Blunders of 'Dawah Man'

Despite his research being very limited, it is important to understand that the books of Tafsīr are many and not just limited to just the abovementioned two. Besides the Imām and Mujaddid, al-Suyuṭī, mentioning Nabī ﷺ being one of the possible meanings of Raḥmah in this verse as he mentioned in al-Durr 'l-Manthūr fī 'l-Tafsīr bi 'l-Ma'thūr (7/669), the great Ḥanbali Scholar, Imām Ibn 'l-Jawzī in his Zād 'l-Masīr fī ‘Ilm 'l-Tafsīr (4/41) also relates this to be an accepted opinion. Another great Mufassir and Nahwi (grammarian) that can be added to the list is Imām Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalūsī, the author of Tafsīr 'l-Baḥr 'l-Muḥīṭ (5/172).

This is also found in the Tafsīr of Imām al-Alūsī, Rūh 'l-Ma‘ānī (11/142), and the Tafsir of the recent scholar (who greatly influenced al-Albani), Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā (d. 1935) - Tafsīr 'l-Manār (11/334) who said (which should really put things into perspective):





As a side note, Imām al-Suyuṭī relates this narration from Abū 'l-Shaykh (Ibn Ḥayyān al-Aṣbahānī). Abū 'l-Shaykh (d. 369 AH) himself authored a book of Tafsīr, which al-Suyuṭī utilised in his own Tafsir. This seemingly supports the view that the opinion goes back to the early centuries of Islām, and not something invented recently.

Imām al-Dhahabī, in his Siyar A‘lām 'l-Nubalā' (16/279) under the biography of Abū 'l-Shaykh, mentions that Ibn Mardawayh relates he did in fact author a book on Tafsīr as well as many other books:




Finally, there is a recent thesis done by an al-Azhar University graduate wherein he has compiled a tafsīr called Tafsīr 'l-Ḍaḥḥāk (1/433), by gathering all the opinions of Imām al-Ḍaḥḥāk on the verses of the Qur'ān, and he too quotes this opinion from al-Ḍaḥḥāk to the Companion, Ibn ‘Abbās رضي الله عنه, as a footnote.

There is also a 7-minute clip of 'Dawah Man' circulating on social media in which he attempts to justify his previous statement regarding the great companion ‘Umar ibn 'l-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه. The contention here is not regarding that statement, as only Allāh ﷻ knows what is truly in his heart (although others have aptly responded to it). Rather, the point of contention is with his incorrect usage of a certain narration in support of his line of argument, as will be demonstrated below.

In attempting to justify his position that the saying of anyone, including the Khulafā' Rāshidīn, will be rejected when it is supposedly in direct conflict with the Qur'ān and Sunnah, he uses a narration wherein a person came to ‘Abdullāh ibn Ābbās رضي الله عنه (although for some reason he kept repeating the name ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd in the beginning of the video) with a question regarding Ḥajj. Ibn ‘Abbās answered that it was permissible - the Arabic word 'quoted' by 'Dawah Man' being يجوز - citing proof from the sources of Islām. The questioner then remarked that Abū Bakr and ‘Umar رضي الله عنهما prohibited this - لا يجوز being the Arabic words 'quoted' by 'Dawah Man' here - to which Ibn ‘Abbās replied: "I gave you proof from the Book (Qur'an) and the Sunnah and you say to me what Abū Bakr and ‘Umar said" (paraphrasing the words of 'Dawah Man'). 'Dawah Man' then went on to say - and I quote - that Ibn ‘Abbās then said: "It seems as though stones are going to fall on you from the sky".

Whilst he accuses others of using weak or fabricated reports and of hiding context, he himself makes three factual errors regarding this one incident (some being more severe than others):


[1] He quoted a version of this report which only partially covers the whole incident in order to suit his narrative. However, other suitable versions also extend to this event which is missing from the āthār he quotes, and that is the reply of the questioner (which was ‘Urwah Ibn 'l-Zuhayr) to Ibn ‘Abbās رضي الله عنه, it is as follows:



Imām al-Haythamī then says regarding this narration:




There are many other corroborating reports mentioning the reply of ‘Urwah, one is reported in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad (#2277) which was authenticated by the Muḥaqqiq, Aḥmad Shākir.

Point being, he really doesn't make a point, rather the incident, taken in its full context, makes the point for us. He also hid from us the full incident or was just totally ignorant of it (though I am personally inclined to believe the latter).


[2] He said that the questioner said: لا يجوز and Ibn ‘Abbās said: يجوز, when in reality they did not use these words. Though this is not a big issue, clearly his ḍabṭ (precision) is lacking, quoting narrations in the car and extracting its ruling like he has become a Muḥaddith, and then having the nerve to nit-pick when it comes to someone else's mistakes in their Arabic pronunciation of words - ironic really when he keeps saying bid‘ah ḥasan and not ḥasanah, its glaringly obvious that he is oblivious to the basic grammar rules of mawṣūf ṣifah. Pot calling the kettle black?

Anyway, enough of the rant, coming to my third point, which is by far the biggest error:


[3] His adding of the part: ‘Abbās then said: 'It seems as though stones are going to fall on you from the sky.'

The most shocking thing is, this *specific* wording is not found anywhere in the books of ḥadīth.

Some Scholars previously did mention it, Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Shaykh Ibn 'l-Qayyim and followed by Shaykh Ibn ‘Abd 'l-Wahhāb, but the wording is not established in the books of the Sunnah.

The Arabic wording used by these Scholars are:




This proves that this 'Dawah Man', quite evidently, doesn't actually do any research himself on what he quotes and simply blindly follows what his Shaykhs have written in their books. Another example of the pot calling the kettle black?

And Allāh ﷻ knows best.