Statement of Muhammad Ibn Muneer “Mufti”:
Statement of Shaykh Abdullah Ibn Abdur-Raheem al-Bukhari:
[Q]: This questioner says: There is an American graduate from the Islamic University who claims that the Scholars do not give importance and they do not pay attention to the problems of the Muslims in other lands. He says that these problems, due to which the Muslims have become distressed, do not prevent the Scholars from drinking tea and eating dates, and these problems do not disturb their rest and sleep. So they are not overly concerned with these issues. What is your view on this statement? The questioner says: What is your view on this statement?
[A]: You ask and perhaps you already have the answer. This is not in need of an additional answer. This individual is in agreement with ’Amr Ibn ’Ubayd al-Mu’tazilee when he reviled al-Hasan al-Basree and Ibn Seereen. He used to become angry at the students who would go and sit with them in the circles. He used to say, “What are they doing with those individuals? They are scholars of rags.” Meaning, scholars of menstruation and child birth.
These claims have been revived but the means vary and the wordings vary; to the extent that they come to us with Fiqh al-Waaqi‘ (understanding of current affairs). ‘Our mashaayikh are scholars, but they do not understand the current state of affairs.’ What is the current state of affairs? It is familiarizing oneself with the newspapers, looking into such and such, BBC said this and CNN did that, and I don’t know who did that, and so on and so forth up until I heard one of them saying, and by Allaah I don’t know if he was negligent or asleep when he said it.
I heard a recording from twenty years ago or more where one of them says, whilst speaking about the westernization of the woman, in an audio cassette of his. He said whilst answering a question that was posed to him, and he was from the callers to takfeer and bombings. Now they say it is necessary for us to give consideration to the countries around us, this is it. The speaker, may Allaah bless you, said in this audio recording, which later became a transcribed treatise… The recording became what? A transcribed treatise. He said, ‘I will speak to you about a matter, we are speaking about the westernization of the woman, and I have followed up this matter for more than sixteen years. I have followed up the condition of a young girl when she was I don’t know what, and then she studied such and such, and then when she became such and such, then when she grew up, then I don’t know what. She was affected by the west.’
You have been following behind this girl for more than sixteen years to see how she would turn out? Meaning, if the speaker is a madman, at least the listener should have some sense. Before this lecture, you followed up the affair of this young girl for sixteen or eighteen years. O man,
“Has he known the unseen or has he taken a covenant from the Most Beneficent?” [Soorah Maryam 19:78]
How does he allow himself to follow the affair of this girl for sixteen or eighteen years to see what she will become? He said he followed her up. So why did he not advise her at an earlier stage? Why did he not advise her family at an earlier stage so that she would not continue in thus way? You are a traitor! Is that not so? He sees deviation from the time that it begins and he continues to follow it up, wanting to know where it will reach. Is this permissible?
So I say, they come to us with likes of these statements, they are people who understand the current state of affairs, they understand such and such, they don’t understand the current state of affairs, such and such has been written against them, to the end of that. No one says the likes of this and no one follows up these things except the people of desires. And this speech is from that type completely.
This graduate says, I heard the audio clip. This inexperienced and gullible individual did not graduate (i.e. obtain an education) from the university, he is lazy. I know him, the man is a lazy opportunist. This is one issue.
Secondly, his statement that the problems are not important to the scholars and that the scholars do not care about the problems of the Muslims – who is it that determined this? Did he sit with the scholars and accompany them for an extended period of time? Did he go to this scholar and that scholar and see that they do not care about the problems of the Muslims? Is this not from deceit and lying? What does he intend by this statement when the people of the west hear it? What will the impression be in their minds? Revilement against these scholars and therefore they do not deserve to be asked.
Then he says, and this is the conclusion, so do not pay so much attention to them. This is what he intends, this is the conclusion, this is the goal. So do not pay attention to them (i.e. the scholars). So pay attention to whom? Pay attention to me. I am the one who knows your problems and I am the one who will what? I will solve them. Then he says that these problems facing the Muslims in America do not prevent the scholars from drinking tea and eating dates. So does he mean that drinking tea and eating dates is unlawful? So if there is a problem, I should not eat or drink? Is he saying to the scholars that it is unlawful to eat dates? Is he saying that everyone who eats dates does not care about the Muslims? How many people eat dates in Ramadan in al-Masjid an-Nabawee and in other places? All of these people do not care about the Muslims and their issues? Does he want the scholars to fast, where they do not eat or drink, no tea? So this individual, who cares about the affairs of the Muslims, I don’t know if he eats and drinks, or does he go hungry?
He says these problems do not prevent them from rest and sleep. Meaning, he does not want them (i.e. the Scholars) to eat, or drink, or sleep or rest. O man, where is the justice in this speech? If this speech is permitted, then it means you want destruction for them. You want for them to destroy themselves?
“So kill yourselves (the innocent kill the wrongdoers among you), that will be better for you with your Lord. Then He accepted your repentance. ” [Sooratul-Baqarah 2:54]
Meaning, the one who makes this statement should not be turned to. O people of goodness, not everything that these individuals say to earn a living, those who feign knowledge, the lazy ones, those who revile the Sunnah and its people, we should not turn to everything they say and ask what’s the answer? What do we say? The answer is already found in the statement itself. Do not pay attention to them (i.e. the scholars) pay attention to him (i.e. Muhammad Ibn Muneer). Some of the brothers had me listen to this audio clip, but it was in the English language. I do not know that language, so they translated it for me. So as I said, he is not a graduate (i.e. has not obtained an education), and if he did graduate, he did it by just getting by.
And Allaah is the Most High and the All-Knowing. We ask Allaah for safety and pardon. [1]
Endnotes:
[1]: This clip was extracted from the Forty Fifth After Jumu’ah Prayer meeting, which took place at Masjid ar-Ridwaan in al-Madeenah, Saudi Arabia on the 1st of Muharram, 1439H. The entire recording is available from Miraath al-Anbiyaa.
Translation by Maaz Qureshi