Explanation of the Book of Inheritance, Fixed Punishments, and Blood Money-05a
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The reciter: Yahya ibn Bukayr narrated to us, al-Layth narrated to us from 'Aqil from Ibn Shihab from Abu Bakr ibn 'Abd al-Rahman from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan an-Nasa'i 5659Sahih (Darussalam).
And from Ibn Shihab, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and Abu Salama, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the same, except for the seizure of booty.
The Shaykh : This, may Allah protect us from it, contains a warning against these matters, and that when a person commits them, he has removed faith from himself. For this reason, he said:Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 6:1584 So when a person commits adultery, he does not have faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because how can he know that Allah the Exalted has forbidden adultery in His Book and made the punishment obligatory for it, and then go and commit adultery? So if you were to examine his heart at that moment, you would find that he has no faith, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih al-Bukhari 6782.
But his faith does not completely depart from him, because when the intoxication of desire leaves him, he will return to his senses and know that he has made a mistake. It is not the disbelief that causes faith to depart completely.
And so it is with drinking intoxicants, and so it is with theft, and so it is with seizing booty.
The difference between theft and seizing booty is that theft is taken by way of concealment, while seizing booty is by way of snatching, such as when someone stands with you and then distracts you and takes what is with you. As is mentioned regarding some thieves, he plays with the person's thoughts, starting to talk to him, talking to him, talking to him until he is almost distracted, and then he takes what is with him.
One of the trustworthy people told me that a man passed through Iraq in the past, and he had a wristwatch with him. Wristwatches did not exist at that time. Some of the thieves saw it and tried to take it. The point is that he distracted the man and then took it from his hand, extracting it from his hand while he was not aware. This man was during the time of the English domination of Iraq, and it was a big deal for him because the man was one of the English. They announced in the newspapers that whoever brings it will receive such and such an amount of money. So the thief brought it. He was brought to the man, and the man said to him, "How did you take the watch from my hand?" He said, "We do not tell you how we took it unless you want to write down what I say in writing." And the thief was looking at his pen, the man's pen. He said, "Fine, write down what you say, because it is important that we know how you stole it so that we can guard against you and your like." He said, "Fine, take out the pen." He came to take it out of his pockets and did not find the pen. The thief had stolen it. So he was astonished and wondered, "Where is the pen? Where did it go?" He said, "This pen, please." He said, "How did you take it?" He said to him, "This is our profession; we cannot reveal it to anyone ever. If we revealed it to people, we would not be able to do it."
So I say that some thieves are very good. In any case, this is not theft because it is not by way of concealment, but it is seizing booty. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 24:81 So in these four things, a person is not a believer when he commits them or when he directly commits them.
The Khawarij and the Mu'tazilah have used this hadith as evidence, where they said that the doer of a major sin exits from faith. The Khawarij said he becomes a disbeliever, and the Mu'tazilah said he is in a position between two positions.
And the people of the Sunnah answer this by saying that faith is negated in its origin and negated in its perfection, and what is intended here is the negation of its perfection.
But it is objected to the people of the Sunnah that the original meaning of negation is negation of existence, this is the original, then negation of validity, which is in reality a negation of existence, but it is a negation of legal existence, then negation of perfection, and we do not move from the first to the second except with evidence.
So the people of the Sunnah answered this objection by saying that the evidence for us is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed in many hadiths that a person does not exit from faith by adultery and theft, as in the hadith of Abu Dharr where the Messenger said to him:As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 64:1510.
And with this, the correct view is what the people of the Sunnah held, that the doer of a major sin does not exit from faith, but he is a believer with deficient faith, or we say he is a believer in his faith and an open sinner in his major sin.
The adulterer is not a believer at the moment when he is committing adultery, and the wine drinker is not a believer at the moment when he is drinking wine, and the thief is not a believer at the moment when he is stealing, and the robber is not a believer at the moment when he is robbing and people are looking on.
لا يزني الزاني حين يزني وهو مؤمن، ولا يشرب الخمر حين يشرب وهو مؤمن، ولا يسرق السارق حين يسرق وهو مؤمن، ولا ينتهب نهبة يرفع الناس إليه فيها أبصارهم وهو مؤمنAnd from Ibn Shihab, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and Abu Salama, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the same, except for the seizure of booty.
The Shaykh : This, may Allah protect us from it, contains a warning against these matters, and that when a person commits them, he has removed faith from himself. For this reason, he said:
The adulterer is not a believer when he commits adultery
لا يزني حين يزني وهو مؤمنWhen (a person) an adulterer commits illegal sexual intercourse then he is not a believer at the time he is doing it
لا يزني الزاني حين يزني وهو مؤمنBut his faith does not completely depart from him, because when the intoxication of desire leaves him, he will return to his senses and know that he has made a mistake. It is not the disbelief that causes faith to depart completely.
And so it is with drinking intoxicants, and so it is with theft, and so it is with seizing booty.
The difference between theft and seizing booty is that theft is taken by way of concealment, while seizing booty is by way of snatching, such as when someone stands with you and then distracts you and takes what is with you. As is mentioned regarding some thieves, he plays with the person's thoughts, starting to talk to him, talking to him, talking to him until he is almost distracted, and then he takes what is with him.
One of the trustworthy people told me that a man passed through Iraq in the past, and he had a wristwatch with him. Wristwatches did not exist at that time. Some of the thieves saw it and tried to take it. The point is that he distracted the man and then took it from his hand, extracting it from his hand while he was not aware. This man was during the time of the English domination of Iraq, and it was a big deal for him because the man was one of the English. They announced in the newspapers that whoever brings it will receive such and such an amount of money. So the thief brought it. He was brought to the man, and the man said to him, "How did you take the watch from my hand?" He said, "We do not tell you how we took it unless you want to write down what I say in writing." And the thief was looking at his pen, the man's pen. He said, "Fine, write down what you say, because it is important that we know how you stole it so that we can guard against you and your like." He said, "Fine, take out the pen." He came to take it out of his pockets and did not find the pen. The thief had stolen it. So he was astonished and wondered, "Where is the pen? Where did it go?" He said, "This pen, please." He said, "How did you take it?" He said to him, "This is our profession; we cannot reveal it to anyone ever. If we revealed it to people, we would not be able to do it."
So I say that some thieves are very good. In any case, this is not theft because it is not by way of concealment, but it is seizing booty. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
Nor is the one who seizes a booty that people look at with their eyes a believer when he seizes it
لا ينتهب نهبة يرفع الناس فيها أبصارهم وهو مؤمنThe Khawarij and the Mu'tazilah have used this hadith as evidence, where they said that the doer of a major sin exits from faith. The Khawarij said he becomes a disbeliever, and the Mu'tazilah said he is in a position between two positions.
And the people of the Sunnah answer this by saying that faith is negated in its origin and negated in its perfection, and what is intended here is the negation of its perfection.
But it is objected to the people of the Sunnah that the original meaning of negation is negation of existence, this is the original, then negation of validity, which is in reality a negation of existence, but it is a negation of legal existence, then negation of perfection, and we do not move from the first to the second except with evidence.
So the people of the Sunnah answered this objection by saying that the evidence for us is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed in many hadiths that a person does not exit from faith by adultery and theft, as in the hadith of Abu Dharr where the Messenger said to him:
Even if he commits adultery, even if he steals, and even if he defies Abu Dharr
وإن زنى وإن سرق وإن رغم أنف أبي ذرAnd with this, the correct view is what the people of the Sunnah held, that the doer of a major sin does not exit from faith, but he is a believer with deficient faith, or we say he is a believer in his faith and an open sinner in his major sin.