Question: The questioner says: clarify for us the reality of Salafiyyah?
Answer: “Salafiyyah, in brief, is the main path and the other different groups are the side streets. If you are travelling to Riyadh and you took the main road, while you are certain, that Riyadh is in the east. Then nothing will prevent you from reaching it. However, if a person came to you and requested you go right and left through the side streets, you will be lost. So hold fast to the main road which the earlier Muslims were upon [and is present] until this day. Leave off the side streets which have been revived under the name “congregation so and so” and “movement so and so”. Leave them off, otherwise you will be lost and there will be no escape. The one who traverses the side streets is lost and lost are those who traverse these paths.
The movement which has been operating for the last sixty years is barren and without results. Their khateeb ascends [the minbar] and delivers whatever Allah wills him to deliver until he either becomes incapable or dies. Then another comes [after him], like this. Is not experience sufficient? The Salafi Da’wah which has unfolded in the world today does not have clamor, and its followers do not carry tambour and drums with them. A student graduates from the Islamic university [of Medina], then travels to any land and opens a local school or teaches in the Masaajid. The Da’wah spreads without a voice being heard. The Da’wah has spread all across the world. If you have one who lives in the Indian subcontinent, then invite him to visit (البلقستان) near the boundaries of China to start one school, today a university, from the result of our students from the Islamic university. Some of the good doers spend on it from here at a communal level. I can almost say that the Salafi Da’wah today has prevailed, let alone at the official level. If you toured in Africa, you will find students memorizing Usool ath-Thalatha, Kashf ash-Shubuhaat, Kitab at-Tawheed, like they memorize al-Fatiha. We heard some of them in a school and we were amazed. They were African children. The one who says: “they (the Salafis) do not have politics”. Then this person does not have knowledge of politics. Do not be influenced by this propaganda. Ask one with experience not a doctor. Verily I visited twenty countries wherein our youth work, those who graduated from the Islamic university, and we returned very happy with what we witnessed. The different areas are hostile to the name Wahabiyyah. Today Kitab at-Tawheed is memorized. I began the Da’wah using the name Muhammad bin Sulaymaan at-Tamimi after removing the name Abdul-Wahhab. Now I publicize the Da’wah. The book is now studied with its official name in every place. Praise Allah for the way the Da’wah is progressing. Some people, may Allah pardon them, attempt to slow those who enter into the arena of Aqeedah. This is rare. Perhaps I will quote a story that occurred in a country in Africa. There was a dispute between a caller to Allah and the Sufi Mashaaikh. The issue was raised to the Christian ruler. So he requested this caller to be present and the Sufi Mashaaikh. The Christian ruler studied in Europe.
He said: “Where did you study O Shaikh”?
[The caller] said: “Saudi Arabia”.
[The ruler said]: “In which city”?
[The caller] said: “Madinah an-Nabawiyyah”.
[The ruler] said: “Do you have the diploma?”
[The caller] said: “Yes”.
[The ruler] said: “Masaahikh, where did you study?”.
They said: “In our land here”.
[The ruler] said: “You did not leave?”
They said: “No”.
[The ruler] said: “Listen, the origin of your Islam comes from Saudi Arabia because your Prophet is from Saudi Arabia- Saudi Arabia according to him was this land and it was always Saudi Arabia in the past and the future- he was born in Makkah and was buried in Madinah. This man has come to you with Islam from the land of Islam. So either study and learn from him or do not object to him”.
So this is how the Suffiyyah were defeated at the hands of a Christian.
When I read this story I remembered the statement of the Prophet (ﷺ):
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيُؤَيِّدُ هَذَا الدِّينَ بِالرَّجُلِ الْفَاجِرِ
Allah may support this religion (i.e. Islam) even with a disobedient man
[al-Bukhari (no. 3062) and Muslim (no. 111)]
The disbelievers know this Da’wah is truth and the Prophet (ﷺ) informed:
إِنَّ الإِيمَانَ لَيَأْرِزُ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ كَمَا تَأْرِزُ الْحَيَّةُ إِلَى جُحْرِهَا
Verily, Belief returns and goes back to Medina as a snake returns and goes back to its hole (when in danger).
[al-Bukhari (no. 1876) and Muslim (no. 147)]
In one wording:
إلى الحجازِ
To Hijaaz
[Daif at-Tirmidhi (no. 492)]
In another wording:
إلى بينَ هذَينِ المسجدِيْنِ
To these two masjids
[Reported by Ahmad (no. 16690)]
The good in the end of times will return here and Islam will escape, when it is persecuted, to here from every place. It returning [to Medina] does not mean that it will not remain [in other places], but it will spread from here as it spread in the past and it practically spreads from here nowadays. So praise to Allah for this blessing and thank your Lord in order that He increases you from his bounty. And in Allah aid is sought”
[Qurrah ‘Uyoon as-Salafiyyah bi Ajwibatil-Jaamiyyah pg. 407-410]
Translated by
Faisal bin Abdul Qaadir bin Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
