Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Wahhabi Myth


1.A few nights ago i had a short chat or argument with someone in msn. That person happens to be a lady who is not happy with my post and she felt that the post was directly reflecting to her.

2. To protect her identity i shall not reveal her name.

3. I told her the main reason i post and create a blog on the wahabi myth is on defence of scholars like Syeikul Islam ibnu Taimiyah,ibnu Qayyim, the muhaddith Albani, the late grand mufti of saudi arabia Abdul aziz bin baz and many others scholars of the sunnah which was label as wahabi.

4.They were among the scholars that were label as 'Wahabi' for refusing to commit and commdeming acts of shirk and innovation in the religion.


5. I futher explain that i pity our asatizah who have gotten their B.A and M.A from riyadh or madinah and were label as Wahabi by the community.


6. I don't blame her for being offended as she told me that we had an argument about this before. She used to told me that the wahabis and people from muhammadiyah didnt do maulid, kenduri tahlil etc. She futher told me that the Wahabis didnt believe in ijma(consensus of opinion) and qiyas(anology).


7. I did my research and found out most of what she say is not true. Apart from her views they are many other myth going on the internet about wahabism. In the west wahabism is asscociated with terrorism. The Sufi view wahabism as a group of Muslim who condemns them from asking help from the saints etc. I shall expose the myth in another new blog of mine which is under construction at http://www.thewahabimyth.blogspot.com/

8. For the mean time i advice readers to do your research before spurting wrong information. There is a war of ideology going on between the 'Salafi' and 'Sufi'. When doing your research read directly from the source. E.g when you want to learn or research about Sufism, read from the 'masters' of sufism like Abdul Hamid Ghazali or Abdul Qadir Jalaini. If you want to research about the Salaf Or 'Wahabi'( a term given by the opposition of the salaf) do the same. Read books written by the mujtahid like Syeikul Islam Ibnu Taimiyah or Muhammad Abdul Wahab etc.

9. As i update my blog, our Muslim brothers and sister are being massacred by the Israeli Army. I will not focus too much on petty issues raised by some of the community. There are more important events that are going on that need to be change and stop. At the end of your research and whatever your findings i hope we will understand ourself better and stay united against the enemy of Islam.

10. After the conversation with her i was really upset with the kind of arguments we made. I would expect a madrasah and university graduate to explain her perception on religion with justifications ( dalil & nas) but sad to say her arguments is filled with emotions . Moreover, she belittled me dat the formal and informal education that i have gone through from the muslim organisations in Singapore is of no match from her university. See what she wrote (in malay):

''senang kate kn,mayb d prob dat lies betwen us psl awk belajar dari tpt lain n whereby myself i learn frm basic to the advance level dari madrasah,n for ur case, awk blaja frm other religious agency n cara dan ilmi pengetahuan yg disampaikan pd kte byk yg berbeza,babtu timbulnye pelbagai percanggahan ant kte,''

Wow!! She proclaimed that she learn from basic to advance level but she failed to provide strong evidence from authentic sources.. Allah mentioned in the Quran:

''O you who believe! Let not some man among you laugh at others; it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former)'' (Al-Hujurat:11)

''Hai orang-orang yang beriman, janganlah sekumpulan orang laki-laki merendahkan kumpulan yang lain, boleh jadi yang ditertawakan itu lebih baik dari mereka. ''(Al Hujurat:11)

3 comments:

Haz said...

Salam...

i know this is a tad to late to respond, especially since you've just added me in FB... but i find this post, rather interesting to respond to.

unfortunately, people are afraid of things they do not understand.

for my stand in things, i'm even labelled as that in my family, even as mainstream as i thought myself to be.

the trouble with madrasah students and the main difference between them and those from secular background, is that they fail to think. pardon my harsh words.

madrasah students of the past were embedded with purely rote learning, rather than given the "chance" (in my opionion, i have always been forced to think) to have an education filled with higher order thinking skills.

so don't blame them for reacting the way they are. apart from that, the older generation are also afraid of things.... strange. =) and hence, from grandparents to parents to children, they keep on forcing down our throat that religion is this way and has always been this way, in which, they don't realise access to education back then was so limited, and hence, local scholars of the past don't get more knowledge unlike now.

what's scary is that somehow or rather.. the older generation don't realise that they're like spreading the religion of their nenek moyangs, not to say they have strayed, but.. it's kinda uncanny. somewhat following the era of Prophet Abraham as, where the people hold strongly to the religion of idolatry, of their own nenek moyang, passed down from one generation to the next, accepting with blind faith, although they knew the idols had no power whatsoever - refer to seerah of Prophet Abraham as where he was trashing out the idols for more info. heh.

anyways, can i have access to that blog in the making, just for added knowledge, if any? =p

Anonymous said...

salaam bro. i know this response is too late (heh) but i think i'll respond too.

i am a full madrasah student, and sadly enough, i have to agree with lil^orion's comments. kadang-kadang pelajar agama ni terdidik menjadi penghafal, bukan pemikir. it's the way we (and i dont mean just the madrasah students, but us as a whole) are taught about islam are by 'sami'na wa ata'na, we listen and we obey. okay, if the view is strongly held by a nas from Qur'an or Sunnah, then it IS obligatory for us to 'sami'na wa ata'na'. but what about things yg tak disandarkan terus dengan dalil-dalil Qur'an dan sunnah? in the end, views are just views. we can choose to accept them or not. whereas the Qur'an or the sayings from the Rasul, then that is to be accepted without any doubt :) in this case, I personally think it's the way our people think. it's their mindset that they have to change. i find the 'asobiyah in our community rather... disturbing. dont you find it weird, when the people who strongly labelled themselves as the Syafi'ites sedekahkan Al-Fatihah or Yasin untuk orang-orang yang dah meninggal when in fact, Imam Syafi'i himself opposed this idea? seriously, our people really need to brush up on their reading!

but bro. not all madrasah students are against wahabism, or so they are called. not all madrasah students 'refuse' to accept changes :)

and may Allah show us all the right way. fi hifzihi, bro

Haz said...

wor... i hate ANNOY-omous (yes, ANNOY-omous, not anonymous) comments. =p ANNOY-ing tau tak tahu saper gerangan tu.. =p kuikuikui..

yes, that is why, reading is an integral part of gaining knowledge. actually, come to think of it, singapore is a society where most things are "forced" to. remember silent readings during assembly? lol! it's the govt opinion to cultivate good reading habits, by forcing.

be gracious campaign, stop at 2 campaign, be hygienic campaign. campaigns after campaigns after campaigns. NO WONDER we have such a mindset. lol!

i think it's really part of a child's development that parents cultivate this habit of reading, curiosity and exploring. yup, parents indeed are a very important part of a child's development. but sadly, let's look at the vicious cycles around us. to be specific, the ones with a destructive lifestyle. parents in such a lifestyle, influence their kids to be such. mak bapak rambut perang, anak pun ikut sekali. nanti mak bapak dapat tattoo, nau'zubillah anak pun ikut sekali. kids learn by imitating. monkey see monkey do. parents don't realise kids are mirror images of themselves. now i am finally believing that, nature vs nurture, nurture is highly of control here.

ala kulli hal, i think the system in madrasahs are slowly changing. and besides, kids these days are smarter by the minute, so.. they'll figure it out anytime soon. heh.