The Correct Manner of Calling to Allāh (Part 4) – Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī ‘Umayr al-Madkhali

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Imam, the Muhaddith, the Carrier of the Flag of al-Jarh wa at-Tadil (1) in our time, Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī ‘Umayr al-Madkhali (2) delivered a lecture entitled “The Correct Manner of Calling to Allāh” in the year 1422h, corresponding to 2001. This lecture was later transcribed and released in the year 1431H/2010. The translated benefits will be taken from both the audio and the printed book. in shāʾ Allāh

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Part 4:

There is no doubt that many factors have arisen and affected this Ummah, corrupting its concepts, beliefs, and methodologies. It requires large numbers of scholars  of the calibre of Ibn Taymiyyah — not the likes of so-and-so and so-and-so — to rectify this Ummah and return its people to that which the Noble Messenger ﷺ and his noble Companions may Allāh be pleased with them, were upon with regard to beliefs, methodology and manners. All of that is dependent upon rectifying the creed and the methodology.

Among the verses that we can mention as a reminder on this topic is the statement of Allāh تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ ,

وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَآ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِى مِنَ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ ٣٣

وَلَا تَسْتَوِى ٱلْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا ٱلسَّيِّئَةُ ۚ ٱدْفَعْ بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا ٱلَّذِى بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُۥ عَدَٰوَةٌ كَأَنَّهُۥ وَلِىٌّ حَمِيمٌ ٣٤

وَمَا يُلَقَّىٰهَآ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا۟ وَمَا يُلَقَّىٰهَآ إِلَّا ذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ ٣٥

And who is better in speech than he who [says: “My Lord is Allâh (believes in His Oneness),” and then stands firm (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allâh’s (Islâmic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: “I am one of the Muslims.” The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better (i.e. Allâh orders the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to excuse those who treat them badly) then verily he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend. But none is granted it (the above quality) except those who are patient – and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion (of happiness in the Hereafter i.e. Paradise and of a high moral character) in this world.  [Fussilat: 33-35]

۞ أَتَأْمُرُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ بِٱلْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ٤٤

Do you order righteousness of the people and forget (to practise it) yourselves, while you recite the Scripture! Have you then no sense? [Al-Baqarah: 44].

It is incumbent upon the callers to benefit from the likes of this verse, so that they are among the most diligent of people in adhering to it in their call, and among the most diligent in striving to actualise it inwardly and outwardly. making these deeds sincerely for Allāh, and desiring nothing through them except the Face of Allāh.

Likewise, the caller must safeguard his call from being tainted by corruption and from giving people cause to think ill of him — that he calls to something while he himself does not act upon it.

A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and be cast into the Hellfire, and his intestines will pour forth in Hell. He will go around them as a donkey around a millstone. The people of Hell will gather around him and say: What has happened to you? Were you not enjoining good and forbidding evil? He will say: Of course, I used to enjoin good but I did not practice it myself, and I used to forbid evil but I practiced it myself.”(1)

This is the recompense and final outcome  for the one who calls to Allāh عَزَّ وَجَلَّ, enjoins the good, and forbids evil, yet does not act upon what he knows.  He has violations, deviations, and has departed from the methodology which Allāh تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ legislated.

Allāh تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ legislated knowledge and action and He obligated action. How can you call to something while not acting upon it?! How can you call the people and then evade and flee from acting upon it?!

The recompense and final outcome of the one who calls to Allāh تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ  while this is his condition – — he enjoins the good but does not do it, and forbids the evil but does it — is that he becomes a cause of astonishment for the people of the Hellfire. We seek refuge with Allāh. We seek refuge with Allāh from saying that which we do not do.

Beware, beware that the people see you as a caller to Allāh عَزَّ وَجَلَّ while you do not adhere to that which you call them to. This does occur. So, we ask Allāh تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ  to grant success to the callers to Allāh تَعَالَىٰ, that their call to Allāh be upon knowledge and insight, upon the methodology of the Prophets (عَلَيْهِمُ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ), adhering to their call, and adhering to this principle — the principle of acting upon one’s knowledge — the neglect of which results in tremendous harm.

Firstly, the deviation of the people: when the people see you calling to something while not acting upon it, they become among the furthest of people from you and among the furthest of people from applying that which you call them to. If you call to something but neither implement it nor act upon it, then how will your followers act upon it?!

For this reason, you see many callers who are corrupt, while their followers are even more corrupt than they are. This is from the effects of their corrupt call, their deviant call: the people deviate by following them. This deviation occurred amongst the Jews, amongst the Christians, amongst the Rawaafidh, amongst the Sufis, and amongst the political parties. Why? Because the one who leads them leads them to speech without action. So they rush after him, and the people are followers or every caller who cries out. Blind following predominates amongst them, except those whom Allāh protects. As the Prophet ﷺ said,

“People are just like one hundred camels, you can hardly find a single camel suitable to ride.” (2)

“Except for the one whom Allāh, تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ, protects and grants success, and who finds someone to direct him aright and take him by the hand—not this corrupt individual, not this deviant individual who calls but does not act.”

(1)  As stated by the Imam, Shaykh Al-Albani (rahimahullah)

(2) He is the Shaykh, the erudite scholar and expert in ḥadīth, Rabīʿ bin Hādī bin Muḥammad bin Rabīʿ, hailing from the ʿUmayr tribe. Some genealogists attribute this tribe to the Naʿāmiyyah, a group of leaders whose lineage can be traced back to al-Ḥasan bin ʿAlī (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا). The ʿUmayr clan is closely associated with the well-known Madākhilah tribe in the Jīzān region, and the lineage of the Madākhilah can be traced back to the Shabīl clan, and Shabīl is Yashjub bin Yaʿrab bin Qahtān. Taken from Al-Fusool al-Mudiyyah min Seerati ash-Shaykh Rabī bnHādī ‘Umayr Al-Madkhali

(3) Reported by Ahmad (22143), al-Bukhārī (6498), and Muslim (2547).

(4) Reported by Ahmad (4516), al-Bukhārī (3267), and Muslim (2989).