The Faith of Islam. Edward Sell

This rule has been one continued display of brute force unrelieved by any of the reflected glory which shone for a while in Cordova and in Baghdád. No nation can possibly progress, the foundations of whose legal and theocratic system are what has been described in this chapter. When brought into diplomatic and commercial intercourse with States possessing the energy and vigour of a national life and liberal constitution, Muslim kingdoms must, in the long run, fail and pass away. It has been well said that "Spain is the only instance of a country once thoroughly infused with Roman civilisation which has been actually severed from the empire; and even then the severance, though of long duration, was but partial and temporary. After a struggle of nearly eight centuries, the higher form of social organisation triumphed over the lower and the usurping power of Islám was expelled." So it ought to be, and so indeed it must ever be, for despotism must give way to freedom; the life latent in the subject Christian communities must sooner or later cast off the yoke of a barbarian rule, which even at its best is petrified and so is incapable of progress. However low a Christian community may have fallen, there is always the possibility of its rising again. A lofty ideal is placed before it. All its most cherished beliefs point forward and upward. In Islám there is no regenerative power. Its golden age was in the past. When the work of conquest is done, when a Muhammadan nation has to live by industry, intelligence and thrift, it always miserably fails.

      In this chapter which must now draw to a close, I have tried to prove from authentic and authoritative sources that the Qurán alone is to no Muslim the sole guide of life. The fetters of a dogmatic system fasten alike around the individual and the community. Islám is sterile, it gives no new birth to the spirit of a man, leads him not in search of new forms of truth, and so it can give no real life, no lasting vitality to a nation.^[34]

      NOTE TO CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      IJTIHÁD.

      Questions connected with Ijtihád are so important in Islám, that I think it well to give in the form of a note a fuller and more technical account of it, than I could do in the Chapter just concluded. This account which I shall now give is that of a learned Musalmán, and is, therefore, of the highest value. It consists of extracts from an article in the Journal Asiatique, Quatrième Série, tome, 15, on "Le Marche et les Progres de la Jurisprudence parmi les Sectes orthodoxes Musalmanes" by Mirza Kázim Beg, Professor in the University of St. Petersburg. It entirely supports all that has been said of the rigid character of Muhammadan Law, and of the immobility of systems founded thereon.

      "Orthodox Musalmáns admit the following propositions as axioms.

      1. God the only legislator has shown the way of felicity to the people whom He has chosen, and in order to enable them to walk in that way He has shown to them the precepts which are found, partly in the eternal Qurán, and partly in the sayings of the Prophet transmitted to posterity by the Companions and preserved in the Sunnat. That way is called the "Sharí'at." The rules thereof are called Ahkám.

      2. The Qurán and the Sunnat, which since their manifestation are the primitive sources of the orders of the Law, form two branches of study, viz., Ilm-i-Tafsír, or the interpretation of the Qurán and Ilm-i-Hadís, or the study of Tradition.

      3. All the orders of the Law have regard either to the actions (Dín), or to the belief (Imán) of the Mukallifs.^[35]

      4. As the Qurán and the Sunnat are the principal sources from whence the precepts of the Sharí'at have been drawn, so the rules recognized as the principal elements of actual jurisprudence are the subject of Ilm-í-Fiqh, or the science of Law.

      Fiqh in its root signifies conception, comprehension. Thus Muhammad prayed for Ibn Mas'úd: "May God make him comprehend (Faqqihahu), and make him know the interpretation of the Qurán." Muhammad in his quality of Judge and chief of the Believers decided, without appeal or contradiction, all the affairs of the people. His sayings served as a guide to the Companions. After the death of the Prophet the first Khalífs acted on the authority of the Traditions. Meanwhile the Qurán and the Sunnat, the principal elements of religion and legislation, became little by little the subject of controversy. It was then that men applied themselves vigorously to the task of learning by heart the Qurán and the Traditions, and then that jurisprudence became a separate science. No science had as yet been systematically taught, and the early Musalmáns did not possess books which would serve for such teaching. A change soon, however, took place. In the year in which the great jurisconsult of Syria died (A.H. 80) N'imán bin Sabit, surnamed Abu Hanífa was born. He is the most celebrated of the founders of the schools of jurisprudence, a science which ranks first in all Muslim seats of learning. Until that time and for thirty years later the Mufassirs,^[36] the Muhaddis,^[37] and the Fuqihá,^[38] had all their knowledge by heart, and those who possessed good memories were highly esteemed. Many of them knew by heart the whole Qurán with the comments made on it by the Prophet and by the Companions; they also knew the Traditions and their explanations, and all the commands (Ahkám) which proceed from the Qurán, and the Sunnat. Such men enjoyed the right of Mujtahidín. They transmitted their knowledge to their scholars orally. It was not till towards the middle of the second century A.H. that treatises on the different branches of the Law were written, after which six schools (Mazhabs) of jurisprudence were formed. The founders, all Imáms of the first class, were Abu Hanífa, the Imám-i-A'zam or great Imám (A.H. 150),^[39] Safian As-Sáurí (A.H. 161), Málik (A.H. 179), As-Sháfa'í (A.H. 204), Hanbal (A.H. 241) and Imám Dáúd Az-Zaharí (A.H. 270). The two sects founded by Sáurí and Zaharí became extinct in the eighth century of the Hijra. The other four still remain. These men venerated one another. The younger ones speak with great respect of the elder. Thus Sháfa'í said:—"No one in the world was so well versed in jurisprudence as Abu Hanífa was, and he who has read neither his works, nor those of his disciples knows nothing of jurisprudence." Hanbal when sick wore a shirt which had belonged to Sháfa'í, in order that he might be cured of his malady; but all this did not prevent them starting schools of their own, for the right of Ijtihád is granted to those who are real Mujtahidín. There are three degrees of Ijtihád.

      1. Al-Ijtihád fi'l Shari': absolute independence in legislation

      2. Al-Ijtihád fi'l Mazhab: authority in the judicial systems founded by the Mujtahidín of the first class.

      3. Al-Ijtihád fi'l Masáil: authority in cases which have not been decided by the authors of the four systems of jurisprudence.

      The first is called a complete and absolute authority, the second relative, the third special.

      THE FIRST DEGREE OF IJTIHÁD.

      Absolute independence in legislation is the gift of God. He to whom it is given when seeking to discover the meaning of the Divine Law is not bound to follow any other teacher. He can use his own judgment. This gift was bestowed on the jurisconsults of the first, and to some in the second and third centuries. The Companions, however, who were closely connected with the Prophet, having transmitted immediately to their posterity the treasures of legislation, are looked upon as Mujtahidín of much higher authority than those of the second and third centuries. Thus Abu Hanífa says:—"That which comes to us from the Companions is on our head and eyes (i.e., to be received with respect): as to that which comes from the Tábi'ín, they are men and we are men."

      Since the time of the Tábi'ín this degree of Ijtihád has only been conferred on the six great Imáms. Theoretically any Muslim can attain to this degree, but it is one of the principles of jurisprudence that the confirmation of this rank is dependent on many conditions, and so no one now gains the honour. These conditions are:—

      1. The knowledge of the Qurán and all that is related to it; that is to say, a complete knowledge of Arabic literature, a profound acquaintance with the orders of the Qurán and all their sub-divisions, their relationship to each other and their connection with the orders of the Sunnat. The candidate should know when, and why each verse of the Qurán was written, he should have a perfect acquaintance with the literal meaning of the words, the speciality or generality of each clause,