The Shaykh’s mention of the hadith (The believer who mixes with people and endures their harm)

The Shaykh : The chapter on the one who endures the harm of people. It was narrated with his authentic chain from Ibn ‘Umar from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said: This hadith makes it clear that it is better for the Muslim to associate with people, deal with them, and mix with them, because in this association and mixing there is good for him and for those he mixes with. The one who mixes with others is either in need of knowledge, in which case he benefits from what they have, especially if these people are among the people of knowledge, virtue, and good character. And if he is among those people, i.e., among the people of knowledge, virtue, and good character, then it is even more fitting for him to be a benefit to the other people he mixes with and associates with. In truth, this hadith contains a refutation of a trend followed by some Islamic sects for a long time, namely those known as the Sufis.
These Sufis are known among all Islamic groups or sects as those who isolate themselves, dwelling in their corners and in houses they gave special names to, such as *takayya* and *zawiyas*. Some of them even went so far as to leave living among people entirely, even in these *zawiyas* and *takayya*. One of them would go out to live with the beasts in the deserts, wildernesses, and uninhabited lands. All of this was to escape mixing with people, because they believed that this mixing brings them no good, but rather brings them evil. Therefore, they preferred to live outside of buildings. They have many stories, and very many indeed, which are mentioned in the books of spiritual exhortation and the books of the miracles of the saints and the righteous, as they claimed.
This hadith contains a clear refutation of these people, because our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, did not send Islam for people to live in a single row. Rather, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sent down His religion and sent His messengers so that there would be a community in which some live with others, cooperating with one another in good and enjoining one another to do what is right and forbidding one another from what is wrong, as He, Mighty and Majestic, said: The man who lives alone and does not live among his kind has no opportunity to be described with this virtuous quality by which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, described this community, one of whose most prominent characteristics is that you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. The man who lives in the wildernesses, deserts, and uninhabited lands finds no one to enjoin what is right for him or forbid him from what is wrong. He finds no one to teach him anything of what Allah has taught, if he has knowledge. And if he is in ignorance, he finds no one from whom to learn what Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has taught. Therefore, he lives his entire life in a state of barrenness, like the lands in which he lives: barren of knowledge, barren of good character, and barren of the softness and gentleness that a Muslim should possess, considering that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) described the believer with many qualities, among which he said: This quality of being gentle and soft cannot be imprinted on the person who lives in the deserts. Therefore, it came in many authentic hadiths in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) describes the Bedouins who live in the deserts and do not live in the cities as having hard hearts and harsh livers.