The response to the Tablighi Jama'ah and their specification of the duration of going out for da'wah as three days or forty days.

The questioner: Extending this question, the Tablighi Jama'ah's specification of going out for three days and forty days is a matter of organization.

The Shaykh: This is from the category of religious innovation.

The questioner: They say it is from the perspective of organization.

The Shaykh: No, they lie. Whoever among them says that lies, because they cite some of the texts of the Shari'ah as evidence for it. If organization were sufficient for them, they would not need to cite evidence.

The questioner: They cite evidence from the perspective of wisdom, not from the perspective of religious observance.

The Shaykh: I have answered you, may Allah bless you. They cite some of the texts and some of the athar.

The questioner: Wisdom... three days, meaning as you say .

The Shaykh: This is Shari'ah, may Allah bless you.

The questioner: They say it is wisdom. So, going out and calling to Allah for forty days is not a matter of religious observance, because if one person stopped after forty days or reduced it, he would not be sinful.

The Shaykh: If you recall the subject from its root and origin, and you know that this going out which they do has no basis in the Shari'ah, then we would say: Can the shadow be straight while the stick is crooked? This organization they have arranged for going out in groups has no basis whatsoever in the Sunnah, not in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor in the time of the Tabi'un, nor in the time of the followers of the Tabi'un, and so on.
Abu Malik: Our Shaykh, there is a point here that is truly worthy of reflection. They made the evidence two types in the Shari'ah: evidence required by the wisdom of da'wah, and evidence for the Shari'ah ruling itself. They distinguished between the two by saying that one does not incur sin for leaving the action implied by it, whereas the other may or may not incur sin. This is a great calamity. This is one of the ugliest things they do...

The Shaykh: This is to justify their error. Allahu Akbar.
Abu Malik: And from here, may Allah bless you, you find that some of our brothers in the Kingdom have fallen into the traps of these people when they defended them and supported them, because they also wanted wisdom in this. They said that the wisdom they adopted is that it is not permissible, or that gathering Muslims and reconciling them is better than separating them and causing discord.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
Abu Malik: And therefore, they also resorted to citing some of the verses of the Qur'an and the words of the Prophet to support the action of these people or to endorse them. And this, of course, is from our brother...The Shaykh : Abu Bakr, may Allah forgive him.

The Shaykh: The Algerian.
Abu Malik: Abu Bakr al-Jazairi has a treatise on this. What is its name? I forgot. He also has tapes in which he spoke about it.

The Shaykh: Incidentally, one of the most amazing things I heard yesterday on the phone: a questioner from the Emirates called and asked, "What is your opinion of the Tablighi Jama'ah?" I answered with what we know: our opinion of the Tablighi Jama'ah as a group is that they are good-hearted and righteous, but they are not guided by their Lord, for they do not know the Sunnah. I was surprised when he said, "Well, what is your opinion that one of the great Salafis says that the Tablighi Jama'ah are upon the Sunnah?"

The questioner: He said they are the closest group to the Salafis because they practice the Sunnah.

The Shaykh: They practice the Sunnah? I was present; it is not so. No, he was present, but he picks up what he wills, praise be to Allah. The point is, I wanted to say to him, "Can I know who this person is?" He said he is one of the great Salafis. Who is he? He said Abdullah al-Sabt. We said, "Subhan Allah, he changes and shifts a lot. This man was with Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq, and now he testifies that the Tablighi Jama'ah are upon the Sunnah."

The questioner: Our Shaykh, can we find an exit for his statement, if the brother who transmitted it did not transmit the statement exactly as it was? I do not know the man well, but since he says that the Tablighi Jama'ah are the closest group to the Salafis because they practice the Sunnah, the matter is relative. Because if we compared them to the Muslim Brotherhood...

The Shaykh: I have heard how they practice the Sunnah, and they do not know the Sunnah. And I heard my answer: their great Shaykh who is sitting there in India gives his followers a pledge of allegiance to four paths of Sufism. Where does their Sunnah come from?
Abu Malik: For the sake of gathering, under the claim of wisdom.

The questioner: Gathering is a known issue. In fact, even the Ibadis, in their recent activity in Oman, used the Tablighi Jama'ah as a vehicle to spread the Ibadi creed. Tribes of the people of the Sunnah follow the Ibadis. There is a story that happened: a Shaykh of the Tablighi Jama'ah in our south comes with them... from the students of the Gulf. He comes to a brother whose creed is Salafi, who is not knowledgeable but is keen on the creed of the Salaf. They ask him about the creation of the Qur'an and about dreams, wanting to deny them. This man... the Shaykh of the Tablighi Jama'ah comes and says, "I will introduce you to so-and-so and so-and-so from the students." He said, "It does not honor me to be introduced to you." So look, this is the stratagem of the Ibadis; they took advantage of the negligence of these Tablighi people.

The Shaykh: You do not listen to him, just give him... This is a new guest of ours, and he may not know our Sunnah. Perhaps... No, you know. Speak up, speak up.
Abu Malik: No, he said he denied and affirmed in one phrase.

The Shaykh : How?
Abu Malik: When he said "perhaps he does not know our Sunnah," you said, and he said, "I do not know." No, a distinction must be made here. The conjunction of separation is obligatory. He says "No, and I know." He denies and affirms.