Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf), through different stages in Islamic history.
Who is willing to discuss this?
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
seems like two very different topics no?
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
What do you want to discuss?
Actually, ravage, now a days, this will seem two very distinct topics since we have given up development of Islamic law to lawyers and spirituality to imams in the masjid. However, if you look at the example of early days of Islam, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and the rightous khulaffa were both a source of fiqh as well as the leader of spiritual development for muslims in the community.
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
Yes they have become different things now, but they stem from same common source.
I want to discuss what shape law and spirituality had in early days and their gradual development later on.
From a purely historical pint of view, without trying to judge anyone right or wrong. In this way we can avoid conflict and have an insight into these subjects.
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
maybe the motivation was the same, but i think tasawwuf is a very specific thing quite different from spirituality in general. likewise fiqh is very different from court rulings given at the outset of Islam, infact I believe both terms came in use much later. so i dont think at any point were tasawwuf and fiqh truly joined together for those who really developed these concepts. while they may have justified their efforts after the fact by tracing them to the same sources, they were as far as I know mostly at the opposite ends of the Islamic spectrum, with the famous exception being Ghazali.
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
:) Alhamdulillah a very beneficial topic to discuss. But Tasawwuf is something that only certain people are able to realise and so we cannot discuss it in a general comparison and expect it to apply to everyone, or even for everyone to understand. So, I think it is more appropriate to discuss the status of Law and Morality in Shari'a. First we need to agree on the definitions of the terms we are discussing.
Bismillah irRahman irRaheem.
First and foremost, it is crucial to be unambiguous with what is meant by the term sharī’a. There tends to be an oversimplification and a misuse of this word, it often being used interchangeably and confusingly with ‘Islamic law’. This noun is derived from the root letters sha,* ra* and ‘a, which means to enter, to untie, to prescribe, to make laws, or* to devise a plan*. The word sharī’a *is, along with various other derivatives from this root, classically rendered as *an approach to a water hole, a drinking place *and also *the revealed canonical law of Islam and is aptly defined by a Western scholar, Weiss, as being ‘the divine categorizations of human acts.’ Fazlur Rahman refers to sharī’a as, ‘the divinely ordained pattern of human conduct.’ In addition, the objectives of sharī’a are short term but ultimately for a long range objective.
By law, we mean the body of rules established in a community in order to enjoin or prohibit certain actions, the repercussions of which are, more commonly, dealt with by authorities in the present life. It is not, in this context, interpreted as an instrument of political convenience to attain social acceptability. By morality, we mean the degree to which one conforms to the body of rules that are of an ethical and indirectly demanding nature, the consequences of which are believed to be dealt with in The Hereafter as well as in the present life. They are often related to divine-human disputes or God-consciousness.
Are we in agreement so far? :)
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
I agree with abeer that perhaps its better to leave Tasawuff at present.
I agree with ravage too that proably "tasawuff" as we know of today is quite different from Fiqh, i actually meant spirtuality in Islam. However as at present we r not going to discuss spirtuality, lets focus on Islamic Law.
Abeer, i would rather like to discuss Islamic Law. Lets just look at the development of "sharia"(i agree with definitions u gave) from a purely logical and historical point of view.
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
basic question for all
1-before the four sunni schools and one shia fiqah were formed at about the same time, what fiqh did the earlier muslim follow?
2-salafis say that they follow the "salaf" but such different narrations and traditions can be quoted from the first 3 generations that many are literally oppositte of the other so which member of salaf is more trustworthy ?...and who determines that?
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
What i wanted to suggest is that, lets not try to determine who is trustworthy or who is right or wrong. Lets just look at Development of Islamic law like an outsider.
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
Ok, logically and historically is perfect and we will refer to each when and where relevant inshaAllah :) . In order to get a discussion going, let us have a statement?
"In Shari'ah, morality is as important as law."
(if you do not wish to discuss this statement, please say so)
"Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek. Show us the straight way.”
[RIGHT]---The Holy Qur’an, **Surah Al-Fatiha, Verses 5-6**
**** [/RIGHT]
Sharī’a: the embodiment of The Divine Will. We should begin by looking at the nature and intention of the sharī’a because it is the human perception of this which determines its greatness and importance in the lives of Muslims. We should understand how the law of the sharī’a is imperative for a Muslim to remain God-conscious, in intention and action, and live according to the morals maintained by law. Evidence illustrates that morality is the result of following the path that God has outlined for mankind (in accordance with His Divine Will) and that path is paved with the bricks that are the sharī’a. A Muslim conducts his life along this path in order to realise The Divine Will of God.
The primary source of sharī’a, the Qur’an, is itself not a legal document but a system of ‘oughts and ‘ought nots', as Fazlur Rahman says. In its first intentions, the sharī’a provides a framework within which one has to exist according to moral limitations. Tahir Mahmoud pertinently refers to the law of the Qur’an as the ‘nucleus’ of sharī’a. To build on this idea, we can say that the law in the Qur’an represents its nucleus (moral aspirations) and also its outer shell (moral boundaries). It is the area within the atom where Hadith, Ijma’ (social concensus), and Qiyas (analogy) form their layers and a Muslim has to construct his life within this framework. According to such perceptions, the soul of sharī’a is therefore moral.
It is also perceived that the Qur’an, in particular, emphasises that the sharī’a is a complete guideline on how one should conduct his life on all levels, comprising such a range of topics leaving little room to distinguish between the importance of either morality or law, when neither has been considered irrelevant enough to entirely exclude. Where a law is decreed it is so that an individual may function effectively in society, creating a positive and safe environment in which an individual can focus on his spiritual duties. As Zafar Ishaq Ansari, from Islamabad, writes, ‘All these multifarious questions are mentioned in a manner that leaves no room to believe that any of them is too mundane to be of concern to God’.
The supplication (above) from Surah al-Fatiha also indicates this. The entire Qur’an, the primary source of the sharī’a, can be considered as a response to this single supplication opening the Qur’an. This prayer represents mankind’s innate need for an ideal method of living day to day life that provides satisfaction to the spiritual self, to the physical self and to the environment in which one resides. As the Qur’an is a primary source of sharī’a its intention here is understood as to lead mankind to the straight path and towards fulfilling The Divine Will of God. Therefore, the sharī’a can also be understood as the clearest possible, most articulate human perception of The Divine Will of God i.e. the embodiment of The Divine Will. This demonstrates that the purpose of the sharī’a is long range, extending further than the end of this life and therefore, what a Muslim does to attain success in The Hereafter (i.e. moral, god-conscious behaviour) is relevant to God as well as his worldly successes. The relationship between these two phases of judgement are also worth us discussing.
The Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) living among pagan Arabs in whose of idolatry, alcohol, infanticide and fornication were prevalent. The pre-Islamic Arabian lifestyle was distinctively lacking a common authority. The lack of effective legal boundaries was a likely culprit of the immoral lifestyle that was.
"The righteous will be amid Gardens and fountains of clear-flowing water.”
[RIGHT]---The Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Hijr, Verse 45[/RIGHT]
As the Qur’an was originally sent to the Arabs, some of whom lived in areas where sources of water caused harshness and inconvenience in daily life, it frequently refers to Paradise (above) as a well watered garden, thus indicating its apparent concern with the importance of water and moisture in Arab landscapes where, more often than not, the components of aridity and moisture are closely related to death and birth. So, it seems befitting that God should send the sharī’a as a life-source, i.e. an element which is imperative for existence itself, resulting in the ability for a spiritual, mental and physical self to be active. It is the substance without which progress towards The Divine Will, as a long range objective, is grim.
So, if the sharī’a is the embodiment of The Divine Will, it must ultimately pertain to The Day of Judgement. That which a court of law cannot punish an individual for (because it does not harm any other member of society), will be dealt with by God. So an individual’s God-consciousness (i.e. morality) is, by the nature of sharī’a, of supreme importance. Ones moral nature is the root of all actions.
So far?
Re: Development of Islamic Law(Fiqh) and Spirtualty(Tasawuuf)
Good question of brother Das Reich... I think before 4 imams...there were Imam Ozai..Imam sufian sauri......etc..umar(ra) ..ali(ra) ...... and abdullah ibne masuud(ra) also done a great ijtihad in large no. of matter...furthermore ..abu hanifa was born in 80 hijri..so not a large gap between caliphate and fiqah....