[1]al-Anfaal,
8:46
[2]ar-Room,
30:31-2
[3]Houd,
11:118-9
[4]cf.
Al-Ihkaam fi Usool al-Ahkaam by Ibn Hazm,
Hujjatullaah al-Baalighah by al-Dehlawi,
& the latter's essay dealing specifically
with this issue, 'Iqd al-Jeed fi Ahkaam
al- Ijtihaad wat-Taqleed.
[5]See
Faid al-Qadeer by al-Manaawi (1/209)
or Silsilah al- Ahaadeeth ad-Da'eefah
(1/76, 77)
[6]Ibn
'Abdul Barr in Jaami' Bayaan al-'Ilm
(2/81-2)
[7]ibid.
(2/82, 88-9)
[8]ibid.
(2/83-4)
[9]ibid
(2/89)
[10]cf.
Al-Intiqaa' by Ibn 'Abdul Barr (41),
Kashf al-Mughatta fi Fadl al-Muwatta'
(pp. 6-7) by Ibn 'Asaakir, & Tadhkirah
al-Huffaaz by Dhahabi (1/195).
[11]Jaami'
Bayaan al-'Ilm (2/88)
[12]see
Chapter Eight of the book, Maa Laa Yajooz
min al-Khilaaf (pp. 65-72), where you
will find numerous examples of what we
have indicated, some of them involving
scholars of Al-Azhar.
[13]Al-Bahr
ar-Raa'iq.
[14]I
now say: Muhammad al-Ghazaali's recent
writings such as his newly-released book
entitled As-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah bayna
Ahl al-Hadeeth wa Ahl al-Fiqh (The Prophetic
Sunnah between the People of Hadeeth
and the People of Fiqh) have confirmed
that he himself is one of those inviters
to Islaam who are "themselves utterly
confused"! His writings have for long
betrayed his confusion, his distortion
of the Sunnah, and his using his intellect
to authenticate or falsify ahaadeeth,
not by turning to the principles and
science of Hadeeth, nor to the experts
of that field; instead, whatever appeals
to him, he authenticates, even if it
is weak, and declares unreliable whatever
is not to his liking, even if it is agreed
to be authentic!
His above approach is shown most obviously
in his discussion of the ahaadeeth in
his previous book Fiqh as- Seerah , where
he explains his methodology of accepting
unreliable ahaadeeth and discarding authentic
ones on the basis of the text of the
hadeeth alone, from which the reader
can see that the objective criticism
of Hadeeth has no value in his eyes if
it contradicts a "reasoned analysis",
which varies enormously from person to
person, for what is truth to one is falsehood
to another! Thus the whole of Islaam
becomes subject to personal whims, having
no principles nor reference points except
personal opinion; this is poles apart
from the position of the early leading
'ulamaa of Islaam, "that the Isnaad is
part of the religion; were it not for
the Isnaad, people would have said whatever
they wished."
His latest above-mentioned book has exposed
to the people his Mu'tazilite methodology,
his blatant disregard for the Imaams
of Hadeeth and their efforts over the
ages in serving the Sunnah, and distinguishing
the genuine traditions from the unreliable
ones, and his lack of appreciation of
the efforts of the Imaams of Fiqh in
their laying down principles and developing
issues on that basis, for he takes from
these and leaves from them whatever he
wishes, with no consistency towards any
set of principles or fundamentals!
[15]Bukhaari
& Muslim.
[16]See
the previous words of Imaam Muzani and
Haafiz Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali.
[17]Bukhaari
& Muslim; see Appendix Two for the full
hadeeth.
[18]al-Anfaal,
8:24