A discussion on clarifying what the callers to Islam must prioritize first

The student : My Shaykh, regarding the same topic, it is known that it is from the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that, as part of his noble biography, he was in Makkah facing the society of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and its system. The nature of this system was to reject the Islamic call and refuse it. And we do not know of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saying that he wanted to confront these people or that there should be a conflict between him and them. On the contrary, he was firm in the command of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). It is true that the stage was not a stage of fighting, but a stage of clarifying the truth. This reminded me of the saying of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him): "When the scholar is silent and the ignorant person spreads ignorance, when will the truth appear?" So from this perspective, the confrontation or struggle that is intended is a clear intellectual clarification of the truth?

The Shaykh : Is the truth confined to one issue, or are there hundreds of thousands of issues, all of which are truth? The student: Well, of course, the truth is one and does not multiply.

The Shaykh : You deviated.
The student : One piece, yes.
Another student: "Deviated" means you strayed from the answer.
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : Pay attention, my brother, pay attention.
The student : I thought you were joking.

The Shaykh : Is the truth in one issue, or in tens of issues, hundreds of issues, and thousands of issues, all of which are truth? Do you understand the question? The student: Yes, yes, they are all truth.

The Shaykh : And does this truth differ in its legal value, or is it unified?
The student : It is unified.

The Shaykh : You deviated. For example, how many prayers are there in a day? Five.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, there is a Sunnah before the obligatory prayer and a Sunnah after it, and the obligatory prayer is in between. Are these all rights? Truth, truth, and truth? For example, the midday prayer has two or four rak'ahs of Sunnah, then four rak'ahs of Fard, then two or four rak'ahs. Do these three issues now have the same status in the Shari'ah, or do they differ?
The student : They differ from one another.

The Shaykh : So, this truth that we have counted in the thousands, does it have one value in the Shari'ah? Is the intended meaning clear now?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : This is a problem, my brother Abu 'Abdullah.
The student : ... .
Another student: But I...
The student : ...that the truth is multiple, correct... in many important issues. You want to confine it... the important thing is, is this in one issue or in all important issues? In all important issues. For example, you specify that so-and-so speaks about this truth, this... or are there many truths, each person speaking about the truth... he has room to speak about it. So, our teacher, when he sometimes stopped and sometimes walked according to... now according to... he can walk in it and explain to people what is obligatory. So you now want to say that this scholar should speak, even if he is opposed.
Another student: My master, that is not what I intended, I mean, it is permissible. My intention is...

The Shaykh : We are not talking about your intention, we are not talking about your intention. We are now in the process of understanding. Do you know that some people today divide the Shari'ah into two parts: the peel and the core?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : What is your opinion of this division?
The student : By Allah, it might be a word of truth intended to bring about falsehood.

The Shaykh : But pay attention, you have gotten yourself into a trap now. And I am telling our brothers: a word, just because the speaker says "it might be so," it can turn against him; it might be otherwise. Do you see?
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : Be patient. So you say it might be a word of truth intended to bring about falsehood, meaning it is a word of truth.
The student : If it is directed in the correct direction.

The Shaykh : So, may Allah bless you. We are asking you, regardless of the intention, is this division of Islam into peel and core a correct division, or at least a correct expression in your opinion?
The student : My Shaykh, if I intend by it...

The Shaykh : Do not say "if I intend," my brother, may Allah bless you. The issue is clear.
The student : This sentence carries more than one meaning. If it means that Islam has something unimportant and something important, then this is of course a false and incorrect concept. But if I intend by it that there is something important and something more important, then by Allah, this is a correct concept. I do not know which of the two concepts he intends.

The Shaykh : No, allow me. I am telling you, is this expression, this expression, correct?
The student : I am not comfortable with it.

The Shaykh : Huh? Why are you changing your answer now?
The student : Because of what people intend by it.

The Shaykh : I am not asking you about the concept. Is the division of Islam into core and peel correct? You said, yes, it is correct, and you interpreted it as .
The student : I said it might be a word of truth intended to bring about falsehood.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is an incorrect answer.
The student : "Peel" means you are throwing it away.
Another student: I said it carries...

The Shaykh : Incorrect, my brother. Why did you say at the beginning that it might be a word of truth intended to bring about falsehood? Why do you say that? Get rid of it. Say: No, this expression is incorrect.
The student : Okay.

The Shaykh : Okay, we are now coming to the second meaning that I clarified when I asked you: is the truth confined to one issue, or ten, or a hundred? Now we have reached the point that the truth has many faces, very many, and all are acceptable, and all are from Islam. And I gave you the example of the obligatory acts and the Sunnah, correct?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, so now you say that the Muslim, or the Muslim scholar, must be firm in the truth. Now, do not forget, we agreed that the truth is not confined to a hundred or a thousand. Do you want to say the most important truth, or the important truth?
The student : The most important, then the important.

The Shaykh : Good. What is the most important now from the Islamic perspective? Is it obligatory for every scholar, and especially a caller to Islam, to speak about it? What is the most important?
The student : In my opinion...

The Shaykh : Not my opinion! I am the one responsible. I will answer this.
The student : It is tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in all its forms, and not limiting oneself to a specific type of tawhid.

The Shaykh : Very good, very good. So what is the type of tawhid that scholars are not speaking about in the countries where this question came from? What is the type of tawhid that is not being spoken about?
The student : Most types of tawhid are spoken about, but there is a focus on matters more than others. That is, the tawhid or shirk (associating partners with Allah) that we might say the Ummah is afflicted with in this time is the non-implementation of the Shari'ah of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So, when we address other types of shirk in this era, it is not the time for that now, or it is not of the same importance that should take our attention. Implementing the Shari'ah of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), judging by what Allah has revealed, and referring to the Shari'ah of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the greatest calamity and the greatest disaster in this era. There are other types of shirk present in the Islamic world, not in the affliction and in...

The Shaykh : For example?
The student : I mean, you might say that in the time of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him)...

The Shaykh : Leave us. What do we need the time of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab for?
The student : I want to clarify.

The Shaykh : My brother, just like now, speak of our time. Now, are you speaking about the time of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab regarding the shirk of judging by other than what Allah has revealed, or about our time?
The student : No, about our time, of course.

The Shaykh : And so we have given up on our time's shirk.
The student : For example, the grave-worshippers, let us say, this is a type of shirk present now in the Islamic world.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is unimportant.
The student : No, it is important. Who said it is unimportant?

The Shaykh : You said it.
The student : I say that our starting point with this issue is not like our affliction with the non-implementation of the Shari'ah of Allah the Exalted. So we left the most important and engaged in the important.

The Shaykh : My brother, may Allah bless you.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Why do you say "our starting point"? "Our starting point" from whom? Do you mean that he started with this? First, this is an unscientific and imprecise expression. And second, why do you say: "We started with this and left other than this"? From whom do you mean? Do you mean you are a group of scholars you met one by one, took their photographs, and counted them, that so-and-so started with such and so-and-so started with such? This is poetic speech. Do not hold me to it, my brother.
The student : I am describing the state of the era we are in, the state of the Ummah.

The Shaykh : My brother, the era you are living in cannot be described except by studying the scholars who speak. Who is the one who started with such and followed with such? This is poetic speech. Who started with such, meaning with graves, and did not start with the interpretation of "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah"? Who is he? This is just an imagination in your mind that exists only.
The student : By Allah, I am reality and truth.

The Shaykh : Tell me, my brother, who?
The student : We do not need to mention the names of so-and-so and so-and-so, but this is a tangible reality.

The Shaykh : My brother, it is tangible to you and unknown to us.
The student : No, with respect.

The Shaykh : What does that mean? I am telling you, bring us an example.
The student : There is no need for one to...

The Shaykh : Now, is our topic whether it is a standard or not? May Allah guide you.
The student : No, I do not intend backbiting, I just do not want to...

The Shaykh : Then why do you not want to?
The student : I know that criticism in the context of defining [matters] is not backbiting.

The Shaykh : Then why do you refrain? I am telling you because you do not have it.
The student : No, excuse me.

The Shaykh : He who lacks a thing cannot give it. You have it, give it to us.
The student : It is known to you that many of our scholars in the Hijaz, for example, let us give an example without generalizing, yes.

The Shaykh : Leave the Hijaz and start with your own country. Tell me, what is in your country? Let us see. Who in your country is working on tawhid (the oneness of Allah), or on the important matters, as you express it, while leaving the more important ones? Who is in your country?
The student : Our country is not a standard, meaning because it is our country...

The Shaykh : Is our topic whether he is a standard or not a standard? May Allah guide you.
The student : No, I mean, what is our country like compared to Egypt, for example, or the Hijaz?

The Shaykh : My brother, where are you living? Not in this country?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, how should the situation be in this country regarding da'wah (calling others to Islam)? With what should it start?
The student : As we agreed.

The Shaykh : With the most important.
The student : With tawhid (the oneness of Allah).

The Shaykh : What is the most important?
The student : Calling to the application of the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), working toward the application of the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).

The Shaykh : My brother, applying the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) of Allah is part of tawhid (the oneness of Allah).
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Then, applying the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) of Allah requires strength and power and a state, but tawhid (the oneness of Allah) does not require strength and a state. Second, this simple gathering that exists here does not require a ruler who rules by what Allah has revealed, but it requires knowing the tawhid (the oneness of Allah) that Allah commanded, is that correct or not?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, so is this obligatory duty, which requires neither power nor a state, being fulfilled by the scholars in this country?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Okay, why are you holding the ladder sideways, as they say about us in Syria, and talking about a specific country while leaving your own country? The closest are the first to be treated with kindness.
The student : This is what we want. This is what we want. We want a correct, sound da'wah (calling others to Islam) based on tawhid (the oneness of Allah) that focuses on the most important, then the important. This is what we want, meaning we are not different.

The Shaykh : We are different because you are leaving your country and holding onto another country that your hand does not reach and you have no knowledge of.
The student : I am part of the Muslim community.

The Shaykh : There is no power or strength except with Allah. Am I telling you no?! But I brought the matter closer to you. The closest are the first to be treated with kindness. Your wife, your mother, your sister, these are from the Muslim community, but the others, these are your brothers in religion. Who is more deserving of your effort?
The student : Okay.

The Shaykh : You will come and say to me... the entire Muslim community, glory be to Allah. What are you saying to you, my brother?
The student : Abu 'Abd al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : Abu 'Abd al-Rahman.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : I am Abu 'Abd al-Rahman.