ANOTHER INVOCATION OF BLESSINGS AND PEACE UPON THE PROPHET

This is another well-known invocation of blessings and peace upon the Prophet. Some of the words in it come from the Ansar who greeted the Prophet with outpourings of joy and acclamation when he entered Madina for his Emigration there.59[60] On this chapter the Companion al-Bara' Ibn `Azib narrates:

The first people who came to us (in Medina) were Mus`ab Ibn `Umayr and Ibn Umm Maktum who were teaching Qur'an to the people. Then there came Bilal, Sa`d, and `Ammar Ibn Yasir. After that `Umar Ibn al-Khattab came along with twenty other Companions of the Prophet. Later on the Prophet himself came and I had never seen the people of Medina so joyful as they were on the arrival of ALLAH's Apostle, for even the slave girls were saying, "ALLAH's Apostle has arrived!" Before his arrival I had already memorized the Sura starting with: "GLORIFY THE NAME OF YOUR LORD, THE MOST HIGH" (87:1) together with other Suras of al-Mufassal.60[61]

Blessings and peace on the one who said: "I was sent to all people without exception"61[62] and "I was sent only as Mercy. I was not sent as a punishment."62[63]

ya nabi salam `alayka

ya rasul salam `alayka ya habib salam `alayka salawatullah `alayka

O Prophet, Peace be upon you. O Messenger, Peace be upon you. O Beloved, Peace be upon you.

The Blessings of ALLAH be upon you.

tala`a al-badru `alayna

min thaniyyat al-wada` wajaba al-shukru `alayna ma da`a lillahi da`

The full moon has risen over us From the mountains of al-Wada`. We shall ever give thanks for it

As long as there will be callers to ALLAH.

anta shamsun anta badrun

anta nurun fawqa nur anta iksiru al-wujud anta misbah al-sudur

You are a sun, you are a full moon,

59[60]_{See the relevant section in Ibn Kathir's history al-Bidaya wa al-nihaya.}

60[61]_{English Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 262. al-Mufassal is a name for the last part of}

the Qur'an beginning with al-Hujurat, or Qaf, or al-A`la.

61[62]_{Bu`ithtu ila al-nasi `ammatan / kaffatan. Narrated by Ahmad (3:304), Bayhaqi in the Sunan (2:433),}

Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir (2:112, 281, 3:389, 4:397, 6:101, 506, 512), Tabarani in the Kabir (12:413), and others. al-Haythami said in Majma` al-zawa'id (8:259-261): "The narrators in Ahmad's chain are trustworthy."

You are light upon light,

You are the quintessence of existence, You are the lamp in every breast

ashraqa al-badru `alayna

fakhtafat minhu al-budur mithla husnik ma ra'ayna qattu ya wajh al-surur

The full moon has risen over us Eclipsing all other moons.

Such as your beauty we have never seen No, never, O face of delight!

ya habibi ya muhammad ya `arus al-khafiqayn ya mu'ayyad ya mumajjad ya Imam al qiblatayn O My beloved, O Muhammad,

O bridegroom of the East and the West, The one ALLAH vindicated and exalted, O Imam of the Two Directions!

ya nabi salam `alayka

ya rasul salam `alayka ya habib salam `alayka salawatullah `alayka

Abundant Blessings and Greetings of Peace upon the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions.

REFUTING SHAYKH ALBANIS WORDS ABOUT THE AHADITH OF TAWASSUL:

ollowing is a concise refutation of a recent dissertation by the "Salafi" Shaykh Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) entitled Tawassul: Its Types and Its Rulings currently distributed in translation among English-speaking Muslims by his supporters in order to replace with "Salafi" ideology the understanding of Ahl al-Sunna regarding tawassul.63[64] It will be seen with ALLAH's permission that the commentary of Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) is a proof against "Salafis" and all those who follow new teachings instead of clinging to the sawad

al-a`zam or massive majority of scholars. Their pretext that "there is disagreement about tawassul"

and that "we follow proof, not scholars" is a sham. There is no disagreement about tawassul among

Ahl al-Sunna except the dissent of some lone voices in the matter, such as Ibn Taymiyya who

declared travel undertaken to visit the Prophet an act of disobedience: this is not disagreement but

shudhudh or dissent, as classified by Imam Ahmad in speaking of the disagreement of the lone scholar

with the consensus. There seems to be little doubt that Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) has achieved the same dubious distinction of dissenting with one and all, as he proudly admits in the following lines of his book, especially the second sentence which we have emphasized:

Imaam Ahmad allowed tawassul by means of the Messenger alone, and others such as Imaam ash- Shawkaanee allowed tawassul by means of him and other Prophets and the Pious. [Note that he omits to mention Imam Malik and Imam Shafi`i as permitting tawassul also.] However we [i.e. Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) and his party], as is the case in all matters where there is

disagreement, follow whatever is supported by the proof whatever that is, without blindly sticking to the opinions of men.64[65]

The proofs that Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) alone purports to see -- against what the majority understand -- are characteristic of the "Salafi" method. As the scholars who debate them well know, the "Salafi" method consists in a lack of method in and a non-recognition of any of the established principles of the derivation of rulings from the primary sources other than what fits the purpose of their position at the time. Scholars of Ahl al-Sunna may traditionally familiarize themselves with the Fiqh and the usul of other than their own school, but this is impossible to do with the "Salafis," because they completely lack any type of method and shift constantly from one position to another depending on the purpose at hand. Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) has achieved particular notoriety for his contamination of the field of hadith scholarship with this systematic unaccountability and free-lance style.

As we will see in the section on salat in the present work, Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) had previously suggested altering the prayer by changing the words as-salamu

`alayka ayyuha al-nabi to as-salamu `ala al-nabi in the taShahhud whereas the Prophet explicitly

said, as related in Bukhari and Muslim: "Pray as you see me pray," and: "Who innovates something in this matter of ours (meaning religion), it is radd (rejected)." And here is Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him) now trying to alter the tawassul through the Prophet which is valid for all and for all times, and reduce it to a one-time du`a of the Prophet valid only for a single man in the Prophet's time. But, as the Prophet said: "There is no preventing what ALLAH has given, and there is no avoidance of what He has decreed."65[66]

1. ALBANI (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him)'S TAMPERING WITH THE HADITH

ITSELF

63[64]_{M. Nasir al-Din al-Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him), Tawassul: Its Types and}

Its Rulings, trans. Dawud Burbank (Birmingham: al-Hidaayah, 1995).

64[65]_{Albani (May ALLAH forgive and have mercy on him), Tawassul p. 38.}

65[66]_{Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Ahmad.}