If a person completes the Book of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) from memory, gathers people, and holds a feast for this purpose, what is the ruling on that?
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The questioner : He slaughtered camels when he completed al-Baqarah.
Another questioner: He completed Surat al-Baqarah. It was Ibn 'Umar, not Ibn 'Amr.
The Shaykh : When did he complete it?
The questioner : Surat al-Baqarah.
The Shaykh : I do not know. Do you have its chain of narration?
The questioner : I am asking about its chain of narration.
The Shaykh : I answered you: I do not know.
The questioner : I say: This introduction is contingent on the important question, which is: What is the ruling on acting upon what this report indicates?
That is, if a person completes the Book of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) from memory, gathers people, and holds a feast for this purpose, what is its ruling?
The Shaykh: In my capacity, I claim, or rather assert, that I am a Salafi, and we always emphasize that being a Salafi means following the methodology of the righteous Salaf. Part of the methodology of the righteous Salaf is that when they were asked or consulted about a matter, the one being consulted would ask the questioner: Did this thing actually happen?
He would say: No, but let us assume it happened. He would say: Wait until it happens, then ask, and at that time you will find someone to give you a ruling on this matter. That is, the methodology of the righteous Salaf is not to answer questions about matters that have not occurred. And I see that this question resembles the thing our righteous Salaf used to disapprove of, which is that we say:
Let us assume this report is established from 'Umar, what would the ruling be? We should not occupy ourselves with hypotheticals. I say this because I have tested people and known how they should be dealt with according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf. If you are satisfied with my statement, you must be patient until the establishment of this report from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab becomes clear. If you are not satisfied, since you have posited a hypothesis and said, "Let us assume this report is authentic from 'Umar," my answer is of the same weight: I assume the answer is such-and-such. Does that benefit you?
The questioner : It does not benefit.
The Shaykh : So why do we occupy ourselves with hypotheticals?
The questioner : We ask about a reality that came to us in Riyadh.
The Shaykh : I know, may Allah reward you, but if you had asked without bringing this report about which I answered you, "I do not know," because al-Khatib al-Baghdadi narrates in his *History* all sorts of marfu' hadiths, let alone mawquf reports, on the occasion of biographical entries for a narrator. He may be trustworthy or a memorizer, and he may narrate some munkar reports that some others narrated from him, though he is not the one accused of them. Therefore, if we come to any report like this or others and say, "Assuming this report is authentic, what is the answer?" we should not occupy ourselves with hypotheticals.
If you said: It happens in some countries such-and-such, what is the answer?!
I told you just now: If you insist that you want the answer, I say, hypothetically, the answer is such-and-such based on the hypothesis you stated. Let us assume this report is authentic from 'Umar. The answer based on this hypothesis is: It is permissible for one who completes the Qur'an to host guests, not with camels, but with a cow, not with a cow, but with a sheep, not with a sheep, but with less than that. This is because there is no regular sunnah that obligates us to do a specific thing on the occasion of completing the Noble Qur'an. It is permissible for a Muslim to do this occasionally on this occasion, but it is not permissible to do it as if it were a regular sunnah, like when a person gets married. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf: Or like when a child is born: if it is a boy, two sheep; if it is a girl, one sheep. It is not permissible to equate a permissible act whose origin is not a sunnah in its origin. Rather, we follow the principle, which is permissibility. So if a person completes the Qur'an and it occurs to him to invite some of his brothers, there is no harm in that, provided he does not make it a custom and a sunnah. This is the answer.
Another questioner: He completed Surat al-Baqarah. It was Ibn 'Umar, not Ibn 'Amr.
The Shaykh : When did he complete it?
The questioner : Surat al-Baqarah.
The Shaykh : I do not know. Do you have its chain of narration?
The questioner : I am asking about its chain of narration.
The Shaykh : I answered you: I do not know.
The questioner : I say: This introduction is contingent on the important question, which is: What is the ruling on acting upon what this report indicates?
That is, if a person completes the Book of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) from memory, gathers people, and holds a feast for this purpose, what is its ruling?
The Shaykh: In my capacity, I claim, or rather assert, that I am a Salafi, and we always emphasize that being a Salafi means following the methodology of the righteous Salaf. Part of the methodology of the righteous Salaf is that when they were asked or consulted about a matter, the one being consulted would ask the questioner: Did this thing actually happen?
He would say: No, but let us assume it happened. He would say: Wait until it happens, then ask, and at that time you will find someone to give you a ruling on this matter. That is, the methodology of the righteous Salaf is not to answer questions about matters that have not occurred. And I see that this question resembles the thing our righteous Salaf used to disapprove of, which is that we say:
Let us assume this report is established from 'Umar, what would the ruling be? We should not occupy ourselves with hypotheticals. I say this because I have tested people and known how they should be dealt with according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf. If you are satisfied with my statement, you must be patient until the establishment of this report from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab becomes clear. If you are not satisfied, since you have posited a hypothesis and said, "Let us assume this report is authentic from 'Umar," my answer is of the same weight: I assume the answer is such-and-such. Does that benefit you?
The questioner : It does not benefit.
The Shaykh : So why do we occupy ourselves with hypotheticals?
The questioner : We ask about a reality that came to us in Riyadh.
The Shaykh : I know, may Allah reward you, but if you had asked without bringing this report about which I answered you, "I do not know," because al-Khatib al-Baghdadi narrates in his *History* all sorts of marfu' hadiths, let alone mawquf reports, on the occasion of biographical entries for a narrator. He may be trustworthy or a memorizer, and he may narrate some munkar reports that some others narrated from him, though he is not the one accused of them. Therefore, if we come to any report like this or others and say, "Assuming this report is authentic, what is the answer?" we should not occupy ourselves with hypotheticals.
If you said: It happens in some countries such-and-such, what is the answer?!
I told you just now: If you insist that you want the answer, I say, hypothetically, the answer is such-and-such based on the hypothesis you stated. Let us assume this report is authentic from 'Umar. The answer based on this hypothesis is: It is permissible for one who completes the Qur'an to host guests, not with camels, but with a cow, not with a cow, but with a sheep, not with a sheep, but with less than that. This is because there is no regular sunnah that obligates us to do a specific thing on the occasion of completing the Noble Qur'an. It is permissible for a Muslim to do this occasionally on this occasion, but it is not permissible to do it as if it were a regular sunnah, like when a person gets married. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf: