The Differences Among the Members of the Tabligh Group?

The questioner : Some confusion arose among some of the brothers, as they read the book "Islamic Groups" in the book and the Sunnah, especially regarding the Tabligh Group. I wish you would clarify this for us...

The Shaykh : We are on our path, holding that the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). This is, without a doubt, and praise be to Allah, a text agreed upon by all Islamic groups. No one says that the best of guidance is the guidance of Abu Hanifa, or Malik, or al-Shafi'i, or Ahmad. They all believe that these are people of knowledge and virtue, and their goal is to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him) and walk in his path. So the principle agreed upon by all Muslims is that the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Despite this agreement, there is disagreement in its application, and in making this Prophetic principle a reality on the ground. Here the matter becomes different. We spoke earlier about the issue of knowledge: what is it? We said it is "Allah said" and "the Messenger of Allah said." There is no disagreement on this. But the reality today is that you rarely hear a scholar answering a questioner's question by saying "Allah said" or "the Messenger of Allah said." Instead, as we mentioned earlier, he says "So-and-so said." And "So-and-so said" is not knowledge, as we mentioned earlier. So the important thing today is that Muslims meet on the agreed-upon legal principles and follow them, not setting them aside. We say the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Then you see this person praying in one form of prayer, and that person in another form, and so on. Likewise, wudu, fasting, and Hajj, and so on. Why? What is the reason? The reason is that they did not apply the principle that the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Why? Because making this principle a reality in our religious life requires knowledge of what Allah said and what the Messenger of Allah said, especially what the Messenger of Allah said that is authentic, and avoiding what is not authentic. Where is this approach, and where is its application in our reality today? Returning to the question, we say: It is not just the Tabligh Group; all Islamic groups are with us in that the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). But the Tabligh Group and others—we do not single them out, because the problem is general—has the creed of this group, which has existed on the ground for many years, become unified? Have the members of the Tabligh Group unified in their creed? Have they unified in their worship? And so on? In my opinion, I say no, because you will find among them Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is, and Hanbalis, just as is found in groups other than the Tabligh Group. So there is no difference between this group and that group in this respect. Likewise, you will find in the Tabligh Group people who truly lean toward adhering to the Book and the Sunnah, as we explained earlier, but they do not find scholars among them who guide them to the Book and the Sunnah. Rather, they pick up from every scholar they believe has knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah. As long as he guides them to the Book and the Sunnah, they follow that. Why? Because their creed is straight: we must follow the Book and the Sunnah. But the majority of them are not like that. What is the reason? Because their idea is not unified; they are not in agreement on this unified idea from the same call they call the Tabligh call. For this reason, many matters contrary to the Sunnah issue from them. Among these is what they have distinguished themselves with and set apart from other Islamic groups, which is what they call "going out in the path of Allah." They mean by this that groups go out to some villages, to some cities, to some countries, and these may be non-Islamic countries. We always and forever draw their attention to the fact that going out in the path of Allah is a good thing, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: But if they believe with us, as we believe, that the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), did the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his noble Companions go out in the dozens for the call to Islam?

The questioner : Okay, what is the error in going out?

The Shaykh : The error? Did you not hear the error? Did you not hear what I said? What did you hear from me just now?

The questioner : I heard that the Companions did not... But they had an environment different from ours. I am, for example, a doctor, I am an engineer, I am a carpenter, I am a blacksmith. These people all go to the mosque, but the imam says the salam, and each one goes to his house. But if we go out to the roads for three days or a week, we act... we learn from whoever is more knowledgeable... than me, for example. If there is a person who is old, sick, we visit him for the sake of Allah, we remind him of Allah, and we teach him... the religion. We remind him of Allah...

The Shaykh : Excuse me, scientific research requires patience. You have now entered into the topic of visiting him and so on. This is not the research. Visiting for the sake of Allah is required, and mutual advice is required, and enjoining good and forbidding evil is required. But I told you, we are talking about an issue that the Tabligh Group has distinguished itself with from all groups. Now you say to them: What has the Tabligh Group distinguished itself with? Anyone who has zeal for Islam, and has some knowledge, and some zeal for the Muslims, does what you are saying. I am speaking now about this going out, and I will prove it with the Sunnah, and I will speak with the principle I stated and repeated, which is that Muslims do not differ on it at all: the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): the people in his time were in greater need of knowledge than the people in our time today, because he was surrounded by disbelievers. So he would send a knowledgeable man from among them, and he did not send with him fifteen companions who knew nothing, but rather they would learn from the people of knowledge present in each town. As you know, I think, all of you, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh alone, sent Abu Musa al-Ash'ari alone, sent Ali, sent Abu Ubaydah 'Amir ibn al-Jarrah, sent Duhayh, and so on. We did not find him (peace be upon him), throughout his blessed life, sending with a knowledgeable Companion people other than scholars. To where? To Yemen. What is in Yemen? Nothing but shirk and disbelief. Do you imagine that the need existed in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him)? And so we say: the foundation of the call is knowledge, the foundation is knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah. And I drew your attention to something I hoped and wished that, instead of us going around the issue of no disagreement, which is visiting so-and-so and saying to him "why don't you pray in the mosque" and such things, there is no disagreement in these. But I drew your attention to the fact that the Tabligh Group has been around for so many years—you know them better than I do—their creed is not unified, their prayers are not unified, their worship is not unified. So what is this Tabligh that you are calling people to, when you have not yet called yourselves?
"Begin with yourself, and then forbid its opposite. If it ends... "
The Shaykh : What did you forget? The important verse of poetry: begin with yourself, as we said earlier. This is for our benefit. Where is this?Abu Layla : ? Begin with yourself, then with those you support. So what is the Tabligh Group calling people to, if they themselves have not yet agreed on the creed...

The questioner : How can they call people?

The Shaykh : Allow me to ask, what comes after that? You are speaking about these points, but you are not giving us points on which there is no disagreement, and praise be to Allah, such as visiting the sick, the one who abandons prayer, and enjoining good and forbidding evil, and so on. Their creed is not unified, their prayers are not unified, their fasting, their Hajj, and so on. If you want to take their Islam as a whole, I am with you. And if you want to take from it the rules, principles, and important pillars of faith and Islam, I am also with you. To the best of my knowledge, the Tabligh Jama'ah do not concern themselves with these aspects at all. In fact, many of them openly state, "We do not investigate creedal matters because we do not want to stir up disagreements among Muslims." Therefore, they also do not investigate correcting prayers and acts of worship according to the Sunnah, and so on. So, as my brother, one who lacks a thing cannot give it. They call people to Islam, but what is Islam? "Pray well, fast, give zakah," and so on. But if a questioner asks the da'iyah—not the general public who follow the da'iyah in the Tabligh Jama'ah—saying, "Please teach me how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray," there is no answer. Why? Because from the very source from which they draw, they are not wholly directed toward teaching themselves Islam first, based on the Book and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). They may be bound to one school of jurisprudence, or they may follow one of the many paths that some Sufis speak of, saying without any hesitation, "The paths to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of creation." So it is possible that...The Shaykh : ...he follows one of these many paths, of which all scholars unanimously testify that none of it existed in the three renowned centuries known for their excellence. How so? Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: meaning, which path? So if the head da'iyah, who planned for the Tabligh Jama'ah, is himself bound to the Hanafi or Shafi'i school or another, and follows one of these paths, what is this Islam to which they call people? It is just prayer. We hear a lot about this and know this reality: many people who did not pray began to pray. We do not deny this. We know that in every land of Islam, and especially in Syria where I lived for many years, there are extreme Sufi shaykhs who eat the money of people and live off the efforts of their followers. Yet many drunkards, intoxicated with alcohol, were guided by them. This is not denied. They did not pray, and now they pray. But is this the intended goal? That a person be like him, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Is this the intended goal? The intended goal is that the Muslim calls with knowledge of his religion, as we said. And from where do we receive this? We said: either he studies the Book and the Sunnah, or he receives the Book and the Sunnah from one who is knowledgeable of them.