> Speaking About Allah (swt) Without Knowledge

[IbnAbdulHakim]

Speaking About Allah (swt) Without Knowledge

Jamal al-Din Zarabozo

Transcribed from tape "Usool at-Tafseer" (1/12)

Al-Qurtubee in his tafseer, he talks about such people who say when they read the Quran in my mind this comes to my mind, or my heart tells me this, and he concludes who reads the Quran and says, "ask your heart" or "my heart tells me," and so forth, they are speaking about Allah without knowledge ('ilm), which, as we will talk about, one of the greatest sins that we could commit, and that they are actually from zanadiqa, those who have nothing to do with Islam, and he said they should be killed as apostates (murtadeen).

When you go to the Quran and you read a verse from the Quran and you explain that verse without having the propher knowledge, without following the proper methodology, you might be and only Allah swt knows, actually following your own hawa, following your own desires, you might be following an inspiration from the Shaytan, you might be following dhann (conjecture), which Allah swt speaks about in many places in the Qur'an, or it might actually be some kind of inspirataion from Allah swt, but most likely it is not the last case. And why is it not the last case? Because as we will talk about it later, you did not follow the proper methodology of talking about the Qur'an and if you did not follow a proper methodology of talking about the Quran, then you have committed a sin already. Just by talking about the Quran, without proper knowledge, by giving interpretation of the Quran, without proper knowledge, without proper background, without being qualified to do so, then you've already committed a sin. And since you are commiting a sin, it is very unlikely in most cases that Allah swt will bless you through that sin to give you the right interpretation of the Quran.

When you say that Allah swt means this or Allah swt means that in a specific verse, you are actually speaking or saying something on behalf of Allah swt, you are actually speaking about Allah swt, and if you are speaking without knowledge, without 'ilm, this is one of the greatest sins that you could commit.

In fact, Ibn ul Qayyim said that it is the greatest sin. Ibn ul Qayyim said that speaking about Allah swt without `ilm is the greatest sin that you could commit. He bases it on this verse:

"Qul innama 7arrama Rabbi-l-fawa7isha ma DHahara minha wa ma baTan, wal-ithma wal-baghya bi ghayri-l-7aqq, wa an tushrikoo bi-Llahi ma lam yunazzil bihi sulTana, wa an taqoolo 3ala-l-Lahi ma la ta3lamoon."

"Say: The things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are al-Fawahishah (great evil sins, every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.), whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppession, joining partners (in worship) with Allah for which He has given no authority and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge." [The Noble Qur'an, 7:33]

In discussing this verse, he says, first of all there are some sins which are haram li-dhatihi, forbidden due to their own evil nature, and (others which are) haram li ghairihi, which are forbidden because they lead to some evil or have some evil in them.

And he said with respect to this verse, all of these four, they are haram in dhatihi, they are haram in their own essence, because of the evil in them. Continuing his discussion, he said that Allah swt first mentions al-fawahishah, and he says this is the least of the sins that He mentions, after that He mentions the sins of transpasses against the truth; this is a greater sin that the first one that Allah mentioned.

And then He mentioned making shirk, and finally He mentioned saying things about Allah swt of which you have no knowledge. He is saying that Allah swt is going from from the lesser to the greater. And the reason he says is that this last sin of saying about Allah swt without 'ilm, which is actually what you do when you make tafseer without the proper background, without the proper methodology, he says it involves and it includes many things even more than what commiting shirk involves. He says it involves and it includes:

1. ascribing something falsely to Allah swt
2. changing or altering the religion of Allah swt
3. denying what He has confirmed or
4. confirming what He has denied,
5. affirming something declaring false or
6. declaring something false as true, and it also includes
7. supporting something that Allah swt dislikes or opposes,
8. supporting something that Allah swt dislikes or opposes, and
9. liking something that Allah swt dislikes.

In other words, when you are speaking without 'ilm, in the religion, in things which are related to the religion, then in fact you are changing the religion of Allah swt. And in fact, if you continue what he wrote - this is right from "Madarij us Salikeen", 1:372-3 - you find that in fact speaking without `ilm is actually the real source of all kufr and shirk.

He said, for example, the polytheists claim what they are worshipping instead of Allah swt was something to take them closer to Allah swt, so the cause of their shirk was saying something about Allah swt without `ilm, something they did not know about Allah swt.

Similarly today, the greatest kufr that we have nowadays, among Muslims, but especially among non-Muslims, is secularism and the basis for that is saying that Allah swt doesn't really care about what we do in worldly affairs, or hasn't really given us guidance for worldly affairs, or the Deen that He sent is not meant for daily affairs; all of this is speaking about Allah without knowledge.

So in fact, it is one of the greatest sins, and Ibn ul Qayyim even included that it is in fact the greatest sin. And he also mentioned that every bid'ah, every innovation, also is based on some statement that has no support from the Qur'an and Sunnah, in other words every bid`ah also is based on some statement which is actually made without `ilm.

To think about this point even further, about just going to the Qur'an, and saying, I am a believer I am pious, I can go to the Qur'an, and read the Qur'an, and get its own meaning, if there was any people in the history of mankind who could have said that - maybe we could accept this from them - would be the Companions of the Prophet saws, for many reasons:

• They witnessed the revelation of the Quran itself,
• they witnessed the events it was referring to, they were living the events that it was referring to,
• the Quran was revealed in their language, the language of their time,
• Allah swt chose them to be the Companions of the Prophet saws,
• and he described them as the best generation.

So if anyone could actually make that claim that he has such a pure heart and such a close relationship to Allah swt or such a good understanding of Islam, that he can go to the Quran and interpret the Quran simply by what his heart tells him or what they used to call ra'ee (personal opinion) - after the Soofees it became "What the heart tells you," but originally it was called ra'ee or personal opinion, it would be the Sahaba, but if we go to the Sahaba we see that what they understood and what they learned from the Prophet saws in fact is the complete opposite. What they learned is that it is absolutely forbidden to speak about the Quran without proper knowledge.
And they made such statements. For example, Aboo Bakr one time said, "What earth would give me place to live and what sky would shade me if I should speak about the Qur'an with my opinion or by something I do not know." And `Umar ibn al Khattab, he also said, "Beware of using your opinion in religious matters." And Ibn `Abbas, the one who the Prophet saws made du`a for him to understand the Qur'an, to get the understanding of the Deen, and to be given by Allah swt the ta`weel or the understanding of the Qur'an, he also said, "All that there is to follow and obey is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. Whoever makes any statement after these two according to his opinion, then I do not know if you'll find among his good deeds or among his sins."

This is the style of Ibn `Abbas, that he made in many statements. Meaning that even if what you did was something good, looks like something good, you will find it among your sins. And at-Tirmidhee, in his Sunan, he said it has been related from some of the people of `ilm, people of knowledge, the Sahaba of the Prophet saws and others, that they that they were very strict when it came to speaking about the Qur'an without `ilm.


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[PK_Aali]

Yeh, it's better to say Allahu Aalim (Allah knows best) instead of aying things you don't know..