Are the Muslim Brotherhood, the Tahrir Party, and other perishing sects?

The questioner : By Allah, my Shaykh, I have a question I have wanted to ask for a long time, but frankly, I am hesitant to ask it in a direct manner.

The Shaykh : But as for my pocket, do not get close to it.

The questioner : My Shaykh, these groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Tahrir Party, and the other sects that are widespread now, can they be included as a group, not as individuals, within the people of the Sunnah and the community, or are they outside of it? I mean, are they among the seventy-two sects?

The Shaykh : Your question is wavering.

The questioner : I mean, my Shaykh, as individuals, there are people in the Muslim Brotherhood, for example, or in the Tahrir Party, or in the other sects, who follow the methodology of the Salaf, and their call is the call of the Salaf, but perhaps they have been confused in certain matters, or perhaps they say, for example, "We are trying to bring about change," but the group as a whole, in the general framework, are they within the people of the Sunnah and the community, or can we say they are of the people of the Sunnah and the community, or are they outside of it?
Abu Layla : I have answered a question like this one.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, but the answer will not be for the sake of the group, but for the sake of your brother-in-law himself, who mixes up the methodology with the call. It is said that there are people in the Muslim Brotherhood and in the Tahrir Party who are on our methodology. He wants to say that they are on our creed, but not on our methodology. Is that what you want to say?

The questioner : Yes, your words are more precise.

The Shaykh : So, the point is this: first, the second point is that you are asking whether they are of the people of the Sunnah and the community or not? The phrase "people of the Sunnah and the community" has a concept and a meaning different from the concept and meaning we have. The "people of the Sunnah" are the Maturidiyyah and the Asha'irah. If "people of the Sunnah and the community" is used in a general sense, it refers to the Maturidiyyah and the Asha'irah. Even in this terminology, we are outside of the true followers of the Sunnah and the followers of the hadith. Why? Because we are neither Maturidiyyah nor Asha'irah. The Maturidiyyah and the Asha'irah are considered among the group that engages in figurative interpretation of the verses of attributes and the hadiths of attributes, and they meet with the Mu'tazilah, the Jahmiyyah, and the deniers of the divine attributes in much of this figurative interpretation. But the people of the Sunnah, in our view, are those who are on the methodology of the righteous Salaf. How can they adopt the methodology of the righteous Salaf when they say, "The knowledge of the Salaf is safer, and the knowledge of the Khalaf is more knowledgeable and more wise"? Do you see the difference? The Salaf's knowledge is safer; they were like dervishes, meaning they did not delve into matters as the Khalaf did, and they brought forth knowledge that the later ones did not know. Therefore, the knowledge of the Khalaf was more knowledgeable and more wise. If you understand these details regarding the old groups, you can now judge the existing groups. I said earlier that in the Muslim Brotherhood, the Tahrir Party, and others, such as the Tabligh group, or if you want to say that there are people among them who believe in our Salafi creed, I might say, "Perhaps I do not know," but you say, "Certainly." I say, "Perhaps they pray our prayer and fast our fast." Perhaps you are allowed to say, "Certainly," and that is what I hope for. But they do not adopt our methodology. We do not say, "We understand the Book and the Sunnah as the righteous Salaf did." Not the Muslim Brotherhood, not the Tahrir Party, not the Tabligh group. And if there are individuals among them who are with us in one aspect, they are not with us in another. I often speak about myself; I was in Damascus with the Muslim Brotherhood, but I was not one of them. I was not one of them when some of our brothers saw that if I affiliated myself with the Muslim Brotherhood, given my strictness and my Albanian heritage, and the fact that I am blond, excuse me, that I would not be influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, it would be beneficial for me to be one of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Halabi : For the benefit of the call.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Abu Layla : They claim that there would be great good in it.

The Shaykh : That is what some of our brothers saw. I told him, "Go and try your luck. Submit your application for membership." It was rejected. This rejection was, of course, a planned strategy, because they knew that ifThe Shaykh : Al-Albani became a member, there would be a revolution and an upheaval, but a white one, not a red one. They were afraid even of the white one. But I remained with them, though I was not one of them. They would not take a step without me being with them. Therefore, my call influenced even their leaders. Ismail al-Attar, you have heard of him; he was one of my students who attended my lessons. Zuhayr al-Shawish, who lived off printing my books and lessons, and so on, were among them. But in terms of call, thought, and methodology, they were Brotherhood-style, meaning the complete style, and dealing with people. There might be a Shi'ah among them if there was not a communist, and so on. Why? Because their leader, may Allah forgive us and him, said, "We cooperate on what we agree upon, and we excuse one another in what we differ upon." In this general and comprehensive sense. We introduced a modification to the second clause, after "advising one another in the religion of Allah the Exalted." Among them, some share with us some of our creed and ideas, but our plan, no, our methodology, no. If you asked one of them, "Are you a Brotherhood member or a Salafi?" What would he say? "I am a Brotherhood member." Why does he disavow saying he is a Salafi? This Rafi'i you asked about earlier, our brother Yusuf, he says, "They came to us with an innovation. They say, 'We are Salafis.' Where did they get this word from?" I conducted a very pleasant discussion with a man from the senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and I can say that he was once a colleague of Sayyid Ramadan. If you have heard of him, he passed away recently in Switzerland. I think he was the brother-in-law of Hassan al-Banna and was one of his disciples. He was a powerful orator; when he preached to the people, he captured their minds and hearts. I remember exactly that he would put a small mushaf in his pocket when he preached and say to them, "This is the Book of Allah." This is an attractive style. One of his colleagues and close associates of al-Banna (may Allah have mercy on him) visited me at my home here in Amman after he had gifted me his book on the liberation of women, titled "The Liberation of Women in the Age of the Message." He had sent me the first volume by mail, saying, "A gift from its author, so-and-so." I had been away for a long time and had forgotten. He reminded me in the introduction that he had learned the science of hadith, or the interest in the Sunnah, from so-and-so, from lessons he delivered in Damascus. I did not remember until he called out to me from Egypt, saying, "Did my book, volume so-and-so, reach you?" He was so-and-so. When I heard his voice speaking to me, he said, "Yes. I have two other volumes I will send you, and I would like your opinion on this book." I had actually read the introduction and found that he associated me with two people I do not agree with: Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Muhammad al-Ghazali. He praised them, and on the other hand, he praised Al-Albani and mentioned that they speak well of him. I said, "Since they speak well of him, he must be inclined toward them." So I read the book, the first part, and I found many things in it, meaning he mixed good deeds with bad ones. He sent me two volumes, and I agreed with him that he would stay as a guest at my place and we would discuss some issues with him. Of course, he stayed with me for a full week and I discussed many issues with him. The summary is: I said to him, "Professor, if someone asked you, 'What is your madhhab?' Here is the point. He said, 'I would say, Muslim.' I said, 'That is not an answer. You know, Doctor, how you give a complete answer."

The questioner : Do you give an answer or a question, my Shaykh?

The Shaykh : No, that is not an answer to that question. I will excuse you from it. Is that answer sufficient for you? He asked why. I told him, this is the answer if you had asked me, "What is your religion?" I told you, "What is your madhhab (school of jurisprudence)?" You answered, "Muslim." Fine, I asked you, "What is your religion?" You would still say, "Muslim." The question changed, but the answer remained the same. This is evidence of an error. He said, "Correct. So if I say my madhhab is based on the Book and the Sunnah?" I told him, that is still not sufficient. He asked why. I said, if we asked a follower of the 'Alawis, or a Druze, or a Shi'i, or a Rafidi, or an Ibadi, or a Khariji, would any of them say, "I am not on the Book and the Sunnah"? They all say they are on the Book and the Sunnah. I reminded him of the hadith about the sects that you asked about and have not yet received the answer to. I am reminding you that in that hadith, all these sects claim to be on the Book and the Sunnah. You are on the same level as them. We need something that distinguishes you from them. He said, "Now I will say I am on the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih (the earliest generations)." I told him, "I understand, so stick to it." But you, Professor, are a great writer, so there is no phrase for you to summarize the answer for us. I am a Muslim on the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih. Do you think that will do? Can you say, "I am a Salafi (a follower of the Salaf)"? He did not say it, but he was silenced. Why? Because he is an Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) member and cannot say, "I am a Salafi." His methodology is not like that. Do you understand where we are aiming? You may find among the Muslim Brotherhood many men like this who take many issues from us and follow them, whether the hadith is authentic or weak, and so on, praise be to Allah. But there is a deviation from the understanding of the Salaf regarding the texts, whether from the Book or the Sunnah. For example, how did he interpret the hadith ? He understood it the way al-Ghazali and others understood it, that it does not mean a statement about the reality of women's condition. And I do not remember now how he interpreted it; it was an interpretation that nullified the implication of the hadith. I refuted him at that time and noted that he needed to correct it. Later, we were informed that the man passed away a few months ago.

The questioner : A deficiency in intellect, our Shaykh, meaning in terms of testimony, and a deficiency in religion due to menstruation.

The Shaykh : No, he has no issue with the hadith.

The questioner : I would like to clarify. I am listening, and honestly, I am hearing from the common people the hadith itself, but it is not clear to me. The common people say that women are deficient in their religion.

The Shaykh : No, it is an authentic hadith in al-Bukhari.

The questioner : This meaning is from the hadith. I wanted to clarify from...The Shaykh : .

The Shaykh : The important thing, may Allah bless you, is that you do not say that among the Muslim Brotherhood there are people with us on the methodology. No, if they are with us on the methodology, it invalidates their being from the Muslim Brotherhood. It would be the same if they were from the Tahrir Party or the Tablighi Jamaat, and so on. But they may be with us in some of our ideas and beliefs. As for our methodology, no. I will ask you: Are they from the Muslim Brotherhood? Are they from the seventy-two deviant sects? I think you have understood my answer. They are from the people of the Sunnah and the community in a concept different from our concept, but I do not know if they are from the deviant sects or not. We do not say they are from the deviant sects unless they do not establish what they have, or they do not have a call that they declare, saying, "We are on the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih," or "We are on the opinion of, for example, the Mu'tazilah, or the Maturidiyyah, or the Asha'irah." They do not mean anything of this, so that we can say they are a deviant sect from the deviant sects. Is this clear to you?

The questioner : Yes, our Shaykh, it is clear.

The Shaykh : Even if they did declare it, because in the past there were Khawarij, Mu'tazilah, Maturidiyyah, and Asha'irah, and they still exist today. Even for these, we say we do not rule that they are from the deviant sects. Why? Because we cannot rule on individuals as we rule on the group. Individuals take rulings based on what we hear from them. I say this is a dangerous statement, but at the same time, in my opinion and belief, it is very important. For example, the Shi'ah. I cannot accuse the Shi'ah of what we know about some of the Shi'i scholars. For example, some of our brothers, at least, have read the letter of Khomeini that he called "The Islamic Government," in which he explicitly states that the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet) are in a station with Allah that is lower than the station of the angels and the prophets and the messengers.
Al-Halabi : Higher.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is disbelief (kufr).
Abu Layla : Our Shaykh, if you could repeat the phrase.

The Shaykh : I say that this Ayatollah, in this letter or this book, declares that the station of the Ahl al-Bayt is lower than the station of the prophets, angels, and messengers. Their station is above theirs. This is disbelief. So we cannot declare all the Shi'ah, scholars and common people, as disbelievers. Why? Because this is a philosophy known only to the specialists among their scholars. And it is a complete belief for us that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in every place. Many of the common people are repelled by this, and many of them, you hear them say it. In our region in Syria, it is customary for people to sit... they mention Allah. What do they say? Allah is present in all existence. That is what they say. It means He is present in every place. But some of them still have their fitrah (the innate natural disposition) intact and are repelled by this misguidance. So we cannot apply the ruling we take from the group to every individual in the group. This is if they establish what? A deviation from the Salafi call. What about if they did not claim this? Therefore, we cannot call them a sect. But whoever adopts one of these misguidances from them, he is misguided in that which he adopted, but he may differ from them in other issues and agree with us, as I mentioned earlier regarding some individuals of the opposing groups.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, can we not summarize them with us or with the saved sect?

The Shaykh : This is the crux of the matter.
Al-Halabi : Relatively, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : For some of them.