Further Examples of His Lies and Deceptions
Among the fresh lies and distortions he feeds the respectable readers—in order to display his reverence for Ibn Taymiyyah and to clear himself of any disparagement—is what he writes on p. 24 while commenting on the book al-Ajwiba al-Fāḍila:
“Let the reader consult the following pages, wherein lie my annotations and quotations from the words of Shaykh al-Islam, offered with veneration, respect, and prayers for mercy upon him, as is the proper etiquette toward every scholar and imam. Those pages are 47, 78, 80, 92, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 109, 111, 113–120.”
Yet when you actually turn to the pages he names, you encounter the most astonishing spectacle:
1 – Not one of those pages contains anything of the reverence and respect he boasts of—save a single occurrence on p. 92 of the phrase “Shaykh al-Islam,” which he utters once and never repeats. I had already remarked on this in the Introduction (p. 47), summing up that he may have said it as a gesture of ingratiation toward the people of his temporary abode, Riyadh, or he may have uttered it out of genuine conviction. Therefore we asked him to clarify the matter by openly renouncing the statement of his own teacher al-Kawtharī concerning Ibn Taymiyyah: “If Ibn Taymiyyah is still deemed Shaykh al-Islam, then peace be upon Islam!” Yet he refused to disavow it, while filling page after page with worthless praise of Ibn Taymiyyah in an attempt to white-wash his own dark record—futilely so. What would have spared him all that—had he been sincere—was to acknowledge the simple truth: that he had once been a misleader (I do not say misguided), like the many other foes of Ibn Taymiyyah, then Allah guided him, he recognized Ibn Taymiyyah’s merit, and he learned the soundness of the shaykh’s creed against al-Kawtharī’s accusations. Since he would not do this, our earlier suspicion has been confirmed: he is playing both sides. He seeks to please the public among whom he now resides, while at the same time avoiding any displeasure from his peers.