A group has emerged on the scene attempting to combine the Salafis with the Muslim Brotherhood, arguing that the Salafis are disorganized and unrealistic.

The questioner : There is a new group on the scene, as can be seen, that combines the Salafi group with the Muslim Brotherhood. They believe the Salafi group is disorganized and unrealistic, so they bring organization or realism to the Salafi group, as they claim. Is this group, I mean, legitimate?

The Shaykh : By Allah, the answer to this depends on knowing what they mean by organization. As we have said many times, organizing lessons and meetings is similar to formal schools; no one disputes the permissibility of that. Opening schools was not customary in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), but it occurred later. There is no doubt that this is a type of organization, and there is no objection to it. However, if they mean by organization what is the reality of many groups, namely secret work and preparing to rebel against the Muslim ruler, then this is, of course, not permissible in the first place. Second, the fate of the Salafi group that tries to combine calling to the Salaf with the organizational style of some of the later generations is that they will be neither Salafis nor Muslim Brotherhood members, as it is said of some birds that they forgot their gait. Because the call does not succeed unless one devotes oneself to it, as is the case with any scientific work, which requires specialization. If a person mixes one type of work with another, he will not master either. We always say that it is necessary for every group to perform one of the collective obligations, but on the condition that it is within the circle that unites them, which is the circle of Islam according to the Book and the Sunnah and what our righteous predecessors were upon. Specialization in work is not denied, but mixing this with that is not permissible. For example, the administrative manager—the school principal—cannot be a teacher; he cannot be a teacher of hadith or tafsir, and so on. His work is administrative. Likewise, the hadith scholar and exegete cannot be a manager, because his work is educational. And what is said about individuals is said about groups exactly. If they—a group of Salafis—want to combine teaching the call with organization, especially if it is of the type that is not prescribed, then they have lost and gained nothing.