The Shaykh's response to the tape "Drowning in Details" by "Salman al-Oudah."

Salman al-Oudah: ...

The Shaykh: This is sound speech, O Khalid, but what is behind it? Let us see.
Salman al-Oudah: The general framework in which callers and scholars move is more beneficial and more important.

The Shaykh: Be gentle, perhaps an error will become apparent later, or not, without him thinking about it. Not everyone has to think about things other than what he is currently dealing with.
Salman al-Oudah: We have been afflicted by a group of Muslims, and sometimes even by callers to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) who, by assumption, are among the best of the Muslims. Their share has turned to caring for the branches of issues and their details, so they spent their nights awake and exhausted their days in plucking these issues and arguing over them, until it is as if they are the whole religion or that they are among the most important.

The Shaykh : This is an accident.
The student: This is a great sin, by Allah, O my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : This is an accident.
The student: O my Shaykh, we—Glorified is Allah!—the first thing he said was: "We have been afflicted," meaning he is surprised—O my Shaykh—the listener to this is surprised. Then his saying: "They spend their nights awake and exhaust their days."

The Shaykh: This is a prison here, O Abu Muhammad. Look, they are standing in the sun waiting for their turn to visit their relatives.
The student: So, O my Shaykh, we do not know where this came from for them? Does it mean you are equal to a series of lectures until you see that these young men or these callers spend the nights awake for these details that you are criticizing them for? By Allah, O my Shaykh, this has no place except in imagination.

The Shaykh: This is the language of oratory, like this; therefore, we want to keep in mind that these orators, meaning, they will not be precise in their expressions as is the case with scholars; because this is the language of oratory, the nature of oratory is exaggeration in matters.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: And naturally, O my Shaykh, this exaggeration leads to many a Muslim youth being deceived and imagining this, meaning, not everyone is [aware] that this is a style of oratory, but rather that this is the truth, meaning, there is no truth after it.

The Shaykh: This is correct, but I want from my previous statement that we must note that this is the nature of oratory, so we do not take knowledge from it.
The student: Yes, yes, may Allah reward you with good, yes.

The Shaykh : Do you understand?
The student : Yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Meaning, this is with regard to us, and we say with regard to them: "Speak to people according to the capacity of their minds," as we have said more than once.
The student: It may be one of the sunnahs, such that even if one left it intentionally, there is no blame on him for that, nor any reproach, although it is better for the Muslim to follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the details and the great matters of things. And in contrast to that, we have been afflicted by another group.

The Shaykh: This demolishes his previous speech, even if we assume there is no exaggeration in it. Meaning, actually, I—for example—spend the night awake, I rarely sleep except after twelve, after one, in what? In this knowledge in which Allah has established me. Suppose it is a voluntary act and not a collective obligation that I drop for others, suppose it is a voluntary act, but I am in obedience to Allah, I am in obedience to Allah; so as long as my goal is following the sunnah, reviving the sunnah, and making it known, how do these people who want to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they are from the general Muslims, how do they get to know the sunnahs except through this one who spends the night awake—as he expressed it—? So there is exaggeration, meaning, there is very clear exaggeration.
Salman al-Oudah: So this matter turned for them into complete neglect of the details, and considering that these details are husks, or as some of them say, trifles of no value and not to be occupied with, but rather they became a place for mockery, criticism, and jesting from a group, unfortunately, of callers, preachers, scholars, and thinkers; while we say in reality: this is all religion, the big and the small, the root and the branch, the part and the whole, whatever relates to the issue of Islam, it is religion. And the well-known hadith of 'Umar and Abu Hurayrah when Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about Islam, faith, and excellence; Jibril, when he asked him, asked him in some narrations about many detailed issues, such as the issue of the full ritual bath from major ritual impurity and others. And yet, when he finished, he said:

The Shaykh: And he falls into this pitfall, he has fallen into it.
Salman al-Oudah: But it should be given to every right its due, and every thing should be placed in its proper place. It is strange, O dear ones, that some of these callers who claim or believe that they are trying to reform and change are the ones who, in many cases, cause the stirring up of some details and occupying people with them and diverting them from the noble matters and what is beyond them. They are the ones who cause that; because they present their viewpoints in a strange way, a provocative way, a non-objective and also incorrect way. And perhaps the closest example is that one of the great thinkers wrote two days ago in a newspaper in this land and wrote in bold: "There is no evidence from the Qur'an and the sunnah—or a word like this—on the woman covering her face." So if he stirs up this issue, it is natural that there will be criticism and response, taking and giving in this issue. And it is not correct for a person to present his viewpoint in a specific issue, then when an opposing viewpoint is presented, he says: O my brother, these are details, these are husks, these are trifles.

The Shaykh: This is what he does, this is what he does, Glorified is Allah!
Salman al-Oudah: And why do you speak about it? And why do you not turn to what you believe is more important than it and more beneficial and more useful for the Muslims in their religion and their worldly affairs?

The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah!
Salman al-Oudah: So research and evidence are the guide for everyone, and we do not criticize anyone for speaking about an issue from the issues of religion, but he should speak with reason, objectivity, and following of the evidence from the Book of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and the sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him), or the consensus of the ummah. And likewise, the speech about the topics... and the issues that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) mentioned, as we also find in practical issues branches and details. For example, the issue of prayer: prayer is a root, but the details of the precise matters, so it is correct to call it a branch or to call it a detailed matter; so do you see, O my brother—for example—that it is just for us to spend our time speaking about a detail of these sunnahs that are narrated in prayer, as will be indicated to some of them, for example; such as the talk about the sitting of rest, or the talk about the cross-legged sitting, or the talk about the manner of descending to prostration, does he prostrate on his hands first, or on his knees first? For example, do you see that it is wise for us to spend ourselves in this issue and kill it with research, and author a number of books on it, and it becomes our talk in our gatherings, and it is a place for quarreling and competition among peers and among students, and it is received by the younger students of knowledge before the older ones? While you hardly find anyone who speaks to people about the issue of prayer, and its importance and its status in the religion, speech that reaches their hearts and addresses them and penetrates their innermost being, and calls them to frequent the mosque at all times.
And you do not find—for example—anyone who speaks about the issue of humility in prayer, which is its spirit and its core. Rather, you find among the jurists one who says: that humility in prayer is recommended and not obligatory! While the prayer in which there is no humility and presence of heart and turning towards does not affect its owner with mindfulness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), nor fear of Him, nor turning towards obedience and worship, even though in any case it is a lawful prayer as long as he does not commit in it what invalidates it.
So, in practical matters, there are branches and roots, and likewise in doctrinal matters, there are generalities and specifics, or branches and roots. For example: the six pillars of faith, which one reads... the issue of disagreement over the meanings of some Qur'anic verses, or some Prophetic hadiths, or even the disagreement over the authenticity of some hadiths or their lack thereof. The issue of theology and what the people of logic discuss regarding... these matters are among the issues that are not among the general issues that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified with a clear explanation free from ambiguity, such that the one who opposes them would be a disbeliever, an open sinner, or an innovator. Rather, they are among the issues that can be considered matters of branches and specifics in scientific matters.
And these are not like those. It is also confirmed that the servant will not be asked in the grave: Do you believe in the annihilation of the Fire or do you not believe in it? And this is not among the conditions for entering Paradise, for example, to say this or that. However, the servant should believe in the six pillars of faith, which include belief in the Last Day and what is in it, such as belief in Paradise and belief in the Fire. And it is not merely verbal belief, but rather the belief that...

The Shaykh : I think the expression is a mistake. He means that losing a finger is not like losing a molar, but the concern for losing a finger should be the same.
The student: Yes.

The questioner : Shaykh, what is your opinion regarding this acting?

The Shaykh : By Allah, I see it as correct.

The questioner : Do you see anything wrong with it?

The Shaykh : But within the limits of this... without a doubt, does a person lose his head like if he lost his hand?!

The questioner : No, it is not reasonable, but he is affected by the loss of his hand and the loss of his fingernail.

The Shaykh : I told you, my brother; his statement that they are not equal in terms of concern is an expression, may Allah know best, that slipped from the tongue.
Salman al-'Udah: From the legal perspective.

The Shaykh : This speech.
The student : As far as I can see, the speech is sound.