Combining the obligation of conveying the message with the condition of knowledge for the caller
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, how can one reconcile the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), “I have been commanded to convey, even if it is only one verse,” with the condition of abundant knowledge for the caller?
Answer:
There is no contradiction between these, praise be to Allah; because conveying the message is of two types: conveying texts and conveying meanings. Conveying texts is done by anyone who memorizes a text from the Book of Allah or from the Sunnah of His Messenger; he preserves it for the people. If he memorizes a surah or a verse, he teaches the people that surah, and if he memorizes a hadith, he teaches it to the people. This is conveying the text, and anyone can do it; it does not require knowledge, only memorization, and it is conveying the text. Therefore, many people who do not have knowledge teach the Qur'an, but they memorize the Qur'an and are proficient in recitation. People who do not have knowledge teach hadiths, but they are proficient in memorizing hadiths and teaching them to the people. Conveying the text does not require jurisprudence. The second type is conveying meanings, meaning explaining these texts and clarifying the rulings and wisdom contained in them. This is what requires knowledge; only a scholar can do it. So there is no contradiction, no contradiction between the obligation of conveying the message and the fact that one does not call people to what he does not know, because da'wah requires jurisprudence. Conveying meanings is explaining the meanings of the texts and clarifying them for the people, unlike the first type. Anyone who memorizes something from the Book of Allah or from the Sunnah of His Messenger is able to teach it to the people. It is good that he sits with the people, teaches them, and helps them memorize the Qur'an, memorize hadiths, and memorize texts. This is very good, but we tell him: do not explain the meanings to the people when you do not know them.
Honorable Shaykh, how can one reconcile the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), “I have been commanded to convey, even if it is only one verse,” with the condition of abundant knowledge for the caller?
Answer:
There is no contradiction between these, praise be to Allah; because conveying the message is of two types: conveying texts and conveying meanings. Conveying texts is done by anyone who memorizes a text from the Book of Allah or from the Sunnah of His Messenger; he preserves it for the people. If he memorizes a surah or a verse, he teaches the people that surah, and if he memorizes a hadith, he teaches it to the people. This is conveying the text, and anyone can do it; it does not require knowledge, only memorization, and it is conveying the text. Therefore, many people who do not have knowledge teach the Qur'an, but they memorize the Qur'an and are proficient in recitation. People who do not have knowledge teach hadiths, but they are proficient in memorizing hadiths and teaching them to the people. Conveying the text does not require jurisprudence. The second type is conveying meanings, meaning explaining these texts and clarifying the rulings and wisdom contained in them. This is what requires knowledge; only a scholar can do it. So there is no contradiction, no contradiction between the obligation of conveying the message and the fact that one does not call people to what he does not know, because da'wah requires jurisprudence. Conveying meanings is explaining the meanings of the texts and clarifying them for the people, unlike the first type. Anyone who memorizes something from the Book of Allah or from the Sunnah of His Messenger is able to teach it to the people. It is good that he sits with the people, teaches them, and helps them memorize the Qur'an, memorize hadiths, and memorize texts. This is very good, but we tell him: do not explain the meanings to the people when you do not know them.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- أسئلة وأجوبة من دروس التوحيد - الفوزان - أسئلة التوحيد - ٣ — archive.org (1:19:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.