Archive for December, 2006

Compiled by Abul Layth

Is it permitted to seek Tawassul through the Haqq (right) of the Nabi (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam)?

A proof for this stance is what is reported authentically from the Nabi (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) via the companion Maysarah:

قد أخرج الحافظ أبو الحسن بن بشران قال : حدثنا أو جعفر محمد ابن عمرو، حدثنا أحمد بن سحاق بن صالح، ثنا محمد بن صالح، ثنا محمد ابن سنان العوقي، ثنا إبراهيم بن طهمان، عن بديل بن ميسرة، عن عبد الله بن شقيق، عن ميسرة قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، متى كنت نبياً ؟ قال: (( لما خلق الله الأرض واستوى إلى السماء فسواهن سبع سماوات ، وخلق العرش،كتب على ساق العرش: محمد رسول الله خاتم الأنبياء، وخلق الله الجنة التي أسكنها آدم وحواء، فكتب اسمي على الأبواب، والأوراق والقباب، والخيام،وآدم بين الروح والجسد،فلما أحياه الله تعالى: نظر إلى العرش فرأى اسمي فأخبره الله أنه سيد ولدك، فلما غرهما الشيطان ، تابا واستشفعا باسمي إليه

وأخرجه ابن الجوزي في الوفا بفضائل المصطفى من طريق ابن بشران

I said: “O Messenger of Allah , when were you [first] a Prophet?” He replied: “When Allah created the earth ‘Then turned to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens’(2:29), and created the Throne, He wrote on the leg of the Throne: “Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of Prophets” (Muhammadun Rasūlullāhi Khātamu al-Anbiyā’). Then Allah created Jannah in which He made Adam and Hawwa’ dwell, and He wrote my name on the gates, its tree-leaves, its domes and tents, at a time when Adam was still between the spirit and the body. When Allah ta’alā instilled life into him he looked at the Throne and saw my name, whereupon Allah informed him that ‘He [Muhammad (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam)] is the Sayyid (master) of all your descendants.’ When Satan deceived them both, they repented and sought intercession (shafa’a) to Allah with my name.“

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Al-Imām Taqiy-ud-dīn al-Hisnī Ash-Shāfi’ī Al-Asha’rī Born 752 (A.H.)/1351 (C.E.) and died in the year 829 (A.H.)/1426 (C.E.). In Volume nine of the book Shadharāt Adh-Dhahab the entry of Al-Imām Taqiy-ud-dīn al-Hisnī reads as follows:

“Abū Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul-Mu’min ibn Harīz ibn Sa’īd ibn Dāwūd ibn Qāsim ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Alawī ibn Nāshī ibn Jawhar ibn ‘Alī ibn Abīl Qāsim ibn Sālim ibn Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ibn Mūsā ibn Yahyā ibn ‘Alī Al-Asghar ibn Muhammad At-Taqī ibn Hasan (al-‘askarī) ibn ‘Alī [Al-Hādī] ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Jawwād ibn ‘Alī Ar-Ridhā ibn Mūsā Al-Kāthim ibn Jā’far As-Sādiq ibn Muhammad Al-Bāqir ibn ‘Alī Zaynul-‘Ābid-dīn ibn Al-Husayn Ash-Shahīd ibn Al-Amīr Al-Mu’minīn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib (Radhiya Allāhu ‘Anhu).”

He is from the family of our Nabi Muhammad (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa Sallam) through the loins of Al-Amīr Al-Mu’minīn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib.

Al-Hisnī is an ascription to the fort within the city of Hawrān, he then became Ad-Dimashqī (from Damscus). Al-Faqīh Ash-Shāfi’ī (See Al-Inbā’ Al-Ghumar of Ibn Hajr Al-‘Asqalānī 8/110). He studied fiqh beneath Ash-Sharīshī, Az-Zuhrī, Ibn al-Jābī, As-Sarkhadī, Al-Ghazzī, and Ibn Ghannūm. He then took from As-Sadr Al-Yāsūfī and then departed from his way. He fell into fitnah within the city of Damscus while teaching. He started commanding the good and forbidding the evil. Al-Qādhī Taqiy-ud-dīn Al-Asadī said,

“He had a light spirit, cheerful, he would (tell) jokes…he married several women…then he separated from them and lead an ascetic life. He eventually had his hearing eyesight afflicted. He wrote many books in fiqh (jurisprudence) and Zuhd (asceticism).”

 Imām As-Sakhāwī said that he wrote the following books: “He wrote explanations to At-Tanbīh (At-Tanbīh of Abī –Is-hāq Ash-Shirāzī, a shāfi’ī book) in five volumes, Al-Minhāj (of Imām An-Nawawī), and Imām An-Nawawi’s Sharh of Sahīh Muslim in three volumes, Al-Muhimmāt of Al-Asnawī in two volumes, and he researched the narrations found within Imām Al-Ghazzālī’s Al-Ihyā in a volume (this book was mentioned by Ibn Al-Qādhī Shuhbah in his Tabaqāt), a commentary on the fourty hadīth of Imām An-Nawawī, as well as many other books. He also wrote a tafsīr of the Qur’ān in six volumes titled, “Tafsīr Al-Qur’ān ilal Mahālik” and a commentary on the names of Allāh as well as other works in fiqh including Kifāyatul-Akhyār fī Hill Ghāyatul Ikhtisār. He died in the fourth night of Jumādī II in the year 829 A.H (1426 C.E.)

May Allah (the exalted) shed his immense mercy upon Shaykh Abu Bakr. Amin!

I purify myself, before God, of the doctrines of the heretical innovators, Mu’tazilis and others; of frequenting the masters of this doctrinal system; of venerating its partisans; of invoking the mercy of God on their predecessors; and of emulating them. What I have written, and what has been found written in my hand concerning their doctrines and their errors, I repent to God for having written. It is not permitted to write those things, nor to say them, nor to believe them.
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The following is extracted from the Book, “Studies in Islamic Legal Theory”. In the book a small treatise has been written by Bernard Haykel called, “Reforming Islam by Dissolving the Madhaahib: Shawkaani and his Zaydi Detractors in Yemen”.

A Brief Sketch of the History of Zaydī-Hādawī Madhdhab

Zaydīs-Hādawīs are Shī’ī Muslims who follow the teachings of Al Hādī ilā Al Haqq Yahyā bin Al Husayn (d. 911), the first Imām to establish a Zaydī Imāmate in Yemen. Al Hādi’s legal opinions are set forth in a number of works, the main ones being his Kitāb Al-Ahkām, and Kitāb Al Muntakhab. In legal matters, Al Hādī adopted many of he views of his grandfather Al Qāsim Al-Rassi (d. 860), who followed a Medinan legal tradition. Al-Hādī, however, also upheld more robust Shī’ī teachings (such as Hayya ‘alā Khayr al-‘amal), and in matters pertaining to the Imāmate was a Jārūdī Shī’ī, rejecting the caliphs Abū Bakr and ‘Umar as infidels. As with Al Qāsim Ar-Rassī, the ijmā’ of Ahlul Bayt was an important principle in Al-Hādī’s teachings. In his legal argumentation Al Hādī never cites hadīth from the canonical Sunnī collections, whose authors he condemned as members of the Hāshwīyah. Whatever hadīths Al Hādī does cite are derived from a chain of transmitters going back through his ‘Alid forefathers.

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‘Alī ibn Abī ‘Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Sālim Ath-Tha’labī, Al-Imām Abū Al-Hasan Sayfud-dīn Al-Āmidī

Born in the year 551 A.H, in the city of Āmid (in current day Turkey) he memorized Qur’ān as well as memorizing the books of Hanbalī fiqh. Then he traveled to Baghdad and learned different Qira’āt of the Qur’ān.

He learned fiqh beneath Ash-Shaykh Abīl Fat-h. ibn Al-Mannī Al-Hanbalī (أبي الفتح ابن المنِّي الحنبلي). He heard hadīth from Abīl Fat-h. ibn Shātīl (أبي الفتح بن شاتيل). He then converted to the Madh-hab of Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī (Taqiy-ad-dīn As-Subkī states in his Tabaqāt: ثم انتقل إلى مذهب الشافعي).

He then became a disciple of Abāl Qāsim ibn Fad.lān (studying Shāfi’ī fiqh). He then excelled in khilāf, law, debate, philosophy, Usūl and many other intellectual fields. He then traveled to Egypt. He returned to teaching the Shāfi’ī guild. While there a group of scholars became envious and began accusing him of evil things. He had to secretly leave Cairo and take refuge in Hamāh, establishing himself therein. Then he traveled to Damascus. There he taught at the Al-‘Azīziyyah Madrasah (school). He died there in the year 631 A.H. His most famous book is called, “Al-Ih.kām fī Usūl Al-Ah.kām”. May Allāh shed his mercy upon Imām Al Āmidī for his resoluteness in teaching Islām, even when he was slandered and abused. Āmīn!

Written by Abul-Layth

Taslim is the saying of “Salamu ‘Alaykum” or the additions to that such as “wa Rahmatullah” at the end of prayer. In the great Hanbali Fiqh Manual of Ibn Qudāmah, Al Muqni’, it states under the chapter of “Arkān As-Salāh (pillars of prayer)”,

“The pillars of Salāh are 12…and [including] the first taslīm.” [Page 31 of Dār Al Kutub Al-'Ilmiyyah's publication]

From this we learn several major points of benefit. Firstly, that the hukm (ruling) on taslīm is that it is a pillar of Salāh. This means that it can not be left out or else the Salāh is invalid. The proof for this is the hadīth of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallāhu ‘Alayhi wa sallam) that states,

“The key to As-Salah is At-Tahur (purification). The [object that] sanctifies it is the takbīr. The [object that] ends it is the Taslīm.”

[This hadīth is reported by Imām Ahmad in his Musnad, Abū Dāwūd, At-Tirmithī, Ibn Mājah, & Ad-Dārimī in their Sunan. According to the Hanābilah this hadīth is authentic and is to be used to extract rulings. See Al-Kāfi of Ibn Qudāmah for further clarification.]

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The following article is research forwarded by Dr. George Maqdisi after having stumbled accross these manuscripts deep in the Thaahiriyya Library within Damascus. The manuscripts prove that major Hanbalis were Sufis. This, obviously, contradicts the common held pseudo-salafi belief that Sufism is evil and that the early scholars had nothing to do with tasawwuf. This article proves the opposite. However, it goes beyond just stating that many of the salaf were credible Sufis. It strikes at the very heart of those who believe tasawwuf is unorthodox. This article proves the orthodoxy of tasawwuf!

Irrefutable Proof that Many Major Hanbalis Were Sufis

This article was posted by Ibn ‘Ajibah on the the SI forums. The author is unknown to us. Very beneficial read however.

1.Abdul Ghanī ibn Abdil Wāhid ibn Alī ibn Surūr ibn Hasan ibn Ja’far al-Jamā’ilī al-Maqdisī, the Hāfidh, the Muhaddith, jurist, ascetic. Born 541 Hijri.

Ibn an-Najjār said of him:
“He narrated from many and authored beautiful works in the field of Hadīth, and he was strong in memory and from the people of mastery and Tajwīd. He was well grounded in all of the sciences of Hadīth, knowing its rules, its fundamentals, its hidden defects, its authentic and inauthentic, its abrogating and abrogated, its rare wordings and its proper pronunciation, its Fiqh and its meanings, and (he was well grounded) in precision with the narrators and their conditions

al-Imām al-‘Ulaymī said in his work, al-Manhaj al-Ahmad (2/191):
“al-Muwaffaq (Ibn Qudamāh al-Maqdisi) said: ‘al-Hāfidh Abdul Ghanī and I both donned the Khirqah upon the hand of Shaykh ul Islam Abdul Qādir (al-Jilāni), and the both of us obtained Fiqh from him and benefit from his companionship, even though we only saw him for fifty nights of his life.”

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 Written By Abul-Layth

Wa’el Hallaq, PHD, of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University states about Imam Ahmad, 

“Ibn Hanbal, for instance, can hardly be said to have developed the skills of a Mujtahid, let alone a first rate mujtahid. He was in the first place a traditionist and a sort of theologian, and his occupation with law as a technical discipline was rather minimal. This much fact about him was acknowledged by his followers and foes alike. Tabari refused to recognize him as a jurist, a perception that persisted among his followers for centuries. See Abu Jarir At Tabari, Ikhtilaaf Al Fuquhaa. Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Rajab, Adh-Dhayl ‘Alaa Tabaqaat Al Hanabilah 1:156-57 where he quotes Ibn ‘Aqil’s observation that some of the younger Hanbalite legal scholars thought Ibn Hanbal lacking in juristic skills. For a more detailed discussion of Ibn Hanbal’s lack of legal qualifications, see Hallaq, Continuity and Change in Islamic Law, Ch. 2 section 2.” 
This quote was taken from Wa’el’s “Takhrij and the Construction of Juristic Authority” under footnote 3.

In response, we quote those most aquainted with the Imām of Islām. The reader will come to know that everyone from the his master, Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī, to his students, expressed the fact that Imām Ahmad was a faqīh. 

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The following narrations are proofs for the permissibility of using the Masbahah:
 

 First Proof:

“From Sa’ad ibn Abi Waqqās that he entered with the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) upon a woman and between her hands was Nawā (seeds, pebbles) or Hasā (stones or pebbles) that she was [counting] tasbīh with…”

This hadīth is reported by Imām At-Tirmithī who said, “Hasan Gharīb from the hadīth of Sa’ad”. It is also reported by Imām Abu Dāwūd in his Sunan, Imām An Nasā’ī, Ibn Hibbān, and Imām Al Hākim in his Mustadarak who said. “Its isnād is Sahīh, and [they i.e. Bukhārī and Muslim] did not report it” and Imām Adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.
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