The Formation and Development of This Science

A few things need to be discussed before the book itself begins. The first is the formation and the development of this science: of this topic, of this discipline, of this study as a science, in fact. In the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) there was no need for any kind of complex, in-depth and detailed discussion of the various points discussed here. The Ṣaḥābah were such people, whom Allah (swt) had put around the Prophet (peace be upon him), that they would be presented with Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ:

Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad. And that would be sufficient to elevate them, and to get them to develop a relationship with Allah (swt). It would simply penetrate their hearts. Their hearts were so clean and so simple that this message would penetrate them and illuminate their hearts in such a way that they would become such firm believers that stories are still told today of the likes of Bilāl (may Allah be pleased with him) and others who, despite being in the faith for just a short while, were able to show such great perseverance and steadfastness in the face of great opposition and persecution, and the worst of tyranny that could happen to them.

That was simply an amazing thing. They did not even have to take the concession of saying: "Okay, fine, I don't believe anymore." When a person is under duress, Allah (swt) allows it. They did not even take that. Still, in those moments of severe pain, they would say: aḥad, aḥad, the One, the One. That is the level of īmān, despite their not having gone through all of these intricate topics that developed later on.

Why, then, did these topics develop later on, if they were not there during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him)? That is quite simple. Islam, beyond its core fundamentals, in terms of expanding, and explaining, and remaining relevant, has a progress; there is a development that takes place, in which any new issues that come up are normally responded to and explained. The sources of sharīʿah that we have, the verses of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him), are then taken as the source for responding to these issues, and for clarifying issues for the people.

Islam spread beyond the Jazīrat al-ʿArab, beyond the Arabian Peninsula. It went into the lands of the Persians, who had their own beliefs. Many of the Persians who became Muslim, who embraced Islam, came, some of them, with preconceived ideas from previous religions, previous ideas, previous ideologies that they had held. When the Muslims went into al-Shām, they took over areas that had once been dominated by Christianity and by other religions. There were pagan ideas in different parts of the world. There were different beliefs in different parts of the world. These people came into Islam. And as the scholars addressed the questions that would arise from such problems, from such people and their preconceived ideas, in order to clarify things, these topics developed further.