TweetThe purpose of the Hadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is practical application in daily life. The objective of Hadith is not assignment to the kutub (books) after subjection to academic argument and elaboration. In normal everyday life, the commands, prohibitions, advices and admonition of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) have to be incumbently implemented.
Once a person came from a distant country to study Hadith by Imaam Ahmad Bin Hambal (rahmatullah alayh). On his arrival after a strenuous journey, he was the guest of Imaam Hambal (rahmatullah alayh). During the night time, Imaam Hambal placed a jug of water in his room for the purpose of wudhu for Tahajjud Salaat. In the morning, Imaam Hambal observed that the jug was full of water. It was clear that the guest did not use the water for wudhu. When Imaam Hambal questioned the guest, he (the guest) conceded that he had not performed Tahajjud Salaat. Imaam Hambal asked: "Tell me, why have you come here?" The guest said: "To learn Hadith." Imaam Hambal responded: "Take the road back from whence you have come. You are unfit to learn Hadith." Thus he expelled the person and did not teach him Hadith because he did not perform Tahajjud Salaat.
Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Whoever imparts knowledge (of the Deen, i.e. higher knowledge at the academic level) to an unfit person, is like one who garlands swines with pearls, diamonds and gold." A person who does not practically implement what he has learnt in the Hadith is unfit to learn Hadith and has been likened to a pig. Such unfit and unqualified persons described as 'khanaazeer' in the Hadith, subvert the commands of the Hadith by mis appropriation of the technical definitions, classification and principles discussed in Fiqah.
Instead of practising in accordance with the commands of the Hadith, the unqualified juhala mellow, render insignificant and even abrogate the teachings stated in the Ahaadith. For example, technically, an Amr (Command) is to denote Wujoob (compulsion) as well as Istihbaab (being Mustahab or preferable). For example, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) commanded fasting on the 15th Sha'baan, on the 10 Muharram and on some other days. Miscreants who have acquired a smattering of knowledge, abstain from acting according to this command because they say that the Amr is for Istihbaab, not for Wujoob.
Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) instructed that after wudhu, two raka'ts Tahyatul Wudhu should be performed. Claiming that the instruction is not for compulsion, most people abstain and deprive themselves of the immense thawaab of these two raka'ts. They justify their abandonment with the corrupt argument that to perform this Salaat is Mustahab, not Waajib.
Countless commands of the Hadith are summarily abandoned on the basis of a corrupt understanding of the technicalities of Fiqah, which the miscreants cite in justification of abstaining from practical implementation of the instructions of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Jaahil molvies say that there is no need to face the animal towards the Qiblah when slaughtering it because the command in the Hadith is for Istihbaab. All the requisites of the Waajib Islamic system of Thabah are discarded, in fact abrogated for gratifying monetary lusts, and the argument of these requisites being Sunnat or Mustahab is presented in justification for the kufr of abrogation.
The purpose of Fiqah is not to derogate the status of the ahkaam ordered in the Hadith nor to adopt a lackadaisical attitude as far as practical implementation is concerned. Mustahab does not mean abstention from ibaadat nor is it permissible to entertain the idea of any teaching being insignificant on the basis of its Istihbaab classification in Fiqah. As far as practical implementation is concerned, every teaching of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is practically compulsory regardless of its classification in Fiqah.
To abandon any teaching of the Deen on the basis of it being insignificant since it is classified Mustahab in Fiqah, is called Istikhfaaf which is kufr. There are numerous such teachings in the Hadith which are discarded by people on the basis of the convoluted understanding of their insignificance merely because in Fiqah the classification is Mustahab. This attitude of Istikhfaaf culminates in the ruin of Imaan.
Jazakallah Khair. Such an article will not go down well in many quarters because it contains some hard-hitting truth that stabs at everyone's conscience that is guilty of relegating Sunnah acts into practical non-existence.
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