Many calls have appeared among us in Sudan, including the call to renew Islamic jurisprudence. How is this renewal to be carried out?
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The questioner : Many calls have appeared among us in Sudan, including the call to renew Islamic jurisprudence. How is this renewal to be carried out?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The questioner says that new calls have appeared in their land, including the call to renew Islamic jurisprudence. If by this renewal he means proposing to renew the categorization and presentation of jurisprudential issues so that they are suitable for modern taste, then there is nothing wrong with that. It is merely a change of style from one state to another to bring the meaning closer to people's understanding. However, renewal in this manner has drawbacks, among which are:
We see many contemporary writers who write about what the predecessors wrote; they lengthen the speech and details until the end of the speech is lost in its beginning, and a person is lost between these divisions and speech that is considered padding. This is a great evil that scatters the mind and wastes time on issues that a person could understand in half the time he spends reading these new books. I do not say that this describes every new book, but in many of the newly compiled books, this is the pattern.
If the one proposing the renewal of jurisprudence intends by this renewal to change what the texts indicate regarding a ruling, then this is a dangerous principle, a false principle. For it is not permissible for a person to change anything of the rulings of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. For the rulings of Allah, the Exalted, remain as long as this religion remains, and this religion will remain until the Day of Resurrection, by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): This is our view regarding this proposal that this proposer made for the renewal of the science of jurisprudence.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The questioner says that new calls have appeared in their land, including the call to renew Islamic jurisprudence. If by this renewal he means proposing to renew the categorization and presentation of jurisprudential issues so that they are suitable for modern taste, then there is nothing wrong with that. It is merely a change of style from one state to another to bring the meaning closer to people's understanding. However, renewal in this manner has drawbacks, among which are:
We see many contemporary writers who write about what the predecessors wrote; they lengthen the speech and details until the end of the speech is lost in its beginning, and a person is lost between these divisions and speech that is considered padding. This is a great evil that scatters the mind and wastes time on issues that a person could understand in half the time he spends reading these new books. I do not say that this describes every new book, but in many of the newly compiled books, this is the pattern.
If the one proposing the renewal of jurisprudence intends by this renewal to change what the texts indicate regarding a ruling, then this is a dangerous principle, a false principle. For it is not permissible for a person to change anything of the rulings of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. For the rulings of Allah, the Exalted, remain as long as this religion remains, and this religion will remain until the Day of Resurrection, by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):