Salafi Tampering of Riyadh asw-Swalihin

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

It is important for a Muslim seeking to learn about Islam to have the proper teachers.  It is also important for them to ensure that any books they have are by verified scholars.  If it is a translation, of a classical work the translator and the publisher have to be verified.  The same applies if it is a commentary.  The following is adapted from “Salafi Tampering of Riyadh asw-Swalihin” by Dr. Jibril Fu’ad Haddad and Mu’in Shahid, President, Ahlus Sunnah Muslim Association of Sri Lanka.  This is a review of the translation of Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi’s (r.a.) Riyadh asw-Swalihin, published in 1999 by Darussalam Publishing House, Riyadh. 

A team of unprincipled editors and translators out of a Riyadh publishing house by the name of Darussalam was commissioned to produce a glossy 2-volume English edition of Imam an-Nawawi’s (r.a.) Riyadh asw-Swalihin to be distributed for free to Islamic schools around the world.  This exercise is designed to propagate Salafi ideology to unwary English-speaking Muslim students of Islamic knowledge.  This ideology is couched within a thoroughly unscrupulous commentary inserted into the book chapters and authored by an unknown or spurious “Hafizh Swalah ad-Din Yusuf of Pakistan”, “revised and edited by Mahmud Ridha’ Murad”.  The following are some examples of what is contained in this brand new Salafi product: 

The work is laced with an unabashed eulogy of Muhammad Naswir ad-Din al-Albani whom it calls “the leading authority in the science of ahadits”.  The fact is that the only agreed-upon title al-Albani has been able to earn from the verifying ‘ulama of the ummah from East to West, is that of an erratic innovator. 

There was a declaration that “in case of breach of ablution, the wiping over the socks is sufficient, and there is no need for washing the feet”.  This ruling invalidates one of the conditions of wudhu’ spelled out in the Qur’an and the sunnah, making swalah prayed with such a wiping null and void according to the Four Schools, which prohibit wiping over non-waterproof footwear. 

They said “ours should not be the belief that the dead do hear and reply to our greeting”.  The jumhur differ. 

They said that expressing the niyyah, intention, verbally before swalah “is a bid’ah because no proof of it is found in shari’ah”.  This is not only a wanton attack on the Shafi’i school but an ignorant violation of the criteria of calling something an innovation in the religion. 

They said that “Prohibition of kissing is only effective if the kissing of hands is also involved”.  Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Sufyan ibn Sa’id ats-Tsawri (r.a.) called the kissing of the hands of the ‘ulama a sunnah and that the majority of the scholars concur on its permissibility. 

They said that “unapproved ahadits” - an invented classification – referring to the swahih hadits of the two Jews who kissed the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) hands and feet as narrated by Imam Abu ‘Isa Muhammad ibn ‘Isa as-Sulami at-Tirmidzi (r.a.) and others. 

They weakened of the hasan hadits where the Prophet (s.a.w.) kissed Sayyidina Zayd ibn Harits (r.a.) as narrated by Imam at-Tirmidzi (r.a.) as hasan. 

They declared “the hadits about the kissing of hands are weak and deficient from the viewpoint of authenticity,” which is an outright lie. 

They declared, after the hadits stating, “I suffer like two men of you”, “This hadits ... throws light on the fact that the Prophet (s.a.w.) was merely a human being.”  This discourse is that of the disbelievers Mentioned in many places of the Qur’an: 

سُوۡرَةُ إبراهیم

... قَالُوٓاْ إِنۡ أَنتُمۡ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ۬ مِّثۡلُنَا ... (١٠) 

… They said, “Ah!  You are no more than human like ourselves! ...”  (Surah Ibrahim:10) 

سُوۡرَةُ المؤمنون

فَقَالُوٓاْ أَنُؤۡمِنُ لِبَشَرَيۡنِ مِثۡلِنَا ... (٤٧) 

They said, “Shall we believe in two men like ourselves? ...” (Surah al-Mu’minun:47) 

سُوۡرَةُ یسٓ

قَالُواْ مَآ أَنتُمۡ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ۬ مِّثۡلُنَا ... (١٥) 

The (people) said, “You are only men like ourselves ...” (Surah YaSin:15) 

سُوۡرَةُ التّغَابُن

... فَقَالُوٓاْ أَبَشَرٌ۬ يَہۡدُونَنَا ... (٦) 

… but they said, “Shall (mere) human beings direct us?” ... (Surah at-Taghabun:6) 

They claimed, “We are uncertain that after saying a funeral prayer, the Prophet (s.a.w.) and his Companions ever stood around the bier and supplicated for the dead body.  It is an innovation and must be abolished”.  This is flatly contradicted by the sound narrations ordering the swahabah to make ud’iyyah for the deceased directly after burial.  The commentors go on to say, “It looks strange that believers should persist in reciting supplications in their own self-styled way after the funeral prayer, but desist from them during the funeral prayer to which they have relevance.  It implies that prayer is not the object of their pursuit, otherwise they would have prayed in accordance with the sunnah.  In fact, they cherish their self-fabricated line of action and seem determined to pursue it.”  Yet the commentators, a few pages later, state, “The Prophet (s.a.w.) has instructed his followers that after a Muslim's burial, they should keep standing beside his grave for some time and pray for his firmness.” 

They omitted to translate the words of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) related by Imam an-Nawawi (r.a.) in Chapter 161, “Supplication for the Deceased after his Burial”: “It is desirable that they recite something of the Qur’an at the graveside, and if they recite the entire Qur’an it would be fine.”  Omitting to translate these words which are in the original text of Riyadh asw-Swalihin is deceit and a grave betrayal of the amanah, trust, of the translation of one the mother books of knowledge in Islam. 

As if the above were not enough, the “commentary” goes on to state, “The reference made to Imam ash-Shafi’i about the recitation of Qur’an beside a Muslim’s grave is in disagreement with the Prophet’s (s.a.w) practice ... the reference made to Imam al-Shafi’i seems to be of doubtful authenticity.” 

However, Imam Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn Muhammad az-Za’farani (r.a.) said, “I asked ash-Shafi’i about reciting Qur'an at the graveside and he said, ‘There is no harm in it.’”  This is narrated by Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal’s (r.a.) student Imam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Khallal (r.a.), in his ‘Amr bi al-Ma’ruf wa an-Nahy ‘an al-Munkar Abu Bakr ibn al-Khallal.  Similar fatawa are reported from Imam Abu ‘Amr ‘Amir ibn Sharahil ash-Sha’bi (r.a.), Imam Ahmad (r.a.), Imam Abu Ya’qub Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzhali (r.a.) and others of the Salaf by no less than Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (r.a.) and Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ash-Shawkani (r.a.) in their books - the putative authorities of the “Salafi” movement. 

They stated, “Qur’an reading meant to transmit Reward to the dead man’s soul is against the Prophet’s (s.a.w) example.  All such observances are of no use to the dead.”  This is the exact same position as the Mu’tazilah on the issue, who went so far as to deny the benefit of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) intercession.  It should be noted that the manipulative editors and commentators of Riyadh asw-Swalihin deliberately omit any mention of the Companions’ practice, as it is authentically recorded from Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (r.a.) that he ordered that Qur’an be read over his grave, which has the status of the sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w.) as this particular Companion was known to be the staunchest of all people in his adherence to the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) example. 

They stated, “For further detail, one can refer to Shaykh al-Albani’s Ahkam al-Jana’iz.”  This is the book in which this man lists among the innovations of misguidance the fact that the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) grave is inside his Mosque in Madina and the fact that it has a dome built over it, and he asks for both of them to be removed. 

They stated, “If a woman has no husband or mahram, haj is not obligatory on her.  Neither can she go for haj with a group of women, whether for haj or any other purposes ...  Under no circumstances a woman may travel alone.”  This contradicts the fatwa of the majority of the ‘ulama as well as the principle that when there is scholarly disagreement over an issue, it becomes automatically impermissible to declare it prohibited. 

They rephrased a hadits by omitting key words which invalidate their position.  In chapter 184 of Riyadh asw-Swalihin, “Desirability of Assembling for Qur’an-Recitation,” Imam an-Nawawi (r.a.) cited the hadits of Imam ‘Asakir ad-Din Abu al-Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (r.a.) where the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “No group of people assemble in one of the Houses of Allah, all of them reciting the Book of Allah and studying together, except Serenity shall descend upon them.”  The editors and commentators of Riyadh asw-Swalihin rephrased the hadits thus: “Any group of people that assemble in one of the Houses of Allah to study the Qur’an, tranquility will descend upon them,” omitting the key words, “all of them reciting the Book of Allah and studying together.”  Then the same editors and commentators had the gall to comment, “This hadits ... does not tell us in any way that this group of people recite the Qur’an all at once.  This is bid’ah for this was not the practice of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.).”  This is tampering compounded with a shameless lie.  This misinterpretation and false claim of bid’ah is, of course, directed at the Maghribi style of Qur’anic recitation that relies heavily on collective tilawah in order to strengthen memorisation. 

They stated, “The right number of raka’ah in the tarawih prayers is eight because the Prophet (s.a.w.) never offered more than eight raka’ah ...  It is not in any case twenty raka’ah.  Authentic ahadits prove this point abundantly.”  This is a bid’ah mufassiqah, transgressive innovation, as it rejects the command of the Prophet (s.a.w) to “obey the sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs after me”, and also kufr as it violates the ijma’ as-sukuti, passive consensus, of the Companions over twenty raka’ah. 

They stated, “Twenty raka’ah tarawih is not confirmed from any authentic hadith, nor its ascription to ‘Umar is proved from any muttaswil hadits.”  This is a blatant lie, as the number of hadits masters who graded as swahih the connected chains back to Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq (r.a.) establishing twenty raka’ah tarawih are too numerous to count.  They provided the basis on which the ‘ulama concur in declaring that consensus formed on the matter among the Companions as stated by Mulla Nur ad-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Sulthan Muhammad al-Hirawi al-Qari (r.a.), Imam Fakhr ad-Din ‘Utsman ibn ‘Ali az-Zayla’i (r.a.), Imam Shibab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hajr al-Haytsami (r.a.), Imam Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahid ibn al-Humam (r.a.), Imam Muwaffaq ad-Din Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi (r.a.), and a number of other major jurists of the Four Schools. 

They stated, “In the present age Shaykh Naswir ad-Din al-Albani has done a very remarkable work in this field.  He has separated the weak ahadits found in the four famous volumes of ahadits from the authentic and prepared separate volumes of authentic and weak ahadits.  This work of Albani has made it easy for the ordinary ulema to identify the weak ahadits.  Only a man of Shaykh Albani’s calibre can do research on it.  The ordinary ‘ulama and religious scholars of the Muslims are heavily indebted to him for this great work and they should keep it in view before mentioning any hadith.  They should mention only the authentic ahadits and refrain from quoting the weak ones.  It is wrong to ignore this work on the ground that Shaykh Albani is not the last word on the subject ...  As muhadditsin have done a great service to the Muslim ummah by collecting and compiling the ahadits, similarly in the style of muhadditsin, and in keeping with the principles laid down by them, the research carried out to separate the authentic ahadits from the weak is in fact an effort to complete their mission.  In this age, Almighty Allah has bestowed this honour on Shaykh Albani.”  All this fawning will not hide the facts that al-Albani has been exposed as the innovator of this age par excellence and that his splitting of the books of Sunan at-Tirmidzi into Swahih at-Tirmidzi and Dha’if at-Tirmidzi and so forth is an unprecedented attack on the mother books of Islam for which, undoubtedly, he shall be brought to account on the Day of Judgement as he was rejected for it by the ‘ulama of the ummah from East to West. 

Another systematic mistranslation for the Chapter title 338 is “Prohibition of placing the hands on the sides during Swalah” when the Arabic clearly stated “al-khaswirah” which means “waist” or “hip” rather than “sides.”  The same mistranslation is then repeated in the body of the chapter, then a third time in the commentary.  This mistranslation is part of the Salafi campaign against the Maliki form consisting in letting the arms hang down by the sides during the standing part of swalah.  In some places of North Africa today, such as Marrakech, certain people are paid to declare takfir and tadhlil, in the name of the sunnah, of those who pray with their arms hanging by their sides although it is an established sunnah. 

All sincere Muslims should consider themselves warned and warn others that this is not a Sunni translation of the great classic of Imam an-Nawawi (r.a.) but an innovative, deviant, and inauthentic translation which should never have been allowed.  There are two other English translations of Riyadh asw-Swalihin available in print, any one of which would be preferable to this one.  And from Allah (s.w.t.) Comes all success.