May Allah reward Shaykh Muhammad Walid bin Hassan al-Dido al-Shanqiti for his just and balanced answer and Shaykh Suhaib for the translation and distribution.

Such answers buttress the effort to stomp out the regrettable and mostly manufactured fitna between students of knowledge in the West (and elsewhere) about certain matters of `aqida (creed), matters of long standing difference of opinion between the mutakallamin and the ahl al-hadith trends among the ahl al-sunna wa-l-jama`a!

Shaykh Suhaib Webb mentions a statement attributed to the 18th century Maliki legist, Imam al-Sawi (may Allah have mercy on him): هذا الزمان زمان السكوت ولزوم البيوت ومن يقول الحق فيه يموت i.e. "This time is a time [for] silence and clinging to [your] houses: [for] whoever speaks truth, dies." The statement is reminiscient of a hadith: The Prophet (salla llahu `alayhi wa-sallm) said: "The best form of struggle (jihad) is a truthful word [uttered] in the presence of a tyrannical authority".

Shaykh Suhaib Webb has posted audio and notes for the first of a series based on Imam al-Muhasibi's Risalat al-Mustarshidin. The text is a gem for any one concerned with internal purification.

Imam Zaid Shakir has translated and annotated the original text. It is available here.