Reference to the primary sources of Islam necessitates expertise where the vital ones amongst them consists of the following:-
(a) Expertise in the recognition of the Arabic language during the era of the revelation of the holy Quran.
(b) Expertise in the knowledge of narrators of hadith.
(c) Expertise in «Ilme-Usul-e-Fiqh» (methodology of Jurisprudence)
(d) Engaging in the above instances under the care of jurists and experts of sciences - In other words, taking a course in seminary lectures. Acquaintance with the Arabic language for perceiving the following matters from the Quran:
(i) Existence of a Creator and His «Tauheed» (Monotheism)
(ii) Prophethood of the Prophets - from Adam to the last of the Prophets and the incumbency of their obedience.
(iii) Resurrection - Reward and punishment.
(iv) General acquaintance with the Islamic commandments.
However, knowledge about the Divine Attributes, the Attributes of the Prophets, description of the Day of Judgement, creation of the heavens and the earth and similarly the manner of acting upon the Islamic commandments should be learnt from the Prophet through the very primary sources (hadith and seerah) which in these circumstances necessitates the possession of the above-mentioned skills.
The most vital condition for reference to the Quran and the primary Islamic sources is that one should not possess a pre-planned opinion so as to establish an evidence from the Quran and hadith for one's claim. Otherwise it would amount to interpretation by opinion and will invite the Divine Wrath.
Aside from what we mentioned before, we were and still are entangled in other problems at the moment such as: Amusing interpretation by opinion by those unacquainted with the Arabic language; reference to the Quran and interpretation by opinion by inexpert persons and the silence of the learned scholars; the encouragement of these inexperts by others and assassination of those who wished to clarify these heresies. All these gave an official status to this work so much so that deviated groups like Furqan and Mujahideen-e-Khalq succeeded in firstly acquainting the youths with the European-gifted Islam and then interpreting the Quran by opinion and later killing them in groups in the houses and killing whomsoever they desired by the hands of these very deceived ones.
On the other hand, it was the campaign by some of the inexperts against these actions and the propagation and print of unknown and superstitious writings accompanied with exaggeration that afford an opportunity to those who wanted to accuse the Shias of heresy.
Does there exist any remedy for these pains?
Verily, the remedy for all the pains related to the Islamic societies lie in taking measures to act upon the instructions of their Prophet who said:
[Arabic text]
In the future discussions, we shall by the Will and Power of Allah, resort to the examination of the Holy Prophet's traditions (S.A.W.A.) in this regard and then stick to the main topic which is «the role of Imams in the revival of religion.»
390- Sahih Tirmidhi (13/201) Osd-ul-Ghaba - In the Biography of Imam Hassan (A.S.),
Durrul-Manthur of Suyuti in interpretation of the verse [Arabic text] in sura Shura.
Similarly, in another tradition with the same contents in Mustadrak as-Sahihain (3/109),
Khasa'es-Nesa'ee (Pg. 30), Musnad-Ahmad (3/17), Tabaqaat-Ibne Sa'ad (2/2), Majmah
az-Zawa'ed (9/163) and Kanz-ul-Ummal (1/47, 48 & 49).
THE END