Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm - Ibn Taimiya - (1/528)

Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-MustaqīmIbn Taimiya

“Learn Arabic, for it is part of your religion; and learn the laws of inheritance, for they too are part of your religion.”

What ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, enjoined—mastery of Arabic and mastery of the Sacred Law—covers everything a Muslim needs, for the religion consists of words and deeds. Proficiency in Arabic is the pathway to understanding its words, and proficiency in the Sunnah is the pathway to understanding its deeds.

Prohibition of Imitating Them in Their Festivals (by Legal Consideration)

When we examine the matter of festivals, several considerations arise:

First: Festivals form part of the revealed law, the avenues of worship, and the rites about which Allah, Exalted is He, says, “For every nation We have appointed a rite which they observe” (al-Ḥajj 67). They are like the qiblah, prayer, and fasting; therefore, joining non-Muslims in their festival is no different from joining them in any other act that defines their religion. To agree with them in the entirety of their festival is to agree with them in unbelief, and to agree with them in some of its offshoots is to agree with them in certain branches of unbelief.

Indeed, festivals are among the most distinctive features that differentiate religions and the most evident of their public symbols. Imitating them in this respect means imitating them in the most characteristic rites of unbelief and its clearest symbols. There is no doubt that such imitation may, under its requisite conditions, ultimately lead to unbelief as a whole.

(1) MS A reads: “He placed the faraid (laws of inheritance) before Arabic.” (2) The words “and learn the faraid …” etc. are missing from MSS J and D. (3) The printed edition has: “it is the path to fiqh (jurisprudence) …” (4) The printed edition adds here the Qur’anic phrase: “li-kullin jaʿalna minkum shirʿatan wa minhajan – For each [community] We have appointed a law and a way” (al-Maʾidah 5:48). (5) Qur’an, al-Hajj 22:67. (6) The phrase “in the festival and regarding their participation” is absent from MSS J and D. (7) MSS J and D read: “wa hiya.” (8) The printed edition reads: “between the scriptural laws.” (9) The words “therein is agreement” are omitted in MS Ṭ. (10) MSS J and D read: “His laws.”

العربية (١) فإنها من دينكم، وتعلموا (٢) الفرائض فإنها من دينكم " وهذا الذي أمر به عمر رضي الله عنه من فقه العربية وفقه الشريعة، يجمع ما يحتاج إليه؛ لأن الدين فيه أقوال وأعمال، ففقه العربية هو الطريق إلى فقه أقواله، وفقه السنة هو (٣) فقه أعماله. [النهي عن موافقتهم في أعيادهم بالاعتبار] وأما الاعتبار في مسألة العيد فمن وجوه: أحدها: أن الأعياد من جملة الشرع والمناهج والمناسك، التي قال الله سبحانه (٤) {لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ جَعَلْنَا مَنْسَكًا هُمْ نَاسِكُوهُ} [الحج: ٦٧] (٥) كالقبلة والصلاة والصيام، فلا فرق بين مشاركتهم في العيد وبين مشاركتهم (٦) في سائر المناهج، فإن الموافقة في جميع العيد، موافقة في الكفر. والموافقة في بعض فروعه: موافقة في بعض شعب الكفر، بل الأعياد هي (٧) من أخص ما تتميز به (٨) الشرائع، ومن أظهر ما لها من الشعائر، فالموافقة فيها موافقة (٩) في أخص شرائع الكفر، وأظهر شعائره (١٠) ولا ريب أن الموافقة في هذا قد تنتهي إلى الكفر في الجملة بشروطه.

(١) في (أ) : قدم الفرائض على العربية. (٢) وتعلموا الفرائض. . إلخ: سقطت من (ج د) . (٣) في المطبوعة: هو الطريق إلى فقه. . إلخ. (٤) في المطبوعة زاد هنا قوله تعالى: (لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا) ، سورة المائدة: من الآية ٤٨. (٥) سورة الحج: من الآية ٦٧. (٦) قوله: (في العيد وبين مشاركتهم) : سقطت من (ج د) . (٧) في (ج د) : وهي. (٨) في المطبوعة: بين الشرائع. (٩) فيها موافقة: ساقطة من (ط) . (١٠) في (ج د) : شرائعه.