Min Aalam al-Mujaddidin - Salih Al-Fawzan - (3)

Min Aalam al-MujaddidinSalih Al-Fawzan

Introduction

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise belongs to Allah, who, in every age that follows a pause in the succession of messengers, appoints a remnant from the people of knowledge. They call those who have strayed back to guidance and patiently endure the harm they meet. By the Book of Allah they give life to the spiritually dead, and by the light of Allah they open the eyes of the blind. How many a victim of Satan have they restored to life, and how many a lost wanderer have they led aright!

How excellent is their influence upon humanity, and how deplorable is humanity’s treatment of them! They cleanse the Book of Allah from the distortions of extremists, the fabrications of the false, and the misinterpretations of the ignorant—those who have raised the banners of innovation and unleashed the reins of turmoil. They differ about the Book, oppose the Book, and agree only on abandoning the Book. They speak about Allah, concerning Allah, and regarding the Book of Allah without knowledge. They seize upon ambiguous words and deceive the common folk with their specious arguments. We seek refuge in Allah from the trials stirred up by the misleaders.1

I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and his companions.

To proceed: It is well-known that the farther people move away—by time and by conduct—from the traces of the prophetic message, the more innovations and superstitions emerge, ignorance spreads, and the estrangement of the religion deepens. People then imagine that whatever they found their forefathers practising is the very religion itself, even though it may be far removed from it. Yet Allah, exalted is He, never leaves the earth devoid of someone who stands for Him with clear proof. The Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, has informed us that a group of Muslims will continually remain upon the truth; those who abandon them will not harm them

(1) This is Imam Ahmad’s opening khutbah from his work The Refutation of the Jahmiyyah; we deemed it relevant to the subject and therefore placed it at the beginning.

مقدمة ... ﷽ الحمد لله الذي جعل في كل زمان فترة من الرسل بقايا من أهل العلم يدعون من ضل إلى الهدى، ويصبرون منهم على الأذى، يحيون بكتاب الله ﷿ الموتى، ويبصرون بنور الله أهل العمى، فكم من قتيل لإبليس قد أحيوه، وكم من ضال تائه قد هدوه. فما أحسن أثرهم على الناس وأقبح أثر الناس عليهم، ينفون عن كتاب الله تحريف الغالين وانتحال المبطلين، وتأويل الجاهلين الذين عقدوا ألوية البدعة وأطلقوا عنان الفتنة، فهم مختلفون في الكتاب، مخالفون للكتاب، مجمعون على مفارقة الكتاب، يقولون على الله وفي الله وفي كتاب الله بغير علم، يتكلمون بالمتشابه من الكلام، ويخدعون جهال الناس بما يشبهون عليهم، فنعوذ بالله من فتن المضلين١، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وأصحابه وبعد: فمن المعلوم أنه كلما تأخر الزمان وبعد الناس عن آثار الرسالة حدثت البدع، والخرافات وفشا الجهل واشتدت غربة الدين، وظن الناس أن ما وجدوا عليه آباءهم هو الدين وإن كان بعيداً عنه، ولكن الله سبحانه لا يخلى الأرض من قائم لله بحجة. وقد أخبر الرسول ﷺ بأن طائفة من المسلمين لا تزال على الحق لا يضرهم من خذلهم ولا

١ هذه خطبة الإمام أحمد في كتاب الرد على الجهمية رأينا مناسبتها للموضوع فقدمناه بها.