something and look him down on him with contempt. But with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Umar ibn al-Khattab is the (خليفة - khalifah) of the Messenger of God. Because Allah knows his seal. So when you see a person, you don't know their seal. You don't know who they are.

The Moroccan Wisdom: Never Despise Anyone

They could be a friend of God and you don't even know it. And that's why in Morocco they say (لا تحقر عبداً عسى يكون ولياً الله - la tahqir abdan asa yakun waliyyan lillah), have contempt for anybody because he could be beloved to God. You just don't know.

And so that creates a different way in which you deal with people. Because everybody is potentially somebody that can get close to God. And so this idea of (كفار - kuffar) (أعوذ بالله، الله يلعنهم - a'udhu billah, Allahu yal'anuhum).

That whole attitude which unfortunately has become very common among some of the Muslims, especially the younger Muslims. Because there's a lot of problems.

I mean, I can understand humanly how a lot of these things come about. But humanly and Islamically are two different things.

The Hadith of Loving for Others What You Love for Yourself

One of the things Imam Nawawi says (لا يؤمن أحدكم حتى يحب لأخيه ما يحب لنفسه - la yu'minu ahadukum hatta yuhibba li-akhihi ma yuhibbu li-nafsihi), None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. [Sahih al-Bukhari 13, Sahih Muslim 45]

Now, I translate brother there as fellow man. Because Imam Shabrakhiti, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Imam Nawawi, they say that that means your fellow man. And what Imam Nawawi says in his commentary is, It is against your human nature to want for your enemy what you want for yourself. And that's why in Islam you have to rise above your human nature. And that's something Muslims don't want to deal with anymore.

Rising Above Human Nature

But the truth is, that is what Islam is calling you to do. Is actually to rise above your desire for vengeance. To rise above your enmity and animosity towards somebody and want good for them in spite of what they're doing to you.

And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) when he sent a messenger, it's in Sahih al-Bukhari, when he sent a messenger to Daws, and Daws were the tribe, a Yemeni tribe, he sent a messenger to call him to Islam, and they chastised him and rejected. And so they came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and they said (إن دوساً عصت وأبت - inna Dawsan asat wa abat), you know, Daws have refused Islam. ادع عليهم يا رسول الله (ud'u alayhim ya Rasool Allah).

So, implicate against them, you know, make a prayer against them. And so they said, the Prophet turned towards the Qibla (وظن الناس أنه سيدعو عليهم - wa dhanna an-nas annahu sayaddu alayhim). And all the people thought he was going to call, make a prayer against them, and he said (اللهم اهد دوساً وأت بهم - Allahumma ihdi Dawsan wa'ti bihim). [Sahih al-Bukhari 2937, Sahih Muslim 2524]

Oh God, guide Daws and bring them to us.

The Example of the Prophet's Patience

So, you know, people talk five minutes to somebody and they say, oh, well, he rejected Islam. The Prophet was calling Abu Sufyan for almost 20 years to Islam. And in the end he accepted it, he fought him on the battlefield. These people aren't fighting us. Most of these people here in these cultures are not.