To the right is the cover for the second edition of "Baraa'ah Ulamaa il-Ummah Min Tazkiyah Ahl il-Bid'ah wal-Mudhammah" (The Innocence of the Scholars of the Ummah from the Commendation of the People of Innovation and Censure). This book was prepared by Isaam bin Abdullaah as-Sinaanee. It contains a refutation of the one who used the intercession of Shaykh Bin Baaz (rahimahullaah) for Sayyid Qutb as a proof for the 'adaalah (integrity) of Sayyid Qutb and commendation of his (Qutb's) manhaj, when it is not a proof at all.

The book, after compilation and authorship was sent to Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan who checked over it and made recommendations, and also suggested an improvement to the title of the book. Then it was read by Imaam Muhammad bin Saalih al-Uthaymeen (rahimahullaah), who made his own written notes on the pre-print copy that was sent to him, and he also advised that the section titled "The Salafi Manhaj", should be placed before "The Qutubi Manhaj" and not after it, unless the author had a specific reason for doing that. And images of these hand-written notes are included at the end of the book. We will be quoting from this book inshaa'Allaah in this series. Both of these scholars endorsed the contents of this book and the purpose for which it was to be published and distributed. And the purpose is clearly outlined in the title of the book itself. Namely, to declare the Scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah free and innocent (in particular Imaam Ibn Baaz, and the other scholars in general) of having made tazkiyah (i.e. given adaalah) to those who are from the people of innovation: In this case Sayyid Qutb, who aside from writing his commentary on the Qur'an upon an Ash'arite creed, added other great calamities, some of which are serious enough that they cannot really be excused by mere ignorance, such as accusing the Scribe of the Prophet (alayhis salaam) the Uncle of the Believers, Mu'awiyah - whose integrity is attested to by the Prophet himself - of treachery, deception and hypocrisy.

And this book essentially sunk their ship, leaving them only the flotsam to hold onto thereafter, which is what they have been doing since then.

General Introduction to the Subject

Sayyid Qutb, was a communist for over 11 years, and as part of his career role in education for the Egyptian government, he spent time in the United States, where he would travel from Nevada to Colorado, working in the Churches, taking part in ringing the bells, as a member of the committees that are responsible for the maintenance of the churches. After this period he returned back to Egypt and became and Islamic writer, having zeal for Islaam once more, after having spent a significant part of his earlier life as communist. All of this is from his own words in his autobiography. He is not like the great Scholars such as Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani and an-Nawawi, who despite being affected with the Ta'weel of the Ash'aris, were actually raised and nurtured upon knowledge and hadeeth, they were Scholars, and the knowledge of hadeeth and the Sunnah is what saved them from being affected by the underlying usool of the Ash'aris, many of which they saw the falsehood of, such as rejecting aahaad hadeeth (in matters of creed) and making the first obligation to be an-nadhar wal-istidlaal, and building Tawheed upon the proof of al-jawhar wal-'arad and so on. So the mistakes and innovations of Sayyid Qutb and not like those of genuine Scholars who actually had knowledge.

In this introductory article we want to outline why the noble Scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah, the first amongst them, Shaykh Abdullaah ad-Dawaish, stood to point out the mistakes and innovations found in the works of Sayyid Qutb.

There emerged a group of people touting him as an Imaam of the religion and guidance. Unsurprisingly, they were tutored by the very brother of Sayyid Qutb, who migrated to Saudi Arabia back in the sixties. Whilst we ask Allaah to forgive the mistakes of Sayyid Qutb, and certainly do not declare him a kaafir even though he uttered and expressed statements of kufr, what he fell into is certainly no light matter, especially considering that his books are widespread and propagandized by the movements of Takfir and Khurooj (excommunication and revolt). And this was the motivating factor behind the warning of many of the Scholars from his books, in order to show mercy to him and to lighten his burden, for his books are the fountains of Takfir and Khurooj which have led to great calamities in the Ummah, let alone containing many other calamities.

As for the issues of ruling by the Sharee'ah and judgement being for Allaah alone, then in what the Scholars of the Sunnah have explained there is sufficiency that does away with the exaggerations of Sayyid Qutb in Takfir and Haakimiyyah.

The sum total of his books reveal that he spoke of the major innovations in history, and uttered what amounts to kufr and apostasy. These are the affairs that are found in his books:

• Propounding the manhaj of the Khawaarij of Takfir and Khurooj, and raising the flag of Dhul-Khuwaisarah at-Tamimi of "Social Justice"
• Uttering statements of kufr and apostasy such as his Mockery of Moosaa (alaihis salaam)
• His claim that parts of the Islamic Sharee'ah should be abolished as they no longer suit the times (i.e. slavery and the laws pertaining to it)
• His claim that Islaam is a mixture of Christianity and Communism, sharing in their ideals
• His accusing Mu'aawiyah and Amr ibn al-Aas of nifaaq (hypocrisy), deception (ghish), treachery (khiyaanah) and other affairs
• His belittlement and disdain and rebuke of Uthmaan (radiallaahu anhu) and accusing him of senility, and misappropriating the funds of the Bait ul-Maal, and favouritism, and his (Qutb's) refusal to acknowledge Uthmaan's khilaafah
• His Takfir of Banu Umayyah
• Speaking with the creation of the Qur'aan, the saying of the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah and the Ash'ariyyah
• Rejection of al-Istiwaa, in the way and style of the Ash'ariyyah, Mu'tazilah and Jahmiyyah
• His rejection of Ahaad Hadeeth in the matters of aqeedah, the saying of the Mu'tazilah and most of the Ash'ariyyah
• His rejection of the miracles of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam)
• His speaking of the freedom of people to choose any religion and that Islaam fights for this right
• His Takfir of all muslim societies
• His abandonment of the Jumu'ah prayer with the argument that it is not obligatory in the absence of the khilaafah
• His speaking with the Qur'aan and interpreting it with mere opinion and ignorance
• His saying that Imaan is a single entity which does not separate and consist of divisions, that it is either there in full, or not there at all, and this is the point of origin for both the innovations of the Khawaarij and Murji'ah

This is only by way of a small selection. For more information one can refer to the excellent refutations of Sayyid Qutb by Abdullaah ad-Duwaish, Shaikh Rabee' bin Haadee and others, who have excelled in this field and whose efforts have been praised and commended and augmented by the likes of Imaam al-Albaani, Imaam Ibn Baaz, Imaam Ibn Uthaimeen, and who were joined in warning from the books of Sayyid Qutb by many other Major Scholars.

And we will be serializing the sayings and rulings of the Scholars of the Sunnah upon the figureheads of al-Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen and the leaders of the Ikhwaani "Sahwah".