Is it permissible for the people of the Sunnah to gather in tents to rival the gatherings of the people of innovation in the Mawlid, on the pretext of diverting people from this innovation and spreading the oneness of Allah?
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The questioner : A question regarding the Mawlid: It is known among us that on the night of the Mawlid, or a few days before it, tents are set up among us. Likewise, every Sufi order has a tent where they remember Allah, dance, and so on. There is also a tent for the people of the Sunnah, where they speak and explain what is commanded and forbidden, meaning that obedience to Allah and the oneness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) are necessary, and so on. Is it permissible for them to set up a tent in this place, even though it is in the middle of the Sufi tents and others? This is regarding the tent itself, and there are many people.
The Shaykh : I understood your words now. You want to say: You have people who are innovators, and their innovation is very severe, and people who are not innovators but are committed to the Sunnah. However, they set up their tents near the tents of these people to attract people or to protect people from the severe innovations that these people commit.
So this issue is pulled in two directions:
The first: It is an innovation, and this necessitates that it be prevented, and that it is not permissible for the people of the Sunnah to set up tents for this innovation.
The second: Protection from a greater innovation. In that case, we say: There is nothing wrong with it, because diverting people from what is greater by what is lesser is among the matters required by the Shari'ah, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-An'am 6:108] And because if the people of the Sunnah did not do that, these people would find it abhorrent, and the common people would rise up against them and say: These people do not love the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The common people are like insects that do not know. If they say: We do that to remind people of the conditions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), his battles, his struggle, and his calling, without exaggeration, to protect them from the great innovations that may take them out of the religion, and to repel the accusation they place upon us, thereby driving people away from the truth by this means.
I say: Perhaps this, if Allah wills, is among the permissible matters, if the other method is not possible, which is that we do not participate with them in their tents. If this is possible without harm, then that is what is required. Yes.
The questioner : Is it permissible for others, meaning those who are not the organizers, to go to this tent? Knowing that this is an innovation and so on?
The Shaykh : No, no, they do not go. We are talking about setting up the tent. As for others, they do not go. But if they see someone walking toward the tents that contain the great harm, they should call him to the truth. Yes.
The Shaykh : I understood your words now. You want to say: You have people who are innovators, and their innovation is very severe, and people who are not innovators but are committed to the Sunnah. However, they set up their tents near the tents of these people to attract people or to protect people from the severe innovations that these people commit.
So this issue is pulled in two directions:
The first: It is an innovation, and this necessitates that it be prevented, and that it is not permissible for the people of the Sunnah to set up tents for this innovation.
The second: Protection from a greater innovation. In that case, we say: There is nothing wrong with it, because diverting people from what is greater by what is lesser is among the matters required by the Shari'ah, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge
وَلا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَسُبُّوا اللَّهَ عَدْواً بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍI say: Perhaps this, if Allah wills, is among the permissible matters, if the other method is not possible, which is that we do not participate with them in their tents. If this is possible without harm, then that is what is required. Yes.
The questioner : Is it permissible for others, meaning those who are not the organizers, to go to this tent? Knowing that this is an innovation and so on?
The Shaykh : No, no, they do not go. We are talking about setting up the tent. As for others, they do not go. But if they see someone walking toward the tents that contain the great harm, they should call him to the truth. Yes.