[Mansy]

Assalamualaikum everyone, here is my review of the translation of Dr. Buti's al-La Madhabiyya. Enjoy. Wassalam Mansur.

Review of translation: Al-La Madhhabiyya, Abandoning the Madhhabs is the most dangerous Bid’ah Threatning the Islamic Shari’ah, by Sheikh al-Buti, translated by M. Merza, M.A. Absi and S. Abdul Aziz. (Damascus: Sunni Publications, 2007), pp. 180, size 14x21 cm, £9.49.

There are three types of people with regards to their attitude towards the Quran and Sunna: first of all there is the literalist who does not see beyond the ink, secondly there is the intellectual who believes his rational thinking is not bound by the scriptures and finally there is the aesthetic who is drowned in the inner beauty of the words and is unable to come up to the surface. It is only through a fine fusion of the three that a perfect equilibrium can be maintained. However an imbalance in the first one would lead, in its extreme, towards khawarij type doctrines and, in its moderation, towards a superficial understanding like the literalists. A disproportionate leaning in the second one will lead to the beliefs of peripatetic philosophers in extreme cases or towards I’tizaal (rationalist thinking) in a lesser extreme case. And finally unevenness in the last one will produce heretic sufis and charlatans. Sunni orthodoxy (the epitome of perfection) has fought tooth and nail to maintain this equilibrium and has always been quick to defend it. Sheikh al-Buti’s Al-La Madhhabiyya, written in the 70’s, is yet another brilliant manifestation of this defence.

In recent times, from different quarters of the west, myriads of voices are developing in to a crescendo in their united polemics against sunni orthodoxy. Once again the Ulama are picking up their pens to maintain the equilibrium; therefore this translation is much welcomed and much applauded as it fulfils one of the exigencies of the time (although originally it has been written for the Ulama).

The 3rd edition of the book has been used for the translation. The translation is easy and lucid and makes one believe that Sheikh al-Buti’s original Arabic work must have been so simple. The translators’ have not used any footnotes to elaborate, make observations or pass comments on the text. However, they have employed square parenthesis in the text to keep the flow of thought in motion.

In my opinion, the translation ‘Non-Madhhabism’ would have been a more accurate translation of the title ‘al-La Madhhabiyya.’ The only shortcoming of the book is that it seems that the bibliography has been written in haste. The importance of a proper bibliography is not unknown to the serious scholar. I think had the translator translated the author’s content page in its entirety it would have been easier to manoeuvre through the book. And finally a more accurate translation of the passage ‘This book of Schacht is one of the primary books that are taught…’ (p.56) is ‘This book of Schacht is the primary book taught…’

Overall the translation can boast to be another excellent addendum to the science of polemics (ilm al-munazara) and is a must to have for the serious defenders of truth.

Mansur Ali. 2008

[Hamoudeh]

Assalamu `alaykum wa-rahmatullah

Sidi Shaykh Mansy, please accept my apologies for not having properly thanked you for your review any time sooner. It is greatly appreciated and I enjoyed reading it, may Allah reward you. I placed it on the website [ http://www.sunnipubs...=...8&Itemid=45 ] when I found it on your weblog [ http://mansys.blogsp...adhhabiyya.html ], but did not come around to comment on it.

I am very happy to hear that you found the translation easy and lucid, this was one of our main priorities in terms of the translation of the text. Accuracy is another one, and I have noted your suggestion for the sentence on p.56 to be considered for new editions. I hope that overal, readers found the book well readable and that verifiers have found the translation to be accurate, insha'Allah.

The translators have indeed not added footnotes or comments to the work, it is our policy that such additions are reserved for verifying researchers and scholars, with the exception of notes with a linguistic relevancy or linguistically relevant brackets. I hope that such an annotated and commented [upon] edition can be published someday insha'Allah.

The title we chose due to my wish to avoid translating the term into new english -ism terminology. The Arabic publishers wrote 'Anti-Mazhabism' on the front cover of their Arabic editions by the way. Admittedly, 'Non-Madhhabism' is the term usually used in English texts, so that is a good reason to choose it. But the term has not been used that frequently yet, it has rarely been mentioned compared to other -ism's such as Salafism for example. I assume you would advice to take the English term in that case, and considering its very common usage I have to agree.

The bibliography I had to made myself, and my abilities and time are too limited to make more extensive bibliographies of books like these. There was no bibliography in the original work, and many details have been omited in the references throughout the book; as is costumary in Arabic literature. I am aware of the requirements in western academic circles, but I am not sure in how far you would advise me to pursue them whenever possible. In our second book, of which I would greatly appreciate your review of as well, I had to do the bibliography as well and did it in the same fashion. In the book we are currently publishing the translator did the bibliography, and the difference is that it is divided by categories and full titles and names are added. Your advise on how the bibliography should ideally be is much appreciated.

And finally, I regret having only included the bold mainsections of the TOC. I will include the subsections as well in new editions insha'Allah. I did do so in our second and third book.

I hope we did a reasonably decent job for the first time, hope we have improved over time and pray that we will continue to improve in the future.

Sidi, any further advise, comments or suggestions are very much appreciated. BarakAllah fikum

Wassalam