Usamah Hasan, Darwinism, Evolutionary Forces and the Creation of Man - Part 5: Takdheeb of Allah and His Messenger Can be Excused Through the Angle of Ta'weel and Ijtihaad?
Filed under: Darwinism and Atheism Sunday, January 23 2011 - by Abu.Iyaad Key topics: Darwinism Evolution |
Introduction
In the preceding four parts we addressed Usamah Hasan's claim that neo-Darwinism is the route through which Allah created man (Aadam), and we explained this is a futile claim, and that there is nothing but contradiction and opposition between the revealed texts and the account of the origin of man given in Darwinism. We also cited the verdicts of the Scholars of the Sunnah that claiming Aadam descended from apes is takdheeb (rejection) of Allaah and His Messenger [meaning that what Allaah and His Messenger have stated on this matter (creation of Aadam) is a lie] and as such, this is pure kufr and that the one who knowingly holds this belief is a kaafir (see those verdicts in this article).
In the last article we made the following remark at the end, thinking that we had reached the end of the matter:
Lastly, there is a calamity greater than this one [i.e. Usamah Hasan's view], which is that the father, Suhaib Hasan, in what has been narrated by numerous witnesses, that on the evening of Friday 14/01/2011 at his mosque, claimed that because his son, Usamah, is a haafidh (memorizer) of the Qur'an is better than most of the audience, and that because he has studied at a high level of science, the people do not really understand what Usamah is saying, and he invoked curses upon those who were involved in certain activities (distributing leaflets against Usamah and not praying behind Usamah). Now, we can't comment on the rights and wrongs as to how people may be handling any particular situation, but the greater calamity here is Usamah Hasan is calling to that which is pure kufr, and takdheeb of the Qur'an, and takdheeb of the Sunnah (and he's using sarcastic language too against what is in the Qur'an and against the Muslims) yet his father, Suhaib Hasan, is essentially claiming that Usamah is much smarter than others who are not sophisticated enough to understand what he is saying! That's not the case, the Muslims know what Usamah is saying, it is plain kufr(!) and it could not be any clearer from the verdicts of the Scholars on this matter. And he is calling to it through radio broadcasts, press articles, signing declarations, attending conferences, making blog posts and so on, and he is doing a pretty good job of making efforts to get his message out. Indeed, the right course of action would be to immediately remove him from all tasks and duties to stop creating fitnah for the Eemaan and ibaadah of the congregation, clarify the truth of this matter openly with the verdicts of the scholars (like those quoted above) and then discipline him separately (upon what a father-son relationship requires). On the contrary, what we see, hear and read is that the father is defending the right of the son to reach independent conclusions, sending faxes abroad, claiming his son is better educated than the rest of us dumb commoners and that we are not able to fathom what he is saying, and he is invoking curses on those from the congregation who are simply trying to safeguard their prayer. To Allaah is the complaint!
However, it looks the episode is not really over yet ...
Suhaib Hasan: Takdheeb of Allah and His Messenger Can be Excused Through the Angle of Ta'weel and Ijtihaad
Read the verdicts of Shaykh Ibn Baz and Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin in the previous article, and alhamdulillaah these were two great Scholars of the Muslims who spoke with the truth that they knew and did not conceal it from the people. Here we have a very important hadeeth, Anas bin Malik (radiallahu anhu) reports that Allaah's Messenger (alayhis salaam) said:
When Allaah fashioned Adam in Paradise, He left him [for as long] as He willed to leave him. Then Iblis roamed round him to see what actually that was and when he found him hollow from within, he recognised that he had been created with a disposition that he would not have control over himself.
This hadeeth is related by Imaam Muslim in his Sahih in Kitab al-Birr wal-Silah wal-Aadaab and is explicit in indicating that Aadam was created and fashioned in Paradise. This adds to and explains the detail in the Qur'an regarding Aadam's creation, and it along with the verses in the Qur'an falsify Usamah Hasan's falsehood. From here, it is nothing but pure takdheeb of Allaah and His Messenger.
The following main observations from this lecture are relevant to us for now (a detailed treatment of the lecture is in the next article):
So here, there are numerous points:
First: It is important that the reader understand the history of Suhaib Hasan, because his orientation in this fitnah is not surprising to say the least. The scholars spoke against him well over a decade ago with what would make his reality clear, indicating his leanings towards the people of innovation and their methodologies and his own corrupt methodology of da'wah. Now, this is an article in itself, but we'll suffice here with the mention of a few things.
His constant and regular appearance with the deviants and innovators which comprise the callers to shirk (like in the picture above Muhammad bin Aadam al-Kawthari who calls to istighaathah from other than Allaah), his flattery for those upon and calling to Tajahhum (like "the esteemed Shaykh Hamzah Yusuf") [Ibrahim bin Maysarah: "Whoever honoured an innovator has aided in the destruction of Islaam."], his participation in events promoted as celebrations of the Milad, as in the picture above, with members of the Conservative party, his membership in councils and committees with the Modernists, Rationalists, Sufis, Ash'aris and others, and his resentment and dislike of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimoon being spoken of and their reality clarified to the Muslims. This persistent and consistent history over the past 15 years indicates the clear alignment of Suhaib Hasan, and his general orientation in wanting to build and maintain bridges with the Ahl al-Ahwaa. All this whilst disregarding the way of those who are the true scholars like Imaam Ibn Baz (rahimahullaah) and deceiving the people by claiming connection to those scholars on purely historical grounds (and not on account of the actual Salafi manhaj they were upon), and trying to assert one's authority over Muslims in Britain on account of these types of specious arguments and bygone history. And it is well known and famous from him, his claim that because he is on a par with the well-known Scholars (like for example the Scholars of Saudi Arabia), then he is the authority that should be referred to in matters pertaining to da'wah and fatwa and so on in this country. And a great portion were put to trial by him and followed him in this delusion. When we see this pluralistic outlook from the father, it should come as no surprise to see the son inheriting a like influence, and going one step further in the evolutionary chain where we start seeing hybridizations between "Wahhabism" and Sufism and likewise, between Darwinism and the Qur'an, and likewise between Darwinism and the Ittihaad of the Sufis, and likewise between Islam and Secularism - as if a broad merger between Sunnah and bid'ah was not progressive enough. In the past, excuses could have been made that this is just the son going off on one, but the reality of Suhaib Hasan's history indicates otherwise, this is by no means an unexpected phenotype that has just popped out of the blue, it has history and can be traced.
Second: It was obligatory upon Suhaib Hasan to follow the likes of Shaykh Ibn Baaz and Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin (rahimahumallaah) and their clear verdicts (quoted in Part 4) - in which takfir is made of whoever claimed Aadam is the offspring of apes, and to take appropriate measures of discipline in light of that truth. However, he defended his son's pronouncement of kufr and takdheeb of Allaah and His Messenger upon the claim that this is a permitted ijtihaad. And what baatil is there after this? Was Jahm bin Safwan's ijtihaad excusable? Or that of Bishr al-Mareesee? And what about all the other apes and asses who have passed through history whom the Scholars scorned and warned against because of their entrance into what is much, much, much less than what Usamah Hasan has entered into?
Third: It is not possible to defend Usamah through the hadeeth of the man who ordered that his body be burned and the ashes scattered all over, thinking, mistakingly, that Allaah would not be able to resurrect him. This man was genuinely ignorant and his action was out of veneration, fear and awe of Allaah for whatever he had done of wrong, alongside his mistaken belief that Allaah would not be capable of resurrecting him. That is not like the takdheeb that we are witnessing here from Usamah Hasan, because here we have a situation of rejecting that from the revealed text whose meaning is qat'ee (definitive) and not under dispute by any of the Ummah except for the intellectual apes that have appeared on the landscape in recent times trying to argue for Darwinian Evolution. And when we add to this, the fact that these apes mock the symbols of Islam, like the beard, and men's and women's dress, and call for the uncovering of the awrah (all this has occurred from Usamah Hasan), then this shows a type of perversion that makes any type of "ta'weel" (claiming faulty interpretation has been made and therefore can be excused) completely inadmissible.
Fourth: Does Suhaib Hasan have any excuse for this defense? There is no doubt he is not ignorant of the verdicts of the Scholars on this matter, and those Scholars made those verdicts because of their knowledge and understanding that Darwinism is the flag-bearing call of atheism in the modern era. It is the greatest intellectual tool of the opposers to fitrah, aql, naql and the Tawhid of the Messengers, and with it, they look down upon the Muslims as backward, ignorant and feeble, just as the greatest of tyrants and the most insolent in history accosted some of the Prophets and their followers with a similar type of intellectual terrorism. Yet, Usamah is lamenting and resentful along with the atheists that Muslims are taught Darwinism is wrong, and he is adamant in his defence of his position, and upon this his father defends the right of his son to hold such a position. What an evil station to hold (in this matter) and what an evil defense it is!
Fifth: Suhaib Hasan sat and listened as his son stated that Aadam (alayhis salaam) was the product of "ape-like" beings (as in "nearly-human", meaning "not human" so it is essentially "ape-like"), and later proceeded to defend his son. You cannot imagine a Scholar of the Sunnah sitting through that. But as we said before, when you get accustomed to or think nothing of sitting next to grave-worshippers, deniers of Allaah's uluww (on platforms of da'wah), and rationalists, modernists, Sufis, Ash'aris and so on, and that is a repeated feature of your da'wah and orientation, then there is no doubt that such a heart loses its awe and veneration of the truth, and the value and worth of truth in that heart diminishes - and this is what happens to hearts that are accustomed to the company of innovators and deviants - the gheerah (concern, jealousy) for the truth slowly erodes and dissipates, and thinks little of things that are otherwise enormities, and this is just a matter of fact, it is in fact a law, it is what the Righteous Salaf have taught us, and you understand this in the statements and actions of the Salaf themselves, as an example, the saying of Abu Musa as related by Ibn Battah in al-Ibaanah (2/468):
لأن أجاور يهوديا ونصرانيا وقردة وخنازير أحب إلي من أن يجاورني صاحب هوى يمرض قلبي
That I live next to a Jew or a Christian, or apes and pigs is more beloved to me than that a person of desires who makes my heart diseased (with his deviation) should live next to me.And something similar has been said by Abu al-Jawzaa and others. Thus, when it is from your da'wah to constantly find yourself in the company of such people, or ending up on their platforms, and wanting to build bridges and cordiality with them, upon your own [innovated] vision, idea and perception of a particular type of [watered down] Islam and Sunnah suitable for the land you are in, then this takes a toll no doubt, and it makes the heart prone to the type of disgrace that manifested last night. One should not think of this as an aberration and simply and unexpected big mistake out of the blue! Behind it is a long history of gradual Evolution ... and we are simply seeing the manifestation of that now. Get this right... no Scholar of the Sunnah ever defended plain kufr and takdheeb of Allaah and His Messenger from the angle of an unexpected "slip" and "mistake," just out of the blue. This only happens when the heart becomes gradually accustomed to baatil and its people due to the reasons mentioned above. After allowing his son to do his presentation (a repeat of one he did to non-Muslims in April 2009), Suhaib Hasan proceeded to defend the right for this view to be held and so there isn't even an issue of anyone wanting or seeking to make isqaat (bringing down) of anyone here, when it is already been done by the very person in question himself. Just imagine, the custodian of a mosque allowing the congregation to be barraged with Darwinism (Usamah used the quotes we addressed in Part 3 of this series) and presented with the claim that the first Prophet of Allaah was born of what resembles apes, and then proceeding to defend the right for this view to be held and that it amounts to nothing but a ta'weel like the ta'weel of the Ash'aris!... that is an insult on top of injury.
Sixth: It is necessary that this position being taken by son and father, along with all their statements, are taken to the Major Scholars for a verdict that can be used to give relief and ease for those whose Eemaan and ibaadah have been put to tribulation.