[Book Overview] – The Maliki Scholars and the Ash’ari Creed

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Contents
Editor’s Introduction    
The Author – Shaykh Dr. Muṣṭafā Bāḥu    
Chapter 1 The Early Mālikī Scholars    
Chapter 2 Abū ʿUmar Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Barr
Chapter 3 Abū ʿUmar al-Ṭalamankī & Aṣbagh bin al-Faraj     
Chapter 4 Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī & Ibn Abī Zamanīn     
Chapter 5 ʿAbd Allāh bin Khalaf al-Muqrī & Abuʾl Walīd bin Rushd     
Chapter 6 Muḥammad bin Aḥmad al-Misnāwī & Sulṭān Muḥammad bin ʿAbd Allāh     
Chapter 7 ʿAbd Allāh bin Idrīs al-Sanūsī al-Fāsī  
Chapter 8 ʿAbd al-Ḥafīẓ al-Fāsī     
Translator’s Appendix 1 The Spread of the Ashʿarī Madhhab     
Translator’s Appendix 2 The ʿAqīdah of Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd and the Wahhabī’s     
Translator’s Appendix 3 The Biography of Shaykh Aḥmad bin Khālid al-Nāṣirī  
Editor’s Appendix 1 The Biography of Shaykh Nadhīr Ḥusayn Muḥaddith Dehlawī

 

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

ʿAudhu Billāhi min ash-Shayṭān al-Rajīm, Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. Alḥamdullilāhi Rabbil ʿAlamīn, waṣalatu wassalām ʿala rasūlillahil karīm, wa ʿala alihī wa aṣḥābī wa man tabiāhum bi-eḥsan ilaʾ yaum al-dīn; wa baʿḍ. All Praise belongs and is directed to the Rabb of everthing that exists, praise and salutations be upon His final beloved Messenger, Muḥammad H, his revered family and his noble companions and upon those who follow them in good until the end of times, to proceed,

The following book is an abridgment of Shaykh Muṣṭafā Bāḥu’s, ʿUlamāʾ al-maghrib wa muqāwamatuhum al-bidʿah, waʾl-taṣawwuf waʾl-qubūriyyah waʾl-mawāsim – The Moroccan Scholars and their Resistance to Religious Innovation, Ṣūfism, Grave-Worship and Rites.[1]

This part of the book features a clarification of the creed of the early Mālikī scholars, their defence, support and dissemination of the belief system of the pious ancestors – the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ. The tract, therefore, rescinds the claim of the latter-day adherents and promoters of the Ashʿarī creed, who insolently allege the Mālikī scholars were Ashʿarī. Similarly, it exposes the deliberate denigrations of these quasi and ‘synthetic’ Mālikīs’, who have absolutely no connection whatsoever with the formidable Mālikī predecessors! The book also presents a brief historical overview discoursing the spread of the Ashʿarī madhhab.

All notes marked (tr.) are the translator’s and all those marked (ed.) are mine. We have also added some short appendixes for further clarification.   

Abū Khuzaimah Anṣārī

Birmingham, England

Ramaḍān1439 / May 2018

[1] Edn. 1^st, (Morocco: Jaridat us-Sabīl, 1428/2007) 135-156.

The Early Mālikī Scholars

The credible early Imāms who were companions of Mālik were upon the ʿaqīdah of the Salaf in terms of affirmation (of Allāh’s Attributes), such as: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin al-Qāsim,[1] ʿAbd Allāh bin Wahb and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin al-Mājishūn.[2] Likewise were the students of Mālik’s students such as Saḥnūn[3] and Aṣbagh bin al-Faraj.[4] Likewise were those who followed Mālik’s madhhab such as Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī,[5] Abū ʿUmar al-Ṭalamankī,[6] Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin Mawhib,[7] ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin Yaḥyā al-Kinānī,[8] Razayn bin Muʿāwiyah – the author of Tajrīd us-Ṣiḥḥāh,[9] al-Aṣīlī, Abuʾl Walīd bin al-Farḍī,[10] Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī,[11] Makkī al-Qaysī,[12] Ibn Abī Zamanīn and others. Al-Dhahabī stated in al-Siyar, 17:557, regarding Abū Dharr al-Harawī:

NOTES

[1] Ibn al-Qayyim stated “And likewise Ibn al-Qāsim, the companion of Mālik clearly stated in his treatise on Sunnah: “Allāh speaks with a Voice’ this is what he stated and then he said: ‘And having al-Īmān that Allāh spoke to Mūsā bin ʿImrān with a voice that Mūsā heard from Allāh and not from anyone else. Whoever says other than this, or doubts this, has disbelieved’ this was transmitted by Ibn Shukr in ar-Radd ʿalaʾl-Jahmiyyah,” al-Ṣawāʿiq, 2:503 – of the abridged version.

[2] Al-Dhahabī stated from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin al-Mājishūn that he was asked about what the Jahmiyyah denied in their belief. Ibn al-Mājishūn stated: “To proceed…,” al-Siyar, 7:311-312. (tr.) He mentioned a long chapter affirming Allāh’s Attributes and leaving them as they have been transmitted.

[3] Al-Dhahabī stated about Yaḥyā bin ʿAwn that he said: “Saḥnūn and myself went to visit Ibn al-Qaṣār while he was sick and Saḥnūn said: “Why this worry?” Ibn al-Qaṣār said to him: “death, and going to Allāh.” Saḥnūn said to him: “Do you not believe in the Messengers, the Resurrection, the Judgement, Paradise and the Fire? And that the best of this Ummah was Abū Bakr then ʿUmar? And that the Qurʾān is Allāh’s Speech that is Uncreated and that Allāh will be seen on the Day of Judgement? And that Allāh is above His Throne? And that the leaders should not be rebelled against with the sword even if they transgress? Ibn al-Qaṣār said: “Ay wallāhi! (Yes, by Allāh!)” Saḥnūn then said to him: “So die then if you should so will, die if you should so will,” al-Siyar, 12:67.

[4] Aṣbagh said “Allāh is established over His Throne and His Knowledge is in every place and His Knowledge encompasses every place.” Mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim in Ijtimāʿ al-juyūsh, 76.

[5] As he clarified and expounded throughout the Muqaddimah of his al-Risālah, which is contrary to most of its explanations like that of Zarūq’s, Ibn Nāji’s and others.

[6] He has a book, al-Wūṣūl ila maʿrifah al-uṣūl in which he mentions the statements of the companions, the successors and those after them. He also mentioned the statements of Malik and the Imams from amongst his companions, as mentioned in al-Sawāʿiq al-mursalah of Ibn al-Qayyim, 2:37, and refer to al-Siyar, 17:560, and al-Fatāwa, 3:219.

[7] He has an explanation of al-Risālah wherein he endorses the ʿaqīdah of the Salaf, as cited in al-Sawāʿiq al-mursalah, 2:358.

[8] He has a book titled, al-Radd ʿalaʾl-Jahmiyyah waʾl zanādiqah as mentioned in al-Sawāʿiq, 2:380.

[9] Ibn al-Qayyim said, “He was a Scholar of the Sunnah and al-Athar of his time and was from the Mālikīyyah, he abridged Tafīr ibn jarīr al-ṭabarī,” al-Sawāʿiq, 2:326.

[10] (ed.) He was a Ḥāfiẓ of ḥadīth hailing from Cordova, Abū Ḥayyān said he not seen the likes of him in Cordova with his qualities. He was killed mercilessly by the Berbers. He died in 403/1013. Al-Dhahabi lauded with the titles of ‘al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Imām al-Ḥujjah…’  Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah al-ḥuffāẓ, 3:185-186 no.981.

[11] (ed.) Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī refers to him as, ‘al-Dānī al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Imām Shaykh al-Islam Abū ʿAmr…’ He was born in Cordova and lived in Denia and was hence called al-Dānī.  He authored a number of works, he travelled to the east while also spending four months in Qayrawān. He had impeccable memory and recall. Al-Ḥumaydī said he was a remarkable Muḥaddith. Ibn Bashkuwāl praised him and said he was a Mālikī, he died in 444/1053. Al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirrah al-ḥuffāẓ, 3:211-212 no.1006.

[12] Refer to al-Siyar, 17:557.