What is your personal view of these Islamic groups that have emerged in the Islamic world today?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is your personal view regarding the unification of these Islamic groups, given that we have heard many views and opinions on this subject?
The Shaykh : Yes, I have said this repeatedly. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded the Messenger (peace be upon him) to call non-Muslims to a common word. What is the beginning of the verse, O 'Imad?, [Ali 'Imran 3:64]. If this is the ruling of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) regarding the Messenger’s call to non-Muslims, is it not even more necessary that Muslims call one another to a common word? This is what the Qur'an explicitly states regarding Muslims: [An-Nisa 4:59]?
Therefore, it is not possible to eliminate the existing disagreement among Islamic groups unless they unify their principle. Unifying the principle is undoubtedly based on this noble verse:[An-Nisa 4:59]. Undoubtedly, this answer is a general one that allows for much detail, and the detail is extensive and very extensive. However, if our people refuse to agree with us even on this common word [An-Nisa 4:59], there is no doubt that they are the furthest from agreeing with us on the details that are built upon this common word.
An example of this detail is:[Al-Ahzab 33:21]. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the model for all Muslims. If we assume that a group among them refuses to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his method of calling, that means they have not met us on the previous verse, which we designated as the common word among Muslims. Here begins the severe disagreement among Islamic groups. We know that some groups call Muslims to political party clustering, and they call Muslims, despite their fundamental or secondary differences, to remain as they are. They do not care to teach them or educate them in the correct Islam; rather, they only educate them in political party clustering. Undoubtedly, these people have contradicted not only the call of the Messenger (peace be upon him) but the call of all the messengers, from the day Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent Adam (peace be upon him) to the last of the prophets, our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For the concern of these messengers was to say to their people, in their state and in their speech, "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut." This word of truth, "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut," is not heard from some of the parties today because they have turned with all their might to what? One side, and that is the political side. They claimed that if the Muslim nation becomes cultured from this small angle, the state of Islam will be established on earth!! And they erred most severely, because they contradicted the call of Islam brought by the Messenger (peace be upon him).
It is not hidden from anyone that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained in his people in Mecca for thirteen years, calling them to what? "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut." So how are we today, seeing Muslims in every land of the world praying and fasting, but after they believe in the truth of "La ilaha illa Allah," which is interpreted, even partially, by this verse to which the prophets called their people, "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut"? The call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is a fundamental matter in the Islamic call that all parties have neglected, and we can say this without any exception. Because it is not enough that we call people as we call disbelievers, saying to them, "Say: La ilaha illa Allah, or else there will be fighting between us and them." But if these people say "La ilaha illa Allah," is our duty with them finished, or does the duty of education and teaching remain? O Christian, you who used to believe before you submitted to Islam under compulsion, because you faced either death or submission to Islam; you used to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; do you know what "La ilaha illa Allah" means? We must explain to him that this contradicts what he was upon before. Today’s Muslims, except for those whom Allah has protected, and they are few, resemble in this regard many of those nations who are not Muslims in that they have not understood the word "La ilaha illa Allah."
Many of these Islamic groups who do not pay the attention that the Messenger (peace be upon him) began with and established for that long, or rather short, period of thirteen years, say: Until when are we working on tawhid? Until when? We say: Glory to Allah! The Messenger of Allah worked in Mecca, and Mecca is a village; no matter how many people it had, it was perhaps not in the millions at that time. But today the Islamic world numbers in the millions, nine hundred million or more; so these people need years and long years of work to understand what "La ilaha illa Allah" means.
And it is strange and wondrous that we read the Qur'an and claim that we reflect upon it, but these who claim to reflect upon it, when the matter comes to tawhid, they flee from it and do not stand by it. It is not that some of these people... Noah (peace be upon him), about whom the Qur'an explicitly states, and praise be to Allah, and it is not a sound hadith because it would become a subject of doubt and suspicion among these people that it is an ahad hadith by which a creed is not established. The Qur'an explicitly states that Noah (peace be upon him) remained in his people for a thousand years except fifty years. We ask them: What did he remain in his people doing? Did he legislate laws for them and explain the obligations, duties, and recommended practices as Islam came with an elaboration without parallel in all religions? Or did he remain in his people calling them to worship Allah alone, having no partner?
A very strange matter. We remain for twenty or thirty years, and our people find it excessive; they say, "Until when are you working on this call? Move a little, be activists?" We are not activists, but at the same time, we are not among the stagnant. But what have these activists offered to Muslims with their call? Nothing at all, but a movement on the military system, which is expressed in our country, Syria, as "stay in your place." It is a movement, but a futile movement with no progress. It is almost half a century since one of these parties has offered anything to the Muslims. You take the largest of them to the smallest, and he does not care for the Sunnah, he does not care for tawhid. And some other parties have almost a century passed; what is there? Nothing in it except complete ignorance of the creeds that must be known generally among Muslims and the creeds that must be fought generally among Muslims. And so, as a result of that complete ignorance of the correct Islamic creeds and the deviant creeds from the correct ones, the consequence was that a despicable, obscure person, with no fame or name except for one surge, as Muslims were afflicted with some rulers who were obscure and we knew nothing about them, and suddenly, between one evening and the next, he became what? The head of a state. And there is a person who emerged as a sign of Allah (they claimed!) calling to what? To Islam, and to the unification of Muslims. So some of those people flew to him, knowing that he is a head in the Shi'ah, and in the Shi'ah are creeds that shake the pillars of Islam entirely. They almost, or did, and I do not know, for I cannot say what I have not known with certainty; they almost pledged allegiance to him. How did they pledge allegiance to him?
The questioner : Some of them pledged allegiance to him.
The Shaykh: Look, some of them pledged allegiance to him! How can you pledge allegiance to a man whose writings explicitly state that this Qur'an by which we declare our faith to Allah, and in which he explicitly stated:[Al-Hijr 15:9]. This Qur'an that is in our hands is not a complete Qur'an; rather, it is only a part of the Qur'an that Allah revealed to the heart of Muhammad. And what was revealed to the heart of Muhammad is the Mus'haf of Fatimah. Where is the Mus'haf of Fatimah? It was lost along with the Torah and the distorted, altered Gospel, and so on!
If these people cared about the correct creeds, they would also know the value of the Shi'ah and other Islamic sects: that they are the furthest from Islam. Suppose the Shi'ah won and established Islam; what would be the state of the Muslims? They would be forced to follow the religion of the Shi'ah. Therefore, we must first focus on calling the Muslims to understand tawhid (the oneness of Allah) based on the Book and the Sunnah. This is something that no Islamic party does at all, knowing that partisanship is prohibited in Islam. Rather, it is upon all of us to be what? A single block, with one principle: the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah. And I say this repeatedly and again: and not only this, but also upon the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih (the earliest generations).
This is the word that unites the Muslims, and it is what will restore to them their past glory. There is no way to this glory except through this path:[Yusuf 12:108].
The questioner: Those are the party of Allah. This is what everyone who testifies to it is included in.
The Shaykh: Subhan Allah! Those, those, those; the party of Allah are those who hold fast to the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The party of Allah is one, and it never multiplies.
The questioner: Question.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The Shaykh : Yes, I have said this repeatedly. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded the Messenger (peace be upon him) to call non-Muslims to a common word. What is the beginning of the verse, O 'Imad?
Come to a word of equality
تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍSay, "O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you - that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah." But if they turn away, then say, "Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him]."
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَAnd if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.
فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًاTherefore, it is not possible to eliminate the existing disagreement among Islamic groups unless they unify their principle. Unifying the principle is undoubtedly based on this noble verse:
And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.
فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًاAnd if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger
فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِAn example of this detail is:
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌIt is not hidden from anyone that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained in his people in Mecca for thirteen years, calling them to what? "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut." So how are we today, seeing Muslims in every land of the world praying and fasting, but after they believe in the truth of "La ilaha illa Allah," which is interpreted, even partially, by this verse to which the prophets called their people, "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut"? The call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is a fundamental matter in the Islamic call that all parties have neglected, and we can say this without any exception. Because it is not enough that we call people as we call disbelievers, saying to them, "Say: La ilaha illa Allah, or else there will be fighting between us and them." But if these people say "La ilaha illa Allah," is our duty with them finished, or does the duty of education and teaching remain? O Christian, you who used to believe before you submitted to Islam under compulsion, because you faced either death or submission to Islam; you used to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; do you know what "La ilaha illa Allah" means? We must explain to him that this contradicts what he was upon before. Today’s Muslims, except for those whom Allah has protected, and they are few, resemble in this regard many of those nations who are not Muslims in that they have not understood the word "La ilaha illa Allah."
Many of these Islamic groups who do not pay the attention that the Messenger (peace be upon him) began with and established for that long, or rather short, period of thirteen years, say: Until when are we working on tawhid? Until when? We say: Glory to Allah! The Messenger of Allah worked in Mecca, and Mecca is a village; no matter how many people it had, it was perhaps not in the millions at that time. But today the Islamic world numbers in the millions, nine hundred million or more; so these people need years and long years of work to understand what "La ilaha illa Allah" means.
And it is strange and wondrous that we read the Qur'an and claim that we reflect upon it, but these who claim to reflect upon it, when the matter comes to tawhid, they flee from it and do not stand by it. It is not that some of these people... Noah (peace be upon him), about whom the Qur'an explicitly states, and praise be to Allah, and it is not a sound hadith because it would become a subject of doubt and suspicion among these people that it is an ahad hadith by which a creed is not established. The Qur'an explicitly states that Noah (peace be upon him) remained in his people for a thousand years except fifty years. We ask them: What did he remain in his people doing? Did he legislate laws for them and explain the obligations, duties, and recommended practices as Islam came with an elaboration without parallel in all religions? Or did he remain in his people calling them to worship Allah alone, having no partner?
A very strange matter. We remain for twenty or thirty years, and our people find it excessive; they say, "Until when are you working on this call? Move a little, be activists?" We are not activists, but at the same time, we are not among the stagnant. But what have these activists offered to Muslims with their call? Nothing at all, but a movement on the military system, which is expressed in our country, Syria, as "stay in your place." It is a movement, but a futile movement with no progress. It is almost half a century since one of these parties has offered anything to the Muslims. You take the largest of them to the smallest, and he does not care for the Sunnah, he does not care for tawhid. And some other parties have almost a century passed; what is there? Nothing in it except complete ignorance of the creeds that must be known generally among Muslims and the creeds that must be fought generally among Muslims. And so, as a result of that complete ignorance of the correct Islamic creeds and the deviant creeds from the correct ones, the consequence was that a despicable, obscure person, with no fame or name except for one surge, as Muslims were afflicted with some rulers who were obscure and we knew nothing about them, and suddenly, between one evening and the next, he became what? The head of a state. And there is a person who emerged as a sign of Allah (they claimed!) calling to what? To Islam, and to the unification of Muslims. So some of those people flew to him, knowing that he is a head in the Shi'ah, and in the Shi'ah are creeds that shake the pillars of Islam entirely. They almost, or did, and I do not know, for I cannot say what I have not known with certainty; they almost pledged allegiance to him. How did they pledge allegiance to him?
The questioner : Some of them pledged allegiance to him.
The Shaykh: Look, some of them pledged allegiance to him! How can you pledge allegiance to a man whose writings explicitly state that this Qur'an by which we declare our faith to Allah, and in which he explicitly stated:
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَIf these people cared about the correct creeds, they would also know the value of the Shi'ah and other Islamic sects: that they are the furthest from Islam. Suppose the Shi'ah won and established Islam; what would be the state of the Muslims? They would be forced to follow the religion of the Shi'ah. Therefore, we must first focus on calling the Muslims to understand tawhid (the oneness of Allah) based on the Book and the Sunnah. This is something that no Islamic party does at all, knowing that partisanship is prohibited in Islam. Rather, it is upon all of us to be what? A single block, with one principle: the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah. And I say this repeatedly and again: and not only this, but also upon the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih (the earliest generations).
This is the word that unites the Muslims, and it is what will restore to them their past glory. There is no way to this glory except through this path:
Say, "This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah; and I am not of those who associate others with Him."
قُلْ هَذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّهِ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَThe questioner: Those are the party of Allah. This is what everyone who testifies to it is included in.
The Shaykh: Subhan Allah! Those, those, those; the party of Allah are those who hold fast to the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The party of Allah is one, and it never multiplies.
The questioner: Question.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.