Darul Uloom Trinidad & Tobago

Please respond to the contents of the following flyer circulated in our Jamaah.

Answer:
BEWARE OF THE FITNA THAT SURROUNDS YOU

Recently, a brother handed a ‘flyer’ to me which propagated certain deviated teachings. Seeing that it was filled with a lot of ‘absurdities’, I felt that it was my Islamic duty to alarm the Muslims of this ‘misguided flyer’ so that they can save themselves from the mischief of the innovators.

From the statements of the brother (in the article), there is a clear indication that the writer could not be a scholar, nor did he do any formal studies in Islam. He is also not acquainted with the ‘names’ which the innovators use loosely on their tongues.

In the beginning of the article, the writer quoted a Hadith, which in reality, condemned him and others like him. However, due to his ignorance, he thought that it could be used in his favor. The hadith he quoted was:
“In the period prior to the Day of Judgement, false and deceitful groups will emerge. They will say things to you, which neither you nor your forefathers will have ever heard before. Stay away from these deceitful people and do not let them come near you! Do not be misguided by them and do not let them cause strife amongst you!”

When we look at this hadith, we see that the Prophet (SAS) said, ‘to beware of people who bring new things to you and narrate things that were not narrated by the early generations of Islam’. Now, if we look at the (hadith) traditions, quoted by many scholars who oppose the practices of the writer, we will see that all these traditions are to be found in all the authentic compilations of hadith. The source of these ahadith is authentic, and the generations of the early Muslims have all narrated these traditions. On the other hand, when the ‘innovators’ narrate traditions, regarding their innovated practices, then these fall within the category of ‘extremely weak hadith, fabricated and concocted ones, or fabricated tales by people’. These traditions do not normally come from the Sahabahs, and the Muslims of the early generations have never heard about them. The writer should therefore first, find out whether they are acceptable in the shariah or not before he applies judgement to others.

In his haste to write (an article), he committed many great sins by making false allegations, and applying heretical judgments without doing research/investigation on any of the groups he has mentioned. The poor fellow used words that he knows nothing about. If you were to ask him, who is ‘Najdi, Deobandi or Tablighi’? He will not be able to give an honest and true answer. Instead, he will say the same thing that other innovators have said, and will not be bothered about whether it is the truth in the sight of Allah or not. Individuals like him, have no fear for Allah. They say whatever they wish, only to please their feelings and emotions, and are not followers of the true teachings of the Prophet (SAS). I will like to ask him as to what are his evidences for condemning the groups as heretical? How is it that he left out the ‘Bereilwi group’ who is known to be full fledged evil innovators? Did he forget about this group? It seems to me that he intentionally omitted it because he is one of them. He should be ashamed to write about others, when he himself subscribes to a group whose teachings and practices have been condemned by the scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. Our readers should become intelligent, and demand proofs from these innovators when they fabricate lies against the people of truth. The ignorant writer tried to concoct his own understanding about the issues he dealt with. However, he wasted his time and energy, and instead of presenting the truth in light of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, he misguided his readers.

He stated, ‘The Holy Prophet (SAS) advised us to remain firm with the largest group of Muslims and remain steadfast upon their way in beliefs and in actions’.

The writer then quoted the hadith of the Prophet (SAS), ‘Seventy two (of the 73 sects of the Muslim nation) will be in the fire and only one will be in paradise, it is the Jama’ah (i.e. Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah).

Our brother must know that the majority and the largest group of Muslims always remained firm upon the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAS). They never practiced innovations and did not invent new practices in Islam. If the writer wishes to be from among the largest group of Muslims, then he must shun the innovated practices that he invites towards, and come upon the path of the Sahabahs (RA), Tabieen and Tabu’t Tabieen. These pious generations of Muslims never practiced the innovations that the writer is involved in.

Further in the article, the writer suggests some signs of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah and then presents about eight things to note about the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. He mentioned these by saying:-

“ Some things to note about the Ahlu’s Sunnah wa’l Jama’ah are:

All Sunni Muslims belong to one of the four Madhabs.
Sunni Muslims accept all the authentic Sufi Orders.
Sunni Muslims honor the Holy Prophet’s (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) birthday.
Sunni Muslims kiss their thumb nails and wipe it on their eyes on the mention of the Prophets’ (Sallal laahu alsihi easallam) name in the Adhan, and make dua after Adhan.
All Sunni Muslims practice sending Salaams upon the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) after Jumma prayers in congregation, after Moulood and Shukrana functions.
Sunni Muslims accept the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) to be Omnipresent (Hazir and Nazir) as Allah (Subhaanahuu wa ta’aala) has permitted him (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam).
Sunnis make Zikrullah in the Masjid in an audible voice.
Sunnis Accept the Waseela or intercession and by it they reach the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam.). Etc. etc.” (End quote)

The strange thing about what the writer has mentioned, is that no book on the topic of Aqeedah has mentioned any of the above statements as being the signs of a Sunni Muslim

On the first point (A) the brother wrote:
‘All Sunni Muslims belong to one of four Madhabs’. This statement of the writer is not found in any book of Aqeedah of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. If this is what the writer believes, then it means that he does not consider the Sahabahs and Tabieen to be Sunni Muslims since they did not follow a Mazhab. Since the Mazhabs were developed between the 2nd- 4th century A.H, it seems that the writer wishes to imply that all the Muslims before this time were not Sunni Muslims. ( nothing short of a clear fabrication on his part).

On point (B) the brother writes:
‘Sunni Muslims accept all the authentic Sufi Orders’.
This statement cannot be found in any book of Aqeedah. No scholar has mentioned this as a sign of a Sunni Muslim. In fact, by making this a sign of a Sunni Muslim, the ignorant writer has thrown out the Sahabahs and Tabieen from being Sunni Muslims since none of them followed Sufi orders. These orders came about among the latter day Muslims.

The writer states in point ( C):
‘Sunni Muslims honor the Holy Prophet’s (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) birthday’.
This also has never been mentioned as a sign of a Sunni Muslim in any book of Aqeedah. All Muslims honor the Prophet (SAS), but it is the innovators who celebrate his birthday. The Sahabahs, Tabieen, Tabu’t Tabieen (the three best generations after the Prophet (SAS) never celebrated his birthday. The writer should state whether he thinks they were Sunni Muslims or not, seeing that he has fabricated his personal signs for Sunni Muslims.

On point (D), he writes:
‘Sunni Muslims kiss their thumb nails and wipe it on their eyes on the mention of the Prophets’ (Sallal laahu alsihi easallam) name in the Adhan, and make dua after Adhan’.
This act also was not practiced by the Sahabahs, Tabieen, Tabu’t Tabieen. Does it mean that they were not Sunni Muslims? Furthermore, if this is done out of respect/love for the Prophet (SAS), then why don’t these people do it at other times when they hear the blessed name of the Prophet (SAS).

On point (E) the writer writes: ‘
All Sunni Muslims practice sending Salaams upon the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) after Jumma prayers in congregation, after Moulood and Shukrana functions’.
Here, the writer goes a bit deeper in his innovations and instead of saying ‘All innovator Muslims’, he makes a big mistake and said, ‘All Sunni Muslims’.
This statement is nothing but sheer falsehood. It has never been the practice of Muslims who adhere strictly to the creed of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah to practice the innovation of standing collectively to sing salaams upon the Prophet (SAS). The Sahabahs, Tabieen, Tabu’t Tabieen and the generations after them never did this practice. These pious generations of Muslims never did Moulood and Shukrana functions. Even in Trinidad, the Muslims in all our Masjids never sang the Tazeem after Juma Salaah as we see today. This is another wrong innovation that has crept up among some Muslims. The scholars of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah have condemned this as an innovation of the latter day Muslims. The brother is really confused as to who are the Sunni Muslims. It seems that he has mistaken ‘the innovators’ to be Sunni Muslims.

On point (F) the writer states:
‘Sunni Muslims accept the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) to be Omnipresent (Hazir and Nazir) as Allah (Subhaanahuu wa ta’aala) has permitted him (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam)’.

Here, the writer has committed a grave sin by falsely accusing Sunni Muslims of subscribing to a belief of shirk. Followers of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah do not accept the concocted belief that the Prophet (SAS) is Hazir & Nazir. This is clear deviation which has never been preached by the Sunni Muslims. The Sahabahs, Tabieen, Tabu’t Tabieen and those after them never had this belief. It seems that the brother is speaking about the group of Muslims that he is affiliated with.

On point (G) the writer states:
‘ Sunnis make Zikrullah in the Masjid in an audible voice’.
From this statement, it seems that the brother is simply looking at what he does in his life and then identifies these as signs of the Sunni Muslims. Like the other points before no scholar on the face of the earth has mentioned that this as a sign of the Sunni Muslims. This is a fabrication of the writer’s thoughts and feelings. In the traditions, it is clearly established that the great Sahabi, Abdullah bin Masood (RA) expelled Muslims from the masjid for making the Zikr of Allah in an audible voice. None of the Sahabah, Tabieen, and Tabu’t Tabieen practiced this act. Hence, if the statement of the brother is the truth, then it means that according to him, the Sahabahs, Tabieen and Tabu’t Tabieen were not Sunni Muslims.

On point (H) the writer states:
‘Sunnis Accept the Waseela or intercession and by it they reach the Holy Prophet (Sallal laahu alaihi wasallam.).’
Here, it seems clear to me that the brother has become confused with the word ‘Waseela’ and ‘intercession’. He also stated, ‘by it they reach the Holy Prophet (SAS). From this statement, it is very clear that the writer has absolutely no knowledge regarding these terms and he simply wants to confuse the innocent Muslims by writing these words.

In conclusion, I can say that the writer of this article has no knowledge about what he has written and the contents of the writing shows a great amount of confusion and ignorance on his part. If he is called upon to prove any of what he has written, he would be totally incapable to produce a single proof for his statements from the Holy Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAS) and the writings of the four great Imams of Fiqh.

It is sad to know that many of those who ‘fight’ to uphold these practices do not even know the basic teachings of Islam. Their recitation of Quran in salaah is so bad, that in accordance to the laws of recitation their salaah becomes invalid. Yet, although they know that they cannot recite Quran properly with the laws of ‘recitation’, and they do not know all the Masaa’il (laws) of Salaah and Taharah they do not make an effort to correct their deficiencies and weaknesses. Instead, they waste their precious time ‘fighting’ to uphold practices which never existed in Islam. Some of these Muslims are not worthy to become Imams due to their high level of ignorance, yet, they boldly occupy this responsible position, and at times misguide their communities by presenting wrong teachings to them. These brothers should use their time to study Islam properly. They must also learn to recite the Quran with the proper of recitation, so that they can truly fulfil the sacred duty of Imamat (leadership) in Islam.

May Allah guide us to that which is right.

And Allah Knows Best
Mufti Waseem Khan