Al-Shatibi’s statement that one should issue a fatwa based on the opinion well-known among the people, even if it contains weakness, out of fear of their confusion and the ambiguity of the matter for them.

The questioner : The point of difficulty in Al-Shatibi’s words (may Allah have mercy on him) is what is known of his methodology.

The Shaykh : What is it?

The questioner : I say: The point of difficulty in Al-Shatibi’s words, which my brother Sultan referred to, is what is known of his methodology: adhering to the Sunnahs and rejecting opinions that contradict them.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : It is that he was asked in the beginning of "Al-Shatibiyyah Fatwas," from which "Al-Mi'yar al-Mughrib" was extracted, about an issue where there are two opinions of the scholars: one is strong and has valid, established evidence, and the other has evidence containing weakness, but it has a strong legal perspective. And the second of them is well-known in this country where the mufti wants to issue a fatwa on this issue. So Al-Shatibi says: What I choose is that one should issue a fatwa based on what is well-known among the people, even if it contains weakness, for reasons he did not detail, but among them is the fear of the common people’s confusion and the ambiguity of the matter for them. So what is your opinion in such an issue? Especially since the claim of the shaykhs among us encourages and promotes it, and we suffer from it greatly?

The Shaykh : By Allah, if the transmission is precise, I do not see that, but I fear that there is something there that does not lead to what you mentioned. And the fatwa, as you know, is according to the text. So if the text is as you transmitted—and you are, if Allah wills, worthy of trust—then we see this as very dangerous. And in such a case, I see that silence is better than issuing a fatwa contrary to what one sees as correct. Silence is based on the principle of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . So it is lighter for a person to remain silent and not issue a fatwa contrary to the truth by which he worships Allah, than to issue a fatwa with error. Therefore, based on my knowledge of Al-Shatibi, I strongly doubt that he would adopt this approach. So my certainty of his error obliges me to verify the text of his words. And you—may Allah reward you with good—mentioned to me some books attributed to Al-Shatibi that I have not come across or looked into. Are these books you referred to printed among you?

The questioner : "Al-Shatibiyyah Fatwas" was printed recently, and a man extracted it from the book "Al-Mi'yar al-Mughrib fi Fataway 'Ulama' al-Maghrib."

The Shaykh : And both are printed?

The questioner : Yes, Al-Mi'yar is printed in 15 volumes or more, and "Al-Shatibiyyah Fatwas" was extracted from it, then printed in a small volume of about 300 pages. And this fatwa—may Allah reward you and forgive you and your parents—is the first fatwa in this collection, and the point of difficulty in it is what you generously mentioned regarding Al-Shatibi’s strong, firm methodology of taking the evidence and rejecting what contradicts the correct evidence.

The Shaykh : Therefore, caution obliges us to return to the original source from which it was transmitted. Is that clear?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Unfortunately, the original and what was extracted from it, as you say, have not reached me.

The questioner : We will look into it...

The Shaykh : Are both available in the libraries?

The questioner : Yes, they are available in the libraries, and we will send them to you—if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good. The first book... also?

The questioner : "Al-Mi'yar"?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : No, it is printed in full.

The Shaykh : It seems I heard that it is 15, meaning...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : What we have now is 15 volumes.

The Shaykh : This is my question. Is the fifteenth volume the completion of the book?

The questioner : Allah knows best. I do not know.

The Shaykh : This is an important issue in reality, especially since it concerns Imam Al-Shatibi. I say the truth that this man is one of the rare scholars.

The questioner : May Allah have mercy on him.

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah, I mean he is almost like Ibn Taymiyyah in that regard. But Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah will it, is an ocean with no shore. But in terms of being the owner of thoughts and opinions that we do not find in other books and being successful in them, he is rare like Ibn Taymiyyah and like this Al-Shatibi. The one who extracted what he extracted from "Al-Mi'yar" must look at the original.

The questioner : To the original, yes.

The Shaykh : So did you return to the original?

The questioner : No, I did not return to it.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : O Shaykh, there are issues, O Shaykh, in our country that scholars and shaykhs have followed one after another in denying them without difficulty in fighting them. Among them is the issue of the supplication at the completion of the Qur'an in prayer, and among them is also the issue of seating the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with his Lord (Glorified and Exalted is He) on the Throne, and also the preacher’s statement or command to the people at the end of the sermon to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). These are approximately three issues where the disagreement is currently turning between us and many of the brothers. So I do not know what your opinion is on them briefly. May Allah reward you with good?

The Shaykh : Let us start with the issues one after another. What is the first one?

The questioner : The first is the completion of the Qur'an.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : After finishing... the Qur'an in the Tarawih prayer in Ramadan, they call the people to a completion other than the one you may have looked into. So what is the ruling on this?

The Shaykh : Unfortunately, this is a religious innovation. It is obligatory for the shaykhs to be on the same word in this matter, and to command the imams of the mosques to uproot it. For the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, and all good is in following those who came before. The issue does not need research or discussion. This is my opinion briefly on the first issue.
And what is the second?

The questioner : The second is the issue of seating Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) on the Throne. You know that Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) is strict in this issue and affirms it. And Al-Dhahabi mentioned more than one of the Salaf who held this view following Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him). Does it have a basis in the Sunnah? And is it permissible to speak about it?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible. ... We live today in a day of returning to the Book and the Sunnah, in which most Muslims fight us, and at their head are their shaykhs. They go to the extent that they say creed is not established by ahad hadiths. And you know that the term "ahad hadith" is a technical term that the common people do not understand, because it is opposed to mutawatir hadith. If it is assumed that the number for mutawatir—and this is a matter of total disagreement—is to be ten people, ten from the Companions from the Messenger, and from them ten from the Tabi'un, and so on. If we assume that this is the number for mutawatir, and a hadith is found that does not meet this number except for one missing, this is called an ahad report. So the enemies of the Sunnah today and before today say that this hadith which has nine routes—this is an assumption, not a specific number you take—this is an ahad hadith, so creed is not established by it.
And here comes what I referred to earlier regarding the issue of the woman’s face. We want to look at the issue from two sides. Not from the side of a specific country where there is this complete covering and so on. He does not want to hear a statement that may encourage some of them to be lenient with this hijab. Because there are other parties who do not reach with us the permissible limit, nor the best limit. Likewise, the issue here is exactly the same. The majority of the shaykhs of Muslims today who follow the madhahib with some of the jurisprudential or creedal madhahib—if the expression is correct—their brains (plural of brain) are filled with the idea that a correct hadith, if it falls short of the number of mutawatir by one from the number of mutawatir, does not establish creed. So how can we want them to believe that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) seats His Prophet on His Throne on the Day of Resurrection, when there is no hadith in that at all? So it is not befitting for us to mean that we fight people with every creed that is not established in the Sunnah. It is sufficient for us that they agree with us on what is established in the correct Sunnah, even if it is ahad.
And so, when I abridged *Kitab al-'Uluw* (The Book of the Exaltation) by al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi, I stated in the introduction that I had removed from it the weak hadiths and the athar (reports) that were not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I believe I mentioned enough to convey this meaning: that if we can get these shaykhs to believe with us in what is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the matters of the unseen in general, or regarding the attributes and names of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in particular, we would have made great progress and drawn closer to them. I tell them that Imam Ahmad or others used to say that Mujahid said that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) will seat Muhammad on His Throne on the Day of Resurrection. I excuse them if, when we invite them to believe in such things, they distance themselves from us by believing in what is obligatory for them to believe in from the authentic ahad (singular) hadiths. Therefore, I feel that the problem, whether with the masses of Muslim shaykhs and their taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), or with many of those who claim to follow the methodology of the Salaf (the earliest generations), is taqlid. So the way out is to constantly and forever emphasize getting rid of this taqlid, whether in 'aqidah (creed) or in rulings. I am amazed how this 'aqidah becomes the 'aqidah of the Khalaf (the later generations) following the Salaf, having no basis in the Sunnah. Yes, it is authentic from Mujahid, and I know this, but as I said earlier regarding the narration of 'Ubaydah al-Salmani that he recited the verse and interpreted it by uncovering one eye, if this were raised to the Messenger (peace be upon him), it would be a mursal (a report missing the Companion link) hadith, and the mursal is among the categories of weak hadith. So what is its status when it is mawquf (a report stopping at a Companion)? Similarly, if Mujahid's narration were raised to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it would be a mursal hadith. So how is it when it was not narrated from him as marfu' (a report traced to the Prophet)? We should not hesitate in not accepting this 'aqidah.
And what is the third?

The questioner : Before we move on to the third point, Ibn Kathir mentioned in *al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya* (The Beginning and the End), in the events of 317 AH, that a disagreement occurred between the Hanbalis, the followers of Abu Bakr al-Marwazi, and the common people regarding the interpretation of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . The Hanbalis said: It is the seating of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with his Lord on the Throne. The common people said: It is intercession. Fighting broke out between them, and many were killed from both sides.

The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!

The questioner : Regarding this issue.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : The third issue: The issue of the khatib (the one who leads the prayer) ordering the people to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at the end of the khutbah (the sermon). Is there hardly a mosque among our mosques that lacks this?

The Shaykh : And likewise, mosques in Syria and in Jordan are filled with the sending of blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when the khatib orders them to do so. This is undoubtedly, as Imam al-Shatibi says, from the additional innovations (bid'ah); because sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is among the first of the deeds, as came in the authentic hadith: . But making this a completion of the khutbah and a binding requirement, while they did not commit to the khutbah of need (the sermon of necessity) which we constantly emphasize, despite the commitment of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to it in all his sermons, not only on Friday but also on other occasions; this is a reversal of the legal realities, a neglect of acting upon the Sunnah, and a persistence in acting upon the innovation. So I do not know, by Allah, why, while the power and authority are still in the hands of your scholars in this land, and this is a distinction which I do not think any other country shares with you; why do they not use their authority and issue their fatwas? Because this should not be done. The khutbah is intended for admonition, reminder, and teaching what may occur to Muslims and what they must learn. And they... as mentioned in the other examples, otherwise there will be an excuse for the innovators to say, "This is such-and-such an innovation." For example, I am told: "You say that such-and-such is not from the Sunnah." Well... Medina, well, the grave of the Prophet is in his mosque, and so on. Whereas this could have been, as I proposed long ago in the book *Tahdhir al-Sajid min Itti'adh al-Qubur Masajid* (Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques), that the grave be separated from the mosque, and it return to what it was before the renovation of the Prophet's Mosque, where the chamber of Aisha was separated from the mosque and the matter was settled. Then they take this as an argument against us: "Well, the Prophet's Mosque contains his grave." So, how do you convince them how the Prophet was buried in his house, and how later, when they expanded the mosque, they had to come to the side of the Gate of Peace, and they expanded toward al-Baqi' and the grave entered the mosque? How do you convince the people that the reality is that the common people are more affected by the actual reality than by words? I do not know, your scholars still have power and authority, and the verse applies to them: "And obey Allah and the Messenger and those in authority among you," "And obey Allah and the Messenger." Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh; so why do these people not utilize their scientific position? And I do not think we know that there are issues—for example—that may conflict with the general policy of the state, but these are purely religious issues with no relation to politics. Therefore, I consider this a shortcoming that must be rectified.
Where is Muhammad?

Another questioner : ... -- .


Another questioner : ... .

The questioner : But the addition is not a condition. Sometimes—for example—for the sake of disciplining the self and treating it, one does unlegislated actions, like some people. I do not know about some of the Salaf who would go to a grave and sleep in it.

The Shaykh : What does he do?

The questioner : He goes to the grave, he makes a grave for himself and goes to it; in order to remind himself of the end, or he stands—for example—if he wants to stand for night prayer and sees in himself some fatigue...

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. I think your expression is lenient... it is possible... you say "from the Salaf."

The questioner : No, I read in some biographies that he relied on the verse.

The Shaykh : Who is he?

The questioner : Khalid ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar.

The Shaykh : Who?

The questioner : Khalid ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar was mentioned in his biography that he made a grave for himself to go to.

The Shaykh : May Allah forgive him and forgive the one who narrated it; does he rely on that with a valid chain? You will say: I do not know. "Everyone laughs."