FINDING FAULTS

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

There is nothing you can do or say to find excuse for a scholar or a Muslim who appears to have committed an error that fault-finders will accept, no matter how innocent you are in your expression. You must not even say anything good about someone they hate for any reason best known to them. They will make sure they roast you along with their victims if you dare raise any excuse for them. Allāh's aid is sought.

The same set of people can go to any length to give excuses and defend scholars they love and hold in high esteem, but you dare not not raise any reasonable excuse for those you love among scholars and students of knowledge when they err or appear to have erred. When you attempt to find excuse for an error in your brother, they attack you as if it is not from the Sunnah to do so. I will not stop saying this is not Salafiyyah, it is politics in the name of of religion.

There are fault-finders in both camps, and this is the more reason why some of us keep saying we will never join any of the two camps whether directly or by any implication. You can say anything you like against us, we don't care. Allāh's impression of us is what matters most. This is the path we feel save with since when Salafiyyah has been turned to politics by both well known groups. Each group always looking for anything flimsy to attack the other. This is shameful to say the east. If you do not find it wise to find excuse for a scholar in a scenario, there is no problem. But it is wrong to be attacking those who reasonably find excuse for him. Must everyone think along your own line?

Let me repeat here that all scholars who call to Sunnah and the way of the Salaf are our own scholars. We love and cherish them for the sake of Allāh, and we would never defend them upon falsehood. However, their mistakes or errors would not stop us from respecting them within the limits set by the sharī'ah. Our scholars are not perfect. No scholar is perfect - no matter his level of knowledge. If scholars are to be blacklisted or ridiculed for any error they commit being human, then there will be no single reliable scholar in this world again. 

I read a post yesterday where a scholar was blacklisted for some identified reasons and I pity the writer and those sharing the defamatory post. Indeed, no matter how good you strive to be, some people must spite you. This is how some of our brothers leave issues unaddressed and be chasing personalities. How will the writer of such post defend himself on the Day of Judgment if at least one or some of the points mentioned are not true? Even if they are true, how will the writer be saved from being guilty of libel against his Muslim brother on the Day of Judgment. 

One of the scholars said:

وما من كاتب إلا سيفنى ** ويبقى الدهر ما كتبت يداه

فلا تكتب بكفك غير شيئ ** يسرك في القيامة أن تراه

There is no writer except that he would later cease to exist. And time will remain over what his hand has written.

So, do not write with your hand anything, except that which would gladden you when brought to you on Day of Judgement.

No one is perfect. Anyone can make mistake. The most important thing is to correct the mistake and avoid tampering with personality. If you are the type that usually find reasonable excuse for people when they make mistakes, people would find excuse for you too when you make mistakes. But if you are always looking for a loophole to mock people on their errors, people would find it difficult to cover your shortcomings too when you err.

If we find excuses for each other in a reasonable manner, many of the problems we are facing will be solved.

Al-Bayhaqi رحمه الله reported that Ja’far ibn Muhammad رحمه الله said:

إِذَا بَلَغَكَ عَنْ أَخِيكَ الشَّيْءُ تُنْكِرُهُ فَالْتَمِسْ لَهُ عُذْرًا وَاحِدًا إِلَى سَبْعِينَ عُذْرًا فَإِنْ أَصَبْتَهُ وَإِلا قُلْ لَعَلَّ لَهُ عُذْرًا لا أَعْرِفُهُ

If you hear something from your brother that you reject, make an excuse for him up to seventy excuses. If you cannot do it, then say: Perhaps he has an excuse I do not know. [Source: Shu’ab al-Imān 7853]