The Shaykh’s discussion with one of the students regarding the accusations attributed to al-Saffar against the scholars.

The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you. We need an answer regarding the issue of accusing scholars,The Shaykh : because it is the source of all this talk. After that, His Eminence,The Shaykh : when a group of people, or a group of scholars, actually accused the Committee of Senior Scholars, and the situation at that moment was in the midst of trials, this was a motive for searching for what? For the errors of this second group, to show and prove that these people do not merely accuse scholars, but that it is a methodology they follow, meaning it contradicts the methodology of the Salaf.

Another questioner : For some people, this led them to search for the errors of these people, but some people knew the errors of these people, and they had them before the Gulf War and before this happened.
Shuqara: Never mind, O our Shaykh. I am asking the brother Abu Jabir a question. First, do I not say you believe, do you think that the scholars who issued the rulings they issued have hit the mark in what they ruled?

The questioner : According to what has appeared to me from the evidence, and I am a student of knowledge, or I hardly qualify as a student of knowledge in truth, according to the evidence that has reached me.
Shuqara: I am asking about the issue of accusing scholars. If your answer were the opposite, if you said I do not believe or I do not think that they hit the mark, do you think that criticizing al-Saffar, if it were mere criticism without accusation, would be correct or incorrect?

The questioner : If I saw that seeking assistance is not permissible, according to the evidence that has reached me, I would naturally agree with Shaykh al-Saffar in what he went to, if his response to the scholars was without accusation and insult.
Shuqara: Very good. The issue has narrowed down to accusing the scholars. Was his accusation against the scholars declaring them disbelievers or declaring them open sinners?

The questioner : Yes, O Shaykh, declaring them open sinners. Yes, but declaring them disbelievers, no.
Shuqara: What did he say?

The questioner : For example, accusing them of compromising, accusing them, for example, O Shaykh, of falling under pressure and saying what they do not believe.

The Shaykh : A simple question. The word "compromising" that you are uttering, did he utter it?

The questioner : Yes, he uttered it.

The Shaykh : On your honor.

The questioner : On my honor, and I will face Allah with it.
Shuqara: In any case, do you believe that his statement about compromising and flattery and accusing these scholars, do you believe that he actually intended to declare them open sinners and criticize them and accuse them to the extent that the accusation reached, in your mind or in the minds of others, that he declared them open sinners?

The questioner : We, by Allah, O Shaykh, as we learned from our Shaykh, and as we heard from the report from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: "As for revelation, it has now ceased. Whoever shows us good, we bring him close. Whoever shows us evil, we distance him." So we are not worshipping Allah the Exalted and Majestic by the inner states of people, and we have not been commanded to dig into what is in the bellies of people, but rather what appears to us from them, we take it by its appearance.

The Shaykh : Do you allow me? This is correct speech, but it is not an answer to the professor.
Shuqara: I said, I will return once more and say, meaning, do you think or believe that al-Saffar’s accusation and criticism of the scholars was that he actually intended to declare them open sinners by accusing them in this style that was carried out or that he said?

The questioner : You asked me this question, O Shaykh Muhammad. It might be a lack of respect on my part toward the Shaykhs if I asked you this question. Can you determine whether this was al-Saffar’s intention, that his accusation was to undermine the scholars, or that it was not to undermine them?
Shuqara: I judge you by your mouth. I exonerate al-Saffar by his mouth. I say, for example, I heard al-Saffar, I heard him praise the scholars he criticized with high praise. I do not say he accused them. I heard him praise them highly.

The Shaykh : And no blame. The tape we heard just now said, if the scholars do not perform enjoining good and forbidding evil, who will perform it?
Shuqara: O our Shaykh, specifically, he named so-and-so and so-and-so. I heard this from al-Saffar. The one who says that does not say this. And if he said it, he does not say it with the intent of declaring them open sinners, because the one who praises and does not disparage, and brings criticism and words usually said in such a sermon or impromptu lecture, is not judged as intending to declare them open sinners. Second, if you please, you are not weak at all. You are Abu Sabir, another one, O brother Abu Jabir. You said that the word you and the brother Khalid agreed upon, this word, you said "establish methodologies." Do you believe that this is a methodology, that one person cursed another, or accused him, or declared him an open sinner, or insulted him? Do you believe that this became a methodology? I suppose he cursed and insulted and defamed. I call this a methodology when others hear me and imitate me in this, cursing so-and-so, or accusing so-and-so, or declaring so-and-so an open sinner, or declaring so-and-so a disbeliever. Is this a methodology? This is what I call a methodology. This is an error in calling it a methodology. May Allah reward you. I call this, if I were to have a bad opinion of such a person, saying this is a departure from the requirements of proper conduct. I call this that. But what I call a methodology, and if I wanted to be gentle in wording, I would say, by Allah, O my brother, this is an error and it should not be done.

The Shaykh : I have an observation. All of it is correct, but I have a question.

The questioner : No, O Shaykh, no, it is not correct.