What is your answer to the one who says: It is possible to learn 'aqidah in the shortest time?

The questioner : ... regarding 'aqidah and the lack of concern for it, is there an answer to him?

The Shaykh : Yes, as for the first doubt, it is like its sisters, a pattern we know from al-Akhzam. The one who says that 'aqidah can be received in minutes—we ask this claimant, what is this 'aqidah that a Muslim can receive in minutes! Does he mean receiving 'aqidah in general in minutes, or in detail in minutes? If he says in general, we say this is possible in general, as in the hadith of faith, where one believes in Allah, His angels, His books, and so on. But if he also says that 'aqidah can be received in detail in minutes, we will say to him first, do you mean the Arabs or the non-Arabs? From his statement, I mean the Arabs, is that not so? You are a poet in the problem, setting your case to defend them or express their doubts. So we will say to him, if you mean only the Arabs, this is the first sin, because you know that Islam was not sent to the Arabs specifically, but to all people. Then we say secondly, do you mean the pure Arabs who understand the Arabic language, the language of the Noble Qur'an, without learning it? If he says yes, we say you are ignorant, because the Arabs have been affected by non-Arab influence, and it has become so that one living in the heart of the Arab lands cannot understand the Qur'an, which was revealed in the language of the Arabs, except by studying linguistic preliminaries and sciences they call technical sciences and the like. At that point, we arrive at the statement that this scholar who wants to teach people the 'aqidah that came in the Book and the Sunnah, is he living in an atmosphere similar to the first Salafi atmosphere, which represents the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with his Companions? Or is he living in an atmosphere of intellectual fragmentation and moral and behavioral disintegration? I think his answer, if Allah wills, on the truth, will be to say no, he is now living in an atmosphere that differs completely from the previous one. So this one who says that it is possible to understand 'aqidah, and in detail as it came in the Book and the Sunnah, in minutes, is merely living in a fantasy. Then we put him under the command of reality. We gave 'aqidah in minutes. Suppose I am a Bedouin man coming from the desert, I want to learn Islamic 'aqidah, what is it?

The questioner : He links the one who says this between 'aqidah and what validates 'aqidah. He says that when a person is required to embrace Islam, he is only commanded to know Allah (Mighty and Majestic), a general knowledge, and to testify that there is no god but Allah, and to believe in what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) defined as faith, or as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said.

The Shaykh : This returns to my previous statement in general.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, but he does not believe with us that it is obligatory afterwards to learn Islam in detail, considering that knowledge is divided into two parts: individual obligation and collective obligation. This is what I think no one denies now. He is talking about the man. Look now at the misguidance of these people who live in dreams. They first imagine that our society is the society of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Second, they imagine that every Muslim is the son of a Muslim, the son of a Muslim, the son of a Muslim, Allah knows where it ends. He imagines that he is a Muslim today. My brother, there is a difference between the one who entered Islam recently and the one who lives in a Muslim society. This is completely different from the first. A disbeliever wants to become Muslim, what do we say to him? Say, I testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. He becomes a Muslim by the testimony of the authentic hadith ... they did not learn 'aqidah in its details, nor worship in its details. I do not think ignorance reaches the point of acknowledging such a general Islam. He must say no, it is obligatory for him afterwards, for example, to learn how to perform ritual purity, how to perform the prayer, how to fast, for example, when the month of Ramadan comes, and so on. These details must be learned for his Islam to be complete. Do you see, is not faith so? This general faith that you quoted from them, do you see, is it not with his books and his messengers in general? Do you see, when the detail comes, what do they say about it? Is it obligatory to believe when the detail comes, is it obligatory to believe in it or not?

The questioner : There is no doubt that it is obligatory to believe in it when the detail comes.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : It is obligatory to believe in it when it comes in detail.

The Shaykh : It is like this, meaning, do you imagine that they say no?

The questioner : They do not say no, as you mentioned, O Shaykh, but they fell into the part I mentioned, that they fell into complete ignorance, where they ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, this is it, so we must be with them in reality. Our reality now, and the truth, is what makes our call not easy. People today understand that it is possible for a person to know all of Islam in one session, because they give you the example of the Bedouin My brother, that was an Islam that was not completed. He came from Bedouin life and wanted to enter Islam, but Islam was still being revealed with its rulings and its jihad and so on and so on. So we now must not, rather it is not permissible for us, to go back. We must adopt this Islam in general and in detail. So if a Muslim falls into such an atmosphere of extreme difference, and as we mentioned earlier with the doctor, seventy-three sects, from which only one sect is saved. They said, and who is it, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Are we not now, and are they not, these questioners who doubt and are suspicious, is it not obligatory for them to strive to be from the saved sect? There is no doubt that their answer will be yes. My brother, you are not now in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) where you come and sit with the Messenger and hear the ruling from him directly. Between you and the Messenger are fourteen centuries, and in front of you are stumbles and stumbles. A hadith will come to you, or a verse will come to you. If you were in the presence of the Messenger, it would suffice you of the burden if its meaning was difficult for you, as happened to some of the Companions when a verse was difficult for them, the verse Do you remember the verse and the hadith? They said, which of us is not that man who wronged himself? He said: So the Messenger (peace be upon him) removed this doubt from their minds. So you, O Muslim, in the fourteenth century, in the beginning of the fifteenth, are not in the company of the Messenger, so that when something is difficult for you, he comes and gives you the answer and you accept it. In front of you are these long distances. You want to know if this hadith is authentic or not authentic. You want to know this ruling, was it taken from the Book? Or from the Sunnah? Or from the consensus where there is sometimes disagreement in its authentication and its weakening? Or from analogical reasoning? And then this analogical reasoning, is it clear analogical reasoning? Or is it hidden analogical reasoning? So now our situation is not that situation, O poor ones. And because of their ignorance of this knowledge, they make the matter easy and say to you that it is possible for one to learn 'aqidah in a few minutes. And so we, in truth, must proceed forward on our difficult, long, and extended path. And I say in some of my words ... .