From Layman's Desk-14.
Part 24: Continued:
Calling Grave Visitation as Grave Worship is a filthy slur cast by Wahhabis on the Majority Muslim Ummah (Very Briefly):
Now, the above-mentioned orthodox or real Sunnis have their roots in the Salaf as-Saliheen who have been praised by Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) as the best of generations who lived during the period of first three hundred years after the Hijrah (622 c.e.) or emigration of the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) to Madina Munawwara. The Sunnis follow one of the four surviving Madhhabs or the Schools of Thought represented by the four great Imams of Jurisprudence: Imam Abu Hanifa ® (80 - 150 A.H ); Imaam Malik ® (93-179 A.H.); Imam Idris Shafi ®(150 - 240 A.H); Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal ® (164 - 241 A.H). The overwhelming majority of scholars have adhered to a Madhhab loyally with only a handful of dissidents who have failed to make a significant impact on the Sunni Islam. ‘The proof that taqlid is obligatory is the ijma` of the Companions. For they used to give fatwas to the ordinary people and did not command them to acquire the degree of ijtihad for themselves.
Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlwi (Radi Allahu anhu) states in his book Fatawah Azeezi " The various parts of the Ahl as-Sunnah Wal Jama'ah in Aqaa'id (belief) such as the Ash'ariyah, the Maaturdi; in Fiqh (Law) such as the Hanafi, the Shaafi, the Hanbali, the Maaliki; in Tassawaf (Sufi Orders) such as the Qadiri, the Chisti, the Naqshabandi, the Suharwardi; this servant considers all of them to be the truth."
The Wahhabis/Salafis have strayed away from the main body of the Muslim Majority, i.e. the Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama’ah. The Beloved Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) said "Follow the way of the largest group of Muslims! For, he who deviates from this group will be thrown into Hell!" [Ibne Majah] The Beloved Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) said " He who deviates from the largest group of Muslims, even as much as a hand span, has himself cut off his connection with Islam." [Abu Daud, Imam Ahmed]. Therefore, in the light of these ahadith and in conjunction with the aforementioned ahadith it is abundantly clear that they do not qualify to be considered as Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama’ah. There is no fifth Madhhab by the name of Salafiyya in the Ahl as-Sunna wal Jama’ah; nor there ever was during the time of Salaf-as-Saaliheen and thereafter. These new sects are only of recent origin.
THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC BELIEFS OF WAHHABIS:
For example, Ibn Taimiyya compares Allah to Moon. Ibn Taymiyyah says Allah (SWT) needs, He is divisible and Settles in a Place. According to Islamic scholars: Ibn Taymiyya nowhere explicitly rejects limit and dimension for Allah. In fact he says in his answer to Razi ('al-Ta'sis') that the rejection of limit (Hadd) and dimension (qadr) for Allah is nowhere found in the Book and the Sunna (as quoted in Kawthari's 'Maqaalaat' p. 351), whereas the Sunni `aqeedah explicitly states: "The Glorious and Exalted Lord is above and beyond sharing in the properties of having directions or spatial limits: thoughts cannot measure Him, locations cannot contain Him, dimensions cannot encompass Him" (Imam al-Juwayni in 'Lam` al-adillat fi qawaa`id `aqaa'id ahl al-sunna' [The Radiance of Proofs Concerning the Bases of the Beliefs of Ahl al-Sunna]). Ibn Taymiyya even says that there are two kinds of tashbeeh [likening of God], one of which "whose meaning it would be improper to disallow" (Beirut edition of 'Majmoo` fataawa shaykh al-islam...' 3:172, and again in the 'Ta'sis' that "the Book, the Sunna, and the Consensus nowhere say that all bodies are necessarily created, nor that Allah Himself is necessarily not a body" (quoted in Kawthari p. 350).]
The Salafi scholar Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips says: He has neither corporeal body nor is He a formless spirit. He has a form befitting His majesty, 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. The great Sunni Ash`ari scholar, Imam al-Bayhaqi, in his Manaqib Ahmad relates with an authentic chain that Imam Ahmad 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.
The Imam Abu Mansur `Abd al-Qaahir al-Baghdaadi says in his book 'al-asmaa' wa al-Sifaat' that al-Ash`ari and most of the theologians (mutakallimeen) have pronounced every innovator whose innovation consists in or leads to disbelief, a disbeliever. This is the case for one who declares that the One he worships has a form/image (Sura), or that He has a limit or a boundary (Haddan wa nihaaya), or that movement and stillness may be applied to Him. There is no ambiguity for anyone endowed with a conscience that they are unbelievers, the Karrami anthropomorphists of Khurasaan who said that "God is a body with a limit and an end under Him" (inna Allaha jismun lahu Haddun wa nihaayatun min taHtihi) and that "He is in contact with His Throne" (wa innahu mumassun li `arshihi), and that "He is the locus of newly occurred events" (wa innahu mahallu al-Hawaadith), and that "His speech and His will are created in Him" (wa annahu yaHduthu feehi qawluhu wa iraadatuhu).
Dr. Ahmad al-Hijazi al-Saqqa points out that Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymeen differentiates between the 'kursi' and the '`arsh'. He says ('SharH al-`aqeeda al-waasiTiyya' p. 15): "The kursi is the place of the two feet, and the `arsh is that upon which Allah made istiwaa'." The meaning of his words is that Allah sits on the `arsh and then places His Feet on the kursi. This is anthropomorphism (tajseem). It is not permitted to differentiate (between kursî and `arsh), for the one who sits on the `arsh does not place his feet on the kursî; also, there are many texts adducing that the `arsh is the kursî. Dr al-Saqqa gives other pieces of evidence to show how the late Saudi scholar ‘Uthaymeen consolidates Tajseem. "Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymin reinforces his anthropomorphism by saying (Sharh p. 42): "It is established that Allah Most High has feet (al-qadam thâbit lillâhi ta`âlâ), and Ahl al-Sunna have explained the leg and foot (al-rijl wa al-qadam) as being literal according to what befits Allah (haqîqatan `alâ al-wajhi al-lâ'iq billâh); whereas the "People of Figurative Interpretation"16 (Ahl al-Ta'wîl) have explained al-rijl as being the group which Allah will place in the Fire, and al-qadam as being those who are sent forth (muqaddamîn) to the Fire... and I reject and return their explanation to them on the grounds that it contravenes the external meaning of the words (mukhâlifun li zâhir al-lafz)."
Shaykh Gibril Haddad writing again on `Uthaymin: In his commentary on Ibn Taymiyya's `Aqida Wasitiyya, `Uthaymin commits tamthîl - making up similes - by comparing Allah Most High to the sun, stating that "Allah is in the heaven in person (bi dhâtihi) but despite this He draws near to the servant during the latter's prayer, just as the sun is in the heaven, while its rays reach creatures on earth."
In his books, Imam Ghazali refutes the deviance of those who apply to Allah Ta`ala some attributes which only befit created entities. In one of his books he writes: - "He [Allah Ta`ala] is not a body with a form, or a limited, quantitative substance, not resembling bodies in quantifiability or divisibility, or in being a substance or qualified by substance, or in being an accident or qualified by accidents. He does not resemble anything that exists, nor does anything that exists resemble Him. There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, nor is He like unto anything. He is not delimited by magnitude, contained by places, encompassed by directions, or bounded by heavens or earth." (Qawa'id, 1.3)
Just a cursory mention here since this is not our subject proper. An Islamic scholar points out on his website: Today some people claim to teach us Tawhid. We have to remember that there are two types of Tawhid - the true Tawhid, and the false tawhid. We have to beware of the false tawhid, which is the tawhid of Iblis, as it started with him.Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, ordered Iblis (Shaytan) to Sujud (prostrate) before Nabi Adam, `alayhi-s-salam, out of veneration. Iblis responded that he only venerates Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, and nobody else. What is Iblis's fate? Hell.The cursed Iblis was the first 'Aalim' who thought that venerating a friend of Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, is against Tawhid. So those who do not want us to honour the people who Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, has honoured by making them His Awliya, are like Iblis - claiming to honour Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, exclusively, and not honouring the friends of Allah, subhanahuwa Ta`ala. The Malaika (Angels) knew that true belief in Allah, subhanaHu wa Ta`ala, means loving, respecting, and venerating all those close to him, so they bowed to Adam (a.s), and were blessed.
The prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) is related to have said in Sahih Muslim: “O Allah, You are the first: there is nothing before You; and You are the last: there is nothing after You. You are the Manifest (al-Zahir): there is nothing above You. You are the Hidden (al-Batin): there is nothing below You.”
[ Sahih Muslim, kitab al-dhikr wal-du`a wal-tawba wal-istighfar, bab ma yaqulu `ind al-nawm wa-akhd al-madhja,
#7064]
In an interesting analysis of Tawheed, as understood and practised by the Wahhabis, a modern Islamic scholar, Abu Muhammad Ibraheem al-Hanbali provides us with penetrating insight. He says: The Wahhabis are in great kufr concerning their creed. They say:
1. The mushrikeen were upon tawheed ur-Rububiyyah – Yet this is refuted by the simple fact they took Lords besides Allah, they worshipped a pantheon of deities besides Allah, and considered Allah to be the top ranking god of this pantheon. Yet the Wahhabies suggest their tawheed would have been perfect if they had not CALLED UPON others besides Allah. This is because their understanding of shirk is flawed within itself.
2. The Wahhabis define tawheed ul-Uluhiyyah to single Allah out in worship, and at the same time they define shirk to CALL UPON others besides Allah. They say the ONLY thing that negated the faith of the mushrikeen is that they CALLED UPON others besides Allah. Wahhabis do not take into account that the mushrikeen BELIEVED in 360 gods and attributed to them powers of divinity. All they were called to do [according to Wahhabi Islam] is to stop calling upon them and SINGLE OUT Allah in WORSHIP. This is the shirk in the Wahhabi creed, because to define tawheed as to SINGLE OUT ALLAH IN WORSHIP is like saying, “there is a moon god, a sun god, a hubal god, hmmm i think I will pick the Allah god to worship, I still believe in those gods, but I will just single out Allah today in my pantheon of taghut”. Let it be known, that the mere belief of another god of the possibility besides Allah merits disbelief, not to believe in 360 gods and then all of a sudden it only becomes shirk when they are CALLED UPON. This is the folly of Wahhabi creed.
“Do they consider the words of Ibn Umar who said about people who use ayahs in the very fashion that they do: ‘They are the most evil of Allah’s creation for they re-interpret the passages that were revealed about the Kuffar and use them upon the [Muslim] believers’[Saheeh al-Bukhaari, vol. 9, p. 50; Fath ul-Baari, vol. 12, Kitaab Istitaabat ul-Murtadeen, p. 397]
“They accuse the believers of shirk and kufr by re-interpreting the passages that were revealed for the Kuffar and then applying them to the believers. The Holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam said to the effect that they would not understand the Qur’an when he said “They will recite the Qur’an but it will not go past their throats” Do they consider? No! They are dumbstruck!”
Classical terminologies have been given new meanings to suit their creed and thus changing the meaning of Tawheed, Shirk, Ilah, Ibaadah, and Dua’about which an entire post was devoted before in explanation that Dua’ does not always mean “worship”.
WAHHABI THREAT TO HANAFI, SHAFI'I, HANBALI & MALIKI SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT:
As stated above, Sunni Muslims believe in four imams of fiqah or Islamic laws such as Hanfi, Hanbali, Malaki and Shafi’i whereas Wahhabis don't follow any Imam in Fiqh and are therefore called La-Madhhabi. The threat lies in their hatred of the Imams, especially Imam Abu Hanifa. Salafis and the like minded groups , in particular, stop people from following of four Imams of fiqh, but they do follow Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Abdul Wahhab blindly. Sometimes in order to delude Muslims, they say they also follow the four Imams in Fiqh or that they follow the Hanbali Fiqh. The later scholars have even distanced themselves from being Hanbalis. The psuedo-Salafis also attack Hadrat Imam Ghazali (d.1111 c.e.), accusing him of being a deviant Sufi despite the fact that Tasawwuf is an integral part of the Deen of Islam as emphasized in the Hadith-e-Jibreel where it is abundantly made clear that the 'Deen' comprises of Islam, Eeman and Ihsan - the last word being the original Arabic word for Tasawwuf.
Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi states: “Ibn Taymiyyah's deviance paved the way for many sects which are today active in making propaganda, and in diverting many uneducated Muslims from the Path of Sunnah and Jama`ah. Sects like Wahhabis (pseudo-Salafis), Deobandis, Mawdudiyyun, Ikhwan al-Muslimin, Albaniyyun, Qaradawiyyun are nothing but a contemporary consequence of the fitnah which was caused by the diffusion of the heresies of Ibn Taymiyyah and of his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, the same heresies that - during the twelfth century of hijrah - were resurrected and aggravated by Muhammad Ibn `Abdi 'l-Wahhab an-Najdi.”
A prominent Islamic Scholar of Ibn Abdul Wahhab’s time, Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin wrote in his famous work ‘Hashiyya Radd Al-Mukhtar’ (Vol. 3, Page 309). as follows:
“In our time Ibn Abdul Wahhab Najdi appeared and attacked the two noble sanctuaries (Makkah and Madinah). He claimed to be a Hanbali, but his thinking was such that only he alone was a Muslim, and everyone else was a polytheist! Under this guise, he said that killing the Ahle Sunnah was permissible.”
The orthodox Sunni scholar Shaykh Jamil Effendi al-Zahawi said that the teachers of Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab, including two teachers he had studied with in Madina – Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Kurdi and Shaykh Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi – became aware of his anti-Sunni Wahhabi creed and warned Muslims about him. His shaykhs, including the two aforementioned shaykhs, used to say: “God will allow him [to] be led astray; but even unhappier will be the lot of those misled by him.” Moreover, Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab’s own father had warned Muslims about him, as did his biological brother, Sulayman Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab, an orthodox Sunni scholar who refuted him in a book entitled al-Sawa’iq al-Ilahiyya fi al-radd `ala al-Wahhabiyya [“Divine Lightnings in Refuting the Wahhabis”]. Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab was refuted by the orthodox Sunni scholars for his many ugly innovations. Perhaps his most famous book, Kitab at-Tawheed (Book of Unity of God) is widely circulated amongst Wahhabis worldwide, including the United States. His book is popular in Wahhabi circles, although orthodox Sunni scholars have said that there is nothing scholarly about it, both in terms of its content and its style.
Shaykh Jamil Effendi al-Zahawi al-Hanbali al-Makki also states in his Al-Fajr as-Sadiq: “Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab claimed absolute ijtihad for himself and charged with error whoever preceded him belonging to the Mujtahids -- those great figures who dipped from the sea of knowledge of the Prophet -- and declared disbeliever their followers. He did not permit imitating the opinions of anyone other than himself, although he allowed anyone his of his ignorant followers to interpret the Qur'an in whatever mode their limited understanding gave them access, and to derive legal rulings from them on the basis of their weak grasp of its meaning. It was as though he permitted any one of his followers to be a mujtahid. Look at the way he played with religion and toyed with the Shari`a of the Faithful Messenger of Allah! As for his claim of absolute ijtihad, it is pure silliness on his part and shameless impudence with regard to the Arab language since he was not in his time one of those recognized for being foremost in knowledge. On the contrary, he was not even numbered among those who were considered by masters in the Hanbali madhhab as having any weight whatsoever, not to mention being considered an absolute mujtahid in the religion.”
The learned Sayyid al-Haddad al-Alawi said: "In our opinion, the one element in the statements and actions of Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab that makes his departure from the foundations of Islam unquestionable is the fact that he, without support of any generally accepted interpretation of Qur'an or Sunna (bi la ta'wil), takes matters in our religion necessarily well-known to be objects of prohibition (haram) agreed upon by consensus(ijma`) and makes them permissible(halal). Furthermore, along with that he disparages the prophets, the messengers, saints and the pious. Willful disparagement of anyone failing under these categories of person is unbelief( k u f r ) according to the consensus reached by the four Imams of the schools of Islamic law.
Remember also that Islam is facing one of the greatest threats in history and this threat is from within. The Four Schools of Thought (Madhhabs) have survived the specters of Fitna and disunity in early history of Islam and have emerged as the greatest binding factor that has kept the Muslim Ummah united. The schisms in the early period of Islam had been predicted by the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) when he said: Whoever among you outlives me shall see a vast dispute" (Imam Tirmidhi). As Abdal-Hakim Murad (born 1960) points out: Only the inherent sanity and love of unity among scholars of the ummah assisted, no doubt, by Providence overcame the early spasms of factionalism, and created a strong and harmonious Sunnism which has, at least on the purely religious plane, united ninety percent of the ummah for ninety percent of its history.
However, does it require any intelligence to understand that the Wahhabi stance of anti-madhabism is but playing into the hands of the enemies of Islam aided and abetted by enormous financial and oil resources! Imam Zahid al-Kawthari has refuted anti-Madhhabism in his book al-la Madhhabiyya Qantaratu al-Ladiniyya (Anti-Madhabism is the Archway of Atheism). So have other Sunni scholars. Some Sunni scholars, however, have taken a positive stance in the sense that La-Madhhabiyya gives an idea of anti-traditional trends inside Islam and fulfills the prediction of the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) who said: “The last of this Umma will curse and disparage the first.”
A befitting reply has been given by Hajj Gibril at http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=890&CATE=1
Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti has also articulated the orthodox response to the anti-Madhhab trend in his book: Non-Madhhabism: The Greatest Bida Threatening the Islamic Shari`a.
Is it not reasonable to hold that everyone cannot be one's own Mufti just as everyone cannot be one's own doctor? If this were not so, then it would not have been stated in Qur'an al-kareem:
"So you should ask people of knowledge if you yourselves do not know (about something)."
[Qur’an (an-Nahl) 16:43]
There are rigorous conditions for the persons wishing to do Ijtihad for himself: According to Shaykh Abdul-Hakim Murad these conditions include: (a) mastery of the Arabic language, to minimise the possibility of misinterpreting Revelation on purely linguistic grounds; (b) a profound knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and the circumstances surrounding the revelation of each verse and hadith, together with a full knowledge of the Quranic and hadith commentaries, and a control of all the interpretative techniques discussed above; (c) knowledge of the specialised disciplines of hadith, such as the assessment of narrators and of the matn [text]; (d) knowledge of the views of the Companions, Followers and the great imams, and of the positions and reasoning expounded in the textbooks of fiqh, combined with the knowledge of cases where a consensus (ijma) has been reached; (e) knowledge of the science of juridical analogy (qiyas), its types and conditions; (f) knowledge of ones own society and of public interest (maslahah); (g) knowing the general objectives (maqasid) of the Shariah; (h) a high degree of intelligence and personal piety, combined with the Islamic virtues of compassion, courtesy, and modesty.
“There have been a number of examples of such men, for instance Imam al-Nawawi among the Shafi'is, Qadi Ibn Abd al-Barr among the Malikis, Ibn Abidin among the Hanafis, and Ibn Qudama among the Hanbalis. All of these scholars considered themselves followers of the fundamental interpretative principles of their own madhhabs, but are on record as having exercised their own gifts of scholarship and judgement in reaching many new verdicts within them.[46] It is to these experts that the Mujtahid Imams directed their advice concerning ijtihad, such as Imam al-Shafi'i's instruction that ‘if you find a hadith that contradicts my verdict, then follow the hadith’.[47] It is obvious that whatever some writers nowadays like to believe, such counsels were never intended for use by the Islamically-uneducated masses. Imam al-Shafi`i was not addressing a crowd of butchers, nightwatchman and donkey-drovers.
"The remaining categories can in practice be reduced to two: the muttabi (follower), who follows his madhhab while being aware of the Quranic and hadith texts and the reasoning, underlying its positions,[49] and secondly the muqallid (emulator), who simply conforms to the madhhab because of his confidence in its scholars, and without necessarily knowing the detailed reasoning behind all its thousands of rulings.[50]"
As stated above, we would not like to go into the details of this aspect but the question before the Readers are: Are you going to listen to the deviant sects whose Aqaid (Beliefs) themselves are wrong? Remember: Wrong Aqida=Wrong Imaan= Wrong Amaal! Therefore, a short elicitation of the above background was necessary.
Let us now directly take up the other objections of those who live in glass houses but throw stones at the Muslim Majority Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama'ah, accusing them of Grave Worship.
To be concluded, Insha Allah…
NASIR
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