The Audacity of Ignorance. - Rawdah

some issues, and also what relates to putting oneself forward to teach and giving Fatwaa by thosewho are neither qualified to do so nor have the ability to engage in this affair (i.e. giving Fataawaand teaching). And so we had given them advice, and they promised us that they would writesomething to show that they have retracted from a lot of these issues, and we are still waiting forthem to proclaim publicly their retraction as well as their Taubah (i.e. repentance) from someissues and errors that they fell into.” (Courtesy of www.Madeenah.com)The clarification of these errors we are still awaiting in 2012 while this took place in 2005!However instead of clarifying these grave mistakes- as innocent errors become deliberate mistakeswhen the individual refuses to correct them- we find that today Abu Khadeejah accuses anotherscholar of oppressing him- Shaykh Waseeallah Abbas (may Allah preserve him). He even calledthe Shaykh a liar. And I know that living in the West today, many of us have adopted the conceptof ‘freedom of speech’ and we believe, as a result of this, that we are entitled to say about peoplewhat we choose to without any discretion or fear of any repercussion. However Islam has directedthe Muslim to be religiously conscious about what he utters, who he utters it about as well as theramifications of what he utters when he does so. For the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa salam) was asked byMu’ath Ibn Jabal (Radiyallahu anhu) about being held accountable for the things we utter, and hisresponse was:“May your mother be bereaved of you O Mu’ath! Aren’t people toppled on their faces in the hellfirefor any reason other than the harvest of their tongues?” (Collected in the Sunnan of AtTirmithi)In addition to this, every word that he utters is recorded by angels who make no mistake in whatthey document. Allah says:“And remember the two Angles on your right and on your left. Not a word does he utter exceptthere is an observer ready to record it” (50:17-18)For the consequences of such an utterance could lead to a remote place in the hell-fire, thedistance of which is equivalent to-or greater than- what is between the east and the west, as theProphet (Sallallahu alaihi wa salam) said:“Indeed the servant will utter a comment without knowing the ramifications of it and it will landhim in the hell fire the distance of which is greater than the distance between the east and thewest.” (Collected in Saheeh Al Bukhari and Muslim)8 | P a g e w w w . r a w d a h . o r g