If Muslims organize themselves to collect funds and establish charitable associations and the like, is this considered one of the prohibited forms of factionalism?

The questioner : May Allah reward you. I mean, in this country specifically, and in neighboring countries, they care about the affairs of Muslims, building schools and mosques for them, enjoining good and forbidding evil, fulfilling some of the obligations of Islam. But for example, take our Muslim brothers in India; the government, I mean, resists Islam and wants to end it on this continent. So Muslims are forced to organize themselves to preserve their religion and their dignity, organizing themselves to collect funds to build mosques and schools. If they do not do this, they will be completely lost. The Salafis have a lack of organization, for example; they have doubts about organizing themselves. These groups are skilled in organization; every generation the Salafis raise is absorbed by these organizations. They absorb the youth and provide an outlet for their energy, so they find nothing else before them. The Salafis do not have programs, so these groups and parties take them, taking the first, second, and third generations, and then such doubts come to them. So what prevents us from organization, given that its fruits are good: building mosques, building hospitals, building schools? If we do not do this work, we will have no standing and our youth will not be established. So how do we answer them?

The Shaykh : I say—May Allah reward you—the reason for the difference between the two groups is that the group you praised for their cooperation with one another has nothing to occupy them with other than that, so that is their occupation. Their situation is like that of the Christians; they have no concern other than preaching, which suits the desires of people and those being called. Likewise, these organized people are directed toward this work, and they have no other work to occupy them with it. And the opposite is the case: the Salafis are occupied with a very great task, which is their concern with understanding Islam correctly, first, according to the methodology of the Book, the Sunnah, and the righteous Salaf. Then, each individual among them is concerned with applying what he learns to himself, to his wife, and to his children. This concern occupies them from performing some of the other obligations, because the capacity of human souls is limited, as is not hidden from everyone. To the extent that a person is concerned with one aspect, he falls short in another. If this falling short in the other aspect is, although it is obligatory, but it is less important than the concern for the first matter, then if we blame them, we blame them to a degree. But as for those others, the blame upon them is greater, because they do not concern themselves with this more obligatory matter, but rather they concern themselves with what the disbelieving, polytheist Christians concern themselves with. So their organization, in this sense, is much more precise than the organizations of the other Islamic groups. It is true that the Salafis should take Islam in its entirety, not in parts, and this is part of our call as an ideology. But is it possible for the Muslim scholar, for example, to work in all aspects of life? He cannot do that; he is not able to be a specialist in the science of Tafsir, a specialist in the science of Hadith, a specialist in comparative Fiqh, a specialist in language and the like. But he must have a grasp of these sciences to a degree, then specialize in one science, so that his benefit to people is stronger and more comprehensive in what he specializes in. Therefore, I am not surprised by, for example, the concern of the Tabligh group with this going out, which has robbed the minds of some of the elite, let alone the common people, because they have no other occupation. We tell them: sit down, study the knowledge, and we remind them of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): They do not do that. If they did, they would not be able to go out in this manner, especially since in this going out there is the fulfillment of hidden desires in the souls, which they consider to be religion. I almost say: it is almost applicable to them His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the Noble Qur'an They go out in groups of tens and hundreds, and most of them have not even known tawhid (the oneness of Allah) yet. Sit down, my brothers, in the mosques, and study the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). For one of them to understand the religion of Allah is equal to this going out, which they call, out of ignorance and ignorance, going out in the path of Allah. Seeking knowledge in the path of Allah. Why do they not seek knowledge? Because it does not suit the desires in their souls. So it is with the other groups; they concern themselves with things that the Salafis do not actually concern themselves with, because they are not able to do so from this aspect. Therefore, I say a word that some of our brothers may find strange, but I believe it is the truth: I see no obstacle to there being multiple groups, multiple groups but within one methodology, except that each group has its own specific work, such that the single call unites them so that they do not hate one another.

The questioner : ...and the single goal.

The Shaykh : And the single goal, and so on, but specialization, like individuals, we say in groups.

The questioner : This is what we want.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is what we want.

The questioner : ... But it is attributed to us and to you that this is not permissible with us.

The Shaykh : This is one of the lies attributed to us—May Allah reward you.

The questioner : I want to record this statement—May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : This is recorded—May Allah reward you—and our brothers bear witness to it. Yes, indeed.

The questioner : We say the goal is one, and there can be hundreds of groups, and they establish charitable projects in building mosques and schools?

The Shaykh : Let it be. I say: the ruling on groups is like the ruling on individuals. If one person does not know of Fiqh except what is necessary, but he is an electrical engineer, a construction engineer, and the like, as long as he is with us in the base, may Allah reward him with good, for he is fulfilling an obligation. We say this about individuals, and we apply it to groups as well. But which groups are these? Are they the ones present on the scene today? The ones who hate each other, are distant from each other, and turn their backs on each other? Differing in the fundamental methodology? We tell them: Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said. They say: This is not the time for it now. When will it be the time? When disbelief occupies the minds of Muslims instead of the previous colonial disbeliever? Allah is the helper. We have been saying this—May Allah reward you—for thirty years in Syria. Yes, indeed.

The questioner : By Allah, I have not heard it from you, but praise be to Allah, we have reached this conclusion.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, "A shoe that fits the foot, and he embraced it."

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

Another questioner : These organizations, O Shaykh, which object to the Salafi methodology and accuse it of these accusations, do they offer the projects they offer, supported as you mentioned, more famous than the missionary projects that are carried out at the expense of the loss of themselves and their families?

The Shaykh : And this is what we say.

Another questioner : A few days ago, in an incident here in the city, a man was found, and his children were being chased by some of the wicked in the late night.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

Another questioner : So Allah sent the police and the officials—may Allah reward them with good—and they saved the children. So we asked the children why? What took you out at this hour?

The Shaykh : Their father is busy with the call (da'wah).

Another questioner : They said: Our father went out four months ago and we do not know his fate.

The Shaykh : That is it.

Another questioner : And we do not know if he is alive or dead, and he left us, and I went out to take my brother to the clinic, and this wicked man intercepted me and chased me.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

Another questioner : Yes, and this is the truth, a few days ago in Sha'ban, it happened.
Abu Layla : Where did his father go?

The questioner : He went with the Tabligh group.

The Shaykh : It is the one we were talking to you about.

Another questioner : Yes, it is the one you mentioned, and I said it in support of you.

The Shaykh : Yes, I do not say to our friend here before we came to this town.
...

The questioner : There are those who say that the current groups, in their current reality with their current methodologies, are complementary to one another, and that their existence is good, and that we should cooperate among ourselves, and that the disagreement is like the disagreement among the four schools of jurisprudence?

The Shaykh : This statement is correct in light of what you have just heard. When there is one methodology, one creed, and the reference is the Book and the Sunnah, then some of them complete the work of others. But to say: They say: This is not the time for this. This completes the work of that? This is impossible.
I am telling you a story from when I was a teacher at the Islamic University. We were gathered in the house of one of our brothers at that time—remember this well—the library director was 'Umar al-Ashqar. Do you remember him?

The questioner : I remember him, yes.

The Shaykh : Good, and there was Hasan al-Tabbi. Do you remember him well?Al-Halabi ؟

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And some of our brothers. The room was about the size of this one, and the brothers all attended and leaned against the four walls. When a man entered whom you know well, but I do not like to name individuals, he was the head of one of the Islamic groups, a loud-voiced orator, who claimed to be a Salafi and to have a book on prayer. When he entered, none of us stood up for him. This was the first shock for him. It so happened that I was sitting at the door threshold, as if I were here in this brother's place. He started shaking hands with one person after another, and I was studying his face, seeing the expressions change. When he came to me and shook my hand, being the last one to shake hands, I said to him, "Professor, 'a guest without standing up for him,'" as they say in the Levant. He rushed to say, "Professor, these are trivial matters, and we are now busy with something more important. We must work on the more important matters and leave these superficial things, as you know. We must fight the communists and the Ba'athists, and so on, and we do not differ in anything." I said to him, "Professor, this is dangerous talk. 'We do not differ in anything.' You know that Muslims in this time have differed in the interpretation of the word of salvation from eternal abode in the Fire. The good word, 'La ilaha illa Allah.' A Shaykh was found among us in Syria who wrote a treatise and interpreted 'La ilaha illa Allah' to mean 'There is no Lord but Allah,' not 'There is no true object of worship in existence but Allah.' There is no Lord but Allah. So the difference exists even in the creed. Does your statement mean that we should direct ourselves to fighting the Ba'athists, the communists, the materialists, and the like, and leave our Muslim people in their ignorance, deluded? Is that what your statement means?"
He said: Yes, we must leave all differences and direct ourselves to fighting these people. Shaykh, how do you fight them? If they are truly polytheists, but monotheists in wording, and faith has not entered their hearts, how can you manage to fight them? This is the head of one of the groups existing today on the face of the Islamic earth. And so the word I mentioned, that every group completes the work of the other, is correct, and this is what we say. When they are on one methodology and in one call, they do not differ. This one says he is a Hanafi, this one a Shafi'i, this one a partisan, this one a liberal, this one something similar. No, this is completely contrary to reality. This divides the Muslims, and our reality today is the greatest witness. But when the Muslims respond to us and are with us in the call to the truth, returning to the Book and the Sunnah, and on the methodology of the righteous Salaf, then as I said earlier, I am a man who works on hadith, so-and-so works on jurisprudence, another works on exegesis, another works on engineering, physics, chemistry, and other sciences that are collective obligations. So each of us completes the effort of the other, on the condition that we are on one word. This condition is missing today. And what we said about individuals, we apply it to groups completely. If they unite on one methodology, and each group specializes in performing its duty, then the believers will rejoice in the victory of Allah. But this call is among the misguidances of the groups for these Muslim peoples, who want to mislead people from the call to the truth, meaning that every group completes the effort of the other. This is incorrect. If they remain as they are, continuing to be distant from acting upon the Book and the Sunnah, and from submitting to the ruling of the Book and the Sunnah, how do they say that working now on authenticating hadiths and weakening them, and saying that this is Sunnah and this is innovation, is all premature? What must we do in this time? It is to work to establish the state of Islam. But how can the state of Islam be established on knowledge? Or on ignorance?
I mean, the matter is strange, and it is one of the contradictions, which forces us to say sometimes that many of the partisans are not sincere in their call to Islam, even if it is a general Islam. They are not sincere, why? Because they do not care about understanding Islam. And if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has facilitated for them someone who explains Islam to them, they want him to be one of them. It has happened in Damascus that some of our brothers submitted an application to the Muslim Brotherhood in my name, wanting to join the Muslim Brotherhood group, and it was rejected. Why? Because this man is a Wahhabi, a Wahhabi man who calls to the Book and the Sunnah, and you call him a Wahhabi man. I know the reason. The reason is that if I entered the Muslim Brotherhood group and was considered one of them, the group would suffer a great and dangerous intellectual revolution for them. And they want to consolidate.
I know that one of the heads of these groups is a Salafi in creed in himself, but when he met one of the Sufi Shaykhs, he would kiss his hand. How is this? Politics requires it. But we do not want the Muslim brother to submit in this submission. And how good is the word of Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) when he said: "Kissing the hand is the small prostration." So we do not want our Muslim brothers in general to prostrate a small prostration through this submission to the heads or the elders or the like. For this reason, they do not accept. And I am saying a word of truth, but most people do not realize it. You do not find a scholar in the Muslim Brotherhood. You do not find a scholar in the Muslim Brotherhood. Why? Because this scholar would call people to the call of the truth, and the call of the truth divides the ranks, and they want to consolidate and gather!
And we used to say, and we still say, the difference between our call and the call of others. Our call is based on the principle: educate, then consolidate. The call of others is based on the principle: consolidate, then educate. And then there is no education or anything after that. Because we find, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood has passed half a century of time, and one of them lives without knowing the creed of the slave girl. The creed of the slave girl that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) tested her with by saying: Ask any of the heads of these groups: Where is Allah? They say: My hair stood up from what you said. This is a question that is not permissible by the Shari'ah. Allah is the Greatest! How, Shaykh, is it not permissible? And the Prophet is the one who directed such a question, and it was an instruction from him to us. How do you say it is not permissible?!
Good, my lord, I made a mistake! I did what the Prophet did with the slave girl! But I made a mistake, so I want the answer. What is the answer? The answer: Allah is everywhere. This is the creed of the Mu'tazilah, and the creed of the Asha'irah, in which they opposed the people of the Sunnah and the community truly. So what is the benefit of this consolidation? Fifty years and more pass for them, and they have not learned anything of Islam in correcting the creed, at least. As for the acts of worship, as for prayer, here the hadith that is not authentic applies to them:

The questioner : The old women?

The Shaykh : The old women, yes. So they pray as they found their fathers and grandfathers praying. They do not know the description of the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). One of them performs Hajj and does not know.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : One of them performs Hajj without knowing how to perform it? Is it ifrad, qiran, or tamattu'? Why? Because he has not studied the Hajj of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), nor has he studied what the Messenger (peace be upon him) concluded in his statement in the well-known story in the authentic Sunnah when he ordered them to exit the state of ihram. He said: . What are they doing like this today? Because they do not know. So what is the benefit of the noise, raising the voice, and shouting about jihad? He is our leader and our Messenger, and so on. Then there is nothing: no progress in politics, no progress in creed, no progress in worship, and nothing at all. Because in reality, the matter is as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said in the Noble Qur'an: . These people, and Allah knows best, do not exercise independent legal reasoning, and they seek to exalt the word of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as came in the hadith of Abu Musa in "the two Sahihs" when a man said: O Messenger of Allah, a man among us fights out of tribal loyalty; is he in the cause of Allah? He said: . He said: A man among us fights out of bravery; is he in the cause of Allah? He said: . He said: The third and fourth, and finally they said: Who is in the cause of Allah? He (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) said: . And I believe that these people work only for politics, and thus, in the correct expression, only for the position, to be heads in the state, to sit on the chairs, and to control the necks of people. With what?

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh- And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings - with an Islam that has no concept in their hearts. Please proceed.