Reminder on a key notion of Islamic law
As for the argument that Arafat's station is on a single day and at a known location in Saudi Arabia, and therefore the whole world should have the same day, this can be answered in the same way. way: there is a fundamental notion in Fiqh that Muslim principologists call "as-sabab ach-achar 'iy" which can sometimes mean the same thing as "al 'illah" (the legal reason) and which means the cause legal requirement of Shariah. As we know, a satisfactory answer depends on the clarity of the question and that all this requires the most precise possible definition of the terms used. To this end, we will rely heavily on the reference work of Sheikh Abdul wahhab khallaf on the foundations of Islamic law. Here is what he says about the concept of "sabab": This term is defined as the obvious and constant attribute which the Sharia has identified as being the indication or the immediate cause of a legal judgment (hukm) of such kind that if the cause is present, it necessitates the application of a judgment, and if it is not present, the judgment does not apply. We have already said that there is a difference between “sabab” (cause) and “‘illah” (motive). (…) The cause can be an act, a word, a temporal marker or something else. Take these examples: the Sharia has made the hour the legal cause for the prescription of prayer: “Perform the prayer at the setting of the Sun” (Koran, 17: 78); being aware of the advent of the month of Ramadan is the legal cause for the prescription of fasting (this author does not say that seeing the crescent Moon with the naked eye is the legal cause for fasting in the month of Ramadan): "Whoever is present this month will observe the fast" (Qur'an, 2: 185); possession of taxable property (nisab) is the legal cause for the obligation of Zakât, while illness is the legal cause for permission not to fast, intentional homicide is the cause for the application of the law heel, etc. #
What is the legal cause of stationing Arafat? In the case discussed here, a first question arises: "What is the legal cause of stationing Arafat and recommending fasting for non-pilgrims?” The answer is: it is the advent of the 9th day of the month of Zul Hijjah according to the Muslim lunar calendar. A second question inevitably arises, namely: “How do we know that it is the 9th day of the month of Zul Hijjah?” These two questions raise the fundamental question of the criteria for determining the lunar month. And until there is a consensual answer to this question at the level of the Ummah, the divergence on the dates of certain events will persist. The obligation to park at Arafat (below and in the immediate vicinity of the underside of Mount Arafat, there are restless people who seek to climb the mountain!) and nowhere else for pilgrims is called "min chartil wuqûf bi 'arafah' (among the legal conditions of Arafat's station). This place is located about 23 km east of Makkah. The scriptural proof of this obligatory condition of stationing in "Arafat space" is the following hadith authenticated by the scholars of matter: "I stationed in Arafat and all Arafat is a place of stationing." in the "Arafat space", according to the prescribed legal time, is another obligatory condition of this pillar, the most important of the Hajj. This legal time starts from sunrise on the 9th day of the month of Zul Hijjah at dawn (fajr) before the 10th day (first day of sacrifice). It being understood that the best interval of time to spend there remains that of the prophet (Saws) who stationed in this place at the time of the zawâl (zenith), there performed the cumulative prayers of zouhr (midday "tisbar") and 'asr ( afternoon "takussan") from the advent of the legal time of the first prayer until sunset, when he left. It is allowed, according to the ulama, to park in Arafat in a sitting or standing position or on a mount, even if the pilgrim happens to be dozing or sleeping in this place. It should be noted that the state of ritual purity is not a mandatory condition of parking at Arafat nor orientation in the direction of the Kaaba.
It is important to know that all this is determined and conditioned by the advent of the 9th day of the month of Zul hijjah. Indeed, let us take the example of pilgrims who decide to go to Arafat on the 4th day of the month of Zul hijjah or even another lunar month. All the ulema will say that any worship they do there will not be considered valid from the point of view of Sharia. This is true since those concerned will not have respected the legal cause of temporal order which is the advent of the 9th day of the month of Zul Hijjah. This is reminiscent of the temporal relativity of the night of “laylatoul qadr”. The hours when it is dark in Senegal, it is morning or afternoon elsewhere! Also, if the hadith says that every last third of the night our Lord Allah the Most High descends to the nearest heaven to address us with these three formidable expressions of hope "Who calls on me and Am I granting her wish? Who asks me for forgiveness and I grant it to him? Who presents his repentance to Me and I accept it”, this is the local night for each part of the earth concerned. It should also be noted that, during legal time when pilgrims are stationed at Mount Arafat and in the surrounding area considered an integral part of this sacred space, it is still night or morning depending on whether the country in question is located to the West or to Eastern Saudi Arabia: – 12h West and +12h East. Suppose pilgrims come to Mecca with a lunar calendar based on astronomical calculation or local naked eye observation or using an optical instrument and according to which the 9th day is different from that fixed by Saudi Arabia. If on their 9th day they want to go and stay at Arafat, it will be logical and wise to tell them not that their date is wrong, but that for the purposes of harmonizing the pilgrimage and carrying it out in unison, it it is better to align with the calendar of the organizing country. But it would be just out of a spirit of consensus and respect for the planning of the authorities organizing the pilgrimage, but not at all because there would be a scriptural reference (verse or hadith which settles the question). that for centuries and centuries, Muslims around the world have relied on their local determination of the crescent Moon to do their worship and other related celebrations. This traditional practice has not, to my knowledge, posed any problem on the "true day of Arafat" for the ulama, despite the fact that there have necessarily been differences in dates between those of Muslim communities in the rest of the world and those of Mecca, I am not saying of Saudi Arabia. In this context, suppose that we are "on the true day of Arafat" and that pilgrims are stationed in a place other than that of the space legally called Arafat, all the ulama will say that nothing that will be done there in terms of worship will be valid. Indeed, the criterion of the day is met but not that of “doing what is asked to do” in “Arafat space”. One can also ask the question of what to do if there are, for one reason or another, differences in dates on the first day of Zul Hijja, with regard to what is recommended to non-pilgrims during the 10 days of the month. In our humble opinion, the answer is to accept the temporal relativity of the "true day" of such and such an event of Muslim worship linked to the lunar calendar or to local times. As for the famous argument that says that Arafat is the day where the pilgrims stay in this eponymous place, the answer is to be sought from the Muslim principologists who tell us that the legal cause of the station at Arafat and the worship associated with it as well as the recommendation of fasting for non-pilgrims is dependent or conditioned by the advent of the 9th day of the month of Zul hijjah. Everything else is within the domain of the Ijthâd of those qualified in the matter and the points of view of each other on the subject.
Wise fatwas relegated to the background Anyone who follows and surveys the fatwas of contemporary ulema on this issue knows that most of them, including the Saudis, are of the opinion that Muslims follow their countries in these communal celebrations. The day when, as we have already said, there will be a consensus at the scale of the Umma, on the criteria for determining the lunar month, then the authorities who will have to organize the pilgrimage will set acceptable dates for all stakeholders. In our opinion, it is this same state of mind that we must also have in other countries. On this subject, and to conclude, we would like to recall this very instructive response from the late and former Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Ibn Baz, for our subject and which we mentioned in our book “Astronomy and Sharia”: “ Of the hadith, 'Fasting is the day you fast, breaking is the day you break, and sacrifice is the day you sacrifice', Tirmizy (famous and respected compiler and commentators of hadith) says the following: 'some people of know explained that this hadith means to fast and break with the community and the majority of people'. And San 'âny said in his work subulus salâm that this hadith indicates that it is required for the feast of the sacrifice, to do it in agreement with the people and that no one should isolate himself when he is the only one to see the crescent Moon, which determines the day of the sacrifice, he must be in agreement with the others in the performance of the prayer, the breaking and the sacrifice (…) Al hasan as-sanady said this in his commentary on the collection of Ibn Mâjah: 'What this hadith apparently gives us to understand is that this matter is exclusively for the authorities. No one should take an individual attitude about this. The decision on this is up to the Imam and the community, and individuals should follow the Imam and the community. This is how if an individual sees the crescent moon and the authority rejects his testimony, he should simply not decide anything apart, he should rather follow the community.' I say (this is Sheikh Ibn Baz who speaks) that this way of seeing corresponds to what the content of the aforementioned hadith suggests and finds support in that 'Aicha (wife of the prophet (Saws) relied on it to dissuade Masrouq. Indeed, the latter s refrained from fasting on the day of Arafat thinking that it could be the day of the sacrifice (note that the differences on this subject go back a long way) Aisha explained to him that he should not stick to his own point but that he had to come to terms with the community and she said, 'sacrifice is the day when people sacrifice and breaking up is the day when people break up'. Sheikh Ibn Baz who speaks) that this position corresponds well to the sharia which is flexible and tolerant and which aims to bring people together and distance them from all that, coming from individual points of view, leads to the disunity of communities . An individual's point of view cannot be a rule of sharia. Even if this individual point of view is right for the person who defends it, it is necessary to conform to the community in the acts of worship of the group such as fasting, festivals and collective prayer. "Ahmadou Makhtar KANTEImam, writer and speaker amakante@ gmail.com
1Abdul wahhab khallâf, “‘ilmu usûlil fiqh” (Foundations of Islamic law), Ed., Cairo, 1986, p.117
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