Abu Taymiyyah – Shaykh Saalih As Sindee Knowing the Scholars & Their Distinction from Others [Day 2 Session 2]
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In the name of Allah, the most merciful,
the one who bestows mercy and did all
praises due to Allah and may peace and
blessings be upon our beloved prophet, Muhammad, peace
be upon him,
and
upon his family and companions.
Blowing brothers,
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he
bestows upon us
beneficial knowledge,
righteous actions,
and sincerity in every statement and every action.
And I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
he saves us all from the fitan, from
the tribulations
and the calamities
of Shubhuhat
was Shahawat,
the tribulations
of doubts
and also the tribulations
of desires.
And we are living
in
a time we're living in an era
in which that which is prevalent
is threatened,
in an era
in which prevalence is for the tribulations
and the tests
and the tribes that a person goes to.
And these fit and these calamities and these
tribulations
come one after the other after the other,
meaning they are continuous.
And therefore,
the student of knowledge
and also the Muslim
who
is focused about his own success and his
own safety
should know about the reality of these tribulations,
and also
the way in which he can save himself
from these tribulations.
So these fittan,
these tribulations,
their status and danger is very severe.
And when we talk about fittan, when we
talk about these calamities and these afflictions,
we are speaking about those
great events
which occur, which affect the
Muslims,
in which there is then chaos
and killing
and violence
in which there is much difference,
and people are required to take stances,
and then this often
results in disputes between people
and the hearts
within the chest of people hating each other
and then being hatred amongst the people.
And therefore, the student of knowledge
has to know the reality of these fittings,
and he has to also know
what is
the understanding of the Sharia with regards to
these tribulations,
and what should a Muslim
who is focused on his own success and
safety,
what should a Muslim do with regards to
these fitan?
What is
the correct path and the safe path for
a person to save himself from these fitan?
So this subject
we are going to speak about it with
the help of Allah in this lecture today.
This lecture,
this subject
is something which is very long, but the
time that we have the time that we
have is very little. And for this reason,
I thought about summarizing
the lecture
and speaking about 4 important principles
that if a person if a student of
knowledge
holds firm to these four principles
in the kind of fitan,
then for him will be a protection by
the Tawfiq of Allah, Jallahuwala,
by the by the guidance of Allah.
And the first of these four
principles
is
al Hikma, wisdom,
and also a person weighing up the potential
benefits and the potential harms.
And these,
principles which we're going to mention under the
first principle under the first principle of having
wisdom
and weighing up the potential benefits and the
harms,
Within this, there are other further sub principles.
And a person
should be a,
I a person of understanding and have insight
when it comes to these principles.
A person should fully understand and fully comprehend
these principles,
and this is so that he can be
saved from these fittern.
So with regards to the first pillar, which
is wisdom and weighing up potential benefits harms,
the sub principle is that
repelling
a harm or avoiding
a harm is given precedence
over gaining a benefit.
This is the sub principle, and this is
something which we have, deduced from the evidences
of the Quran and the Sunnah and also
the statements of the scholars
that
repelling or avoiding an evil or a harm
is given precedence
over
finding
or gaining a benefit. Meaning,
if there is a situation
in which
you will either
gain a potential harm
or you will,
lose or or there will be also
a benefit.
Then
the Sharia requires from us that we don't
gain that benefit as long as we stay
away from the harm. If we look at
the Sharia
and the evidences of the Sharia,
we find that the Sharia, all of it
is based upon
bringing benefits and increasing them,
bringing advantages and increasing them,
and also
repelling harms and decreasing them. The Sharia is
based upon this, all of it. The evidences
show us that we try to bring as
much benefits and advantages, and we increase them.
And at the same time, we repair as
much harm and we decrease it.
But sometimes,
there is a conflict between both of them.
Meaning at the same time,
if you try to bring this benefit,
it will result in also a greater
harm.
So if you are in a situation,
if you are in a fit now between
the people, you are in a tribulation
between the people,
And if you try to gain this benefit
at the same time, it's also going to
result in a greater harm, then it's it's
preferred for you not to gain that benefit
because we want to repel that potential harm.
And then the second
sub principle,
is
a result of the principle which we just
mentioned.
So the first sub principle was if
we have to always have wisdom and we
have to weigh up the potential harms and
the potential
benefits. And then we also say that from
the sub principles linked to this is whenever
we have a harm,
a potential harm, and this potential harm is
conflicting with a potential benefit,
then we it's better for us to not
gain that benefit as long as we are
repelling the harm. And I think this is
understood
by everybody.
The next principle is sometimes when we have
2 harms,
2 potential harms which are conflicting with each
other
or 2 potential benefits
which are conflicting with each other. Meaning either
a person is going to fall into a
lower harm, a lesser harm, or a greater
harm at the same time,
Or a person is going to fall into
a lesser benefit or gain a greater
benefit.
And
Ibn Taymiyyah Rahimullah
in his book, Iqtalaan salat al Mustafi,
he said as for weighing up potential benefits
and potential harms, this is easy
and many people will be able to understand
this. But weighing up 2 evils
or weighing up to benefits,
this is where the difficulty is, and this
is only understood
by the people of knowledge, those who are
well grounded in
knowledge.
So sometimes
a student of knowledge is in a position
whereby he has to leave
a tick, he has to commit a smaller
harm
in order to repel a greater harm,
or whereby a person
will have to
leave gaining a lesser benefit
with the view of gaining the greater benefits
later
on. And I will give you an example
which which will make this very clear.
The building of the Kaaba,
Allah
revealed to his prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam Ibrahim
alaihi wasallam, and he was Al Khalil. He
was the most beloved, and this was a
command from Allah
for him to build the Kaaba upon particular
foundations.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he found
that the Kaaba which had been rebuilt once
again by the Quraysh in Jahiliyyah,
it wasn't upon the foundations of Ibrahim
alaihis salam. They have shortened the building of
the Kaaba,
by a little bit.
So
the
Himma,
the ambition of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam
was to destroy the Kaaba
and then build it once again upon the
actual foundations that Ibrahim alaihis salam al khalim
had built it with the revelation of Allah
So pay attention to this. May Allah protect
you and may Allah guide you that
the Kaaba
remaining in its state
would is a harm. It's a mafsada. It
is something which is evil. Why? Because it
isn't upon the actual foundations of Ibrahim alaihis
salam, and therefore it remaining in that state,
it is a Masada,
and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam not
changing it is also
a Masala.
However,
had the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam demolished
the Kaaba,
then perhaps this would have led to a
greater mafsada,
a greater evil or a greater harm and
that is perhaps the people would say that
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is destroying the
Kaaba
and maybe those of them who are just
entered into Islam maybe some of them would
leave Islam.
So in this situation, what did the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam do? He left the
Kaaba in its original
foundations,
or he left the Kaaba upon the foundations
of
the Quraysh, the people of Jahiliya,
not upon the foundations of Ibrahim alaihi sallam.
And he allowed this to remain. This Masada,
he allowed it to remain.
But by allowing it to remain and not
demolishing it, at least he saved
the himself from the greater of
people maybe leaving Islam or doubting
his message. And for this reason, he said,
He said, had it not been for your
people being new to Islam,
had it not been for your people recently
leaving Kufr, I would have destroyed the Kaaba
and then built it again upon the foundations
of Ibrahim alaihi salam.
So here the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he taught us a principle
that
if we have to commit
a lesser harm or a lesser evil
in order to avoid a greater evil, then
this should be done. And in the case
of the Kaaba,
the prophet
he
committed the lesser harm of allowing the Kaaba
to remain in its,
foundations,
and he avoided the benefit of it being
rebuilt once again upon the foundations of Ibrahim
Alaihi Islam. Why? Because of the fear of
the greater evil and the greater harm which
will come to the people in doubting Islam
or leaving in Islam.
And then the third
certain principle
is
if you forbidding
an evil
will result in a greater evil,
then you do not forbid that evil. So
by you forbidding an evil, it's going to
result into into greater evil, then you do
not forbid that evil.
And no doubt when it comes to forbidding
evil,
as long as you are able to rule
that evil or lessen the evil, then it
is the obligation that we have to forbid
the forbid the evil.
However,
if you, forbidding the evil, is going to
lead to a greater evil,
then it is not correct for you to
forbid that evil, and that evil, which is
a lesser evil, should remain as it is.
And this is as long as by you
forbidding it, a greater evil is going to,
occur.
And I have seen and I have also
heard
that many duas,
they don't understand
this principle,
and they don't implement
this principle.
I. E, to leave off forbidding
an evil because it is going to result
in a greater
evil. As an example,
to make it clear,
you have a caller to Islam and he's
living in the non Muslim countries.
And a person comes to him and this
person wants to accept Islam. He's a non
Muslim
and he wants to accept Islam,
and the person will say to him that
if you want to accept Islam,
just remember you have to be circumcised,
And also you'll have to break off and
stop your communication
with women.
And also you're going to have to abstain
from drinking alcohol,
and you have to stop doing this and
would abstain from this and withhold from this.
It's as if he gives him a long
table or a long list
of if you accept Islam,
then you'll have to leave and abstain this,
this, and this.
So what do you think the answer is
going to be from this person who wants
to accept Islam? Is he going to accept
Islam?
It's as if he's being told
or the message which is being given to
him is Islam is a very difficult religion,
and Islam is a religion which is going
to place all sorts of restrictions
upon you.
And in reality, this is due to.
This is due to a lack of understanding
and a lack of
fear. It's as if this person,
the Dari, is saying to that to that
non Muslim don't accept Islam.
Of course, it isn't that this is his
intention,
but without the intention, it's as if he's
saying to him, don't accept Islam because Islam
is a religion of difficulty
and restrictions
and abstaining from everything.
So
here we
have an evil,
and this evil is
drinking alcohol
and women
and other Muharram other matters which are haram.
But if you were to forbid
this kafir who wants to accept Islam
from these evils
is going to result in a greater evil,
and the greater evil is he's going to
remain upon his kufr, and he isn't going
to accept Islam. Or if he has just
accepted Islam,
maybe he will turn back to
Kufa. So for this reason,
Hikma wisdom is that when it comes to
mentioning
the,
prohibition of drinking alcohol and staying away from
women and and these types of matters, that
you delay
it slightly.
And you don't mention it right at the
beginning. You allow the person to accept Islam,
allow his intelligence to mature, allow his heart
to become firm upon Islam slightly, and then
you can mention some of the Muhalramat.
And this
is where Fiqh is required required. So remember
I'll protect you in these types of situations,
we are in need of using Fiqh and
using wisdom
in calling and giving to Dua.
Also,
we find within the domain of the Dua
how there are many many different opinions,
and there is also a clash of manhaj.
There is a clash of methodologies
between the various groups,
and there are many issues
of,
confusion amongst the youth. And again,
many students of knowledge, they don't weigh up
the potential benefits and the potential harms when
it comes to speaking about
these issues of mankind. And maybe a person
has just accepted Islam,
and he isn't ready for these principles to
be told to him, and they start telling
him all of these principles
with regards to people and with regards to
groups and so on and so forth. And
therefore,
because of the lack of maturity of the,
intellect of the new Muslim
and because of how new the Islam is
of this person,
he doesn't understand the nature of these problems.
He doesn't truly comprehend
the nature of these issues of Manhaj. He
doesn't appreciate
differences of Manhad, and therefore it results in
him leaving Islam or leaving the way of
the Salaf and so on and so forth.
So therefore,
it is upon us to have wisdom when
it comes to these situations, and that sometimes
a word which is truthful
may be
delayed because it is going to lead to
a greater
evil.
And then the second pillar, the first pillar
was where was having wisdom and weighing up
the benefits and the harms. The second pillar
is that a student of knowledge in times
of fitna,
he must have alhin,
and alhin is tolerance,
being tolerating
and forbearing.
And also arif
and arif is gentleness
and leniency,
and also al anat.
And al anat is a person not being
hasty and deliberating before he does anything, being
very considerate in what he does.
These three
matters,
they relate to 3 very important manners that
every student of knowledge must assume when it
comes to times of fitan.
So with regards to alham,
tolerance,
then
this is the opposite of al Ghazab. This
is the opposite of anger that a student
of knowledge should not be angry rather
he should have tolerance and tolerate the people.
And the second
characteristic which is arif, gentleness,
it opposes
or it negates a shidda,
being harsh
and being,
being harsh in your dealings.
And as for al Anat,
a person being deliberate,
then it opposes
Al Aja, which is hastiness, that a person
is not hasty
in that which he does. And how in
need are we of these three characteristics?
How in need is a student of knowledge
of these three characteristics
when it comes to dealing with
And these three characteristics
which we mentioned
are beloved to Allah.
The sharia orders with the elders us to
assume these three characteristics,
and many good and much benefit,
is achieved because of these three characteristics.
A man came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam,
and he said to him, advise me, counsel
me. So he wanted and he sought counsel
and advice and admonishment from the prophet
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam replied to
him that, oh god, do not become angry.
And then the man came to him again
and he said, oh prophet, advise me. And
the
Prophet
counseled him with the very same words, do
not become angry. Look, in Arabic only 2
words, la togadab, a sentence of only 2
words, and yet the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
repeated it again. And then he came a
third time, and the prophet
repeated these two words once again, do not
become angry. And
Abu Huraira radiallahu
anhu in one of the narrations of this
hadith,
he mentions
he says, I contemplated
this hadith,
and I realized
that the core of evil
occur the core of evil is due to
anger.
Meaning,
it did many types of evil.
They are often caused by a person being
angry. That a person becomes angry and he
acts in a way or he does something
that later on he will be apologetic about
that which he did.
And as for Al Hilmu Al Anat, as
for a person,
being tolerant
and a person not being hasty,
then it is sufficient for us the Hadith
of Al Ashaaj Abdul Qays,
radiAllahu anhu, and he was a virtuous companion.
Then the prophet
said to him,
in you are 2 characteristics
which Allah and his messenger
loved,
tolerance
and not being hasty.
And so this companion and the hadithid sahihein,
this companion, he succeeded with the love of
Allah and his messenger as is in the
hadith because of these two characteristics which he
had inside.
And therefore,
every student of knowledge and every Muslim
should be imitating this companion,
and he should also want to succeed and
acquire the love of Allah and his messenger
by being tolerant and by not being hasty.
Oh, my brothers,
we are in a time we are in
a an era of loneliness
in which there is a great need for
gentleness
and leniency.
And as a student of knowledge, he adorns
himself with gentleness and leniency,
and he abandons and he leads off being,
harsh,
using harshness
and also being excessive in what he says
and what he does.
And the prophet
said in the hadith
That Allah loves
rifq. Allah loves gentleness in everything, in every
matter.
Meaning, Allah doesn't order with gentleness
in some issues and not in other issues.
Rather in every single issue allowed us for
there to be gentleness.
And if only we adorned ourselves
with this, if if only we were gentle
and if only we were lenient
and if only we were calm
and tranquil when it came to our dealings.
In order for the Muslim had to be
gained, in order for the benefit to be
realized and the benefit to be achieved. And
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said in
the hadith of Sahih Muslim,
verily,
in Allah
verily Allah gives due to gentleness
that which He does not give due to
harshness.
He gives due to a person being gentle
that which He does not give due to
a person
being gentleness.
So Allah
brings these benefits and brings this goodness
when a person adorns himself with gentleness
and when a person is tranquil, and when
a person is deliberate in that which he
does, and a person avoids being hasty
and being,
being angry.
And
nowadays,
the Shabbat,
And it's,
due to this gentleness
and due to this leniency,
Islam
and Dua
and many avenues of goodness are realized and
are achieved. And unfortunately,
Islam has been harmed and the dawah has
been harmed and many doors to goodness have
been closed because of people
not having a risk and not having gentleness.
And because of people doing actions
and kind themselves out in this way, in
being angry and leaving off gentleness,
in being harsh, in person
being hasty, and so on and so forth.
So many people
have been entered into fitan
because of
being hasty and angry and not being gentle
and,
lenient. And the reality which is around us
doesn't need to be explained. The reality which
is around us,
it shows us these matters.
And therefore,
every single one of us has to have
taqwa of Allah in ourselves. And we have
to have taqwa of Allah when it comes
to the da'wah.
We have to fear Allah
when it comes to the responsibility
of conveying Al Islam,
and that we should protect the religion
and we should protect this dua which Allah
has honored us with ascribing to it from
the potential Mafarsid because of the actions which
we are doing.
And always the Muslim
or the spirit of knowledge,
he has to control his emotions.
His intellect, his apple,
controls
the emotions,
and the Sharia controls his intellect, and this
is how we deal with these issues. Meaning,
we don't go behind our emotions,
and we don't let our emotions control our
intellect,
rather
our intellect
control our emotions
and the Sharia
judges over our intellect.
For this reason,
when
the issue is when the situation becomes dire,
when the situation is severe,
then as they say,
then
emotions are like hurricanes
I. E. It leads to severe endings. Meaning,
the most severe the situation is,
the more severe the bad result will be
if we let our emotions
run loose. And the sunnah, if we consider
the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
it orders us and it teaches us to
control our emotions.
In the great hadith of Mirkdal
al Aswad radiAllahu anhu, He came to the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and he said to
me, You Rasulullah, o Messenger of Allah,
if I am fighting a Kafir, I am
fighting a non Muslim,
and I have unsheathed my sword and he
has unsheathed his sword,
and he strikes me first
and he cuts my hand, but then he
flees away.
And then I run after him and I
catch him, and I'm able to now kill
him.
But he says, Amin Tubila. This non Muslim
in this situation, he says I believed in
Allah. All he says, I have accepted an
Islam.
And Miqdad said, oh, Messenger of Allah, should
I should I kill him in this situation?
And the prophet
said do not kill him. And then Al
Miqdad said, but he had just chopped
off my hand And the Prophet
said do not kill him. And then the
Prophet
said that if you were to strike him
then you will be
like him before his statement, meaning before he
said La illaha, before he accepted Islam,
and he will be in your position before
you did that action. I like a classified
jihad
in the way of Allah.
So even in this type of situation,
when the situation is dire and emotions are
running high, when a person has just hit
you and chopped off your hand and you're
in the middle of jihad,
even in this type of situation,
that person has to control
his emotions and control his desires. And even
in this situation,
there's risk
and there's leniency, there's gentleness, and a person
should not be hasty. And because of this,
the benefits
are gained and the harms are repelled. And
unfortunately,
because of the actions of many youth,
because of the youth not considering these matters,
because of the youth not being gentle, not
being lenient, not having wisdom,
allowing their emotions to control their statements,
then there are many fittings which are bought
upon people.
And these fittings,
these problems, and this confusion,
it affects the young and the old
and the male and the females and the
Muslims and even the non Muslims.
So fear Allah,
fear Allah, and fear Allah.
And also you should know
that this requires a person
to give tarbia to me to himself.
Meaning this requires from a person
to cultivate himself
and to strive
against himself in terms of not being angry
and not being hasty. We should cultivate ourselves
and make Muja Hadah. We strive against ourselves
in order to develop
alif, gentleness,
and alhim tolerance, and also an anad that
we deliberate and we do not be hasty.
Yeah. It appears that time has come close,
and there are 2 more pillars that remain.
And perhaps in tomorrow's lecture, Insha'Allah, the beginning
of that lecture for 10 minutes, we'll speak
about these 2 important
pillars. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
bestow upon me and upon you
knowledge which is beneficial
and righteous actions and the correct understanding of
the religion and that he saves us from
the fit and those which are hidden and
those which are, open and apparent. And Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who hears
the supplications.