The offers from Islamic groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, to the Shaykh to become a member of them

The questioner : The existing Islamic groups, as is known to you, the most active in the mosques is the Muslim Brotherhood, and most of the questions raised and the discussions that take place with the youth are with the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood. So this introduction does not contain the question; the question I want to ask is: if the Muslim Brotherhood were to study the Salafi creed, adopt the Salafi views, study the books of the righteous predecessors, and give full attention to the Salafi methodology, would it be permissible to join?The Shaykh : Would it be permissible for Nasser to join this group as a member?

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : Why would you join, or why am I asking?

The Shaykh : No, why would I join?

The questioner : I mean, because it is an Islamic group and it encompasses many of the concepts of the Salaf and adopts this methodology.

The Shaykh : Yes, so who is it that adopted the other’s methodology?

The questioner : They are the ones who adopted our methodology.

The Shaykh : So how would I join them?

The questioner : Do you cooperate with them? Of course, one cooperates with all Muslims, there is no doubt about that. But what I wanted from my question is that there are things that do not come about because the methodology...The Shaykh : And praise be to Allah, it is clear; there is no red button and green button, meaning it is all open to everyone. We want to be sure. Some of the Salaf quoted from you that you said, “I will join the Muslim Brotherhood if they become in this state.” With this answer, we know that this statement is not correct.

The Shaykh : It has no basis. But it was reported to me by some of the heads of the Brotherhood among you that I singled out their enemy. He said, “Because I asked them to make me their president. When they refused me, I turned against them. Allahu Akbar. I am the harshest on the presidency. Our brothers in Syria tried, and here they tried. As soon as I arrived, they wanted to make me a head. I said, ‘My brother, I was created for knowledge, not for the presidency.’”

The questioner : You are our head, by the permission of Allah.

The Shaykh : No, my master, I seek refuge in Allah. May Allah preserve you. I seek refuge in Allah from being a head.

The questioner : Okay, my professor, from a Shari'ah perspective, let us say that these people followed this methodology that you approved for yourself and for Muslims in general. Is there anything in the Shari'ah that prevents you from folding under this... which is the Muslim Brotherhood, and then the pledge of allegiance, etc.?

The Shaykh : There is no pledge of allegiance imposed on us. You are positing contradictory assumptions. Because they became a Salafi group, do you go under them and pledge allegiance to them? There is no pledge of allegiance in Salafism.

The questioner : Okay, what are the proofs for the invalidity of this pledge, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : That it was not reported except regarding the Caliphs. And if a Caliph was pledged to and then killed, the pledge is not for their person.

The questioner : Okay, my professor, I want to ask.


The Shaykh : Excuse me, before you ask, do you know a person named Ahmad al-Rafai?

The questioner : In Zarqa?

The Shaykh : He called me on the phone and asked me about a hadith. I told him I do not know it in this wording. The hadith is: “If you are three on a journey, appoint one of you as your leader.” If he is in a desert, appoint one of you. And Ibn Taymiyyah cited it as evidence that leadership is obligatory, even if they are in a desert. I told him where he mentioned this. He said, “In the Political System (al-Siyasah al-Shar'iyyah).”

The questioner : Volume twenty-eight.

The Shaykh : No, it is a printed treatise on its own, and it is found in the collection. So he took the well-known authentic hadith that we mentioned earlier, and he took another hadith and said that one.The questioner : Ahmad al-Rafai... The point is, Ibn Taymiyyah, after bringing the famous hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, brought the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As or Ibn Umar, narrated by Ahmad: “It is not permissible for three in a desert except that they appoint one of them.” So at that time, instead of something, they...The questioner : Either intentionally or by mistake, they fabricated a hadith from two hadiths. And I told him, “Refer back to me.” And glory be to Allah, later he did not refer back to the question, as if he wanted to test me. As for this second hadith, I have known its weakness for ten or fifteen years, when the dispute arose between Taqi al-Din al-Subki and some of the heads of the party. While I was one day in the shop, the phone rang. “Peace be upon you.” “And upon you, peace.” “I am so-and-so, I forgot his name, but he was Egyptian and one of the heads of the Tahrir Party.” “Welcome.” “We want to ask you a question.” I said, “Go ahead.” He said, “The hadith ‘It is not permissible’...” He brought the hadith. I said to him, “By Allah, I do not remember it in this wording.” He said, “Can you check it for us?” I said, “With pleasure.” The next day I gave him the answer that this hadith was narrated by Imam Ahmad in the Musnad, and in its chain is Abdullah ibn... al-Basri, and he is weak. It settled in the mind that this hadith in this wording is not correct, and the correct one is “If you are three...” When I returned to the treatise on the Political System by Ibn Taymiyyah, I found the hadith permissible in this wording, and it is in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. So I knew at that time that this hadith is weak. But the man did not ask me again until we gave him the answer. From the complete intention of the Tahrir Party, it became clear to me later that a dispute occurred between Taqi al-Din and some of the heads of the party. Taqi al-Din imposed obedience on them and argued with them using this hadith, “It is not permissible,” and he did not argue with them using the hadith “If you are three on a journey, appoint one of you.” He said that the command in their view does not imply obligation, but “It is not permissible” is an explicit text. Therefore, he obligated them to have a leader and obligated them to obey the leader, not with the first correct hadith, but with the second weak hadith. I learned this later when they split and became two groups. This is what happened to me in connection with this hadith here and there.

The questioner : O Shaykh, do they still cite this hadith for the Tahrir Party regarding leadership?

The Shaykh : I do not know, this time he came there, and I do not know why...

The questioner : As for the issue of the pledge of allegiance, it is clear to them; they do not have a pledge of allegiance.

The Shaykh : The Tahrir Party?