Let The Scholars
Beware!
Abu Huraira (RA - May Allah be pleased with him)
reported that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم )
said: "Whoever lives in the desert becomes
rough; whoso follows the game becomes careless; and whoso comes to
the doors of the rulers falls into fitnah (trouble) ; and a slave
does not come nearer to the ruler, except that he becomes farther
from Allah" (Musnad Ahmad, Sheikh Ahmad Shakir saying that
its isnad (chain of narration) is SaHeeH)
Ibn Abbas (RA) reported that the Prophet (صلى الله
عليه وسلم )
said: "Whoever lives in the desert, becomes
rough; whoso follows the game, becomes careless; , and whoso comes
to the door of the ruler falls into fitna" (SaHeeH Nasaa'i,
Tirmidhi, and Abu Dawood- see SaHeeH Al-Jami' 6296)
Abi al-A'war As-Silmee (RA) reported that the
Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم )
said: Beware of the doors of the ruler for they
have indeed become a source of trouble and humiliation " (SaHeeH
Dailamee, Ibn Mundah, Ibn ' Asaakir- see As-SaHeeHah 1253)
In explaining the saying of Muhammad (صلى الله
عليه وسلم )
whoso comes to the doors of the rulers falls into fitna", SaaHib
TuHfat-ul AHwadhee said, with reference to the Qaadi (Judge)
(6/533) , " i.e. to come to him without any necessity or need, he
falls into fitna. So if he complies with what he wants, and he
leaves him (i.e. the ruler leaves the judge) , then he has placed
his deen in danger. And if he disagrees with him, then he has put
his dunya (life of this world) in danger.
Al MuTH-hir said: one
who stays in the desert and does not attend the salat-ul-Jum' uah
(Friday prayer), nor the congregational prayer, nor the gatherings
of the scholars, then he has indeed oppressed his soul; the one who
prepares for a hunt simply for fun and entertainment will become
careless because fun and amusement bring about a dead heart- as for
the one who hunts for food, then it is permissible for some of the
SaHaabah used to hunt; and whoso enters upon the ruler and flatters
him, falls into fitna, but one who does not flatter but advises him
and orders him to do good and prohibits him from doing evil, then
his going to him is the best Jihad."
The scholars of the salaf (past) were very
cautious from going to the rulers for fear of fitna, and they have
spoken much about this issue:
Imam Ibn Rajab (RaHimuhullaah- May Allah
have mercy upon him) said: the salaf used to
forbid from going to the kings even for the one who wished to order
them to do good and prohibit them from doing evil. Amongst
those who forbade this were 'Umar bin 'Abdul-Azeez, Ibn Mubarak,
Ath-Thawree, and others from amongst the imams. Ibn Mubarak said
'I, It is not enjoining good and forbidding evil
for one to go to them and order and prohibit them, rather enjoining
good and forbidding evil is related to avoiding them.' The
reason for this is what is feared in regards to the fitna by going
to them, for when he is far from them, the soul suggests to the man
that he should order and prohibit them, and be stern with him; when
he is near to them, the soul inclines to them since the love of
nobility is hidden in the soul , and therefore he flatters them, is
friendly towards them, he may even be biased towards them and love
them- especially if they act friendly towards him and are generous
to him and he accepts that from them." Jami'
Hudhaifah (RA) said: "Bewar
fitna." They have asked him: What are the places of fitna O
Abu Abdullaah ?' He said: "The doors of the princes- one of you
enters upon the prince, and he attests to him with lies, and says
about him, what is not true." Sifat-us-Safwah (1/614)
Sufyan Ath-Thawree said in a letter to '
Ibad bin 'Ibad, "Beware of princes that you not become close to them
or mix with them in matters, and beware that you are not deceived
for you may be asked to mediate, and you find that you turn away
from the oppressed one, or seek injustice; that is indeed the
deception of Iblees which has been taken by the reciters of evil as
a means to progress" Jami' Bayan Al-'Ilm (1/179) and Seer A' laam
An-Nubalaa (12/586) . And he also said: "Whoever prepares an inkpot
or sharpens a pen for them then he has taken part with them in every
blood spilt in the east and west."
Addressing ' ATaa Al-Khurasaanee, Wahb bin
Munabbah said : "The scholars before you sufficed with their
knowledge doing without the world besides them, they used not to pay
attention to the people of the dunya nor with what was in their
hands; the people of the dunya used to offer them their worldly
possessions desiring their knowledge; today the people of knowledge
have come to offer their knowledge to the people of dunya, desiring
their dunya, and the people of the dunya have come to renounce their
knowledge when they saw the evil sources from where it was coming.
So beware O 'ATaa of the doors of the rulers, for their within their
doors is fitna like that of the camel pen; you will not affect their
dunya in anything except that your deen will be affected similarly"
Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah (9/295)
Ayoob As-Sakhtiyanee said: "Abu Qulabah
said to me: 'O Abu Ayub, take three characteristics from me: Beware
of the doors of the rulers, beware of the gatherings of the people
of desires, and stick with the market for affluence comes from
well-being.'" Jami' Bayan Al-' Ilm wa FaDlah (1/164).
Abu Hazim, one of the foremost tabi'een
(people who saw the SaHaabah but not the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم )
) said that the scholars used to flee from the ruler whilst he
sought after them, and today they come to the doors of ruler, whilst
the ruler flees from them. Ibid. (1/164)
May Allah have mercy upon the scholars of the
salaf, what eagerness they had for the deen. By Allah, they were the
moons of the skies and the stars of the earth, every oppression was
effaced through them, and every confused one was guided through
them, and every truthful one followed their path. Then there was the
ruler who used to warn them from coming close to him, he used to
hold fast to the Sharee'ah, implement it, and rule with it in the
lives of the people. Then what if they were to see the rulers of our
times, those who have transgressed In the lands, created much
mischief therein, exchanged the deen of the Lord of the worshippers
with their limited minds, dirtied their beliefs with trivialities,
and have brought the laws of the Europeans and the Romans with which
to govern the Muslims in this day and age?!
And what if the scholars of the salaf saw our
scholars - except those upon whom Allah has shown Mercy- who have
inclined to these tyrants, beautified their actions to them, made
fair their murders of the Muslims, the muwaHHideen (Upholders of
Tawheed- Oneness of Allah) , weakening their honour by issuing
fataawa (legal verdicts) after fataawa to make their thrones firm,
and safeguard their kingdoms, by labelling everyone opposed to them
as a rebel or khaarjee (one of the extreme deviant sect of the
khawaarij) ?!
They covered the deen for the people until they
turned a blind eye to the tyrants; the exchangers of Allah's law,
those who govern the slaves of Allah with that which Allah did not
reveal- what if the scholars of the salaf saw this group which has
sold its deen for worldly gains which will disappear, makes fair
seeming for them what they do, and permits the murder of every
truthful Muslim.. and the murders of Sayyid Qutb, Khalid Islambooli,
and his brave associates are not far from us.
How beautiful are the words of Ibn Qayyim when he
said: "The scholars of evil sit at the doors of Al-Jannah (Paradise)
calling the people to it with their speech, but calling to the fire
with their actions; everytime they speak their words to the people
they rush forward whilst their actions suggest not to listen to
them- for if what they had been calling to was true, they would have
been the first to respond. Thus they are seemingly guides, but are
in fact highway robbers." Al-Fou'ad
Allah Knows Best