What are the conditions for the one who calls to Allah the Exalted?
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The questioner : There is no doubt that the one who calls to Allah must meet certain conditions. It would be desirable if you would clarify them for the brothers who call to Allah.
The Shaykh : Yes. Among the conditions for the one who calls to Allah the Glorious and Exalted is that he must be sincere to Allah in his calling, such that his intention in his calling is to establish the religion of Allah and reform the servants of Allah, not to seek victory for himself.
The questioner : Very well.
The Shaykh : And that he should make his statement prevail over the statements of people, because if his intention is to seek victory for himself and to make his statement prevail over the statements of people, he becomes a caller to himself, not to the path of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. Therefore, sincerity is necessary. The one who is sincere in his calling to Allah, if it becomes clear to him that the truth is contrary to his statement, he returns to it, submits to it, and seeks forgiveness from Allah the Exalted for the error he committed. And he is rewarded for it if it came from him through independent legal reasoning, because he may have been negligent in his independent legal reasoning and not been thorough.
Second: that he intends by it the reform of the servants of Allah, and this is included in sincerity in the calling. And if his intention is the reform of the servants of Allah, then he must take the best path to achieve this greatest objective, such that he calls them to Allah the Glorious and Exalted in a manner that does not repel them, with gentleness, softness, and tact, without compromising. Because tact is one thing and compromising is another. Compromising is: abandoning the truth for the sake of another, that is, for the sake of another. As for tact, it is: conveying the truth to another by the easiest of paths.
And this condition may be lacking in some people, who intend by their calling to Allah to criticize, criticizing what they are upon. And at that time, their calling becomes corrupt and the blessing is removed from it, because the one who intends to criticize another is not actually a caller to him, but rather one who faults him and criticizes his actions. And there is a difference between a person who calls another to reform him and a person who pours out the cup of blame and reproach on another under the pretext that he wants to reform him.
The third of the etiquettes, and these are obligatory etiquettes, is that the caller to Allah must have knowledge, knowledge of the Shari'ah of Allah, so that he does not call out of ignorance, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):[Yusuf 12:108] Therefore, it is necessary for a person to have knowledge with which to call, because knowledge is the weapon, and the caller to Allah without knowledge may corrupt more than he reforms. The caller to Allah without knowledge may make something lawful that is forbidden, or make something forbidden that is lawful, or may obligate upon the servants of Allah what Allah has not obligated upon them.
Therefore, knowledge is necessary, knowledge received from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), if the caller is able to do that himself, and if not, by following a scholar he trusts from among the people of knowledge. And in this case, that is, if he is following another in calling to Allah, when he mentions a ruling from the rulings, he attributes it to the one he follows, saying: So-and-so said such and such, and so-and-so said such and such, if he heard it from his mouth or read it from a book in his hand. But if he heard it from a tape, he does not say "So-and-so said," but rather he says "I heard a tape attributed to so-and-so," because this is more precise in expression.
And among the etiquettes of the da'i is that he be aware of those he calls, so that he treats them according to their status. The proof of this is that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh to Yemen, he said to him: And he mentioned the rest of the hadith. The point is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed him of their condition so that he would be prepared to face them and treat them according to the status befitting the knowledge they possess. And so it is with the da'i to Allah.
And from this we take that the da'i to Allah should be aware of the condition of those he calls, so that he is prepared for the condition they are in.
And among the etiquettes of the caller to Allah is that he should be the first to exemplify his calling, by doing what he commands and leaving what he forbids, because this is the requirement of reason and the requirement of the Shari'ah, as Allah the Glorious and Exalted said:[As-Saf 61:2-3] And Allah the Exalted said, rebuking the Children of Israel: [Al-Baqarah 2:44] Therefore, the caller to Allah must be well-mannered with this great etiquette, being one who does what he commands and leaves what he forbids. And although this is the requirement of the Shari'ah and the requirement of reason, it is closer to the acceptance of people of his calling, because when people see him preceding others in what he called to, in action or leaving, they trust him and say that this person is truthful in what he called to and that he is trustworthy, so they follow him in that and submit to him. And if they see the opposite, he falls from their eyes and they do not follow him, and they doubt his calling. So among the most important etiquettes of the caller to Allah is that he be the first to precede in what he calls to in action, in what he called to do, and in leaving what he called to leave. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, O honorable Shaykh. From the questions of the listener Mahmoud Sa'id from Jordan.
The Shaykh : Yes. Among the conditions for the one who calls to Allah the Glorious and Exalted is that he must be sincere to Allah in his calling, such that his intention in his calling is to establish the religion of Allah and reform the servants of Allah, not to seek victory for himself.
The questioner : Very well.
The Shaykh : And that he should make his statement prevail over the statements of people, because if his intention is to seek victory for himself and to make his statement prevail over the statements of people, he becomes a caller to himself, not to the path of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. Therefore, sincerity is necessary. The one who is sincere in his calling to Allah, if it becomes clear to him that the truth is contrary to his statement, he returns to it, submits to it, and seeks forgiveness from Allah the Exalted for the error he committed. And he is rewarded for it if it came from him through independent legal reasoning, because he may have been negligent in his independent legal reasoning and not been thorough.
Second: that he intends by it the reform of the servants of Allah, and this is included in sincerity in the calling. And if his intention is the reform of the servants of Allah, then he must take the best path to achieve this greatest objective, such that he calls them to Allah the Glorious and Exalted in a manner that does not repel them, with gentleness, softness, and tact, without compromising. Because tact is one thing and compromising is another. Compromising is: abandoning the truth for the sake of another, that is, for the sake of another. As for tact, it is: conveying the truth to another by the easiest of paths.
And this condition may be lacking in some people, who intend by their calling to Allah to criticize, criticizing what they are upon. And at that time, their calling becomes corrupt and the blessing is removed from it, because the one who intends to criticize another is not actually a caller to him, but rather one who faults him and criticizes his actions. And there is a difference between a person who calls another to reform him and a person who pours out the cup of blame and reproach on another under the pretext that he wants to reform him.
The third of the etiquettes, and these are obligatory etiquettes, is that the caller to Allah must have knowledge, knowledge of the Shari'ah of Allah, so that he does not call out of ignorance, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Say, "This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me.
قُلْ هَذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِيٍTherefore, knowledge is necessary, knowledge received from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), if the caller is able to do that himself, and if not, by following a scholar he trusts from among the people of knowledge. And in this case, that is, if he is following another in calling to Allah, when he mentions a ruling from the rulings, he attributes it to the one he follows, saying: So-and-so said such and such, and so-and-so said such and such, if he heard it from his mouth or read it from a book in his hand. But if he heard it from a tape, he does not say "So-and-so said," but rather he says "I heard a tape attributed to so-and-so," because this is more precise in expression.
And among the etiquettes of the da'i is that he be aware of those he calls, so that he treats them according to their status. The proof of this is that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh to Yemen, he said to him:
You will come to a people of the Book, so let the first thing you call them to be the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
إنك تأتي قوماً أهل كتاب، فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إليه شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمداً رسول اللهAnd from this we take that the da'i to Allah should be aware of the condition of those he calls, so that he is prepared for the condition they are in.
And among the etiquettes of the caller to Allah is that he should be the first to exemplify his calling, by doing what he commands and leaving what he forbids, because this is the requirement of reason and the requirement of the Shari'ah, as Allah the Glorious and Exalted said:
(2) O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? (3) Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لا تَفْعَلُونَ * كَبُرَ مَقْتًا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أن تَقُولُوا مَا لا تَفْعَلُونَDo you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason?
أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ أَفَلا تَعْقِلُونَThe questioner : May Allah bless you, O honorable Shaykh. From the questions of the listener Mahmoud Sa'id from Jordan.