Discussion on not rushing matters and engaging in politics, and the importance of calling to the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the Salaf.

The Shaykh: That we should not rush matters, for the old wisdom says, "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is tried with its deprivation." Contemporary history today confirms this wisdom, for some Islamic groups hastened matters here and there, and the outcome of their affair was ruin, and they did not benefit from their revolution in any notable way. This is because the group that unites until it becomes on one heart, as was the case in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), where he first raised them upon Islam that does not need purification like ours, because it is fresh, having descended from the sky. So he raised his Companions upon this Islam until it became a mass with weight, and it had its effect on the enemies of Allah, until Allah honored His soldiers. Therefore, it is not permissible for us to forget our call and to be occupied with what is known today as politics, or party blocs, or the like. I do not deny politics, but this is not its time, because we have not yet seen a mass that gathered upon a correct understanding of Islam and raised themselves upon it with correct upbringing, and then all that remained for them was one of two things: either, as they say in our land in Syria, "to support the walls," meaning they do nothing, or they do something, which is political work, organized political work. Where is this organization, and how can it be achieved before we lay the basic foundations for achieving the Islamic call in understanding and practice? I mention from the history of my life there in Syria that I was invited repeatedly to the intelligence services. You know the intelligence services there; the least that can be said about them is that they are not of Islam in any way. Among them are atheist disbelievers, Alawites, Ismailis, and among them are some hypocrites who are called the people of the Sunnah and the community. The important thing is that I was interrogated and questioned repeatedly over the past few years; some of these interrogations took place. The custom there is that they say about us and point out that this is a Wahhabi man who calls to the Wahhabi call and Saudi politics, and the like. So an interrogation took place regarding this point, and I clarified to him that we are not a party, nor do we belong to any state on earth, but we belong to acting upon the Book and the Sunnah upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf. I explained this call to him and mentioned that there is no call on earth named "Wahhabi," but rather some enemies, due to a Turkish policy in the past, spread about the Brothers of Tawhid—meaning those whom Allah the Exalted sent in Najd to revive the call of Tawhid—that they are Wahhabis and a fifth madhhab, and the like of repulsive words. These are the Brothers of Tawhid, and their madhhab is the well-known Hanbali madhhab among those who know modern existing histories. We do not belong to these or those, but to the Book and to the Sunnah, and to what the righteous Salaf were upon. I explained to him as much as I could explain before such an interrogator. Finally, when he did not find a handle or a fault in my speech, he said, "Go." I used to have study circles in a place prepared for lessons; we did not take our call to the mosques, because the shaykhs, unfortunately, are with these rulers over us. The rulers are over us because of their un-Islamic policy, and the shaykhs are over us because of their sectarian fanaticism. So we called in the houses, and we called in the gatherings, and in the mosques to the extent we could. He said, "So you go and continue your lessons, because the bloc was forbidden there, under what they call the emergency laws. Give your lessons, but do not approach the political side." And here is the point of my speech: I said to him, "I mentioned to you just now that our call is reformist, and our call is not political. But since you are pressing me now and telling me not to speak about politics, I want to clarify something to you so that you do not think that we are being hypocritical toward you or compromising with you. When I told you that we do not work in politics now, but rather in reforming beliefs, reforming Tawhid, reforming jurisprudence, reforming behavior and morals, and so on, as Islam is one indivisible whole, I hope you do not understand that working in politics is not from Islam. For Islam does not establish its state except by working with this Islam, and it is what is known as political work. But I personally, due to the magnitude of the responsibility incumbent upon some of the callers, at least the Islamic ones, and because of the Muslims' distance from the fundamentals of their religion, see that the matter obligatory for us to occupy ourselves with now is reforming beliefs and Tawhid, and the like. I gave him some examples, even though he, meaning, does not care about that. Do not imagine that political work is not from Islam; rather, it is from Islam. But I believe that leaving politics now is what I said to this man. So I thereby killed two birds with one stone, as they say. First, I made him understand that working for Islam, which they call political work, is an obligatory matter. But when? When we are able to find a group that can be, above all, on one heart, loving each other, affectionate, not turning away from each other, not differing. And you see now the very sad example in Afghanistan, and what happened to them after ten years of patience and endurance, and so on, of the misfortunes that befell them. And in the end, partisanship and political parties intervened, which divided them. Seven parties rose up; the Afghan war was for establishing the state of Islam with seven parties, and every party was pleased with what it had. So I said to this man the interrogator: "We do not see political work today not because it is not obligatory, but because it is obligatory. However, before that, we see that we should occupy ourselves with reforming what is corrupted of beliefs, ideas, morals, and the like. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds." If it is realized that the prisons are opened from Kabul and the Muslims settle in them, then that is the clear victory.