A Comparison between Those Obsessed with Takfīr and Bombings and Those Who Call for Peace and Well-Being – Shaikh Abdul Muhsin al-Abbad

Translated

Abu az-Zubayr Harrison

A Comparison between Those Obsessed with Takfīr & Bombings and Those Who Call for Peace & Well- Being1

Today, many non-Muslims have entered the Arabian Peninsula for a specific set time (jobs, etc.). And many people from this country have also begun telling them about Islam, spreading offices throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called “Taw’iyyah al-Jāliyāt” or “Community Enlightenment” offices. This has been going on for a long time now, and because of it, many people have accepted Islam. According to a comprehensive report by the “Community Enlightenment” office in Buraidah, Qaseem (a city near Riyadh) for example, as many as fifteen thousand people entered Islam between 1407 (C.E. 1986) and the beginning of 1424 (C.E. 2003). And the completion of such people’s guidance, after Allāh guided them to Islam, is that they meet sincere and righteous callers to peace and well-being, those who teach them the understanding of the religion according to the righteous predecessors, those far removed from evil innovations and issues foreign to Islam.

However, beginning in the year 1424 (C.E. 2003), some young people in this country (Saudi Arabia) were afflicted with the trials of renouncing obedience to the leaders and government and the audacity to kill non-Muslims who’ve entered our country and were promised safety and security. They claim they are “ridding the Arabian Peninsula of the disbelievers.” By doing that, they’ve brought evil upon themselves, their religion and its people, and their nation. In the “al-Qabas al-Muwaytiyyah” newspaper (no. 11137) dated the 23rd of Rabī’ al-Ākhir, 1425 (C.E. 2004), an article by Dr. Ḥamad Ibn Ibrāhīm al-‘Uthmān was published by the title: “The Ideology of Bombing in the Spotlight”. Within this article were many statements from such misguided youth (the terrorists) that have been published on a well-known internet site. The fifth reported statement says:

“Everyone must know that if they want to make us leave our ideology, the very ideology for which we were created, with which we were commanded, because of which we’ve spilled our own blood – if they want us to leave this, then let them dig up Muhammad from his grave and let him say to us, ‘Do not expel the disbelievers from the Arabian Peninsula!’ Dig him up to tell us, ‘Do not make Jihād against the disbelievers from the Arabian Peninsula!’ Dig him up to tell us, ‘You are all sinners, extremists, terrorists! You should instead renounce ( this and repent from it.’ Only then will we listen and obey, and only to him ”

Anyone who reflects on these statements full of utmost wickedness, the extreme, harsh- heartedness of these people becomes apparent as does their blunt, discourteous manners, and their petrified, intolerant ideology. I do not even think many of the misguided youth bent on destruction within this country would approve of such speech that calls to nothing but an evil end. These people should repent and return to guidance and pay no attention to the likes of such vile statements that only show the filth, evil, meanness and shamelessness of whoever said it.

The following is a summarized comparison between the actions of these misguided youth and the actions of sincere callers to peace and righteousness:

The misguided youth accept and approve of disbelief from a nonbeliever and therefore rush him to the Fire (by killing him). They bring him out of darkness into darkness, from torture to torture. As for the sincere callers to well-being, they work to bring a nonbeliever out of darkness and into light, so that he may triumph, thereby gaining happiness and contentment in this life and the next.

The misguided youth, by killing a nonbeliever (residing in this land) send him back to his family in a coffin so that they may be filled with hatred and resentment towards Islam and Muslims, so they may attribute to Islam what it is actually free and innocent of – all because of these misguided people. As for the sincere callers to righteousness, by inviting others to Islam, a person may return to his family as a Muslim. He becomes a member of Islam, inviting his own family and others to it.

The misguided youth subject themselves to the punishment reported in the statement of the Prophet

“Whoever kills a Muā’hid (a non-Muslim promised safety) will not even smell the fragrance of paradise even though its scent can be smelled from forty years away.”2

As for the sincere callers, by their invitation (to Islam), they hope for rewards promised in the statement of the Prophet

“Whoever calls to guidance, there is for him a reward for anyone who follows him without diminishing their own rewards at all.”3

The misguided ones, their family and relatives live in grief, distress, worry, and sadness; they regret the condition of their wicked children. The sincere callers, their family and relatives live in happiness, delight, and approval with the condition of their noble children.

The misguided ones, by their disgraceful actions, prevent people from entering Islam, damaging the reputation of the pure monotheistic religion. The sincere callers, by

their noble actions and their enthusiasm for Islam, work to bring nonbelievers out of darkness and into light.

The misguided youth are a threatened people by Allāh’s statement:

إنَّ اللّهَ َلا ُي ْصِلحُ َعمَ َل الْمُفْسِدِين

Certainly, Allāh does not amend the work of corruptors.[Sūrah Yūnus, 10:81]

The misguided people were not even able to perform Jihād against their own (evil) inclinations. And they ruined themselves and others in that they’ve fallen into a form of corruption they call “Jihād”. As for the sincere callers, they perform Jihād against their own inclinations and perform a form of Jihād (struggle) with others by inviting them to Islam.

The misguided ones, by their horrible actions, become keys opening the doors to evil, locking the doors to all good. The sincere callers, by their noble actions, become keys opening the doors to all good, locking the doors to evil. In “Sunan Ibn Mājah” Anas said that Allāh’s Messenger said:

“Certainly, among people are those who are keys to (the doors of) good, locking (the doors of) evil. And certainly, among people are those who are keys to (the doors of) evil, locking (the doors of) good. So, Ṭūbá (a rewarding tree in paradise) is for whomever Allāh places the keys to good upon his hands, and woe (beware or a pit in Hell) to those Allāh places the keys to evil upon his hands.”4

And the sincere callers are a promised people by Allāh’s statement:

ينِِإَّنا َلا نُضِيعُ َأجْرَ الْمُ ْصلِح
Certainly, We will not allow to be lost the reward of the good-doers. [Sūrah Al-‘Arāf, 7:170]

The misguided ones can expect a portion of what’s come in the prophet’s statement

“Whoever rebels against my nation, killing both the righteous and wicked (indiscriminately), not even sparing the devout believers, and not fulfilling the obligation towards those given a pledge (of security) – then he is not from me and I am not from him.”5

And the sincere callers can expect a portion of what’s come in the prophet’s statement

“There are three traits a Muslim’s heart never resents: sincerity in doing actions for Allāh, offering sincere advise to those in authority, and sticking to the mainstream community (of Muslims) because certainly their supplication encompasses all around them.”6

NOTES

1 This translation consists of some points explained by ‘Abd al-Muḥsin al-‘Abbād in his work titled: “A Reminder to Those Obsessed with Takfīr and Bombings”.

2. Recorded by al-Bukhārī (no. 3122) from the ḥadīth of ‘Abd Allāh Ibn ‘Umar

3 Recorded by Muslim (no. 2674) from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah

4 Recorded by Ibn Mājah (no. 237). Also see “al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah” (no. 1332) of al-Albānī.

5. Recorded by Muslim (no. 1848) from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah

6 Recorded by Aḥmad (no. 21590) with an authentic chain of narration from the ḥadīth of Zayd Ibn Thābit