What is Fitnah? by The 'Allaamah Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan

[Maher.ibn.Ahmad.Attiyeh]

Bismillaah Al-Hamdulillaah wa salatu wa salaamu 'ala rasulullaah
Amma-ba'd

What is Fitnah? by The 'Allaamah Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan


Question: O Shaykh, may Allaah treat you well; the leaders sometimes issue directives to warn against some of the modern-day groups or ideologies and some people shy away from clarifying, or reading such clarifications, or from (implementing) this command; or they do not, if they are responsible for delivering sermons, give Khutbahs about any group with the argument that they do not want to start Fitnah. So what the statement of your eminence regarding this line of reasoning?

Answer:

We say: Fitnah is to leave the people of evil to spread their evil without taking them by the hand and without warning against theirevil and refuting their ideologies. This is Fitnah.

As for clarifying, and as for taking hold of the hand of the foolish and the people of misguidance, then this is wisdom (Hikmah), not Fitnah. It is prevention of error.

Translated by: Raha ibn Donald Batts

Source:
http://www.sahab.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=125868