The Shaykh explains his method for dealing with people's questions.

The Shaykh: Last night, a man was asking me, and as you heard today, for every issue he would say, "What is the evidence? What is the evidence?" I told him, "My brother, your question about the evidence requires a lecture now, and there is no room for a lecture now, A, B, C. Now, people are asking from all corners of the land, and I do not say just the Islamic lands, but even the disbelieving lands, unfortunately. So, if I were to sit and give a lecture in response to a questioner, and he might not even be sincere in his question, no, I say the answer is such and such, and if you are convinced, that is fine; if you are not convinced, that is another important matter for the da'wah. Many of the Salafis who have not been granted knowledge from the Book and the Sunnah think that it is obligatory for the scholar to say, for every issue, "It is permissible" or "It is not permissible," "It is obligatory" or "It is a sunnah," and that he must provide the evidence with it. This is ignorance, this is ignorance. And this is a virtue of our methodology: we say the Book, the Sunnah, and the righteous Salaf. We look at how the righteous Salaf were asked and consulted, and they would give an answer, and the matter was done. When there are specific matters, they would mention, for example, it is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that he said: "This is from my own opinion, so if anyone has an opinion better than my opinion, let him present it." He clarified that this was ijtihad, not that Allah said it or His Messenger said it, and so on. The point is: this is an exaggeration in the religion, that the scholar, every time he is asked a question, must give a lecture and provide the verse. Especially in the recent time, the one you are citing the verse for does not understand the verse you are using as evidence for the issue; you have to explain to him what it means. The hadith, you have to prove to him that it is authentic, or good, or what. This matter is neither practical nor permissible by the Shari'ah. And therefore, especially in this time allocated for answering questions, there is no room for me to stretch myself out and say, "Is this shirk?" "No, it is not shirk." "Yes, I am asking you, is it not shirk?" "No, it is not shirk." "Does Allah accept repentance?" "Yes, we have read the verse for it." "How long would I have to go on?"
The student: The issue of "What is the evidence?" is often reported about our brothers. When the evidence is mentioned to him, he memorizes the evidence, but he does not understand the aspect of the indication.

The Shaykh: He does not understand.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Not every issue. In some issues, I say to some of my brothers: "My brother, not every issue comes with evidence that everyone shares in understanding. You want the evidence to be tailored to your liking, to your mind, to your ignorance, to your knowledge, and so on. That is not how the matter is."

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And peace be upon you.

The questioner : How are you, my Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, I am well.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner: Well, Shaykh, I have a question.

The Shaykh: The time for questions is over, please.

The questioner: Thank you, thank you.

The Shaykh : Welcome.