A Warning to Muslims against the Bid'ahs

[Jeddawi]

A Warning to Muslims against the Bid'ahs

preached by Muhammad Ibn 'Abdi-l-Wahhab

by Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Zubair Qamar

Praised by Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessing and peace upon the

best of His creatures, the Prophet Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-Llah, upon his

noble family, his pure wives, his purified Sahabahs and upon all those who follow his path till the Day of resurrection. This paper has been compiled under the supervision of Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community as a mean to seek Allah's favor and as a warning against the founder of the heretic Wahhabi-Salafi cult and against the bid'ahs he preached. May Allah save this Ummah from bid`ahs and dalalah, and preserve us on the right path followed by Asyaduna al-akramin. Amin.

 

Rasul-Ullah (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "Allahumma, bless Yemen, Allahumma, bless Sham." He was asked: "And what about Najd?" He answered: "From Najd Shaytan's horn will rise."

 

He (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) also said: "Beware of Shaykhu-n- Najdi, since he is Shaytan."

 

He (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) also said: "There will be people who come from the eastern side of Arabia who will recite Qur'an, but their recitation will not pass beyond their collarbones. They will go out of Islam as swiftly as the arrow goes through the prey. Their sign is shaving their heads."

 

Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab was a descendent of the Bani Tamim tribe

and was born in the Uyaynah village (Najd) in 1111 H. (1699 M.). His father was a learnt Hanbali scholar, and sent him to study tafsir, fiqh and tasawwuf in Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Basrah and Damascus, as well as in Iran and India. His attitude, from the beginning, was very much polemic, and he took active part in scholarly debates. During this period, he received the surname "Shaykhu-n-Najdi". He contacted many Shaykhs of tasawwuf, and tried his best to be appointed as a khalifah. This request of his, however, was not accepted, since the Shaykhs realized he was too must influenced by kibr and by the desire to become a leader.

 

At the age of thirty-two he came back to Najd and started working as

a teacher for Bedouins; he also started exercising ijtihad, and accusing Sunni scholars and Ahlu-t-tasawwuf of bid`ahs. In 1143 H.(1730 M.) he met a leader of a gang of marauders called Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud, whose main activity was plundering travelers in the desert of Najd. Since most of those Bedouins living in Dar'iyyah were completely unlearnt, Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab could easily convict them of his theories; Ibn Sa'ud and him made an agreement, according to which the former was appointed as the "Amir", and the latter as the "Shaykh". The "Shaykh declared he was ready to publish "fatawa" where non-Wahhabi Muslims were described as apostates and idol- worshippers; this point of view obviously represented a sort

of "religious justification" for Ibn Sa`ud's gang. They were not, anymore, robbers and criminals, but "mujahids", authorized to kill "kuffars", to plunder their properties and to rape their women.

 

The "Shaykh" also appointed some "wakils" and send them to preach

Wahhabism in Mecca, but scholars living in the Blessed City were ready in understanding how dangerous this doctrine was. Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan as-Shafi`i (ramimah-Ullah) was the Chief Mufti of Mecca.In wrote in the book "Al-Futuhatu-l-Islamiyyah":

 

"To deceive the `ulemas in Mecca and Medina, those people sent emissaries in al-Haramayn, but these missionaries were not able to answer questions asked by Sunni scholars. It became evident that they were ignorant bid`ah holders. Muftis of the four madhhabs wrote a fatwa that declared them kuffars, and this document was distributed in the whole Jazirah. The Amir of Mecca, Sharif Mas`ud Ibn Sa`id, ordered that the Wahhabis should be imprisoned. Some Wahhabis fled to Dar`iyyah and informed their leader of what was happening."

 

Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab's brother, Sulayman Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab

(ramimah-Ullah), studied his works and tried his best to invite him to tawbah. At least, when he realized verbal admonitions had no effect, decided to write a book called "As-Sawa'iqu-l-Ilahiyyah fi-r- Raddi `ala-l-Wahhabiyyah". It contains a detailed refutation of his brother's heresies, and states:

 

"One of the dalils showing that your path is heretic is the hadith sharif narrated by `Uqbah Ibn Amir and collected in the Sahihayn [bukhari and Muslim]: `Rasul-Ullah (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) ascended the minbar, and it was the last time I saw him on the minbar. He said: `I do not fear that you will become mushrikuns after me, but I fear that, because of worldly interests, you will fight each others, and thus be destroyed like the peoples of old.' The Messenger of Allah (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) foretold all that would happen to his Ummah until the end of the world. This hadith

sharif shows that he was certain of the fact that this Ummah will never worship idols. By saying so, he destroys Wahhabism from its roots, since Wahhabi books say that Ummah al-Muhammadiyyah is involved in polytheism, that Muslim countries are full of idols, and that Muslim graves are houses of shirk. They also claim that someone who does not accept to consider mushrikuns those who ask forintercession by the graves is himself a kafir. On the contrary, Muslims have been visiting graves and asking for the intercession of awliyas for centuries. No Islamic scholar has even called such Muslims mushrikuns.

 

"My brother asks: `A hadith sharif says: "Of all that will befall you, shirk is what I fear more." Is not this a dalil of the fact that a part of this Ummah will be engaged in shirk?'

 

"I say: It is inferred by many other hadiths that this hadith refers to shirku-l-asghar. There are similar hadiths, narrated by Shaddad Ibn `Aws, Abu Hurayrah and Mahmud Ibn Labid (may Allah be pleased with all of them), according to which the Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) feared that shirku-l-asghar would be committed by his Ummah. It has exactly happened as it was foretold in the hadith, and many Muslims are guilty of shirku-l-asghar. But you, in your ignorance, confuse shirku-l-asghar with shirku-l-akbar, and the tragic consequence of this mistake of yours is that you regard as `unbelievers' those Muslims that do not accept to call other

Muslims `unbelievers'."

 

Another contemporary scholar, Muhammad Ibn Sulayman Effendi (ramimah-Ullah) wrote:

 

"O Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab, do not slander Muslims! I admonish

you for Allah's sake! Does anyone of them says that there is a

creator besides Allah? If you have anything to argue against Muslims,

please, show them authoritative dalils. It is more correct to call

you, a single person, `kafir', than calling millions of

Muslims `kuffars'. Ayah 114 of Surah an-Nisa' says: `If anyone

contends with the Messenger after guidance has been plainly conveyed

to him, and follows a path other than the one followed by Believers,

we shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in

Jahannam, quite an evil refuge!' This ayah points to the situation of

those who have departed from Ahlu-s-Sunnah wa-l-Jama`ah."

 

When the order from the Amir of Mecca reached the Khalifah in

Istanbul, he ordered Muhammad `Ali Pashah (ramimah-Ullah), governor

of Egypt to move to Najd and to stop the Wahhabi fitnah. The

marauders of Ibn Sa'ud tied to attach Mecca and fought against

mujahids, but Allah gave the victory to the Islamic army. Muhammad

Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab was captured and sent in chains to Istanbul. A

Shari`ah court found him guilty of homicide, marauding and rebellion,

while Muftis of the four madhhabs declared him to be a kafir and

murtaddid.

 

Among Sunni `uleams who refuted Wahhabism we must also mention Sayyed Dawud Ibn Sulayman, Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi, Sun` Allah al-Halabi al-Makki al-Hanafi, Muhammad Ma`sum as-Sarhindi, Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Madani ash-Shaf`i, may Allah be pleased with all of them.

The latter was the Shaf`i Mufti of Medina, and was asked to write a

fatwa against Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab. This fatwa is quoted in

the book "Ashaddu-l-Jihad" and says:

 

"This man is leading the ignoramuses of the present age to a heretical path. He is trying to extinguish Allah's light, but Allah will not permit His light to be extinguished, in spite of the opposition of mushrikuns, and will enlighten every place with the light of Ahlu-s-Sunnah."

 

As-Sayyid `Abdur-Rahman al-Ahdal (ramimah-Ullah), the Mufti of Zabid,

said, "...in refuting them [the Wahhabis], it is sufficient to mention the hadith of the Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam): `Their sign is shaving their heads', since no other innovators had ever done it."

 

The Wahhabis also call themselves the "Salafis," believing that they

follow the footsteps of the pious Salaf, i.e. the Sahabahs, the

Tabi'un, and Atba'u-t-Tabi'in. The Wahhabis, however, have a route of

knowledge that traces back to Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab, the

founder of the Wahhabi movement, who lived in the 1700's M., and

before him to Ibn Taymiyyah, another heretic who lived in the late

1200's to early 1300's M. Their route of knowledge does not trace

back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa

sallam) or his pious followers whom he praised. The Wahhabis,

therefore, cannot be "al-Firqatu-l-Najiyyah", or the Saved Sect, but

are one of the other 72 deviant sects within the Ummah, which the

Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) dispraised and warned us

about.

 

In many of his "fatawa," Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab labeled Muslims

as "kuffars" if they did not agree to his heretical teachings, which

opposed the orthodox Islamic beliefs that Muslims had been adhering

to for over a thousand years (known as Ahlu-s-Sunnah wa-l-Jama`ah).

When the true Sunni Muslims disagreed with the newly formulated

Wahhabi cult, the blood of countless Muslims, including plenty of

scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah, was made halal by the command of Muhammad

Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab.

 

Although thousands of Muslims were massacred by the deviant Wahhabis,

the scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah continued to refute them in their

books. An example is what the Mufti of Mecca, Ahmad Zayni Dahlan al-

Makki ash-Shafi`i (rahimah-Ullah) wrote in a work titled "Fitnatu-l-

Wahhabiyyah", stating:

 

"In 1217 H. they [the Wahhabis] marched with big armies to the area

of at-Tayf. In Dhu-l-Qa`dah of the same year, they lay siege to the

area the Muslims were, subdued them, and killed the people: men,

women, and children. They also looted the Muslims belongings and

possessions. Only a few people escaped their barbarism."

 

"They [the Wahhabis] plundered what was in the room of the Prophet

(sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam), took all the money that was there,

and did some disgraceful acts."

 

"In 1220 H. they [the Wahhabis] lay siege to Mecca and then

surrounded it from all directions to tighten this siege. They blocked

the routes to the city and prevented supplies from reaching there. It

was a great hardship on the people of Mecca. Food became exorbitantly

expensive and then unavailable. They resorted to eating dogs."

 

What better person could the British have used to fulfill their motto, i.e. "divide and conquer?" The British were laughing at Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab and his followers for plundering, looting, and killing Muslims in the name of Islam, causing Muslims in Mecca to resort to eating dogs, in addition to fighting Muslim armies sent by the Ottomans, e.g. Muhammad `Ali Pashah (rahimah-Ullah) of Egypt and his army.

 

This was indeed a fulfillment of the interests of the British, as well as entertainment for them. Contemporary members of the Sa'ud house are descendants of Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud, the heretic who collaborated with Muhammad Ibn `Abdi-l-Wahhab, to cause a Muslim bloodbath in the name of "Jihad." Their monarchy has existed since the Wahhabi movement originated, and they continue to raise the Dajjal's banner to this very day. They have destroyed the maqams of our four Imams around al-Ka'bah, and identifying the place where the imam of salatu-l-jama`at must stand in Masjidu-l-Haram is today quite difficult. The sanctity of al-Haram is profaned five times each day, since the Wahhabi "imams" stand too close to al-Ka`bah, in a place that is not justified in the light of fiqh.

 

The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in the 1930's has enabled the

Saudi-Wahhabi kingdom to become rich, and their leaders have used

their wealth to disseminate the Wahhabi doctrine all across the

globe. They have built printing presses in Egypt, Syria, and even the

United States to print beautiful books to attract the laypeople so

that they may fall into their trap. The problem is that many new and

naive Muslims are falling into the Wahhabi trap, and are propagating

their false doctrine in Muslim Student Organizations, universities,

and mosques – especially in the East Coast of the United States.

 

The Wahhabis are known for parroting the slogan of "Qur'an and

Sunnah," without any profound understanding of the two sources of

Islam, and are known for slandering scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah like

Imams Suyuti, Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali, Imam Nawawi, (ramimahum-Ullah) among others. The great Hanafi scholar, Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin (ramimah-Ullah), stated that the Wahhabis of today are reviving the

creed of the Khawarij of the past. It is also known that the Khawarij

wrongly understand the meanings of ayahs in the Qur'an and falsely

attribute ayahs meant for non-Muslims to Muslims. The Wahhabis are

notorious for reviving this Kharijite practice. Moreover, the Wahhabis have a passion for trying to find faults among the mujtahids such as the noble Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shaf`i, Imam Malik, and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. They try to find faults in their methodologies, while they do not possess a methodology of their own. Hence,Wahhabi "scholars" who have graduated from Wahhabi universities in Saudi Arabia are never taught a methodology to enable them to understand the Qur'an and Sunnah. This is why they are in a constant state of self-contradiction, confusion, and fitnah among the Muslim population.

 

It is the scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah wa-l-Jama`ah who must awaken the

Muslims and warn them by bidding the lawful and forbidding the

unlawful Wahhabi doctrine by efficient means of da`wah. An anti-

Wahhabi campaign must be formulated and strengthened to defend the

Ash`ari and Maturidi creeds, the Hanafi, Shaf`i, Maliki, and Hanbali

madhhabs, and the numerous tariqahs of tasawwuf, of which the

majority of Muslim scholars have been a part of.

 

And all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds.

 

WARNING

 

Wahhabis today call themselves "Salafis," in an attempt to confuse the Muslim masses that they adhere to the methodology of the pious Salaf, or predecessors, i.e. the Sahabahs, the Tabi'un, and Itba'u-t- Tabi'in. For example, some of the true Salaf applied ta'wil, or figurative interpretation, to Allah's Attributes. Imam Bukhari gave a figurative interpretation of wajh to mean "Allah's Dominion," in Suratu-l-Qasas, ayah 88. This can be found in the Sahih of Bukhari in the Chapter "Tafsir ul-Qur'an." Plenty of other examples exist of how the Wahhabi-Salafis oppose the practices of the true and pious Salaf.

 

The following writers are representatives of this cult. Their followers call them "Shaykhs", and Muslims must stay away from their books, papers and Web pages, and do not confuse them with real Sunni scholars:

 

Yusuf al-Qaradawi al-Misri (the one who says that salah in al-Aqsa is "haram". He unites the errors of Wahhabis and the errors of Ikhwanis in a new form of heresy. He also claims that suicide terror attacks finalized to the assassination of civilians are "lawful" in Islam).

 

`Abdu-l-`Aziz Ibn Baz (the deceased official "Mufti" of the Saudi regime and their Rabitah, who oppressed Ahlu-s-Sunnah in al-Haramayn).

 

Muhammad Nasiru-d-Din al-Albani (a recently disappeared pseudo-muhaddith from Albania who classified hadiths according to his unlimited fantasy and forbade women to wear golden ornament).

 

Abu Aminah Bilal Philips (a ultra-Wahhabi from Jamaica who forges claims in the history of fiqh, full of slanders and absurd accusations against Ahlu-s-Sunnah).

 

Muhammad Nubar Yahya Silmy (a propagandist of Wahhabism in Sri Lanka who is very much hostile to the Sunni `aqidah).

 

Shiraz Mohammadali (a former Shi'ite from Sri Lanka who converted to

Wahhabism and fanatically supports all of al-Albani's heresies)

 

Abu Bilal Mustafah al-Kanadi.

 

Muhammad Saleh ibn Al-Uthaymin (an anthropomorphist who believes that

Allah is "located in the upper direction").

 

Saleh Fawzan Al-Fawzan.

 

'Abdur-Rahman Rosario Pasquini (an Ikhwani propagandist in Milano who, because of senescence, supports linguistic bid'at like "Allah is monopersonal" - sic! - "Muslims are islamocratics", wa na'udhu bi- Llah, afala yatadhakkarun).

 

 

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Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi is secretary-general of the Italian Muslim Association (AMI) and director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community. He lectures in Muslim history at the Research Institute for Anthropological Sciences (IFOSCA) in Rome.

 

Copyright © AIJAC 2001

Last Updated 28 September, 2001

Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community

[Ya Mohammadah]

for very informative post brother....