Questioner:

If there appears in our country a preacher, whom by way of his lessons and sermons, it is apparent that his creed and manḥāj is sound. Is it permissible for the Salafī brothers to sit with him or does he need a tazkiyah from one of the the major scholars to do?

Shaykh Zayd ibn Muḥammad al-Madkhalī

Not at all. [It is] based upon what has appeared from him. Upon the people is the apparent and [they are] judged on the apparent and not the hidden. As long as it is apparent that he calls to Allah ﷻ with the Book and Sunnah upon the manḥāj of the Salaf, then knowledge is sought from him. He is sat with, asked questions and matters of creed and manḥāj are discussed with him. So they benefit from him and he benefits from them.

Clarification by Aḥmad Bazmūl:

And here I (would like to) point out (something) about what has been quoted from our Shaykh, al-ʿAllāmah, Zayd ibn Muḥammad al-Madkhalī (may Allah protect him) that he said: tazkiyah (commendation) is not a condition for a teacher (to teach). So I asked him about that and said, “O Shaykh, may Allah ﷻ bless you, if this door was opened then everyone would come to us and start teaching and say, ‘Commendation (tazkiyah) is not a condition!’ And we find texts from the Salaf (indicating) that it is necessary for him to be mashūr (well known for knowledge) or that the Scholars have explicitly stated that knowledge can be taken from him.” So he (Shaykh Zayd) said, “Yes, I intend this (meaning), that this person is competent for teaching. For if he was to speak, then the Scholars would pass judgement regarding him as to whether knowledge is accepted from him or not.”

Yet we see certain people trying hard to make this word (speech) of Shaykh Zayd apply to him even though he does not have a commendation. For the Shaykh tied this matter down to him being competent for seeking knowledge, for him being worthy of having knowledge taken from him.