Speaking about
the Religion Without Knowledge
Shaikh Salih
al-Fawzan حفظه الله تعالى
“Speaking upon
Allah without knowledge enters into ‘lying upon Allah’ since the speaker
does not have the qualification to give religious verdicts (fatwa), and does
not have Islamic knowledge nor understanding of Islamic rulings. So he says
this is halal and that is haram without knowledge, rather he bases it upon his
(knowledge-less) opinion only. So if he does not have knowledge, then he
should remain silent.
The companions
and great imams of the past would refrain from answering when asked , if the
answer was not clear to them… and that did not decrease their status at all,
rather it increased them in their virtue and position due to their desire to
speak the truth only (or remain silent otherwise).
You have the
famous story of Imam Malik رحمه الله تعالى
who was asked 40 questions, and the person who was asking has
travelled a long distance (another country) to ask, so Imam Malik only answered
4 of the questions and said ‘I do not know’ for the other 36.
So the man
said to him: ‘ have come from a long distance, I have tired out my riding
animal, (my people sent me to ask you specifically, and you say “I don’t
know!”.
Imam Malik
replied: ‘Yes, mount your riding animal and return to your country and tell
them, ‘I asked Malik, and he said ‘I don’t know’.
This statement
of Imam Malik raised his rank amongst people, such that we still mention this
event (to this day) as a means of honour for
Imam Malik, since he would not speak except with knowledge.
Hence a person
does not ‘guess’ thinking that the alternative will degrade him if he says ‘I
don’t know’.
٣٦٢-٣٥٨ كتاب الكبائر ص
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