Islam Question and Answer - Ruling on learning magic and removing spells from a person affected by magic

Islam Question and Answer - Ruling on learning magic and removing spells from a person affected by magic

/ - - - :-> Transtors:1.http://free-translation.imtranslator.net/lowres.asp2.http://translate.google.com/m?twu=1&hl=en&vi=m&sl=auto&tl=en

Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd: the Imaam of the Egyptians

He was one of the great Imaams of jurisprudence.He was a pious,
ascetic, truthful scholar who abstained from unlawful acts. He was
also sincere, humble, forbearing, and kind-hearted when dealing with
people.
He had strong faith in Allaah and was fearful of Him all the time. He
used to frequently recite the Quran. As well as this, he was very
generous and used to spend most of hismoney in charity especially to
support scholars, students of knowledge, and poor Muslims.
He is the Imaam, the Haafith (a title given to whoever memorizes
100,000 Hadeeths), the shaykh of Islam, the juristand scholar of
Egypt. His full name is Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd Ibn `Abdur-RahmaanAl-Fahmi.
His birth:
He was born in Sh`abaan 94 A.H., 713 A.C. in Qarqashandah, a village
twenty-two kilometers from Fustaat, Egypt. His origin goes back to
Esfehan, Persia (nowadays Iran).
Seeking knowledge
In his early years, he started to learn religious knowledge. He was a
student of some of the greatest scholars of his time, such as
`Ubaydullaah Ibn Ja'far, Ja'far Ibn Rabee`ah, Al-Haarith Ibn Yazeed,
and Yazeed Ibn Abi Habeeb. Since he was young, his teachers testified
to his excellence,genius, and sharpness of mind.
Al-Layth had high aspirations to learn. For him, learning in Egypt
alone was not sufficient. In 113, A.H., he decided totravel to Hijaaz
to perform Hajj and seek knowledge. He was twenty years old at that
time.
In Makkah and Al-Madeenah, which were considered the most outstanding
sourcesof religious knowledge in the Muslim World, Al-Layth started to
learn from a unique group of scholars of jurisprudence and Hadeeth.
Ibn Shihaab Az-Zuhari was known as the most knowledgeable haafith and
one of the first scholars to write down the Hadeeths of the Prophet ,
and he was one of Al-Layth's teachers. Al-Layth also received
religious knowledge from `Ataa' Ibn Abi Rabaah who was the Mufti and
Jurist of Makkah, Ibn Abi Maleekah, Naafi` Ad-Daylami who was the
freed slave of the reveredcompanion `Abdullaah Ibn `Umar Ibn
Al-Khattaab, Sa`eed Ibn Sa`eed Al-Maqbari, Abu Az-Zubayr Al-Makki, and
many others.
He remained fond of knowledge and had an unmitigated desire to
actively and studiously attend classes even whenhe reached the rank of
the great scholars. When he went to Baghdad in 161 A.H. in order to
teach,though he was over sixty five years old, he asked about the
house of the great scholar Hushaym Ibn Basheer who was themaster of
Hadeeth scholars in Iraq. Al-Layth asked Hushaym to send him some of
his books to study them. When Hushaym did, Imaam Al-Layth started to
read through their valuable and priceless information.
The Imaam's sessions
After spending long yearsacquiring knowledge, Imaam Al-Layth was
prominent among his contemporary scholars asa genius jurist and a
mosttrustworthy narrator of Prophetic Hadeeths. He started a class in
his mosque to teach people. A short period later, he became very
famous and students from everywhere came to learn from him. Thus he
ended up having four sessions every day:
- A session for discussing the practices of the Sultan of
Egypt. Imaam Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd attained a high rank and prestigious
standing in the sight of the `Abbasid Caliphs to the extent that if
the Sultan or the Judge of Egypt committed any wrong, Al-Layth would
write to the Emir of the Believers who, in turn, would depose them.
- A class for teaching the noble Prophetic Hadeeths
- A class for answering people's religious questions
- A session for fulfilling the requests of the poor and the
needy. The Imaam, may Allaah have mercy on him, never turned down any
request for help.
The Imaam's rank and hisknowledge
He was one of the most prominent jurists of his time. He was
well-known among people everywhere. The caliphs and Emirs came to know
him and scholars praised him and testified to his profound knowledge,
abilities of memorization,and mastery of religious affairs.
Al-'Alaa' Ibn Katheer said:
"Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd is our master, Imaam and scholar."
Imaam Ahmad Ibn Hanbalsaid:
"Al-Layth had profound knowledge and his narration of Hadeeths is authentic."
Imaam Ash-Shaafi`i said:
"Al-Layth is more knowledgeable than Maalik."
He means Maalik Ibn Anas, the Imaam of the people of Al-Madeenah.
Al-Layth as a ruler
Imaam Al-Layth occupied several posts. He was the head of the
Administration of Financeduring the reign of Saalih Ibn `Ali Ibn
`Abdullaah Ibn `Abbaas ofEgypt. He was also its head during the
caliphate of the `Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mahdi. Previously, the `Abbasid
Caliph Abu Ja'far Al-Mansoor asked him to be the ruler of Egypt, but
Imaam Al-Layth refused.
The character of the Imaam
Imaam Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd was an authentic narrator of Prophetic
Hadeeths and a talented jurist. He was known for his piety,
asceticism, and generosity. The Imaam was one of the wealthy scholars.
His son Shu'ayb said that his annual income was between twenty and
twenty five thousand Deenaars (golden coins). He used to spend all
this money inthe cause of Allaah. He was never liable to pay Zakaah,
simply because he would spend all his money before the year had
passed.
Imaam Al-Layth used to give out charity to three hundred needy people
every day. He never ate his food exceptin the company of people.
One day, a woman came to him and said: "O Abu Al-Haarith! My son is
sick and he craves to eat honey."
Al-Layth called his servantand said:
"Give her one hundred and twenty pounds of honey."
Imaam Al-Layth was very generous with scholars, to the extent that he
used to send one hundred Deenaars to Imaam Maalik Ibn Anas every year.
Once Imaam Maalik wrote to him that he was in debt. Imaam Al-Layth
sent him five hundred Deenaars. WhenImaam Al-Layth went to perform
Hajj and he passed by Madeenah, Imaam Maalik sent him a plate of
dates. Imaam Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd put one thousand Deenaars on the plate
and sent it backto Imaam Maalik.
When the books of Ibn Luhay`ah, a great jurist and narrator of
PropheticHadeeths, were burnt, Imaam Al-Layth immediately sent one
thousand Deenaars to him.
His death
Imaam Al-Layth Ibn Sa'd died on Friday, the fifteenth of Sh`abaan
175A.H., 791 A.C. He was buried in Cairo and his funeral was attended
by a large number of people. The people were very sad and consoled one
another.

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah (691-751 A.H.)

"Through patience and poverty one attains leadership in religion.The
seeker of Truth needs the will that will inspire him and push him
upward and (religious) knowledge that will lead him andguide him."
These words of our hero sum up the personality of this great
man,Muhammad bin Abi Bakr, who is better known as Ibn Qayyim
Al-Jawziyyah or Ibn Al-Qayyim . He was born in 691 AH.
He began his long journey onthe road of learning early in his life,
moving from one teacher to another to quench his thirst for knowledge.
At the age of 21 (in 712 AH), Ibn Al-Qayyim met his teacher Ibn
Taymiyyah another great hero of Islam and arevivalist of the faith.
Their companionship lasted to the end of the teacher's life. Ibn
Al-Qayyim kept close company to Ibn Taymiyyah with whom he suffered
the pains of imprisonment and flogging manytimes. Apparently, it was
from Ibn Taymiyyah that Ibn Al-Qayyim learnt many special qualities
such as frankness and courage in defiance of the falsehood of others,
including those in authority. For both, the truth hadto be said
regardless of the consequences. However, unlike his teacher, Ibn
Al-Qayyim was less fierce in his attacks -- in words or actions.
The 8th century AH witnessed a state of ignorance and feuds in the
Muslim community. Muslims were fighting each other, and each trying to
impose his authority in everything, including religious opinion and
scholarship,which suffered from stagnation. The majority of religious
scholars were acting more like 'recorders' of knowledge rather than
true scholars and teachers. To them, their teachers were the main, if
not the sole, source of knowledge, and the schools of thought they
blindly imitated were the only acceptable ways.
Like his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Al-Qayyim spent his life
attempting to correct the wrong course the community was following. He
fought the exaggerated reverence for the tombs of the pious despite
the strong resistance he met from the masses. He tried to show the
errors committed by the misled sects and their blind followers. He
considered that the disputes and fights among the Muslims of his time
were caused by their sectarian attitude and chauvinistic practices,
each one considering himself and his sect or school of thought the
only right one, and claiming that everyone else was on the wrong path.
Ibn Al-Qayyim spent most of his time and great efforts trying to unite
the people, pointing out to them the dangers of blind imitation of the
predecessors. He explained that a Muslim should be open-minded; that
is, he should accept what is right and good regardless of the teacher,
as long as what he or she acceptsis consistent with the Quran and the
Sunnah, the consensus of the scholars, and the general spirit ofthe
faith. To him imitation was wrong in the following cases:
If it entails violation of Divine teachings,
If it represents an act of blind following of people we are not sure
of their knowledge,
If it is in defiance of truth after finding it.
It was blind imitation that caused stagnation in scholarship and
differences among people. Some so-called scholars, he pointed out,
were not really scholars of Islam but rather simple propagators of
others' opinions. To those people the words and views of their
teachers or leaders were the onlycorrect way of understanding
thefaith, to the extent that they subjected even the interpretationof
the Quran and the prophetic teachings to the views of their teachers,
which they wrongly took for the ultimate criteria.
Ibn Al-Qayyim considered that the sources of religious knowledge were
to be taken in the following order:
1) ) The Quran, (2) The Sunnah (the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, )
and (3) The teachings of the companions of the Prophet . To these, one
could add the consensus of Muslim scholars and analogy. Bigotry and
prejudice were to him the enemies of learning. To propagate his views,
he wrote scores of books besides teaching directly to the people.
In his private life, Ibn Al-Qayyim was a very pious and devout
worshipper who spent most of his time in prayers and recitation of the
Quran. He was, in fact, an ascetic who rejected the unorthodox
practices of some Sufis (mystics) who claimed that religious teachings
had external and internal sides, implying that religious obligations
(such as prayers, fasting during Ramadhaan etc.) did not apply to
them.
As pointed out earlier, our hero was a man of courage and frankness to
whom truth was theultimate goal. His open-minded and flexible attitude
is reflected in his views on the correct understanding of religious
laws ( Sharee'ah ), and that these should be interpreted in the
lightof the circumstances of time and place, because Islam is intended
and practicable for mankind at alltimes. He wrote many books to
explain this invaluable principle. Many of his views find their
application in the legal system of modern nations, more than six
centuries after his death in 751 AH.

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal

Ahmad bin Hanbal was born in Baghdad, in the year 780 CE. Of pure Arab
lineage, Ibn Hanbal belonged to the tribe of Shaybaan through both
parents. He was still an infant when his father died at the age of 30.
When Ibn Hanbal was fifteen, he began to study the Traditions (
Ahadeeth ) of the Prophet Muhammad, , . Seeking to learn from the
great scholars of his day, he traveled tothe cities of Koofah and
Basrah inIraq; Makkah, Hijaaz and Al-Madeenah in Arabia; and to
thelands of Yemen and Syria. He made five pilgrimages to Makkah,three
of which were on foot. Ibn Hanbal led a life of asceticism and
humility, acquiring many students. He had eight children, of whom two
were well known and closely associated with his intellectual work:
Saalih (died 880 CE) and 'Abdullaah (died 903 CE).
Ahmad bin Hanbal became so competent in the sciences of religion that
al-Imaam Ash-Shaafi'ee said: "I left Baghdad and did not leave there
any man more knowledgeable than Ibn Hanbal."
His Ordeal:
The most talked about issue of Ibn Hanbal's life is the suffering to
which he was subjected during the trial, known as " al-mihnah ",
ordered by the Caliph Al-Ma'moon. The tribulation began in 833 CE,
whenthe Caliph made obligatory upon all Muslims the belief that the
Quran was created --a doctrine ofthe Mu'tazilites, a rationalist
Islamic school that claimed that reason was equal to revelation asa
means to religious truth. The Caliph had already made public
profession of this belief in 827 CE. Before this time, the Glorious
Quran had been regarded as the uncreated, eternal word of Allaah. The
inquisition was conducted in Baghdad, central location of the
'Abbaasid Caliphate, as well as in the provinces. It lasted from 833
to 848 CE, a period involving the reign of four Caliphs, ending during
the Caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, who returned people to the correct
view.
At the risk of his life, Ibn Hanbal refused to subscribe to the
Mu'tazilee doctrine. He was put inchains, beaten and imprisoned for
more than two years. After his release, he did not resume hislectures
until the inquisition was publicly proclaimed at an end. In order to
survive the ordeal, some scholars had recanted, and later claimed the
privilege of dissimulation, Taqiyyah (hiding their feelings because of
the extreme danger involved), as a justification for their behavior.
Other scholars, following the example of Ibn Hanbal refused to
renounce their beliefs.
In 833 CE, Ibn Hanbal and another scholar, Muhammad bin Nooh who had
also refused to recant, were cited to appear for trial before Caliph
al-Ma'moon, who was in Tarsus (now in modern Turkey) at the time. They
were sent off in chainsfrom Baghdad; but shortly after beginning their
journey, the Caliph died and on their trip back to the capital, Ibn
Nooh died as well.
Ibn Hanbal was ordered to appear before the new Caliph, al-Mu'tasim.
He was on trial for three days, and on the third day after the learned
men disputed with him, there followed a private conference with the
Caliph who asked Ibn Hanbal to yield at least a little so that hemight
grant him his freedom. IbnHanbal made the same reply he had been
making from the beginning of the inquisition; he would yield when
given some proof for modifying his faith derived from the Quran and
the Traditions of Prophet Muhammad, . Losing patience, the Caliph
ordered that he be taken away and lashed. Throughout the lashing, the
Caliph persisted in his attempts to obtain a recantation, but to
noavail. Ibn Hanbal's unflinching spirit affected the Caliph, but his
advisers warned that if he discontinued the punishment, he would be
accused of having opposed the doctrine of his predecessor al-Ma'moon,
and it would be counted as a victory forIbn Hanbal resulting in dire
consequences on the reign of thecaliphs. Nevertheless, the
Caliph'streatment of Ibn Hanbal had to be suspended, because of the
mounting anger of the populace gathering outside the palace and
preparing to attack it. Ibn Hanbal is reported to have been beaten by
150 lashers, each in turn striking him twice and moving aside. The
scars from his wounds remained with him to the end of his life.
The inquisition continued under the next Caliph, al-Waathiq, but Ibn
Hanbal was left alone, in spiteof attempts on the part of his
opponents to persuade the Caliphto persecute him. The new Caliph,like
his predecessor, was most likely influenced by the threat of a popular
uprising should he lay violent hands on a man popularlyheld to be a
great scholar and themost knowledgeable person of his time. The
momentum of the inquisition carried it two years into the reign of
Caliph al-Mutawakkil, who finally put an end to it in 848 CE.
Ibn Hanbal earned the greatest reputation of all the persons involved
in the inquisition and the everlasting gratitude of the Muslim people.
He is credited with having held his ground in the face of all
odds,saving Muslims from becoming unbelievers. Ibn Hanbal's record in
history is that of a great scholar who stood firm in the face of the
Mu'tazilites' heresies, and their campaign to alter Allaah's religion.
His Death:
Ibn Hanbal died in 855 CE, in Baghdad. He was then 77 years old.
People attending his funeral ceremony flooded the streets of Baghdad
and the procession was estimated at more than 800,000 mourners.

--

- - - - -

And Allah Knows the Best!

- - - - -

Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤