In our previous article, we talked about Dr. Muhammad Al-Bahi's reliance in his fatwas on the human sciences, and how he took them as evidence to support the textual evidence, whether in prohibition or permissibility, and how he interprets some religious texts with the usual mechanisms of interpretation of scholars, and added to them by relying on the humanities in interpreting some texts.
This reliance was not lost on Sheikh Al-Bahi in most of his fatwas, whether the fatwas are related to faith, traditions, or social issues such as marriage, divorce, work, and others, and we address in this article the impact of the human sciences in his fatwas related to faith.
Al-Bahi called the fatwas of faith the title: "On the circle of divinity and religious duties", and he had previously issued a new book that was not previously entitled, namely: The Divine Aspect of Islamic Thinking, and this meant dealing with philosophy and philosophers of the Department of Theology, and what is related to the existence of God Almighty.
God's account of man for his disbelief or for his guidance and faith because he responded by choosing faith. Or because he did not respond by choice and remained unbelievers and misguided, he has a will in both cases, next to the will of God Almighty
Fate and destiny and the will of God and man
One of the most problematic doctrinal issues, and questions, in our modern era and before, is the issue of fate and destiny, and does man have a will in what God Almighty wanted, or is he forced to do it, and he has no choice in it, and how does the will of God and his servant meet in an action? Al-Bahi answered this question in more than one place in his book: (The opinion of religion between the questioner and the respondent), sometimes in detail, and sometimes briefly, and in both answers his phrases were not without clarity and persuasion.
Explaining how God created man, Al-Bahi says: "God Almighty created man in a special situation. He created it from the body, and from the mind. He created him from a body that is ensured by instincts, which are the sources of lust and passion in man, and he created him from a mind that is taken care of by his hearing, sight and perception.
He made between the two parties in the structure or nature of man a hidden conflict. While instincts drive man unconsciously, then the mind tries to stop the rush of instincts and tries to direct them. Man therefore has the source of movement, which is instincts. The source of leadership and direction is the mind or cognition. And the stronger the instincts, the harder the task of the mind. The conflict between the two sides was more intense.
If man has self-leadership, represented by the mind, he has will and choice, and will is the distinctive phenomenon of man. Man is therefore the owner of will, choice, and will, as he is the owner of self-movement, who seeks on earth, contemplates the creation of the heavens and the earth, and chooses the path that pleases him: "Whoever Allah wants to guide will explain his chest to Islam, and whoever wants to lead him astray will make his chest narrow and awkward as if he were ascending in heaven. God also makes abomination against those who do not believe" (al-An'am: 125).
Al-Bahi then explains the difference between the will of God and the will of man, and in what space they meet or separate, saying: "God has a will in the believer's faith and in his delusion. Man also has a choice in his faith and in his delusion, but the will of God is to help those who are guided by his will to accomplish his guidance by explaining his chest to Islam: "Whoever God wants to guide him will explain his chest to Islam.." As for man's will, it is in his fulfillment of guidance in the light of God's openness to it.
As for God's will in misleading those who disbelieve, it is to make his chest narrow and awkward: "Whoever wants to lead him astray makes his chest narrow and awkward, as if he were ascending in heaven." The will of the disbeliever for his disbelief is to narrow his chest with what remembers God and not see the radiance of His guidance, so he remains in the darkness of misguidance and confusion.
And God's judgment of man for his disbelief or for his guidance and faith because he responded by choosing faith. Or because he did not respond by choice and remained unbelievers and misguided, he has a will in both cases, besides the will of God Almighty."
Quran therapy from disturbing dreams
Al-Bahi was asked about a middle school student who forgets a lot, and dreams disturbing dreams even though he reads Quranic verses before bed, what should he do?
The time of Al-Bahi's question, what was known as Qur'an therapy, has spread, so Al-Bahi indicated that the first function of the Qur'an is to guide people to the straight path in behavior, which is to avoid people deviating from their transactions, actions, and attitudes. The Almighty said: "This Qur'an guides the one who is the most righteous and announces to the believers who do good deeds that they have a great reward. and that those who do not believe in the hereafter have been inflicted a painful punishment on them" (Isra'a: 9-10).
It is not one of the goals of the Qur'an to take prevention from organic disease, or treatment of a defect in the organic organs of the body, yes has spoken the Book of God described itself as healing, in the words of the Almighty: "And we send down from the Qur'an what is healing" (Al-Isra'a: 82), but it is a cure for souls from confusion and delusion, anxiety and turmoil arising from the lack of guidance to the right path, is a healing of the breasts of hatred and hatred for others: "O people, a sermon has come to you from your Lord and healing for what is in the breasts" (Jonah: 57).
By guiding the Qur'an to the straight path, the path that is stronger, it heals souls who are sick with delusion, but it does not heal the bodies from physical diseases that afflict them. Yes, if sick souls are healed by delusion, their healing by following God's guidance will have a positive impact on their bodies, in their ability to endure and be patient with misfortune, and in the face of crises.
Al-Bahi advised that the patient's family present their patient to a human or psychiatrist for treatment, and to continue his recitation of the Qur'an, and to believe: that healing the Qur'an with its guidance is a cure for social diseases among people, and a cure for their mental illnesses due to selfishness and tyranny of souls. With resorting to the doctor to treat the diseases of the body.
Social and psychological guidance by praying for children
Among the questions that were directed to Al-Bahi are the following: I have a mother and brothers who do not want me to stand by the truth, so if I insist, my mother called on me that God would make me sick, and I have become sick now, is that injury a decree and destiny, or a result of God's response to her prayer? Al-Bahi answered the questioner, directing him to his psychological and social condition, not the case of those who called for him, and he said:
"The illness he contracted – which the questioner did not specify in his question – may be related to miscalculation, misperception, and misperception. It is a mental illness, and the mother's supplication is not involved in it, but is due to the circumstances in which he grew up or to the last situation to God, and to his judgment and destiny."
"No matter how angry a mother is, she does not change herself from her son to the point of wishing for his illness, especially if it is a mental illness. Because it is a disease that is protracted. What is mentioned in the Qur'an from the words of God Almighty: "And your Lord said, Let me answer you" (Ghafir: 60), by which the Almighty means that whoever turns to Him alone by worshipping Him, God forgives him his past mistakes before faith, and rewards him with the reward of believers. Supplication is worship of God alone, and response is forgiveness and reward."
A social interpretation of the Antichrist and the Mahdi
The issue of the Antichrist and its existence, as a person descends among people to spread corruption, and the descent of the Mahdi to end his corruption, and the corruption of the world, an issue in which pens and books, old and new, have been fought in which Al-Bahi was asked in his fatwas, and the Sheikh did not discuss in his answer the texts contained in the topics of the Antichrist and Mahdi, an issue in which hadith scholars and scholars of faith spoke, based on their conviction of the prophetic texts contained in the subject, in terms of health or weakness.
But Al-Bahi took another way to answer, based on his involvement in the humanities and social sciences, and went to a space that is not denied by those who believe in the Antichrist and the Mahdi, nor those who deny their hadiths and descent, he showed that what is said about their descent, that the descent of the first is related to the spread of corruption, the decomposition of moral values, bloodshed, and the violation of sanctities, and the Mahdi his descent as well, linked to reform and the spread of stability and human values.
"The Antichrist seems to be a symbol of the development of materialism reaching its limit, and the Mahdi is a symbol of the substitution of (spiritual) humanity in place of materialism in human societies. Instead, these societies are divided between these two situations: the material community and the human or spiritual community.
If materialism in a human society reaches its tyranny, in which chaos, violation of sanctity and absurdity prevail, the pursuit of material and nervous power and neglect of relations between brothers and members of the same family, then the fall of this materialism is expected by a war that does not remain or shed, or disasters that do not leave a trace of construction on the land of this society. It is also expected to be replaced by the so-called human spirituality, which is the title of the other state of human society in which human values are promoted.
If the Antichrist and the awaited Mahdi are among the signs of the Hour, the transition of human society from situation to situation, from material to human, or vice versa, is normal. That is, it is one of the affairs of its development, as society either falls to the bottom or rises to the top, and its fall to the bottom is its eternity to the earth and its connection to the material alone, and its transcendence to the top is its understanding of human ties: God Almighty said, "And read to them the news of what our signs have brought us, and he broke away from them, and Satan followed him, and he was one of the seducers. If we wished, we would raise him with it, but he went to the ground and followed his whims, for he is like a dog, if you carry him panting or leave him panting, that is like the people who lied with our signs, so tell stories so that they may think" (Al-A'raf: 175-176).
There are many other fatwas in the chapter on faith, but we mentioned models for them, and the contemplator of the Bahi approach in the fatwas of faith, will find that it elevates the importance of revelation and makes the beginning and completion of it and to it, and then uses the humanities and mental sciences within its framework, and sometimes understands the texts related to faith through it, in a way that does not conflict with revelation, especially if the revelation is not detailed in the case, or the meaning bears several meanings, and was not specifically required, the issues of faith are metaphysical, and the unseen is not discussed except through Revelation, and the rest of the sciences are complementary, in their proper context and framework.