More Lies of Asrar Rashid al-Barelwi

Some lies of Asrar Rashid were documented in a detailed response to one of his talks:

Sectarianism and Its Roots in the Indian Subcontinent

These are “lies” because Asrar Rashid refuses to acknowledge or correct them. Two clear lies from the above response are noted here:

1. His claim that Fadl e Haqq Khayrabadi was hanged
2. His claim that Nuzhat al-Khawatir reports that Fadl e Haqq Khayrabadi only rebelled because the British stopped paying him

Both of these claims are completely false. Why does Asrar Rashid not retract? Is it because he is afraid of what it will do to his credibility? Is it because he is not interested in the truth when it does not serve the cause of his sectarian agenda? Whatever the case may be, he will justifiably be deemed a liar.

Recently Asrar Rashid was preaching Barelwism to a student from South Africa. Some more lies surfaced from this conversation. Two further lies will be documented here:

First Lie

Asrar Rashid said:

Rashid Ahmad Gangohi in his Fatawa, he says that Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was a reviver of Islam…

He then repeats the claim:

Now if you went back to your teachers and you told them that I disagree with Mawlana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi saying Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab is a reviver of Islam…

Mawlana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi never said Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab is a “reviver of Islam”. This is a clear falsehood and lie, and indeed a slander.

Yes, based on limited knowledge of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and his movement, Mawlana Gangohi held a positive opinion of them – but never called Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab a “reviver of Islam”! These are the two complete statements found in his Fatawa:

People call Muhammad b. Abdul Wahhāb ‘Wahhābi’. He was a good person, and I have heard (sunā hey) that he follows the Hanbali School of thought and acts upon the Hadith. He used to prevent people from innovation and idolatry, but he was harsh in his attitude. (Fatawa Rashidiyyah, p. 292)

And:

The followers of Muhammad b. Abdul Wahhāb are known as Wahhabis. They had good beliefs and their school of thought was Hanbali. They were very stringent in their attitude but he and his followers were good people. Yes, those who exceeded the limits were overcome by corruption. The belief of all is the same, and the difference they have in actions is like that of the Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki and Hanbali schools of thought. (ibid.)

As can be seen, nowhere does Mawlana Gangohi refer to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as a “reviver of Islam”.

Mawlana Gangohi’s major students like Allamah Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri and Mawlana Husayn Ahmad Madani all clearly spoke negatively of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Mawlana Madani even explained that the reason Mawlana Gangohi held a positive opinion of the movement is because of his lack of knowledge about it. For details, see: http://ahlussunnah.boards.net/thread/17/muhammad-wahhab-sight-deobandi-ulama

Second Lie

Asrar Rashid says:

In a hadith in Tabarani the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said: إن الله رفع لي الدنيا, that Allah subhanahu wa ta‘aalaa raised for me the world and I look at it like the way one of you looks at the palm of your hand. Yes, that’s a hadith in Tabarani. That hadith is authenticated even by Wahhabi scholars. You know there’s a Wahhabi called al-Tuwayjiri. Al-Tuwayjiri authenticates the hadith. He says it’s sahih.

Tuwayjiri has a work on the signs of the Final Hour. He refers to the hadith Asrar Rashid cites in 2 places of this work (Ithaf al-Jama‘ah bima ja’a fi l-Fitan wa l-Malahim wa Ashrat al-Sa‘ah, 1:6, 12). In neither place does he say the hadith is “sahih”. The hadith* is in fact da‘if jiddan (extremely weak) or mawdu (fabricated). It hinges on a Sa‘id ibn Sinan al-Shami, about whom Ibn Hajar concludes “discarded (matruk), al-Daraqutni and others accused him of forgery” (Tahrir al-Taqrib, 2:33). Hence, in his comment on the hadith, al-Haythami in his Majma’ al-Zawa’id refers to the “excessive weakness” of Sa‘id ibn Sinan.

The hadith is thus not sahih and nor did Tuwayjiri authenticate it. This is another of Asrar Rashid’s lies. If Asrar Rashid wants to know what Wahhabis say about the hadith, he can have a look at Albani’s comments in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da‘ifah where Albani describes the hadith as “da‘if jiddan”.

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The above has referenced/detailed 4 lies of Asrar Rashid. Like his Barelwi comrade, Abu Hasan, it is fast becoming clear that Asrar Rashid is another fraud and liar.

Perhaps the biggest lie of all is Asrar Rashid’s claims of being “objective” in his judgement on Deobandi-Barelwi disputes.

Needless to say, people should be careful not to accept Asrar Rashid’s claims – they may turn out to be lies made in the service of advancing a Barelwi agenda.

* The full hadith in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir is as follows:

حدثنا بكر بن سهل، ثنا نعيم بن حماد المروزي، ثنا  بقية ، عن سعيد بن سنان ، ثنا أبو الزاهرية، عن كثير بن مرة، عن ابن عمر، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «إن الله عز وجل قد رفع لي الدنيا، فأنا أنظر إليها وإلى ما هو كائن فيها إلى يوم القيامة، كأنما أنظر إلى كفي هذه؛ جليان من الله جلاه لنبيه كما جلاللنبيين من قبله»