According to K.Paul Johnson, in the Hidden Masters Revealed, it was from Afghani that Blavatsky would acquire her central doctrines, similar to Ismaili ideas.

In fact, Afghani and Abduh would refer to themselves among their Masonic brethren as “Ikwhan as Safa wa Khullan al Waffa”. This is the exact name of a sect of the tenth century, who were responsible for the communication the occult ideas of the Sabians (Batiniyya) which led to the founding of Ismailism.

It is difficult for Muslims to understand that someone who was so vociferous an opponent to the West could have been their agent. In fact, the hijacking of Islam has been a primary strategy of the Western powers throughout the century.

In his own words, he said:

“We do not cut the head of religion except with the sword of religion. Therefore, if you were to see us now, you would see ascetics and worshippers, kneeling and genuflecting, never disobeying God’s commands and doing all that they are ordered to do.”

Afghani was merely the first in a long line of agents posing as Muslim reformers who would assist the British and then the Americans to pursue their imperialistic objectives in the Middle East. This continued with Aghani’s dispicle, Mohammed Abhuh, who was made mufti of Egypt by Lord Cromer. Abduh was followed by Rashid Rida, and then Hasan Al Banna.

The MB was founded with a grant from the British, but they soon collaborated heavily with the Nazis. Following their demise, control of the MB was handled by the newly created CIA. This was part of a Cold War strategy that used Islamic fundamentalism to combat the influence of Communists, castigated as “atheists”, in the Middle East.

The Americans were assisted in their project with financing from Saudi Arabia. Support for the MB is part of an international network of “Islamic” banks with intricate ties with various Western financial institutions, but also dubious ties to a number of illicit activities. This was exemplified with the international network organized by the Iran Contra affair, to create funds to finance the Muslim Brotherhood “mujahideen” in Afghanistan, now acknowledged to have been the greatest CIA project in history.

I plead with my Muslim brothers and sisters to see the extent of the deviousness that is employed to distance us from the true Islam.

For further reading, I recommend:

Nikki R. Keddie, “Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn “al-Afghānī”:
a political biography

Elie Kedourie, “Afghani and ʻAbduh:
an essay on religious unbelief and political activism in modern Islam”

Robert Dreyfuss, “Hostage to Khomeini”

Robert Dreyfuss, “Devil’s Game: How the Americans Helped Unleash Islamic Fundamentalism”

Mark Sedgwick, “Muhammad Abduh”

Samir Raafat: “FREEMASONRY IN EGYPT Is it still around?”, Insight Magazine.

David Livingstone & Sahib Mustaqim Bleher, “Surrendering Islam: The Surrendering of Muslim Politics Throughout History to the Present Day”

The author must conclude as he does that Afghani was a great religious reviver since he proceeds from the principles established by Afghani and Abduh, i.e. that deriving rulings directly from the Book and the Sunnah is still possible.

In other words, this praise comes from a disciple and a devotee.

This approach deliberately leaves out the consensus, because the consensus of the Ummah was long ago reached that it is not possible for anyone, no matter how qualified, to derive rulings directly from the Book and the Sunnah and so they must adhere to one of the great Imams of fiqh, i.e. the four Imams of the madhhabs, who the Muslims agree unanimously were absolutely qualified to derive rulings directly from the Book and the Sunnah.

Once a consensus has been reached, there is no reversing it since it is recognised by all the Muslims as the third fundamental principle: the Book, the Sunnah and consensus of the Imams who are valid exponents of ijtihad.

However, this does not mean that we are moribund and without ijtihad since there are clear and very dynamic ways of exercising ijtihad to meet new situations (for example, see: “Fatwa and Qada’ [sentence] in the Maliki School” by Sidi Ali al-’Iraqi al-Husaini http://bewley.virtualave.net/fatwa.html), but we cannot use ijtihad in areas where unanimity has already been reached, most significantly on the rulings governing usury.

As-salamu alaikum,

Abdassamad Clarke