Adherence to the Words of Allah and His Messenger (4/5)

Furthermore, it is reported by Abu Tha'labah' [1] from the Prophet (Peace be upon him): "Indeed Allah decrees certain obligations, so do not neglect them; stipulates certain limits, so do not go beyond them; and makes sacred ordinances, so do not violate them. However, Allah is silent about certain things as a mercy for you, but He does not forget, so do not go searching for them."

Allah, the Exalted, also says: "Say: I find not in what is revealed to me any [meat]

prohibited to be eaten by anyone except that of the dead animal [maytah] . . ." (Surah Al-An'am, 6:145).

What is not specified here is not negated by prohibition. Consequently, what is not spoken about as prohibited is excused. Permission needs to be through the words [of Allah]; thus he says in the Surah Al Ma'idah, Chapter of The Table, which was revealed thereafter: "They ask you [Oh Muhammad] what is lawful for them [as food]. Say: lawful to you [are all] things good and pure; and what you have taught your trained hunting animals [to catch] in the manner directed to you by Allah. Eat what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of Allah over it; and fear Allah, for Allah is swift in taking account." (Surah Al-Ma’idah, 5:4). And He says: "This day [all] good things are made lawful for you. The food of the people of the Book is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them . . ." (Surah Al-Ma’idah, 5:5). So on the day of the revelation of these verses, the good things to eat became permissible for them. Before that, nothing was prohibited.

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) prohibited eating the meat of predatory animals with canine teeth, and of birds with claws. This is not invalidation of the Book. It is not simply because the Book did not specifically permit this but because it is silent about prohibiting it. So the start of the prohibition is also the start of its legislation. For this reason, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said it in a hadith that is reported in different versions. One of the versions is the hadith reported by Abu Rafi’,[2] Abu Tha'labah, Abu Hurayrah, and others. The Prophet said: "I could see one of you sitting with pride on his comfortable chair receiving my commands concerning what is prohibited and what is allowed." Then he continued: "The Qur'an stands as [a judge] between us. Whatever we find in it is permissible, we accept it; and whatever we find in it is prohibited, we forbid it. Indeed I am the one who received the Book, along with it, and the like of it [wisdom]."

In another version of this hadith the Prophet said: "Indeed it [wisdom] is like the Qur'an and even provides more details, indeed I prohibit [eating] the flesh of predatory animals with canine teeth." The Prophet made it clear that Allah revealed to him a different kind of revelation. It is the Hikmah, the Wisdom, which is different from the Book. Allah revealed to him [the Prophet] what is prohibited through this revelation, and the Prophet informed the people of this prohibition. This is not an abrogation of the Book since the Book did not permit this to begin with, but only made the good things permissible to eat. The prohibited [items] are not considered among the good things to eat. Allah says: "Oh, you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you . . ." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:172). The connotation of this verse is not in the realm of an absolute sense; however Allah does not make the good things permissible or prohibited. It is simply left in the domain of the ‘afw, excuse. As for the unbelievers, Allah does not allow, permit, prohibit, or even excuse anything for them to eat or not to eat. He says: "Oh, you people! Eat from what is lawful and good on earth . . ." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2: 168).

The only condition is that they eat lawful food — that which is permitted by Allah and His Messenger. Allah gives permission regarding eating only to the believers; thus He does not give them permission unless they believe. Consequently, their possessions do not belong to them legally. To own something legally one must have the ability and permission of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), and he did not grant them the permission to deal freely with their possessions. This permission comes only under one condition: Iman. Thus, their possessions can be claimed by anybody. Consequently, when a group conquers another group by force, it is legal in their religion to claim their possessions and take them from them. The new owners then have the same claim on the possessions. On the other hand, if the Muslims claim the property and capture it by force, it becomes legally theirs because Allah makes the spoils permissible for them and not others. They also allow their captives to be bought from each other because this falls in the category of claiming permissible things.

Thus, Allah calls what is claimed of their possessions by the Muslims fay’, booty, because He grants booty to those who deserve it (i.e. He returns it to the believers who worship Him and seek His sustenance through worship). Allah creates creatures in order to worship Him and creates this sustenance for them to help them to worship Him. In addition to fay', the word ghanimah may also be used to mean booty. As the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said with regard to the battle of Hunayn: "For me only one-fifth of the booty that Allah gave you, and even the one-fifth, will be returned to you." Allah says: "What Allah has bestowed on His Messenger from them for this you made no expedition with any horses or riding camels . . ." (Surah Al-Hashr, 59:6). The word fay', as understood by the religious scholars, means: what has been taken from the property of the unbelievers without 'Ijaf, engaging, horses or riding camels. The word 'ljaf is used in the sense of making some kind of movement.

However, if a believer does what is lawful because he is in need of doing it, as well as not wanting to commit evil, he will be rewarded for it. This is illustrated in the Prophet's saying: "Allah will reward you for your sexual practice with your wives." When his Companions heard this they asked with astonishment: "Are we even rewarded for fulfilling our sexual desires?" "Yes," replied the Prophet. "Do you not know that if you engaged in sex illegally, you would be punished for it? Therefore, you will be rewarded if you engage in it legally" (recorded by Muslim). Similar to this is the saying of Ibn ‘Umar from the Prophet (Peace be upon him): "Allah loves for the acts He has made lawful to be practiced and hates to be disobeyed" (recorded by Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal], Ibn Khuzaymah[3] in his Sahih, and others). The Prophet said that Allah loves His decisions to be carried out. For permissible acts are made lawful in order to help the believers in the worship of Allah. Thus, Allah loves the acts He permits to be practiced, for a generous one likes his charity to be accepted. As the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said [about shortening prayer from four to two rak'ahs]: "Allah granted you charity, so accept His charity." For through this charity, His worship and obedience are complete. As for unnecessary words and actions of a person, these are recorded as against, not for him, as indicated in the Prophet's (Peace be upon him) saying: "All the sayings of the son of Adam are recorded against rather than for him, except commanding good or forbidding evil or remembering Allah."

It is reported in the two Sahihs that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) also said: "He who believes in Allah and the Last Day let him either say that which is good, or keep silent."

That is, he commanded the believer either to utter good words or to keep silent.

It follows that to speak good is better than to keep silent, which in turn is better than to speak evil. For Allah says: "Not a word does one utter but there is with him a vigilant guardian" (Surah Qaf, 50: 18).

 (Continued)