Shaykh Asrar Q/A

The wahabis lay claims to Athari school. Please comment further on this.

Re Sh. Gibril Haddad, his personal accomplishments aside, his shaykhs/associates late Nazim Qubrusi and Hisham Kabbani have some very serious issues of sulah kullism and/or batini tendencies and bogus predictions, and Gibril hasn't distanced himself from these two. Rather he supports and defends them. Plus if you comb through eshaykh.com website that belongs to this group, you would run into bizarre sayings under his name or claimed to be under his advice/supervision. Are you aware of Sh. Gibril's support for these people?

Sorry, looks like @SunniBrotherM and i hit send at the same time.

 

السلام عليكم و رحمةالله و بركته sheikh
What are your views on sheikh Ibrahim Osi Efa as you have met him previously, would you advise us to stay away from him or would he be okay to listen to.

 

السلام عليكم و رحمةالله و بركته sayyidi

can you explain the difference between taqlid mutlaq and taqlid shaksi? Is it permitted for a layman to take more than one rukhsa from other Sunni madhahib in need?

 

Drinking poison is haram in all four schools.

The incident of Sayyiduna Khalid Bin Walid (radiyAllahu anhu) when challenged by the Christians of Iraq is not apocryphal. It is validated by the Muhaddith and A'llamah Shaykh Abdullah Siraj alDin. However, the incident is from the the nawadir ahkam fiqhuyya and the general ruling of hurma remains.

 

Ashari is an actual school of creed, Barelawi is not, as the schools of creed are divided into three, and only three, there is no fourth. There can never be a fourth. There is Ashari, Maturidi and Athari only.

 

1) with regard to your first question it should be directed to a Shaf'i mufti, as I do not know, laa adri.

2) With regard to your second question, denying the preservation of the Quran is kufr iltizami, while the other two heresies are luzumi kufr. To believe prayer behind the first is kufr iltizami. With regard to the second two your question on the hukm on the individual will have to be directed to a competent mufti.

Saying Allah has power over lying is Bida'h but not kufr. To say Allah has lied (audhu billah) is kufr iltizami.

 

but why do you call yourself ash'ari ?

 

None of the Ahbash ulama or representatives have debated me. Many years ago, nearly two decades ago, when I was unaware of who these people are, I discussed with a representative of theirs who has passed away now, but it was not really a debate. They have no prominence in our city of Birmingham. I have never heard of Giles Sadek. The Ahbash in Birmingham, a minority within a minority, avoid the Sunni masajid.

I never asked Sayyid Abbas Bin Alawi (quddisa sirruhu) regarding the Ahbash and they never came up in our conversations. However, the Ulama of Damascus (Allah increase them and protect their city) warned regarding the Ahbash. The Ahbash have two main problems as far as I know:

1 Unwarranted takfir. They do not have dawabit of takfir. In fact they have no usul, and there members have wasawis of takfir and kufr due to this, like some of the hardliners from Indo-Pak who do not observe the usul or can even define the parameters of sulh kulli.

2 Disparagement of Sahabi jalil Amir Muawiyah (radiyAllahu anhu) and those companions who fought with him in Siffin.

I have many of the works of the late Shaykh Abdullah Harari.

Shaykh Abdullah was forced to leave Damascus in the 1950's after he did takfir of Imam Ibn A'bidin, the author of Radd alMuhtar. (What the takfir was based upon was a passage relating to the Quran, which Ala Hazrat covers in Jadd alMumtar and defends Imam Ibn A'bidin). Shaykh Salih alFarfour, the leader of the Ulama of Damascus after Imam Badr alDin alHasani, was the one who ordered the younger mashaikh to abandon Abdullah Harari due to his unwarranted takfiri methodology. It is from this period that the Ahbash try claiming the like of Shaykh Abdul Razzaq alHalabi, but this is false. Later, in the early 1980's, Sayyid Shaykh Ibrahim alYaqoubi (Allah have mercy on him) debated Abdullah Harari on the issue relating to Amir Muawiya (radiyAllahu anhu). This was a phone call debate held in the office of the Grand Ommayad Masjid and many Ulama were in attendance.

The Ahbash also did takfir of the alImam alShahid Ramadan alBouti (quddisa sirruhu) based on a passage in his alKubra alYaqiniyaat. Imam Bouti did respond to them and so did other Ulama. This was in the 1970's.

As for their takfir of Shaykh alHaram, alMuhaddith, alMujaddid, Sayyid Muhammad Bin A'lawi (quddisa sirruhu) it is obviously unwarranted and can never substantiated. Such a takfir will then fall on many other Ulama who rederred to Ibn Taymiyya as 'Shaykh alIslam'.

The bottom line is: these Ahbash, wa adrabuhum wa amthaluhum, can nevr sit down and explain their usul dawabit and qawanin in takfir. They cannot even do so in writing except they will fall into tanaqud.

 

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah, Please clarify the ruling regarding consumption of poison. Kindly limit your response to classical Hanafi references, not apocryphal stories about certain Sahaba.

I'm not sure if this has already been addressed. If so, kindly direct me to the response. Thank you.

 

I am not from Bareilly. There is no such sect as Barelawi.

Some people say to differentiate themselves from Deobandis they refer to themselves as Barelawi. Where I come from in Kashmir the Sunnis are referred to as Sunnis, while Wahabis are named Wahabis, and Deobandis are referred to as Wahabis or Deobandi, while Shia are referred to as Shia. So when lay people hear 'Sunni' they only think of us, the Sunnis, people who do mawlid, urs, have sufi orders, and follow Sunni Ulama. I will never replace Sunni with 'Barelawi', and that is why I corrected Abdul Rahman Hasan on this point. After I did this some mushaghibun slandered me on whatsapp groups...

If, however, in a certain context people or myself refer to ourselves as 'Barelawi' then it would mean a nisba to Ala Hazrat, like we may have nisba to any of the Ulama of Ahl alSunna.

 

Shaykh Gibril Haddad is someone I have known for twenty years or so. He is a man of impeccable adab. He is also one of the best foreign students of the Ulama of Damascus of the last generation, all of whom who have passed away. He is also my teacher and has taught me Ulum alHadith. We also share the same teachers like the Muhaddith alA'sr Allamah Nur alDin I'tr.
The works of Shaykh Gibril are also immensely beneficial.

None of his works defend the bida'h of the Deobandis. In fact his works refute the Deobandis, like his recent work on Maturidis, for instance.

However, there are a few posts online that are problematic, which I have not discussed with Shaykh Gibril as of yet. However, are Ulama, and non-Urdu reading Ulama excused from takfir of the Deobandi elders after well over a hundred years after the fatwa of Husam alHaramayn?

As long as no one approves of the statements, and Shaykh Gibril definitely does not approve of the kufr statements, there are a few factors to consider with regard to many Ulama including the likes of Shaykh alMuhaddith Muhammad Awwama:

1 Initially they only know khayr of the Deobandi elders, especially through their written works like Badhl alMajhud.

2 The first introduction they have to Ala Hazrat is through Husam alHaramayn, and many cases at the hands of incompetent extremists who only insist on takfir and show no other beneficial works of Ala Hazrat or his Sunni contemporaries. One individual, who recently insulted Sahaba, from Karachi, when he first met the Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Bin A'awi alMalik (quddisa sirruhu) he started arguing with the Sayyid in broken Arabic and raising his voice. Not really an i'lmi way of initiating an issue.

On a side note: the same happened to Allamah Muhammad Awwamah. But recently Shaykh Awwamah saw the positive work of Dar alImam Yusuf alNabahani and praised their work. His son contacted and demanded that Ala Hazrat's ta'liq on Taqrib be brought out ina better edition.

3 Consider the following: they are excused of takfir of a shakhs mu'ayyan if over a hundred years have gone, 2) the kufr has not reached them through tawatur 3) they cannot read and acces the original Urdu works. In fact how many Indo-Pak Ulama (ulama zactually read Tahdhir cover to cover and then read the original works of all the Deobandi elders, as well as Ala Hazrat's original works?

 

As Salamu Alaykum Shaykh.

May Allah reward you for coming on here to answer important questions.

Do you consider yourself a barelwi? Whatever your answer is, please provide some clarification.

Jazak-Allah khayr.

 

[

I am only answering this question so some people do not fall into su aldhan. My beard does not grow long enough, in fact just less than a qubda on the actual chin bone and parts of the lahyayn, which is the actual lihya. It grows longer from underneath and the sides, so when the parts that are permissible to trim are trimmed or totally shaven from the neck are which are thicker hair while the other hair has thinned out over the years, then the overall beard seems shorter, but in reality I have not done a makruh act. Recently, while I was ill, I have not trimmed those parts which are permissible to trim so the beard may seem longer. On rare occasions the barber may over trim, but since that has happened in the past in recent times I give the barber clear advice regarding trimming. Watch this video of Imam Bouti (radiyAllahu anhu):



Any imam who is leading prayer must not trim his beard less than a qubda. However, many times some hardliners or people with less understanding have criticised me for praying behind a Shafi' imam with a small beard. Or an imam with a small beard. I have an explanation for the latter which I do not believe a forum post is sufficient.

 

Salam Shaykh.

Can you expand on the clip about your beard please?

You said that you have never trimmed or cut your beard, but rather the hair has just fallen out.

Over the years, your beard design and length has fluctuated and changed going from long to short and then long then short, etc.

When your hair has fallen out, how has the design remained even in terms of length and style?

Why I am asking is because it does seem to people that you have previously trimmed below a fist because of the design of your beard.

Do you also believe that salah behind an imam with a beard less than a fist is valid?

 

As Salam o alaikum Sheikh.

Not with respect to your praying, you have already clarified enough, I just want to have one query cleared.

1) Your mentioning of shafi position that prayer is done behind the people of biddah. Here people of biddah refers to minor innovation not reaching the limit of kufr, right?

2) Would it be kufr if one considers the prayer also permissible (and valid) behind the people of innovation with their biddah reaching kufr, like denying the preservation of Qur'an or saying that Qur'an is created or ALLAH has power over lying or transgression etc?

Thank you very much for all your efforts and services and may ALLAH bless you, Hazrat Abu Hasan and all sunni sheikhs.

 

Dear Shaykh Asrar Rashid, can you please clarify your view / stance on al-Ahbash [AICP] and their leader Shaykh Abdullah al-Harari?

Is it true that you had a debate with Shuyukh from al-Ahbash in the UK?

What do you say about al-Ahbash centres like AICP UK gaining prominance in influential sunni cities like Birmingham, Halifax and London and their leaders like Shaykh Gilles Sadek and others coming to the UK from Lebanon and speaking at events where sunnis are not aware of their problematic stances ?

Also, as you are connected with the family of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki al-Hassani do you know what the Shaykh's response was to Shaykh Abdullah al-Harari when he visited Shaykh Alawi and called him a kafir for refusing to call Ibn Taymiya a disbeliever?

A scholar of al-Ahbash belittling Shaykh Alawi:

 

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

What’s the title of this book in Urdu?
And the title of its Translation? (in case you remember off the top of your head)

جزاك الله خيرا