The Shaykh’s discussion with a member of the Tabligh Jama'ah

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : ... if we go out ... the second time and I sat in the mosque, do you know and ... what is the mosque ... .

The Shaykh : My dear friend, this is not the research. May Allah be pleased with you. Do not let us get into points that are not in dispute. Perhaps you do not know me. When I was in Syria, I used to go to Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, and so on. What is the objection? You will ask me, "What is the objection?" There is no objection, but I tell you that the closest people are the most deserving of kindness: your family, your neighbors, and so on. And to whom are you calling? Your family. Did you teach them? Now, without offense, this discussion between you and me is private. Did you make your family understand the creed? Did you make them understand how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed? I tell you, no. Why? On the assumption that you are from the Tabligh Jama'ah. I do not know for sure, but I assume you are from a group. The Tabligh Jama'ah do not learn how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, nor do they teach how to perform Hajj to the House of Allah. They do not learn it, nor do they teach it, and so on. So, on the assumption that you are an individual from the Tabligh Jama'ah, your family is with you, you live with them, and they embrace you and you embrace them, and so on. They are the closest people to you. Did you fulfill this obligation so that you can leave and go to another village? And you ask me, "What is the objection?" I tell you, there is no objection, but start with yourself, then with those next to you. Why do you leave your country? Is it because of the lack of knowledge in your country that you go to another country, or even to Europe? No, my brother, we have enough here.
We need hundreds of scholars and callers to Allah, hundreds, so that we are sufficient to fulfill the obligation. Then ... we move, for example, to Zarqa, to such and such, to such and such. We do not go to Europe. So here ... the callers. This is our discussion, my brother. One who lacks a thing cannot give it. We have a joke in the Levant that they mention. They say that a Kurdish man, enthusiastic about Islam, but a Kurd who knew little of Islam, found a Jew on the road. The man with the dagger said to him ... "Will you submit or will I kill you?" He said, "What should I say?" He said, "By Allah, I do not know!"
So what did this enthusiasm benefit? It did not benefit. He did not know how to teach this Jew Islam. So we tell him, before this enthusiasm, sit down, my brother, and learn what Islam is, then convey it to people in the best manner. And this is sufficient. This is in explaining what is taken against the Tabligh Jama'ah. Otherwise, getting into the details is not our concern, because the matter then requires historical research and whether the chain of narration is authentic or not, and we have no concern in this regard. But the thing that is completely clear is this going out with groups who know little of Islam.

The questioner : ... a minute of it ... because ... .

The Shaykh : Excuse me, define this accusation for me, please, so that I can understand you?

The questioner : ... first of all ... the Dawah group in these times did not go out with them to understand what their goals are?

The Shaykh : Excuse me, I asked you, my brother. May Allah be pleased with you. Let us leave aside the words that the addressee does not understand. I asked you to define this accusation for me. What is this accusation?

The questioner : ... as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prays ... .

The Shaykh : How is it an accusation? I do not see it.

The questioner : How?

The Shaykh : How is it an accusation, my brother? May Allah guide you. I mean, now, without offense, let us put it under the reality. Now, you or anyone else from the Tabligh Jama'ah!

The questioner : Do not put me under the reality, nor ...

The Shaykh : So why are you saying this is an accusation? May Allah be pleased with you. We see it!

The questioner : First of all, if I find one person, I want to speak with you. How do you know that I have been praying for two years? I was outside Saudi Arabia.

The Shaykh : It has been two years for you, what?

The questioner : It has been two years for me that I am praying ... with you, it has been two years that I am praying. And I got to know the Tabligh Jama'ah from our neighborhood. So whatever it means, I can answer you because I have no objection ... sixty.

The Shaykh : Good.

The questioner : ... okay, let me ... but I mean, I went out with the group and sat with them and found out how they pray. And I have the book. They say you wrote it that it is and so we have those who ... and the workers and ... but I mean they ... for this reason, and praise be to Allah, and ... one prayed the prayer ... it has been two years ... I did not strive for knowledge for myself, but you come to judge me.

The Shaykh : Do you allow me?

The questioner : Please proceed.

The Shaykh : You are saying, first of all, this is an accusation. We do not accuse people, and we are the most careful people not to accuse a Muslim. Are the group living on Mars or living on our earth?

The questioner : They are living on our earth.

The Shaykh : They are living, praying in their mosques or in our mosques? What accusation do we see? Then, then, this is your speech that supports my previous speech. But a person may not have the words settled in his mind the first time. And so it was the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that if he spoke a word, he would repeat it three times so that it would be understood from him. I told you just now, if we find in the Tabligh Jama'ah someone who prays according to the Sunnah, this Sunnah did not come to them from their calling. This Sunnah came to them from others. So we want this Sunnah to emanate from them. So you are now, as it came in the Qur'an you are saying it has been two years that you are praying, praise be to Allah, and you are praying according to the book "The Description of the Prayer of the Messenger". Why are you not praying according to a book published by the Tabligh Jama'ah? Because there is no such book. Then we return to the most important thing. We return to the creed. You see that we accuse them of not ... as long as they want to convey Islam, as long as they have this enthusiasm. So you are now saying, I am new to Islam, without offense, and I have been praying for two years. Okay, bring any person you believe has knowledge from the Tabligh Jama'ah, so that you may then see the truth of my speech and be far from accusing me of what is not in me, that I am accusing you of accusing them. I know them from the Levant, and I have sessions with them, and I know them here, and they come to visit me and discuss with me, and so on. So I am not ignorant of them or unaware of them, so that you say it is not permissible to accuse them. But you are accusing us of accusing. We are speaking about knowledge, and especially you say you are new to connecting with prayer. So now, for the truths to be revealed to you, truthfully, any person from the brothers, these are the Tabligh Jama'ah, you trust that he is a head in the calling, meaning he has knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, and so on. Let us sit and have a brotherly discussion, a brotherly discussion, a simple mat as they say, and we discuss the matter. And religion is advice, as you know, from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him).

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : People ... you want ... .

The Shaykh : Doctor, who?

The questioner : Doctor Hamad Abu ... a teacher at the City University.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Fine.

The questioner : And it became ... .

The Shaykh : Correct, correct.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : But what is the point of the discussion? That some of the brothers who were with him pointed out that the Shaykh’s speech is correct. Okay, what did we benefit? The Shaykh’s speech is correct, and the Tabligh Jama'ah, in the millions, have no knowledge of this correctness. This is a problem. Okay, the Tabligh Jama'ah, my brother, in short, we mean we thank their enthusiasm, and we do not thank their departure. This is the best speech: little that says much. This enthusiasm must be coupled with knowledge. And knowledge, as you heard in my first speech, Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said. So now, if we tell you, this Tabligh Jama'ah, they have someone who alerts them, and this alert comes from them, not like the prayer of the Messenger which they took from others. An alert that this hadith is authentic and this hadith is weak, so that the scholar from the Tabligh Jama'ah is on clearness regarding his religion. There is not one of them from India to Sindh, there is not one who has this care. Why? Because the line has deviated from the straight line . It is not that the language of emotions, Professor, does not benefit scientific research at all. When you tell me, I was not praying, I started praying by their grace, I testify and sign a blank paper like you, dozens and hundreds. But these people who are praying, what is the prayer? Is it the prayer that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed? No. The important thing is that he prays the prayer from these prayers and the matter is over. No, this is not the calling of Islam. Any prayer How many are there who stand in prayer but have no prayer? How many are there who fast but have no fasting? And so on.