Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt - Ibn Rush al-Jadd - (1/11)

Al-Muqaddimāt al-MumahhidātIbn Rush al-Jadd

Section
On Establishing the Obligation to Gain Understanding of Ablution and the Other Religious Ordinances

Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“He has ordained for you as religion what He enjoined upon Noah, what We have revealed to you, and what We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus: uphold the religion and do not become divided in it.” [al-Shūrā: 13]

The religion we have been commanded to uphold is Islam, besides which Allah accepts no other religion. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.” [Āl ʿImrān: 19]

And He says:

“Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.” [Āl ʿImrān: 85]

Upholding it requires understanding the ordinances Allah has prescribed for His servants and made obligatory upon them in the clear text of His Book: ablution, prayer, zakat and all the other religious ordinances. A proper understanding of these requires prior knowledge that they are obligatory. There is no way to know that they are obligatory without first knowing Allah Most High as He is, with respect to the attributes of His essence and His acts—or possessing what stands in place of such knowledge, namely faith and assent, according to the view that the first obligation is faith in Allah Most High.

For it is rationally impossible to know that obligatory acts are binding and prohibited acts forbidden while being ignorant of, and denying, the One who imposes these obligations. Allah Most High can therefore be known only through reflection upon the evidence He has provided for knowing Him and through reasoning from that evidence. Sound reflection and reasoning are possible only for someone who possesses an intellect with which to reflect and reason.

Allah, exalted is He, has endowed those of His servants whom He intends to place under obligation with intellects by which they may know Him through the evidence He has provided for knowing Him, and by which they may understand what He has addressed to them and prescribed for them in His Book and through the words of

فصل في معرفة الطريق إلى وجوب التفقه في الوضوء وغيره من الشرائع قال الله ﷿: ﴿شَرَعَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الدِّينِ مَا وَصَّى بِهِ نُوحًا وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ وَمَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَى وَعِيسَى أَنْ أَقِيمُوا الدِّينَ وَلا تَتَفَرَّقُوا فِيهِ﴾ [الشورى: ١٣] والدين الذي أمرنا بإقامته هو دين الإسلام الذي لا يقبل الله سواه. قال الله ﷿: ﴿إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الإِسْلامُ﴾ [آل عمران: ١٩]، وقال: ﴿وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ﴾ [آل عمران: ٨٥]، وإقامته تفتقر إلى التفقه في شرائعه التي شرعها الله لعباده، وأوجبها عليهم في محكم كتابه، من الوضوء والصلاة والزكاة وسائر شرائع الدين، والتفقه فيها لا يستقيم إلا بعد المعرفة بوجوبها، ولا طريق إلى المعرفة بوجوبها إلا بعد المعرفة بالله تعالى على ما هو عليه من صفات ذاته وأفعاله، أو ما يقوم مقام المعرفة من الإيمان والتصديق، على القول بأن أول الواجبات الإيمان بالله تعالى؛ لأن المعرفة بوجوب الواجبات وحظر المحظورات مع الجهل بموجبها والجحد له من المستحيل في العقل، فلا يعلم الله تعالى إلا بالنظر في الأدلة التي نصبها لمعرفته والاستدلال بها عليه. ولا يصح النظر والاستدلال إلا ممن له عقل ينظر به ويستدل. وقد جعل الله ﵎ لمن أراد تكليفه من عباده عقولا يعرفونه بها بما نصب لهم من الأدلة على معرفته، ويعقلون بها ما خاطبهم به وشرعه لهم في كتابه وعلى ألسنة