The text below is reproduced from Abu Iyaad’s article, How the Scholars Dealt With The Fitnah of Ibn Hādī and the Muṣaʿfiqah (opens in a new tab).
Another meeting took place on 9 Ramaḍān 1439, corresponding to 24 May 2018, in which students of knowledge came from Jāzān, a place where Ibn Hādī has lofty standing. They sought advice from Shaykh Rabīʿ about the situation that had developed and what their stance should be. I present details of that meeting which was translated and published shortly after.
The Shaykh, the Father, Rabīʿ—may Allāh preserve him—was in good health and all praise is due to Allāh. He asked me about the students of knowledge in Ṣāmiṭah.
I said: [The affair] is not pleasing, and they are saying: “We are withholding [from taking a position in the matter of Muḥammad bin Hādī]!” The Shaykh, the Father, Rabīʿ—may Allāh preserve him—said: “This is false (bāṭil). They must fear Allāh and not remain silent regarding the oppressor and nor [must] they support him. Otherwise, it is upon them to bring the evidences.”
Note: This is regarding shaykhs and students from a stronghold of Ibn Hādī, in Jāzān, and Shaykh Rabīʿ said that withholding from the matter, not making a position known, that it is falsehood. This is because truth has already become clear from error through the efforts of the critics, and here, every person who has grasped the realities, and has the ability to speak and clarify should do so in order to protect and preserve the ranks of Ahl al-Sunnah.
I said to him: “O Shaykh—may Allāh preserve you—they say that Muḥammad bin Hādī has evidences with him in a green folder.” The Shaykh said: “Rather what he has with him is black, and there are no evidences [in existence].”
I said to the Shaykh, the Father, Rabīʿ—may Allāh preserve him—: “Ruzayq al-Qurashī rebuked me when I placed Muḥammad bin Hādī’s [name] in a tweet which was a response to a tweet which one of the brothers wrote, in which there was [mention of] al-Ḥalabī, al-Maʾribī, al-ʿArʾūr, al-Ḥajūrī and [Ibrāhīm] al-Ruḥaylī.”
So the Shaykh—may Allāh preserve him—said: “Rather, he is more severe than them, more severe than the Ḥaddādiyyah. Because he has delivered a blow to Salafiyyah, he has mutilated the Salafī daʿwah and has torn it to pieces across the world.”
What happened here is that in a social media post, Ibn Hādī’s name had been put alongside prominent individuals who had been refuted in the past for their deviation, and that person was rebuked for it. So Shaykh Rabīʿ replied that the fitnah of Ibn Hādī is more severe than that of the Ḥaddādiyyah of the past. This shows that by this time, before Shaykh Rabīʿ wrote his open letter to Ibn Hādī in June 2018, the obligatory stance had been taken regarding his evil.
Then, when asked about those who defend Muḥammad bin Hādī or spread his statements, whether they to be sat with and can they be listened to, the Shaykh said:
No, they are not to be sat with. These ones defend falsehood, how can they be sat with?”
Written by Yaḥyā bin ʿAlī al-Nahārī, the day of Jumuʿah, 23rd of Ramaḍān of the year 1439H.
This account of the meeting that was posted on 23 Ramaḍān was translated and posted on manhaj.com the next day, along with numerous other materials, that were posted as the situation evolved.