Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (1/44)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

are utterly ignorant and driven by caprice.

It should [also] (1) be known that not everything for which some people criticize them is false. Among their views are some on which Ahl al-Sunna have differed: some disagree with them, while others agree with them, and the correct position lies with those who agree with them. Nevertheless, there is no issue on which they alone hold a position and are correct.

Some people count among their innovations reciting the basmala aloud; refraining from wiping over leather socks, either altogether or when not traveling; making the qunūt supplication in the dawn prayer; the tamattu form of Hajj; denying that a divorce pronounced in an innovated manner takes effect (2); flattening graves; letting the hands hang at one’s sides during prayer; and similar issues over which the scholars of Ahl al-Sunna have differed. In such matters, the correct position may be the one that agrees with them (3), just as it may be the one that opposes them. The matter, however, is open to independent juristic reasoning and should not be condemned unless it becomes the hallmark of something impermissible, thereby serving as evidence of what must be condemned, even though the matter itself remains open to independent juristic reasoning. One example is placing a stripped palm stalk on a grave, for this has been reported from some of the Companions, as have other such practices.

Another example of their foolishness is that they designate several shrines for the Awaited One, at which they await him—such as the underground vaults (4), including the one at Samarra where they claim he disappeared (5), as well as other shrines—and they have

(1) The word “also” is an addition in A and B. (2) N and M read: “a divorce pronounced in an innovated manner.” (3) B reads: “lie with the view.” (4) N and M read: “the underground vault.” (5) A and B read: “is absent therein.” The *Mu‘jam al-buldān* states: “Samarra is a variant name for Surra Man Ra’ā, a city between Baghdad and Tikrit, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, which has fallen into ruin. In Samarra are the tombs of Imam Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Alī ibn Mūsā ibn Ja‘far and his son, Hasan ibn Alī—known as the two al-Askarīs. It is there, according to the claim of the Imāmī Shi‘a, that the Awaited One disappeared.” Al-Āmilī denies this in his *A‘yān al-Shī‘a*, vol. 1, stating: “The Imāmiyya believe that Imam al-Mahdī is alive, hidden from sight, and present in various lands—not that he is in the underground vault, or that he died and will then be returned to this world. All Muslims agree upon the Awaited Mahdī; they differ only as to whether he has already been born or is yet to be born.” This denial, however, is contradicted by both Shi‘i and non-Shi‘i works. In *Al-Milal wa-l-nihal* (1/150), al-Shahrastānī states that the twelfth imam is “Muhammad al-Qā’im, the Awaited One, who is at Surra Man Ra’ā.” In his aforementioned book (p. 233), Donaldson quotes al-Majlisī’s *Jannāt al-khulūd* as stating that Muhammad ibn al-Hasan disappeared into an underground vault in the house he had inherited from his father in Samarra. He also quotes (p. 245) al-Mustawfī’s *Nuzhat al-qulūb* as stating that the Mahdī disappeared in Samarra in 246 AH/878 CE. See also the *Encyclopaedia of Islam*, entry “Samarra.”

فِي غَايَةِ الْجَهْلِ، وَالْهَوَى. وَيَنْبَغِي [أَيْضًا] (١) أَنْ يُعْلَمَ أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ كُلُّ مَا أَنْكَرَهُ بَعْضُ النَّاسِ عَلَيْهِمْ يَكُونُ بَاطِلًا، بَلْ مِنْ أَقْوَالِهِمْ أَقْوَالٌ خَالَفَهُمْ فِيهَا بَعْضُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ، وَوَافَقَهُمْ بَعْضٌ، وَالصَّوَابُ مَعَ مَنْ وَافَقَهُمْ لَكِنْ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ مَسْأَلَةٌ انْفَرَدُوا بِهَا أَصَابُوا فِيهَا، فَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعُدُّ مِنْ بِدَعِهِمُ الْجَهْرَ بِالْبَسْمَلَةِ، وَتَرْكَ الْمَسْحِ عَلَى الْخُفَّيْنِ إِمَّا مُطْلَقًا، وَإِمَّا فِي الْحَضَرِ، وَالْقُنُوتَ فِي الْفَجْرِ، وَمُتْعَةَ الْحَجِّ، وَمَنْعَ لُزُومِ الطَّلَاقِ الْبِدْعِيِّ (٢) ، وَتَسْطِيحَ الْقُبُورِ، وَإِسْبَالَ الْيَدَيْنِ فِي الصَّلَاةِ، وَنَحْوَ ذَلِكَ مِنَ الْمَسَائِلِ الَّتِي تَنَازَعَ فِيهَا عُلَمَاءُ السُّنَّةِ، وَقَدْ يَكُونُ الصَّوَابُ فِيهَا الْقَوْلَ (٣) الَّذِي يُوَافِقُهُمْ، كَمَا يَكُونُ الصَّوَابُ هُوَ الْقَوْلَ الَّذِي يُخَالِفُهُمْ لَكِنَّ الْمَسْأَلَةَ اجْتِهَادِيَّةٌ، فَلَا تُنْكَرُ إِلَّا إِذَا صَارَتْ شِعَارًا لِأَمْرٍ لَا يُسَوَّغُ، فَتَكُونُ دَلِيلًا عَلَى مَا يَجِبُ إِنْكَارُهُ، وَإِنْ كَانَتْ نَفْسُهَا يُسَوَّغُ فِيهَا الِاجْتِهَادُ، وَمِنْ هَذَا. وَضْعُ الْجَرِيدِ عَلَى الْقَبْرِ، فَإِنَّهُ مَنْقُولٌ عَنْ بَعْضِ الصَّحَابَةِ، وَغَيْرُ ذَلِكَ مِنَ الْمَسَائِلِ. وَمِنْ حَمَاقَتِهِمْ أَيْضًا أَنَّهُمْ يَجْعَلُونَ لِلْمُنْتَظِرِ عِدَّةَ مَشَاهِدَ يَنْتَظِرُونَهُ فِيهَا كَالسَّرَادِبِ (٤) الَّذِي بِسَامَرَّا الَّذِي يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُ غَابَ فِيهِ (٥) ، وَمَشَاهِدُ أُخَرُ، وَقَدْ

(١) أَيْضًا: زِيَادَةٌ فِي (أ) ، (ب) . (٢) ن، م: طَلَاقِ الْبِدْعَةِ. (٣) ب: لِلْقَوْلِ. (٤) ن، م: السِّرْدَابِ. (٥) أ، ب: غَائِبٌ فِيهِ. وَفِي مُعْجَمِ الْبُلْدَانِ: " سَامَرَّاءُ، لُغَةٌ فِي سُرَّ مَنْ رَأَى، مَدِينَةٌ كَانَتْ بَيْنَ بَغْدَادَ وَتَكْرِيتَ عَلَى شَرْقِيِّ دِجْلَةَ وَقَدْ خَرِبَتْ. وَبِسَامَرَّاءَ قَبْرُ الْإِمَامِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ، وَابْنِهِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ الْعَسْكَرِيَّيْنِ، وَبِهَا غَابَ الْمُنْتَظَرُ فِي زَعْمِ الشِّيعَةِ الْإِمَامِيَّةِ ". وَيُنْكِرُ الْعَامِلِيُّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابِهِ " أَعْيَانِ الشِّيعَةِ " ١ وَيَقُولُ: " فَالْإِمَامِيَّةُ تَعْتَقِدُ فِي. الْإِمَامِ الْمَهْدِيِّ أَنَّهُ حَيٌّ غَائِبٌ عَنِ الْأَبْصَارِ مَوْجُودٌ فِي الْأَمْصَارِ لَا أَنَّهُ فِي السِّرْدَابِ وَلَا أَنَّهُ مَاتَ ثُمَّ يُرْجَعُ إِلَى الدُّنْيَا. وَالْمَهْدِيُّ الْمُنْتَظَرُ مُتَّفَقٌ عَلَيْهِ بَيْنَ جَمِيعِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ، وَإِنَّمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِي أَنَّهُ وُلِدَ أَوْ سَيُولَدُ ". عَلَى أَنَّ هَذَا الْإِنْكَارَ تُكَذِّبُهُ كُتُبُ الشِّيعَةِ وَغَيْرِ الشِّيعَةِ فَالشَّهْرَسْتَانِيُّ يَذْكُرُ فِي " الْمِلَلِ وَالنِّحَلِ "، (١/١٥٠) أَنَّ الْإِمَامَ الثَّانِيَ عَشَرَ هُوَ " مُحَمَّدٌ الْقَائِمُ الْمُنْتَظَرُ الَّذِي بِسُرَّ مَنْ رَأَى ". وَيَنْقُلُ (donaldson) فِي كِتَابِهِ الْمُشَارِ إِلَيْهِ آنِفًا (p. ٢٣٣) عَنِ الْمَجْلِسِيِّ فِي كِتَابِهِ " جَنَّاتِ الْخُلُودِ " أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ الْحَسَنِ اخْتَفَى فِي سِرْدَابٍ فِي مَنْزِلِهِ الَّذِي وَرِثَهُ عَنْ أَبِيهِ بِسَامَرَّاءَ. كَمَا يَنْقُلُ (- ٢٤٥) عَنْ كِتَابِ " نُزْهَةِ الْقُلُوبِ " لِلْمُسْتَوْفَى أَنَّ الْمَهْدِيَّ اخْتَفَى فِي سَامُرَّاءَ سَنَةَ ٢٤٦ هـ - ٨٧٨ م. وَانْظُرْ أَيْضًا، دَائِرَةَ الْمَعَارِفِ الْإِسْلَامِيَّةِ، مَادَّةَ " سَامَرَّاءَ "