AHMADIYYA FIQH

Ahmadiyya Mosque, Gambia

Every Tuesday, our contributor named The Jack Frost will be publishing a seven-part series on the Islamic religious law, known as Shari'ah. Previous articles are available here. Unexplained terminology in this article has already been discussed in earlier articles of this series. In this final edition of the series, we examine some of The Promised Messiah's opinions and practices on the Shariah and it's jurisprudence:

The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. prophecised that the Imam Mahdi and Promised Messiah would be hakmun ‘adal (a just arbiter) of Islamic Law. Ibn ‘Arabirh in his book Kitab al-Mahdi stated that the Imam Mahdi would make certain fatwas that were different from the prevalent four schools of thought and for this reason, people would not accept him except for the purest of hearts. There is a book of the specific fatwas of the Promised Messiah as called Fatāwa Ahmadiyyah and another book in 2 volumes called Fiqh-e-Ahmadiyyah which also narrates the fatwas of the Khulafa’ along with the Promised Messiah. 

Combining Prayers on a Journey 

"Combining Zuhr and Asr prayers or Maghrib and Isha has always been permitted during journeys…Nor do I know who has forbidden saying of prayers late at their time. It is amazing - you think backbiting halal but combining Zuhr and Asr prayers or Maghrib and Isha prayers by a traveler haram. "Fear God, ye believers in One God. For, the time to depart is near and Allah knows everything you try to hide"." - Seyyidina Ahmad al-Qadiyani a.s. addressing an ignorant Maulvi of his time in "Fath-e-Islam" 

Qasr Salat 

The general Hanafi fatwa is that if a journey is longer than 77 km and you are staying at any one location less than 15 days, then Qasr Salat can be prayed (ie. making the Salat shorter). The Ahmadi-specific fatwa of the Promised Messiah, which overrules the Hanafi ruling, is that the location must be for less than 15 days (ie. this is why Hudhur prayed the full Salat without making them Qasr during his recent Canada trip which lasted for 15 days) and also the Promised Messiah stated that if you have the intention of a journey, even if it is 3 miles, he should do Qasr. If the intention is only for an excursion or recreation, the prayer will not be Qasr, even if it is 8 miles. Therefore it is different in one aspect from the general Hanafi ruling. 

Beard 

The general Hanafi ruling on the beard is that it is haram (forbidden) to shave the beard. The Ahmadi-specific ruling by the Promised Messiah is that shaving the beard is halāl (permissible) however makrūh tanzeehan (very strongly disliked). To keep the beard at any length longer than the mustache is wājib (necessary) upon every Ahmadi Muslim man as per the Promised Messiah’s and the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w's fatwa in this regard: 

"...The moustache should be trimmed and the beard should be lengthened..." (Malfuzat (10-vol set, v9, p438) 

It is also considered mustahhab (recommended) to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and keep a beard at least at the length of a fist, as the vast majority of the companions of the Promised Messiah also followed, as per this direct fatwa by the Promised Messiah: 

"Man thinks in his heart that some Westerners shave their beards and moustaches totally and consider this a thing of beauty, whereas I despise this so much so that if such a one was sitting opposite me I would not be able to eat in front of him. The ways of the beard adopted by the prophets and disciplined ascetics is highly preferable. However, if it gets too long then one should cut it: one fist-length should remain/be left. Allah has set this as a thing of difference between men and women..." (Fatāwa Ahmadiyya pg. 226) 

Khalifa-tul-Masih II also commented on this saying: 

“I draw the attention of Khuddamul-Aḥmadiyya and Ansarullah that they should propagate the growing of beard among themselves. Khuddam should explain to the youth and Ansar should explain to the elders. One who is clean shaven, should grow a small beard, one who already has one, should grow it by an inch, and in this manner grow to a full beard... In this way, if our Jamā'at becomes aware of establishing religious ways and they follow it closely, then this would definitely affect the heart of other people and they would think that ... if these people are so strict in the matter of beard, then how firm they would be in other matters of religion. ... Your lack of commitment in matter of beard causes the majesty and dignity of Jamā'at to be compromised.” (Al-Faḍl, February 21, 1945 [page 17])

The conclusion of this article brings this current series to a close. Those interested in further reading on the subjects discussed within this series can check the following links:

English article on Ahmadiyya and Shariah: 
http://muslimsunrise.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/the-shariah-20080301mn.pdf

English book on Hanafi Fiqh
http://www.kantakji.com/fiqh/Files/Studies/j112.pdf

Urdu book on Ahmadiyya Fiqh:  
http://www.alislam.org/urdu/fiqah/