the Quran in the light of pre-existing conceptual, intellectual or emotional assumptions, as is the practice of the leading exponents of false speculative theology, and then “reinterpret these texts to fit premises already established in their minds and preconceived notions of what the realities of existence ought to be.” He then commented on this in a footnote, saying:
“I do not absolve myself, for in my earlier writings and the first volumes of In the Shade, I was drawn into something of this. I hope to rectify it in the second edition, if Allah grants me success. What I state here is what I believe, through Allah’s guidance, to be the truth.” End quote.
We therefore ask Allah to forgive Sayyid Qutb for the errors he acknowledged and promised to remedy, and to guide his followers to keep away from them and beware of falling into them. Indeed, He is All-Hearing and answers supplications.
In any event, Sayyid Qutb—may Allah have mercy on him—acknowledged these errors and promised to put matters right. The scholars who offered sincere counsel warned people against these errors and intended good by doing so. As for this pretender and his like, they have shown sincere concern neither for Sayyid Qutb—may Allah have mercy on him—nor for Muslims at large. Allah alone, who has no partner, is the One whose help we seek.
- The writer says on pp. 19, 20: “2 - He says on p. (19) [i.e. al-Duwaysh], verbatim: ‘I say: Sayyid Qutb’s statement about turning to Allah, who is not situated in any place—this is the position of the innovators, such as the Jahmiyyah, the Mu‘tazilah and the Ash‘arīs. As for Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah, they describe Allah only as He has described Himself …’ Then, five lines later on the same page, disparaging those he regards as innovators, he says verbatim: ‘Their intention in using these terms is to negate attributes such as corporeality and spatial location …’ End quote. He therefore holds, following Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, that corporeality and spatial location are among the attributes of Allah, the Exalted, and that Shaykh Sayyid Qutb and the Ash‘arīs, who declare Allah to be free of spatial location and place and say, ‘There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing