Shaikh Muqbil on the Justness of Ahlus-Sunnah in Jarh and Ta’deel
December 22, 2013 § Leave a comment
The Imaam of Yemen, Muqbil ibn Haadi al-Waadi’i, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “Indeed in His Noble Book, Allaah عز وجل says, “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allaah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allaah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allaah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.” [Nisaa 4:135]
And He سبحانه وتعالى said, “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allaah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just—that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allaah, indeed, Allaah is Acquainted with what you do.” [Maaidah 5:8]
And He سبحانه وتعالى said, “And do not let the hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haraam lead you to transgress. And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allaah, indeed, Allaah is severe in penalty.” [Maaidah 5:2]
And He سبحانه وتعالى said, “Indeed, Allaah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.” [Nahl 16:90]
And He سبحانه وتعالى said, “And when you speak [i.e., testify], be just, even if [it concerns] a near relative.” [An’aam 6:152]
Ahlus-Sunnah are the ones who have the most right and the greatest share of these verses and those proofs similar to them, for if they write, they write what is for them and against them, and if they talk they mention what is for them and against them. They stick to justice whether dealing with those who are close to them or distant, whether an enemy or friend. And if you were to look at the books of Jarh and Ta’deel you will find that they are the epitome of justness: they will disparage a man if he deserves such jarh even if he were one of the heads of the Sunnah, and they will praise a person of innovation with the good that he has if there is a need for that, contrary to the people of desires—for they will praise whoever agrees with their innovations even if he is worthless, and they vilify whoever opposes them even if he were one of the heads of the religion.”
Al-Ilhaad al-Khumaini fi Ardil-Haramain, pp. 1-2.
Ibn Baaz Asked About Interacting with Innovators and Knowing When to Boycott Them or Not
December 22, 2013 § Leave a comment
Questioner: What do you advise us with concerning interacting with innovators who we see and speak to and deal with almost every day?
Ibn Baaz: It is obligatory to boycott them for their innovations, if they openly exhibit innovations then it is obligatory to boycott them after having advised and directed them, because a Muslim advises his brother and warns him from open innovations and sins which Allaah has forbidden him, so if he repents [then that is what is desired] and if not then he deserves to be boycotted, and he is dealt with in this manner so that maybe he will repent, maybe he will feel remorse, maybe he will come back to the truth.
Unless the boycotting will result in something whose end is not praiseworthy, then it is not carried out—if leaving off boycotting is better in terms of [bringing that person closer to the] religion and greater in good and closer to being successful, then he is not to boycott him but instead continues to advise him and warns him about the falsehood [that he is in] and he does not boycott him, hoping that Allaah will guide him due to that.
For the believer is like a doctor, if he sees that a cure is beneficial, he carries it out, and when he sees that it is not, he leaves it—so boycotting falls under the category of being a cure, if it has a good effect and is of benefit, he does so, [implementing it] as a form of cure, [hoping] that he may repent and may turn back from his mistake when he sees that his brothers have ostracised him.
But if the boycotting results in greater evil and an increase in the [number of the] people of evil and helps them—then he is not to be ostracised but rather sincerely advised and directed continually and shown the abhorrence of what he has done and he does not show him that he agrees with the falsehood that he carries out, but [he does] persist in advising him sincerely and directing [him].
Fataawaa Nurun ’alad-Darb, vol. 3, p. 40.
Al-’Abbaad Asked if, when a Shaikh Calls Someone an Innovator, the Student is Obliged to Adopt that Stance
December 14, 2013 § 1 Comment
Questioner: If one of the Shaikhs said about someone, ‘He is an innovator,’ is the student obliged to adopt this stance of calling that person an innovator? Or must he know why the person was called an innovator? Because this declaration of a person to be an innovator may have been applied to someone who is on the Sunnah?
Al-’Abbaad: Not everyone’s statements in this issue are accepted, if it comes from someone like Shaikh Ibn Baaz or like Shaikh Ibn ’Uthaimeen then it is possible that his statement is relied on, as for anyone and everyone, then such statements are not taken from them.
Baab maa Jaa’a fi Miqdaar Diyyatidh-Dhimmi min Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud.
Al-‘Abbaad asked About People who are Hasty in Declaring Others to be Innovators and the Youth who Busy Themselves with Such Things
December 13, 2013 § Leave a comment
Questioner: What is Your Excellency’s opinion about a person who is hasty in declaring someone to be an innovator or sinner by saying, “The most vile person on earth,” or, “The most harmful of the world,” about a man who is known to have a sound methodology and calls to it and also has blessed efforts in calling to Allaah, and then based upon that he makes it a requirement that whoever does not call him an innovator is boycotted and ostracised, and he turns differences between people into differences in the manhaj and then that results in division amongst the youth and sows enmity between them?
Al-’Abbaad: Statements such as these are clear mistakes, obvious mistakes, it is obligatory to have moderation and to be just[ly balanced] in all affairs and to be careful of the harm of the tongue and what is caused thereby whose ending is not something praiseworthy, and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “Whoever guarantees me [the chastity of] what is between his jaws and his legs, I guarantee him Paradise,” what is being referred to is the tongue and one’s private parts, likewise his saying صلى الله عليه وسلم in his counsel to Mu’aadh, “And are the people thrown on their faces [or he said, ‘on their nostrils’] into the fire for any reason other than the fruits of their tongues?” So it is obligatory for a person to guard his tongue and not to let it loose by talking about things which will harm him.
On top of that, the fact that a person makes a mistake and then, as is said in the question [he is subsequently referred to as being], ‘… more vile then such and such … more dangerous than such and such … more severe than such and such,’ this is also an increase in a person’s harming himself by bringing such exaggerations, by making statements which may not be correct and which are not sound and not in conformation with the reality [of the situation].
Furthermore, the anarchy, the evil suspicion brothers have of each other, the boycotting and so on that occurs because of those statements, all of these are things which are from the handiwork of the Devil, and are things which are from the plots he has for man to make him fall into destructive matters and those things which will result in him being harmed.
So a person must call himself to account and guard his tongue, the damage caused by it is something very dangerous and colossal, and it is from a person’s good fortune that he guards it from speaking about anything that comes back to harm him.
And that which some of the brothers from Ahlus-Sunnah do where they concern themselves with discrediting others and speaking about others and expending their efforts in that and leaving off the enemy, [leaving off] those who spread corruption in the land and do not rectify—these are things the Devil plots for a person to turn him away from that which he should [in reality] be doing, turning him away [from the good he should be doing] to that which he should [in fact] be protecting himself from.
From the Shaikh’s explanation of Sunan Abu Dawud.
Gifts of Knowledge 