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A Call to the Unification of the Western Students upon the Sunnah

Source: http://www.madeenah.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=2

All praise is for Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his companions and those who have alliance to him, to proceed:

So in response to the command of Allah the Perfect, the Most High, where He states (the meaning of which is):

“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves and remember Allah’s favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by his grace, you became brothers and you were on the brink of a pit of fire and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His Ayaat clear to you, that you may be guided.” (Al-Imran: 103).

And in adherence to the statement of the Messenger of Allah Sallahu Alahi Wasallam where he states:

“Do not envy one another, do not increase prices one to another (by bidding for something that you do not intend to buy), do not hate one another and do not turn away from one another…. and be, O slaves of Allah, brothers. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim, he neither oppresses him nor does he disgrace him, he neither lies to him nor does he hold him in contempt…. the whole of a Muslim for another Muslim is Haraam (inviolable and forbidden), his blood, his property and his honour.” (Related by Muslim from the hadith of Abu Huraira).

Then acting in accordance to the advice given to us by our scholars from the people of knowledge, from the likes of Ash-Shaykh, Al-'Allaamah Rabee' bin Haadee Al-Madkhalee, Shaykh Muhammad bin Haadee Al-Madkhlee, Shaykh 'Ubaid Al-Jaabiree, Shaykh 'Abdullah Al-Bukhaaree and Shaykh Khaalid Ar-Raddaadee (may Allah preserve them all):

We have written these papers in order to inform the brothers that many of the students at the Islamic University of Medina (from Europe and America) have now begun to take the path towards rectification and unity, by way of abandoning differences and disputes that caused them to split and by rejecting and totally casting aside all claims and accusations (that were either fabricated by some of the brothers-may Allah guide them- or the differences and disputes had a correct point of view that held the possibility of advice being given).

So we call every student of knowledge, who is earnestly concerned about his Deen, to unity and co-operation upon the truth and with the truth and to aid one another in the field of knowledge, action and giving da’wah upon the manhaj of our Pious Predecessors. That is because our Aqeedah is one, our Manhaj is one and our Scholars are upon that. So it is upon us to discard the differences and disputes and for us to know that the splitting that occurred was not void of any reasons, rather from the most important of them were:

1. Ignorance with regards to the rulings of the Sharee’ah which resulted in affairs being placed in other than their correct places. From amongst these affairs: hastiness in taking position’s against individuals who may have fallen into error and passing judgment upon them without first referring to the scholars, whilst being ignorant of the principles of the science of Jarh Wa Ta’deel. This likewise being a result of taking on board affairs that should by right have be returned to the people of knowledge and due to each individual not knowing his own level and his manzilah (place) along with having Ghuloo (exaggeration) in themselves and accepting others having Ghuloo in them.

2. Disputes and arguments between students (whether they were personal or relating to issues of fiqh or concerning the understanding of the correct implementation of the manhaj), without taking into consideration what types of differences are allowed and permissible and what types are not. Which as a result lead many of the brothers to have Ta'assub (partisanship) for one another and to take positions against people based upon blind following and not upon clear evidences or proofs.

As Shaykh-ul-Islaam states:

“Whoever leans towards his companion-regardless of whether the truth is for him or against him-has indeed judged with the ruling of Jaahiliyyah and has left the judgment of Allah and His messenger.” (Majmoo'ul-Fataawa, vol: 28-p.17).

3. Personality differences and the type of student rivalry which is blameworthy, along with the love of putting oneself forward for leadership in the affairs of the Da’wah, all this being done by way of an individual appointing himself for that purpose, which in turn has lead to the occurrence of Ghuloo in certain du’aat (callers) and in certain da’wah organizations.

The above are but some of the reasons behind the splitting, bearing in mind that this advice is for the sake of Allah, to His book (to believe in it and act upon it) and to the Muslims in general. Therefore it is upon the one who fell into any of these errors or was the root cause of them, or remained silent in the face of them (either out of fear, weakness, due to blind following or seeking praise), then it is upon him to repent, return to the truth and make rectification and bayaan (clarification), as the Most High says (the meaning of which is):

“Except those who repent and make the rectification and openly declare the truth, these, I will accept their repentance. And I am the one who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.” (Al-Baqarah: 160).

And He the Most High states (the meaning of which is):

“Whosoever repents after his crime and does righteous deeds, then verily, Allah will pardon him, verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al-Ma’idah: 39), and:

“…So that if any of you does evil in ignorance and thereafter repents and does righteous deeds, then surely, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al-An’aam: 54), and:

“And verily, I am indeed forgiving to him who repents, believes and does righteous deeds and then is guided.” (Ta-Ha: 82).

And as occurs in the hadith of Anas bin Maalik, where the Messenger of Allah (Sallahu Alaihee Wasallam) said:

“All of the children of Aadam make mistakes and the best of those who make mistakes are those who repent.” (Related by At-Tirmidhee and authenticated by Shaykh al-Albaani).

So we call upon all the brothers to be truthful, sincere and to respond to the advice of the people of knowledge and virtue and that they should strive towards uniting the ranks of the students and abandoning splitting and differing. Whether that be in Madinah or in their own countries and that they should co-operate with one another upon righteousness and piety and to free themselves from the partisanship of the days of jahiliyyah and from those who pretend to direct the people towards unity and co-operation, whilst in reality their affair is in opposition to that.

However this does not mean that we do not refute errors that are made, rather we refute the error of an individual (whomsoever it may be) be it in statement or in action, whilst at the same time preserving the honour of Ahlus-Sunnah and their manzilah. By this, we will avoid the two extremes, the extreme of exaggeration and the extreme of compromising and falling short.

And it is imperative in this and other than this, that we return back to the scholars in taking advice and guidance from them and likewise the correct understanding of the manhaj and its application in matters, whether they are specifically related to the Da’wah or other than it. Along with offering advice to one another and having gentleness and mercy towards one another, as He the Most High says:

(the meaning of which is):

“By time, all of mankind is in a state of loss, except those who believe and do righteous deeds and advise one another with the truth and advise one another with patience.” (Suratul-Asr).

And Allah is the One who grants success and aid, and all praise is due to Allah.

Written by the following British students from the Islamic University of Madeenah:

Abul-Qayyim Ismaa’eel bin Yusuf, Suhail Ahmad, 'Abdur-Rahmaan bin Yusuf, Ayman bin Dawood Fox, 'Abdur-Raoof Muhammad and 'Abdul-Lateef 'Abdus-Salaam.

Sunday 29th Shawaal 1425-corresponding to-12th December 2004.

Read by each of the following scholars:

Shaykh Muhammad bin Haadee Al-Madkhalee;

Shaykh 'Abdullah Al-Bukhaaree;

Shaykh Khaalid Ar-Raddaadee.

Note: The Arabic text below contains the signatures of the aforementioned scholars.