Reply to A Rejoinder

Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem

It has been nice so far.

And thanks for bringing more links to the story. Yet the story is the same, and they have emanated from questionable sources as I earlier said. And it still pictures a chaos in the religious institution of Saudi Arabia.

You will do good to us by bringing direct sources not 'he was reported to have said this-and-that.' What I mean by a direct source is a copy of the Fatwa and those of the other Shuyuukh.

All these reported speeches are not what Muslims can rely on. Can we make a count of majaahil (unknown people) in the chains? It still borders on hearsays; you have not proved otherwise, O noble elder. [That is one of what the study of hadith has come to teach; that we just don't rely on reports like that]. All these Gulf News, Arabiyyah Net are known to harbour people with dangerous thoughts.

I had thought you will bring an official report from Lajanatu-Daaimah and other official Fatwa bodies.

That is one thing. Another thing is that a Shaykh might be wrong over a view; there is nothing wrong in denouncing him, but that should be done by competent people, not people like you and I. Thus it is the prerogative of scholar or scholars to denounce other scholars (it has been so ever since in Islam and it will continue to be so till Maa Shaa Allaah, in fact that scholars write rudud of one another's works has become something like checks and balances among them). I brought an instance of Shaykh Al-Albaani writing a book to denounce Imam Ibn Hazm's stance on music.

The point therefore is that when a scholar makes a mistake the manner of correcting him has to be proper, those media guys (Maktoob, Arabiyyah, etc.) only use their media to celebrate what they love that it happens among the Muslim scholars - schism. And they like to create a confusion among the populace by exaggerating happenings among scholars. Thus Tulaabul-Ilm ought not to get themselves busied with such things therefore when there is a report of such thing happening in the society, scholars should be allowed to settle the matter. As for whatever manner the scholars will use, that will be channeled through the proper way. It is not for the journalists to report what the scholars say because they will exaggerate it beyond proportions.

You may want to say the journalists did not overblow the issue, but a question is 'what really is the feeling of the Muslims in Saudi over the issue?' I think we have some brothers on the Forum who reside in Saudi Arabia… let them tell us what is really going on. You can be sure that the picture is not as the press has painted it.

Therefore the matter goes down to the fact we have allowed ourselves as preys in the hands of the Western press and their cohorts in the Muslim world.

In other words, we have allowed them set an agenda for us, [as we were taught in our journalistic training].

I wrote the earlier piece to enjoin on caution and to correct a trend.

May Allâh save the Ummah from the scheming of the Kuffar and their supporters among the Muslims.