Muhamad Rozaimi Ramle

The concepts of fatwa and ijtihad allow everyone to issue ijtihad. It is supported by the method of fiqh, whereby an ‘ijtihad cannot invalidate another ijtihad’. This has a significant effect as when many parties issue fatwas, there will be many different fatwas on the same issue that can result in the emergence of fatwas that are non-Shariah-compliant, dangerous, and misguided, which can disrupt harmony in the society. Therefore, this study would like to propose an approach known as the mura‘ah al-khilaf method, in resolving the fatwas issued by various parties, especially in the state of Perlis, through the role of the Perlis State Mufti Department. This study’s methodology is qualitative, in which the data are collected through library research and field studies. The library research was conducted by examining books, articles, statutes, and related circulars. From the practical aspect, field studies were conducted using an unstructured interview method with two interviewees from the Perlis State Mufti Department. The results showed that the mura‘ah al-khilaf method has a significant role in supporting the role of the mufti department as the main reference by all state government bodies and the public in matters of fatwa and religion of Islam. The results also found that the mufti department has a strong fatwa committee composition and fatwa issuance method. Findings revealed that there is legal control over the issuance of fatwas and religious guidelines, which are not to be abused by any parties.

A comprehensive understanding of Ḥadīth, with their narrative background in Islamic tradition, would require the application of the principle of asbāb al-wurūd (discerning the specific circumstances for the reason or purpose of revealing Ḥadīth), an approach which gives detailed information about narrated Ḥadīth. Having such a comprehension about the essence of the message of Ḥadīth could enhance the understanding of Muslim audiences and followers. This situation will indirectly provide a stepping stone to comprehensive information to prevent misunderstanding the message of Islamic religion. Taking due cognizance of these circumstances could potentially result in preventing actions of religious radicalism, which might result from obtaining religious messages through a solely textual approach. In this situation, the sufficient application of asbāb al-wurūd plays a significant role in leading an order to achieve the contextual comprehension of the religious message of Ḥadīth. This paper aims to examine the significance of asbāb al-wurūd in understanding the contextual meaning of Ḥadīth beyond a textual basis. The findings reveal that the contextual elaboration of the message of Ḥadīth could be adapted in a proper way, in which its textual comprehension could be elaborated on clearly through detailing its asbāb al-wurūd, one method of which is to refer to Muslim scholars together with schools of thought in order to clearly attain the message of Islamic religion. Furthermore, this article attempts to address such a way of bringing about textual understanding to the context to assist in adapting the contextual significance of a clear and detailed comprehension of Ḥadīth. The significance of this study is to contribute to providing a detailed explanation on both text and context in seeking for clarity on the Ḥadīths’ information and message with a clear basis as a safeguard against extremist interpretations of Islam.

COVID-19 has been declared as a global pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO). Certain Muslims associated the emergence of Al-Ṯurāyya with the fading of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This article aimed to discuss the text and context of the Hadith Al-Ṯurāyya (الثُريَّـــــــــــا) and its link to the termination of COVID-19. Classical and contemporary scholars’ opinions were analysed in this study. The methodology used involved inductive and deductive supplemented with critical analysis determining the most appropriate opinion on this matter. Further empirical study of the visibility of Al-Ṯurāyya in the Islamic history were analysed using Stellarium Astronomy Software 0.20.0. The findings of the study revealed that the hadith refers to the disappearance of disease pertaining to fruits and crops and not to related to the end of any pandemic. Additionally, the rise of Al-Ṯurāyya showed no connection with pandemic termination in the Islamic history. In conclusion, the claim that COVID-19 will disappear with the emergence of Al-Ṯurāyya can be rejected.

The one who looks at the books of hadith sciences will find that the hadith scholars have mentioned several reasons for the contradiction between the hadiths. They said that among these reasons is the mistake of narrators. However, when they elaborate this reason, they did not detail the factors that make the narrators mistaken in their narratives. Nor did they focus their research on the narrations of the Prophet’s biography. This research attempts to focus on the narrations of the Prophet's biography to extract these factors. This is done by adapting the inductive and critical analytical method. After research, it became clear that the narrators’ mistakes are among the most important reasons for the contradiction between the narrations of the Prophet’s biography and that these mistakes also have factors including similarities in the subject of the narrations.

This research focuses on a specific type of concealed flaws used by Abu Hatim al-Razi in the identification of concealed flaws in prophetic narrations. Abu Hatim described this particular type of concealed flaws as Luzum al-Tariq (persisting association to the chain of narration). This research defines luzum al-tariq and provides affirmative indications of its existence and the guidelines to identify such concealed flaws in a narration. Identifying concealed flaws of a common narration according to Abu Hatim is by referring to the affirmative indications. The affirmative indications are hidden which are identifiable through a meticulous inspection of the indicators. This study aims to reveal these indicators until they become apparent. I rely on the inductive and analytical methodologies to discuss Abu Hatim’s point of view as well as the comparative methodology to compare his view with other scholars’ views on this matter.

The discussion on the principles and rules to understand the text of prophetic traditions can never be dispensed with by a student of Islamic studies. Hence, we can observe that there are scholars who have developed principles and rules to understand the text of prophetic traditions as a discipline. One of the principles used to understand the text of prophetic traditions is the principle of understanding traditions through historical and temporal contextualization. There is no doubt that the principle of historical and temporal contextualization has a significant contribution to ensure a correct understanding of the prophetic traditions. The failure to refer to, and rely on the principle of historical and temporal contextualization would lead to an inaccurate and incomplete understanding of the prophetic traditions such as in situations when there are seemingly contradictions among several narrations. Therefore, this research aims at highlighting the importance of this principle and unveiling its practical application. In the course of completing this research, I have relied on the inductive and analytical approach.Keywords: The Understanding of Prophetic Traditions; Historical Context; Temporal Context

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