Question
Is the following statement of Allah evidence for the prohibition of working with the people of innovation in the field of daʿwah?
قُلْ هَٰذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّهِ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي
“Say: This is my way; I invite to Allah upon al-baṣīrah (clear insight and correct knowledge), I and whoever follows me…” [Q 12:108] (excerpt)
Answer
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Fawzān replied:
Yes. Daʿwah is not to be carried out upon innovation, nor alongside the people of innovation, and cooperation with them is not permissible. The Prophet said:
وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحْدَثَاتِ الأُمُورِ فَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ
“Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.” [Sunan Abī Dāwūd, no. 4607, excerpt.]
It is not permissible to cooperate with the people of innovation. Rather, it is obligatory to avoid them and to refute them.
References
Al-Qurʾān, [Q 12:108].
Abū Dāwūd, As-Sunan, no. 4607.
Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Fawzān, Al-Ajwibah al-Mufīdah ʿan Asʾilat al-Manāhij al-Jadīdah. Riyadh: Dār al-ʿĀṣimah, 1423 AH, p. 27.
Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān, recorded answer, “Working with Innovators”, audio reproduced above.
