The Divergence of the Ikhwan al-Muslimin in Worship and Belief, and Clarifying the Right Path?

The questioner : Confusion has arisen among some of the brothers, as they read the book "Islamic Groups" in the Book and the Sunnah, especially regarding the Tabligh Jama'ah. 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 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 fundamental 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 one of difference. 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 of the matter today is that you rarely hear a scholar answering a questioner's question by saying "Allah said" or "The Messenger of Allah said." Rather, as we said 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 one prays in one form of prayer, and that one 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, specifically what is authentic from him, and avoiding what is not authentic from him. Where is this path, and where is its application in our reality today? Returning to the question, we say: It is not just the Tabligh Jama'ah; 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 Jama'ah and others—we do not single them out, because the problem is general—has the belief of this group, which has existed on the face of the earth for a long time, been unified? Have the individuals of the Tabligh Jama'ah unified in their belief? 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 Jama'ah. So there is no difference between this group and that group in this respect. Likewise, you will find in the Tabligh Jama'ah 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 think 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 belief is straight that 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 Call of Tabligh. For this reason, many matters contrary to the Sunnah issue from them. Among these is what they have distinguished themselves with over all 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 : Well, what is the error in going out?

The Shaykh : The error? Did you hear the error? Did you hear? 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, or 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 Jama'ah has distinguished itself with over all groups. Now you say to them: What has the Tabligh Jama'ah 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). So 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 man who was a scholar 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 the scholar from the Companions people who were not scholars. To where? And to Yemen. What is in Yemen? There is nothing in it but shirk and disbelief. So 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, its 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 Jama'ah has been around for so many years—you know them better than I do—their belief 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 others from it. If you have stopped... "
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 are responsible for. So what is the Tabligh Jama'ah calling people to, if they themselves have not agreed on belief...

The questioner : How can they call people?

The Shaykh : Let me ask you, 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, 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'i—not the general public who follow the da'i in the Tabligh Jama'ah—and says, "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 entirely 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 madhhab, or they may follow one of the many tariqahs that some Sufis speak of, saying without 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 agree 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'i, who planned for the Tabligh Jama'ah, is himself bound to the Hanafi or Shafi'i madhhab 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 and know this reality: many people who did not pray started praying. 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 khamr, 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 insight into 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.
We do not see this in the Tabligh Jama'ah. And I repeat and say: all these years, they are exactly like the Muslim Brotherhood in this respect, in that their ideas are not unified. Just as there is a Salafi in the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a Tariqah follower, a madhhab follower, and in some countries, there may even be a Shi'i. We know this from their long history. So what Islam is this to which they call?
Now, after I have clarified to you what is taken against them, I advise them: O group, instead of going out on this expedition, which first did not exist in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and second, which you organize in a way that has no basis in Islam—three days, forty days, I do not know, among the detailed matters I do not remember now and which we have no knowledge of—instead of this expedition that did not exist in the earliest, most radiant era, sit, my brother, in the mosques and study the Book of Allah. Either from yourselves, if you are of the first group, or as we said: We often hear them begin the lesson with a very beautiful word. I have not memorized it, of course, but you know it. What is the word? When the preacher arrives at the obligatory prayer, saying, "We are going to pray the Sunnah," they say, for example, "tashabbuh" (imitation).