[1]al-Anfaal, 8:46

[2]ar-Room, 30:31-2

[3]Houd, 11:118-9

[4]cf. Al-Ihkaam fi Usool al-Ahkaam by Ibn Hazm, Hujjatullaah al-Baalighah by al-Dehlawi, & the latter's essay dealing specifically with this issue, 'Iqd al-Jeed fi Ahkaam al- Ijtihaad wat-Taqleed.

[5]See Faid al-Qadeer by al-Manaawi (1/209) or Silsilah al- Ahaadeeth ad-Da'eefah (1/76, 77)

[6]Ibn 'Abdul Barr in Jaami' Bayaan al-'Ilm (2/81-2)

[7]ibid. (2/82, 88-9)

[8]ibid. (2/83-4)

[9]ibid (2/89)

[10]cf. Al-Intiqaa' by Ibn 'Abdul Barr (41), Kashf al-Mughatta fi Fadl al-Muwatta' (pp. 6-7) by Ibn 'Asaakir, & Tadhkirah al-Huffaaz by Dhahabi (1/195).

[11]Jaami' Bayaan al-'Ilm (2/88)

[12]see Chapter Eight of the book, Maa Laa Yajooz min al-Khilaaf (pp. 65-72), where you will find numerous examples of what we have indicated, some of them involving scholars of Al-Azhar.

[13]Al-Bahr ar-Raa'iq.

[14]I now say: Muhammad al-Ghazaali's recent writings such as his newly-released book entitled As-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah bayna Ahl al-Hadeeth wa Ahl al-Fiqh (The Prophetic Sunnah between the People of Hadeeth and the People of Fiqh) have confirmed that he himself is one of those inviters to Islaam who are "themselves utterly confused"! His writings have for long betrayed his confusion, his distortion of the Sunnah, and his using his intellect to authenticate or falsify ahaadeeth, not by turning to the principles and science of Hadeeth, nor to the experts of that field; instead, whatever appeals to him, he authenticates, even if it is weak, and declares unreliable whatever is not to his liking, even if it is agreed to be authentic!

His above approach is shown most obviously in his discussion of the ahaadeeth in his previous book Fiqh as- Seerah , where he explains his methodology of accepting unreliable ahaadeeth and discarding authentic ones on the basis of the text of the hadeeth alone, from which the reader can see that the objective criticism of Hadeeth has no value in his eyes if it contradicts a "reasoned analysis", which varies enormously from person to person, for what is truth to one is falsehood to another! Thus the whole of Islaam becomes subject to personal whims, having no principles nor reference points except personal opinion; this is poles apart from the position of the early leading 'ulamaa of Islaam, "that the Isnaad is part of the religion; were it not for the Isnaad, people would have said whatever they wished."

His latest above-mentioned book has exposed to the people his Mu'tazilite methodology, his blatant disregard for the Imaams of Hadeeth and their efforts over the ages in serving the Sunnah, and distinguishing the genuine traditions from the unreliable ones, and his lack of appreciation of the efforts of the Imaams of Fiqh in their laying down principles and developing issues on that basis, for he takes from these and leaves from them whatever he wishes, with no consistency towards any set of principles or fundamentals!

[15]Bukhaari & Muslim.

[16]See the previous words of Imaam Muzani and Haafiz Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali.

[17]Bukhaari & Muslim; see Appendix Two for the full hadeeth.

[18]al-Anfaal, 8:24