Al-Hajuri's Commentary on al-Safaareenee's Aqidah

In his aqeedah, al-Safaareenee states the following:

وجاز للمولى يعذب الورى - من غير ما ذنب ولا جرم جرى

It is permitted for al-Mawlaa (Allah) to punish the creation, without any sin or any crime committed.

From our previous article, it should now be clear that this statement is baatil (false, futile) and it is the aqidah of the Jahmiyyah and the Ash'ariyyah.

However, how did al-Hajuri comment on this line of poetry? Let us see, he says in his book (المنة الإلهية بشرح العقيدة السفارينية) on page 153, and it is also on audio in his cassettes (شرح السفارينية):

أحسن من هذا البيت قول الطحاوي -رحمه الله- في متن الطحاوية: (يهدي من يشاء ويعصم ويعافي فضلا، ويضل من يشاء ويخذل ويبتلي عدلا، وكلهم يتقلبون في مشيئته بين فضله وعدله). اه‍ قال تعالى: ﴿لا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ﴾ [الأنبياء:23]، والله سبحانه وتعالى عفو كريم؛ قال سبحانه: ﴿وَلَوْلا فَضْلُ اللهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ مَا زَكَى مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ أَبَدًا وَلَكِنَّ اللهَ يُزَكِّي مَنْ يَشَاءُ﴾ [النور:21]. فالفضل لله تعالى من قبل ومن بعد فلو أن الله عذب العباد جميعًا ما كان ظالمًا لهم، وإن رحمهم فبفضل منته وكرمه

This translates:

Better than this line of poetry is the saying of al-Tahawi (rahimahullaah) in the text of al-Tahaawiyyah, "He guides whom He wills and protects and pardons (them) out of [His] bounty and He misguides whom He wills and abandons and tests them out of justice, and all of them are subject to His Will, in between His bounty and His justice."

And Allaah says, "He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be questioned." (21:23) and Allaah, the Sublime and Exalted is the Pardoning, the Generous, He, the Sublime said, "And had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His Mercy on you, not one of you would ever have been pure from sins. But Allaah purifies (guides to Islaam) whom He wills, and Allaah is All-Hearer, All-Knower." (24:21)

Hence, all bounty belongs to Allaah the Exalted - from before and after - and if Allaah punished all of the servants, He would not be oppressive towards them, and if He showed mercy to them all, then by His bounty, favour and generosity.

Upon this there are numerous points:

ONE: Al-Safaareenee's speech is clearly, plainly and evidently the saying of the Ash'ariyyah because he said "It is permitted for al-Mawlaa (Allah) to punish the creation, without any sin or any crime committed."

TWO: Al-Hajuri al-Haddaadi either:

Affirmed this by saying, "Better than this line of poetry..." this means that either al-Hajuri considers there to be (حسن) good, and (أحسن), better, in other words, al-Safaareenee's speech is good and al-Tahawi's is better.

Or:

If it is argued that al-Hajuri does not mean by "better" that al-Safaareenee's saying is "good" because the word (أحسن) in the Arabic language does not necessitate that the thing being compared which is inferior actually shares in the characteristic of being "good," then in that case, it was necessitated upon al-Hajuri to point that out and say plainly and clearly that al-Safaareenee's saying is "baatil (false)," but al-Hajuri, unlike the firmly-grounded scholars (see further below) did not do that.

This means he did not recognize that the saying is baatil (false) and this indicates idtiraab (confusion). This would be like when a person reads, for example a saying of the Jahmiyyah, "The Qur'an is muhdath" and then comments, "Better than this saying is the saying of Imaam Ahmad that 'Allaah speaks as and when He wills'." And so you wonder, has this person grasped the real matter here, because what he should have said is:

This saying is baatil (futile) and is the saying of the Jahmiyyah who mean by this to say the Qur'an is created (makhlooq). And in contrast to the Jahmites we say that Allaah speaks as and when He wills, which means He spoke the verses of the Qur'an as and when He willed, and Jibreel brought that to Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), and thus the Qur'an, from this angle is of recent revelation to the Messenger and the Believers, that is one angle, and the other angle is that since Allaah speaks as and when He wills, then some verses will be more recent than others, so from this angle we can say that from Allaah's speech is that which is recent and follows that which was before it, but this does not mean it is "created," since "haadith, muhdath" are not necessarily synonymous to "makhlooq" in the language.

So from this the truth is plainly clear. Hence, you get the idea and the point being made, when we read this futile, corrupt saying of the Jahmiyyah, Ash'ariyyah, "It is permitted for al-Mawlaa (Allah) to punish the creation, without any sin or any crime committed," then a deeply-grounded person who knows and understands will comment in a certain way, and by the way the person comments, you will understand whether he really grasps matters or not. So here al-Hajuri displays his confusion and ignorance, no matter what excuses his followers try to make for him and what defences they have made for him in this regard.

THREE: Further, al-Tahawi's speech is on a different subject altogether and is not connected to the point being made by al-Safaareenee. Al-Tahawi is simply establishing that guidance from Allaah is mercy and misguidance from Allaah is justice and this is in the wider context of the topic of al-Qadaa wal-Qadar in which al-Tahawi says:

He created the creation with His knowledge, and determined (decreed) their decrees (provision, lot) and He determined their life-spans. None of their actions were hidden to Him before He created them and He knew what (actions) they would perform before He created them. And He ordered them with obedience to Him and prohibited them from disobedience to Him. And everything proceeds with His decree and His will, His will (mashee'ah) is fulfilled (executed). There is no (independent) will for the servants [outside of Allaah's will], save what He wills for them, so whatever He wills for them will be and whatever He does not will, will not be. He guides whom He wills and protects and pardons (them) out of [His] bounty and He misguides whom He wills and abandons and tests them out of justice, and all of them are subject to His Will, in between His bounty and His justice.

This whole passage of al-Tahawi has no connection to what al-Safaareenee was affirming since al-Safaareenee was affirming the bid'ah of the Jahmiyyah and Ash'ariyyah who deny wisdoms in Allaah's actions and who are Jabariyyah in the matter of al-Qadar. Al-Tahawi is simply outlining the belief of Ahl al-Sunnah with regards to al-Qadar and Allaah's will and that the servants actions are decreed and they are subject to His will and alongside that they have been commanded and prohibited, all of which establishes that Allaah is just in what He does alongside His prior knowledge of all things.

Hence, the saying of Imaam al-Tahawi has no connection to the bid'ah of the Ash'ariyyah which al-Safaaareenee is affirming - and this in itself shows a number of things: a) al-Hajuri did not recognize the futility of al-Safaareenee's saying and b) he is confused in this matter and does not have the sophistication required to grasp the issues and to identify and sufficiently refute falsehood.

However, from the angle of justice we should mention that al-Hajuri does not deny that Allaah only punishes the one who deserves to be punished and that He does not punish the one who does not deserve to be punished. However, we see clearly the difference between his commentary and the commentary of the deeply-rooted scholars and his failure to adequately explain the futility of the saying of al-Safaareenee. The way that he commented upon it would leave the reader confused. Now compare that to what we see from the following Shaykhs:

The Speech of Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan

To see the difference between a genuine scholar and one who lacks knowledge and is ignorant, let us see the commentary of Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan on this same line of poetry of al-Safaareenee, the Shaykh said in his "Sharh al-Safaareeniyyah" (pp. 121-122):

This speech is not sound, it proceeds upon the madhhab of the Ash'aris who deny wisdom in the actions of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, so they say, "Allaah acts out of pure will, there is no wisdom, hence it is permitted that He punish the obedient and reward the disbeliever, because He does whatever He wills." As for Ahl al-Sunnah they say, "This is futile (baatil) with respect to Allaah, the Sublime and Exalted, for it is not befitting for Him to reward the disbeliever and punish the believer, it is not befitting for His wisdom, the Sublime and Exalted, and for His mercy and there has come in the evidences in the Book andd the Sunnah that He has preparted gardens for the believers and prepared the fire for the disbelievers, this is what has come in the Book and the Sunnah, so how can you say, "He punishes the creation, without any sin or any crime committed?"

The Commentary of Shaykh Ibn al-Uthaymeen

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimahullaah) said as occurs in his Sharh of al-Safaareeniyyah (p. 340):

However, this saying and the justification for this saying, both of them are futile (baatil) and we do not say merely weak (da'eef), but we say it is futile (baatil), because it is opposed to clear text in the Book of Allaah, Allaah, the Exalted said, "And your Lord would never destroy the towns wrongfully, while their people were right-doers" (11:117) and the Exalted said, "And he who works deeds of righteousness, while he is a believer (in Islamic Monotheism) then he will have no fear of injustice, nor of any curtailment (of his reward)" ( 20:112), and the Exalted said, "Truly! Allaah wrongs not mankind in aught..." (10:44) and the Exalted said, "Whosoever does righteous good deed it is for (the benefit of) his ownself, and whosoever does evil, it is against his ownself, and your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves" ( 41:46) and the verses with this meaning are abundant.

So when we say that the one who believes and (obeys Allaah) through taqwah, it is permitted that Allaah punish him, this saying is opposed to the text of the Qur'an.

Then the Shaykh goes on to address and refute two arguments used to affirm the false saying, the first that "Whatever Allaah does is jameel (beautiful)" and the second is "Allaah is not question about what He does" and after addressing these, he says at the end:

And upon that, the saying of the author (rahimahullaah), "It is permitted for al-Mawlaa (Allah) to punish the creation, without any sin or any crime committed" is futile saying in opposition to the Book and the Sunnah and opposed to what is necessitated by the Names and Attributes of Allaah.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, we can see here the difference between the Scholars who are deeply grounded and Yahya al-Hajuri al-Haddaadi who stumbles and fumbles. Further, this particular issue is not to be taken in isolation, because when we see many of other calamities from Yahya al-Haddaadi, all of this adds up and shows a particular picture of a man who is an isolationist and thinks himself sufficient upon his kursee, unable to see his own calamities, because he is not known for humbling himself seeing that he should sit and study with other Mashaayikh.