Abul Hasan
06-02-2005, 08:28 PM
:salam:
This is a Fatwa i had saved on my hard-drive from 1999. I thought i'd post it here for the record on how people ascribed falsity to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in order to sustain and spread their own claims on Aqeeda. I don't know who translated it.
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Shaykh al-Islaam Shihab ad-Din Ahmed ibn ‘Ali known as ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974 AH) on Imaam Ahmed ibn Hanbal
From his Fataawa al-Hadeethiyyah; pg.203:
(Imaam Ibn Hajar) was asked, may Allah be pleased with him and benefit us from his self: " Was the belief of Imaam Ahmed ibn Hanbal the same as the present day Hanbalis claim?"
(Imam Ibn Hajar) answered:
The belief of the Imaam of Ahlus Sunnah, Ahmed ibn Hanbal ; may Allah grant him the loftiest of the gardens as his resting place; and his destination; and bestow upon us and him His bounties; and grant him a dwelling in the loftiest firdaws in paradise; his belief was exactly in accordance with the belief of the Ahlus Sunnah, and completely concordant; including the belief that Allah Ta`aalaa is exalted from those things that the oppressors, the dissenters attribute. That is Allah ta`aalaa is exalted from having a direction or a composition, a body (minal jihati wal jismiyyati) etc., among the attributes of imperfection.
But the truth of the matter is that Allah is free from all attributes that do not have an absolute perfection in them; and all those things that are being circulated and are publicized (mashtahara) among the ignoramuses as being said by this great Mujtahid Imaam is a slander. It is an outright lie that this Imaam claimed direction or the like in describing the attributes of Allah. May Allah damn those who attribute the Imaam of having said such things, those that the Imaam is exonerated of having said so. And these matters have been explained by Hafiz Imaam Abul Farj ibn Jawzi, who belongs to his (Imaam Ahmed's) Madhhab. He has cleared the Imaam's name of such dirty slanders and he has provided explicit proofs demonstrating the lies of slanderers. And beware of what Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and others have written; he (Ibn Taymiyyah) is a man who has taken his base desires as his Lord; (manittakhadha ilaahahuu hawaa) and Allah made him go astray inspite of his knowledge and sealed upon his hearing and his heart and put a veil on his sight; and who can guide him after Allah let him go misguided?
And why not, these Mulhids (Heretics) have gone past the boundaries set by the Shari`ah (Islamic Law) and have broken its bounds. Yet they imagine that they are the guided ones; they are guided by their Lord Almighty and the truth is that they are not. Rather, they are on the wrong path, the heinous, misleading way (aswayiD Dalaal), and the most abominable traits, (aqbaHil khiSaal); and they are afflicted by vices and a great loss; May Allah humble their followers and wipe the earth clean from their likes; "
The quote of Shaykh al-Islaam Imaam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami end’s here.
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NB - Imam ibn al Jawzi exonerated Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the Hanbali aqeeda in his Daf Shubuh al-Tashbih (available soon in English), though a very small group of later Hanabila disagreed with him.
Wassalam
This is a Fatwa i had saved on my hard-drive from 1999. I thought i'd post it here for the record on how people ascribed falsity to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in order to sustain and spread their own claims on Aqeeda. I don't know who translated it.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Shaykh al-Islaam Shihab ad-Din Ahmed ibn ‘Ali known as ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974 AH) on Imaam Ahmed ibn Hanbal
From his Fataawa al-Hadeethiyyah; pg.203:
(Imaam Ibn Hajar) was asked, may Allah be pleased with him and benefit us from his self: " Was the belief of Imaam Ahmed ibn Hanbal the same as the present day Hanbalis claim?"
(Imam Ibn Hajar) answered:
The belief of the Imaam of Ahlus Sunnah, Ahmed ibn Hanbal ; may Allah grant him the loftiest of the gardens as his resting place; and his destination; and bestow upon us and him His bounties; and grant him a dwelling in the loftiest firdaws in paradise; his belief was exactly in accordance with the belief of the Ahlus Sunnah, and completely concordant; including the belief that Allah Ta`aalaa is exalted from those things that the oppressors, the dissenters attribute. That is Allah ta`aalaa is exalted from having a direction or a composition, a body (minal jihati wal jismiyyati) etc., among the attributes of imperfection.
But the truth of the matter is that Allah is free from all attributes that do not have an absolute perfection in them; and all those things that are being circulated and are publicized (mashtahara) among the ignoramuses as being said by this great Mujtahid Imaam is a slander. It is an outright lie that this Imaam claimed direction or the like in describing the attributes of Allah. May Allah damn those who attribute the Imaam of having said such things, those that the Imaam is exonerated of having said so. And these matters have been explained by Hafiz Imaam Abul Farj ibn Jawzi, who belongs to his (Imaam Ahmed's) Madhhab. He has cleared the Imaam's name of such dirty slanders and he has provided explicit proofs demonstrating the lies of slanderers. And beware of what Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and others have written; he (Ibn Taymiyyah) is a man who has taken his base desires as his Lord; (manittakhadha ilaahahuu hawaa) and Allah made him go astray inspite of his knowledge and sealed upon his hearing and his heart and put a veil on his sight; and who can guide him after Allah let him go misguided?
And why not, these Mulhids (Heretics) have gone past the boundaries set by the Shari`ah (Islamic Law) and have broken its bounds. Yet they imagine that they are the guided ones; they are guided by their Lord Almighty and the truth is that they are not. Rather, they are on the wrong path, the heinous, misleading way (aswayiD Dalaal), and the most abominable traits, (aqbaHil khiSaal); and they are afflicted by vices and a great loss; May Allah humble their followers and wipe the earth clean from their likes; "
The quote of Shaykh al-Islaam Imaam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami end’s here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NB - Imam ibn al Jawzi exonerated Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the Hanbali aqeeda in his Daf Shubuh al-Tashbih (available soon in English), though a very small group of later Hanabila disagreed with him.
Wassalam