Belief in the Angels, Books and the Messengers

Belief in Angels, Books and Messengers

Fiqh (jurisprudence) is a delicate subject and before diving into rulings and Hadiths we must first build a strong foundation of knowledge about the essentials. This post will discuss the fundamentals of belief. There are three types of creations:

Belief in Angels:

This is to believe in the existence of Allah’s angels. What are angels? They are honoured servants of Allah, who do not disobey Him and do as they are commanded. This is proven in the Qur’an where Allah (SWT) says: "They do not disobey Allah's commands that they receive; they do precisely what they are commanded" (Quran 66:6). They are a creation made from light (noor). They have no free will and are given one specific command from Allah-mainly worship. Angels do not eat and drink or require any sleep. They are not characterized by gender, but they can change form. Angels have different levels of honours-among them are the higher angels and the messenger angels.  

There are 6 things we have to believe in Angels:

• This is to believe the existence of Angels
• They are the honoured servants of Allah (SWT)
• They do not disobey Him & do as they are commanded
• Not characterised by gender
• They do not require food or drink
• Each angel has been given a service to perform

There are four main angels:

1. Gibril – The command that has been set to Gibril is to convey revelation (wahi) and to communicate with the Prophets.
2. Israfil – The command that has been set to Israfil is to blow the trumpet to signal the day of Judgement on Allah’s command.
3. Izrael – The command that has been set to Izrael is to control the weather and provisions.
4. Mikael – Mikael is the Angel of Death, his job is to ensuring the extraction of the soul.

There are also different categories of Angels. These are:

• Hafazah angels – these types of angels are called the preservers. The Hafazah angels are the protective angels. For example, when someone reads the verse of the Throne (Ayatul-Kursi) then the hafazah angels have the job of protecting you. All the Hadith about protection refers to the Hafazah angels.
• Kiraman Katibin – these types of angels are constantly beside man recording every action that he does. These angels record deeds.
• Jundullah – these types of angels are called the ‘soldiers of Allah’. They assist Muslims in battle. For example, in the battle of Badr when the Muslims were outnumbered by the opposition Allah commanded these angels to descend and assits the Muslims in battle.
• Hamalatul-Arsh – these types of angels are the ones who hold the Throne of Allah.
• Munkar and Nakir - these are two angels that ask the three questions to the dwellers of the grave after they are placed into the grave. The questions are: Who is your Lord? What is your din? And who was the one who came with the message?
• Dara’di - these types of angels are called the traveller angels. They guide the travellers in need.
• Malik – Malik is the chief angel who looks over the Zabania.
• Zabania – these types of angels are the guards of Jahannam. (19 angels)

Belief in the Books:

This is to believe in all the books revealed by Allah. The main books are the four: the Torah of Musa (AS) (Moses), the Zabur of Dawud (AS) (David), the Injeel of ‘Isa (AS) (Jesus) and The Qur’an of Prophet Muhammad (SAW);. Though divinely revealed, the Torah, Psalms and Gospel have all been altered by men, and their laws were abrogated apart from the Qur’an. As the Qur’an is the last and final divine revelation it has terminated all the other books. Its injunctions will remain valid for all time. The previous books provided laws for the other nations, but now the Qur’an has been revealed the other books have been suspended.

Belief in the Messengers:

This is to believe in all the prophets and messengers of Allah, the first of whom is Adam (AS) and the last our Master Muhammad (SAW). Every prophet was sent to a specific tribe (i.e Musa and the Children of Isreal), apart from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was sent for all of mankind.

The Prophets had jobs that they were sent to fulfil:

• Read the book that had been revealed
• Cleanse the hearts of the people spiritually
• Teach them the book – its interpretations and its rulings

The difference between prophets and messengers is that the Prophets are those chosen servants of Allah, who have been sent without a scripture whereas the messengers have a book.

There are five characteristics that are necessary for all messengers:

1. Truthfulness
2. Trustworthiness
3. Conveying the message
4. Intelligence
5. Sinlessness – there is a difference between sins and mistakes. The messengers were all ma’sum, immune to sin.

It is essential we know about the angels, the books revealed by Allah and the messengers as they are the fundamentals of faith.

And Allah knows best.

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (RH)

Abu ‘Abdullah Ahmad Ibn Hanbal ash-Shaybani (Rahmatullahi-alai) was born in Baghdad in the moth Rabee’ul-Awwal in the year 164 (AH). His father was amongst the soldiers of Marw, he died while still a youth and Imam Ahmad was raised as an orphan as it is said that his mother fled from Marw and took Ahmad with her. Abul-Fadl Saalih Ibn Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said, ‘I heard my father saying, ‘I was born in the year 164 (AH), in the beginning of Rabee’ul-Awwal.’’

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal travelled extensively in quest of knowledge and studied various subjects in his hometown. Imam Ad-Dhabi describes Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal as, ‘The true Shaykh of Islam and leader of the Muslims in his time, the master of Hadith and proof of the religion.’ Imam Ahmad was interested in acquiring knowledge of Hadith and travelled through Iraq, Syria, Arabia and other places in the Middle East studying religion and collecting Hadith of the Prophet (SAW). Abul-Fadl Saalih Ibn Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said: ‘My father said, ‘I studied Hadith when I was sixteen years old.’’ His travels occupied several years of his life. After returning home, he became a student of Imam Shafi’e who taught his Islamic Fiqh and its fundamentals. Imam Shafi’e (RH, d. 204 AH) further states, “I left Baghdad, and I did not leave behind me a man better, having more knowledge, or greater fiqh (understanding), nor having greater taqwaa (piety) than Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.” This proves to us the dedication and commitment Imam Ahmad had to learn the religion of Allah (SWT).

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal was very firm in faith and due to this he was imprisoned, like the other great imaams, but he potentially submitted to corporal punishment and yet refused to deviate from his beliefs. He had two knowledge imparting-circles: a special one at his home for student with great zeal for knowledge and another general dars (lesson) following the ‘Asr prayer for ordinary knowledge-seekers. He taught a number of keen students. Most eminent among them was Abu Bakr Al-Maruzy, who was close to him and most liked by him on account of his knowledge, truthfulness, morality and integrity. Imam Ahmad had a heart unattached to worldly affairs, Abu Dawud (d. 257 AH) said: ‘The lectures of Imam Ahmad were sittings of the Hereafter. He would not mention in them anything of the worldly affairs; and I never saw him mention this world.’ Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal is the founder of the Hanbali school of thought.

Imam Ahmad compiled a great encyclopaedia of Ahadith called ‘Al-Musnad’, a collection of Hadith that served as the basis of his school of legal thought, the Hanbali Madhab. It was compiled during his lifetime and by his son ‘Abdullah. Al-Musnad contains over 30,000 Ahadith which include discipline of Salah, matters of ‘Aqidah and much more. After a lifetime of great achievements the imam dies in the year 241 (AH), on Friday on the twelfth of Rabee’ul-Awwal, he was buried in Baghdad.

And Allah knows best.    

Imam Malik Ibn Anas (RH)

Imam Malik (Rahmatullahi-‘alai) also known as Abu Abdullah (Kuniyya) was a faqih which means a person who is an expert in Fiqh and Islamic law. He was born in Madina in the year 711 (AH) in the era of the tabi’een, 79 years after the death of the noble Prophet (SAW) but his nationality was originally Yemeni. Imam Malik Ibn Anas (RH) is one of the four great imams and founder of the Maliki school of thought. His grandfather moved to Madina during the reign of ‘Umar Ibn Khattab (RA). Both his father and grandfather studied the topic of religious sciences under the companions of Madina and therefore Imam Malik was brought up in an Islamic environment. He started off learning Islam from his father and also his uncle. Imam Malik went onto master the sciences of Fiqh, Hadith and Tafsir in Madina.

During his childhood he would never set foot outside Madina Munawwarah for purposes of acquiring knowledge, he was surrounded by the knowledge of the tabi’een in Madina, even his own house was a resource for acquiring knowledge. His teachers were the following: Nafi’i (a prominent scholar in his own right), Abdur-Rahman Ibn Hurmuz, Safwaan Ibn Sulaym, Ibn Shihaab Zuhri and much more.  It was through his determination and great zeal for knowledge that at the age of 17 he had acquired a vast amount of Islamic knowledge that with the approval of his teachers and scholars Imam Malik (RA) was given permission to give fatwaas (theories). Imam Malik (RH) continued seeking knowledge into his 20s and 30s in which he began to teach in Masjid Al-Nabawi with the Qur’an in one hand and a book of Hadith in the other, answering questions according to those sources. He was later known as the Shaykh of Madina as he used to narrate Hadiths with the most authentic chain of narrations. Imam Malik went on to compile a collection of Hadiths called ‘Al-Muatta’ (The Approved) which is authentic saying of the Prophet (SAW) containing 61 chapters, this is why Imam Malik is unique out of the four imaams. Al-Muatta is placed on the same level (sometimes above) the compilations of Bukhari and Muslim. Imam Shafi’e comments: ‘There is no book on earth, after the Qur’an that is more authentic than al-Muatta.’ Taahir Ibn Khalid al-Aylee relates from his father, form Ibn ‘Uyaynah who said: ‘Maalik did not convey a Hadith, except that it was authentic, and he did not relate except from one who was thiqah (reliable). And I have only seen al-Madina waste away after his death,’ meaning in terms of knowledge[1]. Imam Malik’s prominent students were Imam Abu Yusuf (RH), Muhammad Al-Shaybani-both of which were students of the great Imam Abu Hanifa (RH) - and Imam Malik also taught Imam Shafi’e (RH).

Imam Malik was an extremely humble person who refused to narrate Ahadith while walking out of respect of the words of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). He also would not ride animals on the same ground that the Holy Prophet (SAW)’s feet touched. Imam Malik Ibn Anas -also known as Abu Abdullah- died on the fourteenth of Rebee’ul-Awwal, in the year 179 (AH). So the leader, ‘Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Muhammad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas al-Hashimi prayed over him[2]. Imam Malik (RH) is buried in Jannahtul-Baqee, cemetery in Madina.

And Allah knows best.

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[1] The Creed of the Four Imaams - Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Khumayyis

[2] The Creed of the Four Imaams - Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Khumayyis

Imam Muhammad Ibn Idris Ash-Shafi’e (RH)

Imam Shafi’e is the architect of the Shafi’e school of thought. He was born in Gaza, Palestine in the year 150 (A.H), the year Imam Abu Hanifa (RH) passed away. Imam Shafi belonged to the noble tribe of the Quraysh and he originated from the Hashim family, he was from the same lineage as the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Since he was born in Makkah he was brought up in an Arab environment and he was in contact with various Arab tribes therefore deepening his knowledge of the Arabic language and literature. At the age of 7, Imam Muhammad Ibn Idris Ash-Shafi’e had already memorised the entire 604 pages of the Qur’an. At the age of 13 he had memorised the whole Muatta of Imam Malik which is one of the prominent collections of Hadith (1720 saying on Fiqh). He later travelled to Madina in which he studied Fiqh and Hadith with Imam Malik Ibn Anas in which Imam Malik was impressed by Imam Shafie’s intelligence and then provided his with financial assistance in order for him to stay and learn fiqh. He also pursued studies in Baghdad with Imam Muhammad Ibn Hasan Ash-Shaibani, who was a disciple of Imam Abu Hanifa (RH). He was honoured by Imam Malik (RH) and other scholars of Madina at the age of 15 when they all consented to declare him a Mufti. Imam Shafi’e passed away in Qairo (Egypt) at the age of 54 after a short illness. The Shafi’e school of thought is dominant in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Egypt. There are Prophetic Hadiths predicting the coming of Imam Shafi’e (RH), the Prophet (SAW) said: “Oh Allah! Guide Quraysh, for the science of the scholar that comes from them will encompass the earth. Oh Allah! You have let the first of them taste bitterness, so let the latter of them taste reward!” (Al-Bayhaqi, strong chain of narration)[1]

Imam Shafi’e was one of the prominent scholars of linguistic science if classical Arabic. He had memorised thousands of poems of Arab poets and he is considered one of the great scholars of Arabic literature by the authors, scholars and writers of classical Arabic. Some of Imam Shafie’s eminent teachers were: Muslim Bin Khalid Al-Zangi (Mufti in Makkah), Malik Bin Anas (RH, founder of the Malik school of thought) and Ibrahim Bin Yahya (Prominent scholar of Madina). Imam Shafi’e was also a prominent scholar of Arab history and also studied Astronomy and Medicine. He was a skilled debater and held a strong position among the scholars of Hadith. He wrote about 123 books on Islamic issues/subjects, ‘Kitab-ul-‘ilm’ is his marvellous collection of Hadith covering 140 topics, containing 4000 pages in 7 volumes. Imam Shafi’e also compiled two other collection of Hadith known as ‘Kitab-ul-Mabsoot’ and ‘Musnad Assh-Shaif’e’. In one of his books on the principles of Fiqh (Kitab-ul-Risalah) he has outlined the regulations that govern the methodology of Fiqh, in the light of the Qur’an and the Hadith. This is an academic work of the highest standard.

Imam Muhammad Ibn Idris Ash-Shafi was a master of Fiqh and Hadith. Hundreds of students from all over the world travelled to learn under Imam Shafi’e and attend his discourses. According to one report, people had seen 700 horses and camels and other transports at one time outside his home. From this we can see that Imam Shafi’e was a prominent and popular teacher. His prominent students were the following: A teacher of Imam Bukhari, Imam Abu Bakr Abdullah Ibn Zubair Hamidi of Makkah (d. 219 AH), a teacher of Imam Muslim, Imam Hurmala Ibn Yahya of Egypt (d. 244 AH), another teacher of Imam Bukhari and Imam Abu Dawud and Imam Tirmizi (RH), Imam Hasan Ibn Muhammad of Baghdad (d. 259 AH), Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (RH) (d. 241 AH), founder of the Hanbali school of though and a great scholar of Fiqh and Hadith. Imam Shafi’e was born in Gaza, studied in Makkah, Madina and Baghdad then travelled to Makkah where he stayed for nine years delivering lectures on Islamic Law and went on to and settled down in Egypt until he died.

Imam Shafi’e is recorded to have kept the company of learned people till the very end of his life, it is recorded he spent his last days in the company of Abdullah Ibnul Hakam, a well known scholar of his time. It is said he died on a Friday in the Islamic calendar month of Rajab at the age of 54 in the year 204 AH. The Governor of Egypt, acknowledging his academic distinction led his funeral prayers.

And Allah knows best.

      

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[1] http://www.shafiifiqh.com/the-biography-of-imam-ash-shafii/#footnote_4_579

Allah's attributes

Allah’s attributes can be split up into three categories: personal attributes, negative attributes and affirmative attributes (see more from image below). It is important that before we explore the rulings of Fiqh we are fully conscious of Allah and His oneness. We must fully understand his attributes to gain conformity in His existence.

Allah’s negative attributes. A lot of us will be confused by this category as the word negative has denotations of bad, gloomy, anti and more. We must understand that ‘negative attributes’ means those attributes that cannot be found in Allah (SWT) because they are below His Honour and Majesty. The first attribute associated in negative is ‘Beginninglessness’ this is referring to Allah (SWT) as the first (Awwal) and the last, the word ‘Awwal’ is one of the 99 names of Allah and it is mentioned 60 times in the Holy Qur’an and it means to be Alone, Apart, Unique. In Surah Hadid: 3, Allah the Almighty says: “Allah is the first and the last”. This tells us that nothing came before Him nor will any being like Him come after. In another verse of the Qur’an Allah the Exalted says: “And do not say Allah is 3, Allah is One and free from any children.” (Surah Nisa: 102) This verse is directed towards the Christians and it is more evidence that Allah is free from any partners. He is One.

The second attribute is ‘endlessness’, this attribute shows us that Allah (SWT) has no ending, His existence is infinite and there is no one above his rank of Majesty.

The third attribute is ‘oneness’, the oneness of Allah is also known as Tawhid. So why is it negative attribute? Because Allah is One and just thinking about a partner associated with Allah is below His Majesty (Jalal), this links with the first attribute however it just adds emphasis to the fact that Allah is alone and independent.

The forth attribute is ‘self-subsistence’. What this means is someone who does not rely on anyone-independent of all needs. The whole of Surah Ikhlas is about Allah’s self-subsistence.
“Say He is Allah, the One. He is self-subsistence. He does not have any children nor will He have any children. Nor is there anyone to Him equivalent.” (Surah 112:1-4)

The fifth and final negative attribute of Allah is His ‘Absolute dissimilarity to created things’. This means Allah (SWT) is unique in every aspect and cannot be compared to anyone or anything. A person’s mind cannot comprehend and think of a specific word or object to compare to Allah, because Allah himself is the creator of all objects. Thus, a creator cannot be similar to its creation.

And Allah Knows best.

The Characteristics of Imam Abu Hanifa

Imam Abu Hanifa was imprisoned twice by the khalifs at his time. The empire at his time was the Umayyad and the leader of this party’s name was Yazid. As Imam Abu Hanifa was a master in jurisprudence, Yazid offered Imam Abu Hanifa the chance to become a judge and Imam Abu Hanifa refused. Why did he refuse? Judges play a dirty game; they can be bias in their decisions with behind the scene discussions. Imam Abu Hanifa saw it as more of a burden than a job.

Yazid became angry and tried to force Imam Abu Hanifa to become a governor, Abu Hanifa continued to refuse the job which resulted with him being imprisoned for months. Due to his popularity as a scholar, his fame and knowledge saw him released from prison.

After the Umayyad Empire collapsed a new empire rose called the Abbasid Empire. The Abbasid Empire also offered Imam Abu Hanifa a job as a judge but once again Imam Abu Hanifa refused and therefore was imprisoned. He was tortured and poisoned which resulted in his death. He was buried in Baghdad and his funeral was done 6 different times with over 50 thousand attendants. (80 A.H -150 A.H)

Imam Abu Hanifa was a very rich and honest man. He had no love for the dunya or wealth. He was a very humble man and he paid his students to learn from him. Imam Abu Hanfia had very high Taqwa and was always conscious of Allah (SWT). Imam Abu Hanifa used to cry when reading the Qur’an. He gave charity regularly and his main student was Imam Abu Yusuf.

A lot of people do not approve of the teachings of Imam Abu Hanifa despite his knowledge as there isn’t much information about him studying Hadiths. They say he was an expert in analogy and opinion and that’s why people say he lacked in Hadith studies. In fact Imam Abu Hanifa made a book on Hadith called ‘Kitabul-Athar’ and Imam Abu Hanifa’s main teacher; Hammad Ibn Sulieman taught Hadith as well as Fiqh to Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa’s student named Makki Ibn Ibrahim narrates some Hadiths which are mentioned in Sahih Bukhari, this shows us that Imam Abu Hanifa also learnt and taught Hadiths.  

And Allah knows best.

Who was Imam Abu Hanifa?

Imam Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Hanafi School of Thought, but to follow his research we must first know what kind of a man he was, otherwise we would be blindly following a man we know nothing about whose work may be unauthentic. Even if you don’t follow the Hanafi school of thought all four imams had massive respect for each other so we should learn about them. In sha Allah at the end of this lesson we should have gained love and trust for Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa (Rahmatullahi-Alai) was born in Kufa, in Iraq. Abu Hanifa was his nickname (Kuniyya) his actual name was Nu’man Ibn Thabit; his ancestors were originally from Persia until his Grandfather named Zuta migrated to Kufa in Iraq where Abu Hanifa was born. Why did they migrate to Kufa? In that time everyone had an empire, after the death of the Prophet (SAW) the next three rulers (Caliph) Abu Bakr (RA), ‘Umar Ibn Khattab (RA) & Uthmaan (RA) were based in Saudi Arabia. When ‘Ali (RA) became Caliph he transferred their base to Kufa because a lot of his followers persuaded him and invited him to Kufa. So you can image ‘Ali (RA) with thousands of companions following him to Kufa. Abu Haifa’s father was a rich business man. Abu Hanifa was born (80 After Hijri) [approximately 60 years after the Prophet (SAW) passed away. So you can image Abu Hanifa growing up in an Islamic environment, surrounded by Sahaba (companions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)). He was in the first sight of knowledge.

There are 3 specific places for seeking knowledge. To learn about Hajj you travel to Makkah, to learn the meaning of the Qur’an you travel to Madina, to learn the topic of Fiqh you travel to Kufa. So Imam Abu Hanifa grew up in an environment of Fiqh. Out of all the four imams, Imam Abu Hanifa was born first and had the honour to see the Sahaba, he was a Taba’iee (Someone who sees the Sahaba and dies a Muslim). The last companion to pass away was Abu Tufayl who died in 102 A.H; Abu Hanifa was 22 years old when Abu Tufayl died. So now we know that Abu Hanfia was the closest to the Prophet (SAW) out of the four imams in terms of years.

Imam Abu Hanifa memorised Qur’an at a very young age. As time went by he stopped learning Hadith and Fiqh and started helping his father with his business until an incident happened which would change him form a worker to a student. Once Abu Hanifa was walking by and he passed by a man called Sha’abee, Sha’abee was a very learned man at this time. He gave talks to groups outside the mosque. When Sha’abee saw Abu Hanifa walking by he said, “Who do you learn by.” Abu Hanifa replied, “I’m not learning for anyone, I’m on my way to work.” Sha’abee then responded with a response that would change Abu Hanfia’s life. He replied by saying, “Lean knowledge and sit in the company of learned men. I see the sign of intelligence and energy in you.” Later that day Abu Hanifa would go home and reflect upon what Sha’abe said to him and then changed himself from a worker to a student.
There are two qualities that a person must have in order to be a good student. These are intelligence and energy. Without these two traits the person will not go far. After the incident, Imam Abu Hanifa stopped working and instead he went to study. He devoted his whole time to study knowledge aged 22. As his father was finically stable he wasn’t under the stress of fees.
Imam Abu Hanifa’s teacher, Hammad Ibn Sulieman who was also a Taba’iee learned from the companions and was a master of Fiqh in Kufa. Hammad Ibn Sulieman dies in 122 AH which shows that Imam Abu Hanifa studied under the same teacher for 18 years.

And Allah knows best.

Thank you for reading, more to come on the four imams In Sha Allah.