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Ya Rabb, what can I say about the faqih, ustadh and da�wah carrier, Abdul Ghaffar Abu Ibrahim al-Hanafi who left this world today.
He reminded me of Your Kitab and the Sunnah of your beloved Messenger every time I was in his company. Ya Rabb, grant him al-Firdous for many will testify to his persistence on sticking to the details of your shariah, his tawaasi (calling) to the truth, his enjoining of the good and forbidding the evil. Indeed his death is as Umar bin al-Khattab mentioned:
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�The death of one thousand worshippers who pray at night and worship in the day is less serious than the death of one intelligent knower (baseer) of the halal and haram of Allah.�
In every one of our discussions I learnt so much from him, his concern and love for the deen truly made one aspire to better himself. Even in the state of illness he was concerned about the law of Allah and truly reminded me of the example of one of the great Imams he respected, Qadi Abu Yusuf al-Hanafi. I want to share the example of what happened when I was with him a few days before his departure from this world. His wife mentioned how he was asking for me and had been mentioning an answer about the fiqh of Ijara (hiring) of the employee by the noble Sheikh Ata� Abu Rashta that I had sent to him earlier whilst he was in hospital. This man whom I loved for the sake of Allah was coming in and out of consciousness, when he opened his eyes I asked him whether he received Sheikh Ata�s answer, he replied that he had read it but wanted to read the exact question that was sent to the Sheikh as well. This is the mindset of Taqwa, as Umar bin al-Khattab said, �being cautious and meticulous in the deen of Allah�. After this my beloved friend, teacher and brother fell back to sleep.
This reminded me of the example Qadi Abu Yusuf al-Hanafi (died 182 AH) whom Abdul Ghaffar used to respect greatly. Qadi Abu Yusuf�s student al-Qadi Ibrahim ibn al-Jarrah al-Kufi, later al-Misri said: �Abu Yusuf became ill, so I went to visit him, and found him unconscious. When he regained consciousness he said to me: �O Ibrahim, what is your opinion on this matter?� I said to him: �While you are in this state?� He said: �That is fine, let us discuss it, perhaps one may be saved by it.� Then he said: �O Ibrahim, which is better in the casting of stones [during pilgrimage], to do so while walking or while mounted?� I said: �Mounted.� He said: Wrong.� I said: �Walking.� He said: �Wrong.� I said: �Say your opinion, may Allah be pleased with you.� He said: �As for the case where one stops where one should make supplication, then it is better to do so while walking, but if it is elsewhere then it is better while mounted.� Then I left him, as soon as I reached the door of his house, I heard crying, and he died, may Allah have mercy on him.
Abdul Ghaffar also ate for the first time in two days when I was with him, before he was about to eat the fruit his character and adab made me feel embarrassed about myself as he first offered me the food. In his absence there is a void that is difficult to fill.
There are some other examples I want to share about him. Everyone who knew him well will remember his love for Islamic books, even when in hospital a few weeks he asked me to bring him the translation of the new edition of the book Mafahim Siyasiya (Political Concepts). I have never met anyone in my life with as vast of a collection as he had. His house was like a library covered wall to wall with books, he had informed me that there were more he had to put in storage as there was not enough space to fit them. The amazing thing was not only his collection of books but that he was well acquainted with them as he used to read widely. Often during a discussion would refer to particular books and sometimes then show the quotations.
He was very learned, some are not aware that academically he gained a bachelors degree in Economics and also a degree in Arabic language from a prestigious institute, he also travelled to Syria to further his knowledge of Arabic. The knowledgeable brother had also studied various works like the Hanafi fiqh manual al-Mukhtasar by Imam Quduri with Ulema.
The Ustadh although generally Hanafi in fiqh was fond of the works of Imam al-Ghazali al-Shafi�, he revised the translation of some of his works and published them such as:
He also recently published, particularly for the students of this book, a limited edition of the first volume of Shaksiyya Islamiyya (The Islamic Personality) by Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani whom he highly regarded and whose Ijtihad on the methodology to resume the Islamic way of life through re-establishing the Khilafah he followed.
The following hadith springs to mind when thinking about our beloved brother:
Huzayfah b. al-Yamaan (ra)narrated the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:}??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ????? ?????. {
�The excess of �Ilm (knowledge) is better than the excess of �Ibaadah (worship), and the best of your religion is the wara� (piety, self restrain).� [Reported by at-Tabarani, al-Bazzaar. Al-Mundhiri said the isnad is hasan.]
There are a number of examples of his wara� and avoiding of the shubuhat (doubtful matters) that struck me:
He would be very careful of eating or drinking from anything that had a shubhaof being haram, he informed me that he did not eat at any take-away such as KFC which displays a halal sign but has gained a certificate from the Halal Food Authority (HFA). As he explained that they use the method of stunning chickens in which up to thirty percent of them die and the machine cuts them following this, thus as he put it, �you could be eating maytah (carrion)�.
Once when he was in hospital I had bought him a Rubicon juice drink which doesn�t have anything haram mentioned in its ingredients listed on the carton. However, he informed me that he would not drink it as it had been verified by Rubicon that the particular juice had small trace elements of alcohol, I later read their statement on their website.
He was very careful in financial transactions not to even fall into the shubuhat. I once inquired from him as to why he didn�t purchase a particular book through using Paypal, the online payments facility he explained that in mind it was an issue of shubha even though other scholars have permitted it. This reminds me of the following narrations:
Abu Tha�labah al-Khushani (ra) narrated: I said: O Messenger of Allah. Tell me what is halal for me and what is haram for me. He (saw) said:
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�Virtue is that which the soul enjoys repose and the heart feels tranquillity regarding it. Sin is that which the soul does not enjoy repose and the heart does not feel tranquillity regarding it, whatever fatwas people may give you�.Al-Hasan son of �Ali (may Allah be please with them both) said: }?? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?????. {
�Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt.� [Reported by at-Tirmidhi who said the hadith is hasan sahih. Also reported by an-Nasaa�i and Ibn Hibbaan in his Sahih.]
�Atiyyah b. �Urwah as-Sa�di (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:}?? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????? ??? ?? ???.{
�No one can achieve the height of piety till he forsakes those practices in which there is no sin merely to guard himself against those which have sin in them.� [Reported by al-Hakim who said the hadith is sound and adh-Dhahabi agreed.]
Ya Allah include him in what was mentioned by your Messenger (saw): �He whom death overtakes while engaged in acquiring knowledge with a view to reviving Islam with the help of it, there will be one degree between him and the Prophets in paradise.� [Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 249, narrated by Al-Hasan al-Basri, Transmitted by Darimi]
Abu Ismael al-Beirawi
15 Dhul-Qa`dah, 1433
1st October 2012
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