The Da’wah To Islam by Sheikh Ahmad Mahmoud

The maslahah is an acquisition of a benefit or repulsing of a harm. It is either decided by the mind, or by the Shar’a. If it is left to the mind to decide, then the people will find it difficult to determine the true interest, because the mind is limited. The mind is not able to encompass the essence of man and his reality, so it cannot decide what is an interest for him, because it cannot grasp the reality in order to know whether something is beneficial or harmful. Nobody can comprehend the reality of man except his Creator. No one can decide what is in man’s interest in a certain manner, except his Creator, who is Allah 􀀬. Yes, it is possible for man to consider something as beneficial or harmful, but he cannot be definite. That is why leaving the mind to decide what is beneficial, based on speculation will lead to danger and to man’s peril. For he may think something is harmful and then it appears to be beneficial, hence he keeps the good away from himself. He may think something is beneficial, but later it appears to be harmful, and so he brings harm upon himself. Today the mind may judge upon something to be harmful, but tomorrow it judges upon it to be beneficial. Today something may be judged harmful, while yesterday it was judged beneficial. Giving such (contradictory)

judgements is not allowed. This is something for which secular systems are well known. Their human legislators wish to bring good for the people, from themselves. We see them constantly changing and altering the laws until the development of the system becomes a requirement for solving problems. This is because in reality, they are not able to arrive at the correct judgement on things and actions; a judgement that is correct and final. That is why they accuse people whose system does not develop as being rigid and static. Consequently we see the Muslims being affected, in this aspect, by the Kuffar. In defence of their own selves and their deen, and because they are far away from correctly understanding the nature of Islam, we see them drifting towards their enemies by adopting this way of thinking.

The Creator is the only one Who can manage the affairs of man and solves the problems that arise from his organic needs and instincts, and enable him to satisfy them in a correct manner. What is required is the correct solution for the reality that is to be treated. Since the reality of human beings is fixed and does not change then his solutions should be constant and not change. The man, as a man according to his original nature, needs to satisfy his inclination towards women. Since men and women in their essential reality do not change, then the relationship, in principle, is constant. It is not acceptable that we set down a system to define the relationship of a man with a woman, and then go back and change the system after a certain period of time under the pretext of development, even though their realities have not changed.

Alcohol, as a reality, is the same and has not changed. So what is the reason for changing its rule?

Gambling, as a reality, is the same and does not change. So what is the reason to change its rule all the time? And there are many more examples than these.

That is why “development”, “flexibility” and “modernisation” are features of man-made systems, which do not lead to the truth. They will continue in a process of change, which expresses man’s inability to guide himself to the correct system. This process of changing expresses their inability, but they use beautiful words such as “evolution”. It is from this standpoint that one must reject the principle that people claim to be from the Shar’a: ‘It is not renounced that rules change according to the change of the time and place.’ Rather, one should reject this principle.

Therefore, the hukm of Allah 􀀬 on a single issue is one and cannot be more than one. If its reality changes, then the hukm changes according to the change of the reality. Thus, grapes take the rule of permissibility, but when its reality changes and it becomes alcohol, then the ruling changes and it becomes prohibited.When the alcohol changes to vinegar, then it needs another rule, which is also one of permissibility. Hence there is no consideration for the time and place. Thus something is not prohibited in one place, and allowed in another; neither is something allowed in one time and prohibited in another. Time and place have no effect on the Shar’ee rule.

The Islamic Sharee’ah contains the rules for all past incidents, all the current problems and the incidents that may occur. No incident happens, no problem occurs and no event takes place without there being a rule for it. The Islamic Sharee’ah has encompassed all the actions of human beings in a complete and comprehensive manner. He 􀀬 said:

“And We have sent down to you the Book (the Qur’an) as an exposition (tibyaan)

of everything.” [TMQ 16:89]. So the Sharee’ah either presents an evidence from the Qur’an and hadith regarding the action or thing, or gives the divine reason for its legislation. This requires the mention of an ‘illah, indicated by the text, ie the ‘illah shar’iyyah (Shar’ee reason) and not ‘illah ‘aqliyyah (rational reason). Here we need to clarify the difference between the rational analogy and the Shar’ee analogy.