How the Prophet Teaches Us What's Obligatory
Understanding the Structure of Fiqh Books: The Methodology of Islamic Jurisprudence Through Wudu
Summary
This lecture discusses the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence books, specifically examining how scholars traditionally structure their works following the pattern established by al-Bukhari's Sahih. Sh. Ali Mashhour uses wudu (ablution) as a detailed case study, explaining how fiqh books present the ideal form of worship first, then break it down into categories: conditions, pillars, obligations, sunnahs, and nullifiers. The lecture emphasizes the six obligations of wudu and demonstrates how Quranic verses are interpreted through the Prophet's consistent practice, using the example of washing the mouth and nose to show how the Prophet's actions—when performed consistently without exception—establish obligatory rulings.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
But, one of the very important things to learn from a book this is the way that the scholars traditionally set up their books, the order that they put their books in. And most of the books of fiqh follow the general method that al-Bukhari rahimahullah set up his Sahih. And so, the way that the author set this up and the way that most of the scholars set this up is that, for instance, wudu. He will begin with mentioning the ruling on wudu, right? That it is obligatory, that it is you know, rafa' al-hadath is one of the conditions of salah, etc. And then he goes into mentioning the ideal wudu. what is the most complete form of this wudu that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made? And since this book has very little commentary and is mostly just the ruling and its evidence, the ruling and its evidence, the ruling and its evidence, he mentions the narration of Uthman, radiyallahu anhu, which is cited as the most It's the most widely cited narration when mentioning or painting a picture of the most idyllic wudu of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And so, that's going to tell us what the best wudu is. It doesn't distinguish in that part when we are mentioning the idyllic version of whatever the act of worship is in this case will do. It won't He won't distinguish between that which is a sunnah, that which is a condition, that which is obligatory, that which is mustahab. He doesn't make that distinction. He's saying this is the most ideal wudu. This is how the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made it in the most complete and ideal fashion. Then he begins to break down the wudu into the general categorizations that the scholars have traditionally used. Conditions, pillars, obligations, , sunan, or that which is mustahab, that which is preferable, and then goes into its opposites. So, those things which break a person's wudu, nullifiers of wudu, mawani' al-wudu, etc. And so in this case he mentions the narration of Uthman. And then he mentions the conditions of wudu. And we mentioned that of these three conditions that he mentioned, the strongest of them, which have all been agreed on, is an-niyyah, is intention. And then he mentions at-tasmiyah wal-muwalat. At-tasmiyah saying bismillah. This is obligatory ma' adh-dhikr, if a person remembers. And then muwalat is actually part of the obligations of wudu. And we mentioned that wudu has how many obligations? Six. Six obligations. The first is washing the face entirely, including the mouth and nose. Number two, the hands and arms to include the elbows. Number three, wiping over the head to include the ears. Number four, the feet to include the ankles. Number five, succession that this be made successively all together. And number six, that this be made in this order. It has to be made in this order, which we will get into inshallah ta'ala. So, the author then starts with The obligations of wudu, and we mentioned yesterday why the scholars traditionally count these as obligations and not as pillars. So, he says The first is washing the face to include the mouth and nose. When we look at the verse in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't mention the mouth and nose in a specific sense. He said He says, "Wash your faces." This is what he begins with. However, we know that this verse includes the mouth and nose. So, if we were to say, "What is the definition of the face in this context in the Quran?" We would say it is the face to include the mouth and nose. How do we know that? Well, when we look at the sunnah and we gather all of the narrations that mention the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam washing his face for wudu, we find that he has never failed to to do the mouth and nose with his face, ever. Ever. He was never narrated explicitly to have made wudu without the mouth and nose. So, what do we understand this to mean? We understand that he understood that when Allah said, "Wash your faces," it was to include what? The mouth and the nose.
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So, if someone were to say it's not mentioned in the Quran, incorrect. It is. The Prophet understood it to be mentioned in the Quran. And we have a principle that this has to work on, and that is that how does the Prophet communicate to us and in turn fulfill the commands of Allah? How does he communicate to us that something is not obligatory? Well, sometimes he will just say it's not obligatory. For instance, a man asked him about fasting in travel. He said, "If you want to fast, fast, and if you don't want to, you don't have to." This articulates very clearly that it's not obligatory. But in other more subtle ways is that he will not do it on occasion, at least once. Something is is mustahab, it's not obligatory. At least once in his fulfillment of this command. He will not do it. Why? To articulate that it is mustahab. So for instance, sujud at tilawa. Making sujud for the verses of sujud in the Quran. We have most of the time 90% of the time if he recites a verse that has a sajdah in it or he is listening to someone, listening, not hearing, listening to someone reciting a verse that has a tilawa that has a sajdah in it, he would make sujud. But then he has some instances where he would not make sujud. For instance, it is not the sunnah to make sujud in reciting Surah as-Sajdah on the Fajr salah of Jumu'. In the Fajr salah of Jumu', usually he would recite in the first rak' Surah as-Sajdah. And in the second rak' Surah al-Insan. However, he was never narrated to have made sujud during that salah. And there's other instances as well. Iqra Surah al-Inshiqaq fil Isha wal yasjud ila akhirih. There are a number of incidents where he would recite Surah as-Sajdah or a sajdah and not make sujud. What does this articulate? It articulates that this is not obligatory. This is mustahab. So, if al-madmada wal-istinshaq if the mouth and nose were obligatory, we would have to have at least what? At least one instance where he made wudu without making al-madmada wal-istinshaq for us to come to the conclusion that it is what? Mustahab. Because many of us have heard the principle that is the actions of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, not his words, his actions, they do not articulate obligation.
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This is a point that many don't know about this principle, and that is that the scholars of fiqh generally agree that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam's actions alone do not articulate obligation. If he does something and he's observed doing it and he doesn't command it, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's obligatory for us to do it. Right? for instance, kissing the black stone when a person makes tawaf. He did it. And in other narrations, he commanded it be done, but we know that it's not obligatory. Right? Because we have other evidences where this wasn't done. However, this doesn't mean that if he does something and every time he does it, he does it this way and never fails to do it except in this way, this does articulate obligation. Meaning in every time, how many years did he make wudu? I mean, over a decade, right? Of making wudu. Making wudu in travel, in residence, in sick, healthy, right? Never once was he narrated to have made wudu and failed to make and failed to rinse his mouth and nose. Never one time in all those years. What do we surmise from this? What do we conclude from this? That is part of wudu. It's obligatory. Just he never failed to wash his face, or he never failed to wash his arms, or he never failed to wipe over his head, or he never failed to wash his feet, or he never made wudu out of order. The order that's mentioned in the Quran. Or he never made wudu in parts. Right? Wash his face at home and then wash his arms an hour later and then wash wipe over his head half an hour later and then wash his feet an hour later. This never happened. So, this means what? That these things are a part of wudu, an integral part of wudu. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
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