Commentary on some of the books of the Tabligh group and a warning about the religious innovations in which this group falls.

The Shaykh : The mobilization in the path of Allah. By this, they mean what they have become accustomed to, which is going out for days; they travel to various countries along with the common people. Their call is based on six pillars, which he mentioned at the beginning of the letter, and there is nothing in it of speech except this last one. He said: Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: .
This verse is appropriate for the topic, which is going out in the path of learning knowledge and teaching it. But look at what follows; he connected it to the previous verse and said: And He also said: . This verse has no connection to this title. The title is: mobilization in the path—as we said—of seeking knowledge, and this is what they intend, as will become clear in the fullness of their speech. As for the second verse, it is only about mobilization in the path of jihad in the path of Allah when the disbelievers come and attack the Islamic lands. At that time, it is obligatory for every Muslim who is able to carry a weapon to mobilize in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So he took the verse of jihad, which is an individual obligation, and applied it to the verse of going out in the path of seeking knowledge, which is a collective obligation; seeking knowledge is not an individual obligation. The first verse he mentioned is explicit in this, because it said: not all of them, whereas the second verse, which is about going out in the path of Allah, said: all of them and so on.
He says regarding this sixth principle upon which their call is established: "And the essence of this principle is to abandon our daily occupations for training and effort in conducting life according to the Prophetic Sunnah, upon him be prayers and peace, and calling others to training and effort; for as I said in the first pages: we cannot abandon human occupations for a lifetime; for that is forbidden. But we can, without difficulty, if we provide us with months in the year or days in the month, as we provide for recreation and rest," and so on of his speech. He said: "And this going out in the path of Allah is a type of jihad," "and experience indicates"—the point now is here—his saying: "And experience and observation indicate that this going out for the call, if it is for forty days every year, is good." Good assistance in attaining the intended goal.
Now we say and testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and now these people have committed themselves to going out for forty days. Where did the number forty come from? If we are calling people to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him), where did the number forty come from?
There is no example for this except the example of the paths (tariqahs) that we have inherited, and I believe that this path is a new Sufi path. This is what I have been saying for years when I am asked about the Tabligh group; I say: a new Sufi path. Because their call is a call in which there is no hatred for the sake of Allah, and they affirm in their lessons that from faith is love for the sake of Allah and hatred for the sake of Allah, but from the practical side, hatred for the sake of Allah is not present at all. And their previous speech indicates that. In fact, they have words, and perhaps I will remind you of their previous speech: that every Muslim, our stance toward him must be one of peace, and so on. And the essence of this fourth principle is to recognize the status of a Muslim and advise him and fulfill what we owe him of rights, without hoping that he will fulfill our rights, and every Muslim must respect his brother, love him, and advise him, no matter how bad his religious state is.
This is not from Islam; because from faith is love for the sake of Allah and hatred for the sake of Allah. This is removing hatred for the sake of Allah. From what perspective? From the perspective of appeasement and accommodation. In this way, the Muslim state will never be established, and the Islamic society will not be realized, if I am to love the reformer and I am to love what? The corrupter, and I am to be pleased with the reformer, and I am to be pleased with the corrupter.
So the important point is the last aspect: going out for forty days. Every Muslim knows that this was not from the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), nor from the guidance of the Companions, nor from the guidance of the righteous predecessors. Especially since there is something strange about this going out. If a group of scholars and jurists had gone out, we would say: there is no harm. But this restriction has no basis. However, from their plan, they settle in a village or town, and if they do not find a person who responds to them spiritually, they say to him: go out with us. Well; this person goes out with them, what does he benefit? And this is actually connected to what I said in a final word. This will instill arrogance in these common people; because they are portrayed as having gone out for the call; meaning they have become preachers. And in reality, they are in great need to learn the principles of the religion. Instead of this going out, let them attend the gatherings of knowledge in the mosques, in the Islamic schools, and learn instead of this going out. This going out distances them from their families, from their work, and from knowledge as well; because knowledge is not realized in this going out.
To benefit from this going out—we know this from experience—are people who have been given a share of knowledge; because travel involves some issues that the resident is not accustomed to. This is true. But the common people are not in need of such a going out. If we mention that the common people go out with them and they do not know anything of the creed, let alone jurisprudence, and then we find that they commit themselves to going out for a specific number, forty; this is a number for which Allah has not sent down any authority. I do not know, as if this number has a meaning or special essence in the minds of some Muslims. So here, for example, these people commit themselves to going out for forty days, and some people commit themselves to a consecutive number of forties. And there is the famous "fire prayer" (salat al-nar); because its number is four thousand, four hundred, four, and forty-four. It did not become five and forty except every fours: four thousand, four hundred, four, and forty-four. This is undoubtedly from the inspiration of Satan. And this is the one who restricts himself to such numbers, knowing that they did not come from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace), and the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not ever take a unique and solitary follower.
We, for example, when we perform the counted dhikr: thirty-three glorifications, thirty-three praises, thirty-three magnifications; we do that in submission to the text; because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: . To whom is this submission? To the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds. This is one of his special attributes. So now we are receiving numbers in every era, in every country, new numbers of dhikr and other than dhikr. Even in going out for the call, these numbers did not come at all. Does this meet our testimony to our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) that he is the Messenger of Allah? The answer: No.
It does not apply except to people who did not first pay attention to the implications of the testimony of the Messenger (peace be upon him) with prophethood and messengership, or they paid attention but did not know. They did not know the Messenger (peace be upon him), they did not know his biography, they did not know his Shari'ah. And the reality is that this is a very important point; because knowing what the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) was upon requires studying the Sunnah and the science of hadith.
And on this occasion I say: this letter, despite its smallness, look now at the unauthentic hadiths in it from the Messenger (peace be upon him), along with some expressions that do not befit the Shari'ah. Among that is what we have spoken about more than once: that the human being is the vicegerent of Allah on earth. So he says here: "And when the servant believes in his Lord and acknowledges His greatness and majesty and establishes the prayer, and so on, he realizes the essence of being the vicegerent of Allah." The vicegerent of Allah on earth, this is one thing.
These are brief words, and then he brought a hadith: . This portion is undoubtedly an authentic hadith, but the search for the complete text is: "It was said: What is its sincerity? He said: That you restrain it from the prohibitions of Allah." He says in the tracing: "Al-Tabarani narrated it." It is authentic, and Al-Tabarani narrated it, but what is the benefit of this tracing if Al-Tabarani narrated it with a chain that is not authentic?
Therefore, I say a word that may not please many, but it is the truth, and I speak the truth: Tracing hadiths in the manner mentioned—Al-Tabarani narrated it, Abu Dawud narrated it, Ahmad narrated it—is as far as possible from advising the readers. This is especially true because the majority of readers today, due to their distance from lessons in general, and their distance from hadith lessons in particular, upon merely hearing that so-and-so narrated it, consider it a confirmed hadith in the expression of the common people. They think it is a confirmed hadith narrated by so-and-so. The poor man does not know that "so-and-so narrated it" in this tracing means that this so-and-so transmitted its chain from him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with this hadith, and we do not know whether this chain is authentic or not. This is the meaning of "Al-Tabarani narrated it." People do not understand this understanding, which corresponds to reality; rather, they understand "Al-Tabarani narrated it" to mean it is a confirmed hadith, and the matter is finished. Therefore, what is required by advising the readers is not merely attributing the hadith to its tracer, but doing so accompanied by explaining its rank. Otherwise, this tracing is closer to deceiving the readers than to advising them. This is an example.
Another example: "From Abu Hurayrah, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . It was said: O Messenger of Allah, how do we renew our faith? He said: Al-Tabarani narrated it." Of course, they would say this is a confirmed hadith because Ahmad narrated it, but this hadith is weak, and Ahmad narrated it in "Al-Musnad" with a weak chain. Therefore, I traced it in "Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah" under number .
Of this nature is the hadith that says: "From Mu'adh ibn Jabal: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: ." Also "Ahmad narrated it," and it is also a weak hadith.
Of course, there are many authentic hadiths, but I am concerned with explaining the weak hadiths; first, because of what relates to this message, and second, for the benefit of those present.
Then he said: "From al-Hasan, as a mursal report, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ." And this, naturally, if its chain to al-Hasan—and he is from Basra—were authentic, it would still be weak; because al-Hasan is a Tabi'i who did not mention an intermediary between him and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, the scholars of hadith say: "The mursal reports of al-Hasan al-Basri are like the wind," meaning they have no value.
Similar to this is his saying: "From Wa'ilah ibn al-Asa', he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ." This hadith, in addition to having a weak chain, has in my opinion a very unjust division. The one who seeks knowledge gets two portions, while the one who does not get it gets only one portion. I do not think there is justice in the matter!
Then he said in his fourth principle: "Honoring the Muslim: From Anas, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ." This is a beautiful hadith, but it is a denounced hadith in terms of narration, not authentic, and it is also from the share of my book "Al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah."
And the hadith that follows it suffices for it, for example, from the confirmed hadiths: "", this is a confirmed hadith.
Then he said: "From Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ." But for the first time, the author says: "Al-Tirmidhi narrated it, and said: This is a strange hadith." But do you think the reader understands the meaning of "strange" to mean weak? Allah knows best.
So this is a brief word about this message that I liked to speak about; because we are often asked about the group, and we have come upon this message and learned from a reliable source something related to it. Before that, we used to hear some things we were aware of, and some things we would pause on because we had not heard them except from some sources. Among these, for example, is that they have this practice: when they sit for food, they begin with salt. And we know the secret behind this beginning; because there is a fabricated hadith that beginning with salt in food repels seventy diseases from its owner. So they made this fabricated hadith their methodology. We have a friend, a doctor, who mixed with them in Kuwait for a long time. He said to them: O people, you mean to encourage people, truly, the words of the common people are following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as you heard here, but in reality, there are things the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did that they do not do, and there are things the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do that they do. Either from the perspective of juristic preference in religion, as you saw in the forty-day departure, or from the perspective of acting on the weak hadith, as the common people say today: "The weak hadith is acted upon in the virtues of deeds." Then they do not distinguish—due to their lack of study of hadith science—between the weak hadith and the fabricated hadith. So whatever hadith they found in any book, they acted upon it. If it was authentic, it was their gain, and if it was weak, the weak hadith is acted upon in the virtues of deeds, but it may be fabricated and they have no knowledge of it. This is an example: beginning with salt before food. If they want to eat sweets, they must salt themselves before it; because that is how the hadith came, and the hadith is fabricated, and it is not permissible to act upon it by consensus.
This is what I saw fit to speak about on this occasion, and I hope that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will inspire us to act upon the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf.