You said, O Shaykh, that the state of Islam cannot be established for two reasons, one of which is that it cannot be done except through purification and the correct understanding of Islam. What is the meaning of...

The questioner : The second question: You said in your answer regarding the Islamic state that it cannot be established for two reasons, one of which is that it cannot be done except through purification, meaning the correct knowledge or the correct understanding of Islam. What is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ? Does that mean that in the coming generations, knowledge will be snatched away? I don't understand. I mean, the coming generations will come, and knowledge will decrease and be snatched away. So does that mean that the Islamic state cannot be established?

The Shaykh : How is this statement? I think you have strayed very far from the topic.

The questioner : You said that it is a condition for establishing the Islamic state...

The Shaykh : Be patient a little. I understood the question, but the end of the question appears to have no relation to the principle of the question and its beginning. We said and explained what we mean by purification. Purification means that the scholars in the past, when the Caliphate was continuous and uninterrupted, with its ups and downs in some centuries, but the Caliphate was there, and the state was feared because of the establishment of the Caliphate. Therefore, it came in some narrations in the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah "The affairs of this Ummah will not be set right except by a ruler, whether righteous or wicked", righteous or wicked. The point is that we are today without a Caliphate, since the Ottoman Caliphate perished because of that wicked Ataturk. So now we will not be able to restore the Islamic Caliphate. That cannot be done except by returning to the correct Islam on the basis of which the first Caliphate began, and then the Caliphs who came after them lived on the blessings of the predecessors... the predecessors. We lost all these blessings when the Caliphate was abolished. So now we must undertake a very great task, which we explained earlier and summarized as purification and education. The meaning of purification and education is that we produce scholars, not that we eliminate the scholars to whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) referred in the hadith you mentioned, which you did not understand its connection to the question. The hadith says . So we say now: Do we surrender to this ignorance that has settled upon the masses of Muslims, to the point that they have strayed from the oneness of Allah, let alone some of the rulings of the Shari'ah? Do we surrender to this reality, or do we try what I call purification and education? Now this question comes back to you, so let us continue the research and see what the connection of this hadith is to your question.

The questioner : We are now...

The Shaykh : We inherited what we inherited of knowledge or ignorance, of righteousness or wickedness, but we believe in the like of the saying of Allah the Exalted: We did not enter into the evidence . We are now humiliated; the Jews have colonized us. Can Allah perhaps help us without our helping Him? Of course not. And you all understand the meaning of the saying of Allah . It does not mean we prepare an army and fight with it to help Him, God forbid. But we help Him by adhering to the rulings of the Shari'ah. So from here, the importance of the previous phrase appears: purification and education are necessary. We will help Allah in the correct scientific sense only if we know the rulings of Allah, right or not? And if we know the rulings of Allah, we must act upon them, as we admonished some of you earlier. So what is the connection of the hadith etc. to my condition for establishing the rule of Islam on this earth? This requires purification and education. I did not understand the connection of that hadith to what you understood well from me and repeated to my ear, saying you said purification and education are necessary. Correct, and I say so and testify to Allah with it, but what is the connection of the hadith to this? I did not understand.

The questioner : The connection of the hadith is that as each generation comes after another, and there is no purification of the Islamic knowledge...

The Shaykh : Good, and what am I saying? Must we purify it or not?

The questioner : Yes, I said we purify it...

The Shaykh : And who performs the purification? Those who have become ignorant heads?

The questioner : No, of course not.

The Shaykh : So then?
Another questioner: The scholars.

The Shaykh : So there is something.
Another questioner: Our Shaykh... in his mind, as Allah knows, I do not know, that in the end of times, Allah Blessed and Exalted, when He will help Islam, as you clarified in the Chain of Authentic Hadiths, that Allah Blessed and Exalted will spread Islam and... So how is it that Allah promised us victory, and he... in this hadith, He will take away the scholars? So how will victory be established...

The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah.

The questioner : No... I did not mean that. You said it is a condition... the correct purification for the correct understanding of Islam.

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : And I said that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said

The Shaykh : Good.

The questioner : The rest of the hadith.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : We said that as each generation comes after another, knowledge is snatched away, so ignorance becomes prevalent among people. And even the Muslims, I mean the committed Muslims, have become parties and sects, and each has an opinion. So how can they present the correct religion, the correct understanding, to us and to the common people?

The Shaykh : Perhaps I understood something new, and that is the doubt in your mind. You understood from my words that no knowledge remains on the face of the earth?

The questioner : A day will come.

The Shaykh : Be patient a little. Please, please, yes.
Another questioner: Our brother wants to say that as each generation or era comes, the knowledge and scholars decrease in it.

The questioner : Yes, you are correct.
Another questioner: This is what our brother intended. So how, since the knowledge and scholars are decreasing, do we obtain the purification and education?

The Shaykh : With this small number that he acknowledges.

The questioner : Yes

The Shaykh : With this small number that he seems to acknowledge.

The questioner : It is not a unified small number, I mean, it is not unified, but rather it is sects.

The Shaykh : Did I say earlier, and perhaps if you go back to the recording, I said either individually or as a group. Do you remember this word?

The questioner : No, I don't remember.

The Shaykh : No, if it were easy, we would say... but it is not important. I am sure that I said this, and now I am bringing this saying closer to you. This is a small community. If there is one or two scholars among you, and he is always with you, advising you and living with you, how will this community become? Is it not better than a community that is similar to you in number but has only an ignorant head or ignorant heads? Is this not different from that? In the end, okay. But on the other hand, there is a second community that resembles this community in number, more or less, it is not important. As Allah has provided for it a scholar from the sincere scholars who know the Book and the Sunnah. These small communities, when Allah permits the establishment of the Islamic rule on earth, they gather, agree, and cooperate to establish the rule of Allah on earth by one means or another. We do not know what will happen now, absolutely not. It is completely veiled from us. And perhaps what removes the doubt from its root is that many people confront us with words that do not occur... meaning words that do not occur to me at all. Okay, now, for you to become these millions of Muslims, how much time do you need? They understand that I am dreaming, let alone thinking. In a dream, they think that I want to reform nine hundred million Muslims. I do not dream of this thing, nor do I think of it. Therefore, I dream that there will be, as (peace and blessings be upon him) said in some authentic hadiths . Do you know this hadith?

The questioner : Yes

The Shaykh : I believe that if Allah were to enable these twelve thousand Muslims to undergo the upbringing and purification in the detail we mentioned, and to unite, for that is part of the complete upbringing, because the hand of Allah is with the group, and if they hold a good opinion of Allah, there is no doubt that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will grant them victory over America, Russia, and the whole world. For we will not overcome these millions of disbelievers, especially those they call the great powers, by our own physical or mechanical strength, but rather by our faith in Allah and His Messenger, who promised us victory over our enemies. Therefore, I do not think in terms of reforming the society they call an Islamic society today, especially since it is possible to carry out a rapid process of elimination among the nine hundred million. There are people among them who are atheists, and we do not give them any weight. There are people among them who are called Muslims, such as the Druze and the Alawites, and others, and we do not give them weight. These are not Muslims, even if they are counted among us as Muslims, and so on, until we reach half of those who call themselves the people of the Sunnah and the community. Half of them, what Allah willed, because among them are those who permit calling for aid other than Allah, seeking nearness to Allah through means other than Allah, making vows to other than Allah, and so on. Do you see how this elimination is a calculation? This is not of the type of the previous elimination we mentioned, but it helps in understanding the previous elimination. I do not want to purify the minds of all the millions, but the group that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wills to establish the rule of Allah on earth cannot be anything other than upon this divine methodology: the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, and acting upon them. Shaykh, we are moving on to give the turn to the remaining three brothers. Please proceed.

The questioner : What is the ruling on one who gives zakah and stands by the ... but does not pray?