A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam ‘Izz ad-Din ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd as-Salam ash-Shafi’i ( r.a. ) was asked, in his Fatawa , “What do you say about Abu Zayd al-Qayrawani al-Maliki’s saying, ‘Allah ( s.w.t. ) is above His Exalted Throne in person, and He is in every place with His knowledge’?  Does such an affirmation attribute a direction to Allah ( s.w.t. )?  And is the one who holds such belief declared a kafir ?”   He replied, “The apparent meaning of what ibn Abu Zayd said attributes direction for Allah, because he has made a difference between Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) Being on the Throne and His Being with His Creation.  As for the second question: the more correct position is that the one who holds belief in Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) direction is not declared a disbeliever, because the scholars of Islam did not bring such as these out of Islam, rather, they adjudicated inheritance from Muslims for them, burial in Muslim grounds, sanctity of their blood and prop...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) wrote, “If it were true that the spiritual path of the folk,” meaning the Sufis, “can be reached with understanding alone and without recourse to a shaykh who takes the aspirant, then the likes of the Proof of Islam, Imam al-Ghazali and Shaykh ‘Izz ad-Din ibn ‘Abd as-Salam would have been in no need of taking their manners from a shaykh .   This is despite the fact that before they entered the spiritual path of the folk, both of them used to say, ‘Anyone who claims a path to knowledge different from what we have, he has invented a lie against Allah ( s.w.t. ).’  Afterwards, when the both of them entered the spiritual path of the folk, they said, ‘We wasted our lives in idleness and being covered with veils.’  They both affirmed and praised the path.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted from Maqasid asw-Swawm by Imam ‘Izz ad-Din ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd as-Salam ash-Shafi’i ( r.a. ).   Allah ( s.w.t. ) Says:   سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ (١٨٣)   O you who believe!   Fasting is Prescribed to you as it was Prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint. ― (Surah al-Baqarah:183)   This meaning that, hopefully, we can safeguard ourselves from the Fire through fasting; fasting is a means to the Forgiveness of sins, and sins lead one to the Fire.   The Shaykhayn record the hadits in which the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said, “Islam is built upon five: that you worship Allah and reject the worship of anything else, to establish the prayer, the giving of zakat , performing pilgrimage to the House and fasting the month of Ramadhan.” ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from Imam ‘Izz ad-Din ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd as-Salam ash-Shafi’i’s ( r.a. ) “Categorisation of the Term ‘ Bid’ah’ & the Distinction between Its Lexical & Legal Definitions.”   The vastness of the Arabic language has often been compared to the ocean.   As the ocean is rich in its inhabitants of many colours and forms, so too are the words of this Divine language that take on a multitude of colours and forms determined by their linguistic environment.   Much of the words used within the context of the Islamic tradition have multiple meanings.   Words such as “ sunnah ”, for example, mean something specific within the context of the hadits sciences, and something separate when used within the context of fiqh , jurisprudence; or uswul al-fiqh , legal methodology.   Furthermore, the same words such as “ sunnah ” , “ bid’ah ” , “ fiqh ”, and countless other words have separate meanings when u...