Whispering (al-waswasa)

Summary

Sha'rawi holds that Satan began his enmity to Adam by causing him to slip, that his whisper seeks disobedience by any means, while the self's whisper wants one specific thing ¹ ² ³. See Ta-Ha 117.

Enmity already known

He says the enmity had been declared before. Adam had seen Iblis's pride when he refused to prostrate, and that should have warned him ¹.

Satan's whisper and the self's whisper

He distinguishes Satan's whisper, which wants you disobedient by any sin, so that if you refuse on one side he comes from another, from the self's whisper, which wants one particular thing ² ³. He notes that Satan promised Adam a fruit that makes its eater everlasting and a kingdom that never ends, and holds that this lie did not succeed ³. See al-A'raf 20.

Forgetting

He holds that what brought Adam into disobedience was heedlessness or forgetting, and that forgetting was a disobedience in earlier communities. He cites a hadith that lifts error and forgetting from this nation ³. See Ta-Ha 115.

Not yet checked

This is Sha'rawi's reading. The hadith he cites is in the scan's footnote and has not been checked at its collection. No study of forgetting in the law of obligation is set out here, and none is checked.

Opinions on the question

The question: Is forgetting a disobedience or an excuse?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Forgetting was a disobedience in earlier communities, and God lifted it from this nation

Sha'rawi holds that forgetting in Adam's story counted as disobedience, and he cites a hadith that lifts error and forgetting from this nation, reading it as forgetting having been disobedience in earlier communities before it was lifted from this one {cite:tafsir-sharawi-khawatir-scan p.268}.

Held by: Muhammad Mutawalli al-Sha'rawi

More opinions (2)

Academic viewSecondary opinion

A study of forgetting in jurisprudence and theology is not yet added

No study of forgetting in the law of obligation is set out in these pages; it needs a named source.

Other viewOther opinion

The view of other schools on forgetting is not yet added

The positions of other schools on forgetting are not set out here and are not checked.

Ada' al-dayn (paying a debt: its ruling, the manner of payment, insolvency and the debts of the dead)

Paying a debt in the form owed is obligatory by consensus. A debt due now must be paid on demand when the debtor can pay; a deferred debt is not due before its term. Payment is made in like items, with value owed where there is no like; a better payment is allowed when unconditioned. Remission, gift, assignment, set-off and settlement take the place of payment. A solvent debtor who refuses is compelled, imprisoned and his apparent property sold; the majority hold that a bankrupt is put under interdiction and his property divided among creditors, against Abu Hanifa. The insolvent is given respite, and his debt may be paid from zakat if he borrowed for himself in a lawful matter. A dead person's debt attaches to his estate and takes precedence over bequests and inheritance.

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