Salamun ‘alaykum
I thought I would share these valuable few pages from a translation of Ibn Katheers famous book on Tareekh al-Bidiayah wan-Nihayah. [The book of the End, Dar usSalam publishers]. Why I have chosen to share these pages is that they refute the Wahhabiyyah at a number of points, I will leave that for the people to reflect upon. Plus I would like you to comment and share your thoughts.
Knowledge Will Be Raised With The Death Of The Scholars
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr [may Allah be well pleased with him] related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Verily, Allah does not seize knowledge by force, taking it forcefully from the people; instead, He takes away knowledge by the death of the scholars, until their remains no scholar. The people will take ignorant leaders [such as the Saudis and deviant Wahhabis with their 2 second fatawaa factories] , who will be asked, and who will rule without knowledge. They are misguided and they will misguide
others.” Saheeh al-Bukhaari
The Prophetﷺ informed Us That A Group From This Nation Will Remain Upon The Truth Until The Day Of Judgment
In another Hadeeth, the Prophet ﷺ said:
“From my Nation there shall continue to remain a group that is victorious upon the truth; they will not be harmed by those who forsake them or by those who oppose them. (This will continue) until Allah’s Matter arrives (this is referring to when the Hour is near at hand, when Allah will take the life of every male and female believer), when they will still be upon that state.”
[Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab cannot come and claim that Islam has been lost for so many hundreds of years].
A Narration Which Indicates That Every 100 Years, Will Send For This Nation He (Or Those) Who Will Revive The Affairs Of The Religion
Abu Hurairah related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, at the beginning of every 100 years, Allah will send for this nation he (or those) who will revive for it the matter of its religion.” (Abu Daawood)
[read here for the reviver challenge]
Abu Daawood was the only one to relate this narration.
Every group says that their Imam is being referred to in this Hadeeth. Yet it appears, and Allah knows best, that it is comprehensive of a group of scholars from every group and from every branch of knowledge — such as Tafseer, Hadeeth, Figh, Arabic Grammar, the Arabic language in general, and other branches as well. And Allah knows best.
As for the Hadeeth of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr:
“Verily, Allah does not seize knowledge by force, taking it forcefully from the people; rather, He takes away knowledge by the death of the scholars,” its manifest meaning is that knowledge is not taken from the breasts of men after Allah ie has endowed them with it.
Some Of The Signs Of The Hour The Prophet Mentioned
Qataadah reported that Anas ibn Maalik said:
“Shall I not relate to you a Hadeeth I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a which none will relate to you after me? I heard him say that, ‘from the signs of the Hour is the raising (or taking) of knowledge; ignorance will spread, fornication will become rampant, alcohol will be imbibed, men will perish, and women will remain, until there remains one male guardian for every 50 women.— (Ibn Maajah)
Knowledge Will Be Raised (Or Taken Away) From People At The End Of Time
‘Abdullah related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Just before the Hour there will be days when knowledge will be raised, when ignorance will descend, and when there will be much killing.” (Ibn Maajah)
Hudhaifah ibn Al-Yamaan related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Islam will perish (i.e., knowledge will perish and its traces will be effaced) like the embroideries of a garment perish, until (the time) when fasting, prayer, worship, and charity will not be known; when in one night forgetfulness will pass over the Book (the Qur’an) and not a single Verse from it will remain on the earth. A group of people will remain — the aged man and woman — who will say,’We were around when our father was upon this word: Laailaha illallaah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), but they will not know what is prayer, fasting, worship, or charity.” Hudhaifah asked “What will ‘Laailaha illallaah‘ benefit them when they do not know what is prayer, worship, and charity?” Hudhaifah turned away from him, but he repeated the question three times, and all the while Hudhaifah turned away from him. When Silah asked for the third time, Hudhaifah approached him and said, “0 Silah, it will save them from the Hellfire.” And he repeated that statement three times. (Ibn Maajah)
This proves that knowledge will be taken from the people near the end of this world, a time when the forgetfulness of the Qur’an will pervade the earth — in the Masaahif and in the breasts of men. And people will remain without knowledge. The aged man and woman will say that they were around when people would say: ‘Laailaha illallaah,’ and they will say it seeking closeness to Allah by it.
It will benefit them even though they do not have any good deeds or beneficial knowledge. Perhaps the meaning of “it will save them from the Hellfire” is that their saying the phrase of Tawheed
will save them from entering the Hellfire altogether; in that case, the only obligation upon them is to say it, since they are not required to do deeds. And Allah knows best. But perhaps Hudhaifah’s statement means that they are saved from the Fire after first having to enter it; so the implications of this Hadeeth may be the intended meaning of the following Qudsee Hadeeth:
“By My Greatness and Exaltedness, I will remove from the Hellfire whoever says on any day from time: Laailaha illallaah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah).’
But still, this last Hadeeth might be referring to another group of people. We will study this in more detail when discussing the levels of intercession. What is important to note here is that knowledge will be raised at the end of time and ignorance will become rampant. In the aforesaid Hadeeth we are told that ignorance will descend, which means that people will be inspired by it, and that is from forsakenness, which we seek refuge from Allah. The said state of affairs will continue as people increase in ignorance and misguidance, until life on this world ends. This we are informed of in the Hadeeth of the Prophet ﷺ
“The Hour will not arrive upon anyone who says, ‘Allah, Allah,’ and it will not arrive except upon the most evil of people.”
Okay, from these hadeeth we can see that knowledge is contiguous And tajdeed is also contiguous at every 100 years a leader will emerge who does not contradict the leaders from the previous 100 year renewals. Also the scholars that are all ready there represent the existent knowledge base that also cannot be contradicted since it has been established that the group would be permanent not disappear with the salaf and re-appear 600 or 1200 years later. Also we learn that the period in which the signs of the end of time emerge should not be trusted with regard to knowledge due to the prevalence of misguidance at that time. Also we see Allah’s clear love for the Mudhakr, as his saying La illah ha ilAllah without actions saves him from the fire, and the only thing stopping Allah from destroying everything is the dhikr, “Allah, Allah”
I once asked a quasi-Salafi (their being poor adherents to the methodology does stop them from making incar) what did he mean by, “Sufi” he said, “you know those stupid people who say, ‘Allah, Allah’”
Umm Hmm…. That’s me! May I be raised up with those who held off the last day. Amin
The Salafis/Wahhabis say that Shaykh Al Albaani is the mujaddid of this era, and they back it up by saying he was born near the beginning of the century. What do you say on that?
Salamun ‘Alaykum
This is the touchstone! Lets see if what he teaches is in accordance to the reviver that came before, since the time of the Salaf they would have all carried the same message that Albani and Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab bought, If their claim is truthful. Unfortunately for them, their Islam only started in the 7th century, and then there was a gap up until the 11th century and then another gap up until the 13th century. This fact cannot be easily swept aside.
Can you give us a brief synopsis of what constitutes a real mujaddid? I think that would make it clearer for people, or at least for some of the people who believe that the two aforementioned individuals are such, as well as ‘the muhaddith of our era’ for one of them and ‘shaykhul Islaam’ for the other. There are agreed upon mujaddidoon and mashaykh of Islaam throughout the centuries, are these two included?