Answer to an Enemy of Islam

P R E F A C E
Allâhu ta’âlâ pities all the people on the earth. He sends useful and
necessary things to everybody. He shows the ways of keeping away
from harm and attaining happiness. In the next world, He will forgive
whomever He likes of those guilty Believers who are to go to Hell, and
He will bring them to Paradise. He, alone, is the One who creates
every living being, who keeps every being in existence every moment,
and who protects all against fear and horror. Trusting ourselves to the
honourable name of Allâhu ta’âlâ, we begin to write this book.
We offer up our prayers and salâms for Hadrat Muhammad
(’alaihi’s-salâm), the most beloved Prophet of Allâhu ta’âlâ. We offer
auspicious prayers for the pure Ahl al-Bayt of that exalted Prophet
and for each of his just and devoted Companions (radiy-Allâhu
’anhum).
Allâhu ta’âlâ is very merciful to His creatures. He wills the entire
mankind to live in ease and peace in this world and to have an eternal
life in favors and blessings after they die. To attain this bliss, He orders
them to believe, to become Muslims, to join the path of His Prophet
Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) and his Companions, to love and help
one another. Our Prophet (sall-allâhu alaihi wa sallam) stated, “As
the stars guide throughout dark nights, my As-hâb are the guides
along the way leading to felicity. Follow any one of them, and you will
attain to felicity.” All of the As-hâb-i-kirâm learned the Holy Qur’ân
from the Messenger of Allah. As they travelled later on, they
propagated what they had learned. They did not insert their personal
ideas into what they had heard from the Messenger of Allah. The
Islamic scholars, in their turn, wrote in their books whatever they had
heard from the As-hâb-i-kirâm. These scholars are called “Scholars of
Ahl as-sunna(t).” Afterwards, there appeared some scholars who
interpolated into these teachings. These people conglomerated ideas
from the ancient Greek philosophers, concoctions from Jews and
Christians, and, especially, lies fabled by British spies. Also, adding
their personal impressions and whatever they had acquired of the
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scientific teachings of their times, they invented new religious
teachings. Speaking in the name of ‘Islamic Scholars’ they tried to
demolish Islam from within. Of these people, those who changed
âyats and hadîth-i-sherîfs with clear meanings — âyats and hadîths of
this sort are called Nass— became Kâfirs (disbelievers). Those who
misinterpreted the ones with hidden meanings were termed Groups of
Bid’a(t). There appeared a number of heretical groups of bid’a
carrying the name of Muslims. Exploiting this situation, the British are
inventing groups of disbelief and heresy and trying to annihilate
original Islam. Today, Muslims in the world have separated into three
groups: Ahl as-Sunna, the Shî’ites and the Wahhâbîs. Their beliefs are
different from one another. Since this difference originates from the
mistakes made in the interpretation of nasses [âyats and hadîths]
whose meanings cannot be understood clearly and since they do not
deny nasses with clear meanings, they do not call one another
‘disbeliever.’ Yet, they hate one another. True Muslims, who are
called Ahl as-sunna(t), should love and help one another, speak and
write mildly to one another, and even when they have to warn one
another, they should not harm one another; they should help one
another and gently counsel one another in their oral and written
transactions. They should help one another and entire mankind, obey
the beautiful morals of Islam, and refrain strictly from causing fitna
(disunion). They should not rebel against the laws of the countries
they live in or attack anybody’s life, property or chastity. A Muslim
has to bear these qualities. All our words, writings and actions have to
be meliorative and cooperative. Sad to say, some degenerate people
who are the enemies of religion and mankind and only think of their
own advantages and desires are struggling to separate Muslims by
disguising themselves as Muslims and even as men of religious
positions. They are propagating lies concocted by British spies. Saying
that they will make reforms in the religion, they want to defile Islam.
On the other hand, two other great enemies, namely ignorance and
laziness, act as encumbrances against being wise and following Islam,
and, thus, differentiating between right and wrong, good and bad.
Muhammad Âlî Pasha, for example, was a good and pious person who
served as an Ottoman Governor in Egypt. Those who succeeded him
were not so. Religious affairs were left in incompetent hands. A
freemason named ’Abduh was brought to the board of management
of Jâmi’ al-Azhar Madrasa, which had been educating Muslims for
centuries. Scotch freemasons began to destroy Egyptian Muslims
economically and spiritually. Through these freemasons, the British
demolished the Ottoman Empire from the inside. The Grand Vizier
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Âlî Pasha, a disciple of the freemason Mustafa Rashîd Pasha, handed
the key of the Belgrade fortress to the Serbs in 1284 A.H. (1868). The
Vizier brought his fellow-mason Jamâl ad-dîn al-Afghânî to Istanbul,
and they together strove to demolish Islam from the inside. They
wrote subversive books.
Rashîd Ridâ, a disciple of ’Abduh, a muftî of Cairo, wrote the
book Muhâwarât al-muslih wa ’l-muqallid, which was published in
Egypt in 1324 (1906).[1] In this book, he writes about the conversation
between a wâ’iz (Muslim preacher) who was educated in a madrasa
and a modernist religion reformer, by which he gives his own ideas
through their tongues. He represents the religion reformer as young,
cultured, modern and powerful in discernment and logic, while
introducing the preacher as a bigoted, imitative, stupid and slowthinking
man, advises the preacher through the religion reformer’s
mouth and puts on an air of awakening him from unawareness. He
says he gives advice, but in fact he attacks the Islamic scholars, while
misrepresenting heretics, zindîqs and mulhids as scholars of Islam with
extensive knowledge. The book, which was written shrewdly and
completely through a freemasonic mouth, bears the danger of easily
hunting the credulous, pure youth. The chief of Religious Affairs,
Hamdi Akseki, one of those Turks who read and were influenced by
such books prepared cunningly by ’Abduh and his novices, translated
the book into Turkish, adding a long preface to it and giving it the
name Mezâhibin Telfîki ve Islâmin Bir Noktaya Cem’i, and published
it in Istanbul in 1334 (1916).[2] Professor Ismâil Hakki of Izmir, another
reformer, very much praised and vastly propagandized the translation,
yet, the true religious scholars during the time of Sultan ’Abd al-
Hamîd Khan II saw that the book would be harmful and prevented it
from spreading. And today, we feel very much worried that the youth
will read this poisonous book and the like and begin to doubt about
the greatness of Islamic scholars and the imâms of the four madhhabs.
We have already wrote in our various books that it is right to follow
(taqlîd) one of the four madhhabs and that lâ-madhhabism means to
follow what is wrong.
Disbelievers, that is, non-Muslims, imitate their parents and
teachers and do not follow the rules, i.e., the commands and
prohibitions of Islam because of the wrong beliefs they hold. But
Muslims hold fast to these rules. Likewise, the lâ-madhhabî, because
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[1] Including the supplement, 143 pages; with call number 810 of the
Izmirli section at the Süleymâniyye Library, Istanbul.
[2] 407 pages; with call number 810 of the Izmirli section at the
Süleymâniyye Library, Istanbul.
of the wrong beliefs they have acquired by following their parents and
teachers, do not adapt themselves to one of the four madhhabs, which
are the explanations of these rules. But the true Muslims, who are
called Ahl as-Sunna, owing to their correct îmân which they have
acquired from the knowledge coming from the Sahâbat al-kirâm
(radiy-Allâhu ’anhum) and the îmâms of madhhabs, adhere to one of
the four madhhabs. Muslims of Ahl as-Sunna have attained the
imitation (taqlîd) which is right. We thought of exposing to our pure,
young brothers the lies and slanders in the book Muhâwarât, which
was prepared very insidiously to distract Muslims from the imitation
which is right and to drift them into the imitation which is wrong, by
answering each of them from the books of the scholars of Ahl as-
Sunna, thus performing a humble service to protect Muslims from
being led to endless perdition. Thus the book Answer to an Enemy of
Islam came about. We regard our sincere intention in preparing this
book and this insignificant service to Muslim brothers as a means for
the forgiveness of our sins and as our only stock for our debt of
gratitude for the infinite blessings of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
We wish that our pure, young men of religious post will attentively
read Rashîd Ridâ’s lies and slanders and the refutations of the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, judge fairly with their pure conscience,
realize the truth, cling to it, know the wrong, and will not believe in its
false decorations and advertisements.
We owe hamd (praise) and thanks to Allâhu ta’âlâ who has
vouchsafed us the present edition of this book, which we prepared to
do this sacred service and this exalted admonition.
A hadîth-i-sherîf reported by Dârimî reports:
“BE IT KNOWN THAT THE EVIL ONES AMONG MEN OF
RELIGION ARE THE WORST AMONG THE EVIL PEOPLE.
AND THE GOOD ONES AMONG MEN OF RELIGION ARE
THE BEST AMONG THE GOOD PEOPLE.”
An explanation of this hadîth-i-sherîf is written in the fifty-third
letter of the first volume of Mektûbât, by Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî.
A glossary of Arabic and other non-English terms foreign to the
English reader is appended.
Mîlâdî Hijrî Shamsî Hijrî Qamarî
2001 1380 1422