Section 1 Click here
The review questions are at the end of this page.
The review questions are at the end of this page.
“The Creed of Muhammad bin ‘Abdil Wahhaab”
Section 1[1] The Saved Sect
Text:
Shaykh al Islaam, Muhammad bin ‘Abdil Wahhaab (May Allaah have mercy upon him) said in his letter to the people of Qasseem when they asked him about his Creed:
In the Name of Allaah, the All Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
I ask Allaah to bear witness, those who are with me from among the angels to bear witness and I ask you to bear witness that I believe what the Saved Sect, Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah believed.
Explanation:
The author’s saying, ‘I ask Allaah to bear witness, those who are with me from among the angels to bear witness and I ask you to bear witness …’ This is as if it was taken from Allaah’s (I) saying:
)شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ(
Allâh bears witness that Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), and the angels, and those having knowledge (also give this witness); [Aali Imraan 3:18]
So he asks Allaah (U) to bear witness and he asks the angels and the scholars to bear witness to his Creed that he did not come with anything new, nor did he come to change the religion of Allaah, which is what the people accused him of. Instead he came with the clear truth.
The author’s saying, ‘…that I believe what the Saved Sect … believed.’ The Creed of the Saved Sect is what the Prophet (r) mentioned (in the hadeeth):
‘…my Ummah will divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the fire except one. They said, “Which one?” He (r) said, “Those who are upon what I and my Companions are upon.”’[2]
It is called the ‘Saved’ Sect (al Firqatun Naajiyah) because it is ‘saved’ from the Fire. All these sects are in the Fire except this sect. So it is saved from the Fire. It is described as follows:
1. That it is ‘saved’.
2. That they are the people of ‘Sunnah’, those who observe the sunnah and it is the way of the Messenger (r). It means the Qur’aan and it means the authentic ahaadeeth and what the Messenger (r) was upon. As he (r) said, ‘Those who are upon what I and my Companions are upon.’ Those who follow the Prophet (r) and the Companions and not those who follow the Jahmiyyah, Mu’tazilah, or Khawaarij Schools of Thought or any other sect. They followed the School of Thought of the People of Sunnah, those who adhered firmly to the sunnah.
3. ‘Al Jamaa’ah’. It is called ‘al Jamaa’ah’ because they gather upon the Truth; there is no differing among them. They do not differ in their Creed. Their Creed is the same even if they differ in matters of jurisprudence (fiqh) and derived subsidiary issues. There is no harm in this. There is no harm in differing regarding jurisprudence because it originates from ijtihaad (making a judgement extracted from the texts). Ijtihaad differs as people are not equal in their abilities to perform ijtihaad. As for the Creed, it is not subject to ijtihaad. Rather it must be a single Creed because it is fixed. Allaah said,
)إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ(
Truly, this, your Ummah [Sharî'ah or religion (Islâmic Monotheism)] is one religion, and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me (Alone). (Tafsîr Ibn Kathîr) [Al Anbiyaa 21:92]
This is one ummah, it does not accept differing; you worship One Lord. In another aayah
)وَإِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاتَّقُونِ(
And verily, this your religion (of Islâmic Monotheism) is one religion, and I am your Lord, so fear (keep your duty to) Me. [Mu’minoon 23:52]
)فَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُم بَيْنَهُمْ زُبُرًا ۖ كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ(
But they (men) have broken their religion among them into sects, each group rejoicing in what is with it (as its beliefs). [Mu’minoon 23:53]
Allah called those who differed blameworthy because differing in the Creed is not permissible. He ordered them to be one ummah but they disobeyed Him. ‘But they (men) have broken their religion among them into sects’ that is ‘books’, as Qataadah and Mujaahid have said.[3] Each one has his own book and each one has his own Creed. And the Creed of one is different from the Creed of the other, ‘each group rejoicing in what is with it (as its beliefs’). Each one thinks that he is upon the truth and the others are upon misguidance. They do not say, ‘let us refer to the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (r)’. As Allaah (I) said,
) فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ (
(And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allâh and His Messenger [sal-Allâhu 'alayhi wa sallam], if you believe in Allâh and in the Last Day.
[an Nisaa 4:59]
Rather, each one says that he is the only one upon the truth, ‘each group rejoicing in what is with it (as its beliefs)’, he is convinced of what he is upon, he clings to it stubbornly and does not see that his speech is subject to being right or wrong.
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[1] TN: All the Section Titles from now on have been added for ease of reference.
[2] Tirmidthi collected it in his ‘Sunan’ (2641). Al Haakim in ‘al Mustadrak’ (1/129) and others from the hadeeth of ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Amr bin al ‘Aas (t).
Ibn Hibbaan collected it in his Saheeh (15/125 no. 6731). Aboo Daawood in his Sunan (4596) and others from the hadeeth of Aboo Hurayrah (t).
It came from another group of the Companions of the Prophet (r). See As Sunnah by Ibn Abee ‘Aasim (63-69) and “Nadthm al Mutanaathir min al Hadeeth al Mutawaatir” by al Kattaanee p45 onwards.
[3] It is a saying of Qataadah narrated by Abdur Razzaaq in ‘his tafseer’ (3/46) and by at Tabari in ‘his tafseer’ (18/29). It is a saying of Mujaahid also narrated by at Tabari in ‘his tafseer’ (18/30). See ‘ad Dur al Manthoor’ (6/103).
Name: __________________________
Aqeedatush Shaykh Review Questions Section 1
1. Who are the Saved Sect?
2. Why are they called ‘Saved’?
3. How many sects will this Ummah divide into?
4. Which sect will be saved?
5. What is the meaning of Jamaa’ah?
