In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
I asked one of my teachers as whether to follow Saudi Arabia or local moonsighting which would make Dhu'l-Hijjah 9 to fall a day later locally. He said, "I don't know. SubhanAllah it's a difficult time we live."
There is a proverb in Arabic: “Saying I don't know is half of the knowledge.”
Imam Malik ibn Anas was one of the most respected scholars of fiqh who ever lived. Once a man came to imam Malik from a very far distance and he asked him 40 questions. Imam Malik only answered four of them and for the rest of the 36 questions he replied, “I don't know.” The man was surprised and asked Imam Malik “What should I tell people about these 36 questions for which you said (I don't know)?” Imam Malik replied that the man should tell the people that Malik says: “I don't know,” “I don't know,” “I don't know.” Imam Malik said this 3 times.
Not all questions have an answer. Imam Malik said, “The shield of the scholar is, ‘I don’t know’, so If he leaves it down, his attacker will strike him.”
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked a question about a verse from the Book of Allah and he said in reply,
“Which earth will carry me? Which sky will shade me? If I say about an ayah from the Book of Allah other than what Allah, the Perfect and Most High, intended.” [At-Tabari 1:78]
Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,
“Whoever is given a judgment not based upon knowledge, his sin falls upon the one who gave him the judgment.”
Sulaiman added,
“One who gives advice to his brother while knowing what is better lies elsewhere, he has betrayed him.”
[Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 24, Number 3657]
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al' As: I heard Allah's Apostle saying,
"Allah does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray." [Sahih Bukhari]
SubhanAllah, for so many days people have been talking, debating, asking, watching videos, on this issue of the beginning of Dhu'l-Hijjah and Day of Arafah. And it will be repeated for Eid-Adha, tashriq days, next Ramadhan and Eid-Fitr, and the cycle will continue year after year (it happened before), Allah knows, till when.
We really don't need to spend this inordinate amount of time on this issue. This time could have been spent and better spent in the worship of Allah...do more dhikr, tasbih (Subhanallah), tahmid (Alhamdulillah), takbir (Allahu Akbar), tahlil (Laa ilaha Illallah), istighfar (Astaghfirullah hal adzim), salawat (Allahumma salli ala Muhammad), reciting Qur'an, etc.
Allah makes religion easy for the believers.
وَأَمَّا مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا فَلَهُۥ جَزَآءً ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۖ وَسَنَقُولُ لَهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِنَا يُسْرًا ﴿٨٨[Qur'an, Al-Kahf 18:88]
But as for one who believes and does righteousness, he will have a reward of Paradise, and we will speak to him from our command with ease." (88)
Of course, we do need to do a little bit of homework if we don't know what to do in matters of worship but make sure that the one we are consulting is a reputable scholar.
Just go with that as our guide.
وَٱللَّـهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ﴿٢٥٦ ...[Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:255]
... and Allah is Hearing and Knowing.
May Allah grant us a sound understanding of His religion and accept our worship and deeds. Ameen.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
The cry blood situation in the arab world is the result of this and other proverb prevailed long in the arab world! which in turn leads to arrogance in individual, group , society, country and the entire region for that matter. That's why the arab people in general including kids are misinterprets of the quraan and hadees as they do not want to called as "half", thinks that its a shame not to answer. On top of this society therefore a group was created called the 'ghair muqallid' not associated with any of the 4 school of thoughts in that region, funded by the outsiders, took controls even of harmain and khadimul harmain.
ReplyDelete"I dont know" is possibly the best answer/reply to a question particularly in the religious matters but the problem is high nose would fall to the ground.
You are lucky to have a good highly exceptional teacher.
Allah knows the best!