Allahu ta'ala pities all the people on the earth. He sends useful and necessary things to everybody. He shows the ways of keeping away from harm and attaining to happiness. In the next world, He will forgive whomever He likes of those guilty believers who are to go to Hell, and He will bring them to Paradise. He alone is the One who creates every living being, who keeps every being in existence every moment, and who protects all against fear and horror. Trusting ourselves to the honorable name of Allahu ta'ala, we begin to write this book.

We offer up our prayers and salams for Hadrat Muhammad ('alaihi's-salam), the most beloved Prophet of Allahu ta'ala. We offer auspicious prayers for the pure Ahl al-Bait of that exalted Prophet and for each of his just and devoted Companions (radi-Allahu 'anhum).

Allahu ta'ala is very merciful to His creatures. He wills the whole of mankind to live in ease and comfort in this world and to have an eternal life in favors and blessings after they die. To attain this bliss, He orders them to believe, to become Muslims, to join the path of His Prophet Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) and his Companions, to love and help one another. Our Prophet (sall-allahu alaihi wa sallam) stated, "As the stars guide throughout dark nights, my Ashab are the guides along the way leading to felicity. Follow any one of them, and you will attain to felicity." All of the Ashab al-kiram learned the Holy Qur'an from the Messenger of Allah. As they traveled later on, they propagated what they had learned. They did not insert their personal ideas into what they had heard from the Messenger of Allah. The Islamic scholars, in their turn, wrote in their books whatever they had heard from the Ashab al-kiram. These scholars are called "Scholars of Ahl as-sunnat(t)." Afterwards, there appeared some scholars who interpolated into these teachings. These people conglomerated ideas from the ancient Greek philosophers, concoctions from Jews and Christians, and, especially, lies fabled by British spies. Also, adding their personal impressions and whatever they had acquired of the scientific teachings of their times, they invented new religious teachings. Speaking in the name of 'Islamic Scholars' they tried to demolish Islam from within. Of these people, those who changed ayats and hadith ash-Sharifs with clear meanings -ayats and hadiths of this sort are called Nass- became Kafirs (disbelievers). Those who misinterpreted the ones with hidden meanings were termed Groups of Bidat(t). There appeared a number of heretical groups of bidat carrying the name of Muslims. Exploiting this situation, the British are inventing groups of disbelief and heresy and trying to annihilate original Islam. Today, Muslims in the world have separated into three groups: Ahl as-Sunnat, the Shiites and the Wahhabis. Their beliefs are different from one another's. Since this difference originates from the mistakes made in the interpretation of nasses [ayats and hadiths] whose meanings cannot be understood clearly and since they do not deny nasses with clear meanings, they do not call one another 'disbeliever.' Yet, they hate one another. True Muslims, who are called Ahl as-sunnat(t), should love and help one another, speak and write mildly to one another, and even when they have to warn one another, they should not harm one another; they should help one another and give advice with a sweet tongue and writing. They should help one another and all of mankind, obey the beautiful morals of Islam, and refrain strictly from causing fitna (disunion). They should not rebel against the laws of the countries they live in or attack anybody's life, property or honesty. A Muslim has to bear these qualities. All of our words, writings and actions have to be affirmative and cooperative. Sad to say, some degenerate people who are the enemies of religion and mankind and only think of their own advantages and desires are struggling to separate Muslims by disguising themselves as Muslims and even as men of religious post. They are propagating lies concocted by British spies. Saying that they will make reforms in the religion, they want to defile Islam. On the other hand, two other great enemies, namely ignorance and laziness, act as encumbrances against being wise and following Islam, and, thus, differentiating between right and wrong, good and bad. Muhammad Ali Pasha, for example, was a good and pious person who served as an Ottoman Governor in Egypt. Those who succeeded him were not so. Religious affairs were left in incompetent hands. A freemason named 'Abduh was brought to the board of management of Jami' al-Azhar Madrasa, which had been educating Muslims for centuries. Scotch freemasons began to destroy Egyptian Muslims economically and spiritually. Through these freemasons, the British demolished the Ottoman Empire from the inside. The Grand Vizier Ali Pasha, a disciple of the freemason Mustafa Rashid Pasha, handed the key of the Belgrade fortress to the Serbs in 1284 A.H. (1868). The Vizier brought his fellow-mason Jamal ad-din al-Afghani to Istanbul, and they together strove to demolish Islam from the inside. They wrote disunionist books.

Rashid Rida, a disciple of 'Abduh, a Mufti of Cairo, wrote the book Muhawarat al-muslih wal-muqallid, which was published in Egypt in 1324 (1906) [Including the supplement, 143 pages; with call number 810 of the Izmirli section at the Suleymaniyye Library, Istanbul.] In this book, he writes about the conversation between a wa'iz (Muslim preacher) who was educated in a madrasa and a modernist religion reformer, by which he gives his own ideas through their tongues. He represents the religion reformer as young, cultured, modern and strong in discernment and logic, while introducing the preacher as a bigoted, imitative, stupid and slow-thinking man, advises the preacher through the religion reformer's mouth and puts on an air of awakening him from unawareness. He says he gives advice, but in fact he attacks the scholars of Islam, while misrepresenting heretics, zindiqs and mulhids as scholars of Islam with extensive knowledge. The book, which was written shrewdly and completely through a freemasonic mouth, bears the danger of easily hunting the credulous, pure youth. The chief of Religious Affairs, Hamdi Akseki, one of those Turks who read and were influenced by such books prepared cunningly by 'Abduh and his novices, translated the book into Turkish, adding a long preface to it and giving it the name Mezahibin Telfiki ve Islamin Bir Noktaya Cem'i, and published it in Istanbul in 1334 (1916) [407 pages; with call number 819 of the Izmirli section at the Suleymaniyye Library, Istanbul.] Professor Izmirli Ismail Hakki, another reformer, very much praised and vastly propagandized the translation, yet, the true religious scholars during the time of Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan II saw that the book would be harmful and prevented it from spreading. And today, we feel very much worried that the youth will read this poisonous book and the like and begin to doubt about the greatness of Islamic scholars and the imams of the four madhhabs. We have already wrote in our various books that it is right to follow (taqlid) one of the four madhhabs and that la-madhhabism means to follow what is wrong.

Disbelievers, that is, non-Muslims, imitate their parents and teachers and do not follow the rules, that is, the commands and prohibitions, of Islam because of the wrong beliefs they hold. But Muslims hold fast to these rules. Likewise, the la-madhhabi, because of the wrong beliefs they have acquired by following their parents and teachers, do not adapt themselves to one of the four madhhabs, which are the explanations of these rules. But the true Muslims, who are called Ahl as-Sunnat, owing to their correct iman which they have acquired from the knowledge coming from the Sahabat al-kiram (radi-Allahu 'anhum) and the imams of madhhabs, adhere to one of the four madhhabs. Muslims of Ahl as-Sunnat have attained the imitation (taqlid) which is right. We thought of exposing to our pure, young brothers the lies and slanders in the book Muhawarat, which was prepared very insidiously to distract Muslims from the imitation which is right and to drift them into the imitation which is wrong, by answering each of them from the books of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat, thus performing a modest service to protect Muslims from being led to endless unhappiness. Thus the book Answer to an Enemy of Islam came about. We regard our sincere intention in preparing this book and this insignificant service to Muslim brothers as a means for the forgiveness of our sins and as our only stock for our debt of thanks for the infinite blessings of Allahu ta'ala.

We wish that our pure, young men of religious post will attentively read Rashid Rida's lies and slanders and the refutations of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat, judge fairly with their pure conscience, realize the truth, cling to it, know the wrong, and will not believe in its false decorations and advertisements.

We owe hamd (praise) and thanks to Allahu ta'ala who has vouchsafed us the present edition of this book, which we prepared to do this sacred service and this exalted admonition.

A hadith ash-Sharif reported by Darimi reports:

"BE IT KNOWN THAT THE EVIL ONES AMONG MEN OF RELIGION ARE THE WORST AMONG THE EVIL PEOPLE. AND THE good ONES AMONG MEN OF RELIGION ARE THE BEST AMONG THE good PEOPLE."

An explanation of this hadith ash-Sharif is written in the fifty-third letter of the first volume of Maktubat, by Hadrat Imam Rabbani.

A glossary of Arabic and other non-English terms foreign to the English reader is appended.

6 June Sunday

Miladi (1995)
Hijri Shamsi (1373)
Hijri Kamari (1415)

WAQF IKHLAS