The Importance of Referring to Scholars, Especially in Matters of Jihad

The Shaykh : So, before he takes a stance on the issue, he must consult with scholars whom he knows to be true scholars. He should not follow his own head and rush in with enthusiasm, passion, and sincerity. But as you know, sincerity alone is not sufficient. Before he undertakes any action, he must study it in cooperation with scholars. I know that the affliction of the Muslim world—or to put it more mildly, the affliction of Muslim youth today in the Muslim world—is rushing to adopt ideas that appeal to them without looking at the positions of the scholars, both past and present, of all types. Not just the past scholars, but the present ones as well. They study these issues with a study free from desire and emotion, and then they cooperate to bring this study from the realm of speech and theory to the realm of application and action. This is what I advise Muslims today, in general, in every issue. Specifically, in collective issues that concern directing all Muslims or some groups among them, where the direction has consequences, good or bad, depending on the direction. Jihad in the path of Allah is undoubtedly the glory of Islam and a pillar of Islam. The verses and hadiths regarding this are known to everyone, if Allah wills. But this is a jihad that has its prerequisites and conditions. One of its basic conditions is that the group that wants to fight—I do not mean a group of eight hundred million Muslims. Today, we call the eight hundred million Muslims "geographical Muslims," meaning they are in... But the group that truly wants to strive in the path of Allah must agree to refer the rulings that befall them to the Book and the Sunnah. This referral is not a word I or so-and-so just say. It requires a long and extended period to train this group that is intended to carry out legitimate jihad. It requires time, it requires scholars, it requires educators from among the scholars to train these individuals as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) trained them. Of course, the comparison does not imply similarity in every respect, but rather approximation, as it was said: "Resemble them, even if you are not like them, for resembling the noble ones is success." We see Islamic callers who gather shapes and colors from among the Muslims and present them for what? For jihad in the path of Allah. And in the battle, they disagree among themselves on the fundamentals of Islam, on the beliefs of the Muslims. So how can these people prepare for jihad when they have not understood what is obligatory for them in terms of belief? This, my brother, is not the jihad that is being discussed; rather, its prerequisites are being discussed. And the first prerequisite is the existence of the Amir (leader) to whom we pledge allegiance to Allah, that he is the Caliph. Because if the rulers exist in this society and are not bound by the bond I referred to in my previous speech, the outcome of their affair will be that some of them will rise against others when one of them wins a battle. But if they are under one methodology and one idea, then there is no harm in every group fighting in its own land, because they are all striving by one methodology and one idea. Therefore, I advise every Muslim, very briefly, to act upon the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman: "If they do not have an Imam or a group?" , and as it came in other hadiths: ... You can, as a man of knowledge, as a man of thought, during your seclusion.