Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
The mature response is to choose to listen to scholars you resonate with and leave the affair of others to Allah. Engaging in public criticism and “boxing matches” is not beneficial for the Ummah. Focus on refuting concepts rather than individuals, and trust that people of intelligence and Taqwa will be drawn to scholars who share those qualities.
In response to this question, Dr. Yasir Qadhi — the Dean of The Islamic Seminary of America and the resident scholar at the East Plano Islamic Center — states:
The response I would say is that let us choose the scholars that we resonate with and leave the rest to Allah the Almighty. Let’s be mature about this. What will you gain by bashing other people?
I strongly disagree with that type of scholarship, I do, but what do I gain by using them as a punching bag and scoring brownie points with people over here? What do I gain?
So I’m asking you to be more mature. If a scholar seems to have a relationship with entities or governments and they have a different stance on Gaza or whatever, then it’s up to you. Then don’t listen to them. I mean, I don’t know what else to say to you.
But if you expect me or others to call them out, I think this is a type of boxing match that is entertainment and it’s not beneficial for the Ummah.
I firmly believe Allah the Almighty will, insha’Allah, bless the sincere scholars that are helping the Ummah. And those that are doing other things, I firmly believe Allah will show us; we don’t need to get involved.
So that’s not my style, I’m sorry. I don’t agree with this. That’s why, how often do you hear me mention a name over here? I don’t believe in this. We have enough problems to deal with. Now I’m going to air my dirty laundry in public and mention a scholar and have a boxing match in public?
No, I don’t agree with this. I firmly believe people of intelligence and Taqwa will be attracted to people of Taqwa and intelligence. And if it seems as if some people are not doing the right thing, well then we leave their affair to Allah, and in this world, we’ll refute concepts rather than individuals as much as possible.
This is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). There is a Hadith in Sahih Al-Bukhari, when the Prophet wanted to criticize someone, he would not mention the name. He would say, “Why do some people do things?” I try to follow that Sunnah as much as possible.
If you ask me, I don’t agree with saying to the people of Gaza that they should have patience and accept Allah’s divine decree on them. Listen to my Khutbahs, I don’t agree with this at all. You’re going to tell the people of Gaza to have patience and you are sitting over here?
I don’t agree with this at all. And I am very disappointed if somebody were to say this. That’s not what I think. I’ve never said that I’m qualified to tell them what to do. And to say that they should accept Allah’s divine decree upon them and just complain to Allah the Almighty, that’s not my understanding of the Sirah at all. But I leave their affair to Allah, and I don’t agree that we should be name-calling.
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Almighty Allah knows best.