Objectives of Shariah, Maqasid, For Handling Contemporary Challenges

Objectives of Shariah (Maqasid) For Handling Contemporary Challenges

By Sheikh Saad Tasleem | MASCON 2017

Opening

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the most noble of the Prophets and Messengers, our Prophet, our Master, and our Beloved Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions.

O Allah, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge, O Lord of the Worlds. O Allah, show us the truth as truth and grant us the ability to follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us the ability to avoid it.

Introduction: Islam is More Than Do's and Don'ts

My brothers and sisters, when we're talking about Islamic law or when we start talking about the shari'ah we have to understand that Islam didn't just come with a set of laws or a set of do's and don'ts. As a matter of fact, yes, that is part of the shari'ah and that is part of Islam but Islam came with principles and ideas and those principles are there so that Islam can be applied in every time and every place.

Islam didn't just give us the Quran. Islam just didn't give us a book of do's and don'ts. As a matter of fact, Islam also brought us the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who showed us a life in which Islam was implemented a life in which Islam was practiced. Islam never meant, never came to exist in a void. Islam was always meant to be applied in real life.

And that is why it was necessary that as Allah sent the revelation, the Quran likewise, Allah along with the Quran sends a man who implements and practices that Quran in real life and that is why Allah says:

There is certainly for you in the messenger of Allah a perfect example.

Reference: Quran 33:21

Islam Was Sent to Real Human Beings

Meaning if you want to just think that maybe sometimes we have this idea that Islam is too idealistic. Islam deals with perfection and human beings are not perfect therefore, we cannot apply Islam in our lives. It is for that reason that Allah did not send Islam, the Quran, the message of Islam in a vacuum. It was sent to human beings.

The companions, the first generation, may Allah be pleased with them were human beings. Yes, they were the best of generations as the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us but they were still human beings. They made mistakes, they had faults, they had flaws and they showed us how to implement the deen of Allah.

And that is why we find that today we have this feeling that maybe Islam is not relevant but all we have to do is go back to our usul we have to go back to our principles we have to go back and take another deeper look into the shariah of Allah.

Human Nature Doesn't Change

Because human beings, our nature, our needs, our wants, our instincts these things don't really change from time to time and place to place. Yes, our problems change, our environment changes but fundamentally who a human being is, that remains the same.

The Prophet (peace be upon him), he said:

Every newborn child is born upon their fitrah, their nature.

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 1358, Sahih Muslim 2658

Which we know is a child's natural inclination towards good. As Muslims we believe that the usul, that the default in a human being is goodness and yes there are other ideologies that may say otherwise but as Muslims we believe that a human being is born upon goodness and yes the external factors may affect them yes their fitrah, their nature may be corrupted and may be taken to the right or to the left but that human nature is there that is how Allah created all of us.

And that is why when we talk about Islam, the rules of Islam when we talk about the religion of Allah it deals with the fitrah and that is why many times when you look through the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) the Prophet (peace be upon him) talks about the fitrah even in something that seems like, something which is very minor like purification.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that there are ten things which are from our fitrah he mentioned cutting our nails and so on and so forth meaning this is something that human nature finds to be good and to be normal and that is why we can say Islam is relevant and applicable to every time and every place.

The Challenge We Face Today

And look, I know, I know we're going through a difficult time we're going through a time where a lot of people, a lot of Muslims don't really feel that way they don't feel like Islam is relevant to them. We have a generation of Muslims that are growing up and they feel like there is the theory of Islam there is the ideal and then they're like, okay, now back to real life.

It's like Sunday school Islam versus my real life. Yeah, I can go to Sunday school and I can learn about all these rules and laws and the halal and the haram and so on and so forth but all that stays in Sunday school all that stays in that beautiful lecture that I heard at this conference or whatever all those ideals stay there but real life is very different.

Islam, subhanallah, has almost been marginalized to it being simply just another culture like there's other cultures out there. Islam is only left to be a few things that we do the salam, the prayer, the externals and when we have nothing to hold on to when we feel desperate, when we look at our children and we say they're losing their Islam the only thing we tend to hold on to are appearances.

And that is why you find people sometimes focusing only on appearance. Do you look like a Muslim or not, do you sound like a Muslim or not. Islam has been left to be simply our dress and our language and cultural ideas and that's it.

Culture Can Change

When dress and language and all of these matters of culture they can change from time to time and place to place. As a matter of fact the culture of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was very different than the culture that we have today. When the message of Islam came, the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't change the culture of the people for the most part. Yes if there was something bad found in the culture that was changed, it was edited.

But if you were to jump into a time machine right now and go back 1400 years and you were to arrive in Mecca and you would look at the Muslims and the non-Muslims, you would look at the Muslims and the mushrikun and just by appearance you would have a difficult time telling who the Muslims are and who the non-Muslims are because they look the same, they dress the same.

It was not simply the appearance that was the message of Islam. Islam was about morality, the revolutionary idea of Islam what Islam was, what made the companions strangers was not the way they dressed or the way they looked from the outside or how foreign they looked.

Hadith: Islam Began Strange

When the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

(Sahih Muslim)

Islam started as something strange and it will return to something strange so glad tidings be for the strangers.

He wasn't talking about just our appearance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is saying you oh Muslim, you have a high standard of morals you have your aqidah, you have your creed by which you live your life and in the beginning of Islam that was considered strange. There was only a few people who were upon that morality and there will come another time when once again there will be few people holding on to their morals.

The rest of society is going to be somewhere else and there's going to be only a handful of people who will be holding on to their morals. Yes, those are the ghuraba and glad tidings be for those.

The Prophet Taught Principles

The Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't just give us a set of laws of do's and don't do's. The Prophet (peace be upon him) as I said gave us principles. He gave us an understanding of the religion.

Oftentimes companions would come to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and they would ask him a question and he wouldn't reply with a fatwa he would reply with a principle.

We have the narration of Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) in which he says a man comes to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he asks him the ruling of three things: fat, cheese and fur. What is the ruling? Is it halal? Is it haram? Can we use it or not?

And what does the Prophet (peace be upon him) say in reply? Does he say well this is halal and this is halal and this is haram or whatever? No, he teaches him a principle. He says:

The halal is that which Allah has made halal in his book, and the haram, the impermissible is that which Allah has made impermissible in his book, and that which Allah has remained silent about, that which Allah has not mentioned and that is what is permitted or allowed or forgiven for you.

Reference: Sunan Ibn Majah 3367

The Principle: Default is Permissibility

So what is the principle that the companions learned? Well when it comes to worldly matters and worldly things:

It is He who has created for you everything that is upon earth.

Reference: Quran 2:29

Except the few things that are mentioned in the Quran and the Sunnah as being impermissible. So their default, the principle tells us the default when it comes to worldly matters and worldly things dress, clothing, this and that, whatever is that the default is that it is halal, it is permissible unless we have a clear evidence to tell us otherwise.

What is this? This is knowledge and this is understanding of the knowledge.

Three Essential Elements

And often times when we feel restricted by Islam when we feel like Islam doesn't apply to us when we feel like Islam is foreign to us it's usually because there is a lack of one of the three things that I'm about to mention one, two or possibly all three:

1. Knowledge (Ilm)

Number one, knowledge ilm, to know what Allah has intended for us to know the laws of Allah to know the principles and the rules that Allah has given to us to know the maqasid of the shari'ah to know what the shari'ah intended knowledge.

But knowledge on its own is not enough because knowledge is simply just an accumulation of information it's an accumulation of facts. Someone may have knowledge but they may be doing an injustice to Islam because they are lacking number two.

2. Understanding (Fahm)

Which is understanding. Understanding is to go beyond simply knowledge. Understanding is to look at the information that you have in context. Understanding is to not just learn one hadith. Understanding is to learn the hadith is to learn the context of that hadith to learn what the Prophet (peace be upon him) intended when he said this hadith. Understanding is to understand the other hadith the other evidences. Understanding is to have a broader look of the knowledge.

So take it a step beyond simply knowledge. Knowledge and understanding of that knowledge because often times people come and they have knowledge. I learned this hadith I learned this ayah from the Quran and therefore I'm going to base halal and haram based off of this ayah or this hadith and then when you say something they'll say look man the evidence is clear the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded it so you have to do it.

Well what about the other evidences? What about the other things that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said?

Example: Understanding Context

You know Subhanallah I used to teach a class in which it was called the fiqh of chilling in which we talked about laughing and joking and pranks and the Islamic perspective on laughing and joking and pranks and often times people who knew nothing about that seminar they would come to me and they would say to me you're teaching a class about laughing and joking is that really the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him)?

Didn't you hear the Prophet (peace be upon him) say:

If you knew what I knew then you would laugh very little and you would cry a lot.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 4621, Sahih Muslim 2359)

And I would turn to that person and say look I get that you have knowledge of this one hadith but do you have understanding of that hadith? Because through understanding of the hadith we understand that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is speaking about a very specific matter when it was revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) when the Prophet (peace be upon him) saw heaven and hell and he saw the punishment of the hellfire. The Prophet (peace be upon him) made this statement he said if you knew what I knew meaning of the punishment of the hellfire you would laugh very little and cry a lot. That's number one.

Number two after the Prophet (peace be upon him) said this statement how was his lifestyle? Did he never laugh? Did he never smile? No as a matter of fact he did laugh and he did smile. We have numerous narrations of the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who would say about the Prophet (peace be upon him) that I have never seen anyone smile more than the Prophet (peace be upon him). That is the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

That is the understanding meaning when we look at these issues we bring them together we look at the context we look at a broader we take a broader perspective on the evidences found in Islam. Knowledge and understanding.

Avoiding Labels and Shame

And my brothers and sisters what I gave you right now is just one example we can literally go from example to example to example to example and there are hadith that we learn or maybe some rulings that we learn and our approach sometimes is to just take it and bash it on people's heads and to shame people and guilt people and start throwing around labels like good Muslim and bad Muslim and because you don't do this one thing you're a bad Muslim and because you do this you're considered a good Muslim and so on and so forth.

And that is not what the Sharia intended. We don't find the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) talking to one another in those terms saying that you're a bad Muslim or you're a good Muslim. As a matter of

fact sins occurred at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It wasn't this perfect society where nothing bad happened.

Real Problems at the Time of the Prophet

Zina occurred at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Alcohol you know when Islam the society that Islam came to was a society that loved its alcohol. Alcohol was a big part of the Jahili society and that is why we find that even after alcohol was prohibited there were companions who yes they hated alcohol and they wanted to get rid of it but they had developed an addiction to alcohol. They were addicted. They were alcoholics.

One in particular we know of a companion by the name of Abdullah his incident is mentioned in Sahih Bukhari in which Abdullah continues to drink alcohol and he is reprimanded by the Prophet (peace be upon him) one time and another time and another time and yet again he drinks alcohol and yet again he is reprimanded until one of the companions he sees him he sees Abdullah and he says to him he says out loud he says:

May Allah curse him how many times is he going to go back and come back with alcohol may Allah curse him.

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) he replied he said:

Do not curse him for I know that he loves Allah and his messenger and Allah and his messenger love him.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6780)

Can you imagine the Prophet (peace be upon him) testifying for an alcoholic? Can you imagine the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying about an alcoholic that Allah loves him and he loves Allah? Wallahi we would give anything to hear that statement about ourselves. We would give anything to hear the lips of the Prophet (peace be upon him) move and say about us that we love Allah and Allah loves us. This was an alcoholic.

So these problems they were there at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It was real life.

Story: The Young Man Who Asked About Zina

Zina we have that famous incident of that young man who comes to see the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he has the we would think he has the audacity to ask the Prophet (peace be upon him) to make Zina Halal for him. He says oh messenger of Allah let me commit adultery.

And what did the Prophet (peace be upon him) say to him? You are a bad Muslim get out of here how dare you come to the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and ask me to make something which is Haram Halal? No.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) the companions are getting upset when they hear this man this young man make this statement. The companions are getting uneasy they want to say something but the Prophet (peace be upon him) puts his hand on this young boy's hand and he takes him aside and he reasons with him and he says to him would you accept Zina for one of your female relatives would you be ok that someone commits Zina with someone who is a female relative of yours and he says no by Allah I would not be ok with that I would not accept that.

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) says likewise how can I make Zina Halal for someone else for another female relative of someone else. And at that point the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't just say ok now go. The Prophet (peace be upon him) made Dua for him. He said:

Oh Allah forgive him and purify his heart and help him become chaste.

(Musnad Ahmad 22211)

This is how the Prophet (peace be upon him) dealt with the problems of his time dealt with the real life scenarios of his time.

Iman Fluctuates

And my brothers and sisters I wish I had time to go into how many parallels we find between the problems of today the problems that our youth are going through and the problems that existed at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). We tend to think that there were no problems back then that every single companion was at 100% Iman 100% of the time. That was not the case. Iman goes up and down just like our Iman goes up and down even that generation their Iman goes up and down.

One of the companions actually complained to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he said oh messenger of Allah I feel like a hypocrite because when I'm sitting with you it is as if I can see heaven and hell in front of me meaning my Iman is so high but when I go back home I get busy with my family and my kids and my business and I don't feel that way anymore.

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said his name was Hanzalah he said Hanzalah he said oh Hanzalah:

An hour and an hour.

(Sahih Muslim 2750)

Meaning look there's a time for this and a time for that meaning there's going to be times when your Iman feels high and there's going to be times when your Iman feels low and as a matter of fact he said to him that if you were to feel like that at all times then the angels themselves would descend from the heavens and come to your house and shake your hand why because then you wouldn't be a human being anymore you'd be like an angel

that doesn't sin an angel who Iman does not fluctuate but we are human beings right we make mistakes the companions made mistakes and we will continue to make mistakes.

Islam is not meant for a perfect people. Islam is perfect but it's not meant for a perfect people because there is no such thing.

Three Elements: Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom

So the argument to say that look Islam cannot be applied today this really goes back to a lack of knowledge, understanding and the third thing that I'd say I'd mention to you is:

3. Wisdom (Hikmah)

Wisdom. A person may have the knowledge but they need the understanding they may even have the understanding but wisdom is to know how when and why of the application of the laws and rules of Allah. The wisdom is the final part of this process meaning it is wisdom that gives the person the ability to know how to apply this.

We may know what the law is we may have the understanding of the law but the wisdom means I know when, where and how and who this law applies to and that is why for far too long we have left the Sharia for every single person to interpret and take it in their own direction and this is why I feel there is an importance of academia within Islam.

This is why you know the talk that Dr. Jasser gave before my talk I believe is very important I believe we need to go back to those things and we need to go back to an understanding of Islam that has knowledge and yes understanding and wisdom as well.

Who Can Speak for Islam?

I don't believe that every single person should speak for Islam and I know often times you'll hear that statement that anyone can speak for Islam I personally don't believe that I believe there are very very few people who can speak for Islam but that does not mean that Islam restricts that Islam has some type of clergy class or a special class of people that only they can speak about Islam.

Islam says anyone can speak for Islam as long as they're qualified to do so. It's not restricted to men it's not restricted to women it's not restricted to older people or younger people or it's not restricted by race. Anyone can speak for Islam as long as they take the time to study and learn and be qualified in what they're talking about.

And I believe that once we take that approach towards Islam once we can take a look at the Islam that we have with knowledge and understanding and wisdom we will find that Islam is extremely applicable to our lives we will find that not only is Islam applicable that Islam is the best part of our lives.

Islam Enhances Every Culture

As a matter of fact Islam highlights the culture that we are living in. If you want to be an American Islam will make you the best American. If you want to be a Canadian Islam will make you the best Canadian because Islam is meant for every time and every place.

And I'll finish with a statement of Imam Ghazali and it's been attributed to some other scholars as well he said:

If those who didn't know remained silent then the differences would be a lot less.

And so I ask Allah to give us the ability to learn this religion with sincerity to give us the insight of this religion and the ability to apply this religion in our lives with wisdom.

Closing

End of Khutbah