The refutation of the Ahlul Ihdathun(People of Cultist

Novelty) wa Shi'atun(Partisanship)

Prof MTE Kahn

It has been required by some brothers to answer the question on exposing the people of Cults
and Partisanship and these are the answers and justifications based on the position of the
Ulama of the Ahlus Sunna of the earlier times, clear from the influence of Modernism and
Liberalism, the twin psychosis affecting the people of this time.

The rising of sects and ultra-religious groups emanate from the rising of cults, and then
evolve into distinctly separate emanations of Islam, all barely related to the Deen as brought
and taught by Muhamad, salalahu alayhi wasalam. A singular difference with all the people
of Ihdathun is their agreement to relinquish the Sunnah of Muhammad, by either following a
different one, redefining it in terms of say "only Hadeeth from the Ahlul Bayt", or "following
the Amal of Ahlul Madina but not Hadeeth" or following a "the sayings of UbyadAllah or
Ghulam Ahmad" or of "Bapak"or Ian Dallas aka Abdalqadir as-Sufi etc. The variations and
clever machinations abound. What is common in cults is that they are fanatical about the
rejection of Hadeeth and by that any semblance to bring them to order by a statement of the
Messenger of Allah. They often go beyond Hadeeth and end up with wild conjecture. In
return they only accept that which confirm their innovation in the Deen. A sign of the people
of the Sunnah is that they accept the sayings of the Messenger of Allah as a proof and as an
example with deep understanding and reverence for its weight and they do not go beyond it.
That is part of Ihsan and part of understanding of Muraqaba.

The Imaam, the Haafidh(of hadeeth) - Muhammad Ibn Sinaan al-Waasitee said, "The
Mushabbihah are those who go beyond the hadeeth. So as for those who speak with the
hadeeth, then they do not increase upon what they hear. These are the people of the Sunnah.
They only believe what the hadeeth comes with, these are the believers. They believe in what
the Prophet (Sallahhaahu- ‘alaihi-Wa-salam) came with, and the Book and the Sunnah."

People tend to speculate and wrangle over meanings and interpretations and the previous
Ummah's that of the Jews and Christians, have been fraught with so many differences that
their Rabbis wrote several volumes of the Talmud to re-define the Jewish religion. Similarly
the Christians wrote the Books of John, Mark, Luke and the epistles of Paul in addition to the
Torah and came with a New Testament in place of the Injil. In the history of Islam, there
were two kinds of books written on the subject of Tauheed. Those of the Ulama who
defended its parameters and preserved its essential teachings, and those of the deviant ones
who wrote "Books of Tauheed" in order to confound the Muslims and drive them into
philosophies and committing shirk. These are the books of dajjals.

About this, the Imam of Darul Hijra, Imam Malik ibn Anas said: ‘If there is little knowledge,
futility emerges, and if there are few narrations, the desires increase.' So if a word is neither
textually proven (from Quran or used by the Messenger of Allah) nor is its meaning known
to the intellect, then it is useless and full of desires…”

Now this leaves the innovation of the Cult masters clear, and as it is an obligation to refute
the wrongs of such deviators it becomes an obligation on those who take it upon themselves
to be the defenders of the Ahlus Sunnah wa Jamaah to do so. Exposing the people of Cults
and Innovation was well known to the early community of Muslims. They did not use the
Hadeeth on backbiting in order allow harm to proliferate in the Muslim community. Islam is
a Deen of balance. Everything has a place and the obligation of commanding the good and
forbidding the wrong is of individual and public concern.

Ebraheem an -Nakha'ee said as quoted in the Sharh Usoolul-I'tiqaad , "There is no

backbiting regarding an innovator." In other words the innovations and innovators in Deen
must be exposed for the greater good of the Muslim Ummah.
On this the renowned Hasan al-Basree, said, "There are three who have no inviolability with
regard to backbiting: one of them is the person of innovation who calls to his innovation."
Calling on the public to join a Cult, such as the Murabitun, or Subud, or Nation of Islam or in
fact historical sects such as Shi'ism, and modern offshoots like Baha'ism or Qadianism in its
many forms are all calls to innovation in the Deen of Islam and therefore abominable.

In the Sharh Usoolul-Itiqaad, Katheer Aboo Sahl said, "It is said that there is no inviolability
for the people of innovated sects." In other words it is an obligation to expose them. Shaykh
Ahmad Zarruq says in his Nasihatul Kaafiya in terms of those who are thought of to be at the
station of Wali, "Listen to them in all that Islamic knowledge does not reject. If it is necessary
to reject them, then it must be done." This is the adaab towards people of knowledge who are
teachers and guides. He says further: "So the people of the path is not rejected unless they are
involved in a Haraam, that is agreed upon by the consensus of the scholars. One should also
not listen to them except in those actions that have a form that is permissible in Islamic
Sharia."

Shaykh Zarruq also confirms that no person is infallible, therefore even the Arif may make
mistakes, but in such a way that he is protected from making kaba-ir (major) sins that could
mislead the follower. He quotes al-Junaid Baghdadi who was asked "Does the Arifbillah
commit adultery?", He said, "when Allah's will comes about it happens." Namely the
protection of Allah is withdrawn due to an inclination of the Shaykh, and then he commits the
major sins of which adultery is but one by his desire and choice. His baseness is then exposed
and his being an example to others becomes like that of the drunkard discouraging others
from drinking wine while he drinks himself. This is a defect in Iman. So the Iman of all of
those under obligation such as the Angels and the Prophets, and those below them from the
Shuhada ( martyrs) and the Saliheen (truthful) is not equal. The Angels and Prophets are the
highest and their obedience and actions is in accord. For others they increase in accordance to
their performance of acts of obedience, contrary to the one who says that Iman is tasdeeq
(attestation) in the heart (only)! So the acts of obedience to Sharia, of which avoidance of the
Makruh is the minimum, are from Iman. So it is known that people excel by way of acts of
obedience, so some of them excel over others, so it is obligatory that they acquire superiority
in regards to that. The false Sufis as well as the Shia are unanimous in claiming their Hujja's
and Murshids as infallible and to be followed at all costs.
It is related by al-Harawee from Imam ash-Shafi'i, that he said, "Maalik was asked about
kalaam and Tawheed, so Maalik said, `It is foolishness to think that the Prophet Sallahhaahu-
‘alaihi-Wa-salam) , taught this Ummah about istinjaa` (cleaning after relieving oneself), but
he did not teach them Tauheed. And it is about Tauheed that the Prophet (Sallahhaahu-
‘alaihi-Wa-salam) said, 'I was commanded to fight the people until they say: There is no deity
worthy of worship besides Allaah...(to the end of the hadeeth)"

Imam ad-Daraqutnee (d.385) (rahimahu Allah) relates from Waleed Ibn Muslim who said, `I
asked Imam Maalik and Imam ath-Thawree (d.161H) and Imam al-Awzaa'ee (d.157H) and
al-Layth Ibn Sa'd about the narrations concerning the Attributes (Sifaat). So they all said,
`Pass them on as they have come, and blood is the reality of Tauheed."

It is related by Abu Dawood from 'Abdullah Ibn Naafi' who said, `Maalik said, `Allah is
above the sky and His knowledge is in every place.” This was said in refutation of those who
started spreading the ideas from Greek philosophy that Allah's oneness is such that all that is
perceived as creation is in reality the dream or ideas of Allah. This was to demonstrate that
Allah was Allah and creation was creation, from Allah and absolutely dependent on Allah,
but not mixed with the essence of Allah or just an idea of Allah. These concepts are the core
teachings of Heidegger and the existentialist philosophers which form the basis of Abdulqadir
as-Sufi's teachings.

And al-Harawee relates from Ashliab Ibn 'Abdul-'Azeez who said, 'I heard Maalik saying,
`Beware of the innovations.' It was said, `O Abaa 'Abdullah, what are the innovations?' He
said, `It is the people of innovation who speak about the Names of Allah and His Attributes
and His Speech and His Knowledge and His Power; and they do not remain silent about that
which the Companions and the Tabi'een, and those who followed them in goodness remained
silent."

It is quouted in the Jaami Bayaanul- Ilm wa Fadlihi that the jurist, Ibn 'Abdul-Barr narrated
from Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Jaweez Mindad al-Misri al-Maalikee who said in the 'Book
of Salaries' in his book, al-Khilaaf, 'It is not permissible to borrow or copy anything from the
books of the people of desires and innovations. According to our companions, they are the
books of the people of kalaam from the Mu'tazilah and other than them, and all liscences
(ijaazat) concerning that must be dissolved."

Ibnul-Qayyim (d.751H) narrates in his book at -Tumqul- Hukmiyyah about the burning of
the books of deviance and their destruction, that al-Marrudhi said to Imam Ahmad, "I
borrowed a book, and in it are a few evil things; do you think I should tear it up or burn it?"
He said, "Yes; burn it." Ibnul-Qayyim continued saying, "The Prophet had seen in 'Umar's
hand, a book transcribed from the Torah, and he was surprised how much it attempted to
resemble the Qur'aan, so the Messenger was not pleased, so then 'Umar went with it to the
fire and threw it therein. The Prophet once ordered a man who wrote something from him
other than the Qur'aan to erase it. Then he allowed the writing of his Sunnah, and did not
allow other than that. So all of these books which contain deviance from the Sunnah are not
permitted, rather it is permitted to erase them or tear them apart. Nor is there anything more
harmful to the Ummah than these books. Not only that but even the Companions had burnt up
all the versions of the Mushaf other than the Mushaf of 'Uthman, for what they feared for the
Ummah of the division that might arise. So how would it be if they saw the books, which
have spread difference and division among the Ummah..."

Thus publishing houses that publish the books of deviance should be approached in order to
warn them of the peril, and booksellers should be cautioned against selling the message of
Shaytan. For instance the books of Subud, or that of the Shia, or that of Abdulaqdir as-Sufi/
Ian Dallas of the Murabitun Cult, should not be carried by Muslim booksellers, and should
not be encouraged. Also, people should be wary of the Subud schools or the Dallas Colleges,
which are instruments of great harm to the Ummah. A short glance at the curriculum of
Dallas College would suffice to see that this College have very little in common with the
Ahlus Sunnah and that the supposed Maliki madhab content is but a smokescreen in order to
find common ground for the Murabitun Da'i with the people of madhab. Very often these
innovations are spread by proseletyzation. Finding a common ground with say a madhab, a
economic cause, a political/leadership cause etc., and thereafter the student is lead up the
garden path.

Shaykh Abu Anas Hamad al-'Uthman comments upon matter like these in Zajarul -
Mutahawun saying, "The evil of the Jews and the Christians is open and clear to the
common-folk of the Muslims; as for the people of innovation, then their harm is not clear to
every person... This is why the scholars see that to refute the people of innovation takes
precedence over refuting the Jews and the Christians."

"When the hypocrites come to you (O Muhammad (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam)), they say:
`We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah.' Allah knows that you are
indeed His Messenger, and Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are liars indeed.'' (Quran
63:1)

Hypocrites are also people of clear mischievous and doubtful conduct. It is, therefore, not
only permissible but necessary to make people aware of their real position so that people
become cautious about them, and thereby their religious and worldly life may remain safe
from the hypocrite's machinations. Exposing the designs and conspiracies of hypocrites does
not form part of backbiting. In fact, it is essential to keep people informed about them in the
interest of Islam and Muslims. Allahu Alam.