Honoring Muhammad — A Bridge Between the Crescent and the Oktcrux

Abu Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim was born in Mecca in the year 570 AD. He was raised by his uncle Abu Talib ibn Abdul Muttalib after being orphaned at an early age. At the time of his birth, the Arabian Peninsula had fallen into idolatry and disbelief, pagan traditions rampant and hedonism the norm.

Muhammad felt disgusted by all that. Revolted, he would retreat into the depths of Gar Hira for meditation. He could not believe that the true purpose of humanity was to bow down to stone and wooden statues of strange creatures in submission. He believed there was more. Turns out he was right.

At the age of forty, during one meditative sessions, Muhammad experienced something profound. A Light of Truth shone upon him in the form of the Archangel Gabriel who manifested before him with the command to read.

Initially, Muhammad was confounded by this. He did not know what he was being asked to read from. The angel embraced him, tighter and tighter, repeating the demand. Fear grasped Muhammad and he fled the scene, returning home to his wife, Hazrat Sayyidina Khadija bint Khuwaylid asking her to comfort him, lay her arms around him, soothe his nerves. As she did, Muhammad told her what happened and she assured him he was the Lord's Chosen.

The experience was profound and it was three years until the next revelation came, declaring Muhammad as a Prophet chosen to preach the doctrine of the One God to the pagan polytheists of Mecca. Daunted by the task, Muhammad was hesitant at first but steeled himself later on to begin his duty. He was persecuted, hurt, exiled and cast out. He lost his family and everyone he knew, those closest to him, dearest to him, were tortured along with him. Eventually, he and his followers took flight to Medina wherein the newest chapter of his ministry began.

In Medina, Muhammad turned his faith into a political system, forging the tribes there together into one state, with a law and an army. With his newfound power and influence, Muhammad launched a campaign to nationwide propagate the Faith of the One God of Abraham. Twenty-three years after the mission began, he succeeded.

The Arabian Peninsula came together as a singular entity of united tribes, a religious polity. The leaders who followed Muhammad after his death spread the faith even further. During the reign of Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, the faith found its way to Palestine, Egypt and Persia. The faith was known as Islam.

From an outsider perspective, Muhammad is considered to be the founder of Islam. However, from the viewpoint of a practitioner, God is the founder of Islam and Adam was the first among humans to be Muslim. He propagated the faith and passed down its knowledge through Seth to Enoch to Noah all the way through to Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. The central creed of this faith: the doctrine of the One God, also known as Tawhid.

La ilaha il-Allah — this is the summary of the creed. There is no god but God. And Muhammad is His Messenger, merely a Prophet on the Path of Prophets. Patriarch Mar Timothy I of Baghdad states it succinctly as the following:

Muhammad is worthy of all praise by all reasonable people...
He walked in the Path of the Prophets and trod in the Trail of the Lovers of God. 

All the Prophets taught the doctrine of the One God, and since Muhammad taught the doctrine of the Unity of God, he walked, therefore, in the Path of the Prophets. 

Further, all the Prophets drove men away from misdeeds, and brought them nearer to good works, and since Muhammad drove his people away from impious acts and brought them nearer to righteousness, he walked, therefore, in the Path of the Prophets. 

Again, all the Prophets separated men from idolatry and polytheism, and attached them to God and worshiping Him. Since Muhammad separated his people from idolatry and polytheism and attached them to the worship and knowledge of One God, beside whom there is no other God, he walked, therefore, in the Path of the Prophets. 

Finally, Muhammad taught about God, His Word and His Spirit, and since all the Prophets had prophesied about God, His Word and His Spirit, verily indeed , Muhammad walked, therefore, in the Path of the Prophets... 

Who, then, shall not praise, honor and exalt the great one who not only fought for God through words, but showed zeal for Him by the sword?

Patriarch Timothy I is a patriarch of the Church of the East often called, inaccurately since they accept and follow the Chalcedonian Creed, the Nestorian Church of the East or, simply, the Nestorian Church. It is to be distinguished from the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches. A prime difference between the Oriental Orthodox Church and the Nestorian Church of the East is that the former is Nasrani while the latter Hanif.

"Hanif" is a Syro-Aramaic word meaning "one rejecting and turning back" because the Nestorian Church observed the Sabbath and refrained from eating pork along with keeping other Laws of the Torah meticulously. The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge states in the article concerning the Nestorians:

The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath.
They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory.

Therefore, the greater majority of Christians considered that the Nestorians were turning back or inclining towards Judaism. Hence, the other Christians used to call the Nestorian Church "Hanif" because they were Hebraizers. Eventually the categorization stuck on.

What is interesting to note here is that the word "Hanif" also appears in the Quran and it did not previously exist within the Arabic language before the Revelation of the Book unto Muhammad. The root of the word is Syriac, basically the same as above. It is used in the Quran to refer to those who maintained the pure monotheistic beliefs of Patriarch Abraham, having rejected idolatry and retained some or all of the tenets and laws of the religion of Abraham which was "Submission to God" in its purest form.

 

Say unto them,
"Nay, we follow only Hanif, the religion of Abraham, and he was not of the polytheists."
[Quran 2:135] 

Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a Hanif and he was not of the polytheists.
[Quran 3:67] 

Therefore, set you your face towards Hanif, inclining towards Haqq and Fitrah. No change let there be in the Creation of God: that is the straight religion, but most of men know not.
[Quran 30:30]

In the final Quranic verse listed above, "Haqq" means "Truth" and "Fitrah" means "Natural Law" referring to the preset moral compass instilled within all humans and jinn, as believed by Muslims, from the moment of their creation. These, in total, encompass the notion that Abraham's doctrine of monotheism, Hanif, in faith and practice was the true lawful nature of human beings expressed physically and spiritually.

Meanwhile, the categorization of the Oriental Orthodox as Nasri came from their acceptance of the Coptic belief regarding the Month of el-Nasi.  This is a thirteenth month lasting just a week or so in length. Nestorians do not accept this because of the prohibition of Nasi laid down in the Quran, the Revelation bestowed unto Muhammad, which the Church of the East term as Abu Qasim's Ahadith Qudsi, the Holy Narrations, making clear there are only twelve months, totally rejecting the Nasi,

The number of months with God is only twelve by God's Ordinance since the day He divinely fashioned the Heavens and the Earth.
[Quran 9:36]

Muhammad also mentions the Nasi in the Farewell Sermon,

Certainly the Nasi' is an impious addition, which has led the infidels into error. One year they authorize the Nasi', another year they forbid it. They observe the divine precept with respect to the number of the sacred months, but in fact they profane that which God has declared to be inviolable, and sanctify that which God has declared to be profane. 

Assuredly time, in its revolution, has returned to such as it was at the creation of the heavens and the earth. In the eyes of God the number of the months is twelve. Among these twelve months four are sacred, namely, Rajab, which stands alone, and three others which are consecutive.

The Nestorians accepts Muhammad as a transcendentally appointed Messenger of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. They call him Abu Qasim, Abbot Cosimas, and his Quranic traditions collected and codified during the time and reign of Caliph Osman they honor and consecrate as the Ahadith Qudsi.

The Nestorian Church of the East consists of many orders within its ranks, one of them being the small, almost extinct, military order known as the Order of the Caraimean. The Caraimean believe Muhammad was an orphaned ecclesiastical poet, not illiterate as propounded by mainstream Sunni scholarship, but one prolific with words and letters, his narrations, beautiful poetry, some of which were written down upon tablets of rocks and rags of parchment, leaves and leather, surviving him while others were lost.

They believe that when Caliph Osman put together the official Quran, some narrations were left out because he only included the ones which were written and could be recited but some could be recited yet no written copy was found and some were written yet no reciter was found. These became the remnants of the Ahadith Qudsi

However, over time, more and more Ahadith Qudsi were being spread around, some authentic while others fabricate. Therefore, Imam Abu Hanifah laid down the criteria to identify which ones were the former and the latter using Kalam, that is, philosophical discourse, and Ijtihad, independent reasoning. He taught this to Anan ben David who was, as believed by the Caraimean, the only student dedicated enough to be imprisoned with Imam Abu Hanifah.

Regarding the Theology and Christology of the Caraimean Order, they believe in High God the Holy Father Almighty. He is ha-Eloh, the God, al-Ilah or Allah, the Divine One. His Essence, dhat, is the Divinity, Haloh or Allah, which He has given His creations the chance of becoming one with through theosis, known in Islamic Sufi terminology as fana'. Theosis, in contrast to fana', though, is believed to provide one the chance to become elohim or alihatun, that is, lesser gods in His family. The equivalent to these "gods" or elohim in Islamic theology would probably be Sifatullah because these are the Names and Attributes of the One God reflected unto the mirrored hearts of His creations.

The Caraimean Creed believes in the statement of "La ilaha il-Allah" where they interpret it as:

The God is One, and His Essence is One, but His Names are many.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit, Ruh al-Quds, is considered to be a reflection of an eloh or sifat but not the God Himself, although emanating from the same Essence, Allah. The Holy Spirit carries the Logos which is also considered to be an eloh or sifat but not the God although emanating from the same Essence, Allah.

Meanwhile Christ is called Son of Mary — who is known by the Caraimean Order as the Christotokos, meaning Mother of Christ, and not the Theotokos, meaning Mother of God — not the Son of God. This is to emphasize his humanity. The role of the Messiah, according to the Caraimean, is to take the Logos from the Holy Spirit and be united with it forever. The Logos is from Allah but the Christ is not Allah. Together they are one in Jesus.

This is why it is said:

The Word is god from God, light from Light, truth from Truth, generated not created, but one divine essence with the Father. It was sent out by the Power of the Holy Spirit and through the flesh of the Virgin Mary to become one with man in Christ.

The Caraimean believe that Christ suffered death by crucifixion, he permitted it, under Pontius Pilate, who did not crucify him but only Allah allowed it to happen, and was buried, descended unto Sheol, the Realm of the Dead, at the End of Time to liberate the souls deserving Mercy, then rose again on the third day and ascended unto Heaven.

They believe we will see him again at the End of Days when he liberated the dead. Since time is relative, for him it has already happened but for us it is yet to happen. This is why the Caraimean say that Christ came and yet is coming. In Truth, it has all been accomplished already.

They believe that the Holy Spirit is Grace, termed Ahmed, poured out into the Saints, called Mahamadim. Each Saint is therefore named Muhammad. It is impossible to say Muhammad has gone, if he dies or is slain and the believer should not turn on their heels because, they believe, he will return in the next saint.

The Caraimean Order understands that when Abu Qasim was a child, the Archangel Gabriel came and opened his chest, took out his heart and put Ahmed inside of him. Hence, from that day onward he became Muhammad, and the same happens to every saint, at some point in their life.

This story and the foundation of this belief is not alien to Islam. The narration regarding the renewal of Muhammad's heart is found in a hadith concerning Muhammad's childhood related by Anas ibn Malik in the Sahih of Imam Muslim which states the following:

"Gabriel came to the Apostle of Allah while he was playing with his mates. He took hold of him and made him to lay on his back, ripping open his chest and taking out the heart from it.
He then proceeded to open the heart and extracted something that clung in it stating that was the part leading Man to sin. Then, his heart was washed in a gold basin with the Water of Zamzam, closed, and restored to its place. The boys came running to his foster mother and said,

Verily, Muhammad has been murdered!

They all rushed towards him and found him changed in complexion.
Anas said,

I myself saw the mark of stitching on his chest."

Muslims believe Gabriel is the Holy Spirit, Ruh al-Quds, who is tasked as the Archangel of Revelation to carry the Word of God to the Saints and Prophets. This is referenced multiple times in the Quran,

"And verily We gave unto Moses the Scripture and We caused a train of messengers to follow after him, and We gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, evident signs, and we supported him with the Holy Spirit."
[Quran 2:87]

"That Day God shall say: 'O Jesus, the son of Mary, recount My Favor unto thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit!"
[Quran 5:110]

"Say: the Holy Spirit has brought the Revelation from thy Lord in Truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as Guidance and Glad Tidings to Muslims."
[Quran 16:102]

Therefore, Gabriel, the Holy Spirit, cleansing the heart of Muhammad and implanting it unto him anew brimming with the Inspiration from the Grace of God is not entirely a bizarre idea from an Islamic viewpoint, though the resultant events and the interpretation of the event itself is different.

In the end, the gist of the matter is this, that our Caraimean brothers among the echelons of the Nestorian Church, have the utmost respect for our Liege Lord and Sultan al-Qulub Muhammad salallahu alayhisalam.

It is a shame today that so many of our brethren among them are being slaughtered inhumanely by those who claim to be from us such as the likes of ISIS and al-Qaeda. The violence perpetrated unto them by these terrorist so-called Muslims who are, in reality, munafiqun, are driving the Nestorians to believe that perhaps Patriarch Mar Timothy I was wrong about Muhammad and his people, leading them to leave the Church of the East for other denominations.

What is even more saddening is that the Church is already dwindling in regards to numbers. We cannot be the ones under whose name they are driven to extinction, specially when they behold our Prophet in such eminent light. We have to extend our hands to them, embrace them as one with us, hand in hand, together as humanity against the subhuman ilk of terrorism and extremist fundamentalism that is corrupting our world today.

I end this article with the Achtiname of our beloved Prophet Muhammad to the Christian Monks of Mount Sinai penned by his esteemed cousin and son-in-law Mawla Imam al-Murtaza Ali ibn Abu Talib:

This is a letter issued by Muhammed, son of Abdullah, the Messenger, the Prophet, the Faithful, who is sent to all the people as a trust on behalf of God to all His creatures and creation, that they may have no plea against God hereafter. Verily God is Mighty and Wise. 

This letter is directed to the ones embracing submission to God in peace, as a covenant unto the followers of the Holy Nazarene in the East and West, the far and the near, the Arabs and foreigners, the known and the unknown. 

This letter contains the oath given unto them, and he who disobeys that which is therein will be considered a renegade and transgressor to that whereunto he is commanded. He will be regarded as one who has corrupted the Oath of God, disbelieved His Testament, rejected His Authority, despised His Religion, and made himself deserving of His Curse, whether he is a Sultan or any other Muslim. 

Whenever monks, devotees and pilgrims gather together, whether in a mountain or valley, or den, or frequented place, or plain, or church, or in houses of worship, verily we are behind them and shall protect them, and their properties and their morals, by myself, by my friends and my allies, for they are of my subjects and under my protection. 

I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but only that which pleases them — they must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. 

Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religion, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells. 

No one is allowed to plunder the pilgrims, or destroy or spoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islam. And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the Oath of God, and, indeed, disobeyed His Messenger. 

Poll-taxes should not be put upon their judges, monks, and those whose occupation is the worship of God; nor is any other thing to be taken from them, whether it be a fine, a tax or any unjust right. 

Verily I shall keep their compact, wherever they may be, in the sea or on the land, in the East or West, in the North or South, for they are under my protection and the testament of my safety, against all things which they abhor. 

No taxes or tithes should be received from those who devote themselves to the worship of God in the mountains, or from those who cultivate the Holy Lands. No one has the right to interfere with their affairs, or bring any action against them. 

Verily this is for aught else and not for them; rather, in the seasons of crops, they should be given a Kadah for each Ardab of wheat as provisions for them, and no one has the right to say to them this is too much, or ask them to pay any tax. 

As to those who possess properties, the wealthy and merchants, the poll-tax to be taken from them must not exceed twelve drachmas a head per year. 

They shall not be imposed upon by anyone to undertake a journey, or to be forced to go to wars or to carry arms; for the Muslims have to fight for them. Do no dispute or argue with them, but deal according to the verse recorded in the Quran,

Do not dispute or argue with the People of the Book but in that which is best [29:46] 

Thus they will live favored and protected from everything which may offend them by the Muslims, wherever they may be and in any place they may dwell. 

Should any Christian woman be married to a Muslim, such marriage must not take place except after her consent, and she must not be prevented from going to her church for prayer. 

Their churches must be honored duly as their right and they must not be obstructed or withheld from building churches or repairing their convents. 

They must not be forced to carry arms or stones; but the Muslims must protect them and defend them against others. 

It is positively incumbent upon every one of the Islam nation not to contradict or disobey this oath until the Day of Resurrection and the End of Time.

— Fahim Ferdous Kibria

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The Simonist

Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani is the arch-innovator of the Wahhabi propagandists 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 formal Islamic Sciences and has admitted not to have memorized the Quran nor any book of ahadith, fiqh, ‘aqidah, usul, or grammar. He achieved fame by attacking the great scholars of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama'ah and reviling the science of fiqh with special malice towards the school of his father who was a Hanafi jurist.

A rabid reviler of the Friends of Allah and the Sufi sheikhs, 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 reformers of Islam, and other Wahhabi sympathizers, and the preferred author of book merchants and many uneducated Muslims. Most of the contemporary Sunni scholars warned of his heresy and many of them wrote articles or full-length works against him such as:

• The Indian ahadith scholar, Habib ‘Abdur-Rahman al-A`azami who wrote
• al-Albani Shudhudhuh wa Akhta'uh, al-Albani's Aberrations and Errors, in four volumes
• The Syrian scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Sa`id Ramadhan al-Buti who wrote the two classics,
• al-Lamadhhabiyya Akhtaru Bid`atin Tuhaddidu ash-Shari`a al-Islamiyya;
  Not Following A School of Jurisprudence is the Most Dangerous Innovation Threatening Islamic Sacred Law
• as-Salafiyya Marhalatun Zamaniyyatun Mubaraka la Madhhabun Islami;
  Way of the Early Muslims was a Blessed Historical Epoch, Not an Islamic School of Thought
• The Moroccan ahadith scholar, Sheikh ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Siddiq al-Ghumari who wrote
• Irgham al-Mubtadi’ al-Ghabi bi Jawaz at-Tawassul bi an-Nabi fi ar-Radd
  `ala al-Albani al-Wabi;
  The Coercion of the Unintelligent Innovator with the Licitness of Using the Prophet as an Intermediary in Refutation of al-Albani the Baneful
• al-Qawl al-Muqni` fi ar-Radd `ala al-Albani al-Mubtadi`;
  The Persuasive Discourse in Refutation of al-Albani the Innovator
• Itqan as-Sun`a fi Tahqiq Ma`na al-Bid`ah;
  Precise Handiwork in Ascertaining the Meaning of Innovation
• The Moroccan ahadith scholar, Sheikh ‘Abdul-`Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn as-Siddiq al-Ghumari who wrote
• Bayan Nakth an-Nakith al-Mu`tadi;
  The Exposition of the Treachery of the Rebel
• The Syrian ahadith scholar, Sheikh ‘Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghudda who wrote
• Radd `ala Abatil wa Iftira'at Nasir al-Albani wa Sahibihi
  Sabiqan Zuhayr ash-Shawish wa Mu'adhirihima;
  Refutation of the Falsehoods and Fabrications of Nasir al-Albani and his Former Friend Zuhayr ash-Shawish and their Supporters
• The Egyptian ahadith scholar, Sheikh Muhammad `Awwama who wrote
• Adab al-Ikhtilaf;
  The Proper Manners of Expressing Difference of Opinion
• The Egyptian ahadith scholar, Sheikh Mahmud Sa`id Mamduh who wrote
• Wusul at-Tahani bi Ithbat Sunniyyat as-Subha w'ar-Radd `ala al-Albani;
  The Alighting of Mutual Benefit and Confirmation that
  the Beads are a Sunna in Refutation of al-Albani
• Tanbih al-Muslim ila Ta`adhdhi al-Albani `ala Sahih Muslim;
  Warning to the Muslim Concerning al-Albani's Attack on Sahih Muslim
• The Saudi ahadith scholar Isma`il ibn Muhammad al-Ansar who wrote
• Ta`aqqubat `ala Silsilat al-Ahadith adh-Dha`ifa w'al-Mawdhu`a li al-Albani;
  Critique of al-Albani's Book on Weak and Forged Ahadith
• Tashih Salat at-Tarawih `Ishrina Rak`atan w'ar-Radd `ala al-Albani fi Tadh`ifih;
  Establishing as Correct the Tarawih Salah in Twenty Rak`at and
  the Refutation of Its Weakening by al-Albani
• Ibahat at-Tahalli bi adh-Dhahab al-Muhallaq li an-Nisa' w'ar-Radd `ala al-Albani fi Tahrimih;
  The Licitness of Wearing Gold Jewelry for Women Contrary to al-Albani's Prohibition of it
• The Syrian scholar, Sheikh Badruddin Hasan Diab who wrote
• Anwar al-Masabih `ala Zhulumat al-Albani fi Salat at-Tarawih;
  Illuminating the Darkness of al-Albani over the Tarawih Prayer
• Director of Religious Endowments in Dubai, Sheikh `Isa ibn `Abdullah ibn Mani` al-Himyari who wrote
• al-‘Ilam bi Istihbab Shadd ar-Rihal li Ziyarati Qabri Khayr al-Anam;
  The Notification Concerning the Recommendation of Travelling to Visit
  the Grave of the Best of Creation
• al-Bid`ah al-Hasanah Aslun min Usul at-Tashri`;
  The Excellent Innovation is One of the Sources of Islamic Legislation
• Minister of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments in the joint nation of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khazraji who wrote the article
• al-Albani Tatarrufatuh;
  al-Albani's Extremist Positions
• The Syrian scholar Sheikh Firas Muhammad Walid Wais in his edition of
• Imam ibn al-Mulaqqin's Sunniyyat al-Jumu`ah al-Qabliyya;
  The Sunnah Prayers That Must Precede Salah al-Jumu`ah
• The Syrian scholar, Sheikh Samir Islambuli who wrote
• al-Ahad, al-Ijma`, an-Naskh
• The Jordanian scholar, Sheikh As`ad Salim Tayyim who wrote
• Bayan Awham al-Albani fi Tahqiqihi li Kitab Fadhl as-Salat `ala an-Nabi;
  False Declarations of al-Albani in His Investigations into the Book of Obligatory Prayers upon the Prophet.
• The Jordanian scholar, Sheikh Hasan `Ali as-Saqqaf who wrote
• Tanaqudhat al-Albani al-Wadhiha fi ma Waqa`a fi Tashih al-Ahadith wa Tad`ifiha min Akhta' wa Ghaltat;
  Albani's Patent Self-Contradictions in the Mistakes and Blunders He Committed While Declaring Ahadith to be Sound or Weak
• Ihtijaj al-Kha'ib bi `Ibarat man Idda`a al-Ijma` fa Huwa Kadhib;
  The Loser's Recourse to the Phrase: `Whoever Claims Consensus Is a Liar!’,
• al-Qawl ath-Tabtu fi Siyami Yawm as-Sabt;
  The Firm Discourse Concerning Fasting on Saturdays
• al-Lajif al-Dhu`af li al-Mutala`ib bi Ahkam al-‘Itikaf;
  The Lethal Strike Against Him Who Toys with the Rulings of ‘Itikaf
• Sahih Sifat Salat an-Nabi;
  The Correct Description of the Prophet's Prayer
• ‘Ilam al-Kha'id bi Tahrim al-Qur'an `ala al-Junub wa al-Ha'idh;
  The Appraisal of the Meddler in the Interdiction of the Qur'an to those
  in a State of Major Defilement and Menstruating Women
• Talqih al-Fuhum al-`Aliya;
  The Inculcation of Lofty Discernment
• Sahih Sharh al-`Aqida at-Tahawiyya;
  The Correct Explanation of at-Tahawi's Statement of Doctrine.

al-Albani's innovations in the religion were many. Below are some of them:

• In his book, Adab al-Zafaf, he prohibits women from wearing gold jewelry, despite the ijma’ permitting it.
• He claims that Zakat is not due on money obtained from commerce, the main activity whereby money circulates among Muslims.
• He absolutely prohibits fasting on Saturdays.
• He prohibits ‘itikaf in any but the Three Mosques.
• He claims that it is lawful to eat in Ramadhan before maghrib as defined by the shari’ah, and similarly after the true dawn.
• He compares Hanafi works of fiqh to the Gospel in his commentary of Imam al-Mundhiri's book Mukhtaswar Sahih Muslim, 3rd Edition (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1977, p. 548).
  This phrase was removed from later editions.
• He calls people to imitate him rather than the a’immah of the salaf such as the founders of the four madhahib, and his followers invalidate the ahadith that contradict his views.
• He prohibits the makeup performance of prayers missed intentionally.
• He claims that it is permissible for menstruating women and those in a state of major defilement, junub, to recite, touch, and carry the Qur'an.
• He claims over and over that among the innovations in religion existent in Medina is the existence of the Prophet's grave in Masjid an-Nawabi.
• He claims that whoever travels intending to visit the Prophet or to ask him for his intercession is a misguided innovator.
• He claims that whoever carries dhikr-beads in his hand to remember Allah is misguided and innovating.
• He invented a location to Allah above the Throne for which he innovated a new name al-makan al-`adamî, "the non-existent place."
• He claims in Tamam al-Minna that masturbation does not annul one's fast.
• He published "corrected" editions of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, which he deceitfully called ‘abridgments,' mukhtasar, in violation of the integrity of these mother books.
• He published newly-styled self-altered editions of Imam al-Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad,
  Imam al-Mundhiri's at-Targhib w'at-Tarhib, and Imam as-Suyuti's al-Jami` as-Saghir, each of which he split into two works, respectively prefixed Sahih and Da`if in violation of the integrity of these mother books.

Sheikh Nasiruddin Albani said, among many things,

"Many of those who interpret figuratively [the Divine Attributes] are not heretics (zanadiqa), but they say what heretics say; figurative interpretation is the very same as nullification (at-ta'wil `ayn at-ta`til)."

This is found in Fatawa (p. 522-523) and Mukhtaswar al-`Uluw (p. 23f.).

He suggests that Imam al-Bukhari is a disbeliever for interpreting the Divine Face as Dominion or Sovereignty (mulk) in the Verse:

...Everything will perish except His Face...
[Quran 28:88]

In the Book of Tafsir in his Sahih, Imam al-Bukhari wrote,

"Except His Wajh means except His Mulk, and it is also said:
Except whatever was for the sake of His Countenance."

Albani blurts out,

"No true believer would say such a thing.
We should consider al-Bukhari innocent of that statement."

[Fatawa p. 523]


In imitation of the Mu`tazila, he declared tawassul, istighatha and tashaffu` through the Prophet or one of the Awliya’ harâm and tantamount to shirk in his booklet at-Tawassul. His friends, Sheikh ibn Baz and those who obey them such as al-Qahtani in al-Wala' wa al-Bara' and others did so. This is in flat rejection of the numerous sound and explicit narrations to that effect, such as Imam al-Bukhari's narration of the Prophet from ibn `Umar:

"Truly the sun shall draw so near on the Day of Resurrection that sweat shall reach to the mid-ear, whereupon they shall ask (istaghathu) help from Adam, then from Moses, then from Muhammad who will intercede (fa yashfa`u)... and that Day, Allah shall raise him to an Exalted Station, so that all those who are standing [including the unbelievers] shall glorify him (yahmaduhu ahlu al-jam`i kulluhum)."

al-Albani denies that the name of the Archangel of Death is `Azrâ'îl and claims such a name has no basis other than Israelite reports, although Qadhi `Iyadh reports the ijma’ of the ummah on it in ash-Shifa'.

Akin to the rest of the Wahhabi innovators, he declares Ash`aris, Maturidis, and Sufis to be outside the fold of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama'ah and even outside the fold of Islam, although Allah and His Prophet praised them.

O ye who believe! If any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him ― humble with the Believers, mighty against the Rejecters, fighting in the Way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault.
That is the Grace of Allah, which He will Bestow on whom He pleases:
Allah encompasses all and He knows all things.
[Quran 5:54]

Upon the Revelation of the above Verse, the Prophet pointed to Abu Musa al-Ash`ari and said:

"They are that man's people."

This is narrated from Qadhi `Iyadh by Imam ibn Abi Shaybah and al-Hakim who said it is sahih by Imam Muslim's criterion, and by Imam at-Tabarani with a sound chain as stated by al-Haythami.

Imam al-Qushayri, Imam ibn `Asakir, Imam al-Bayhaqi, Imam ibn as-Subki, and others said that the followers of Imam Abul-Hasan al-Ash`ari, who were mostly Sufis, are included among Abu Musa's people, for in every place that a people are affiliated to a Prophet, what is meant is the followers of that Prophet.

As for Maturidis, they are referred to in the narration of the Prophet from Sheikh Bishr al-Khath`ami or al-Ghanawi with a sahîh chain according to Imam al-Hakim, Imam adh-Dhahabi, Imam as-Suyuti, and Imam al-Haythami:

"Truly you shall conquer the city of Constantinople and truly what a wonderful leader will her leader be [Mehmet Fatih Sultan], and truly what a wonderful army will that army be!"

Both the leader and his army were classic Hanafi Maturidis and it is known that Mehmet Fatih loved and respected Sufis, practiced tawassul and followed a sheikh. Moreover, enmity against Ash`aris, Maturidis, and Sufis, is nifaq and enmity against the Ummah of Islam as most of the ‘ulama of Islam are thus described.

In at least five of his books, Sheikh al-Albani calls for the demolition of the Green Dome of the Prophet's Mosque in al-Madina al-Munawwarah and for taking the Prophet's grave outside the Mosque. This is found in Ahkam al-Jana'iz wa Bida`uha, Talkhis Ahkam al-Jana'iz, Tahdhir as-Sajid, Hijjat an-Nabi, and Manasik al-Hajj w'al-`Umrah.

He states:

"I have found no evidence for the Prophet's hearing of the salaam of those who greet him at his grave. I do not know from where ibn Taymiyyah took his claim that he hears the salaam from someone near."

This and the previous item are among his greater enormities and bear the unmistakable signature of innovation and deviation. Sheikh ibn Taymiyyah wrote such in Majmu`a al-Fatawa (27:384). This claim of al-Albani is found in his notes on Sheikh Nu`man al-Alusi's al-Ayat al-Bayyinat (p. 80) and his Silsila Da`ifa (#203).

He considers it an innovation to visit relatives, neighbors, or friends on the day of Eid and prohibits it. This is found in Fatawa (p. 61-63).

He gave the fatwa that Muslims should exit Palestine en masse and leave it to the Jews as it is part of, what he calls, the Abode of War, Darul-Harb. This is found in Fatawa (p. 18).

He advocates in his Salawat an-Nabi, the formula "Peace and blessings upon the Prophet" instead of the traditional "upon you, O Prophet" in the tashahhud in contradiction of the four madhahib, on the basis of a hadith of ibn Mas’ud whereby the companions used the indirect speech formula after the passing of the Prophet. However, the Prophet himself instructed them to pray exactly as he prayed saying "Peace and blessings upon you, O Prophet" without telling them to change it after his death, nor did the major companions whose sunnah we were ordered to imitate together with that of the Prophet, such as Abu Bakr and `Umar, teach the companions and successors otherwise.

He prohibits praying more than eleven rak`at in salatul tarawih on the grounds that the Prophet never did and in blatant rejection of his explicit command to follow the sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs after him.

He declares in Fatawa (p. 315-316) that adding more to eleven supererogatory rak`at in the tahajjud is an innovation rather than an act of obedience on the grounds that the Prophet "never ever prayed one hundred rak`at in his whole lifetime" although the ‘ulama agree that there is no prescribed limit to something which the Prophet commanded without specifically quantifying it, and he said in three authentic narrations:

• Narrated as part of a longer hadith from Thawban with sound chains by Imam ibn Majah and Ahmad. Imam Malik cites it in his al-Muwatta that the Prophet said,
  "Know that the best of your good deeds is prayer."
• As part of a longer hadith narrated from Abu Malik al-Ash`ari and Ka`b ibn `Asim by Imam Muslim, Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i, ibn Majah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and ad-Darimi as either hasan or sahîh, the Prophet said, "Prayer is a light."
• Narrated from ibn `Umar in the Nine Books, the Prophet said, "The night prayer is in cycles of two and when one of you fears the rising of the dawn, let him pray a single one."
  It is also established in many authentic narrations collected by Imam `Abdul-Hayy al-Laknawi in the second part of his Iqamat al-Hujja `ala Anna al-Ikthar min at-Ta`abbudi Laysa bi Bid`ah that the companions and salaf prayed hundreds if not thousands of rak`at in every twenty-four hours.

al-Albani considers it an innovation to pray four rak`at between the adhan of Jumu`ah and the adhan before salah, although it is authentically narrated that "the Prophet prayed four rak`at before Jumu`ah and four rak`at after it," with a fair chain from Imam ‘Ali and ibn `Abbas as stated by Imam al-‘Iraqi in Tarh at-Tathrib (3:42), Imam ibn Hajar in Talkhis al-Habir (2:74), and Imam at-Tahanawi in ‘Ila' as-Sunan (7:9).

He declares in Fatawa (p. 53), that it is haram and an innovation to lengthen the beard over a fistful's length although there is no proof for such a claim in the whole shari’ah and none of the ‘ulama ever said it before him.

He gives free rein to his propensity to insult and vilify the ‘ulama of the past as well as his contemporaries. As a result it is difficult to wade through his writings without being affected by the nefarious spirit that permeates them. For example, he considers previous editors and commentators, learned scholars, of Imam al-Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad, Book of Manners "sinful," "unbearably ignorant," and even "liars" and "thieves." Of one he says:

"There are so many weak hadith [in his choice] that it is an anti-Islamic practice."

Of another he says:

"It is ignorance which must not be tolerated."

And of another he says:

"Forgery and an open lie... His edition is stolen [from a previous one]."

All this from his Sahih al-Adab al-Mufrad (Introduction, p. 15, 20, 26). Such examples actually fill a book compiled by Sheikh Hasan `Ali as-Saqqaf and titled Qamus Shata'im al-Albani wa Alfazhihi al-Munkara al-Lati Yatluquha `ala `Ulama' al-Ummah, Dictionary of al-Albani's Insults and Heinous Words He Uses Against the Communal Scholars.

al-Albani revived Sheikh ibn Hazm's anti-madhhabî claim that differences can never be a mercy in any case but are always a curse on the basis of the verse:

Do they not ponder on the Qur'an? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.
[Quran 4:82]

In as-Silsila ad-Da`ifa (1:76 #57), Imam an-Nawawi had long since refuted this view in his commentary of the book Sahih Muslim where he said:

"If something is a Mercy, it is not necessary for its opposite to be the opposite of Mercy. No-one makes this binding and no-one even says this, except an ignoramus or one who affects ignorance." 

Similarly, Imam al-Munawi said in Faydh al-Qadir,

"This is a contrivance that showed up on the part of some of those who have sickness in their heart."

In his introduction to Imam as-San`ani's Raf` al-Astar (p. 24-25), al-Albani expresses hatred for those who read Imam al-Busiri's masterpiece, Qasida al-Burda, and calls them cretins, mahabil. This would encompass millions of Muslims past and present including the likes of Imam ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani, Imam as-Sakhawi and Imam as-Suyuti who all included it as required reading in the Islamic curriculum.

al-Albani perpetuates lies if they detract from Ash`ari’s, such as his remark that Imam Sayfuddin al-Amidi did not pray, in his notes to Imam Nu`man al-Alusi's al-Ayat al-Bayyinat (p. 88) although Dr. Hasan ash-Shafi`i in his massive biography entitled al-Amidi wa Ara'uhu al-Kalamiyya showed that the story that Imam al-Amidi did not pray was a forgery put into circulation during the campaign waged by Imam ibn as-Salahuddin al-Kurdi against him for teaching logic and philosophy in Damascus.

He perpetuates, in Mukhtaswar al-`Uluw (p. 277), the false claim first made by Munir Agha the founder of the Egyptian Salafiyya Press, that Imam Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, the father of Imam al-Haramayn "repented" from Ash`ari doctrine and supposedly authored a tract titled Risala fi Ithbat al-Istiwa' wa al-Fawqiyyah, Epistle on the Assertion of Establishment and Aboveness. This spurious attribution continues to be promoted without verification, for obvious reasons, by modern-day Salafis who adduce it to forward the claim that Imam al-Juwayni embraced anthropomorphic concepts. The Risala in question is not mentioned in any of the bibliographical and biographical sources nor does Imam adh-Dhahabi cite it in his encyclopedia of anthropomorphic views entitled al-`Uluw. More conclusively, it is written in modern argumentative style reflecting contemporary anthropomorphic obsessions.

He derides the fuqaha of the ummah for accepting, in their massive majority, the hadith of Mu`adh ibn Jabal on ijtihad as authentic then rejects the definition of `ilm in Islam as pertaining to fiqh but claims that it pertains only to hadith, although the ‘ulama of the salaf explicitly said that a hadith master without knowledge of fiqh is a misguided innovator. This is found in his notes on Imam al-Qasimi's al-Mash `ala al-Jawrabayn (p. 38). And he defines the `alim in Tahrim Alat at-Tarab (p. 160) as "meaning, of course, the Salafi `alim, not the `Khalafi Ghazali'!"

Imam al-Qurtubi, in his Tafsir (7:191) said,

"One of the knowers of Allah said: A certain group that has not yet come up in our time, but shall show up at the End of Time, will curse the scholars and insult the jurists."

— Sheikh Dr. Gibril Fouad Haddad, transmitted via Terence Helikaon Nunis of A Muslim Convert Once More

Carnival of Hate

In one of the most absurd recent exercises in self-deceptive propaganda by the radical Islamist movement known as Wahhabism, an "International Peace Convention" has been announced to be held at the Dubai World Trade Center.

The event, which is the second of its kind, will be give a prominent place to Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim televangelist whose "Peace TV" beams from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Mumbai. Naik, an unapologetic adherent of the ultrafundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam, is barred from entry into Canada and Britain for exhorting Muslim youth to participate in terrorism. He has incited Muslims against non-Wahhabi observances and interpretations, including Sufism and Shiism, and loudly proclaims his alleged charisma in convincing Hindus, Christians, and others to convert.

Naik was denounced as an apostate from the religion of Islam in 2008, by an Indian Muslim jurist of Lucknow, Maulana Mufti Abdul Irfan Qadvi, for supporting the late Osama Bin Laden. Maulana Qadvi appealed vehemently to the Indian government to ban "Peace TV," and to investigate Naik's suspicious financial backing. Tens of millions of Indian Muslims who follow the spiritual Sufi way were outraged when Naik proclaimed their devotions to be blasphemous heresy – a remark the television preacher later recanted.

At the same time, however, Naik offended, with apparently deliberate intent, the Indian Sunni and Shia Muslims by praising the killer of Imam Husayn, the grandson of Muhammad. Mourning the death of Husayn is a central component in Shiism; his murder has been traditionally condemned by traditional Sunni Muslims.

The pretensions of Naik to standing as a Muslim scholar who can deliver fatwas [religious opinions] via his broadcasts have been repudiated by other established and eminent Indian Muslim authorities. Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, general secretary of the All India Ulema Council, has stated of Naik:

He is neither an 'aalim' (scholar) nor a 'mufti' (one who gives fatwa)…
He should not issue fatwas from public platforms.

Naik's habit of proclaiming fatwas and offering Quranic interpretation, despite his lack of appropriate religious training, is typical of Wahhabis and their followers. Wahhabis claim that their improvisation of religious doctrine represents a "reform" of Islam and a revival of "ijtihad," or individual juristic reasoning. In practice, such "individual reasoning" has served as an excuse for Wahhabis to impose unjust punishments for alleged moral infractions, as well as to support acts of terror previously forbidden in Islam.

"Peace TV" has promoted indoctrination in fanaticism by such Wahhabi Muslims as the virulently radical and racist American Siraj Wahhaj, born Jeffrey Kearse, and a former follower of the spurious "Nation of Islam." Wahhaj is a past vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an institution which was set up with the backing of the Saudi Wahhabi clerical establishment. Wahhaj was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as an unindicted co-conspirator in the plot to blow up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993. He also testified in the defense of the convicted terrorist, the "blind sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman.

Yet another luminary of "Peace TV" is Jamal Badawi, known for his association with the Muslim world's most prominent extremist media figure, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Badawi, who was born in Egypt and lives in Canada, serves on al-Qaradawi's so-called "European Council for Fatwas and Research," which is chiefly distinguished by the scarcity of European Muslims in its ranks; most of its members are Arab or African.

Badawi is even better known, however, for his misogynistic interpretation of Islam. For instance, in his 1980 volume, The Status of Women in Islam, Badawi wrote to oppose the involvement of women in politics:

According to Islam, the head of the state is no mere figurehead. He leads people in the prayers, especially on Fridays and festivities; he is continuously engaged in the process of decision-making pertaining to the security and well-being of his people. 

This demanding position, or any similar one, such as the Commander of the Army, is generally inconsistent with the physiological and psychological make-up of woman in general. It is a medical fact that during their monthly periods and during their pregnancies, women undergo various physiological and psychological changes. Such changes may occur during an emergency situation, thus affecting her decision, without considering the excessive strain which is produced. 

Moreover, some critical, hard decisions require a maximum of rationality and a minimum of emotionality – a requirement which does not coincide with the instinctive nature of women.

This line of argument conflicts with the experience of Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, all leading Muslim countries which have included women among their political leaders. Even Saudi Arabia under King Abdullah has proclaimed reforms which, if they are fully adopted, will provide women the right to participate in public policy and decision-making. By royal order, women will be free from the Wahhabi requirement for permission from a male relative to vote and stand as candidates in Saudi municipal elections scheduled for 2015.

On April 13, the second day of the convocation, the regular Friday preacher at the Grand Mosque (Haram) in Mecca, the Wahhabi Sheikh Abdur Rahman al-Sudais, will lead collective prayer at the Dubai affair.

Although al-Sudais claims to be an apostle of interfaith dialogue, he has been barred from Canada and condemned by Saudi officials for his extremist rhetoric. He has supported previously-unknown restrictions on the participation of women in the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Most offensively to traditional Muslims, al-Sudais demands that women who go on hajj be separated from men and required to put on the un-Islamic face veil (niqab). Such demeaning proposals have never before been articulated among Muslims, who believe that women living in Mecca and attending hajj are sufficient in their virtue, and require neither taking leave of men nor covering their faces.

al-Sudais has also been an active adherent of anti-Islamic, anti-historical, and anti-cultural schemes for the desecration of Mecca by the construction of new high-rise buildings around the Holy Kaaba, the most sacred of all Islamic structures, to which all Muslims turn in prayer. Saudi Wahhabis, obsessed with a gigantism in construction reminiscent of Stalin's in Soviet Russia, have already erected a huge "royal clock tower" that overlooks the Kaaba, and has a face even larger than the Kaaba itself.

The message of Wahhabis such as al-Sudais is: Saudi power transcends and dwarfs the whole of Islam.

Other well-known fundamentalist agitators advertised to appear at the Dubai "peace convention" include Yusuf Estes, who regularly appears on the fundamentalist Islam Channel, and who is a former Protestant believer of Anglo-Saxon heritage, chiefly distinguished by his thick American Southern accent.

Elements of peace-making, according to the agenda at the Dubai meeting, are vague. Dr. Hamad ash-Shaibani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Award for World Peace, announced:

Peace is the ultimate goal for our Convention -- just as it is the ultimate goal of Islam itself.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, patron of this disgraceful spectacle, is prime minister and ruler of Dubai, and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.

The "Dubai International Peace Convention," led by Naik and al-Sudais, may well have been conceived last year when al-Sudais visited India. Regardless of the details of its nefarious origin, a meeting in which cult radicals such as Naik and al-Sudais are prominent figures will do nothing to advance the cause of peace or of interfaith cooperation. Rather, it will encourage extremist ideology and violence.

The posture of the ruler of Dubai in presenting this Wahhabi performance as a factor for peace is alarming in its apparent revelation of the weakness of Dubai in the face of the money and influence wielded from Saudi Arabia by the Wahhabi clerical caste. Rather than welcoming and praising these zealots, Rashid al-Maktoum would be better served by following the counsel of Maulana Qadvi, expelling "Peace TV" and Naik from Dubai for good.

As for al-Sudais, the trip from Dubai back to Saudi Arabia is a short one; his deportation would contribute more to peace and good interfaith relations than any elaborate media masterwork.

— Irfan al-Alawi, Gatestone Institute

Identifying the Wahhabi

We have had several threads defining the Wahhabi sect and its doctrines and explaining their divergence from the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama'ah. We have also had in-depth discussions including the reproduction of the fatawa of some of our major scholars against the doctrine, and specifically the 'aqidah of the Wahhabi sect. I am not going to repeat them here myself. It would be quite redundant to do so, honestly. I am going to offer my own comments, therefore.

The first thing we scrutinize is the ijazat and the curriculum vitae. In Islam, we know our scholars by their teachers and the institutions they have learned from. As such, it is important to know the teachers and the chains of transmission. The scholars we take our knowledge from are part of a chain that dates back to our Sultan Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. This is called isnad or silsila and it is very important to preserve our faith.

A graduate from the University of Medina is likely a Wahhabi. It is their premier institution set up by the Saudi state to promote their version of Islam. The following are some of the more famous graduates from this deviant institution: Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi, Bilal Philips, Zakir Naik, Salim al-Amry and Feiz Mohammad. This also includes graduates of derivative programs by the alumni of the University of Medina such as Dr. Bilal Philips' Islamic Online University and Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan's Bayyinah Institute. Salih al-Munajjid and his IslamQA.info are also to be averted.

The Saudi Wahhabi state also has several organisations to spread their doctrine. This includes the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. al-Maghrib Institute and al-Kauthar are funded through WAMY. Almost every instructor from these two is from the University of Medina. Unless one belongs to their sect, it is impossible to be appointed in any position.

Another organization funded by them is Peace TV. The most famous presenters on that program are Zakir Naik, Yusuf Estes, Hussain Yee, Abdullah Hakim Quick, Abdur Raheem Green and Bilal Philips. The majority of the presenters are either hardcore Salafi/Wahhabi, or sympathetic towards it.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are dominated by the Wahhabi sect. It is impossible to be appointed to a state position concerning the religion unless one is connected to the Ahl ash-Shaykh, the descendants of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, or shares their ideology. The a’immah that lead the salat in Mecca and Medina must be a Wahhabi. They will accept no other, considering them infidels, mushrikun.

This does not mean, however, that every graduate of the University of Medina, or every single person who took a course at the Islamic Online University, or every attendee of an al-Maghrib program is a Wahhabi. The majority of Muslims are ignorant of their religion and unable to tell when something said is incorrect. We look and judge with the Eye of Rahmah and Husn adh-Dhann.

We must understand that there are two types of people who are Wahhabi. The first are those who have embraced their ‘aqidah and propagate it, condemning the position of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah and spreading an ‘aqidah that is essentially heresy. These people are astray and are to be avoided.

And then there are those who have taken position from that doctrine unknowingly, because that was what they were taught and there was no one to tell them otherwise. They are to be treated with compassion and if there is an opportunity, guided to something that is better. Addressing them is also da’wah.

Aside from these, there are a multitude of preachers on social media who are known as such by the things they have said, or the positions they adhere to. We identify them by what they say about certain key issues that depart from the position of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah. They include denying taqlid, or the need to follow a madhhab, unless one is a mujtahid. They claim that they are only following the Qur’an and Sunnah solely. In effect, they are denying the Qur’an and Sunnah. This, in itself, is a huge topic and should be addressed separately.

They deny the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, the other Prophets, the Saints, and the Pious Predecessors are alive in the qabr, the Realm of the Grave. This is a major deviation from Islam since it is an absolute denial of the Special Favor of Allah upon His friends, and denies, by extension, any form of intercession.

The Wahhabi sect and its adherents deny tawassul, intercession. They claim that this wasila, this means, is shirk. They use this as a basis to condemn the Muslims as mushrikun, polytheists. It is on this basis that they make the blood of the Muslims halal in conflict. The denial of tawassul also means that the recitation of Salawat, congregational dhikr and Mawlid are extensions of this shirk, that is, idolatrous blasphemy and heresy.
Many of them also deny the shafa’at, intercession of the Prophets, on the Day of Judgment.

They claim that the act of visiting the grave to pay homage, ziyarat, including, specially, the Rawzah of the Prophet in Medina is shirk. They further state that it is shirk to perform swalat in any masjid where there is a grave, maqam. This is why they have agitated and even tried several times to remove the body of the Prophet from Masjid Nabawi. And this is the excuse they use to destroy the maqamat, tombs, of the Pious Predecessors, including previous Prophets, the Companions and Saints, desecrating the bodies.

Finally, the Wahhabis take a literal position regarding the Attributes of God. This includes believing that Allah is in a specific place above the ‘Arsh, believing that He has a physical body, and believing that He is not Transcendent or Immanent. To the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah, that is shirk, and clear kufr.

In support of this ideology, the Wahhabis refuse to condemn, and quite often support groups like ISIS, al-Qa’idah, Jabhat an-Nusra, the Pakistani Taliban, Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf, Jama’ah Islaamiyyah and Lashkar Jihad. Some of them have urged their followers to join in the struggle and take up arms even.

Preachers and scholars aside from those already named above, who have explicitly taken a Wahhabi position in some or all of the above include Musa Cerantonio, Yusha Evans, and Abu Mussab Wajdi Akkari.

An indication that someone may be influenced by this sect can be found in the way they dialogue. They will focus a lot on ahadith, but they will ignore any exegesis of it. They will only accept what they consider ‘authentic’, sahih. They have a strange affection for extra vowels, for example: Islaam, Aboo Yusuf, Allaah, Imaan, Qur’aan. And their conversation focuses a lot on the minutiae of externalities to the exclusion of context, diversity in opinion and culture, ‘urf, which is a valid concern in jurisprudence, fiqh. This includes the emphasis that the beard and headscarf are wajib under all circumstances, extreme segregation of men and women, and the liberal use of words such as shirk, kufr, haram and bid’a in all their forms, ignoring the lexical and jurisprudential understanding.



— Sidi Terence Helikaon Nunis of A Muslim Convert Once More

Cult of the Salafi

The word salafi or "early Muslim" in traditional Islamic scholarship means someone who died within the first four hundred years after the Prophet Muhammad, including scholars such as Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, Idris Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Anyone who died after this is one of the khalaf or "latter-day Muslims".

The term "Salafi" was revived as a slogan and movement, among latter-day Muslims, by the followers of the late Muhammad Abduh some thirteen centuries after the Prophet Muhammad's time, approximately a hundred years ago. Like similar movements that have historically appeared in Islam, its basic claim was that the religion had not been properly understood by anyone since the Prophet, the early Muslims, and themselves.

In terms of ideals, the movement advocated a return to a shari'a-minded orthodoxy that would purify Islam from unwarranted accretions, the criteria for judging which would be the Qur'an and hadith. Now, these ideals are noble, and I don't think anyone would disagree with their importance. The only points of disagreement are how these objectives are to be defined, and how the program is to be carried out.

It is difficult in a few words to properly deal with all the aspects of the movement and the issues involved, but I hope to publish a fuller treatment later this year, insha'Allah, in a collection of essays called "The Reformers of Islam".

As for its validity, one may note that the Salafi approach is an interpretation of the texts of the Qur'an and sunna, or rather a body of interpretation, and as such, those who advance its claims are subject to the same rigorous criteria of the Islamic sciences as anyone else who makes interpretive claims about the Qur'an and sunna; namely, they:

1. Must show that their interpretations are acceptable in terms of Arabic language; 
2. Must show that they have exhaustive mastery of all the primary texts that relate to each question, and 
3. Must show that they have full familiarity of the methodology of usul al-fiqh or "fundamentals of jurisprudence" needed to comprehensively join between all the primary texts. 

Only when one has these qualifications can one legitimately produce a valid interpretive claim about the texts, called ijtihad or "deduction of shari'a," from the primary sources. Without these qualifications, the most one can legitimately claim is to reproduce such an interpretive claim from someone who definitely has these qualifications; namely, one of those unanimously recognized by the Ummah as such since the times of the true salaf, at their forefront the mujtahid imams of the four madhahib or "schools of jurisprudence".

As for scholars today who do not have the qualifications of a mujtahid, it is not clear to me why they should be considered mujtahids by default, such as when it is said that someone is "the greatest living scholar of the sunna" anymore than we could qualify a mere school-child on the playground as a professional physicist simply by stating, "He is the greatest physicist on the playground".

Claims to Islamic knowledge do not come about by default. Slogans about "following the Qur'an and sunna" sound good in theory, but in practice it comes down to a question of scholarship, and who will sort out for the Muslim the thousands of shari'a questions that arise in his life. One eventually realizes that one has to choose between following the ijtihad of a real mujtahid, or the ijtihad of some or another "movement leader", whose qualifications may simply be a matter of reputation, something which is often circulated among people without a grasp of the issues.

What comes to many peoples minds these days when one says "Salafis" is bearded young men arguing about deen. The basic hope of these youthful reformers seems to be that argument and conflict will eventually wear down any resistance or disagreement to their positions, which will thus result in purifying Islam. Here, I think education, on all sides, could do much to improve the situation.

The reality of the case is that the mujtahid imams, those whose task it was to deduce the Islamic shari'a from the Qur'an and hadith, were in agreement about most rulings; while those they disagreed about, they had good reason to, whether because the Arabic could be interpreted in multiple ways, or because the particular Qur'an or hadith text admitted of qualifications given in other texts, some of them acceptable for reasons of legal methodology to perhaps one mujtahid but not another, and so forth.

Because of the lack of hard information in English, the legitimacy of scholarly difference on shari'a rulings is often lost sight of among Muslims in the West. For example, the work Fiqh as-Sunna by the author Sayyid Sabiq, recently translated into English, presents hadith evidences for rulings corresponding to about ninety-five percent of those of the Shafi'i school, which is a welcome contribution, but by no means a "final word" about these rulings, for each of the four schools has a large literature of hadith evidences, and not just the Shafi'i school reflected by Sabiq's work.

The Maliki fiqh school has the Mudawwana of Imam Malik ibn Anas, for example, and the Hanafi fiqh school has the Sharh ma'ani al-Athar and Sharh mushkil al-Athar, both by the great muhaddith Imam Abu Jafar at-Tahawi, the latter work of which has recently been published in sixteen volumes by Mu'assasa ar-Risala in Beirut. Whoever has not read would usually be condemned to be ignorant of the hadith evidence for a great many Hanafi fatawa.

What I am trying to say is that there is a large fictional element involved when someone comes to the Muslims and declares to them, "No one has understood Islam properly except the Prophet and early Muslims, and our sheikh". This is not valid, for the enduring works of first-rank imams of hadith, fiqh, tafsir, and other shari'a disciplines impose upon Muslims the obligation to know and understand their work, in the same way that serious comprehension of any other scholarly field obliges one to have studied the works of its major scholars who have dealt with its issues and solved its questions. Without such study, one is doomed to repeat mistakes already made and rebutted in the past.

Most of us have acquaintances among this Umma who hardly acknowledge another scholar on the face of the Earth besides the imam of their madhhab, the Sheikh of their Islam, or some contemporary scholar or other. And this sort of enthusiasm is understandable, even acceptable in a non-scholar, but only to the degree that it does not become ta'assub or bigotry, meaning that one believes they can insult Muslims who prefer to follow other qualified scholars. At that point it is haram, because it is part of the sectarianism among Muslims that Islam condemns.

When one gains Islamic knowledge and puts fiction aside, one sees that superlatives about particular scholars such as "the greatest" are untenable; that each of the four schools of classical Islamic jurisprudence has had many many luminaries. To imagine that all preceding scholarship should be evaluated in terms of this or that "Great Reformer" is to ready oneself for a big letdown, because intellectually it cannot be supported.

I remember once hearing a student at the University of Chicago say: "I am not saying that Chicago has everything. Its just that no place else has anything." Nothing justifies transposing this kind of attitude onto our scholarly resources in Islam, whether it is called "Islamic Movement", "Salafism", or something else, and the sooner we leave it behind, the better it will be for our Islamic scholarship, our sense of reality, and for our deen.

— Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, transmitted via the blogsite Masud