Meaning of “Al-Kursiyy” in Qur’an

Bismillah

 

There had been disagreement among scholars with regards to the meaning of “Al-Kursiyy” mention in verse 255 of Surah Al-Baqarah, well famous as “Ayat Al-Kursiyy”.

Hence, according to Ibn Abbas, As-Suddi, Muslim Al-Butain and Adh-Dhahhaak, Al-Kursiyy is the place of Feet (of Allah). This is also reported from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari. Some said, it means “Allah’s knowledge”. This was reported from Ibn Abbas and Sa’eed bin Jubair. While some other said, Al-Kursiyy is Al-Arsh itself. This is reported from Hasan Al-Basari, and both the laters are weak opinion.

 

Opinion-1: Al-Kursiyy is the place of two Feet

This was the saying of Ibn Abbas (ra) as recorded by Abdur-Razzaq in his Tafsir (3/350), Abu Abdullah Al-Hakim in “Al-Mustadrak” (3116) and declared it authentic, through the way of Sufiyan Ath-Thawri from Ammar Ad-Duhniyy from Muslim Al-Bateen from Sa’eed bin Jubair from Ibn Abbas….mawqoofan. Ibn Katheer attributed this to Tafsir of Wakee’ through the same chain of Sufiyan.

Its narrators are all trustworthy, from the narrators of Sahih. Those who declared it authentic includes Al-Qaasim ibn Salaam, Abu Zur’ah Ar-Razi, Abu Sa’eed Ad-Darimi, Dhahabi, Ibn Katheer, Al-Albani.

In “Mu’jam Al-Kabeer” (12/39) of Tabarani, Abu Muslim Al-Kashhiyy narrates from Abu ‘Aasim from Sufiyan from ‘Ammar Ad-Duhniyy from Sa’eed bin Jubair from Ibn Abbas. In this sanad Muslim Al-Bateen is missed from Isnad between Ammar Ad-Duhniyy and Sa’eed bin Jubair. Hasan As-Saqqaf made it one of the reasons for the weakness of this report. He states:

“And the narration of Tabarani in his Mu’ajam Al-Kabeer, as preceded, is from the narration of Ammar Ad-Duhniyy from Ibn Jubair directly without Al-Bateen being between them. And Ammar Ad-Duhniyy did not narrate from Sa’eed bin Jubair as he himself accepted…………..And all these necessitate Idhtirab and weakness of the report, and its unconformity from Ibn Abbas.” [I’alam Ath-Thaqalain, published with “Al-Qawl Al-Asad” of Abdul Aziz Al-Ghumari, pg. 90]

Answers to his contention are as follows:

1. Considering that the report of Tabarani is preserved, it doesn’t necessitate Idhtirab of weakness. This is because if Tabarani’s narration is mahfooz , then mostly it could be said that Ammar Ad-Duhniyy sometimes relate it in Mursal way, and since we know who exactly is between Ad-Duhniyy and Ibn Jubair then there remains no reason to consider this narration to be weak. It is nothing new when some narrator reports a narration in Mudallas or Mursal form while some other time he narrates the same report by mentioning the missing reporter. No one said this necessitates weakness. Yes, when the actual narrator is not known then it makes the narration weak. This is if the isnad of Tabarani is correct, which is not the case actually.
2. Declaring this whole report to be Mudhtarib based on a single Isnad is not correct. From Sufiyan Ath-Thawri, this was reported by Abdur-Razzaq, Wakee’, Abu Ahmed, Abu Aasim and Abdur-Rahman bin Mahdiyy, while the disconnection only exist in the report of Abu Aasim An-Nabeel, and that too in a single report of Abu Muslim who was opposed by other students of Abu Aasim. From Abu Aasim, this was reported by Ahmed bin Mansoor Ar-Rammadi, Muhammad bin Bashhaar, Muhammad bin Mu’adh and Abu Muslim Al-Kashhiyy, while the problem exists in the report of Abu Muslim Al-Kashhiyy only. Hence, if the isnad in Tabarani is not a mistake, then the report of majority from Sufiyan and Abu Aasim to be accepted.
3. Khateeb Baghdadi (9/351) and Bayhaqi in “Al-Asma wa As-Sifat” report through the way of Abu Muslim from Abu Aasim, and in it they mention Muslim Al-Bateen. Dhiyaa Al-Maqdisi states in “Al-Ahadeeth Al-Mukhtarah” after relating the narration which doesn’t contain Muslim Al-Bateen, “This is how Tabarani narrates it in his Mu’jam, while in his Kitab As-Sunnah he added Muslim Al-Bateen in Isnad”. All this indicates that the isnad in Al-Mu’ajam is a mistake.

Hence, in conclusion, this report is authentic from the sayings of Ibn Abbas. As for those who made it marfoo’ from Prophet (S), then that is a mistake as it was notified by several scholars.

The same tafsir has been narrated from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari (ra). Hence, it was reported by Ibn Jareer At-Tabari in his tafsir (5/398) through the way of Ammarah bin Umair from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari as a Mawqoof report.

Hafiz Ibn Hajar declared this to be Sahih in “Fath Al-Bari” (8/199). Al-Albani said in “Ad-Da’eefa” (2/307), “Its chain is Sahih if Ammarah bin Umair heard it from Abu Musa, because he narrates from him (as it has been observed) through Abu Musa’s son Ibrahim.”

Note:

Shaykh Zahid Al-Kawthari considered this report of Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari to be weak based on Ammarah bin Umair who was listed by Imam Bukhari in his “Adh-Dhu’afa” (i.e. his book on weak narrators) as he said. Imam Al-Albani contradicted him in “Mukhtasar Al-Uluww” (pg.124) by saying, “a blantant mistake, and I don’t know if this happened from him unintentionally or he did it intentionally………I say this because Ammarah bin Umair was a Taba’i Thiqah with agreement, and the two Shaykhs reported from him in their Sahihs, and Ibn Hajar said regarding him, “Thiqah Thabt”. And (narrator) like of this couldn’t have been hidden from someone like Al-Kawthari. And he is not mentioned in “Adh-Dhu’afa” of Al-Bukhari as he thought, but in it is Ammarah bin Juwain who was Matrook.”

However, there is another ‘Ammarah bin Umair who narrates from Umm Tufail the Hadith in which the anthropomorphic description of Allah is given. The report is Munkar and this narrator is unknown. Imam Dhahabi has mentioned him in “Meezan Al-E’etedal” (3/177) and said that Imam Bukhari listed him in his book on weak narrator (Adh-Dhu’afa). But this could not be found in the published version of Al-Bukhari’s “Adh-Dhu’afa”. Hasan Saqqaf, in his “Tanaqudhat Al-Albani” (2/289), attacked Al-Albani by saying that it might have been existed in the manuscripts possessed by Al-Dhahabi. This could be true, but the criticism of Al-Albani on Al-Kawthari was still correct.

The one listed by Al-Dhahabi has nothing to do with the Ammarah bin Umair who is narrating from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari the tafsir of Al-Kursiyy. Ammarah who narrates from Umm Tufail is known only through a single report, which is Munkar, describing the anthropomorphic picture of Allah, Exalted is He. He has no other contribution in the field of Hadith. While Ammarah who is narrating the Tafsir of Kursiyy is the one who was Thiqah Thabt.

Besides that, the full name of Ammarah who narrates from Umm Tufail is not actually Ammarah bin ‘Umair as assumed by Imam Dhahabi. His name was Ammarah bin ‘Aamir. This is how Imam Bukhari described him in “At-Tarikh Al-Kabeer” (6/500) and “At-Tarikh As-Sagheer” (1/327). Also, Ibn Hibban and At-Tabarani named him as such, as quoted by Hafiz in “Lisan Al-Meezan” (4/278). And this is how it is mentioned by Ibn Abi Hatim in “Al-Jarh wa At-Ta’deel” (6/367). Hasan As-Saqqaf came across all these as he referenced Lisan Al-Meezan where Ibn Hajar contradicted Al-Dhahabi with regards to the name of narrator. The only thing with Shaykh Al-Albani was that he couldn’t recall the entry of Ammarah (the unknown one) in Al-Meezan, hence he denied any possibility of criticism of Al-Bukhari on Ammarah, while on the other hand he was quite sure that Bukhari couldn’t have listed Ammarah bin Umair among weak narrators as he himself took his report as Hujjah in his Sahih and other scholars also declared him Thiqah. And we have proven above that there were two people Ammarah bin ‘Umair and Ammarah bin ‘Aamir, the latter of which was unknown. Al-Kawthari deceptively messed him up with the trustworthy ‘Ammarah to make the report under discussion weak.

 

Opinion-2: Al-Kursiyy means Knowledge

This was the view of Sa’eed bin Jubair. Bukhari mentioned it in mu’allaq form in his “Sahih”, and Ibn Hajar (8/199) said that Sufiyan Ath-Thawri had recorded it in his Tafsir with a Sahih chain.

This was also reported through Ibn Abbas. Hence, Ibn Jareer relates in his Tafsir (5/397) through the way of Ja’far bin Abil Mugheerah from Sa’eed bin Jubair from Ibn ‘Abbas in mawqoof form. Likewise, it has been recorded by ‘Abd bin Humaid, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Al-Mundhir, Al-Bayhaqi, as in “Ad-Durr Al-Manthoor” by As-Suyuti.

All of its narrators are trustworthy, except there is some Kalam with regards to Ja’far. Ibn Hibban listed him in his “Ath-Thiqat”. His Tawtheeq was narrated through Ahmed bin Hanbal, as in “Al-‘Ilal wa Al-Ma’rifah” (3/102), while at another place (3/283) in the same book he said that he wasn’t Mashhoor and preferred Aslam Al-Minqari over him. Hafiz in his “Taqreeb” (1/64) said, “He was truthful (sadooq), but he would fall in doubts (sometimes)”, the same thing was said by Safiyud-Deen Al-Khazraji in “Khulasah At-Tahdheeb”. Hafiz Ibn Mandah said that he was not strong while narrating from Sa’eed bin Jubair. [Al-Meezan, 1/417]

Based on this, some scholars have criticized the particular narration, and they prefer the earlier report which talks about Al-Kursiyy being place of two Feet, over this. It is quite possible that the report was of Sa’eed bin Jubair and Ja’far made it through Sa’eed from Ibn Abbas. Ibn Katheer said regarding this report after recording it in “Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah” (1/14), “And preserved (Mahfooz) report from Ibn Abbas is that which has recorded by Al-Hakim in “Al-Mustadrak”….(then he mentioned the report of the Two Feet)”. Ibn Mandah said in “Ar-Radd ‘ala Al-Jahmiyyah” (pg.21) after relating this report, “no one supports him on it (la yutabi’u ‘alaih), and Ja’far was not strong while narrating from Sa’eed”. Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqalani considered this Tafsir of Al-Kursiyy to be Ghareeb i.e. odd, as in “Fath Al-Bari” (8/199).

Ibn Katheer said: Adh-Dhahhaak reported from Ibn Abbas, “If the seven heavens and earths are to flattened and then joined together, it would not account for Al-Kursiyy except like a ring in the desert”. Ibn Jareer said, narrated to me Yunus who said, Ibn Wahb informed me, he said, Ibn Zaid said, my father narrated to me that the messenger of Allah, (SAW), said, “the similitude of seven heavens with respect to Al-Kursiyy is like the seven Dirham thrown on a shield”.  He (also) said, Abu Dharr said, I heard the messenger of Allah saying, “By the one in whose hand is my life, the likeness of Al-Kursi as compared to Al-Arsh is like a iron ring thrown in a desert”.

Then Hafiz Ibn Katheer mentioned another report from Ibn Marduyah with a different sanad. [Tafseer (1/520)]

The narration of Adh-Dhahhaak from Ibn Abbas is disconnected, as Adh-Dhahhaak didn’t hear from Ibn Abbas.

The narration of Ibn Wahb from Ibn Zaid from his father, is also weak. Ibn Zaid is Abdur-Rahman bin Zaid bin Aslam who, although a mufassir, was very weak in hadith. He also narrated the hadith of Tawassul of Adam (A.S.) which was declared fabricated by several scholars. His father Zaid bin Aslam didn’t hear from Abu Dharr.

Note: - Shaykh Al-Albani [in As-Saheeha (109)] firstly considered Ibn Zaid to be Umar bin Muhammad bin Zaid. However, he corrected his mistake [as in Adh-Dha'eefa (6118)] when he found the full name mentioned in the isnad of “Al-Azmah” by Abu Ash-Shaykh.

The narration of Ibn Marduyah, quoted by Ibn Katheer, contains Muhammad bin Abi As-Sirri and Muhammad bin Abdullah At-Tameemi both of whom were weak. Also Al-Qasim bin Muhammad Ath-Thaqafi was unknown.

There are some other narrations. Reported by Al-Bayhaqi in “Al-Asma wa As-Sifaat” through Yahya bin Sa’eed Al-Basari who narrated it from Abdul Malik bin Juraij from ‘Ataa from Ubaid bin Umar Al-Laithi from Abu Dharr. This was also criticized by several scholar due of Yahya bin Sa’eed Al-Basari As-Sa’di.

Also reported by Muhammad Ibn Abi Shaiba in “Kitab Al-’Arsh” which contains a weak or an unknown narrator. There are some other sanad but of not much benefit. [See Silsila As-Saheeha (109) and Adh-Dha'eefa (6118)]

The best isnad among above is the one by Adh-Dhahhaak from Ibn Abbas. So if the content of the report is saheeh or reliable then it would add to the weakness of the tafseer of Al-Kursi as knowledge. This is because this describes Al-Kursi to be as a physical body.

 

Opinion-3: Al-Kursiyy is the Throne

This was reported from Hasan Al-Basari. Hence, Ibn Jareer relates in his commentary (5/399) through the route of Juwaibir from Adh-Dhahhaak that he said: Hasan Al-Basari used to say that Al-Kursiyy is Al-‘Arsh. But Juwaibir bin Sa’eed wasn’t reliable.

Ahmed Al-Ghumari on Al-Albani

There had been a long controversy between Ghumaris and Nasir Ud-Deen Al-Albani. Hence this process was started when Shaykh Al-Albani refuted Shaykh Ahmed bin Siddeeq Al-Ghumari on the topic of building over graves. But the actually heat started between Abdullah Al-Ghumari, younger brother of Ahmed Al-Ghumari, and Al-Albani. Hence, hence Abdullah Al-Ghumari wrote no less than three short books particularly in Al-Albani’s refutation. “Al-Qawl Al-Muqni’” and “Irgham Al-Mubtadi’ Al-Ghabiyy” were both written by Abdullah Al-Ghumari. The actual reason for writing “Al-Qawl Al-Muqni’” was that Abdullah Al-Ghumari had done tahqeeq and takhreej of “Bidayat As-Sool” by Ibn Abdussalaam in which he left out grading on several weak reports and declared some narrations to be authentic, which were fabricated or Munkar according to Al-Albani. Hence, Al-Albani pointed out these things in the Muqaddimah (pg. 24-28, Al-Maktab Al-Islaami) of his edition of the same book. The points on which Al-Albani criticized Al-Ghumari are as follows:

1. Al-Ghumari didn’t mention the status of most of the narration in his takhreej.
2. He depends on the Tahseen of Tirmidhi.
3. His takhreej of some narrations present in Sahih of Bukhari and Muslim.
4. He attributes narrations to books which are not famous, even though it is present in Sihaah or Sunan.
5. His authentication of Hadith “creations are all the family of Allah” and weakening of “I am the Sayyid of Bani Adam and Ali is the Sayyid of Arab” even though it is fabricated according to Dhahabi.

To that Abdullah Al-Ghumari wrote “Al-Qawl Al-Muqni’ fi radd ‘ala Al-Albani Al-Mubtadi’” in which he insulted Al-Albani with very harsh comments and defended himself. Al-Ghumari replied to Al-Albani’s above criticism to which Al-Albani wrote a response in the Muqaddima of the third volume of “Adh-Dha’eefa” (3/8-43).

Here I am going to bring some sayings of Ahmed bin Siddeeq Al-Ghumari describing Al-Albani’s knowledge in Hadith. Like it is said:

والفضل ما شهدت به الأعداء

“Praise is that which come from enemies”

Ahmed Al-Ghumari states:

“And Nasirud-Deen Al-Albani, he came to Damascus and he did not know Arabic. So he studied it and then he turned toward the study of Hadith, hence he became very skilled in it. The Zahiriyya Library, which constitutes several valuable manuscripts, helped him, and he arranged it with his own hands. Such that when I visited (that Library) in previous years, he was the one who would provide me whatever I ask for and introduce to me what was in it. And were it not for his views and stubbornness, he would have been from the persons of their time (Afrad az-zamaan) with regards to the knowledge of Hadith. That is besides the fact that he runs his shop of watch repairing. We had debate with him whose story is long…” [Durr Al-Ghamam Ar-Rafeeq (pg.191) compiled by Abdullah At-Taleedi]

 

Some other time he said:

“As for Al-Albani then he was from the selected people in the knowledge (of Hadith), that is besides him being almost a normal (unfamous) person[1]. But in stubbornness he even left behind Az-Zamzami (one of Ghumaris) and all the stubborns on the face of earth! He mentioned me in his book “Tahdheer As-Saajid fi ittikhadh Al-Qubur Masaajid”, where he said that he met me and he found me to be Sufi Khalafi, and this he consider to be lowest level of dispraise. The enemy of Allah has lied when he attributed me towards Khalafiyya, while I am their strict enemy. But because of his ignorance he thinks that everyone who is not a Taymiyy and Wahaabi is a Khalafi.” [Al-Jawab Al-Mufeed (60-61) compiled by Abul Fadhl Badr Al-‘Imrani]

This is quite clear statement attesting to the specialty of Al-Albani in the field of Hadith. As for the part in which he talks bad of Al-Albani then it is not something weird as Al-Ghumari was his opponent in knowledge. The language of Al-Ghumari was very insultive with regards to his opponents. Take for example, his book “Al-Mudawi” where he insulted Al-Munawi several times with very insultive statements and that is after it was edited, and several insults were removed by one of his brother. This praise for Al-Albani is coming from his opponent, as for his friends then some consider him the Majaddid of this era. Amazingly, Ghumari brothers and their followers were the main group who raised question on his scholarship. Hence, besides Ahmed and Abdullah, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghumari the younger of them also wrote a book in refutation of Al-Albani when he refuted him in his tawtheeq of the narrator Harith Al-A’awar. Then the writings of Hasan As-Saqqaf are quite famous. Among his tens of books there are only selected which are written on the issue other than refutation of Al-Albani. He specially wrote “Tanaqudhaat Al-Albani” in three volumes showing the contradiction of Al-Albani in his grading of Hadith. He was refuted by several scholars and students of knowledge like Amr Abdul Mun’im Saleem in “La Difa’ ‘anil Albani”, Ali Al-Halabi, Abdullah Al-Khaleefi in “At-Tawfeeq Ar-Rabbani” etc. Then there is Mahmud Sa’eed Mamduh, a student of Abdullah Al-Ghumari, another staunch opponent of Al-Albani. The difference between Hasan As-Saqqaf and him is that, As-Saqqaf is quite frank and open such that he didn’t left even Abul Hasan Al-Ash’ari, and Mahmud Sa’eed uses sweet language to deceive people such that a person would hardly doubt what he has to say. Besides that As-Saqqaaf is Kadhhaab while I am not aware of any lie from Mahmud Sa’eed except that he uses deceptive techniques to make his point. Mahmud Sa’eed has written several books in refutation of Al-Albani which include Tanbihul Muslim, Wusul At-Tahaani, At-Ta’reef. The first book talks about the narrations of Sahih Muslim which were declared weak by Shaykh Al-Albani. He gave a big list of narrations, while actually Shaykh Al-Albani declared only selected of them to be weak. Shaykh Tariq AwdhAllah has a book in refutation of this named “Rid’il Jaani” where he analyzed the whole book in a very beautiful manner. He also have “Talee’at Siyanat Al-Hadeeth wa Ahlih” and “Talee’at fiqh Al-Isnad” in refutation of “Rafa’ Al-Minarah” and “At-Ta’reef” respectively. Interestingly, Ghumaris, Al-Kawthari and As-Saqqaf were much more frequent in declaring narrations of Sahihayn to be weak and many a time fabricated but Mahmud Sa’eed couldn’t refute them because of their high status in the field of Hadith according to him. Another, interesting thing is that he used to be a fan of Shaykh Al-Albani. He had written letters to Shaykh expressing his regards for Shaykh Al-Albani. This letter was quoted by Al-Albani himself in the Muqaddima of “Adaab Az-Zufaaf” (pg. 51-52).

The thing caused these people to portray Al-Albani like an ignorant is that the Shaykh did not have Ijazah. Although Ijazah is a good thing but it is not some kind of litmus to test someone’s scholarship. The scholarship of Al-Albani was testified by several scholars. Scholars with long list of Ijaza refer to Al-Albani when it comes to Hadith. Ibn Baaz even considered him majaddid of his time. These testimonies are of much more significance than an Ijaza which are normally issued to a student without looking at his skills in knowledge. Besides that Al-Albani did have Ijaza from Shaykh Raghib At-Tabbakh. The only people who have problem with Al-Albani are his opponents, and most of these Jarh are based on difference in Usool and Furu’. This type of criticism is normally rejected.

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[1] Al-Albani was not that famous at that time.

Defending Sahaba and those who were guided, From the lies and attacks of the Rafidhi “misguided”: PART-2

Read Part-1 here

 

Proceeding the second part, “misguided” first mentioned what I had written with regard to verse 29 of Surah Al-Fath. I answered the Rafidhi’s contention related to the verse in two ways, 1. by telling that “minhum” in the verse is for genus and not partitive (tab’eedhi), 2. by assuming that “minhum” is for tab’eedh. Rafidhi only discussed former, while the later he ignored. So let me deal with his contentions again. He said regarding the argument that “minhum” is for Jins (genus):

This Nasibi guy is comparing oranges and bananas! He could not bring a single example where “minhum” (some of them) has been translated or interpreted as “ALL OF THEM”! The examples he has brought are only nominal phrases. We challenge you: please show us where minhum has EVER been used to mean “all of them”!

The examples I brought were actually provided by scholars of this field. And “minhum” itself is a combination of min and hum. It is like asking to provide separate example for min+al-awthan and min+hareer. However, I still know some examples where “minhum” as a whole is used for genus and not as tab’eedh.

 

Pickthall [5:73] They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no God save the One God. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.

 

While everyone of those who say “Allah is the third of three” was a disbeliever. By “minhum” one cannot conclude that there were some who were believer by believing in trinity. That is, “minhum” here has been used for Bayan and not for Tab’eedh.

 

[48:25] These it was who disbelieved and debarred you from the Inviolable Place of Worship, and debarred the offering from reaching its goal. And if it had not been for believing men and believing women, whom ye know not lest ye should tread them under foot and thus incur guilt for them unknowingly; that Allah might bring into His mercy whom He will. If (the believers and the disbelievers) had been clearly separated We verily had punished those of them who disbelieved with painful punishment.

 

If the believers and non-believers were separated, then there could only be non-believer in Mecca, during that time. Allah didn’t say “la ‘adhdhabna alladheena kafaru” (We verily had punished disbelievers), rather Allah (SWT) add “minhum” as well which makes is “We verily had punished those of them who disbelieved”. Note that the way this and previous verse use “minhum” is similar to the verse under discussion. Both of the above verses use “kafaru minhum” while the verse under discussion uses “Aamanu minhum”. This is the reply to Rafidhi’s challenge. But let me remind my second answer which Rafidhi ignored:

But even if we accept that “min” there is meant for “tab’eedh”, as considered by Shia mufassir At-Tabtabai, then also it doesn’t contradict sunni concept of “infallibility” of all the companions. By that it would mean, Allah has promised forgiveness and rewards only to those who (1). would be a believer (2).  and would do righteous deeds. The question arises now: How this “destroys” the sunni concept of de facto “infallibility of Sahaba”? To see the real point one should remember the sunni definition of Sahaba.

Firstly, the term “Sahaba” linguistically includes all those who met him [SAW].

Secondly, in Islamic (or better say Sunni) terminology it means “the one who meet our Prophet (S) while he was a muslim, and he died as muslim” [refer to the books of Mustaleh]. So by this is is clear there are three condition for someone to be included among companions:

1. 1. He must have found [including blind] Prophet (S) alive [this exclude all those who saw him in dream].
2. 2. And that should be in state of belief [this exclude all those disbelievers and hypocrites who saw him while they were not actually muslim].
3. 3. He must have died in the state of Islam [this exclude all those who became apostate later on]

Hence this definition excludes all those who were hypocrites, including all those who tried to kill Prophet [SAW], during his return from Tabuk. So how does it destroy the sunni concept of “infallibity” of Sahaba? But this type of deception isn’t only restricted to this Najis Rafidhi, rather it is the characteristic of most of their scholars.

But Rafidhi didn’t even touched this part of my argument. Then on the Rafidhi goes on to teach us Arabic by giving examples of English sentences. This is the most ridiculous part of his article, I’ll not even bother to write further on it.

 

Then on the Rafidhi quotes verses of Surah Ale ‘Imran 3:152-155 to prove that the Sahaba were hypocrites and specially those who turned back during Uhud were hypocrites. I’ll quote the verses in full as quoted by “misguided”:

 

[al-hilali and khan 3:152-155] And Allâh did indeed fulfil His Promise to YOU when YOU were killing them (YOUR enemy) with His Permission; until (the moment) YOU lost YOUR courage and fell to disputing about the order, AND DISOBEYED after He showed YOU (of the booty) which YOU love. AMONG YOU ARE SOME THAT DESIRE THIS WORLD and some that desire the Hereafter. Then He made YOU flee from them (your enemy), that He might test YOU. But surely, He forgave YOU, and Allâh is Most Gracious to THE BELIEVERS. (And remember) when YOU ran away (dreadfully) without even casting a side glance at anyone, and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) was in YOUR rear calling YOU back. There did Allâh give YOU one distress after another by way of requital to teach YOU not to grieve for that which had escaped YOU, nor for that which had befallen YOU. And Allâh is WellAware of all that YOU do. Then after the distress, He sent down security for you. Slumber overtook A PARTY OF YOU, WHILE ANOTHER PARTY WAS THINKING ABOUT THEMSELVES (AS HOW TO SAVE THEIR OWNSELVES, IGNORING THE OTHERS AND THE PROPHET SAW) AND THOUGHT WRONGLY OF ALLÂH – THE THOUGHT OF IGNORANCE. They said, “Have we any part in the affair?” Say you (O Muhammad SAW): “Indeed the affair belongs wholly to Allâh.” THEY HIDE WITHIN THEMSELVES WHAT THEY DARE NOT REVEAL TO YOU, saying: “If we had anything to do with the affair, none of us would have been killed here.” Say: “Even if you had remained in your homes, those for whom death was decreed would certainly have gone forth to the place of their death,” but that Allâh might test what is in your breasts; and to purify that which was in your hearts (sins), and Allâh is AllKnower of what is in (your) breasts. Those of YOU who turned back on the day the two hosts met (i.e. the battle of Uhud), it was Shaitân (Satan) who caused them to backslide (run away from the battlefield) because of some (sins) they had earned. But Allâh, indeed, has forgiven them. Surely, Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing.

Now let me explain the meaning of the verses as explained by scholars and Imams of this field. [The following is the translation of pickthall, and comments in bracket "[]” are by me to explain the context]

 

152. Allah verily made good His promise unto you when ye routed them by His leave, until (the moment) when your courage failed you, and ye disagreed about the order and ye disobeyed, after He had shown you that for which ye long. Some of you desired the world [those who left their station], and some of you desired the Hereafter [those who were holding their station]. Therefore He made you flee from them, that He might try you. Yet now He hath forgiven you. Allah is a Lord of Kindness to believers.

153. When ye climbed (the hill) and paid no heed to anyone, while the messenger, in your rear, was calling you (to fight). Therefor He rewarded you grief for (his) grief, that (He might teach) you not to sorrow either for that which ye missed or for that which befell you. Allah is Informed of what ye do.

154. Then, after grief [when the enemies left the war], He sent clown security for you. As slumber did it overcome a party of you [believers], while (the other) party [hypocrites], who were anxious on their own account [who still feared from the enemies, hence they did not sleep even after the slumber revealed to the believers], thought wrongly of Allah, the thought of ignorance [like, the believers helped not helped]. They said: Have we any part in the cause? [meaning, “did we receive any benefit from this, as was promised by Allah and His Messenger (pbuh)] Say (O Muhammad): The cause belongeth wholly to Allah. They hide within themselves (a thought) which they reveal not unto thee, saying: Had we had any part in the cause we should not have been slain here. Say: Even though ye had been in your houses, those appointed to be slain would have gone forth to the places where they were to lie. (All this hath been) in order that Allah might try what is in your breasts and prove what is in your hearts. Allah is Aware of what is hidden in the breasts (of men).

155. Lo! those of you who turned back on the day [and they were believers] when the two hosts met [the day of Uhud], Satan alone it was who caused them to backslide, because of some of that which they have earned [of sin by disobeying the Messenger of Allah, (pbuh)]. Now Allah hath forgiven them. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Clement.

Note few things before I get back to the Rafidhi’s conclusion:

1. The verse was directed towards all the muslims and it doesn’t call anyone hypocrites, unlike other verses which were actually revealed for Hypocrites. In those cases Allah did not refer to them (Munafiqs) in general term with other believers, like “YOU lost YOUR courage” “which YOU love” “He made you flee from them (your enemies)”, “He forgave you”. Compare these with the verses revealed for hypocrites.
2. The verse 152 states, “But surely, He forgave you…”, and in verse 155, “But Allah, indeed, has forgiven them”. In the former Allah (SWT) forgave those soldiers who left their station which the Prophet (pbuh) commanded them to stick to, while in the later verse (155) He (SWT) forgave those who turned away from battle field. So we know from this that those who disobeyed the Messenger of Allah,(pbuh), by leaving their station, and those who truned away, were forgiven by Allah (swt) in the Quran. So what else remains to criticize them?

Verse 154 from “while another party was thinking about themselves” onward is regarding hypocrites and those with disease in their hearts.

Reading above would clarify the context of the verse and deception of the Rafidhi when he mixed two different context with each other, i.e., the believer who did mistake and the hypocrites. So I do not feel any need of further expanding on it.

As for his take against Uthman (RA) by quoting report of Ibn Umar, then I’ll reply to it. Firstly, Rafidhi only quoted part which suits his agenda, while he left the defense therein of Uthman. Following is the narration in full:

 

Volumn 005, Book 057, Hadith Number 048.

—————————————–

Narated By ‘Uthman : (The son of Muhib) An Egyptian who came and performed the Hajj to the Kaba saw some people sitting. He enquire, “Who are these people?” Somebody said, “They are the tribe of Quraish.” He said, “Who is the old man sitting amongst them?” The people replied, “He is ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar.” He said, “O Ibn Umar! I want to ask you about something; please tell me about it. Do you know that ‘Uthman fled away on the day (of the battle) of Uhud?” Ibn ‘Umar said, “Yes.” The (Egyptian) man said, “Do you know that ‘Uthman was absent on the day (of the battle) of Badr and did not join it?” Ibn ‘Umar said, “Yes.” The man said, “Do you know that he failed to attend the Ar Ridwan pledge and did not witness it (i.e. Hudaibiya pledge of allegiance)?” Ibn ‘Umar said, “Yes.” The man said, “Allahu Akbar!” Ibn ‘Umar said, “Let me explain to you (all these three things). As for his flight on the day of Uhud, I testify that Allah has excused him and forgiven him; and as for his absence from the battle of Badr, it was due to the fact that the daughter of Allah’s Apostle was his wife and she was sick then. Allah’s Apostle said to him, “You will receive the same reward and share (of the booty) as anyone of those who participated in the battle of Badr (if you stay with her).’ As for his absence from the Ar-Ridwan pledge of allegiance, had there been any person in Mecca more respectable than ‘Uthman (to be sent as a representative). Allah’s Apostle would have sent him instead of him. No doubt, Allah’s Apostle had sent him, and the incident of the Ar-Ridwan pledge of Allegiance happened after ‘Uthman had gone to Mecca. Allah’s Apostle held out his right hand saying, ‘This is ‘Uthman’s hand.’ He stroke his (other) hand with it saying, ‘This (pledge of allegiance) is on the behalf of ‘Uthman.’ Then Ibn ‘Umar said to the man, ‘Bear (these) excuses in mind with you.’

 

So it is clear from above that Uthman (ra) and all those who turned away from battle field when enemies suddenly attacked them from back, were forgiven, and in fact it is evident in the verse of Quran as explained previously.

 

“In what statement, after this, will they believe?” [77:50]

After that, the Rafidhis tried to prove that there were Sahaba who lied upon Prophet (pbuh). He said:

 

Is it true that NONE of the Sahabah ever attribute lies to Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)? Let us carefully analyze this hadith in Sahih Muslim:

Abu Salama h. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Auf reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: There is no transitive disease, BUT he is ALSO reported to have said: A sick person should not be taken to one who is healthy. Abu Salama said that Abu Huraira used to narrate these two (different ahadith) from Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him), BUT AFTERWARDS Abu Huraira became silent on these words: “There is no transitive disease,” BUT HE STUCK TO THIS that the sick person should not be taken to one who is healthy. Harith b. Abu Dhubab (and he was the first cousin of Abu Huraira) said: Abu Huraira, I used to hear from you that you narrated to us along with this hadith and the other one also (there is no transitive disease), but now you observe silence about it. You used to say that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: There is no transitive disease. ABU HURAIRA DENIED HAVING ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THAT, but he said that the sick camel should not be taken to the healthy one. Harith, however, did not agree with him, which irritated Abu Huraira and he said to him some words in the Abyssinian language. He said to Harith: Do you know what I said to you? He said: No. Abu Huraira said: I SIMPLY DENIED HAVING SAID IT. Abu Salama sad: By my life, Abu Huraira in fact used to report Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) having said: There is no transitive disease. I do not know whether Abu Huraira has forgotten it or he deemed it an abrogated statement in the light of the other one.

Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5510

Abu Huraira denied having ever narrated a hadith, after he found it to be wrong! Yet, he used to narrate it!

That is an open lie on his part! Besides, will Moin tell us that it is true that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said there is nothing like infection? Of course, there is infection! So, such a statement is an outright lie! Whoever attributes this lie to Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is a horrible liar! It is true that Abu Huraira attributed such a false statement to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and some other Sahabah picked it from him. But then, when Abu Huraira realized that the lie he attributed to Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) was causing him trouble, he “withdrew” it from circulation and denied EVER narrating it!!!

There are two things to be considered:

1. Whether the above report prove that Abu Hurairah lied or not?
2. Does the above narration a lie in itself?

Firstly, the above narration doesn’t imply a lie from Abu Hurairah’s side. He simply could have forgot it like Abu Salama thought it to be, or in the view of Sh. Al-Mu’allimi, he just did not want to confuse the people by narrating apparently contradicting narrations, so he denied to answer the questioner in straight and affirmative words, but the viewers thought it to be his denial.

Secondly, this same narration was reported by Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, Ibn Umar, Jabir bin Abdullah, Abdullah bin ‘Amr, Saa’ib bin Yazeed, Anas bin Malik, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas’ud, Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri etc.

Hence, it has been reported through Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas in “Musnad Ahmed” (1554), through Ibn Umar in Sahih Bukhari (1993, 5421, 5438), through Anas bin Malik in Sahih Bukhari (5424, 5440), through Jabir bin Abdullah in Sahih Muslim (2222), through Ibn Abbas in Musnad Ahmed (2425), through Saa’ib in Sahih Muslim (2220) etc. Hence there remains no doubt about its authenticity and that Abu Hurairah was truthful, even though he might have forgot it later on but it is not necessary in light of the comment of Al-Mu’allimi as mentioned earlier.

Interestingly, this same has been reported in shia sources. Hence, Abu Ja’far Al-Kulaini reports it in his “Al-Kafi” (8/196) through Nadhr bin Qirwash Al-Jammal from Abu Abdullah (As-Sadiq) who reports it from Prophet (pbuh).

As for its meaning, then it isn’t actually that difficult. In pre-islamic time people used to think, based on their belief, that getting in contact of an ill would make you ill. So to falsify this belief, the Prophet (pbuh) said, “there is no Adwi (transferring of disease from one person to another)..”. This was a general statement, and Prophet (pbuh) gave exception in this as explained by scholars at its place. For example, we have a general statement of Quran “prohibited to you are dead (meat)…”, even though some exceptions are given to it, e.g., Fish etc.

Rafidhi then produced second proof for his claim:

Another lie that Abu Huraira attributed to Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) but which he never withdrew from circulation is this:

Abu Haraira reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) took hold of my hands and said: Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, created the clay on Saturday and He created the mountains on Sunday and He created the trees on Monday and He created the things entailing labour on Tuesday and created light on Wednesday and lie caused the animals to spread on Thursday and created Adam (peace be upon him) after ‘Asr on Friday; the last creation at the last hour of the hours of Friday, i.e. between afternoon and night.

Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Number 6707

This hadith is obviously false since it places the creation of vegetation before the creation of sunlight. Of course, vegetation cannot survive without sunlight. Therefore, in the natural order of things, sunlight came before vegetation!

The Hadith was actually criticized by several scholar and many scholars declared this to be a mistake made by some narrator. Those scholars who denied this as a marfoo’ Hadith were, Bukhari, Ibn Al-Madeeni, Ibn Al-Mu’een. Sh. Al-Qasimi said in “Al-Fadhl Al-Mubeen”, as quoted in footnotes of Musnad Ahmed (t. Arnaut), “this Hadith was criticized by those who were more knowledgeable than Muslim, like Bukhari and Yahya bin Mu’een”. Likewise Shaykh Al-Islam criticized this in his Fatawa (17/236).

In actual this was from statement of Ka’b Al-Ahbar which Abu Hurairah narrated, but some narrator did mistake in it and made it a Hadith of Prophet (pbuh). The common narrator Ayyub bin Khalid, although truthful, was soft in hadith, and this could be his mistake.

While some other scholars considered this authentic which include Muslim, Ibn Al-Jawzi,Abdur-Rahman Al-Mu’allimi, Al-Albani etc. And Allah knows best.

In any case no one from among the scholars accused Abu Hurairah for this mistake. As for the statement of Ibn Katheer quoted by the Rafidhi:

This hadith is one of the strange things recorded in Sahih Muslim. Ali ibn al-Madini, al-Bukhari and many of the huffaz have criticized the hadith. They have stated that it was the statement of Ka’b, and that Abu Huraira only heard it from Ka’b al-Ahbar

This is a half quote which changed the whole scenario of what Ibn Katheer was actually saying.  Ibn Katheer said [Tafsir (1/123) pub. ‘Ilmiyah]:

وهذا الحديث من غرائب صحيح مسلم «1» ، وقد تكلم عليه علي بن المديني والبخاري وغير واحد من الحفاظ وجعلوه من كلام كعب، وأن أبا هريرة إنما سمعه من كلام كعب الأحبار، وإنما اشتبه على بعض الرواة، فجعلوه مرفوعا، وقد حرر ذلك البيهقي

Translation by Rafidhi (with underlined part by me): They have stated that it was the statement of Ka’b, and that Abu Huraira only heard it from Ka’b al-Ahbar, and some narrator became doubtful regarding it and made it marfoo’(Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh))”.

Rafidhi left the underlined part intentionally (even in Arabic quote) to make it as though Ibn Katheer was accusing Abu Hurayrah, while Ibn Katheer actually said that some of the narrator did mistake in it (not Abu Hurairah himself). As for the quote:

Ibn Kathir in his al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 8, p. 117, also states:

وقال يزيد بن هارون‏ :‏ سمعت شعبة يقول :‏ أبو هريرة كان يدلس ، أي ‏:‏ يروي ما سمعه من كعب وما سمعه من رسول الله (ص) ولا يميز هذا من هذا ذكره إبن عساكر.‏

Yazid ibn Harun said: I heard Shu’ba saying: “Abu Huraira used to distort Hadiths. He would mix up what he heard from Ka’b and what he heard from Allah’s Apostle without distinguishing one from the other. Ibn Asakir mentioned this report.

This is not proven from Shu’ba. Ibn Katheer attributed this to Ibn Asakir. This was reported by Ibn Adi in “Al-Kamil” (1/68) and through his way Ibn Asakir in “Tarikh Damishq” (67/359), through Al-Hasan bin Uthman At-Tustari who said Salamah bin Shabeeb informed us, that he heard Shu’ba saying, “Abu Hurairah used to do tadlees”. In Tarikh Damishq Salamah bin Shabeeb narrate it through Yazeed bin Harun from Shu’ba, which is correct, WAllahu A’lam.

Al-Hasan bin Uthman Abu Sa’eed At-Tustari was not trustworthy. Ibn Adi accused him of lying by saying, “he according to me used to lie and steal narrations. I asked Abdan Al-Ahwazi regarding him, so he replied that he was a liar”. [Al-Kamil (2/345)]. Abu Ali An-Naisaburi said, “he was a liar who used to steal narrations”. Daar Qutni declared him weak. [Lisan Al-Meezan (2/219)]. Also, this Abu Sa’eed At-Tustari was accused of fabricating some ridiculous narrations, one of them was “Allah has prohibited rain for this Ummah because of their hate to Ali bin Abi Talib”, and another one is “Ameens [a title famous for Prophet (s)] are three: I, Jibreel and Mu’awiyah”. [See, Al-Meezan (1/502)]

In case if the report is proven then also it doesn’t make Abu Hurayrah a liar. Sahaba were known for narrating Mursal [which is identified as tadlees in the report, and the Rafidhi translated it to mean distorting Hadith. Balatant ignorance indeed]. The Maraseel of Sahaba are accepted without any condition. In fact it is said that companions like Ibn Abbas only heard selected reports directly from Prophet (S), others he heard from other senior companions. Regarding the report under discussion, Dhahabi said in “As-Siyar” (2/608), “Tadlees of companions are numerous, and there is nothing bad in it. This is because they do tadlees from someone senior then them, and all of the companions were truthful”. As for what Ibn Katheer said, “He would mix up what he heard from Ka’b and what he heard from Allah’s Apostle without distinguishing one from the other” then this he said to explain Shu’bah’s statement [Rafidhi didn’t distinguish between his and Shu’ba’s statement in the quote]. This is far fetched and someone senior than Ibn Katheer has clarified this. This is when the report is proven which is not the case.

Hence, the above statement was not proven from Shu’bah. Therefore, there remains no validity of the claim of the Rafidhi, “Why would anyone not accuse Abu Huraira of attributing lies to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) for his deceptive practice of placing the words of Ka’b on the tongue of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)?” This is how Rafidhis spread fabrications and accusations against anyone they dislike, and this particular Rafidi has the guts to claim, “This is one of the exaggerations and lies of Moin too! How can he claim that none of the Sahabah attributed lies to Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) in spite of these clear proofs?” We have already seen those “clear proofs”.

Then he comes to the actual issue:

There are two questions to ask here:

1. Did Ibn Hazm fabricate that report? Well, considering his attack and anger against it, he could not have fabricated it. He certainly found it in a Sunni source, which apparently is lost now. That does not mean that the hadith never existed.

2. Why did Ibn Hazm not criticize its lack of chain if it indeed had no chain? Of course, that would have been the easiest method, rather than his wasteful attack on Walid ibn Jami. Ibn Hazm attacked only Walid ibn Jami because he was left no other choice.

To answer him

1. We do not have evidence to say that Ibn Hazm fabricated it, and what we know of Ibn Hazm deny this type of ugly act from his side. But this is not our point at all.
2. We could have answered this if we had Ibn Hazm sitting around us. What we know is that Ibn Hazm was not infallible, and we know of several mistakes of his regarding Hadith. For example Ibn Abdul Haadi said in “Mukhtasar Tabaqat Ulama Al-Hadith” (pg. 401), as quoted by Al-Albani in “As-Saheeha” (91), “he was excessive in doubts (or mistakes) regarding authentication of Hadith and its weakening”.  So who knows, he might not have realized the real mistake of the report.

Even if we assume that the report existed and it had no defects at all besides what has been said regarding Waleed bin Abdullah bin Jumai’, then also it is not valid as an evidence because of the following reasons:

1. Regardless of the Isnad of it, the narration remains fabricated even if its Isnad is proven to be narrated by trustworthy reporters. This is because when a singular report (fard or also known as Ghareeb, while in terminology of fuqaha its “Ahad”) contradicts other Mutawatir fact then it is to be rejected, if there remains no way of reconciliation between them. We have this supposed report, if it really exists, saying that Shaykhain were hypocrites, on the other hand we have abundant narrations, some of them reaches Tawatur, which establish that they were most close to the Prophet (S) and they were given glad tidings of Jannah by Prophet (s). In fact, the praise and superiority of Shaykhayn is proven from the lips of Ali (ra) which reaches Tawatur, but this is not the place to go into detail of it.
2. Secondly, Ahad (singular reports) doesn’t give knowledge, in the views of Usuli shia, rather Ahad are only Zanni to them. They, in this regard, are the followers of Mu’atazilites, who are also followed by several groups of Ahlul Kalam. This is when the Ahad narration is proven to be authentic, but what if the narration itself is unknown except that Ibn Hazm found it somewhere, and only Allah knows which narration he exactly mean.
3. As for Waleed bin Jumai’, then he was not from Huffaz. Some scholars declared him truthful while others said that there was weakeness in him. Ibn Hajar concluded [Taqreeb (2/286)] that he was truthful (sadooq) who used to have wahm (doubts) and he was accused of shi’ism. Ibn Hibban, even though mentioned him in Ath-Thiqat, said that he used to report odd narrations from trustworthy narrators and we it is reached excess, taking him as proof is not allowed. Al-Bazzar said, his reports are to be looked into. Al-Uqaili said, “in his Hadith there is conflict”. Al-Hakim said, If Muslim had not recorded his narrations that would have been better. Refer to Tahdheeb (12/122) by Ibn Hajar. The problem with today’s Rafidhis and Sufis that they do not differentiate between “thiqah” “hafiz” “thabt”, and “sadooq” “la ba’s bihi” “Saleh Al-Hadith”, and then “sadooq lahu awham”. Extra words (Ziyadaat) in famous narrations are accepted when the extra part is narrated by first type of narrators [Thiqah, Hujjah, Thabt etc], otherwise it is counted among, Shaadh or Munkar depending upon the text.
4. Surely, Ahmed bin Hanbal and Ibn Mu’een didn’t know the supposed Hadith, because if they had known anything of it then their verdict on Ibn Jumai’ would have been similar to Ibn Hazm. Because a narrator is known through his reports.

Hence there remains hardly any weight in the conclusion of the Rafidhi. After that the Rafidhi tried to reply to my last comment where I said that Ibn Hazm himself was not accusing Ibn Jumai’ of fabricating this Hadith, rather according to him Ibn Jumai’ was himself not aware of it being fabrication, indicating carelessness of Ibn Jumai’.

To that Rafidhi replied:

He may not have known the one who fabricated the hadith of Hudhayfah. But here, we are talking of many reports! Ibn Hazm calls the fact stated in those reports as a lie! Lie by whom? By Walid ibn Jami’ of course! But Walid ibn Jami’ is reliable. Therefore, the only “detected” problem in the chain of narration is actually a ruse.

As I said previously the Rafidhi has some serious mental problem. First he accepts that, according to Ibn Hazm, Ibn Jumai’ wasn’t even aware of it being a fabrication, then on he has the guts to say, “Ibn Hazm calls the fact stated in those reports as a lie! Lie by whom? By Walid ibn Jami’ of course!” The thing is, why would he consider it to be a “lie by Ibn Jumai’” while on the other hand he said that Ibn Jumai’ was not even aware of it being a fabrication?

 

و صلي الله علي نبينا محمد و علي اله و صحبه و سلم

Defending Sahaba and those who were guided, From the lies and attacks of the Rafidhi “misguided”: PART-1

بسم الله

و الصلاة و السلام عَلَى رسول الله

 

I recently came across counter refutation of “Misguided” Rafidhi to my article at wilayat.net. After reading it one can easily realize the mental status of the Rafidhi. I wouldn’t have wasted my time on this ridiculous Rafidhi but it gives me platform to clarify sunni views.

In the whole response Rafidhi showed his colour which is something expected from these Rafidhis. He followed his predecessor in this regard, hence he filled this with lies and deceptions. In fact he wants us to believe that Abu Bakr and Umar were hypocrites based on a report which doesn’t exist anywhere except that Ibn Hazm found it somewhere, but he couldn’t provide the Isnad and text of the report. This is there proof to convince us. It is like how Shaykh Al-Islam describe them, “the best thing they have as proof is disconnected historical reports”. The fact is that they can go to any extant just to prove their point, and that is why our scholars always remind us of the lies of Rafidha. Imam Malik said, “Do not talk with them, nor narrate from them, because they keep on lying”. Imam Shafi’i said, “I do not know of any group more blatant in their lies than Rafidha”. Likewise it has been narrated through Yazeed bin Harun, Shuraik, A’mash etc that Rafidha are worse liar among all sects. [Refer to “Al-Muntaqa min Minhaj Al-E’itedal” by Adh-Dhahabi]

Let me explain why I assume this Rafidhi is mentally unstable. He said regarding Ibn Katheer’s statement, “He claims that whoever condemns any of the Sahabah is an infidel”. However Ibn Katheer has only reported views of some scholars, and none of them said that condemning Sahaba makes one infidel. Rafidhi also said, “But he has made some crucial points! Some of the Sahabah were evil-doers! Fine! This is exactly what we have been arguing with Sunnis about: that some of them were evil-doing hypocrites!” Someone needs to explain this Rafidhi that sinning doesn’t make someone hypocrite. It seem the Rafidhi is now leaning toward Kharijism. Also, he said, “Of course, Moin rejects Allah’s (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) verdict and upholds that both were righteous people and will be in Paradise! He even sends blessings upon both of them, for their mass murders!” So I send blessings upon them for their mass murder.

Another ridiculous statement, “He is arguing here that people like al-Walid ibn Uqba are no longer Sahabah!!! Yet, it was him who brought Walid ibn Uqba at the beginning of his “refutation” as an example of an evil-doing Sahabi?!”

One might have realized the mental state of that “misguided” Rafidhi. I’ll expose more of his ignorance and blunders during course of this refutation, Insha Allah.

 

Rafidhi said:

We wrote an article to expose Ibn Kathir’s fatal contradiction concerning the Sahabah. He claims that whoever condemns any of the Sahabah is an infidel. Yet, he himself goes ahead to narrate how some of the Sahabah attempted to assassinate the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), and how the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) literally identified them as being part of his Sahabah.

This is what he said, but nowhere did Ibn Katheer declared those who condemn Sahaba to be Infidel. All what he said is,

ومن هذه الآية انتزع الإمام مالك -رحمه الله، في رواية عنه-بتكفير الروافض الذين يبغضون الصحابة، قال: لأنهم يغيظونهم، ومن غاظ الصحابة فهو كافر لهذه الآية. ووافقه طائفة من العلماء على ذلك

“And from this verse [48:29] Imam Malik, rahimahullah, in a report from him, concluded the takfeer of Rawafidh who hate the companions. He said, “this is because they hate them, and one who hate the companions is infidel based on this verse”. And a group of scholars agreed with him [Imam Malik].” [Tafseer Ibn Katheer (7/362)]

So from this we conclude:

1. None of the above scholars, in fact none of Sunni authority, declare anyone kafir just for condemning any of the Sahaba.
2. Some scholars, including Imam Malik in a report from him, thinks that HATING sahaba is kufr based on a verse [48:29] which states, “that He may enrage the unbelievers on account of them [Sahaba]”. And a group of scholar agreed with him.
3. Condemning is not same thing as hating. Allah himself condemns some Sahaba in Quran for some of their acts, but still He loves them and praises their Iman, excluding hypocrites who were not actually Muslims.

This clarifies the lie and deception of “misguided” Rafidhi. Indeed lying and deceiving are the characteristics of Munafiq and Rafidhi. As for his saying:

Yet, he himself goes ahead to narrate how some of the Sahabah attempted to assassinate the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), and how the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) literally identified them as being part of his Sahabah. Then he declared them hypocrites till Doomsday.

The concept of Sahaba has already been clarified in the previous article. In short, these Munafiqs are not included amongst Sahaba according to sunni terminology, even though they can be referred to as such in linguistic sense, and this include anyone who lived besides Prophet [s].

By mentioning the phrase “de facto”, we had indicated that Sunnis never openly proclaim the infallibility of the Sahabah. Rather, their attitude is tantamount to such belief. They hate it when anyone criticizes any of the Sahabah. It is like the Sahabah are above criticism, and all of them will be in Paradise. This is what we called Sunni belief in the “de facto” infallibility of the Sahabah. Above, Moin has only attacked a strawman.

Now this is another masterpiece. So basically this Rafidhi is saying that believing that some is in paradise and one should not criticize him, amounts to belief in infallibility of that person. This would make anyone of his beloved shi’i scholars whom he does not criticize, infallible. As for us, then we stop people from talking negative of them because it is the command of Allah.

وَلاَ يَغْتَبْ بَعضُكُمْ بَعْضاً أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتاً فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ وَاتَّقُوا اللهَ إنَّ اللهَ تَوَّابٌ رَحِيمٌ

“And do not backbite one another” [49:12]

The Messenger of Allah, pbuh, said:

عن أَبي موسى – رضي الله عنه – قَالَ : قُلْتُ : يَا رسولَ اللهِ أَيُّ المُسْلمِينَ أفْضَلُ ؟ قَالَ : (( مَنْ سَلِمَ المُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ )) متفق عَلَيْه

Abu Musa [ra] said: I asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Which of the Muslims is best?” He replied, “That from whose tongue and hands Muslims are safe”. [Bukhari and Muslim]

أنَّ رسُولَ الله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – ، قَالَ : (( أَتَدْرُونَ مَا الْغِيبَةُ ؟ )) قالوا : اللهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أعْلَمُ ، قَالَ : (( ذِكْرُكَ أخَاكَ بِما يَكْرَهُ )) قِيلَ : أفَرَأيْتَ إنْ كَانَ في أخِي مَا أقُولُ ؟ قَالَ : (( إنْ كَانَ فِيهِ مَا تَقُولُ ، فقد اغْتَبْتَهُ ، وإنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ فِيهِ مَا تَقُولُ فَقَدْ بَهَتَّهُ ))

The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] said, “do you know what is Al-Gheebah [backbiting]”. They [the people] replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best”. He [pbuh] then said, “you mentioning [something] regarding your brother which he doesn’t like”. It was thus asked, “What if the thing which I have said could be found in my brother”? He [pbuh] replied, “If indeed it exists in him then you have done Gheebah, if that [characteristic] which you said could not be found in him then you have slandered on him”. [Sahih Muslim]

So we feel there is no good reason to talk negative of them, even if we realize that they were fallible and some sins might have happened from them.

But he has made some crucial points! Some of the Sahabah were evil-doers! Fine! This is exactly what we have been arguing with Sunnis about: that some of them were evil-doing hypocrites! Now, by agreeing that some of the Sahabah were alcohol drinkers and criminals, Moin brings himself under the careless Takfir of Ibn Kathir!

As said before, the Rafidhi has lost his mind. Sinning doesn’t make someone kaffir or hypocrite except in the madhhab of Khawarij.

Moin has used two of the Sahabah as examples: Walid ibn Uqbah and Marwan ibn al-Hakam. He agrees that both of them are Sahabah, which is good for our discussion here.

I myself never said Marwan bin Al-Hakam was a Sahabi. His case is disputed upon. I only mentioned him there because he was a good example for my argument and to some he was a Sahabi. Then on this Rafidhi goes on to remind us history:

You know what? Marwan ibn al-Hakam was one of those who murdered Muslims simply for the sake of the world! Al-Bukhari records:

Narrated Abu Al-Minhal:

When Ibn Ziyad and Marwan were in Sham and Ibn Az-Zubair took over the authority in Mecca and Qurra’ (the Kharijites) revolted in Basra, I went out with my father to Abu Barza Al-Aslami till we entered upon him in his house while he was sitting in the shade of a room built of cane. So we sat with him and my father started talking to him saying, “O Abu Barza! Don’t you see in what dilemma the people has fallen?” The first thing heard him saying “I seek reward from Allah for myself because of being angry and scornful at the Quraish tribe. O you Arabs! You know very well that you were in misery and were few in number and misguided, and that Allah has brought you out of all that with Islam and with Muhammad till He brought you to this state (of prosperity and happiness) which you see now; and it is this worldly wealth and pleasures which has caused mischief to appear among you. The one who is in Sham (i.e., Marwan), by Allah, is not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain: and those who are among you, by Allah, are not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain; and that one who is in Mecca (i.e., Ibn Az-Zubair) by Allah, is not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain.“

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 228

Both Marwan and Ibn al-Zubayr, who mere murdering people for the sake of worldly gain, were Sahabah!

We don’t judge people based on what other person thinks about him. Allah knows what they fought for. It doesn’t concern us. “Those are a people who have passed away” [2:141]. Allah knows their heart and He will judge between them. We know for instance that Sahaba and early Salaf accused each other for some sins but we don’t take it seriously, like the accusation on Talha and Ali of murdering Uthman, may Allah be pleased with them. What we say is, there is not any proof of these except some claims by people against each other, therefore it doesn’t actually concern us.

Now, this is Allah’s (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) verdict on what they did:

[al-hilali and khan 4:93] And whoever kills a believer intentionally, HIS RECOMPENSE IS HELL TO ABIDE THEREIN; and the Wrath AND THE CURSE OF ALLAH ARE UPON HIM, and a great punishment is prepared for him.

The question to Moin is this: do you agree with Allah’s (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) judgment that both Marwan and Ibn al-Zubayr were eternally accursed on account of their crimes, and will be eternally in Hellfire?

This is general verdict on those who kill a Muslim intentionally, making it permitted. We don’t know what were the condition of said people. It could be that they, by their understanding, were fighting for the cause of religion. Besides one should differentiate between cases when the killing happened during war, where the opponent come to kill or to be killed, and other normal cases. In any case, Rafidhi is jumping from one issue to another issue so as to find something with which he feel some comfort, which is not going to happen, Insha Allah. I mean, there wasn’t any reason for Rafidhi to get into the detail of the issue, while I myself have accepted in my previous article that Sahaba were fallible and some of them might have done some crimes.

Then Rafidhi goes into the discussion of Waleed bin Uqbah and why he was Fasiq. My reply to him, in short, is Waleed bin Uqbah was a Muslim and has all the rights a muslim have. So backbiting him is not permitted, and there is no need to reach a conclusion regarding him. However, as the misguided has asked some questions, so here is my reply. He said:

So, we put these questions to Moin:

1. Was Walid ibn Uqba one of the Sahabah?

2. Was Walid a Fasiq (evil doer, liar)?

3. Was Walid a hypocrite?

4. Are there hypocrites among the Sahabah?

5. Are there liars among the Sahabah?

Answers:

1. Yes
2. Fasiq is not the same as liar. The word fasiq applies to those who has done sins, and not all sinners are liars. I must appreciate deceptive way of Rafidhi, after all he is following his predecessors.
3. No, he was not.
4. Linguistically, yes. But in Sunni terminology ‘Sahaba’ do not include Hypocrites. This was clarified in previous article, but Rafidhi’s undeveloped mind doesn’t seem to get it.
5. We have yet to come across Sahaba who had lied upon Prophet [pbuh], however there were those who did mistakes, and they used to forget as a human being.

Then the Rafidhi Misguided went on to prove that Waleed bin Uqbah was a Hypocrite Munafiq. He said:

Also, Allah (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) has promised Hellfire to Walid ibn Uqba and everyone like him, in the verse that immediately follows the one above:

[Shakir 32:18-22] Is he then who is a believer like him who is a transgressor? They are not equal. As for those who believe and do good, the gardens are their abiding-place; an entertainment for what they did. AND AS FOR THOSE WHO TRANSGRESS (FASIQUN, PLURAL OF FASIQ), THEIR ABODE IS THE FIRE; whenever they desire to go forth from it they shall be brought back into it, and it will be said to them: Taste the chastisement of the fire which you called a lie. And most certainly We will make them taste of the nearer chastisement before the greater chastisement that haply they may turn. And who is more unjust than he who is reminded of the communications of his Lord, then he turns away from them? Surely We will give punishment to the guilty.

His argument is based on some traditions which states that the verse was revealed for Ali bin Abi Talib and Waleed bin Uqbah. Firstly he quotes a report from Ibn Abbas present in “Siyar A’alam An-Nubala” (3/415) through the way of Ibn Abi Layla from Al-Hakam bin Utaibah from Sa’eed bin Jubair from Ibn Abbas. Dhahabi said, and Rafidhi quoted this as well, the chain of this is strong. This is what Dhahabi said but Ibn Abi Layla in the Isnad, although an Imam and a Qadhi, but he was weak due to his bad memory. Dhahabi himself listed him in “Deewan Ad-Dhu’afa wa Al-Matrukeen” (pg. 360) and in “Al-Mughni fi Ad-Dhu’afa” (2/227) both of which are compilations listing weak and rejected narrators. In the former he said, “Muhammad bin Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Laylah, Jurist, truthful (Saduq), with bad memory”. Ibn Hajar said in “At-Taqreeb” (2/105), “truthful with very bad memory”. Detail of criticism on him could be read in “Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb” (9/268,269). Hafiz Ibn Katheer did not mention this report in his tafseer, this may be due to the weakness in its chain.

This was also reported by Khateeb (13/321) and Ibn ‘Adi (6/118), through Muhammad bin Saa’ib Al-Kalbi from Abu Saleh from Ibn Abbas. However, Al-Kalbi is matrook abandoned. [See, Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb (9/157-159)]

This tafseer has also come through ‘Ata bin Yasaar, but in it Ibn Ishaq narrates from some unknown person. This was reported by Ibn Jareer in his commentary (20/188). The misguided Rafidhi even quoted Ibn Jareer At-Tabari as a supporter of said tafseer. Rafidhi quoted him as saying, “This verse was revealed about Ali ibn Abi Talib, the pleasure of Allah be upon him, and al-Walid ibn Uqba”, but he missed a word before. In reality, At-Tabari said, “And it was said (or mentioned) that this verse was revealed…”. The statement “dhukira” (it was mentioned) indicates doubt or weakness, as is known. But Rafidhi chopped the important word from Imam Tabari’s statement. Reader may have realized the reason for chopping off a single word from a sentence. Their religion is based on deception.

Other things he quoted are just same report discussed above. There is another tafsir of the verse which indicates that the argument had happened between Ali bin Abi Talib (ra) and ‘Uqba bin Abi Mu’eet, the father of Waleed bin ‘Uqbah. This was reported by Ibn Asakir(63/235), and Suyuti attributed it to Khateeb and Ibn Mardwayh as well, through the way of Ibn Lahee’ah from ‘Amr bin Deenar from Ibn Abbas. However its Isnad is not much better than the report by Ibn Abi Layla, because of Ibn Lahee’ah who was weak. Ibn Katheer only mentioned this explanation and attributed it to ‘Ata bin Yasaar and Suddi, which is wrong as far as I know. Qurtubi attributed this to Az-Zajaaj and An-Nahhaas. This later tafseer is much strong than earlier one because the context of Quran speaks of it. I mean Waleed bin Uqbah was nobody during that time, while his father Uqba was from among the devils of Qureish and an enemy of Islam. Secondly, the tradition states that Waleed bin Uqbah was older than Ali (ra), which is hard to digest. As a whole there is no proof for Rafidhi in the verse as all of what has been reported contain weakness.

Then the Rafidhi quoted verses talking about hypocrites and applied it to Ibn Zubair, Marwan and Waleed. There would have been any point in using those verses, if they have been proven hypocrites through established evidence. Further “misguided” states:

Now, read the next words of Moin al-Nasibi:

Firstly, the term “Sahaba” linguistically includes all those who met him [SAW].

Secondly, in Islamic (or better say Sunni) terminology it means “the one who meet our Prophet (S) while he was a muslim, and he died as muslim” [refer to the books of Mustaleh]. So by this is is clear there are three condition for someone to be included among companions:

1. He must have found [including blind] Prophet (S) alive [this exclude all those who saw him in dream].

2. And that should be in state of belief [THIS EXCLUDE ALL THOSE DISBELIEVERS AND HYPOCRITES WHO SAW HIM WHILE THEY WERE NOT ACTUALLY MUSLIM].

3. He must have died in the state of Islam [this exclude all those who became apostate later on]

Hence this definition excludes all those who were hypocrites, including all those who tried to kill Prophet [SAW], during his return from Tabuk. So how does it destroy the sunni concept of “infallibity” of Sahaba? But this type of deception isn’t only restricted to this Najis Rafidhi, rather it is the characteristic of most of their scholars.

He is arguing here that people like al-Walid ibn Uqba are no longer Sahabah!!! Yet, it was him who brought Walid ibn Uqba at the beginning of his “refutation” as an example of an evil-doing Sahabi?!

No sane person would conclude from my writing that I excluded them from the category of Sahaba. Yes, an insane person like “misguided” Rafidhi aka toyib-offline can do that.

Then the Rafidhi said:

But, we will open his eyes farther now. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, in his al-Matalib al-Aliya, “Kitab al-Tafsir”, Number 3718, records:

وقال : مسدد : ، ثنا : يحيى ، عن الأعمش ، عن زيد بن وهب قال : سمعت حذيفة ، يقول : مات رجل من المنافقين فلم أصل عليه ، فقال عمر : ما منعك أن تصلي عليه ؟ ، قلت : إنه منهم ، فقال : أبالله منهم أنا ؟ ، قلت : لا ، قال : فبكى عمر

Hudhayfah said:

One of the hypocrites died, and I did not pray over him. So, Umar asked me, “What stopped you from praying over him?” I said, “He was one of them (i.e. hypocrites).” Umar then asked, “I beg you by Allah, am I one of them?” I said, “No”. Then, Umar wept.

Ibn Hajar says:

إسناده صحيح

Its chain is sahih

Although Hudhayfah (رضي الله عنه) had told Umar that Umar was not a hypocrite, he could have said that in Taqiyyah. Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) had kept the names of the hypocrites as a secret with Hudhayfah (رضي الله عنه). Would you have told Umar, if you were Hudhayfah (رضي الله عنه), that he was one of the hypocrites if he really was?

The narration quoted by “misguided” is sufficient to destroy his own claim, but the way he is behaving is laughable. Hudhayfa in this report deny Umar being a hypocrite.

This Rafidhi has attributed a ridiculous hypocrisy to Hudhayfah bin Al-Yaman. However Hudhayfah (ra) was free from Taqiyyah, and he did not consider Umar to be among hypocrites because of the following reports he narrates:

1. Hudhayfah considered Umar to be a closed gate against the Fitnah. [Bukhari (no.502, 1368,1796), Musnad Ahmed (no.23412) etc]
2. He reported a Hadith in which Prophet (pbuh) instructed us to follow Abu Bakr and Umar after him.
3. The claim of Rafidhi is based on assumption,i.e., Hudhayfa might have said that out of Taqiyyah.

So, the report quoted by the Rafidhi is a proof against him and what he brought up from Ibn Hazm. Related to the above report, the Rafidhi has some question for me. He said:

Whatever the case, we ask Moin al-Nasibi: why did Umar suspect that he could be a hypocrite?

As for why did Umar feared Nifaq for himself, that is because it is sign of a believer that he fear from Nifaq. It is like Ibn Abi Mulaika’s statement, “I found 30 of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh), all of whom used to fear from Nifaq”. And Hasan Al-Basari said, “No one fear from it except a believer, and no one feel secure from it except a hypocrite”. Both of these statements are mentioned by Bukhari in his Saheeh in Mu’allaq form.

Also, it has been recorded in “Sifat An-Nifaq” (no.68, 69) of Al-Firyabi that Abu Darda used to seek refuge of Allah (SWT) from Nifaq.

Narrated from Abu Idrees Al-Khawlani that he said, “there is no one on the face of the earth who does not fear for his Iman that it will left, except it will left (in reality)”. Likewise it is narrated through Abu Raja Al-Utaridi, a Taba’i, that senior companions used to fear from Nifaq. And there are many reports which could be read in “Sifat Al-Nifaq” of Abu Bakr Al-Firyabi.

Similarly, there is famous incident of Hanzalah [RA], reported in Saheeh Muslim (2750), is quite famous. [See pt.151 of this]

This is Moin’s logic:

1. A Sahabi can never be a hypocrite

2. Umar was a Sahabi

3. Therefore Umar was not a hypocrite

But, it did not work with Umar! Umar knew that he was a Sahabi. Yet, he positively considered the possibility of him being a hypocrite! THIS MEANS THAT A SAHABI CAN BE A HYPOCRITE! OTHERWISE, UMAR WOULD NEVER HAVE ASKED THAT QUESTION!!!

A sahabi could never be a hypocrite but a Sahabi could become a hypocrite. Calling someone a Sahabi and hypocrite at the same time is like an oxymoron. The condition of Sahabi is that he must not be a hypocrite, and if a Sahabi turns out to be a hypocrite then the term ‘Sahabi’, according to sunni terminology, no longer applies to him. This was clarified in the previous article.

Here ends the first part of Rafidhi’s counter rebuttle.

Did Ibn Katheer contradict himself? [In defense of Companions of the Prophet PBUH]

Bismillah

All praises due to Allah, and may His peace and blessings be upon Messenger of Allah, his family and companions.

This is in reply to an extremist Rafidhi who consider himself “guided” while he is actually a misguided person. [Rafidhi article] He was known as “toyibonline” on shiachat but he unregistered that id for some unknown reason, but his lies and deceptions are spreaded around shiachat. Now he post at wilayat.net under the id “guided”, but here I’ll refer to him as “misguided” as a title really deserving to him.

This “misguided” thinks that there is a verse in the Qur’an which destroys the sunni concept of “infallibility of Sahaba”. He states:

There is a verse in the Qur’an that destroys the Sunni doctrine of the de facto infallibility of all the Sahabah.

Firstly there is no doctrine of “infallibility of all the Sahaba”, not even of single companion. Sunni simply say that there is not any proof where some companion ever lied while reporting from the beloved Prophet [SAW]. We have companions like Waleed bin Uqbah who is said to have drunk wine, but he never reported any narration which support him or which defends him. Look at Marwan bin Al-Hakam, who was known to commited some crime, he never reported any report which praises him, although he narrated several reports on other topics. Then we have several junior companions who could have narrated some reports which praises them but there is not such thing, except in some cases where the praise actually existed and the meaning did not raise them above their real status. Scholars of Islam analyzed those reports and compared it with other narrations and simple human logic, and finally they concluded that all the companions were truthful while narrating from Prophet [SAW]. Imam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“None of the companion is known to have attributed a lie, deliberately, to the Messenger of Allah [SAW], even though among them were those who had sins, but in this case Allah saved them from it.” See “Al-Anwar Al-Kashifah” of Allamah Al-Mu’allimi for further on this.

Then the Rafidhi goes on to quote the verse which, according to him, destroys the sunni doctrine of “infallibility of companions”,

[Shakir 48:29] Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those with him are firm of heart against the unbelievers, compassionate among themselves; you will see them bowing down, prostrating themselves, seeking grace from Allah and pleasure; their marks are in their faces because of the effect of prostration; that is their description in the Taurat and their description in the Injeel; like as seed-produce that puts forth its sprout, then strengthens it, so it becomes stout and stands firmly on its stem, delighting the sowers that He may enrage the unbelievers on account of them; Allah has promised THOSE AMONG THEM who believe and do good, forgiveness and a great reward.

If all the Sahabah were righteous, Allah would simply have promised ALL of them, rather than only those AMONG them who believed and did righteous deeds.

It is sad that this “misguided” Rafidhi has very less comprehension skills. This verse is a proof against them, not us. Even the highlighted part is in contrast with them. Here Allah [SWT] was promising them that if they remained believers and keep on doing good works, THEN ALLAH [SWT] WILL FORGIVE THEIR SINS AND WILL GRANT THEM GREAT REWARDS.

According to scholars of Tafsir the “min” used in the verse is not “tab’eedhiyah” (partitive) rather it is an indicator of genus, as said by Al-Qurtubi, Ibn Taymiyyah in “Minhaj As-Sunnah”, Ibn Katheer etc in the commentary of this verse. In simple words all those, who were praised in the verse earlier, are included in it. It is like the verse 30 of Surah Al-Hajj where the same “min” has been used for genus.

فاجتنبوا الرجس من الأوثان

“So avoid the uncleanliness from Idols (worship)”. This is how the meaning of the verse looks like, if we consider “min” to be “tab’idhi”. But here, just like 48:29, it implies the genus i.e., avoid all that which belongs to the category (genus) of idols.

Similarly when one says, ثوب من حرير then it simply means “cloth of silk” and not “cloth from silk” and likewise there are several examples. Refer to Tafsir Al-Qurtabi (16/296) and “Minhaj As-Sunnah” (2/19). In short all those who are being described in the verse are included in the verse.

But even if we accept that “min” there is meant for “tab’eedh”, as considered by Shia mufassir At-Tabtabai, then also it doesn’t contradict sunni concept of “infallibility” of all the companions.  By that it would mean, Allah has promised forgiveness and rewards only to those who (1). would be a believer (2).  and would do righteous deeds. The question arises now: How this “destroys” the sunni concept of de facto “infallibility of Sahaba”? To see the real point one should remember the sunni definition of Sahaba.

Firstly, the term “Sahaba” linguistically includes all those who met him [SAW].

Secondly, in Islamic (or better say Sunni) terminology it means “the one who meet our Prophet (S) while he was a muslim, and he died as muslim” [refer to the books of Mustaleh]. So by this is is clear there are three condition for someone to be included among companions:

1. He must have found [including blind] Prophet (S) alive [this exclude all those who saw him in dream].
2. And that should be in state of belief [this exclude all those disbelievers and hypocrites who saw him while they were not actually muslim].
3. He must have died in the state of Islam [this exclude all those who became apostate later on]

Hence this definition excludes all those who were hypocrites, including all those who tried to kill Prophet [SAW], during his return from Tabuk. So how does it destroy the sunni concept of “infallibity” of Sahaba? But this type of deception isn’t only restricted to this Najis Rafidhi, rather it is the characteristic of most of their scholars.

Then the misguided Rafidhi quotes the statement of Imam Malik, quoted by Ibn Katheer in which he declared, “according to this Ayah, he who is enraged by the Companions is a disbeliever”. And Ibn Katheer, further said that this was the view of several other scholars. Then on, the “misguided” Rafidhi goes on to show the supposed contradiction of Ibn Katheer on this. He quotes narrations talking about the incident when some hypocrites tried to kill the Prophet [SAW] when he was returning from Tabuk but they failed. He consider this to be a fatal contradiction of Ibn Katheer. But we have already provided the proof that Munafiqun aren’t considered among Sahaba at the first place, so I don’t see any need to stretch this more.

The Rafidhi says:

This is a horrible self-Takfir by Ibn Kathir. If you asked Shi’as, they would tell you that they hate ONLY the hypocrites among the Sahabah. Now, does Ibn Kathir love those hypocrites?

Had it been the case there wouldn’t have been such a disagreement among Shia and Sunnis. To sunnis a ‘hypocrite’ (the type which we are discussing here) is the one who is out of the fold of Islam and according a verse of Qur’an he is even worse than a Mushrik. So how can we include them in the category of Sahaba? Yes they are, linguistically, Sahaba but that is not what we mean when we use this term. Just like linguistically, “Hadith” means “a talk” or “new thing”, but when we use this term generally it means “the statement, action, agreement, incident or anything related to Prophet (S)”. Now, another cult known as “Hadith Rejectors” use the verses, where the term “Hadith” has been used in linguistic sense, to discredit authenticity of Hadith. So both these cult possess similar disease.

“Their hearts are all alike” [2:118]

Then this Rafidhi “misguided” made a sub-heading “WHO WERE THOSE TWELVE HYPOCRITES?”. As though after such a long time Hz Hudhaifa [RA] exposed the secret, which was told to him by Prophet [S]. Any sane person would think that he is going to provide a solid evidence to prove his point. But the only thing he did was to quote Ibn Hazm and he totally relied on Ibn Hazm, even though Ibn Hazm said what he said to show the fabrication in the report.

First let me quote the Rafidhi, he said:

WHO WERE THOSE TWELVE HYPOCRITES?

This is where the main issue lies. Ibn Hazm, a recognized Sunni scholar, in his Muhalla 11/224 states:

وأما حديث حذيفة فساقط لأنه من طريق الوليد بن جميع وهو هالك ولا نراه يعلم من وضع الحديث فإنه قد روى أخبارا فيها أن أبا بكر وعمر وعثمان وطلحة وسعد بن أبي وقاص رضي الله عنهم أرادوا قتل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وإلقاءه من العقبة في تبوك وهذا هو الكذب الموضوع

Al-Walid ibn Jami’ narrated many reports, some of which state that Abubakr, Umar, Uthman, Talha, and Sa’d ibn Abi Waqas, may Allah be pleased with them, attempted to murder the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, by pushing him over from al-Aqabah during Tabuk. This is a fabricated lie.

The sad reality for Sunnis is that Walid is trustworthy, and is one of the narrators of Sahih Muslim! Ibn Ma’in has declared him thiqah while other rijalists like Imam Ahmad and Abu Hatim said there was no problem with him.

So, the reports are authentically transmitted.

Apparently, Sunnis love these very hypocrites who attempted to murder the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Even more than themselves.

Recently I saw the article of bro Abu Ali Effendi refuting this particular claim of this “misguided” Rafidhi. The brother said:

Hadith would be accepted as saheeh, if it suits to some conditions. Best and shortest definition was given by ibn Salah (rahimuhullah) which said: “A sahih hadith is the one which has a continuous isnad, made up of reporters of trustworthy memory from similar authorities, and which is found to be free from any irregularities (i.e. in the text) or defects (i.e. in the isnad).”

From the very beginning we would ask. Where the chain of this hadith? Ibn Hazm only said that this hadith came from the way of Walid ibn Jamia. He didn’t recorded complete chain in his book. Walid ibn Jamia, that’s Walid ibn Abdullah ibn Jamia al-Koofe az-Zuhre. He narrated from Ibrahim Nakhai, which was born in 50 year h. Let us accept that this Walid died in second age of hijra. Ibn Hazm himself died in 456 h. There are hundred years between ibn Hazm and Walid ibn Jamia. In brief this hadith has no chain, not from Walid till someone who would be witness of that alleged attempt of assassination, neither from Walid till ibn Hazm.

Second. Even if this narration would have connected chain from anyone from companions till ibn Hazm, it still would be rejected. And the reason is very simple, no matter how this dajal guided accused us  (in his other article, see screen shot), that we depend only on authenticy of chain, we also looking for text of hadith. And this one would be extremely odd and rejected, because it’s contradicts to mutawater ahadeth regarding Islam and merits of mentioned companions.

Source: Claim: Companions tried to kill prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sallam)

There is another point which should be considered. Ibn Hazm was not accusing Al-Waleed bin Jami’ of fabrication, rather he was notifying that Ibn Jami’ was not even aware of the one who fabricated it. This part was not translated by the Rafidhi even though it exists in the same line he quoted.

The gist of the matter is:

1. This particular report indicated by Ibn Hazm doesn’t exist in any book, according to my knowledge, and even bigoted Rafidhis couldn’t find this.
2. Ibn Hazm knew this type of narration, but in what exact form, we do not know. In any case, he declared this to be a lie and fabrication and cursed the one who fabricated it. (He didn’t accuse Ibn Jami’ of fabricating it).
3. It is also possible that Ibn Hazm was so satisfied of the text being lie that he didn’t even bother to do in-depth study of the Isnad. Therefore it is possible that there existed liar or unknown narrators below Ibn Al-Jami’. We cannot  be certain unless we see the full Isnad of the narration.
4. Regardless of Isnad, the text remain a lie. This is because when a text, even if narrated by good narrators, contradicts established facts through Tawatur (Ma’nawi or Lafzi) then it is rejected unless there remains a way of reconciliation between both. There are abundant reports praising Abu Bakr and Umar, many of them were said by our beloved Prophet (SAW) before his death.

و صلي الله و سلم علي نبينا محمد و علي اله و صحبه

Scholars with similar names and titles

Download: Scholars with similar names and titles

Introduction

In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Most Merciful.

All praises due to Allah, and may His salutation and blessings be upon the Last and Final Prophet, Muhammad, and upon his family and companions, and all those who followed them in good till the Last Day.

It has been noted nowadays that many people, especially those who are not much aware of history of scholars, mix up between different personalities because of the similarity between their names or titles. Sometimes this happen with even scholars, and many a times printing mistakes play a good role in it.

Besides that, there are some peoples who take advantage of this. For example, using Ibn Al-Jawzi instead of Sibt Ibn Al-Jawzi to support shi’ism, while we know Sibt Ibn Al-Jawzi had shi’ism in him. Similarly, saying Ibn Hajar to make as though he is Al-Asqalani, while in fact is Al-Haytami. And Al-Haytami’s status in grading Hadith doesn’t come near Al-Asqalani. Similarly in past, people confused between Rafidhi Ibn Jareer At-Tabari and Sunni Ibn Jareer Tabari.

This led me to compile a list of most of the famous personalities who had similar names or titles. Although there could be thousands of people with similar names, but this list only include those scholars who are quite famous, particularly among English readers, and people normally do not distinguish between them. This list may be expanded later on. Also note that the footnotes provided below the page doesn’t contain any comments, except the references to the biographies.

Muhammad Moin

E-mail: ahlussunnah.moin@gmail.com

October 9, 2010

Abu Bakr/Abu Bakrah

1. Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq (d. 13H) [1]: Abdullah bin Abi Qahafa Uthman The best of this Ummah, Successor of the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and his companion in the cave. His virtues require books.
2. Abu Bakrah Ath-Thaqafi (d. 51H or 52H) [2]: Nufai’ bin Al-Harith. He was hanged down at Ta’if, then he ran away from there and accepted Islam on the hand of the Messenger of Allah (SAW). He was a slave, hence Prophet (S) freed him.

Al-Karkhi

1. Ma’roof Al-Karkhi (d. 200H)[3]: Ma’roof Al-Karkhi, Abu Mahfooz Al-Baghdadi. The great Zahid of Baghdad and Wali of Allah, who was praised by scholars like Ahmed bin Hanbal and Sufiyan bin Uyaina. Among his beautiful saying is, “when Allah intends evil for his servant, He close the door of ‘amal, and open the door of arguments for him”. Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi compiled his virtues in four volumes.
2. Abul Hasan Al-Karkhi (260 – 340 AH)[4]: Ubaidullah bin Al-Husain bin Dallal, Abul Hasan Al-Karkhi. Mufti of Iraq, Imam of Hanafiyyah, Zahid. It is said that he was Mu’atazali in beliefs. Abul Hasan ibn Al-Furat accused him of being a Mu’atzali. Dhahabi said that he was Mu’atazali. Khateeb also said that he was innovator Mu’tazali. He has also been listed in Tabaqat of Mu’tazalite scholars. WAllahu A’alam.

Muqatil

1. Muqatil bin Suleiman (d. after 150 AH)[5]: Muqatil bin Suleiman, Abul Hasan Al-Balkhi. Well known Mufassir, who was also accused of having anthromorphic deviant beliefs. He has narrated from the likes of Mujahid, Dhahhak, Ataa, Ibn Sireen and others. Baqiyyah, Sa’d bin Salt, Abdur-Razzaq and others narrated from him. His commentary, in most cases, considered good except that he was weak in narrations.
2. Muqatil bin Hayyan (d. around 150 AH)[6]: Muqatil bin Hayyan bin Dawal, Abu Bistaam An-Nabti Al-Balkhi. Imam, Scholar, the Hadith master, Trustworthy.

Ar-Razi

1. Abu Hatim Ar-Razi (195 – 277H) [7]: Muhammad bin Idrees bin Al-Mundhir, Abu Hatim Al-Hanzali Ar-Razi. One of the great scholar of Hadith and Rijal, and a contemporary of Imam Al-Bukhari.
2. Abu Zar’ah Ar-Razi (d.264H) [8]: Ubaydullah bin Abdul Karim bin Yazid bin Farrukh. Imam and a great Hafiz. He and Abu Hatim Ar-Razi are famous as ‘the two Razis’, and both are frequently quoted in the books of Jarh wa Ta’deel. However, Imam Dhahabi considered Abu Zar’ah to be moderate one and Abu Hatim to be strict in Jarh wa Ta’deel[9] .
3. Fakhrud-Deen Ar-Razi (543 – 606H) [10]: Muhammad bin Umar bin Al-Husain At-Taimi Al-Bakri Ash-Shafa’i, Fakhrud-deen bin Khateeb Ar-Raiy. Imam of Mutakallimeen, Shafa’I Faqeeh. Leader in the field of logic and intellect, but bare with regard to narrations. He wrote several books like At-Tafseer Al-Kabeer, Al-Mahsul fi Usul Al-Fiqh, Mutalib Al-‘Aaliyah (which was his last book), As-Sirr Al-Maktum, Asaas At-Taqdees, Al-Arba’een fee Usul Ad-Deen etc. There are some serious things in his books, as stated by Imam Dhahabi, but he died in a good condition. WAllahu A’alam

Tirmidhi

1. Abu ‘Isa At-Tirmidhi (d. 279H) [11]: Muhammad bin ‘Isa bin Sawrah, Abu ‘Isa At-Tirmidhi. Imam, Hafiz and the author of one of the four Sunan. Agreed upon his trustworthiness. As for the statement of Ibn Hazm that he was Majhool unknown, then it is not something to be bothered about. Besides Al-Jami’, he also authored Ash-Shama’il, Kitab Al-‘Ilal etc.
2. Al-Hakeem At-Tirmidh[12]i: Muhammad bin ‘Ali bin Al-Hasan bin Bishr, Abu Abdullah Al-Hakeem At-Tirmdhi. Muhaddith, Ascetic, Sufi, the author of “Nawadir Al-Usul”. As-Sulami said: He was expelled from Tirmidh because of his books Khatm Al-Wilayah and ‘Ilal Ash-Sharee’ah. They say, “he assume that Awliyah also have ending, just as Prophets had. And he prefer Wilayah over Prophethood”. As-Sulami also said: “He was boycotted because of his books “Khatm Al-Wilayah” and “Ilal Ash-Sharee’ah”, and there was not anything like that to boycott him, but it was only that they couldn’t understand him.” There are other wrong things in his books as notified by Dhahabi and Ibn Taymiyyah.

Abu Hatim

1. Abu Hatim Ar-Razi (195 – 277H): Mentioned earlier in the “Ar-Razi” section.
2. Abu Hatim Al-Busti (d. 354H) [13]: Muhammad bin Hibban bin Ahmed, Abu Haatim Al-Busti At-Tameemi, famous as “Ibn Hibban”. Imam, Allamah, Hafiz, author of several famous books, student of Imam Ibn Khuzaimah. Abu Isma’eel Al-Ansari said, I heard Yahya bin ‘Ammar Al-Wa’iz, and I asked him regarding Ibn Hibban. He said, “we expelled him from Sijistaan. He had great knowledge but he had not good belief. He came to us and negated Hadd (limit) for Allah, so we expelled him.” Imam Dhahabi said: “And your rejection to him was also Bid’ah…” At another place Dhahabi said, “they both were wrong, as the evidence does not affirm it nor negates it.”[14] He wrote several books including Saheeh, Al-Majrooheen, Ath-Thiqaat etc. Like Abu Hatim Ar-Razi he was also strict in criticism, even more than him, infact he was the most strict among the scholars of Jarh and Ta’deel. However He was lenient with regards to unknown narrators. He would consider all those narrators regarding whom there exist no criticism or praise, and only one narrator narrates from him, to be trustworthy. However, according to well accepted view of Hadith scholars, it requires two narrators narrating from that narrator to raise him above the category of unknown.
3. Ibn Abi Hatim (240H – 327H) [15]: Son of Abu Hatim Ar-Razi. Abdur-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Idrees, Abu Muhammad. Imam, Hafiz, Zahid, the author of famous “Al-Jarh wa Al-Ta’deel”, student of Abu Hatim and Abu Zar’ah Ar-Razi. Besides “Al-Jarh wa Al-Ta’deel” he also authored “Ar-Radd ‘alal Jahmiyyah”, “Tafseer” in several volumes, “Al-‘Ilal”, “Al-Kuna” etc.

Ad-Darimi

1. Abu Muhammad Ad-Darimi (181H – 255H) [16]: Abdullah bin Abdur-Rahman bin Al-Fadhl bin Bahram, Abu Muhammad Ad-Darimi. Great Scholar, Imam, Hafiz, Sheikh Al-Islam. He was the author of famous Sunan known as “Sunan Ad-Darimi”.
2. Uthman bin Sa’eed Ad-Darimi (d. 280H) [17]: Uthman bin Sa’eed bin Khalid, Abu Sa’eed Ad-Darimi. Imam, Allamah, Hafiz, the author of refutations of Jahmites. Student of great scholars like Ahmed, Ibn Mu’een, Ibn Al-Madeeni etc. He authored “Ar-Radd ‘alal Jahmiyyah”, “Ar-Radd ‘ala Bishr Al-Marreesi” and questions from Ibn Mu’een on Jarh wa Ta’deel. Recently he became famous as anthromorphist among Ash’aris after the criticism of Shaykh Zahid Al-Kawthari.

At-Tabari

1. Ibn Jareer At-Tabari (d. 310 AH)[18]:  Muhammad bin Jareer bin Yazeed bin Katheer, Abu Ja’far At-Tabari. Imam, Mujtahid, Mufassir, Muhaddith, the author of several unmatched works. He was accused of Rafdh (shi’ism), which he was free from. Some might have been confused him with Ibn Rustam coming next. Muhammad bin Ali bin Sahl said: I heard Muhammad bin Jareer, and he was talking to Saleh Al-A’lam, he said, “who is the one who said that Abu Bakr and Umar were not Imams of guidance”. He replied, “Innovator”. To that, Ibn Jareer said, “Innovator! Innovator! This should be killed”. –End Qoute -   Besides his books also prove his strict sunni views. WAllahu A’lam. There was some problem between Ibn Jareer and Ibn Abi Dawud, and Hanbalis, at that time, were the group of Ibn Abi Dawud. This hate between them ended when some Hanbalis beat him so harshly that he died. May Allah have mercy on him.
2. Ibn Jareer At-Tabari[19]: Muhammad bin Jareer bin Rustam, Abu Ja’afar At-Tabari Al-Aamili. Rafidhi, the author of “Ar-Ruwat an Ahl Al-Bayt” and “Al-Mustarshid fil Imamah”.
3. Muhibb At-Tabari (615 – 694 AH)[20]: Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, Muhib Ad-Deen Abul Abbas At-Tabari, then Al-Makki, Ash-Shafa’i. Imam, Muhaddith, Mufti, Shaykh Al-Haram, the author of famous “Ar-Riyadh An-Nadhirah”, book on the virtues of the ten companions who had been given glad tiding of Jannah. He also author “Al-Ahkam Al-Kubra” in six volumes, “As-Samt Ath-Thameen” in virtues of Prophet’s (S) wives, and some other books.

Al-Juwaini

1. Abu Muhammad Al-Juwaini[21] (d. 438 AH):  Abdullah bin Yusuf bin Abdullah, Abu Muhammad Al-Juwaini. The jurist, Shaykh of Shafi’iyyah, Mufassir, Nahwi, and the father of Imam Al-Haramain Abul Ma’ali. He has authored books like At-Tabsirah, At-Tadhkirah, Al-Mukhtasar etc. He also has a book on the topic of Al-Istawa, which was published under “Majmoo’ Ar-Rasa’il Al-Muneeriyyah” at Cairo. Also published with tahqeeq of Ahmed Ma’adh Al-Haqqi. This book indicates his retraction from his well known Kalami tendencies.
2. Imam Al-Haramain Abul Ma’ali Al-Juwaini (419 – 478 AH)[22]: Abdul Malik bin Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Yusuf, Abul Ma’aali Al-Juwaini Ash-Shafa’i. Imam Al-Haramain, Shaikh of Shafa’iyyah, Faqih, the author of several works. He authored  Ash-Shaamil fi Usul Ad-Deen, Al-Burhan fi Usul Al-Fiqh, Al-Irshad, Al-Aqeedah An-Nizamiyyah and several other books. His book “Mugheeth Al-Khalq fi Ikhtiyar Al-Ahaqq” was written to prove superiority of Shafi’i fiqh over other three madhhab, specially Hanafi madhhab. This was refuted by Shaykh Zahid Al-Kawthari in his book “Ihqaq Al-Haq”.

Ibn Al-Jawzi

1. Abul Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi (509H – 597H) [23]: Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Ali bin Muhammad, Jamalud-Deen Abul Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi Al-Hanbali. Sheikh Al-Islam, Allamah, Imam, Proud of Iraq. His lineage goes back to Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq through Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abu Bakr. Author of over 200 books including “Zaadul Maseer”, “Al-‘Ilal Al-Mutanahiyah”, “Al-Mawdhu’aat”, “At-Tahqeeq fi Ahadeeth Al-Khilaf”, “Al-Muntazim”, “Talbees Iblees” etc. Besides his staunch anti-Ash’ari attitude, he also goes against standard Hanbali position in the issue of Allah’s names and attributes. This was notified by scholars like Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Rajab etc. Ibn Al-Jawzi was highly influenced by Ibn Aqeel in this regard.
2. Sibt Ibn Al-Jawzi (581H – 654H) [24]: Yusuf bin Quzghuli, Abul Muzaffar Sibt Ibn Al-Jawzi Al-Hanafi. Grandson of Imam Abul Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi. Scholar, Historian, famous for his speech. He was Hanbali but later on became Hanafi for worldly cause. He authored the history book “Mir’aatuz Zamaan” and tafseer “Ma’adin Al-Ibreez” in 29 volumes and several other books. He also authored a book “Tadhkirah Al-Khawwas” in which he talks about great scholars of Ahlul Bayt and Imams of shia sect. He had shi’ism in him as indicated by Imam Dhahabi and his book “Tadhkirat Al-Khawwas Al-Ummah” is also a proof for that wherein he talks bad about some companions and goes into extreme with regard to Ahlul Bayt. Also he was quite irresponsible in his history book, as indicated by Imam Dhahabi at several place in his “As-Siyar” and “Tarikh Al-Islam”.

Ibn Qudamah

1. Muwaffaqud-Deen Ibn Qudamah (541 – 620 AH)[25]: Abdullah bin Ahmed bin Muhammad, Muwaffaqud-Deen Ibn Al-Qudamah, Al-Maqdisi, As-Salihi, Al-Hanbali. The author of famous “Al-Mughni”, regarding which Imam Izzud-Deen Ibn Abdussalam said, “I have not seen from among the books of Islam comparable, in knowledge, to Al-Muhalla of Ibn Hazm and Al-Mughni of Ibn Qudamah”[26]. Imam, Allamah, Sheikh Al-Islam, Mujtahid, the author of several valuable works. Dhiya’ad-Deen Al-Maqdisi compiled his biography in two volumes. Besides “Al-Mughni”, which is the commentary on the Hanbali fiqh manual Al-Khiraqi, he has compiled several other works which includes Al-Kafi, Umdah Al-Fiqh, Al-Muqni’, Dhamm At-Ta’weel etc.
2. Shamsud-Deen Ibn Qudamah (597 – 682 AH)[27]: Abdur-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Ahmed, Shaikhul Islam Shams Ad-Deen Abu Muhammad Ibn Shaikh Abu Umar. Imam, Faqeeh, Shaikh Al-Islam. He was the some of Shaikh Abu Umar and nephew of Al-Muwaffiq Ibn Qudamah. Dhahabi said regarding him, “the tongues are agreed upon on his virtue”. And it is famous that Hafiz Al-Mizzi never wrote “Shaikh Al-Islam” for anyone except for Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqi As-Subki and Ibn Abi Umar. Those who studied or heard from him includes the likes of Nawawi, Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Mizzi etc. He is the author of “Ash-Shaafi” or “Tasheel Al-Mutlab fi tasheeh Al-Madhhab”, nowadays famous as “Ash-Sharh Al-Kabeer”. This is actually the sharh of “Al-Muqni’” by Muwaffaqud-Deen.

Ibn Al-‘Arabi

1. Abu Bakr Ibn Al-‘Arabi (468 – 543 AH)[28]: Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, Abu Bakr Ibn Al-‘Arabi Al-Maliki Al-Ishbeeli Al-Mu’afiri. Imam, Allamah, Maliki Jurist, Historian. It is said that he reached the status of a Mujtahid. He authored several valuable books which includes “Al-Awasim min Al-Qawasim” famous book in refutation of shia, “Aaridhah Al-Ahwadhi” commentary on Tirmidhi, “Anwar Al-Fajr” commentary on Quran which he, as he said, completed in twenty years, “Ahkam Al-Qur’an” etc.
2. Muhyud-Deen Ibn ‘Arabi[29]: Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad, Abu Bakr Muhyud-Deen Ibn ‘Arabi Al-Hatimi Ad-Dimashqi. He was of Zahiri madhhab in fiqh, and Imam of the people of Ittehad (unity among creator and creation). He authored several books most famous of them are “Fusus Al-Hikam” and “Al-Futuhaat Al-Makkiyyah”. With regards to the former, Dhahabi said, “if there exists no kufr in it, then there is no kufr in this world”. Several scholars declared him to be a heretic and a disbeliever. This include  Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah,  Qadhi Badrud-Deen Ibn Jama’ah, Qadhi Abul Hasan As-Subki, Nurud-Deen Al-Bakri, Sheikh Al-Islam Al-Balqeeni, Ibn Al-Khayyat, Qadhi Shihab Ad-Deen An-Nashiree etc. His contemporaries who criticized him with harsh words necessitating takfeer were Al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam and Al-Ja’bari. Some scholars made takfeer on those who held those belief mentioned in Ibn Arabi’s books, without making explicit takfeer on him specifically. See, the treatise of Taqiyud-Deen Al-Faasi on Ibn Arabi [published separately, Ali Hasan Al-Halabi ed., Maktaba Ibn Al-Jawzi] which is present in his book “Al-Uqd Ath-Thameen”.

Ibn Taymiyyah

1. Majdud-Deen Ibn Taymiyyah (590 – 653 AH)[30]: Abdussalam bin Abdullah bin Khadhir, Abul Barakaat Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Harrani Al-Hanbali. Imam, Jurist of his time, Sheikhul Hanabilah. He was the grand-father of Sheikhul Islam Taqiyud-Deen Ibn Taymiyyah. He is considered from among the authorities in Hanbali madhhab. His books include “Al-Ahkam Al-Kubra”, “Al-Muntaqa”, “Al-Muharrar fil Fiqh” etc.
2. Taqiyud-Deen Ibn Taymiyyah (661 – 728 AH)[31]: Ahmed bin Abdul Haleem bin Abdussalam, Abul Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah. Imam, Jurist, Hadith Master, Sheikh Al-Islam, Mujtahid, Mufassir, wonder of his time. Probably, there is no other personality of Islam, after Prophet (S) and his companions, who has been studied in such a detail, both by his opponents and supporters. The books compiled in his biography and his defence include “Al-‘Uqud Ad-Duriyyah” by Ibn Abdul Hadi (d. 744H), “Ar-Radd Al-Wafir” by Ibn Nasirud-Deen Ad-Dimashqi (d. 842H), “Al-A’alam Al-‘Aliyyah” by Abul Hafs Al-Bazzar Al-Hanbali (d. 749 H), “Al-Kawakib Ad-Durriyyah” and “Ash-Shahadah Az-Zakiyyah” both by Mara’i bin Yusuf Al-Hanbali (d. 1033 H), “Al-Qawl Al-Jali” by Safiyud-Deen Al-Bukhari (d. 1200 H), “Jala’ Al-Aynayn” by Nu’man bin Muhmud Shukri Al-Aalusi etc numerous works. His books include “Al-Istiqamah”, “Al-Iman”, “Bayan Talbees Al-Jahmiyyah”, “Qa’idah Jaleelah”, “Al-Wasitiyyah”, “A-Istiqamah”, “Minhaj As-Sunnah”, “As-Sarim Al-Maslool” etc.

As-Subki

1. Taqiyud-Deen As-Subki (683 – 756 AH)[32]: Ali bin Abdul Kafi, Abul Hasan As-Subki Al-Ansari Ash-Shafa’i Al-Misri Ad-Dimashqi. Hafiz, Allamah, Faqih, Mujtahid, the senior judge of Damascus. The author of famous “Ash-Shifa As-Siqaam” written in refutation of Imam Ibn Taymiyyah on the topic of visiting the Prophet’s grave. His books include “At-Tahqeeq fi mas’alah At-Ta’leeq”, “As-Saif Al-Maslool”, “Al-Ibhaj fi sharh Al-Minhaj”.
2. Tajud-Deen As-Subki (728 – 771 AH)[33]: Abdul Wahhab bin Ali bin Abdul Kafi,  Qadhi Abu Nasr bin Qadhi Abil Hasan As-Subki. Hafiz, Faqih, Scholar, the one who authored famous “Tabaqat Ash-Shafa’iyyah Al-Kubra” and others. He was harsh and insultive in his speech and writings, and hence he was criticized for this by scholars. Scholars of his time went into extreme against him, and hence accused him of disbelief, and permitting wine. He was died because of plague. Besides “Tabaqat” he authored several other books like, “Jama’ Al-Jawame’”, Sharh on Mukhtasar Ibn Al-Hajib, Sharh Al-Minhaj Al-Baidhawi etc.
3. Mahmud Khattab As-Subki (1274 – 1352 AH): Mahmud bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Khattab, Abu Muhammad. Maliki scholar of Al-Azhar, Egypt. He authored several books which includes Ad-Deen Al-Khalis, Irshad Al-Khalq, Sharh Sunan Abu Dawud etc.

Ibn Abdul Hadi

1. Ibn Abdul Hadi Al-Maqdisi (704 – 744 AH)[34]: Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Abdul Hadi bin Abdul Hameed bin Abdul Hadi, Shamsud-Deen Abu Abdullah Al-Maqdisi Al-Hanbali. Allamah, Hafiz, Muhaddith, Faqih, Nahwi, Mufassir. He did not live over fourty years, but in this short span he compiled in almost all major fields of knowledge. His compilation exceeded over seventy. He studied under great scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Mizzi, Al-Dhahabi etc. His status can be assumed by just looking at the statement of his teachers and elders regarding him. Interestingly, Dhahabi narrates from Al-Mizzi from As-Sarooji from Ibn Abdul Hadi. Dhahabi listed him amongst his Shuyukh in the end of “Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz”. I left at that, hopefully, I can compile a separate article in his biography and defence. His books include “As-Sarim Al-Munki” (incomplete), “Al-Ahkam Al-Kubra” in seven volume (incomplete), “Al-Muharrar fil Fiqh”, “Al-Uqud Ad-Durriyyah”, “Tanqeeh At-Tahqeeq” etc.
2. Yusuf Ibn Abdul Hadi (840 – 909 AH)[35]: Yusuf bin Hasan bin Ahmed bin Hasan bin Ahmed bin Abdul Hadi bin Abdul Hameed bin Abdul Hadi, Jamal Ad-Deen Abul Mahaasin Ad-Dimashqi As-Salihi Al-Hanbali, famous as “Ibn Al-Mabrid”. Imam, Allamah, Muhaddith, Hanbali Jurist, Historian, author of several valuable works. His student Ibn Tuloon has compiled his biography in separate book titled “Al-Haadi ila tarjamah Ibn Abdul Haadi”. His books include “At-Tabyeen bi Tabaqat Al-Muhadditheen” in seven volumes, “Mughni dhawil afham”, “Alfiyyah Al-Muneerah” in two volumes, “Jama’ Al-‘Adad”, “As-Sarim Al-Mughni” and numerous other books.

Al-Haythami/Al-Haytami

Al-Haythami = الهيثمي

Al-Haytami = الهيتمي

1. Noorud-Deen Al-Haythami (735 – 807 AH)[36]: Ali bin Abu Bakr bin Suleiman, Noorud-Deen Abul Hasan Al-Haythami Al-Misri Ash-Shafa’i. Hafiz, the author of several books on Zawa’id like Zawaid of Mu’jams of Tabarani, Musnad Ahmed, Musnad Abu Ya’la, Musnad Harith, Musnad Al-Bazzar etc. Later on he collected them, without Isnad, in a single book titled “Majma’ Az-Zawa’id”.
2. Ibn Hajar Al-Haytami (909 – 917 AH): Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Hajar, Shihabud-Deen Abul Abbas Al-Ansari. Shafa’i jurist, Allamah of Egypt, the author of several valuable works. His books include “As-Sawa’iq Al-Muharriqah” in refutation of Shia, “Tuhfat Al-Muhtaj” in shafa’i fiqh, “Tatheer Jinan wal Lisan” in defence of Mu’awiyah (RA) written on the request of Indian emperor Humayun son of Babar, “Sharh Al-Arba’een An-Nawawiyyah”, “Az-Zawajir” etc. He held some bitter views with regards to Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and in this regard Allamah Nu’man Al-Aalusi wrote “Jalaa Al-‘Aynayn bi muhakamah Ahmadain”.

Ibn Hajar

1. Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (773 – 852 AH)[37]: Ahmed bin Ali bin Hajar, Abul Fadh Shihabud-Deen Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqalani. Sheikhul Islam, Muhaddith, Dhahabi of his time, Hafiz to the extent that when it is said “Hafiz said” then it, by default, means “Ibn Hajar said”. He authored several unmatched works like “Fath Al-Bari” commentary on Sahih Bukhari, “Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb” summary of Tahdheeb Al-Kamal by Al-Mizzi, and its summary “Taqreeb At-Tahdheeb”, “Lisan Al-Meezan”, “Ad-Durar Al-Kaminah” etc. His student Hafiz As-Sakhawi has written a book on his biography titled “Al-Jawahir wa Ad-Durar”. Regardin his commentary on Sahih Bukhari, i.e. Fathul Bari, Hafiz Suyuti said, “no one from the earlier and later people has compiled the like of it”. Imam Shawkani, when he was asked to write a commentary of Bukhari, said, “there is no option (Hijrah) after Al-Fath”.
2. Ibn Hajar Al-Haytami (909 – 917 AH): Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Hajar, Shihabud-Deen Abul Abbas Al-Ansari. Preceded under “Al-Haythami/Al-Haytami”.

As-Sindi

1. Abul Hasan As-Sindi (d. 1138 AH)[38]: Muhammad bin Abdul Haadi, Abul Hasan Noorud-Deen Al-Hanafi, As-Sindi, then Al-Madani. Allamah, Muhaddith, Imam. He was the one who authored footnotes on Kutub Sittah and Musnad Ahmed, which are famous as “Hashiyah As-Sindi”. He also authored some other books. He was the teacher of Shaykh Muhammad Hayat As-Sindi.
2. Muhammad Hayaat As-Sindi (d. 1163 AH)[39]: Muhammad Hayaat bin Ibrahim As-Sindi Al-Madani. Allamah, Muhaddith of Madeenah. He authored commentary on At-Targheeb wa At-Tarheeb of Al-Mundhiri, “Tuhfah Al-Muhibbeen”, “Sharh Hikam Al-Ata’iyyah” etc. He also authored “Fath Al-Ghafur” in which he preferred keeping the hands on chest during Salah, and he was refuted by his contemporary Allamah Hashim As-Sindi, to that he wrote a counter refutation and then Hashim As-Sindi wrote another one. This process is still going on in sub-continent.
3. ‘Aabid As-Sindi (d. 1257 AH)[40]: Muhammad ‘Aabid bin Ahmed bin Ali bin Ya’qoob, As-Sindi Al-Ansari. Hadith scholar and master in Hanafi fiqh. He authored “Hashr Ash-Sharid”, “Mawahib Al-Lateefa”, “Tawali’ Al-Anwar”, “Sharh Bulugh Al-Maraam”, “Minhat Al-Bari”, “Jawaz Al-Istighatha wa At-Tawassul” etc. He died in Madina.

Sayyid Ahmed

1. Sayyid Ahmed Shaheed (1201 – 1246 AH)[41]: Ahmed bin ‘Irfan bin Noor, As-Sayyid Al-Barelavi. Mujahid, Zahid, Sufi, Aalim. He studied under Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi, and later on turned towards Jihad and died as a Shaheed, Insha Allah. There were several works written on his life which includes, “As-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem” in persian by Shaykh Isma’eel Shaheed and Abdul Hayy Al-Burhanvi both of whom were his students in Sufi tareeqat, “Makhzan e Ahmedi” by Muhammad Ali Tooki, “Sawaneh Ahmedi” by Muhammad bin Ja’far Thanesari and many others.
2. Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan (1232 – 1315 AH)[42]: Ahmed bin Muttaqi bin Haadi bin ‘Imad bin Burhan, Al-Husaini An-Naqwi Ad-Dehlavi. He was the one through whose effort Ali Garh Muslim University (India) started. He was quite knowledgeable with regards to logic and was a very intelligent person. He was citicised, and even declared Kafir (by some), by scholars for is modern views of Islamic concepts. His compilation include “Al-Khutubat Al-Ahmediyya fi As-Seerat An-Nabawiyah”, “Sharh Aqeedah Al-Islami”, and a refutation of orientalist Sir William Muir. He also initianted “Tahdheeb Al-Akhlaq” an Islamic magazine. He also authored a commentary on Bible, which he did not complete, in which he tried to fill up the gap between Christians and Muslims. Because of his too much trust in nature, he considered that the intelligence is sufficient to know the God and to differentiate between Kufr and Islam. He considered that the laws of nature never contradicts and hence denied the Physical Me’raj and Physical Shaytaan and Jinn. He did not consider Ijma to be hujjah. And lots of his belief which were cause of nothing but some modernist principles.

Abdul Hayy

1. Abdul Hayy Al-Lucknavi (1264 – 1304 AH)[43]: Abdul Hayy bin Abdul Haleem, Abul Hasanaat Al-Ansari Al-Lucknavi Al-Hanafi. Imam, Allamah, Muhaddith, Faqeeh, Soofi. He did not live for too much time, but in that short time he left numerous works specially in the field of Hadith and fiqh. His books include “At-Ta’leeq Al-Mumajjad ala Mu’atta Imam Muhammad”, “Al-Fawa’id Al-Bahiyyah”, “Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa”, “Ar-Rafa’ wa At-Takmeel”, “Al-Aathaar Al-Marfoo’ah”, “Zafar Al-Amaniyy” etc. One of his best quality was that he was very much unbiased in his study and would often conclude his verdict based on proofs, and would prefer it over Hanafi madhhab. He went into several written debates with his contemporaries like Allamah Siddiq Hasan Khan Al-Qannauji and Allamah Muhaddith Basheer As-Sahsawani, Allamah Abdul Haq Khairabadi etc.
2. Abdul Hayy Al-Hasani (1286 – 1341 AH)[44]: Abdul Hayy bin Fakhrud-Deen bin Abdul ‘Ali, As-Sayyid Al-Hasani, from the descendents of Hasan bin Ali (RA). Adeeb, Historian of Sub-continent. He was the father of Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi (also famous as Ali Miya Nadvi). He authored famous “Nuzhat Al-Khawatir” which is based on the biography of muslim scholars of Indian subcontinent.  He also authored “Ma’arif Al-‘Awarif”, “Jannat Al-Mashriq”, “Tadhkirah Al-Abrar” in Persian etc.

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[1] Tadhkirah (1/2) etc

[2] As-Siyar (3/5) etc

[3] As-Siyar (9/339), Hilyah Al-Awliya (8/360)

[4] As-Siyar (15/426), Tarikh Baghdad (10/353), Lisan Al-Meezan (4/98), Tabaqat Al-Mu’tazilah [referenced on Hashiya of As-Siyar] (130).

[5] As-Siyar (7/201)

[6] As-Siyar (6/340), Tahdheeb Al-Kamaal (28/430)

[7] Siyar (13/247), Tahdheeb (9/28), Al-Bidayah wa Al-Nihayah (11/68)

[8] Siyar A’lam An-Nubala (13/65), Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb (7/28)

[9] Siyar (13/81)

[10] Meezan Al-E’itedal (3/340), Lisan Al-Meezan (4/226), Al-Bidayah (13/66), Siyar (21/501)

[11] Siyar (13/270), Al-Meezan (3/678), Al-Bidayah (11/77)

[12] As-Siyar (13/439), Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (2/645), Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa Ibn Taymiyyah (2/222) & (13/267-268)

[13] As-Siyar (16/92), Al-Bidayah (11/293), Al-Ansaab (1/349), Tadhirah Al-Huffaz (3/920)

[14] Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz(3/921)

[15] As-Siyar (13/263), Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (3/829)

[16] As-Siyar (12/224), Tadhkirah (2/534)

[17] As-Siyar (13/319), Tadhkirah (2/621)

[18] As-Siyar (14/267), Lisan Al-Meezan (5/100)

[19] Lisan Al-Meezan (5/103), As-Siyar (14/282)

[20] Tarikh Al-Islam (52/210), Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (4/1474)

[21] As-Siyar (17/618)

[22] As-Siyar (18/468), Al-Bidayah (12/157)

[23] As-Siyar (21/365), Tadhkirah (4/1342), Tasheel As-Saabilah (no.1003), Dhail Tabaqat Al-Hanabilah

[24] As-Siyar (23/296), Meezan Al-E’itedal (4/471)

[25] As-Siyar (22/165)

[26] As-Siyar (18/198)

[27] Tarikh Al-Islam (51/106), Dhail Tabaqat Al-Hanabila (4/172)

[28] Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (4/1294)

[29] As-Siyar (23/48)

[30] As-Siyar (23/291)

[31] Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (4/1497)

[32] Fahris Al-Faharis (2/1033)

[33] Fahris Al-Faharis (2/1037), Al-A’lam (4/184)

[34] Tadhkirah Al-Huffaz (4/1508), Al-A’lam (5/326)

[35] Al-A’alam, Fahris Al-Faharis (2/1141), As-Suhb Al-Wabilah (3/1165), Tasheel As-Sabilah

[36] Al-A’lam (4/266)

[37] Al-A’lam (1/178), Fahris Al-Faharis (1/321)

[38] Al-A’alam (6/253), Nuzhat Al-Khawatir (6/685)

[39] Al-A’alam (6/111)

[40] Al-A’lam (6/179)

[41] Nuzhat Al-Khawatir (7/899)

[42] Ibid (8/1175)

[43] Al-A’lam (6/187), Fahris Al-Faharis (2/728)

[44] Al-A’alam (3/290), Muqaddima of Nuzhat Al-Khawatir by Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi

Allah is in the heaven, and His knowledge is everywhere [Refutation of seekingIlm.com's article]

بسم الله

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Allah is above the Throne, and His knowledge exists at evry place

Imam Ahmed narrated from Surayj bin Nu’man from Abdullah bin Nafe’, he said: Imam Malik said, “Allah is in the heaven and his knowledge is at every place and nothing is devoid of it”.

Some people[1] have tried to weaken this report based on the narrator Abdullah bin Nafe’ As-Sa’igh. We shall analyze their claim in this article, Insha Allah, but before that what should be noted is that these people atleast realized and even confirmed this report is against their well famous creed regarding the Uluww of Allah, and all the praises due to Allah. That is why Shaykh Kawthari said regarding the statement of Dhahhaak (same as Malik’s statement), “If he had been following the evidence, then he would have said ‘Istawa alal Arsh’ not ‘innahu alal arsh’(He is above the Throne), and between them there is huge difference”[2].

As for the content of the report from Imam Malik then its highly reliable then Imam Ahmed, who narrated this report of Imam Malik, himself held the same view as in his “Ar-Radd ‘ala Al-Jahmiyyah”[3], and similar type of statement was narrated by Hanbal bin Ishaq from Imam Ahmed in his “As-Sunnah”, as quoted by Shaykhul Islam in “Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa” (5/496).

And all of the salaf of this Ummah held similar view. Ibn Abdul Barr mentioned agreement of scholars from among Sahaba and Taba’een on it, as in “At-Tamheed”.[4] Al-Aajurri said that this was the view of Muslims and that is how scholars interpreted the verses regarding nearness of Allah, Exalted is He, as in the book “Ash-Sharee’ah”.

Imam Tabari interpreted it in the same way as Imam Malik, as in his Tafsir (Surah Mujadilah, verse 7)[5].

And this same Tafsir is reported from Dhahhak and Muqaatil bin Hayyan.

The statement of Dhahhak was reported by Tabari (23/237), Ibn Abi Hatim in his Tafsir[6], Abdullah bin Ahmed in “As-Sunnah” (no.592)[7], Al-Bayhaqi in “Al-Asma wa Al-Sifaat” (p.398, Kawthari ed.) etc through the route of Nuh bin Maimoon from Bukair bin Ma’roof  from Muqaatil bin Hayyan from Dhahhaak bin Muzahim.

Al-Dhahabi said: Reported by Abu Ahmed Al-‘Assal, Abu Abdullah Ibn Battah and Ibn Abdul Barr with a good chain (bi isnadin jayyid), and Muqaatil was trustworthy and an Imam.[8]

However, Shaykh Al-Kawthari has some problem with this. He said, in his footnote on Al-Asma wa Al-Sifat (p.398): “(Regarding Bukair bin Ma’ruf) Ibn Mubarak said that he was accused. And Ibn Khuzaimah did not take Muqatil bin Hayyan as hujjah[9]. And Yahya bin Sa’eed used to weaken Dhahhaak.” – End Qoute –

Bukair bin Ma’roof : Muslim narrated from him in his Saheeh. Bukhari, Abu Hatim and Abdullah bin Ahmed, all of them reported from Imam Ahmed where he said, “there is no problem with him” and in report of Bukhari, “I do not see problem with him”. And similarly said by Abu Hatim himself. Nasa’i and Abu Dawud said, “there is no problem with him”. Marwan bin Muhammad At-Taatari[10] said, Trustworthy (Thiqah). Ibn Hibban listed him among trustworthy narrators. [See, Tahdheeb (1/434), Al-Jarh wa Al-Ta’deel (2/406)]

As for the statement of Ibn Mubarak and what was narrated by Abu Bakr Ibn Baaluyah from Abdullah bin Ahmed from Imam Ahmed that he was ‘Dhaahib Al-Hadith’, then these type of jarh carries less weight in opposition to what has already been established because these criticism are unexplained.

As a whole Bukair was Sadooq, Hasan Al-Hadith with some softness in him, as concluded by Hafiz Ibn Hajar in “Taqreeb” (1/138).

Muqatil bin Hayyan : He was  Imam, Muhaddith and a Mufassir. Ibn Mu’een and Abu Dawud both declared him Thiqah. Nasa’i said, no problem with him. Marwan bin Muhammad said, Thiqah. Daar Qutni said, Saleh Al-Hadith. Ibn Hibban listed him among Thiqaat. [Tahdheeb (10/249)]

Dhahabi said that he was Thiqah[11], while Ibn Hajar declared him “Sadooq, Righteous”[12].

As for the statement of Ibn Khuzaima that he did not take Muqatil as Hujjah, then this is just his opinion and these type of unexplained criticism are normally rejected when contradicted by established Ta’adeel. If we are going to take these type of criticism against scholars then there hardly remains any great scholar free from criticism.[13]

Dhahhak bin Muzahim: He was well known Imam in Tafsir. Sufiyan Thawri said, “Take tafsir from four: Mujahid, Ikrimah, Sa’eed bin Jubair and Dhahhaak”[14]. I don’t know why Al-Kawthari doubted this report based on the weakening of Yahya bin Sa’eed, when actually Dhahhaak is only explaining the verse. What the statement of Dhahhaak has to do with his status in Hadith, when he is not narrating anything here? The thing matters here is his status as an Imam in tafseer which is quite well known, Imam Bukhari mention his tafsir in his Saheeh and there isn’t any report based tafsir book, according to my knowledge, which doesn’t mention his views in tafsir.

In any case, Imam Ahmed considered him Thiqah and Imam. Ibn Mu’een, Abu Zar’ah, Daar Qutni and Al-‘Ijli also declared him Thiqah.[15] Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar considered him ‘Sadooq’.[16]

In conclusion, the statement of Dhahhaak is proven through good Isnad. All the narrators discussed above narrating this from their most close teachers and all of these people were also people of Tafsir. And Allah knows best.

We have mentioned this report as this is very much identical with the statement of Imam Malik. Abul Layth and co. did not indicate towards this report although it is much more famous than statement of Malik because of its existence in famous tafsir and other books. There exist some other identical statements from Salaf but most of them are either weak or it is that I am not sure about their authenticity at the moment. Next we shall be discussing the report from Imam Malik.

Statement of Imam Malik

Imam Ahmed narrated from Surayj bin Nu’man from Abdullah bin Nafe’, he said: Imam Malik said, “Allah is in the heaven and his knowledge is at every place and nothing is devoid of it”.

Allama Al-Albani said: This was reported by Abdullah bin Imam Ahmed in “As-Sunnah” (p.5) and similarly Abu Dawud in “Al-Masa’il” (p.263), and Al-Ajurri (p.289) and Al-Laalka’i (1/92/2) and its Isnad is authentic and Imam Ahmed took it as evidence in the report of Al-Aajurri…”.[17]

Regarding the statement of Al-Albani “and Imam Ahmed took it as evidence in a report of Al-Aajurri”, it was reported by Al-Aajurri in “Ash-Sharee’ah” where he said: Reported to us Ja’far bin Muhammad As-Sandaliyy who said, narrated to us Al-Fadhl bin Ziyad who said, “I heard Abu Abdullah Ahmed bin Hanbal while he was saying that Imam Malik said, Allah, ‘azz wa jall, is in the heaven and his knowledge exist at every place, and no place is devoid of it. (Fadhl said) So I asked him, “who informed you this from Malik?”…then he mentioned Isnad.

This report indicates that the report under discussion was authentically proven from Imam Malik, that is why Imam Ahmed (and he was among highest authority in the field of criticism of Hadith) attributed it to Imam Malik with jazm.

It has already been mentioned, with proof, that Imam Ahmed himself held similar view like Imam Malik and Dhahhaak, and Imam Tabari followed them in this, and there is no, and Allah knows best, statement from early scholars from salaf which contradicts this belief, that is why Imam Ibn Abdul Barr declared consensus on this and Al-Aajurri said that this was the belief of Muslims.

Abdullah bin Nafe’ As-Sa’igh

All of those who attempted to falsify this report from Malik, based their argument on the fact that As-Sa’igh had some weakness in him. No doubt As-Sa’igh had some softness in him with regards to Ahadith, but he is considered among highest authority while reporting from Malik. Apparently all those who declared the report to be weak, did not differentiate between these points, [1] Ibn Nafe’s status while narrating Hadith of Prophet (s) from other than Imam Malik, [2] His status while narrating Hadith through Imam Malik, [3] His status while narrating the views and statements of Malik.

All what Kawthari and his followers did, was to reject the report based on As-Sa’igh’s status in Hadith (1 and 2).

Look at what Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal has to say. Abu Dawud said, “I heard Ahmed bin Hanbal saying that Abdullah bin Nafe’ was most aware of the opinions of Malik and his Hadith. He used to memorize all Hadith of Malik, and hence he fall into doubts”[18].

Imam Ahmed did not criticize his narrations from Malik, rather it is apparent from above quote that As-Sa’igh entered into confusion in Hadith of other than Malik, and that is because of his taking much care of Malik’s narrations. Even if Imam Ahmed meant to criticize his Hadith from Malik (point 2) then also he did not criticize his report narrating views of Malik (point 3)[19]. And that is why he states, as reported by Abu Talib, that he was “Sahib Ra’y Malik” (صاحب رأي مالك) and not “Sahib Al-Hadith”[20].

Ibn Mu’een was asked, “who is the authority (thabt) regarding Malik”. He replied, “Abdullah bin Nafe’ is an authority regarding (narrations of) Malik”.

Abu Dawud said that he was scholar regarding Malik’s (opinions).

Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Misri said, “he was most knowledgeable regarding opinions and Hadith of Malik”. He also said, “It has reached me from Yahya that he had fourty thousands questions (verdicts) from Malik”.[21]

Qadhi ‘Iyadh Al-Maliki states:

Ibn Lubabah said, “Ahlul Hadith give priority to Ibn Nafe’ over other companions of Malik in Hadith and trustworthiness”. Ibn Ghanim said: I asked Malik, who will succeed you in this matter. He replied, “A person from my companions”, until a one-eyed person entered and he was Ibn Nafe’, so Malik said, “this one”… [Tarteeb Al-Madarik (2/205), Daarul Kutub Al-‘Ilmiyyah]

After considering all these statements from Hadith scholars, we can conclude that, As-Sa’igh was truthful except that he committed mistakes in Ahadith due to his extensive attention towards Malik’s fiqh and opinions. With regard to his status while narrating Hadith through Malik, then it is debatable, but when it comes to views of Malik then he was highly trustworthy and was among best source for this. And that is why Maliki scholars considered him among most trustworthy people for Malik’s view[22].

Qadhi ‘Iyadh states, and this was also quoted by Dhahabi in “As-Siyar” (10/371), after mentioning an incident of Suhnun with Muhammad bin Razin:

“…So Suhnun considered the necessity of mentioning it [the difference between As-Sa’igh and Az-Zubairi], even if they both were trustworthy and Imams, so that reports of both could not mixed, because As-Sa’igh was senior and most preferable and trustworthy with regards to Malik because of his long companionship of Malik, and he was the one who succeeded Malik in his majlis after Ibn Kinanah…”[23]

Also Qadhi ‘Iyadh mentioned a book of Imam Malik which was narrated from him by Abdullah bin Nafe’ As-Sa’igh alone. After mentioning its Isnad he said, “and its sanad is also Sahih, and its narrators are all trustworthy”.[24]

See also “Ad-Deebaj Al-Madhhab” (pg. 409, Dar At-Turath) by Ibn Farhun Al-Maliki, and “Shajaratan Noor Az-Zakiyyah fee Tabaqat Al-Malikiyyah” (1/55, Matba’a Salafiyya) by Muhammad bin Muhammad Makhluf. All this evidences adds to what was stated by Shaykh Al-Albani in his Mukhtasar Al-Uluww.

In conclusion, this report is authentic as per the view of Dhahabi, Ibn Taymiyya and Al-Albani. Imam Ahmed took it as evidence and several scholars of Hadith reported it without objecting to it until recently when Shaykh Kawthari and his followers doubted its authenticity.

Concluding this Response

As for their statement “If such was the “well-known” creed of Imam Malik, then why would only one of his many established companions narrate such? This fact shows that the weakness of Abdullah ibn Naf’i is certain”, then nothing weird about it. That creed was the creed of Muslims, and the one who reported that was an Imam and Faqeeh, and someone who was considered amongst most knowledgeable regarding Malik’s opinion such that he was called ‘Sahib Ra’y Malik’.

As for the statement of GF Haddad, quoted by Abu Layth,

-      Al-Albânî in his notes in Mukhtasar al-’Uluw (p. 140) criticized al-Kawthari for citing al-Sa’igh as weak in his introduction to al-Bayhaqî’s al-Asmâ’ wa al-Sifat (p. 0), but he himself cites him as weak in al-Silsila al-Da’ifa (2:231-232) as pointed out by Shaykh H.asan al-Saqqâf in his edition of al-’Uluw (p. 397 n. 708) –

This is, like most of the time, result of lack of comprehension. And one can see how these people are depending on Hasan As-Saqqaf, while on the other hand Saqqaf, for them, was a liar for saying that Abul Hasan Al-Ash’ari was an anthromorphist, and today’s Ash’ari do not follow him rather they follow Ghazali and his likes. The point here is, Saqqaf is a blatant liar who can go to any extant just for making an argument.

Now coming back to the allegation that Shaykh Al-Albani contradicted his own verdict regarding As-Sa’igh. In “Muhtasar Al-Uluww”, Shaykh Albani said that As-Sa’igh was trustworthy with regards to Malik, while in “Silsila Ad-Dha’eefa” he cited Ibn Hajar’s statement that ‘As-Sa’igh was trustworthy, correct while narrating from book and in his memory was softness’.  Where is the contradiction? We have already proven that As-Sa’igh was trustworthy while narrating from Malik (specially Malik’s opinions), and while narrating from others there was slight weakness in him. Besides, he mainly weakened those reports because of other narrators, however he add to it another point that As-Sa’igh had also some weakness.

Also the scan image to Al-Uluww with the taqeeq of As-Saqqaaf provided in the seekingIlm article, is irrelevant to what the author of the article actually wanted to show.

As for the statement of GF Haddad that the report was condemned and anamolous, then this is another example of sectarian bigotry. Something which was the belief of Muslim and there wasn’t anything contradictory reported against it, cannot be Munkar.

Another thing I would like to add, Shaykh Abu Ghuddah states in his notes on Al-Intiqa that Abdullah bin Imam Ahmed was alone in narrating this from Imam Ahmed. But this is not true. Besides Abdullah bin Ahmed, this was also reported by Abu Dawud and Al-Fadhl bin Ziyad[25].

It was also claimed that Imam Malik was from Waqifah who did not delve into Sifat. Firstly Imam Malik was simply affirming something obvious in Quran. Allah is in the Heaven is explicitly mentioned in the Book of Allah, and with that he added a response to the Jahmi argument that Allah is everywhere based on some verses. Where is the delving into the matter? As for him being Waqifa, then it is another false accusation on him without proof.

This is the end of this article. Note that I’ve left several similar statements from early scholars, just because I couldn’t get time to study them. I have only added those reports which were identical to Imam Malik’s statement. I’ll add more quotes some other time, Insha Allah.

و صلي الله علي نبينا محمد و علي اله و صحبه و سلم

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Footnotes

[1] Al-Kawthari in his Muqaddimah of “Al-Asma wa As-Sifaat” by Al-Bayhaqi, Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah and Abu Layth followed them in this. Here is the article by Abul Layth and co. http://www.seekingilm.com/archives/982

[2] Al-Kawthari, Al-Asma wa Al-Sifat by Al-Bayhaqi, pg.398

[3] P.149, tahqeeq Sabri Salaama Shaheen, Daar Ath-Thabaat. Imam Dhahabi denied it being written by Ahmed, however Abu Ya’ala, Ibn Battah, Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Al-Qayyim, Ibn Nadeem etc attributed it to Imam Ahmed.

[4] At-Tamheed (7/138,139). He said: Indeed the scholars from among the companions and those who followed (Taba’een), from whom the tafsir of Quran is taken, said regarding the meaning of these verses, “He (SWT) is on the Throne and His knowledge is at every place”. And no one, whose statements are taken, contradicted them in this. — end quote –

[5] Tafsir At-Tabari (23/237). He said: And the meaning of ({He is fourth of them}) is, He (SWT) seeing them through His knowledge, and He is above His Throne. – end -

[6] As quoted by Ibn Taymiyyah with Isnad in his “Majmoo Al-Fatawa” (5/495)

[7] (1/304), Tahqeeq – Muhammad bin Sa’eed Al-Qahtani, Aalamul Kutub.

[8] Al-‘Uluww lil ‘Aliyyil Ghaffaar (p.98-99), Al-Maktaba As-Salafiyyah Madeenah.

[9] And since when you are taking Ibn Khuzaima as Hujjah, O Shaykh!

[10] Siyar A’lam An-Nubala (9/510), Mu’assasah Ar-Risalah

[11] Siyar (6/340)

[12] Taqreeb (2/10)

[13] This is quite well known issue of Jarh and Ta’deel and mention in the books on science of Hadith. Also Taaj As-Subki has written regarding the issue which is in his “Tabaqat Ash-Shafa’iyyah” under the biography of Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Misri. This was published as a separate treatise along with other three treatises with the tahqeeq of Shaykh Abu Ghuddah as “Arba’ Rasa’il fi Ulum Al-Hadith”.

[14] Al-Bidayah wa Al-Nihayah (9/249)

[15] Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb (4/398)

[16] Siyar (4/598), Taqreeq (1/444)

[17] Mukhtasar Al-‘Uluww, p.140

[18] Tahdheeb (6/48)

[19] He stated initially that As-Sa’igh was most aware of Malik’s (1) opinions and (2) his hadith. Then he made his comment on his Hadith from Malik.

[20] Al-Jarh wa Al-Ta’deel of Ibn Abi Hatim (5/184)

[21] All these quotes could be found in “Tahdheeb At-Tahdheeb” (6/48)

[22] And this is not something special with As-Sa’igh. No matter how much Hadith scholars criticize Muhammad bin Hasan Al-Shaibani as a Hadith narrator, but still he remains best source for Abu Hanifa’s views.

[23] Tarteeb Al-Madarik (1/11), Ilmiyya

[24] (1/109)

[25] In the report of Al-Aajurri and ‘Masail’ of Abu Dawud, as referenced earlier.