In the 1990s, Shaykh Muḥammad Amān al-Jāmī (رحمه الله) was one of the few scholars that were outspoken against the movement of the Sūrūriyyah and Quṭbiyyah that had surfaced years earlier after the Gulf War of 1990. They had been quietly nurturing the youth upon partisanship and affiliation with jamāʿāt and jamʿiyyāt under the guise of “Islamic work” and “daʿwah” and “reviving the ummah”. In reality, it was the seeds of the manhaj of the Khārijites.
There was a famous incident in which the Shaykh (رحمه الله) was giving a lecture and he mentioned how these new groups had caused disunity in the land. It got too much for some of these people who were in the audience in the mosque, and during the talk itself, the Shaykh was attacked, and great commotion took place.
Here is a clip of the recording which has been saved from the 1990s in real audio format (converted to mp3):
The question about the first period, the reason for the youth splitting into factions, sects and groups, the reason is known, and it is a real affair. It is the presence of those incite them with political agitation, and the presence of those who send the youth to the (politicised) groups. It is the presence of these innovated groups, the groups present in the arena today, I consider them innovated, because they were not present prior to this.
In this country there was just one jamāʿah, the Saudi society was all a single jamāʿah, the jamāʿah of the Muslims, there was not found other than this jamāʿah.
The presence of these (new) groups with each group being preoccupied in propaganda for its methodology, this is the reason for the splitting of the youth and their splintering. This is what led them to be distributed among these (new) groups, until we heard of the “Youth of the Awakening” (shabāb al-ṣaḥwah) for the first time…
[some disputation from audience] [shaykh is assaulted]
[commotion breaks out]
01 The “Ṣaḥwah Movement” was led by the heads of the Quṭbiyyah and Surūriyyah in the 1990s and engaged larged numbers of youths in activism. They were nurtured upon the books of the Ikhwānīs and slowly turned against the scholars through political agitation, and the events of Afghanistan, Algeria and the Gulf War as political talking points. The seeds of takfīr and rebellion were spread through the writings of Sayyid Quṭb and taḥazzub (partiasnship) was infused into their hearts and minds. Their key leaders were Safar al-Ḥawālī and Salmān al-ʿAwdah and they had an appearance, a mask of Salafiyyah, and used their lessons on creed used to gain acceptance of unsuspecting, naive Salafī youth.
02 Some of the scholars of Madīnah, at the head of them, Shaykh Muḥammad Amān (رحمه الله) and Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (رحمه الله) became vocal when they noticed the orientation and direction of these movements, which had the potential to lead to instability, opportunity for hostile outsiders and compromise of regional security. So they spoke and wrote against these ideologues and figureheads and their methodologies in various subject matters. This was years before the senior scholars, such as Shaykh al-Albānī, Shaykh Bin Bāz and Shaykh Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn spoke about them and confirmed what had been said of them and their methodology.
03 In the above incident, Shaykh Muḥammad Amān had barely mentioned the effect of previously non-existent groups in causing disunity in the land and misdirecting the youth, when some in the audience flared up and eventually assaulted the Shaykh. This is the evil effect of blind, fanatical ḥizbiyyah based upon political agitation and manipulation of youthful emotions. Even the sanctity of the mosque and the seniority of the Shaykh over them did not prevent them from showing restraint.
04 May Allāḥ reward the Shaykh tremendously for his steadfastness, because his opposition, alongside that of others, opened the door for the great clarifications that were subsequently made in affairs of creed and methodology, separating the wise Salafī way from the Ḥarakī, Ḥizbī, Siyāsī way which involves blind emotions and fanaticism to ideologies and ideologues.