Request for a guiding word regarding charitable libraries.
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The questioner : May Allah the Exalted bless you and make you beneficial to the Muslims. First, and second: May Allah preserve you. You know that many people have been making a fuss about charitable libraries, yet they do not know their role or their output, and this matter may be hidden from them. Therefore, we, your brothers from the city of Hail, first convey to you the greetings of the brothers there and their peace to you all?
The Shaykh : And peace be upon you and upon them, and convey our peace to them.
The questioner : If Allah wills, your brothers at the Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab Charitable Library in the city of Hail, having seen that there may be errors in the libraries—errors that many libraries fall into—strived, in cooperation with some students of knowledge, to correct the situation rather than demolishing this entity or destroying it. They sought to rectify the errors within it and adjust the points of criticism. However, there are still people trying to demolish these libraries and confuse the minds of many young people. They may enter through other avenues, such as reaching out to the general public, their guardians, and others. These are the ones who say, for example, that they want to change the system, or that they want to distort the minds of the youth, or that they want many things that are not said. This is not hidden from you, may Allah preserve you. We are asking you, first, to give them guidance and advice, because some of them said, "Ask the Shaykh for a ruling on this matter," as if they do not hear or read your guidance to them and your guidance to us as well, with what benefits us and benefits them, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is an important question. In reality, the benefit or harm of the libraries depends on two things:
The first thing: the books placed in them. What are these books? Are they Salafi books based on the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community, or are they deviant ideological books? If they are the former, then yes, the libraries are good. If they are the latter, then correction is necessary; correction is necessary.
The second: those in charge of these libraries. Who are they? What is their methodology? What is their worship? What are their morals? It is also necessary that those in charge be people who are trusted in knowledge, religion, morals, and methodology, because these libraries are a refuge for the youth. A young person is like dough in the hands of the kneader; he takes the shape given to him. If people of good are made easy for him, they guide him to the truth and direct him to what is in his interest in this world and the hereafter. Then Allah makes these libraries a source of benefit, and they truly become a seed of good for the youth. If, however, those in charge are people of deviation toward an unsound direction, then here lies the harm. Either those in charge are changed, or the library is closed. This is because the Islamic religion is built on obtaining benefits, whether pure or predominant, and averting harms, whether pure or predominant. If a thing contains both benefit and harm, the predominant one is given priority, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Baqarah 2:219] For this reason, they were prohibited. If the benefit is greater, it is taken, and the harm is subsumed within the benefit. This applies to actions, and it also applies to the worker. Is the work of every person of good purely good? Answer: No, it contains good and evil. But some people have more good, and some have more evil. Therefore, it is not permissible to look at Muslims only from the perspective of evil, but from both perspectives, weighing and comparing. And according to what appears, the action is taken. I see that if the libraries are run by people of good who possess knowledge, trustworthiness, sound direction, and noble character, they are among the best of institutions, on the condition that the second matter is realized, which is the soundness of the books. It is known that if those in charge of the libraries are people of good, they will keep away from them books that are deviant ideologically, doctrinally, or methodologically. This is what I want, and it is generally so, regardless of the library in such-and-such a country or in such-and-such a country.
The Shaykh : And peace be upon you and upon them, and convey our peace to them.
The questioner : If Allah wills, your brothers at the Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab Charitable Library in the city of Hail, having seen that there may be errors in the libraries—errors that many libraries fall into—strived, in cooperation with some students of knowledge, to correct the situation rather than demolishing this entity or destroying it. They sought to rectify the errors within it and adjust the points of criticism. However, there are still people trying to demolish these libraries and confuse the minds of many young people. They may enter through other avenues, such as reaching out to the general public, their guardians, and others. These are the ones who say, for example, that they want to change the system, or that they want to distort the minds of the youth, or that they want many things that are not said. This is not hidden from you, may Allah preserve you. We are asking you, first, to give them guidance and advice, because some of them said, "Ask the Shaykh for a ruling on this matter," as if they do not hear or read your guidance to them and your guidance to us as well, with what benefits us and benefits them, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is an important question. In reality, the benefit or harm of the libraries depends on two things:
The first thing: the books placed in them. What are these books? Are they Salafi books based on the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community, or are they deviant ideological books? If they are the former, then yes, the libraries are good. If they are the latter, then correction is necessary; correction is necessary.
The second: those in charge of these libraries. Who are they? What is their methodology? What is their worship? What are their morals? It is also necessary that those in charge be people who are trusted in knowledge, religion, morals, and methodology, because these libraries are a refuge for the youth. A young person is like dough in the hands of the kneader; he takes the shape given to him. If people of good are made easy for him, they guide him to the truth and direct him to what is in his interest in this world and the hereafter. Then Allah makes these libraries a source of benefit, and they truly become a seed of good for the youth. If, however, those in charge are people of deviation toward an unsound direction, then here lies the harm. Either those in charge are changed, or the library is closed. This is because the Islamic religion is built on obtaining benefits, whether pure or predominant, and averting harms, whether pure or predominant. If a thing contains both benefit and harm, the predominant one is given priority, as Allah the Exalted said: