Continuing from the same recording made in 1993.

Questioner: There is a question, O Shaikh. What do you say about someone who has opposed the Imaams of Islaam in a particular issue which they have united upon and the proof has been established against him but he does not turn back, rather, add to that the fact that he praises some of the Sufis and mufawwidah, praised the one who goes by the saying of Jahm regarding the Quraan and slanders some of the Companions, in fact, some of the Messengers, calling them Imaams and harsh. In fact, he praises some of the heretics who have permitted apostasy and have vilified the aqidah and the Prophet عليه السلام and the Companions and the People of Hadith, and says that there is a lot of good in them, and calls their aberrations and misguidance ijtihaad, saying, “… even though we are wary of some of their ijtihaad …” So is such a person an innovator and should we single him out and say that so and so is an innovator to warn the Ummah and out of sincerity to Allaah, His Book, His Prophet, the Imaams of the Muslims and their general folk?

Al-Albaani: He mentioned this in a book?

Questioner: In various places.

Al-Albaani: Not in a book?

Questioner: In some books too.

Al-Albaani: Okay, books like?

Questioner: He’s the one who praised this …

Al-Albaani: Don’t digress, don’t digress.

Questioner: The man who said these things, said them in some of his books like Al-Adaalah al-Ijtimaa’iyyah or Fee Dhilaal al-Quraan [i.e., Sayyid Qutb] but the one who praised him and called him a mujtahid and so on did so in a tape, in some tapes, and also another person like this guy has a book called Al-Khilaafah wal-Mulk and he has another book in which he spoke about some of the Prophets, about Noah, for example, saying that when he said, “…My Lord, indeed my son is of my family …” [Hud 11:45] that emotions of the days of ignorance over took him, and that when Yusuf said, “… Appoint me over the storehouses of the land. Indeed, I will be a knowing guardian …” [Yusuf 12:55] that he was a dictator looking to set up a dictatorship like Mussolini in our time.

Al-Albaani: Who is the one who says this?

Questioner: In the book Al-Khilaafah wal-Mulk … Maududi …

Al-Albaani: Who is he?

Questioner: Maududi …

Al-Albaani: Maududi. And who is the one who praises these statements?

Questioner: Wallaahi, one of the callers praised them …

Al-Albaani: Ya’ni, backbiting, [you said], “One of the callers …” if you name him it’s backbiting?

Questioner: No, inshaa Allaah, it’s not backbiting. Shaikh Salmaan praised him.

Al-Albaani: I’m saying: did he praise the statements or the person saying them?

Questioner: He praised them, wallaahi, in a tape.

Al-Albaani: Listen. Did you understand what I said?

Questioner: Okay … repeat the question to me …

Someone else: The Shaikh is saying, “Did he praise these statements or the person who made them?”

Questioner: No, the one who made them.

Al-Albaani: So if he praised the one who made them I may praise him too, does that mean I deem everything he says to be correct?

Questioner: No it doesn’t.

Al-Albaani: So what do you mean by this question?

Questioner: We heard in some cassettes that one of the Shaikhs went to him and spoke to him saying that so and so, i.e., Maududi, has said such and such, so he [i.e., the person they went to] said, ‘Wallaahi, if I were asked on the Day of Judgement [about him], I will say he is an Imaam and a Mujaddid.’ So this issue had us unsettled and we said we would ask the Shaikh [i.e., al-Albaani ] about it.

Al-Albaani: Look, my brother.

I advise you and the other youths who–it seems to us are on a crooked path, and Allaah knows best–to stop wasting your time in criticising each other, saying so and so said this, and so and so said that, and so and so said this. Because, firstly, this has nothing to do with knowledge whatsoever. And secondly, this way fills one with spite and brings about malice and hatred in the hearts. It is only upon you to seek knowledge.

For knowledge is the thing which will uncover whether these statements of praise about a certain person are referring to that person who has many mistakes? And whether, for example, it is correct for us to call him a person of innovation? And therefore, whether he is an innovator?

What have we to do with delving deeply into such issues?

I advise that you do not delve deeply into such issues to this extent because the reality is that we now complain of this division which has arisen between those who attribute themselves to the call of the Book and the Sunnah, or as we say, the Salafi Da’wah.

The greatest cause of this division, and Allaah knows best, is the soul which is the persistent enjoiner of evil [cf. Surah Yusuf 12:53] and it is not the difference in some ideological opinions.

This is my advice.

Another questioner: O Shaikh! …