Students Who Claimed Affiliation with the Shaykh, and the Harm They Did to the Call and to the Shaykh

We must point out here the reasons that led some of those who affiliate themselves with the Shaykh to fall into what they fell into of contraventions of the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah, the followers of the righteous predecessors (al-Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ) — the result being that the Shaykh was accused, because of them, of what he did not say or believe.

Among these reasons is that they think researching issues of creed is like researching the documentation (takhrīj) of a hadith. Imagine one of them researching the documentation of a hadith that none of the early scholars had documented before him, and reaching a result that makes readers marvel at the strength of his research and his acquaintance with printed and manuscript sources. He thereby achieves two aims:

First: he wins the reader’s trust.

Second: he deludes himself and others into thinking that every issue requires this kind of research, which only those acquainted with everything the Islamic library contains, printed and manuscript, are capable of.

In truth, although these people depend on the Imam in much of their verification and documentation, I have no doubt that they have great skill!! in acquaintance with sources and the ability to track them down. But it should be known that the issues of creed in particular do not require these qualities, which they think are found only in themselves. Every student of knowledge who researches an issue of creed returns to the reliable books in this field and comes away with the correct answer.

That is because these issues were settled long ago, and whatever evidences appear to the researcher to contradict what the imams established in them belong to the ambiguous (al-mutashābih), which must be referred back to the clear and decisive (al-muḥkam) — and even a layman is capable of this. That is why the reviving Imam Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb said: “A layman among the people of tawḥīd defeats a thousand of the scholars of evil,” because those people have nothing but doubts. For this reason the Imam directed whoever debates them to the general answer; refer to it in the treatise Kashf al-Shubuhāt, for it is important.

This is unlike researching one of the issues recorded in the books of fiqh, or researching the documentation of a hadith; in that field, if the need arises to cite the statement of an innovator as evidence, no one will object to you. You will find confirmation of what I say written in the book Iḥkām al-Taqrīr, which Murād Shukrī wrote and ʿAlī al-Ḥalabī undertook to print, and which Dr. Bāzmūl continued to praise and commend until recently. However, in the latest period he became aware of the error we pointed out, and began to say: “What the writer established is the truth, except that he erred in quoting from the people of innovation.” Then he reached the point now of judging everyone who falls into shirk to be a disbeliever, and that the texts on excuse on account of ignorance are to be applied to the ruling in the Hereafter.

Do not be surprised, for these people were afflicted through the very door we pointed out above. When one of them was told about a hadith that the early scholars had graded weak while he held it to be authentic, he would say to those around him: “The matter needs research.” After researching, he would reach the conclusion that the hadith is authentic, even if some of the early scholars graded it weak. And if we looked at his research, we would be struck by the strength of research and verification in it, which we — or at least some of us — are incapable of. At that point, the one who differed with him would concede to him and perhaps even testify to his eminence.

Although I say: if some students of knowledge well grounded in this field reviewed his so-called verification, they would find in it errors, misrepresentation and truncation known only to Allah. But because most of us have not given this field much attention, one may admire the strength of the research along with the admirers, without knowing the reality of the matter.

And may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muḥammad and upon his family and Companions.