With the aid of and the
strength given by Allâhu ta’âlâ, who keeps all ’âlams in existence and gives
all the favours and gifts and who never sleeps, now we begin to explain the
blessed saying of our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam).
Our beloved superior
Hadrat ’Umar ibn al-Khattâb (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), who was a gallant leader
of Muslims, one of the highest of the Prophet’s Companions, and was famous for
his truthfulness, said:
“It
was such a day that a few of us, the Companions, were in the presence and
service of Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam).” That day, that
hour was so blessed, so precious a day that one could hardly have the chance to
live it once again. On that day, it fell to his lot to be honoured with being
in the Prophet’s company, near him, and to see his beautiful face, which was
food for spirits and pleasure and comfort to souls. To emphasize the value, the
honour of that day, he said, “It was such a day...” Could there be another time
as honourable and precious as the one at which it fell to his lot to see
Jabrâ’îl (Jibrîl, Archangel Gabriel, ’alaihi ’s-salâm) in the guise of a human
being, to hear his voice and to hear the knowledge men needed as beautifully
and clearly as possible through the blessed mouth of Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam)?
“That hour, a man came
near us like the rising of the moon. His clothes were extremely white and his
hair was very black. Signs of travel, such as dust or perspiration were not
seen on him. None of us, the Companions of the Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam), recognized him, that is, he was not one of the people we had seen or
known before. He sat down in the Presence of Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam). He placed his knees near the Prophet’s blessed knees.” This
person, in the guise of a human figure, was the angel named Jabrâ’îl. Though
his way of sitting seems to be incompatible with manners (âdâb), it showed us a very
important fact that, in learning religious knowledge, there is no such thing as
shyness, nor does pride or arrogance become a master. Hadrat Jabrâ’îl wanted to
show the Prophet’s Companions that everybody should ask what he wanted to know
about Islam freely from teachers without feeling shy, for there should not be
shyness in learning the religion or embarrassment in paying, teaching or
learning one’s debt to Allâhu ta’âlâ.
“That noble person put
his hands on Rasűlullah’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed knees.
He asked Rasűlullah, ‘O Rasűl-Allâh! Tell me what Islam is and how
to be a Muslim.’ ”
The
literal meaning of ‘Islam’ is ‘to yield and submit.’ Rasűlullah
(sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) explained that the word ‘islam’ was the name of the five basic pillars in Islam, as follows:
1. Rasűlullah
(sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi wa sallam) said that the first of the five
fundamentals of Islam was “to say the kalimat ash-shahâda”; that is, one should say, “Ash’hadu an
lâ ilâha illa’llâh wa ash’hadu anna Muhammadan ’abdűhu wa rasűluhű.” In other words, a
discreet person who has reached the age of puberty and who can talk has to say
vocally, “On the earth or in the sky, there is no one but Allâhu ta’âlâ
worthy of worship. The real being to be worshipped is Allâhu ta’âlâ alone. He is the Wâjib al-wujűd.
Every kind of superiority exists in Him. No defect exists in Him. His name is Allah,” and to believe in this
absolutely with all his heart. And also one should say and believe: “The
exalted person who had a rose-pink skin, a white-reddish, bright and lovely
face, black eyes and eye-brows; who had a blessed wide forehead, with a good
temper; who shed no shadow on the ground, was soft-spoken and was called Arab
because he was born in Mecca of Hashemite-descent, named Muhammad ibn
’Abdullah, is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s human slave (’abd) and messenger (rasűl).” The Prophet’s mother was
Hadrat Âmina bint Wahab. He was born in Mekka [at the dawn of Monday, 20th of
April, 571]. When he was forty, in the year called the ‘Bi’that’ year, he was
informed that he was the Prophet. After this, he invited people to Islam for
thirteen years in Mecca. Then he emigrated to Medina on the command of Allâhu
ta’âlâ. There he spread Islam everywhere. Ten years later, he passed away in
Medina on Monday 12, Rabî’ al-Awwal (July, 632).[1]
---------------------------------
[1] According to
historians, the Prophet entered the cave at the Sawr Mountain towards evening
on Thursday, 27 of Safar,
2. The second fundamental
of Islam is “to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in
accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes.” It is fard for every
Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts
and to know that he or she performs it in due time. Performing it before its
time by adapting wrong calendars prepared by ignoramuses or non-madhhabite
people is a grave sin and such a salât is not sahîh. Such calendars also cause
one to perform the initial sunna salât of early afternoon prayer and the fard
salât of evening prayer in a makrűh time. The ritual prayer has to be
performend paying attention to its fards, wâjibs and sunnas, submitting the
heart to Allâhu ta’âlâ and before the due time is over. In the Qur’ân al-kerîm
the ritual prayer is called ‘salât’. Salât means man’s praying, angel’s doing istighfâr,
and Allâhu ta’âlâ’s having compassion and pitying. In Islam, salât means to do
certain actions, to recite certain things as shown in ’ilm al-hâl books. Salât
is started with the words ‘Allâhu akbar,’
called
the ‘takbîr al-iftitâh,’ and said after raising the hands up to the ears
till putting the hands under the navel (for men). It ends with the salâm by
turning the head to the right and left shoulders at the end of the last sitting
posture.
3. The third fundamental
of Islam is “to give the zakât of one’s property.” The literal meaning of
zakât is ‘purity, to praise, and become good and beautiful.’ In Islam, zakât means ‘for a person who
has property of zakât more than he needs and at a certain amount called nisâb to separate a certain
amount of his property and to give it to Muslims named in the Qur’ân al-kerîm without
reproaching them.’ Zakât is given to seven kinds of people. There are four
types of zakât in all of the four madhhabs: the zakât of gold and silver, the
zakât of commercial goods, the zakât of the stock animals [sheep, goats and
cattle] that graze in the fields for more than half a year, and the zakât of
all kinds of substances of necessity issuing from the earth. This fourth type
of zakât, called ’ushr, is given as soon as the crop is harvested. The other three
are given one year after they reach the amount of nisâb.
4. The fourth fundamental
of Islam is “to fast every day of the month of Ramadân.” Fasting is called ‘sawm.’ Sawm means to protect
something against something else. In Islam, sawm means to protect oneself
against three things [during the days] of the month of Ramadân, as they were
commanded by Allâhu ta’âlâ:
eating, drinking and
sexual intercourse. The month of Ramadân begins upon seeing the new moon in the
sky. It may not begin at the time calculated in calendars.
5. The fifth fundamental
of Islam is “for the able person to perform the hajj (pilgrimage) once in his
life.” For
an able person who has money enough to go to and come back from the city of
Mecca besides the property sufficient for the subsistence of his family he
leaves behind until he comes back, it is fard to perform tawâf around the Ka’ba
and to perform waqfa on the plain of ’Arafât, provided that the way will be
safe and the body healthy, once in his lifetime.
“The person, upon hearing
these answers from Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), said, ‘O
Rasűl-Allah! You told the truth.’ ” Hadrat ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anh) said that of the
Prophet’s Companions, the ones who were there were astonished at the behaviour
of this person who asked a question and confirmed that the answer was correct.
One asks with a view to learn what one does not know, but to say, “You told the
truth,” indicates that one already knows it.
The highest of the five
fundamentals listed above is to say the Kalimat ash-shahâda and believe its
meaning. The next highest is to perform salât. Next to this is to fast. Then
comes the pilgrimage. The last one is to give zakât. It is unanimously certain
that kalimat ash-shahâda is the highest. About the sequence of the other four,
most ’ulamâ’ said the same as we said above. Kalimat ash-shahâda became fard
first, in the beginning of Islam. Salât five times a day became fard on the
Mi’râj Night in the twelfth year of Bi’that, a year and some months before the
Hegira. Fasting during Ramadân became fard in the month of Sha’bân, the second
year of the Hegira. Giving zakât became fard in the month of Ramadân, in the
same year when fasting became fard. And pilgrimage became fard in the ninth
year of the Hegira.
If a person denies,
disbelieves, refuses, makes fun of or flouts one of these five fundamentals of
Islam, he becomes a disbeliever, may Allah protect us! Similarly, he who does
not accept any of the things which are unanimously and clearly declared as
halâl (permitted) or harâm (forbidden), or who says halâl for harâm or harâm
for halâl, becomes a disbeliever. If a person denies or dislikes one of the
inevitably known Islamic teachings, that is, teachings that are heard and known
even by the common people living in Muslim countries, he becomes a
disbeliever.[1] If an ordinary person
does not know the teachings that are not so commonly spread or indispensable so
as to be known by him, he is not in disbelief (kufr) but sinful (fisq).
---------------------------------
[1] For example, to eat
pork, to have alcoholic drinks, to gamble; for a woman or girl to show herself
to others with nothing to cover her head, hairs, arms and legs and; for a man
to show himself to others without covering the part between the knees and the
navel, are all harâm. That is, Allâhu ta’âlâ has forbidden these. The four
madhhabs, which explain of the commands and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ, drew
separately the boundary of the private body surface, which man is forbidden to
look at or to display, differently from one another. It is fard for every
Muslim to cover those parts of the body as described by the madhhab he belongs
to. Also, it is harâm for others to look at those who have not covered these
parts of their bodies. It is written in Kimyâ-yi Saâdet that it is harâm for
women and girls to go out without covering their heads, hair, arms, legs, and
it is also harâm to go out with thin, ornamented, tight and perfume scented
dresses. Their mothers, fathers, husbands and brothers who permit them to go
out as such and who think that it is appropriate and who condone them will
share their sins and torments; that is, they will burn in Hell altogether. If
they repent, they will be forgiven and will not be burned. Allâhu ta’âlâ likes
those who repent. In the third year of the Hejira, girls and women who had
reached the age of puberty were ordered not to be seen by nâmahram men, and to
cover themselves.
One
should not be deceived by the false assertions of British spies and of those
ignoramuses who have been trapped by them who say that there was no covering
before the coming of the âyat of hijâb and who say that fiqh scholars have
fabricated the command for covering later.
If a
person professes Islam, he has to know whether something he does is compatible
with the Sharî’at. If he does not know, then he has to learn by asking a
scholar of Ahl as-sunnat or by reading books written by scholars in this
category. If his action violates the Sharî’at, he will not be exempted from the
sin or heresy caused by that action. He has to make tawba daily in the true
sense. When tawba is made, the sin or heresy (caused by that action) will
definitely be forgiven. If he does not make tawba, he will pay for it both in
the world and in Hell. The kinds of punishment (that will be inflicted on him)
are written in various parts of our book.
Parts of the body that men and women are to cover during namâz and elsewhere are
called ‘awrat parts’. If a person says that Islam does not prescribe a certain
part in the name of awrat, he becomes an unbeliever. Some parts of the body are
awrat according to the ijma’ (unanimity, consessu) of all four Madhhabs, (and
these awrat parts vary
with sex). If a person flouts the importance of covering these parts of his (or her) body or of not looking at others' exposed
awrat parts, i.e. if he (or she) does not feel any fear concerning the torment (that will be incrurred by the
violation of this prohibition), he
(or she) becomes a disbeliever. In a man's body, parts between the pelvis and the knees are not awrat in
the Madhhab of Hanbali.
If a person says,
"I am a Muslim," he has to learn Islam's tenets and the actions that are fard (obligatory) and
those that are haram (forbidden)
with the consensus (ijma') of the four Madhhabs, and he has to pay due importance to this matter. Not to
know is not a valid excuse. It is identical
with intentional unbelief. A woman's entire body,
with the exception of her hands and face, is awrat according to all four Madhhabs. So is the case with a woman's
exposing her awrat parts, singing,
or saying (aloud the eulogy called) Mawlid in the presence of men. If a person slightingly exposes a part of his body
which is awrat not with ijma', i.e. which is not awrat in one of the other three Madhhabs, (though it is awrat according
to his own Madhhab and two of the other three Madhhabs,) he will have committed a grave sin though this violation will not
make him an unbeliever. An example
of this is a man's exposing his legs between the pelvis and the knees, (which are, as we have already
said, not awrat in the Hanbalî
though they are awrat in the other three Madhhabs). It is farz to learn the Islamic tenets that you do not
know. As soon as you learn them, you
must make tawba and cover your awrat parts.
Lying, gossip,
backbiting, slander, theft, cheating, treachery, hurting someone's feelings, mischief-making, using someone's property without permission, not paying a laborer's or
porter's due, rebellion, that is, opposing the laws and the government's
orders, and not paying taxes are sins, too.
Committing them against disbelievers or in non-Muslim countries is also harâm.