Takfir of Deobandi Scholar
Takfir of Deobandi Scholar
With regard to the following reply of Brother Reza Attari to my question about the takfir of certain Deobandis by Imam Ahmad Reza Khan in light of his abstaining from takfir of Shah Isma`il Dehlavi:
There is no contradiction here. There is no doubt that Imam Ahmed Raza radhiAllahanhu passed such a fatwa on Gangohi, Abethvi and Thanvi. … When they refused to retract their words, he passed the the fatwa on them. If I am correct in my dates, Molwi Ismail Dehlvi passed away many years before Imam Ahmed Raza Khan’s radhiAllahanu time. Therefore, although Imam Ahmed Raza wrote in his book refuting the writing of Ismail Dehlvi that some of Dehlvi’s writings were of kufr, he did not pass kufr fatwa on the Ismail Dehlvi because dehlvi was deceased and dehlvi could obviously not write some defense or explanation of himself. … I hope this is more clearer to you now.
Definitely, thank you. I hope that it will be also clear to you, dear Brother Raza, that Sayyid Muhammad ibn `Alawi does not endorse this takfir of Gangohi, as he has a chain of transmission for al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan going back, through his father `Alawi ibn `Abbas, to al-Gangohi, as I stated in my April 28 post titled “al-Gangohi” where I cite that silsila in greater detail. As you may know, the narration of a Kafir is not accepted in Hadith transmission. If Sayyid Muhammad retained this chain among those he passes down to his students for dissemination, it means he obviously does NOT consider Shaykh Rashid al-Gangohi other than a *faithful and reliable Sunni hadith scholar*. Consequently I cannot, any more than my Shaykh, endorse the takfir of Shaykh Rashid al-Gangohi as a valid judgment, nor do I hold any opinion about him other than the favorable judgment I just mentioned. Was-Salam. Hajj GibrilGF Haddad
