The Light English Edition November 2017

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November 2017 The Light 2 The Call of the Messiah by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi Attributes of Allah Regarding His attributes of excellence and perfection, Almighty God says in the Holy Quran: “Your God is the God Who is one in His person and without any participator in His attributes. He is God alone, for there is no being which is like Him eternal and everlasting, nor has any being its attributes like His attributes.” The knowledge a man has is acquired from a teacher and is limited, but the knowledge that God has is neither acquired from someone nor is it limited. The power of hearing in man depends upon the transmission of sound by air and is moreover a limited power, but the power of hearing in God is an inherent power and is unlimited. The power of seeing things in man depends upon the light of the sun or some other light and is limited, but Almighty God sees things without the assistance of any light, and His power of sight is an unlimited one. The power of man to make things depends upon the existence of material and is a limited power while the act of making must take some time, but the creating power of God does not stand in need of any existing material, is unlimited and does not depend upon any time in its exercise. As there is nothing that is like Him, so there is nothing whose attributes are like His attributes. For if there is any defect in one of His attributes all His attributes must be defective, and if one of his attributes can be possessed by anyone else, then all His attributes can be so possessed, then all His attributes can be so possessed. Therefore, unless He is regarded as one and without any partner in His person as well as His attributes, His unity cannot be established. The remaining portion of the chapter quoted above says that God is neither anyone’s son nor father, for He stands in need of none, not even of a father or a son. The doctrine of Unity taught by the Holy Quran, which is necessary for a perfect faith, is this. (Lecture Lahore, p. 8-9) (Return to contents) I Shall Love All Mankind. Jamal Al-Bana’s Approach to Studying the Quranic Text and Its Effects on Islamic Legal Rulings: A Critical Analytical Study (Part 2) by Dr Habeebullah Zakariyah International Islamic University Malaysia Note: This is the second of two parts in which we are serialising the article reproduced here with the kind permission of the author from the International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (www.ijahss.com), Volume 2, Issue 6, July 2017. Readers are requested to refer back the previous issue to be able to make connected sense of the author’s exposition and conclusion. Gamal al-Banna or Jamal al-Banna (1920– 2013) was an Egyptian author and trade unionist and was the youngest brother of Hassan al-Banna (1906–1949), the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement concurs in general with the principles outlined in the article but does not necessarily draw the same conclusions in detail as Gamal al-Banna. We assume that the witnesses referred to in the paragraph on marriage are the ones who, after ascertaining that the woman has consented, then convey her consent to the person conducting the nikah. ROLES PLAYED BY THE SUNNAH IN THE QURAN It is worth to note that al-Bana classifies Sunnah into three types: 1. Sunnah of worship: This Sunnah explains the relationship between a creature and the Creator. It also explains all acts of worship such as Salat, Pilgrimage, fasting and so forth. 2. Sunnah of life: It represents the pivot of transactions and dealings. It regulates people’s relations with each other and determines the basis on which these dealings should be. 3. Sunnah of Politics: This Sunnah has to do with the policies that the prophet (s) adopted as the leader of Muslims in entirety and the one who governed their affairs. Whoever scrutinises deeply into his poetry titled “al-Mandhum al-Ma‘rifiy” will see that Jamal al-Bana holds a stance that is completely
November 2017 The Light 3 different from that of ancient hadeeth scholars. Perhaps, he may be depicted as an Islamic thinker who struggles to oppose Sunnah. He draws attention to this possibility in the second part of his book “Nahwa Fiqh Jadeed” when he states: “The most obvious obscurity provoked by the second part is that some are prompted to think that we are among the deniers of Sunnah.” Although this probability is on the part of those who view the matter in the external perspective, al-Bana denies the truthfulness of that possibility since his books provide corroborative arguments that he is not a denier of Sunnah at all. He has defended himself when he says: “This is not true at all. In 1972, I published my book, “Al-Aslaan al-Adheeman al-Kitab wa Sunnah” which regards Sunnah as the second source…”. The Sunnah should relate with the Quran in a way that the latter serves as the judge over the former. This is because the Quran is distinguished by immortality rather than the Sunnah. He asserts that the act of forbidding the companion to codify the Sunnah is an indication that the Prophet (s) himself did not want the Sunnah to be immortalised like the Quran. One of his works presented is a dissertation for Sunnah studies which is characterised as scrutiny or recantation of the views of the ancient scholars of hadeeth. “This work condemns almost half of the hadeeths we have in our books including authentic ones.” The Sunnah that we are obliged to be submissive and resort to is that which agrees with the Quran and its noble intents. Before a Sunnah can be implemented, it should be judged by the Quran. If it agrees with it, we accept it. But if it disagrees with it, we reject it. In his view, this approach is a moderation between the denial of the Sunnah and its extreme advocacy. He states: “There is no ruling except Quran. Hence, having recourse to it is the first step towards finding a method that is objective…what is consistent with the Quran will be attributed to the Prophet (s), but if otherwise, its attribution to the Prophet (s) will be a doubtful matter.” “The Sunnah, with all the defects that it suffers such as fabrication, inclusion made by I Shall Love All Mankind. narrators into its text, abnormality and disorders, and narration by meaning without the original wording, all of which cast doubt to it and adversely affect its trust and reliance.” STUDYING AND EVALUATING THE APPROACH PROPOSED BY JAMAL AL-BANA Those are the most significant principles and methods employed by al-Bana towards understanding the Quranic discourse all of which represent the fundamental pillars for deducing the Quran is distinguished by immortality rather than the Sunnah the rulings of Shariah. As we see, despite the analogical reasoning of al-Bana, his act of subjecting ancient scholars and the Quran exegetes to a serious campaign on many occasions is far from benefit. Al-Bana sees the need to surrender to the usefulness of thematic interpretation in the exegesis of the Quran. However, this should not lead us to impose it on other methods of interpretation or to render useless the efforts of scholars who employ analytical approach. The view of al-Bana which prioritises human reason on the revelation is not consistent with the Shariah of Islam in any circumstances. We have mentioned earlier that Islam honours the intellect on many occasions. However, it does not behove of anyone to put revelation under the control of intellect, “Aql”. Al-Bana does not show the characteristics of the intellect that he implies in this regard, because intellects are inherently different in their view of things, in addition to the fact that the intellects, whatever sapient they are, they cannot by themselves reach some things which are not within the realm of their capacity. As for his view that it is not permissible to be submissive to the Sunnah until after it is presented to the Quran because there are hadeeths that are fabricated in the Sunnah. This statement is, indeed, invalid. Which authentic Sunnah is contradictory to the Quran? Except if the conflict arises in the understanding of human rather than the revelation itself, be it the Quran or the Sunnah. Also, the reliable scholars in the hadeeth have done the great and good job
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