السلام عليكم
The Forbiddance of Imitating and Taking From The People of The Book and The Mushrikīn.
And there have been many Texts narrated concerning the forbiddance of this and the warning against it. From them is His,
Ta’āla’s , saying,
إِن تُطِيعُواْ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَلَى أَعْقَابِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُواْ خَاسِرِينَ
If you obey those who disbelieve, they will send you back on your heels, and you will turn back (from Faith) as losers.
212
And His,
Ta’āla’s, saying,
وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ
And never will the Jews, nor the Christians, be pleased with you, till you follow their religion.
213
And His,
Ta’āla’s, saying,
تَتَّخِذُواْ بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالاً وَدُّواْ مَا عَنِتُّمْ
Take not as a
Bitānah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends, etc.) other than you (Muslims), since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely.
214
And His,
Ta’āla’s, saying,
وَلاَ تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَىَ خَآئِنَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً مِّنْهُمُ
And you will not cease to discover deceit in them, except a few of them.
215
And the Messenger of Allāh, صلى الله عليه وسلم ,said, “
You will follow the traditions of those who were before you, hand span by hand span, and arm span by arm span. To the point that if they entered the den of a lizard, you would follow them.” We said, “O Messenger of Allāh, the Jews and the Christians?” He said, “Then who?” Agreed upon, from Abū Sa’īd. And this is a warning against imitating them, as is in his, صلى الله عليه وسلم ‘s, saying, “
Whoever imitaes a people, then he is from them.” Narrated by Ahmad and Abū Dāwūd from Ibn ‘Umar, and Al-Albānī authenticated it.
216
And Al-Bukhārī narrated from Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allāh be pleased with them both, that he said, “
How can you ask the People of the Book about something and your Book which was revealed upon the Messenger of Allāh, صلى الله عليه وسلم ,is more recent. You read it while it is pure and it hasn’t aged. And it has informed you that the People of the Book replaced the Book of Allāh and the changed it. And they wrote the Book with their hands and they said that it is from Allāh, in order to purchase with it a small gain. Does not that which came to you from the knowledge stop you from asking them? No, by Allāh, we have not seen any man from them asking you about that which was revealed upon you.”
217
And in a narration of his, “
Are you not prevented…” Review “
Al-I’tisām” by Al-Bukhārī, chapter “
The saying of the Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم ’ ,You will follow the traditions of those who were before you’”, and the chapter, “
The saying of the Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم ’s ,Do not ask the people of the Book about anything’”
218
I say: And despite this, this Ummah has fallen into everything that the Messenger of Allāh, صلى الله عليه وسلم ,warned against.
وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ قَدَرًا مَّقْدُورًا
And the Command of Allāh is a decree determined.
219
And for example: The ‘
Aqīdah of
Hulūl,
220 and
going to extremes with regards to the righteous ones, and the worshipping of the buried ones, and building Masjids on graves,
and division and differing, and hiding the Truth and covering it with falsehood, and taking the rabbis and the monks as lords, and the people taking each other as lords –
as it is in democracy – and separating politics from the Religion, and following them in the systems of kufr – like the fabricated laws, socialism, and communism, and
all of this is major kufr – and the tribalism of jāhiliyyah – like
arab nationalism and the likes of it – and
if the noble person steals, he is left alone, and if the weak one steals, he is punished. And the implementing of their methodologies in educating and teaching upon the Muslims. And following them in the arts, entertainment, theatres and cinemas, and other than those, from the means of corruption. and imitating them in their acting upon the Gregorian calendar, and imitating them in the outward fashions – wearing their clothing, shaving the beard, effeminacy… – and using singing and chanting as a means of worship, as the sūfīs do.
221
And consuming interest, which has covered the Earth, and other than that. And from that which calls for regret in this era, is the Muslims learning their Religion at the hands of the Jews and the Christians in the universities of the west. Like in Egypt for example, the one who corrupted the Azhar and implemented the law of its evolvement, and he is Doctor Muhammad Al-Bahī, he attained his academic certificate from Germany. And many of the Shaykhs of the Azhar who succeeded the
Shaykh Mahmūd Shaltūt attained their academic degrees from the universities of the Christians, like the Syrians in France, and the likes of that. And this which befell the Muslims from the following of the People of the Book and the
mushrikīn in misguidance is from the signs of the Prophethood, due to it taking place as he, صلى الله عليه وسلم ,informed in his saying, “…
hand span by hand span, and arm span by arm span.”, like in the past Hadīth of Abū Sa’īd.
[...]
I say: And it is not hidden that excluded from what has passed is the
permissibility of learning that which mankind is partners in from the matters of the Dunyā,
like the matters of trades 222 and construction. It is allowed for the Muslim to learn them from the
kāfir, if the Muslim is safe from being placed into
Fitnah by the
kāfir concerning his Religion. And what is obligatory is that a group of the Muslims masters these issues – like the rest of the communal obligations – so that the Muslims can be free of needing the
kuffār in this.
This, and the past seven fundamentals have clarified the Path of Truth and the paths of misguidance. So that the Muslim will know the first and adhere to it and ally himself with its followers, and so he will beware of the paths of misguidance and so he will show enmity towards those who take them. And regarding this, Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allāh be
merciful to him, said, “Allāh,
Ta’āla, said,
وَكَذَلِكَ نفَصِّلُ الآيَاتِ وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ
And thus do We explain the Ayāt in detail, and so that the way of the
Mujrimīn (criminals, polytheists, sinners), may become manifest.
223
And He said,
وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger
after the Guidance has been shown clearly to him, and
follows other than the Path of the Believers, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen…
224 The Verse.
And
Allāh, Ta’āla, has clarified in His Book, the Path of the Believers in detail and the path of the criminals in detail, and the result of those ones in detail and the result of those ones in detail. And (He clarified) the actions of those ones and the actions of those ones, and the allies of those ones and the allies of those ones. And (He clarified) His forsaking of those ones and His granting of success to those ones. And (He clarified) the reasons for which He granted success to those ones and the reasons
for which He forsaked those ones. And He,
Subhānahu, clarified the two
matters in His Book and He revealed them, He elucidated them and He
made them clear with the clearest of clarifications.
So those who have knowledge about Allāh, His Book and His Religion, know the Path of the Believers with detailed knowledge and the path of the criminals with detailed knowledge, so the two paths became clear to them. So those ones are the most knowledgeable of the creation and the most beneficial of them to the people and the most sincere of them to them. And they are the ones who present the evidence (and they are) the guiders. And with that, the Companions came out ahead of all of those
who came after them, until the Day of Resurrection, because they were raised upon the path of misguidance,
kufr,
shirk, and the paths which lead to destruction, and they knew them in detail. Then the Messenger came to them, so he removed them from those darknesses to the Path of Guidance and the Straight Path of Allāh. So they came out of the extreme darkness to the Complete Light, and from the
shirk to the
Tawhīd, and from the ignorance to the Knowledge, and from the error to the Right Guidance. So they knew the value of that which they attained, so they increased in desire and love for that which they changed to and (they increased in) hate for that which they changed from. And they were the strongest in loving
Tawhīd,
Īmān and
Islām, and the strongest in hating that which opposes it, knowing the path in detail.
As for those
225 who came after the
Sahābah, then from them are those who were raised upon
Islām, not knowing the details of what opposes it,
so some of the details of the Path of the Believers became mixed up in his regards with the path of the criminals. Because becoming mixed up only takes place if the knowledge of the two paths or one of them becomes weak. Just [as] ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Verily, the Loops of Islām will only come undone loop by loop, if those who did not know jāhiliyyah are raised in Islām.”
226 This is from the completeness of the knowledge of ‘Umar, may Allāh be pleased with him, because if he does not know
jāhiliyyah and its ruling, and it is everything that contradicts that which the Messenger, صلى الله عليه وسلم ,came with, so it is from
jāhiliyyah, because it is attributed to
jahl (ignorance), and everything that contradicts the Messenger, then it is from the ignorance.
So whoever does not know the path of the criminals and it is not become clear to him, then he is on the verge of assuming about some of their path that it is from the Path of the Believers. Just like what took place in this Ummah from many issues in the realm of beliefs, knowledge and actions, which were from the path of the criminals and the
kuffār; those who did not know that they (i.e. these matters) were from the path of the criminals included them in the Path of the Believers, and they called to them and declared
Takfīr on those who contradicted them and made
Halāl from him (i.e. the contradictor) that which Allāh and His Messenger made
Harām. Just like what took place for most of the people of
Bid’ah from the
Jahmiyyah, the
Qadariyyah, the
Khawārij, the
Rāfidhah and the likes of them…” until he said, “…and the point is that
Allāh, Subhānahu, loves for the path of His enemies to be known so that it will be avoided and hated, just as He loves for the Path of His Allies (
Awliyā’) to be known so that it will be loved and taken. And in this knowledge, there is from the benefits and the secrets, that which no one knows except Allāh.”
227
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212 Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān, 149
213 Sūrat Al-Baqarah, 120
214 Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān, 118
215 Sūrat Al-Mā’idah, 13
216 Trans. Note: Al-Albānī authenticated it in “
Sahīh Abī Dāwūd” #4031, as well as many other places in his books. It was also authenticated by Ibn Hibbān as mentioned in “
Bulūgh Al-Marām”, #437, by Ath-Thahabī in “
Siyar A’lām An-Nubalā’”, Vol. 15/509, by Al-‘Irāqī in “
Takhrīj Al-Ihyā”, Vol. 1/359, and by Ahmad Shākir in his verification of “Musnad Ahmad”, Vol. 7/122, as well as other places within it.
217 Hadīth #7363
218 “Fat’h Al-Bārī”, Vol. 13/300 and 333
219 Trans. Note: Sūrat Al-Ahzāb, 38
220 Trans. Note: This is the belief incarnation. Meaning, that Allāh,
Ta’ālā, took the form of a human, or came into the body of a human, as is believed by the disbelieving
Drūze and other groups that try to pass themselves off as Muslims when it benefits them.
221 “
Talbīs Iblīs”, by Ibn Al-Jawzī, pg. 319 and what follows it.
222 Trans. Note: Trades, meaning specific skills, such as engineering, pluming, welding, machining, etc., not trades in the meaning of sales.
223 Trans. Note: Sūrat Al-An’ām, 55
224 Trans. Note: Sūrat An-Nisā’, 115
225 Trans. Note: In the Arabic version, it said, “
As for that which came after the Sahābah…”, but we changed it, due to it not fitting linguistically, and the quote within the original source is as we translated it here.
226 Trans. Note: This was also mentioned by Ibn Taymiyyah in “
Majmū’ Al-Fatāwā”, Vol. 2/398 and Vol. 4/590, as well as in “
Minhāj As-Sunnah”, Vol. 10/301 and Vol. 15/54. But after some searching, no verification of this specific narration was found. What was found though was that there is another narration from ‘Umar, may Allāh be pleased with him, that has a similar meaning. The narration is as follows: From Al-Mustathill Ibn Husayn Al-Bāriqī, who said, “’
Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb addressed us, so he said, ‘I know, by the Lord of the Ka’bah, when the Arabs will be destroyed.’ So a man from the Muslims stood up to him then said, ‘When will they be destroyed, O Amīr Al-Mu’minīn?’ He said, ‘When those who did not deal with jāhiliyyah and did not accompany the Messenger governs their matter.’” This was narrated by the following:
Al-Hākim in “
Al-Mustadrak ‘Alā As-Sahīhayn”, Ibn Sa’d in “
At-Tabaqāt Al-Kubrā”, Abū Nu’aym in “
Hilyat Al-Awliyā’”, Al-Bayhaqī in “
Shu’ab Al-Īmān”. An explanation that was given as to why this narration might have been mentioned this way was because in “
Al-Jāmi’ Li-Shu’ab Al-Īmān”, this narration was mentioned after a
Hadeeth in which the beginning is the same as the beginning of this unfound narration, so there might have been a mix up between the two.
227 With slight abridgement, “
Al-Fawā’id” by Ibn Al-Qayyim, pg. 108-111