Description of the state of ignorance to which the Ummah has fallen.

The Shaykh : The point I want to reach now is that, in reality, in your country, you must feel grateful for the blessing of Allah upon you due to the call of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), the call of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, which spread goodness throughout the lands. Then some of its light reached other lands. The light did not spread to other lands like Egypt. And you know, perhaps you have gone to Egypt many times?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I know about the polytheism that took place at the shrines of al-Husayn and Zaynab, and I do not know what else. Perhaps you have gone to Syria?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : I did not go. It is similar to that situation in Syria. What I want to say, may Allah bless you, is that these people who call upon other than Allah for aid have not known the call of Islam. You may find this strange from me, but it is as Allah the Exalted said: These people have not known Islam, because we have met with the shaykhs there many times, and we have had sessions and travels, and so on. I remember clearly one time when we were traveling from Idlib, north of Aleppo, to Latakia, the time for Jumu'ah (the Friday prayer) caught up with us, so we turned to a village. I have forgotten the name of the village now. We attended the khutbah (sermon), and the khatib (preacher) was blind or nearly blind. After the prayer, a man welcomed us and invited us to his room in the mosque. We sat and talked, and naturally, we began with the call to Islam. Then he said that calling upon 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and these awliya (close friends of Allah) and righteous people is not a problem. I said to him, "How is it not a problem, O Shaykh? These people call upon one who does not hear, and if he did hear, he would not be able to respond, as is clear in the noble verse. How can you say it is permissible to call upon them?" He said, "Well!" I remember clearly I gave him an example. I said to him, "What is the difference between the one who calls upon these people, since you admit that he does not hear and that if he did hear, he would not be able to answer all these requests? What is the difference between a person who says to a wall, 'Save me!' Does that make him a disbeliever or not?" He said, "He is a disbeliever." "What is the difference between this and that? Both meet in the fact that they do not hear." The people have a deviation in 'aqidah (creed), so no one was appointed to bring them the general call that sweeps away both the specific and the general, as happened in your case, and praise be to Allah. Therefore, I believe, and I have tried the call there, that it is not permissible to compare Islamic lands to your country. Your country has received the call of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) by the grace of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, after the grace of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. As for the other lands, they are still in their misguidance, wandering in it, and the voices of the monotheists there are like a drop in the ocean.
Al-Halabi : Fragmented.

The Shaykh : And fragmented, and very, very rare. It reaches individuals; if they hear the speech, some may be guided by it, and others may remain misguided, claiming the shaykhs as an excuse. Perhaps you know the discussion of 'Abd Allah al-Qasimi, whom Allah misguided despite his knowledge, with the shaykhs of al-Azhar, especially Yusuf al-Dujayy, the great Shaykh of al-Azhar. One of them wrote "Irsad al-'Ibad fi al-Istighathah" (Guiding the Servants in Calling for Aid).
Al-Halabi : Muhammad Bakhit al-Mu'tiqi has a treatise.

The Shaykh : No, an old treatise by someone else on calling for aid... The point is that the great scholars of al-Azhar strayed from the path of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). Do you think that the call of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) has reached the common people of Egypt? The research should be conducted here now. I believe that the call of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) has not reached them, nor in our Syria, except for very few individuals. Here I say that these people have fallen into kufr (disbelief), specifically creedal kufr (disbelief), but not everyone who falls into creedal kufr (disbelief) is ruled to be a disbeliever and an apostate from his religion. Why? Because the proof by which one is declared a disbeliever has not reached him, as Allah the Exalted said: And as you know from the word "kafir" (disbeliever), the disbelievers are called disbelievers because the truth is made clear to them, yet they cover it up and disbelieve in it. Therefore, if we find in many Islamic lands shaykhs who approve of calling for aid, these people themselves are misguided. They have not known tawhid (the oneness of Allah) nor smelled its scent. So it is not permissible for us, and the reality is that we should not declare the Muslim people here and there to be disbelievers, because we see that they have actually fallen into shirk akbar (major shirk), not shirk asghar (minor shirk), because we believe that the proof has not been established against them as a nation, as a people. But any individual among them to whom the call of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) has reached, and then he preferred what the fathers and ancestors were upon, then it is said regarding him: .

The questioner : May Allah preserve you.

The Shaykh : And may Allah bless you.