The legal principle of the Shari'ah of those before us and a commentary on the words of Ibn Taymiyyah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned in his book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim* a principle, which is that the Shari'ah of those before us is a Shari'ah for us, provided that nothing has come down to contradict it.
The Shaykh:
Contradict it, contradict it.
The questioner:
Contradict it with our Shari'ah. And the commentator mentioned in the footnote at the bottom that this principle has not been established except through derivation and independent legal reasoning, and he followed up by saying that this principle gives the impression that our Shari'ah needs to be completed. So what is your honorable opinion on this?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter I have suffered from. If Allah mentions to us the law of those before us, or if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentions it, is it considered a law for us? Provided that there is no prohibition against it, or that a new legislative command is not required?
The middle position and the correct position is what Shaykh Taqi al-Din and others mentioned, which is that it is a Shari'ah for us, provided that our Shari'ah has not come down with a contradiction to it, meaning that it has not been abrogated. Because if our Shari'ah comes down with a contradiction to it, it becomes abrogated. As for what our Shari'ah has not come down to contradict, it remains in effect, because this means acknowledging that our Shari'ah has approved what preceded in the previous Shari'ahs. This is the middle position. As for this reasoning mentioned by the commentator, it is questionable. Does our Shari'ah need to be completed? This is not a matter of completion. We said that the entire matter belongs to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). The One who legislated the previous Shari'ahs is the One who legislated the subsequent Shari'ah, and He is the One who commands and forbids (Glorified and Exalted is He). So if He did not forbid us from a previous Shari'ah that He related to us and approved, and did not forbid it, then this is a command from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to continue with it. This is not a matter of completion, but rather a matter of legislation.
The questioner:
Your honor mentioned.
The Shaykh:
In any case, I warn the brothers, especially those who read books and write comments on them, I warn them not to rush in their comments until they understand the intended meaning and understand the words of the scholars, and until they become proficient in understanding the texts. They should not rush to comment immediately whenever something is unclear to them or they do not find something acceptable. Because I have seen people who wrote comments and later regretted their comments, because they rushed.
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned in his book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim* a principle, which is that the Shari'ah of those before us is a Shari'ah for us, provided that nothing has come down to contradict it.
The Shaykh:
Contradict it, contradict it.
The questioner:
Contradict it with our Shari'ah. And the commentator mentioned in the footnote at the bottom that this principle has not been established except through derivation and independent legal reasoning, and he followed up by saying that this principle gives the impression that our Shari'ah needs to be completed. So what is your honorable opinion on this?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter I have suffered from. If Allah mentions to us the law of those before us, or if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentions it, is it considered a law for us? Provided that there is no prohibition against it, or that a new legislative command is not required?
The middle position and the correct position is what Shaykh Taqi al-Din and others mentioned, which is that it is a Shari'ah for us, provided that our Shari'ah has not come down with a contradiction to it, meaning that it has not been abrogated. Because if our Shari'ah comes down with a contradiction to it, it becomes abrogated. As for what our Shari'ah has not come down to contradict, it remains in effect, because this means acknowledging that our Shari'ah has approved what preceded in the previous Shari'ahs. This is the middle position. As for this reasoning mentioned by the commentator, it is questionable. Does our Shari'ah need to be completed? This is not a matter of completion. We said that the entire matter belongs to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). The One who legislated the previous Shari'ahs is the One who legislated the subsequent Shari'ah, and He is the One who commands and forbids (Glorified and Exalted is He). So if He did not forbid us from a previous Shari'ah that He related to us and approved, and did not forbid it, then this is a command from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to continue with it. This is not a matter of completion, but rather a matter of legislation.
The questioner:
Your honor mentioned.
The Shaykh:
In any case, I warn the brothers, especially those who read books and write comments on them, I warn them not to rush in their comments until they understand the intended meaning and understand the words of the scholars, and until they become proficient in understanding the texts. They should not rush to comment immediately whenever something is unclear to them or they do not find something acceptable. Because I have seen people who wrote comments and later regretted their comments, because they rushed.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- أسئلة وأجوبة من دروس التوحيد - الفوزان - أسئلة التوحيد - ٠١ — archive.org (18:39)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.