DISTORTION AND DEFAMATION
Kabbani’s practice when attempting to refute the
Salafis and others appears to be to distort their views and present them in this
distorted fashion to the unwary reader. This is not the way of sincere Believers
in Allaah but is rather a trait of the Jews and Christians, whose only
ammunition in trying to destroy the credibility of Islaam and the Muslims before
the ignorant masses was to resort to deception.
And if the Naqshabandi Sufis have to speak ill of the
Companions of the Prophet to win their point, so be it! They unashamedly exclaim
that: "... he (Uthman ibn Affaan) sometimes held on firmly to his own
desires instead of putting them completely in line with the
Prophet’s" and they say that he was unable to "totally leave his
own desires behind." They believe about ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab that
"... he did at times set his will against the will of the Prophet,"
and that behaviour of this nature meant that the "soul is kept from
awakening, it remains passive." (see the Naqshbandi work by Nazim, Mercy
Oceans’ Hidden Treasures, pp. 38-39, 43-44). Little wonder then that
Kabbani says: "We ask Allah to guide all Muslims in their belief and to
bring all who have strayed back to the truth... back to the guidance of Abu Bakr
and ‘Ali..." (p.2). What happened to the guidance of ‘Umar and
Uthmaan? Obviously, we see from the examples quoted above that ‘Umar and
Uthmaan, may Allaah be pleased with them both, being unable to set their desires
and will in line with the Prophet’s as the Naqshabandi’s would have
us believe, do not warrant inclusion in Kabbani’s du’a! This is
despite the fact that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam ordered us
to adhere to the way of all four Rightly-Guided Khaleefas in an authentic
hadeeth which Kabbani mistranslates as: "Follow my Sunna and the Sunna of
my rightly guided companions after me." (p.2) but which should read:
"... and the Sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Khaleefahs after me."
And if it is found that there is a remote possibility
that a Companion has understood something differently to Kabbani he simply looks
for a text which describes such Companions as: "... uneducated beduin
unversed in the minutiae of language and the subtleties of speech which elude
the mind." (refer to Kabbani, p. 130, citing al-Khattabi). Somehow the
‘uneducated’ Companions were unable to understand the import of the
Prophets words, but Kabbani will explain for us what they meant!
The noble Imaam, ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak
(d.181H), said: "If the good qualities of a person outweigh his bad
qualities, then his bad qualities are not mentioned."
[Siyar A’lam an-Nubalaa (8/352) of
adh-Dhahabee]
If this is the principle applied to the generality of the
Muslims, how much more then is it applicable to the Companions of the Prophet,
particularly since there is a textual prohibition about speaking ill of any of
them. Due to the great importance of this subject and the significance of
speaking about the Companions in unfavourable terms, the scholars and Imaams of
the Sunnah have consistently warned against those who unleash their tongues
against the Companions:
Imaam Ahmad said in Usool-us-Sunnah (no.67):
"Whoever disparages and degrades a single one of the Companions of the
Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam or dislikes them on
account of something that occurred from him, or mentions his shortcomings, then
he is an innovator."
Al-Qurtubee wrote in his commentary to Soorah al-Fath
48:29: "So everyone who belittles any of them or throws doubt upon his
veracity as a narrator has thereby opposed Allaah - the Lord of all creation -
and tried to abolish the basis of the Sharee’ah of the Muslims... so
anyone who attributes falsehood to them or to a single one of them, then he is
outside the Sharee’ah, a denier of the Qur’aan, trying to cast doubt
upon the Messenger of Allaah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and whoever
attributes falsehood to any of them has indeed reviled them... and the Messenger
of Allaah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has cursed those who revile his
Companions, so the one who attributes falsehood to the smallest of them enters
into the curse of Allaah which the Messenger of Allaah sallallahu ‘alayhi
wa sallam bore witness to..."
At-Tahaawee wrote in his famous ‘Aqeedah
at-Tahaaweeyah (no.93): "We love the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah
sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and do not go to extremes in love for any
particular one, nor do we declare ourselves free from any of them. We hate those
who hate them or who mention them with other than good. We do not make mention
of them except with good. Love of them is Deen, Imaan and Ihsaan and hatred of
them is Kufr, hypocrisy and tyranny."
The reader should not be surprised at this attitude of
the Naqshabandi’s towards the Companions of the Prophet. The Naqshabandi
shaykhs teach their followers that they are personally responsible for the
completion of the development of the Companions after their deaths. One of the
teachers of Kabbani said: "... we have been given a miraculous favour from
the Lord that if we notice an incompleteness on the part of anyone, and point it
out, it will become complete. When I was pointing out that some of the Sahaba
were sometimes using their own wills and not putting their desires in line with
the Prophet’s thus causing their incompleteness, at that moment Allah
Almighty completed for them their development there in the grave, and so, they
are very happy indeed." (Nazim, Mercy Oceans’ Hidden Treasures, pp.
66-67).
Kabbani then has the boldness to say that pseudo-Salafi
authors (as he calls them): "... are prone to correct everyone great and
small including the companions." (p.215)
If this is the attitude of Kabbani and his followers
towards the Companions, what then of other Muslims, such as the scholars and
Imaams of the Sunnah who are certainly less in stature than the Companions - do
the Naqshabandis also complete their development for them in their graves?
It comes as no surprise, therefore, to find Kabbani
aligning himself with those who have declared both ibn Taymiyyah and ibn
al-Qayyim to be either disbelievers or, at the very least, deviants. Despite the
fact that their excellence has been affirmed by a host of trustworthy
scholars.
For example, Kabbani says: "Shaykh al-Islam al-Taqi
al-Subki said of him (ibn Taymiyyah): ‘His learning exceeded his
intelligence.’" (p.218)
Whereas al-Subki is also recorded as having said:
"As for what you (i.e. adh-Dhahabee) say with regard
to ash-Shaykh Taqi ad-Deen (ibn Taymiyyah), then I am convinced of the great
scope, the ocean-like fullness and vastness of his knowledge of the transmitted
and intellectual sciences, his extreme intelligence, his ijtihaad and his
attainments in that which surpass description. I have always held to this
opinion. Personally, his status in my eyes is greater and more esteemed, for the
asceticism, piety, religiosity, his helping the truth and standing firm on it
for the sake of Allaah alone, his adherence to the path of the Salaf and his
abundant taking from it, and his strangeness in this time, nay any
time."
(ad-Durar al-Kaamina of ibn Hajar under the biography of
ibn Taymiyyah (1/159) and Dhail Tabaqaat al-Hanaabilah (2/392) of ibn Rajab
al-Hanbalee)
As for al-Subki’s son, Taaj ad-Deen al-Subki, he
went to extremes in criticising ibn Taymiyyah. Such that as-Sakhaawee endorsed
the following words about him, following his statement: "Did any of the
Hanbalees raise their heads (i.e. become prominent)?"
"This is from the strangest of things, and the most
sectarian/partisan of attitudes, and this is why the Qaadee of our time, and
Shaykh of the madhhab al-Izz al-Kanaanee wrote under this statement: 'And
likewise Allaah did not raise the heads of the Mu'attila' and then he said about
Taaj ad-Deen Subki: 'He is a man having little manners, lack of scholarly
integrity, ignorant of Ahl as-Sunnah and their ranks.'"
(al-I'laan bi at-Tawbeekh liman Dhamma at-Taareekh
(94-95) of as-Sakhaawee)
Exposing Kabbani 20 : Distortion and Defamation