How do we carry out the call to Allah the Exalted in these later times?

The Shaykh : So, the issue of calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and establishing it in the hearts of people is not something that can be handled by merely reciting verses as was the case in the early period. First, they understood Arabic expressions with ease, and second, there was no deviation or distortion in creed stemming from philosophy or the science of theology (kalam) that opposed sound belief. Our situation today is completely different, so it is not permissible to imagine that calling to the correct creed today is as easy as it was in that era. The closest analogy to this, in which no two people differ and no two camels butt heads, if Allah wills, is the well-known ease of that time: a Companion would hear a hadith directly from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then a Successor would hear the hadith directly from the Companion, and so on, until we reach the three generations attested to as the best. Was there anything called the science of hadith? There was no such thing as the science of hadith, nor the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). But now, this is a necessity and a collective obligation (fard kifayah). For a scholar today to be able to determine whether a hadith is authentic or weak, this is not made easy for him as it was for the Companions, because they received the hadith fresh and direct from the mouth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and then the Successors received it from the Companions whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic has praised, and so on. What was easy then is not easy today. Therefore, this matter should be observed and attended to as it should be, in a manner commensurate with the problems surrounding us today as Muslims, problems that the early Muslims did not face, such as the issues, doubts, and the science of theology (kalam). For this reason, it is good for us to mention that in some authentic hadiths, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the strangers (ghuraba), he said in some of them: Then he explained the reason for this by saying (peace be upon him): This is a consequence of the severe state of being a stranger (ghurabah) that exists today, which was not present in the early period. There is no doubt that in the early period, the state of being a stranger was between shirk (associating partners with Allah) and tawhid, between disbelief and faith. But now, the problem is among the Muslims themselves. This is an issue that should be noted first. Second, people should not say, and let us say, for example, that we, the Salafis, are confined to a certain country, and that we should now move to another stage other than the stage of calling to tawhid. By this other stage, I mean political action. We should not say this, because the call of Islam is, first, a call to truth, and second, a general call. We do not know from where the movement will spring that will begin the implementation of ruling by Islam in the vast land of Allah. Therefore, our call must be general. If, for example, our call is in an Arab country like this country of ours, we should not say, "We are Arabs, and the Qur'an was revealed in the language of the Arabs," even though we mention that the Arabs today are like some of the non-Arabs who have become Arabized; the Arabs today have become non-Arabized (ajam) due to their distance from their language, and this has distanced them from understanding the Book of their Lord and the Sunnah of their Prophet. Suppose that we Arabs here understood Islam correctly; we should not be satisfied with the idea that we are sufficient to engage in political work, mobilize people, and occupy them with politics, neglecting what is required of them in terms of engaging with the understanding of Islam, as we mentioned earlier. This is not limited to creed, but includes worship, transactions, and conduct. I do not believe that there is any nation in the general Islamic world, numbering in the millions, that can be relied upon to have understood Islam in these three matters mentioned above: creed, worship, and conduct, and to have been raised with this upbringing. I do not believe this exists. Therefore, we constantly and always revolve around and focus on two basic points, and many of our brothersThose present : They know this when we speak of education; by education, we mean education based on purification. Both are necessary: purification and education. If there is a type of purification that is specific to creed, not general, and in a nation that may number in the millions, but only in individuals among them who have been lost in this vast society, having no voice and no means to unite them into a single block capable of influencing that society—which is part of the great Muslim community, meaning a nation among the nations—there may be individuals who understood Islam correctly in all its aspects. Let us assume this, though it is very unlikely, because I believe that one individual, or even five, ten, or twenty, cannot fulfill the duty of purifying Islam from what has entered it in all its aspects: creed, worship, conduct, dealings, and so on. A few individuals cannot rise to this reality, especially in a society numbering in the millions. There must be hundreds of callers to Allah who have understood Islam correctly and then fulfilled the duty of educating those around them. This education is currently missing. Therefore, political action now will have negative effects before these two important issues—purification and education—are achieved. Do we mean by "achievement" achieving this in the entire Muslim society? We do not think of that, nor do we dream of it, because it is impossible. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in the Noble Qur'an: These blessed ones will not truly be blessed by our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) unless they understand Islam correctly and also educate themselves upon this correct Islam. Engaging now in what is called political work—we do not deny political work—but we believe in the logical, Shari'ah-based sequence: we must begin with creed, then proceed to worship and conduct, rectifying all these matters. Then, a day will inevitably come when political work is necessary, because politics means managing the affairs of the Ummah. Who manages the affairs of the Ummah? It is not Zayd, Bakr, or 'Umar, who leads a group or directs a group. That is the role of the Amir, the first Imam, the one pledged to by the Muslims. He is the one who must be knowledgeable about the reality of politics. As for us occupying ourselves with matters that, if we truly knew them, we would not be able to manage—let us give a very clear example. Today, unfortunately, these wars are ongoing against Muslims in many lands of Islam. Is it beneficial to stir up the enthusiasm of Muslims in all parts of the world when we do not possess the obligatory jihad that must be stirred up by a responsible Imam? There is no benefit in this action. We are not saying this is not obligatory; it is obligatory, but it is premature. Therefore, we must occupy ourselves, and occupy those we call to our da'wah, with understanding correct Islam and educating them properly. Occupying them with enthusiastic matters will distract them from mastering the da'wah, which is an individual obligation that every Muslim of legal age must perform, or which must be in the mind of every Muslim, in the form of correcting creed, correcting worship, and correcting conduct. These are individual obligations for which no one is excused if they fall short. As for other matters, some are collective obligations, as is said today, such as knowing the reality of fiqh or engaging in political work or similar things. This is if some individuals know it and can practically benefit from it. But if they occupy the general public with it, they are distracting them from the most important by the important. This is what we see tangibly, as if touching it with our hands, in many Islamic groups or Islamic parties. We know that some of them used to focus on educating the Muslim youth who were gathered and united around these callers to understand the correct creed, correct worship, and correct conduct. But because of their preoccupation with politics and their attempt to enter parliaments that rule by other than what Allah revealed, they distracted them from the more important side and occupied themselves with what is important, and perhaps not even important in the current circumstances. I think there was something in your question that may have slipped from my mind, so please remind me of it, if Allah wills.