What is your opinion regarding the statement of some activists that learning 'aqidah in detail can be acquired in a few minutes?

The questioner: May Allah reward you, O our Shaykh. I have a question that is a continuation related to this. It is also my methodology in the continuation of the research, but not on the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) side, rather on the 'aqidah side.

The Shaykh : Please, go ahead.

The questioner: It is well known that the Salafi da'wah (calling others to Islam), in what it calls for, just as it calls for implementing the Book and the Sunnah (the Prophet's way) with the understanding of the Salaf (the earliest generations) in practical matters, acts of worship, and others, it also calls for implementing the Book and the Sunnah, and what the Salaf (the earliest generations) were upon, and what is known as Salafi 'aqidah, learning it, and striving to preserve it. This is because beginning with faith in Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and the Last Day is among the duties of Islam.

The Shaykh: True.

The questioner: However, there are three shubhat (a doubtful matter) which, in reality, revolve around one point. Therefore, I will mention the three shubhat (a doubtful matter), and out of respect for time, I will combine the three shubhat (a doubtful matter), and then the response will be to whatever you wish. They say the first shubhat (a doubtful matter) is that what is required from studying 'aqidah is what validates faith, and this can be learned in a few minutes. The second shubhat (a doubtful matter) is that they say studying 'aqidah in detail, especially in the chapters of refutations against the Jahmiyyah (a sect that denied the divine attributes), the Mu'tazilah (a rationalist theological sect), the Asha'irah (the Ash'ari theological school), and others, leads people into what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has not obligated them to know, and exposes them to fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in their religion. Just as teaching 'aqidah in detail leads people to confusion and wavering. The third shubhat (a doubtful matter) is accusing the Salafi scholars that they drone on around issues of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and tawhid (the oneness of Allah) without entering into researching what the ummah (the Muslim community) needs, such as implementing the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law), confronting the tyrants, and forbidding what is wrong, and without moving the da'wah (calling others to Islam) to a practical, applied reality. So, these are three shubhat (a doubtful matter), but in reality, their outcome is the non-study of 'aqidah and the lack of striving to preserve it. Is there an answer?

The Shaykh: Yes. As for the first shubhat (a doubtful matter), it is like its sisters, a pattern we know from the one who says that 'aqidah can be received in a few minutes. We ask this one who says this: What is this 'aqidah that a Muslim can receive in a few minutes? Does he mean receiving 'aqidah in summary in a few minutes? Or in detail in a few minutes? If he says in summary, we say this is possible in summary, as it is in the hadith of faith: "You believe in Allah, His angels, His books..." to the end. But if he says that 'aqidah can also be received in detail in a few minutes, we will say to him: First, do you mean the Arabs or the non-Arabs? From his statement, I mean the Arabs, is that not so? You are a poet in the problem, setting your status as a defender of them or an expresser of their shubhat (a doubtful matter). So we will say to him, may Allah reward you with good: If you mean only the Arabs, this is the first sin, because you know that Islam was not sent to the Arabs specifically, but rather to all people. Then we say secondly: Do you mean the pure Arabs who understand the Arabic language, the language of the Noble Qur'an, without learning it? If he says: Yes, we say you have erred, because the Arabs have been affected by non-Arab influence, and it has become such that one living in the heart of the Arab lands cannot understand the Qur'an, which was revealed in the language of the Arabs, except by studying linguistic preliminaries and sciences called technically "instrumental sciences" and the like. At that point, we arrive at the statement: Is this scholar who wants to teach people the 'aqidah that came in the Book and the Sunnah living in an atmosphere similar to the first Salafi atmosphere? The first one represented by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with his Companions? Or is he living in atmospheres of intellectual fragmentation and moral and behavioral disintegration? I think his answer, if Allah wills, in truth, will be to say: No, he is living now in an atmosphere that differs completely from the previous atmosphere. So, this one who says that 'aqidah can be understood, in the detail that came in the Book and the Sunnah, in a few minutes, is living in fantasy. Then we place him under the command of reality: We gave 'aqidah in a few minutes. Suppose I am a Bedouin man coming from the desert and I want to learn Islamic 'aqidah. What is it?

The questioner: He said this statement linking 'aqidah with what validates 'aqidah. He says that when a person is required to be a Muslim, he is only commanded to know Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in a general way, and to testify that there is no god but Allah, and to believe in what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) defined as faith, or as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the girl.

The Shaykh: This returns to my previous statement regarding the summary.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh: Okay, but he does not agree with us that it is obligatory after that to learn Islam in detail, considering that knowledge is divided into two types: individual obligation and collective obligation. And I think no one denies this now. He is talking about the man. Look now at the misguidance of these people who live in dreams. First, they imagine that our society is the society of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Second, they imagine every Muslim, a Muslim son of a Muslim son of a Muslim, Allah knows where it ends, they imagine that he has just entered Islam, my brother. There is a difference between one who entered Islam recently and one who has lived in an Islamic society. So this is different from the first one completely. A disbeliever wants to enter Islam. What does he want? Say: I testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. He becomes a Muslim by the testimony of the authentic hadith ... and he does not learn 'aqidah in its details, nor worship in its details. I do not think ignorance reaches the point of acknowledging such a summary Islam. It is necessary that he say: It is not obligatory for him afterwards, for example, to learn how to perform ritual purity, how to perform the ritual prayer, how to fast, for example, when the month of Ramadan comes, to the end. These details must be learned to complete his Islam. Do you see faith, is that not so? This summary faith that we quoted from them, is it not with its books and its messengers in summary? Do you see when the detail comes, what do they say about it? Is it obligatory to believe when the detail comes, is it obligatory to believe in it or not?

The questioner: There is no doubt that it is obligatory to believe in it.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner: It is obligatory to believe in it. When the detail comes, it is obligatory to believe in it.

The Shaykh: Is it like this? Do you imagine that they say: No?

The questioner: They do not say no, as you mentioned, O Shaykh. But they fell into the part you mentioned, that they fell into complete ignorance, where they...

The Shaykh : This is why we must be, and they must be with us, in the reality of our present situation. The truth is that this is what makes our call not easy. People today think that a person can know all of Islam in a single session, because they bring up the example of the Bedouin man. "O my brother, that is not a complete Islam. He came from the desert wanting to embrace Islam, but Islam was still being revealed with its rulings, its jihad, and so on." So now, it is not merely that we must not go back; rather, it is not permissible for us to go back. We must adopt this Islam in its entirety, both in general and in detail. If a Muslim falls into this environment, which is the most disputed of all, and as we mentioned earlier with the doctor, there are seventy-three sects, and only one sect is saved. They asked, "Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: Are we not, and are not these questioners, doubters, and skeptics, obligated to strive to be among the saved sect? There is no doubt that their answer will be, "Yes, my brother. You are not in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) where you would sit with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and hear the ruling directly from him. Between you and the Messenger are fourteen centuries, and on your path there are stumbles and stumbles. A hadith will come to you, or a verse will come to you. If you were in the presence of the Messenger, it would suffice you and save you the trouble if its meaning was difficult for you, just as happened with some of the Companions when a verse was difficult for them: Do you remember the verse and the hadith?

The questioner : Yes, we remember it.

The Shaykh : Ah, they said, "Then which of us is not that man who wronged himself?" He said: So the Messenger (peace be upon him) removed this doubt from their minds. So you, O Muslim, in the fourteenth century, or the beginning of the fifteenth, are not in the company of the Messenger so that when something is difficult for you, he comes and gives you the answer, and you accept it. Before you are these long distances. You want to know if this hadith is authentic or not. You want to know if this ruling was taken from the Book, or from the Sunnah, or from the consensus, which sometimes involves disagreement regarding its authenticity or weakness, or from analogical reasoning? And then, is this analogical reasoning clear or hidden? Our situation now is not that situation, poor things. And because of their ignorance of this knowledge, they make the matter easy and tell you that one can learn the creed in a few minutes. Therefore, we must actually proceed forward on our difficult, long, and extended path. And I say, in some of my words, when I mention his saying (peace be upon him) when he was sitting with his Companions, he recited the saying of Allah the Exalted and drew a straight line on the ground: The hadith describes in some books of hadith that the straight line is long, and the lines around it are short lines. I understand from this hadith more than what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated; that is, I understand the thing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stated, plus what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated with this wonderful, exquisite drawing. The straight line is the Sirat (the straight path), and the short lines are those on the head of each of which is a devil calling people to it. This devil—I heard this with these two ears of mine from some of those who claim to call to Islam and want to establish the state of Islam by jumping to the top of the pyramid in one step. They say, "By Allah, your call is truly correct, but my brother, look at this path, it is difficult. When will we reach the establishment of the Muslim state? And the Islamic society?" I say that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) drew this line in response to these people, saying to them, "Look, this long line is surrounded by hardships, and look at these short lines, they are surrounded by desires." They want to reach it by these short paths, and they will never reach it. The experience of this era from the Islamic groups is the greatest proof that on the head of every devil, practically, he calls people to it, and they deviate from the straight path. And we must remain on this straight path. It does not harm us, nor does it matter to us, that people say, "This is a long and difficult path," and so on. On this occasion, I like the words of that pre-Islamic Arab poet, and I wish that there were among the Muslims those whose thinking about Islam is like his thinking in his pre-Islamic age. He is that one, Imru' al-Qays, who said:
"My companion wept when he saw the road ahead of him, and he was certain that we would not catch up with the short distance."
"So I said to him, do not weep, O eye, for we are only trying for a kingdom, or we die and are excused."
What is upon us if we continue to walk on the straight path and do not reach the establishment of the Muslim state? The Islamic world has been stumbling in its distance from the Book and the Sunnah for centuries. If we take the straight path and walk a few steps, where will we reach? It is not important that we reach it; the important thing is that we walk on the straight line. That pre-Islamic man understood the realistic, scientific truth, even though his goal was what? His goal was the world, his goal was the kingdom, but he says, "We are trying for a kingdom, or we die and are excused." And we are like this with our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). We try to restore Islamic life and to establish the state after trying to restore Islamic life. If we reach it, good; if we do not reach it, we are not obligated, because the matter is entirely in the hand of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). All we are obligated to do is to walk together on the straight path. Therefore, these questions, these doubts, in reality, are coming because of their deviation from the straight line to one of these short lines that take their followers off the straight path. And welcome, doctor, we have taken up some of your time.
The questioner : Okay, my master, this answer to this question, meaning as you said, a general answer like this is sufficient, unless there is something that deserves a detailed answer. Is there anything else?