Flexibility of Muslim Law

One distinctive feature of Islam, which has gained universal admiration even among its staunch opponents who are sufficiently informed, is the flexibility of its law. The laws of Islam derive existence from two sources. Divine and mundane. Divine laws are those laws which were revealed to the holy Prophet, a large percentage of which are in the Holy Qur’an, while the mundane were laws made by the holy prophet Muhammed himself. Divine laws have supremacy over laws mad by the holy prophet Muhammed, while all other laws are inferior to these two.

It must again be emphasized that the entire Muslim law is based on right and wrong, good and bad, permissible and prohibited. God makes it clear in the Holy Qur’an how to determine what is good and permissible, as well as what is bad and forbidden. There is what is called “Asl” in Muslim law. It refers to the permissibility of things, that is origin, source, foundation, basis, fundamental or principle. The first Asl or principle established by Islam is that anything Allah created and the benefit derived from such are essentially for man’s use, and hence, are permissible, nothing is forbidden (Haram), except, what is prohibited by a sound and explicit ‘Nass’ from the law giver himself, Allah. What is ‘Nass?’ It denotes any verse from the Qur’an or clear authentic or explicit sunnah of the holy Prophet Muhammad(pboh)

So, if the mass is not sound as, for example, in the case of a weak Hadith, or if it is not explicit in stating the prohibition, the original principle of permissibility (Asl) applies. The following are some verses of the holy Qur’an that scholars have always made reference to with regard to the principle of natural permissibility.
It is he (Allah) who created all that is in Heaven and Earth for you……(Q.2:29)
He has subjected to you from himself, all that is in the Heavens and all that is on the Earth….(Q. 45:13)

Do you not see that Allah has subjected to you whatever is in the Heaven and what is on Earth, and has showered upon you his favors, both apparent and unseen?… (Q 31:20)

All these confirm that the sphere of prohibited things is small compared to that of permissible things which are very large.

It was in this regard that Prophet affirmed that, what Allah has made lawful in His books (Qur’an) is halal (permissible) and what he has forbidden is haram, and that concerning which he is silent is allowed as His favor, so accept Allah’s favor, for Allah is not forgetful of anything.

God himself confirms this when he says: And your Lord is not forgetful (Q.19:64)

Another point of Muslim law which we intend to draw reader’s attention to is the fact that, permissible (halal)and prohibition (haram )things, are not limited to items and objects of consumption alone, but, also include all human actions and behaviors, which may not relate to the strict acts of worship. Actions that may be termed living habits or day by day affairs of man are included. The principle of Asl gives general freedom without restriction, by the law giver himself. God says: Allah has explained to you what he has forbidden to you… (Q.6:119)

But, all these said, there is a complete departure when it comes to the issue of acts of worship. These are purely religious acts, the instruction of which can only be obtained from Allah through his revelation. The Holy Prophet made an affirmation on this aspect when he says:
Any innovation in our matter (religions worship) which is not a part of it must be rejected. (Bukhari)

This means that anyone who invents or originates a form of worship on his own, which is contrary to the one introduced by Allah through his chosen Prophets has gone astray. This is different from living habits which do not have to originate from Allah. Such day to day habits are accommodated, but Allah intervenes only to rectify, moderate or refine them where necessary. Some Islamic scholars have emphasized that Islam has divided human actions into two categories: the first is acts of worship. This has its origin from Allah and every stage of it must comply with divine rules and regulations binding it. These rules and regulations must be clear, specific and unambiguous. This is why learned Jurists, such as Imam Hambal and others, insist that as far as the acts of worship are concerned, the principle of limitation (Tawqeef) is the order. That is to say, nothing can be legislated in this regard, except, what Allah Himself has legislated. To do otherwise is to incur the risk of being included among those accused by the following verse:

” Do they have partners with Allah, who have prescribed for them in religion, that Allah has given no peermission? ” (Quran 42:21 )

To make lawful and prohibit particularly as relates to acts of worship is the exclusive right of Allah alone. Such right was not even given to our Holy Prophet, let alone, any other human being, regardless of his religious or worldly positions. I am aware that some brilliant minds might wish to take me up on that, but, let me quickly refer them to the response which the Holy Prophet himself offered in an almost similar circumstance.
” Salman al-farsi reported that when the messenger of Allah was asked about animal fat, cheese, and fur, he replied:

The halal is that which Allah has made lawful in his Books and the haram is that which he has forbidden, and that concerning which he is silent, he has permitted as a favor to you.

It can be seen that rather than giving specific answers on his own to what the questioner had asked, the Prophet referred him to the general criterion for determining the halal and haram as quoted above on the principle of natural permissibility.

These evidence make it imperative for our scholars and jurists to revisit and review the issue of what language to be adopted for prayer and other acts of worship in Islam. Since, Allah is silent on it.

It has also been established beyond doubt that neither Rabbis, nor Priests, Kings, Shehus, Shekhs, Jurists, Scholars, have the right to prohibit something permanently to Allah’s servants. Anyone who does so has exceeded his limit, and therefore, usurps the sovereignty which, with respect to legislating for the people, belongs to Almighty Allah alone, Whoever acquiesces with the transgression of such usurpers and acts upon what they have legislated has thereby, inadvertently, willfully or out of ignorance, carelessness or excessive meekness elevated such usurpers to the rank of partners or associates with Allah. Such people would need to respond to the following poser:
” Do they have partners with Allah who have prescribed for them in religion that concerning which Allah has given no permission? (Q.42:21)

A category of those who would suffer from arbitrary promulgation of laws are people lacking in any tangible knowledge of the practice of Islam. They are often referred to as mere followers. They don’t usually ask questions, but, follow any leader and carry out their orders dogmatically. They are the most dangerous and vulnerable, and they represent almost 55 per cent of the Muslims. They are easily manipulated and brainwashed to carry out nefarious activities which are often times unrelated to the religion of God.

Another category are among the technically minded the educated elites who need to be truly convinced why they have to follow the faith. They are the ones that hastily join other faiths when not sufficiently convinced, such action is called apostasy.

My main objective for writing and producing religions tracts, handouts and Islamic literatures since 1964. I started publishing a four-page newsletter which I called ” The Holy Qur’an Speaks ” in 1964. It was distributed every Friday to many mosques in Lagos, to all Muslim embassies, and through the Muslim Students Society, to secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This humble effort continued until, 1982 when the hole Quran speaks was converted to a weekly newspaper. The paper was launched Alhaji M.K.O. Abiola, under the distinguised chairmanship of Alhaji Ismail Babatunde Jose. Among the other dignitaries present at Lagos State Polytechnic where it was launched was Alhaji Fatai Masha, the then President of Ansar-ud-deen Society, Alhaji Uthman,President of my Society, Zumrat-ul-Islamiyah, Alhaji Abdul Salam Olatunde, Z.O Elias, and many other Muslim leaders across the country. Brother Alan Aroyewun was the editor.

With the holy Quran speaks becoming a weekly newspaper, we continued with the production of tracts under the name ” Islam the path to peace of mind “. We even produced a musical album on that title which was launched in 1997 by the late Alhaji Wahab Folawiyo,the Baba Adinni of Nigeria and chaired by Alhaji Abdul Lateef Adegbite. The Secretary General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

The occasion took place at Muson Centre, where many dignitaries both in and out of Nigeria, Including, representatives of Muslim Embassies in Nigeria were present. We started book publications in 1993 with ” the basics of Islamic knowledge for beginners. “

I believe one has been able to prove through this humble efforts to millions of Muslims who don’t speak Arabic that Islam is the simplest religion to practice and propagate. All that is needed is the interest to study it through any language one finds convenient.

I have narrated in one of my books about how I got converted to Islam at the age of fourteen years. At that time, may be probably due to adolescent exuberance, I got hooked to the religion and availed myself of every opportunity to learn something about it. Unfortunately, due to some inexplicable reasons, I couldn’t go far in Arabic lessons as I was saddled with other assignment that occupied my time. Initially, I used to envy my friends who had the time to continue and complete their Qur’an lesson which was called saoki of the Qur’an. That was where it ended anyway as few years after the Saoki, many of them could not read the Qur’an fluently anymore. Besides that, I noticed the lack of enthusiasm among my friends in the practice of their religion as compared to the attitudes of our Christian friends to Christianity and church programs. But, rather than got drawn to Christianity which was the religion of my birth and which I still used to, because, since the Qur’an was scarce and only available in Ilase (Ilase was a provincial headquarter of many towns and villages that bordered Nigeria and Benin Republic. It is about six kilometers to Idiroko.). Among the big alfas, and here was I with a lot of bible verses in my memory, I just continued to love Islam for no reason I could not explain. I would seize every available opportunity to get close to the only Alfa, the Imam of the town who was very friendly to ask questions.

The Noibi was not so approachable, people feared him and children were warned to stay away from him. Due to my love which fired my interest to know more about the religion. I got to know rudiments of prayer and some Islamic songs. I even joined the asalatu group, because, I love songs and entertaiment.

One thing I noticed and which I did not understand during my adolescent years was that Islam was not being properly and effectively propagated, like Christianity. A lot of people got attracted to it and really wished to imbibe it and live by its injunctions, but, most often their enthusiasm were dashed. They couldn’t go far due to so many obstacles. When one alfa tells you to do something this way another will come round to condemn that and say it is the other way. And if you don’t have the opportunity to cross-check and get personally convinced, you float like plastic on water. When people criticized the faith you have so much passion for, you keep quiet since you lack the fact to defend it. Beside that shortcoming, I discovered the lack of information literatures in small booklet and handouts which children and beginners could read to learn about the religion, unlike Christianity.

Even with the availability of the translated Qur’an in English which appeared year later, the confusion refused to abate. you are told what you have is not the original Qur’an, it is not authentic and hence, the knowledge you acquired through it is half-truth and so one could not be accepted as an alfa even if you wished to be one.

In another breadth, you are told a particular law is not Qur’anic, it is from the hadith, or if not from the Qiyas. Then you asked, where can I get the hadith and even the Qiyas? Majority of Muslim have never set their eyes on hadith, let alone the Qiyas.

The wish of every parent is to bring his child up in his chosen religion. We watch our Christian friends attend churches with their families-wives, children and others every sunday and feel jealous. Friday being a work day, most of us including our wives and children are not available to attend Friday prayer. We are busy at work while our children are busy in schools. We settle for asalat on Sundays at least to compensate for what we lost on Friday, but, the question remains, do we get fulfilment? Do we gain the right knowledge necessary not only to defend our religion, but, to convince ourselves about the reason for practicing it? Can we pass our knowledge to our family and friends? Can we dream of a day when our children will be alfa leading Islamic congregation in a similar way the children of our Christian friends are becoming pastors and church leaders and elders?

My objective for engaging in these activities would have been fulfilled and duly compensated if the Islamic Foundation for beginners series can satisfy some of these requirements many of which I have personally experienced during my ministry. The series offer opportunity to study Islam privately with one family and I can assure you that with time, you will become better Muslim and begin to pass your knowledge out as a male or female alfa without any intimidation. Knowledge is power.

When I joined my mentor, Alhaji Hussain Muhammad of Hussainiyyah Movement on preaching crusade on the street of Lagos in the early sixties, we got over 500 Christain converted into Islam, but, we could not retain them. Their burning desires was to study and understand Islam, but, we had no information hand-out to give them. Hussain’s people from Oro and other Igbomina towns would lavish money and dresses upon them, but, that was not what they came for. Sadly, they went back to Christianity.

A few years ago, a very popular Nollywood actor Zack Amata accepted Islam with great enthusiasm. He complained his disappointment over the dearth of information literature on Islam to me before we lost contact. He asked must everybody be forced to learn Arabic before understanding Islam? It was unfortunate that we disappointed him as we did to many of our admirers.

As leaders, we need to be proactive in tackling problems of unrest in the world, more so, as nearly everyone seems to find it convenient to lay the blame of the world unrest at the doorsteps of Islam and the Muslim. As for me, I have consistently advocated that lack of understanding of the practice of Islam by the majority of muslims and non-muslim are the major cause of tension. A yoruba proverb says ” Agbo igbotan ede ija ni o ma nda sile. ” That is, half knowledge of a language will always result to misunderstanding. If you are sure of the quality of your product, you would spare no effort to promote that quality in a way to make it attractive and acceptable to interested buyers: Force can never win souls it can only bend heads.

As a result, It is hoped that our Jurists and other leaders would as earlier advised, would resolve to revisit such burning issues that may be regarded as imposition of human laws and regulation upon matters that strictly affects our acts of worship and our lives.

We shall be moving towards the right solution when Muslim leaders and teachers shift from sectional to a general approach to the spread of Islamic knowledge on a global basis. That is when vigorous efforts would be mounted towards production of Islamic literatures and other relevant publications in different languages of the world. In addition to the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, Muslim leaders should start to encourage Muslim from every part of the world to see Islam as their own indigenous religion and not the religion of the Arabs. We look forward to a time when Muslim leaders become united in our resolve to help Islam flow freely and naturally to the doorsteps of everyone, by providing the right structure and encouragement. No one should claim exclusive ownership of Islam or the right to control it, being the divine message handed down to humanity to guide us through life. The fact that it came through Arabia is accidental. The messenger who brought it may be an Arab, but, he was sent to the entire humanity. Muhammad (peace be on him) was the prophet that God sent to the whole world to bring the message of religion to completion. Prior to his advent, different messengers had been dispatched to different corners of the globe as evidenced by the following verses:

(i)There is no nation but a warner has been sent to them (Q. 35:24)
(ii) Every nation had an Apostle (Q.10:47)

Muhammad (pboh) was the last among these Apostles. His main mission was to bring perfection to the teachings of religion already spread by those before him. Over 124,000 Apostle had been sent to the world. Many of them were Isrealites. Hud and Salihu came from Arabia, Looqman from Africa (Ethiopia), Khidzir, also from Africa (Sudan), Darius I, from Persia and many others. All prophets are of one brotherhood, sent by one God with messages to aid peace and human development and the worship of one God. It was not until the 6th century of the Christian Era that God decided to bless humanity with the appearance of a world Prophet who would co-ordinate and piece together messages that had been delivered since the beginning of human life, many of which had been lost due to lack of preservation.

Part of his mission was also to restructure and regulate the practice of religion and harmonize them into one collection, called the Holy Qur’an (Al-Muhai,min): the guardian and verifier of all previous Books (Q.5:48). Readers would find in these series where Muhammad(pboh) was announced as the messenger sent to the entire world.

Say, O mankind! Truly, I am a messenger to you all from God to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and earth. There is no god but he. He gives life and causes death, so believe in Allah and in his messenger, the Prophet, the immaculate one, who believe in Allah and his words and follow him that you may be rightly guided (Q.7:159)

” We have not sent you but all mankind as a bearer of good news and as a warner. ” (Q34:28)

Finally, I sincerely believe that the best Durood Sharif (invocation of blessing for Muhammed) that we should actively engage in as Muslims is to spread the message of Islam to the world in a more realistic and inviting manner. We should encourage adherents to study it in any convenient language to enable them understand it, discover it and accept it as their natural religion, and not the religion of the Arabs. That will make it possible for them to adapt it to their own tradition and practice it as a culture. That is when multitude of qualified professional Muslims, such as doctors, engineers, accountants, Jounalists, educationalists and several others would find encouragement to spear-head the crusade for Islamic renaissance, and assume the status of missionaries of Islam. I pray to God to spare my life to witness such a development.

We must change, even as Islam will remain the same. As Muslims increase in number and diversity, they should endeavor to become more tolerant and embrace people’s differences and respect their choices to be what they want to be. That is where the strength of Islam lies.

God says:
” Set your mind to the true religion being upright, the nature (Islam) made by Allah in which he had created men. There is no altering Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but, most people know not. ” (Q.30:30)

May Allah help us to be good Muslim.
Ayo Adeyemi
Assalam Alaikum!