# How can we stop Salafi ideas from dominating how people see Islam?

*How to stop Salafi ideas spreading: denounce hate preachers, Shia and Salafi alike*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/13/
- Date: 2021-01-05 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (54:29–1:00:54)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=3269s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/

**Topics:** Salafism and Wahhabism; Sunni-Shia dialogue; Extremism, crime and justice

**Question as asked:** How to stop the spreading of Salafi ideas that dominate the public opinion on Islam, hadith, extremism, everything?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Denounce every preacher of hatred, Shia or Salafi, and spread a reasoned narrative; he feels the Salafi dawah is already losing ground.

## Longer summary

A questioner asks how to stop the spread of Salafi ideas that dominate public opinion on Islam. Mufti Abu Layth first plays a clip, shared on Instagram and WhatsApp, of a Shia cleric whose handle he cannot quite read, presenting terrorism as the Islam of Abu Bakr and cursing Abu Bakr and Umar. He says anyone who preaches hatred is an enemy of the Prophet even if unaware of it, calls this person a cancer in the ummah, says many Shia would denounce him and asks Shia especially to do so publicly so bridges can be built. He says the same applies to Salafi extremists who call everyone a mushrik or misguided, a loud part of the Sunni audience, and that the answer is to learn more and spread the right narrative. He says he feels the Salafi dawah, which had a golden appeal in the 1990s and 2000s, is somewhat dying a death as the young want things to make sense by reason.

## Sources and names cited

- Salafi
- Shia
- Abu Bakr
- Umar ibn al-Khattab

## Transcript (machine tier, 54:29–1:00:54)

[53:59] Anyway, but this is not I'm not promoting such things. I'm just giving an example of how people who have actual injuries recover so rapidly uh when they sometimes use treatments that are out of the box because that's an area where people just focus on these kind of injuries. And the medical profession doesn't work in that way because it it's not catered to those specific injuries.

[54:29] It's a generic institutionalized field. Anyway, moving on. Um, how to stop the spreading of Salafi ideas that dominate the public opinion on Islam, Hadith, extremism, everything rightly guided, blah blah blah.

[54:50] Right now I did have um something here. Let me just see. There is terrorism in Islam. This was a video clip that was shared. This is not the real Islam. This is the Islam of Abu Bakr and that is the Islam. It's not this [Music]

[55:20] [Music] [Applause] That's how people are going to find out what the true Islam is. When we express the disassociation from the oppressors, those who establish terrorism, we are telling the people that there is a different Islam. Right? So this was a clip that I came across. It was um I came across it initially on Instagram.

[55:51] There's a person who has the um he his uh his art is psycho uh Omar um he's is Sunni but he had this clip highlighting it and he was bringing attention to it saying that look this is and there was a set of clips this was just one of them uh but it was the same individual who has the handle is the bru moose or something.

[56:21] I think that's this Shia cleric's handle. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is uh even though the questioner asked the question about celophies. Now, this is my point uh because I'm trying to bring it together people. We have to stop this preaching of hatred. Any person who preaches hatred is truly an enemy of the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam even if they don't know it.

[56:54] They may think they are actually you know doing God's work but they're not. This was an example of Shia extremism. you know, he in his clips he's trying to say that terrorists terrorism is basically Sunni Islam and the first terrorists were Abu Bakr and Omar and then he goes on to say which is saying in Persian that curse be upon them and curse be upon

[57:32] and curse be upon Omar and so on look listen I don't know I I don't I've never I don't know much about this particular person is the Bruce his handle the Shia cleric but I can say that this person is a clear cancer in the heart of this ummah okay any person now this is on one this is an example of one extreme that you will get it within all kinds of groups and it needs to be denounced or cut off.

[58:10] This particularly is a Shia problem. Obviously, Sunnis don't accept the Shia narrative anyway. So, but within the Shia, this is a huge barrier to the bridges that are being built. Now in my understanding many Shia would denounce these kind of nutcases but these videos circulating are a problem. I mean I saw this by like I said I saw it on a particular site but then I saw it on several WhatsApps and other people sent it to me as well.

[58:44] So I mean my advice would be that inshallah this part especially to the Shia um folks to kind of denounce this kind of nonsense uh in the public and to inshallah we can move forward building bridges. Okay. Now the same thing with celophies that's your Shia on Shia kind of extremes.

[59:09] Then you have Salafi nutcases who go around calling everybody uh you know or this mushri or this this this this this you know this person is bal this person is you know he's lost the path and this person is whatever and and they are equally a problem so and that is a cancer that we unfortunately have within and I say we because the copy These are still, you know, part of that Sunni kind of audience.

[59:45] That's what they are. Uh, and they're are very viferous, you know, very loud part of it as well. So, we do need to correct it. How can we correct it? Look, I would say by trying to learn more about the dean, trying to spread more of the right uh narrative. And inshallah I do feel that in this day and age the salafi dawa is I do feel it is somewhat dying a death.

[1:00:18] It does have an appeal still to it. It had a a golden appeal especially in the '9s and in the 2000s but a lot of that is now losing ground to the voice of reason because people the younger generation especially they want things and rightfully so. They want them to make sense according to the voice of reason. And come on. I mean, the the Celifies, you're not going to really, you know, it's like [Laughter] you're not going to really find much of the voice of reason there, are you?

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eo90sV4JVHo/s/13. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/13/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.