The Prerequisites Of A Mujtahid

The Prerequisites of a Mujtahid

Opening Invocation

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim wa salatu wa salamu ala asharaf al-anbiya wal-mursaleen wa ala alihi al-tayyibin al-tahireen wa min tabi'ahum bi ahsana ila yawm al-deen.

The Preservation of Islam

Alhamdulillah, Allah has promised that this ummah would have a preserved deen, and this is a unique characteristic of the deen of Islam in that all other religions have fallen by the wayside because the preservation of those religions were given to human beings. Allah did not in the previous dispensations that have been given to humankind take it upon Himself to preserve those deens. He left the preservation of the deen of the previous prophets in the hands of the scholars, the ruhban, the rabbis, the rabbiyoon - these people. He left the preservation of the deen of the previous prophets in the hands of the peoples of those traditions.

Islam, because it is the last religion, there is no renewer to come after the Prophet Muhammad with some new divine dispensation from Allah, and for that reason, Allah has taken it upon Himself to preserve this deen. This is clearly stated in the Quran with the verse when Allah says:

"Indeed, We have sent down the reminder (the Quran), and surely We are protecting it."

Al-Hafidh is the one that preserves and protects something. We call the hafidh of Quran the one who literally preserves and protects the Quran because the Quran, by the consensus of this ummah, is not protected by the mushaf. The mushaf does not protect the Quran. The mushaf is simply a vehicle for allowing those who do not memorize the Quran to read from the Quran.

The Chain of Transmission

The hufadh are the people who memorize the Quran with an unbroken chain back to the Messenger of Allah, to Jibreel alaihi salam, to Allah. We still have in our ummah isnad directly - in the same way we have isnad with the hadith, we have isnad directly to Allah with the Quranic tradition. The hufadh who memorize the Quran memorize with the isnad, and this is why the ulama have always said: don't take the Quran from a mushaf. Quran is not taken from mushaf. Quran is taken from the afwah al-rijal - the mouths of the men, the rijal or the women who have the maqam of hafidhah. This is by consensus of the ummah.

Now with the hifdh or the protection of the Quran, this necessitates the ancillary sciences of Islam to be preserved and protected by the very nature of it. The Quran in and of itself is not enough for the human beings

The Arabic Language as Part of Deen

So the language of Arabic is from deen. Sayyidina Umar is recorded to have written to Abu Musa al-Ashari, who was a governor for him in Iraq, and he said: "Learn the language of the Arabs and teach it because it's part of the deen." So the Arabic language is part of the revelation. The Arabic language is an intricate part of the revelation of Allah.

"We have revealed this as an Arabic Quran in order that you might use your intellect."

In order that you use your intellect - the Arabic language has interesting elements to it that you do not find used extensively in other languages. For instance, ellipsis is something we do not use a great deal in the English language, and yet in the Arabic language it's used constantly, and therefore there are many elliptical verses in the Quran that need clarification - not only verses concerning the ahkam but also verses concerning qisas, verses that have to do with the stories of the prophets that without recourse to tafsir you cannot understand it simply by reading the text itself.

The Role of Scholars in Preserving Knowledge

This is a clear indication that the text, the book, is not enough, but you need men and women to interpret the book, and this interpretation has an unbroken chain until the present day. The preservation of this deen is unbroken. In other words, there has never in the history of Islam been people who have taken it upon themselves to purchase a huge library and then read all the books about Islam and then start giving fatwa and doing these things, because the deen is not preserved that way. It's not preserved through books - it's preserved through people.

The Prophet said in a sound hadith: "They will carry this deen in every generation - those who are upright and worthy of carrying it." This means that there is an unbroken chain of transmission of the deen of Islam.

The Concept of Tajdeed (Renewal)

Now, there are hadiths also that indicate that Allah will send at the head of every generation, or every hundred years (depending on which the Arabic word has more than one meaning), on every generation or every hundred years, a renewer of the deen. Now, the renewer - tajdeed does not mean that they bring anything new. Jaddaja does not mean to bring new to the deen. What they do is they simply revive the deen. They bring back to life what the vast majority of people have caused to die, which is the book of Allah, the practices of it, and the

Imam al-Ghazali and the Revival of Religious Sciences

Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, in the 6th century - the beginning of the end of the 5th century, beginning of the 6th century - Imam Abu Hamad al-Ghazali was living in a time when literally the sciences of the deen had fallen into disarray. This does not mean that there were no ulama, but it means that many people were no longer learning the sciences of the deen. They were occupying themselves in the philosophies of the Greeks, in different sciences that really were not from the essence of Islam at all, and for this reason he called his landmark book "Ihyaa Uloom al-Deen" - bringing life back to the sciences of the deen.

This does not mean that those sciences had disappeared - it simply means that he was writing a book that would access the teachings of Islam to the common people. This is part of his intention - was literally accessing Islam once again to the common people. And this is something - the tendency of the ulama historically has been to move away from the masses. This is a danger of any scholar - is to become what we call in the west "in his ivory tower," and they lose sight of the purpose of knowledge, which is to practice it and to take it to the people.

The Example of Imam al-Nawawi

Imam al-Nawawi, rahimahullah, one of the greatest scholars that this ummah has produced, was literally a man of the people. His books are written for people - they are accessible to the common people. This is why his books have had such a blessed reception by the Muslims themselves. These are three books that any educated Muslim in the ummah, or just a simple Muslim, will have in his bookshelves. This cannot be said about any other scholar historically, and part of the blessing of this man is his concern for the masses of the people, of the Muslims themselves.

The Prophet's Care for Simple People

And the Prophet was commanded to be with the simple people. There were the people of Quraish who used to come and they would ask him: "Just come with us and sit with us and get rid of these people because we don't want to sit with them." And Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ to literally be patient with those who call on their Lord - with those who call, you have to be patient with them - that these are the people who love Allah. These other people, they have other intentions.

Knowledge as the Property of the Poor

So this ummah has literally been carried often times by the poor people. Imam Malik, rahimahullah, literally sold the wood on his roof as firewood to earn money for seeking knowledge. We know that Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when he was in Yemen seeking the hadith, he was a hammal - he literally used to carry things for people. This is what he did.

Historical Challenges to Islamic Scholarship

Now just to look basically at what has happened in this ummah, I think it's imperative that we understand that in the ummah of Islam there have been periods where a dominant philosophy or a dominant idea or a dominant ideology manifests that is incongruous with this transmitted knowledge. Sayyidina Ali says in a tradition that is related by al-Quda'i:

لا تخلو الأرض من قائم بحجج الله

"The earth, this earth, will never be free of the one who has the proofs of Allah."

And then he said:

إما عزيز ظاهر أو مغني خائف أو دليل مغمور خائف مغمور

he will either be this person who carries the truth of this teaching will either be strong and manifest to the people, or he will be hidden and in fear because of the innovations of the age. And this has happened historically.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Stand

Ahmad ibn Hanbal is given the title Imam Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama'ah because he was the only alim of the Sunni ulama, of the rightly guided ulama, that spoke up in the face of persecution and threat to death. He literally spoke at a time when all of the ulama were silent. Some of the ulama advised him not to speak. They said: "Wait and Allah will get rid of these people." And he said:

إذا سكت العالم في وجه الباطل فمتى يظهر الحق

The Deception of Diplomas

And if they have a diploma - Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, the famous mufassir of al-Madina al-Munawwara, he was originally from Mauritania. He wrote a book called "Adwa al-Bayan: Tafsir al-Quran bil-Quran." He's one of the last great mufassirun. This man was asked about - in Madina he taught at Madina University - and they asked him about shahadah tazur, which is a type of false bearing, false witness. And Allah warns about it in the Quran.

And he said: "The shahadah tazur are these pieces of paper that you get when you complete the program at Madina University, because a shahada means in Arabic a diploma, and the diploma says that you have knowledge, and we all know that you don't have any knowledge." That's what he said. And he was a teacher, and I took that from his son, so it's a sahihah. You can take it from me if you trust me. You don't have to trust me. I might not be athal bothered. But this is - I heard this from his son, and he was teaching at the university of Madina. He said: "This is a shahadah tazur, this piece of paper that says that you're a scholar."

Learning From Practice, Not Just Theory

Right, and people that are honest - in honesty, and this is part of the delusion of the educational system - I thought: "Oh, I know. Now I know. I know nursing." I know that they - when I got into the hospital, I realized I didn't know anything. And for the first year, it was just - it was learning from - you see, you go and you learn all this theoretical knowledge from books. This is what I learned in school. And then when I went in and worked in a critical care facility, what I actually learned was from other nurses and physicians.

So I took it - even what I learned in the western academic system, I learned more from human beings than I learned from any of the books I read, because there's a practical aspect of any science. So this is important - to know who you are, to know our limitations.

Taqleed is Obligatory for Non-Mujtahids

Now Taqlid is considered wajib for us unless we reach the level of ijtihad. Now ijtihad itself has degrees. Now the proofs for ijtihad are many. There are proofs from the Quran:

Different Understandings Among the Sahaba

So the point being that even within the Quran there are different ways of understanding things. So the sahaba had different understanding. We know that the vast majority, according to Imam Mas'udi, Ibn Hazm, and many of the ulema - the vast majority of the fatawa of the sahaba, because they made fatwa, come from seven people: You have Umar, you have Ali, you have Ibn Umar, you have Ibn Abbas, you have Ibn Mas'ud, you have Zayd ibn Thabit, and you have Aisha, (رضي الله عنها)

The vast majority of fatawa come from these seven people. Most of the sahaba were going to Ibn Abbas, to Ibn Umar. If you wanted strictness, you went to Ibn Umar. If you wanted ease, you went to Ibn Abbas - is well known amongst the sahaba.

The Development of Different Schools

Now the tabi'een took also from different masharif. Ibn Mas'ud was in Iraq. Now Abu Hanifa, (رضي الله عنه) was in Iraq. Ibn Mas'ud was in Iraq. Many of the fatawa of Ibn Mas'ud - this is what Abu Hanifa (رضي الله عنه) was taking his knowledge from. Zayd ibn Ali was also in Iraq. Many of the fatawa.

Now Umar, (رضي الله عنه) was in Madina. Aisha was in Madina. Imam Malik - his madhab, much of it is coming from Umar and Aisha. Different understanding. If you look in the Quran about the meaning of quru -

- "Let them wait or seek out three quru'." The word in Arabic of quru' - and the Kufi'een, in the Iraqi'een, means literally the period itself. But with the Hijazi'een, it meant between the period.

Now where were the Kufi'een getting that meaning from? They were getting it from the likes of Umar (رضي الله عنه) and Ali - big imams in lughah and in knowledge. This is what Abu Hanifa took his position from. This is called ayah. It's called dalalah dhanniyah. It's a dalalah dhanniyah in usul. So the dalalah itself, the indication of the ayah, has more than one meaning, and so there is ijtihad element here.

Respecting Different Positions

Now the sahaba disagreed. Imam Malik and Imam Shafi'i took the position of Ibn Umar and Aisha. And we would only say: "Which one is stronger or which one is better?" And this is why to accept either one is perfectly acceptable for a woman and for the man, because they are and they are sahaba, and they learned from the Prophet.

So what happens is with the tabi'een, and then the atba' al-tabi'een, schools begin to develop and clarify. Even though there existed schools at the time of the Prophet - and those who say there weren't, they don't know what they're talking about. If people say that there were not different opinions amongst the sahaba, they don't know what they're talking about.

Sayyidina Ali had opinions that differed greatly from Umar ibn al-Khattab. Both of them are mujtahidayn. They're both qadiyyan. And they're both rightly guided. This is a fact of life, and this is a blessing from Allah.

The Schools of Hijaz and Iraq

Now if you look then, the school in Hijaz which Imam Malik becomes the spokesman for - he did not invent something. He was literally the inheritor of a school which is called the school Ahl al-Hadith or Ahl al-Naql.

Now these people, even though Imam Malik uses ra'y opinion, his emphasis is more on the naql.

When you go to the schools in Iraq, they had a strong emphasis on understanding the meanings behind - in other words, understanding the principles. They wanted to understand the deep underlying principles and then apply those principles with qiyas. And this was a valid acceptable school. And they had their debates, and sometimes they were very strong debates, but they still respected each other.

Mutual Respect Among the Imams

Abu Hanifa, (رضي الله عنه) when he came to Medina - Ibn al-Qasim, one of the students of Imam Malik, came in and found Imam Malik literally sweating, and he had just been sitting with Abu Hanifa (رضي الله عنه). And Ibn al-Qasim said: "What happened?" And he said: "What a faqih that man is." In other words, he made him sweat.

And this was appraising, even though he disagreed with him on many issues.

And then Imam Shafi'i, (رضي الله عنه), when he went - he debated with Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, the students of Abu Hanifa. Al-Shaybani, after studying with Abu Hanifa, went and studied with Malik. He changed many of his opinions after studying with Malik. And this is why the madhab of Abu Hanifa is not simply Abu Hanifa's opinion, just like the madhab of Malik is not Imam Malik's fatawa, but it's a school.

And the Hanafis were influenced by the Malikis and vice versa. And in the Hanafi usul, there is a principle: if they do not find it in the book of Allah, the sunnah of the messenger, in a precedent of ijma', or in the qiyas, and in their usul, then they go to the madhab of Imam Malik. This is a principle in the usul of Abu Hanifa. This is a respect they had despite their disagreements.

The Example of Ibn Wahb and Malik

So what happened is they began to develop students. Imam Malik had Ibn Wahb - was one of the greatest of the muhaddithin during that time. He's a great muhaddith. He's adal and dabit. He said - and it is recorded - that he memorized so many hadiths, he began to become so confused because of the different indications in the hadith that he was literally becoming confused. And then he said:

رحم الله مالكاً لولا مالك لضاع ابن وهب

"If it wasn't for Malik, Ibn Wahb would have been destroyed."

Because he went to Malik, and he began to relate to him the hadith, and Malik would say: خذ هذا دع هذا خذ هذا العمل على هذا عندنا الأمر على هذا - he would tell him: "This is mansukh, this is nasikh, this is..." Take al-nasikh and

mansukh from Malik.

The Danger of Self-Study

So now, if somebody takes al-Bukhari now and opens it up and he starts making his own hukm, and he says - first of all, he doesn't even know the Arabic language. And even if you know grammar and sarf - nahw and sarf - doesn't mean you know Arabic, because there's a whole science called fiqh al-lughah, which is very complicated. Fiqh al-lughah is a complicated science. It's how the Arabs used their words contextually.

For instance, now Arabs - if they give you - if you ask for a glass, you just say (أعطني كأساً) in Arabic. And the Arabs who hear that, they'll think - if you say (أعطني كأساً تفضل) or (أعطني كأساً من فضلك), you're speaking fusha. But in the Arabic language, ka's has to have fluid in it, or it's not considered a ka's. But Arabs don't distinguish between these things. So there's a whole science of fiqh al-lughah that an individual has to know before he can start making hukm in the hadith.

The Problem with Bad Translations

In the Quran, there are words that are used contextually that if you don't know the context, you'll go astray. And there's mistranslations all the time. And I saw a hadith that was translated from the book of Matraji. This woman - and if you see these books by this woman, she doesn't know Arabic or English, and she's translating. She's from Lebanon, and I'll say this, and I'll say her name, and I wish she heard this video if she could understand it.

But she's translating into English, and she's making gross errors and leading people astray. She's getting paid some money by some dar al-fikr. They're just making money, and this is what they do. اشتروا الدين بالضلالة "They buy the deen with misguidance." This is what they do.

You can't translate if you don't know how to translate. You have to know the language that you're translating from and the language you're translating into.

Example of Mistranslation

So there's this hadith that ends - the Prophet sat with a group of people, talked to them, and then it says: ثم شيعهم Now in the Arabic language, shaya'a means two things - possibly more. There are only two that I know of, but I certainly have not anywhere near encompassed the Arabic language. The two meanings that I know: one of them is shaya'a means to make people into Shia - شيعهم شيع. But another meaning - and the meaning understood in this hadith - is that he walked them out the door. The Arabs and the sunnah of the Prophet was to walk his guests out the door. So it says: ثم شيعهم - it meant he walked out with them.

She translated: "Then he made them into Shi'a." And you see, this is the - and then you have this young Muslim full of hamiyyah - hamiyyah in Arabic, the nice translation is fanaticism - حمية الجاهلية - the fanaticism of the jahili people - full of hamiyyah. And he gets this book by Matraji. He doesn't know Arabic, and he starts reading it and basing his hukm on it: يا أخي هم رجال ونحن رجال - "Brother, we can make ijtihad. I just follow book and

sunnah."

يا أخي الدليل طيب؟ - "Brother, where's your dalil?" Malik didn't follow Abu Hanifa. They're not following book and sunnah.

I mean, this is really gross arrogance. That's the first thing. It's just deep arrogance. This is what it is. There's no humility there. This is the first thing. But also, it's deep ignorance.

The Prerequisites of Ijtihad

Now let me tell just about ijtihad. There's an idea that ijtihad is closed. Ijtihad is not closed. It's open for whoever can fulfill the qualifications.

First: Mastery of the Arabic Language

Now the first qualification is you know the Arabic language. It means you encompass it. You have to know nahw. Now somebody said - this guy that who's got all this hamiyyah - يا أخي : "The sahaba didn't know nahw!" give me the i'rab of - يا أمير المؤمنين أعرب لي هذه الجملة يا أمل المؤمنين يا على رأس والعين ,If you ask Umar" :طيب يا عمر this jumlah."

Umar didn't have that technical vocabulary, but he knew exactly what it meant. He knew what the subject of the sentence was. He knew what the predicate of the sentence was. He knew what the huruf al-jarr did, even if he didn't call it huruf al-jarr. He knew exactly what it did, because it was his language.

Now, so you have to learn nahw. Sayyidina Ali is the one that commanded Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali to learn nahw and to put it out. You have to know nahw. Then you have to know sarf. You have to know how the words are changed internally. Like you have to know that fa'ala has six possibilities. You can be فعل يفعل - it can be like that, or it can be فعل يفعل or it can be فعل يفعل. And you have to know this and recognize that not all the verbs are on the same pattern, and also that these patterns change the meaning of the verbs.

And then you have to know the af'al al-mazidah. You have to know the mabni from the mu'rab. You have to know the fa'il from the maful. You have to know the different types of things people have to learn. And that's just Arabic. You haven't gone into ma'ani, balaghah, and badi'ah. You haven't gone into these other sciences.

Learning Rhetoric and the I'jaz of the Quran

Now somebody says: "Why do you have to learn rhetoric, balaghah?" Because you have to know why the Quran is mu'jiz. The Arabs knew it was mu'jiz, but the ajam doesn't know why it's mu'jiz. You have to know what jinnas is. You have to know what these things are. You have to know what the hadhf is and itnab and ijaz, and why Allah سبحانه وتعالى uses these things. And then you have to know the context.

Then you have to know the Quran. You have to know why the Quran comes with this sighah, with this form, as opposed to this form. You have to know what sighah al-amr indicates. You have to know what sighah al-nahi indicates. You have to know all of these - these are sciences. And I'm literally - I don't - I have very little knowledge about these things. I'm not trying to impress you. All I'm trying to do is emphasize what - you know,

that this is a very serious matter. It's not a joke. It's not a simple thing that you can go take a two-week course, like now they have a course here from Medina University. You go take a two-week course, and then you're mujtahid. You see? No.

The Danger of Playing with the Deen

You can't play with this deen. If you play with the deen, Allah destroys you. That's the truth. If you play with this deen, Allah destroys you. And part of playing with this deen is being an oppressor:

**وَلَا يَزِيدُ الظَّ should understand that those people who were silent and who were out of fear did not speak up - nonetheless they are still from the people of sunnah and jama'ah. Their ijtihad was different, because it is permissible to either fight if there is benefit, or even if you think that you will be killed.

The Greatest Jihad

The Prophet said: أعظم الجهاد كلمة حق أمام سلطان جائر - "The greatest jihad is to speak the truth in front of an unjust tyrant." (Sunan Abu Dawud 4344)

And this is interesting because this jihad is a word - it is not with a sword. It is literally the word of truth, and this is the highest form of jihad - is to speak the truth in the midst of falsehood. And this is the maqam of Ahmad ibn Hanbal - and then to die because you spoke the truth, to literally be killed for it.

The Use of Tawriya (Equivocation)

Now there are other people that choose the way of the heela. In Arabic they say heela or heela al-jawab or tawriya. One of the ulema was asked: "Do you say that the Quran is created or uncreated?" And he said: "Al-Tawra, al-Zaboor, wal-Injeel, wal-Quran," and then he said: "Hadhi arba'a makhluqatun" - you see, and he meant his fingers. He didn't mean the four books - he meant his fingers were created, and they left him because he used a tawriya.

And this is something that even the ulema considered it permissible. Ibrahim alayhi salam - they say when ar-Razi - when he pointed to the big idol and said "The big one did it," he was using his thumb, because prophets do not lie, and he was using tawriya. And this is something that's permissible - is to speak in a way where you say the truth but you make the person that's hearing it think that you mean something else.

When the Prophet was asked - a man came to him and said "Who are you from?" and he wanted to know if he was the Qurayshi to kill him - the Prophet said: أنا من الماء - "I'm from water." Now this bedouin didn't know because the Quran says that Allah:

"We created every living thing from water." (Quran 21:30)

So he wasn't telling a lie. He was saying "ana min al-ma'i," but the bedouin didn't know that human beings are from water, so he thought he was talking about some tribe that he didn't know, so he said "He's not the Qurayshi I'm looking for," and he left him. So this is heela, and this is something that the ulama have used historically and it's been an acceptable position. But Ahmad ibn Hanbal chose not to use this position, and so he has a maqam.

Imam Malik's Persecution

Imam Malik, radiallahu anhu, when he was demanded - the Bani Abbas, when they took over the khilafah, Imam Malik was relating a hadith about the talaq, that somebody was forced to divorce his wife, then the talaq is batil. If he's forced to say "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you," the divorce is batil. By qiyas, the people were understanding from that: if people are forced to break their bay'ah or their allegiance with another group because of, out of coercion, then their bay'ah is not valid.

Bani Abbasiya did not want that hadith related by Malik. They literally took him, put him on a donkey, and they were going through the street beating him. I mean, imagine this - Malik, radiallahu anhu - this is the state that the Muslims reached at that point - beating him. And the famous riwayah that his arms were literally pulled out of his sockets, and he was saying to the people of Medina: (أنا مالك بن أنس وطلاق المكره باطل - "I am Malik ibn Anas and the divorce of the coerced is invalid.") And he repeated what he was saying. He would not let them intimidate him, and this is why he has this maqam.

Abu Hanifa's Suffering

Abu Hanifa, radiallahu anhu, died in prison. He died in prison. All of the imams suffered for their beliefs. What we should learn from this is that there are periods of time when batil manifests over haqq because (الحرب بيننا وبينهم سجال - the war between us and the batil is a war of attrition - one day for them, one day for us.)

The Wisdom Behind Tribulation

And the reason, the hikmah behind that, is that if it was always victory, everybody would want to join the Muslims. If we were always going ahead, if we were always winning, if we were always getting the ghanimah and the booty, then everybody is going to come along. That's what the bedouin - they used to go with the Prophet ﷺ when they thought they were going to win, and when they didn't think they'd win, they would make some excuse, you see. So this is - there has to be periods of tribulation and difficulty.

Now we are in a deep period, so we need to have a historical perspective. Every group in any age - every group, and take this as a qa'ida - every group must be measured by the tradition, the unbroken tradition of this ummah. If they do not fall into the generous and broad guidelines that our imams and our scholars have given us to describe the people of sunnah and jama'ah, then they are people of bid'ah, and we should not be deluded by their sincerity, we should not be deluded by their prayers, we should not be deluded by their knowledge.

Because the people of batil, often times, will spend the night reciting the Quran. The Khawarij, who were people of batil, the Prophet ﷺ said: (تحقرون صلاتكم عند صلاتهم - "When you see their prayer, you will consider your prayer nothing in comparison to them.") (Sahih al-Bukhari 3610)

So we should not be deluded by the proofs that people come with if they are not measured by the people that went before us. This is very important to understand this, because the Mu'tazila were very powerful. They had brilliant scholars. They were not simple people, they weren't simple-minded people, and for a long period of time, almost a hundred years, many people believed that that was the madhab of haqq. Many people believed.

Historical Perspective on Modern Groups

So look at it in a historical perspective. We are in a time now when lots of groups are claiming to be ala al-haqq, but they have to weigh up, or else they are just firaq, they are just tawa'if, and they will pass like all the ones in the past passed. They will go and they will disappear, and the people who will look back on this age will recognize them for what they are. That's the truth of it, and you have to understand that, but you understand it in relation to what went before us. Don't be deluded by your age. Don't be deluded by your age.

Warning About Unqualified Teachers

The Prophet ﷺ told us that there would come a time when young children would be on the minbars. Ahmad said it meant people that had no knowledge would get up on the minbar - the minbar of the Prophet ﷺ - and they would be giving khutbah. The Prophet ﷺ said towards the end of time there would be people who were young in age that were stupid - they didn't have much brains - and they would say the best speech of creation. They would sound good, they would sound eloquent and all of these things, but he said the Quran would not go past their throats.

The ulama say it means it would never get to the heart - they wouldn't understand it. It doesn't mean that they weren't sincere in what they were - their delusion - because people can be sincere in their delusion. Don't think people can't be sincere in their delusion. People can be sincere in their delusion.

Two Types of Ikhlas

This is why there are two forms in the Quran about ikhlas: al-mukhlisun and al-mukhlasun, and you have to have both. Al-mukhlasun are the people that Allah has accepted their ikhlas. Those are the people that Allah that shaytan cannot delude. But you will find people - the Christians - wallahi, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyah in his book al-Fawa'id says that the Christians - there are Christians who love Allah, they love Allah mahabbah. That's what he says. There are Jews that love Allah, but he says: but they don't love what Allah loves and hate what Allah hates, so their love for Allah is of no benefit, no avail to them.

Understanding Our Current Age

So we have to understand things within the historical process and where we are. We are in an age of deep, deep ignorance. This ummah has not, in the past historically, has not come across an age of deeper ignorance than the age that we are in right now. Why? Because there are no ulama. We are living in an age, literally, where the ulama are as Imam Ali said - many of them are literally hiding out. Some have fled to the desert.

You can go to the desert of the Sahara, and you will meet ulama there that have memorized all the books of the Sahih, they memorized the dictionaries of the Arabs, they know the grammar of the Arabs, they know the poetry of the Arabs, they know the madhahib, they know all these things, and they're literally in the midst of the desert, and I've seen them with my own eyes. I've seen them with my own eyes, and they're fleeing. They say they fled with their deen.

One man told me that he's based his life on the hadith in Ibn Majah: "The best of you in tribulation" - and this is a time of fitna. If you don't think this is a time of fitna, you're just deluded. The best of you in the times of fitna are either people that do jihad and scare - they put fear into the enemies of Allah, and the enemies of Allah also fear them because they're so powerful outwardly - so they do, they put fear even into Muslims when they see what they can do or he literally goes away, leaves the people in the desert, and he delivers the haqq of Allah that is upon him.

Introduction to Ijtihad

Now in terms of looking at this matter about ijtihad, which really is - I mean, this is an exalted and lofty subject and I'll just tell you something that I learned when I was studying in Mauritania. What I learned is a little mnemonic:

(أهمها عقائد ثم فروع تصوف وآلة بها الشروع)

The most important things to learn in this deen is the Aqeedah. The first thing is the Aqeedah. And Aqeedah is not complicated. You can learn Aqeedah in a short time.

Learning Aqeedah

You take the Matan of Imam al-Tahawi, رضي الله عنه, who is accepted by all the Ummah. Imam al-Subki says that the whole of the Ummah has agreed upon this Matan. You go with a Shaykh who has a good understanding, who took it from a Shaykh, who took it from a Shaykh, all the way back to Imam al-Tahawi. There are people still that have isnad of Imam al-Tahawi's Matan all the way back to Imam al-Tahawi, and you study it. And once you learn that, then you don't concern yourself with Aqeedah. Then you concern yourself with Iman.

See, Aqeedah is not Iman. Aqeedah is simply a karima - it's just a doctrine that we learn. What is Wajib Lillah? What is Ja'izun Lillah? And what is Mustahilun Lillah? That's what Aqeedah talks about. Al-Wajibat, Al-Ja'izat, Al-Mustahilat - those things that are wajib for Allah, like His existence. Those things that are possible for Allah, like bringing in existence of the creation. And those things that are impossible for Allah, like His non-existence.

The Priority of Furu'ah Before Usul

And then you move to Furu'ah. Now Ijtihad is about Usul. And the reason that this Ummah has made Furu'ah obligatory before Usul, according to our Imams, is because you must pray before you - once you reach puberty, it becomes obligatory for you to know how to pray. Now if you occupy yourself in Usul, you will never learn how to pray when it's obligatory for you to learn how to pray.

So just as when you came into your adulthood, if you learned how to pray as a child, then you would know how to pray when you're an adult. But if you didn't - like a new Muslim comes in - the first thing he does is the man tells him: "We do four rakaats." This is called Taqleed, because this guy doesn't even know what a Taqleed is. I mean, when you first become Muslim, do you know what a Taqleed is? Did anybody tell you? No! You just hear somebody you trust him. Why? Because he's a Muslim. You just became a Muslim. He's been praying all his life. You've never prayed before. So he says: "We do four rakaats for Dhuhr."

The Ignorance of "Where's Your Dalil?"

Now this man is not going to say: "Where's your dalil, brother?" Because he doesn't even know what that is. And even those who ask what the dalil is, generally in my experience, don't know what it is. Because you ask them: "What kind of dalil? What dalil are you talking about? Dalil al-Tahreer? Dalil al-Wujud? What type of dalil? Dalil al-Qat'i? Dalil al-Dhanni? What do you want from the dalil? Where's the istiqra'?" You see, he's just ignorant. People learn these things.

It's called the Babagha'i in Arabic. Babagha'i is a parrot, right? One of the poets, he said:

(قل لمن يدعي في العلم فلسفة حفظت شيئاً وغابت عنك أشياء)

"Say to the one who claims knowledge like a philosophy: you memorized some little thing and so many things are hidden from your knowledge."

You see, I mean, this is - this is a game that people play: "Give me your dalil."

Imam Malik and the Concept of Taqleed

In Imam Malik's time - and this is fabulous - and Imam Malik is a Salafi Imam by the consensus of this Ummah. He's a rightly guided Imam, and he's a Salafi. In the book that was taught in Al-Azhar University since the 13th century:

"Malik and the rest of the Imams" - the man who wrote it was a Maliki, so he mentioned his Imam - "and the rest of the Imams: Ahmad, Shafi'i and Abu Hanifa رضي الله عنهم جميعاً these are the guides of this Ummah. These are the guides of this Ummah, so it is obligatory to follow one of them."

Now some of you say: "Yeah, you mean you have to - it's obligatory - you mean there's no..." Tayyib, you look in the commentary. When you read the commentary, like al-Bayjuri wrote a commentary on this book, when you look in the commentary, they will say: (التقليد أخذ القول بغير دليل القائل - "It's taking the speech from somebody without knowing where he took it from.") Tayyib, this is what Taqleed is.

Now, like I said, if you become a Muslim, you don't know Taqleed or Mujtahid. Now he will also say, al-Bayjuri, in the same text, he will say: Taqleed is wajib for the person that does not have the tools of Ijtihad. And that's what we're going to talk about today, inshallah - is the tools of Ijtihad.

Everyone Can Aspire to Be a Mujtahid

No one in this Ummah can say that you cannot become a Mujtahid. We're all encouraged to become Mujtahid. We need Mujtahidun. But we have to understand what a Mujtahid is, and then we also have to understand what our position is in relation to Ijtihad.

Because one of the arrogant aspects of this age is that people do whatever they want. You see, one of the arrogant aspects of the Kuffar - and we have adopted their methodology - is they say: "Forge your own way." This is western methodology. This is not Islamic methodology.

Western vs. Islamic Methodology

The western people say: "Forge your own way. Be an individual." Like in America, they're proud that it's a frontier people. They went in there and they wiped out all the Indians, forging their own way, leaving destruction and pillage in their path, and they're proud about that. And this is why they name their spaceship "The Challenger." Who are they challenging? They go up in their spaceship and you name a spaceship "Challenger," and you're asking Allah to blow it up, because you don't mess with Allah. And this is what they say: "Challenging who? Challenging Allah."

You see: "Space, the final frontier. We're a frontier people. Forge our way." Like Frank Sinatra: "I did it my way." You see, this is the kuffar. Now we don't have that. This is not our way. We do it the way that those who went before us did it.

Following the Path of the Believers

Because Allah talks about following the sabeel al-mu'mineen - following the way of the believers before us, not simply Allah and His messenger, but also the mu'mineen who went before us. Because that's how we got the

knowledge. They're the ones that brought us to it. How do you think you got the knowledge? You got the knowledge from the book? You got the knowledge from the book about Islam? No, you got it from your parents, or you got it from the sheikh, or the imam in the masjid. But you got it from somebody.

Where did they get it from? They got it from the people that went before, all the way back to the Prophet. So this is the way Islam has always been transmitted.

Understanding Our Position as 'Ammi

Now the taqlid of the awam - they don't think you're awam. First of all, you wouldn't be sitting in this lecture because you'd know what the prerequisites of a mujtahid are. I mean, you might, but you might be coming just for some further benefit or something like that. But an ammi is like all of us. I am an ammi. I consider myself ammi. I do not consider myself alim. I don't consider myself faqih. I consider myself ammi who happened to learn some basic things, alhamdulillah, from the sheikh that I studied with, and I was given permission to do da'wah, right, and to teach a few of the sciences of Islam at the most basic level.

But we