akhdari_project1 maliki fiqh

8/18/2019 akhdari_project1 maliki fiqh

1/7

In the

nameof Allah,

the Most

Merciful, the Most Beneficent

May Allah sendprayersandpeaceupon our masterMuhammad,

his family and

his companions

One of

the most

important endeavors

hat a Muslim will concern

himself with

is

gaining knowledge hat

will allow

a servant

o reach his Lord. This

knowledgebeing

those

ules that a

Muslim will

need o deal

with his Creator.

'ibadat.

and

deal with the

creation,

mu'amalat.

One of

the main

ways to do this is*py accessing

he texts that our

righteous cholars

ave

authored o assist

n

gaining

his

knowledge. Through

heir texts,

they have

aid down

for us a clear

path

that

will saveus from the

pitfalls

of ignorance.

They have

codified the

rules taken

from

the

Qur'an

and Sunnah

n a way that

makes t

simple

for anyone

desiring

o

increase imself

in knowledge o do so. One

of the most

important exts of this type is the book that is beforeyou, The Abr idgement of Imam Al

Akhdari.

It is a beginning

ext of

Islamic Jurisprudence,

iqh,

that

has been benefiting

he

ummah

or the

past

several

centuries.

It has been studiedby both

young

and old

alike,

and

n many

ocales rom the

Heart of

the Muslim lands o

the Heart of the

Bay Area. It

is of

the utmost

mporlance

hat all

Muslims dedicatea

portion

of their

precious

ives to

gaining

sacred

knowledge, and

this text

is one of the best ways to

begin. As

for

motivation

o study,

t should suffice

us

that Allah hashonoredknowledge

and ts

people

in His

Book. Allah the

Almighty

has said;

(( Are thosewho know equal o thosewho do not? Nay they arenot equal )

((

Ask the

people

of

knowledge

f

you

do

not know

))

((

Only

the scholars

avedeep

ear of

Allah

))

Also, it should

be enough

o motivate

us to desire

knowledge he

many

sayings

of the

Messenger

f Allah

S:

#

3l

.'-It.tn"1t

ut'

"seeking

knowledge

s incumbenton

everyMuslim"

"Seek

knowledge,

evenunto

China".

When

we look

to the

scholarsof

all

generations,

e

find much

praise

about he

stationof

knowledgesuch asthe answerof Imam Malik whenhe was asked,

When doesstudying

becomeblameworthy?".

He answered,

When does gnorance ecome

praiseworthy?" f

one

has an

interest

n reading

more about

he benehtsand

knowledge,

he should

efer o

one

of the

many books

authored

on

the subject

such as

The Manners of the

Student

by

Imam Zarnugr.

Even

with all

this

praise

of

knowledge by

Allah

Almighty in

His Book,

the

sayings

of His

Messenger

$:

lS

;itt

oi;,

and

the many sayings

of the

righteous


2/7

people,

we

still find the dominant

state

of the Muslims is that they

are satisfied

with

be

submersed n ignorance and they

have

little if any desire

to

gain

knowledge. It may

be

that they think the

knowledge taken from "ancient"

books can

be of no benefit to us in

this age of technology.

If that is the case, hey

should be careful for they have

begun o

resemble hose who described he

Qur'an

as being

"tales

of the ancients", as these exts

are no more than a codification

of the laws

derived rom the Book

of

Allah and Hadith

collections. We also know

that this is a

sign of the end of time becauseour Noble

Prophet

$':

#

lirl

.rL:5a1d,

"Allah will not take away knowledge

all at once.

Rather

He will take it away by taking away the scholarsand then the

people

will make the

ignorantones heir leadersand

they will

give

answerswithout knowledge

so they will be

misguidedand hey will

misguide." So, f we do not want

to

make

ourselves nother ign

of

the end of time, we

must

be

a

part

of reviving the

sciences f this deen.

To

do that,

we have to

go

back to the texts that

have

been

passed

down to us by

our

pious

predecessors

nd wholeheartedlybegin

to

study

and implement

them. One of

the

poets

has

said,

"Those

who have come before us have eft for us

nothing other

than to

follow their footsteps."

The ummaft s in desperate eed of

people

who

have a deep

understanding

f th is deen

who can aid in alleviating he suffering

causedby

ignorance.

Just

as he

sacred

exts havebeen

preserved,

o

o has he method o

study hem.

Traditionally , he Islamic

method

of

learning

beganat agesix with memorization

of

the

Qur'an.

During that time

they would be

picking

up the necessary

ool of the

Arabic

language. Then they

would

go

on to study aqeedah

(Islamic

Creed)

fiqh

(Islamic

Jurisprudence), nahw

(grammar),

usul

(Foundational

Methodology)

and

many other

sciences.All the texts

that were studiedwere committed o memory

as this

was one of

the

main ways

of

preserving

he knowledge. So even f a

person

did

not have

access

o

his books, hey

were stolenor destroyed,he

river

of knowledgecould

continue o

flow.

Imam Shafi'e said,"My knowledge s with me when I walk in the streets nd not

in a trunk at my

home." Imam Al Ghazzali once spent a

great

amount

of

time copying

various

manuscriptsby hand and

when he was

on

a

journey,

they were stolen.

Imam

Ghazzali

old the thief,

"Do

not take my knowledge." The thief responded

by

saying,

"What

kind of knowledge

s it if a

person

ike me can ake t?" From

that time on,

Imam

al Ghazzali

esolved o

never

study

anything except hat he would memorize t. When the

Mongols nvaded raq, he

river ran red and black. Red from the blood

of those

killed and

then black

from the books

that were thrown in. Although there were many volumes that

were

lost

and

never

recovered,due to the

many

huffadth, or

"those

who

preserve"

.e.

memorize, hat the

most important of those

books were saved.

One scholar,

bn Al

Qassar,

old the

people

n Iraq to bring scribes

and write what he

saysas

he

could

read

from memory the contentsof the books that were destroyed. This station, hough,was

not something

gained

over

night,

it took

years

of strenuous tudy. We too hope that

we

can

produce people

of

knowledge

that

can

relieve some of the

pain

that humanity

is

experiencing.

One of the

most beautiful

examples

of where our huffadthhave done

his is during

the trans-Atlantic

slave

rade.

In those honible

conditions n the depthsof

those ships,

one

of the only things

that

gave

he stolen

people

comfort, whether they

were

Muslim,


3/7

Christian

or

pagan,

was the

Qur'an

reciters.

Our Noble

Carriers

of the Book of Allah

who were ripped from all they had, including

their clothes,

could not have

the

Qu'ran

ripped

rom their

hearts. In their

pure

hearts,

hey

alsocarriedsome

of the sacred exts of

Islam, such as the Risala f Ibn Abi Zayd.

Some of them

put

what they carried n their

heartson

paper

when they

got

a chanceand now those manuscripts

are

being

preserved

n

museums hroughout America. We too

want

huffadth whose recitation

of the

Qur'an

and

the sacred exts can echo throughout the wilderness

of

North

America, and once again

bring comfort to the suffering souls of the Children of our father

Adam, upon him be

peace.

This

dream can become

a reali ty through

exts like the Abridgment

of

Imam Al

Akhdari.

Although traditional ly, these exts were studied one

on one with a teacherwho

would

give

the commentary

orally and

guide

he

studentduring the courseof his studies,

we

realize hat many

people

do

not have

accesso a teacherwho

can do this. We decided

to try a

new method since when

water

is not available one does

tayammum. We have

provided

an audio commentary of the text in English along with

a translation of the text.

The hope s not that one will study and

memorize

n the English medium, rather

hey will

use t as a crutch o increase hem in the Arabic language.Without the Arabic language,

one will never

gain

a deep understanding f the way of Islam.

One of the scholars,

Al

Hilali, said,

"The

most important aspect of knowledge is

aqeedah, hen

fiqh,

then

purification

of the heart and then

Arabic

which is a tool that is

needed o begin".

So,

even hough Arabic is ranked

fourth in importance,

t is needed

o access he

rest. An

Nabigha said, commentating on

this opinion, "It

seems

rom

his

statement

hat Arabic is

studied even before aqeedah".

We find

people

will

learn

a language or the love of

a

woman or to

get

a

job,

so

where are those

that

will

learn Arabic for

the

love

of

Allah

Almighty and His Messenger

&:#

itl

,. ,-7

If

one studies his

text in the suggestedmanner,

am sure that he will

greatly

increase is knowledge of the Arabic languagewhile learning

he rules of worship that

Allah

Almighty

has obliged

him to know. I

personally

have seen

a

number

of students

who knew

little

or no Arabic

go

through

this

text

and a basic book

on

Arabic

and

within

a

few months

they were

grasping

he language. A

good

book to use for learning Arabic is

the

3

volume set called the Arabic Course or English

SpeakingStudentsby Dr V. Abdur

Raheem that is used by the

Medina

University.

As for

the Text

of Akhdari, a

person

would

need o

be able to

read he Arabic alphabet

before beginning study

of

this text in

Arabic, but until then, he should

go

through it first in

the English medium to begin

familiarizing

himself with the rules of worship,

Once a

person

can

read he Arabic, begin by writing out a few lines

of

the Arabic

in your own handwriting into a notebook that you have set aside or memorization. Take

a little at

first and then increase

as

you go

on. Look at every word

and

know what it

means by

either looking at the

translation or using a

good

dictionary

such as the

Dictionary of Modern

Written Arabic by Hans Wehr.

After

that, or before that,

listen to

the corresponding

English audio

commentaryso that

you

have an understanding f

the

lesson.

f

you

can find someone

who has already

gone

over the

text or

someone

who

is

going

to be

your

study

partner,

eview it with him. Then, with

you

prayer

beads

n hand,


4/7

begin

eciting

aloud he lesson

over and over.

You shoulddo it in increments f

60-100 imes each

our

times aday.

Once

n

the

morning,

once betweenDhuhr and Maghrib

and then

once before sleep. Then

the

next day, either right before Fajr

or

right

after, do it for the

fourth time and

it should be

memorized. If its not,

don't be

frustrated,

t will come

with time. Try

decreasinghe

amount

you

took and increase he times

you

read

it and

soon

you

will know how many

times

you

have o read a

certain

amount o memorize

t as

each

person

s

different. When

you

recite

he

text from memory,

you

want

to be able o do it

without even hinking about

it,

just

as

you

do when

you

recite

Qur'an.

When

you

have

your

lessonmemorized,

move

onto

your

next lesson.

Once

you

have committed

a

good

amount

o memory,continueon

adding new lessonsand

set aside

a time each

day to

recite

all

that

you

have

memorized.

When writing out

your

lesson, e sure o include

a few lines rom the next lesson.

This will

act

as a link for

you

when

you

are eciting all

the lessons nd

you

won't have o

keeping

stopping

and think,

"What's

the next

part?".

So, he following is

an exampleof

what

your

lessons f a threeday

period

might look like in

your

notebook;

Lesson

;i"1-1

:;;*.,

Ji

e)l.l',ltr;)\Lllj

ljinlt-lll

J

{J

i"-11

-ilsll

(.+

i+;

1;

U31

}J;):11

e\-lr

Ji$l

i\i

i;

;

ua

ri

+r

;L:i

l-o

a-i

; ;1

a:t^,t

lrJ,-i

r

.

4

,.\Ep-

Lesson

, alll ;j3i, F 141=+ l_4Jl'--,=,Jat+LJIJJt4J.Jlr

4jtL-,1olll

J)

i-SJ.

l

y'':

e-rl

rre L-li1j

Lesson

.,

k-,

{*^,'li:

lts .l

tlllt.,

'i

4++-;lt

el}

.JlJ

a;-illt

-F'i

cJl

l

jr+

ur

All of these

are

suggestions

or the

course of studies and a

person

can change he

method to what suits

his

studying

style best. The important thing is that

a

person

has

memorized he

Arabic and understands

he meaning. If

one follows this courseof study,

they will be

gaining

their

ard

'ayn, rndlidual obligatoryknowledge,along

with

getting

accustomed o the

Arabic language. This

method

gets

ones eyes used to reading

he

Arabic, the tongue

used o reciting

it, the earsused o hearing t

and

the handsused o

writins it. This has

been

the

traditional wav of studies

hrouehout

the

Muslim

lands

and


5/7

is a way that

is

tune with the

itra.

One man who was

guided

to this method of learning

and

greatly

benefited

rom it was

the shaheed,

El Hajj

Malik El Shabazz, r Malcolm X.

He says

n

his biography

n chapter

9,

"Saved";

I spent wo days

ust

riffling uncertainly hrough he dictionary's

pages.

I'd

never reahzed o many words existed I didn't know which words needed o

learn.

Finally,

ust

to

startsome

kind of action, begancopying.

In

my

slow,

painstaking,

ragged handwriting, I

copied

into my tablet

everything

printed

on that first

page,

down to the

punctuation

marks.

I believe t took me a day.

Then

aloud,

read

back, o

myself,

everything

I'd written on the

tablet.

Over

and over, aloud, to myself, I read my own

handwriting.

I woke up the next morning, hinking about hosewords-

mmensely

proud

to rcahze that

not

only

had I written so much at one time, but I'd written

words

that I

never knew were in the world.

Moreover,

with

little

effort,

I

could

also

rememberwhat

many

of those

words meant.

He, may Allah have mercy on him, began his processafter being frustratedover not

being

able o express

imself in the English anguage, s his mother onguewas he slang

of the

streets. For those

that are frustrated over not beine able to access he

Arabic

language,his

process

will

benefit

hem.

It

will take time and effort but

if

you persevere,you

will

be victorious.

Knowledge

s a

precious

hing and

Allah will only let

you

have t if

you

struggle. Even

the

Messengerof

Allah

J-':

*:;

ill

Gl;was

not

given

revelation without experiencing

great pain.

At the

first revelation, the Angel Gabriel, 'alayhis salam, squeezed

im

three

times and

then our Messenger

$j

#

lirt

-ll6.gan

reciting. Each squeezewas

unbearable

but he was being shown

that knowledge can only be received by those

who

endure

hardship.

In

the story of our

MasterMoses,

alayhis

salam, when

he

was

going o

seek

knowledge from our Master

Khadr, 'alayhis

salam, our

Master Moses, 'alayhis

salam said,

"We

have

become

ired because f our

ourney".

One must also struggle

o

gain

knowledgeby stayingup

late nto the night or

getting

up beforedawn.

Imam

Shafi'e

said,

"Whoever seeks

ofty things will stay up

late

at night. Whoever seeks

ofty things

without struggle

will have

wastedhis life seeking he impossible. The one who seeks

pearls

dives

into the ocean."

El Hajj Malik El Shabazz aid when

recounting he long

hours he spent

reading every

night, "That went on until three or four every

morning.

Threeor

four hours of sleep

a night was enough

or me.

Often

n the

years

n the streets,

had

slept

ess han

that." With this

in mind, one must also realized hat

his

body

has a

right over

him so

give

it rest rom time to time.

Traditionally,schoolsset aside wo

days

a week for rest. A studentcould pursuepersonalnterests, pend ime with friends or do

other

ight study.

To end

his introduction

o the

Abridgmentof

Imam

al

Akhdari, we turn to

a brief

biographyof

the author

himself written

by

Dr. Muhammadbin Muhammad

Talib Eesa;

The

great

scholar

Abdur Rahman

bn Muhammad bn Saghiyar

bn

Muhammad

ibn Amir

Al Akhdari was an eminent scholar

a

man who


6/7

could

explain

things

clearly,

an

eloquent poet,

an excellent

author,

intelligent

and logical

and a

successful

urist.

He

was

a reformer

with

deep nsight

who

refuted

various

nnovations

and superstitions

riticizing

all

types

of

outward

deviations.

He

was

bom

in

the

year

918 Hijrah

Calendar

and

dies n the

year

983.

[He

was

from

the scholars

of the

area

now

known

as Algeria].

He has written a number of texts

on various

subjects

and

Allah

Almighty

has

allowed

them to

be

accepted

by many

people.

Beginners

study

his books,

scholarshave

written

commentaries

n it,

and

educators

teach t. His

book has

benefited

people

in the

East

and

the West

and

that

may

be due

to the

soundness

f his inward

state,

his

steadfastness

n

the

path

of

guidance

and

his enjoining

right

and

forbidding

evil.

For

these

things

cause a

person

to have

a

truthful

tongue

and

a

beautiful

way

of

expressing

deas.

Allah Almighty

also

blesses

he

work

of a

person

ike

this

and

gives

him

acceptance

n the

earth.

We

ask Allah

Almighty,

out

of His

graciousness

and

bounty,

to

make

us from

amongst

he accepted

nes n

this

world

and

the next.

We

ask that He recti$' our intentions and our descendants. We ask that He

bless

our actions

and that

He

resurrect

us in

the

company

of

the Chosen

One

&-r

l'

3l

&.

We

hope

hat for

those hat

receive

his

book it

will be

the

beginning

of

a

lifelong

journey

of

seekingknowledge.

This

process

will include

moving

from

this text

to

other

texts

on

this subjecl

of

fiqh

moving

through

he

beginning

exts,

o the

intermediate

nd

then

on to

the advanced

exts.

The

samewill

be

for the

other

subjects

of

'aqeedah,

usul,

seerah,

and the

many

other sciences

of

Islam.

We

also

hope

to

provide

a system

of

having

a contact

for

those that

are

going

through

the text

so

that

they can

clear up

any

things hat are

not clear.

Once

a studenthas

inished

he

text

and knows

it

well, we

hope

to have

a

system of

testing the

students

and

then

giving

them

ijozahs,

or traditional

teaching

icenses

n

each ext.

We will

also

provide

hem

with

Arabic

commentaries

f

this

and

other texts to

enhance

heir

understanding

of the

text

and increase

heir

skill

of

Arabic.

The

Abridgment

of Imam

Al Akhdari

has many

commentaries

hree

of

which

deal

with the

proofs

from

the

Qur'an

and

Sunnah

or

the rulings

he mentions.

One

of

these will

be

provided

to

students

who have

gone

through

the text

and have

basic

understanding

f

Arabic.

With

this

as a beginning,

we hope

o

build

up a

core

group

of

Muslims

who have

deepunderstanding

f the deen

and hen we

can

help

each

other move

onto

spreading

he

correctmessage f Islam. If we want the best for ourselvesand our families,we must

strive o

get

this understanding,

r

fiqh.

Our

Master

Muhammad

J-,J

S;

3l

,rl*osi6,

"Whoever

Allah

wants

good

for him,

He will

give

him

deep

understanding

fiqh)

of the

deen."

We

ask that Allah

accept

all of our actions

and

gives

us success

n following

the

way

of our Master

Muhammad

J,,':

#

; l

,.,jL

We ask

all those

that receive

this


7/7

book o

make

du'a

for

thosewho aided

n

putting

he study

package

ogetherand or their

familiesand eachers.

Your

brother n Islam.

Rami Nsour

Documents

akhdari_project1 maliki fiqh