Gifts of Knowledge

Questioner: We want a clarification of the danger of rushing to declare someone who is known to have a sound ’aqeedah to be an innovator or open sinner and the enmity and boycotting and conflict that results from that?

Al-’Abbaad: What is obligatory on every Muslim is to take precautions regarding his religion and himself and that he does not thrust himself into issues whose harm will come back to him, in fact, it is sincere advice between the Muslims that is obligatory and especially between Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah, advising one another, being good to one another, co-operating amongst each other upon good, warning each other from what they may fall into so that they can turn away from it—and after that the people are not divided into those who support this person against that one or that one against this one.

Rather a person strives to make the truth the missing thing he is looking for, and he [should be someone who] loves good for everyone, such that he loves that a person who has made a mistake returns [to the truth].

As for the differing which takes place and busying one’s time with what happens between Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah in terms of the statements they make about each other and the students of knowledge pursuing that and becoming busy with it such that it becomes their one and only concern—then this does not befit a student of knowledge, in fact, the student of knowledge must desire to become busy with knowledge and not busy himself with, ‘So and so said and so and so said,’ it is not allowed for him to pursue the saying of so and so and so and so which he has become busy with because that results in rancour, enmity, boycotting, hatred and alienation.

So what is obligatory is mutual advice one to another, and what is obligatory is that everyone is good to the other and that he loves good for himself, and thus co-operation upon righteousness and piety will occur.

As for splitting Ahlus-Sunnah into disputants and quarrellers, each of them speaking about the other, calling each other innovators, slandering each other, boycotting each other—then there is no benefit in this, only harm. And it would have been fitting for time to have been spent speaking about the enemies of the Sunnah who spread mischief in the land and do not rectify matters.

As for a person who is from Ahlus-Sunnah but who has mistakes, then he is sincerely advised and debated with in a way that is best, and keenness is to be shown for him to be guided and for him to be brought close and not for him to be alienated and thrown away and discarded.

So it is obligatory to be just[ly balanced] and moderate in all matters and not to go to extremes or fall short.

And the declaring of people [from Ahlus-Sunnah] to be obstinate sinners and innovators and the boycotting [that occurs] and so on, this is all from the handiwork of the Devil and from his plots against man, rather what is obligatory, as I indicated, is to be busy with knowledge and not to preoccupy oneself with the things that some of Ahlus-Sunnah say about each other, because that preoccupies [a person] from knowledge and detestable matters result from it like those that I alluded to earlier such as [people then] boycotting each other, and this is wrong—because if everyone who made a mistake were to be boycotted or if everyone who read his books or listened to him were to be boycotted, no one would be exempt from that, because everyone is liable to make mistakes, and some of the scholars, we don’t say many of the scholars, made mistakes, and the people did not boycott them or abandon them or leave their books, rather they benefitted from them, and the person who makes a mistake is rebutted, but that should not be a cause for people to split into parties and factions, for that is from the Devil’s plot for man.

From the Shaikh’s explanation of Abu Dawud.