I have heard and read about what are known as abdaal and aqtaab etc. Do they really exist amongst us? Is the hadeeth, “Do not revile the people of Syria, for there are abdaal among them” saheeh or not?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
According to
Ahl al-Sunnah, the wali (in the sense of being a close friend of Allaah) is
as defined by Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, in His holy Book,
where He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“No
doubt! Verily, the Awliya’ of Allaah, no fear shall come upon them nor shall
they grieve.
63. Those
who believed, and used to fear Allaah much (by abstaining from evil deeds
and sins and by doing righteous deeds).
64. For
them are glad tidings, in the life of the present world, and in the
Hereafter. No change can there be in the Words of Allaah. This is indeed the
supreme success”
[Yoonus
10:62-64]
This verse
states that the wali (close friend) of Allaah is the pious believer who
fears Allaah, who loves Allaah and supports His Religion, and seeks to
please Him, who adheres to the limits He has set and supports His law and
His religion. He is one of the slaves of Allaah, and is not beyond His
control and authority, rather he does not even have the power to benefit or
harm himself, and he does not know what Allaah has decreed for him. This is
the wali of Allaah according to Ahl al-Sunnah.
The way in
which a person may attain the status of being a wali is to perform
obligatory duties, then start to perform naafil acts of worship until Allaah
loves him, then when He loves him, he will be a true wali of His. In the
saheeh hadeeth it says:
“When Allaah
loves a person, He calls Jibreel (A) and says: ‘I love So and so, so love
him.’ So Jibreel loves him, then he calls out to the people of heaven,
‘Allaah loves So and so, so love him.’ So the people of heaven love him and
he finds acceptance on earth”
Narrated by
Muslim (2637)
Secondly:
With regard
to the definition of the wali among the Sufis, it has another, innovated
meaning that is different from that understood by Ahl al-Sunnah. Among them
the wali of Allaah is one who has been chosen by Allaah, even if he does not
have the characteristics of righteousness and piety that qualify him to be
loved by Allaah. The status of wali, in their view, is a kind of divine gift
that is given for no reason and with no wisdom. Hence they believe that some
wrongdoers, evildoers, insane and immoral people etc are awliya’ simply
because they perform extraordinary feats, such as hitting their bodies with
knives, playing with snakes and fire, and so on. They even include among
their awliya’ people who drink alcohol and commit zina, and they say: The
true wali can never be affected by sin.
And they do
not stop there in their definition of a wali; rather they say that the wali
controls the universe; he says to a thing “Be!” and it is. In their view,
every wali has been appointed by Allaah to control some aspect of creation.
Four awliya’ are holding the earth by its four corners, and they are called
al-awtaad (lit. tent pegs). Seven other awliya’ each control one of the
seven continents of the world, and they are called al-abdaal (because when
one of them dies, another takes his place – badalahu). There are a
number of awliya’ in each region: thirty or forty in Egypt, and a similar
number in Syria and Iraq, each of whom is appointed in charge of something.
Above all of them is one wali who is called the al-qutb al-akbar (lit. great
pole or axis) or al-ghawth (source of help), and he is the one who is
running the affairs of the entire realm. Thus they believe in an unseen
realm which controls the affairs of mankind like a political state. This
state is led by the qutb or ghawth, followed by two imams or ministers, then
the four awtaad, then the seven abdaal.
This is the
concept of awliya’ according to the Sufis, and it has nothing to do with the
Islamic concept of awliya’ that is mentioned in the Qur’aan. The wali in
Islam is a person whom Allaah has guided and helped, and he has earned his
Lord’s pleasure by following the rules of His sharee’ah; he fears that he
may fall into hypocrisy and meet a bad end, and he does not know whether
Allaah will accept his deeds or not. Whereas they have given the Sufi wali
divine characteristics by means of which he controls some aspect of the
universe, and he ignores whatever he wants of the laws of Allaah, and the
angels are subject to his will.
The basic
principles of Sufi concept of awliya’ are taken from ancient Greek
philosophy which is based on the idea of polytheism. The first one to
propose the idea of the Sufi concept of awliya’ at the end of the third
century AH was Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Tirmidhi, whom they call
al-Hakeem (the wise). He is not the same as the imam who wrote the well
known collection of hadeeth which is called Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Then
after that their views became well known and the books of their leaders are
filled with these ideas. If we start reporting all that they have said about
this issue and all their false notions, it would take too long. But so that
no one will think that we are attributing to them things that are not true,
there follow the names of some of their sources, and you will find that what
we have mentioned is the least abhorrent of their ideas. See:
al-Futoohaat al-Makkiyyah by Ibn ‘Arabi (2/455, 537); al-Yawaaqeet
wa’l-Jawaahir by ‘Abd al-Wahhaab al-Sha’raani (2/79); al-Mu’jam
al-Sufi by Su’aad al-Hakeem (189-191, 909-913). For references of Ahl
al-Sunnah see: al-Fikr al-Sufi by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ‘Abd
al-Khaaliq (343-383).
Thirdly:
The hadeeth
mentioned by the questioner is a da’eef (weak) hadeeth, which is not saheeh
at all. There is nothing narrated via any saheeh isnaad which mentions any
of the degrees of awliya’ as known to the Sufis.
Ibn
al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Manaar al-Muneef
(136):
The
ahaadeeth about the adbaal, aqtaab, aghwaath, nuqaba’, nujaba’ and awtaad
are all falsely attributed to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). The closest of them is the hadeeth which
says “Do not revile the people of Syria, for among them there are abdaal;
every time one of them dies, Allaah replaces him with another man.” This was
narrated by Ahmad, but it is not saheeh either, because it is munqati’. End
quote.
For more
information on the ahaadeeth which have been narrated concerning that and an
explanation of why they are da’eef please see al-Maqaalaat al-Qisaar
by Abu Muhammad al-Alfi (69-81).
Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the
hadeeth that was narrated about the abdaal – was it saheeh or munqati’, and
were the abdaal only in Syria or were there abdaal wherever Islam was
established according to the Qur’aan and Sunnah, in Syria and elsewhere? Was
it true that a wali could be present among a group although his body was
absent? What did the ‘ulama’ say about the names used by some of those who
claim to be religious and virtuous, and who say this is Ghawth al-Aghwaath,
this is Qutub al-Aqtaab, this is Qutub al-‘Aalam, this is al-Qutub
al-Kabeer, this is Khaatim al-Awliya’?
He (may
Allaah have mercy on him) replied:
As for the
names that are in circulation among many of the pious people and common
folk, such as the ghawth who is in Makkah, the four awtaad, the seven
aqtaab, the forty abdaal and the three hundred nujuba’, these are names that
are not found in the Book of Allaah, nor are they narrated from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) via any saheeh or da’eef
isnaad, except the word abdaal, concerning whom there is a Syrian hadeeth
whose isnaad is munqati’; it is narrated from ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may
Allaah be pleased with him) and attributed to the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), that he said: “…for among them [the people
of Syria] there are abdaal; every time one of them dies, Allaah replaces him
with another man.” These names are not found in the words of the salaf in
the manner mentioned there, nor are they narrated in this manner and with
these meanings from the Shaykhs who are accepted by the ummah in general.
They are narrated in this form from some of the middle shaykhs, who
mentioned them either quoting from others or without confirming (that they
are true). As for the phrase al-Ghawth and al-Ghiyaath, no one deserves this
title except Allaah, who is the helper of those who seek help (ghiyaath
al-mustagheetheen), so it is not permissible for anyone to seek help from
anyone else, not from any angel who is close to Him or from any Prophet who
was sent. Whoever claims that the people of earth can refer their concerns,
such as asking to be spared harm or asking for mercy from the three hundred,
and the three hundred refer that to the seventy, and the seventy refer that
to the forty, and the forty refer that to the seven, and the seven refer
that to the four, and the four refer that to al-ghawth, then he is a liar
who has gone astray and is a mushrik. And Allaah tells us about the
mushrikeen (interpretation of the meaning):
“And when
harm touches you upon the sea, those that you call upon vanish from you
except Him (Allaah Alone)”
[al-Isra’
17:67]
“Is not
He (better than your gods) Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls
on Him”
[al-Naml
27:62]
How can the
believers refer their concerns via many intermediaries when Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“And when
My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am
indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the
supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let
them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright”
[al-Baqarah 2:186]
All the
Muslims know that neither the common folk of the Muslims nor their well
known shaykhs conveyed their concerns to Allaah, whether outwardly or
inwardly, via these intermediaries. Exalted be Allaah above any resemblance
to His creations such as kings, and far above what the wrongdoers say. This
is akin to the Raafidi claim that in every age there must be an infallible
imam who is the proof of Allaah (Hujjat-Allaah) against those who are
accountable, and that perfect faith cannot be attained otherwise. Rather
this sequence and number of intermediaries is in some ways like the Ismaili
and Nusayri etc belief in intermediaries (such as al-saabiq, al-taali,
al-naatiq, al-asaas, al-jasad, etc) for which Allaah has not sent down any
authority.
With regard
to the awtaad, some say that So and so is one of the awtaad, meaning thereby
that by means of him Allaah establishes faith and religious commitment in
the hearts of those whom Allaah has guided through him, just as the earth is
made firm by its “pegs” (mountains). This meaning applies to every scholar
who met this description. Every person by means of whom knowledge and faith
became established among the masses is like the awtaad and great mountains.
Whoever has less knowledge is a lesserk inf of watad. But that is not
limited to four or more or less than that, rather limiting the number to
four is akin to the astrologers’ idea that the earth should have four
awtaad.
With regard
to the qutub, this is also found in their words: So and so is one of the
aqtaab, or So and so is a qutub. Everyone who is the focal point of some
religious or worldly matter, whether secretly or openly or outward, is the
qutub and focal point of that matter. This is not limited to seven or more
or less than that. But the one who is praiseworthy in this regard is one who
is a focal point for maintaining soundness in religious and worldly matters,
not simply maintaining soundness worldly matters. This is the qutub
according to them.
The same
applies to the word badal, which is mentioned by many of them.
With regard
to the marfoo’ hadeeth, it is most likely that these are not the words of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), for faith
existed in the Hijaaz and Yemen before the conquest of Syria. Syria and Iraq
were kaafir lands, then during the caliphate of ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased
with him), it was proven that he (peace be upon him) said: “A group will
split away from the main body of the Muslims and they will be fought by the
one of the two groups that is closer to the truth.” ‘Ali and his companions
were closer to the truth than the people of Syria who fought them. It is
well known that those of the Sahaabah who were with ‘Ali, such as ‘Ammaar
ibn Yaasir, Sahl ibn Hunayf and the like, were better than those who were
with Mu’aawiyah. So how can it be believed that all the abdaal, who are the
best of creation, were all in Syria? This is definitely false, even though
there are well known reports which speak of the virtue of Syria and its
people, because everything has its own characteristics and limits. One
should only speak on the basis of knowledge and justice.
Those who
speak of the badal explain it in several ways, such as saying that they are
substitutes for the Prophets, or that every time one of them dies, Allaah
replaces him with another man, or that they change their bad attitudes,
deeds and beliefs into good ones. None of these characteristics can be
limited to four people or more or less than that, or to the people of one
region of the earth. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Taymiyah
(11/433-444)
Fourthly:
It is
mentioned in the words of some of the salaf and some of the later scholars:
So and so is one of the abdaal. For example, in al-Tareekh al-Kabeer
by al-Bukhaari (7/127), in the biography of Farwah ibn Mujaalid, it says:
They did not doubt that he was one of the abdaal. End quote. As narrated by
al-Daaraqutni in al-‘Ilal (6/29), Imam Ahmad said: If anyone in Iraq
was one of the abdaal, it was Abu Ishaaq Ibraaheem ibn Haani’. End quote.
But they did
not mean thereby what the Sufis mean in their innovated baatini terminology,
rather they meant it in the linguistic sense. Whoever among the scholars is
spoken of in such terms is one of the heirs of the Prophets by virtue of the
shar’i knowledge that he has, and it is as if he is their substitute in
conveying the message of the Revelation and teaching it to the people.
Ibn Taymiyah
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (4/97):
As for the
scholars, they used to say that they were the abdaal, because they were the
substitutes of the Prophets, and they took their place in a real sense. They
were not people who had no knowledge or who were unknown. Each of them took
the place of the Prophets in the field in which he excelled, whether
knowledge or worship. They said that they were the group that would continue
to prevail until the Hour begins, because they are following guidance and
the true religion with which Allaah sent His Messengers, the religion which
Allaah promised would prevail over all other religions, and sufficient is
Allaah as a witness. End quote.
See also
question no. 10527.
And Allaah
knows best.
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