Is the Tablighi Jama'at the modern Sufis?

The Shaykh : Why has the Tablighi Jama'at changed? We are always chanting about the Sunnah, but they do not revive this Sunnah. The other groups, who are not with us on the line of the Sunnah, have preserved it. Why? Because that is the way.
When the Sufi man teaches his followers their daily recitations and dhikr, you find that most of these dhikr have no basis in the Sunnah... yet they cling to them as if they were revelation from the sky. Why?The Shaykh : That is how it is. The way is like what they say today: "The law is like this, brother. The law is contrary to the Shari'ah. This is the system." So the problem is that wherever you go, you find it bare, naked, and dark, as it is said. I remember once, and there is a joke in it and a lesson, when I was young—my beard was just a fuzz, I was a young man—I entered the mosque. In our mosques in Damascus, wooden boxes are placed for putting on sandals, like a small box. I opened it and put my sandal in without looking. The qiblah was this way, and the box was placed like this, so the toe was toward the qiblah and the heel toward the worshippers. A Sufi shaykh was sitting and said to me: "O so-and-so, put the sandal like this." Instead of putting it like this, put it like that. I had put it lengthwise, so he told me to put it crosswise. I asked him why? He said: "That is how, my master so-and-so used to do it. Allah is great, my master so-and-so used to do it like this. But my master Muhammad, do not pay attention to him. What did he do?" That is why there are these deviant recitations. The recitations of the Shadhili are not the recitations of the Qadiri, and the recitations of the Tijani, and so on. Why do they not preserve the recitations of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), at least as they preserve the recitations of their shaykhs? I do not know if you know this or not?
Who is their leader? Who is their shaykh today in the modern era? Is there anyone who knows? Is it in India or Pakistan?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : He makes his followers pledge allegiance to four Sufi paths. This is the Sunnah, like that.

The questioner: What are they?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : What are the four paths?

The Shaykh : The Naqshbandi path, and I do not know what the other is. I do not know its name. I swear to Allah, I do not memorize them. And it is not necessary that... yes?

Another questioner : The Dashiyyah.

The Shaykh : The Dashiyyah. Look, the word is foreign.

The questioner : We have not heard of it.

The Shaykh : The important thing, may Allah bless you, is what these paths are. It is not important. The important thing is that they are not from the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Why does this learned, virtuous man, who teaches people all these paths, not advise his brothers to preserve the Khutbat al-Hajah? Look, this is a learned, virtuous man. Does he not know the Khutbat al-Hajah?
I do not think he does not know the Khutbat al-Hajah. So why does he not spread it among his companions? And why do they not follow it? If it is their order, I believe he did not order them. He did not teach them this Khutbat al-Hajah. And that is why you find them preserving it to distinguish themselves from other calls with this introduction we are talking about, which includes, for example, a reminder that success and achievement are in following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then they do not follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). In any case, we...

The questioner : Our Shaykh, if you please, excuse me, brothers. On the occasion of leaving, our Shaykh, we have a neighbor in the market, a trader, may Allah guide him, regarding prayer and growing the beard.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And after a while, of course, he visited us. It was a simple thing. And then he said: "I want to go out." Of course, before leaving, excuse me, Shaykh, he was complaining about his family, his mother, his father, and his sisters, because he lives in an apartment.

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on you.

The questioner : May Allah have mercy on you. He lives in an apartment in a building, meaning all his brothers live in it. He used to come and tell me: "O Abu Layla, what will I do with my children? Because their grandmother always influences them. She brings the television. Come here, come here." I told him: "You must take care of your children, and you must do this." I always reminded him.
And he always took his children with him to the mosque, the Mosque of 'Umar, which is in our area in Zarqa.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : And suddenly, one of the young men from the Tablighi men turned to him and said: "Go out." And indeed, he went out with them. We never saw his children in the mosque praying, ever. And I swear to Allah, this is true, that I say it. He neglected his house after he was there. And his daughter returned to the television with her grandmother, because what, they are all in one building, yes.
And he is still, our Shaykh, sometimes he goes out for four months and does not stop by his house or come to his house. And his house, instead of him fixing it and taking care of it, is now going backward.

The Shaykh : Now, there are many examples, brother, many and very many. We went to the Amman airport a few months ago to receive a guest. I do not know who was with me. Abu 'Abdullah? Where is Abu 'Abdullah?

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : You were with me? Ah?
The important thing is, we saw a bearded young man. I do not know if you spoke to him until we knew that he was going to come down with us to Amman airport?

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : I told him: "I have my car. I told him: Please, get in." He got in with us. Naturally, we were on the road. Where were you? Where did you go? And so on. And then he started telling us that he attended a conference of the Tablighi Jama'at, which was held, I do not know, in Karachi or elsewhere. I forgot. The important thing is, how long was the period, Abu 'Abdullah? Do you remember the period he spent?

The questioner : No, I swear to Allah, I do not remember.

The Shaykh : The important thing is, he lived there for a long time. I told him: "What do you mean? The words and lectures that you heard?" He lived there for a long time, thirty days, less or more. I forgot, I swear to Allah. And he is from the group that he always attends with. He says: "I swear to Allah, we did not hear anything new except the issue of truthfulness and trustworthiness, and the well-known words." So I saw it as my duty to ask him: "Do you know, brother, what the meaning of 'La ilaha illa Allah' is?" "I do not know what the meaning of 'La ilaha illa Allah' is." "Okay, what did you do? You left Amman and went there and stayed for this whole long period, and then you are saying we did not hear anything new. So what is this trip? What is this travel? What is the scholarly value for which you packed your bags, and then you return and say we did not hear anything new?" So I say: "By its opposites, things become clear." You are now observing here that when one person sneezes, you find the whole group saying to him: "May Allah have mercy on you." Do you observe this with the Tablighi Jama'at?
Tell me: No, if it is one or two, is it possible?

The questioner : Those who are ignorant, they are ignorant of this Sunnah.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is it.

The questioner : They do not practice it. And the one who knows it is Sunnah practices it immediately.

The Shaykh : This is the answer, and no offense, it is political. Indeed, because the one who knows knows, and the one who does not know does not know. It is understood. But I say, as a group, as a group, maybe this man is a layman and that one and that one, and so on. But when they hear guidance and teaching that the Messenger said: "It is the right of everyone who hears it to say 'Yarhamuk Allah' (May Allah have mercy on you)," they all became knowing. So this companionship and going out, and so on, this is truly, if it were in the path of Allah truly, would the Tablighi Jama'at be laymen or would they become scholars?
Why? Because the Companions of the Messenger, as said in the Qur'an: They were unlettered, yet they were the cultured ones and the scholars. But the Tablighi Jama'at do not have this wide scholarly horizon, from their elders, let alone to transfer that knowledge to their juniors.
In summary, the Tablighi Jama'at, truly, I said it and I still say it, and I do not hold a grudge against a Muslim, let alone against a group. But this does not prevent me from being frank with them about the truth, in the name of religion, as advice. The Tablighi Jama'at are modern Sufis, modern Sufis. Why? Perhaps you know that it is from their methodology that they do not investigate: "Is this Sunnah? Is this bid'ah? Is it true or not?" They do not investigate. They do not tell people: "Do not be deceived, this is Sunnah, preserve it, and this is bid'ah, beware of it." No, they do not raise this, because... you say that this issue in such-and-such a madhhab is in agreement with the Sunnah, but such-and-such an issue is contrary to the Sunnah. They do not raise these issues because they say: "This causes division."
Al-Yaykh: Is it correct or not correct?

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : So that I know.

The questioner : When you mentioned previously.

The Shaykh : You did not answer me.

The questioner : They do not have sufficient knowledge.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, excuse me.

The questioner : Due to their lack of knowledge, they do not answer. Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : Allow me, may Allah bless you. Tell me, is it correct? Say what is not correct. The best speech is what is little and effective. Now, in your call now, do you let me understand that you are a Tablighi, even if you were not a Tablighi!

The questioner : I understand you. You have known this from before, from the very beginning of our conversation. But I do not take a hostile stance against the Tabligh group or anyone else.

The Shaykh : But may Allah reward you, I am not speaking about you personally.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : I am speaking about the group's call. Do not say, "I know you; if you were like others, you would not have attended this gathering." I know that, and no one knows better than an expert. But I am telling you that this group, due to their deviation from the Sunnah, do not say, "This is the Sunnah, so follow it, and this is an innovation, so beware of it." Nor do they say, for example, that it is the Sunnah in prayer to raise your hands when bowing and when rising from it, because they may be Hanafis, and especially since their Shaykh might be a Hanafi there, which would contradict them.
They do not investigate the topic of . They do not investigate any of this at all.

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good, may Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : Do they investigate tawhid (the oneness of Allah)?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Do they investigate, as we told you, that we do not worship except Allah, and we do not worship Allah except in the manner He has prescribed? You will never hear this from them.

Another questioner : I was in Makkah the year before last, during the Hajj that has passed, and I attended lunch with ... (may Allah preserve him), and with an Egyptian brother from the Tabligh group.

The Shaykh : Leave this talk alone.

The questioner : He told him, "... This is an innovation and misguidance; Allah has not sent down any authority for it." And he was asked,The Shaykh : Salih ibn Humayd, in the Haram, the same thing they said. Ibn Baz said it.The Shaykh : Salih ibn Humayd was asked,The Shaykh : and Abd al-Rahman al-Ajlan, also in the Haram, the same thing thatThe Shaykh : Ibn Baz (may Allah preserve him) said.The Shaykh : Abd al-Rahman al-Ajlan said, "...".
Abu Layla : Did you hear it with your own ears?

The questioner : With my own ears, inside the House, while having lunch with him and drinking tea with Ibn Baz.
Abu Layla : What Allah willed.

The questioner : In the same House, at his place.

Another questioner : To complete the story, I am stopping.

The questioner : To complete it, or rather, I am not adding anything. The same thing I heard five years ago in Oman. They brought a khatmah (complete recitation of the Qur'an) and said it was from Ibn Baz. They said it was from Ibn Baz, but the fatwa (scholarly legal ruling) was like this:

Another questioner : ... .

The questioner : Yes, so I saw the fatwa. It was not from Ibn Baz (may Allah preserve him), but from whom? FromThe Shaykh : the one in Madinah?

Another questioner : Abu Bakr al-Jazairi.

The questioner : Abu Bakr al-Jazairi. They said, "No, this is fromThe Shaykh : Ibn Baz. But Abu Bakr followed the Ifta (scholarly legal ruling) department. In any case, this is what I heard five years ago.

The Shaykh : Go ahead.

The questioner : May Allah give you well-being, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from the accursed Shaytan, from his whispering, his blowing, and his puffing.