Do we say that the organizations currently on the scene, which have emirs and the like, are forbidden, or do we say that they are contrary to what is preferable?

The questioner : Regarding the groups currently on the scene, the organizational work and the presence of an emir, which is what exists on the scene now, is this forbidden, or do we say it is contrary to what is preferable?

The Shaykh : As for organization, my brother, no one denies it. But if an organization, whatever it may be, includes restrictions and conditions that did not come in the Shari'ah, it becomes an un-Islamic organization. It is not hidden from anyone at all that any work, no matter how small its scope, and any group, no matter how small its scope, requires organizing the affairs of that group or anything else similar to a group. You and all the attendees remember that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had designated a day for the women to admonish and teach them. This is undoubtedly an organization; he designated a day for the women to admonish and teach them. This is organization. The shaykh who wants to deliver a lesson in tafsir, a lesson in hadith, a lesson in language, and so on, must organize these lessons and require his students to attend at the organized times. The schools, institutes, colleges, and universities now are all within the scope of organization. But if something that contradicts the Shari'ah enters into this organization, for example, the mixing of men with women and young men with young women, and so on, this is organization, but it is contrary to the Shari'ah. Likewise, if a group wants to organize itself in the path of calling to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), there is absolutely no obstacle to that. But if they stipulate, for example, the pledge of allegiance, and they stipulate the obligation of obeying the emir as the general Muslims are obligated to obey the first imam, meaning the caliph, this is a void condition. This is something the Shari'ah does not know and Islamic jurisprudence does not know, and so on. So we can say: there is organization, and there is no organization. The organization that aims only to convey knowledge by the shortest path, and without anything contrary to the Shari'ah mixing with it, no one with any intellect or knowledge would contradict that. As for the organization that includes a condition from these conditions I have mentioned, this is undoubtedly not a prescribed organization. Especially since we have felt the effects of these organizations that included some conditions contrary to the Shari'ah, where they made the Muslims divided into parties that hate one another. And as the Lord of the Worlds said: . These have an emir, so what he orders them, they must obey, and those have an emir, so what he orders them, they must obey. The opinion of this one clashes with that one, so the two emirs clash, and then the two groups clash. And we have suffered in this country from some of the effects of this emirate. When Allah (Mighty and Majestic) decreed for us the migration from Damascus to here, and the call began to launch, and the Ikhwan youth began to attend the Salafi lesson circles, as if the Ikhwan group feared for their members, they made a decision to boycott Shaykh al-Albani and his lessons. So when we passed by a young man we knew was Muslim, and we knew he used to greet us and attend our lessons, if we met him, he would turn away and keep his distance. What was the story? They made a decision to boycott al-Albani and his lessons. And I met one of their leaders when I was leaving the mosque after the prayer. I said to him: "O Shaykh, what is this?" He said, smiling: "A summer cloud that will soon clear." And indeed, a period of no little length passed, about a year and a half, and then the waters returned to their channels. What led them to this? This condition of obeying the emir, a void condition. This is what I wanted to remind you of on the occasion of that question. And we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to gather the Muslims who are eager to follow the Book and the Sunnah truly, upon what our righteous Salaf were upon.