Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī: On Tazkiyāt Based on Available Knowledge (and Scope for Their Misuse)
tazkiyah
Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (رحمه الله) said:[1]
So today, a person may come and claim he sought knowledge and make a display of religiosity, devotion, good manners, and he sits and spends time with you for some days, so it is based upon what is apparent. By Allāh, I gave commendation (tazkiyah) for people this year, by Allāh, they accompanied me, and whatever Allāḥ willed, showing devotion [in worship and rituals] and so on.
Then, [the necessity] of disparaging [such people] became apparent to me. If someone prays, gives zakāh, makes dhikr and travels with me and so on, I testify according to what I have seen, and I do not praise anyone above what Allāh knows of them.
But if another person comes to me who knows him better than me and has discovered his errors, and has discovered matters which harm his integrity, and he disparages him with knowledge and provides evidence for his disparagement, and explains his disparagement [with detail], then his disparagement supercedes my appraisal. And I submit [to it] because he presented evidences for the disparagement of this individual, and in reality, the truth is with him.
Notes
01 Tazkiyāt are commendations made on the basis of available knowledge to a scholar or a shaykh, and do not represent the definitive or final evaluation of an individual, especially when that person is younger and has not demonstrated a lifetime of uprightness and steadfastness upon the truth, unlike those who are at the ends of their lives and whose uprightness is known and established, but even that is subject to exception.
02 A scholar can only speak on the basis of available knowledge and the sum of his interactions with individuals, and a scholar is not infallible. Others may see things that he has not seen. Also, it is not a revilement of a scholar if someone brings evidence to disparage an individual whom that scholar has praised. Those who argue it is, have not understood this methodology and are confused. Or perhaps they just have fanaticism for the individual disparaged, which is prohibited.
03 Commendations remain valid so long as the basis upon which they were made remains. Which is the uprightness of that individual upon the right way and steadfastness upon the creed and methodology and upright moral conduct.
04 Errors made by individuals may or may not be representative of an underlying deviation in methodology, but when the reality becomes clear (as to that person's deliberate opposition to the foundations and underlying deviation) then those prior commendations are no longer valid and cannot be used as a defence. To invoke those commendations as defence demonstrates ignorance and confusion in this arena, as well as bigotry to individuals, which is prohibited.
05 Consideration is only given to the knowledge-based issues being criticised (in creed and methodology) and the evidences presented for disparagement and refutation and nothing else. If the evidences are sound, then it is obligatory to accept them, and persisting in defending the individual through past tazkiyāt (commendations) is indicative of bigotry (taḥazzub) and following desires (hawā).
If the evidences are not sound and are baseless, or can be clarified and explained away, then the disparagement has been answered, and prior commendations remain valid.
06 When controversy and disputation arises between two parties, it is an error to invoke tazkiyāt as defences, or to use them to support a side. Rather, it is always sound and valid evidences in the claims, counterclaims, criticisms and defences that have the final say.
No one should have any involvement except the pursuit and discovery of truth and giving primacy to the evidence, and not to support this person because he is a friend or oppose that person because he is a foe.
07 One can see clarity in methodology and integrity and truthfulness in scholars such as Shaykh Rabīʿ (رحمه الله). They make clear these principles so that this domain (of criticism and appraisal) remains unpolluted and uncompromised and so that the process attains the desired objective in a manner that demands submission to the truth from all parties.
08 If the matter returned to tazkiyāt, or they were made a factor, then the issue would return to who has the bigger status and the most commendations and praises, and this violates the fact that the foundation of Salafiyyah is the Qurʾān, the Sunnah and the way of the Salaf, and violates the principle that the truth is not known by men, but men are known by the truth.
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Footnotes
1. In his Majmūʿ (14/251).