Excellent Advice for Du'aat

Sheikh Abu Bilal hafidahullah states: We advise that a teacher takes care of his students by nurturing them, guiding their moral conduct, and endearing them to knowledge and its people. He should speak well of scholars in front of his students, acquaint them with his own teachers and those from whom he benefitted—those who are engaged in goodness. He should also connect them with other scholars, fellow students of knowledge, and righteous individuals who are beneficial, and he should protect them from fitnah and the people of misguidance. We advise every teacher to fear Allāh with regard to his students. I often advise my brothers not to raise students to be loyal to us personally, nor to bind anyone to our personalities. Rather, we should raise them for the sake of Da'wah, for the sake of the Sunnah, so that they may serve the religion and serve the Sunnah. We should not raise students for ourselves, for we are prone to error, prone to deviation, and subject to all sorts of weaknesses. We ask Allāh for steadfastness in doing good. O Turner of hearts, keep our hearts firm upon Your religion. We do not want a student who, if we go astray, follows us in our deviation. You have learned the principles and have been taught the foundations. So if you see your teacher deviating from them, leave him and say, "Peace be upon you. This is not what we agreed upon, nor what we came together for. May Allāh reward you with good. If you repent and return to what is right, you are welcome. But if you want to lead us astray, we are not with you, for this is our capital. You are dear to us, you taught us, and we have benefitted from you—but this is not what we agreed upon." 📌 Raise the students upon goodness. This is the path we follow, and we know no other path. We raise them to love the Sunnah, to love the scholars, and to love goodness. What I detest most is raising a student merely to be defend me, as if he were a soldier for me—to defend Abu Bilal blindly. We are masaakeen. May Allāh have mercy on our Sheikh (Sheikh Muqbil) who used to say, "No one blindfollows me except the worthless." I abhor it when someone shows blind loyalty to me without understanding. Yes, may Allāh reward you if you defend your sheikh with the truth, but you do not have anything else but this. Praise be to Allāh—if your shaykh is righteous, Allāh will protect and defend him. We are indeed obligated to defend our scholars, but not through blind partisanship or excessive loyalty that reeks of fanaticism—Allah forbid. The mentality of “If my tribe errs, I err with them; if they are guided, I follow” is utterly rejected. We do not subscribe to “If Hadhami speaks, then believe her—for the truth is what Hadhami says.” This is not the principle of Ahlus-Sunnah. Rather, if Allāh says, if the Messenger says, we believe—because our Prophet does not speak from desire. @masjidsahabah