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Excerpt from al-Sayyid Yusuf al-Rifaʿi's recent epistle, *Advice to Our Brothers the Ulema of Najd* (Nasiha li-Ikhwanina ʿUlama' Najd):
Translation and most notes by GF Haddad
[Prologue + 57 chapters + Epilogue]
{Say: Who gives you provision from the sky and the earth? Say: Allah. Lo! we or you assuredly are rightly guided or in error manifest. Say: You will not be asked of what we committed, nor shall we be asked of what you do. Say: Our Lord will bring us all together, then He will judge between us with truth. He is the All-Knowing Judge} (34:24-26).
{Lo! Allah enjoins justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbids lewdness and abomination and wickedness. He exhorts you in order that you may take heed} (16:90).
{O my people! Yours is the kingdom today, you being uppermost in the land. But who would save us from the wrath of Allah should it reach us?} (40:20).
In the Name of Allah All-Beneficent Most Merciful
All praise belongs to Allah! Blessings and greetings upon our Master [Muhammad] the Messenger of Allah and upon his Family and most honorable Companions and all those loyal to him.ﷺ
To proceed: Using as my point of departure the narration of the Prophet ﷺ : "Religion is sincere, faithful advice. We said: [Faithful] to whom? He replied: To Allah; to His Book; and to His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims, and their multitude,"1 and after the publication of my book al-Radd al-Muhkam al-Mani'2 and that of other books authored by people of learning,3 I waited to see if, perhaps, some of your doings and methods would change. However, nothing of the sort took place.
Therefore, since Allah Most High says in Surat al-'Asr: {By the declining day, Lo! man is in a state of loss, Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance} (103:1-3), I decided, after the Prayer of Counsel (al-istikhāra), to address you with this sincere faithful advice which, I hope, will be accepted. I ask our Lord Most High to show us and you the truth for what it is and grant us to follow it, and show us falsehood for what it is and grant us to avoid it. May He not make this matter confused for us lest we follow our lusts. It is Allah alone Who guides to what is right.
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Accordingly, I say, trusting in Allah Most High for success:
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NOTES
1 See below, Advice #37 for documentation of this narration.
2 See notice on Shaykh Yusuf al-Rifa'i in Reliance of the Traveller.
3 Cf. ʿAbd al-Hayy al-ʿAmrawi & ʿAbd al-Karim Murad, al-Tahdhir min al-Ightirar bi ma Ja'a fi Kitab al-Hiwar min al-Manakir ("Warning Against Being Fooled by the Reprehensible Contents of the Book [by Ibn Maniʿ] 'A Debate with al-Maliki'"); Shaykh Rashid ibn Ibrahim al-Marikhi of Bahrayn, Rafʿ al-Astar ʿan Shubuhat wa Dalalat Sahib al-Hiwar ("Exposing the Insinuations and Aberrations of the Author of the 'Debate with al-Maliki'"); al-Sayyid ʿAbd Allah ibn Mahfuz al-Haddad Ba ʿAlawi al-Hadrami, al-Sunna wa al-Bidʿa. Etc.
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[20-07-04]
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