Islam's Reformers .pdf

doubtful îmân is not îmân. But it is a heresy worse thanignorance to say that Muslims’ îmân has been doubtful forcenturies. The îmân of the Ahl as-Sunna who make up ninetypercent of Muslims on the earth, has been true in every century,and they did not doubt anything in which they believed.Besides, the members of the heretical groups were not sonumerous as to represent Islam.Mawdûdî says on the eighty-first page of his book:“The difference between the idea and doctrine of caliphateand sovereignty was explained by Shâh Walî-Allah, and thepictures from the Hadîth, which were not known before him,were drawn by him. He wrote in his book Musaffâ: ‘The idiots ofour century have abandoned ijtihâd. They do not know wherethey are going, with their rings put on their noses like camels.Each has chosen a different path. It is a shame that they do nothave a common understanding.’ ”Hadrat Shâh Walî-Allah ad-Dahlawî did not say “idiots”about the Ahl as-Sunna scholars in any of his books, but hecomplained about the heretical groups who dissented from thefour madhhabs. The following passage from him is verydescriptive of his reverence towards the Ahl as-Sunna scholars:“Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) said, ‘Great scholars willcome in Iran.’ Besides great hadîth scholars such as al-Bukhârî, Muslim, at-Tirmidhî, Abû Dâwûd, an-Nasâ’î, Ibn Mâja,ad-Dârimî, ad-Dâra-Qutnî, Hâkim, al-Baihakî and many otherswho were educated in Iran, there are the great fiqh scholarssuch as Abû ’t-Tayyib [Qâdî Tâhir at-Tabarî], Shaikh Abû Hâmid[al-Isfarâ’inî], Shaikh Abû Ishaq ash-Shîrâzî, and al-Juwainî[’Abdullah ibn Yûsuf and his son], Imâm al-Haramain ’Abd al-Malik ibn ’Abdullâh al-Juwainî and Imâm Muhammad al-Ghazâlîand many many others, who were also educated in Iran. EvenImâm Abû Hanîfa and his disciples in Mâwara an-nahr [1] andKhurasan are the scholars of Iran and are within the circleblessed with the good news in the hadîth. A hadîth declares,‘There will come a mujaddid in every hundred years.’ As hedeclared, a mujaddid came in each century and strengthenedthe religion. In the first century of the Hegira, ’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz removed the cruelty of the rulers and established theprinciples of justice. In the second century, al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î[1] Transoxiana.- 174 -