Lesson 9 on the explanation of Usool us-Sittah (The Six Principles) is now available. You can listen to or download it here:

Lesson 9.mp3

The Fourth Foundation

An explanation of [what is] knowledge and [who are] the scholars, and [what is] fiqh (understanding), and [who are] the fuquha (jurists). And an explanation of the one who tries to resemble them but is not from them.

Allah has explained this foundation at the beginning of Surah al-Baqarah in His statement: “O Children of Israel. Remember my favour which I bestowed upon you, and fulfil my covenant and I will fulfil yours” (2:40), up until His saying: “O Children of Israel. Remember my favour which I bestowed upon you and how I favoured you over all the worlds” (2:47).

And what increases this in clarity is what has been explained by the Sunnah concerning this [affair] with abundant, clear and manifest speech [that is clear] for the common person.

Then this affair became the strangest of things, and knowledge and understanding were considered to be innovations and misguidance, and the best of what was with them was truth mixed with falsehood. And the actual knowledge that Allah the Most High obligated upon His creation and which He praised, then no one spoke of it, except [that he was considered] a heretic or insane person. And as for the one who rejected [this knowledge] and authored in warning against it, and prohibiting it, then he was considered to be the insightful jurist and scholar.

The text of Usool us-Sittah can be found here: The Six Principles (Arabic and English).pdf

Points or topics discussed in the lesson:

• The explanation of Shaykh Muhammad Amaan al-Jamee (rahimahullah) regarding the fourth principle.
• Knowledge is a praiseworthy quality just as ignorance is a blameworthy quality.
• Discussion and explanation of the hadith narrated by Aboo Musa al-Asharee (radiyallahu ‘anhu) and reported in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim: The Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “The example of guidance and knowledge with which Allah has sent me is like abundant rain falling on the earth, some of which was fertile soil that absorbed rain water and brought forth vegetation and grass in abundance. (And) another portion of it was hard and held the rain water and Allah benefited the people with it and they utilized it for drinking, making their animals drink from it and for irrigation of the land for cultivation. (And) a portion of it was barren which could neither hold the water nor bring forth vegetation (then that land gave no benefits). The first is the example of the person who comprehends Allah’s religion and gets benefit (from the knowledge) which Allah has revealed through me (the Prophets and learns and then teaches others. The last example is that of a person who does not care for it and does not take Allah’s guidance revealed through me (He is like that barren land.)”.
• These are three types of people in relation to ilm and fiqh:
  1) Some people have ilm and fiqh together,
  2) Other people have ilm (by way of memorisation) but they don’t have fiqh (understanding).
  3) Some people who have neither, don’t bother acquiring knowledge so therefore they have no fiqh either.
• This third category unfortunately is the state and condition of many of those who ascribe to Islam. They turn away from knowledge and they turn away from understanding.
• Genuine scholar is one who has ilm and fiqh. These are the ulema who are the cultivating scholars, who nurture the people. They teach the people the foundations first, small concise types of knowledge first and then they take steps and work in stages to make the people understand the Deen of Allah.
• The true scholars are the ulema and fuqaha who have knowledge of the aqidah, shariah, the texts, and they act upon it, understand it, benefit from it and others as well. They benefit other people by giving them tarbiyyah (cultivation) with the right types of knowledge at every stage. This is how they do things.
• Many people have tried to resemble the ulema and the fuqaha in this period, in this time, and most of them are small students of knowledge and because there so many of them, this label of scholar, aalim, has been used very very loosely, and everyone has become an aalim, a scholar
• What happens is that these younger people when they start to assume themselves to be scholars, then they try to belittle the genuine scholars and they try to call the people away from the genuine scholars. This is what you see, especially in many of the western lands.