Is there a specific place for the saved sect?

The Shaykh : There is no text stating that the victorious group will be in a specific country. So if we were to claim, for example, that the victorious group is here in Oman, that claim would be a lie. What is the evidence for that? But without a doubt, the victorious group is, in some cases—and this is the norm—scattered throughout the lands of Islam. It may be in a specific region at times, or in a town, depending on the circumstances and the fitnahs, and so on. So dragging these hadiths to a specific group and claiming that they are the ones intended by them is, in reality, a matter of interpreting the hadiths in a way other than their intended meaning, and dragging the texts to support certain ideas for which there is no evidence. And what other questions do you have so that we can return to answering the previous questions? I mean, I am getting an idea of the importance of these questions regarding the topic of the Islamic group, because you actually started with an issue I consider secondary, even though it indicates, as a secondary issue, their weakness in understanding the texts on one hand, and their weakness in distinguishing the authentic from the weak among the texts on the other hand. Despite that, they command themselves and consider themselves to be the victorious group. We know the victorious group by its effects, by its knowledge, and by its call to jihad. Now, where is this jihad? Where is this group that actually fights? I mean, not just with pens, but also with swords. Claiming the existence of this group is stubbornness and denial of reality. And it means that those who claim it are claiming what is not theirs. Do you have any other questions?

The questioner : All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can mislead, and whom He misleads, there is no one who can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, these are some of the doubts from the book Al-Umdah fi I'dad al-Adah, which we present to our Shaykh, the hadith scholar, jurist, and distinguished scholar, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, so that he may respond to them in his unique scientific style, which he derives from the Book and the Sunnah with the understanding of the righteous predecessors.

The Shaykh : Yes, what does it say?

The questioner : It says: The hadith of the Battle of Mu'tah, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the Companions to appoint Khalid (may Allah be pleased with them) as their commander when their commanders were killed and they were in the absence of the supreme imam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was pleased with their action. And the hadith of 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called us and we pledged allegiance to him. Among the things he took from us was that we pledged to him on obedience in our ease and our hardship, in our comfort and our distress, and when we are deprived of our rights, and that we do not dispute authority with its rightful people." He said: He says: And we ask the people of this doubt: How can Muslims fight in this situation where there is no imam? How can the preparations be made? And this doubt says: From the core of the belief of the Shi'ah, there is no jihad in the path of Allah until al-Rida emerges from the family of Muhammad.

The Shaykh : Until what emerges?

The questioner : Al-Rida.

The Shaykh : Yes, the expected Mahdi. Is there anything else?

The questioner : It says: The first point is that, as is clear from the text of the hadith, the sects that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered to be avoided are the sects of misguidance mentioned in his saying: "Callers at the gates of Hell." This is indicated by two reasons. He says: The demonstrative pronoun "those" refers to something mentioned before it in the text with the definite article "al" in "al-firaq" (the sects) for the referent, and it indicates something previously mentioned that is in the mind, and it is not correct for it to be generic, otherwise the saved sect would be included among the sects, and this is false by consensus. The second point is that the avoidance is specified by the hadiths of the saved sect and the victorious group.

The Shaykh : Yes, is there anything else?

The questioner : I don't know.

The Shaykh : Okay, that is enough. Okay, let us return to the first question. Please.

The questioner : It says: A note: A response to the doubt "No jihad without an imam."

The Shaykh : This is not the first question you raised, and I told you what the meaning of this question is. Give us questions that are fundamental.