The Murji’ah
We are free from the Murji’ah who hold the belief that actions are not from faith and that it does not increase nor decrease and that Faith is what is in the heart alone.
Salamah Ibn Kuhail Said Ad-‘Adhaak and Maisarah and Abul Bukhtaree were in a sitting and agreed that the Shahadah(an innovation by the Murji’ah where they bear witness to particular indivisuals that they are in paradise) is an innovation and that Irjaa’ is an Innovation Al Al-Baraa’ah(an Innovation of the khawaarij where they free themselves from all those who are not upon their way) is an innovation(collected by Abu ‘Ubaid Ibn Qaasim As-Salaam In Kitaabal Imaan)
Al-Awzaa’ee Said: Yahya and Qatadah Used to say: That none of the desires they feared more upon the Ummah than Al-irjaa’ (Kitaab as-Sunnah 1/318)
Ibraaheem An-Nakha’ee Said: The Khawaarij have more of an excuse to me than the Murji;ah( Kitaab as-Sunnah 1/337)
And he said: Indeed the trial of the Murji’ah is more frightening on this Ummah than the trial of the Azaariqah(kitaab as-Sunnah 1/313)
Abu Haatim ar-Raazee said: And the Murji’ah are deviant Innovators(Asl us-Sunnah pg23)
Shaikhul-Islaam Ibnu Taymeeyyah mentioned that the first Murji’a were not considered to be major people of innovations but were righteous scholars of Fiqh who erred in their Ijtihaad untill they later added to their mistakes serious deciations(Majmoo’ul Fataawa 3’357)
And the Murji’ah Consist of Five groups.
1) The Jahmeeyyah:: Who Believe that faith is only the recognition of the heart even if he does not proclaim this upon the tongue and that leaving the fold of the religion can only occur by rejected Islaam by the heart. This group has been declared disbelievers by scholars of the Islaam such as Imaam Ahmad and Wakee’ Ibnul Jarraah and others because their belief means that saying the testimony and the tongue and establishing the obligatory deeds is not necessary to achieve complete faith but the mere recognition of the heart is enough to achieve perfect faith and this also led them to say that Fir’awn and Iblees were believers because according to them one can only leave the fold of Islaam by iternally rejecting the truth or being ignorant of it which is clear apostatsy from the religion.
2) The Opinion of Saalih Ibn ‘Umar as-Saalihee that says that Imaan is the recognition in the heart only and that disbelief is restricted to being ignorant of the truth and they believe that if one was to say that Allaah is a thrid of a three then this would bot be disbelief but he would be a kaafir because this word would only be said by a disbeliever! This group was also declared disbeliever by some scholars of Islaam. (refer to Majmoo’ul Fataawa 13/48)
3)The Ashaa’irah- They Believe that Faith(imaan) is limited to the belief of the heart however there are necessities to this belief of the heart like acting upon sharee’ah and that every statment of action the sharee’ah ruled to be kufr is only so because it indicates a lack of tasdeeq(belief of the heart) because Kufr according to this sect is restricted to that lack of Tasdeeq(belief) of the heart this opinion was made famous by Abul Hassan Al-Ash’aree and Al-Qaadi Abu Bakr Al-Baaqalaani(died in 403h) and is generally the opinion of the ashaa’irah. However Abul Hassan later settled upon the saying of the pious predecessors that faith is statment and action and that it increases and decreases(refer to al-Ibaanah pg27) They also believe that faith is rejection of the truth and that those acts or statments that were called Kufr in the Book and the Sunnah are only so because they indicate a lack of Tasdeeq(belief)
4)The Karaamiyah Who are the followers of Muhammad Ibn Karaam as-Sijistaanee and they believe that faith is merely the statement of the tongue and does not include the belief of the heart and actions of the limbs. However they say that the one who has belief in his heart will be in paradise in the hereafter and that whoever says the testimony of faith without believing it in his heart will be from the munafiqeen(the hypocrites) in the hereafter.
5) The Murji’a of Koofah or مرجئة الفقهاء– The Murji’ah from the scholars of Jurisprudence- And they are Abu Haneefah and Hammad Ibn Abee Sulaymaan and they held the opinion that faith is a statement of the tongue and belief of the heart and that it does not increase nor decrease. Shaikhul Islaam Ibnu Taymiyyah said: ” And those well-known from amongst the Fuqahaa(scholars of Jurisprudence) Like Hammad Ibn Abee Sulaymaan and Abu haneefah and others from the Fuquhaa of Koofah use to have the opinion that Imaan only consists of the statement of the tongue and the belief of the heart and this was also the opinion of Ibn Kulaab and his likes(meaning the early Ashaa’irah like al-baaqalaani and others)(al Imaanul Awsat pgs 375-376)
However they agree with ahlus-Sunnah that actions of the limbs are an obligation and that those who commit sins will be under Allaahs threat of punishment so from this angle there difference with the people of hadeeth is that of wording but from other angles there difference with is a difference in belief and not merely of wording and this is because Murji’ah of Koofah believe that:
1) The sinner is considered complete in his faith because according to them actions are not from Imaan and does not increase nor decrease so the faith of the most pious man is equal to the faith of the most sinful!
2)There belief that the one who leaves all the obligatory actions of the limbs is still within the fold of Islaam(contrary to what the people of hadeeth believe)
They also believe that Kufr can only occur bu Juhood(rejection) as Imaam Abu Ja’far at-Tahaawee mentioned in his creed and that all actions and statements of apostasy are evidences of this Juhood(rejection of the truth by the heart)
The early Scholars of Koofa were not Murji’ah.
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