Private Opinion

Ramadan Blogging: Day 4

Today’s after-fajr talk was by Dr. Hisham Abdullah who discussed a small portion of the 6th hadith from the collection of 40 Hadith by An-Nawawi. This collection of Hadith (42, actually) is considered quite important in the canon of the study of Hadith and is widely popular among Muslims. Here goes the 6th one:

On the authority of Al-Numan bin Basheer, who said : I heared the messenger of Allah say :

“That which is lawful is plain and that which is unlawful is plain and between the two of them are doubtful matters about which not many people know. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters falls into that which is unlawful, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allah’s sanctuary is His prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart.”

(Bukhari and Muslim) [Forty Hadith]

Dr. Abdullah quoted Ibn Rajab saying that there are three kinds of people: those who don’t know and don’t care, those who don’t know but are cautious and those who do know and do care. He said this in context of Muslims affronted with issues that they are not really familiar if it is halal (allowed) or haram (disallowed). As mentioned in the Hadith, there is some grey area between the two extremes and even though some of the people would know about it for sure, most wouldn’t. So, he urged to err on the side of caution. He promised to delve more into this Hadith in the coming weeks.

Also, here is the last Friday Khutbah (sermon) by Imam Suhaib Webb. Just in case you were wondering what they talk about in my mosque. Imam Webb is an inspirational speaker and the topic he covers in this Khutbah is tawbah (repentance).