The Shaykh’s remarks on the lack of benefit in dividing lands into Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Kufr, and the role of the da'iyah (callers to Islam) in communities like ours where sins, and even acts of disbelief, are manifest.

The Shaykh : But I am asking now: what is the fruit of these studies if we wish to expand upon them? What is the practical outcome? Yes.

The questioner : I am able to, my lord. We have tried to exert effort in this matter, not for the sake of the classification itself, but because its realistic diagnosis is important for clarifying the method of da'wah (calling to Islam). A doctor cannot prescribe the appropriate medicine unless he knows the disease and diagnoses it. So I must know whether I am facing cancer, to give a specific type of injection, or whether I am facing tonsillitis or something similar, to give a fever reducer. Therefore, diagnosing our reality, understanding it, and giving it a precise description is important in clarifying the means of da'wah to move to the desired Dar al-Islam—may Allah hasten its establishment. For this reason, is there a connection between this classification and the method of da'wah, or is each one in [its own place]?

The Shaykh : In the examples you mention, they are reasonable. But in my opinion, at least I have not yet seen the fruit, because I will mention something you know well: that in some authentic hadiths, the best of people in the last age is the one who has, for example, sheep, and he takes them to the tops of the mountains to live from them, so the people are safe from his harm and he is safe from their harm. In a time like this, which category do we classify it as? And what is the fruit that follows from this classification? And we have not yet reached, in my opinion, the stage indicated by the hadith. But I want to understand: what is the relationship of this classification for the da'iyah? And I believe, in reality, the reason for this question and this precise scientific research—which I believe is not from the obligatory sciences but from the voluntary sciences—is that we, as the general public, do not know where to begin in da'wah. If we knew where to begin, I think we would not need such a precise classification, which requires knowledge and jurisprudence, and which may lead to some theoretical differences between Zayd, Bakr, 'Amr, and so on. In our belief, we are in a time about which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke in more than one authentic hadith. And these hadiths, without doubt, you have read and digested their implications and so on. But perhaps some aspects are hidden from which one can derive [rulings]. I mean by that his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), narrated in Sahih Muslim from the hadith of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Before I mention some other narrations, is there any doubt that this hadith applies to us in our time, or not? Yes.

The questioner : There is no doubt.

The Shaykh : No doubt. Let us now follow up with some other narrations. Among them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), as in Musnad al-Imam Ahmad: that he was asked, "Who are the strangers?" He said (peace and blessings be upon him): I think that when the same question arises, the same answer applies: that this is our reality. The da'iyah are those whom more people disobey than obey. But what concerns me finally is the third narration. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): , And if you remember the meaning of Sunnah in the Shari'ah, and that it differs from the meaning of Sunnah in the customary legal sense, you will understand that the Sunnah in this hadith is in the manner of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of the group (al-Rahit), narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim. The hadith of the group is well known, and in it: So his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): does not mean those who left the pre-prayer or post-prayer Sunnahs, for example, but rather, obviously, my methodology and my way, that is: the Sunnah that encompasses the entire Shari'ah, from the creeds. And you, if the matter is so, the third hadith I mentioned earlier gives us that the da'iyah are strangers among strangers; they are strangers among strangers; they are strangers because they call to repairing what people have corrupted of his Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him), among strangers, and they are the righteous ones. As for the non-righteous, we have washed our hands of them after this explanation. I believe that, as the grammarians say, there is no place for parsing the details you mentioned, and that the ruling may differ between Dar al-Islam, Dar al-'Ahd (land of treaty), Dar al-Harb (land of war), and so on. Why? Because the obligation upon the da'iyah, who are strangers among strangers, today is not this research, which is from the voluntary jurisprudence and not from the obligatory jurisprudence. Rather, what is upon them is much more emphatic and more obligatory than that, completely. And if they engage in what these hadiths suggest, it is only that they carry out the sincere example of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), about whom our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said in the Qur'an regarding him (peace and blessings be upon him): We are now, regardless of the classification I raised earlier, and whether we say we are now in Dar al-Harb? No, we are not in Dar al-Harb. Do we say we are in Dar al-Islam? By Allah, it is mixed with disbelief and with the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, and so on. Well, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send messengers to the tribes, some of whom responded to the call and entered Islam, and perhaps faith had not yet entered their hearts, and some of whom were still in their disbelief and misguidance. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) would send messengers and dispatch da'iyah to these and those to call them to Islam. Perhaps you remember the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), narrated also in the two Sahihs, that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh to Yemen, he said to him: and so on. And also in the two Sahihs, that our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh and Abu Musa together to Yemen and said to them: So they went to Yemen, and those who responded to the call of Islam responded. Now I return to raising the question: let us take the smallest community, whether we say it is Islamic or Islamic mixed with pre-Islamic ignorance. Do we believe that this small community—and let us take our country as an example, of course we understand that most of them do not respond to the da'iyah, and that these da'iyah are strangers among strangers, meaning among the righteous. These righteous ones now: is their creed correct?
Yes.