626.    There is mention of the story of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas’ and Salman al-Farsi’s (RAA) armies during their campaign crossing the river with their horses (i.e. akin to walking on water) – this is one of the miracles (Karamaat) of the Companions (RAA).

627.    One of the potential positive matters related to Husn ad-Dhann [thinking good of a fellow Muslim] is that even if the person doing some outward good deed is doing it for ulteriorly bad motives, our good thoughts about him might transform his bad motives into good ones. Thus, we should avoid Suu’ adh-Dhann [thinking bad of a fellow Muslim] so as to not receive a bad verdict from Allah.

628.    Adoption in the sense of taking care of orphaned children, etc., is very much allowed in Islam; yet depriving the child of his true lineage is forbidden.

629.    (As was mentioned) The narration about the 7 Ahruf is in fact considered one of the Mutashaabihat, that is one reason why there are 40 or more interpretations to it.

630.    The link between a person and his adopted son (i.e. the perceived socio-genetic linkage) was fully broken both by the revelation and by the Prophet’s (ﷺ) marriage to Zaynab (RAA).

(Additional comment: Also note that when the Qur’an mentioned ‘fear’ in the context of the Prophet’s (ﷺ) marriage, it refers to shyness in front of people, not fear of doing what is right in Allah’s judgment).

631.    When the ‘Lam of Ta’leel’ occurs in the Qur’an and it seems on the outside to ascribe motive to Allah, we (Sunnis) say it is a Lam that shows consequence, not motive.

632.    It needs to be considered that it is a product of Area Studies (as conceived in the West) and of academicians trained mostly in philosophy or (naturalistic) science which makes them see Islamic Shariah discussions as an anthropological and (abstract) philosophical matter, rather than a truly law-based endeavor based on an outlook of what reality truly is.

Thus, Islam sees its Shariah as a manifestation of Divine Reality in the realm of interactions between humanity and the Divine, and of man with fellow man, yet one salient point for such ‘area studies’ people is that progress is often valued over the status of Islam and its stability.

633.    We see that the Prophet (ﷺ) had 20+ freed Muslim slaves, and they reached positions we Muslims of today cannot even dream of reaching- and the truth is, had they remained as slaves their rank would still be much, much higher than any of the Muslims today could conceivably achieve. Thus, there is a need to highlight the distinction between material concepts such as slave/free, richness/poverty, and one’s true standing in Allah’s consideration.

634.    Every gift points to its Giver. The closest people to Allah seek Allah in their Dua, not only the gross things/gifts in themselves.

635.    One of the special aspects of Islam is the standardization of the liturgy as opposed to say, many forms of Christianity.

636.    The rule about the Prophet (ﷺ) is that often he contravenes normal rules in the cosmos: Some examples are the Wahy (revelation) he received, the cosmos opening up for his Mi’raj, and also his bodily fluids are pure, in fact we have miracle after miracle appearing in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ).

637.    (As was mentioned) In the modern West, the highest topic of study is said to be philosophy. But in Islam we have two meta-disciplines, Usool ad-Deen and Usool al-Fiqh. This latter is in the service of the first discipline, thus the second is a ‘tool-science’ for the first ‘goal-science’.

638.    (As was mentioned) The Prophet (ﷺ) is definitely merciful and kind to the believers, but even for the non-believers one should remember that the troubles of the entire world weigh upon him (ﷺ).

639.    The fallacious argument that ‘Ali (RAA) was coerced and thus gave Bay’ah is contradicted by the principle that if the Khilafah is indeed established for a certain person (as the Twelver Shias claim about Ghadir and ‘Ali), then this must be announced and fought for publicly and explicitly regardless of circumstances. Doing otherwise and remaining quiet is in fact religiously sinful. We would say any “narration” brought up to justify such an attitude of quiet submission to what is said to be [in the Twelvers’ consideration] the “worst of evils” is a violation of these principles, and cannot be attributed to the Prophet (ﷺ), ‘Ali (RAA) or others from among the Sahabah (RAA).

640.    If it is asked that why did Jibril (Alayhi as-Salaam) at times come in the form of the Sahabi Dihya al-Kalbi (RAA), one answer given is because the Prophet (ﷺ) is the greatest of the kings on Earth, and this was based on the Arab-Islamic custom in that time of sending Dihya (RAA) to the kings of the world.

641.    There is to be fundamentally no difference in the good and in the spiritual chivalry we manifest to humanity, whether to Muslims or to non-Muslims (for example, we do wish for the non-Muslim to become a Muslim, so that he will partake of the eternal felicity of the Hereafter).

642.    There are different perspectives to Halal and Haram as a natural state within the approaches of Usool al-Fiqh. One is that there is no natural state, another that things are all forbidden except if there is a text saying they are Halal, and another that all things are acceptable unless there is a text making them Haram.

Istis-haab relates to the above, of trying to find out the ‘Asl’ (in this case the natural state) before the revelation of the Shariah, so as to revert back to it when the rest of the methods of deduction have not given the scholar a result.

643.    With respect to actions of worship and the claim that people may not feel a spiritual opening while performing these actions, the truth is that there is supposed to be some Kulfa to it, some weightiness to these obligatory actions, due to their being at a certain time, with some restrictions and rules, etc. So it cannot be expected that one will experience only spiritual highs, one after the other, with no feeling of having strived at all.

644.    (It is mentioned) In the context of the Awliyaa’, when the Qur’an mentions “La Khawfun alayhim” [lit. “no fear upon them”], it means that the people should not fear for these Awliyaa’.

645.    Important point that was made: Knowledge is based on nouns (is nominal), not verbs (verbal); this is why the social sciences are very dangerous since they can drive the thinking of all people based on changing terminologies (noun-words) they invent.

On a related point within the Islamic milieu, one of the huge problems of the Batini sects is how they changed the names of obvious things based solely on how they felt about them. There are many analogies to modernist trends and how obvious terminologies (noun-words) are changed due to one’s feelings or ephemeral modern circumstances.

646.    In the case of ‘Ali (RAA) and the writing of the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, some of our scholars say it was due to Adab [propriety] towards the Prophet (ﷺ) that he (RAA) would not erase the texts mentioning the name of Allah and Muhammad (ﷺ) as the Prophet of Allah – this is one instance of reconciliation between differing texts and principles.

647.    The proper way for Muslim activists and even the “highly intellectual and academic” Muslims to go about their task of bettering the state of the Ummah (and the world at large) is for them to have some daily Adhkaar and Awraad; otherwise their activities and knowledge will be of limited benefit to themselves and to the larger Ummah.

648.    It was mentioned, regarding approaches to Islamic texts: the ‘internalist’ (Batini) uses his emotions, the literalist uses his eyes, the rationalist uses his mind – yet there should be balance between these approaches, not an extreme attachment to any one position.

649.    (It is mentioned) There are certain people who will go through so much punishment in Hellfire that they will disturb other sufferers in Hellfire – we ask Allah’s Protection from all punishment.

650.    (It is mentioned) Our position is that we do not name mindlessly, rather the name represents a Ma’naa (meaning) of the named; this is why we are encouraged to name even our possessions with good names, as was the practice of the Prophet (ﷺ).