What are the deviations of the Tablighi Jamaat? And what is the remedy for them?

The questioner : The questioner asks: What are the deviations of the Tablighi Jamaat? And what is the remedy for them?

The Shaykh : The remedy is knowledge. As we always advise them, instead of going out in this manner which has no basis in the Sunnah, and they have made it a followed practice; they should sit in the mosques and learn hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, and the recitation of the Qur'an as it was revealed. Many of those who speak among them—and this is in reality a bad practice they have established for people—encourage them to speak, so they do not know how to recite a verse, let alone how to recite a Prophetic hadith, or interpret a verse or a hadith. The statement that applies to them in the science of hadith terminology is that a student of knowledge must learn the Arabic language so that when he reads a Prophetic hadith, he does not make grammatical errors or mispronounce it, but reads it as the Messenger (peace be upon him) pronounced it. Otherwise, he falls under the generality of his statement (peace be upon him): . We, even though the book is in front of them and he is reading from a book, do not know how to read what is in the book, and the book is also vocalized; it is marked with fathah, kasrah, and dammah. Yet these people we hear in many mosques do not know how to recite the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him), let alone that they do not know how to interpret it, let alone that they cannot explain the rulings and the jurisprudence contained in it, which the listeners sitting with him are in great need of, this jurisprudence derived from the Sunnah. Therefore, the remedy for these people is to return to the scholarly circles in the mosques that we mentioned earlier, and to choose a scholar of recitations, a scholar of tajwid, a scholar of jurisprudence, a scholar of hadith, and a scholar of tafsir. Then they learn. After that, if one of them feels that he has reached the level and ability to call people, it is obligatory for him to call people.
As for them, they call themselves the Jama'at al-Da'wah, the Da'wah; the Da'wah to Islam, the Tablighi Jamaat, the Tabligh of Islam. But this Islam must be understood by this messenger so that he can convey it well. Otherwise, one who lacks a thing cannot give it. This is a known fact. Therefore, we advise them because we find sincerity and activity in the Da'wah in many of them, but what was said long ago applies to them:
"Sa'd led them, and Sa'd was in a hurry *** This is not, O Sa'd, how camels are led"
This is not, O group, how the Da'wah to Islam is done. The Da'wah to Islam requires scholars, capable scholars, especially if they leave these lands for the lands of disbelief and misguidance in Europe and America. There, desires and doubts come to them that did not occur to them in the Islamic lands. So where do they get the answers to them? One who lacks a thing cannot give it.
I believe that these people of the Tablighi Jamaat, if they want to be truly messengers of Islam, it is not sufficient for them to be students of knowledge. Rather, they must be scholars, and they must be mujtahids; mujtahids means they derive the rulings of the Shari'ah from the Book and the Sunnah. Why? Because they go to countries whose customs, traditions, morals, and problems are different from what we have. So where do they get the answers? They have no answers. Rather, one of them may get involved and think that he has some knowledge, so he issues a fatwa as those Companions issued a fatwa to that wounded man and they killed him. They issued a fatwa without knowledge, so they went astray and led others astray, as he (peace be upon him) said in the agreed-upon hadith: . This is a reality that exists today.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : Many people—peace be upon you—issue fatwas without knowledge, so they go astray and lead others astray. Therefore, those who want to set out for the Da'wah, I say, I repeat what I said earlier.

The questioner: Go ahead.

The Shaykh : It is not sufficient for them to be students of knowledge; they must be scholars who derive rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, otherwise they cannot convey Islam, especially in those lands. And I conclude these answers considering that now the tooth is working, and when the tooth works, the lesson is ruined!! So I say.