With what does one who desires reform and improvement begin?
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Question : Whoever desires prayer and peace. What does he do? Okay.
Answer : We cannot say in general terms, because the Muslim community is now divided into two directions. Some are corrupt in their creed. They invoke the dead and seek nearness to Allah through them by means that are forbidden. And some of the Muslim community are deviant in their submission to the Book and the Sunnah; they do not raise their heads with them and do not see any harm in contradicting them. How many lean toward desires, eclipses, and debauchery? So each one is called according to his condition.
But if the community is upright and begins to fragment, we must eliminate this fragmentation gradually, but by the means that achieve the objective, not by confrontation. For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade confronting the rulers, because of the evil and corruption in that, except if we see clear disbelief with proof from Allah. In that case, we do not remain silent, but we do not confront them either, unless this is a condition for permissibility. No, it is not a condition for obligation, but a condition for permissibility. If it is permissible to confront them, there must be another important thing, which is the ability to remove them without shedding blood. As for confronting them without the ability, resulting in the shedding of blood and greater corruption, that is not of Islam at all. And so, what I mean by the Muslim community is that the first thing is to exit.
So the Khawarij rebelled against 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) when they first rebelled. In fact, the scholars said that the first Khawarij were in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The man who said to him, "Be just," when he distributed [the spoils], said, "Be just," and said, "This is a distribution supported for those in authority." But this is rebellion through speech, because rebellion can be with the sword or with speech. But in any case, we cannot determine a specific thing to say, "Start with this." This depends on the reality.
Answer : We cannot say in general terms, because the Muslim community is now divided into two directions. Some are corrupt in their creed. They invoke the dead and seek nearness to Allah through them by means that are forbidden. And some of the Muslim community are deviant in their submission to the Book and the Sunnah; they do not raise their heads with them and do not see any harm in contradicting them. How many lean toward desires, eclipses, and debauchery? So each one is called according to his condition.
But if the community is upright and begins to fragment, we must eliminate this fragmentation gradually, but by the means that achieve the objective, not by confrontation. For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade confronting the rulers, because of the evil and corruption in that, except if we see clear disbelief with proof from Allah. In that case, we do not remain silent, but we do not confront them either, unless this is a condition for permissibility. No, it is not a condition for obligation, but a condition for permissibility. If it is permissible to confront them, there must be another important thing, which is the ability to remove them without shedding blood. As for confronting them without the ability, resulting in the shedding of blood and greater corruption, that is not of Islam at all. And so, what I mean by the Muslim community is that the first thing is to exit.
So the Khawarij rebelled against 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) when they first rebelled. In fact, the scholars said that the first Khawarij were in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The man who said to him, "Be just," when he distributed [the spoils], said, "Be just," and said, "This is a distribution supported for those in authority." But this is rebellion through speech, because rebellion can be with the sword or with speech. But in any case, we cannot determine a specific thing to say, "Start with this." This depends on the reality.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 427 - بماذا يبدأ من أراد الصلاح والإصلاح؟ شرح تقريب التدمرية - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.