"Salafi" Tampering of Riyad al-Salihin

Answered by Shaykh GF Haddad


by Moin Shaheed, President, Ahlus Sunnah Muslim Association of Sri Lanka and GF Haddad ©

Warning : Avoid this English translation of Riyad al-Salihin !

A review of the translation of al-Nawawi's Riyad al-Salihin published in 1999 by Darussalam Publishing House, Riyad : http://www.dar-us-salam.com/h4riyad-us.htm

A team of unprincipled editors and translators out of a Ryad publishing house by the name of Darussalam was commissioned to produce a glossy 2-volume English edition of Imam al-Nawawi's Riyad al-Salihin - being distributed for free to Islamic schools around the world - designed to propagate "Salafi" ideology to the unwary English-speaking Muslim students of Islamic knowledge. This ideology is couched within a thoroughly unscrupulous "commentary" inserted into the book chapters and authored by an unknown or spurious "Hafiz Salahuddin Yusuf of Pakistan," "revised and edited by Mahmud Rida Murad" (1:7). Following are some examples of what is contained in this brand new "Salafi" product:

(a) The work is laced with unabashed eulogy of Nasir Albani whom it calls "the leading authority in the science of hadith" (1:88). The fact is that the only agreed-upon title Albani has been able to earn from the verifying Ulema of the Umma from East to West, is that of erratic innovator.

(b) Declaring that "in case of breach of ablution, the wiping over the socks is sufficient, and there is no need for washing the feet" (1:31). This ruling invalidates one of the conditions of wudu' spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunna, making salât prayed with such a wiping null and void according to the Four Schools, which prohibit wiping over non-waterproof footwear.

(c) Declaring that "ours should not be the belief that the dead do hear and reply [to our greeting]" (1:515). The Jumhur differs.

(d) Declaring that expressing the intention (niyya) verbally before salât "is a Bid`ah (innovation in religion) because no proof of it is found in Shar'`ah" (1:14). This is not only a wanton attack on the Shafi`i School but an ignorant violation of the criteria of calling something an innovation in the Religion.

(e) "Prohibition [of kissing] is only effective if the kissing of hands is also involved." (2:721). Note that Imam Sufyan al-Thawri called the kissing of the hands of the Ulema a Sunna and that the majority of the scholars concur on its permissibility!

(f) Saying "unapproved hadith" - an invented classification! - for the sahih hadith of the two Jews who kissed the Prophet's - Allah bless and greet him - hands and feet as narrated by al-Tirmidhi (sah'h) and others.

(g) The weakening of the hasan hadith whereby the Prophet kissed Zayd ibn Haritha as narrated by al-Tirmidhi (hasan).

(h) Declaring "the hadiths about the kissing of hands are weak and deficient from the viewpoint of authenticity," an outright lie.

(i) Declaring after the hadith stating: "I suffer like two men of you": "This Hadith... throws light on the fact that the Prophet was merely a human being." (2:737) This discourse is that of the disbelievers mentioned in many places of the Qur'an: {They said: You are but mortals like us} (14:10), {Shall we put faith in two mortals like ourselves?} (23:47), {They said: You are but mortals like unto us} 36:15, {Shall mere mortals guide us?} (64:6).

(j) Claiming: "We are uncertain that after saying a funeral prayer, the Prophet and his Companions ever stood around the bier and supplicated for the dead body. It is an innovation and must be abolished"! (2:755) This is flatly contradicted by the sound narrations ordering the Companions to make du`â for the deceased directly after burial. The commentor(s) go on to say: "It looks strange that believers should persist in reciting supplications in their own self-styled way after the funeral prayer, but desist from them during the funeral prayer to which they have relevance. It implies that prayer is not the object of their pursuit, otherwise they would have prayed in accordance with the Sunna. In fact, they cherish their self-fabricated line of action and seem determined to pursue it." Yet the commentator(s) a few pages later (2:760) state: "The Prophet has instructed his followers that after a Muslim's burial, they should keep standing beside his grave for some time and pray for his firmness"!

(k) Omitting (2:760) to translate the words of Imam al-Shafi`i related by al-Nawawi in Chapter 161 ("Supplication for the Deceased after his Burial"): ""It is desirable (yustahabb) that they recite something of the Qur'an at the graveside, and if they recite the entire Qur'an it would be fine." Omitting to translate these words which are in the original text of Riyad al-Salihin is deceit and a grave betrayal of the trust (amâna) of the translation of one the mother books of knowledge in Islam.

(l) As if the above were not enough, the "commentary" goes on to state: "The reference made to Imam al-Shafi`i about the recitation of Qur'an beside a Muslim's grave is in disagreement with the Prophet's practice... the reference made to Imam al-Shafi`i seems to be of doubtful authenticity"! However, al-Za`farani said: "I asked al-Shafi`i about reciting Qur'an at the graveside and he said: la ba'sa bihi - There is no harm in it." This is narrated by Imam Ahmad's student al-Khallal (d. 311) in his book al-Amr bi al-Ma`ruf (p. 123 #243). Similar fatwas are reported from al-Sha`bi, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah, and others of the Salaf by no less than Ibn al-Qayyim and al-Shawkani in their books - the putative authorities of the "Salafi" movement.1

(m) Stating (2:761): "Qur'an reading meant to transmit reward to the dead man's soul is against the Prophet's example. All such observances are of no use to the dead." This is the exact same position as the Mu`tazila on the issue, who went so far as to deny the benefit of the Prophet's intercession. It should be noted that the manipulative editors /commentators of Riyad al-Salihin deliberately omit any mention of the Companions' practice, as it is authentically recorded from Ibn `Umar that he ordered that Qur'an be read over his grave, which has the status of the Sunna of the Prophet as this particular Companion was known to be the staunchest of all people in his adherence to the Prophet's example.

(n) Stating (2:761): "For further detail, one can refer to Shaykh al-Albani's Ahkam al-Jana'iz." This is the book in which this man lists among the innovations of misguidance the fact that the Prophet's grave is inside his Mosque in Madina and the fact that it has a dome built over it, and he asks for both of them to be removed.

(o) Stating (2:791-792): "If a woman has no husband or Mahram, Hajj is not obligatory on her. Neither can she go for Hajj with a group of women, whether for Hajj or any other purposes.... Under no circumstances a woman may travel alone." This contradicts the fatwa of the majority of the Ulema as well as the principle that when there is scholarly disagreement over an issue, it becomes automatically impermissible to declare it prohibited.

(p) Rephrasing a hadith (2:810-811) by omitting key words which invalidate their position. In chapter 184 of Riyad al-Salihin titled "Desirability of Assembling for Qur'an-Recitation," al-Nawawi cites the hadith of Muslim whereby the Prophet said: "No group of people assemble in one of the Houses of Allah, all of them reciting [plural pronoun] the Book of Allah (yatlِna kitâb Allâh) and studying It among themselves except Serenity (al-sak'na) shall descend upon them, etc." The editor/ commentator(s) of Riyad al-Salihin rephrased the hadith thus: "Any group of people that assemble in one of the Houses of Allâh to study the Qur'ân, tranquillity will descend upon them, etc." omitting the key words: "all of them reciting the Book of Allah." Then the same editor/ commentator(s) had the gall to comment: "This Hadith... does not tell us in any way that this group of people recite the Qur'an all at once. This is Bid`ah for this was not the practice of the Messenger of Allah ." This is tampering compounded with a shameless lie. This misinterpretation and false claim of bid`a is, of course, directed at the Maghribi style of Qur'anic recitation that relies heavily on collective tilâwa in order to strengthen memorization.

(q) The statement (2:848) concerning the Prophet's miracle of seeing behind his back: "It must be borne in mind that a miracle happens with the will of Allah only. It is not at all in the power of the Prophet . Had he been capable of working a miracle on his own, he would have shown it at his own pleasure. But no Prophet was ever capable of it, nor was the Prophet an exception to this rule." In truth this speech comes directly from books such as Isma`il Dehlvi's Taqwyatul Iman concerning which Abu al-Hasan al-Thanvi said: "The words used by Isma`il Dehlvi are, of course, disrespectful and insolent. These words may never be used." (Imdaad-ul-Fataawa 4:115)

(r) The statement (2:861): "The right number of rak`ats in the Tarawih prayers is eight because the Prophet never offered more than eight rak`ats... It is not in any case twenty rak`ats. Authentic Ahâdith prove this pont abundantly." This is a transgressive innovation (bid`a mufassiqa) as it rejects the command of the Prophet to "obey the Sunna of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs after me" and also kufr as it violates the passive Consensus (ijmâ` sukut') of the Companions over twenty rak`ats.

(s) The statement (2:905): "Twenty rak`at Tarawih is not confirmed from any authentic hadith, nor its ascription to `Umar ( is proved from any muttasil (connected) hadith." This is a blatant lie, as the number of hadith masters who graded as sah'h the connected chains back to `Umar establishing twenty rak`at Tarawih are too numerous to count. They provided the basis on which the Ulema concur in declaring that Consensus formed on the matter among the Companions as stated by al-Qari, al-Zayla`i, al-Haytami, Ibn al-Humam, Ibn Qudama, and a number of other major jurists of the Four Schools.2

(t) The statement (2:1025): "In the present age Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani has done a very remarkable work in this field [hadith]. He has separated the weak Ahadith found in the four famous volumes of Ahadith (Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah) from the authentic and prepared separate volumes of authentic and weak ahadith. This work of Albani has made it easy for the ordinary Ulema to identify the weak Ahadith. Only a man of Shaykh Albani's caliber can do research on it. The ordinary Ulema and religious scholars of the Muslims are heavily indebted to him for this great work and they should keep it in view before mentioning any hadith. They should mention only the authentic Ahadith and refrain from quoting the weak ones. It is wrong to ignore this work on the ground that Shaykh Albani is not the last word on the subject.... As Muhaddithin have done a great service to the Muslim Umma by collecting and compiling the Ahadith, similarly in the style of Muhaddithin, and in keeping with the principles laid down by them, the research carried out to separate the authentic Ahadith from the weak is in fact an effort to complete their mission. In this age, Almighty Allah has bestowed this honor on Shaykh Albani." All this fawning will not hide the facts that al-Albani has been exposed as the innovator of this age par excellence and that his splitting of the books of Sunan into Sahih al-Tirmidhi and Da`if al-Tirmidhi and so forth is an unprecedented attack on the Motherbooks of Islam for which, undoubtedly, he shall be brought to account on the Day of Judgment as he was rejected for it by the Ulema of the Umma from East to West.

(u) Another systematic mistranslation for the Chapter-title 338 (2:1294) states: "Prohibition of placing the hands on the sides during Salat" when the Arabic clearly states al-khâsira which means "waist" or "hip" rather than "sides." The same mistranslation is then repeated in the body of the chapter, then a third time in the commentary. This mistranslation is part of the "Salafi" campaign against the Maliki form of sadl consisting in letting the arms hang down by the sides during the standing part of Salât. In some places of North Africa today, such as Marrakech, certain people are paid to declare takfir and tadlil, in the name of the Sunna, of those who pray with their arms hanging by their sides although it is an established Sunna!

Truly we belong to Allah and to Him is our return, and there is no power nor might except in Allah the Exalted and Almighty Lord.

All sincere Muslims should consider themselves warned and warn others that this is NOT a Sunni translation of the great classic of Imam al-Nawawi but an innovative, deviant, and inauthentic translation which should never have been allowed. There are two other English translations of Riyad al-Salihin available in print, any one of which would be preferable to this one. And from Allah comes all success.
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