The Albaani Site

And due to this, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم sent Mu’aadh ibn Jabal and Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, may Allaah be pleased with them both, to Yemen, he counselled them with the following, “Be easy going and do not be harsh, give glad tidings and do not put people off, cooperate and do not be divided.” [Muslim no. 4526, the Shaikh mentioned a shorter wording].

So all of this and what was mentioned before makes us pay heed to the fact that we should be forbearing and easy-going with the people.

And as I say on this occasion and how often I do say this: our call, walhamdulillaah, is the true call, and the people are heedless of the truth.

The truth in and of itself is heavy on the people, so it is enough of a burden on them that we call them to this truth which is [already] heavy on them.  The burden of the truth is enough for them [to try and handle]. And this is what should deter and prevent us from adding to this load on them by our use of a harsh manner in calling them to the truth.

For when harsh manners are added to the intensity of the truth and its burden upon the people … if calling the people [to the truth] is accompanied by the intensity of the truth and its burden on them–and this is something correct, then it is not befitting that we add another burden to this one–which is not correct, [for] then this second burden [i.e., harsh manners] will be a hindrance for the people from accepting this truth which is weighty in and of itself, as He the Most High said, “Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word.” Muzzammil 75:5

For this reason, part of what he عليه السلام said to Mu’aadh in the incident where he prolonged his recitation in the Ishaa prayer which led one of the Ansaar to cut off his prayer behind him, pray on his own and then go home, leaving the Jamaa’ah–so when this news reached Mu’aadh he was severe in his attack upon this Ansaari, such that he said about him, ‘He is a hypocrite.’

And Mu’aadh, may Allaah be pleased with him, made this statement based upon the general principle which Ibn Mas’ood mentioned in his long hadith reported in Sahih Muslim, ‘None would remain behind from the prayer in congregation except a hypocrite,’ and likewise there is another hadith [which mentions] that the person who is in the mosque and hears the call to prayer but then leaves is a hypocrite.

[So] Mu’aadh used this general principle [when making his statement] concerning that person, and he was mistaken in doing so.

Because that man did not leave the prayer due to him following [his] desires but rather due to an excuse he had which he clarified to the Prophet عليه السلام when he complained of Mu’adh to him.

So the Prophet عليه السلام sent for Mu’aadh as is known and he عليه السلام said to him, “Do you want to cause fitnah, O Mu’aadh? Do you want to cause fitnah, O Mu’aadh? Do you want to cause fitnah, O Mu’aadh? It is enough for you to recite, ‘By the sun and its brightness,’ ‘By the night as it envelops,’ and surahs like it and when one of you leads the people in prayer let him make it light,’ [Bukhaari and Muslim] to the end of the hadith.

So the point is that hardness and harshness harm the da’wah, and we, regretfully, notice about many of our brothers that every time the newer this person is to the da’wah the rougher he is in it, because he thinks that harshness helps the da’wah, whereas the reality is that it harms it and in this regard His Saying, the Mighty and Majestic, is enough for you, “And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you.” Aali-Imraan 3:159