For a few droppings off the dung cart of "fame", people will doff all shame, hang conscience in the public square and murder every principle that ever poked it's troublesome finger in man's eye. As twain writes: There is something pathetic, and funny, and pretty, about this human race’s fondness for contact with power and distinction, and for the reflected glory it gets out of it. Except that in matters of such grave import as deen and akhirah, it's not pretty - just pathetic. And the worst of all such sold-his-soul-to-the-devil attention-addicts is the social media celebrity, who lurves the likes and will sell his akhira for a button-click! نسأل الله تعالى عافية
Exactly, we should all aspire to be well-versed in our Fiqh. The point was not to work for the government i.e. as a Qadi. Sidi Naqshbanadi, if you are not sure don;t bother posting
i think you are referring to this hadith about Qadi / Judge and not Jurist / Faqih Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa salam) said: Judges are of three types, one of whom will go to Paradise and two to Hell. The one who will go to Paradise is a man who knows what is right and gives judgment accordingly; but a man who knows what is right and acts tyrannically in his judgment will go to Hell; and a man who gives judgment for people when he is ignorant will go to Hell. Abu Dawood Sijistani in Sunan
masha Allah! I swear merely reading the exploits of our Salaf has a far greater effect on me than listening to most of our scholars of today. imagine what seeing them must have been like. A man once read namaz behind Bayazid Bistami. When Bayazid said the takbir the man heard the sound of Bayazid's bones cracking due to his fear of Allah. The man fainted. (Ref: Attar, Tadhkirat al Awliya) may Allah forgive us for their sakes. Amen! -- sidi AH, what you've written about jurists reminds me of a hadith which Shaykh Hamza quoted once where he said that Our Master صلى الله عليه وسلم quoth, that 2 out of 3 jurists will be in hellfire aw qamaa qala alayhisalatu wa salam. I forget the details. Hamza commented, "Who wants to be a jurist?!" He also mentioned that once Imam Malik was asked 40 questions to which he replied, "I do not know" to most of them.
imam ibn rajab al-Hanbali wrote a short epistle explaining the hadith: two hungry wolves... excerpts: extracted by imam ahmed, nasayi, tirmidhi, ibn hibban in his SaHiH: from the hadith of ka'ab ibn malik al-anSari raDiyallahu anhu narrating from the Prophet SallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. two ravenous wolves descending upon a flock of sheep do not cause as much destruction as the greed of wealth and glory do to a man's faith. tirmidhi graded this hadith: Hasan, saHiH. it is reported from another route from the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam through the hadith of ibn `umar, ibn `abbas, abu hurayrah, usamah ibn zayd, jabir, abu sa`yid al-khudri, `aaSim ibn `adi al-anSari raDiyallahu anhum ajma'yeen. [ibn rajab says:] i have mentioned all of these chains in my exegesis of tirmidhi. the wording of jabir's hadith: two savage wolves that chance upon a flock of sheep when the shepherd is away do not cause havoc as much as the love of wealth and glory do to a man's religion. and in the hadith of ibn abbas: 'love of wealth and glory' in place of 'greed' [in the hadith above]. ----- idha kunta fi'd dunya 'an al-khayri aajiza fa ma anta fi yawm al-qiyamati saani'u? if you are unable do to good in this world, then what will you do on the day of judgement? [it may sound bland in translation but in arabic, it is much more profound; that is, what will you do when you cannot do anything, when you neglect doing good when you can do something.] ---- ibn rajab then describes that love/greed of glory is of two types: first: seeking glory by dominion, power, authority and wealth second: hankering after glory and claiming greatness upon other people by religious actions: like knowledge or worship/deeds or ascetism. [ilm, amal, zuhd] the second is worse and more uglier, destructive and dangerous than the first kind. ---- Allah ta'ala has said: 'this home in the hereafter, we give to those who seek not greatness in earth nor mischief...' [al-qaSaS, v.83] ---- in a hadith narrated by abu musa al-ash'ari: two men told the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam: 'O messenger of Allah, give us authority' he replied: 'we do not give authority to those who ask, nor to those who desire it.' ---- abu bakr al-aajuriyy - who passed away in the early part of the 5th century wrote a book named: 'the character of a scholar and etiquette'. this is a very important work on the subject. reflecting upon it, one realizes the true path of our elders among the scholars and the changes that occurred in those who came after opposing the way of our elders. he [abu bakr] has described the evil scholar in a lengthy detail. an excerpt: this man [the evil scholar] has been corrupted by the love of praise; fame, glory and the position he holds among people of the world. he beautifies his knowledge like a beautiful garment [decorated] for worldly acceptance; however, he does not decorate his knowledge by practicing upon it. abu bakr then spoke at length, and he said: these traits or similar to these have subdued such a scholar whose heart has not benefited from knowledge; this affects him so much that he is desirous of this world and the love of glory and fame. he begins to seek the company of kings and worldly folk [abna'a ad-dunya]. he wishes to be like them and so desires to see resplendent and fashionable settings, classy vehicles, obedient (and able) servants, soft and expensive clothes, comfortable beds, delicious food. he desires that people take note of him, hear his speech, obey his commands and fulfil his wishes. but this is not fully possible except by gaining the position of a judge (qaDa'a); and that is not possible except by expending his religion. so he humiliates himself in front of rulers and kings and their acolytes. he serves them himself and honors them by spending his wealth [and so to gain their acceptance] keeps silent on the ugly things that he observes [in their places and their actions]. he even stoops to interpret their ugly acts favourably, hoping to gain their favour. when he does this for a long time and corruption takes root in him, they [rulers and kings] give him authority [by making him a judge] and thus, [the poor wretch] is slaughtered without a knife! [dhubiHa bi ghayri sikkin]. this is a great favor of the rulers upon him, so he is indebted to them and is bound to be grateful to them. he tries hard not to anger them, mayhap they may dismiss him from his position. yet, he does not care about angering his Lord (Almighty Allah) - and those he poaches the right and property of orphans and widows; of poor and needy; and wealth of trusts bequeathed to the fighters [men defending islamic lands] and nobles in the two sanctuaries; and in general, the wealth due to muslims. and toward this end, he involves the writer and the assistant and the servant. he partakes of Haram, feeds Haram... woe unto a scholar whose knowledge begat these vile attributes. it is this kind of knowledge that the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam sought refuge from and commanded us to seek refuge from it when he said SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam: 'the harshest of punishment on the day of judgement is for the scholar whom Allah did not give any benefit from his knowledge' and he SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam would say: O Allah! i seek thy refuge from knowledge that is not beneficial; and from such a heart that does not fear [ye] and from such an avaricious self that is never satisfied and from such prayers which are not heard.'and he would say: O Allah i ask thee of knowledge that is beneficial; and seek thy refuge from knowledge that has no benefit' ------ in the sunan is the hadith narrated from the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam that he said: whosoever seeks knowledge to argue with fools, or to compete with scholars or to draw attention of the populace towards him, Allah ta'ala will make him enter hell. tirmidhi extracted this from the hadith of ka'ab ibn malik. ibn majah extracted it from hadith of ibn umar and hudhayfah and his wording is: 'such a person is in hell' ------ ibn majah and ibn Hibban in his SaHiH extracted it from the hadith of jabir from the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam that he said: 'do not seek knowledge to boast among scholars, nor to quarrel with fools, nor to adorn congregations - and whosoever did that, then [for him is] fire, fire. ----- our elders disliked being daring and dauntless in issuing rulings, nor greedy of that [being asked and answering them] nor being plentiful in issuing rulings. ibn lahi'ah from ubaydullah ibn abu ja'afar narrates [with a mursal chain] from the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam: 'those bold in issuing rulings are the most daring [to be cast in] fire.' `alqamah said: they [salaf] used to say: the most daring in issuing fatwa is the least in knowledge. bara'a said: i met a hundred and twenty companions of the Prophet SallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam from madinah [the anSar]; when asked of a matter, each of them wished that his brother would answer and that would suffice. in another version: 'each would present to the other, and the second to the third until the original question came back to the first one.' ---- ibn mas'ud raDiyallahu anhu said: 'he who issues fatwa on everything that people ask him is insane'. `umar ibn abd al-aziz was asked of an issue and he said: 'i am not bold in matters of fatwa'. and he wrote to one of his governors: 'by Allah, i am not eager to issue fatwa, except when there is no way out.' and he said: the one who is most knowledgeable about an issue is the one who is the most silent; and the most ignorant is one who speaks a lot. --- sufyan ath-thawri said: we met [many] fuqaha who disliked answering religious matters and issuing fatwas [and they did so only] unless there was no way out than issuing the fatwa. they rather wished to be exempted from it. ---- imam aHmed radiyallahu anhu said: 'whosoever took upon himself to issue fatawa has taken a huge responsibility upon himself; except when it is necessary for him to do so. he was then asked: 'what is better? to speak out or remain silent?' he said: 'i like to withhold (from answering)' he was asked: 'if there is a necessity?' he replied: ' necessity is a necessity. yet, being silent is safer.' 'let the mufti know that a great responsibility has been entrusted to him by Allah ta'ala to make known the ruling concerning the permitted and prohibited. and he will be asked about it.' ----- when ibn sirin was asked whether something was permitted or not (al-halal wa'l haram), the color in his face drained and changed and he would become as if he were a different person altogether. ----- when ibrahim an-nakha'yi was asked something, he disliked (being asked) and say: 'did you not find anyone who could answer you other than myself?' and he would say: 'i have spoken (on this matter) and if i had found an excuse, i would have remained silent. these are vile times in which i am a jurist in kufa. ----- muhammad ibn waasi'y said: the foremost group of people called to account will be the jurists. ----- whenever [imam] malik was asked of some issue, he would appear as if he were standing between heaven and hell. ----- a scholar advised a mufti: 'when you are asked of an issue, let the worry of your own deliverance be your bigger priority than the worry of delivering the questioner.' and another said: when you are asked of an issue, think about it. if you find that you can be vindicated, speak; else, keep quiet. ---- Allah ta'ala knows best.
