The Position of Students of Knowledge Toward Imported Ideas

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, we ask you to clarify our position regarding the group of young people and students of knowledge who are distracted from seeking knowledge, who speak ill of some scholars, and who show bias toward others. This is a serious issue that has become widespread among students of knowledge, so what is your guidance on this matter?

Answer:
When the people of this land were connected to their scholars, young and old, and the situation was good and upright, and no ideas came to them from outside, the reason for this was that no ideas came to them from outside. They trusted their scholars, their leaders, and their sensible people. They were one group, they were brothers, and they were in a good state. But when ideas came from outside, whether through the people who came or through some books, some magazines, or some radio stations, and when ideas started pouring in from outside and the young people started receiving them, division occurred. This is because these young people who deviated were influenced by ideas that came from outside.
As for those who remained connected to their scholars and were not influenced by these imported ideas, they are, praise be to Allah, upright like their predecessors and in a good state. The cause of this division goes back to receiving ideas from people other than the scholars of this land, receiving imported ideas from outside from suspicious people or misguided people who want to remove the blessing we live in in this land: security, stability, the implementation of the Shari'ah, and many blessings in this land that do not exist in other lands. They want to remove this blessing. They wanted to divide us and to take our youth away, to remove trust from our scholars, and at that time, may Allah protect us, what happens will have no good outcome. So we must be alert to this, and not accept imported ideas or suspicious principles, even if they are dressed in the clothing of truth and good. We are not in doubt about our situation, praise be to Allah. We are on a sound methodology and a sound creed. We have scholars, we have schools, we have colleges, we have universities, and we have every good, praise be to Allah. So we are not in doubt about our situation or our methodology, so why do we receive imported ideas from outside and spread them among us, causing division, causing disagreement, and causing conflict, as you know? There is no solution to this problem except to abandon these incoming ideas and to focus on developing the good we have, working with it, and calling to it, because we are, praise be to Allah, on a sound methodology. And if there is a deficiency in us, we can treat it. We can correct our mistakes. This is possible without importing ideas from outside, or from ignorant people outside, or from suspicious or misguided people. The time now is a time of trials, O servants of Allah. The time now is a time of trials. As time passes, trials become more severe. So you must realize this, that you know we are in a time of trials. So we do not listen to doubts, and we do not listen to the words of suspicious and misguided people, and those who want to rob us of this blessing we live in, and to make us like other lands: robbery, plunder, killing, loss of rights, corruption of creeds, enmities, and hardships.
Compare our situation with the situation of other lands, and you will realize the great difference. It is not possible to preserve this blessing except by thanking for it, preserving its development, and blocking the paths that try to rob this blessing and destroy it. So be alert to this. This is a plot, this is a scheme, this is an evil imported from our enemies. Yes.