Question Summary:
Is Javed Ahmad Ghamidi an authentic scholar and should I listen to his lectures? Question Detail:
I want to know what are your views regarding Javed Ghamidi is he an authentic scholar? Should I listen to his lectures?
Answer :
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
No, one should not listen to the lectures of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi because his views (as mentioned on his website and in his books) conflict with and are contrary to authentic and accepted Islamic scholarship. [i] [ii] [iii] [iv]
Here are a few examples:
*Javed Ahmad Ghamidi denies the authenticity of the variant readings [qirā’at] of the Quran besides Hafs despite the fact that ten qirā’at reach us through the highest levels of authenticity [tawātur]. This view of his is also contrary to authentic narrations in Bukhari, Muslim and other hadith collections that confirm the Quran was revealed in seven “categories of differences” [ahruf] around which the differences of these qirā’at revolve. These ahādīth in terms of their meaning also reach the level of highest level of authenticity due to a large number of narrators reporting it [tawātur]. [v] See Fatwa # 29583 for a detailed explanation: http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/29583
*Javed Ahmed Ghamidi states that Isa (alayhi al-salam) has passed away. This is contrary to the authentic view that Isa (alayhi al-salam) is alive and is verified both by the tafsir of the relevant verses and authentic ahādith that state Isa (alayhi al-salam) will descend on the Earth once again as a just ruler. These ahādith also reach the level of highest level of authenticity due to a large number of narrators reporting it [tawātur] as confirmed by Ibn Kathir in his tafsir and other latter-day scholars such as Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and the hadith expert Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah (may Allah have mercy on all of them). [vi][vii]
*Javed Ahmad Ghamidi states that it is not obligatory to keep a beard and “keeping a beard is no directive of religion.” This is contrary to the authentic view that it is wajib for a Muslim male to grow a beard. For comprehensive proof of the obligation of keeping a beard see Fatwa #16493: http://www.askimam.org/public/question_detail/16493
Sohail ibn Arif,
Student Darul Iftaa
Chicago, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
[i] Mizan, pages 25-26, 32.
[ii] “I have written in my treatise Mizan that the Qur'an is what is recorded in the mushaf, and which, except for some areas of North Africa, is recited by a vast majority of the Muslim ummah without the slightest variation.”
“Here a person can pose the question: If despite all these facts, the academic tradition of the Muslims accepted all the reports related to 'ilm al-khassah, why then has the Farahi school adopted a different stance in this regard? Our answer is that it is not easy for any person of learning to disregard reports narrated by reliable narrators; this needs an explicit Qur'anic directive. Thus if the true meaning of the relevant verses of Surah Qiyamah had become evident at the very beginning, Muslim scholars, jurists and exegetes would probably have adopted the same stance as the scholars of the Farahi school. Imam Hamid al-Din has explained the true meaning of these verses. Hence, that explicit Qur'anic directive has become available on the basis of which it can be said even if all the narratives which depict the variant readings of the Qur'an are correct, they have been abrogated by the reading of the ardah akhirah for the universal addressees of the Qur'an; hence they cannot be accepted in any way whatsoever.”
[ Reference: http://www.javedahmadghamidi.com/renaissance/view/variant-readings ]
[iii] “However, keeping a beard is no directive of religion. Hence if a person does not keep a beard, it cannot be said that he is evading an obligatory directive or has done something harām or forbidden.”
[ Reference: http://www.javedahmadghamidi.com/renaissance/view/the-beard-and-isbaal-i-izaar ]
[iv] “Besides these, the advent of Mahdi and that of Jesus (sws) from the heavens are also regarded as signs for the Day of Judgement. I have not mentioned them. The reason is that the narratives of the advent of Mahdi do not conform to the standards of Hadith criticism set forth by the muhaddithun. Some of them are weak and some fabricated; no doubt, some narratives, which are acceptable with regard to their chain of narration, inform us of the coming of a generous caliph; however, if they are deeply deliberated upon, it becomes evident that the caliph they refer to is ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (d. 101 AH) who was the last caliph of the early history of the Muslims. This prediction of the Prophet (sws) has thus materialized in his personality word for word. One does not need to wait for any other Mahdi now. As far as the narratives which record the advent of Jesus (sws) are concerned, though the muhaddithun have generally accepted them; however, if they are analyzed in the light of the Qur’an, they too become dubious.”
[ Reference: http://www.javedahmadghamidi.com/meezan/view/the-signs and http://www.javedahmadghamidi.com/renaissance/view/the-second-coming-of-jesus-sws ]
فتاوى عثماني، ١/ ١٩٢ [v]
وقد تواترت الأحاديث عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه أخبر بنزول عيسى [ابن مريم]، عليه السلام قبل [vi]
يوم القيامة إماما عادلا وحكما مقسطا
تفسير إبن كثير، ٧/ ٢٣٦
معارف القران، ٢/ ٦٠٢ - ٦٠٥ [vii]
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