The Three Requirements of Shariah

Overall, when you look at sharee‘ah, it wants three things. The first requirement is that you need to have a good level of ta’leem and instruction. Without this, you will not know the difference between halaal and haraam. You won’t know that 3 talaaqs make you haraam for your wife; you will not know when ghusl becomes fardh. Without deeni knowledge you will not know how to make a fair distribution of an estate. This is on account of not having any association with the ‘Ulama. If an alien system says that you are allowed to have a liquor store or deal with a conventional bank or you can structure your will however you want, then this does not make it allowed in sharee‘ah. So you need an environment that has got the correct Islamic instruction.

The second requirement is deeni tarbiyat; to have the right type of deeni values. When people have the correct deeni values there will be the purity of the heart, eyes, tongue etc. They will live lives of modesty. What is the reason for the need of this? If you live in an environment where there are no values then you can go with another person’s wife and he can go with your wife.

The problem of the west is that they have a standard, but they also want to force it on the rest of the world. In their custom you can look and speak to another person’s wife. In our custom we won’t tolerate it. What they fail to understand is that like how they feel that others should respect their values, they should also respect the values of others. So that means that their law does not have a mechanism to secure the emotions and integrity of people. Therefore, the second requirement is to have the right values. Otherwise your own child will become a victim to all the immorality that is in the environment. We don’t realise that it has consequences and the parents are the ones that will suffer.

The third requirement is to have respect and to cooperate. If a person passes away then assist in the janaazah. The western value is for one to be independent. As parents grow old then assist them. Don’t throw them out and leave them alone.

When we analyse the three requirements, then the first is acquired through ta’leem or we will call it the madrasah. The second is acquired through the khanqah, whose work is to entrench the intrinsic values within a person, to have a high level of purity and shame and modesty. Then the third effort is that what you have gained you have to sustain it and you need to work a succession plan for the progenies and generations to come. This third effort is the effort of tabligh and dawat which aims at creating the awareness and concern and to cooperate.

Source: Al-Haadi