A social media celebrity says something marginally interesting / controversial then online dawah personalities jump on that almost immediately to put out a video within a day or two to ride that hype.
So if they can jump so quickly then why the silence from these speakers and activists several after Yasir Qadhi’s excuse making for the Shirk of calling upon the dead?
It is not possible to encompass one of Iblis’ evils, let alone all of them. Since Iblis’ evil is of six types, Iblis remains behind the son of Adam until he gets him to do one or more of these six evils.
THE FIRST EVIL IS THE EVIL OF KUFR AND SHIRK and enmity to Allah and His Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. If he gains this from the son of Adam, his moaning is eased, and he rests from his ordeal with this man. Further, this is the first thing Iblis wants from al-‘Abd (the worshipper). If Iblis gains this, he makes this person part of his army, one of his soldiers, and he appoints him as a deputy or agent against other human beings. Then, this person becomes one of the deputies or callers of Iblis.
If he despairs of enticing him with the first evil, and if this person is one of those for whom it was written that he would be a Muslim in his mother’s womb, Iblis tries the SECOND CLASS OF EVIL. THIS IS BID’AH (innovation). Iblis loves bid’ah more than debauchery and disobedience because the harm of bid’ah is in the essence of the religion. Moreover, it is an unrepentable sin and is against the call of the messengers and is a call to a message different from the one conveyed by ar-Rasul. Bid’ah is a gate to kufr and shirk. Therefore, if Iblis gains the performance of bid’ah from a person and makes him one of the people of bid’ah, he also becomes one of his agents and a caller of his.
If Iblis fails and is unable to trap al-‘Abd at this class, and if he is one of those who were granted by Allah the gift of as-Sunnah and hatred of the people of bid’ah and error, he proceeds to the THIRD CLASS OF EVIL, which is the class of MAJOR SINS in their various forms.
Iblis is very covetous of letting a person fall into major sin, especially if he is a scholar who is followed. Iblis is covetous of that, so that he may repel people from him and spread his sins and disobedience amongst the people. He uses some people as his agents to spread this person’s sins under the false pretence that this will help them to get closer to Allah. But in fact this person is the deputy of Iblis without knowing it. For those who would like abomination to be spread amongst the believers there is a great torment in this life and in the Hereafter especially if they take charge of spreading about enormities, not out of advice, but by obeying Iblis and being his agent. All this is to repel people from the scholar and from his benefit.
Furthermore, the sins of this person (scholar), even if they reach the sky, are less to Allah than the sins of those who would like to spread his sins about. The scholar’s sins are wrongdoing to himself. If he seeks forgiveness from Allah and repents, Allah will accept his repentance, and He will change his bad deeds to good deeds. However, the sin of those who spread about abominations are doing wrong to the believers by looking for their mistakes and by intending to expose them. Allah is in close observation, and He knows about this ambuscade. Nothing hidden in the chest or soul is hidden to Allah.
If Iblis is unable to snare al-‘Abd at this degree he moves him to the FOURTH CLASS, or the MINOR SINS. These sins may ruin a person if they accumulate. That is why ar-Rasul sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Be aware of the minor sins, because the simile of the minor sin is like the people who went to a desert.” Then he sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam mentioned a hadith the meaning of which is that every one of them brought a stick of wood until they had kindled a huge fire (just as the minor sins add up little by little until they become a major sin). The person continues taking the matter of minor sins easily until he considers them inconsequential. Therefore, a person who commits major sins but fears their effect is in a better condition than he is.
If the al-‘Abd has prevented Iblis from trapping him at this level, he moves him to the fifth level. The FIFTH LEVEL IS TO OCCUPY HIM WITH PERMISSIBLE THINGS that do not gain him reward or punishment. However, the punishment of this level is caused by passing the reward missed by being occupied with these deeds. If al-‘Abd has kept Iblis from succeeding at this level, and if he is careful about his time, being covetous with it, knows the value of moments, and knows the value of what comes of comfort or torment, Iblis transfers him to the sixth level. The SIXTH CLASS is to OCCUPY HIM WITH DEEDS OF LESSER REWARD to keep virtue away from him and to prevent him from attaining the reward of the favoured deed.
Therefore, he orders him to do a good action with less reward if that includes leaving a better action. Very few people are aware of this. Because if a person feels a strong urge to some kind of obedience, he does not doubt that it is true obedience and that he is getting closer to Allah. He never thinks that this call is from Iblis because he believes that Iblis never calls one to do good. Therefore, he thinks that this call is from Allah. Actually he is excused because he never knew that Iblis would call one to seventy doors of good deeds either to get him to one door of evil or to let a better deed than these seventy deeds pass away from him.
This cannot be known except by a light from Allah, a light he instils in the heart of al-‘Abd. The source of this type of knowledge is following the way of ar-Rasul sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and taking care of the levels of deeds with Allah, the deeds of His favoured ones, the deeds more pleasing to Him, and those more beneficial to al-‘Abd, and deeds that have more nasihah (guidance) from Allah, His Rasul, His Book, and His believing worshippers. No one has this type of knowledge except the inheritors of ar-Rasul sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his deputies in the Ummah, and his successors on earth. In addition, most of the creation is screened from this. This call does not come to their hearts. Allah gives His favour to whomever He wills from among His worshippers.
If al-‘Abd prevents Iblis from trapping him at any of these six levels, and if it becomes difficult for Iblis, he empowers his party of jinn and human beings with different kinds of harm, IMPUTING DISBELIEF TO HIM, CALLING HIM MISGUIDED AND AN INNOVATOR, WARNING PEOPLE AGAINST HIM, and intending to weaken him and to disturb his heart. Iblis, by using this method, tries to confuse this person’s thinking and tries to PREVENT PEOPLE FROM BENEFITING FROM HIM. Therefore Iblis expends his utmost effort to empower the defenders of falsehood, from human beings and from jinn, against him. Then the believer is at war until death. Whenever he gives up, he is hurt or is taken captive. Hence the believer is in Jihad until he meets with Allah.
(s) At-Tafsir al-Qayyim (published in Al-Hijra magazine)
All praise is due to Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon his Messenger, and his family and his companions.
Having read the post from Sunni Path, supporting the use of ta’weez, I think that there is a need for a clear and simple response to the issues raised.
Before delving into the points made in the article, I would like the reader to consider the following questions:
We regularly hear people defending ta’weez that contain the Qur’an and Allah’s names and attributes, but what do you think about the following:
■ Ta’weez that contain the names of shaytaan?
■ Ta’weez that contain the aayaat of Allah written backwards?
■ Ta’weez that contain symbols associated with the worship of the shaytaan, such as the so-called star of david, and the pyramids?
■ Ta’weez that contain illegible writing?
■ Ta’weez that contain pictures of the human body with words and symbols written over the top?
■ Ta’weez that contain the aayaat of Allah scribbled and not given proper respect?
Ta’weez that contain nothing except tables of numbers?
These are the vast majority of the ta’weez that we open every single week, with most of them issued by imams, scholars, and so-called ‘pious people’. Now you have to make a choice between one of two things; either you defend these ta’weez, claiming that they are actually ‘Qur’an’ or that it is permissible to disgrace the words of Allah by scribbling them, or the reader has no choice but to admit that these ta’weez are by consensus of the scholars, haraam.
I estimate that I have opened somewhere between 500 and 1,000 ta’weez in my course of being a raaqi, and at the current count, less than ten of them contained clear Qur’an or the names of Allah, with nothing else written on them. In reality, this is just another example of the magicians hiding behind respectable scholars and their opinions.
We say to the people who make these so called ta’weez from the Qur’an: would you let the sick person simply print a page of the Qur’an and tie it around his or her neck? By Allah, you would not allow it. Instead, they have to use your ‘special’ writings, which they are not allowed to see or open, and often have to pay money for. If you really hold the opinion of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allah be pleased with him), why don’t you allow the people to print a copy of aayat-ul-kursi from quran.com and tie it around their necks? It is the greatest aayah in the Qur’an, so why would it not protect them whilst your secret writings and scribbles can protect them? Has Allah given you something greater than aayat-ul-kursi, or is it that you seek help from the shaytaan? Where did you learn what those numbers and symbols mean? Why don’t you share your books with us that tell you how to ‘cure’ someone with pictures of the pyramids and the star of david?
My brothers and sisters, these people hide behind legitimate opinions, in order to confuse you and take you away from the path of Allah. Let me give you an example:
■ The Sunni Path post quotes those who allow ta’weez:
Sa’id ibn al-Musayyib, ‘Ata’, Mujahid, Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr, Ibn Sirin, ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn `Umar, and others (Allah be well pleased with them all). [Musannaf, 5.439]
How many of you looked at that list of people and believed them all to be from the companions? By Allah, there is only one companion mentioned in that whole list; all the rest are from the generations who came after them.
Furthermore, all of the narrations from that companion are weak. They contain Muhammad ibn Is-haaq, who is someone whose narration is not accepted unless he clearly states that he heard the hadith directly from his teacher (the Arabic term is: mudallis), which in this case he did not.
So, let me say explicitly that there is not one single companion from the companions of the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and may Allah be pleased with them) who allowed ta’weez of any kind, whether from the Qur’an or not!
■ Let us quote the author of the Musannaf in full:
“The Chapter of those who allowed the hanging of Ta’weez”
“The permissibility of this was reported from Sa’eed ibn al-Musayyib, ‘Ataa’, Mujaahid, Abu Ja’far al-Baaqir, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, Muhammad ibn Seereen, ‘Ubaydullah ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, and ad-Dahhaak and IT IS NOT AUTHENTIC from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, ad-Dahhaak, Mujaahid, and Ibn Seereen, and the rest are authentic.”
The author himself says that there is no companion who this is authentically reported from, and that half of the taabi’een mentioned are also not authentic. This is in the very same passage that the author of the post quoted – so why did he choose to stop just before the part where the author says that it isn’t authentic?
So out of that long list, we are left with ‘Ataa, Abu Ja’far, and ‘Ubaydullah – three people, none of whom were companions of the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and even their view says that the permissibility is limited to that which is from the Qur’aan alone!
On top of that, the very same book (al-Musannaf) mentions other narrations which state that all ta’weez are haraam, even if they come from the Qur’an (authentically narrated from the companions Ibn Mas’ud, Ibn ‘Abbas, Hudhayfah, ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir, and Ibn ‘Ukaym – may Allah be pleased with them all). Why didn’t the author include those narrations? Is it perhaps because he doesn’t want you to know?
Even if we accept some or all of the narrations from people who allowed ta’weez, these people are talking about writing a simple aayah of the Qur’an, or some of the names of Allah, clearly and in a way that can be understood by everyone who reads it.
Don’t be fooled by statements such as ‘the vast majority of the scholars’ and ‘it is mentioned in such-and-such a book’ – anyone can write words like these. Why don’t we talk about something quantifiable, and say ‘the vast majority of the companions, if not all of them, considered ta’weez to be haraam, in all of its forms’.
Finally, we say to the author of the Sunni Path post and his supporters: Do you know why some of the scholars allowed ta’weez from the Qur’an? Because it is the uncreated speech of Allah, and therefore cannot be considered shirk. Would you like to share with the brothers and sisters what you really believe about the Qur’an that we read, and that you claim to write on the ta’weez?
Allah knows best, and all praise is for Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon our messenger Muhammad, and his family and his companions.
Imran Ibn Mansur, aka Da’wah Man speaks about some of the evils which take place in the Da’wah scene in the background and how the Da’wah has been made into a business by many du’at and Islamic organizations.
In any aspect of our deen it is important to be balanced, to not fall into extremes of partisanship either for or against but to look at the evidence and tease out the truth of the matter with balance and fairness.
In this important talk, Dr Muhammad Musa Al-Shareef discusses the origins of the Sufis and Sufism, how it contains some goodness as well as bad and how they’ve gone further and further astray as time has gone on.
“I had to stress this point at the beginning as some think the sufis are all deluded, ignorant and in the wrong. On the other hand, there are some people who regard Sufis as authorities in relgion and examples of true Muslims. In fact, both are extreme views. The moderate view is that Sufis are a sect of Muslims; we can adopt their sound views and give up their false ones.”
Dr Muhammad Musa Al-Shareef – The History of Sufism
GINGERBEARDMAN 