Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī: Secrecy and Obscurity are From the Ways of the Ḥaddādiyyah and Openness, Clarity and Supporting the Truth is the Way of the Salafīs
clarity truth openness secrecy obscurity
AN ASSOCIATE of Maḥmūd al-Ḥaddād, known as ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl, claimed that the Shaykhs of Madīnah, such as Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (رحمه الله) were calling to a deviant political methodology in complete secrecy built upon the errors of Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله). He accused them of being infiltrators, working on the inside for political objectives. He also claimed that they were following the ways of the Ikhwānīs by not making tabdīʿ of certain callers in Saudi Arabia. These Ḥaddādis had exaggeration in matters of tabdīʿ and tajrīḥ, aiming to incite discord and chaos within the ranks of Ahl al-Sunnah. To support their claims, they attached themselves to well-known scholars in Saudi because they opposed Shaykh al-Albānī in various issues, and they leveraged this attachment to attack Shaykh Rabīʿ and others. Bashmīl is from the first wave Ḥaddādīs, and even though Maḥmūd al-Ḥaddād is the origin, and he disappeared into obscurity after being expelled from Saudi, Bāshmīl became the main promulgator, spokesman and caller to the ideology. After them, came Fāliḥ al-Ḥarbī, then Fawzī al-Baḥraynī and they carried on the methodology with their own infusions.
In his refutation of the Ḥaddādī, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl, Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hadī (رحمه الله) said:[1]
Severe secrecy and obscurity surround you and surround your suspect activities and deception is your emblem and your cloak. But we—and praise is for Allāh—do not have a speck of deception, and we do not have except clarity (wuḍūḥ) and sincerity of purpose to Allāh, His Book, His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and to the generality of the Muslims, regardless of whether they are loyal to us or oppose us.
Whoever speaks the truth, we support him, and whoever spoke with falsehood and error, we refute his error with proof and evidences within the limits of our ability, and our books and cassettes testify to that.
And we free ourselves from the errors of men, all of them, whatever level of knowledge they may have reached and from them is al-Albānī, whose most important errors we have refuted and announced our innocence from them, and our scholars and brothers also refuted them, those whom we supported in what was correct in their refutations.
And we have established—and praise is for Allāh—that we do not worship except Allāh, and we do not follow except His methodology. We are not worshippers of rabbis and monks, nor (are we from) the Rawāfiḍ, and nor from the extreme Ṣūfīs who sanctify personalities and believe in their infallibility.
Notes
01 Shaykh Rabīʿ clarified that deception, secrecy and obscurity are the very opposite of the way of Ahl al-Sunnah who follow the methodology Allāh revealed, which is one of clarity (wuḍūḥ), openness and sincerity of purpose, with nothing to hide. Ahl al-Sunnah do not operate in the shadows, behind the curtains or under the tables.
Over the past years, some people have tried to belittle this issue of clarity, calling those who value it “Aṣḥāb al-Wuḍūḥ” (the People of Clarity) as a form of mockery. However, they do so in order to keep Ahl al-Sunnah, their students and common-folk, ignorant and deprived of a criterion so that their own erroneous ways are not exposed and so they can continue to keep a grip on their followers' minds and hearts and direct them where they wish. This is because they praise or sit with disparaged people or have ties to factions (aḥzāb) engaged in politics, behind closed doors, while showing another face to the public. Further, they undermine the role of reports, and threaten people against narrating things from them that would implicate and expose them. Hence, the war against clarity (wuḍūḥ) because they thrive in ambiguity, obscurity and evasion.
02 Shaykh Rabīʿ clarified that whoever speaks the truth is supported and whoever speaks with falsehood is refuted with proofs and evidences, no matter what his status. Ahl al-Sunnah support the truth, wherever it lies, and with whomever it lies, especially when that support strengthens, protects and fortifies Ahl al-Sunnah.
03 As for the errors of Shaykh al-Albānī, this was related to the issue of the Gulf War and issues pertaining to ḥadīth and jurisprudence in which there were criticisms and refutations from various scholars such as Shaykh Ḥamūd al-Tuwayjirī, Shaykh Ḥammād al-Anṣārī, Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Dawaish, Shaykh Muḥammad Amān al-Jāmī (رحمهم الله) and others. When a scholar or a group of scholars criticise another, whatever is correct from their refutations is to be accepted and supported, regardless of the status of the one being refuted.
04 Those who follow the way of the Salaf love clarity (wuḍūḥ) because truth leads to clarity, and unity is built around truth, not confusion and error. For this reason, whenever you see a people mocking and belittling the issue of clarity (wuḍūḥ), and ridiculing Salafīs for calling to clarity and supporting any scholar(s) who bring clarity in an issue or in the religion in general, whether in affairs of creed, methodology, daʿwah and jurisprudence, then this may be an indication that they desire departure from the foundations, and this may become evident in their actions.
The Qurʾān and the Sunnah came with clarity, and the Salafī creed and methodology has clarity, its night is like the day (in distinctness), and the speech of the Salaf has nothing but clarity, and likewise, the speech of every truthful follower of their way, ought to have clarity, just as they are upon clarity when truth becomes known from error, and they take from those who are clear (al-wāḍiḥīn) during tribulations, as stated by Shaykh Rabīʿ (رحمه الله) during past tribulations.
05 Finally, the Shaykh explained that Ahl al-Sunnah only follow Allāh’s methodology which He revealed, that they do not worship rabbis and monks, and nor do they sanctify personalities and statuses which is the way of the Rawāfiḍ and Ṣūfiyyah, treating them as if they are immune from error. And these affairs can and have entered the ranks of the Salafīs, as the Shaykh himself observed:
But now exaggeration has spread in the arena of Salafiyyah, exaggerations, embellishments (in praise) are spread until some of them have reached the level of the Rāfiḍah and the Sūfiyyah and Ḥulūl, and we free ourselves from this exaggeration. [2]
06 Ahl al-Sunnah do not venerate and sanctify the scholars as did the Jews and Christians with their rabbis and monks, and when they say “return to the scholars”, they understand that it means the scholar who has proof and evidence for what he says, since they venerate the truth, not statuses, and they know men by the truth, and they judge to the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, not the statements of men, all of which can be accepted or rejected, save that which comes from Allāh’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
Hence, unlike the Jews and Christians, they respect the scholars and give them the lofty standing and status that Allāh gave them, without going beyond these bounds by sanctifying them, exaggerating in them, and making their words, statements and judgements to be the final authority.
And though they permit taqlīd of a scholar for the one who is incapable of knowing and understanding the affairs of his religion, so long as it is not contrary to the Book and the Sunnah, they also do not discard the saying of the scholar that is backed by evidence just because of the accusation of “taqlīd”.
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Footnotes
1. Majmūʿ Muʿallafāt wa Rasāʾīl (9/495-496).2. Refer to: Shaykh ʿAllāmah Rabīʿ bin Hādī’s Advice to the Callers (2025) pp. 47-49)