Assalamu Alaykom Wa Rahmatu Allah
Considering education necessity, not only a need اعتبار التعليم ضرورة لا حاجة
فقط
In the introduction to his book "Diraasah fi Maqaasid Ash-Sharee‘ah" under the
topic "Limiting the objectives to the main five fundamentals", Dr. Yoosuf
Al-Qaradaawi said: "There are some notes on the way scholars of Usool proved
some necessities and fundamentals, such as supporting protection of mind by the
prohibition of wine (alcoholic beverages) and punishing their consumer. I find
that protecting one's mind in Islam occurs by many methods and ways, which
include making seeking knowledge obligatory for every Muslim man and woman as
well as going on journey to seek knowledge and continuing to seek knowledge
from cradle to grave. Also, leaning every science the Muslim Ummah needs in its
religion and worldly life is communal obligation.
This statement, though is not explicit in considering the university study
necessity in particular, clearly indicates that protecting the mind is one of
necessities which cannot be fulfilled in the present time except by the
obligation of seeking knowledge. In the previous topic, I quoted a fatwa of
Sheikh Faisal Mawlawi in which he said, "Continuation of study may be
considered necessity." It explicitly states the permissibility of borrowing in
interest should it be the only available alternative.
Considering seeking knowledge necessity, I do make the following comments:
First: Necessity in the literature of Fiqh signifies a state in which man would
inevitably or imminently die if he did not eat the prohibition.This definition
makes necessity exclusive to the matter of food and that it is the only state
in which man may die. This exclusivity mostly relied on the association
mentioned in the Quran between permissibility of eating meat of the dead animal
and necessity due to hunger. Allah The Almighty Says: {He has only forbidden to
you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated
to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring
[it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is
Forgiving and Merciful.
This Quranic verse and others do not imply limiting the state of necessity to
the two criteria, i.e. fear from dying of hunger and eating food to escape
death. Instead, the verse mentioned this case as an example, not to show
exclusivity. Commenting on this verse, Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy upon
him) said: "Necessity occurs either by coercion of a tyrant or by severe
hunger. The majority of Muslim jurists and scholars interpreted it to mean the
one who is baffled by sanctity or hunger, and this is the correct meaning.
Other scholars said that it means the one who is forced and overpowered to eat
these unlawful items. Mujaahid said it means the man who is forced to it, such
as when the enemies take him and force him to eat the pork or commit any act of
disobedience to Allah the Almighty. Yet, coercion permits doing these things
till coercion is removed.This discussion indicates that coercion is a
considerable reason under the Sharee‘ah to make the prohibited lawful. Although
the verse did not say this explicitly, other texts considered it.
Parallel to that, other texts considered lack of wealth, i.e. subsistence,
necessity which permits eating meat of the dead animal. It was authentically
narrated on the authority of Jaabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him)
that a man alighted at Al-Harrah with his wife and children. A man said (to
him): "My she-camel has strayed; if you find it, detain it." He found it, but
did not find its owner, and it fell ill. His wife said: "Slaughter it." But he
refused and it died. She said: "Skin it so that we may dry its fat and flesh
and then eat them." He said: "Let me ask the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu
‘alayhi wa sallam. So he came to the Prophet and asked him. The Prophet,
sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Have you sufficient for your needs?" He
replied in the negative. He then said: "Then eat it." later, when its owner
came and he told him the story. He said: "Why did you not slaughter it?" He
replied: "I was ashamed (or afraid) of you.
The commentator on this Hadith explained the Prophet's saying "Have you
sufficient for your needs?" to mean that do you have enough food that makes
you, your family and your children in no need of it. The Hadith proves that not
only fear from dying out of hunger makes eating meat of the dead animal lawful,
but also lack of wealth and subsistence does. The context of the Hadith
indicates the length of time span between finding the she-camel, its illness
and its death, and the question of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
Had the companion who found the she-camel been about to die, he would not have
waited for that period of time.
Most importantly, we draw from the famous Hadith of Al-‘Araaya, which was
narrated on the authority of Zayd ibn Thaabit (may Allah be pleased with him)
that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, permitted selling
ripe fruits for dried dates in Al-‘Araaya." Al-‘Araaya takes various forms
which were detailed by Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy upon him) as follows:
There are many forms of Al-‘Ariyyah. For instance, a man tells the owner of a
palm tree garden, "Sell me the fruits of particular palm trees for estimation
of dried dates." The owner of the garden will estimate it, sell the fruits,
receive the dried dates, and give him access to the palm trees to benefit by
its ripe dates. Another form is that the owner of the garden gifts certain palm
trees to a man, then the owner gets harmed by the gifted entering upon him, so
he estimates the fruits and buys their ripe dates by dried dates paid in
advance. A third form is the owner of the garden gifts certain palm trees to a
man, and the gifted suffers harm by his waiting for the ripe dates to become
dried dates, provided he does not like to have ripe dates because he needs the
dried dates. In this case the gifted estimates the ripe dates and sells them to
the grantor or someone else for dried dates paid in advance. A fourth form is
that a man sells the dates of his palm tree garden after the fruits become
fresh and excludes certain palm trees for his and his children's use. The
excluded dates constitute the part exempted from being estimated for Zakaah.
These are called ‘Araaya because they are exempted from estimation to be
included in Zakaah. Therefore, a concession was made for people of need who do
not have money and own unwanted amounts of their food of dates to buy with them
ripe dates on the palm trees after estimation.
Despite the variety of the forms of Al-‘Araaya, no scholar stated that
necessity or fear from death was the motivating factor for permitting this sort
of transaction. The point was that people's need for this sort of transaction
and the harm entailed by banning it called the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam, to permit it although it involves Riba Al-Fadhl or Riba An-Nasee‘ah
according to some scholars. Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqlaani explained this Hadith which
was narrated by Al-Bukhaari[8] and said: "According to Maalik, ‘Ariyyah must
not take place in this manner except with the gifted only due to the harm the
owner of the garden endures by others' entering it or to alleviate the harm
from the other party when the owner of the palm trees irrigates and spends on
them. Also, it is required to occur after the fruits become fresh and it has to
be exchanged with dried dates paid in advance. Ash-Shaafi‘i disagreed with
Maalik in the last condition and stipulated immediate delivery." Stipulating
advance payment – according to Maalik – is the essence of Riba An-Nasee'ah. Ibn
Al-‘Arabi Al-Maaliki affirmed the opinion of Maalik, saying: "Considering the
need to permit the banned resembles considering necessity in making the
prohibited lawful. Examples for this include the Hadith of Al-‘Araaya, selling
the fruits on the pale trees for dried dates on the ground. This form of sale
involves Riba in three ways: selling ripe dates for dried dates, relying on
estimation or guess in valuing the two payments of Riba, and postponing
delivery if we said it would be delivered at the time of picking the fruits.
More than that, loan according to Maaliki scholars is in principle one form of
Riba An-Nasee'ah but was made lawful as preference and exception to the
original rule. Ash-Shaatibi grounded for Istihsaan (personal preference)
advocated by the Maaliki scholars, saying: "It [Istihsaan] has many examples in
the Sharee‘ah, such as loan, which is in principle Riba. In loans a dirham is
given for a dirham to be paid in a specific term, but it was made lawful
because it provides gentleness and ease for the needful. Had it remained on the
original ruling of banning, it would have caused hardship for the Muslims.
Similarly, if Riba An-Nasee'ah had been removed from the loan, the principle of
ease would have been canceled.
Scholars know that it is established beyond any doubt that Riba An-Nasee'ah and
eating meat of the dead animal are in themselves prohibited and cannot be
lawful except under necessity. Furthermore, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam, permitted both of them for a need without death being expected, and
thus he made Riba An-Nasee'ah in Al-‘Araaya and loan lawful. He also permitted
eating meat of the dead animals for the Muslim who does not have enough food.
Therefore, we must say that necessity resembles need which neither requires
fearing from death nor is exclusive to food, because loan pertains to dealings.
Since necessity – or need according to the aforesaid opinion – permitted
protection of life and property without any difference between them and the
rest of the five fundamentals, i.e. protection of one's religion, mind, and
honor, the conclusion would be that everything Muslims need to protect their
religion, life, mind, property, and honor with is considered necessity which
permit things intrinsically prohibited.
Dr. Wahbah Az-Zuhayli (may Allah preserve him) after exploring some definitions
that jurists suggested for necessity said:
It seems that all these definitions define necessity in the context of food
only, so they are neither sufficient nor inclusive of the full sense of the
term which represents a principle or a theory by virtue of which the
prohibition becomes lawful or the obligation not required. Thus, I suggest the
following definition: "Necessity occurs when man undergoes a state of danger or
severe hardship under which he fears imminent harm to his life, honor, mind,
property, or their affiliates. In such a state, it is permissible to commit the
prohibition or leave the obligation or delay it to ward off harm that will most
probably afflict him within the limits of the Sharee‘ah.
More comments are coming up in the next email in sha Allah.
Dr.Main Al-Qudah
Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies
Imam, MAS Katy Center
Member, AMJA Fatwa Committee
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سياسة النشر في المجموعة:
ترك ما عارض أهل السنة والجماعة... الاكتفاء بأمور ذات علاقة بالاقتصاد الإسلامي
وعلومه ولو بالشيء البسيط، ويستثنى من هذا مايتعلق بالشأن العام على مستوى الأمة
كحدث غزة مثلا... عدم ذكر ما يتعلق بشخص طبيعي أو اعتباري بعينه باستثناء الأمر
العام الذي يهم عامة المسلمين... تمرير بعض الأشياء الخفيفة المسلية ضمن قواعد
الأدب وخاصة منها التي تأتي من أعضاء لا يشاركون عادة، والقصد من ذلك تشجيعهم على
التفاعل الإيجابي... ترك المديح الشخصي...إن كل المقالات والآراء المنشورة تُعبر
عن رأي أصحابها، ولا تعبّر عن رأي إدارة المجموعة بالضرورة.
