The phrase "An attribute I have known from Akhzam" is an old Arab proverb which is based on a true story of a man named Akhzam who was disobedient and rebellious to his father. Later when Akhzam passed away, his children increased in harshness and disobedience to their grandfather, surpassing Akhzam himself. Until one day they beat their own grandfather, the grandfather then replied by saying:

إنَّ بَنِيَّ ضَرَّجُونِي بالدَّمِ *** شِنْشِنَةٌ أَعْرِفُهَا مِن أَخْزَمِ
Indeed My Children Have Imbrued me (with my own) Blood. An Attribute I Have Known From Akhzam.

Meaning, that which they were doing was not something new for the grandfather, rather it was an attribute inherited from the deceased Akhzam.

The Scholars use this famous proverb to illustrate to us that the Ḥizbīs have not brought something new with them, rather speaking ill of the Salafis is something the people of innovation and Ḥizbiyyah of old would practice.

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī mentioned: A sign of the people of innovation is their battling against the people of narrations (Ahl al-Athar). [ʿAqīdah al-Salaf wa Asḥāb al-Ḥadīth, pg.304]

Shaykh ʿAbdullāh al-Bukhārī (حفظه الله) stated when describing the following texts:

[1] The statement of Allāh:

"وَأَنَّ هَـٰذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ" 
“And verily, this is my straight path, so follow it, and follow not other paths, for they will separate you from His path.”
[Sūrah al-An‘ām, 6:153]

[2] Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh (رضي الله عنه) said: “We were with the Prophet (ﷺ), and he (ﷺ) drew a line [in the sand]. He (ﷺ) then drew two lines to its right and two to its left. He (ﷺ) then placed his hand on the middle line and said: ‘This is the path of Allāh.’ He (ﷺ) then recited the verse: ‘And verily, this is my straight path, so follow it, and follow not other paths, for they will separate you from His path.’” [Reported by Ibn Mājah and others, and Shaykh al-Albānī authenticated it.]

This verse is, as al-‘Allāmah al-Qurṭubī [d. AH 671] said, a great verse. It is a crushing blow to the innovators, the people of misguidance and the ḥizbīs who have innovated partisanship and differing and produced misguidance. It is a crushing blow for all of them because they deviated from the path of Allāh and followed those Shayāṭīn who call to those groups [of misguidance] and [deviated] paths.

Translator’s note:

The shaykh (حفظه الله) then went on to describe the Ḥadīth in a similar manner.

Narrated and translated by Musa Shaleem Mohammed who heard it directly from the Shaykh during his explanation of Fatḥ al-Majīd on October 13th, 2016.
Reviewed by: Dr. ʿAbdulilāh Laḥmāmī.

A question asked regarding one of the servant-boys of Yahyá al-Ḥajūrī, the ḥizbī innovator from Yemen. This youngster (ʿAbd al-Fattaḥ al-Ṣumālī) has taken to spreading the hateful brew of al-Ḥajūrī amongst some of the Ṣumālī youth in Toronto at the Bukhari Centre.

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Shaykh Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān al-Fawzān (حفظه الله) said: Only one of these individuals will discredit the scholars who are upon the truth:
[1] Someone who is a known hypocrite
[2] A sinner who is upset with the scholars because they prevented him from sinning
[3] A misguided ḥizbī who hates the scholars because they rejected his ḥizbīyyah and his misguided ideology

Source: al-Ajwibah al-Mufīdah, pg. 51.
Translated by: Musa Shaleem Mohammed

 Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Bāzmūl was asked:¹

[Q]: May Allāh be good to you Shaykhanā. If I had some books, treatises, and cassettes authored by individuals who were once upon the correct path then deviated, and scholars, such as al-Shaykh Rabīʿ, al-Shaykh al-Fawzān, and al-Shaykh ʿUbayd, etc.—may Allāh preserve them all—warned against them, can I still benefit from the material? Bearing in mind that I had acquired these things before the authors opposed the correct path. May Allāh reward you with good. Perhaps I can cite as an example [both] Ibrāhīm ar-Ruḥaylī and Yaḥyá al-Ḥajūrī.

[A]: Safety is a blessing. Once they have been warned against, the matter entails that one maintains his distance from them, and steer clear of them so that he does not become amazed with them and their ways, causing him to keep away from the path of the Sunnah. Remember that whosoever abandons a thing for Allāh, He will compensate him with that which is better. So, place them aside, and mark with your pen that they are authored by people of innovation so that anyone who finds them in your library amid your books will not be misled by them. Further, remember that the reason Abī Dharr al-Harawī followed al-Ashʿarī is because he witnessed his Shaykh, al-Dāraqutnī, convey his salāms to al-Bāqillānī and hold him in high regard.

Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hādī al-Wādiʿī (رحمه الله) said: “It is established that the innovator only chooses to accompany another innovator like himself, and the sunnī only chooses to accompany another sunnī like himself.”

Source: al-Muṣāraʿah, pg. 386.
Translated by: Musa Shaleem Mohammed

The following questions were directed to Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAlī Farkūs (حفظه الله): “What is your opinion about al-Barbahārī’s book Sharḥ al-Sunnah and the one who defames it?”

He (حفظه الله) stated:¹

Al-Barbahārī—who died 329 years after the Hijrah—is Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Khalaf, and he was the shaykh of the Ḥanbalī scholars in Iraq in his time. He was a muḥaddith [i.e. a scholar of Ḥadīth], a ḥāfiẓ [i.e. a great memoriser], and a faqīh [i.e. a scholar of fiqh], and Sharḥ al-Sunnah—in which he established the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jamāʿah in issues such as Allāh’s Names and Attributes and the [various] issues of īmān—is from his books.

Only a person of desires and innovation who is prejudiced towards Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jamāʿah will defame their creed and methodology as “criticising the people who cling to the narrations is from the signs of the people of innovation.”2 This only originates from an ignorant or a stubborn person who is vindictive.

Consequently, manifesting the Sunnah, acquainting the Muslims with it, and suppressing innovations utilising the principles the Sharīʿah mandated is obligatory.

A Muslim should [always] avoid becoming preoccupied with trivial matters and those who engage in them so as to avoid stooping to their level. He should [always] attempt to recognise the things that are of greater importance—which will enable him to attain religious honour—and to avoid the things that will cause him humiliation and dishonour,

وَلِلَّـهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَ‌سُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“And honour belongs to Allāh, His Messenger (ﷺ), and to the believers.”
[Sūrah al-Munāfiqūn, 63:8].

Endnotes:
[1] Majālis Tadkīriyyah, pg. 111-112.
[2] This statement is ascribed to Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī (رحمه الله) in Sharḥ Usūl ʿItiqād Ahl-Sunnah, vol. 1, pg. 197.

Translated by: Musa Shaleem Mohammed

Do not deceive the people in the name of the Sunnah! The Sunnah has become like a robe; if they wish they wear it, and if they wish they take it off.

We do not say that the Sunnah is our reign or that Salafiyyah is our reign. Salafiyyah is to return to that which the Salaf were upon. Was Imām al-Bukhārī a ḥizbī (partisan)? Was Imām Aḥmad a ḥizbī? Was ʿAbdullāh ibn Mubārak a ḥizbī? Was Abū Hurayrah a ḥizbī?

They were not ḥizbīs. Rather, they use to call to the book of Allāh and the Sunnah of His Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam).

Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hādī al-Wādʿī

Source: Qumaʿ al-Maʿānīd, pg. 135-136. 
Translated by: Munīb al-Ṣumālī 

An excerpt from the recent series 'Points of Explanation from Sharḥ al-Sunnah of Imām al-Barbahaaree' narrated by Dāwūd Adīb during his visit to Toronto, Canada. What do our scholars say speaking at the masjid of the ḥizbiyyeen (those who fight and opposes as-Salafiyyeen)? And why do they sometimes invite Salafī speakers? Yassir Qadhee, Abū Tawbah, Said Regeah then suddenly they invite someone from the Salafīs who is opposed to their da'wah, so what's the goal of that invitation? Our beloved elder, Abū Dihyah explains... Other related items:

Benefit: "I Mix with the People of Bidʿah to Bring them Close"

Benefit: Working with the People of Innovation - Greater Good? Not according to Sufyaan ath-Thawree [d. 167H]

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Lenient with Ahl al-Bidʿah,, Harsh with Ahl al-Sunnah! - A Signpost of the Hidden Ḥizbī?

The following lecture was conducted in 2002, almost 10 years ago. It reflects the position of Ahl al-Sunnah regarding innovation and its people. It illustrates the efforts of the Salafī duʿāt in the West to defend this noble religion and the fact that the same type of arguments (to water down al-Manhaj as-Salafī) existed then and before then, the manner in which the argument is made is all that changes. Same impostors, different disguises. So today, like then, we see the people expanding the raḍīus of 'al-Salafīyyah' to include Ahl al-Bidʿah, and the Hizbiyyeen, we see them criticizing the Salafī, sympathetic with the ḥizbī, searching after the faults of ahl al-sunnah (line by line, statement by statement) yet lenient and gentle with their opponents and enemies of the Salafī Da'wah. The following contains quotes from the lecture by Ḥasan al-Ṣumālī entitled, Advice to the Salafīs of the West Concerning Jarh wa-al-Taʿdīl (Criticism and Praise): Look at the wise insight of the noble scholar, Shaykh Rabīʿ Ibn Hādī al-Madkhalī: "And strangely you find the youth becoming [audio unclear] with the people of innovation where they raise their banners and carry their defence and they defend them and aid them, and it is the case where their tongues turn to Ahl al-Sunnah and they attack Ahl al-Sunnah but as for Ahl al-Bidʿah, and Misguidance, they make excuses for them and defend them!" This statement from his book written over a decade ago, it is as if he saw the army approaching from a distance and warned the townsfolk in advance! Is this not what we see today? Abū ʿAbdullāh mentions: "Now the scales have switched, and now we see those people [who used to be with us] harsh upon Ahl al-Sunnah, their tongues quick to move, easy to move against ahl al-sunnah and to backbite and slander them but they seek excuses from the people of shubuhaat (doubts) and desires…" "…so a Salafī brother, they will say, he speaks too much about the people of innovation, he's harsh, he deals too much in jarh wa-al-taʿdīl, he is hadaadee (extreme) but when one comes towards who cooperates with the ḥizbiyyoon, they say to him 'you cannot speak about these matters for they are for the ʿUlamāʾ, O Miskīn, O Jāhil, Do you not know that you have made jarh of the Salafī, when you say that he [the Salafī] has backbitten (when he speaks about ahl al-bidʿah), this is (actual) gheebah (backbiting) but like we said, the scale has changed, and now it has come a time that people are asking us to be soft and lenient with ahl al-bidʿah and ahwā and harsh against ahl al-sunnah." So the da'wah is one, has not changed, the enemies of ahl al-sunnah, change colours like a chameleon, new rhetoric, old agenda. From the lectures entitled, Advice to the Salafīs of the West Concerning Jarh wa-al-Taʿdīl (Criticism and Praise)

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"Shaykh al-Islām al-Thānī Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allāh have mercy on him said:

And from among his (shayṭān’s) repertoire of schemes and ploys is that he invites the slave (of Allāh) with his good character, cheerfulness and joyfulness to types of sin and wickedness.  As a result, he will meet and greet him (the sunnee) with that which will not enable him to rescue himself from his evil except his display of displeasure, giving an angry look and turning away from him.  So, the enemy will act kindly towards him, greeting him with joyfulness, a glowing face and beautiful speech. Then, he will attach himself to him, and have a strong desire to save himself from his clutches; however, he will be unable to. As a result, the enemy (Iblīs) will continue to move among them (the deviant, innovator that works for Shayṭān and against the sunnee slave) until he achieves his desired goal.  Finally, he enters upon the slave with his plots by way of good character and a shining face.  It is for this reason, the 'Doctors of the Heart' have advised (us) with turning away from the People of Innovation, not extending to them the greetings of sʿaláms and happy, glowing faces or even meeting them (at all) unless it is with gloominess and sternness!"

Asalāmu ʿAlaykum 

In an attempt to bring a follower of ʿAbdullāh al Habashi to the right path, I received the following response. Please refute the following claims they made so that I can send it back to the brother. Jazak Allāh Khair....

Bismillāh, wa al-hamdulilāh, wa al-ṣʿalátu wa-al-sʿalámu ʿalá rasūl Allāh, wa baʿd:  

The person who sent this e-mail has only regurgitated a few old doubts concocted by the Aḥbāsh. In shaʿ Allāh, this is a humble effort to shortly address these fallacies and shed some light on the underlying reason for this onslaught. Alhamdulillāh, books have been written in English and Arabic exposing the deviations of this group so the reader should try and refer back to them for a more detailed account. Why do the Ahbaash declare Ibn Taymīyyah and other scholars to be infidels? The reason is obvious. Ibn Taymīyyah, during his lifetime and later, through his writings, commanded the people to worship Allāh alone and shun all forms of Shirk. This treatment is not peculiar to Ibn Taymīyyah, and anyone who warns the people about supplicating to the dead and asking for their assistance will be treated in exactly the same fashion. Ask the noble brother ʿAbd al-Ḥafīz, a brother who has been a propagator of the Sunnah for many years in Philadelphia, USA, and who is currently the Imām of a well-known Sunni Masjid there, about the harm that some of the callers to Tawḥīd endured in Philadelphia at the hands of the Aḥbāsh.  

Why? 

Well, the founder of this movement condones and propagates these types of acts so anyone who warns against them is an obstacle in their path. The father of this movement, ʿAbdullāh āl-Ḥabashī, who was supposedly the Muftī of Ṣumālīa, even though most Ṣumālīs had never heard of him, said: “The problem with the people who pronounce takfīr upon anyone who practises tawaṣṣul and istigāthah with the Prophets and Awliyāʾ after their death and when not in their presence is their misunderstanding of the verses and aḥadīth that they rely on…”(Al-Maqālāt As-Sunniyyah 1st edition: 45). He also said: “It is obligatory not to rebuke the Muslim that says: ‘Help, O Messenger of Allāh.’ He should not be criticised” (Al-Dūr al-Mufeed: 194).   

The First Doubt: 

There is blasphemy in Majmūʿ al-Fatawá, volume number 4, page 374 on the right side, on the 4th line. Ibn Taymīyyah said: "Allāh firmly established himself on the throne and leaves a space beside Him for Prophet Muḥammad."   

1. This translation is inaccurate to say the least “..leaves a space beside Him for Prophet Muḥammad” is not mentioned anywhere in the quote that they allude to. If they are deliberately adding or twisting words, how can we rely on anything they claim without verification!  

2. Let us compare what Ibn Taymīyyah said to what they allege he said:  فقد حدث العلماء المرضيون وأولياؤه المقبولون أن محمدا رسول الله يجلسه ربه على العرش “If this is understood, then it (should be known) that reputable scholars and respectable Awliyaa have mentioned that Allāh will sit Muhammed upon the throne...” (Majmūʿ al-Fatāwá́: 4/374). 

3. It can be seen from the above quote that Ibn Taymīyyah was not elaborating on his belief in this issue; all he was doing is conveying the opinion of some scholars on this matter. If merely transmitting these words is blasphemy, then they have to accuse other illustrious scholars who committed no crime but relaying this opinion of the same thing and amongst them is Ibn Ḥajr al-ʿAsqʿalánī (Fat‘h: 11/435), Ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī (8/134-135), al-Dhahabī (al-ʿUlūʿ: 2/1180-1182) and others.

4. What does Ibn Taymīyyah actually believe? Ibn Taymīyyah believes that all the aḥadīth about this topic are fabricated and that we should not treat scholarly opinions like we do ḥadīth of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam). As highlighted by Ibn Taymīyyah, this statement is ascribed to Mujāḥid, the famous scholar of Tafsīr, but there is no authentic ḥadīth to support this. So do they accuse Mujāḥid, the famous Tābʿī Mufassir, who the actual statement was meant to have emanated from, of blasphemy as well? By Allāh, the scholars of the Muslims are not safe from these people’s vile tongues and bloody pens.  

Ibn Taymīyyah (Dār al- Taʿāruḍ 5/237-238) said: كحديث قعود الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم على العرش رواه بعض الناس من طرق كثيرة مرفوعة وهي كلها موضوعة وإنما الثابت أنه عن مجاهد وغيره من السلف “

Like the ḥadīth which mentions the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam) sitting upon the throne. This has been narrated and ascribed to the Prophet by some people with many different chains of narration however they are all fabricated. This has only been authentically relayed from Mujāḥid and others from the scholars of the past.”  

Ibn Taymīyyah continues:لكن لا بد من الفرق بين ما ثبت من ألفاظ الرسول وما ثبت من كلام غيره“

It is incumbent to differentiate between what has authentically been reported from the words of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam) and what has been authentically relayed from other than him…”  

5 Finally, whether the statement of Mujāḥid – about the Prophet sitting on the throne - is authentic or not, and some scholars state that it is not, it is impermissible to take this as part of the religion or creed because there is no proof for this in the Qurʾān or the Sunnah (Mukhtasir al-ʿUlūʿ: 19-21). 

The Second Doubt: 

Also Ibn Taymīyyah said: "The world (by its kind), exists without a beginning" and this is clear blasphemy because Muslims scholars judged as blasphemer the one who believes the world is eternal. Among them are al-Mutawallī (a Shafiʿī scholar), Qaḍī ʿIyāḍ (Malikī scholar who died in the year AH 544), Ibn al-Daqīq  al-ʿĪd (who was famous for teaching both Malikī and the Shafiʿī school and died AH 702), and the famous Hafiḍ Ibn Ḥajar al-Asqʿalánī.     

1. After reading these lines will they repent and correct their wrongdoing?
2. The Aḥbāsh and their forefathers have distorted and twisted some of the words of Ibn Taymīyyah where he was refuting the rhetoric and philosophy used by a few of the deviant sects, some even use their arguments to justify their denial of some or all the attributes of Allāh. Thus Ibn Taymīyyah was compelled to extinguish their falsehood. Ibn Taymīyyah in various places in his books discusses these issues, which he himself described as difficult to comprehend and confusing to the mind (Minḥāj al-Sunnah (1/299)).  
3. It suffices us to say that Ahl al-Sunnah believes that Allāh creates whatever He wills whenever He wills. 
4. It is ironic that the Aḥbāsh invent this lie upon Ibn Taymīyyah to pronounce takfīr upon him but they defend individuals such as Ibn ʿArabī, the well-known ṣūfī, even though he expressed that the world has no beginning as reported by the scholars of his era (refer to Siyar ʿAlām al-Nubalá (23/48). The same Ibn ʿArabī who authored the book ‘al-Fuṣūṣ’ about which Al-Dhahabī said: “If (it is claimed) that this book contains no disbelief, then no disbelief exists in the world.”[1] 
5. Why?
6. The reason is because they hate the people who call mankind to worship Allāh alone without associating any partners.  And Allāh is the grantor of success.
7. And Allāh is the grantor of success.

[1] Quotes and References were taken from the book Firqāt al-Aḥbāsh.
Prepared by Abū ʿAbdullāh