Not clarifying positions using “I’m not obliged to do so” as a shield

Question:

There are some students here with us that haven’t clarified their positions in some of the fitan (trials), and they say “We are not obliged to do so”.

Answer:

All praise is for Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allah from the evils from our own souls and the wickedness of our actions, whoever Allah guides, there is none that can lead him astray, and whoever Allah allows to go astray, there is none that can lead him to the right path.

I testify and bare witness that there is no deity worthy of worship in truth but Allah, alone, without any partners.

And I testify and bare witness that Muhammed is His Slave and Messenger.

(يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِۦ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ)

“O you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allah.”
[Āl-i-‘Imrān:102]

(يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَآءً ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا)

“O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you.”
[An-Nisā:1]

(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا الله وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا ۝ يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ الله وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا)

“O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and made to enter Paradise).”
[Al-Ahzāb:70-71]

As what’s after:

This is a well known practice from the people of Tamyee’, those that water down the affairs relating those who are clearly correct and those who are clearly erroneous , under the veil of “not being obliged”

By Allah O brother, it’s not me or others that are obliging you, what obliges you is the proof, and the evidences which are made clear to you.

This statement of theirs is considered forsaking, forsaking the truth and its people, because what’s wājib is that the truth and its people are aided.
When it becomes clear to you who is correct and who is erroneous then it’s a must that you aid the truth and it’s people in accordance to your capability.

Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

«انصر أخاك ظالما أو مظلوما»

“Aid your brother, (both) the oppressor and the oppressed”

Whereby they said:

“O Messenger of Allah, we understood aiding him if he was being oppressed but how do we aid him if he is an oppressor?

To which he (ﷺ) said

«تحجزه أو تمنعه من الظلم فإن ذلك نصره»

“Stop him or prevent him from oppressing, for this is the aiding of him”

Also found with Muslim with similar wording.

And Abu Dawūd and Tirmidhi and others reported on the authority of Abu Bakr As-Sidīq, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ النَّاسَ إِذَا رَأَوْا الظَّالِمَ فَلَمْ يَأْخُذُوا عَلَى يَدَيْهِ أَوْشَكَ أَنْ يَعُمَّهُمْ اللَّهُ بِعِقَابٍ»

“If people saw an oppressor and didn’t grab him by the hand, it’s feared that the punishment of Allah would encompass them all.”

And in another wording:

«مَا مِنْ قَوْمٍ يُعْمَلُ فِيهِمْ بِالْمَعَاصِي ثُمَّ يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْ يُغَيِّرُوا ثُمَّ لَا يُغَيِّرُوا إِلَّا يُوشِكُ أَنْ يَعُمَّهُمْ الله مِنْهُ بِعِقَابٍ»

“There are not a people who sin happens in their midst, then are able to change it but don’t, except that it’s feared that the punishment from Allah would encompass them all.”

And this is in “Al-Jāmi’ As-Sahīh mima laysa fi As-Sahīhayn” of Imām Al-Wādi’i, may Allah have mercy upon him.

And Muslim reported in his ‘Sahīh’ on the authority of Abu Sa’īd Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

I heard the messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

«من رأى منكم منكرا فليغيره بيده، فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه، فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه وذلك أضعف الإيمان».

“If anyone amongst you was to see an evil, then let him change it with his hands, and if he was not able; then with his tongue, and if he was not able; then with his heart, and that is the weakest of īmān”

His words (فليغيره – then let him change it) is an order which benefits promptness, due to the (الفاء) being mentioned alongside it, this makes it point to the lack of slack in it, and Qarāfi relayed the consensus -of this meaning- upon the obligation of promptness in the ordering of the good and the forbidding of the evil.

And you O slave of Allah, you will be asked on the day of judgement concerning the truth that you knew about, and the evidences which have reached you, if there was from you acceptance then you are upon good, if not then you will be upon regret.

(وَيَوْمَ يُنَادِيهِمْ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَآ أَجَبْتُمُ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ)

“And (remember) the Day (Allah) will call to them, and say: “What answer gave you to the Messengers?”
[Al-Qasas:65]

And secluding yourself from trials under the guise of “I am not obliged to do so” while being able to correct, and to strengthen the truth and aid it and its people, and to diminish falsehood and its doubts…

Is from the characteristics of the weak, those that are not strong enough to withstand falsehood, and it’s from the characteristics of the forsakers. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«الْمُؤْمِنُ الْقَوِيُّ خَيْرٌ وَأَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ الضَّعِيفِ وَفي كُلٍّ خَيْرٌ»

“The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, but there is good in both”

Reported by Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Imām, Ibn Wazīr, may Allah have mercy upon him spoke the truth, when he mentioned in his book “Al-Amr bil-‘Uzlah” that seclusion is only the worship of the weak who are the prey of the Shaytān when they mix with the people, as for the people of strength and high status they are those that are not harmed by mixing with people, rather the people are corrected by them mixing with them, because they aid those that are upon the truth, and forsake those that are upon falsehood, one good action from their good actions, could be better than the entire actions of those that are isolating.

If only those that say this speech would be quiet and accept that they are weak, rather you find their tongues severely lash out against Ahlussunnah, and they don’t say “we are not obliged to do so” here.

Many a time we would hear our Shaykh, the ‘Allāmah, Yahya bin ‘Ali Al-Hajoori, may Allah preserve him, say:

“If you can not aid the truth then don’t forsake it.”

And I have a refutation upon the likes of these doubts in my book: “Misbaah Adh-Dhulaam..”

Answered by:
Shaykh Abu Hatim Yusuf Al-‘Inaabi Al-Jazaa’iree – may Allaah preserve him.

Source:
http://t.me/youssefalgazairi/686

Translated by:
Abu ‘Abdirrahman ‘Abdullaah bin Ahmed Ash-Shingaani.