8. THE DANGER OF KALAM ON THE CREEDS OF LAYPEOPLE
Those who cause the most harm to laypeople are people who practise Kalam, for they mix up (and confuse) their belief system.
One of the worst things for a layperson, who is well versed in pillars of prayer or usury, is to attend circles of Kalam. Instead of encouraging him to perform prayer on time, the preacher says, ‘The Qur’an is an intrinsic attribute of Allah, and that which we recite is a creature of Allah’
Causing the layman not to revere the Qur’an as much and to begin swearing by it falsely.
Woe to the Mutakallim! He should have known that Allah discussed certain things in a manner that makes them easier to comprehend by people. He called the Ka’bah: His House, and mentioned being above the Throne {istaw a ‘ala al-‘arsh), and mentioned the (Divine) Attributes (Sifdl) of Hand (yad), Hearing (sam’), Seeing {bast) and Eyes (‘aya); and that He Descends (yaz^ilu) to the lowest heaven and that He Laughs (yadhak). He only mentioned these things in such a way so we can comprehend them. His status is higher than to actually have organs.
Allah also spoke highly of the Qur’an and forbade someone who is not in the state of purification (taharah ) from touching it. Yet people of K alam (ahlul-kalam) said that it was permissible to use it for cleaning one’s self after answering the call of nature!
These people are defying the Shari’ah because they allow humiliating what Allah has glorified. And does Kalam get people closer to the truth? If this were the case then its people who participate in it, would not have differed amongst themselves.
The early generation never spoke of this and jurists from all localities forbade discussing such issues— they knew well what should and should not be discussed. And he who is not content with the creed of the Companions, Imam Ahmad or Imam Al-Shafi’i, then we refuse them, regardless of who he is.
Let us also think about it. Has not Allah forbidden us from dealing is usury by saying:
“Do not deal in Usury.’’ [Al-Imran (3): 130],
and forbade us from fornication by saying:
“Do not go near fornication.” [al-Isra’ (17):32]
So what good is it to dwell into rhetorical topics such as, ‘reading and that which is read’, ‘recitation and that which is recited’ and what is ‘ancient and accidental?’
If someone says, ‘But it is important for us to learn the proper creed.’
Then we say, ‘The way of the Salafis the clearest of ways. We do not say so out of imitating them, but because we have evidence for this.
We did learn this by knowing the Jawhar (Essence) and ‘Arad (Attribute) and so on, but from textual evidence and with the help of sound intellect, and not searching into whatever is not needed.’
Yet, this is not the place for elaboration.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.