Quṭbiyyah is a Fitnah So Know it (1994)

Al-Quṭbiyyah Hiya al-Fitnah Faʿrifūhā (1415/1994) is one of the monumental books of the 1990s in the field of manhaj. It exposed the undercurrent of the Quṭbiyyah sect present in Saudi Arabia, which was being nurtured in the decades prior, and which took the occasion of the Gulf War in 1990, after Saddām Hussein invaded Kuwait, to come out and make its call openly.

The author, a shaykh from Madīnah, established the necessity of following the creed and methodology of the Salaf and used a well-known group, Jamāʿah al-Tablīgh, and its deviation in creed and methodology as a primer for the discussion of the Quṭbiyyah in greater detail in the rest of the book.

The author explained that the role of this group was to establish a leader and a state, making use of the presence of various jamāʿāt operating in the field as instruments to that end.

From the major principles, slogans and methods employed by this group were these three:

The author explained how from the way of this group is to use ambiguous words and phrases (to hide their real intentions), and then proceeded to explain the use of some of their principles in detail, most of which are used to shield the groups they cooperate with and their leaders and callers from legitimate criticism.

The author also explained how they claimed to call to ḥikmah (wisdom) but in reality, distorted the speech of scholars related to commanding the good and prohibiting evil as means of preventing the separation of truth from falsehood.

They also said that only the truth should be made clear and individuals should not be disparaged and spoken against. They also said it is from justice to mention the good of a person when he is disparaged, otherwise it is injustice, and this was the principle of al-Muwāzanah that Shaykh Rabīʿ spent huge efforts in refuting, due to the tremendous harm it causes to the religion and its transmission and preservation.

The author goes on to mention their ties and connections with the various sects and groups, whether political, secular or religious. The purpose behind this was to create connections and alliances and use these groups, and the multitudes attached to them, as a means of attaining their own objectives.

He also mentions some of the tactics they used, involving secret organisation and working behind the scenes to achieve their goals through schemes and plots.

They focused heavily on the well-known issues in the Sunnah and Salafī creed regarding the rulers and their obedience and not rebelling against them, and the innovators, refuting them and warning against them. These are great foundations of the Sunnah, and they tried to spread much confusion regarding these issues, to make openings for themselves and justifications for what they had embarked upon.

They also cast doubt upon the fatwās of the senior scholars related to the 1990 Gulf War. The scholars had permitted the use of foreign non-Muslim forces against the Baʿthī leader of Irāq, and they (the Quṭbiyyah) had presented the presence of US forces as an actual military occupation of Saudi Arabia. This was not true and they also contradicted themselves because they had other positions in other areas of conflict such as Yemen, Northern Iraq and Bosnia, where they permitted the aid of disbelievers and polytheists. Some of them had claimed sanctuary in Western lands claiming they were “compelled” to do so. So their statements and actions were contradictory and this was a sign of their misguidance.

Towards the end of the book, the author speaks about their third principle, that of verification (al-tathabbut), saying that this became a defensive and offensive weapon against anyone that criticised them, their leaders or their objectives.

He mentioned in particular a vile principle they operate upon which is the skilful use of others and their capabilities, meaning manipulation of other people, a type of Machiavellian politics so to speak.

He explains how they wrote books and got praises and commendations from senior scholars, so as to raise their profiles to gain acceptance. Then he explains how they revolved around particular shaykhs and elevated them. This included Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd (who was subsequently refuted by Shaykh Rabīʿ) and likewise, they would call Shaykh al-ʿUbaykān, “Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ” to flatter him and to win his agreement and support, but when he opposed them, they abandoned him. Likewise, they flocked around Shaykh Ibn Jibrīn, who stood by them, and defended them, and he was subsequently refuted by Shaykh Aḥmad al-Najmī and others, despite him been seen as a senior scholar. He was declared an innovator for defending people of falsehood.

In short, they operated behind closed doors, with plans and schemes for political agendas, while openly denying it, and showing a face of Ahl al-Sunnah or of Salafiyyah.

Right at the end of the book, the author mentions how their followers have been given a Rāfiḍī, Ṣūfī nurturing upon blind-following and venerating their shaykhs and leaders. He mentions the sayings: “Be in the presence of the shaykh as the deceased in presence of the one washing him” and “When the Imām tells you the sun is absent despite it being plainly visible in the sky, then say it is absent.”

From the most prominent callers of the Quṭbiyyah were Salmān al-ʿAwdah and Safar al-Ḥawālī.

From their salient features:

• Takfīr of the Muslim rulers.
• Inciting the common folk against the rulers (khurūj).
• Belittling the scholars who stand in the way of their agendas.
• Allowing the pledge of allegiance to be given to other than the legitimate leader.
• Inventing false principles in al-Jarḥ wal-Taʿdīl as a means of shielding themselves and their ideological figureheads from legitimate criticism.
• Claiming that they are upon the Salafī methodology but with a modern, realistic orientation.
• Defending the heads of innovation and misguidance.

There was a period of time, prior to 1997, when there was much confusion and even senior scholars were not fully aware of their realities. During this time, these people would go to the senior scholars and complain and try to get speech out of them to attack those who were exposing them. They would also rely upon past commendations and praises to shield themselves.

The tide began to turn when Shaykh al-Albānī called them “Khārijiyyah Aṣriyyah” in 1997 and Shaykh Bin Bāz sanctioned their detention and imprisonment around the same time after their evils had become clear.

Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī expended the greatest efforts in exposing them and demolishing all of their foundations, inclusive of refuting Sayyid Quṭb, the source of their misguidance, and all of his calamities in creed and methodology. He is the spring and fountain for the Takfīrī, Khārijī, Irhābī groups in 20th and 21st centuries.

In short, “Al-Quṭbiyyah" was a tremendous book which lifted the veil from this evil group. It was helpful for the Salafī daʿwah in the English language, given that some of the callers from this broad group were present in the United Kingdom, from them Muḥammad Surūr, Muḥammad al-Misʿarī, Saʿd al-Faqīh, Abū Ḥamzah al-Miṣrī among others.

The presence of many senior scholars saw that the evils of this group were collectively and systematically refuted, all centred around two main subject areas from the Salafī creed and methodology, from the foundations of Islām, and they are related to the rulers on the one hand, and the innovators on the other.