Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah to answer the difficult questions
Published by Haseeb July 27th, 2006 in Events, IslamWith all due respect to IslamQ&A, Islamonline, and especially Sunnipath Q&A (who I deeply respect and have nothing but the highest regards for, especially Shaykh Faraz Rabbani [may Allah 
continue to protect and increase him in knowledge and blessings]), I have yet to come across any Muslim scholar with the knowledge and wisdom that Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah has when answering difficult questions about religious matters. I joke with my friends about him being a super-shaykh given his background. He truly understands the science of fiqh and is able to make rulings on Islamic issues given the context in which Muslims live across the world today greater than any other scholar I have ever come across. His answers at the RIS Retreat this past winter in Toronto amazed me - by the level of hikma he gave with each answer. (See my notes of his Q&A at the retreat here).
Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah is probably one of the greatest living jurists today. He is extremely well-known and respected throughout the world. He is considered a “scholars’ scholar” since many of his students are actually considered ulama in their own right. Shaykh Abdallah grew up in Mauritania, and from a very young age, he showed extreme gifts intellectually and a profound ability to absorb a lot of information and a lot of the text. During his studies, he memorised an extraordinary number of texts. Then, at a very early age, he was appointed with a group of people to study legal judgements in Tunis and went there for a period of time. When he returned to Mauritania, he became a minister of education and later, a minister of justice. He was also one of the vice-presidents of the first president of Mauritania. He later ended up going to Saudi Arabia and becoming a distinguished professor at The University of Usul al-Fiqh. The shaykh is presently involved in several organizations in the Muslim world, such as the organisation which is known as Al Majma’ al-Fiqhi, which is comprised of a body of scholars that come together from all over the Muslim world and from all the different madhhabs and different viewpoints; they analyze and study a lot of the modern issues to come up with Islamic solutions to the issues confronting modern Muslims in the modern world. Shaykh Abdallah is also involved in writing. He has written several books and has delivered lectures all over the world. He has expertise in a lot of areas that have been unfortunately ignored by the vast amount of contemporary scholars. One of the areas of expertise that he has is in what is know as fiqh al-aqaliyaat which is the fiqh or juristic rulings related to Muslims living as a religious minority with a dominant alien territory. Because the Muslims tended to prefer hijra to countries where Muslims were the majority, there are not a lot of scholars that work in the area of dealing with how Muslims in minority areas should actually live their lives and how they should behave when confronted with issues that often are in contradistinction to their deen. (Source for this brief biography)
Super Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah has offered to take on any questions and provide clear, compelling guidance on issues affecting young Muslims today. Visit this website (Link) to submit your questions today!
salam
i suggest you look into Shaykh Yusuf Al Qardawi, the one who gave Shaykh Ibn Bayyah his ijazaah
kabir
r u serious? Sh Bayyah erudition can not be summed up by one ijaza he may or may not have gotten from Sh Qaradawi. Both are great scholars of contemporary times. And both of their research interest (minority fiqh) overlap greatly.
But I would like to know in what subjec did Sh Qaradawi give ijaza to Sh Bayyah?
yes i agree, both are great scholars of our time, but Shaykh Qaradawi sits at the head of the ECFR and his background in the mulsim brotherhood is well known, he is not just a scholar who gives fatwas from his comfortable thrown, he was in prison with the likes of Heroes like Syeed Kutub (Milestines book)and Hasan Al Banna, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is still the most influencial and recognised world islamic movement all around the world. He was amongst great people like that.
Thus to put Shaykh Bayyah on the same level is not actually correct.
Shaykh Bayyah was not even on the scene until Hamza Yusuf suddenly mentioned that he was his teacher and Shaykh Bayyahs following and some what romantacising has come about due to the popularity of Sheikh Hamaz and co, with all due respect to them, they are great people of knowledge.
if you need further clarification let me know and i will give you some facts about Qaradawi that might just change your mind.
and just to finish, let me clarify my point, i respect all the scholars that i have mentioned here, i am not undermining anyone, neither am i trying to give false impressions, these are just basic facts about the scholars.
ka
Kabir you discuss about a man who are known and recognized in many muslim countries and in all the Arab countries. His father was a big scholar and him too, became a big scholar. He made or not prison, which is the report ?
What does it mean that ?
“he is not just a scholar who gives fatwas from his comfortable thrown, he was in prison with the likes of Heroes like Syeed Kutub (Milestines book)and Hasan Al Banna, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood”
Thus to put Shaykh Bayyah on the same level is not actually correct.”
Shaykh Bayyah was not even on the scene until Hamza Yusuf suddenly mentioned that he was his teacher and Shaykh Bayyahs ….”
I didn’t know that there was a value scale for the big scholars, that it was necessary to have been in jail to be considered as being a big man.
Cheikh Hamza Yusuf became a big man in his turn because he had a good teacher, the great bin Bayyah. For my part, I know for a long time Cheikh Abdallah bin biyyah and I appreciate this wise man.
Salam alikoum
shukran for your response nadia, i am running late so i will make it short
yes it matters who the scholars have companied with, this gives then valuable wisdom, expereince and knwoledge that cannot be taken from books, this is parctical knowledge at a grass root level.
Sheikul Islam was prisoned and died in Prison for his work and fatwas, his books and teachings, imam Ghazali spent time in prison, Syeed Kutub died in prison for his Milestone book, hasan al banna was martyred in the market place because he was a treat to the western way of thinking, i am just stating the facts here, these are not my opinions.
The background of a scholar and their upbringing is very important and play a huge part in their way of thinking.
Sheikh bin Bayyah is a very respectable scholar but is not at the same level as Yusuf Al Qaradawi, that is my argument,
my argument is not that sheikhs have to be in prison to prove themselves, but theur background tells you a lot. that is what i meant by sitting on their thrown.
look forward to your reply
many jzks
ka
You have not answered my question at all . Where is the proof that Sh Bayyah recieved ijaza from Sh Qaradawi? Second of all Sh Bayyah has been around for a long time. He was a judge in the ministry of JUSTICE in Mauritania and for a time Vp of Mauritania plus the head of Shariah Court there until political trouble there forced him to relocate. Now Shaykh Abdallah lives in Jeddah where he teaches usul, tafsir, and Arabic as a full professor at King Abdul Aziz University. All the practical knowledge you can ask for Sh Bayyah has them.
2ndly what are your criteria that you are using to “objectively calculate” higher scholarly acumen of Sh Qaradawi as oppose to Sh Bayyah? Have you sat with and discussed at length the minute points of fiqh al qawaaid then came away with the impression that Sh Qaradawi knows better? Are you intimately familiar with all their Arabic works? All you have made is series of assertions without any actual proof while going on and on Syed Qutb who has no nothing to do with topic at hand. For every great scholars that was ever in prison(Abu Hanifa, Taymiyyah, Ibn Hanbal etc) there can be mentioned another great scholar who was never in prison. (Ghazali, Fakr din Razi, Ibn Surayz, Shaybani, Abu Yusuf, Suyuti, Mufti Taqi etc..) And I hardly think Sh Bayyah is the only one sitting on a throne (not that its a bad thing). As you mentioned yourself Sh Qaradawi is the head of ECFR and has his own TV show in Qatar?(Nobody sitting on thrones, I am just making a point).
What Sh Hamza did was to make him popular here in US and UK. And he did a great service for otherwise we would not ever know about him. Unfortunately we, the American communities are still inadequately knowledgeable about the richness of our tradition and its many great contemporary faqih. After all how many of us here have heard and read Sh Wahbah al Juhayli, a great Damascene faqih?
Lastly, we should not conflate popularity with scholarly erudition. It is true that Sh Qaradawi enjoys more popularity in the world to an extent that Sh Bayyah does not (esp. in Middle East and Europe). However that proves nothing and that goes for anybody who attempts to correlate knowledge of a scholar by how much popular he is. Personally I have benefited from their legal opinions immensely but I do not take them to be absolutely authoritative on all issues regarding America.
So here is a challenge— since you are so adamant about the greatness about Sh Qaradawi over Sh Bayyah. Bring forth issues which both have discussed lengthily and show us peons why SH Qaradawi’s legal reasoning is better regarding those issues consistently. Show us that Sh Qaradawi understands the subtle nuances of fiqh better than Sh Bayyah. Not only that, show us that he understands the context to which he is speaking better too. This is the only objective criteria.
I remember reading something on SunniPath about Shaykh Qaradawi and I found it here.
I am not posting this to create further argument esp since argumentation on such matters is forbidden with laymen, however I thought it would be beneficial to read what scholars say and not what “we think.” May Allah
(swt) preserve our inheritors of the Prophet (saw). Allah 
knows best and Allah 
alone gives success.
jzks for your enlightnment on this matter (tf from america)
just to make it clear to you, this is my point,
Sheick Qaraqdawi is at a different level to Sheick Bin Bayyah, that is a fact, i didnt discuss any fatwa or figh issues from their works, neither is this necessary because the dialogue did not deprive from this.
both scholars are well known and have respect and weight but as you quoted,
“As you mentioned yourself Sh Qaradawi is the head of ECFR and has his own TV show in Qatar?(Nobody sitting on thrones, I am just making a point).
What Sh Hamza did was to make him popular here in US and UK”
half the people would not have known about him if it wasnt for Hamza Yusuf. When i mention Bin Bayyah to some of the scholars in the UK they also acknolwedge that Sheick Yusuf Al Qaradawi is torally at a different level.
vist islamonline for some of his works and see for yourself, i am not going to start examining fatwas and legal rulings with you here.
this is not my opinion this is a fact, on all fatwa councils, scholar gatherings and etc, amongst all well known and respected circles, Sheick Qaradawi is the scholar of our time. and the spiritual leader of many of todays well known muslim organisations around the world, including those who are fighting the oppressors in the middle east
Another fact, Shieck Bayyah was also offered the office secretary job fot Sheick Qaradawi in the ECFR as i mentioned, and the head of the ECFR is Yusuf Qaradawi, and yes it makes a difference and it a criteria for judging the weight of a sheick because that is why they have different positions and leaders in fatwa and research councils such as ECFR.
well according to you brother maybe Sheick Bin Bayyah should be head of the ECFR council?
ka
apologies for getting your ame wrong ‘tr’ united states
I don’t absolutely share your opinion Kabir and I continue to say that there is no value scale concerning the great scholars.
You see, the fact that he sits on his throne as you like to say it doesn’t create problems within muslim community. Why it displeases you as long as that he sits on his throne ?
I respect your opinion but I cannot share it. For me, Cheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah is a great man, then the fact he is not known in the same way than Qaradawi, which importance that has ? Cheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah (he cames from Mauritania) is known as well in north Africa in the Middle East as in Europe.
Otherwise, for information there was at the beginning of July in Turkey a muslim conference of Europe. And the speakers were Cheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah and Cheikh Qaradawi, Cheikh Hamza Yusuf, Prof. Tariq Ramadan, Amr Khaled …
You know the one doesn’t oppose to the other one and the one is not superior to the other one, they are both big scholars, Mashallah !!!
Then it belongs to each of us to be made an opinion on these scholars but not to judge who is more popular than another for it would become ridiculous. And for me to be known on the scene international it is not to be known and recognized in the United States because personally Cheikh Hamza Yusuf I didn’t know him and I knew him on this blog.
http://www.muslimsofeurope.com/index2.php
Conférence photos : (Click photos to enlarge them)
http://www.muslimsofeurope.com/fg/
Salam alikoum
walaykum akhi
i’m not giving credit to who is more popular, i’m just stating facts, you said Sheick Bayyah ‘was the scholar’ of our time, i’m saying to you according to the records and credentials in the public eye such as the councils that i have mentioned, Sheick Bayyah does not sit at the same level as Sheick Qaradawi,
and the scholar of our time is Sheick Qaradawi as the head of the ECFR.
there is no opinion to share or disagree with just facts to enlight ourselves with and make ourselves aware.
ka
No you are not stating facts, You are stating opinions. Being the head of EFCR by no means makes one automatically the head of all scholars. Its an artificail institution not a Divine one. Who is or is not the scholar of any time will always be subject to disagreement esp so in modern time with 1.2 billion Muslims. I would like to know how many people in subcontinent know anything about Sh Qaradawi. There different scholars are considered as more authoritative. So stop being so high handed and conflating YOUR OPINION as FACT. Rather I worry that whether you know the distinction between FACTS or OPINIONS (check a dictionary or look at the example below)
FACT- The Sky is Blue ( No one disputes It)
OPINION - I think so and so is the greates scholar ever in contemporary times.
However not all opinions are equal . Some are better than others. As of yet you have not proven substantially why Sh Qaradawi is better. Rather I feel like you are not even familiar with Sh Bayyah’s lectures. And EFCR is just that– an European instituion. Why would I or for that matter anyone give credence to it automatically without actually looking at the authoritative opinions, evidence and reasoning provided in the fatawa? I am not from Europe neither is overwhelming majority of Muslims. And each geogprahic locations has its own constellation of authoritative scholars.
My point is that you have the right to hold the opinion that Sh Qaradawi is the scholarr of our time. I am just trying make you realize that its an opinion (and not a fact ) that you hold and is not shared by everyone as evidenced in this blog or Sunnipath response. If you want us to share your opinion then you need to either persuade or demonstrate to us substantially. You can not jsut merely state it and expect us to accept it without questions. Thats not how it works nowadays (others take note). So stop merely producing “him being the head of EFCR” as an evidence and show us some real arguments.
I shook his hand!!!!!
Kaber sorry but you are big LIAR.
shaykh abdullah never take any IJAZA from Qaradawi.
please visit if you speak arabic shaykh abdullah’s website and will see what Qaradawi said about him.
Iam against any comparison between scholars. However, everyone can see that bin Bayyah is different.
http://www.binbayyah.net
sorry akhi i’v been away for a few days
anyway nice to know that i hav been branded a liar, i dont have too much time to romantacise scholars you see, gotta get on with the real work…
well if you go to Sheik Abdullahs website for all your info no wonder your vision is tunnel vision.
and sorry i am not a liar, if thats how you speak to muslims the you will get what you give, a better way to put it might be brother accroding to my research you are mistaken because… that is a much better conversation and more fruitful.
dont talk like your in the battle field!
ka
oh yeh the brother who shock his hand, be careful you might wake up and your hand might turn into gold.. sorry brother just a light joke, the conversations and discussions seem to get a bit tensed now and then
ka
Alride brother Kabir i’m sorry for calling you LIAR.
but you allege something and you couldn’t and you can’t proof it. what you expected me to call you.
Your heart is ill and you are sorry that people respect and love shaykh
bin bayyah because??
i don’t know your motivation to lie but i suppose it to be political.
anyway, Alshaykh abdullah relationship with every muslims movement is very good. And you should see what shaykh Qaradawi said : ” Shaykh bin bayyah is sufi and salafi at the same time. he is modern and traditional at the same time. you like many people that you don’t respect . on other hand you respect people without having any love toward them. However, Shaykh bin bayyah from those rare people you love and respect at the same time.”
the last thing is nasiha brother. Shaykh bin bayyah now in his seventies. all his time between Praying and teaching. so please try to prevent yourself from making “gheeba” toward him.
ha ha, this is becoming hilarious, just to shed light, what is ‘gheeba’ backbiting? sounds really good, anyway you have just made another accusation saying that my heart is ill? muslims dont judge what is each others heart on Allah
does that, and no i am not political is just that i’m frank and i’v been i this business long enough to know the dynamics of scholars and their relationship.
you need to stop accusing people of being this and that, dats what hypocrics and transgressors do not that i say that you are one of them. i dont label people.
your probably goint through the super Muslim phase, it’ll wear off soon, lol
ka
Mr Kabir don’t have any answer for the questions and he just lie and lie to cover himself. I think better to ignore this kind of stupit Egyptian lol.
with all dur respect to the said scholars who are great scholars we have to mention that one scholar not mentioned here who would put all thses scholars in the shade in terms of fiqh(especially hanafi fiqh) is mufti taqi usmani the man is a genuis in fiqh terms
i hear another argument coming on…. and Mr Abdullah are you also a hardcore Shaykh Bayyah fan because all of them up tp now seem to call people that dont agree with their views liers, and you are one of them. laugh at that! oh yeh the shaykh must be from your end? i understand….
Hi MR Kabir
why you hate sh Bin Bayyah?
IS IT BECUSE OF HIS KNLLEDGE? OR HIS STUDENTS ?
Kabir, Shaykh Qaradawi himself said that shaykh Bin Bayyah is the most knowledgeable scholar he has ever met in his whole life and that his knowledge of usul fiqh/fiqh supersedes his. but we shouldnt be comparing scholars here, should we ???
There is no question that Qaradhawi is way more popular than bin bayyah. In the 80s when qaradawi used to come to the United States for islamic conferences, there was literally 5,000 people in line waiting to kiss his hand. This is qaradhawi. bin bayah, may Allah
preserve him as well, is a great scholar. But I would say that qaradhawi has more scholarship and leadership drive and skills with islamic knowledge. He started islamonline, which has the highest hit than any website according to the non muslim surveys. he starts all these organizations that bring islamic scholars of different ideologies. He appears on Aljazeera tv which makes him popular.
I tired of Hamza yusuf only talking about bin bayah all the time, like he is the only scholar out there. Not just hamza, now we have zayid shakir the converted to sufism talking about bin bayah, bin bayah…However I am sure that bayah and qaradawi have the same ideological stance. even though bayah is more tending toward sufism. Anyways, there are scholars better than qaradawi and bayah out there. They are not the only scholars. They just became fame because they have access to technological such TV, internet, or networks with important people.
kabir, by the way, just so you know Shaykh Qaradawi himself said that Shaykh Bin Bayyah is one of the most knowledgeable scholars he has ever met and that Sh. Bin Bayyah’s knowledge of usul al fiqh and fiqh is greater than his. anyway, i dont see the point of all this. we shouldnt be comparing shuyukh, thinking we laymen can really compare the knowledge of the ulama. this my shaykh is better than your shaykh mentality is counter-productive and leads nowhere…. wassalaam
tarek bek
kabir, by the way, just so you know Shaykh Qaradawi himself said that Shaykh Bin Bayyah one of the most knowledgeable scholars he has ever met and that his knowledge of usul al fiqh and fiqh is greater than his. anyway, i dont see the point of all this. we shouldnt be comparing shuyukh, thinking we laymen can really compare the knowledge of the ulama. this my shaykh is better than your shaykh mentality is counter-productive and leads nowhere….
wassalaam
tarek bek
salaam Malykum brother kabir
brother why are we still trying to figure out wether (بِسمِ ٱلله الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيـمِ ) is part of fatihah or not…………….
kabir
Egyptians scholars are good at day time, and Mauritanian scholars are good at night time.
For the record shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah did not get his ijazaah from
Shaykh Yusuf Al Qardawi, you need to go back to your sources.
Salaam,
I think that if those shuyukh would be reading some of the comments that some of you have posted they’d be ashamed. Both of these scholars are erudite, and knowledgeable to the fullest extent. The way that they issue their fatawa is in a similar style. I have personally heard both of them speak, and they both have amazing knowledge and wisdom. If you asked them both, they would both have great words to say about each other. So, I think it’d be wise to focus on which one you get the most value. I think Sh. Hamza has done an excellent job in introducing Sh bin Bayyah to the english speaking audience, and his collection of cd’s are invaluable. For those of you who like Sh. Qaradawi, the fatawa that sh. bin bayyah gives are similar, and the rationale he uses is similar. This is evident from reading their fatawa, and comparing them, as well as from my own experiences.
Salamu alaikum,
Yusuf Qardawi is a kafir. In Islam we judge by what is apparent. So when he says:
“Then all of the affairs are shared between us since we are the sons of a single land, our destination is the same and our Ummah is one. I say about them, ‘Our Christian brothers’ and some people reject this from me and say how can I say that they are our Christian brothers? [Allaah says] “Verily the Believers are but a single brotherhood”. Yes, we are believers and they are believers from another angle”.
He is Calling the Kufar who worship Jesus, reject muhammad and should only exist to pay jizya, his brothers. Our brothers. This is a deviance of the highest order. Allah
says:
“You will not find anyone who believes in Allaah and the Last day showing friendship for those who resist and oppose Allaah and His Messenger, even if they be their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred…” (Al-Mujadilah 58:22)
When the ISraeli Election s were over this is what he said…
Due to only a small number of people, the one who was actually ruling lost his position. There was not 94% or 95% (of votes) which is what we are accustomed to in our country, but 99%, (yes) 99%. If Allaah had presented himself to the people as a candidate he would not have been able to take this amount… we welcome Israel for what it has accomplished…”
So Israel is more powerful than Allah
. Mr Qardawi is not only knowledgless idiot, he is a kafir. Ahlus sunah does not say “we do not know his heart” because his actions have spoken for his heart. These views are murji and heresy. Iman as Ibn Abbas raa commentated, “Iman is that which i believed in the heart, proclaimed by the tongue and practiced with the limbs”
Hamza Yusuf, for all of his charm, is extremely misguided. Whilst he stood outside the Whitehouse lawn with his friend George singing “God save America”, did it not occur to him that Islam forbade making the Kuffar his intimate, let alone making the greatest enemy of the Muslims his mate? The great Imam Abu Hanifah (ra) said, “if you see a scholar at the gates of a ruler, question him in his deen”. LEt alone a scholar at the gate of the biggest kafir enemy of Allah
since the pharoah.
Now I dont know much about the supposed sheikh you people are worshipping, but if your references are the above 2, and he got ijaza from the kafir Qaradawi, then you need to seriously study your deen. I got the above references within 10 minutes.