Sheikh Gibril Haddad

Sheikh Samir Al-Nass

Dr Umar Farooq Abdullah

Aquida

Sheikh Jihad Brown

Aqeedah Part five to nine

Sheikh Jihad Brown

Applied Aqida

Jawhara Al-Kalamiyyah/Jewels of Theology

As Salam alikum

Please see below for one the easiest texts in Islamic Belief that one could ever read.

Jewels of Theology/Jawhara Al-Kalamiyyah

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Aquida of Salaf

Dr Umar Farooq Abdullah

Please see the Aquida lesson by clicking here

It is a simple text and the audio is available as well.

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Wasiya of Abu Hanifa

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Aquida Tahawiyyah
Aqida Tahawiyya - class 1 from Mohammed Shafiq on Vimeo.

Aqida Tahawiyya - Class 2 from Mohammed Shafiq on Vimeo.

Sheikh Muhammad Alawi Al-Makki

Intercession

Sheikh Haroon Hanif

Ashari and Maturidi

Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad

The Power of Monetheism

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Kitab Al-Wasiya parts one to three

Dr Umar Farooq Abdullah

Clip on Maturidi

Calling someone a disbeliever/Kafir

One of the worst things that a Muslim can do, is call his fellow Muslim a disbeliever/Kafir. This issue is the topic of our following post.

This happens far too much in many communities and groups. We seem to enjoy labelling groups of people at every given opportunity. We are concerned about this as it has become a common practice and we need to move away from this mentality.

There is not one group that is free from this, just about every group is doing this. We are not talking about scholars who warn about certain issues that need to be addressed. But do they need to be spoken about every time someone makes a public speech? It was fitna/tribulation in the past and now thanks to the over zealous its a modern issue.

The majority of people call each other Kafirs just because someone does not believe in what they are following or their group or there interpretation of an issue. So this is really about rejecting group mentalities not about rejecting Islam but so many of us reject what one group says and then call them Kafirs. This ignorance has to stop, it really does I am so tired of this backward mentality. The most shocking thing about this fact is that almost everyone is doing this! Irrespective of the group that they belong to, they are all doing it!

Reading the following prophetic narration should be enough to make you stop and think before you move your mouths next time:

 قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: أيما أمرئ قال لأخيه يا كافر فقد باء بها أحدهما، إن كان كما قال، وإلا رجعت عليه. رواه البخاري ومسلم.

Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “If a man addresses his brother as, ‘O’ Disbeliever,’ it returns to one of them; either it is as he said or it returns to him.” (Agreed upon – in both Bukhari 10/427 and Muslim 60)

Do you really want to take the chance of calling someone a disbeliever and this curse returning to you? Do you really want to take that chance? Are you really that sure of yourself? The curse of disbelief returns to the one who said it; if that person he labelled as a disbeliever was not worthy of that name. There are so many people who have not studied Islamic belief but find it totally acceptable to call someone a disbeliever. How can you when you have not studied Islamic belief? How can you be certain what is in people’s hearts? Don’t we remember what happened to Usama ibn Zaid (may Allah be pleased with them) when he killed a man who testified to Islam but this individual after testifing kept coming back to fight the Muslims? The Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) kept asking Usama if he looked into his heart? Usama was so upset that he almost wished that he had not accepted Islam. This is how severe this problem is.

Abu Dhar (may Allah be pleased with him) said that he heard the Messenger of God (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) say, “Whoever addresses a man as a disbeliever or calls him the enemy of God, and he is not, then it returns to him.” (Agreed upon Bukhari 10/377 Muslim 61)

Is this not enough for you to stop this nonsense? Are we following the Sunna of the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessing upon him) or are we making up our own? As it seems that people have abandoned this Sunna a long, long time ago. I have yet to find a hadith that the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings be upon him) addressed anyone as a disbeliever but we find this word as easy to use as breathing.

If you have a disagreement with a brother on a certain issue then do not discuss it because it could get worse and thus cause a greater problem. Generally, it is disliked for scholars to debate never mind the average person! So your job as an average Muslim is to be bothered about what you can change; if you are not a scholar then you should not be discussing these issues!

Have we forgotten this Quranic passage?

"O you who believe! Let not a folk deride a folk who may be better than they (are), not let women (deride) women who may be better than they are; neither defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. Bad is the name of lewdness after faith. And whoso turneth not in repentance, such are evil-doers."
The Private Apartments 49:11


The average person who is not a scholar has an excuse for his mistakes but the scholar does not. Sitting in gathering where people slander other groups is not the Sunna this is something else. This is something that the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) warned us not to do. The question is why are we doing the opposite? It looks like we have abandoned the Sunna years ago and made up our own by calling people disbelievers. Most of the time people have no theological basis to call someone a kafir, none whatsoever.


Does missing pillars invalidate ones Islam?

This is an another unfortunate misconception. Missing one of the five pillars does not take someone out of the fold of Islam. Unless they deny it by saying I do not have to pray at all or words to that effect. A person who does not pray is a sinful but is still a Muslim. (see Fiqh Al-Akbar Abu Hanifa)

Faith is according to the Hanafis: affirmation of the tongue with belief in the heart. Imam Maturidis says someone can be a believer with Allah even though they have not affirmed it on their tongue.

The Asharis say belief is Affirmation of the tongue, belief in the heart and acting on the pillars of Islam. Now, the difference being that both groups do not consider a Muslim who does not pray to be a disbeliever. Rather, they are sinful but still believers. Some groups have said that someone who does not practice is not a believer but the majority of Sunni opinion of both Maturdi and Ashari's is that they are sinful.


He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The difference between worship and disbelief, is leaving the prayer.” (Abu Dawud 361, Ibn Majah 1391 and Ahmed 21737.)

Ibn Abbas (upon him mercy) says disbelief here means ingratitude or rejecting blessing not actual disbelief. They are sinful but this sin does not cause them to leave Islam. Only the Khawarij and Muzilites consider them to be outside the fold of Islam but this opinion is widely rejected. Though there are some 'sunni' groups who are trying to encourage people to practice Islam by unearthing this incorrect opinion. The only sin that would take someone out of Islam is openly denying the testification of faith.

What can cause disbelief?

It is an action or words that there is no possible interpretation other than disbelief. Like someone saying there is no God or insulting one of the Prophets.

Ashari and Maturdis differ in this. The Asharis say if someone denies what is commonly known about Islam that constitutes to disbelief like denying fasting is an obligation in Ramadan. Please click here for detailed description about sins causing disbelief.

The Maturdis say anything that can be decisively proven that is mass transmitted. Not something that only a few people know anything about.

Please note every misguided group will claim kufr disbelief can be done easily and every correct group will say that it cannot be done unless there is no other possible positive interpretation. Also know many people are unaware about their belief so are liable to commit major wrong actions without know it. Each group have 'matters' which cause disbelief but that is not true outside that group. We need to look at the tradition as a whole and not in isolation. Anyone who follows one scholar in isolation will be misguided.


What people think is disbelief but it is not 

This is a sad list because what most people think is disbelief is not actual disbelief because it might be a major sin. 

- Rejection of a group methodology. It might not be a sin, it might be sin.

-Dress, hats, ties etc. There are many incorrect Fatwas that state wearing a particular type of dress is belief. This is also incorrect. It might be a major sin for Muslim to look like a priest but not disbelief.

- Transmitting a statement of disbelief is not disbelief. When warning or explaining to someone.

- Seeing a fortune teller or horoscopes is a major sin not disbelief. The hadith is a warning because it is singular.

- Despairing of the mercy of Allah (the Exalted) is a major sin but not kufr.

- Rejecting rare hadith. This is complicated, because it is only disbelief if it mass transmitted. Otherwise it could be a sin but not kufr to reject rare hadith when it opposes other stronger hadith. 

- There are things that are in books of fiqh and so forth, that the writer may deem as kufr but it is not kufr but major sin. He said it was kufr to stop people from doing it. So just because someone said doing 'X' is kufr, in a book, does not mean that is how it actually is.



Outwardly Muslim?


Ibn Daqiq Al-'Id said in commentary of the forty hadith of Imam Nawawi, "Al-Khattabi mentioned this, stating, “There are people who are outwardly Muslim but secretly disbelievers; we accept their outward Islam.’ This is the opinion of most of the scholars."

We do not pry about peoples faith. If they say that there are Muslim that is sufficient. The only exception is when there is a genuine reason to trust that.

Final points

After some reflection we would like to make our last point and this is aimed at some individuals. It is really quite shocking and disgusting to witness. Some people read statements of scholars or other people and then call them disbelievers. After such an act they then demand other people to call the scholar or person a disbeliver, if they do not follow them then they say, "He is a kafir and if you don't say he is a kafir that makes you a kafir!" Statements of disbelief can not be used as evidence to someones disbelief; this has been stated by the scholars of Islamic belief. Disbelief is that statement where there is no possibility of it meaning anything other than disbelief. Transmission of a statement of disbelief is not disbelief! So if someone transmitted a statement of disbelief from someone that does not make them a disbeliever nor does it make you a disbeliever, if you not call them a disbeliever!

Most of the people who are calling others disbelievers affirm one of their teachers claims and then they repeat it to others. The problem with this is that most of the cases that they are not disbelief, so the others repeat the mistakes of their teachers. This is nothing but a disaster. Even if you hear something but you are not taxed to repeat it nor should you. Stay quiet, really just stay quiet and do not repeat their mistakes lest you fall into the same problem.

A statement of disbelief has to be clear and without any other possible way of explaining it other than it being a statement of disbelief. If a statement is made we have to seek clarification because many a time people do not know what they are saying. Many people may repeat what they hear off television and not realise the meaning of what they have said. For these people we should leave them and not purse the matter because it might get worse.

How many times have great scholars of the past been attacked because of the ignorant who read their books and do not understand the terminology they use. Learn the frames of reference that scholars use then you will understand. Blurting off statements without understanding the frames of reference makes you look foolish.

The only person who can really judge someone is someone at their level. The man on the street who has yet to refrain from harming everyone he comes into contact with has no place to be standing judging anyone nevermind scholars!

This might be confusing to some but this happens a lot and it constantly shocks me when I hear it. I have heard this a lot and other people have asked me to call some Muslims disbelievers and when I refused, well you can guess what happened then. We need to stop this, we really do.

Also, if you call someone a disbeliever and you are wrong then the following occurs. You leave Islam and then your marriage is annulled, if you are married. So you have to repeat the testimony of faith and then re-new your marriage contract. This is not something you should take lightly. How many of us have left Islam, come back then not renewed our marriage contract and are therefore living in sin? Do you see the seriousness of this?

May Allah (Almighty and Majestic) forgive us all.

Please more about the difference of a sinner and a disbeliever by reading the commentary of the Wassiyah of Abu Hanifah on belief 

click here

Wassiyah of Abu Hanifah on character is also relevant click here

Kufr/Disbelief explained
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/03/sheikh-atabek-shukurov_15.html

Read about the rights of Muslims click here

Some points about Doctrine/Aqida
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/07/some-points-of-aqidadoctrinetheology.html

Some points of Aqida/Doctrine/Theology

This is a response to a request made by a brother a few months ago.

I was recently in a debate with someone who I had met, about Aqida/Islamic belief/Islamic theology. The fruits of that debate were bitter and it left me with a taste that I did not like.


It seems that this is the debate of this century, to argue about positions of belief. It does not matter what position someone will disagree with someone else about it. We are not talking about scholars here we are talking about the average person who has read a few books and thinks he knows the subject well.


Basic belief is easy to get your head around and it does not take that much time to understand. Read the Hadith Gibril and this explains the basics of faith. As for the remainder, these are issues that are the branches of faith and not the source. To reject the source, a Muslim leaves faith but to reject the branch; a Muslim can become an innovator. But it is these details that people seem to disagree upon the most.


The major thing that we must all know is that we are not scholars and therefore we are not the ones who should be sat around debating whether you agree with the Maturdi or Ashari schools. Your job, as an average person, is to follow one of the sound schools of relied upon belief; the Ahl As-Sunna wa Jamma’; namely, the Ashari, Maturdi or Athari schools.


Your job is not to think about which school is correct and not to declare that I agree with this position and not that. When you have not studied the reasons for what they are stating.


Muslims seem to get bogged down with all the information then become confused. Or even worse still they “think” they understand; when they clearly do not. The person, who I was speaking to, told me opinions that were held by one school which were not of that school but were of another. I could see that he had become mixed up because he was trying to understand all the schools. You will get so mixed up that you will not know what you are following.


The Tahawiyyain doctrine/Aqida Tahawiyya is a great basic text that does not delve into these issues but even that some people have a problem with. This was the teaching of Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah show him mercy) which was dictated to from student to student until it reached Imam Tahawi who recorded it. If this is all you study then it is sufficient for you. Imam Abu Hanifa states in Fiqh Al-Akbar; if a person has a question in belief he should find a scholar and get the answer.


One of our problems is that we have people who have no qualifications to speak about Islam or doctrine, yet give out legal verdicts that Muslims are disbelievers because of this or that issue. Only a Qadi/Islamic Judge can decide who is a disbeliever. What happens now is that some of us listen to unqualified people and repeat what they say. We call each other disbelievers on a whim! Don’t we think that something is going wrong here?


How can the religion that supersedes all other traditions have so many people calling each other disbelievers! When we call each other disbelievers we mean anyone who does not believe in the ethos of our group. In other words that person does not believe in our group and therefore he is a disbeliever. This conclusion is a wrong one and not yours to make.


Where we have a focus on the correct belief, in some groups, we have an abandonment of righteous actions, almost. We need both the correct belief and righteous action which is the best mixture.


As bad actions will lead a person to the hellfire and bad belief will put someone into the hellfire. Good actions will lead a person to the garden and good actions will put someone into the garden.

So do not waste your time debating about issues of belief this is not your job nor are you taxed to do this nor should you attempt to do this. Aqida Tahawiyya separates Muslims into two parts: one is the Ahl As-Sunna and the other is the Ahl Qibla. So as long as we do not reject the foundation or the sources of belief we are still Muslim.


Rant over!!





Here are some quotes to back up my argument!


The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Reflect upon creation of Allah, do not reflect on Allah."

Abu Naeem Al-Hilya



The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Reflect on the favors of God, do not reflect on His Essence, for you will never be able to give Him His due."

Imam Al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab Al-Imam (120)



Someone asked our master Ali (may Allah ennoble his face), "Dear cousin of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) where is our Lord? Or is he in a place?" His face changed and he remained silent for a moment.

Then he said, "You are saying where is Allah? questioning about place? Allah was before there was place, then he created time and place. He is now, as he was, before time and place." Meaning, Allah was and nothing besides, he is now as he was, so understand.

(Ibn Ajiba in Miraj at-tshwafa Haqiaq at-Tassawaf p.55)



When Imam Shafi delivered his first speech about “The Treatise” he said, “All praise is for Allah, who is as he described himself, beyond how creation describe him.” Then he explained (may Allah show him mercy), “Allah is described, as he described himself, in his book and upon the tongue of his Prophet peace and blessings of God be upon him.”


Likewise, Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal said, “There is no description of Allah except as he described himself or as his Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did."

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Innovation/ Bid’a




The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Whoever innovates a new action will have it rejected.” Bukhari


Also


“All innovations are misguidance and every misguidance is in the fire.” Nisa’i



In the Arabic language Bid’a means innovation, something is done with previous presidence



Innovation/Bid’a is the scared law has to meet two conditions


1) A new action has not been done by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)


2) Which has no roots in Islam
To meet one condition is not enough it has to meet both to be innovation



The Wahabi/Selafi scholars only accept the first condition



A different description of innovation/bid’a is to fabricate an action about religion that did not occur during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)



It has to be about Islamic law not lifestyle and it has to oppose Islamic law, a law that is currently present



Bid’a/Innovation can be good/Hassana or acceptable


1. The hadith, “The one who innovates a good innovation has the reward of it and those who follow.”


2. Tarawiah (Prayers after the night prayer in the month of Ramadan) was done individually at the same time in the masjid, during Umar ibn Khattab’s khaliphate he ordered and them to follow one Imam; when Umar came into the masjid and saw the unity of the Muslims he said, “What a blessed innovation.”


3. Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) made two calls to prayer/Adhans for Friday/Jumma congregational prayer. One when the Imam comes out and the second one at the khutba/speech (after the bayan).



Bid’a Hassana/good innovation is of two kinds


1. Wajib/necessary: the rules of Arabic grammar which are sourced from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) when he said, “Words are: nouns, verbs and particles.”


2. Mustahab/desired: write number of ayats/verses, to build a place away from the masjid to teach –madrasa or university



A rule that illustrates this is, “Something you need to perform a necessary action; is itself necessary.”



Izzudeen ibn Abdussalam (may Allah show him mercy) said, “Check if the innovation supports Islam; if it does then it’s okay.”



Bid’a Sayyiah/ sinful innovation is two kinds


1. Haram/Prohibited: to make creation equal to creator, Quran has 40 parts and calling Muslims disbelievers


2. Makruh/highly disliked: to over decorate a masjid



As long as the innovation has root in Islam (it has a traceable act) then it is Bid’a Hassana



Some scholars of the Sunna namely Imam Malik, Imam Bayhaqi and Imam Ibn Rajab say there is only one bid’a; they mean bid’a haram not bid’a hassana



Imam Ghazali (may Allah show him mercy) said, “One of the biggest sins is to call someone a disbeliever, innovator or a hypocrite.” From his book Minhaj Al-‘Abideen


Imam Shaf'i states in Kitab al-Umm, "There are two kinds of innovation; praiseworthy innovation and blameworthy innovation. Whatever agrees with Prophetic practice is praiseworthy and what is against it is blameworthy."


If someone has called anyone any of the above; then he must seek that persons forgiveness.

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Shirk/polytheism or idolatry

“Dear son do not associate partners to Allah, Truly idolatry is a great injustice.” Luqman 31:12


“Allah does not forgive idolatry, yet he will forgive other than that, to whomever he pleases.” The Women 4:48

Shirk in the Arabic language means to co share or to share


In the sacred law it means to make a partner to God, in essence or worship

There are six types of Shirk:


1. Shirk Istqlal: Autonomous idolatry – to belief in separate deities i.e. Zoroastrians


2. Shirk Tab’ad: separate idolatry – to say God is one of three


3. Shirk Taqrib: approximate idolatry – to say that they are worshipping idols to get closer to God.


4. Shirk Taqlid: Imitative idolatry – to follow fathers


5. Shirk Falsafa: idolatry of the philosophers – to believe that there is a power other than God


6. Shirk Al-Gharad: idolatry of intention – this is carry out actions for other God, in intention

The first four are considered as disbelief/kufr


The fifth: we have to find out: a) if he believes that something has independence power then it is kufr, b) if they believe that they have a power by God then this is innovation/Bi’da
The sixth is a sin

Shirk/idolatry is minor and major.


One to five are major idolatry and number six in minor because of the hadith that it is minor idolatry when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned the companions. The Prophet said, "I only fear for you minor idolatry.” The companions asked, “What is minor idolatry?” He replied, “Ostentation.” (Imam Ahmed Musnad 23119)



According to other scholars they state idolatry is three kinds:


1. Idolatry in Lordship/Rububiyyah by two things: a) to deny God and say he is created, b) to say someone can create other than God.

2. Idolatry in Uluhiyyah: this is worship of other things, this is major and the minor shirk has been explained before


3. Idolatry in names and attributes of God, this is of two types: A) to consider something similar to God, someone can forgive other than him. B) To make god similar to creation

Sheikh Atabek Shurkurov

Knowledge: prohibited, recommended, what to study etc...


(This is the first in a series of notes on classes that Sheikh Atabek gave last year. You will be able to find all the notes under the Halal and Haram label.)


To read/memorise a chapter about wudhu/ablution is better than one thousand units of prayer


“The sleep of a scholar is better than the worship of the ignorant.”


The first person who is thrown into hell is a scholar who did not benefit from his knowledge



Seeking knowledge is Haram/prohibited when:


1. It is done for other than Allah (mighty and majestic)


2. For a bad intention like gathering wealth


3. Seeking knowledge so you can argue


4. To seek fame



The obligatory knowledge/Fard ‘ayn (is an obligation upon every Muslim must learn) upon every Muslim is:


1. ‘Ilm al-Hal/ knowledge for your condition: Basic fiqh (jurisprudence), tajweed (how to recite the Quran correctly), sales if you are involved in buying and selling – whatever you need for yourself


2. Basic doctrine/aqida (Abu Hanifa said if someone has a question about doctrine then it is wajib/necessary to find a scholar and ask a question.)


3. Some spirituality/etiquette or suluk



A prohibited knowledge is Black magic which is major sin if done and can lead to disbelief, if a person believes that black magic has a power independently. The reality of black magic is that some people can control non muslims jinns (ghost like creatures made from smokeless fire) but the jinns cannot make you do anything. If you eat seven dates it protects you from poison and black magic.



Fard khifayah (communal obligation) this is an obligation on a community of Muslims, if performed by one person the sin falls from the remainder. We need Muftis, doctors, Quran memorisers etc



Other types of forbidden knowledge are:


1. Zodiac/astrology


2. Tea leaf reading


3. Palm reading


4. Deep theology in order to debate (for the layman)