Uncovering the Absurdities behind the Claim of ‘Attacking the Salafees’ – A
Highlights
- Regrettably, it appears that our silence has only served to embolden those making these unjust accusations, as they have misinterpreted our patience as acceptance, and deceitfully presented their false accusations as fact, using this method and other disgraceful intimidation tactics to discourage others from benefiting from the translated works of our scholars, and six years of patience, as most would agree, is more than sufficient.
- It was anticipated that our patience during the past six years would have achieved some degree of rectification, allowing for careful contemplation on the part of our accusers to reflect on what they have been doing and seek to sincerely rectify their propagation of this falsehood.
- After a sustained period of silence and deliberate patience, due to taking the greater benefit of the Da’wah into consideration and hoping for a less public way to remedy this situation, some of the translators at Madeenah.com have decided to respond to some of the false and reckless accusations that have been unjustly levied against the site…
- …this response is not reactionary; had this been the case, we would have hastened to respond at the time the false accusations were being made and circulated with fervor. Yet, we tolerantly observed and maintained our silence…
- …the innocent masses are led to believe that criticizing this select number of brothers is a criticism of the Salafees as a whole, which is a subtle form of Hizbiyyah…
- The juvenile misconception that they (Salafi Publications) are ‘the Salafees’, and therefore whoever criticizes them is consequently criticizing ‘the Salafees’.
- Salafi Publications have fallen into this exact self destructive misconception that al-Albaani (rahimahullah) and al-Fawzaan (hafidhahullah) have alluded to here.
- …some Salafees (Salafi Publications) were criticized in detail by other Salafees from amongst the people of knowledge – namely Shaykh Waseeullaah ‘Abbaas and Shaykh Khaalid ar-Raddaadee – for their errors, and then they claim ‘the Salafees are being attacked’ by Madeenah.com! Where is the sensibility in this feeble cry?
- Salafi Publications’ behavior mirrors precisely what the Shaykh warns against here. After scholarly criticism about them was published , they took the liberty of irresponsibly and unjustly targeting false accusations at Madeenah.com, falsely claiming that it is ‘attacking the salafees’ and rallying their audience against it…
- Salafi Publications’ disregard for senior religious authority, as in the case of the Lajnah, not to mention the sheer disrespect with which they propagated their open proclamation of “wait[ing] for the lajnah to correct its mistake”…
- Why was Salafi Publications’ criticism of the Lajnah not considered to be an attack on ‘the Salafees’, yet when they are at the receiving end of criticism by the people of knowledge ‘the salafees are under attack’?!
All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of creation, and may the Salaat and Salaam be upon the final Messenger, the one sent as a mercy to mankind, his family and companions.
Before proceeding, we ask Allaah the Mighty and the Majestic to bless us with sincerity, grant us precision and benefit the writers of this document as well as its readers.
To proceed:
Allaah mentions in His Glorious Book, the statement of His Prophet Shu’ayb ‘Alayhi as Salaam:
{I only intend reform as much as I am able. And my guidance is only from Allaah. Upon Him I have relied, and to Him I return}[1]
Meaning: I only wish to remedy the situation in what I command you to do and forbid you from; I only desire to rectify you to the best of my ability. {And my guidance} meaning my degree of success in achieving that goal {is only from Allaah, in Him I put my trust} in all my affairs {and to him I return}.
After a sustained period of silence and deliberate patience, due to taking the greater benefit of the Da’wah into consideration and hoping for a less public way to remedy this situation, some of the translators at Madeenah.com have decided to respond to some of the false and reckless accusations that have been unjustly levied against the site – accusations that have only instigated splitting, differing and animosity amongst many Salafees, while our beloved legislation calls to unity and harmony between us; behaviour that has led many Salafees to busy themselves with each other, display hizbiyyah (partisanship away from the truth) and chase others away from Salafiyyah as is all too apparent.
It was anticipated that our patience during the past six years would have achieved some degree of rectification, allowing for careful contemplation on the part of our accusers to reflect on what they have been doing and seek to sincerely rectify their propagation of this falsehood. Unfortunately, this period of time has sadly proven that rectification indeed can only be achieved with those who truly seek it.
Importantly, we would like to note that this response is not reactionary; had this been the case, we would have hastened to respond at the time the false accusations were being made and circulated with fervor. Yet, we tolerantly observed and maintained our silence, even though various observers over the years have requested that Madeenah.com reply to these false accusations; some even criticizing the website for its silence and not exercising its right to repel oppression.
Regrettably, it appears that our silence has only served to embolden those making these unjust accusations, as they have misinterpreted our patience as acceptance, and deceitfully presented their false accusations as fact, using this method and other disgraceful intimidation tactics to discourage others from benefiting from the translated works of our scholars, and six years of patience, as most would agree, is more than sufficient.
In order to keep this clarification concise and to the point, we will restrict ourselves to responding to the main accusations, as some of them are too ridiculous to warrant a response. The main accusations targeted at Madeenah.com are as follows:
1) Madeenah.com launches “attacks against the Salafis.”
2) Madeenah.com cooperates, has links to, defends, is aligned with, and promotes Jamiat Ahle Hadeeth of Birmingham, as well as other organizations and groups in Britain.
1. Does Madeenah.com launch ‘attacks against the Salafees’?
As absurd as this accusation is, this is what is being circulated and parroted as a main criticism against Madeenah.com, as can be seen in this thread[2] and elsewhere. There are two critical misconceptions that have led to such a statement:
The issue of labeling a specific organization or group of brothers as ‘the Salafees’ and
The issue of the term ‘attack’ being applied in this situation:
Firstly: The juvenile misconception that they (Salafi Publications) are ‘the Salafees’, and therefore whoever criticizes them is consequently criticizing ‘the Salafees’.
In order to respond to this misconception, some elementary points about Salafiyyah must be established;
What is Salafiyyah and who are ‘the Salafees’?
Al-Imaam Muhammad Naasirudeen Al-Albaanee stated:
“Salafiyyah is the attribution to the Salaf, therefore we must know who the Salaf are according to the Muslim scholars:
The Salaf are the people of the first three generations whom the Prophet – صلى الله عليه وسلم – bore witness to their virtue in the Hadeeth: “The most virtuous people are of my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them.”
These three generations are the Salaf.
So now that we know the meaning of ‘Salaf’ and ‘Salafiyyah’ we must be aware of two important issues:
The First: That Salafiyyah is neither an attribution to a person nor a group of people as is the case with many Islaamic organizations. It is an attribution to infallibility, and that is because it is impossible for the Salaf as-Saaleh to collectively agree upon misguidance…”[3]
Shaykh Saaleh Al-Fawzaan stated:
“…Thus Salafiyyah is following the salaf from the Companions (Sahabah), the Successors (Tabi’een), their students (Atbaa’ at-Tabi’een), and the virtuous generations; this is Salafiyyah. It is not permissible for anyone to monopolize it. Each and every individual that follows the methodology of the Salaf is Salafee. Salafiyyah is not specific to any group or individual, rather it is for anyone who truly embodies it.”[4]
Salafi Publications have fallen into this exact self destructive misconception that Al-Albaani (rahimahullah) and Al-Fawzaan (hafidhahullah) have alluded to here. They are exclusively attributing this term ‘the salafees’ or ‘the salafiyyoon’ to themselves and their organization specifically, as only they were criticized, not the Salafees at large, yet according to them ‘the Salafiyyoon’ seem to be ‘under attack’.
Al-Imaam Ibn Baaz stated:
“The Salaf are the people of the first three virtuous generations, so whoever follows their path and methodology is a Salafee…”[5]
Al-Imaam Ibn ‘Uthaymeen stated:
“…so whoever comes after them and follows their methodology is like them upon the methodology of the Salaf, even if he comes much later than them, because Salafiyyah is the Manhaj that the Salaf as-Saaleh followed, may Allaah be pleased with them…”[6]
Al-Lajnah Ad-Daa’imah stated:
“…and Salafees is the plural of Salafee, which is an attribution to the Salaf, the explanation of which has preceded. They are those who follow the methodology of the Salaf; the followers of the Book and the Sunnah, those who call to it and act upon it, and for this they are Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah…”[7]
Now that it is clear who ‘the Salafees’ are, the following questions arise:
Were any of the aforementioned ‘attacked’ by Madeenah.com?
Were any of the first three generations, or the scholars of Salafiyyah past and present ‘attacked’ by the site?
Were any of those who adhere to the Salafee methodology in their respective communities around the world – whether they be in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the Middle East, Asia, Europe or elsewhere attacked by Madeenah.com?
Absolutely not!
Rather, on Madeenah.com there are a few translated articles that address some of Salafi Publications’ errors. This scholarly criticism directed towards them was made by some of the people of knowledge from Saudi Arabia who know them, have advised them privately, and exercised patience with them before finally resorting to using a public platform to clarify their errors. These articles have been unjustly propagated as (1) an attack (2) against ‘the salafees’, a patently false and misguided notion which Salafi Publications have been dangerously cultivating their audience upon.
Promoting a select number of individuals in a certain locale and labeling them as ‘the Salafees’, deeming knowledge-based criticism towards them to be an ‘attack upon the Salafees’, (as though criticizing them equates to criticizing the Salafees as a whole) is tantamount to the loathsome Hizbiyyah that sadly continues to plague some of the Salafees of the West in the guise of different individuals or organizations. This will never be accepted or left unchecked, as the Manhaj of the Salaf has not, and will never accept any form of partisanship, no matter where it emanates from.
This understanding is unprecedented amongst the Salafee scholars, past and present. We have never come across a recognised scholar, no matter how well known he is for serving the Sunnah, being criticized by other Salafee scholars, then wailing that ‘the Salafees’ are being ‘attacked’.[8]
If someone is criticized because of his adherence to Salafiyyah, then this is clearly another matter. In this case, however, some Salafees (Salafi Publications) were criticized in detail by other Salafees from amongst the people of knowledge – namely Shaykh Waseeullaah ‘Abbaas[9] and Shaykh Khaalid ar-Raddaadee – for their errors, and then they claim ‘the Salafees are being attacked’ by Madeenah.com! Where is the sensibility in this feeble cry? Why do they unrelentingly refuse to acknowledge that their criticizers are Mashayikh who are well known for their Salafiyyah? Madeenah.com is merely a platform these Mashayikh have used to publish their very own opinions. In addition, it is well known that the People of the Sunnah welcome the clarification of one another’s mistakes without it leading to blameworthy discord.
Shaykh Rabee’ ibn Haadee stated:
“The Deen of Allaah and the Manhaj of the Salaf is not on this level that a lot of the youth believe it to be: That differing, enmity and disruption occur for the most trivial reasons. Amongst these reasons is that one individual speaks about another, and so a group of brothers strongly and stubbornly defend one brother and another group likewise defends the other. Then the conflicts and battles between the two (or more) groups begin. Allaah and His Messenger and the Deen of Islaam are free from this type of behavior, as it is from the handiwork of Shaytaan, who wants splitting, differing, enmity and hatred between the Muslims for the most trivial of reasons. Just as it is the way of the people of desires, innovations and Hizbiyyah, those who are far from the Manhaj of the Salaf”[10]
Salafi Publications’ behavior mirrors precisely what the Shaykh warns against here. After scholarly criticism about them was published , they took the liberty of irresponsibly and unjustly targeting false accusations at Madeenah.com, falsely claiming that it is ‘attacking the salafees’ and rallying their audience against it, while its translators abstained from responding as previously mentioned. This type of unwarranted behaviour can only lead to ‘splitting, differing, enmity and hatred’ as stated in the previous quote by Shaykh Rabee’.
This method of claiming that the Salafees as a whole, or the Muslims altogether are being attacked when only a select number of individuals are being criticized is well known amongst various Da’wah organizations that have fallen into Hizbiyyah; organizations that believe criticizing one or more individuals from amongst them is an ‘attack’ – as they would put it – upon them as a whole. Whoever criticizes them is against them, whether they use the term Ahlus Sunnah, Salafiyoon, the Salafees, Muslims, Muslim brotherhood or otherwise. This is exactly why Abu Muslimah was criticized for his khutbah “Enemies of Ahlus Sunnah”, where he clearly refers to himself and his supporters as ‘the people of the Sunnah’ and attempts to rally them against his criticizers.
It would be somewhat understandable, but still not acceptable, if a group of scholars such as Al-Lajnah Ad-Daa’imah (The Permanent Committee of some of the Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia) were to make such a claim, but even they have never claimed that ‘the salafees are being attacked’ when criticized. As a matter of fact, when Salafi Publications aligned themselves with “The Shaykh, The Muhaddith, Al-Allaamah ‘Ali Hasan Al-Halabi The Eminent student of Shaykhul-Islam Al-Albaanee ” – according to the title they themselves had given him[11] – and translated his response criticizing the Lajnah, who at that time consisted of the Shaykhs Abdul-Azeez Aal Ash-Shaykh, Saaleh Al-Fawzaan, ‘Abdullaah Al-Ghudayaan, Bakr Abu Zayd and other prominent senior scholars. Salafi Publications actually had the audacity to say, “We wait for the lajnah to correct its mistake!”[12]
Compare this to a recent post wherein they stated, ‘Ali Hasan bin Ali bin Abdul-Hameed al-Halabi is from Jordan. He first came to the UK in 1993. He was lauded as a student of the Imaam, the Muhaddith Muhammad Naasir ad-Deen al-Albaanee (rahimahullaah).'[13] Written as though they had nothing to do with him being “lauded” and promoted in the face of criticism by Al-Lajnah Ad-Daa’imah! And the issue of the likes of these games being played with the Da’wah will be addressed in the future insha Allaah, if time permits.
Salafi Publications’ disregard for senior religious authority, as in the case of the Lajnah, not to mention the sheer disrespect with which they propagated their open proclamation of “wait[ing] for the lajnah to correct its mistake”, is indicative of their desperate need to humble themselves to seeking knowledge at the feet of the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah. Why was Salafi Publications’ criticism of the Lajnah not considered to be an attack on ‘the Salafees’, yet when they are at the receiving end of criticism by the people of knowledge ‘the salafees are under attack’?!
What makes their claim that ‘the Salafees are being attacked’ a particularly bitter pill to swallow, is the fact that ‘the Salafees’ being referred to here are a few brothers living in a non-Muslim land, while their ‘attackers’ are Salafee scholars living in Saudi Arabia; teaching in some of the world’s most respected Islamic institutions.
There is much more that can be said about this feeble claim of theirs, but their is, insha Allaah, sufficiency in what has preceded, and the issue of applying the term ‘attack’ when scholarly criticism is directed to them will be addressed in the second part of this response insha Allaah.
To be continued…
Prepared by:
Abu ‘Abdul-Waahid Nadir Ahmed
Abu ‘Abdur-Razzaaq Tahir Wyatt
Abu ‘Abdullaah Mohammed Akhtar Chaudhry
Have you read Part B, Part C and Part D yet?
Uncovering the Absurdities behind the Claim of ‘Attacking the Salafees’ – B
Uncovering the Absurdities behind the Claim of ‘Attacking the Salafees’ – C
Uncovering the Absurdities behind the Claim of ‘Attacking the Salafees’ – D
Footnotes:
[1] Hood: 88
[2] Refer to: http://salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=9&Topic=7567
http://salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=9&Topic=5602
Examples of this method being applied in these threads:
Posted by – spubs.com: “The noble Scholar, the Imaam of the sciences of Jarh wa Ta’deel, stated regarding these types of baseless attacks upon the Salafiyyoon”
This thread was posted with the title “Lies Against Maktabah Salafiyyah Refuted by the Scholars”. ‘The Salafiyyoon’ in this quote are the same individuals mentioned in the title of the thread (i.e. Salafi Publications) as it was only them specifically that were criticized by some Mashayikh. The ‘types of baseless attacks’ include criticism directed towards them by Shaykh Waseeullaah ‘Abbaas and Shaykh Khaalid Ar-Raddaadee.
Posted by – spubs.com: “They add to that calamity by attacking those people who clarify and explain the truth and forbid the bid’ah and forbid misguidance”
Once again they are speaking about the ‘attacks’ by Shaykh Waseeullaah and Shaykh Khaalid, the site in question being Madeenah.com. ‘the people who clarify and explain the truth…” again are only a select number of indivduals and this generality is being falsely used.
Posted by – spubs.com: “Yet they continue to leave posts attacking Salafi Publications on their site, without evidence!”
Posted by – spubs.com: “AN ADVICE TO THE PEOPLE REGARDING THE RECENT AGGRESSIVE ATTACKS UPON SALAFI PUBLICATIONS”
There are many more of such quotes cluttering their website, which sadly, others have blindly parroted – creating a very unhealthy environment wherein the innocent masses are led to believe that criticizing this select number of brothers is a criticism of the Salafees as a whole and viewing their criticizers, who are Salafi maskhayikh in this case, as ‘attackers’.
[3] Refer to: http://www.sahab.net/forums/showthread.php?p=594377
[4] For the complete article refer to: https://madeenah.com/article.cfm?id=1346
[5] Al-‘Aqeedah al Hamawiyyah: p.203 – Footnotes of Dr. Hamad ibn ‘Abdul Muhsin At-Tuwayjree.
[6] Sharh Al-‘Aqeedah Al-Waasitiyyah: 1/35-54
[7] Fataawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Daa-imah: #1316
[8] Al Imaam Al-Albaanee, Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, Muqbil ibn Haadee Al-Waadi’ee, Rabee’ ibn Haadee Al-Madkhalee and others have all received their share of criticism by other Salafee scholars, yet they never claimed that ‘the Salafees’ were under attack, nor did the scholars of the Salaf whenrefuting one another.
[9] Refer to the Shaykh’s biography: http://www.asliahlesunnet.com/files/bio_sh_wasiullah.pdf
[10] Refer to: https://madeenah.com/article.cfm?id=1053
– for the article: Two Waves that have Struck the Salafee Da’wah, where you will also find examples of Fitnah in the past, and how Ahlus Sunnah dealt with them and how the people of Hizbiyyah dealt with them.
[11] Refer to Appendix I – Specimen Cover Sheet of “The Halabi Papers 2” – in the downloadable PDF document
[12] Refer to Appendix II – Specimen of Distributed “Allaamah Ali Hasan” eMail – in the downloadable PDF document
[13] Refer to: http://www.salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?forum=33&topic=11387
