Shaikh Mashoor Hasan, may Allaah protect him, said, “A student of the Shaikh, the Allaamah, the Faqih of his time, Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him, visited me, being very enthusiastic about meeting our Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him. When I asked him why he was so eager, he said, ‘I heard my Shaikh, Shaikh Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him, saying:
‘We spent our time with the speech of the scholars of fiqh [the fuqahaa], and al-Albaani spent his time with the hadiths of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.’’”
“Indeed the supplication printed at the end of some of the mushafs published in Turkey and other places with the title, ‘The Supplication for Completing [the Recital of] the Quraan,’ which is attributed to the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allaah the Most High have mercy on him, is something for which we do not know of any original source from Ibn Taymiyyah or any other scholar of Islaam.
And I didn’t like that it should be added to the end of the mushaf printed by Al-Maktab al-Islaami in Beirut in 1386ah [1966ce] under the donation of the Shaikh Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Abdullaah Aal-Thaani, may Allaah have mercy on him. And even though it was printed with the phrase, ‘Attributed to the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah,’ that will not [sufficiently] convey to the common folk the fact that its attribution to him is not correct, and we have been ordered to speak to the people in terms they can understand!
And there is no doubt that sticking to a particular supplication at the end of the recital of the Quraan is an innovation which is not permissible, due to the generality of the proofs, like his saying صلى الله عليه وسلم, ‘Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire,’ and it is an innovation which Imaam ash-Shaatibi calls a, ‘secondary/supplementary innovation.’
And the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah is one of those furthest away from bringing forth such innovations, and how could he when, in his time and afterwards, the initial merit for reviving Sunnahs and killing innovations was his.
“Because of Allaah, the Most High’s, Wisdom and Justice in His Judgements, it is not for anyone to ask about what He does, because all of His Judgements, the Most High, are unequivocally just, so there is no need to ask.”
In their book, Hassaanah and Sukainah, the daughters of Shaikh al-Albaani said, “And our father, may Allaah have mercy on him, was asked, ‘If I have memorised a quarter of the Quraan and then I move on to the second quarter [but] I haven’t memorised the previous quarter properly, will I be sinful?’ So he replied, ‘You won’t be sinful inshaa Allaah, but you would not have responded appropriately to the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم saying, “Keep refreshing your knowledge of the Quraan, for by the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, it is more inclined to escape than a camel from its rope,” [Muslim] in this hadith is an encouragement to refresh one’s knowledge of the Quraan and to be persistent in reciting it, because it escapes from the breasts of men due to the loftiness of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic’s Speech and its exaltedness.’”
Ad-Daleel ilaa Ta’lim Kitaabil-Laahil-Jalil, vol.3, p. 127.
The Imaam said, “Your imposition on another to adopt your opinion whilst he is not convinced of it negates one of the principles of the Salafi da’wah—which is that judgement [Haakimiyyah] is for Allaah Alone, and I reminded him of the Most High’s Statement about the Christians, ‘They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allaah,’[Tawbah 8:31] thus it is enough for you that each one of you remains on his opinion—since neither one of you is convinced of the other’s—and that you should not declare him to be misguided, as he should not declare you to be misguided, and through that it is possible for you to continue cooperating with him in those principles of the da’wah and their subsidiary issues that you are both agreed upon.”
The Imaam said, “And in this regard, I advise the noble readers not to trust what is written these days in some of the magazines in circulation or widespread books containing Islamic research, especially those which are concerning the science of hadith, except if they are, firstly, written by the pen of someone whose [understanding of the] religionis trusted, and secondly that his knowledge and speciality in it [are trusted too]–for self-importance has conquered many of the writers of the present age, especially those who carry the title of, ‘Dr.,’ for they write about things which are not from their speciality, and about which they have no knowledge.
And indeed I know one of these individuals, he recently brought out a book before the people, most of it being about hadith and the seerah, thinking that in it he had relied upon authentic hadiths and narrations from the books of the Sunnah and Seerah! [Yet] then he [proceeds to] report narrations and hadiths in it which are unique in only being reported by the weak narrators, the abandoned narrators and those who have been accused of lying, like Waqidi and others. In fact, he reported the hadith, ‘We judge by what is apparent and leave what is hidden to Allaah,’ and he was resolute in attributing it to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم even though it has no basis [in being a narration] from him صلى الله عليه وسلم with this wording–so, readers, beware of people like these.
Explaining the hadith, “Du’aa is worship …” Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him said, “And there is no doubt that arrogantly refusing to worship and supplicate to Him, the Most High, necessitates His Anger against the one who does not call on Him … and some of the ignorant Sufis are ignorant or feign ignorance of these hadiths under the assumption that supplicating to Allaah is to show bad manners to Him, being affected in that by the Israa’ili narration, ‘His Knowledge of my condition suffices me from having to ask!’ So they were ignorant of the fact that a servant supplicating to his Lord is not in order to inform Him of his need, for He, “… knows the secret and what is [even] more hidden,”[Taa Haa 20:7] but rather that it is in order for him to manifest his servitude [to Allaah], his need of Him and his destitution [before Him].”
Questioner: A hadith reported from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that he said, “Indeed Allaah created the son of Aadam in the image of the Most Merciful [ar-Rahmaan]?”
Al-Albaani: [A] false [hadith [baatil]].
Questioner: False huh?
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: May Allaah reward you with good and have mercy on your parents.
Al-Albaani: May Allaah protect you.
Questioner: And those people who say that it is authentic?
Al-Albaani: Those who say it is authentic don’t know authentication.
Questioner: May Allaah reward you with good.
Al-Albaani: May Allaah protect you. The hadith is with the wording, “Indeed Allaah created Aadam in his image,’ not, ‘… in the image of The Most Merciful [ar-Rahmaan].’
Questioner: ‘…in his image,’ Aadam is the one who is intended here …
Al-Albaani: Listen. This is the famous wording, well-known in the two Sahihs, and a narration reported in Bukhaari explains the first one, [it being], ‘Allaah created Aadam in his image, his height being sixty cubits,’ so it is Aadam.
Questioner: Yes, yes, may Allaah reward you with good.
Al-Albaani: May Allaah protect you.
Questioner: Don’t forget us in your du’aa, O Shaikh, may Allaah reward you with good.
Al-Albaani: And you, likewise, don’t forget us in your du’aa for good.
Questioner: [I leave you] in the protection of Allaah.
Questioner: People strive to attain happiness, their ways in achieving it being diverse, if our Shaikh would clarify for the people some milestones in their path to attain it?
Al-Albaani: I don’t think there is any differing in this except among the philosophers.
Amongst the Muslims who believe in Allaah and His Messenger and who believe that there is no path to happiness in this life or the next except by clinging to Islaam there is no multiplicity of answers–[the only answer] is to cling to Islaam.
And vice versa, whoever wants misery should turn away from Islaam, and this is very clear from many verses, like His Saying, the Most High, in the well-known aayah, “And whoever turns away from My remembrance–indeed, he will have a depressed [i.e., difficult] life, and We will gather [i.e., raise] him on the Day of Resurrection blind. He will say, ‘My Lord! Why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?’ He will say, ‘Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot [i.e., disregarded] them–and thus will you, this Day, be forgotten.’” [Taa Haa 20:124-126]
But the thing we must pay heed to, something which is a very big reality and painful from another angle due to many of the Muslims lacking it, many of them [lacking it] in terms of knowledge and some of them practically, is that Islaam with the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم upon the understanding of the Salaf as-Saalih is the cure for all diseases and psychological illnesses which have afflicted a people who have not tasted happiness.
Islaam derived from the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih is the cure.
But the thing I want to mention now is that many alien matters have entered this cure, which, if we don’t say have corrupted it completely then at the very least have prevented it from being an absolute one, [and I’m referring here to] those things which have come into Islaam which are not a part of it, whether they be in creed, worship, behaviour or manners, and due to these things which have afflicted it, this Islaam is turned inside out … its effect is not manifested in the community that practices it.
So the fault is not with Islaam but rather those things that have been added to it.
That is why we always and forever insist on saying that if we want this happiness, there is no way to it, as we already mentioned, except through Islaam–but not, if the expression be correct, Islaam with an ‘elastic’ understanding but with the special understanding based upon the Book, the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih.
It is then that it, and nothing else, will be the spring of happiness.
Whatever the case, I hold that questions like this are studied in universities which do not specialize, in fact, do not give importance to studying Islaam, but are concerned with studying general culture whether that be Islaam, or philosophy, or secularism or things like it [i.e., they don’t know that happiness is found in following the true Islaam so they spend time trying to find other ways to achieve it].
Amongst the Muslims, the understanding is that there is no happiness except by clinging to Islaam–I just wanted to add [through this answer the point about] clinging to Islaam with its correct understanding …
Interjector: O Shaikh! I had taken a booklet from you which I photocopied, called, ‘Useful Ways of Leading a Happy Life,’ by Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Naasir as-Sa’di [who was Shaikh Uthaimeen’s teacher, may Allaah have mercy on them both], even though it is only a few pages long, it’s a very great book, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: Maa shaa Allaah.
Interjector: If a person was depressed, sad, ill at ease, overburdened with sorrow, and read it, subhaanallaah! Namely, if the expression is allowed, it’s as though it’s magic.
Al-Albaani: Maa shaa Allaah.
Interjector: Yes, by Allaah, ‘Useful Ways of Leading a Happy Life,’ truly amazing, O Shaikh. [Click here for the book]
Al-Albaani: You should read it.
Interjector: It is great, subhaanallaah! By Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Naasir as-Sa’di. [Click here for his website]
Questioner: There is an authentic hadith which states that at the start of every hundred years [Allaah will raise someone] who will revive this Ummah’s religion for it, is it a condition that these revivers [Mujaddids] be from Ahlus-Sunnah or not?
Al-Albaani: No doubt. It is a fundamental condition and this is the reality that I hold [to be the case]. In my opinion, this question is like if someone were to ask–and I hope that such a question does not actually emanate from a questioner—it’s like if someone were to ask, ‘Is it a condition that he be a Muslim?’ Naturally, such a question will not be asked, ‘Is it a condition that a reviver [mujaddid] be a Muslim?’ I think this will never occur to someone [to ask].
As for whether it is a condition that he be from Ahlus-Sunnah, then such a question may occur to some people, and for this reason it was raised just now.
The answer is that he definitely has to be from Ahlus-Sunnah, and [by saying that he has to be from] Ahlus-Sunnah, I don’t mean that he has to be from the scholars … but rather that he be upon the methodology of Ahlus-Sunnah and not deviated from the path which has come to us from the Salaf as-Saalih, may Allaah be pleased with them, this is a must, but the reviver [mujaddid]—and even though this [point] is not connected to the question I still believe that there is a huge benefit in it—it is not a condition that the reviver be a reviver of the religion only, rather he can be a reviver in everything which benefits the Muslims. So he could, for example, be a reviver in history, a reviver in medicine—but within the aforementioned parameters, i.e., of being from Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah.
So based upon this, in the end we can picture that during one time there can be more than one reviver, when we take this wide meaning into consideration, it is possible for me to picture, at one period, a gathering of a number of revivers, each one in his own specialist field.
The Imaam said, “Know that ‘as-Samr,’ which is to talk at night, is prohibited in more than one hadith [reported] from him صلى الله عليه وسلم [unless it is concerning knowledge as the Shaikh clarifies].
So what the majority of people today do in spending the night awake in front of the television and things like it is from the tribulations which have afflicted the Islamic world in the present age.
We ask Allaah for safety from all tribulations, both apparent and hidden, indeed He is the All-Hearing, the Responsive.”
Questioner: Tell me your opinion regarding the Ansaarus-Sunnahal-MuhammadaiyyahJamaa’ah [in Egypt] and then after that I will ask you the rest of the question [that I have].
Al-Albaani: Take their knowledge and/but leave their actions.
Questioner: Huh?
Al-Albaani: Take their knowledge and leave their actions, take their knowledge and leave the actions of individuals from them, have you understood me? This is enough for you, this is enough for you … as-salaamu alaikum.
“I ask Allaah to protect me and you from fanatical ‘madhhabism’, and that He grants us and you success in following the truth whoever it is with and that we go wherever it does.”
Renouncing some of the fanatical Hanafis, the Shaikh said, “[This is] enough twisting and turning, O people, in defence of your Imaam even though he is not to blame, because he stopped at what he knew, so you have to follow what is established in the Sunnah, for it is the foundation. And if it [i.e., a particular proof] eluded your Imaam then it hasn’t eluded you, and through it, the proof has been established against you.”
“Honouring the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the legislated manner is done by believing in everything that has been authentically affirmed from him, and by doing so, belief in him being both a slave and Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم is brought together, without going to extremes or falling short.
For he صلى الله عليه وسلم is a man, according to the testimony of the Book and the Sunnah—but the Chief of Man and, unequivocally, the best of them according to the texts of the authentic hadiths, and as his life’s chronicles and biography prove, and due to the noble manners and praiseworthy characteristics that Allaah the Most High bestowed upon him which were not perfected in any man as they were in him صلى الله عليه وسلم, and Allaah the Most Great spoke the Truth when He addressed him with His Noble Statement, “And verily, you are on an exalted [standard of] character.”” [Qalam 68:4]
“The one who prefers taking an oath by someone apart from Allaah over taking an oath by Allaah has made him a partner with Allaah, and unfortunately most of the Muslims do not know this type of shirk.”
Questioner: Okay, O Shaikh, regarding what is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina, may Allaah protect it and the Muslims from evil, some Bosnian Muslim women have started to kill themselves and commit suicide when they come to know that the unbelievers or the Serbs are going to commit fornication with them, is that allowed?
Al-Albaani: It is not allowed.
Questioner: Even in their case?
Al-Albaani: It is not allowed.
Questioner: And the solution, what is it, they should defend themselves?
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: Even if it leads to fornication being committed with them?
Al-Albaani: The answer to this has already finished: even if.
Questioner: Is it allowed to backbite someone who is defiantly disobedient [a faasiq] in order to warn against him and so as not to fall into trials [fitnah] like fornication and stealing?
Al-Albaani: Naturally, [that is] the least that can be said, otherwise it is obligatory.
Questioner: During tawaaf for Umrah [as part of Hajj] someone tried to prevent an incorrect act, which was that someone else was touching and kissing the standing place of Ibraahim [Maqaam]–but the way he stopped this act was with harshness and he raised his voice and also hit [the other person]. Can the Hajj of this person be regarded as a correct and valid one [mabroor]? Bearing in mind that the person asking the question has repented to Allaah, and is ardently waiting for an answer? He hit the other person … it reached such an extent that he hit the other person …
Al-Albaani: Wasthe one who was performing Hajj the one who struck [the other person] or the one who was hit?
Questioner: Both of them … it was during tawaaf.
Al-Albaani: Namely,they were both performing Hajj?
Questioner: Yes. It was during the tawaaf of the Umrah [which is part of Hajj at-Tamattu], one of them disapproved of what the other was doing but he didn’t respond so he hit him.
Al-Albaani: Naturally, this is not compatible whatsoever with the Prophet’s عليه السلام saying … in fact, [it is not compatible whatsoever with] the verse, “So whoever has made Hajj obligatory upon himself therein there is [to be for him] no sexual relations and no disobedience and no disputing during Hajj,”[Baqarah 2:197] since firstly, enjoining the good and preventing the evil shouldn’t be done with cruelty or harshness, especially when most people do not know [the truth].
We should regard the people as being ill and that they are in need of being treated with kindness, sympathy and mercy and not with cruelty or harshness. This is as a general rule. So what is the situation when we are, firstly, talking about [such harshness occurring during] Hajj, and, secondly, [that it occurred] in the Masjid al-Haraam?
There is no doubt that this action of his has nothing at all to do with a correct Hajj [mabroor].
Questioner: Did the Messengers fall into minor sins?
Al-Albaani: Before answering this question right away, [I’d like to say that] I believe it is a non-issue as they say today, because it is not connected to methodology or to the rectification of our aqidah or actions. It is only something connected to those Messengers or Prophets who preceded the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, so I do not hold that questions like this should be given much notice, but [having said that] we have to answer it to disclose the knowledge we have regarding this issue.
We believe that the unequivocal infallibility of the Prophets and Messenger is, firstly, regarding conveying the da’wah, and, secondly, from knowingly falling into major sins.
As for falling into minor sins which do not result in anything except [to show] an absence of absolute perfection then there is no harm in some of that occurring by the Prophets and Messengers–and this is so that it remains established in the hearts of the believers that absolute perfection is for Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds, Alone, Who has no partner.
And there are many parts and proofs in the Quraan establishing this reality concerning more than one Prophet or Messenger. [For example] the story of Aadam عليه السلام when the Lord of the Worlds prohibited him from eating from the tree, and His Saying, “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.”[Taa Haa 20:121], and the Noble Quraan saying concerning our Prophet عليه السلام, “He frowned and turned away,” [Abasa 80:1]“May Allaah pardon you, [O Muhammad]. Why did you give them permission [to remain behind]?”[Tawbah 9:43]. All of this proves that it is possible that a Prophet may be susceptible to minor sins which do not befit the rank of Prophethood–but are they blemished by that? The answer is no, because these are human traits.
[For example]: is a Prophet or Messenger criticised for being susceptible to that which people in general are susceptible to, like making an unintentional mistake or forgetting? We say no, there is nothing preventing the fact that a Messenger or Prophet may be susceptible to such things, because such things do not affect the station of da’wah which the Messengers were sent to all mankind with.
So his saying عليه السلام reported by the two Shaikhs from Abdullaah ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with them both, [in which he stated that] the Prophet prayed five rak’ahs for the midday prayer, so when he gave salaam they said, ‘You prayed five,’ so he performed two prostrations of forgetfulness and then said عليه السلام, ‘I am only a man like you, I forget as you do, so when I forget, remind me.’ [Bukhari and Muslim]
So it does not harm the status of Prophethood or that of being a Messenger that something should transpire from them which had it not would have been more perfect–but absolute perfection is for Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.
It would be more perfect if the Messenger عليه السلام did not forget, but Allaah’s Wisdom necessitated that he did, but this forgetting does not affect the da’wah because he does not forget that which is connected to conveying the message [da’wah], and our Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, points to this reality by His Saying, the Most High, “We will make you recite and you will not forget, except what Allaah should will,”[A’laa 87:6-7] like [for example] an aayah which he had conveyed to the people which he might forget, i.e., he has conveyed the Message and fulfilled the trust [that was upon him] … it is possible that after performing this obligatory conveyance [of the Message] the Messenger عليه السلام may forget something which he had [previously] conveyed to them, as occurs in Sahih Bukhari where he entered the mosque one day and heard a person reciting the Quraan and so said, ‘May Allaah have mercy on so and so, he reminded me of an aayah I had been made to forget.’
So the Prophet’s forgetting عليه السلام an aayah like this does not harm that which is connected to conveying it–because he already has–and that is why that person was able to recite it, and when he did, the Messenger عليه السلام remembered it.
So such forgetfulness does not harm him.
Likewise, some of the Prophets and Messengers falling into some minor sins does not harm them, because it does not turn those who are being called away from their call in opposition to falling into major sins, and for this reason, they are too exalted from falling into major sins to the exclusion of minor sins.
Al-Albaani: In the form Allaah created them in, no. In forms which they may imitate, then of course.
And Ai’ishah, may Allaah be pleased with her, and others saw Jibreel in the form of Dihyah al-Kalbi. As for seeing Jibreel in his original form, then that was not granted to anyone except the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Questioner: Our Shaikh, are there people from the Companions who will be called to account and then punished and who will then enter Paradise? Are any of them of such levels?
Al-Albaani: Why are you concerned about that? [Lit: what concerns you about that question?]
Questioner: Wallaahi, it’s a question that came to mind.
Al-Albaani: I don’t think it crossed your mind … [starts laughing]
Questioner: [laughs]
Al-Albaani: From some angles these are whisperings [of the Devil, waswasah] … why are you concerned about that … why are you concerned about that … does it have a connection to your aqidah? [Is it] something which you will correct [your aqidah] with?
Ask about what is relevant to you, Yaa akhi, because this is a door Shaitaan enters through.
“There used to be a fig tree in his house in Amman [Jordan], from which he would take figs while seated on his balcony. He would do so by using a long stick that he had devised where he had split and overlapped it so that he controlled how long or short he wanted it. At its end he placed a sharp, pointed cup, so that when he touched them with the tip of the stick, the figs would fall into the cup.”
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Duroos, wa Mawaaqif, wa Ibar, of Abdul-Aziz ibn Muhammad Abdullaah as-Sadhaan, p. 111.
Questioner: If I have turned to [wanting to practise] the religion and have no knowledge and an Islamic group asks me to go out with them for da’wah and some brothers at the mosque warn me stating that this jamaa’ah is called the Tableeghi Jamaa’ah and it is not right for me to go out with them because they have corrupt beliefs, what should I do?
Al-Albaani: Seek knowledge, what’s the problem, seek knowledge.
Questioner: Ya’ni, is it permissible for me to go out with them now?
Al-Albaani: Their going out is not from the Sunnah. Their sitting in the mosques and seeking knowledge and studying the Book of Allaah as occurs in the authentic hadith, that is what is legislated. As for their going out like this in groups, and most of them only know very little about Islaam, this is something which they have opposed the Muslims from the time of the Prophet to this day in.
Before this time, thirty or forty years ago, there was no Jamaa’ah that would go out like this with tens or hundreds of people without even a single scholar found amongst them.
The people of knowledge are widespread in Jordan and Syria and we advise these people to sit in the gatherings of knowledge and to learn, and this is what we advise you with too. We say to you: attend the gatherings of knowledge, the sittings of knowledge and learn.
As for this going out [khuruj]–it has no basis in the Sunnah.
He said, “I bought a bicycle to ride and it was the first time the Damascenes saw such a spectacle: a turbaned Shaikh riding a bicycle!
They were astonished at such a sight.
There used to be a magazine called Al-Mudhik al-Mubki1 which a Christian man would publish, he mentioned this incident among the witty jokes [therein, but] I wouldn’t care about these petty issues—all that concerned me was time.”
1A comedic magazine published in Damascus by a journalist called Habeeb Kahaalah. In each edition he would print a picture which would be the talk of the town for the whole week.
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Duroos, wa Mawaaqif, wa Ibar, of Abdul-Aziz ibn Muhammad Abdullaah as-Sadhaan, p. 111.
Questioner: A questioner says, ‘When some scholars give a religious verdict [fatwaa] in a certain issue and another group of scholars give a verdict which is the opposite of the first, which one should the common Muslim follow?’
Al-Albaani: The common Muslims must have a general education … the common masses must have a general, Islamic education; by ‘general education’ I mean the one which it is obligatory on every Muslim to know even if he is from the common masses, that he know the truth is not pluralistic.
So when, as occurs in the question, there are two contradictory statements, this common Muslim must call to mind that one of them is correct and the other is a mistake, due to His Saying, the Mighty and Majestic, “So after the truth, what else can there be, save error?” [Yunus 10:32]
So when he brings this principle to mind it will motivate him to ask the people of knowledge, ‘You say it’s permissible … and you say it’s not … what’s your proof? And what’s your proof?’ This will open up a path to understanding and awareness and then he can choose what he feels at ease with and what his heart opens up to, and he will be rewarded.
As for him going against this legislated principle and saying as many of the people today do that, ‘Whoever blindly follows a scholar will meet Allaah safe and sound,’ [then] where has this sentence come from? It is not in the Book of Allaah and nor in a hadith from Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, it’s only a sentence [prevalent] on the tongues of the common folk, ‘Whoever blindly follows a scholar will meet Allaah safe and sound …’ no.
Rather whoever follows Allaah’s Guidance is the one who is rightly guided, and whoever goes astray then it goes against himself, I just said to you now that Allaah said, “So ask the people of the message if you do not know,” [Nahl 16:43] He said, “… the people of the message [dhikr] …” hereby the word ‘message’ [dhikr] what is not intended is the dhikr which some of the ignorant Sufis are familiar with, dancing while doing dhikr and going crazy in it, and they call it, as he عليه السلام said regarding something else [but which still applies here], “… they will name it with other than its [real] name …” they call dancing and ecstasy [tawaajud] the remembrance of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, but on the contrary it is play and amusement, in addition to another sin, which is to call things by names other than their legislated ones.
So the dhikr mentioned in the verse is the Quraan, as He the Mighty and Majestic said, “And We revealed to you the message [i.e., the Quraan] that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them …” [Nahl 16:44] so the dhikr here is the Quraan, “So ask the people of the message if you do not know.”
And there is another caveat for this questioner [to bear in mind] here: this person says [the thing being discussed is] permissible and that one says it’s not permissible, Yaa akhi, are these people really scholars? Are they scholars of the Book of Allaah and the hadith of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم? Or do they differ most greatly? This one giving a fatwa according to the Book of Allaah and the hadith of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and that [other] one maybe walking on all fours, i.e., not walking according to the Book or the Sunnah but only according to the four madhhabs, taking whatever he fancies from them.
What a difference there is between these two.
For this reason, it is fitting that the common Muslim—and [when] I say, ‘The common Muslim,’ [it] doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand … no, if he couldn’t understand it would mean he is mad, and if he was mad then he would not be accountable—but [on the contrary] he can understand, it’s only that he is not a scholar—thus, he must use his intellect, so when two statements come to him, one of them will have come from someone who is not a scholar, and so such a statement has no weight, and thus the first opinion stands.
And it may happen and we do not deny it: that both of them may be scholars of the Book and the Sunnah but the issue may be a disputed or controversial one, and this happens as it did in the past, and it can happen today, here the common Muslim must use his brain and strip away his desires and not follow them which would be something that would lead him away from Allaah’s Path, and he عليه السلام, “The mujaahid is the one who strives against his desires for the Sake of Allaah.”
But most regretfully, when the elite, the elite of the people today seek out the fatwa which suits them … he will say to you—Yaa akhi, and all of them say that they go back to the sayings of Allaah’s Messenger—[but then] he takes whatever suits him from these madhhabs, [if this is the case with the elite] what are we to say about the common folk then? And as was said:
If the man of the house is beating the daff, those living in it will dance along.
So if this is the case with the elite, except for those whom Allaah has had mercy on, and how few they are, then what will the state of the general folk be?
I remind the elite and the general masses that the religion is not desires but rather knowledge, and it is upon the general folk to learn how to ask questions.
And maybe in some of these blessed, inshaa Allaah, gatherings I have on more than one occasion mentioned that hadith narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sent a detachment to fight in the Way of Allaah, whereupon one of them received wounds to his body, when he awoke in the morning, he found that he needed to take a ghusl, and so he asked those around him whether they knew of an excuse for him not to have to bathe, they said no, that he must take a ghusl, so he did and died because when the water got on his wounds they festered … and so on and his temperature rose and he died.
When news about what happened to him reached the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he became extremely angry عليه الصلاة والسلام and said, “They killed him, may Allaah kill them,” i.e., the ones who gave the fatwa that he had to take a ghusl were the reason for his death, “They killed him, may Allaah kill them,should they not have asked if they didn’t know?! Verily the cure for ignorance is to question! It would have been enough for him had he performed tayammum.”
So, those [Companions] gave him a fatwa without knowledge, so we take a lesson from this hadith, that it is not fitting for the common folk to ask [just] anyone who claims knowledge, or who it is claimed has knowledge, but rather, O Muslim, the person who you know does not give fatwas except based upon, ‘Allaah said … Allaah’s Messenger said,’ such a person is the one you should direct your question to, as for those people who say what they do not do, and who give fatwas that aren’t based upon the Book and the Sunnah, then such people are not scholars.
And these are the people the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم foretold [us] about when he said, as occurs in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim from the hadith of Abdullaah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with them both, that, ‘Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “Verily, Allaah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the breasts of the scholars, but He takes it away by taking away the scholars such that when no scholar remains the people take the ignorant ones as leaders and so they are asked and give religious verdicts without knowledge and [thus] are misguided and lead others astray [too].”
This is the state of affairs of many of those in places of responsibility today who it is thought are from the people of knowledge [but who really aren’t], and so the commoner who asks [them] a question becomes confused: ‘This one says haraam and that one says halaal, or this one says obligatory and that one says sunnah,’ or other such things from the issues which are disputed.
A process of purification must be carried out in the minds of all the common folk: the scholar of the Book and the Sunnah must be filtered from the one who, as some of the witty people in our country Syria say, ‘The scholars are of two types. One is a scholar-doer, the other is the doer-scholar!’ The ‘scholar-doer’ i.e., is a scholar who acts upon his knowledge, and the ‘doer-scholar’ is the one who does things and whose status is that of a scholar but who has nothing whatsoever to do with knowledge.
And unfortunately this is present, and whoever doesn’t know, let him go and try [and he’ll see how true what I am saying is].
Ask whoever you want from those who you think are from the people of knowledge well-known amongst the people, and I will not name them even if only by title, ask whoever you want, even though it [i.e., a certain situation] may be a fiqh issue in which there is difference of opinion, he will answer you according to the madhhab he grew up on, was nurtured on, and became old on, he will give you a fatwa according to it, and then you will say, ‘What’s the proof?’ And he will say [rhetorically], ‘We are people of proof? How can we understand the proof?’ This is if he is forthright [admitting that he doesn’t know the proof], but if he is someone who hides things, he will say, ‘How are you going to perceive the proof?’ So he covers his own ignorance by declaring others to be ignorant.
This, unfortunately, is the reality of many people today, and the One whose Aid is sought is Allaah.
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