Message #18145

[N. Truth Seeker]

Subhan'Allah.     That was truly helpful.  Allah Almighty bless you and may Allah Almighty bless the sources that analyzed the essential points so thoroughly in accordance to Quranic values, and therefore logically. 

It's also interesting to note that the sources who clearly see vanilla extract as Halal are people who don't reject hadith.  I mean, if a Quran alone follower had written this, the mainstream who say "O! Quranists always write such things."  Nauzbillah!   This is what the world has come to when the highest degree of wisdom, that is, following the Quran alone is viewed as something derogatory by the mainstream 'Muslims' nowadays.  But here, it's their own hadith accepting folks who are confirming vanilla essence cannot be considered Haram because of the sort of reasons mainstream Muslims are hung up on.   And again, what I mean is, the sources of the opinions you cited are hadithists, though they are apparently more thoughtful and reasonable hadithists than mainstream at large.  For example, quoting a paragraph from the works of Abdul Rehman Lomax,  "Now, this is obvious to me: the sharia is revealed, the way, and al a’malu binniyah, actions are [judged] by intention.   And then those who want rules, apply what they have from the sharia and create rules, which get more and more complicated, because life is complicated, and these rules never cover all contingencies, and often are based on weak analogies, even misunderstanding of the situations being covered."     So very true, this is precisely what's happening in the hadith school.   Although the expression he used "Innamul amalu biniyyat" (actions depend on intentions) is from hadith which is one of those rare hadith statements which is compatible with Quranic values, he apparently does not accept the hadith institution blindly.  He obviously considers it necessary to analyze the decision of the jurists and deem them acceptable only if they comply with Quranic values without any conflicts.

Many thanks again Sister Ruhi.  I will need to print this thread for our next discussion session and take up this point again as it was left inconclusive the previous time.  Also need to send it around on email of many relatives and friends.