Discussion of al-Suqaf’s book *Sahih: The Description of the Prophet’s Prayer* and some of its errors.

The questioner : Well, I have only two questions for you. One is a long one that will likely take a lot of time, and the other is shorter. The shorter one is that I recently came across the book *Sahih: The Description of the Prophet’s Prayer, from the Takbir to the Taslim, as if you were watching it*. This book is, of course, stuffed with many errors and lies. But based on my review of it yesterday, I feel that much of it may deceive many people. This could cause fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) among the people. I heard, for example, from Abu Malik that he personally feels it is better in some cases to ignore this man, not to respond to him, and not to give him weight or value. But these people are distributing this book and publishing it here. I also heard, for example, that they and their followers from the Muslim Brotherhood and others in America are publishing books attacking you, meaning attacking this man himself. So what do you see as the wisdom in dealing with this man now, so that we do not give him weight, while at the same time we must arm the da'wah workers with something to rely on when confronting, for example, someone who says it is not permissible? He says, for example, that it is not permissible to wipe over the socks. He says many things that contradict what is in *The Description of the Prayer*, and he cites authentic hadiths that so-and-so authenticated, and so on. It is an authentic hadith through its chains, and so on. So what should be done?

The Shaykh : The truth is, what I see is that it is not permissible to remain silent about it. If he were living in a cultured, aware society, at least aware enough not to listen to every barker, but to be alert to who this person is who is speaking, who is this one who is authenticating, who is this one who is weakening, who is this one who says this is permissible and that is not permissible—if there were such awareness, we would say, as I mentioned earlier, and this is an expression we use in Syria, "Nizbalu," meaning we ignore him, and that would be better. But most people today do not have this awareness and do not have this culture. Therefore, it is necessary to respond to him with a concise response on some points that reveal his ignorance, and even his charlatanism, to the general public, in small letters. But the reality is that those who are dedicated and able to perform this duty appear to be unable to do so. This man has an activity that leads us to conclude that he is not alone in this misguidance, but rather there is a group of people who have conspired with him and agreed to fight the call to the truth. Therefore, there should be a group to counter this misguided, misleading group, a group armed with knowledge and correct Islamic character, who respond to him with a strong, scholarly response. I actually read his book and wrote some scattered notes, by the way, because—what is this noise?

The questioner : The car’s brake.

The Shaykh : On one of the occasions, because I do not find such a free time to respond to him and occupy ourselves with him. The truth is, if it were permissible for us to keep the word "Sahih" (valid) while removing the authenticator and establishing an alternative, we should have said "Sahih of the Shafi'i Madhhab." And even so, the Shafi'i Madhhab should not be described with the word "Sahih" according to its own standard, because he takes from the Shafi'i Madhhab what has some scholarly disagreement (khilaf) regarding it. For example, the man is a fanatic, ignorant, and misguided. He explicitly states in more than one place that vocalizing the intention is a sunnah (recommended practice). How can this be in a book titled *Sahih: The Description of the Prophet’s Prayer* (peace and blessings be upon him)? The scholars, even the great Shafi'is like al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi, explicitly state that vocalizing the intention is of no value, and he says it is a sunnah. Then this book is a book of his own; he took from it what he pleased, what agrees with his later Shafi'i madhhab, and he excerpted some paragraphs from authentic hadiths and did not mention them because they contradict his madhhab. The research into this is actually long and very long. So I hope that a person will be able to take these important points and draw the readers' attention to the fact that this man is ignorant and a fanatic for the later Shafi'i madhhab, not for the Imam al-Shafi'i himself. Al-Shafi'i explicitly states, for example, in *Al-Umm*, the opposite of what he says in this book which he unjustly named "Sahih." Yes.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah). A few weeks ago, I read a statement quoted by some of our brothers, students of knowledge in India, from Abu Rayya’s introduction to one of the editions of his book *Lights on the Muhammadan Sunnah*. He says in his introduction, "And I have counted the number of those who responded to me, and it has reached several dozen responses." So I said, Subhan Allah, when I read this statement, I remembered this wicked al-Suqaf, who has become numb to responses and no longer pays attention to them, and they do not have any effect on him, not from near or far. So I said, since they are equal in misguidance, this person is not affected by responses. But as our brother Abu Abdullah and others, our Shaykh, indicated, when we respond, we may respond for the sake of some people who have a remainder of good in them. As for those misguided among his followers and adherents in his error, they do not read at all. If they do read, they read with the eye of his head, not with their own eyes. And there is no power nor strength except with Allah.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that he is being pushed from behind by people who do not want the truth.

The questioner : His books are full of lies...

The Shaykh : Our brother 'Isa is here, as they say at Juhaynah, "the news of certainty," where he has followed up on many of his lies, and perhaps he will hear us say something about that.

The questioner : I mean, our Shaykh, it is more than can be counted. I have reached the point where the clear lies that he cannot evade are more than fifty texts where he distorts the wording, transfers the speech, manipulates and shortens the phrases, and combines some of them with others, very many, absolutely. And one of the strangest things I came across, our Shaykh, and you have referred to it, is the issue of his quoting a hadith in *The Description of the Prophet’s Prayer* where he said, "It was narrated by Ibn Hayyan and al-Bayhaqi, and its chain is authentic." He took it from *Al-Sahihah*, but he missed the fact that the Shaykh had retracted his authentication of it.

The Shaykh : This is one of many such things.
Al-Halabi : Something caught my attention now in his letter. I was flipping through it. He is talking about the issue of good innovation (bid'ah). He indicated in two or three places that there is a good bid'ah. Then in one place he says, "As for what some of the imams do of crying in the tarawih prayer and lengthening the qunut, it is a blameworthy bid'ah." So I said, Subhan Allah, what is the criterion that makes this a blameworthy bid'ah, while you say there is a good bid'ah? If it is opinion, desire, and juristic preference (istihsan), then those people have preferred what you preferred in another place, or like what you preferred in another place. So what is this criterion? This is blameworthy and that is recommended? Allah is the Helper. So I say this is one of the proofs of his terrible contradiction.

The Shaykh : Yes, bring the last question.

The questioner : Also, one of those who was studying with him atThe Shaykh : Shaykh Shu'ayb. I heard from him, quoting from him, that when he mentioned the *Al-Tahawiyyah* Creed to one of the Germans who came to take the book fromThe Shaykh : Shaykh Shu'ayb, he said, "Hasan al-Suqaf, this book is a book of disbelief (kufr). Do not give it to him regarding the *Al-Tahawiyyah* Creed."

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest).

The questioner : And this is the name of the one who quoted this statement, Khumays, from the students ofThe Shaykh : Shaykh Shu'ayb.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : A noble man, the owner of a farm in the Ghout, told us, our Shaykh. We visited him once, and I was with my brother Yunus and others. He said, "This is his farm," pointing to it. He said, "By Allah, most of the congregation comes and sits by the water pool, and we go to pray and return, and they do not go to the Jumu'ah (Friday) prayer."

The Shaykh : Yes, with the brothers, strange things, Allah knows them best.

The questioner : An example of his oversight (hisbah) is a clear example. He was unique in his annotations on *Refuting the Doubts of Tashbih* (likening Allah to creation), page , quoting al-Hafiz Ibn 'Abd al-Barr from *Al-Tamhid* . Then he concluded the research on the statement of the single narrator (khabar al-wahid) that it is not a proof among the scholars in creed, saying, "What we say is this statement of al-Hafiz Ibn 'Abd al-Barr. What we say is that it necessitates action without knowledge, like the testimony of two witnesses and four, and on this are most of the people of fiqh and athar (reports)." End of his statement. Of course, he placed the truth in bold and completed it.

The Shaykh : This is what he quoted from Ibn 'Abd al-Barr.

The questioner : But if we go back to Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, we find that he said, "And most of the people of jurisprudence and tradition are upon this, and all of them profess faith in the report of a single trustworthy narrator in matters of belief, and they form alliances and enmity based on it, and they make it law and religion in their belief. A group of the people of the Sunnah are upon this, and they have in rulings what we have mentioned. And success is from Allah."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Then our Shaykh also, on page forty, slightly above, said, "And a group of the people of tradition and some of the people of reasoning said," whereas the phrase in *al-Tamhid* is, "And a great number of the people of tradition and some of the people of reasoning said."

The Shaykh : He omitted the word "many," and so Allah does with him, either guiding him or taking vengeance on him.

The questioner : May Allah accept it.

The Shaykh : He takes it, and Allah does not take vengeance on him.

The questioner : He takes it, and the committee with him.