What is your advice for the young men who go out with the Tabligh group for da'wah?
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The questioner : May Allah preserve you, O honorable Shaykh. I ask you for advice regarding going out with the Tabligh group, as this group has started to take some of the young men out for da'wah. There are many young men who go out with them. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : We live in the Syrian and Jordanian environment, in the same atmosphere that you are now describing as the one in which you live. There is no doubt that any group that belongs to Islam, whose original foundation and basic pillar is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is one of us; they have what we have, and they are bound by what binds us. However, you have just heard the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or rather many hadiths, some of which we mentioned just now, that the saved group is only that which worships Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon, and what his Companions were upon, and what those who followed them in excellence were upon until the Day of Judgment. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) singled out the people of the first three generations for excellence. Whoever follows their path is one with whom we walk, and whoever deviates from their path is not one with whom we walk. We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to guide us and them to walk upon this straight path. We know from this group that there is much good among them, and that they generally believe that their going out is for the good. Nothing is clearer evidence of this belief than that they call their going out "going out in the path of Allah." This is a recent term for a recent matter, or a matter that is recent; both are contrary to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon. If some of the scholars had gone out for da'wah to Allah, to the Book of Allah, and to the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), this would have been praiseworthy for them, especially in this present age in which the number of Muslims has increased and the number of guides has decreased. If many individuals from among their scholars had gone out and spread throughout the various Islamic lands, calling the Ummah to follow the Book and the Sunnah, there would be no disagreement on that, and no two camels would butt heads over it. For going out in the path of da'wah to Allah by scholars is the Sunnah of the Prophets and Messengers, and of the Companions who followed their path and way. As for the going out of tens or hundreds from one country to another, where there may be only one scholar or one student of knowledge among them, this was certainly not the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We advise these people that their scholars should go out, if they have scholars in the true sense, meaning a scholar of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf. We advise that whoever among their scholars is upon this methodology should go out to call people, guide them, and direct them. We also advise the others who go out with such a scholar in large groups and crowds; we advise them to stay in their lands, to frequent their mosques, and to hold the scholarly circles there, which are described in some authentic hadiths. This is better for them than going out as we have mentioned, when they have no knowledge. I said just now that such going out contradicts the Sunnah in two ways. The first is practically: such going out, with its large numbers and little knowledge, was not known until this last century, after those long centuries, let alone the centuries attested to as being the best. This is certainly one of the newly invented matters; that is, this going out in such great numbers was not in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), nor in the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor in the time of the Imams who exercised independent legal reasoning, nor in the time of the scholars who followed them, until this age. This group emerged, going out in such great numbers instead of sitting, as we said, to study the Book of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. So this is one of the newly invented matters.
And a straw on a camel's hump: they call this going out by a name other than its true name; they call it "going out in the path of Allah," and they have established a system for it. This system has no basis: three days, forty days, and other details that I do not recall now. It is an innovation in both reality and name, in both reality and name. We have many reports that, due to their lack of knowledge of the correct knowledge, they fall into many problems. Sometimes they narrate weak and fabricated hadiths, and sometimes they issue fatwas following a Shaykh without knowing his source or origin from the Book of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. For this reason, and because we have many gatherings and meetings with some of their individuals, whom we hope are sincere in their going out, even if they are mistaken.
The Shaykh : We live in the Syrian and Jordanian environment, in the same atmosphere that you are now describing as the one in which you live. There is no doubt that any group that belongs to Islam, whose original foundation and basic pillar is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is one of us; they have what we have, and they are bound by what binds us. However, you have just heard the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or rather many hadiths, some of which we mentioned just now, that the saved group is only that which worships Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon, and what his Companions were upon, and what those who followed them in excellence were upon until the Day of Judgment. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) singled out the people of the first three generations for excellence. Whoever follows their path is one with whom we walk, and whoever deviates from their path is not one with whom we walk. We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to guide us and them to walk upon this straight path. We know from this group that there is much good among them, and that they generally believe that their going out is for the good. Nothing is clearer evidence of this belief than that they call their going out "going out in the path of Allah." This is a recent term for a recent matter, or a matter that is recent; both are contrary to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon. If some of the scholars had gone out for da'wah to Allah, to the Book of Allah, and to the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), this would have been praiseworthy for them, especially in this present age in which the number of Muslims has increased and the number of guides has decreased. If many individuals from among their scholars had gone out and spread throughout the various Islamic lands, calling the Ummah to follow the Book and the Sunnah, there would be no disagreement on that, and no two camels would butt heads over it. For going out in the path of da'wah to Allah by scholars is the Sunnah of the Prophets and Messengers, and of the Companions who followed their path and way. As for the going out of tens or hundreds from one country to another, where there may be only one scholar or one student of knowledge among them, this was certainly not the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We advise these people that their scholars should go out, if they have scholars in the true sense, meaning a scholar of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf. We advise that whoever among their scholars is upon this methodology should go out to call people, guide them, and direct them. We also advise the others who go out with such a scholar in large groups and crowds; we advise them to stay in their lands, to frequent their mosques, and to hold the scholarly circles there, which are described in some authentic hadiths.
No group sits in a gathering reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves except that tranquility descends upon them, the angels surround them, mercy covers them, and Allah mentions them among those with Him.
ما جلس قوم مجلسا يتلون فيه كتاب الله ويتدارسونه بينهم إلا نزلت عليهم السكينة وحفتهم الملائكة وغشيتهم الرحمة وذكرهم الله فيمن عندهAnd a straw on a camel's hump: they call this going out by a name other than its true name; they call it "going out in the path of Allah," and they have established a system for it. This system has no basis: three days, forty days, and other details that I do not recall now. It is an innovation in both reality and name, in both reality and name. We have many reports that, due to their lack of knowledge of the correct knowledge, they fall into many problems. Sometimes they narrate weak and fabricated hadiths, and sometimes they issue fatwas following a Shaykh without knowing his source or origin from the Book of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. For this reason, and because we have many gatherings and meetings with some of their individuals, whom we hope are sincere in their going out, even if they are mistaken.