Questioner:
Dear noble Shaykh, this questioner from Britain says; We have here a caller who says; “it is permissible to praise the people of innovation and that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ praised the Khawārij in his statement; ‘A people will arise amongst you. You will deem your prayers insignificant in comparison to theirs.’
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān:
This isn’t praise from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ for them. He didn’t complete the ḥadīth. It says at the end of the ḥadīth; ‘They will exit the religion just as the arrow exits through its target.’ The Messenger ﷺ wanted to dispraise and warn against them, not praise them.
Questioner:
We have here in Britain a caller who holds praising the people of innovation to be permissible, and says that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ praised the Khawārij. So what is your opinion regarding this?
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luhaydān:
I am not aware that the Prophet ﷺ praised the Khawārij, or was it that he said “They will exit the religion just as the arrow exits through its target..” So is this praise!!? The Prophet ﷺ said there will emerge from the loins of this man (Dhul-Khuwaysirah) a people who you will deem your prayers insignificant in comparison to theirs until the end of his (the Prophet’s ﷺ) statement, meaning; they will appear to be the best of people but in reality ‘they will exit the religion..’ And his statement (the Prophet ﷺ) ; ‘the arrow exits through its target..’ meaning; if the arrow is shot from its bow with great velocity, it pierces its target and exits from the other side without any trace of blood due to the great velocity. Referring to the speed at which they leave the religion, “they will exit the religion just as the arrow exits through its target..” This is in no way praise. This individual who says this statement is either; 1) ignorant and doesn’t understand or 2) he wishes to praise these people in order to obtain from them some worldly affairs. These are the people whom the Prophet ﷺ dispraised and now in this day and age we have someone claiming that the Prophet praised them? Glorified be Allāh!
Questioner:
What is your opinion regarding a caller who says that the Prophet ﷺ praised the Khawārij in the ḥadīth; ‘You will deem your prayers insignificant in comparison to theirs, and your fasting in comparison to theirs.’ And he likewise says that Ibn ʿAbbās praised the Khawārij.
Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣaghīr Akkūr:
This isn’t praise from the Messenger of Allāh for them. He didn’t complete the ḥadīth. It says at the end of the ḥadīth; ‘They will exit the religion just as the arrow exits through its target.’ The Messenger ﷺ wanted to dispraise and warn against them, not praise them. He should complete the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ. He didn’t remain silent after he said; “You will deem your prayers and recital of the Quran insignificant in comparison to theirs..” Complete the ḥadīth! The Prophet ﷺ said, “They will exit the religion…” meaning; they will leave the religion “just as the arrow exits through its target..” This is the condition of the people of innovation, they apply the Qurʾān and Sunnah according to their desires. They misinterpret the Qurʾān and Sunnah and assume the people of heedless. This is not permissible. And what did Ibn ʿAbbās intend by his mention of them? He said that he saw a people whose foreheads were hard like the knees of camel meaning due their exertion in prostrating. And what does it mean when the Prophet ﷺ said about them; “Woe be to you ʿAmmār! You will be killed by a group of transgressors.” This indicates that it is a must that people know the Qurʿān and Sunnah, and the Qurʿān and Sunnah are not played against each other. Rather they compliment one another. It is incumbent upon this caller to learn and to fear Allāh .. (speech unclear).
Questioner:
We have a caller here in Britain who says that the Prophet ﷺ praised the Khawārij; meaning – he praised their prayers, fasting and recital of the Qurʾān ‘but he only faulted them for their lack of knowledge’ Is this correct and what do you say regarding this statement?
Shaykh ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad al-Najmi:
No this isn’t correct. This is not considered praise of them because this is a dispraise towards them due to the fact they perform acts of worship upon ignorance. And if you are not upon the Sunnah and the correct methodology (worship) will not benefit its doer. Allāh said due to this;
۞ قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُم بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا ۞ الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًا
“Shall we tell you the greatest losers in respect of (their) deeds? Those who’s effects have been wasted in this life whilst they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds!” (Q 18:103-104)
And Allāh ﷻ said;
۞ عَامِلَةٌ نَّاصِبَةٌ ۞ تَصْلَىٰ نَارًا حَامِيَةً
“Labouring, weary. They will enter the blazing hot fire.” (Q 88:3-4).
Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymīyyah said that these verses were interpreted in connection to the Khawārij. They read the Qurʾān and perform worship that is based upon ignorance and misguidance. And it was due to this that Ibn ʿUmar said; “They apply the verses that were revealed about the non-Muslims and apply them upon the Muslims“. So the fact that an individual worships upon ignorance and misguidance, even if he were to exhaust himself in worship that is not correct, this worship will not benefit them. So this is considered dispraise for them.
Questioner:
We have here in Britain a caller who says that it is permissible to praise the people of innovation and the proof is that the Prophet ﷺ praised the Khawārij in his statement; ‘You will deem your prayers insignificant in comparison to theirs, and your fasting in comparison to theirs.’ And he likewise says that Ibn ʿAbbās praised the Khawārij. What do you say about this?
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muhiyadin:
1) This person is either ignorant or a donkey who does not (have correct) understanding or 2)he is with the Khawārij. Since, if the Prophet ﷺ praised them then that would mean he was with them, however this (statement) is a dispraise of them. This man has no understanding and it is not permissible for him to speak about or call to Islam. Who has testified that this man is a student of knowledge so that he can even call to Islam!? You say he is a caller, is this not correct? This man is not a caller (to the truth) rather he is a caller to ignorance and misguidance, he is not calling to the truth. The Prophet ﷺ had dispraised them, whilst this man claims that he praised them. This is a dispraise of them because the speech was regarding their extremism. It is due to their extremism that you deem your prayer insignificant and due to their excessiveness while the religion is in fact in the middle course, neither extreme nor excessively lenient.
Therefore, this person does not have sound understanding, he hasn’t come to know the difference between dispraise and praise, this (statement) is fact a dispraise when he said “you will deem your prayers insignificant” whilst the companions were the best and most upright in establishing the prayer and there is no one better than them. So when the Khawārij appeared with their extremism as the Prophet ﷺ said; “They will exit the religion just as the arrow exits through its target..” this is due to the extent of their extremism. The extent of their extremism, and hastiness, their opposition and their overall condition and lack of firmness and their discontentment of the religion.
So this man has no understanding. It is not permissible to listen to him, until the scholars testify for him – do you understand? His affairs becomes clears to us with these statements of his. Because these are statements about the Khawārij are not considered praise, but rather they are dispraise. And due to his ignorance and lack of understanding he thinks this dispraise (of the Khawārij) is praise.
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* Imām as-Samʿāni: “And from what shows that the people of ḥadīth, they are the people of truth is that if you were to peruse all of their authored books, from their first to their last, the old and the recent, despite the variation in their cities [of residence] and their eras [in which they lived], and the [great] distance between them in their lands, and every single one of them residing in [his own] region amongst the regions, you will find them to be upon a single method, [in unison], upon a single way, traversing with it upon a path that they do not divert from, they do not incline [to anything else] whilst upon it. Their saying in that [path] is one, their action is one. You will not see difference between them, nor separation in anything, even if it may be insignificant. Rather, if you were to gather what has been [stated] upon their tongues, from that which they narrated from their predecessors, you will find as if it has come from a single heart, and has been [stated] upon a single tongue. And is there any evidence for the truth more clear than this? Abul-Mudhaffar al-Samʿāni, al-Hujjah Fee Bayān al-Mahajjah (2:224-225). (Ref: http://www.aqidah.com/creed/about.cfm)
Notice how the scholars were asked this issue at different times and different locations, but “their saying in that [path] is one, their action is one. You will not see difference between them, nor separation in anything…” It seems truism to say that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Hassan (AbdulRahman Hassan) is clearly ignorant of the manḥaj of the Salaf, and is not upon the methodology of the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah.
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