Request for the Shaykh to offer advice to the Arabs who have not gone and those who are going to Afghanistan.

The questioner : To complete what the noble father requested, we would also like some guidance, if you please, advice or direction for the Arab brothers, the young men who are going and those who have not gone, and for the scholars and those who have a share of knowledge, regarding the Afghan issue.

Another questioner : I have a funny story, but I just remembered it...

The questioner : ... .

Another questioner : In one minute.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : Approximately in the year 1949, when I was studying in Cairo, there was the presence of Hasan al-Banna (may Allah have mercy on him) at that time.

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him.

The questioner : About ten leaders, leaders of the party, came to him and said to him, "We have prepared for a military coup, and we are confident and certain that it will succeed."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : And we want you to just agree. He said to them, "That is a beautiful thing. I am certain that you will succeed because you have a million armed men at that time; they had a million armed men. What is the plan?" They said, "We will occupy the Ministry of Defense and the radio; there was no television."

The Shaykh : Excuse me, do you mean they succeed, meaning they carry out a coup?

The questioner : They carry out a coup, the monarchy goes, and it becomes an Islamic government.

The Shaykh : Okay.

The questioner : He said, "That is a beautiful thing. We are the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and this is our goal. But tell me one thing you have not described to me. You described what you will occupy, how many people will participate, the weapons you will use, and everything."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

Another questioner : But there is a small thing I did not understand. I want you to teach me: Have you prepared a program for one week on the radio? So each one looked at the other. What does our teacher mean? This is not important. He said to them, "This is the most important thing, because when the people hear that we have carried out a military coup...

The Shaykh : An Islamic military coup.

The questioner : And we want to establish an Islamic government, everyone will expect this Islamic government to be something new and will listen to something new on the radio and in the newspapers, and the ministries will change and everything. Do you want the people to hear songs by Umm Kulthum and Abd al-Wahhab, or do you want to put a military officer in charge for a week? Go and put together a program for a week, then come back to me so I can agree to the coup."

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him.

The questioner : So years passed, and they did not put together this program.

The Shaykh : And they are unable to.

The questioner : This is a practical explanation of what I was saying.

The Shaykh : This is correct.

The questioner : And thank you.

The Shaykh : Welcome. Let's go.

The questioner : We did not hear the advice, Professor.

The Shaykh : No problem. Only some of our brothers want to go, and we remain with you. Yes.

Another questioner : My lord, when we mentioned it, meaning when you answered, regarding the Afghans, until they have no effect on the base... I gave you an example...

The Shaykh : No, no, they are not equal. I did not want to discuss this example with you. This requires research, and it may be thought to be a victory for the ego, so we turned away from it. I still believe, may Allah bless you, that even when I was asked about the differences we hear between some of the parties there, and the fighting that has also reached us, unfortunately, sometimes between them, do you still hold your opinion that jihad there is an individual obligation? I say, "I have only increased in faith," especially now, when we thought the time of reaping the fruit was near, our brothers there are retreating, so they stop. They are now in need of help in the broadest sense of jihad, and especially regarding the previous topic, namely purification and education. I believe that the Arab countries in which the Qur'an was revealed in their language are in need of the topic of purification and education, given what we know of the deviation of these Arabs in most of their lands from the correct creed in the most precious matter related to Islam, which is the testimony that there is no god but Allah, and its completion, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Because we believe that this good word, "There is no god but Allah," has a right in both creed and action. In creed, you pointed to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in its three categories. In action, as Abu Bakr indicated in the story of fighting the people of apostasy, except for its right and their reckoning with Allah. Likewise, I believe that the completion of this testimony, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, also has a right. And every one of the two rights—the right of the testimony to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His oneness, and to His Prophet in His messengership—has been neglected by the masses of Muslims, the Arabs, let alone the non-Arabs. This is because what relates to the right of the first testimony, first in creed, most Muslims today are Jahmiyyah (a sect that denied the divine attributes) and Mu'tazilah (a rationalist theological sect) regarding the oneness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in lordship. This is because the Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) has the right of legislation alone, as they say today in the language of the modern age, that sovereignty belongs to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is a neglect. And I do not want to say it is a neglect by the rulers, because that has become a matter taken for granted, and it has become the habit of many a Muslim youth to negate himself and remember his ruler, so he declares the ruler a disbeliever because he rules by these laws, which, unfortunately, he inherited from the first colonial rulers. But this Muslim who declares the ruler a disbeliever forgets himself, so he does not rule by what Allah has revealed in himself, in his wife, in his daughters, in his children, and so on. This is a neglect. Then there is a neglect in one of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that appears in ordinary speech in an ordinary gathering. You find a man whose thought is focused and he says, "There is no god but Allah. Allah is present in every place. Allah is present in all existence." This is the creed of the Mu'tazilah, and people do not know, even the specialists among them, that it is the creed of the Mu'tazilah, and the discussion of this is long. We come to the testimony of the Messenger with the messengership. This testimony necessitates that he (peace and blessings be upon him) be obeyed and not disobeyed, that no one be disobeyed in the path of obeying him (peace and blessings be upon him). And this is also not realized today. The reason is that there is no teaching of purification and no education. Therefore, I believe that if this is a calamity for the Arab world, what about the non-Arab world, including our Afghan brothers? Therefore, I still believe, and I increase in belief and confidence in what I was saying, that it is obligatory for every Muslim who is able to help these Afghan brothers in the two jihads: the jihad against the occupying enemy... there is still, and the jihad of knowledge, which they are in need of, accompanied by what is known from the Book of Allah and from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which is truly a detailed explanation of the Noble Qur'an in much of what is summarized or general in it. The noble verse says, as is known, And the Sunnah has given us many examples of good style in da'wah (calling others to Islam), with the note that this good style, which is good in itself, is not constant, as many callers to Islam imagine. That is, the style of gentleness and wisdom is the constant style that some callers to Islam think it is, and they forget that there is another style. But the Muhammadan style is to put everything in its place. For example, I mention a wonderful hadith that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him a dream he saw. He said, "While I was walking in some of the roads of Medina, I met a man from the Jews. This Muslim said to the Jew in the dream, 'You are a good people, O Jews, if only you did not associate partners with Allah and say, "Azir is the son of Allah."' The Jew said to him in the dream, 'And you are a good people, O Muslims, if only you did not associate partners with Allah and say, "What Allah willed and Muhammad willed."' And he walked a little and met a man from the Christians. He said to him, 'You are a good people, O Christians, if only you did not associate partners with Allah and say, "Jesus is the son of Allah."' He said, 'You are a good people, O Muslims, if only you did not associate partners with Allah and say, "What Allah willed and Muhammad willed."' He told this dream to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He said to him, Here is the point And in a narration in another story that appears to contradict the first, but there is no contradiction in my view, as will be explained. He (peace and blessings be upon him) gave a sermon in a gathering, and one of them stood up and said, "What Allah willed and you willed, O Messenger of Allah." He said, - May Allah have mercy on you. No problem. May Allah have mercy on us with you.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah, may Allah encompass us with His mercy. The point here is that the style of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) differed completely from that in the other case. Why? It seems to me, and Allah knows best, that this was after the instruction, after the warning, after he had been patient with them for a long time and had felt shy of them, so he delivered the first sermon to them. Now was the time for them to learn, especially since they were Arabs, not like us Arabs who have become foreigners; we do not distinguish between "what Allah willed and what Muhammad willed" and "what Allah willed, then what Muhammad willed" when we narrate the hadith to them. The Arabs ask, "What is the difference?" The Arabs ask, "What is the difference?" Just as there are foreigners who have become Arabized, there are Arabs who have become foreignized, meaning they have exchanged, unfortunately. But those among whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent were the pure Arabs, and therefore they should distinguish between "what Allah willed and what Muhammad willed" and "what Allah willed, then what Muhammad willed." Nevertheless, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) alerted them and informed them of the legal ruling. So when that man contradicted it, I recall now, when I imagine this sentence and how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said it with passion, I remember the story of the Lady A'ishah with that Jew who came to the Prophet (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace) and said, "The sam is upon you, O Muhammad, the sam is upon you." She let it go, for she was behind the veil, and she said, "And upon you be the sam, the curse, and the anger, brothers of the apes and the swine." The narrator says, "So it split into two parts" when she heard the Jew's curse upon the Messenger. The Jews, may Allah curse them, say "the sam" instead of "peace be upon you," meaning death, but they double it in their speech; they do not state it explicitly, they do not say "the sam, the sam." Ah, this is something one should notice, and few notice it, and the master of those who notice is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said with complete calmness, It split into two parts, and she said, "And upon you be the sam, the curse, and the anger, brothers of the apes and the swine." So imagine that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was touched in his divinity, even if only by words that did not come from a heartfelt intention, he said, or This style differs from that other style. That other style is what the callers to Allah should adopt, but this should not always dominate them, because it contradicts the wisdom upon which the Messenger (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace) was. Also, for example, from the first category, and this is a wonderful example, that the Prophet (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace) prayed two rak'ahs inside the Ka'bah during the Conquest. The Lady A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) intended to follow her husband and her Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), so she wanted to climb onto the Ka'bah and pray two rak'ahs, but he (may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace) said to her, A fire had struck the Ka'bah, so they rebuilt it. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, The point is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the complete hadith, meaning, include the Hijr, So he left the Ka'bah as the polytheists had built it, fearing that it would cause fitnah and some of the weak in faith would apostatize. "Yes, they left us nothing, not even the House of Allah; they ruined it for us." Some ignorant people might say such a thing. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) left the Ka'bah as it was. The point is that the truth is that da'wah is not easy, and I see it as a mistake for da'wah to become a job, because if da'wah is not accompanied by the knowledge that its practitioner has practiced over time and knows how to eat the head, as it is said, then it is not a profession. Just because someone, for example, graduates from university, does that mean we send him to America and to Africa and so on as a da'i, when he has not yet filled himself with the study of the Sunnah and the learning of wisdom? How is the noble verse? He has not yet studied wisdom or known the methods that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) employed in calling people to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So wisdom requires gentleness in many or most situations, but in some situations it requires severity, as came from the Lady A'ishah that the Prophet (may Allah pray upon him and his family and grant him peace)—the meaning of the hadith, for I do not remember its exact wording now—that he, Now we see disbelief doing its work, and one of us comes with the best of intentions and says, "My brother, face the qiblah, do not face the grave."The Shaykh : The distinguished scholar tells you, "Leave him, my brother, his intention is good." Do you think that the man who said to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), "What Allah willed and what you willed," had a bad intention? If his heart had been with his words, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would have ordered him to renew his faith and renew his marriage to his wife. But he knew that this word came from the tongue and not from the heart. Where is the Sunnah? Where is the wisdom in da'wah? If the sanctities of Allah are violated, he tells you, "Leave him, my brother, his intention is good." Have we not heard this word? Although da'wah was not so severe that it could be said, "By Allah, this was harsh. What was it, severe?" No, my brother, instead of facing the grave, face the qiblah. Leave him, his intention is good. And so on. Therefore, I say, I advise the Arab scholars to go to Afghanistan and to strive with the tongue and the sword. And I personally remember, "Oh, if youth would return one day, I would show him what old age has done."
The Shaykh : I wished I were young to go there and strive in both types of jihad. And I am without doubt strong in one and weak in the other. But if he were young, like many of the youths who went and did not carry weapons in their lands, they learned to carry weapons there. But unfortunately, the command came in old age, and we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to enable us at least to continue in the jihad of da'wah to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with wisdom and good admonition. This is what comes to my mind in answer to your desire, finally, and I hope that Allah will benefit you with it.