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Yasir Qadhi: Salafiyyah Is a Fallible Human Trend Equivalent to Historical and Modern Sects
Posted by Abu.Iyaad on Saturday, March, 01 2014 and filed under Salafiyyah

Allaah, the Most High said, "And who will guide the one whom Allaah has misguided?"(30:29). The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said, "There is no man except that his heart is between two of the fingers of al-Rahmaan. If He wishes for it to deviate, He will cause it to deviate and if He wishes to establish it (upon guidance) He will establish it (upon guidance)." Kitab al-Sunnah of Ibn Abee Aasim (1/98) with checking of al-Albani. And Hudhayfah bin al-Yamaan (radiyallaahu anhu) said, "Indeed, true misguidance it is that you acknowledge today what you used to reject before today and that you reject today what you used to acknowledge before today. And beware of fluctuating for indeed the deen of Allaah is only one." Related in the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq.

Yasir Qadhi is a man misguided upon knowledge

The evidence of that is apparent and evident for the one with baseerah (insight) and the one who holds fast to the guidance of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and his Companions (radiyallaahu anhum). And such evidence becomes more and more clear as the days pass. The reasons why a man does not act upon what he once knew are many, and this is after our knowledge that Allaah guides and misguides from His wisdom and justice, "So when they deviated, Allaah caused their hearts to deviate" (61:5) and Allaah does not misguide but the wrongdoing follower of desires. A couple of days ago (Thursday, 27th February 2014) Yasir Qadhi published a piece in which he implies that Salafiyyah is a fallible human trend equivalent to sects such has the Deobandis, Sufis, Ikhwanis, Tablighis. His remarks below should be read with something he has said previously about the Salafi way (see here).

The speech above is not something new in reality and its falsehood is apparent and does not require much to be said by way of refutation. But it is simply Yasir Qadhi being more explicit and open about what he has been harbouring in his heart and which he has said previously but in slightly different way and more cautiously. We addressed one of his previous comments in this article and much of what was said in that article can be repeated here.

Yasir Qadhi knows full well that by definition "Salafiyyah" is the deen of Islam and the deen of Islam is "Salafiyyah." This is because he spent ten years in the Islamic University of Madeenah in the course of which he will have sat and listened to many notable Salafi scholars explain that by definition Salafiyyah is Islam as it was revealed upon the Messenger (sallallaahu ʿalayhi wasallam) and that the Salafi call is a call to that Islam [and its foundations (usool) and methodologies (manaahij)] which solves the problems of mankind in truth, and exemplified in the statement of Imam Malik (rahimahullaah), "The latter part of this ummah will not be rectified except what rectified its earlier part."

As for the claim that Yasir Qadhi distinguishes between "Salafiyyah" (as a way) and those called "Salafis" (ascribing to that way), then the various statements coming from Yasir Qadhi over the past five years show that this is not his intent. A sign of this is that he does not consider the Salafi scholars of today as being fit and capable of addressing modern issues, and many of the issues of criticism he has are directed towards what are in fact firm foundations (usool) derived from the Book and the Sunnah upon the understanding and application of the Righteous Salaf, examples of which include his opinions of the Arab spring revolutions (in which he and his associates such as Abu Eesa Niamatullah and Waleed Basyouni) have been proven (by the outcomes of those revolutions) to be ignoramuses, followers of desires and opposers of the Prophetic Sunnah, and likewise his position towards the sects. Yasir Qadhi carefully chooses the word "Salafi" when attacking their way and tries to avoid using the word "Salafiyyah" as much as he can though on occasions he makes the slip and lets his emotive zeal pour out. This indicates that his issue with the usool of Salafiyyah (which by definition is pure authentic Islam), otherwise he would have no reason to criticize the Salafi scholars of today and their followers.

Here is a very small sample of statements and clarifications from the Salafi Scholars of today, the likes of which Yasir Qadhi has been exposed to over and over and which he understands quite well, and which explain that Salafiyyah is nothing but pure authentic Islaam.

  • Ibn Taymiyyah: Obligatory to Accept Ascription to the Way of the Salaf Because it is Nothing But the Truth - (see here)
  • Ibn Taymiyyah: Sound Reason and Authentic Text Never Necessitate Opposition to the Salafi Way - (see here)
  • Is Salafiyyah Simply a Blessed Historical Time Period or Is It an Actual Jamaa'ah With a Distinct creed and Methodology? - (see here)
  • Imaam al-Albaanee: Compelling Argument for the Usage of the Term 'Salafi' - (see here)
  • Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan on Ascription to Salafiyyah and Saying 'I Am Salafi' and When It Becomes Necessary - (see here)
  • Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen: the Salafis Are Ahl Al-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa'ah and Ahl Al-Athar - (see here)
  • Imaam Ibn Baz: When Being Truthful in the Claim, Labelling With 'Salafi' Is an Obligatory Commendation - (see here)
  • Shaykh Al-Albaanee on the Doubt: Allaah Has Named Us Muslims So Why Use the Label 'Salafi'? - (see here)
  • The Permanent Committee: Salafiyyah and Ascription to the Salaf - (see here)
  • Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan: Is Salafiyyah a Hizb (Party) From Amongst the Parties? - (see here)

If Yasir Qadhi understands a Salafiyyah other than this one - which he was exposed to for ten years and which he himself, for a period, used to propagate - then let him explain it to us. We eagerly await his clarification of this Salafiyyah and we anticipate him writing and explaining to us the Salafiyyah he considers not intellectually stimulating enough for his likes and which is just a "human, fallible trend". And upon this, if he cannot explain to us a Salafiyyah other than the one we have just defined and which Yāsir Qādhī knows and understands full well is the pure, authentic Islam by definition, then his statement is a revilement upon the deen of Islam for which he needs to make tawbah to Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, and it is a statement that puts him in a very dangerous, precarious position.

This is because Salafiyyah (meaning the authentic Islam in belief, speech and deed) is the religion of all of the Prophets and Messengers and thus whoever clung to the authentic Islam (brought by each Messenger), in belief, speech and action whilst others deviated from that way, then he is known as a "Salafi," with a meaning that he is a follower of the respective Messenger and of his close disciples who clung to the way of that Messenger in what passed of history. As Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, "There is no fault, blame upon the one who manifests the madhhab of the Salaf, and ascribes to it, rather it is obligatory to accept that from him by unanimous agreement, for the madhhab of the Salaf is nothing but the truth." Yasir Qadhi cannot claim ignorance of this as has preceded because he knows that by definition, Salafiyyah is the pure Islam.

The falsehood of Yasir Qadhi and his lie is known by simply demanding him to give us an explanation of the hadeeth, "There will not cease to be a faction of my ummah manifestly upon the truth, they will not harmed by those who oppose them or desert them until the command of Allaah arrives." (Bukhari and Muslim and others). So there is a "truth" that is traversed in every generation by a people who are not harmed by "opposition" and "desertion" of their way. This faction is known as Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah, and at the head of them are the Scholars, the people of knowledge who are upon what the Messenger and His Companions were upon when the ummah was one and united, and they are followed in that truth by others from the ummah. So whoever followed and adhered to this way is from this faction and it ought to be the desire of every Muslim to be from this faction. In the above hadeeth we see clearly that there is "truth" in distinction to falsehood and there is desertion and opposition in distinction to holding fast to the truth (which is defined in other texts - what the Companions were upon). Yasir Qadhi wishes to undermine all of that and say it is not necessary for you to take heed and follow the advice of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam). This he effectively does by picking and choosing what suits his desires from the texts and making ta'weel of them upon his desires, as he has done with the hadeeth of seventy-trhee sects. The end-result of his ramblings, even though he will not say this explicitly, but it is the end-result of where he is going, as if to say:

Leave the Messenger, come and follow me. The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) is saying most of the ummah is misguided in relation to the true authentic Islam he brought, I am saying most of the ummah is guided (merely because they are Muslims) and I am being very vague and general about it deliberately and on purpose. The Messenger is saying stick to the Companions (in belief, methodology) and abandon all other sects (firaq) to save yourself from the threat of the Fire and potential entry into the Fire and I am saying it doesn't matter, just be a sincere Muslim who fulfils his worship and forget seeking out and verifying that your belief and methodology is that of the Companions and ignore the command of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam). The Messsenger is advising about sticking to the truth in all times and ages (even if it is like holding onto hot coals) until the Hour is established and I am saying Allaah has decreed differences in the ummah, they are never going to go away so why you going to waste your time, just learn to live with these differences and accommodate them. The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) is saying there will be many controversies and to bite onto his Sunnah with the molars and I am saying I take back my speech against the Rafidi Shi'ites and we should learn to live with them and accommodate them... and so on.

A man speaks with more than just his tongue, and when you combine what a man says with his tongue and you add to that his actions (in da'wah), his affiliations, his relationships, who he sits with and expresses love for, then you can see that he saying much more than what comes from his tongue alone, even if that in itself, is very revealing.

Yasir Qadhi's post above of 27th February 2014 comes within the context of his deliberate, calculated attempt to distort and misinterpret the hadeeth of splitting of the ummah whose authenticity he is unable to reject and thus he follows the ways of the Jahmiyyah in making ta'weel of the hadeeth in ways not known by the people of knowledge, clothing truth with falsehood in the process in order to deceive his audience. From his snake-oil academic peddlery is to claim that whilst seventy-two out of seventy-three sects appears to signify a majority (of the ummah), when those that make up the leading figureheads of each of the seventy-two sects are only fifty or a hundred in number, then we realise that the sects are actually a minority and the majority are rightly-guided. This is the falsehood Yasir Qadhi is trying to push, clashing with the Book of Allaah, the Sunnah of the Messenger, the statements of the Companions and the Qadar of Allaah (as in actual historical and current reality). Then he proceeds to follow the way of Hasan al-Banna, Taqi al-Din al-Nabahani and other straying wanderers in proposing a minimalist, generalized aqidah that meets least resistance from all directions, factions and sects so as to amass followers.

Perhaps Yasir Qadhi has visions of one day being in the White House as the first Muslim president of the United States, you never know what aspirations pass through the hearts of deviants, but when you look at their actions, you can be excused for thinking such thoughts as they are not too far-fetched on closer inspection. When Yasir Qadhi has gone this far you wonder what disgrace is to follow next.

A few brief notes

A few brief notes on Yasir Qadhi's piece:

  • The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) warned against bid'ah (innovation) and splitting extensively and in a sustained way as is clear from his sermons. This warning applies to all sects, groups and movements that depart from the Sunnah in creed or methodology.

  • The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) made an exception and a condition for anyone in the ummah who is to be saved, and that is by adhering to the religion as understood and practiced by the Companions which in practical terms means to believe their belief and adopt their methodology in the face of events, circumstances and happenings, and this incorporates affairs of rectification and da'wah. It is precisely here that all the modern day groups and sects separate and depart from the way of the Salaf and the Salafi scholars of today. Yasir Qadhi is a flag-bearer for those oppposers. He wishes to compromise, erode and undermine Salafiyyah so he is left in an open field with the general Ummah, so he can lead and direct them.

  • The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) came, called to Islam and Tawhid and a united ummah emerged. That initial united ummah is represented by the Companions. They were united because they followed the guidance in knowledge and action. They are the heart of this ummah. But Allaah has decreed splitting and differing as a means of test and trial whilst prohibiting it legislatively. And the criterion that a Muslim follows in knowing if he is upon right guidance or not has itself been laid down in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. That criterion has been identified, by the Scholars from the second century hijrah right until this day of ours, from the revealed texts, as "the way of the Salaf" and "Salafiyyah" which simply means to hold fast to the Sunnah of the Messenger and of the rightly-guided Khulafaaa and to the Companions as a whole in matters of belief and methodology. With these remarks Yasir Qadhi is undermining what Allaah commanded and enjoining what Allaah prohibited.

  • In the last paragraph above, Yasir Qadhi is essentially saying, "No matter what or who you are or what you are influenced by on account of leaders and scholars you follow, be you a Shi'ite, Sufi, Jahmi, Ikhwani, Tablighi just be sincere and conscious of Allaah and love the Mesenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) as much as you can, do as many rituals as you can, be as Islamic as you can, and you will be following the Sunnah as best as you can." This is what Yasir Qadhi is saying. He wishes to undermine the furqaan (criterion) that the Qur'an and the Sunnah came with, to separate truth from falsehood and made a permanent criterion between truth and falsehood until the Hour is established. He wishes to confuse and mix the the truth with falsehood.