And they [i.e., the people of Sunnah] accept the rulings of the scholars from the aspect of accepting Khabar ath-thiqah [the narration of the trustworthy individual]. It is not blindfollowing.
They have lied and sinned with their claim that accepting the ruling of the scholar who is well-acquainted and insightful of the firmly established statements regarding the knowledge of the fundamental principles of the Salafī methodology is from the aspect of blind-following.
NO. It is from the aspect of accepting the narration of the trustworthy individual which our Lord commanded us to accept. It is also from the aspect of acknowledging his Imāmah (scholarship), his understanding, and his knowledge.
And due to that, Ash-Shawkānī mentioned that when Imām Aḥmad said a word in his time, the people followed him. And when he disparages a person, his injury seldom heals [i.e., he is seldom absolved of the disparagement].
See! When he speaks against a man, the people of Islām follow him—they boycott and abandon him. Likewise, when he disparages a man, his injury seldom heals.
One of them [i.e., the Salaf] walked past ʿAmr bn ʿUbayd, the Muʿtazilī innovator, after the people had boycotted him. So, he said to him: “What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you? The people have boycotted you?” He [i.e., ʿAmr] said: “ʿAbdullāh bn ʿAwn bn Arṭabān, Imām ahlu-Sunnah of his time, forbade the people from coming to me, so they stopped.”
See! The people of Sunnah did not doubt following their scholars [because] they trust them, their criticism, and their Imāmah.
When Al-Ḥusayn Al-Karābīsī—who used to have a form of contribution to the science of Ḥadīth and Fiqh, and wrote a book on At-Tadlīs—was spoken against by Imām Aḥmad, Al-Karābīsī spoke against Imām Aḥmad [in retaliation] and reviled him, so the people despised him [i.e., Al-Karābīsī]. When it reached Yaḥyá bn Maʿīn that Al-Karābīsī spoke against Aḥmad, he said: “May Allāh’s curse be upon him. He is seriously in need of being flogged!” Aḥmad ascended and Al-Ḥusayn Al-Karābīsī fell.
See how they used to defend one another. And they used to know the levels of one another.
O you Al-Karābīsī, you are competing with the Imām of the people of Sunnah? You are attacking Imām Aḥmad? The people despised him and boycotted him because he attacked an Imām of the Sunnah.
They get angry on behalf of Ahl as-Sunnah—both their Imāms and scholars—and they do not ever allow the people of desires to touch even a strand of their hair or the amount of a fingertip [i.e., they do not allow them to attack the scholars in the least].
And due to that, look at when Imām Aḥmad spoke regarding Al-Ḥārith Al-Muḥāsabī in his story… Listen!
ʿAlī bn Abī Khālid, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: “I said to Aḥmad i.e., Ibn Ḥanbal, ‘Verily, this elderly man’ i.e., an elderly man that was present with us, ‘is my neighbour and I’ve warned him against a man, and he wants to hear your speech regarding him—i.e., he wants to know what Imām Aḥmad says regarding this man—[the man is] Ḥārith Al-Qaṣīr i.e., Ḥārith Al-Muḥāsabī.
You used to see me with him many years back and you said to me: ‘Do not accompany or speak with him;’ and I have not spoken with him until this moment. Whereas, this elderly man accompanies him, so what do you say regarding him?’
So, I saw that the Aḥmad’s face reddened, and his jugular veins and eyes bulged—and I had never seen him that way before. Then, he began shaking while saying:
‘May Allāh do such-and-such and such-and-such to that one. No one knows [the reality of] that one except for the one who is acquainted with him and knows him.’
Do you see? ‘No one knows him except for the one who is acquainted with him and knows him.’”
Therefore, from the Fiqh of the aspect of refuting the innovators and the people of desires is being acquainted with them and having great knowledge of their methods and ways.
And in this era, Shaykh Rabīʿ bn Hādī Al-Madkhalī took the foremost position. And he became an Imām in this aspect. His level in it cannot be reached. The Imāms of this era submitted to him and they unanimously agreed upon submitting to his Imāmah.
“Whoever Al-ʿAllāmah Rabīʿ tells you is a Ḥizbī (partisan) is a Ḥizbī. You will come to remember. A man [i.e., a deviant] should just not have followers. Once he has followers, he publicly proclaims what he believes.”
That is what our Shaykh, Al-ʿAllāmah Muqbil bn Hādī Al-Wādiʿī said.
Al-ʿAllāmah Al-Albānī said: “The flag-bearer of [the science of] al-Jarḥ wa at-Taʿdīl (criticism and appraisal) in this era is Dr. Rabīʿ. And the one who speaks against him does not do so with knowledge. Knowledge is with him.”
Do you see? Imāms! The scholars of this era—they submit to his experience and Imāmah and that he knows the secrets of these people and their entries and exits [i.e., everything about them].
Imām Aḥmad says here: “No one knows [the reality of] that one except for the one who is acquainted with him and knows him. Oh! Oh!! No one knows [the reality of] that one except for the one who is acquainted with him and knows him.
Al-Mughāzinī, Yaʿqūb, and so-and-so sat with that [Al-Muḥāsibī], and he took them [out of the Sunnah] into the belief of Jahm. They were destroyed due to him.”
Then Imām Aḥmad said: “Do not be deceived by his [apparent] humility and meekness. Do not be deceived by the hanging of his head for indeed, he is an evil man! That one, no one knows [his reality] except for whom has been acquainted with him.”
