“Ahbash” and their “Pesudo- Sunni” Beliefs

Ubah Abdusalam Seid

In this note, I listed down some points on which “Ahbash” differs from the whole “Ahlu Sunnah wal-Jama’a" (Sunni Muslims). I list this points according to what I read in their texts especially “Mukhtasar Sheikh Abdullah Al-Harari”, the discussion I made with the group members, and some audio tapes I listened. 
1. All Sunni Muslims believe Allah speaks. He speaks to his creatures as He likes. For example, He indeed spoke to Musa (a.s.). There is no difference on this. And we don’t enter to deep speculation on how he speaks, in what language he speaks, what is his sound etc..But the Ahbash believe that Allah doesn’t speak in a language, and He doesn’t have a sound since these are all human characters. “Any one who says so will become Kafir” (But they don’t have answer if you ask them “What about His speaking to Musa?”) 

2. Ahbash believe that “Begging Allah to save all Muslims from the hell fire is “kufr”. In this sense, reading the Ayats of Al-Qur’an such as ayah 201 of Surah Al-Baqarah is “Kufr”. But All Sunni Muslims believe that making such du’a in jama’a is very eesential. 
3. On Sahaba, I put down two points.

a)      Ahbash believe, “Allah said in the Qur’an “Abubaker was the Sahib (friend) of the Prophet. So anybody who says or believes “Abubakr was not a Sahabi (friend) of the prophet will become a Kafir because he has believed against the Qur’an”.

I don’t know why the Sheikh picked up this point and wrote down in his book called “Mukhtasar”. But it seemed as if it mean “you can criticize other sahabas to the extent that they were not the friends of the prophet”. This point has relation to the following one (read the next).

b)      As I wrote once, Ahbash believe “the slandering of Sahaba is forbidden. But this doesn’t include the Sahaba who rebelled against the Khilafa of Ali ibn Abi Talib”. That means you can curse or slander Sahabas like our mother A’isha, Al-Zubeyr ibn Awwam, Talha ibn Ubadullah, Moawiyah bin Abu Sufiyan, Amr ibn Al-As (r.a- all of them) etc..

But all “Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama’a” don’t differ on their stand of Sahaba. A Muslim can not criticize or curse any Sahaba of the prophet. But this doesn’t mean talking about the great “Fitna” that followed the death of Khalif Uthman ibn Affan (r.a) is forbidden. We can talk and teach their history. But critique, slandering, blsphemy, cursing, etc.. are forbidden.

5  4. They believe that non-Islamic practices like shrine veneration are very essential for Muslims. They say "Shrines of saints are places where prayers are accepted by Allah and his Barakah is abundant. But the Sunni Muslims believe "We can visit graves of Muslims. But we can't venerate the graves. Even we can't build a shrine on graves of Muslims." '
    5. Their view on "tawassul" (intercession) and "tabarruk" (seeking blessings of Allah) totally opposes Islamic Monotheism. It leads to shirk. 
F  6. Ahbash believe that there is no Zakat on paper money. They say "Zakat is given only from accumulation of gold and silver, agricultural products, cattle, sheep, goats, camels and commodity in trade."

6  7.  I hear that they believe taking interests from banks owned by non-Muslims is allowed. I didn’t hear this directly from their members and I don’t remember if read it from their texts. But as I read this on many Sunni websites, and I heard it from many people who are close to them, I may take it as their true belief.

7  8.  They believe using the Qur’anic ayah and expressions inside normal talking is “kufur” unless you are saying them for Da’wa or similar purposes. For example, if you see a cup filled with a tea and you say “And a full cup” (Sura Al-Naba’i: 34), you will become a Kafir. (remember that I am referring to the Qur’anic Ayahs in their Normal Arabic form. I don’t mean the translations. ).

This belief is true in one sense that the Qur’anic Ayahs must be respected and treated properly. However, I believe that we can use Qur’anic expressions in our speeches as long as we don’t do it for joking.

9   9. They believe “Sirat”, which is a bridge like path spread on “Jahannam”, is not as thin as a hair and as sharp as a blade as it is described in “Hadith”. The narration that described “Sirat” in that way is only to warn people against the terrorizing punishment of “the bridge”. But all Sunni Muslims believe “Sirat is exactly as it is described in Hadith”.

1  10. They believe that a person should take “Shahada” when he reaches the age of 15 (adolescence age). But we Sunni Muslims believe that this is the age when a personal duty of Ibada and Shari’a (“Fard Ayn”) will lay on a Muslim. A boy/girl who was born and raised up in Islam is already a Muslim. There is no need to take Shahada again.

1  9. The Ahbash jma’aa believe the following famous Muslim scholars were either “Kuffar”, or “Zindiq”, or“Khawarij”.

a.)    Sheikhul Islam Abul Abbas Ahmad Taqi’uddin ibn Taymiyyah:-He is the most hated figure in the teachings of Ahbash. They say he has started the greatest “Fitna” in the Muslim world. They even accuse him for what he had never said or thought.

b.)    Imam ibn Qayyim Al-Jawaziyyi:- is also highly hated by Ahbash.

c.)    Imam Al-Dhahabi is also highly cursed.  But I don’t know their stance of Imam Ibn Kathir. (Remember that Ibn Kathir, Ibn Qayyim and Al-Dhahabi were students of Imam Ibn Teymiyyah).

e.)    Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahhab is also a highly cursed scholar by Ahbash.

f.)     Shahid Sayyid Qutb:- The Muslim scholar of 20th century whom the Ahbash hate more than anyone. He is preceded only by Sheikhul Islam ibn Teymiyyah.

g.)    Abul A’ila Mawdudi: Another Muslim scholar of the 20th century cursed by Ahbash.

i.)      Contemporary Sunni scholars like Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qardawi, Sheikh Nasruddin Al-Albani, Mufti Ibnu Baz, Sheikh Al-Utheymin etc are also cursed.

These are some beliefs in which “Ahbash” differ from “Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jama’a”. We hate them not for having these beliefs, but for their saying “If you don’t believe in what we say, then you are “Kaffir”, or “Khawarij”. They recently declared “Takfir” on scholars like “Dr. Zakir Naik” and Dr. Abu Amina Bila Philips out of this blind extremism.