Clarification that the foundation of da'wah is knowledge, and this is what the "Tabligh Jama'ah" does not call people to.

The Shaykh : And for this reason, we say: the foundation of da'wah is knowledge, the foundation of da'wah is knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah. And I drew your attention to something I had hoped and wished that, instead of you going around and around on an issue where there is no disagreement—namely, visiting so-and-so and saying to him, "Why don't you pray in the mosque? Why?"—there is no disagreement on this. But I drew your attention to the fact that this Tabligh Jama'ah has been around for so many years, and you know them better than I do. Their creed is not unified, their prayers are not unified, their acts of worship are not unified. So what is this Tabligh that you are conveying to people when you have not yet conveyed it to yourselves?!
"Begin with yourself and forbid it from its evil *** If it stops"
What? "If it stops," I forgot the verse of poetry! The point is, begin with yourself, as we said earlier to our friend here.
AndAbu Layla ؟

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Begin with yourself, then with those you are responsible for. So what is the Tabligh Jama'ah conveying if they themselves have not agreed on the creed?

The questioner: Shaykh, excuse me.

The Shaykh : Allow me a moment. After that, you speak about these points. Do not give us points on which there is no disagreement, and praise be to Allah, such as visiting the sick, the one who abandons prayer, enjoining what is right, and so on. Their creed is not unified, their prayers are not unified, their fasting, their Hajj, and so on. Islam means the whole thing; if you wish to take it as a whole, I am with you. And if you wish to take from it the rules, principles, and important pillars of faith and Islam, I am also with you. To the best of my knowledge, the Tabligh Jama'ah does not concern itself with these aspects at all. In fact, many of them explicitly state: "We do not investigate creedal matters because we do not want to stir up disagreements among Muslims." And for this reason, they also do not investigate correcting prayers and acts of worship according to the Sunnah, and so on.
So, one who lacks a thing cannot give it, my brother. They call to Islam. What is Islam? Pray; good. Fast, give zakah, and so on. But if a questioner asks the da'i—not the general public who are walking with the da'i from the Tabligh Jama'ah—and says, "Please, teach me how the Messenger of Allah used to pray," there is no answer. Why? Because from the very source from which they draw, it is not directed in its entirety to teaching themselves Islam first, based on the previous research: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It may be restricted to one madhhab, or it may have one method from the many methods, which some Sufis speak of and say, without any hesitation: "The paths to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures!" Perhaps this shaykh has a path from these many paths, which all scholars testify did not exist in the three blessed centuries. How is this when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: meaning: the paths, ?!
So if the head da'i, who planned for the Tabligh Jama'ah, is himself following the Hanafi or Shafi'i madhhab or another, and is himself following a path from these paths, what is this Islam that they are calling people to? Just prayer?! We hear a lot and know this reality. Many people who were not praying started praying. We do not deny this. We know that in every land of Islam, and especially in Syria where I lived for many years, there are extreme Sufi shaykhs who eat the money of people and live off the pockets of their followers. Yet many drunkards, intoxicated with alcohol, were guided by them. This is not denied. They were not praying, and now they pray. But is this the intended goal, that a person be like what he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ? No, that is not the intended goal. The intended goal is that the Muslim calls with insight into his religion, as we said. And where do we receive this? We said: either by himself being a scholar who studies the Book and the Sunnah, or by receiving the Book and the Sunnah from one who is a scholar of them. We do not see this in the Tabligh Jama'ah. And I repeat: all these years, exactly like the Muslim Brotherhood in this respect, which is that their ideas are not unified. Just as there is a Salafi in the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a Sufi, there is a madhhab follower, and in some countries, there may also be a Shi'ite. We know this from their long history. What Islam is this that they are calling to?
So now, after I have clarified to you what is taken against them, and I advise them: my brothers, instead of going out on this outing which, first, did not exist in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and second, you organize it in a way that has no basis in Islam—three days, forty days, I don't know, details I do not remember now, and what do we have to do with them?!—instead of this outing that did not exist in the first, brightest era, sit, my brother, in the mosques and study the Book of Allah. Either from yourselves if you are of the first category, or, as we said, .
We often hear them opening the lesson with a very beautiful word that I, of course, did not memorize, but you know it. What is the word that one says after finishing the obligatory prayer? That they are going to pray the Sunnah, they say, for example, a word that resembles...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, well done, exactly, "... our success and following the Sunnah of our Messenger." But if you asked him, what is the Sunnah in this prayer you just prayed? He does not know. The point is, he sits after the prayer and opens "Riyad al-Salihin," and it is a good book. He reads two or three hadiths, without explaining, clarifying, or elucidating. He reads as he found it in the book. Then the people leave, and we say in Syria: "Titi titi, just as you went, you came." What did you understand, my brother, from the hadith? By Allah, the shaykh did not explain it to us. Why did he not explain it? Because one who lacks a thing cannot give it, my brother.
And so, instead of wasting their time reading hadiths they did not understand, let one or two of the thousands of them specialize in knowledge: tafsir, hadith, language, and so on. Then gather the people around him and call them to Islam, and call them to insight. As for this method, what is the Tabligh Jama'ah conveying? Islam. Good. What is the creed that the Muslim must believe in? Is it Ash'ari, for example, or Maturidi, or the creed of the people of hadith? As I told you earlier, each one is according to what he received, either from his father, mother, or grandfather, or from Al-Azhar al-Sharif or the Islamic University, or so on, or he is completely empty-headed, having neither this nor that. What is the reason? First, it is not in their system to teach their group the creed. It is not in their system, it is not in their curriculum.
Second: it is not in their da'wah to teach people the difference between the Sunnah and bid'ah. The old Arab Muslim poet says:
"I knew evil not for the sake of evil, but to avoid it,
And he who does not know evil falls into good."
And this poetic wisdom is taken from the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him), who said about himself: "The people used to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about good, and I used to ask him about evil, fearing that it might overtake me, or..." It is not denied. But as the poet also said:
"Sa'd drove them in, and Sa'd was wrapped up. This is not, O Sa'd, how camels are driven in."
You want to call to Islam, you want to know what Islam is. Starting with faith. And this hadith, some of the brothers may deny it: a man came while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). A man came, intensely white in his clothes, intensely black in his hair, no one knew him, until what?

The questioner : And no trace of travel was seen on him.

The Shaykh : No trace of travel was visible on him; until he sat with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), leaning his knees against the Prophet's knees and placing his hands on his thighs. He said: "O Muhammad, tell me about faith." He said: "Faith is this." "Tell me about Islam." "Islam is this," and so on.
Faith in Allah. I have never heard any of the brothers explain the word "faith in Allah" in a way that could fill volumes. It is sufficient to note that the Shaykh al-Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, has a volume titled "The Book of Faith." Here are also old writings by hadith scholars like Ibn Abi Shaybah and Abu 'Ubaydah al-Qasim ibn Sallam, and others; all of them are under "The Book of Faith." What is faith? It is faith in Allah.
Muslims believe in Allah, Christians believe in Allah, Jews believe in Allah; everyone who is not a heretic or a materialist believes in Allah. But each of these groups' faith in Allah differs from the faith of the others. So what is this faith that is the first condition of faith? This topic is never studied. This faith, for example, includes belief in the oneness of Allah's essence (Mighty and Majestic), it includes belief in the oneness of Allah's divinity, where none is worshipped but Him, it includes the oneness of Allah in His attributes. The Tabligh group does not sing about any of these things at all.
So, my brother, what is the Islam you are calling people to? Just, my brother, if you don't pray, come and pray?! It is a word of truth with no problem, but where are you regarding His saying: ? ? So our advice is that they should gain knowledge of the religion, not all of them, thousands upon thousands, and perhaps millions; no, tens or hundreds of them, and these are the ones who guide them to follow the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. As for going out, only people of knowledge should go out, this was the guidance of the Messenger (peace be upon him). As for Tabligh, every person conveys what he knows, but this Tabligh is not organized in this way. What do they want to do, a group of workers? The workers leave their families and children and go to Europe and America? Sit, my brother, in your own home, and gain knowledge of the religion of Allah and learn as the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did.
We repeat and say: The best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Who understood this fundamental principle better than us? Without a doubt, it is the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), then those who follow them, then those who follow them.
My brothers, we say to them: Fourteen centuries have passed since Islam. Whatever we say about the corruption of this time and the difference in methods, and so on; we are today in the fourteenth century. In all these centuries, there was no group of people of knowledge who would come out like this, in the tens and hundreds, touring the lands in the cause of da'wah. Why did they not do this? Therefore, the people of knowledge say:
"And all good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in the innovation of those who came after."
No one disputes the path of da'wah; because Allah says: , but the discussion becomes about the method of da'wah, the way of da'wah, and what matters were introduced into it that were not in the time of the Messenger. The clearest of these is that one who has no knowledge goes out!! Why does he go out? To learn. My brother, sit in your house, the mosque is next to you, and sit there and learn from the people of knowledge.