The discussion regarding partisanship and entering parliaments.

Al-Halabi : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves astray, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, this is a rare scholarly tape that brought together the virtue ofThe Shaykh : Salih ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-The Shaykh : (may Allah preserve him) and our Shaykh,The Shaykh : the distinguished Imam Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him). With the help of Allah the Exalted, this tape is the first release of the second, new edition of the al-Huda wa al-Nur scholarly series, asking Allah the Exalted for ease, success, and accuracy.

The Shaykh : This is my son, the videographer. Do you perhaps know him?

The questioner : I do not know him.

The Shaykh : I have never met him in my life.
Salih ibnThe Shaykh : I have never met him.

The Shaykh : I have never met him. He graduated from the University of al-Madinah several years ago, he and his brother Muhammad. Oh Allah, oh Bountiful, how are you? Fine.
Al-Halabi : ... reading.

The Shaykh : Do you know the time? First, it differs for me, and then there is the printing of books and handouts, and checking al-Bukhari, the abridged al-Bukhari. One must certainly look into it. Of course, many people work on it, but you must go over it. You meant this, right?

The questioner : May Allah preserve you, O Shaykh. There is a topic.

The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills.

The questioner : It is the topic of the general Salafi direction in Kuwait, because the matter truly concerns us all.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : I say that the direction they have taken has caused us many problems. They are now almost... May Allah preserve you. Now, regarding the Salafi direction in Kuwait, I would like to clarify first some of the things I heard and some of the things I witnessed.

The Shaykh : When were you there? Or did you cut off your speech?

The questioner : I attended a conference in America for the Book and Sunnah Association, headed by the brother Mahmoud Murad. I attended the previous conference, and what I witnessed was that the conference was almost dominated by the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood,The Shaykh : 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abd al-Khalq, and some of the youth, and so on. They almost controlled the direction. What I also noticed in the conference is that they present Salafism in a partisan manner, as a slogan opposing the Muslim Brotherhood slogan, rather than as a complete methodology intended to be accepted, whether one is a Muslim Brotherhood member, a Tablighi, or otherwise. If this direction continues, it will turn the da'wah into a partisan da'wah.

The Shaykh : And it is so.

The questioner : And it will be a partisan Muslim Brotherhood da'wah, but with a Salafi appearance.

The Shaykh : We call it a Muslim Brotherhood da'wah seasoned with Salafism.

The questioner : So I do not knowThe Shaykh : and if you were to intervene in such a matter, meaning to define it, because this harms the da'wah as a whole. It will be the case one day that a Muslim Brotherhood member, or a Tablighi, or an ordinary person on the street will hate Salafism because of his hatred for this party represented in it. And this will harm the da'wah as a whole. For example, you find among them, and I witnessed this in some of them, that you do not find adherence to the Sunnah. You find them lagging behind in prayers, for example, in the congregations, or so. You do not find adherence in their clothing or their appearance. This means that they took Salafism through the lens of a slogan intended to establish a state, or to gain seats in parliament, or seats in the ministry, or something of that sort. Were you speaking, O Shaykh, in the way of presenting the topic withThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-Rahman in the conference, because a question was directed? I was delivering a lecture. A question was directed: What is the ruling on entering parliaments in countries that rule by other than what Allah revealed, or approve shirk in their lands? The answer was that disavowal of the mushriks is obligatory, and that entering with them in this means entering with them to consolidate the pillars of the state that is established on this basis. I continued somewhat in this topic until it ended, andThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-Rahman spoke to me about the topic and got angry, meaning somewhat, and said, "I consulted scholars greater than you, and so on."

The Shaykh : Did he speak to you about the topic between you and him, or in front of the public?

The questioner : In front of a private gathering, meaning about ten of us were there.

The Shaykh : Not after you delivered your speech to the public.

The questioner : It was after that, but not in front of the public. We had dispersed, so he said, "I said this, O Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman, this is Muslim Brotherhood stuff we do not know as Salafi." He said, "And does it harm if this is from the truth that is with the Muslim Brotherhood? Does 'Muslim Brotherhood' mean that they have no truth at all? If this is from the truth with them, we take it." I said, "O Shaykh, the harm from this is that no one will come after that, whether Muslim Brotherhood, Tablighi, or otherwise, and it is possible that he is Salafi, because there will be a comparison." And this led to the fact that in the last part of the previous conference, one of our brothers in Egypt spoke a word in which he said, "And some of our Shaykhs say that no one enters Paradise except a Salafi," with this absolute statement.The Shaykh : 'Abd al-Rahman did not comment, as he was the eldest present, so I asked permission to comment and commented on it, clarifying the invalidity of this absolute statement. One of the things I clarified, and some of the brothers present appreciated, was that "no one enters Paradise except a Salafi," for example, with this absolute statement. You are now representing Salafism with a party, meaning you are saying that no one enters Paradise except one who is from our party or our group. And with this comment, some of those present were embarrassed.

The Shaykh : Who said "no one enters Paradise except a Salafi," from the Kuwaiti group?

The questioner : No, this was one of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members. He said, "And some of our Shaykhs."

The Shaykh : Meaning?

The questioner : I do not know. Meaning some of the Shaykhs say no one enters Paradise.

The Shaykh : Who was embarrassed, who were they?

The questioner : They were embarrassed when I said that the Salafi da'wah now...

The Shaykh : I am not saying from whom they were embarrassed? From which group, from which people, who was embarrassed?
Al-Halabi : From those who were embarrassed?

The questioner : The Kuwaitis were the ones who were embarrassed. The Egyptian brother stood up and thanked me in front of the public and said, "This is the truth. I did not mean the phrase to apply to everyone." So the point, O Shaykh, is that I want this to be an important issue. I want your intervention in it so that the da'wah as a whole is not harmed, because they have now, as you know, established "Dar al-Turath" (House of Heritage), and they have a magazine or newspaper issued in their name, and there are articles in it calling for partisanship and the like. Someone like you, may Allah preserve you, is asked to intervene in this topic so that the da'wah as a whole is not harmed. We need a comment fromThe Shaykh : .
Al-Halabi : Even here with us, the effects of that are not hidden from you.

The questioner : We need a comment fromThe Shaykh : on the topic regarding the direction in Kuwait, so that we understand the picture.

The Shaykh : In any case, our call has always been, and we have been saying this for many years, that one of the merits of the Salafi call is that it unites all the parties, whereas no single party unites them. This is because it is a general call that does not belong to a specific person or a single group; rather, it gathers all Muslims on the basis of the Book of Allah and the authentic Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We have been saying this for a very long time. There is no doubt that the deviation that may affect some groups has two causes, in my opinion. The first, and most important, cause is personal ambition to achieve purely worldly objectives. The other cause may be the weakness of the individual in knowledge, meaning in the Book and the Sunnah, and in the method of the call that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) followed. For decades, we have observed that some individuals among the Muslim Brothers were willing to accept the Salafi call as an idea and a belief. However, the one who holds this belief is not obligated to be a caller to it; he is Salafi only in his personal self, not in relation to the society in which he lives. Therefore, as I have perceived for decades, those who call with their tongues to fight those who advocate the separation of religion from the state are, in reality, falling into this separation whether they realize it or not. I am, of course, speaking about the Muslim Brothers and those who followed their example and imitated their political call, mixing it with the Salafi call. Thus, for a long time, and especially in the current period—which you have likely heard about, as the people here are now exposed to what they call elections—there is a great deal of questioning about my opinion on a Muslim running for election or nominating himself to be elected. I have answered this question from the past, and I remain convinced of this answer: We do not advise any Muslim to be a member of parliament in these parliaments, because it is well known that they do not rule by what Allah has revealed as a general principle. Furthermore, specifically, they take oaths that are not in accordance with the Shari'ah to support personalities or a non-Islamic system.
I know that many of those who adopt the Salafi call believe that there is no objection to entering these parliaments, as if they are adopting a principle that is not an Islamic one, which states that the end justifies the means. They believe that this entry, even though it is surrounded by exposure to many violations of the Shari'ah, is necessary, they claim, because it allows for the development of parliamentary life. When I am asked, I say: I never advise a Muslim to nominate himself to be a member of any of these parliaments, because instead of reforming, he will be corrupted by the public he lives among, and he will not be able to stand against them, because the current is stronger than he is. However, on the other hand, I say that if some Muslims who did not accept this advice submit lists of some Islamic candidates, I see that there is no objection to electing and choosing them from the perspective of repelling a greater harm with a lesser harm. But we do not want these people to be scapegoats, exposing themselves to fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), especially since some of them have tried parliamentary life for many years in the past. In our country, Syria, for example, there was Dr. al-Suba'i—perhaps you have heard of him—and Muhammad al-Mubarak, and others like them. Here too, even the Tahrir Party got involved; a few years ago, they nominated some of their members, but they were unable to reform anything. The same disaster happened to our brothers in Kuwait. We undoubtedly have scattered words on this subject in many countries. I recall that there was a tape where I was asked this question while I was in the Holy City of Madinah, in one of my apartments that I used to stay in until recently. Therefore, we completely oppose this trend, because first, it is not possible to combine it practically with the Salafi call, and second, the result, as you mentioned earlier, will be that the Salafi call becomes a partisan call, isolated and confined to some individuals. I believe it will be exploited from two sides: governments from the top will contain these individuals under the name that these are a Salafi group. Then, they themselves, except for those whom Allah protects—and they are few—will exploit their positions to reach personal objectives, high jobs, and the like. As they say on this occasion, history repeats itself. These Muslim Brothers have been stumbling in politics for about half a century, and there is nothing behind this politics: no knowledge, no moral education, and nothing else. As we say in Syria, using the Syrian expression, "stay in your place," meaning there is movement but no progress. In our military system, the officer tells the soldiers, "stay in your place," they lift their legs but do not advance or retreat. So it is, unless we say that it is in decline, because one of the harms of partisan affiliation is that it causes partisans to fall into arrogance and pride in the call, and because of that, they turn away from the true work for Islam and in Islam. For this reason, we never see this trend that some of our Salafi brothers in Kuwait are heading toward. Perhaps you have felt that there are many groups among our brothers who are not pleased with this trend. Therefore, I believe, and Allah knows best, that this does not prevent us from each doing our best in calling to the correct, scientific, and educational Salafi methodology. And making that a party is not part of the Salafi call in any way. But I say, with regret, that we are advanced in age and years, and we can no longer roam and travel to the countries that need us to visit and lecture in. I went to Kuwait once or more than once, and perhaps you have heard of that, but at that time, this trend had not yet appeared, which is now clear. However, I used to imagine at that time the saying of the old Arab poet: "I see a flicker of fire in the ashes, and it is likely to become a blaze."
"For fire is kindled from two sticks, and war begins with words."
At that time, I was speaking in a manner appropriate to the situation, and I was speaking with the Muslim Brothers in Syria that the call must be based on the Book and the Sunnah, such that it encompasses the entire Islamic world and does not take the side of one sect over another. My intention in saying this now is that the time has come for the youth, such as yourselves, to be our successors after us, so that you carry the banner of the call, if Allah wills, correct, sound, and strong, as you have known it, without any partisanship or pre-Islamic tribalism. This is our hope for you. And to the extent that we are able, we will work, if Allah wills, and speak with everyone we see who needs guidance and advice. Please.
Abu Layla : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
Al-Halabi : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh, our Shaykh. I read the third or fourth weak hadith when mentioning the explanation of the hadith . You mentioned that you spoke about this hadith in the commentary on the treatise "Kalamatun Sawaa" (A Word of Equality), and it seems that "Kalamatun Sawaa," as I heard from you, has a connection to mentioning the groups.

The Shaykh : It is partisan, and it appears its author is from the Muslim Brothers.
Al-Halabi : Your commentary on it—do you not see a benefit in publishing it, especially in this current period?

The Shaykh : It might be so. Look for it for me. It is a small printed treatise, and I wrote comments on it. If Allah wills, we will look for it and review it. It appears that now is the time to publish it .
Abu Layla : May Allah strengthen you, O Shaykh.

The questioner : Now, may Allah preserve you, you mentioned regarding entering parliaments with a phrase where you said, may Allah preserve you, "I do not advise." Does this imply permissibility?

The Shaykh : No, I do not permit it, because religion is advice. This does not contradict my statement that I do not permit it for a Muslim. My intention in saying "I do not advise it" is that I cannot impose my opinion on anyone; that is my style of conversation. I cannot impose on a person, but I express my opinion and my advice to him. I say, meaning, personally, with the belief I hold, it is impossible—if Allah protects us and preserves us—that I would run for office, even if I had a constituency that would nominate me. We are rejected and known to them, so it is impossible that I would accept such a matter. The truth is that it is enough for us; no need for much talk. The saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) This is one of the gates of authority that contains great fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). The reality is the greatest witness to that. So I never permit a Muslim to affiliate with parliament. But someone might say, "What is your evidence?" I twist and turn and search until the end, but many people want to hear, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said, it is not permissible to enter parliaments." We tell them on many occasions, "My brother, not all knowledge is this clear. There is ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) and derivation which is specific to the people of knowledge. My intention in my previous words is this, if Allah wills."