Indeed, Allah looks upon all His servants as the same, regardless of colour, creed and culture, except in matters of faith and taqwa where it is only He who will judge based on His Knowledge (Hujuraat: 13). There is no race on this earth which is superior to another because we humans have all been created equally for the sole purpose to serve Him (Zariyat: 56). The Prophet s.a.w. in his Hadith also mentioned on this point:

“O Mankind, your lord is one and your father is one. You all descend from Adam, and Adam was created from earth. He is most honoured among you in the sight of God who is most upright. No Arab is superior to a non-Arab, no coloured person to a white person, or a white person to a coloured person except by taqwa” – Riwayat Ahmad & at-Tirmidhi

Therefore, it is unfortunate that the Muslim reverts in Malaysia have to bear the burden of their choice to revert to Islam, whereas such a choice should not have come with any burden at all. One’s decision to return to his fitrah should always be welcomed with open arms by his brothers and sisters in Islam. At the very least, his or her inclusion into the Ummah makes the Ummah one man (or woman) stronger now and together with the contributions of existing members, the Ummah becomes more fortified to spread the beautiful Message that is Islam on this earth. The truth, sadly, is far from reality, and the practice is far from the true spirit of the theory.

Speaking of fitrah, there is no such thing as differences between “born Muslims” and “Muslim converts” in Islam, because of this sahih Hadith of the Messenger s.a.w. as narrated by Abu Hurairah r.a and reported in Sahih al-Bukhari :

“No child is born except on al-fitra (Islam) and then it is his parents who make him Jewish, Christian or Magian (Zoroastrian)…”

All of us, Muslims or not, were all born with the fitrah (primordial nature) of Islam, i.e. the inclination to believe in the One God (Allah) who is Most Superior. It is only that over time, our upbringing and surroundings shape our faith into the religion that we profess, which is precisely why when one decides to embrace Islam again with Allah’s guidance and will, he or she should be deemed to ‘revert’ rather than ‘convert’ to Islam.

Nevertheless, lest we forget about why the doors of ijtihad were closed in the first place: manipulation. In the midst of the decline of the Abbasid Empire, Muslims became too divided by sects and factions that many began making misguided individual rulings and ijtihad based on their own interpretations of the Quran and obscure Hadiths to suit private interests. Rulers imprisoned and tortured upright judges who refused to make rulings to affirm their power struggles and to pursue their private interests. The situation was deplorable, and the Shariah was at the risk of total deviation if the doors of ijtihad were not closed.

This is one of the many reasons why we need knowledge in usul fiqh and the guidance of truly qualified scholars to understand and interpret the holy verses of the Quran in the true spirit of the Shariah, and expand its applicability into our lives today. Indeed, Islam requires no intermediaries in our dealings with Allah, and Muslims are to seek repentance and worship directly to Allah without any medium. But as easy and understandable as Allah has promised it to be, consider the following verse in (Ali Imran: 7), where Allah said:

“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book; in it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book; others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord”; and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.”

The Quran and the Sunnah contains clear (Qat’i) and ambiguous (zanni) texts, which must be interpreted in a way that would not contradict the spirit of the Shariah. Quranic verses must also be understood in the context and rationale for which they were revealed (the asbab an-nuzul and maqasid al-shariah). This is where rules of interpretation, knowledge of usul fiqh and maqasid comes in, i.e. to ensure that the laws derived from these divine sources of Islamic law do not deviate from the real Message of Allah and are applied correctly. Without the knowledge of usul fiqh developed by the scholars, we would not even have the legal devices (e.g. masalih mursalah [public necessity], istihsan [equity], etc) to apply the Quranic message in today’s context.

Surely the knowledge shared by a truly qualified mujtahid who had dedicated his life to the study of the Quran and the Sunnah in the language it was revealed and will be protected by Allah (Yusuf:2; al-Hijr:9), and steadfastly refrained himself from worldly desires to maintain the integrity of his rulings, regardless of the circumstances he lived in or how limited his resources must have been then, deserves some credit from us who spend just a relatively tiny fraction of our busy modern lives studying these divine texts. This is not to say, of course, that a qualified mujtahid is infallible because, as they too are humans, they are just as fallible as we are and a true mujtahid would have openly admitted so. A true mujtahid would also declare that their rulings will only bind themselves and those who are discerned enough to decide to follow them. These were the characters of the likes of Imams Abu Hanifah, Malik, as-Shafie Ahmed bin Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Qayyim and al-Ghazali. They were “men of understanding” as envisioned in the verse and with the Prophet’s and their guidance, inshallah we can strive to be people of understanding too. The Prophet s.a.w. himself instructed us to give due respect to Islamic scholars as their knowledge ultimately exceeds us laymen, in these 2 hadiths reported by Imam Ahmed and at-Tirmidzi respectively :

“He is not from my followers, he who does not respect his elders, who does not show mercy to the young, and does not give due right to a scholar.”

“The excellence of a scholar over a layman is like my excellence over the least of you.”

I suppose this is why it seems natural for some of us to feel unworthy of giving opinions on Islam. Personally I, for one, cannot blame them for feeling the same. Today we live in a world where so much corruption, manipulation, and power play is going on that the truth has become so vague, and those who pursue it has become so hopeless and helpless. We are returning to the age of darkness, as much as our advancements in knowledge, resources, and technology today prove otherwise. It didn’t help that the doors of ijtihad remain closed, leaving Muslims continuously in a dire physical, spiritual and mental state. The thought that always linger in their minds is: who are we to compare ourselves to the generations of the great Muslims in the past, i.e. generations who the Prophet s.a.w. himself promised to be the best generations after his. After all, Allah has warned sternly against those who trifle with the Message and easily pass judgment on it according to their whims (see e.g. al-Maidah: 41 & 87; al-Kahfi: 27; al-A’raf: 162; and Yunus: 15). Therefore, I reckon that the feeling of unworthiness can be said to arise out of insecurity and, in the midst of all confusion, the decision to just play safe.

But to take this course, I admit, would be taking the easy way out. We can no longer afford to keep on suffering from this inferiority complex if we want to ensure the survival of Islam, especially while others are persistently finding ways to defeat us Muslims. Allah has promised in (ar-Ra’d: 11) that He will not change our condition until we change ourselves with our souls. Thus, this is our challenge as the Muslim Ummah today. Indeed, Allah has laid down all His Rules and His Punishments. But that did not stop the previous generations from discharging their duties to call for Allah, to seek a deeper understanding of the Islamic faith and to spread the Islamic message all over the world, and neither should the same stop us. We should only fear Allah, and it is for Him to judge and to reward our best efforts after we have strived so hard.

And perhaps the first step to overcome that challenge is to re-unite and to re-open the doors of ijtihad.

Allah Knows Best.

AStudent, thank you for your views. For myself, the issue of correctness or incorrectness in matters of faith is ultimately to be decided after we are long dead. And there is every possibility that all of us are wrong. Whatever views expressed are merely that – views.

a man who reads and thinks of islam is no better then a pupil reading in chambers as compared to a master of the pupil who had practised for more than 7 years.

i ask u this, if a master tells a pupil that he is wrong, can he ( the pupil) told d master, NO, U ARE WRONG BECAUSE I THINK…

Think again. but i totally agree with u that a person should not be judge base on his faith. its juz that u are wrong when u said that everyone can think of islam in his own way. if that is why the quran is being sent ( to let ppl think wat they want) the prophet himself would not exist as an exemplary.

you may have read thousands of books about islam, but that is nothing compared to a person who actualy read,practice and memorized islam as their way of life.

You might want to find out about Imam al-Ghazali’s elaboration regarding this sentence:

(Quran 5:3) … This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam.

Regards.

By opining like this you are actually creating another mazhab in Islam. That is a mazhab which adhere to a tenet of no mazhab in Islam.

Regards

I totally agree with you that we don’t need any Mazhab in order to understand Islam (and how the Arabs behaved towards the other Muslims). It is true that we first need to read the translation of the Quran, which I prefer to read Marmaduke Pickthall’s and also Muhammad Asad’s. Then only we proceed by reading the Sunnah and the Hadiths.

It is sad that Malaysian education system didn’t teach us all these. We were only taught on how to read the Quran in Arabic, without knowing its meaning at all.

Nevertheless, as human being that keeps on learning from time to time, I would like to point out some of your points that I think you have made a slight mistake in elaborating it:

Quran 2: 269 – He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding.

**

Your elaboration is quite incorrect. There is a vast difference between wisdom and knowledge. Someone, whom professes wisdom, will be wiser. Someone, whom professes knowledge, will be cleverer.

Wisdom equals to Ilham; wisdom only comes from God.
Knowledge equals to Ilmu; we can seek it using scientific approach.

**

“Slavery no longer exists” – I beg to differ. Slavery does exist until the judgment day. As long as there is a king, there will always be a slave. House maid is a modern slave.

(24:58) O ye who believe! Let your slaves, and those of you who have not come to puberty, ask leave of you at three times (before they come into your presence): Before the prayer of dawn, and when ye lay aside your raiment for the heat of noon, and after the prayer of night. Three times of privacy for you. It is no sin for them or for you at other times, when some of you go round attendant upon others (if they come into your presence without leave). Thus Allah maketh clear the revelations for you. Allah is Knower, Wise.

**

Regarding the word Halal… Halal in Islam is just for food…

(5:3) Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

It doesn’t apply to other things, e.g. attitude. If it does, then we all need to ask for Jakim’s Halal sticker to stick on our heads.

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“So Nabi Muhammad was chosen and destined to be the leading Muslim example for Islam, but even he was not born a Muslim.”

This is incorrect. Muslim means to surrender to God. The meaning of Muslim is immense and not exclusive to those professing Islam. (Please read below: WHOEVER believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right)

(2:62) Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans – whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right – surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

God knows best.

**

“I am happy to stand corrected on the translation and
actual meaning.”

You may sit down now.

Salam to all… =)