ahlus sunnah wal jamah

Who are Abdaal?

2009-04-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Wahabi sect has once again shown its lack of understanding by denying many hadith on the existence of Abdal.

The Wahabis posted an article denying the authenticity of many hadith on this topic.

The Wahabi artcile can be read at this link

http://www.allaahuakbar.net/ahaadeeth/15.htm

Here is the reply to this artcile , compiled from different resources.

It is also surprising to note that the teacher and Shaykh of Allamah Ibn al Qayyim , Allamah Ibn Taymiyyah also testified to the existence of the Abdaal. Thus, he mentions in his infamous ‘Al Aqeedah al wastiyyah’

لكن لما أخبر النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم أن أمته ستفترق على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلا واحدة وهي الجماعة وفي حديث عنه أنه قال : ( هم من كان على مثل ما أنا عليه اليوم وأصحابي ) صار المتمسكون بالإسلام المحض الخالص عن الشوب هم أهل السنة والجماعة وفيهم الصديقون والشهداء والصالحون ومنهم أعلام الهدى ومصابيح الدجى أولوا المناقب المأثورة والفضائل المذكورة وفيهم الأبدال وفيهم أئمة الدين الذين أجمع المسلمون على هدايتهم وهم الطائفة المنصورة الذين قال فيهم النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم : ( لا تزال طائفة من أمتي على الحق منصورة لا يضرهم من خالفهم ولا من خذلهم حتى تقوم الساعة ) فنسأل الله أن يجعلنا منهم وألا يزيغ قلوبنا بعد إذ هدانا وأن يهب لنا من لدنه رحمة إنه الوهاب والله أعلم «العقيدة الواسطية» (ج 1 / ص 32( و انظر «مجموع الفتاوى» (ج 3 / ص 159)

“However, since Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم has predicted that the Ummah will divide into seventy three groups; all of who will be in the fire except one group which is the ‘Jama’ah; (The Jama’ah is) as described in another hadith: “They remain on the like of that which I am on and my companions”, it becomes (known that) the true adherents of Islam in its pristine purity are the Ahl al Sunnah wal Jama`ah. Amongst them are the truthful saints (siddiqoon), the martyrs and the righteous ones. Also found amongst them are those men who are signs of guidance and hallmarks of illumination, of recorded integrity and virtues were mentioned. The Abdaals are amongst them. Also the Imams who (the general) Muslim populace are in full accord concerning their guidance of religion are to be found among them. These are the Victorious Group about whom the Prophet said: "A group within my Community manifestly continues to be in the truth. Neither those who oppose them nor those who abandon them can do them harm, from now on until the Day of Resurrection….”

(Al Aqeedah al waastiyyah 1/32. Also check Majmoah al fatawa 3/159)

In another place Hafidh Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned,

وأما أهل العلم فكانوا يقولون : هم " الأبدال " لأنهم أبدال الأنبياء وقائمون مقامهم حقيقة «مجموع الفتاوى » (ج 4 / ص 97)

((As for the people of knowledge, they used to say: (Scholars of hadith) are the Abdaals, because they are the Abdaal (substitutes) and representatives of the prophets…))

(Majmoah fatawa 4/97)

(P.S We do acknowledge that there are other opinions mentioned in his other works).

The vast majority of Scholars from the Ahl as sunnah hold the view that Abdaals do exist. In fact, Hafidh Ibn as Salah has declared that there is consensus on this view. Hereunder follows the names of just a few illustrious Scholars who explicitly mentioned their views [Also refer to the introduction of Allamah Suyuti’s ‘Al Khabr ad daal’(Dar al usool)]

1) Allamah Ibn Abi ad Dunya (he has mentioned many Ahadith in his book, ‘Al Awliya’)

2) Allamah Abu az Zinaad (ibid 27)

3) Allamah Abdullah an Nabbaji (ibid 28)

4) Allamah Abu Muhammad Al Khallaal (he has dedicated an entire chapter to this subject in his ‘Karaamaat al Awliya’)

5) Allamah Ibn Asaakir (he has dedicated two chapters to this subject in his magnificent ‘Taarikh ad Dimashq’.)

6) Allamah Ibn Salah (as could be found in his Fatawa (1/184)

7) Allamah Zarkashi (he discussed this subject in his ‘At Tadhkirah fil Ahadith al mushtahirah (1/144)

8) Allamah Taqi ad deen Al Hisni (he has refuted the view of Ibn Taymiyyah in his ‘Daf shubahi man shabbaha wa tamarradah’(1/123)

9) Allamah Sakhawi (in Maqaasid al hasanah, he mentioned that he has written an entire treatise on this subject entitled ‘Nadhm al la’ali fi hadith al Abdaal’)

10) Allamah Suyuti (he has written on this in many of his works like Al Jami al Kabeer, Al Jami as sagheer, Al La’ali al masnoo’ah, Ad durar al muntathirah and he has written an entire work entitled ‘Al Khabr ad daal’)

11) Allamah Al Qastallani (he has dedicated an entire chapter in his ‘Al Mawaahib al laduniyah)

12) Allamah Ali bin Muhammad Al Kinani (he has discussed the issue of Abdaals in his ‘ Tanzeeh as Shariah al marfoo’ah)

13) Allamah Ibn Hajar Al Haytami (in his fatawa al hadithiyyah)

14) Mullah Ali Al Qari (he has discussed this subject in much detail in his famous commentary, ‘Mirqaat al mafaatih’.)

15) Allamah Murtadha Az Zubaidi (in his ‘Ithaaf As Saada al muttaqeen)

16) Allamah Ibn Abideen Al Hanafy (he has written an entire treatise on this subject entitled ‘Ijaabah al ghauth’)

17) Allamah Muhammad bin Jafar Al Kattani (as discussed in his ‘Nazm al mutanathir’)

18) Allamah Nuh bin Mustafah Al Hanafy (who wrote ‘Al Qawl ad daal ala hayaat al Khidhr wa wujood al Abdaal)

Furthermore, when discussing a narrator, Muhaddithoon used to often describe some narrators as Abdaals. This is sufficient proof that many Scholars of Hadith also acknowledged the existence of Abdaals. Below are just a few examples.

1) In his ‘Al Ilal’ (6/29), Imam Ad Daar Qutni (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) quoted Imam Ahmad (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) as saying: “If there is any Abdaal in Baghdaad, it is Abu Ishaaq Ebrahim bin Hani.” At another place (6/63) it is mentioned that An Nadhr bin Katheer is said to be from the Abdaal.

2) Some Muhaddithoon considered Imaam Shaafi’ee (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him )to be an Abdaal (Al-Maqasid al Hasanah (pg.28) and Taarikh ad Dimashq)

3) Imam Bukhari (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) has mentioned in his At Tarikh al Kabeer (7/127) that people had no doubt that Farwa bin Mujalid was an Abdaal.

4) In the Sunan of Abu Dawood it is mentioned that Abu Jafar bin Easa (r.a) considered Ambasa bin Abdul Wahid Al Qurahi to be an Abdaal (Hadith no. 2992).

5) In the Sunan of Ibn Majah it is mentioned that Yahyah bin Uthmaan bin Saeed was considered to be from the Abdaal (Hadith no. 3348).

6) In ‘As sunnah’ (2/596) of Ibn Abi Asim it is mentioned that Ziyaad Abu Umar was said to be from the Abdaals.

7) Ibn Hibbaan (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) has mentioned in his ‘At thiqaat’ (5/549) that Yusuf Jawwal An Nuqad was from the Abdaals. In another place of the same book (8/64) it is mentioned that Imam Auzaa’i stated that Musa bin A’yun Al Jazari was from the Abdaals.

8) Ibn Abi Ad Dunya (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) mentions in his ‘Al Awliyah’ (pg 35) that Saeed bin Sadaqah Abu Muhalhil was said to be from the Abdaals. In his book ‘Sifah an nar’ (pg 242) he mentioned that Al Fadhl bin Abbaas Al Kindi was from the Abdaal. In his book ‘Dham ad dunya’ (pg 31) there is mention that people considered Al Harith bin Muslim Ar Razi to be an Abdaal.

9) In Musnad Ad Daarimy it is mentioned that Zahra bin Mabad was an Abdaal (Hadith no. 3429).

10) Khateeb Baghdadi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) has quoted in his ‘Mudhi awhaam al jam wat tafreeq’ (2/348) that people used to say that Fahr bin Ziyaad Al Barqi was an Abdaal.

11) In ‘Al Ma’rifah wat tareekh’ (1/229) of Allamah Fasawi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) it is stated that the people of Makkah used to say, “Wuhaib is from the Abdaals”.

12) In Akhbaar Makkah of Allamah Fakihi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) it is mentioned that Ibrahim bin Easa Al Yashkuri was an Abdaal (Hadith no. 654) It is also mentioned that Yahyah bin Saeed bin Katheer is from the Abdaals (Hadith no. 877).

13) In four places in Musnad Ahmad it is mentioned that Musa bin Khalaf was from the Abdaals (Hadith no. 15671, 17170,17800,26911) The same is mentioned of him in ‘Ithaaf al khairah al mahara’.

14) In ‘Hilya al Awliya’ it is mentioned that the following were Abdaals. A) Muhammad bin Adam Al Misseesiy (2/144). B) Saeed bin Sadaqah Al Kaysani (4/250). C) Yahya al Jalla (9/191). D) Ali bin Abdul Hameed (10/366).

15) In Shuab al Iman of Imam Bayaqi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) it is mentioned that Harith bin Muslim Ar Razi was considered to be from the Abdaals (Hadith no. 10585).

16) In ‘At tamheed’ of Allamah Ibn Abdul Barr (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) there are numerous places where certain narrators were said to be Abdaals. Amongst others, the following were said to be from the Abdaals. A) Ma’dy bin Sulayman Al Hannat (1/368). B) Ibnul Mubarak said that if there is any Abdaal in Khuraasaan, it is Ma’daan (7/142). C) Khalaf said “Insha Allah, Abdul Hameed bin Ahmad bin Easa Al Warraaq is a Abdaal (24/159).

17) Nawawi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) in Bustan al-`arifin (pg 31) mentions that Hammad bin Salimah was considered as an Abdaal.

18) Allamah Ayni (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) mentions in his magnificent commentary of Al Bukhari, Umdah al Qari that Hammad bin Salimah bin Dinar was considered as an Abdaal. (Baab ma yaqool inda al khala) In another place (commentary of hadith 1432) it is mentioned that Abu Tawbah Rabi bin Nafi was considered to be from the Abdaal. Under the commentary of hadith 5532, it is mentioned that Khattab was from the Abdaals.

19) In Allamah Ayni’s commentary of Abu Dawood it is stated that Yahyah bin Maeen and Abu Hatim considered the brother of Mugheirah to be from the Abdaals.

20) In Fath al bari (1/357), Hafidh Ibn Hajar (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) quoted a sanad of Musnad Abi Awwanah in which it is mentioned that Abu Ibrahim Az Zuhri was an Abdaal.

21) In Allamah Zurqani’s commentary of Muwattah Imam Malik it is stated that Shaadhkooni said: “...Ma’di was considered to be from the Abdaal.” Also quoted in Mir’aat (3/412).

22) In Faiz al Qadeer (2/538) it is mentioned that Ali bin Umar Al Harbi is from the Abdaals.

Similarly, Scholars of hadith also described some narrators as ‘Aqtaab’. Consider the following

1) Ibn al Atheer (may Allah Ta’ala be pleases with him) noted that Sufyan at Thawri was from the Aqtaab. (Jami al usool fi Ahadith ar Rasool 12/466)

2) Abu al Wafa Al Qurashi (may Allah be pleased with him) has also mentioned that Sufyan at Thawri was from the Aqtaab of Islam. (Tabaqaat al hanafiyyah 1/546)

3) Umar bin Ali Al Jazzairi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) wrote a kitab ‘Ibtisaam al uroos’ in which he termed Shaykh Ahmad bin Uroos as qutb al Aqtaab. (Al A’laam li az Zarqali 1/169).

4) Ibn Farhoon (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) has described Ali bin Muhammad bin Abdul Haq Az Zurwaili as a Qutb. (Ad Debaaj al mudhahab fi ma’rifati a’yaan Ulama al madhab 1/116).

5) Ibn al Mulaqqin (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) mentioned that Fudhail bin Ayaaz was from the Aqtaab. (Tabaqaat al Awliyah 1/44). At another place (1/64) he mentioned that Abu Sulayman Ad Daaraani Al Anasy was from the Awtaad and Aqtaab.

The above statements prove that the term ‘Abdaal’ and ‘Aqtaab’ were commonly known and used amongst the Muhaddithoon and other early scholars. (They are not something innovated, especially since Muhaddithoon-who were extremely precautious against innovations- mentioned them). Khateeb Al Baghdaadi (may Allah be pleased with him) has opined in his ‘Sharf Ashaab al Hadeeth’ (pg 100/101) that Abdaals are (mostly) found amongst the Scholars of hadith. The Shaykh of Allamah Ibn al Qayyim, Allamah Ibn Taymiyyah has also quoted in his majmoah al fatawa (4/97) that the knowledgeable always considered Abdaals to be from the Ashaab al hadeeth.

As for the statement which you have quoted from Allamah Ibn al Qayyim (may Allah be pleased with him), the exact wording of it is as follows

ومن ذلك أحاديث الأبدال والأقطاب والأغواث والنقباء والنجباء والأوتاد كلها باطلة على رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم «المنار المنيف» (ج 1 / ص 136)

This statement is incorrect. There are numerous Ahadith which proves the existence of Abdaals. Allamah Munawi (may Allah be pleased with him) quoted that the master in hadith, Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned in one of his verdicts

وقال شيخه ابن حجر في فتاويه : الأبدال وردت في عدة أخبار منها ما يصح وما لا وأما القطب فورد في بعض الآثار «فيض القدير» (ج 3 / ص 220 دار الكتب العلمية)

((Abdaals are mentioned in many Ahadith, some are authentic whereas others are weak. Qutb is also mentioned in some Ahadith)) (Faiz al Qadeer 3/220)

In fact, Imam Suyuti claimed that these Ahadith reached the status of tawaatur (A hadith which is narrated through so many different narrators in every era that it is not possible for so many people to concoct a lie) due to the numerous chains. (An Nukat al badee’aat, pg 280). In order to prove this, Imam Suyuti wrote an entire treatise entitled ‘Al Khabr ad daal ala wujood al Qutub wal Awtad wan Nujabah wal Abdaal.’

The following Hadith which is narrated in several books of hadith is authentic. It is interesting to note that Ibn Qayyim (r.a) himself mentioned that this hadith is suitable in the very same book which you have quoted from [i.e. Al Manaar al muneef no 331, pg 145]. He has also maintained silence on it in his footnotes of Abu Dawood which denotes on his acceptance of it. (Note- we have explained the chain of narrators in Arabic. This will be appreciated by Scholars and it will not be a means of confusion for the general layman)

قال أبو داود في سننه - (ج 4 / ص 175)

4288 - حدثنا محمد بن المثنى حدثنا معاذ بن هشام حدثنى أبى عن قتادة عن صالح أبى الخليل عن صاحب له عن أم سلمة زوج النبى -صلى الله عليه وسلم- عن النبى -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قال « يكون اختلاف عند موت خليفة فيخرج رجل من أهل المدينة هاربا إلى مكة فيأتيه ناس من أهل مكة فيخرجونه وهو كاره فيبايعونه بين الركن والمقام ويبعث إليه بعث من الشام فيخسف بهم بالبيداء بين مكة والمدينة فإذا رأى الناس ذلك أتاه أبدال الشام وعصائب أهل العراق فيبايعونه بين الركن والمقام ثم ينشأ رجل من قريش أخواله كلب فيبعث إليهم بعثا فيظهرون عليهم وذلك بعث كلب والخيبة لمن لم يشهد غنيمة كلب فيقسم المال ويعمل فى الناس بسنة نبيهم -صلى الله عليه وسلم- ويلقى الإسلام بجرانه إلى الأرض فيلبث سبع سنين ثم يتوفى ويصلى عليه المسلمون ». قال أبو داود قال بعضهم عن هشام « تسع سنين ». وقال بعضهم « سبع سنين ». (أخرجه أبو داود بالطريق المذكور و قال بعده «حدثنا هارون بن عبد الله حدثنا عبد الصمد عن همام عن قتادة بهذا الحديث وقال « تسع سنين » ثم قال أبو داود «وقال غير معاذ عن هشام « تسع سنين » و أخرج هذا الحديث ايضا ابن أبى شيبة (7/460 رقم 37223) وأحمد (6/316 ، رقم 26731) ، و إسحاق بن راهويه في مسنده (ج 4 / ص 170) ،و ابن عساكر (1/280) ، وأبو يعلى (12/369 ، رقم 6940) ، أبو جعفر ابن البختري - (ج 1 / ص 280) ، و ابن حبان (15/158 رقم 6757) و أظهر أن صاحب صالح هو مجاهد و كذا قال أبو يعلى - (ج 12 / ص 369) بعد قوله عن صاحب له قال «وربما قال صالح عن مجاهد »و قال ابن أبي حاتم فقلت لأبي: «من صاحبه هذا ؟» قال : «عبد الله بن الحارث». ]علل الحديث(ج 2 / ص 411)[ و روا هذا الحديث الطبراني في «المعجم الكبير» (ج 23 / ص 390) و «المعجم الأوسط» (ج 2 / ص 35) من طريق معمر عن قتادة عن مجاهد عن أم سلمة عن النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم و قال في آخره «قال عبيد الله فحدثت به ليثا فقال حدثنيه مجاهد لم يرو هذا الحديث عن معمر إلا عبيد الله» و قال الهيثمي في «مجمع الزوائد » (ج 7 / ص 613) «رواه الطبراني في «الأوسط »ورجاله رجال الصحيح» و قال ابن القيم في «المنار المنيف» (ج 1 / ص 145)«والحديث حسن ومثله مما يجوز أن يقال فيه صحيح » و قال العظيم آبادي في «عون المعبود» (ج 11 / ص 255)« قال ابن خلدون خرج أبو داود عن أم سلمة من رواية صالح أبي الخليل عن صاحب له عن أم سلمة ثم رواه أبو داود من رواية أبي الخليل عن عبد الله بن الحارث عن أم سلمة فتبين بذلك المبهم في الإسناد الأول ورجاله رجال الصحيحين لا مطعن فيهم ولا مغمز وقد يقال إنه من رواية قتادة عن أبي الخليل وقتادة مدلس وقد عنعنه والمدلس لا يقبل من حديثه إلا ما صرح فيه بالسماع مع أن الحديث ليس فيه تصريح بذكر المهدي نعم ذكره أبو داود في أبوابه انتهى قلت – القائل العظيم آبادي- لا شك أن أبا داود يعلم تدليس قتادة بل هو أعرف بهذه القاعدة من ابن خلدون ومع ذلك سكت عنه ثم المنذري وابن القيم ولم يتكلموا على هذا الحديث فعلم أن عندهم علما بثبوت سماع قتادة من أبي الخليل لهذا الحديث والله أعلم»

Umm Salama (r.a) said: “Disagreement will take place at the death of a Caliph. A man from Madinah will come forth fleeing to Makkah. Some of the people of Makkah will come to him, bring him out against his will and swear allegiance to him between the Corner of the Ka’bah and the Maqam. An expeditionary force will then be sent against him from Syria but will be swallowed up in the desert between Makkah and Madinah, and when the people see that, the Abdaal of Syria and the best people (`asaba) of Iraq will come to him and swear allegiance to him...”
(Narrated by Abu Dawood, Ibn Abi Shaybah,Ahmad, Ishaq bin Rahooyah, Ibn Asaakir, Abu Ya’la, Ibn Al Bukhtari, Ibn Hibbaan and many others. Allamah Al Haythami said that the narrators are authentic. Allamah Ibn al Qayyim said, “The hadith is good and could also be said to be authentic.”)

Moreover, we found the following two narrations which, although some Scholars say is weak, many also say it is authentic. (Again, we have explained the chains of narrators in Arabic)

قال أحمد بن حنبل في مسنده - (ج 5 / ص 322 رقم 22803)

22803 - حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا عبد الوهاب بن عطاء أنا الحسن بن ذكوان عن عبد الواحد بن قيس عن عبادة بن الصامت عن النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم أنه قال : الأبدال في هذه الأمة ثلاثون مثل إبراهيم خليل الرحمن عز و جل كلما مات رجل أبدل الله تبارك وتعالى مكانه رجلا قال أبي رحمه الله فيه يعني حديث عبد الوهاب كلام غير هذا وهو منكر يعني حديث الحسن بن ذكوان (وأخرجه الهيثم بن كليب في مسنده ، والخلال في «كرامات الأولياء» ، و الحكيم الترمذي في «نوادر الأصول» (1/248) ، وأبو نعيم في «أخبار أصبهان» (1/180) والخطيب في «تالي تلخيص المتشابه» (1/248) ، وابن عساكر (1/292) جميعا من طريق الحسن بن ذكوان به .و قال علي القاري في «الأسرار المرفوعة في الأخبار الموضوعة» (ج 1 / ص 78) قال العسقلاني «لا أصل له» وقال السخاوي بعد إيراد أحاديث بمعناه وكل هذا باطل وسبق الحكم بذلك الذ هبي وابن تيمية وغيرهما ذكره ابن الديبع و آفته عبد الواحد بن قيس قال ابن المديني عن يحيى بن سعيد كان شبه لا شئ كان الحسن بن ذكوان يحدث عنه بعجائب وقال الكناني عن أبي حاتم يكتب حديثه وليس بالقوي وقال صالح بن محمد البغدادي روى عن أبي هريرة ولم يسمع منه وأظنه مدنيا سكن الشام وقال في موضع آخر ليس بالقوي وقال ابن حبان يتفرد بالمناكير عن المشاهير وقال أبو أحمد الحاكم منكر الحديث وذكره أبو بكر البرقاني فيمن وافق عليه الدارقطني من المتروكين ]تهذيب التهذيب - (ج 6 / ص 389)[

هذا،و لكن أخرجه الطبراني في «الأوسط» (ج 4 / ص 247) و قال «قال (يعني سعيد بن ابي مريم) وسمعت قتادة يقول لسنا نشك أن الحسن منهم لم يرو هذا الحديث عن قتادة إلا سعيد ولا عن سعيد إلا عبد الوهاب تفرد به إسحاق» قال الهيثمي في «مجمع الزوائد» (ج 10 / ص 46) :« رجاله رجال الصحيح غير عبد الواحد بن قيس ، وقد وثقه العجلى وأبو زرعة ، وضعفه غيرهما» ، قال الزركشى : «حديث حسن» ، كما فى «الموضوعات الكبرى» للقارى (ص 48 ، رقم 146) . و قال العجلوني في «كشف الخفاء» - (ج 1 / ص 25) «قال ابن كثير وهو كما قال ، ووثق البخاري الحسن المذكور ، وضعفه الأكثرون ، حتى قال أحمد أحاديثه أباطيل ، ثم قال فيها أيضا ولا يخفى ما فيه من التحامل ، فإن رجال الحديث مختلف فيهم ، فهو حسن على رأي جماعة من الأئمة ، وقال الزركشي أيضا هو حسن ، وقال في التمييز تبعا للأصل له طرق عن أنس مرفوعا بألفاظ مختلفة وكلها ضعيفة انتهى . وأقول لكنه يتقوى بتعدد طرقه الكثيرة »

قال السيوطي في «الجامع الكبير» (ج 1 / ص 114)«(رواه) أحمد ، والحكيم ، والخلال فى كرامات الأولياء عن عبادة بن الصامت وسنده حسن» و قال نوح بن مصطفي في القول الدال (87) «و جزم - أي السيوطي- في النكت البديعات بصحة سند هذا الحديث.»

أما عبد الواحد بن القيس المذكور فروي له مسلم قال عثمان الدارمي عن يحيى بن معين ثقة وقال العجلي شامي تابعي ثقة وذكره أبو زرعة الدمشقي في نفر ثقات ]تهذيب التهذيب - (ج 6 / ص 389)[

Ubadah Bin As Samit (Radhi Allahu anhu) narrates that Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم has said, “The Abdaals of this Ummah are thirty people whose hearts are like Ibrahim (Alayhi as salam). Every time one from amongst them passes away, Allah Ta’ala replaces him with another.”(Narrated by Imam Ahmad, Haytham bin Kulaib, Khilaal, Hakim At Tirmidhi, Abu Nuaim, Khateeb, Ibn Asaakir, At Tabrani and others. Allamah Zarkashi said, its (chain) is good)

قال الإمام أحمد بن حنبل في مسنده - (ج 1 / ص 112)

896 - حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا أبو المغيرة ثنا صفوان حدثني شريح يعنى بن عبيد قال ذكر أهل الشام عند علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه وهو بالعراق فقالوا العنهم يا أمير المؤمنين قال لا إني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم يقول : الأبدال يكونون بالشام وهم أربعون رجلا كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه رجلا يسقى بهم الغيث وينتصر بهم على الأعداء ويصرف عن أهل الشام بهم العذاب (و رواه أحمد بن حنبل ايضا في «فضائل الصحابة »(ج 2 / ص 906) و أخرج عبد الرزاق في مصنفه (ج 11 / ص 249) أثرا بمعناه من طريق معمر عن الزهري عن عبد الله بن صفوان موقوفا عن علي بلفظ لا تسب أهل الشام جما غفيرا فإن بها الأبدال فإن بها الأبدال فإن بها الأبدال و كذا أخرجه الضياء المقدسي في «المختارة» (ج 1 / ص 272) و قال أبو المغيرة عبد القدوس بن الحجاج الخولاني شيخ البخاري وصفوان هو ابن عمرو بن هرم السكسكي من رجال الصحيح قال السيوطي في «جامع الأحاديث» (ج 10 / ص 489) (رواه أحمد عن على وسنده صحيح) و قال الهيثمي في «مجمع الزوائد» (ج 10 / ص 45) رواه أحمد ورجاله رجال الصحيح غير شريح بن عبيد وهو ثقة وقد سمع من المقداد وهو أقدم من علي) و قال أحمد بن أبي بكر بن إسماعيل البوصيري رواه إسحاق ، ورواته ثقات . «إتحاف الخيرة المهرة» (ج 7 / ص 356)

Ali (Radhi Allahu anhu) has narrated that Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم has said, “Abdaals will be in Syria. They are forty men. Every time one of them passes away, Allah replaces him with another. Through them does the rain descend and you gain victory over your enemies. It is also because of them that punishment is averted from the people of Syria.” (Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad and Fadhaail as Sahabah, Allamah Abdur Razzaq, Allamah Dhiyah al Maqdasy and others. Allamah Suyuti, Busairi and others said that the chain is authentic)

Allamah Munawi (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him) has clarified an important misconception which could arise from the above hadith. He mentions

(تنبيه) في خبر لأبي نعيم في الحلية بدل قوله هنا بهم تقوم الأرض إلخ بهم يحيى ويميت ويمطر وينبت ويدفع البلاء قال : وقيل لابن مسعود راوي الخبر : كيف بهم يحيي ويميت ويمطر قال : لأنهم يسألون الله عز وجل إكثار الأمم فيكثرون ويدعون على الجبابرة فيقصمون ويستسقون فيسقون ويسألون فتنبت لهم الأرض ويدعون فيدفع بهم أنواع البلاء «فيض القدير» (ج 3 / ص 218)

The meaning of what was stated that “…Through them does the rain descend and you gain victory over your enemies. It is also because of them that punishment is averted from the people of Syria.” Is that these things take place because of their duas (Allah Ta’ala is the true doer of all these).

قال الطبراني في «المعجم الكبير» - (ج 18 / ص 65)

حدثنا أبو زرعة عبد الرحمن بن عمرو الدمشقي ثنا محمد بن المبارك الصوري ثنا عمرو بن واقد عن يزيد بن أبي مالك عن شهر بن حوشب قال : لما فتحت مصر سبوا أهل الشام فأخرج عوف بن مالك رأسه من ترس ثم قال : يا أهل مصر أنا عوف بن مالك لا تسبوا أهل الشام فإني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم يقول : ( فيهم الأبدال وبهم تنصرون وبهم ترزقون (قال الهيثمي في مجمع الزوائد - (ج 10 / ص 47) رواه الطبراني وفيه عمرو بن واقد وقد ضعفه جمهور الأئمة ووثقه محمد بن المبارك الصوري وشهر اختلفوا فيه وبقية رجاله ثقات قلت حسن الترمذي احاديث كثيرة لشهر و حسن السيوطي هذا الخبر في الجامع الصغير و لم يعارضه المناوي في التيسير (ج 1 / ص 856) و كذا قال نوح بن مصطفي (88) قال السيوطي في النكت البديعات: سنده حسن

Auf bin Malik (r.a) told the people of Egypt, “O people of Egypt, I am Auf bin Malik, do not swear the people of Syria for verily I have heard Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم saying, “Amongst them is the Abdaal through who you are aided and (you are also) given sustenance (by virtue of their prayers).” (Narrated by At Tabrani and graded as good by Suyuti and others)

There are also numerous statements mentioned from the Sahabah. Since this is a matter which cannot possibly be imagined by the human intellect, Scholars of hadith grade these statements of Sahabah on the same level as marfoo (a statement of Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم). In his treatise, Imam Suyuti mentioned narrations of the following Sahabah. Many of these statements could also be found in Allamah Nuh bin Mustafa’s ‘Al Qawl ad daal ala hayaat al khidhr wa wujood al abdaal’.

1) Umar bin Khattab (Radhi Allahu anhu)

2) Ali (Radhi Allahu anhu)

3) Anas (Radhi Allahu anhu)

4) Hudhaifah (Radhi Allahu anhu)

5) Ubaadah bin As Saamit (Radhi Allahu anhu)

6) Ibn Abbaas (Radhi Allahu anhu)

7) Ibn Umar (Radhi Allahu anhu)

8) Ibn Masood (Radhi Allahu anhu)

9) Auf bin Malik (Radhi Allahu anhu)

10) Mu’aaz bin Jabal (Radhi Allahu anhu)

11) Waathilah bin Al Asqa (Radhi Allahu anhu)

12) Abu Saeed Al Khudri (Radhi Allahu anhu)

13) Abu Hurairah (Radhi Allahu anhu)

14) Abu Ad Darda (Radhi Allahu anhu)

15) Um Salamah (Radhi Allahu anhu)

In fact, the following statement of Ali (Radhi Allahu anhu) is said to be narrated with the most authentic chain. Ibn Salah (may Allah be pleased with him) has said that this has the strongest chain of narrators. Imam Sakhawi (may Allah be pleased with him) said that this is the best of what is narrated (on this subject). Some have also mentioned it as a hadith of Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم

قال الحاكم في مستدركه على الصحيحين (ج 4 / ص 596)

8658 - أخبرني أحمد بن محمد بن سلمة العنزي ثنا عثمان بن سعيد الدارمي ثنا سعيد بن أبي مريم أنبأ نافع بن يزيد حدثني عياش بن عباس أن الحارث بن يزيد حدثه أنه سمع عبد الله بن زرير الغافقي يقول : سمعت علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه يقول : ستكون فتنة يحصل الناس منها كما يحصل الذهب في المعدن فلا تسبوا أهل الشام و سبوا ظلمتهم فإن فيهم الأبدال و سيرسل الله إليهم سيبا من السماء فيغرقهم حتى لو قاتلتهم الثعالب غلبتهم ثم يبعث الله عند ذلك رجلا من عترة الرسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم في اثني عشر ألفا إن قلوا و خمسة عشر ألفا إن كثروا إمارتهم أو علامتهم أمت أمت على ثلاث رايات يقاتلهم أهل سبع رايات ليس من صاحب راية إلا و هو يطمع بالملك فيقتتلون و يهزمون ثم يظهر الهاشمي فيرد الله إلى الناس إلفتهم و نعمتهم فيكونون على ذلك حتى يخرج الدجال( رواه الحاكم و قال «هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد و لم يخرجاه »، و علق الذهبي في التلخيص : «صحيح» ، قال علي القاري في «الأسرار المرفوعة في الأخبار الموضوعة » (ج 1 / ص 77) وعن ابن الصلاح «أقوى ما روينا في الأبدال قول علىٍ أنه بالشام يكون الأبدال» ، و أخرج الطبراني هذا الحديث في «المعجم الأوسط » (ج 4 / ص 176) من طريق زيد بن ابي الزرقاء قال ثنا ابن لهيعة قال نا عياش بن عباس القتباني عن عبد الله بن زرير الغافقي عن علي بن أبي طالب عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم و قال في آخره لم يرو هذا الحديث عن ابن لهيعة إلا زيد بن أبي الزرقاء ، قال ابن عساكر (1/331) «هذا وهم من الطبراني بل رواه الوليد بن مسلم أيضا عن ابن لهيعة» ثم رواه ابن عساكر بسنده إلي الوليد قال ثنا ابن لهيعة به و قال الهيثمي في «مجمع الزوائد» - (ج 7 / ص 616 دار الفكر) «رواه الطبراني في «الأوسط» وفيه ابن لهيعة وهو لين وبقية رجاله ثقات» و كذا أخرجه نعيم بن حماد في الفتن

Ali (Radhi Allahu anhu) has said, “There will be tribulations through people will gain (wealth) as gold is attained from a mine. So do not swear the people of Damascus, but rather speak out against their oppression, for verily, amongst them are Abdaals …..” (Narrated by Hakim who graded it as authentic. Dhahabi also agreed on its authenticity.)

Besides the above, there are numerous ‘inferior’ Ahadith which are also narrated concerning the Abdaals. Due to the large number, they could be cited to substantiate and prove the existence of Abdaals. The great Scholar, Allamah Munawi (may Allah be pleased with him) has stated,

قال المناوي في «الفيض» [3/170] «وهذه الأخبار وإن فرض ضعفها جميعها لكن لا ينكر تقوى الحديث الضعيف بكثرة طرقه وتعدد مخرجيه إلا جاهل بالصناعة الحديثية أو معاندة متعصب»

“These Ahadith are such, that even if you assume all of them to be weak; only an ignorant person of the science of hadith or a stubborn bigot will deny that weak Ahadith are strengthened due to many chains and many people narrating it.”

Having said this, we now go on to enumerate the Ahadith which Allamah As Sakhaawy has alluded to in his famous ‘Al Maqaasid al hasanah (pg 8-10)

المقاصد الحسنة للسخاوي - (ج 1 / ص 9/8)

حديث ( الأبدال ) له طرق عن أنس رضي الله عنه مرفوعا بألفاظ مختلفة كلها ضعيفة

منها للخلال في «كرامات الأولياء» بلفظ ( الأبدال أربعون رجلا وأربعون امرأة كلما مات رجل أبدل الله رجلا مكانه وإذا ماتت امرأة أبدل الله مكانها امرأة )

ومنها للطبراني في «الأوسط» بلفظ ( لن تخلو الأرض من أربعين رجلا مثل خليل الرحمن عليه السلام فبهم يسقون وبهم ينصرون ما مات منهم أحدا إلا أبدل الله مكانه آخر

ومنها لابن عدي في كامله بلفظ ( البدلاء أربعون اثنان وعشرون بالشام وثمانية عشر بالعراق كلما مات منهم واحدا بدل الله مكانه آخر فإذا جاء الأمر قبضوا كلهم فعند ذلك تقوم الساعة )

وكذا يروى كما عند أحمد في «المسند» والخلال وغيرهما عن عبادة بن الصامت رضي الله عنه مرفوعا ( لا يزال في هذه الأمة ثلاثون مثل إبراهيم خليل الرحمن كلما مات واحد أبدل الله عز وجل مكانه رجلا )

وفي لفظ للطبراني في «الكبير» ( بهم تقوم الأرض وبهم يمطرون وبهم ينصرون )

ولأبي نعيم في «الحلية» عن ابن عمر رفعه ( خيار أمتي في كل قرن خمسمائة والابدال أربعون فلا الخمسمائة ينقصون ولا الأربعون كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه آخر ) قالوا يا رسول الله دلنا على أعمالهم قال ( يعفون عمن ظلمهم ويحسنون إلى من أساء إليهم ويتواصلون فيما أتاهم الله عز وجل )

وفي لفظ للخلال ( لا يزال أربعون رجلا يحفظ الله بهم الأرض كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه آخر وهم في الأرض كلها )

وفي «الحلية» أيضا عن ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه رفعه ( لا يزال أربعون رجلا من أمتي قلوبهم على قلب إبراهيم يدفع الله بهم عن أهل الأرض يقال لهم الابدال إنهم لم يدركوها بصلاة ولا بصوم ولا بصدقة ) قالوا فبم أدركوها يا رسول الله قال ( بالسخاء والنصيحة للمسلمين )

والجملة الأخيرة تروى كما للطبراني في «الأجواد» وغيره كأبي بكر ابن لال في «مكارم الأخلاق» عن أنس رضي الله عنه رفعه بلفظ ( إن بدلاء أمتي لم يدخلوا الجنة بصلاة ولا صيام ولكن دخلوها بسخاء الأنفس وسلامة الصدور والنصح للمسلمين )

وللخرائطي في «المكارم» من حديث أبي سعيد نحوه

“The hadith of Abdaal: “It has a number of different routes from Anas (RA) from the Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم, with different wordings, all of which are da'eef. Amongst them are:

A) The hadith related by Al Khalaal in ‘Karaamaat al-Awliyaa’, “the Abdaal are forty men and forty women, every time a man passes away, Allaah substitutes another man in his place, and every time a woman dies, Allaah substitutes another woman in her place”

B) The hadith narrated by At Tabaraany in ‘Al Awsat’ with the following wording, “there will always be forty people on the earth who are like the Khaleel (friend) of the most merciful (Ebrahim), alayhis salaam, and by them the people will be given to drink (or have rain come down), and through them people will be aided, whenever one of them dies, Allaah (immediately)substitutes him with another (who take his place.)”

C) The hadith related by Ibn Adee in ‘Kaamil’, “The Abdaal are forty; twenty two from Shaam, and eighteen from Iraq, each time one of them dies Allaah substitutes another one in his place. And when the Command comes then all of them will be taken (qubidoo) and at that time the Hour (Qiyamah) will be established.”

D) Likewise, it is related by Ahmad, Al Khallaal and others from Ubaadah bin Saamit (RA) from the Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم, “There will always be thirty people in this Ummah like Ebrahim, the friend of the most merciful, each time one of them dies Allaah substitutes another in his place.”

E) In the ‘Kabeer’ of At Tabaraany the following wording appears, “and by them the earth will remain established, and by them it will rain, and by them they (the Muslims) will be aided.”

F) The hadith of Abu Nu’aym in ‘Al-Hilya’ from Ibn Umar from the Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم, ‘the chosen ones of my nation are five hundred in every generation, and the Abdaal are forty, neither the five hundred nor the forty will decrease, each time one of them dies Allah puts another in his place.” The Companions enquired, “Please inform us of their actions” Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم replied, “They forgive those who oppress them, and they show kindness to those who ill treat them and they embrace what Allah has given them”

G) Al Khallaal has the wording, “There will constantly be forty people by virtue of whom Allah will preserve the earth, every time one of them dies Allah substitutes another in his place.”

H) Also the hadith in ‘Al Hilya’ narrated from Ibn Mas'ud (RA), “there will always be forty people from my Ummah whose hearts are like the heart of Ebrahim, Allah will avert (evil from) the people of the earth through them, they will be called the Abdaal. Indeed they did not attain it (this position of Abdaal) by (a great deal of) prayers or fasting or giving in charity.” Sahabah asked, “So how did they attain it, O Messenger of Allah?” Nabi صلي الله عليه و سلم replied, “through generosity, and by advising the Muslims."

I) The hadith reported by at-Tabaraany in “Al Ajwaad” and others like Ibn Laal in ‘Makaarim al akhlaaq’ on the authority of Anas (RA) from the Messenger صلي الله عليه و سلم , “Indeed the Abdaal of this ummah will not enter Paradise due to (a great deal) of prayers or fasting, but they will enter due to generosity, clean hearts and advising the Muslims."

J) Al Kharaa’ity related a similar hadith from Abu Sa'eed (RA) in ‘Al Makaarim’

CONCLUSION

It would be ideal to conclude this discussion with the brief summary done by Imam Suyuti (May Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him). Imam Suyuti mentioned,

خبر الأبدال صحيح فضلا عما دون ذلك وإن شئت قلت متواتر وقد أفردته بتأليف استوعبت فيه طرق الأحاديث الواردة في ذلك و الحاصل أنه ورد من حديث عمر رضي الله عنه أخرجه ابن عساكر من طريقين وعلى أخرجه أحمد والطبراني والحاكم وغيرهم من طرق أكثر من عشرة بعضها على شرط الصحيح وأنس وله ست طرق منها طريق في معجم الطبراني الأوسط حسنه الهيثمي في مجمع الزوائد وعبادة ابن الصامت أخرجه أحمد بسند صحيح وابن عباس أخرجه أحمد في الزهد بسند صحيح وابن عمر وله ثلاث طرق في المعجم الكبير للطبراني وكراميات الأولياء للخلال والحلية لأبي نعيم وابن مسعود وله طريقان في المعجم الكبير والحلية وعوف بن مالك أخرجه الطبراني بسند حسن ومعاذ بن جبل أخرجه الديلمي وأبي سعيد الخدري أخرجه البيهقي في الشعب وأبي هريرة وله طريق آخر غير التي أوردها ابن الجوزي أخرجها الخلال في كرامات الأولياء وأم سلمة أخرجه أحمد وأبو داود في سننه والحاكم والبيهقي وغيرهم ومن مرسل الحسن أخرجه ابن أبي الدنيا في السخاء والبيهقي في الشعب ومن مرسل عطاء أخرجه أبو داود في مراسيله ومن مرسل بكر بن حنيش أخرجه ابن أبي الدنيا في كتاب الأولياء ومن مرسل شهر بن حوشب أخرجه ابن جرير في تفسيره وأما الآثار عن الحسن البصري وقتادة وخالد بن معدان وأبي الزاهرية وابن شوذب وعطاء وغيرهم من التابعين فمن بعدهم فكثيرة جدا ومثل ذلك بالغ حد التواتر المعنوي لا محالة بحيث يقطع بصحة وجود الأبدال ضرورة انتهى (النكت البديعات 280-282 دار مكة المكرمة)

The hadith of Abdaals is authentic, leave alone being lesser than that. If you desire, you can even say it is mutawatir. I have dedicated an entire treatise to this topic in which I covered the various chains of narrators pertaining to this subject. The summary is that it is narrated by

1) Ibn Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) as narrated by Ibn Asaakir via two chains.

2) Ali (radhi Allahu anhu) as narrated by Ahmad, At Tabrani, Al Hakim etc with over ten channels; some of which are (in conformity) with the conditions of Saheeh (Al Bukhari).

3) Anas (radhi Allahu anhu). Narrated through six chains, amongst them is the chain mentioned in Al Mujam al Awsat of At Tabrani which Allamah Al Haythami has graded as good in Majma az zawaaid.

4) Ubaadah bin as Samit (radhi Allahu anhu) as narrated by Imam Ahmad with a authentic chain.

5) Ibn Abbaas (radhi Allahu anhu). Imam Ahmad mentioned it in Az Zuhdwith an authentic chain.

6) Ibn Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) which is narrated through three different chains in Al Mujam al kabeer, Karaamaat al Awliyaa of Khallal and Abu Nuaim.

7) Ibn Masood (radhi Allahu anhu). This is narrated through two chains; (one in) Al Mujam al Kabeer and (the other) is in Al Hulya.

8) Auf bin Malik which is narrated in At Tabrani with a good chain.

9) Muaaz bin Jabal. Imsm Daylami narrated his report.

10) Abu Saeed Al Kudri. Imam Bayhaqi narrated his report in ‘As Shu’ab’.

11) Abu Hurairah. It is narrated through a different chain from what Ibn al Jawzi narrated. (This chain) is transmitted By Al Khallaal in ‘Karaamaat al Awliyah’.

12) Umm Salamah. The chain has been transmitted by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Al Hakim, Al Bayhaqi and others.

From the Mursal, (there are narrations from the following Tabi’een) (Note-Majority of the Scholars accept Mursal Ahadith, although Imam Shafi puts just a few conditions)

1) Hasan which is narrated by Ibn Abi ad dunya in his ‘Sakha’ and Al Bayhaqi in ‘Ash Shuab’.

2) Ata. It has been narrated by Abu Dawood in his ‘Maraasil’

3) Bakr bin Hunaish. Ibn Abi ad Dunyanarrates it in his book ‘Al Awliyah’.

4) Shahr bin Hawhab which has been narrated by Ibn Jareer in his Tafseer.

As for he Aathaar, there is narrations recorded from the following

1) Hasan Basri

2) Qatadah

3) Khalid bin Madaan

4) Abi az Zaahiriyyah

5) Ibn Shawdhab

6) Ata

There are numerous other traditions transmitted from many more Tabi’een and Scholars who came after them. There is no doubt that the like of this has most definitely reached the status of tawaatur ma’anawi. Out of necessity, a person has to have firm conviction on the existence of Abdaals. (An Nukat al badi’aat 280-282)

1 Many sayings of the Prophet (s) mention the various types and ranks of the saints, as Suyuti has shown in his collection of them in his article: 'al-Khabar al-daall `ala wujood al-qutb wa al-awtaad wa al-nujabaa' wa al-abdaal' or "The Reported Matter That Indicates the Existence of the Pole, the Pillars, the Leaders, and the Substitutes (of the Awliya)."

2 Risala fi al-qutb wa al-abdal al-arba`in (Treatise on the Pole of saints and the forty substitute-saints)
( By Sultan al-`ulama' al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam al-Sulami (d. 660))

3 The Prophet (s) said: "The true vision is one-forty sixth part of prophecy." The Imam of the Sunnah and of Tasawwuf, the Ghawth (Arch- Helper) of Mankind Shaykh Abd al-Qadir Gilani -- may Allah sanctify his secret -- said (Discourse 9 of 'Futuh al-ghayb'): "To awliya and abdal (Substitutes) are disclosed such workings of Allah as in the course of kashf and mushahada (vision) as overwhelm the reasoning power of man and shatter into pieces all habits and customs." These phenomena fall under the category of khawaariq (extraordinary matters) to which belong the karaamaat, the "gifts" or miracles of saints, belief in which is an obligation of each and every person in Islam. (The sect of the Mu`tazila did not believe in the miracles of the saints, and some today even say that the awliya are not known!)

4 The Prophet emphasized in many authentic narrations the benefits brought to all creation through the intercession of Allah's saints and their standing with Him. Suyuti in his fatwa on the abdal in his Hawi li al-fatawi provided many examples of this type of universal intercession from which we quote the following:

1. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrates in his Musnad (1:112):

... The people of Syria were mentioned in front of `Ali ibn Abi Talib while he was in Iraq, and they said: "Curse them, O Commander of the Believers." He replied: "No, I heard the Messenger of Allah say: The Substitutes (al-abdal) are in Syria and they are forty men, every time one of them dies, Allah substitutes another in his place. By means of them Allah brings down the rain, gives (Muslims) victory over their enemies, and averts punishment from the people of Syria." al-Haythami said: "The men in its chains are all those of the sahih except for Sharih ibn `Ubayd, and he is trustworthy (thiqa)." Sakhawi mentions this narration in his Maqasid (p. 33 #8) and says the same. However, he is of the opinion that it is more likely a saying of `Ali himself.

It is noteworthy that despite its chain to the Prophet, which is sound without contest, Ibn Taymiyya in his book al-Furqan bayna awliya' al-Rahman wa awliya' al-shaytan nevertheless rejects the authenticity of the hadith on the grounds that the group of `Ali in Iraq was better than the group of Mu`awiya in Syria -- may Allah be pleased with both of them -- so he does not understand why the Abdal should be found among the latter! The truth is that the identification of the Abdal with Syria does not preclude the above, nor is it limited to the time of the Companions, as established by the statements of Qatada (see below, #3), Wahb ibn Munabbih (#6), Shafi`i, Bukhari, Nawawi (#7), and others. In fact, the Prophet mentioned (#5) that they would be found in Syria right up to the time of the Mahdi.

2. al-Hakim narrated the following which he graded sound (sahih), and al-Dhahabi confirmed him:

`Ali said: "Do not curse the people of Syria, for among them are the Substitutes (al-abdal), but curse their injustice."
The above is a narration of `Ali not attributed to the Prophet. Note, however, that any religious knowledge unattainable through ijtihad and authentically conveyed from one of the Companions is considered a hadith by the experts of that science.

3. Tabarani said in his Mu`jam al-awsat:

Anas said that the Prophet said: "The earth will never lack forty men similar to the Friend of the Merciful [Prophet Ibrahim], and through them people receive rain and are given help. None of them dies except Allah substitutes another in his place." Qatada said: "We do not doubt that al-Hasan [al-Basri] is one of them."
Ibn Hibban narrates it in al-Tarikh through Abu Hurayra as: "The earth will never lack forty men similar to Ibrahim the Friend of the Merciful, and through whom you are helped, receive your sustenance, and receive rain."

4. Imam Ahmad also narrated in the Musnad (5:322) through `Abd al-Wahhab ibn `Ata':
The Prophet said: "The Substitutes in this Community are thirty like Ibrahim the Friend of the Merciful. Every time one of them dies, Allah substitutes another one in his place." Ahmad said: "Other than this is also narrated from `Abd al-Wahhab, but it is denounced (munkar)."
________________________________________
Hakim Tirmidhi cites it in Nawadir al-usul and Ahmad's student al-Khallal in his Karamat al-awliya'. Haythami said its men are those of the sahih except `Abd al-Wahid who was declared trustworthy by al-`Ijli and Abu Zar`a (as well as Yahya ibn Ma`in). He is one of the narrators of Imam Muslim and also Tirmidhi.
5. Abu Dawud through three different good chains the "Book of the Mahdi" in his Sunan (English #4273), Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (6:316), Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf, Abu Ya`la, al-Hakim, and Bayhaqi narrated:

Umm Salama the wife of the Prophet related that the Prophet said: "Disagreement will occur at the death of a Caliph and a man of the people of Madina will come forth flying to Mecca. Some of the people of Mecca will come to him, bring him out against his will and swear allegiance to him between the Corner and the Maqam. An expeditionary force will then be sent against him from Syria but will be swallowed up in the desert between Mecca and Madina, and when the people see that, the Substitutes (abdal) of Syria and the best people (`asaba) of Iraq will come to him and swear allegiance to him between the rukn and the maqam..."

6. Imam Ahmad cited in Kitab al-zuhd, also Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Abu Nu`aym, Bayhaqi, and Ibn `Asakir narrated from Julays:

Wahb ibn Munabbih said: I saw the Prophet in my sleep, so I said: "Ya Rasulallah, where are the Substitutes (budala') of your Community?" So he gestured with his hand towards Syria. I said: "Ya Rasulallah, aren't there any in Iraq?" He said: "Yes, Muhammad ibn Wasi`, Hassan ibn Abi Sinan, and Malik ibn Dinar, who walks among the people similarly to Abu Dharr in his time."

7. Nawawi in Bustan al-`arifin (1985 ed. p. 31) mentions that the hadith master Hammad ibn Salama ibn Dinar (d. 167) was considered to be one of the abdal. Sakhawi in his notice on the narrations of the abdal already referred to said:
What makes this hadith stronger and indicates its currency among the Imams is the statement of our Imam, al-Shafi`i, concerning a certain man: "We considered him one of the abdal," and Bukhari's statement concerning another: "They did not doubt that he was one of the abdal," and other than these two among the highly meticulous scholars, hadith masters, and imams [such as Qatada and Wahb, see above] also used this description for other people, stating that they were of the abdal.

It is extremely telling that in their derogatory references to the abdal, the "Salafis" never mention the above strong reports and evidence from the scholars, but only mention the weakest reports they can find, ignoring what is established as authentic (such as #1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 above) because it does not fit their opinion. They seem to think that their Imam, Ibn Taymiyya, erred in his assertion, in his fundamental `Aqida wasitiyya, that "The Substitutes (abdal) and the Imams of religion are to be found among them [the true adherents of Islam in its pristine purity], and the Muslims are in full accord concerning their guidance"! Truly, success is from Allah alone.

The hadiths of the Abdal of Syria is confirmed by the very high status of Syria in the hadiths of the Prophet's Isra' and Mi`raj. The Prophet called Syria the purest of Allah's lands, the place where Religion, belief and safety are found in the time of dissension, and the home of the saints for whose sake Allah sends sustenance to the people and victory to Muslims over their enemies:

8. Ibn `Asakir in Tahdhib tarikh Dimashq al-kabir relates from Ibn Mas`ud that the Prophet compared the world to a little rain water on a mountain plateau of which the safw had already been drunk and from which only the kadar or dregs remained. al-Huwjiri and al-Qushayri mention it in their chapters on tasawwuf, respectively in Kashf al-mahjub and al-Risala al-qushayriyya. Ibn al-Athir defines safw and safwa in his dictionary al-Nihaya as "the best of any matter, its quintessence, and purest part." The quintessence spoken of by the Prophet is Syria, because he called Syria "the quintessence of Allah's lands" (safwat Allah min biladih). Tabarani related it from `Irbad ibn Sariya and Haythami authenticated the chain of transmission in his book Majma` al-zawa'id, chapter entitled Bab fada'il al-sham.

9. Abu al-Darda' narrated that the Prophet said:

As I was sleeping I saw the Column of the Book being carried away from under my head. I feared lest it would be taken away, so I followed it with my eyes and saw that it was being planted in Syria. Verily, belief in the time of dissensions will be in Syria.

Haythami said that Ahmad narrated it with a chain whose narrators are all the men of the sahih -- sound narrations -- and that al-Bazzar narrated it with a chain whose narrators are the men of sound hadith except for Muhammad ibn `Amir al-Antaki, and he is thiqa -- trustworthy.

In the version Tabarani narrated from Ibn `Amr in al-Mu`jam al kabir and al-Mu`jam al-awsat the Prophet repeats three times: "When the dissensions take place, belief will be in Syria." One manuscript bears: "Safety will be in Syria." al-Haythami said the men in its chain are those of sound hadith except for Ibn Lahi`a, and he is fair (hasan).

10. al-Tabarani relates from `Abd Allah ibn Hawala that the Prophet said:
I saw on the night that I was enraptured a white column resembling a pearl, which the angels were carrying. I said to them: What are you carrying? They replied: The Column of the Book. We have been ordered to place it in Syria. Later, in my sleep, I saw that the Column of the Book was snatched away from under my headrest (wisadati). I began to fear lest Allah the Almighty had abandoned the people of the earth. My eyes followed where it went. It was a brilliant light in front of me. Then I saw it was placed in Syria." `Abd Allah ibn Hawala said: "O Messenger of Allah, choose for me (where I should go)." The Prophet said: alayka bi al-sham -- "You must go to Syria.

al-hafiz al-Haythami said in Majma` al-zawa'id: "The narrators in its chain of transmission are all those of sound hadith, except Salih ibn Rustum, and he is thiqa -- trustworthy."

Al-Hasan was considered by the Salaf to be one of the "Substitute-Saints" (al-Abdal). Anas ( narrated that the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- said: "The earth will never lack forty men similar to the Friend of the Merciful [Ibrahim (as)], and through them people receive rain and are given help. None of them dies except Allah substitutes another in his place." Qatada said: "We do not doubt that al-Hasan is one of them ( (, Narrated from Anas by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat with a fair chain and from Ibn Mas`ud with a chain containing two unknown narrators, both as per al-Haythami (10:63).

similar hadith in Musnad Ahmad:

حديث رقم: 898
مسند أحمد > ومن مسند علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه > ومن مسند علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه

حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا أبو المغيرة ثنا صفوان حدثني شريح ـ يعني ابن عبيد ـ قال : : ( ذكر أهل الشام عند علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه وهو بالعراق ، فقالوا : العنهم يا أمير المؤمنين ، قال : لا ، إني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول الأبدال يكونون بالشام ، وهم أربعون رجلاً كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه رجلاً ، يسقى بهم الغيث وينتصر بهم على الأعداء ، ويصرف عن أهل الشام بهم العذاب .).

Something interesting from Fayd Al-Qadir:

وأصح مما تقدم كله خبر أحمد عن عليٍّ مرفوعاً البدلاء يكونون بالشام وهم أربعون رجلاً كلما مات رجل أبدل اللّه مكانه رجلاً يسقى بهم ‏[‏أي بدعائهم‏]‏ الغيث وينتصر بهم على الأعداء ويصرف بهم عن أهل الشام العذاب ثم قال، أعني السخاوي، رجاله رجال الصحيح غير شريح بن عبيد وهو ثقة اهـ‏.‏
وقال شيخه ابن حجر في فتاويه‏:‏ الأبدال وردت في عدة أخبار منها ما يصح وما لا وأما القطب فورد في بعض الآثار وأما الغوث بالوصف المشتهر بين الصوفية فلم يثبت‏.‏

From Kanz Al-'Ummal:

34592- الأبدال في هذه الأمة ثلاثون رجلا، قلوبهم على قلب إبراهيم خليل الرحمن، كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه رجلا‏.‏
‏(‏حم، عن عبادة بن الصامت‏)‏‏.‏ ‏(‏قال المناوي في الفيض ‏(‏3/168‏)‏ قال الهيثمي‏:‏ ورجاله رجال الصحيح غير عبد الواحد بن قيس وقد وثقه العجلي وأبو زرعة وضعفه غيرهما‏.‏ ص‏)‏‏.‏

34593- الأبدال في أمتي ثلاثون، بهم تقوم الأرض؛ وبهم تمطرون، وبهم تنصرون‏.‏
‏(‏طب، عنه‏)‏‏.‏ ‏(‏قال المناوي في الفيض ‏(‏1/168‏)‏ قال المصنف‏:‏ وسنده صحيح‏.‏ ص‏)‏‏.‏

34607- الأبدال يكونون بالشام وهم أربعون رجلا، كلما مات رجل أبدل الله مكانه رجلا، يسقى بهم الغيث، وينتصر بهم على الأعداء، ويصرف عن أهل الشام بهم العذاب‏.‏
‏(‏حم - عن علي، وسنده صحيح‏)‏‏.‏

* Abu Na‘eemwrites in his Hilya al-Aulia quoting the Prophet, “There will be five hundred Akhyar(virtuous) among my followers in every age and forty ‘Abdal. This number will not decrease. When one dies from among the latter, the vacancy will be filled, by a Divine arrangement, from the former.”

* Narrates Imam Ahmad, “There will be thirty‘Abdal among the followers of the Prophet whose hearts will resemble that of ProphetIbrahim . Any vacancy due to death of anyone will be filled up immediately by Divine arrangement.”

* Narrates Tibrani, “There will be thirty ‘Abdal among my followers. The earth shall owe its existence to them. They will be instrumental inbringing rains and ALLAH ’s succour.”

* Abu Asakar quotes the Prophet, “The ‘Abdal are in Syria, they are forty men. They bring rains and victory against your enemies, because of themthe afflictions of mankind are removed by the Almighty.”

* Narrates Tibrani, “The ‘Abdal will be in Syria, because of them youwill receive ALLAH ’shelp and provisions.”

* Narrates Imam Ahmad, “‘Abdal are in Syria and they are forty men. Any vacancies due to death are filled up byHis plan. Because of them you get rains and ALLAH ’shelp in encounters with your enemies. They are also instrumental in averting Divine retribution from the people of Syria.”

* Narrates Khalil in his Karamat-e Aulia and Wahlmi in his Musnad-e Firdaos, “‘Abdal are forty men and women. Casualties among them are replaced accordingly by a Divine arrangement.”

* Narrates al-Hakam, “‘Abdal are from among His slaves.”
* Narrates Ibn-e Abi Dunya, “The identification of ‘Abdal among my followers is that they do not invoke curse on anything.”

* Narrates Ibn-e Habban, “The earth shall not be without thirty and eighty righteous men, who shall be like Prophet Ibrahim . Because of them your afflictions will be removed and rains and provisions shall be bestowed on you.”

* Narrates Imam Bahaiqi, “The ‘Abdal from among my followers shall enter Paradise not by virtue of their deeds alone, but by ALLAH’s Mercy, munificence of their souls and enlightenment of their hearts.”

* Narrates Ibn-e ‘Adi, “‘Abdal are forty, twenty two in Syria and eighteen in ‘ Iraq. Casualties due to death are replaced under His arrangement. Doomsday shall follow their passing away, by ALLAH’s Command.”

* Narrates Tibrani, “Forty men who are like Prophet Ibrahim shall always inhabit the earth. They will be the cause of rains and ALLAH’s help to you. When anyone passes away, another will take his place by a Divine arrangement.”

* Narrates Abu Na‘eem, “There will always remain among my followers forty men, whose hearts shall be like that of Prophet Ibrahim . Due to their blessing, sufferings of mankind will be removed- they are called ‘Abdal.”

* A mention has also been made about Qutb by some of the scholars of Hadith, for example, Abu Na‘eem in his Hilya declares that a number of Hadith are available in corroboration of this point. Narrates at-Tirmizi and Abu Na‘eem, “There will be among my followers some foremost in ALLAH’s nearness and they will be there in all ages.”

Note : The above narrations have been critically examined. ‘Allama Sayuti quotes about twenty Hadith from books and narrations on the subject of ‘Abdal. He grades all of them as authentic. ‘Abdal being a common factor in all the aforementioned Hadith, his existence will have to be conceded. The book referred by ‘Allama Sayuti is al-Khabr ad-Dal min Wujud al-Qutb wa Nujaba wal-Abdal.

Pertaining to the exact number of Awliya (Saints, Friends of God) the following Ahadith provide some indication to their rank and status with some numbers:

1. Imam Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani relates a Hadith in his Magnum Opus "Hilyat-ul-Awliya":

On the authority of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be well pleased with him, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

"Allah Almighty has created three hundred people, whose hearts are like that of Adam, and He created forty people whose hearts are like Moses. He also created seven people whose hearts are like that of Abraham, and he created five people with a heart like that of Gabriel, and three people with a heart like that of Mika'il and only one person with a heart like that of Rafa'il (Raphael). When such a person dies, Allah Almighty will replace him with one of the three. When one of such three dies, Allah Almighty will replace him with one of the five. When one of the seven dies, Allah Almighty will replace him with one of the forty, and when one of the forty dies, He will replace him with one of the three hundred and when one of the three hundred elite dies, Allah Almighty will replace him with someone He chooses from among the pious masses. Such a person will live among the people, and through his prayers (dua), by Allah Almighty's permission, life and death, rain and prosperity will come and calamity will be averted."

2. Imam Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani relates another Hadith on similar lines in "Hilyat-ul-Awliya":

On the authoruty of Sayyidina Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be well pleased with him, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

"Forty men from amongst my Ummah are such whose hearts are like that of Sayyidina Ibrahim's heart. By virtue of them, Allah Almighty protects His creation from calamities; it is they who are known as Abdaal." (Rest of Hadith same as above mentioned to the end).

3. Imam at-Tabaraani reports a Hadith in his "Al-Aswat" which again is on similar lines to Imam Abu Nu'aym's Hadith:

On the authority of Sayyidina Anas ibn Malik, may He be well pleased with him, the Messenger of Allah, may he be greeted with peace, said:

"The earth shall never be without forty men, whose hearts shall be upon Sayyidina Ibrahim, upon whom be peace. By virtue of them, the earth is in existence and by virtue of them (Allah Almighty) provides rain to you. From among them none dies but Allah Almighty replaces him with another."

4. Imam Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani relates another Hadith in "Hilyat-ul-Awliya":

On the authority of Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Amr, the Messenger of Allah may he be greeted with peace, said:

"The Akhyaar amongst my Ummah in every century are five hundred, and the Abdaal are forty and their number does not increase. Neither the five hundred nor forty diminish in number. When one among the forty Abdaal dies, Allah Almighty replaces him with one of the five hundred."

This last Ahadith has been mentioned by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may the mercy of Allah be upon him, in "Musnad-e-Ahmad" and Imam Waliddin al-Khatib at-Tabrizi in his "Mishkaat al-Masaabih" where both are major and important compilations of Hadith used by both students and Hadith Scholars of all the greatest ages till today. This hadith is the version reported by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in "Musnad-e-Ahmad".

5. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal realtes in "Musnad-e-Ahmad":

On the authority of Sayyidina Shurayh ibn Ubaid, may He be well pleased with him, that:

"When the people of Syria were mentioned in Imam Ali's presence, someone said: " O! Prince of the Believers, curse them!" Imam Ali, peace be upon him, replied: "No! I heard Allah Almighty's Messenger saying: ‘Abdaal will be in Syria. They are forty men; whenever one dies Allah Almighty replaces him with another man. By virtue of them (Allah Almighty) provides rain and by virtue of them (Allah Almighty) provides help against the enemies. By virtue of them (Allah Almighty's) punishment is averted from the Syrians." (Musnad-e-Ahmad)
The presence of the Abdaal, their extraordinary qualities and powers that Almighty Allah has availed to them is a fact that has been proven through various Ahaadith.

Hafiz Suyooti (RA) has written a complete treatise regarding this topic in which he mentions, “There are several narrations regarding them. Among those are the narrations of: 1) Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattaab, 2) Sayyiduna Ali, 3) Sayyiduna Hudhayfa, 4) Sayyiduna Anas, 5) Sayyiduna Ubaadah ibn Saamit, 6) Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas, 7) Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Umar, 8) Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ood, 9) Sayyiduna Awf ibn Maalik, 10) Sayyiduna Mu’aadh ibn Jabal, 11) Sayyiduna Waathila ibn al-Asqaa, 12) Sayyiduna Abu-Sa’eed al-Khudriy, 13) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra, 14) Sayyiduna Abud-Dardaa, 15) Sayyidatuna Umm Salmah (Radhiallaahu Anhum ajma’ee) and many others which are impossible to be enumerated.” (al-Khabaru Daal vol.2 pg.455 of al-Haawi)

In fact, Hafiz Suyooti (RA) and others have accepted that the narrations concerning the Abdaal have reached the status of Tawaatur (highest form of authenticity). (refer Nazmul Mutanaathir minal hadithil mutaawatir pgs.231-232)

Hafiz ibn Hajar (RA) and others have also accepted the authenticity of some of the narrations in which the Abdaal are mentioned.

From the abovementioned narrations, the Hadith of Sayyiduna Anas (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has been classified as Hasan (sound) by Haafiz al-Haythami, the Hadith of Sayyiduna Ubaadah ibn Saamit (Radhiallaahu Anhu) and the Hadith of Sayyiduna ibn Abbaas (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has been classified as Sahih (authentic) by Haafiz ibn Arraaq (RA), the Hadith of Awf ibn Maalik (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has been classified as Hasan (sound) by Hafiz ibn Arraaq. (Tanzihus-Sharee’ah vol.2 pg.307) and the Hadith of Sayyiduna Ali is Hasan (sound) according to Allaamah Suyuti (RA). (Al-la’aaliy vol.2 pg.332) and Hafiz Sakhaawi (RA) has regarded all its narrators as reliable. (al-Maqaasidul Hasanah pg.28)

The following is a list of some of those illustrious Ulama and Muhadditheen that were regarded to be Abdaals, by the scholars of the classical times: 1) Imaam Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abi Haatim (Muqaddamah ibnus-salaah pg.421), 2) Imaam Abu-Muslim al-Khawlaaniy (Al-Jaami of Khaatib Baghdadi pg.382), 3) Imaam Shaafi’ee (Al-Maqaasidul Hasanah pg.28 and Taarikh Dimishq), 4) Yazeed ibn al-Aswad (Taarikh Dimishq vol.6 pg.112), 5) Imaam Jaabir ibn Marzooq (al-Aadaab of Imaam Bayhaqi pg.326 – Hadith985), 6) al-Qa’anabiy, 7) Hammaad ibn Salamah (Tahzeeb of Haafiz ibn Hajar vol.3 pg.13; Hadith1767), 8) Abdullah ibn Mubaarak (Tahzeeb of ibn Hajar)

From the above mentioned facts, it is apparent that the existence of Abdaals are authentically proven by various illustrious Ulama, let alone in the numerous Ahaadith.

shia and Mutah: Part 1

2009-04-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

Shia beleif

Shia belief as written in their book Minhaj Al Sadiqeen (which is a shis tafsir book). ( Sura Nisa verse 34).

It states" those who do muta ( temporary pleasure/ marriage) once their one third body part will vbe saved from hell , those who do it twice their two third and those who do it thrice , their whole body will be saved from hell".

Now shias have a short cut to get saved from hell fire!

Scan

Miracles of a Wahabi scholar!

2009-01-27T15:11:00.001-08:00

Miracles of Wahabi scholar “Ghulam Rasul”

Ghulam Rasul was a wahabi scholar and he was a student of great Indian wahabi scholar Nazeer Hussein dehalvi.

Ghulam rasul had a follower named Ghulab ,who was working as a watchman in the town of meerwal. This watchman fell in love with a woman who was a widow and used to wash clothes for her livelihood.

When people from this city came to know this, they removed Ghulab from the post of watch man.

Ghulab went to his teacher Ghulam rasul and said” sir ,I am dead! Please do something for me”. This continued for many days. One day wahabi scholar ghulam rasul called his servant Buddah Kashmiri and asked him to go to Ghulab and take a promise from him that he ( ghulab) will not touch this woman unless he is married. Ghulab agreed to this and made a promise to this effect.

Ghulam Rasul told Ghulab to climb on the roof of his house after isha salah ( night prayer) and say three times ‘ come to me, come to me, come to me ‘ ( three times) and he should then report the matter to Ghulam Rasul.

After three days at the time of Asr prayer ( late after noon prayer) the woman came to Ghulab’s house and said that her whole body was burning since last 3 nights and as soon as she entered Ghulab’s house her body was normal .Ghulab took her inside his house and they both remained inside the house for three days .

On third day Wahabi scholar Ghulam Rasul called his servant Buddah kashmiri and said ‘ go and bring that man here. He is commiting adultery now”. Buddah Kashmiri went to Ghulab;s house and brought him infront of Ghulam Rasul. Wahabi scholar Ghulam rasul became angry and told Ghulab to go away from him. Ghulab went to his house and the woman left him in angry mood.

Questions for Wahabis

Since wahabis say that there is no miracle,how do they explain this incidence?
Was wahabi scholar Ghulam Rasul present in the room ?How else did he know what was happening in the room?

Where was wahabi scholar present at the time of incidence? Can he be present at two places at the same time?

This is the truth of wahabism! They attribute all powers to their scholars, but when it comes to prophet ( sal allahu alayhi wa sallam) then they deny it !

Miracles of Ibn Taymiyya !!

2009-01-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

As per wahabis no one except Allah has the knowledge of the unseen.And if any one ascribes knowledge of the unseen to any one except Allah , then he becomes a mushrik!

The muslims of Ahlus sunnah say and beleif that Allah alone has the self knowledge of unseen and He bestows this to any one whom He wishes.

Knowledge of the Unseen is one of Allah's prerogatives, exclusive to Him except insofar as He discloses it to His elect servants:

"He discloses not His unseen (ghayb) to anyone, except only to such a Messenger as He is well-pleased with." (72:26)

The hafiz Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani explained this verse thus:

It follows from this verse that Prophets can see some of the Unseen, and so do the saints (wali, pl. awliya') that follow each particular Prophet also, as each takes from his Prophet and is gifted (yukram) with his knowledge. The difference between the two is that the Prophet looks at this knowledge through all kinds of revelation, while the saint does not look upon it except in dreams or through inspiration, and Allah knows best.

(ath al-bari (1989 ed. 8:660) tafsir surat Luqman, "Allah has knowledge of the Hour" (31:34))

Ibn Hajar quotes al-Qurtubi's words confirming this:

The truthful, righteous Muslim (al-muslim al-sadiq al-salih) is he whose state matches that of Prophets and thereby is bestowed (ukrima) some of the same kind of gifts they were given: that is to behold the unseen (wa huwa al-ittila` `ala al-ghayb). As for the disbeliever (al-kafir), the corrupt person (al-fasiq), and the contentious one who confuses matters for the listeners (al-mikhlat)-- then no.

( al-Qurtubi as quoted by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-bari (1989 ed.) 12:449.)

Now lets see the miracles of Ibn Taymiyya , how he had the knowledge of the unseen.If wahabis affirm and accept these miracles they become mushrik as per their own fatwa!

1st story:

The righteous, knowledgeable Shaykh Ahmad bin al-Harimi told me that he once traveled to Damascus. He said: “So, it happened that when I arrived, I had no provision or money with me, and I knew nobody in the city. So, I began to walk through its streets like a lost person. Suddenly, I saw the Shaykh walking swiftly towards me. He greeted me, smiled in my face, put in my hand a small pouch filled with some dirhams, and said to me: “Spend these now and stop worrying about what you are thinking about, as Allah will never abandon you.” He then walked away as if he had only come to say this to me. So, I supplicated for him, and I was very happy with this. I then asked some of the people: “Who is this man?” They said:
“You don’t know him?! He is Ibn Taymiyyah! It has been a very long time since we’ve seen him walk this road.”

Sufi ibn taymiyah got unseen knowledge from allah that Shaykh Ahmad bin al-Harimi is in need, so go and help him.

2nd story

And I was told by Shaykh Taqi ad-Din ‘Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Sa’id: “I traveled to Egypt when the Shaykh was living there, and I became very sick the night I arrived. So, I spent the night in some region of the country, and was shocked to suddenly hear someone calling me by my name and nickname. So, I answered him in a weak voice, and I sat up to see a group of the Shaykh’s companions entering upon me, some of whom I had met previously in Damascus. I said: “How did you know I was coming to Egypt when I have just arrived?” They said: “The Shaykh informed us that you were coming and that you are sick, and he told us to hurry to move you somewhere more comfortable, and we saw nobody else arriving or telling us anything.” So, I know that this was from the miracles of the Shaykh (may Allah be Pleased with him).

sufi ibn taymiyah knew that Shaykh Taqi ad-Din ‘Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Sa’id is coming and also sick. so lets help him

3RD STORY

He also told me: “I became extremely sick in Damascus, such that I could not even sit up. I suddenly felt the Shaykh sitting next to my head, and I was very weak with fever and sickness. He supplicated for me and said: “You are now relieved.” As soon as he left me, I was immediately relieved of all the pain and sickness I had been experiencing.”

He also said: “I had come across some poetry written by one who had strayed from the truth that attacked the Shaykh. The reason he had written this poem was that someone had ascribed to him poetry and words that indicated he was a Rafidi, and took these words to a judge, and it was decided to publicize his condition to the people. The man falsely thought that it was the Shaykh who had written these words and taken them to the judge, and this is why he wrote this poetry attacking the Shaykh.
So, I kept this poem with me, and I would sometimes recite some of it. I came across many things in it that didn’t sit well, and I was constantly afraid and anxious because of what I was reading, and were it not for Allah’s blessing on me, I would have been overtaken by it. I asked myself why I was so affected by this poem, and I could find nothing more than that I liked some of its words. So, I promised Allah that I would not waste anymore time reading it, and I became a bit relieved and relaxed. However, I still had the poem. So, I took it and burned it up and washed away the ashes so that nothing would be left of it. I asked Allah’s Forgiveness, and suddenly was completely relieved of all the anxiety I had been feeling when reading the poem, and Allah replaced it with relaxation. I have since been in a state of good and relaxation, and I see that this was one of the miracles of the Shaykh granted to him by Allah.”

4TH STORY

He also said to me that Shaykh Ibn ‘Imad ad-Din al-Muqri’ al-Mutriz said: “I visited the Shaykh once when I had some money with me. I greeted him, and he replied and welcomed me, and then left me without asking if I had any money with me. After a few days, I had spent all of my money. When the class was over and we had prayed behind him, he wouldn’t let me leave. He sat me down, and after everyone had left, he put a small pouch of money in my hand, saying: “Now, you have no money. Support yourself with this.” I was amazed at this, and knew that Allah had somehow made him privy to my situation - both when I had some money and when I had run out of it.”

sufi ibn taymiah got ilham that Shaykh Ibn ‘Imad ad-Din al-Muqri’ al-Mutriz has no money so help him.

5TH STORY

I was also informed by a trustworthy individual: “When the Mongol invasion was approaching Damascus, its people became extremely afraid, and some of them came to him and asked him to supplicate for the Muslims. So, he turned to Allah and then said: “Rejoice, for Allah will grant you victory in three days, to the point that you will see their heads piled on top of each other.” By the One in Whose Hand my soul is, as soon as three days had passed, we saw their heads piled on top of each other in the center of Damascus, just as he said.”

sufi ibn taymiyah knows what will happen tmorrow and others from five keys of Ghayb???

6TH STORY

And I was told by the righteous Shaykh ‘Uthman bin Ahmad bin ‘Isa an-Nassakh (may Allah be Pleased with him) that he would visit the sick in the hospital in Damascus every week, and this was a constant habit of his. He once came to a young man and supplicated for him, and he was quickly cured. He came to the Shaykh wanting to greet him, and when he saw him, he smiled to him, pulled him close, gave him some money, and said: “Allah has healed you. So, promise Him that you will quickly return to your homeland. Is it right for you to abandon your wife and four daughters without a provider while you sit here?” The man kissed his hand and said: “Sir, I repent to Allah on your hand,” and he later said: “I was amazed at what he knew about me, as I did leave them without any provision, and nobody in Damascus had known of my situation.”

when allah let know sufi ibn taymiyah how many wife or children he has, where is the problem!

7th story

And I was told by someone I trust that some judges were on their way to Egypt to assume positions there, and that one of them said: “As soon as I arrive in Egypt, I will rule that such and such of the noble scholars should be killed.” Everyone had agreed that this scholar was righteous and pious. However, this man’s heart contained such hatred and enmity to him that it drove him to want him dead. Everyone who heard him say this became worried that he would actually carry out his threat to kill this righteous man, and they were afraid that this man who wanted to be a judge would be led by Satan and by his own desires, causing him to spill sacred Muslim blood - they feared the great evil that would result from such an action.
So, they went to Ibn Taymiyyah and told him of exactly what had taken place. He said: “Allah will not allow him to carry out what he wants, and he will not even get to Egypt alive.” The judge had a very short distance to travel until he would arrive in Egypt when he was suddenly stricken with death. So, he died before arriving in Egypt, just as Allah had revealed on the tongue of the Shaykh (may Allah be Pleased with him).

mashallah mashallah sufi ibn taymiah had close connection with malakul maut, and he allready told to ibn taymiyah about the death of the judge.

INTERESTED READERS CAN DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK AT THIS LINK

http://iskandrani.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/the-lofty-virtues-of-ibn-taymiyyah/

Hadith on 15th of Shaaban

2008-08-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Very early Hadith books such as the Mussanaf of Abdul Razzaq Ibn Humam
(May Allaah have mercy on him) (126-211 AH)( Ref: Musannaf Abdur Razzaq 4/317) and the Musnad of Ahmed bin Hanbal (May Allaah have mercy on him) (164-241 AH) ( Ref: Musnad Ahmad 2/176 & 6/238)contain Ahadith relating to the virtues of 15th Sha'ban.

Even within the famous Six Books of Hadith (al-Kutub al-Sittah), Trimdhi ( Ref: Jami' Al-Trimidhi: Kitab Al-Sawm, Bab "Ma ja'a fi Laylatin Nisfi min Sha.ban" #739 (Vol.3 p107))and Ibn Majah (Sunan Ibn Majah: Kitab Al-Iqamah, Bab "Ma Ja'a Fi Laylatun Nifsi min Sha'ban" #1388 (Vol. 1 p444) have devoted a special chapter on "The Night of the Middle of Sha'ban" in their Hadith collections. In fact there are over a dozen Ahadith available which establish the significance of the night of the 15th of Sha'ban.

There are many hadith on the merits of this Night and some of them are weak ( dai’f).However, it is to be noted that not all of the 'weak' Ahadith suffer from major weaknesses and in fact the minor weaknesses in some Ahadith are curable and strengthened by other narrations.

( Wahabi Scholar Albani : : Silsilah Al-Ahadith Al Sahihah 3/135)

When all the numerous weak Ahadith are combined together, they reach a level of acceptability among Hadith scholars equivalent to being 'Hasan' (good).

Here are a few Sahih (Authentic) Hadith on the merits on the Night of 15 th of Shaba’an.

Hadith 1

Ibn Hibban narrated from Mu`adh ibn Jabal in his Sahih the following narration which the hadith scholar and editor of the Sahih Shu`ayb Arna'ut confirmed as sound:
The Prophet said : yattali`u Allahu ila khalqihi fi laylati al-nisfi min sha`bana fa-yaghfiru li-jami`i khalqihi illa li mushrikin aw mushahin.
Allah looks at His creation in the night of mid-Sha`ban and He forgives all His creation except for a mushrik (idolater) or a mushahin (one bent on hatred).

( Reference: Al-Tabarani: Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir 20/108-9, Ibn Hibban:
Sahih Ibn Hibban 7/470, Al-Bayhaqi: Shu'bal Iman 2/288, Abulhasan
Al-Qazwini: Al-Amali 4/2, Ibn 'Asakir: Al-Tarikh 15/302 & Ibn Abi 'Asim:Al-Sunna1/224)

Note :

1)Ibn Hibban (May Allaah have mercy on him) considered this Hadith to be Sahih.

(Ibn Rajab: Lataif Al-Ma'arif 1/224)

2)And Ibn Hajr Al-Haytami (May Allaah have mercy on him) said: "This Hadith is related by Al-Tabarani (May Allaah have mercy on him) in Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir and Al-Awsat and the narrators of both are trustworthy"(thiqat) ( Ibn Hajar Al-Haytami: Majma' Al-Zawaid 8/65)

3)The great hadith scholar of the present time , Shaykah Shuayb Al-Arna'uat ( Rh) and the self claimed Wahabi hadith scholar Nasiruddin Al-Albani, have also considered this Hadith as 'Sahih'.

( Ref: - Shuayb Al-Arna'ut: Al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban 12/481 #5665 & Nasiruddin Al-Albani: Silsilah Al-Ahadith Al-Sahihah 3/135 #1144 )

Hadith 2

There is another identical Hadith related from the Companion Abdullah b.'Amr (May Allaah be pleased with him) which says that the Prophet(Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam) said: "Allah looks at His creation during the night of the 15th of Sha'ban and He forgives His servants except two- one intent on hatred (mushanin) and a murderer (qatilu nafs).

( Ref : Musnad Ahmad 2/176 #6642. Al-Bazzar also related this Hadith and he classified it as 'hasan'. )

Note :
In his edition of Musnad Ahmed, Shaykh Ahmed Shakir has classified this Hadith as'Sahih' and Nasiruddin Al-Albany classified it is 'Hasan'

( Al-Albani: Silsilah Al-Ahadith Al-Sahihah 3/136).

Hadith 3

A similar narration as above , but narrated by Abu Bakr Siddiq Rd .

It has been classified as sound by Haafiz al-Munzhiri (RA) in his al-Targheeb (vol.3 pg.459). This narration is of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (Radhiallaahu Anhu) and is recorded by Imaam Bazzaar (RA) in his Musnad. In fact, Hafiz ibn Hajar (RA) has also classified one of its chains as Hasan (sound). (al-Amaalil mutlaqah pgs.119-120)

An important Note:

All the weak hadith which talks about the merits of 15th of Shaba’an, have got only minor weakness in them. Going by the principle of hadith, these weak hadiths also strengthen each other.

Besides the above, there are many other Sahaaba (Radhiallaahu Anhum) that narrated Ahaadith regarding the merit of this night, such as: Abu Hurayra (Musnad al-Bazzaar), Abu Tha’labah (Shu’ubul Imaan), Awf ibn Maalik (Musnad al-Bazzaar), Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas (Musnad Ahmad Hadith6642), Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari (ibn Majah Hadith1390; Shu’ubul Imaan Hadith3833) and others. The collective strength of these narrations cannot be refuted.

What the Scholars have said about this Night:

1) The general virtue of this night has been accepted by many great Ulama of the past. From among many great scholars which have agreed to the virtue of this night are: Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz, Imaam al-Shaafi’ee, Imaam al-Awzaa’ie, Attaa ibn Yassaar, Imaam al-Majd ibn Taymiyah, ibn Rajab al-Hambaliy and Hafiz Zaynu-ddeen al-Iraaqiy (Rahmatullaahi alayhim) .

Refer Lataiful Ma’aarif of Hafiz ibn Rajab pgs.263-264 and Faydhul Qadeer vol.2 pg.317.

2) Even Ibn Taymiyya -- the putative authority of "Salafis" -- considered the night of mid-Sha`ban "a night of superior merit" in his Iqtida' al-sirat al-mustaqim:
[Some] said: There is no difference between this night (mid-Sha`ban) and other nights of the year. However, the opinion of many of the people of learning, and that of the majority of our companions (i.e. the Hanbali school) and other than them is that it is a night of superior merit, and this is what is indicated by the words of Ahmad (ibn Hanbal), in view of the many ahadith which are transmitted concerning it, and in view of what confirms this from the words and deeds transmitted from the early generations (al-athar al-salafiyya). Some of its merits have been narrated in the books of hadith of the musnad and sunan types. This holds true even if other things have been forged concerning it.

( Ref:Ibn Taymiyya, Iqtida' al-sirat al-mustaqim (1369/1950 ed.) p. 302.)

Ibn Taymiayh also said

“ As for the middle night of Sha’baan, there are various narrations that have been narrated regarding its significance and it has been reported from a group of the Salaf (predecessors) that they performed Salaat in it individually, hence, such a deed cannot be disputed.’

(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa ibn Taymiyah vol.23 pg.132)

3) Imam Suyuti (Rh)says in his Haqiqat al-sunna wa al-bid`a:
“As for the night of mid-Sha`ban, it has great merit and it is desirable (mustahabb) to spend part of it in supererogatory worship.”

( Ref: Suyuti, Haqiqat al-sunna wa al-bid`a aw al-amr bi al-ittiba` wa al-nahi `an al-ibtida` (1405/1985 ed.) p. 58. He adds: "However, this must be done alone, not in congregation.")

4. Imam Haskafi ( Rh) said in his Durr al-Mukhtar, one of the primary references in the Hanafi school:

"Among the recommended [prayers] are on. . . . the nights of the two Eids, the middle of Sha`ban, the last ten of Ramadan, and the first [ten] of Dhul-Hijjah”.

5. Imam Nawawi ( Rh) mentioned in his Majmu`, where he also quoted Imam al-Shafi`i from the latter’s al-Umm that it has reached him that there are 5 nights when dua is answered, one of them being the night of the 15th of Sha`ban.

End Note

Only Sahih hadiths have been quoted above. The weak hadith on this topic suffer only from minor weakness . There is general consensus that weak hadiths may be acted upon for virtuous acts, such as voluntary fasting and prayer, as long as the hadith is not excessively weak, returns to a general basis in the Shariah, and one is not convinced that the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) specifically prescribed it.

There are many other narrations from the Companions and early Muslims confirming the merits of this night as mentioned by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in his Lata’if al-Ma`arif, and others.

Gay Culture in Christianity!

2008-08-08T11:32:00.002-07:00

Archbishop of Canterbury's support for gay marriage revealed

By Tony Grew • August 7, 2008 - 13:34

Correspondence between an evangelical Christian and Rowan Williams has been uncovered which reveals his support for gay marriage.

The letters were written in 2000 and 2001, when Dr Williams was the Archbishop of Wales, and confirm his liberal stance on homosexuality.

He stated in his correspondence with Deborah Pitt, an evangelical who lived in his then-Archdiocese, that parts of the Bible relating to homosexual acts are not aimed at people who are born gay but "heterosexuals looking for sexual variety in their experience."

"I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness,” read one letter, quoted in The Times.

Archbishop Williams quoted the theologian Jeffrey John to back his position.

In 2003 Dr John was asked to stand down from his appointment as Bishop of Reading by Dr Williams, by then Archbishop of Canterbury, after conservative Anglicans objected to the fact that he was in a gay relationship.

Under House of Bishops guidelines, clerics are allowed to enter into a civil partnership as long as they are not engaging in sexual relations.

Lambeth Palace, when asked for a comment on the letters to Ms Pitt, quoted a recent interview in which the Archbishop said:

"When I teach as a bishop I teach what the Church teaches. In controverted areas it is my responsibility to teach what the Church has said and why."

The ordination of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as Bishop of New Hampshire, was the catalyst for the ongoing crisis in the Anglican communion over gay issues.

At an event in Edinburgh last night Bishop Robinson said he felt personally "disrespected" by the way the Archbishop of Canterbury ignored his letters and banished him from a meeting of Anglican leaders.

"He is no longer the Rowan we once knew. I don't know how he sleeps at night," said Bishop Robinson.

At the conclusion of the Lambeth Conference last week Dr Williams said the "pieces are on the board" for a settlement.

The conference, held once every ten years, is a meeting of the leaders of the Church from around the world.

This year more than 200 bishops boycotted the event.

He also called on American churches not to elect any more gay bishops.

In a sermon on the final day of the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, Dr Williams said: "In these days together we have not overcome our problems or reinvented our structures: that will still take time."

But despite there still being "many questions" on the issue, a Covenant to bind the Communion together is needed, he said: "We may not have put an end to all our problems - but the pieces are on the board."

The Covenant could mean churches with new gay bishops could be expelled from the Anglican Communion.

In a reference to the bishops who refused to attend the Conference Dr Williams said: "In the months ahead it will be important to invite those absent from Lambeth to be involved in these next stages."

He added that the Communion must not just be "an association of polite friends," rather, it must "embrace deeper and more solid ways of recognising and trusting each other

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8634.html

This news article was also available on the UK Guradian online edition , but it has been removed now!

This announcement means , more and more kids will be exploited by the holy fathers of the holy curch in an holy manner to get close to god!

Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi and Tasawwuf ??

2008-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Wahabis have a bad habit of pick and chose.With the passage of time , Ibn Taymiah will be sidelined from Wahabi books and Albani , Ibn Baz, Uthaymeen will be projected as ' Mujtahid". There are only 2 stage into which all the wahabis can be categorized:

1) Those who have already become Mujtahid.

2) Those who are in the process of becoming a Mujtahid.

The reviver of kahwarism in the present era, Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi Al tamimi, wrote following words regarsding 'sufis'.

It should be noted that his writing in praise or support of tawassuf does not mean he was a good man or a sunni muslim. Even enemies of Islam agree that Makkah and Medina are 2 holy places. If some enemy of Islam speaks some truth about Islam , it does not mean he becomes a "muslim". Same goes with Ibn abdul wahab najdi. He could not deny the imporatnce and teachings of tasawwuf. After internet was filled with proof showing ibn taymiah himself was linked to Qadri sufi tariqah , the wahabis coined a new term" extreme sufis'!

All this is an attempt to confuse revert brothers and sisters with the movement headed by some bedoiun who is issuing fatwa to invite STAR BUCKS in Makkah. The tawil given by the blind followers of Wahabi shaykh are: we will use the income from star bucks ( owned by a jew) to improve facility for pilgrims!

It is a lie. Rather one can say: I will kill 100 muslims and after their death I will use their organs to save a few of my relatives !

READ, WHAT IBN ABDUL WAHAB AL NAJDI AL TAMIMI , said about tasawwuf.

Ibn `Abd al- Wahhab said in the third volume of his complete works published by Ibn Sa`ud University, on page 31 of the Fatawa wa rasa'il, Fifth Question:

Know -- may Allah guide you -- that Allah Almighty has sent Muhammad, blessings and peace upon him, with right guidance, consisting in beneficial knowledge, and with true religion consisting in righteous action. The adherents of religion are as follows: among them are those who concern themselves with learning and fiqh, and discourse about it, such as the jurists; and among them are those who concern themselves with worship and the pursuit of the Hereafter, such as the Sufis. Allah has sent His Prophet with this religion which encompasses both kinds, that is: fiqh and tasawwuf

Authenticity of Hadith Regarding Salat-ut-Tasbeeh

2008-08-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

The ruling regarding Salat-ut-Tasbeeh is that it is permissible and, in fact, very meritorious.

The Hadith in question has been accepted as Sahih (authentic) or Hasan (sound) by various eminent Masters of Hadith. Those that claimed that it was weak did so on the basis of a few chains of the narration. However, if all the various chains be gathered, there will remain no doubt as to its authenticity.

Hafiz ibn Hajar al-Asqalaani (RA) states that sometimes a Muhaddith classifies a certain Hadith as weak, very weak or even as a fabrication based on one or two chains that were available to him, whereas there may be other chains through which that Hadith may be classified as Hasan (sound) or even Sahih (authentic). (Anukat vol.2 pg.848-850)

Hafiz ibn Hajar (RA) then mentions the Hadith of Salat-ut-Tasbeeh as an example for this and he accepts it to be in fact either Sahih (authentic) or Hasan (sound) and not Dha'eef (weak). (Ibid)

Imaam Tirmidhi (RA) says that many Ulama, among them Imaam Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak (RA), have accepted the virtue of Salat-ut-Tasbeeh. (Tirmidhi vol.2 pg.348; Hadith 481)

Imaam Bayhaqi (RA) states that ' Salat-ut-Tasbeeh was the practice of Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak and may pious predecessors of various eras. And this in fact lends strength to its acceptability.' (Shu'ubul Imaam vol.1 pg.427; Ilmiyyah)

Allaamah Munzhiri (RA) mentions: Many Muhadditheen have accepted it's authority from among them are: 1) Imaam Abu-bakr al-Ajurriy, 2) Imaam Abu Muhammad al-Misriy (Ustaadh of Allaamah Munzhiri), 3) Hafiz Abul-Hasan Maqdisi (Ustaadh of Allaamah Munzhiri), 4) Imaam Abu-Dawud and 5) Imaam Haakim. (Targheeb vol.1 pg.468)

Allaamah Suyuti (RA) has enumerated upto 20 great Muhadditheen who have accepted its authenticity. Besides those that are mentioned above, some of them are: 6) Hafiz Abu-Sa'eed al-Sam'aaniy, 7) Hafiz Khateeb al-Baghdaadiy, 8) Hafiz ibn-Mandah, 9) Imaam Bayhaqi, 10) Imaam al-Subkiy, 11) Imaam al-Nawawiy, 12) Haafiz ibn al-Salat, 13) Hafiz Abu-Musa al-Madiniy, 14) Hafiz al-Alaaeiy, 15) Imaam Siraaj-ud-Deen al-Bulqiniy, 16) Hafiz al-Zarkashiy and a few others. (al-Laalil Masnoo'ah vol.2 pg.42-44)

The following list of Muhadditheen is of those who have written detailed articles on this matter: 1) Imaam al-Daraaniy, 2) Imaam Abu-Musa al-Madiniy,

3) Imaam ibn Mandah, 4) Hafiz ibn Naasirud-Deen ad-Dimishqiy, Allaamah al-Suyyooti.

As for the claim of the writer, 'It had been unknown to the great Imaams. and presumably Imaam Shaafi'ee (RA).'

This is a claim that lacks the support of explicit quotations from those illustrious Imams as well as any reference. In fact, the books of Hanafi Fiqh support the view of its acceptance. (refer Shaami vol.2 pg.27; HM Saeed). And several Shaafi'ee Jurists have also endorsed it, namely Imaam al-Muhaamiliy, Imaam al-Juwaini, Imaam-ul-haramayn, Imaam Ghazaaliy, Imaam Raafi'ee and others. (al-La-aaliy vol.2 pg.43; al-Azkaar of Imaam Nawawiy pg.242)

Khateeb Baghdaadiy (RA), who is Maaliki, states that there is no reason for it not being permissible. In fact, Imaam ibn Hajar (RA) has mentioned a quotation from Imaam Maaliki from which it could be deduced that it was acceptable in his Madhab. (refer Futuhaat al-Rabbaaniyyah vol.4 pg.321) Qaadhi Iyaad Maaliki (RA) has also accepted its virtue. (Ibid)

As far as Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RA) is concerned, Hafiz ibn Hajar (RA) has stated that he had reversed his decision and was possibly inclined towards its acceptability later on. (Futuhaat al-Rabbaaniyyah vol.4 pg.318, 320)

From the above, it is apparent that there can be no doubt regarding Salat-ut-Tasbeeh being an act of virtue which has been established authentically. And is accepted by a large number of celebrated scholars of Hadith as well as the scholars of Fiqh (jurisprudence).

Imaams Taajud-Deen Subki (RA) and Badrud-Deen Zarkashi have stated that it is from the fundamentals of Deen and anyone who discards it despite knowing its virtue is not on the correct path. (Futuhaat vol.4 pg.321-322)

And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

The Tribe of Banu Tamim in Quran !

2008-08-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

An early indication of the nature of the Tamimites is given by Allah himself in Sura al-Hujurat. ( Sura/ chapter 49, Aya 4 )

In aya 4 of this sura, He says: ‘Those who call you from behind the chambers: most of them have no sense.’ The occasion for revelation (sabab al-nuzul) here was as follows:

‘The “chambers” (hujurat) were spaces enclosed by walls. Each of the wives of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) had one of them. The aya was revealed in connection with the delegation of the Banu Tamim who came to the Prophet (s.w.s.). They entered the mosque, and approached the chambers of his wives. They stood outside them and called: “Muhammad! Come out to us!” an action which expressed a good deal of harshness, crudeness and disrespect. Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) waited a while, and then came out to them. One of them, known as al-Aqra‘ ibn Habis, said: “Muhammad! My praise is an ornament, and my denunciation brings shame!” And the Messenger (s.w.s.) replied: “Woe betide you! That is the due of Allah.”’ (Imam Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Juzayy, al-Tashil [Beirut, 1403], p.702. See also the other tafsir works; also Ibn Hazm, Jamharat ansab al-‘Arab [Cairo, 1382], 208, in the chapter on Tamim.)

This tribe has been disrespectful to prophet, right from the begining. Ibn Abdul wahab najdi , who killed muslim men and made halal ( permissible) for his followers to rape muslim women , was from this tribe.! He showed disrespect to prophet in his writings.

Israel and Money!!

2008-08-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM - A New York fundraiser and a Las Vegas gambling czar have become major headaches for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, raising new questions about the relationship between Jewish Americans and the Jewish state.

While Israel has had close ties with the U.S. Jewish community throughout its history, some wealthy American donors have extended their influence to Israel's halls of power, crossing what many Israelis see as a red line. The cases of fundraiser Morris Talansky and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson have drawn new attention to this sometimes blurry relationship.

Talansky's testimony that he handed Olmert cash-stuffed envelopes in the years before he became prime minister is at the center of a scandal that may topple the Israeli leader. Olmert's lawyers are set to cross-examine Talansky on Thursday.
Adelson, meanwhile, has launched a newspaper that makes no bones about its disgust with Olmert.

Neither man is suspected of anything illicit. But there is an important similarity. Both have chosen to move beyond philanthropy to political activism, using their money to influence decision-making in a country they love but which is not their home.

"It's simple: Whoever doesn't pay the price does not have the right to get involved," said Matti Golan, an Israeli author who has written about the ties between U.S. Jews and Israel.

The relationship benefits both wealthy U.S. Jews, who get to feel important by hobnobbing with powerful politicians, and Israeli politicians, who can expand their limited pool of donors in Israel and who enjoy getting the royal treatment on trips abroad, he said.

"Who gave American Jews the right to decide what is good or bad for Israel?" said Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, an American Jewish advocacy group. "What are the consequences of their opinion if they are wrong in their assessments? They will sit in Beverly Hills or the Hamptons and say, 'I was wrong,'" Foxman said.

"The fact that you support universities and charitable needs doesn't give you the right to determine issues of life and death," he said.
Israeli law forbids direct foreign donations to political parties and limits donations to individual politicians to a maximum of about $10,000, depending on whether the money is meant for a local election, a national race or an internal party primary.

But other activities aren't restricted. American donors can give money to political causes ranging from hardline groups that promote Jewish settlements in the West Bank to the dovish Peace Now.

In the case of Adelson, he launched a newspaper that harshly criticizes Olmert and is distributed free to hundreds of thousands of Israelis. The newspaper is part of what is widely seen by Adelson as a concerted attempt to replace Olmert with his hardline rival, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli political insiders see the paper, Yisrael Hayom — Israel Today — as a mouthpiece for Netanyahu. Olmert's media adviser, Jacob Galanti, refuses to refer to it as a newspaper, recently terming it a "printed product."

Adelson, a casino multibillionaire listed by Forbes last year as the third-richest man in America, has long had pull in Israel's corridors of power. In May, when he helped fund a conference convened by President Shimon Peres for Israel's 60th anniversary, he and his wife were seated alongside Olmert and other Israeli leaders.
Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's most respected journalists, later referred in his column to the "gambling mogul from Las Vegas who bought my country's birthday for $3 million."

"Is the country worth so little?" Barnea asked.

Through a representative in Las Vegas, Adelson declined an interview request.
Adelson's paper, a tabloid heavy on sports and celebrity gossip, has extended Adelson's reach to everyday Israelis. It is delivered free of charge to people's doorsteps and distributed at busy intersections.

The newspaper typically carries a front-page editorial blasting Olmert and his government, with long investigative pieces inside on the misdeeds of Olmert and his cronies. Coverage of Netanyahu is generally benign.

Newspaper officials did not return messages seeking comment.

Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, would not comment on Adelson's activities, but noted that Olmert told The Atlantic Monthly in May that there were U.S. Jews "investing a lot of money trying to overthrow the government in Israel."

Until his recent troubles, Olmert welcomed involvement by American Jews. In the years before he became prime minister, he was happy to accept donations from Americans. One donor was Talansky, now the central figure in a corruption scandal that has ravaged what little popularity Olmert had and could force him out of office.

Talansky, who lives on New York's Long Island, made his donations to Olmert when he was mayor of Jerusalem, a Likud lawmaker and later a Cabinet minister. Testifying in May, Talansky spoke of his deep love for Israel and his conviction that Olmert was the right man to lead the country.

In 2006, Olmert broke away from Likud and led the centrist Kadima Party to victory in national elections. Today, Talansky appears to be bitterly disillusioned with Olmert, and says he believes some of his money went to fund a lavish lifestyle that included expensive cigars, luxury hotels and a vacation in Italy.

Police are investigating and Olmert has said he will resign if indicted. In the meantime, his political rivals have begun the process of replacing him as leader of the Kadima party, with primaries scheduled by the end of September.
Amnon Rubinstein, a prominent Israeli legal expert and a former justice minister, said American Jews "should give money to charity, to universities, to hospitals, but not to political parties."

But across the Israeli political spectrum, it has become a commonly accepted practice.

"Israel has been receiving donations from Diaspora Jews for 60 years," said Eliad Shraga, who founded the country's best-known good governance group, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. "As long as it's legal, I don't see a problem."
Yossi Beilin of the dovish Meretz Party said the involvement of American Jews, even those with views different from his own, is preferable to apathy.

In the 1990s, Florida bingo magnate Irving Moskowitz set off a political storm by building a Jewish neighborhood in heavily Arab east Jerusalem with the enthusiastic cooperation of Jerusalem's mayor — Olmert. Beilin was an unlikely defender.
"I said I thought he was doing terrible damage, but I couldn't ignore the fact that he cares. I prefer someone who cares about Israel to someone who doesn't," Beilin said.

Sulayman ibn Abd al- Wahhab

2008-08-03T03:12:00.000-07:00

Q. Another question is that it is well known that Sulayman Ibn Abd al-Wahaab rejected his brothers misguidence and wrote against the wahaabi regime. A salafi brother pointed out that he repented from going against his brother before he died. I needed some clairty on that issue too.

A. Bakr Abu Zayd and `Abd al-Rahman `Uthaymin, the two Wahhabi editors of Ibn Humayd al-Najdi's Hanbali bio-dictionary _al-Suhub al-Wabila `ala Dara'ih al-Hanabila_ (Risala ed. 2:679), consider the report of that repentence spurious and say there is no proof that Sulayman ever changed his mind.

What is agreed upon is that when his father died, Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi al-Najdi (d. 1210?) succeeded him as qadi of Huraymila' in 1153. Twelve years later, in 1165, Sulayman led the people of that town and `Uyayna, another nearby town, in a rebellion against his brother Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman's (d. 1207) Wahhabi forces which lasted for three years. The towns were overrun in 1168 and Sulayman fled to Sudayr where he was left alone. Twenty years later he was brought against his will to Dir`iyya, the capital of his brother and `Abd al-`Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Sa`ud, where Muhammad kept him under a sumptuous but strict house arrest until they both died.

Sources: Ibn Bishr, _`Unwan al-Majd bi-Tarikh Najd_ (years 1165 and 1168); _Tarikh Ibn La`bun_ (year 1190); Ibn Ghannam, _ Tarikh_ (1:142), all as cited in the marginalia of Ibn Humayd, _al-Suhub al-Wabila_ (2:678-679).

It is in the context of his losing battle against his brother that Sulayman wrote his famous book against the Wahhhabi sect titled:

_Fasl al-Khitab min Kitab Allah wa-Hadith al-Rasul (salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Sallam) wa-Kalam Uli al-Albab fi Madhhab Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab_ ("The Final Word from the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the Sayings of the Scholars Concerning the School of Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab"),

also known as:

_al-Sawa`iq al-Ilahiyya fi Madhhab al-Wahhabiyya_ ("The Divine Thunderbolts Concerning the Wahhabi School").

This book is among the first and earliest refutations of the Wahhabi sect in print, consisting in over forty-five concise chapters spanning 120 pages that aim to show the divergence of the Wahhabi school, not only from the Consensus and usûl of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a and the fiqh of the Hanbali Madhhab, but also from their putative Imams, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim on most or all the issues reviewed.

The biographer of the Hanbali School, Ibn Humayd al-Najdi (1236-1295) said in _al-Suhub al-Wabila `ala Dara'ih al-Hanabila_ (2:675-679 §415):

<<`ABD AL-WAHHAB ibn Sulayman ibn `Ali ibn Musharraf al-Tamimi al-Najdi. He read fiqh with his father the author of the famous _Mansak_ and with others. He obtained learning and fiqh, taught, and wrote excellent epistles on various legal issues. He died in the year 1153. He is the father of MUHAMMAD, the founder of the Da`wah whose evil has spread to / every horizon, but there is a vast difference between the two of them.... / He was angry with his son Muhammad because he would not study fiqh as his predecessors and peers did. His premonition concerning him was that he would bring upon a calamity. He would say to the people, 'One day you will see Muhammad cause evil.' Then Allah decreed that whatever happened happened.

Similarly his son, SULAYMAN, the brother of Shaykh Muhammad, opposed the latter and his Da`wah and refuted him with a fine refutation with Qur'anic verses / and reports, since the one being refuted put no credence in anything else and lent no ear to the discourse of any of the Ulema whether old or late, whoever they may be, except Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya and his student Ibn al-Qayyim. He considered their words uninterpretable scripture and would hammer the people on the head with it / even if what they said differed from his understanding. Shaykh Sulayman titled his refutation of his brother _Fasl al-Khitab fil-Radd `ala Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab_.>>

The Fasl/Sawa`iq received the following editions:

1st edition: Bombay: Matba`a Nukhbat al-Akhbar, 1306/1889. 2nd edition: Cairo (date?). 3rd edition: Istanbul: Ishik reprints at Wakf Ihlas, 1399/1979. 4th edition: (Annotated) Damascus, 1420/1999.

The claim that Sulayman repented apparently originates under the pen of the contemporary literary historian of Arabia, `Ali Jawad Tahir in his eight-volume history published in Baghdad in the Fifties, _Tarikh al-`Arab qabl al-Islam_ ('Pre-islamic History of the Arabs') 7:227. What gave this claim circulation is its endorsement by the Syrian historian Nur al-Din al-Zirikli (d. 1410/1990) in his much more famous biographical dictionary _al-A`lam_ (3:130).

Al-Zirikli says in his snippet on Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab:

'Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab: the brother of the Shaykh and leader of the reformist revival Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab. His brother opposed him in the Call (al-da`wah) and wrote epistles voicing this [opposition], among them _al-Radd `ala man Kaffara al-Muslimin bi-Sababi al-Nadhri li-Ghayr Allah_ ('Refutation of Him Who Pronounced Apostasy against the Muslims for Vows to Other than Allah') in Baghdad's Awqaf archives, manuscript 6805. Then he abandoned his position and proclaimed he was sorry. He authored an epistle to that effect, in print. [FOOTNOTE:] _Al-Kashif_ by Talas (p. 126-127) [a catalogue of manuscripts] which misattributes to him the book _al-Tawdih `an Tawhid al-Khallaq_. See also the periodical _al-`Arab_ (7:227).'

The latter is a sourcing mistake and elsewhere al-Zirikli shows that he means `Ali Jawad's book _Tarikh al-`Arab_ rather than the periodical, as the latter obviously requires a different type of sourcing than volume and page number.

There are many problems with the above claim in addition to its being rejeted by the Wahhabis themselves as already mentioned:

1. Why does the author of the claim not cite the title of the supposed pro-Wahhabi 'repentence epistle' of Sulayman and who printed it and where?

2. Why is there no record of this supposed pro-Wahhabi position of Sulayman even among the Wahhabis? If he had really authored such a book one would expect the many supporters of the Wahhabi movement to have made sure it never got lost to the Muslim world but, on the contrary, no one ever heard of it other than an Iraqi literary historian and the Syrian biographer who cites him.

3. Why does the great bio-bibliographer `Umar Rida Kahhala not mention any such pro-Wahhabi recanting in his entry on Sulayman ibn`Abd al-Wahhab in his much more detailed eight-volume _Mu`jam al-Mu'allifin_ ('Dictionary of Authors'), other than Sulayman's known anti-Wahhabi work?

4. The style of Sulayman's anti-Wahhabi epistle typifies staunchness and a systematic refutation style with complete mastery of the Usul and `Aqida literature that a Hanbali debater is expected to possess. He also states that he waited eight years before deciding to speak out against the deviations of his little brother's followers. It is unlikely that he would then back up and change his mind.

5. In 1995 the Jordanian Wahhabi, Mashhur Hasan Salman published in Ryadh a 2-volume work he titled _Kutubun Hadhdhara al-`Ulama'u Minha_ ('Books the Ulema [supposedly] Warned Against'), a 'Salafi' equivalent of the Vatican's _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_, a guide listing books that the Roman Catholic Church forbade its members to read (except by special permission) because they were judged dangerous to faith or morals. He included Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab's _Fasl/Sawa`iq_ in his pompous censorship manual. To us, of course, the fact that Salman includes Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab's classic refutation in his index is in fact a thumbs-up and a proof that it is a Sunni book. The point, however, is that Salman makes no mention of a supposed repentence of Sulayman nor of his supposed pro-Wahhabi book. If there had truly been such a repentence and book he would have not missed it nor would he have omitted mentioning it.

The above are internal and external circumstancial evidence that Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab never changed his anti-Wahhabi position nor authored a pro-Wahhabi epistle.

A selected chronology of other early condemnations of Wahhabism in print:

1. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Shafi`i al-Kurdi al-Madani, said to be one of Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab's former teachers, wrote a fatwa condemning the Wahhabi movement in general terms. It is reproduced at the end of Sayyid `Alawi ibn Ahmad al-Haddad's Misbah al-Anam (1908 edition; see below) and is also found at the beginning of the Waqf Ihlas offset reprint of Sulayman IAW's _Sawa`iq_.

2. Al-San`ani (d. 1182) the famous author of _Subul al-Salam_ at first wrote Muhammad IAW a panegyric which he sent him. Then he changed his mind and wrote an epistle denouncing him titled _Irshad Dhawi al-Albab ila Haqiqat Aqwal Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab._ See on this Imam al-Kawthari's _Maqalat_ (article 'IAW and Muhammad `Abduh'), al-Shawkani's _al-Badr al-Tali`_, s.v. 'Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Yamani,' and Siddiq Hasan Khan al-Qinnawji's _Abjad al-`Ulum_, introduction, and his _Taj al-Mukallal_.

3. Al-Habib `Alawî ibn Ahmad al-Haddad, _Misbah al-Anam fi Raddi Shubah al-Najdi al-Bid`i al-Lati Adalla biha al-`Awamm_ ('The Luminary of Mankind Concerning the Refutation of the Fallacies of the Innovator from Najd by which He Has Misguided the Common Public' written 1216/1801 but long out of print!) of which I translated and published the introduction [see outline in a separate post] together with the translation of al-Sayyid Yûsuf al-Rifa`i's _Advice to Our Brothers the Scholars of Najd_ (1420/1999);

4. Al-Sawi (d. 1241) in his _Hashiya `ala al-Jalalayn_ for Surat 35:6 mentions the Wahhabis and refers to them as Khawârij. NOTE that this phrase and the word 'Wahhabiyya' was excised from all present-day editions of this Tafsir!

5. Ibn `Abidin (d. 1243) said the same in his famous Hashiya, Book of Iman, Bab al-Bughât.

6. The Mufti of Makka, Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan (d. 1304/1886) with several works: _al-Durar al-Saniyya fî al-Radd alâ al-Wahhabiyya_ ('The Pure Pearls in Refuting the Wahhabis') (Cairo, 1319 and 1347), _Fitnat al-Wahhabiyya_ ('The Wahhabi Tribulation'), and _Khulâsat al-Kalâm fî Bayân Umarâ' al-Balad al-Harâm_ ('The Summation Concerning the Leaders of the Holy Land,' whose evidence is quoted in full by al-Nabhânî in _Shawâhid al-Haqq_ p. 151-177), the last two a history of the Wahhabi movement in Najd and the Hijâz.

7. Imam Ahmad Rida Khan (1272-1340) states in his _Fatawa al-Haramayn_ (Waqf Ikhlas offset ed. p. 11-12):

'As for the Wahhabis they are a misguided sect (firqa dalla) and volumes were compiled - both in Arabic and other languages - declaring them heretics. Among them is the book of our teacher in Hadith, our Master `Allama Ahmad ibn Zaini Dahlan al-Makki ' Allah sanctify his secret - titled _al-Durar al-Saniyya fi al-Radd `ala al-Wahhabiyya_. The best word ever said about them is that of the Mufti of al-Madinat al-Munawwara, Mawlana Abu al-Su`ud - Allah have mercy on all of them: {The devil has engrossed them and so has caused them to forget remembrance of Allah. They are the devil's party. Lo! is it not the devil's party who will be the losers'} (58:18-19).'

Al-Sawi al-Maliki adduced the same verse against them in his Hashiya on Tafsir al-Jalalayn. And Allah knows best.

GF Haddad

Ibn Taymiah and Christinaity( VERY IMP)

2008-06-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

In his Tafsir named "an-Nahrul-Madd", the Grammarian Abu Hayyan al-'Andalusi reported about Ibn Taymiyah having this belief.

He said:

In his handwriting, a book of Ahmad Ibn Taymiyah, who was contemporary with us, which he called "Kitab-ul-‘Arsh", I read: Allah sits on al-Kursi and has left a space for the Messenger of Allah to sit with Him. At-Taj Muhammad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Abdil-Haqq al-Baranbari pretended that he is a promoter of his ideas and tricked him, until he took it from him; we read that in it.

[The author of "Kashf-uz-Zunun" reported that about him also in Volume 2, page 1438.]

This reporting of Abu Hayyan was omitted from the old printed copy. However, the manuscript confirms it.

In his commentary on "as-Sayf-us-Saqil", page 85, Az-Zahid al-Kawthari said explaining the reason of omitting these statements of Ibn Taymiyah:

The editor of as-Sa‘adah Printing House told me that he found it very ugly and he omitted it upon printing so that the enemies of al-'Islam would not use it. Then he requested that I record that here to catch up what he missed and out of sincerity to the Muslims.

Ibn Taymiah and universe

2008-06-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

A man called Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah who died about 600 years ago claimed that the universe does not have a beginning and that it existed eternally with Allah. Such a statement is blasphmey regardless of who says it. All muslims believe Allah existed in eternity ALONE - Allah is the ONLY One Who exists without a beginning. The greatest scholars of his time judged him (Ibn Taymiyah) as a blasphemer.

In Islam it is the belief that ONLY ALLAH existed eternally and He brought all the things from the state of non existence into existence. If any muslims doubts this , it implies that "if" there were other things also existing along with Allah since eternity , then the question comes who made these things? This will give rise to another god who was responsible for this "other things"! Also among the attributes of Allah is 'qadeem'.

But Ibn Taymiah was so much involved in Greek Philosophy that like greek philosophers he said along with Allah , Throne and water also existed along with Allah and they were not created by Allah ( this is total Kufr).

Only Allah existed eternally and HE will exist always.

Shaykhul Islam , hafiz , Ibn Hajar al asqalani said this was the wors thing from Ibn Taymiah among many other bad things in Aqidah reported from Ibn Taymiah.

Plz see the attached scan from Fathul Bari . Those who are interested MUST read this whole artcile to see this deviancy of Ibn Taymiah.

Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of Hawadith with No Beginning Existing Eternally with Allah

This issue is one of the ugliest issues in belief by which Ibn Taymiyyah dissented from the sound mind and the explicit tradition and Ijma’ of the Muslims. He mentioned this belief in five of his books: "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", "Sharh Hadith-in-Nuzul", "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", and "Naqdu Maratib-il-’Ijma’".

Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", Volume I, page 24 is: If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar’ and mind showed.

He replied to Ibn Hazm for reporting the Ijma’ that Allah existed eternally and no thing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir. After these words, Ibn Taymiyyah said: What is stranger than that is his (Ibn Hazm's) reporting the Ijma’ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and no thing existed with Him.

Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", page 193,: If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar’ or the mind, but it is of His perfection. Allah, ta’ala, said that the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create. Then Ibn Taymiyyah said: The creation existed eternally with Him. Then he said: but many people confuse the self with the kind.

His statement in "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", page 291 is: We said: we do not accept. However, the daily hadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning.

In the manuscript of "Tashnif-ul-Masami’", page 342, Muhaddith, Usuli Badr-ud-Din az-Zarkashi reported the agreement of the Muslims upon the kufr of whoever says that the kind of the world is eternal. After mentioning that the philosophers said the world is eternal by matter and shape, and that some said it is eternal by matter but its shape is muhdath (has a beginning), he said: and the Muslims charged them (the philosophers) with deviation and kufr. Before that Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-’Id, Qadi ‘Iyad, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar said the like in "Sharh al-Bukhari". Hafiz as-Subki confirmed this belief about Ibn Taymiyyah in his treatise "ad-Durrat-ul-Mudiyyah" and as said previously, Abu Sa’id al-’Ala'i did too. This belief was reported also by al-Jalal-ud-Dawwani in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah". He said: I saw in a writing of Abul-’Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah the saying that the kind of al-’Arsh is eternal.

The Hanafi ‘Allamah al-Bayyadi mentioned in his book "Isharat-ul-Maram", page 197, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: Hence, what Ibn Taymiyyah thought of al-’Arsh being eternal, as reported in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah", is invalidated.

In his poem, which is famous even among the defenders of Ibn Taymiyyah, and which contained refuting al-Hilli then Ibn Taymiyyah, among of what as-Subki said: Ibn Taymiyyah has a refutation to what one of the rawafid (some deviant groups) said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw [The hashw is done by a group called al-Hashwiyyah. It is a vile group with ignorant members attributing themselves to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who is clear of them. They reported words about him which they misunderstood. Then, they continued with their bad belief claiming to cling to the Hadith. The best of the muhaddithun (pl. of muhaddith) in his time, Ibn ‘Asakir used to refrain from teaching them the Hadith and prevent them from attending his circle in Damascus. This group did not have a head or someone to carry its invalid belief, except some scattered efforts which were foiled by the Muslims. Then, around the end of the 700th Hijriyyah year, Ibn Taymiyyah advocated the invalid beliefs and ideas of this group.] whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he (Ibn Taymiyyah) thinks about Him.

Ibn Taimiyah is characteristically audacious in rejecting hadith which do not conform with his purpose at hand even if those hadith are rigorously authentic (sahih) .

A good example of that is the following case: Al-Bukhari reported in his sahih:

“Allah existed and there was nothing other than Him.”

This hadith is in agreement with the [clear-cut] evidence of the Qur`an, the sunnah, reason, and certain consensus (al-ijmà‘ al-mutayaqqan). However, since it conflicts with his belief in the eternity of the world,45 he turned to another version of this hadith which al-Bukhàri also reported: “Allah existed and their was nothing before Him.” And he rejected the first version in favor of the second on the grounds that the second conforms with another hadith: “You are the first; there is nothing before You.” [He held that the implication was that created things always existed along with Allah] .

Hafiz Ibn Hajr remarked concerning the correct manner of reconciling the apparent contradiction in the above-mentioned hadiths:

“In fact the way to reconcile the two versions of the hadith is to understand the second in light of the first, and not the other way around. Moreover, there is consensus on the principle that reconciliation of two apparently contradictory versions of a text (nass) takes precedence over endorsing one version at the expense of revoking the other. ”

Actually, Ibn Taimáyah’s prejudice blinded him from understanding the two versions of the hadith which, in fact, are not mutually contradictory. That is because the version “Allah existed and there was nothing before Him.” has the meaning which is contained in His name the First; whereas, the version “Allah existed and there was nothing other than Him.” has the meaning contained in His name the One. The proof of this is still another version of the hadith with the wording “Allah existed before everything."

TO SUM UP

1.قال في منهاج السنّة النبوية (1/ 24) : "فإن قلتم لنا: فقد قلتم بقيام الحوادث بالربّ، قلنا لكـم: نعم، وهذا قولنا الذي دلّ عليه الشرع والعقل"

Ibn Taymiyah said in “Minhajus-Sunnah An-Nabawiyyah”, Volume 1, page 24: “If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar^ and mind showed”

2.وقد ردّ على ابن حزم في نقد مراتب الإجماع (ص/ 168) لنقله الإجماع على أن الله لـم يزل وحده ولا شىء غيره معه، وأن المخالف بذلك كافر باتفاق المسلمين، فقال ابن تيمية بعد كلام ما نصه: "وأعجب من ذلك حكايته الإجماع على كفر من نازع أنه سبحانه لم يزل وحده ولا شىء غيره معه"

Ibn Taymiyah in “Naqdu Maratibil-^Ijma^, page 168” replied to Ibn Hazm for reporting the Ijma^ that Allah existed eternally and no thing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir. After these words, Ibn Taymiyah said “What is stranger than that is his reporting the Ijma^ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and no thing existed with Him.”

3.أما عبارته في شرح حديث عمران بن الحصين(ص/ 193)، ومجمرع الفناوى (18/ 239) فهي: "وإن قدّر أن نوعها- أي الحوادث- لم يزل معه فهذه المعية لم ينفها شرع ولا عقل، بل هي من كماله، قال تعالى: أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لاَّ يَخْلُقُ أَفَلا تَذَكَّرُونَ (سورة النحل/17) وقال: "والخلق لا يزالون معه " إلى أن قال: "لكن يشتبه على كثير من الناس النوع بالعين ".

Ibn Taymiyah said in “Sharh Hadith ^Imran Ibn Husayn, page 193 and Majmu^ Al-Fatawa Volume 18, page 239”: “If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar^ or the mind, but it is of His perfection.

Allah, said

أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لاَّ يَخْلُقُ أَفَلا تَذَكَّرُونَ

which means the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create; do you not see?” Then he said “and the creation existed eternally with Him” then he said “but many people confuse the self with the kind”.

4.أمّا عبارته في الموافقة فهي ما نصّه (291): "قلنا: لا نسلم بل يكون الحادث اليومي مسبوقًا بحوادث لا أول لها"

In “Muwafaqat Sarihil-Ma^qul li Sahihil-Manqul, page 291”, Ibn Taymiyah said: “We said: we do not accept. However, the daily haadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning”.

5.قال العلاّمة البياضي الحنفي في كتابهإشارات المرام (ص/ 197) بعد ذكر الأدلة على حدوث العالم ما نصّه: "فبطل ما ظنه ابن تيمية من قدم العرش كما في شرح العضدية"

The Hanafiyy Scholar Al-Bayyadiyy mentioned in his book “Ishaaraatul-Maraam, page 197”, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: “Hence, what Ibn Taymiyah thought of al-^Arsh being eternal, as reported in “Sharhul-^Adudiyyah”, is invalidated.”

6. قال الجلال الدواني (الدواني عالم مشهور ترجمه الحافظ السخاوي في البدـر الطالع ووثق) في كتاب شرح العضدية (ص/ 13): "وقد رأيت في بعض تصانيف ابن تيمية القول به- أي بالقدم الجنسي- في العرش"

Jalalud-Din Ad-Dawwaaniyy said in “Sharhul-^Adudiyyah, page 13”: “I saw in a writing of Abul-^Abbas Ibn Taymiyah the saying that the kind of al-^Arsh is eternal.

7. وقد ثبت عن السبكي ما نقله عنه تلميذه الصفدي وتلميذ ابن تيمية أيضًا في قصيدته المشهورة وقال: "ولابن تيمية ردُّ عليـه وفـى بمقصد الردّ واستيفاءِ أضْرُبِهِ
لكنه خَلطَ الحق المبين بما يشوبـُهُ كَـدًرٌ فـي صَفوِمشرَبِهِ
يحاوِلُ الحَشوَ أنَّى كان لهُ حثيثُ سيرٍ بشرقٍ او بمغرِبِهِ
يـرى حـوادث لا مبـدَا لأوَّلـهـا في الله سبحـانَهُ عما يظُنُّ ب"

Taqiyud-Din As-Subkiyy in a famous poem said: “Ibn Taymiyah has a refutation of what one of the rawafid said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he thinks about Him.”

The true case of Ibn Taymiyah is not a clear one for people nowadays as it was during his time. Ibn Taymiyah was a man with alot of knowledge however he lacked the comprehension of that knowledge and he became misguided after being guided. In the coming future I will post for information regarding the history of this man and his beliefs In sha' Allah. In the mean time one can check the following references and read for themselves what the scholars said about Ibn Taymiyah.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ibn Hajar Al-`Asqalaniyy, Ad-Durar Al-Kaminah, Vol. 1, pp. 144- 153. 2.

Ibn Al-Wardiyy, Tatimat Al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbar Al-Bashar (Tarikh Ibn Al-Wardiyy), Vol. 2, p. 381, p. 398. 3.

Salah Ad-Din As-Safadiyy[1], ‘A`yan Al-`Asr wa A`wan An-Nasr (manuscript), Vol. 1, p. 34. 4.

Taqiyy Ad-Din Al-Husniyy, Daf` Shubah man Shabbaha wa Tamarrad, pp. 41-42, 43-45. (He quoted Ibn Shakir Al-Kutbiyy in his book of Tarikh, Vol. 20.) Al-Husniyy said: “Ibn Shakir was one of the followers of Ibn Taymiyah and was beaten severely because he said to a caller of athan you committed kufr when the caller said O Prophet of Allah you are my means. They wanted to sever off his head, but he renewed his faith in Islam. I only mention what he said because that is more prudent to establish the case against Ibn Taymiyah, in spite the fact that he neglected things out of his spitefulness and wickedness, which if mentioned would deeply degrade his role model. The surprising thing is that Ibn Taymiyah mentioned them, while he ignored them.”

Ibn Shakir Al-Kutbiyy, `Uyun At-Tawarikh (manuscript), p. 179. 6.

Ibn Al-Mu`allim Al-Qurashiyy, Najm Al-Muhtadiyy wa Rajm Al-Mu`tadiyy (manuscript), p. 630-631.

Why was Albani removed from Saudi Kingdom?

2008-06-12T12:23:00.005-07:00

Wahabis are divided into many sects like Madhkhalee, Qutubis etc. Those Wahabis who are blind supporter of Kingdom of Saudia , its policies and rulers, they are called 'Madhkhalees"( After their scholat Madhkhal).They do not want to talk about any chnage in Saudi Kingdom and are against Osama Bin Laden.They support all policies of Saudi Kingdom like their support to USA, inviting US Army in past to attacl Iraq. In short, they are blind supporter of Saudi Government and use personal interpretation of Quranic verses and hadith to prove their point.

Qutbis on the other hand are those Wahabis who want a change in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and use a Qauranic verse( Any 1 who rules by other than what Allah has revealed) to call all rulers of Saudi Arabia as Kafir.

The common thing between them is that they both are Mujassima ( Anthropomorphsit)and ascribe Human attributes to Allah, they both have the cocept of Triple Tawheed in Islam and both of the groups follow only recent scholars.

For Ahlus sunnah both these wahabi sect is deviated. We do not show any prefernce when the choice is between Cow Dung and Buffalo dung.

Read below an interesting article and keep checking the blog , Insha Allah soon many more artciles will be posted on ANTHROPOMORPHISM.

When on the first of October 1999 Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani passed away at the age of 85, he was mourned by virtually everyone in the world of Salafi Islam. To many, he represented its third main contemporary reference, after ‘Abd al-’Aziz bin Baz (who himself had died a few months before) and Muhammad bin ‘Uthaymin (who would pass away in January 2001), both leading figures of the Saudi religious establishment. Salafi newspapers, journals, and websites celebrated this Syrian son of an Albanian clock-maker—whose family left Albania in 1923, when he was nine years old, and re-established itself in Damascus—who had become known as the muhaddith al-’asr (traditionist of the era), that is, the greatest hadith scholar of his generation.

How did al-Albani, with his undistinguished social and ethnic origins, come to occupy such a prestigious position in a field long monopolized by a religious elite from the Saudi region of Najd—The answer is, as we shall see through the example of al-Albani himself and some of his disciples, lies in his revolutionary approach to hadith.

The Wahhabi paradox
Common knowledge considers Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani to be staunch proponent of Wahhabism, the discourse produced and upheld by the official Saudi religious establishment.1 This is undoubtedly true in terms of ‘aqidah (creed), yet al-Albani strongly disagrees with the Wahhabis—and especially with their chief representatives, the ulama of the Saudi religious establishment—when it comes to fiqh (law). There, al-Albani points to a fundamental contradiction within the Wahhabi tradition: the latter’s proponents have advocated exclusive reliance on the Quran, the Sunna, and the consensus of al-salaf al-salih (the pious ancestors), yet they have almost exclusively relied on Hanbali jurisprudence for their fatwas—acting therefore as proponents of a particular school of jurisprudence, namely Hanbalism. According to al-Albani, this also applies to Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab whom he describes as “salafi in creed, but not in fiqh.”

For al-Albani, moreover, being a proper “salafi in fiqh” implies making hadith the central pillar of the juridical process, for hadith alone may provide answers to matters not found in the Quran without relying on the school of jurisprudence. The mother of all religious sciences therefore becomes the “science of hadith,” which aims at re-evaluating the authenticity of known hadiths. According to al-Albani, hoever, independent reasoning must be excluded from the process: the critique of the matn (the content of the hadith) should be exclusively formal, i.e. grammatical or linguistic; only the sanad (the hadith’s chain of transmitters) may be properly put into question. As a consequence, the central focus of the science of hadith becomes ‘ilm al-rijal (the science of men), also known as ‘ilm al-jarh wa-l-ta’dil (the science of critique and fair evaluation), which evaluates the morality—deemed equivalent to the reliability—of the transmitters. At the same time—and contrary to earlier practices—al-Albani insists that the scope of this re-evaluation must encompass all existing hadiths, even those included in the canonical collections of Bukhari and Muslim, some of which al-Albani went so far as to declare weak.2

Revolutionary interpretations

As a consequence of the peculiarirty of this method, al-Albani ended up pronouncing fatwas that ran counter to the wider Islamic consensus and more specifically to Hanbali/Wahhabi jurisprudence. For instance, he wrote a book in which he redefined the proper gestures and formulae that constitute the Muslim prayer ritual “according to the Prophet’s practice”—and contrary to the prescriptions of all established schools of jurisprudence. Also, he stated that mihrabs—the niche found in a mosques indicating the direction of Mecca—were bid’a (an innovation) and declared licit to pray in a mosque with one’s shoes. Another controversial position was his call for Palestinians to leave the occupied territories since, he claimed, they were unable to practice their faith there as they should—something which is much more important than a piece of land. Finally, al-Albani took a strong stance against indulging in politics, repeating that “the good policy is to abandon politics”—a phrase implicitly aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood, whose political views he consistently denounced.

The presence of al-Albani in Saudi Arabia—where he was invited in 1961 by his good friend Shaykh ‘Abd al-’Aziz bin Baz to teach at the Islamic University of Medina—prompted embarrassed reactions from the core of the Wahhabi establishment, who disagreed with him but could hardly attack him because of his impeccable Wahhabi credentials in terms of creed. The controversy sparked by his book The Veil of the Muslim Woman, in which he argued that Muslim women should not cover their face—a position unacceptable by Saudi standards—, finally gave the Wahhabi establishment the justification needed to get him out of the Kingdom in 1963. He then re-established himself in his country of birth, Syria, before leaving for Jordan in 1979.3

However, the opposition al-Albani encountered from the Wahhabi religious establishment was not merely intellectual. By putting into question the methodological foundations upon which the Wahhabis had built their legitimacy, he was also challenging their position in the Saudi religious field.

From its inception, Wahhabism had established itself as a religious tradition—at the core of which laid a number of key books, both in creed and law. This tradition had been monopolized by a small religious aristocracy from Najd, first centered around Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab and his descendants (known as the Al al-Shaykh) before opening up to a small number of other families. In the Saudi system as it took shape, the members of aristocracy would become the only legitimate transmitters of the Wahhabi tradition; in this context independent scholars were excluded because they had not received “proper ‘ilm” from “qualified” ulama.

Traditional Wahhabi ‘ilm, therefore, was the fruit of a process of transmission and depended on the number of ijazas—a certificate by which a scholar acknowledges the transmission of his knowledge (or part of it) to one of his pupils, and authorizes him to transmit it further—given by respected Wahhabi scholars. This is the very logic of al-Albani—who, himself, owned very few of these certificates—would challenge by promoting his critical approach. As a matter of fact, according to al-Albani, transmission has no importance whatsoever, because, every hadith being suspect, the fact that it was narrated by a respected scholar cannot guarantee its authenticity. On the contrary, the important process of accumulation—a good scholar of hadith being someone who has memorized a large sum of hadith and, more importantly, the biographies of a large number of transmitters. Thus, the science of hadith can be measured according to the objective criteria unrelated to family, tribe, or regional descent, allowing for a previously absent measure of meritocracy. More importantly, al-Albani claims of being more faithful to the spirit of Wahhabism than ‘Abd al-Wahhab himself made the former’s ideas very popular among Salafi youth.

Religious entrepreneurs

For all these reasons, al-Albani’s ideas would rapidly become a means for Salafi religious entrepreneurs from outside the Wahhabi aristocracy to challenge the existing hierarchy. Al-Albani himself quickly gathered a large following, in Saudi Arabia and beyond. He would soon have to be recognized, despite the initial hostility of the Wahhabi religious establishment, as one of the leading figures in Salafism.

In the mid-1960s, a number of al-Albani’s disciples in Medina founded al-Jamaa al-Salafiyya al-Muhtasiba (The Salafi Group which Commands Good and Forbids Evil), a radical faction of which, led by Juhayman al-’Utaybi, would storm the grand mosque in Mecca in November 1979. Many of the group’s members—and especially its scholars—were either of Bedouin descent or non-Saudi residents, and were thus marginalized in the religious field. Their activism came, in part at least, as a response to their marginalization.4 One of the main religious figures of this group—who was “lucky” enough to have been thrown out of the Kingdom in 1978 and therefore did not take part in the 1979—was Muqbil al-Wadi’i, who subsequently re-established himself in his native Yemen and became the country’s most prominent Salafi scholar.

In the late 1980s, some of al-Albani’s pupils, led by Medinan shaykh called Rabi’ al-Madkhali, formed an informal religious network generally referred to as al-Jamiyya (”the Jamis”, named after one of their key members, Muhammad Aman al-Jami). Beyond their focus on hadith, the Jamis became known as emphasizing al-Albani’s calls not to indulge in politics and for denouncing those who did. Again, many of the Jamis were peripheral origin (al-Madkhali was from Jazan, on the Yemeni border, while al-Jami was from Ethiopia) and had therefore been excluded from all leading positions in the religious field. They would finally gain prominence in the early 1990s, when the Saudi government supported them financially and institutionally, in the hope of creating an apolitical ideological counterweight to the Islamist opposition led by the al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Awakening), an informal religio-political movement which appeared in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s as the result of a hybridization between Wahhabism, on religious issues, and on the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood, on political issues.5

In the 1990s, a few students of al-Albani would go so far as to challenge both the Wahhabi religious aristocracy and al-Albani himself. Following the teachings of an Indian shaykh called Hamza al-Milibari,6 they would promote the centrality of hadith, while criticizing al-Albani for relying, in his critique of hadith, on the methods used by late traditionists—at least so they claimed. On the contrary, they would pride themselves for relying exclusively on the methodology of the early traditionists (that is those anterior to al-Dar Qutni (917-995)) and would therefore name their approach manhaj al-mutaqad-dimin (the methodology of the early ones). Again, most of these scholars were peripheral figures, such as Sulayman al-’Alwan, a very young—al-’Alwan was born in 1970 and started to become known as a scholars while he was in his twenties—shaykh of non-tribal descent, and ‘Abdallah al-Sa’d, whose family had come from the city of Zubayr in Modern Iraq. The two of them would later become key figures in the Saudi Jihadi trend, challenging the political order after they had challenged the religious order. As a consequence, they would be arrested and jailed after the May 2003 bombings.

Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani’s denunciation of the “Wahhabi paradox” and his promotion of a new approach to the critique of hadtih as the pillar of religious knowledge have prompted a revolution within Salafism, challenging the very monopoly of the Wahhabi religious aristocracy. As a consequence, al-Albani’s ideas have given independent Salafi religious entrepreneurs a weapon with which to fight their way into previously closed circles. Although none have yet achieved al-Albani’s prestige, some have become recognized scholars. Interestingly enough, al-Albani’s rise to prominence as a de facto part of an establishment he once rejected has encouraged some of disciples, proponents of the “methodology of the early ones,” to call—along al-Albani’s earlier line—for an even “purer” approach to the critique of hadith. As this shows, the revolutionary power of his methods remains intact.

Notes:

1.As opposed to Wahhabism, Salafism refers here to all hybridations that have taken place since the 1960s between the teachings of Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab and other Islamic schools of thought. Al-Albani’s discourse can therefore be a form of Salafism, while being critical of Wahhabism.

2.Stéphane Lacroix, “Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani’s Contribution to Contemporary Salafism,” in Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, ed. Roel Meijer (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2008 (forthcoming)).

3.On the controversies surrounding al-Albani, see ibid.

4.See Thomas Hegghammer and Stéphane Lacroix, “Rejectionist Islamism in Saudi Arabia: The Story of Juhayman al-’Utaybi Revisited,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 39, no. 1 (2007):103-122.

5.For more details, see ibid.

6.The book is called Al-muwazana bayna al-mutaqaddimin wa-l-muta’akhkhirin fi tashih al-ahadith wa ta’liliha [The balance between the early ones and the late ones regarding the identification of authentic and weak hadiths].

TO know more about this man who said the dome over the prophets grave should be destroyed, masterbation does not breaks ones Fasting in Ramadhan and other adventures of this self proclaimed Scholar who did not have an Ijaza in Hadith ( certificate to teach and communicate hadith), Please visit this link

(copy and paste in your browser bar).

AL-ALBANI
Concise Guide to the Chief Innovator of Our Time

http://www.livingislam.org/alb_e.html

Imam al-Haytami on the followers of Imam Ahmad.

2008-06-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Taken from Shaykhul Islam Of his time , Imam and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Haytami's Fatawa Hadithiyyah.

[مطلب: في عقيدة الإمام أحمد رضي الله عنه وأرضاه]

211 ــــ وسئل رضي الله عنه ونفعنا به: في عقائد الحنابلة ما لا يخفى على شريف علمكم، فهل عقيدة الإمام أحمد بن حنبل رضي الله عنه كعقائدهم؟

فأجاب بقوله: عقيدة إمام السنة أحمد بن حنبل رضي الله عنه وأرضاه وجعل جنان المعارف متقلَّبه ومأواه وأفاض علينا وعليه من سوابغ إمتنانه وبوأه الفردوس الأعلى من جنانه، موافقة لعقيدة أهل السنة والجماعة من المبالغة التامة في تنزيه الله تعالى عما يقول الظالمون والجاحدون علواً كبيراً من الجهة والجسمية وغيرهما من سائر سمات النقص، بل وعن كل وَصْف ليس فيه كمال مطلق، وما اشتهر بين جهلة المنسوبين إلى هذا الإمام الأعظم المجتهد من أنه قائل بشيء من الجهة أو نحوها فكذب وبُهتان وافتراء عليه، فلعن الله من نسب ذلك إليه، أو رماه بشيء من هذه المثالب التي برَّأه الله منها، وقد بين الحافظ الحجة القدوة الإمام أبو الفرج بن الجوزي من أئمة مذهبه المبرئِّين من هذه الوصمة القبيحة الشنيعة، أنَّ كل ما نسب إليه من ذلك كذب عليه وافتراء وبهتان وأن نصوصه صريحة في بطلان ذلك وتنزيه الله تعالى عنه فاعلم ذلك فإنه مهم.
وإياك أنْ تصغى إلى ما في كتب ابن تيمية وتلميذه ابن قيم الجوزية وغيرهما ممن اتخذ إلهه هواه وأضله الله على علم وختم على سمعه وقلبه وجعل على بصره غشاوة فمن يهديه من بعد الله، وكيف تجاوز هؤلاء الملحدون الحدود، وتعدوا الرسوم وخرقوا سياج الشريعة والحقيقة، فظنوا بذلك أنهم على هدى من ربهم وليسوا كذلك، بل هم على أسوأ الضلال وأقبح الخصال وأبلغ المَقَّتْ والخسران وأنهى الكذب والبهتان فخذل الله متَّبِعهم وطهر الأرض من أمثالهم

Translation by GF Haddad Sha`bân 1423:

The Shâfi’ faqîh, Shaykh al-Islâm al-Haytamî was asked: "Was the belief of Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal the same as [certain] present-day Hanbalîs claim?" - He replied:

Concerning the doctrine of the Imâm of Ahl al-Sunna, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (ra) - may Allâh (swt) grant him the loftiest of gardens as his resting-place and destination, bestow upon us and him His bounties, and grant him a dwelling in the loftiest firdaws: his doctrine was in absolute conformity with the belief of Ahl al-Sunna, and completely concordant. It included the belief that Allâh (swt) is exalted beyond those matters that the oppressors and dissenters attribute to Him. That is, Allâh (swt) is exalted from possessing direction, parts, corporeality, and so forth among the various Attributes of imperfection.

The truth of the matter is that Allâh is free from all the Attributes that are not characterized by absolute perfection; and all those things that are being circulated and publicized among the ignoramuses as being said by this great mujtahid Imâm are a slander. It is an outright lie that this Imâm ever claimed direction or the like in describing the Attributes of Allâh (swt). May Allâh lead to perdition those who attribute such positions to the Imâm who is entirely exonerated of having said such things.

All these matters have been explained by the hadîth Master, Imâm Ab al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzî, who belongs to his [Imâm Ahmad's] school. He has cleared the Imâm's name of such foul slanders and has provided explicit proofs exposing the lies of the slanderers.

And beware of what Ibn Taymiyya, his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and others wrote; he [Ibn Taymiyya] is a man who took his lusts for his Lord, for which Allâh led him astray despite his learning, sealed upon his hearing and heart, and put a veil upon his sight; and who can guide him after Allâh let him be misguided? Why should He not, when these heretics have gone past the boundaries set by the Sharî`a and trampled them? Yet they imagine that they are the guided ones, that they are guided by their Lord Almighty when the truth is that they are not. Rather, they are on the wrong path, the most heinous, misleading way and most abominable traits. They are afflicted by vices and have incurred a great loss. May Allâh humble their followers and wipe the earth clean from their likes!

Masjis Al Aqsa

2008-06-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

What do u know about Masjid Al Aqsa..??

Have you noticed that whenever Masjid Al Aqsa is mentioned in the MEDIA,
they show the picture of the DOME OF THE ROCK.. WHY..??

The main reason for that is the ZIONISHT CONSPIRACY to erase from the
memory of Muslims worldwide the True picture of Masjid Al Aqsa

PLEASE BE CAUTIONED

THIS IS DOME OF ROCK NOT MASJID AL AQSA

Masjid Al Aqsa and DOME OF ROCK

Many Muslims and Non Muslims publish the incorrect picture of Masjid AL Aqsa out of ignorance.
What is worse than this is that many muslims today,display the picture of Dome of Rock in ther homes and offices, as it were Masjid Al Aqsa...

It has become a common mistake in the Muslim World...

The Real Tragedy is that Generations of Muslim Children (as well as many adults) around the world, are unable to differentiate between Masjid Al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock..

Real Masjid AL AQSA

What do you think is going to happen if MASJID AL-AQSA
is destroyed and removed from the present landscape..??

Obviously you might not expect much, since everyone will see the DOME OF THE ROCK Still standing, unharmed.

People will incorrectly belive that nothing has changed and that something else was destroed.

What are you going to do NOW..?

It is your duty now to clear up this misunderstanding, especially for our children because they are the future.

We have to carry out this duty even if we demostrate and scream in the streets.
We must help people understand the truth.

Please pass on this message to as many friends as possible and take part in stopping this conspiracy.

Hadith About Dajjal.

2008-05-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

HADITH OF "MUSHRIK" ( IMPORTANT)

2008-05-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

Imam and Hafiz of hadith Abu Yala (Rh) narrates a hadith in his Musnad with the chain going back to the companion of prophet , Sayyedina Huzaifa (rd) that the prophet of Allah ( Rasul Allah Sallala hu alai hi wasallam) said

"

Verily, I fear about a man from you who will read the Quran so much that his face will become enlightened and will come to personify Islam. This will continue until Allah wishes when these things will be taken away from him when he will disregard them by putting them all behind him and attack his neighbour with the sword accusing him of Shirk. The Prophet was asked 'Which of the two was commiting Shirk? The attacker or the attacked?' The prophet replied 'The attacker (the one accusing the other of Shirk)."

The classification of this Hadith is Jayyid.( Strong)

Imam Ibn Kathir (Rh) also recorded this hadith in his Tafsir under Surah Al-Araf.

Please recall that Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi al Tamimi, the fore father of all the Wahabis , called Muslims as “ Mushrik’( polytheist) and made it Halal ( Permissible) for his followers to loot the property belonging to Mulslims, to rape their women and kill Muslims.

Eevn today all the Wahabis try to justify this act of Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi Tamimi stating that the muslims in the Arabian region were all mushrik and hence this barbaric act of Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi is correct.

The present Wahabi generation also labels Sunni Muslims as ‘ Mushrik”

It is very clear from this hadith that prophet called these people as Mushrik and not Sunni Muslims.

Wahabis ansd modern day Khawarij, about whom Insha Allah another article will be posted.

Muslims should read the History of Wahabi massacre in TAIF in 1924.

Please visit these links

http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/wah-38.html

http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/radd_ul_salafiyya.html

Hadith about Imam Abu Hanifa ( Rh)

2008-05-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Narrated Abu Huraira: While we were sitting with the Prophet Surat Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, "And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims).....' (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, "Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman Al-farisi was with us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), even then (some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain it."

(Book 60, Hadith 420,Sahih Bukhari)

Allamah Jalaluddin Suyuti [r.h] writes:

اقول قد بشر صلى اللّه عليه واله وسلم بالامام ابى حنيفه فى الحديث

"I say that Prophet Muhammed [s.a.w] has given the glad tidings of Imam Abu Hanifa [r.h] in this hadith [of Abu Hurayra] [r.a]."

[Tabyeed al-Sahifa, page 403]

Allamah ibn Hajar Makki [r.h] has also quoted this view of Allamah Suyuti [r.h] in al-Khayrat al-Hisaan.

Imam Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlwi [r.h] has mentioned in his Maktubaat that Imam Abu Hanifa [r.h] falls under the above mentioned hadith. [Kalmat al-Tayyibaat, page 168]

Famous Wahabi scholar Nawab Saddiq Hassan Khan [r.h]( Who later accepted Islam) also wrote that this hadith refers to Imam Abu Hanifa [r.h]. [Ithaf al-Nubla, page 424]

IMPORTANT POINTS

Courtsey: Shaykh Salman

Imam Abu Hanifa Numan ibn Thabit ibn Numan ibn Marzuban [2], called "The Imam" by Abu Dawud, and "The Imam, one of those who have reached the sky" by Ibn Hajar, he is known in the Islamic world as Imam Al Azam (The greatest Imam) and his school has the largest number of followers among the four schools of Ahly Sunna. He was a successor and met such Sahaba as Anas bin Malik, Sahl bin Sa’d, Ibn Abi Awfa etc. He was the first to organize Fiqh in written form under subheadings due to which Imam Shafi said:

(intro taken from Sunnipath.com)

Al Nasu Iyalun Ala Abi Hanifa Fi Al Fiqh

People are the dependents of Abu Hanifa in Fiqh. [3]

Imam Abu Hanifa was born in Kufa, and this is the opinion of the majority of the Ulema, in the year 80 Ah during the reign of Caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan ibn Al Hakim. His coming was predicted by the Prophet (Allah Bless him and grant him peace). Abu Nuaym narrates in his Hiyat al Awliya, Bukhari and Muslim narrate from another Sanad from Abu Hurayrah (Allah be pleased with him), Abu Bakr Shirazi narrates in his Kitab Alqab, Tabarani from Sa’d bin Ubaidah (Allah be pleased with him) and Ibn Masud (Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (Allah Bless him and grant him peace) said:

---If Ilm was suspended from Pleiades and the Arabs are unable to reach it, then a man from the sons of Persia will be able to reach it.

Imam Suyuti mentions that the Ulema have stated that that these hadith are in favor of Imam Abu Hanifa and are authentic.

However, it was not only the Ilm of Imam Abu Hanifa that made him such a great man, but It was also his constant Ibadat and fear of Allah, his endeavor to purify himself from all worldy things, his asceticism and his forbearance in the face of difficulties. That is what made Imam Abu Hanifa Imam Al Azam.

1. Imam Abu Hanifas constant Ibadat, recitation of the Quran and Night Vigils:
Imam Dhahabi says that Imam Abu Hanifas Ibadat, in particular his Tahajjud prayers and recitation of the Quran, are established by Khabare Mutawattir, which means that it is a fact so commonly narrated by the tongues of people that it would be impossible to deny. Sufyan ibn Uyannah is said to have remarked:

In our time from amongst those who came to visit Mecca not a single soul could surpass Abu Hanifa in Salah.

Hammad, the son of Imam Abu Hanifa, narrates that Hasan ibn Ammarah said:

May Alah have mercy on Abu Hanifa. For thirty years he fasted and for fourty years he did not sleep at night.

Like Imam Bukhari, Imam Abu Hanifa used to finish the Quran 60 times in Ramadhan. He was so pious and scrupulous that he used to recite the whole Quran in one Raka, May Allah grant him the highest abode.

Zafir ibn Sulayman says:

Abu Hanifa used to spend much of the night in one Raka and in that one Raka he used to recite the entire Quran.

Ibrahim ibn Rustum Al Marwazi said:

Four are the Imams that recited the entire Quran in a single Raka: Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be pleased with him), Tamim Al Dari, Said ibn Jubayr, and Abu Hanifa.

Ibn K’as narrates:

Due to his excessive Ibadat Abu Hanifa used to lo ok like a worn out rag.

2. Imam Abu Hanifas Allah-consciousness and withdrawal from futile things:

Khatib Baghdadi narrates that Asad ibn Amir said:

Overcome by fear of Allah Imam Abu Hanifas weeping could be heard right outside. On hearing his excessive weeping, even his neighbors were overwhelmed with pity for him.

Yahya ibn Mai’n says that he heard Yahya ibn Said sayd:

By Allah! We sat in the company of Abu Hanifa and heard many religious issues from him. I swear by Allah! When I looked at his face I used to be overcome with firm conviction that this man is very fearful of Allah.

Saymari narrates that Bakr Al Abid said:

I saw Imam Abu Hanifa performing Salah at night. He was weeping and praying, “Oh Allah have mercy on me on the day you resurrect me.”

Qadi Abul Qasim narrates that Abu Nuaym ibn Dukain said:

Imam Abu Hanifa was very wary of people. He used to speak to them only when questioned. He did not ponder over or listen to futile things.

3. Imam Abu Hanifas piety, asceticism, forbearance and trustworthiness:

Ibn Dukain narrates:

Imam Abu Hanifa was very pious and trustworthy.

Muhammad ibn Ayman narrates that when Abdullah ibn Mubarak was asked about Imam Abu Hanifa he replied:

Can anyone ever be like him? He was tried with lashes [4] but he exercised forbearance.

Abdullah ibn Mubarak said regarding Imam Abu Hanifa:

What can be said about a man who was presented with all the material wealth and chattels of the dunya but rejected it all? A man who was severely lashed but bore it with patience?

Nadr ibn Muhammad said:

I haven’t witnessed anyone as abstinent and pious as Imam Abu Hanifa.

Hasan ibn Ziyad said

Abu Hanifa never accepted any gift or favor from the rulers and kings (although he was offered much)

Zaid ibn Zarqa narrates that a man once remarked to Abu Hanifa:

This dunya is being presented to you then why don’t you accept it since you are a family man?

Imam Abu Hanifa replied:

Allah is sufficient to attend to the needs of my family. As for me, my monthly expenses amount to just two dirhams. Why should I accumulate wealth for them when I will be questioned about accumulating it? Whether they are obedient to him or disobedient does not make a difference to me being questioned since Allah’s sustenance reaches both the obedient and disobedient, “And in the sky is your sustenance and that which you are being promised (Zariyat: 22)

4. Opinions of other great Ulema regarding Imam Abu Hanifa:

a. Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Hussain ibn Fatima Bint Prophet Muhammad:

Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ali the great grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah Bless him and grant him peace) said:

How commendable are Abu Hanifas manners and how sublime is his skill in Fiqh!

b. Imam Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik

The founder of the Maliki school of thought, Imam Malik is reported to have said when asked about Imam Abu Hanifa:

Yes, I saw him and I saw him to be a man of such caliber that if he claims that this pillar of wood is made of gold he will prove it to you!

c. Imam Shafi Al Hashmi

The founder of the Shafi school of thought, Imam Shafi is reported to have said:

The person who wishes to excel in Fiqh is bound to be in need of Imam Abu Hanifa. He was a person who was divinely guided with Fiqh by Allah. I have not seen a greater Faqih then him.

d. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

The founder of the Hanabli school of thought, Imam Ahmad is reported to have said:

In terms of Ilm, piety, abstinence from this dunya and preference of the hereafter, Abu Hanifa occupied such a lofty position that no one else could reach. May Allah shower his mercy on him!

5. Imam Abu Hanifas Death:

Imam Abu Hanifa died a martyr in prison in the year 150 Ah. He was poisoned on the orders of the Caliph Mansur after being lashed and thrown in jail for refusing the post of Chief Justice. According to Yaqub ibn Shaybah he died while in a state of sujud. May Allah have mercy on him and grant him the best of Rewards!

FOOT NOTES

[1] The main source of this biography is Uqudul Jamman Fi Manaqibil Imami Al Azam Abi Hanifata An Numan by Muhaddith Allamah Shamsudin Muhammad ibn Yusuf Dimashqi. It was translated in Urdu by Maulana Abdullah ibn Bastawi Madani. I advise everyone to get this valuable book as it has also been translated into English.

[2] Narrated by Ismail ibn Hammad ibn Abu Hanifa

[3] Narrated by Imam Dhahabi in Tadkhirat al Huffaz.

[4] Imam Abu Hanifa was lashed by the Caliph for refusing the post of chief justice.

A WAHABI ' TWIST" on Hadith of Dhikr

2008-05-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

The Wahabi Fatwa Factory (WFF) is famous for its Fatwa against Muslims. The Wahabi sect is based on pleasing the enemies of Islam and full filling desires. Everyone is aware of the Wahabi fatwa making Misyar ( TRAVELLER'S MARRIAGE) halal,Inviting Jew Owned Star Bucks Coffee chain in Makkah and other anti islanic steps taken by the Wahabi Kingdom and supported by its puppet scholars.

Wahabis have a natural tendency of calling Sunnah as ' Biddah". So very often we find wahabis telling that Group dhikr is a Biddah ( innovation).

Let us analyze the hadith which Wahabis bring to confuse Muslims, usually our revert brothers and sisters.

Here is the hadith

Amr ibn salmah said: We used to sit in front of Abdullah Ibn Masoud's house before the Fajr prayer, so that when he came out we would go with him to the Masjid. {one day} Abu Moosa al-Ash'aaree came and asked us: 'Did Abu Abdur Rahmaan (i.e. Ibn Masoud) leave yet? ' We answered: 'No.'

So Abu Moosa al-Ash'aaree sat with us waiting for him. When he came out, we all stood up. Abu Moosa told him: "Oh, Abu Abdur Rahmaan! I recently saw something in the Masjid which I deemed to be evil, but all praise is for Allah, I did see anything except good " Ibn Masoud then asked: "then What was it?"

Abu Moosa said: "You will see it if you stay alive. In the Masjid, I saw a group of people sitting in circles waiting for the Salââh. Each circle is led by a person. And every person in these circles carries small stones (pebbles).

The leader of a circle would say: "Say 'Allah-u Akbar' a hundred times" so they would repeat Allah-u Akbar a hundred times; then he says "Say 'Laa ilaaha illallaah', a hundred times" so they would say Laa ilaaha illallaah a hundred times; then he would say: "Say 'Subhaanallah', a hundred times", they will say Subhana Allah a hundred times.

Then Ibn Masoud said: "What did you tell them?"

He said: 'I didn't say anything, I waited to hear your opinion."

Abdullah Ibn Masoud said: "Could you not order them to count their evil deeds, and assured them of getting their rewards."

Then Abdullah Ibn Masoud went ahead and we accompanied him. As he approached one of the circles, he said: "What is this that you are doing?"

They said: "Oh! Abu Abdur Rahmaan, these are pebbles to count the number of times we say Allah-u Akbar, La ilaaha Illallah, and Subhaanallah."

He said: "Count your evil deeds, and I assure you that you are not going to lose anything of your rewards (Hasanat). Woe unto you, people of Muhammad, how quickly you go to destruction! Those are your Prophet's companions available, these are his clothes not worn out yet, and his pots are not broken yet. I swear by Whom my soul is in His Hands that you are either following a religion that is better than the Prophet's religion or you are opening a door of misguidance." They said: "We swear by Allah Almighty, oh, Abu Abdur Rahmaan, that we had no intention other than doing good deeds." He said: "So what? How many people wanted to do good deeds but never got to do them? The Prophet of Allah has told us about people who recited the Qur'ân with no effect on them other than the Qur'ân passing through their throats. [I.e. You are Khawarij]...

Answer

This hadith is a Mawquf hadith , that is , the chain does not go back upto the prophet, but stops at a companion.
This report is inauthentic.

Al-Darimi in the Muqaddima of his Sunan, narrated from al-Hakam ibn al-Mubarak who narrates from `Amr ibn Salima al-Hamadani. This `Amr ibn Yahya ibn `Amr ibn Salama al- Hamadani is da`if( Weak narrator). Ibn Ma`in saw him and said: "his narrations are worth nothing"; Ibn Kharrash: "he is not accepted; al-Dhahabi listed him among those who are weak and whose hadith is not retained in al-Du`afa' wal-Matrukin (p. 212 #3229), Mizan al-I`tidal (3:293), and al-Mughni fil-Du`afa' (2:491); and al-Haythami declared him weak (da`if) in Majma` al-Zawa'id, chapter entitled Bab al-`Ummal `ala al-Sadaqa.

Further, its authenticity was questioned by al-Suyuti in al-Hawi (2:31); al-Hifni in Fadl al-Tasbih wal-Tahlil as cited by al-Lacknawi, Sibahat al-Fikr (p. 25 and 42-43).

Further, it is belied by Imam Ahmad's narration in al-Zuhd from Abu Wa'il who said: "Those who claim that `Abd Allah [= Ibn Mas`ud] forbade dhikr [are wrong]: I never sat with him in any gathering except he made dhikr of Allah in it." Cited by al-Munawi in Fayd al-Qadir (1:457), al-Suyuti in Natijat al-Fikr fil-Jahri bil-Dhikr in al-Hawi, al-Nabulusi in Jam` al-Asrar (p. 66), al-Hifni in Fadl al-Tasbih wal- Tahlil as cited in al-Lacknawi, Sibahat al-Fikr (p. 25).

In addition, the Prophetic narrations affirming loud dhikr are sahih and innumerable, and definitely take precedence over a mawquf Companion-report even if we were hypothetically to consider it authentic.

Naysayers mention other pseudo-evidence against loud dhikr, all weak, such as the hadith "The best Dhikr is soft, and the best sustenance is what is sufficient," "One silent du`a is seventy times more superior than one loud du`a," and other da`if and maqtu` reports for which we are supposed to leave Qur'an and Sahih evidence and the understanding of the Imams!

It is also against many authentic (sahih) hadith narrated in both , Bukhari and Muslim on the virtues and benifits of joining Group Dhikr.

Just to mention ;

Ibn.'Abbas reported: Dhikr (mentioning the name of Allah) in a loud voice after peo obligatory prayers was (a common practice) during the lifetime of the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) ; and when I heard that I came to knew that they (the ) had finished the prayer.

(Muslim :: Book 4 : Hadith 1211)

and every Wahabi must read this hadith

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying Allah has mobile (squads) of angels, who have no other work (to attend to but) to follow the assemblies of dhikr and when they find such assemblies in which there is dhikr (of Allah) they sit in them and some of them surround the others with their wings till the space between them and the sky of the world is fully covered, and when they disperse (after the assembly of dhikr is adjourned) they go upward to the heaven and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, asks them although He is best informed about them: Where have you come from? They say: We come from Thine servants upon the earth who had been glorifying Thee (reciting Subhan Allah), uttering Thine Greatness (saying Allah o-Akbar) and uttering Thine Oneness (La ilaha ill Allah) and praising Thee (uttering al-Hamdu Lillah) and begging of Thee. Be would say: What do they beg of Me? They would say: They beg of Thee the Paradise of Thine. He (God) would say: Have they seen My Paradise? They said: No, our Lord. He would say: (What it would be then) if they were to see Mine Paradise? They (the angels) said: They seek Thine protection. He (the Lord) would say: Against what do they seek protection of Mine? They (the angels) would say: Our Lord, from the Hell-Fire. He (the Lord) would say: Have they seen My Fire? They would say: No. He (the Lord) would say: What it would be if they were to see My Fire? They would say: They beg of Thee forgiveness. He would say: I grant pardon to them, and confer upon them what they ask for and grant them protection against which they seek protection. They (the angels) would again say: Our Lord, there is one amongst them such and such simple servant who happened to pass by (that assembly) and sat there along with them (who had been participating in that assembly). He (the Lord) would say: I also grant him pardon, for they are a people the seat-fellows of whom are in no way unfortunate.

(Book #035, Hadith #6505, Sahih Muslim)

It is clear .. Allah, prophet, the anagels and Muslims like Dhkir of Allah, where as Shaitan and enemies of Allah try to stop muslims from joining Dhikr of Allah.

ALSO NOTE

The narration you mention was discussed by Imam Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi,[1] in his book on the permissibility of loud group dhikr, Sibahat al-Fikr fi?l Jahri bi?l Dhikr.[2] He said, while presenting the evidences for those who hold such dhikr to be impermissible, before proving the contrary:

?This may be answered in several ways:

First, while this narration was mention by a group of fuqaha, it does not have any trace in the books of hadith. Rather, what is authentically established from Ibn Mas`ud (Allah be pleased with him) is the contrary. Imam al-Suyuti (Allah have mercy on him) said in Natijat al-Fikr [his work on the permissibility of group dhikr out loud], ?This narration from Ibn Mas`ud (Allah be pleased with him) needs exposition in terms of its chain of narrations and who of the hadith masters transmitted it in their works, and I have seen evidence that would disprove its being established from Ibn Mas`ud. Ahmad ibn Hanbal transmitted in his Kitab al-Zuhd, that Husain ibn Muhammad related with his chain from Abu Wa?il that he said, ?Those who think that Abdullah [Ibn Mas`ud] used to prohibit the dhikr! I never sat with Abdullah [Ibn Mas`ud] in a gathering save that he did dhikr in it.??

Second, even if this narration were established, it goes against explicit rigorously authenticated Prophetic hadiths that permit dhikr out loud as long as it is not excessively loud.[3] These hadiths are given precedence [over this narration] when their indication conflicts.

Third, what al-Bazzazi mentioned in his Fatawa.? (Sibahat al-Fikr, 42-43)

What al-Bazzazi[4] said was, ?If he [Ibn Mas`ud] actually removed them from the masjid, it is possible that it was because they believed that it was an act of worship [specifically enjoined], and to teach people that such a belief is a blameworthy innovation.[5] (Sibahat al-Fikr , 27-28)

Among the proofs for the permissibility of group dhikr:

1. What Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa?i, Ibn Majah, and Bayhaqi narrated from Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

Allah says, ?I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he makes remembrance (dhikr) of Me. If he makes remembrance of Me to himself, I make remembrance of him to Myself. If he makes remembrance of Me in a gathering, I make remembrance of him in a gathering better than it?

Imam al-Jazari (Allah have mercy on him) said in his Miftah al-Hisn al-Hasin,[6] ?This hadiths indicates the permissibility of group dhikr?? Imam al-Suyuti said,[7] ?Group dhikr can only be out loud, so this hadith indicates its permissibility.? After this hadith, Imam Lakhnawi quotes thirty nine other hadiths of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) that indicate the permissibility of group dhikr. (Sibahat al-Fikr 44-58)

Imam Lakhnawi, a Hanafi, then quoted numerous Hanafi authorities, including al-Bazzazi, Abd al-Haqq al-Dahlawi, Khayr al-Din al-Ramli, and others, who said group dhikr is permitted. [This is also the position adopted by al-Tahtawi and Ibn Abidin, the two foremost references for fatwa in the Hanafi school, and there is no consequential disagreement about the permissibility of group dhikr in the Shafi`i school; it is the recorded position of al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar, al-Subki, Ibn Daqiq, Ibn Abd al-Salam, al-Khalili, and their other imams].

He concluded by stating, ?As for loud dhikr? the hadiths permitting it are numerous, as are the reports [from the Companions and early Muslims], and we did not find a single proof clearly indicating that loud dhikr is impermissible or disliked. The hadith experts, Shafi`i fuqaha and some Hanafi fuqaha[8] also permitted it.?

It should be noted, too, that when it comes to the legal ruling of a particular human act, it is our duty to see what the legal experts of Islam, the fuqaha of the four schools, said about the matter. Any matter that they deemed permitted may not be criticized by the common person or deemed wrong, for they are the inheritors of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and they fulfilled the duty of operationalizing the sunnah of the Beloved of Allah.

[1] Imam Lakhnawi died 1306 AH, at the age of 39, after having authored over 120 books, many of with were multiple volume works, and he is considered to have been one of the great mujaddids (renewers) of the 14th Islamic Century.

[2] It is noteworthy that this work was edited by Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda (Allah have mercy on him), the Hanafi faqih who is widely acknowledged to have been one of the foremost hadith experts of the 20th Century, and whose numerous books and critical editions of classic works are highly esteemed by students and scholars of sacred law across the Muslim world.

[3] Such that it annoys others, or, if in a masjid, distracts those who come to pray.

[4] Imam al-Bazzazi?s Fatawa are a major reference in Hanafi fiqh.

[5] That is, they believed that such group dhikr was specifically enjoined by Allah and His Messenger, which is blameworthy. Rather, the correct understanding is that it falls under the general command to do much dhikr, in any permitted way. Their being people of innovation is, of course, borne out by the final part of the narration itself, as the ?the great majority? of these people fought with the deviant Kharijites against the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).

[6] This is one of the most authoritative and most used sources on Prophetic invocations, and has been accepted and commented upon by great scholars of Islam.

[7] Imam al-Suyuti?s words carry great weight, as it is generally agreed that he was a mujtahid. He authored at least 800 works, in virtually every science of Islam.

[8] Including most late authorities in the Hanafi school.

ALSO NOTE

Here are the notices regarding 'Amr ibn Yahya from the various books of Rijal, with their actual wordings lest someone deny it:

From Imam Dhahabis Mizan Al i'tidal (vol 3, #6474)

6474 - عمرو بن يحيى بن عمرو بن سلمة . قال يحيى بن معين : ليس حديثه بشئ . قد رأيته . وذكره ابن عدى مختصرا

- 'Amr bin Yahya bin 'Amr bin Salama. Ibn Ma'in said: "His hadith are nothing"....

From Imam Dhahabi in his Mughni al Dhuafa (#4728)

4728 - عمرو بن يحيى بن عمارة شيخ مالك وثقوه وقال ابن معين ليس بقوي

Shaykh al Islam Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani in his Lisan Al Mizan (Vol 4, #1128):

[ 1128 ] عمرو بن يحيى بن عمرو بن سلمة قال يحيى بن معين ليس حديثه بشيء قد رأيته وذكره بن عدي مختصرا انتهى وقال بن خراش ليس بمرضي وقال بن عدي ليس له كبير شيء ولم يحضرني له شيء

- 'Amr bin Yahya bin 'Amr bin Salama. Yahya bin Ma'in said, "His hadith are nothing"(same as Dhahabi". Ibn Khurash said, "He is not accepted."

From Faydh Al Qadir by Al Munawi:

{إذ نادى ربه نداءً خفياً} وأما ما نقل عن ابن مسعود من أنه رأى قوماً يهللون برفع الصوت في المسجد فقال ما اراكم إلا مبتدعين وأمر بإخراجهم فغير ثابت. وبفرض ثبوته يعارضه ما في كتاب الزهد لأحمد عن شفيق بن أبي وائل قال هؤلاء الذين يزعمون أن عبد الله كان ينهى عن الذكر ما جالسته مجلساً قط إلا ذكر الله فيه، وأخرج أحمد في الزهد عن ثابت البناني: إن أهل الذكر ليجلسون إلى ذكر الله وإن عليهم من الآثام مثل الجبال وغنهم ليقومون من ذكر الله ما عليهم منها شيء اهـ.

And before this Shaikh al Islam Munawi discusses the superiority of loud dhikr (jahr) as well as the explanations to the verses of the Qur'an which many use to try and refute such a claim.

It should also be known that Shaqiq ibn Abu Wa'il who categorically denies such a claim from Ibn Mas'ud Is Thiqa as Ibn Hajar states in his Taqrib:

2816- شقيق ابن سلمة الأسدي أبو وائل الكوفي ثقة [من الثانية] مخضرم مات في خلافة عمر ابن عبدالعزيز وله مائة سنة

- Shaqiq Ibn Salama Al Asadi Abu Wa'il Al Kufri, trustworthy (thiqa).

HADITH OF NAJD: PART 3

2008-04-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

It is striking that not one of the great muhaddiths, mufassirs, grammarians, historians, or legists of Islam has emerged from the region known as Najd, despite the extraordinary and blessed profusion of such people in other Muslim lands. This essay offers to Muslims with open minds an explanation of this remarkable fact.

The Hadith of Najd: a correction

The land of Najd, which for two centuries has been the crucible of the Wahhabi doctrine, is the subject of a body of interesting hadiths and early narrations which repay close analysis. Among the best-known of these hadiths is the relation of Imam al-Bukhari in which Ibn Umar said: ‘The Prophet (s.w.s.) mentioned: “O Allah, give us baraka in our Syria, O Allah, give us baraka in our Yemen.” They said: “And in our Najd?” and he said: “O Allah, give us baraka in our Syria, O Allah, give us baraka in our Yemen.” They said: “And in our Najd?” and I believe that he said the third time: “In that place are earthquakes, and seditions, and in that place shall rise the devil’s horn [qarn al-shaytan].”’

This hadith is clearly unpalatable to the Najdites themselves, some of whom to this day strive to persuade Muslims from more reputable districts that the hadith does not mean what it clearly says. One device used by such apologists is to utilise a definition which includes Iraq in the frontiers of Najd. By this manoeuvre, the Najdis draw the conclusion that the part of Najd which is condemned so strongly in this hadith is in fact Iraq, and that Najd proper is excluded. Medieval Islamic geographers contest this inherently strange thesis (see for instance Ibn Khurradadhbih, al-Masalik wa’l-mamalik [Leiden, 1887], 125; Ibn Hawqal, Kitab Surat al-ard [Beirut, 1968],18); and limit the northern extent of Najd at Wadi al-Rumma, or to the deserts to the south of al-Mada’in. There is no indication that the places in which the second wave of sedition arose, such as Kufa and Basra, were associated in the mind of the first Muslims with the term ‘Najd’. On the contrary, these places are in every case identified as lying within the land of Iraq.

The evasion of this early understanding of the term in order to exclude Najd, as usually understood, from the purport of the hadith of Najd, has required considerable ingenuity from pro-Najdi writers in the present day. Some apologists attempt to conflate this hadith with a group of other hadiths which associate the ‘devil’s horn’ with ‘the East’, which is supposedly a generic reference to Iraq. While it is true that some late-medieval commentaries also incline to this view, modern geographical knowledge clearly rules it out. Even the briefest glimpse at a modern atlas will show that a straight line drawn to the east of al-Madina al-Munawwara does not pass anywhere near Iraq, but passes some distance to the south of Riyadh; that is to say, through the exact centre of Najd. The hadiths which speak of ‘the East’ in this context hence support the view that Najd is indicated, not Iraq.

On occasion the pro-Najdi apologists also cite the etymological sense of the Arabic word najd, which means ‘high ground’. Again, a brief consultation of an atlas resolves this matter decisively. With the exception of present-day northern Iraq, which was not considered part of Iraq by any Muslim until the present century (it was called ‘al-Jazira’), Iraq is notably flat and low-lying, much of it even today being marshland, while the remainder, up to and well to the north of Baghdad, is flat, low desert or agricultural land. Najd, by contrast, is mostly plateau, culminating in peaks such as Jabal Tayyi’ (1300 metres), in the Jabal Shammar range. It is hard to see how the Arabs could have routinely applied a topographic term meaning ‘upland’ to the flat terrain of southern Iraq (the same territory which proved so suitable for tank warfare during the 1991 ‘Gulf War’, that notorious source of dispute between Riyadh’s ‘Cavaliers’ and ‘Roundheads’).

Confirmation of this identification is easily located in the hadith literature, which contains numerous references to Najd, all of which clearly denote Central Arabia. To take a few examples out of many dozens: there is the hadith narrated by Abu Daud (Salat al-Safar, 15), which runs: ‘We went out to Najd with Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) until we arrived at Dhat al-Riqa‘, where he met a group from Ghatafan [a Najdite tribe].’ In Tirmidhi (Hajj, 57), there is the record of an encounter between the Messenger (s.w.s.) and a Najdi delegation which he received at Arafa (see also Ibn Maja, Manasik, 57). In no such case does the Sunna indicate that Iraq was somehow included in the Prophetic definition of ‘Najd’.

Further evidence can be cited from the cluster of hadiths which identify the miqat points for pilgrims. In a hadith narrated by Imam Nasa’i (Manasik al-Hajj, 22), ‘A’isha (r.a.) declared that ‘Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) established the miqat for the people of Madina at Dhu’l-Hulayfa, for the people of Syria and Egypt at al-Juhfa, for the people of Iraq at Dhat Irq, and for the people of Najd at Qarn, and for the Yemenis at Yalamlam.’ Imam Muslim (Hajj, 2) narrates a similar hadith: ‘for the people of Madina it is Dhu’l-Hulayfa - while on the other road it is al-Juhfa - for the people of Iraq it is Dhat Irq, for the people of Najd it is Qarn, and for the people of Yemen it is Yalamlam.’

These texts constitute unarguable proof that the Prophet (s.w.s.) distinguished between Najd and Iraq, so much so that he appointed two separate miqat points for the inhabitants of each. For him, clearly, Najd did not include Iraq.

Najd in the Hadith

There are many hadiths in which the Messenger (s.w.s.) praised particular lands. It is significant that although Najd is the closest of lands to Makka and Madina, it is not praised by any one of these hadiths. The first hadith cited above shows the Messenger’s willingness to pray for Syria and Yemen, and his insistent refusal to pray for Najd. And wherever Najd is mentioned, it is clearly seen as a problematic territory. Consider, for instance, the following noble hadith:

Amr ibn Abasa said: ‘Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) was one day reviewing the horses, in the company of Uyayna ibn Hisn ibn Badr al-Fazari. [...] Uyayna remarked: “The best of men are those who bear their swords on their shoulders, and carry their lances in the woven stocks of their horses, wearing cloaks, and are the people of the Najd.” But Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) replied: “You lie! Rather, the best of men are the men of the Yemen. Faith is a Yemeni, the Yemen of [the tribes of] Lakhm and Judham and Amila. [...] Hadramawt is better than the tribe of Harith; one tribe is better than another; another is worse [...] My Lord commanded me to curse Quraysh, and I cursed them, but he then commanded me to bless them twice, and I did so [...] Aslam and Ghifar, and their associates of Juhaina, are better than Asad and Tamim and Ghatafan and Hawazin, in the sight of Allah on the Day of Rising. [...] The most numerous tribe in the Garden shall be [the Yemeni tribes of] Madhhij and Ma’kul.’ (Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al-Tabarani, by sound narrators. Cited in Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami, Majma‘ al-zawa’id wa manba‘ al-fawa’id [Cairo, 1352], X, 43).

The Messenger says ‘You lie!’ to a man who praises Najd. Nowhere does he extol Najd - quite the contrary. But other hadiths in praise of other lands abound. For instance:

Umm Salama narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) gave the following counsel on his deathbed: ‘By Allah, I adjure you by Him, concerning the Egyptians, for you shall be victorious over them, and they will be a support for you and helpers in Allah’s path.’ (Tabarani, classed by al-Haythami as sahih [Majma‘, X, 63].) (For more on the merit of the Egyptians see Sahih Muslim, commentary by Imam al-Nawawi [Cairo, 1347], XVI, 96-7.)

Qays ibn Sa‘d narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) said: ‘Were faith to be suspended from the Pleiades, men from the sons of Faris [south-central Iran] would reach it.’ (Narrated in the Musnads of both Abu Ya‘la and al-Bazzar, classified as Sahih by al-Haythami. Majma‘, X, 64-5. See further Nawawi’s commentary to Sahih Muslim, XVI, 100.)

Allah’s Messenger said: ‘Tranquillity (sakina) is in the people of the Hijaz.’ (al-Bazzar, cited in Haythami, X, 53.)

On the authority of Abu’l-Darda (r.a.), the Messenger of Allah (s.w.s.) said: ‘You will find armies. An army in Syria, in Egypt, in Iraq and in the Yemen.’ (Bazzar and Tabarani, classified as sahih: al-Haythami, Majma‘, X, 58.) This constitutes praise for these lands as homes of jihad volunteers.

‘The angels of the All-Compassionate spread their wings over Syria.’ (Tabarani, classed as sahih: Majma‘, X, 60. See also Tirmidhi, commentary of Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri: Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi bi-sharh Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, X, 454; who confirms it as hasan sahih.)

Abu Hurayra narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘The people of Yemen have come to you. They are tenderer of heart, and more delicate of soul. Faith is a Yemeni, and wisdom is a Yemeni.’ (Tirmidhi, Fi fadl al-Yaman, no.4028. Mubarakfuri, X, 435, 437: hadith hasan sahih. On page 436 Imam Mubarakfuri points out that the ancestors of the Ansar were from the Yemen.)

‘The people of the Yemen are the best people on earth’. (Abu Ya‘la and Bazzar, classified as sahih. Haythami, X, 54-5.)

Allah’s Messenger (s) sent a man to one of the clans of the Arabs, but they insulted and beat him. He came to Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) and told him what had occurred. And the Messenger (s) said, ‘Had you gone to the people of Oman, they would not have insulted or beaten you.’ (Muslim, Fada’il al-Sahaba, 57. See Nawawi’s commentary, XVI, 98: ‘this indicates praise for them, and their merit.’)

The above hadiths are culled from a substantial corpus of material which records the Messenger (s.w.s.) praising neighbouring regions. Again, it is striking that although Najd was closer than any other, hadiths in praise of it are completely absent.

This fact is generally known, although not publicised, by Najdites themselves. It is clear that if there existed a single hadith that names and praises Najd, they would let the Umma know. In an attempt to circumvent or neutralise the explicit and implicit Prophetic condemnation of their province, some refuse to consider that the territorial hadiths might be in any way worthy of attention, and focus their comments on the tribal groupings who dwell in Najd.

The Tribe of Tamim

The best-known tribe of Central Arabia are the Banu Tamim. There are hadiths which praise virtually all of the major Arab tribal groups, and to indicate the extent of this praise a few examples are listed here:

Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘O Allah, bless [the tribe of] Ahmas and its horses and its men sevenfold.’ (Ibn Hanbal, in Haythami, Majma‘, X, 49. According to al-Haythami its narrators are all trustworthy.)

Ghalib b. Abjur said: ‘I mentioned Qays in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (s) and he said, “May Allah show His mercy to Qays.” He was asked, “O Messenger of God! Are you asking for His mercy for Qays?” and he replied, “Yes. He followed the religion of our father Ismail b. Ibrahim, Allah’s Friend. Qays! Salute our Yemen! Yemen! Salute our Qays! Qays are Allah’s cavalry upon the earth.”’ (Tabarani, declared sahih by al-Haythami, X, 49.)

Abu Hurayra narrated that Allah’s Messenger (s) said: ‘How excellent a people are Azd, sweet-mouthed, honouring their vows, and pure of heart!’ (Ibn Hanbal via a good (hasan) isnad, according to Haythami, X, 49.)

Anas b. Malik said: ‘If we are not from Azd, we are not from the human race.’ (Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 72; confirmed by Mubarakfuri, X, 439 as hasan gharib sahih.)

Abdallah ibn Mas‘ud said: ‘I witnessed Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) praying for this clan of Nakh‘.’ Or he said: ‘He praised them until I wished that I was one of them.’ (Ibn Hanbal, with a sound isnad. Haythami, X, 51.)

On the authority of Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As, who said: ‘I heard Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) saying: “This command [the Caliphate] shall be in Quraysh. No-one shall oppose them without being cast down on his face by Allah, for as long as they establish the religion.”’ (Bukhari, Manaqib, 2.)

The hadith which appears to praise Tamim is hence not exceptional, and can by no stretch of the imagination be employed to indicate Tamim’s superiority over other tribes. In fact, out of this vast literature on the merits of the tribes, only one significant account praises Tamim. This runs as follows: Abu Hurayra said: ‘I have continued to love Banu Tamim after I heard three things concerning them from Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.). “They will be the sternest of my Umma against the Dajjal; one of them was a captive owned by ‘A’isha, and he said: ‘Free her, for she is a descendent of Ismail;’ and when their zakat came, he said: ‘This is the zakat of a people,’ or ‘of my people’.”’ (Bukhari, Maghazi, 68.)

This hadith clearly indicates that the rigour of the Tamimites will be used for, and not against, Islam in the final culminating battle against the Dajjal; and this is unquestionably a merit. The second point is less significant, since all the Arabs are descendents of Ismail; while the variant readings of the third point make it difficult to establish its significance in an unambiguous way. Even the most positive interpretation, however, allows us to conclude no more than that the Messenger (s.w.s.) was pleased with that tribe at the moment it paid its zakat. As we shall see, its payment of zakat proved to be short-lived.

Far more numerous are the hadiths which explicitly critique the Tamimites. These hadiths are usually disregarded by pro-Najdite apologists; but traditional Islamic scholarship demands that all, not merely some, of the evidence be mustered and taken as a whole before a verdict can be reached. And a consideration of the abundant critical material on Tamim demonstrates beyond any doubt that this tribe was regarded by the Messenger (s.w.s.) and by the Salaf as deeply problematic.

An early indication of the nature of the Tamimites is given by Allah himself in Sura al-Hujurat. In aya 4 of this sura, He says: ‘Those who call you from behind the chambers: most of them have no sense.’ The occasion for revelation (sabab al-nuzul) here was as follows:

‘The “chambers” (hujurat) were spaces enclosed by walls. Each of the wives of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) had one of them. The aya was revealed in connection with the delegation of the Banu Tamim who came to the Prophet (s.w.s.). They entered the mosque, and approached the chambers of his wives. They stood outside them and called: “Muhammad! Come out to us!” an action which expressed a good deal of harshness, crudeness and disrespect. Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) waited a while, and then came out to them. One of them, known as al-Aqra‘ ibn Habis, said: “Muhammad! My praise is an ornament, and my denunciation brings shame!” And the Messenger (s.w.s.) replied: “Woe betide you! That is the due of Allah.”’ (Imam Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Juzayy, al-Tashil [Beirut, 1403], p.702. See also the other tafsir works; also Ibn Hazm, Jamharat ansab al-‘Arab [Cairo, 1382], 208, in the chapter on Tamim.)

In addition to this Qur’anic critique, abundant hadiths also furnish the Umma with advice about this tribe. Since the tacit acceptance of the Prophet (s.w.s.) constitutes a hadith, we may begin with the following incident.

This relates to a famous poem by Hassan ibn Thabit (r.a.). The Tamimites were late converts to Islam, joining the religion, after much resistance, only in the Year of Delegations (‘am al-wufud), which was the ninth year of the Hijra. They hence miss the virtue of sabiqa, of precedence in Islam. Coming at last to the Prophet (s.w.s.), the Tamim insisted on a public debate against him, and he appointed Hassan to reply to the Tamimites’ vain boasting about their tribe. Hassan’s ode, which completely defeated and humiliated them by describing the low status of their tribe, can be considered evidence for the Prophet’s (s.w.s.) own view of Tamim, since the condemnation was given in his presence, and there is no record of his criticising it. (Diwan Hassan ibn Thabit [Beirut, 1966], p.440; for full details of the incident see Barquqi’s commentary in the same volume. See also Ibn Hisham, Sira [Guillaume translation], p.631.)

A further hadith concerning Tamim runs as follows:

On the authority of Imran ibn Husayn (r.a.): ‘A group of Tamimites came to the Prophet (s.w.s.), and he said: “O tribe of Tamim! Receive good news!” “You promise us good news, so give us something [money]!” they replied. And his face changed. Then some Yemenis came, and he said: “O people of Yemen! Accept good news, even though the tribe of Tamim have not accepted it!” And they said: “We accept.” And the Prophet (s.w.s.) began to speak about the beginning of creation, and about the Throne.’ (Bukhari, Bad’ al-Khalq, 1.)

The harsh waywardness of the Tamimi mentality documented in the Qur’an and Hadith casts an interesting light on the personality of Abu Jahl, the arch-pagan leader of Quraysh. Abu Jahl, with his fanatical hatred of the Prophet (s.w.s.), must have been shaped by the Tamimi ethic in his childhood. His mother, Asma’ bint Mukharriba, was of the tribe of Tamim. (al-Jumahi, Tabaqat Fuhul al-Shu‘ara, ed. Mahmud Shakir [Cairo, 1952], p.123.) He also married the daughter of ‘Umayr ibn Ma‘bad al-Tamimi, by whom he had his son, predictably named Tamim. (Mus‘ab ibn Abdallah, Nasab Quraysh [Cairo, 1953], p.312.)
An attribute recurrently ascribed to the Tamimites in the hadith literature is that of misplaced zeal. When they finally enter Islam, they are associated with a fanatical form of piety that demands simple and rigid adherence, rather than understanding; and which frequently defies the established authorities of the religion. Imam Muslim records a narration from Abdallah ibn Shaqiq which runs: ‘Ibn Abbas once preached to us after the asr prayer, until the sun set and the stars appeared, and people began to say: “The prayer! The prayer!” A man of the Banu Tamim came up to him and said, constantly and insistently: “The prayer! The prayer!” And Ibn Abbas replied: “Are you teaching me the sunna, you wretch?”’ (Muslim, Salat al-Musafirin, 6.)

Banu Tamim and the Khawarij

Perhaps the best-known of any hadith about a Tamimite, which again draws our attention to their misplaced zeal, is the hadith of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira:

Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri (r.a.) said: ‘We were once in the presence of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) while he was dividing the spoils of war. Dhu’l-Khuwaysira, a man of the Tamim tribe, came up to him and said: “Messenger of Allah, be fair!” He replied: “Woe betide you! Who will be fair if I am not? You are lost and disappointed if I am not fair!” And Umar (r.a.) said, “Messenger of Allah! Give me permission to deal with him, so that I can cut off his head!” But he said: “Let him be. And he has companions. One of you would despise his prayer in their company, and his fast in their company. They recite the Qur’an but it goes no further than their collarbones. They pass through religion as an arrow passes through its target.”’ Abu Sa‘id continued: ‘I swear that I was present when Ali ibn Abi Talib fought against them. He ordered that that man be sought out, and he was brought to us.’ (Bukhari, Manaqib, 25. For the ‘passing through’ see Abu’l-Abbas al-Mubarrad, al-Kamil, chapter on ‘Akhbar al-Khawarij’ published separately by Dar al-Fikr al-Hadith [Beirut, n.d.], pp.23-4: ‘usually when this happens none of the target’s blood remains upon it’.)

This hadith is taken by the exegetes as a prophecy, and a warning, about the nature of the Kharijites. There is a certain type of believing zealot who goes into religion so hard that he comes out the other side, with little or nothing of it remaining with him. One expert who confirms this is the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, well-known for his hagiographies of Ma‘ruf al-Karkhi and Rabi‘a al-Adawiya. In his book Talbis Iblis. (Beirut, 1403, p.88) under the chapter heading ‘A Mention of the Devil’s Delusion upon the Kharijites’ he narrates the hadith, and then writes: ‘This man was called Dhu’l-Khuwaysira al-Tamimi. [...] He was the first Kharijite in Islam. His fault was to be satisfied with his own view; had he paused he would have realised that there is no view superior to that of Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.).’

Ibn al-Jawzi goes on to document the development of the Kharijite movement, and the central role played by the tribe of Tamim in it. Hence (p.89) ‘The commander of the fight [against the Sunnis, at Harura] was Shabib ibn Rab‘i al-Tamimi’; also (p.92) ‘Amr ibn Bakr al-Tamimi agreed to murder Umar’. All this even though their camp sounded like a beehive, so assiduously were they reciting the Qur’an (p.91).

The Kharijite movement proper commenced at the Siffin arbitration, when the first dissenters left the army of the khalifa Ali (k.A.w.). One of them was Abu Bilal Mirdas, a member of the tribe of Tamim (Ibn Hazm, 223), who despite his constant worship and recitation of the Qur’an became one of the most brutal of the Kharijite zealots. He is remembered as the first who said the Tahkim - the formula ‘The judgment is Allah’s alone’ - on the Day of Siffin, which became the slogan of the later Kharijite da‘wa.

In his long analysis of the Kharijite movement, Imam Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi also describes the intimate involvement of Tamimites, and of Central Arabians generally, noting that the tribes of Yemen and Hijaz contributed hardly anyone to the Kharijite forces. He gives an account of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira’s later Kharijite activities. Appearing before Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (k.A.w.) he says: ‘Ibn Abi Talib! I am only fighting you for the sake of Allah and the Hereafter!’ to which Imam Ali replies: ‘Nay, you are like those of whom Allah says, “Shall I inform you who are the ones whose works are most in loss? It is they whose efforts are astray in the life of this world, but who think that they are doing good!” [Kahf, 103].’ (Imam Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-firaq [Cairo, n.d.], 80; see the note to p.76 for the full identification of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira.)

As Imam Abd al-Qahir gives his account of the early Kharijite rebellions, replete with appalling massacres of innocent Muslim civilians, he makes it clear that the leaders of each of the significant Kharijite movements hailed from Najd. For instance, the Azariqa, one of the most vicious and widespread Khariji movements, were led by Nafi‘ ibn al-Azraq, who was from the Central Arabian tribe of Banu Hanifa (Abd al-Qahir, 82). As the Imam records, ‘Nafi and his followers considered the territory of those who opposed them to be Dar al-Kufr, in which one could slaughter their women and children. [...] They used to say: “Our opponents are mushriks, and hence we are not obliged to return anything we hold in trust to them.’ (Abd al-Qahir, 84.) After his death in battle, ‘the Azariqa pledged their allegiance to Ubaydallah ibn Ma’mun al-Tamimi. Al-Muhallab then fought them at Ahwaz, where Ubaidallah ibn Ma’mun himself died, along with his brother Uthman ibn Ma’mun and three hundred of the most fanatical of the Azariqa. The remainder retreated to Aydaj, where they pledged their allegiance to Qatari ibn al-Fuja’a, whom they called Amir al-Mu’minin.’ (Abd al-Qahir, 85-6.) The commentator to Abd al-Qahir’s text reminds us that Ibn Fuja’a was also of Tamim (p.86).

The Azariqa, who massacred countless tens of thousands of Muslims who refused to accept their views, had a rival in the Najdiyya faction of the Kharijites. These were named after Najda ibn Amir, a member of the tribe of Hanifa whose homeland is Najd; Najda himself maintained his army in Yamama, which is part of Najd. (Abd al-Qahir, 87.)

As is the way with Kharijism in all ages, the Najdiyya fragmented amid heated arguments generated by their intolerance of any dissent. The causes of this schism included the Kharijite attack on Madina, which came away with many captives; and different Kharijite ijtihads over sexual relations with Muslim women who, not being Kharijites, they had enslaved. Three major factions emerged from this split, the most dangerous of which was led by Atiyya ibn al-Aswad, again of the tribe of Hanifa. Following Najda’s death, his own faction split, again into three, one of which left Najd to raid the vicinity of Basra (Abd al-Qahir, 90-1).

The last major Kharijite sect was the Ibadiyya, which, in a gentler and much attenuated form, retains a presence even today in Zanzibar, southern Algeria, and Oman. The movement was founded by Abdallah ibn Ibad, another Tamimi. Its best-known doctrine is that non-Ibadis are kuffar: they are not mu’mins, but they are not mushriks either. ‘They forbid secret assassinations [of non-Ibadis], but allow open battles. They allow marriages [with non-Ibadis], and inheritance from them. They claim that all this is to aid them in their war for Allah and His Messenger.’ (Abd al-Qahir, 103.)

The best-known woman among the Kharijites was Qutam bint ‘Alqama, a member of the Tamimite tribe. She is remembered as the one who told her bridegroom, Ibn Muljam, that ‘I will only accept you as my husband at a dowry which I myself must name, which is three thousand dirhams, a male and a female slave, and the murder of Ali!’ He asked, ‘You shall have all that, but how may I accomplish it?’ and she replied, ‘Take him by surprise. If you escape, you will have rescued the people from evil, and will live with your wife; while if you die in the attempt, you will go on to the Garden and a delight that shall never end!’ (Mubarrad, 27.) As is generally known, Ibn Muljam was executed after he stabbed imam Ali (k.A.w.) to death outside the mosque in Kufa.

Muslims anxious not to repeat the tragic errors of the past will wish to reflect deeply upon this pattern of events. Tens of thousands of Muslims, fervently committed to the faith and outstanding for their practical piety, nonetheless fell prey to the Kharijite temptation. The ulema trace the origins of that temptation back to the incident of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira, who considered himself a better Muslim than the Prophet himself (s.w.s.). And he, like the overwhelming majority of the Kharijite leaders who followed in his footsteps, was a Tamimi. Of the non-Tamimi Kharijites, almost all were from Najd.

The Ridda: the First Fitna

There is a further issue which Muslims will wish to consider when forming their view of Najd. This is the attitude of the Najdis following the death of the Messenger (s.w.s.). The historians affirm that the great majority of the rebellions against the payment of zakat which broke out during the khilafa of Abu Bakr (r.a.) took place among Najdis. Moreoever, and even more significantly, many of the the Najdi rebellions were grounded in a strange anti-Islamic ideology. The best-known of these was led by Musaylima, who claimed to be a prophet, and who established a rival shari‘a which included quasi-Muslim rituals such as forms of fasting and dietary rules. He followed the Islamic prayer rules, but abolished the Fajr and the Isha prayers. One of his so-called ‘revelations’ ran:

Banu Tamim is a tribe of purity,
a free people, with no fault in them,
neither do they pay a tribute.
We shall be their allies of protection,
good to them for as long as we live!
We shall protect them from everyone,
and when we die, their affair is with al-Rahman.

(Imam al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk [Beirut, 1407], II, 276).

Musaylima was a forceful speaker, and soon gained a huge following in Central Arabia. However the historians record that when he tried to imitate the miracles of the Prophet (s.a.w.) disaster would result. Children brought to him for cures would become sicker. When his wudu water was poured over crops, the land would turn sterile. Wells that he had used would turn salty. However the power of tribalism caused many to pay no attention.

Talha al-Namari came to Najd and said: ‘Where is Musaylima?’ At this the people said: ‘Careful! Call him the Messenger of Allah!’ So he replied: ‘No, not until I have seen him.’ So when he came to him he said: ‘You are Musaylima,’ and he replied, ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Who comes to you?’ and he replied: ‘Al-Rahman’. He asked: ‘Does he come in light or darkness?’ ‘In darkness.’ Whereupon he said: ‘I bear witness that you are a liar and that Muhammad tells the truth, but a liar of your tribe is dearer to me than a truth-teller of his.’ So he joined Musaylima until he was killed at the Battle of Aqraba. (Tabari, II, 277).

Incidents like this are revealing in two ways. Firstly, they show the characteristic feature of Musaylima’s aqeedah: Allah resembles a physical being who can ‘come’. Secondly, they reveal the immense, blind power of Arabian tribalism as this still existed in Najd.

As leader of a rival religion, he and his Najdi enthusiasts were in a state of baghy, heretical revolt against due caliphal authority, and Abu Bakr (r.a.) sent an army against them under Khalid ibn al-Walid. In the year 12 of the Hijra Khalid defeated the Najdis at the Battle of al-Aqraba, a bloody clash that centred on a walled garden which is known to our historians as the Garden of Death, because hundreds of great Companions lost their lives there at the hands of the Najdis. The battle ranged the egalitarian spirit of Islam against the old Arab tribalism, as was shown by the fact that the banner of the Muhajirun was held by a freed Persian slave, Salim, while the banner of the Ansar was held high by Thabit b. Qays. The Muslim battle-cry was not the invocation of a tribe or an ancestor, instead it was, ‘Ya Muhammad!’ (Tabari, 281.) The pseudo-prophet was killed by Wahshi, the Ethiopian slave who, even though he had killed Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, had made good his Islam, and was now an honored member of the community. The killing of the prophet of Najdi pride by a man of such humble origins was a powerful symbol of the principles that were at stake. (See Abdallah ibn Muslim Ibn Qutayba, Kitab al-Ma‘arif [Cairo, 1960], p.206; Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-buldan [repr. Beirut, n.d., p.86.])

Devotion to Musaylima lingered on in Central Arabia, however. An indication of the continuity of Najdi religious life is given by the non-Muslim traveller Palgrave, who as late as 1862 found that some Najdi tribesmen continued to revere Musaylima as a prophet. (W. Palgrave, Narrative of a year’s journey through Central and Eastern Arabia [London, 1865], I, 382.)

The other ringleader of Najdi rebellion against the khilafa was a woman known as Sajah, whose full name was Umm Sadir bint Aws, and who belonged to the tribe of Tamim. She made claims to prophethood in the name of a rabb who was ‘in the clouds’, and who gave her revelations by which she succeeded in uniting sections of the Tamim who had argued among themselves over the extent to which they should reject the authority of Madina. Leading several campaigns against tribes who remained loyal to Islam, the Najdi prophetess is said to have thrown in her lot with Musaylima. Other than this, little is known of her fate. (Ibn Qutayba, Ma‘arif, p.405; Baladhuri, Futuh, pp.99-100.)

Recent Najdi Tendencies

It is well-known that the Najdi reformer, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, was a Tamimi. The violence and takfir associated with the movement which carries his name surely bears more than a coincidental resemblance to the policies and mindset of the Tamimi Kharijites of ancient Najd. Consider, for instance, the following massacre, of the Shi‘a of Karbala in April 1801, as described by a Wahhabi historian:

Saud made for Karbala with his victorious army, famous pedigree horses, and all the settled people and bedouin of Najd [...] The Muslims (i.e. the Wahhabis) surrounded Karbala and took it by storm. They killed most of the people in the markets and houses. One cannot count their spoils. They stayed there for just one morning, and left after midday, taking away all the possessions. Nearly two thousand people were killed in Karbala. (Uthman ibn Bishr, Unwan al-Majd fi Tarikh Najd [Makka, 1349], 1, 121-122.)

It is hard to distinguish this raid, and the brutality of its accomplishment, from the Khariji raids from Najd into the same region a thousand years earlier.
Muhammad Finati, an Italian revert to Islam who served with the Caliphal army which defeated the Wahhabis, wrote a long first-hand account of the extreme barbarism of the Najdi hordes. For instance:

Such among us as fell alive into the hands of these cruel fanatics, were wantonly mutilated by the cutting off of their arms and legs, and left to perish in that state, some of whom, in the course of our retreat, I myself actually saw, who had no greater favour to ask than that we would put them to death. (G. Finati, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Giovanni Finati [London, 1830], I, 287.)

It is sometimes claimed that the days when ‘all the settled people and bedouin of Najd’ would happily commit such mass murder are long gone, and that Wahhabism has become more moderate. But another, more recent example, shows otherwise. In 1924, the Wahhabi army entered the city of Ta’if, plundering it for three days. The chief qadi and the ulema were dragged from their houses and slaughtered, while several hundred other civilians lost their lives. (Ibn Hizlul, Tarikh Muluk Al Sa‘ud [Riyadh, 1961], pp.151-3.) After giving the the Sunni population of the Hijaz this terrorist lesson, ‘Ibn Saud occupied Mecca with Britain’s tacit blessing’ (Alexei Vassiliev, A History of Saudi Arabia [London, 1998], p.264).

CONCLUSION

A good deal of material concerning Najd and Tamim has been preserved from the time of the Salaf. If we reject the method of some Najdi apologists, a method based on the highly selective quotation of hadiths coupled with the blind imitation of opinions expressed by late-medieval commentary writers, we may reach some reasonably settled and authoritative conclusions regarding Central Arabia and its people. The Qur’an, the sound Hadith, and the experience of the Salaf overwhelmingly concur that Central Arabia is a region of fitna. The first of all fitnas in Islam emerged from that place, notably the arrogance of Dhu’l-Khuwaysira and his like, and also the apostasy and fondness for false prophets which caused such difficulty for Abu Bakr (r.a.). Subsequently, the Kharijite heresy, overwhelmingly Najdi in its roots, cast a long shadow over the early history of Islam, dividing the Muslims, distracting their armies from the task of conquering Byzantium, and injecting rancour, suspicion, and bitterness among the very earliest generations of Muslims. Only the most determined, blinkered and irresponsible Najdi sympathiser could ignore this evidence, transmitted so reliably from the pure Salaf, and persist in the delusion that Najd and the misguided, literalistic rigorism which it recurrently produces, is somehow an area favoured by Allah.

And Allah knows best. May He unite the Umma through love for the early Muslims who refused bigotry, and may He preserve us from the trap of Kharijism and those who are attracted to its mindset in our time. Ameen.

HADITH OF NAJD: PART 2

2008-04-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

Many a times we meet ignorant wahabis in life who say that NAJD is Iraq. This statement ensures that the person has been reading Wahabi FABRICATED materials and has been brain washed by the wahabi speakers.

If one does not have interest in reading , please analyse these evidence.

First Proof

http://i-cias.com/e.o/najd.htm

Click that link and see it yourself.

SECOND PROOF

The etymological sense of the Arabic word najd, which means ‘high ground’. Again, a brief consultation of an atlas resolves this matter decisively. With the exception of present-day northern Iraq, which was not considered part of Iraq by any Muslim until the present century (it was called ‘al-Jazira’), Iraq is notably flat and low-lying, much of it even today being marshland, while the remainder, up to and well to the north of Baghdad, is flat, low desert or agricultural land. Najd, by contrast, is mostly plateau, culminating in peaks such as Jabal Tayyi’ (1300 metres), in the Jabal Shammar range.

THIRD PROOF

Medieval Islamic geographers contest this inherently strange thesis (see for instance Ibn Khurradadhbih, al-Masalik wa’l-mamalik [Leiden, 1887], 125; Ibn Hawqal, Kitab Surat al-ard [Beirut, 1968],18); and limit the northern extent of Najd at Wadi al-Rumma, or to the deserts to the south of al-Mada’in. There is no indication that the places in which the second wave of sedition arose, such as Kufa and Basra, were associated in the mind of the first Muslims with the term ‘Najd’. On the contrary, these places are in every case identified as lying within the land of Iraq.

FOURTH PROOF

Even the briefest glimpse at a modern atlas will show that a straight line drawn to the east of al-Madina al-Munawwara does not pass anywhere near Iraq, but passes some distance to the south of Riyadh; that is to say, through the exact centre of Najd. The hadiths which speak of ‘the East’ in this context hence support the view that Najd is indicated, not Iraq.

FIFTH PROOF

Here is a clear proof that our beloved prophet CLEARLY meant , knew and told that NAJD is DIFFERENT FROM IRAQ. Please Analyse this

Further evidence can be cited from the cluster of hadiths which identify the miqat points for pilgrims. In a hadith narrated by Imam Nasa’i (Manasik al-Hajj, 22), ‘A’isha (r.a.) declared that ‘Allah’s Messenger (s.w.s.) established the miqat for the people of Madina at Dhu’l-Hulayfa, for the people of Syria and Egypt at al-Juhfa, for the people of Iraq at Dhat Irq, and for the people of Najd at Qarn, and for the Yemenis at Yalamlam.’ Imam Muslim (Hajj, 2) narrates a similar hadith: ‘for the people of Madina it is Dhu’l-Hulayfa - while on the other road it is al-Juhfa - for the people of Iraq it is Dhat Irq, for the people of Najd it is Qarn, and for the people of Yemen it is Yalamlam.’

Hadith

Book 007, Number 2666: Sahih Muslim

Abu Zubair heard Jabir b. 'Abdullah (Allah be pleased with them) as saying as he was asked about (the place for entering upon the) state of Ihram: I heard (and I think he carried it directly to the Apostle of Allah) him saying: For the people of Medina Dhu'l-Hulaifa is the place for entering upon the state of Ihram, and for (the people coming through the other way, i. e. Syria) it is Juhfa; for the people of Iraq it is Dbat al-'Irq; for the people uf Najd it is Qarn (al-Manazil) and for the people of Yemen it is Yalamlam.

These texts constitute unarguable proof that the Prophet (s.w.s.) distinguished between Najd and Iraq, so much so that he appointed two separate miqat points for the inhabitants of each. For him, clearly, Najd did not include Iraq.

PART 3 IS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO HAVE IN DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUE

HADITH OF NAJD : PART 1

2008-04-24T03:34:00.000-07:00

Narrated Ibn 'Umar: (The Prophet) said, "O Allah! Bless our Sham and our yemen." People said, "Our Najd as well." The Prophet again said, "O Allah! Bless our Sham and yemen." They said again, "Our Najd as well." On that the Prophet said, "There will appear earthquakes and afflictions, and from there will come out the side of the head of Satan." (Book #17, Hadith #147, Bukhari)

It can be deduced from the above Hadith that Najd is neither blessed nor a good place but one of Fitna and Evil. Najd has been deprived of the prayers of the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) and therefore Najd has the seal of misery and misfortune and hoping for any good from there is going against the Will of Allah.

The Arabic word used in the above Hadith is Qarnush Shaitaan, which normally means the horn of Shaitaan. But the 'Misbahul Lughaat', a dictionary printed in Deoband has the following meaning: "One who follows the advice of Shaitaan." (Misbahul Lughaat, pp/663). Thus we learn that a Najdi/Wahhabi group will emerge, as pointed out by Rasoolullah (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) and this group will follow the advice of Shaitaan (Shaitaan refuses to respect Prophets and Saints, remember his refusal to bow to Hazrat Adam (Alayhi Salaam) is mentioned in the Quran. It will create havoc in the Muslim world. We are now witnessing the emergence of the Wahhabis who, with the assistance of petrodollars, are sweeping the Muslim world and are bribing them into accepting Wahhabism as the official version of Islam.

Wahhabism is a disease but so many are misled into believing that it is curing the Ummah of Shirk, Kufr and Bidah. It is being portrayed as a revivalist movement. This is against the Ahadith. Looking at the geographical position of Najd, it lies to the East of Medina. The Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) pointed towards the East and said:
"There, that is the direction from where Fitna will emerge

SECOND HADITH

It is reported in SAHIH BUKHARI from Hazrat Abu Said Khudri (Radiallhu Anhu) who narrates that:
Once we were in the presence and company of the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam). He was distributing booties (Spoils of War) when a person named Zul-Khawaisara, who was from the tribe of Bani Tamim addressed the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) "Oh Muhammad Be Just!" ". The Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) replied: "A Great pity that you have doubts, if I am unjust then who will be just, you are a loser and a failure." Zul-Khawaisara's attitude infuriated Hazrat Umar (Radiallhu Anhu) and he pleaded with the Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) to permit him to slay Zul-Khawaisara. The Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) remarked: "Leave him, as his slaying will serve no good purpose, as he is not the only individual but there are a host of others like him and if you compare their prayers and fasting to that of yours, you yourself will feel ashamed. These are the people who will recite the Quran but it will not go beyond their throats, with all these apparent virtues they will leave the fold of Deen just like the arrow leaves the bow.

THIRD HADITH

The previous Hadith has also been narrated as follows: "A person with eyes protruding, with a long beard and head clean-shaven came to the Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) and declared: 'O Muhammad! (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) fear Allah. "' The Prophet(Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) replied: "If I disobey Allah, then who else will obey Him? I am obedient to Allah at all times and never disobedient. Allah has sent me as Amin(Honest for the entire world, but you don't accept me as an honest man?' A Sahabi (Companion) became infuriated and sought permission to remove him from the presence of the Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam). The Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) prevented the Sahabi from doing so After the person had left, the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) said: "From his progeny will rise a Group who will recite the Holy Quran but it will not go below their throats. They will leave the Deen just as an arrow leaves the bowstring. They will kill the Muslims but spar the idolaters. If I ever confronted these people I would slaughter them just as the people of Aad had been destroyed" (Mishkat Shareef, pp/535)

THIRD HADITH

Hazrat Ali (Radiallhu Anhu) once narrated: "I swear by Allah that to fall from the sky to the Earth is very simple for me, but to utter one false word in reference to the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) is a very difficult and impossible task for me."

Hazrat Ali(Radiallhu Anhu) then narrated as follows:

"I heard the Holy Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) as saying that as the Day of Qiyamah approaches there will appear a group of youths with a low mental capacity and understanding, apparently they will talk of good but their Imaan will not go beyond their throat and they will leave the true Deen like an arrow leaves the prey. Wherever you find them, you should make Jihaad with them. ( Bukhari)

ANALYSIS : DO IT YOUR SELF

From the above hadith it is clear that these killers of Muslim will be from the Region of Najd , from the tribe of Bani Tamim ( prophet made both the prohecy) and they would recite quran ,but will not go below their throat , it means they will SHOW OFF in their ibadah and would consider muslims as inferior to them.

If one does a simple analysis of history you will find that there was only one such man upon whom all this fits with no doubt. This man was IBN ABDUL WAHAB NAJDI AL TAMIMI.

Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab belonged to the Bani Tamim tribe. He was born in Uyayna village near the town of Huraimila in the Najd Desert in 1111 A.H. (1699) and died in 1206 (1792).

If some one wants to see how this man killed muslims , took their property and made a new sect called WAHABSIM , one must read the below linked article in detail

http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/radd_ul_salafiyya.html

PLEASE NOTE

Zul Khuwaisra - the man who showed so much disrespect to the Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) was from the tribe of Bani Tamim. The Prophet (Sallal Laahu Alaihi Wasallam) foretold that the Wahhabi group who will cause much fitna, will be the off-springs of the above Munaafiq. Allama Dahlaan, the celebrated Historian of our era writes: "Zul Khuwaira was of the Banu Tamim tribe and so was Ibne Abdul Wahab Najdi." (Addarus Sunniah, pp/51). These Ahadith certainly do not fit the Kharajees because they were not the off-springs of Bani Tamim

INSHA ALLAH IN PART 2 OF THIS ARTCILE WE WILL ANALYSE THE HADITH OF NAJD AND HOW WAHABIS LIE , WHEN THEY SAY ; NAJD IS IRAQ!!

The menace of Wahhabism

2008-04-24T02:46:00.001-07:00

Fitnatul Wahhabiyyah - The menace of Wahhabism

Mawlana Shaykhu-l-Islam Ahmad Zayni Dahlan
al-Makki ash-Shafi'i
(Chief Mufti of Mecca al-Mukarramah).
May Allah be pleased with him

Introduction

During the reign of Sultan Salim III (1204-1222 AH) many tribulations took place. One was the tribulation of the Wahhabiyyah which started in the area of al-Hijaz(1) where they captured al-Haramayn(2), and prevented Muslims coming from ash-Sham(3) and Egypt from reaching their destination to perform Pilgrimage (Hajj). Another tribulation is that of the French who controlled Egypt from 1213 A.H. until 1216 A.H. Let us here speak briefly about the two adversities(4), because each was mentioned in detail in the books of history and in separate treatises.

Background On The Tribulations Of The Wahhabis

The fighting started between the Wahhabis and the Prince of Mecca, Mawlana Sharif Ghalib Ibn Bu Sa'id, who had been appointed by the honored Muslim Sultan as his ruling representative over the areas of al-Hijaz. This was in 1205 AH during the time of Sultan Salim III, the son of Sultan Mustafa III, the son of Ahmad. Previous to the outbreak of fighting, the Wahhabis began to build power and gain followers in their areas. As their territories expanded, their evil and harm increased They killed countless numbers of Muslims, legitimated confiscating their money and possessions, and captured their women. The founder of their wicked doctrine was Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, who originated from eastern Arabia, from the tribe of Banu Tamim. He lived a long life, about one-hundred years. He was born in 1111 AH and died in 1200 AH. His history was narrated as follows:

Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab started as a student of knowledge in the city of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: Medina al-Munawwarah. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's father was a good, pious man among the people of knowledge as was his brother, Shaykh Sulayman. His father, his brother, and his shaykhs (teachers of religion) had the foresight Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab would innovate a great deal of deviation and misguidance, because of their observance of his sayings, actions, and inclinations concerning many issues. They used to reprimand him and warn people against him.

Some Of The Beliefs Of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab

What Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's father, brother, and shaykhs speculated about him came true-by the Will of Allah, Ta'ala. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab innovated deviant and misleading ways and beliefs and managed to allure some ignorant people to follow him. His deviant and misleading ways and beliefs disagreed with the sayings of the scholars of the Religion. His deviant beliefs led him to label the believers as blasphemers! He falsely claimed visiting the grave of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and performing the tawassul(5) by him as shirk(6). Additionally, he falsely claimed visiting the graves of other prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya’) and performing tawassul by them was shirk as well. He added to this by saying, "To call upon the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, when performing tawassul by the Prophet is shirk." He passed the same judgment of shirk on the ones who call upon other prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya’) in performing tawassul by them.

In an effort to give credibility to his innovations Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab embellished his sayings by quotations which he selected from Islamic sources, i.e., quotations which are used as proofs for many issues but not the issues which Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab was attempting to support. He brought false statements and tried to beautify them for the laymen until they followed him. He wrote treatises for them until they believed that most of the People of Tawhid(7) were blasphemers.

Alliance With The Saudi Family

Moreover, Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab called upon the princes of eastern Arabia and the people of ad-Dar'iyyah(8) to support him. They carried his doctrine and made this endeavor a means to strengthen and expand their kingdom. They worked together to suppress the Bedouins of the deserts until they overcame them and those Bedouins followed them and became foot-soldiers for them without pay. After that, these masses started to believe that whoever does not believe in what Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab said is a blasphemer, and it is Islamically lawful (halal) to shed his blood and plunder his money.

The matter of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab started to evidence itself in 1143 A.H. and began spreading after 1150 A.H. Subsequently, the scholars--even his brother, Shaykh Sulayman and the rest of his shaykhs-- authored many treatises to refute him. But Muhammad Ibn Su'ud, the Prince of ad-Dar'iyyah in eastern Arabia, supported him and worked to spread his ideology. Ibn Su'ud was from Banu Hanifah, the people of Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab(9). When Muhammad Ibn Su'ud died, his son 'Abdul-'Aziz Ibn Muhammad Ibn Su'ud took over the responsibility of fulfilling the vile task of spreading the Wahhabi beliefs.

Many of the shaykhs of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab in Medina used to say, "He will be misguided, and he will misguide those for whom Allah willed the misguidance." Things took place as per the speculation of the scholars. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab claimed his intention behind the madhhab he invented was "to purify the Tawhid" and "repudiate the shirk." He also claimed people had been following the shirk for six-hundred years and he revived their Religion for them!!

The Methodology of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab
Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab took the verses revealed to speak about the blasphemers and applied them to the Muslims. The following examples from the Qur'an illustrate this point. Allah, ta'ala, said in Surat al-Ahqaf, Ayah 5:

Who is more astray than the one who performs supplication (du'a') to [worship] other than Allah; the one other than Allah he supplicates to will not answer his du'a'.

Allah, ta'ala said in Surat Yunus, Ayah 106 :

"Do not perform supplication (du'a') to [worship] other than Allah; the one other than Allah you supplicate to will not benefit you and will not harm you"

The verses in the Qur'an similar to these ones are numerous. Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab gravely misinterpreted the previously cited verses and said: "The Muslim who asks help from the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, other prophets, or the righteous people (salihun), or who calls or asks any of them for intercession is like those blasphemers mentioned in the Qur'an." According to the false claim of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, the Muslims who do these things are blasphemers.

He also considered visiting the grave of Prophet Muhammad and the graves of other prophets and righteous Muslims for blessings as blasphemy. Allah revealed Ayah 3 of Surat az-Zumar in reference to the mushrikun:

Those who worship the idols said: "We do not worship them except to achieve a higher status from Allah Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab falsely stated: "Those who perform tawassul (asking Allah by the prophets, for example) are similar to those blasphemers mentioned in Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 3, who claim they do not worship the idols except to achieve a higher status from Allah." He said: "The blasphemers did not believe the idols create anything; they believed Allah is the Creator." He gave his version of proof from the Qur'an by citing Surat Luqman, Ayah 25 and Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 38, in which Allah said: If you ask them, `Who created the heavens and earth?' They will say, `Allah'. In Surat az-Zukhruf, Ayah 87, Allah said:

If you ask them, `Who created them?' They will say,’Allah’. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab falsely concluded from these verses that the Muslims who perform tawassul are similar to those blasphemers.

The Scholars refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab

In their writings to refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's sayings, the scholars said his deduction was false. The believers did not consider the prophets or the awliya’ as gods and they did not deem them partners to Allah. Instead, they correctly believe the prophets and awliya’ are good slaves and creations of Allah, and they do not deserve to be worshipped.

The blasphemers intended in these verses believed their idols deserved Godhood. They exalted them as one would exalt his Creator, even though they believed the idols did not create the heavens and the earth. The believers, on the other hand, do not believe the prophets or righteous Muslims (awliya’) deserve to be worshipped, nor do they deserve to be attributed with Godhood, nor do they exalt them as one would exalt God. They believe these people are good slaves of Allah, His beloved ones whom He chose, and by their blessings (barakah) Allah grants His mercy to His creation. Hence, when the slaves of Allah seek the blessings (barakah) of the prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya’) they are seeking these blessings as a mercy from Allah.

There are many proofs and examples from the Qur'an and Sunnah about this basic belief of the Muslims. Muslims believe Allah is the Creator, the One Who grants benefit and inflicts harm, and the only One Who deserves to be worshipped. Muslims believe that no one other than Allah has the power to affect the creation. The prophets and righteous people do not create anything. They do not possess the power to bestow benefit or inflict harm on others, but Allah is the One Who bestows the mercy upon the slaves by the righteous Muslims' blessings.

Hence, the belief of the blasphemers, i.e., the belief their idols deserve to be worshipped and have Godhood, is what makes them fall into blasphemy. This saying of the blasphemers, as previously cited in Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 3, was said in an effort to justify their belief when they were disproved and shown idols do not deserve to be worshipped.

How can Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab and those who follow him find it permissible to equate the believers, who believed in Tawhid, to those blasphemers, who believed in the Godhood of the idols? All the previously cited verses and the verses which are similar to them are specific to the blasphemers who associate partners with Allah--none of the believers are included.

Al-Bukhari narrated by the route of Ibn 'Umar, may Allah raise their ranks, that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, described the Khawarij as those who took the verses revealed about the blasphemers and attributed them to the believers! In the narration by the route of Ibn 'Umar the Prophet said:

"What I fear most for my nation is a man who mis-explains the Qur'an and takes it out of context."

Proofs For Tawassul - The Permissibility of Asking Allah for things by some of His Creation.

If performing tawassul had been blasphemy, then the believers, i.e., the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his Companions, and the Salaf and Khalaf of this nation would not have done it. Yet it is mentioned in the sahih hadith of the Prophet that the Prophet used to ask Allah by saying:

"O Allah, I ask You by the status of those who ask You.(10) "

Without doubt, this is tawassul. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to teach this supplication (du'a') to his Companions and order them to say it. This issue was expounded upon in different books and treatises refuting Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab.

There is a hadith related by al-Hakim that mentions after Adam ate from the tree, he performed tawassul by our Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He did that, because he saw the name of the Prophet written on the 'Arsh, Adam said: "O Allah, by the dignity of this son [Muhammad], forgive this father [Adam]."

It was also related by Ibn Hibban, that upon the death of Fatimah Bint Asad, may Allah raise her rank, the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, with his own honorable hands, put her in her grave and said:

"O Allah, forgive my mother(11), Fatimah Binti Asad, and widen her place by the status of Your Prophet and the prophets who came before me. You are the most Merciful."

There is a hadith classified as sahih(12), that a blind man asked the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to make a supplication (du'a') to Allah to return his sight. The Prophet ordered him to make ablution (wudu') and pray two rak'ahs and then say:

"O Allah, I ask You and direct myself to You by Your Prophet, Muhammad, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad, I ask Allah by you to fulfill my need. O Allah, enable him to intercede for me."

The blind man did what the Prophet taught him to do(13) and Allah brought his sight back. Moreover, as related by at-Tabarani, the tawassul made by the blind man was used by the Companions and Salaf after the death of the Prophet.

'Umar Ibn al-Khattab performed the tawassul by al-'Abbas (the uncle of the Prophet), may Allah reward their deeds, when he prayed the Salah of 'Istisqa'(14) with the people. There are other proofs mentioned in the books of the Islamic scholars but we will not recount them at length here.

The one who pursues the saying of the Companions and their followers will find a great deal of proof about the validity of calling the prophet by saying "O Muhammad" in his presence as well as in his absence and in his life as well as after his death. In fact, many texts include the phrase which means, "O Muhammad". Calling the name of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is permissible. An example is the saying of the Companion, Bilal Ibn al-Harith, may Allah reward his deeds, when he went to the grave of the Prophet. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to send rain to your Nation." His saying contains this format(15).

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Kurdi(16) was among the authors who wrote refuting Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab. He was Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's own shaykh. Among what he said is as follows:

O Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, I advise you, for the sake of Allah, ta'ala, to hold your tongue regarding the Muslims. If you hear from anyone who asks for help from other than Allah that one has the power to effect things without the Will of Allah, then teach him the right thing about this issue, and show him the proofs which state no one other than Allah brings things from non-existence into existence. The one who rejects that is blasphemous. You have no right to label the majority of the Muslims as blasphemers(17) while you are deviant from the majority of the Muslims. In fact, it is more reasonable to consider the one who deviates from the majority of the Muslims as a blasphemer then to consider the Muslims as a nation as blasphemers--because the deviant one has followed a path other than the path of the believers. In Surat an-Nisa', Ayah 15, Allah said:

Whomever contends with the Messenger after the right path was exposed to him and follows other than the way of the believers, Allah will leave him to whatever he followed and put him in Hell (Jahannam)].

The Permissibility Of Visiting The Grave Of The Prophet

Visiting the grave of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was performed by the Companions and the Salaf and Khalaf who came after them. Many hadiths cite the benefit of this deed and the scholars of Islam have written books about this matter(18).

Calling On Someone Other Than Allah
Among of what was mentioned concerning calling on someone other than Allah, whether that one is present, absent, dead or alive, is the saying of the Prophet:

"If the animal of anyone of you went out of control in the wilderness, then call: `O slaves of Allah, help me'", since there are slaves of Allah [i.e. the angels] who will respond to him.

There is another hadith related by al-Bazzar in which the Prophet said:

" If one of you lost something or needs help while in an open land, then let him say:
"O slaves of Allah, help me."

Another narration says, "Rescue me, because Allah has created slaves whom you do not see." When traveling at nightfall the Prophet, sallallahu 'alyhi wa sallam, used to say:" O earth, my Lord and your Lord is Allah." When the Prophet visited the grave of Muslims, he used to say:"O people of the graves, peace be upon you."

In the Tashahhud in as-Salah the Muslim says: "O Prophet of Allah, may Allah protect you from infirmities, and have mercy and blessings on you."

There is no harm in calling on and performing tawassul by someone unless one believes that someone other than Allah actually creates things. Hence, as long as one believes that only Allah creates them, there is no harm in performing tawassul. Likewise, attributing a certain doing to other than Allah does not harm unless one believes this doer actually creates. So once it is established the person does not believe the creating is for other than Allah then attributing a doing to other than Allah is understood in its proper context. When one says: "This medicine benefited me," or "This particular righteous Muslim benefited me," he is merely exposing the created reason of the benefit. These statements are also similar to when one says: "This food satisfied my hunger," or "This water quenched my thirst," or "This medicine cured me." When Muslims say such statements, they understand them in their proper context, i.e., food, water, and medicine are only reasons, and Allah is the Creator of their benefit.

The general proofs mentioned in this summary are enough to refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab. The scholars of Islam have expounded on this issue in several treatises.

Footnotes:

1 Al-Hijaz refers to the western part of Arabia which includes Mecca and Medina.

2 Al-Haramayn refers to Mecca and Medina.

3 Ash-Sham refers to the area that includes Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine.

4 Only the first adversity will be presented in this booklet.

5 Tawassul is asking Allah for goodness by a prophet, righteous believer, etc.
6 Shirk refers to associating partners to Allah.

7 The People of Tawhid refers to the Muslims.

8 Ad-Dar'iyyah is a region north of the city of Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

9 Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab was a blasphemous man who claimed the status of prophethood for 10 himself after the death of Prophet Muhammad. He was killed by the Muslims during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may Allah raise his rank.

10 Ibn Majah and others related this hadith and the-Hafidh, Ibn Hajar, deemed it a strong hadith

11 The Prophet called her `my mother' out of likening her to his real mother.

12 Sixteen hafidhs of hadith classified this hadith as sahih, including at-Tirmidhi, at-Tabarani, al-Bayhaqi, as-Subki, among others.

13 It is clear in the narrations of this hadith, the blind man was not in the session of the Prophet when he did as the Prophet ordered him.

14 Salah of 'Istisqa' refers to performing a specific prayer which includes making supplication for rain.

15 Al-Bayhaqi related this hadith and classified it as sahih.
16 Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulaym al-Kurdi was the one who wrote al-Hashiyah on the explanation of Ibn Hajar to the text of Bafadl.

17 It is mentioned in a hadith it is easier for the devil to trick the lonely person who is away from other Muslims. The Prophet, sallallahu al 'alayhi wa sallam, while encouraging the Muslims to perform the prayers in congregation said: "Moreover, the wolf will eat the lonely lamb."

18 Among these hadiths is the one related by ad-Daraqutni that the Prophet said: "On the Day of Judgment, I will intercede for the one who visits my grave with the good intention."

PLEASE NOTE

For Interested readers on this topic , they can 'google search " , Massacre in Taif

to learn more about this. Also please try to ivestigate how did the name ' arabia' changed into SAUDI ARABIA

Those who cannot google search , can read ANY book on the history of Arab for the period between 1700 to 1950 .

For detail history of this killing of innocent muslim men and women by Wahabis ,please read here

http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/radd_ul_salafiyya.html

HISTORIC DEBATE WITH IBN TAYMIAH

2008-04-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

The Debate with Ibn Taymiyya

One of the great sufi imams who was also known as a muhaddith, preacher, and Maliki jurist, Abu al-Fadl Ibn `Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709) is the author of al-Hikam (Aphorisms), Miftah al-falah (The key to success), al-Qasd al-mujarrad fi ma`rifat al-ism al-mufrad (The pure goal concerning knowledge of the Unique Name), Taj al-`arus al-hawi li tadhhib al-nufus (The bride's crown containing the discipline of souls), `Unwan al-tawfiq fi adab al-tariq (The sign of success concerning the discipline of the path), the biographical al-Lata'if fi manaqib Abi al-`Abbas al-Mursi wa shaykhihi Abi al-Hasan (The subtle blessings in the saintly lives of Abu al-`Abbas al-Mursi and his master Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili), and others. He was Abu al-`Abbas al-Mursi's (d. 686) student and the second successor of the Sufi founder, Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili.

Ibn `Ata' Allah was one of those who confronted Ibn Taymiyya for his excesses in attacking those of the Sufis with whom he disagreed. He never refers to Ibn Taymiyya by name in his works, but it is clearly of him that he speaks when he says, in his Lata'if, that Allah has put the Sufis to the test through what he terms "the scholars of external learning."1 In the pages below are the first English translation of a historical account which took place between the two.

Text of the Debate

From Usul al-Wusulby Muhammad Zaki Ibrahim Ibn Kathir, Ibn al-Athir, and other authors of biographical dictionaries and biographies have transmitted to us this authentic historical debate.2 It gives an idea of the ethics of debate among the people of learning. It documents the controversy between a pivotal personality in tasawwuf, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Ata' Allah al-Iskandari, and an equally important person of the so-called "Salafi" movement, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn `Abd al-Halim Ibn Taymiyya during the Mamluke era in Egypt under the reign of the Sultan Muhammad Ibn Qalawun (al-Malik al-Nasir).

The Testimony of Ibn Taymiyya to Ibn `Ata' Allah: Shaykh Ibn Taymiyya had been imprisoned in Alexandria. When the Sultan pardoned him, he came back to Cairo. At the time of the evening prayer he went to al-Azhar mosque where salat al-maghrib was being led by Shaykh Ahmad Ibn `Ata Allah al-Iskandari. Following the prayer, Ibn `Ata' Allah was surprised to discover that Ibn Taymiyya had been praying behind him. Greeting him with a smile, the Sufi shaykh cordially welcomed Ibn Taymiyya's arrival to Cairo, saying: "as-Salamu alaykum". Then Ibn `Ata' Allah started to talk with the learned visitor.

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "Ordinarily, I pray the evening prayer in the Mosque of Imam Husayn and the night prayer here. But look how the Divine plan works itself out! Allah has ordained that I should be the first one to greet you (after your return to Cairo). Tell me, O faqih, do you blame me for what happened?

Ibn Taymiyya: "I know you intended me no harm, but our differences of opinion still stand. In any case, whoever has harmed me in any way, from this day on I hereby exonerate and free him from any blame in the matter."

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "What is it you know about me, Shaykh Ibn Taymiyya?"

Ibn Taymiyya: "I know you to be a man of scrupulous piety, abundant learning, integrity and truthfulness in speech. I bear witness that I have seen no one like you either in Egypt or Syria who loves Allah more nor who is more self-effacing in Him nor who is more obedient in carrying out what He has commanded and in refraining from what He has forbidden. Nevertheless, we have our differences. What do you know about me? Are you claiming that I am misguided when I deny the validity of calling on anyone save Allah for aid (istighatha)?"

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "Surely, my dear colleague, you know that istighatha or calling for help is the same as tawassul or seeking a means and asking for intercession (shafa`a); and that the Messenger, on him be peace, is the one whose help is sought since he is our means and he the one whose intercession we seek."

Ibn Taymiyya: "In this matter, I follow what the Prophet's Sunna has laid down in the Shari`a. For it has been transmitted in a sound hadith: "I have been granted the power of intercession."3 I have also collected the sayings on the Qur'anic verse: "It may be that thy Lord will raise thee (O Prophet) to a praised estate" (17:79) to the effect that the "praised estate" is intercession. Moreover, when the mother of the Commander of the Faithful `Ali died, the Prophet prayed to Allah at her grave and said:O Allah who lives and never dies, who quickens and puts to death, forgive the sins of my mother Fatima bint Asad, make wide the place wherein she enters through the intercession of me, Thy Prophet, and the Prophets who came before me. For Thou art the most merciful of those capable of having mercy.4

This is the intercession that belongs to the Prophet, on him be peace. As for seeking the help of someone other than Allah, it smacks of idolatry; for the Prophet commanded his cousin `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas not to ask of anyone to help him other than Allah."5

Ibn `Ata' Allah: May Allah cause you to prosper, O faqih! As for the advice which the Prophet -- on him be peace -- gave to his cousin Ibn Abbas, he wanted him to draw near to Allah not through his familial relationship to the Prophet but through his knowledge. With regard to your understanding of istighatha as being seeking the aid of someone other than Allah which is idolatry, I ask you: Is there any Muslim possessed of real faith and believing in Allah and His Prophet who thinks there is someone other than Allah who has autonomous power over events and who is able to carry out what He has willed with regard to them? Is there any true believer who believes that there is someone who can reward him for his good deeds and punish him for his bad ones other than Allah?

Besides this, we must consider that there are expressions which should not be taken just in their literal sense. This is not because of fear of associating a partner with Allah and in order to block the means to idolatry. For whoever seeks help from the Prophet only seeks his power of intercession with Allah as when you yourself say: "This food satisfies my appetite." Does the food itself satisfy your appetite? Or is it the case that it is Allah who satisfies your appetite through the food?

As for your statement that Allah has forbidden Muslims to call upon anyone other than Himself in seeking help, have you actually seen any Muslim calling on someone other than Allah? The verse you cite from the Qur'an was revealed concerning the idolaters and those who used to call on their false gods and ignore Allah. Whereas, the only way Muslims seek the help of the Prophet is in the sense of tawassul or seeking a means, by virtue of the privilege he has received from Allah (bi haqqihi `inda Allah), and tashaffu` or seeking intercession, by virtue of the power of intercession which Allah has bestowed on him.

As for your pronouncement that istighatha or seeking help is forbidden in the Shari`a because it can lead to idolatry, if this is the case, then we ought also to prohibit grapes because they are means to making wine, and to castrate unmarried men because not to do so leaves in the world a means to commit fornication and adultery."

At the latter comment both the shaykhs laughed. Ibn `Ata Allah continued: "I am acquainted with the all-inclusiveness and foresight of the legal school founded by your Shaykh, Imam Ahmad, and know the comprehensiveness of your own legal theory and about its principle of blocking the means to evil (sadd al-dhara'i`) as well as the sense of moral obligation a man of your proficiency in Islamic jurisprudence and integrity must feel. But I realize also that your knowledge of language demands that you search out the hidden meanings of words which are often shrouded behind their obvious senses. As for the Sufis, meaning for them is like a spirit, and the words themselves are like its body. You must penetrate deeply into what is behind the verbal body in order to seize the deeper reality of the word's spirit.

Now you have found a basis in your ruling against Ibn `Arabi in the Fusus al-hikam, the text of which has been tampered with by his opponents not only with things he did not say, but with statements he could not even have intended saying (given the character of his Islam). When Shaykh al-Islam al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam understood what Shaykh Ibn `Arabi had actually said and analyzed, grasped and comprehended the real meaning of his symbolic utterances, he asked Allah's pardon for his former opinion about the Shaykh and acknowledged that Muhyiddin ibn `Arabi was an Imam of Islam.6

As for the statement of al-Shadhili against Ibn Arabi, you should know that Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili is not the person who said it but one of the students of the Shadhiliyya. Furthermore, in making this statement that student was talking about some of the followers of Shadhili. Thus, his words were taken in a fashion he himself never intended.

"What do you think about the Commander of the Faithful, Sayyidina `Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him?"

Ibn Taymiyya: In the hadith the Prophet, on him be peace, said: "I am the city of knowledge and `Ali is its door."7 Sayyidina `Ali is the one mujahid who never went out to battle except to return victoriously. What scholar or jurist who came after him struggled for the sake of Allah using tongue, pen and sword at the same time? He was a most accomplished Companion of the Prophet -- may Allah honor his countenance. His words are a radiant lamp which have illumined me during the entire course of my life after the Qur'an and Sunna. Ah! one who is ever short of provision and long in his journeying.

Ibn `Ata' Allah: Now, did Imam `Ali ask anyone to take his side in a faction? For this faction has claimed that the Angel Gabriel made a mistake and delivered the revelation to Muhammad -- on him be peace instead of `Ali! Or did he ask them to claim that Allah had become incarnate in his body and the Imam had become divine? Or did he not fight and slay them and give a fatwa (legal opinion) that they should be killed wherever they were found?

Ibn Taymiyya: "On the basis of this very fatwa, I went out to fight them in the mountains of Syria for more than ten years.

Ibn `Ata' Allah: And Imam Ahmad -- may Allah be pleased with him -- questioned the actions of some of his followers who were in the habit of going on patrols, breaking open casks of wine (in the shops of their Christian vendors or wherever they find them), spilling their contents on the floor, beating up singing girls, and confronting people in the street. All of this they did in the name of enjoining good and prohibiting what is forbidden. However, the Imam had not given any fatwa that they should censure or rebuke all those people. Consequently, these followers of his were flogged, thrown into jail, and paraded mounted on assback facing the tail.

Now, is Imam Ahmad himself responsible for the bad behavior which the worst and most vicious Hanbalis continue to perpetrate right down to our own day, in the name of enjoining good and prohibiting what is forbidden?

All this is to say that Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi is innocent with respect to what those of his followers do who absolve people of legal and moral obligations set down by the religion and from committing deeds that are prohibited. Do you not see this?

Ibn Taymiyya: "But where do they stand with respect to Allah? Among you Sufis are those who assert that when the Prophet -- on him be peace -- gave glad tidings to the poor and said that they would enter paradise before the rich, the poor fell into ecstasy and began to tear their garments into pieces; that at that moment the Angel Gabriel descended from heaven and said to the Prophet that Allah had sought his rightful portion from among these torn garments; and that the Angel Jibril carried one of them and hung it on Allah's throne. For this reason, they claim, Sufis wear patchworked garments and call themselves fuqara' or the "poor"!

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "Not all Sufis wear patchworked vests and clothing. Here I am before you: what do you disapprove of in my appearance?"

Ibn Taymiyya: "You are from the men of Shari`a and teach in al-Azhar."

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "al-Ghazali was equally an Imam both in Shari`a and tasawwuf. He treated legal rulings, the Sunna, and the Shari'a with the spirit of the Sufi. And by applying this method he was able to revive the religious sciences. We know that tasawwuf recognizes that what is sullied has no part in religion and that cleanliness has the character of faith. The true and sincere sufi must cultivate in his heart the faith recognized by the Ahl al-Sunna.

Two centuries ago the very phenomena of pseudo-Sufis appeared which you yourself criticize and reject. There were persons who sought to diminish the performance of worship and religious obligations, lighten fasting and belittle the five daily prayers. They ran wild into the vast arenas of sloth and heedlessness, claiming that they had been liberated from the shackles of the slavery of divine worship. Not satisfied with their own vile deeds until they have claimed intimations of the most extravagent realities and mystical states just as Imam al-Qushayri himself described in his well-known Risala, which he directed against them. He also set down in detail what constituted the true path to Allah, which consists in taking a firm hold upon the Qur'an and the Sunna. The Imams of tasawwuf desire to arrive at the true reality not only by means of rational evidences thought up by the human mind which are capable of being false as well as true, but by means of purifying the heart and purging the ego through a course of spiritual exercises. They cast aside concerns for the life of this world inasmuch as the true servant of Allah does not busy himself with anything else except love of Allah and His Prophet. This is a high order of business and one which makes a servant pious and healthy and prosperous. It is an occupation that reforms those things that corrupt the human creature, such as love of money and ambition for personal standing in society. However, it is an order of business which is constituted by nothing less than spiritual warfare for the sake of Allah.

My learned friend, interpreting texts according to their literal meanings can sometimes land a person in error. Literalism is what has caused your judgments about Ibn `Arabi who is one of the Imams of our faith known for his scrupulous piety. You have understood what he wrote in a superficial fashion; whereas sufis are masters of literary figures which intimate much deeper meanings, hyperbolic language that indicates heightened spiritual awareness and words which convey secrets concerning the realm of the unseen."

Ibn Taymiyya: "This argument is against you, not in your favor. For when Imam al-Qushayri saw his followers deviating from the path to Allah he took steps to improve them. What do the sufi shaykhs in our day do? I only ask that Sufis follow the path of the Sunna of these great and pious ancestors of our faith (Salaf): the ascetics (zuhhad) among the Companions, the generation which suceeded them, and the generation that followed in their footsteps to their best! Whoever acts in this way I esteem him highly and consider him to be an Imam of the religion. As for unwarranted innovation and the insertion of the ideas of idolaters such as the Greek philosophers and the Indian Buddhists, or like the idea that man can incarnate Allah (hulul) or attain unity with Him (ittihad), or the theory that all existence is one in being (wahdat al-wujud) and other such things to which your Shaykh summons people: this is clearly godlessness and unbelief."

Ibn `Ata' Allah: "Ibn `Arabi was one of the greatest of the jurists who followed the school of Dawud al-Zahiri after Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, who is close to your methodology in Islamic law, O Hanbalis! But although Ibn `Arabi was a Zahiri (i.e. a literalist in matters of Islamic law), the method he applied to understand ultimate reality (al-haqiqa) was to search out the hidden, spiritual meaning (tariq al-batin), that is, to purify the inward self (tathir al-batin).8 However, not all followers of the hidden are alike. In order that you not err or forget, repeat your reading of Ibn `Arabi with fresh understanding of his symbols and inspirations. You will find him to be very much like al-Qushayri. He has taken his path in tasawwuf under the umbrella of the Qur'an and Sunna just like the Proof of Islam, Shaykh al-Ghazali, who carried on debates about doctrinal differences in matters of creed and issues of worship but considered them occupations lacking in real value and benefit. He invited people to see that the love of Allah is the way of a proper servant of Allah with respect to faith.

Do you have anything to object to in this, O faqih? Or do you love the disputations of Islamic jurists? Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, exercised extreme caution about such wrangling in matters of creed and used to say: "Whenever a man enters into arguing about issues of creed it diminishes his faith." Similarly al-Ghazali said: The quickest means of drawing near to Allah is through the heart, not the body. I do not mean by heart this fleshy thing palpable to seeing, hearing, sight and touch. Rather, I have in mind the inner most secret of Allah himself the Exalted and Great which is imperceptible to sight or touch. Indeed, the Ahl al-Sunna are the very ones who named the Sufi shaykh al-Ghazali: "the Proof of Islam,"9 and there is no-one to gainsay his opinions even if one of the scholars has been excessive in praising his book when he said: "The Ihya' `ulum al-din was almost a Qur'an."10

The carrying out of religious obligation (taklif) in the view of Ibn `Arabi and Ibn al-Farid is a worship whose mihrab, or prayer-niche indicating the orientation of prayer, is its inward aspect, not merely its external ritual. For what is the good of you standing and sitting in prayer if your heart is preoccupied with something other than Allah. Allah praises people when He says in the Qur'an: "Those who are humble in their prayer" (23:2) and He blames peoples when He says: "Those who are heedless in their prayer" (107:5). This is what Ibn `Arabi means when he says: "Worship is the mihrab of the heart, that is, the inward aspect of prayer not the outward."

The Muslim is unable to arrive at the knowledge of certitude (`ilm al-yaqin) nor at certitude itself (`ayn al-yaqin) of which the Qur'an speaks unless he evacuates his heart from whatever distracts it in the way of wordly cravings and center himself on inward contemplation. Then the outpourings of Divine reality will fill his heart, and from there will spring his sustenance. The real sufi is not the one who derives his sustenace from asking and begging people for alms. The only one who is sincere is he who rouses his heart and spirit to self-obliteration in Allah by obedience to Allah. Perhaps Ibn `Arabi caused the jurists to rise up against him because of his contempt of their preoccupation with arguing and wrangling about credal matters, actual legal cases, and hypothetical legal situations, since he saw how much it distracted them from purifying the heart. He named them "the jurists of women's menses." May Allah grant you refuge from being among them! Have you read Ibn `Arabi's statement that: "Whoever builds his faith exclusively on demonstrative proofs and deductive arguments, builds a faith on which it is impossible to rely. For he is affected by the negativities of constant objections. Certainty (al-yaqin) does not derive from the evidences of the mind but pours out from the depths of the heart." Have you ever read talk as pure and sweet as this?"

Ibn Taymiyya: "You have spoken well if only your master were as you say, for he would then be as far as possible from unbelief. But what he has said cannot sustain the meanings that you have given in my view."11

FOOT NOTES

1 Ibn `Ata Allah, Lata'if al-minan fi manaqib Abi al-`Abbas.on the margins of Sha`rani's Lata'if al-minan wa al-akhlaq (Cairo, 1357) 2:17-18.

2 See Ibn al-`Imad, Shadharat al-dhahab (1350/1931) 6:20f.; al- Zirikly, al-A`lam (1405/1984) 1:221; Ibn Hajar, al-Durar al-kamina (1348/1929) 1:148-273; Al-Maqrizi, Kitab al-suluk (1934-1958) 2:40-94; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa al-nihaya (1351/1932) 14:45; Subki, Tabaqat al-shafi`iyya (1324/1906) 5:177f. and 9:23f.; Suyuti, Husn al-muhadara fi akhbar misr wa al-qahira (1299/) 1:301; al-Dawadari, al-Durr al-fakhir fi sirat al-malik al-Nasir (1960) p. 200f.; al-Yafi`i, Mir'at al-janan (1337/1918) 4:246; Sha`rani, al-Tabaqat al-kubra (1355/1936) 2:19f.; al-Nabahani, Jami` karamat al-awliya' (1381/1962) 2:25f.

3 Bukhari and Muslim, hadith of Jabir: "I have been given five things which no prophet was given before me..."

4 al-Tabarani relates it in al-Kabir. Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim declare it sound. Ibn Abi Shayba on the authority of Jabir relates a similar narrative. Similar also is what Ibn `Abd Al-Barr on the authority of Ibn `Abbas and Abu Nu`aym in his Hilya on the authority of Anas Ibn Malik relate, as al-Hafiz al-Suyuti mentioned in the Jami` al-Kabir. Haythami says in Majma` al-zawa'id: "Tabarani's chain contains Rawh ibn Salah who has some weakness but Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim declared him trustworthy. The rest of its sub-narrators are the men of sound hadith." This Fatima is `Ali's mother, who raised the Prophet.

5 Hadith: "O young man... if you have need to ask, ask of Allah. If you must seek help, seek help from Allah..." (ya ghulam ala u`allimuka...): Tirmidhi (#2516 hasan sahih); Bayhaqi in Asma' wa al-sifat p. 75-76 and Shu`ab al-iman 2:27-28 (#1074-1075) and 7:203 (#10000); Ahmad 1:307; Tabarani; Ibn Hibban; Abu Dawud; al-Hakim; Nawawi included it in his 40 Hadiths (#19) but Ibn al-Jawzi placed it among the forgeries.

6 See al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam al-Maqdisi's Zabad khulasat al-tasawwuf (The quintessence of self-purification) (Tanta: al-matba`a al-yusufiyya). Published under the title Hall al-rumuz wa-mafatih al-kunuz (The explanation of symbols and the keys to treasures) (Cairo: al-maktab al-fanni li al-nashr, 1961). Note that this is a different author than Shaykh al-Islam al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam al-Sulami.

7 From the Reliance of the Traveller p. 954-957: "(`Ali Qari:) The Hadith "I am the city of knowledge and `Ali is its gate" was mentioned by Tirmidhi... [who] said it was unacknowledgeable. Bukhari also said this, and said that it was without legitimate claim to authenticity. Ibn Ma`in said that it was a baseless lie, as did Abu Hatim and Yahya ibn Sa`id. Ibn Jawzi recorded it in his book of Hadith forgeries, and was confirmed by Dhahabi, and others in this. Ibn Daqiq al-`Eid said, "This Hadith is not confirmed by scholars, and is held by some to be spurious." Daraqutni stated that it was uncorroborated. Ibn Hajar `Asqalani was asked about it and answered that it was well authenticated (hasan), not rigorously authenticated (sahih), as Hakim had said, but not a forgery (mawdu`), as Ibn Jawzi had said. This was mentioned by Suyuti. The Hadith master (hafiz) Abu Sa`id `Ala'i said, "The truth is that the Hadith is well authenticated (hasan), in view of its multiple means of transmission, being neither rigorously authenticated (sahih) nor weak (da`if), much less a forgery" (Risala al-mawdu`at, 26)."

8 This is a key equivalence in Ibn `Ata Allah's Hikam, for example #205: "Sometimes lights come upon you and find the heart stuffed with forms of created things, so they go back from whence they descended." Ibn `Ata' Allah, Sufi Aphorisms (Kitab al-hikam), trans. Victor Danner (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984) p. 53.

9 As illustrated by Salah al-Din al-Safadi for Ghazali's entry in his biographical dictionary: "Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad, the Proof of Islam, the Ornament of the Faith, Abu Hamid al-Tusi..." al-Safadi, al-Wafi bi al-wafayat 1:274.

10 Ironically, a similar kind of praise on Ibn `Ata' Allah's own book al-Hikam is related on the authority of the great shaykh Mawlay al-`Arabi al-Darqawi by Ibn `Ajiba in Iqaz al-himam (p. 3-4): "I heard the jurist al-Bannani say: "The Hikam of Ibn `Ata' is almost a revelation (wahy). Were it permitted to recite the daily prayer without the Qur'an, the words of the Hikam would be allowed." He meant by this that there is nothing in the Hikam except what proceeds from the Qur'an and points back to it again, and Allah knows best.

11 In Muhammad Zaki Ibrahim, Usul al-wusul (Cairo: 1404/ 1984) 299-310.

Fatwa of Deviancy on Ibn Taymiah

2008-04-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

Ibn Taymiyah: the Wahhabi founder’s role model

It is worth giving an overview of a man named Ahmed Ibn Taymiyah (1263-1328) who lived a few hundred years before Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab. The Wahhabi founder admired him as a role model and embraced many of his pseudo-Sunni positions. Who exactly was Ibn Taymiyah and what did orthodox Sunni scholars say about him? Muslim scholars had mixed opinions about him depending on his interpretation of various issues. His straying from mainstream Sunni Islam on particular issues of creed (`aqeedah) and worship (`ibadat) made him an extremely controversial figure in the Muslim community.

Ibn Taymiya has won the reputation of being the true bearer of the early pious Muslims, especially among reformist revolutionaries, while the majority of orthodox Sunnis have accused him of reprehensible bid’ah (reprehenisible innovation), some accusing him of kufr (unbelief).

It behooves one to ask why Ibn Taymiyah had received so much opposition from reputable Sunni scholars who were known for their asceticism, trustworthiness, and piety. Some of Ibn Taymiyah’s anti-Sunni and controversial positions include:

(1) His claim that Allah’s Attributes are “literal”, thereby attributing God with created attributes and becoming an anthropomorphist;

(2) His claim that created things existed eternally with Allah;

(3) His opposition to the scholarly consensus on the divorce issue;

(4) His opposition to the orthodox Sunni practice of tawassul (asking Allah for things using a deceased pious individual as an intermediary);

(5) His saying that starting a trip to visit the Prophet Muhammad’s (s) invalidates the shortening of prayer;

(6) His saying that the torture of the people of Hell stops and doesn’t last forever;

(7) His saying that Allah has a limit (hadd) that only He Knows;

(8) His saying that Allah literally sits on the Throne (al-Kursi) and has left space for Prophet Muhammad (s) to sit next to Him;

(9) His claim that touching the grave of Prophet Muhammad (s) is polytheism (shirk);

(10) His claim that that making supplication at the Prophet Muhammad’s grave to seek a better status from Allah is a reprehensible innovation;

(11) His claim that Allah descends and comparing Allah’s “descent” with his, as he stepped down from a minbar while giving a sermon (khutba) to Muslims;

(12) His classifying of oneness in worship of Allah (tawheed) into two parts: Tawhid al-rububiyya and Tawhid al-uluhiyya, which was never done by pious adherents of the salaf.

Although Ibn Taymiyah’s unorthodox, pseudo-Sunni positions were kept away from the public in Syria and Egypt due to the consensus of orthodox Sunni scholars of his deviance, his teachings were nevertheless circulating in hiding. An orthodox Sunni scholar says:

Indeed, when a wealthy trader from Jeddah brought to life the long-dead ‘aqida [creed] of Ibn Taymiya at the beginning of this century by financing the printing in Egypt of Ibn Taymiya’s Minhaj al-sunna al-nabawiyya [italics mine] and other works, the Mufti of Egypt Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti‘i, faced with new questions about the validity of anthropomorphism, wrote: "It was a fitna (strife) that was sleeping; may Allah curse him who awakened it."

It is important to emphasize that although many of the positions of Ibn Taymiyah and Wahhabis are identical, they nonetheless contradict each other in some positions. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts Sufism (Tasawwuf) as a legitimate science of Islam (as all orthodox Sunni Muslims do), Wahhabis reject it wholesale as an ugly innovation in the religion. While Ibn Taymiyah accepts the legitimacy of commemorating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (Mawlid) – accepted by orthodox Sunni Muslims as legitimate – Wahhabis reject it as a reprehensible innovation that is to be repudiated.

Ibn Taymiyah is an inspiration to Islamist groups that call for revolution. Kepel says, “Ibn Taymiyya (1268-1323) – a primary reference for the Sunni Islamist movement – would be abundantly quoted to justify the assassination of Sadat in 1981…and even to condemn the Saudi leadership and call for its overthrow in the mid-1990s".

Sivan says that only six months before Sadat was assassinated, the weekly Mayo singled out Ibn Taymiyya as “the most pervasive and deleterious influence upon Egyptian youth.” Sivan further says that Mayo concluded that “the proliferating Muslim associations at the [Egyptian] universities, where Ibn Taymiyya’s views prevail, have been spawning various terrorist groups.” Indeed, a book entitled The Absent Precept, by `Abd al-Salam Faraj – the "spiritual" leader of Sadat’s assassins who was tried and executed by the Egyptian government – strongly refers to Ibn Taymiyya’s and some of his disciples’ writings. Three of four of Sadat’s assassins willingly read a lot of Ibn Taymiyya’s works on their own.

Ibn Taymiyah is also noted to be a favorite of other Salafi extremists, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Syed Qutb. Ibn Taymiyyah’s student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, is also frequently cited by Salafis of all colors.

Ibn Taymiyah’s “fatwa” of jihad against Muslims

What is also well-known about Ibn Taymiyah is that he lived in turbulent times when the Mongols had sacked Baghdad and conquered the Abassid Empire in 1258. In 1303, he was ordered by the Mamluk Sultan to give a fatwa (religious edict) legalizing jihad against the Mongols. Waging a holy war on the Mongols for the purpose of eliminating any threat to Mamluk power was no easy matter. The Mongol Khan Mahmoud Ghazan had converted to Islam in 1295. Although they were Muslims who did not adhere to Islamic Law in practice, and also supported the Yasa Mongol of code of law, they were deemed apostates by the edict of Ibn Taymiyah. To Ibn Taymiyah, Islamic Law was not only rejected by Mongols because of their lack of wholesale adherence, but the “infidel” Yasa code of law made them legal targets of extermination. The so-called jihad ensued and the Mongol threat to Syria was exterminated. Wahhabis and other Salafis to this day brand the Mongol Mahmoud Ghazan as a kafir (disbeliever). Orthodox Sunni Muslims, however, have praised Mahmoud Ghazan as a Muslim. Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani writes:

In fact, Ghazan Khan was a firm believer in Islam. Al-Dhahabi relates that he became a Muslim at the hands of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Abu al-Majami’ Ibrahim al-Juwayni (d.720), one of Dhahabi’s own shaykhs of hadith….During his rule he had a huge mosque built in Tabriz in addition to twelve Islamic schools (madrasa), numerous hostels (khaniqa), forts (ribat), a school for the secular sciences, and an observatory. He supplied Mecca and Medina with many gifts. He followed one of the schools (madhahib) of the Ahl al-Sunna [who are the orthodox Sunnis] and was respectful of religious scholars. He had the descendants of the Prophet mentioned before the princes and princesses of his house in the state records, and he introduced the turban as the court headgear.[7]

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab would later follow Ibn Taymiyah’s footsteps and slaughter thousands of Muslims in Arabia.

Orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyah’s pseudo-Sunni positions

Ibn Taymiyah was imprisoned by a fatwa (religious edict) signed by four orthodox Sunni judges in the year 726 A.H for his deviant and unorthodox positions. Note that each of the four judges represents the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence that Sunni Muslims belong to today. This illustrates that Ibn Taymiyah did not adhere to the authentic teachings of orthodox Sunni Islam as represented by the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence. There is no evidence to indicate that there was a “conspiracy” against Ibn Taymiyyah to condemn him, as Wahhabis and other Salafis purport in his defense. The names of the four judges are: Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Jama’ah, ash-Shafi’i, Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn al-Hariri, al-`Ansari, al-Hanafi, Qadi [Judge] Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr, al-Maliki, and Qadi [Judge] Ahmad Ibn `Umar, al-Maqdisi, al-Hanbali.

Some orthodox Sunni scholars who refuted Ibn Taymiyya for his deviances and opposition to the positions of orthodox Sunni Islam include:

Taqiyy-ud-Din as-Subkiyy, Faqih Muhammad Ibn `Umar Ibn Makkiyy, Hafiz Salah-ud-Din al-`Ala’i, Qadi, Mufassir Badr-ud-Din Ibn Jama’ah, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Yahya al-Kilabi al-Halabi, Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-`Id, Qadi Kamal-ud-Din az-Zamalkani, Qadi Safi-ud-Din al-Hindi, Faqih and Muhaddith `Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Baji ash-Shafi’i, the historian al-Fakhr Ibn al-Mu`allim al-Qurashi, Hafiz Dhahabi, Mufassir Abu Hayyan al-`Andalusi, and Faqih and voyager Ibn Batutah.

PLEASE READ THIS

Wahhabis attribute a place and direction to Allah

While accusing the masses of Muslims of being polytheists, Wahhabis themselves have differentiated themselves from other Muslims in their understanding of creed. Due to the Wahhabis’ adherence to an unorthodox, grossly flawed literal understanding of God’s Attributes, they comfortably believe that Allah has created or human attributes, and then attempt to hide their anthropomorphism by saying that they don’t know ‘how’ Allah has such attributes. For example, Bilal Philips, a Wahhabi author says:

He has neither corporeal body nor is He a formless spirit. He has a form befitting His majesty [italics mine], the like of which no man has ever seen or conceived, and which will only be seen (to the degree of man’s finite limitations) by the people of paradise.

Discussing each part of his statement will shed light into his anthropomorphic mind. Bilal Philips says that “Allah has a form befitting His majesty…” What he confirms in his mind is that Allah definitely has a form. He even specifies the kind of form by saying: “He [Allah] has neither corporeal body…” meaning that Allah has a form that is not like the forms of creation, and then says, “nor is He a formless spirit. Then he says, “He has a form befitting His majesty…” The problem with such statements to a Muslim is that they express blatant anthropomorphism. What Bilal Philips is doing here is foolishly attributing a “form” to God that, in his mind, nobody has ever seen. Therefore, Bilal Philips believes that God has some type of form, or non-corporeal body. No orthodox Sunni Muslim scholar has ever said such a perfidious thing.

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, one of the greatest mujtahid Sunni imams ever to have lived, refuted such anthropomorphic statements over a thousand years before Bilal Philips was born. The great Sunni Ash`ari scholar, Imam al-Bayhaqi, in his Manaqib Ahmad relates with an authentic chain that Imam Ahmed said:

A person commits an act of disbelief (kufr) if he says Allah is a body, even if he says: Allah is a body but not like other bodies.

Imam Ahmad continues:

The expressions are taken from language and from Islam, and linguists applied ‘body’ to a thing that has length, width, thickness, form, structure, and components. The expression has not been handed down in Shari’ah. Therefore, it is invalid and cannot be used.

Imam Ahmed is a pious adherer of the time period of the Salaf that was praised by Prophet Muhammad (s). How can Bilal Philips claim to represent the pious forefathers of the Salaf? He not only contradicts them but is vehemently refuted by them. The great pious predecessors had refuted ignoramuses like Bilal Philips in their times long ago.

Blatant anthropomorphism is also illustrated by the Wahhabi Ibn Baz’s commentary on the great work of Imam Abu Ja’afar at-Tahawi called “Aqeedah at-Tahawiyyah” (The Creed of Tahawi), a work that has been praised by the orthodox Sunni community as being representative of Sunni orthodoxy. The now deceased Ibn Baz was Saudi Arabia’s grand Mufti.

Article #38 of Imam Tahawi’s work states:

He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, or having parts or limbs. Nor is He contained by the six directions as all created entities are.

Ibn Baz, in a footnote, comments:

Allah is beyond limits that we know but has limits He knows.

In another footnote, he says:

By hudood (limits) the author [referring to Imam Tahawi] means [limits] such as known by humans since no one except Allah Almighty knows His limits.

Ibn Baz deceptively attempts to represent the noble Sunni Imam al-Tahawi as an anthropomorphist by putting his own anthropomorphic interpretation of Imam Tahawi’s words in his mouth. It must be emphasized that not a single orthodox Sunni scholar understood Imam Tahawi’s statement as Ibn Baz did.

Ibn Baz’s also shows anthropomorphism in a commentary by the great Sunni scholar Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani. Ibn Baz says:

As for Ahl ul-Sunna – and these are the Companions and those who followed them in excellence – they assert a direction for Allah, and that is the direction of elevation, believing that the Exalted is above the Throne without giving an example and without entering into modality.

Another now deceased Wahhabi scholar, Muhammad Saleh al-Uthaymeen, blatantly expresses his anthropomorphism. He says:

Allah’s establishment on the throne means that He is sitting ‘in person’ on His Throne.

The great Sunni Hanbali scholar, Ibn al-Jawzi, had refuted anthropomorphists who were saying that Allah’s establishment is ‘in person’ hundreds of years ago:

Whoever says: He is established on the Throne ‘in person’ (bi dhatihi), has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception. Such a person must not neglect that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively. If you said: We read the hadiths and keep quiet, no one would criticize you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous. Therefore do not bring into the school of this pious man of the Salaf – Imam Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] – what does not belong in it. You have clothed this madhab [or school of jurisprudence] with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said ‘Hanbali’ except in the sense of ‘anthropomorphist’

Sulayman ibn `Abdul Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, the grandson of the Wahhabi movement’s founder, says:

Whoever believes or says: Allah is in person (bi dhatihi) in every place, or in one place: he is a disbeliever (kafir). It is obligatory to declare that Allah is distinct from His creation, established over His Throne without modality or likeness or exemplarity. Allah was and there was no place, then He created place and He is exalted as He was before He created place

Just as Bilal Philips affirms a form to Allah in his mind, and Ibn Baz confirms limits to Allah in his mind, al-Uthaymeen confirms that Allah is literally sitting ‘in person’ on the Throne in his mind. All of them have loyally followed the footsteps of Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn `Abdul-Wahhab – the two arch-heretics who were instrumental in causing tribulation (fitna) and division among the Muslim masses because of their reprehensible, unorthodox interpretations of the Islamic sources.

Wahhabi anthropomorphists say: Allah is in a direction, Allah has limits, Allah is literally above the Throne, and that Allah is sitting ‘in person’ on the Throne. To a Muslim, the fact is that the Throne is located in a particular direction and a certain place. By understanding Allah to be above the Throne literally as the Wahhabis do, they are attributing Allah with created attributes and, as a result, are implying that a part of the creation was eternal with Allah. This opposes what the the Qur’an and the following hadith authentically related by al-Bukhari says:

Allah existed eternally and there was nothing else [italics mine].

Sunni orthodoxy clears Allah of all directions and places. To a Sunni, Allah has always existed without the need of a place, and He did not take a place for Himself after creating it. Orthodox Sunni scholars have said exactly what was understood by Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Companions (ra). Imam Abu Hanifah, the great mujtahid Imam who lived in the time period of the Salaf said: “Allah has no limits…”, period. And this is what Sunni orthodoxy represents.

MORE ABOUT IBN TAYMIAH ( INTERESTING)

2008-04-24T02:11:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This blog has other interesting artciles on Ibn Taymiah. On the right hand side of the blog , under each month , many artciles are present. Please click to chose the topic.

FIRST

Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of Hawadith with No Beginning Existing Eternally with Allah

Note: The greek philosophers had this view that in the begining along with Lord other things also exited on their own and no one created these things. This is Kufr.
As per Islam , Allah subhanhu wa tala created EVERTHING from the state of adam ( non existence) to the state of existence.

This issue is one of the ugliest issues in belief by which Ibn Taymiyyah dissented from the sound mind and the explicit tradition and Ijma’ of the Muslims. He mentioned this belief in five of his books: "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", "Sharh Hadith-in-Nuzul", "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", and "Naqdu Maratib-il-’Ijma’".

Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah", Volume I, page 24 is: If you say to us: You said of the occurrence of the hawadith in Allah, we say to you: Yes, and this saying of ours is what the Shar’ and mind showed.

He replied to Ibn Hazm for reporting the Ijma’ that Allah existed eternally and no thing existed with Him, and that the disagreer with this is a kafir. After these words, Ibn Taymiyyah said: What is stranger than that is his (Ibn Hazm's) reporting the Ijma’ upon the kufr of whoever contended with the belief that Allah existed eternally by Himself and no thing existed with Him.

Ibn Taymiyyah's statement in "Sharh Hadith ‘Imran Ibn Husayn", page 193,: If the kind of the creations is assumed to be eternal with Allah, this companionship is not negated by the Shar’ or the mind, but it is of His perfection. Allah, ta’ala, said that the One Who creates is not equal to whoever does not create. Then Ibn Taymiyyah said: The creation existed eternally with Him. Then he said: but many people confuse the self with the kind.

His statement in "Muwafaqatu Sarih-il-Ma’qul li Sahih-il-Manqul", page 291 is: We said: we do not accept. However, the daily hadith is preceded by hawadith without a beginning.

In the manuscript of "Tashnif-ul-Masami’", page 342, Muhaddith, Usuli Badr-ud-Din az-Zarkashi reported the agreement of the Muslims upon the kufr of whoever says that the kind of the world is eternal. After mentioning that the philosophers said the world is eternal by matter and shape, and that some said it is eternal by matter but its shape is muhdath (has a beginning), he said: and the Muslims charged them (the philosophers) with deviation and kufr. Before that Hafiz Ibn Daqiq al-’Id, Qadi ‘Iyad, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar said the like in "Sharh al-Bukhari". Hafiz as-Subki confirmed this belief about Ibn Taymiyyah in his treatise "ad-Durrat-ul-Mudiyyah" and as said previously, Abu Sa’id al-’Ala'i did too. This belief was reported also by al-Jalal-ud-Dawwani in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah". He said: I saw in a writing of Abul-’Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah the saying that the kind of al-’Arsh is eternal.

The Hanafi ‘Allamah (very knowledgeable Islamic scholar) al-Bayyadi mentioned in his book "Isharat-ul-Maram", page 197, after mentioning the proofs about the beginning of the world: Hence, what Ibn Taymiyyah thought of al-’Arsh being eternal, as reported in "Sharh-ul-’Adudiyyah", is invalidated.

In his poem, which is famous even among the defenders of Ibn Taymiyyah, and which contained refuting al-Hilli then Ibn Taymiyyah, among of what as-Subki said: Ibn Taymiyyah has a refutation to what one of the rawafid (some deviant groups) said that was complete. However, he mixed the truth with the hashw [The hashw is done by a group called al-Hashwiyyah. It is a vile group with ignorant members attributing themselves to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who is clear of them. They reported words about him which they misunderstood. Then, they continued with their bad belief claiming to cling to the Hadith. The best of the muhaddithun (pl. of muhaddith) in his time, Ibn ‘Asakir used to refrain from teaching them the Hadith and prevent them from attending his circle in Damascus. This group did not have a head or someone to carry its invalid belief, except some scattered efforts which were foiled by the Muslims. Then, around the end of the 700th Hijriyyah year, Ibn Taymiyyah advocated the invalid beliefs and ideas of this group.] whenever he could. He says that there are hawadith with no beginning that occur in Allah. Praise to Allah; He is clear of what he (Ibn Taymiyyah) thinks about Him.

SECOND

Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of the Hadd to the Self of Allah

NOTE : Hadd= limit

In the book written by Imam at-Tahawi [Ahmad Ibn Salamah at-Tahawi is a great Imam of the Salaf (229 - 321 A.H.).] which he called: "Mentioning the belief of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, according to the Madhhab of the fuqaha' (scholars) of al-'Islam, Abu Hanifah an-Nu’man Ibn Thabit al-Kufi, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub Ibn Ibrahim al-'Ansari, and Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani" his two companions and others, Imam at-Tahawi negated the hadd about Allah by saying what means: He (Allah) is majestically above (He does not have) the hudud (plural of hadd) and ghayat (extensions in area, for example).

Ibn Taymiyyah confirmed attributing the hadd to Allah in his book "al-Muwafaqah", Volume 2, page 33. He said: The Muslims and non-Muslims agreed that Allah is in the sky and they limited Him to this. On page 29, he said: He (Allah) does not have a hadd we know, but He has a hadd that He knows. What he claimed that both Muslims and non-Muslims agreed and had consensus that Allah has a hadd is strange.

The negation of the hadd about Allah have been confirmed in reports by Abu Hanifah, others, and even those before him, namely Imam Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn, radiyallahu ‘anhuma [Radiyallahu ‘anhuma means: May Allah be pleased with both of them (here, Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali and his father al-Husayn).] in his treatise famously known as "As-Sahifat-us-Sajjadiyyah". In "Sharh Ihya'i ‘Ulum-id-Din", Muhaddith, Hafiz Muhammad Murtada az-Zabidi, the explainer of "al-Qamus", mentioned with a muttasil isnad (continuous chain of qualified relators) [A muttasil Hadith is the Hadith heard by the relator from his shaykh and so on back to the Prophet or a Companion without any interruption in the chain of relators.] from him back to Zayn-ul-’Abidin the saying of Zayn-ul-’Abidin in his treatise: He (Allah) is not limited to have a hadd (limit). He also mentioned his saying: No place surrounds Him. The saying of ‘Ali, radiyallahu ‘anh: "not limited" is explicit that it is not consonent with Allah to be limited; He does not have a hadd, neither according to His knowledge nor to the knowledge of the creation.

Where is what Ibn Taymiyyah claimed of the agreement of the Muslims upon attributing the hadd to Allah? The rest of the Salaf were negating the hadd about Allah, evidenced by the aforementioned saying of at-Tahawi. He mentioned this as the madhhab of the Salaf; those four [The four great Salaf scholars mentioned above are: Abu Hanifah an-Nu’man Ibn Thabit al-Kufi, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub Ibn Ibrahim al-'Ansari, Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani, Zayn-ul-’Abidin ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn.] are among the famous scholars of the Salaf. This is the madhhab of all the Salaf as indicated by his sayings: "Mentioning the belief of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah".

The deceipt of Ibn Taymiyyah has shown up and is exposed. This is his habit. He attributes the belief that he likes to the scholars of the Salaf to delude the weak-minded people that his madhhab is that of the Salaf. This is far from what he thinks.

THIRD

Ibn Taymiyyah's Saying of the Sitting of Allah, Ta’ala

Ibn Taymiyyah's saying of Allah sitting is confirmed about him, although some of his followers negated this when they found it ugly. He mentioned this in his book "Minhaj-us-Sunnat-in-Nabawiyyah" by sayings: The majority of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah say that Allah, tabaraka wa ta’ala, [Tabaraka wa ta’ala attributes the giving and perfection to Allah.] descends and al-’Arsh does not get void of Him. He claimed that this was reported about Ishaq Ibn Rahawayh, Hammad Ibn Zayd, Imam Ahmad, and others. He is a fabricator and great lier about that.

In his Tafsir named "an-Nahr", the Grammarian Abu Hayyan al-'Andalusi reported about Ibn Taymiyyah having this belief. He said: In his handwriting, a book of Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah, who was contemporary with us, which he called "Kitab-ul-’Arsh", I read: Allah sits on al-Kursi and has left a space for the Messenger of Allah to sit with Him. At-Taj Muhammad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Abd-il-Haqq al-Baranbari pretended that he is a promoter of his ideas and tricked him, until he took it from him; we read that in it. [The author of "Kashf-uz-Zunun" reported that about him also in Volume 2, page 1438.]

This reporting of Abu Hayyan was omitted from the old printed copy. However, the manuscript confirms it. In his commentary on "as-Sayf-us-Saqil", page 85, az-Zahid al-Kawthari said explaining the reason of omitting these statements of Ibn Taymiyyah: The editor of as-Sa’adah Printing House told me that he found it very ugly and he omitted it upon printing so that the enemies of al-'Islam would not use it. Then he requested that I record that here to catch up what he missed and out of sincerity to the Muslims.

In "al-Muwafaqah", page 29, Ibn Taymiyyah said: Allah, ta’ala, has a hadd no one but Him knows it. One should not imagine that hadd for a purpose in himself, but believe it and leave knowing about it to Allah. His place has a hadd, which is on His ‘Arsh above His skies. These are two limits.

In the twenty-fifth volume of "al-Kawakib-ud-Darari", which is in the Library of az-Zahiriyyah in Damascus, Ibn Taymiyyah said: If Allah willed he would sit on a mosqito, which would carry Him by His power; how about on a large ‘Arsh!

Imam Ghazali part 4

2008-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Imam Ghazali

2008-04-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

Imam Ghazali part 2

2008-04-13T08:54:00.001-07:00

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وبه نستعين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف المرسلين

ثانياً: الكتب والرسائل الموضوعة والمنحولة على الإمام الغزالي والتي نُسِبَت إليه وهي ليست له

1- سِرُّ العاَلَمين وَكَشْفُ مَافي الدَّارَين، ليس للغزالي :

هذا الكتاب ليس للغزالي بل هو منحول عليه وقد اتفق الباحثون قطعاً على انه منحول.

- يقول شاه عبد العزيز الدهلوي في كتابه "تحفة اثنا عشرية" ص 87 : "إن الكتاب منحول وليس للغزالي".

- وكذلك يرى بدوي، وكذلك يرى المستشرقون مثل: جولديستهر وبويج ومكدونالد. (بدوي ص 271).

واقول انه منحول على الغزالي من قبل الباطنية الإسماعيلية للأسباب الواضحة أدناه:

1 - قال الإمام الذهبي في كتابه "سير أعلام النبلاء" ج19 ص 328:

"ولأبي المظفر يوسف سبط ابن الجوزي في كتاب "رياض الأفهام" في مناقب أهل البيت قال: ذكر أبو حامد في كتابه "سر العالمين وكشف مافي الدارين" ... وسرد كثيراً من هذا الكلام الفسل الذي تزعمه الإمامية وما أدري ما عذره في هذا؟ ... هذا إن لم يكن هذا وضع هذا، وما ذاك ببعيد، ففي هذا التأليف بلايا لاتتطبب."

وهذا يعني صراحة ان الإمام الذهبي يشك في نسبة الكتاب للإمام الغزالي، ويرى انه موضوع عليه ولايستبعد ان يكون سبط ابن الجوزي نفسه قد وضعه لقوله: "إن لم يكن هذا وضع هذا، وما ذاك ببعيد".

2 - يذكر المؤلف أبو العلاء المعري الشاعر ويقول: أنه أنشده لنفسه: "وانشدني المعري لنفسه وأنا شاب في صحبة يوسف بن علي شيخ الإسلام " (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 74 )، ثم يذكر بعض الأبيات الشعرية.

ومن الحقائق التاريخية المعروفة ان المعري توفي سنة 448 للهجرة والغزالي ولد سنة 450 للهجرة فكيف أنشده لنفسه، ولانعلم ان المعري قد بعث من قبره قبل يوم النشور. أنظر بدوي ص 272 .

3 - يذكر الكاتب أبو العلاء المعري الشاعر بقوله: "وأنشد الشيخ أبو العلاء المعري لنفسه رحمه الله:

يا قوم أذني لبعض الحي عاشقة

والأذن تعشق قبل العين أحيانا

إن العيون التي في طرفها مرض

قتلننا ثم لم يحيين قتلانا

يصرعن ذا اللب حتى لا حراك به

وهن أضعف خلق الله أركانا"

( رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 84 )

ويلاحظ على هذا النص خطأين تاريخيين:

أولاً: أنه ذكر المعري بوصفه شيخاً ولايعقل أن فقيهاً كالغزالي يقول هذا، لاسيما وان المعري قد أُتّهِم بالزندقة وهو الذي قال :

هفت النصارى وحنيفة ما أهتدت

ويهود حارت والمجوس مضللة

ثانياً: الأبيات الشعرية الثلاثة المذكورة أعلاه يدرك كل من له ثقافة عامة غير تخصصية وحتى الطالب في مرحلة الدراسة الثانوية أو التوجيهية أنها من شعر جرير وأنها ليست للمعري.

4 - يكرر المؤلف موضوع الإمامة وكل من الإمام علي ومعاوية رضي الله عنهما ويركز على النزاع بينهما وعدم أهلية معاوية للخلافة ، وهذا يقطع بأنها من دس الباطنية الأسماعيلية عليه . فالمؤلف يذكر على سبيل المثال في آخر الكتاب ما يلي: "وقد سمعت كلاماً لمعاوية إذ قال: هموا بمعالي الأمور لتنالوها ،فإني لم أكن للخلافة أهلاً فهممت بها فنلتها " (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 96)

وهذا هو نفسه الذي ذكره المؤلف في بداية الكتاب: "كما قال معاوية رضي الله عنه : همّوا بمعالي الأمور لتنالوها ، فإني لم أكن للخلافة أهلاً فهممت بها فنلتها " (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 5 )

وتكرار هذا القول في فاتحة الكتاب وفي خاتمة الكتاب لم يأت اعتباطاً وانما جاء مقصوداً ومبيتاً للتقرير في الأذهان أن معاوية لم يكن للخلافة أهل، وهو ذم وان جاء وكأنه في سياق المدح.

5 - والرسالة عموماً تغلب عليها المسحة الشيعية التي تمتاز بالغلو في علي كرَّم الله وجهه، خذ على سبيل المثال هذا النص السقيم :

"وأعجب من هذا الحديث حديث بلوقيا وعفان ، فحديثهما طويل، وإشارة منه كافية، فقد بلغ من سفرهما حتى وصلا إلى المكان الذي فيه سليمان، فتقدم بلوقيا ليأخذ الخاتم من أصبعه، فنفخ فيه التنين الموكل معه، فأحرقه فضربه عفان بقارورة فأحياه، ثم مد يده ثانية وثالثة فأحياه بعد ثلاث، فمد يده رابعة فاحترق وهلك فخرج عفان وهو يقول: أهلك الشيطان أهلك الشيطان، فناداه التنين: ادن أنت وجرب، فهذا الخاتم لا يقع في يد أحد إلا في يد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا بعث، فقل له إن أهل الملأ الأعلى قد اختلفوا في فضلك وفضل الأنبياء قبلك، فاختارك الله على الأنبياء، ثم أمرني فنزعت خاتم سليمان فجئتك به، فأخذه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فأعطاه عليّاً فوضعه في أصبعه، فحضر الطير والجان والناس يشاهدون ويشهدون، ثم دخل الدمرياط الجني، وحديثه طويل، فلما كانوا في صلاة الظهر تصور جبرائيل عليه السلام بصورة سائل طائف بين الصفوف، فبينا هم في الركوع إذ وقف السائل من وراء علي عليه السلام طالباً، فأشار علي بيده فطار الخاتم إلى السائل، فضجت الملائكة تعجباً، فجاء جبرائيل مهنياً وهو يقول أنتم أهل بيت أنعم الله عليكم "ليذهب عنكم الرجس أهل البيت ويطهركم تطهيراً" فأخبر النبي بذلك علياً فقال علي عليه السلام: ما نصنع بنعيم زائل، وملك حائل، ودنيا في حلالها حساب، وفي حرامها عقاب؟ فإن اعترض المفتي وقال: كيف قاتل معاوية على الدنيا؟ فالجواب أنه قاتل على حق هو له يصل به إلى حق؛ وأما التحكيم فباطل غير صحيح؛ لأن التحكيم إنما يكون على موجود ومحدود ومعروف ومعلوم غير مجهول؛ هذا فقه وشرع؛ ثم قولوا ما تريدون، فمن أراد أن ينظر في كشف ما جرى فيطلع في كتاب صنفته وسميته " كتاب نسيم التسنيم "، وفي قصص ذي القرنين كفاية، وكتاب رياض النديم لابن أبي الدنيا وانظر في كتاب الأقاليم، وانظر في كتاب المسالك والممالك، وكتب الماوردي الموصلي." (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 92 - 93 )

6 - إن الكتاب مليء بالخرافات وماهو اخطر من ذلك ان الكتاب يحتوي على شرك واضح وعبادة للكواكب خذ مثالاً على ذلك :

" المقالة الثامنة عشرة : في عزائم التسخير

تقف أول ساعة من يوم السبت مستقبل الغرب بثياب سوداء وزرق بأبخرة مذكورة مثل اللبان والحرمل وقشور الرمان والخردل البري، ثم تقول في وقت سعيد من تثليث أو تسديس مناط إلى شرف فتقول: "أيها السلطان الأعظم والملك العرمرم، مالك الفلك التابعة له النجوم، الخاسف المزلزل: زحل أنت أشرف الكواكب وسيدها وقائدها ومؤيدها، أسألك أن تعطيني وأن تمنحني ما يصلح منك لي " وتقول يوم الأحد عند طلوع الشمس وأنت مستقبلها بهمة مصروفة إليها: " أيتها السيدة الرفيعة والملائكية المطيعة والمدبرة الكبيرة التي جادت بفيضها على الظلام فصارت نوراً، ذاتها طاهرة وسلطنتها قاهرة، أسألك أن تعطيني ما يصلح منك لي، واصرفي همتك إليَّ وأنت الملكة العزيزة .." (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 62 )

ثم يستمر الكاتب الى نهاية أيام الإسبوع لكل يوم كوكب يسأله بدل أن يسأل الله سبحانه وتعالى. وحاشا لعلماء المسلمين أن يخوضوا في مثل هذا .

7 - والرسالة فيها أثر كلام اخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء من مسحة افلوطينية فيضية ومسحة شيعية اسماعيلية:

"والسعادة الكلية هي من الفيض الأول، ثم يفيض من طريق التحري إلى كل محل بما يقبله. والفيض الأول من العلة الأولى يتناشى بطريق الفيض الوهمي الذي عجزت العقول عن تحصيل كنهه. والذي صدر عن علة العلل من الفيض الأول هو العقل الفعال الصادر بالكلية عنه، والنفس الكلية هي التي تفيض النفوس عنها، والذي يتجلى للخلق من العقل هو بقدر نزول الشعاع للشمس في النوافذ والنور. ومثل تجلي العقل للأنبياء كمثل الشمس المنخرقة في الأرض الفلاة."ص30 .

ومن له دراية بالفلسفة يعلم ان هذه الترهات هي من أقوال المجموعة الباطنية التي سمت نفسها "إخوان الصفا"، ومن المعلوم ان اخوان الصفاء مجموعة حركية اسماعيلية. فالرسالة قطعاً منحولة من الشيعة الإسماعيلية على الإمام الغزالي، سيما وان الإمام الغزالي قد كتب في الباطنية كتباً ورسائل أعيتهم وكشفت حقيقتهم فحاولوا الطعن فيه ماأستطاعوا ولكنهم لم يفلحوا.

8 - يذكر المؤلف عدداً كبيراً من الكتب على أنها له (للغزالي) مثل: " وإن أردت سلوك طريق السلف الصالح فعليك بكتاب "نجاة الأبرار" وهو آخر ما صنفناه في أصول الدين." (رسائل الغزالي ج6 ص 91 ) ومن المعلوم قطعاً أنه ليس للغزالي على الإطلاق كتاباً تحت هذا العنوان في أصول الدين.

وكذلك يذكر المؤلف الكتب الآتية على أنها من مؤلفاته (أي ان الغزالي كتبها) :

"كتاب عين الحياة" ، "كتاب السبيل" ، "كتاب نسيم التسنيم" و "كتاب مغايب المذاهب"، ومعلوم قطعاً قديماً وحديثاً أن الغزالي لم يؤلف أياً من الكتب اعلاه فكيف يذكرها الغزالي والكاتب أعلم الناس بما كتب وصنَّف.

ويقول بدوي ان عنوانات هذه الكتب لم ترد إلا في "سر العالمين" ولاتوجد في غيره. (بدوي ص 40).

2- مكاشفة القلوب المقرب الى حضرة علاّم الغيوب: ليس للغزالي:

هذا الكتاب منحول على الإمام الغزالي للأسباب الجليّة أدناه:

1 - يقول المؤلف في بداية الكتاب: "وبعد فهذا كتاب اختصرته من الكتاب البديع، حسن الصنيع المسمى بمكاشفة القلوب المقرب الى علام الغيوب المنسوب الى الشيخ الغزالي وقد سميته كأصله بمكاشفة القلوب، واعوذ بالله من الشرك والذنوب ، واقتصرت فيه على مائة وأحد عشر باباً ليحفظ ما فيها أولو العلم والألباب." ص7 .

فليس من المعقول ان يقول الغزالي مثل هذا (أي المنسوب) عن نفسه .

2- يذكر مؤلف الكتاب القرطبي المفسر وينقل عنه في الباب الثالث عشر في الأمانة ص 39 ، ومن المعلوم ان القرطبي توفي 671 للهجرة والغزالي توفي 505 للهجرة فكيف ينقل عنه .

2 - ينقل الكاتب في عدة مواضع (مثلاً ص 19 وص41 ) عن "زهر الرياض" وهو على الأرجح كتاب " زهر الرياض وشفاء القلوب المِراض " لأبي العباس أحمد بن محمد بن أبي بكر الخطيب شهاب الدين القسطلاني المتوفى سنة 923 للهجرة (1517 م). أنظر بدوي ص 368 - 369 .

3 - الكتاب يذكر عدد كبير من الحكايات والعبر مجموعة من كتب الغزالي مثل أحياء علوم الدين ، وبداية الهداية ، ومن مؤلفين آخرين غير الغزالي، محشوة ومحشورة مع بعضها ، مما يعلن عن غياب عقلية الغزالي وطريقته المستقلة المعهودة في التأليف.

3 - المضنون الصغير: ويسمى ايضا "النفخ والتسوية" ويسميه البعض أيضاً "المضنون به على أهله" وكذلك يسمى "الأجوبة الغزالية في المسائل الأخروية" ، هذا الكتاب لم يثبت للغزالي وهو منحول عليه.

هذا الكتاب منحول على الغزالي للأسباب الآتية:

1 - انكر ابن عربي ان يكون هذا الكتاب للغزالي وقال هو لأبي الحسن علي المسفِّر السبتي، يقول أبن عربي: "وكان هذا الشيخ المسفِّر جليل القدر حكيماً عارفاً، غامضاً في الناس، محمود الذكر. رأيته بسبتة. له تصانيف منها "منهاج العابدين" الذي يُعزى لأبي حامد الغزالي، وليس له وإنما من مصنفات هذا الشيخ. وكذلك كتاب "النفخ والتسوية" الذي يُعزى إلى أبي حامد أيضاً، وتسميه الناس "المضنون الصغير" ." (محاضرة الأبرار ومسامرة الأخيار ج1ص125) انظر بدوي ص 158.

ورأي ابن عربي هنا حجة قاطعة لإنه التقى بالمؤلف فأستوفى شرط المعاصرة وشرط السماع . وربما يكون الشيخ المسفِّر هذا قد تأثر بالإمام الغزالي وبِلُغَتِه وأسلوبه فنُسب كلامه للغزالي .

2 - ينكر ابن طفيل ان يكون الكتاب أعلاه واشباهه من المضنونات لأنها لاتتضمن عظيم زيادة في الكشف على ماهو مبثوث في كتبه المشهورة .(حي بن يقظان ص 23 ، المطبعة الكاثوليكية ، بيروت ، وانظر بدوي ص 157 - 158).

3 - تواريخ مخطوطات هذا الكتاب متأخرة جداً تعود الى القرن العاشر الهجري فما بعد.

4 - في الفصل الثالث من "المضنون الصغير= (" المضنون به على أهله" = "النفخ والتسوية" = " الأجوبة الغزالية في المسائل الأخروية" )، يقول واضع الكتاب:

"قيل له: وما حقيقة هذه الحقيقة، ...قال رضي الله عنه [الغزالي]: لاهو داخل ولاهو خارج... فقيل له: هل هو في جهة؟ فقال: هو منزه عن الحلول في المحال والإتصال بالأجسام..." (رسائل الغزالي ج4 ص120 ).

وتستمر هذه الصيغة من الأسئلة والأجوبة حتى نهاية الكتاب، حتى ان الكتاب سمي الأجوبة الغزالية في المسائل الأخروية. وهذا يدل على أمرين مهمين:

الأول: أن الكتاب ليس تأليفاً بالمعنى المعتاد والمعروف من تأليف الكتب، فانك لاتقول عند تأليفك كتاب، قيل له، ولاتقول عن نفسك : قال رضي الله عنه.

الثاني: أن احداً قد كتب هذا وجعله حواراً بين السائل (السائلين) والغزالي، وهذا يعني أنه ليس من تأليف الغزالي.

5 - أنكره من المستشرقين كرادي فو ومونتجمري واط.

4- المضنون به على غير أهله : لم يثبت للغزالي :

وهو قطعاً منحول على الغزالي للأسباب الأتية:

1 – انكر الإمام الحافظ ابن الصلاح ان يكون هذا الكتاب للغزالي، قال الشيخ تقي الدين عثمان ابن الصلاح:

"كتاب "المضنون" ، المنسوب إليه [أي للغزالي]، معاذ الله أن يكون له، وقد شاهدتُ على ظهر كتاب نسخة منه بخط الصدر المكين القاضي كمال الدين محمد بن عبد الله بن القاسم الشهرزوري أنه موضوع على الغزالي ومخترع من كتاب "مقاصد الفلاسفة" الذي نقضه بكتاب "تهافت الفلاسفة" ، وأنه نفذ في طلب هذا الكتاب الى البلاد البعيدة ، فلم يقف له على خبر." (انظر كتاب "الطبقات" للشيخ محيي الدين النواوي، حيث أورد الشيخ النووي رحمه الله هذا وأورد النص بدوي في صفحة 545).

وهكذا ادرك ابن الصلاح بحق ان الكتاب موضوع وان واضع الكتاب قد استند الى بعض الفصول من "مقاصد الفلاسفة" ليبرر رأيه، ولكن من المعلوم ان "مقاصد الفلاسفة" هو حكاية وسرد أرآء الفلاسفة التي انتقدها الغزالي أشد النقد في كتابه "تهافت الفلاسفة".

2 - انكر العلامة تاج الدين السبكي أيضاً ان يكون هذا الكتاب للغزالي للسبب أعلاه. وأورد رأي ابن الصلاح بان الكتاب موضوع عليه ثم قال:

"والأمر كما قال [ أي كما قال ابن الصلاح] ، وقد اشتمل "المضنون" على التصريح بقدم العالم، ونفي العلم القديم بالجزئيات، ونفي الصفات، وكل واحدة من هذه يكفِّر الغزالي قائلها، هو وأهل السنّة أجمعون، فكيف يُتَصوَّر أنه يقولها؟" (طبقات الشافعية الكبرى: ج6 ، ص 257 ).

3 - يرى الدكتور بدوي أن حجج ابن الصلاح والسبكي تتعلق بمضمون الكتاب "وهي في الواقع حجج في غاية القوة." (بدوي: ص 154).

4 - الكتاب مهدى لإخيه أحمد ، وليس من عادة الغزالي اهداء الكتب لأخيه أحمد .

5 - تواريخ مخطوطات هذا الكتاب متأخرة جداً تعود الى القرن الحادي عشر الهجري فما بعد.

6 - والأهم من ذلك كله ان في الكتاب كفر بواح، كقول الناحل: " الزمان لايكون محدوداً وخلق الزمان في الزمان أمر محال" (ص 85 رسائل ج4 ) وهذا هو قول الفلاسفة القائلين بقدم العالم في الزمان وهو الرأي الذي نقده الإمام الغزالي أشد النقد في كتابه "تهافت الفلاسفة " وكفر الفلاسفة القائلين به ، (وقد ناقشنا هذا الموضوع في كتابنا "فقه الحضارة" في المبحث الرابع تحت نقد الفلسفة ) وعليه فهذا يناقض تماماً ما قاله الإمام الغزالي في نقده للفلاسفة حيث قال في كتابه "تهافت الفلاسفة" :

"المدة والزمان مخلوق عندنا" .

7 - لغة الكتاب ركيكة جداً ولاشبه بينها وبين لغة الإمام الغزالي، وكذلك مصطلحاته ليست مصطلحات الغزالي مثال على ذلك في ص 98 "الإنسان التولدي" و "الإنسان التوالدي" والإمام لم يستخدم هذه المصطلحات في كتبه.

والكتاب مليء بمصطلحات الفلسفة مثل: العقول وكرة النار والآثار العلوية والمادة والصورة والنفس الكلية وغيرها.

8 - فصول الكتاب متناقضة الترتيب محشورة ومقحومة في بعض من غير رابط منطقي يؤلف بينها ويجعل منها كتاباً . فالكتاب لايتسم بوحدة التأليف. ففي مدخل الكتاب حديث عن علم الربوبية ثم يقفز المؤلف الى فصل تحت عنوان "في تعليقات على آيات كريمة" مثل قوله تعالى: {فليرتقوا في الأسباب}. ثم يأتي بعد ذلك مباشرة فصل تحت عنوان : " في أن الرزق مقدر مضمون". وهلم هلم من الحشو والتلفيق.

9 - والكتاب يحتوي لغة بذيئة حاشا لعلماء المسلمين أن يتفوهوا بها ، مثال: "ومادة الأرض مادة مشتركة بين أزواج وفحول وهي أخس لأنها مثل مومسة تقبل كل ناكح" (ص86 رسائل ج4 ) ومن المعلوم لكل قاريء لكتب الإمام الغزالي ذلك المستوى الرفيع للغته العربية حتى انه عندما يتحدث عن أصابع اليد وعن السبابة فانه يسميها المسبحة بدلاً من السبابة.

10 - في الكتاب من الخرافات ما يستحيل صدوره من فقيه، خذ على سبيل المثال هذا النص السقيم:

"وقد تتولد العقارب من الباذروج ولباب الخبز، والحيات من العسل، والنحل من العجل المنخنق المنكسرة عظامه، والبق من الخل..." (رسائل الغزالي: ج4، ص 98-99 ).

ومعلوم قطعاً ان فقهاء الإسلام لم يكن مبحثهم تولد البق والعقارب، كما أن هذه ليست من موضوعات الفقه وأصوله، فمن يقرأ هذا الكتاب ويظُّنُ أنه للإمام الغزالي فقد استغفل نفسه واستحقر عقله من حيث لايشعر، لأن هذا مما هو معلوم في بلاد الإسلام ولايختلف فيه إثنان، والعقل دالٌ عليه لمن هو خارج بلاد الإسلام.

5- معارج القدس في مدارج معرفة النفس: لم يثبت للغزالي:

هذا الكتاب ليس للغزالي، بل هو منحول عليه للأسباب التالية:

1. أن الإمام الغزالي لم يذكره ولم يشر إليه في أي من كتبه ولاحتى في المنقذ من الضلال الذي ذكر فيه عدد لابأس فيه من كتبه. ولا في الإحياء.

2. أن الغزالي لم يذكر في معارج القدس أياً من كتبه الأخرى، ولم يُشر حتى إلى فصل من فصول كتبه الأخرى.

3. وضع كَاتب معارج القدس مقدمة تحت عنوان: "في معاني الألفاظ المترادفة على النفس وهي اربعة: النفس، والقلب، والروح، والعقل" وماهي إلا ملخص مقتضب في أربعة صفحات لفصل مشهور من الإحياء يقع في 50 صفحة وهو الكتاب الأول من ربع المهلكات المعروف بكتاب شرح عجائب القلب، ناقش فيه الإمام الغزالي هذه الألفاظ الأربعة بالتفصيل. فلو كان هذا من تأليفه لأشار إلى الإحياء للإستزادة، ولو كان كتبه قبل الإحياء لأشار إليه في الإحياء.

4. في الكتاب أيضاً فصل بعنوان: "بيان أمثلة القلب مع جنوده وله ثلاثة أمثلة" وهذا أيضاً تلخيص مقتضب وغير جيد لنفس الفصل من الإحياء. فلو كان مؤلفه الغزالي لأشار إلى التفصيلات الغنية من كتاب شرح عجائب القلب.

5. لم يذكره أحد ممن اهتم بتصانيف الغزالي من المتقدمين كالعلامة السبكي، ولم يذكره أحد ممن اهتم بتصانيف الغزالي من المتأخرين كالمرتضى مما يعني انه منحول على الغزالي في وقت متأخر جداً.

6. يقول بدوي في وصف مخطوطة الكتاب رقم 630 فلسفة بدار الكتب المصريّة، أنه لم يرد في صفحة العنوان غير "معارج القدس" بدون ذكر اسم مؤلف الكتاب. (بدوي ص 245)

6. والكتاب في مجمله ليس أكثر من مجموعة ملخصات من كتب الغزالي لايجمعها ربط متين.

6- الرسالة اللدنية : أو رسالة في بيان العلم اللدني . لم تثبت للغزالي:

1 - لم يذكرها السبكي ولا المرتضى وهذين ذكرا عدداً كبيراً من مؤلفات الغزالي.

2- يتضح من التحليل الداخلي لنص الرسالة : ان احد الأشخاص وهو صديق الغزالي على ما تقول الرسالة ، قد حاجج احد العلماء في العلم اللدني ثم ان ذلك العالم حجَّه وانكر العلم اللدني فجاء هذا الشخص الى الأمام الغزالي ليتقوى بحججه ضد ذلك العالم فقال للإمام الغزالي:

" أريد ان تذكر طرفاً من مراتب العلوم وتصحيح هذا العلم [اي اللدني] وتعزيه انت لنفسك وتقر على اثباته" ( رسائل ج3ص 58)

مما يدل على أن بعض الناس كان يحب ان ينتصر لرايه أو مذهبه فيتقوى بأسماء العلماء المشهورين أو ينسب افكاره اليهم.

3- في الرسالة احالة الى كتب لم يذكر الغزالي اسماؤها على خلاف عادته.

4 - في الرسالة احالة الى انه سيكتب في موضوعات مثل العلوم الثلاثة وشرائط التفكير....ولم يكتب الغزالي في شيء من ذلك.

5 - والرسالة تحاول ان توجد خرقاً في صفوف المسلمين باثارة الفرقة بين الفقهاء والمتصوفة، ولا يعقل ان يصدر مثل هذا التأليف عن فقيه كالإمام الغزالي الذي كان همه وحدة صفوف المسلمين ونبذ الخلافيات، كما هو واضح في كتلبه: "فيصل التفرقة" ففيه جهد كبير لتوحيد صفوف أمة محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، وإبعاد الناس عن الخوض في تكفير بعضهم البعض.

6 - وممن شك فيها من المستشرقين أسين بلاثيوس ومونتجمري واط.

7 - وأرى أن واضع هذه الرسالة هو نفسه واضع كتاب "المضنون به على غير أهله" لتشابه اللغة والمصطلح وطريقة البحث.

7- منهاج العارفين : لم يثبت للغزالي :

1 - موضوعاته ليست بذي شأن ، حتى أن بدوي قال: " وعلى كل حال فالكتاب ليس بذي شأن من بين كتب الغزالي." ( انظر بدوي: ص 250.)

2 - لايبدي المؤلف أي سبب للتأليف ، أو أنه يجيب على سؤال او ما أشبه مما درج عليه الغزالي في التأليف.

3 - الكتاب يقع في احدى عشرة صفحة وهو مبوب على 28 باباً هي: باب البيان نحو المريدين ، باب الأحكام ، الرعاية ، مفتاح الرعاية ، النية ، الذكر ، الشكر ، اللباس ، القيام ، السواك ، التبرز، الطهارة، الخروج، دخول المسجد ، افتتاح الصلوات ، القراءة ، الركوع ، السجود التشهد ، السلام، الدعاء ، الصوم ، الزكاة ، الحج ، السلامة ، العزلة ، العبادة ، التفكر ، ثم تأتي بعد قول المؤلف :" تمَّ بحمد الله وعونه وحسن توفيقه والحمد لله وحده ." تأتي فقرة في ما يقارب خمسة عشر سطراً يقول : " قال الشيخ محمد بن علي الساكن ..." (رسائل ج3 ص56). وهذه الأبواب قصيرة جداً ليس فيها ما يلفت الإنتباه من عبقرية أو بعد روحي

4 - فيه انتصار للتصوف والمريدين والخرقة والغزالي لم يكن ليعبء بهذا في كتاباته وفي نهاية الرسالة جاءت هذه الفقرة :

" تمَّ بحمد اللة وعونه وحسن توفيقه والحمد للة وحده.

(1) قال الشيخ محمد بن علي بن الساكن في كتاب دليل الطالب إلى نهاية المطالب، قال: فالطالب المجتهد إذا أراد لبس الخرقة فالواجب عليه أن يخلع الثوب الذي كان يلبسه في أيام العادة. وأحسن ما تلبس هذه الطائفة الصوف إذ هم منسوبون إليه، قيل: إن أول من لبس الصوف آدم وحواء عليهما السلام، وكان موسى وعيسى ويحيى عليهم السلام يلبسون الصوف، وكان نبّينا صلى الله عليه وسلم أشرف الأنبياء وكان يلبس عباءة كان مقدار ثمنها خمس دراهم وينبغي أن لا يلبس الصوف إلامن صفا من كدر النفس، فقد قال الحسن البصري: بلغني أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: لا تلبسوا الصوف إلا وقلوبكم نقية، فإنه من لبس الصوف على دغل وغش قلاه جبار السماء فإذا لبسه وجب أن يقوم بوظائف حروفه، وهي ثلاثة أما وظيفة الصاد فهي:الصدق والصفاء والصيانة والصبر والصلاح، وأما وظيفة الواو فهي: الوصلة والوفاء والوجد، وأما وظيفة الفاء فهى: الفرح والتفجع فلو لبس المرقع وجب عليه أن يؤدي حق حروفه، وهي أربعة. فحق الميم المعرفة والمجاهدة والمذلة، وحق الراء: الرحمة والرأفة والرياضة والراحة وحق القاف: القناعة والقربة والقوة والقول الصدق، وحق العين: العلم والعمل والعشق والعبودية، وقد أمر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بلبس المرقع حيث قال لعائشة رضي الله عنها: "إن سرك اللحوق بي فإياك ومجالسة الموتى ولا تستبدلي ثوبآ حتى ترقعيه "، انتهى والله أعلم." (رسائل الغزالي: ج3 ص56 ).

5 - وهو بمثابة منهاج عملي لحياة المريدين ، وكأن أحد البارعين في اللغة وعلوم الدين قد كتبه ليكون منهاجاً لمن يريد أن يسلك طريق العرفان فوضع عليه اسم الإمام الغزالي ليكون أكثر انتشاراً وتأثيراً.

6 - ممن أنكره من المستشرقين أسين بلاثيوس.

8- منهاج العابدين: ليس للغزالي.

هذا الكتاب ليس للغزالي وهو موضوع عليه للأسباب الواضحة أدناه:

1 - نسبه أبن عربي لإبي حسن علي المسفَّر السبتي، كما تقدم في الحديث عن كتاب "المضنون".

2 - وردت في الكتاب أسماء كتب مثل: "القربة الى الله" و "أخلاق الأبرار والنجاة من الأشرار" ولم يصلنا عن الإمام الغزالي مثل هذه التصانيف، كما أنه لم يذكرها في كتبه المعتمدة الصحيحة النسبة اليه.

3- ذكر مؤلف "سر العالمين" كتاب "نجاة الأبرار" كما مر بنا وفي هذا أثبات أن "منهاج العابدين" منحول، وفي هذين الكتابين دس خطير لصرف الناس عن كتب الغزالي.

4 - كثيراً ما يكرر المؤلف عبارات مثل : "قال شيخنا " و "قال شيخي الإمام " ويروي عنه شعراً وهكذا، ومن المعلوم لكل قارىء أن الإمام الغزالي لايورد ولا يردد هذه الصيغة ("قال شيخنا " و "قال شيخي الإمام " ) في كتبه حتى التي كتبها في سن الشباب.

فإذا كان منهاج العابدين آخر ما ألّف الإمام الغزالي فهذا يتناقض مع شخصيته المستقلة المعهودة في التصنيف ويتناقض مع نضجه العلمي. أضف إلى ذلك أنه لم يكن للإمام الغزالي شيخ وإمام شاعر.

5 - يبدو أن مؤلف الكتاب رجل ذو علم وأنه ملّم بكتاب إحياء علوم الدين أيما إلمام ، أضف الى ذلك أنه شخصية متمكنة من الكتابة ، فلخص الإحياء وزاد من عنده بعض أشياء اخرى .

9- رسالة الطير : لم تثبت للغزالي :

1 - لغتها ضعيفة وهي ليست لغة الغزالي

2 - كتبت على لسان الطير والعنقاء، والغزالي لم يؤلف كتبه على السنة الحيوان ولسانه اكثر فصاحة وأشد صراحة من ألسنة العجماوات.

3 - توجد بالفارسية " رسالة الطير " لأحمد الغزالي (انظر بدوي ص 242 ).

نشكر الاخ الكريم الدكتور مشهد العلاف حفظه الله على روحه الطيبة الذي زودنا بهذه الدراسة الطيبة نسأل الله العلي القدير جزيل الثواب له في الداريين – مع تحيات موقع الإمام الغزالي – جميع الحقوق محفوظة للدكتور مشهد العلاف 2005 م.

Imam Ghazali Part 1

2008-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ignorance is not a bliss in Islam. Islam encourages every muslim to know tenents of faith and basic fiqh.The higher Islamic science is Fard e kafayah , which means , it is compulsory upon the whole community to have some one who among them who can answer Islamic questions related with Tafseer , fiqh and hadith. One such Islamic science is the science of manuscripts. The scholars associated with this field have good knowledge of history, life of scholars , the type of arabic script used at different points in history, different works of scholars, their writing style and science of determining the age of paper etc.

This science becomes vital , as we know various works are attributed to scholars who did not compose those works. Some people used to ascribe their work to their teacher as a mark of respect ,others used to compose a work and ascribe the name of a famous scholar to increase its importance and still others used to ' add " additonal points in some one's other work, there by confusing general people.Some eveil people also used to compose work against Ahlus sunnah beleif and ascribe it to some great scholar of Ahlus sunnah to make people beleif that their deviant view is also held by this great scholar of Ahlus sunnah.

Many works are falsely attributed to Imam Ghazali and those scholar who studied the life and work of Imam ghazali , his writing style , his usage of words , grammar , and various reports coming from his contemporary scholars and also his next generation scholar are unanimous that these works are not from the pen of Imam Ghazali.

One such modern day scholar is Abdur Rehman Badawi, who compiled a book "Muallafat al -Ghazali in which he gave a detailed analyis of Imam gahzalis work based upon different exisiting manuscripts and also the research of other great scholars of Islam on this subject.

Another modern day scholar on this subject is Prof Mashhad al Allaf.

Prof. Mashhad al-Allaf has written a postscript to A. Badwai's work giving detailed reasons why the below works (1-9) are not works by al-Ghazali.

Reasons such as no mention in the texts of al-Ghazali's other works; language that is used in these works is not the norm that al-Ghazali uses in his works; mention of works by people that were born years after al-Ghazali had died; terminology that al-Ghazali never used in his other works; foul language that scholars such as al-Ghazali would never use.

LIST OF "PSEUDO WORKS" ATTRIBUTED TO IMAM GHAZALI (RH)

1)Sirr al-'alamin wa khasf ma fi al-dariyyan (Secret of the two worlds and unvieling what is in the two houses =worlds). [M:214; A:67,91; GAL no 31]

2)Mukashafat al-qulub (Unveiling of the Hearts) [M:239; A:239]
al-Madnun al-saghir, [M:107; A:40, 119] (Smaller [book] of secrets) also called:

3)al-Naffakh wal-taswiya (Breathing (life) and Formation (of creation). [M:107; A:107]

4)al-Ajwaba al-Ghazaliyya 'ala al-mas'il al-akhrawiyya. (Ghazalian Answers to Questions concerning the Hereafter.) [M:108; A:40]

5)al-madnun bi hi ala ghayr ahlihi [M:A:39] (controversial still!) however I moved it to the works page. I guess the jury is still out on this one.

6)ma'arij al-qudus fi madarij ma'rifit al-nafs. [M:76; A:76] (controversial still!) however I moved it to the works page. I guess the jury is still out on this one too.
al-risala al-ladunia. [M:50, 193; A:90] (translated by Godlas)

7)Minhaj al-'arafin (Methodology of the Sufis) [M:356; A:77, A:356]

8)Minhaj al-'abidin ila Jannati Rabbi 'l-Alamin (Methodology of the Worshipful Servants to the Garden of the Lord of All the Worlds) (possibly a summary of the Ihya') (planned translation by al-baz publishing, also published in India)[M:64; A:72]

9)al-Fara'id al-la'ali min rasa'il al-Ghazzali majmu`ah mushtamilah `alá Mi`raj al-salikin wa-Minhaj al-`arifin wa-Rawdat al-talibin, wa-hiya min anfas ma katabahu al-Ghazzali / [tashih] al-Shaykh Muhammad Bakhit, [Cairo] : Faraj Allah Zaki, 1344 [1925]

10)Risalat al-tayr (Epistle of the Birds) See article: Al-Ghazzali's Epistle of the Birds. N. A. Faris (PDF). [M:189; A:75]

11)ar-Radd al-jamil 'ala sarih al-Injil (The polite answer to the evident in the Gospels) (Arabic PDF) See article: "Al-Ghazali and the Arabic versions of the Gospels" Padwick, G. J., Muslim World 29(1939), pp. 130-140. Also in German: "Al-Ghazalis Schrift wider die Gottheit Jesu (Redd ül cemil)", Franz-Elmar Wilms, Leiden, 1966. [M:194; A:83]

12)Anwar hikmit [M: 91, A:103] (in Persian)

13)al-Durrah al-fakhirah fi khasf ulum al-'akhira. [M:62; A:66]
Critical edition: Le Perle Precieuse de Ghazali, ed. Leon Gauthier.
(the Precious Pearl) translated by Jane Idleman with an introduction. (PDF) (1979) Missoula, USA.

Die Kostbare Perle über todund Jenseits, übersetzt von M. Brugsch. Hannover, 1924.

14)A poem by al-Ghazali in Arabic. al-Qasida al-munfarija [M:255; A:255, 122, 434, 435]
Last words of al-Ghazali. (link)

15)Works on magic, talisman, witchcraft, litanies, dream interpretations, secrets of letters and numbers, etc. See A. Badawi's mu'alafat al-ghazali pp. 277-302(#'s 96-127) for more information.

2008-04-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

HADITH OF INTERCESSION

2008-04-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

ADAM [alayhi salaam] SEEKS INTERCESSION WITH THE PROPHET [salallahu alayhi wa sallam]

Adam [as] Seeks Intercession with the Prophet [saw]

Next, inshaAllah, two Hadith. The first Hadith was declared sound by many of the scholars of Hadith despite their knowledge of the presence of a problematic narrator in its chain by the name of Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam. Now, even if we accept the grading given to this Hadith by the "salafis" [something which many of the reliable scholars of the past have disagreed with them upon as demonstrated below] then still, as explained by Sh. GF Haddad the narration through Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd is not actually the most authentic chain for this report! Rather, the Hadith narrated by Maysarat al-Fajr RA [see Hadith Number 9] is the most authentic chain for this report [declared by Sh. Abdullah al-Ghumari as "good and strong"].

The Prophet said on the authority of `Umar:

"When Adam committed his mistake he said: O my Lord, I am asking you to forgive me for the sake of Muhammad. Allah said: O Adam, and how do you know about Muhammad whom I have not yet created? Adam replied, O my Lord, after You created me with your hand and breathed into me of Your Spirit, I raised my head and saw written on the heights of the Throne:

LA ILAHA ILLALLAH MUHAMMADUN RASULULLAH

I understood that You would not place next to Your Name but the Most Beloved One of Your creation. Allah said: O Adam, I have forgiven you, and were it not for Muhammad I would not have created you."

A discussion regarding this Hadith was found HERE

It was transmitted through many chains and was cited by Bayhaqi (in Dala'il al-nubuwwa), Abu Nu`aym (in Dala'il al-nubuwwa), al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (2:615), al-Tabarani in his Saghir (2:82, 207) with another chain containing sub-narrators unknown to Haythami as he stated in Majma` al-zawa'id (8:253), and Ibn `Asakir on the authority of `Umar ibn al-Khattab, and most of these narrations were copied in Qastallani's al-Mawahib al-laduniyya (and al-Zarqani's Commentary 2:62).

1. This hadith is declared sound (sahih) by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (2:651), although he acknowledges Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, one of its sub-narrators, as weak. However, when he mentions this hadith he says: "Its chain is sound, and it is the first hadith of Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam which I mention in this book"; al-Hakim also declares sound another version through Ibn `Abbas.

2. al-Bulqini declares this hadith sound in his Fatawa.

3. al-Subki confirms al-Hakim's authentication (in Shifa' al-siqam fi ziyarat khayr al-anam p. 134-135) although Ibn Taymiyya's rejection and criticism of this hadith was known to him and he rejects it, as well as saying that Ibn Taymiyya's extreme weakening of Ibn Zayd is exaggerated.

4. The hadith is also included by Qadi `Iyad among the "sound and famous narrations" in al-Shifa, and he says that Abu Muhammad al-Makki and Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi mention it; Qadi `Iyad says: "It is said that this hadith explains the verse: 'And Adam received words from his Lord and He relented towards him' (2:37)"; he continues to cite another very similar version through al-Ajurri (d. 360), about whom al-Qari said: "al-Halabi said: This seems to be the imam and guide Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn `Abd Allah al-Baghdadi, the compiler of the books al-Shari`a devoted to the Sunna, al-Arba`un, and others.'" This is confirmed by Ibn Taymiyya in his Qa`ida fi al-tawassul: "It is related by Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Ajurri, in his book al-Shari`a."

5. Ibn al-Jawzi also considers it sound (sahih) as he cites it in the first chapter of al-Wafa bi ahwal al-mustafa, in the introduction of which he says: "(In this book) I do not mix the sound hadith with the false," although he knew of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd's weakness as a narrator; he also mentions the version of Maysarat al-Fajr whereby the Prophet says: "When satan deceived Adam and Eve, they repented and sought intercession to Allah with my name"; Ibn al-Jawzi also says in the chapter concerning the Prophet's superiority over the other Prophets in the same book: "Part of the exposition of his superiority to other Prophets is the fact that Adam asked his Lord through the sanctity (hurmat) of Muhammad that He relent towards him, as we have already mentioned."

6. Suyuti cites it in his Qur'anic commentary al-Durr al-manthur (2:37) and in al-Khasa'is al-kubra (1:12) and in al-Riyad al-aniqa fi sharh asma' khayr al-khaliqa (p. 49), where he says that Bayhaqi considers it sound; this is due to the fact that Bayhaqi said in the introduction to the Dala'il that he only included sound narrations in his book, although he also knew and explicitly mentions `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd's weakness;

7. Ibn Kathir mentions it after Bayhaqi in al-Bidayat wa al-Nihaya (1:75, 1:180).

8. al-Haythami in Majma` al-zawa'id (8:253 #28870), al-Bayhaqi himself, and al-Qari in Sharh al- shifa' show that its chains have weakness in them. However, the weakness of Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd was known by Ibn al-Jawzi, Subki, Bayhaqi, Hakim, and Abu Nu`aym, yet all these scholars retained this hadith for consideration in their books.

9. Three scholars reject it, such as Ibn Taymiyya (Qa`ida jalila fi al-tawassul p. 89, 168-170) and his two students Ibn `Abd al-Hadi (al-Sarim al-munki p. 61-63) and al-Dhahabi (Mizan al-i`tidal 2:504 and Talkhis al-mustadrak), while `Asqalani reports Ibn Hibban's saying that `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd was a forger(Lisan al-mizan 3:360, 3:442).

10. At the same time, Ibn Taymiyya elsewhere quotes it and the version through Maysara [Faqir: see below] and says:

"These two are like the elucidation (tafsir) of the authentic ahadith (concerning the same topic)" (Fatawa 2:150). The contemporary Meccan hadith scholar Ibn `Alawi al-Maliki said: "This indicates that Ibn Taymiyya found the hadith sound enough to be considered a witness for other narrations (salih li al-istishhad wa al-i`tibar), because the forged (al-mawdu`) and the false (al-batil) are not taken as witness by the people of hadith"; al-Maliki also quotes (without reference) Dhahabi's unrestrained endorsement of the ahadith in Bayhaqi's Dala'il al-nubuwwa with his words: "You must take what is in it (the Dala'il), for it consists entirely of guidance and light." (Mafahim yajib an tusahhah p. 47).

11. It is furthermore evident that Ibn Taymiyya considers the meaning of the creation of everything for the sake of the Prophet as true and correct, as he declares in his Majmu`at al-fatawa in the volume on tasawwuf (11:95-97):

Muhammad is the Chief of the Children of Adam, the Best of Creation, the noblest of them in the sight of Allah. This is why some have said that "Allah created the Universe due to him," or that "Were it not for him, He would have neither created a Throne, nor a Footstool, nor a heaven, earth, sun or moon." However, this is not a hadith on the authority of the Prophet... but it may be explained from a correct aspect...

Since the best of the righteous of the children of Adam is Muhammad, creating him was a desirable end of deep-seated purposeful wisdom, more than for anyone else, and hence the completion of creation and the fulfilment of perfection was attained with Muhammad, may Allah Exalted bless him and grant him peace... The Chief of the Children of Adam is Muhammad, may Allah Exalted bless him and grant him peace, Adam and his children being under his banner. He, may Allah Exalted bless him and grant him peace, said: "Truly, I was written as the Seal of the Prophets with Allah, when Adam was going to-and-fro in his clay," i.e. that my prophethood was decreed and manifested when Adam was created but before the breathing of the Spirit into him, just as Allah decrees the livelihood, lifespan, deeds and misery or happiness of the slave when He creates the embryo but before the breathing of the Spirit into it.

Since man is the seal and last of all creation, and its microcosm, and since the best of man is thus the best of all creation absolutely, then Muhammad, being the Pupil of the Eye, the Axis of the Mill, and the Distributor to the Collective, is as it were the Ultimate Purpose from amongst all the purposes of creation. Thus it cannot be denied to say that "Due to him all of this was created", or that "Were it not for him, all this would not have been created," so if statements like this are thus explained according to what the Book and the Sunna indicate, it is acceptable.

12. Its latter part is mentioned as a separate hadith in the wording: "Were it not for Muhammad, I would not have created the spheres (al-aflak)." al-`Ajluni said in Kashf al-khafa' (#2123): "al-Saghani (d.650) said it is forged. I say: but its meaning is correct." Similarly `Ali al-Qari said in al-Asrar al-marfu`a (#754-755): "al-Saghani (in al-Ahadith al-mawdu`a p. 7) said: "It is forged," however, its meaning is sound (mi`nahu sahih), as Daylami has narrated on the authority of Ibn `Abbas that the Prophet said: "Gabriel came to me and said: O Muhammad! Were it not for you, Paradise would not have been created, and were it not for you, the Fire would not have been created." And Ibn `Asakir's narration has: And were it not for you, the world would not have been created."

As for Albani's rejection of Qari's use of Daylami in support of the hadith with the words: "I do not hesitate to declare it weak on the basis that Daylami is alone in citing it" (Silsila da`ifa #282), it shows exaggeration and deviation from the practice of the scholars concerning Daylami and his book. Ibn Taymiyya said in Minhaj al-sunna (4:38): "The fact that Daylami alone narrates a hadith does not indicate that the hadith is sound." Note that he never said: "The fact that Daylami alone narrates a hadith indicates that it is forged," yet this is what Albani concludes! The reader may compare Albani's method of apriori rejection in lieu of a discussion of the hadith itself, to Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani's reliance on a hadith narrated by Daylami, as is shown by hadith #33 of his Arba`un fi rad` al-mujrim `an sabb al-muslim, although Daylami is alone in citing it. Further in Minhaj al-sunna (4:78) Ibn Taymiyya declared of him and his book: "al-Daylami in his book al-Firdaws mentioned many sound (sahih) hadiths, and also fair (hasan) narrations and forged ones.... He was one of the people of knowledge and religion and he was not a liar."

13. Ibn al-Qayyim in his Bada'i` al-fawa'id went so far as to represent Allah saying to humankind that everything was created for the sake of human beings:

hal `arifat qimata nafsik? innama khalaqtu al-akwana kullaha laka... kullu al-ashiya'i shajaratun wa anta al-thamara

Have you realized your value? I only created all the universes for your sake... All things are trees whose fruit you are.[18]

If Allah created all the universes for the sake of human beings, then how could all humanity be given what the Prophet is grudged, who is better than mankind and jinn put together?

Adam[as] Seeks Intercession With the Prophet's [saw] Name
What follows now is the dicussion of another related Hadith narrated through Maysarat al-Fajr [RA] cited below in Arabic with its chain of narrators.

HADITH NUMBER 9:

ADAM [alayhi salaam] SEEKS INTERCESSION WITH THE PROPHET'S [salallahu alayhi wa sallam] NAME

I asked: "O Messenger of Allah, when were you [first] a Prophet?" He replied: "When Allah created the earth ‘Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens’(2:29), and created the Throne, He wrote on the leg of the Throne: "Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of Prophets" (Muhammadun Rasûlullâhi Khâtamu al-Anbiyâ'). Then Allah created the Garden in which He made Adam and Hawwa' dwell, and He wrote my name on the gates, its tree-leaves, its domes and tents, at a time when Adam was still between the spirit and the body. When Allah Most High instilled life into him he looked at the Throne and saw my name, whereupon Allah informed him that 'He [Muhammad SAWS] is the liege-lord of all your descendants.' When Satan deceived them both, they repented and sought intercession to Allah with my name."

قد أخرج الحافظ أبو الحسن بن بشران قال : حدثنا أو جعفر محمد ابن عمرو، حدثنا أحمد بن سحاق بن صالح، ثنا محمد بن صالح، ثنا محمد ابن سنان العوقي، ثنا إبراهيم بن طهمان، عن بديل بن ميسرة، عن عبد الله بن شقيق، عن ميسرة قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، متى كنت نبياً ؟ قال: (( لما خلق الله الأرض واستوى إلى السماء فسواهن سبع سماوات ، وخلق العرش،كتب على ساق العرش: محمد رسول الله خاتم الأنبياء، وخلق الله الجنة التي أسكنها آدم وحواء، فكتب اسمي على الأبواب، والأوراق والقباب، والخيام،وآدم بين الروح والجسد،فلما أحياه الله تعالى: نظر إلى العرش فرأى اسمي فأخبره الله أنه سيد ولدك، فلما غرهما الشيطان ، تابا واستشفعا باسمي إليه ) .
وأخرجه ابن الجوزي في الوفا بفضائل المصطفى من طريق ابن بشران

Sh. GF Haddad discusses it briefly in the article The Prophetic Title "Best of Creation" :

In the chapter concerning the Prophet's superiority over all other Prophets in his great book titled al-Wafa bi Ahwal al-Mustafa', Ibn al-Jawzi states: "Part of the demonstration of his superiority to other Prophets is the fact that Adam (AS) asked his Lord through the sanctity (hurma) of Muhammad (SAWS) that He relent towards him."

The most authentic chain for this report is not that of al-Hakim's narration from `Umar through `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who is weak (da`îf), but that of the Companion Maysarat al-Fajr who narrates it as [above]

Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Ghumari cited it in Murshid al-Ha'ir li Bayan Wad` Hadith Jabir and said, "its chain is good and strong" while in al-Radd al-Muhkam al-Matin (p. 138-139) he adds: "It is the strongest Companion-corroboration (shâhid) I saw for the hadith of `Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd" as quoted also by Shaykh Mahmud Mamduh in Raf` al-Minara (p. 248).

Elsewhere Maulana Muhammad ibn Moulana Haroon Abasoomar states:

"The chain of narrators for this Hadith is totally different from the previous one. And in fact, Hafiz ibn Hajar [ra] has stated concerning a completely different narration which has the very same chain of narrators, that this chain of narrators is strong. (al-Raddul Muhkamul Mateen pgs.138-139; al-Ahaadeethul Muntaqaa pg.14, both of Shaykh Abdullah Siddique al-Ghumarie)"

Sidi Abul Hasan also mentioned the following on Sunniforum:

The student of Imam al-Suyuti: Imam Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Salihi of Damascus, who died in the year 942 AH, has mentioned in his multi-volume Sira work known as: Subul al-Hadi wal Rashhad, this very narration from Maysara (ra) as follows (vol. 1/p. 86, Darul Kutub Ilmiyya edn, Beirut) from Imam ibn al Jawzi:

وروى ابن الجوزي بسند جيد لا بأس به ، عن ميسرة رضي الله تعالى عنه قال : قلت يا رسول الله ، متى كنت نبيا ؟ قال : لما خلق الله الأرض واستوى إلى السماء فسواهن سبع سماوات وخلق العرش كتب على ساق العرش : محمد رسول الله خاتم الأنبياء . وخلق الله تعالى الجنة التي أسكنها آدم وحواء ، فكتب اسمي على الأوراق والأبواب والقباب والخيام ، وآدم بين الروح والجسد ، فلما أحياه الله تعالى نظر إلى العرش فرأى اسمي ، فأخبره الله تعالى أنه سيد ولدك . فلما غرهما الشيطان تابا واستشفعا باسمي إليه

The crucial point is highlighted in blue above, where Imam al-Salihi declared the chain of transmission to be: "Jayyid La Ba'sa bihi",

Meaning: "Good and there is no harm in it."

This earlier ruling gives credibility to Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghumari and his student: Shaykh Mahmud Mamduh's declarations on its authenticity. Note also, that Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghumari has also declared in his Al-Ahadith al-Muntaqa fi-Fada'il Rasul Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) that the narration from Maysara (ra) is "Qawi" - "Strong"

Sidi Abul Hasan went on to add a new point of benefit with regard to the narration from Maysara al-Fajr (ra):

فقد أخرج الحافظ أبو الحسن بن بشران قال : حدثنا أو جعفر محمد ابن عمرو، حدثنا أحمد بن سحاق بن صالح، ثنا محمد بن صالح، ثنا محمد ابن سنان العوقي، ثنا إبراهيم بن طهمان، عن بديل بن ميسرة، عن عبد الله بن شقيق(1)، عن ميسرة قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، متى كنت نبياً ؟ قال: (( لما خلق الله الأرض واستوى إلى السماء فسواهن سبع سماوات ، وخلق العرش،كتب على ساق العرش: محمد رسول الله خاتم الأنبياء، وخلق الله الجنة التي أسكنها آدم وحواء، فكتب اسمي على الأبواب، والأوراق والقباب، والخيام،وآدم بين الروح والجسد،فلما أحياه الله تعالى: نظر إلى العرش فرأى اسمي فأخبره الله أنه سيد ولدك، فلما غرهما الشيطان ، تابا واستشفعا باسمي إليه ) .وأخرجه ابن الجوزي في الوفا بفضائل المصطفى من طريق ابن بشران، نقله عن ابن تيمية في الفتاوي (2/159) مستشهداً به

Some contemporaries have objected of late that in the sanad to the narration from Ibn Bushran there is a narrator by the name of Muhammad ibn Salih - and it is not precisely known which of the numerous Muhammad ibn Salih's is this exact one in the Isnad given above.

Shaykh Mamduh has named two that could possibly be the exact narrator in the above sanad. He said:

ومحمد بن صالح هو أبو بكر الأنماطي المعروف بكيلجة ، ثقة حافظ من رجال التهذيب ، ويمكن أن يكون هو محمد بن صالح الواسطي كعب الذراع، ثقة أيضاً، ومترجم في تاريخ الخطيب (5/360)، والاختلاف في تعيين الثقة لا يضر .

Basically it may be the Muhammad ibn Salih known as Abu Bakr al-Anmati who he said was a trustworthy Hafiz (Thiqa Hafiz, as In Taqreeb al-Tahdhib of Ibn Hajar, no. 5962) or it may be Muhammad ibn Salih al-Wasiti Ka'b al-Zaari who was declared Thiqa by Khatib al-Baghdadi in his Ta'rikh (5/360).

The objection stems from not having direct evidence if any of these narrators commonly known as Muhammad ibn Salih did actually meet and narrate from the next narrator in the Isnad known as: Muhammad ibn Sinan.

The answer Insha'allah:Most of our contemporaries, like the late Shaykh Abdullah al-Ghumari and his students like Shaykh Mamduh seem to have missed or not known of another alternative route which was also related by Imam Ibn Bushran, with the crucial point of Muhammad ibn Salih not being in an alternative route containing the same text!

The Imam: Shamsud-Din Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Nu'man al-Marakashi, who died in the year 683 AH, hence before Ibn Taymiyya has related in his book known as:

مصباح الظلام في المستغيثين بخير الأنام

The following Isnad on p. 23, without the narrator Muhammad ibn Salih in the sanad:

أخبرنا أبو الحسين محمد بن عبد الله السلامي قال أخبرنا محمد بن ناصر السلامي عن أبيطاهر محمد بن أحمد بن قيداس عن أبي الحسين بن بشران قال حدثنا أبو جعفر محمد بن عمرو قال ثنا أحمد بن إسحاق بن صالح قال حدثنا محمد بن سنان العوقي إلإلى آخر السند والمتن

The chain from Ibn Bushran is thus from his Shaykh Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Amr from Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Salih from Muhammad ibn Sinan al-Awqi from Ibrahim ibn Tahman from Budayl ibn Maysara from Abdullah ibn Shaqiq from Maysara al-Fajr with the same text as Ibn Taymiyya mentioned from Hafiz ibn al-Jawzi.A similar chain to this was recorded by Imam al-Bayhaqi in his Dala'il al-Nubuwwa (no. 18) as follows with a different text:

وأخبرنا أبو الحسين بن بشران ببغداد قال : حدثنا أبو جعفر محمد بن عمرو الرزاز قال : حدثنا أحمد بن إسحاق بن صالح قال : حدثنا محمد بن سنان العوقي قال : حدثنا إبراهيم بن طهمان عن بديل بن ميسرة عن عبد الله بن شقيق عن ميسرة الفجر قال : قلت : يا رسول الله متى كتبت نبيا ؟ قال : " وآدم بين الروح والجسد "

Insha'allah, this should give strength to the route containing Muhammad ibn Salih in the initial part of the discussion above. If anyone has an objection to the sanad given by Imam al-Marakashi then they need to show why using Ilm al-Jarh wa Ta'dil of the narrators.

MOVING FINGERS IN PRAYERS: ALBANI'S MISTAKE

2008-04-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

Nasir al-Albani is the arch-innovator of the Wahhabis and "Salafis" in our time. A watch repairman by trade, al-Albani is a self-taught claimant to hadith scholarship who has no known teacher in any of the Islamic sciences and has admitted not to have memorized the Book of Allah nor any book of hadith, fiqh, `aqîda, usûl, or grammar. He achieved fame by attacking the great scholars of Ahl al-Sunna and reviling the science of fiqh with especial malice towards the school of his father who was a Hanafi jurist. A rabid reviler of the Friends of Allah and the Sufis, he was expelled from Syria then Saudi Arabia and lived in Amman, Jordan under house arrest until his death in 1999. He remains the qibla of the people of Innovation, self-styled re-formers of Islam, and other "Salafi" and Wahhabi sympathizers, and the preferred author of book merchants and many uneducated Muslims.

Among the many classical hadith analayis by the self claimed muhaddith" Albani" was his analysis of the hadith dealing with the movement of fingers during Tashahhud in Salah.

The Wahabis keep on moving their fingers up and down in Salah and theu say that it is based on a hadith.

The Wahabi sheikh Albani analaysed this topic in this way. Please take a note how Albani attacks the scholars of Ahlus sunnah and tries to prove that he alone has understood this hadith in this ummah.

Here is the quote from ALBANI'S book

About "supplicating with it", Imaam Tahaawi said, "This is evidence that it was at the end of the prayer." Hence, there is evidence in this that the Sunnah is to continue pointing and moving the finger until the tasleem, for the supplication is until then. This is the view of Maalik and others. Imaam Ahmad was asked, "Should a man point with his finger during prayer?" He replied, "Yes, vigorously." (Mentioned by Ibn Haani in his Masaa'il of Imaam Ahmad, 1/80). From this, it is clear that moving the finger in tashahhud is a proven sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam), and it was practised by Ahmad and other imaams of the Sunnah. Therefore, those who think that it is pointless and irrelevant and has nothing to do with the Prayer, should fear Allaah, since because of this, they do not move their fingers although they know it to be an established sunnah; and they take great pains to interpret it in a way which is inconsistent with the `Arabic way of expression and contrary to the understanding of the imaams with regard to it.

The amazing thing is that some of them will defend an imaam on other issues, even if his opinion conflicts with the Sunnah, with the argument that to point out the imaam's mistakes inevitably means to taunt and disrespect him. They then forget this and reject this established sunnah, at the same time mocking at those who practise it. Whether or not they realise it, their mockery also includes those imaams whom they often defend wrongly, and who are correct about the Sunnah this time! In fact, they are deriding the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) himself, for he is the one who brought us this sunnah, and so jeering at it is equivalent to jeering at him. << But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this except ... >>

As for putting the finger down after pointing, or limiting the movement to the affirmation (saying laa ilaaha: 'there is no god ...') and negation (saying: illallaahu: '... except Allaah'), all of that has no basis in the Sunnah; in fact, it is contrary to the Sunnah, as this hadeeth proves.

Further, the hadeeth that he would not move his finger does not have an authentic isnaad, as I have explained in Da`eef Abi Daawood (175). Even if it were authentic, it is negatory, while the hadeeth above is affirmatory: the affirmatory takes precedence over the negatory, as is well-known among the scholars.

END OF QUOTE FROM ALBANI

WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER?

The fourth condition for a sahih hadith is that the text and transmission of the hadith must be free of shudhudh, or "variance from established standard narrations of it." An example is when a hadith is related by five different narrators who are contemporaries of one another, all of whom relate the same hadith from the same sheikh through his chain of transmission back to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Here, if we find that four of the hadiths have the same wording but one of them has a variant wording, the hadith with the variant wording is called shadhdh or "deviant," and it is not accepted, because the difference is naturally assumed to be the mistake of the one narrator, since all of the narrators heard the hadith from the same sheikh.

There is a hadith (to take an example researched by our hadith teacher, sheikh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut) related by Ahmad (4.318), Bayhaqi (2.132), Ibn Khuzayma (1.354), and Ibn Hibban, with a reliable chain of narrators (thiqat)—except for Kulayb ibn Hisham, who is a merely "acceptable" (saduq), not "reliable" (thiqa)—that the Companion Wa’il ibn Hujr al-Hadrami said that when he watched the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) kneeling in the Tashahhud or "Testification of Faith" of his prayer, the Prophet

lifted his [index] finger, and I saw him move it, supplicating with it. I came [some time] after that and saw people in [winter] over-cloaks, their hands moving under the cloaks (Ibn Hibban, 5.170–71).

Now, all of the versions of the hadith mentioning that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) moved his finger have been related to us by way of Za’ida ibn Qudama al-Thaqafi, a narrator who is considered reliable, and who transmitted it from the hadith sheikh ‘Asim ibn Kulayb, who related it from his father Kulayb ibn Shihab, from Wa’il ibn Hujr al-Hadrami. But we find that this version of "moving the finger" contradicts versions of the hadith transmitted from the same sheikh, ‘Asim ibn Kulayb, by no less than ten of ‘Asim’s other students, all of them reliable, who heard ‘Asim report that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) did not move but rather pointed (ashara) with his index finger (towards the qibla or "direction of prayer").

These companions of ‘Asim (with their hadiths, which are well authenticated (hasan)) are: Sufyan al-Thawri: "then he pointed with his index finger, putting the thumb to the middle finger to make a ring with them" (al-Musannaf 2.68–69); Sufyan ibn ‘Uyayna: "he joined his thumb and middle finger to make a ring, and pointed with his index finger" (Ahmad, 4.318); Shu‘ba ibn al-Hajjaj: "he pointed with his index finger, and formed a ring with the middle one" (Ahmad, 4.319); Qays ibn al-Rabi‘: "then he joined his thumb and middle finger to make a ring, and pointed with his index finger" (Tabarani, 22.33–34); ‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Ziyad al-‘Abdi: "he made a ring with a finger, and pointed with his index finger" (Ahmad, 4.316); ‘Abdullah ibn Idris al-Awdi: "he had joined his thumb and middle finger to make a ring, and raised the finger between them to make du‘a (supplication) in the Testification of Faith" (Ibn Majah, 1.295); Zuhayr ibn Mu‘awiya: "and I saw him [‘Asim] say, ‘Like this,’—and Zuhayr pointed with his first index finger, holding two fingers in, and made a ring with his thumb and second index [middle] finger" (Ahmad, 4.318–19); Abu al-Ahwas Sallam ibn Sulaym: "he began making du‘a like this—meaning with his index finger, pointing with it—" (Musnad al-Tayalisi, 137); Bishr ibn al-Mufaddal: "and I saw him [‘Asim] say, ‘Like this,’—and Bishr joined his thumb and middle finger to make a ring, and pointed with his index finger" (Abi Dawud, 1.251); and Khalid ibn Abdullah al-Wasiti: "then he joined his thumb and middle finger to make a ring, and pointed with his index finger" (Bayhaqi, 2.131).

All of these narrators are reliable (thiqat), and all heard ‘Asim ibn Kulayb relate that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) "pointed with (ashara bi) his index finger" during the Testimony of Faith in his prayer. There are many other narrations of "pointing with the index finger" transmitted through sheikhs other than ‘Asim, omitted here for brevity—four of them, for example, in Sahih Muslim, 1.408–9). The point is, for illustrating the meaning of a shadhdh or "deviant hadith," that the version of moving the finger was conveyed only by Za’ida ibn Qudama from ‘Asim. Ibn Khuzayma says: "There is not a single hadith containing yuharrikuha (‘he moved it’) except this hadith mentioned by Za’ida" (Ibn Khuzayma, 1.354).

So we know that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to point with his index finger, and that the version of "moving his finger" is shadhdh or "deviant," and represents a slip of the narrator, for the word ishara in the majority’s version means only "to point or gesture at," or "to indicate with the hand," and has no recorded lexical sense of wiggling or shaking the finger (Lisan al-‘Arab, 4.437 and al-Qamus al-muhit (540). This interpretation is explicitly borne out by well authenticated hadiths related from the Companion Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr that "the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to point with his index finger when making supplication [in the Testification of Faith], and did not move it" (Abi Dawud, 1.260) and that he "used to point with his index finger when making supplication, without moving it" (Bayhaqi, 2.131–32).

Finally, we may note that Imam Bayhaqi has joined between the Za’ida ibn Qudama hadith and the many hadiths that apparently contradict it by suggesting that moving the finger in the Za’ida hadith may mean simply lifting it (rafa‘a), a wording explicitly mentioned in one version recorded by Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) "raised the right finger that is next to the thumb, and supplicated with it" (Muslim, 1.408). So according to Bayhaqi, the contradiction is only apparent, and raising the finger is the "movement" that Wa’il saw from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the people’s hands under their cloaks, according to Za’ida’s version, which remains, however, shadhdh or "deviant" from a hadith point of view, unless understood in this limitary sense.

THE RESULT

The self claimed muhaddith Albani followed a shadhdh or "deviant hadith" leaving behind many sahih ( authentic) hadith on the topic!! The question is WHY?

Answer is simple. He wanted to go against the muslims and wanted to do something" different"

PLZ NOTE

Evidence: Ibn 'Umar reported that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) sat for tashahhud he placed his left hand on his left knee. and his right hand on his right knee. and he raised his right finger, which is next to the thumb, making supplication in this way, and he stretched his left hand on his left knee. Another version on the authority of Ibn Umar says: When the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) sat for tashahhud, he placed his left hand on his left knee and placed his right hand on his right knee, and he formed a ring like (fifty-three) and pointed with his finger of attestation.[Muslim]

Maalik has informed that Muslim ibn Abi Maryam informed from Ali ibn Abdur Rahmaan al-Muawiy that he said, ‘Abdullah ibn Umar [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] saw me whilst I was playing with pebbles in Salaat. When I turned (after completing my Salaat), he prevented me saying ‘do as Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] did.’ I asked, ‘what was Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] ‘s practice?’ he said, ‘When Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] sat in Salaat, he placed his right hand on his right thigh and he clasped all his fingers and pointed with the finger next to the thumb, i.e. index finger and he placed his left hand on his left thigh.

Imaam Muhammad [ra] said, ‘We adopt the practice of Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] and this is the view of Imaam Abu Hanifa [ra]’

ANOTHER WAHABI SCHOLAR REFUTED ALBANI ON THIS ISSUE

The Position of Ash-Shaikh Muqbil Al-Waadi’ee ( A WAHABI SCHOLAR)

(This was the position of Shaikh Muqbil bin Haadee Al-Waadi'ee (rahimahullaah) - i.e. that the finger is NOT moved during the tashahhud, rather one only points with it without moving it. The issue of difference revolves around a single hadeeth reported by Waa'il bin Hujr.

Shaikh Muqbil discusses it in As-Saheehul-Musnad mimmaa laysa fis-Saheehayn, vol.2, pg.265. The narration was recorded by Ibn Maajah, and Waa'il said, "I saw the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) making a circle with his thumb and middle finger and he lifted the one that was next to them (i.e. the index finger), supplicating with it in the Tashahhud."

Shaikh Muqbil said, "This hadeeth is Hasan (good). This hadeeth proves pointing with the finger. However, in reference to moving it, then the only one who narrated that was Zaa'idah bin Qudaamah and he has contradicted 13 narrators (who all narrated this same hadeeth from Waa'il): Bishr bin Al-Mufadhdhal with Abee Daawood, Sufyaan bin 'Uyainah with An-Nasaa'ee, Ath-Thawree with An-Nasaa'ee, 'Abdul-Waahid bin Ziyaad with Ahmad, Shu'bah with Ahmad, Zuhayr bin Mu'aawiyah with Ahmad, 'Abdullaah bin Idrees with Ibn Khuzaymah, Khaalid bin 'Abdillaah At-Tahhaan with Al-Bayhaqee, Muhammad bin Fudhayl with Ibn Khuzaymah, Abul-Ahwas Sallaam bin Sulaym with At-Tayaalisee, Aboo 'Awaanah and Gheelaan bin Jaami' both were quoted by Al-Bayhaqee as mentioning it (i.e. this hadeeth without moving the finger), and all of them reported it from 'Aasim bin Kulayb (who narrated it from his father, from Waa'il) and none of them mentioned moving (the finger) in it.

It was also reported from the companions 'Abdullaah bin Az-Zubayr, 'Abdullaah bin 'Umar, Aboo Humayd As-Saa'idee, Aboo Hurayrah, Sa'd bin Abee Waqqaas, Ibn 'Abbaas, Khaffaaf bin Eemaa', and all of them did not mention moving (the finger). So it is known from this that the report of Zaa'idah is strange and contradicting (Shaathth). And Allaah knows best. The detailed explanation concerning those who reported the hadeeth of these narrators who have opposed Zaa'idah, and (the hadeeths of) these companions can be seen in the research of our noble brother, Ahmad bin Sa'eed, may Allaah preserve him."

The difference is that Shaikh Al-Albaanee considered this a case of Ziyaadatuth-Thiqah (the additional information added in a narration of one of the narrators who is reliable that is not found in the other versions of the hadeeth). This is because Al-Albaanee did not consider the additional wording, "and he would move it" as contradictory because he says that pointing does not negate movement. Shaikh Muqbil went with the basic principle that a Ziyaadah (extra added wording) that contradicts what others who were more reliable or more numerous in their number reported is Shaathth, and thus unaccepted.

STRANGE ARE THE WAHABI WAYS!!!

HADITH: THE END OF WORLD IS NEAR ( MUST FOR ALL)

2008-04-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

On the Nature of Ignorane

The Romans used to say, mostly ironically, "dulcis ignorantia." Of course, ignorance is sweet only to those who believe that "whatever you do not know cannot harm you." But Islam considers certain types of knowledge required from every human being and other types merely recommended, while harmless ignorance applies only to that the ignorance of which does not cause a lasting impediment to obligatory knowledge.

The Ulema have divided ignorance (jahl) into two types: jahl basit (simple), and jahl murakkab (complex).

Jahl basit is basic unawareness - "I do not know." This is a minor problem in the sense that it is easily remedied and replaced with knowledge given the proper steps summed up by the act of asking. Even a superlatively knowledgeable person such as Imam Malik, will - or rather, must - at times say: "I do not know" and defer the matter to those who know, by asking. Ibn `Umar would bless the day in which he admitted not to know something. For to say "I do not know" is in itself a proof of one's knowledge that one knows something and ignores many things, as the maxim goes, "`Alimta shay'an wa jahilta ashya'."

Compound Ignorance

Jahl murakkab, compound ignorance, is by far the real problem. Most of what is posted on Internet forums is characterized by Jahl murakkab, the disease of those who say: "I do know, I do know, I do know" and they know less than nothing. Of beneficial knowledge they are completely deprived, and mostly possess useless knowledge. This is not due to the nature of their material but to the disease in their hearts, ego pushing them into denial and obduracy beyond limits of which they themselves have no idea. Wal-`iyadhu billah.

A mark of this disease is that most of their discourse if from their own heads. They will turn to their minds and produce what they will call "Islamic views" - on Authority, Human Faculties, the Meaning of Surrender, Worship, Hadith, Salvation, Khilafa, Reform, Education, the Vote, etc. taking and leaving from the Book and Sunna what they please, like other Ummas did with their Books before. And it is all nonsense and causes for remorse in the Balance on the Day of Judgment.

Safety and remedy from this disease is to stick to what the pious Salaf said - those that went before us and whose Islamic knowledge and piety are unquestioned. Imam Ahmad - Allah have mercy on him - said: "How can I ever say what was not said before me?" The compound dolt or Jahil Murakkab, on the other hand, says: "How can I ever say what was said before me?" What is worse, he will quote from the Qur'an and Sunna to support his view!

Consequently everything that proceeds from compound ignorance is, by definition, new and original. It is innovated in essence and style though not necessarily in content as they dispose of the words of the Qur'an and Sunna, and Shaytan is past master at quoting the Five Heavenly Books. Nevertheless, it is easy to detect it, wal-Hamdu lillah.

Coarseness and Ignorance - Signs of the Hour

Among the signs of the Hour mentioned by the Noble Messenger of Allah - Allah bless and greet him and his Family and Companions - in Sahih al-Bukhari is "when the destitute (al-buhm) camelherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in al-Bukhari has: "when the barefoot and the naked are the top leaders (lit. "heads") of the people." In Sahih Muslim: "you shall see the barefoot, naked, indigent (al-`âla) shepherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in Muslim states: "when the naked and barefoot are the top leaders of the people." A third version in Muslim has: "when you see that the barefoot and naked, the deaf and dumb are the kings of the earth."

Ibn Hajar said in commenting this passage of the hadith in Fath al-Bari:

It was said that "bear-foot and naked," "deaf and dumb" are their attributes by way of hyperbole, showing how coarse they are. That is, they did not use their hearing or sight in anything concerning their Religion even though they are of perfectly sound senses.

The Prophet's (saws) words: "The heads of the people" means the kings of the earth. Abu Farwas' narration names the kings explicitly.

What is meant by them is the people of the desert country, as was made explicit in Sulayman al-Taymi's and other narrations: "Who are the barefoot and naked?" He answered: "The Bedouin Arabs."

Al-Tabarani relates through Abu Hamza, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas from the Prophet Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wa sallam, that "one of the signs of the change of the Religion is the affectation of eloquence by the rabble and their betaking to palaces in big cities."

Al-Qurtubi said: "What is meant here is the prediction of a reversal in society whereby the people of the desert country will take over the conduct of affairs and rule every region by force. They will become extremely rich and their primary concern will be to erect tall building and take pride in them. We have witnessed this in our time as well as the import of the hadith: "The hour will not rise until the happiest man will be the depraved son of a depraved father (lukka` ibn lukka`)," and also "if the leadership is entrusted to those unfit for it, then expect the hour," both found in the authentic collections."

May Allah grant all people of sound hearts never to be phazed nor swayed for even one second by the argufying devils who attack Islam from outside or - especially, in our time - inside. Their endless prattle and all they hope and work for is doomed to perish, and only what was done for the Countenance of Allah shall remain and triumph. This is the path of the Salaf; the path of Ahl al-Sunna; the path of the People of Shari`a and Tariqa; the path of the People of Paradise.

May Allah send blessings and peace on the Best of Creation, OUR MASTER Muhammad in this blessed month of this birth and at all times, and upon his Family and all his Companions.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/media/the-worlds-tallest-building-has-a-hell-of-a-view-331730.php

and this is even more interesting

Savoy owner plans world's tallest building
By Megan Levy
Last Updated: 2:03am BST 31/03/2008

The race to build the world's tallest building has reached a new level with plans for a mile-high tower to be built near the Red Sea port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/wtower130.xml

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STAR BUCKS IN MAKKAH

2008-04-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

Mecca Bucks: Why Wahhabis Invited Starbucks to Islam's Holiest City

Zvika Krieger, The New Republic Published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Multinational capitalism and its edifices rise in the shadow of Mecca's Grand Mosque.

According to some popular Muslim accounts, the marble Kaaba structure at the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca was built first by the angels before God created mankind, reconstructed by Adam, and later rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael. It's safe to say that none of these builders could have anticipated the latest use of the Mosque's image, in a promotional DVD for the Abraj Al Bait Towers, a giant new skys****er complex slated to be built just across the street from one of the entrances to the Grand Mosque. The DVD shows a beautiful woman sitting in one of the towers' luxury apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook thousands of pilgrims circling the Kaaba below. Eyes flashing a come-hither stare from beneath her tightly wound headscarf, she asks prospective buyers in Arabic, "Would you like to be here in this place in front of the Kaaba year after year?"

Unlike the United Arab Emirates, with its Western-friendly, oil-money-flush megalopolises Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia had, until very recently, resisted commercializing its major cities--particularly Mecca, site of Islam's holiest relics, where millions of pilgrims flock yearly to perform the hajj. But the dramatic rise in global oil prices, and the construction boom across Saudi Arabia that followed, has finally caught up with the city where Mohammed was born.

A report by the Saudi British Bank (SABB), one of the kingdom's biggest lenders, estimates that $30 billion will be invested in construction and infrastructure in Mecca over the next four years from local and foreign companies. Up to 130 new skys****ers are anticipated, including the $6 billion Abraj Al Bait Towers, a seven-tower project that, once completed in 2009, will be one of the largest buildings in the world, with a 60-floor, 2,000-room hotel; a 1,500-person convention center; two heliports; and a four-story mall that will house, among 600 other outlets, Starbucks, The Body Shop, U.K.-based clothing line Topshop (Kate Moss is a guest designer), and Tiffany & Co. En route to the hajj, pilgrims already have the opportunity to stop at cosmetic superstore MAC, perfumery VaVaVoom, and Claire's Accessories. H&M and Cartier are on the way. "All the top brands are flocking here," says John Sfakianakis, SABB's chief economist. "The only thing missing is Filene's Basement."

The boom is coinciding with Saudi Arabia's efforts to diversify its economy, as well as its joining of the WTO in 2005, which forced the kingdom to open its retail sector to foreign companies. Still, it's not surprising that multinational capitalism has honed in on this market: Lots of tourists on vacation, no matter how holy, tend to have a lax grip on their wallets. But, to pull off this remarkable transformation of Islam's spiritual seat, including the destruction of many sites with sacred histories to make way for malls and luxury condos, the luxe brands of the world have had to lean on some unlikely allies.

Irfan Al Alawi, the founder and former Executive director the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation and the most vocal opponent of the destruction of Mecca's historic sites, lives in a house in Mecca built mostly out of salvage from demolished Meccan buildings: hulking wooden doors, intricately carved panels, and ancient stone columns. As the scion of a prominent Hadhrami family descending from the prophet Mohammed, the 40 year old historian has a significant amount of leeway to criticize the government--often joking with the secret police guards stationed outside his house to track his comings and goings (Saudis are thrown into prison on a daily basis for much less).

Alawi uses his freedom to rail against the transformation of his hometown, giving presentations to groups of businessmen about the obliteration of Islam's most significant places. Alawi estimates that over 300 antiquity sites in Mecca and Medina have already been destroyed, such as the house of the first caliph, Abu Bakr, which was leveled to make room for the Mecca Hilton Hotel. (According to Ivor McBurney, a spokesman for Hilton, "We saw the tremendous opportunities to tap into Saudi Arabia's religious tourism segment.")

"It's not just our heritage, it's the evidence of the story of the Prophet," Alawi says, sitting in his incense-filled living room, dressed in his trademark woolen cloak and intricately wound turban--itself an act of rebellion against the austere white robes and simple headdresses that Saudi men are expected to wear. "What can we say now? 'This parking lot was the first school of Islam'? 'There used to be a mountain here where Mohammed made a speech'? ... What's the difference between history and legend?" he asks. "Evidence."

Over protests by groups like the Islamic Supreme Council of America and the Muslim Canadian Congress, Saudi authorities have authorized the destruction of hundreds of antiquities, such as an important eighteenth-century Ottoman fortress in Mecca that was razed to make way for the Abraj Al Bait Towers-- a move the Turkish foreign minister condemned as "cultural genocide." An ancient house belonging to Mohammed was recently razed to make room for, among other developments, a public toilet facility. An ancient mosque belonging to Abu Bakr has now been replaced by an ATM machine. And the sites of Mohammed's historic battles at Uhud and Badr have been, with a perhaps unconscious nod to Joni Mitchell, paved to put up a parking lot. The remaining historical religious sites in Mecca can be counted on one hand and will likely not make it much past the next hajj, Alawii says: "It is incredible how little respect is paid to the house of God."

Ironically, however, some major culprits in disrespecting the "house of God" are Wahhabi clerics, crusading to destroy Mecca's historical landmarks, which they fear will lead to idolatry. Developers are often tipped off by the cleric-run ministries about future construction plans. And the Abraj Al Bait Towers are being partially funded by the government through the King Abdul Aziz Endowment, which the towers' developers describe as "a religious property" created to serve interests "vital to the welfare of Islamic society."

Prominent clerics often speak out against conservation efforts like Alawi's--in fact, it was Wahhabis who ran him out of his job in Mecca in the first place, after his increasingly bold criticisms of government policy irked the clerical elite.

"It is not permitted to glorify buildings and historical sites," proclaimed Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, then the kingdom's highest religious authority, in a much-publicized fatwa in 1994. "Such action would lead to polytheism. ... [S]o it is necessary to reject such acts and to warn others away from them."

A pamphlet published last year by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, endorsed by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and distributed at the Prophet's Mosque, where Mohammed, Abu Bakr, and the Islamic Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab are buried, reads, "The green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Mosque," according to Alawi, executive director of the London-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. This shocking sentiment was echoed in a speech by the late Muhammad ibn Al Uthaymeen, one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent Wahhabi clerics, who delivered sermons in Mecca's Grand Mosque for over 35 years: "We hope one day we'll be able to destroy the green dome of the Prophet Mohammed," he said, in a recording provided by Al Alawi.

The clerics' stance permits the Saudi government to play it both ways, in a perfect marriage of the secular and spiritual. It can destroy ancient sites and still maintain doctrinal credibility; the massive, capitalistic accumulation of wealth becomes a religious necessity, not an evil. "The government has finally woken up to the commercial value of religious tourism," Sfakianakis says, "and they are really the ones driving this construction boom in Mecca."

Saudi officials excuse the unsavory aspects of the development by arguing that it will help ease the housing and services crunch caused by an explosion in the number of pilgrims (while about 2.4 million hajjis visited Mecca last year, some estimate that, over the next decade, the number could rise to 20 million per year). They dismiss critics like Alawi as having an overly sentimental attachment to historical sites. "It is equally fundamentalist to say that we have to keep everything exactly the way it was while the world around us is changing every day," says Nabeel Koshak, an associate professor at the government-funded Umm Al Qura University in Mecca. Habib Zain Al Abideen, the Saudi deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, head of all the kingdom's hajj-related construction projects, calls the hajj "a good opportunity to visit Mecca and Medina, do some shopping, make a vacation out of it."

Taking his advice in a Topshop less than 100 yards from the Grand Mosque one day in December was Fatima, a twenty-something housewife. Trying to decide between the pink silk-screened tank-top and the lycra scoop-neck blouse, she stood in front of the mirror, frantically holding one and then the other over her black abaya robe. Her friend urged her to hurry up, flashing a Visa card to pay for her stretch jeans and oversized sunglasses at the register so they could make it to the Grand Mosque in time for prayers. But Fatima had been waiting all year to splurge at Topshop. "The store is closing soon," she snaps at her friend. "You can pray any time."

Zvika Krieger is a deputy web editor at The New Republic.

POINTS TO BE NOTED :

On one side ,

the Wahhabis have destroyed the prophet's home in Makkah, have demolished the mosque of the seven companions in Madina, have turned the khandaq into a parking lot, have removed many relics from the times/days of the Prophet[saws] and his companions, all on the false pretix and claims that visiting these places, reminding oneself of them, developing love for the Prophet[saws] and his companions through touching and obersevation, would lead to "shirk",

and on the other side,

the aal saud pirates are now in the process of discussion with the Vatican to build the first Church in Arabia after 1400 years, where the bandit king Abdullah ibn AbdelAziz giving his full support for this idea, a church where indeed shirk takes place.

do you see the world of ignorance with these people?

The Wahhabis are without doubt khawarij dogs, as one of their signs is that they are severe harsh , and love to crackdown on muslims on false pretixes and slanders, and at the same time they are loving, caring, and cordial with the real mushriks, like the Christians.

REALISE THIS

No denying it, they are indeed: harsh upon the Muslims, easy upon the kuffar. As noted in the book The Esoteric Deviation in Islam, by Umar Ibrahim Vadillo (hafidahullah), Salafism has been undergoing a transformation towards "inter-faith dialogue" and is part of the process of the "esotercisation" of religions, where the "central elements" are brought together and the external differences ignored, so that the capitalist global state can forge ahead with its agenda.

It makes no sense. This "kingdom" (which basis is there in Islam for such?), the only country named after its founder, has committed untold numbers of atrocities against the Muslims while it has opened up the doors of Bayt al-Haramain to the enemies of Islam to use as a launching pad against the other Muslims. This is a country which has:

(i) submitted to the kufr laws of the UN and opened up its country for kaffir occupation,

(ii) taken control over the Two Holy Cities but has refused to establish a Khalifate based on rule by a descendant of the Quraish,

(iii) demolished the tombs of the Sahaba and the Awliya, under the pretext that the people "worship" at those tombs,

(iv) attempted to demolish the green dome over Masjid an-Nabawi and to separate the graves from the Masjid, which no one from the Khalifas or the righteous scholars from every century have even thought about,

(v) instituted an economic system which is based on the usurious paper-money, where Ribaa runs rampant under the false term "Islamic banking",

(vi) the rulers who squander the wealth and rather than using it to benefit the land and Muslims throughout the world, use it to satisfy their own desires and vices,

(vii) related to this latter point is their ignoring what goes on to the Muslims throughout the world, there is no country where the Muslims are being slaughtered and oppressed, where the regime has not cultivated friendly ties with that country.

....And we're supposed to regard them as following the Salaf as-Salih, as a land where Tawhid and Shari'a prevail? What about Hakimiyya, which belongs only to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala)? The regime does not trust in Allah (Azza wa Jall), it fears only the capitalist banking structure and America.

This is why it just boggles my mind why anyone can continue to regard themselves as "Salafi", seeing that this noble term has been distorted and mocked beyond recognition by the regime and its followers. May Allah (Azza wa Jall) expose and destroy the plots and make its reality apparent to all the Muslims. Ameen

SOME ONE SAID THIS

our apprehensions result from a pattern of Sa'udi commercialization of the Two Holy Cities, coupled with their extremism about demolishing the green dome or separating the graves of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and his close Sahabi from Masjid an-Nabawi.

Another problem is the nature of Starbucks itself. Its CEO, Howard Schultz, is a staunch zionist jew and has openly supported "israel", indeed has boasted about giving much of his profits to supporting that accursed state.

There are plenty of Muslim coffee shops to support, why invite some company which supports the zionists, unless as part of a pattern to commercialize the Two Holy Cities and create a "modern" capitalist state? These consumerist tactics are an important part of a state increasing its power and establishing even more conformity, so that their task of establishing control is made easier.

I mean, think about how outrageous this is: Forcing Muslim owners out of business, adopting American customs, the overpriced Starbucks coffee will cheat hajjis out of money and at least a sizable portion of this money will eventually fill the cofers of a state which slaughters our brothers and sisters!