Elections and Political Parties

Question : The questioner says: Is it wise to work with Islamic parties that confront secularism, communism, and other destructive principles, or is it wiser to leave these parties and abandon political work entirely? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer : The wisdom in these parties is that we act according to the conduct of the righteous Salaf: first by following the correct path in ourselves, and then by reforming others. This is sufficient to repel the enemies. Working with other misguided groups that claim affiliation with Islam may only intensify the enemies' hostility, because they will enter upon us with misguided innovations and say, "You say such and such because we are before you as a single group." This causes us harm through this gathering that contains both innovations and the Sunnah.
But we keep away from all of this and call people by one path, which is the path of the righteous Salaf, and that is sufficient. What is this idea that says we should all gather, the people of the Sunnah and the people of innovation, to face the enemies? What is this view but like the view of one who says, "Bring the weak hadiths to frighten people so that they may be encouraged to obedience and deterred from sin"? This is an error. Therefore, we do not see any merit in citing weak hadiths, neither to encourage nor to deter; we do not see any merit in citing them at all, except when accompanied by an explanation of their weakness, because the authentic hadiths are sufficient. Likewise, the pure path of the righteous Salaf, free from the impurities of innovation, is sufficient.