In recent times of trial and tribulation, a set of newly-arisen foolish
minded ones had taken it upon themselves to take hold of the reigns of the Ummah
and to direct it as they saw fit, since in their view, the Senior Ulamaa, those
known for their erudition, firmness, piety and wisdom were too engaged in the
matters of "women’s menses and issues pertaining to Hajj and
Umrah". That they knew nothing of current affairs and that they were in
essence like ostriches, with their heads buried in the sand.
So in their ignorance, they began to give fataawaa and began to talk about
those matters which they had no right or justification to talk about. So they
delved in the affairs of the Ummah; the affair of Afghanistan, the affair of
Sudan, the affair of Algeria, the Gulf Crisis and produced nothing but calamity after calamity
and disgrace after disgrace. They, for example, made innocent men, women and
children protest against the Algerian government, allowing them to come to the
streets, in protest. And woe be to them since the end result of all of that was
the massacre, looting and pillage of the innocent. And all the while they
claimed that the senior Ulamaa were with them, and behind them on these issues,
yet they did nothing but lie and they made great the lie.
And the Salafi Mashayikh, and all praise is due to Allaah, during the trials
of the Gulf Crisis, stood firmly behind the Senior Ulamaa, the people of
knowledge and excellence. They stood behind the leaders of the Muslims, giving
sincerity of purpose to Allaah, to His Book, His Messenger, the Leaders of the
Muslims and the general folk. They gave sincere advice to those political
activists by way of cassettes, letters, books and refuted the falsehood
emanating from their words, their books and cassettes with the hope that they
may return to the truth.
However, all of that did nothing but increase them further in their obstinacy
and their devised plot against the Salafi Mashayikh. And these activists continued arousing the sentiments of the common-folk and having evil suspicions of the Senior Ulamaa.
As a result of this the Salafi Mashayikh doubted their intentions and
realised that the position held by these activists was one not based upon the
Shari’ah as such, but upon blind partisanship and political machination,
and that this group had a methodology and an agenda. And that their position
changed according to what was politically expedient and in their favour. So they
opposed the Senior Ulamaa in the Gulf Crisis and then when they became
frustrated and could not handle matters they then said, you must adhere to the
Ulamaa!!
Then when the incident of Kunar occurred in Afghanistan, when the Ikhwan
ul-Mufliseen assassinated the Salafi Shaikh, Mujahid, Jameel ur-Rahmaan, nothing
came to the Salafi Mashayikh as more surprising than the strange position of
these political activists, when they began to shout and wail, "We do not
know the true reality, and about what has happened between the Mujahideen. And
we do not know in reality who is the oppressor and who is opressed? Rather,
whatever we know is just general detail about this or that. And this is a trial,
may Allaah safeguard from it our hands and our tongues. And we call upon
everyone to adhere and remain steadfast to what our Ulamaa affirm."
And our Mashayikh, the Salafis, Ahl ul-Hadith wal-Athar responded,
"Subhaanallaah!! They used to be well acquainted with the current affairs
(fiqh ul-waqi’) during the Gulf crisis, and they used to monitor this
crisis for years. And as for the Jihad in Aghanistan, which is indeed jihad in
truth, they did not understand its true reality, and nor did they understand the
true nature of those sects and those groups who participated in it. They did not
know the Sunni from the Bid’i (innovator) amongst those groups and nor the
truthful from the falsifier. And yet they are the Scholars of the understanding
of current affairs!!! Certainly, this is a very strange affair indeed."
And in the Gulf crisis, they opposed the Ulamaa without exception, and yet
after their confusion and inability to understand the state of current affairs,
they called upon the people to stand behind and support them!!! And here, they
acknowledged that they did not know the truthful one from the liar and nor the
oppressor from the oppressed. And alongside this, they were calling for
donations to be collected for them. So is this a position based on the
Shari’ah, and their affair is like this, or is it a position which is
based on political machination too?!!
And furthermore, to whom were they going to present these donations, when
they did not even know who is oppressed and who is the oppressor?!!
And from what has preceded and much more, the Salafi Mashayikh became fully
aware and at ease with the fact that these political activists had objectives,
goals, methodologies, political machinations, ideals which would be worked upon
from the outside.
And then when these activists came to realise that the Salafi Mashayikh came
to know of their true reality, they began to fear lest they were exposed in
front of the Senior Ulamaa and the general folk. So they began to strive to
cause doubt about them and began to accuse them of being spies for the
government, of being paid and employed by the government and of speaking against
the du’aat for reasons of envy, hatred and jealousy. And that by this act
of theirs they are causing divisions within the Ummah and pillaging its unity so
that the enemy finds it easier to defeat it. So they strived in all of this,
with great cowardice and whatever other strengths they had in deception and
causing confusion so that no trust may be placed in them and that no one may
listen to their words or advice.
And of their political machinations and acts of cowardice was that they
strove hard to obtain a statement from Shaikh Ibn Baz – rahimahullaah
– concerning the Salafi Mashayikh and their criticism and refutations of
the political activists. Yet they only managed to do so after much persuasion.
Hence Shaikh Ibn Baz issued a statement of advice that was general to all the
Du’aat, that they ought to refrain from mentioning specific individuals
when criticising them.
After this they arose afresh, gained momentum and began to interpret this
general advice as being specifically intended for the Salafi Mashayikh in
general and Shaikh Rabi bin Hadi in particular. And they made the general folk
think that Shaikh Ibn Baz’s intent was to defend the honour of the
du’at, meaning themselves, since they had been spoken ill of. This was
their claim.
And amongst such deceivers were the likes of Shayijee the foolish idiot (as some of the Salafi Ulamaa have called him),
Salman al-Awdah, Muhammad Saeed al-Qahtani, and Safar al-Hawali.
In his book, "Adwaa ‘alaa Fikr D’uaat as-Salafiyyah
al-Jadeedah" (p10), ash-Shayijee states that the statement of Shaikh Ibn
Baz was specifically intended for the Shaikhs of Madinah and Shaikh Rabi bin
Hadi in particular.
Salman al-Awdah stated in his lecture, "Tahrir ul-Ard Am Tahrir
ul-Insan", "My dear brother… the statement which I have just
read to you, we have been proposing to Shakh ‘Abdul-Aziz bin Baz for three
months (to make this statement) and he was happy to issue it. However, the
Shaikh’s various engagements made this very difficult. … I have
full knowledge of it, from the time that this statement was just merely an idea,
when it was given the go ahead, how it was composed, when the Shaikh actually
made it, and what is related and not related to it!!! And those who were
intended by it are the sedition makers in Madinah"
And a person then asked, "Why did he not complete it… exposing
the individuals who have spoken against the Ulamaa and the Du’at so long
as they are upon this falsehood?!" To which Awdah replied, "It is
sufficient for you that Allaah has blackened their faces in light of this
statement of Shaikh ‘Abdul-‘Aziz…"
And Muhammad Sa’eed al-Qahtani said in his lesson, "Mukhtasir
Ma’arij ul-Qubool" in the city of Jeddah, "…Those foolish
ones come along and they circulate cassettes filled with revilement… and
they are only a small band – and all praise is due to Allaah – and
they are known as such, but we will not make this gathering impure by mentioning
their names. They are well known. And they rejected the Shaikh’s advice
and the Shaikh – may Allaah protect him - continued in this matter with
them (i.e. continued to advise them), but they only persisted in their
obstinacy, and their publicising of faults, and causing doubts. So he wrote
– may Allaah protect him – this advice…"
So this was the manner of these people, who after having admitted their
ignorance of the true understanding of the state of affairs, then began,
in order to save face, to spread lies and fabrications against those who had
full knowledge of their situation and who had exposed them.
Yet their plot was uncovered and their humiliation increased and the inner
and hidden realities were brought to the forefront. The Shaikh and Allaamah
‘Abdul-Aziz Ibn Baz – may Allaah have mercy upon him – was
asked about his intent in the statement that he had issued earlier. So he
replied on 27/7/1412 in Makkah (and this is recorded on cassette),
"In the Name of Allaah, Full of Mercy, Ever-Merciful (to His Believing
Servants). All Praise is due to Allaah and may Allaah send prayers upon His
Messenger, his family and his companions. To proceed:
The statement that was issued by me, the intent behind it was to invite
everybody, all of the du’at and the scholars, to make constructive
criticism and not to criticise specific individuals amongst their brothers from
the du’at. Rather everyone should offer sincerity of purpose to Allaah and
His servants. And when he comes to know of an error of his brother, he should
advise him for the sake of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, by writing or
orally, without criticising him on cassettes or printed media and their likes.
So that the hearts may remain upright and continue to have love and loyalty and
that there may be co-operation upon righteousness and piety. However, the
statement was not intended for our brothers, the people of Madinah, amongst the
students of knowledge, teachers and du’at. And nor were those besides them
in Makkah, Riyadh or Jeddah intended. Rather the advice was general.
And our Brothers, the well known Scholars in Madeenah, we do not have a doubt
about them. They are possessors of a sound aqeedah and they are from Ahl
us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah, such as Shaikh Muhammad Amaan bin Alee, Shaikh Rabee'
bin Haadee, Shaikh Saalih bin Sa'd as-Suhaimee, Shaikh Faalih bin Naafi', Shaikh
Muhammad bin Haadee [al-Madkhalee] - all of them are known to us to have
Istiqaamah, knowledge and sound aqeedah. We ask increase in every good for them
from Allaah and success in what pleases Him. However the callers of falsehood
(du’aat ul-baatil) and the people who hunt (others) in murky waters, they
are the ones who cause confusion amongst the people and who speak in these
matters and they say: ‘The intent was this and that’, and this is
not good. It is necessary to take the words in their best possible light. And
the intent [behind the advice] was co-operation upon birr and taqwaa, and to
purify the hearts and to warn against backbiting which causes rancour and
enmity. We ask Allaah for guidance and success for all."[The Tape:
Explanation of Shaikh Bin Baaz of his Statement].
And this is one illustration of many of the mischief and machinations of the
political activists. So they were disgraced and humiliated, but even this did not stop them from their folly...