[5] Fighting extremism with extreme negligence! Ed Husain’s Distractive Ruse

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Allaah [The Exalted] said:

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

And thus do We explain the signs (to you O Muḥammad) in detail, and so that the way of the criminals may become evident (to you). [Surah Al-An’aam. Ayah 55]

After speaking about the Prophet’s companions and their in-depth knowledge of truth and falsehood, Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim [may Allah have mercy upon him] added: “Among those who succeeded the Prophet’s companions are those who are raised in Islam but do not know what opposes it. As a result, some of the details of the believers’ path and that of the criminals (i.e. the unbelievers) are perplexing to him because confusion occurs as a result of a lack of understanding about both paths or one of them, as Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab [may Allah be pleased with him] stated, ‘The bonds of Islam will be undone one after the other when a people are raised in Islam but do not know what pre-Islamic ignorance is’. And there’s the person who isn’t familiar with the criminals’ path and hasn’t had it clarified for him, or he has uncertainties and hence thinks that some of their practices (beliefs, methodologies, etc) are part of the practises of believers. This has occurred in this Ummah in many matters of creed, knowledge, and deeds concerning the path of the criminals, disbelievers, and enemies of the Messengers, that was brought into the path of the believers by one who does not know the (detailed distinction between) the path of the believers and the path of the criminals. [An Excerpt from ‘Al-Fawaa’d pages 167-180. Slightly paraphrased]

First, the above insightful statement by Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim reveals an affair concerning Ed Husain because, having been previously shackled by the Kharijite methodology of Hizb Tahreer and now under the shackles of philosophy, sophistry, and rhetoric, he failed to differentiate between the facts that distinguished slavery in Islam from other paths, as well as what Islam requires as opposed to individual violations of its commands and prohibitions. In a piece for the independent newspaper, Ed wrote in October 2011: “For the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Wole Soyinka, the unwillingness to confront Arab racism is rooted in the role of Arabs in the slave trade. “Arabs and Islam are guilty of the cultural and spiritual savaging of the Continent,” he writes. The Ethiopian academic Mekuria Bulcha estimates that Arab traders sold 17 million Africans to the Middle East and Asia between the sixth and twentieth centuries. Yet, there is an almost total reluctance on the part of Arab intellectuals to examine their central role in slavery, past or present. Any attempt to confront persistent Arab racism is shouted down by appeals to Arab/African solidarity against the neo-colonialist West, a sentiment that seldom moves beyond slogans. Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, a member of the senior council of Wahhabi clerics responsible for writing Saudi school textbooks, states: “Slavery is part of Islam. Slavery is part of jihad and jihad will remain as long as there is Islam. It has not been abolished”. [End of quote]

Indeed, Ed is exactly what Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim stated, “Among those who succeeded the Prophet’s companions are those who were raised in Islam but do not know what opposes it. As a result, some of the details of the believers’ path and that of the criminals (i.e. the unbelievers) were perplexing to him because confusion occurs as a result of a lack of understanding about both paths or one of them, as Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab [may Allah be pleased with him] stated, “The bonds of Islam will be undone one after the other when a people who grow up in Islam but do not know what pre-Islamic ignorance is”. What Ed [may Allah guide him] failed to explain about slavery, Shaikh Abu Khadeejah [may Allah preserve him] has beautifully detailed and delineated on these two links: https://video.link/w/Qbaub https://video.link/w/lUZtb

Indeed, after hearing the above clarification from Shaikh Abu Khadeejah, one realises the dishonesty and ignorance of Ed Husain and those of his ilk among the pretenders in this subject matter.

Second, Ed’s description of Al-Allaamah Saalih Al-Fawzaan [may Allah preserve him] as “a member of the senior council of Wahhabi clerics” demonstrates another affair regarding his ignorance. See the website regarding the myth surrounding the name “Wahhaabi” by Shaikh Abu Iyaad [may Allah preserve him] http://www.wahhabis.com/authors/Abu.Iyaad.cfm

Indeed, given that Ed Husain’s path is founded upon bidah, philosophy, sophistry, rhetoric, and the flattery of secularists, it is not surprising that he attempted to unjustly disparage one of the upright scholars of our time. Imam Ibn Asaakir [may Allah have mercy upon him] said, “Know O, my brother! May Allaah grant us and you His Pleasure and make us from those who have awe and fear of Him as He should be feared. Indeed, the flesh of the scholars is poisonous (i.e. backbiting them) and Allaah’s way of disclosing the hidden affairs of those who diminish their worth is well known”. [Tabyeen Kadhib Al-Muftaree Fee Maa Nusiba Ilal-Imaam Abil Hasan Al-Ash’aree: page 29]

Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal [may Allah have mercy upon him] said, “All praise and thanks be to Allah – Who, in every era and interval between the Prophets- raises a group from the people of Knowledge, who call the misguided to guidance, patiently bearing ill-treatment and harm. With the Book of Allah, they give life to the dead [i.e. hearts killed by misguidance, etc] and through Allah’s Light [i.e. guidance] they give sight [i.e. guidance] to the blind. How many a person killed by Iblees [i.e. misguided] have they revived?! How many deviated people and wandering have they guided?! How beautiful their effect has been on the people and how vile people have been towards them! They expel from the Book of Allaah the alterations of those going beyond bounds, the false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant ones – those who uphold the banner of Bidah and unleash trials and discord, differing about the Book [i.e. The Qur’aan], opposing the Book and agree upon opposing the Book. They speak about Allaah and His Book without knowledge, argue about what is ambiguous in the Book, and deceive the ignorant masses with such ambiguities. We seek refuge in Allah from the trials of the misguided ones”. [Ar-Radd ‘alal-Jahmiyyah. page 2]