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Audio: What is the knowledge obligatory upon those morally responsible?

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

What is the best way for a Muslim who is concerned about his religion (but busy with university studies, and has a lack of teachers, or teachers who have enough time) to learn what is obligatory on him about the religion? Is it obligatory for every religious person to read many Islamic texts? Is it wrong if one likes to look into the proofs [s. for legal rulings] because it increases one in conviction and ambition?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

What is the knowledge obligatory upon those morally responsible?
http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Questions/qa00003646.aspx 

Recorded translation by Faraz Rabbani
Text translation by Shazia Ahmad

The obligation on a morally responsible Muslim is to expend his efforts in the way of learning what is obligatory on him to learn, including: `aqida (tenets of faith), purification, prayer, fasting, buying and selling and everything that affects him because of his occupations, such as being a doctor. If he doesn’t learn these, he is a sinner. The purpose in making these things obligatory to learn is that make one’s worship and business valid through [s. knowledge of] its components and conditions. As for knowledge beyond that, it is sunna to learn, and also, let it be known that learning the obligatory is not restricted to reading a text or a book. It is possible that on might get one’s questions answered about obligatory knowledge, such as a question about `aqida or a ruling that personally affects him concerning his worship or trade, but the best way to understand the rulings is persisting attending knowledge-based fiqh lessons by a person who is qualified to teach. All in all, the obligatory is reaching this knowledge to take the morally responsible individual out of sin, whether this be by way of one book, many books or by asking. One is not excused from this [s. acquiring the obligatory knowledge] by saying one is busy with [s. secular] studies or anything else, for the responsibility of the Muslim is that he exalt the commands of the shari`a, and that he be avid to follow them and not neglect them by occupying himself with matters of this world; even though making a suitable living is required in the shari`ah, the matter of the afterlife takes precedence over it. One should also be aware that the time it takes to learn the personally obligatory knowledge is not much, especially compared to all the time that one wastes in amusement and play, which is the case with many people. So let the questioner and others, organize their time and take advantage of his youth to correct his religion and this worldly-affairs.

As for a Muslim who enjoys looking at the proofs of rulings, it is not wrong, it is even sunna to learn, for knowing the proofs is from the sciences of the shari`ah. So whoever occupies himself with learning the proofs, memorizing them and recording them, will be rewarded, he will get the blessings of seeking knowledge that is unmatched. But one should be aware of an important matter, that most people are heedless of, who like to look at the proofs and haven’t reached the level of scholars and that is: that many Islamically uneducated people who have merely memorized some proofs, think themselves as scholars of their age and give themselves the positions of a ruler and judge on the fiqh of imams of the religion who have beautified this world with their knowledge and have given glory to the afterlife by their rewards. So this person then starts to reject what they say and the rulings that they have deduced from texts of the law and its regulations. They reject them so much that they retain no more adab, as many that we know by experience. So when this occurs, it makes the learning of what is sunna, a path to what is actually haram, for it is not permissible for an uneducated person to condemn scholars in what is derived from ijtihad and study. Even the scholars cannot condemn scholars in matters where there is genuine difference of opinion

– Amjad Rasheed

السؤال: ما هو المنهج السديد لمسلم مهتمّ بدينه ( لكن مشغول بمتطلبات الدراسة الجامعية ومع قلة من يدرس أو يتفرغ للتدريس ) في تعلُّم ما لا بد منه من العلم الشرعي ؟ فهل يجب على كل متدين أن يقرأ متوناً كثيرة ؟ هل من الخطأ أن يحب النظر في الأدلة لأنها تزيده اعتقاداً وهمةً ؟ الجواب : الواجبُ على المسلم المكلف بذل طاقته في سبيل تعلم الواجب عليه من الأحكام المتعلقة بعقيدته وطهارته وصلاته وصيامه وبيعه وشرائه وكل ما يأتيه من الأعمال كطبيب ، وإلا كان آثماً بترك ذلك التعلم ، والمراد بما يجب تعلمه هو ما يصحح العبادة والمعاملة من أركان وشروط ، أما ما زاد على ذلك فتعلمه مندوبٌ في حقه ، ومنه يعلم أن تعلم الواجب غير محصور بقراءة متن أو كتاب ، فقد يحصل بالسؤال عن الواجب كالعقيدة وعن حكم ما يباشره من عبادة ومعاملة ، لكن الأبلغ في فهم الأحكام هو المواظبة على دروس علمية فقهية عند من يتأهل للتدريس ، وبالجملة فالواجب هو تحصيل هذا العلم ليخرج المكلف عن الإثم سواء كان من كتاب أو كتب أو بالسؤال ، ولا يعذر في تركه بحجة الانشغال في الدراسة ولا غيرها إذ حَقُّ المسلم أن يعظم أوامر الشرع ويحرص على متابعتها وعدم تضييعها بانشاغله بأمور الدنيا ، وإن كان إصلاحُ المعاش مطلوباً شرعاً لكنَّ أمرَ الآخرة مقدم عليه ، مع العلم بأن ما يجب تعلمه عيناً من الأحكام لا يحتاج إلى وقت كبير لتحصيله في مقابل الأوقات الكثيرة جداً التي تضيع في اللهو واللعب كما لا يخفى من حال أكثر الناس ، فلينظم السائل وغيره أوقاته ويغنم شبابه في إصلاح دينه ودنياه . وحُبُّ المسلم للنظر في أدلة الأحكام ليس خطأ بل هو من التعلم المندوب ؛ إذ معرفة الأدلة من جملة علوم الشرع فمن يشتغل بالأدلة تعلماً وحفظاً وتدويناً مأجورٌ يناله فضل طلب العلم الذي لا يدانيه فضل ، لكن ينبغي التنبه لأمر مهم يغفل عنه أكثر الناس ممن يحبون النظر في الأدلة وليسوا ممن بلغوا رتبة العلماء وذلك : أن كثيراً من العوام بمجرد حفظ بعض الأدلة يظن نفسه فقيهَ زمانه فينصب نفسه حاكماً وقاضياً على فقه أئمة الدين ممن تزينت الدنيا بعلومهم وافتخرت الآخرة بمثوبتهم فيبدأ بإنكار كلامهم وأحكامهم التي استنبطوها من نصوص الشرع وقواعده بل ويزداد في الإنكار بحيث يخرج عن طور الأدب كما خبرنا كثيراً منهم ، فمثل هذا جعل التعلم المندوب وسيلة إلى حرام ؛ إذ لا يحل للعامي الإنكار على العلماء فيما هو من باب الاجتهاد والنظر ، بل ليس ذلك للعلماء أنفسهم إن كانت المسألة مما يحتمل الخلاف.

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