If a man places his hand on his chest during prayer and people disapprove of him and are repelled by him

The Shaykh : The first question here, the questioner says: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. We ask you to clarify the following issue: I place my hands on my chest during prayer, and people are repelled by me and do not understand this issue; is there any sin on me if I do the opposite of that, like the people, to draw them closer to this da'wah, and the people place their hands under the chest? Second: I never sit with people after prayer so that they may supplicate, and most people are repelled by this; is there any sin on me if I sit and supplicate with them? Because the saying of the shaykhs among us is: "Why do you not seek forgiveness and supplicate, and we will supplicate for you?" Give us a ruling and may Allah reward you with good for all of this. And in our belief, this is to draw closer to the people.
True is Allah the Mighty, where He said to His noble Prophet: If we, the Salafis who call to the Book and the Sunnah, were to follow the people in their many innovations and deviations from the authentic Sunnah, there would be no da'wah on the face of the earth that is a Salafi da'wah. Rather, this following of the people, which the questioner expressed as intending to draw closer to the people so that they in turn draw closer to the da'wah, is one of the causes that delayed the Salafi da'wah for many long centuries, and the people came to live in a loathsome imitation, not knowing the Sunnah, and consequently not knowing the bid'ah (religious innovation); because most people, as the Exalted said, do not know, and the few among them who followed the society in which they lived, the innovations continued to multiply and proliferate, and the Sunnahs continued to die; until the bid'ah became a Sunnah and the Sunnah became a bid'ah, and we reached this time when we are confronted with the principle that has become a proverb in the famous phrase: "She threw her disease at me and slipped away."
We, who call to following the Book and the Sunnah, are rejected with the label of innovators, while they are submerged to their chins in innovations; so they are the people of the Sunnah; therefore, we must proclaim the truth and be frank with the people about what they are upon and ; perhaps you, the questioner, or I, the one answering, may not be able to proclaim the truth in many cases out of fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), but to do their work and follow them and support them in their error, this has no basis in the Shari'ah at all; therefore, it is not permissible for one who believes that the Sunnah is placing the hands on the chest to place them under the chest, under the navel, and it is not permissible for one who knows that adhering to supplication with the congregation after the five prayers, as the majority of people do today, is a bid'ah (religious innovation), for one who knows this to join them and follow them; because he supports the bid'ah with his action and contradicts the Sunnah.
Therefore, we must be patient with this da'wah by which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has favored us and made us know it; because most people are ignorant of it, or even hostile to it, so it is not permissible in any way for us to join them and follow them in their deviation from the Sunnah. But I have a simple observation: there is no objection sometimes for the Sunni who holds firmly to the Sunnah to sit in the mosque after prayer to recite the prescribed adhkar (remembrance of Allah) and the narrated invocations, while the others come with some adhkar that are not narrated and some that are narrated, but they have attached to them what has not been narrated, so it became an additional bid'ah (religious innovation), as Imam al-Shatibi says. In his sitting, there is a double effect: first, the majority who contradict the Sunnah, either by coming with some invocations that have no basis, or by adding to them what has no basis, are reminded by these people that this Sunni or Salafi is doing what came in the Sunnah, evidenced by his remaining after prayer in the mosque and coming with the invocations and adhkar. So they become aware, if they wish to be aware, that this man is not one of the hasty people who care only about performing the obligatory prayer and then leaving for their work. His standing up after the imam's taslim (closing salam) might be interpreted in this way, which is first contrary to the reality, and second, it is not suitable for the Salafi da'wah. If he remains in his place sometimes and comes with the prescribed invocations, he blocks their path to accusing him of being one of the hasty people, as we mentioned.
The second thing that those people benefit from him is that he contradicts them in what they are accustomed to. If he is not able to proclaim that this is the Sunnah and what you are upon is a bid'ah (religious innovation); at least there will be some people who follow his distinctness from them due to his not participating in their adhkar and their raising their voices. Some of them may be prompted to ask him: "Why do you sit and glorify and remember Allah alone?" This would be a door opened for him to teach the people the Sunnah and warn them from bid'ah (religious innovation).
In summary: let the questioner remember that if every Salafi knew a truth and concealed it from the people, there would be no mention at all of this da'wah in these Levantine lands. If Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has distinguished me with something of the beginning of the da'wah in the present age, it was not because we followed the people, but because we hastened to apply the Sunnah even if all the people were angry with us; whether they were relatives or strangers. Perhaps some of you may be surprised, although the others know this news, that among the things I have announced is that I have boycotted, until this moment, "Masjid Banu Umayyah" (the Mosque of the Banu Umayyah), so I do not pray in it, when I learned that mosques built on graves, whether they are fabricated graves like the grave of Yahya (peace be upon him), or true graves; it is not permissible to pray in these mosques. Many people adopted this idea, and they became aware and were cautious about praying in the mosque built on a grave. If we imagine such an issue, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, or thousands of issues that those who knew them concealed; how would the others know their ruling? This is in addition to the responsibility before Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, when a scholar conceals his knowledge of an issue. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: ; therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to conceal knowledge; so how can he follow the people in the opposite of knowledge?
This is what we say in answer to the previous question, but this does not mean that we must not employ wisdom and good manner in da'wah. This is another matter. Manner and wisdom are commanded in the Qur'an, as is well known, but it is not wisdom at all to follow the people in their error and their misguidance; rather, this is contrary to the texts of the Book and the Sunnah.