Chosen Saints of God and the Bigoted Mullas — Page 22
accusations, the Jurisprudents of the Naahiya-i-Jibaal had declared that it was incumbent upon all good Muslims not to read any book written by Imam Ghizaali and that these books should be burnt”. (Ghizaali Naama: Urdu Translation by Maulana Raees. Ahmad Jaffree: p. 360-361). The marvel of marvels is that the very books which the bigoted Mullas wished to efface, have gained such a miraculous popularity that a few centuries later are considered to be the best books ever written by Muslim scholars. This, in fact, is a miracle in favour of Imam Ghizaali that he was a holy and pious saint whose prayers, patience and perseverance have worked these wonders. (2) HAZRAT IMAM IBN-I-HAZM (born 384 and died 456. Hijra). Imam Ibn-i-Hazm is universally acknowledged as a great scholar of Traditions and the Sayings of the Holy Prophet and his Companions. He is also known to be a first rate historian and a master of philosophy. He was a notable orator, a man of excellent literary taste, a great jurisprudent, a grammarian, a lexicographer, a fine poet and a very able physician. The distinctive feature of his writings is that he bases all his arguments and deductions on the teachings of the Holy Quran and the. Sayings of the Holy Prophet. This was the thing which caused great embarrassment to the so-called scholars of his time and his bigoted contemporaries. They, therefore, united themselves in giving a verdict of apostacy against him. *. It is mentioned in “Mu'ajjam-ul-Muallifeen" that "He used to deduce his arguments from the Holy Quran and the Sayings of the Holy Prophet and his Traditions. He used to criticise strongly the priests and the jurisprudents of his time which caused them to unite against him and pronounced a ruling of apostasy against him. They also informed the King and other persons in authority about his "mischiefs" and succeeded in obtaining an official proclamation that the general public should keep away from such a renegade. He was exiled in a most disgraceful manner. He was, therefore, obliged to spend the rest of his days in a wilderness called 'Labla' in Andulusia (Spain), and he died there". (Mu'ajjam-ul-Muallifeen: vol. 7: p. 16: printed in Damascus) 22