The variation in the caller's situation based on the evidence he presents, according to the situation of the one who asked him
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The first question of Fatwa number ( 1591 )
Q1: What is the position of a scholar regarding a questioner who is not satisfied with the transmitted evidence for some of the issues he inquires about, but rather demands rational evidence such as the oneness of worship, or the preservation of the Qur'an, and the like?
A1: The situation of the caller varies in his argumentation according to the situation of the one who asks him about an issue or argues with him about it. He may be one who acknowledges the principles of that issue, admitting what obligates him to adhere to them and act upon them. In that case, the arguer does not occupy himself with proving those principles and establishing the argument for them, for the admission of his questioner or opponent regarding them has sufficed him from arguing for them. Rather, he directs his attention to explaining how these principles necessitate the establishment of his claim in what his opponent contradicted him in; to compel him to agree with him in it, believe in it, and act upon it. Among this is the argumentation of the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) with what the polytheists acknowledged of the oneness of lordship, to prove what they denied of the oneness of worship. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guided to this in many verses of the Qur'an, which are rational and transmitted evidence at the same time. Also among this is the Muslim's argument with another Muslim by the saying of the Exalted:[Al-Hijr 15:9] regarding the preservation of the Qur'an and the protection of its texts and words from distortion and alteration,
and its remaining in its wording as it was revealed; to be an argument against His servants until the Hour occurs. This is transmitted evidence by which the argument is established against one who believes in the preservation of what is between the covers of the mushaf until the time of the dispute, but he differed regarding the continuation of its preservation in the future. The questioner may also be one who doubts the principles of what he asked about, seeking evidence for those principles, or one who denies them, so that when they are established by proof, what he asked about or denied is established as a consequence. In that case, the arguer is compelled to prove these principles with rational evidence, like the one who argued with Ibrahim (peace be upon him) about his Lord. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) argued for the establishment of lordship for Allah by saying that He is the One who gives life and causes death. The disbeliever took the path of obfuscation in his debate and claimed for himself that he gives life and causes death, intending a meaning other than the one Ibrahim (peace be upon him) intended in his argumentation. So Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) brought him another sign from the signs of lordship by way of example, in which the disbeliever finds no way to obfuscate or fall into fallacy. He said:[Al-Baqarah 2:258] and Pharaoh , for he said to his people: "I am your supreme lord," and he said:
And he said:[Ghafir 40:36-37] The remembrance of Allah in verses of Surat al-Shu'arā is a refutation of Pharaoh to Moses (peace be upon him) regarding his Lord, and his denial of Moses taking a god other than Him, and the establishment of Moses' proof against him. So the Exalted said: [Ash-Shu'ara 26:23-29] This is rational argumentation, in which he argued from the effect to the cause, and from the cosmic signs to their Creator. There is no doubt that this indicates rationally His exclusive right to lordship, and it necessitates His exclusive right to worship. Likewise, those who deny prophethood are argued against using miracles and supernatural events to establish prophethood, as is the way of Allah with His messengers (peace and blessings be upon them all), for He supports them with miracles that indicate the truth of their claim of messengership and establish the proof against their nations. And it does not suffice in such argumentation to rely on purely narrative reports
such as His saying:[Al-Ikhlas 112:1] in establishing the oneness of Allah, and His saying: [Saba 34:28] in establishing messengership. Nor is it sufficient for one who denies that the Qur'an has remained preserved since its revelation until the time of refutation to argue by His saying: [Al-Hijr 15:9] In fact, establishing it by that is impossible; because of the resulting prior circularity or prohibited sequence. What must be used as argument in such a purely rational proof, or a narrative proof that contains a rational proof, are the verses by which Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) argued with his questioner about his Lord, and the verses by which Moses argued with Pharaoh, and many of the Qur'anic verses by which the Resurrection and the rising on the Day of Judgment are argued. Indeed, the preservation of the Qur'an until our day is argued by its transmission through mass transmission, and by its being an eternal miracle until the Day of Judgment. Here is the explanation of that: As for the explanation of its being preserved from the time of its revelation and transmitted by mass transmission that provides certainty and conviction: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had scribes who wrote down the revelation and other things for him. And whenever a surah or verses or a verse or
part of a verse was revealed to him, he would dictate it to one of their scribes, who would write it down on whatever was available to him of palm leaves, thin stones, bones, and the like. This continued until Allah completed His religion and perfected His favor upon the Muslim community. And with that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would recite what was revealed to him, reciting it for memorization, understanding, and study in prayer and elsewhere. And Jibril (peace and blessings be upon them both) would come to him to review the Qur'an with him in the month of Ramadan, and this continued until Allah took him to Himself, in addition to his protection in conveying and legislating. And the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would recite what was revealed of the Qur'an and review it among themselves, so they would hardly finish what they had agreed upon to recite and study of surahs or verses without having memorized it, understood it, and acted upon it; thus they combined memorization, knowledge, and action. This is known by one who reads the collections of the Sunnah and the biography, and knows what is in them of hadiths and reports, and has knowledge of the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the life of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and knows the extent of their care for preserving the religion in general, and the Qur'an in particular. A group of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) became famous for memorizing the Qur'an, among them Abu Bakr al-Siddiq , 'Umar ibn al-Khattab , 'Uthman ibn 'Affan , 'Ali ibn Abi Talib , Ubayy ibn Ka'b , Mu'adh ibn Jabal , Sa'id ibn al-'As , 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham , and Zayd ibn
Thabit , 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud , 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar , 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas , 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr , and Abu Zayd al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with them). When the day of Yamama came and killing increased among the reciters in the army of the Muslims, due to their increased eagerness for fighting, and some of them encouraging each other to it with the phrase "O people of the Qur'an" to stir their feelings and their jealousy for Islam, so that they would race to fight in support of the religion of Allah; when that was the case, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) agreed to collect the Qur'an from what was written in it and from the chests of the trustworthy memorizers. And that was completed in the most perfect and most sound manner. And the sheets in which it was collected were with Abu Bakr , the successor of the Messenger of Allah, until he passed away, then with 'Umar during his caliphate until he passed away (may Allah be pleased with them both), then they were with his daughter Hafsa, the Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her). It is known that the Qur'an was revealed in seven letters, meaning languages, and every group of the Companions would recite with one of them. When 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) took over the caliphate, it was suggested to him that he collect the Qur'an on one letter from the seven letters, fearing disagreement due to the multiplicity of letters. So he ordered that to be done (may Allah be pleased with him), and the writing of the Qur'an on one letter was completed by the hands of the trustworthy reciters, and it was compared with the sheets that were with Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), and their agreement was established, and copies were made from it, musahafs which he sent to the capitals
The Islamic manuscripts, after they were read to the Companions in his presence, were approved by them (may Allah be pleased with them), and the original was kept with him in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah . These manuscripts became the standard for the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and it is established with a certainty that necessitates conviction and provides absolute proof that what was compiled is what was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The practice of relying on them has continued to this day, with every generation of the Muslim community transmitting them from the one before them, both in writing and in memorization. The number of those who wrote and memorized them in each generation has reached a level beyond mass transmission (tawatur), leaving no room for doubt or suspicion that what has reached us is what Abu Bakr al-Siddiq first compiled, and then Uthman secondly compiled (may Allah be pleased with them both). This provides certainty in the same way that numerous reports about famous cities provide certainty of their existence. If the consensus of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) that what was compiled in the mushaf during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and in the mushaf during the caliphate of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them both) is the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not provide certainty, there would be nothing that provides certainty except for sensory perceptions. If the reports about the preservation of the Qur'an in the hearts of the reciters of the Muslims and their writing of it, with precision and accuracy in verification in all generations, did not provide certainty, there would be no reports that provide certainty. If a person in our present time, when the care of Muslims for religion has diminished, wanted to collect the Qur'an from
the mouths of the reciters and memorizers of the Qur'an without referring to what was written in manuscripts or printed or recorded on tapes, he would be able to do so with ease and simplicity. How much more so in the flourishing Islamic eras, when the care for religion in its principles and branches reached a far extent and the ultimate goal in upholding it in all its aspects and all its dimensions? Indeed, reality is the greatest evidence and the most complete witness to the preservation of the texts of the Qur'an from the day it was revealed until our time. As for proving its preservation by it being an eternal miracle until the Day of Resurrection, what was its miracle and proof of the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) at the time of its revelation is still standing. It still challenges the world to produce something like it in its eloquence, its rhetoric, the strength of its style, and in the rulings of its legislation and its suitability for uplifting nations, despite the differences in their levels and the variation in their conditions in every time and place. It also includes its true stories about previous nations and its news about all the unseen matters, past and future. No one has produced anything like it up to our present time, despite the long time since its revelation, the passage of more than thirteen centuries, the multitude of the enemies of Islam and Muslims, the intensity of their plotting and scheming against them, and their persistent effort to eliminate this religion, and despite the advancement of people in cosmic sciences and diverse cultures. Allah refuses but to preserve His religion and exalt His word, and He decrees for the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah
permanence; so that the argument is established against people. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Q1: What is the position of a scholar regarding a questioner who is not satisfied with the transmitted evidence for some of the issues he inquires about, but rather demands rational evidence such as the oneness of worship, or the preservation of the Qur'an, and the like?
A1: The situation of the caller varies in his argumentation according to the situation of the one who asks him about an issue or argues with him about it. He may be one who acknowledges the principles of that issue, admitting what obligates him to adhere to them and act upon them. In that case, the arguer does not occupy himself with proving those principles and establishing the argument for them, for the admission of his questioner or opponent regarding them has sufficed him from arguing for them. Rather, he directs his attention to explaining how these principles necessitate the establishment of his claim in what his opponent contradicted him in; to compel him to agree with him in it, believe in it, and act upon it. Among this is the argumentation of the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) with what the polytheists acknowledged of the oneness of lordship, to prove what they denied of the oneness of worship. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guided to this in many verses of the Qur'an, which are rational and transmitted evidence at the same time. Also among this is the Muslim's argument with another Muslim by the saying of the Exalted:
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَـزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَand its remaining in its wording as it was revealed; to be an argument against His servants until the Hour occurs. This is transmitted evidence by which the argument is established against one who believes in the preservation of what is between the covers of the mushaf until the time of the dispute, but he differed regarding the continuation of its preservation in the future. The questioner may also be one who doubts the principles of what he asked about, seeking evidence for those principles, or one who denies them, so that when they are established by proof, what he asked about or denied is established as a consequence. In that case, the arguer is compelled to prove these principles with rational evidence, like the one who argued with Ibrahim (peace be upon him) about his Lord. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) argued for the establishment of lordship for Allah by saying that He is the One who gives life and causes death. The disbeliever took the path of obfuscation in his debate and claimed for himself that he gives life and causes death, intending a meaning other than the one Ibrahim (peace be upon him) intended in his argumentation. So Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) brought him another sign from the signs of lordship by way of example, in which the disbeliever finds no way to obfuscate or fall into fallacy. He said:
Indeed, Allah brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west." So the disbeliever was overwhelmed [by astonishment], and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَI know of no god for you but Me.
مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرِيAnd he said:
"O Haman, construct for me a tower that I might reach the ways - (37) The ways into the heavens - so that I may look at the deity of Moses; but indeed, I think he is a liar."
يَا هَامَانُ ابْنِ لِي صَرْحًا لَعَلِّي أَبْلُغُ الأَسْبَابَ (36) أَسْبَابَ السَّمَاوَاتِ فَأَطَّلِعَ إِلَى إِلَهِ مُوسَى وَإِنِّي لأَظُنُّهُ كَاذِبًا(23) Said Pharaoh, "And what is the Lord of the worlds?" (24) [Moses] said, "The Lord of the heavens and earth and that between them, if you should be convinced." (25) [Pharaoh] said to those around him, "Do you not hear?" (26) [Moses] said, "Your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers." (27) [Pharaoh] said, "Indeed, your 'messenger' who has been sent to you is mad." (28) [Moses] said, "Lord of the east and the west and that between them, if you were to reason." (29) [Pharaoh] said, "If you take a god other than me, I will surely place you among those imprisoned."
قَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ وَمَا رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ (23) قَالَ رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُوقِنِينَ (24) قَالَ لِمَنْ حَوْلَهُ أَلا تَسْتَمِعُونَ (25) قَالَ رَبُّكُمْ وَرَبُّ آبَائِكُمُ الأَوَّلِينَ (26) قَالَ إِنَّ رَسُولَكُمُ الَّذِي أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ لَمَجْنُونٌ (27) قَالَ رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ (28) قَالَ لَئِنِ اتَّخَذْتَ إِلَهًا غَيْرِي لأَجْعَلَنَّكَ مِنَ الْمَسْجُونِينَsuch as His saying:
Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One,
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌAnd We have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلا كَافَّةً لِلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًاIndeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَـزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَpart of a verse was revealed to him, he would dictate it to one of their scribes, who would write it down on whatever was available to him of palm leaves, thin stones, bones, and the like. This continued until Allah completed His religion and perfected His favor upon the Muslim community. And with that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would recite what was revealed to him, reciting it for memorization, understanding, and study in prayer and elsewhere. And Jibril (peace and blessings be upon them both) would come to him to review the Qur'an with him in the month of Ramadan, and this continued until Allah took him to Himself, in addition to his protection in conveying and legislating. And the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would recite what was revealed of the Qur'an and review it among themselves, so they would hardly finish what they had agreed upon to recite and study of surahs or verses without having memorized it, understood it, and acted upon it; thus they combined memorization, knowledge, and action. This is known by one who reads the collections of the Sunnah and the biography, and knows what is in them of hadiths and reports, and has knowledge of the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the life of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and knows the extent of their care for preserving the religion in general, and the Qur'an in particular. A group of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) became famous for memorizing the Qur'an, among them Abu Bakr al-Siddiq , 'Umar ibn al-Khattab , 'Uthman ibn 'Affan , 'Ali ibn Abi Talib , Ubayy ibn Ka'b , Mu'adh ibn Jabal , Sa'id ibn al-'As , 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham , and Zayd ibn
Thabit , 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud , 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar , 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas , 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr , and Abu Zayd al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with them). When the day of Yamama came and killing increased among the reciters in the army of the Muslims, due to their increased eagerness for fighting, and some of them encouraging each other to it with the phrase "O people of the Qur'an" to stir their feelings and their jealousy for Islam, so that they would race to fight in support of the religion of Allah; when that was the case, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) agreed to collect the Qur'an from what was written in it and from the chests of the trustworthy memorizers. And that was completed in the most perfect and most sound manner. And the sheets in which it was collected were with Abu Bakr , the successor of the Messenger of Allah, until he passed away, then with 'Umar during his caliphate until he passed away (may Allah be pleased with them both), then they were with his daughter Hafsa, the Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her). It is known that the Qur'an was revealed in seven letters, meaning languages, and every group of the Companions would recite with one of them. When 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) took over the caliphate, it was suggested to him that he collect the Qur'an on one letter from the seven letters, fearing disagreement due to the multiplicity of letters. So he ordered that to be done (may Allah be pleased with him), and the writing of the Qur'an on one letter was completed by the hands of the trustworthy reciters, and it was compared with the sheets that were with Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), and their agreement was established, and copies were made from it, musahafs which he sent to the capitals
The Islamic manuscripts, after they were read to the Companions in his presence, were approved by them (may Allah be pleased with them), and the original was kept with him in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah . These manuscripts became the standard for the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and it is established with a certainty that necessitates conviction and provides absolute proof that what was compiled is what was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The practice of relying on them has continued to this day, with every generation of the Muslim community transmitting them from the one before them, both in writing and in memorization. The number of those who wrote and memorized them in each generation has reached a level beyond mass transmission (tawatur), leaving no room for doubt or suspicion that what has reached us is what Abu Bakr al-Siddiq first compiled, and then Uthman secondly compiled (may Allah be pleased with them both). This provides certainty in the same way that numerous reports about famous cities provide certainty of their existence. If the consensus of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) that what was compiled in the mushaf during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and in the mushaf during the caliphate of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them both) is the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not provide certainty, there would be nothing that provides certainty except for sensory perceptions. If the reports about the preservation of the Qur'an in the hearts of the reciters of the Muslims and their writing of it, with precision and accuracy in verification in all generations, did not provide certainty, there would be no reports that provide certainty. If a person in our present time, when the care of Muslims for religion has diminished, wanted to collect the Qur'an from
the mouths of the reciters and memorizers of the Qur'an without referring to what was written in manuscripts or printed or recorded on tapes, he would be able to do so with ease and simplicity. How much more so in the flourishing Islamic eras, when the care for religion in its principles and branches reached a far extent and the ultimate goal in upholding it in all its aspects and all its dimensions? Indeed, reality is the greatest evidence and the most complete witness to the preservation of the texts of the Qur'an from the day it was revealed until our time. As for proving its preservation by it being an eternal miracle until the Day of Resurrection, what was its miracle and proof of the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) at the time of its revelation is still standing. It still challenges the world to produce something like it in its eloquence, its rhetoric, the strength of its style, and in the rulings of its legislation and its suitability for uplifting nations, despite the differences in their levels and the variation in their conditions in every time and place. It also includes its true stories about previous nations and its news about all the unseen matters, past and future. No one has produced anything like it up to our present time, despite the long time since its revelation, the passage of more than thirteen centuries, the multitude of the enemies of Islam and Muslims, the intensity of their plotting and scheming against them, and their persistent effort to eliminate this religion, and despite the advancement of people in cosmic sciences and diverse cultures. Allah refuses but to preserve His religion and exalt His word, and He decrees for the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah
permanence; so that the argument is established against people. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.