Is it permissible to leave off the Sunnahs at times for a greater benefit than performing them?

The questioner : This questioner says: Is it permissible to leave off the Sunnahs at times for a greater benefit than performing them?

The Shaykh : Yes, leaving off the Sunnahs for the sake of reconciliation and benefit is permissible, but not to let the Sunnahs die out, because there is a difference between leaving them off for a period until reconciliation is achieved and leaving them off absolutely until the Sunnah dies. So leaving them off at times for reconciliation, on the condition that a person’s intention and determination is to clarify the Sunnah, is not a problem. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to demolish the Ka'bah that Quraysh had built and rebuild it on the foundations of Ibrahim, but he left that off out of fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). He said to 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) . This is a principle from which we can derive a general rule, which is that leaving off some of the Sunnahs for the sake of reconciliation is not a problem, because something may happen to the lesser of two options that makes it better than the better one. But this does not mean that we should leave it off absolutely until the Sunnah dies, for that would entail concealing the truth and killing off part of the Shari'ah. One should be cautious, but not compromise; be cautious, but do not compromise. If you see an opportunity to clarify the Sunnah, do so. And if you see that it is better, and in the interest of calling people to Allah, to leave off some of these Sunnahs for the sake of reconciliation, not on the condition that you leave them off absolutely, then that is good and not a problem. Yes, let us take an example of the first case, for instance: praying in slippers. Praying in slippers is something established by the Sunnah. It is authentic that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray in his slippers. In fact, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded that one should pray in slippers and said: But if this leads to fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) and aversion to the truth and its people, there is no harm in leaving that off in order to remove this fitnah. But this does not mean that we should not clarify the Sunnah or display it to people. Rather, we clarify it and display it. But if doing this thing would lead to aversion, enmity, hatred, and estrangement, then there is no doubt that reconciliation is more important than a person praying in his slippers.