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231 Chapter 7 knowledge and action  Lesson 1: The Foundations of Religious Practice, Knowledge, and Action S: What are the foundations of religious practice (qawa‘id al-din)? T: The foundations of religious practice are four things, from which four others are derived. S: What is the first foundation? T: It is knowledge. One must know at what time things are done, like the obligation to affirm the faith when one reaches maturity and rationality, and that one prays the noon prayer after the sun has reached its peak, and that fasting is done at the onset of Ramadan. One must know of the prophets and angels, what is permissible, and what is prohibited, by being presented with evidence. One must know how God is described, by having it explained and by asking about it. One must know about equivalence in action, though some say it is not necessary to know it, but that saying is weak. One must know what pleases God, what He has commanded and prohibited, what is erroneous, and what is correct. One should also know what things are collective duties that require only a sufficient number of people to do them.2 S: What is the basis for making knowledge obligatory? T: All three roots of the law3 are a basis for making the seeking of knowledge obligatory. The entire umma agrees on the obligatory nature of seeking necessary 1. This chapter, which is probably incomplete, closely follows Atfayyish (1980a, 72–76). 2. A collective duty (fard kifaya), such as the obligation to defend Muslim territory, is distinct from a duty imposed on every Muslim (fard ‘ayn), such as prayer. 3. The three roots of the law are the Qur’an, the Sunna, and consensus (ijma‘). Al-Rawahi presents proof from consensus first, followed by a Qur’anic verse, and then a hadith from the 232 • Al-‘Aqida ’l-Wahbiyya knowledge; God Most High said,“So ask the people of remembrance,if you do not know” (16:43); and the Prophet said in a sound hadith,“The search for knowledge is a religious obligation on everyone who has reached puberty.”4 S: Perhaps the command in the verse and in the hadith is simply meant to encourage people to seek knowledge? T: Not at all! Keep to your own limits,and beware of these explanations,which I fear will lead you to rely on dubious arguments! In truth, I assure you, when the command came, it was because of obligation! If it were an isolated instance and there were no second proof-text, you might say it was merely to encourage people. This is our teaching and the teaching of all our theological opponents concerning isolated commands. S: What is the proof for this allegation? T: Turn your eyes to the words of the Most High: “May those who oppose His command beware” (24:63) and “He deviated from the command of His Lord” (18:50). If you look in comparable verses you will find that the Glorious One says that sedition, immorality, reproach, and blame all result from opposing and failing to obey His command. Would these calamities fall on those who oppose His command if the command were meant only as an encouragement? You see that He Whose praise is glorious made clear what happens to those who oppose His commands, without telling us that the command is obligatory, but He tells us, “If you don’t do this, you are an infidel” or “you will be punished” or something of the sort, so understand or come learn! Yes, it is possible that when the Most High says “They oppose His command” He means just one of His commands, with the implication that it is the opposite of prohibition. In the hadith, “If I command you to do something, obey as well as you can,” his saying “as well as you can” indicates that obeying is an obligation linked to the command in his words “if I command you.” If he commands us, we are obligated to obey his commands. The outcome is that the command is an obligation so you will act according to it, as you would with other commands. Prophet. The roots of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) include a fourth root, ijtihad, (systematic individual reasoning), but ijtihad is not binding, so it is not included here. 4. I have not found this precise version. The more familiar version is “The search for knowledge is obligatory for...

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