The Youth of Tahrir or the Youth of the Muslim Brotherhood Confront Us with the Question: What Comes After Screening and Education? What Will Our Answer Be?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Shaykh, when we present the idea of screening and education to the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood or the youth of Tahrir, they confront us with the question: What comes after screening and education?

The Shaykh : May Allah guide them.

The questioner : So what will our answer be?

The Shaykh : Our answer is that after screening and education, the Islamic society is realized. And when the Islamic society is realized, the Muslim state can be established in this Islamic society. As for establishing the Muslim state that they rave about and raise their voices for, it is not possible before screening and education. Therefore, do not place yourselves under the attack of those who understand only a little of Islam. It is upon us to practice Islam as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed it to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). As for when the Muslim state will be established? That knowledge is with my Lord, because every effect must have a cause, and not everyone who fulfills the cause realizes the effect. As for worldly matters, the situation is very clear. As for religious or hereafter matters, I say without a doubt that whoever takes the cause, the effect must be realized, as long as it relates to a religious matter. I will give you a fundamental example, but as I said earlier, it is not necessary, because there may be a deficiency in the cause, and therefore the effect does not appear. Let me give you an example now: happiness and misery. Whoever dies happy will certainly enter Paradise, and whoever dies miserable as a disbeliever will certainly enter Hellfire. But we cannot say, regarding individuals or the person himself, that he is saved in death. Rather, he hopes and works toward it as much as he can. For example, if his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds, he is certainly among the people of Paradise, and the opposite is exactly the opposite. Is there anyone who can say, "My good deeds outweigh my bad deeds"? I say that every arrogant person can say, "My good deeds have overcome my bad deeds." But the sensible Muslim says, "We ask Allah to forgive us and have mercy on us, and not to treat us as we deserve." But we say, regarding divine justice, as He said in the Noble Qur'an: Certainly, whoever walks toward the easy path, Allah will make the path to Paradise easy for him, and the opposite is exactly the opposite. If we return to saying that all Islamic groups, except perhaps there are groups not aware of the necessity of this reality, which is the necessity of establishing the rule of Allah on earth, all Islamic groups are, let us say out of caution, in agreement on this. But the methodologies, paths, and ways differed. We believe it is impossible to establish the Muslim state except on the path that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) followed until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, enabled him to establish the state in the Blessed City of Madinah. How did the Messenger (peace be upon him) begin? We all know from the Prophetic biography that he began with the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah). Here we pause for a moment. Now, all Islamic groups on the Islamic earth do not always concern themselves with the call to tawhid. Some of them even explicitly state that researching this issue now divides the ranks. Allah is the Greatest! Deaf, dumb, blind, they do not understand. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent by Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as a mercy to the worlds, one of his ways to realize his being a mercy to the worlds was that he called his polytheist people: "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut (false deities)." Now, if a Muslim calls with the call of the Messenger (peace be upon him), they say to him, "You are dividing us." We say to them: It is an honor for us to divide, because the Messenger of Allah, the most perfect of humans, divided. Even among his names in "Sahih al-Bukhari" is al-Fariq (The Divider), because he used to distinguish between disbelief and faith, between tawhid and shirk (associating partners with Allah), between the polytheist and his monotheist son, and the opposite is exactly the opposite. So he is a divider. Indeed, one of the names of the Qur'an is al-Furqan (The Criterion) why? For this same reason. But the Messenger (peace be upon him), as a true caller, as Islamic history indicates, first distinguished between a man and his wife. I say this quoting the Qur'an, but the Qur'an says regarding the sorcerers: As for the Messenger, he distinguished between a man and his wife with the call of truth, the call of tawhid. So, distinguishing, in itself, is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy, except with regard to the goal that the one distinguishing aims for. If he distinguishes with truth, how excellent he is. And if he distinguishes with falsehood, how wretched he is. Thus, we say it is impossible to establish the Muslim state except on the methodology of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So the greatest sign now, and the greatest distinguishing factor between us and others, is that we call with the call of the Messenger (peace be upon him) from its beginning to its end, from its creed to its recommended practices and encouraged acts. And this is, of course, within the limits of what we can do and what we possess. But we do not say, for example, as those say, that calling people today to tawhid and to the Sunnah and leaving off bid'ah (religious innovation) and the like divides people. We do not care, because this aggregation on the basis of which the Muslim state will be established must be a block of truth. Otherwise, if we suppose that the Muslim state is established overnight, you will find that fighting has broken out among the Muslims themselves, and this state will become fragile, with no standing and no stability at all. So, if Allah blesses you, the answer to such a question is very easy, and we say to them: If you... If he dies while striving with his limited ability, weakness, capacity, and energy, etc., he dies excused by Allah. That is what I was able to do and what I did. I can say, for example, that establishing the Muslim state requires screening and education. How is the screening? By returning to the authentic Sunnah. How is the correction and weakening? I have some of this knowledge that I must present to my Muslim brothers. I am not able to establish a state, prepare armies, fight the Jews, fight those who stand with the Jews, etc. I am not able to do this. But with the certainty that this path will lead to the expulsion of the Jews from Palestine, it is necessary. But the matter is as he (peace be upon him) said in some hadiths: These are the Tahrir Party. The saying of the Messenger applies to them: The Tahrir Party. You find their women, their daughters, etc., their houses are like houses that are not Islamic houses at all. Why? And also most of the Muslim Brothers, because they do not establish the wisdom mentioned by one of their great leaders, which is: "I keep repeating this word because it is truly at the peak of wisdom, with its correct understanding: 'Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land.'" If they have not established tawhid in your hearts, how can they establish an Islamic state on their land? This is an impossible matter. Therefore, if one of us dies monotheistic for Allah, with tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship) which the polytheists used to affirm, tawhid al-'ubudiyyah (oneness of servitude) or al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and 'ibadah (worship), and tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes), this tawhid which most Muslims today do not affirm. Most of those who say "La ilaha illa Allah" do not understand the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah." And therefore, as we said at the beginning of the session, most Muslims today are Mu'tazilah without knowing or realizing it.