The Ruling on Saying “Allaah and His Messenger Know Best”

 In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful…

The Permanent Committee of Scholars in Saudi Arabia has issued a verdict stating that saying “Allaah and His Messenger know best” was for the lifetime of the Messenger.  After his death (sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam), “Allaah knows best” is to be used. This was signed by Shaykh Ibn Baaz, Shaykh Ghudayyaan, and Shaykh Abdur-Razzaaq ‘Afeefee (may Allaah have Mercy on them).

What seems to be correct based on the overall practice of the Companions and the early scholars is to refrain from saying “Allaah and His Messenger knows best” after his death, and rather say, “Allaah knows best.”

“…Because the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam) is not aware of what is happening after his death.”

Source: Verdicts of the Permanent Committee (2/163) [English translation]

In addition, Shaykh Saalih al-Fowzaan, Shaykh Bakr Aboo Zayd, and others mentioned that saying “Allaah and His Messenger know best” was for his lifetime, and that after his death (sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam), “Allaah knows best” is to be used.

Refer to: I’aanat al-Mustafeed (1/44), Mu’jam al-Manaahee al-Lafthiyyah (p.128).

However, some scholars allowed saying “Allaah and His Messenger know best” after his death (sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam), like Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have Mercy on him) and some of the explainers of Kitaab at-Towheed, relying on a passage from the Nooniyyah of Ibn al-Qayyim: Continue reading

Hadeeth Qudsee: “Neither My Earth nor My Heavens Could Contain Me…” [?]

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Ever-Merciful…

A hadeeth qudsee is a narration which is attributed to the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace), that he narrated words from Allaah which are not part of the Quran. Unlike the Quran, these narrations have to be studied and authenticated before they can be accepted and acted upon.

One such narration commonly quoted and attributed to Allaah as His Words is as follows:

ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي، ووسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن…
“Neither My Earth nor My Heavens could contain Me, whilst the heart of My believing servant does contain Me…”

I found this hadeeth once while I was searching the manuscript archives at Umm al-Qura University. I came accross a title listed in one of the indexes on the topic of criticism of some unauthentic hadeeths in al-Bukhaaree and Muslim attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah. So I rushed to get the microfilm and print out a copy, thinking to have found some amazing treasure not known to even the scholars previously. When I began to read it, I found that it was actually a previously known work called “Ahaadeeth al-Qussaas (Hadeeths Used by Storytellers) by Ibn Taymiyyah, which has been printed already, and in fact it was even (for the most part) included in Ibn Taymiyyah’s large Fataawee Collection (18/122-128, 375-385).

What’s the connection? Well, the hadeeth qudsee in question is actually the first hadeeth mentioned in that book. About it, Ibn Taymiyyah said:

This is something they (storytellers) narrate from the Israa’eeliyyaat (narrations of the Jews and Christians). It has no known chain to the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace). Its meaning would be (if it were authentic): His heart contains belief in Me, love of Me, and knowledge of Me.

Otherwise, anyone who would claim that Allaah Himself is present inside of the people’s hearts is more of a disbeliever than the Christians, who restricted that (Allaah’s actual presence within the creation) to the Messiah alone.

Other scholars of hadeeth, like al-‘Iraaqee, as-Sakhaawee, and Al-Albaanee Continue reading

Ibn al-Qayyim Explains the Disbelief of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful…

Since the publication of our article, The Reality of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Famous Scientist and Philosopher, many people have been asking for more detailed proofs that Ibn Sina was not actually a Muslim, specifically from his own beliefs.

This article provides more detailed proof about his specific beliefs from the writings of one of the most amazing scholars in Islamic history, Ibn Qayyim al-Jowziyyah (d.751), may Allaah have Mercy on him.

After Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned that Aboo Nasr al-Faaraabee (or Al-Farabi), like Ibn Sina, was upon an extreme deviation of the concepts promoted by Aristotle, including disbelief in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last Day, he went on to say:

Perhaps an ignorant person might say that we have dealt too harshly with them, ascribing them to disbelief in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. This is not far-fetched for someone who is ignorant of both their writings and the reality of true Islaamic teachings.

[Disbelief in Allaah]

You should know: According to the teachings of the best of the modern philosophers, their voice, and their role model whom they prefer over the Messengers themselves, Aboo ‘Alee Ibn Sina, Allaah – Glorified and Exonorated above their claims – is merely one who exists in a general way, without having a single attribute, nor any chosen actions at all. He does not know anything about the universe at all. He does not know how many planets there are, nor does he know anything of the unseen. He does not speak, nor does He have any attribute at all (in their beliefs).

It should be clearly known that this concept is (that Allaah is) just an imaginary idea in one’s mind, having no reality. Its most apparent manifestation of this is when a person thinks of it and defines it in his mind, as he would imagine other theoretical concepts. This is certainly not the Lord to whose Way the Messengers called, the One whom the previous nations knew of.

The real Lord of the universe, the God of the Messengers, is clearly not this “lord” whom the heretics call to, stripping him of any real presence and any attribute or action, claiming he is neither part of the universe, nor beyond it, nor having any connection at all to it, nor being seperate from it, nor being in front of it or above it, nor on the left or right, etc. The difference between the two is like the difference between existence and non-existence, like the difference between affirming something and negating it (i.e. complete opposites)!

In fact, anything that could possibly exist would be more complete than this “god” who the heretics call to, the one their intellects have carved, while real carved idols have a real existence and this “lord” does not. He can only exist within the imagination!

All of this is the case, while these heretics are more correct Continue reading