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Open Letter to Imam Suhaib Webb
Imam Suhaib Webb recently posted this article:
Why Do the Malikis Pray With Their Hands to The Sides? [part one]
As-salamu `alaykum,
Al-Hamdulillah, I have lived to finally see the day that this issue is addressed and out in the open. It is interesting to note that three groups of Muslims all pray in this manner, with sadl: the Malikis, the Ibadis (practically the entire country of Oman), and the Shiah. Even more interesting is the time period that the latter two groups split from “mainstream” Islam. From this fossil the paleontologist now has an exposed and dated record. These three groups that have had little or no contact with each other since well before the time of the 4 great Imams (Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’i, and Imam Ahmad), were all praying with their arms by their sides, not folded over their chests. From where did they get this practice?
A person can certainly read a book to learn how to play tennis, golf, or even fly an airplane, but I am certainly glad that most airline pilots learn from experienced pilots directly.
For this reason, I chose the school of Imam Malik, the best Salafi, in my own humble opinion, who rigorously promoted following the Sunnah of our Prophet (solallahu `alayhi wa sallam). Based on this observation I have presented, I am certain that our Prophet (solallahu `alayhi wa sallam) prayed with sadl instead of qabd during the later years of his mission in Madinah. Otherwise why would the people of Madinah be praying in this manner up until the time of Imam Malik?
Jazakum Allah Khayr
AbdurRahman
As-salaamu `alaykum
This is in response to brother Abu Majeed's statement above:
Jazakum Allah Khayr brother for your heartfelt compassion. Where are these Hanbalis? I've never found any in Austin, Houston, Florida, Casablanca, Columbia (South Carolina), or here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The closest to Hanbalis I've ever found are the Wahhabis who taught me during my first years of being a Muslim. They told me time and time again, "You shouldn't follow a madh-hab, brother, that's taqleed!" After Hajj, I decided I needed a break from this jama`a.
Why do you assume I will find Hanbali teachers here in the San Francisco Bay Area? Due to the overwhelming number of Muslims from the Indian subcontinent residing here in America, you'll find that most of America is predominantly Hanafi. Even a worldwide census of the madhaahib will show you that the Hanbali school has the fewest followers on the whole planet. By the way, we have quite a few Maliki `ulema residing here in the Bay Area, so it is not a problem for me. Where I pray, our Maliki Imam prays with sadl. I prayed my last jumu`a behind my teacher who prayed with sadl in a prayer hall of over 250 Muslims.
As a 46-year-old father of three children with an Arabic-speaking wife who can assist me with texts not available in English translation, I belief I am perfectly capable and mature enough to choose my own madh-hab without the help of others, thank you very much. After almost 10 years of being a Muslim, it didn't take me long to understand why Yusuf Islam said, "I became Muslim despite the Muslims." My wife and all of my Muslim brothers call me AbdurRahman, or Abu Abdullah. It is typcially only non-Muslims who call me John.
This text was most influential in my decision to follow the School of Fiqh founded by Imam Malik:
* * *
A man asked Malik:
And he replied,
And we will say, by obvious logical extension, not a Maliki, not a Hanbali, not a Shafi'i, not a Hadithi ... not a Jami'at al-Islamiyya, or Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, not anyone who held any name that identified himself, separating himself from the Muslims, because we also know that Malik, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said,
Here he has categorically defined it. He went further and also said,
'Abdu'l-Malik ibn al-Majishun said:
This is the value structure of primal Islam in the hands of men of knowledge and it was to be replaced by something totally different in nature and identity which went along with a politique and society of a totally different nature.
Abu Mus'ab said:
So here the matter is open in the time of Imam Malik. It is not something that emerged later.
And Malik turned to him and said:
Letter of Imam Malik ibn Anas to al-Layth ibn Sa'd:
So this was the position of the people of knowledge right through to the Abbasids, a position now marginalised in the Muslim world and replaced by a new methodology, Iraqi in origin, which, as Rabi'a, said, "Strips the Sunna out of your hands."
Sort of strange that the original URL of Imam Webb's article has been changed and my second comment (above) has been removed:
http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/?p=236
My comment seems to have gone the same way as his Q&A regarding the new Muslim who inquired about the permissibility of praying in the bathroom at home because of concerns about other family members finding out about this new life-changing choice.
It's kind of sad when knowledge has to be hidden because the average Muslim cannot cope with anything that goes against his or her "version" of Islam.
That's OK. I've had my own website since 1996 and my own blog for over a year now. I'm not dependent on others for publishing my views or for promoting what I consider to be the correct understanding of Islam, or more specifically, exposing the modern-day intolerance of some Muslims towards traditional Islam, i.e. following a madh-hab.
The second comment I posted to Imam Webb's article has been revised, made into web page, and rendered more printer-friendly: Why the Mālikī Maðhab? or "How I left the bid`ah of the modern-day 'Salafis' for the Sunnah of Rasulullah (solallāhu `alayhī wa sallam) as preserved by Imām Mālik and his school"