Refuting Wahhabi Allegations of Kufr and Heresy in Qasidah Al-Burdah – Part 2

In the previous post statements of praise from some of the commentators of Imam Al-Busiri’s Qasidah al-Burdah were provided.  In the next few posts some of the verses considered by the Wahhabis of Islam QA to be ‘kufr and shirk’ will be explained through excerpts from the commentary of the Sunni Imams of the past.

IslamQA cites the following verse as an example of ‘kufr’ and ‘shirk’:

3.     This world and the Hereafter are part of what you control, and part of your knowledge is the knowledge of al-Lawh al-Mahfooz and the Pen

The arabic for the the first part of the verse is:

فَإِنَّ مِنْ جُوْدِكَ الدُّنْيَا وَضَرَّتَهَا

A more suitable translation of this verse was provided in the article ‘Objections to the Burdah – Answered.’  However, in order to keep it simple, it can be translated as:

Verily, your generosity encompasses this world and its counterpart.

Imam Zakariyya al-Ansari, in his commentary on the Burdah entitled Mashariq al-anwar al-mudiyyah said:

(… your generosity) which Allah generously gave you  (encompasses this world and its counterpart), which is the Afterlife, meaning the last of the two [lives]. From his generosity in this world is his guiding mankind; and from his generosity in the Afterlife is his intercession on their behalf.

Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari states in his commentary on the Burdah entitled al-Zubdah fi sharh al-Burdah :

The meaning is your status shall not diminish on account of your generosity to anyone of your nation, because from your generosity and kindness to all of creation is the best in this world by guiding, and the best in the Afterlife by intercession. It has been said: The meaning of the two worlds being from his generosity is that he is the channel (wasitah) for the pouring of existence upon the essences and the flow of generosity upon everything that exists, and there is in it an allusion to the hadith, ‘Were it not for you, I would not have created the orbits (aflak)’.

[tr. excerpted with minor alteration from, Guardian of the Cloak, p. 112/3]

From the above commentary it is clear that there is no hint of ‘obvious kufr and heresy‘ as claimed by the Pseudo-salafis of IslamQA.  In the next post the second part of this verse will be discussed.