Imām al-Dhahabī (رحمه الله) relates that Sallām bin Abī Muṭīʿ (d. 164H) (رحمه الله) said:^[1]

Notes

01  Al-Ḥajjāj bin Yūsuf was deputy ruler of ʿIrāq (for ʿAbd al-Malik bin Marwān), and he was an oppressive ruler, known for his tyranny, shedding of blood, and transgressing the limits of Allāh. He besieged the Companion Ibn al-Zubayr (رضي الله عنه) in the Ḥaram of Makkah and killed him by beheading and crucifixion. It is also related that he killed 120,000 people.

02  Al-Dhahabī said of al-Ḥajjāj:^[2]

03  Alongside that Ibn Abī Muṭīʿ stated that he would rather meet Allāh with the scroll of al-Ḥajjāj than with the scroll of ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd, who is the head of the sect of the Muʿtazilah.

04  ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd was a denier of al-Qadar and likewise of the Ṣifāt (Attributes) of Allāh, having placed reason over revelation. The Muʿtazilah also held rebellion against the sinful, oppressive ruler, claiming this to be from enjoining good and prohibiting evil. They also reviled the Sunnah and its carriers.

The ruin and destruction brought about these doctrines and methodologies when they proliferate in the ummah are multiple times more than the restricted, localised, time-bound tyranny and oppression of a ruler or king with respect to worldly matters.

05  And this is from the wisdom of the Salaf which they inherit from the Book and the Sunnah, since it is the Book and the Sunnah which came with this legislative reality (see Ibn Taymiyyah).

And this is explained as follows:

06  Tyrannical rulers and kings are simply manifestations of the sins and misdeeds of the subjects (see Ibn al-Qayyim), they are tested and punished for their deeds through such rulers.

Blaming the rulers alone for the harms they are subjected to is indicative of their gross ignorance of Allāh’s laws in His creation and lack of comprehension of basic teachings in the Qurʾān and basic elements of creed (see Ibn Taymiyyah).

Thus, the subjects are ordered, in Divine Legislation, to be patient and not to make an already bad situation even worse by revolting (or doing deeds that culminate in revolt), as this exacerbates and inflames the situation and brings so many more evils upon the society in addition to the pre-existing evils. None but the wise and intelligent understand this reality.

Those who err in this matter and make accusations against the followers of the Sunnah that they are “bootlickers”, they have an approach to the ḥadīths and methodology of the Salaf in this matter which resembles and follows the approach of the Jahmiyyah and Muʿaṭṭilah towards the texts of the attributes.

The Jahmiyyah and their offshoots called the People of the Sunnah various abusive names and labels, and whereas these groups are commonly referred to as People of Kalām (of rhetoric, opinion, philosophy), some of the Salaf considered all the people of innovation, irrespective of their innovation, to be People of Kalām, because inevitably, they oppose the Sunnah through their stated opinions and desires. Thus, this is general for all people of misguidance, every innovator is a person of kalām.

07  Conversely, those who split and divide the religion through doctrinal heresies, whose ideas and methodologies cause separation of the hearts and by consequence, the bodies, their harm is to the religion and consequently, also to the world, as opposed to the sin and tyranny of the ruler.

They destroys the very fabric of religion itself, as happened with the Jews and Christians. The harm of this is exponentially greater than the harm of oppressive rulers and kings and is not limited or time-bound. Indeed, the oppression of rulers and kings is often a direct consequence of deviation in religion, as is subjugation by external enemies, as Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) explained (see here).

It is for this reason that the Divine Revelation came with a severe, stern position towards the callers to innovation and misguidance, exposing them, boycotting them, warning against them and establishing the appropriate punishments upon them to hold them at bay, whereas with sinful, tyrannical rulers, we are ordered to be patient, to bear lesser evils to avoid greater evils. This is detested by the biased partisans who have enmity towards Ahl al-Sunnah, towards Salafī scholars who establish this duty.

08  Ahl al-Sunnah do not condone any evil, tyranny or oppression from the kings and rulers. Rather, they hate all opposition to the Book and the Sunnah, and they fulfil the rights due upon them towards the rulers, as that is the judgement of Allāh and His Messenger, and they, in contrast to the Khārijites, make duʿā for the rulers, for their guidance rectification, not against them. Their call to obedience is only in that which is good (maʿrūf) and not absolute obedience. And any evils in the society, then they enjoin the good and prohibit the evil in the legislated manner, without causing, in the process of doing so, even greater evil than that already present.

09  These affairs are only appreciated by those who comprehend the wisdoms of the Sharīʿah. As for the Khārijites, then they lack comprehension as the revealed texts do not go beyond their throats, and they speak only with beautified, embellished slogans that stir emotions. They bray and bark at the People of the Sunnah with abuse and revilement because they have comprehension that is at the level of these same beasts and are incapable of know anything better.

10  With the People of the Sunnah is combining understanding of Tawḥīd and al-Qadar, the legislative and creational will and decree of Allāh, granting them deep insight into whatever takes place on this earth, and how to treat it in accordance with what Allāh loves and is pleased with, with what brings about the greatest good, at the expense of the lesser, and what repels the greater evil, while bearing the lesser. And Allāh (عز وجل) made Ahl al-Bidʿah to be a trial for them, whereby they abuse and revile them.

11  Whereas the statement of Sallām bin Abī Muṭīʿ (رضي الله عنه) is seen by the Salafī Imāms and Scholars as deep-rooted wisdom based on thorough comprehension of legislative and creational realities, it is regarded today by the hearts of ignorant people as a “Madkhalī bootlick.”

12  The unexpressed, undeclared reality is that is not the alleged "Madkhalī bootlickers" these people have a problem with and resent, it is the fact that this is what the Sharīʿah of Islām actually came with, as Ibn Taymiyyah said:^[4].

And this clashes with their desires.

Footnotes