The Fitnah of Bad Scholars

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

May Allāh ﷻ protect us all from the fitnahs of the end times. The fitnah is great; shayṭān attacks from all sides to make people lose their faith, to end their faith, to make them faithless.

Shayṭān is mankind’s greatest enemy. Shayṭān wants to keep mankind away from all of Allāh’s ‎ﷻ beneficence. He wants to take away their īmān so that people oppose Him ﷻ, so that they do not recognize Him ﷻ.

Because to strengthen people’s īmān, you must follow the way of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Those who continue on the way he ﷺ showed, the way of his ﷺ Companions, scholars, Awliyā’ and madhhab will, in shā’a Llāh, save their faith. Otherwise, they will die faithless, ma’aza’Allah (God forbid.)

Now, the fitnah we are talking about, the worst kind, is those who call themselves scholars. For the last one hundred or one hundred and fifty years, such scholars have emerged, claiming to renew Islām, to reform it, to do this and that.

Instead of reforming, they directly incorporate the ideas of the enemies of Islām into the Islāmic world. They are destroying people’s faith through their gatherings, leaving them faithless.

Therefore, you must be careful. Ahlu s-Sunnah wal Jamā’ah, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam’s way, Madhhab and the ṭarīqah are important. Madhhab and the ṭarīqah are crucial for a Muslim to protect their īmān. It isn’t possible without them. People go astray. They go astray, not knowing what they are doing or what is happening.

They think they are doing good, but in the end, they suffer loss. Neither īmān, nor Islām, nor anything remains within them. They lose that most important, precious thing. And why? Because of these “ulama’ us-su’,” as our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam calls them; bad scholars, scholars of evil, scholars who lead people astray.

They’re trying to destroy Islām by studying, and they emerge faithless. And they lead others astray as well. And these scholars, these poor people who study with the intention of “becoming religious and inviting people to religion, strengthening faith,” their faith wanes, and they then become faithless. May Allāh ﷻ protect us.

We must pay attention to this. We must not compromise in ṭarīqah, sharī’ah and madhhab. Don’t listen to anyone who says “This isn’t necessary,” regardless of which Jamā’ah they are. No matter how many books they’ve written, no matter how many readers they have, stay away from them. Stay away from those who don’t accept ṭarīqah, from these scholars.

Even up until the time of Sultān Abdul Hamid, all the scholars who opposed him were worthless. Because they were against ṭarīqah, they made reforms. They are tools of shayṭān, they are with shayṭān. Don’t believe them. Allāh ﷻ knows how much harm they have caused. True scholars know, people know. These poor people raise their voices, but they silence them. May Allāh ﷻ protect us from evil and wickedness.

The greatest danger, the greatest sin, lies with people like these. The ones who lead people astray carry this sin. And they also caused the deaths of millions of Muslims after the Ottoman Empire, in its final years. So not just spiritually but also materially. They caused people to be expelled from their homes and lands. They’ve harmed people both physically and spiritually. And yet, people still haven’t woken up. Many follow them.

May Allāh ﷻ grant them mind and understanding, and vigilance, in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

•⁠ ⁠Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbaniق

12 April 2026/ 24 Shawwal 1447

Fajr Prayer – Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul

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