Terms & Conditions

SUPPORTING SUNNI SCHOLARS TERMS & CONDITIONS

Praise be to Allah ﷻ, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Blessings and salutations be upon our Master Muhammad ﷺ and upon his noble companions and his progeny. 

In order to be a recipient of funding from Supporting Sunni Scholars, it is mandatory for all applicants to agree with and attest to the following points:

1. We believe that Allah ﷻ is One. He has no partner, no rival and no equal. He was not born of anyone, nor is anyone born of Him. He has no father, no son, no wife. We believe that He is Living¹ and that He has absolute Power over all things. He Hears and Sees everything. He has Knowledge of everything; that Divine Speech² is His Attribute and not His creation. We believe in His Names and His Attributes as He has described Himself, and mentioned in seminal texts such as al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah (which has been stipulated in the Charity’s statement of faith within the Articles of Association). We believe in Divine Predestination. We believe in all the Divine Books given to mankind; however, earlier Books³ were tampered with, and altered by evil scholars. Only the holy Qur'an remains unaltered and shall remain thus, in its pristine form, until Judgement day⁴.
2. We believe in all the Prophets of Allah. We acknowledge only those names as mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith (or mentioned in books of aqidah) without adding any new ones⁵.
3. We believe that our Master Muhammad ﷺ is the last Prophet and the Messenger of Allah; anyone who claims prophethood in any form or degree after his time⁶ is a disbeliever - and an apostate if he/she professed Islam prior to this claim. Such a claimant has no relation to Islam, regardless of their external piety and deeds deemed good and charitable according to worldly wisdom.
4. We believe in Judgement Day. We believe that everyone who lived and died in this world, will be resurrected on that day and held to account for their deeds. Muslims will be sent to Paradise and disbelievers⁷ will be sent Hell. We also believe that not all the sinners among Muslims will go to Hell; Prophets and saints will intercede for them - and our Master Muhammad ﷺ is the chief of all intercessors. We believe that disbelievers will remain in Hell forever and Muslim sinners in hell will stay for a period (as Willed by Allah ﷻ) and eventually taken out of Hell, and granted paradise. We believe that both Hell and Paradise, and their inhabitants will abide therein forever.
5. We believe that all the companions of the Prophet ﷺ are upright and righteous; the most superior of all the companions is Sayyiduna Abú Bakr and then Sayyiduna Umar and then Sayyiduna Uthman and then Sayyiduna Ali.
6. We accept and believe in the five pillars of Islam: Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj⁸. These are the foremost Essentials [daruri] of religion and anyone rejecting or disagreeing with these is an outright disbeliever. We believe that the sources of Law are four: Qur'an, Sunnah, Ijmaa and Qiyas; and that after the fourth century, it is ruled impermissible for common people to follow any madh'hab other than the four schools of jurisprudence: Hanafi, Shafiyi, Mäliki and Hanbali.
7. We believe that good deeds like recitation of the Qur'an, etc. will benefit the dead; we believe that visiting RasulAllah ﷺ in Madinah is the most superior act after obligatory deeds. We also consider celebrating the birth of the Prophet ﷺ as a commendable act and that poetry in praise of our master, the Prophet ﷺ is proven from the Sunnah; and that the Burdah, Dalayil al-Khayrat, Salat of Taj and various litanies established by Sufi Scholars such as Hizb al-Bahr etc. are commendable, praiseworthy and merit reward. We reject dissenters from the Sunni creed and all forms of extremism - whether literal interpretation of anthropomorphists or the esoteric interpretations of heretical sufis that contradict the shariah. We reject anyone who professes beliefs that are not concordant with the Sunni creed, as explained by imams of Maturidi and Ashari⁹ schools.
8. Only Maturidis, Asharis and non-anthropomorphic Hanbalis are Sunnis.
9. There is no difference of opinion on primary issues of aqidah among Sunnis. Differences in secondary issues are tolerated and those who have differing opinions on secondary issues cannot be ruled as heretic or misguided.
10. Following a madh'hab has been the norm for the past one thousand years. Major hadith scholars and imams have all followed one of the four madh'habs - including scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah and In Qayyim who identified themselves as Hanbalis.Those who reject these four madh'habs and claim to be free of madh'habs have dissented from the way of Sunni scholars of a thousand years or more (and indeed, those whom they consider as their elders).
11. Major hadith imams and commentators; including the very pioneers of hadith classification and masters of hadith principles followed one of the four madh'habs; imams such as Qadi Iyad, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Badruddin al-Ayni, Abd al-Haqq Dihlawi, and Murtada Zabidi were all followers of a madh'hab.
12. Further to #11 above, it is wajib to follow a specific madh'hab; one who does not follow a madh'hab in our time is a heretic. Such people call themselves as, Salafi, Ghayr Muqallid, Ahl e Hadith. The last term should not be confused with the literal meaning used for hadith scholars.
13. Al-Albani, Bin Baz, Uthaymin are all heretics - they were prominent Wahabi and la-madh'habi (aka Salafi) leaders.
14. Wahabis are the followers of Muhammad ibn Abd al- Wahhab; they are heretics.
15. Deobandis from India/Pakistan are an offshoot of Wahabis. They agree with most of their aberrations except certain things such as following a madh'hab, because Deobandis are mostly Hanafis.
16. Tablighi Jamaat is the proselytising arm of Deobandis; and follow Deobandi scholars.
17. Concerning Wahabi, Ghayr Muqallid, Salafi: If their heresy is beyond kufr (like anthropomorphic beliefs which cannot be justified or explicit blasphemies) they are kafir; otherwise, they are heretics.
18. Blasphemy of prophets is kufr. One who utters blasphemy is an apostate. Qadi Iyad in his Shifa, Ibn Taymiyyah in his Sarim, Imam Subki in his Sayf and Ibn Aabidin in his Tanbih al-Wulat have all cited ijmaa of all Muslims that anyone who disparages or denigrates the Prophet ﷺ, such a person is a kafir.One who does not deem a blasphemer as an apostate is himself a kafir; man shakka fi kufrihi wa ádhabihi fa qad kafar.
19. Qadiyanis are apostates and have no relation to Islam.
20. If any Rafidi denies an Essential precept, he/she is a kafir. Denying that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr was a companion; or faulting the chastity of Sayyidah Ayishah; or that any imam (non-prophet) is superior to any prophet; or that Sayyiduna Jibril made a mistake in delivering the revelation - and other such things which are daruriyat, are all kufr.
21. If a Shiah does not deny or reject any Essential precept, but only elevates Sayyiduna Ali over Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, he is a heretic. Such a person is called Tafdili.
22. Jews and Christians are disbelievers; anyone who disagrees with this statement is an apostate.
23. Perennialist philosophy is disbelief - those who believe that all religions are valid and truth are disbelievers.
24. Anyone who subscribes to religio perennis, the philosophy of Frithjof Schuon is a kafir. Those who do not consider it kufr even after learning about it are also kafirs.
25. It is necessary to stay away from heretics of all stripes - mild ones, extreme heretics and kafir heretics.
26. Husam al-Haramayn is a collection of attestations by the scholars of the 14th century AH for the fatwa of Alahazrat ruling Deobandi elders who committed blasphemy as kafir.There is no proof that the persons who committed blasphemy recanted or repented from those statements; therefore, the ruling of apostasy remains unchanged.
27. The fatwa in Husam al-Haramayn and attestations are correct and valid.
28. Rashid Ahmad Gangohi is ruled kafir for his fatwa that falsehood has indeed transpired in the Divine Speech of Allah (wuqu’u al-kadhib).
29. Ashraf Ali Thanawi is ruled kafir for his blasphemous passage in Hifz al-Iman, in which he compared knowledge of RasulAllah ﷺ with that of madmen and beasts. In spite of being refuted.
30. Khalil Ahmad Ambhetwi is ruled kafir for his blasphemous passage in his Barahin al-Qatiah, where he explicitly says that the knowledge of RasulAllah ﷺ is lesser than that of the Devil.
31. Qasim Nanotwi is ruled kafir for passages in Tahdhir an-Nas, in which he says that even if a new prophet comes after our Prophet ﷺ, it will have no bearing on his being the seal of all prophets (khatam an-nabiyyin).
32. Abú'l Ala'a Maudúdi is a heretic, and his sect Jamaat e Islami has elements of Wahabi ideology.

¹Living, Hearing and Seeing are Divine Attributes that are unlike attributes of anything of anyone in the creation.

²Divine Speech is transcendent from letters and sounds, because they are accidents and Divine Speech is Pre-eternal.

³Such as the Torah and Injil, known as the Old Testament and the New Testament.

⁴It shall be taken away a short while before the Final Day.

⁵Such as considering Buddha, Krishna or Guru Nanak as prophets; al-iyadhu billah.

⁶Sayyiduna Isa was a prophet before RasulAllah ﷺ; he has not yet tasted death and will descend before the Final Hour.

⁷Kafir, which describes anyone who has disbelieved in one or more of the necessary precepts of religion [daruriyat].

⁸Shahadah = Profession of Faith; Salat = Prayer; Zakat = Poor due, obligatory charity; Sawm = Fasting in Ramadan; Hajj = Pilgrimage to Makkah if one is able bodied and can afford to undertake the journey.

⁹Many Sunni Hanbali scholars do not call themselves Maturidi or Ashári, but their beliefs are consistent with Asháris; hence they can be termed as Asháris even if they do not accept the description per se; and this is what we mean when we say that only Ashári-Máturidi are Ahl al-Sunnah.