Response To A Darul-Ihsaan’s ‘Mufti’

Please note, we – Custodians of the Haq – are NOT the authors of this article. We have copied the article verbatim as received.

THE RESPONSE BELOW WAS GIVEN AS A RESPONSE TO THE UTTER NONSENSE SPOKEN BY “MUFTI” SHAFEEQ JAKHURA OF DARUL IHSAAN

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
!وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين وبعد

I received a clip wherein the speaker’s entire speech was focused on not just proving the permissiblity of social distancing during Salah, but rather going a step further to prove it to be the dictates of ‘Fiqh’.

Initially, given the poor academic worth of his speech, we intended not to write anything in refutation, but due to the thirst of the true seekers of Allah and al Dar al Aakhirah, and after making istikhara and seeking the assistance of Allah Ta’ala, we pen down the following points:

1.  He bragged throughout his entire speech as to how deep the field of Fiqh is, and as to how great his teachers were. Which ultimately means to the layman,

“Hence, remember what I’m going to present to you at the end is going to be something very deep and great!!”

We will remind you of this towards the end of this article after analyzing his arguments.

  1. He then began to explain the need for Ijtihad.

(i.e. The process of drawing Islamic laws from its correct sources)

He cited the example of when Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam commanded the Sahabah to go to Banu Quraidha. He said that if he remembers correctly it was after Uhud. Now let’s pause here.

A beginner student of seerah, forget one studying the 6 major books of Ahaadith, will know that the Ghazwa of Banu Quraidha only happened after Khandaq which was towards the end of the fifth year A. H. And what makes it even more simple and obvious is that it was nothing but a result of the Yahood’s treachery to the Muslims in Khandaq. There are numerous ahaadith which even if a student of Hadith tries to forget, can simply just not forget. This shows how interwound the incident of Banu Quraidha and Khandaq were.

Uhud was in the 3rd year, after which transpired Hamraa al Asad.

If one is so ignorant with regards to the basics of the Seera of Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, then how does he deem himself fit to maneuver about in the deep oceans and the vast realms of Ijtihad??

Is he going to be making ijtihad based on the Seerah and Shariah of Isa alaihis salam or Moosa alaihi salam??

  1. He then quoted the Hadith of Muaz bin Jabal Radhiallahu anhu, which is a fundamental proof for the validity of ijtihad . Again, which a kindergarten student of Usool Fiqh learns, understands and memorizes.

Yet sadly, he again misquoted it. Therefore you will unfortunately not be able to find the incident with the words he quoted in any of the reliable books of Ahaadith or Fiqh.

Remember as he rightfully pointed out, Fiqh is a legal system, and anyone with any experience in the legal field will know that let alone every word, sometimes even a comma or full stop can make a world of difference in meaning.

  1. He cited the example of the gecko being eaten in the company of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam which he didn’t partake of due a natural disgust towards it.  He said that you can never say it is Haram just because Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said I dislike it!!!???

I’d like to remind him that in the Hanafi Mazhab it is in the ruling of ‘HARAM’ as far as eating it is concerned!

So stop confusing the Ummah by playing around with terminologies!!

5.  He said Fuqaha would use terms like “اكره”
i.e. I dislike it.

So I’d like to ask, given the fact that it was in a public talk where in you mentioned this , if taking inspiration from this statement of yours, someone compiles all the examples starting from the previous one, wherein the Fuqaha used such a term and then publishes it, resulting in people beginning to practically translate those examples into action, who then is going to be responsible for this clear cut deviation?
Or will you not regard it to be a deviation?
وأحلاهما مر!!!

He said:

“When a ruler tells us to do something which is contrary to our Deen and the Shariah then we DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW THAT”.

Is that how a true lover of The Deen ought to speak?  “Don’t have to”.
Inna lillah wa Inna ilai raa jiuoon!!

  1. Then in support of “why social distancing during salah is the dictates of the “Fiqh” of the time”, he cited the example of Saudi Arabia!
    Subhanallah!

At this point one cannot just but break one’s breath.
Saudi Arabia?? Seriously??

The same Saudi Arabia who just introduced, before the Corona outbreak, night clubs and theaters in the lands of the Haramain?

Saudi Arabia who is behind every drop of blood of the Ummah that was shed in Yemen, Syria, Ghazza and where not??
The same Saudi Arabia who has just introduced the working of unveiled women in their army force in the Haram? 
I think these examples are sufficient for the purpose intended here. Otherwise, a voluminous or volumes of books can be written regarding this very Saudi Arabia.
And hypothetically, if Saudi Arabia was as good as the speaker made it sound, where in the books of Fiqh or Usool which he studied under very great teachers is it mentioned that the actions of Saudi Arabia are a proof in the Shariah?

Did you get the depth of Fiqh in his talk?

But khair, I think he was divinely made to say that, so that discovering the misguidance in his talk does not become a mammoth task for the common person with common sense.

Subhanallah! How kind Allah Ta’ala is to his servants!

Yet he conveniently forgets to cite the example of his teacher, the Sheikh al Islam of Pakistan, Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani Saheb Damat barkaatuhum who has categorically prohibited from practicing on this obnoxious Bid’ah.

  1. Coming back to his statement “when something isn’t against our Shariah”.
    So, are the dozens of authentic Ahaadith which may possibly reach the level of Tawaatur which pertain to straightening of the Saffs and which contain strong warnings for not doing so, do these Ahaadith not form part of the Shariah that you follow?
  2. He spoke of the constant need for ijtihad.
    Firstly, was there anyone in the audience who denied that?
    Secondly, expounding on the need for the continuation of ijtihad, he correctly stated that if you deny it, then you are in actual fact attesting to the lie that our Deen cannot stand the test of time, due to it being unable to serve the needs of mankind in times to come.
    Definitely a splendid explanation which we commend him on.

Then the cherry on the top of his entire ‘IJTIHAADI’ speech ALBEIT A ROTTEN ONE in every sense of the word, was:

“If you are not comfortable with the Covid-19 protocols in this Masjid and therefore wish to perform your Salah at your home then it’s perfectly fine”

So we’d like to pose the question to him, is this the first time in Human history, that plagues, as he accepts to be, have broken out?

Didn’t he study about the plague of Amawaas which consumed the lives of thousands of Sahabah and Taabi’een?
Did the Sahabah ask the people to social distance in Salah?
And even worse to perform Salah in their homes?
The answer is obviously a big NO.
Actually the contrary is the case, as is clearly recorded in books of Hadith when Sayyiduna Muaz bin Jabal Radhiallahu anhu returned from the Masjid, he found that his son had been afflicted with the disease.

And, was any such Ijtihad done by the Fuqaha of the past, starting from the four great Imams of Fiqh coming down to the world renowned Great scholars of Fiqh and Hadith of Deoband, Lucknow, Pakistan and Bangladesh whose scholarly works have filled the shelves of the libraries of the Arab and non Arab ulama of the world?
The irrefutable answer is No!

So when the Ijtihad of the Sahabah, Taabieen and Aimmah MUJTAHIDEEN didn’t lead them to this conclusion when literally thousands were as a result of a real, genuine plague dropping dead to the ground in Shaam then how has his Ijtihaad led him there?

Did all of them miss something that he managed to catch?

Without questioning his sincerity in the least bit, is he perhaps not under the influence of the devil who’s making him talk such nonsense?

Then you have his own teacher, Shaikh al Islam Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani saheb Damat Barkaatuhum who may have most probably signed his graduation certificates categorically and harshly prohibiting from the abandonment of the Masaajid due to the fear of catching Covid-19 and also from implementing the six feet social distancing protocol.

So to understand his ‘Ijtihaad’ correctly I’d like to ask him, if due to a rise in the Covid-19 cases in any particular area, all the people unanimously decide to perform their Salah in their dwellings, will you still maintain that there isn’t any harm in doing so?
Our good opinion regarding him is that he will Inshallah not agree to it.

So then how do you mention such a dangerous thing in a public talk??

Subhanallah!  Have you seeing the depth of his Ijtihad and Fiqh which he spoke about in the beginning of the talk to pave the way for the listener to easily accept his final conclusions?

A talk nothing but full of Mughaalathaat!

Which basically means to build a ten story structure on a non-existent foundation, but to leave the onlookers or listeners convinced that there’s  definitely a very deep and strong foundation beneath it.

To summarize it, be it academically, spiritually or legally his speech was nothing but a live exhibition of the truthful words of our master and leader Hazrat Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam when he said:

Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As reported that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said :

“Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people, but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, so that when He leaves no learned person, people turn to the ignorant as their leaders. Then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge. They are astray, and they lead others astray”. (Bukhari and Muslim)

Abu Dhar said, the Rasool of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) said:

“There is something I fear for my Ummah more than the Dajjal.”
I became afraid & asked: “Oh Rasool of Allah! Which thing is that?” He (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) said; “The misguided and astray scholars.”

[Musnad Ahmad (5/145) No. 21334/21335]

May Allah guide us all to that which pleases him and save us and our offspring from the preludes to the Fitna of Dajjal and from the Dajjal himself.

Aameen

Muhammad sulaiman

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والسلام على من اتبع الهدى