SUMMARY:

At first glance the above Fatwas might seem contradictory, but after careful reflection you will be able to draw the following conclusions: 1➢- The Aṣl (origin) is to refrain from sitting with the people of innovation, to actualise the principle of Al-walaa' wal baraa', and to save oneself from falling prey to their doubts and wicked beliefs. There are many harms in sitting with Ahlul-Bid’ah and giving talks in their masjids, and these harms -to some scholars- outweigh any potential benefit that may come from giving talks in their masjids. That is why these scholars prohibit Ahlus-Sunnah from lecturing in the masjids of Ahlul-Bid’ah, as you have seen in some of the above Fatwas. Here are some of the harms: • It leads to mixing of truth and falsehood as well as mixing between the people of truth and falsehood. For this reason in some of the Fatwas there is a differentiation between official pre-planned lectures and spontaneous reminders on the go; the former indicates that the speaker and the hosts are all on the same bandwagon, whereas the latter is suggestive of the fact that the speaker is a stranger to the masjid. This is also why some of the scholars have cautioned against lecturing in masjids which are considered to be from the strongholds of Ahlul bid'ah (see the Fatwa of Sheikh Muḥammad Bā Jammāl). • The Da'ee who visits them is putting himself at risk • Ahlul-Bid’ah invite prominent scholars and students of knowledge to lure gullible Muslims to their masjid and then consequently lead them astray. Sheikh Muqbil raḥimahullāh said: “It is incumbent that you are careful of being made a front (by the ḥizīs), such that people are lured by way of you; they (the ḥizbīs) say to you: 'we want you to give a lecture in such-and-such organisation, then afterwards they go and say to the people, 'so-and-so is with us,' so they lure the youth by way of you; or they say: 'we want you to give a lecture in such-and-such masjid.' So if you know that they are using you to lure the youth, then no!” [Ghārat Al-Ashriṭah] • It gives strength to the masjid of Ahlul-Bid’ah and increases their numbers • The advantages of lecturing in their masjids are minimal, because once the Sunni departs they will erase and counter his teachings with their own wicked beliefs. So the time and effort of the da'ee goes to waste when it could have gone to better use. • It causes rifts amongst Ahlus-Sunnah who end up on two opposing sides; one side supporting the idea and the other opposed, and if this rift is not dealt with appropriately it could lead to disunity. 2➢- The scholars who allow Sunni da'ees to lecture in masjids of Ahlul bid'ah (as seen in some of the fatwas) do so with some restrictions. They've placed these restrictions to eliminate/reduce the harms that were mentioned above. And if the harms are eliminated, they will be outweighed by the potential benefits, hence the da'ee is allowed to go. But if these conditions are not met, the da'ee must stay put and not go lecturing away in the masjids of Ahlul-Bid’ah. Here are some of the restrictions: 1. The daa'ee must take the necessary steps to ensure that he does not partake in any wrong practices or commit any contraventions during his visit. One of the ways to achieve this is for him to place conditions on the hosts. For example, he says to them I give a lecture so long as: - I'm allowed to speak freely within the allocated time without any interruptions - I'm allowed to choose the topic - there's no Taṣwīr - there's no free-mixing - no one else shares the platform with me ...Refer to Sheikh Fawzan's Fatwa 2. The main objective in permitting a Sunni to lecture in the masjids of Ahlul-Bid’ah is to clarify the truth to them and disprove their falsehood - not for him to give a heartfelt reminder on a secondary subject. Sheikh Zaid Al-Madkhali clearly said in his Fatwa that the da'ee must target the bid'ah that they are upon. This situation is very much similar to someone who is invited to a waleemah which has contraventions...