Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and al-Eemaan - Response to a Faajir Kadhdhaab

[Abu.Iyaad]

The first post above was written hastily whilst I was preparing for a long two day journey and does not contain all the points I wished to add. I will recap what is in the above post and then move on to address a couple more issues inshaa'Allaah. The first post above was addressing the specific claim that I "propagated the aqeedah of the Ash'aris" which is a slander (buhtaan) and false witness (al-qawl al-zoor). This was because of the following reasons: The accuser deliberately omitted the second page of the two-page chapter, just as he deliberately omitted the saying of Ibn Hajar at the bottom of the first page that the Salaf hold that eemaan increases and decreases and that they are opposed by the majority of the Ahl al-Kalaam (whiich includes the Ash'aris). This was no doubt deliberate on his behalf. Ibn Hajar spoke of eemaan both linguistically (lughatan) and legislatively (shar'an) and whilst he made an error in the language by defining eemaan as tasdeeq only (which is also the saying of the Ash'aris), he correctly outlined the position of the Salaf that eemaan legislatively (shar'an) is belief, speech and action. Hence, it is not possible to make the accusation that I "propagated the aqeedah of the Ash'aris" since they hold eemaan is tasdeeq linguistically and legislatively. As for Ibn Hajar's generalization that the difference between the saying of the Salaf and that of the Mu'tazilah that actions (a'maal) are shart sihhah to the Mu'tazilah and shart kamaal to the Salaf, then this has no connection to the saying of the Ash'aris, since the Ash'aris do not hold actions are from eemaan in the first place, hence, the discussion of actions being shart kamaal or shart sihhah is irrelevant here with respect to the aqeedah of the Ash'aris in this matter, and the fact that Ibn Hajar was criticized for this generalization can in no way be used to make the slander that I "propagated the aqeedah of the Ash'aris." This is because this statement of Ibn Hajar (with its incorrect generalization) is speaking of the difference between the Salaf and the Mu'tazilah with the Salaf not making takfir of abandonment of individual actions that make up eemaan, whereas the Mu'tazilah make takfir based upon abandonment of individual actions that make up eemaan. As for the Murji'ah, Ibn Hajar already explained their view a sentence or two earlier in the quote, that they hold eemaan to be belief (i'itqaad) and utterance (nutq) only. This shows on that on all these counts, the faajir kadhdhaab (aside from being guilty of dishonesty in quoting and accurately representing the intent and direction of the short chapter in Foundations of the Sunnah) has no basis for this slander. What is in the chapter, that eemaan legislatively (shar'an) is belief, speech and action, that eemaan increases and decreases (in opposition to the groups of kalaam), that actions are from eemaan is squarely in contradiction to what the Ash'aris are upon in claiming that eemaan is tasdeeq only lughatan (linguistically) and shar'an (legislatively), that actions are not from eemaan and eemaan cannot be subject to increase or decrease. This shows that the accuser is a jaahil muta'aalim, and that he got excited when he saw the quote from al-Shibal in the article compiled by al-Muwahhid al-Salafi (which the liar tried to claim was compiled by him) and in which al-Shibal points out the error of Ibn Hajar in the language as it relates to the word eemaan. After this, there were two more issues to I wanted to discuss. The first was another illustration of what other brothers have already pointed out and which is clear from my first post, that the faajir kadhdhaab is dishonest in quotation and translation. And the second was to address the issue of the terminology of shart sihhah and shart kamaal. However, it was brought to my attention through email that Musa Millington has come out in defence of the faajir kadhhaab and has spoken on this issue with a view to defending the action of the accuser. I will address both these matters in the posts below inshaa'Allaah.