Accountability and Islamic Knowledge

It was mentioned in our previous post that there are some conditions for the person to become accountable.

Who is the accountable person?

Three requirements must be met in order for one to become accountable:

1. One should be sane (not insane).

2. One should have received the basic call of Islam (The two testifications), that is, no one is God except Allah Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

3. One should be pubescent. Now pubescence in the religious context is different from what is wide spread nowadays. In Islam, pubescence is reached either by attaining 15 lunar years of age for both males and females or by the emission of a fluid called maniyy, which applies to both genders. (maniyy is a term used equally for men and women. It refers to the sexual spermatic fluid of the man, and the corresponding sexual fluid of the woman. Maniyy has some characteristics that enables us to discern it from other fluids, which will be discussed later), or for the girl to view her first menstruation's blood.

The person who is accountable is obligated to:

1. Embrace Islam (if one was a non-Muslim).

2. Remain steadfast to Islam, that is, to not have any intention or hesitation to leave Islam in the future.

3. Comply with what is obligatory upon them of the rules of Islam, this is done when one abstains from sinning and fulfills all the obligations on them.

In order to achieve compliance with what is obligatory upon oneself of the rules of the religion, one must learn; otherwise, how would one know what is obligatory and what is prohibited?

What should one learn about Religion?

In Islam, the issue of knowledge is held in a high regard. This Knowledge is not any knowledge per se, but rather, The Knowledge of The Religion of Islam.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah raise his rank, said: «طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم», which means: «Seeking the knowledge of the Religion is obligatory on every Muslim», so regardless one is male or female, the accountable person must learn.

Is every person required to learn all kinds of knowledge?

No, this is not the intended meaning of the Hadeeth, rather the intended meaning is the Personal Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion. Had every kind of knowledge been obligatory on every male and every female, it would've been a hardship beyond one's ability, and Allah, the most merciful, does not order anyone with what one cannot bear.

We will be continuing our posts explaining the most important and the best knowledge we could attain in this life, which is the knowledge that differentiates between what is a proper to attribute to Allah and what is considered imperfection if attributed to Allah, and differentiates between what is proper to attribute to the Prophets and what impossible to be among their attributes. Personal Obligatory Knowledge of Islam and Communal Obligatory Knowledge of Islam is a topic we will discuss in our following posts.

Stay Tuned...