Shaykh Muḥammad Amān al-Jāmī:
As for Ikhwan ul-Muslimūn, then they are older than them [al-Surūrīyah] and also more proficient and active in propagating their methodology and movement. They are prevalent among you and live alongside you. They pretend to give daʿwah to Islam. However, [their] daʿwah is not a practical daʿwah as it contains no rectification, commanding [good], forbidding [evil], rejection of immorality or educating; rather, gathering [the people] and impairing the seeking of knowledge. [Just] gathering numbers. I gave an example of this [ikhwānī] daʿwah in some of my lectures, to highlight the difference between their daʿwah and the daʿwah of the Salafiyyīn.
A Salafī individual enters a market place and says to the people [Muslims]: “O servants of Allāh, perform ablution, and who ever needs to perform ghusul then do so, purify yourselves [in preparation] for prayer and precede to the masjid and perform prayer” Thus he [the Salafī] starts with ṭahārah [purification] and preparation for prayer. On the other hand, [an Ikhwānī] person enters the market and says: “Leave this [preparation for prayer]. Precede all of you to the masjid without any conditions or restrictions. Al-junūb (needing ritual bath), al-haiḍ (menstruating women), al-nufasa (women in postnatal bleeding) al-muhdath [needing ablution] enter the masjid [for prayer] all of you. [You are] Muslims!! So there is no need for these conditions“. This is the likeness of their daʿwah; meaning: gathering the people [as many as possible] under the banner of Islam without nurturing, educating, or directing [them], [just] Islam, [just] Muslims and that is sufficient. This is wasting [their Islam] and an act of pre-tense, deception and lack of advising.
[The Prophet said] ﷺ, “Whoever deceives us is not from us” This is not daʿwah! Daʿwah is rectification! Teach the people how to clean themselves, teach the people ʿAqīdah, teach them the conditions of Lā illāha illa Allāh and the conditions of ablution, and prayer, teach them properly. The Islamic Daʿwah is a Daʿwah of nurturing, and the strange thing, is that they always use the term education when in reality they are not about education, they never nurture [the Muslims] ever, even though education is mentioned frequently in their books. Let me give you an example, I worked in a large Muslim country in which a very large Islamic group was present. Ahl al-Ḥadīth – the Salafiyyūn were also present. As for the curriculum of the Salafīs, then they designed a curriculum exclusively for themselves other than the curriculum of the state. They would teach their boys and girls in their own private schools from [the primary stage of)] memorising Qurʿān up until University level. When you see one of them [students] you would know from his dress-code, prayer, and how he conducts himself that he is Salafī. There is nurturing and educating [in these Salafī schools], and their masjids have distinctness about them.
However, the large [Islamic] group is such that you cannot differentiate between them [it] and the other Islamic sects and denominations that are present there; not by way of any Masjids or any curriculum for themselves. [Rather], they are completely intermingled with the other groups. The Islamic sects and denominations that are present there are too many to count. You cannot differentiate between them and the so-called group ‘Al-Jamāʿat al-Islāmīyyah‘ whatsoever; unless an individual from them tells you: ‘I’m from the Jamāʿat al-Islāmīyyah‘ (i.e. ikhwānī). If you so happen to be in a sitting with a person from the ‘Deobundīyyah‘ or ‘Barelwīyyah‘ sect, and another from the Jamāʿat al-Islāmīyyah you would not be able to differentiate between them in any way what so ever. However, Ahl al-Ḥadīth are distinct.
Many a time an individual would pray next to me in the Prophet’s ﷺ masjid and I would know by the way that he prays that he is upon the methodology of Ahl al-Ḥadīth. I would ask him after prayer: ‘Are you upon the methodology of Ahl al-Ḥadīth?’ [He would reply]: ‘Yes….‘ [I would asked]; ‘From what country?….‘ [He would reply]: ‘From such-and-such country.‘ He is distinct! Due to being nurtured upon Islamic education! This is Islam. This is education.