Bismi’llâhi’r-rahmâni’r-rahîm
Allâhu ta’âlâ pities all the people on the earth. He sends
useful and necessary things to everybody. He shows the ways of keeping away
from harm and attaining happiness. In the next world, He will forgive whomever He
likes of those guilty Believers who are to go to Hell, and He will bring them
to Paradise. He, alone, is the One who creates every living being, who keeps
every being in existence every moment, and who protects all against fear and
horror. Trusting ourselves to the honourable name of Allâhu ta’âlâ, we begin to
write this book.
We offer up our prayers and salâms for Hadrat Muhammad
(’alaihi’s-salâm), the most beloved Prophet of
Allâhu ta’âlâ. We offer auspicious prayers for the pure Ahl al-Bayt of that exalted
Prophet and for each of his just and devoted
Companions (radiy-Allâhu ’anhum).
Allâhu ta’âlâ is very merciful to His creatures. He wills
the entire mankind to live in ease and peace in this world and to have an
eternal life in favors and blessings after they die. To attain this bliss, He
orders them to believe, to become Muslims, to join the path of His Prophet Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) and his
Companions, to love and help one another. Our Prophet
(sall-allâhu alaihi wa sallam) stated, “As the
stars guide throughout dark nights, my As-hâb are the guides along the way
leading to felicity. Follow any one of them, and you will attain to felicity.”
All of the As-hâb-i-kirâm learned the Holy Qur’ân from the Messenger of Allah.
As they travelled later on, they propagated what they had learned. They did not
insert their personal ideas into what they had heard from the Messenger of
Allah. The Islamic scholars, in their turn, wrote in their books whatever they
had heard from the As-hâb-i-kirâm. These scholars are called “Scholars of Ahl as-sunna(t).” Afterwards, there
appeared some scholars who interpolated into these teachings. These people
conglomerated ideas from the ancient Greek philosophers, concoctions from Jews
and Christians, and, especially, lies fabled by British spies. Also, adding
their personal impressions and whatever they had acquired of the
scientific teachings of their times, they invented
new religious teachings. Speaking in the name of ‘Islamic Scholars’ they tried
to demolish Islam from within. Of these people, those who changed âyats and hadîth-i-sherîfs with clear meanings — âyats and
hadîths of this sort are called Nass— became Kâfirs
(disbelievers). Those who misinterpreted the ones with hidden meanings were
termed Groups of Bid’a(t). There
appeared a number of heretical groups of bid’a carrying the name of Muslims.
Exploiting this situation, the British are inventing groups of disbelief and
heresy and trying to annihilate original Islam. Today, Muslims in the world
have separated into three groups: Ahl as-Sunna, the Shî’ites and the Wahhâbîs.
Their beliefs are different from one another. Since this difference originates
from the mistakes made in the interpretation of nasses [âyats and hadîths]
whose meanings cannot be understood clearly and since they do not deny nasses
with clear meanings, they do not call one another ‘disbeliever.’ Yet, they hate
one another. True Muslims, who are called Ahl as-sunna(t), should love and help
one another, speak and write mildly to one another, and even when they have to
warn one another, they should not harm one another; they should help one
another and gently counsel one another in their oral and written transactions.
They should help one another and entire mankind, obey the beautiful morals of
Islam, and refrain strictly from causing fitna (disunion). They should not
rebel against the laws of the countries they live in or attack anybody’s life,
property or chastity. A Muslim has to bear these qualities. All our words,
writings and actions have to be meliorative and cooperative. Sad to say, some
degenerate people who are the enemies of religion and mankind and only think of
their own advantages and desires are struggling to separate Muslims by
disguising themselves as Muslims and even as men of religious positions. They
are propagating lies concocted by British spies. Saying that they will make
reforms in the religion, they want to defile Islam. On the other hand, two
other great enemies, namely ignorance and laziness, act as encumbrances against
being wise and following Islam, and, thus, differentiating between right and
wrong, good and bad. Muhammad Âlî Pasha, for example, was a good and pious
person who served as an Ottoman Governor in Egypt. Those who succeeded him were
not so. Religious affairs were left in incompetent hands. A freemason named
’Abduh was brought to the board of management of Jâmi’ al-Azhar Madrasa, which
had been educating Muslims for centuries. Scotch freemasons began to destroy
Egyptian Muslims economically and spiritually. Through these freemasons, the
British demolished the Ottoman Empire from the
inside. The Grand Vizier Âlî Pasha, a disciple of
the freemason Mustafa Rashîd Pasha, handed the key of the Belgrade fortress to
the Serbs in
Rashîd Ridâ, a disciple of ’Abduh, a muftî of Cairo, wrote
the book Muhâwarât al-muslih wa ’l-muqallid,
which was published in Egypt in 1324 (1906).[1] In this book, he writes about
the conversation between a wâ’iz (Muslim preacher) who was educated in a
madrasa and a modernist religion reformer, by which he gives his own ideas
through their tongues. He represents the religion reformer as young, cultured,
modern and powerful in discernment and logic, while introducing the preacher as
a bigoted, imitative, stupid and slow-thinking man, advises the preacher
through the religion reformer’s mouth and puts on an air of awakening him from
unawareness. He says he gives advice, but in fact he attacks the Islamic
scholars, while misrepresenting heretics, zindîqs and mulhids as scholars of
Islam with extensive knowledge. The book, which was written shrewdly and
completely through a freemasonic mouth, bears the danger of easily hunting the
credulous, pure youth. The chief of Religious Affairs, Hamdi Akseki, one of
those Turks who read and were influenced by such books prepared cunningly by
’Abduh and his novices, translated the book into Turkish, adding a long preface
to it and giving it the name Mezâhibin Telfîki ve
Islâmin Bir Noktaya Cem’i, and published it in Istanbul in 1334
(1916).[2]
Professor Ismâil Hakki of Izmir, another reformer, very much praised and vastly
propagandized the translation, yet, the true religious scholars during the time
of Sultan ’Abd al-Hamîd Khan II saw that the book would be harmful and
prevented it from spreading. And today, we feel very much worried that the
youth will read this poisonous book and the like and begin to doubt about the
greatness of Islamic scholars and the imâms of the four madhhabs. We have
already wrote in our various books that it is right to follow (taqlîd) one of
the four madhhabs and that lâ-madhhabism means to follow what is wrong.
Disbelievers, that is, non-Muslims, imitate their parents
and teachers and do not follow the rules, i.e., the commands and prohibitions
of Islam because of the wrong beliefs they hold. But Muslims hold fast to these
rules. Likewise, the lâ-madhhabî, because
[1]
Including
the supplement, 143 pages; with call number 810 of the Izmirli section at the
Süleymâniyye Library, Istanbul.
[2] 407 pages; with call number 810 of the Izmirli section at the Süleymâniyye Library, Istanbul.
of the wrong beliefs they have acquired by
following their parents and teachers, do not adapt themselves to one of the
four madhhabs, which are the explanations of these rules. But the true Muslims,
who are called Ahl as-Sunna, owing to their correct îmân which they have
acquired from the knowledge coming from the Sahâbat al-kirâm (radiy-Allâhu
’anhum) and the îmâms of madhhabs, adhere to one of the four madhhabs. Muslims
of Ahl as-Sunna have attained the imitation (taqlîd) which is right. We thought
of exposing to our pure, young brothers the lies and slanders in the book Muhâwarât, which was prepared very insidiously to
distract Muslims from the imitation which is right and to drift them into the
imitation which is wrong, by answering each of them from the books of the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, thus performing a humble service to protect Muslims
from being led to endless perdition. Thus the book Answer
to an Enemy of Islam came about. We regard our sincere intention in
preparing this book and this insignificant service to Muslim brothers as a
means for the forgiveness of our sins and as our only stock for our debt of
gratitude for the infinite blessings of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
We wish that our pure, young men of religious post will
attentively read Rashîd Ridâ’s lies and slanders and the refutations of the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, judge fairly with their pure conscience, realize the
truth, cling to it, know the wrong, and will not believe in its false
decorations and advertisements.
We owe hamd (praise) and thanks to Allâhu ta’âlâ who has
vouchsafed us the present edition of this book, which we prepared to do this
sacred service and this exalted admonition.
A hadîth-i-sherîf reported by Dârimî reports:
“BE IT KNOWN THAT THE EVIL ONES AMONG MEN OF
RELIGION ARE THE WORST AMONG THE EVIL PEOPLE. AND THE GOOD ONES AMONG MEN OF
RELIGION ARE THE BEST AMONG THE GOOD PEOPLE.”
An explanation of this hadîth-i-sherîf is written in the
fifty-third letter of the first volume of Mektûbât,
by Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî.
A glossary of Arabic and other non-English terms foreign
to the English reader is appended.
Mîlâdî Hijrî Shamsî Hijrî Qamarî
2000 1378 1420