Who are the people of the period of ignorance?

The questioner : Another question, if you permit. The issue of the people of the period of ignorance: is it possible to determine exactly who they are? And the issue of the verses that state that there is no nation in which a prophet did not pass through, and so on. How do we reconcile these matters so that we know whether those who were before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are included among the people of the period of ignorance or not? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : It seems you mean by "who are the people of the period of ignorance" not as individuals, but as a group. Perhaps that is what you intend?

The questioner : The point is a hadith.

The Shaykh : Do not withhold the answer. Either you mean individuals, which I find unlikely on your part, or you mean a group, a nation, or a specific era. What do you mean?

The questioner : Honestly, my question is broader. It could be a group; I do not mean a nation, but it could be a group, or it could be individuals.

The Shaykh : Very good. Now, in the present age, the age of civilization and knowledge, and what Allah willed, do you believe it is possible for an individual among these millions of human beings to be among the people of the period of ignorance, or not?

The questioner : By Allah, in my opinion, no. But some of the people who visited...

The Shaykh : Leave the people alone. I am speaking between you and me. Why do you want to involve yourself in a battle with people?

The questioner : No, they are the ones...

The Shaykh : My brother, come on, just walk with me.

The questioner : The answer is no.

The Shaykh : How can it be no? What is it, so that we understand what is being denied?

The questioner : What is denied is that in this civilization in which we live, it is inconceivable that the name of Islam has not reached people in its general entirety.
Al-Halabi : It looks like...

The Shaykh : No, it does not look like that; it has ruined it. Because we are now speaking of an individual. You said it is a group. Now, if there are millions of human beings who have entered the age of accountability, the question was: do you not imagine that an individual among these millions could be among the people of the period of ignorance?

The questioner : Yes, it is possible.

The Shaykh : This contradicts what you said earlier.

The questioner : It is permissible. Perhaps I misunderstood you.

The Shaykh : May Allah forgive what has passed. So now, can you imagine the existence of a person among these millions who is among the people of the period of ignorance? And if we place a dot before the one, does the matter change for you?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : A dot on the right, not on the left. What is the number now?

The questioner : Ten.

The Shaykh : Ten. A second dot. Does the answer change?

The questioner : Honestly, I have a problem with this.

The Shaykh : No, the talk is not for you. What do I want? Do I want to entangle you or save you? Why are you afraid? It is nothing. It is our custom in Syria to have a kind word: "If you do not come with me, I will come with you." And I see that you did not walk with me, so I will walk with you. Let us return to the first person, for whom you made the answer easy by saying that such a person might exist.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : Meaning, you consider it unlikely that the call did not reach him.

The Shaykh : No, I understand the reason from you.

The questioner : It might be due to his own negligence.

The Shaykh : Do not get into the details, my brother. Do you know what the second question is?

The questioner : Which is the reason for his being among the people of the period of ignorance?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : The reason is that the call did not reach him.

The Shaykh : Okay. Can this reason be repeated?

The questioner: The answer is yes.

The Shaykh : So can we place a dot before the one and make it ten?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And a dot?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Although I am still at my position, but I mean changing the phrasing. This is in our era. Why did you specify our era?

The questioner : Because it is the era of the Prophet.

The Shaykh : Due to the existence of these means that bring the far near, which have almost made the entire earth like a small village because of the means that Allah created and made easy for humans. So what is your opinion? Before the age of knowledge and culture, and so on, let us return to the first age of ignorance. Could there be such people to whom the call did not reach?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay. And before we proceed in the conversation, are we in agreement that the people of the period of ignorance, whether they are an individual, ten, or more, are those to whom the call did not reach? Are we in agreement on this?

The questioner : But I want to make the question broader. Is the call intended to be...

The Shaykh : May Allah protect us from the word "but" here.

The questioner : Meaning, does the call of a prophet before us apply to him, or must it be the call of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for us to consider him among the people of the period of ignorance?

The Shaykh : You have returned to the present age.

The questioner : No, for example, to include in our question what was before the Prophet. When you mentioned the age of ignorance just now, that is before the Prophet.

The Shaykh : The age of ignorance, what does the age of ignorance have to do with the Prophet? The Prophet came after the age of ignorance.

The questioner : Yes, before.

The Shaykh : What is the answer now? I repeat the question. If we go back before the mission of the Messenger (peace be upon him), could there be people of the period of ignorance?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : It is possible, and so on, and so on. You go back, meaning, to the time of Adam (peace be upon him). We clearly imagine that Adam (peace be upon him) was a prophet to his children. And when his children multiplied and reproduced, we imagine that there could be an individual or more to whom the call of Adam (peace be upon him) did not reach. But as time passes, the offspring of the children of Adam multiply, correct?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Good. So now, I think, or it seems to me, that I have answered your question in the manner of question and answer.

The questioner : Yes, Shaykh, but a question arises in my mind. The issue is that, for example, before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), some hadiths came that clarify, like , like the hadith of , like the hadith of . How is this understood now, like Amr ibn Luhayy entering the Fire, or "your father and my father are in the Fire"? The problem that came to my mind is: do we consider them people of the period of ignorance? If we consider them people of the period of ignorance, why were they punished? This is what I want to ask.

The Shaykh : You agreed with me that the people of the period of ignorance are those to whom the call did not reach.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Good. Do you not associate in your mind and in your belief that everyone who is among the people of the period of ignorance is not punished in the Fire?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Good. So whenever a text comes to you about a person being punished in the Fire, you must remove from your mind that this person is among the people of the period of ignorance. You must remove from your mind that he is among the people of the period of ignorance. Because Allah says explicitly in the Qur'an: . So the statement of the Messenger about any person being in the Fire is equivalent to the call having reached him and him disbelieving in it, so he is in the Fire. This is a very clear matter.

The questioner : Meaning, the exception is for individuals, not for the group.

The Shaykh : The exception is for individuals in terms of reporting about them, not from a general report that divides, for example, every century, or every group, or every nation, saying these are to Paradise and I do not care, and these are to the Fire and I do not care. We do not have this division. Is that clear?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. You have clarified it.

The Shaykh : However, here is the point that I thought you would gradually arrive at, given its importance. We can now imagine people to whom the Islamic call has reached, and yet I say that the Islamic call has reached them. What this means is that we must keep in mind that we cannot say the call has reached any individual, sect, or group unless it has reached them pure, fresh, and as it was revealed. This is difficult in many places, because you know today that there are sects that claim Islam and call to Islam, yet they are either as innocent of Islam as the wolf is of the son of Jacob, as the old Arabic proverb says, or they have strayed far from a large part of Islam, even though they are still considered within the circle of Islam. The most misguided of these sects are the Bahai, followed by the Qadiani. The Qadiani are more harmful to society. The society is the community of the call, as the scholars say, and I do not mean just the Muslim society, but the nations that exist today who are obligated to respond to the call of truth. These Bahai are the most harmful in that they have demolished Islam completely and left nothing of it intact. Meanwhile, the Qadiani fast, perform Hajj, pray, and do everything like the people of the Sunnah and the community, but they have beliefs that take them out of the circle of Islam, so they are apostates from their religion. However, they are dangerous from this angle: they say, "We are Muslims just like you, and the only difference between us and you is that you have understood the texts incorrectly in our opinion, while we see the truth in what we are upon." The activity of the Qadiani is the most widespread in the world today, and they are the most influential of the misguided sects on people. That is why you find Muslim Qadiani in Germany, in France, and in Britain. I personally saw a mosque in Britain with very large letters saying "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," and I said, "This is from your hypocrisy; for you must say, 'And Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Prophet of Allah,' just as the Shi'ah say, for example, 'And Ali is the close friend of Allah' in their call to prayer." So, if you will allow the expression, these are the ones for whom we cannot say the call of Islam has reached them; rather, they are still among the people of the interval, because the call of Islam has not reached them. This is the correct perspective. That is why I remember clearly when we were appointed to teach at your university, and when its doors opened for teaching, we were in an evening gathering like this one with a group of university professors. This point was raised, and one of them claimed, in amazement, "No, my brother, Islam has reached the East and the West every morning and evening on the Holy Qur'an radio." I said to him, "O Shaykh, this Holy Qur'an that was revealed in a clear Arabic language is not well understood by the Arabs now, nor by those who claim Arabness. So what do you say about the non-Arabs who listen to these radio broadcasts of the recitation of the Qur'an and hardly understand anything of it? This does not mean that the call has reached them. Therefore, this condition must be noted, for it is very necessary."

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.