Why Are Asharis and Maturidis Considered Deviant? | Sheikh Assim Al-Hakeem

[00:00:04]How do we know a scholar from a student of knowledge? And I'm not sure if this is his actual question cuz it might be how do we know that this particular scholar is a trusted scholar.

[00:00:19]There are so many people around us that have the title of scholars and we see people rising and falling.

[00:00:29]We see people we used to point at them and say mashallah they are the best of scholars of Islam. There's this and there's that and subhanallah may Allah keep us all steadfast on the sunnah, on the truth, on the straight path. After few years they flip, they change their colors, they change their aqeedah, their manhaj, they reject the sunnah, they reject the manhaj of ahlus sunnah wal jama'ah.

[00:00:57]So if this is what the gift's question is about, this is more difficult than the other one.

[00:01:04]How to differentiate between a scholar and a student of knowledge? A scholar is a category of very few selected people.

[00:01:15]Not due to their race, nationality, color, or authority.

[00:01:21]It is due to their knowledge.

[00:01:24]So these people are knowledgeable in Arabic and its sciences. They're knowledgeable in Quran and the tafsir and the abrogated from what is not and they are knowledgeable in Hadith and the different sorts of Hadith, the sahih and the da'if and how authentic and how not authentic, the explanation of scholars about this Hadith. They are knowledgeable in fiqh and they are knowledgeable in usool al-fiqh among other bits and pieces here and there of knowledge. So, these people, this caliber of people, when they have an issue, they give the answer from their knowledge.

[00:02:10]Which is based on the Quran, the Sunnah, with understanding of the favorite generations, the three favorite generations. They do not shoot from the hip. They do not bring something None of the previous predecessors have thought of.

[00:02:26]Rather, they follow and they give us their ijtihad. These are the scholars.

[00:02:32]The students of knowledge are greater in number than the scholars.

[00:02:36]They have bits and pieces of what scholars have, but they don't have the power to come up with an opinion of their own.

[00:02:44]And they have to select from the opinion of the scholars and tell you that this is the most authentic according to my research.

[00:02:51]So, they bring you the different opinions of scholars and they select one not due to their whims and desires, rather to their intellect, to their knowledge of the Quran and the Sunnah, and due to their research and they come up with a conclusion.

[00:03:05]So, this is how you can differentiate between a scholar, a real scholar, and a student of knowledge. So, when people look at me or other da'is and they say, "Oh, they are scholars of Islam." This is wrong.

[00:03:16]We are not scholars of Islam. We are students of knowledge. We are preachers.

[00:03:21]We convey to the masses what we've learned from the real scholars and back it backing it up with the Quran and the Sunnah and explaining it to the masses.

[00:03:30]This is why they consider us as scholars, but we are not scholars. Now, how to know which one is to be trusted or not, this is a different issue. We have to look at the conduct of the scholar or the student of knowledge. We have to look at those who praised such a scholar or a student of knowledge because appearing on a on your TV screens does not make a person a scholar.

[00:03:58]It makes him a lucky person. He got a chance to come and address you. But, you have to scrutinize a person.

[00:04:05]So, if you see someone free mixing with women, flirting with women, listening to music, doesn't have a clear path or manage when it comes to Aqidah, everything is okay. It's a cocktail.

[00:04:17]Let's go ahead and do it. This is not someone you should follow.

[00:04:21]If you see someone who does not have consistency, so 10 years ago, he was calling to the madhab of manage of Sunnah wal Jama'ah and the Aqidah of Salih and he flipped.

[00:04:32]He changed to the dark side, as they say, and he is no longer promoting the manage of the Salaf and he thinks that he is better version and more knowledgeable, or he's introducing bid'ah, or he's collaborating with the people of bid'ah.

[00:04:49]This is someone that you should leave aside. If you see someone who is a super trooper and he thinks that no, I am the only one around who's right. Everybody is wrong. This guy, I would like he is not on the manage. This guy is an innovator. This guy, he is probably from the Hizbis or from this or from and start labeling people like you have mentioned in your third question, which we will come to. Then again, this is bad news.

[00:05:16]>> Uh I've watched a few of your videos and I noticed that you mentioned that all madhabs are totally legitimate and permissible, but you also said that the Ash'ari and Maturidi Aqidah are deviant and a majority of these madhabs do give rulings according to the Aqidah. So, can you please explain this for me?

[00:05:30]>> There is a difference between the four schools of thought as a fiqhi schools of thought dealing with what is haram, makruh, mubah, uh mustahab, and uh wajib.

[00:05:46]They deal with things that are related to fiqh issues, forms of worship, salat, ibadah, fasting, zakat, or transactions, or social affairs, marriage, divorce, iddah, prescribed punishment, judging, all the nine yards.

[00:06:07]These are schools of thought.

[00:06:09]Now, it is totally separate from issues related to aqidah.

[00:06:15]Where a person can be Hanafi and Salafi at the same time.

[00:06:21]So, he follows the school of thought of Abu Hanifah. So, he puts his right over the left below his navel. He doesn't raise his hands when doing ruku or rising from the ruku. He doesn't say amin loudly and the likes.

[00:06:34]But, in his aqidah, he follows the Salaf, the Prophet Muhammad alayhi salat wa salam, the companions, the tabi'in, the tabi'i tabi'in, the favorite three generations.

[00:06:43]Who attribute the attributes of Allah Azzawajal according to the what they've learned from the Quran and Sunnah. So, Allah does have a face, Allah does have two hands, Allah Azzawajal has an eye, Allah has fingers. All the Quran, the Sunnah, and the Hadith of the Prophet alayhi salat wa salam affirms that.

[00:06:59]They believe that Allah divinely decreed things and that Allah created these things and that Allah Azzawajal willed these things.

[00:07:08]So, the belief in the divine decree is firm according to the belief of Prophet Muhammad alayhi salat wa salam and the and the Sahabah and the tabi'in.

[00:07:17]But, nowadays, when we have Ash'aris, Maturidis, Mu'tazila, Khawarij, and all the likes, they can be in fiqh following one of the four schools of thought. They can be Hanbali like us.

[00:07:34]They can be Shafi, they can be Maliki, but their aqidah is twisted.

[00:07:39]Is corrupt because they're not following the aqidah of the Prophet Muhammad Ali Salam.

[00:07:45]Actually, they're not following the Aqidah of the four Imams of the four schools of thought. So, when you go and study the Aqidah of Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi, Imam Ahmad, none of them was Ash'ari or Maturidi.

[00:07:59]And they would never even in their wildest dream say that, "No, Imam Shafi was a Maturidi."

[00:08:07]Or Imam Abu Hanifah was this and that.

[00:08:09]They would never ever say such a thing because they know that there would be blatant liars.

[00:08:16]So, if you want to follow the right people, follow the four Imams of these four schools of thought who are following the Salaf of this Ummah, the way of the Prophet Islam, the way of the companions, the way of the Tabi'in and the Tabi' Tabi'in, and you will be safe.

[00:08:33]Don't be misguided by what Maulanas say that, "Oh, you have to do this." All of this is philosophy coming from the Greeks. Nothing is from the Quran and the Sunnah, nothing from our own religion.