Is it permissible to go out with the Tablighi Jamaat on the grounds that there are no circles of knowledge to strengthen us, or that some students of knowledge are preoccupied with declaring others innovators?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, not long ago, many of the brothers were asking about going out with the Tablighi Jamaat. Most of what we hear from students of knowledge is that they encourage them to pursue knowledge and head to the circles of knowledge that exist in the cities, and also to cooperate with the committees for enjoining good and forbidding evil, and so on. However, for the past two years or so, there has been a real decline and disappearance of circles of knowledge in many cities; in fact, they are almost nonexistent in some cities. The brothers in the Tablighi Jamaat are asking: Where do we go now if there is no student of knowledge, for example, to gather with or learn from? Knowing that the brothers in the Tablighi Jamaat are the only ones who continue with their activities, their gatherings, and their efforts, whether few or many. We want, Your Eminence, the truth, even if the discussion of this matter is long. In fact, we have a group of young men who come from cities 500 or 600 kilometers away to attend this meeting, because in the cities where we live, there is truly nothing. You know what happened to most of the students of knowledge; they moved away from the circles. So we do not know, Your Eminence, what to do: should we let them continue with the Tablighi Jamaat, or should we stick to our original position and say, "Head toward knowledge"?
And if we tell them to head toward knowledge, they say: We do not find anyone to teach us, or that if we sit with some of the students of knowledge, they start declaring some people innovators and disbelievers.
The Shaykh : We ask Allah for well-being.
The questioner : They say: We do not truly find anyone to help us with ourselves or to sustain our activities except these brothers. So what is your opinion, especially in these days when real scientific weakness has begun in most regions?
The Shaykh : We say: We ask Allah for well-being, and we ask Allah to restore the activity of the youth in what is good for them and for the country.
The Tablighi Jamaat is an active group, a group that contains good, a group with an influence that no other group has, and a group that restrains its harm from people; they do not speak about people, not about rulers, not about scholars, and not about princes, and this is well known. In fact, they try to avoid argumentation even in matters of knowledge, all of this to avoid discord. Their influence is clear; how many open sinners have become upright and righteous through them, and how many disbelievers have entered Islam because of them. Their morals are good, but they lack knowledge. They need students of knowledge to be with them and to clarify the truth to them so that they may be on clear guidance regarding the matter. It is feared that traveling abroad to Pakistan or Bangladesh or elsewhere exposes them to the religious innovations there. Some of the brothers from the Qassim region went this year to a gathering in Pakistan or Bangladesh—I do not know—but they mentioned that their leader, who delivered the sermon in that large assembly, started from the Maghrib prayer until four hours after sunset, and he was expounding on the oneness of Allah. They said, and we never heard from him anything that contradicts the oneness of Allah, ever. Nevertheless, when a private meeting took place between them and him, he praised the scholars in this country and said: We wish that one of you would come to us to clarify the error so that we may return to it.
In any case, they need knowledge, students of knowledge to be with them. So the student of knowledge, if he is with them, will benefit from two aspects:
The first aspect: that he teaches them and guides them, and directs this group that calls people with their morals, their etiquette, and their preference for others, teaching them what is obligatory upon them from the matters of the Shari'ah.
And the second benefit: that he himself, if he is proud because he is a student of knowledge, will soften and know humility and the practice of preferring others and the like. So condemning them absolutely is wrong, and praising them absolutely is wrong. But as far as I know, their good deeds are more than their bad deeds, and the deficiency they have is the matter of knowledge; they have ignorance. Yes, indeed.
We ask Allah the Exalted to gather us all upon beneficial knowledge and righteous action; indeed, He is capable of all things.
And this is Moses indicating that he called the adhan, and you are hearing the adhan now. So until the meeting after the second week, because next week we cannot hold this meeting due to the exams and correcting the students' answers. Therefore, if Allah wills, there will be no session next week. The week after that, we will resume the session, if Allah wills.
And if we tell them to head toward knowledge, they say: We do not find anyone to teach us, or that if we sit with some of the students of knowledge, they start declaring some people innovators and disbelievers.
The Shaykh : We ask Allah for well-being.
The questioner : They say: We do not truly find anyone to help us with ourselves or to sustain our activities except these brothers. So what is your opinion, especially in these days when real scientific weakness has begun in most regions?
The Shaykh : We say: We ask Allah for well-being, and we ask Allah to restore the activity of the youth in what is good for them and for the country.
The Tablighi Jamaat is an active group, a group that contains good, a group with an influence that no other group has, and a group that restrains its harm from people; they do not speak about people, not about rulers, not about scholars, and not about princes, and this is well known. In fact, they try to avoid argumentation even in matters of knowledge, all of this to avoid discord. Their influence is clear; how many open sinners have become upright and righteous through them, and how many disbelievers have entered Islam because of them. Their morals are good, but they lack knowledge. They need students of knowledge to be with them and to clarify the truth to them so that they may be on clear guidance regarding the matter. It is feared that traveling abroad to Pakistan or Bangladesh or elsewhere exposes them to the religious innovations there. Some of the brothers from the Qassim region went this year to a gathering in Pakistan or Bangladesh—I do not know—but they mentioned that their leader, who delivered the sermon in that large assembly, started from the Maghrib prayer until four hours after sunset, and he was expounding on the oneness of Allah. They said, and we never heard from him anything that contradicts the oneness of Allah, ever. Nevertheless, when a private meeting took place between them and him, he praised the scholars in this country and said: We wish that one of you would come to us to clarify the error so that we may return to it.
In any case, they need knowledge, students of knowledge to be with them. So the student of knowledge, if he is with them, will benefit from two aspects:
The first aspect: that he teaches them and guides them, and directs this group that calls people with their morals, their etiquette, and their preference for others, teaching them what is obligatory upon them from the matters of the Shari'ah.
And the second benefit: that he himself, if he is proud because he is a student of knowledge, will soften and know humility and the practice of preferring others and the like. So condemning them absolutely is wrong, and praising them absolutely is wrong. But as far as I know, their good deeds are more than their bad deeds, and the deficiency they have is the matter of knowledge; they have ignorance. Yes, indeed.
We ask Allah the Exalted to gather us all upon beneficial knowledge and righteous action; indeed, He is capable of all things.
And this is Moses indicating that he called the adhan, and you are hearing the adhan now. So until the meeting after the second week, because next week we cannot hold this meeting due to the exams and correcting the students' answers. Therefore, if Allah wills, there will be no session next week. The week after that, we will resume the session, if Allah wills.