The Shaykh’s remarks on types of purification in the Sunnah and creed, and on who is qualified to undertake the role of purification and education.

The Shaykh : Purification includes purifying the Sunnah from the weak and fabricated hadiths that have entered it. How many people in the Islamic world are capable of performing this purification? This second type of purification, which concerns the Sunnah, is related to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), either negatively or positively. Perhaps you have come across a treatise printed in the modern era. What is the name of the treatise by al-Tuwajiri, the one in which he authenticates a hadith? What is the name of the treatise?

The questioner : Regarding the hadith: .

The Shaykh : Have you looked at the treatise?

The questioner : I read it, yes.

The Shaykh : Well, this entire treatise is based on the hadith . The hadith is narrated in "al-Sahihayn" in two wordings. One of them, in terms of Arabic style, allows for the explicit mention of the name al-Rahman (the Most Merciful), while the other wording rejects this possibility categorically. However, the Shaykh, because he is not among the people of knowledge of hadith and its specialization, and because he found someone who had authenticated it, relied on it and wrote a book to prove that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has a form like that of a human being. The hadith in "al-Sahihayn," as I said, is . The pronoun, in terms of the Arabic language, can refer to the created being or it can refer to the Creator. The linguistic rule is that the pronoun refers to the nearest mentioned antecedent. The nearest mentioned antecedent is the one being struck, which is the human being. But in "Sahih al-Bukhari," there is what confirms that the pronoun refers to the human being or to the origin of the human being, which is Adam (peace be upon him). So in "Sahih al-Bukhari," , . The previous possibility is set aside, but when He described Him with His saying: , it confirmed that the referent is the human being and not al-Rahman. With the coming of this explicit narration in al-Bukhari, and given the weakness of the narration that explicitly mentions al-Rahman, it is not permissible to say that the form of the human being is the form of al-Rahman, or that the form of al-Rahman is the form of the human being, based on that hadith which has several defects, as I explained in "Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah wa al-Mawdu'ah" (The Chain of Weak and Fabricated Hadiths) and other works. The point is that purifying the Sunnah also purifies the creed, even from some minds that are with us in correct tawhid. May Allah reward you. My intention is to say that this purification requires study and the emergence of scholars in various Islamic lands to undertake this scholarly purification. Then we say, in that tape and similar ones, that education should be coupled with purification. I do not mean education in the sense of the Shaykh al-Murabbi (educator) as it is termed among the Sufis. I clearly remember that my father (may Allah have mercy on him), although he was not a Sufi—he was a Hanafi jurist—was influenced by some Sufi ideas. He used to say: "Whenever I enter a market or walk down a street, I look at the faces of the passersby." Why? He said: "Perhaps I will find a guiding Shaykh, a guiding Shaykh." I do not mean by education that there should be Sufi Shaykhs who take charge of educating the masses. No, it is possible for a father who has received purified knowledge to fulfill the duty of education for himself first, for his wife second, for his children, for his neighbors, and so on. So, education, as I mean it, is much broader than what might come to mind, namely that this scholar is the one who must fulfill the duty of education. I naturally do not distinguish between the scholar who has purified [his knowledge] and the obligation of education for himself and others—peace be upon you—but I believe that the function of purification may stand between this scholar who is fulfilling the duty of purification and the complete and full care for the duty of education. So, the matters are distributed among the Muslim masses, each within the limits of his capabilities and energies, either purification or education. Purification is not possible except for the people of knowledge, but education is possible even for those below them, provided that they are cultured with a correct Islamic culture. So, I do not find anything new in your question, unless it is something I missed.