بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum.
This past week, one of my teachers, Ustadh Ghaazi Salem mentioned that one of the diseases that people suffer from is ignorance of the religion, and the cure for this disease was asking the scholars.
He pointed out that ignorance of the religion could even lead to people being killed. So, a person could give an incorrect fatwa (ruling) causing people to die as a result of that.
This particular scenario happens a lot in today’s time (eg. ISIS and its bloodthirsty battalion issuing calls for “jihad”). And it even occurred in the Prophet’s (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) time.
عَنْ جَابِرٍ، قَالَ خَرَجْنَا فِي سَفَرٍ فَأَصَابَ رَجُلاً مِنَّا حَجَرٌ فَشَجَّهُ فِي رَأْسِهِ ثُمَّ احْتَلَمَ فَسَأَلَ أَصْحَابَهُ فَقَالَ هَلْ تَجِدُونَ لِي رُخْصَةً فِي التَّيَمُّمِ فَقَالُوا مَا نَجِدُ لَكَ رُخْصَةً وَأَنْتَ تَقْدِرُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ فَاغْتَسَلَ فَمَاتَ فَلَمَّا قَدِمْنَا عَلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أُخْبِرَ بِذَلِكَ فَقَالَ: قَتَلُوهُ قَتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَلاَّ سَأَلُوا إِذْ لَمْ يَعْلَمُوا فَإِنَّمَا شِفَاءُ الْعِيِّ السُّؤَالُ
Jabir (radiallahu anhu) said: We set out on a journey. One of our people was hurt by a stone, that injured his head. He then had a sexual dream. He asked his fellow travelers: Do you find a concession for me to perform tayammum? They said: We do not find any concession for you while you can use water. He took a bath and died. When we came to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), the incident was reported to him. He said: They killed him, may Allah kill them! Could they not ask when they did not know? The cure to ignorance is asking. [Sunan Abee Dawood, Hadeeth No. 336. Graded “hasan” (good) by Al-Albani. Note: This narration has some additional information at the end which you can find here. I removed it because Shaikh Al-Albani did not declare that part to be authentic.]
عَنْ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ أَصَابَ رَجُلاً جُرْحٌ فِي عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ثُمَّ احْتَلَمَ فَأُمِرَ بِالاِغْتِسَالِ فَاغْتَسَلَ فَمَاتَ فَبَلَغَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ : قَتَلُوهُ قَتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَلَمْ يَكُنْ شِفَاءُ الْعِيِّ السُّؤَالَ
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas (radiallahu anhuma): A man was injured during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam); he then had a sexual dream, and he was advised to wash and he washed himself. Consequently he died. When this was reported to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), he said: They killed him; may Allah kill them! Is not the cure to ignorance asking? [Sunan Abee Dawood, Hadeeth No. 337. Graded “hasan” (good) by Al-Albani.]
So, the people inadvertently killed the injured man due to being ignorant of the correct ruling. They should have asked but didn’t, which resulted in issuing a wrong fatwa.
That’s not all. It’s possible that one could get himself killed due to being ignorant of the religion.
This has happened too – in the story of the man who killed 99 people.
عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، أَنَّ نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ : كَانَ فِيمَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ رَجُلٌ قَتَلَ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ نَفْسًا فَسَأَلَ عَنْ أَعْلَمِ أَهْلِ الأَرْضِ فَدُلَّ عَلَى رَاهِبٍ فَأَتَاهُ فَقَالَ إِنَّهُ قَتَلَ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ نَفْسًا فَهَلْ لَهُ مِنَ تَوْبَةٍ فَقَالَ لاَ . فَقَتَلَهُ فَكَمَّلَ بِهِ مِائَةً ثُمَّ سَأَلَ عَنْ أَعْلَمِ أَهْلِ الأَرْضِ فَدُلَّ عَلَى رَجُلٍ عَالِمٍ فَقَالَ إِنَّهُ قَتَلَ مِائَةَ نَفْسٍ فَهَلْ لَهُ مِنْ تَوْبَةٍ فَقَالَ نَعَمْ وَمَنْ يَحُولُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ التَّوْبَةِ انْطَلِقْ إِلَى أَرْضِ كَذَا وَكَذَا فَإِنَّ بِهَا أُنَاسًا يَعْبُدُونَ اللَّهَ فَاعْبُدِ اللَّهَ مَعَهُمْ وَلاَ تَرْجِعْ إِلَى أَرْضِكَ فَإِنَّهَا أَرْضُ سَوْءٍ . فَانْطَلَقَ حَتَّى إِذَا نَصَفَ الطَّرِيقَ أَتَاهُ الْمَوْتُ فَاخْتَصَمَتْ فِيهِ مَلاَئِكَةُ الرَّحْمَةِ وَمَلاَئِكَةُ الْعَذَابِ فَقَالَتْ مَلاَئِكَةُ الرَّحْمَةِ جَاءَ تَائِبًا مُقْبِلاً بِقَلْبِهِ إِلَى اللَّهِ . وَقَالَتْ مَلاَئِكَةُ الْعَذَابِ إِنَّهُ لَمْ يَعْمَلْ خَيْرًا قَطُّ . فَأَتَاهُمْ مَلَكٌ فِي صُورَةِ آدَمِيٍّ فَجَعَلُوهُ بَيْنَهُمْ فَقَالَ قِيسُوا مَا بَيْنَ الأَرْضَيْنِ فَإِلَى أَيَّتِهِمَا كَانَ أَدْنَى فَهُوَ لَهُ . فَقَاسُوهُ فَوَجَدُوهُ أَدْنَى إِلَى الأَرْضِ الَّتِي أَرَادَ فَقَبَضَتْهُ مَلاَئِكَةُ الرَّحْمَةِ : . قَالَ قَتَادَةُ فَقَالَ الْحَسَنُ ذُكِرَ لَنَا أَنَّهُ لَمَّا أَتَاهُ الْمَوْتُ نَأَى بِصَدْرِهِ .
Abu Said Al-Khudri (radiallahu anhu) reported Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) as saying: There was a person before you who had killed ninety-nine people and then made an inquiry about the learned persons of the world (who could show him the way to salvation). He was directed to a monk. He came to him and told him that he had killed ninety-nine people and asked him whether there was any scope for his repentance to be accepted. He said: No. He killed him also and thus completed one hundred. He then asked about the learned persons of the earth and he was directed to a scholar, and he told him that he had killed one hundred people and asked him whether there was any scope for his repentance to be accepted. He said: Yes; what stands between you and the repentance? You better go to such and such land; there are people devoted to prayer and worship and you also worship along with them and do not come to the land of yours since it was an evil land (for you). So he went away and he had hardly covered half the distance when death came to him and there was a dispute between the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment. The angels of mercy said: This man has come as a penitant and remorseful to Allah and the angels of punishment said: He has done no good at all. Then there came another angel in the form of a human being in order to decide between them. He said: You measure the land to which he has drawn near. They measured it and found him nearer to the land where he intended to go (the land of piety), and so the angels of mercy took possession of it. Qatada said that Hasan told him that it was said to them that as death approached him, he crawled upon his chest (and managed) to slip in the land of mercy. [Sahih Muslim, Hadeeth No. 6662]
The monk told the man that repentance was not possible for him, resulting in him being Victim No. 100. Being ignorant of the religion resulted in him bringing about his own death.
My teacher then pointed out that not every imam, muadhin, etc. is meant to be asked for a fatwa as people differ in their levels of knowledge. He also pointed out that if you don’t know, then say “I don’t know” otherwise you will end up angering Allah (due to speaking without knowledge about His religion).
I thought I would share Ustadh Ghaazi’s words because speaking without knowledge has become really common these days. People attend a weekend seminar and then think that they have become great students of knowledge.
It’s not like that. Seeking knowledge is a lifelong process not a weekend binge. We all need to make sure to seek knowledge and also speak with knowledge.
After all, we wouldn’t want to kill anyone – or become anyone’s Victim No. 100!