Foreword

By Professor ‘Abdullah Shakir al Junaidi

All praise is due to Allah who revealed upon His servant the Qur’an and did not place therein any deviance, and may salutations and peace be upon the one upon who Allah revealed the Qur’an and the Hikmah (referring to the Sunnah) so that he may be a warner to the worlds, and upon his household, and his Companions.

Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala has sent his Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam with guidance and the religion of truth, and has ordered us to follow him, obey him, and practice upon his Sunnah. Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala says:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا أَطِيْعُوْا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيْعُوْا الرَّسُوْلَ وَأُولِي الأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِيْ شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوْهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُوْلِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَّأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيْلاً

O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and obey those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best (way) and the best in result.[1]

And Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala says:

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا

And whatever the Messenger has given you take; and what he has forbidden you refrain from.[2]

And Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has educated the Ummah through the medium of his practical and verbal Sunnah about the knowledge and the practice that it ought to be upon, and Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala assigned to him the task of elucidating the rulings of the Qur’an. Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala says:

وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوْنَ

And we revealed to you the message (the Qur’an) that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought.[3]

Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, thus, elucidated the Qur’an in the best possible way and consequently left his Ummah upon a clear path from which only the doomed will stray.

Al Shafi’i states:

فجماع ما أبان الله لخلقه في كتابه مما تعبدهم به لما مضى من حكمه جل ثناؤه من وجوه: فمنها: ما أبانه لخلقه نصا. مثل جمل فرائضه في أن عليهم صلاة وزكاة وحجا وصوما، وأنه حرم الفواحش ما ظهر وما بطن، ونهى عن الزنا، والخمر، وأكل الميتة، والدم، ولحم الخنزير، وبين لهم كيف فرض الوضوء، مع غير ذلك مما بين نصا. ومنه: ما أحكم فرضه بكتابه وبين كيف هو على لسان نبيه؟ مثل عدد الصلاة والزكاة ووقتها، وغير ذلك من فرائضه الى أنزل من كتابه

ومنه: ما سن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم مما ليس فيه نص حكم، وقد فرض الله في كتابه طاعة رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم والانتهاء إلى حكمه، فمن قبل عن رسول الله فبفرض الله قبل

The sum total of what Allah has revealed to his creation in His Book, of what he ordained as worship upon them due to his decree, is of different types:

Some things he explicitly made clear to his creation, like the obligatory aspects of Salah, Zakat, Hajj, and fasting. Likewise, he prohibited acts of obscenity, the apparent thereof and the hidden, and prohibited them from adultery, the consumption of wine, eating carrion, blood, and the meat of a pig. He also explicated to them the method of doing the obligatory ablution, and all such aspects which he emphatically made clear for them.

Some things he conclusively deemed obligatory in His Book and thereafter explicated them via the medium of his Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, like the number of Raka‘at (units) in Salah, the amounts of Zakat, their times, and all such obligations which He revealed in His Book.

And some things were instituted by Rasul Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, things regarding which there is no emphatic text found in the Qur’an. And Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala has ordained obeying Rasul Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam in His Book. Hence, whoever accepts from Rasul Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam he has accepted due to Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala obligating that upon him.[4]

This is true, for Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, by way of his Sunnah, explained the rulings of the Qur’an, and elaborated in depth its wordings and meanings. He also practically implemented it in his life. Hence, the Sunnah is indispensable in order to understand the Qur’an. Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, thus, appointed the masters of the Sunnah, its soldiers, and those who bore its knowledge to preserve the Sunnah of Rasul Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam in the most meticulous of ways, and with the most intricate methods of retention, and with painstaking attention to transmission, the transmitters and everything else which is related to the science of Hadith generally. As a result, the science of impugning and approbating narrators and all the remaining sciences of the Sunnah emerged as is known to the students of knowledge. All of this importance was paid due to the status the Sunnah holds in the Din. Hence, the Ahlus Sunnah were the people who painstakingly paid attention to it, preserved its principles, and cherished its value. In doing so, they followed the leaders of guidance, the honourable Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum, who transmitted for us the Sunnah of our Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

But the Rafidah forced themselves into this science and conjured for it principles based on their warped methodology in which they opposed the Muslims. They went on to claim that a narration cannot be accepted or cannot be authentic unless it originates from their Imams. Hence, they held no regard whatsoever for the Sihah, the Sunan, and the Masanid (books of hadith) which were scrupulously compiled by the Ahlus Sunnah and they discarded all their content. Because, when they excommunicated the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum, as is known about them, they did not adopt their statements in spite of them narrating to us the hadith of Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. In place thereof, they preferred the narrations of liars and losers who could not be trusted in worldly matters, never mind religious matters. How true is the statement of al Sha’bi about them wherein he says:

ما رأيت أحمق من الخشبية، لو كانوا من الطير لكانوا رخما، ولو كانوا من البهائم لكانوا حمرا، والله لو طلبت منهم أن يملئوا لي هذا البيت ذهبا على أن أكذب على علي لأعطوني، ووالله ما أكذب عليه أبدا

I have not seen anyone more foolish than the Khashabiyyah.[5] If they were birds they would have been vultures, and if they were animals they would have been donkeys. By Allah, if I asked them to fill this house with gold for me as recompense for forging narrations against ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu they would do so. But, by Allah, I will not lie against him ever.[6]

And Ibn Taymiyyah said about them:

وقد اتفق أهل العلم بالنقل والرواية والإسناد على أن الرافضة أكذب الطوائف والكذب فيهم قديم، ولهذا كان أئمة الإسلام يعلمون امتيازهم بكثرة الكذب. قال أبو حاتم الرازي: سمعت يونس بن عبد الأعلى يقول: قال أشهب بن عبد العزيز: سئل مالك عن الرافضة؟ فقال: لا تكلمهم، ولا ترو عنهم، فإنهم يكذبون. وقال أبو حاتم: حدثنا حرملة قال: سمعت الشافعي يقول: لم أر أحدا أشهد بالزور من الرافضة

The scholars of transmission, narration, and their chains concur that the Rafidah are the greatest liars from all the sects and that lying is very old in them. Therefore, the scholars of Islam knew that their distinctive quality was lying excessively. Abu Hatim al Razi said, “I heard Yunus ibn ‘Abdul A’la saying, “Ashhab ibn ‘Abdul ’Aziz said, “Malik was asked about the Rafidah and he said, “Do not speak to them, and do not narrate from them for they lie.” And Abu Hatim said, “I heard al Shafi’i saying, “I have not seen anyone who gives more false testimonies than the Rafidah.”[7]

This book which is authored by Sheikh Ashraf Muhammad al Jizawi is very beneficial on this topic. He has discussed the stance of the Rafidah regarding the Sunnah in light of its development and documentation, and in light of their reliable books, their various gradings of hadith, the chain of transmission, their standpoint regarding the Sahabah, their methodology in impugning and approbating and validating and rendering weak, and other issues in which the author has contested their positions in an academically robust manner. He has been inspired, may Allah preserve him, in debating them, elaborating the invalidity of their methodology of interacting with the Sunnah, and exposing them for their appalling stance regarding the reliable books of the Sunnah according to the Ummah.

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala to benefit others by way of his book and to reward him with goodness for defending the Sunnah of our beloved Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the end of our call is that all praise is due for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Professor

‘Abdullah Shakir al Junaidi

Deputy President of the Ansar al Sunnah al Muhammadiyyah group.

NEXT⇒ Prefatory Chapter

[1] Surah al Nisa’: 59.

[2] Surah al Hashr: 7.

[3] Surah al Nahl: 44.

[4] Al Risalah, 21, 22.

[5] Khashab in Arabic means stick. This is a group that is attributed to it because they refused to fight with the sword and would only fight with sticks.

[6] Minhaj al Sunnah al Nabawiyyah, 2/22, 23.

[7] Ibid. 1/59, 60.

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