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In the name of All°h, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

Topic of Discussion: Five Life Giving Lessons and Refraining

from Doubtful Things : Øad¢th #14
#14 [ Discussion #20
#20 ]
Lectures on Akhl°q given by His Eminence
Ayatull°h al-`U®m° al-Ø°jj ash-Shaykh N°•ir Mak°rim ash-Sh¢r°z¢ (may All°h protect him)
Translated by Saleem Bhimji – www.al-mubin.org – al-mubin@al-mubin.org

Topic: Five Life Giving Lessons

and Refraining from Doubtful Things

Text of the °ad¢th:

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English Translation: “O’ Mankind! Do not convey wisdom to those people who are not worthy (of receiving such
teachings) as you would have done oppression to the wisdom and do not deprive those people who are worthy of
receiving such teachings as then you would have done oppression to them (those people), and do not seek
revenge from the person who has oppressed (you) as if you do, you would make your own personal worth and
value null and void and do not perform (good) acts for other people to see as through this you would eliminate
(the good) of such acts and do not prevent from giving charity as you would reduce the good that is to come to
you. O’ Mankind! Verily things are of three types: some of which whose correctness is apparent for you (to see)
so then follow these (and perform them); (the second) are those actions whose incorrectness is apparent for you
(to see) so then avoid performing these acts and (the third) are those actions whose performance is of question so
then refer the ruling on these to All¡h…”1

Commentary of Øad¢th:

This ¦¡d¢th is comprised of two sections. In the first section, the Prophet of Isl¡m (blessings of All¡h be upon him
and his family) has given us five commandments:

1. We must not convey wisdom and knowledge to those people who are not worthy of such teachings as we would
have done oppression to knowledge.

1 Bih°r al-Anw°r, Volume 74, Page 179

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2. We must not deprive those people who are worthy of knowledge from our knowledge since if we did this, we
would have done oppression to those people.

From the wordings of this part of the ¦ad¢th, we can deduce that for the student of knowledge, there are specific
conditions which must be met - of which the most important is that he must have the ability to accept such
knowledge and if this is not within the person, then he is not worthy of acquiring knowledge – that knowledge
whose attainment has been promised a great reward.

The Prophet (blessings of All¡h be upon him and his family) has stated that, “If there is a person who is not
worthy of gaining a (particular) knowledge, then you must not teach him that knowledge since when it falls into
his hands, he will use it in the wrong ways and will lead the world towards destruction. The person who is
ignorant and lacks knowledge neither has the power to destroy a land nor to make it habitable.”

In the present time, those people who are leading the world to corruption are the ones who are at the head of the
governments and who are busy with colonization of the entire world – namely their scholars and “intellectuals”.

When we look at the Qur{¡n, we see that it contains very many different expressions such as:

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“A guidance for those who have consciousness (of All¡h).”2

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“Surely in that (the day and the night) are signs for a people who listen.”3

and it is phrases such as these that clearly show us that knowledge without spiritual purification bears absolutely
no (positive) results.

Thus, it is clear that true guidance is specifically for those people whose groundwork has been previously laid
down (that of spiritual purification). It is based on this that we see that in the past, the true Scholars did not give
permission to just any student to come and sit in on their classes – rather, they tested them in relation to their
ethical morals and through this, they wanted to see at what level of piety the students were at.

However, this does not mean that one has the right to hoard his knowledge - rather, one must only teach such
knowledge to those who are worthy of receiving it and it is through the knowledge that one possesses that he must
seek to cure the ailments of the people. It does not make a difference if the ailments of the people are in relation
to their material life or their spiritual being although we do believe that the spiritual ailments and diseases are
much worse than the material or physical sicknesses. We believe this since we accept as truth that All¡h (Glory
and Greatness be to Him) will hold a person responsible for his spiritual illnesses just as it has been mentioned in
the a¦¡d¢th that:

2 S£rah 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 2

3 S£rah 10 (Y£nus), Verse 67
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“All¡h has not taken a covenant from the ignorant people to learn until he has taken a covenant from the Scholars
to teach (the ignorant people),”4

In the religion of Isl¡m, learning as well as teaching are both obligatory (w¡jib) and these two obligatory acts are
not separate from one another since they are the prerequisite and necessity of one another.

3. If a tyrant commits oppression upon you and you take revenge upon him, then your spiritual worth will be
removed since you would end up being just like him. Of course this is only applicable in that instance when the
oppressor does not take the wrong advantage by you forgiving him and his actions against you nor would it lead
to leaving a bad impression on the community on a whole (that oppression should be tolerated).

4. You must perform all of your actions sincerely for All¡h (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and must not entertain
the slightest amount of showing off in any of them.

This is a very difficult task to accomplish since showing off in one’s actions is only one of the springs that one can
corrupt his good deeds. There are many other things such as: pride, one’s own inner passions and desires, etc…
that may come into play in harming one’s good deeds, thus spoiling the good work one has performed. For
example, sometimes we perform the Bal¡t so that we ourselves become pleased with our own selves and we are
not thinking about showing off to other people and this in itself is a form of corrupting our good deeds. Or for
example we perform the Bal¡t out of habit or we perform the Bal¡ul La¢l just so we can become (spiritually) better
than other people or… and it is these and other things that can lead to the corruption of our good deeds.

5. If a person wants something from you, then do not be stingy in relation to it since if you do not give it to the
person (if you possess that thing), then All¡h (Glory and Greatness be to Him) will cut off the bounties that would
come to you since:

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“The perfection in a person is when he gives what he has.”

If the host does not offer his guests whatever he has at home (when they come over to his house), then he has
done oppression to them and in the same vein, if the guests ask the host for an excess of things (that he has), then
they would be counted as oppressors!

The second part of this °ad¢th is divided up into three sections:

1. Those actions whose correctness is apparent for all to see.

2. Those actions in which the inappropriateness and incorrectness is apparent for all to see.
3. Those actions which are obscure from the point of view of:
a. The subject matter.
b. The Isl¡mic ruling.

4 Bi¶°r al-Anw°r, Volume 2, Page 80

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This °ad¢th is in relation to those actions in which the Isl¡mic ruling is one of doubt or obscurity. In some
a¦¡d¢th, in place of the phrase:

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“Return the (ruling of that particular act) back to All¡h.”

it has been stated that: In those types of actions where we have a doubt as to its ruling, we must exercise
precaution since the questionable actions are the precursor to the forbidden acts.

However there are some people who are habituated in saying:

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“All the makr£h (reprehensible) acts are permitted to be performed.”

To the people who state this, we say to them that: Yes, it is true that we are permitted to act upon the apparent
ruling on a particular issue, however when there is clearly a doubt on a particular ruling, and if a person pollutes
himself with performing that doubtful action, then slowly the indecency of that particular act would become less in
his estimation and thus, he would fall into performing the prohibited acts as well!

When All¡h (Glory and Greatness be to Him) has told us to “be careful of the evil footsteps of Sha¢§¡n” [
], one of the most clear examples of following the footsteps of the Sha¢§¡n is to perform the acts in which
there is a doubt.

Sha¢§¡n (the Devil) misleads the holy, Bal¡tul La¢l performing people in his own special way. He does not come to
them and tell them, “Go out and drink alcohol”. Rather, he starts out by saying, “Bal¡tul La¢l is not one of the
obligatory Bal¡t, go ahead, stop performing it.” Once the person leaves this Bal¡t, then slowly, Sha¢§¡n would
approach him in relation to performing the obligatory Bal¡t right when the time sets in and would say to him, “It is
not a condition of the Bal¡t that you perform it right when the time sets in…” and he would continue in this way
until the person becomes completely detached from All¡h (Glory and Greatness be to Him).

If a person truly wishes to develop a deep spiritual insight and spiritual pleasure in acts of worship, then he must
keep away from doubtful foods, gatherings, and speech and without doubt, in relation to all of the acts that he
performs, he must exercise the utmost of precaution in all areas of his life.

…and all praise belongs to All¡h, Lord of the Worlds, only the mistakes are mine. (Tr.)