Student:

Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Qazwini also narrated, who said, Yaḥya ibn Abdak al-Qazwini who said, I heard Yaḥya ibn Yusuf al-Zimi saying: “I was in some of the lodges when a great horror entered upon me. So I said to him “Who are you?” it replied “Do you not fear me O’ Abā Zakarīyah?” I said “Yes [I do not fear you]. Who are you?” So I stood up, ready to fight him. It then said “I am Abū Murra..” so I said to it, “May Allāh not give you life..” so it said, “had I known that you were in this house, I would not have entered. Rather I would have entered another house. This was my residence when I come from Khurasān.” So I said to it, “Where have you come from?” He said, “From ʿIrāq..” so I asked, “What did you do in ʿIrāq?” It said “I left in it a Khalīfah..” I said, “and who is he?” It replied, “Bishr Al-Marrisiy..” so I asked, “and what does he call to?” It replied, “to [the belief that] the Qurʾān is created.” It said, “and I came to Khurasān to leave in it a Khalīfah likewise..” so I asked it “what do you say about the Qurʾān?” It replied “Even though I am accursed Shayṭān, I say that the Qurʾān is the speech of Allāh and it is not created.”

Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās al-Tayalisi narrated to us that, Bundar Muḥammad ibn Bashar narrated to us that, Abū Bakr ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammed ibn ʿAbd al-Hamīd al-Wasiti narrated to us that Abū Mūsa Muḥammad Ibn al-Muthanna said:

“We used to read to a blind Shaykh, so when the (innovated) speech about the Qurʾān being created occurred in Baghdād the Shaykh said: “If the Qurʾān is not created, then may the Qurʾān be wiped off my heart (i.e. from my memory).”  He (Abū Mūsa) said: “When we heard this speech of his, we abandoned him and turned away from him. After some time period we met him and said to him: “O such and such, what did the Qurʾān do?” He said: “Nothing of it remains in my chest (i.e. in my memory).’’ We said: “Not even قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ? He said: “Not even قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ  except when I hear it being recited by someone else.”

Shaykh Rabīʿ Ibn Hādi al-Madkhalī:

“The two authentic stories are surprising to people. However they are not strange and neither are they ḥadīth.

This story was narrated from Yaḥya Ibn Yusuf with an authentic chain of transmission. Shayṭān came to him whilst he was in a lodge, meaning something resembling a hotel, where strangers and expatriates reside. So [Shayṭān] said: “You not scared of me?” So Abū Zakarīyah said to him: “No, I am not scared of you, who are you? So [Shayṭān ] said: “I am Abu Murra. I am Shayṭān” [he was a] big Shayṭān, may the curse of Allāh be upon him.

So [Abū Zakarīyah] said: “Who are you? So I stood up, ready to fight him.” It then said “I am Abū Murra..” then he said to it, “May Allāh not give you life..” meaning [Abū Zakarīyah] was firm and strong in composure, since if a person is a coward, fear would overtake him and he would die. If Shayṭān appears in front of someone like this, a person would be frightened. Mankind cannot face the Jinn. There are many people who die out of fear when they see the Jinn. However, some people are able to face the Jinn and defeat them and amongst them was ūUmar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, because he did not walk a path except that Shayṭān took a different path. And Abū Hurairah was from such people because he captured Shayṭān three times whilst Shayṭān was stealing from the food which the Messenger ﷺ asked Abū Hurairah to guard. A strong believer neither fears the Jinn nor the people. He does not fear anyone except Allāh, especially the type of fear that is tantamount to shirk, we seek Allāh’s protection from this. Some people have a fear that is tantamount to shirk, fear of the dead and the devils. We seek Allāh’s protection from calamity. So he [Yaḥya Abū Zakarīyah] did not fear, rather he was strong in composure and strong in facing Shayṭān.

So Shayṭān said to him: “Had I known that you were in this house, I would not have entered.” This proves that Shayṭān does not have knowledge of the unseen and the Jinn do not know the unseen, just as Allāh stated in the story of Sulaymān:

۞فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَوْتِهِ إِلَّا دَابَّةُ الْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ ۖ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا فِي الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ

“Then when We decreed death for him [Sulaymān (Solomon)], nothing informed them (Jinns) of his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his stick, so when he fell down, the Jinns saw clearly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment.’’ [Q 34: 14]

Allāh ﷻ said:

۞ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ عَلَىٰ مَن تَنَزَّلُ الشَّيَاطِينُ ۞ تَنَزَّلُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ أَفَّاكٍ أَثِيمٍ ۞  يُلْقُونَ السَّمْعَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ كَاذِبُونَ

“Shall I inform you (O people!) upon whom the Shayāṭīn (devils) descend? They descend on every lying (one who tells lies), sinful person.  Who gives ear (to the devils and they pour what they may have heard of the unseen from the angels), and most of them are liars.” [Q 26: 221-223]

The devils steal from the news of the heavens by snatching a statement and descend with it; then they relate it to the soothsayer or the magician and add a hundred lies to it. This person who receives this from the devils is a Shayṭān, a soothsayer and a magician. But whether he is a soothsayer, a Shayṭān or a magician, they all receive slander and lies from Shayṭān. They are liars because whoever narrates a narration whilst knowing that it is a lie, then indeed he is one of the liars.

Anyhow, he said, “had I known that you were in this house, I would not have entered, rather I would have entered another house.” Meaning I wouldn’t have came into this lodge. “This was my residence..” meaning, this lodge that you are in, I used to reside in it. “When I come from Khurasān.” So I said to it, “Where have you come from?” he said, “From ʿIrāq..” So I asked, “What did you do in ʿIrāq?” it said “I left in it a Khalīfah..” from the types of Khulafāʾ, there are Khulafāʾ for the Shayāṭīn. I said, “and who is he?” It replied, “Bishr Al-Marisiy..” Consequently, the callers to innovation and misguidance are the Khulafāʾ of Shayṭān, and the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets and their Khulafāʾ InshāAllāh. The callers to innovation, falsehood, disbelief and misguidance are Khulafāʾ of Iblīs and his armies. Therefore be cautious of being amongst the army of Shayṭān or amongst his Khulafāʾ. We ask Allāh to protect us and our religion, and to keep us away from fitan and innovations.

Then Yaḥya asked Shayṭān about what Bishr Al-Marrisiy was calling to? He said “that that the Qurʾān is created,” This alone is a great achievement for Shayṭān, because it brought about strife, differing and such and such. However, there are innovations greater than it and protection is sought from Allāh, being propagated by many people and you will find that it is the hundredth one amongst his/their innovations. These people are more severe and they cause more strife in being the vicegerents of Shayṭān than Bishr Al-Marrisiy.

And I (i.e. Shaykh Rabīʿ) have said to some of the hypocrites and the contemporary innovators, what is your resentment against Bishr al-Marrisiy and what led both the people of Sunnah and the people of innovation in this Ummah to drop him? He said: “because he said that the Qurʾān is created.”  I said: “Such and such joins him in this affair and he has other big innovations that are greater than this, so how is it that you do not tremble?”

Watch out against blindness O brothers! We seek Allāh’s protection from blindness and misguidance. We seek Allāh’s protection from calamity, especially when these people attribute themselves to the Salafī Manḥaj with their calamities.  The distress will be very heavy and the calamity will be greater if the supporters of the big innovations make claims and ascribe themselves to the Salafī Manḥaj. By Allāh this is a distress upon the Ummah, for many have harmed themselves and harmed the stupid and ignorant people. We ask Allāh for well-being.

Shayṭān then said: “then I came to Khurasān…” This is the East, as it has been stated that the horn of Shayṭān will rise from there. The horn of Shayṭān rose in ʿIrāq and its surrounding areas, the innovations of the Rāfiḍah (Shīʿa), the Khawārij, the Muʿtazilah, the Jaḥmīyyah and other than them. And also in ʿIrāq arose the innovation that the Qurʾān is created. Shayṭān raised his horn from this East and we ask Allāh (The Blessed and Most High) to prevent Islam and the Islamic nation from its evil.

So Yaḥya said to Shayṭān: “What do you say about the Qurʾān?” That is, if you (Shayṭān) have this zeal and a vicegerent for this innovation, then what is your view about it? He (Shayṭān) said: “And even though I am an accursed devil, I say that the Qurʾān is the speech of Allāh and it is not created.” Shayṭān laughs at the people and ruins them, Allāh said: “He only invites his Ḥizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire.” We seek Allāh’s protection.

Alright, some of the callers to Islam would say to you that he does not believe in such and such. For example, it is said to him: “what do you say about wahdat al-wujūd?” (i.e. oneness of Being, the belief of kufr which means that everything that is seen is Allāh or a manifestation of Allāh). Alright, he says that he does not believe in wahdat al-wujūd, but he calls to it! He is a Shayṭān and he is more of a filth that those who fall to this innovation.

They say to you: such and such does not utter the innovation of Allāh is everywhere, yet he is the utterer and author of it. Was it a slip of the tongue and the pen, however he praises the people of wahdat al-wujūd?! If he does not believe it, then he is worse than them and this is amongst the plots of Shayṭān, for he (Shayṭān) does not believe that the Qurʾān is created yet he calls to it and is zealous about it. For example, A (person) calls to socialism, Judaism or Christianity and he praises these creeds whilst not believing in them! Paul called to Christianity whilst not believing in it and he was more of a disbeliever amongst them because he did not believe that Īsa is the son of Allāh and that he is the third of the three or that he is Allāh, yet he fabricated these beliefs; therefore he is more of a disbeliever than the Christians. This is the same as the affair of the one who calls to innovation, he calls to an innovation that is tantamount to disbelief or an innovation that is not tantamount to disbelief, then he is worse than the one who believes in it but does not call to it. So let it not be said to you, “So and so does not call people to believing in Allāh is everywhere.” Narrate this story to him, memorise it so that it becomes a proof against him. It is an authentic story. Do you understand?”