The fourth criterion for the success of the awakening that has taken place in the Muslim community is to stay away from violence and confrontation with the rulers.

al-Eid Abbasi : The fourth point I see that the work of the callers to Islam must take into account is that we should avoid confrontation with the rulers and not make our main concern and preoccupation harassing them, attacking them, and exposing their faults. This is a matter that is long and incites these people against us, while we are in a state of weakness and our call has not yet reached the people; they do not know it yet, and it is still confined to a small group of people. How can we engage in a battle that rouses against us the powerful, most hostile enemies who swarm from every corner of the world, who support and encourage one another, and who all feel the danger of this Islam? We are thus making them our enemies. This does not mean that we remain silent about what is wrong, or that we flatter and cover up. No, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has commanded the forbidding of what is wrong, but there are matters of priority: we start with the most important, then the important. We follow the example of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the prophets whose stories Allah the Exalted has related to us in the Noble Qur'an. These are the stories of the prophets; if a Muslim were to recite them, as they are scattered here and there in the Book of Allah the Exalted, what would he find? Did the focus of those prophets lie in saying that such a ruler is tyrannical, or that such a person did such and such, and then they would pick out his faults and actions, record them, and attack him for them? We do not find this. Rather, we find that their call was focused on the oneness of Allah . This was the constant practice of all the messengers; they revolved around this creed, focusing on the creed and conveying it to the people. Our goal must not be confined to this worldly life. Many of the callers to Islam in our time think that the primary goal around which the callers to Islam should gather their masses and focus their efforts is seizing power. This is their desire and their constant practice. They see that if they do not seize power, they have failed and not reached the goal. My brother, this is a severe negligence of the call of the messengers. If they had studied the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, they would have seen this. We do not consider life in this world anything but a very short period, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . What is this worldly life compared to the eternal, everlasting life that awaits us, which does not come out of one of two things: either the Fire forever, or Paradise forever? This is what we must focus our efforts on: saving people from the Fire, calling them to what saves them from the Fire, to what brings them into Paradise, and to what earns them the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), whether a rule is established and we control power in a country or not. This is not the goal, and this is not the purpose. You know that many of the prophets of Allah the Exalted, even from those of determined resolve, did not establish a state, did not control a rule, and did not have dominance over any society. Most of them struggled in calling and conveying, and they were patient in the face of harm and oppression. Their people oppressed them by every means, yet they remained patient and endured it for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). They did not respond to their people's evil with evil. Rather, their constant practice and the core of what they were commanded was to say: , as in the last verse of Surat al-Rum: "Do not let them make you lose your composure," meaning they do not make you step out of your proper conduct so that we resort to such methods as they want you to adopt. They provoke you to respond to them in kind, so you strike, kill, plunder, and do things that are reactions and not what Allah the Exalted directs His servants to do. If we look at the Book of Allah the Exalted and the noble Sunnah, we will not find among the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) anything but calling, teaching, upbringing, and conveying. Allah the Exalted confines the task of the messengers in His saying: , "bringing good news and warning." They bring good news to those who obey Allah alone of Paradise, and they warn those who disobey Allah of the Fire, and they convey what Allah the Exalted has commanded. In more than one verse, Allah the Exalted confines the task of the messenger to conveying: . This is a method of confinement: , meaning it is only upon you to convey. . The reckoning is with Allah the Exalted, not with the caller, and not with the messenger. Therefore, the task of the messengers is confined to these matters: conveying, bringing good news, and warning. Then, people either respond to this call or reject it. If they respond, they are given good news of Paradise and the pleasure of Allah the Exalted. If they turn away and reject it, they are warned of the Fire. Then, their affair is with Allah the Exalted; their affair is not with you, and the affair is not with any of us. So we take revenge? Those who do these actions, actions of violence, act as if the affair of the people is in their hands. They want to take the place of Allah the Exalted, taking revenge, punishing, and judging such a person with this and such a person with that. This is an affair with Allah the Exalted, so it must be left to Him, and no person should intervene in it or share with Allah the Exalted in it. The call of the messengers is: . I see it as a deviation from the path of the messengers to make our concern other than that. The work and function of the messengers is warning, bringing good news, and conveying. If we make our goal not warning, not bringing good news, not conveying, and not clarifying, but rather establishing rule, we have deviated from that. I do not say that establishing rule is not desired; it is desired, but truly, with the conditions of Allah the Exalted. As I have deduced from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, it does not permit us to seek rule unless we have called the people with frankness and clarity, explained to them the correct religion, the correct creed, the correct jurisprudence, and the correct morals, and raised them upon that, making them like the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in their faith, their mindfulness of Allah, their worship, their morals, their uprightness, their insight, and their clarity, and they were sincere in that. Then, they pledged allegiance to a noble scholar or a believing man, and the majority of the society, if not most of it, and those who hold the keys of decision and those who have power and status in it, did so. If that happens, the transition to power and the Muslim's arrival at rule will be from the category of obtaining what is already obtained, and it will not be a problem or an obstacle. The close example before us, despite its observations and criticisms, is the revolution in Iran. How, when the people responded to their caller, gathered around him, pledged allegiance to him, and swore allegiance to him, the greatest tyrant in this region fell, and his decline began because he could not resist. So, if the people in a society respond to the true, correct call of Islam and its callers, who are supposed to be united on the heart of one man, with one imam, swearing allegiance to him and pledging allegiance to him, and intending thereby the face of Allah the Exalted, then rule will quickly vanish without great effort. If the society responds to the true call of Islam, then rule will be established. But if they do not respond, Allah the Exalted does not command us to reach rule by any means. There are many examples of this. Noah (peace and blessings be upon him): Allah the Exalted said: . He was patient for nine hundred and fifty years. Is there any patience above this patience of nine hundred and fifty years? Did Allah the Exalted command him to fight? Did He command him to take revenge, even though he had done his duty to them and lived among them for a long time? No person can be patient with such patience. Yet he remained patient and counting on reward until Allah the Exalted commanded him to build the ship. Then, Allah took charge of destroying his people who disbelieved and went astray. Similarly, Moses (peace and blessings be upon him), who is also of the determined resolve, when the chiefs of the people of Pharaoh incited them against the people of Moses: . What was the answer of Moses? Moses said: . "Be patient," like this: . Our noble Messenger Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him), when he was in Makkah and Khubayb and others of the weak came to him and complained to him, saying: "O Messenger of Allah, you see what has befallen us and what has happened to us. Will you not seek help for us? Will you not pray for us?" What was the answer of his people? What was his answer (peace and blessings be upon him)? His answer was: . If he did not even answer them with supplication, but rather commanded them to be patient and seek help from Allah the Exalted, what is our situation in this time when we are afflicted with some affliction, the calls rise up, and the enthusiasm and zeal flare up that Islam is being slaughtered? You see the methods, the enthusiastic anthems that agitate the youth and incite them and move them, naturally under the supervision of the elders. This did not come in vain and did not come by chance, but it is arranged and planned. What is our doing in that? Where is the patience that we were commanded? Have the people responded to us? Has the call of Islam become on every tongue? Have the people become applying the rulings of Allah the Exalted, knowing their creed, practicing their religion, and implementing its teachings? Or do we still see the callers to Islam as strangers, a few, scattered here and there? And, unfortunately, I see more than that: these Salafis, who are the essence of the Islamic calls, unfortunately, I see in them division and dispersion, perhaps some for worldly matters, perhaps some for ideological differences. Of course, all of this should have been finished, and we should have become one hand, one opinion, and gathered on one man. I say that what benefits the enemies, and perhaps in which they have a share in bringing us to this, is that they incite the extreme, harsh, and excessive youth who are moved by raging emotions that have no restraint. They exploit this, and perhaps some of them pay them to bring the Muslims to this result, to strike their blow before the matter becomes severe and before the Islamic call reaches its fruit. They want to kill it and abort it before it gives birth and before it bears fruit. It is not permissible for Muslims to be prey to these conspiracies or to fall into this shirk (associating partners with Allah). If they are so, this means that they are ignorant and have not yet reached the level they should be at, which they should think about and reach. The Islamic state that many think of reaching, unfortunately, they think of it in ways that are not the thinking of Muslims. They look at how the calls in other countries and the disbelieving political parties reached power, and they want to follow their path: through elections, through coups, through assassinations, through civil revolutions, all of which is imitating what happens in the lands of disbelief and in the manner of the disbelievers. So, wonder of wonders, the Muslims to whom Allah the Exalted revealed this religion and illuminated them with its light and gave them sight with it—are they poor? Has Allah the Exalted not clarified their path for them and not shown them their way? Therefore, they go here and there seeking guidance and light. And Allah the Exalted says in more than one verse: . And the hadiths in that regard: the hadith of Salman, you know, when some of them said to him: to the end of the hadith. This comprehensive religion that we are proud of and take pride in, and which they also revolve around, saying it is comprehensive of all matters of life: religion and state, Qur'an and sword, worship and state, society and economic and political system. They say this with their tongues and forget it in their behavior. So you see them, as I said, resorting to the same right and left, begging those whom Allah is angry with and has cursed, and has prepared for them a great punishment and described them with clear misguidance. They beg them for their ways and methods, as if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had not said: , as if he had not said to them: . Therefore, their behavior is contradictory, and they bring about the marvel of marvels. I used to observe that in the Levant, for example, in Syria, indeed many of this enthusiastic youth are doing propaganda for such and such.The Shaykh : So-and-so the preacher is praised for no reason other than that he attacks the government, challenges the authority, and speaks in terms of heroism, defiance, and exposing errors, and so on. His understanding of Islam may be deviant, superstitious, Sufi, rationalist Mu'tazili, Khariji, or something similar. They set all of this aside; the important thing is that he attacks the government, so they praise him, saying, "This is a brave man, this is a hero." Thus, the standard for them has become that attacking rulers is the core and the measure by which a man's righteousness, his creed, and his religion are judged, and people gather around him. "That is not how, O Sa'd, you drive the camels." That is not how we do it. Allah has made for us a scale by which we weigh matters, and He has made for us a role model in the prophets of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Those are the ones about whom our Lord, Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says: Those are the ones whom Allah guided in Surat al-An'am, after He enumerated the many prophets, He said: And regarding our Prophet and the Seal of the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:
In my opinion, this is a matter of great importance that must be considered if we want this Islamic awakening to be sound, to reap its fruits, and to reach its goal. We must not follow this path. There is no extremism; rather, we must take the middle path in matters. Moderation is one of the prominent characteristics of Islam that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, clarifies in His Noble Book: Moderation is also in the hadith of Salman and Abu al-Darda' when he visited him. He found Umm al-Darda' in a state of neglect and asked her about her condition. She said, "Your brother Abu al-Darda' has no interest in the world." The story concluded with Salman telling him, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed it, saying similar words: Do not exaggerate, O my brothers. Do not be extremists. Extremism, which is a characteristic of many young people, is not from Islam. You may find a person, and this was indeed a characteristic of the Khawarij, of exaggeration and extremism. You find them among the most intense in worship, fasting by day, standing in prayer by night, remembering Allah, Mighty and Majestic, holding fast to the Sunnahs and recommended practices, and various acts of worship. But that did not benefit them in any way. It did not prevent the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from describing them as the dogs of the Fire, nor from ordering their killing and promising a great reward to whoever kills them. What prevented them from this warning? Because they deviated in their understanding. The important thing is not the abundance of worship and closeness to Allah, but rather that a person be on the straight path, on the guidance of the righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them), that his understanding of Islam be correct and his actions be correct. Therefore, the predecessors said, "Economy in the Sunnah is better than exertion in religious innovation." If a person performs the obligatory duties while not being deviant in his creed, religion, jurisprudence, and character, that is better than many of those who increased in worship, confined themselves to monasteries, performed voluntary prayers, and added to them, spending their wealth and blood, thinking it was in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, killing the people of Islam and leaving the people of idols, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said. They were misguided and misguiding, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) threatened them with those many hadiths that were reported regarding the Khawarij. So the important thing is that a person be on the right path. We must not be deceived by these appearances. Many young people were indeed deceived by these appearances. One finds an enthusiastic person in the call, morning and evening, going and coming, reading, studying, contacting so-and-so and so-and-so, and they think he is the reference and the pole around whom they must gather and revolve. But, unfortunately, they were deceived by that, and we saw how they led them to ruin and how they pushed back the call of Islam, returning it decades into the past with these foolishnesses and this recklessness, not being guided by the guidance of the Book and the Sunnah, and not understanding the jurisprudence of the righteous predecessors (may Allah have mercy on them). Rather, their model was these disbelieving parties here and there, whose only concern is reaching power.