Neo-Qutubists like Salman al-ʿAwdah and Safar al-Hawāli who were propagating the political ideology of Sayyid Qutb among the youth, went on to be labelled ‘the Khawārij of the era’ by the reviver (mujaddid) and learned scholar of hadīth, Shaykh Muhammad Nāsir al-Dīn al-Albānī in 1997 CE, and were strongly refuted by other great scholars including Shaykh Ibn Bāz, Shaykh ʿUthaymīn (may Allah’s mercy be upon him) and Shaykh Al-Fawzān.[1] This would eventually lead to their imprisonment at the behest of the Hay’at Kibār al-ʿUlamā (Committee of Major Scholars), whose head was Shaykh Ibn Bāz (V).[2] Despite the refutations and advice from the major scholars in this affair, Abu Muntasir and many others who lacked a firm grounding in Sharīʿah knowledge and understanding of the true origins of such deviations, were still unable to detect the effects of such deviations upon them; before long, their lack of knowledge and understanding began to manifest itself ‘in their speech and actions, their daʿwah, their walā and barā (loyalty and disownment), their company and associations’.[3]
In his first-hand account below, Shaykh Abu Khadeejah ʿAbdul-Wāhid (2013) recalls the time when Abu Muntasir openly professed his Qutubist views:
Early in this year [1996], Abu Muntasir visited Shaykh Al-Albānī (rahimahullāh) in Jordan, he then went onto Alexandria in Egypt to visit Muhammad Ismaʿīl Muqaddam. On his return I met [him] in Manchester. He told me how unimpressed he was by Shaykh Al-Albānī (due to him not giving ‘importance’ to the political situation of the Muslims) … He was very impressed with Muhammad Ismaʿīl in Egypt, as he was much more ‘aware’ of the plight of the Muslims worldwide and their political situation.[1]
[1] Abdul-Wāhid 2013:1.
[1] See author’s article: What is Salafism?
[2] Salafi Publications 2003:10.
[3] Ibid: 8.
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