🔹 What Shaykh @AbuIyaadSP Actually Said:
“I have known from experience as well is that generally speaking the Arab speaking world, like the Gulf countries, they are like for example in food, they follow America and Europe.”
“In those Arab countries, they have only just recently come out of the desert into oil riches and then using the money to buy expertise from outside, right, so it is all expertise from outside whether it is in science, medicine, whatever and so they themselves, the Arabs as a nation historically..., so they are mostly followers of foreign expertise and so that is one of the actual problems that we are dealing with here, which is that if you were to present these things to an Arab audience, particularly in the Gulf I am speaking about, you are going to have a lot of resistance.”
✅ What Shaykh Abū Iyād Meant:
Shaykh Abū Iyād was making a sociopolitical and historical observation, not a religious or racial insult:
-He pointed out that Gulf countries underwent rapid development in recent decades, especially after discovering oil.
-As a result, they imported expertise in fields like science and medicine from Western nations (Europe & America).
-Therefore, they rely heavily on foreign institutions and health authorities, especially regarding medicine and vaccines.
-This dependency on external systems creates a cultural and psychological resistance when one tries to challenge those systems or raise alternative views in those societies.
-He was not speaking about the scholars, but about national medical policy adoption and public mindset.
🔻Lies and Misrepresentations Spread by Shaykh @Arafatbinhassan and his team (@aslamhaashim@ZubayrAbbasi and others) Deduced from that:
- That he mocked the senior scholars and labeled them "desert Bedouins"
(بدو).
- That he meant the scholars are “not proficient” or “ignorant.”
- That he insulted the Arabs as a race, implying backwardness.
- None of these were stated, intended, or even hinted at in his original words.
- Instead, they cherry-picked phrases, twisted the historical commentary into a personal attack against the scholars, and weaponized the phrase “people of the desert”
(أهل الصحراء)
to frame him as arrogant and disrespectful—when in reality, no such term was ever used by him against scholars.
❌ Lie 1: That Abū Iyād said the major scholars are “Bedouins” “People of desert” who are not proficient.
Shaykh Arafat Tweeted:
"ويزعم أنهم (العلماء الكبار) بدو أهل صحراء لا يحسنون"
"He claims that (the senior scholars) are Bedouins, the people of the desert, who are not proficient (do not excel, lack skill)"
✅ Reality: This is a despicable lie. Shaykh Abū Iyād has never uttered such speech, neither publicly nor privately. These are words falsely attributed to him to stir hatred and division. Rather, his point was an objective observation about how some Gulf nations embraced Western medicine without critical analysis, not about the scholars themselves. Accusing someone of insulting the scholars based on false context is from the methodology of the people of oppression.
Shaykh Abū Iyād clarified:
“Whoever ascribed this speech to me… that ‘The Major Scholars are Bedouins… not proficient’… has lied and fabricated upon me what I did not say, nor intend, nor has it occurred in my mind ever.”
“These false accusations are based on casual remarks I made privately about the Gulf adopting the allopathic model without critical analysis—not about the scholars themselves.”
“My intent behind these remarks is that I am not obligated to adopt a nation’s medical views just because they adopted it nationally.”
❌ Lie 2: That Abu Iyad speaks ill of the Arabs in their race and accused Arab as a race of backwardness or ignorance, blind flowing Kuffar.
Shaykh Arafat Tweeted:
"يزعم أنهم بدو أهل صحراء لا يحسنون"
"He claims that they are desert Bedouins who are not proficient." https://t.co/dPAUL32JQL
✅ Reality: False. He clearly affirmed the virtue of the Arabs in religion. His comment was about modern history and medicine. Twisting this into racism is a desperate attempt to discredit him.
He also explicitly affirmed:
“I never negated their religious virtue. I only said their modern reliance on Western medicine has problems — it’s a factual, historical statement about public health.”
“We affirm the excellence of the Arabs in that they were the chosen vehicle to carry the message of Islām and to deliver it to mankind, and we love them for that and for other reasons… However, this excellence is not to be extrapolated or extended to other affairs such as science, medicine, engineering and so on, unless such excellence is acquired separately.”
“My comment was about modern health policy, not about the scholars or their knowledge in Islām.”
“I casually mentioned, towards the end of the audios, as something incidental to the discussion, as an observation, that the Gulf Arabs in particular, were catapulted into rapid development due to oil riches, leaving the desert life, and had to buy in foreign expertise from Western nations. That they adopted Western food, diet and consequently, medicine in the process (thereby leaving the healthy ways of their ancestors). They have more or less wholesale adopted the allopathic model of medicine, [which is based largely on treating symptomms based on patented medications], without much critical evaluation.”
”So, they are mostly followers of foreign expertise… This is simply a factual observation. This has been twisted to mean that I am maligning the Arabs as a whole, whereas my discussion here is in the context of modern history and its specific circumstances.”
"However, we affirm the virtue of the Arabs who carried Islām, and we love them, and in their genus (not each individual), they have superiority from this particular angle: that they were chosen for carrying Islām, and they carried it.”
📉 Current Status of the Lie:
-As of now, Shaykh Arafāt and his team have quietly dropped the term "Bedouin"
بدوي - ބަދަވީ
(singular),
بدو - ބަދަވީން
(plural)” in their accusations. This is because it became clear to many that Shaykh Abū Iyād never used that word and that the allegation was fabricated.
-Several students of knowledge have privately admitted that Sh Arafāt began spreading this lie as early as January 2023, including when he visited the Maldives.
- At that time, some students were told not to speak out. Now, however, Sh Arafāt repeats the same type accusations openly in class after class, because he senses the tide turning—many brothers have listened to the actual audios and are realizing the truth is with Shaykh Abū Iyād.
- More people are asking for evidence, and Arafāt is starting to deflect, twist meanings, and move away from specific claims he can no longer defend.
📚 Summary:
- Shaykh Abū Iyād did not call scholars “Bedouins.”
- He never insulted the scholars' intelligence or piety.
- He never criticized the Arabs as a race.
- The entire attack is built upon misquotation, emotional manipulation, and deliberate distortion of historical commentary on medical policy adoption in Gulf countries.
❝ Indeed, the worst lie is to twist someone’s words in order to make him hated by the people of Sunnah.❞
We urge our brothers and sisters to return to fairness, verify before they judge, and not fall into partisanship. Sincerity demands that we uphold the honor of our scholars but also defend the innocent from slander. Differences in ijtihād should not lead to slander, character assassination, or disunity.
We ask Allāh to unite the hearts of Ahl al-Sunnah upon the truth, to expose every false accuser, and to grant firmness to those who have been oppressed and slandered for merely clarifying facts and speaking with sincerity.
Shaykh Arafat:
والسلفي لا يتعصب، بل يرجع عن خطئه ويشكر من نصحه. ولكن لابد أن يكون النصح في محله وتصان للسلفي كرامته.
"A Salafi is not partisan; rather, he retracts his mistake and thanks the one who advised him.
However, the advice must be given appropriately, and the honor of the Salafi must be preserved." ?
For by Allāh, what is done for the sake of Allāh will remain, and all your fabrications will vanish. May Allāh protect Ahl al-Sunnah from betrayal in their ranks, and may He expose every tongue of slander, no matter how it disguises itself as “advice” or “defense of the scholars.”
We urge our brothers and sisters to return to fairness, verify before they judge, and not fall into partisanship. Sincerity demands that we uphold the honor of our scholars but also defend the innocent from slander. Differences in ijtihād should not lead to slander, character assassination, or disunity.
For by Allāh, what is done for the sake of Allāh will remain, and all your fabrications will vanish. May Allāh protect Ahl al-Sunnah from betrayal in their ranks, and may He expose every tongue of slander, no matter how it disguises itself as “advice” or “defense of the scholars.”
We ask Allāh to unite the hearts of Ahl al-Sunnah upon the truth, to expose every false accuser, and to grant firmness to those who have been oppressed and slandered for merely clarifying facts and speaking with sincerity.
May Allāh protect us all from falsehood, and may He preserve our scholars and sincere callers upon the Sunnah.