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Methodological Mix-up from the Hanbalites and their Heirs, the Salafists, and one of the Worst

Instances of Hostility Against the Real Textualist School1

By Abu Muhammad al-Misri

An error constantly seen from those who ascribe to the Hanbali school, as well as the Salafi movement,

is the rejection of practical, functional reality in favor of recorded statementssomething found with

the majority of them.

A prime example is that of Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim as well as the entirety of the

later Hanbalites and, oddly enough, Sheikh Albani. Ibn Ata-ullah al-Iskandari accused Ibn Taymiyyah of

always following the opinions of Ibn Hazm in jurisprudence, thus compelling Ibn Taymiyyah to accuse

Ibn Hazm of having been a Jahmite. This was the result of pressure upon Ibn Taymiyyah by his

intellectual opponents from the followers of the four mainstream schools of jurisprudence. The

common accusation from all of them was that Ibn Taymiyyah would consistently follow the opinions of

Ibn Hazm which fell outside of the four established schools, thus falling into opinions considered odd

and reprehensible by the majority. As a reaction, both Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim would often

exaggerate any disagreement with the Zahirite school in order to distinguish themselves from it;2this is

obviously an irresponsible and reactionary manner to deal with disagreement, may God shower his

mercy on both of them and pardon them for any faults.

Albani followed suit in this, as he was also frequently accused of either being a Zahirite or a follower of

Ibn Hazm. This isnt a bad thing in truth, but the ultimate result was that Albani, God bless him and may

he rest in peace, also accused Ibn Hazm of having been a Jahmite and having been weak in the science

of prophetic tradition.

The reality of the Hanbalite and Salafist apprehension about Zahirism is, at the root of things, fear of themajority.3

So what is the cause of this strange, mixed up apprehension?

The attribution of an actual school of jurisprudence to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and its codification was due in

large part to the efforts of Abu Yala al-Farra` in the fourth century of the Hijiri calendar. Later, the

school would spread in the eastern part of the Muslim world and its followers went from being a tiny

fraction of the Muslim world to a movement rivaling the Shafiites and Hanafites in terms of sheer

numbers. This was achieved by paralleling the principles of the other schools via wholesale acceptance

of pure and analogical reason in religious rulings as well blind following of Ibn Hanbals statements and

1Translation by Abu Nadm al-Zahiri. Permission was sought from Abu Muhammad after the translation was

completed.2Zahirism, of which Ibn Hazm is the most prominent representative, had been virtually outlawed by the Mamluk

dynasties some time before Ibn Taymiyyah was born.3The author means here the Hanafite, Malikite and Shafiite schools; the Hanbalites, forming roughly only 5% of

Sunni Muslims worldwide as of the 2010s, is once again a small minority.

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actions as though they constituted revealed, scriptural texts from God;4all in order to keep up with the

prevailing opinion among the mainstream and avoid disagreement with the majority and to avoid

returning to a minority status. It was as though the truth is always with the highest numbers and thats

that!

Its as though they didnt read the verse of the Qur`an: And if you obey the majority of people on Earth,they will misguide you and lead you away from the path of God

The Salafist movement in the modern era has followed the same plan as the later Hanbalites mentioned

above, with the Saudi Arabian branch of the movement, for example, being even fiercer in their

absolute blind following of the statements and actions of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, even if such statements

clearly appear to be incorrect in terms of Islamic law. Their behavior with the views of the schools

founder has become, once again, like their behavior with the actual revealed scriptural texts.

The sorry condition of the Salafist movement has become so bad that after the establishment of the

religious universities by the movement, they began to study the principles of jurisprudence from the

books of Juwaini, the Ashari!5

When the Salafist movement finally undertook the publishing and distribution of the book Sunnah by

Abdullah, the son of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, they altered the text and deleted an entire chapter in

condemnation of ra`y6and those scholars who based jurisprudence on it, as well as in condemnation

of Abu Hanifa. This was done due to political correctness and fear of offending the Hanafites.7The

reality of the situation is that the followers of these concepts known collectively as ra`y have merely

exploited the Salafist movement and enlisted their help in declaring war on free inquiry, independent

thought and strict following of the scriptural texts of IslamGod help us.

So dont be surprised when you see that the Hanbalites and Salafists are the most absolutelyantagonistic and severe of all people in their hostility toward the Zahirites and others who reject

analogical reasoning as a basic for Islamic jurisprudence; its all a result of this apprehension and fear

which the mainstream has used to exploit these two related groups (Salafists and later Hanbalites) and

turn them into tools in an ideological war against adherence and adherents to the source texts of Islam.

4This refers to the Qur`an and the hadith, or recorded statements and actions of the prophet Muhammad (peace

be upon him).5This is a reference to Abu al-Maali al-Juwaini, sometimes called Imam of the Two Sacred Mosques by followers

of the Asharite sect the sworn enemies of the Salafists! He was a Shafiite and the best representative of the

majority/mainstream mentioned by the author here.6This term includes both pure and analogical reason, considered permissible in secular sciences by all and

prohibited as a method in the religious sciences by Zahirites, early Hanbalites as well as the overwhelming majority

of the early generations of Muslims.7I (the translator) can attest to this. All modern editions of the book I have seenwhich are only printed by

Salafist publishers, as Asharites and Sufis reject the entirety of the book anywayeither skip over the chapters in

question and exclude them entirely, or contain blank pages where those chapters should be.