The Shaykh’s Advice to the Tabligh Group

The Shaykh : And the best thing for these good brothers from the Tabligh Group is two things: The first is what we always advise them to do, which is to devote themselves to seeking knowledge and not to devote themselves to da'wah, because there are men for da'wah. And I have said to them there and in every place: Do you know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent groups of tens and twenties to call the polytheists to Islam, and he did not send individuals from the elite of the Companions like 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Abu Musa al-A'shari, and Duhayhah al-Kalbi? These were the callers whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to send. And once, it happened that he sent seventy of the reciters of the Companions. And on this occasion, you must know that the meaning of "reciters of the Companions" is that they were their scholars, because we do not imagine that there was a reciter back then like our reciters today, who are good at recitation, tartil, and tajwid, but do not understand anything of the Qur'an they recite. So the Companions were not like that. They went to a polytheistic tribe and asked them to come down so they could call them to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). They gave them safe conduct, then they betrayed them and killed them: seventy of the reciters of the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him). When the news of their killing reached him, Anas ibn Malik said: So he used to curse them, saying in the Fajr prayer and others: and other tribes which he (peace be upon him) named, because they killed these Companions from the noble reciters. This is how the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to send scholars. So what is the matter with these leaders of the Tabligh Group, and their leader there in Pakistan or in India, who send people who have no knowledge? Because if they have knowledge, they must follow the example of the Messenger (peace be upon him). What did the Messenger do? To what did the Messenger call when his Lord revealed to him His saying: He called just as the messengers before him called: So why do these people not call to what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called to, and to what the noble Companions called to by the teaching of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? It came in the two Sahihs that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh to Yemen, what did he say to him? He said: And this has a reason which I have mentioned before; I will summarize it now. First, because they think that Muslims do not need it, since all Muslims say "La ilaha illa Allah." So what do we call them to? This is called achieving the inevitable. But the reality is that the intention is to call them to the testimony of "La ilaha illa Allah" as the first thing you call them to, because they were Arabs. And therefore, as I explained earlier, because they understood the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah": no worshipped entity is right except Allah. As for Lordship, they did not deny it. Today, Muslims do not understand the testimony of tawhid as the Arabs understood it, but they believe in its wording and disbelieve in its meaning. So why do not these groups work to call Muslims to the correct tawhid? The reason is that they do not know the reality of Muslims today, that they are deviating from the correct tawhid. A second reason, which is more important for them, is that they themselves do not know the true meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah," and therefore they do not call people to the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah." Just as they do not call people to testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Why? For the same two reasons. The first reason is that they testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and I believe they do so, but they contradict this testimony, because it necessitates that Muslims do not precede the Messenger of Allah with an opinion, with ijtihad, with a system, with... and so on. And unfortunately, this exists and is a reality. The clearest example is the issue of istihsan (juristic preference) in some schools of jurisprudence, where it is said to be a legal proof. And in the Muslim society, it is established on a firm footing because they say it is a "good innovation," and what is wrong with that, my brother, and so on.