Book Review: The Refutation of Him Who Attributes Direction to Allah by Ibn Jahbal
“He [ibn Taymiyya] was immensely learned but he had defective intelligence (عقله ناقص ‘aqluhu naqis)!” [Said by Imam Salahud-Din As-Safadi]
This is a brief review of the book Ar-Raddu ‘Ala Man qala bil-Jiha : The Refutation of Him [Ibn Taymiyya] Who Attributes Direction to Allah, that was recently published by Aqsa Publications.
Arabic written by: Imam Ibn Jahbal al-Kilabi [670-733 A.H.]`, described by Adh-Dhahabi as “the erudite scholar, the guiding leader of the Muslims” and also “The Mufti of the Muslims” ((Al-’Ibar 4:96 )) Ibn Kathir said of him, “The Shaykh, the admirable Imam, the Mufti of the Muslims” and “He was from the authoritative fuquha (jurists)!”
SeekingIlm.com Brought back Online: The Story
Salamu ‘alaykum Brethren,
It has been a while since the last real post for SeekingIlm.com. Originally we were hacked by some ip addresses that stemmed from evil origins, may Allah guide them amin! So I debated with myself if I should take the site down or revive it.
I had decided to simply let the domain name expire and continue on with other projects that we have been working on, when Allah, the majestic, sent on my way an incident that made me realize the importance of Seekingilm.com and some of the research done here defending the Sunni stances.
Tantawi's Verdict on The Niqab, Our Response
As-Salamu ‘Alaykum Readers,
As most of you already know, the “Shaykh” of Al-Azhar University has condemned a young woman for wearing niqab. He also seeks to ban the niqab throughout the university. His exact words were,
“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam.”
Similar claims were made by a “Shaykh” named Abdul Qadir Al Murabit, who said,
“The Arab deviations from the Deen, embodied most dramatically in evil suicide bombing and the equally evil hinduisation of women, involving the masking of the woman’s face – utterly against the command of the Qur’an and the Sunna, which requires the face to be left free”
We responded to his lies in August of 2007 here. There is absolutely no doubt that the scholars of the past, the earliest Muslims in particular, held that the face of a woman is to be covered. We have written extensively, producing statements from the companions and generations that followed after them, on the opinion that the face of a woman is to be covered. You can simply click the link to read for yourself.
Qurba Academy Program in Toronto
Salamu ‘Alaykum,
Qurba Academy is sponsoring what is going to be a wonderful learning experience at Ryerson University in Toronto, insha’allah. Br. Mohamed Ali from Qurba emailed us with the following information:
I am excited to bring you news of the launch of Qurba Academy’s first course, Quran and Sunna: Knowing the Sources, as part of the Essentials Certificate program. This program will provide Muslims with a reliable base of religious knowledge and with the success of Allah; we hope to reach the Muslims in the West with this message. Our first course is scheduled for October 10th and 11th, 2009 at Ryerson University in Toronto. We would like you and your readers to share our excitement and joy with the launch of our first course as part of the Essentials Certificate program.
This would be a great opportunity for seekers of ‘ilm to sit with some heavy weight scholars in the west. We certainly know Shaykh Talal is strong in fiqh, and Shaykh Ramzy has few equals in the west. If you can make the trip, definitely try your utmost to attend insha’allah.
was-Salam,
SeekingIlm Staff
Imam As-Suyuti's Treatise on the Hadith "Seeking Ilm is Obligatory on Every Muslim"
I recently fell upon a treatise written by Imam As-Suyuti wherein he collects 49 narratives of the hadith
طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم
“Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim [and in another narration it uses the feminine form as well "and Muslimah"].”
He begins the brief treatise with stating that Imam An-Nawawi (r) was asked whether or not this hadith was authentic and to which he responded that the hadith is da’if (weak), although its meaning is Sahih (authentic/in this case it means ‘correct’). As-Suyuti then quotes the opinion of Hafith Al-Mizzi stating that this hadith reaches the level of ‘Hasan’ (reliable/good hadith).