Opinions differ today on how to establish the law of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) on earth and establish the Muslim state; so which of the opinions is most correct?

The questioner : O Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
I attended a discussion among some brothers regarding how to establish the rule of Allah on earth. Some said that the current conditions of Muslims, or the current governments, differ from the conditions during the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as they were established. So some said, meaning, we establish the rule of Allah on earth through, for example, entering parliament as is currently happening, and we become ministers and deputies, and at the same time we strengthen the religion, creed, and faith of the youth, and the rule gradually changes to the application of the law of Allah. Another one says: No, we change the concepts of the youth to Islamic principles, and we establish Islamic institutions, such as Islamic banks, such as Islamic companies, and so on, and thus, with the passage of years, the rule of Allah is established. Other people tell you: No, we take individuals as individuals... their creation and their religion, and thus the entire Ummah changes and a rule emerges. Other people tell you: No, we go and take the principle of jihad and we fight, for example, in Palestine, and the Ummah gathers around the principle of jihad, and thus the law of Allah is established, and the religion of Allah is applied on this earth. So I want, meaning, a summary: which of the opinions is most correct? Or does the method of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) differ from all these opinions?

The Shaykh: Of course, the method of the Messenger is a unique method, and all Muslims must follow it; because the method of entering parliaments, where they become ministers or managers or so on; this, in addition to contradicting the method of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his beginning with the call, is never fruitful. As for the second and third methods, I did not see a very big difference between them, but I see that there is no benefit in entering into these details; because the matter is as it was said: "By their opposites, things become clear." You mentioned four scenarios that were presented to you, and perhaps some of the scenarios overlap with each other; therefore, we do not discuss in this area. But since truths become clear by their opposites, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family); then if we know the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), we know that what contradicts it is not on the guidance of his Lord. So, from what is without doubt or dispute, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) began with the call, calling the polytheists to worship Allah alone, having no partner with Him, and that he continued to call these polytheists in Makkah for ten years: , with some few rulings, but prayer, zakah, and Hajj were made obligatory afterwards.
So now, as you know, Muslims number in the millions, and those who lead them are not from the prophets or the messengers, meaning the best of them is the one who is knowledgeable of the Book and the Sunnah, but he is not infallible. These millions, should we call them to be cultured with the correct Islamic legal culture, or the Western culture that teaches them laws and the method of managing rule and parliaments and the like? There is no doubt, in my belief, that the answer of every Muslim with correct creed will be the meaning of: , as the Messenger began with the call, because he... began the call. But we said that the Messenger was infallible and was a Prophet and Messenger; today there is no Prophet, , but he (peace be upon him) has successors, and he said in the authentic hadith: ; so those who want to take on the role of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in calling to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) must be worthy of being successors after him in knowledge; because the prophets did not leave behind wealth, not a dirham or a dinar, but they left behind knowledge, as came in the well-known hadith.
We return now to the main problem, which is the reality of what I do not say of all Muslims; the reality of the scholars today, which we believe with certainty that the scholars of Muslims today differ to the greatest extent, and in my opinion, no one disputes this claim I make, no one disputes that the scholars of Muslims differ to the greatest extent in the same country, let alone in the same region, let alone in regions, let alone the Arabs and non-Arabs and so on, meaning imagine the disagreement in the widest possible circle, and I now think it is not this very, very different circle. So you find in the Islamic world people who claim affiliation to the Sunnah and the community, people who claim affiliation to the Shi'ah, people who claim affiliation to the Zaydiyyah, people who claim affiliation to the Khawarij or the Ibadhiyyah, and these branch out into second branches that are not ours, but we return to the people of the Sunnah and the community. The people of the Sunnah and the community are divided into sections: regarding creed, three sections: Maturidiyyah, Asha'irah, and the people of hadith; regarding fiqh and legal rulings, the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is, and Hanbalis; regarding the Sufi paths, tell and no harm, they say: "The paths to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures," Allah is the Greatest! And all these are from the people of the Sunnah and the community, we left those groups, from the people of the Sunnah and the community, we return, we say now a verse in the Qur'an says: , so do you go or do you go? Yes?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh: ; Yes, so disagreement, by the text of the Noble Qur'an, is a cause of failure, and a cause of removing strength, and in the other verse: , this verse seems to apply today to these Muslim groups, and if you do not believe because you do not know history, for example, the history of the Afghan jihad is enough for you, and after twelve years, because of the seven parties, they did not benefit anything except the shedding of millions of drops of blood, so Allah told the truth , and these seven parties in Afghanistan, there are no Shi'ah among them, all are people of the Sunnah, and there are no Shafi'is among them, all are Hanafis except for a few, perhaps there are Shafi'is among them and so on.
So political work today is of no benefit at all; because the Messenger, when he was first sent, did not engage in politics, but when he migrated to Madinah, there he began political work and political organization, and the fighting began between him, the organized one, and the polytheists, as is known in the Prophetic biography; so what did the Messenger begin with? He began with correcting the creed and with correct Islamic education on the Book and the Sunnah. Today, these scholars about whom I began speaking, and they differ to the greatest extent, and I presented to you a very clear picture; these cannot become one word unless they agree that their reference is one reference, which is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and what the righteous Salaf were upon; so those who say: we enter parliaments, these are two groups necessarily, a group of them were deceived about the matter; they imagined that they can establish the state of Islam by participating in a non-Islamic state; a group is like this, a group shows the opposite of what they hide, they hide reaching the chair because it brings them blessings and prosperity and leaderships and so on, we have no speech with these, as for the first group, the whole speech is directed at them, so we say: are you on the path of Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
First, they neglected themselves and did not raise them upon Islam; for they did not understand Islam, let alone did they raise their families and relatives who live in the house—women, daughters, boys, and so on. There is no Islamic phenomenon there at all. I affirm and declare with certainty that if, on a moonless night as it is said, the banner of Islam were raised over the parliament that does not rule by Islam, the one who raised this banner would be able to apply Islam in a land that is truly not Muslim—neither Muslim in knowledge nor in action? So he must sit down and work anew with his people and his ummah (the Muslim community) to teach them Islam until this people can walk with them. So, my brother, stay away from fantasy. The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), . How many of these millions of Muslims do you count today?

The questioner : One billion.

The Shaykh : One billion? Yes?

The questioner : One billion.

The Shaykh : One billion. Ah, one billion. Who is going to raise them? You cannot, even if you have, for example, relatives, you cannot select four or five from them. And those you want to select, you would have to spend your whole life until what? To raise them with a righteous upbringing in knowledge, character, and behavior. So this billion is overlooked, especially after we divided them into the people of the Sunnah and the community and other than the people of the Sunnah and the community, and we returned to the people of the Sunnah and the community and found them in creed to be three schools, in legal rulings to be four schools, in paths and behavior to be as many as the breaths of the creatures, and so on. Where are you going to fix the rest? This is an impossible matter. But select from your environment those who cooperate with you in understanding the Book and the Sunnah and applying the Book and the Sunnah to the extent you can. Then this small circle expands for you: how many in the neighborhood? In the second neighborhood, likewise, one other than you does the same work; because you are following one methodology, the effects, if not identical, will be similar. And a day will come soon when these small circles join each other and become a very large circle, and with this large circle the Muslim society is realized, and on this Muslim land it is possible to establish the state. As for establishing the Muslim state directly, jumping to the top of the pyramid, this is a purely imaginary matter, exactly.
Therefore, on this occasion, I repeat a word of some da'is (callers) who were in the present age and have died; it is a place of wisdom: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you in your land." So the one who wants to enter parliament must establish the state of Islam in his heart. We see, we see a brother from our brothers, a good man who lived with us for years, got a job. He had a beard like mine or larger. He entered the job, and if you look, you see the beard starts to decrease and decrease and decrease. It is feared that it will become, as they say in our region in Sham: "The best of beards is a sign that it is"; here he throws it, he throws it to the ground!! And it is a simple job. He enters parliament wearing Arab clothes before, then he starts wearing Western clothes, he wears Western clothes, a jacket and trousers, he does not put on a "tie," it does not go well. After a while, he becomes completely assimilated; because he does not want to be able to live as an outlier in parliament. He puts on a "tie," either long or stiff. Ha, is this the one who wants to establish the state of Islam? "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established in your land."
I think I have answered regarding the truth that we see, and the closest to it is what I mentioned second and third. It is necessary to find the Muslim land to establish the Muslim government. As for establishing a Muslim government on land that is not suitable for planting this government, this is an impossible matter.

The questioner : How do we respond to them, meaning, since the majority of the ummah (the Muslim community) is not believing or not, meaning... disbelieving?

The Shaykh : I have relieved you. What do you want with a billion Muslims? Select, my brother, an elite, and agree with them on the Book and the Sunnah, and walk with them.
I am pleased on this occasion with "Imru' al-Qays," this man of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, when he says:
"My companion wept when he saw the road ahead of him, *** and he was certain that we are..." what?

The questioner : "Catching up with Qaysar."

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Catching up.

The Shaykh : "Catching up with Qaysar."
So I said to him: Do not let your eye weep, for we *** are only striving for a kingdom, or we die and are excused."
So we are trying to establish the state of Islam, but where do we start the state of Islam? We start with what Allah said, what the Messenger of Allah said, and then we apply what Allah said, what the Messenger of Allah said, and so on.
Meaning, today, a modest school you want to establish for small children; can you establish it directly, or do you plan? You prepare the land, you prepare the stones, you prepare the wood, and you prepare the money before everything else that you need to bring all this merchandise, and so on? And then you place a plan, a map: how many rooms? How many, for example, tables? How many, how many? And so on.
A state, is the matter easy? So it is necessary that we find the men who will establish and lay the foundation of this state. So you, may Allah bless you, do not tire yourself trying to convince the billion Muslims. Line them up, line them up, line them up, line them up, drag them, drag them, meaning, line them up, throw them away, and so on; until you remain in a small circle where you can perform your duty toward them. Those who are enrolled today in the parliaments from the Muslims, they will never succeed. And this is certainly enough for us that they contradicted His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . We say, my brother, those who enter parliaments today, certainly their creed is not Islamic. I say certainly; as proof, we gather with doctors, we gather with shaykhs, and some of the shaykhs present in parliament, and we hear them utter the word of disbelief, and it is for them a word of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). Perhaps you do not know, do not blame me, I do not know the extent of your connection with these shaykhs and your knowledge of their ideas and creeds. It may be that you are surprised when I tell you this, but I will give you a real example that you always hear, as we hear it, and it is that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) in dozens of texts from the Book and the Sunnah mentioned that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has the best names: , and He said: , and He said: . The summary: He has all attributes of perfection. From the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): My Lord . The highest here, most shaykhs today do not believe in this attribute that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is the Highest.

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh, yes.
So Allah (Mighty and Majestic), we say in prostration: Glory be to my Lord, the Highest. And this is as an application of the interpretation of the verse. Yes, yes, what do most shaykhs say today? Allah is present in every place. I am now asking you, have you heard this statement or not?

The questioner : I heard it.

The Shaykh : Okay, is Allah present in every place? This is a Sufi creed, the one they say in the unity of existence, and they state it explicitly, saying: "Everything you see with your eye is Allah." And one of them says: "When the Majus (Zoroastrians) worshipped the fire, they did not worship except the One the Subduer." The fire, the burning fire that the polytheists worship, did not cease to be Allah!! The cow that a group of Hindus worship, he worships the deity. When the Majus (Zoroastrians) worshipped the fire, they did not worship except the One the Subduer. So when a distinguished scholar, a doctor, and one who holds doctorates in the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) and so on says: Allah is present in every place. Yes, this one who enters parliament, this one who wants to establish the state of Islam? His heart is ruined and empty. He did not establish the state of Islam in his heart; because he disbelieved in the high attributes of his Lord. And this is an example of many, many examples.
There is a verse in the Qur'an. Have the majority of educated Muslims known it? We leave aside the rest of the common people. Did they understand the meaning of *La ilaha illa Allah*? I say, with regret: they did not understand it. The proof is that the agreed-upon legal meaning among all Muslim scholars, the earliest of them, There is no deity worthy of worship. This is a precaution to distinguish it from the fact that there are deities on earth, but they are worshipped without right, and that is shirk (associating partners with Allah) - Mighty and Majestic. Therefore, the polytheists in the Noble Qur'an: , even though if they are asked: ; so they believe in the Creator, but they make equals for Him in worship. Therefore, He - the Exalted - said: . Many of the ignorant, especially today in this land "Oman," interpret to mean that He has a self with Allah who creates, gives life, gives death, and provides sustenance. This is not the intended meaning. The intended meaning is in worship. Therefore, Allah - Mighty and Majestic - emphasized this meaning when He narrated in the Noble Qur'an, saying: . There is a condensation here, a folding of speech. This is from the eloquence of the Qur'an. They worship them besides Allah - the Exalted. When it is said to them: Why do you worship them besides Allah? They say: ; so these people believe in the existence of the Creator, the Provider, the Giver of Life, and the Giver of Death, but they took allies with Him whom they worship besides Allah. Why? So that they may bring them near to Allah.
... One of them during the tawaf (circumambulation) was saying: "Labbaik Allahumma labbaik, labbaik la sharika laka, illa sharikan tamlukuhu wa ma malaka" (At your service, O Allah, at your service, at your service, you have no partner, except a partner whom you own and what he owns). You own him and what he owns!! This fool denies all these truths, and says regarding the previous verse: ; he said: This is said out of hypocrisy, not as a truth.

The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!

The Shaykh: Yes, Glory be to Allah!! Meaning, there are old and very recent distortions. The Muslim society will not be realized, it will not be realized except through correct tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and correct Islamic upbringing. And this requires a tremendous effort from the scholars of the Muslims. First, returning in understanding the religion, as we said, to the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf (the earliest generations) of good, and then the upbringing of individuals in some societies until the first nucleus is found, as the Messenger - peace be upon him - did. The first battle you know of occurred between the Muslims and the disbelieving polytheists, the Battle of Badr. How many were they? Three hundred, and how many?

The questioner: Fourteen.

The Shaykh: And fourteen, and they were a group of a thousand and more, and they had horses and weapons more than these, so Allah helped them. But the Messenger remained for approximately twelve years while he was establishing the foundation for creating this nucleus. So before creating this nucleus, the Muslim state will never stand.
Perhaps this amount is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.