We ask you to clarify for us what is the correct methodology for the Salafi call to Islam, especially in this time when trials have spread and knowledge has become scarce?

The questioner: My honorable father, we ask you to clarify for us what is the correct methodology for the Salafi call to Islam, especially in this time when trials have spread and knowledge has become scarce, and what is the difference between warning and ... and ... We ask for clarification, and may Allah reward you with good?

The Shaykh: As for the call to Islam, it cannot be established except by those who possess knowledge and uphold justice. As for what has become widespread in this time, where many people who have been given only a negligible share of knowledge call themselves callers to Allah; this, in my opinion—and perhaps you will be surprised, but I bear the responsibility for what I say—is among the innovations of the present age. It is an innovation of the present age that it is now spread among people that there are thousands of callers who have no knowledge of the Book, nor the Sunnah, nor the reports of the Salaf, nor even the established traditional schools of jurisprudence today. They only know some simple rulings, and perhaps some verses and some hadiths that the least knowledgeable person could deliver. Then they appoint themselves as callers. When asked about a certain issue, they are perplexed and unable to answer, and they may answer out of complete ignorance. This is a plague of the present age. I wish the matter stopped with these young upstarts, but we may find great men who have not been given that ample share of knowledge; yet they have become famous as callers. To what? To Islam. And they fight Islam by fighting the Sunnah, without which a Muslim cannot understand the Book of Allah except through the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). How can one be a caller to Islam who is ignorant of the Sunnah in knowledge, and then fights it in some of its aspects, at least in creed? This is not fit to be a caller to Islam, except in the manner I referred to earlier. I hope you will stop at my wording so that my words are not misquoted; except in the manner, what I say: like what I mentioned earlier about the Qadiyyan; for they are the most active of the Islamic sects in calling to Islam, but this call is not to Islam, but to their own Islam, which has taken them out of the circle of the inherited Islam, generation after generation.
Likewise, there are today some callers who have not been given an ample share and much knowledge of the Sunnah, by the light of which the Noble Qur'an can be interpreted correctly. So what does one say about such people? Rather, what do we say about the modern upstarts, hardly any of whom graduate from high school, let alone obtain a higher degree, even a doctorate, even in Shari'ah? For they have not yet learned much of the rulings of the Shari'ah. What do we say about these people who have appointed themselves to call to Islam, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as in "Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim," from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ?!
I know some muftis in some Arab Islamic countries—and not the non-Arab countries—who were asked about foreign maids who are brought to some Islamic countries as servants. Is it permissible for these female disbelieving maids to see the Muslim lady of the house uncovered, or must she veil herself before them as she veils herself before foreign men, as is explicit in the Qur'an in His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): until He said (Exalted is He) at the end of the verse: ?! Muslim women; for they are those before whom a Muslim woman is permitted to appear with her head, arms, feet, and the lower part of her legs uncovered. As for anything else, she lives uncovered, exposing her chest, exposing her upper arm; because she takes her freedom in her own home. But she has a disbelieving maid, a disbelieving servant. Do you know what he answered? He answered that it is permissible by analogy to the slave women; that is, the female slaves who were taken by a lawful means, so she would be their mistress!!
And we know from the Sunnah that the male slave of a woman is not permitted to see of her what is permitted for her mahram to see of her. It was reported in "Sunan Abu Dawud" that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered one day upon Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and with him was her slave, and she was lying down. When she saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his slave, she tried to cover herself and to wrap herself in her covering. So he said to her (peace and blessings be upon him): , and a fortiori, if it is a woman, and she analogizes this to the disbelieving maid who is not a slave owned by her, to the owned slave woman; does not the saying of him (peace be upon him) mentioned earlier apply to such a case: , and he holds a high position. So what do we say about the modern generation who appoint themselves to call—so they claim—to Islam, while they know little of Islam?
... and this is a joke in Syria, in our country, that is told to lighten the mood a bit, and because it is a reality, unfortunately; they claim that a non-Arab man, enthusiastic about Islam, and a layman, not a scholar nor a student of knowledge, met a man from the Jews on the road, so he took out the knife or the dirk and pointed it at him, and said: ... Islam or I will kill you. He said: Wait, what do I say? He said: By Allah, I do not know! - "Everyone laughs" - , this is one who is poor and calls to Islam, and threatens with death, but he does not know how to say: Say, "There is no god but Allah." This is an approximate example, not a specific one.
The important thing is that the call to Allah must be, above all, based on knowledge, , if he is not a worker with knowledge, he will not be a good worker, and the one who lacks a thing—as it is said in old times—does not give it. So the one who should be a caller must be a scholar, and this is not enough; he must be a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah, not a scholar of some late jurisprudential opinions, so that he falls into the kind of analogy you heard earlier; he analogized the free disbelieving maid to the disbelieving slave woman, and how great is the difference between them! This is first—that he be a scholar—, second, that he be a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah and on the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and finally, that he act upon his knowledge; for the call to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), even if it were one hundred percent correct, if it is not accompanied by the action of this caller, it will not have the desired effect on the masses of people; because people are more concerned with following the people of knowledge and virtue in their actions than in their words. This is what pertains to the path of the call to Allah.
As for what is called today organization; organization has two forms. There is no doubt that any work intended to be beneficial must have an organization for it, such as the lessons that may be delivered in some schools or in some universities; this is organization; because if that is not done, the matter of education becomes chaos. There is no objection to this organization in the manner existing today in the present age, as was the case in the past; where there were scholarly circles in all the mosques that were in the countries. I personally studied in the largest mosque in Syria, which is known as the Umayyad Mosque, the Mosque of the Banu Umayyah. I found in it multiple circles in the morning and evening. This one teaches in tafsir, this one teaches in Hanafi fiqh, and that one in Shafi'i fiqh, and although there was only one lesson per week in Prophetic hadith, and so on. But today, the mosques have become empty...
... in the hadith narrated by Muslim, narrated by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas: , it came in the other narration that he (peace be upon him) said, in one of them in response to the question: Who are the strangers? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and he said in the other narration in response to that same question ... , the other narration, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ... . These are truly the strangers in this age; why? Because they are known among people ... even some of the righteous people who ... to recognize the correct Sunnah, but they do not find among them anyone ... (peace and blessings be upon him).
The point ... guides them to the correct knowledge ... gatherings and groups ... this is a more desirable organization ... .
... ... ... .
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