Forty Hadith Nawawi- Hadith of Intention & Hadith Jibril

Forty Hadith Nawawi: Hadith of Intention & Hadith Jibril

Opening and Introduction

Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa man wala. We praise Allah. We beseech Allah to send His peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu wa salam and those who follow him until the end of time.

Alhamdulillah, we are gathered together with our brothers here from Young Muslims at Maghreb Institute and every other institute under the sun. Should we name off all the groups to keep it politically correct? We're fine. I don't know how to start from the Nation of Islam all the way. But Alhamdulillah, we're here in the YM Headquarters under the basement somewhere under Caprina Green next to the subways deep down in the dungeons and we're here for an important gathering and that's to read from the book of Imam An-Nawawi which was written collecting some of the most important narrations of the Prophet and it's a blessing.

The Importance of Gathering Around the Sunnah

Believe me, when Allah wants good, He'll put someone around where the sunnah is being mentioned. It's very important to understand that. If Allah intends good for someone, He'll bring him close to the sunnah of the Prophet. Because the way, as they say, Muhammad huwa baab ila rabbina. The Prophet is the door to Allah in the sense of following the Prophet. So the way to get close to Allah is through Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam.

As Allah mentioned that he linked the love of Allah with the following of the Prophet:

"Say, if you love Allah then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

So the outcome of following the Prophet in a sentence is a conditional sentence. If you love Allah, follow Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah will love you. So there are three things that happen. Somebody claims to love Allah, that's why some ulama, they call this verse ayatul imtihan - the verse of trial, because many people will claim to love Allah and they will not follow the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So the verse became a proof against them not for them.

The Dedication of Early Scholars to Hadith

Then you think about the ulama before us, like now we're sitting here with like lattes and we have like Dunkin Donuts and Flipcams and iPods and you know we're booking our flights online. But you look at like for example Masrook. Masrook was one of the great tabi'een, the students of the Companions. And he traveled from like Medina to Basra for tafsir of one verse of Quran. When he got there they said the Sheikh left and went

to Damascus, so he walked to Damascus for tafsir of one verse of Quran. Because that was before the days that knowledge was put into compendiums and so on and so forth.

Then you read some of the salaf, they will walk. There was one great scholar, he walked so far for one hadith, he wanted to collect one narration that he started to urinate blood to collect the hadith of al-Habib alayhi salatu wa salam.

Imam Malik's Reverence for Hadith

Imam Malik ibn Anas rahimahullahu ta'ala, Imam Dar al-Hijra, Imam Ahlus Sunnah, Malik ibn Anas when the students would come to his house and ask him to teach them, he would send out his servant woman and she would ask them, do you want to study fiqh or do you want to study hadith? If they said they wanted to study fiqh, he would just come and start teaching. But if they wanted to study the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would make a ghusl and he would put on nice perfume and his best clothes and then he would come with a state of waqar, with like a state of peace and tranquility and then he would open his book that he had and he would read the verse of Allah:

"O you who believe, don't raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet."

So the ulema, they took the study of hadith very seriously and they engaged in the study of the hadith out of the love for the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.

About Imam An-Nawawi

One of the thamarat, one of the great fruits that was left to us by those scholars is the work of Imam al-Nawawi rahimahullah ta'ala. Imam al-Nawawi, he died in the 7th century. He was the student of Imam Ibn Malik who wrote the famous Al-Alfiyah al-Nahu.

The Story of Imam Ibn Malik's Poetry

Imam Ibn Malik, he wrote a poem that we study in Azhar, it's a thousand lines, it's about Arabic grammar and one day he was trying to write a ruling for Al-Ibtida' wal-Khabar so he couldn't think of the examples. Imam Ibn Malik in his poem, he'll mention the rule and then he'll give the example in the same line of poetry. So subhanAllah, imagine the genius of this person, that he has a thousand lines, it's all in the same rhythm, it's called Rajaz, Mustafilun, Mustaf'ilun, Mustaf'ilun. He can't break that rhythm or the poem is null and void and then at the same time he's teaching you grammar with that rhythm, and not only is he teaching you grammar, he's giving you examples of the rule.

So one day he was trying to think of an example of starting a sentence with the indefinite article in Arabic, Nakira, Rajulun, Karamun Indina. So he was trying to think of it, and then he looked out his window and he saw Imam An-Nawawi walk into his house. So then he said, "Wa Rajulun, Karamun Indina" an honorable man from amongst us. So that verse actually in Al-Alfiya, he's talking about Imam An-Nawawi. His student was coming to his house, so he looked outside and he wrote the rule, and then he finds the example of the rule when he saw Imam An-Nawawi, Rahimahullah, walking to his house. SubhanAllah, it's a nice story.

Imam An-Nawawi's Life and Works

Imam An-Nawawi, he wrote a number of books, he was a genius, he wrote in everything. In Dar Al-Ifta, in the House of Fatwa in Egypt, we study his masterpiece, Al-Majmu' in the Shafi'i Madhab. Although I'm Hanbali, I studied that book. Imam An-Nawawi, SubhanAllah, just a few instances about his life.

When he was young, when he was a young boy, there was a sheikh who was walking one day in the streets of Sham and he saw the boys playing and there was another boy who was sitting on the side of the road and he looked very sad. So he asked that young boy why don't you play with the other kids. So he said, I wasn't created for that, I wasn't created to play. So then the sheikh, he was moved by this boy and then he took him to his father, and he encouraged him to take care of his religious studies. After a while his father died and the sheikh, he took over, so that was Imam An-Nawawi.

They said that when he slept, he slept because he had to. He would fall asleep reading or writing. He never, for a number of years they said about him, his back never touched the ground. He was so engaged in studying and reading and writing that he would fall asleep as he was reading. He was also so busy in Ibadah and Ilm that when somebody asked him, why didn't you get married, he said, I forgot to.

So imagine how many of us, it's almost impossible not to think about getting married in these days. Of course he lived in a different social setting, no doubt he wasn't surrounded by all of the things that we're surrounded by, but just to show you, Allah creates certain people for a certain cause. So Imam An-Nawawi is one of those people Allah created him for Ilm, for Ibadah, and he died in his 40's, some people say his early 50's, and he left like voluminous works.

Important Works by Imam An-Nawawi

Especially in the Shafi'i Madhhab, some of the most important books: Rawdh al-Talibeen in the Madhhab is a very important book. Al-Majmoo' as I mentioned earlier, which he actually made an explanation of one of the great scholars of the Shafi'i Madhhab. And also he wrote a book called Al-Adhkar and this is actually, the 40 hadith is a part of that book called Al-Adhkar where he mentioned a lot of Dua of the Prophet, some of the supplications of the Prophet, then he mentioned these 40 hadith.

Some people say also that Ibn Taymiyyah as a young boy, he met him but Wallahu Alam, I don't know about the truth of this statement. Ibn Taymiyyah was a young boy at that time when his father migrated trying to escape the Tartar.

The Sanad (Chain of Narration)

Imam An-Nawawi, he mentions in the beginning of his text some points that we'll just mention, we won't read everything verbatim. But before we do, it's important that when we read Ilm that we read Ilm in an authentic fashion. So, we'll read the Sanad that was given to me by my teacher in the 40 hadith, and then Insha'Allah because I wish if we had time to read the whole thing, I will give you the ijazah Sam'an, that you listen to it, but unfortunately I don't think we're going to have time.

So I say, ajazani sheikhi - my teacher, he gave me the ijazah in this book, Dr. Muhammad Akram Nadwi. He's in Oxford right now. He was a student of Abu Hassan Nadwi and also he was a student of Sheikh Qaradawi. So the sheikh, he said, I heard this 40 hadith. Maybe some of you heard of Sheikh Wahba Zuhayli. Then he mentions that he heard it from his teacher and there's another sanad also, two sanad. The second sanad is stronger than the first.

The sanad is: I am from Hafez Abdullah bin Salim al-Basri, I am from Muhammad ibn al-Alaa al-Babili, I am from Salim ibn Muhammad al-Sunhuri, I am from Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qayti, I am from Sheikh al-Islam Zakariya Muhammad ibn al-Ansari, the great scholar from Egypt, Sheikh Zakariya al-Ansari, I am from Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Rushaydi, I am from al-Qadi Badr al-Din Ismail ibn Ibrahim al-Hanafi, I am from Muhammad Ismail al-Ma'rufi ibn al-Khabbaz, I am from al-Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn al-Sharaf al-Nawawi.

So this is the sanad from us now as we read it to Imam al-Nawawi to the Prophet. We ask Allah to make our sanad with the Prophet sound. We ask Allah to make us when we meet the Prophet, and we ask Allah that the true chain of narration is with the Prophet that we were his followers and he will recognize us on the day of judgment and hereafter.

The Weakness of the Hadith About Memorizing Forty Hadiths

After that, Imam al-Nawawi he mentions in the beginning of his text he says that he collected in this text these hadith and then he mentions it's been related from a large number of companions like Ali, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Mu'adh, Abu Darda and others from a number of different turuq, a number of different chains with different narrations that the Prophet said that whoever memorizes 40 hadith from my ummah, Allah will resurrect him amongst the scholars. This hadith is weak even though it's mentioned by a lot of people, it's not strong.

But still we see that Imam al-Nawawi as well as other scholars they acted on this hadith. And Abdullah ibn Mubarak was one of the great tabi'een, one of the great students of the sahaba and still he wrote a book on the 40 hadith and others who followed him like al-Bayhaqi and even till now you find some great scholars of hadith they still compile 40 hadith. So just because a hadith is weak sometimes in the areas of encouragement to do good doesn't mean that somebody can act on it.

Conditions for Using Weak Hadiths

So Imam Ibn Hajar he mentions some conditions for working or using weak hadith:

Number one: He said that the hadith is not super weak.

Number two: That the weak hadith does not contradict a general principle of Islam.

Number three: He said that the person who narrates this hadith, he doesn't do so to extrapolate like rulings from it.

Sheikh Qaradawi he added a few other important conditions which I think are relevant:

First Hadith: The Hadith of Intention

This hadith, the first hadith, Imam Nawawi he started with it for an obvious reason the hadith of intention, to encourage people to have ikhlas with Allah. And this is the hadith of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu. And Umar is the only sahabi who narrated this hadith.

Authenticity of the Hadith

So he said, I heard the Prophet say. And as I mentioned before, this is the most authentic type of hadith. The first most authentic type of hadith as far as Bukhari and Muslim: Bukhari and Muslim narrated the hadith, khalas, that's the apex of it being sound. Number 2, the hadith related by Bukhari. Number 3, the hadith related by Muslim only. Then after that the ulama differed. Some said the hadith of Al-Nasa'i, then the hadith of Abu Dawood, then the hadith of Tirmidhi, then the hadith of Ibn Majah, then Muwatta ila akhiriha, khalas.

But even if we have a hadith from Bukhari and Muslim, sometimes the companions will relate the hadith according to meaning. So for example you find the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the statement of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said you know, my ummah will break into 73 sects, everyone in the fire, except what me and my companions were upon, khalas. Then you find another narration, everyone in the fire except Al-Jama'a. So here the wording is changing. Why? Because the sahabi kan yarweehi bil ma'na, ma kan yarweehi lafwan - the sahabi related it, or the student of the sahabi related it by meaning, not with the actual text.

So the axiom in Islamic law that says it's allowed to relate the sunnah according to its meaning, not verbatim, but it's not allowed to relate the Quran except verbatim, khalas. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, somebody can narrate it as the meaning is. They said of course he should be a scholar or he should be someone who is versed in sunnah also. As for Quran, fala. So I think Allah means this, or Allah meant this, laa ya sheikh, quote the Quran mubasharatan.

The Chain and Categories of Hadith

He says rahimahullah ta'ala, he quotes Umar al-Khattab and we find the hadith in Bukhari and Muslim where the sahabi says I heard the Prophet say. This is the most authentic type of hadith you can have because he makes tasreeh of sama'a, and he's explicit that he heard this from Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam.

He says this hadith also is an interesting hadith as far as the sanad, because when we talk about the sanad of a hadith, the chain of narration, we have two types of division. We have what's called mutawatir and ahad.

Mutawatir is from the word watara. We have salatu witr, because you follow. So tawatur means a lot of people following like this, not water man, witr, tawatur. So it means so many people in the sanad followed each other that it's impossible for there to be a lie. So the ulama say yufidu ilm wal yaqeen wal amin - which means the ulama of Islam, they divided knowledge into two kinds: ilm yaqeen, ilm nadhari.

Ilm yaqeen means knowledge which I don't have to think about a dalil for. I won't ask you what's a dalil. So if I were to tell you if it was like 12 o'clock noon and I said the sun is in the sky, you're not going to be like hey man, what's your dalil? La, hadha ilm yaqeen. But if it was 12 o'clock in the afternoon and I said the moon is in

the sky, you're going to do what? You're going to look for dalil. It's called istidlal. You want a dalil that will prove the point or not.

So hadith mutawatir is ilm yaqeen, which means the ulama of hadith don't look at the sanad, they don't care about the people in the chain, nothing. Why? Because there's no way that this hadith could be a fabrication, because too many people narrated it. But they differed as Imam Ibn Hajar mentioned, what's the number of tawatur? Some said 14, some said 12, some said 13, some said 5. But most of them said the general definition: what will prevent you from having any doubt in its authenticity. So that's the first type of hadith, it was called tawatur.

The second type of hadith is called ahad. Many people confused hadith ahad, they thought it meant only one person in the chain. So ahad, ahad. No, hadith ahad, they say it could bring about the benefit of ilm nadhri. Ilm nadhri means speculative knowledge, knowledge that required you to seek dalil because there's not enough people in the chain which bring about the feeling of yaqeen.

And hadith ahad is divided into three types:

Number one was called mashhur, hadith mashhur. Mashhur means famous or known. It was narrated by enough people that it was not quite tawatur, but more people that kept it from being what's called aziz.

Aziz means two people only in the chain.

Gharib means only one person in the chain.

So hadith mashhur means two and above, to what meant tawatur. So if we said for example tawatur is 14, just hypothetically, so from 2 to 14 is mashhur, above 14 is tawatur. Under 14 now ahad, the first type of ahad mashhur, the second type of ahad is called aziz, only two people in the chain, and the last type is called gharib, which is only one person.

Some people, as Imam Ibn Hajar mentioned in Nukhbat al-Fikr, said that hadith aziz, hadith gharib cannot be sahih. It's not true. It's the issue of who, not what. Who are the ones who are relating this hadith?

So this hadith we say, Umar he said I heard from the Prophet. So who heard from Umar? From the Prophet to Umar, no one else heard it, so it's hadith what? Gharib. Because only, even though it's Umar. Then after Umar is Alqama ibn Waqqas. He's the only person who heard it from Umar, no one else, so it's still gharib. After Alqama is Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, one person, so it's still. Then Yahya ibn Sa'id, still. Then after that, ten people. Those ten people, mashhur. After those ten people, like Malik ibn Anas was a student of Yahya ibn Sa'id. So after that, you start seeing how many people narrate this hadith. So it started out as gharib, ahad, khalas.

But the condition for tawatur is that in every chain, the same number which means tawatur. So you cannot say that it was ahad, ahad, ahad, now tawatur. No. Tawatur means in every epoch of that sanad, there's enough people to feed, to create no doubt in the heart of the person, khalas. So this hadith ahad. So this hadith is tawatur? No, it's gharib in the beginning. After that the chain expanded.

So is hadith gharib authentic? Well this is one of the most famous hadith, all the muslims say it, all the muslims quote it. So just because a hadith is gharib in the beginning of its sanad, doesn't mean that it is weak because

Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim authenticated it.

The Text of the Hadith

Well it is hadith from Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

"I heard the Messenger of Allah."

This is Arabic language. Can you actually hear someone? I heard the Prophet. The Prophet, his existence has a voice. It means sama'tu qawla rasulillah - I heard the statement of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Another narration he said the Prophet was on a minbar. Another narration says Umar he said this on a minbar.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

Innama, innama has two meanings in Arabic. Number one is emphasis, negation. Indeed, only, khalas. Other ulema, contemporary ulema said the meaning here is just emphasis.

Innama al a'malu. Al a'mal is the plural of amal. An amal is only applied to human beings. No one should ever call the actions of an animal a'mal or amal. La, always the word a'mal as some ulema mention is attributed to those things that have intellect. And for that reason this hadith makes sense:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

"Indeed actions are only by intention."

It means the only creature in the world that has spiritual transcendence are human beings. Human beings are able to look in the past and look in the future. I was dead, Allah brought me to life, I'm gonna die and stand in front of Allah, tayyib.

Innama al a'malu biniyat. Ah, it's an important ruling. Indeed actions are only by intention. Here it means righteous actions, not every action. Somebody wrote me a letter and said what if I want to read Pride and Prejudice, does it require intention? La ya shaykh. But when it says innama al a'malu biniyat it means actions which are ibadah, actions related to ibadah.

When Intention is Required

If somebody wants to make an intention to read Pride and Prejudice or play Need for Speed or something, and he makes an intention, inshallah he'll be rewarded, inshallah hopefully he'll be rewarded, but he's not obligated, he's not mukallaf for niya. The only thing that the person has to make a niya in is what's called an absolute act of ibadah.

An absolute act of ibadah is defined by the scholars of usul as something that the mind cannot understand the wisdom behind absolutely. So why do we pray the way we pray? I don't know. Why don't we start with sujood first? Allahu a'lam.

So that's why sometimes the ulema differ, is there a niya or not in certain actions? So for example wudu. The Maliki, the Shafi'i and the Hanbalis they said a niya is a condition of wudu. What's the dalil? Abu Hanifa rahimahu allahu ta'ala, his madhab, they said intention is not a condition of wudu. Why? The first three schools they said wudu is a complete absolute act of ibadah. Abu Hanifa said no, wudu is an act of ibadah but at the same time you clean yourself. So the mind yudrik al-haqiqah, the mind is able to ascertain this. So that's why they differ.

Why is, for example, intention not a condition of marriage? You cannot find any book of fiqh that said, wa min arkaniha an-niya. Why? Based on what I just said, I think all of you understand why you need to get married, right? Whereas for example, hajj - an-niya. Sawm - an-niya. Now he tells you why you're fasting, but as Allah said in a hadith, it's only for me and I reward for it. So it's a pure act of ibadah. Always the mind cannot understand, but usually unless Allah as the scholars of usul said, unless Allah tells you why. If Allah tells us the hikmah behind something, that's it. If he doesn't, then the ulema are allowed to debate it.

Now nobody can come and say, you know I think the hikmah of fasting is to lose weight. Allah said taqwa, khalas. But for example Allah, if he doesn't say the wisdom behind something, then the ulema, it's their business now. Allah left them the space to debate and discuss and argue and so on and so forth, khalas. It's usul al-fiqh. Ibadah is a bit difficult.

Fa innama al-a'malu biniyat - acts of absolute obedience to Allah, that's what the ulema said, you have to have intention. We have to be careful sometimes. Have intention, have intention for everything. Why do you think Allah didn't ask us to have intention to leave the haram? Do we have to have intention also to stay away from evil or only to do acts of ibadah? How hard would it be if Allah conditioned being rewarded for staying away from the haram on niyyah? So if you go to the mall, how many times are you going to have to make niyyah? Stay away from haram, just walking down the street.

So out of Allah's rahmah, the mashayikh said out of his mercy, he rewards you inshallah for staying away from the haram, yeah, out of his rahmah. But if somebody makes intention, Allah will reward them more inshallah.

Three Important Principles About Intention

Number three: An axiom that says the mubahat, the permissible acts, can be turned to profitable deeds with Allah with niyyah. So someone sleeps with niyyah, someone eats with niyyah, someone works out with niyyah, inshallah that act will be considered ibadah.

Niyyah, Imam al-Qarafi said niyyah is al-azmu al-qalbi ala al-fi'l aw turki - Imam al-Qarafi said that niyyah is the determination that the heart has towards doing something and not doing it.

As for the ulama of fiqh, when we talk about niyyah, their concern is that the action is done for Allah and that that action has met all its conditions and its pillars. We say a niyyah means that it's for Allah, and secondly that I met all the conditions and pillars of that act, because that's a sign that my niyyah is correct.

For the ulama of aqidah and the ulama of tazkiyah, when they talk about niyyah, their concern is shirk billah - somebody associates partners with Allah. So it's ibadah khalisan lillah, amalan. So Allah says:

قُلْ إِنِّي أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصًا لَّهُ الدِّينَ

"Say, I was ordered to worship Allah, making the religion purely for Him." (Quran 39:11)

The Meaning of Ikhlas

The word ikhlas comes from a word which means to clean or purify something. So takhalas min al-shawaib like the honey, when they pull all of the stuff out of it, this is called takhalas. That's why when you finish an action, you're free of it, what do you say in Arabic? Khalas, khalas, I'm exonerated from this now, khalas. So ikhlas means to be khalas from al-dunya for Allah, like you finished everything, and the only thing left is Allah.

So the ulama said, al-ikhlas means to be intoxicated with the Creator to the extent that you forget creation, khalas.

The Importance of Inspecting One's Intention

Also niya brings reward. That's why Imam al-Muhasibi he said:

"Wa'arif fahhas an-niya, wa'arif al-irada, fa inna al-mujazata bi-niya."

He said, rahimahullah, inspect your intention and know the reasons why you do things, because the reward is based on intention.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his son Abdul Rahman asked him, "Awsini ya abi" - give me some advice. He said, "Ya bunayy, anwi al-khayr" - always have good intentions, always try to make good intentions.

Some of the ulama said, "Ma wajadtu shay'an ashaddu alayya min niyati" - some ulama said, I have never tried to control anything that was more hard upon me than my intention. Every time, Sufyan al-Thawri says, I got it, it would change.

How to Have Ikhlas

Number one: If we said the word ikhlas means to purify, the first thing is to try and make efforts in Islamic work. That's how you learn intention. That's why one of the salaf he said, I studied for 13 years. He said, the first 13 years I didn't have intention. Over the 13 years I learned intention. How? Trial and error. You have to be careful brothers, that you don't think that someday you're just going to be like poof, perfect Muslim guy. That doesn't happen man, it comes through effort, mistakes, failures, screwing up and so on and so forth.

Number two: A lot of istighfar. Whenever you do something, make istighfar.

Number three: When you finish any type of good deed, ask Allah to accept it and to forgive you and turn back to him. Look at the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). After 23 years of dawah, Allah says:

"So glorify the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness." (Quran 110:3)

After 23 years of nubuwwah, Allah still tells the Prophet to make istighfar to him.

The Benefits of Niyyah

And niyyah brings about barakah. Number one, niyyah brings about the closeness of Allah to the servant. So Allah calls the people of niyyah al-muqarraboon - those close to Allah.

Number two, niyyah is the sign of tawheed. The ultimate sign of tawheed is niyyah. Some people say ikhlas, ifrad al-khaliq - to single out the Creator, Allah, fil-ibadah, to the exclusion of anything else.

And the last is to realize that with niyyah comes barakah. That's why Imam Ibn Ata'illah al-Iskandari said in al-Hikam, he said rahimahullah:

"Man ashraqa nihayatuhu faqad ashraqa bidayatuhu."

Whoever illuminated their ending is indeed because he illuminated his beginning. Then he said:

"Min alamati najahi fin-nihaya, ar-ruju'i ila Allahi fil-bidaya."

He said that from the signs of a successful ending is starting with Allah in the beginning.

And the Muslim activist, wallahi, you will never ever ever ever be satisfied with making intention. Always he will feel in his heart, am I sincere to Allah, did I do this for the sake of Allah, is my heart really for Allah? So Imam Ibn Qayyim said that the person always ask himself two questions: lima wa kayf - why and how? Why? Was it according to sharia? How? Was it for the sake of Allah?

The Prophet's Example in the Hadith

After this the Prophet he gave an example of the ruling, of this axiom:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

"Actions are only by their intentions, and everyone is going to get what he intended for." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

After that the Prophet gives an example of the ruling. He models it. He doesn't just say something without giving an example that the mind can see. The da'iya should always remember this. If you want to talk about something that's like intangible, always try to make it tangible for the people.

So the Prophet said innama al-a'malu biniyat, and it's something intangible, it's a thought, it's a cognitive process. Then he says:

فَمَن كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَمَن كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَوْ امْرَأَةٍ يَنكِحُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِ

"Whoever migrates for the sake of Allah, then his migration is for the sake of Allah and His Messenger. Whoever migrates for something from this dunya or to marry a woman, then he will have what he migrated for." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1, Sahih Muslim 1907)

The Eloquence of the Prophet's Statement

Something quickly here. In the Arabic language, man, ya sidi amir. Faman kanat hijratuhu ila Allahi wa rasulihi,

fa hijratuhu ila Allahi wa rasulihi. This is called shart wa jawab al-shart, a conditional phrase. So if I said, whoever visits me tomorrow, I'll visit him tomorrow. Whoever comes to my house, I'll feed him. Achar, khalas. This is a conditional phrase.

But if I say, watch this in English, if I say, whoever comes to my house, he comes to my house, doesn't make any sense. So we say in Arabic, especially in grammar, in Arabic balagha, the rhetoric, the condition cannot be the same as the conditioned. Doesn't make any sense. If I say like, if you say my name, you say my name.

But here the Prophet said, whoever migrates for Allah and his messenger, has migrated for Allah and his messenger. So some ulama they said, how come the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he made the jawab al-shart the same as the shart? He made the response to the condition the same as the condition. Whoever migrates for Allah and his messenger then his migration is for Allah and his messenger.

So they said the Prophet said I'm the most eloquent of the Arabs. So here subhanallah, we learned something beautiful. They said the reason that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) made Allah and his messenger the condition and the conditioner, is to show you the greatness of doing something for Allah and his messenger. So it should be read in Arabic actually like this so you feel like the profound seriousness of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

Signs of Sincerity

What are some signs of sincerity?

Number one is the absence of silliness. Yaani wallaha, we have to be careful of this constant silliness man.

Number two: A lot of dhikr.

Number three: Humility.

Number four: Shukr to Allah.

Number five: Consistency, no matter what happens. No matter what happens to the person, they keep going. That's why some of the ulema said be careful of the ibad of al-amal. The abd of the amal is the one who worships his actions. Who's the one who worships his actions? They're the ones, if something doesn't go their way, they stop doing it.

So Imam Ibn Ata'illah al-Iskandari says:

"Min alamati i'timad ala al-amali, nuqsan al-raja inda wujud al-zalal."

He said that from the signs that someone relies on his actions and not Allah is that when something bad happens, they stop. They lose hope in Allah. Not in Allah, they lose hope, meaning they lost hope in their deeds because they're used to what? Hope on what? Their deeds, not Allah.

The one who's mukhlis, he has istiqamah. Whatever happens, khalas, lillah.

So this hadith is a great hadith. We could talk about this hadith all night, but we don't have much time.

Second Hadith: Hadith Jibril

The next hadith, also the hadith of Umar radiyallahu anhu. Umar was the second khalifa, everybody knows, alhamdulillah, and he died 57 after Hijri, right?

The Arrival of Jibril

Umar radiyallahu anhu, he says:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

"One day, we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)." (Sahih Muslim 8)

So one day, subhanallah, the ulama says something nice. How Umar describes the Prophet amongst the people. Baynama nahnu julusun inda rasulillah. In Arabic it means like, we were chilling with the Prophet. We were with him, he was amongst us. It wasn't like some patriarch, saint, or some strange guru. La ilaha illallah, we were just chilling with the Prophet. Baynama nahnu julusun inda rasulillahi (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

(Sahih Muslim 8)

"Suddenly a man came upon us. He had really white clothes and really dark hair. There was no sign of traveling upon him and nobody knew him from amongst us." (Sahih Muslim 8)

If you've been to the masjid of the Prophet in Medina, you know the white tile? That's the city that Medina was before in the time of the Prophet. It's around the whole masjid. That was the whole city. Everything else was considered like outside. So of course, if somebody strange comes in, people are going to know him. That was the guy, you know, we didn't know him.

(Sahih Muslim 8)

"Until he sat in front of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)." (Sahih Muslim 8)

In other narrations in Tirmidhi, he said he came into the masjid going "Ya Muhammad, ya Muhammad," yelling the Prophet's name in a way that's unbecoming of someone who's a companion of the Prophet. Why? To attract the people's attention. So we take here a lesson in dawah that sometimes the person, even maybe can do something makrooh to attract the attention of the people. Although we're not saying the angel would do something makrooh, la. But this is not ma'siya, but the way he calls the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is a way that's like from the point of urf, the people's custom. He's talking to the Prophet like this. So there's a fa'ida, there's a haja, there's a need to bring the people's attention to him.

فَأَسْنَدَ رُكْبَتَيْهِ إِلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ، وَوَضَعَ كَفَّيْهِ عَلَى فَخِذَيْهِ

Then he said he put his knees next to the Prophet's knees. He put his hands on the Prophet's thighs. He said "Ya Muhammad, oh Muhammad." So everybody's looking man, who's this guy man?

The Question About Islam

أَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْإِسْلَامِ

"Tell me about what is Islam." (Sahih Muslim 8)

And Islam comes from the word aslama yuslimu islaman which means to submit. And the subject is the one who's forcing himself to submit to something. Fa aslamtu lillah. And this is an outward submission, an outward submission. When we say Islam in language, al-inqiyad. But Islam in the Arabic language means to be subservient to something, to submit to it.

But Islam according to sharia is the definition of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم):

(Sahih Muslim 8)

"Islam is to bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, to pay zakat, to fast the month of Ramadan, and to make hajj for the one who can do so." (Sahih Muslim 8)

قَالَ صَدَقْتَ

"He said you spoke correctly." (Sahih Muslim 8)

Understanding La Ilaha Illallah

Here the Prophet said al-Islam, number one is shahada: La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur rasulullah. La ilaha ma'budun bil-haqqi illallah - there's nothing in existence worthy of worship in truth but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.

When you say la ilaha illallah, it doesn't mean there's no god but God. You think Umar ibn al-Khattab changed his life because someone told him hey Umar, there's no god but God? He said I'm going to stop being a bad guy, thanks, I appreciate that man, bring me a latte. That's not what happened. If you went to some non-Muslim in a mall, hey Jared, there's no god but God man. Jared's like, oh God, epiphany, transforms. It's not going to happen man.

So obviously ilah means more than god. Ilah has about 7 or 8 different meanings in Arabic: master, lord, sovereign, ruler, beloved. So when the person says la ilaha - absolute, no deity worthy of worship but Allah. So that includes things, not just idols man.

So the Prophet said, the Prophet said, cursed is the slave of the dinar, cursed is the slave of the dirham, which were types of money in the time of the Prophet, cursed is the slave of the shirt and the pants. So Imam Ibn Taymiyyah says this hadith is a proof, this hadith, that people can worship things other than Allah from this dunya. They can make something an ilah other than Allah.

When you say rasulullah, the one that Allah sent to teach us the din. And the things that Allah sent him with are mentioned in the Quran: to teach them the book, the sunnah and wisdom and to purify them, khalas. And this is a contract between the person and Allah. When someone makes this contract with Allah, that means two things.

Number one: They affirm the reality of this contract - la ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah.

Number two: That they rely on Allah as the one who will dictate the conditions of the contract only.

The Purpose of Creation

So that's why when someone repents to Allah, he repents to Allah because the person has failed to live up to the purpose behind their creation. The grand wisdom behind creation is ibadah. So if you buy something from the store and it breaks, what do you do with it? You return it or you get rid of it.

So the creation of Allah, what is sinning? Sinning means to move away from the grand purpose of creation - ibadah. And fitnah is anything that comes between you and actualizing that grand purpose. And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said in a sound hadith, when the name of Allah is no longer mentioned on the face of the earth, what will happen? He'll order for the earth's destruction because the purpose of creation stopped - to worship Allah. So there's no need for creation anymore. Fahimt?

So when someone repents to Allah, he's coming back to Allah because he violated this contract that Allah is the ilah and Allah is his lord who helps him maintain this contract. So that's why in sayyid al-istighfar, the Prophet said:

"Oh Allah, you are my lord, there's no god but you. You created me and I'm your slave and I'm on your contract and on your promise, I'm doing my best."

This contract: (لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - la ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam). Taib, ba'din?

Establishing the Prayer

The Prophet said:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

You'll never find in the Quran, in the Quran, Allah says to pray or to do the act of prayer. Allah says always to establish the salah, as though you see salah like a building that has to be built. Iqamat al-salah, something that has pillars, has conditions, and then has this edifice which is known as salah.

Salah comes from a word which means connection - silah. And in sharia, salah in sharia is a group of actions which are specific, statements which are specific, done in a specific pattern which begins with takbir and ends with salam.

The Prophet said, so the Prophet established salah. Salah is the shaykh of the shaykh. Some ulama they said salatul fajr is the shaykh of the shaykh because usually the imam or the shaykh, he doesn't have an imam or shaykh. So his imam and shaykh, especially in America, are his acts of ibadah.

The Muslim activist, wallahi, tomorrow where are you going to be for fajr man? Oh I was up all night. I knew mashallah one brother who converted to Islam and he thought you had to pray in the mosque. So he rode his bike 30 minutes to the mosque for fajr. And I saw him one day in Oklahoma. I said man, you look like Lance

Armstrong man. He told me no, I came for fajr because I have to come to the mosque. I said on a bike? He said on a bike brother.

Even after that he kept going on a bike, subhanallah. Now we have cars, mashallah, DVDs, LCD monitors, you know everything and we're knocked out. I heard some brothers in Indonesia now they're swimming to pray. And us, look at us man, all this ni'mah. You're going to be asked about it:

"Then on that day you will surely be asked about the blessings." (Quran 102:8)

On everything. So if you didn't use it for the right objective, if I didn't use it for the right objective, we're going to be in big trouble. And that's what fitna means. When somebody didn't actualize the purpose of creation for ibadah, that's called fitna.

Benefits of Salah

So the Prophet said to establish salah. Salah also has a lot of benefits.

Number one: The help of Allah. Seek the help of Allah through patience and prayer.

Also salah brings about Allah being with you at a more heightened state as He says:

Number three: Salah keeps away from sin and evil. One time a brother came to me and said I can't stop looking at porn. He said Imam, I have to look at porn everyday. I started 10 minutes, now it's like 4 hours a day. I said woah brother, you probably forgot everything man, even the Bible man. So then the brother told me, even the yellow pages man.

So I told him, you know what, I have the remedy to help you. He said what? I said when you want to watch porn, he said yeah yeah yeah. I said pray two rakah. Go make wudu, pray, make a lot of dua and then go watch some porn. He said that's impossible. I said exactly. Pray two rakah before you watch porn. He said but if I pray two rakah then I can't watch porn. I said exactly brother. Every time you want to watch porn, pray two rakah, go watch some porn. Also say bismillah before you turn on TV.

He said but if I do all that there's no way I can do that. I said exactly, alhamdulillah.

Nobody's going to say hey, I'm going to the club, let me pray two rakah. Say pray two rakah, you're not going to go. So then the brother actually admitted, he said subhanallah man, that's hard to do brother. I said yeah but inshallah you can do it.

So that's why some of the sheikhs they told us before, if you want to do something bad, say bismillah. It's like but sheikh, when I do a bad thing, I'm going to say you know something else, I'm going to say bismillah. He said exactly, because bismillah will protect you from the evil. Nobody will be able to pray two rakah and look at porn. How? It's impossible.

We think somehow that the verse means if I pray, some kind of strange, you know, David Blaine type thing is going to happen and now I'm not going to sin anymore man. Salah is a tool. If you don't use it, it's not going to work like anything in your life. If you don't use it for the right things, it's not going to work. So he had a tool. So when you want to do evil, pray two rakah, you won't do evil. It's very clear. It's hard to do.

Paying Zakah

Then he said:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

Here the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) makes an important axiom very clear. He says that the hajj is for the one who can do it. Also another hadith is going to come later on, I think the ninth hadith of Abu Huraira. The Prophet said whatever I ordered you to do, do it as best you can. So the axiom in Islamic law that says what?

Then he asked, then Jibril said he spoke the truth.

(Sahih Muslim 8)

Umar says we were amazed that he could ask him then he said you're speaking the truth. Like this is the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

The Question About Iman

(Sahih Muslim 8)

So the Prophet gives the definition of iman:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

To believe in Allah, to believe in the tawheed of Allah. Tawheed, some people they said this division of tawheed is not from Islam. These three aspects of tawheed are in Surat al-Fatihah. Tawheed al-rububiyah, tawheed al-asma wa al-sifat:

Tawheed al-uluhiyya:

This kind of things, we shouldn't make a big deal about. La mushaahata fi istilah in Islam. But unfortunately we find this intolerance even directed to people called the Salafis. Now it became cool to be intolerant to the Salafis. So in the name of tolerance I became intolerant. Where is the Muslim? Akhoo al-Muslim - the Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. If he sees something he doesn't agree from his brother, if it's something clearly forbidden in Islam, should advise him. But if it's something about which the ulama differed from the beginning till now, how are you making a big deal about this stuff?

So we're fighting about these little secondary issues and the rest of the people are drowning in major issues. So as one brother said, they argue about you know all these little intricate issues of aqidah, our brothers, but you very rarely find someone who can come and answer Richard Dawkins. But we can all talk about the Greeks and the Shia and this and that.

Now we're losing. This trip to America is the first time I saw a lot of cases of irtadiyah, a lot of Muslims leaving Islam, saying you know I read The Greatest Lie Ever Told and The Greatest Show on Earth and Christopher Hitchens the drunk bum and somehow I was like influenced by him. These are the problems that Muslims should be dealing with: hyper-materialism, you know, and so on. Those are the questions that Muslims should be worrying about in America, not just regurgitating things from the past. Those things are important but focus on the present.

The Pillars of Iman

So he (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to believe in Allah. The angels of Allah, their number is not known. The creation of light and they don't disobey Allah.

The messengers of Allah means to believe in the messengers of Allah, all of them. Without belief in all of those messengers that Allah mentioned, the Prophet mentioned, the person has a problem in iman, khalas.

(Sahih Muslim 8)

The books which Allah sent, mentioned in Quran, mentioned in sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Other books like, other people might talk about, was Buddha a prophet or was you know Nostradamus? Look man, I don't want to know about Nostradamus. I just know what Allah mentioned, khalas, Allahu a'lam. How? Why you want to talk about what you don't know? Talk about what you know.

When people ask me that, was Nostradamus a prophet? I said can you name all the prophets? All the prophets in Quran, name them all. I don't know them all. Why you worry about Nostradamus? At least know. Someone came to me and said my iman is weak. I read Richard Dawkins' new book. I don't know why my iman is weak now. I said really? When was the last time you studied the Quran? Like really really studied the Quran? Oh. So I said subhanallah, it's like someone who drinks poison and wonders why they are dying.

If you have time to study Richard Dawkins' book, then I said I want to answer him, I want to defend Islam, I want to be the Salahuddin. I said you don't even know Quran. How are you going to defend Islam to Richard Dawkins? You don't even know Islam yet. If you know Islam, if you are alim or something like Yasser Qadhi or big shaykh, Shaykh Jamal or Shaykh Siraj Wahhaj, that makes sense. But you are some guy who is reading Islam for Dummies by Yahya Emerick and hanging out with Shaykh Google and Shaykh Wikipedia. How are you going to handle Richard Dawkins?

So that's crazy man. Muslims should be busy with what benefits him first. If the Prophet, Umar was reading the text of Musa and he said to him, if Musa was alive he would follow me. What would he say to Mo who works at 7-Eleven? He is reading Richard Dawkins. I think the Prophet would be a little bit upset.

And then what happens is because we don't have Quranic literacy, Dawkins becomes a fundamental understanding by which we look at the world. Richard Dawkins himself, he said I can't prove that God doesn't exist. I want to read more. I don't want to read something like that. If I was a scholar of aqeedah, I would read that book, write a response. Average Muslim doesn't even have literacy of the Quran itself. Ask him to name all the surah in the Quran, he can't. He wants to read Dawkins so he can defend Islam. You don't know Islam, how can you defend what you don't know? That's impossible.

Belief in the Last Day and Divine Decree

Then he says:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

Everything happens after the moment of your death. It's called al-akhirah, not just the day of judgment. The day of judgment is part of al-akhirah. Like in akhirah, everything happens from the time that you die.

(Sahih Muslim 8)

Here the Prophet, after faith in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the day of judgment, and to believe, to emphasize, most people have a problem believing in qadr. Can you explain qadr? I said no, I'm not Allah. I can explain it to you in the sense of qadr. Qadr you can understand because you're dealing with like a Pentium 2 man. Your mind is limited. Sometimes we get upset. No, I have to understand everything. You have to understand everything? You eat biryani, you don't know how it's made. Can no one here create biryani like aunties can?

The Question About Ihsan

Then he said:

(Sahih Muslim 8)

The Question About the Day of Judgment

Then he asked him:

"Tell me about the day of judgment." (Sahih Muslim 8)

The Prophet said:

"The one who's being asked doesn't know more than the one who's asking." (Sahih Muslim 8)

The one who's being asked doesn't know more than the one who's asking.

The Signs of the Hour

Then he said:

"Tell me about the signs." (Sahih Muslim 8)

He said number one:

"That you'll see the slave woman giving birth to her mistress, and you'll see the barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds competing in constructing tall buildings." (Sahih Muslim 8)

Now the biggest building in the world is where? Dubai. Burj Khalifa. There's a sign, there's a sign man. The biggest building in the world, it's right there. Means to compete, to try to build bigger buildings than other people.

So the Malaysians they built the Petronas Towers. Then the Chinese said no no no, we're going to make our needle one meter longer than your needle. Now our Bedouin brothers in Dubai, instead of spending money on, who can imagine some more important things, we're going to build a palm tree in the ocean and the biggest building in the world. Mashallah, Muslims and even human beings don't have food, don't have water, don't have clothes, but this big building.

The Wisdom of the Prophet's Answers

Then Imam Shah Tabari said something nice. We'll finish inshallah. He said that the Prophet, when he asked him about the day of judgment, he didn't answer him because this answer doesn't lead to any practice. When he asked him about the signs of the day of judgment, he went into great detail. Why? Because the signs of the day of judgment sparked the heart, caused the heart to fear Allah, turned back to Allah and lead to action.

The Revelation of Jibril's Identity

After that, Jibril he left. Then Umar said, I sat for a minute. Then the Prophet turned to him and said:

"Ya Umar, you know the one who asked the question?" (Sahih Muslim 8)

He said:

"Allah and His messenger know best." (Sahih Muslim 8)

"He came to teach you your religion." (Sahih Muslim 8)

Another narration says that they got up and ran outside. They couldn't find any footprints for the place where he left. And that door till now in Medina you have Babu Jibril. Ask anyone, where's Babu Jibril? They'll show you Babu Jibril. Before there was a place where they say the conversation happened between Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and Jibril alayhi salatu wa salam. I don't know if it's still there. Allahu a'lam.

Questions and Answers Session

So if we have any questions we can take questions. If not, ma'assalama.

Question About Intention in Prayer

Question: Is there a niyyah or is there no niyyah?

That's the question. But the mere thought of I'm going to pray for Allah is niyyah. No no no, alhamdulillah. Only the Shafi'i, they say you can speak. But we have to be careful too though because one of the purposes of niyyah is to differentiate between habit and worship, habit and worship. So we have to also make sure, I'm going to pray for Allah, to have that intention as best we can.

I think niyyah is good enough. Therefore I think niyyah, niyyah, niyyah.

First, about the issue of Quran, reading Quran for the dead, the ulama differ on this. Imam Ibn Qayyim said the salaf, they read Quran on the dead people, khalas. So this is an issue where you shouldn't make a big deal about it amongst the people.

Number two: If someone does something wrong or does a bidah, they cannot use their intention to justify it. Although, if somebody is ignorant, Allah can reward them for their intention. But in general, they say that the niyyah has to be followed with what follows Sharia. Because the niyyah is for Allah. So if I'm going to worship Allah, I have to worship Allah with what He ordained for me. Understand?

Question About Playing Basketball and Bidah

Hold on, playing basketball could never be a bidah. It's not a bidah. Like that, you can play, no, no problem, no problem there. It's not like saying I'm going to make a new salat in a masjid.

Playing ball for brotherhood, and brotherhood is something Allah legislated. But to do like, every week we're going to sit in a masjid and do a hundred salawat on the Prophet every day, every Thursday at 7pm, that's a problem.

But brotherhood is like a custom, like a'adah. It's not an act of ritual ibadah. But ritual ibadah is the problem.

No, but brotherhood is a whole other issue. Let's say we don't have a choice, like let's say the only day we have off is Friday. That's different. It's the only day we can gather. But to pick out a day for no reason, without having any legitimate reason for having to choose that day, for a specific act of worship, let's say we're going to meet every Friday night and pray three rakat together. Yeah? This is a bidah.

But the thing about playing basketball, it has nothing to do with ibadah in the strict sense of ibadah. Every Thursday in Egypt we play basketball, it's not a bidah, not from Sharia.

Discussion About What Constitutes Bidah

Praying to the dead, praying to the Awliya, asking the Awliya of Allah, making tawassul with the Awliya. Even Shaykh Al-Buti, may Allah have mercy on him, may Allah protect him, and others, making tawassul with the dead is a bidah.

Making tawassul with the Messenger of Allah, the scholars differ in that. To make tawassul with the Prophet, the scholars are different. But to make tawassul with saints and so on...

One time I was in a place, I met a guy. He told me, I'm here and I'm in another masjid right now. I said, but you're here? He said, no, but I'm there too. Then another one told me, my Shaykh went to Umrah at Asr, and you'll meet him at Maghrib in the masjid in Malaysia. So I went to Umrah. Told me they flew him to Umrah and they'll fly him back.

These kind of things, I mean, you have to bring his dalil. But I'm a student. You should ask nicely for dalil without being rude, without being harsh, without trying to create problems. I have enough problems in America. But nicely ask, Shaykh, I want to understand this issue.

Wallahi, there's nothing wrong, and it's not from adab not to ask. The student of Ibn Abbas said, the shy student can't learn. It's the right of the student to ask nicely. Shaykh, is there some dalil for this? If the Shaykh is like, oh, you disrespected me, you better be careful of that person. Why? This is a good question.

My teacher before, he was happy. He said, Shaykh, I don't understand, Shaykh. I'm dumb and I'm stupid. I want to understand, why? Why is this issue like this? He said, mashaAllah, sit down, I'll explain it to you. You're a student, you want to learn. There's nothing wrong with that. And we take that from the Hadith of Jibril. Islam, Iman, Ihsan. The knowledge is based on asking.

The Importance of Respectful Questioning

We should be careful also of the cult mentality in any group. It takes us away from the general body of the Muslims. We have the adab of the scholars, right? But is there a certain thing, like some people that say, you can't question your teacher? Like, we need to address that issue.

Well, the Companions, they questioned the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. You know. Hafsah said, is it from you or from Allah? This is the wife of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Who said that? Who said because they're not our example, we should follow them? They're our example. Their students, they asked them. And they're students, ask them. And that's why they're the Salaf.

The whole ilm is based on questioning. In fact, Ibn Abbas said, the quality of a good student is asking questions. To ask, to ask. Not to ask a rude question, not to ask a question to make fitna, not to ask a question to harm people. Istifham means I want to understand. Fa ana astafhim, I'm seeking to have fahm. So that's why the question in Arabic is called istifham. It means to seek understanding.

In the Quran it says:

"They ask you, they ask you, they ask you." (Various verses)

Allah didn't censor them for this. Other places in the Quran where Allah says:

"As Musa was asked before." (Quran 2:108)

You want to ask questions like Musa, because the people of Musa used to give him a hard time.

But the question which is mahmood, is actually mustahab, could be wajib. But to ask a religious person, wallahi it's not a sign of disrespect, that's a sign of trust. The reason I'm asking you, once I was giving a lecture in California. So this young kid, probably 8th grade or 9th grade, he's like, you know what Imam Suhaib, that lecture sucked, man. I said, damn. I think his name was Mark.

So then I got upset, my arrogance kicked in. I started to get like that dude on Finding Nemo, the fish. So I went to his naqib, I said, man, you put that cat in check, man. He came and asked me these questions. He said, that's

good Imam, that's good man. That means he trusts you. I said, that's true, it means he trusts me. Alhamdulillah, yeah, that's right.

So I had to be patient with people, man. People are not like perfect. How the Prophet, they used to put their turbans on the neck of the Prophet. I want some zakat, yo. Some food stamps, man. And the Prophet, the Prophet, and that's how they talk to him. That's how they talk to him, Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam. The Prophet, he said, give him zakat. Because the guy is jahil.

We're not dealing with robots, we're dealing with people, man. So people, when people, wallahi, when people feel that they can't ask religious leaders questions, we're going to find the subliminal secularization of the community. Because they're no longer going to be getting religious guidance. They're going to get it from Dr. Phil and Oprah, Laura, all of those people. Dr. Laura. So they're going to get, but honestly, and that's what happens with neo-traditionalism, and hyper-traditionalism, and even strange forms of Sufism, you find that the community basically are juhalah, or they're cult worshippers, where you find people now who even dress and imitate the Shaykh. And they even dress and look like him. They have the same haircut. They even talk like him. Even they have the same beard. This is unacceptable.

From the book of Adab al-Talib wa al-Mu'allim, they say the students should not imitate how a Shaykh dresses, and how a Shaykh talks. That's a fitna. That's a fitna. And also Islam wants everyone to have their personality. They'll contribute to Islam in a different way.

If everybody's acting like, you know, when everybody tried to play basketball like Michael Jordan, it's the best example. Man, basketball started getting garbage, man. They lost the fundamentals. They forgot he worked on his fundamentals for 20, 30 years. But everybody started trying to do nasty crossovers. Uncle's like, I'll take you. It's like, don't do it. Don't do it, uncle. Oh, God. He gets hung on the rim. With his little sock, his little sock ball, with his good biryani stains. With the lungi on, man. The lungi came off. He had pants on underneath, though. He had the MC Hammer pants under the lungi.

The Prophet as a Human Example

So what we see is that people have turned the Prophet into Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ is unfortunate for the Christians. And that's where now the Prophet is some kind of creature made of light, and we have this esoteric relationship with him, but there's no tangible relationship with the Prophet.

The most important relationship with the Prophet, number one, is to study his Sunnah. I met a brother one time, he's like, I read the Burda every day. I said, you read the Burda, did you memorize Bulugh al-Maram? He's like, no, why? I said, you should memorize Bulugh al-Maram. You should learn how to read Quran. You want to read Burda, that's your business. You know, read the Burda. I'm not saying, you know, there's two riwayahs. One riwayah, mashallah, go ahead and read it, man. Other riwayah, I don't know about all that.

But, no, seriously, not to defame anyone, but here is an issue of priorities, man. Where we're kind of lost in this kind of strange relationship with Rasulullah. What the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the most important thing we do is learn his Sunnah. Practice his Sunnah. Try to follow him as best we can. Love and respect him, but not idealize him to the point that, you know, he becomes like a deity. It's very dangerous.

Dealing with Sincerity and Doubts

The trick is Shaitan, though. I'll just say nicely, you know, like, at the end of the day, doing good brings you closer to Allah. Not doing good takes you away from Allah. So, who's winning? At the end of the day, who's winning now? So, then there's a problem there. And that's where we have to be careful, we don't create a utopian understanding of Ikhlas, like suddenly, bam, you're mukhlis. That's a process people have to go through.

Tell me, an insincere person wouldn't worry about their sincerity. So, in that situation, we have to walk people nicely. Don't say, yeah, Shaitan is tricking you, playing with your heart. Tell them, look, if you're not doing good, then what are you doing? Either you're doing good or you're doing evil. And then try to convince them that at the end of the day, this is one of the ways that the devil does try to set traps for people.

Fudayl Ibn Iyad said, whoever doesn't do things for the people because of the people is a hypocrite. I mean, take it easy with people, but the problem is now that I'm worrying about creation, that's what I'm not doing. Ultimately, my concern is that I'm doing it because I think the people think something about me. That's problematic.

La, la, la, la, la. Samana wa ta'ana. You have to struggle with it. That's the struggle. But a lot of times people don't do things for riya. I mean, tark al-shay li an-nas is riya. To leave something in front of the people is riya. To be suddenly super pious in front of the people can be riya for sure.

Let's say I was using cocaine, right? Mad high, man. You know what I'm saying? Say I was. And then afterwards, I was like, you know, well, I found out later on I've been blasting fools for like 20 years, and then you told me that I didn't know what was wrong, so I can just keep blasting on people. And I'm addicted. I'm addicted. I'm a serial killer. Ted Bundy, man. You're struggling with that.

So how do you help them? That struggle will be rewarded, bro. The efforts that I make in the struggle will be rewarded. I mean, yeah, you disobey Allah. You disobey Allah.

Understanding Bidah and Custom

There's a question. You made it a custom. And so, for example, you were doing that. I mean, it wasn't necessarily 13th or 15th or Monday or Wednesday or anything like that. It wasn't necessarily part of the custom, but it was something that was made in a way. Here is something that obviously mentions Sharia too fast. Secondly, this is not Bidah. This is not Bidah.

The Need for Tolerance Among Muslims

This is why we need to be intolerant of intolerance, man. All these kind of issues. We need to be intolerant against intolerance. All of these groups agree on the Usul. None of these groups differ on Usul. So the Usul is what we have to, we're not negotiable with Usul. But we can be the most negotiable in the Furu', the secondary issues.

All these groups are different on secondary issues. And actually, to have intolerance in the Furu' goes against the Usul. To be intolerant in secondary issues goes against the fundamentals of Islam.

I said today, Imam Ahmad and Muhammad, they asked him, would you pray behind the one who eats camel meat? He said, yeah. Would I not pray behind Malik? Even in Aqeedah, the Ash'ari and the Hanbali used to pray together. You will not find Ibn Taymiyyah said, you can't pray behind Ash'ari. Not at all. May Allah have mercy on him. Shaykh Abdul Wahhab didn't say you can't pray behind Ash'ari. May Allah have mercy on him. Or vice versa. Although there were instances of intolerance.

Al-Bayjuri, I studied in Al-Azhar. And he never said, that's it. He didn't say, the Madhab of Salaf is wrong. These people, they make God like a human being. He didn't say that. And he's Ash'ari.

So, always through history, there have been people who are intolerant. The Ash'iris, under the guidance of one of the grandsons of Salahuddin, they kicked the Hanbala out of the empire. They destroyed their minbar in Damascus. This is not the type of intolerance we want to take from history.

I'm not Ash'ari, I'm a Salafi. I'm not going to go to MSA and say, you know what, I'm Salafi, you're Ash'ari. How many people know what that is, man? No one even knows what this stuff is anymore. That's why I said in ISNA, a theology of complexes. Complex theology has no relevance to the lives of people anymore.

So, the brothers and sisters who are arguing about these things, we need to start to teach them, man. They have a problem in the understanding of Usul. And they lack a general understanding of Islam. But now I see that this has changed a lot. There's almost like an ecumenical feel to the community nowadays, which is very nice, man. On the west coast, I don't know. But there's cultural issues and people are insecure. They don't want to change things that they've been used to. That's very normal.

But over time these things have to be addressed. If we don't deal with these things in North America, we're going to have problems, man. Profound problems in growing and developing institutions. Because your generation now, I said that yesterday at IlmFest, is a generation of institution building. The problems of the Muslim community cannot be handled by a board and an imam anymore. They cannot be handled by a board and an imam. They have to be handled by private institutions, man. Like Iman and so on and so forth.

So, these type of people need to have courses. They should attend Maghreb courses, get to Zaytuna, wherever they go. But I believe, that's why I said to the brothers, we should teach Usul al-Fiqh. Look at Imam Ibn Izz Al-Hanafi and his Sharh al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah, which is considered like the main text for us, Aqidah Salaf. In that book, what did he say? In the beginning of the book, he said, Aqidah Ijmaliyah, what's an obligation upon all Muslims to know, is a general faith. Enough to have Hadith Jibril to go to Paradise.

Now, what are all the details and intricate discussions and so on and so forth? That's not what every Muslim needs, man. In fact, they said that type of knowledge is based on al-hajah, based on the need itself. So, now we need to deal with slick atheism. And this pre-packaged, cool, glossy atheism that's being pushed. And Muslims, I mean, Christopher Hitchens writes a book, God is Not Great. I mean, hello, who's he slapping in the mouth? They're coming after Muslims. So, there should be a response to that.

Closing

May Allah accept from us and reward us all. And we ask Allah to make us from those who are sincere in our intentions and actions. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen.