Prisoner 650

A Pakistani Muslim woman had been held in the notorious Bagram Prison in Afghanistan for years and now her current whereabouts unknown. Have you heard about her? Most likely not. A Muslim woman is lingering in such a torturous jail and no alarms have gone off in her country or in any part of the Muslim world. How low have we, as an Ummah, stooped to not only allow such a thing to happen, but to be so oblivious about it?

Not much is known about her. Why is she there? What crime has she committed? She is a ghost prisoner. If not for eyewitnesses, such as the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg and interest raised about her case by journalist Yvonne Ridley, we wouldn’t have heard anything about her.

When some Jews dared to uncover a Muslim woman, it didn’t take long for the banners of the Muslim armies led by the Messenger himself to hover around their fortresses. They where defeated by the Muslim forces, and the entire Jewish Community, (not just the perpetrators) where driven out from Madina — all of them, down to the last man. This is how serious such a matter is.

Centuries later, a Muslim woman was taken prisoner by the Roman Army and called for help from the Abassid Khalifah of the time, al Mu’tasim. He immediately ordered a mobilization of forces and led those forces himself in an attack of Roman territory in response to the call of a single Muslim woman. The response to her plea from the Muslims of that time was the complete severance of diplomatic relations, and Declaration of War against the superpower of the time.

But today, no one knows or even seems to care about this woman who has disappeared into US custody for years.

The Messenger of Allah, as narrated in Sahih al Bukhari, said: “Release the prisoner.” It is a clear and direct order to Muslims until the end of time. The Scholars of Islam state that if a Muslim in the East is taken prisoner, it becomes mandatory on the Muslims of the West to seek his release, even if that would lead to them expending all of their wealth.

In addition to this sister being a prisoner, she is also a woman. Islam gives special protection for women and children, and the honor of the Muslim Ummah is in their protection of their women. The first ayah that allowed fighting in the path of Allah justified it for the defense of women, children, and the weak.

Allah says: And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!” (al Nisa 75)

I pray to Allah to release our sister and all our brothers and sisters from the prisons of the tyrants.

This eight volume set falls under what is classified as the fiqh of hadith. There are books that concentrate on the fiqh derived from Quran, such as the books of Tafsir by al Qurtubi and AbuBakr bin al Arabi, and you have books of fiqh that are concerned with a particular madhab, and then you have books of comparative fiqh, and then there is the category that this collection falls into, and that is the fiqh of hadith. This collection of hadith was done by Majdudeen Ibn Taymiyyah, the grandfather of the famous ibn Taymyyiah, and al Shawkani wrote Nail al Awtaar as a commentary on these hadith.

Imam al Shawkani was born in year 1173 in Shawkaan, Yemen. He initially studied the Zaidi madhab, which is the closest of the Shia sects to the Sunnah. But, before the age of thirty, he left the madhab and became a mujtahid. He refuted the Zaidi scholars of his time and became a follower of the Sunnah.

In addition to being the carrier of the banner of Sunnah in Yemen, and offering the strongest critique of the Zaydi school of thought, his knowledge was so impressive that, at the age of thirty, he was also chosen to serve as the Supreme Judge for Yemen for the Zaidi Imam of his time: al Mansoor. He carried on in that post for three of the Zaidi Imams of Yemen for over 40 years. In addition to serving as the Supreme Judge and teaching students, he wrote 278 books and letters!

Al Shawkaani in Nail al Awtaar starts by studying the chain of narration of the hadith, and after that, all the books of hadith that narrated it. He then derives his conclusion regarding the classification of the authenticity of the hadith. He then explains the linguistic meanings of the hadith. After that he goes into mentioning not only the opinions of the four schools, but the opinions of the Sahaba, Tabi’een, and all other notable scholars (such as al Awza’ee, Sufyan al Thawri, al Tabari, Ibn Hazm, etc.). He then discusses the different views and frequently brought usool al Fiqh and Fiqh rules into his discussion.

Nail al Awtaar is an excellent resource for reference on both the evidence of every opinion, and the views of the different scholars on different aspects of fiqh. It is also a good study for students of knowledge to learn the tools of scholarship and how an opinion is derived in Islamic fiqh.

Next: Majmu’ al Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah

Imam al Nawawi is a fascinating scholar. He led an exemplary life. He lived exclusively for knowledge; he dedicated his whole life to it. The diversity of his knowledge made him an expert in many fields. His writings on fiqh are so important that when there is a difference of opinion among Shafi’i jurists, it is his opinion that becomes the official opinion of the Shafi’i School.

His book, Riyadh al Saliheen, (Gardens of the Righteous) is the most widespread book of hadith in the Muslim world. The Nawawi Forty Hadith is a household name. His book on the remembrance of Allah, al Athkaar, (The Remembrances) is one of the most famous books on the subject and his Commentary of Sahih Muslim is the standard in the field. He had begun writing a book on comparative fiqh, but died before its completion.

Isn’t it amazing that all of this knowledge came from a man who died at the age of forty-five?

He was a pious, ascetic, and unpretentious man. It has been mentioned that he lived in the library of Damascus for two years and read continuously. During that period he would not sleep on a bed but instead put his head down over a book and take a nap and then continue reading.

He started writing at the age of 30. One of the scholars said that the way Imam al Nawawi wrote all of these books in such a short time was that he would combine studying with writing. While he was studying, he would write notes about what he had learned. These notes would later become a published book. Without this methodology, it is hard to imagine how it would be possible for him to have authored such a large number of books.

The impression I have of Imam al Nawawi, is that he was a very serious person who was always doing what would draw him closer to Allah. He was a person who was not affected by temptations and did not slack-off or waver. He was someone who was consistent and deliberate. He was not diseased with jealousy or envy.

In his commentary, he described the isnaad, (i.e., chain of narration), then explained the meanings of words and phrases in the hadith and then gave a brief summary of rulings derived from the hadith.

Nawawi’s commentary of Sahih Muslim is brief, which may be the reason it is preferred by some Islamic universities for their curriculum despite the fact that Imam Ibn Hajar’s commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, the most important book of hadith, is regarded as the best commentary ever written on any book of hadith.

Comparing the methodology of the two, Ibn Hajar elaborated on details of the hadith, much like an encyclopaedia, and Nawawi was concise. When defining terms in the hadith, Ibn Hajar would elaborate on the language used and Nawawi would define the meaning of selected vocabulary. Ibn Hajar would mention all existing narrations of the hadith, and Nawawi would not generally include other narrations. Ibn Hajar referred to fiqh derived from the hadith with quotations from various scholars of different schools of Islam and Nawawi would usually quote from scholars who had written commentaries on Muslim such as al Qadhi Iyadh, al Maziri, and al Khatibi. Both would mention the various benefits to be deduced from the hadith but Ibn Hajar would do so on a larger scale than Nawawi. At the end, Nawawi’s commentary leaves the reader with a clear understanding of the hadith and Ibn Hajar’s commentary leaves the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the hadith and all that relates to it from the other books of hadith.

May Allah reward our beloved Imam and grant him al Firdaws.

Next: Nail al Awtaar by al Shawkaani

All of the books I have mentioned until now were brought to me by my family. Because they were not ‘officially’ allowed to visit me yet, getting the books would take a long time. But at a later point, I had the added privilege of being able to place orders directly through a warden who made purchases according to the prisoners’ needs, such as clothes and books.

The first book I ordered was al-Tathkirah fi ahwaal al-Mawta wa Umoor al Akhira, (The Reminder of the Affairs of the Dead and the Situations of the Afterlife,) commonly referred to as “The Reminder” by al-Qurtubi. This was one of the books I used in the preparation of The Hereafter which I recorded in 1999. I ordered that book because we are always in need of reminding ourselves about the Afterlife. It covers the topics of: Death, the Grave, the Day of Judgment, Paradise and Hellfire. The book is excellent except for the inclusion of many weak hadith. There are other books that I could have ordered that cover the same topic, but I have a certain fondness for the scholars of Andalusia; there is something romantic about that land. Having seen Andalusia, I can imagine the places where al-Qurtubi, al-Shatibi, Ibn Hazm and others lived, taught, and authored their books. It is also amazing to see how many great scholars were produced in a relatively small Muslim state.

A few days after sending for the book, I received it. And as soon as I received it, I started reading it. But then the light bulb in my cell burned out. This meant that I was in almost complete darkness at night, except for a glimpse of light that would come in from the corridor. I was also in almost total darkness during the day, except for some light that comes in from a small window close to the roof. It was impossible for me to see the print day or night. I informed the wardens about it but nothing happened that evening. I didn’t mind staying in the dark because I had been in artificial light continuously for a few months at that point so it was a nice break to experience darkness again. We forget that everything is a blessing, even darkness.

I wanted to read the book and I was very eager to do so. I asked the wardens again and they said that the process includes informing their supervisor who will then write a report that will be submitted to the head of the prison and he will send a request to the electrician, who will apply for the lamp from the prison storage. It was going to be a while. What was I to do?

There was one warden who was polite towards me that offered to open the window on the iron door. This small window is used by wardens to pass small items to prisoners without opening the door. They also use it to peek in and see what the prisoners are doing. By leaving it open, a ray of light would come from the lamp in the corridor directly onto the floor about half a meter from the door. It was an inconvenient location, being very close to the door, but because I was so eager to go through the book I placed it under this ray of light and read that way for about 2 or 3 days until the light bulb was replaced.

For a period of about 4 to 5 days I was totally immersed in the Afterlife. Looking through the lens of the Hereafter puts everything in this world in the right perspective. We need to think about death and what will happen after death constantly. Rasulullah said: “Frequently remember the destroyer of enjoyment (i.e., death).” We ask Allah to wake us up from the state of unawareness we are in!
Next: The Commentary of Sahih Muslim by Imam al Nawawi