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Why, Sheikh Bassam?!
A lecture by Brother Hussam Abdul Aziz
A lecture by Brother Hussam Abdul Aziz
Peace be upon you. Some scholars and brothers have written posts on social media platforms and issued fatwas forbidding supplication for mercy for the deceased disbeliever, citing some verses and hadiths. Then, Sheikh Bassam Jarar made a one-and-a-half-hour session refuting all these evidences to prove that they are wrong, and made a second two-hour session responding to a person personally.
But glory be to Allah, the man fell into serious mistakes and contradictions that made him establish the proof against himself. In this session, we will bring the sources and origins that Sheikh Bassam Jarar himself relies on and we will respond to him with them. I will not bring old talk, I will bring his words from the same lectures and he will respond to himself and I will leave the judgment to you.
Those who watch the session today must not rush, because as I proceed in the session, you will find things you did not expect. And forgive me if the session today is a bit long, because Sheikh Bassam did not like that I discussed an issue as big as this in a video that is only a third of an hour long.
The main idea that Sheikh Bassam Jarar presents, allowing mercy for the death of disbelievers, is that a disbeliever can be in the fire and be shown mercy, for example, by reducing the torment or by death or by stopping eternity in the fire, meaning the disbeliever's torment stops and he returns neither in the fire nor in paradise.
Let us start with the topic of stopping eternity, and as I agreed with you, I will stick to his sources, I will not bring sources from myself. Let us hear him as he speaks about the issue of stopping the eternity of disbelievers in the fire:
"I am not saying now that the fire is annihilated or not annihilated, I am saying that inshallah and the will is not clear, meaning it did not say that the fire is annihilated, I do not know, I do not know, but there is an eternity that stops by the will of Allah for whom? For the eternal ones."
He says: "But there is an eternity that stops." The man wants to prove to his students and the people who watch him the correctness of his speech, so he cited the Egyptian stallion.
And therefore, when we brought in the previous lesson when we said that the flower of interpretations is this Egyptian stallion who is Abu Zuhrah, the owner of books, what did the great scholars and jurists say? He said: "Except as Allah wills, does this exception indicate that the fire has an end?" And he continued speaking.
You say: "And he continued speaking?" So, do not complete, O Sheikh Bassam, his speech? I will complete it here. Abu Zuhrah says: "And we see that the statement that the fire has an end is a statement that contradicts the many verses that mention the eternity of paradise and the eternity of the fire, and that the hereafter is not to annihilation but rather a house of permanence, and there is no house after it to which people move."
Meaning you, O Sheikh Bassam, are quoting a man who says that he is wrong! So, when you put on his tongue words that say the opposite and you cite him, what is this called, O Sheikh Bassam?
Listen, O Sheikh Bassam, to the Egyptian stallion as he speaks about the verse "Except as Allah wills" in the Flower of Interpretation: "And what we see is what we said before, which is an explanation that the torment is by His will, exalted be He, and if He wills, He raises it, but He did not will, so the eternity remains as it is."
And in the book "Islamic Creed as it Comes in the Noble Quran," Abu Zuhrah, the Egyptian stallion, says about the verse "Except as your Lord wills": "And if there is a remote possibility in this text, meaning the possibility of stopping eternity, then the other texts are decisive about permanence." This is what you said about him, O Sheikh Bassam: "The Egyptian stallion and the great scholars and jurists" say that you contradict the apparent meaning of the Quran and the decisive texts.
What else did you cite, O Sheikh Bassam, that there is an eternity that stops? "Then the Tunisian stallion who is Al-Tahir Ibn Ashur, the owner of the Liberation, what did he say? Except at the time of Allah's will to remove your eternity, if Allah wills, they will remove your eternity."
Ibn Ashur does not agree with this speech, O Sheikh Bassam! He says that the apparent meaning of the exception is an exception from the generality of times or from the generality of the eternal ones. And then he said: "It is determined in the book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the nation that the polytheists are eternal in the fire without exception of a group or time." And he emphasized it after a few paragraphs and said: "Then the destiny after that is to the evidences indicating that the eternity of the polytheists is not specific to time or condition."
So, you cite Ibn Ashur why do you not understand? So that he can respond to you and tell you that you contradict the book and the Sunnah! And to be sure of Ibn Ashur's opinion, the Tunisian stallion, Ibn Ashur says in the interpretation of the verse "Staying in it for ages" that the eternity of the polytheists in the fire is without end.
Listen to the man you cite: "And its gathering here means it came in ages in the plural form, and its gathering here is meant to be the great length, because most of the use of ages and ages is where the succession of times is intended, and this is indicated by other verses indicating the eternity of the polytheists, so this verse came in the common known speech as a metaphor for permanence without end."
Meaning the two whom you cited, O Sheikh Bassam, said that eternity does not stop. And the Egyptian stallion Abu Zuhrah said that your idea of non-permanent permanence is an idea repeated by those who repeat strange ideas to be famous for knowledge, depth, and renewal, and he said about your idea that it is a deviant thought. How will you stand before our Lord when Abu Zuhrah and Ibn Ashur, whom you make people think they say what they said the opposite?
Well, I have a question here: So, Sheikh Bassam is quoting wrong, is there no one among those sitting who read any of these people to tell the sheikh that you are quoting wrong?
Sheikh Bassam, as he interprets a verse from the verses he mentioned in the first lecture, caught my attention that he said about the interpretation that he did not adopt that it is acceptable, but as long as there is a difference in interpretation, it is not possible to build a legal ruling on it. "Of course, two are possible, but what? In the original, when things are like this, how do you build a legal ruling on such a thing?"
It is not possible to build a legal ruling because the interpretation has two sayings that you yourself say are acceptable, but it is possible that you build a legal ruling on the interpretation of the verse "Except as your Lord wills" and you come out to us with the saying of the interpreters whom you cite that he says that it contradicts the apparent meaning of the Quran and a strange saying? I only show you that there is no methodology, the story is the story of the one who wins by it.
Thus, we have finished the issue of stopping eternity from the people whom you cited and said about them that they are stallions. Let us see what else from the alleged mercies that Sheikh Bassam allows.
Let us take the Egyptian stallion Abu Zuhrah and His saying, may He be exalted, to those who enter Hell: "They do not die therein nor do they live." And this is a deep description of those who are eternal in the fire, for they do not die to rest the rest of death when they lose the feeling of misery or pleasure, and they do not live a noble life in which there is the pleasure of the living, but it is torment and pain, they do not die therein nor do they live, for it is a life of continuous bitter pain that does not cease.
Thus, the only mercy that remains for you from your alleged mercy is the reduction of torment, and this I will speak about it in a while after we go to the topic of cursing.
People asked Sheikh Bassam Jarar about the verses cursing the disbelievers and told him that cursing is the exclusion from Allah's mercy, which is clear evidence of the prohibition of supplicating for mercy for the disbeliever after his death. Sheikh Bassam responded that cursing is the exclusion from goodness, not from mercy.
"Correct, cursing is the exclusion from mercy. We should not say incorrect statements that cursing is the exclusion from mercy. No, it is the exclusion, the distancing from goodness."
Okay, we ask the Sheikh, where did you get this meaning from? "I only want to bring them the definition of cursing from the linguistic measures, which is Ibn Faris, and Ibn Faris is one of the imams of language, and I want to bring them the definition of the tongue, which is Ibn Manzur, and who is Ibn Manzur? He is one of the eminent scholars of language."
Okay, we went with the Sheikh and asked him what is the definition of cursing from the book of Ibn Manzur, which you refer to as Lisan al-Arab? "Okay, okay, and we look at Lisan al-Arab by Ibn Manzur. Notice what he means, the exclusion, cursing, the distancing, the exclusion from what? From goodness, not from mercy."
Sheikh Bassam says that Ibn Manzur said the exclusion from goodness, not from mercy. No, Sheikh Bassam, Ibn Manzur said it is the exclusion from mercy. Why, Sheikh Bassam, are you quoting Ibn Manzur partially? I will bring Ibn Manzur's words, and let anyone who wants to verify now enter Lisan al-Arab.
Ibn Manzur, after saying, "And cursing, the distancing, the exclusion from goodness," said explicitly: "And whoever is cursed by Allah, He has distanced him from His mercy and deserved the punishment, thus becoming perished, and cursing is torture. And whoever is distanced by Allah, His mercy does not reach him, and he abides in punishment." This is Ibn Manzur, the scholar among the eminent scholars of language, whom you are using to argue against us, and he is refuting you.
Thus, you are obliged to apologize to Ibn Ashur and Abu Zuhra for misleading people that they agree with the cessation of eternity, and you are obliged to apologize to Ibn Manzur for misleading people that he says cursing is the exclusion from goodness, not from mercy.
Secondly, let us assume, Sheikh Bassam, for the sake of argument, that cursing is the exclusion from goodness as you said. Is this goodness not more general than mercy? So, the one excluded from goodness is also excluded from mercy. You said that mercy is more general than forgiveness, and therefore the prohibition of forgiveness does not imply the prohibition of the more general mercy. "If the comprehensive is prohibited, does it include the specific? At least yes."
Therefore, Sheikh Bassam, you will find in any book of jurisprudence that prayer linguistically is supplication, but prayer technically and legally is specific words and actions that begin with the takbir and end with the taslim. When someone asks you: Is prayer, Sheikh Bassam, without bowing prohibited? Will you bring the linguistic meaning that prayer is supplication and thereby mislead him that bowing is not necessary for prayer?
Fasting linguistically means abstaining, absolute abstaining even from speech, and in our Sharia, it is abstaining from that which breaks the fast from dawn to sunset with the intention. When we ask Muslims about the ruling of one of the rulings of fasting, you and I and all people know that the intended meaning is the known fasting. Is it useful to bring me the meaning of fasting in language?
And faith linguistically means belief, Iblis in this meaning is a believer, meaning linguistically he is a believer, but in the legal meaning he is a disbeliever. Similarly, cursing originally in language is exclusion, but when we speak about our Lord cursing disbelievers, we are speaking about a legal meaning, which is the exclusion from Allah's mercy as I have proven to you with evidence and the words of the exegetes whom you quote.
Of course, this is a methodological problem. Anyone specialized who has heard what Sheikh Bassam Jarar did in clarifying the meaning of cursing knows the extent of the methodological flaw. No one interprets the Book of our Lord in this way. If we understand the Quran by opening dictionaries, what would the exegetes have done?
But Sheikh Bassam himself used to say that cursing is the exclusion from Allah's mercy. Let us ask him why he changed his mind? "I used to say in the lessons a long time ago when I simplify the meaning for the people and tell them that cursing is the exclusion from mercy, from whom did I take it? From the tolerance of some exegetes? The tolerance of some exegetes."
Of course, as soon as you hear the word "some" and see his hand movement, you feel that those who said cursing is the exclusion from Allah's mercy are a minority and not to be relied upon. Do you know who these some exegetes are? The exegete Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, Al-Baghawi, Ibn 'Atiyah, Abu Al-Su'ud, Al-Baqaa'i, Al-Alusi, Ash-Shawkani, Ath-Thalabi, As-Samarqandi, Al-Khazin, At-Tabari, An-Nasafi, Maki bin Abi Talib, As-Sam'ani, Al-Baydawi, Ibn Ashur, Al-Qasimi. Are they called some? And you are doing this with your hand?
Wait and I will present to you the statements of almost all the great exegetes in 3 verses containing cursing of the disbelievers so that you see if they are called some exegetes or not. Sheikh Bassam Jarar tried to reassure the viewers that he is bringing the interpretation. "Okay, now see what Zahrat at-Tafsir says, I am not saying that I am bringing the interpretation now, do not think that all of it is from you, Sheikh, I mean."
Beautiful, let us bring the interpretation that you quoted and that you did not quote, and leave the judgment to the people. We hear the first verse with the voice of Sheikh Bassam and his interpretation of the verse, and now we present the statements of the exegetes. Stop the video for a moment so that you can read. But the Sheikh may tell you that I do not like this interpretation. Let us see what the interpretation is that he takes from it.
First interpretation, the interpretation of Abu Zuhra, who is referred to by Fahl Misy as: "First, I bring two of the finest, in two finest, the first finest is Fahl Misy, who is Abu Zuhra, may Allah have mercy on him, he was at the level of ijtihad."
Fahl Misy, Abu Zuhra, in the interpretation of the verse says: "And the curse of Allah is their distancing from His mercy, and it is said that the curse of the angels is their torture for them by the command of Allah and their distancing from His mercy." And for scientific honesty, Abu Zuhra in another place in his book said that cursing means anger, but it can mean the exclusion from Allah's mercy if accompanied by anger. According to the words of Zuhra, the disbelievers are excluded from Allah's mercy in all cases, because our Lord accompanied anger with cursing in the warning of the hypocrites and the polytheists when He said in the verse of Al-Fath: "And Allah is angry with them and curses them and prepares for them Hell, and it is an evil destination."
Now, let us see another interpretation from the interpretation that Sheikh Bassam Jarar mentioned more than once: "Notice what the owner of Al-Manar says, notice what the owner of Al-Manar says."
Muhammad Rashid Rida, the owner of Al-Manar, in the interpretation says: "Those who disbelieved and died while they were disbelievers, upon them is the curse of Allah." Because the curse was poured upon them deservingly by all those who have reason and knowledge, and whoever is deprived of the effort of the Most Merciful, the Merciful, what does he hope from other than Him? The curse is the deprivation from the mercy of the Most Merciful, the Merciful, Sheikh Bassam.
Now, let us see the interpretation of Al-Manar that you quote, which combines the linguistic and legal meanings so that we all learn. The owner of Al-Manar says: "And that cursing means exclusion, so it is correct that eternity in it is its continuity, meaning they are excluded from the mercy of Allah always, and it is not hoped that they will be saved from it." Do you not want to argue with Al-Tabari? Do I compel you with the owner of Al-Manar whom you accepted and Abu Zuhra whom you named Fahl Misy and quoted from?
Let us go to another verse on the subject.
Let's go to another verse on the topic of cursing, the verse of the hypocrites. We will listen to Sheikh Bassam as he speaks about the verse of the hypocrites.
"Allah the Almighty says: {Allah has promised the hypocrites, male and female, and the disbelievers, the fire of Hell, wherein they will abide eternally. It is sufficient for them. And Allah has cursed them, and for them is an enduring torment} [At-Tawbah: 68]. And Allah has cursed them, meaning He has distanced them from good."
The same goes for cursing, which is the distancing from good. Let's see the sayings of the exegetes on this verse.
All of them, Sheikh Bassam, do you refer to them as "some of the exegetes"? And you do this with your hand like that?
Let's go to a third verse, the verse of Al-Ahzab. We will listen to Sheikh Bassam as he speaks about the verse of Al-Ahzab.
"Allah the Almighty says: {Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze} [Al-Ahzab: 64]. Cursing the disbelievers means distancing them from good."
The same goes for cursing, which is the distancing from good. Let's see the sayings of the exegetes on this verse.
All of them, Sheikh Bassam, do you refer to them as "some of the exegetes"? And you do this with your hand like that?
Thus, we have completed the topic of cursing, and we have seen that all the exegetes whom you have cited and those whom you have not cited have said that cursing is expulsion from Allah's mercy.
The only mercy left for you from your alleged mercy is the leniency of punishment. Let's see what Sheikh Bassam says about the leniency of punishment.
"But is the punishment lessened? Yes, the punishment is lessened, and the evidence for that is that Abu Talib's punishment was lessened."
Okay, Abu Talib's punishment was lessened because he supported the Prophet peace be upon him. This is a special exception for Abu Talib, not a general rule. It means we cannot build a general Islamic ruling based on this.
So, is the leniency of punishment mercy? Sheikh Bassam says that mercy is more encompassing than forgiveness.
"Mercy is more encompassing than forgiveness, and therefore the prevention of forgiveness does not imply the prevention of the broader mercy."
If the leniency of punishment is mercy, then the disbeliever can be shown mercy through the leniency of punishment. But does the leniency of punishment remove him from being tormented? No.
In all the issues he has discussed, Sheikh Bassam Jarar relies on a very strange methodology. He takes statements from here and there, cuts off texts, distorts meanings, and uses the sayings of scholars out of context.
This is not a scientific method; it is a deceptive method. Anyone specialized in Islamic sciences knows that this is not the style of scientific research.
Sheikh Bassam has fallen into heinous contradictions. At one time, he says that cursing is the expulsion from good, and at another time, he says that mercy is more encompassing than forgiveness. At one time, he says that eternity stops, and at another time, he uses the sayings of scholars who say that eternity does not stop.
This indicates the lack of a clear methodology on his part and the lack of precision in his transmission and reasoning.
In the end, Sheikh Bassam Jarar has not brought any correct evidence for the permissibility of supplicating for mercy for the deceased disbeliever. All his evidence was either cut off, distorted, or used out of context.
And all the scholars he cited, whether Abu Zuhrah or Ibn 'Ashur or Ibn Manzur, all of them have refuted him in their speech and have proven that cursing is the expulsion from Allah's mercy, and that the eternity of disbelievers in the Fire is eternal and does not stop.
Therefore, the conclusion is that supplicating for mercy for the deceased disbeliever is forbidden by Islamic law, and this is what the scholars of the nation have agreed upon. And Sheikh Bassam Jarar has not brought anything new, but he has brought strange and contradictory sayings to the consensus of the nation.
And Allah knows best.