What is the correct methodology for understanding the fiqh of reality? And what is your advice for the one who exaggerates in it, the one who neglects it, and the one who criticizes the scholars by saying they do not understand reality?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions. And after that:
His EminenceThe Shaykh : Generally, there are viewpoints circulating in the Islamic arena today that one can say are different in appearance, though they may be reconciled if directed toward the correct guidance. This viewpoint, as it appears to me, is due to the many sudden events that have become continuous in the Islamic arena, to which the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) may apply: .
So the people moved to analyze these trials and provide a remedy for them. We believe, if Allah wills, that they are on a sincere intention. But through this analysis, they became divided between those who exaggerate and those who neglect, until something emerged in the arena called the fiqh of reality.
The question is: What is the correct methodology, in light of the Book and the Sunnah and the understanding of the righteous Salaf, for this fiqh, between exaggerating in it or neglecting it? This is the first point.
Second: What is your advice—may Allah preserve you—for the one who exaggerates in it and the one who neglects it?
Third: What is the advice for the one who criticizes the distinguished scholars by saying they do not understand reality? This may lead him to be harsh in his expression, thereby lowering their status in the eyes of those who hear from him. While we concede, if Allah wills, from the standpoint of good opinion of him, that his intention is sound, his expression did not succeed. Yes, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : You have spoken well, and may Allah reward you with good. I think you referred at the beginning of your speech to the famous hadith, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) that manifested in its best forms in the Gulf trial, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): They said: Are we few at that time, O Messenger of Allah? He said: They said: What is weakness, O Messenger of Allah? He said: .
In fact, as I said at the beginning of my speech, this hadith manifested in this Gulf war, where all the disbelievers agreed against a state whose people are Muslim, even though its government rules by other than what Allah has revealed. So many of the conscious Muslim youth, aware of this gathering and alliance of disbelievers who appeared to be defending a Muslim people, namely the people of Kuwait, on the path of fighting the Iraqi people, found that the result reversed upon both peoples together, so that both peoples became occupied by the one who carried the banner of calling for victory for the oppressed, namely the people of Kuwait.
So many of the alert Muslim researchers and critics, from their youth and elders, realized that this trial is blind, deaf, and mute. They became aware of something they called the fiqh of reality. I do not object to the necessity of this knowledge for which they coined this name, namely the fiqh of reality. As if the truth is that many scholars have stated that the scholars who should take charge of guiding the ummah and providing answers to solve their problems must be knowledgeable and aware of their reality. So knowing the reality is undoubtedly an obligatory duty that a group of Muslims must perform, like any knowledge from the Islamic, social, economic, or military sciences—any knowledge that benefits the Muslim ummah. And especially if these sciences develop with the development of times and places, there must be scholars in all these disciplines. But we have heard and observed that there has become exaggeration and its opposite, negligence, as mentioned in the question.
The exaggeration stems from the fact that they want every scholar of the Shari'ah to be a scholar of what they called the fiqh of reality. Also, they misled the listeners into thinking that everyone who is a jurist in the reality of the Islamic world must also be a jurist in the Book and the Sunnah.
The meaning of this logic, as I understand from the apparent meaning of that speech which we have heard more than once and have read some of it occasionally, is that it should be necessary for there to be a chosen Prophet sent by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to this ummah. Because it is not possible for any scholar, however high and elevated he is among the people and chosen, but he has not reached the status of being a Prophet. And by the consensus of the ummah, there is no Prophet after him (peace and blessings be upon him).
And the meaning of this is that it is not possible to imagine the existence of a perfect human being in every sense of this word, and that he would be knowledgeable in all these sciences we referred to, which this word "fiqh of reality" requires. As if this speech obligates the scholar of the Shari'ah, for example, to be knowledgeable in economics, society, politics, military systems, and the method of using rapid weapons, and so on. I do not think a sane person, if he imagined the impossibility of these sciences gathering in the chest of a perfect human being, however perfect he is, would find this possible. This is impossible. Therefore, the middle path between excess and negligence is required. The excess is that we also heard some people say: What matters to us is knowing this reality—this is an error. Justice dictates that it be said: It is necessary for every science to have those who know it. Then these specialists in the various sciences that the aggregate of Muslim scholars must gather—rather than one individual gathering them—these are the ones who must cooperate in realizing the benefit of the Muslim ummah, and realizing what every Muslim seeks, which is establishing the Muslim state and realizing the Islamic society.
For example: It is not permissible for a doctor to rule on many operations, for example surgical ones that he performs, that they are permissible in the Shari'ah. He must seek the opinion of the scholar jurist in the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and on the methodology of the righteous Salaf, as we testify to Allah. So it is difficult—if not impossible—for the doctor who is proficient in his science to also be a jurist in the Book and the Sunnah, proficient in it. This is almost impossible.
Therefore, every person of a craft must cooperate with a person of another craft, and thereby the Islamic benefit is realized. This matter is self-evident. The Muslim hardly imagines a scholar expert in the Book and the Sunnah, who is also a doctor, and who also knows, as they say today, the fiqh of reality. To the extent that this science occupies him, he is occupied away from that science, and to the extent that he is occupied with that science, he is occupied away from this science. And perfection is not achieved except by the cooperation of these scholars, each in his specialty with the others, and thereby the benefit of the ummah is realized.
But what we always and eternally observe is that the unbridled emotions that have no limits have as one of their effects exaggeration in what is necessary. What is necessary is either an individual obligation, in which case it is obligatory upon every Muslim, or a collective obligation, in which case it is not permissible for us to make the collective obligation like the individual obligation. So we say, for example: Students of knowledge must be knowledgeable in the fiqh of reality. My brother, these are the great scholars of the Muslims; we cannot utter this statement about them, let alone say that students of knowledge must know their reality and what follows from this known matter of fiqh that gives every case its ruling. But also, it is not permissible for any of the students of knowledge to deny the necessity of this fiqh of reality, because in truth, it is not possible to achieve the sought goal, which is the consensus of the Muslims, namely getting rid of, for example, the disbeliever's colonization of the Islamic lands, or at least some of them, except that we know what they plot and what they agree upon to continue their colonization and enslavement of the Islamic world.
However, I say: The operative cause is not limited to the lack of knowledge of the jurisprudence of reality. In other words, the reason for the Muslims’ continued state of humiliation and enslavement by disbelievers, even the Jews, in some Islamic lands, is not that many scholars are ignorant of the jurisprudence of reality. Therefore, I believe that focusing on the jurisprudence of reality to the point where the Muslim world understands that the cause of this wretched reality in which Muslims live is their ignorance of the jurisprudence of reality is a matter on which two people differ, or as it was said in old times: “Two rams butt heads in it.” The primary cause is, first: the Muslims’ ignorance of the Islam that Allah revealed to the heart of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Second: Many Muslims who know the rulings of Islam in some of their affairs do not act upon them; they neglect them and disregard their implementation. Therefore, when Muslims are alerted to these two issues: the first issue is that scholars who know the rulings of the Shari'ah in correct Islam should focus on calling Muslims to this correct Islam, making them understand it, and educating them in this correct Islam. This is the solution brought by the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. When these Muslims read the saying of Allah: , it is agreed upon without dispute, and praise be to Allah, among Muslims that the meaning of: is: if you act upon what Allah has commanded you, Allah will help you against your enemies. There are also other texts, many known in the Book and the Sunnah. But among the most important is the hadith that perfectly suits our reality, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described the disease and illness that will afflict Muslims in the time and era following him (peace be upon him), and along with describing the disease, he described the cure in that well-known hadith, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So, the illness of Muslims today is not their ignorance of a certain science. We say this while acknowledging that every science that benefits Muslims is obligatory, but the cause of this humiliation that has befallen Muslims is not that they were ignorant of this jurisprudence called today the jurisprudence of reality. Rather, the cause, as stated in this authentic hadith, is that they neglect acting upon what they know of the religion. He says: This is the disease . This example is a type of transaction of lordship, , an allusion to focusing on worldly matters and relying on them, and not focusing on the Shari'ah. Among this is his saying (peace be upon him) at the end of the hadith: .
And in his saying (peace be upon him): , there is a clear indication that the religion to which one must return is the one mentioned by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in more than one noble verse: , .
These callers who are today making a fuss about the jurisprudence of reality and elevating its status—and this is a right—but they exaggerate in it, perhaps unintentionally making it understood that it is obligatory not only for every scholar but for every student of knowledge to be knowledgeable about this jurisprudence. These people know well that the concepts of this religion that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) chose for the Muslim nation have changed since ancient times, even regarding creed. You find many, and very many, people who testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they perform the other pillars, and even worship with voluntary acts of worship such as standing in night prayer and giving large amounts of money in charity, and so on, but they have deviated from understanding, for example, His saying (Exalted is He): .
These callers, as far as we know, share with us in their knowledge of the fundamental bad reality among Muslims today, which is their distance from the correct understanding of Islam in what is obligatory for every individual, not just what is obligatory for some individuals: correcting the creed, correcting the creed, correcting worship, correcting behavior. Where is this nation that performed this individual obligation? It is not a collective obligation; the collective obligation comes after the individual obligation. Therefore, focusing on and caring for calling the elite of the Muslim nation to care for the collective obligation, which is the jurisprudence of reality, and neglecting the care for the jurisprudence that is an individual obligation for every Muslim, as we have mentioned, I say in this state: There is excess in this call and a loss of what is individually obligatory for every member of the Muslim nation, and an exaggeration in elevating the status of something that is a collective obligation. Therefore, I see that the matter is as Allah (Exalted is He) said: . The jurisprudence of reality is obligatory, without doubt, but as a collective obligation. If some scholars perform it, it drops from the rest of the scholars, let alone students of knowledge, let alone the general Muslims.
Therefore, moderation is required in calling Muslims to know the jurisprudence of reality, and it is necessary to constantly and forever emphasize that all scholars, in their various specializations, must be as stated in the authentic hadith: . This single body cannot be formed from the individuals of the nation except by looking at these differences in types. For example, we need thinkers, and they are the scholars in their various specializations, and we need executors, like hands and feet and the like, and they are the individuals of society. And by this, this beautiful meaning is realized, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) used as an example: .
So, cooperation between those who know the jurisprudence of the Shari'ah and those who know the jurisprudence of reality: these provide these with what they have of knowledge, and these provide those with what they have of knowledge. From this cooperation among scholars in their specializations and their dispersion therein, what every zealous Muslim desires can be achieved.
As for what came in the last question, which is the criticism of some scholars for an error, this is not permissible because it is from the hatred that many hadiths came to forbid Muslims from. Rather, it is upon everyone who knows a matter in which one of the scholars erred to remind him and advise him. If the error is in a limited place, the alert should be in that place without announcement and publicizing. And if the error is public and well-known, there is no harm in alerting and clarifying this error also in a public manner, but as Allah (Exalted is He) said: . It is not permissible for scholars to disparage one another if they are on a common word regarding the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous predecessors. But if they are from the misguided innovators, then at that time, these people have a special treatment and a special style.
This is what comes to my mind in answer to what came in the question, and I hope I have not missed anything. If there is something, I ask for a reminder.