What do you say about one who contradicts the Imams of Islam in a matter upon which they have reached consensus and who frequently praises the people of innovation, namely Salman al-Oudah?

The questioner : The questioner says: O Shaykh, what do you say about one who contradicts the Imams of Islam in a matter in which they have reached consensus and the evidence is established against him, yet he does not return to the truth? Moreover, he praises some of the Sufis and the Mu'atazilah, praising those who hold the view of Jahm regarding the Qur'an, and he attacks the Companions, and even the Prophets, calling them Imams and renewers. He even praises some of the Zindiqs who permitted apostasy and attacked the creed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the Companions, and the people of hadith, saying there is much good among them. He calls their deviation and misguidance independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). He said, "Even if we reserve judgment on some of their independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), is this person an innovator? Should we name him and say so-and-so is an innovator, as a warning to the Muslim community and as advice to Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the Imams of the Muslims, and the common people?

The Shaykh : Did he mention this in a book?

The questioner : In various places.

The Shaykh : Not in a book?

The questioner : And also in some books.

The Shaykh : Well, which one?

The questioner : Well, it is he who praised in...

The Shaykh : Do not name, do not name.

The questioner : Well, the man who said this in some books, for example, in *Social Justice* or in *The Shadow of the Qur'an*, and so on. But the one who praises him and called him a scholar of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and so on, did so in a cassette, in some cassettes. Also, another person, whose situation is like this one, has a book called *The Caliphate and Kingship* and other books in which he spoke about some of the Prophets. For example, regarding Noah, when he said , he said that the emotion of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) overcame him. And regarding Yusuf, when he said, "Appoint me over the storehouses of the land; indeed, I am a preserver, a knower,"

The Shaykh :

The questioner : A knower, he said this is dictatorial, seeking the position of dictatorship like Mussolini in our time.

The Shaykh : Who is this one who says such a thing?

The questioner : In the book *The Caliphate and Kingship*.

The Shaykh : Who is he?

The questioner : Maududi.

The Shaykh : Maududi, and who praises this speech?

The questioner : By Allah, one of the preachers praised him and...

The Shaykh : Do you mean backbiting? If I name one of the preachers, is it backbiting?

The questioner : No, if Allah wills, it is not backbiting; it isThe Shaykh : Salman praised them.

The Shaykh : Where did he praise them? This is what I am telling you; I am not speaking for myself.

The questioner : He praised them, by Allah, in cassettes.

The Shaykh : Listen, did you understand me?

The questioner : Well, repeat the question to me.

Another questioner : He says, to relieve you,The Shaykh : Do I praise this speech, or do I praise the author of this speech?

The questioner : No, the author of this speech.

The Shaykh : If he praised the author of the speech, I have praised him. Does that mean I approve of everything he said?

The questioner : No, that is not what it means.

The Shaykh : So what do you mean by this question?

The questioner : We were informed by some of the Shaykhs in some cassettes that they went to him and said to him that so-and-so, who is Maududi, has such and such. He said, "By Allah, if I were asked on the Day of Resurrection, I would say he is an Imam and a renewer." So this matter has become confused for us, and we said we would ask about it.The Shaykh .

The Shaykh : Look, my brother, I advise you and the other young men who stand on a deviated path, as it appears to us, and Allah knows best, not to waste your time criticizing one another, saying so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that and so-and-so said that. Because first, this is not of knowledge at all, and second, this style fills the chests with resentment and establishes hatred and enmity in the hearts. Rather, you must focus on knowledge, for knowledge is what will reveal whether this speech praising so-and-so is because he has many errors. For example, it is permissible for us to call him a holder of religious innovation (bid'ah), and thus is he an innovator? What do we have to do with these deep investigations? I advise you not to go to such depths, because the truth is that we are now complaining about this division that has arisen among those who claim to follow the call of the Book and the Sunnah, or as we call it, the Salafi call. This division, Allah knows best, the greatest cause of it is the share of the self that commands evil, and it is not the disagreement in some intellectual opinions. This is my advice, and it is...

Another questioner : O our Shaykh, the picture is very dark regarding what is happening among the young men in many parts of the earth. We do not doubt that there are deviants, and there are those who are mistaken, and there are innovators. But the confrontation has become, in many cases, a personal confrontation and a confrontation of hearsay, such that the young men do not realize the waste of time that results from it.

The Shaykh : It is the problem of problems.

Another questioner : And it stirs up much hatred between them. This is a matter they do not pay attention to. And we do not doubt that they are with the truth, but many of the young men, when I ask them how much of the Qur'an they have memorized, they tell me, "I memorize less than three parts." How long have you been discussing this issue? Three years. Three years, and they sit saying so-and-so is an innovator, not an innovator, a disbeliever, not a disbeliever, a Zindiq, not a Zindiq, he said what he said, deviant, not deviant. And he may be deviant, and he may be mistaken, and he may be misguided. That is, they think that if the advisor comes to them and says this is a waste of time, the strangest thing is that they think the advisor is with those people. It is strange; he wants to advise them. A young man of seventeen years old who memorizes only a little is now discussing very deep issues in which, perhaps, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and his students would be cautious, while they rush into such issues. So we need guidance in such a matter.

The Shaykh : I often ask, "What is your opinion of so-and-so?" and I understand that he is biased for him or against him. And it may be that the one asking about him is from our brothers, or from our older brothers, to be said that he has deviated. I am against this.The questioner : My brother, what do you want with Zayd and Bakr and 'Amr? Learn the knowledge. This knowledge will distinguish for you the righteous from the wicked, the mistaken from the correct, and so on. Then do not hold hatred against your Muslim brother just because, I do not say he erred, but I say just because he deviated. But he deviated in two or three issues, and he did not deviate in the other issues. We find among the Imams of hadith those who accept his narration and say in his biography that he is a Murji'i, and that he is a Khariji, and that he is a Nasibi, and so on. These are all defects, and they are all misguidances. But they have a scale they hold to, and they do not weigh the bad side against the good deeds, or the two or three bad deeds against the aggregate of good deeds. And the greatest of them is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I say