The Shaykh Al-Albani’s explanation of the obligation of purification and education.

The Shaykh : ...We are not permitted to measure ourselves by them in that regard, because the gap is vast, and unfortunately, we must live for years, if not long ages, to rectify what is corrupt in our beliefs and morals, whereas the Messenger achieved these two fundamental pillars in a few years with the group of people to whom he was sent, so if...

The questioner: ...Based on your statement that it will not...

The Shaykh : Of course.

The questioner: Since the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was among them... and Allah permitted them to fight, and what is similar to that, we are now in great disagreement with that era when the Messenger would receive revelation and command, and the Muslims would know, and the stage would have arrived, but we now do not even have a leader among us, so how can we aim for what the Messenger did? And who among us will tell us now that we have reached the stage where, what Allah willed, the Muslims have become...?

The Shaykh: We are not responsible for this; we are not responsible for who will tell us that we have finished the first stage, and now the second stage begins, then the third. We are not responsible for this. We are responsible for applying a verse in the Qur'an: We now have a task, and if we act contrary to knowledge, therefore, my idea and my call, as a title, are based on two words: there must be a group, let them be a hundred, let them be a thousand, let them be a million; the number is not important now, but any group must be based on the foundation of two words: purification and education...
Establishing a Muslim group, which many Islamic groups seek, cannot, in my belief, stand unless it is based on purification and education. Look now: Islam descended upon the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) pure from the sky, without any doubt. The Messenger (peace be upon him), the first educator in this world, educated them well. So who will purify this Islam, which was originally purer than the water of the sky, and into which has entered what has entered, which is known in general by some and in detail by others? Who will undertake this?
Individuals must undertake this, meaning those from among the people of knowledge, virtue, and piety to Allah, and fear of Allah. There are many of them, spread throughout the Islamic world. Then they must combine this purification with education, the education of individual Muslims. We now have no education at all. We are seeing how every group is dividing into groups, and individual and personal interests are separating them. I believe this is very natural, and why? Because many centuries have passed for the Muslims while they lived in an unpurified Islam and in an uneducated atmosphere. We inherited this mixture, then we awoke after a long time, and we found what is called today the awakening. But this reality is an intellectual awakening; the behavioral awakening has not yet been associated with it. When both exist in a group that applies the Islam that commands there to be a nation that enjoins good and forbids evil, then the believers will rejoice in the victory of Allah. So I do not see how one can think about who will explain these stages, which are practically necessary, but intellectually, in my belief, there is no way to them, because the affairs of da'wah are not measured by the affairs of material things, like the economy, for example, where every country sets a system for every five-year period, whether economic or health-related or otherwise, and they touch the results with their hands, because they are material matters.
As for da'wah, for example, you may educate a child of yours, and you cannot judge when this child will be rectified to be a Muslim caller, and he is your son, the flesh of your flesh, and you cannot do it, so how can you judge about people who are strangers to you, and there are interests that affect and surround these people whom you want to educate? This is if the educator himself has been educated on purified Islam. Therefore, the truth is that we are at a time when we should not despair of the spirit of Allah, but at the same time, we should not be complacent, and we should not be ignorant, and think that there are only a few days, and very few, between us and victory. This is what some Islamic groups fell into, where they announced, without shame or modesty, that in such a period or such a year, the Islamic state would be proclaimed, and then they became like the past, a thing that was.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh: Of course, it is not possible, and it is a reformist call, namely the Salafi call.

The questioner: It is a creed, and the people of this creed plant all the proofs, so if one is convinced by it... and selection, and not through seminars and meetings... and I am sitting in Oman, and the one in Morocco, and this practice and this direction and this creedal concept automatically...

The Shaykh: Meaning, it will lead by itself to itself to meeting and gathering and the organization that is necessary for establishing the rule of Allah on earth. This is necessary. But now, in this stage, this is a very logical issue. A person wants to build a structure and he does not own land, so it is futile to think about anything before preparing the land. And so is the chain of this material building issue; he does not think about how many rooms or how many floors while he has not secured the land, and he does not know its width or narrowness. And so on. But one must strive on earth, one must find the land, one must find the foundation. We are now in the process of actually laying the foundation.

The questioner: My teacher, I look at the matter as a comprehensive issue. The land in itself, the land is the objective.

The Shaykh: The issue is not whether it is a goal or not a goal; we do not know. We enter into topics where there is no disagreement. The land is not the goal; the goal is establishing the building. But thinking about the building before thinking about the suitable land for this structure is logical futility. And so is the religious issue: before there are people in whose creed and behavior you trust, it is futile to think about a coalition you will establish.

The questioner: This is the ideal goal.

The Shaykh: What is the ideal goal?

The questioner: The ideal goal is that there is a structure.

The Shaykh: Are you speaking now from the moral aspect or the material aspect?

The questioner: The material aspect. I agree with you. The first step is bringing the land; this is a stage goal.

The Shaykh: And this is what I am saying, my brother. This is what I am saying. I am telling you the end. I mentioned to you what the goal is. The goal, regarding the material example, is this house so that we can be at peace and dwell in it. But the goal, regarding da'wah, is establishing the rule of Allah on earth. It is that there is a nation that rules by what Allah has revealed, and spreads da'wah on earth with all strength and boldness, such that no one can stand against it. If someone stands against it, his punishment is... yes.

The questioner: Meaning, if it is not strong in a place, it will fall alone.

The Shaykh: Who will fall?

The questioner: Anyone who stands in its path or in front of it.

The Shaykh: My lord, we have not disagreed, but let us say that the final stage we want is this. But how do we proceed in it? What is the first stage? I gave a material example earlier. The first stage is preparing the land. So what is the first stage for achieving the rule of Allah on earth? Is this not the goal? Well, what is the first stage? Purification and education. It is absolutely necessary.
Abu Yahya: Applying this command is possible, and even achieving these initial stages, is it not obligatory that we also prepare...

The Shaykh : Abu Yahya, may Allah be pleased with you, this is in Muslim, but who is the one who carries this out? Who is it? Me or you? Or Zayd or Bakr? My brother, this is a stage that comes later, not now. Now, as we said in the previous verse: This is the fundamental stage: to understand Islam correctly and apply it to whom? I can only apply it to myself; that is my obligation, right? If I can apply it to my son, that is my obligation; my wife, my daughters, my children, and so on, within the limits of one's ability. Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear. This is the first stage, and it is the stage in which... the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) remained, and look at the precision in this matter: the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the noble prophets remained for years calling to a single word, which is: What do you think of the Muslims today? Not the disbelievers, but the Muslims themselves are in need of this call. That is, the ones whose backs we want to support, and the ones we want to establish the state upon with their help, are in need of the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah). And our brother, Professor Adnan, says we will hum and talk a lot.
Adnan: I have nothing to say, I...

The Shaykh : My brother, I am not saying that you must, but the environment we live in...
Adnan: I am saying now... what is the alternative or the optimal solution? What is being proposed? What is required?

The Shaykh : The alternative is purification and education. Two words that are light on the tongue but heavy in... In the name of Allah, does not what is upon you suffice?
Adnan: Of course.

The Shaykh : I wish, if Allah wills, that you are able to establish it. The issue is clear: there are millions of Muslims living in this country, and there are those who understand the Islamic creed correctly, and who apply the acts of worship in a manner consistent with Islam, and whose conduct is in accordance with Islam.

The questioner : It applies to the people who...

The Shaykh : And what am I saying? It is a heritage we have bequeathed, and therefore we have worked, yes, but you cannot go to the righteous predecessors, meaning you cannot say for hundreds of years, and I said this, but you cannot say that this was the case in the era of the Companions and the era of the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), and so on.

The questioner : Here, a state of despair has arisen.

The Shaykh : I did not say despair, because when will the help of Allah come? He said: But it is upon us to work.