Bismillhi ar-Rahmani ar-Raheem, Al-Hamdalillahi Rabbil Alameen, wa salatu wa salamu 'ala sayyidina
wal anbiyyaa e wal mursaleen, wa salatu wa salamu wa an nabiy Muhammad wa ala aalihi wa sahbihi ajma'een wa b'ad.
There are two main views concerning the concept of Kalaam in islam
The first being that of those who adopted the views and methodology in the interpretation of aqeedah
of the Jahmiyyah and the Mutazilah among who wee the first of the deviated sects of Islam. After the Imaams of ahlu-sunnah
mong the generations of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaaq ibnu-Rahaweih, Bukharee, Muslim, an-Nasa'ee, Tirmidhee and many of the hanabilah
utterly annialiated these two particular sects into oblivion (meaning they do not exist in absolute form ever since their
time) then the seeds that they had left were given to their offspring to this day are known as the asha'irah or asharism.
2. The second view is that kalaam is a blameworthy heresy in Islam and the correct opinion fo the
tweo is leaning towards the second
However the ashaairah have classified kalaam to be the scientific study of aqeedah and usoolu-deen.
If "kalaam" is understood to be what is inherent in this definition, then by far all fo the ulema of ahlu-sunnah is among
the mutakalimeen and Haafidh Ibn taymiyyah as well.
An intricate look at the matter lands one to understand that there is a certain rift between the
kalaam that existed among he salaf of this nation versus the kalaam taken on by asharis. Unfortunately, there are certain
aspects of this kalaam of the salaf that found place in the kalam of the asharis
below is a list of the statements from the four Imaams
Abu Haneefah said
"The people of desires in al-basrah are many, and i entered
it twenty odd times, sometimes i stayed there for a year or more, or less, under the impression that the science of kalaam
was the greatets of sciences"
Manaaniq Abi Haneefah of al-Kurdi
may Allah curse Amr Ibn Ubaydah, for verily he opened
up for the people a path to "kalaam" in that which does not benefit them in terms " Dhammul-kalaam of al-Harawee
A
man asked him saying, 'What do you say about the kalaam that he (Amr Ibn Ubaydah) related to the people about al-a'raad (nonessential
characterisics) and a-Ajsaam (the bodies), so he said 'these are philisophical statements, STiCK TO THE ATHAAR AND ThE PATH
OF THE SALAF and beware of newly invented affairs, for verily they are innovations" Dhammul-kalaam
al-Harawee relates from Ishaaq Ibn Isa who said "Maalik(Ibn Anaas) said 'whoever seeks the religion
through kalaam will deviate" Dhammul-Kalaam
al-harawee relates from Imaam Abdur-Rahman Bin Mahdi who said, "i entered
upon Maalik, and with him was a man asking him. So he said 'it seems you are from the companions of Amr Ibn Ubayd. So verilfy
he innovated his innovation with kalaam, and if kalaam had been knowledge, the companions and the tab'een would have spoken
about it, just as they spoke about herules and regulations
Again
al-harawee relates from ar-Rabee Ibnu-Sulayman
who said 'I heard Shafi'ee saying '...if a man were to advise another with his books of knowledge, and amongst them were books
containing ilmu-kalaam, then no advice could be contained in them becase kalaam is not from knowledge." as-Siyaar and in Dhammul-Kalaam
It
is recorded in al-Ibaanatul-Kubra that Ibn battah relates formAbu Thawr who said "ash-DShafi'ee said to me "I have not seen
anyone who has put on anything from kalaam and succeed"
Shafiee said that his ruling upon the one who engaged in kalaam is that he should be beaten by a
rod publicly'
And the position of the hanabilah is well known and there are many many statements of the Imaams
and the ulema of he sunnah who has said such statements in their times. However the ashari is always willing to bring forth
excuse, and when citing these references from the greater and earlier generations, the come with the reply "kalaam was used
after them only to refute the people of innovation" (they mean mutazilah and jahmiyyah). So it is due to this rhetoric that
they make excuse of that i bring the statements of the Imaams who came much after the four aimah and who spoke about the same
kalaam the ashari adheres to and claims that their "established" kalaam is a science and it is the kalaam that these
imaams have delved into and is the kalaam of this "established" science
a-Fadheelati-Shaykh al-Haafidh Ibnu-Salaah mentioned that 'al-Qubt at-Tawghaani
informed me twice that he heard Fakhru-deen Raazi (Famous Mutakalim;scholar of kalaam) mentioned "if only I had not devoted
myself to ilmu-kalaam and he would weep". itiqaadaat Firaaq al-Muslimeen
ar-Raazi's disappointment of where kalaam
landed him was evident in some lines of poetry he wrote narrated from Ibnu-Qayyim in Sawa'iq al-Mursala
One of the
greatest mutakalim Imaams Abdul-kareem ash-Shahrastani, whos knowledge of places, peoples and creeds was unrivaled has depicted
the state of the mutakalimeen concerning knowledge of doctrinal matters in the introduction to his book "Nihaaya al-Kalaam
fil-Ilm al-kalaam" he says
"By my life, i have visited all the scholarly instituations and let my eyes roam around these
places, Alla i have found are people with hands to their chins, In bewilderment or gnashing their teeth in regret."
According
to the mutakalimeen, they viewed the salafi creed and manhaj as the beleif of old women. The imaams of his time known as the
imam of al-Haramayn, Juwaiynee spoke nearning his death the following words.
I have plunged into the vast ocean and
abandoned the people of islam and their knowledge. i immersed myself in what they forbade me from and now if Allah does not
meet me with His Rahmah, then woe to me. Here am i dyiing on the same beleif as my mother (salafiyyah)". Niayaat al-Iqdaam
fil kalaam
another mutakalim is mentioned by Ibnu-Qayyim to have said hte following
"Testify against me that I die
and I know nothing except that the possible requires the necessary', he then replied "requirement is something non existant,
therefore i know nothing.
again in sawa'iq mursalah another mutakalim said "The people who have doubt at the time of
death are the mutakalimoon.
The rewvered Imaam Ibn-Waazeer said "Some oft he mutakalimeen and
the heretic acted contrary to the propehts and his awliyyah and the imaams of the salaf with respect to reflection and contemplation.
They made it burdensome, delved deeply, expressed clear meanings with ambigious expressions and returned, after a long journey,
to doubt, bewilderment, enmity and accusing each other of lying"
Ibn Abu Hadeed, one of those foremost
in kalaam said
"So, that which i have engaged in persistency Is the perpetrator of the most terrible misfortune
I stayed
in the wilderness (kalaam) with no knowledge and drowned in an ocean with no boat"
Another mutakalim said
"I have
surpassed the limit of most, to what is higher and travelled and left behind in the centres
I plunged into a fathomless
ocean and drove myself throuhg open deserts
I persisted on speculation then came to my senses (accepting the truth) prefering
(that truth) the religion of old ladies (salafiyyah)
Imaam ash-Shawkaani who is in no need of
intorduction said about the later part of his life when he delved into this science in his yopunger part the following
"The
very limit of what I attained from my studies and my reflections, after much contemplation,
Was suspension in bewilderment
between the two paths.
What then is the knowledge of the person who has known only bewilderment."
Whoever examines
the bafflement of ther mutakalimoon knows the very truth about what Shaykhul-islam Ibnu-Taymiyyah said when he said
"They
have been given intelligence but have not been given integrity, they have been given acumen but have not been given knowledge,
they have been given hearing, sight, and hearts and then he quotes the ayaah
"We gave them hearing, sight, and hearts,
but heir hearing, sight, and their hearts did not benefit them in the slightest because they denied the revelations of Allah
and so they were encompassed by that which they mocked at" (auraatu-Ahqaaf 46;26)
It is clear, even the kalaam of the people who came after the jahmiyyah and mutazilah is still a
methodology of error because all of these aimah have come after the time of these two sects and viewed kalaam according to
ashari doctrine, and their kalaam finally ended up to be what was inherent in their statements above, which is only a sign
to anyone how such a matter could be regarded as islamic and even Ibn Taymiyyah has a section dedicated to the reality of
such people and inshallah we will see in bringing forth this matter from him and Allah is Azeezul-Hakeem
