21 - Rashid Rida has the preacher say the words of the Hurufis, Durzis (Druzes) and Batinis, [See the chapters "Corrupt Religions" in the book Endless Bliss, II.] who have nothing to do with Islam, and thus misrepresents these to be the preacher's knowledge of Islam, and has the religion reformer say that these things have no place in Islam and, hence, presents the preacher as an ignoramus. He tries to establish the readers' confidence in the religion reformer and to represent the Ahl as-Sunnat men of religious post as ignorant.

22 - The religion reformer says:

"Recently most of those who call themselves Ahl as-Sunnat wal-Jamaat have not been able to escape the bidat made up by the Batinis and others. They are different in name only. If you compare the words of the Batinis with those of the men of tasawwuf of the fourth and later centuries, you will find little difference between them."

Here again the religion reformer reveals his ignorance in Islam. Contrary to what he writes, the term Ahl as-Sunnat wal-Jamaat was not made up after Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam), who had referred to this term and called Muslims to unite under this name. The hadiths, "Hold fast to my sunnat," and "Do not depart from the Jamaat," are the evidence of this call. With his insolent lie above, the reformer attacks the superior scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat and the great awliya' and attempts to vilify them. The books of Ahl as-Sunnat scholars are still the same just as they were written a thousand years ago. There may be ignorant or heretical people in every branch of science and knowledge, among every class of people, and it is a great injustice to attack the word Ahl as-Sunnat by taking a few such people as examples. And likening the great men of tasawwuf to the Batinis is one of the tactics of the religion reformers which they have used most frequently. Mistaking the scholars of batin (interior, hidden knowledge) for the zindiqs called Batinis is like misrepresenting light as dark, right as wrong and honest as crooked. Rashid Rida's book is very far from being a scientific work; it is more of a writing prepared by a conjurer in order to deceive and hoodwink the readers.

23 - Rashid Rida says through the preacher's mouth:

"I do not see why the scholars of kalam and fiqh keep silent against the instigation of the subversive Shiites, who have both deviated themselves and caused others to deviate from the right path, nor can I explain it to myself. Men of kalam have always been against the Mutazila, refuted and vehemently resisted against their beliefs. The Mutazila doctrine and its devotees, therefore, have faded away from history. As for the scholars of fiqh, though all of them belong to Ahl as-Sunnat wal-Jamaat, they have been struggling against one another, refuting one another."

Obviously, these slanders against the scholars of kalam and fiqh, which Rashid Rida writes through the preacher, will not convince anyone. Libraries are full of books of refutation written by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. Those written in Persian are not fewer than the Arabic ones. If Rashid Rida knew Persian and had read the book Tuhfa-I Ithna 'ashariyya by Hadrat 'Abd al-'Aziz ad-Dahlawi, he could not help being astonished at how the great scholar rebuts and puts to rout the la-madhhabi. Those who read Hadrat Al-Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi's Radd-i Rawafid, which explains the cause of the Uzbek Sultan 'Abdullah Shah's war against them and his conquering them, and any man of knowledge who sees the book Hujaj-i Qatiyya, which narrates as-Suwaidi's debate with Nadir Shah's men and his overpowering them, will fully understand that the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat did overcome them. At the end of the eightieth letter, the translation of the book Maktubat gives the names and the books of thirty-two of those scholars who wrote that the la-madhhabi are heretical and that they strive to demolish Islam from within. Also, the idea that the scholars of fiqh have been struggling with one another is one of the slanders which the religion reformers have been repeating constantly. This has been already answered in the sixth article.

24 - The religion reformer says:

"The scholars' refuting and struggling against one another originated mostly from falling for the desires of the nafs. The one and only cause of the birth of the knowledge of kalam was the Mutazila. They [scholars of kalam] dived into some matters which the pious Salaf had not. They put forward some objections to them. And the others stood against their arrows of objection. With the disappearing of the real scholars of knowledge, of ideas and deduction, the posterity began to repeat word for word that they had said. In the process of time these, too, came to no use. These imitators kept silent against those matters, bidats and superstitions, which appeared after such scholars as al-Imam al-Ashari and his followers, and accused those who asked questions about them of blasphemy. Yet, when these bidats and heresies were put forward in a religious guise and color and had a number of partisans and supporters, this time the men of kalam also attempted to defend them by explaining them away. Moreover, the direction of the weapon of accusing one of blasphemy was changed to turn against those who had objected to these bidats and heresies, and they accused them of disbelief and heresy. It is possible to see this in every generation and in every nation.

"As for men of fiqh, let us listen to al-Imam al-Ghazali about their attitudes: Hujjat al-Islam al-Imam al-Ghazali wrote in the subject 'Kitab al-'ilm' in his book Ihya': 'The reason why the men of fiqh quarreled, struggled with one another was to ingratiate themselves with rulers and governors, thus to obtain ranks and to be Qadis. For this reason, when carefully observed, it will be seen that the greatest struggle was between the Shafi'is and the Hanafis. Because, these ranks and posts were always occupied by these two...' "

In this passage, Rashid Rida confuses the evil people who learned fiqh in order to obtain worldly advantages with the 'ulama' of fiqh who tried to correct the world and the wicked, and thus tries to belittle and defame the 'ulama' of fiqh and the aimmat al-madhahib and prepares grounds for the war which he would make in order to demolish Islam from within by abolishing the madhhabs and their taqlids. Also, he attempts to interpolate Hadrat al-Imam al-Ghazali's (d. 505/1111) writing to render the great alim a false witness for himself. Contrary to what he writes, Hadrat al-Imam al-Ghazali never blamed the 'ulama' of fiqh. In the fourth chapter of the subject " 'ilm," he wrote the distinction between the 'ulama' of fiqh and the wicked people who used the knowledge of fiqh as a means for their worldly advantages. He wrote: "The 'ulama' of fiqh kept away from rulers and governors. They would be asked to issue qadas and fatwas, but they would refuse. Upon seeing the greatness and honor associated with these posts, the wicked people wanted to approach the rulers as Muftis. Because the rulers esteemed the madhhabs and had been trying to find out whether the Hanafi or the Shafi'i madhhab was suitable, those who were not learned began to learn the matters of difference between the two madhhabs. They were wound up into contraventions and debates. These wicked men of religious post busied themselves with whatever the rulers and governors were inclined to." The religion reformer distorts this passage of al-Imam al-Ghazali's, which was about the wicked scholars ('ulama as-su'), and adapts it against the 'ulama' of fiqh; he does not feel shame for having raised the outcry that the Shafi'is and the Hanafis fought one another.

Another lie belonging to the religion reformers is to say that the 'ulama' of Islam followed their nafses. The 'ulama' of fiqh and the aimmat al-madhahib said nothing in opposition to the Qur'an al-karim or the Hadith ash-Sharif. Because what they all said was based on the Book and the Sunnat, the nafses of their followers got redeemed of the state of ammara and became mutmainna. Since those who followed them were so, is it possible that their own nafses would not be mutmainna? The nafses of the four aimmat al-madhhahib and of all the mujtahids were mutmainna. Each of them was a wali who had advanced in the Zahiri (exterior) knowledge and had reached perfection in the batini (interior, hidden) knowledge. To say that they followed their nafses means to asperse all Muslims as well as Islam itself. One should realize how ugly the accusation is.

The religion reformer, by speaking ill of the posterior men of religious duty, denies the hadith ash-Sharif, "A mujaddid (strengthener, renewer, of Islam) will come every hundred years. He will strengthen this religion." It is true that many Muslims have deviated and seventy-two heretical groups have appeared. But the deviation of Muslims does not mean that Islam itself was defiled. There have always been those true pious Muslims who have not given up following as-Sahabat al-kiram. These Muslims are called Ahl as-Sunnat wal-Jamaat. The 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat have guided the people to the right path in every part of the world in every century. They have not left any question unanswered. They have protected Muslims from believing in the lies and slanders of zindiqs, men of bidat, and religion reformers. Allahu ta'ala declares that Islam will not be corrupted till the end of the world.

25 - The religion reformer praises himself and lauds the magazine Al-Manar to the sky, which he himself edited, a case justly pertinent to the saying, "The Hurufi's miracle is related by himself only." Whereas, in this magazine he represents freemasons and religion reformers as Islamic scholars and, by saying that they will renew Islam, he means that the task of restoring Islam to its honorable early state will be done by them. Islam was defiled and Islamic books were changed, he alleges, and they will correct it. But the venom vomited by the snake lying under his insidious words is directed to destroy Ahl as-Sunnat, to annihilate the books of Ahl as-Sunnat, which show the path of as-Sahabat al-kiram, and to replace these books with the books of freemasons and the enemies who have been trying to destroy Islam from within. In short, it is to corrupt Islam, the path of Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) and as-Sahabat al-kiram and thus to eradicate Islam. This is the very purpose of religion reformers, of those who say that they will reform the religion. Their attacking the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat, who show us the footsteps of the as-Sahabat al-kiram, reveals clearly their base purpose. Such insidious disbelievers who strive to demolish Islam from within by masquerading as Muslims are called "zindiqs." Zindiqs can deceive and corrupt Muslims, but they cannot corrupt Islam; Allahu ta'ala promises that He will protect Islam.