Say: "I don't know"

"They killed him, may Allah's curse be upon them," exclaimed the Messenger of Allah, [Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam (SAWS)]. "Why did they not ask if they did not know?" They had killed him not with weapons or poison, but with ignorance.

According to a sound hadeeth (Prophet Muhammad's saying) narrated by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and others, a man was injured and needed to perform Ghusl (take a bath) in order to perform salah (prayer), and his friends thought that he must wash his wound in order to complete his Ghusl. He acted upon their advice and subsequently died. The Prophet (SAWS) was aggrieved and angry at hearing this, and attributed the death to their ignorance. If they had asked some knowledgeable person, they would have known that he had no need to wash the wound.

Today we have among us numerous pseudo-scholars, self-appointed muftis and half-cooked Shaikhs jerking out religious verdicts at the drop of a hat and thus causing much harm, discord and disunity among us. Such people are killers; they kill our intellectual and spiritual Islamic culture and heritage. Falling into this trap of pseudo-scholarship is easy and perhaps we all are prone to it.

Speaking without knowledge, giving religious verdicts without requisite background and understanding, or deliberately misrepresenting the value and confidence level of one's knowledge is a widespread disease that results from ignorance and vanity.

Ignorance, the number one cause for this disease, is common among the Muslims today. The truthful Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said, "Verily Allah does not take away the knowledge by snatching it away from (the hearts of) people. Rather he takes it away by the death of the scholars, to the point that when not one scholar remains, the people take ignorant people as their leaders, who, when consulted give their verdicts without knowledge. So they go astray and lead others astray." (Bukhari)

Vanity, the desire to dominate and impress, is another source of this disease. People will go astray, as the hadeeth points out, by taking the ignorant people as their leaders and scholars, so let us make sure we do not become those self-appointed opinion leaders and scholars who lead people astray.

The cure is to cultivate genuine humility, know the proper method and requirements to form an opinion about religious matters, know the right way to express it, and, most importantly know when not to express your opinion and courageously say, "I do not know."

Imam Malik once remarked, "I don't know' is a third of all knowledge, and one who does not know to say it, does not know anything". Judging by the number of times Malik used to say, "I don't know," he seemed to give the impression of disinterest, despite being the most knowledgeable person of his time and best when it came to examining and verifying his facts.

A non-specialist must express a religious opinion only when necessary, e.g., in the absence of a scholar, and must give cautious and exact reference of a trustworthy scholar specialized in that field. Scholars and specialists are necessary; we have all the right to ask them for the evidence for their opinions, but we have no right to insult and mutilate the meaning of the sacred texts by ignoring the proper requirements of scholarship.

Abdullah Ibnul-Mubarak and Imam Ahmad related that Abdur-Rahman Ibn Abi Layla said, "I saw a hundred and twenty of the Prophet's Companions in the Masjid, not one of whom would speak but prefer one of his brothers to speak in his place, and not one of whom would give a fatwa (religious verdict) but prefer one of his brothers to give it in his place."

Ibn Masoud and Ibn Abbas both said, "Whoever gives a fatwa for everything people ask him is crazy." (Malik) The truth is that boldness or haste in giving fatawa implies a lack of fear of Allah, and a lack of respect for His revelation.

Today, we are struck with amazement at how lightly and irresponsibly many people dole out religious opinions. Do we not realize that the greatest sin against Allah is to lie on His behalf? "Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah?" [7:37]

Particularly in the Western Muslim communities, where there is serious lack of established Islamic scholarship, novices and half-scholars often take the lead in this dangerous matter of giving fatawa. This leads to people following incorrect opinions that are potentially harmful and cause discord and confusion.

We, the Muslim Ummah (Society), the divinely appointed leaders of humankind, must reclaim our righteous and profound scholarly heritage by establishing the highest standards of honesty, accuracy and authenticity in our speech and discourses. We must fear Allah before we speak, and never speak lightly about matters we have not sufficiently mastered.

Al Jumu'ah Vol. 15 Issue 02
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