BENEFIT 154: Cooperating and Working with Al-Muntadaa Al-Islaamee

Shaykh al-'Allaamah Muqbil Ibn Haadee al-Waadi'ee mentioned in Tuhfah Al-Mujeeb (pg. 143-147) [Original source is a tape - Questions from England, recorded on Ramadaan 13, 1416H] Question: There is a group amongst us (in Britain) called Muntadaa Al-Markaz Al-Islaamee. They are connected with Muhammad Suroor and they sell his books and interact with him. And they have a tazkiyah (approval/recommendation) from Shaikh Abdul-Azeez Ibn Baaz and Shaikh Ibn Uthaimeen that encourages cooperating with them and being connected to them. So what is your advice to Al-Muntadaa Al-Islaamee and what is your advice to the Salafees who cooperate and work with them in Da'wah? Answer: My advice to them is that they return to the condition they were upon when they were spreading the Qur'aan and Sunnah in their magazine Al-Bayaan and in their magazine As-Sunnah. We were extremely pleased with the magazine As-Sunnah and likewise with the magazine Al-Bayaan. But then the reality became clear, that they were in fact Hizbees (partisans), who called people away from the scholars. And I advise them to not clash with the Muslim rulers. This partisanship (hizbiyyah) has caused divisions within the unity of the callers to Allaah from among the Ahlus-Sunnah in Yemen, and in the lands of the Haramayn, Najd and in Sudan and in Egypt, as well as in many of the Muslim countries. They call people to not have any concern for knowledge. There used to be a group of students that was studying with us, then they attached themselves to these people, and all of sudden they started to have contempt for their brothers (other students) and for us. Studying the Quraan and the Sunnah to them is like a seashell (i.e. it is hollow and empty). And performing worship in the masjid to them is also like a seashell. And these are the masaajid, about which the Prophet ﷺ said: If one of you makes wudoo (ablution) and he does it well, then he goes out to the masjid, nothing brings him out except the prayer, he does not take one step except that Allaah raises him one level due to it and one sin gets erased from him. So when he prays, the angels do not stop sending their prayers upon him, as long as he is in prayer, saying: O Allaah, bless him, O Allaah, have mercy on him.And none of you ceases to be in prayer while he is waiting for the (next) prayer. So I say: If Shaikh Ibn Baaz and Shaikh Ibn Uthaimeen gave tazkiyah (approval) to Al-Muntadaa before the Gulf Crisis, then they are both excused from that, because even we ourselves praised the magazine Al-Bayaan a lot, and we called people to cooperate in working with them. And if they gave their tazkiyah after the Gulf Crisis and I don't think that is so, then they are both considered to be in error. So I say to the two Shaikhs: These people have split the Muslims here in Yemen and they have turned to attacking and showing enmity to the Ahlus-Sunnah. Rather, their harm has become great and I do not say that their harm is greater than that of the Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen, for they are only like scraps as compared to the Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen. And they are the ones who transgress against many of the masaajid of Ahlus-Sunnah, amongst which is a masjid in Aden, the masjid of the people in Buraiqah, which Shaikh Ahmad Ibn Uthmaan is the Imaam of. So if these two Shaikhs issued a tazkiyah (religious approval), then they should take it back, just as I took mine back when their affair became clear to me during the Gulf Crisis, and when their enmity became apparent to me in Yemen. And from their heads is Abdul-Majeed Ar-Raymee, Muhammad Al-Ba'daanee and Abdullaah Ibn Faysal Al-Ahdal. They have begun mocking and ridiculing their brothers. And if you were to read the Qasaa'id (poetic verses) of Abdul-Majeed you would have found them according to the Sunnah, but now they have diluted and melted away.