Disagreements of the Jurists. al-Qadi al-Nu'man

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СКАЧАТЬ The right they arrogated to themselves to determine the judgments and rulings of God’s religion, and God’s lawful and unlawful things, through their so-called analogy, personal judgment, legal interpretation, preference, speculative reasoning, and inference countermands the word of God, because He stated to His Prophet Muḥammad: «We have revealed to you the Scripture with the truth in order that you judge between mankind according to what God has shown you.»⁴⁷ God did not say, “by what you consider appropriate,” “by what you prefer,” “by what you arrive at by analogy based on the Scripture,” “by speculating about it,” “by what you infer from it,” or “by what you arrive at through legal interpretation regarding it.” These jurists arrogated to themselves what God did not grant to His Messenger. God said to the Messenger, «Say: … I follow only that which has been revealed to me»;⁴⁸ «By the star when it sets, your comrade errs not, nor is he mad, nor does he speak out of whim. It is only an inspiration inspired, taught him by one strong of powers»;⁴⁹ and «Say: If I have gone astray, then I stray only at my own expense, and if I am guided aright, then it is by what my Lord inspires in me.»⁵⁰ He did not say, “by what I have thought up and deduced for myself.” God said: «Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord»;⁵¹ «This is a Book that We have sent down, blessed. So follow it, and fear God. Perhaps you will be shown mercy»;⁵² «Judge among them by what God has sent down»;⁵³ «Whoever judges not by what God has sent down, they are the unbelievers»;⁵⁴ «Whoever judges not by what God has sent down, they are the unjust»;⁵⁵ «Whoever judges not by what God has sent down, they are the sinners»;⁵⁶ «O David, We have made you a representative in the Earth, so judge among the people by the truth, and do not follow your whim, lest it lead you astray from the path of God»;⁵⁷ «They follow nothing but a guess, and a guess can never take the place of the truth»;⁵⁸ and «They follow only surmise and that which their minds desire, but guidance has come to them from their Lord.»⁵⁹

      23 The Messenger of God was asked about many things concerning which God had not revealed anything, but he refrained from answering and did not say about them anything based merely on his opinion, analogy, or any of the other methods which those jurists have adopted, until God revealed to him the answer to what he had been asked. If it were permissible for anyone to give an answer using something that is not in the Book, then it would have been permissible for him, because he was the most discriminating and perceptive of people, endowed with the most excellent faculties of judgment, analogy, discernment, and inference. God said: «They ask you about menstruation. Answer: “It is harmful, so stay away from women during menstruation”»;⁶⁰ «They ask you about the Spirit. Answer: “The Spirit is from the command of my Lord”»;⁶¹ «They ask you what they should spend. Answer: “Forgiveness”»;⁶² «They ask you about orphans. Answer: “Anything done to remedy their situation is a part of goodness”»;⁶³ and «They ask you, concerning the forbidden month, about fighting therein. Answer: “Fighting therein is a grave sin, a blocking of the path of God, and disbelief in him.”»⁶⁴ In these and in many additional examples, God reported that they posed questions to the Messenger of God but that he did not answer until God revealed the answer to their questions.

      24 God reported that He perfected His religion, so how could those people claim that He did not perfect it, such that they had to perfect it themselves? How could they claim that God did not send His Prophet to the people with everything that they needed, and that He rendered His Book deficient so that they had to complete and perfect it and provide the people with what they needed? The Messenger of God said: “Follow, and do not innovate, for every innovation is an error, and every error leads into the Fire.”⁶⁵

      25 This is corroborated by the famous report that ʿAlī, God’s blessings upon him, related from the Messenger an account that supports what we have stated: that the Book of God contains all that people need. Al-Ḥārith al-Aʿwar related this from him: “I entered the mosque, and there, before me, the people had taken to attacking Prophetic reports. So I came to ʿAlī, God’s blessings upon him and his descendants, and said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful! The people have attacked Prophetic reports.’ He asked, ‘Have they also fabricated Prophetic reports?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Hear ye! I heard the Messenger of God say, “A time of discord will certainly occur.” I asked, “What will be the way out of it, O Messenger of God?” He answered, “The Book of God. In it is an account of those who came before you, a report of those who will come after you, and judgment between your disputing parties. It is decisive speech, and not frivolity. Whatever tyrant forsakes it, God will batter down. Whoever seeks guidance in any other source, God will lead astray. It is God’s sturdy cable, the wise message, and the straight path. People do not tire of hearing it and so turn their attention elsewhere, nor do their tongues falter in reciting it. Scholars never get their fill of it. It is not worn out by repetition, and its wonders never cease. When the genies heard it, they soon declared, «We have heard a wondrous Qurʾan, which guides to righteousness, so we have accepted belief in it.»⁶⁶ He who speaks thereby will speak the truth, and he who practices thereby will be rewarded. He who judges thereby will be just, he who calls thereto will guide to the straight path, and he who seeks protection in it will be safe.” Take this to heart, O Aʿwar.’”⁶⁷

      26 The Messenger of God reported that the Qurʾan contains accounts of past and future generations, wisdom, guidance, decisive pronouncements, and legal rulings. In addition, God called the Qurʾan wisdom, an explanation, guidance, and a cure. The Messenger of God reported that if anyone seeks guidance in any other source besides it, God will lead him astray. How can these ignorant people claim that God chose to impose as faith on his people something which He did not reveal in His Book and which He did not convey through His Messenger? This being the case, how could God impose such a thing on creation, and who could teach it to them, when such knowledge is not to be found in the Book of God, nor has it come down to us in the utterances of His Messenger?

      27 The Messenger taught only what God taught him, and followed only that which came to him from God. God said, «Say: I follow only that which is inspired in me from my Lord»⁶⁸ and «He taught you that which you did not know. God’s bounty toward you has been immense.»⁶⁹ The angels addressed God: «Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are indeed the Knowing and Wise!»⁷⁰ By claiming that they derive rulings concerning lawful and unlawful things which are not found in the Book of God or the Practice of the Messenger of God, these ignorant people have asserted for themselves a status above that of the prophets and the angels. They have turned away from the command of God, contradicted His Book, and claimed to reveal legal rulings just as God did, insolently affronting Him, looking with contempt on His religion, arrogantly defying His chosen wards,⁷¹ disdaining to refer what they do not know to those to whom He commanded them to refer, and declining to consult the People of Knowledge among His worshipers whom He commanded them to consult.⁷² So they instead referred that about which they were ignorant to themselves and consulted themselves regarding what they did not know, rejecting and violating the word of God.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      THE METHOD OF THE ADHERENTS OF THE TRUTH WHEN THE CORRECT RULING ON AN ISSUE IS NOT KNOWN

      28 The firmest evidence on which I rely in this chapter and the soundest argument I cite for the point I have undertaken to prove in this book, after the Book of God and the Practice of His Prophet Muḥammad, is what the Imam al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, the Commander of the Faithful, God’s blessings upon him and his pure forefathers, the upright guides, entrusted to me in a letter of appointment which he wrote to confer upon me the office of judge. I have seen fit to record the text of this document in this book because it provides proof of the point I set out to make in it and because it is extremely instructive and profound in meaning. СКАЧАТЬ