What Islam Looked Like Before All the Rules | Nouman Ali Khan

The Foundation vs. The Building

The only message of change in Surah Ar-Rahman is that's what brought Mecca to its knees, the Quraysh to their knees. This is what they could not tolerate. You get two extremes among Muslims today.

You get Muslims that are obsessed with the rules and they basically have no regard for principles. Like the technicalities of the beard, very well understood. The difference of opinion among the Fuqaha on how long the beard should be, on how high the pants should be, and what kind of haircut is allowed, what kind of haircut is not allowed.

They can discuss that to ends of the earth, the technical details. No regard for what? And you can see it. You can see there's no regard for the principles.

And then there's the extreme opposite reaction. The extreme opposite reaction is Islam is just principles. These rules are useless. So long as you're following the principles, good job.

The Meccan Period: Principles First

Allah gave the Qur'an to this world over a course of 23 years. And the majority of the Surahs that were revealed to the Prophet ﷺ were revealed to him in Mecca.

So two thirds of the Qur'an was given to him in Mecca. And the last one third of the Qur'an was given to the Prophet ﷺ in Medina. Now, in Mecca, the message of Islam looked very different practically than the message of Islam in Medina.

The message of Islam in Mecca did not have anything to do, for the most part, it did not have to do with details about how to slaughter an animal. It had nothing to do with performing Hajj. It had nothing to do with fasting in Ramadan.

It had nothing to do with clothing guidelines. It had nothing to do with inheritance laws. So many of the things that you think when someone is Muslim and someone's Islamic, and someone's observing their religion, none of those things were there for 13 years in Mecca.

So if you were a Muslim, or you accepted Islam in Mecca, and then you died before hijrah happened, and the only Islam you knew was the Islam of Mecca, then your Islam would look very different than the Islam that we see in front of us today.

The Message of Surah Ar-Rahman

Another important thing that Allah gave the message of the Quran unified by surahs. So Surah Al-Asr is a message. Surah Al-Fatihah is a message. Surah Ar-Rahman is a message. These are all packaged messages from Allah.

Allah calls them Risalat-e-Rabbi. The Prophet ﷺ is told to say, these are messages of my master. And a message is a complete unit. It has a beginning, middle, and end, and it's one full concept, a full idea.

Now, I want you to use your imagination, and I want you to analyze this with me. Let's take the example of, say, Surah Ar-Rahman. And I recited some ayat of Surah Ar-Rahman to you in the beginning. It's a longer, relatively longer Meccan surah. It's not very small, and it deals with many subjects.

It talks about the favors of Allah. It talks about Judgment Day. It talks about the description of Jahannam. It talks about the two different pairs of gardens in Jannah. So it's got many subjects.

But if you ask practically, so Allah described people of Jahannam, and Allah described people of Jannah. But in this message, Surah Ar-Rahman, what does he want from people? If somebody only heard Surah Ar-Rahman, that's the only Islam, and it's very possible, by the way, if you lived in Mecca, that you didn't hear the whole Qur'an, you only heard some of it.

Like, for example, the jinn only heard a little bit of Qur'an, and then they reacted. That's in Surah Al-Ahqaf, also in Surah Al-Jinn.

So if you only heard Surah Ar-Rahman, then you would say, okay, some people are going to be in trouble on Judgment Day, and some people are going to be - whoever was afraid that they're going to stand in front of their Rabb, there's going to be a trial. Whoever is afraid of that trial is going to get two gardens. That's the message of Surah Ar-Rahman.

But, okay, fine, I'm afraid, what do you want me to do? What do you need me to do, practically? What do I need to change? The only message of change in Surah Ar-Rahman is:

Don't be corrupt when it comes to the scale. Don't be corrupt in the scale. Establish the scale with justice. And don't shortchange in the scale.

The Broader Concept of Mizan

What is, simply, if somebody heard لَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ? You know what they would think? They would think, okay, if I sell rice, and I'm going to put the weight on one side and rice on the other, if I just cheat just a little bit, give my customer maybe 5% less, nobody will notice, right? This is لَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ.

But مِيزَان is a broader concept. I owe money to someone, that's part of مِيزَان, I better pay it back. I did something wrong, I damaged somebody's property, I have to pay repairs, or I have to undo the damage, this is also part of مِيزَان.

You know, there's a crime that's happened, justice has to be served, that's also مِيزَان. You know, every court system in the world, they have a scale as their symbol, because مِيزَان means justice, to balance things out.

And to a hundred different people listening to this, they have to think about where the مِيزَان is messed up in their life, right? It's not, not everybody has the same problem, not everybody has to weigh the same things, so everybody has to figure out their own مِيزَان.

But Allah did not give specific instructions about, when you are running a business, do this, and when you are in government, do this, and when you are a student, do this, and when you are an employee, do this. He didn't, he just said:

The First Muslims - As-Sabiqun Al-Awwalun

What was the Qur'an telling people two-thirds of the time? Thirteen years, and the people who followed that, you know what Allah called them?

Those are the first people, they are the ones that are the closest to Allah. They're the closest ones to Allah.

Now imagine, Allah is talking about men and women that are the closest to Allah, and they still, for the most of that time, they still don't fast in Ramadan. They still, they've never gone to hajj. They're not even thinking about hajj.

They haven't observed majority of the dietary laws. In fact, they're not, even alcohol is not haram for them yet. That's later. Even alcohol is not haram for them. And they're being called what? السَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ أُولَٰئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ.

What is so special about them?

What Made the Quraysh Hate Islam?

Nowadays, I live in America, there are people who live in Europe, other places where Muslims are a minority. When they see somebody praying, they go crazy. When they see a woman in hijab, they go crazy. They start getting offended.

The problem is in Mecca, what did you see that made you crazy? You didn't see a woman in hijab. You didn't see someone making salah in the street. You didn't see that.

You didn't say, oh, I hate these people with a beard. Everybody had a beard in Mecca. You didn't see everybody, oh, this guy is wearing a turban and a thobe. Abu Jahl was wearing a turban and a thobe. They were dressed the same way.

Oh, this guy is speaking Arabic. Everybody was speaking Arabic. If one of you went back in a time machine, went back to Mecca, and you didn't know any Arabic, and you were sitting next to Abu Jahl, you'd think this is a sheikh. You wouldn't know. Because he's dressed in Arab clothes, and he's speaking beautiful Arabic.

My point is, we know that the Quraysh hated Islam. So much so that they were ready to kill the Prophet ﷺ. They were ready to torture the Sahaba.

Over what? What was so revolutionary? What was so problematic? Mizan. It was a sense of justice. That's what brought Mecca to its knees. The Quraysh to their knees. This is what they could not tolerate. They couldn't tolerate it.

Principles vs. Rules: Understanding the Difference

Now, the thing is, this is not a rule. It's basically a principle. And a principle means that if you're a doctor, the principle applies to you. If you're a son, the principle applies to you. If you're a father, the principle applies to you. The principle applies to everyone.

The thing about a hukm, a rule, like fasting. That fasting applies to someone who is healthy. Fasting applies to someone who is old enough. There are rules. Inheritance applies in one situation. Does not apply in another situation. There are rules. Hajj is mandatory in some situations. It's not mandatory in other situations.

But principles are always applicable. There's not sometimes they're applicable, sometimes they're not applicable. They're always applicable.

And you have, you know, instead of looking for a fatwa, you and I, the human beings, not even believers, human beings were being told by the early Qur'an, you have the ability to figure out how to apply the principle of mizan in your life. I don't have to give you the details. You have aql. They should think for themselves. Figure it out yourself.

This was the early message of Islam. This was the foundation of Islam.

The Medinan Period: Rules Built on Principles

Now, fast forward. We come to Medina. Allah starts revealing ahkam. Allah gave us the technicalities of wudu, for example. He gave us the technicalities of inheritance law. He gave us detailed instructions about divorce law. He gave us the rules for fighting in the path of Allah. The rules for zakat. The rules, the rules, the rules, the rules. Things became very specific.

So specific that in the history of Islam, the most elaborate subject is fiqh. Why? Because it's a technical understanding of the rules. The madhahib, even more than al-madhahib al-arba'a. What are they? Just technical understanding, which is very different from the principles.

What I'm trying to tell you is those 13 years were not technical. But now things are becoming more and more technical. And of course, now you have to observe the rules because the rules have been revealed.

The Prophet's Final Speech

So I'm going to fast forward. We're going to go to almost the end of the seerah of the Rasul of Allah ﷺ. And he's giving hajjat al-wada'a. He's giving his final speech ﷺ. And there are a few statements like:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3461)

The one who is here should tell someone who is not here. And he said, communicate even if it's one ayah. Communicate even if it's one ayah.

Now let's think about that. There are some people on that day when he was giving that speech ﷺ, there were some people that have been learning Islam from him from the beginning. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq is sitting there. Umar ibn al-Khattab is there. Zubayr ibn al-Awwam is there. There are sahaba that have been with him almost the whole time.

Then there are the majority of the people.

Huge numbers of people. I will call them the 99%. 99% of the people in that gathering are not trained for many years by the Prophet ﷺ. Some of them are Muslim for one week. Some of them are Muslim for one month. Some of them are Muslim for 24 hours. That's the majority.

That's the majority of the crowd that is in front of the Prophet ﷺ in his last speech. The minority is the close sahaba. The majority are basically new Muslims, fresh.

What is he telling them? Go, give, even if it's what? One ayah. How are they going to give? They're only Muslim for a week. They're only Muslim for 24 hours. They haven't been learning the Prophet ﷺ's teachings for so many years. And it's not a long speech. It's a very short speech. There are different narrations of it. It's a short speech.

And when that speech is over, they're all going to go. And this is the message that they heard: بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةٍ.

The Cycle of Principles and Rules

You know what this is? This is the cycle starting again. Meaning those people will go and they will share very little of the Qur'an. But that little of the Qur'an, it won't necessarily have the rules, but it will have the principles.

Because there is no page of the Qur'an without principles. There are many pages of the Qur'an without rules. But there's no ayah of the Qur'an without principles. Principles will spread. Principles will spread.

Because the principles are the foundation, and the rules are the building that sits on top of that foundation.

What did Allah tell us about Bani Israel? They became obsessed with the rules, and they had no respect for the principles. No respect for the values. No respect for Meezan. This was the foundational message.

And then when those people learn the principles, then of course eventually they will learn the rules, and then they will apply the rules properly.

The Foundation Metaphor

What did, you know, just like in construction, what's the more important thing? The building or the foundation? The foundation. Then you can't build a building if you don't build the foundation.

And if you haven't been taking care of the foundation, and the foundation keeps getting weaker and weaker, and you keep doing a new paint job on the building, and you keep adding new windows, and adding new doors, the whole thing is going to collapse.

If the wall keeps having a crack, and you fix it and it has a crack again, and you fix it and it has a crack again, the problem isn't in the wall. The problem is in the foundation.

Our deen was giving us a message about the importance of reinforcing, and reinforcing, and reinforcing the foundation with, بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةٍ.

That means, there were sahaba that were very mature. They understand all of the ahkam. They're like Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma. There are sahaba that can do tafsir of the Qur'an. There are those sahaba.

And then there are those sahaba who are one month Muslim, baby Muslims. And each one of them has their own responsibility. The one that's starting out, they have a journey to take. The one that's ahead, they have a journey to take. But one thing they all have in common is the principles. That's actually what they have in common.

Two Dangerous Extremes

The reason I think this is so important to share is because you get two extremes among Muslims today. You get Muslims that are obsessed with the rules, and they basically have no regard for principles.

But they live by the rules. Like the technicalities of the beard, very well understood. The difference of opinion among the fuqaha on how long the beard should be, on how high the pants should be, and what kind of haircut is allowed, what kind of haircut is not allowed, what did Imam Malik say, what Imam Shafi'i said, what Abu Hanifa said, rahimahullah, etc, etc.

They can discuss that to ends of the earth. The technical details. No regard for what? And you can see it. You can see there's no regard for the principles.

And then there's the extreme opposite reaction. The extreme opposite reaction is Islam is just principles, these rules are useless. So long as you're following the principles, good job.

The rules are, these people, they're so obsessed with the rules, look at them, they don't follow any principles. So what happens is, the people of principles say, we don't need the rules, and the people of rules say, we don't need the principles.

The Quran gave us the principles, and on top of them, built the rules. It's not enough to build a foundation. What's the point of a foundation if you don't have a building? You have to have the rules. But you can't have the rules without the foundation. This is a whole picture.

Avoiding False Dichotomies

So when someone hears me talk about this, immediately, the mind is much more intelligent than the comment section in a social media post. If this was a social media post, immediately, are you saying Sharia is not important? Are you saying we don't have to follow the rules? Liberal. Progressive. This is the mind.

Why? Because you have to be on this team, or you have to be on that team. And you know what gets ignored when we do that? Quran gets ignored. The Quran itself gets ignored.

There are some people who are starting their journey, right now they don't need the rules. Right now they need the principles. There are people that are already very familiar with the rules. They're very familiar. Even they need a reinforcement of bringing back the principles onto the rules. Because you can end up just with rules and no principles behind them. No life behind them.

Reaching the Next Generation

This is an extremely important discussion also for the next generation. There are lots of youth that say, I don't know Islam. I don't know about these rules, man. Everything is haram. And these guys make life difficult. Everything is just rules, rules, rules.

My problem with Islam is the rules. Why do they have these rules for women? Why do they have these rules for zakat? Why do you have to have these rules for prayer? Why do you have these rules for food? Why do you have these rules for alcohol? Etc, etc. I don't like these rules. I want to be free.

You know what? Good. You should have a problem with the rules. You should. Because even Aisha said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4993)

If the first thing that came in the Qur'an was don't drink alcohol, we would have said, Wallahi, we will never leave alcohol.

Don't give me the rules first because the rules are not convincing. You know what's convincing? The principles are convincing. When you are convinced of the principles, then nobody has to convince you of the rules. No one has to convince you of the rules.

The Da'wah Approach

The conversation about Islam with those who are loose in their Islam, those who are not sure about their Islam, those who are walking away from Islam, the conversation with them doesn't need to be about the rules. The conversation with them needs to be about the principles.

And you know what? Every time you talk to them about the principles and it touches them, they say, What about the rules? I don't like that rule. Let's talk about the rule instead. You know? Because when a person gets cornered, then they find a way to escape the conversation.

But any one of you, especially the youth that are engaged in da'wah, you know friends that talk about the rules. You know friends that say, This rule doesn't make sense. That doesn't... And you fall into that conversation and start defending the rule this way or that way or the other way.

The hikmah of the rules will be understood by those who respect the rules. If you don't respect the rules, doesn't matter how much you explain the logic of them and the explanation of them, and it will make a difference. Because you're trying to build this building with no foundation.

Returning to the Foundation

This is why the early Quran has to be understood first properly. How do you communicate the principles of this religion? How do you communicate them? And once we are effectively able to do that, I am telling you, even if the people are, you know, they know very little about the rules.

They are on a journey of obeying Allah that Allah wanted for them. Rasulullah ﷺ in his last speech did not give them a detailed explanation of the rules. He gave them some fundamental principles because that's the starting point.

We have to come back to the starting point. May Allah make us a generation that helps our fellow brothers and sisters and even non-Muslims come back to that foundation on which this beautiful religion is built.

May Allah bless you with the Qur'an and help me and you with the verses of the Qur'an. But its impact may last a lifetime. I want you to help me, help them and give the gift of Bayyinah TV today.