Some Disputes Arose Among the Salafi Brothers in Sudan Due to Their Falling into Certain Religious Violations

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : Regarding the disputes that arose among the Salafi group in Sudan over certain issues, such as elections, parliaments, and unions in secondary schools and universities, women’s education in coeducational universities, and a Salafi man going to places of evil, such as funeral gatherings and pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) weddings, a conference of Salafi preachers was held throughout Sudan. This took place two years ago, and they reached some agreements. It was a consensus and a gathering of the Salafi community in Sudan. However, the situation remains as it is to this day. They obligated everyone, all members of the Salafi group in Sudan, saying: It is necessary to obey these decisions and adhere to these fatwas. It is not permissible for any individual belonging to this Salafi group in Sudan to deviate from these decisions. Whoever deviates from these decisions and the orders that came from the authority (al-Imarah), and they stated that this authority, the authority in the city, is the authority of da'wah, a legitimate authority, recognized, and it is permissible to obey it in what is right. So, whoever deviates and opposes and does not obey some matters, such as the issue of free mixing of men and women (ikhtilat) in the university, was permitted with two conditions: First, that the person is safe from trial (fitnah) for himself. Second, that he is able to reduce some of the evil. Whoever violates these instructions and orders is expelled; he is expelled from this organization, considered an outcast, and some hadiths are applied to him: , , , . This matter caused confusion among the Muslim youth. Before our arrival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform this duty, one of the brothers spoke about these matters, and he was immediately met with expulsion from this organization. What is the response?

The Shaykh : My answer is that this organization is, on the part of some Salafis, first of all an imitation of some of the old Islamic groups that preceded them in this field without making any significant progress toward achieving what they declare, namely the attempt to reform the Muslim society and establish the Muslim state. For this reason, we reject these organizations; because they are not like the organizations that the Muslims have followed throughout these centuries, which are based on the principle of enjoining good and forbidding evil, and on the basis of learning beneficial knowledge and directing people to righteous action. Rather, as came in this detailed question with examples of what is imposed on those belonging to this group, there is blind obedience even in disobedience to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). It is sufficient to note that they made this emir who was appointed over this group as if he were the Caliph of the Muslims, so it is obligatory to obey him in everything he orders, as long as he does not order disobedience to Allah. The error in this, as you heard, is that they took his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): So it is as if their inner state says that this emir of this group is the emir of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and there is another group that also has an emir, and this emir is the emir of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and so on, applying the rulings of the major imamate to the minor imamate. From the minor imamate, the imam who leads the Muslims in the five prayers in the mosque, it is not permissible to give him the authorities of the first imam, the Caliph. Rather, he is obeyed within the limits of what he orders and forbids regarding the rulings of the Shari'ah. As for what is obligatory for him in obedience if he orders something whose origin is permissible, it is not obligatory to obey this imam who is the imam of the mosque, because he is not the greatest imam who, if he orders the Muslims to do something he sees to be in their benefit and this order is originally permissible, then in this case the greatest emir must be obeyed. Just as it is obligatory for the wife to obey her husband in other than disobedience to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). As for these emirates and these imamates in these modern organizations in the present age, and especially recently, these are first of all not that major imamate because they were not pledged allegiance to by all the Muslims, and therefore the ruling of their emir is not given the rulings of the highest emir. Second: there is something that draws attention and calls for awareness that they increased in the command to obey this specific emir beyond what is established in the Shari'ah regarding obedience to the general emir. It came in the authentic hadith: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a detachment and appointed an emir over it, then this emir wanted to test his followers, whether they would obey him as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered his emir to be obeyed? So he ordered some of them to gather firewood, and they did, then he ordered them all to gather around this firewood, then he ordered some of them to light the fire in it, and they lit it and it caught fire, so he said to them: "Throw yourselves into the fire." They hesitated, so some of them said to others: "By Allah, we did not believe in the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) except to escape from the Fire, so how can we obey this emir of ours by throwing ourselves into the Fire? By Allah, we will not do it until we send to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask him." So the messenger came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned the story to him, so he said: If that is the case, and the emir appointed directly by the Messenger is not obeyed in disobedience to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), how are these emirs of differing methodologies, schools, and directions to be obeyed, while they explicitly state, as you heard in the question, that every individual must obey those decisions which include permitting the mixing of men and women, but he must guard himself—subhan Allah!—and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), whom his Lord described with His saying: What did he do for the Muslims? Did he permit them to expose themselves to fitnah? Or did he say to every Muslim that the first glance is for you and the second is against you? And he said: — meaning touching, meaning shaking hands — These emirs have permitted, they claim, for their followers to mix and expose themselves to fitnah. Rather, some of them explicitly stated, although he is a Salafi, that in the way of da'wah, my brother, everything has become permissible in the way of da'wah, that a man shakes hands with a woman, although he knows that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as witnessed by the Mother of the Believers A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: "The hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never touched the hand of a woman at all," meaning: the hand of a woman who is not lawful for him, the hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never touched the hand of a woman at all. Rather, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pledged allegiance with the men and pledged allegiance with the women, one of them stood up asking him (peace and blessings be upon him) to shake hands with the women as he shook hands with the men for the pledge, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: How can you be a Salafi, and not only a Muhammadi following the sayings of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but also walking on the methodology of the righteous Salaf? And you will not find among the righteous Salaf anyone who permits a man to touch the hand of a woman who is not lawful for him. Here comes the rule: "The end justifies the means." We want to reach the da'wah to places that the strict and rigid da'wah workers do not reach, so they are lenient in some of the rulings. They returned to the false, disbelieving rule: "The end justifies the means." Therefore, we return to say: these emirs, if they order something that is in the interest of the Ummah, obey them in that, there is no harm. But their obedience is not an obligation; because they are not the rulers who are like the Caliphs who have the authority to order something permissible and it becomes obligatory. If there is benefit in it and the man who belongs to the group does it, there is no harm in that. But if it is in disobedience to Allah or His Messenger, then here comes the previous saying: And that we die individually, having no bond or gathering, not disobeying Allah and His Messenger in a single matter is better for us than that we gather on misguidance and on a methodology that they establish while they know that they are contradicting the Shari'ah in many of its commands. And therefore, I support the brother who gave the sermon and stood against those orders, and although he was expelled from the group, he was not expelled from the group, because the group is the group of the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and they all know that what they are saying is from their opinions and their ijtihad, and is not transmitted from their righteous Salaf. And here is a final word: those who issue these decisions, and permit some of the forbidden things under the claim that the maslahah requires it, these, in my belief, I say with certainty: First: they are not scholars, they have not studied the Shari'ah, the Book and the Sunnah, so it is even more so that they are not among the mujtahids who are permitted to perform qiyas and consider, etc., what is known in the science of usul. Rather, they have some Islamic information, snippets of sayings from here and there, and they may have words from some scholars, whether in hadith or in usul, but they are not scholars who can take on the leadership of the Ummah from the intellectual side. Rather, they are a sprout that grew and became enthusiastic without guidance from its Lord. Therefore, I say, without knowing all the personalities of the groups, you will not find in these groups that you hear about such deviations a learned shaykh, you will not find in them a learned shaykh, but rather some enthusiastic youth who think that they are doing well.