The Refutation of Those Who Obligated Following One of the Established Schools of Jurisprudence and Forbidden Departing from Them, and the Danger of Factionalism to the Muslim Community

The Shaykh : Therefore, he says: "And there is no disagreement among us that the majority of Muslims, who do not fit the description of seeking knowledge or investigation, are not obligated with the same responsibility as those distinguished ones." Here is the point regarding the danger of his words. He said: "So, calling them to abandon the schools of jurisprudence is nothing but luring them into doubt about the religion itself, and this is sufficient to misguide them and push the whole of them into the abyss of loss. This is how we interpret the position of al-Bouti and al-Hamid (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding non-sectarianism, considering it, in this perspective, a danger that threatens the Islamic Shari'ah."
This writer—regrettably—agrees with the Salafis on the entire line at the beginning of his speech, but at the end of his speech, he departs from them on the entire line. The reason for this, in my view, comes down to one thing: because the Salafi call is, by nature, the correct concept of Islam, and because Islam in reality is a comprehensive religion for all of humanity in every time and place, the Salafi call is, likewise, not restricted to a specific group of Muslims to the exclusion of others. Rather, it calls all people, just as Islam calls them. Because the Salafi call is Islam in its correct concept, it calls all Muslims to hold fast to their Islam. The Salafi call does not restrict itself to a group to the exclusion of another; it does not distinguish, in terms of calling to follow the Book and the Sunnah, between the educated and the uneducated, or between the learned and the unlearned. It calls all categories and all individuals to be sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in their worship of Him and to their Prophet in following him. All Muslims must participate in this.
Now we hear a new tone, and this writer is also one of the problems surrounding the Salafi call: he belongs to the Salafi call, yet here he displays this distinction. The reason for this distinction goes back to the fact that there are people who preceded the Salafi call by belonging to another party or group that does not adopt the Salafi call as their school and methodology. They preceded the Salafi call by belonging to a party and being cultured by its culture. Most of these parties, as we spoke in some detail in our commentary on the previous speech in the last lesson, are based on aggregation, clustering, and increasing the masses, rather than on cultural enrichment and deep understanding of the religion. So, when the Salafi call comes to one of these individuals, he is impressed by its purity, clarity, and the strength of its arguments, and he adopts it in general. However, the prior adoption of another call based on clustering and factionalism does not leave room, in reality, for the Salafi call to enter the core of his heart and control all his senses and all his actions. So you find that he is, on one hand, a Salafi, and on the other hand, he is not a Salafi; rather, he is against the Salafi methodology.
This is an example we were discussing before we read it in writing, as is the case now. We were reading it in the actions of some of these people. We find one of them living while claiming the Salafi methodology, but no one benefits from his call, or, yes, no one benefits from his adoption of the Salafi call from those around him, except for something that is barely worth mentioning. Why? He does not call to the Salafi call; he has carried it only for himself and his person. As for the thing he calls to, he is eager and diligent in calling to it, and that is this clustering and factionalism based on general Islamic concepts that do not clarify Islam to its adopter in the correct way as it came in the Book and the Sunnah.
This clustering and factionalism does not leave room for the spread of the Salafi call among all strata of the community and its individuals. Because this contradicts clustering and factionalism, as we explained this in the last lesson. Because when we say:
"This is the truth, there is no obscurity in it, *** So leave me alone regarding the intentions of the people of the path."
One will separate from the other, and the brother from his brother, and this contradicts clustering. Therefore—and peace be upon you—therefore, there are people who are half Salafi and half partisan. The first half is in what concerns his person and his self, and the other half is in what concerns the society in which he lives. So in his society, he is not a Salafi. Therefore, he wants us to leave the common people, as you heard, and the common people represent the overwhelming majority of Muslims, naturally. He wants us to leave them holding fast to their schools of jurisprudence and not call them to follow the Book and the Sunnah. Because, in his claim, this is a call for them to a labyrinth, to misguidance, and to stripping away and exiting the religion, may Allah protect us from it (Glorified and Exalted is He)!
Here we want to clarify the difference between the Salafi call in its reality and the Salafi call within the limits of what some of its adherents from the Islamic parties can bear.