Requirements for a Preacher or Public Speaker
The first
requirement of a preacher or public speaker is sincerity: he must preach solely
for the sake of Allah.
The second is
sound knowledge. He must be well versed in Arabic, knowledgeable in Quranic
exegesis, familiar with Hadith both in its transmission and its critical
understanding, and well grounded in Islamic jurisprudence, including its
principles and detailed rulings. Otherwise, he may become a source of harm to
Islam and its followers.
By Allah, I
have witnessed among ordinary people men who would wrap a turban around their
heads, grow long beards, and then sit down to teach in Damascus's Grand Mosque.
There, they would say whatever their ignorance and personal inclinations led
them to say, presenting it as religion. Meanwhile, muftis, judges, and scholars
would pass by them or know of their activities without speaking out against
them. Yet, had one of these men so much as damaged the robe of one of those
scholars, he would have raised an outcry against him. Was religion, then, of
less consequence to them than their own robes?
I also
encountered another untrained but clever man who managed to deceive a number of
the city's intelligent and learned people. They came to believe in him, showed
him deference, and began learning his interpretations of the reports attributed
to the early generations.
More
astonishing still is the case of a man who claims to be a prophet and who, even
now, resides in the Ghouta region of Damascus. Most of the farmers in the
village of Harasta have believed in him. Someone who witnessed his prayers with
his followers told me that they would burst into loud laughter and chuckle
whenever a verse describing the blessings of Paradise was recited. They would
cry out in delight and congratulate one another. But whenever a verse
describing punishment was recited, they would weep, wail, and lament. Some
would become so overwhelmed that they would jump up during the prayer, shout,
or throw themselves onto the ground.
This false
prophet, or self-proclaimed Mahdi, also imposes a regular levy on his
followers, collecting it in the name of zakat, only to use the proceeds to
purchase properties and farmland.
The third
requirement is excellence in the art of preaching. A preacher must address
people according to their level of understanding and adopt an approach marked
by gentleness and kindness. In this regard, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) is the finest example to follow. His life offers
preachers an exemplary model. Yet where are they in relation to that example?
Most of the
preachers I have encountered, however, know only an aggressive approach, one
that drives people away from religion, hardens their hearts against it, and
makes them recoil from its teachings. If a young man from a school or
university, for example, attends one of their gatherings, they immediately turn
the discussion toward condemning those who shave their beards or imitate women
in their appearance, and similar matters. The young man finds himself the
target of everyone's stares, sweats with embarrassment, and never returns to
the mosque. Had they treated him with courtesy and kindness, he might well have
become one of the God-conscious.
A young man
with a clean-shaven face and an uncovered head, dressed in the latest fashion,
once attended a lesson given by the late Shaykh Badr al-Din. The Shaykh was
sitting quietly with his head bowed, as was his custom, when one of the boorish
men present asked him:
"Master,
what is the ruling on young men who imitate women and dress like the
disbelievers?"
With his
exceptional insight, the Shaykh realized that a newcomer was present. He raised
his head, caught sight of the young man, invited him over, seated him beside
himself, and welcomed him warmly. Then, gently reprimanding the questioner, he
said:
"My dear
son, this young man is someone through whom blessings may be sought."
In other words,
a young man who seeks knowledge, attends gatherings of learning, and looks for
the path leading to Allah deserves to be honored. He may be more worthy of
respect than that boorish man, whose harshness and hard-heartedness have
obstructed the path to Allah for others.
Avoiding
Extremism in Judging Others
The fourth
requirement is for preachers to understand that no class of people holds a
privileged position before Allah simply by virtue of belonging to that class.
Nor is there any intermediary between a servant and his Lord. Once preachers
understand this, they will be more restrained in declaring people disbelievers
over the most trivial matters. They will revisit the relevant religious texts
to understand what disbelief and faith truly mean, and will stop branding
everyone who disagrees with their opinions or questions their arguments as a
disbeliever. A matter may admit of several interpretations, after all.
They must also
refrain from issuing the kind of books that a well-known scholar in Damascus
published several years ago. More than a decade earlier, the same scholar had
published another book in which he declared anyone who believed that the Earth
moves to be a disbeliever. He also pronounced Shaykh Muhammad Abduh and Sayyid
Rashid Rida disbelievers, and issued scathing refutations of Ibn Hazm and
Shaykh Muhammad Bakhit Al-Muti'i. May Allah have mercy on them all. Some mosque
preachers adopted his views and went so far as to declare from their pulpits
that anyone who believed the Earth revolved around the Sun was a disbeliever.
Yet no one
seems inclined to argue that standing up to welcome a visiting guest is
equivalent to prostrating before him, even though both would supposedly fall
under the same ruling as acts of reverence. After all, if standing were
prohibited because it resembled an act of worship, would sitting in the
presence of a friend or teacher not be prohibited for the same reason? Sitting,
too, is one of the essential postures of prayer!
Reforming
Friday Sermons and Selecting Preachers on Merit
The Friday
sermon is one of the most important avenues of religious guidance. When it is
sound, it can help set right the corruption afflicting the community; when it
is misguided, it can contribute to that corruption.
When, then,
will the selection of Friday preachers be properly organized? When will
qualified and knowledgeable candidates be appointed on merit rather than
through inheritance, whereby a preacher's position passes to his young son,
whose upbringing and future character remain unknown, while an official deputy
is appointed to perform the actual duties?
Instead, vacant
preaching positions should be publicly announced, candidates should compete
through examinations, and the most capable and suitable should be selected. If
the position were truly an inheritance, Abu Bakr would have passed it on to his
son, and Umar would have entrusted it to his own. Where, then, did this
baseless rule come from?
Once preachers
have been selected according to what best serves the interests of Islam and the
Muslim community, they should be subject to an appropriate form of oversight.
Such oversight would prevent them from straying into topics that harm Muslims
or serve their own personal interests. It would also encourage them to address
issues arising from the events of the week, explaining Allah's rulings,
enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong.
This oversight,
however, must be entrusted to a body of qualified scholars. It must not
suppress anything except what contradicts Islam or harms the interests of
Muslims, nor should it infringe upon the preacher's freedom beyond those
limits. If these objectives can be achieved without any formal oversight at
all, that would be preferable, and it is how Muslims conducted their affairs
for centuries.
This is a
serious subject, and there is much more to be said about it. Knowledgeable and
sincere preachers are among those best qualified to write on the matter, for
the person who lives in a house knows its contents best, and the bow is best
entrusted to the one who fashioned it.
We ask Allah to
make us among those who are sincere in their intentions.
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