MY ADVICE TO MR ZAKIR NAIK All perfect praise and adorations be to Allaah; we beseech His peace and blessings upon the noble Prophet Muhammad. Matters of aqeedah requires understanding it most especially with the Quranic verses and Statements of ahaadeeth. However; these two major texts from which a muslim is to compuslory take his/her deen from requires explanations. The Prophet had said as reported by Abuu Daaud that: I have left two things(guidance) for you in which you shall never go astray as long as you hold firm to it; The Quran and my sunnah. Meanwhile; like earlier said these two naql requires explanations. So; from where and from whom do we take these explanations from? Firstly; the Prophet had said as reported from Abuu Daaud; At-tirmidhiyy and others that: The Jews shall divide into 71sects, the Christians into 72 sects and my Ummah(The Muslims) shall divide into 73sects; they shall all enter into Hell(on the day of Qiyaama) except one sect out of them(i.e muslims) that shall be saved; the companions asked: Which One of them shall be saved Oh Messenger of Allaah? And he said: Whosoever is upon what I and my companions are upon upon today. From this hadeeth; the scholars of hadeeth explained that: Firstly; the Prophet had been foretold by Allaah that indeed the Muslims shall divide as Allaah knows us better and understands what the haal of the people shall come to be. Indeed Allaah said in suuratul Mulk that: Should He know when He is the One who created you! Secondly; the Prophet never said those who shall divide amongst the ummah are not muslims. He said my ummah(i.e the muslims) shall divide. He he said those who shall be upon the correct manhaj are those who shall be upon the understanding of what Himself and His companions are upon. So; the companions are whom we are to hold tightly to what they understood from the prophet and antagonizing is tantamount to our going astray. Therefore; those who have lived before like the Companions; the Taabioon, the Tabaa Taabioon and those followed the manhaj taught by the Prophet to the companions where called salaf(meaning: Pious Predecessors). Al-Imaam Abuu Abdullaah Ahmad bn Hanbal Ash-shaybaani explained in his book usuulu ssunnah that: What is established for every muslim is to have tamassuk(holding firmly) to what the companions were upon. So; scholars from time like Al-Imaam Abuu Abdillaah Al- Bukhaari; Al-Imaam Maalik bn Anas; Al-Imaam Ibn Qoyyim Al-Jaoziyya, Al-Imaam Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Imaam Ibn Rajab Al-habali and the rest of them were all upon salafs. Why? This is because they were upon what their own pious predecessors were upon. So salafiyya is all about holding firm to what the Prophet taught as a manhaj(Understanding of Islaam) to His companions. Al-Imaam Yahya Bn Aliyy Al-Hajuuree said: What is recommended for a nuslim is that he/she should take his/her Islaam(the understanding) from the Quran and sunnah upon the understanding of the salafs. It was merely due to the negligence of the manhaj of the salaf that led the Murjia; the Mutazila; the Qodariyya; the Jabariyya; the Shia(and their divisions) and the rest of them into dolaalaat(misguidance). It was due to the evil that had taken precedence over the world and infected some muslims that made Al-Imaam Naasiruddeen Al-albaani to advice strictly that: A muslim must claim to be a saafee and nothing else. However; this comment of Shaykh Al-albaani does not necessitate that when a muslim is questioned who he is: He should say am salafi! This is not it but rather a muslim should say: Am a muslim and a salafee(the One upon the manhaj taught to the Companions by The Prophet). So; I want to believe Mr Zakir Naik should with all understand what salafiyya is all about so that when next he ia given the microphone to address the muslims he would know what to say. And Allaah is the granter of success.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 07:01:24 +0000