Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) stated, in what he quoted from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever calls to guidance, meaning he clarifies it for the people and invites them to it, such as clarifying to the people that the two rak'ahs of Dhuha are a recommended practice (sunnah), and that it is recommended for a person to pray two rak'ahs in the Dhuha time, and then the people followed him and began to pray the Dhuha because the favor of Allah is vast, or he said to the people, for example: 'Make your last prayer of the night witr; do not sleep except upon witr, except for one who hopes to rise in the last part of the night, then let him make his witr in the last part of the night.' So if people followed him in that, he has a reward like theirs, meaning that for every person who prays witr whom Allah guides through his hand, he has a reward like that person's reward, and so it is with the rest of the righteous deeds and refuge is sought in Allah if he calls to sin, meaning to that which contains sin, such as calling people to frivolity, falsehood, singing, riba (usury or interest), or other forbidden things. Then for every person who is influenced by his call, it is recorded for him a sin like their sins, because he called to sin, and refuge is sought in Allah. Know that calling to guidance and calling to sin can be by speech, as if he says: 'Do such and such, do such and such,' for example. And it can be by action, especially for one of the people who is followed as an example, for if he is followed as an example and then he does something, it is as if he called the people to do it. For this reason, they argue with his action and say: 'So-and-so did such and such, and it is permissible,' or 'he left such and such, and it is permissible.' So the important point is that whoever calls to guidance has a reward like the reward of those who followed him, and whoever calls to misguidance has upon him a sin like the sin of those who followed him. And in this is evidence that the one who is the cause is like the one who directly does it; the one who is the cause of a thing is like the one who directly does it. So this one who called to guidance was the cause, so he had a reward like the reward of those who did it. And the one who called to evil or to sin was the cause, so he had upon him a sin like the sin of those who followed him. And the scholars of jurisprudence (may Allah have mercy on them) took from that a principle: "That the cause is like the direct action" but if a cause and a direct action coincide, they attributed the liability to the direct action because it is closer to the destruction.