Is it permissible for people to talk about politics in their public gatherings?
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The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Your Eminence, in some gatherings, there is a lot of talk about politics. When you rebuke them for it, they say that politics is part of the religion. There is also backbiting in these gatherings, but the gathering itself involves the remembrance of Allah. However, after that ends, they delve into such matters. What is your opinion on sitting with them?
The Shaykh : In my opinion, talking about politics among the general public is a mistake, because politics has its own men and people. Its men are those who hold authority and governance. As for politics being scattered among the hands of the common people and in gatherings, this is contrary to the guidance of the righteous Salaf. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and those before him, such as Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both), did not disseminate their politics in the assemblies of the people, for the young and the old, the foolish and the wise, to chew over. Never. It is not possible for politics to be like this.
Politics has people who are seasoned in it, who know it and know its entry points, and who have connections with the outside and with the inside that many people do not know.
Nor should the youth or non-youth spend their time and waste it in such talk and chatter that has no benefit.
Then, it may appear to us, for example, that the action of one of the people is a mistake, and it may be that the truth is with him, because he knows of the matters he has learned what we do not know. This is something observed and experienced.
And most of those who speak about politics merely deduce it from things that have no basis and no reality, but rather they are illusions they imagine, and then they build upon them what they speak of, and they assert what they have no knowledge of. And Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Isra 17:36].
The questioner : What is your opinion on sitting?
The Shaykh : As for sitting with them, as long as they are engaged in remembrance, sit with them. And if they proceed to delve into this delving that has no benefit, then advise them first. If they are guided, that is what is desired; otherwise, leave them.
Then, if your presence in their gatherings for remembrance leads to them being deceived by themselves, or leads others to be deceived by your coming to them, so they say, "If it were not that these people are on the right path, so-and-so and so-and-so would not have come to them," then do not come to them even for remembrance, because the doors of remembrance are many, praise be to Allah. Yes.
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Your Eminence, in some gatherings, there is a lot of talk about politics. When you rebuke them for it, they say that politics is part of the religion. There is also backbiting in these gatherings, but the gathering itself involves the remembrance of Allah. However, after that ends, they delve into such matters. What is your opinion on sitting with them?
The Shaykh : In my opinion, talking about politics among the general public is a mistake, because politics has its own men and people. Its men are those who hold authority and governance. As for politics being scattered among the hands of the common people and in gatherings, this is contrary to the guidance of the righteous Salaf. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and those before him, such as Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both), did not disseminate their politics in the assemblies of the people, for the young and the old, the foolish and the wise, to chew over. Never. It is not possible for politics to be like this.
Politics has people who are seasoned in it, who know it and know its entry points, and who have connections with the outside and with the inside that many people do not know.
Nor should the youth or non-youth spend their time and waste it in such talk and chatter that has no benefit.
Then, it may appear to us, for example, that the action of one of the people is a mistake, and it may be that the truth is with him, because he knows of the matters he has learned what we do not know. This is something observed and experienced.
And most of those who speak about politics merely deduce it from things that have no basis and no reality, but rather they are illusions they imagine, and then they build upon them what they speak of, and they assert what they have no knowledge of. And Allah the Exalted said:
And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
ولا تقف ما ليس لك به علم إنّ السّمع والبصر والفؤاد كلّ أولئك كان عنه مسؤولًاThe questioner : What is your opinion on sitting?
The Shaykh : As for sitting with them, as long as they are engaged in remembrance, sit with them. And if they proceed to delve into this delving that has no benefit, then advise them first. If they are guided, that is what is desired; otherwise, leave them.
Then, if your presence in their gatherings for remembrance leads to them being deceived by themselves, or leads others to be deceived by your coming to them, so they say, "If it were not that these people are on the right path, so-and-so and so-and-so would not have come to them," then do not come to them even for remembrance, because the doors of remembrance are many, praise be to Allah. Yes.