Continuation of the discussion on the principle established by the Tabligh Jama'ah regarding not speaking about jurisprudence, politics, disagreement, or groups when going out for da'wah

The Shaykh : So, how many millions of Muslims are there today, all the Muslims?

The questioner : One billion and eight hundred million.

The Shaykh : A billion or more, okay. Do all these one billion people say, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah"? There may be Druze among them. Okay, did these people agree on understanding this phrase in a correct way that saves them from eternal abode in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection? The answer, unfortunately, is that they did not agree. And so, when they say this phrase, they mean what they say, because if we enter into the subject of , we would divide the ranks. We are the group of gathering, not the group of dividing. This is the language of their state and the language of their speech. As for us, the people of the Salaf, we say it explicitly, but before we say it, we support our position with what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon. So we are dividers; we distinguish between the truth and falsehood, between those who are right and those who are wrong, and we do not equate those who are right with those who are wrong, as others among the later generations do. When I was in Damascus, there was a treatise written by one of the sheikhs of the Shadhiliyyah order, who was originally Moroccan. The title of the treatise is "La ilaha illa Allah." There is nothing more beautiful than this. You go inside, and it says, "La ilaha illa Allah, there is no Lord but Allah," and this is how he interpreted the noble verse. If a disbeliever were to say "La ilaha illa Allah" with the meaning explained by this Shadhili, it would benefit him nothing, neither in this world nor in the Hereafter. Why? Because the polytheists used to say, "There is no Lord but Allah," but when they were told, "There is no god but Allah," they would be arrogant. So, with their authentic Arabness, they knew the meaning of the word of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in the correct way, but this knowledge of theirs did not benefit them in any way because they disbelieved in this correct meaning. On the contrary, some Muslims, when they say "La ilaha illa Allah," the polytheists do not say "La ilaha illa Allah" because if they said it, they would be hypocrites, and they want to declare it openly. So they know the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah," and therefore they do not say it. Muslims do not know the meaning of "illa Allah" except a few of them, and therefore they all say "La ilaha illa Allah." But if you wanted to clarify to them that what they are doing—going to the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, slaughtering for them, making vows for them, swearing by them, and praying at their graves, and so on—is disbelief in "La ilaha illa Allah," because the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" is not that meaning we mentioned from the Shadhili, "there is no Lord but Allah," but rather its meaning is: "There is no deity worthy of worship in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)." And thus, when the Muslim understands this word of testimony, this good word "La ilaha illa Allah," in a correct way, he must apply it in a correct way just as he understood it in a correct way. And from here appears the difference between those who believe in "La ilaha illa Allah" with the correct concept and those who believe in "La ilaha illa Allah" with an incorrect concept. Their actions in this life differ. You will not find a believer in this good word with the correct meaning who slaughters for other than Allah, makes vows for other than Allah, swears by other than Allah, or prays to other than Allah at the graves of the awliya and the righteous. You will not find any of that with these people. Meanwhile, the others, Allah is the Greatest, go to what is called "Sayyid Shu'ayb" and look at the vows there and the vows for other than Allah. Whoever makes a vow for other than Allah is cursed, as he (peace be upon him) said: How is he cursed when he is saying "La ilaha illa Allah"? He did not understand "La ilaha illa Allah." And therefore, the call to Islam in a form that is not understood by people is not the call to Islam, but rather it is a call to one aspect of Islam.