Friday, 14 February 2025 |
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![]() Introduction
In this series we will be highlighting the (deviant) creed of an-Nabahani, indicating his remoteness from the aqidah of Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah and his agreement with the usool of the Jahmiyyah, the Mu'tazilah, the Ash'ariyyah and his wallowing in the bid'ah of al-Qadr, that of the Qadariyyah, alongside other instances of profound ignorance of the aqidah of the Righteous Salaf (the Companions and their followers). Here are scans of cover pages for two of his (numerous) books which were alluded to earlier:
They are the 6th edition of "ash-Shakhsiyyah al-Islaaamiyyah" (Dar ul-Ummah, Beirut, 2003CE) and "Nidhaam ul-Islaam" (6th edition, 2001CE). Taqi ad-Din an-Nabahani: The Aql (Intellect) is the Absolute and Fundamental Foundation for the Islamic aqidah We established in the first part that an-Nabahani considers all of the deviations (inclusive of doctrines of kufr) of the Jahmiyyah, Qadariyyah and Mu'tazilah to be from the Islamic aqidah, despite their variation and mutual contradiction. Within this context we now come to see that an-Nabahani himself is upon one of the greatest of the usool of the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah (and Ash'ariyyah) which is making the intellect (aql) the absolute criterion and reference point for the Islamic aqidah - following in the tradition of the likes of Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaaf (d. 235H), and ar-Razi (d. 606H) and others from the Mutakallimeen who glorified the intellect above it's proper place. An-Nabahani says in "ash-Shakhsiyyah al-Islaamiyyah" (3/255):
He is speaking here about the verses in the Qur'an, "Allaah is the creator of every single thing", and "He is powerful (qadeer) over everything", and explaining how the intellect defines and qualifies the meanings of these verses to prevent them from being misapplied, and then he goes on to mention this as a general principle for the aqidah as a whole, saying:
Here an-Nabahani has given the intellect a superior status in that he makes the understanding and qualification of the verses to be based primarily on the evidence of the intellect (i.e. what the intellect can prove and accept), and not upon what Ahl us-Sunnah hold that the Qur'an is explained by the Qur'an and then by the Sunnah (be that mutawaatir or aahaad) and then by the sayings of the of Companions. They also hold that sound intellect will always agree with what is established through that. However, an-Nabahani qualifies all verses (that pertain to creed) primarily by the intellect and makes the intellect to be what provides and determines the correct understanding and the various qualifications and specifications of the texts. It is important to bear this in mind when we tear down this fake and false edifice that an-Nabahani has constructed following his Mu'tazili, Ash'ari predecessors in this, especially considering that he dismisses the bulk of the Sunnah from being acceptable in matters of belief (aqaa'id). In "Nidhaam al-Islaam", after outlining rational proofs for belief in Allaah, the Messenger, and the Qur'an, he says (pp. 11-12):
He means here that once the intellect has established the validity of faith in Allaah, then whatever followers can be accepted with certainty such as the resurrection, Paradise, Hellfire, the Angels, Jinn and so on. He then continues:
After this he mentions how it is haraam to hold belief (i'tiqaad) in anything that has not come in the Qur'an or a mutawaatir hadeeth, (a view he has taken from the Mu'tazilah, that the khabar ul-aahaad is speculative knowledge that cannot establish aqidah, and the Mu'tazilah innovated this in order to reject what would not agree with their rejection of the attributes of Allaah): He says:
An-Nabahani is following the misguidance of the Mu'tazilah (and the Ash'ariyyah) who reject the khabar ul-aahaad in the affairs of aqidah, and we will take this up more fully in a separate article. In this view, the vast majority of the authentic Sunnah and what it contains of affairs pertaining to belief, it is haraam to believe in them because it is "speculative (dhannee)", not "definitive (qat'ee)" - this is because the only thing that is "definitive" is what is established by the intellect, which an-Nabahani (and the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, and Ash'ariyyah) make to be the base and foundation, preceding the revelation, and thereafter, whatever is established by the Qur'an or a mutawaatir hadeeth. This to him amounts to sure knowledge. With this established - and these are only a small sample of scores of quotes that can be brought from his books in this regard - then let us see the foolishness that one is led to when one allows the (deficient, limited, human) intellect to reign supreme, above and beyond the necessities of the Book and the Sunnah. An-Nabahani's Crumbling "Intellectual" Edifice So here is just one observation which is sufficient to demolish everything that this man stands upon, and everything in his books - so we can see that he makes it haraam to believe anything which is speculative (dhannee) as opposed to what is definitive (qat'ee), and he says that the aql is the definitive source, now compare this to what he says about the mutakallimeen, the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Qadariyyah (read Part 1), he says about them, in his book "ash-Shakhsiyyah" (see previous article) that:
And he makes this remark after alluding to the fact that they all tried to use rational methods to speak about the Islamic belief (aqidah). And also in (ash-Shakhsiyyah, 1/127):
He is speaking here about al-Jahm bin Safwaan, the kaafir, and Gheelaan al-Qadariyy, and Waasil bin Ataa' and Amr bin Ubayd, and Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaaf, the heads of misguidance from the Jahmiyyah, Qadariyyah, Jabariyyah, Mu'tazilah from the second and third centuries after hijrah, and he says that they had no deviation in their beliefs (aqaa'id) and whatever they held and adopted is considered an Islamic aqidah. Here, an-Nabahani has shown his intellectual bankruptcy in that if the intellect was definitive and decisive, and that the intellect qualifies and specifies the revealed texts, and it is haraam to base one's aqidah except on what is definitive (qat'ee), then how has he considered the saying of all these misguided innovators, alongside their "divergence and mutual contradiction" to be from the sound accepted Islamic aqidah? Does not all this "divergence and mutual contradiction", make all of their views collectively speculative. You have to remember that the major hallmark of all of these individuals al-Nabahani is speaking of is that the intellect (aql) is decisive over the revelation (naql) because it is definitive. So if all these groups are upon this, then how come they have not all come together upon a uniform creed. So who do you believe? The Jahmee who says Allaah is in every place and not above His Throne? The Jahmee who says the Mu'tazilee is a Mushrik for affirming names. Or the Mu'tazilee who says the Ash'ari is a Mushrik for affirming attributes. The Jabariyy who says man is compelled in his actions? The Qadariyy who says man creates his own actions. The Mu'taziliyy who denies Allaah's attributes? Or the Ash'ari who affirms some attributes but denies others. So given an-Nabahani's glorification of the intellect, it is laughable to see an-Nabahani flatly contradicting and simply demolishing his own foundation in this manner. This proves that the intellect is not definitive, and that the intellect must simply follow the Qur'an's interpretation by the Sunnah and by the sayings of the Companions, the intellect is guided by revelation, the intellect grasps, understands and follows, it is not an independent source.
So an-Nabahani glorifies the intellect, he says it provides definitive knowledge, and that it qualifies and specifies the revealed texts, and he rejects a large portion of the Sunnah in the affairs of aqidah because it is speculative (dhannee), and at the same time, he validates the opinions and beliefs of those misguided sects (some of which are kufr) who based their views upon the intellect, and he says they are all from the "islamic aqidah", meaning the aqidah that is supposed to be only taken from evidence that is "qat'ee" (definitive) - whilst at the same time acknowledging they are all divergent, mututally opposing beliefs (aqaa'id)! We will develop this same point further in the next article in this series regarding an-Nabahani's position on "Khabar ul-Aahaad" - which he has taken from the Mu'tazilah, and which originates with the Mu'tazilah ,and which also has similar implications. Regarding the Claim that the First Obligation Is to Rationally Prove the Existence of a Creator This is actually where an-Nabahani is tended towards and he is simply following the Mu'tazilah and Ash'ariyyah in this, and this claim of an-Nabahani, alongside his claim that the fitrah is not sufficient for belief in Allaah, then it is baatil (false) and opposes the Book, the Sunnah and Ijmaa'. We have already brought rebuttals by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani against the Ash'aris on this point in other articles so you can refer to them here:
And the essence of the matter is that the first obligation upon a person is to simply make the two testimonials of faith and that his eemaan (faith, belief) is sound and valid upon this alone. This is because Allaah has made the fitrah of all people to be inclined towards Tawhid if left intact. The fitrah (natural disposition and instinct), inherently, independent of the aql (intellect), acknowledges a creator. As for an-Nabahani, he is of the view that the fitrah alone is not sufficient (see "Nidhaam al-Islaam", pp. 7-8), he treats the fitrah as something sentimental, and that the aql (intellect) is absolutely necessary in one's faith, and the only route to faith - and in this he has opposed the way of the Believers and chosen instead the path of the misguided innovators. For whole tribes in the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) accepted Islaam and made the testifications of faith, often on account of the Islaam of their leader alone (such as the tribe of al-Aws, following Sa'd bin Mu'aadh), and it was never known that they were ordered to rationally prove the existence of a creator through inspection and observation. This is the innovation of the Mutakallimeen, the Mu'tazilah and Ash'ariyyah, and they exaggerated and went to extremes in this regard until some of them like al-Juwaynee declared anyone who did not adduce rational proofs for the existence of a creator whilst having the ability to do so, to be a kaafir (see here, for documentation of this view and its rebuttal, and also documentation that this view originates with the Mu'tazilah, which the Ash'arites borrowed, and which an-Nabahani is simply following)! The Consensus of the Salaf Regarding This Matter Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, when discussing the hadeeth of Mu'aadh bin Jabal at the beginning of Kitaab ut-Tawheed in Bukhaaree's Saheeh, in which there occurs the saying of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam), "... Let the first thing that you call them to be to the Tawheed of Allaah (yuwahhidullaahu), and when they have come to know that ..." he discusses the issue of what the first obligation upon the servant is. The generality of the Ash'aris hold that it is an obligation for each person to know the proofs for the existence of his Lord, through rational and observational proofs and some of them (such as al-Baqillani) go to extremes in claiming that each and every person must learn the preliminary philosophical precepts that underlie the demonstration of Allaah's existence through al-jawhar wal-'arad (substance and accident). Ibn Hajr first makes mention of the positions of Ibn Fawrak and his followers, and also that of Abu Bakr al-Baqillani and Abu Ishaq al-Isfaraa'eenee (all Ash'aris - being students of Abul-Hasan al-Bahili, the student of Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari) on this subject.
So in the course of discussing this issue, Ibn Hajr rebuts this position of the Ash'aris saying:
Commenting on the hadeeth, "I have been ordered to fight the people until they testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah (alone) and until they believe in me and what I have brought..." (Saheeh Muslim), Imaam an-Nawawee says in his Sharh of Saheeh Muslim (1/210-211):
What an-Nawawi means is that when a person makes the two testifications, without doubting in them, and believing in them firmly, then his eemaan and belief (i'tiqaad) is valid and sound and is sufficient for him - and thereafter it is not necessary for him to learn the rational proofs of the Mutakallimeen and nor to validate his faith by use of the intellect. And Ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hanafee, the explainer of at-Tahaawiyyah said (p. 66-67):
اعلم أن التوحيد أول دعوة الرسل، وأول منازل الطريق، وأول مقام يقوم فيه السالك إلى اللَّه -عز وجل- ... ولهذا كان الصحيح: أن أول واجب يجب على المكلف شهادة أن لا إله إلا اللَّه، لا النظر، ولا القصد إلى النظر، ولا الشّكّ؛ كما هي أقوال أرباب الكلام المذموم، بل أئمة السلف كلهم متفقون على أن أول ما يؤمر به العبد الشهادتان، ومتفقون على أن من فعل ذلك قبل البلوغ لم يؤمر بتجديد ذلك عقيب البلوغ
And Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah) explains what is correct, in Dar' ut-Ta'aarud (8/6-10):
This is what Ahl us-Sunnah are agreed upon regarding this matter, as for the Mutakallimeen, amongst them an-Nabahani, who is just following the misguidance of the Mu'tazilah and Ash'ariyyah, then to them Tawhid revolves mainly around affirming Allaah's existence (and not worshipping Him alone, without any partners), and they make it the first obligation to prove Allaah's existence through the route of intellect (aql), which to them is the greatest foundation in aqidah and the most definitive source for the aqidah. Finally, it should be pointed out that the intellect has its designated place and it ought be used in reflection and observation in order to increase one's faith (eemaan) and piety (taqwaa), because that is what Allaah calls to in the Qur'an, and the intellect is to be used to strive to understand what has been revealed, but as for making it an independent source of what is claimed to be definitive knowledge in aqidah, then this is from the innovations of the Mu'tazilah, and it opposes what Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah are upon. And the Mu'tazilah innovated this saying based upon the proof of "hudooth ul-ajsaam" which they and the Jahmiyyah pioneered and in which the Ash'arites blindly followed them, and we have documented this in abundance in scores of other articles on this site.
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