A Glimpse At The Best Generation

A Glimpse At The Best Generation

The Claim of the Khalaf vs The Way of the Salaf

We are more advanced. And we have access to more information. And you may imagine and may think that we have become more sophisticated and more advanced.

In fact there is a group of people who had this thinking in the past. They used to say that the way of the Salaf is wiser. Sorry, the way of the Salaf is safer but the way of the Khalaf is wiser. Meaning what they said is the way of the old people you know meaning the way of the companions this is safe. You know if you stick to their way you say what they said you do what they did you are safe. But actually they were very simple people.

They didn't have a deep sophisticated understanding of things. So their deen was simple. Their understanding was simple.

But our understanding as they claimed is wise. Because now we have access to philosophy and we have access to so many different ways of thinking about things. And we are very sophisticated.

So they claimed that our way is the wise way. Actually no. The way of the Salaf is the safe way and the wise way.

The Completeness of Revelation

And the reason for that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us all that we need in the revelation to know how to worship Him. Essentially what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah is how we need to know how to worship Allah. How is it possible that Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam the messenger of Allah who spent 23 years conveying the message of Islam and teaching the message of Islam failed to convey the message of Islam in some of its most important points.

For example, concerning the names and the attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala which these khalaf claim that they are able to make ta'weel and to make interpretation of and that they as they claim have a better understanding than the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions. This in fact is their claim. I seek refuge with Allah from that.

The Superiority of the Companions Through Logic and Revelation

No, rather there are two things. From logic and from revelation. Both the aqal and the naqal. That means the aqal is our intelligence and the naqal means the text. The text meaning the Quran, the book of Allah and the Sunnah or the hadith, the authentic hadith here of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Both of them confirm this fact.

Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed Islam to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And who are the people who sat in front of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam? Who are the people who sat in front of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam? Who are the ones who witnessed not only the revelation? And by the way, when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to receive revelation, it had a physical appearance. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to sweat.

If one time he was sitting on a camel and the camel sagged from the weight of the revelation. Once he was leaning on one of his companions and the revelation came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and this companion couldn't take it due to the weight and the pressure of the revelation coming on the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. These people experienced that.

These are the people to whom Jibreel came to teach them their religion. The angel Gabriel came to sit amongst them and teach them their deen. These are the companions.

The Unique Position of the Companions

These are the people who knew the circumstance of the revelation which ayah was revealed in which circumstance. They are the ones who saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam pray. They saw him with their eyes.

They saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam fast and make hajj and so on and so forth. So they lived with Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. They were his companions.

They were eyewitnesses to the events. They would sit and learn directly from Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam about the deen. So who could know better about Islam than his companions? It is absolutely logical that the people who would know best about this religion are the people who studied from the messenger to whom this religion was revealed.

This is from aqal. This is from logic. Actually, this is also the main reason why when I first became Muslim, I could never become shia.

The Illogical Claims of the Shia

I could never have become a shia. Because when I first became Muslim, in fact, at the time, the Iranian revolution was very strong. And outside the mosque where I now work, which is the main mosque in London, the Regents Park mosque, the central mosque, every week you used to have the shia handing out a newspaper, al-khayran it was called.

And we used to read it avidly. And we used to follow this slogan, no east, no west, Islam is the best, and all that type of stuff. And Khomeini for many people was a big hero.

Because it seemed as if he had shown to the world that once again we could implement Islam and have an Islamic state as we thought. But so I began to study shiaism and what it was teaching and what it was saying.

And the big conflict I came was the attitude of the shia towards the sahaba.

Now many of you may know and some of you may not, that the shia, first of all, they are a very small minority amongst the Muslims. They are only 15%. 85% of Muslims are Sunnis. Alhamdulillah. The shia only constitute about 15%. So they are a small minority.

However, their claim is, amongst the many things that they say, is that the majority of the companions of the Prophet apostatized from Islam after the death of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Particularly the three Taghuts, who they call, I seek refuge with Allah, the three Taghuts, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman. They call them the three Taghuts, which Taghut means a false god. Anything that is worshipped besides Allah is a false god.

And it could mean an unjust ruler who rules according to other than the guidance of Islam. He is a Taghut. So they call them the three Taghuts.

Because they claim that Abu Bakr and Umar and Ali, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them, usurped and deprived Ali of the rightful inheritance of being the successor of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And of course most of the companions agreed with that. So they also claim that most of the companions apostatized from Islam. But I thought this is incredible.

How is it that Allah chose to be the companions of the messenger, a group of people who after his death apostatized from his religion. And these are the people who spent all of their life with Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. These are the people who are ready to give and often did give their lives in the service of Islam to protect the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And to protect the religion that the Prophet preached. How they sacrificed their money and their time and everything for the cause of Allah and his religion.

Yet when the messenger dies, they apostatized. It doesn't make any sense. It's illogical.

The True Status of the Companions

It seems to be totally, a totally irrational proposition. Rather we believe that the companions are the best of all the human beings after the Prophets. And the best of the human beings after the Prophets is Abu Bakr.

And the best after him is Umar. And the best after him, although there's some disagreement, is it Ali or Uthman or are they the same? But it will seem that the stronger evidence shows us that it is Uthman, Ibn Affan and then Ali. These are the best.

And then after that, we don't make a distinction amongst the companions. But generally also the companions themselves are the best of the human beings after the messengers. This is the status of the Sahaba with us.

Not only in their piety and their closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but of course in their understanding and their way that they followed. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He talked about this way in the Qur'an. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talked about this way in the Qur'an.

The Path of the Believers in the Quran

So in the Qur'an, in fact we find that Allah Himself is making the Sabeel of the Mu'mineen, the path of the believers, a way that we must follow. So in one ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He mentions:

The English meaning of which is whoever contends with the messenger after the truth has been made plain to him and chooses a path other than the path of the believers then Allah will leave him in the path that he has chosen and land him in hell what an evil refuge. (Quran 4:115)

Now Allah could have left it at saying whoever contends with the messenger they will go to hell. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not only mention that whoever contends with the messenger Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also mentioned and chooses a way other than the way of the believers. So there are two things that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mentioning to us here that constitute guidance from God. One is the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam which is the clear and absolute and unequivocal guidance that is infallible.

But Allah is also leading us to look at the way of the believers and this way in general is also guidance. This is where we get the concept of Ijma' This is where we get the concept of consensus from in Islam. We find that there are three forms of guidance in Islam the Quran, the Sunnah and Ijma' Ijma' means the consensus of this Ummah if the nation of the Muslims all together, all of us without any disagreement agree upon something then that is considered to be guidance from Allah.

The Concept of Ijma and the Consensus of the Companions

That is considered to be the same as what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is pleased with and what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala agrees with. Now, some scholars for example Ahmad ibn Hanbal he says Ijma' is only for the companions. Consensus is only for the companions.

Now he has some reasons for that. One of them being that he doesn't believe that it's possible to establish Ijma' after the time of the Sahaba. It's not possible because the scholars are spread out over so many places.

It's difficult or if maybe impossible to establish consensus. So he limits consensus Ijma' to the Sahaba. So their collective opinion about something if we can establish that all of the companions had a consensus about something then without any doubts this is from the religion of Islam.

It is impossible that all of the companions together could have agreed about something that was misguidance. And this is what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam told us. My Ummah will never agree upon misguidance.

We will never agree upon something and especially the Sahaba would never agree upon something that was misguidance. And in fact there was Ijma' amongst the companions that Abu Bakr was the best amongst them. And that Umar was the next best amongst them.

And then they used to have some disagreement about Uthman or Ali. However there is consensus amongst them that Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was the best amongst the companions and Umar Ibn Al-Khattab was the best after that. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us that whoever not only whoever contends with the messenger but whoever takes a path and follows a way other than the Sabeel of the Mu'mineen the way of the believers then Allah, He will leave them in that path.

They chose it, Allah will leave them in it. And what is going to happen to them? Their ultimate destination is going to be Hellfire. And this you can see this ayah is explained by the Hadith of the 73 sects.

The Hadith of the 73 Sects

The Jews and Christians divided into 72 sects and my Ummah will divide into 73 sects all of them in the Hellfire except one. This one is the one who follow the companions. So we see how this Hadith explains this ayah.

So the Sabeel of the Mu'mineen, the way of the believers is the way of the companions. And that is the way of guidance. And it is essential therefore that every Muslim and every true Muslim must not only attribute to themselves the path of the companions and the understanding of the companions but it's not just attributing it it's practically being true to it and being honest towards it.

So this is the Sabeel of the Mu'mineen this is the way of the believers and these believers are being referred to here the Sahaba. There is another very beautiful Hadith where the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was giving a farewell sermon. He was giving a farewell sermon and one of the, sorry excuse me he wasn't giving a farewell sermon he was just giving a khutbah, a sermon.

The Hadith of Clinging to the Sunnah

But one of the companions stood up he said, Oh Messenger of Allah it seems as if this is a farewell sermon so advise us. So actually this sermon started to make the Sahaba cry. You know their hearts were so moved and they started to cry when they heard this sermon of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.

So they said, Oh Messenger of Allah advise us, that's what he said. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam brothers and sisters gave some very precious words of advice. Some very precious words of advice.

He said, I advise you to have taqwa of Allah. I advise you to fear Allah and hear and obey your Amir even if he is an Abyssinian slave. After me you will see great ihtilaf, great differing. So cling to my sunnah and the sunnah of the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen the rightly guided successors and bite it with your teeth and beware of the bid'ah.

Understanding Taqwa

First of all he told us to of course have taqwa of Allah. What is brothers and sisters taqwa? What is taqwa? Some people translate taqwa as the fear of Allah. They say it is the fear of God.

However, the concept of taqwa is much more than just fear of God. The concept of taqwa my brothers and sisters really could be better translated as God consciousness. Being conscious of Allah.

However, let us give an even more detailed definition of taqwa. Taqwa means to obey Allah, to obey Allah or let's say taqwa means to leave disobedience to Allah with the fear of being afraid of Allah and being afraid of His punishment with a light from Allah. So it means, taqwa means to leave disobedience to Allah with a light from Allah fearing Allah's punishment and it also means to obey Allah with a light from Allah hoping for Allah's reward.

So this is what taqwa means. That a person leaves the haram things, the forbidden things and the light from Allah is of course according to Allah's guidance. The light from Allah is the guidance through which and by which we know what is halal and haram.

In other words, the Quran and the sunnah and the understanding of the companions. And of course the person leaves the sins because we are afraid of God's punishment in this life and the next. Because sin has evil consequences.

It has an evil consequence in this life and it has an evil consequence in the life to come. And taqwa also means to obey Allah, to do acts that are pleasing to Allah, to do the things that Allah loves and we do that with a light from Allah and we hope for Allah's reward. That is what motivates us to obey God because we are hopeful for the reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

A Companion's Description of Taqwa

So this is taqwa. And one companion, Abu Huraira, was it Umar, I don't remember, he described taqwa. He was

asked, what is taqwa? And he said, have you ever walked along a path that is covered with thorns? And so the person said, yes.

He said, how did you walk along that path? He said, very carefully. He said, this is taqwa. This is taqwa.

So the person who has taqwa goes through life avoiding the things that are going to snag him and tear his clothes and so on and so forth. In other words, the haram things. Mindful and careful not to do the things that are displeasing to Allah.

This is taqwa. So this is what the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam is first of all advising us with. To have taqwa.

Fear Allah, be mindful of Allah, avoid the haram things. And then he's telling us to obey our ameer. That when there is someone in charge of us, but specifically the ameerul mu'mineen, but in fact anyone who is in charge of us, who has been appointed to be in charge of us, we should hear and obey.

Obedience to Leadership in Islam

Even if that ameer is an Abyssinian slave. Now to the Arabs at the time, the Abyssinian slave was the lowest level in society. He was the lowest level in society.

But the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam is telling us the importance of obedience to the ameer. Even if that person is not from our class or from our color. And of course an Abyssinian slave is not Arab.

It's not a thing based on race, Islam. We don't listen to someone because he's an Arab and we don't listen to him if he's not Arab. No.

We don't obey our ameer just because of this and that. No, we should obey the ameer. Of course we all know that obedience to the ameer is only in obedience to Allah.

If your ameer ever orders you to disobey God or to do something that is against what God wants, you should not obey that. Obedience is never to a created being in disobedience to Allah. So, hear and obey the ameer, even if he's an Abyssinian slave.

The Promise of Great Differing

And then the Prophet tells us, after me you're going to see great differing. You are going to see great differing. You know, that's almost natural.

And I'm sure many of us must think sometimes how beautiful it must have been in the time when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) was alive. When people had disagreements, when there was any problems, they used to say, let's go and ask the Messenger about this. So, I'm gonna go and ask the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) about this.

This is what they used to do. And of course the Messenger himself (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam), he is not with us anymore.

Of course the Quran is and the Sunnah is.

The True Meaning of Sunnah

And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, cling to my Sunnah, cling to my way. And the Sunnah here by the way brothers and sisters does not mean some people have a wrong understanding of Sunnah. They think Sunnah means non-obligatory acts.

And this is a big confusion that has arisen due to some things becoming mixed up and confused. So some people, some scholars, they referred to and still refer to the non-obligatory acts in the religion as Sunnah. So for example, the four Raka'a before Dhuhr or the four Raka'a after Dhuhr or the two Raka'a that we pray after Isha or after Maghrib or for example fasting the Mondays and the Thursdays, these are known as Sunnah.

They're not an obligation. They're not something we have to do. There is no sin in not doing those.

They're not obliged upon us. They're voluntary. And so these have become known as Sunnah.

However, this is not the meaning of Sunnah here. And nor was that the meaning or the understanding of the meaning of Sunnah in the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). By the way, this is why some people imagine the beard is Sunnah. They say, well, the beard is only Sunnah.

Because they think that it's something the Prophet did, therefore it's not obligatory. I can do it if I want. I can do it if I don't want.

Sunnah Encompasses All of Islam

And this is because they're confused about what the word Sunnah means. In fact, the Sunnah encompasses the whole of Islam. The whole of Islam is the Sunnah.

In fact, it is not an exaggeration what the great Imam Baba Hadi said in his book, Shara Sunnah, the explanation of the Sunnah. He said, Islam is the Sunnah and the Sunnah is Islam. Islam is the Sunnah and the Sunnah is Islam.

And this is no exaggeration. In fact, if you think about it, how do we know how to pray? How do we know the details of the prayer? What are the times of the prayer? What do we recite in our prayer? When do we recite out loud? What is a Raqah? How many Raqah in each prayer? Do we know this from the Quran? No, we only know this from the Sunnah. But does anyone deny and would anyone claim that it's not obligatory? That we can pray Dhuhr and Asr and Maghrib and Isha any way we like? Can we pray 100 Raqah for Dhuhr? Can we? Because the four Raqah is only Sunnah? No.

No one says that. Well, not yet. And probably is someone who says that.

And there probably will be someone one day who says something like that. But Alhamdulillah, most people recognize that this is not the case. So we realize that the Sunnah contains things that are obligatory, some that are voluntary, and some things the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did.

Categories Within the Sunnah

It's not either obligatory or recommended or, you know, the Prophet drank water. Is it Sunnah therefore to drink water and an act of religious worship? No, that's just something the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did according to his time and according to his circumstance. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) rode a camel. Does it mean it's Sunnah for us to ride a camel? No, that's just a product of the circumstance and the time in which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) lived. But there are other things that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did that he was ordered to do by Allah and that he ordered us to do it. And whatever the Prophet ordered us, we must do it.

And whatever the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) ordered us to leave, we must leave it. And this is what Allah Himself said in the Quran:

The meaning of which is, whatever the Prophet gives you, take it. Whatever the Prophet orders you to leave, leave it. (Quran 59:7)

The Story of Abdullah ibn Abbas and the Woman

That's why Abdullah ibn Abbas, when he was approached by a woman who said to him, I heard that you have prohibited the plucking of the eyebrows and that you curse the women who do that. I have read the Quran from cover to cover and I didn't find this. Abdullah ibn Abbas said, Go and read it again.

Go and read it again. So she came back and she said, I read it again and I still didn't find that verse. I didn't find anything talking about plucking the eyebrows.

He said, didn't you come across the verse that said, whatever the Prophet orders you with, take it. And whatever the Prophet orders you to leave, leave it. She said, yes, I came across that.

And he said, Wallahi, I heard the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) say that any woman who plucks her eyebrows, she is cursed. That Allah cursed the woman who plucks her eyebrows. So therefore, whatever the Prophet has told us is the same.

The Authority of the Prophet's Commands

If the Prophet has ordered it, it's the same as Allah ordered it. Because Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did not speak from his own desires. When he ordered us something from the religion, it's because it was revealed to him by Allah.

The angel Jibreel brought down the Quran and the angel Gabriel, Jibreel brought down the Sunnah. The angel Gabriel brought down the Quran and the angel Gabriel brought down the Sunnah. It is Jibreel who taught the Prophet how to pray.

It is Jibreel who taught the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) how to make wudu. So we should cling to the Sunnah.

The Importance of Correct Belief

And that Sunnah, by the way, my brothers and sisters, includes beliefs. In fact, the most first and important part of the Sunnah is what we believe concerning Allah and His angels and His messengers and His books and what is gonna take place after death and the divine decree, the good of it and the bad of it. This is the most important part of the Sunnah.

Because indeed this is the iman which Islam has come to teach the people the correct belief.

Following the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Successors

So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, cling to my Sunnah. But he didn't leave it there. He didn't leave it.

And it is true there is a narration where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) mentions that whoever clings to the book of Allah and my Sunnah will not go astray. Yes, but part of the Sunnah of the Prophet is also to follow the Sunnah of the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen. One of the things the Prophet had ordered us with is to follow the way of the rightly guided successors.

And first and foremost, these rightly guided successors are Abu Bakr, Uthman, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. They are the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen. But all of the companions are also part of the rightly guided successors.

So we have been ordered by the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) in these times of confusion, in these times of ikhtilaf, to go back, cling to the Sunnah, the way of the Messenger, and the understanding, the understanding of Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Ali and those great companions who learned from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). So this is part of our deen and this is part of our aqeedah, this is part of our way that we have been given by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so let us look to the beautiful saying of Imam Malik. Was it Imam Shafi'i? Someone will remind me.

The Key to Success: Following the Early Generation

Nothing will reform or rectify the end of this ummah except that which rectified its beginning. In other words, what is he saying? Nothing is going to make these Muslims, this nation, nothing is going to make us straight, nothing is going to make us successful, nothing is going to make us succeed, except that which made the beginning of this ummah successful. So what is going to make us on the right way is what made them on the right way.

What is going to make us successful is what made them successful. And what was it that made them successful brothers and sisters in Islam? This is a very important question. What is it that made the companions so successful? What was it about them that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala established this beautiful religion of Islam through them? That Islam spread in 80 years.

In 80 years it's considered. Non-Muslim historians have remarked that it is one of the most amazing events in the history of humanity.