Mulla Ali Al Qari and Omnipresence of Prophet peace be upon him.
Following are two quotes of Mulla Ali Al Qari due to which some extreme sufis claim Prophet peace be upon him is omnipresent.
- a) First quote
Mulla Ali Qari said when the question is asked about the Prophet peace be upon him in the grave:
قيل يصور صورته عليه الصلاة والسلام فيشار إليه
IT IS SAID: they (angels will) point towards the image of peace be upon him. [Mirqaat under the hadith no: 30]
They try to prove that Prophet peace be upon him will visit the grave of every man hence he is omnipresent.
Response.
Qeela (it is said) is mode of doubt which is used for weak opinions. Secondly it does not mention anything about Prophet peace be upon him is present in the grave by himself. Rather an image will be shown to him.
Before quoting original saying of Mulla Ali Al Qari let me provide a Hadith which clearly negate this idea of Prophet being present in the grave.
Abu Huraira said
أَنَّ امْرَأَةً، سَوْدَاءَ كَانَتْ تَقُمُّ الْمَسْجِدَ – أَوْ شَابًّا – فَفَقَدَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَسَأَلَ عَنْهَا – أَوْ عَنْهُ – فَقَالُوا مَاتَ
A dark-complexioned woman (or a youth) used to sweep the mosque. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) missed her (or him) and inquired about her (or him). The people told him that she (or he) had died. [Sahih Muslim no. 956
Comment: If the Prophet peace be upon him is present in every grave than why he peace be upon him inquired about the woman? He should know about her as he was present in her grave.
Let us see what Mulla Ali Al Qari himself said. Elsewhere he presented his own opinion.
Mulla Ali Qari said:
قال ابن حجر : ولا يلزم من الإشارة ما قيل من رفع الحجب بين الميت وبينه – صلى الله عليه وسلم – حتى يراه ويسأل عنه ، لأن مثل ذلك لا يثبت بالاحتمال على أنه مقام امتحان ، وعدم رؤية شخصه الكريم أقوى في الامتحان . قلت : وعلى تقدير صحته يحتمل أن يكون مفيدا لبعض دون بعض ، والأظهر أن يكون مختصا بمن أدركه في حياته عليه الصلاة والسلام وتشرف برؤية طلعته الشريفة
Ibn Hajar said: Pointing is not required as what has been said that the veil between the dead and Prophet peace be upon him will be lifted until he sees and ask him, because such possibility is not correct at the time of this test. Not Seeing the personality al karim is more correct at the time of test. I (Mulla Ali Qari) say: There is soundness of it in taqdir because there is a possibility that it is more better for some from others, and apparently this is specific for the one who was present in his (peace be upon him) life and he has seen him. [Mirqaat al Mafatih under hadith no: 126]
Comment: In short, his own stance is in agreement of Ibn Hajar. So he clearly went against the stance of haazir naazir (Omniprecence of Prophet peace be upon him).
- b) Second quote.
Mullah Ali Qari explains the narration: (If nobody is present in the house then one should say: Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and Allah’s Mercy and blessings) while doing Sharh of this Mullah Ali Qari writes:
اى لان روحة عليه السلام حاضر فى بيوت اهل الاسلام
“Meaning, because his soul (Peace be upon him) is present in the houses belonging to the People of Islam. [Mullah Ali Qari, Sharah ash-Shifah, Volume 2, Page No. 118, Published by Dar ul Kutb al iLmiyyah]
Response.
Before quoting the opinions of Mulla Ali Qari. Let me provide the stance of Prophet peace be upon him and Abu Bakr ra regarding this issue. Prophet peace be upon him said:
فأتاني أبو بكر رضي الله تعالى عنه ، فقال : يا رسول الله ، أين كنت الليلة ، فقد التمستك في مكانك ؟ فقال : أعلمت أني أتيت مسجد بيت المقدس الليلة
Abu Bakr came to me and asked: Where were you last night O Messenger of Allah? I tried to find you at your home. I (Prophet peace be upon him) said: Do you know i went to bayt al maqdas?
[Al-Moajam alKabeer atTabrani 7/283 hadeeth: 7142, Tehdeeb alAthaar of Tabree no: 2775, Dalaail an-Nabuwwah 2/109 authenticated by AlBayhaqi]
Comment: It is clear that when Prophet peace be upon him went to bayt al maqdas that was a miracle but still he was not in his own house, leave a side house of Momineen.
Coming back to the statement of Mulla Ali Al Qari that his soul is present in Muslim’s houses, then before checking its authenticity, it is clear that it is against brailwi aqeeda i.e. Prophet peace be upon him is present everywhere. Rather this quote just states the soul of Prophet peace be upon him is present in the houses of Muslims only not everywhere. Let us see how authentic is the quote.
Mawlana Sarfaraz Khan Safdar Hanafi Deobandi said in his book Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari aur masala hazir wa Nazir (Mulla Ali Qari and the issue of Omnipresence of Prophet peace be upon him) that Mawlana Muhammad Yahya Kandhalvi said that a “la” is dropped from the manuscript. The original statement was “one should say peace be upon his soul, not because his soul is present”. He must say as a prayer
Then Sarfaraz Khan Safdar made a point; it cannot be possible that Mulla Ali Qari holds the view of Prophet being omnipresent as well as he holds the view that It is kufr to believe Prophet peace be upon him is Omnipresent and knows the knowledge of unseen.
Sarfaraz Khan Safdar made another point that it can be possible that previously Mulla Ali Qari used to say (the ruh of) Prophet peace be upon him is present in the houses (of Muslims) and then he changed his stance, because in Sharah Shifa vol 3 page 464 (according to brailwis) he said the soul of Prophet peace be upon him is present in the houses of Momineen but in same Sharah Shifa Vol 3 page 500 he said the durood which is recited far from grave reaches to the Prophet peace be upon him through Angels i.e if Prophet peace be upon him is present in the homes of Believers then why can’t He peace be upon him listen himself? And in same book Vol 4 page 438 Mulla Ali Qari said with a proof that whoever believes Prophet peace be upon him had knowledge of unseen has done Kufr. (i.e. If he is present everywhere than he should know each and everything, but Mulla Ali al Qari negated this).
[See Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari aur masala hadhir wa Nazir pg.36-40]Further clear quotes by Mulla Ali Al Qari which negates omnipresence of Prophet peace be upon him.
Below are few statements of Mulla Ali Qari against the creed of Omnipresence of Prophet peace be upon him.
Statement no. 1.
Mulla Ali al Qari said under the hadeeth
Narrated umar ibn al-Khattab: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) commanded us one day to give sadaqah. At that time I had some property. I said: Today I shall surpass abubakr if I surpass him any day. I, therefore, brought half my property. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) asked: What did you leave for your family? I replied: The same amount. Abubakr brought all that he had with him. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) asked him: What did you leave for your family? He replied: I left Allah and His Apostle for them. I said: I shall never compete you in anything.[Mirqaat hadeeth no:6030]
Mulla Ali Qari commented
فقال : أبقيت لهم الله ورسوله ) . أي رضاهما
(What did you leave for your family? He replied: I left Allah and His Apostle for them.) Meaning their (Allah and his messenger’s) radhaa (end quote)
Comment: If he peace be upon him was present in the houses than Mulla Ali Al Qari could have said, Abu Bakr left the ruh of Prophet but he said it means radhaa.
Statement no. 2
Prophet peace be upon him said when he used to lead the prayer “I see you from my back”.
Mulla Ali Qari said
( فإني أراكم من وراء ظهري ) أي : بالمكاشفة ، ولا يلزم دوامها لينافيه خبر : لا أعلم ما وراء جداري ، فيخص هذا بحالة الصلاة وعلمه بالمصلين
“I see you from my back” meaning with Mukashafah (unveiling) and this does not necessitate the continuity of it as it contradicts his saying: “I do not see what is behind my wall”, so this (Mukashafah) is particular for the state of the prayer and his knowledge of the people praying (behind him)”[Mirqaat under the hadith 1086, taken from the article by Ali Hassan Khan]
Comment: This clearly means Prophet peace be upon him is not omnipresent according to Mulla Ali Al Qari, otherwise Mulla Ali Qari could have said he can see anywhere Everytime as he is haazir naazir.
Statement no. 3
Mulla Ali Qari himself mentioned in Sharh Fiqh al Akbar
إن الأنبياء لم يعلموا المغيبات من الأشياء إلا ما أعلمهم الله أحيانا ، وذكر الحنفية تصريحا بالتكفير باعتقاد أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يعلم الغيب لمعارضة قوله تعالى 27 65 65 قل لا يعلم من في السماوات والأرض الغيب إلا الله كذا في المسايرة
The Prophets did not know the unseen from the things except which Allah informed them sometimes. Ahnaaf clearly states; it is Kufr(disbelief) if someone has a creed that Prophets know knowledge of Unseen, because it is against the verse of Quran Surat An-Naml [verse 65] – Say, “None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah”.
[المسايرة مع المسامرة page 235, Mullah Ali Qari in Sharah fiqh al-Akbar, Azeemabadi quoted this in Awn al-Mabood under the hadeeth no: 4240]
Comment: If he peace be upon him is present everywhere, he must know everything. But Mulla Ali Al Qari negated this aqeeda rather mentioned the Fatwa of kufr. This is exactly how great Hanafi scholars understood from the statement of Mulla Ali Al Qari, for example by Abdul Hai Lucknowi in his fatawa.
Statement no. 4
Prophet peace be upon him said:
“And, behold! some persons of my Ummah would be brought and taken to the left and I would say: My Lord, they are my companions, and it would be said: You do not know what they did after you, and I would say just as the pious servant (Hadrat ‘Isa) said: “I was a witness regarding them as I remained among them and Thou art a witness over everything, so if Thou chastisest them, they are Thy servants and if Thou for- givest them, Thou art Mighty, Wise” (v. 117-118). And it would be said to him: They constantly turned to their heels since you left them. This Hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Waki’ and Mu’adh (and the words are): “What new things they fabricated.”[ Sahih Muslim Book 040, Number 6847]
Mulla Ali Al-Qari wrote in his “Mirqat” v 10 p 227 about this Hadith:
“The Prophet further said: “I will say those people are from me” meaning from my community or my companions. “It will be said, ‘You do not know what changes and new things they did after you’” from apostasy, as sins do not prevent from coming to the Hawd and drinking from its water. “Then I will say, ‘Far removed (from mercy), far removed (from mercy), those who changed (the religion) after me!” meaning after my death or after accepting my religion and entering my community” [Taken from the article by Ali Hassan Khan]
Comment: If the Prophet peace be upon him is present in the house of Muslims, he would know what the Muslims did after him but as per the Hadith and the statement of Mulla Ali Al Qari, Prophet peace be upon him was not present after his death, rather he will say Allah is witness over everything. I was only witness when I was present among them.
Statement no. 5.
Mulla Ali al Qari Matureedi said regarding the people who claim that they have seen the Prophet peace be upon him:
Some classical Hanafis who were against the Creed of Haazir Naazir.
- Ibn Nujaym (known as Abu Hanifa thani) said
وفي الخانية والخلاصة لو تزوج بشهادة الله ورسوله لا ينعقد ويكفر لاعتقاده أن النبي يعلم الغيب
It is mentioned in (Hanafi Fatawa books) al Khaniya and al Khulasah that If a man did nikah by saying ‘I make Allah and his Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) my witnesses, then Nikah will not take place and he did kufr because his creed is that Prophet peace be upon him knows the unseen. [Al Bhr Raqaiq 5/120]
- Abdul Hai Lucknowi Hanafi was asked
What do you say regarding the habit of people that they ask help from Auliya and Anbiya thinking that they are Haazir Naazir (Omnipresent).
Response:
This is Prohibited rather clear shirk, as he believed in the knowledge of unseen for others beside Allah…
Mulla Ali al Qari said:… Ahnaaf clearly states; it is Kufr(disbelief) if someone has a creed that Prophets know knowledge of Unseen, because it is against the verse of Quran Surat An-Naml [verse 65] – Say, “None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah”
Fatawa Bazzaziya says:
“If someone married without witnesses and say: Allah and his Prophet , Angels are my witness, he is kafir because he thought that Prophet peace be upon him and Angels knows the unseen,
Fatawa Bazzaziyah also states.
“”And one becomes akafir with the statement that the souls of the mashaykh are present, and knowing”.”
[Farsi and Arabic Fatawa Abdul Hai Lakhnavi page 457-458]- It says in “Majma’ al-Anhur” of the Ahnaaf:
وَيَكْفُرُ بِقَوْلِهِ أَرْوَاحُ الْمَشَايِخِ حَاضِرَةٌ , تَعْلَمُ
“And one becomes a kafir with the statement that the souls of the mashaykh are present,
- Fatawa Bazzaziyah had same thing mentioned.
Comment: I.e. He has done kufr because his Creed is that Prophet peace be upon him is present that’s why he is making him witness.
Apart from above quotes there are various other quotes by Al Qari against mainstream brailwi aqeeda.
See also:
a) Mulla Ali al Qari on asking help from Prophet peace be upon him and sufi deception
Mulla Ali al Qari on asking help from Prophet peace be upon him and sufi deception
b) Mulla Ali al Qari and his attitude toward Ibn Hajar al Haytami
Mulla Ali al Qari and his attitude toward Ibn Hajar al Haytami
c) Did Mulla Ali Qari made Takfeer of Ibn Taymiyyah
d) Fatwa of Mulla Ali al Qari related to Rijaal Al Ghayb (Men of unseen)
e) Hanafi Scholars on Celebration of Mawlid un Nabi (Translation of major part of the book on Mawlid by al Qaari)
f) Ibn Taymiyah had same Aqeeda like Abu Hanifa, Says al Qari