Discussion of the book "Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra" by al-Sha'rani and the falsehoods contained therein.

The Shaykh : And what is mentioned in the books, and especially the book—regrettably—it has been printed dozens of times in Cairo, titled "Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra" by Imam al-Sha'rani. This man writes biographies of distinguished scholars; it is sufficient to note that he wrote biographies of the ten promised Paradise and the great scholars who came after them. Then he descended and degraded in his biographies until he reached the biography of al-Badawi and others like him, who are known among the Sufis. He narrates from them things that are—as we said—insults, indeed they are expressions of disbelief. He mentions in the biography of one of them, and this book is printed in dozens of editions, that he said: "I left my saying to a thing 'Be, and it is' for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah!!" Meaning he reached the rank of divinity, indeed the rank of lordship. "I left my saying to a thing 'Be, and it is' for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah." As for before that and after that, he was not being polite to Allah, so he would say to a thing "Be, and it is." This is disbelief and associating partners with Allah in lordship. This is what the polytheists used to associate with; . It is mentioned that this is one of the attainers, one of the great awliya (close friends of Allah). He also mentions the story of that man who was seen committing a shameful act with a donkey on the side of the road, so they objected to him, and he said: "There is a ship in the sea sinking, so I plugged it!!" This is mentioned among the karamat (miracles granted to a righteous person), my brothers! And there are many, many things that come to us, which we turn a blind eye to regarding the absurdities in this book, indeed the expressions of disbelief in the name of karamat, the karamat of the awliya!
And I will mention to you a story that happened in Aleppo; ... you see, from the great scholars of the Shafi'i school, indeed he was the mufti of the Shafi'is in Aleppo. A man from our brothers, the people of the Sunnah, submitted an application to be an imam in one of the mosques there. So the procedure went as usual from one office to another. It reached the mufti. The mufti sent for him to test him; because the da'wah (calling others to Islam) that we call the Salafi da'wah, and they call it the Wahhabi da'wah, was progressing, praise be to Allah, in Syria, especially in Damascus and then in Aleppo. And this mufti had heard about this man, whose name I think is Ahmad al-Masri, that he had some Wahhabism in his opinion. He started asking him: he said to him: "What is your opinion about karamat?" He answered with a brief answer: that they have a basis in the Book and the Sunnah. He said to him: "What is your opinion about the following karamah?"—this is the point—he narrated the story, glory be to Allah! Meaning how did the mind of some shaykhs reach the lowest level of degradation? He told him the story, the summary of which is that one of the preachers... when he was delivering the Friday sermon, it was revealed to him—because this preacher was one of the great awliya—that one of the attendees was holding in his bowels. Do you say holding in his bowels? Yes, but what does he do? The mosque was full of people, and how could it be like that among them? So the preacher knew all of them because our Lord revealed it to him, so he went to him—of course this is disbelief—and the preacher extended his robe, saying like this, and the man was holding in his bowels, so a path opened before him to a garden. He entered from the sleeve...The Shaykh : meaning it leads to a garden, so he relieved himself in the garden and performed wudu' (the ablution for prayer)... from the sleeve...The Shaykh : !! and performed wudu' and returned to his place, and no one was aware of this; because...The Shaykh : the shaykh encompassed him with his karamah. The mufti asked our man: "Do you believe in this story or karamah?" He said to him: ! This is an insult, not a karamah! He said to him: "You are not fit to be an imam!!" This is a lot, and a very lot.
Now, karamat are narrated that occur in jihad in the lands of Afghanistan. The karamat mentioned now contain nothing strange, nothing to be condemned; but the whole matter is that they need verification of their authenticity as a narration. So the fact that a shahid (a martyr) is smelled of musk, there is absolutely no harm in that. And the fact that our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—orders some of the mujahideen and a bomb falls next to them and does not explode; Allah defends those who believe. All of this is possible, meaning; but the issue remains that there is a fear of laxity in the narration; that as soon as one person tells a story, we pick it up and believe it.
So what I believe and testify to Allah is that it is obligatory for every Muslim to believe that Allah—Mighty and Majestic—honors some of His righteous, truthful awliya with some of His extraordinary karamat. But it is not required that every Muslim know a karamah. We know, for example, that the best of people after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are the ten promised Paradise, and the best of them are the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Nothing of these karamat was narrated about any of them. So it is not necessary that it be narrated about every righteous Muslim that a karamah was seen from him. But that it may happen? It is possible that this happens, and the basis at that time is the authenticity of the narration. So what is being broadcast now of karamat that occur in Afghanistan, it is not excluded that their authenticity is acceptable, and indeed they are a karamah from Allah—Mighty and Majestic—for some of these martyrs or mujahideen. But is it verified or not? The issue remains within the science of narration. As for the possibility, as we said at the beginning of the speech:
"And affirm for the awliya the karamah *** And whoever denies it, reject his speech."