Islams Reformers

Husainî, “This âyat is about those who are present there while
the property of inheritance is distributed. It is good to give a little
share to the onlooking orphans and poor people who are present
there as alms.” Hadrat Sanâ’ullah ad-Dahlawî wrote in his at-
Tafsîr al-Mazharî, “While the property of inheritance is divided
and distributed, something is given to the relatives, to the
orphans and to the poor people present there as alms. Sa’îd ibn
Jubair and Dahhâk reported that this âyat was abolished when
the âyat “Yûsikumullah’ was revealed Some scholars said that it
had not been abolished. Ibn ’Abbâs said that those inheritors
who had reached the age of disretion and puberty would give
something little from the property of inheritance that fell into
their share. If the inheritors were small, their trustee or proxy
would give it, or they would express regrets (for their hesitancy
about acts of disposal concerning the inherited property) because
it belonged to orphans. As Muhammad ibn Sîrîn reported,
’Ubaidat as-Salmânî divided the property of inheritance and
distributed it to the orphans. Then he ordered them to slaughter
a sheep. It was cooked and given to the people mentioned in the
âyat and they ate it. And he said, ‘If it weren’t for this âyat, I
would pay for the sheep.’ It is not fard but mustahab to give
something to these people.” As it is seen, the inheritors will give
as much as they want to. Nothing can be taken away from them
by force. Sayyid Qutb changes the word ‘present’ in the âyat into
‘existing at any place’. No Islamic scholar has made such a change
up to now. The person who translated this book from Arabic
might have understood Sayyid Qutb’s error and tries to explain it
away by saying that it is possible to take inheritance tax from the
inheritors and give it to those who are not inheritors, thus
changing the âyat altogether. It was quite a long time ago when
the Islamic scholars predicted that one day the ignorant would be
religious authorities and nothing would remain for the Devil to
do.
In his book Fî dilâl al-Qur’ân, attempting to interpret the 33rd
âyat of the sûrat al-Mâ’ida, Sayyid Qutb writes the ijtihâds of the
four madhhabs and says, “In this respect, we consider Imâm
Mâlik’s opinion to be worth preference. We are in favour of his
opinion.” This writing of his again shows that he is not a member
of any madhhab, that he thinks of himself as superior to the
imâms of madhhabs and that he knows nothing of the knowledge
of usûl al-fiqh. A few pages later, in the subject of punishing the
thief, he gives the ijtihâds of the four madhhabs and says, “But
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