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Topic: Warning From Ihyaa Uloom ud-Deen of al-Ghazaalee
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 iamsalafee
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Posts: 87
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(1) AT-TURTOOSHEE (d.520H)
He said in writing to 'Abdullaah ibn al-Muzaffar about al-Ghazzaalee:
"When he wrote his book, he called it "IHyaa 'Uloom ud-Deen", and talked about the sciences of the states of things and ways of the Sufis in it. but he was neither well acquainted with them nor well-informed about them, so he fell headlong, and thus did not fall either among the scholars of the Muslims or within the conditions of the Sufi ascetics.
He filled his book with lies upon the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'aiaihi wa sallam), and I do not know of any book upon the surface of the earth which attributes more lies to the Prophet (saltallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) than this one! He moulded it with the opinions of the philosophers and concepts held in the "Rasaa'il Ikhwaanis-suffaa." They (the Ikhwaanus-suffaa) are a people who regard Prophethood as a level that can be acquired, and the Prophet is in their view no more than a noble person with excellent character who avoided what is ignoble and took hold of his own soul until he had it under control so that no desire overcame it, nor bad manners overtook it, then he took control of nature with those manners."
Then he says:
"Allaah honoured Islaam and made clear its proofs and established its clear signs, and has cut off the excuses of the creation with its clear proofs and decisive evidences which pierce the brain.
The one who seeks to aid the Deen of Islaam with the opinions of the philosophers and views of the people of logic is like the one who seeks to purify water with urine!!
He (al-Ghazzaalee) brings talk which should cause thunder and lightning and which awakens the desires and fills it with longing, so that when the souls do desire it, he says. "This is from the hidden knowledge -and it is not permissible to write it in the book", or he says,' "This is from the secret of Qadr which we have been forbidden to look into". This is the practice of the Baatiniyyah and the people who have doubts and suspicions regarding the Deen of Allaah. who profit themselves from that which is present and preoccupy the souls with that which is not, so it causes turmoil to the beliefs of the heart and weakens that upon which the Jamaa'ah is united. Thus if a person firmly believes that which he wrote in his book then his being a Kaafir (disbeliever) is not unlikely, and if he does not believe it then how misguided he will still be!
As for what I have mentioned about it being destroyed by the fire, then if it is left, it will spread among the people and among those who do not know the deadly poison it contains, and it is to be feared that they would believe in the correctness of the misguidance therein. So it was burnt in analogy to the Mushafs (copies of the Quraan) which the Companions (radhiAllaahu 'anhum) burnt which had different wordings or missing aayaat (verses of the Qur'aan). Do you not see that if they had not burnt those Mushafs and they had spread among the people then each person would have memorised what he received of them, and they would then perhaps disagree, fight and cut off relations with one another?
I have resolved to take to it and remove all of its errors and make clear its mistakes and point them out one by one, and there is in the rest of the book sufficiency for our brother Muslims and righteous people. Most of those who fall in love with this book are good people but who have no idea what is demanded by intellect and the principles of the religion, nor do they understand matters of belief in Allaah or the truth about His attributes."
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| iamsalafee
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KITAAB IHYAA'U 'ULOOM UD-DEEN FEE MEEZAN AL 'ULAMAA'I WAL MU'ARRAKMEEN
By Shaikh 'Alee Hasan 'Alee 'Abdul-Hameed
TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT
All praise is for Allaah, we praise Him and seek His aid and ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allaah from the evils of ourselves and from our evil actions. He whom Allaah guides, there is none can lead him astray, and he whom Allaah misguides, there is none can guide him. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, Alone, having no partner, and I bear witness that MuHammad is His slave and His Messenger.
Ammaa ba'd:
This is a small treatise, singular in its subject -inshaaAllaah ta'aalaa. I have gathered in it some of the sayings of the people of knowledge' (Investigating all of them would have been something difficult for the researcher, so maybe what I have qouted will be sufficient for the one who reflects) - the imaams, the scholars and the historians - about a book which is well-known among the people in general, the educated, the scholars and the ignorant, and it is the book "IHyaa' Uloomud-Deen" of Shaikh Aboo Haamid al-Ghazzaalee, whom Allaah caused to pass away in the year 505H -raHimahullaah wa 'afaa'anhu.
These sayings which I have gathered and the texts which I have quoted here are all on one of the two sides of the scales - that of correction and amendment and that is the unknown page in the knowledge of this book!!
As for the other side of the scales, it has already been made heavy by the older and newer writers. So of old, ash-shaikh 'Abdul Qaadir al 'Aidaroos wrote his book, "An Announcement of the Excellent Qualities of al-IHyaa'", and it is in print and is well-known.
Of recent times, the book has received much praise, such as that from Shaikh Sa'eed Hawwaa who advises people to read it [Aafaaq ut-Ta'aaleem, p.77] and he holds it to be from the source books for Islaamic morals [Jundullaah, p. 1191], etc. All of this is in fulfilment of what Shaikh al-Bannaa said in describing his call as being truly Sufi, and (Sa'eed) Hawwaa is not saying something new in speaking of "al-IHyaa'" but rather following Shaikh Hasan al-Bannaa (raHimahullaah), since he used to study it after the attendance of the Sufi Tareeqah of the Hasaafiyyah [Mudhakkaraat ud-Da'wah, p.29] to the extent that he was affected by that in his general behaviour [Mudhakkaraat..., p.321. Rather he regarded it to be the greatest encyclopedia of Islaam (!), and one of his ambitions was that he would be able to write an explanation of this book. He actually began to do that since he started a weekly lesson of its explanation in his house for a group of his companions, and he was careful to write down every lesson which he gave from it in a notebook, and he had not used to do this for his other lessons. However, he was not able to complete it [al-Ikhwaan ul-Muslimoon: Happenings... 1/61 & 2/347J.
Shaikh-ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (raHimahullaah) spoke both in praise and in criticism of this book when he was asked about it and the book called "Qoot-ul-Quloob", as occurs in "Majmoo' ul-Fataawaa, [10/55]" He (raHimahullaah) replied after analysing it in a scholarly and admirable manner. so it is good that I should quote it in full. (Other quotes from him will be brought later inshaaAllaah.) He said, "The book Qoot-ul- Quloob" and the book al-IHyaa'" both speak on the same topic of the actions of the heart such as, 'patience', 'thankfulness'. 'love'. 'reliance' and 'tawHeed', etc.
Aboo Talib (he is of Makkah and wrote "Qoot-ul-Quloob" which is in print and well-known) is more knowledgeable as regards Hadeeth and reports and the sayings of the Sufi scholars of the heart and others compared to Aboo Haamid al-Ghazzaalee, and his (Aboo Taalibs) words are more correct and precise, and further away from Bid'ah (innovation in the Deen), even though there are weak and fabricated aHaadeeth (plural of Hadeeth) in "Qoot-ul-Quloob" and many rejected things.
As for what is stated in "aI-IHyaa'" about the destructive affairs such as his talk about 'pride', 'vanity', 'ostentation','envy'. etc., most of it is taken from al-Haarith al-MuHaasibee's book "ar-Ri'yaayah" - and part of it is acceptable, part to be rejected, and parts of it are disagreed about!
"Al-IHyaa'" contains many beneficial points, but it contains objection- able subjects, since it contains corrupt talks of the philosophers about TawHeed, Prophethood, and the Hereafter. Mentioning the 'knowledge' of the Sufis is like taking an enemy of the Muslims and dressing him up in Muslim clothes.
The scholars of the Deen (religion) have criticised Aboo Haamid (al-Ghazzaalee) for this and said: He was made ill by "ash-Shifaa' (The Cure)" of Ibn Seenaa (Avicenna) in philosophy. [One of the books of logic as mentioned in "Kashf az-Zunoon [2/1055]", and see what Ibn Taymiyyah says about it in "Majmoo' ul-Fataawaa - 13/238]
It contains many aHaadeeth and reports which are weak, rather fabricated (maudoo'), and it contains many mistakes and lies of the Sufis.
Along with that it also contains sayings of the Shaikhs of the Sufis who have knowledge and are upright regarding actions of the heart, being in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah, and other things concerning worship and behaviour, which also conform to the Book and the Sunnah, such things being more than that which is to be rejected. Therefore the opinions of the people vary and they differ about it." [End of what he says - raHimahullaah]
Nothing has persuaded me to write this book except sincere advice for the sake of Allaah and for His Messenger (sailaitaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and the Muslims, and hope, to correct the paths taken and to straighten people's thinking and direction, particularly since ignorance of the Islaamic Sciences have become widespread which is, by Allaah, one of the greatest disasters. Finally. I ask Allaah, the Sublime and Most High and I seek His favour by my love for the greatest of His Messengers (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) that He should write for me recompense and reward. Verily He it is Who hears and answers, and our final word is that all praise is for Allaah, Lord of all creation.
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16-11-2002 @ 12:00 AM
