[6] Fighting extremism with extreme negligence! Ed Husain’s Distractive Ruse
In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.
Abu Ad-Dardaa [may Allah be pleased with him] reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger [peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] say, “Whoever treads a path due to which he seeks knowledge, Allah will make him tread one of the paths towards Paradise. And the angels lower their wings out of contentment for the seeker of knowledge. And verily all those in the heavens and in the earth, even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the scholar. And verily, the virtue of the scholar over the worshipper is like the virtue of the full moon (of the 13th, 14th and 15th of the month) over all of the stars. Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets because the prophets do not leave behind a dinar or a dirham as inheritance, but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever takes hold of it, has acquired a large share”. (1)
The Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] said, “Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people, but He takes it away by death of the (upright) religious scholars till none of the scholars remains alive. Then the people will take ignorant ones as their leaders, who, when asked to deliver religious verdicts, will issue them without knowledge, the result being that they will go astray and will lead others astray”. (2)
Al-Haafidh Al-Qurtubiy [may Allah have mercy upon him] stated in Al-Mufhim, “This text (demonstrates) that the disappearance of knowledge will occur not through its removal from the hearts of the people, but rather through the death of the scholars. (then) the ignoramuses will remain- those who will take the place of the scholars in the (field) of judgements and teaching. They will teach and pass judgement based on their ignorance, causing ignorance to spread and become evident”. So, if the authentic Sunni knowledge is taken away, acting on it is also taken away, isn’t it?! When ignorance manifests, acting upon it becomes manifest; so, both knowledge and acting upon (Knowledge) will disappear, ignorance will manifest, and acting upon (ignorance) will become prevalent, as Al-Haafidh Al-Qurtubi [may Allah have mercy upon him] clarified in Al-Mufhim. (3)
First, this demonstrates the great station of sound Prophetic knowledge and its possessors; however, Ed desperately sought to elevate the status of a so-called Noble Peace Prize winner while demeaning Al-Allaamah Saalih Al-Fawzaan, one of the Senior erudite scholars of this Ummah in our era, out of a desire for recognition. Indeed, regarding some of the evil outcomes of seeking leadership, recognition, and fame, Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim [may Allah have mercy upon him] said, “This pursuit of leadership results in corruption, which none other than Allah can describe, including rebellion, envy, transgression, enmity, oppression, trials, being ardent in self-defense at the expense of violating the rights of Allah, exalting those who are despised by Allah, and demeaning those who are honoured by Allah”. (4)
This is precisely what Ed did when he displayed his reprehensible ignorance, unleashed his slanders against one of the noble elder Salafi scholars of the Ummah, and speculated on the topic of slavery in Islam while desperately trying to elevate the status of a so-called noble peace prize winner based on falsehood, flattery, and a desire to spread the false information that he considered knowledge – an attempt to elevate the inhabitants of the transient Dunyah and degrade the callers to the authentic Sunnah. (refer to post 5 of this series)
We ask Allah
اللَّهُمَّ أَصْلِحْ لِي دِينِي الَّذِي هُوَ عِصْمَةُ أَمْرِي
وَأَصْلِحْ لِي دُنْيَايَ الَّتِي فِيهَا مَعَاشِي
وَأَصْلِحْ لِي آخِرَتِي الَّتِي فِيهَا مَعَادِي
وَاجْعَلِ الْحَيَاةَ زِيَادَةً لِي فِي كُلِّ خَيْرٍ
وَاجْعَلِ الْمَوْتَ رَاحَةً لِي مِنْ كُلِّ شَرٍّ
O Allah! Rectify my religion for me, which is the safeguard of my affairs; rectify my worldly [affairs], wherein is my livelihood; and rectify my Afterlife to which is my return, and make life for me [as a means of] increase in every good and make death for me as a rest from every evil. [Saheeh Muslim Number: 2720]
[Ref 1: Saheeh Abu Dawud 3641]
[Ref 2: Al-Bukhari Number 100 and Muslim Number 2673]
[Ref 3: Al-Hajr Fee Daw-il Kitaab Was-Sunnah Wa Fahm Salaf Al-Ummah. pages: 15-16 By Shaikh Abdullah Al-Bukhari (may Allah preserve him)]
[Ref 4: An Excerpt from ‘Ar-Rooh’ pages 487-489]