What I Witnessed In England

Author: Shaikh Abu ‘Abdir-Rahmaan Yahyaa bin ‘Alee Al-Hujooree

Source: Al-Manhaj
Translator: Abu Maryam Isma'eel Alarcon

Published: Thursday 30th July, 2015



The Condition of Ahlus-Sunnah in England

As for the condition of Ahlus-Sunnah there, then in reality they have a love for the people of knowledge in general and for our Shaikh (Muqbil) in particular – both the men and the women. By Allaah, they yearn to come here – but it is only the difficulties presented by the embassies and the obstacles from the governments that prevent them. If it were not for all this, this institute would be filled with them. Just ask the brothers who are here with us – no one accepts Islaam over there except that they tell him, after he recites the Shahaadah, the scholars are so and so and so and so, among the Salafees, out of fear that he will go to some of the innovators.

So for example, they mention Al-‘Allaamah Al-Albaanee (رحمه الله), Al-‘Allaamah Ibn Baaz (رحمه الله), our Shaikh (حفظه الله), and Ibn ‘Uthaimeen (رحمه الله). So they say: “Does any one teach?” And they reply: “Yes, Shaikh Muqbil in Yemen.” So he remains longing to go seek knowledge. Among them are those who are prevented due to those restrictions (above), and among them are those who are held back due to other reasons, but they long to seek knowledge. So when we come, their desire to seek knowledge increases, as well as their wanting to come (here). And the blessing in this belongs to Allaah alone. This is because of what they see from the path of seeking knowledge and how religious understanding can be derived from deducing the Qur’aanic ayaat and authentic ahaadeeth and what they see from the right direction and the straight path.

They have an urgent need for knowledge. Among them are those who have been Muslim for one month and those who have five years to seven years in Islaam. And the Sunnah was conveyed to them through the people of knowledge coming to them and by way of the lectures and tapes. However, they are in need of knowledge and of learning the Arabic language and of what you know that mankind needs with regard to his Religion.

We feel that Ahlus-Sunnah there have an amazing kind of love for one another. We noticed this in their close contact and esteem for one another. They also cooperate and assist one another in everything. If they wanted to purchase a bicycle, they would assist one another in it, if it were for a charitable cause. This is something good. And they invite the scholars, whom we will mention later, by Allaah’s Will, and they benefit and learn from them. [1]

And they convey their Salaam to you, [2] especially the Shaikh. You can find one of them repeating this five times or ten times: “Give my Salaam to the Shaikh and the brothers there.” And the women many times would say: “Give our Salaam to the Shaikh and to the sisters over there.”

Footnotes

[1] But what do benefit do they derive? Lectures are given for three or four days and one speaker comes and takes a long tour of the country giving lectures. If we had wanted this, we would have spent all the time we were there going around lecturing from Holland to Belgium to Sweden, etc. however, the benefit of lectures is not like the benefit of staying in one place and giving classes and answering questions and so on.

[2] This speech is directed to the students of knowledge in Damaaj.


 

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