Did you meet Shaykh Hasan al-Banna? And what is your opinion of his call?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : I met, O my Shaykh, Shaykh Hasan al-Banna?
The Shaykh : Regarding Hasan al-Banna, I said a word about him in my time: He is, of course, not a scholar, but he actually has a style in attracting people to him, and it is sufficient for him as a point of pride that he saved thousands of young people from entertainment venues, cinemas, coffee shops, and the like.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : And his call, in general, as he says, is: the Book and the Sunnah, but his group stopped at this word and did not take a single step forward with it.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : So they should have utilized this word as a sound methodology, even though he, in any case, did not deviate from his call.
The questioner : Yes, O my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, so Shaykh Hasan al-Banna, with this general call to the Book and the Sunnah, appears to be dominated by politics and diplomacy, which may not agree with the Shari'ah and its rulings. I do not know if that was with his knowledge or not. And sufficient as an indication of this is the declaration he made for his call when he said: "Our call is a Salafi Sufi one". Do you know this, or are you a stranger to it?
The questioner : No, I am a stranger to it.
The Shaykh : And in Egypt as well.
The questioner : Because I was raised as a Salafi from the very beginning! And praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed!! So this is their call, and they take pride in it, but this indicates that they do not understand what Sufism is, nor what Salafism is, and that they do not know that the Salafi call is completely incompatible with the Sufi call. But he means by the Salafi call a general call that contains no verification, no urging people to follow the Messenger in every big and small matter. And they understand from Sufism a softening of hearts and fear of the Unseen, and holding onto people. They do not understand that it contains the unity of existence, turning away from the Sunnah in conduct and life, and so on. So, within the limits of their narrow knowledge, it is possible for them to combine water and fire; the water that is the cause of life and the fire that is for destruction. They combine this and that, between Salafism and Sufism. So I, regarding Hasan al-Banna, only respect him from this angle, where he was a cause for gathering the youth and awakening them from those corrupt societies like cinemas and cafes, and so on. But it was up to the remainder of them to complete his journey by putting the dots on the letters regarding the fact that the call is to the Book and the Sunnah. And he explicitly stated something of this in his letters, in some of the *Letters of Teachings*.
The Shaykh : Regarding Hasan al-Banna, I said a word about him in my time: He is, of course, not a scholar, but he actually has a style in attracting people to him, and it is sufficient for him as a point of pride that he saved thousands of young people from entertainment venues, cinemas, coffee shops, and the like.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : And his call, in general, as he says, is: the Book and the Sunnah, but his group stopped at this word and did not take a single step forward with it.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : So they should have utilized this word as a sound methodology, even though he, in any case, did not deviate from his call.
The questioner : Yes, O my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, so Shaykh Hasan al-Banna, with this general call to the Book and the Sunnah, appears to be dominated by politics and diplomacy, which may not agree with the Shari'ah and its rulings. I do not know if that was with his knowledge or not. And sufficient as an indication of this is the declaration he made for his call when he said: "Our call is a Salafi Sufi one". Do you know this, or are you a stranger to it?
The questioner : No, I am a stranger to it.
The Shaykh : And in Egypt as well.
The questioner : Because I was raised as a Salafi from the very beginning! And praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed!! So this is their call, and they take pride in it, but this indicates that they do not understand what Sufism is, nor what Salafism is, and that they do not know that the Salafi call is completely incompatible with the Sufi call. But he means by the Salafi call a general call that contains no verification, no urging people to follow the Messenger in every big and small matter. And they understand from Sufism a softening of hearts and fear of the Unseen, and holding onto people. They do not understand that it contains the unity of existence, turning away from the Sunnah in conduct and life, and so on. So, within the limits of their narrow knowledge, it is possible for them to combine water and fire; the water that is the cause of life and the fire that is for destruction. They combine this and that, between Salafism and Sufism. So I, regarding Hasan al-Banna, only respect him from this angle, where he was a cause for gathering the youth and awakening them from those corrupt societies like cinemas and cafes, and so on. But it was up to the remainder of them to complete his journey by putting the dots on the letters regarding the fact that the call is to the Book and the Sunnah. And he explicitly stated something of this in his letters, in some of the *Letters of Teachings*.