A reading of a book by Salman al-Oudah on

The student: And this is a bitter reality, I mean, regarding people, because this shaykh considered the entire speech to be new. Everything the shaykh requested regarding the topic, and in it, I mean, there is just a repetition around the duty of the Victorious Sect now, and how they should act in these times when calamities have overwhelmed them, and how to treat the matter. He speaks, I mean, in the sixth paragraph and after, about this topic, I mean, from his point of view, and how the Victorious Sect treats its affairs in this bitter reality, in the reality of the Muslims.
Another student: In any case, we are, as they say, wasting time. I will hasten to implement this thing tomorrow and give you [the recording] to listen to it.
The student: I mean, he read important things about the characteristics of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil, and this is not, I mean, the most important thing in the first degree, but if he would speak about patience from these categories... then about the conflict between public benefit and harm in this chapter, this is, I mean, he speaks in good words. I would like you to listen to them and see the shaykh's point of view on the topic, and also about the common errors today in the topic of public benefit and harm. This is speech we would like to hear, I mean, the opinionThe Shaykh : in it as well. So either we start speaking about, I mean, the characteristics of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil, or we start speaking about the conflict between public benefit and harm. What do you think?

The Shaykh : ... .
The student: It is enjoining good and forbidding evil... but... .
Another student: ...
Another student: The conflict between harm and benefit.
Another student: Or we can make it from the characteristics of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil, we read the characteristic of patience, even though it is understood.
Another student: This is known, let's move to that one, it is better.
The reader: Okay, fine. "The conflict between public benefit and harm in this chapter." He says, "And this topic is of the utmost importance, and chapters in jurisprudence depend on it, resulting in many errors in action and abstention. That is because many people possess the ability to distinguish clear public benefit that is hardly tainted by harm and not mixed with damage. And you see many people find it difficult or hard for them to distinguish the stronger of them and do what the Shari'ah requires. And the more they become mixed and their amounts become close, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish between them and do the stronger of them. And if it is apparent that the further people are from the time of the Message, the more the strangeness of the Shari'ahs increases, and the more the harms become apparent, and the more the public benefit becomes entangled with the harm, and the difficulty of obtaining it except by bearing a degree of damage, then this confirms the importance of the jurisprudence of this issue for those who undertake da'wah and hisbah by enjoining and forbidding in this era. The general rule in this is that enjoining good and forbidding evil is among the greatest commanded acts by which Allah has made us worship Him, and the obligatory and recommended acts must have their public benefit stronger than their harm."

The Shaykh: And the obligatory, what? The reader: "And the obligatory." Yes. "The obligatory and recommended acts" is how it is. "Must have their public benefit stronger than their harm." ... By saying "And the obligatory and recommended acts" "The obligatory and recommended acts must have their public benefit stronger than their harm, for by this the messengers were sent and the books were revealed, and everything Allah has commanded is rectitude. And Allah has praised rectitude, the righteous, and the reformers in more than one place." "And Allah has praised rectitude, the righteous, and the reformers in more than one place, and He has condemned corruption and the corrupters in more than one place. So where the harm of the command or prohibition"

The Shaykh: By Allah, repeat the phrase. How is "in more than one place"? The reader: Yes, I mean, in many places, in more than one place.

The Shaykh: Repeat the phrase. The reader: "And Allah has praised rectitude, the righteous, and the reformers in more than one place, and He has condemned corruption and the corrupters in more than one place." I mean, in more than one place.

The Shaykh: Ah... The reader: "So where the harm of the command or prohibition is greater than its benefit, it is not from what Allah has commanded, even if it entails leaving an obligatory act or doing a forbidden act. The believer is required to fear Allah in His servants, and it is not upon him to guide them. And where the benefit of the command and prohibition is greater than its harm, it is from what Allah and His Messenger have commanded, for the Shari'ah came to bring public benefits and obtain them, and to repel harms and reduce them." Then, of course, he puts a reference and returns to al-Muwafaqat by al-Shatibi, Qawa'id al-Ahkam by al-Imam al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Salam, Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din by al-Ghazali, I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in by Ibn al-Qayyim, and others. "So when public benefits and harms, and good deeds and bad deeds, conflict or crowd each other, it is obligatory to prefer the stronger of them. For even if the command and prohibition entails obtaining a benefit and repelling a harm, one looks at what opposes it. If what is lost of the benefits or what is obtained of the harms is more, it is not commanded, but it becomes forbidden if its harm is more than its benefit. But considering the amounts of benefits and harms is by the scale of the Shari'ah. So when a person is able to follow the texts, he does not deviate from them, otherwise he exerts his opinion by knowing the similar and analogous cases."

The Shaykh: May Allah honor you. The reader: "And it is rare that the texts are lacking for one who is an expert in them and in their indication of rulings. So if the person or the sect combines a good and an evil such that they do not distinguish between them, but either they do both or leave both, then it is nullified. If the good is more, they are commanded to do it, even if it entails what is less of the evil, and they do not forbid this entailed evil to lighten what is greater of the obedience. And if the evil is greater, they forbid it, even if it entails the loss of what is less of the obedience, and they do not command doing this obedience that entails what is greater of it."
The student: ... The reader: Yes. "And they do not command" "And if the evil is greater, they forbid it" or "They forbid it, even if it entails the loss of what is less of the obedience, and they do not command doing this obedience that entails what is greater of it from the evil. And if the matter is ambiguous, the believer is to be clear until the truth becomes clear to him, so he does not proceed to obedience except with knowledge and intention." And he says, "Look at the fatwas of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah."

The Shaykh: Be clear until it becomes clear to him... The reader: "And if the matter is equal, the believer is to be clear."

The Shaykh: Be certain until.
The student: "Be clear" : I mean, in the sense of.
Another student: This that he mentioned is more precise, I mean.The Shaykh : ... Wait until it becomes clear to him.

The Shaykh : Instead of "seeks clarification," "suspends judgment."
The student: No, "be clear" means, I mean, he searches until it becomes clear. The meaning of "be clear" comes from "clarification."

The Shaykh: No, here it is for comprehensiveness.
The student: Comprehensiveness in the search, but "the believer is to be clear until the truth becomes clear to him." "Be clear" means he seeks the proofs. "So he does not proceed to obedience except with knowledge and intention." After it becomes clear, the concept, I mean, from his speech is that he waits, he cannot.

The Shaykh: Okay, so put "that he waits" ... .
The student: Okay, it will be its meaning, but in his speech, "be clear" has something other than the topic of waiting, Shaykh. It is the search.

The Shaykh: Waiting has something that is not in "be clear."
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: But the sentence after it clarifies the meaning of the clarification that you are repeating around. But if he said "wait," it is as if he says he does not cut off with an opinion and waits until it becomes clear to him.
The student: Yes, waiting and being clear is better... The reader: "So the conflict, then, is either between two good things that cannot be combined, so we prefer the best of them by establishing the reading, or between two bad things that cannot be repelled together, so we repel the worst of them by tolerating the other, or between a good and a bad thing that cannot be distinguished, and leaving one entails leaving the other, so we look at the stronger of the benefit of the good or the harm of the bad. And the chapter of conflict is very wide, especially in these times when the effects of revelation have decreased, the effects of strangeness have increased, and the caliphate of prophethood has passed. And this conflict"

The Shaykh: So decreased what? The reader: "The effects of revelation have decreased in them."

The Shaykh: Ah. The reader: "And the effects of strangeness have increased in them, and the caliphate of prophethood has passed. And this conflict and mixing between good deeds and bad deeds is one of the causes of the wide difference between Muslims. So a group looks at the good deeds"
The student: The caliphate of prophethood... what came after prophethood or what.
Another student: No, I mean, the Rightly Guided Caliphate. There is no Rightly Guided Caliphate now.

The Shaykh: There is no caliphate.
The student: I mean, no caliphate, and therefore.

The Shaykh: I mean, also it would be a caliphate that is not Rightly Guided.
The student: Hehehe.
Another student: If, for example.

The Shaykh : The evidence is in the hadith.
The student : So, regarding the transition from the Caliphate of the Prophet to the Caliphate of the Messenger of Allah’s successor... The reader says: "Yes, it states: 'This conflict and mixing between good deeds and bad deeds is one of the causes of the wide disagreement among Muslims. Some people look at the good deeds and prioritize attaining them, even if it entails great bad deeds. Others look at the bad deeds and prioritize avoiding them, even if it entails missing out on great good deeds. The moderate ones compare the amount of benefit with the amount of harm; they implement what has more good, even if it contains some evil, and they abandon what has more evil, even if it entails missing out on a little good. And when the matter becomes ambiguous to them, they pause until it becomes clear, without...'"

The Shaykh : "They pause here. The reader is attentive: '...without blaming others in these matters of ijtihad where the views of scholars differ.' And he said: 'Look at the Majmu' al-Fatawa of Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him); there are precious chapters on the topics of benefit and harm, their criteria, their rules, and their examples. The space does not allow for mentioning them or even a part of them. So I refer the eager reader seeking clarity to some of these places, such as the chapter in the Fatawa on the conflict between good and bad deeds. It also discusses moderation in actions. There is also a very important fatwa regarding the assumption of some positions of authority where people are wronged, and the one in authority can mitigate this wrong. There are also rules on the Caliphate, kingship, and obeying the rulers, and the like. And look at the beneficial words related to this topic by Imam al-Ghazali in Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, and by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah in I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, Miftah Dar al-Sa'adah, al-Da' wa al-Dawa', and Rawdat al-Muhibbin.' That’s how it comes now to the errors. 'Among the common errors today in the topic of benefit and harm.' Do we continue or... you have a point here."

The Shaykh : How? The reader: We continue now with the common errors.

The Shaykh : But I have a note as well. Based on the disagreement he mentioned at the end of his research—some people prioritize benefit over harm even though harm is predominant over benefit, and vice versa... as he indicated at the end of his speech—I would also like it to be said here and pointed out that the reason for this goes back to the disagreement among the disputants in their knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, and their understanding of them, and their understanding of reality, which must be known well so that one can distinguish what is predominant: the good or the evil. I would also like this issue to be established, because many people, even beginners in seeking knowledge, even those who have no knowledge, will say to you, "My brother, there is benefit here" or "there is harm here." They do not have this broad knowledge first in the Book and the Sunnah and their understanding, let alone knowledge of the reality of the Muslim community and its internal problems. May Allah reward you with good.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : Perhaps you will grace us with something...
The student : I mean, by saying, I will look at this speech he mentioned... to make it more concise. Even if he makes it concise... it is better, because he...
Another student: ...
The student : He inserts speech upon speech... if he had been concise, it would have been clearer in this chapter...
Another student: In any case, this is a statement.
The student : ... He is still, for example, speaking about harms and benefits, or benefits or harms. If he had also given examples, he left it without examples.
Another student: Now, some speech will come about the common errors. He is trying to...
The student : Because the examples are actually very important. It is not enough because this is theoretical speech, and only the student of knowledge knows the examples. The important thing is the example.
Another student: Now, in the errors, he may address it to some extent. The reader: "Among the common errors today in the topic of benefit and harm, and this rule in the topic of the conflict of benefits and harms, many people are ignorant of it."
The student : Then, he... excuse me, this lengthening... it is that this explanation he explained under his saying—(peace and blessings be upon him)—: ; meaning this explanation and lengthening... because he mentioned pausing and doubtful matters and so on. In any case, perhaps he will refer to it.

The questioner : My Shaykh, I want to consult our Shaykh on a point. Of course, I have no objection, Shaykh. I always tell you, don’t be... Shaykh, don’t be overly enthusiastic.

The Shaykh : I think you have a small machine.
The student : A small machine, a small machine.

The Shaykh : A small machine.