The narration of Imam Ahmad regarding seeking nearness to Allah through the person of the Messenger and the refutation of the one who holds this view
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Question:
The Honorable Shaykh says: Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in *A Glorious Principle in Seeking Nearness and the Means of Nearness* that Imam Ahmad holds the permissibility of seeking nearness to Allah through the person of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The question is: Is the one who holds this view to be refuted? And if he does not desist, is he to be declared an open sinner?
Answer:
First, what the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) or others mention—what is it? He said, "On the contrary, one must look at the context. What did the Shaykh say? Did it come as a report? Is his wording later? One must look at the Shaykh's words. Also, the Shaykh mentioned it, and the one who thinks so assumes the Shaykh is minimizing it. He may mention it and then refute it later, and discuss it. And I know, or it is my strong suspicion, that this narration from Imam Ahmad is weak, weak. And even if Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said it, he is a mujtahid, and every mujtahid errs and hits the mark. It is not permissible to seek nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) through the persons of the created beings. This is not permissible. And even if it were authentic that Imam Ahmad said this, his statement would be taken as it is, and used like that of the non-mujtahids, such as Malik, such as Abu Hanifah, and such as al-Shafi'i.
What is taken from his statement is what agrees with the evidence. It is shirk (associating partners with Allah), even though my strong suspicion is that there is something in this narration that no one knows. One must look into the words of the Shaykh of Islam to see how he presented it and how he answered it.
Some of the brothers, when they see the Shaykh or other scholars mention something less than the context in which it is before or after, and they see the opinion of the scholar who mentioned this thing, is it validated or not validated?
The Honorable Shaykh says: Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in *A Glorious Principle in Seeking Nearness and the Means of Nearness* that Imam Ahmad holds the permissibility of seeking nearness to Allah through the person of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The question is: Is the one who holds this view to be refuted? And if he does not desist, is he to be declared an open sinner?
Answer:
First, what the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) or others mention—what is it? He said, "On the contrary, one must look at the context. What did the Shaykh say? Did it come as a report? Is his wording later? One must look at the Shaykh's words. Also, the Shaykh mentioned it, and the one who thinks so assumes the Shaykh is minimizing it. He may mention it and then refute it later, and discuss it. And I know, or it is my strong suspicion, that this narration from Imam Ahmad is weak, weak. And even if Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said it, he is a mujtahid, and every mujtahid errs and hits the mark. It is not permissible to seek nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) through the persons of the created beings. This is not permissible. And even if it were authentic that Imam Ahmad said this, his statement would be taken as it is, and used like that of the non-mujtahids, such as Malik, such as Abu Hanifah, and such as al-Shafi'i.
What is taken from his statement is what agrees with the evidence. It is shirk (associating partners with Allah), even though my strong suspicion is that there is something in this narration that no one knows. One must look into the words of the Shaykh of Islam to see how he presented it and how he answered it.
Some of the brothers, when they see the Shaykh or other scholars mention something less than the context in which it is before or after, and they see the opinion of the scholar who mentioned this thing, is it validated or not validated?
Source
شرح نونية ابن القيم [55] — alfawzan.live (1:20:27)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.