Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

More documents

Recommendations

Info

if the religion was hanging on the distant star, men from the non-Arab Persians would reach it and the luckiest of them would be the people of Faris.‖ I have demonstrated that these ‗Black sheep‘ who are the original recipients of the message of Islam are the Black Arabs and they and their Islam are best represented by Ahmad ibn Hanbal. I further demonstrated that the White sheep and their re-interpretation of Islam are best represented by the Persian Hujjat al-Islam al-Ghazzali. It is in this context that Bro Mubaashir offers the following Argument: ―The debates between the Mutazilites and the Asharites were not about whether Allah was a human being or not, they were about whether Qur'anic statements referencing Allah's hand, foot, etc. should be accepted on face value (literally) or understood as metaphorical. So, Imam Hanbal and the others argued that Allah has a hand and a foot and a throne, but that no human's eyes can see His hand, throne, foot, etc. Imam Hanbal would argue that Allah has a hand, but His hand does not look like your hand. He would cite the hadith: ‗Narrated Ibn 'Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will grasp the whole Earth by His Hand, and all the Heavens in His right, and then He will say, I am the King.‖ Abu Huraira said, ‗Allah's Apostle said, Allah will grasp the Earth...‖‘ ―But, Imam Hanbal would tell us that Allah has a hand, but we can't see or comprehend Allah's hand that will hold the earth and skies and it is certainly not a human hand. The Mutazilite would argue that Allah does not have a hand at all; that this Qur'anic reference is a metaphor for Allah's power and control. Imam Hanbal was concerned about preserving the integrity of the text of the Qur'an so that translators and interpreters would not substitute their interpretations for the actual words used. He was not trying to prove that Allah was a man or human being. If that was his point, he would have said so. He was a scholar, prolific muhadith, and teacher. Surely, he could have and would have made this clear. But, you cannot find anywhere where Imam Hanbal argued that Allah is a human being.‖ [End Quote; emphasis mine] I must admit that I was taken aback after reading this. I can‘t believe that, had Bro Mubaashir been familiar with my published works, he would have advanced this particular argument. I am humbled to be one of those who are forcing a reevaluation of the Aqida of Imam Ahmad and its place within the development of Sunni Islam. I have three published articles in peer-reviewed academic journals on the subject, and I go into great detail regarding this matter in my doctoral dissertation, all of which are freely available at www.drwesleymuhammad.com. The fact of the matter is, Bro Mubaashir completely misrepresented the position of Imam Ahmad here. It is not his fault though: most Muslim scholars today do. Because the religion of the non-Arab converts dominates Muslim thinking today, it was found necessary to posthumously ―convert‖ important early figures to this religion, including the proud Black Arab and staunch antagonist of this religion, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. But of all of the Four Imams, his Aqida is best known to us because there is a wealth of material going back to Imam Ahmad himself. So we don‘t have to engage in such unwarranted speculation about what Imam Ahmad ―would have said,‖ as Bro Mudaashir felt free to do above. We need only quote Imam Ahmad himself. On the basis of this wealth of material we can make the following affirmations with no fear of contradiction: 1.) Imam Ahmad affirmed that Allah is a delimited (mahdud) being who literally has a human-like form, after which Adam‘s form was patterned 2.) This human form can be seen with human eyes and 3.) Allah appeared to the prophet in this human form as a man. 14
1. Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal affirmed that the God of Prophet Muhammad is physically delimited (mahdud), though His divinity, power, and knowledge know no limit. Ibn Abi Ya‘la, in his important text on the Hanbali madhhab, Tabaqat al-Hanabila [I:267] reports: ―Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Qaysi said: I said to Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal: ‗It is quoted from Ibn al-Mubarak that it was said to him: How do we know our Lord - the Mighty and Majestic? He said, "Above (fi) the heaven, upon ('ala) His Throne with hadd (limit, demarcation)." So Ahmad said, "This is how it is with us".‘ Imam al-Dhahabi in his al- Uluww (p.152 of its Mukhtasir) affirms: "This is sahih (authentic) from Ibn al-Mubarak and Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him.‖ This physically delimited Allah according to Imam Ahmad has a human-like form. According to a sahih report, the Prophet declared: khalaqa Allah Adam „ala suratihi, ―Allah created Adam according to His form‖ (Bukhari, 8.74.246; Muslim, birr, 115; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, II:244, 251, ect.) This report was controversial in Ibn Hanbal‘s day and beyond. Some scholars read the possessive pronoun ―His‖ (hi) of ―His form‖ as ―his,‖ viz. Adam‘s form. That is to say that God created Adam in Paradise in the same form that he, Adam, had when he was sent to earth. In other words Adam wasn‘t a giant in Paradise and then shrunk as some had claimed. On the other hand other scholars read ―His form‖. The famous hadith scholar Abu Muhammad b. Qutayba (d. 889) explained: ―God possesses an actual form, though it is not like other forms, and He fashioned Adam after it‖ (Quoted by Ibn al-Jawzi, Kitab Akhbar al-Sifat, 271). This was the position of Imam Ahmad. This hadith played a significant role in his Aqida. He reports it countlessly in his Kitab al-Sunna and invokes it in his published creeds. He states in his Kitab al-Risalah li-Ahmad, ―God created Adam with His hand and in His form,‖ and in „Aqīda IV the Imam argues: ―Adam was created in the form of the Merciful, as comes in a report from the Messenger of God...‖ This is from the report of Ibn ‗Umar: ―Don‘t make your face ugly, because Adam was created according to the form of the Merciful.‖ See: Ahmad b. Hanbal, Kitab al-Sunna (Mecca: al-Matba‘at al-Salafiyya, 1349 H) 56; idem, Musnad (Beirut: Mu‘assasat al-Risalah, 1993) 12:275, #7323; 12:382, #7420; 15:371, #9604. Imam Ahmad rejected the exegetical devices that read ‗his form‘ rather than ‗His form.‘ When asked about Abu Thawr‘s (d. 854) statement that ―he (Adam) is according to the form of Adam, He is not according to the form of the Merciful,‖ Ibn Hanbal responded: ―He who says that God created Adam according to the form of Adam is a Jahmi (disbeliever)‖(Ibn Abi Ya‘la, Tabaqat, I:309). For the Imam of Baghdad, to deny that God truly had a human-like form is kufr. Thus, the ―hand, foot, ect,‖ contra Bro Mubaashir, was indeed a human-like hand that ―looks like your hand,‖ because it was part of Allah‘s human-like form after which Adam‘s was patterned. 2. Imam Ahmad affirmed, contra Bro Mubaashir, that this human-like hand and the human-like form to which it was attached can be seen with the physical eyes (ta‟ayana; bi-l-„absar; see his Al-Radd „ala l-Zanadiqa wa l-Jahmiya, 20 and Ibn Abi Ya‘la, Tabaqat, 29). Listen to his words directed against the Jahmiyya and others who deny that Allah can be seen with the eyes: ―Why do you deny that those in Paradise will look at their Lord? They (the Jahmiyya) replied: ‗It is not proper for anyone to look at his Lord. A thing looked at is passible and qualified. Things are only seen by refraction.‘ [We replied:] ‗Does not Allah say…Looking at their Lord (Q 75:22)?‘…They replied, ‗Allah is not seen in this world or the next,‘ quoting one of the ambiguous verses (mutashabihat) where Allah says Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all vision (Q 6:103). But the Prophet, who knew what Allah meant, said: ‗You shall surely see your Lord‘. And Allah said to Moses: You shall not see Me (Q 7:139), but He did not say, ‗I shall not be seen‘. Who then is more deservedly followed: the Prophet who said, ‗You shall surely see your Lord,‘ or Jahm (ibn Safwan) who said, ‗You shall not see your Lord‘?‖ (Al-Radd „ala l-Zanadiqa wa l-Jahmiya, 112-113) 15
Page 1 and 2: Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? The Long O
Page 3 and 4: ARGUMENT 1 First, Dr. Wesley refers
Page 5 and 6: your Allah is one Allah. So stand t
Page 7 and 8: "He ran the race." "He ran up the b
Page 9 and 10: He adds to his case by saying that
Page 11 and 12: Allah, only to turn around and say,
Page 13: In his review Bro Mubaashir display
Page 17 and 18: came to the Prophet as a young man.
Page 19 and 20: Sunna is a formless, invisible God
Page 21 and 22: Salaam Bro Dr Wesley Muhammad 3.] D
Page 23 and 24: ―When the Prophet tells his peopl
Page 25 and 26: This issue of the significance of t
Page 27 and 28: ―So if it is said (by the believe
Page 29 and 30: When Imam Mubaashir stated; ―As a
Page 31 and 32: 7.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 33 and 34: ownership rights over this Islam th
Page 35 and 36: secondary meaning ―He manifested
Page 37 and 38: 9.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 39 and 40: people say, ―He (God) is solid,
Page 41 and 42: ―Within the pages of the Holy Qur
Page 43 and 44: Salaam 12.] Kyle J. Ismail -Respons
Page 45 and 46: 14.] Dr Wesley Muhammad Response As
Page 47 and 48: To negate an act of the past we may
Page 49 and 50: Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1209) who, am
Page 51 and 52: which He bestowed on Mary, and a sp
Page 53 and 54: After all, how could we believe thi
Page 55 and 56: things, whoever says any of which,
Page 57 and 58: We are all familiar with the Greek
Page 59 and 60: Your positions were well laid out a
Page 61 and 62: Muslim and thus was an advocate of
Page 63 and 64: different opinions between the Saha
Page 65 and 66:
Ru‘ya, with one possible exceptio
Page 67 and 68:
In the Pushkin State Museum of Fine
Page 69 and 70:
the sociological enigma of the mode
Page 71 and 72:
23.] Imam Salim Mu‟min Response t
show all

Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?