Do you advise going out with the Tablighi Jamaat, given that it is said to have been founded on Sufi paths and that they have no knowledge with which to call to it?
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The questioner : Shaykh, I would like to ask about the Tablighi Jamaat on three points, if you would be so kind.
You know that the Tablighi Jamaat, O Shaykh, arose in an environment far removed from Islamic knowledge, with few scholars of the people of the Sunnah, as is the case with us, praise be to Allah. However, there are three points I would like to ask your eminence about: This group, O Shaykh, has principles, meaning it was founded on them, and they are four principles.
The Shaykh : Six, six.
The questioner : No, the principles on which it was founded are not the six principles, nor the innovations and acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and so on.
The Shaykh : Between them, between them, so that the answer is based on the question.
The questioner : Then
The Shaykh : Between the four or the six principles.
The questioner : Meaning: the principles.
The Shaykh : I cannot answer except about something specific.
The questioner : The paths, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : What are the paths?
The questioner : Four Sufi paths.
The Shaykh : What are they?
The questioner : The Suhrawardiyyah, the Naqshbandiyyah, and the Qadiriyyah.
The Shaykh : Well, did you not know that these paths are unknown to those among us in the Kingdom?
The questioner : I am not asking, O Shaykh, about those in the Kingdom, but about this group in general. Also, there are the six attributes.
The Shaykh : The six attributes.
The questioner : The six attributes which are the foundation of their methodology in calling to establishing the circles, the circles of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), and so on. Also, the book they rely on, especially outside the Kingdom and the Peninsula, is the Tablighi Nisab, and it contains the innovations and acts of shirk mentioned by the scholars. Also, in your previous speech about them, O Shaykh! You said: that they lack knowledge. If knowledge is lacking in them, then the foundation of the call and the acceptance of the work, just as it is the foundation of the acceptance of worship, is nonexistent. Also, O Shaykh! Regarding those who go out with them, you said: that it is not befitting for anyone to go out except a student of knowledge who corrects, learns, and teaches. This group goes out with people who have no knowledge at all, and they may face innovations, shirk, and doubts, especially since they call the disbelievers. We need a comment on these points?
The Shaykh : By Allah, may Allah reward you. As for me, my view of this group, as for those outside the country, I do not know about them, although we hear from some of the brothers who went, from among the students of knowledge, and heard their sermons, saying: We did not see anything. Rather, they say: We hold you, O Saudis, responsible to guide us to what agrees with the Shari'ah. Two trustworthy men from Buraydah told me about this; they went and listened to their sermons. But despite that, my advice is: that no one of our brothers in the Kingdom should go to those countries, because with their little knowledge and the eloquence of those people, they may be deceived. Therefore, I see that the call should be here, and that they should receive the principles of their call from the scholars among us, the verified scholars, because we have seen them having a profound impact. The truth must be said, and the falsehood must be said and its invalidity explained. We have seen them having a profound impact.
How many open sinners Allah guided through their hands! Rather, how many disbelievers found guidance to Islam through their hands, because their call is based on leniency, self-sacrifice, and pleasantness of face, and this is part of the foundation of the call. But for him to say, for example: Do not take except these attributes and nothing else, there is no doubt that this is one of the greatest errors. If they say: We believe in these attributes and nothing else, we say: This is a great error, and these attributes are nothing but a hair on the skin of a bull. But if they say: No, we say: These attributes, but we also acknowledge the others.
We say: It is obligatory for you to add to them what came in the Book and the Sunnah. For this reason, I hope that the foundation of their call is built on the hadith of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when Jibril came and asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) about Islam, faith, excellence in worship, the Hour, and its signs, then he said:Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 24:120 If only one of the scholars had established principles that contradict the seven attributes they mention, there would be much good in that.
The questioner : Does the disbeliever who embraced Islam through their hands remain with only the two testimonies, which they teach him only? And I went to Bangladesh and attended, they teach him only, meaning the etiquettes of sleep, how to eat, how to drink.
The Shaykh : What contradicts this? Well, but do they say: Do not learn anything else? Did you not know that many of the students of knowledge among us do not know these etiquettes, and those who know them do not practice them?
The questioner : The disbeliever, O Shaykh! He has no knowledge of the fundamentals of our religion, O Shaykh! And the pillars of the Islamic religion.
The Shaykh : We teach them the testimony that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, its meaning, its implications, and the rest of the pillars of Islam, just as the Messenger told Mu'adh: The first thing you call them to is tawhid (the oneness of Allah), then prayer, then zakah (the obligatory alms).
The questioner : They do not teach these things.
The Shaykh : No, they must teach them. This is part of their ignorance. For this reason, I say to the students of knowledge: They should go out with them to guide them.
The questioner : Only students of knowledge, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : And I do not see that they should go outside the country.
You know that the Tablighi Jamaat, O Shaykh, arose in an environment far removed from Islamic knowledge, with few scholars of the people of the Sunnah, as is the case with us, praise be to Allah. However, there are three points I would like to ask your eminence about: This group, O Shaykh, has principles, meaning it was founded on them, and they are four principles.
The Shaykh : Six, six.
The questioner : No, the principles on which it was founded are not the six principles, nor the innovations and acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and so on.
The Shaykh : Between them, between them, so that the answer is based on the question.
The questioner : Then
The Shaykh : Between the four or the six principles.
The questioner : Meaning: the principles.
The Shaykh : I cannot answer except about something specific.
The questioner : The paths, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : What are the paths?
The questioner : Four Sufi paths.
The Shaykh : What are they?
The questioner : The Suhrawardiyyah, the Naqshbandiyyah, and the Qadiriyyah.
The Shaykh : Well, did you not know that these paths are unknown to those among us in the Kingdom?
The questioner : I am not asking, O Shaykh, about those in the Kingdom, but about this group in general. Also, there are the six attributes.
The Shaykh : The six attributes.
The questioner : The six attributes which are the foundation of their methodology in calling to establishing the circles, the circles of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), and so on. Also, the book they rely on, especially outside the Kingdom and the Peninsula, is the Tablighi Nisab, and it contains the innovations and acts of shirk mentioned by the scholars. Also, in your previous speech about them, O Shaykh! You said: that they lack knowledge. If knowledge is lacking in them, then the foundation of the call and the acceptance of the work, just as it is the foundation of the acceptance of worship, is nonexistent. Also, O Shaykh! Regarding those who go out with them, you said: that it is not befitting for anyone to go out except a student of knowledge who corrects, learns, and teaches. This group goes out with people who have no knowledge at all, and they may face innovations, shirk, and doubts, especially since they call the disbelievers. We need a comment on these points?
The Shaykh : By Allah, may Allah reward you. As for me, my view of this group, as for those outside the country, I do not know about them, although we hear from some of the brothers who went, from among the students of knowledge, and heard their sermons, saying: We did not see anything. Rather, they say: We hold you, O Saudis, responsible to guide us to what agrees with the Shari'ah. Two trustworthy men from Buraydah told me about this; they went and listened to their sermons. But despite that, my advice is: that no one of our brothers in the Kingdom should go to those countries, because with their little knowledge and the eloquence of those people, they may be deceived. Therefore, I see that the call should be here, and that they should receive the principles of their call from the scholars among us, the verified scholars, because we have seen them having a profound impact. The truth must be said, and the falsehood must be said and its invalidity explained. We have seen them having a profound impact.
How many open sinners Allah guided through their hands! Rather, how many disbelievers found guidance to Islam through their hands, because their call is based on leniency, self-sacrifice, and pleasantness of face, and this is part of the foundation of the call. But for him to say, for example: Do not take except these attributes and nothing else, there is no doubt that this is one of the greatest errors. If they say: We believe in these attributes and nothing else, we say: This is a great error, and these attributes are nothing but a hair on the skin of a bull. But if they say: No, we say: These attributes, but we also acknowledge the others.
We say: It is obligatory for you to add to them what came in the Book and the Sunnah. For this reason, I hope that the foundation of their call is built on the hadith of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when Jibril came and asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) about Islam, faith, excellence in worship, the Hour, and its signs, then he said:
This is Jibril who has come to you to teach you your religion.
هذا جبريل أتاكم يعلمكم دينكمThe questioner : Does the disbeliever who embraced Islam through their hands remain with only the two testimonies, which they teach him only? And I went to Bangladesh and attended, they teach him only, meaning the etiquettes of sleep, how to eat, how to drink.
The Shaykh : What contradicts this? Well, but do they say: Do not learn anything else? Did you not know that many of the students of knowledge among us do not know these etiquettes, and those who know them do not practice them?
The questioner : The disbeliever, O Shaykh! He has no knowledge of the fundamentals of our religion, O Shaykh! And the pillars of the Islamic religion.
The Shaykh : We teach them the testimony that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, its meaning, its implications, and the rest of the pillars of Islam, just as the Messenger told Mu'adh: The first thing you call them to is tawhid (the oneness of Allah), then prayer, then zakah (the obligatory alms).
The questioner : They do not teach these things.
The Shaykh : No, they must teach them. This is part of their ignorance. For this reason, I say to the students of knowledge: They should go out with them to guide them.
The questioner : Only students of knowledge, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : And I do not see that they should go outside the country.