Bayt ul-Hikma – House of Wisdom


Imam ash-Shawkani

Posted in Scholars by haruni on the March 25, 2009

Imam ash-Shawkani (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ash-Shawkani and http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2181?_hi=0&_pos=2) is the author of the famous fiqh-work Nayl al-Awtar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayl_al-Awtar). He was from Yemen and had a Shi’a (Zaydi) background. He was a qadi and claimed to be a mujtahid. He is often quoted by muslims from different stances, especially our Salafi brethren. See also this link:

http://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%84%D9%81:%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%88%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A

The following can be found in an article about a visit to Yemen from mufti Muhammad ibn Adam:

Another great scholar to have lived and taught in San’a was Imam al-Shawkani (Allah have mercy on him). Imam Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Shawkani al-San’ani was born in a town called Shawkan, a days walking distance from San’a, in the year 1173 AH. He then moved to San’a with his father who was a judge and a scholar. He did not travel to gain knowledge; rather, he remained in San’a and took from the Ulama there. He was originally a Zaydi, but then left this school and began to concentrate more on Hadith. He was quite extreme in rejecting Taqlid (following one of the four Sunni Schools) and was an advocator of Ijtihad. He authored many books, the most famous of which is known as Nayl al-Awtar, a commentary on the Hadith collection of Ibn Taymiyya al-Jadd titled Muntaqa al-Akhbar. He passed away in the year 1250 AH and was buried in San’a (may Allah have mercy on his soul). Although Imam al-Shawkani differed from the mainstream Sunni scholars on many issues, he is still considered to be one of the major scholars of Hadith in this Ummah.” (See: http://www.daruliftaa.com/Docs/Bless…s_of_Yemon.htm)

A biography in the Dutch language: http://www.dekoran.net/index.php?view=article&catid=39%3Abekende-interpretators-vd-koran&id=20%3Abiografie-iemaam-ash-showkaanie&option=com_content&Itemid=31

A biography / bibliography in Arabic can be read here: http://www.fustat.com/bibliography/shawkani_1.shtml 

A small and quick research on imam ash-Shawkani rahimullah on the internet gives the following results.

An interesting article on the imam by Abul-Husein from The Translators-blog: http://www.altranslators.com/bg/?p=135

A biography of the imam can be bought here: http://kitaabun.com/shopping3/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=shawkani&osCsid=4c9558fbc7b4c76add1e66abe3dcd453 and also from the well-known Dar us-Salam publishing house.

An excellent biographical research on the imam is done by Bernard Haykel (see: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/mideast/people/haykel.html and: http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_haykel.html) with the title: “Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad al-Shawkani“, which can be bought here: http://www.amazon.com/Revival-Reform-Islam-al-Shawkani-Civilization/dp/0521528909/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238020476&sr=1-4

A review of this book can be read here: http://www.al-bab.com/bys/books/haykel05.htm and another review here: http://www.articlearchives.com/humanities-social-science/religion/931891-1.html

Here is a link to a review in a magazine (which you can’t read online): http://www.muslimreviewonline.net/wiki/index.php?title=Reinhart%2C_A._Kevin._(2005)._Review_of_the_book_Revival_and_reform_in_Islam:_The_legacy_of_Muhammad_al-Shawkani

A study in the thought of imam ash-Shawkani can be bought here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001LFRJG6?ie=UTF8&tag=bund-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001LFRJG6

Here you can read (and download as PDF) an article by Haykel with the title: “Al-Shawkani and the Jurisprudential Unity of Yemen“:  http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/remmm_0997-1327_1993_num_67_1_1587

And another article by the same author “A Zaydi Revival?”: http://www.aiys.org/webdate/hayk.html This is not specifically about ash-Shawkani but more about the contemporary revivalism of Zaydism in Yemen. More on the Zaydi’s here: http://seekingilm.com/archives/21#more-21

His most well known book Nayl al-Awtar can  be bought here: http://islamicbookstore.com/b9871.html (6 vol.) and here: http://www.jarirbooks.net/582.html (1 vol.)

The whole (I guess) book itself can actually be downloaded for FREE here: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22nayl%20alawtar%22

Lectures on the Book of Marriage from Nayl al-Awtar can be downloaded and listened here: http://www.archive.org/details/minisi-tahawiah-eng

There are reviews of this book in English:

1.) by brother Anwar al-Awlaki: http://www.anwar-alawlaki.com/?p=32

2.) by the brothers from the SeekingIlm blog: http://seekingilm.com/archives/52

Furthermore: there is a dvd with the book which can be bought here: http://www.noonmarket.com/ProductDetails/32/Nail-Al-Awtar and here: http://www.amazon.com/AramediA-Nail-Al-Awtar/dp/B000EGI2FU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1238021968&sr=8-2

A partial English translation of his small fiqh work “al-Durrar al-Bahiyyah” by Yahya Adel Ibrahim can be downloaded here:  http://alhidaayah.net/books.html (Scroll down, the first title under Fataawa) Also here one can read notes from a course on this book: http://abdurrahman.org/salah/durarrbahiyyahShawkaani.html Also lectures on this book are available from that site.

Some of his books can be downloaded here: http://read.kitabklasik.co.cc/search/label/al-Syaukani

Fatwa: the breaking of wudhu when touching a member of the opposite sex

Posted in Fiqh by haruni on the March 23, 2009

Interesting fatwa on this subject, very well documented and explained: http://www.duai.co.za/touchingwudhu.shtml

There is some difference opinion on this subject and some misunderstanding of related ahadith. The fatwa, given from the point of view of the Shafi’i madhhab, also contains a refutation of a claim made by Zakir Naik. Furthermore, the fatwa goes into following a madhhab. See also this article which goes into deep about the proofs in the Shafi’i madhhab: http://seekingilm.com/archives/140

A concise explanation of the major tafseers

Posted in Uncategorized by haruni on the March 16, 2009

Here a log with lectures on the major tafseerworks in Arabic:

http://fajr.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/finally-a-comparison-between-all-the-tafseers/

De correcte uitspraak van de shahadah

Posted in Interesting articles by haruni on the March 16, 2009

Hier een artikel van eigen hand over de correcte uitspraak van de shahadah. Veel leesplezier!

Download hier: http://www.2shared.com/file/7715327/57e0a1eb/De_correcte_uitspraak_van_de_shahada_volgens_het_klassiek_Arabisch.html

Boek “De omstreden bronnen van de islam”

Posted in Uncategorized by haruni on the March 15, 2009

Er is een boek uitgebracht met als titel “De omstreden bronnen van de islam“, zie hier:

http://www.uitgeverijmeinema.nl/boeken/Eildert-Mulder-en-Thomas-Milo/De-omstreden-bronnen-van-de-islam/22768

Hier het persbericht over dit boek:

http://www.uitgeverijmeinema.nl/images/fragmenten/9789021142104_persbericht%20voor%20website_omstreden%20bronnen.pdf

Het betreft een bundeling van een reeks artikelen in het dagblad Trouw (www.trouw.nl) over kritisch historisch onderzoek naar de oorsprong van de islam, de Koran en het bestaan van de Profeet Mohammed s.a.w.s.

Lees meer hierover hier: http://meer.trouw.nl/dossiers/het+ontstaan+van+de+islam

Zie hier een interview met de auteurs van dit boek:

http://www.trouw.nl/meer/article2044903.ece

Lees hier de reactie van imam Fawaz Jneid op de eerdergenoemde artikelen:  http://www.trouw.nl/achtergrond/Dossiers/article1253370.ece

Eigenlijk wacht ik eerlijk gezegd op de reactie van andere geleerde mensen in Nederland, moslims, en buitenland op dit boek. We kunnen als moslims onze kop niet langer in het zand steken hierover, we moeten de discussie over de oorsprong van onze religie, ons boek en onze Profeet niet uit de weg gaan maar aangaan en met argumenten komen om onze religie, ons boek en onze Profeet te verdedigen en beschermen. Hiermee keren we in feite min of meer terug naar de periode waarin de wetenschap van kalam werd ontwikkeld als weerwoord tegen allerlei groeperingen die de islam onderuit probeerden te halen. Een eerste voorzet wordt gegeven op de site van Islamic Awareness: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/

Zelf ben ik van mening dat de hypothese dat Mohammed – vrede zij met hem – geen enkel hout snijdt vanwege een aantal simpele feiten (ik heb het boek nog niet gelezen en ik weet niet in hoeverre ingegaan wordt op deze feiten door de auteurs):

- er zijn diverse documenten die getekend/ondertekend of gestempeld zijn met de naam van de Profeet Mohammed v.z.m.h. die bewaard en tentoongesteld worden in musea zoals het Topkapi-museum in Istanbul, Turkije waar nog meer historische voorwerpen bewaard en tentoongesteld worden van metgezellen van de Profeet v.z.m.h. Alleen dit al is voldoende om de historiciteit van de Profeet aan de te tonen.

- het leven van de Profeet Mohammed is nauwkeurig gedocumenteerd en in veel gevallen op een dusdanige wijze dat hierover geen enkele twijfel bestaat, sterker nog: de mogelijkheid dat dit niet waar is is vrijwel uitgesloten door een keten van overleveraars van overleveringen over het leven van de Profeet Mohammed. De hadithwetenschappen en hun geleerden getuigen hiervan. Het bewijs wordt gewaarborgd door de isnad die tot in het heden doorgetrokken kan worden.

- de stelling dat waar in de Koran gesproken wordt over Mohammed het eigenlijk zou gaan over Jesus Christus is gebaseerd op drijfzand als men dit bekijkt vanuit een niet-islamitische bril maar ook vanuit een islamitische bril. Er is veel meer bewijs voor het bestaan van de historische Mohammed dan voor Jezus Christus, bovendien wordt door niet-moslims vaak getwijfeld aan het bestaan van de historische Jezus Christus.

- zie een artikel van prof. van Koningsveld, een niet-moslim, een absolute autoriteit in Nederland op het gebied van islamstudies, in zijn afscheidsrede:  http://www.refdag.nl/artikel/1399929/Mohammed+heeft+wel+degelijk+bestaan.html

- zelfs Hans Jansen, de islamvijandige Arabist spreekt over de historische Mohammed in zijn tweedelige boekenreeks met dezelfde titel: http://www.arabistjansen.nl/

Where is Allah?

Posted in 'Aqida by haruni on the March 8, 2009

Where is Allah? In this post you will find some links with the answer(s) to this hotly debated question. Find out what the classical/traditional point of view is by the scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah.

See this video first:

and this video-series (starting with part 1) by a Habashi-scholar: 

and this video by shaykh Ninowy:

There is a book on this subject: http://www.aqsapublications.com/TitleDetails.aspx?tID=14

Check the following links:

- Allah exists without a place

http://www.aicp.org/islamic-information-mainmenu-42/english-mainmenu-44/316-allah-exists-without-a-place-text

 

- Refutation against placing a direction for Allah

http://neosalafism.blogspot.com/2007/06/refutation-against-placing-direction.html

 

- Is Allah literally in the sky?

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/inthesky.htm

 

- Where is Allah? 1

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/general/an-ideal-apporach-towards-issues-of-creed-where-is-allah-answered-by-sh-bin-bayyah/

 

- Allah exists without a place for his existence

http://www.amislam.com/without.htm

 

- Where is Allah? 2

http://daruliftaa.com/question.asp?txt_QuestionID=q-23200832

 

- Thinking of Allah in the sky

http://www.ashrafiya.com/2007/11/25/is-allah-in-sky/

 

- Where is Allah? 3

http://www.albalagh.net/qa/where_Allah.shtml

 

- Interpreting the hadith “Where is Allah? - In the heaven”

http://www.sunnah.org/aqida/aqida3.htm

 

- Allah is in the sky?

http://sunnianswers.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/wahhabi-contention-wahhabis-claim-that-abu-hanifa-said-allah-is-in-the-sky/

 

- Allah exists without place or direction

http://www.marifah.net/articles/withoutplace-alijumuah.pdf

 

- Ascribing a place to Allah

http://www.marifah.net/articles/ascribingplace-ibnhazm.pdf

 

- Those who attribute a direction to Allah

http://www.geocities.com/~abdulwahid/muslimarticles/direction2allah.html

 

- More Wahaabi arguments for Allah having a direction

http://sunnianswers.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/more-wahabi-arguments-for-allaah-having-a-direction/

 

- Allah exists without a place, allah exists billa makan, quotes of the Salaf and Khalaf – discussion on the Marifah forum

  http://www.marifah.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2467&st=0

 

- Nuh Kellers weakening of the Where is Allah hadith – Discussion on Sunniforum

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27008

 

- On Bin Uthaymeen

http://seekingilm.com/archives/105

 

- More from SeekingIlm.com

http://seekingilm.com/archives/440

http://seekingilm.com/archives/271

http://seekingilm.com/archives/270

http://seekingilm.com/archives/8

 

Here some opposite opinions:

- Jiha of Allah According to the Salaf

http://saheefah.org/2006/08/23/jiha-of-allah-according-to-the-salaf/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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