Q1 - Does the concept of the expatriate conveyor (al-muballigh) refer to the representative of a Grand Islamic Jurist (marji') or to all the acitivists calling to Allah the Most High?

A - Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong (evil) is a necessity of the message-bearing movements within message-bearing societies, whether in Muslim lands or non-Muslim lands, for this is the way to keep Muslims focused on their religion and to prevent them being forced to abandon their religion out of fear of persecution by different means or in different societies. Therefore, I believe that everyone who sees himself capable of going to places of expatriation, to fulfill his message-bearing role in protecting expatriates from every deviation, or from deviation in their belief or Islamic adherence, should go there. Naturally, the conveyor should posses a talent for conveying.

A 'conveyor' is not (necessarily) a religious scholar who has an official religious position, but anyone who possesses the religious knowledge with which he can guide people to the truth and to what will keep their feet firmly on the right path, so that he can surround them with the social and non-social atmospheres and restraints that prevent them from dissolving in the un-Islamic reality in which they live.

Q2 - Regarding the question of Islamic activists, some callers asked you about that, but your ruling was that they should not go (to places of expatriation)?

A - I want (then) speaking, about that matter, from the principle standpoint, fearing for them on the one hand, and the need of the Islamic reality here to some of them on the other.

The conveyors' tools

Q3 - What tools should the conveyor in the emigration arena or the expatriate caller have?

A - He should have Islamic belief, (competence in) jurisprudence and systematic knowledge, and the style that enables him to understand peoples' mentality, needs and circumstances. He should also be aware of the reality in which the people are living, and be faithful to Allah the Most High in his work, and thus not seek, through this work, a certain position or personal gain. Thereby he can avoid the complexes that a lot of conveyors in the Islamic countries bear which make people whom are we want to approach lose confidence in the conveying idea, in conveyors generally and perhaps even in the religion itself, since the regard some of those who deviate from the (straight) line as representatives of religion in all its issues.

The peculiarity of the political conveyor

Q4 - Regarding the peculiarity of the conveyor's political position, do you see that this sometimes represents an obstacle to conveying, especially within atmospheres of rejection and sensitivities instigated by some Islamists who are active in the political field?

A - The matter is not that the conveyor has a political peculiarity, since it is natural that every conveyor, whether a religious scholar or not, should have a certain political affiliation, but he should not use his political affiliation in the dynamic movement of his conveying, or allow himself to be dominated by partisanship to what he is affiliated, and (thus) bring forward some people and push back others. This harms the supreme Islamic interest, through some private partisanships to this or that affiliation. The problem is not a question of him being a party member in a way which makes him part of a group, but that his partisanship makes him move in a single circuit within a certain group without opening up to the whole Islamic reality.

Naturally, the person who does not make the people feel that he represents a particular cause which raises controversy amongst them, irrespective of whether this cause is right of not, is better than one who has a particular cause and behaves according to it. This is because the general character that people believe he has may help him to reach his message-bearing goal, to open up to them and to gain their confidence.

Replicating past experiences

Q5 - Some conveyors copy past experience from the arena in which they were active before they moved to the expatriation arena.

A - This is incorrect, for every arena has its own circumstances, time-wise and place-wise, and every society has its own mentality and psychological and intellectual conditions. Therefore, the arena in which he had the experience perhaps had some elements and peculiarities that are different from those of the new arena, especially if we recognize that people in the East are different from the people in the Wes, and that the negative influences that might leave their effects on the person in the line of deviation in the Islamic areas are different to the same influences in the non-Islamic areas. Also, the Islamic atmospheres which the conveyor experiences in the Islamic arenas may provide him with a resistance which he will not have in the non-Islamic arenas. Therefore, I believe that the conveyor or the caller should live a dynamically moving state of emergency, according to the different circumstances of time, place, people and influences.

Transferring social ills

Q6 - Some conveyor transfer the ills of the ole area to their new arena, creating a state of confusion and distortion, by attacking this or that or that Grand Islamic Jurist (marji), or this or that movement.

A - I think that it is forbidden (harām) for such a conveyor to go there, and if he is (already) there, he is not allowed to undertake this mission since he will intensify people's deviation through tiring their minds and hearts with the doubts, distrust, hatred, spite and enmity that he inspires in them; they will end up feeling the need to be cautious of everything about the religion, the appearance of which is affected by such persons. I imagine that the negative points which expatriate societies experience through the partisanships that these (conveyors) instigate, whether partisanship in favor of the Authorities or political parties or whatever, exceed the positive points they bring.

The conveyor' crisis

Q7 - From the position of the Grand Islamic Jurist that you represent, what tare the steps that you have taken regarding the crisis of conveyors in places of expatriation, and what future steps will be taken in this field?

A - I have tried to find some aware conveyors, who have knowledge of jurisprudence to match their good religious adherence, and I sent them to some places, and retained other who were (already) there. My guidelines to them were to bring the people together and not to separate them, make people love each other to avoid Authority-type partisanship, since for decades we have not proceeded in our Islamic activities to link the people to us personally, but to link them to Islam. There is not deference, in the dynamic movement of the Muslim's obedience to Allah, in following this or that Islamic Jurist (Mujtahid), for the path to Allah is one, whatever the different rulings here or there, for they do not change a thing in the realistic truth. And if the matter is one of awareness and opening up, the it is not a traditional one that people differ in whom they follow. This is because the matter is Islam in one's awareness, on the levels of intellectual and the dynamic movement.

Approaching non-Muslims

Q8 - There is another arena in which the conveyor moves: the arena of the non-Muslims of the country in which he is refugee. What about this arena?

A - I have tried, in my speeches and relationships with those who live in the West or in Africa (to encourage them) to undertake calling the others to Islam, by means of introducing them to the Islamic truths and lines to make them understand Islam in a civilized way that is open to Islam's causes and needs. I believe that the call to Islam is amongst the things which have large arenas and a big potential for positive results. But the problem is that we, in our religious institutions (hawzāt), have not planned for this.

I try, with all means, to raise this issue with a lot of students who study in the religious institutions and to encourage conveying and calling activities amongst the idol-worshippers and non-Muslims, whether in Africa, America, Europe, Australia or Brazil, so that we may strive to produce an Islamic society through our presence in these places. Some small experiments have started, but they need a great deal of work, effort and (financial) capabilities.

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