As someone who likes to read all the time and eclectically
I would like to ask what is the Islamic ruling on banning of books
And freedom of expression?
NJ you might think from my last few posts that I would be getting my kicks from having a go at you due some of your posts, but I say this sincerely as a brother:
You're an intellectual junkie who by his own admission is also a loose cannon with his emotionalism. Deviant ideas can exploit your (or anyone's) emotionalism. Reading nonsense books is of NO USE to you or other Muslims.
Perhaps this exactly is your problem when it comes to some of your loose cannon posts when you don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes you seem to be too high on what you've read from here and there.
This orientalist statement is precisely the result of your reading just anything you can get your hands on.
In Islam -
BENEFICIAL knowledge is power.
The Prophet's, 3alaihis salam, famous dua and command, to seek refuge in Allah from NON-beneficial knowledge is something the elders of the ummah did not take lightly.
Feel free to have a go at me as much as you want, but verify it independently too, be it from other Sunni members of this forum, or any scholars you know outside in real life regarding the prohibition from seeking NON-beneficial knowledge.
Why is learning sihr forbidden? EVEN only to just see what the hell does it entail?
Will it ever benefit you to read the mahabharat, even if it is 'only to satisfy my literary curiosity' as a friend of mine said? What would Ala Hazrat say to such a person who read the mahabharat just for the heck of it? (I'm NOT insinuating you read books of other religions/sects/voo doo cults)
Even excessive curiosity is a bad thing in Islam. It is a form of a 'spiritual' greed wherein a person thinks he is doing something beneficial, but in reality it is no different than material greed, or maybe even worse at times.
There is a reason Ala Hazrat forbade people from reading the books of deviants. Just see how hard Ala Hazrat clamps down on those who read books of deviants, EVEN IF, only with the confidence to 'refute' them.
There is a reason why even top mujtahid imams like Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Abu Hanifa forbade some of their students from reading the books of greek philosophers, or other people of bid3ah like the mu3tazila.
Read Ghawth-e-A3zdham's karaamah about the murid who decided once to read a book on philosophy, and the Ghawth just asked him if he could have a look at the book. He flipped through the pages, and when the murid went home, the entire book was erased, it was just blank pages. He then understood the Ghawth's displeasure at his wanting to read a book on philosophy and supposedly advance 'intellectually'.
Rahimahumullahu jamee3an.
Why do you think Sufi mashayekh don't even allow murids to read certain books on tasawwuf and/or engage in certain wazaif and litanies, until they have advanced to a certain level?
Before setting about reading anything, just ask yourself:
HOW will this knowledge benefit me?
For worldly matters, we may read books by people of trades, like reading an accounting rules book by a kafir, purely on the topic of accounting, is no issue perhaps.
But when you read and promote the reading of books on related or inter-disciplinary topics where Islam is included (like 'Islam & Science' topics), then you have to be very careful that you read books by SUNNIS. Promoting the garbage of deviant people like that hosein nasr, even if with the disclaimer "don't take 'aqidah from him" can STILL harm a Muslim's faith. It's a no-brainer, a book of mu3tazilites beliefs will have nothing but their beliefs in it, so it is very easy to summarily state "I'm only reading it to see what's in it" or "to refute it". It's a very easy job to read a book thinking of it as 100% fiction than to read something and then set about to separating deviant [from Islam] fiction from scientific facts or supposedly otherwise good opinions of hosein nasr. Despite the job of reading a mu3tazilite book with the underlying belief that ALL of it is deviancy - being much easier, mujtahid scholars forbade their students from reading such tripe.
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More than one Sunni shaykhs have told me, reading books of tasawwuf is USELESS for common people AT BEST, and that's authentic tasawwuf (books by Sufi masters like Ibn Arabi and some others) they're talking about, not the misguided one of cardinal tahir.
Scholars have said that learning the ahkam pertaining to Hajj is not necessary for someone who isn't planning on going during that year, if he has other knowledge to catch up on relating to his basic faraid. Learning the ahkam of hayd and nifas is of zero use for an ordinary common man, unless he is getting married or is studying to be a proper scholar/mufti, specially if he doesn't even know the details of the ahkam of namaz, and this is all GOOD knowledge of Islamic fiqh.
This is all ISLAMIC knowledge we're talking about, and here too there are priorities.
Speaking of Imam Ghazali, read his book of knowledge on the praiseworthy and blameworthy knowledge categories and even among praiseworthy one's, the priorities for each type.
What then can we say about seeking knowledge and
'intellectual opinions and views' that are diametrically against Islam and the ways of the Ahlus Sunnah? (ignore knowledge of neutral matters like engineering, and so on)
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I say as a brother - give up on reading garbage like mein kampf or other orientalist tripe calling for 'development' and 'upliftment' of the human race and so on.
Reading pure fiction like say harry potter perhaps can be deemed entertainment, like watching a movie, which has its own rulings.
If you love to read that much, then why not focus on knowledge of deen? From the sound of your posts, you sound like you already have acquired a lot of worldly knowledge in matters relating to your trade and so on (and I don't say this to take a dig at you, I mean it nicely). Why not focus on Islamic classics on detailed 3aqaid and detailed fiqh of some basic faraid? Just starting with Ala Hazrat's discourses on wudu and the types of water would leave us in awe.
Or perhaps replace the hobby of 'reading just anything' with another hobby like calligraphy or woodwork or something. At least that is not as dangerous to your thought process as reading books by kafirs, deviants, perennialists, and so forth.
Anyway, all this may or may not be directly related to this thread, but it has to do with the general aura around some of your recent posts in various threads. And again, it is not for the sake of taking a dig at you. I say this sincerely because I think this 'intellectual junkie' attitude gets the better of you many times on some fundamental issues. It is not to suggest that I am some gung ho who has read all Islamic classics. But I have however, learnt to stay away from intellectual junk.
Here's something to put your reading hobby to good use. Read up on the various different shuruh of the hadith containing this dua:
اللهم إني أعوذ بك من علم لا ينفع ،
ومن قلب لا يخشع ،
ومن نفس لا تشبع ،
ومن دعاء لا يسمع
WAllahu waliyyut tawfiq.
) but for now can you give me the sharh of the hadith containing the dua i posted.
