Celebrating The Maulid // 05
By
Dr. Abubakar Muhammad Sani Birnin Kudu ( Hafizahullah)
As-Shatibi, after quoting this story, said: “The fitnah mentioned by Imam Malik in explaining the verse is true of all Ahlul Bid’ah, and it is their base on which they erect their building. For they view that what Allah mentioned in his book and what the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) enacted in his sunnah is less (in quantity or quality) than what their reasoning leads them to. That is what Ibn Mas’uud said when he met some people performing dhikr in congregation and in one tune: “You have really been guided to what your Prophet was not guided to, or that you have clung to a violation and a dalalah (going astray).
Having laid down this, let us return to the above arguments and take them up one after the other.
One:
On Ibn Hajar and the Aashuuraa hadith
1.Ibn Hajar’s explanation of maulid based on the Aaashuuraa hadith after confessing that it is a bid’ah is something that cannot be put together. Shaikh Rasheed Ridaa (the famous student of Muhammad Abduhu) in his Fataawaa (p.2112-2113) dismissed this assertion. He said this is enough evidence to render the maulid unlawful, because how can Ibn Hajar affirm that it has not been reported from any of the salaf, and then claim to have an origin. Imam Malik says: “Nothing will reform the later generation of this ummah but what reformed the first generation”.
Had the Aashuuraa hadith been a proof to the observance of the maulid, the first generation of this ummah would definitely have deduced that from the text of the hadith. But having been abandoned by them, even though the factors necessitating the performance of maulid were found at that time, that is their love for the Prophet, their love for honouring him, their love for feeding each other and for dhikrullah, it is not proper for someone in the later generations to use that same text in a meaning different from what they understood from it.
As-Shatibi has spoken comprehensively on this qaa’idah (general rule), that is, whatever interpretation to a text not established to have been practiced by those early generations, should not be practiced by later generations in any form of worship. This is because their abandonment of this practice is a consensus that the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) did not mean that by the text, and it is not proper to violate an ‘ijmaa’.
As-Shatibi said: “Whatever is practiced by later generations from this type, is really against the ijmaa’ of the first generations. And whoever violates an ijmaa’ is in clear error, for the ummah of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) will never agree collectively on anything astray. So whatever they practiced or abandoned is the sunnah, and is what ought to be given consideration, nay it is real guidance. There are only two things: something right and something in error. Whoever go against the salaf is in error, and this is enough. This is also true of the weak hadith with which the ulama did not work.
That is why the claim of the Rafidah (Shi’ite) that the prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) explicitly said in a clear text that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) should be the Khalifah immediately after him, was not entertained. Because the practice of the whole Sahabah was against this claim and shows its falseness, for the Sahabah will never be collectively and as a whole astray” Al-Muwaafaqaat Fi Usulis Shari’ah vol.3 p.71). He further said: “Many at times you find the people of bid’ah and dalalah use the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah to forcefully make them bear their ‘mazhabs’.
And they use the ambiguous words contained in those texts in the presence of the general public, assuming that they have something to cling to (in respect of their bid’ah). This has many examples…” He then cited some examples relevant to the matter. One of those examples is the claim of some people of the lawfulness of reciting the Qur’an and saying the dhikr in congregation by the saying of the prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) “Maj tama’a qawmun fi baitin min buyutillahi…” (No group of people will join up in a mosque, reciting the Qur’an and taking lessons from it …, unless the angels surround them…”, and the hadith: “Maj tama’a qawmun yadhkuruunallah…”. Another example is the claim of the lawfulness of dancing in the mosque based on the hadith that the Ethiopians once played with shields and spears in the mosque of the prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam).
And the claim of everyone who innovated or endorsed a bid’ah that the salaf also innovated some things not in existent in the days of the prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) like putting the Qur’an in the form of a book, writing different books on various subjects, keeping records in registers and so forth. He said: “All this is an error to this deen and an imitation of the path of the deviated”. He further explained that what these people mention is mostly part of ‘al-Masaalihil Mursalah’. And it is known that al-masaalihil Mursalah has no connection whatsoever with ‘ibadaat’ (acts of worship).
See the aforementioned reference. It is really important for those of us versed in the arabic language to read this from the book itself, that is Al-Muwaafaqaat. See also his other book Al-itisaam on this subject vol.1 p231 upwards. He had treated this matter in detail and with perfect scholarship. Shatibi is also one the famous Maliki scholars who served the course of Islam profoundly. May Allah reward him and have mercy on him.
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