Is it authentic from you that you declare every person who engages in political activity to be an innovator?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Some Salafi brothers claim that there is no political activity in Islam, and they accuse everyone who engages in political activity of religious innovation and deviating from the methodology of the Salaf. In fact, some attribute this view, which we have quoted, to your eminence. We ask you to clarify this point with some detail and analysis, and may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : The answer to this has already been given.
The questioner : But the fourth question is about the letterThe Shaykh : of Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khalq.
The Shaykh : This question has already been answered; the answer was given when responding to the letterThe Shaykh : of Abd al-Rahman. In the answer, we stated that we do not deny political activity and we say it is necessary, but before all else, one must prepare for it, and we spoke of this explicitly.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, your phrase now is that politics is abandoning politics.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Your phrase now is that politics is abandoning engagement in politics.
The Shaykh : Ah, yes, indeed. The truth is, the brother reminds us of a word I said to the intelligence in Syria. In Syria, by the grace of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, not by our strength or effort, but by His glory and mercy, we were proceeding at all times in delivering lessons, even if in some homes. But the intelligence never left us alone; every few months, every few years, they would send people after us. I was once summoned to the intelligence and they interrogated me and detained me for a long time, as is their custom. The story is that after they investigated and scrutinized, they found no political fault. They concluded the matter by dismissing me and saying, "Continue with your lessons, but do not approach the side of politics." I said to him, "I told you beforehand that our work now is in correcting Islamic concepts, especially those related to creed. We do not engage in political activity. I mentioned this to you during the investigation and scrutiny. But now I return to say to you something: when we say we do not engage in politics, I hope you do not understand that we deny political activity. Rather, we believe that in our call to the Muslims, who have deviated from Islam in many aspects, and because we have devoted ourselves to this type of call, not because we deny political activity, but we believe now that from politics is abandoning politics. The man smiled and said, "Goodbye." So, from politics is abandoning politics in this time, because the Muslims are far, far away from the foundations of the Islamic Shari'ah... The previous one is good. Do you have anything else for you, or is the current hour of eight enough for you?
The questioner : Our Shaykh, compensate them.
The Shaykh : The compensation has happened and more.
The questioner : They started after Maghrib.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed... -laughs- ... Choose the most important of them, according to importance, from the most important to the less important... "I requested much, but life is short for acquiring it, so present the most important of it, then the next most important." Is that how it is?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: All right.
The Shaykh : The answer to this has already been given.
The questioner : But the fourth question is about the letterThe Shaykh : of Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khalq.
The Shaykh : This question has already been answered; the answer was given when responding to the letterThe Shaykh : of Abd al-Rahman. In the answer, we stated that we do not deny political activity and we say it is necessary, but before all else, one must prepare for it, and we spoke of this explicitly.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, your phrase now is that politics is abandoning politics.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Your phrase now is that politics is abandoning engagement in politics.
The Shaykh : Ah, yes, indeed. The truth is, the brother reminds us of a word I said to the intelligence in Syria. In Syria, by the grace of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, not by our strength or effort, but by His glory and mercy, we were proceeding at all times in delivering lessons, even if in some homes. But the intelligence never left us alone; every few months, every few years, they would send people after us. I was once summoned to the intelligence and they interrogated me and detained me for a long time, as is their custom. The story is that after they investigated and scrutinized, they found no political fault. They concluded the matter by dismissing me and saying, "Continue with your lessons, but do not approach the side of politics." I said to him, "I told you beforehand that our work now is in correcting Islamic concepts, especially those related to creed. We do not engage in political activity. I mentioned this to you during the investigation and scrutiny. But now I return to say to you something: when we say we do not engage in politics, I hope you do not understand that we deny political activity. Rather, we believe that in our call to the Muslims, who have deviated from Islam in many aspects, and because we have devoted ourselves to this type of call, not because we deny political activity, but we believe now that from politics is abandoning politics. The man smiled and said, "Goodbye." So, from politics is abandoning politics in this time, because the Muslims are far, far away from the foundations of the Islamic Shari'ah... The previous one is good. Do you have anything else for you, or is the current hour of eight enough for you?
The questioner : Our Shaykh, compensate them.
The Shaykh : The compensation has happened and more.
The questioner : They started after Maghrib.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed... -laughs- ... Choose the most important of them, according to importance, from the most important to the less important... "I requested much, but life is short for acquiring it, so present the most important of it, then the next most important." Is that how it is?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: All right.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.