Regarding what was mentioned concerning Imām As-Sanʿānī (may Allāh have mercy on him)
As for what was mentioned concerning Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl As-Sanʿānī (may Allāh have mercy on him), that he says about most Muslims: “They don’t even know the reality of Islām or the actual nature of the Uniqueness of Allāh, so indeed they are Kuffār absolutely, and without any restriction.”
[01] — Then the reality is that As-Sanʿānī was not discussing the situation of ‘most Muslims’, rather having established the binding obligation of making all forms of worship purely and sincerely for Allāh; and that it is not sufficient for a person to say that his Lord is Allāh and then go on to commit shirk by directing worship to other than Allāh, he then mentions that case of those who fall into major shirk in belief and actions.
He mentions those who hold the belief that trees, rocks, graves, Angels, jinn, the living or the dead can benefit or harm; those who hold the same belief about those things as the Mushrikūn held about the idols.
He mentions those who make vows to the dead, those who make sacrifices upon graves and seek their needs from the occupants of the graves, and those who perform tawāf around the graves, and those who call upon the occupants of the graves in times of distress, and those who say to them: ‘I depend upon Allāh and upon you’, and those who sacrifice for other than Allāh.
He mentions those who hold that evil-doers who do not pray or perform the Islāmic obligations can be invoked at times of hardship or ease, and that they can be depended upon, and have knowledge of the Hidden and Unseen.
So concerning these people, he said: “So this shows that they do not know the reality of Islām, nor the essence of Tawhīd. So they become Unbelievers in this case with fundamental Unbelief, since Allāh (the Most High) made it a binding obligation upon His servants to single Him out with all kinds of worship:
أَن لَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا اللَّهَ
[meaning:] “That you worship none but Allāh” — Sūrah Hūd (11): 26
And that they make it purely and sincerely for Him:
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ
[meaning:] “And they were commanded not but that they should worship Allāh, making their Religion purely and sincerely for Him.” — Sūrah Al-Bayyinah (98): 5”
[02] — As for the accusation that the Salafīs perform takfīr (declaration of Unbelief) upon individuals, indiscriminately, irrespective of people’s ignorance, then Shaikh-ul-Islām ibn Taimiyyah said in ‘Ar-Radd ʿAlal-Bakrī’:
“However due to the predominance of ignorance, sparcity of knowledge of the narrations of the Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) amongst many of the later people, then they are not declared to be Kuffār because of that — meaning: calling upon the dead, from the Prophets and the righteous — until that which the Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) came with becomes clear to them from that which opposes it.”
Translated by Abū Ṭalḥah Dāwud Burbank.
Be the first to comment