Intercession a Scholarly Sunni Perspective

8/14/2019 Intercession a Scholarly Sunni Perspective

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Seeking The Intercession Of The Prophet OfIslam:

A Scholarly Defense Of Its Legitimacy

Being the translation of a contemporary treatise which establishes thatseeking the intercession of the Prophet is sanctioned by the Quran and thesunnah and refutes the claims of the Pseudo-Salafis that intercession is a

heretical innovation (bidah)

By the Azhari shaikh and hadithscholar Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sadiq al-Ghumari(d.??)

Translated by Muhammad William Chrales


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Introduction

(the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

(exalted is He)

(may Allah be pleased with him)

The topic of seeking the intercession of the Prophet(the peace and blessings of Allah be uponhim), (al-tawassul/ )1 is not in itself a central issue of Islm, nor is it one of Islmscategorical injunctions (al-farid/ ). A Muslim could, conceivably, live and die

without knowing what intercession is, and yet, sti ll die as a Muslim; although he would havedeprived himself all his life on account of his ignorance of a tremendous blessing.However, due to extraneous reasons, the issue of seeking the Prophet s intercession

(al-tawassul) has become an issue of dire importance. That is because a very vocal sect ofMuslims has appeared on the scene and made this issue an issue of belief (mn/ ) andunbelief (kufr/ ). Their claim, of course, is preposterous since seeking the intercession(al-tawassul) of the Prophetis at most an issue of a point of law (al-fur/ ) and hasnothing to do with beliefs (ul al-dn/ ) that it might ever become a question ofsomebody s belief or unbelief.

This very vocal and active sect calls itself the Salafis(al-salafyah/ ). There

opponents usually call them pejoratively the Wahhabis;whereas, we prefer to call them thePseudo-Salafis(Arabic: al-mutasallifah / )because we know they have no claim to befollowing the real salaf (i.e. the early predecessors) which is actually a term which was usedby the Prophetto designate the first three generations of Islm which, as he testified,

1Al-tawassul / means to seek to get near. Imm al-Jauhar(d. 393 h., Nishpur), who is a greatauthority on Arabic language, said in his i, which al-Suytsaid in his al-Muzhir holds the placeamongst the lexicons of the Arabic language that al-Bukhr holds amongst the books of adth:Al-waslahrefers to that by which one tries to come close to another. Its plural isal-wasil. Al-tausl andal-tawassulhave the same meaning. One can say: Wasala fulnun il rabbihwaslatan wa

tawassala ilaihbiwaslatin ai taqarraba ilaihbiamalin/ . (So and so tried to get close to His Lord, and he tried to get close to Him by such a means; that is,he tried to get close to him by doing something.)

:.:):(.

Ibn ajr al-Haitammentioned in his al-Jauhar al-Munaam,(Cairo, Dr Jawmi al-Kalim, 1992),pp. 149-153, that seeking intercession can have one of two implications. Either we can ask Allahthrough the Prophet on account of the honor in which Allah holds him, or we can ask the Prophet

to pray for us because the Prophet

is alive in his grave and can hear the request of one whopetitions him as variousadth(prophetic reports) establish. Ibn ajr mentioned some of thoseadthsome of them, like the adthabout Bill ibn al-rith al-Muzun, wi ll be mentioned presently in thepresent treatise. NB: Cross-reference and mention al-Qastalani and others.


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are the best generations of his people: The best generation is my generation, then the onewhich follows it, then the one which follows it.

These Pseudo-Salafis have had the audacity to declare that seeking the intercession(al-tawassul) of the Prophetis polytheism (shirk/ ) claiming that those who seek theProphetsintercession or the intercession of any prophet or saint set up gods other thanAllah and that by calling to them in intercession they are in effect worshipping them. ThePseudo-Salafis compare the Muslims who seek the intercession (al-tawassul) of any ofAllahs creatures to the pagan Arabs who worshipped idols. Muslims answer them that theyare not worshipping those whose intercession they seek; rather, they are worshipping Allahwhom they understand to be the only being capable of causing us any benefit or harm. Theyexplain that they ask Him for the sake of the love in which He holds the one whoseintercession they seek to answer their prayer which they or make to Him or, alternately, theyask the one whose intercession they seek to pray to Allah on their behalf. The Pseudo-Salafisfrequently reply derisively to such explanations by quoting the likes of the following Qurnicverses (yt/ ):

(Those who take protectors other than He say, We dont worship them except that they mightbring us closer to Allah.)

(And who is more misguided than those who call [on gods] other than Allah which will notanswer them ti ll the Day of Judgement and which are heedless of their calling. Then on theday that mankind is gathered they will be their enemies and they will disdain their worship [ofthem].)

What the Pseudo-Safafis fail to realize or choose to ignore, however, is that the pagan Arabsdidn t just calltheir protectors theyworshippedthem, as the above two ytexplicitlymention; consider the words in the first yahwe dont worship them except, and the wordsthey will disdain their worshipin the second. Indeed, they believed them to be gods capableof bringing them benefit or harm, and so they worshipped them. There is an enormousdifference between seeking intercession (al-tawassul) while worshipping none but Allah, andworshipping a protector other than God believing that protector to have the power to benefitor harm independent of Allah.

Another yahwhich the Pseudo-Salafis routinely quote in their attempt to show that

seeking intercession (al-tawassul/ :) is polytheism is the following

(Say: Call those whom you presumed [are gods] other than He. They can neither remove yourtribulation, nor avert it. Those whom they call upon are seeking the way to come near theirLord [vying with one another to see] which of them can get closest. They hope for His mercyand fear His punishment.)

The Pseudo-Salafis pretend that in this yahAllah(exalted is He) is addressing certainArabs who were calling on their protectors in the manner of those who seek the intercession(al-tawassul) of the Prophetor a prophet or the saints, but they thereby grossly distort the


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meaning of the yah. Their misinterpretation is not supported by any authori ty nor even bythe rules of language. Al-Baghaw, who is a very famous and reliable commentator of theQurn, commented on Al lahs words: Say: Call on those whom you presumed otherthan He. saying such a severe drought had afflicted the polytheists that they began to eatdogs and carrion and finally they came to the Prophetseeking him to pray for them;whereupon, Allah revealed: Say [ to the polytheists]: Call on those whom you presumed[are gods] other than He. They are not able to remove the affliction [of the drought andstarvation from you] nor avert i t [to others instead of you or change the state of affairs fromhardship to ease]. All interpolations into the text of the Qurn in the previous passage areal-Baghaws. Al-Bukhrincluded in hisaa chapter ti tled Say: Call on those whomyou presumed other than He. He mentioned in that chapter a adth2 from Abdullh ibnMasd (may Allah be pleased with him) concerning the words of Allahseeking the wayto come near their Lord(yabtaghna il rabbihim al-waslah): Some of mankind used toworship some of thejinn(genies). Then thejinnbecame Muslims; whereas the peopleremained as they were [that is, pagans]. fiIbn ajr explained in his commentary on al-Bukhrthat what Ibn Masd means is that the people who used to worship thejinncontinued to worship them; whereas, thosejinnno longer approved of it because they hadaccepted Islm. It was thesejinnwho started to seek the way to come close (al-waslah) totheir Lord. The subsequent chapter of al-Bukhrtitled Concerning His word: Those theycall seek the way to get near to their Lord,mentions the sameadthof Ibn Masd inabridged form. Ibn ajr remarked there in his commentary on the adth: The object of theverb call is omitted. We are to assume that the sentence means: Those whom they call godsare seeking the way to get near their Lord. Ibn Masds version (qirah/ ) of the Qurnhasyou callinstead of they callwith the sense that Allah is addressing the unbelieversdirectly; that reading [that is, Ibn Masds] makes the meaning quite clear.

Al-awincluded a chapter in hisMushkil al-thrheaded with the long ti tle:Concerning a solution to the problem raised by what is reported from the Prophetconcerning the reasons behind the revelation of the yah: Those on whom they call areseeking the way to come near to their Lordand [which report] is ascribed to Abdullh, butsince Ibn Masd spoke knowledgeably, i t is known that he didnt advance his own opinionbut spoke with the authority of revelation (taufqan/ )from the Prophet. He thenreported the following adthwith two chains or narration (uruq) from Ibn Masd: I stayedwith some people who used to worship some of thejinn. Meanwhile thejinnaccepted Islm;but those Arabs didnt realize it Then Ibn Masd mentioned the above-mentionedpassage from the Qur n. Al-awi mentioned that somebody had contradicted him for his

opinion that those referred to in the above-mentioned yaharejinnsaying that the adthofIbn Masd refer to another incident and that the reliable explanation of this verse isMujhids who said that those who sought the way to get near to their Lord were Jesus, Ezra( Uzair), and the angels. However, al-awanswered that cri tic by saying: Ibn Masdsexplanation is more worthy of acceptance than Mujhids because Ibn Masd was close tothe Prophet; [whereas, Mujhid was a companion of Ibn Abbs]. Furthermore, the Bookof Allah mentioned [explicitly] that some people used to worshipjinn: On the day that Weshall gather them all We shall say to the angels, Are those the ones who used to worshipyou? They will reply, Hallowed are You. You are our protector not them. Rather, theyused to worship thejinn. Most of them believed in them [that is, that they were gods].

2adthrefers to a saying reported from the Prophet of Islm, or a report about his habit or deed orcharacter or appearance.


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Then, al-awremarked, I am not aware that any Companion of the Prophethad anyinterpretation other than [what can be inferred from] the two reports we have reported fromIbn Masd. It is not proper [according to the principles of law]3 to give up the saying of IbnMasd for the opinion of Mujhid especially when Ibn Masd explicitly mentioned in oneof the versions that were reported from him that he stayed with those people who wereworshipping thejinn.

The Pseudo-Salafis insist that the object of call in the sentence those whom they callare seeking the way to get near to their Lordshould be assumed to be seeking the way to getnear their Lord, and so according to them the sentence means: those whom they call seekingthe way to get near their Lord. Then they claim that the verse condemns those who seekintercession (al-tawassul) from other than Allah. Apart from the fact that the real authori tieshave construed this sentence otherwise, as we showed above, the Pseudo-Salafi interpretationis precluded by the first part of this verse which says, Call on those whom you presumed [tobe gods] other than He. because the wordsother than Heshow that those Arabs were notseeking intercession (al-tawassul) since intercession is sought from Allah through anintermediate; whereas, those Arabs were seeking the direct succor of thejinnor the angels orwhatever they considered to be their protectors. Furthermore, it should be kept in mind thatthe pagan Arabs did not practice seeking intercession (al-tawassul/ ), nor even have anyidea what it is. All theytandadthwhich describe their polytheistic practices show thatthey used to consider their protectors to have the power in themselves, and independent ofAllah, to bring them benefit or harm; therefore, they worshipped them and prayed to them forthe fulf illment of their needs. The above polytheism is certainly not implied by the termseeking intercession (al-tawassul/ ), neither from the point of view of language since aswe have seen intercession means to seek to get near someone by doing something (al-taqarrubil al-ghair bi amalin), nor from the point of view of the sharahsince according to the

sharahit means to approach Allah through the love in which He holds someone orsomething as we explained above.Not only is the Pseudo-Salafi interpretation of the above yahprecluded by the first

part of theyah, as we have shown above, but it is also precluded by the last part of the yahwhich, in fact, is another proof of the legitimacy of seeking intercession(al-tawassul) as weshall see. Imm al-Baghawremarked commenting on the words of the Qur n: Those whomthey call are seeking the way to get near to their Lord:

That is, those whom the polytheists call gods and whom they worshipand Ibn Abbs andMujhid said that the ones they worshipped were Jesus, and his mother, and Ezra (Uzair), andthe angels, and the sun, and the moon, and the starsthey seek the means to come near (al-waslah/ ) their Lord. It is also said that al-waslahmeans rank (al-darajah/ ); inother words, [the yahmeans that] they humbly entreat Allah to grant them high rank. Againit is said that al-waslahis any means by which one tri es to come close to Allah. As for thewords of Allah which one of them is closest (ayyuhum aqrabu)[which come after the above-mentioned words in the yah] they mean that they look to see which one of them is closest toAllah that they might intercede through him.

3

There is a principle that two texts will not be considered to be contradictory unless they are of thesame status because it is necessary to prefer the text which is of higher status than the lower. Thus aadthof the Prophet will be preferred over a saying of a Companion, and the saying of aCompanion over the saying of a Follower, that is, one who met a Companion but not the Prophet .


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So consider the statement of al-Baghaw: they look to see which one of them is closest toAllah that they might intercede through him. Al-Baghawhas been hailed by the people ofIslm as the Reviver of the Sunnah (Muyu l-Sunnah). Even Ibn Taimyah had the highestregard for al-Baghaw. Will the Pseudo-Salafis also wri te him off as another polytheist?

If one considers Allahs words Call on those whom you presume other than He.in the above-mentioned yah, he should understand that something is omitted or understoodbecause the sentence as it stands is incomplete:presumerequires an object in English just asmuch as it does in Arabic. Omission (hadhf/ ) is quite common in Arabic and occursfrequently in the Qurn. When omission is used discreetly, i t is considered a mark ofeloquence. As we saw above al-Bukhrand al-Baghawunderstood that the object ofpresume is understood; they understood that the words to begodsare implied.From the foregoing discussion it is seen that the Pseudo-Salafis have no basis for their claimthat Allah condemns those who call on His creatures seeking their intercession.Moreover, we see that they have interpreted the yahin a way which agrees with theirpreconceived notions, with their persuasion. This is something very dangerous, for theProphethas sternly forbidden us to interpret the Qurn according to our own opinions. In

theadthof Ibn Abbs, for example, which al-Tirmidhand others have reported, he isreported to have said: Whoever interprets the Qurn according to his own opinion, let himprepare to take his seat in Hell . Shaikh al-Islm Zakaryah al-Anrmentioned in his bookal-Taisr f i Ulm al-Tafsr, which is an introduction to the principles of Qur niccommentary, that the person who ventures to explain the Qurn without depending on therecognized authorities has to have mastered fifteen different sciences of the sharah;otherwise, whatever he will explain will be his mere opinion since he lacks the intellectualtools of commentary.

We have seen in the discussion above that the pagan Arabs used to believe that othersthan Allah could bring them benefit of cause them harm. They used to take their idols, or the

jinn, of the angels, or Jesus, or Ezra ( Uzair) as protectors and worship them. We previouslyquoted the following verse: Those who take protectors other than He say, We dontworship them except that they might bring us closer to Al lah. When the Prophetproposed to the chiefs of Quraish who had gathered at the house of his uncle, Ab lib, thatthey should say There is no god but Allah in order that they might become the masters ofthe Arabs and that the non-Arabs might pay them tribute (jizyah), they replied as the Qur ndescribes:

(Has he made the gods one God. That is something very strange! Their leaders walkedaway [saying]: Let s go. Continue to adhere to your gods. This is what is needed.)

Clearly, then, the Arabs used to believe in and worship other gods besides Allah. As simpleas that might seem, the Pseudo-Salafis following Ibn Taimyah pretend that the Arabs used toknow that Allah was the one who created them and the only one who could benefit them orharm them; yet, in spite of knowing that, they used to worship others than Allah. The Pseudo-Salafis call the realization that Allah has created us and He alone has the power to benefit ofharm us the unity of lordship (taud al-rubbyah/ ). The realization that nonedeserves to be worshipped but Allah, they call the unity of godship (taud al-ulhyah/ ). Having divided the realization of unity into the unity of lordship and godship(taudal-ulhyah), the Pseudo-Salafis then declare that the pagan Arabs realized the unity of


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lordship (taud al-rubbyah), but not the unity of godhead (taud al-ulhyah). That is whyAllah denounced them, and for that reason they were unbelievers who were they to diewithout repentance would remain forever and ever in Hell. This division of the Islamic unity(taud) into the unity of lordship and godhead is preposterous; it is a fiction of Ibn Taimyah.Nobody ever came up with such a chimera before him. It was a gimmick he rigged topersuade the commoners that the Qur n supported his condemnation of intercession, for heargued that those who seek the intercession of the Prophet,or a prophet, or saint, whilethey may realize the unity of lordship (taud al-rubbyah); yet, they do not realize the unityof godhead (taud al-ulhyah) because, like the pagan Arabs who called on their protectors,they too call on protectors. The Pseudo-Salafis perversely insist that the call of one who seeksthe intercession of the Prophetis worship of the Prophet, and for that reason anyonewho seeks intercession is a polytheist just l ike the pagan Arabs. However, as we have alreadyamply explained, there is all the difference in the world between one who asks Allah forsomething on account of something, or someone, that he knows Allah loves, believing that allpower belongs to Allah and that thing, or person, has no power himself, and between one whoasks an idol, or a jinn, believing that that idol, orjinn, has power to benefit or harm himindependent of Allah. Making Muslims out to be polytheists is a very serious matter.

Al-Bukhrquoted Abdullh ibn Umar in his aas saying that the mostoutstanding characteristic of theal-Khawrij4 is that they interpret the ytwhich wererevealed concerning the polytheists to apply to Muslims. The great Hanaffaqh, Ibn bidnremarked in hisRadd al-Mukhtrthat all those who rebel against the orthodox community areKhawrij. The Pseudo-Salafis should consider carefully how much they resemble theKhawrij and beware.

It is highly in order at this juncture to explain what is meant by the term worship(ibdah/ ) because there appears to be a great deal of confusion about its correct

meaning. No doubt, Pseudo-Salafis contributed to this confusion by wrongly teaching that torevere (tam/ ) anything means to worship it. This definition is manifestly wrongbecause reverence is something very central to Islm. Muslims are taught to revere theirparents, Muslim religious scholars (ulam), the wri tten Qurn, the Kabah, and the Prophet, for example. The Qurn proclaims:

(Whoever honors the signs of Allah, verily, that pertains to the godfearingness of the hearts.)Furthermore, the Qur n exhorts us to honor the Prophet:

}{

4Al-Khawrij is the name of an Islamic sect. They misinterpretedytand thereby declared themainstream Muslims to be infidels whose blood and property was considered lawful to themselves.Although the original al-Khwarij were those who fought against Al at the battle of Nahrawnd,the phenomena of the Khawrij is an ongoing phenomena asadth amply explain. The Prophetsaid:

A people will come forth at the end of time who read the Qurn, but it will not get past theircollar-bones. They will go out of Islm the way the arrow shoots through the quarry. Thenthey wi ll never return [to Islm] until the arrow should return to the bow string. Their sign isthe shaving of their heads (al-talq/ .(

After the battle of Nahrwand somebody jubilantly said to: We have finished them! Alrelied:Nay. Every time a section of them is cut down a section of them pops up somewhere else unti l thelast of them should defect with al-Mas al-Dajjl(the Antichrist). (NB: Source of this citation isneeded.)


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(Verily, Allah and his angels revere the Prophet. O you who believe, revere him and seekpeace for him.) The Arabic imperative verb all is usually translated as seek blessings, butin the present context that is not correct. The verb is derived from alh/ whose meaningrevolves around the ideas of honor and reverence as the specialists in Arabic language tell us.If worship simply meant to honor or revere, then the angels who prostrated to Adam at thecommand of Allah worshipped Adam. However, Allah could never order His creatures tocommit polytheism. Furthermore, the Qurn tells us that when the Prophet Jacob (Yaqb)with his ten sons entered the court of Joseph (Ysuf) (on our Prophet and them be honor andpeace), they fell down before him in prostration. Consider that Jacob was a prophet and sowas Joseph, if that act of reverence had been worship, neither the first would have done it, northe second permi tted it. From these and other considerations, it becomes apparent thatworship means something more than to reverence.

(NB: Document this issue.)Getting back to the term worship, it has been defined as showing the ultimate in

humbleness(ghyat al-tadhallul/ .((NB: Document this issue.)

As absurd as the claims of the Pseudo-Salafis might be, they have succeeded inmisguiding and confusing many of the common people causing them to doubt the integrityand authority of orthodox Islam which has always advocated the legitimacy of seekingintercession (al-tawassul/ ). A person who believes that intercession which orthodoxyhas always sanctioned is, in fact, polytheism (shirk) and unbelief (kufr) can easily beconvinced that it has erred on other vital questions too, and induced to remove the tether oforthodoxy f rom his neck. Thus, what is really at stake in the controversy of intercession is theintegrity of orthodoxy itself.

The Prophet warned us emphatically to stick to the main and orthodox community.

Numerous adthhave come to us conveying a similar meaning. In fact, the number of suchadth easily reaches the number which Muslim scholars ( ulam) who are experts in theprinciples of law (usl al-fiqh/ ) designated as the level of superabundant recurrence(tawtur) which level implies that the meaning of the recurrent report is certain. According tothose whose opinion countsis a source of certain knowledge ( ilm urr/ ). Theobligation to stick to the main and orthodox community is a categorical obligation establishedby the tawtur we defined above. The wording in two of these recurrent adthwhosenumber has reached the level of tawturis as follows: Stick to the main community(al-jamah/ ). Whoever separates from it, i f only a hand-span, will be separate inHell . Whoever opposes the main community(al-jamah), if only by a hand-span, has

removed the tether of Islm from his neck.The importance of the present treatise of bdullh al-Ghumron intercession is notso much as a defense of a legitimate Islamic practice as it is a defense of the lofty Citadel ofIslamic Orthodoxy.

Having said that, we may then insist that importance of intercession is not to beunderestimated. Mankind has not seen real trouble yet. Real trouble is what mankind willface on the Plain of Judgement. Authentic tradition informs us that men will sweat puddles ofanxiety as they wait to be judged and the sun will be near overhead. The ordeal wi ll drag onand on unti l they start to ask one another what to do. Finally, some of them wi ll suggest thatthey should go to Adam and seek his intercession. Adam will send them to Noah, and Noah

will send them to Abraham and Abraham will send them to Moses and he will send them toJesus who will send them to our Prophet (May Allah grant him and the other prophets peaceand honor) who will then ask Allah to judge his servants and to show them mercy. Here I


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wish to raise a question for the Pseudo-Salafis and for any who has been influenced orconfused by their propaganda. Is not Allah closer to mankind on the Day of Judgement thantheir jugular veins? Why dont they pray directly to him rather than seek the intercession ofthe prophets? And what about the prophets like Moses and Jesus? Surely, they are notlacking in their belief in divine unity (al-taud/ ); why dont they seek the succor ofAllah who is closer to them than their jugular veins rather than seek the intercession of otherprophets? Obviously, then, intercession is a divinely favored insti tution, one of the preciouskeys to the door of divine mercy, whether it be the intercession which the Prophetwillexercise on the Day of Judgement or whether it be the intercession he exercises for those whoare in this world. Whoever, disdains it or ignores it, neither hurts nor deprives any buthimself.

I have chosen to translate the present brief treatise on intercession by bdullh al-Ghumrbecause: firstly, i t is brief; secondly, it is well -argued and riveted with proofs;thirdly, it competently exposes the deceitful and dishonest tactics of the Pseudo-Salafis;forthly, i t is a scholarly treatise; and fifthly, Abdullh al-Ghumr, its author is doubtlesslyone of the greatest scholars of adth(muaddithn) that have lived in this era, a mansupremely qualified to speak on the topic. The reader who reads but a few lines becomesdeeply impressed at al-Ghumrs erudition, and mastery of the sciences of adthandadthcriticism.

(NB: Introduction of al-Ghumari needed here.)

By [the grace of] the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, [Ibegin].5

All praise is Allahs, the Lord of the Worlds. The last word will be for those who fearAllah. Enmity is only for those who transgress. I seek blessings and peace on our master,Muhammad, and on his noble house. May Allah be pleased with his Companions and theirFollowers.

To get to the point, I declare that Shaikh Albni, may Allah forgive him, is a manwho is motivated by ulterior purposes and desire. If he sees a adth6or a report (athar7,

5My authority for the interpolations in the above translation of thebasmalah(that is, the Arabic namethe sacred formula translated above) is the science called in Arabic manrequires that such meaningas I have interpolated are necessarily implied. See, for example, the introduction to the super-commentary on Shar al-Aqidcalled al-Nabrsby Abd al-Azz al-Farhari (Multn, Pakistan;Maktabah al-aqqnyah, n.d.), p. 3.6

adthrefers to a saying reported from the Prophet of Islm

, or a report about his habit or deed orcharacter or appearance.7Atharhere refers to a report from a Companion; that is, one who lived to see the Prophet , or froma Follower; that is, one who lived to see a Companion even if he didnt hear anything from him.


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) that does not accord with his persuasion8 he straightway proceeds to foist it off as weak(af /). By using guile and deception he prevails upon his readers that he is right;whereas, he is wrong. Rather, he is a sinner and a hoodwinker. By such duplicity he hassucceeded in misguiding his followers who trust him and think that he is right.

One of those who has been deceived by him is amdal-alafi 9 who edited al-Mujam al-Kabr10. He had the impudence to declare a rigorously authentic (a) adthweak (af /)11 because it did not go along with his sectarian dogmas just as it did notconcur with the persuasion of his teacher (shaikh). The proof of that is that what he saysabout theadthsbeing weak is just what his shaikhsays.12

This being the case, I wished to present the real truth of the matter and to exposethe falsity of the claims of both the deceiver [Albni] and the deceived [amdal-alafi].

I declare that I depend on none but Allah; He is my support and to Him do Iconsign myself.

Al-abarn13reported in his al-Mujam al-Kabr14from Ibn Wahb from Shabbfrom Rau ibn al-Qsim from Ab Jafar al-Khatamal-Madanfrom Ab Ummah ibnSahl ibn unaif: Uthmn ibn unaif

A man was going to Uthmn ibn Affn15 trying to get something done for himself.However, Uthmn didnt pay any attention to him, nor did he look after his need. Thatman went to Uthmn ibn unaif and complained about that to him. Uthmn ibn unaifsaid to him, Go and perform ablution (wu/ ), then go to the mosque and pray twocycles (rakah/ ) of prayer, then say: O Al lah, I ask You and I approach You throughyour Prophet Muammad, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muammad, I approach my Lordthrough you that my need be fulfilled, then mention your need. Thereafter come to me thatI might go with you.

Then the man went away and did what he was told. After that he went to the door of

Uthmn ibn Affn; whereupon the doorkeeper took him by the hand and ushered him intoUthmn ibn Affnwho sat him down beside him on his mat and said to him, What can Ido for you? He told him what he needed and Uthmn had that done for him and then hesaid to him, I didnt remember your problem until now. Whenever you need anything cometo me. Thereupon the man left him and went to Uthmn ibn unaif and said, May Allahbless you, Uthmn wouldnt look after me, nor even pay attention to me until you spoke tohim about me. Uthmn ibn unaif replied, I swear by Al lah that I didn t speak to him.Actually, I saw a blind man come to the Messenger of Allah and complain to him aboutlosing his sight. The Prophet said to him, Wouldn t you rather show patience? He

8 That is, sectarian beliefs.

9.10 A famous collection of adthcompiled by al-abarn(d. ). It is a huge collection comprising ?volumes.11

12 Albni that theadthis weak in his book: al-Tawassul, p.88.13 Note on al-abarn.

.14918 15 Uthmn ibn Af fn / was the third Caliph (Khalfah/ ) of Islm. He succeededUmar in the year 23 h./643 a.d., and was slain by conspirators on the 18th of Dhu l-ijah, 35 h. (June

17

th

, 656 a.d.), aged eighty-two, and having reigned twelve years. The the Prophet

married him tohis daughter Ruqayyah, and when she died he married him to his second daughter Umm Kulthm. Forthat reason Uthmn is known fondly amongst the Muslims as Dh Nrain (the Holder of the TwoLights).


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replied, O Messenger of A llah, I dont have a guide and the matter has become an ordealfor me. The Prophet said to him, Go and make ablution (wu), then pray two cycles(rakah) of prayer, then make this supplication (du/).

I swear by Allah, we hadnt gone away, nor had we remained long time talk whenthe man returned as if he had never suffered any affliction.

Al-abarndeclared this report to be rigorously authentic (a /)16; whereas,amdal-Salafi contradicted him saying:

There is no doubt about the authenticity of that part of theadth[concerning the story of theblind man]17; the doubt concerns the [first part of] the story [concerning Uthmn ibn unaifs instructions to the man who sought the help of Uthmn ibn Affn] which heretics(mubtadiah) adduce attempting to prove the legitimacy of their heretical practice of callingthe Prophet for his intercession. [That part of the story is in doubt for the reasons whichwe will explain.] Firstly, as al-abarnmentioned, Shabb [who is one of the narratorsmentioned in the reports chain of narration (sanad /) is alone in reporting this adth.

Then, Shabbs narrations are not bad (la basa bihi /) on two conditions: first, thathis son Amad be the one who narrates from him; second, that Shabbs narrationbe fromYnus ibn Yazd. However, in the present case, Shabbs narration is reported by [threepersons]: Ibn Wahb, and Shabbs two sons Isml and Amad. As for Ibn Wahb,extremely reliable narrators (al-thiqah /) criticized Ibn Wahbs narrations from Shabb,as they cri ti cized Shabb himself . And as for Shabbs son, Isml, he is unknown.Although Amad also reports this adthfrom Shabb, it is not Shabbs report from Ynusibn Yazd [which (as amdpretends) is what the experts in narration stipulated as thecondition for the correctness of Shabbs narrations]. Furthermore, the experts in narration

16NB: Check to see if al-Tabarani claimed the mauquf version to be authentic or whether hesimply said shabib was thiqah. As did al-Haithami (d. ) in his Majmaal-Zawid, p. 179, vol. 2;and al-Mundhari in his al-Targhbwaal-Tarhb. Check it.17

The recognized authorities in the field ofadthand its criticism unanimously regard theadthofthe blind man (al-arr/ ) to be a sound adth. Al-Tirmidhreported it and said that it isasansa gharb, and he remarked that he didnt know thisadth by any other chain of narration (sanad).Ibn Khuzaimah reported the adthwith the same chain in his adth, and Amad reported it in his al-Musnad, p. 138, vol. 4; and al-Nisin his Amal al-Yaum wa al-Lailah, p. 417;and Ibn Mjah in hisal-Sunan, p. 441, vol. 1; and al-Bukhrin hisal-Trkh al-Kabr, p. 210, vol.6; and al-abarnin hisal-Mujam al-Kabr, p.19, vol. 9; and also in his Ki tb al-Du , p. 1289, vol. 2; and al-kim in his

al-Mustadrak, p. 313 and p. 519, vol. 1; he declared it to be a rigorously authentic adth(a), andal-Dhahabaffirmed its authenticity [in his annotations on al-Mustadrak]. Al-Baihaqreported theadthin hisDalilu al-Nubwah, p. 166, vol. 6, and in his al-Dawat al-Kubr .

In spite of al-Tirmidhs disacknowledgement, (Ibn Taimiyah also refuted al-Ti rmidhi onthe absence of any other chain. See Radd al-Muhkan, p.143-144. Check the source of hisstatement and mention it.) there is another chain of thisadth, which is what the specialists callmutbaah /. Shubah reported the same adthwith the chain (sanad) which amd ibn Salamahreported from Ab Ja far in al-Tirmidhs version. Abdullh al-Ghumrmentioned the names of theauthorities who reported thisadthin his book al-Radd al-Mukam al-Matnal Kitb al-Qaul al-Mubn, (Cairo, Maktabat al-Qhirah, 3rd ed., 1986), pp. 144-149, the different sources of theadth,

and its alternate chains (mutbaah) as did Mamd Sad Mamd in hisRafu al-Manrah fi TakhrjAd th al-Tawassul wa al-Ziyrah/ -(Amman, Jordan, Dr alImm al-Nawaw, 1st ed., 1995), pp.94-95. NB: Add to this note the authentification of al-Nawawi, and al-Hafiz, and al-Suyuti, and Ibn Taimiyyah as mentioned by al-Ghumari, p. 149.


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(al-muaddithn /) are at variance concerning the text of thisadthwhich theynarrate from Amad [ibn Shabb]. Ibn al-Sunnreported the adthin his Amal al-Yaumwal-Lailah / and al-kim reported it with three different chains ofnarration (sanad) neither of them mentioning the story [of Uthmn ibn unaif and the manwho wanted to see Uthmn]. Al-kim reported theadthby way Aun ibn Amrah al-Basrfrom Rau ibn al-Qsim My teacher (shaikh) Muammad Nsir al-Dn al-Albni:Even though Aun is weak (af), still his version of theadth (riwyah /) [withoutthe story of Uthmn ibn unaif] is preferable to Shabbs since Raus narration agreeswith the narrations of Shubah and amd ibn Salamah through Abu Ja f`ar al-Kham[without the story of Uthmn ibn unaif].

The foregoing discussion18 is misleading and distorted in several ways.

First Point

The story [of Uthmn ibn unaif and the man who wanted to see Uthmn] was reported byal-Baihaqin Dalilu l-Nubwah19 by way of Yaqb ibn Sufyn who said that Amad ibnShabb ibn Sad reported to me that his father reported to him from Rau ibn al-Qsim fromAbu Jafar al-Khatamfrom Abu Usmah ibn Sahl ibn unaif that a man was going toUthmn ibn Affn and he mentioned the story in its entirety.

Yaqb ibn Sufyn is [Ab Yusf] al-Fasaw(d. 77 h.)

20

, thefi,

21

theImm,

22

theutterly reliable transmitter (al-thiqah/);23 rather, he is better than utterly reliable (thiqah).

18Which is a regurgitation of what Albni has said in his al-Tawassul, p. 88..196167-168

20 Yaqb ibn Sufyn is mentioned in Ibn ajr s reputed and authoritative dictionary of narrators:Taqrb al-Tahdhb(Beirut, Dr al-Rashd, 3rd ed.,1991), p.608.21A fiwas a scholar of adthwho had prodigious powers of memory and had memorized,according to some, at least one hundred thousand adths.22 Immwas aadthscholar (muaddith) whose integrity and mastery in the science was sooutstanding and his opinion so apt that other scholars began to depend on him for guidance in thefield. It was the imms who established who were the weak narrators and who were the strong, and,likewise, it were they who established which version of a adthwas correct and which, if any, wereincorrect or weak. Once a man became established as an imm, he was impeachable; nobodyscriticism could impair his reputation and authority. This is an established principle in the science ofthe authentication and criticism of narrators ( ilm al-jar wa al-tadl/) NB: Referencethis point and give the example of Abu Hanifah and al-Bukhari.23Thiqah /refers to a narrator of adthwho is qualified both by integrity (adlah / ) andminute accuracy (ab/ ). The latter term means that the transmitter hears and remembers

correctly what is transmitted to him the first time and, thereafter, can recall exactly what heremembered whenever he wishes to narrate; in other words, he gets it right the first time and everytime thereafter. Integrity means that the narrator neither l ies nor commits major sins (al-kabir.(/


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The chain of narration (sanad) of thisadthis utterly reliable (a /).24 Thus the story[about Uthmn ibn unaif ] is quite authentic. Other [specialists in the science of adthandits narrators] also proclaimed the adthto be rigorously authentic (a). fial-Mundhar(d.)25mentioned in hisal-Targhb wa al-Tarhb: p.606, vol. 2;26 and fial-Haitham(d. )27 mentioned it in hisMu jam al-Zaw id: p.179, vol. 2.28NB:Check

Second Point

Amad ibn Shabb (d. ) is one of the narrators that al-Bukhr(d.)29 depended on; al-Bukhrreported adthfrom Amad ibn Shabb both in his aand in his al-Adab al-Mufrad. Abtim al-Rz(d. )30 also declared him to be utterly reliable (thiqah), and both he and Ab

Zurah (d. ) wrote down hisadth.31

Ibn Ad(d. )32

mentioned that the people of Basrah[that is, the experts in the science of adth and criticism] considered him to be utterlyreliable (thiqah) and Alal-Madn(d.)33 wrote down hisadth.

24 a() is a technical term in the science of adth. It refers to a narration which has thefollowing five qualifications:

1) A chain of narration (sanad) going back to the Prophet.2) A chain of narration (sanad) which is continuous in that every narrator (rw/) heard

directly from person he narrates from. This condition is called ittisal/.3) Every narrator (rw) is considered by the authorities of the science of criticism of narrators( ilm al-jar wa al-tadl/ ) to be utterly reliable (thiqah). Thiqah was definedabove in footnote 23.

4) Both the text of theadthand its chain of narrators (sanad) must be free of any hidden defect(illah/ .( Hidden defect(illah) is defined as a factor which prejudices the soundness of theadthor itssanad. On account of its subtleness, it could only be recognized by a few masters ofthe art like al-Draquni, al-Tirmidh, al-kim, and Ibn Rajab, for example.

5) The text of theadthmust not contradict any principle established by recurrent adth(mutawtir), or clear-cut texts of the Qur`an (al-nuss al-qayah). Neither may any of thenarrators contradict those who are more reliable than he either in terms of the text of the narration

or in the particulars of thesanad. In the case of any of the above the adthwill be regarded asirregular(shadh/), and therefore weak. NB: Check this definition. The recognition of suchirregularityrequires one to be familiar with the entire corpus of adth, and, as such, the onlypeople qualified to recognize it are the early imms. NB: Mention an authority for this point, andfor the conditions of sahih.

25 He is26 Publication data.27 He is28Publication data.29Note on al-Bukhrand his two books mentioned here.30

313233


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Amads father, Shabb ibn Sad al-Tammal-Habatal-Basr(d. )34 is also one ofthe narrators whom al-Bukhrdepended on in both his aand hisal-Adab al-Mufrad.Those who considered Shabb to be thiqahinclude: Ab Zurah, Ab

tim, al-Nis, al-Dhahl, al-Draqun, and al-abarn35.

Ab tim related that Shabb had in his keeping the books of Ynus ibnYazd (d. ),

and he said that Shabb was reliable (li/ ) in adthand that there was nothing wrongwith him (l basa bihi/).36

Ibn Adsaid: Shabb had a copy of the book37 of al-Zuhr. He had in his keepingsound adthwhich Ynus related from al-Zuhr. 38

[Al] ibn al-Madnsaid about Shabb: He was utterly reliable (thiqah). He used togo to Egypt for trade. His book was authentic (ai).39

The foregoing relates to the authentication (tadl) of Shabb.40 As you notice there isno stipulation that his narration be from Ynus ibn Yazd in order to be authentic (a).

3435 Al-abarnmentioned this is hisal-Mujam al-aghr(pub. Data), p. 184, vol. 1, and in hisal-Mujam al-Kabr(pub. Data), p. 17, vol. 9. NB:Check it.36 Mamd Sad Mamd is one of the leading adthexperts (mu addithn) of the present time, anda student of the author of this treatise, Abdullh al-Ghumr, and a student of several of the renownadthspecialists (muaddithn) of the era, including the Meccan MuaddithYsn al-Faydn.Shaikh Mamd Sad in Rafual-Manrah, p. 98, mentioned that Ab Zurah, Ab tim, and al-Nisall said about Shabb: l basa bihi(There is nothing wrong with him.) Shaikh Mahmdpointed out: That is all that is required in order to authenticate a narrator and render what he narrates

authentic (a) and warrant its mention [by al-Bukhrand Muslim] in the two a s. NB: Givesource of the original statement of Ab Hatim.37 Al-Zuhr(d. ) His book was monumental in that it was the first book of ad thto be writtendown. Umar ibn Abd al-Azz, the scholar-prince whom posteri ty hailed asthe Fifth RighteousCaliph of Isl m, ordered al-Zuhrto write down the adthfor he feared that the knowledge of adthwould disappear were they not written down. Al-Zuhrs book thus marked the beginning of thesecond era in the history of the science of adth. The first era was characterized by a conspicuousabsence of anything written down. The earl iest muaddithndepended entirely on their prodigiouspowers of memory and were adverse to writing anything down.38Mention source of this quote.39Mamd Sad Mamd observed in his book Raf`u al-Manrah fi Takhrj Adth al-Tawassul wa

al-Ziyrah, p. 100, that Albni in quoting the above statement of Alal-Madnin hisal-Tawassul,p. 86,deliberately omitted the first part of his statement and the most important part of it; namely, thatShabb was utterly reliable (thiqah). Albni wrote in hisal-Tawassul: Alal-Madnsaid: He usedto go to Egypt on business. Nowhere did Albni mention that Alal-Madnsaid that Shabb wasutterly reliable (thiqah). Given that the entire thrust of Albnis argument is that Shabb is not reliable,Albnis omission of Alal-Madns confirmation of Shabbs reliability is a very serious matter.Keep in mind that the whole issue under consideration here is the examination of the evidence for oneof the practices (sunnahs)of the Last of the Messengers (that is, intercession / ) and thescrutinization of the witnesses who tendered that evidence. Thus any tampering of the evidence, ormisrepresentation of the witnesses is a grave breach of trust, an act of perfidy against the religion of

Islm.

40 Shaikh Mahmd mentioned in hisRafu al-Manrah fi Takhrj Ath al-Tawassul wa al-Ziyrah,p.98, that Albni is the first person to claim that Shabb is a weak narrator. Mamd Sad mentionedthe opinions of nine immsin the sciences of adth and criticism (ilm al-jar wa al-tadl) that


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Rather, Ibn al-Madnaffirms that his book was authentic,41 while Ibn Ad confined himselfto commenting about Shabbs copy of al-Zuhrs book not intending to intimate anythingabout the rest of Shabbs narrations. So what Albni claims [namely, that Shabbsnarrations are authentic on the condition that he narrate from Ynus ibn Yazd] is deceptionand a breach of academic and religious trust.

What I have said [about Shabbs unconditional reliabil ity] is further corroborated by the factthat [another adthwhich Shabb related; namely] the adthabout the blind man [who cameto the Prophet to plead him to pray for him] was declared to be authentic by the adthexperts (uf/)42 although Shabb did not narrate thisadthfrom Ynus by way ofal-Zuhr. Rather, he related it from Rau ibn al-Qsim.

Furthermore, Albni claims that since some narrators whose adthare mentioned byIbn al-Sunnand al-kim did not mention the story [about Uthmn ibn unaif], the story isdoubtful (af ). This is another example of Albnis trickery. People who have someknowledge about the principles of the science of adthknow that some narrators report agiven adthin its entirety, while others may choose to abridge it according to their purpose at

hand. Al-Bukhr, for example, does that routinely in hisawhere he often mentions aadthin abridged form while it is given by someone else in complete form.Moreover, the person who has related the story [about Uthmn ibn unaif] in al-Baihaqsreport is an extraordinary imm: Yaqb ibn Sufyn. Ab Zurah al-Dimishqsays abouthim: Two men from the noblest of mankind came to us; one of them, Yaqb ibn Sufyn themost widely-traveled of the two, , defies the people of Iraq to produce a single man who cannarrate [as well] as he does.

Albnis declaring the narration of Aun, which in fact is weak, to be better than thenarration of those who narrated the story [of Uthmn ibn unaif] is a third aspect of A lbni s

duplicity and fraud because when al-kim related the adthof the blind man in an abridgedform by way of Aun, he remarked:

Shabb ibn Sad al-abahas given the same adthby way of Rau ibn al-Qsim with someadditions to the text (matn/ ). The decision in the/ ) and the chain of narrators (isndmatter is Shabbs since he is utterly reliable (thiqah) and trustworthy (mamn).

What al-kim says emphasizes a precept which is universally recognized by the experts inthe science of adth(al-muaddithn)and the principles of the holy law (usl al-fiqh/ ) ); namely, that additional wording related by a narrator who is utterly reliable thiqah) is

acceptable (maqblah /), and, furthermore, someone who remembered something is aproof against someone who didnt remember i t.

Shabb is reliable. Those immsare: Alal-Madn, Muammad ibn Yay al-Dhahl, al-Draqun,al-abarn, Ibn ibbn, al-kim, Ab Zurah, Ab tim, al-Nis .41 Mamd Sad Mamd points out in Rafu al-Manrah fi Takhrj Ath al-Tawassul wa al-Ziyrah, pp. 99-100, that the accuracy (ab / ) of a narrator [which along with integrity (adlah/) establishes reliability] is of two kinds: accuracy in respect of his memory ( ab al- if / /), and accuracy in respect of what he has written down (abal-kitbah .( Alal-Madnfirst declares that Shabb is utterly reliable (thiqah) without stating any condition. Thereafter, he

reinforces that by stating that his book is also authentic without making his reliabil ity conditional onbeing from that book. Furthermore, Mamd Sad observes that Albni. to be completedconcerning Albnis deliberate omission and/or cross-referenced.42NB: Cross reference needed here.


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Third Point

Albni saw al-kims statement but he didnt like it, so he ignored it, and obstinatelyand dishonestly insisted on the superiority of Auns weak narration.

It has been made clear that the story [about Uthmn ibn unaif] is rigorously authentic(a) in spite of Albnis [andIbn Taimyahs] deceitful attempts to discredit i t. The storyshows that seeking the Prophet s intercession after his passing away is permissible sincethe Companion43 who reported the adthunderstood that it was permissible and theunderstanding of the narrator is significant in the view of the holy law (sharah/ ), for ithas its weight in the field of deducing ( istinb/) the detailed rules of the holy law(sharah).We say according to the understanding of the narratorfor the sake of argument; otherwise, inactuali ty, Uthmn ibn unaifs instructing the man to seek the intercession of the Prophetwas according to what he had heard from the Prophet as theadthof the blind man[which Uthmn ibn unaif himself related] establishes.

Ibn AbKhaithamah stated in hisTrikh[which is a genre of writing which deals withthe history and reputation of narrators of adth]:

Muslim ibn Ibrhm related to me that amd ibn Salamah said: Ab Ja far al-Khatamrelated to me from Amrah ibn Khuzaimah from Uthmn ibn unaif : A blind mancame to the Prophet and said: I have lost my sight. Pray to Allah for me. He answered:Go and make ablution and then pray two cycles (rakah /) of prayer, and then say: OAllah, I ask You and I approach you through my Prophet Muammad, The Prophet of Mercy.O Muammad, I seek your intercession with Allah that my sight should be restored. O Al lah,accept my intercession for myself and accept the intercession of my Prophet for the restorationof my sight. If ever you have any need do like that. (Find this reference and quote it.)

The chain of narration (isnd) of thisadthis rigorously authentic (a). The last clause oftheadthconstitutes the express permission of the Prophet to seek his intercessionwhenever there occurred any need.

Notwithstanding, Ibn Taimyah objected on feeble grounds that this last clausecomprehended some covert technical defect (illah/ ) [which prejudices the authenticity of

theadthor at least i ts last clause]. I have demonstrated the invalidity of those groundselsewhere.44 Indeed, Ibn Taimyah is characteristically audacious in rejecting adthwhich do

43 Companion (al-Sab/) refers to one who saw the Prophet during his lifetime andbelieved in him. NB: Reference needed.44 Abdullh al-Ghumrmentioned in his book al-Radd al-Muhkam al-Matnal al-Kitb al-Mubn,p. 141, that in his book al-Qaul al-Mubn fukm Duwa Nidal-Maut min al-anbiywaal-lin / pretended that the story ofUthmn ibn unaif and the man to whom he taught the prayer of intercession (al-tawassul) wasforged (makdhbah /) because the story, if it were true, requires that Uthmn ibn Af fnwas a

tyrant (lim/ ) who denied people their rights and didnt even listen to them. Moreover, IbnTaimyah claims that the none of the books of the sunnahcontain this story.Abdullh al-Ghumrpoints out in his book, p.142; firstly, that Uthmn ibn Affn

apologized to the man for forgetting his business until the man appeared before him as is mentioned in


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not conform with his purpose at hand even if those adthare rigorously authentic (a) . Agood example of that is the following case: Al-Bukhr reported in his a: Allah existedand there was nothing other than Him. Thisadthis in agreement with the [clear-cut]evidence of the Qur`an, the sunnah, reason, and certain consensus (al-ijm al-mutayaqqan(/ However, since it conflicts with his belief in the eternity of the world,45 he turnedto another version of this adthwhich al-Bukhralso reported: Allah existed and their wasnothing before Him. And he rejected the first version in favor of the second on the groundsthat the second conforms with another adth: You are the first; there is nothing beforeYou. [He held that the implication was that created thingsalwaysexisted along with Allah.]fiIbn ajr remarked concerning the correct manner of reconciling the apparentcontradiction in the above-mentioned adths: In fact the way to reconcile the two versionsof theadthis to understand the second in light of the first, and not the other way around.Moreover, there is consensus on the principle that reconciliation of two apparentlycontradictory versions of a text (nass/ ) takes precedence over endorsing one version at theexpense of revoking the other. 46

Actually, Ibn Taimyahs prejudice blinded him from understanding the two versionsof theadthwhich, in fact, are not mutually contradictory. That is because the versionAllah existed and there was nothing before Him. has the meaning which is contained in Hisname the First; whereas, the version Allah existed and there was nothing other than Him.has the meaning contained in His name the One. The proof of this is still another version oftheadthwith the wording Allah existed before everything.47

Another example of Ibn Taimyahs audacity in rejecting adth is the case of theadth: The Messenger of Allah ordered the doors which opened on the mosque fromthe street to be sealed, but he left Als door [open]. Thisadthis rigorously authentic(sahih). Ibn al-Jauz(d. )48 was mistaken by mentioning it in his collection of forged adths,

al-Maudut. fi[Ibn ajr ] corrected him in his al-Qaul al-Musaddad: Ibn Taimyahbecause of his well-known bias against Alwas not content with Ibn al-Jauzs declarationthat the adthwas forged, but took the initiative to add from his own bag [of fraud] thepretence that the adth experts (al-muhaddithn) are agreed that the adh is forged. IbnTaimyah has rejected so many adthsimply because they are irreconcilable with hisopinions that it is hard to keep track of the instances.49 (Check to see which Ibn Hajr is referred to here; whopublished the book; where the quote ends; and who has authenticated the hadith apart from Ibn )

Fourth Point

theadthitself. Secondly, al-Ghumrobserved that the claim that none of the books of sunnahcontain this story is an outright lie because, as we have seen, it was mentioned by al-abarn, al-Baihaq, al-Mundhar, al-Haitham, Moreover, as we have also seen, theadthhas different chainsof narration (uruq), and their sanads are sound NB: Complete the references with mention of al-Nawawi etc.Then find and quote the reference here from al-Qaul al-M ubin.45 NB: Mention some statements of his with their sources.46 NB: Mention source.47 NB: Mention source of this adth.48 He is Ab al-Faraj49 Abdullh al-Ghumrhas mentioned in his numerous works a great number of such instances of Ibn

Taimyahs dishonesty. His book : al-Radd al-Muhkam al-Matinal al-Kitb al-Mubn contains a lotof examples. Many other ulam(Muslim religious scholars ) have complained about this trait in IbnTaimyah. Among them Taqal-Dn al-Subk, Ibn ajr al-Makk, Taqal-Dn al-Hun, Arabal-Tibbn, Amad ZainDaln, Muammad Zhid al-Kauthar.


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In order to conciliate Albni, let us suppose that the story [about Uthmn ibn unaif] isweak, and that the Ibn Abi Khaithamahs version of theadth[with the addition: Wheneveryou have any need do like that.] is defective (muallal) as Ibn Taimyah would have it; stilltheadthof the blind man is quite enough to prove the permissibility of seeking theintercession of the Prophet since the fact that the Prophet taught the blind man to seekhis intercession on that occasion shows the propriety of seeking it in allcircumstances.Moreover, it is not allowable to refer to such intercession as a heretical departure (bidah/), nor is it allowable to arbitrarily restrict such intercession to the lifetime of the Prophet .Indeed, whoever restricts it to his lifetime is really a heretic50 because he has disqualified arigorously authentic adthand precluded its implementation, and that is unlawful (arm(). (Check the source of this hadith and give its text and also check the tashkil of the name Abu Burdah/

Albni, may Allah forgive him, is bold to claim conditionality and abrogation simplybecause a text prejudices his preconceived opinions and persuasion. If the adth of the blindman was a special dispensation for him, the Prophet would have made that clear as hemade it clear to Ab Burdah that the sacrifice of a two year old goat would fulfill his duty;whereas, it would not suffice for others. Furthermore, it is not admissible to suppose that theProphetmight have delayed explaining a matter in detail when his followers needed thatknowledge at that time.

A Suterfuge and its Preclusion

Suppose somebody says that the reason we have to restrict the application of this adthto thelifetime of the Prophetis that it involves calling (nid/ ) the Prophet[whereas, it isnot possible to call him after his death.] We reply that this objection is to be rejected becausethere are numerous reports (mutawatir) from the Prophetconcerning his instruction aboutwhat one should recite during the tashahhud51of prayer, and that contains the greeting ofpeace (salm/) for him with mention of him in the vocative form: Peace be upon you, OProphet!52 That is the very formula which Ab Bakr, Umar, Ibn Zubair, and Muwiyahtaught the people from the mimbar53. Thereafter, it became an issue on which there was

concensus (ijm/ .) as Ibn azm (d.)54and Ibn Taimyah affirmed

50 Because such a person in effect declares impermissible something that the Prophet has permittedand that precisely is what heresy is all about: changing or opposing the law (sharah) of theMessenger of Allah .51Tashahhdrefers to certain formulas which are recited when one comes to sit after every two rakatsof prayer. It is called tashahhud because it contains the formula of witnessing (shahdah) theuniqueness of the divinity, and the truth of the prophethood of Mu ammad .52Al-salmulaika ayyuha al-nabyu/ .53

Mimbaris a step-like construction on which stands the person who delivers the Friday. exhortation

(khubah /).54Ibn azm is famous for his strictness in claiming consensus, for he doesn t consider any consensusvalid except the consensus of the Companions. His book Martib al-Ijm/ . NB: Givereference.


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Albni, because he is prone to schism ( ibtid /), violated the consensus andinsisted on following an opinion reported of Ibn Masd: Then when he died we said: Peacebe on the Prophet(al-salmu al al-nabyu). Indeed, violating theadthand consensus isthe essence of heresy (ibtid / .(

Furthermore, there are authentic reports from the Prophetwhich inform us that ourdeeds are presented to the Prophet[in his blessed grave] as are our supplications for hispeace (al-salm /) and honor (al-alh/ )55. There are also authentic reports aboutangels which travel about the earth in order to convey to the Prophet any greetings ofpeace and honor that anyone of his people might happen to make for him. Also definitivetexts (tawtur/ )56 and consensus (ijm) establish that the Prophetis alive in hisgrave, and that his blessed body does not decay. After all that, how can anybody dare toclaim that it is not allowable to call the Prophet in seeking his intercession? After all, isthat in any dif ferent than calling him in tashahhud?

Unfortunately, Albni is perversely obstinate and opinionated, as are the Albnis, [thatis, his blind, fanatic followers].

So much for my rebuttal of Albni. As for the person called amdal-Salafi, theresno need to refute him separately because he merely echoes Albni.

Another thing which I should establish here is that Albni is not to be depended on inhis judgements about adthauthenticity (ta/ ), nor their weakness (ta f/ (because he routinely employs a variety of tactics to mislead, and he does not disdain to betrayhis trust in transmitting the opinions of the ulam (religious scholars) distorting their wordsand meanings. Moreover, he has had the impudence to oppose the consensus and to claim theabrogation (naskh/ ) of texts (na) without proof. He commits such excesses because ofhis ignorance of the principles [of the science of fiqh] and the rules of inference and deduction(al-istinb/ .(

He claims he is struggling against heretical innovation (bidah/ ) by forbidding thepractice of intercession, and by forbidding people to use the epithet sayyidin/ whenmentioning the name of the Prophet, and by forbidding them to recite the Qurn for thesake [of the souls] of the deceased. However, the fact of the matter i s that by doing that hecommits a real heresy (bidah) by forbidding what Allah has permitted, and by verballyabusing the Ashari tes57 and the Sufis58. In all this he is just l ike Ibn Taimyah who denounced

55Al-alh/ is often translated as blessings, but that is not quite correct. Its actual meaning revolvesaround the words urmahand tamwhich mean sacredness and honor respectively. See Mukhtr al-i,Miba al-Munr, or Mufradt al-Qurn.56 Which here means unambiguous texts of the Qurn and numerousadthwhich, while being fromdifferent sources, attest to a common meaning.57

The Asharites (al-Ashirah/ ) is the designation of the proponents of the theological schoolwhich evolved to rationally defend Islamic orthodoxy from deviations which heterodox schools likethe school of the Mutazilah, and the Arabic philosophers, tried to foist off on Islm. The Asharitesaccepted the Qur n and the sunnahas true beyond question and they regarded the authority of the twoas supreme. Notwi thstanding, they held that what the Qur n and the sunnahtaught was agreeable toreason. They employed reason to arrive at a valid understanding of the sacred texts (nu) and toestablish certain principles of interpretation and priority. The Asharites maintained the absolutetranscendence of Allah since that is what both reason requires and the unequivocal (mukamah/

) and definitive (qayah/ ) texts proclaim. They ably maintained that Al lah alone is theNecessary Existent. His existence is known to be necessary because this universe, which is a work ofexquisite wonder and mind-boggling perfection needs an originator who being the primal cause of allthat exists is himself beyond cause. All else is contingent: it may exist, as it may also not exist.


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Being Necessary, He is beyond all change, without beginning and wi thout end; whereas, everythingelse has a beginning and is subject to change and annihi lation. Moreover, the Necessary Existent isunique in both His being and His attributes. No originated thing shares with him any of his attributes,nor is He qualified by any of the attributes of originated things. Thus he does not possess body, nor isHe compounded of parts, nor is he defined by any direction or limit, nor is He contained in time or

space. Whatever we imagine Him to be, He is other than that. Neither is He in this world, nor is Heoutside it; neither is He contiguous with the world, nor is He separate from it. Although He exists, nayHis existence alone is necessary, yet we cannot comprehend the nature of His existence.The Asharites vehemently opposed the heretical school of extreme literalists, whose perspective wasanthropomorphic. The Asharites called these antropomorphists the. Theashawyahmaintained thatAllah ascends His Throne in the sky in Person (bidhtih/ ); that He is described by the physicaldirection above (al-ul/); that He descends in Person to the lowest heaven during the last third ofthe night, that he is compounded of two hands, two eyes, two legs; that He li terally becomes angry,forgets, laughs and speaks with audible sounds. Many of the muaddithnof theanbalschooladopted this extreme anthropomorphist stance, although Imm Amad certainly never advocated suchheretical views as Ibn al-Jauzi pointed out in his important book Dafu al-Shubah al-Tashbh bi Akaffial-Tanzh. Ibn Taimyah was an outspoken partisan of the ashawyah. Because the Asharite ulamconsider anthropomorphism to be sheer unbelief (kufr/ ), they denounced Ibn Taimyah for hisanthropomorphic views and eventually imprisoned him. Anthropomorphism was of little consequenceafter Ibn Taimyah unti l the advent of Muammad ibn Abd al-Wahhb al-Najd(d.) who revived hisheretical teachings and the heresies of the ashawyahin the Najd Plateau in central Arabia. Hisfollowers were myrmidons of fanaticism: they considered all who differed with them to be polytheistsoutside the pale of Islm. Consequently, they held that the lives of other Muslims and their propertywere lawful for themselves the true believers and they overran the villages of Najd plundering andkilling and spreading terror and lawlessness and perpetrating all kinds of sacrilege until they weredecimated by an army sent from Egypt by the order of the Turkish Sultan. They again became a

nuisance and were again wiped out by the Turks; thereafter, the influence of their heresies was largelyrestricted to the Najd. However, their influence was revived in this century, through the person ofAbd al-Azz ibn Sad who used the Wahhbis to gain power in first the Najd, then the Hi jz andelsewhere. After Abd al-Azz ibn Sad consolidated his rule, petroleum resources were developedand his kingdom acquired great wealth. He supported the Wahhbi ulamand they busily wentabout declaring their doctrines to be the only true interpretation of Islm and all else to be invalid andheretical. They effectively suppressed the orthodox ulam from criticizing them, and theymonopolized the educational system and the media. Soon they began to wield a formidable apparatusof propaganda for the insidious purpose of persuading the unwary that Islamic orthodoxyhad well-nigh become eclipsed by a false and spurious Islm which comprised the mere teachings of ulamwho insistedon blindly following the tradition of their respective schools, like the anafand Shfi

andMlikschools which, as they falsely claimed had become corrupted, rather than directly followthe Qur n and sunnah. Wahhabi zealots claim to follow the Qurn and sunnahdirectly and for thatreason they pretend that they are the truest representatives of the original Islm of the early Muslimswho were called al-salaf and for this reason they call themselves Salafis;however, their opponentsstill call them Wahhbis for the justif iable reason that they bl indly follow the ideas of Muammad ibnAbd al-Wahhb al-Najd. These Pseudo-Salafis present Asharism as a heretical sect and they brandAsharite ulamas Jahmiynmeaning thereby to imply that Asharites follow the arch-heretic Jahmibn afwn who denied the attributes of Allah. They refuse Ashari te ulam teaching positions andall important religious functions, and woe to any Asharite scholar who dared to speak out publicly indenunciation of Wahhabi teachings, or the teachings of Ibn Taimyah, or Muammad ibn Abd al-Wahhb. They maintained a strict censorship on all Islamic literature entering the country and anymaterial which was critical of Wahhabi beliefs or doctrines was out-rightly banned. The Wahhbiswere just as active on the international scene. They support hundreds of Wahhabi schools, mosquesand centers around the world as well as thousands of Wahhabi missionaries (dut/ ). They send


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all kinds of people; some of them he declared to be unbelievers and others to be heretics; then,he went and committed two of the biggest heresies that one can commit. In the first instance,he maintained the eternity of the world [which means, in other words, that he maintained thatthe world has no beginning, but always existed along with Allah], and that is a heresy whichconstitutes categorical unbelief; we seek refuge in Allahfrom that. Then in the secondinstance he was prejudiced against Al for which the ulamof his time accused him ofhypocrisy. That is because the Prophettold Al: No one loves you but a believer, and no

their literature around the world free and they presently train hundreds of persons in centers in SaudiArabia to propagate Wahhbi-ism in their respective countries. Among those centers is the IslamicUniversity in Medinah, Umm al-Qur University in Mecca, Imam Muammad bin Sad University inRiyadh.

However, these sectarians have overlooked the very considerable fact that most of theMuslims in the world presently as in the past are Asharite in the matter of beliefs because Asharismmeans transcendence, and transcendence is the essence of the divine unity (al-taud). Furthermore,most of the scholars on whose works the Pseudo-Salafis themselves depend like Ibn ajr, al-Suyt,al-Qurub, Ibn Kathr, al-Nawaw, Ibn al-Jauz, Ibn al-al, Mulla Alal-Qrand hundreds ofothers were undeniably Asharites. The Prophet of Islm repeatedly warned us: Stick with thecommunity (al-jamah/ /) and main body (al-sawd al-aam ), for whoeverseparates from it, if even a handspan, will be separate in Hell . 58 Sufisare those who engage themselves in following the sharah inwardly so that the effects of thatare seen externally, and outwardly so that the effects of it are seen internally. That is the definition ofSufismwhich was given by Sharf al-Jurjnin hisal-Tarift. It is a discipline whose goal is thepurification of the soul and the reformation of the personality so that the Sufi should live with a trueawareness of the presence of Allahneither letting Him find him remiss in what He has chargedhim wi th, nor letting Him find him doing what He has forbidden him. As such, Sufism is a legitimate

Islamic science; rather, it is one of the highest sciences, nonetheless it is complemental to anddependent on the other sciences like the science of beliefs (aqid/ ,( fiqh, principles of fiqh,commentary of the Qurn (tafsr/ ), principles of adth, Arabic grammar, Arabic rhetoricalsciences (al-balghah/ ), and so on. If Sufism was plagued by heterodox accretions, that didntstop true Sufism from being a legitimate and noble science any more than the accretion of spuriouslore from the Christians and Jews stopped Quranic commentary from being a legitimate and noblescience. Just as immsof tafsrpurged that science of false or dubious material and establishedcorrect principles, the immsof Sufism purged it of what was illegitimate. Abd al-Qdir al-Jilnisreported to have said: I seek refuge in Al lah from the Pseudo-Sufis of my time. With so much falseSufism about today, it was not difficult for the Pseudo-Salafis to convince the ignorant that all Sufismis heterodox, including the Sufism of men like Imm al-Ghaz l , Ab l-Qsim al-Qushairand Jall

al-Dn al-Rm, and in more recent times like the Sufism of Khlid al-Baghdd, Rashd Amadal-Ghanghh, and Amad Husain al-Madanwho were paragons of strict orthodoxy and erudition.

One should not overlook the fact that, Pseudo-Salafis depend on many great scholars in thesciences of adth, tafsr, and fiqhwho were, nonetheless, well known for their affiliation with Sufism:like Ibn Hajr, al-Nawaw, al-Suyt, Ibn Rajab, Alal-Qr, al-Als, Ibn bidn, and so on. Even theprinciple student of Ibn Taimyah, Ibn Qayyim al-Jauzyah has written a famous book calledMudrikal-liknwhich is a text on Sufism. The fact that the Pseudo-Salafis can hardly do wi thout theknowledge and guidance of ulamwho were openly known for their affiliation with Sufism andgood opinion of it, makes the Pseudo-Salafis claim to be the true upholders of orthodoxy highlyuntenable. Their claim necessari ly implies that orthodoxy is represented by a small minority; whereas,

the Prophet

insisted that orthodoxy will always be represented by the main community: Veri ly,the people of Muammad wi ll never agree all together on misguidance. Indeed, the Handof Al lah isover the main community (al-jamah). Whoever separates from them, if only a hand-span, wi ll beseparate in Hell.


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one hates you but a hypocrite. 59 No doubt, Ibn Taimyahs dislike of Alis a punishmentwhich Allah has given Ibn Taimyah. Yet Albni insists on calling Ibn Taimyah Shaikhal-Islm[which is traditionally a title reserved for the greatest scholar of the time]. It amazesme that he should give Ibn Taimyah such a title when Ibn Taimyah has un-Islamic beliefs.

I think; rather, I am sure that if fiIbn Nir had some idea of Ibn Taimyahsexecrable beliefs, he would never have defended him in his book al-Radd al-Wfir [from thescathing attack of Al al-Dn al-Bukhr60 who wrote a book called Man Qla Ibn TaimyahShaikh al-Islm fa huwa Kfir/(Whoever says Ibn Taimyah isShaikh al-Islm he is an unbeliever)]. No doubt, when Ibn Nir wrote his book, he wasdeceived by the praises he heard some people making of Ibn Taimyah. Likewise, al-Als,the son of the celebrated commentator [Mamd Shukral-Alswrote the voluminouscommentary of the Qur n: R al-Man/ ] would not have written his book Jallal-Ainain/ .if he knew the reality of Ibn Taimyahs beliefs

Albnis outlandish and heterodox opinions, which are the result of his impious resortto free thought, his deceit, his dishonesty in pronouncing adthto be authentic or weakaccording to what suits his persuasion [rather, than according to the dictates of the facts], hisexcoriations of the ulamand the illustrious personages of Islm; all that is an afflictionfrom Allah, yet he doesnt realize it. Indeed, he is one of those [to whom the Qurn referredby its words:] who thinks they are doing good; however, how wrong is what they think.61

We ask Allah to preserve us from what He has afflicted Albni with, and we seekrefuge in Him from all evil . All praise is for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah blessOur Master Muammad and all his noble people.

EpilougeIntercession is allowed according to our law.It is a matter by none disputed in all of Muslimdom,

Except those who folly wedded and paid their dowry with insolence.Their hearts are stone, by Muslims scorned goons of the Wahhbi mob,

They prohibited it and denounced it

Without any reason why.

The case of one Uthmn ibn unaif is a valid precedent;Its our proof; its quite conclusive, and it brooks no controversy.

May Allah guide them to concede the verdict of documentaion.

59 Source60He is Muammad ibn Muammad ibn Muammad al-Bukhr(d. 841 h/1438 ad., Damascus). Hewas a theologian (mutakallim), and a anafi faqih, and an expert in the principles of fiqh. His

commentary on Usl al-Bazdawis a classic text on anafusl. He was a student of Sad al-Dn al-Taftzn. He emigrated from Bukhr in Transoxiana to India, then to Mecca, then to Damascuswhere he lived till he died. Ibn uln called him the Imm of His Times. Seeal-Alm, p. 47, vol. 7.61

Ref. from Qurn


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Intercession a Scholarly Sunni Perspective

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