the Shariah- Watering the Soul?

Friday 8th November 

Salaams brothers. 

Jumaa Mubarak. 

Nearly every book on the Shariah lauds the Sahabas (the Companions of the Messenger (saw)) for being quite unlike any other community of believers before them. 

Part of their great attributes were their selfless givings. Another relevant, and no less great, attribute of theirs was that they did not ask of the Messenger (saw) over many questions. They were content with whatever they were given. 

And it is those two attributes that singled them out, above and beyond the other Nations that preceded them. 

However, part of their ancestors attributes is that we constantly want to know what is halal, recommended, advisable, to be abstained from, regretted and lastly punishable. 

The mantra that I have led, since when I cannot remember, is that the two are not the same: religious obligations and worldly concerns. 

That in regards to religious obligations, and ceremonies having religious overtones, that they have been made clear and any addition to that is a deviation from what has been sent down and is a going astray (bidaa’ - religious innovation). 

But that in regards to Worldly matters, that what has been forbidden had been made clear and anything else is permissible.

But what most of my peers hold is markedly opposite, that innovations in Worldly matters should first be deferred to a Shariah based position. That in effect all matters require religious edicts for clarification.

Interestingly this was not the attitude of the Sahaba (as). 

Indeed after freeing and conquering Sham from Caesar the Sahabahs did not ask if it was permissible to use the same coinage. They did not deliberate on whether the means of exchange should mirror its true worth, as in the gold standard. 

Instead they maintained the civil administration within the towns, in a similar manner to the Prophet (saw) maintaining the key holder's family's right to the Kaba at the conquest of Mecca.

This is not to say that a currency worth it's weight is not of merit, but that such deliberations should be about economy and not be based upon religious grounds. 

Nor does it say that our beloved Prophet, Muhammad (saw), had nothing to contribute on the matter. 

The Sahabahs appreciated the easiest means of ensuring a smooth transition towards meaningful change. That what separates us from them, in this World, is not what we do, nor even how we do it, but the depth of meaning that affects us. When we do, the Shukr that GOD gave us the ability and knowledge to do, and when we err or forgot, the Istighfar that brings us home again.

Indeed it could be argued that the whole of religion lends accessibility to meaning. That in the removal of our short-term worldview from the scope of our thought the meaning of our lives intensifies. 

That what each of us do, or do not do, has ramifications beyond our limited lives. 

And yet the vast majority of our book concerns itself with our daily lives, and that in order to create a justly balanced society so that our psychology is freed from the oppression of wrong. 

Such an understanding also sheds light on the Sunnah. That part of it is as a way of using appropriate words to evoke meaning within us. And the other part is to prescribe in order that the "what" of deliberation is sorted, leaving ourselves more to contemplate the "whys". 

So we know what to say when a person passes on, or an ill eventuality befalls us, so that we are free to focus on the meaning contained within it: “Surely to God we belong, and to Him is our return”. 

The Shariah, or even the Sunnah, is there really to water our souls. 

But when we get bogged down in the semantics of law, of what is reprehensible and what is recommended, it falls short of its noble meaning. And becomes just another set of rules that people differ over. 

We should recall that the Shariah is literally the path that leads to the watering place. 

A place where people gather together and partake from the same unitary source. That quenches our common thirst. 

A place full of barakah, meaning and understanding. 

So focus my bothers, whilst you learn about the what to dos and when to do them, on the meaning. 

For the means is but a way to the ends, and the ends should be the purification and embellishment of our souls. 

What I have said here is my opinion. If it is wrong then that wrong belongs to me. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not via lectures, nor speeches, nor this above.