How valid is the claim that the methodology of the Shi'ah, the Khawarij, and the Mu'tazilah is to incite people to speak about rulers, while the methodology of the Salaf is to educate the Muslim community, including the ruler?

'Abd al-Malik: May Allah reward you. How valid is the claim that the path of the Shi'ah, the Khawarij, and the Mu'tazilah is to immerse themselves in talking about rulers, and that the Salafi path is to immerse themselves in educating the Muslim community, and that the ruler, being part of it, is educated in the same manner? I would like your comment on this statement.

The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that in this statement he makes, he raises the banner over his head that he does not want to be a Salafi in the call, but rather wants to be a politician in it. Is there anyone who can argue that the Islamic state is not established through ignorance? No one argues this. So, if knowledge is necessary, does knowledge mean air that a person breathes whenever he wants, or does this knowledge require tremendous efforts and long, very long years until a person can... until the concept of the report is understood, meaning he can sometimes estimate until he can first become a Muslim, and until these Muslims become a single block that can realize the Islamic society, and thereby establish the Muslim state. Today, one of these people enters, and from what I heard, he is one of those who study the regular curriculum. He enters primary school, then secondary school, then university, and his studies take perhaps 12 years, no more?

Another questioner : More.

The Shaykh : More.

Another questioner : Twenty years.

The Shaykh : Ah, why, to graduate as a doctor, and why, and the goal is to become a professor at the university, and so on. So where are those who study Islam as a whole? Especially since we know from these people that they claim, contrary to what they do, that Islam must be adopted in its entirety, indivisible. This is a correct statement, but is it possible to adopt Islam in its entirety, indivisible, through ignorance, or is knowledge necessary? So, as for those who say that the Salafis are occupied with rulers through knowledge, purification, and education, and so on, we say this is the principle of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not occupied with rulers, nor with tyrants, nor did he engage in fighting riba (usury or interest), zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), fisq (open sinfulness), and lewdness. The entire Arab lands were filled with these types of sins. But what did he do? He began by calling people, as Allah the Exalted commanded him, to worship Allah and avoid taghut (tyranny). We find that these political Islamic groups do not concern themselves at all with tawhid (the oneness of Allah), nor do they concern themselves at all with correct knowledge. Therefore, you find that if they are in a country, for example, where a particular school of jurisprudence prevails, they are all on this school of jurisprudence; none of them deviates from this school of jurisprudence by a hair's breadth, even though there are dozens of issues that contradict the Sunnah, and perhaps even the Book. And if that country contains many schools of jurisprudence, you find that these groups gather from various schools of jurisprudence. So they have no intellectual unity at all. And if some of these groups have an idea of intellectual unity, it is only political. As for creedal, as for devotional, as for moral, these things have all become forgotten to them, intentionally, because they see that reaching the establishment of the Muslim state is not possible through the long path of engaging in knowledge, purification, and education. We say the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). If he, the Messenger of Allah, the chosen one, who was always and forever supported by revelation from the sky, spent twenty-three years working to establish the foundation of the Muslim state, what can others like these callers do if they had the knowledge of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? And this is an impossible hypothesis. At the very least, we must be... and I say this in many such occasions. That famous pre-Islamic age of ignorance poet, known in his pre-Islamic age of ignorance as Imru' al-Qays, recited his poem, the beginning of which is... and I do not remember of it except what suits me:
My companion wept when he saw the road ahead of him, and he was certain that we would be caught by Qaysar.
Glory be to Allah, this is the intelligence of a man who wants kingship and does not want the Hereafter. We Muslims are like that; we want the Hereafter, and to achieve what we want, it is necessary to establish the Muslim state. This is a reality in which Muslims do not differ at all, no matter how their methodologies differ. However, they differ in the path, the style, and the methodology. So what must we do if our path is long, as long as this path is the closest to achieving the desired goal? If we die, we are excused. This man of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance wanted [something], and he said to his companion: "Do not let your eye weep; we are only trying for kingship, or we die and are excused." We, the true Islamic callers, if Allah wills, will either reach the desired goal, even after many long years, or if we do not reach it, at least we will die having done our best. Therefore, the disapproval of these people of the Salafis' continuation in the call is, in fact, a denial of the one through whom the call came, namely the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because he did not begin by establishing the state. Setting aside the correct creed, especially since we are now Muslims who believe that Islam is the religion of truth, they take the name of this Islam and call for its rulings. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) not to make us like those known Khawarij, whether they are from the Ibadis or from the Shi'ah who agree in rebelling against the imams, nor like these people who agree with us in not rebelling, if Allah wills, even though they fall into rebellion because they were not raised with the correct Islamic upbringing. Yes.