Nasiha li-Talib al-Haqq - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Nasiha li-Talib al-Haqq ("Advice to the Seeker of Truth") is a short methodological and ethical epistle by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE) addressing the necessity of intellectual detachment and self-examination when seeking religious truth.
Origin and Manuscript History
The text originally served as an introduction to one of al-Muallimi's draft writings on the rulings of solitary reports (ahkam akhbar al-ahad). When al-Muallimi later prepared the fair copy of his legal theory (usul) treatise on the subject, he wrote a different introduction for it. The draft introduction remained preserved in a small, unnumbered notebook until it was discovered and transcribed by Muhammad Uzair Shams. It was subsequently published within the twenty-second volume of al-Muallimi's collected works (Athar al-Muallimi) as the concluding piece of his wills and counsels (al-wasaya), edited by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi.
Content and Methodological Themes
The treatise begins with the traditional sermon of need (khutbat al-hajah) and an acknowledgment by al-Muallimi of his own intellectual limitations and vulnerability to unintended bias (al-hawa). It outlines a systematic approach for the researcher to assess internal predispositions before examining any scholarly issue:
- Self-examination (muhasabat al-nafs): The seeker of truth must first scrutinize their own soul to detect any prior leaning toward a particular outcome, figure, legal school (madhhab), or theological sect (firqah).
- Evaluating inclinations: If an inclination exists, the researcher must identify its cause. If it stems from definitive proof (burhan yaqini), it is not whim; if it rests on non-definitive evidence (dalil ghayr qati'), the investigator must suspend bias and remain open to stronger countervailing proofs; and if it stems from invalid considerations or unexplained impulses, it constitutes destructive whim that blinds and deafens.
- Combating bias: The author warns that personal desire often disguises specious arguments (shubhah) as legitimate evidence, citing the Quranic description of the astray: وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ ("And they think that they are guided").
Al-Muallimi concludes by emphasizing that while the avenues of bias are subtle and difficult to escape, sincere exertion in self-struggle (jihad al-nafs), earnest prayer for divine aid, and God-fearing piety (taqwa) grant the seeker discernment (furqan) and divine guidance, citing وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ("And those who strive for Us – We will surely guide them to Our ways") and يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تَتَّقُوا اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ فُرْقَانًا ("O you who have believed, if you fear Allah, He will grant you a criterion").
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