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Refuting The Proofs of Al-Murji'ah

The document discusses disagreements between sects over the definition of faith (Eeman). Some groups, like Al-Murji'ah, believed faith is a single entity that cannot increase or decrease. Others believed faith can be portioned and increase with good deeds. The document provides proofs from Quranic verses and hadiths to refute Al-Murji'ah's arguments and show faith can grow stronger through obedience and weaker through sins. It concludes the innovation of Irjaa' school, which held faith is only belief in the heart, damaged the true message of Islam and changed its core teachings.

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392 views

Refuting The Proofs of Al-Murji'ah

The document discusses disagreements between sects over the definition of faith (Eeman). Some groups, like Al-Murji'ah, believed faith is a single entity that cannot increase or decrease. Others believed faith can be portioned and increase with good deeds. The document provides proofs from Quranic verses and hadiths to refute Al-Murji'ah's arguments and show faith can grow stronger through obedience and weaker through sins. It concludes the innovation of Irjaa' school, which held faith is only belief in the heart, damaged the true message of Islam and changed its core teachings.

Uploaded by

TheEmigrant
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Refuting the Proofs of al-Murji`ah

The Origins of the Disagreement


The disagreements within all sects and their deviation from the right path lies
behind the fact that they have not committed their minds to the essence of the
Qur'an and the Sunnah, as taught by the Prophet (s.a.w.) to his Companions
and their followers, may Allah be pleased with them. Instead, they
committed themselves to their own understanding. Hence, the frst signs of
deviation began with the meaning of faith (Eeman) and its defnition.
Regarding this matter, people split into two main groups which believe:

A- Eeman is one entity that cannot be portioned.


B- Eeman is something that can be portioned.

Those who said that Eeman is one entity and that it does not increase nor
decrease are Al-Murji'ah, who differed between themselves about the reality
of Eeman. Some of their dominations, known as al-Jahmiyah (attributed to
Jahm), declared that it is enough to know Allah in your heart, and hence all
people are faithful, except someone who says that he does not know Allah.
By this illogical argument they judged that Christians, hypocrites, Jews and
other Kafrs to be all people of faith.
Another domination, led by Muhammad Bin Karam and his friends, claimed
that Eeman is only a matter of confession by the tongue, even if the person
was Kafr in his heart; he is a believer and will still end up in Heaven.
Others of Al-Murji'ah said that Eeman is knowledge in the heart and
confession by the tongue. So, if a person knows his religion in his heart and
testifes this by his tongue, then he is a Muslim who accomplished Eeman
and Islam, and deeds cannot be classifed as Eeman, rather they are the codes
of Eeman. This last group consists of what we call the Faqih's Murji'ah (Faqih
is someone with juridical knowledge).
Maqeedah said: "Those who said that Eeman can be portioned, can decrease
and increase, and that it is a matter of deeds and sayings are the consensus
Muslim scholars Faqihs (Jurists), Muhadithun (Hadith narrators) and
eminent Imams, such as Malik, Al-Shaf'i, Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Al-Bukhari,
Ibn Al-Mubarak, all the scholars of Hadith and tradition and those who
followed the path of as-Salaf as-Saleh (the Righteous Predecessors)." He
added that when they (i.e. the Murji'ah) left out the deeds and did not include
them as part of the Eeman, the rest of the Muslims labeled them as Murji'ah."
Refuting Al-Murji'ah's Proofs
They say that they can prove their claims by the Prophet's Hadiths (s.a.w)
that aspire Eeman, such as his saying: "Whoever says 'there is no god but Allah
with sincerity in his heart' will enter Paradise", "Whoever prays the two cold times
(i.e. Fajr and Isha') will enter Paradise."
Such Hadiths are very much mentioned by them in order to lessen the fear of
wrong doing and the slipping into bad deeds.
It is appropriate to note the Hadiths that the Khawarej had adhered to, in
order to refute al-Murji'ah's proofs. Such Hadiths that talk of Allah's
warnings. This is also a misleading argument because it leads to harm being
inficted upon the people due to their lack of knowledge in their God and His
religion. Examples of such Hadiths are: "Whoever breaks relatives' ties will not
enter Paradise", "Insulting a Muslim is a crime and fghting him is Kufur",
"Whoever cheats us is not from amongst us", and "He has no Eeman who commits
adultery during the act, and he has no Eeman who drinks alcohol, during drinking."
So, if you examine Al-Murji'ah's proofs you will note the weakness of the
proofs of Al-Khawarej, and if you examine Al-Khawarej's proofs you will
note how weak the proofs of Al-Murji'ah are. And then you will conclude
that both sects are not following the path of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and his
Companions. You should also note that we are convinced that the above
mentioned Hadiths are genuine authentic Hadiths, but the people of Bid'ah
(innovation) have dealt with these Hadiths according to their own desires. A
man of truth and Eeman is that who deals with the religion as a whole as was
revealed by Allah without any differentiation between His Verses nor the
Prophet's Hadiths. Since the Verses and the Hadiths were revealed from the
same source and the same and only God, Allah, the All-Wise All-
Knowledgeable, all praise be to Him.
The other argument which they use to justify their claim is a proof in the
Arabic language. Al-Ash'ariyah, the Maturdiyah and others on this side, have
said that the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic and they claim that in the Arabic
language the word Eeman (faith) means believing in or acknowledging, and
Eeman is also acknowledging Allah's Oneness and this has nothing to do
with deeds and actions. They further added that if deeds are part of the
Eeman, therefore if someone had left some deeds then he had left the Eeman
and became Kafr.
Ibn Hazm mentioned that: "Eeman in the (Arabic) language is believing in
and acknowledging and this alone negates the claims of Al-Ash'ariyah and
Al-Jahmiyah. The claim that Eeman in the language with which the Qur'an
was revealed is believing by the heart only is utterly unfounded. Believing by
the heart merely without confessing by the tongue was never called Eeman in
the language of the Arabs. And no Arab has ever said that believing in
something by the heart less the tongue is Eeman. Also, no Arab has ever said
that confessing by the tongue without the heart is Eeman. In the Arabic
language, Eeman is confessing by the tongue and believing by the heart".
What was quoted from Ibn Hazm disproves the claim of Al-Jahmiyah and Al-
Ash'ariyah about Eeman and the language.
Now we move to address the Maturidiah who say that Eeman is both
acknowledging by the heart and the tongue, supporting this by the linguistic
meaning as well. We say to them that their argument in language is
unfounded and untrue, because language necessitates that whoever confesses
to something is ought to believe in it. They all acknowledge the term Eeman
but do not assign it to anyone who believes but instead they tend to limit its
usage to certain features excluding the others like believing in Allah and His
Messenger, the Qur'an, resurrection, Heaven and Hell, Praying and Zakah.
All these which the Muslims have all agreed that whoever disbelieves in any
of them is not a believer.
If they claim that they are obliged to do so due to the teaching of the religion,
then we tell them: do not adhere to the linguistical proof where the Shari'a
has changed a certain term.
If they say that according to our saying it is then necessitated that if someone
loses part of his Eeman then he will end up losing all of his Eeman and will
be a Kafr, we tell them: this is utterly wrong because you will be
contradicting Allah and His Prophet (s.a.w.).
It is concluded then that terms like Eeman and Kufr are religious ones that
could neither be confrmed nor denied of anyone except with a proof. With
this all of their claims are dropped down meaningless.

The Proofs of Ahlus-Sunnah


We now would like to mention some of the solid proofs of the people of the
truth, Ahlu-Sunnah Wal-Jama'ah:
Allah says: "He it is Who sent down calmness and tranquillity into the hearts of the
believers that they may grow more in Faith along with their Faith" [48 - 4]
"As for those who believe, it has increased their Faith" [9 - 124]
"Those unto whom the people said: 'Verily, the people have gathered against you,
therefore fear them, but it only increased them in Faith'" [3 - 173]
The Prophet (s.a.w.) says: "Eeman is seventy and some parts, the highest of which
is (to declare that) there is no God worthy of worship but Allah, and the lowest of
which is cleaning the road of harmful objects."
"Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is
not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his
heart - and that is the weakest of Eeman."
The above mentioned Noble Verses show us that Eeman increases and the
opposite is true. Therefore, good deeds increase Eeman and forsaking good
deeds or doing bad deeds decreases Eeman. This fact is witnessed very
clearly in every day life and everyone of us can sense it. Once we do what we
are commanded by Allah, we sense the pleasure of Eeman, and if we do a
bad thing we feel a lessening of Eeman. This is recognised by the average
person, needless to mention the scholars.
The interpretation of the Verse "And Allah would never make your Eeman
(prayers) to be lost" is that it was revealed in relation to the prayers the
Companions had performed at the time when the Qiblah was towards
Jerusalem; there, Allah has regarded the prayer to be Eeman, simply because
it is part of the Eeman, and from the Arabic lexical principle, part of the thing
may be called the whole thing itself. An example of this is the Verse "They
thrust their fngers in their ears" (and it is obvious that only one fnger can be
thrusted into each ear, and the word "fngers" is the translation of the Arabic
word "Asabi'ahum" which means three or more fngers). Furthermore, the
Prophet (s.a.w.) had called modesty as part of the Eeman, the same is true
with cleaning the harm off the road and preventing evil in all the foretold
measures. These Verses and Hadiths are as clear and obvious as the sun at
the midday. And so is the true religion, very clear and simple.
In conclusion, the Bid'ah of Irjaa' school is one of the most dangerous
innovations that conquered the Muslim Nation and created changes; its
example is one of which, when spreading among people, a Sunnah of the
Prophet's would disappear. This innovation will change the features of the
Right Path in the spirits and souls of the people and would damage the true
picture of Religion.
Therefore, the preachers of Islam ought to shake the dust of laziness and fght
all innovations, the apparent ones and the hidden ones. They should
acknowledge and learn the Sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w.), as his guidance is
the best, and all roads to Allah are closed but through Muhammad (s.a.w.).
This Bid'ah has affected the process of calling to Allah and people got
confused as Muslims and Kafrs were tangled together and the right and
wrong doers mingled. This has led to weakening the principle of loyalty and
getting away from Kufr. It has also weakened the prevention of wrongdoing
and consequently led to shaking the foundations of the Muslim nation.
So, may we all go back to the Right Path.

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