Min Aalam al-Mujaddidin - Salih Al-Fawzan - (61)

Min Aalam al-MujaddidinSalih Al-Fawzan

As for what we have forbidden the people, we have forbidden them from shirk (associating partners with Allah), about which Allah says: “Indeed, whoever associates partners with Allah—Allah has made Paradise forbidden to him, and his abode is the Fire.”1 He also says to His Prophet ﷺ, by way of stern warning—while he and his brethren are in fact utterly exempt from shirk—“It has been revealed to you and to those before you that if you ever commit shirk, your deeds will surely be nullified and you will certainly be among the losers.”2 And there are many other verses to this effect.
We fight them on that basis, just as Allah says: “Fight them until there is no more fitnah,”3 meaning no more shirk. He then quoted further proofs until he said:
With regard to what you mentioned about the reality of ijtihad, we are followers—bound to the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the righteous predecessors, and the reliable positions of the four imams: Abu Hanifah al-Nu‘man ibn Thabit, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on them all.
Nor have we introduced anything that contradicts the transmitted texts or that sound reason would reject. … We fight the idol-worshippers4 just as the Prophet ﷺ fought them, and we fight them for abandoning the prayer and for withholding the zakah, just as the Truthful One of this ummah, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, fought those who withheld it. End.

And in another of his letters he wrote:5

(1) Quran, Surah al-Maida 5:72. (2) Quran, Surah al-Zumar 39:65–66. (3) Quran, Surah al-Baqara 2:193. (4) He also said in one of his replies: “We fight them only after the proof has been established against them from the Book of Allah, the sunnah of His Messenger, and the consensus of the righteous predecessors among the imams, acting upon His words: ‘Fight them until there is no fitna (persecution) and religion belongs wholly to Allah’ (Surah al-Anfal 8:39).” Al-Durar al-Saniyya, vol. 1, p. 58. (5) Al-Durar al-Saniyya, vol. 1, p. 56.

٣- وأما ما نهينا الناس عنه فنهيناهم عن الشرك الذي قال الله فيه: ﴿إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ﴾ ١، وقوله تعالى لنبيه ﷺ على سبيل التغليظ، وإلا فهو منزه هو وإخوانه عن الشرك ﴿وَلَقَدْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ وَلَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ﴾ ٢، وغير ذلك من الآيات. ٤- ونقاتلهم عليه كما قال الله تعالى: ﴿وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ﴾ ٣ أي شرك، ثم ساق الأدلة على ذلك إلى أن قال: ٥- وأما ما ذكرتم من حقيقة الاجتهاد فنحن مقلدون للكتاب والسنة وصالح الأمة وما عليه الاعتماد من أقوال الأئمة الأربعة أبي حنفية النعمان بن ثابت ومالك بن أنس ومحمد بن إدريس الشافعي وأحمد بن حنبل ﵏. ٦- وما جئنا بشيء يخالف النقل ولا ينكره العقل ... نقاتل عباد الأوثان٤ كما قاتلهم ﷺ ونقاتلهم على ترك الصلاة، وعلى منع الزكاة، كما قاتل مانعها صديق هذه الأمة أبو بكر الصديق ﵁. انتهى. وقال في رسالة أخرى من رسائله٥:

١ سورة المائدة من الآية: ٧٢. ٢ سورة الزمر الآيتان: ٦٥-٦٦. ٣ سورة البقرة من الآية: ١٩٣. ٤ وقال في بعض أجوبته: نقاتلهم بعد ما نقيم الحجة عليهم من كتاب الله وسنة رسوله وإجماع السلف الصالح من الأئمة متمثلين قوله تعالى: ﴿وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ كُلُّهُ لِلَّهِ﴾ آية: ٣٩ من الأنفال، انتهى الدرر السنية ١/٥٨. ٥ الدرر السنية ١/٥٦.