LEARNING ORGANISATION-ORGANISASI YANG BELAJAR - NIK ZAFRI

Petikan dari Laman Nik Zafri Online - (Oleh Nik Zafri bin Abdul Majid)


Knowledge Management

© 2000 Hakcipta Terpelihara - Nik Zafri bin Abdul Majid. Sebarang bentuk penyalinan/penggunaan kembali dalam apa juga cara sekalipun perlu mendapat keizinan penulis terlebih dahulu. Plagiat harta intelek adalah bersalahan dari segi undang-undang dan mungkin melibatkan tindakan undang-undang

ABSTRAK

Organisasi yang belajar (learning organisation) berasal daripada syarikat-syarikat besar yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kesinambungan dayasaing. Ianya muncul disebabkan kepekaan terhadap persekitaran semasa yang sering berubah-ubah.

Pengalaman sendiri dalam membina identiti budaya kerja telah membuatkan organisasi menjadi lebih matang dalam pengurusan dan perancangan sumber manusianya. Dengan adanya pembelajaran secara emperikal, kesemua strategi yang diatur bagi tujuan membawa halatuju organisasi menjadi semakin efektif dan mampu menghasilkan keputusan yang dikehendaki.

Bagi organisasi yang belajar, mereka akan dapat bersaing secara sihat dalam pasaran, mewujudkan suasana pengurusan pengetahuan (K-Management) dan pengetahuan ekonomi (K-Ekonomi), menjadi warga korporat yang bertanggungjawab terhadap masyarakat dan persekitarannya dan mendapat keuntungan hasil daripada produktiviti yang berasal daripada perancangan sumber manusia yang berkesan.

1.0 PENGENALAN

1.1 Pengenalan dan Definisi

Setiap organisasi perlu mempunyai falsafah dan halatuju pengurusan, identiti budaya kerja, pengurusan dan perancangan sumber manusia yang baik, sistem pengurusan kualiti dan lain-lain bagi meninggikan kematangan dalam organisasi itu sendiri. Kebelakangan ini, learning organisation dikaitkan secara rapat dengan Knowledge Management (k-management) dan Knowledge-Based Economy (k-economy) malah ada yang menjadikan learning organisation sebagai elemen utama Pengurusan Pengetahuan dan K-Ekonomi (Microsoft Corporation, Coopers & Lybrand dll)

Pelbagai takrif yang diberikan ke atas organisasi yang belajar (learning organisastion) Antaranya :-

"Keupayaan organisasi menggunakan memaksimakan potensi sumber manusianya secara maksima yang akan meninggikan proses bagi meningkatkan kualiti " (Nancy Dixon, 1994)

"Organisasi yang dapat meninggikan pengetahuan tenaga kerjanya secara berterusan bagi memperbaiki organisasi itu sendiri" (M. Pedler, J. Burrgoyne dan Tom Boydell, 1991)

"Organisasi dimana tenaga kerjanya terus berkembang dari segi keupayaannya bagi mewujudkan keputusan yang dikehendakinya, corak pemikiran baru, perkongsian aspirasi secara kolektif dan tenaga kerja terus belajar secara berterusan." (Peter Senge, 1990)

Berasaskan senario-senario dan takrif-takrif diatas, penulis menyimpulkan bahawa definisi organisasi yang belajar adalah sebagaimana berikut :-

Organisasi yang mempunyai sistem, mekanisma dan prosesnya yang tersendiri, yang digunakan untuk meningkatkan keupayaaan secara berterusan ke atas ke atas semua ahli organisasi yang bekerja dengannya, bagi mencapai objektif yang bersinambung - demi untuk diri mereka sendiri dan organisasi yang mereka ceburi.


2.0 ELEMEN-ELEMEN UTAMA ORGANISASI YANG BELAJAR

2.1 Pengenalan

Semua organisasi ingin mencapai tahap keunggulannya yang tersendiri. Dalam usaha untuk mendapatkan 'yang terbaik', banyak organisasi menceduk sistem-sistem pengurusan yang dikatakan mampu mencapai objektif ini. Antaranya Pengurusan Kualiti Menyeluruh (TQM), Menjuruterakan Semula Perniagaan (Business Process Reengineering), Sistem Pengurusan Kualiti ISO 9000 dan lain-lain - sekadar menyebut beberapa.

2.2 Kegagalan

Apabila program-program sistem-sistem pengurusan yang diceduk ini dijalankan, banyak organisasi akhirnya mendapati ianya gagal meningkatkan kemahiran pekerjanya, sikap mereka dan budaya kerja organisasi itu sendiri. Ini disebabkan sistem-sistem yang dipilih tidak selaras dengan perjalanan organisasi itu sendiri. Apa yang jelas, sistem-sistem seperti TQM, BPR dan ISO adalah lebih kepada memberikan panduan dan bukannya penyelesaian disebabkan penumpuan yang terlalu kuat kepada pengurusan proses yang hanya sesuai untuk situasi yang tertentu. Banyak organisasi yang gagal mencapai apa yang dikehendaki kerana kesilapan dalam mengaplikasikan sistem. Walaupun diakui sistem-sistem pengurusan yang dipilih adalah bertaraf dunia, namun ianya perlu dijuruskan kepada mewujudkan identiti budaya kerja sendiri sesebuah organisasi dan ianya perlu ditingkatkan mengikut pengalaman masing-masing.

2.3 Jenis-Jenis Pembelajaran

Organisasi yang belajar bukannya semata-mata terhad kepada 'latihan dan pembangunan sumber manusia' semata-mata. Walaupun latihan merupakan elemen penting dimana ianya dapat meninggikan sesuatu kemahiran spesifik, tetapi organisasi yang belajar perlu membangunkan sumber manusianya ke tahap yang lebih tinggi dari segi ketrampilan dan pengetahuan.

Terdapat 4 model yang perlu dipertimbangkan :-

i) Mempelajari fakta, pengetahuan, proses dan prosedur - Fakta adalah sesuatu yang boleh dihasilkan secara realiti dan bukannnya teori. Pengetahuan didasarkan keatas pengalaman sendiri dalam menyelesaikan sesuatu masalah. Proses adalah rantaian kerja organisasi dari mula hingga akhir dimana proses yang diwujudkan adalah rantaian kerja yang sesuai dengan organisasi itu sendiri dan bukannya terikut-ikut dengan pesaing atau panduan tertentu. Prosedur adalah cara kerja rantaian proses yang tidak terlalu kompleks tetapi mudah difahami oleh keseluruhan tenaga kerja dan sesuai dengan proses yang diperkatakan.

ii) Meningkatkan ketrampilan dalam kerja yang boleh digunakan dalam kesemua situasi - Ini berlaku apabila terdapat permintaan pelanggan dan tenaga kerja itu sendiri - biasanya sesuatu yang baru dan permintaan suasana persekitaran sumber manusia seperti :-

a) perubahan suasana luaran seperti ekonomi, sosial, politik, perundangan, teknologi dan persaingan pasaran. Suasana kegawatan mungkin mengakibatkan penurunan dalam permintaan barangan dan perkhidmatan.

b) perubahan suasana dalaman organisasi – contohnya, organisasi yang ingin memperkenalkan produk baru atau memasuki pasaran baru akan menyebabkan pertambahan pekerja.

c) perubahan suasana tenaga buruh – contohnya perubahan trend demografi yang melibatkan lanjutan tempoh persaraan dan lebih ramai penyertaan buruh wanita kedalam industri.

iii) Mempelajari Cara-Cara Penyesuaian - Ini berlaku dalam situasi yang lebih dinamik dimana semua teknik penyelesaian kepada sesuatu masalah yang digunakan selama ini memerlukan peningkatan bagi menyesuai dan mematangkan dirinya terhadap persekitaran yang berubah. Ini termasuklah menyemak kembali dan mempelajari dari kesilapan yang lampau

iv) Mempelajari Cara Belajar Yang Betul - Ini dikaitkan dengan inovasi dan kreativiti, belajar berubah dengan keadaan dan bukannya menjadi pengikut keadaan. Dalam konteks ini, semua dasar dan teknik pelaksanaan perlu diberikan cabaran dan diperdebat serta disemak kembali bagi diberikan nafas baru.

Model 1-3 ini dapat diaplikasikan ke tiga peringkat - pembelajaran individu, kolektif dan keseluruhan organisasi itu sendiri. Model ke-4 memerlukan 'penukaran corak organisasi dan industri' itu sendiri.

3.0 - KAREKTORISTIK ORGANISASI YANG BELAJAR

3.1 Elemen Utama

Dari kajian dan pemerhatian, pakar-pakar pengurusan telah merumuskan 4 elemen utama bagi melayakkan sesebuah organisasi digelar learning organisation iaitu :-

i) Budaya Belajar - suasana organisasi yang menggalakkan pembelajaran perkara-perkara baru bagi meningkatkan keunggulan organisasi. Ini dikaitkan dengan idea-idea baru yang tercetus daripada inovasi dan kreativiti.

ii) Proses - Proses yang menggalakkan interaksi secara melus. Ini termasuklah infrastruktur, pembangunan dan proses pengurusan dan bukannya proses operasi perniagaan sebagaimana yang diwar-warkan oleh Business Process Reengineering.

iii) Peralatan dan Teknik - kaedah yang membantu pembelajaran individu dan kolektif seperti teknik penyelesaian masalah.

iv) Kemahiran dan Motivasi - ini dikaitkan dengan kemahuan untuk belajar, berubah (change) dan penyesuaian dengan suasana baru.

Elemen-Elemen Sokongan

Elemen-elemen yang dikenalpasti sebagai penyokong kepada elemen-elemen utama diatas yang dikenalpasti ialah :-

- Orientasi luaran dan dalaman organisasi - organisasi perlu membangunkan kefahaman terhadap persekitarannya dimana ianya melibatkan peringkat tertinggi dalam pengurusan. Semua kakitangan dan pekerja perlu diberikan kefahaman mengenai suasana organisasi semasa. Dari segi orientasi luaran pula, organisasi perlu lebih terbuka dan telus kepada pelanggan umpamanya, mengajak pelanggan untuk sama-sama merancang perjalanan organisasi.

- Penukaran dan Aliran Maklumat Secara Bebas - sistem yang diwujudkan adalah untuk memastikan terdapatnya kepakaran apabila diperlukan, jaringan maklumat antara individu secara ekstensif, memecahkan 'dinding' komunikasi dan sama-sama membangunkan pengetahuan dan kepakaran masing-masing.

- Komitmen untuk Belajar serta Pembangunan Diri - Dengan adanya sokongan daripada pihak pengurusan, keseluruhan tenaga kerja digalakkan untuk sentiasa mengamalkan budaya belajar dan membaca. Setiap pembelajaran akan menghasilkan keuntungan bukan sahaja kepada organisasi tetapi juga diri sendiri. Pihak pengurusan perlu menanamkan falsafah bahawa telah tiba masanya bagi ahli-ahli keluarga organisasi untuk berfikir dan belajar, memahami, meneroka, mengamal dan membangunkan perkara-perkara baru dalam organisasi.

- Menghargai Manusia - penghargaan dan motivasi perlu diberikan kepada mereka yang mengeluarkan idea, kreativiti dan pemikiran imaginatif/simulasi. Sebarang perubahan dan pindaan sistem perlu dianggap sebagai kekuatan baru. Segala pendapat perlu diberikan cabaran untuk meningkatkannya. Ini dapat dilakukan menerusi kaedah brainstorming, Delphi dan nominal.

- Suasana Keterbukaan dan Saling Percaya-Mempercayai - Individu digalakkan membangunkan idea baru, mencadangkannya, mengkritik secara konstruktif dan menjalankannya dengan sistematik.

- Belajar dari Pengalaman - Kesilapan merupakan guru terbaik dalam pengurusan. Ianya menggalakkan organisasi belajar daripada kesilapan yang telah lepas dan berusaha untuk tidak mengulanginya lagi. Belajar daripada kesilapan adalah lebih baik daripada belajar daripada kejayaan. Kegagalan perlu diterima kerana ianya merupakan kenyataan hidup dan budaya salah menyalahkan atau menghukum diatas kesilapan perlu dielakkan kerana apa yang telah berlaku, telah berlaku. Yang penting organisasi mesti menumpukan perhatian kepada penyelesaian.

3.3 Proses-Proses Kunci dalam Pengurusan

Dalam mewujudkan suasana organisasi yang belajar, proses-proses berikut perlu diberikan perhatian :-

i) Perancangan Strategik dan Senario - Pendekatan ini memerlukan perancangan yang kadangkala keluar daripada lingkungan angka dan pengiraan, tidak mudah berpuas hati dengan sesuatu hasil, mencuba sesuatu yang baru dan mengkaji kaedah yang sedia ada atau yang bakal digunakan.

ii) Analisis Persaingan - faktor ini melibatkan pemerhatian dan analisis secara berterusan ke atas persekitaran sumber manusia seperti perubahan teknologi, suasana ekonomi, politik, sosial, demografi, geografikal dan lain-lain yang meninggalkan kesan ke atas penawaran dan permintaan sumber manusia. Proses mengkaji pesaing-pesaing memerlukaan pengumpulan maklumat dari sumber pelbagai, kajian, peningkatan elemen bernilai tambah, merubah proses, menghasilkan keputusan, mendapatkan cara alternatif dan lain-lain.

iii) Pengurusan Maklumat dan Pengetahuan - Teknik-teknik baru diperlukan bagi mengenalpasti, mengaudit, menilai kos dan kebaikan, membangun dan menggunakan maklumat sebagai sumber, penggunaan elemen teknologi maklumat seperti perisian, perkakasan, sistem jaringan dan lain-lain bagi mengkaji kekuatan dan kelemahan organisasi.

iv) Perancangan Keupayaan - memprofail ketrampilan/kemahiran organisasi secara kualitatif dan kuantitatif umpamanya menggunakan kaedah Skills Flexibility Matrix dan Training Needs Analysis. Pemprofailan ini akan membantu proses penyemakan kembali dan pindaan yang diperlukan bagi peningkatan berterusan.

v) Pembangunan Organisasi dan Pasukan - Ini dapat dilakukan menggunakan kaedah fungsi silang (cross functional) bagi membantu kumpulan kerja, jenis kerja, fungsi dan proses dalam sesebuah organisasi. Menggalakkan elemen bernilai tambah, membangunkan misi, objektif dan sasaran, kekuatan mental/spiritual, suasana perkongsian kemahiran dan pengetahuan, motivasi dan pembinaan pasukan dan sokongan.

vi) Ukuran Prestasi - Organisasi perlu mencari langkah dan petunjuk prestasi yang betul. Potensi individu perlu dikenalpasti dan dibangunkan dimana perlu supaya tenaga kerja tidak merasakan mereka disisihkan. Semua penilaian prestasi mestilah dibuktikan dengan fakta dan bukannya tanggapan.

vii) Sistem Hadiah dan Penghargaan (Merit) - ini merupakan elemen penting dalam motivasi pekerja dan kakitangan. Keperluan sumber manusia yang utama mestilah dikenalpasti jika produktiviti yang diperlukan telah dicapai hasil kesungguhan usaha. Jika sistem hadiah dan merit ini mampu dilaksanakan, umpamanya markah merit akan ditukarkan dengan bonus mingguan atau bulanan, sudah pastinya produktiviti dan keuntungan akan meningkat.


4.0 - METODOLOJI

4.1 Dimana Ianya Bermula

Organisasi yang ingin berubah kepada organisasi yang belajar perlu menitikberatkan bagaimana cara yang sesuai untuk memulakannya.

Antara yang dicadangkan ialah :-

a) Pengurusan Atasan - pengurusan atasan perlu memberikan komitmen dari segi penyediaan sumber, teknologi, belanjawan, suasana kerja yang diperlukan dan kebajikan pekerja. Faktor ini memerlukan pertimbangan ke atas hal-hal keselamatan, kesihatan, kualiti dan penjagaan alam sekitar oleh organisasi berkenaan.

b) Mengenalpasti Masalah Kronik - Biasanya setiap ketidakpatuhan kepada spesifikasi akan direkodkan. Ketidakpatuhan ini perlu dibahagikan kepada ketidakpatuhan utama yang menyebabkan sesuatu proses gagal dijalankan atau gagal menghasilkan keputusan serta mungkin menyebabkan kerugian dan ketidakpatuhan kecil yang menyebabkan sesuatu proses tertangguh sebentar kerana hal-hal yang tidak dapat dielakkan. Analisis trend perlu dijalankan keatas ketidakpatuhan utama dan usaha perlu dilakukan untuk memperbetulkannnya supaya tidak berlaku perulangan diatas masalah yang sama. Namun, ketidakpatuhan kecil juga mampu meninggalkan impak yang ketara sekiranya dibiarkan begitu sahaja. Kesimpulannya semua ketidakpatuhan mestilah ditangani dengan cara penyelesaian yang terbaik. Antara kaedah-kaedah yang boleh digunakan ialah secara tunjukajar dan kaunseling bergantung diatas jenis ketidakpatuhan yang dihadapi.

c) Mewujudkan Jawatankuasa - jawatankuasa kerja ini perlu terdiri daripada jawatankuasa kecil dan jawatankuasa induk. Kesemua jawatankuasa samada induk atau ad-hoc perlu melibatkan keseluruhan kakitangan. Ini bertujuan untuk memudahkan pemerhatian dan maklumat yang betul dan tepat diperolehi bagi merubah organisasi.

d) Memulakan dengan Pra-Penilaian - proses ini menuntut organisasi untuk menyemak kembali dirinya dengan menggunakan kaedah pengauditan, mengenalpasti kesilapan, memperbetulkan kesalahan, menjimatkan kos, meningkatkan kemahiran dan lain-lain.

e) Memaksimakan Potensi - sekiranya sesuatu proses atau bidang kerja dalam sesuatu organisasi itu berpotensi untuk dimaksimakan, perkara ini perlu berlaku dengan seberapa segera. Contohnya jabatan pemasaran dan jualan didapati perlu diperluaskan tetapi tidak mencukupi dari segi infrastruktur, maka organisasi perlu memastikan segala keperluan jabatan ini diadakan dengan segera.

f) Membangunkan Produk dan Perkhidmatan yang baru - Kepelbagaian dalam produk dan perkhidmatan yang dibekalkan adalah penting kerana jika organisasi semata-mata bergantung harapan kepada sesuatu produk dan perkhidmatan yang spesifik sahaja, maka ianya akan ketinggalan jauh dalam persaingan. Namun, identiti dan budaya organisasi dalam mengeluarkan 'killer products and services' yang tertentu mestilah dikekalkan.


Kaedah

Antara kaedah yang boleh dicadangkan disini bagi membantu organisasi untuk memulakan perubahan ialah :-

1) Tinjauan ke atas tenaga kerja untuk mendapatkan maklumat semasa dan lain-lain yang berkaitan dengan kaedah wawancara, temuduga dan sebagainya.

2) Kreativiti menerusi kaedah perbincangan brainstorming, Delphi dan nominal.

3) Menjadikan suasana kerja lebih bermakna - memotivasikan tenaga kerja dengan rasa pemilikan terhadap organisasi. Ini biasanya dilakukan menerusi kemah kerja ekspedisi di luar organisasi, hari keluarga, sukan dan lain-lain.

4) Membuat pilihan yang terbaik sebelum bertindak.

5) Memerhatikan keputusan yang dihasilkan menerusi rekod, data, dokumen dan pemantauan.

6) Meningkatkan pengetahuan yang sedia ada dan menguatkan lagi disiplin mental.

7) Berkomunikasi secara efektif terutamanya dalam memecahkan sempadan.

8) Menjadi pendengar dan pemerhati yang baik.

9) Kepimpinan menerusi Teladan.

10)Mengambil perspektif holistik seperti melihat keseluruhan tenaga kerja sebagai 'sebuah organisasi' (seperti rakyat membina kerajaan)

11)Sedia menghadapi apa juga cabaran yang bakal mendatang.

Peranan Sistem

- Sistem yang tidak dapat menghasilkan keputusan yang dikehendaki adalah sistem yang tidak boleh digunakan dalam sesuatu organisasi. Kadangkala sistem cara tradisi, konservatif dan konvensional mampu mengeluarkan hasil yang lebih tinggi. Apa yang penting ialah hasil. Jika terlalu terikat kepada sistem, mungkin organisasi akan gagal menjadi organisasi yang belajar.

- Inisiatif sesuatu sistem baru tidak semestinya bermula daripada Jabatan Sumber Manusia atau perunding pengurusan luaran, ianya mestilah bermula dari dalam yang tercetus dari kesedaran untuk berubah tidak kira samada dari peringkat pengurusan tertinggi ataupun seorang pekerja am.

- Di mana ianya bermula merupakan suatu soalan yang sukar untuk dijawab kerana ianya mungkin daripada Jabatan Pengurusan Maklumat dan I.T. atau mungkin daripada Jabatan Kepastian Kualiti, Keselamatan/Kesihatan Pekerjaan/Alam Sekitar dan mungkin juga daripada Jabatan Pemasaran, Jualan dan Penghantaran.

Kegagalan Organisasi Yang Belajar

Organisasi yang belajar perlu mengelakkan perkara-perkara berikut jika mereka ingin berjaya :-

¨ Terlalu mementingkan perkara remeh-temeh seperti budaya suka menyalahkan orang/jabatan lain diatas kegagalan, menyukai sistem hukuman daripada hadiah, tidak mahu belajar dan lain-lain.

¨ Terlalu memfokus dan terikat secara literal kepada sistem dan proses yang berasaskan ISO 9000 contohnya.

¨ Tidak mahu mengeluarkan kos untuk latihan dan pengiklanan tetapi lebih mementingkan diri sendiri daripada pekerja.

¨ Terlalu banyak birokrasi dan politik tidak sihat pejabat umpamanya suka menjatuh-menjatuhkan antara satu dengan lain, mengumpulkan seramai boleh pengikut dan mengamalkan rasuah.

¨ Terlalu centralised dan mementingkan reputasi, kuasa dan jawatan yang dipegang. Ini termasuklah enggan bekerjasama dalam sesuatu projek yang difikirkan tidak ada kena-mengena dengan tugas, deskripsi kerja (Job Description) dan upah atau gaji yang diterima.


5.0 KESIMPULAN DAN PENUTUP

5.1 Kesimpulan dan Penutup

Banyak lagi cabaran yang perlu dihadapi oleh organisasi dalam usaha menjadikan dirinya sebagai organisasi yang belajar. Ini melibatkan peningkatan dan penggunaan kaedah baru, meninggikan kemahiran dan ketrampilan, menjadikan organisasi milik pekerja dan membangun dan merancang strategi misi, objektif dan sasaran sumber manusia yang tepat.

Suasana pembelajaran perlu dijadikan 'darah daging' organisasi berkenaan dan bukannya sesuatu paksaan. Ianya perlu lahir daripada keprihatinan melihat kepentingan organisasi untuk meningkatkan dayasaing, produktiviti dan keuntungan.

Konsep organisasi yang belajar dan pengurusan pengetahuan (knowledge management) perlu berjalan secara beriringan dan tidak boleh dipisahkan antara satu dengan yang lain. Organisasi perlu mengalami evolusi dan belajar daripada pengalaman sendiri dalam usaha mewujudkan identiti, falsafah dan budaya kerja yang diperlukan bagi mencapai keunggulan yang dikehendaki.

MUSLIMS CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD OF SCIENCE

Astronomy

Muslims have always had a special interest in astronomy. The moon and the sun are of vital importance in the daily life of every Muslim. By the moon, Muslims determine the beginning and the end of the months in their lunar calendar. By the sun the Muslims calculate the times for prayer and fasting. It is also by means of astronomy that Muslims can determine the precise direction of the Qiblah, to face the Ka'bah in Makkah, during prayer.

The most precise solar calendar, superior to the Julian, is the Jilali, devised under the supervision of Umar Khayyam.

The Quran contains many references to astronomy:

"And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming." [Noble Quran 21:33]

These references, and the injunctions to learn, inspired the early Muslim scholars to study the heavens. They integrated the earlier works of the Indians, Persians and Greeks into a new synthesis.

Ptolemy's Almagest (the title as we know it today is actually Arabic) was translated, studied and criticized. Many new stars were discovered, as we see in their Arabic names - Algol, Deneb, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran. Astronomical tables were compiled, among them the Toledan tables, which were used by Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler.

Also compiled were almanacs - another Arabic term. Other terms from Arabic are zenith, nadir, Aledo, azimuth.

Muslim astronomers were the first to establish observatories, like the one built at Mugharah by Hulagu, the son of Genghis Khan, in Persia, and they invented instruments such as the quadrant and astrolabe, which led to advances not only in astronomy but in oceanic navigation, contributing to the European age of exploration.

Geography

Muslim scholars paid great attention to geography. In fact, the Muslims' great concern for geography originated with their religion.

The Quran encourages people to travel throughout the earth to see God's signs and patterns everywhere. Islam also requires each Muslim to have at least enough knowledge of geography to know the direction of the Qiblah (the position of the Ka'bah in Makkah) in order to pray five times a day.

Muslims were also used to taking long journeys to conduct trade as well as to make the Hajj and spread their religion. The far-flung Islamic empire enabled scholar-explorers to compile large amounts of geographical and climatic information from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Among the most famous names in the field of geography, even in the West, are Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Batuta, renowned for their written accounts of their extensive explorations.

In 1166, Al-Idrisi, the well-known Muslim scholar who served the Sicilian court, produced very accurate maps, including a world map with all the continents and their mountains, rivers and famous cities. Al-Muqdishi was the first geographer to produce accurate maps in color.

Spain was ruled by Muslims under the banner of Islam for over 700 years. By the 15th century of the Gregorian calendar the ruler-ship of Islam had been seated in Spain and Muslims had established centers of learning which commanded respect all over the known world at that time. There were no "Dark Ages" such the rest of Europe experienced for the Muslims in Spain and those who lived there with them. In January of 1492 Muslim Spain capitulated to Catholic Rome under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. By July of the same year, Muslims were instrumental in helping navigate Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean South of Florida.

It was, moreover, with the help of Muslim navigators and their inventions that Magellan was able to traverse the Cape of Good Hope, and Da Gamma and Columbus had Muslim navigators on board their ships.

Humanity

Seeking knowledge is obligatory in Islam for every Muslim, man and woman. The main sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophet Muhammad's traditions), encourage Muslims to seek knowledge and be scholars, since this is the best way for people to know Allah (God), to appreciate His wondrous creations and be thankful for them.

Muslims have always been eager to seek knowledge, both religious and secular, and within a few years of Muhammad's mission, a great civilization sprang up and flourished. The outcome is shown in the spread of Islamic universities; Al-Zaytunah in Tunis, and Al-Azhar in Cairo go back more than 1,000 years and are the oldest existing universities in the world. Indeed, they were the models for the first European universities, such as Bologna, Heidelberg, and the Sorbonne. Even the familiar academic cap and gown originated at Al-Azhar University.

Muslims made great advances in many different fields, such as geography, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, architecture, linguistics and astronomy. Algebra and the Arabic numerals were introduced to the world by Muslim scholars. The astrolabe, the quadrant, and other navigational devices and maps were developed by Muslim scholars and played an important role in world progress, most notably in Europe's age of exploration.

Muslim scholars studied the ancient civilizations from Greece and Rome to China and India. The works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid and others were translated into Arabic. Muslim scholars and scientists then added their own creative ideas, discoveries and inventions, and finally transmitted this new knowledge to Europe, leading directly to the Renaissance. Many scientific and medical treatises, having been translated into Latin, were standard text and reference books as late as the 17th and 18th centuries.

Mathematics

Muslim mathematicians excelled in geometry, as can be seen in their graphic arts, and it was the great Al-Biruni (who excelled also in the fields of natural history, even geology and mineralogy) who established trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Other Muslim mathematicians made significant progress in number theory.

It is interesting to note that Islam so strongly urges mankind to study and explore the universe. For example, the Noble Quran states:

"We (Allah) will show you (mankind) Our signs/patterns in the horizons/universe and in yourselves until you are convinced that the revelation is the truth." [Noble Quran 41:53]

This invitation to explore and search made Muslims interested in astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, and the other sciences, and they had a very clear and firm understanding of the correspondences among geometry, mathematics, and astronomy.

The Muslims invented the symbol for zero (The word "cipher" comes from Arabic sifr), and they organized the numbers into the decimal system - base 10. Additionally, they invented the symbol to express an unknown quantity, i.e. variables like x.

The first great Muslim mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi, invented the subject of algebra (al-Jabr), which was further developed by others, most notably Umar Khayyam. Al-Khawarizmi's work, in Latin translation, brought the Arabic numerals along with the mathematics to Europe, through Spain. The word "algorithm" is derived from his name.

Medicine

In Islam, the human body is a source of appreciation, as it is created by Almighty Allah (God). How it functions, how to keep it clean and safe, how to prevent diseases from attacking it or cure those diseases, have been important issues for Muslims.

Ibn Sina (d. 1037), better known to the West as Avicenna, was perhaps the greatest physician until the modern era. His famous book, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, remained a standard textbook even in Europe, for over 700 years. Ibn Sina's work is still studied and built upon in the East.

Prophet Muhammad himself urged people to "take medicines for your diseases", as people at that time were reluctant to do so. He also said,

"God created no illness, except that He has established for it a cure, except for old age. When the antidote is applied, the patient will recover with the permission of God."

Since the religion did not forbid it, Muslim scholars used human cadavers to study anatomy and physiology and to help their students understand how the body functions. This empirical study enabled surgery to develop very quickly.

Al-Razi, known in the West as Rhazes, the famous physician and scientist, (d. 932) was one of the greatest physicians in the world in the Middle Ages. He stressed empirical observation and clinical medicine and was unrivalled as a diagnostician. He also wrote a treatise on hygiene in hospitals. Kahaf Abul-Qasim Al-Sahabi was a very famous surgeon in the eleventh century, known in Europe for his work, Concession (Kitab al-Tasrif).

Other significant contributions were made in pharmacology, such as Ibn Sina's Kitab al-Shifa' (Book of Healing), and in public health. Every major city in the Islamic world had a number of excellent hospitals, some of them teaching hospitals, and many of them were specialized for particular diseases, including mental and emotional. The Ottomans were particularly noted for their building of hospitals and for the high level of hygiene practiced in them.

TURN LEAD TO GOLD

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/generalchemistry/a/aa050601a.htm

Before Chemistry was a science, there was Alchemy. One of the supreme quests of alchemy is to transmute lead into gold. Lead (atomic number 82) and gold (atomic number 79) are defined as elements by the number of protons they possess. Changing the element requires changing the atomic (proton) number. The number of protons cannot be altered by any chemical means.

However, physics may be used to add or remove protons and thereby change one element into another. Because lead is stable, forcing it to release three protons requires a vast input of energy, such that the cost of transmuting it greatly surpasses the value of the resulting gold.

Transmutation of lead into gold isn't just theoretically possible - it has been achieved! There are reports that Glenn Seaborg, 1951 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, succeeded in transmuting a minute quantity of lead (possibly en route from bismuth, in 1980) into gold. There is an earlier report (1972) in which Soviet physicists at a nuclear research facility near Lake Baikal in Siberia accidentally discovered a reaction for turning lead into gold when they found the lead shielding of an experimental reactor had changed to gold.

Today particle accelerators routinely transmute elements. A charged particle is accelerated using electrical and/or magnetic fields. In a linear accelerator, the charged particles drift through a series of charged tubes separated by gaps. Every time the particle emerges between gaps, it is accelerated by the potential difference between adjacent segments. In a circular accelerator, magnetic fields accelerate particles moving in circular paths. In either case, the accelerated particle impacts a target material, potentially knocking free protons or neutrons and making a new element or isotope. Nuclear reactors also may used for creating elements, although the conditions are less controlled.

In nature, new elements are created by adding protons and neutrons to hydrogen atoms within the nuclear reactor of a star, producing increasingly heavier elements, up to iron (atomic number 26). This process is called nucleosynthesis. Elements heavier than iron are formed in the stellar explosion of a supernova. In a supernova gold may be made into lead, but not the other way around.

While it may never be commonplace to transmute lead into gold, it is practical to obtain gold from lead ores. The minerals galena (lead sulfide, PbS), cerussite (lead carbonate, PbCO3), and anglesite (lead sulfate, PbSO4) often contain zinc, gold, silver, and other metals. Once the ore has been pulverized, chemical techniques are sufficient to separate the gold from the lead. The result is almost alchemy...almost.

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http://www.jimloy.com/fiction/leadgold.htm

Lead into GoldFiction, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy

The alchemists tried to turn lead into gold. If any of them succeeded, the word never got out. Personally, I do not think that any of them succeeded. It is a nuclear process, after all. Many alchemists probably had a very good intuitive understanding of chemistry. But nuclear reactions remained hidden within the nucleus of the atom. There just were not any clues, until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Uranium, and similar metals like Plutonium, spontaneously "decay" into lead. In essence, they fall downhill, losing energy, and become lead. This is because Uranium has a much higher energy "state" than lead does. Things tend to go downhill. Uranium goes downhill to lead. It is perfectly natural.

Well, lead has more energy than gold. That may surprise you. Here is gold, shiny and special. There is lead, dull and disgusting, when you come right down to it. But it is true. Lead has more energy than gold. So it is natural for lead to go downhill and become gold. Why doesn't it?
None of the non-radioactive elements ever spontaneously changes into an element with less energy. There are barriers. One of these natural atoms must gain energy, before it can finally go downhill to a lower energy. It is said that each of these atoms is stable.

It takes energy to move a lead atom over this barrier, before it can go downhill to gold. But, once it is over the barrier, you should get a lot of energy back. The process should produce more energy than it uses. In other words, it should be self-sustaining. Even though the process should be self-sustaining, it normally requires quite a lot of energy to start the ball rolling, so to speak.
So, I was concerned with supplying the energy to transform lead to gold. But a second problem occurred to me. What if my lead atoms went downhill and turned into something besides gold? It is not so bad to accidentally turn lead into silver. But turning lead into zinc could be quite embarrassing. So I began to form my theory that a lead atom needs an adjacent gold atom to "emulate." To carry the anthropomorphizing further, it seems natural for the lead atom to "want" to become a shiny gold atom. Luckily, this idea not only seems to change lead into gold, but at a much lower temperature than might be expected. The mysterious philospher's stone of the alchemists turns out to be gold itself.

At high temperatures, I thoroughly mix liquid lead and liquid gold. Some of the lead atoms change into gold. The remaining lead evaporates into a gas, which I later condense back into solid lead. I also solidify the liquid gold. In the end, I find that the mass of the gold has increased slightly (0.00037%), while the mass of the lead has decreased (0.00080%), after cleaning the lead coating off the inside of my glass equipment.

Repeating the experiment with the same gold and the same lead unfortunately results in almost no further change in the mass of the resulting gold. We have a state of diminishing returns. For some unknown reason, virgin gold would seem to be required.

I urgently need extensive funding to fine tune these very promising experiments. The government has surprisingly (perhaps not surprisingly) expressed no interest. So I am forced to turn to private investors. I estimate that they will at least double their investment in the next 12 months.

Geneva atom smasher sets collision record

:
(SOURCE)



By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Alexander G. Higgins, Associated Press Writer - Tue Mar 30, 1:53 pm ET

GENEVA – The world's largest atom smasher conducted its first experiments at conditions nearing those after the Big Bang, breaking its own record for high-energy collisions with proton beams crashing into each other Tuesday at three times more force than ever before.

In a milestone for the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider's ambitious bid to reveal details about theoretical particles and microforces, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, took high-tech photographs so they could study the disintegrating protons after they collided at a combined energy level of 7 trillion electron volts.

The collisions herald a new era for researchers working on the machine in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel below the Swiss-French border at Geneva.

"That's it! They've had a collision," said Oliver Buchmueller from Imperial College in London as people closely watched monitors.

In a control room, scientists erupted with applause when the first successful collisions were confirmed. Their colleagues from around the world were tuning in by remote links to witness the new record, which surpasses the 2.36 TeV CERN recorded last year.


An event display shows the activity during a high-energy collision at the CMS control room of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, at their headquarter outside Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 30, 2010. The $10 billion Large Hadron Collider directed two proton beams into each other at three times more force than ever before, Tuesday, as part of its ambitious bid to reveal details about theoretical particles and microforces.

Dubbed the world's largest scientific experiment, researchers hope the machine can approach on a tiny scale what happened in the first split seconds after the Big Bang, which they theorize was the creation of the universe some 14 billion years ago.

The extra energy in Geneva is expected to reveal even more about the unanswered questions of particle physics, such as the existence of antimatter and the search for the Higgs boson, a hypothetical particle that scientists theorize gives mass to other particles and thus to other objects and creatures in the universe.

Tuesday's initial attempts at collisions were unsuccessful because problems developed with the beams, said scientists working on the massive machine. That meant the protons had to be "dumped" from the collider and new beams had to be injected.

The atmosphere at CERN was tense considering the collider's launch with great fanfare on Sept. 10, 2008. Nine days later, the project was sidetracked when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated, causing extensive damage to the massive magnets and other parts of the collider some 300 feet (100 meters) below the ground.

It cost $40 million to repair and improve the machine. Since its restart in November 2009, the collider has performed almost flawlessly and given scientists valuable data. It quickly eclipsed the next largest accelerator — the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago.

Two beams of protons began 10 days ago to speed at high energy in opposite directions around the tunnel, the coldest place in the universe, at a couple of degrees above absolute zero. CERN used powerful superconducting magnets to force the two beams to cross, creating collisions and showers of particles.

"Experiments are collecting their first physics data — historic moment here!" a scientist tweeted on CERN's official Twitter account.

"Nature does it all the time with cosmic rays (and with higher energy) but this is the first time this is done in Laboratory!" said another tweet.

When collisions become routine, the beams will be packed with hundreds of billions of protons, but the particles are so tiny that few will collide at each crossing.

The experiments will come over the objections of some people who fear they could eventually imperil Earth by creating micro black holes — subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.

CERN and many scientists dismiss any threat to Earth or people on it, saying that any such holes would be so weak that they would vanish almost instantly without causing any damage.

Bivek Sharma, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, said the images of the first crashed proton beams were beautiful.

"It's taken us 25 years to build," he said. "This is what it's for. Finally the baby is delivered. Now it has to grow."
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Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans contributed to this report.
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WHAT WE ARE AFRAID OF?

The Three who Stayed Behind

Source : al-islami.com

The story of the three who stayed behind is a very inspiring and moving story from the seerah. The story is referred to in the holy Qur'an in verses 117 and 118 of surat Al-Tawbah. The details of the story are told by Ka'ab ibn Malik, who was actually one of the three men. The story goes as follows.

When the Messenger of Allah decided to launch the Tabuk expedition, he asked all able bodied men to join him, except for those who have special circumstances that would prevent them from travelling and leaving their homes for a long time. Valid excuses would be an illness or elderly parents who need care. The companions rushed to obey the Messenger (pbuh) and they prepared themselves for the long trip.

The Tabuk expedition occured in a very inopportune time for most people. It was a very hot time of the year, and most people avoided long travels during this time. The distance from Al-Madinah to Tabuk was over 500 kilometers, a trip that would take many days by foot or on camels and horses. Also, it was the time of harvest for many owners of gardens around Al-Madinah. Travelling at this time would mean that they would not be able to harvest, and would incur large financial losses.

Yet, even with all of these difficulties, the vast majority of companions obeyed the Messenger (pbuh) without question. They took their provisions, prepared their belongings and were ready to join the Messenger. The holy Qur'an even mentions people whose tears would flow when they were told by the Messenger that he was not able to accomodate them in the expedition (Al-Tawbah, verse 92).

The hypocrites hated the idea of travelling at this time. They preferred to stay at their homes to avoid the heat and the hardship. They wanted to harvest their crops and gain the financial benefits. They thought that it is illogical to travel at this time, and that they must take care of their families and provide for them. So they started to look for any excuse to disobey the Messenger. They started to tell each other and the believers not to go out in this intense heat, and Allah (swt) answered them in the holy Qur'an by saying that the heat of the Hellfire is even more intense, if they would just undestand! (Al-Tawbah, verse 81).

We need to stop at this point for a moment and reflect upon the actions of the hyprocrites. Many of us today, when we are told to obey the commandments of Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh), we also make excuses, some of them are very similar to those made by the hypocrites at the time of the Tabuk expedition. For example, some of our dear sisters who do not wear the hijab would say that it would be too hot in the summer. Some of our dear brothers, when asked why they do not attend the Friday prayer every week explain that they do not want to look bad in front of their boss by being away for an hour every Friday afternoon. Almost all of us have made such excuses at one point or another in our life. It makes one wonder, if the Messenger (pbuh) was among us today and the revelation was still coming down, how many verses would be revealed about us and the excuses that we make for not following the commandments of Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh)? May Allah (swt) guide us all and make us follow the footsteps of the companions who obeyed Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh) without question and without hesitation.

The Messenger (pbuh) left with a large number of the companions towards Tabuk. Some of the companions were late making last minute arrangements but they continued catching up and joining the Messenger (pbuh). Only the hyporcites and those with a valid excuse were left behind. After some time, the Messenger (pbuh) started asking about people whom he didn't see. He wanted to know who obeyed the orders and who rejected them. It is as if he knew that this was more than an expedition. This was a test of faith. Allah (swt) wanted to test the Muslims to see who are the true and sincere believers and who are the people who will make up any excuse to stay in their comfortable life and to avoid any hardship for the sake of Allah (swt).

Indeed, it was a test of faith. There was no battle. After arriving at Tabuk, the Muslims discovered that the army that the Messenger (pbuh) expected to meet retreated when they got news that the Muslims were coming. The only battle was that of the believers against the shaytan (devil) and against their own desires. Those who overcame their desires and decided to obey Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh), even through intense hardship, passed the test.

When they arrived back in Al-Madinah, the hypocrites went to the Messenger (pbuh), and one by one they would tell him their excuse. They would lie and make up stories to justify why they refused to obey the order. The Messenger (pbuh) accepted their excuses, although Allah (swt) exposed them in the holy Qur'an (see verses 90 - 96 of surat Al-Tawbah).

Three of the companions, the three who stayed behind, were different. They were in good health, and had enough wealth and resources that they could have joined the expedition. But they did not. The shaytan was able to overcome them. They disobeyed Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh) and followed their own personal desires.

Ka'ab ibn Malik was one of those three men, and he later told his story. He said that he was in his full health and strength at the time of this expedition. He was also finacially able to go. However, he did not prepare when the others prepared, and he told himself that he would delay his travel and catch up with the expedition after a day or two. The days passed, and he kept delaying the travel, until it was too late for him to catch up. So he stayed behind, and he noticed that the only men remaining in Al-Madinah were the hypocrites, the sick and the elderly, which greatly saddened him.

When he heard that the Messenger (pbuh) arrived back in Al-Madinah, he went to the masjid to welcome him back. He initially thought of any excuse or lie to tell the Messenger (pbuh) in order to avoid angering him. But then he remembered Allah (swt), and he knew that Allah (swt) knows the truth that is in his heart. He realized that he should be honest, and that lying will not help him. In fact, it will only add more sins to the one he has already committed by not joining the Messenger (pbuh).

He arrived at the masjid, and found the hypocrites making excuses and lying to the Messenger (pbuh). He saw the Messenger (pbuh) was accepting their excuses, forgiving them and even praying to Allah (swt) to forgive them. However, being a true sincere and honest believer, he could not lie. He was just not able to lie.

He went up to the Messenger (pbuh), and the Messenger (pbuh) smiled to him but was visibly angry, and he told him to come close and sit beside him. He then asked him: "What made you stay behind, didn't you prepare to come with us?" Ka'ab ibn Malik replied: "By Allah, I was never in better health or wealth than I was on the day you left, and I had no excuse and no reason for not joining". The Messenger (pbuh) told him to get up and leave until Allah (swt) reveals his judgement. Only two other men had the courage and moral character to do the same as Ka'ab ibn Malik, accepting full responsibility for their actions and refusing to lie or make up excuses like the hypocrites did.

The Messenger (pbuh) asked the Muslims to boycott the three men. No one was allowed to talk to them, not even return their salam. Even their own families would not talk to them. The boycott continued for fifty days.

We must again stop at this point of the story and try to learn a lesson from the honesty of Ka'ab ibn Malik. Even though he saw the Messenger (pbuh) accepting the excuses and forgiving anyone who made up any excuse, he simply refused to lie. As a Muslim and a believer, he knew that lying was forbidden. He knew that he could not correct one sin by adding another sin to it. He knew that even if he lied and got away with it in this life, that Allah (swt) knows the truth and will hold him accountable for this lie on the Day of Judgement. He knew how bad the consequences of saying the truth would be for him in this life. But he chose hardship and misery in this life over saying one lie and deserving the punishment from Allah (swt) for it on the Day of Judgement.

We really should learn a lesson from the honesty of this man. How many of us would do what he did? How many of us would just have lied and made up an excuse and then said to ourselves that it is just a small lie, and that we will ask Allah (swt) to forgive us later? How many of us would have passed this test of sincerity? He could not bring himself to lie. We should follow his example, because this is the example of true and sincere Muslims. In fact, Allah (swt) pointed to this beatiful moral character in these three men who stayed behind in verse 119 of surat Al-Tawbah, where Allah (swt) advises all believes: "Oh believers, fear Allah, and stand with the truthful ones". This verse came directly after the verse that mentioned the story of the three men, and although they committed a mistake by not adhereing to the order of the Messenger (pbuh) to go on the Tabuk expedition, Allah (swt) forgave them and accepted their repentance, and Allah (swt) mentioned them as "the truthful ones" in the Qur'an. Their truthfulness and high moral character saved them from their sins and ensured their forgiveness. On the other hand, the hypocrites who thought that they got away with their lies, they did not gain the forgiveness of Allah (swt) and they will face a severe punishment on the Day of Judgement.

The story has a happy ending of course. Allah (swt), after 50 days, revealed the verse 118 of surat Al-Tawbah: "And to the three who were left behind (at the Battle of Tabuk), until the earth became narrow with all its vastness, and their souls became narrow for them, they knew there was no shelter from Allah except in Him. Then He turned to them (in mercy) so that they might also turn (in repentance). Allah is the Turner, the Most Merciful."

Their forgiveness was revealed in the holy Qur'an, and it came down from above the seven heavens. It has been recited since that day, and will continue to be recited forever by millions of Muslims around the world. Allah (swt) replaced their hardship and misery with the honour of vindication and of being mentioned in the holy Qur'an. This was their reward for their sincerity and honesty, even though they committed a sin and made a mistake. But they were sincere in their hearts, and they truely loved Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh).

From this we learn that it is never too late to seek forgiveness. It is never too late to turn a new page. Allah (swt) forgives all sins, as long as we are sincere. As long as we love Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh) in our hearts, and we ask for forgiveness sincerely, insha' Allah we shall be granted forgiveness by the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful.

When these verses were revealed, the believers raced to the home of Ka'ab ibn Malik to give him the good news. One of them even got on top of a house and shouted out the news. Every believer wanted to be the first to tell the good news to their brother. They went to his home, hugged him and congratulated him on the forgiveness that he was granted from Allah (swt).

What a beautiful example of brotherhood. They loved their brother. Even though they had boycotted him for 50 days, but when Allah (swt) forgave him they raced to hug him again! Subhan Allah, they loved and hated based on whom Allah (swt) loved and hated, not based on their own personal choice and their own desires. Even though their brother was a sinner, and he made a terrible mistake, and he disobeyed Allah (swt) and the Messenger (pbuh), they still loved him and were hoping he would be forgiven.

We should implement this type of love and brotherhood today amongst ourselves. Unfortuantely, many times when a Muslim commits a sin, the others will treat him badly. Even if he repents, they will still suspect him and never forget his mistake. These are not the manners of true believers. We should follow this beautiful example of the companions. We should rush towards those who repent, and love for our brothers to repent. We should love them and work with them to help them stop committing sins, not accuse them and fight with them and against them. We are all in this together, and we must help each other or else we will all lose everything in this world and on the Day of Judgement.

May Allah (swt) guide us all to what pleases Him.

THE LEGAL MAXIMS OF ISLAMIC LAW

ORIGINAL SOURCE

The Association of Muslim Lawyers -
QAWA‘ID AL-FIQH:THE LEGAL MAXIMS OF ISLAMIC LAW - Mohammad Hashim Kamali

This essay provides a brief introduction to legal maxims, an evidently important chapter of the juristic literature of Islam, that is particularly useful in depicting a general picture of the nature, goals and objectives of the Shari‘ah. Yet, for reasons that will presently be explained, legal maxims represent a latent development in the history of Islamic legal thought. A brief explanation of the background history of legal maxims will be followed by a discussion of developments in three other related areas. We will discuss briefly the dawabit (lit. controlling rules), which are abstractions of the rules of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) on specific themes. We will then move onto a discussion of the nazariyyah al-fiqhiyyah, or the general theories of fiqh, which attempt to embrace a wider scope. The final area of interest in this connection is the furuq, or the distinctions and contrasts, which may be said to be a comparative study of the similarities and differences of the legal maxims and the substantive themes with which they are concerned. Legal maxims (qawa‘id al-kulliyah al-fiqhiyyah) are theoretical abstractions, usually in the form of short epithetical statements, that are expressive, often in a few words, of the goals and objectives of the Shari‘ah. This is so much so that many ‘ulama (scholars) have treated them as a branch of the maqasid (goals and objectives)
literature. The legal maxims of fiqh are statements of principles that are derived from the detailed reading of the rules of fiqh on various themes. The fiqh has generally been developed by individual jurists in relation to particular themes and issues in the course of history and differs, in this sense, from modern statutory rules which are concise and devoid of detail. The detailed expositions of fiqh enabled the jurists, at a later stage of development, to reduce them into abstract statements of principles. Legal maxims represent, in many ways, the apex of cumulative progress, which could not have been expected to take place at the formative stages of the development of fiqh. The actual wordings of the maxims are occasionally taken from the Qur’an or Ahadith but are more often the work of leading jurists and mujtahids that have subsequently been refined by others throughout the ages. It has often been a matter of currency and usage that the wordings of certain maxims are taken to greater refinement and perfection. The science of legal maxims is different from the science of usul al-fiqh (methodology in Islamic jurisprudence)
in that the maxims are based on the fiqh itself. Usul al-fiqh is concerned with the methodology of legal reasoning and the rules of interpretation, the meaning and implication of commands and prohibitions, and so forth. A maxim is defined as “a general rule which applies to all of its related particulars”.

1. A legal maxim is reflective of a consolidated reading of the fiqh and it is in this sense different from what is known as ad-dabitah (a controller) which is somewhat limited in scope and controls the particulars of a single theme or chapter of fiqh. Dabitah is thus confined to individual topics such as cleanliness (taharah), maintenance (nafaqh), paternity and fosterage (arridaa’), and as such does not apply to other subjects. An example of a dabitah is the statement: “Marriage does not carry suspension”; and with reference to cleanliness: “When the water reaches two feet, it does not carry
dirt”.

2. An example of a legal maxim is the statement: “The affairs of the imam concerning his people are judged by reference to maslahah” (Amr al-Imami fi shu’un ar-ra iyyati manutun bil-maslahah). The theme here is more general without any specification of the affairs of the people or the activities of the imam. Having drawn a distinction between dabitah and qa‘idah, we note, however, that legal maxims also vary concerning the level of abstraction and the scope that they cover. Some legal maxims are of general application, whereas others might apply to a particular area of fiqh, such as ‘ibadah (worship), mu‘amalah (transactions), contracts, litigation and court proceedings. Some of the more specific maxims may qualify as a dabitah rather than as a maxim proper, as the distinction between them is not always clear and regularly observed. Ibn Juzay al-Maliki’s, Al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyyah has identified and discussed a large number of dawabit in relation to particular themes and chapters of fiqh.

The most comprehensive and broadly based of all maxims are known as “al-qawa‘id al-fiqhiyyah al-asliyyah”, or the normative legal maxims, and they apply to the entire range of fiqh without any specification. The madhahib are generally in agreement over them. Maxims such as “Harm must be eliminated” (Ad-dararu yuzal) and “Acts are judged by the intention behind them” (Al-umuru bi-maqasidiha) belong to this category of maxims.

The early ‘ulama have singled out about five of these to say that they grasp between them the essence of the Shari‘ah as a whole, and the rest are simply an elaboration of these. The other three of the normative legal maxims are:

- “Certainty is not overruled by doubt” (Al-yaqinu la yazulu bish-shakk).
- “Hardship begets facility” (Al-mashaqqatu tujlab at-taysir).
- “Custom is the basis of judgement” (Al-‘addatu muhakkamatun)

The first of these has been supplemented by a number of other maxims such as “The norm (of Shari‘ah) is that of non-liability” (Al-aslu baraa’ah ad-dhimmah). This is an equivalent to what is generally known as the presumption of innocence, although the maxim is perhaps more general. The primary expression implies that it
relates principally to criminal procedure, whereas the non-liability maxim extends to civil litigation and to religious matters generally. The normative state, or the state of certainty for that matter, is that people are not liable, unless it is proven that they are, and until this proof is forthcoming, to attribute guilt to anyone is treated as doubtful. Certainty can, in other words, only be overruled by certainty, not by doubt. Another supplementary maxim here is the norm that presumes the continued validity of the status quo ante, until we know there is a change. “The norm is that the status quo remains as it was before” (Al-aslu baqaa’u ma kaana ‘alama kaana) unless it is proven to have changed. An example of this is the wife’s right to maintenance that the Shari‘ah has determined; when she claims that her husband failed to maintain her, her claim will command credibility. For the norm here is her continued entitlement to maintenance for as long as she remains married to him. Similarly when one of the contracting parties claims that the contract was concluded under duress and the other denies this, this later claim will be upheld because the absence of duress is the normal state or status quo, which can only be rebutted by evidence.

3. According to yet another maxim, “The norm in regard to things is that of permissibility” (Al-aslu fil-ashyaa’ al-Ibahah). Permissibility in other words is the natural state and will therefore prevail until there is evidence to warrant a departure from that position. This maxim is based on a general reading of the relevant evidence in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Thus when we read in the Qur’an that God “has created all that is in the earth for your benefit” (2:29), and also the hadith that states: “whatever God has made halal is halal and whatever He has rendered as haram is haram, and all that over which He has remained silent is
forgiven”, the conclusion is drawn that we are allowed to utilise the resources of the earth for our benefit, and that unless something is specifically declared forbidden, it is presumed to be permissible. It is stated in the Mejelle that legal maxims are designed to facilitate a better understanding of the Shari‘ah and the judge may not base his judgement on them unless the maxim in question is derived from the Qur’an or Ahadith or supported by other evidence.

4. This is in contrast, however, with the view of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi who held that a judicial decision is reversible if it violates a generally accepted maxim.

5. The ‘ulama have generally considered the maxims of fiqh to be significantly conducive to ijtihad, and they may naturally be utilised by the mujtahid and judge as persuasive evidence. It is just that they are broad guidelines, whereas judicial orders need to be founded in specific evidence that is directly relevant to the subject of adjudication. Since most of the legal maxims are expounded in the form of generalised statements, they hardly apply in an exclusive sense and often admit exceptions and particularisation. Instances of this had often been noted by the jurists, especially in cases when a particular legal maxim had failed to apply to a situation that evidently fell within its ambit. They then attempted to formulate a subsidiary maxim to cover that particular case. Legal maxims were developed gradually and the history of their development in a general sense is parallel with
that of the fiqh itself. More specifically, however, these were developed mainly during the era of imitation (taqlid), as they are in the nature of extraction (takhrij) of guidelines from the detailed literature of fiqh that were contributed during the first three centuries of Islamic scholarship, known as the era of ijtihad.

6. Some of the most important of the maxims are basically a reiteration of either the Qur’an or the Ahadith. One of the five maxims noted above has been derived from the hadith that “harm may neither be inflicted nor reciprocated in Islam” (la darara wa la dirara fil-Islam). Some of the variant renderings of the maxim Ad-araru yuzal read as follows: “Harm must be eliminated but not by means of another harm” (Ad-dararu yuzalu wa lakin la bi-darar); and “Harm is not eliminated by another harm” (Ad-dararu la yuzalu bid-darar). The hadith under discussion has provided the basis of numerous other maxims on the subject of darar, including for example, “A specific harm is tolerated in order to prevent a more general one” (Yutahammal ad-darar al-khaas li-daf’al-darar al ‘aam), “Harm is eliminated to the extent that is possible”(Ad-dararu yudfa‘u bi-qadr al-imkaan) and “A greater harm is eliminated by means of a lesser harm” (Yuzal ad-darar al-ashaddu bid-darar al-akhaff).

7. A practical manifestation of the maxim “Harm must be eliminated” is the validation of the option of defect (khiyar al-‘ayb) in Islamic law, which is designed to protect the buyer against harm. Thus when A buys a car and then discovers that it is substantially defective, he has the option to revoke the contract. For there is a legal presumption under the Shari‘ah that the buyer concluded the contract on condition that the object of sale was not defective.
The hadith under discussion has also been used as a basic authority for a number of legal maxims on the subject of necessity (darurah), and I refer here to only two. The first of these proclaims: “Necessity makes the unlawful lawful”(Ad-daruratu tubiyh al-mahzurah). It is on this basis that the jurists validate demolition of an intervening house to prevent the spread of fire to adjacent buildings, just as they validate dumping of the cargo of an overloaded ship to prevent the danger (or darar) to the life of its passengers. The second maxim on necessity declares: “Necessity is measured in accordance with its true proportions” (Ad-daruratu tuqdaru bi-qadriha). Thus, if the court orders the sale of assets of a negligent debtor to pay his creditors, it must begin with the sale of his movable goods if this would suffice to clear the debt, before selling his real property.

8. The maxim “Hardship begets facility” is, in turn, a rewording of the Qur’anic verses that state: “God intends for you ease and He does not intend to put you in hardship” (2:185), and “God does not intend to inflict hardship on you” (5:6), purporting to a theme that also occurs in a number of ahadith. The jurists have used this evidence in support of the many concessions that are granted to the disabled and the sick in the sphere of religious duties as well as civil transactions. With reference to the option of stipulation (khiyaar ash-shart), for example, there is a hadith that validates such an option for three days, that is, if the buyer wishes to reserve for himself this amount of time before ratifying a sale. The jurists have then reasoned that this period may be extended to weeks or even months depending on the type of goods that are bought and the need of the buyer who may need a longer
period for investigation. The maxim “Acts are judged by the intention behind them” is also a rephrasing of the renowned hadith that states: “Acts are valued in accordance with their underlying intention” (Innama al-a‘maalu bin-niyyah). This is a comprehensive maxim that has implications that the ‘ulama have discussed in various areas, including devotional matters, commercial transactions and crimes. The element of intent often plays a crucial role in differentiating, for example, a murder from erroneous killing, theft from inculpable appropriation of property, and the figurative words that a husband may utter to conclude the occurrence or otherwise of a divorce. The maxim “Custom is the basis of judgement” is again based on a statement of the Companion, Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, that “what the Muslims deem to be good is good in the eyes of God”. The court is accordingly authorised to base its judgement on custom in matters that are not regulated by the text, provided that the custom at issue is current, predominant among people, and is not in conflict with the principles of the Shari‘ah. Several other subsidiary maxims have been derived from this, including the one that proclaims: “What is determined by custom is tantamount to a contractual stipulation” (Al-ma‘rufu ‘urfan kal-mashrutu shartan). Thus, when the contract does not regulate a matter that is otherwise regulated by custom, the customary rule would be presumed to apply. Similarly when someone rents a car, he should use it according to what is customary and familiar, a condition that is presumed to apply even if not stated in the contract. The maxim “Profit follows responsibility” (Al-kharaju bid-daman) is a direct rendering of a hadith in identical words. Thus, the yields of trees, animals, etc., belong to those who are responsible for their upkeep and maintenance. Suppose that A buys a machine which yields profit, where A then returns the machine to the seller, does A have to return the profit he made with that machine to the seller? By applying the legal maxim before us, we say that A may keep the profit as the machine was his responsibility during the interval just as he would have been responsible for its destruction and loss before returning it to the seller. The maxim “(A ruling of) Ijtihad is not reversed by its equivalent” (Al-ijtihadu la yunqadu bi-mithlih) has, in turn, been attributed to a statement of the Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab which is also upheld by the consensus of the Companions. Suppose that a judge has adjudicated a dispute on the basis of his own ijtihad, in the absence of a clear text to determine the issue, and then he retires. If another judge, whether of the same rank or at the appellate level, looks into the case and his ijtihad leads him to a different conclusion on the same issue, then provided that the initial decision does not violate any of the rules that govern the propriety of ijtihad, a mere difference of opinion on the part of the new judge, or a similar ijtihad that he might have attempted, does not affect the authority of the initial ijtihad. This is so because one ruling of ijtihad is not reversible by another ruling of ijtihad. Historically, the Hanafi jurists were the first to formulate legal maxims. An early Iraqi jurist, Sufyan ibn Tahir ad-Dabbas, collated the first seventeen maxims, and Abul Hassan al-Karkhi (d.340) increased this to thirty-nine. Some of the early maxims that were compiled include the following: “The norm is that the affairs of the Muslims are presumed to be upright and good unless the opposite emerges to be the case”. This means that acts, transactions and relations among people should not be given a negative interpretation that verges on suspicion and mistrust, unless there is evidence to suggest the opposite. Another maxim states: “Question and answer proceed on that which is widespread and common and not on what is unfamiliar and rare”. Again, if we were to interpret a speech and enquire into its implications, we should proceed on what would be commonly understood as opposed to what might be said to be a rare understanding and interpretation. We read in another maxim: “Prevention of evil takes priority over the attraction of benefit” (Dur’ al-masaalihi awla min jalb almanaafi‘). The earliest collections of maxims also included the five leading maxims that were discussed above.

9. One of the early collections was that of al-Karkhi, which was not very highly refined as it included statements that were expressive of an idea but not necessarily in the eloquent style that is typically associated with maxims.

10. Many scholars from various schools added to these over time and the total number of qawa‘id and dawabit eventually exceeded twelve hundred. After the Hanafis, the Shafi‘is, then the Hanbalis, and following them the Malikis - as az-Zarqa has noted - added their contributions to the literature on legal maxims. The leading Shafi‘i scholar, ‘Izz ad-Din ‘Abd as-Salam’s (d. 660H), Qawa‘id al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam is noted as one of the salient contributions to this field, as is ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rajab al-Hanbali’s (d.795) work Al-Qawa‘id. Both have been highly acclaimed. Yet in terms of conciseness and style, the Mejelle collection, written
in the 1870s, represents the most advanced stage in the compilation of legal maxims.

11. The development of this branch of fiqh is in many ways related to the general awareness of the ‘ulama that the fiqh literature is of a piecemeal and fragmented style, which, somewhat like Roman juristic writings, is on the whole issue-oriented and short of theoretical exposition of the governing principles. This is, in turn, attributed to the history of the development of fiqh, where private jurists made their contributions independent of any government and institutions that might have exerted an unifying influence. They often wrote in response to issues as and when encountered, and we consequently note that theoretical abstraction was not a well-developed feature of their work. The legal maxims filled that gap to some extent and provided a set of general guidelines for an otherwise diverse discipline that combined an impressive variety of schools and influences into its fold. Islamic jurisprudence is also textualist, in that it is guided by the textual injunctions of the Qur’an and Sunnah. In developing the law, the jurists have shown a tendency to confine the range of their expectations to the given terms of the text. Theoretical generalisations of ideas were viewed with caution vis-à-vis the overriding authority
of the text and attention was focused on the correct interpretation of the text rather than developing general theories.

Questions are being asked to this day whether Islamic law has a constitutional theory, a theory of contract, or a theory of ownership. It is only in recent times that Muslim scholars began to write concise and self-contained expositions of the law in these areas, as I shall presently explain. A genre of literature known as al-ashbah wan-naza’ir (similitude and resemblance), that was devoted to legal maxims, emerged in the writings of the ‘ulama well after the formation of the madhahib. The term evidently originated in the famous letter of the Caliph ‘Umar al-Khattab, addressed to a judge, Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari of Basrah, in which he was instructed to “ascertain similitudes and resemblances and adduce matters analogous in giving judgement”. Later, Taj ad-Din as-Subki, who wrote a most important work on legal maxims, chose the term ‘al-ashbah wan-naza’ir’ as the title of his book. Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti (d.911) and Zayn al-‘Abidin Ibn Nujayam al-Hanafi (d.972) also wrote works that closely resemble one another, both bearing the title Al-Ashbah wan-Naza’ir. They relied mainly on as-Subki’s writings, with certain modifications that were reflective, perhaps, of their respective scholastic orientations. As-Suyuti often identified the source evidence from which maxims were derived and added illustrations and analysis. Some of the leading maxims that As-Suyuti recorded were:
“Private authority is stronger than public authority” (Al-wilayah al-khaasah aqwa min al-wilaayah al-‘aammah), which means that the authority, for example, of the parent and guardian over the child, is stronger than that of the ruler and the judge; “No speech is attributed to one who has remained silent” (La yunsabu lis-saakiti qawl); and “The attachment follows the principal” (At-taabi‘u taabi‘), which obviously means, in reference to, for example, contracts and transactions, that things that belong to one another may not be separated. Thus, for example, one should not sell a yet-to-be-born animal separately from it’s mother, or a living room separate from the house.

Ibn Nujaym divided the legal maxims into two normative categories: leading maxims and subsidiary maxims. He only placed six under the former and seventeen under the latter, but discussed a number of others in his detailed elaboration and analysis. The sixth leading maxim of Ibn Nujaym, that he added to the familiar five, as noted above, states: “No spiritual reward accrues without intention” (La thawaaba illa bin-niyyah), which is why the ritual prayer, and most other acts of devotion, are preceded by a statement of intention (niyyah). The twelfth century author, Abu Sa‘id al-Khadimi compiled 154 maxims in his work entitled Majma‘ al-Haqaa’iq.

12. Despite the general tendency in legal maxims to be inter-scholastic, jurists and schools are not unanimous on all of the maxims and there are some on which the madhahib have disagreed.

13 The difference between the schools in this area is, however, not very wide. The Ja‘fari School of the Shi‘ah have their own collections of legal maxims, but apart from some differences in style, the thematic arrangement in their collections closely
resembles those of their Sunni counterparts. The first Shi‘i work on maxims was that of ‘Allamah al-Hilli (d.726H) entitled Al-Qawa‘id, followed by ash-Shahid al-Awwal Jamal al-Din al-‘Amili's (d. 786) Al-Qawa‘id wal-Fawa’id that contained over three hundred maxims, and many more works that elaborated and enhanced the earlier ones. The more recent work of Muhammad al-Husayn Kashif al-Ghita’, bearing the title Tahrir al-Mujalla, is an abridgement and commentary of the first ninety-nine articles of the Ottoman Mejelle. He selected fortyfive as being the most important in the range, and the rest he found to be overlapping and convergent or obscure, but he added eighty-two others to make up a total of one hundred and twenty-seven maxims of current application and relevance, especially to transactions and contracts. However, al-Ghita’ went on to say that “if we were to recount all the maxims that are referred to in the various chapters of fiqh, we can add up to five hundred more”.

14. Two other related developments that are of interest have taken two different directions. One of these is the furuq literature, which as the word indicates, highlights differences between similar concepts or those that have an aspect in common. The attempt to highlight the differences also extended to the maxims themselves, in that the furuq literature specified the differences between some of the maxims that resembled one another but could be subtly distinguished in some respect. The Maliki jurist Shihab ad-Din al-Qarafi’s Kitab al-Furuq (in four volumes) discusses five hundred and forty-eight maxims, and two hundred and seventy-four distinctions and differences (furuq) between similar themes and ideas. Occasionally the word qa‘idah is used in reference to what is a dabitah or even a specific ruling of fiqh. Examples of the furuq include the distinctions between hire (ijara’) and sale, between custody (hadanah) and guardianship (wilayah), between testimony (shahadah) and narration (riwayah), and between verbal custom (al-‘urf al-qawali) and actual custom (al-‘urf al-fi‘li). These are often expressed in rule-like statements that generally resemble dabitah in their application to specific themes only, but are named al-furuq as they usually compare similar themes and highlight the differences between them. Al-Qarafi’s approach represented a new development in the qawa‘id literature. He also discussed legal maxims in his other works, narnely, Ad-Dhakhirah and (more specifically) Al-Ihkamu fi Tamyiz al-Fatawa ‘anil-Ahkam. The title itself is, it may be noted, a furuq oriented title referring to differences between fatawa and judicial decisions.15 Ibn ash-Shat Qasim bin ‘Abd Allah al-Ansari’s (d.723) work, Idrar ash-Shuruq ‘ala Anwar al-Furuq is also a work on furuq, and smaller works of a similar kind were also written by some Shafi‘i scholars.

16. The next development that may briefly be explained is relatively recent and appears in the modern writings of fiqh under the general designation of an-azariyyah al-fiqhiyyah, or legal theories of fiqh. Nazariyyah in this context implies a self-contained and comprehensive treatment of an important area of law, such as nazariyyah al-‘aqd (theory of contract), nazariyyah al-milkiyyah (theory of ownership), nazariyyah ad-darurah (theory of necessity) and so forth. This level of theoretical development marks a departure from the earlier style of juristic writing in fiqh literature where topics are poorly classified and themes pertaining to a particular area are scattered in different places. The nazariyyah literature seeks to overcome that and offers systematic treatment of its subject matter that aims to be self-contained and convenient to use.

The nazariyyah literature draws upon the combined resources of fiqh in all areas, including the qawa‘id, the dawabit and the furuq. Yet the nazariyyah are usually not expected to reproduce the detailed formulation of these related branches, as theory oriented works generally seek to be concise, clear of repetition and unnecessary detail. The nazariyyah also incorporate new methods of research and writing, which are more effective and less time-consuming.

The nazariyyah literature is not merely confined to improved methods and forms of writing but often seeks to advance some of the substantive aspects of the fiqh doctrines. With regard to the law of contract for example, ‘Abd ar-Razzaq as-Sanhuri has observed that the fiqh literature in this area is focused on the detailed exposition of a number of nominate contracts and treats each contract separately. The Hanafi jurist, al-Kasani, has thus dealt with nineteen nominate contracts, many of which have aspects in common and, of course, they also differ in other respects. A perusal of the relevant literature on fiqh contracts, As-Sanhuri notes, leaves the reader askance as to: (a) whether these could all be consolidated in order to highlight the features they all have in common; (b) whether the fiqh validates contracts other than these; and (c) whether the fiqh recognises the basic freedom of contract, merely on the basis of an agreement that does not violate morality and public interest?

17. Questions of this nature are likely to receive a better response from the nazariyyah literature, which is better consolidated and expressive of the common aspects of contracts. The nazariyyah literature is not entirely without precedent in the world of fiqh. With reference to the theory of contract, for example, we may note that significant progress had been made by the Hanbali ‘ulama, Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728H) and his disciple, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, whose contributions are widely acknowledged. Ibn Taymiyyah effectively departed from the earlier strictures over the nominate contracts and advanced a convincing discourse, through his own reading of the source evidence, that contracts need not be confined to a particular prototype or number. The essence of all contracts is manifested in the agreement of the contracting parties, who may create new contracts, within or outside the ones that are already known, provided that they serve to realise a lawful benefit and do not violate public policy and morals. It may be noted, however, that Ibn Taymiyyah’s contribution to the theory of contract represented a rather latent development and a
departure in many ways from the majority position on this theme. This is why As-Sanhuri’s critique may still be considered relevant. Considerable progress has also been made, in the sphere of nazariyyah literature, not only in As-Sanhuri’s own writings, but by numerous other scholars, both Arab and non-Arab, who have written widely on contracts and other major themes of fiqh.

We also note in this context, the emergence of the encyclopaedias of fiqh in the latter part of the twentieth century. This marks a milestone of development and succeeds in producing consolidated and reliable works of reference on fiqh, and these efforts are still continuing. Yet, as a distinctive genre of fiqh literature, legal maxims are likely to remain an influential area of the legacy of fiqh. This is perhaps borne out by the fact that the Turkish ‘ulama who drafted the Ottoman Mejelle articles in 1850, decided to begin their impressive and, in many ways, original work on the Islamic law of transactions with a collection of the most important of these maxims.

Mohammad Hashim Kamali is Professor of Law at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. He is author of numerous articles published in learned journals and many works, including Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, Punishment in Islamic Law and Freedom of Expression in Islam.

References

1 Cf. Mahmassani, Subhi, Falasafat at-Tashri‘ fil-Islam: The Philosophy of Jurisprudence in Islam, Eng. Trans. Farhat I. Ziadeh, E.J. Brill, Lieden 1961, p. 151; Az-Zarqa’, Shaykh Muhammad, Sharh al-Qawa‘id al-Fiqhiyyah, 3rd ed., Dar al-Qalam, Damascus 1414/1993, p. 33.

2 Cf. As-Sabuni, ‘Abd ar-Rahman, et al, Al-Madkhal al-Fiqhi wa Tarik at-Tashri’ al-Islami, Maktabah Wahbah, Cairo 1402/1982, p. 389.

3 Ibid., p. 407.

4 Cf. Mahmassani, ibid, p. 152; Az-Zarqa’, ibid, p. 34.

5 Al-Qarafi, Shihab ad-Din, Kitab al-Furuq, Matha’ah Dar al-Ihya al-Kutub al-‘Arabiyyah, Cairo 1346H, Vol. IV, p. 40; see also ‘Atiyyah, Jamal ad-Din, At-Tanzir al-Fiqhi, Doha 1407/1987, p. 208.

6 Cf. As-Sabuni, ibid., p. 398.

7 Ibid., p. 380.

8 Ibid., p. 400.

9 Cf. ‘Attiyah, ibid., p. 81; As-Sabuni, ibid., p. 387

10 See for details Az-Zarqa’, ibid., pp. 38-39.

11 Ibid., p. 43.

12 Cf. Az-Zarqa’, ibid., pp. 39-40.

13 Cf. Abu Sulayman, ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “An-Nazariyyah wal-Qawa‘id fil-Fiqh al-Islami” in Mujallah Jamai‘ah al-Malik ‘Abdal-‘Aziz, No.2, May 1978, p. 53.
The Association of Muslim Lawyers

14 Kashif al-Ghita’, Muhammad al-Hussain, Tahrir al-Mujallah, p. 63; ‘Attiyah, ibid., p. 75; As-Sabuni, ibid., p. 395.

15 Cf. Az-Zarqa’, ibid., pp. 42-43; As-Sabuni, ibid., p. 393.

16 See for further details ‘Attiyah, ibid., pp. 131-132.

17 As-Sanhuri, ‘Abd ar-Razzaq, Masadir al-Haqq fil-Fiqh al-Islami, Ma‘had al-Buhuth wad-Dirasah al-‘Arabivyah, Cairo 1967, Vol. I, p. 78; see also As-Sabuni, ibid., p. 380.

The Treaty of Hudaybiyah

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Six years had passed since the emigration of the Prophet and his companions from Makkah to Madinah. During that time, they were constantly occupied with war and conflict, now with the Quraysh, now with the Jews. All along, Islam was gaining converts as well as power. From the first year of the Hijrah, Muhammad changed his orientation in prayer from al Aqsa Mosque to the Mosque of Makkah. The Muslims turned toward the house of God which Ibrahim had built in Makkah and which was renewed and reconstructed during Muhammad's youth. The reader will remember that it was Muhammad who lifted and placed the Black Stone in its position in the wall of that house, long before he could have ever thought that he was to become the recipient of a revelation from God on High.

Proscription of the Sanctuary to Muslim Entry

For hundreds of years, this Mosque had been the center toward which the Arabs turned in their worship and to which they went in pilgrimage during the holy month of every year. Everybody entering the area of the Mosque was to be safe and secure. The most hostile enemies met on its grounds without anyone ever drawing his sword or shedding the blood of his enemy. Ever since Muhammad had emigrated with the Muslims to Madinah, the Quraysh resolved to prevent them from entering the Mosque. This prohibition applied only to the Muslims among all the Arabs of the Peninsula. To this effect, God said in the Qur'anic verses revealed during the first year of the Hijrah



"They challenge you regarding the sacred month, that there should be no fighting whatsoever during its whole course. Answer, that fighting in the holy month is a great transgression. But to hinder men in their pursuit of God's path, to be blasphemous to Him and to the Holy Mosque, to force the worshippers out of the Mosque-all these are greater transgressions in the eye of God."[Qur'an, 2:217]

Likewise, the following verse was revealed after the Battle of Badr : "And why should they not be punished by God when they prevent men from entering the Holy Mosque for worship? Surely, they are not its guardians. The guardians of the Holy Mosque are only the pious and righteous. But most of them are utterly ignorant. As for their worship in the House of God, it is nothing but whistling and clapping and garbling. They should then be punished for their ungodliness. The unbelievers spend of their wealth for the purpose of hindering men from the path of God. Their expenditure is wasted and will bring about their own ruin. For it is to Hell that they shall finally be assigned [Qur'an, 8:34-36]. During these six years many other verses were revealed centering on the Mosque of Makkah which God had declared to be a place of repentance and of security for mankind. But the Quraysh never saw in Muhammad and his companions who turned their backs on the idols of that house-namely, Hubal, Isaf, Na'ilah and the others-anything but men who ought to be fought and combatted and denied the privilege of pilgrimage to the Ka'bah until they repented and returned to the gods of their ancestors.

Muslim Yearning for Makkah

During the whole time the Muslims were kept from fulfilling their religious duty, they suffered deeply. The Muhajirun especially felt this privation more strongly as it was combined with banishment from their own hometown and people. All the Muslims, however, were convinced that God would soon give victory to His Prophet and to them and would raise Islam high above all other religions. They firmly believed that the day would soon come when God would unlock for them the gates of Makkah that they might perform their pilgrimage to the ancient house and thus fulfill the duty which God had imposed upon all men. If so far the years had passed one after another with frequent campaigns and battles, beginning with Badr, Uhud, the Ditch and others, so too the day of victory which they believed to be necessary must soon come. How strong was their longing for this day! And how intensely did Muhammad himself share their very faith in the proximity of that day of victory!

The Arabs and the Ka'bah

The truth is that the Quraysh had done a great injustice to Muhammad and his companions by forbidding them to `visit the Ka'bah and to perform the duties of pilgrimage and 'umrah. [Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Makkah at a time other than that prescribed for it by custom and the Qur'an. -Tr.] The ancient sanctuary of Makkah was not a property of the Quraysh but of all the Arabs together. The Quraysh enjoyed only the services attached to the Ka'bah such as the sidanah, siqayah, and other functions pertinent to the sanctuary or to the care for its visitors. The fact that one tribe worshiped one idol rather than another never permitted the Quraysh to forbid any tribe from visiting the Ka'bah, from circumambulating it, or from filling any religious duties or acts of worship demanded by the tribe's loyalty to that god. If Muhammad came to call men to repudiate idol worship, to purify themselves from paganism and associationism, to raise themselves to the worship of God alone, devoid of associates, to conduct themselves for the sake of God in a manner free of all moral flaws, to elevate their spirit to consciousness of the unity of being and the unity of God, and if the new faith imposed on its adherents the duty of pilgrimage and 'umrah to the sanctuary of Makkah, it would be sheer aggression and injustice to prevent the followers of that faith from fulfilling their religious duty. The Quraysh, however, feared that were Muhammad and his Makkan companions to visit Makkah, they might persuade the majority to follow them, especially since they were related to the Makkans with bonds of blood and family and had been separated from them long enough to arouse in them the strongest longing. Such a development would start a civil war in Makkah which the Quraysh wanted to avoid. Moreover, Makkan leaders and noblemen had not forgotten that Muhammad and his companions had destroyed their faith, cut off their trade route to al Sham, and antagonized them so deeply that no common loyalty to the sanctuary and no common feeling that it belonged to God and to all the Arabs could compose their differences. The Quraysh could not be convinced that their relationship to the house was merely one of taking care of it and of its visitors.

The Muslims and the Ka'bah

Six whole years had passed since the Hijrah, during which the Muslims longed to visit the Ka'bah and perform the pilgrimage and `umrah. One day, while they congregated in the mosque in the morning, the Prophet informed them of a vision he had seen that they should enter the holy sanctuary of Makkah secure, shaven, and unarmed, and without fear for their safety. As soon as the Muslims heard of the news, they praised God for His grace and spread the tidings all over Madinah. No one, however, could imagine how this was going to be accomplished. Would they fight and enter Makkah after battle? Would they force the evacuation of Quraysh and pull down its guardianship of the Ka'bah? Or would Quraysh open the road to them in humiliation and acquiescence?

Muhammad's Proclamation Concerning Pilgrimage

No! There was to be neither war nor fighting. Muhammad proclaimed to the people that pilgrimage to Makkah would take place in the holy month of Dhu al Qi'dah. He had sent his messengers to the tribes, whether Muslim or otherwise, inviting them to participate with the Muslims in a visit to the sanctuary of God in security and peace. Apparently, he sought to make the group performing the pilgrimage the largest possible. His objective was to let the whole Peninsula know that this expedition of his during the holy month was intended purely for pilgrimage and not for conquest, as well as to proclaim the fact that Islam had imposed pilgrimage to Makkah just as preIslamic Arab religion had done and, finally, that he had actually invited even the Arabs who were not Muslims to join in the performance of this sacred duty. If, despite all this, the Quraysh insisted on fighting him during the holy month and preventing him from the performance of a duty commonly held by all Arabs regardless of their personal faith, the Quraysh would surely find themselves isolated and condemned by all. In that eventuality, the Quraysh would find the Arabs unwilling to help them in fighting the Muslims. In the eyes of all the tribes, the Quraysh would have indicted themselves. They would have to appear as stopping men from visiting the sanctuary, as combating the religion of Isma'il and of his father, Ibrahim. By this means, the Muslims would guarantee that the Arab tribes would not rally against them under Makkan leadership as they did hitherto in the campaign of the Ditch, and their religion would itself gain some credit among the tribes who had not yet been converted to it. What would the Quraysh say to a people who came to their doors armless except for their undrawn swords, and in a state of ritualistic purity, accompanied by the cattle which they planned to sacrifice near the Ka'bah and whose every care was simply to circumambulate the House, the duty common to all the tribes of the Peninsula?

Muhammad publicly proclaimed that the pilgrimage had started and asked the tribes, including the non-Muslim, to accompany him on that holy mission. Some of the tribes rejected his invitation and others accepted. His procession set forth on the first of Dhu al Qi'dah, one of the holy months; and it included al Muhajirun, al Ansar, and a number of other tribes. He led the procession riding on his she-camel, al Qaswa'. Their total number was about one thousand four hundred men. They took with them seventy camels and donned the garb demanded by the ritual of `umrah that the people might know that this was no military campaign but a pilgrimage to the holy sanctuary and a fulfillment of religious duty. When he reached Dhu al Hulayfah, the pilgrims shaved their heads, purified themselves as the ritual demanded, and isolated their sacrificial cattle by placing them to their left. The sacrificial cattle included the camels of Abu Jahl which were seized in the Battle of Badr. No man in the whole group carried any arms except the undrawn sword usually worn by all travelers. Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet, accompanied him on this trip.

Quraysh and Muslim Pilgrimage

When the Quraysh learned that Muhammad and his companions were approaching Makkah for purposes of pilgrimage, they were filled with fear and pondered whether or not Muhammad was now playing a war game against them in order to enter Makkah after they and their allies had failed to enter Madinah. Their fear was not dissipated when they learned that the pilgrims had actually donned the ritual garb demanded by 'umrah, nor by Muslim proclamation across the Peninsula that they were coming solely to fulfill a religious duty approved and accepted by all the Arabs. None of this prevented them from resolving to stop Muhammad from entering Makkah at whatever cost. Quickly, they mobilized an army, including a cavalry force of two hundred. They gave the command to Khalid ibn al Walid and 'Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl. This army advanced to Dhu Tuwa and took up position to prevent the Muslims' religious march to Makkah.

Encounter

Muhammad and the Muslims continued their march. At 'Usfan, they met a tribesman of Banu Ka'b whom the Prophet questioned regarding the Quraysh. The man answered: "They heard about your march; so they marched too. But they wore their tiger skins, their traditional war apparel, pledging that they will never let you enter Makkah. Their general, Khalid ibn al Walid, set up camp for his cavalry at Kara' al Ghamim." Upon learning this, Muhammad said: "Woe to Quraysh ! Their hostility is undoing them. Why should they object to letting me settle this affair with all the tribes without intervention? If the Arab tribes destroy me, that will be the realization of their objective. If, on the other hand, God gives me victory, then they can enter into Islam with dignity; and if they resist, they can then fight with good cause. What does the Quraysh think? By God, I shall continue to serve that for which God has commissioned me until the divine message has become supreme or I lose my neck in the process." Pondering over the issue, he thought that, whereas he did not come thither as a conquerer but as a Muslim pilgrim seeking the sanctuary as a religious duty, he might be compelled to fight and perhaps lose unless he should take the precaution of arming his people. Should he lose in such an engagement, the Quraysh would parade their victory throughout the Peninsula and thus deal a tragic blow to the Muslim position. Indeed, it is perhaps for that reason that the Quraysh delegated the command of their army to Khalid ibn al Walid and 'Ikrimah, their most illustrious generals, that they might attain this very objective, knowing that Muhammad was not prepared to fight on this occasion.

Muhammad's Caution to Safeguard the Peace

While Muhammad pondered these issues, Makkan cavalry was looming on the horizon. The presence of the enemy prepared for war showed the Muslims that it was impossible for them to reach their objective without going through these lines and engaging in a battle in which the Quraysh had come prepared to repulse the threat to their dignity, honor, and homeland. Such would have been a battle undesired and uncalled for by Muhammad and forced upon him. The Muslims were not afraid of battle. With the high morale they enjoyed, their swords alone would be sufficient to stop this new aggression of the Makkans. But if they did fight the Makkans, the peaceful purpose of the whole affair would not be realized. On the contrary, the Quraysh would use such fighting as proof of Muhammad's guilt before the tribes. Muhammad was too farsighted to allow such a course to be followed. He therefore asked his party to find someone who could show them a road to Makkah other than the main one which was blocked by the Quraysh. Apparently, he was still of the same mind as before he started out from Madinah. A man was found to lead the procession by a different route which was yet more desolate and full of hardships. That road led them to a valley at the end of which a turn by al Murar brought them to the locality of al Hudaybiyah, south of Makkah. When the Quraysh discovered the movement of Muhammad and his companions, they returned quickly to Makkah in order to defend it against what they thought to be a Muslim invasion from the south. Upon arrival at the plain of al Hudaybiyah, al Qaswa', she-camel of the Prophet, stopped. The Muslims thought the she-camel was exhausted; but the Prophet explained that it was stopped by the same power which stopped the elephant from entering Makkah. He continued, "If only the Quraysh would ask us for guarantees of Muslim intentions based upon our blood relationship to them, we should be happy to give them the same." He then called upon the Muslims to encamp. When they complained that the place was waterless, he sent a man with a stick to one of the wells of the area and asked him to verify the existence of water. When the man plunged his stick into the bottom of the well, water sprang up; the people felt reassured, and they put up camp.

Quraysh's Delegates to the Muslims

The Muslims encamped and the Quraysh observed their moves. The Makkans had resolved to prevent the Muslims by force from entering their city. To them, this was a clear and final commitment. The Muslims, on the other hand, did not know whether or not they were heading for an all-out war with the Quraysh which would decide the matter between them once and for all. Undoubtedly, some people on both sides preferred a settlement by the sword. The Muslims who approved of this course thought their victory would bring about a final destruction of the Quraysh. The Quraysh's reputation throughout the Peninsula as well as their sidanah and Siqayah functions in pilgrimage-indeed, their pride and religious distinction-would be eliminated. The two camps were poised seeking an answer. Muhammad did not change his original plan to perform the `umrah in peace and to avoid war unless attacked. In case of attack, there would be no escape from recourse to the sword. As for the Quraysh, while hesitant, they decided to send some delegates to the Muslim camp, partly to reconnoiter Muslim strength and partly to dissuade Muhammad from executing his plan. For this purpose, Budayl ibn Warqa' arrived at the Muslim camp, together with some tribesmen from Khuza`ah. Inquiry into Muhammad's objectives convinced them that he did not come to fight but to honor the sanctuary and pay to it the homage due. The delegation returned to the Quraysh and counseled that the Muslims be permitted to fulfill their religious wish. The Quraysh, however, remained unconvinced. Indeed, they accused their own delegates of conniving with Muhammad. They argued that even though Muhammad might not have come to make war, he should not be allowed to enter Makkah against their will and with such preponderant numbers. Otherwise, the Quraysh would become the mockery of Arabia. In order to make sure that their first delegates told them the truth, the Quraysh sent another delegation which returned with exactly the same reports, which the Quraysh now believed. The Quraysh were depending for their war against Muhammad upon their Ahabish allies. [A group of strong bowmen from Arabia-i.e. Abyssinians-so called for their dark complexion. Another possible explanation for their name is that it refers to Hubshi, a mountain south of Makkah.] They thought of sending the Ahabish leader to talk to Muhammad with the hope that the two leaders would misunderstand each other and the Quraysh ally would become increasingly committed to fight on Makkah's side against Muhammad. A1 Hulays, as the leader of the Ahabish was called, went to the Muslim camp to see for himself. When the Prophet saw him arriving, he ordered the sacrificial cattle paraded in front of him as material proof of Muslim intention to perform the pilgrimage and to honor the sanctuary. A1 Hulays saw the seventy sacrificial camels shaved and readied for sacrifice and was moved by the view of this display of Arab religiosity. He soon became convinced that the Quraysh were doing an injustice to those people who had come neither for war nor for hostility. Without bothering to meet Muhammad and converse with him, he returned to Makkah and told the Quraysh of his opinion. Full of resentment, the Quraysh slighted al Hulays as a Bedouin and neglected his advice as that of one uninstructed. Al Hulays was naturally angered, and he threatened them that he had not allied himself with them in order to stop pilgrims from performing their religious duties. He even threatened that unless they allowed Muhammad and his party into the sanctuary, he would remove himself and his tribe from Makkah. The Quraysh feared the consequences of such a move and begged him to give them time to reconsider.

The Delegation of `Urwah ibn Mas'ud al Thaqafi

The Quraysh then thought of sending somebody whom they could trust and whose judgment stood beyond suspicion. They approached `Urwah ibn Mas'ud al Thaqafi and apologized to him for having slighted the delegate whom they had sent before him to negotiate with Muhammad. When they assured him of their respect and pledged their compliance with his advice, he agreed to meet with Muhammad. He proposed to the latter that since Makkah was his own hometown whose honor it was his duty to safeguard, it would be opprobrious for him to prefer the commonplace people he brought with him to the noblemen of Quraysh who were none other than his own people. `Urwah stressed the point that such opprobrium would attach to Muhammad as well as to the Quraysh even though the two had been at war with each other. On hearing this, Abu Bakr objected loudly to `Urwah's request that the Prophet of God separate himself from the people. While talking to Muhammad, `Urwah touched Muhammad's beard in supplication, and al Mughirah ibn Shu'bah, standing on the side of the Prophet, struck the hand of `Urwah every time it was stretched toward Muhammad's beard despite the fact that `Urwah had ransomed al Mughirah by paying the bloodwit of the thirteen men whom all Mughirah had killed prior to his conversion to Islam. Accordingly, `Urwah returned to Makkah after convincing himself that Muhammad had not come to wage war but to honor the holy sanctuary in fulfillment of a divine imperative. Upon return to the Quraysh, he said to them: "O Men of Quraysh, I have visited Chosroes, Caesar, and the Negus in their respective courts. By God, I have never seen a king attaching himself to his people as Muhammad does. His companions love him and honor him and revere him so much that they carefully lift every hair that falls off his body, and they save the water with which he performs his ablutions. They will never allow any hand to fall on him. Judge then accordingly."

Muhammad's Delegation to Quraysh

In this way, negotiations between Muhammad and the Quraysh lasted a long time. Muhammad wondered whether or not the delegates of Quraysh had enough courage and initiative to convince the Quraysh with the facts which they had noted. He therefore sent a delegate from his own camp to inform the Quraysh of the Muslim view. The Makkans slew the camel of Muhammad's delegate and were about to kill him when the Ahabish intervened and let him go free. This conduct of the Makkans only confirmed their hostile spirit and, consequently, the Muslims began to lose patience and think of fighting their way through. While still considering what to do, some plebeians from Makkah went out under the cover of night to throw stones at the tents of the Muslims. The latter sent out forty or fifty men who encircled the attackers, captured them and brought them to the Prophet for judgment. To the surprise of everyone, Muhammad forgave the attackers and allowed them to go free in accordance with his general plan for peace and in deference to the holy month in which no blood was to be shed in al Hudaybiyah, an area falling within the holy ground of Makkah. The Quraysh for their part were stupefied by this conduct of Muhammad and lost every argument they had that Muhammad wanted war. It had become absolutely certain that any attack on the part of the Quraysh against Muhammad would be regarded by all Arabs as a sneaking, treacherous act of aggression which Muhammad would be perfectly entitled to repel with all power at his disposal.

The Prophet of God-May God's blessing be upon him-tested the patience of the Quraysh once more by sending a delegate from his camp to negotiate with them. He called 'Umar ibn al Khattab for the job of conveying his message to the noblemen of Quraysh. 'Umar, however, pleaded with the Prophet of God that since none of his people, the Banu 'Adiyy ibn Ka'b, were left in Quraysh, he would be unprotected prey for them to pounce upon in revenge for his many offenses against them. He counselled the Prophet to send another man, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, who was far more protected among the Quraysh than he. The Prophet called 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, his son-in-law, and sent him to Abu Sufyan and the noblemen of Quraysh. 'Uthman proceeded to Makkah, and on its outskirts was met by Aban ibn Said who extended to him his protection for the duration of time that it would take him to convey his message. 'Uthman approached the noblemen of Quraysh and handed over the Prophet's message. They suggested to him that he might circumambulate the sanctuary if he wished. But he declined, saying, "I shall never do so until the Prophet of God had done so himself." He continued to insist that the Muslims had come to Makkah simply in order to visit the holy shrine and to glorify it and to perform the religious duty of pilgrimage. He pointed out that the Muslims had brought with them their sacrificial animals and pleaded that if they were allowed to sacrifice them, they would return in peace. The Quraysh pleaded that they had already sworn defiantly that Muhammad would not be allowed to enter Makkah this year. The negotiations lasted a long time during which 'Uthman was forced to stay in Makkah. Soon the Muslims began to suspect that he had been treacherously put to death. Perhaps during this time the noblemen of Quraysh were busy conversing with 'Uthman in an attempt to find a common form in which their pledge not to allow Muhammad to enter Makkah this year, and the Muslim's desire to visit the Holy House and to fulfill their religious duty, could be composed. Perhaps, too, they appreciated 'Uthman's frankness and sincerity and were seriously engaged in discussing with him how best to reorganize the relations with Muhammad in the future.

The Covenant of al Ridwan

Whatever the reason, 'Uthman's failure to return quickly caused the Muslims at Hudaybiyah no little anxiety. They began to give vent to their imagination by picturing the Quraysh treacherously attacking them in the holy month despite the sanctity of the occasion and of the purpose for which they came. They feared that the Quraysh would violate the religious conscience of all Arabia with impudence, even within the holy sanctuary or on the holy grounds of Makkah. With tension rising in the Muslim camp, and everybody reaching for his sword, Muhammad assured them that he would not allow them to return without challenging their enemies. He called his companions to him under a large tree in the middle of that valley, and there they covenanted with him to fight to the last man. Their faith was certain, their conviction was strong, and their will was determined to avenge the blood of `Uthman whom they thought the Quraysh had murdered in Makkah. This covenant was called the Covenant of al Ridwan ; and in its regard, the following verse was revealed: "God is pleased with the believers who have covenanted with you under the tree. God knows what is in their hearts and, therefore, He has granted them His peace and will soon give them great victory. [Qur'an, 48:18], When the Muslims concluded their covenant, Muhammad-May God's peace and blessing be upon him-pledged the same covenant on behalf of `Uthman, and the latter was regarded as if he were present. Thereupon, swords shook in their scabbards and the Muslims realized that war was now inevitable. Everybody looked forward to the day of victory or martyrdom with a mind convinced and satisfied, and a heart reassured and at peace. While in this state, the news reached them that `Uthman had not been murdered, and soon the man himself returned safe and sound. The Covenant of al Ridwan, however, like the great Covenant of al `Aqabah, remained a great landmark in Muslim history. Muhammad was particularly pleased with this covenant for the evidence it furnished of the strength of the bonds which tied him and his companions together, and for the readiness of the Muslims to face the greatest dangers without fear. For whoever is willing to face death will find that death itself shies away from him, life itself surrenders to him, and victory is always his own to reach.

The Quraysh's Response

Upon return, `Uthman conveyed to Muhammad the message of the Quraysh. They entertained no more doubt that the Muslims had come to Makkah for anything but the religious purpose of pilgrimage to the Holy House, and they realized that they had no right to prevent any Arab from performing his pilgrimage or `umrah during the holy month. Nonetheless, they had mobilized their army under the leadership of Khalid ibn al Walid to prevent Muhammad and his companions from entering Makkah, and some skirmishes had taken place between the two parties. After all this had happened, to let Muhammad enter Makkah would allow the tribes to conclude that the Quraysh had been defeated and, as a result, their position in the Peninsula would suffer greatly. Therefore, the Quraysh argued, they must insist on maintaining this decision of theirs in order to preserve their reputation and prestige. They invited Muhammad to think out with them both his and their position that together they might find an outlet from this difficulty. By themselves they saw no escape from a war which they would have to wage whether they wanted to or not. Rather, they wished they might not have to fight during the holy months because of their religious sanctity and out of fear that should those months be violated, then the tribes would never feel secure that they would not be violated again in the future. The result of a present conflict would be that the security of passage to Makkah and to its market, of the religious rites and of the prosperity of the Makkans and Arabs alike would all go aground.

Negotiations

Another round of negotiations between the two parties followed. The Quraysh sent Suhayl ibn `Amr to reconcile Muhammad and to ask him to return for the same purpose the following year. They argued that in such an arrangement the tribes would not claim that Muhammad had entered Makkah in defiance of the Quraysh. Suhayl began his negotiations with the Prophet, and these lasted a long time during which they were interrupted and resumed again by both parties, anxious as they were for the negotiations to succeed. In the Muslim camp the Muslims listened in on these negotiations and often lost patience at their involvement and length, the obstinacy with which Suhayl refused to make any concessions, and the leniency with which the Prophet made his. Were it not for the absolute conf dence the Muslims had in their Prophet, they would have never accepted the terms reached by those negotiations. They would have fought with the Makkans and either entered Makkah victorious or perished in the process. Even such a great man as `Umar ibn al Khattab lost patience and said to Abu Bakr, "O Abu Bakr, isn't Muhammad the Prophet of God and aren't we Muslims?" Abu Bakr answered in the affirmative. 'Umar then said, "Why then should we give in to the unbelievers in a matter vital to our faith?" Abu Bakr replied, "O 'Umar, do not trespass one inch where you ought not to go. Remember that I witness that our leader is the Prophet of God." Angrily, 'Umar acquiesced by replying: "I, too, witness that our leader is the Prophet of God."

Conclusion of the Treaty (March, 628 C.E.)

'Umar turned to Muhammad and complained to him with the same anger and resentment, but could not alter the Prophet's determination and patience. Their talk was concluded with the Prophet's statement that he was the servant of God and His Prophet and that he would not deviate from the divine commandment nor entertain any doubt of divine support. So patient was Muhammad in these negotiations that many Muslims remembered anecdotes which speak most eloquently to this effect. It is reported, for instance; that Muhammad called 'Ali ibn Abu Talib and said to him: "Write, 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.'" Suhayl, the non-Muslim delegate of Quraysh interrupted. "Stop," he said, "I do not know either 'the Merciful' or 'the Compassionate.' Write, 'In your name, 0 God.'" The Prophet of God instructed 'Ali to write accordingly and continued: "Write, 'Following is the text of a pact reached by Muhammad, the Prophet of God and Suhayl ibn 'Amr.' " Suhayl again interrupted. "Stop it. If I accepted you as a Prophet of God I would not have been hostile to you. You should write only your name and the name of your father." The Prophet of God instructed 'Ali to write accordingly, referring to himself as Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah. The text of the treaty was redacted and agreed upon. In the opinion of most biographers, the treaty specified that the peace was to last for ten years. According to al Waqidi, the peace was stipulated for only two years. The pact also specified that any person from Quraysh emigrating to Muhammad's camp without permission from his guardian would have to be returned to Makkah, whereas any Muslim emigrating from Muhammad's camp to Makkah would not have to be returned. It also specified that any tribe was free to ally itself to Muhammad without incurring any guilt or censure from Quraysh, and likewise, any tribe seeking an alliance with Quraysh could do so without let or hindrance from the Muslims. The pact stipulated that Muhammad and his companions would leave the area of Makkah that year without fulfilling their religious function but that they might return the next year, enter the city and stay therein three days for this purpose while carrying no more than swords in their scabbards.

Promulgation of the Treaty

As soon as this pact was solemnly concluded by the parties concerned, the tribe of Khuza`ah entered into an alliance with Muhammad and that of Band Bakr with Quraysh. Soon after, Abu Jandal ibn Suhayl ibn 'Amr left Makkah forever and came to the Muslim camp seeking to join the Muslims. When Suhayl, the delegate of Quraysh to the Muslim camp, saw his son change loyalties in his presence, he struck him in the face and pulled him by the hair to return to the Quraysh. Abu Jandal was calling upon the Muslims to save him from the fate of being returned to the unbelievers who would persecute him for his faith. This greatly increased the Muslims' resentment and their dissatisfaction with the pact the Prophet had just concluded with Suhayl. But Muhammad spoke to Abu Jandal. "0 Abu Jandal," he said, "have patience and be disciplined; for God will soon provide for you and your other persecuted colleagues a way out of your suffering. We have entered with the Quraysh into a treaty of peace and we have exchanged with them a solemn pledge that none will cheat the other." Abu Jandal returned to Quraysh in compliance with the demand of this treaty and Suhayl returned to Makkah. Muhammad, too, was disconcerted with the resentment and dissatisfaction of the Muslims around him. After reciting his prayers he felt reassured, sought his sacrificial animal, and slaughtered it. Then, he sat down and shaved his head, thus declaring the `umrah, or lesser pilgrimage, complete. His soul was satisfied and his heart full of contentment, as if the peace of God had come upon him. When the people saw what he did and observed the peace of soul shining through his face, they began to slaughter their animals and to shave off their hair. Some of them shaved off their hair completely and others only in part. Muhammad said, "God Bless those who shaved their heads." The people asked him about those who only cut their hair short, and Muhammad repeated his blessing for the benefit of those who shaved their heads. After the people asked him three times and he repeated the same blessing three times, he was asked: "Why, 0 Prophet of God, do you exclude those who cut off their hair short from your blessing?" He answered, "Because the shavers did not doubt, whereas the others did." [It was customary for the pilgrim in pre-Islamic Arabia to shave his head as evidence of desacralization after a complete performance of the religious function of pilgrimage. When the performance of the religious function had been interrupted or any one of its rituals for some reason missed, the pilgrim would only cut his hair short rather than shave it. He thereby gave evidence of his awareness that his religious function had not been completely fulfilled and of the need to repeat the same function in the following season. -Tr.]

The Treaty of Hudaybiyah: A Genuine Victor

Nothing remained for the Muslims to do except to return to Madinah and there await the arrival of the coming season for another trip to Makkah, Most of them accepted this idea grudgingly, and consoled themselves purely on the grounds that the unwelcome compliance therewith was only the command of the Prophet himself. They were not accustomed to acquiesce in a defeat or to surrender without a fight. Moreover, in their faith in God and in the timely assistance that God would grant to His Prophet, his religion and themselves, they could entertain no shadow of a doubt of their ability to storm Makkah if only Muhammad had commanded it. They stayed in al Hudaybiyah a few days questioning one another regarding the wisdom of this pact which the Prophet had concluded. Some of them were inclined to doubt its wisdom. But they bore in patience and then returned home. On their way home between Makkah and Madinah, the surah "al Fath" was revealed to the Prophet, and he recited it to his companions.



"We have granted to you a clear victory that God may forgive you your past and future shortcomings, grant you His blessings, and guide you to the straight path." [Qur'an, 48:1-30]

There was hence no reason to doubt that the Hudaybiyah Treaty was a victory for the Muslims. History has shown that this pact was the product of profound political wisdom and farsightedness and that it brought about consequences of great advantage to Islam and indeed to Arabia as a whole. It was the first time that Quraysh acknowledged that Muhammad was an equal rather than a mere rebel and runaway tribesman. It was the first time that Makkah acknowledged the Islamic state that was rising in Arabia. Makkan acquiescence in the right of the Muslims to visit the sanctuary and to perform the pilgrimage was equally a recognition on her part that Islam was an established and approved religion in the Peninsula. Furthermore, the peace of the following two or ten years gave the Muslims the peace and security they needed on their southern flank without fear of an invasion from Quraysh. The peace also contributed to the spread of Islam. Even Quraysh, the most determined enemy of Islam and its greatest antagonist, had by this pact come to recognize Islam and its community, and to acquiesce in that in which it had never acquiesced before. Indeed, Islam spread after this treaty more widely and quickly than it had ever spread before. While those who accompanied Muhammad to Hudaybiyah counted one thousand and four hundred, those who accompanied him on his conquest of Makkah two years later counted well over ten thousand. The greatest objection to those who doubted the wisdom of the Hudaybiyah pact was directed to the provision that any Quraysh member joining the Muslims without the permission of his guardian would have to be returned to Quraysh, and that any apostate from Islam would not have to be returned to Madinah. Muhammad's opinion in this matter centered on the consideration that the apostate from Islam who seeks the shelter of Quraysh is not really worthy of readmission to the Muslim community; that for the convert who wished to join that community but who was not allowed to at present, God would soon find an outlet. Events have confirmed this judgment of Muhammad far more quickly than his companions anticipated, and given evidence that Islam had actually drawn great advantages. Indeed, the treaty even made it possible two months later for Muhammad to begin to address himself to the kings and chiefs of foreign states and invite them to join Islam.

The Story of Abu Basir

Events succeeded one another very rapidly, all of which confirmed Muhammad's judgment and wisdom. Abu Basir became a Muslim and escaped from Makkah to Madinah. Obviously, the provisions of the Hudaybiyah Treaty applied to him and demanded his return to the Quraysh, for he had not obtained the permission of his master. Azhar ibn `Awf and al Akhnas ibn Shariq wrote to the Prophet to this effect and sent their letter with a tribesman of Banu `Amir and a slave of theirs. When the demand was made, the Prophet called Abu Basir and said to him: "We have covenanted with the Quraysh to honor the Treaty of Hudaybiyah which you well know. In our religion, we are not permitted to cheat. You should therefore return to your people. God will grant to you and to the other persecuted Muslims a means of emancipation in His good time." Abu Basir objected to the Prophet that the unbelievers would force him to apostatize. The Prophet, however, repeated the same judgment to him. Abu Basir had, therefore, to give himself up to the two messengers and accompany them back to Makkah. Once they arrived at Dhu al Hulayfah, Abu Basir asked the Banu `Amir tribesman to show him his sword, and as soon as he laid his hand upon it, he struck the tribesman with it and killed him. The Makkan slave ran toward Madinalf and into the Prophet's presence with obvious signs of fear and panic on his face. When interrogated, the slave told the Prophet that Abu Basir had killed his master. Soon, Abu Basir himself arrived brandishing his sword and addressing Muhammad: "0 Prophet of God, you have fulfilled your duty under the Treaty and God has relieved you of your obligation, for you have in fact surrendered me to my people as the treaty prescribed. But I was not willing to allow myself to be persecuted, enticed away, or forced to abjure my religion." The Prophet did not hide his admiration for him and wished that he had many companions. Later on, Abu Basir went to al `Is on the sea coast, on the road which the Quraysh followed to al Sham and which the Treaty of Hudaybiyah prescribed to keep open for Makkan trade. When his story and that of Muhammad's admiration of him reached Makkah, the Muslims still residing there were elated, and about seventy of them ran away to al `Is to follow him as their chief. Abu Basir and his companions began to cut off the trade route on their own initiative, killing any unbeliever they caught and seizing any camels belonging to Quraysh. Only then did it dawn on the Quraysh what a loss they had incurred by insisting as they did on keeping their Muslim members or slaves in forced residence in Makkah. They realized that the man who is truly committed to Islam was a greater handicap to them than the loss of him altogether to the Muslim camp. Such a man would escape at the first opportunity without entering into the camp of Muhammad and, hence, without becoming an outlaw under the prescriptions of the Hudaybiyah Treaty. He would then wage a terrible war against the Makkans in which the Makkans had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Remembering too well that Muhammad had cut off the caravan road after his emigration to Madinah, the Quraysh feared that Abu Basir would do likewise. They therefore wrote to the Prophet asking him, in violation of the Hudaybiyah Treaty, to accept their fugitives into his camp, in order to keep the caravan route open. In the consequent negotiation, the Quraysh relinquished the privilege emphasized by Suhayl ibn'Amr so strongly, namely, that the Muslims of Quraysh who escape therefrom without approval of their masters or guardians be returned to Quraysh. Thus, the concession criticized by 'Umar ibn al Khattab and for the sake of which he revolted against Abu Bakr was dropped by request of the Quraysh. Muhammad then invited all the Muslims to enter Madinah, and the caravan route to al Sham became once more secure.

Muslim Women Emigrants

As for the Muslim women of Quraysh who escaped to Madinah, Muhammad had a different opinion. Umm Kulthum, daughter of 'Uqbah ibn abu Mu'ayt, escaped from Makkah to Madinah after the Hudaybiyah Treaty, and her two brothers 'Umarah and al Walid came to the Prophet demanding her return under terms of the Treaty. The Prophet refused, judging that the treaty did not apply to women and that if women called for assistance and shelter, their request could not be turned down. Furthermore, when a woman becomes a Muslim, she is no more legally tied to her husband who is an unbeliever. Dissolution of the bond of marriage is then automatic. On this point, the revelation is clear: "O Men who believe, if the women believers come to you for shelter, examine them, remembering that God knows the nature of their faith better than anyone. If you find them to be true believers, do not return them to the polytheists to whom they are no longer legitimate. Return to them that which they have spent and marry them if you wish; for there is no blame upon you if you do so, provided you give them their dowries. Do not hold to your matrimonial ties with women unbelievers, but ask them to return what you have spent and return to them what they have spent and separate yourselves from each other. That is the judgment of God and He wishes to see it observed among you. God is All-Knowing and All-Wise." [Qur'an, 60:10] Thus events confirmed Muhammad's wisdom, foresight, and deep political insight. History has indeed proved that the Treaty of al Hudaybiyah actually laid down a very important foundation for Islam's political career as well as for its spread throughout the world. That is the meaning of the clear victory God had promised.

Relations between Quraysh and Muhammad became quite peaceful and settled after the Treaty of al Hudaybiyah. Both parties felt secure. The Quraysh embarked on enlarging trade, hoping to recapture the losses which had resulted from the war with the Muslims in which the road to al Sham was cut. As for Muhammad, he embarked on a wider policy of mission, seeking to bring his message to all men in all corners of the earth and to lay down the foundations for the happiness and success of the Muslims throughout the Peninsula now that their security was guaranteed. Both these considerations enabled him to send his messengers to the kings in the surrounding empires and, especially after the Battle of Khaybar, to expel the Jews from the Arabian Peninsula altogether.