#Muqaddima

[lesewut]

"Mercy is innocence, so it can not be a guest in every heart."

Chaldun, Ibn “Geography is Destiny” is taken from the original work of 1377 “Muqaddima”, presented by Turkish philosopher Mesud Topal. Critically interlinking the ideas of Chaldun and the inability of (Islamic) World to truly live the essential requirements of tolerance, education, justice and peace.

"The Right can just be protected with justice."

Not present in the collective consciousness, in the flow of history overshadowed by other great thinkers such as Avicenna and Averroes, forgotton at the tipping point of the former height of the Islamic world and detached by the rising Europe,  I would like to present an enriching and progressive thinker, who, due to his wealth of ideas, no matter what effort, can only be presented fragmentarily in terms of its size and foresight: 

Ibn Chaldun (*1332) is considered the first historian of the Islamic world.  His achievements in the field of sociological research are outstanding and his  understanding of history shows a polyvalent and profound analysis. 

Perhaps he is the first to show the various interconnections and influences of geography (from weather to the borders) on human life, therefore its Qadar (~ fate) and thus on the development of dynasties.  [Cf. Ptolemy “Tetrabiblos” - the influence of stars and planets, based on place on birth] 

"The strength of a government can only be based on justice, courage in truth and mercy."

In his work "Mukkaddime" (Turkish spelling) further aspects are analyzed,  such as the duties of a government towards its population   (main task: Ensuring peace, welfare, justice) or how the individual as part of society -  (according to Aristotle's zoon politikon + al-Farabi "The Virtuos City"   depiction of an idealized state, see Plato "Politeia")   has a special obligation to continuously work and constantly educate oneself. 

"Man is an entity that denies not having understood his own mind."

Acquiring knowledge is an essential part of Islamic values.  Already Hz. Muhamed used to say "And if knowledge is in China, strive!"  Because only healthy, intelligent people can form a healthy and sustainable system of government.  Therefore, man's main goal should be to acquire knowledge and education,  to approuch to the Truth and to learn how to distinguish right from wrong.  (the confusion of concepts leads to irreparable damage, the Truth and the Right  are no longer protected because they are no longer recognized = beacon of moral apostasy) 

"Man does not die of hunger, but because of habits."

Ibn Chaldun also places a special requirement on the state to guarantee the education of its citizens,  for "to leave a man uneducated is to lose him." 

Also he states that the transfer of knowledge should not falter and sets requirements  to teachers who are supposed to be competent and learning methods of "authority, memorization and undisputed constraints" hinder the enlightment of the learner, because it is particularly significant to illuminate why it is so important to aspire education . 

Ibn Chaldun repeatedly emphasizes that there is no other salvation for man  than constant striving and learning.  Only education leads to salvation and so the individual should strive for he has the duty not only towards society and God, but especially for the one's own happiness. 

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: AN INTRODUCTION TO HADITH: Part 12

Avoiding Innovation

It is related that Aisha, may Allah be well pleased with her, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Anyone who introduces an innovation in this affair of ours which is not part of it, that will be rejected.”

One version in Muslim reads:

“He who does an act which we have not commanded will have it rejected [by Allah].” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sulh, 5; Sahih Muslim, Aqdiyya, 17, 18. See also: Sunan ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 2).

NARRATOR

Aisha

Aisha was a very intelligent woman who learned how to read and write at a very young age. She never forgot anything that she had learned and memorized.

The most important point in relation to the Prophet’s marriage to Aisha was it's being contracted through the direct commandment of Allah.

The Messenger of Allah loved Aisha greatly. When he was asked, “Who do you love most?” he replied, “Aisha.” When he was then asked, “(What about) from among the men?” he said, “Her father.”

Aisha was born nine years before the Emigration, in the city of Mecca. She passed away on the seventeenth day of Ramadan (676 CE), on a Tuesday, in Medina.

EXPLANATION

Innovation in religion is referred to in Islam as bid’a.

1. Allah declares the following in relevant Qur’anic verses:

“…What is there, after the truth, but error?” (Yunus 10:32).

This verse demonstrates that there is no connection between truth and being on the wrong path. What behooves the human being is to be on the side of and in the way of truth. All kinds of innovation in religion and every fabricated thing that does not have its basis in Islam is deviation. Deviation of all kinds has been deemed unacceptable.

“…We have neglected nothing in the Book…” (al-An’am 6:38).

Some scholars have asserted that implied in “the Book” is the Qur’an. This is because none of the proofs and obligations necessary for human beings has been omitted therein.

“…And if you are to dispute among yourselves about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger” (an-Nisa 4:59).

Solutions contravening the criteria espoused by Allah and His Messenger and which violate the truths of the Qur’an and the Sunnah lead the human being and society to an impasse. Individuals and even broader society come to believe, at times, that the most perfect solution lies in their self-discovered and tried paths, methods, and systems. They can even convince others of this also. Finding the resolutions to such great issues, however, is only possible through appeal to Allah and His Messenger, and through putting the Qur’an and the Sunnah into practice, without oversight, and free from any innovations.

This hadith constitutes one of the most important foundations of Islam. Anything that does not rest upon the Book and the Sunnah cannot be accepted. Such a thing cannot be considered to be part of religion. Those who disregard the worship and deeds befitting the Qur’an and the Sunnah, lessen or alter them and who thus manipulate (corrupt or distort) religion are also innovators in religion. Their deeds too are rejected and are on no account accepted.

Innovation (in religion) is that which does not have a basis in and which cannot be reconciled with the Qur’an or Sunnah and which has no application in the Muslim community. Here, however, it is used to mean the fabrications put forward in religion without an authoritative source. Rendering inactive the Qur’an and Sunnah or neglecting them breeds innovation and gives rise to their fostering and thriving. In that case, the sole way of preventing innovations in religion is to spread the culture of the Qur’an and Sunnah and to prepare the grounds for these to become a way of life. That being the case, how must innovations be understood?

According to Imam Shafi’i, innovation is of two kinds:

“Anything that contravenes the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the learned consensus, and the way of the Companions is a deviatory and evil innovation; those things and good practices that do not contradict these are good innovations.”

This is the reason behind the use of the terms bid’a hasana (good innovation) and bid’a sayyi’a (evil innovation). Shafi’i substantiates this with the words of Umar who responded to a group of Companions performing the Tarawih Prayer particular to Ramadan in the congregation, remarking, “What a good innovation this is!”

2. The Messenger of Allah said the following in relation to good and evil innovation:

“Whoever introduces a good practice that is followed after him, will have the reward for that and the equivalent of their reward, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. Whoever introduces an evil practice that is followed after him, will bear the burden of sin for that and the equivalent of their burden of sin, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.” Sahih Muslim, Zakah, 69. See also: Sunan an- Nasa’i, Zakah, 64.

The Companions undertook a great many things that were not in question during the time of the Prophet and reached a unanimous consensus regarding their acceptance and legitimacy. The Qur’an’s being compiled into book form during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and duplicated and distributed to various regions during the caliphate of Uthman are the most known examples in this regard. Efforts in later periods to record, in full, texts of Arabic grammar, the religiously obligatory, accounts, Qur’anic commentary, and hadith constitute further such examples. Even if these are to be termed innovations, they cannot be said to be wrong, as this is precisely how knowledge was preserved, spread and transferred to succeeding generations. This needs to be considered thus with respect to our time and mass media organs, modern printing and publication houses, the Internet, and military and social developments. Those who do not keep pace with such advancements would have no chance of survival in such a world.

The sources of Islamic jurisprudence are clearly defined

The Qur’an: The leading source in Islamic jurisprudence. The religion of Islam is learned first and foremost from the Qur’an. “The best among you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.”

The Sunnah: The words and actions of the Prophet. Constitutes the second primary source in Islamic jurisprudence. The Sunnah is applied in the absence of clear injunctions in the Qur’an. In the same way that the Prophet has instructed adherence to his Sunnah, he has also enjoined adherence to the practice of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs as well as his Companions. Such innovations as the supererogatory Prayer during Ramadan performed in the congregation during the caliphate of Umar and the establishment of the Call to Prayer inside the mosque for the Friday Prayer during Uthman’s caliphate, constitute the practice of the Companions and must be followed.

Ijma al-Umma (Consensus of Scholars): Ijma is the term employed to refer to the consensus of Muslim jurists on a theological matter in a given era. The consensus of scholars on a matter is a source of legislation in Islam and is appealed to when a matter is not found in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. For instance, the Tarawih Prayer performed in congregation during Umar’s caliphate.

Qiyas al-Fuqaha (Analytical Reasoning of the Scholars): The term qiyas literally means measuring two things with each other and drawing comparisons between them. Umar is known to have advised Abu Musa al-Ash’ari to “Identify similar and analogous cases, carefully examine their causes, and then use qiyas (analytical deduction).”

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED

This hadith constitutes one of the cornerstones of Islam.

That which does not abrogate or contradict the Qur’an and Sunnah is accepted (The compilation of the Qur’an in book form, the commemoration of the Noble Birth, and the like).

Innovation (bid’a) is categorized into good (hasana) and evil (sayyi’a) innovation.

Muslim scholars have considered an innovation in five parts: necessary (wajib), recommended (mandub), permitted (mubah), unlawful (haram), and disliked (makruh). The discovery of weapons of warfare and the readying of forces suitable for the conditions of the time is necessary. Establishing universities and institutes and publishing scholarly works, spreading knowledge, teaching it to others, building schools and the like are recommended and accepted. Eating and drinking of the lawful are permissible, while the unlawful and disliked have been clearly defined and determined in Islam.

Both the one who sets an evil precedent (in evil innovation) and the one who follows in their path are equally wrongdoers.

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 110

The meaning of Tasawwuf

Part 5

Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional ‘ulama. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih, rigorously authenticated hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

“Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowledge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding” (Fath al-Bari, 1.194, hadith 100).

The process described by the hadith is not yet completed but has certainly begun, and in our times, the lack of traditional scholars—whether in Islamic law, in hadith, in tafsir ‘Qur'anic exegesis’—has given rise to an understanding of the religion that is far from scholarly, and sometimes far from the truth. For example, in the course of my own studies in Islamic law, my first impression from orientalist and Muslim-reformer literature was that the Imams of the madhhabs or ‘schools of jurisprudence’ had brought a set of rules from completely outside the Islamic tradition and somehow imposed them upon the Muslims. But when I sat with traditional scholars in the Middle East and asked them about the details, I came away with a different point of view, having learned the bases for deriving the law from the Qur'an and sunna.

And similarly, with Tasawwuf—which is the word I will use tonight for the English Sufism, since our context is traditional Islam—quite a different picture emerged from talking with scholars of Tasawwuf than what I had been exposed to in the West. My talk tonight, In Sha’ Allah, will present knowledge taken from the Qur'an and sahih hadith, and from actual teachers of Tasawwuf in Syria and Jordan, in view of the need for all of us to get beyond clichés, the need for factual information from Islamic sources, the need to answer such questions as Where did Tasawwuf come from? What role does it play in the din or religion of Islam? and most importantly, What is the command of Allah about it?

As for the origin of the term Tasawwuf, like many other Islamic disciplines, its name was not known to the first generation of Muslims. The historian Ibn Khaldun notes in his Muqaddima:

This knowledge is a branch of the sciences of Sacred Law that originated within the Umma. From the first, the way of such people had also been considered the path of truth and guidance by the early Muslim community and its notables, of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), those who were taught by them, and those who came after them.

It basically consists of dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah Most High, disregard for the finery and ornament of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, wealth, and prestige sought by most men, and retiring from others to worship alone. This was the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims, but when involvement in this-worldly things became widespread from the second Islamic century onwards and people became absorbed in worldliness, those devoted to worship came to be called Sufiyya or People of Tasawwuf (Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima [N.d. Reprint. Mecca: Dar al-Baz, 1397/1978], 467).

In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the content of Tasawwuf, “total dedication to Allah Most High,” was, “the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims.” So if the word did not exist in the earliest times, we should not forget that this is also the case with many other Islamic disciplines, such as tafsir, ‘Qur'anic exegesis,’ or ‘ilm al-jarh wa ta‘dil, ‘the science of the positive and negative factors that affect hadith narrators acceptability,’ or ‘ilm al-tawhid, the science of belief in Islamic tenets of faith,’ all of which proved to be of the utmost importance to the correct preservation and transmission of the religion.

[questionsonislam]

-Is the incident of Ghadir Khumm, which is the opinion that the Shia put forward as the greatest evidence (for the Caliphate of Ali), mentioned in the sources of the Ahl as- Sunnah?

- I have read your articles regarding the issue on the site. However, the incident is narrated according to Shiite sources there. And a work called Asbab an-Nuzul written by Wahidi is given. As a matter of fact, I think, Tabari states that there is a weakness in the chain of narrators of the narration describing this event.

- Is the Wahidi a source of Ahl as-Sunnah or Shiite?

- Is this aforementioned incident narrated in the sources of Ahl as- Sunnah or not? There are hadiths about it as we read in the article you have given on the site; they are sound hadith sources, Tirmidhi, Muslim, etc. For example, the hadith, ‘If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too.’

- So, should we say this: There is no sound support of this incident in the sources of Ahl as-Sunnah, but what the Shiites say there is also mentioned in our hadiths as they claim?

- (Of course, they use the word caliph but we say mawla, which is a difference.) Maybe the reason why I ask this question is this: I watched videos from Sunni imams on the internet; some of them state that this incident did not take place or it did not take place as they claim; others state that it took place but what our Prophet meant was different.

(Note: I read what was written about the issue on the site. However, since this question occupies my mind, I felt the need to ask you.)

- Wahidi is a source of Ahl as-Sunnah.

- “If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too.” This hadith is also included in Sunni hadith sources. (see Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 19; Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 11; Ahmad b. Hanbal, 1/84, 118,119, 4/281; Hakim, 3/109; Nasai, Khasaisu Ali, 1/102, 113)

-Besides, Dhahabi, one of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah and a famous hadith authority, said “mutawatir” for the text of the hadith. (see Dhahabi, Siyaru Alamin-Nubala, 8/335)

- Another hadith authority is Ibn Hajar.

Ishaq said: Abu Amr reported me from Kathir b. Ziyad, and he from Muhammad b. Umar, and he from his father Umar b. Ali, and he from Ali b. Abu Talib the following:

The Messenger of Allah held my hand in Ghadir Khumm and said: ‘Do you testify that Allah is your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes, Messenger of Allah!’ This time, he said: ‘Do you testify that Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to you than your own selves, and that Allah and His Messenger are your awliya (saints)?’ They said: ‘Yes, O Messenger of Allah.’ Thereupon he said:

‘If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too. And I entrust you two things; as long as you hold on to them, you will never go astray: The Book of Allah and my Ehl al-Bayt.’” (see Ibn Hajar, al-Matalibul-Aliya, 16/142/h. no : 3943)

Ibn Hajar states that the chain of narrators of this hadith is “sahih (sound)”. (see ibid)

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, who is also a great Sunni scholar also states that this hadith in “Ghadir Khumm” is sound and that there are several hadith expressions praising Ali (ra):

“The reason the Hadiths praising ‘Ali more than the other three Caliphs have become so widespread is that the people of truth, that is, the Sunnis, spread many narrations about him in response to the Umayyads and Kharijites attacking and disparaging him unjustly.

The other Rightly-Guided Caliphs were not subject to such criticism and detraction, so no need was felt to spread Hadiths about them.

Furthermore, the Prophet (UWBP) saw with the eye of prophethood the grievous events and internal strife to which ‘Ali would be exposed in the future, and in order to save him from despair and his community from thinking unfavorably of him, he consoled him and guided his community with significant Hadiths like “Whosever master I am, ‘Ali too is his master.” (see Lem'alar, p. 23)

- It means that the hadith in question and the Ghadir Khumm sermon are true. However, the concept of “mawla” mentioned in the hadith does not mean caliph according to Sunnis.

The summary of the issue is as follows:

“The Sainthood Shi‘a have no right to criticize the Sunnis, for the Sunnis have not decried ‘Ali, indeed, they love him sincerely. But they avoid the excessive love which is described as dangerous in Hadiths. The Prophet’s (UWBP) praise of ‘Ali’s followers in the Hadiths refers to the Sunnis. For it is the Sunnis among ‘Ali’s followers who love him in a moderate fashion and are the people of truth. Just as excessive love of Jesus (Upon whom be peace) is dangerous for Christians, so it has been made clear in sound Hadiths that that sort of excessive love for ‘Ali is dangerous. (see Lem’alar, p. 24)

[ibnfauzee]

Patumtum | Kapiligruhan sin Self Study

In mga sila Salafus Shaleeh nakauna biyah kan Imam Bukhari (Rahimahullah) dayin ha hula Bukhara (Uzbekistan), iban hi Imam Muslim dayin ha hula Khurasan (Iran), in sila dayin ha hula malayu pagpanuntutan ìlmu ha jaman nila (Madina, Makkah, Kufa Basra) ha jamqn yadtu. Tiyawag in Hadith nila As-Shahihayn (Two Authentic Hadith) sabab sin dih nila hisulat in Hadith diyungug nila atawa dih nila hipasampay hasahinggah wala nila nara nagharap in piyangawaan nila sin hadith. Bimahna urulun nila in puunan sin kabtangan (silsilatul Hadith) sambil umabut pa puunan niya amuna in Rasul (ﷺ). Bang nila kakitaan in tao taga hadith, hatihun nila pa in status sin usug yaun bang siya halawum pamikil marayaw (الضبط), atawa kapangandulan (العدالة), iban haunu nila kiyawa. Bihadtu sila kahalli kumawa sin ìlmo.

Arapun ha jaman bihaun nausu in pagpost pangadjian sibuh da nangadjih iban wala. Pagshare post sibuh da ìlmiyya iban bukun. Way paglilay sin kasabunnalan atawa fitna. Allahul mustaàn.

Bukun katan pagkakitaan natuh ha social media amuna in kasabunnalan, hankan ayaw kaw mag-us us magbissara hasahingga wala mo nahalulay iban way naabut sin ìlmu mo, sabab bang kaw nagkabtangan ha wala mo kiyapangadjian tartantu mataud in kasaan mu dayin ha kimuddan.

Dayin ha muqaddima sin kabtangan hi Shikh Ibn Bazz (Rahimahullah) ha tungud pagpangadjih isa isa niya:

"أن من كان شيخه كتابه فخطؤه أكثر من صوابه، هذه هي العبارة التي نعرفها، وهذا صحيح: أن من لم يدرس على أهل العلم ولم يأخذ عنهم ولا عرف الطرق التي سلكوها في طلب العلم، فإنه يخطئ كثيرا، ويلتبس عليه الحق بالباطل لعدم معرفته بالأدلة الشرعية والأحوال المرعية التي درج عليها أهل العلم وحققوها وعملوا بها."

"Bunnal tuud hisiyu in kaawunan sin Shiekh (pangawaan ìlmu) niya tub ha pagbassa sin kitab niya, na in mali niya mataud dayin ha kimugdan. Amu ini in ibarah amuin kaingatan natuh. In ini shahih: hisiyu in dih mangadjih ha mga sila tagapanghati iban dih kumawah ìlmu kanila iban dih makaingat sin unu in labayan amuin lalabayan ha pagpanuntut ìlmu, in siya mataud kasaan niya, iban katabunan niya in kasabunnalan sin kabahtalan ha sabab sin way pangingat-sabut niya ha pagpaamu sim dalil shar'iyah, iban si kahalan sin pagda sin hula, amuin piyarihala siya sin mga ahlul ìlm, iban kapatut niya iban (biyahdiin) pagtatbik kaniya."

Amu ini in kadilikadu sin ìlmu tubtub "self study" ha wayroon background niya ha parkala "Makasidus Shari-àh", tartantu in katan kakitaan niya ha FB/social media sibuh da nalilay iban wala, makadjari na sadja kanya.

Patumtum: Ya kaw taymanghud ko, bang in pagpasaplag mu sin information/ìlmu bukun kaw sure, tumtuma mataud in kadilikaduhan niya dayin sin karayawan niya. Ayaw mu na hipasaplag sabab in tiyap-tiyap kabtangan mo yan sibuh da bunnal iban bukun tanggung jawab mu ha adlaw qiyama."

"Ayaw kaw mara sin linkat sin kabtangan minsan pa nagdalil, sabab bukun katan nagdalil imamu ha piyagdalilan niya."

-Ibn Fauzee Tarroza-

[nuktaguidance]

By Maulana Muhammad Noman مقدمہ صحیح بخاری

By Maulana Muhammad Noman مقدمہ صحیح بخاری

مقدمہ صحیح بخاری Muqaddima Sahih Bukhari By Maulana Muhammad Noman    

[zamonaviycom]

King\'s man 3: Muqaddima / Kingsman 3: Ibtido Uzbek tilida 2022 O\'zbekcha tarjima film Full HD skachat

Kingsman bu juda ham josus tashkilot bo'lib, insoniyat manfaati yo'lida ishlaydi. Tashkilot tarixidagi birinchi va eng iste'dodli operativchilardan biri Oksford gersogining yosh va takabbur o'g'li Konraddir. Ko'p do'stlari singari, u Angliya farov... Читать дальше »

[aboutanancientenquiry]

Ibn Khaldun, “the last Greek historian”?

“IBN KHALDUN: THE LAST GREEK AND THE FIRST ANNALISTE HISTORIAN 

Published online by Cambridge University Press:   09 August 2006

Stephen Frederic Dale

Extract

Despite the attention that scholars have lavished on Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima, the historiographical significance of that remarkable work is still not well understood. Scholars continue to discuss the Muqaddima largely within the context of Islamic historiography, even though most of them regard it as an anomaly that differs fundamentally from the works of other Muslim historians. In certain respects, the Muqaddima belongs to an Islamic historical tradition, that of al-Tabari and al-Masעudi. Yet, its dominant intellectual lineage is the rationalist thought that stretches from the Peripatetic philosophers, and especially from Aristotle (384–322 BCE), through such Greco–Islamic thinkers as al-Farabi (870–950 CE), Ibn Sina (980–1037 CE), and Ibn Rushd (1126–1198 CE) onward to European philosophical historians and sociologists of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It is precisely because Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406 CE) used the logical apparatus and materialist assumptions of this rationalist tradition as the conceptual basis for his new historical science that he can be characterized as the last Greek historian. He can be considered the first Annaliste historian because the same Greek philosophical heritage influenced both the sociologist Émile Durkheim, who wrote his Latin dissertation on Montesquieu (1689–1755 CE), and also Durkheim's student, Marc Bloch, the cofounder of the Annales School. This heritage is also visible in an attenuated form in Fernand Braudel's distinction between the longue durée and the history of events. Indeed, Ibn Khaldun developed what modern scholars would identify as a structuralist methodology, using classical logic to identify enduring socioeconomic realities underlying cultural phenomena and ephemeral events, what he describes as the “general conditions of regions, races and periods that constitute the historian's foundation.”

  Type     ARTICLES    

 Information     International Journal of Middle East Studies

Volume 3, Issue 3 , August 2006 , pp. 431 - 451

 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743806412423″

Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/ibn-khaldun-the-last-greek-and-the-first-annaliste-historian/5DD2C7B67F8961C574BBEF06B5AE207E

Manuscript of the Muqqadimah (Prolegomena) of Ibn Khaldun with autograph of the author

Stephen Frederic Dale, also known as Stephen F. Dale, is a historian and academic, Emeritus Professor at the Ohio State University, known for his studies on eastern Islamic world (southern and central Asia)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Dale.

Very interesting point of view, although without any doubt provocatively formulated. Should we see Ibn Khaldun as the last rerpresentative of the Greek historiographical tradition initiated by Herodotus? The truth is that the author is stressing the influence on Ibn Khaldun not of the Greek historians, but of the Greek philosophers. My objection is that, despite all his originality and innovation as historian and sociologist, Ibn Khaldun is theologically conservative, he rejects the falsafa (the Muslim philosophy of Greek -Aristotelian and Neoplatonic- tradition) and, if he shows some respect for the major Muslim philosopher Ibn Sina (Avicenna), he is very harsh and unjust towards al-Farabi, Ibn Sina’s great predecessor and perhaps the founder of the falsafa movement. But of course this philosophical conservatism of Ibn Khaldun does not exclude the -very real- possibility of an indirect Greek influence on his historical and sociological work.

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 91

Nutrition in Classical Islamic Medical Sources

Malnutrition is not the result of only insufficient food. It can also result from too much of the wrong food and from too much of even the right food. Obesity caused by over-eating is injurious to human health.

Obesity is harmful to infants as well as adults. Obesity during infancy may, in later life, cause such diseases as arteriosclerosis and the other ailments which often accompany it. Arteriosclerosis in adults is a factor in high blood pressure or hypertension, and in certain diseases of the heart eyes and kidneys. Obesity can also lead to diabetes.

There is a good deal in classical Islamic sources on the subjects of over-eating and obesity. The Qur’anic verses. Eat and drink but not to excess (7.32), and Do not cast yourselves into destruction by your own hands (2.195), may be mentioned (besides their other meanings) as Divine warnings against transgressing the limits in eating and drinking and doing harm to ourselves because of carelessness. All ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Wafid said. God put all medicine into half of one verse [of the Qur’an] when He said: Eat and drink but not to excess.’ The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, also drew attention to obesity and over-eating. For example, as recorded by al-Haythami, on seeing a fat man, he said: If you did not have a paunch, it would be better for you. He also said: Overeating does not go with good health. The criterion established by Islam, and reiterated by the Prophet, is: The middle way [avoiding extremes] is the best in every affair.

Among other sayings of the Prophet which warn against the dangers of overeating and obesity are:

Avoid filling the stomach with food and drink. Overeating exhausts the body and causes illnesses. Follow a middle way in eating and drinking as this improves the body. God does not love fat bodies.

The son of Adam [i.e. man] fills no container worse than his stomach. Let him have just a few mouthfuls to strengthen the limbs.

One third of the stomach is for food, one third for drink, and one third for air.1

The following saying uttered in relation to the spiritual harm caused by over-eating, can also be read in relation to heart diseases arising from overeating:

Do not kill your hearts by eating and drinking too much. For the heart is like a sown field: over-irrigation causes the seed to rot.2

‘Ali, the fourth Caliph, said:

Having suet is a disease. He also said: Fullness causes heart spasms.3

‘Umar, the second Caliph, said: Avoid getting a pot-belly, for it spoils the body, causes diseases, and makes doing the prayer tiring. And avoid all excess, for God hates a learned man who is fat.4

Harith ibn Khalada, the physician of the Arabs, was once asked: What is the best medicine? He replied: ‘Necessity- that is, hunger.’ When asked what the disease was, he said:

‘The entry of food upon food.’

lbn Sina, the renowned Muslim physician and philosopher, said: ‘Never have a meal until the one before it has been digested.’ He also advised against excessive salt and fatty meat. His list of food for dieting mostly included vegetables. The prescription is much the same today.

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, also drew attention to obesity and over-eating. For example, as recorded by al-Haythami, on seeing a fat man, he said: If you did not have a paunch, it would be better for you. He also said: Overeating does not go with good health. The criterion established by Islam, and reiterated by the Prophet, is: The middle way [avoiding extremes] is the best in every affair.

The Prophet declared:

Avoid filling the stomach with food and drink. Overeating exhausts the body and causes illnesses. Follow a middle way in eating and drinking as this improves the body. God does not love fat bodies. The son of Adam [i.e. man] fills no container worse than his stomach. Let him have just a few mouthfuls to strengthen the limbs. One third of the stomach is for food, one third for drink, and one third for air.1 The following saying uttered in relation to the spiritual harm caused by over-eating, can also be read in relation to heart diseases arising from overeating: Do not kill your hearts by eating and drinking too much. For the heart is like a sown field: over-irrigation causes the seed to rot.

Contrary to some popular superstitions, fat babies are not healthy babies. On the contrary, over-eating is also harmful for children. Children fed on starchy foods without the necessary amount of vitamin D are susceptible to rickets (rachitism). Ibn Sina advised the same nine centuries ago: ‘Avoid giving babies too much food. Over-nutrition of babies causes their urine to be light-coloured’. The fact that a baby goes on suckling does not always mean that the baby is hungry; sometimes suckling is just a reflex action. Dark-coloured urine in babies indicates undernutrition; while a light colour is symptomatic of overnutrition.

Ibn Sina was of the opinion that over-feeding provokes eclampsia (convulsions) in babies. Anther Muslim physician, Abu Bakr al-Razi, also pointed to this link. He said that some infantile convulsions can abate after proper regular nutrition. lbn Sina and al-Razi may have been referring to the kind of eclampsia caused by rickets emerging as a result of obesity: in the syndromes named after Frohlich and Martin-Albright obesity is accompanied by eclampsia.

Ibn Khaldun, a Muslim sociologist and historian famous for his Muqaddima, also mentioned that over-eating causes many diseases. He said: ‘Know that hunger is better for health than eating too much. Even if we cannot remain hungry, eating less is good. Eating less is better for the development of body and mind.’5

Other Muslim physicians such as Haji Pasha and Hafiz Hasan Effendi also wrote that giving babies too much milk was harmful for their health. It is now a well-established fact that feeding babies too much milk causes obesity.

Advice on eating and drinking

There are many sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessing, on medicine. They encompass a great variety of subjects including eating and drinking and the mention of certain kinds of food particularly useful for health. In later centuries Muslim scholars collected these sayings, usually under the title of Tibb al-Nabawi. The collections of lbn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti and Abu Nu’aym are among the most famous.

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d.1505), one of the greatest scholars of the Muslim Middle Ages, recommended eating cold foods in summer and hot ones in winter. Hot food should be preferred with cold, sweet with sour, fat with salt and acid with fat. Variety of foods excites the constitution; it is best to eat with relish and enjoyment. Having the same food several times one after the other and eating hurriedly causes loss of appetite and laziness. Eating a second meal without fully digesting the first is harmful. Al-Suyuti also wrote that one should avoid food and drink that has been left uncovered. The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, commanded this: Cover your containers and stop up the mouths of your water bottles.

The Prophet disapproved eating food while it is too hot. He never used to blow on his food or drink, or breathe into a container. He also forbade eating lying down.

Taking a walk after eating a meal or doing the prayer is beneficial, specially for the digestive process. The Prophet said: Digest your food with the Name of God and with doing a prayer. And do not go to sleep immediately after eating as this will make you constipated.

The hands should be washed alter as well as before eating. One whose stomach is over-stuffed with food cannot think clearly or wisely. The less a man eats, the less he drinks; and the less he drinks, the less he sleeps; and the less he sleeps, the better he will be in old age. The body of a man over-filled food will be badly nourished, his self will be in a bad state, and his heart will grow hard. Therefore one should avoid too much food as it poisons the heart and slows down the limbs of the body in fulfilling one’s responsibilities toward God. One should also avoid drinking very cold water, for it is harmful to the respiratory system, specially after a hot meal, or after sweet food, or after a hot bath.

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, forbade drinking water at a single gulp. Anas ibn Malik transmitted the tradition that the Prophet used to drink with three pauses and, at each pause, remove his mouth from the container.

Healthy exercise

Moderate exercise is a most effective means of preserving good health. It warms the organs, helps dissolution of waste products, and makes the body light and active. The best time for exercise which does not over-tire the body or make it red. When sweating begins, exercise should be stopped. The type of exercise which increases sweating is not ‘moderate’ but ‘heavy’.

The body’s organs are strengthened and made more vigorous by regular exercise. The same applies to the inner faculties. One who wishes, for example, to improve his memory will improve it by memorizing. There is a specific exercise proper to every organ.

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, advised a form of exercise which is good for our bodies and our hearts when he said: Travel, for you will grow healthy. He also said: Fasting brings health.

Sleep

According to al-Suyuti, the best time to go to sleep is after food has been digested. Over-sleeping is bad for the health; and sleeping face down is forbidden. Sleeping during the hour following sunrise and before sunset is bad for one: it may lead to ailments and indolence. However, a short sleep in the middle of the day is useful for the health and helps one to rise for prayer during the night.

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessing, used to sleep on his side, facing the qibla (the Ka’ba in Makka). And it is better o go to sleep in a state of wudu.

[guiaalislam]

ISLAM 101: El Profeta Muhammad (PB): La Parte 13

¿Qué es un hadiz? ¿Qué diferencia hay entre un verso coránico (ayah) y un hadiz?

Un verso significa una frase cuyo principio y final son obvios en el Corán. Cada verso del Corán es un milagro. Cada verso es una evidencia de la honestidad del Profeta que lo transmitió y una lección ejemplar para aquellos que piensan, contemplan y meditan. Cada verso es “algo extraño” porque es un milagro y tiene un valor incomparable. Los hadices son las palabras y actos del Profeta. Su conjunto constituye la Sunnah, que recoge sus cualidades morales y humanas expresadas en palabras o escritos. En este sentido, el “hadiz” es sinónimo de la “Sunnah”. La palabra “hadiz” comenzó a ser usada como nombre general para las noticias sobre el Profeta en el curso del tiempo. El Mensajero de Al-lah no sólo transmitió la revelación que él recibió de Al-lah a la gente sino que también la explicó y la puso en práctica durante su propia vida, siendo un ejemplo concreto para sus seguidores. De este modo, él fue llamado también el Corán viviente. Los sabios islámicos generalmente consideran que los hadices vinculados a los temas religiosos fueron revelados al Profeta por Al-lah y muestran el siguiente verso como prueba: “No habla por propio impulso. No es sino una revelación que se ha hecho”. (5:3-4). Además, ellos dicen que la palabra “hikmah” (sabiduría) mencionada en el siguiente verso significa “sunnah”: “Al-lah ha agraciado a los creyentes al enviarles un Enviado salido de ellos, que les recita Sus aleyas, les purifica y les enseña la Escritura y la Sabiduría. Antes, estaban evidentemente extraviados.” (3:164) En realidad, algunas narracciones transmitidas por el Profeta y sus Compañeros recogen esta verdad. Se ha transmitido que el Mensajero de Al-lah dijo: “Me fue dado el Libro y lo que es similar a él (la Sunnah)” (Abu Daud, Sunan, II, 505). Hassan Ibn Atiyya realizó la siguiente explicación sobre este tema: “Yibril trajo y enseñó la Sunnah al Mensajero de Al-lah del mismo modo que trajo y enseñó el Corán”. (Ibn Abdilbarr, Jamiu'l Bayani'l-ilm, II, 191). Como se desprende estos versos y hadices, el Corán y la Sunnah son lo mismo en términos de ser revelaciones hechas al Mensajero (PB) por Al-lah. Sin embargo, el Corán difiere de los hadices porque es imposible producir algo como él en términos de significado y palabras. El Corán está conservado en un escrito impreso en la Tabla Preservada (Lauh al Mafuz) y ni Yibril ni el Profeta puede efectuar cambios en él. El hadiz no fue revelado como palabras, así que no es milagroso, como lo son las palabras del Corán. Es permisible transmitirlo, pero sólo con su significado, mientras que éste no sea cambiado. Como fuente del fiqh basada en la revelación, los hadices, en términos de comparación con el Corán y de los decretos que traen, pueden ser clasificados de este modo: 1. Algunos hadices confirman los mandatos que el Corán ha traído. Por ejemplo, los hadices que prohíben la desobediencia a los padres, prestar falso testimonio y cometer suicidio. 2. Algunos hadices explican y complementan los mandatos que el Corán ha traído. La realización de las oraciones, el hacer el hayy y el dar zakat están ordenados en el Corán, pero éste no explica cómo deberían ser realizados. Nosotros aprendemos a llevar a cabo estas obligaciones mediante los hadices. 3. Algunos hadices imponen mandatos sobre temas que el Corán no menciona. Los hadices que prohíben comer la carne de asnos domésticos y aves rapaces y que establecen decretos sobre los diyahs (compensación por sangre) etc son ejemplos que muestran que ellos pueden ser una fuente legislativa independiente. Lo que hemos declarado hasta ahora muestra el lugar del hadiz (Sunnah) en la religión del Islam. El hecho de que es necesario dar importancia a la Sunnah del Profeta, como fuente que viene inmediatamente después del Corán, y actuar en concordancia con ella está ordenado por expresiones claras de Al-lah y Su Mensajero Muhammad (PB). Los siguientes versos con respecto a este tema están presentes en el Corán: “Di: “Si amáis a Al-lah ,¡seguidme! Alá os amará y os perdonará vuestros pecados”. (3:31) “Di: "¡Obedeced a Al-lah y al Enviado!" Si vuelven la espalda,... Alá no ama a los que rechazan la fe”. (3:32) “¡Y obedeced a Al-lah y al Enviado!; Quizás, así, se os tenga piedad”. (3:132)

“Si el Enviado os da algo, aceptadlo. Y, si os prohíbe algo, absteneos”. (59:7)

Como se ve en estos versos, la obedicencia al Mensajero de Al-lah (PB) es mencionada junto con la obediencia a Al-lah. Se declara claramente incluso que la obediencia al Profeta (PB) significa la obediencia a Al-lah. En un hadiz, el Mensajero de Al-lah dijo: “Conoce muy bien que se me ha dado el Corán y lo que es similar a él (la Sunnah). Llegará el tiempo en que un hombre tumbado en su sofá diga: Conservad el Corán y lo que en él se declare como permitido, consideradlo permitido, y lo que en él se declare prohibido, tratadlo como prohibido. Indudablemente, lo que el Mensajero de Al-lah declara haram es algo que Al-lah ha hecho haram”. (Abu Daud Sunnah, 5; Ibn Mayah, Muqaddima, 2; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, IV,131)

[apenitentialprayer]

Conceptions of Race in Arabo-Islamic Society

What role did color play in these judgments about ‘Africa’? Islamic traditions offered three different ways of conceptualizing that matter. The first drew on the seven aqalim. ‘Climates’ could be used not only to define latitudinal regions on a map and to account for skin color, as we have seen, but also, with much influ-ence from Greek moral thought, to explain physical appearance, temperament, customs, and government. The temperate zones, which included the Maghreb, Syria, and Spain among other places, were the best. The kinky-haired Blacks in the hot first zone and the pasty white Slavs and Germanic peoples in the cold seventh zone were the worst. [...] Variation could occur within zones, especially as people lived closer to the temperate range; and change was possible, too, as shown in the emergence of, say, the Mali dynasty. But farther south, “there was no civilization in a proper sense.” Using standard images going back centuries in Arabic literature, Ibn Khaldun described these peoples as living more like animals than humans, dwelling unsocially in caves and thickets, eating uncooked food, and even eating each other. A second tradition either discounted all differences of appearance or status among peoples in the name of the supreme value of piety, or else gave positive appreciation to traits found among the Blacks [‘Blacks’ isn’t as pejorative in Arabic as it is in English]. The Qur’an told of God’s welcome to all ‘tongues and hues’ (30:22). Allah was concerned not about attributes of belonging but about devotion [...] ‘God enjoins you to look after the people with black skin and with kinky hair,’ the Prophet had said in an oft-cited hadith, ‘for among them are your parents and relatives’ - ‘parents,’ that is, because Hagar, mother of Isma‘il and ancestor of the Prophet, was among them, and ‘relatives’ because the Messenger of God had an Egyptian concubine. Another version concluded, ‘for among them are three lords of the people of Paradise,’ that is, the black sage Luqman and two notable Ethiopians who had given early assent to Islam. A tenth-century Andalusian scholar extended the inversion of status much further: ‘God has decreed that the most devout is the noblest, even if he be the bastard of a Negro woman.” Meanwhile even earlier al-Jahiz, whose writings on animals and table manners we have already heard about, had turned the world upside down against the pretensions of some Persians in his witty Boasts of the Blacks over the Whites. of the Zanj people of eastern Africa, the stereotypical ugly and uncivilized Blacks in al-Mas‘udi and others, al-Jahiz said, ‘There is no people on earth whom generosity is so universally well-developed.’ He praised their talent for dancing and added singing and especially eloquent language to their achievements. They were strong and courageous, and their good nature temper was not a consequence of hot lightness but ‘a sign of noble character.’ The third tradition available emerged from the first-hand reports given to geographers and historians by Muslim visitors to the sub-Saharan regions and from travelers, like Ibn Battuta, who wrote their own accounts. Though this literature presented the Sudan in part through the filters of low/high, it also gave varied details on appearances, behaviors, institutions, activities, which were often indifferent to or at variance with these hierarchical categories. For example, Ibn Khaldun’s historical description of the kingdom of Mali under the rule of Mansa Musa, ‘an upright man and a great king,’ was totally at odds with the light-headed excitability of the Blacks of the first climate alleged in the Muqaddima. His fresh and detailed picture was taken from conversations with people who had been on the spot - a faqih, a qadi, a warrior - whom he named.

- Natalie Zemon Davis (Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds, page 143-145)

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: ETHICS: Part 2

How can we have good thoughts about people?

When a righteous believer evaluates people and incidents, he interprets them in a good way and thinks of good things. Having good intentions and good thoughts is an indication of the inner beauty and goodness of a person. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following:

"There are three things because of which hatred does not enter the heart of a Muslim: Sincerity in doing an action for the sake of Allah; having good thoughts about all Muslims and giving them advice; being in unity with Muslims in thought and deeds." (Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 1 8)

It is among the essential duties of Muslims to wish goodness for people and to lead them to goodness. The Prophet (pbuh) received allegiance from people "on condition that they will have good intentions toward all Muslims..." to attract attention to this fact. (Bukhari, Iman, 42). However, what should not be forgotten here is the Prophet’s word "all Muslims". It is the duty of a Muslim to wish good things for all Muslims without any exception and to have good thoughts about them.

A Muslim must be mature and perfect in his deeds and attitudes toward unbelievers and polytheists in terms of making their hearts feel warm toward Islam; his heart should not love them and their bad traits.  

One of the attributes of righteous Muslims is not to have bad thoughts about people. The following is stated in the Quran:

"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin." (al-Hujurat, 49/12)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following about having bad thoughts (suspicions) about people and telling lies about them:

"Avoid suspicion because it is the worst lie." (Bukhari)

Thus, he described zann (suspicion/having bad thoughts about others) as the worst lie. A truthful Muslim will not utter words resembling lies.

Muslims should decide about people based on appearance. He should keep away from suspicion, doubt, gossip, delusion, and slander. Trying to find secret things about people, intervening in others’ private affairs and talking badly about their honor is not among the ethical characteristics of a Muslim. A Muslim acts based on what he sees. He says what he has seen. He does not make a judgment based on suspicion and his ideas. Umar b. Khattab stated as follows:  

"People decreed based on revelation during the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Revelation has ended now. We will decree based on your deeds that we see. We will protect those who do good things and allow them to approach us. We are not interested in what they conceal. Allah will call them to account for what they conceal. We will not rely on those who do bad deeds and will not approve of them even if they say that their hearts are clean." 

Therefore, a conscious and pious Muslim will never forget the following verse when he speaks and makes a judgment:

"And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)." (al-Isra, 17/36)

A Muslim will not speak against others. For, he believes that every word he speaks is recorded by an angel:

"Behold, two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his doings) learn (and noted them), one sitting on the right and one on the left. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready (to note it)." (Qaf, 50/17, 18)

A Muslim who is conscious of those orders is afraid of the responsibility of every word he utters. Therefore, we see him uttering every word carefully. For, he knows that a word he utters can elevate him to the rank of the consent of Allah or lower him to the lowest layer of Hell. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states the following regarding the issue:

"A slave of Allah may utter a word which pleases Allah without giving it much importance, and because of that Allah will raise him to degrees of reward: a slave of Allah may utter a word carelessly which displeases Allah without thinking of its gravity and because of that Allah will record a penalty for him up to the Day of Judgment." (Bukhari, Riqaq, 23; Muslim, Zuhd, 49, 50)

A pious Muslim who has a clean heart will not heed the illogical words of others and what he hears from the gossips, rumors and doubtful words; he will not report to others what he hears before checking its trueness. On the contrary, he knows that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) regards reporting whatever one hears to others without finding out that they are true as haram. He acts based on the following principle: "It is enough as a sin for a person to report to others whatever he hears."

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 110

The meaning of Tasawwuf

Part 5

Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional ‘ulama. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih, rigorously authenticated hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

"Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowledge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding" (Fath al-Bari, 1.194, hadith 100).

The process described by the hadith is not yet completed but has certainly begun, and in our times, the lack of traditional scholars—whether in Islamic law, in hadith, in tafsir ‘Qur'anic exegesis’—has given rise to an understanding of the religion that is far from scholarly, and sometimes far from the truth. For example, in the course of my own studies in Islamic law, my first impression from orientalist and Muslim-reformer literature was that the Imams of the madhhabs or ‘schools of jurisprudence’ had brought a set of rules from completely outside the Islamic tradition and somehow imposed them upon the Muslims. But when I sat with traditional scholars in the Middle East and asked them about the details, I came away with a different point of view, having learned the bases for deriving the law from the Qur'an and sunna.

And similarly, with Tasawwuf—which is the word I will use tonight for the English Sufism, since our context is traditional Islam—quite a different picture emerged from talking with scholars of Tasawwuf than what I had been exposed to in the West. My talk tonight, In Sha’ Allah, will present knowledge taken from the Qur'an and sahih hadith, and from actual teachers of Tasawwuf in Syria and Jordan, in view of the need for all of us to get beyond clichés, the need for factual information from Islamic sources, the need to answer such questions as Where did Tasawwuf come from? What role does it play in the din or religion of Islam? and most importantly, What is the command of Allah about it?

As for the origin of the term Tasawwuf, like many other Islamic disciplines, its name was not known to the first generation of Muslims. The historian Ibn Khaldun notes in his Muqaddima:

This knowledge is a branch of the sciences of Sacred Law that originated within the Umma. From the first, the way of such people had also been considered the path of truth and guidance by the early Muslim community and its notables, of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), those who were taught by them, and those who came after them.

It basically consists of dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah Most High, disregard for the finery and ornament of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, wealth, and prestige sought by most men, and retiring from others to worship alone. This was the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims, but when involvement in this-worldly things became widespread from the second Islamic century onwards and people became absorbed in worldliness, those devoted to worship came to be called Sufiyya or People of Tasawwuf (Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima [N.d. Reprint. Mecca: Dar al-Baz, 1397/1978], 467).

In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the content of Tasawwuf, "total dedication to Allah Most High," was, "the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims." So if the word did not exist in the earliest times, we should not forget that this is also the case with many other Islamic disciplines, such as tafsir, ‘Qur'anic exegesis,’ or ‘ilm al-jarh wa ta‘dil, ‘the science of the positive and negative factors that affect hadith narrators acceptability,’ or ‘ilm al-tawhid, the science of belief in Islamic tenets of faith,’ all of which proved to be of the utmost importance to the correct preservation and transmission of the religion.

[questionsonislam]

Will you give information about Ghadir Khumm incident?

Ghadir Khumm is the name of a place between Makkah and Madinah, near Juhfa. (Mu'jamul-Buldan, VI, 268). It is a boggy place about 2-3 miles away from Juhfa; the bog is surrounded by a dense wood. The most important issue related to the emergence of Shia is the incident of Ghadir Khumm.

According to Shiite resources, it was determined in Ghadir Khumm that Ali (ra) had the most rights to be the caliph. When we look at the books of Shia scholars, it is possible to find the following information in the part related to Ghadir:

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stopped in Ghadir Khumm while returning from Hajj. He gathered the groups before they returned to their towns and addressed them. The reason he gathered them was to announce them the following verse, which was sent down there:

“O Messenger! Proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission: And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith.” (al-Maida, 5/67)

According to Shiite writers, this verse was sent down about Ali (ra). The only thing to be proclaimed by the verse was the caliphate of Ali (ra). The Prophet concealed certain things from his wife Hz. Aisha and hence God Almighty warned him. (Wahidi, Asbab an-Nuzul,115; Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 20; Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, II; H. Nisaburi, al-Mustadrak, III,109; Kulayni, al-Kafi, II, 72)

After conveying this verse in Ghadir, the Prophet said,

“Jibril brought me the following order from my Lord: Ali b. Abi Talib is my brother, guardian and caliph; he is the imam after me. O people! Allah appointed him as the guardian and imam for you. Anyone who opposes him will be cursed and anyone who respects him will be shown mercy. Listen and obey! Allah is your mawla and Ali is your imam. The imamate will continue until Doomsday from his progeny.” (Wahidi, Asbab an-Nuzul, 115).

According to Shiite, the Messenger of Allah also declared the following there:

1) He stated that he left two heavy things (thaqalayn) to Muslims. One of them is the book of Allah; one side of it is in the hand of Allah and the other side is in the hand of Muslims. The second is the Sunnah of the Prophet.

2) He lifted Ali's hand and said, “Ali is the mawla of a person whom I am a mawla of.”

3) The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) prayed as follows: “O Allah! Help those who help Ali! Be an enemy of a person who is an enemy of Ali!”

4) He also said, “O Allah! Turn the truth toward Ali from the place where it turns!”

Ahl as-Sunnah evaluates the narrations that are put forward by Shiite scholars above and that are included in the issue of Ghadir Khumm as follows:

According to the claim of Shiite, the number of the sincere Muslims after the death of the Prophet is no more than ten. However, more than one hundred thousand Companions listened to the sermon in Ghadir. The meaning of this claim is as follows: “More than one hundred Companions did not keep their promise and collaborated to deprive Hz. Ali of the caliphate.” This alliance is impossible to happen logically. What can be the use and benefit of it?

On the other hand, the sermon of Ghadir Khumm was delivered on Dhulhijjah 18, in the tenth year of the Migration while the Prophet was returning from Farewell Hajj.

The verse “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion” (al-Maida, 5/3)

was sent down on Dhulhijjah 9, the day of Arafah of the same year. Is it possible for this verse to have been sent down before verse 67 of the chapter of al-Maida, which orders Hz. Muhammad to proclaim his prophethood and whose translation was given above? The verse stating that the religion was completed was sent down and it was announced to more than one hundred thousand hajjis. The great majority of the Islamic scholars determined that verse 67 of the chapter of al-Maida was sent down before the Conquest of Makkah and the Battle of Khaybar. (Said Ismail, Haqiqatul-Khilaf Bayna Ulamaish-Shia wa Jumhuri Ulamail-Muslimin, Carbondale 1983, 25, 26)

There are some writers who deny the incident of Ghadir Khumm and there are also some Sunni scholars who do not deny it but who do not express it clearly. There are praises about Ali (ra) in their writings but there is no statement about the appointment of Ali (ra) as the caliph.

Nasai includes this incident in his book about the virtues of Ali b. Abi Talib. In this narration reported from Zayd b. Arqam, the hadith of “Ghadir” and the hadith of “Thaqalayn” are combined and it is stated that both of them were uttered on the day of Ghadir. Ibn Majah includes the hadith about Ghadir in his Sunan but he does not mention where it was uttered. (Nasai, Khasais,16; Ibn Majah, Sunan, Muqaddima, II)

The hadith of Ghadir reported by Zayd b. Arqam (D. 66/689) is as follows

Once, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) delivered a sermon to us in a watery place called Khumm between Makkah and Madinah. In this sermon, he first praised Allah and gave us some advice. He mentioned Allah and addressed us as follows:

“O people! Know that I am only a human being and the messenger of my Lord, Azrael, will soon come to me. I will respond to his call. I am leaving behind two weighty things (thaqalayn) among you. The first of the two is the Book of Allah. In it is guidance and light. So, get hold of the Book of Allah and adhere to it.” Thus, he encouraged us to read the book of Allah and advised it to us. Then, he continued as follows:

“The second is my Ahl al-Bayt (family). I urge you to remember Allah regarding my Ahl al-Bayt.” He repeated the last sentence three times. (Nasai, Khasais, 15; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II,114, IV, 367; Darimi, Fadailul-Quran,1).

Ibn Kathir mentions almost all narrations of the khadith of Khumm and points out the reliable and weak narrators. (Ibn Kathir, as-Siratun-Nabawiyya, IV, 414)

After Zayd b. Arqam reported the hadith above, he was asked, “Who is included in Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet? Are his wives regarded among Ahl al-Bayt?” Zayd said, “The wives of the Prophet are also from Ahl al-Bayt but his real Ahl al-Bayt are those for whom it is haram to accept sadaqah after him.” He listed them as follows: “The family of Ali, the family of Aqil, the families of Ja'far and Abbas.” (Muslim, Fadailus-Sahaba, 36)

Ibn Taymiyya states the following regarding the narrations of Ghadir Khumm:

“Let alone being mutawatir, this fabricated incident has no sound chain of narrators. Was it not necessary for at least one Companion to mention this incident on the day of Saqifa, when Umar died, when the consultation committee of six people was established and on the days when the caliphate of Ali was discussed after the martyrdom of Hz. Uthman? As it is seen, it is one of the fabrications of Rafidis.” (Ibn Taymiyya, Minhajus-Sunnah, IV, 118)

Goldziher, the orientalist, writes the following regarding the issue:

“Therefore, Ali adherents were concerned with inventing and authorizing traditions which prove Ali's installation by the direct order of the Prophet. The most widely-known tradition (the authority of which is not denied even by orthodox authorities though they deprive it of its intention by a different interpretation) is the tradition of Khumm, which came into being for this purpose and is one of the firmest foundations of the theses of the Ali party.” (Goldziher, Muslim Studies)

That the hadith of Ghadir, put forward as the evidence for the claim that Ali (ra) was worthy of the caliphate more than the others, was not reported even by only one narrator during the period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs brings about serious doubts about its existence. It is understood that Shiite invented a reason for the emergence of this hadith, which they later spread as the hadith of Ghadir. Even Ali himself did not mention such a narration when it was needed very much. For instance, during the illness of the Prophet, when Ali b. Abi Talib came out after visiting the Messenger of Allah, people asked him, “O Abu Hasan! How is the Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Alhamdulillah, he is fine.” The narrator said, “Thereupon, Abbas held Ali by the hand and said, ‘By Allah, within three days, you will be a slave. By Allah, I think that the Messenger of Allah will die from his present ailment, for I know the signs of death on the faces of the Sons of Abdulmuttalib. So, let us go to the Messenger of Allah and ask him whether the caliphate belongs to us or not. If it belongs to us, we will know it; and if it is not, tell him to recommend us.’ Ali (ra) said, “By Allah, I cannot do it. If we ask the Prophet for it and if he refuses, people will never give it to us.” (Bukhari, Isti'dhan, 29)

If it had been announced that Ali (ra) would be the imam/caliph after the Prophet in Ghadir Khumm and if Muslims had been ordered to obey it as Shiite claim, all of the Companions including Abbas (ra) would have known this will, which is claimed to have been announced in front of more than one hundred thousand Companions. On the other hand, the conversation between Ali (ra) and Abbas (ra) mentioned above would have been meaningless. However, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) delivered a sermon in Ghadir as it is included in the resources of Ahl as-Sunnah. Some statements about Hz. Ali were uttered there and the Prophet asked Muslims to treat Ahl al-Bayt well. However, Sunni scholars interpret the statement “If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too” more differently from Shiite. Ibn Qutayba states the following regarding the issue: “The Prophet is the mawla of all Muslims. Walayah is both between the Prophet and the believers and also among Muslims. The relationship of the Prophet with Hz. Ali is like that. ‘The Believers, men and women, are protectors (awliya) one of another.’ (at-Tawba, 9/71) There is no difference between the words wali (singular form of awliya) and mawla. This does not give Ali (ra) a privilege.” There are many verses regarding the issue (at-Tahrim, 66/4 at-Tawba, 9/71; al-Baqara, 2/257; Yunus, 10/62).

The Prophet (pbuh) said similar things for great Companions like Abu Bakr (ra) and Umar (ra). He said the following for Abu Ubayda b. al-Jarrah (ra): “He is the trustworthy one (amin) of this ummah.” According to the view accepted by Ahl as-Sunnah, it is fard for Muslims to love Ali (ra) as it is fard to love the Prophet (pbuh); it is haram to be an enemy of Ali as it is haram to be an enemy of the Prophet. This is also in compatible with the view of Ahl al-Bayt. (Abdulaziz Dahlawi, Mukhtasaru Tuhfatil-Ithna Ashariyya, 161)

[blog59-world]

Fatiha Tahar A lire et faire suivre : Réponse à Macron. Le Général à la retraite, GUETTAF Mohamed Abdennacer. D'UNE RIVE A L'AUTRE : LES CAHIERS DE L’HISTOIRE DÉNIÉE Monsieur le Président de cette si grande nation, scrute bien l’horizon lointain de l’histoire, remue les tréfonds des siècles, tu y verras sur son cheval barbe, à l’heure où les gaulois craignaient que le ciel ne leur tombe sur la tête, un chef de guerre ganté dans son armure de fer et le glaive à la main, envahir Carthage avec ses milliers de centurions berbères ; il n’est point un général romain, c’est Massinissa, le roi des numides ; scrute encore, fronce davantage les sourcils, tu verras dans sa cage de lion un autre roi numide, Jugurtha, préférant mourir enchainé à l’infamie de se rendre à Rome ; après lui, tu seras ébloui par la noblesse de Juba II, cet autre roi numide, savant, auguste et juste, qui régna sur la Numidie, avec son épouse la reine Cléopâtre Sélénée, fille de la non moins auguste et noble Cléopâtre d’Egypte ; et si un jour, le destin te ramène du coté de Cherchell la Césarée, fais visiter à madame, son majestueux mausolée royal encore debout, témoin de cette histoire séculaire que tu dénies, mausolée dénommé le tombeau de la chrétienne, parce qu’elle a cru en la chrétienté avant toi, parce que Jésus était prophète en cette terre avant son frère Mohamed ; revois tes cahiers d’écolier, tu y verras que Saint Augustin dispensait aux hommes du côté d’Hippone, les enseignements du Christ ; et si tu lorgnes du côté de la Méditerranée à la fin de votre ténébreux moyen âge, tu verras Barberousse, Raïs Hamidou et leurs corsaires, mener triomphalement au milieu des flammes, des vagues déferlantes et du grondement des canons, la bataille navale ; plus à l’ouest, tu entreverras Tarik Bnou Ziad, yatagan à la main, débarquer en Andalousie. Si tu fais une virée du côté de Bejaia, tu y rencontreras Léonard de Vinci venu s’abreuver des mathématiques, et si tu es chanceux, tu y croiseras Ibn Khaldoun méditant sa célèbre Muqaddima.

[arcticdementor]

The reality is that America lost its war in Afghanistan more than a decade ago, roughly around the time when CIA officers began bribing aging warlords with Viagra. The Americans knew all about the young boys the tribal leaders kept in their camps; because the sex drug helped Afghan elders rape more boys more often, they were beholden to America’s clandestine service. Losing Afghanistan then is the least of it. When you choose to adopt a foreign cohort’s cultural habits, customs for which the elders of your own tribe would ostracize and perhaps kill you, you have lost your civilization.

Yet military strategists, political pundits, foreign correspondents, and even historians will spend the next several decades wondering how a gang of rough Pashtun tribesmen galvanized by a fundamentalist version of Islam managed to defeat the most advanced military in the world. And that’s precisely the point: The problem with the American establishment is not simply that after 20 years in Afghanistan it did not understand the country or foresee what its opponents were likely to do after withdrawing forces. More importantly, our ruling class is so alienated from its own roots that it no longer understands the character of the country it purports to lead, and what makes it different, even exceptional. The evidence is that our elites sought to graft the effects of a civilization built by and for its own people—democracy, a military and police force, girls’ schools, etc.—onto a primitive society that had to be bribed to accept what we were offering.

…

The medieval Arab historian Ibn Khaldun explains the dynamic in his 14th-century masterwork, Al Muqaddima. History, he shows, is a repetition of the same pattern seen throughout the ages—a group of nomadic tribesmen overturn an existing sedentary culture, a civilization that has become weak and luxurious. What drives the success of the rising tribe is its group solidarity, or assabiya. Its awareness of itself as a coherent people with a drive for primacy is frequently augmented by religious ideology. The stronger the tribe’s assabiya, the stronger the group. Assimilating the conquered by imposing its will and worldview on them, the victor lays the foundations of a new civilization. But since, as Ibn Khaldun writes, “the goal of civilization is sedentary culture and luxury,” all groups carry the seeds of their own demise.

And so the struggle begins anew.

…

Ibn Khaldun showed that every ruling establishment, what he called “royal authority,” will eventually bring the house down on its own head. The luxury and corruption that are the inevitable consequences of civilization replace the stern ways that forged the tribe’s assabiya. And setting out to destroy group solidarity intentionally raises the stakes considerably for the ruling power.

For our elite, the fall began during the tail end of the Bill Clinton presidency when Democratic Party strategists augured that they’d soon have a permanent hold on power thanks to urban intellectuals, young single women, racial and ethnic majorities, and the LGBT community. What is described as a coalition is in fact a mélange of clients with varying and sometimes opposing interests that can only be held together by stoking a communal hatred of the national majority—the white middle class.

It was hardly a coincidence that this demographic was the source of the wealth that the establishment was busy transferring to themselves and abroad, through initiatives like the North American Free Trade Agreement. The elites rationalized their impoverishment of the white middle class by claiming that they were dying anyway. And when the American heartland didn’t die off quickly enough, the establishment credentialed themselves as progressives by calling the people who live there racists. Being racists, they deserved all the bad things the elite had decided for them. Thus, by betting on sectarianism as the path to permanent power, American elites polarized the United States.

The elite institutions that weren’t already part of the left establishment, like entertainment, the academy, the media, and the foreign policy and national security bureaucracy, were co-opted through party initiatives—as, for instance, the Beltway think tank Center for a New American Security vetted the rising ranks of U.S. military officers.

Owning all the institutions is a sign of great power and demoralizes opponents. So it was hardly surprising that much of the Republican establishment attached itself to the rising elite and reshaped its policies to fit. Take George W. Bush for instance: After 9/11 he invaded two Muslim countries for revenge and deterrence, but in time he changed the mission to promoting Middle East democracy, a pet theory of pro-Palestinian academics. When Sen. Mitt Romney marched with Black Lives Matter, and Gen. Mark Milley advocated for critical race theory, they were simply demonstrating that they had adopted the manners and belief system of the dominant power. The only problem with owning all the institutions and compelling obedience from all the elites is that there is no one left to warn you when you’re courting trouble.

The elites upended the common wisdom of American politics, which held that the trick to winning elections is to capture the large center of the country and ignore the extremes on both sides. But because the new creed held that polarization was the key to holding permanent power, the policies became ever more eccentric. Thus the Democratic Party disciplined the sectarian mob by making sure it backed all of its initiatives without question. Further, it kept the coalition coherent by focusing its rage on the internal enemy, which identified itself anytime it questioned those initiatives. Here were the racists again, raising their ugly voices against progress.

…

Seen from this perspective, it becomes clear that the Biden administration’s new national security priorities have been a long time in the making. The absurd claim that the country’s chief threats are “domestic terrorism” and “white nationalism” or anyone who opposes COVID lockdowns or questions the integrity of the 2020 election is the culmination of a project the Democrats embarked on 25 years ago: The white middle class is the enemy. And they are much larger than the nearly 75 million Americans who didn’t vote for Joe Biden—they include anyone who fears having their businesses closed again or doesn’t want to be forced to take a vaccine. And as we have seen, many of them are neither white nor middle class.

…

Of course institutions like the press and intelligence bureaucracies would enlist in the project to split the country. The party owns them. And so there is no one left to question the wisdom of breaking with the more than 150-year-old compact that is the political and cultural foundation of America’s post-Civil War peace—racial equality. And there are no institutional elites left to ask whether it’s a good idea to purge the combat ranks of the U.S. military by targeting “white supremacism.” America’s all-volunteer military is 43% minority, but the majority of its combat units are made up of white males. So why purge them? To make America vulnerable to foreign adversaries? Maybe the elites are more fearful of the domestic cohort still armed with a powerful group solidarity—i.e., patriotism—and most likely to defend what the elites are determined to destroy.

It’s frightening to see American leadership pulling America apart at the seams. And it’s shocking to see our constitutional order ripped to shreds as the establishment undercuts property rights, imposes capricious public health regulations, mandates experimental medical treatments, and holds political prisoners. But the lesson of Ibn Khaldun is that these destructive policies are simply indications that a cycle that has been repeated through the ages is once again in motion. To watch history erupt in our own timeline is indeed terrifying, but it is part of the natural order of human societies.