Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Ibn Taymiyyah says:
يجب المر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر بحسب إظهار السنة والشريعة،‏ والنهي عن البدعة الضاللة
بحسب اإلمكان كما دل على وجوب ذلك الكتاب والسنة وإجماع المة
It is compulsory to enjoin good and forbid evil as per the need to display the
Sunnah and the Sharīʿah. Likewise it is compulsory to prevent innovations
and deviances as per one’s ability. The necessity of this is established in the
Qurʾān, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah. 1
Nonetheless, the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah have contributed tremendously
in combatting all types of innovations and have risen against its founders and
propagators. Who else would be more rightful of bearing this load and rising
to this task other than them, whereas they are the bearers of the message of
Rasūl Allah H and the guardians of the Sharīʿah; if they remain silent and
do not carry out their task, the symbols of Dīn would become disfigured and its
teachings would suffer distortion.
Nonetheless, when Naṣb emerged the scholars likewise countered it in various
ways, akin to the efforts they had made in countering Shīʿism. However, in the
case of Naṣb a very sophisticated methodology was devised, which rested upon
two basic principles:
The first principle: They would take into consideration the conditions of
various times and places, in the sense that in certain places they would deploy a
particular way and in others they would completely discard it. Likewise in certain
times they would display certain notions whereas at others times they would
very zealously conceal those very same notions. This would make some people,
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On the other hand al-ʿAlāʾī has deemed it Ḥasan, as appears in al-Ghāyah fī Sharḥ al-Hidāyah fī ʿIlm al-
Riwāyah p. 64. For more details see: Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 1/140; Tadrīb al-Rāwī 1/302; al-Shadhā al-Fayyāḥ
1/239; al-Ḥiṭṭah fī Dhikr al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-Sittah p. 38.
1 Al-Istiqāmah 1/41.
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