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Danger of Smiting the Scholars
Shaykh Abdur Rahman As-Sudays [(Dhul Qadah 3, 1424 (December 26, 2003)]
All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon the Messenger, his household and companions.
Brethren in faith! Fear Allaah for that is the only way to salvation and the
Paradise. It strengthens hearts in times of tribulations and light up the path
in times of crises.
Fellow Muslims! Anyone who reads the history of Islaam will easily recognise its
civilisation and leadership in the world for centuries. Yes, that power was owed
to the adherence to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger and the
Muslims’ adherence to unity and their shunning of disunity, in line with the
saying of Allaah,
“Truly! This, your Ummah (Shari'ah or religion (Islaamic
Monotheism)) is one religion, and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me (Alone).”
(Al-Anbiyaa 21:92)
The observer of the
present situation of the Muslim will also realise that the Ummah is facing a
difficult time amid ferocious enemies and malevolent people. This is in addition
to its own internal wrangling and different, contradicting perception of issues
and appearance of perverted ideologies and elements that abandon the community
of the Muslims. All this has created huge injuries and ruptures in the body of
the Ummah. But to Allaah belongs the ultimate wisdom in all that. Allaah says,
“Everyone is going to taste death, and We
shall make a trial of you with evil and with good. And to Us you will be
returned.”
(Al-Anbiyaa 21:35)
Dear brethren! There are many tribulations
and crises in the way of the Ummah’s progress, but each day in which the Ummah
fails to diagnose the causes of its defects and if fails to make use of the
elements of revival, it retrogresses and fails to rise.
Brethren in faith! We are saying this to
underline the major landmarks that are on the way of progress and which should
be followed by every seeker of truth and in order to remind the forgetful, to
teach the ignorant, to bring together differing groups and drive away rancour
and malice from souls.
Brethren in Islam! The excellent law of our
religion aims at unity and agreement as it repudiates disunity and discord. It
calls to mutual love and brotherhood and encourages mutual cooperation and
support especially among those who are seekers of the truth and followers of the
path of the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. Allaah says,
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the
Rope of Allaah (i.e. this Qur'aan), and be not divided among yourselves, and
remember Allâh's Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He
joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in
Islaamic Faith).”
(Aal ‘Imraan 3:103)
In this verse, Allaah reminds us of His
favour of changing this Ummah from being deplorably disunited to an orderly and
wonderful people.
From the Sunnah, the Messenger of Allaah
said, "The dearest to me of all of you and the closest to me in position on the
Day of Resurrection are the best of you in conduct; those who are amicable, who
love and are loved." (Al-Bukhaaree)
Brethren on faith! Whoever conceals his
ailment; it will weaken him and trouble him. One of the ailments that that
troubles this Ummah and needs urgent diagnosis and cure is dissent, disunity and
mutual castigation that have become the lot of the members of this Ummah,
especially those who follow the true Islaamic creed, manner of worship and
conduct, and those who call to the way of Allaah and are keen on safety of this
Ummah and its unity.
It is indeed very wrong that some members of
this religion should attack the personalities of their brethren who are erudite
scholars and callers to the truth and to question their authority. This tendency
becomes more heinous if it is done with the aim of deriding these scholars in
the media. The Prophet said, "O you who profess faith with their tongues and do
not have faith in their hearts! Do not slander the Muslims. And do not pursue
their imperfections. For whoever pursues their imperfections, Allaah will Allaah
will pursue his imperfections and whoever Allaah pursues his imperfections, He
will disgrace him even if he is the innermost part of his house." (Ahmad and
others)
Imaam Ahmad said, "Attacking the
personalities of scholars, especially the eminent ones among them, is one of the
major sins."
Maalik bin Deenaar said, "It is enough evil
for a man not to be among the righteous and yet attack the righteous."
Why then do some people who are followers of
the same religion make the benefits of this world their greatest concern and
thereby pursue the imperfections of their brethren at every available occasion?
These people have adopted trouble-making as their method of operation. They know
nothing but creating suspicions, harms and unfounded allegations. They never
care about insulting others and attacking their honours. Whenever they see you
in a blessing they become envious and when you are out of their sights they
slander you. If they come to know a fault of yours they fly with joy and
whatever good you do they try to hide it. They work day and night to undermine
innocent people and disfigure them. In comfort they are friend and in adversity
they turn to sworn enemies. They never excuse others and their effort is to
bring down virtues people through rumours. Do these people not fear Allaah?
It is in the light of these misconceptions
and the excusable faults that these misguided people based their concept of
allegiance and renunciation and that of love and enmity. Bigotry and prejudice
are the concepts which they feed the students of knowledge and the educated
elites not to talk of the common people. Time and resources are wasted on this
tendency. Though it is supposed to be the preoccupation of erroneous sects that
oppose the true Islaam and seeks to undermine its security. I pray that Allaah
protect righteous and well-meaning people from the traits of erroneous people
whom the Prophet described as follows, "People who read the Qur'aan and it never
exceeds their throats. They will deviate from the religion as the arrow passes
through the target. They kill the people of Islaam and leave out the worshippers
of idols." (Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim)
One of brightest
sayings of wisdom attributed to Qaadee Iyaas bin Mu'aawiyah is the one narrated
by Ibn Katheer on the authority of Sufyaan bin Husayn who said, "I spoke ill of
someone in the presence of Iyaas bin Mu'aawiyah who looked me straight in the
face and said, "Have you fought Rome?" I said, 'No.' He said, 'Have you fought
the Romans, the Sind, the Indians and the Turks?' I said, 'No.' He then said,
"Will the Romans, the Sind, the Indians and the Turks be safe from your harm and
your Muslim brother not be safe from your harm?" Sufyaan said, "From that day
onward, I never spoke ill of anybody."
Ibn Seereen said, "Your injustice against
your brother is to speak about the worst thing you know about him and to hide
the good things you know about him."
Ibn Al-Mubaarak said, "The true believer
finds excuse for his brother but the hypocrite pursues the imperfections of his
brother."
All the above is about individuals Muslims.
Imagine how serious the matter will be if the attack is directed towards the
people of knowledge, righteousness and calling to the way of Allaah. No doubt,
refraining from attacking them and protecting them is more compelling. 'Umar
said, "Do not ever think evil of a word uttered by your brother as long as you
can find a better interpretation for it."
Sa'eed in al-Musayyab said, "There is no
scholar or virtuous person who has no imperfections. But he whose virtues are
more than his imperfections, his virtues overwhelms his imperfections."
Imaam Adh-Dhahabee said, "If we were to
regard to accuse a scholar with innovation and renounce him for every excusable
mistake he makes in matters of Ijtihaad, we would not have spared Ibn Nasr, Ibn
Mandah or any scholar who was greater than them. Allaah is the One Who guides
mankind to the truth and He is the Most Compassionate. We seek refuge with
Allaah from desires and crudeness."
We are therefore calling upon the Muslims
that enough of misbehaviour and disunity and now is the time to unite and hold
together.
Men and women of media should also fear
Allaah. It is only the truth that should be published.
Dear brethren! Let us do away with reactions
and counter reactions that arouse dissention and hatred. May Allaah bless the
one who knows for the scholars their honours and knows his own limits and
repents from the evil that his hand had written. The matter of criticism should
be left for those erudite scholars, who know the rules of debates and etiquettes
of disagreement. Does anybody possess the impartial criterion for criticizing
men and their methods but the well-versed scholars? Adh-Dhahabee said,
"Impartiality and piety should be maintained when criticizing the scholars."
Fellow Muslims! The academic arenas and the
fields of Da'wah and knowledge need to inculcate sense of brotherhood that is
based on truth, fairness, mutual respect and the will to arrive at the truth.
Allaah says,
"Do not let the hatred of a people prevent
you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness."
(Al-Maaidah 5:8)
Brethren in faith! An example of the Salaf's
etiquette of disagreement, their upholding of love and sincerity and their
submission to the truth without arrogance is what Adh-Dhahabee narrated from
Haafiz Aboo Moosaa As-Sadafy that he said, "I have never seen anyone wiser than
Ash-Shaafi'ee. I debated an issue with him one day and we parted. He later met
me and took hold of my hand and said, "Aboo Moosaa, is it not good for us to
remain as brothers even if we disagree on an issue?"
Adh-Dhahabee commented on this saying, "This
indicate the high-mindedness and deep sense of understanding of this Imaam."
We are in dire need of these concepts and
manners, not in need of accusations and counter accusations.
O you followers of Sunnah! Be gentle with one
another. Tread it softly with the scholars, the callers to the way of Allaah and
other righteous people. May Allaah bless the one who is just with himself,
faults his own self, is just with his brethren, love good for them and does not
back the Satan against them. It is an act of nobility to face your brothers with
their mistakes as it is an ignominious to attack them behind their backs. It is
also shameful to be biased when talking about righteous people and to fail to
acknowledge their position. Allaah says,
"Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah; and
those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among
themselves."
(Al-Fat'h 48:29)
Dear brethren! Let yours be a constructive
criticism and let that be from the qualified individuals only. Let this
criticism be in form of well-meaning dialogue characterized by mutual love and
impartiality, and free from desire, bigotry and name-calling. It is then that
you can win your brethren's praise and invocations.
Fellow Muslims! You should know that your
Ummah is in dire need of unity upon the truth and constructive good word. We
should have good opinion of the righteous people; give support to the scholars
and those in authority. Our confidence in them should not be diminished. We
should remain united against the vicious trends and the deadly thoughts that
threaten the security of our society especially in these days.
Indeed, turning away from this luxuriant
path, wasting the time on pursuing other people's mistakes and attacking the
established values are, no doubt, regarded crimes against this Ummah and failing
to help its cause. It is therefore shameful and foolish that a Muslim should
preoccupy himself with imperfections of his brother while the enemy is there
around the corner watching with interest.
Brethren in faith! In order to have the light
at the end of the tunnel, the scholars, the writers and the mass media should
unite and feel like a single body which if a part thereof aches, other parts
share in the sleeplessness and fever. It is by doing this that the ship of our
society can be salvaged from sinking at the hands of unscrupulous elements whose
main preoccupation is declaring other Muslims as heretic, sinners and
disbelievers; they even carry weapons against fellow Muslims and shed innocent
blood.
Dear Muslims! The ship of this Ummah cannot
remain safe except at the shore of security and faith, far away from bases of
ignorance and desires.
Dear brother! Turn a
new leaf before a day comes in which there will be nothing but Paradise or Hell.
It is impossible that those who use their pens to attack the fundamental of this
Ummah reap any useful fruits.
Fellow Muslims! We are making a call from the
pulpit of the Sacred Mosque to the fugitives who are running away from justice
to surrender themselves so that the law of Allaah can implemented upon them.
Doing so will bring blessing to them, their families and their country. This is
because, any Muslim, who is assigned any responsibility and discharge this
honestly and truthfully, nothing will prevent him from progressing and arriving
at the truth.
I beseech Allaah to uphold for us the
blessings of faith and security. He is Generous.
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