Nasīhatu Ahli Az-Zamān authored by Shaykh Mujaddid `Uthmān Dan Fodio rahimahullāh 30

🕌 *HALQAH SESSION*

Shaykh ‘Ulaysh, in his commentary on the Mukhtasar explained that what is meant here by Imām Khalīl is that whenever a group of Muslims apostate and then war against the Muslims, then they must be fought. And when they are caught prisoners, they must not be dealt with like Kuffar that are caught in war, but as Murtaddīn. Implying that they must be given a chance to repent after they have been caught. If they refuse, they are killed and their wealth taken as spoils. While their minors are made to return back into the Dīn without question. 

Shaykh Uthmān Dan Fodio – rahimahullāh – now said:

قال الشبرخيتي في هذا المحل في بيان معنى ذلك:
يستتاب الكبير ويجبر الصغير ويوقف المال ولا تسبى العيال، وهو فعل عمر رضي الله عنه وعليه جماعة العلماء وأئمة السلف إلا قليلا

Ash-Shabrakhītī said while expounding on the meaning of this:
“The Matured is made to repent while the minor is compelled (to return to the Dīn). The Wealth is frozen and their wives are not taken as bondswomen. This was the practice of ‘Umar – radiyallāhu ‘anhu – and it was the method favoured by a Party of the Ulamā and the Imams of the Salaf except a few.”

As for Ash-Shabrakhītī – rahimahullāh, he is the Polymath Shaykh, the Icon of Ilm in his time and the Mālikī Imām Ibrāhīm Ibn Mar’ī Ibn ‘Atiyyah Al-Mālikī, who lived in Misr. He passed away 1106 years after the Hijrah, drowning in the Nile river while Sailing to the city of Rashīd. This was mentioned by Az-Zarkalī in Al-A’alām. He authored many books as a contribution to the Mālikī School, Of them is his Sharh of the Mukhtasar to which Shaykh Uthmān Dan Fodio referred here. He said:

قال أصبغ:
كالكفار الحربيين يسترقون هم وأولادهم وعيالهم. ولعمري إنما هو أمر خالف فيه عمر أبا بكر في أهل الردة من العرب، فجعلهم أبو بكر الناقضين للعهد فقتل الكبار وسبى النساء والصغار وجرت فيهم المقاسم وفي أموالهم وهو فعل أبو بكر الصديق رضي الله عنه …انتهى

Asbagh said: (They be treated) like the Waring Kuffār by way of taking as slaves themselves, their children and their wives. And indeed it is a matter about which Umar differed with Abū Bakr with regards to the People of Riddah among the Arabs. Thus Abū Bakr took them as People who broke their Covenants, killed their matured and took their women and minors as slaves. Likewise they and their properties were divided like spoils. It was indeed the doing of Abū Bakr As-Siddīq radiyallāhu ‘anhu.” end quote

He is Asbagh Ibn Al-Faraj Ibn Sa’īd Ibn Nāfi’ and the Muftī of Egypt. He was one of the Mālikī Imams who studied from the Students of Mālik and Al-Layth and from whom Al-Bukhārī learnt. He passed away 225 hijrah. May Allāh be merciful to him.

The Shaykh said:

قلت: وعلى هذا فلا ننكر إنكار الحرام على من استرقهم وأولادهم وعيالهم وإن كان المشهور عدم جواز ذلك لأنه من المسائل التي اختلف العلماء في حكمها وإن كان ترك ذلك أفضل لكونه من باب الورع

“I say: and based on this, we do not rebuke by way of impermissibility the one who takes them, their children and their wives as slaves even though what is official is the impermissibility of that. This is because it is of the matters about whose Ruling the ‘Ulamā differed. Even though its leaving is better for the fact that it is among the matters of scrupulousness.”

Then the Shaykh completed this by commenting that based on this difference of opinion as espoused by Imām Asbagh and Ash-Shabrakhītī, the people may not rebuke others on this.

I say, and from Allāh comes guidance and mercy, that this door is not of those that must be left open to the shallow minds of the commoner Muslims. Had that been the case, then people would justify for themselves things that are not in the furthest stretch of sense, permissible in the Sharī’ah. The ‘Ulamā are in agreement, as mentioned by Ibn An-Nahhās in _Mashāri Ashwāq_ that Al-Jihād Bi An-Nafs (Physical waging of Jihād) is divided into two;

It is Jihād Ad-Daf’ (that which is defensive), and it is when the Muslim lands and peoples have been attacked and invaded by the enemies or their proxies

And then Jihādu At-Talab (that which is expansive), and it is after the Muslim State is established and the Muslim Leader and Imām have been established, fulfilling all its conditions of establishment and strength, the Imām decides that it was imperative to expand the borders of the Muslim Lands.

The first is characterized by weakness and the Ummah is called upon to rise in its defence, until the Opponent is subdued and the invasion repelled. Its like is what happens today in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and other Countries. We ask Allāh to grant them victory. In this case, the Ulamā have agreed that Matters of State must be decided only by the Leader of the Muslims in that State and not left to the discretion of individuals

Therefore, matters of Slave taking , collection of the Jizyah and others are subject to Establishment (Tamkīn), Strength (Quwwah) and the Wise Decision and Ijtihād of the Imām of the Muslims in that place.

That said, there is no rightness attributed to the ignorant deeds of the Boko Harām, and a person that uses statements such as this  of Imām Asbagh – rahimahullāh – is decontextualizing our texts. If it is said: to the Boko Harām, they already have a state, they already have an Amir, they already have the strenght, then we say:

Your weakness is evident in your inability to protect the reputation of Islām from being soiled by your careless deeds.

The referral of matters of State to the discretion of the Imām by Islām is so that the Imām takes a position that is to the general interest of the Ummah and to Islām. It is agreed upon by the Ulamā that whenever a person is seen to be a Muslim Proponent, it is obligatory upon him to be careful as to the negativity his actions may bring to Islām. This is of course, without compromising any of Islām.

We ask Allah to guide us to that which is right, āmīn.

It remains to be said that the position mentioned by Imām Uthmān Dan Fodio here concerning not rebuking the one that holds the position of Imām Asbagh, is weak because this matter is one of State and whose decision in any given Land must be made by the Imām of those Muslims such as himself in that particular situation and any contrary position should be treated as a disobedience of the Muslim leader.

We shall stop here and continue in the next Halqah

Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran

Assalāmu alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.

7th Shâban 1439H
(22/04/2018)

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