Saturday, April 23, 2011

Ibn Battah al-Ukbari (d. 387H) on the Three Aspects of The Tawhid of the Messengers

Ibn Battah is one of the great scholars from the fourth century (304H-387H), and he was a student of Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi and amongst his students was Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani. He was a righteous man and despite some weakness in his memory, he was an Imaam of the Sunnah, he authored his great work "al-Ibaanah" in compiling the aqidah of the Muslims and in refutation of the deviant sects that had emerged from the Jahmiyyah, Qadariyyah, Mu'tazilah, Muri'ah, Khawaarij, Raafidah and others. Ibn Battah al-Ukbaree said in his work (الإبانة عن شريعة الفرقة الناجية), "al-Ibaanah", (2/172-173):


وذلك أن أصل الإيمان بالله الذي يجب على الخلق اعتقاده في إثبات الإيمان به ثلاثة أشياء: أحدها: أن يعتقد العبد ربانيته؛ ليكون بذلك مبايناً لمذهب أهل التعطيل الذين لا يثبتون صانعاً. والثاني: أن يعتقد وحدانيته؛ ليكون بذلك مبايناً لأهل الشرك الذين أقروا بالصانع وأشركوا معه في العبادة غيره. والثالث: أن يعتقده موصوفاً بالصفات التي لا يجوز إلا أن يكون موصوفاً بها من العلم والقدرة والحكمة وسائر ما وصف به نفسه في كتابه. إذ قد علمنا أن كثيراً ممن يقر به ويوحده بالقول المطلق قد يلحد في صفاته فيكون إلحاده في صفاته قادحاً في توحيده. ولأنا نجد الله تعالى قد خاطب عباده بدعائهم إلى اعتقاد كل واحدة من هذه الثلاث والإيمان بها. فأما دعاؤه إياهم إلى الإقرار بربانيته ووحدانيته فلسنا نذكر هذا هاهنا لطوله وسعة الكلام فيه، ولأن الجهمي يدعي لنفسه الإقرار بهما وإن كان جحده للصفات قد أبطل دعواه لهما

And this is because the foundation of al-eemaan (faith) in Allah whose belief is obligatory upon the creation in affirmation of of belief in Him is [comprised of] three things:
The first of them: That the slave believe in his Rabbaaniyyah (his Lordship over all creation) so that by this he separates from the doctrine of the negators who do not affirm a maker (creator). And the second: That he believes in his Wahdaaniyyah (his sole right to be worshipped) so that by this he separates from the people of Shirk (associationism) who affirm the Maker (Creator) but they associated others with Him in worship.
And the third: That he believes Him be to be described with [such] attributes which are not permitted except for Him to be described with, such as knowledge (ilm), power (qudrah), wisdom (hikmah) and all of what He has descrbed Himself with in His Book.
Since we know that many of those who affirm Him (in His Rabbaaniyyah) and single Him out [in His Wahdaaniyyah] with a generalized saying, but who deviate in [the subject of] His Attributes, and thus his deviation in the Attributes is damaging to His Tawhid. And also because we find that Allaah, the Most High, has addressed His slaves by inviting them to have belief in all of these three types and to have faith in them.
As for His inviting them to affirm His Rabbaaniyyah (Lordship) and His Wahdaaniyyah (sole right to be worshipped alone), then we shall not mention this here due to its length and the vastness of the speech regarding it. And also because the Jahmee claims the affirmation of them both for himself, even if his denial of the Attributes invalidates his claim regarding them both.
And thus it is established that this particular understanding of Tawhid was present amongst the Salaf in the fourth century and was certainly not an innovation of those Scholars who came three to seven centuries later (the 8th and 12th centures after hijrah). You may also want to read this article which indicates that the early Kullaabi Ash'arites, despite their deviation in aspects of creed (aqidah) were nevertheless still clear about the true nature of the Tawhid of the Messengers with respect to His Wahdaaniyyah, Uloohiyyah, Uboodiyyah (sole right to worship). They were free and innocent of the deviations of some of the later hybridized Ash'aris - [they combined aspects of the creed of the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah with that of Ibn Kullaab] - who incorporated gnostic mysticism into their religion and through this were led to further aberrations in Tawhid.

Source :  www.tawhidfirst.com


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Muhammad bin Mus'ab al-Aabid (d. 228H): I Bear Witness That Allaah is Above the Throne Above the Seventh Heaven, Not as the Heretics Say

Abu al-Hasan Alee ad-Daraqutnee (d. 385H), brings in his "Kitaab us-Sifaat, with his chain of narration:
Muhammad bin Makhlad narrated to us: Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Umar bin al-Hakam Abu al-Hasan al-Ataa said: I heard Muhammad bin Mus'ab al-Aabid saying:

Whoever claims that you do not speak and will not be seen in the Hereafter, then He is a kaafir (disbeliever) in your Face, and he does not know you. I bear witness that you are above the Throne, above the seventh heaven and it is not as your enemies, the zanaadiqah (heretics) say.
 
Muhammad bin Mus'ab was one of the pious worshipers and reciters, he was praised by Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal who described him with being upon the Sunnah, and Abu al-Hasan al-Attaar narrated from him. He was thiqah, and a reciter of the Book of Allaah. He died in 228H, refer to Taareekh Bagdhaad (3/279) of al-Khateeb. And al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee also reported this athar with the same isnaad in Tareekh Baghdaad (3/280). And it is also found in as-Sunnah of Abdullaah bin Imaam Ahmad (1/182).

Source: "Kitaab us-Sifaat" of ad-Daraqutnee (tahqeeq Alee Naasir al-Faqeehee), no. 64, p 72.

Source : www.abovethethrone.com


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Allaah Has Combined All of Medicine (at-Tibb) in Half a Verse of the Qur'aan

All praise is due to Allaah and may the prayers and salutations be upon His Messenger, to proceed:


Allaah the Most High said, "...And eat and drink and be not excessive (therein)..." (al-A'raaf 7:31)

Ibn Katheer commented upon this verse:

One of the Salaf said: Allaah has combined the entirety of medicine (at-tibb) in half a verse, "And eat and drink and be not excessive..."

Al-Qurtubi commented upon this verse, after mentioning that excessive eating is makrooh (disliked), he mentions the benefits of eating little:

... In eating little there are many benefits. From them that a man becomes of sounder body, of better memory, purer in understanding, (requiring) less sleep, and lighter in (his) soul...

Then he mentioned the harms of eating excessively:

... and in eating much there is the overstuffing of the stomach and putrefaction of undigested food, and from this the variety of diseases are produced, and thus he requires treatment more than what the one who eats little requires. Some of the physicians said, "The greatest treatment (dawaa') is (appropriate) estimation of (one's) food (intake)." And the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has explained this meaning sufficiently and completely which does away with the speech of the physicians, so he said, "The son of Aadam does not fill a container worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Aadam to take enough morsels of food to keep his back straight (keep him able-bodied). And if it is necessary, then a third for his food, a third for his drink, and a third for his breath."...

Then a little later al-Qurtubi says:

And it is mentioned that (the caliph) ar-Rasheed used to have a shrewd Christian physician who said to Alee bin Hasan, "There is not in your Book (the Qur'aan) anything of the knowledge of medicine, and knowledge of is of two types, knowledge of the religions and knowledge of the bodies." So he said to him, "Allaah has combined all of medicine in half a verse in our Book." So he said, "What is it?" He said, "The saying of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic: And eat and drink and be not excessive."...

And Imaam ad-Dhahabi in his book "at-Tibb an-Nabawi" (p. 34-35) says:

The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: "The son of Aadam does not fill a container worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Aadam to take enough morsels of food to keep his back straight (keep him able-bodied). And if it is necessary, then a third for his food, a third for his drink, and a third for his breath." This was reported by an-Nasaa'ee and at-Tirmidhee, who said, "Hasan Saheeh" ... and this is one from the aspects of preserving health.

Alee bin Hasan said: "And Allah, the Sublime and Exalted has combined the whole of medicine in (just) half a verse, so He, the Most High said, "And eat and drink and be not excessive..."

He is Alee bin al-Hasan bin Shaqeeq bin Muhammad bin Deenar bin Mush'ab, Abu Abdur-Rahman al-'Eedee al-Marwazi (d. 215H), the Imaam, the Haafidh, the Shaykh of Khurasaan, he came to Baghdad and narrated from the likes of Ibrahim bin Tahman, Abdullaah Ibn al-Mubaarak, Sufyaan bin Uyainah and others, and Ahmad bin Hanbal, Yahya bin Ma'een and others narrated from him, and his ahaadeeth are in the Six Books. He was a haafidh of a great amount of knowledge, and a haafidh of many books, including the Tawraat and Injeel and he debated the Jews and Christians. His biography can be found in all the major books of Rijaal.

Source : http://www.healthymuslim.com/





Thursday, April 7, 2011

Stark warning against Bid’ah by a great Companion of the Messenger


As mentioned by ad-Daarimee in his Sunan (1/79):
‘Amr ibn Salmah said: We used to sit by the door of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ood before the Morning Prayer, so that when he came out we would walk with him to the mosque. (One day) Abu Moosaa al-Ash’aree came to us and said: “Has Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan come out yet?” We replied, “No”. So he sat down with us until he came out.

When he came out we all stood along with him, so Abu Moosaa said to him, “O Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan! I have just seen something in the mosque which I deemed to be evil, but all praise is for Allaah, I did not see anything except good.” He enquired, “Then what is it?” (Abu Moosaa) replied, “If you live you will see it. I saw in the mosque people sitting in circles awaiting the Prayer. In each circle they had pebbles in their hands a man would say ‘repeat Allahu Akbar a hundred times.’ So they would repeat it a hundred times. Then he would say, ‘say Laa ilaaaha illallaah a hundred times’. So they would say it a hundred times. Then he would say, ‘say Subhaanallaah a hundred times.’ So they would say it a hundred times.”
(Ibn Mas’ood) asked, “What did you say to them?” (Abu Moosaa) said, “I did not say anything to them. Instead I waited to hear your view or what you declared.” (Ibn Masood) replied, “Would that you had ordered them to count up the evil deeds they acquired and assured them that their good deeds would not be lost!”

Then we went along with him (Ibn Mas’ood) until he came to one of these circles and stood and said, “What is this which I see you doing?” They replied, “O Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan! These are pebbles upon which we are counting takbeer, tahleel and tasbeeh.” He said, “Count up your evil deeds. I assure you that none of your good deeds will be lost. Woe to you, O Ummah of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)! How quickly you go to destruction! These are his (صلى الله عليه وسلم) clothes which have not yet decayed and his bowl which is unbroken. By Him in Whose Hand is my soul! Either you are upon a Religion better guided than the Religion of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) or that you are opening the door of misguidance.”

They said, “O Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan! By Allaah, we only intended good.” He said, “How many there are who intend good but do not achieve it. Indeed Allaah’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to us ‘A people will recite the Qur’aan but it will not pass beyond their throats.’ By Allaah! I do not know, perhaps most of them are from you.” Then he left them.
Umar ibn Salmah (the sub-narrator) said: “We saw most of those people fighting against us on the day of Nahrawaan, along with the Khawaarij.”

[Authenticated in al-Bid'ah (pp. 26-29)]

Source : www.islamtees.co.uk


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Regarding the military coup against a ruler

Question:

Is that which in present days is known as a "military coup" against the ruler, mentioned in the Religion or is it an innovation?

Answer:

There is no basis for these actions in Islaam. And it is in opposition to the Islaamic methodology with regard to establishing the da'wah (Call to Islaam) and creating the right atmosphere for it. Rather, it is only an innovation introduced by the disbelievers, which has influenced some Muslims. This is what I stated in my notes and explanation to Al-'Aqeedah At-Tahaawiyyah.

Shaykh Naasir ud-Deen al-Albaanee
Al-Asaalah No. 10

Translated by Ismaal Alarcon

Source: FatwaIslam.com