Imam Fudayl Ibn Iyaad- may Allah have mercy upon him- said:
”Whoever is approached by a man and he directs him to a Mubtadi, has acted with deception towards Islam. Be mindful of entering upon the people of innovation, for indeed they prevent from the haqq.” [1]
Imam Fudayl Ibn Iyaad, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Do not sit with a person of innovation, for I fear that curses will descend upon you”.
Al-Allamah Salih Al-Fawzan, may Allah preserve him, commented on the above statement, saying:
(This is) because punishment, anger and deviation descend upon a person of innovation, so it is feared that you will be afflicted with some of what afflicts him, and for that reason Allah-جَلَّ وَعلَا- stated:
وَإِذَا رَأَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخُوضُونَ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فَأَعۡرِضۡ عَنۡہُمۡ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُواْ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيۡرِهِۦۚ وَإِمَّا يُنسِيَنَّكَ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنُ فَلَا تَقۡعُدۡ بَعۡدَ ٱلذِّڪۡرَىٰ مَعَ ٱلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
And when you [Muhammad] see those who engage in a false conversation about Our Verses (of the Qur’an) by mocking at them, stay away from them till they turn to another topic. And if shaitaan causes you to forget, then after the remembrance sit not you in the company of those people who are the wrongdoers. [6:68]
And Allah said to the believers:
وَقَدۡ نَزَّلَ عَلَيۡڪُمۡ فِى ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ أَنۡ إِذَا سَمِعۡتُمۡ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يُكۡفَرُ بِہَا وَيُسۡتَہۡزَأُ بِہَا فَلَا تَقۡعُدُواْ مَعَهُمۡ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُواْ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيۡرِهِۦۤۚ إِنَّكُمۡ إِذً۬ا مِّثۡلُهُمۡۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ جَامِعُ ٱلۡمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ فِى جَهَنَّمَ جَمِيعًا
And it has already been revealed to you in the Book [this Qur’an] that when you hear the Verses of Allah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell. [4:140]
In this is a warning against sitting with the people of misguidance and desires, and against sitting, accompanying and listening to their speech or reading their books. So it is upon you [i.e. obligated on you] to be distant from these affairs. And Allaah’s Aid is sought! Nowadays, it is said about the one who acts upon this [i.e. the one who keeps away from the people of misguidance and desires] that he is an isolated [or unapproachable, secluded person etc], a boycotter and that he is one who harbours doubt towards the people. [2]
Imam Sufyan Ath-Thawree- may Allah have mercy upon him- said: “Whoever lends an ear to a person of Bidah has left the protection of Allah and is entrusted to it (i.e. the bidah)”.
Al-Allamah Salih Al-Fawzan – may Allah preserve him- said:
The narration about fleeing from ahlul bidah and not to sit with them, nor to accompany them has preceded, therefore, whoever accompanies them and listens to their statements and does not reject them, will be destroyed alongside them. It is not permissible for you to lend an ear to them whilst saying, “I am a believer with strong Eemaan and I am well acquainted with the Aqeedah, and they cannot have an effect on me”. This is self -deception – trial for the people, because being distant and not listening to their false statements is safety. As for lending your ear to them, then you will become worthy of being put to trial alongside them.
And regarding Sufyaan’s statement: “And is entrusted to it” because Allah safeguards the one who seeks safety with Him but the one who listens to bidah is worthy of being put to trial by it. He is entrusted to it and is removed from the Protection of Allah. [3]
Al-Allamah Rabee Bin Hadi Al-Mad’khali-may Allah have mercy upon him – stated:
Sufyan Ath-Thawree is one of the Imams of the Sunnah and illustrious figures of guidance. He may have derived this speech from the Messenger’s warning against sitting with evil people that would inevitably cause harm and lead to dangerous consequences. Whoever opposes the Messenger’s warning has exposed himself to evil and is entrusted to himself. It is said to the one who lends an ear to ahlul bidah, “Do not do this because indeed the Messenger forbade and warned you; the pious predecessors forbade and warned you against sitting with ahlul bidah and acquiring (knowledge) from them”.
So, once you say, “By Allah! I read, I listen, take truth and abandon falsehood” which is similar to the well known principle at present though which many of the youth – who were following the path of the pious predecessors- have been made into a laughing stock, they came to them with this vile – corrupt – principle, saying, “Read from the books of Ikhwaan, the books of Tableegh, the books of ahlul bidah, Sufism and the Rawaafid, accept the truth (from them) and abandon the falsehood. He (i.e. the one who reads etc) is a Miskeen, who neither knows truth nor can distinguish between it and falsehood, so he approaches falsehood, considers it to be truth and accepts it; approaches truth, considers it to be falsehood and rejects it, thus he strays. Allah entrusts this person to himself because had he adhered firmly to the Sunnah, listen to the Messenger’s guidance, the stance of the Messenger’s companions and the pious predecessors, preserves the good he has – meaning the Sunnah, he would have been saved; but he became deceived so Allah entrusts him to himself due to this self-deception and self-importance which some people embark upon- depends on himself and considers himself a leader in knowledge, while he is an ignoramus, thus, he falls into the traps of people of misguidance, quickly deviates and become one of the people of misguidance because Allah forsakes and entrust him to himself.
And due to this, we say: the one who is not safe from falling into the traps of the people of misguidance, it is obligated to him to avoid the books of the people of bidah and (avoid) sitting with them, because indeed the Messenger warned against sitting with them and the pious predecessors warned against sitting with them, rather they held a consensus to boycott and ostracise them – not to expose oneself to them and their call, except the one who is well established in knowledge, the one with ability to establish the proof against them whilst being cautious, warning against sitting with them and not to incline towards them. As for the weak – the Miskeen – who is shaken by the light wind and it makes him fall (i.e. the one who cannot repel the doubts of ahlul bidah), it is obligated to him to preserve the good that Allah has bestowed on him, because nothing can be equal to safety.
The one who has the ability and experience – able to call to the path of Allah with wisdom and persuade the people of falsehood, he embarks upon calling them (to the truth), whilst not being in agreement with them, not sitting with them and flattering them; but rather he should be a Mujahid, a caller to the path of Allah, a sincere adviser, enjoining good and forbidding evil. This is one who embarks upon calling the people of falsehood (to truth) and clarifies the truth to them, so the one who is guided, then alhamdulil laah; but if not, then he has established the proofs which Allah has obligated on the inheritors of the Prophets (i.e. the scholars) to be establish.
The Prophets were callers to the path of Allah, they invited the unbelievers to (the truth) and called the sinners (to the truth), and you are one of the inheritors of the Prophets, therefore, call these (people to the truth) and establish the proofs against them, but we do not say that this task is for everyone – that every Tom, Dick, and Harry intermingles with ahlul bidah and advise them; rather we say that this is for the people of knowledge, those well established in knowledge, the strong ones. As for those other than them – the ignoramuses and the ones with weak personalities, we warn and tell them to be on guard against the outcomes that descends on the one who is deceived by himself, so he becomes one from ahlul bidah and misguidance. By Allah we know people from different Arab and Islamic countries who used to be upon good, then they were captured by this trick- meaning, read, read, take the truth and reject falsehood, but he was not seen thereafter except that he was from the villains of ahlul bidah, waging war against ahlus sunnah, defending the people of falsehood. We ask Allah for wellbeing. [4]
Al-Fudayl Ibn Iyaad -may have mercy upon him- said: “Whoever sits with a person of bidah has not be granted wisdom”.
Al-Allamah Rabee – may Allah have mercy upon him- said: The one who sits with ahlul bidah and incline towards them, there is no doubt that he is dim-witted and on the opposite side of wisdom. Sitting with ahlul bidah is dangerous, and we have mentioned to you several times the hadeeth: “The parable of good company and a bad company is only that of a seller of musk and a blacksmith”. This is an urge (by way of a command) from the Messenger that one sits (or accompanies) the righteous – those who are free from misguidance and bidah, those who call to good, command good and forbid evil, warn against falsehood. These are ones to be accompanied, you will benefit from them in matters sound creed, sound methodology, authentic narrations and (acquire) abundant good. As for ahlul bidah -and Allah refuge is sought, you will find corrupt creed with them, fabricated narrations, baseless narratives and other calamities (related to knowledge), which is the reason behind the deviation of many of those people who oppose the (sound Salafi Methodology).
By Allah, it is not appropriate for some scholars to sit with ahlul ahwaa because it may be that he has some knowledge, but he becomes shaky and weak in personality, so he strays through falsehood. By Allah, there is an example of this in history about a people who diverted from the truth (in some affair) even though they had knowledge. Amongst them was Al-Bayhaqi who was affected by Ash’ariyyah and Abdur Razzaq who was affected by At-Tashayyu …many amongst them; rather many of those who were swept away by bidah, the reason was nothing else other than reading the books of ahlul bidah and sitting with the people of misguidance, thus many people in the Islamic societies deviated due to this intermingling, sittings, reading and what is similar to that.
When Ahlus Sunnah listened to their scholars, Allaah protected them from being swept away by ahlul bidah, but when the scholars or some of the scholars fell short (or failed to act as required), authority lost, and the people became deceived by people of bidah and misguidance, the Islamic world was swept away by bidah. In the last century, ilhaad, Zandaqah, communism, Baathism and secularism appeared. The people intermingled and strayed. The who intermingled with the heretics became a heretic, the one who intermingled with the callers to socialism became a socialist, the one who intermingled with the baathists became baathist, the one who intermingled with the Rawaafid became Raafidi, the one who intermingled with the Soofiyyah became a Sufi, the who intermingled with the groups of illegal partisanship became an adherent to illegal partisanship and so on. Had they held onto the likes of this Prophet guidance and Salafi guidance, Allaah would have protected them, but they embarked upon error, so Allaah entrusted them to themselves. [5]
Al-Allamah Salih al Fawzan- may Allah preserve him- stated:
It is forbidden to visit the Mubtadi [an innovator in religious affairs] and to sit with him, unless it is for the (purpose) of advice and rejection of what he is upon. That is because keeping his company has an evil effect and leads to spreading his enmity (i.e. his misguidance) to others. It is obligatory to warn against them and to warn against their evil if it becomes impossible to prevent them from practicing bidah. And if not, it is obligated on the scholars of the Muslims and those in charge of the affairs of the Muslims to prevent and restrain the Mubtadi’ah [innovators in religious affairs] from their evil. That is because the danger they pose to Islaam is great. It must be known that the nations of disbelief encourage the Mubtadiah in spreading their bidah and aid them upon that in creating divergent paths (i.e. disunite the word of the Muslims and create sects that are in opposition to the singular path of the Salafus Saalih in Belief and Methodology). That is because in this is termination of Islaam and distortion of its image. And Allah knows best. We ask Allah to aid His Religion and make His Word Uppermost, and forsake the enemies. [6]
[1] Sharh As-Sunnah by Imam Al-Barbahari
[2] It’haf Al-Qaaree Bi-attaliqat Alaa Sharh As-Sunnah Lil Imaam Barbahaaree 2/318-319
[3] It’haf Al-Qaaree. 2/316-317
[4] Awn Al-Baaree Bi-Bayaan Maa Tadammanahu Sharh As-Sunnah Lil-Imam Al-Barbahaaree. 2/970-972. slightly paraphrased
[5] Awn Al-Baaree 2/974-975
[6] An Excerpt from “Al-Irshaad ilaa Sahih Al-Ittiqaad Wa Ar-Rad Alaa Ahl Ash-Shirk Wa Al-Ilhad page 455
