بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Answer to Question:
Question:
Bismillahi Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem,
My question to our Sheikh; in the book of The Islamic Personality Vol. III, page 301 (Arabic edition) third line it states: The second: As for the branches, the failure to follow them is considered disobedience (fisq), and so it is not called guidance. I was told that the word “misguidance” (Al dhalaal) must be put instead of the word “guidance” (Al Huda). So, is the word here wrong? Thank you.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
The position that you refer to from the book of The Islamic Personality Vol. III, is in the Chapter “Every consensus other than the consensus of the Sahabah is not a Shar’i evidence”, and I quote what is necessary to answer your question:
“Concerning the consensus of the nation (Al Ummah), the consensus of the influential people (Ahlu Al Halli wa Al ‘Aqdi), and the consensus of the scholars (Mujtahideen), they said that the consensus of the Ummah is a Shar’i proof, and they inferred that from the saying of Allah (SWT):
وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيراً
“And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers – We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination” [Al Nisaa:115], and the point of inference in this Ayah is that Allah (SWT) have threatened for following other than the believers’ way, and if it is not a forbidden matter He wouldn’t had threatened for it, and it wouldn’t be fit to gather it in the threat to a forbidden matter which is opposing the Messenger (SAW), as it is not fit to gather between the disbelief and eating bread which is permissible, accordingly following other than the believers’ way is forbidden, and since following other than their way is forbidden, it is obligatory to follow their way; because there is no other options, and there is no means between them. And the obligation of following them necessitates that the consensus of the Ummah is a proof; because the way of the person is what he chooses of saying or action or belief. The answer to this is from three directions:
One of them: Although the Ayah is authentically decisive, its denotation is indecisive, so it is not a sufficient evidence that the Ijmaa’ of the Ummah is a Shar’i evidence; because it is inevitable to prove it by the decisive evidence, and the indecisive evidence is not sufficient for it.
The second: the guidance in the Ayah means the evidence of the unity of Allah (SWT) and the prophet hood of the Muhammad (SAW) and it doesn’t mean the Shar’i verdict; because the guidance (Al huda) is in the belief principles and opposite to it is the misguidance (Al dhalaal). As for the branches, the failure to follow them is considered disobedience (fisq), and so it is not called guidance. But the believers’ way by which they became believers is the unification, and it doesn’t necessitate following them in the permissible, nor does it necessitate the forbiddance of everything different to their way, but this is applicable in one figure, it is the disbelief and the likes in the principles of the religion in which is no disagreement. And what denotes that it is obligatory to follow the believers’ way by which they became believers is that the Verse was descended in a man who apostatized, and the cause of the descent of the Ayah is what determines the subject that it got descended for, although it is general for all which the subject is applicable to them, so the Ayah is special in the apostasy, it is not general for all the believers’ ways.” End of quote from The Islamic Personality book.
And in order to understand the answer to your question: Is it as it came in the above text (it is not called guidance) or as it came in your friend’s saying (it is not called misguidance), the meaning of the word (guidance) must be clarified:
1- The Guidance (Al huda) is in the belief principles which means the belief (Aqeedah), meaning the belief in Allah, His Messengers, His Books … etc., and opposite to the guidance is the misguidance (Al dhalaal)…
2- The text of the verse confirms that, for Allah has threatened the one who is not on guidance of driving him into Hell and of evil destination, i.e., whoever is not on guidance is a Kafir (disbeliever)… thus, the guidance is in the Islamic Aqeedah and not the legal rulings, therefore, not following the guidance is disbelief, i.e. the misguidance (Al dhalaal), but not following the Sharia ruling is disobedience (fisq).
3- This is also confirmed by the cause of the descent of the Ayah that we mentioned earlier, which is that it was revealed in a man who apostatized and applies to everyone who apostatizes, and therefore the guidance in the verse is the doctrine (Aqeedah), because he who apostates does not follow the guidance, that is, he is a Kafir (disbeliever), so the guidance is the Islamic Aqeedah.
4- From the aforementioned points, the issue is as follows:
A- Whoever is the guidance has been shown clearly to him, i.e. the doctrine of Islam, and then he contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) (saw), and follows other than the believers’ way of the unification of Allah and the belief (Iman), then he is a Kafir (disbeliever) who goes astray and will enter to burn in the Hell and evil is his destination, meaning that guidance is to follow the way of the believers, i.e. the belief on which they are. And the guidance (Al huda) in the aforementioned sense is opposite to the misguidance (Al dhalaal).
B- As for following the Shar’i rulings (the branches), it is not the guidance that came in the Noble Verse, but rather the righteousness of deeds and the opposite of which is the disobedience (fisq).
C- This means that following the principles, meaning the Aqeedah, is the guidance and not following them is the misguidance (Al dhalaal) ... and following the branches is the righteousness of deeds and not following them is disobedience (fisq).
5- Now we consider the text:
(the guidance in the Ayah means the evidence of the unity of Allah (SWT) and the prophet hood of the Muhammad (SAW) and it doesn’t mean the Shar’i verdict; because the guidance (Al huda) is in the belief principles and opposite to it is the misguidance (Al dhalaal).
As for the branches, the failure to follow them is considered disobedience (fisq), and so it is not called guidance.)
As you can see, the text is two sentences:
The first: not following the principles, i.e. the belief (Al Iman), is called the misguidance (Al dhalaal) … and following the principles, i.e. the belief (Al Iman), is called guidance (Al huda)…
The Second: not following the branches, meaning the Shari rulings, is called disobedience (fisq)… and the following the branches, i.e. the Shari’ rulings, is called (righteousness of deeds)…
As you can see, the text is clear in the first sentence … As for the second sentence, the first section is clear; not following the branches is disobedience (fisq)… But in the second section we used the pronoun, so we said (it is not called guidance), and it is understood from the context that the pronoun here refers to (following), because in the first part of the sentence we mentioned about (not following), and so the second part is about (following), so the pronoun in (it) refers to (following) that is, thus: (following the branches is not called guidance) and thus the word (guidance) here is correct, and not as your friend said (misguidance).
And thus, the meaning of the second sentence is like this: (As for the branches, the failure to follow them is considered disobedience (fisq), and following the branches is not called guidance).
I hope that this is sufficient and Allah Knows Best and is Most Wise.
Your brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
4th Safar 1442 AH
21/09/2020 CE
The link to the answer from the Ameer’s Facebook page.