الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين أما بعد
The Importance of The People of Knowledge And of Referring Back to Them
Allaah, The Most High, says:
وَإِذَا جَاءَهُمْ أَمْرٌ مِنَ الأَمْنِ أَوِ الْخَوْفِ أَذَاعُوا بِهِ وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَى أُولِي الأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنْبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَوْلا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ لاتَّبَعْتُمُ الشَّيْطَانَ إِلا قَلِيلا
((And when there comes to them a matter of security or fear, they spread it around. If only they had referred it to the Messenger or to those charged with authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it. And were it not for the favour of Allaah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan, except for a few.)) (An-Nisaa: 83)
He says also:
شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
((Allaah bears witness that none has the right to be worshiped but Him, and [so do] the Angels and those of knowledge: He Who maintains justice, none has the right to be worshiped but Him, He is The All-Mighty, the All-Wise.)) (Aal-‘Imraan: 18)
He says likewise:
فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
((So ask the people of remembrance if you do not know.)) (An-Nahl: 43)
On the authority of ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘Aas that the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:
((Indeed Allaah does not take away knowledge by seizing it from the servants, but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars – until when there is no scholar remaining the people take the ignorant ones as heads, so they are asked and they give verdicts without knowledge so they go astray and lead others astray))[1]
On the authority of Aboo Dardaa that the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:
((Whoever takes a path by way of which he seeks knowledge, then Allaah will cause him to be upon a path from the paths of Paradise; and indeed the Angels lower their wings out of pleasure for the one who seeks knowledge. And the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth indeed seek forgiveness for him; and the fish in the depths of the water; and the excellence of the scholar over the worshipper is like the excellence of the moon on a night when it is full over the rest of the stars. And indeed the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets; and the Prophets do not leave as inheritance any deenaars nor any dirhams; rather they leave knowledge as an inheritance; so whoever takes it takes an abundant portion.))[2]
Imaam Ahmad (rahimahullaah) said:
“They (the scholars) call the one who has gone astray towards guidance; and they are patient from them over the harms. They revive by way of the Book of Allaah, The Most High those that are dead; and they help give sight by way of the light of Allaah to the people of blindness. For how many a slain one by Iblees they have indeed revived; and how many a wandering astray one they have indeed guided.”[3]
The People of Knowledge On The Position of The Khawaarij Regarding Knowledge and Its People
When the Khawaarij first appeared as a group it was the companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) who confronted their misguided ideology and it was they who recognized the position of the Khawaarij from the people of knowledge as is clear from the statement of Ibn ‘Abbaas (radhiyallaahu ‘anhumaa) who said to them:
“I said to them: I have come to you from the companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) – the Muhaajiroon and the Ansaar; and from the son in-law of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) – ‘Ali, and it was upon them that the Qur’aan was revealed; and they are more knowledgeable of its understanding than you – and there are none of them from amongst you…”[4]
Ibn Al-Jawzee (rahimahullaah) said regarding Dhul-Khuwaisarah:
“This was the first Khaarijite who rebelled in Islaam;[5] and his blight was that he was pleased with his own opinion; and yet had he halted – he would have come to see that there is no opinion over the opinion of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). The followers of this man – they are the ones who fought against ‘Ali bin Abee Taalib.”[6]
Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan bin Hasan bin Muhammad bin ‘Abdil-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said:
“The Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) informed regarding their shooting through (i.e. the religion),[7] he likewise commanded his companions to fight against them. They have with them worship and zuhd – however they erred in understanding the Book and the Sunnah; and sufficed with their ignorance against taking knowledge from the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)…
Therefore if this group had indeed emerged during the era of the rightly guided Caliphs; then it is essential that they have resembling imitators within this Ummah – so beware of them.”[8]
Shaikh Sa’ad bin ‘Ateeq and Shaikh Sulaimaan bin Sahmaan and Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-‘Azeez and Shaikh Muhammad bin Ibraheem Aal-Ash-Shaikh (rahimahumullaah) and others wrote in a piece of advice to those from whom they saw an inclination towards rebellion:
“You have become resolved upon rebelling against the Ruler of the Muslims… You claim that you are upon the way of your Scholars!? And that you do not oppose them in anything they see fit for you! And we do not know who these Scholars are – are they the Scholars of the Muslims? Or other than them from those that traversed a path other than theirs and so seek to open the door to tribulation upon Islaam and the Muslims?
…You are the Scholars of your own selves; and so you make halaal (lawful) and haraam (forbidden) upon your own selves and you do not raise any communication with us in any regard. Likewise your claim that you are upon the way of the Scholars is disproved by what has manifested from you.”[9]
Shaikh Sulaimaan bin Sahmaan (rahimahullaah) said:
“Then they (the Khawaarij) claimed that the judgmental ruling of men in the religion is disbelief which exits an individual from the religion. Thus it becomes clear to you that what they did was to have good thoughts for their reciters; those who went to extremes in the religion and exceeded the bounds in the commands and prohibitions. Likewise they had bad suspicion of the ‘Ulamaa of the companions, those that were the most righteous of people in their hearts and the deepest of them in knowledge and the least of them to commission in inconvenience. A people that were chosen by Allaah for the companionship of His Prophet – in order to manifest His religion.
So when they failed to acknowledge for them their excellence, nor did they take guidance by way of their guidance; they went astray from the straight path which the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) had been upon – and alleged that they had acted deceitfully in the religion!”[10]
Shaikh Al-Albaanee (rahimahullaah) said in his discussion of the Khawaarij:
“And so today; history repeats itself – as they say, for there have indeed sprouted inexperienced young men from the Muslim youth who have not taken an understanding in the religion – except for a little. They see that the rulers do not rule by that which Allaah has revealed – except little. So they see rebellion against them without consulting the people of knowledge and understanding and wisdom from amongst them. Rather, they embark over their heads and induce blind tribulations and shed blood in Egypt and Syria and Algeria, and before that the tribulation of the Haram in Makkah. So with that they opposed this authentic hadeeth upon which the actions of the Muslims both from their predecessors as well as their later followers were upon – except for the Khawaarij.”[11]
Shaikh Fawzaan (hafidhahullaah) said:
“Nothing caused them (i.e. the Khawaarij) to fall into that except ignorance and extreme fanaticism and not being upon insight and earnest concern over the religion of Allaah. However all of this; if it is not based upon insight and upon knowledge, then it is a danger for its companion. So the Khawaarij isolated themselves from the ‘Ulamaa (scholars) in their time, they isolated themselves from the ‘Ulamaa of the companions and declared them to be disbelievers and so became such that they would gather in isolated places in order to study together in that which was between them by means of their misguidance. They sufficed with their own understanding and abandoned the scholars, hence there occurred over them that which was to occur from misguidance.
For indeed the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) warned regarding them and commanded fighting against them as well as to acquit the Muslims of their evil. Despite what they have from worship and what they have from fear of Allaah and what they have from the recitation of the Qur’aan; all of this will be of no use if it is not upon understanding and not upon insight.”[12]
The Extremist Takfeeris Seek Scholarly Rulings For The Basic Aspects of Knowledge Yet Delve Ignorantly Into The Greater Aspects
Shaikh ‘Abdullaah Abaa Butain (rahimahullaah) said with regarding those afflicted with making takfeer of the Muslims:
“…And from that which is strange; is that if one of these individuals were to be asked regarding an issue related to purification or in selling (transactions) or its like; he will not give a verdict based solely on his understanding and a legal decision from his intellect. Rather he will search for the speech of the scholars – and hence give a verdict based upon what they say.
How then does he rely in this great affair (i.e. takfeer) which is from the greatest of the affairs of the religion – and the most severe in danger – solely upon his intellect and his own legal decision?!”[13]
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[1] Reported by Al-Bukhaaree (no.100) and Muslim (no.2673).
[2] Reported by Aboo Dawood (no.3641) and At-Tirmidhee (no.2682) and others. The hadeeth was declared as Saheeh (authentic) by Shaikh Al-Albaanee in his Saheeh Sunan Abee Dawood (no.3641).
[3] I’laam Al-Muwaqi’een vol 1 p.7.
[4] Reported by Ahmad (no.3187) and ‘Abdur-Razzaaq in his Musannaf (no.18678) and At-Tabaraanee (no.10598) – the latter two report it with the full version.
[5] This happened in the incident in which he unjustly said to the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) as is reported by Muslim (no.2496) to: “be just O Muhammad.”
[6] Tilbees Iblees p.90.
[7] As stated by the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) when he said:
((They shoot out from Islaam just as the arrow shoots through the prey)) – reported by Muslim (no.2499).
[8] Taqreeraat A-immah Ad-Da’wah fee Mukhaalafah Madhab Al-Khawaarij wa Ibtaalihi p.132.
[9] Taqreeraat A-immah Ad-Da’wah fee Mukhaalafah Madhab Al-Khawaarij wa Ibtaalihi p.230-231.
[10] Taqreeraat A-immah Ad-Da’wah fee Mukhaalafah Madhab Al-Khawaarij wa Ibtaalihi p.278.
[11] Mawsoo’ah Al-‘Allaamah Al-Imaam Mujaddid Al-‘Asr Muhammad Naasir ud-Deen Al-Albaanee vol 4 p.295. Original reference can be found in Silsilatul Ahaadeeth As-Saheehah vol 7 part 2 p.1237-1243.
[12] At-Takfeer, baynal Ifraat wat-Tafreet p.16.
[13] Taqreeraat A-immah Ad-Da’wah fee Mukhaalafah Madhab Al-Khawaarij wa Ibtaalihi p.507.
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