Taqleed is following the advice of a person you trust. We do Taqleed everyday, at surgeries, dentists, hospitals, libraries, even at offices when we take advice from our collegues. Salafis re-define Taqleed as ‘blind imitation’  – and interpret taqleed as being ‘the following of a scholars opinion without proof to back it up.”

Of course, though Salafis claim taqleed is evil and must never be done, it is in fact unavoidable. Thus, in many Salafi fatwas, the opinion of a scholar is accepted without any proof. Here’s just one example of it:

I’ve noticed recently that there’s been a spate of anti-isbaal posters popping up in mosques around Saudi. Isbaal
is sub-ankle clothing, like trousers or thowbs, that hang lower than your ankles. The source of the anti-isbaal posters is a strong Hadith which says a person with sub-ankle pants will have a spell in Hell. In an attempt to save the masses from Hell, the glossy anti-isbaal posters have gone up. I do, however, have some issues with them.

First, there’s the message they send across. YOu have a cool black and white poster of a thowbed lower body, from thigh downwards. THe thowb is sub-ankle, so it shows you what isbaal is. There’s only one problem. The poster looks COOL! The black and white contrast, along with the exquisite design makes the poster really impressive, and suggests that sub-ankle clothing is the fashionable thing to do! Of course, this could all have been solved by simply focusing on the ankles – maybe shin and below – and putting the picture inside a large, red no-entry sign. even a cross next to the ankle would have been a welcome addition.

My second problem is the method of getting the message across. It doesn’t work. In my local, all the teenage Arab boys, and even many men, walk in with pants and thowbs that scrape the floor,  despite the huge poster declaring its haramness. Ironically, the only ones who go out of their way to roll up their pants, or wear supra-ankle thowbs are Indians, Pakistanis, and Bengalis. And where did they learn this from? Why Fadail Amal, the Tableeghi book that encourages good deeds and discourages bad deeds. However, we couldn’t use that to promote good, could we? I mean, it has weak Hadiths in it, for God’s sake. No, we must reject the bad, and stick with our posters.

My final problem lies with the literal interpretation of this Hadith, and the lack of discussion on it. To a Salafi, the matter is clear cut. Hadith says sub-anklers are in Hell. Lift up you pants and thowbs above the ankles. You’re saved from Hell. finished.

A curious mind, of course, would ask WHY such a seemingly trife action can send you to Hell. And of course, it’s a good question. The answer is that the sub-ankling is not the problem, it’s the association with it. In 7th century Arab culture, sub-ankled clothing was a indicator of pride. Supra-ankling was the norm. A sub-ankler was implicitly showing himself to be superior to those around him. Thus, the aim of the Hadith is to discourage all forms of pride. I mean, Abu Bakr (ra) complained to the Prophet (saw) that because of his portly stomach, his pants kept dropping down a bit, and going under his ankles. The Prophet (Saw) told him it was not a problem, as he wasn’t doing it out of pride [NOTE: this doesnt mean you can sub-ankle your pants if you are not arrogant. No. All it means is that if your pants slip down accidently, then you are excused]

Of course, this Hadith has repurcussions. If pride through clothing is the underlying cause for potential infernal punishment, then all such clothing worn with pride, and all movements that indicate pride, are potentially Hellifying. Thus,

those teenagers who swagger around, moving their should
ers from side to side
THose wearing large chains around their necks
those wearing multiple rings on their fingers
those wearign gold teeth and earings.

are all liable to become tourists in Hell. Beware.

Here’s part 2 of our Salafi Spotting series:

• pro-ibn taymiyyah - Despite their talk about following the ’salaf’ – the Muslims of the first 3 generations – Salafis don’t actually follow them! I mean, who’s their number one scholar? It’s Ibn Taymiyyah, the angry Egyptian who lived through the Mongal attacks on Muslim lands. Ibn Taymiyyah was traumatised by events in his era, and consequently took unorthodox stances on muslim rulers submitting to non-muslim control, declaring many to be unbelievers.  Admittedly, he was a fantastic scholar, of high acumen, and gifted at polemics. But his rigid stance against inter-communal activities, and his propensity to condemn all and sundry meant he was imprisoned and beaten many a time for encouraging sedition. Though he was probably sincere in his intentions, his teachings are venemous and largely intolerant.
• pro-ibnal Qayyim - Ibnal Qayyim was ibn taymiyyah’s student. He too was smart and savvy, but he took a lot of his views from ibn taymiyyah, spreading his teacher’s ’s views further afield and giving him an audience he did not have before. Both ibnal qayyim and ibn taymiyyah were shunned by most orthodox scholars, and their views were seen as antithetical to progess, unorthodox, and inhibiting.
• pro-ibn-wahhab - Ibn wahhab was a a desert arab. Early in his life, he developed a nationalistic desire to unite the Arabs. He travelled to Mecca and Medina to study under traditional scholars, but soon developed his own poisonous views that departed from centuries-old consensus. His teachers quickly realised he was a time-bomb waiting to explode and began warning others against him. His father disowned him and his brother went so far as to write a book rebutting his sibling’s views. Sawwaq, or thunderbolts, was aimed at educationing the general populous about ibn Wahhab’s perversions. But being a smooth talker, ibn Wahhab was able to garner a large following, and was able to spread his insiduos views throughout Arabia, and, via his decendents, to the wider Musim world. Ibn wahhab was from the same tribe as the Khawaaij, a band of 8th century bedoins who claimed to be Muslims, but who attempted to destroy Islam from within. They were crushed but their views lived on. Ibn Wahhab was borm at Tammim, in Najd, the same place that harboured the false prophet, Musaylama al-katthab. Ibn Wahhab’s anscentors probabably intermarried with Musaylama al-Katthab’s tribe, and such a union must have spawed ibn-wahhab. Many believe that ibn-wahhab was never a true believer. Only God truly knows what led him to spread the poison that he did.
• Albarneyists - Salafis swoon over Albarney and treat him like a god. they take all he says like it is gold, and are rabidly attached to him. All Albarney says is true. What everyone else says is false. period. Albarney couldn’t hold a job when he was young. He worked as a tinkerer, repairing broken watches to earn some money. He then figured it would be more productive to become a scholar. He had studied some grade 6 Hanafi textbooks with his father, and using that as his base, dived headlong into the study of the Quran and Hadith. He spent most of his time in the Damascus library – he seems to have had a hard time socialising with others – and it was there that he developed his hatred of Madhabs and traditional Islam. He was booted out from country to country before finally finding refuge in Jordan, where the world was finally relieved of him.  Mr Albarney produced little of note. His biggest claim to fame was a textbook on how to pray Salaah, and besides that, all he did was take existing hadith books and disparage their contents. He split most Hadith books into two, tossing out the  allegedly ‘weak’ hadiths and sticking them at the end of the book. Traditional scholars saw him as supremacist in his opinions, presenting himself as a holier-than-thou man, and quick to condemn and criticise all who opposed him. His followers have taken up Barney’s mantle and continue to spread his insipient views.
• Uthaymeenists - Uthaymeen is another god in Salafi circles. He’s has been a little more productive than his teacher, Barney, but speaks in tongues similar to his. He’s written some books on Aqeedah (belief), but his books are simply paraphrases of ibn taymiyyah’s work, with little new being contributed. His grammar books are the same, being neat summaries of existing material, but nothing new.
• anti graves – Salafis loath graves, and despise anyone who goes to visit them. This is thanks to ibn Wahhab’s forceful nasty destruction of tombs and desecration of graves (ibn Wahhab is said to have dug up graves of dead people to discourage graveyard visits; these insipid acts continue to be done today – in Somalia, for example, the ‘Shabab’, a militant Salafi-funded group, recently desecrated Sufi graves in the name of stopping ‘Shirk.’ ) Losers. Do these people have no heart? They browbeat the living into doing as they say, but they could at least leave the dead in peace.
• anti-Ottaman -  Salafis tend to hate Ottoman’s, the last rulers of Saudi Arabia. The Salafis of Saudi Arabia gladly destroy Ottomon forts, but leave Jewish forts alone. Hmmmm. strange.
• Prophet haters - Ok, this is a controversial one. Maybe i should label them not-Prophet-lovers but this is too long, so i’ll stick with Prophet-haters. Why do i call them this? Because they condmemn anyone who attempts to salute the Prophet(saw), the Greatest of Men, the Mercy to Mankind, the Prince of all Prophets, (sigh!) more than once. They curse people who celebrate the Mawlid, the birth of the Prophet, and discourage visits to Medina. I mean, i know people who’ve lived in Saudi Arabia for over a decade, who’ve been to Mecca numerous times, but who’ve NEVER been to Medina.Never.  Astonishing! “It’s not a requirement of Hajj or Umrah,” they argue. Of course it’s not. But it IS a requirement of love, that you visit the place of your beloved. I mean, Star Trek fans travel from all over the world to America watch a premiere. And we can’t travel a few hundred miles in Saudi Arabia to visit the greatest of all men?
• Anti-tawassulis – Tawassul means to ask a holy person to ask Allah to do something for you. If the holy man isn’t around, you can use his name, and then ask God to give you what you need. It’s like going to the teacher’s star student and asking him to ask the teacher to give everyone an extension on the homework. If the star pupil goes, the teacher’s more likely to listen. If the star pupil has died, then you might say something like, “But sir, for Henry’s sake, give us an extension,” and when the teacher hears Henry’s name, he is moved to give the extension. Tawassul is the same thing. The Prophet is the star pupil and God is the teacher.  Salafis twist Tawassul and redefine it to mean asking the Prophet himself for the need. The subtle redifinition then allows them to attack Tawassulis, and charge them with Shirk. Bloody rabble-rousers. Can’t they just let us live.
• medina-cussers – this one’s a strage one. Salafis believe Medina should not be called Munawwarah (the city of light); this is something connected with their twisted belief, that only God can be light, no one, and no thing else. So that means that all the people who called the city Medina Munawwarah were all wrong. err…really? yeah. Whatever.
• Anti Palestine – Did you know that the Salafi top-dog, Barney, called for all Palestinians to leave Palestine and give their land to Israel. He wants them to give in without a fight! His argument is that since Palestine is now under Israeli control, it is a darul-harb (an enemy state) and that all Muslims must leave the enemy state. Ok. Just one teeny weeny problem – WHERE ARE YOU GONNA RELOCATE THE FIVE MILLION MUSLIMS WHO LEAVE. Duh! It has other repurcussions too. It implies that the moment a Muslim country is taken over, all Muslims must leave. That pretty much puts an end to self defence doesnt it. “Give up without a fight!” it says. I know i will never do that, and neither will the other billion normal Muslims on this planet.
• dome-destroyers - Salafis are now moving towards destroying the centuries-old green dome that covers the Prophet’s tomb. They’re using the standard ‘Shirk, Bida, Kufr’ trinity to justify its removal, but i think it’s more to do with anti-Ottomanism, since the Ottomans built the green dome in the first place. Phase one has already been implemented. The dome is now partially hidden from view by the huge spiderbrellas that have sprung up. The next step is total destruction.
• Anti-sufism – Salafis have really got it in for the Sufis. This is probably because the Salafi losers have never had a rich tradition – or come, to think of it, ANY tradition – of Sufism in their lives. Sufism is the name given to a collection of practices aimed at suppressing a person’s ego until that person is not hurt by all that happens to him, and is always concerned about the welfare of others. Sufism is GOOD. really good. I’ve seen Sufis who’ve had everything hit them in the face, but they always remain impossibly stoic and philosophical about it. They don’t get depressed, and don’t get mental health problems. They rarely get angry, and when they do, they show only controlled anger. It’s amazing, bearing in mind what they’ve been through. Sufis are also sincere. When they want to help, you know they don’t have ulterior motives. Sufism is like citizenship classes. It turns you into a good human being. And now you know why Salafis are always angry, depressed and easily irritated. They have nothing, absolutely nothing, to tame the wild animal in them. God help them. Salafis have issues with certain Sufi practices. They locate a minority Sufi group that has weird views and then presents that group as being representative of all Sufis. Simple Muslims who know nothing about Sufism then suck up all that the Salafis say on Sufism, and become anti-Sufi. As a result, we end up with a bunch of bearded, grown, angry men, who hate everyone and everything. This is not Islam. This is not the Prophet (saw). Be like your Prophet. Be simple, kind and forgiving. Don’t turn into a hateful, spiteful monster.
• anti-deobandism - Salafis don’t like Deobandis. I think it’s something to with their Madhhab and creed. A Deobandi is any person who has studied at Darul Uloom Deoband, in Deoband, India, or has the same views as the institute. Deobandis, like most of the Muslim World, follow the Ashari creed. The Ashari creed, or Aqeedah,  is a set of beliefs that were stated by Abul Hasan al Ashari, around 1000 years ago. Ashari backed up his views with quotes from the Quran and Sunnah, used logical arguments to further prove his creed. The Ashari creed was the climax of over 200 years of study on Aqeedah. It was so waterproof in its argumentation that it quickly became the defacto creed of the Muslims.
• anti-barelvism – Barelvis are a large group of around 250 million Muslims who show intense love for the Prophet (saw) and are always singing songs about him. Their love for the Prophet is so intense that they sometimes made strange statements. The consensus of the Muslim community is that such Barelvis are still Muslim, although they do perform certain actions that are unislamic – but, crucially, not unislamising. Salafis say Barelvis are commiting Shirk and are Kaafir. Boom. The Ummah just lost 250 million followers.
• shia-takfirism – Normal Muslims put Shiahs in the weird-but-still-Muslim category. Salafis say they’re Kaafir. Boom. Their go another 150 Million Muslims.
• MyWayOrTheHighwayism / Salafi Supremacists / Jewish-like creed - Salafis are Supremacists. No two ways about it. They believe that only they understand Islam, that thier creed is correct, and that everyone else is wrong. This is supremacism of the ugliest kind. They probably got this Aqeedah from the Jewish belief that only 70,000 chosen Jews will be saved and go to Heaven.
• Milad-bashers - Salafis HATE Milads. A Milad is a place that people gather to celebrate the life of the Prophet’s life. That’s good, isn’t it? nobody would object to such noble aims. But alas!, the Salafis do complain. “Bid’at, Shirk, Kufr,” they scream, their trinity being the answer to everything. They call the Milad a bid’at because nobody in the first 3 generations did it. That’s right. It IS a bid’at. But a normal person’s understanding of bid’at is very different from a Salafi’s. Bid’at means ’something new.’ It’s normally translated as ‘innovation’ but this isn’t a good translation, since the word innovation has positive implications, but the Salafis take it in a negative light. so to Salafis, a Bid’at is something new and bad. In English, an innovation is something new and good. To normal Muslims, the Arabic word Bid’at means ’something new.’ We then categorise that new thing as a good thing (bid’at hasanah) or a bad thing (bid’at sayyiah). We normal Muslims say mawlid is a good bid’at, a bid’at hasanah. The god of the Salafis, ibn Taymiyyah, has the same definition of bid’ah.
• medina-mashers - Numerous historical sites have been crushed in Medina. See the next point, and the link below, for more information.
• mecca-crushers – This is depressing. Saudi-based Salafis have destoryed the majority of old buildings in Mecca. The Prophet (Saw)’s house was destroyed and replaced with a cattle pen, littered with piss and shit. Some concerened Sunnis were able to buy the land, and turned it into a library to give a little respect back to the place. The house of Khadija (ra), the Prophet (saw)’s wife, the place that the Prophet spent 28 years of his life, the place where the second-ever revelation of the Quran occurred, was bulldozed, covered with concrete, set on fire and turned into toilets. The ancient home of Abu Ayyub Al Ansari, so lovingly preserved over centuries, was mercilessly destroyed by Saudi’s American-bought bulldozers. A full list of the desecrations can be found here [WARNING: The contents of this link will make you very angry and may cause you to cry]
• mosque-wipers – Saudi-based Salafis have systematically destroyed ancient mosques in the name of redevelopment. Now, all that remains in Mecca and Medina are a buch of whitewashed, cheerless buildings, further alienating the millions who travel to Mecca and Medina every year, from their history, heritage and culture.
• Jew haters – But don’t all Muslims hate Jews? Jews are all evil, right? err…. WRONG! The Quran says that your distrust of a people should not lead you to be cruel towards them. The Prophet added that if anyone is in anyway cruel to a Dimmi – a non-Muslim living under Muslim protection – then the Prophet (Saw) himself would speak against the ‘Muslim’ on Judgement Day. Part of the reason why the Jewish state of Israel established itself was because of the Salafi hatred for Jews. This idea, which is against Islamic norms of tolerance, was pushed by Salafis, and as a consequence, Jews were forced out of Arab lands – and where did they go? To Israel! Cue the sorry tale of Palestinian struggles against Israel, all caused by Salafist meddling.

Request to readers: If you have any more points i should add, put them in a comment and i’ll try to integrate them into this article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_sites_associated_with_early_Islam

The BBC is running this interesting article on Salafi meddling in Serbia. Yes, Serbia! Which just goes to show how far the gnarled hand of Saudi Wahaabism has reached.

According to the article, the Salafis were “planning to attack a police station and murder a Muslim cleric.”

Attacking a Police Station? That’s a government building. And using firepower to do it would classify such actions as Hiraba in Islamic law. So theoretically, islamically, Shariahly, these Salafis would have been executed in an Islamic state. Any takers?

The article also highlights their obvious influence from Saudi Arabian Wahhabi clerics: “they had close ties to fellow Islamists in neighbouring countries, as well as Saudi Arabia…The defendants are believed to be followers of the radical Wahhabite sect of Islam.”

Of course, Salafis, famous for defending themselves with a flurry of lies, responded with this appartantly innocent statement. “We did not want to attack anyone. We are just Muslims devoted to Allah.”

Anyone know what happened to the boy who cried “wolf” one too many times?

A Salafi awaits sentencing for attempted murder

See the full article _here_.

Salafis are notoriously hard to describe. All attempts to describe are quickly ‘refuted’ and attempts to provide a succint definition are quickly smothered. With that in mind, i’ve made a list of all the typical characteristics of a run-if-the-mill Salafi. I admit that the Salafi scholars can sometimes be a little more refined, but the Salafi masses have a lot in common. Some typical characteristics of Salafis are:

• Serial hand-flipping – Yes, even when completely unnecessary. I’ve seen Salafis hand-flipping when they get back up from Sujuud.
• megaphone-Ameens – Some Salafi Ameens are hard on the ears. The words of Allah, that the ‘most irritating of sounds is the bray of a donkey’ often come to my mind when i pray in Salafi mosques.
• Sunnah-skippers - I’ve noticed that many Salafis don’t hold Sunnah prayers in high regard. They’re in and out of the mosque in a flash.
• neck folders – some extremist Salfis fold their arms in Salaah so high, their palms are resting on their necks! The Sunnah is just above or below the navel. Not half a mile from it!
• performing fardh prayers behind someone praying nafl/Sunnah prayers
• performing fardh prayers behind 8 year old minors
• performing Magrib behind someone who’s praying Isha
• Joining 2 prayers at every opportunity (including even a small smattering of rain) – (NOTE: Shias also routinely join prayers)
• Skipping Jumuah on Eid day (Yes, this seriously happens. I was in Mecca on Eid-ul-fitr, and hordes of Salafis scattered after the Eid prayer. I asked some of them why they weren’t staying for Jumuah prayers. “We don’t have to,” came the reply. “If Eid and Jumuah are on the same day, you can ditch Jumuah.” Subhanallah! I knew our religion was easy, but not this easy!
• Extreme Trouser-shortening (Salafis seem to think the distance between your ankle and your trouser edge is an excellent indicator of your piety level)
• Extreme beard lengthners – There’s nothing wrong with never trimming your beard. that’s fine, if you want to do it. What IS wrong, is shoving your opinion down everyone’s throat.
• Serial saddos - Yes, Salafis are always gloomy. Especially when in the company of non-Salafis. However, it’s ok to be cheerful around non-muslims.
• Turban-mockers - This happened to a friend of mine. He wore a turban, a form of headgear that the Prophet (saw) regularly wore, to a Salafi mosque and he was mocked for it. These Salafis are clueless.
• Anti-topism - A topi is a hat that covers the crown of your head. The Prophet (Saw) always wore a hat when performing prayer, and when entering the lavatory. Salafis are anti-topi, and will only wear one if they are donning a shawl and headring.
• Fatiha-prayers and condemners of those who dont - Salafis pray Surah Fatiha in all prayers, including Asr and Magrib, and even if it’s the 3rd or 4th cycle of prayer. There’s nothing wrong with that, as 3 of the 4 Madhabs allow it. However, what really irritates is when they say everyone else is wrong! How ludicrous! Those of us who don’t pray Fatiha behind the behind the Imam bring 2 proofs – one is the Quran verse “When the Quran is being recited, then listen to it, and remain quiet.” Commentators have explained that these verses are about reading Quran in Salaah for a Follower. The second proof is a hadith which says “The recitation of the Imam suffices for the Follower.” Thus, there is no need for the Follower to recite Fatiha in collective prayers.
• Stand-up wee-ers - Yes, Salafis advocate weeing while standing up. Shocking, isn’t it? They quote a hadith that the Prophet (Saw) urinated standing up once. We point out to them 3 things about this hadith. A) The Prophet (saw) only ever did it once B) He was at a rubbish tip at the time. Obviously, he urinated standing up to stop his clothes getting dirty. C) some scholars have looked at other hadith and figured that this happened round about the time the Prophet (saw) fell ill and had difficulty sitting. They conclude that he urinated standing up because he was injured at the time. This situation has gone so bad that a lot of Saudi restaurants now have STAND-UP urinals and Saudi men have no shame using them. Even in Hajj, at Mina, Arafah and Muzdalifa, stand-up urinals are popping up everywhere. La hawla wa la quwwata billa.
• Cotton-sock wipers - Salafis will wipe over ANYTHING. If you wrapped their feet up in paper, they’d wipe over that too. Of course, cotton-sock wiping is bida’t. The Prophet (saw) only ever wiped over LEATHERED socks – socks make wholely  with leather, or leather-soled.  Cotton socks were never wiped over. Salfis say there IS a hadith that suggests the Prophet (saw) wiped over normal socks. And they’re right. But only Imam Tirmidhi categorised this hadith as strong – everyone else said it was weak, and therefore couldn’t be used as proof to legitimize cotton-sock wiping.
• Anti-collective-duaists – Salafis have issues with people making duas in groups – with the Imam praying and everyone else saying Ameen.  This is despite the fact that there are hadiths in which the Prophet (saw) made dua and the companions chimed in with ameens.
• leg-splitters – Salafis like splitting their legs in Salaah and touching the person next to them. Whenever it happens to me, i budge up a bit, but the Salafi just widens up even more. He seems to think touching is a requisite in Salaah. Salafis quote a Hadith in which a companion says they used to touch ankles to straighten their Salaah rows. We accept this hadith. But we point out that the Sahabi mentions they did it BEFORE salaah started, and then, obviously, once the rows were straight, the brought their feet togethor again.
• Taraweeh-trimmers – Now this one’s a real big Bid’at. for 1300 years, the Muslim Ummah have always prayed 20 rakaahs in Taraweeh. It is the Sunnah of Umar (ra), who consulted with the Sahaba and confirmed that the Taraweeh was 20 rakaahs. Suddenly, some guys start saying all the Muslims of the past had got it wrong, and trimmed the length of the Taraweeh to 8 Rakaahs. Now, in East Saudi-Arabian mosques, only 8 rakaahs are prayed, and anyone praying 20 is condemned. They even tried to reduce Taraweeh to 8 in Mecca and Medina, but thankfully, the objections were too great for the Salafis to get their way. Thank God! Alhamdulillah

That’s all for now. part 2 will come soon, Inshallah.  It will include the following:

• pro-ibn taymiyyah
• pro-ibnal Qayyim
• pro-ibn-wahhab
• Albaanists
• Uthaymeenists
• anti graves
• anti-Ottaman
• Prophet haters
• medina-cussers
• dome-destroyers
• Anti-sufism
• anti-deobandism
• anti-barelvism
• shia-takfirism
• anti-AnyoneElseism
• MyWayOrTheHighwayism
• Milad-bashers
• medina-mashers
• mecca-crushers
• mosque-wipers

The anti-tableeghi site ahya.com, which aims to demafe the tableeghi movement and tries to undermine the incredible work the group is doing, alleges that idara e ishaat e diniyat, a large publisher based in India, has stopped publishing Fadail e amal, the standard tableeghi textbook that encourages people to do good deeds and be good Muslims. But a quick search on the internet showed this wasn’t true! Have a look for yourself: http://www.idara.com/store/islamic-books/urdu-books/fazail-e-amaal-vol-1-urdu-/prod_65.html.