Only Allah can legislate Haraam and Halal

[salaam2011]

To Make Lawful and to Prohibit Is the Right of Allah Alone

Islam has restricted the authority to legislate the haram and the halal, taking it out of the hands of human beings, regardless of their religious or worldly position, and reserving it for the Lord of human beings alone. Neither priets, sheikhs, kings or sultans, have the right to prohibit something permanently to Allah's servants; if someone does this, he has certainly exceeded his limits, usurping the sovereignty which, with respect to legislating for the people, belongs to Allah alone.

Others who look to mortals to decree halal or haram are in troubled waters: Do they have partners (with Allah) who have prescribed for them in religion that concerning which Allah has given no permission? (42:21)
They have taken their rabbis and priests as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary, although they were commanded to worship no one except the One Allah. There is no Deity but He, glory be to Him above what they associate with Him! (9:31)

The Quran took to task the People of the Book, that is, Christians and Jews, for putting the power to make lawful and to prohibit things and actions into the hands of their rabbis and priests.
Christians still claim that Jesus (peace be on him), before ascending to heaven, vested in His apostles the authority to declare things permissible or prohibited as they saw fit, as reported in Matthew 18:18:
I tell you this: whatever you forbid on earth shallbe forbidden in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth shall be allowed in heaven.

The Qur'an also took the pto task for legislating and prohibiting things without any authority from Allah: Do you see what Allah has sent down to you for sustenance and yet you have made some part of it halal and some part haram? (10:59)

And do not say, concerning the falsehood which your tongues utter, 'This is halal and that is haram,' in order to fabricate a lie against Allah; assuredly those who fabricate a lie against Allah will not prosper. (16:116)

From these explicit verses of the Qur'an, the jurists of Islam grasped with certainty that it is Allah  alone Who has the right to make lawful or to prohibit a matter, either through His Book or through the tongue of His Messenger (peace be on him).

The jurists' task does not go beyond explaining what Allah has decreed to be halal or haram "when He has explained to you in detail what He has made haram for you." (6:119) It is definitely not their task to decide what is to be allowed and what is to be prohibited to human beings. Thus the great jurists, in spite of their scholarship and ability of ijtihad (deduction from analogy), shied away from pronouncing judgements concerning matters of halal and haram, passing the problem from one to the other out of fear of committing the error of declaring halal what is actually haram and vice-versa.

In his book Al-Umm, Imam Shafi'i narrated that Abu Yusuf, a companion of Abu Hanifah and a chief judge (qadi), said:

I know that our knowledgeable teachers avoided saying, 'This is halal and that is haram,' apart from what they found clearly stated without requiring an interpretation in the Book of Allah.

We have been told by Ibn al-Saib that al-Rabi' bin Khaytham, one of the greatest of the second generation Muslims, said, 'Beware that none of you says, "Allah has made this lawful or approves of it," and that Allah may then say that He did not make it lawful nor approve it, or that you say, "Allah has prohibited this," and that Allah may then say, "You lie! I did not prohibit it nor disapprove of it."

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when asked about some matter, would say, "I disapprove of it" or "It does not appeal to me," or "I do not like it" or "I do not prefer it."

This is a lesson to the followers of such imams who freely use the word "haram' without having a proof, or even a semblance of proof.
It has become a cliche nowdays to classify anything as haram without even knowing the implications of it. The Quran is clear on what is haram and halal and if we still ignore this fact then we shall we accountable for it on the day of judgement.

(Compiled through readings).

[Ruhi_Rose]

As-salam Alaykom brother Salaam.  Thanks for this fabulous post.  Our ummah needs this reminder more than food & water!  At present they declare just about anything they personally like or dislike as "Halal" or "Haram."  You have selected many verses of the Glorious Quran as evidence that such random declarations are by itself flatly Haram.  Yet when I pick up Sahih Bukhari or visit the "sunnah" or "hadith" sections of other forums, almost everything I come across consists of mass guessworks of "halal" and "haram."  From using perfume to wearing silk to putting on a gold ring to petting a puppy, you name it .. even though the Quran says nothing to prohibit 98% of the things they have declared as "Haram." 

Most importantly, Allah has repeatedly asserted in the Great Quran that His Final Message is the sole Criterion for judging right or wrong. And look what the Ummah has done to this commandment.  They have combined it with Hadith and Fiqh (which ensues from Hadith) and framed the Shariah.  If you ask our scholars how much of the Shariah comprises of the Quran, they will never give you a straight forward response.  They feel embarrassed to answer it because not more than 5% of the Shariah is from the Quran.  The rest are all from extra-Quranic sources.  I heard only one notable scholar (may Allah bless him for his honesty) acknowledge in a television lecture that 4% of Shariah consists of Quranic laws.  I have no doubt that he is right though I thought it was even less than 4%.  So, now the question is, where is the other 96% from?  Well, we know the answer .. we know where it's from.  This is the extent to which the Ummah has abandoned the Quran.  So, how can we expect them to refrain from hesitating to make their own declarations on halal and haram?  The followers of Shariah claim (with no fear of Allah in their hearts) that even if the Quran does not prohibit something but if Shariah disallows it, the verdict of the Quran is to be overlooked and the ruling of Shariah to be upheld.  Ya Allah!  count me not with such folks.  I only take my guidance from You alone.

I really like your post brother Salaam.  But your mention of our ulemas and scholars refraining from giving their own verdicts on "halal" and "haram" is not entirely authentic.  Indeed, there are some God fearing scholars who are careful and may Allah bless them.  But majority of them take plenty of delight in constructing their own brand of Islam away from the Quran by making their own lists of "yes" and "no."   It really saddens me 

[salaam2011]

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I really like your post brother Salaam.  But your mention of our ulemas and scholars refraining from giving their own verdicts on "halal" and "haram" is not entirely authentic.  Indeed, there are some God fearing scholars who are careful and may Allah bless them.  But majority of them take plenty of delight in constructing their own brand of Islam away from the Quran by making their own lists of "yes" and "no."   It really saddens me  [/font][/size]

Thanks Sister and WAS . I was speaking of the God fearing scholars/authors only. I believe that the Quran is only for those who fear Allah and will be useful for for such kind of people, for others Allah knows but I cannot see how it can benefit them as long as they dont develop the fear for Allah and know about His unmatched attributes.

[Ruhi_Rose]

WAS brother Salaam.  Yes, I understand what you stated brother.  I also had this in mind and so I mentioned that only the few God fearing ones are an exception, and they are a minority.   I'm sure a learned person like you would know that bulk of our so-called Sahih Ahadith contains many rulings not warranted or not even permitted by the Quran.  Yet, it is upheld by all jurists.  Even the 'truthful' ones haven't been bold enough to stand up and point at this sinful fallacy (obviously to avoid a fallout with the mainstream).  Thus, even if our few sincere scholars nurture the awareness of the truth in their hearts but if they don't uphold it publicly nor encourage their followers to observe it, their sincerity serves little or no practical purpose, right?   And thus, this aspect should be spelt out frankly otherwise the topic remains incomplete.

Quoting you: "the jurists of Islam grasped with certainty that it is Allah  alone Who has the right to make lawful or to prohibit a matter, either through His Book or through the tongue of His Messenger (peace be on him)."

Alhumdulilah, what you stated is absolutely correct as an important injunction of the Glorious Quran.  The ulemas / scholars also agree with it, but unfortunately only through lip-service, not practically.  Hence, this point needs to be underscored otherwise a newcomer could end up getting confused by the apparent contradiction in theory and practice.  This was my only point I wanted to bring out.  

[Zainab_M]

I'm reminded of a little story I witnessed in a forum I came across while browsing     There was this thread in which one brother was pretty agitated and glum over the crude hadiths peppered across the "sahih" collections, and he was almost howling that "these da'if ahadith must be removed."   The admin then jumped in, full of smiles, asking this disgruntled member casually, "why do you people hate da'if ahadith so much?"  lol!  It was yet another spectacular example of the Ummah's complacency over the culture of falsehood because they genuinely find nothing wrong with it.  Allah, The Almighty, has made it clear in His Final Message that He guides only those who think and reflect, i.e. those who reach out to Him and seek the truth.  Is it any surprise that misguidance is getting a lot more widespread in our Ummah compared to guidance? 

Btw, "daif ahadith" refer to the really terrible narrations which even rocked many of our scholars with shock who are generally quite comfortable with lies.  Yet these daif ones are cosily tucked up within the collections called "sahih" and 'sahih' means 'correct' or 'true.'   *sigh*

[Ruhi_Rose]

   hahaaha ,, frankly, in the staunchly misogynistic circles, daif hadiths are actually quite popular, let alone being condemned or trashed.