Written Fatwa

What are the issues that a Muslim must know?

469
16.03.2022

As a Muslim, what information should I have first? Or let me ask: Is there any compulsory knowledge for a Muslim?

Of course, there is information that can be called obligatory information for a Muslim person. This information may be mandatory information required by the worldly life s/he lives, as well as compulsory information for his religion. Our old ulema called this type of knowledge zarurat-ı diniyye knowledge (information that is necessary for religion). As a concept close to this concept, ijma, common knowledge, mutawatir, immutable constants can also be referred to as issues that are not suitable for a Muslim to be ignorant of, but these expressions also have different expansions. The source of such obligatory information is nas and ijma. In general, we can describe the knowledge that can be considered obligatory for a Muslim as follows:

“These are the indisputable subjects that the scholar and the non-scholar are the same in terms of knowing, and that can be learned without the need for a special education.”

When this description is explained, it will be seen that the mandatory information has the following features:

1. It is not private knowledge for scholars.

2. It does not require deep research as it is common among humans.

3. This knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and spread among Muslims.

4. This rule does not apply to a special view put forward by some scholars or a scholar. It consists of clear information that everyone knows.

5. This information does not change over time, does not fall within the scope of ijtihad, so ijtihad cannot be made or discussed on these issues.

6. Since the existence of this information constitutes the basic rules of religion, it does not need to be based on reason, reason cannot be evaluated through logic.

7. It consists of general rules of aqidah, worship and morality.

8. An apology can be accepted for those who do not know these issues. For those who deny, the rule of "denying one of the foundations of religion" may apply.

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