The Ijaazah in Hadeeth Reaching Back to the Imaams of Hadeeth, the Authors of the Saheeh Books of Hadith

The Imaam, Allaamah, Ubaydullah ar-Rahmani al-Mubarakfuri and he is the author of the book "Muraa'aat al-Mafaateeh Sharh Miskhaat al-Masaabeeh", he is one of the famous Scholars of India, and from the well-known Muhadditheen. He died - rahimahullaah - in the year 1414H.

He wrote - rahimahullaah - in granting an ijaazah in hadeeth for Shaykh Rabee' - whose text is:

To proceed: Then the servant, needy to Allaah, Abu al-Hasan Ubaydullah ar-Rahmani as a student, Salaf, Athari in method, Mubarakfuri in habitat, the son of the Allaamah, Shaykh, Abdus-Salam al-Mubarakfuri, the author of "Sirah al-Bukhari" (The Biography of al-Bukhari): Verily, our brother for the sake of Allaah, the noble Scholar, the eminent and honorable Shaykh, Rabee' bin Haadee Umayr al-Madkhali, from the people of the town of al-Jaraadiyyah from the suburbs of Saamitah in the south of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested permission (ijaazah) from me for narrating hadeeth from me whose sanad connects to the sanad of the Imaams of Hadeeth, the authors of the Saheeh [compilations of hadeeth] and other than them. And he wrote to me that he studied firstly at the Madrasah Salafiyyah at Saamitah, then at the Knowledge Institute within [the Madrasah], then at the Islamic University in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, and he graduated there and took his university certification in 1385H, then he took the certification of Masters in 1396H, and then a Doctorate in the year 1400H from the University of King Abdul-Azeez in Jeddah.

And he also mentioned to me that he heard much of Saheeh al-Bukhari, Muslim and something of the compilation of at-Tirmidhi from the Allaamah, Shaykh Abdul-Aziz Bin Baz - hafidhahullaah - in the distinguished Prophet's Mosque. And he also accomopanied the Allaamah, Shaykh Nasir ud-Din al-Albani - hafidhahullaah - a great deal, and he also benefited from Shaykh Hammaad bin Muhammad al-Ansaaree and others from the Major Scholars.

And he had been delegated on behalf of the Islamic University of Madinah to Jaami'ah Salafiyyah at Banaaris, India to teach, after graduation from the Islamic University [Madinah], and before he had taken the certifications of Masters and Doctorate.

And every time I went to the Jaami'ah Salafiyyah whilst he was established there he would sit with me and would revise knowledge-based issues with me, and he also came to the town of Mubarakfur numerous times and visited me in my house, and I found him to possess copious knowledge, great excellence, a person of sound understanding, an upright disposition, upon the path of the Righteous Salaf - radiallaahu anhum - in both belief (i'tiqaad) and action ('amal), following the Book and the Sunnah, aiding them both, defending them, and severe upon the people of innovation and desires (ahl ul-bida' wal-hawaa), refuting the blind-followers, the majority of whose efforts were in reading hadeeth or teaching it's reading in order to make the hadeeth be in agreement with the madhhab of their Imaam.

So may Allaah bless his [various] sciences (i.e. types of knowledge), and make the Muslims take joy through the remainder of his life...

...To the end of the Ijaazah, and the Shaykh wrote it on the 19th of Dhul-Qa'dah in the year 1401H.

Just as a group of people of knowledge have also granted Shaykh Rabee' license (with an ijaazah), from them:

• Shaykh: Hamood at-Tuwaijuree
• Shaykh: Ismaa'eel al-Ansaaree
• Shaykh: Ahmad bin Yahyaa an-Najmee
• Shaykh: Badee ud-Deen as-Sindee
• Shaykh: Aleem ud-Din an-Nadyaawee
• Shaykh: Muhammad as-Sumalee

and others - may Allaah have mercy to all and preserve the living from amongst them.

Why the Innovators Attack Shaykh Rabee'

Shaykh Rabee' is from the Imaams of Hadeeth in our times and a people have attempted to belittle and defame him in a manner that the likes of Hasan Alee as-Saqqaaf tried with Shaykh al-Albani (rahimahullaah) with respect to the subject of hadeeth in particular - and more broadly with respect to his methodology (manhaj) in da'wah and sound upright Salafi aqidah. And numerous factions of the Innovators and Hizbiyyeen have apportioned a fair share of the diseases of their hearts towards this noble Shaykh for no other reason except that he spoke against their rumooz (symbolic figureheads) and refuted their innovations and deviance from the foundations of Islaam and its branches, and because he put that into writing:

• He wrote a book called (منهج الأنبياء في الدعوة إلى الله فيه الحكمة والعقل ) "Manhaj al-Anbiyaa fid-Da'wah ilallaah" (The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allaah) in which he refuted the secular atheist Jewish manifesto found in the books of Qutb of the revolutionary vanguard, the Revolutionary Ideology of Mawdudi and the secular, pluralistic political (Machiavellian) methodologies espoused and enacted by Hasan al-Banna.

• He wrote a book called (مطاعن سيد قطب في أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم), "Mataa'in Sayyid Qutb Fis-As.haabi Rasoolillaah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)" (The Revilements of Sayyid Qutb Upon the Companions of Allaah's Messenger), giving sincerity to Allaah, to the Book of Allaah, to His Prophet, and to the Muslims in general in which he defended the honour of Uthmaan (radiallaahu anhu), Mu'awiyah, Abu Sufyaan, Hind, Amr bin al-Aas and others (radiallaahu anhum) from the malice, hatreds and resentments of the "the idolatrous western civilisation manifesting explosively in the heart of one who proclaims defence of Islam and Jihad in its path" (i.e. Qutb) to use the words of Allaamah Mahmood Shakir, written 48 years go!

• He wrote a book called (أضواء إسلامية على عقيدة سيد قطب وفكره ) "Adwaa Islaamiyyah 'Alaa aqidah Sayyid Qutb wa Fikrihi" (Islamic Illuminations Upon the Creed and Ideology of Sayyid Qutb) in which he defended the Islamic aqidah from the doctrines of the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Ash'ariyyah, Jabariyyah, Rafidah, Hululiyyah, Ittihaadiyyah, Ishtiraakiyyah (Socialist Communists) and others, all of which are found in the books of Qutb (primarily in az-Zilaal) and distributed the world over. And this was after a people were propagandizing for Qutb, being treacherous to the Ummah by putting Qutb alongside Shaykh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Shaykh ul-Islam Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab, and parading him as one of the "Imaams of Guidance"!

• He wrote a book called (جماعة واحدة لا جماعات وصراط واحد لا عشرات) "Jamaa'ah Waahidah, Laa Jamaa'aat Siraat Waahid, Laa Asharaat" (A Single Jamaa'ah, not Many Jamaa'ahs, A Single Path, not Tens of [Paths]), in refutation of the pluralist, secularist methodologies of Abdur-Rahman Abdul-Khaliq al-Misree who was simply continuing the work of Hasan al-Banna and his secular, pluralistic da'wah which called for the unification of creeds and affiliations, including the Raafidah, for working together to establish the khilaafah!

Shaykh Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymin nicely summed up the realities about the reasons and motives of those who attack Shaykh Rabee:

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin Explains Why Shaykh Rabee' Is Attacked

There occurs in the three cassette series (كشف اللثام عن مخالفات أحمد سلام), a compilation of the refutations of the Major Scholars against the false principles of Ahmad Sallaam, compiled and distributed in July 2000CE, the statement of Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin (rahimahullaah) below, in response to the question:

What is your advice concerning the one who forbids the cassettes of Shaikh Rabee' bin Haadee [from being distributed] with the claim that they cause fitnah and that they contain praise of the Wullaat ul-Umoor of the Kingdom, and that his praise of them emanates from nifaaq (hypocrisy)?

To which the Shaykh responds:

We consider this to be a great error and mistake. Shaikh Rabee' is from the Ulamaa of the Sunnah, and from the people of goodness. His aqidah is sound and his manhaj is strong and sound. However, when he began to speak about some of the symbolic figureheads of some of the people, from amongst the latecomers they began to tarnish him with these faults. Do you know [this] now?

Those whom Shaykh Rabee' criticized were Sayyid Qutb, Hasan al-Banna and Mawdudi all of whom brought foreign, secular methodologies into the Islamic da'wah - all in the name of Islam!

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin: Shaykh Rabee' is Upon Salafiyyah, in His Manhaj and in The Actualizing of the Call to Tawheed

This statement here is a corroboration of the correctness of Shaykh Rabee's book "Manhaj al-Anbiyaa Fi ad-Da'wah Ilallaah" (Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allaah), and a corroboration that when Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin speaks about Salafiyyah not being a hizb, he is not speaking about Shaykh Rabee', but those besides Shaykh Rabee' who are upon other than what Shaykh Rabee' is upon.

Here is the audio:

Indeed we praise Allaah, Free is He from all imperfections, the Most High, that He makes it easy for our brother, the Doctor, Rabee' bin Haadee al-Madkhalee to visit this region. [So that] the one to whom certain matters are not apparent may come to know that our brother, may Allaah grant us and him success, is upon Salafiyyah, the way of the Salaf.

So this is a corroboration that Shaykh Rabee' is actually upon the way of the Salaf and not upon other than it, and the Shaykh is praising Allaah for facilitating the visit of Shaykh Rabee' and so the one to whom certain affairs were hidden will become clear to him. Now what were those affairs? Well, affairs of manhaj and the true nature of the call to Allah, the way of the Prophets in actualizing Tawheed - the very same affairs on account of which the Heretical Innovators had spent the previous decade in attacking the Shaykh.

And I do not mean here that Salafiyyah is a hizb (party) which is set up to oppose the Muslims outside of it, but I mean by Salafiyyah, that he (i.e. Shaikh Rabee') is upon the path of the Salaf in his Manhaj. Especially in the field of actualising Tawheed and throwing aside what opposes this [manhaj]. And all of us know tht Tawheed is the basis for which Allaah sent the Messengers upon them be peace and prayers...

There you go. That pretty much annihilates the misapplication of all those other statements of Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin that were being thrown around in which the Shaykh said that Salafiyyah is not a hizb, rather it is manhaj and a way that is followed and traversed and in shunning and throwing aside whatever oppposes it. One that Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin himself was upon when he warned against the Qutbiyyah, the Qutbi Manhaj and its doctrines and its figurehead and his works (see here, here, here, here, here and here). As for when you claim Salafiyyah and you follow other than it, and you set yourself up with doctrines and methodologies to oppose Salafiyyah and to oppose the Muslims, to split their ranks and their hearts (through what is other than Salafiyyah), then that is the hizb that the Shaykh was warning against.

The visit of our brother, Shaikh Rabee bin Haadee to this region, our city, Unaizah, no doubt will have a good effect and it will also become clear to many of the people what used to be hidden from them due to the scare-mongering and rumour-mongering and also letting loose the tongue [of discord].

Just what were these rumours. Who are and where where they coming from? And who are these people, still to this day, trying the same worn out:

Hey Shaykh, there are some real nasty people out there, they are attacking the du'at and the scholars and saying they are misguided, Shaykh, can you give them some advice ... and O by the way, can I just slip in there very quickly as you start your advice, that they are the followers and students of Shaykh Rabee'.

Don't they know that this is the same type of deception played out by the Qutbiyyah in 1991-1992CE (1412H) with Shaykh Bin Baz, before he blackened their faces and rendered them liars and callers to falsehood who stir in the murky waters, when they claimed that a general piece of advice given by the Shaykh to everyone, was directed against the Shaykhs of Madinah in particular (i.e. Shaykh Rabee') - see all of that in great detail right here.

And how numerous are those who are remorseful about what they said concerning the Ulamaa, when it becomes clear to them that they (the Ulamaa) are upon the truth.

We pray that Allaah grants the same success to these people still clinging onto the flotsam in the ocean.

Then one of those present at the gathering said:

There is a question concerning the books of Shaikh Rabee'?

It is apparently clear that this question is not in need of my answer. And just as Imaam Ahmad was asked about Ishaaq bin Raahawaih - rahimahumullaah - and he replied, "Someone like me is asked about Ishaaq! Rather, Ishaaq is to be asked about me." And I spoke at the beginning of my speech about that which I know about Shaikh Rabee', may Allaah grant him success, and what I mentioned has never ceased to be what I hold about him in my soul, up until this time. And his arrival here and his words that have reached me, then no doubt, they are such that they will increase a person in his love for him and in his supplication for him.

Alhamdulillaah! This is a great praise, if you reflect upon. And it is precisely this (along with Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin's warnings from the Qutbiyyah, their cassettes, doctrines and figurheads) that incensed the Qutbiyyah to try and attack Shaykh Rabee' through other Scholars by taking the same "rumour-mongering" and "scare-mongering" to them. That's what they have been trying to achieve after the Major Scholars passed away, Imaam al-Albani, Imaam Ibn Baz, Imaam Ibn Uthaymin, all these Scholars knew the truth and clarified the truth and were 100% behind Shaykh Rabee. After they passed away, the Hizbiyyeen have not ceased to try and get the other Shaykhs to speak about Shaykh Rabee', in continuation of their war against the Sunnah and its people. So beware of their deception!

Imaam al-Albani's Corroboration, Praise and Commendation of Shaykh Rabee's Refutations of the Ash'ari, Sayyid Qutb

This was written after the Shaikh completed a reading of 'al-Awaasim Minal-Qawaasim' shortly before his death. And this is also an uncovering of that Qutubi who used some very old words of Shaikh al-Albani to defend Sayyid Qutb and his heretical writings. It is abundantly clear that at that particular time Shaikh al-Albani had not made a thorough study of all the works of Qutb and hence did not speak in criticism of him. However, when the affair became clear to him at the hands of Shaikh Rabee' then he wrote the communication below:

Everything with which you have refuted Sayyid Qutb is the truth (haqq) and is correct (sawab). And it will become sufficiently clear from this refutation to every one who has read anything from "The Islamic Heritage" that Sayyid Qutb had no knowledge of the Usool (fundamentals) or the Furoo' (subsidiary matters) of Islaam. So may Allaah reward you with the best of reward, O brother Rabee for fulfilling the obligation of explaining and uncovering his ignorance and deviation from Islaam.

Source: From the Shaikh's own handwritten letter which he wrote prior to his death in 1999. A photocopy of the original is included in the book ("al-Baraa'ah") itself as an appendix.