CHAPTER 5: USOOL-E-FIQAH
People left the Household of the Prophet (a.s.) in favour of others and so the principles of Jurisprudence that were made up by Imam Shafei entered the Shia Sect. Due to their frequent and widespread usage, not only did the original meaning of the term ‘Usool E Fiqh’ got obscured, but is now being used mainly in the same meaning as held by our adversaries. In fact the principles of Jurisprudence of both Sects are the same. What I mean is that, and I have discussed earlier the sources of law as being Qur’an, Traditions, Consensus and Analogy, the replacement of analogy with Evidence of Reason does not alter its meaning in any way, because from the Mujtahids of the earlier period to the ones of today, they all take ‘Evidence of Reason’ to mean analogy anyway. Let me first deal with the Holy Qur’an and Traditions.
As far as the Holy Quran is concerned, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) did not leave it for us on its own but provided its explainers with it, and made it obligatory on all of us to hold on to BOTH of them. This is because the Holy Quran cannot be understood without guidance from the Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.) and the ummah will be need of their explanations till the day of judgement.
The Holy Infallibles (a.s.) have stated that the Holy Quran has seven exoteric meanings and seven esoteric ones. In another tradition the number is seventy, and that only an Infallible is aware of all of these meanings. It therefore means that Traditions have to be depended upon if the Holy Quran is to be understood. I am convinced that there is not a single person among the Shiites, however weak his beliefs may be or his lack of knowledge, will never agree with the statement of the one who said; ‘The Book of Allah (s.w.t.) is sufficient for us’.
It is now clear the Holy Quran cannot be understood at all without the help of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) because Allah (s.w.t.) has state is His Book that ‘We have made our chosen ones to be the inheritors of this Book’. (Not anyone and everyone). Therefore it is the Traditions of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) around which the whole of the religion rotates, and so it would be better, before I move forward, if I were to deal with traditions so that the readers of the Holy Quran can realize what the source of the religion actually is.
IMPORTANCE OF TRADITIONS
The great translator of AL Kafi, Allamah Zafar Hassan has written under the heading KUTUB E ARBA AUR HUM (The Four Books and Us): ‘Since the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has placed the Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.) alongside the Holy Qur’an it therefore becomes obligatory for the Shiites to keep the Traditions of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) in their homes just as they do the Holy Quran. Do you reckon that the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) would be pleased with this action of ours whereby we have kept the traditions sacrificed at the altar of delusion, and never tried to find out what treasures have been exposited to us by the Holy Infallibles (a.s.)?
Allamah Zafar Hassan further states in his introduction to Al Kafi a tradition, which itself forms part of Al Kafi
AL KAFI - H 149, Ch. 17, h11
A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Barqi from certain persons of his people from abu Sa’id al-Khaybari from al-Mufaddal ibn ‘Umar who has said the following: “Abu ‘Abd Allah, recipient of divine supreme covenant, has said, ‘You must write down (Hadith) and spread your knowledge among your brethren. If you die your children will inherit your books. A time will come when people will face chaos and they will find no comfort except in their books.’”
For this purpose the words of Allamah Majlisi in his compilation of Bihar Ul Anwaar are: ‘I have never come across anything, the crux of which is not to be found in traditions’.
He further states that due to the importance of traditions and the teachings of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.), their companions used to pay great importance to their collection and preservation.
AL KAFI - H 169, Ch. 19, h13
Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Isa ibn ‘Ubayd from Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman from Sama‘a ibn Mihran who has said the following: “Once I said to (Imam) abu al-Hassan Musa, recipient of divine supreme covenant, ‘May Allah keep you well, did the Messenger of Allah bring everything that people needed?’ The Imam said, ‘Yes, and all that they will need up to the Day of Judgment.’ I then said, ‘Is anything lost from it?’ The Imam replied, ‘No, it all is with the people to whom they belong.’”
AL KAFI - H 184, Ch. 20, h6
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Faddal from Al-Tha‘laba ibn Maymun from one he narrated from al-Mu‘alla ibn Khunays who has said the following:
“Abu ‘Abd Allah, recipient of divine supreme covenant, has said, ‘For every issue disputed between two people there is a principle for it in the book of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, however, man’s power of intelligence is not able to find it.’”
AL KAFI - H 188, Ch. 20, h10
A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid from ‘Isma’il ibn Mihran from Sayf ibn ‘Amira from abu al-Maghra from Sama‘a from abu al-Hassan Musa, recipient of divine supreme covenant, who has said the following: “Once I asked the Imam, ‘Is everything in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His prophet or do you have a say in it also?’ The Imam replied, ‘As a matter of fact, everything is in the book of Allah and the Sunnah of His prophet, recipient of divine
supreme covenant.’”
وَلَوْ شَاء رَبُّكَ لَجَعَلَ النَّاسَ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلاَ يَزَالُونَ مُخْتَلِفِينَ
[Shakir 11:118] And if your Lord had pleased He would certainly have made people a single nation, and they shall continue to differ.
إِلاَّ مَن رَّحِمَ رَبُّكَ وَلِذَلِكَ خَلَقَهُمْ وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ لأَمْلأنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ
[Shakir 11:119] Except those on whom your Lord has mercy; and for this did He create them; and the word of your Lord is fulfilled: Certainly I will fill hell with the jinn and the men, all together.
AL KAFI - H 1160, Ch. 108, h 83
A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn abu Nasr from Hammad ibn ‘Uthman from abu ‘Ubayda al-Hadhdha’ who has said the following: “Once I asked abu Ja‘far, recipient of divine supreme covenant, about the capability and the words of people. The Imam recited this verse of the Holy Quran: ‘. . they still have different beliefs (11:118) except those upon whom Allah has granted His mercy. For this reason He has created them. . .’ (11:119) ‘O abu ‘Ubayda, people face differences in search for truth and all of them will be destroyed,’ said the Imam. ‘I (the narrator) then asked, “What about the words of Allah: ‘. . except those who receive mercy from your Lord. . .?’” (11:119) ‘The Imam said, “Such people are our followers whom He has created for His mercy. ‘. . For this reason He has created them. . .’” (11:119) ‘[He (Allah) has said that they are created to obey the Imam of ‘Blessings’ that He has mentioned in His words]: “. . My mercy and blessings have encompassed all things. . .” (7:156) [Such ‘Blessing’ is the knowledge of Imam. The knowledge of 'A'immah (Leaders with Divine Authority) is from His knowledge, which has encompassed all things. They (all things) stand for our Shi‘a, followers]. ‘[Then He has said], “. . I shall grant mercy to those who maintain piety [do not acknowledge the authority of and obedience to those who are not of 'A'immah] . .” (7:156)
Imam Ali (a.s.) has said: ‘When a person, comes across a difficult problem he does not understand, he should refer the matter to us. Anyone who praised the Lord for the bounties received, and asked for forgiveness for his sins, befriended obedient servants of the Lord and praised them, and hated the rebellious people and thought them to be bad, this would suffice for his salvation if he were to refer the matter back to us’. (The Book of Suleym Bin Qays Hilali)
Honourable readers, are’nt all these statements of the Holy Infallibles sufficient? I presented seven traditions although only one statement of an Infallible (a.s.) would have been sufficient. Now I have earned the right to state that religion is complete and all matters to the day of judgement are to be found therein. Allah (s.w.t.) did not abandon us with any normal person but made us needy of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) so that the believers can be distinguished from the hypocrites.
Therefore the burden of religious obligations upon us has been restricted to those orders which have come to us from the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) and no more. Any matter for which an instruction has not been received by us from the Holy Infallibles (a.s.), it is not obligatory for us to act upon it. It then follows that we should refrain from acting upon such a matter.
AL KAFI - H 132, Ch. 16, h9
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from Ali ibn al-Nu‘man from ‘Abd Allah ibn Muskan from Dawud ibn Farqad from abu Sa’id al-Zuhri from abu Ja’far, recipient of divine supreme covenant, who has said the following: “Holding back in an uncertain condition is better than indulging in a destructive situation. Your not narrating a Hadith is better than narrating one that you have not verified.”
THE MISCHIEF OF REJECTING AHADEETH
For those who peddle ‘analogy’ as a business, the biggest stumbling block was the Hadeeth of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.). This is because in the face of clear Traditions of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) it was not possible for them to call people towards them and collect their wealth. It therefore became imperative for them to escape from the Traditions.
Two groups came into being as a result of this. One group completely rejected the Hadeeth by claiming that the ‘Book of Allah (s.w.t.) is sufficient for us’. It is another matter that this group actually never claimed to have the knowledge of the Holy Qur’an nor did it ever give any decision based on it. Whatever decisions made were either on the basis of Hadeeth or personal opinions or by consultations. This faction has always been present in every time period and is still present today. This group refers to itself as the ‘Ahl E Qur’an’ (The party of the Qur’an). In Pakistan their group leader was Mullah Pervaiz who used to publish a magazine called ‘Tuloo Islam’.
The other group was one which did not have the courage to openly reject Hadeeth, but did not have any advantage in acting according to Hadeeth either. This group then further sub-divided into two. The first one started to forge false Hadeeth which the later generations then brought their efforts to fruition. This resulted in the springing of factories which churned out Hadeeth as and when required. The Banu Abbas did not lag behind with regard to this. In their time period, a lot of Hadeeth were manufactured in favour of the ‘Uncle’ of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), Abbas and his progeny. (In reality Abbas was not the son of Abd Ul Muttalib but was his slave. It was because he was brought up by him, therefore he became to be known as his son. There are two records of the will of Hazrat Abd Ul Muttalib in which Abbas and his mother have been mentioned as having been given to Abu Talib - The History of Islam by Allamah Muhammad Bashir Ansari).
Even in those dark ages, there was one place from where the true and correct Hadeeth of the Holy Prophet (a.s.) used to be propagated. There were strict orders for these Hadeeth to be preserved in writing and to be passed on till the Day of Judgment. These were the Holy Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.) who, away from the crowd and political upheavals, were propagating the knowledge thus ensuring the survival of the true religion till the Day of Judgment. However, this used to badly affect those who were busy trying to establish their own leadership in matters of religion.
The second sub group which sprang up from this was one which started to make up its own rules in order to make Hadeeth suspect. They named this skill as ‘Ilm Ul Rijaal’ (Knowledge of Narrators). They based the health of the Hadeeth on the person of the narrator. This was the invention of the Sunnis, and the first one to write a book on this was Abu Mansoor.
If you were to take a closer look at the history of the lives of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.), which is spread over a period of approximately three hundred and fifty years, you will realize that there was only one purpose in their life - the preservation of religion and propagation of knowledge. If a careful study of the Islamic books is made, especially books like ‘Superman in Islam’ (This book has been written by twenty five scholars from different parts of the world, two of which are Muslim. In this book they have discussed in detail the different kinds of knowledge that was propagated by Imam Ja’far Al Sadiq (a.s.). It would be beneficial to read this book), then you will come to know that there is no knowledge which was not taught by the Holy Imams (a.s.), from religious knowledge, to that of astronomy, chemistry and medicine. The point to ponder over is, if ‘Usool Fiqh’ (Principles of Jurisprudence) and ‘Ilm Ul Rijaal’ (Knowledge of the narrators) were necessary, they would have certainly taught it to their companions and students. You can peruse the entire Islamic literature and see for yourself, you will not find anywhere the teaching of the Holy Imams (a.s.) on these subjects. Forget about teaching of these subjects, you will not even find it in any of their sayings and statements. This then means that these two subjects have nothing to do with the religion of Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.). These are inventions of the Sunnis which have been introduced into the religion of the Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.) by some people.
ILM UR RIJAL
Let us now look at the methodology of judging the health of a Hadeeth, by the people during the time of the Imam (a.s.).
In his introduction to the translation of Usool e Kafi, the king of theologians, the president of Narrators, Allamah Muhammad Hassan, A Mujtahid, of ‘Dar Ul Uloom’ of Sarghoda, has written : ‘Every ‘News’ (Hadeeth) has two possibilities - either it is a frequently narrated one (Mutawaatir) or it would be a solitary one (Wahid). A Hadeeth which has been related from more than one source in such a way that it cannot be doubted, it would be a Mutawaatir one, otherwise it would have to be classified as a Wahid (solitary)’.
Now, during the time of Imams (a.s.) the people classified these solitary hadeeth into two categories - correct or incorrect. All such hadeeth which could be supported by additional factors, either within it or in other Hadeeth were considered to be correct whereas for those ones which could not be found to be compatible with the Holy Quran, they would consider them to be incorrect.
From this we get the following clarifications:
1.Hadeeth are of two types - Frequently reported ones or solitary ones. (Since the quantity of the frequently reported Hadeeth is so low that they can virtually be counted on our fingers, it follows that most of our religious commands therefore will have to be extracted from the solitary ones).
2.According to the people of the era of the Imam (a.s.) hadeeth were only of two types - correct or incorrect.
3.Because the people of earlier era lived very close to the times of the Imams (a.s.), they had supportive factors in determining the reliability of a Hadeeth.
4.These earlier people used to refer to the Holy Quran in order to ascertain the Hadeeth. That which agreed to it was considered to be correct, whilst the ones which were found to be in contradiction to it were regarded as incorrect.
These were the principles employed by the people of the earlier times in order to ascertain the Hadeeth which coincided with those that were taught by the Imams (a.s.). But the people who lived in the later time period abandoned these principles and started practicing those which the Sunnis had invented before. What I mean is that they used ‘ILM UL RIJAAL’ (Knowledge of narrators), which was an invention of the Sunnis, as the only criteria to determine the strength of a Hadeeth. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) never told anyone to invent their own knowledge in order to understand his (s.a.w.)’s statements.
In order to probe the above, I once again refer to the same introduction to Usool e Kafi and see the types of hadeeth which are given there: -
SAHIH - Where the chain of narrators end at an Infallible (a.s.) and all its narrators are Shia and Just.
HASAN - Where the chain of narrators end at an Infallible (a.s.) and all its narrators are Shia but it is not known whether they were Just.
QAWEE -Where all the narrators are Shia but there is no information available as to their trustworthiness.
MO’THIQ - Where all the narrators are trustworthy but they possess incorrect beliefs.
ZAEEF - Where the above conditions are not met.
As you have seen from above, according to these people the one and only criteria for Hadeeth is to do with their narrators and NOT with its content.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
[Shakir 49:6] O you who believe! if an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you have done.
Allah (s.w.t.) has commanded us in the above verse that if an evil doer comes to you with a report then investigate the report in order to verify it. But what these people have done is to ignore the report and started investigating the reporter. Who his ancestors were and which tribe he belonged to etc.
Or have these people decided that any person who is known to speak the truth will never lie and that a known liar will never ever speak the truth? Or are they saying that we should close our eyes and accept everything that is reported by one who normally speaks the truth and reject everything from one who normally tells lies without considering whether the report has any truth in it or not?
Did you notice that in the categorization of Hadeeth, being a Shia is a pre-condition for it? This means that if we were to depend upon Ilm Ul Rijaal then we would have no option but to reject hundreds of Hadeeth written in Sunni books which are in praise of the Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.).
This is the end result of adopting the principles of other people. Now let us see what the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) have to say about this.
1.The famous Hadeeth of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) states that: ‘If you come across any narration attributed to me and it is in accordance with the Holy Quran the accept it, otherwise fling it at the wall (reject it)’.
2.Imam Ali (a.s.) has said: ‘Do not see who is saying it, rather look at what is being said’.
3.Imam Ali (a.s.) said in Nahj Ul Balagah : ‘Acquire wisdom and truth from whomever you can because even a hypocrite can have them but unless they are passed over to a faithful Muslim and become part of wisdom and truth that he possesses, they have a confused existence in the minds of hypocrites’ - Saying 79.
4.Imam Ali (a.s.) said in Nahj Ul Balagah: ‘Knowledge and wisdom are really the privilege of a faithful Muslim. If you have lost them, get them back even though you may have to get them from the hypocrites - Saying No. 80.
5.“Never reject a hadeeth, regardless of being narrated by a khariji , qudri , or marji attributed to us , may be it has some truth in it which you may not have grasped”
From the above statements of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) you should have realized that instead of checking out the narrations, if these people start checking out the narrators instead, then this is clearly in violation of the statements of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.). Not only are these people acting upon this but they have directed the whole community towards this.
It was because of the fact that the Shiites took Ijtihad from the Sunnis that they used Ilm Ul Rijaal as a weapon with which to declare the Hadeeth of the Infallibles (a.s.) as doubtful. Those Hadeeth which were an obstacle for their Fatwas (verdicts), they declared them to be doubtful and discarded them. Allamah Bakhshashi has quoted the Mujtahid Sheykh Tusi in his book, in uncovering the secrets of the Mujtahids, complaining that these Mujtahids have totally abandoned the Hadeeth and are only depending on their analogies and opinions to issue Fatwas (verdicts). Sheykh Tusi has been quoted as saying : ‘I have been trying for quite some time now to write a book on Jurisprudence in which I should give those principles of Furoo without the use of analogies and personal opinion but base them on the Hadeeth of the Infallibles, but my personal circumstances did not permit me to do so. My enthusiasm was weakened greatly by the attitude of my group of Mujtahids who hardly pay any attention to this’. In this way, in the book Rowzat Ul Jannat, Allamah Khownsari Mujtahid has shown how much Sheykh Murtadha used to believe in the Hadeeth of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.).
‘‘Sheykh Murtadha was a Mujtahid and only used to apply Jurisprudence. He used to have very little concern with the Hadeeth and did not base his decisions on these. This is not hidden from those who read the books of Allamah Murtadha. He is well known for his statements that ‘these Hadeeth are solitary ones and therefore cannot be relied upon to get sure knowledge’. In this his actions were the same as Ibn Idrees’’.
Syed Murtadha Alam Ul Huda is the leader of the Mujtahids, and is the elder brother of Syed Razi who has done a huge favour upon not only the Shiites but the whole Islamic world by compiling Nahj Ul Balagah. It is well know that Syed Razi never used to recite Namaaz behind his elder brother as he was aware of his double faced approach.
Now that a glimpse of true nature of mujtahideen has been presented to you, let us gift you a saying of Imam Baqir and the saying I m quoting from usool-e-kafi, book of eman and kufr;
“In my companion , he is my favorite who is the most intellectual, and looks after our ahadeeth well ; and his case is the worst who hears a hadeeth narrated and attributed to us and finds it not as per his liking, and thus dislikes it and rejects it and declares those who are acting as per that hadeeth disbelievers , despite the fact that he does not know that we have narrated that and given it authentication, just because of this action of his in which he rejects our hadeeh , he is out of our wilayat”
Now that you have seen that these people have been thrown out from Wilayah, meaning Shiaism, by the Imam (a.s.), and this is why the words of the author of Al Risala deserve to be written down in golden letters.
If the Mujtahids can place a thousand conditions before they accept the statements of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.), they why should we not present two thousand pre-conditions before we accept their statements based on their analogies?’
The race to present the Hadeeth to be doubtful began with the inception of Ijtihad, and since then all the Mujtahids have been fighting over each other in order to participate in this ‘good deed’. In this day and age, this plague is at its peak. By way of example I present to you an excerpt from Agha Khomeini’s book ‘Hukumat e Ilsami Ya WIlayat e Faqih’ (Islamic Government Or Mastership Of The Jurist) where he says :
Anyhow, the Imams (a.s.) went through such difficult circumstances that the knowledge that they had taken from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) could not be delivered by them to the people in and unadulterated form, e.g. in the form of a book’.
It may be that after reading the above statement you feel like kissing it and touch your eyes with it. Once you have done this you should read it again and when the statement begins to sink in then ponder over the next statement from the same page of that book.
‘The heaps of praise and honour that has been awarded to the scholars and the Jurist is for the reason that they managed to spread the religious Commands and introduced the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) to the people’.
Four points come out of these statements:
1.The Holy Infallibles (a.s.) failed to convey the Commands of Allah (s.w.t.) and the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), to the people.
2.These Divine Commands did not reach to the people in the form of a book.
3.Despite the Divine Commands not reaching the people, the narrations in the praise of the scholars did reach them. (Please note that the ‘narration’ that has been referred to by him is a solitary one and has been termed as ‘weak’, but he considers it to be reliable. If you wish to praise Agha Khomeini for this then do so but there is no one who will be able to declare a solitary narration as a reliable one as has been explained before in this chapter.
4.Because the Holy Imams (a.s.) (God forbid) failed to convey the religious Commands to the people and so Allah (s.w.t.) placed this responsibility upon the Mujtahids so that they can manufacture these commands by use of their own analogies and give them to the people.
Now what do I say. Any person who even has an inkling of understanding of religion will realize the enormity of the accusation that has been leveled at the Infallible Imams (a.s.). Whatever the reason may have been, the claim is that the Holy Imams (a.s.) (God forbid) failed to perform their duty. The rest of the Prophets (a.s.) however, and including our Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) bore various kind of sufferings, stoning, exiles, falsified, and even killed, but they did not leave any stone unturned in the propagation of their Message. But our Imams (a.s.) were such that (God forbid) did not perform their duties due to fear of their lives and took their knowledge with them when they left this world. This accusation is a challenge to the honourable Shiites, and anyone who wants to accept these accusations as correct should understand that his name will be counted amongst those of the enemies of the Ahl Ul Bayt (a.s.) even if he is Shia by name.
Now let us analyse this acusation and see how much truth there is in it and what the motives are behind this accusation.
When you survey all the religions of this world and especially that of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.), then you will see that what the Shiites have received from their Imams (a.s.) far exceeds that which has been received by all the Imams of the others. As far as knowledge in the book form is concerned, the Book of Suleym Bin Qais Hilali was written at the time of Imam Ali (a.s.) and was available in the form of a book. Imam Ali Ibn Husayn (a.s.)’s book Sahifa E Kamila, which is a treasure chest of knowledge is available even today in book form. Various sermons of the Imam Hasan (a.s.) and Imam Husayn (a.s.) are present with us today. People are also aware that numerous statements of Imam Baqir (a.s.) are to be found in our ‘Four Books’ and others. In the time of Imam Ja’far (a.s.) four hundred books were preserved, four thousand students used to sit with him and they sued to bring their papers and pens to write down what was taught to them and then they used to return back to their localities and propagate that knowledge. Even today there are so many narrations present in the ‘Four Books’ that they exceed the number of narrations to be found in other books. On top of all these there are thousands of other books in which the statements of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) are to be found. So one has to be blind by his eyes as well as heart for one to believe such an accusation that the Holy Imams (a.s.) failed to convey the Divine Commands to us. What kind of atrocity is this that all these narrations have now been declared to be doubtful in order to justify their verdicts based on their analogies. Are they trying to prove that all the Shiite literature is false and therefore unreliable?
And if they are saying that the Holy Imams (a.s.) themselves did not write any books then we are in agreement with this. Allah (s.w.t.)’s Proof (a.s.) do not write and construct their own books. From Adam (a.s.) to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) and from him (s.a.w.) up to the Imam Mahdi (a.s.) not one of them has ever written his own book. I seek refuge from those people who throw accusations at the Proofs (a.s.) of Allah (s.w.t.), the inheritors of the Holy Quran, of not constructing and writing their own books, and also from those people who agree with these accusations. I swear upon Allah (s.w.t.) that the Family of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was oppressed before and still is being oppressed today. Those before usurped their caliphate and these Jurists today are at the doors of their Wilayah and Imamate. Since the Holy Imams (a.s.) (God forbid) failed in their duties to convey the Divine Commands therefore in this fourteenth Century Hijra it has been left to these Mujtahids to perform this ‘good deed’ and succeed in it, and they are the true representatives of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).
I think enough discussion has taken place over this issue for it to suffice for men of understanding. So far I have discussed the first two sources of Ijtihad i.e. the Holy Quran and Hadeeth. Now I shall turn my attention to the other two, Ijma (Consensus) and Qiyas (analogy). But first it would not be out of place to shed some light on one more issue and that is Zan (Conjecture). As you have seen before in the description of Ijtihad that this is ‘the maximum efforts of a jurist to enable him to get the presumption of a Sharia law’ , let us now see what this ‘presumption’ (Conjecture) actually is, and what the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) have said about this.
ZAN
There is a word called ‘Shoba’ (Uncertainty) from which we get ‘Shabeeh’ (Replica). This is used when a duplicate copy is made and it becomes difficult to distinguish between it and the original. The basis of conjecture is the same.
For example, if you were to come across a shiny piece of glass and you think ‘In my view this is a piece of diamond’. Now, this piece of glass will not turn into a diamond simply because of your conjecture regardless of whether you preserve it safely in your jewellery box. In the same way the Mujtahid looks at two similar problems and conjectures that the same Command is applicable to both of them. And so this Zan is just another type of analogy (Qiyas). Now let us see what the Holy Quran and the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) have to say about this. Over here I will only refer to one Divine Verse and two Hadeeth, and I will leave the rest for the discussion on Qiyas (analogy).
وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ أَكْثَرُهُمْ إِلاَّ ظَنًّا إَنَّ الظَّنَّ لاَ يُغْنِي مِنَ الْحَقِّ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللّهَ عَلَيمٌ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ
[Shakir 10:36] And most of them do not follow (anything) but conjecture; surely conjecture will not avail aught against the truth; surely Allah is cognizant of what they do.
Allah (s.w.t.) has stated that in the search for truth, conjecture is of no use. It therefore follows that any commands that are issued based on conjectured cannot possibly have anything to with truth.
AL KAFI - H 123, Ch. 15, h4
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from al-Husayn ibn Sa‘id from al-Nadr ibn Suwayd from Yahya al-Halabi from abu Sa‘id al-Mukari from abu Basir from abu Ja’far, recipient of divine supreme covenant, who has said the following: “Imam abu Ja’far, recipient of divine supreme Covenant, said about the words of Allah in the Holy Quran, ‘The idol worshippers, the idols, the rebellious ones (26:94) and the army of Satan will all be thrown headlong into hell,’ (26:95) has said, ‘They are the people who speak about justice a great deal but in their own practice they disregard it altogether.’”
Imam Baqir (a.s.) said :
“when our narrations are presented to you people , their hearts wish to be at a distance from them because there is no following of presumptions in that , so who accept them , narrate more for them , and who do not , leave them as there is test in it for those so that the truth gets separated from lies and after this separation, we get the result which is we and our shia” - usool-e-kafi , book of hujjat chapter 82, hadeeth 5 (vol. 2, page 360)
From the above verse and Hadeeth a few points come to my mind.
1.Truth can never be obtained by the usage of conjecture. Those that use this method surely cannot be sure about their own beliefs or actions. This kind of person should evaluate his own position.
2.Those who follow conjecture will be flung headlong into Hell.
3.Those who follow conjecture stay away from the Imams (a.s.) only for the reason that there is no conjecture there and that the Imams (a.s.) have excluded them from being Shiites.
Let us now look at one more word called ‘Istambaat’. There is a lot of noise being made about this method in the world of Ijtihad. Basically, as far as the Jurist is concerned it means the statement that the he give based on his own thinking.
وَإِذَا جَاءهُمْ أَمْرٌ مِّنَ الأَمْنِ أَوِ الْخَوْفِ أَذَاعُواْ بِهِ وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَى أُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَوْلاَ فَضْلُ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ لاَتَّبَعْتُمُ الشَّيْطَانَ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً
[Shakir 4:83] And when there comes to them news of security or fear they spread it abroad; and if they had referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, those among them who can search out the knowledge of it would have known it, and were it not for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have certainly followed the Shaitan save a few.
Now look at the commentary of this verse according to the Holy Infallibles (a.s.).
1.In Tafseer Saafi it is reported that Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) has explained that the people of Istambaat here are the Holy Infallibles (a.s.).
2.In Tafseer Ayyashi it is reported that Imam Ali Ridha (a.s.) has explained that over here the people who do Istambaat are the Holy Infallibles as they extract knowledge from the Quran and they are the Proof of Allah (s.w.t.) over the people.
3.In Ikmaal U Deen of Sheykh Saduq, it is narrated from Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) that: Whosoever regarded the people who do Istimbaat to be those who are other that the Prophets (a.s.) and their Households, has gone against the Commands of Allah (s.w.t.), and regarded the ignorant as their commanders (Ul Il Amr), and those devoid of guidance to be their guides, and conjecture that these are the one who do Istambaat. They thus forged lies about Allah (s.w.t.) and strayed away from the Commands of Allah (s.w.t.) and did not stay where Allah (s.w.t.) had placed His Grace. The result was that they went astray and led their followers astray as well. On the day of judgement, in from of Allah (s.w.t.) no excuse will be of any use to them.
We get the following results from the above commentaries.
1.The only ones who have the right to Istambaat are the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) as they know the Desires of Allah (s.w.t.) and in fact are His Desires themselves (a.s.).
2.The Holy Infallibles (a.s.) are aware of the prohibited and the allowed (Halal and Haraam).
3.Those who give the right of Istambaat to anyone other than the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) then he is disobedient to Allah (s.w.t.), ignorant, false pretender to be the Ul Il Amr and a forger of lies against Allah (s.w.t.).
4.Such a person has himself gone astray and so have those that followed him.
5.These people can do what they want in this world and entrap whosoever they want in the web of Istambaat but on the Day of Judgment their void evidence will not avail them at all.
After reading the above, does is not surprise you that the Mujtahids actually use the above Verse in order to prove their Ijtihad? Strange, very strange!
I would request you to read Allmah Haeri’s book ‘RISALAT UL TANQEED FIL ASBAAT IKTIHAD O TAQLEED’, which would be sufficient proof of this debate for those who possess even a little bit of understanding. Let us now come to the third source of law of Ijtihad - Consensus.
IJMA
Ijma stands for the consensus of a group of people on a certain issue.
First of all you should know that Ijma is done by people of different thinking and therefore cannot have anything to do with the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) nor with the truth. This is because neither is there any difference of thought between the Holy Infallibles (a.s.) nor are there difference types of truth. So, in the first step it has been proven that Ijma has nothing to do with Allah (s.w.t.) or the Holy Infallibles (a.s.). This word has never been used in the Holy Quran or Hadeeth in order to prove anything. This principle has also been brought in from the adversaries like the other ones in order to facilitate personal gain.
Ijma is that weapon which was first used to usurp the rights of the Family of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w). It was on the strength of Ijma that Jalal U Din Suyuti had the audacity to write in his book ‘Tareekh Ul Khulafa’ (History of the Caliphs) : ‘Yazeed was the rightful Caliph because there was Ijma of the Muslims on this, and Husayn (a.s.) was not a Caliph because there was no Ijma on this’.
And when this weapon came into the hands of the Mujtahids, they used it against Divine Commands and in favour of their analogical verdicts and false commands. Meaning, if there is consensus on the Jurists on a certain matter then the Commands of Allah (s.w.t.) and the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has not standing. This reached such a stage that a non Muslim writer commented that : ‘Ijma is such a weapon in the hands of the Muslims that in front of it even their God and Prophet are seemed to be helpless’.
And now if a person who is blind of intellect were to say that Ijma is not for beliefs but for actions (Furoo), then only lamentations can be done over this because branches only sprout out of the roots. How is it possible for dates to grow from an apple tree? Those of you who have been fortunate enough to have the desire for reading religious books or those elders among you who have been listening to great speakers since childhood will bear witness that not only Shiite scholars but the Shia sect itself has always opposed Ijma and presented thousands of proofs against it.
Over here I would only give you one proof which the speakers of these days tend to relate. Even Allamah Talib Jowhari himself presented this proof from the pulpit in Nishtar Park. This is such a proof that no intellect can reject it. It is an eternal law that a total of incompletes do not make a complete. For example if a hundred thousand blind people get together, their whole group would still be blind. It is not possible that a gathering of a hundred thousand blind people would result in all of them being able to see. In this way if a million zeroes were to be placed together then their total would still be zero. Based on this principle the consensus of non-Infallibles would still be fallible. For those who are prone to errors, and delusions, and desires of the self were all to get together and agree upon something then they would still not be free from these deficiencies. This can neither be a proof nor can it be reliable enough to be acted upon.
As for their claim that an Infallible (a.s.) is part of their consensus then this has already been refuted before. Even if I were to agree with them for a while that an Infallible (a.s.) (God forbid) is part of their consensus then surely, whenever there are differences between them the Imam (a.s.) would be rectifying their errors and removing their differences, and it would become obligatory for them to submit to his (a.s.)’s decision. In this way the decision would be the decision of the Infallible Imam (a.s.) and not a result of their consensus. I do not want to waste your time by writing more about this. But, I would definitely like to invite you to think over this question. After all, what is the reason behind the inclusion of this principle of Ijma, which is an enemy of the Shiite religion and taken from the adversaries, into the principles of Jurisprudence?
IJMA AND ITS DISASTROUS EFFECTS - AN EXAMPLE
I hereby present to you a small example of the disastrous results of the use of Ijma and how it is being used as a weapon to contradict the statements of the Holy Infallibles (a.s.).
The discussion of the inclusion of the third testimony (Ali Ul Wali Ulllah) in Adhan, Iqamah and Tashahhud of Namaaz will be discussed later on in the chapter of ‘Opposition to the Infallibles’. There I will include a Hadeeth from Ihtijaj Tabarsi which has been narrated from Imam Ja’fa Al Sadiq (a.s.) that : ‘Whenever any one of you says ‘La Ilaha Illa Allah and Muhamma Un Rasool Ulllah, he shought straight away say ‘Ali Un Ameerul Mo’mineen’. This is such a strong and correct Haddeeth of an Infallible (a.s.) that no Mujtahid has ever had the courage to oppose it in any way whatsoever. And so scholars of repute have given this Hadeeth a place in their writings, but also due to Ijma they have to contradict this Hadeeth despite agreeing to its authenticity.
In his book ‘Shahada e Thalisa’ (Third Testimony) Allamah Muhammad Husayn Sabiqi under the heading ‘It is only the consensus of the scholars which does not declare ‘Ali Un Wali Ullah’ as part of the Adhan, writes that : ‘What is the proof of those Mujtahids who have refrained from declaring the third testimony as part of the Adhan’. For this I would like to present the statements of Ayatullah Muhammad Hassan from his book ‘Al Jawahir Ul Kalaam’, which is a very dependable explanation of the Sharia of Islam and forms part of the course of Ijtihad, says: ‘There is no harm is we read it (the third testimony) as part of the Adhan so that the Hadeeth of Al Ihtijaj Tabarsi can be acted upon’.
If the consensus of the Shiite scholars had not been on it not being part of it from the beginning, then its declaration to be part of it would have been possible.
He then goes on to say that: ‘The writer of Al Jawahir’s claim is not without strength, but since the scholars have Ijma on this non inclusion therefore he could not give a Fatwa on this’. (Sirr Ul Emaan, Page 34).
In the discussion of these above verdicts, Allamah Sabiqi states that: ‘It is clear from the statement of the writer of ‘Al Jawahir’ that based upon the evidence and the Hadeeth and proofs, the third testimony is part of the Adhan, but since the scholars have consensus about its non inclusion, and this has to be respected, then he refrained from issuing such a Fatwa. If Ijma were to be ignored then its inclusion in Adhan is clear’.
Did you see how the Hadeeth of an Infallible Imam (a.s.) was sacrifice at the altar of Ijma? I seek refuge with Allah (s.w.t.) from this Ijma which is an enemy of the Holy Infallibles.
I have already discussed the Holy Quran, Hadeeth, and Ijma. Now let us come to that which is the crux of the principles of Jurisprudence. If you take a closer look you will see that both the Sunnis and the Shiites have utilized the first three principles just to keep the people occupied. The reality is that the business of Ijtihad is wholly run on the basis of analogy. This is why asking for proof from a Mujtahid has been regarded as an unpardonable offence. As soon as you ask for proof you will be thrown out of his Marjaiat. O servant of God, if you are giving Fatwas based on the Holy Quran and Hadeeth, then why are you shying from giving your references? Are all the Shiites just donkeys and eternally ignoramuses that they will not be able to comprehend your proofs? The problem here is that, what proof can there be for analogy? And if the asking of questions and the provision of answers becomes a custom, then their whole Marjaiaat will be in danger. That is why they have made it obligatory to accept their verdicts without question and closed the doors of asking for proofs.
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Author: Syed Baqir Nisar Zaidi
