Session: 3 December 1958 / 21 Jamadi al-Awwal

۳ دسمبر ۱۹۵۸ء

The Lawful and the Prohibited (حلال حرام)

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا

'He created for you all that is in the earth' (al-Baqarah 2:29). The default ruling for all things is permissibility (ibaha). Only what the Qur'an and mutawatir (mass-transmitted) hadith explicitly declare prohibited is haram. Everything else remains in the category of the lawful. This is a fundamental principle of Islamic jurisprudence, and it saves the believer from unnecessary restriction and scrupulosity in matters not addressed by clear texts.

Gratitude Can Never Be Fully Discharged (مکمل شکر ادا کرنا ممکن نہیں)

The great Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi has explained: complete and perfect gratitude to Allah is beyond human capacity. Even the act of breathing — which itself is a continuous gift from Allah — would require an act of gratitude, which would itself require another act of gratitude, and so on without end. This is a demonstration of the infinite nature of divine blessing and the inherent limitation of the creature.

Who Is Truly Good? (اچھا کون)

The person — whether man or woman — who fulfils his or her divinely assigned duty without looking to others for compensation or recognition. True goodness lies in performing one's role with sincerity, regardless of whether the world notices or rewards it.

Earning Is Not Obligatory upon Women (کاما عورت پر فرض نہیں)

In Islamic law, the financial obligation of earning a livelihood (kasb) is not imposed upon women. Their maintenance (nafaqa) is the responsibility of their husbands, fathers, or — if those are absent — the state (bayt al-mal). This is not a diminishment of women's role but a recognition of the different spheres of responsibility assigned by divine wisdom.

Preponderance of Men or Women (مردوں یا عورتوں کی کثرت)

In times of peace and ease, the number of women in a community tends to increase relative to men. In times of hardship and tribulation, men become more numerous. This is part of the divine arrangement of the world, which adjusts the balance of the sexes according to the needs of each age and circumstance.

Islam and Peace (اسلام اور امن)

Islam is intrinsically the religion of peace. Its very name derives from the root that gives us 'salam' (peace). The ideal of Islam is not conquest for its own sake but the establishment of justice and the removal of oppression so that human beings may live in safety and worship their Creator freely.

The Qur'an Is Not Abrogated (عدم نسخ قرآن)

تِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ

'And these days We alternate among the people' (Al-Imran 3:140). The Qur'an, as the final and preserved divine revelation, is not subject to abrogation from outside itself. The internal principle of naskh (abrogation within the Qur'an of earlier rulings by later ones) is a recognised science, but the Qur'an as a whole stands as the eternal guidance for humanity until the Day of Judgment.