Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) said:[1]
I advise you to continue in daʿwah and not to be occupied with politics, for that is better for you and more enduring.
There are two types of people who would promote this speech of Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله), and they will become clear by what follows inshāʾAllāh.
01 Over the past few decades, scholars such as Shaykh al-Albānī have explained how many prominent figureheads (ascribing to Salafiyyah) have been put to trial with politics as a result of which they polluted Salafiyyah, caused more harm than good, never attained their objectives, and in the process fell into oppositions, made compromises in religion and invented false principles and doctrines to justify their activities.
Examples include ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq in Kuwait and ʿAlī bil-Hādj and ʿAbbāsī Madanī who entered into democracy in Algeria, naively thinking that they will aid Islām through it. Others include Safar and Salmān, the Surūriyyah and similar movements in various Muslim countries which, broadly speaking, come under the Ikhwānī umbrella which combines political activism with leniency and cooperation with the people of innovation and the aḥzāb. Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) spoke about all of these individuals and his experiences with them.
02 The allure of power and authority (with good intentions for Islām and the daʿwah) is what entices many into politics or political causes, and thereby, to enter into democracy and elections, or in other cases, rebellions and revolutions, and in extreme cases, coups and assassinations, depending on the state of affairs in the country in question.
Politics, by its nature, is murky and full of self-interest, whereas the call to Tawḥīd and Sunnah is the opposite, it is for Allāh, and through it, Allāh rectifies the servant and land in a way that endures. Hence, blameworthy politics by its nature pollutes this pure call and brings more harm than the desired good.
03 Throughout these types of events and occurrences, the Salafī scholars distinguished between the legislated politics (which is connected to rulership and the rights and duties of the rulers and subjects) and the blameworthy politics. Likewise, between the correct methodologies of change and rectification from the erroneous, harmful and deviant methodologies, leaving us with a valuable body of knowledge and understanding in this subject matter.
04 This body of knowledge from scholars such as Shaykh al-Albānī, Shaykh Bin Bāz, Shaykh Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn, Shaykh Muḥammad Amān al-Jāmī, Shaykh Aḥmad al-Najmī, Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān, Shaykh Zayd al-Madkhalī, Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luḥaydān, Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī, Shaykh ʿUbayd al-Jābirī (رحمهم الله) and others brought tremendous clarity and aided the Salafī daʿwah and its methodology, may Allāh reward them with a great reward. This is what distinguished the Salafī daʿwah over the previous few decades, especially around the foundations related to rulership on the one hand the innovators on the other. Almost all the controversial manhaj issues addressed were centered around these subjects, and most of them were tied to gepolitical events and circumstances.
And it is here where those who ascribe to Salafiyyah are tested as to their truthfulness in what they profess and proclaim.
05 Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) said:[2]
By Allāh, an innovation emerges in the east or the west and a man brings it to me, and when it comes to me, I crush it with the Sunnah and it is cast back upon him (in rejection).
During these various tribulations, the scholars crushed the innovations of the Quṭbiyyah, Surūriyyah, Ikhwāniyyah, Shūroqrāṭiyyah etc. (blameworthy politics) with the Sunnah (legislated politics), and these were often regarding conflicts in foreign lands, hundreds, if not thousands of miles away.
An innovation or deviation (whether creedal, methodological or practical) is an innovation and deviation whether it occurs in Saudi or Eypt, Iraq or Pakistan, China or in Chile, with creedal and methodogical violations being much more harmful.
06 Innovations and deviations spread through individuals by physical movement as in centuries bygone, and in the modern era, through means of communication as well, which actually makes the matter more urgent and serious.
Al-Jaʿd bin Dirham, Jahm bin Ṣafwān and ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd did not escape the tongues and pens of scholars in the Shām, Hijāz, Andalus, Miṣr, or Maghreb when they opposed the creed, and Salmān, Safar and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq never set foot in the British Isles as far as we know, yet there methodological deviations were refuted in all parts of the world through the words and writings of the critiquing scholars and also by many shaykhs and students on their own initiatives.
Likewises, Ḥasan bin Ṣāliḥ bin Hayy who lived in Kūfah, when he permitted revolt (without revolting himself or practically calling to it), the scholars in every location screamed against him. We wonder if they got involved in foreign affairs for no good reason, or had personal disputes with Ḥasan bin Ṣāliḥ bin Ḥayy, or whether they actually spoke in defence and veneration of the Sunnah knowing the harmful effects that return upon the ummah due to erroneous, deviant views and actions.
07 However, today a man may invent false principles regarding rebellion and sedition (to justify or downplay it), be complicit in rebellion, engage with the aḥzāb, betray senior scholars in matters of war and bloodshed, praise innovators who attack senior scholars, attack Salafī shaykhs and students, make tabdīʿ of some of them, and instigate tribulations among Ahl al-Sunnah across the world through Ḥaddādī methods and this can all be dismissed as a foreign conflict of no interest and personal disputes clothed as methodological ones.
Clarifying methodological deviations in these subject matters in relation to real life events is not “delving into politics”, rather, it is from calling to Allāh and defending the Sunnah and the Salafī methodology and it is precisely this which preserved clarity, unity, brotherhood and strength and made the daʿwah distinct and appealing in comparison to other calls.
08 As for those who may promote this speech of Shaykh al-Albānī upon other than the way he intended, then among them are those who are complicit in some of the activities mentioned. To divert attention from themselves they say things like: “These are matters particular to our country, they do not concern you”, “Stop delving into politic matters”, “These are worldly affairs unconnected to religion” and so on.
Or they may be from those who implement the Ḥalabī principle: “Let not our disagreements concerning others be a cause of differing between ourselves”, which is to say that in relation to errant people whose oppositions to foundations have been made clear and who have not recanted, then we should not make those issues a cause of differing between us, so leave those affairs in foreign lands and let them not concern you.
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