Questioner: What is your Excellency’s opinion about … the salafi da’wah in general, and specifically in Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi?
Al-Albaani: I say that unfortunately the Salafi Da’wah is now in disarray, and I attribute the cause of that to the hastiness of many of the Muslim youth to claim knowledge: so he will have the audacity to pass fatwas, and to declare things to be haram and halaal before he knows.
Some of them, as I have heard on numerous occasions, can’t even recite an aayah from the Quraan properly—even if the Noble Mushaf were [open] in front of them—let alone the fact that he will make many mistakes when [simply] reading ahadith of the Prophetﷺ sa.w.. And so that proverb that is well-known in some countries is applicable to him:
إنه تزبب قبل أن يتحصرم
“He became a raisin before [even becoming] a sour grape.”
You know what الحصرم is, is this word used amongst you? When a grape starts out it becomes a green berry, this is what الحصرم is referring to, and it is very sour, so before he even reaches this stage of being a sour grape, he makes himself out to be a raisin.
Thus for many of these people to prop up their heads and be hasty in [both] claiming knowledge and writing when they haven’t even traversed half the way on the path to knowledge is what now unfortunately makes those who attribute themselves to theSalafi da’wah split into groups and factions.
And so there is no cure for this except for these Muslims to fear their Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, and for them to know that it is not for everyone who starts off seeking knowledge to take the lead in declaring fatwas about things being halaal and haram, or declaring hadiths to be authentic or weak except after a long lifetime, a lifetime in which he practices learning how fatwas are delivered and how [verdicts] are derived from the Book and the Sunnah.
And in this respect these callers or salafis must comply with that third check which I mentioned before when speaking about beneficial knowledge and righteous actions, saying that beneficial knowledge must be according to the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih.
So nowadays when many of the Islamic callers depart from this check, the third check which Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, indicated in his poetry when he said:
“Knowledge is, ‘Allaah said … His Messenger said …
The Companions said …’ and it is not hidden.”
Not paying heed to what ourSalaf as-Saalihwere upon makes the people go back, after having been united, to disunity which separates them as it had done with many Muslims before, turning them into groups and factions, each faction pleased with what it has. This is my opinion of the situation.
So if, as we hope, they are sincere they must cling to the correct knowledge-based principles, and that the person who has not reached the level of having correct knowledge does not have the audacity to … that he keeps himself out of sight from [delving into] that and he entrusts knowledge to the one who knows it [i.e., the scholars].
… in this regard [there] is a narration which has been reported in the books ofhadith, I think it was ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abi Layla, may Allaah have mercy on him, who was one of the major scholars of theSalaf as-Saalih, he said, “In this mosque …” and maybe he was referring to the Prophet’s Mosque, “… I met …” and then he mentioned a [specific] number of Companions, I forget the number now, “… so when one of them would be asked …”
Interjection: Seventy.
Al-Albaani:Maybe it was. “I met seventy Companions in this mosque, when one of them would be asked a question or asked for afatwa, he would wish that another one of the scholars from those Companions who were present would shoulder the responsibility for it,” and the reason for that was because they feared that they would make a mistake and thus [as a result] would cause other people to fall into making a mistake. So they would wish to not have to take this responsibility and that someone else would.
As for now, then the situation, most unfortunately, is the polar opposite.
And that is because of one reason, which is.........
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