Indeed all praise is due to Allaah, as such we should praise Him, seek His help and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evils within ourselves and the evils resulting from our deeds. Whoever Allaah guides, none can misguide and whoever Allaah allows to go astray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship but Allaah alone, without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad (pbuh) is His slave and Messenger.
To proceed:
I would first like to say that it is not my intention to enter the revolving door of endless responses opened by my brother Aboo Khadeejah with his nine page public barrage in response to a brief explanatory paragraph which I privately gave to some brothers in Sri Lanka who questioned me concerning the up coming conferences being held in the USA and the UK geared to exposing me and others. Consequently, I hope that this first and last response will sufficiently clarify the issues for whoever seeks the truth with regards to the accusations thrown at me by Aboo Khadeejah and others. As for those who insist on having the last word and spreading fitnah among the ranks of sincere Muslims, disguised under the banner of Defending the way of the Salaf, I will follow Allaah, the Most Exalted and Glorious’ advice “And if they hear al-laghw (evil, vain, false talk), they withdraw from it and say, ‘For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace be with you. We do not seek the ignorant ones.” (28:55). For it is evident from the negative tones and words used in the first attack that no matter what I say or how many evidences they receive, it will be of no avail. While Allaah said, “Do not let your dislike of a people cause you to be unjust. Be just, that is nearer to taqwaa.” (5:8) And I pray that Allaah makes me worthy of being among those He Himself defends, as He said, “Indeed Allaah defends those who believe.” (22:38) And what is left for me is, “a Beautiful patience, for Allaah is the (only) One whose help can be sought against that which you proclaim.” (12:18). If students of knowledge of the stature of Shaykh Abul-Hasan al-Misree al-Maribee can be labeled a hizbee because he opened in Yemen a branch of Dar al-Birr (the charitable organization in which I also work, and at which Shaykhs ‘Alee Hasan, Saleem, Khaalid al-Ambaree, ‘Abdul-Malik Ramadaanee all give lectures and classes), who is a simple student like myself to complain.
Secondly, as I see it, there are some elements in our midst who are masquerading as Salafees who really do need to be exposed. However, a vocal minority among our English-speaking and Arab Salafee brothers with limited knowledge have high jacked this legitimate need and gone overboard with it. They have taken it upon themselves to act as the ultimate judges of common Muslims and students of knowledge. They claim to have the criterion by which they can justly expel whoever they please out of the realm of Salafiyyah. Much valuable time is dedicated to slandering those who have been already labeled, or to searching for the past or present mistakes of those on the current hit-list. Furthermore, if anyone disagrees with them on any issue, they issue severe warnings to him and if he doesn’t fall in line, they then proceed to warn against him also, and attribute their actions to the Salafee manhaj, under the name of jarh and ta’deel. They have made it a hobby to search for ambiguous statements of the popular du’aat, and then they distort and twist the statements to suit their personal agendas, and publicize them in other than their correct context. They then label the da’ee or student of knowledge as being of ahlul bid’ah wal ahwaa (the people of innovation and desires), and relegate him to off-theminhaj.com. In addition to that, anyone who knows or affiliates with any of the people crossed off the list also gets the boot and anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone from those they’ve labeled also gets labeled a deviant. Likewise any Islamic center or Masjid which hasn’t managed to keep up with the latest list of off-theminhaj.com and inadvertently invites any of those labeled deviant gets branded as well. Subsequently, anyone who goes to an Islamic center or masjid which has been labeled deviant, also becomes labeled a deviant. And so on and so forth. It has gotten so bad that recently when a friend of mine was speaking on a mobile phone to the head of Brixton Masjid, I asked that he pass the phone to me so that I can give him salaams as we were once old friends, and he told the brother not to pass me the phone, refusing to even accept and return basic salaams from and to me. Furthermore, after a congregational prayer in a masjid in Birmingham a couple of years ago, some of the brothers saw me in the masjid and quickly left and crossed over to the other side of the road, to avoid giving me salaams or being seen giving me salaams, which they themselves confessed to Khalid Barry (a British student in Madeenah University who was with me at the time). And when I mentioned these two incidents to Shaykh ‘Alee Hasan al-Halabee, he stated that such actions are clearly wrong and inappropriate and should not be done.
In contrast, Allaah describes the believers in His Noble Book as making the following du’aa, “Our Lord, do not place in our hearts hatred toward the believers.” (59:10) Yet some of our brothers have been doing just the opposite: placing enmity in the hearts of the people against the believers. It is sad that conferences, which used to be gatherings of learning, imparting beneficial knowledge, spreading the Sunnah, and increasing our eemaan, have been turned into gatherings of character assassination and maligning scholars, students of knowledge, and du‘aat. So much so that the hearts of those who attend these conferences have become hardened with hatred toward many students of knowledge, who have dedicated their lives to spreading the correct ‘aqeedah and Sunnah, and who should in fact be loved for the sake of Allaah. Rather, we should advise one another and try to guide our brothers if we see them make mistakes or see them straying from the correct manhaj. We should not rejoice nor feel triumphant when we see our brothers fall or err; so as not be like those whom Allaah describes saying, “If some good comes to you it grieves them, while if some evil befalls you they rejoice at it.” (3:120) We should give one another the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps he has a shubhah (doubt or point of confusion) about such and such an issue, perhaps he does not know the proofs regarding such and such an issue, perhaps this mistake, in his view, was based on what he held to be knowledge, but rather it was statements of scholars taken out of context, etc. Allaah describes the believers as being harsh to the disbelievers, and merciful with the believers. (48:29) Now, it has been reversed. Some of these brothers in a recent lecture in the United States went so far as to say about me that I am worse than the Jews and Christians! May Allaah protect us from that which they ascribe us to. This state of random labeling and boycotting has become among the greatest fitnahs of our time, where Satan creates fitnah cloaked in an Islaamic garb. He disguised this fitnah under an honorable name, under the name of Truth, under the name of Salafiyyah. While the noble Salafee manhaj, the only way to attain success, is innocent of such behavior. The path of true guidance, i.e. Salafiyyah, was never intended to be an exclusive club, in which certain individuals can grant membership and confiscate it from whomsoever they please. This attitude is similar to the very hizbiyyah (factionalism) which our brothers are trying to fight.
I advise these brothers of ours to spend their time beneficially, learning the basics, studying Arabic, tajweed, the classic works of ‘aqeedah, such as al-‘Itisaam, al-Usool ath-Thalaathah, Kitaab at-Tawheed, al-‘Aqeedah al-Waasitiyyah, al-‘Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, etc. under scholars in the original Arabic. And, rather than trying to take some quotes here and there from great scholars like Shaykhs Nasirud-Deen al-Albaanee, Bin Baaz, ‘Uthaymeen, and Muqbil, may Allaah have mercy on them all, I recommend that they actually listen to and study their tapes. Al-hamdulillah, there are many commentaries of Shaykh ‘Uthaymeen on the various books of ‘aqeedah, and tafseers, etc and Silsilat al-Hudaa wan-Noor, the tapes of Shaykh al-Albaanee, rahimahullaah, are available in the hundreds for them to actually listen to from beginning to end.
Finally, I sincerely advise all my brothers and sisters to remember that we are all going to stand for account before Allaah and answer for every word we said (or wrote); and we should remember that injustice is a great sin indeed. Let us all (myself included) never forget that the source of guidance and light is Allaah, the Most Exalted, so we should sincerely pray to Him to guide us to the Truth, and regularly make the du’aa: allaahumma arinal haqqa haqqan warzuq nattibaa’u wa arinal baatila baatilan warzuq najtinaabuh O Allaah, show as the Truth as truth, and grant us the blessing of following it, and show as falsehood as falsehood, and grant us the blessing of staying away from it.
We should beg for Allaah’s divine guidance with our hearts free from diseases, such as envy, hatred, fear of not being accepted by people, or a desire to maintain a good reputation amongst some. I ask Allaah to expose the reality to those who sincerely desire the Truth.