Shaykh Rabīʿs Refutation of the Chief Ḥaddādī ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl

Excerpts From: “Destroying the Falsehoods of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl”

By Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (رحمه الله)

MAḤMŪD AL-ḤADDĀD seeded the Ḥaddādī ideology which is based on exaggerating excusable and unintended errors and slips to facilitate tabdīʿ as a destructive weapon to use against Ahl al-Sunnah, and to infuse divisions and enmities among them. His speech began with attacking al-Nawawī, Ibn Ḥajar (رحمهما الله) and their likes, whose oceans of goodness and service to Islām drown the errors they fell into, which they had inherited from their shaykhs and teachers. However, this was just a prelude to generalising this approach to contemporary scholars of the Sunnah, and the first of those they targeted was Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) due to his role in standing up to and exposing the jamāʾāt and aḥzāb of ḥizbiyyah (partisanship) and siyāsah (politics). However, Ḥaddād became obscure after being expelled from Saudi but his call was developed and advanced by ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl who became the chief caller and promulgator in the late 1990s.

THE ASSOCIATE of Maḥmūd al-Ḥaddād, 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 of the 1990s, 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 the second wave Ḥaddādīs in the 2000s such as Fāliḥ al-Ḥarbī, then Fawzī al-Baḥraynī and they carried on the methodology with their own infusions.

01  The Scholars of Madīnah Emphasise That They Do Not Accept the Error of Any Scholar
I emphasise that we—and praise is for Allāh—do not accept the error of any scholar, not Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, nor Ibn Taymiyyah, nor Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.

02  Judgements Regarding Oppositions to the Sunnah Are Only For the Upright, Trustworthy Scholars
Who is the one to judge against us that we have opposed the true Salafī daʿwah? Is it the hateful, lying, ignoramuses such as your likes?

03  The Ḥaddādī Manhaj Does Not Observe Benefits and Harms In Making Tabdīʿof People
Did you (ʿAbd al-Laṭīf) not come to me with him (al-Ḥaddād) to debate with me about tabdīʿ of (certain) people in this country whom I refused to make tabdīʿ of?

04  Secrecy and Obscurity are From the Ways of the Ḥaddādiyyah and Openness, Clarity and Supporting the Truth is the Way of the Salafīs
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.

05  We Wage War Against Partisanship and Amassing Followers Around an Idea or a Person
For we call to Tawḥīd and wage war against shirk. We call to Sunnah and wage war against innovation. We call to adherence to the Book and the Sunnah and uniting upon them.

06  Provide the Evidence that We Have a Secret Political Call That Uses Machiavellian and Freemasonic Tactics
The Ḥaddādīs accused Shaykh Rabīʿ and others of having a dangerous secret political call, effectively working as agents or infiltrators, working against the rulers and scholars.

07  Oppression, Treachery and Clipping Speech to Instigate Tribulations Is from the Ways of the Ḥaddādiyyah
Indeed, the oppression of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf is grave, and it is more severe in my view than the action of the most severe wagers of war against this (Salafī) methodology and its people.

08  Four Foundations of the Ḥaddādī Methodology
If you had mentioned these matters and give them the clarification they deserve, the people would have screamed that this is your methodology, and that you are the severest of people in creating discord through it.

09  The Fitnah of the Ḥaddādiyyah Requires Deep Reflection as it Relies on Deception and Cunning
Indeed, the problems and tribulations of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf require deep thought and what he makes apparent of loyalty to the state and to some of the scholars through deception and cunning cannot be taken (at face value).

10  Another Illustration of Ḥaddādī Treachery in Quotation and Ascription: Al-Albānī, Reviling Allāh and Irjāʾ
How the Ḥaddādī ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl misquoted and lied upon Shaykh Rabīʿ in an issue pertaining to the act of reviling Allāh, through which the Ḥaddādīs accused al-Albānī of agreeing with the Jahmiyyah and Ashʿariyyah in the matter of Īmān.

11  Taḥākum (Arbitration) Is to the Book and the Sunnah, Not Ferkous
They should make taḥākum to the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of Allāh’s Messenger. They should judge by the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of Allāh’s Messenger

12  Our Daʿwah Is Clear and Open, We Have No Need for Lying, Tricks, Camouflage and Ambiguity
This is our daʿwah, as clear as the sun in our lessons, lectures and books. We declare it openly, without any ambiguity or secrecy.

13  A Summary and Conclusion of the Study on ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Bāshmīl
Shaykh Rabīʿ's important and enlightening summary of the First Wave Ḥaddādī enterprise in the late 1990s.

Summary

Here are some of the main traits and behaviours of the First Wave Ḥaddādīs outlined in this series which helps to identify the skeletal framework stripped or originating or localised circumstances, and this allows for easier pattern recognition whenever the Ḥaddādī enterprise is in motion:

• Hate clarity (wuḍūḥ) because they operate in ambiguity and evasion.
• Averse to evidence-based discussions.
• Use diversionary tactics to divert from the foundational issues.
• Exaggerate errors and slips of Ahl al-Sunnah and weaponise them.
• Make rulings of unjust, unwarranted tabdīʿ.
• Boycotting of those who do not accept these rulings.
• Are lenient towards actual innovators, yet harsh and unforgiving towards Ahl al-Sunnah.
• Have ties to political aḥzāb and sympathy, defence and praise of innovators
• Conspire against scholars through lying and treachery.
• Call to taḥazzub and takattul with ghuluww around personalities.
• Accuse others of what they are actually engaged in (Taḥazzub, Ḥaddādiyyah).
• Academic dishonesty, clipping and concealing speech.
• Accuse their opponents of being plants and agents without a shred of evidence.
• Make use of pressure, interrogation and coercive submission to make people adopt their views and judgements.
• The use of intellectual terrorism to frighten and paralyse people from facing up to their evil.

May Allāh protect us and the daʿwah from their evils and from falling into them, as they are darkness upon darkness and cause turmoil among Ahl al-Sunnah.