Substitute saints

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

as salaamu alaykum

i was wondering if these claims are true by gf haddad (he has known to lie int he past but i wanted to check this out)

In his book al-albaani and his friends on page 31 he says (basically commenting on some 'errors' of salafis)

-Zuhayr al-Shawish's suppression of the word 'Substitute-saints" (al-abdal) from his al-maktab al islami (3rd) edition of ibn taymiyya's aqidah wasitiyya in the passage that states:

"The true adherents of islam in its pristine purity are ahl al sunna wal-jama'a . In their ranks are found the truthful saints (al siddiqun), the martyrs, and the righteous. Among them are great men of guidance and illumination, of recorded integrity and celebrated virtue. And among them are the substitute -saints (al-abdal)- the imams- concerning those guidance and knowledge the muslims are in full accord. These are the victorious group..."

(Ibn taymiyya, al aqida al wasitiyya (salafiyya edition) p.36 = Majmu'at al-rasa'il al kubra 3:159. On the hadiths of the abdal see the most thorough documentation given by shaykh mahmud mamduh in his monograph on that topic.)

[Abd al-Haqq Marshall]

Shaykh al-Islam's (ra) reference to the Abdaal is real. Just because he possibly believed in abdaal doesn't mean we have to. In the words of Shaykh al-Albani (ra): "we are not Taymiyyites".

http://www.allaahuakbar.net/scholars/ibn_taymiyyah/path_of_ahl_assunnah_wal_jamaah.htm

[Abuz Zubair]

And we are not Albanites either :)

There is nothing wrong with believing in Abdal, but we don't believe in Abdal the way the Sufis believe in them. Abdal to us is very close to a Mujaddid sort of figure, and not some hidden saint who controls the affairs of this world.

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

Jazakallaah khayr brother abu zubayr

[Abuz Zubair]

Shaykh al-Islam's (ra) reference to the Abdaal is real. Just because he possibly believed in abdaal doesn't mean we have to. In the words of Shaykh al-Albani (ra): "we are not Taymiyyites".

http://www.allaahuakbar.net/scholars/ibn_taymiyyah/path_of_ahl_assunnah_wal_jamaah.htm
Just noticed that the site has following footnote to Shaykh al-Islam's Wasitiyya:

1. Al-Abdal certain righteous persons, of whom the world is never destitute; when one dies, Allah substituting another in his place. Certain persons by means of whom Allah rules the earth; consisting of seventy men, according to their assertion, of whom the earth is never destitute; forty of whom are in Syria, and thirty in the other countries; none of them dying without another's supplying his place, from the rest of mankind; and therefore they are named Abdal.

These are not Shaykh al-Islam's words. These are Sufi beliefs that are as usual baseless.

Abdal are basically those who truly inherit the Prophets, their knowledge, etc... and hence they are called abdal - i.e. those who substitute others.