YOU INNOVATOR! SAYS WHO?!!!
Shaykhul-Islam Imaam Muhammad Naasiru-Deen al-Albaani (rahimahullaah) said:
“Listen my brother. I sincerely advise you and other youths like you, who stand upon a type of deviation – as it seems to us, and Allah knows best – that do not waste your time in refuting each other, saying that such and such has this in him, and such and such has that in him. This is because firstly: there is no knowledge at all in this, and secondly: this mannerism only breeds enmity and hatred in the hearts, and causes contempt and rancour to develop in the hearts. So it is upon you to seek knowledge. It is knowledge that will make clear to you the reality of the speech which is in praise of a particular person having many mistakes, and whether he is deserving of being labelled as an innovator. Yet why do we wish to delve into such issues? Indeed I advise you not to delve into such issues. The reality is that we complain about this splitting which has occurred between those who ascribe themselves to the da’wah to the Book and the Sunnah – or as we say, ad-Da’watus-Salafiyyah – the greatest cause of this splitting, and Allah knows bests, is the following of whims and desires and the evil dictates of one’s soul. It is not due to the presence of differences in thoughts and ideas. So this is my sincere advice.”
Shaykh Saalih as-Suhaymee said, "...O servant of Allah, beware of taking speech [of other salafis about scholars, students of knowledge or innovators] out of context.
Beware of forcing [other salafis to take your position, by saying things like] "So and so accompanies so and so, therefore he is a deviant." No O servant of Allah! The Messenger used to visit the disbelieving tribes.
[Or they say things like] "We saw so and so accompanying so and so, so and so visited so and so"…it could be that the visit was for a reason and benefit greater than what you perceive!
Be careful!..
Beware of forcing your brother [to declare a certain salafi scholar or student of knowledge an innovator or to praise a certain person, while all of that]...is not binding upon him!..
Beware of taking his [another salafis] speech out of context [by reading into his words regarding scholars, salafi students of knowledge or innovators that which he didn't say or intend]!
Beware of attributing to your brother that which he did not say [in regards to a particular scholar, salafi student of knowledge or a certain innovator]!
Beware of lying on him [claiming he praised or refuted a certain salafi scholar or student of knowledge or claiming he gave a unrestricted general praise of a misguided group/organisation or an innovator]!
Beware of believing gossipers [about what your salafi brothers views maybe on a particular scholar or student of knowledge or about what his views are on a particular innovator]!
Beware of believing those who are quick to spread news [when they tell you your brother has said this and that about shaykh so and so, and student of knowledge so and so or this innovator or that misguided group/organisation]!
You have to verify [information]!
[Allah says] {O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.} (49:06)
[Allah says] {O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allah, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace "You are not a believer," aspiring for the goods of worldly life} (4:94)
Aspiring to be known! Aspiring to be different so that you stand out
If you find any means to interpret your brother's speech in a good manner, do so as Umar said (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that it’s upon you to search for an excuse for your brother as long as it is possible to do so. ..."
Translated by Ismaeel Beaumont
Ref: Translation of an answer to a question posed to Shaykh Saalih as-Suhaymee in the Prophet’s Masjid, Saudi Arabia after Fajr on 5th December 2014 (13th Safar Rabi Al-‐Awal, 1436) which has been slighty adapted by ahlusunnahwaljamaah.com to give more clarity and a better understanding
SHAYKH FAWZAN:
Questioner: Ahsanallaahu ilaikum, do you have any blessed advice which you can direct to your sons and brothers from the students of knowledge throughout the Islamicummah?
Al-Fawzaan: Yes, I advise you to fear Allaah, and to continue pursuing knowledge, doing so eagerly, and to act according to what Allaah has taught you, and to call to Allaah عز وجل, and to teach the people what you’ve learnt—and to leave squabbling, that which has taken place amongst the students of knowledge, hating [one another], cursing, setting people against each other, until they split the ummah and split the students of knowledge, [saying]: ‘Beware of so and so! Don’t sit with so and so! Don’t read to so and so!’—this is not allowed.
If so and so has a mistake, advise him one on one, as for you spreading it amongst the people and warning against him whilst he is a scholar or a student of knowledge or a righteous person who has made a mistake [then no], such a mistake does not necessitate that it be spread, “Lo! Those who love that slander be spread concerning those who believe, theirs will be a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. Allaah knoweth and ye know not.” [Nur 24:19]
What is obligatory is to sincerely advise one another, what is obligatory is to love one another, especially the students of knowledge, especially the scholars, to respect the scholars, and not to recommend against some of them, and warn against them. This is the cause of many evils, the cause of fighting and hatred, the cause of fitnah—steer clear of these things.
May Allaah reward you all with good.
Be as Allaah wanted you to be: “And indeed this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so fear Me.” [Mu’minun 23:52] “And be not like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. For such there is an awful doom.” [Aali-Imran 3:105]
Aspire to bring about harmony. Seek to sincerely advise one another. Desire to co-operate in righteousness and piety.
Be on your guard against those things which split the Muslims—especially in this day and age. The Muslims are in need of unity, in need of eliminating discord amongst themselves, in need of cooperating in righteousness and piety. Don’t become a source of support for the enemy in breaking up the Muslims and disuniting them.
If disunity occurs between the scholars and the students of knowledge, who’s left for theUmmah?
The evil/damage [of such a predicament] isn’t on the masses, it comes back on the students of knowledge, those who reconcile between people, those who teach the people.
Leave these things, this wrangling, these altercations, these blameworthy characteristics.
“And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead?” [Hujuraat 49:12] “And obey not every worthless habitual oath-monger. Hinderer of good, transgressing, sinful.” [Al-Qalam 68:10-12]
Don’t obey these people, such that you will end up being an aid to the Devil in splitting the Ummah and weakening it.
Sincerely advise the one you find a flaw in—if [indeed] it is established [that he really did make it in the first place!]
Don’t believe rumours.
“O you who have believed! If there comes to you a disobedient one with information, verify it, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and afterwards become regretful over what you have done.” [Hujuraat 49:6]
“O you who have believed! When you go forth in the cause of Allaah, investigate and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace, ‘You are not a believer.’” [Nisaa 4:94]
Allaah جل وعلا encouraged the Muslims to unite, and for them to be united in their word, and to cooperate and sincerely advise one another.
We’re not saying leave the mistake, no. Correct the mistake, we say correct the mistake, don’t leave the mistake, but correct it with legislated means.
May Allaah give all the success to do that which He loves and is pleased with.
وصلى الله على نبينا Ù…Øمد وعلى آله وأصØابه أجمعين
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VIraFVURaA)
So, I don't even know where to begin. lol.
As some of you may know, from my recent post about "why i stopped blogging" I had taken a hiatus from writing. I needed to gather my thoughts and renew my intentions because I didn't like the tone I was writing in and something just didn't feel right. While I was in my phase of being harsh and reprimanding everyone and everything, I also fell into the trap of refuting everyone and telling everyone to not watch/listen to this speaker or that speaker. AstughfurAllah wa itooboo ilayh! This has become an ongoing problem in the Ummah today. YES, we should not listen to EVERY person and we must always make sure that they are following the correct AQEEDAH but some of us are taking this just a litttt-le bit too far. I know this for a fact because I used to be one of those people who would say " DO NOT listen to fulan (this person) and fulan (this person)! Fulan and Fulan is not Salafi this and fulan and fulan is not following the Qur'an and Sunnah that!" SUBHANA'ALLAH ....how ignorant I was to think that I, a new Muslim convert with little to no knowledge about fiqh matters and issues, thought that I had the right to tell people who to listen to and who NOT to listen to?! This is a very serious crime and many of us have fallen into this dangerous trap. It has caused a lot of enmity and division amongst the ummah. Many people who claim to follow the Qur'an and Sunnah have this "my way( i.e-my shaykh) or the HIGHWAY!" and if you don't agree with them or listen to their shaykh, you are deemed as an innovator and a Muslim who is not upon the HAQQ. Audhubillah. Since when did Islam become like this? We know very well that the sahabah and even the scholars of Islam used to differ in fiqh matters YET their Aqeedah was ONE and their good manners and their fear for Allah the Almighty was what kept them together as brothers. Today we see many individuals who claim to be "students of knowledge" attack, degrade, and humiliate many of our brothers and sisters who are TRYING to spread the deen of Islam. I have watched quite a few lectures from speakers that I once told people NOT to follow, and from their speech and proofs that they provided, nothing seems to be OUT of the fold of Islam NOR do they speak out of their own desires. Many of them follow the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah and just because some of them do not follow shaykh so and so it does not mean they are not Muslims upon haqq! Most people who refute Muslims have never watched any lectures or read anything from the Muslim that is being refuted and if they have watched or read, it is only clips that were outdated or cut so that it would be misunderstood and misinterpreted! Perhaps that speaker has repented from their mistakes and since then Allah has guided them to the right knowledge?! Where is the mercy for our brothers and sisters in Islam?
Wallahi, this is a big problem in today's society and Alhamdulillah Allah gave me insight and opened up my eyes and heart to this disease. I am only addressing this in a blog post because I feel that it is obligatory upon me since I had experienced it myself and have realised that THIS is NOT from the Salaf and other people need to know about this.
I really do not know how this sectism came about but it is really sad. I noticed many sisters on social networks who changed their attitude towards me when they saw I posted certain things by certain speakers and they would warn me about fulan and fulan when their proofs that they provided were really irrelevant and had no basis at all. Most proofs provided are not even from a student of knowledge or scholar AND if they provide any proof about such and such is an innovator, it is mostly a short video clip that has been edited and so ambiguous and the scholar himself never even mentioned the name of the person being refuted NOR did the scholar even refer to any specific person. It is just a clip that had been cut at that specific moment to make it seem like it is applicable to the person being refuted. Does that make any sense? lol.
Even students of knowledge do not have the right to refute people nor do they have the right to deem so and so as an innovator. I agree that we must be careful with many of the speakers of today as some of them may introduce innovations to the religion or they may mislead ignorant people, but most of the speakers DO call to tawheed and DO talk about things that soften the heart and bring people closer to Allah the Almighty. I noticed a lot of the "salafi" callers only call to what is HALAL and HARAM and don't do this and don't do that ...there is not much wisdom behind their dawah and many of these people who try to call others to their teachings are either harsh and very unforebearing. This is NOT from Islam and it is definitely not from the Qur'an and Sunnah. We should leave things that do not concern us (refuting others without years and years of studying and learning etiquette of refuting and etiquette of differing) and we should focus on bettering ourselves and our manners. As I have been mentioning a lot lately in my posts, the UMMAH is becoming so divided because all we ever do is judge and judge. We do not preach in a gentle manner nor do we try to lead by example. We seek knowledge yet we do not apply it. We seek knowledge just for the sake of saying I KNOW MORE THAN YOU (audhubillah)! But how effective would knowledge be if we can not even apply it to our daily lives? What point would it be if a doctor studied years and years of medical school yet he never even practised anything he learnt? How can we expect others to learn about the Qur'an and Sunnah when all we do is push them away by our harsh and rude manners? Subhana'Allah. I now know why many Muslims think that the term "salafi" is extreme and something they want to stay away from. It is because many Muslims who claim the term "salafi" show them that Islam is about being strict and harsh and that there is nothing to do with showing gentleness and kindness. It is like a "YOU can't sit with US" kind of attitude?! AstughfurAllah....May Allah forgive me and our brothers and sisters for misleading the Ummah ameen.
A great example, a sister told me that she knew a sister from Toronto,Canada who used to attend a "salafi" masjid and she did not stick to just one masjid and when this "salafi" masjid found out, they told her and her family NOT to return because that other masjid they went to, was not apparently NOT "salafi" !!!?!?! Subhana'Allah! Is this really going to help us be better Muslims and want to get closer to Allah? This kind of attitude only causes more enmity and division and even turns people away from Islam (audhubillah!). If you want others to follow what you are trying to preach, then you must do it with wisdom and patience. How do we expect success in the Ummah when we can not even treat each other kindly with respect and honour despite our differences? May Allah help us and rectify the affairs of ourselves and of the ummah. I mean really, none of us were born "religious" and we all started somewhere. It is only by ALLAH's MERCY that He guided us to the correct aqeedah and made it easy for some of us to avoid the haram and be obedient to Allah. We really need to remember this. Most of us get so caught up with ourselves and feel this certain air of pride (audhubillah) that we are better than others because we think we know more than others (and yes, I was guilty of this, may Allah forgive me for my ignorance ameen)! YES, it is important to know what is halal and haram in Islam because that is one of the many ways to earn Allah's Pleasure and Love. But we must also know that a clean and pure heart is what Allah looks for and He will only accept a pure heart into Jannah! We also must remember the importance of good manners and character and how much Allah loves those with good character and manners (insha'Allah I will be writing about this in one of my upcoming posts bidhniAllah). Most of these "salafi" individuals act as if they are the only ones going to Jannah and that Jannah is with their shaykhs (audhubillah!). I am not claiming that this is how they think but their actions and the way they treat our brothers and sisters in Islam, is as if they are the only ones going to Jannah.
Remember these ahadith:
Narrated Abu Hurairah رضي الله عن Ù‡: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (ï·º) say: “There were two men among Banee Israa’eel, who were striving for the same goal. One of them would commit sin and the other would strive to do his best in the world. The man who exerted himself in worship continued to see the other in sin. He would say: ‘Refrain from it.’ One day he found him in sin and said to him: ‘Refrain from it.’ He (the other man) said: ‘Leave me alone with my Lord. Have you been sent as a watchman over me?’ He (the first man) said: ‘I swear by Allaah, Allaah will not forgive you, nor will he admit you to Paradise.’ Then their souls were taken back (by Allaah), and they met together with the Lord of the worlds.
He (Allaah تعالى) said to this man who had striven hard in worship; {Had you knowledge about Me or had you power over that which I had in My hand?} He said to the man who sinned: {Go and enter Paradise by My mercy.} He said about the other: {Take him to Hell.}”
Abu Hurairah said رضي الله عنه: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he spoke a word by which this world and the next world of his were destroyed.
[Sunan Abu Dawood (4901) and graded as “Saheeh” by Shaikh al-Albaanee]
The Prophet (PBUH) was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, such-and-such a woman spends her nights in prayer, fasts during the day, and so on, and she gives in charity, but she offends her neighbours with her sharp tongue." The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Her good deeds will be of no avail: she is among the people of Hell." They said, "And so-and-so prays only the obligatory prayers, gives charity in the form of left-over curds, but does not offend anyone." The Prophet (PBUH) said: "She is among the people of Paradise.
(Reported by Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad, 1/210, Bab la yu'dhi jarahu)
Now I just wanted to clarify, I have nothing against our sisters who I know are only trying to spread good and they are trying to follow the right path to Allah and to Jannah. Allah Knows best their intentions and the reason for this post is to raise awareness to others about the extreme approach certain individuals have under the name of as-salafiyyah (which basically means, following the pious predecessors before us - like the prophets and the companions and the righteous scholars after them). I don't blame our sisters who try to spread good and who try to seek knowledge for the sake of Allah, but sometimes we end up falling into sectism and we forget about the true purpose of calling others to Islam. The importance of calling others to Islam is so that they too can reap the beautiful benefits of this dunya and the reward of eternity in Paradise and also to let them taste the sweetness of emaan and being close to Allah, the Almighty. Some times we get so caught up with ourselves and our shayookh that we forget that Jannah is with Allah and not our shayookh. Jannah is for the one with good manners and beautiful character. Jannah is for the one who wants the best for their sisters. Jannah is for the one who does not gossip and slander their sisters in Islam and Jannah is for the one who fears Allah! Most of the people giving dawah today are doing a great thing (sure they can improve on certain aspects, but couldnt we all?) At least they are doing something for the sake of Allah and trying their best to please Him by calling others to Allah. I don't think it is our place to say who and who is an innovator and this and that person is not following the Qur'an and Sunnah. How do you know? Nobody can base such an assumption just because of a few mistakes they made! Nobody is infallible! We all make mistakes and nobody is perfect. We must remember that. So let us busy ourselves with improving ourselves and our characters. Let us learn more about the wisdom of calling others to Allah and let us apply the knowledge that we work so hard to seek! Renew your intentions and remember that the manners of the Salaf were the most beautiful of manners and they were the true representation of Islam. The Salaf were kind, forebearing and gentle and they DID differ on certain matters of the religion BUT their Aqeedah was the same. Don't fall into this evil trap and if you really want to do good for yourself, be kind to your sisters in Islam and try to show them what the Qur'an and Sunnah truly is.
Below are just some amazing reminders about those who busy themselves with things that do not concern them. Please do watch every one of the videos (the last one is the longest, and I know some people refute Abu Mussab- lol- but lets remember his Aqeedah is upon haqq and therfore he is a Muslim - and also lower ur gaze please when watching his lecture!) May Allah forgive us and guide us and keep us FIRM on His Straight Path. May Allah rectify this Ummah and all of our affairs and may He unite us all upon the Qur'an and Sunnah. Ameen
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Assalamualaikum, please be mindful about what you are about to write. Think about it before writing and make sure it is something positive and beneficial, otherwise it will be deleted and ignored. JazakiAllah kheyr ! Sisters ONLY! xo