A Response to Those Who Criticize the Scholars of the Kingdom for Not Mixing with the People
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Benefits from the explanation of the book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim li-Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim* by Ibn Taymiyyah. From this chapter, may Allah preserve you, sometimes some who do not understand good think it is evil, so they criticize its people for it, just as it came in the Qur'an[Al-Buruj 85:8] [Al-Ma'idah 5:59]? Yes, sometimes it is said about you, excuse me, Shaykh, the scholars of the Kingdom, may Allah save you from rebellion, and you sat in the best of lands and called to good, may Allah reward you with good. What they take issue with you for is that it is said your scholars did not go out. Do you see this as a defect, or a praise for which you thank Allah? I mean, it would be better if you had gone out and mixed with the people. Have you seen the uncovered women and the problems? They take issue with you that you did not go out. The problem with your scholars in Saudi Arabia is that they did not go out.
The Shaykh:
Going out. Good, because you did not travel and did not go out. Going out is of two types: going out for calling, clarification, and guidance, and this is obligatory, and the scholars have done this, praise be to Allah. So they go out and appear on the minbars and show up in the seminars, lectures, mosques, and gatherings, and they clarify the truth to the people. This is a lawful going out. As for the second type of going out, which is for looseness and pleasing the eyes with open sinfulness and vile scenes, without denouncing it, and without enjoining good and forbidding evil, then the scholars have been saved by Allah from this. So the scholars elevate themselves above this going out that involves looseness, laxity, approving of evil, and not enjoining good and forbidding evil.
The questioner:
Do the scholars need to go out to see the people to give fatwas that suit the people, or to teach the people the truth to make them carry it?
The Shaykh:
As we mentioned, the scholars go out in the lawful going out that involves calling, clarification, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and teaching the people, teaching the people the Shari'ah. The scholars go out in the mosques and on the minbars and in the seminars and in the gatherings and in every place where there is a place for calling to Allah. They did not hide or conceal themselves, but they do not want this. Yes.
They want the scholars to integrate into the corrupt society, and not to be strict, and not to be fanatical, in their claim, to be flexible. This is their intention, to be flexible with the people of falsehood, not to denounce them, and to consider them part of humanity. They are part of the corrupt humanity, yes, humanity but corrupt. The scholars elevate themselves above integrating with the people of falsehood and the people of evil without denunciation and without clarification. And without... they do not want this. They want us not to clarify and not to advise, but to integrate with them and be flexible. And they say religion is ease and tolerance. They interpret ease and tolerance with this wrong interpretation, that it means we leave the people and say the people are free and they all express their opinion and their freedom and so on and so on. What a bad freedom and what bad opinions! These will destroy them before others. So we clarify to them in order to save them from these pitfalls and these destructions. Yes. With the permission of Allah the Exalted.
Benefits from the explanation of the book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim li-Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim* by Ibn Taymiyyah. From this chapter, may Allah preserve you, sometimes some who do not understand good think it is evil, so they criticize its people for it, just as it came in the Qur'an
And they resented them not except because they believed in Allah
وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَن يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِdo you resent us except [for the fact] that we have believed
هَلْ تَنقِمُونَ مِنَّا إِلَّا أَنْ آمَنَّاThe Shaykh:
Going out. Good, because you did not travel and did not go out. Going out is of two types: going out for calling, clarification, and guidance, and this is obligatory, and the scholars have done this, praise be to Allah. So they go out and appear on the minbars and show up in the seminars, lectures, mosques, and gatherings, and they clarify the truth to the people. This is a lawful going out. As for the second type of going out, which is for looseness and pleasing the eyes with open sinfulness and vile scenes, without denouncing it, and without enjoining good and forbidding evil, then the scholars have been saved by Allah from this. So the scholars elevate themselves above this going out that involves looseness, laxity, approving of evil, and not enjoining good and forbidding evil.
The questioner:
Do the scholars need to go out to see the people to give fatwas that suit the people, or to teach the people the truth to make them carry it?
The Shaykh:
As we mentioned, the scholars go out in the lawful going out that involves calling, clarification, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and teaching the people, teaching the people the Shari'ah. The scholars go out in the mosques and on the minbars and in the seminars and in the gatherings and in every place where there is a place for calling to Allah. They did not hide or conceal themselves, but they do not want this. Yes.
They want the scholars to integrate into the corrupt society, and not to be strict, and not to be fanatical, in their claim, to be flexible. This is their intention, to be flexible with the people of falsehood, not to denounce them, and to consider them part of humanity. They are part of the corrupt humanity, yes, humanity but corrupt. The scholars elevate themselves above integrating with the people of falsehood and the people of evil without denunciation and without clarification. And without... they do not want this. They want us not to clarify and not to advise, but to integrate with them and be flexible. And they say religion is ease and tolerance. They interpret ease and tolerance with this wrong interpretation, that it means we leave the people and say the people are free and they all express their opinion and their freedom and so on and so on. What a bad freedom and what bad opinions! These will destroy them before others. So we clarify to them in order to save them from these pitfalls and these destructions. Yes. With the permission of Allah the Exalted.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [95] الرد على من يعيب على علماء المملكة بأنهم غير مختلطين بالناس - فوائد شرح اقتضاء الصراط المستقيم — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.