Ahl as Sunnah vs the "Salafi" Movement - Their Naming Muslims Disbelievers (Takfir)

Ahl as Sunnah vs the "Salafi" Movement - Their Naming Muslims Disbelievers (Takfir)

Radd al Salafiyya - Refutations

Written by Al-Shaykh Jamil Effendi al-Siqdi al-Zahawi

Page 13 of 22

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8: Their Naming Muslims Disbelievers (Takfir)

Wahhabis have pretexts for their doctrine to in order to construct a foundation for their unwarranted innovation in religion. One of them is to declare Muslims unbelievers. That is because Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, as you know by now, has been seduced by the evil promptings of his ego into attempting to create a new religion by which he could obtain political leadership. However, when he saw that this could not be brought to pass in the land of Muslims -- for, in spite of their extreme ignorance, they held fast to the faith of Islam -- he created the innovation in Islam itself. Furthermore, when he saw that the matter could not be accomplished except after declaring Muslims disbelievers by using some semblance of Qur'anic evidence, he found that the only way to declare them unbelievers was through their calling on God by using their Prophet as a means (tawassul) as well as for the sakes of other prophets, awliya and pious persons. Likewise he levelled the same charge at those who vow or perform sacrifices for their sakes and perform other acts whose description I shall bring later. All these matters he considers worship of the Prophets and the saints. And since the Qur'an is jam-packed with clearly articulated verses to the effect that one who worships something or someone other than God, he is an idolater, Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab makes all monotheists idolaters because of the state of affairs just described.

Since the Wahhabis have declared disbeliever all Muslims who differ with them, they have made their country the land of warfare (bilad harb). Then they have made licit the shedding their blood and seizing their property. Yet God, the Exalted, has said: "Surely, religion with God is the Surrender (al-Islam)" (3:19). And the Prophet has said: "Islam consists in testifying that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God." Also, in the hadith of Ibn `Umar we find: " Islam is built upon five things: Testifying that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the His servant and Messenger," to the end of the hadith. There is the hadith of the delegation of `Abd al-Qays: "I order you to believe in God alone. Do you know what belief in God alone is? It is to bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God."^ft1 Ibn Qayyim said: "All Muslims agree that if the disbeliever says: There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God, he enters Islam."

Know that to declare a Muslim a unbeliever is no small matter. The ulama, among them Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim^ft1, have agreed that the ignorant person and the one who makes a mistake in this community, even if what is done makes its perpetrator an idolater or disbeliever, and that person pleads the excuse of ignorance or that he made a mistake until a proof is explained to him in a lucid and clear fashion, a situation like such a person's is ambiguous.^ft1 The Muslim might have joined in him disbelief, idolatry and faith. Yet he does not disbelieve in such a way that carries him out of the religion.

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