A word by 'Umar al-Ashqar before the Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Now we make room for our brother, Professor 'Umar al-Ashqar, from our Salafi brothers who came to visit us from Kuwait. Since it is an opportunity, we hope he will speak in a way that benefits his brothers, if Allah wills, Blessed and Exalted is He.

The questioner : In the name of Allah, and prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and all his Companions. I would not have wanted to speak if the Shaykh had not asked me to. I did not wish to speak; I came only to benefit. I ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to guide me in what I say and to benefit us all, and He is the best to be asked, Glorified and Exalted is He. I want to expand the issue the noble Shaykh spoke about so that it becomes a more comprehensive and broader rule. What do we want from ourselves, and what do we want from others? Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, made this issue clear in His Book: that He created the creation to worship Him. So when Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, created man, He wanted this man to be of a certain character and in a certain way in his belief, his thought, his behavior and his work, his speech, in everything. People want from people—people of different tastes and beliefs, ancient and modern—to strive to... people to make certain choices in a certain way and on a certain path. And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, wants us to guide ourselves and strive to shape others in the way Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, intended. The sound human being, and the human being that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, wants—any human being who is not raised in the way Allah, Mighty and Majestic, wills, is without doubt a distorted human being, and not the sound human being. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, sent messengers, raised them, and shaped them by His revelation. These messengers and the followers of the messengers, since Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, made them successors, have increased this distinguished group in everything. We want, in these times, as we knock on the door of the fleet and knock on the door of the groups, to be like those whom Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, raised by His revelation and His religion. Ibrahim (peace be upon him)—Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, praises him for saying in Surat al-Baqarah: What did his Lord say to him? Also... Lord of the worlds, in his family, in his children: Ya'qub (Jacob) likewise followed the call to truth, and this call remained in his descendants. His call to people was also: worship Allah. Worshiping Allah is the issue. The issue is that this religion is taken; a person does not use his intellect and thought in it to distort it, change it, and alter it as he pleases. A person has a personal inclination, and there are influences that come from outside. If these influences are allowed to pass through, and if his inclination is allowed to work, it will change the belief and it will change the behavior. Thus, we want Islam to be pure. It is the pure belief that works in the soul. We do not want to leave it to the methods, ideas, and inclinations of people to work in our souls and shape us in a shape that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, does not want. In that case, we will not be the Muslims that Allah wants, and we will not enter into Islam as Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, commanded us: This will not be realized. We think we are Muslims, while we are still hovering around Islam. In fact, Islam has an influence on us, and non-Islam has an influence on us. We think we are Muslims, but we have not understood Islam, and we have not... Islam. So from that and other things, because those Muslims whom Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, wants us to understand Islam with its correct principles. I say that understanding Islam is not that difficult. I distinguish between two things: the correct Islam that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed. How easy it is for a person to understand it! But over fourteen hundred years, many varied and different things have happened. Every person puts forward groups, gatherings, or individuals, or ideas are put forward in the arena... This one understands Islam as worship, standing in night prayer, fasting in the day, and being distant from inclination. And that one understands that Islam is the intellect; what the intellect accepts is Islam, and what it rejects is far from Islam, so the intellect is set up as a god. And there are many understandings that we have inherited, we children of Islam, and we have inherited them in the books that make up the Islamic library. The Islamic library is now full of these varied and different poisons. And those who are described as Muslims represent the history of Muslims with its good and its evil. This long history, with its sound, pure understanding, and with its distorted, changed, altered understandings, all of it is present. People are moving, and books are in the libraries... This is the history. As for reaching the true Islam from all of this, it is difficult. And from here comes the relief. When Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, guides a servant from among His servants and guides him to the true Islam, to the sound understanding, how easy and how simple it is for Islam to enter the soul of a person and become pure Islam! And he will see between himself and Islam... between himself and it, a satisfaction. He feels its gatherings and he feels its sweetness. But when he inherits a distorted Islam, a changed Islam, a belief far from the methodology that Allah revealed, far from the belief that the Companions carried from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and then those who followed their path with excellence from the righteous predecessors carried it, when it is far away, he finds in his soul, and it weaves in his soul many things. So the first way is that we understand. And if Allah makes it easy for us, and one is guided to this path, and... this path, and it is the decree of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, that he reaches pure Islam, then it is not permissible for one who sees the clear lamp of truth to drown in the darknesses. And this is the calamity of those who disbelieved in the messengers. The messengers came to them with the truth, sound and pure, but they were arrogant to follow them. They followed humans like themselves. No, we do not want to rely on ourselves, our intelligence, our wit, and our thought. That is the calamity. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, gives guidance to us, the Ummah of Islam, and to the messengers before us. He gives it as a gift. People seek guidance in the darknesses and in tangled paths, so they do not reach the truth and they are lost. The matter ends, and when they do not reach it after...