Belief and Islam

adio programs, motion pictures, and web sites. Ibn ’Âbidîn
‘rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ’ wrote in the third volume [of Radd almuhtâr]
that insidious disbelievers who, although they do not
believe in any religion, pretend to be Muslims and teach things
that cause disbelief as if they were Islamic, and who strive to
misguide Muslims and lead them out of Islam, are called zindiqs.”
Question: “A person who has read translations of their corrupt
books says:
‘We should read explanations (tafsîr) of the Qur’ân alkerîm.
To entrust the job of learning our religion and the
Qur’ân al-kerîm to religious scholars is a dangerous and
petrifying thought. The Qur’ân al-kerîm does not say, “O
Religious Scholars.” It says, “O Muslims” and “O Mankind.”
For this reason, every Muslim should understand the Qur’ân
al-kerîm himself and should not expect this job from anybody
else.’ ”
“This person wants everybody to read books of tafsîr and
hadîth. He does not recommend reading the books of kalâm, fiqh
and ’ilm al-hâl written by Islamic scholars and great scholars of
Ahl as-Sunna. The publication of Rashid Ridâ’s [1]
book Islâmda
Birlik ve Fikh Mezhebleri by the Chief Office of Religious Affairs
(publication no. 157; 1394/1974) has all the more confused readers.
In many of its pages, particularly in the “Sixth Dialogue,” the book
states:
‘They [muqallids, followers of one of the four Madhhabs]
extolled the mujtahid imâms to the degree of prophethood.
They even preferred a mujtahid’s word which disagreed with
the Prophet’s hadîth to the hadîth. They said that the hadîth
could have been annulled (naskh) or there could have been
another hadîth in their imâm’s view. By acting upon the words
of those people who might have been wrong in their judging
and who might have not known the matter, and by leaving
aside the hadîth of the Prophet, who was free from error,
these muqallids also contradict mujtahids. They even
contradict the Qur’ân by doing so. They say that no one but a
mujtahid imâm could understand the Qur’ân. Such words of
faqîhs and other muqallids show that they have adopted them
[1] Rashid Ridâ is the disciple of Muhammad Abduh. He died in 1354
[1935 A.D.].
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