The questioner:
May
Allaah be good to you, what is meaning
of the hadeeth “Whoever wants to advise in the one in
authority…” – the hadeeth, and does the one who the people
choose as representatives for them enter into this hadeeth? for
indeed some people (use it) as a justification for them (these representatives)
to criticize the rulers, and say: (that
is) because they are charged with authority, and this statement has been spread
by Dr. ‘Abdullaah bin Miflih ar-Rasheedee, well-known by ash-Shuraykah.
Ash-Shaykh ‘Ubayd al-Jaabiree:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم .
الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين , أما بعد :
الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين , أما بعد :
So
the wording of this hadeeth in totality (is) – and it is saheeh
by all of it’s routes (of transmission) – collected by Ahmad and Ibn
Abee ‘Aasim in “as-Sunnah” and other than them, and it was
declared saheeh by al-Imaam, al-‘Allaamah, al-Muhaddith,
ash-Shaykh Naasir رحمه
الله:
))من أراد أن ينصح لذي سلطان فلا يبده علانية , وليخلوا به وليأخذ بيده , فإن قبلها قبلها , وإن ردها فقد أدى ما عليه ((
((
Whoever wants to advise the one in authority, then he should not do it
openly (in public), rather let him take him behind closed doors (in private)
and take him by his hand (and advise him).
So if he accepts it from him, then that is good, and if he rejects it,
then he has carried out what was upon him to do. ))
So
this hadeeth conveys:
Firstly: complete secrecy in
advising the ruler and likewise his representatives, away from even the closest
of people to him if possible.
And
it conveys secondly: the blamelessness of advising the ruler in the way the
hadeeth implies, and that the haakim (ruler) is not
obligated to accept his advice, so the obligation is discharged with nothing
more than his advice, in this way that the hadeeth implies. And thirdly it conveys: that there is
no other way to be followed in advising the ruler, and by this it is known that
what some of the people pursue in the media - visual, printed, or audio - and
likewise in the khutbahs,
seminars, and lectures - from spreading the mistakes of those in
authority and defaming them – that it is not from the Sunnah. Rather it is the path
of the Khawaarij al-Qaa’idiyyah or al-Qa’idiyyah, and indeed the A’immah
of Ahlus-Sunnah have warned against them.
And
they do not cease to have heads in every time and place, and every time a
leader appears from them and one of them raises his voice with baatil,
Allaah raises up for him a man or men from Ahlus-Sunnah who refute his baatil. And this, inshaa’allaah, is it’s
confirmation in the hadeeth that doesn’t go below the level of hasan:
)) يحمل هذا العلم من كل خلف عدوله , فينفون عنه تحريف الغالين وانتحال المبطلين وتأويل الجاهيلن ((
“This knowledge will be carried by it’s
trustworthy ones from every generation.
They will remove from it the distortions of the excessive ones, and the
false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant ones.”
May
Allaah make us and you from them and with them by al-Qawl ath-Thaabit in
the life of this world and in the Aakhirah.
So
if this is established, then here are two issues:
The
first issue
(is): that those representatives – according to my knowledge – the people have
chosen them, and the Ameer did not appoint them. But rather, he approved them.
Secondly: that they are not those in authority [i.e.
rulers]. Rather they are representatives
of the people (who) convey their wishes to the haakim. So from their duties is:
Firstly: that they are truthful and sincere towards
the haakim and the mahkoom in giving advice.
Secondly: if there are
mistakes from the haakim, he should be advised privately.
Thirdly: if the constituents make claims to those representatives,
or the people claim to have grievances, that they try to examine them in order
to establish what is correct and what is false, and what resembles the true
reality (of the matter being raised), and what resembles empty rhetoric,
arguing, and lying.
So
if they corroborate these grievances, they raise them to the haakim
and voice their opinion (to him) and urge him to remove these grievances. And what is obligatory upon them is that this
is done secretly between them and the haakim, for indeed this is
from what the hadeeth necessitates and implies. And it is prohibited for them to spread the haakim’s
mistakes, whether it be the top judges in the state, or a deputy, or his prime
minister, ministers, or other than this from those who have authority.
Instead
it is upon them to fear Allaah عز
وجل ,
and that they be with the ‘Ulamaa’ of the Muslims, striving in uniting
upon the one who Allaah put in authority over them, and that they repel
splitting and division the best they can and bridge the gap between the haakim
and the mahkoom. And we,
when we say this, this is not from ourselves, rather this – by Allaah, by
Allaah, by Allaah – is from what we’ve inherited from the a’immah of
Ahlus-Sunnah who built their qawaa’id (principles) in ‘Ibaadah,
behavior and manners towards others, upon the Book and the Sunnah and way of
the Salafus-Saalih.
And
the second matter: this which has spread
from Dr. 'Abdullaah bin Miflih ar-Rasheedee, well-known by ash-Shuraykah,
from him this is not surprising, for indeed it has become apparent to us by
proofs and evidences that the man is ikhwaanee, and he only holds
on to shaykh Falaah and other than him in Kuwait as a
deceptive plot (kayd) against Ahlus-Sunnah there (in Kuwait), so it is
obligatory to warn against him, and I have things that establish his lies.
This, and may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon our
Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and Companions one and all.
Dictated
by ‘Ubayd bin ‘Abdillaah bin Sulaymaan, former teacher in the Islaamic
University (in al-Madeenah), the morning of al-Khamees (Thursday), the
24th of the month of Rajab, 1433H, corresponding with the 14th
of June, 2012. And may Allaah’s peace
and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and
Companions one and all.
- End of the Shaykh’s Words –
the audio file --
