Ya Bunayya: #10 – Don’t Be a Rawaybidah!

Ya Bunayya!

Among the methods that are used to cast doubts about the credibility of our Islamic scholars of the past and of contemporary in the Ummah, is when an ignorant proclaims, “the scholars might have erred.”

While this is a clear undermining of the sacrifice of our scholars, it’s a lame tactic to, indirectly casts doubt in the teachings of Islam, and for that matter in Islam in its entirety.

Ya Bunayya,

Is it possible that some of our scholars might have made mistakes in their interpretations of the Qur’an? Or in their interpretation of the Sunnah?

The answer is unapologetically yes. They are humans. None of whom was perfect… However…

However, have they possibly erred in interpreting the pillars of Islam and the pillars of iman? Have they erred in understanding Surah al-Ikhlas and Surah al-Nisa’? Or have they misunderstood the conditions of the dress code of the Muslim?

I don’t think so. This is because while one or a few might have erred, the possibility of their coincidentally all erring together is next to none.

These are the scholars who possessed all the tools required to understand, internalise, evaluate and pass interpretations to the verses of the Qur’an. Yet, some of them might have erred (but not all of them together). These are the ones who mastered the various sciences one needs to qualify to talk in and about Shari’ah.

More importantly, these are the ones who learned the religion in the native language of the Prophet. They didn’t read the religion through the translation of a third language.

If some of them might have erred despite having fulfilled all that conditions that qualify one to be an authority in Shari’ah, what makes one of us, who can’t even identify the Arabic Alphabet, let alone read or write his name in Arabic correctly, to believe he can understand the Qur’an better than they did?  What makes him believe he can understand Islam better than the righteous predecessors of the Ummah understood it?

Ya Bunayya,

The Prophet has warned of a time when the ‘ruwaybidah’ shall be the ones who do most of the talking. Don’t be a ruwaybidah. Humble yourself, and listen to learn. Don’t listen to argue, debate or challenge. Listen to and learn from the noble scholars of Islam. Those of the past and of contemporary. Those who have mastered the various sciences that qualify for interpreting the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

Not those who read translations and then go around undermining the likes of Imām Mālik, Imām Ahmad, Imām Al-Bukhari, Shaykh al-Islām ibn Taymiyah, Shayk al-Islām Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalānī, Al-‘Izz Ibn ‘Abd al-Salam, Al-Imām al-Shāṭibī, and others. Regardless of where they might have studied and regardless of the title(s) they might be holding.

“What is and who are ruwaybidah?” you must be wondering to yourself. Right?

That’s another topic for another sitting of ‘Ya Bunayya!’ Read about that here.

Allāhu Hāfiz!