From ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdillāh bin Bāz to my blessed and venerated brother in Islām, the Shaykh (initials: Ayn, Ḥā, Khā) — may Allāh guide him towards the acquisition and implementation of all that is pleasing to Him, and increase him in both knowledge and īmān. Āmīn

I have become acquainted with your written statements —may Allāh guide you — dated the 24th of Muḥarram, 1411 AH (5th of August, 1990 CE). Following my perusal of the matters mentioned therein, it behooves me to inform you that the aḥadīth pertaining to the precautions taken during times of fitnah have been interpreted by the scholars as pertaining specifically to those matters in which the truthful (person) cannot be distinguished from the transgressor. This is the type of fitnah that a believer must show weariness regarding, which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) intended in his saying: “Those who sit (in terms of their engagement in it) are better than those standing in it, those who walk, superior to those who rush forth (towards it)”.^[1]

As for the fitān in which those who have adopted a position of truth and accuracy may be clearly distinguished from the proponents of falsehood, or circumstances in which the oppressor may be pinpointed as such — clearly recognised as disparate from the oppressed — then such situations fall outside the sphere of the aḥadīth mentioned.

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Rather, the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah both espouse a clear obligation to lend support and aid to those who promulgate the truth against those who seek to oppress or treat them unjustly.

This was, for example, the case in the events that transpired between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah (رضي الله عنهما). For, according to Ahl al-Sunnah, the position of ʿAli (رضي الله عنه) in this circumstance was correct; a position that was adopted following his examination of the matter and the evidences from the sources of Islamic jurisprudence necessitating his acquisition of two rewards (one for his consideration of the evidence and the second for reaching and implementing the truth). As for Muʿāwiyah and those who followed him, they were mistaken in the position they took, unjust in their opposition to him. However, their stance was also taken seeking the truth and in consideration of evidence from the sources of Islamic jurisprudence, for which they are still deserving of a single reward (for considering the evidence in the matter but not reaching the truth in the end). May Allāh be pleased with all of them.