The State of the Salafi Da'wah in Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, Central Africa).

The questioner : The Shaykh : May Allah reward our African brothers with good, especially in this... in Cameroon, in Gabon, in the African countries, always by the grace of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), the Salafi da'wah has very beautiful activity. They mean, as they say, they complain about the lack of...

The Shaykh : ...the lack of books...
The questioner: It is not books in general, but books of...The Shaykh : Nasser... they do not know...The Shaykh : Nasser... some of them even say that when they search for... they say so, meaning the brothers in the Hijaz published some books in the French language and distributed them there, and they were secret, as a group from Cameroon, from Mali, and from Chad informed me. They said books for da'wah, fatwa, and guidance came to us...The Shaykh : Ibn Baz.

The Shaykh: Good.

The questioner : ...were translated and had an effect... all... we first knew some of the books on 'aqidah, but the books on methodology... and some of them... even some of them now, meaning they call themselves Salafis and say we follow the Salaf... we are Salaf...

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : ...and... we are Salafis like this, and they say, our Shaykh...The Shaykh : Ibn Uthaymeen andThe Shaykh : Nasser andThe Shaykh : Ibn Baz, this is what they know, meaning... the least knowledge... the brothers in the Hijaz... they say now in methodology, of course the brothers in the Hijaz do not send except books on 'aqidah or a book they translated, al-Jazairi's *Minhaj al-Muslim* into French... books on methodology... they do not know anything, so they made the emirate and made such things, some errors occurred to them due to lack of understanding, such that when they were directed and when we spoke...

The Shaykh : ...they turned... praise be to Allah.

The questioner : The Shaykh : So-and-so said... glory be to Allah, until I found among them a strange stubbornness, some of them did such a thing and we said...The Shaykh : So-and-so said such a thing, he said, I seek forgiveness from Allah and I repent to Him, they really want [to do right] and I noticed... and a number, not a small number, gathered, even their emir, meaning in Cameroon, I met their emir and I found in truth that they are responsive, but he said, Allah said, the Messenger said, so-and-so said, for example, from those who see that he adopts the thought of the Salaf.The Shaykh : For example, so-and-so is one of those who believe that he adopts the methodology of the Salaf.

The Shaykh : What is their language?

The questioner : They speak French.

The Shaykh : French.

The questioner : This language and some internal languages.

The Shaykh : And you speak French.

The questioner : No, no, I do not master it.

The Shaykh : How do you communicate with them?

The questioner : The ones I met now came to... and they learned Arabic, what are they doing now, and the idea that spread among them, especially in Africa, Central [Africa], and Cameroon, and our brothers in Somalia, some countries like Chad sent, may Allah reward you with good, to the Ansaar al-Sunnah group here in Sudan and other groups to the Islamic University, meaning the university accepted a number, but residence there is not given except with great difficulty, so some of them were forced to go to Arab countries, and some heard that Arab countries are countries... some of them came to Libya and fell back, meaning they used to think that the Arabs are the sons of the Companions, as the non-Arabs there in Europe think.

The Shaykh : And we said recently in some of our gatherings in Albania, they express about our Muslim Arab brothers, they do not say about them Muslims, they say Arabs, but they, like all non-Arabs, do not pronounce the 'ayn except as an alif, and yet they do not say Arabs, they say harab, harab! If they want to say Muslim, they say harab, because they know where the Muslims' origin is? From the Arabs, so they say harab, but unfortunately the Arabs today have become a calamity for Islam because of their bad behavior and their national fanaticism, and Saudi Arabia for the Saudis and Algeria for the Algerians, and so on, unfortunately the bond has been completely broken and has gone to waste, and these, my brother, are truly in need of support, but...

The questioner : This point, and it is a characteristic we are speaking to you about, they say if...The Shaykh : Nasser orThe Shaykh : Ali Hasan al-Hamdani... especially here in Sudan... so they said... about the 'aqidah... they say if, for example, our Salafi brothers in Jordan... His EminenceThe Shaykh : Nasser, if he were to print, for example, *Sifat al-Salah* or books on methodology, or even two or three messages translated into French... before they go astray and this... the beginning of the spread, until the government fought them for a period... the president is Christian in some countries, but when it became clear that the difference between them and the Sufis... there are the Sufis... they said if they, for example... would look after their Salafi brothers... truly, if someone were to strive in this matter from here and from Saudi Arabia, such that some methodological books are distributed to them, and there is someone who is willing, meaning to take on the distribution, even if this matter is done, it is possible that someone you see, some of the ones who have a word among them, would come to you here and you would cooperate with them, because their financial circumstances... poverty has not reached the Tabligh group, these who came to us with the sound thought and 'aqidah, I said how did it reach you? They said from the beginning of the sixties and eighties, they said some of the Tabligh group came out and sacrificed and surprised us and taught us, they came out with some groups with them, but some of them carry... the graves and circumambulate them, so they avoided them, then when this matter appeared, they found it agrees with some of the simple messages that reached... which forbid the graves, they used to think they were Wahhabis, so they became accepting because of the spread, everyone reads the book and sets out to teach, until praise be to Allah, now among our brothers in Somalia, now one of them came recently, meaning I met him, and he said now our brothers in Somalia are now fighting, each calling to... secular sects fight, and the Muslims are about ten thousand now, and they have established themselves, meaning now they have two cities where they are concentrated, now if you walk in the city... you do not see except a committed man and a woman wearing the niqab, where it is impossible, like what happened in Afghanistan, that only committed youth come to it, so all who are in it, all the committed youth...

The Shaykh: Good.

The questioner : ...some of the brothers...The Shaykh : Salman al-Oudah... andThe Shaykh : Ali al-Hudhaifi... visited them and found... such things, but they are still in need of the methodology.

The Shaykh : By Allah, we ask Allah to strengthen us to do what is obligatory, because the truth is this needs an organization, meaning to establish contact with them and send them preachers, we ask Allah to make it easy for us.

The questioner : Meaning, our Shaykh, how do I convey to them the response, as... saidThe Shaykh ؟

The Shaykh : I do not have an answer.

The questioner : ...until this issue is studied, then... meaning, my Shaykh, now they have exceeded in the group of Africa... I tried to limit the number, this... meaning they now exceed forty thousand or fifty thousand in their spread in Africa, in Gabon, in Guinea, in Ghana, with varying increase in these regions, meaning the truth, glory be to Allah, they have ignorance, they do not know except some booklets... a small book, a message came to them, the points of prayer came to them, the message of prayer by Shaykh Ibn Baz, they learned it and connected it, meaning they accept, so any word that comes! They said, do you ask...The Shaykh : And even the brothers in Sudan, meaning we promised them, and if some of the brothers have private financial effort, if there is aid, meaning the brothers in Sudan, by Allah the truth, my Shaykh, they used to honor your Eminence with an honor I have not seen for a Shaykh, by Allah, my brothers, I used to enter, the students by the hundreds in the Ansaar al-Sunnah Institute there, so I sit with them... by Allah, some of them call out, come and see, and there was a person who sawThe Shaykh : Nasser...

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Meaning, they ask me, they rush to me...

Another questioner : This is from the grace of Allah upon you, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : O Allah, forgive me for what they do not know.

The questioner : I truly promised them, the manager in charge of the unit, we send them some money, with me some of the brothers donated, I send them, meaning about fifty or one hundred tapes to be placed in the library, so a poor man, meaning he almost accepts my hand... may Allah reward you with good, and he gave me the address and such, and some of them, meaning, glory be to Allah, they wish that there were even... there they collect for them two hundred or three hundred tapes or the series is sent to them and placed in the offices, the students acquire them, with me about five or six tapes... meaning reserved by turn... it was... the truth is they want, they need this methodology, glory be to Allah.

The Shaykh : Did you contact our brother Abu Layla?

The questioner : In this matter! I have not contacted him, by Allah.

The Shaykh : Contact him and see if cooperation with him is possible in this area regarding this issue.

The questioner : The brotherAbu Layla : May Allah reward him with good. I will take charge of sending these items. Perhaps I will travel and take some of the books, especially since they focus on this, and some books of Shaykh Ali came to them.Al-Halabi : It addresses issues methodologically, so they were pleased with it.