abu imaan an-nepalee
27th November 2006, 05:14 PM
Bending the Rules: Nabhani and Mutawatir Ma’nawi
Bismillahir ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Hizb ut-Tahrir or HTB/AQZ changed their adopted position regarding "mutawatir ma'nawi" (the successive- and-continuous-in-meaning ahadith) as daleel qati'e thabout (decisive textual evidence) in the mid-nineties, as was confirmed by Asif Khan, a member of the Wilayah Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain (HTB) during a conversation with one of the Brothers from www.Inside-HT .
Now with regards to Taqiudeen an-Nabhani (Rh), what he mentioned initially about the mutawatir ahadith can be found in his book Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah (The Islamic Personality) Volume 3:
"And the mutawatur ahadith (is) qati'e thabout from Nabi (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam), therefore it will be binding to act upon it in everything including the sunnah which is verbal, physical or silent (meaning the silence of Rasul (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam)).
And from the verbal mutawatir ahadith is His (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam's) statement:
“He who lies about me intentionally shall have his seat in the Hellfire!”
And from the physical sunnah al-mutawatir (is) the 5 prayers, (wa 'adad), and their (number of) rakat/units, and that is relating the manner in how the prayer is performed and fasting and hajj."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 3, page 76, 3rd edition)
However, Nabhani, had a change of heart and adopted a different view regarding the mutawatir ma’nawi ahadith as is confirmed in the Fikri Files (also referred to as the ‘Intellectual Dossier’) and the Question and answers found within (quoted en verbatim from a translation provided by the HT shabab):
"Al-Tawatur Al-Ma’anawi" dated 13th Muharram 1395AH/27th January 1975 C.E.
Q1: “What is the value of Al-Tawatur Al-Ma’anawi with regard to the Hadith related to Aqa’id (Doctrines)?
A: Tawatur Ma’anawi does not exist, though what does exist is Tawatur of Hadith; hence the question has no reality.
And so from this time it became the adopted position of Hizb ut-Tahriruntil the mid-nineties and, in fact, the splinter Hizb or ‘HT #2’ as they are now accustomed to be known, still adhere to Nabhani’s old position that mutawatir ma’nawi is not qati’e thabout!
Here is what Hizb ut-Tahrir (AQZ/HTB) NOW says about tawatur ma'nawi ahadith:
"Thus, the two Rakats of the Fajr (dawn) prayer is a Shar’ai rule in terms of praying them. And the belief that they are from Allah constitutes the 'Aqeeda. So praying the two Rakats Sunnah of the Fajr is Sunnah. If one does not pray it he is not blamed. If he prays it he will get the reward like the two Rakats of the Maghrib (evening) prayer, both of which are the same in terms of the Shar’ai rule. Regarding the terms of the 'Aqeeda, belief in the two Rakats of Fajr is a definite matter, so rejecting them is disbelief (Kufr), as they have been proven by way of Mutawatir (recurrent lines of transmission)."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Zalloum, Abdul-Qadeem, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, page 192 (Arabic) Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Ummah, 5th edition (1997/1318). Official translation of the Hizb taken (verbatim) from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nizamulislam/files/
And we also find the following:
"The mutawatir report is divided into two categories: verbal (lafzan) mutawatir like the hadith :'Whosoever intentionally lies about me, let him reserve his place in the Hellfire.' And the hadith of wiping on the leather socks, hadith of hawd (river in paradise), hadith of intercession (shafa'a) and the hadith of raising the hands (raf' al-yadayn) in prayer. And the mutawatir by meaning (ma'na) such as when the transmitters concur on a matter occurring in difference incidents such as the sunnah of the morning prayer being two rakats. It does exist. Numerous mutawatir hadiths have been reported even though the 'Ulama differ on what constitutes mutawatir according to their different views about the mutawatir report."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Zalloum, Abdul-Qadeem, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, page 337 (Arabic) Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Ummah, 5th edition (1997/1318). Official translation of the Hizb taken (verbatim) from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nizamulislam/files/
What the above 2 quotes taken from the 5th edition of Ash-shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, which is the edition in accordance with the adoption of the Hizb during the reign of Shaykh Abdul-Qadeem Zalloum’s (rh) leadership of the Party, demonstrate is that:
1-The ahadith regarding the sunnah rakatayn of Salatul-Fajr are Mutawatir ma’nawi
2-That it is kufr (Disbelief) to reject this.
We also find similar a point following in the book by the present amir, Abu 'ata Rishta called 'Tayseer al-wusool ila-l-'usul' page 74, 3rd edition, (2000/1421) that mutawatir lafdhee and ma'nawi are good enough for establishing 'aqaa'id (Beliefs) and ahkam (Divine rules)!
So according to the latest 2 leaders, rejecting masa'il (issues) from mutawatir ma'nawi is tantamount to kufr! So we ask: what about if you reject it as a source altogether? What do they say about Nabhani?
The excuse they give is feeble. They claim (as usual) that the categorisation of ahadith into Mutawatir ma’nawi is an issue which is disputed amongst the scholars of Islam. Usually when there is need to justify the shahd or bid'ah/kufr opinions which emanate from the leadership like trying to justify doubt in ;adhabul qabr, nuzool 'Isa(as), Dajjal, etc we find the excuse given of "this is ikhtilaf amongst the scholars of ahl sunnah!" And what they mean by ikhtilaf is disregard for the position of the salaf and khalaf and rather the statement of one scholar is enough to call something ikhtilaf...however this is inapplicable when it comes to the positions they call to like khilafah being fard kifaya muhattam, even though there are some scholars in the world who say it isn't fard on the layperson to work for khilafah, for Hizb ut-Tahrir this should be a valid ikhtilaf however that is not the case.
This call of 'ikhtilaf' is epitomised by the anonymous author of the article called ‘Khabar al-ahad’ which the shabab (party students/members) distribute amongst each other: Here is what is mentioned in that article in the section: ‘HADITH MUTAWATIR’:
"Tawatur by Meaning (ma'nawi):
This type of Tawatur deals with cases where the occurrence of certain topics, subject matters, or information, are overwhelmingly reported in various Hadiths. While each reported Hadith is not Mutawatir, the topic or information appear in so many Hadith that if these topics were taken together, they would reach to the level of Tawatur. Hence, the Scholars declared that the meaning of these topics are Tawatur. This category of Tawatur was debated amongst the Scholars of Hadith due to their definition of Tawatur. for example, some Scholars differed on the number of reports which met the level of Tawatur. An example of such Mutawatir-by-Meaning Hadiths talking about intercession.
However, the Practical Tawatur and the Tawatur by Text hadiths are undebated methods of narration and all Scholars agreed on these types of Tawatur. When differences would occur it would revolve around the number of reporters necessary to reach to certainty. They all agreed that it had to be reported by a number wherein it would be impossible for them to conspire to fabricate a lie, and when this number was reached, the Hadith would be considered as Tawatur.”
So in order for them to give credence and weight to Nabhani’s position, they claim it is an issue of ‘Ikhtilaf’ (valid difference of opinion); yet at the same time they say that rejecting masaa’il from this type of ahadith is Kufr. This is just one of many examples of this cult’s confusion when, instead of being up-front with a clear-cut and dangerous error, they try to hide things by making absurd claims! We haven't even touched upon the implications this has on their principles of "there is no ikhtilaf on 'aqeedah and 'aqeedah is qati''e etc". It would have been better for them to have at least given Nabhani (rh) an excuse as others have, but as all cults go, they will do anything to protect their founder, because a mistake like this would just enlarge an already bulky list of devience!
Wa ALLAHU musta’an!
Abu Imaan an-Nepalee
Bismillahir ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Hizb ut-Tahrir or HTB/AQZ changed their adopted position regarding "mutawatir ma'nawi" (the successive- and-continuous-in-meaning ahadith) as daleel qati'e thabout (decisive textual evidence) in the mid-nineties, as was confirmed by Asif Khan, a member of the Wilayah Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain (HTB) during a conversation with one of the Brothers from www.Inside-HT .
Now with regards to Taqiudeen an-Nabhani (Rh), what he mentioned initially about the mutawatir ahadith can be found in his book Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah (The Islamic Personality) Volume 3:
"And the mutawatur ahadith (is) qati'e thabout from Nabi (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam), therefore it will be binding to act upon it in everything including the sunnah which is verbal, physical or silent (meaning the silence of Rasul (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam)).
And from the verbal mutawatir ahadith is His (sallahu 'alayhi was-sallam's) statement:
“He who lies about me intentionally shall have his seat in the Hellfire!”
And from the physical sunnah al-mutawatir (is) the 5 prayers, (wa 'adad), and their (number of) rakat/units, and that is relating the manner in how the prayer is performed and fasting and hajj."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 3, page 76, 3rd edition)
However, Nabhani, had a change of heart and adopted a different view regarding the mutawatir ma’nawi ahadith as is confirmed in the Fikri Files (also referred to as the ‘Intellectual Dossier’) and the Question and answers found within (quoted en verbatim from a translation provided by the HT shabab):
"Al-Tawatur Al-Ma’anawi" dated 13th Muharram 1395AH/27th January 1975 C.E.
Q1: “What is the value of Al-Tawatur Al-Ma’anawi with regard to the Hadith related to Aqa’id (Doctrines)?
A: Tawatur Ma’anawi does not exist, though what does exist is Tawatur of Hadith; hence the question has no reality.
And so from this time it became the adopted position of Hizb ut-Tahriruntil the mid-nineties and, in fact, the splinter Hizb or ‘HT #2’ as they are now accustomed to be known, still adhere to Nabhani’s old position that mutawatir ma’nawi is not qati’e thabout!
Here is what Hizb ut-Tahrir (AQZ/HTB) NOW says about tawatur ma'nawi ahadith:
"Thus, the two Rakats of the Fajr (dawn) prayer is a Shar’ai rule in terms of praying them. And the belief that they are from Allah constitutes the 'Aqeeda. So praying the two Rakats Sunnah of the Fajr is Sunnah. If one does not pray it he is not blamed. If he prays it he will get the reward like the two Rakats of the Maghrib (evening) prayer, both of which are the same in terms of the Shar’ai rule. Regarding the terms of the 'Aqeeda, belief in the two Rakats of Fajr is a definite matter, so rejecting them is disbelief (Kufr), as they have been proven by way of Mutawatir (recurrent lines of transmission)."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Zalloum, Abdul-Qadeem, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, page 192 (Arabic) Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Ummah, 5th edition (1997/1318). Official translation of the Hizb taken (verbatim) from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nizamulislam/files/
And we also find the following:
"The mutawatir report is divided into two categories: verbal (lafzan) mutawatir like the hadith :'Whosoever intentionally lies about me, let him reserve his place in the Hellfire.' And the hadith of wiping on the leather socks, hadith of hawd (river in paradise), hadith of intercession (shafa'a) and the hadith of raising the hands (raf' al-yadayn) in prayer. And the mutawatir by meaning (ma'na) such as when the transmitters concur on a matter occurring in difference incidents such as the sunnah of the morning prayer being two rakats. It does exist. Numerous mutawatir hadiths have been reported even though the 'Ulama differ on what constitutes mutawatir according to their different views about the mutawatir report."
(Nabhani, Taqi-ud-deen, Zalloum, Abdul-Qadeem, Ash-Shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, page 337 (Arabic) Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Ummah, 5th edition (1997/1318). Official translation of the Hizb taken (verbatim) from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nizamulislam/files/
What the above 2 quotes taken from the 5th edition of Ash-shaksiyyah Islamiyyah Volume 1, which is the edition in accordance with the adoption of the Hizb during the reign of Shaykh Abdul-Qadeem Zalloum’s (rh) leadership of the Party, demonstrate is that:
1-The ahadith regarding the sunnah rakatayn of Salatul-Fajr are Mutawatir ma’nawi
2-That it is kufr (Disbelief) to reject this.
We also find similar a point following in the book by the present amir, Abu 'ata Rishta called 'Tayseer al-wusool ila-l-'usul' page 74, 3rd edition, (2000/1421) that mutawatir lafdhee and ma'nawi are good enough for establishing 'aqaa'id (Beliefs) and ahkam (Divine rules)!
So according to the latest 2 leaders, rejecting masa'il (issues) from mutawatir ma'nawi is tantamount to kufr! So we ask: what about if you reject it as a source altogether? What do they say about Nabhani?
The excuse they give is feeble. They claim (as usual) that the categorisation of ahadith into Mutawatir ma’nawi is an issue which is disputed amongst the scholars of Islam. Usually when there is need to justify the shahd or bid'ah/kufr opinions which emanate from the leadership like trying to justify doubt in ;adhabul qabr, nuzool 'Isa(as), Dajjal, etc we find the excuse given of "this is ikhtilaf amongst the scholars of ahl sunnah!" And what they mean by ikhtilaf is disregard for the position of the salaf and khalaf and rather the statement of one scholar is enough to call something ikhtilaf...however this is inapplicable when it comes to the positions they call to like khilafah being fard kifaya muhattam, even though there are some scholars in the world who say it isn't fard on the layperson to work for khilafah, for Hizb ut-Tahrir this should be a valid ikhtilaf however that is not the case.
This call of 'ikhtilaf' is epitomised by the anonymous author of the article called ‘Khabar al-ahad’ which the shabab (party students/members) distribute amongst each other: Here is what is mentioned in that article in the section: ‘HADITH MUTAWATIR’:
"Tawatur by Meaning (ma'nawi):
This type of Tawatur deals with cases where the occurrence of certain topics, subject matters, or information, are overwhelmingly reported in various Hadiths. While each reported Hadith is not Mutawatir, the topic or information appear in so many Hadith that if these topics were taken together, they would reach to the level of Tawatur. Hence, the Scholars declared that the meaning of these topics are Tawatur. This category of Tawatur was debated amongst the Scholars of Hadith due to their definition of Tawatur. for example, some Scholars differed on the number of reports which met the level of Tawatur. An example of such Mutawatir-by-Meaning Hadiths talking about intercession.
However, the Practical Tawatur and the Tawatur by Text hadiths are undebated methods of narration and all Scholars agreed on these types of Tawatur. When differences would occur it would revolve around the number of reporters necessary to reach to certainty. They all agreed that it had to be reported by a number wherein it would be impossible for them to conspire to fabricate a lie, and when this number was reached, the Hadith would be considered as Tawatur.”
So in order for them to give credence and weight to Nabhani’s position, they claim it is an issue of ‘Ikhtilaf’ (valid difference of opinion); yet at the same time they say that rejecting masaa’il from this type of ahadith is Kufr. This is just one of many examples of this cult’s confusion when, instead of being up-front with a clear-cut and dangerous error, they try to hide things by making absurd claims! We haven't even touched upon the implications this has on their principles of "there is no ikhtilaf on 'aqeedah and 'aqeedah is qati''e etc". It would have been better for them to have at least given Nabhani (rh) an excuse as others have, but as all cults go, they will do anything to protect their founder, because a mistake like this would just enlarge an already bulky list of devience!
Wa ALLAHU musta’an!
Abu Imaan an-Nepalee