The Correct Understanding of Collective Action? Is It Part of Factionalism?

The questioner : Shaykh, collective action is a term that circulates in the air; what is the Salafi concept of collective action? And is it factionalism?

The Shaykh : The Shaykh: The answer is: Collective action, as we are now, is that we have gathered upon understanding the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We gather for the congregational prayer of the obligatory prayers, and we separate for the voluntary prayers in our lands when we are not travelers, because we know from the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) what those people do not know: that the traveler is not required to perform the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib). And we also know that the traveler may perform voluntary prayers such as the Dhuha prayer and the like. These are trivial matters in their view, but I will say to them: If the people of the mosque enter at the time of prayer and they want to pray the voluntary prayer, do they pray it in congregation or individually? If their statement or answer is that they pray it individually, we say to them: First, what is your evidence for that? And second, is this a trivial matter, or is it one of the matters that a person must know and not contradict?
I want to say now that we entered the mosque for the Dhuhr or Asr prayer, and each of us took a corner of the mosque to pray the pre-prayer voluntary prayer alone. If they agree with us that the Sunnah is to separate the groups of those who want to pray the voluntary prayer, meaning there is no congregation for the pre-prayer voluntary prayer, then we gather where the Shari'ah gathers us and we separate where the Shari'ah commands us to separate. So when we pray the voluntary prayers individually, it is not permissible for us to pray them in congregation. Why? Because the Shari'ah, in which we spend our entire lives seeking knowledge from the Book and the Sunnah, indicated to us this difference that those so-called preachers may not care about, which is that the voluntary prayers are prayed individually, and the obligatory prayers are prayed in congregation. Just as the one who prays the obligatory prayer alone and does not pray it with the congregation of Muslims commits a sin, so the one who prays the voluntary prayers in congregation and does not pray them individually commits a sin. Because both the gathering and the separating were brought by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, gathering people on something should not be by opinion, but by following the Shari'ah. Among the things that resemble the unlawful gathering of people is gathering them to pray the voluntary prayers in congregation, which is the blind factionalism that has taken hold of some groups today. By "today" I mean a long period of time, let us say today and before today, of the factional clustering that has increased the division among Muslims upon division. And we know, and they also know, and they always remind people of the saying of the Exalted: , but this blind factionalism is one of the strongest causes that divides Muslims and does not unite them, and reality confirms this. We have known a group from among us, the Salafis, in many Islamic lands, not in some of them, who were on a single word and were one group. When they imitated some other Islamic parties that were not guided by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when they imitated them and called for factionalism and factional clustering, division occurred within the single group that was truly uniting them, the first group mentioned in the hadith that I mentioned in a previous lecture, which is the description of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of the saved sect as being: , and in the other narration: . This group was truly a group upon the Book and the Sunnah. It did not take long before they called for factionalism and clustering, and the group split into two parts. We saw people in Jordan, in addition to other lands, split into two halves: people who continued in knowledge by recognizing the Book and the Sunnah, and people who took up working in charitable associations, calling people to give charity, and forming committees for doing good to the poor and needy. This is undoubtedly a good that is not denied, but they left the path they were upon. Because people's capacity is limited. People, as I said, have limited capacity. So whoever turns to seeking knowledge, especially since the path of seeking knowledge in this time, in which we are far from the early generations attested to as virtuous by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .

The Shaykh : On this occasion, I must make a short interjection, which is that what is common today on the tongues of lecturers, guides, and preachers is narrating the hadith with the wording . We do not know a source for this wording in the books of the Sunnah, even though this hadith has entered the category of mass-transmitted reports (mutawatir) due to its abundance. The correct wording that came in "al-Sahihayn" and others is only with the wording: , not , but rather: to the end of the hadith.
The point is that a group of Salafis were seeking knowledge like this, and seeking knowledge today is not as easy as it was in the early centuries. Because they used to receive knowledge directly, whereas we today, if we want to derive a ruling from the Book of Allah, we must know if this verse has a relationship with some hadiths that detail what relates to the verse, whether it is a general verse, in which case it may have a specifier, or an absolute verse, in which case it may have a restrictor, and the like. It is necessary to study the hadiths related to the verse. If we find something of that, we must take another step, which is to verify the authenticity of these hadiths. Then finally, if we have verified their authenticity, we must look at the scholars' stance on them: did they agree on its indication or did they differ? And so on, we need hours, or perhaps many days, to know the truth from what people have differed on. So seeking knowledge today is not as easy as some think. Therefore, the students of knowledge who were with us on the path were occupied with what? They were occupied with charitable associations. What is the reason for that? This reason is purely political, because the first aim is to win hearts, because the matter is as it was said long ago:
"Be good to people, you will enslave their hearts, *** For as long as a person is enslaved by goodness."
These charitable associations win the masses. And what is behind that? The reward of Allah in the Hereafter? If only it were so! No, the intention is to increase the number of votes when the time of elections comes. This is the path of those who work in factionalism and factional clustering to reach rule through parliaments, which are not of Islam in any way at all. Because the method of elections, as you all know, is that the Muslim nominates himself just as the disbeliever nominates himself, and then there is no difference in the election system between the righteous Muslim and the wicked one, or even between the righteous Muslim and the disbeliever. The one who gets more votes is the one who succeeds and becomes a member of parliament! Individuals from the students of knowledge were occupied with such matters that win people's hearts by distributing money... the knowledge they were proceeding in. And this, unfortunately, has a presence in many lands when factional clustering entered and divided not all Muslims, for they are divided from before as you know from the hadith of the sects, but rather factionalism divided the single group, because they left holding fast to the Book and the Sunnah, and were occupied with organizations that divided the group of Muslims, and they became sects contrary to the saying of the Blessed and Exalted: .
And I ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to keep our brothers who knew the path of proceeding upon the Book and the Sunnah, until the last breath of their lives, until we meet Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and He is pleased with us, if Allah wills. Yes.