From the time of the Tabi’un until the present day, there have been hundreds of thousands of Scholars, spreading out through the various well known sciences of Islam. From Aqidah to Calligraphy and so on. And although the number of Scholars have dwindled as time past, there never existed an era in which the Ummah was withouth rightly guided Scholars to continue to carry the legacy of this Deen. It is upon you all to study this blessed history and learn about the breadth of this scholastic tradition left by such an array of Scholars and their works and affiliations. This is first! Secondly, learn the well established sciences of the Deen as has been accepted and passed down by the Scholars of the Salaf. This should prove to be extremely helpful, in that many of the things that half educated or completely ignorant people argue against will in fact show itself to be, not only and accepted and established science of the Deen, with many well known and celebrated Scholars at the forefront, but indeed a very popular and desired science by the people of knowledge. Once we cover this ground with sincere intention, many of our issues will fall away like sins after a well performed Wudu.

Now, for the contraversial issue of whether or not Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah had some issues that other rightly guided Scholars of his time took him to account for or whether tasawwuf has a place in the Deen or not… Again these issues are too complex to only give a few lines to in a blog. But it will be interesting to note the irony of the fact that Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah was a Scholar who followed a strict authentic approach of tasaawuf of the Qadiri Tariqah, from the Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jalani. And this is not a secret!!! And if this is the first that you heard of this, then this is our problem with the half education that is taken place in our times.

Finally, we need to get past the idea of “Our” Shaikh is beyond critique or reproach. Imam Malik said it best when he stated that”Every person can be refuted, except this (one, {and he indicated to the grave of the Messenger of Allah (S)}). So, if Imam Zaid words were with error, then he can be refuted and we ask Allah to forgive him for that, and if Ibn Taymiyyah erred in some issues, then he can be refuted and we ask Allah to forgive him. But we need to be Muslim enough to accept that and take the best from what these Scholars have to offer us. The ones of today and the ones of the past, and leave aside this partisan mentality against other Muslims. If one wants to blame Imam Zaid for being a “Sufi”, then have a solid basis for doing so, as other rightly guided well known Scholars of the past were people of tasawwuf or a “Sufi”. And if one wants to blame Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah for whatever they blame him for, then they should have a solid basis for such. For he was a Scholar of great esteem, and even in the places where he might have erred, he still gets one reward as the hadith informs us. So people put aside these partisan feelings and emotions and approach the affair in a fair way. Love the people of knowledge and their efforts in this Deen, and if they say or do something other than what we know, then find the basis of it first, before we go off incorrectly blaming them. And always give your Brother Husnul-Thann.

If any wants to challenge my words, then feel free to do so, but I would just ask that you think about them first!!! There is much more that can be said about this and maybe it and can be pit into some small pamphlet oj the issue, but I hope this will suffice for now. And with Allah is refuge sought!

Ma Salaam

Like Fatimah has said, if we use his arguments we could say the same about so many scholars that are blatently on the TRUTH!

You guys dont get caught up by this pacifist SUFI scholar (6)

JazzakAllah khair. However, when I say he was careless; I am not undermining him. He himself demonstrated that it was the wrong thing to by deleting the post from his site.

I do not consider Ibn Taymiyyah an angel but again you say Scholars refuted him. The Imam who responded to him (Imam Hasan; http://www.maqasid.wordpress.com) has made a clear on this isuue. Please refer to him response.

Wassalam

I few points about your response;

First, is that I totally agree about the distinction between a student and a Scholar. This has caused untold damage on the Ummah in this time. Also one of the modern day problems is the methods of learning and gaining the permission or recognition to impart knowledge. And here is where the problem occurs in knowing who is a student and who has reached a level higher than that. Now my Brother, this is not about Imam Zaid as much as it is not About Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah, but since we have arrived at this issue through the article of Imam Zaid concerning some comments presented about Skaikh Ibn Taymiyyah then by default they will be discussed. Now my point about learning and gaining a valid permission to impart the knbowledge of this Deen, then I suppose we know about the tradition of the Salaf that when a student has completed various text on various sciences at a satisfactory and esteemed level, at the feet of a Shaikh, then that student was given Ijaza by the Shaikh with an isnad of Shuyukh back to the Salaf on that text. This system was a qualifying method of knowing who was mereley (and i dont mean merely in a low way, for every student has a honorable status) a student and who had excelled above that. Now Imam Zaid has received several Ijazaat from high rank esteemed Scholars of this Ummah in various sciences in different parts of the Muslim lands. So with all due respect to Imam Zaid Shakir, who I do know personally and have spent some time with, the Imam is far more than a student. Rather the Imam has students of his own on very advanced levels of learning in this Deen. Now I am just noting this because for one, you commented on it and two, as a premise so that people who may not know, this is a respected Scholar here in the West.

Secondly, as for saying that what Imam Zaid said about the Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah was careless, then I don’t agree with that my Brother, not careless. Imam Zaid stated before his comments on Shaikh ibn Taymiyyah that he was a pious and great Scholar. Imam Zaid has in several of his material defend and clarified positions of the Shaikh that others have outright condemed him for. And moreover, Imam Zaid has a celebrated translation of a great work by one of the students of Ibn Taymiyyah, that being Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali and his worked titled: Warathatul-Anbiyaa (Heirs of the Prophets). So by no means was this some careless attack on the Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah. Rather it was an open answer to a question that was posed about the Shaikh. Now Allah says in the Qur’an “O you who believe, do not ask about things which, if they are shown to you, will distress you…” Moreover, what Imam Zaid stated was not the sole sentiments of Imam Zaid, but rather a reflection of thoughts and positions from what was noted from the Scholars during the time and shortly after the time of Ibn Taymiyyah. And these are known, and again noted by known Scholars of this Ummah. But this is not even the issue. The problem really comes into site when we see that people have a very difficult time accepting that ‘their” Shaikh (whomever it may be) can have critique levelled against them in some thing or another. Although it is often quoted (moreso against another position of a Shaikh other than the one of their own), it is never applied, and that is the famous statement of Imam Malik, when he said; Everybody can be refuted, except the Messenger of Allah (S). So if “our” Shaikh said something and some critisize him then whoever made the critisizm against “our” Shaikh there is some problem with them. This type of approach to the Deen is what is careless. For there were Scholars during the time of the Shaikh that had critisizm in him in some things but still sat in his circles of learning. They sat with the Shaikh and took from him, even though they had critique with him in other matters, and these were great Imams and Scholars of the time. And so was the case with Ibn Taymiyyah, there were Scholars that he blamed in some areas but recognized their Scholarship and high rank in the Ummah. So, people have to learn how to be more tolerant, and that is the bottom line!

And finally, about the”ism” again I totally agree with you and this is one of our biggest problems as an Ummah today; the “Name” affiliation. This in itself is a whole topic and I am sure I took up enough time and space here, but I pray some benefit came out of it to some. May Allah increase us all in the good that is pleasing to Him, and protect us from the evil that is displeasing to Him. Forgive our sgortcomings, extend our good actions and purify our intentions in every affair.

Ma Salaam

JazzakAllah khair for the comments Abu Zahra.

One of the problems we have in the west is that we do not how to differentiate a student of knowledge from a true scholar. With all due respect to Imam Shakir, he is not a Scholar. He is knowledgeable but not a Scholar. What he said about Ibn Taymiyyah was careless and, no, it was not Scholastic; come on, making such accusations on a celebrated Scholar of Islam on a plane without giving proper evidences, Scholarly?! SubhanAllah. I am not a Salafi, nor a Sufi or anyone other ism, I am a muslim who is trying to learn his religion. I advise brothers and sisters to read what Ibn Taymiyyah said on those issues that he is being accused from His OWN books rather than hearing from other people.

Wassalam

The reason for imprisonment? Well, Ahmed Bin Hanbal was imprisoned for saying the Qur’aan is not created and is a word of Allaah ‘aza wa jal.

I just hope people would wake up and smell the coffee rather than blindly buying into the conjectures suggested by their various scholars.

i am glad I dont follow one personality or the other. Please be floaters and you’ll be better off for your own sanity

Always, listen to two sides of the story…

but then again this is all fruitless (usually).

it is a good thing that salafis don’t listen to one scholar alone(you need to listen to more than one to get a broad view and a more glimps of the truth).