Honouring, Hosting & Receiving the Deviant ?!?

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the creation; and there is no aggression except against the tyrants. Blessings and much peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions. To proceed;

A question reached us from some brothers regarding the ruling upon honoring, hosting, and receiving some of the deviants, and giving them the opportunity to propagate their deviant thoughts and foul, modernist etiquette, from the likes of Mahmoud Darwish the Palestinian modernist and a member of the communist Rukah party in Israel. He says in some of his poetry: "Sleep, for Allah's eye is asleep." And the likes of Samih al-Qasim of the Druze and a member of the same party, who says in some of his poetry: "To what cave can Allah escape, covered with dust, smoke, and flames." And the likes of the liberal Turki al-Hamad, who says in his novel al-Karadib: "Suicide is victory over Allah." And the likes of others from this faction.

We were also asked about our opinion regarding he who states that these quotations are "literary passages, thereby no ruling can be made upon a person based upon these quotes." And the statement, "freedom of speech necessitates no takfeer of people, therefore we must surrender their condition to their creator."

So I say, seeking aid from Allah: the response to this is from a number of angles:

Covid & Gratitude for Blessings !

Undoubtedly, what the world has witnessed and what we have experienced firsthand in the past months - and what we are all still experiencing - is a serious affliction, acute distress, and terrible tribulation.

However, there is no doubt that there are great wisdom and purposes for such affliction, and some of them may be the following ones:

Prompting People to Return to Allah and Humble Themselves Before Him:

An affliction serves as a reminder for the disbelievers, the polytheists, and the heedless and lax believers, perchance the disbelievers should believe, the sinners should repent and seek forgiveness, and the believers should earnestly humble themselves before Allah: "And We have already sent (messengers) to nations before you, (O Muhammad); then We seized them with poverty and hardship that perhaps they might humble themselves (to Us)." [6:42-43]

Distinguishing between the Believers and Hypocrites:

When afflictions befall a believer, they boost his certainty in Allah nurture his faith in Him, and increase his knowledge of Him and submission to Him, as he perceives His Power and the effects of His Greatness, and accordingly his faith and steadfastness increase.

Conversely, a hypocrite only perceives the negative side of the affliction. As a result, he has bad expectations of Allah and this fuels his hatred for religion, nurtures his discontent with Allah and further alienates him from his Lord.

Righteous Leadership...

Imaam Ibnul Qayyim said:

The difference between the desire for righteous leadership as opposed to merely desiring leadership: It is the difference between exalting the command of Allah and being sincere to Allah as opposed to love of exalting oneself and hastening towards the fulfillment of desires. Indeed the one who is sincere to Allah and exalts Him, he loves that his Lord is obeyed and not disobeyed; (loves that) Allah’s Word should be uppermost and that all affairs of the religion should be established sincerely for the sake of Allah, and (that) the servants should obey Allah’s commands and keep away from what Allah has forbidden. He is sincere in his servitude to Allah and sincere to Allah’s creation in calling them to the path of Allah. So he loves to be (an upright) leader in the religion; rather he asks his Lord to make him from the leaders of the righteous people who are followed, just as he is a follower of the righteous.

Therefore, if this servant - (i.e. this person) who calls to Allah - loves that he is considered dignified in the eyes (of the people), revered and beloved in their hearts and is one followed amongst them, so that he is trusted by them and they follow the example of the Messenger through him, then this (desire of his) does not harm him; rather he is praised for it. That is because the caller to Allah loves that Allah is obeyed and singled out in worship. He loves to be a means by way of which (people) are aided to (obey Allah, single out Allah in worship and follow the Messenger). And due to this, (when) Allah mentioned those chosen slaves of His - whom He praised in His revelation and will grant the best of reward on the day they meet Him - He mentioned them with the best of their deeds and characteristics, and then said: "And those who say: 'Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqun (pious).'" [25:74]

The term ‘Jahiliyyah’....

The word ‘jahiliyyah’ refers to the name of a condition – this is how it is used the majority of the time in the Book and Sunnah but can also be the name of one who possesses that condition.

From the first is the statement of the Prophet (saws) to Abu Dharr (ra), “Verily, you have jahiliyyah in you.”

And the statement of ‘Umar (ra), “I swore in jahiliyyah that I would spend a night of seclusion.”

And the statement of ‘Aishah (ra), “Nikah during jahiliyyah was four types.”

And their (i.e., the Sahabah) statement, “O Messenger of Allah! We were in jahiliyyah and wickedness.” Meaning: in a state of jahiliyyah, or a order of jahiliyyah, or a custom of jahiliyyah, etc. Indeed, the word ‘jahiliyyah’ – even though the origin is an adjective (sifah) – it was used so much it become a noun (ismun), and resembles a verbal noun (masdar) in meaning.

As for the second (usage), it is saying: a jahiliyyah group and a jahili poet; that is, ascribing (them) to ignorance (jahl) which is the absence of knowledge or the lack of following knowledge. Indeed, whoever does not know the truth is a jahil with simple ignorance. And whoever believes in contradiction to it (i.e., to the truth) is a jahil with compounded ignorance. Also, whether or not he knows the truth, if he said contrary to the truth he is a jahil as the Almighty said, “when the ignorant (jahilun) address them (improperly), they only respond with (words of) repose.” And the Prophet (saws) stated, “When one of you is fasting he should not behave obscenely or ignorantly.”