A Response to Those Who Say We Should Remain Silent on Disagreements, Even in Matters of Creed, for the Sake of Uniting the Ummah.

Al-Halali: I read a statement by Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi regarding matters that cause disagreement. He says that any matter that causes disagreement should be abandoned, even if it is in creed. He cites the story of Musa and Harun (peace be upon them both) as evidence for this issue, stating that Harun abandoned the prohibition of the Children of Israel from worshipping the calf for fear that it would be said that he had divided the Children of Israel.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : So what is your response, may Allah bless you, to this dangerous statement? Especially since this man has followers, lovers, and many adherents, and he is one of those who mix poison with fat. We compared his books to the books of al-Ghazali and found them worse than al-Ghazali’s books.

The Shaykh : Even though they were contemporaries and peers.
Al-Halali: Even though this opinion is perhaps one of the most dangerous aspects.

The Shaykh : Yes, but I think this is not a new opinion. Allah knows best that the Muslim Brotherhood has inherited it from generation to generation. I do not know; I mentioned more than once an incident and a discussion that took place between me and the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq. What is his name? This al-Khatib who was in Saudi Arabia, this giant? He reminded me of his name. He was an eloquent preacher and was given breadth in stature, like many of the Muslim Brotherhood preachers, meaning they seize the hearts of the listeners. Do you remember our brotherAl-Halabi : Hasan Tufi? He was an employee, perhaps at the library of the Islamic University when I was a teacher there, meaning for more than thirty years. The man invited us and some of our brothers to an evening gathering at his home, which was on the university grounds, and present wereThe Shaykh : 'Umar, who joined the Muslim Brotherhood, 'Umar al-Ashqar, and other brothers from our Salafi brothers in a large room whose walls were all filled with our brothers. My place in sitting, for a wisdom Allah willed, was at the door. Every time someone entered, they sat where the circle ended. My turn came here, and the one referred to entered. He considers himself a Salafi and has a treatise on prayer that you know.The Shaykh : The one referred to considers himself a Salafi and has a treatise on prayer that you know.
Al-Halali:The Shaykh : Mahmud al-Sawwaf, may Allah have mercy on him.

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him. The important thing is, he entered, greeted, and shook hands with one by one. Few in the group do that. It was arrogance and ignorance, which does not concern us. But our brother, may Allah have mercy on him, applied it completely. However, I observed his face and saw some darkening. It changed like this when he came to me. I felt that he was upset by the stiffness of our brothers and their limitation to extending their hands. I said to him, "Professor, they say in our region in Sham, 'A guest without rising.' He burst out, not believing it, until he heard the word and began to speak about this matter. We are now living with atheism in various forms and colors, the Ba'athists, the materialists, etc., so we must leave the issue of disagreement. He is a preacher, and I swear by Allah, I am experienced in my life; it is very rare for many qualities to gather in one person, such as being a preacher and a scholar of debate. These do not come together. A preacher preaches, but to discuss and debate, even if he is a scholar, he cannot manage it. He began to bluster with his speech such that the weak-minded are taken by his words. And I, of course, was patient with him. I said to him, "Professor, leaving these matters of disagreement is very dangerous, because it is not hidden from you that disagreement is not first related to branches, but it has extended to the principles, and even to the principle of principles, which is tawhid (the oneness of Allah). And there is a man in Damascus namedThe Shaykh : Muhammad al-Hashimi al-Maghribi, the Shaykh of the Shadhiliyyah order. He wrote a treatise with a beautiful title: "La ilaha illa Allah." When you read it, he interprets it as tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship): "No Lord but Allah." I said to him, "Professor, disagreement even in the word of tawhid. So when you say every matter in which there is disagreement we leave it, this leads us to not investigate tawhid." He said, "Yes, here is the point: we are content only for them to say 'La ilaha illa Allah.'" I said to him, "With these, you want to fight the communists, the Ba'athists, and the atheists, etc.? With these who say 'La ilaha illa Allah'? If only they understood as the mushrikin (those who associate partners with Allah) understood! The mushrikin understood, but they disbelieved. As for these, they were ignorant and believed with a blind faith. This is not strange at all. I return to say that some of this type, and the newspapers here published it, and I think this is from the words ofThe Shaykh : 'Umar al-Ashqar. They argue that it is permissible to be a minister for one who rules by other than what Allah revealed, like Yusuf (peace be upon him). Do you see these people? They cling, as the famous proverb says, to the threads of the moon. Ideas arose in their minds and took root in their souls, and then they want to support them with texts from the Shari'ah, but they find nothing except to contradict explicit texts. The noble Qur'an rules that the Qur'an is the guardian of what came before it of revealed books. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), as is known in the authentic hadith, when he saw a paper in the hand of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, asked him about it. He said, "This is a paper from the Torah." He said: Now these people are not satisfied with the Shari'ah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which governs all Shari'ahs. When they did not find in it what supports their deviation from the Shari'ah, they turned to the Shari'ah of Musa (peace be upon him) and the Shari'ah of Yusuf (peace be upon him). Then another calamity is that they compare themselves, as non-infallible individuals, to infallible prophets. This is another problem. Meaning, here are two problems: the problem of quoting and relying on non-Shari'ah principles first, and then comparing themselves to the infallible prophets. If only it were one problem or one calamity, but it is two calamities, and perhaps other calamities with them. Therefore, we say: We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to protect us from the evil of trials, what is apparent of them and what is hidden. Our brother Yusuf al-Qaradawi, we ask Allah for guidance for us and for him. He has many very serious slips, like his brother in partisanship, Muhammad al-Ghazali. So when they stand before explicit Shari'ah texts, they have no capacity to reject them by ta'wil (figurative interpretation); they have uprooted them radically. And we used to gather with al-Ghazali and al-Qaradawi in the Supreme Council in Medina, and we used to discuss and advise each other as much as possible, and Allah is the Helper. We find from them this deviation that we find today read and printed in their books. It is enough as an example of the followers of these people following their desires, either by ta'wil or by denial of the authentic, established texts among the scholars. The intended meaning is that they have set a plan to blur Islam, but the intention is good, and it is bringing Muslims to Islam. The reality is that they are distancing them from Islam. A hadith on which all scholars of hadith agreed to authenticate, and they all agreed in responding to Ibn Hazm, who weakened the hadith of al-Bukhari: Ibn Hazm cannot be compared to others like these writers, because he was in fact a learned man, but every horse has a stumble, or stumbles. The point is that Ibn Hazm exaggerated in this hadith from the scientific aspect. He had a viewpoint, and he was wrong in that, but his exaggeration took him out of moderation in hadith criticism. Because any hadith in which a scholar finds a defect, it is enough for him to say that this defect prevents its authentication. But to say that it is a fabricated hadith, this is exaggeration. Ibn Hazm fell into this exaggeration. We offer him an excuse for what we mentioned earlier. But what about al-Qaradawi and his like, who find that all scholars of hadith whom he believes in respond to Ibn Hazm’s weakening of it? It is not just his ruling of fabrication! It is his weakening of the hadith. And he throws the sayings of these imams and preservers to the wind and says, "Ibn Hazm said it is a fabricated hadith." These people have made their religion their desires, unfortunately. They do not submit their desires to the Shari'ah, as I mentioned earlier, either by ta'wil or by ta'til (denial of the divine attributes). So his argument with the action of Harun (peace be upon him) is one of the most amazing things we hear in this time. Al-Halali: This reminded me that I read, Professor, in the memoirs ofThe Shaykh : Mahmud al-Sawwaf, which were published in the newspaper al-Muslimun in installments, quoting fromThe Shaykh : Hasan al-Banna, may Allah have mercy on him, that when they came to him in Iraq, he said to the Iraqi youth, "Work withThe Shaykh : Mahmud al-Sawwaf. We want Islam in any clothing." This word is as if they received it fromThe Shaykh : .

The Shaykh : I am not telling you this is something old.
Al-Halali: We want Islam in any clothing.

The questioner : He says about the Sufi groups... He says Islam is like a large elephant, and the people are like one holding the tail of this elephant, one holding... This is one elephant, one holding... This is an elephant. This is from the words of Hasan al-Banna; may Allah forgive him.

Another questioner : SalimThe Shaykh : Al-Banna brought papers and magazines and brought the thesis belonging to you, and he wanted the thesis to be read by you andThe Shaykh : you to benefit from itThe Shaykh : Nasser.
Al-Halali: This means we were... .

Another questioner : Because he wanted an opinionThe Shaykh : on the subject to discuss... and there are things in it I want to ask you about... .
Al-Halali: Please, let the recorder please record.

Another questioner : Record it, let's seeThe Shaykh : .
Al-Halali: If you had told me you had brought some of the studies on the subject, I would not have known.

Another questioner : He told me that there is a thesis now, before you come.