“If Allah’s Name was mentioned, they would sway like a tree…”

“If Allah’s Name was mentioned, they would sway like a tree…”
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Author: MR
Filed under: Hadith, Islam Date: Jul 31,2009 | 11:24 AM

I’m currently reading a book called Minhaj al-Muslim by Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza’iri that was given to me as a gift and I found an extremely powerful paragraph that I just have to share:

‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, was once talking about the Companions of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him). He said:

“By Allah, I witnessed the Companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and I do not see anyone similar to them. In the morning they would be disheveled, covered with dust, yellowish in skin. They had spent the whole night in prostration and standing (in prayer), reciting the Book of Allah, spending their time between standing on their feet and being with their foreheads on the ground. If Allah’s name was mentioned, they would sway like a tree sways on a windy day. Their eyes would cry to the point that their clothing would become wet.”

Source: Page 178 of the book mentioned above.

I can’t imagine myself or anyone being in such a state worshiping Allah so much. May Allah make us like them as much as possible.
No related posts.

42 Responses for "“If Allah’s Name was mentioned, they would sway like a tree…”"

sufi_deviant
July 31st, 2009 at 1:02 pm

What tariqahs did they follow?

wahabi_deviant
July 31st, 2009 at 1:08 pm

They followed their Shaykhs Tariqah.

MR
July 31st, 2009 at 3:16 pm

@ the “deviants” above me – Do you guys skip reading the post and go straight to the comments?

Nihal Khan
July 31st, 2009 at 3:59 pm
lol.

sufi_deviant
July 31st, 2009 at 8:21 pm

I was making a point?

AbdelRahman
July 31st, 2009 at 11:25 pm

I *just* bought that book 4 hours ago alhamdulilah, both volumes mA. I’m excited to read them insha Allah, thanks for sparking my mind mA!

naqsh1
August 1st, 2009 at 2:54 am

Salam. SubhanAllah!! Thank you for this poignant post my bro. Ameen to your du’a, Allah indeed give us what they had InshaAllah. . . and may I say that ‘wahabi_deviant’ may be the only one who not only read it but understood it. May Allah give us all the wisdom to understand InshaAllah.

Abdullah
August 1st, 2009 at 3:33 am

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Its amazing how Abu Bakr Al-Jaza’iri quotes the above saying by Imam Ali, Karam Allah Wajhahu, that many Sunni Sufis use to support the Dhikr of the Name of Allaah and the Sufi Hadrah and at the same time is known to be vehemently anti-Sufi as shown by Shaykh Gibril Haddad in his famous work on the Salafis, “Albani and his Friends”.

My advice Sidi is to shred that book (Minhaj al-Muslim) and burn it for the sake of your religion. You aught to be vigilant and careful what books you read and where you take your knowledge and religion from.
Stick to the Jamaa’ah akhee, and it is agreed upon that the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa’ah are the Ash’aris, Maturidis, and the Hanbali Atharis. Everything besides that is bid’ah, deviation, and going astray. This is my sincere advice to you, take it or leave it. Baarakallaahu feek
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Innovators/al_jazairi.htm

ahmad
August 1st, 2009 at 10:55 am

@ sufi_deviant
No you are not making a point. You are just acting like an idiot.

QasYm
August 1st, 2009 at 11:49 am

Like Shaykh Yaser Birjas said: “The Sahaba were monks during the night, and warriors during the day”. They were busy worshipping Allah (swt) at night (in Qiyam) and were in Armor (ready to fight a battle at moments notice) during the day, radiyAllahu anhum ajma’een.

@ Abdullah. What extreme advice to give. Shred it and burn it? Have some respect for the Ulema and the knowledge they have spread to us. I have some choice words for Gibril Haddad, but I’m refraining because the purpose of MRs post wasn’t to cause fitnah but share something beneficial that he came across. If you feel that a statement like that deserves to be shredded and burned, then you need to fear Allah (swt). Learn to take the good and leave the evil.
Allahu Alam.

Abs
August 1st, 2009 at 12:30 pm

Barak Allah feek, brother Amir.

2cents
August 1st, 2009 at 1:16 pm

For everyone who likes to ridicule and say harsh things about scholars from the past, heres some advice that I heard once from Imam Suhaib Webb give. “Just because you don’t like the fruit, doesn’t mean you have to chop down the tree.” Take what you like from these Scholars and leave what you don’t agree with. Even the Sahaba had different points of view,but, at least they had the proper adab amongst each other. Look at us. May Allah s.w.t forgive us.

sufi_deviant
August 1st, 2009 at 1:47 pm

@ahmad
I know who you are, but who am I

Saad Ahmad
August 1st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
It’s sad how you can’t even write a post and mention a scholar anymore, seems like someone always has to cause beef in the discussion.

@MR
That’s why I’m learning not to even mention the author of the book I’m reading when I extract something beneficial and share it with my readers.
We gotta “chill yo islam yo”

Abdullah
August 1st, 2009 at 4:05 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ QasYm
In Sunni Islaam we are allowed to backbite deviant people in order to warn the Muslims from being mislead as long there is no name calling and is done with adaab. Calling Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza’iri a deviant is not name calling because thats what he is and Muslims are obligated to know that. It is actually a sin if nothing is said as it is a part of enjoying the good and forbidding the evil. Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza’iri is not a Sunni, he is a Wahhabi/Salafi. There are many great Sunni scholars out there to take your knowledge from and REAL Sunni literature far more superior to Minhaj al-Muslim.

@ 2cents
I think that many like Imaam Suhaib Webb are being somewhat naive and not meticulously careful when it comes to Sunni orthodoxy or Sunnism. Imaam Suhaib Webb and many like him are a product of modernist Al-Azhari thought lead by mislead scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Unfourtantely Al-Azhar is not what like it used to be as many dangerous and poisonous ideas have crept into the minds of Al-Azhar, ideas which has its roots in modernism and post-modernist thought that was brought into the Muslim world through European colonialism and later advocated by Salafists like Jamal ad-Deen al-Afghani, etc.

The problem here is that we have many naive sincere Muslims that are not able to differentiate between genuine Sunni scholars as apposed to Pseudo scholars posing as Sunnis. What we need in this Ummah is more intelligent wakeful bright meticulous minds that are able to differentiate between baatil and haqq and detect baatil right away. Sincerity ALONE is not enough, it has to be coupled with intelligence and Allaah Knows Best.

For those who are truly super sincere and want to know the truth and really want to follow the orthodox Sunni path, I highly recommend to download and read the pdf book The Defense of The Sunnah: http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/d/defs_e.pdf

Another good work is by the Saudi Sunni Scholar Shaykh Muhammad b. Alawi al Maliki al Hasani — Notions That Must Be Corrected : English Translation of “Mafahim Yajib an Tusahhah” which can be purchased here: http://islamicbookstore.com/b10577.html

Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Abdullah

Abdul Batin Murid
August 1st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
AllahuAkbar! Barak Allah Feek.

ahmad
August 1st, 2009 at 8:27 pm

yeah i totally agree
if one random scholar is mentioned, there’s always going to be a group of people that call the scholar a deviant and misguided, as if they are perfect and know everything about the deen.

Nihal Khan
August 1st, 2009 at 9:21 pm

@Abdullah
I didn’t know you were a ruling authority on the blogsphere. Forgive me for that.

Abdullah
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 am

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ ahmad
I understand that things can get confusing but ya akhee this is not me saying this, this is the view of the majority of Sunni Islamic scholarship with regards to the Wahhabis. I’m merely conveying the position of our Scholars. Instead of being mature and really researching the issues at hand you pathetically PLAY THE “if one random scholar is mentioned, there’s always going to be a group of people that call the scholar a deviant and misguided, as if they are perfect and know everything about the deen” GAME instead of responding accordingly… and you’ve probably dismissed my words as if I’m just a “fitna maker”. Well then respond and prove that I’m wrong, and if I’m wrong in what I’m saying I will acknowledge it and retract everything that I said.

Many Muslims today are so intellectually lazy that they do not want to take the time and REALLY do some serious research on the differences between the orthodox Sunnis vs. the literalists amongst the Salafis and Wahhabis. Wahhabism is a serious fitna that many like yourself and I have succumbed to. Many innocent Muslims have fallen pray to this HUGE fitna thanks to the oil money of the gulf states.

It is so easy to simply dismiss this as “bashing scholars” and “causing fitna”… but it is not, but merely a wake up call for serious Sunni Muslims to return to the well trodden Sunni Path of the scholars of the days of old such as Imaam an-Nawawi, Imaam al-Ghazzali, Ahmad ibn Hajar ‘Asqalani, Shaykh al-Islam ibn Hajar Haytami, etc.

@ Nihal Khan
Whenever someone can not respond accordingly, people like yourself respond with statements like the one you made above which is a sign of intellectual bankruptcy. Show me EXACTLY what I said was wrong.
Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Abdullah

burhan
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 am

We’re all wrong. Only Allah is right. Leave it at that.

Salman
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 am

salamu `alaykum

Just in reply to Br. Suyuti.

Following a spiritual path is necessary to achieve specific goals, and not necessary to achieve other goals. Most of the scholars of Tasawwuf agree that there are degrees of the soul that a person can reach without the guidance of a spiritual master, but it is extremely rare to find someone who is able to reach the highest degrees of spirituality without the assistance of a spiritual guide.

The Companions not having a formal tariqa structure is irrelevant to the discussion. Most of our tradition is an elucidation of the fundamentals found in the first generations, peripheral branches stemming from a base. This is universal to all the fields of Islamic learning. The crux of the matter, as it relates to spiritualy, is that a state can only arise from another state, and the state of the Companions only arose due to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) imparting his state on them through his presence. This is the same concept being employed by the spiritual path.

With all that said, it seems that one of the key problems that arises when it comes to not understanding the need for a spiritual path is our inability to accurately discern the goals of the path itself. The aspect of “performing worship” or “getting rid of bad character traits” is just one component. There is another component as well, which involves adorning the spirit and reaching true experiental knowledge of good. This latter aspect, in specific, is what we need a spiritual guide for as it relates to a “state” and only a person who has reached such a state can guide one to it.

For a closer parallel between the prophetic experience and the concepts of tasawwuf, try listening to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s “Attributes of Allah”. The first forty or so minutes is a basic elucidation of the spiritual path, in prophetic terms, and much of the terminology used within the science of tasawwuf can easily be plugged into the discussion. Once one realizes the goal that is trying to be reached, he can do no more but to seek out someone who has already reached the goal to guide him to it.
Wasalam

Abdullah
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:41 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ Salman
Mashallaah, well said!

Here is an interesting article about the saying of Imaam Ali (swaying like trees) and its relation to the Sufi hardah: http://www.livingislam.org/k/hdra_e.html

QasYm
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm

@Abdullah- You say that it is ok to backbite Muslims. The Salafis say it’s ok to backbite fellow Muslims. Now all we have are all these muslims backbiting and slandering each other (after misunderstanding a Hadith) and we’re right back to where we started. How are we ever going to progress as an Ummah if we continue to bring each other down? Then you go on to call Shaykh Qaradawi (hafhidahullah) mislead?!?! That’s when you know a person is a joke.

You need to get out of the cave that you live in, and realize that these individuals are doing far more for the Ummah then you can ever dream of doing. And you posting about their “deviancies” on a blog will in no way change that.

You keep talking about the “majority of Sunni Muslims” you are seriously going to say that the majority of Muslims in the world take part in the Sufi Hadrah’s? I don’t think so.

Abdullah
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm

@ al-suyuufi
Baarakallaahu feek for clarifying the issue of backbiting. As for my methodology, I would like to clarify that I’m upon the manhaj of the Ahl As-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa’ah. To be specific my creed is that of the Ash’aree creed which is the default Sunni creed that no one can deny except the ignorant and arrogant. In terms of practice I’m upon the madhhab of Imaam ash-Shafi’ee. In terms of my personal spiritual development or suluk to Allaah SWT, I’m upon the SUNNI Sufi path, the same path that many Orthodox Sunnis were upon such as the likes of Hasan al-Basree, Junyad, Ghazzali, an-Nawawi, Ahmed Zarruq, Salah ud-Deen al-Ayoubi, Muhammad al-Faatih, The lion of the Desert — Umar Mukhtar, and literally THOUSANDS of others throughout the history of Sunni Islam from all ares of expertise, i.e. scholars, mujahideen, saliheen, awliya, etc. (And I suppose to YOU we are all deviant and the tiny minority of Wahhabis/Salafis are correct whom only consist of 1% of the Ummah, mostly concentrated in Najd and North America lol… come on man, think!).

I think you have been greatly mislead and mistaken in calling the Sufis deviant when in reality it is the Wahhabis whom are deviant. The Wahhabis believe in a giant man that sits on the Throne whom they call “Allaah” as opposed to worshiping the REAL Allaah that the Sunnis worship… The Allaah who exists without space, place, and time, and the directions do not contain Him. The Wahhabis believe Allaah has bodily limbs therefore making them mujassimeen/anthropomorphists. So the Wahhabis are guilty of the doctrine of indwelling (hulul) since they have put limits and directions to Allaah, therefore making Him within His creation! Then they camouflage this by saying things like Allaah is (literally) ABOVE the throne BUT we don’t know HOW or Allaah has a HAND but we don’t know HOW, which is really a cop out and trickery. The reason being because they have shallow minds and don’t understand nahu, sarf, balagha, and the Islamic sciences, etc… so dry and literalist… maybe the air of Najd has done that to their brains and Allaah knows best hehe. That is just in ‘Aqeedah, but they differ with the Sunnis and almost every aspect of the Deen.

Just even look at the faces of their scholars — no noor/light, dark faces with hearts of wolves and bulging eyes waiting to devour their enemies (that would be us Sunnis)… if they can get their hands on us they would love to tear us into pieces (like what the Shabab are doing in Somalia)… PURE KHAWAARIJ… compare their faces that with the faces of the real Sunni Sufis such as Habeeb Ali Jifree whos face outshines all of their murky looking faces. That should be enough for anyone with the slightest inner insight! Google the face of Bin Baz and then someone lke Habib Ali and see the difference for yourself:

Ask yourself this — why are the genuine Sufis so calm and composed and present with Allaah SWT while the Salafis are so agitated and giddy and pretentious?

I do agree that there are Sufis out there that are worse then the Wahhabis! But the Sufis I’m talking about are the genuine Sunni Sufis WHOM ARE THE REAL SALAFIS

Take a look at these photos and reflect if you are true to yourself

Bin Baz:
http://musadiqmarhaban.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/bin-baz-si-buta-hati-dan-mata.jpg

Sunni Scholars:
http://www.marifah.net/index.php?option=com_easygallery&Itemid=82

sufi_deviant
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm

We are majority, whenever I go to hadrah, I never seen a single salafi there, all of scholars I listen to and my friends are sufis, so we definitely are in majority

QasYm
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm

al-suyuufi, ‘deviant’ according to who? One man’s deviant is another man’s scholar. Like I said, the Salafis call some people deviants, the Sufis call people deviants, who wins? You really think someone is going to change their views because you bash their scholar?
sufi_deviant, you have more than half a billion friends?

Abdullah
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:33 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
There is this misconception that there is a conflict between a sect called Salafis and a sect called Sufis which is another misleading concept. The truth is that there is a modern day conflict between orthodox Sunni Muslims vs. Protestant Muslims (Salafis, Ikhwanis, Wahhabis, and all other modernists and reformers). There is no such thing as a sect or group called “Sufis”. A Sufi is a Sunni scholar that specializes in the purification of the heart and matters related to Sunni Islamic spirituality and Ihsaan just as a Faqi specializes in Islamic Law and Shari’ah. How can a Sunni science be considered a sect? Tasawwuf or Sunni Sufism is a science just like Fiqh, Hadith, Tafsir, Seerah, etc. So are the Fuquha a sect? Do we call it their sect Fiqhism?

Classical Sunni Islaam is under attack by Protestant Muslims and we are merely making Sunni Muslims aware of that.

Abdullah
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:02 pm

@ QasYm
Well they can’t be both right. If you scrutinize the sectarian differences between Traditional Muslims and Protestant Muslims, there are HUGE differences. It is almost like they’re practicing two different religions. How can they both right? Only one of them is right. You have to do some serious research and reflection… slowly but surely you will see the baatil if your truly sincere and have been blessed with the discernment.
We can have differences of opinion but they must be legitimate differences that do not contravene the manhaj of Sunni Islaam.

In other words these differences must not contradict the principles laid down by the Sunni scholars within the Sunni madhaahib. So therefore we can not take from Yusuf Qaradawi, Bin Baz, Albani, Abdul Wahhab, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al Qayyim, since they all have broken away from Sunnism with their reformist and/or protestant rulings and opinions. We only take from them in what is in agreement with consensus.

You can not break the consensus of the Sunni scholars. It is binding till the end of times. So taraweeh is a minimum of 20 rakas in all schools, you can not touch the mushaf without wudu in all schools, you can not wipe over non water-proof socks in all schools, you don’t jam your feet next to your brother while your praying in all schools, you start fasting in Ramadan with sighting of the moon in all schools, you don’t eat supermarket meat (unless you know for sure it has been slaughtered according to Islamic law) in all schools.

These are final verdicts that have been reached long before the emergence of reformists and so therefore they are not open to re-ijtihaad. ITS DONE and binding till the end of times. So no one can come and say otherwise, for example no one can come and say taraweeh is 8 rakas, which is a baatil isolated opinion that has absolutely no weight in Sunni Islaam.

This is what we are brining attention to, that is to educated Sunni Muslims to return to orthodox Sunni Islaam as practiced and understood by the Salaf-us-Salih and the righteous Khalaf.

Abdullah
August 4th, 2009 at 2:50 am

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ al-suyuufi
First of all it depends on what is meant by the Ash’ari creed. When the scholars want to differentiate between the Sunni creed as apposed to baatil creeds like the Mu’tazilah, they mention the Ash’ari creed as MEANING all 3 Sunni Creeds, i.e. the Ash’ari Creed, the Maturidi Creed, and the Athari Creed. In other words they include all 3 creeds UNDER the label ASH’ARI. So within that context that would make the Ash’ari creed the default Sunni creed AND the CREED of the SALAF has been codified within that madhhab. When wanting to explain the differences in the subtle points of theology within the Sunnis then the scholars would differentiate between the Ash’aris, Maturidis, and Atharis . The main difference between the Ash’ari creed and the Athari creed is that the Hanbali Atharis did not do ta`weel and disliked ‘ilm al-kalaam (speculative theology) which the Ash’aris and Maturids did not have a problem with, rather they saw it necessary when defending the creed of Sunni Islaam.

As for what you have mentioned regarding the Atharis, you are mistaken. Now lets be clear here. The type of Athari creed that you mentioned is not the creed of the Salaf or Ahmad ibn Hanbal, but rather Wahhabi beliefs under the label ATHARI whom some Salafis have hijacked for themselves (just as they hijacked the Hanbali madhhab for themselves). The REAL Atharis NEVER said “Allaah has a hand, face, etc. but it does not resemble any of His creations” (this is a lie propagated by the Wahhabis) BUT rather they said that any mention of ‘yad’, or ‘wajh’ are NOT to be understood as bodily limbs but rather something else without explaining how or explaining away. In other words, they performed tafwid: http://marifah.net/articles/SettingtheRecordStraightonTafwid.pdf

So these Wahhabi/Salafis going under the label ‘Athari’ are still guilty of tajseem because it is not enough to say “Allaah has a Hand but it doesn’t resemble any of His creations”! Thats like saying Allaah has a bodily limb but it doesn’t resemble our bodily limb! LOL come on man.
The real Hanbali Atharis do not have that Wahhabi creed you attributed to them, they are innocent of that ya Akhee
Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Abdullah
Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum

ME
August 4th, 2009 at 8:04 am

^^ Fully agree with Abdullah . Thumbs up!

Salman
August 4th, 2009 at 10:11 am

salamu `alaykum
Sidi Abdullah: Since you are, Alhamdulilah, an adherent to the Sufi way then as a word of advice for all of us I present a statement by Shaykh Nuh Keller, who wrote:-

“As with most human endeavors, some parts of the path are rough and some are smooth. A traveler cannot control this, but he can control the manners he needs to travel it, and this is what is meant by the words of the sheikhs “The path is wholly manners”—towards Allah, towards one’s fellow Muslims, and especially towards those from whom the path is taken.

Ibn ‘Ajiba says:

‘Know that this knowledge we speak of is not attained by the prattling of the tongue: it is nothing besides direct experiences and ecstasy. It cannot be taken from papers, but only from the people who possess the experiences. It cannot be reached by gossip, but only through the service of its men and keeping the company of the perfected. By Allah, no one who succeed­ed has succeeded except by keeping the company of someone who succeeded” (Iqadh al-himam, 9–10)’”
Wasalam

Abdullah
August 4th, 2009 at 1:39 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ Salman
Baarikallaahu feek Sidi, samihnee inshallaah, I will stop, your very right. It is just I being a zealous and committed X-Wahhabi/Salafi and Ikhwaani know very well the tricks of these protestant literalist reformers and how they think and part there baatil teachings and only wish for my brothers and sisters to steer away from the dark side of Protestant Islaam and to come into the light of Tasawwuf and orthodox Sunnism.
May Allaah SWT REALLY guide us and show us what is haqq and steer us away and protect us from baatil, ameen.

Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Abdullah

Yursil
August 4th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Salamu’alaykum,
QasYM wrote:
“You keep talking about the “majority of Sunni Muslims” you are seriously going to say that the majority of Muslims in the world take part in the Sufi Hadrah’s?”

As someone who has traveled somewhat, I’ve seen Muslims engage in practices of visiting Saints tombs, Quran Khawani, Zikr, Hadrahs far more readily than attending anything akin to the various ‘conventions’ and basketball tournaments with Muslim in the name that occurs in the US.

It’s really only US born Muslims that have this tunnel vision about what the rest of the world believes in.

The idea that QasYM is presenting which is that Salafis and Sufis are complaining how each other are mislead is an interesting sign. As it was a little over a week ago that he was writing comments about my ‘extremism’ by visiting India.

Yursil
August 4th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
correction: US born or raised

Yursil
August 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
The idea is more elaborate than ‘majority rules’. It is based on the fact that the Prophet (S) said a few things to this effect which defined the universe of disagreement for the Ahl ul Sunnah:

In the Final Sermon:

“He (Shaitan) has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.”

and, of course,

“My community will never agree upon an error”

Abdullah
August 4th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

@ al-suyuufi
There you go again confusing the whole issue. When we say the majority we mean that in the context of Sunni Islamic scholarship and consensus. Not what the majority of non-Scholar Muslims (laity) think is okay or not okay. And it is a historical fact that the majority of Sunni Muslim scholars were on the manhaj of Traditional Islam, i.e. The Ash’aris, Maturidis, Atharis, The four madhaahib, and the various Sunni Sufi paths. Just look into the biographies of all the great Sunni scholars and you CLEARLY see that they were all upon the Traditional Sunni Path. It is only in recent history we started seeing the likes of Al-Jaza’iri and others like him.

Abdullah
August 5th, 2009 at 1:58 am

During the time of Ibn Hanbal the Sunnis were the majority, it is just the Mu’tazilah had political power and were able to enforce their sectarian beliefs upon the populace, even some of the Muslim rulers at that time were Mu’tazilah. (Sort of like the Wahhabis today in Saudi Arabia)
The Pseudo-Hanbali Hashawi Anthropomorphist Ibn Taymiyyah was the one that deviated from Sunnism. Why do you think he and his student Ibn al-Qayyim were jailed?

Here is something interesting to note:

Admirers of Ibn Taimiyya assert that he had been a victim of tyranny, but there is good reason to believe that it was his theological stance that had set traditional Sunni scholars against him. Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan globetrotter, for example, sets the record straight:

“When I came to Damascus there was a man called ibn Taimiyya speaking about religious science, but there was something strange in his mind… Once he was doing kutbat aljuma’a and he said yanzilou rabbuna ila assam’a adunya, then he went down two steps on the minbar and he said kanuzuli hatha (like my descending). The people of Damascus jumped on him and wanted to kill him. [4]“

[4] Tuhfat al-nuzzar or “Travels”

Abdullah
August 5th, 2009 at 3:20 am

They were both jailed for totally 2 different reasons. Ibn Taymiyyah was jailed by the Sunnis because he was a mujassim and other anti-Sunni ideas and Ahmad ibn Hanbal was jailed by the Mu’tazilah because he was the Imaam of Ahl As-Sunnah and he bravely defended the Sunni creed in front the baatil Mu’tazilah.

The Palestinian Sunni scholar Shaykh Sa‘īd bin ‘Abdul Latīf Foudah [1] is the most meticulous experts of our times on the creed of IbnTaymiyya and he has CLEARLY shown the deviations of Ibn Taymiyya from Sunni Islam. Same with Shaykh Gibril Haddad who is one of the most meticulous Sunni scholars alive that if you were to bring all the Wahhabis together they will not be able to refute 1% of his tremendous scholarship. [2]

[1] http://www.marifah.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=159&Itemid=46
[2] http://www.sunnah.org/history/Innovators/ibn_taymiyya.htm

For those serious about wanting to know the truth on Ibn Taymiyyah you can read the book Fi Nafi al-Jiha, or On Denying Direction to God, by the Ashari theologian and celebrated Shafi’i jurist, Qadi Ibn Jahbal
(d. 733/1333), is a clinical rebuttal of the controversial fatwa, the Aqida Hamawiyya, penned by his legendary contemporary, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328).: http://www.sunnipath.com/bookstore/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BKAQSA1007

SaqibSaab
August 6th, 2009 at 12:05 am

Baller narration from a baller modern book. I received it as a gift from my in-laws after my nikah and alhamdulillah it’s a great reference.
Sometimes it’s nice to just post/blog a small tidbit, so beneficial.
Also, congrats to all the failbots in the comments at turning into a debate.

Abdullah
August 6th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
@ SaqibSaab
Instead of judging us as “failbots” why don’t you do your own personal research on this matter or at least try to keep an open mind in understanding what is being said here instead of seeing it as a fruitless debate?

As for the book that your are referring to, I’m not criticizing the hadiths or the sayings of the companions in that book. I’m sure you will find many beneficial statements in that book but rather what I’m criticizing is the manhaj that this book is promoting.
Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum,
Abdullah

Abdullah
August 19th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum to all,
I would like to share something will all of you just to show you how the Salafis disrespect the great scholars of this ummah and in how they try to cover up our tradition. Al-Manhaj.com or the The Salafi Society of North America translated one of Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbalee’s (rahimahullaah) works titled Kashf-ul-Kurbah fee wasfi Haali Ahlil-Ghurbah (Alleviating Grievances in Describing the Condition of the Strangers) which is a book that describes the Strangers (al Ghurabaa) whom will appear during the last days.

In the introduction the Pseudo-Salafi translator Isma’eel Alarcon praises the Imaam and even considers Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbalee’s (rahimahullaah) as being on the “Salafee Methodology”. Then he condemns the Imaam for having “Sufi ideas” which “were prevalent during his time”…. subhanallaah! In an ironic way the Salafis show us how tasawwuf was indeed fully ingrained in the Islamic tradition! LOL… WOW… you can never cover haqq! Haqq will always manifest no matter how much people try to cover up the truth!

Whats even more astonishing is that they refused to translate the end of the book because the Imaam basically talks about “inward strangeness” in how the inners spiritual states of the Sufis make them from amongst the Ghurabaa! It is if the Pseudo-Salafis are trying to cover up or censor that fact in order to hijack or steal the tile of al-Ghurabaa for themselves lol… caught red-handed! How sad and pathetic of an attempt. we don’t even have to refute the Pseudo-Salafis because they do a pretty good job in refuting themselves! They even left a note at the end of the book and this what they have to say:

[This is where we will end the translation of the treatise. As stated in the introduction, the Imam goes into discussion of themes founded upon Sufi concepts which have no basis in Islaam and which have little benefit, so All praise is due to Allaah through whose Grace all good deeds are completed.]

WOW… what a perfect example of Pseudo-Salafi censorship! Anyhow here are some excerpts taken from the introduction [ for those interested you can download the entire e-book from the al ghurabaa website - alghurabaa dot org in the hadith section]:

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK

All praise is for Allaah and may the peace and blessings of Allaah be on His Final Messenger, his family and those who follow him in goodness until the Day of Recompense. To Proceed.

This book is a translation of a short treatise entitled Kashf-ul-Kurbah fee wasfi Haali Ahlil-Ghurbah, or Alleviating Grievances in Describing the Condition of the Strangers, written by the great Imaam, Al- Haafidh Zayn-ud-Deen Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbalee, rahimahullaah.

In this treatise, Ibn Rajab deals with the topic of the Strangers, or Al-Ghurabaa…

And towards the end of his treatise, he begins to divert from the topic by going deep into the issue of inner strangeness, sometimes focusing on aspects that have no basis in Islaam, such as talk about the ‘Aarif, wajd, khulwah, etc. These were Sufi ideas that were prevalent during his time…

Shaikh Saleem Al-Hilaalee said:

“Ibn Rajab (rahimahullaah) treaded the Manhaj of the Salaf with regard to the issues of Eemaan and acquiring knowledge. And he supported it and defended it from the false arguments of the opponents.
His books are loaded with that. And he wrote some treatises specifically on this topic such as his book ‘Bayaan Fadlu ‘Ilm-is-Salaf ‘alaal-Khalaf.’
However, there can be found traces of Sufism in his books, may Allaah protect him from inclining towards it’s dangerous paths, due to what Allaah has given him from vast knowledge of the Narrations and a clear Salafee Methodology.”

[Iqaadh-ul-Himam: pg. 9]