Creed of Imam al-Tahawi - Part 6

The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi - Part 6

Rising Above Anger and Human Nature

But we don't even want to talk to them. So that idea of rising above your human nature, you know, and getting rid of that anger. Anger is a very dangerous emotion because it clouds your intellect, it clouds your ability to see reality.

So it's very important for Muslims to be aware of that. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, warned us not to get angry in many instances. Yeah, talk about it.

A (قاضي - qadi) is not allowed to give any sort of ruling. You can't rule if you're angry. I remember an incident at university where a Muslim colleague of mine came to me and mentioned two people and said, these people are (كفار - kuffar).

And he said, do you agree with me? And I said, I don't know who these people are. And he said, no, no, your iman is weak if you don't say they're kafirs. In fact, you are actually condoning, you know.

The Legal Status Versus Inner Reality

Well, there's a legal status. You know, people, if somebody is not a Muslim, they have a legal status in which they don't inherit, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But what people's reality is, that's why you can't say anybody is going to hell.

That's one of the things Imam Tahawi makes very clear. You can't say who's in hell or who's not. Well, we believe in alchemy as well, don't we? The ability to transform lead souls into gold.

I mean, as a metaphor. As a metaphor, yeah, absolutely. Alchemy is used as a metaphor, yeah. Absolutely.

The Concept of Ijma' (Consensus)

One of the things Imam Tahawi mentions in his book, he says that we do not dissent from the majority of Muslims. Now, what's so special about the majority of Muslims and how do we recognize something that is in the majority?

Well, you have what's called the (إجماع - Ijma') and the (إجماع - Ijma') in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, when he says:

that whoever splits from the messenger and after guidance is clear to him and follows other than the path of the believers.

Imam ash-Shafi'i said, I read the Quran 300 times looking for a proof of the (إجماع - Ijma') and then I finally found it in that verse, which is in Surah An-Nisa, 115, I think. So that verse is a proof of the (إجماع - Ijma') that

he follows other than the way of the believers.

leave him to himself. I mean, that's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says (وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ - wa nuslihi jahannama), and he's roasted. (وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا - wa sa'at masira), strainful.

So that, yeah, going, deviating, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

(Source Name)

whoever deviates from the group, deviates into hellfire. So the (جماعة - Jama'ah) is the (جماعة العلماء - Jama'at al-Ulama), it's the rightly guided scholars that you follow.

The Protection of the Ummah from Error

It's not the Muslims as a group because the Muslims can do heinous things as groups. They can fall into group mentality and things like that. But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah 3950, Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2167)

My Ummah will never agree upon an error.

So you'll never have all of the Muslims agreeing on something that is wrong. You can have a majority of them doing something that's wrong at any given time, but the ulama will never agree on an error. So the (أهل السنة والجماعة - Ahlus Sunnah wal-Jama'ah) is the majority of the scholars.

That's why Imam Malik, in the Muwatta, he said, this is what I found the people doing. (وَجَدْتُ النَّاسَ عَلَى - wajadtu an-nasa ala). In the commentaries, they say the (ناس - Naas) for Imam Malik meant the ulama, the scholars.

Because these are the (خاصة - khassah) and these are the ones that the (عامة - amma), or the majority of people are meant to follow. They take their spiritual and intellectual leadership from.

Finding Hope in Times of Turbulence

It's fairly evident that there's a lot of things, there's a lot of turbulence, there's a lot of pain and convulsion and chaos in the Muslim world. And often that reflects, people do get depressed when they see the news and they see the state of Muslims.

I mean, what sort of advice, is there any ray of hope for us? Well, Hasan al-Basri said:

إن أردت أن ترى صبراً بلا بصيرة رأيته - in aradta an tara sabran bila basirah ra'aytahu, if you want, you can see, if you want to see, somebody who can see things clearly but doesn't have patience, you can see him.

And he said وإذا أردت أن ترى بصيرة بلا صبر رأيته - waidha aradta an tara basirah bila sabr ra'aytahu, if you want to see, somebody who is patient without any understanding, you can find him. But he said, لكن صبر بصير فذلك - lakin sabrun basirun fa-dhalika, But to get somebody who has (بصيرة - basirah) inner sight, an inner understanding and patience together, he said, there, that's the real thing.

The Union of Patience and Certainty

And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know, that He makes (أئمة - a'immah) from the people that

The people that have patience and have certainty (يقين - yaqeen).

And one of the things, one of my favorite du'as of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is when he said:

ومن اليقين ما تهون به علينا مصائب الدنيا - wa min al-yaqeeni ma tuhawwinu bihi alayna masa'ib ad-dunya, give us enough certainty that will make the calamities of this world insignificant in our eyes. So when you have certainty, the calamities of the world become insignificant. Because this is a very short period of time, the life of the dunya.

It's just like a glance of the eye. And so if you get too caught up in the world and don't have that connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you get depressed. And that's not to say, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had periods where he felt grief. That's human. But when it becomes your state, when it becomes the way you feel, something's not right. And I'm not going to, I mean there's obviously people that have physical problems, things like that. That's another thing. I'm talking about the general state.

The Cure for Depression: Service to Others

One of the things that I found in my life is that when you're doing things for other people, that's the best prozac that you can take. Do you know, if you want to deal with your depression, go out and serve the community.

Yeah, that's the best thing that you can do. But when you're completely egocentric, when your life is revolving around yourself, you're going to be depressed.

By just the very nature of the world, you're going to be depressed. I guarantee you. Just egocentric people. Nothing's going to satisfy you. That's why you have to get outside of yourself. Our religion is theocentric. God is at the center of our existence and not ourselves. And so it's important to do that, to put things in their right priority.

Where You Are With God

And if you want to know where you are with God, look to where God is with you. If God's your first priority, then you're a priority with God. (أنا عند ظن عبدي بي - ana inda dhanni abdi bi), I'm in the opinion of my servant. [Sahih al-Bukhari 7405, Sahih Muslim 2675]

Conclusion and Resources

Sheikh Hamza, (جزاكم الله خيراً - Jazakumullah khayran) for your time. And we wish you well on your continuing journeys around the world. And that was a special interview with Sheikh Hamza Yusuf for the Islam Channel.

You can purchase his book, The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi from all good bookstores. Or you can go to www.rootsdistribution.co.uk. And for any viewers who are interested in reading the works or examining the works that Sheikh Hamza has been doing in the past, you can visit www.zaytuna.org.

(السلام عليكم - Assalamu Alaikum).