From heart to heart

I know that you have just entered the phase called youth. As for me, I know that I did not manage my time properly. Today, when I want to do what I have missed in my youth, I see that either I do not have time or my health does not allow me. My youngsters! I do not want that what has happened to me, to happen to you. You must know how to manage your time and courage because you will not get it again.

It was not too long ago that you have started learning Deen. Let’s say you know English, French and a little of Arabic. However, with this minute knowledge, you claim to understand Qur’an and Hadith better than the former great 'Ulama. You claim to understand Deen by yourself when the great 'Ulama, the scholars of Tafseer and the scholars of Hadith, had to follow certain Imams to follow Deen. The channel where you want to sail your boat, has drowned great ships. If you are saved, it will be a great miracle. However, everyone does not do miracles. You risk losing your Deen if you are not careful.

***I understand that you are still young. You lack experience. That is why you really want to do things properly, but it does not work out this way. This is because you do not know certain principles. Moreover, those with whom you are communicating are also young, naïve and have no experience. Let me tell you a principle that will always be useful to you. If you want to follow Deen as should be followed, see those whom your elders have followed. The elders are those who have knowledge of Deen and the willpower to practice it. This quality is most evident in the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum). So, see what the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced and what their students also, that is, the Taabi'in have practiced.

When all the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced something in a certain way and you see a Hadith that is contrary to that, then, you should follow what the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced because they know the purport of each Hadith along with its correct application better than you. If you take only Hadith and due to this, you forsake what the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced, you will commit a major mistake because you will demolish an established and well-structured practice on the basis of a mere Hadith that you cannot claim to understand better than the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum). You should know that a Hadith of such type is an isolated and strange Hadith, even if it appears to be authentic. What must be followed in this context is what the vast majority of the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced. For example, the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced 20 Rak’at of Taraweeh. Similarly, the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have considered three Talaaq that have been pronounced at once as three. The Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have made the Khutbah of Jumm'ah in Arabic language. We should follow what they have followed.

Is it correct to abandon what the Sahaabah-e-Kiraam (Radiyallahu Anhum) have practiced on the statement of some merchants who are creating disorder, confusion and dissension in the community by changing the practices that have been established from time immemorial?

You should know that there are enormous advantages in adhering to these four Mazhab, and there are great chaos by turning your back on them. (Iqd-ul-Jeed by Shah Waliyullah Dehlavi)

[English version of "Du coeur à coeur" – Al Jamiat – Vol.2 No.14]