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A breif introduction to some differences between Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah and the Ashaa’ira

TAWHEED

Allah (swt) said,

“Know about laa ilaaha illallah”

because of this kalima, Allah sent all the prophets and messengers, because of it people are distinguished from being Muslim and being kaafir, because of it the people have sanctity for their lives and wealth and because of it the kuffar have no sanctity. Because of laa ilaaha illallah, Muhammad (saw) said,

“O people of Quraish, I have come to slaughter you.”

And he (saw) said,

“I have been ordered to fight people until they say laa ilaaha illallah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and if they do that then their lives and wealth are protected from me except for the Haq of Islam and the account of Allah (swt).”

Because of laa ilaaha illallah, Islam is superior and nothing will supersede it, and a Muslim is superior and nothing will ever supersede him.

Because if it, the east and the west and the whole world has declared war. Because of it, the kuffar fear from Islam.

However, the Ash’aris do not study Tawheed, they study only Tawheed Al Rububiyyah without to mention anything about Tawheed Al Uluhiyyah, nor do they study about Taghout though to know about Taghout is part of the first pillar of Al Tawheed. Allah (swt) said,

“There is no compulsion in the Deen, the Haq has become distinct from the batil, whoever rejects Taghout and then believes in Allah he has grasped the most firm knot (Al Urwatul wuthqa)…”

Ibn Abbas said,

“Al Urwatul wuthqa is the kalima of Laa ilaaha illallah.”

I.e. that the first pillar of Tawheed is to reject taghout, and the second is to believe in Allah.

This is the understanding of Al Tawheed of the sahabah, and they are the best to understand the Qur’an and Sunnah, the understanding of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq without a doubt is better than any scholar today or any scholar after the sahabah. Allah (swt) said,

“If they believe in what you believe, they will be guided.”

Allah was speaking about the companions, that if we the people after them believe in what they believe in, we will be guided. They are Ahl Al Sunnah wal jama’ah, the prophet (saw) said,

“My ummah will be divided into 73 sects, all are in the hellfire and one will be saved,” they asked, “who is the saved sect?” the prophet (saw) said, “me and my companions.”

Uthman Al Darimi reported that ibn Umar said,

“Al Taghout is anything that is worshipped instead of Allah.”

Sa’d ibn Musayyab narrated that Abdullah ibn Mas’oud said,

“Anything that is worshipped, followed or obeyed instead of Allah is Taghout.”

Ibn Abbas & ibn Mas’oud & ibn Umar said,

“Al Ilaah is Al Ma’boud, Al Mutaa’, Al Matbou’”

‘Laa ilaaha illallah’ does not mean “there is no creator but Allah” rather it means

“There is none worthy to be worshipped, obeyed or followed in truth except Allah.”

The Ibadah includes all the ritual acts, including Salah, zakat etc, anyone who offers any ritual act to other than Allah, is Mushrik. The one who does so, we must call him kaafir, we must not be afraid to call them kaafir because Allah called them kaafir. Allah is the only one who has the right to call someone kaafir, and whoever he calls kaafir, we must call them kaafir or we would be denying the word of Allah (swt), that is why anyone who doubts that the jews or Christians or Mushrikeen are kaafir, they are kaafir.

TAKFEER

Furthermore, the one who was Muslim, but then commits apostasy, we must declare takfeer on them. Takfeer is purification of the camp of Islam, and is worship to Allah (swt), we become closer (qurba) to Allah by making takfeer. The one who wants to speak like the kaafir, act like the kaafir, fight with the kaafir against Muslims, they have no right to remain in the camp of Imaan and Tawheed. Those in the Camp of Islam have certain privileges, they marry from the Muslims, they give and take the salam from the Muslims, they have rights over Muslims. However the one who commits apostasy from Islam, has no right to those privileges, they have no right to remain in the camp of Imaan, rather they must be with the camp of Kufr, or the kuffar and Mushrikeen.

The Ash’aris and Maturidis do not differ so much with Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah in Tawheed Al Rububiyyah, but the biggest difference is in Tawheed Al Uluhiyyah. Asha’irah do not believe nor even study Tawheed Al Uluhiyyah, they are Murji’ah – they separate the Imaan from the actions, they will not call the one who commits kufr to be kaafir, even if he wears the cross, they will make excuse for them – ‘maybe they believe in his heart’. The Murji’ah do not believe in Al Kufr bil Taghout, they do not believe in Talazum between the Zaahir (apparent) and the batin (hidden), Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah believe that there is moulding between the hidden and apparent.

Two Muslims went to Muhammad (saw) with a dispute for arbitration, he judged between them. One man disagreed with the verdict, and said, “I disagree”, his companion asked what to do, the man said, “let us go to Abu Bakr”, they went to him and told him what happened, Abu Bakr said, “you are on the judgement of Muhammad”, the man said, “I disagree”, his companion asked what to do, the man said, “let us go to Umar” they went to Umar and told him what had happened, Umar told them to wait and he went into his home to retrieve his sword, he struck the first man who disagreed and injured and then chased the second man. He went and complained to Muhammad (saw) that Umar killed his friend and that he would have killed him as well had he not made it difficult for him, Muhammad (saw) said, “I never thought that Umar would be brave to kill a mu’min,” Allah (swt) revealed the ayah, “By your lord, they are not believers, until they refer to you in all of their disputes, and they should find no hardship therein, and they must submit fully.”

Umar ibn Khattab judged them to be kaafir on what was apparent, without to check their heart, and Allah (swt) revealed an ayah confirming his judgement and so Muhammad (saw) hugged him and said, “Allah has purified you from the seventh heaven.”

AL ASMAA’ WAL SIFAAT

Abu Hasan Al Ash’ari was for forty years Mu’tazilah. The Mu’tazilah have many types, they believe that the ration is a source of legislation. They believe that the good is what the ration says is good, confirmed by the divine text, and the bad is what the ration says is bad, confirmed by the divine text. They believe that there are five pillars of belief, firstly Tawheed, names & Attributes, they make interpretation on the name and attributes, they will replace the meaning of Yadd, from hand to power etc. The Ash’aris make the same ta’weel, this ta’weel of the ulemah is a prevention from takfeer, they made interpretation of Allah’s names and attributes, when Allah (swt) says that he has a hand, they will say that because Allah is nothing like us, He (swt) cannot have a hand if we have a hand, that Allah cannot have a face if we have a face. Ahl Al Sunnah wal Jama’ah make Tathbeet, they affirm the names and Attributes literally, without to wonder how, they say that Allah has a hand and it is nothing like our hands and we do not know how.

The Mu’awwilah divert the meaning from its literal meaning to metaphorical meanings without even any evidence. Ahl Al Sunnah Wal jama’ah are Muthabitah (they take the literal meaning) in the meaning, and they are Mufawidh in the kaifiyyah (how), e.g. they say, “Allah has a face unlike our face, and we do not know how.”.

This Ta’weel is one of the deviations of the Asha’irah, however when we speak of deviation, we are not speaking about deviation from Abu mansoor Al Maturidi or deviation from Abu Hasan Al Ash’ari. We judge their deviation from the best people, the sahabah – Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah.

When we speak of the names and Attributes of Allah, we must understand that the principle in Islam states that we always take the literal meaning of a word unless we have divine evidence to divert to the metaphoric meaning.

The word, Yadd means Hand, metaphorically it means many things including power etc. the Mu’awillah make interpretation on this and take the metaphorical meaning. This is incorrect as we know that all seven Arab tribes on the word Yadd take the literal meaning of Yadd to mean hand, so there is no argument to say that it means anything else. In contrast, the mufawidha make tafweedh on everything.

IMAAN

Another dispute is Imaan, the Ash’aris believe that Imaan is in the heart and is rigid in the heart, they do not believe that you can become kaafir after you become Muslim.

The Maturidis believe that Imaan is in the heart and testified by the tongue, but will never be negated. Jehmies believe that nothing can negate the imaan, even if you say that you are kaafir, they will not believe you..

Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah believe that Imaan is sayings and actions and niyyah, and it increases and decreases, ibn Taymiyyah said, “Imaan is sayings, actions and niyyah.”

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul wahhab said, “Imaan is sayings by the tongue, actions by the limbs, and belief in the heart.”

However one of the mistakes of the Asha’ira and Maturidiyyah is that they separate imaan from the actions. The prophet (saw) mentioned as narrated by Umar ibn khattab as he (saw) spoke to Jibreel (as) that, “Islam is to testify laa ilaaha illallah, to establish the salah, pay the zakat, to fast Ramadhan and to make hajj to the house…,” and he said in the same hadith that “imaan is to believe in Allah, in the books and the messengers ...”

Because of this Hadith, the Ash’aris divided Islam and Imaan, separating them and they study under one the shari’ah and actions, and study under Imaan all the Aqeedah.

On the Aqeedah they say that it is what is decisive, and is based only on qati’ evidences never zanni, though they take zanni evidence for the shari’ah.

Ahl Al Sunnah wal jama’ah have talazum between the Aqeedah and the Shari’ah. Furthermore, on the aqeedah the asha’irah believe that there is no taqleed on the aqeedah, but that there is taqleed on the shari’ah. They say that Aqeedah must be on the conviction of every individual. This is from the saying Imam Al Maturidi and strangely they make taqleed to him in this very saying about aqeedah.

Ahl Al Sunnah believe in Ittiba’, to follow the live scholar. Allah (swt) said,

“ask Ahl Al Zhikr if you do not know.”

We follow the scholar if he follows the sahabah of Muhammad (saw), Ahl Al Zhikr is the ulema and is the sahabah, we make ittiba’ to them in all matters. Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah understood about Islam and Imaan, they are synonymous when mentioned apart, it is only when they are mentioned together that they carry separate meanings, otherwise Islam is Imaan and Imaan is Islam.

Imam Abu Hasan Al Ash’ari after 5 years following this aqeedah did change his aqeedah to that of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah and made the famous statement while throwing his cloak, “I throw my opinions to the wall the way I throw this cloak to the wall.” And he began to count all his incorrect sayings on aqeedah, this was shortly before his death. After his change he was known as Imam Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah

From alghurabaa.co.uk