The Slicing Sword Against The One Who Forms Allegiances With The Disbelievers And Takes Them As Supporters Instead Of Allāh, His Messenger And The Believers.
Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki's (rahimullah) Foreword:
This book "The Slicing Sword" Represents the answers given by Sheikh Abd Allah al Bari al Ahdal to questions on the topic of Hijra (migration for the sake of Allah) and al-wala and al bara (loyalty to Allah and disavowal of the enemies of Allah). The importance of this book lies in the fact that the situation that Sheikh was face with similar to our circumstances today which gives relevance to his answers.
Aden was occupied by the British in 1873 and the author died around 1854. So his time was one in which the power of the Ottoman Khilafah was waning while the Western powers were on the rise. Therefore, this was a time when there were some Muslims who were replacing their pride in being Muslim and being subjects of Muslim rile with being subjects of Western occupiers and sailing under Western flags.
The author belongs to the Ahdal family who are descendants of al Imam al Hussain bin AN and are a family steeped in Islamic scholarship. They are from the Shafi'i school and live on the Western coast of Yemen on the Red Sea. The same land of the companion of the Prophet Abu Musa al Ashari.
I have studied this book under two scholars from the family of al Ahdal and I would encourage my brother and sisters to benefit from it.
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