The Tabi’ī who said: “I do not know which of the two blessings of Allah upon me is greater: that He guided me to Islam or that He saved from [following] these desires?!”

Abu Isma’īl Al-Harawi (d. 481H) stated in his tremendous work entitled, “The Dispraise of Theological Rhetoric and it’s People” with his chain of narration to Al-A’mash from Mujāhid who said: “I do not know which of the two blessings of Allah upon me is greater, that He guided me to Islam or that He saved from [following] these desires?!” — Dhamm Al-Kalām wa Ahlihi, 4/56 no. 786.

Shaikh Sālih Ālush-Shaikh explained that Mujāhid (rahimahullāh) was from the Tābi’īn and that in his time the innovations of the Khawārij, the Murji’ah, the Qadariyyah, the Jabriyyah and so on, had appeared. So he uttered these words because he knew that his Islam would not be sound and correct until he was safe from these deviated orientations. He saw that being saved from these misguided desires and being guided to Islam, to the Straight Path, the Sunnah and to beneficial knowledge was truly a blessing from Allah. So, a Muslim should always be ardent in remaining safe from these misguided beliefs and futile methodologies. Do not expose your Religion and your Manhaj to these dangers and always return to that which you are certain is the Truth, and that is the origin of the Religion: The Book and Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf.

Thawbān narrated from Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) that he said: “What I fear most of all for my Ummah after me, are the leaders [of misguidance] who lead others astray.” (Sahīh: Reported by At-Tirmidhi in Al-Jāmi’, Kitāb Al-Fitan 4/437/2229)

Ibn Al-Mubārak said: I heard Abu Husayn recalling that Ziyād Ibn Hudayr said that ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb (radiyallāhu ‘anhu): “There are three that destroy Islam: The fault of the scholar, the hypocrite who argues using the Qur’ān and the leaders [of misguidance] who lead others astray.” (Sahīh: Reported by Ad-Dārimi 15/1220)

Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728H) said regarding the hypocrite who argues using the Qur’ān: “This is like the philosophers and the people of theological rhetoric (mutakallimīn*) who debate with what is ambiguous in the Qur’ān whilst in reality they are far removed from the verses of Allah. Their recourse to the Qur’ān is only to repel the one they are disputing and not because they are guided by it, and nor do they depend on it. For this reason ‘Umar said, ‘The hypocrite who argues with the Qur’ān.‘ So, it is the Sunnah and the ‘ijmā’ (consensus of the Salaf) that clarify its ambiguities.” (Majmū Al-Fatāwa 10/281)

* The scholars of Sunnah such as Al-Imām Ibn ‘Uthaimīn stated that Ahlul-Kalām and Mutakallimīm are those who establish their beliefs based on their intellects. They give precedence to the capacity of their thinking and ideas over and above the Revelation. They judge the verses of the Qur’an and the ahādīth that affirm Allah’s Names and Attributes, and the affairs of the Unseen in accordance with futile principles of logic and reason that they have innovated or borrowed from the non-Muslims. Ayyūb As-Sakhtiyāni (d. 131H) stated: “I do not know of anyone from the people of desires except that he will argue with that which is ambiguous.” (Ibn Battah 1/233, no. 788). So this is what you will find from those who oppose the Sunnah in their da’wah and in their ‘aqeedah.