Doctrines of Faith IV (Darkness To Light)

COURSE NOTES
Qabeel at Hosna
November 2010

All that is good and correct is from Allah (subhanahu wa-taala) alone
the compilers are solely responsible for any mistakes and errors.

Tabl e of Contents

Darkness to Li ght: Sunnah and Bi d ah ................................................................................................. 4
Holding Onto the Sunnah .................................................................................................................................... 4
Defining Al-Sunnah .......................................................................................................................................... 8
The Ruling Regarding Following the Sunnah ........................................................................................... 10
The Obligation to Honor and Respect the Hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) ...... 17
The Position of Ahlul Bidah (People of Innovation) from the Hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Those Who Oppose the Obligation of Following the Sunnah ................................................................. 20
The Ways that the Innovators Reject the Sunnah .................................................................................... 25
The Ruling Concerning One Who Rejects the Sunnah ............................................................................. 27
Authority of the Sunnah of the Sahabah (Al-Salaf) ........................................................................................ 27
Defining Salaf ................................................................................................................................................. 27
Reasons for Restricting the Term Salaf to the Sahabah ........................................................................... 28
What is meant by following the salaf? ....................................................................................................... 29
Evidences Proving the Obligation to Follow the Methodology of the Sahabah .................................. 30
The Importance of Following the Methodology of Al-Salaf ................................................................... 31
The Position of the Innovators from the Methodology of Al-Salaf ....................................................... 32
Merits of the Methodology of the Salaf ..................................................................................................... 33
Al-Sahabah ........................................................................................................................................................... 34
Defining Al-Sahabah ...................................................................................................................................... 34
The Levels of the Sahabah ............................................................................................................................ 36
Our Position Towards the Sahabah ............................................................................................................. 37
Holding Onto the Jamaah ................................................................................................................................. 40
Defining Al-Jamaah ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Misconceptions Regarding the Concept of the Jamaah .......................................................................... 42
The Authority of Imamah ............................................................................................................................. 42
Al Bidah (Innovation) and Its Rulings in Islam ............................................................................................. 51
The Concept of Bidah (Innovation) According to Ahl Al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah ..................................... 51
Bidah ............................................................................................................................................................... 53
The Ruling on Bidah ..................................................................................................................................... 54
The Adverse Consequences of Innovation (Bidah) ................................................................................. 56
Reasons Behind Innovation in Religion (Bidah) ...................................................................................... 57
The Spread of Bidah ..................................................................................................................................... 59
Defining Mubtadi (Innovator) ..................................................................................................................... 59
Al-Hajr (Boycott) ............................................................................................................................................ 61
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................. 63

Li ghtness to Darkness: The Real i ty of I man .................................................................................. 64
The Blessings of Iman ........................................................................................................................................ 64
Definition of Iman According to Ahl al-Sunnah .............................................................................................. 68
Methodology of defining ............................................................................................................................. 68
Definition from the Salaf ............................................................................................................................. 70
Pillars of Iman ..................................................................................................................................................... 70
Relationship Between Iman and Islam ........................................................................................................... 73
Increase and Decrease in Iman ........................................................................................................................ 77
Evidences for Increasing and Decreasing of Iman ................................................................................... 77
Examples of how this occurs ...................................................................................................................... 79
Levels of Iman ..................................................................................................................................................... 82

Minimal Level of Actions .................................................................................................................................. 85
The Issue of istithna .......................................................................................................................................... 92
Factors that Weaken Ones Iman ..................................................................................................................... 93
Major and Minor Sins ................................................................................................................................... 93
Status of Sins vis--vis Iman ......................................................................................................................... 95
Forgiveness of Minor Sins vs. Major Sins ................................................................................................. 99
The Effects of Sins ....................................................................................................................................... 101
The Expiation of Sins ................................................................................................................................. 103
Factors that Negate Ones Iman (Nawaqid al-Iman) ..................................................................................... 106
Intro to the Topic ....................................................................................................................................... 106
The Reality of Kufr ...................................................................................................................................... 108
Minor Kufr, Shirk and Nifaq ........................................................................................................................ 110
Issues of Riddah ........................................................................................................................................... 111
The Issue of Takfir ....................................................................................................................................... 114
Summary of iman and kufr ......................................................................................................................... 117
The Opposing Groups ...................................................................................................................................... 118
The History of the Conflict ........................................................................................................................ 118
The Khawarij ................................................................................................................................................ 119
The Murjia of the Jurists ............................................................................................................................ 120
The Jahmiyya ................................................................................................................................................ 120
The Real Murjia ........................................................................................................................................... 121
The Asharites and Maturidites ................................................................................................................ 121
The Evidences of the Opposing Groups ................................................................................................... 121
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 125

Suppl ementary Materi al ........................................................................................................................ 128
The Journey of Worship by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi ................................................................................... 128
Benefits of Wudu ........................................................................................................................................ 133
Qabeelah Hosna Darkness to Li ght: Doctri nes of
Fai th I V
November 5-7, 2010 Shaykh Waleed Basyouni
4

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

Darkness to Li ght: Sunnah and Bi d ah
Taught by Shaykh Wal eed Basyouni

Introduction

Shaykh Waleed will teach about the concepts of sunnah and jamaah. We will discuss how other
people, groups, and sects dealt with the concept of following the sunnah of the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam). We will discuss the sunnah of the companions. Every person who came
after the time of the companions admits that the best generation is the early generation, and
we should follow them because they were closer to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
Shaykh Waleed will briefly touch upon the companions of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam). There is a separate course that focuses on the companions and the family of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). We will discuss the concept of jamaah, and under this, we
will talk about the khalifah and the background of this concept and what it means and how the
Muslims view this concept.

How can the concept of jamaah and being under leadership apply to us? Imam Al Juwayni
wrote a book on the concept of Muslims living in a society or country with no Muslim leader
and how they should function and what they should do. Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Al Qayyim and
others also talked about this. How can we deal with the law? How can we deal with other
people? What is our relationship with all branches of the system?

We will then discuss bidah and the innovations in the religion. Clearly, there are two extremes.
How did the scholars define the word bidah? Where is there agreement and disagreement on
it? We will discuss how we deal with someone who practices innovations in religion. Do
madhahib break the unity or do they unify the Muslims?

This course along with the previous three aqeedah courses covers all major topics of aqeedah.

Chapter 1 Hol di ng Onto the Sunnah

Al Mughirah used to run a business that provided services to the Muslims, mainly making
machines, swords, and heavy equipment made of iron. He needed a lot of talented people to
help him to produce these things, so he would bring people from outside of Madinah and the
Muslim community. One of the people he brought was from Persia and known as Abu Lulu Al
Majoosi. Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) told Al Mughirah that he did not like it that he brought a lot
of non-Muslims to the Prophets city. The man told Umar that he would make something for
him that everyone would remember. He made a very special dagger two inches long, and he
put poison in the dagger. If the cut of the dagger did not kill the person, then the poison would.
He came late one night and hid in the front of the masjid where the imam led the prayer. When
Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) was leading the salah, the man came while it was still dark and
stabbed Umar. Umar at that time was the khalifah of the Muslims. Umar (radhi Allahu anhu)
screamed saying, I was bitten by a dog! He did not realize that it was not a dog but the dagger
that the man had made. The man panicked and could not go back to where he was hiding
because there were only two exits in the masjid, one for men and one for women. Ibn Abbas
(radhi Allahu anhu) said that he was very young at that time and heard many people saying
Fai th I V
5

SubhanAllah and wondering why Umar was not reading. Umar had fallen, and the man
started running between the lines and stabbing people. Thirteen people were killed along with
Umar. Al Qata ibn Amr held a big cover made of palm branches and threw it on him to contain
the man. The man then stabbed himself and killed himself. This was the first time there was an
assassination of the leader of the Muslims.

Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) was very sick for three days. He drank a red drink made of grapes to
give him energy, but he had no energy. Then, they gave him milk and saw it coming out of his
guts. The doctor then said that Umar would not survive. During this period of time, Umar
(radhi Allahu anhu) decided that the Muslim state was politically shaky. He appointed six
people to handle the situation after him and one of them should be the next khalifah. These six
people were: Ali, Uthman, AbdurRahman ibn Awf, Talha, Az-Zubayr, and Sad ibn Abi Waqas.
He looked to his son Abdullah ibn Umar and said that he had no doubt that he deserved to be
one of them, but he did not want anyone to say that he passed it to his son.

Umar said alhamdulillah his death happened by someone who never prostrated to Allah once.
He asked Aisha if he could be buried with his two friends, and she said that she was thinking
about it for herself, but because Umar wanted it, she gave it to him. Umar said that after his
death, his son should ask her again to make sure that she was okay with it and not just feeling
shy to say no to someone who was dying. Aisha saw a dream: the moon broke apart into three
pieces, and they settled in her lap. After the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) died, Abu Bakr
told her that this was the first third. Hijr means lap and hujra means room. Her father then
died and was buried in her room. The third part of the moon was Umar, who was also buried in
her room. She said that before she would go into the room when her husband and father were
buried there and would take off her hijab and make dua for them, but after Umar died, out of
respect for him, she never removed her hijab there again.

This incident shook the Muslim community. From the six people, one would be chosen to lead
them. Az-Zubayr gave his vote to Ali (radhi Allahu anhu). Sad ibn Abi Waqas said that he was
too old. Talha gave his vote to Uthman. AbdurRahman ibn Awf said that he would judge
between Ali and Uthman, and he took counsel with the leaders of the Muslims living in
Madinah. Umar did not let any of the leaders of the Muslims settle outside of Madinah and
would limit their terms if they went to another city. After the shurah, AbdurRahman ibn Awf
gathered both of them in front of the public. This was the first time the head of the jamaah was
elected. He said to Uthman: If people choose Ali, would you listen, and obey, and hear? He
said, Yes. He said to Ali: If people choose Uthman, would you listen, and obey, and hear?
He said, Yes. He then said that everyone chose Uthman over Ali. Ali was one of the assistants
and supporters of Uthman.

A time came when Uthman (radhi Allahu 'anhu) lost his life. This time, it was from the hands of
the Muslims. Overzealous, religious Muslim groups killed him. They were young and
motivated and excited Muslims. What they did seemed to be the most pleasing things to Allah,
and they appeared to be religious. Why did they kill him? They said that there was so much
corruption in society and people were openly practicing sins and were not religious. Also, they
said that there was governmental waste and the khalifah was wasting money. Third, they said
many people disagree with Uthman being in a leadership position.

There were many allegations, and some were true and others were false. One of the false
allegations was that Uthman chose his relatives to be leaders in the Muslim world. Uthman was
Fai th I V
6

from one of the largest tribes, and tens of thousands of people belonged to it. If a person was
chosen, it was not because he was from the same tribe. There were only one or two governors
from his tribe, and they were distant relatives. Out of more than 16 governors, the most
important cities were Makkah and Madinah, and none of his relatives were governors there.
There were eight titles (i.e. Secretary of Hajj, etc.), and none of them were his relatives.

Another false allegation was that there was so much corruption and wealth. This was not
Uthmans fault. The people had access to a lot of wealth at that time.

This movement marched to Madinah and broke into his house and murdered him in the public
square. Where were the leaders of the Muslims? They were in Hajj at that time. This shook the
jamaah. This group did not stop there but went further and caused the Muslim community to
split.

Ali (radhi Allahu 'anhu) moved to Kufa and declared it the capital of the state. Ali said that they
could not go after those who killed Uthman until the Muslims came together and united again
in one jamaah. While divided, they could not face their enemy. Muawiyah and the rest later
agreed with this. When he united the people, he was then murdered by the same people. He
was killed while he went to pray fajr.

In the time of Ali as khalifah, many people were fascinated with his personality to the extent
that some of them worshipped him. Some went so far as to say that Ali was god walking on
earth, and they said that the murder of Ali was the plan of god to take back himself in a natural
way. In Syria, the Alawis believe this. The people prostrated themselves in front of Ali, and
many of them were new Muslims with a background of worshipping idols and leaders. Ali
raised them up and said, If anyone does this again to me, I will kill him! The next day, they
did the same thing, and Ali gathered all of them and said, I saw something so evil and called
my slave and told him to make a fire and started to throw them in the fire. The people started
to say that Ali had proved himself as their lord because their lord punishes with fire. Ibn Abbas
(radhi Allahu 'anhu) told him that he cannot burn them because it is barbaric and not acceptable.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that no one is allowed to punish anyone with fire
except Allah.

Another group said that Ali was not god but he was the best man to walk on earth. They looked
at history and said that Ali should have been the first khalifah. This goes against what the
earliest generation lived and died upon. In Bukhari, Muslim, and other sources, it is narrated
that Ali stood up in Kufa and said, Allah is my witness that the best people after the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) are Abu Bakr and Umar. Why did he make this statement? Ali
named his children after Abu Bakr and Umar because of the emotions of these people.

Lets look farther back at the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam): After the battle of
Hunayn after Fath Al Makkah, a lot of war booty was gathered. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) started to distribute it, and a man came and said, Ya Muhammad, be fair and just! The
way you distribute the money amongst the people is not for the sake of Allah and not the way
to please Allah. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, What an evil thing to say! If I
am not fair and just, then who will be fair and just? Why can you not trust that I will distribute
the wealth fairly? Allah trusts me with the religion, which is more important than money.
One of the companions said, Ya Rasulullah, let me take care of him! The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, No. From this man will come people who will pray a very good prayer,
Fai th I V
7

and when you compare your prayer to their prayers, yours will look like nothing. Their fasting
is more than your fasting. They read the Quran, but these verses will not go beyond their
throats (i.e. they will not understand it, and it will not reach the brain, and it will not reach the
heart; or it could mean: when Allah accepts a good deed, it is raised to the heavens, but their
good deeds will not rise above their throats).

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us that a group of people will come from that man.
What does this mean? Are they from the same tribe (Bani Tamim)? This is one interpretation:
they are from the same tribe and family. Many researchers tried to prove this, but Shaykh
Waleed does not agree with this. Another interpretation: The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) was referring to the people who would follow the methods of this man and had the same
thinking. The man rejected what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said and did. He did
not accept the way that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was distributing the war booty.
For the first time in history, someone openly rejected the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam). The concept of rejecting the sunnah existed in the groups that rejected the
khulafah and the leaders. The same group who killed Uthman and Ali rejected the sunnah to the
extent that some of them even used to say that praying one rakah was enough for dhuhr
because Allah said to pray at that time. They also said that we only need to pray three times,
and the Quran did not say how to make Hajj, so some of them would make Hajj in any month.
They said that if a woman has her period, then she must make up the salah. One of Aishas
servants asked her why we make up the fasts and not the salah when on the menses, and she
said, Are you from the Harooriyyah? This refers to a city called Harawah, which is near
Baghdad.

These people asked Ali if it was okay to have a judge other than Allah to judge between Ali and
Muawiyah. They said that the mediator is another god besides Allah because you will submit
to what he says, and you should only submit to Allah. This is nonsense. Ali said that the
companions are all here in the two armies, and this is not how any of them understand the
verses in the Quran. They rejected the understanding of the companions and crossed a river
and went to the city of Harawah. Ali said that if they did not come back and live with them and
be part of the jamaah and society, he would force it upon them. Ali told his army that they
were going to enforce the law on them. Ali said, I heard the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) say that people will come and they will pray in the night and fast in the days. They will
read the Quran, but it will not go beyond their throats. If I see such people, I will fight them
and kill them. I would prefer to fall from the heavens to the earth rather than attribute a lie to
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu 'anhu) then went to debate
those people. He recognized some of them as those who used to pray with them in the masjid,
and they were there when Ibn Masood was debating with some of them about innovations.
After this debate, 5,000 went back with Ibn Abbas to join Ali. Ibn Abbas said, I dont see any of
the companions with you, and there are many who are still alive. Why are all of the
companions against you? Didnt Allah say that if there is a fight between a husband and wife,
then an arbitrator from his side and her side should be brought? This is for a house of two
people, so what about a community of thousands who are disputing? Allah also said in the
Quran: If you kill an animal by mistake while making Hajj, then you must sacrifice an animal
similar to it, and if you cannot determine this on your own, then choose someone to make a
ruling for you.

They killed someone, and then Ali fought them (~40 AH). Only seven or nine survived. Some
narrations said 24-27 people survived. They plotted for the assassination of Ali, and they
Fai th I V
8

succeeded. Some of them went to the country of Oman and settled there in 80 AH. The official
government in Oman descends from this ideology.

A terminology in the early times of the sahabah started to appear: the followers of the sunnah /
ahl al-sunnah. Why did this name become popular? There were people who rejected the sunnah
of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) (i.e. the Khawarij). It was indicating to people that
they accept the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and are different from those
who do not accept it and do not submit to it. There is also another aspect: the way of the
companions. The companions are the jamaah of the Muslims and the representatives of the
Muslims. When you reject the companions, you are rejecting the jamaah and the unity of the
Muslims. The one who represents the jamaah is the leader of the Muslims and the khalifah of
the time. They never made it an issue of one individual companion but an issue of the jamaah.
When Muawiyah asked Ibn Abbas: Are you following the way of Uthman or the way of Ali?
Ibn Abbas said, Im not following Uthman or Ali. I follow Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam). For the companions, we follow them as a jamaah and a group and not as one
individual. There is no group, for example, named Ibn Masoodis or Ibn Abbasis or Ibn Umaris.
Why? It was very clear that it was not about one individual but on their method and what they
agreed upon. Those who rejected the leaders and rebelled against them are out of the concept
of jamaah at the time. The people from the sunnah differentiate from those who rejected the
companions.

The word ahl al- sunnah was used during the time of the companions and tabieen. When you
hear this word, the following points should come to mind:
1) It identifies those who accept the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
the same way they accept the Quran.
2) They accept the companions of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
3) They accept Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali as khulafah.

1 | Defi ni ng Al -Sunnah

Linguistic definition:
The word sunnah comes from the root word sanna and means a way, course, rule, manner of
living, or a way that has been instituted or pursued by former people and has become one
pursued by those after them.

The great scholar Ibn Faris wrote a book Mujim Al Maqaees Al Lugha. This book is unique and for
each word multiple meanings are given. Ibn Faris said that sunnah is when things go very
smoothly like water flowing in a creek.

The sunnah means something that is repeated. The life of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) is called the sunnah because it is something that is either repeated by him or repeated by
those after him. Also, it means something smooth. What the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) did is easy to be followed. The more you follow the sunnah, the easier your life is. Many
people think that committing to the sunnah complicates your life, but the more you follow the
footsteps of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), the smoother and easier life you will have.

Technical definition:
The word sunnah has many different usages depending upon the context in which it is used.

Fai th I V
9

1. Partner to the Quran
Al-sunnah here means whatever comes from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) other
than the Quran itself in the form of his speech, actions, or tacit approvals. This is the
definition of the legal theorists. The scholars of hadeeth added any description of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) relating to his appearance of manners.
*Note: This is the definition we will focus on.

It is what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, legislated, approved, encouraged,
and prohibited other than the Quran. Whatever the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
said, did, or approved, and his physical description and manners. The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, I have left behind me two things, and if you hold onto them, you will
never go astray: the Book of Allah and my sunnah. [reported by Imam Maalik].
This is the most commonly used amongst the usooliyoon and scholars of the hadeeth.

2. A counterpart to fard or wajib (obligation)
Here it refers to any recommended act, even if it comes from the Quran. This is a definition
used by the Muslim jurists. A sunnah, or recommended act, is one which a person will be
rewarded for doing but will not be sinful for leaving.

Many people use the word sunnah referring to something that is recommended to do.
Sunnah in this way means that you will be rewarded if you do it and not punished if you do
not do it. It is established by something that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said or
by Quranic verses or by ijma.
This is used by Muslim jurists.

3. A counterpart to bidah
Here it refers to the guidance from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and his
companions encompassing all aspects of knowledge, belief, statement and deeds.

4. A counterpart to Shiism
If someone is not Shii, he is considered Sunni (i.e. Mutazilah).

5. The correct belief
This definition refers to the correct aqeedah, thus excluding all the deviant sects. That is
why we call it the belief of ahl al-sunnah.

This refers to people who follow the sunnah properly and have the correct belief. This
refers only to theological issues and has nothing to do with salah and siyam, etc. Many
books are written with the title Al-Sunnah, and they discuss articles of faith. Sharh Al-
Sunnah by Al Barbahari is all about aqeedah.

6. Equal to the whole religion
Aqeedah, fiqh, Quran, etc. Abul Husayn Al Baghawi wrote a book Sharh Al-Sunnah that is 18
volumes long on this topic.

Abu Bakr (radhi Allahu anhu) said, Al-sunnah is the rope of Allah. If you leave it, you will go
astray. What does sunnah here mean? Equal to the whole religion.

Fai th I V
10

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Follow my sunnah. If you live, you will see a lot of
new things and disputes, and when you see this, follow my sunnah. What does sunnah here
mean? A counterpart to bidah.

Makhool, a companion, said: Sunnah is of two types: a sunnah which is an obligation, the
leaving of which is kufr; and a sunnah which the taking of is virtuous and recommended, but
leaving it is not a sin. He broke sunnah into two categories. Which of these technical
definitions is kufr, and which is not a sin?
Leaving these is kufr: equal to the whole religion, partner to the Quran, correct belief
Leaving is not a sin: counterpart to fard and wajib

2 | The Rul i ng Regardi ng Fol l owi ng the Sunnah

Following the sunnah is an obligation upon every Muslim. There is a consensus amongst the
Muslim scholars that following the sunnah is a must.

Imam Ash-Shafii said, I have never heard of anyone that is considered by others as a scholar,
or even considers himself to be a scholar, who disagrees that Allah has made following the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), accepting him, and obeying him obligatory. [Kitab Jimaa
Al-Ilm]

Sufyan Ath-Thawri said, Al-sunnah is of two types: a sunnah the taking of which is a guidance
and the leaving of which is a misguidance, and a sunnah which the taking of is a guidance, but
leaving it is not a misguidance. [As-Suyooti, Al Amru Bilitibaa]

In Surah Al Hashr v. 7: Whatever the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) orders you to do,
you must do, and whatever the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) forbids for you, you must
abstain from it.

Al-Suyuti said that Imam Al Shafii said, Those who reject the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) are not Muslims. Anyone who says he only believes in the Quran is not a
Muslim yet until he submits and accepts the sunnah. Does this mean that we must do
everything in the sunnah? This means that you take the religion the way the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) provided it. If the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that praying fajr is
wajib, then it must be kept this way. If the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the two
rakah after isha are recommended, then you keep it a recommended act. It means that we keep
it the way he explained it to us and do not change it. Making any changes is rejecting the
sunnah.

Review:
Yesterday, we talked about the different meanings of the word sunnah, and there are many
technical definitions and uses by the scholars for this word. We are discussing the authority of
the sunnah and the people of the sunnah and jamaah. We are focusing on the definition of the
sunnah as a partner to the Quran. Historically speaking, no Muslim ever questioned the
authority of the Quran. No group claimed to be Muslim who rejected the verses of the Quran or
the authority of the Quran. However, in history, there was a group of people who rejected the
sunnah, meaning rejecting what is partner to the Quran. They did not reject the correct belief
or the counterpart to bidah.

Fai th I V
11

The great scholar AbdurRahman Ibn Mahdi who documented ahadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, People are of different specialties. Among them, there is an imam who is
a knowledgeable person of hadeeth and sunnah, and among them is an imam knowledgeable of
the sunnah and not hadeeth, and among them is an imam knowledgeable in hadeeth and not the
sunnah. From those who mastered both the sunnah and hadeeth is Imam Sufyan Ath-Thawri.
What meaning of sunnah was Ibn Mahdi using? The correct belief. Not every scholar of
hadeeth has mastered aqeedah. Some scholars of hadeeth may have some unacceptable ideas. An
example: Al-Suyuti is a very well known scholar. He is an imam of hadeeth, but be careful what
you take from him regarding aqeedah. He believed that he knew the exact date of the Day of
Judgment, which is not according to the belief of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah. He believed that the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) could physically come and visit with righteous people. We
do not accept these ideas from him even though he is well known and established in hadeeth.
There may be scholars very good in aqeedah, but they are not very good in hadeeth and may use
weak ahadeeth to establish ideas and cannot differentiate between what is authentic and what is
not.
Why did he specifically choose the scholars of hadeeth and not fiqh? Ibn Mahdi was in the
school of ahl al-hadeeth.

Evidences proving the obligation of following the Sunnah:

! The Quran
Imam Ahmad (rahimahullah) said, I read the whole Quran, and I found that Allah has ordered
us to obey the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) 33 times. [Ibn Battah, Al Ibanah]
Ibn Al Qayyim found more than 100 verses.

These commands to follow the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) were given in seven ways:
1. Direct commands to obey the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

and whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)) gives you,
take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it), and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is
severe in punishment [Al-Hashr: 7]

2. Pairing the command to obey the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) with the
command to obey Allah.

Allah (subhanahu wataala) commands us to follow Him and the Messenger (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) to show that following the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is of the
same level. Whatever the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) orders us to do is not
from himself but from Allah, which is why they are at the same level.

The ulema said to notice that Allah says obey Allah, obey the Messenger and follow the
scholars. Following the scholars is different from obeying them. Obedience is only to
Allah and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). You only obey the scholars when
they are following what Allah and His Messenger said.

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam)). [Al-Nisa: 59]

3. Making the obedience of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) a sign of iman.
Fai th I V
12

The only saying of the faithful believers, when they are called to Allah (His words, the
Quran) and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), to judge between them, is that
they say: We hear and we obey, and such are the prosperous ones (who will live
forever in Paradise. [Al-Noor: 51]

Ask yourself if you have this sign. When you hear the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam), do you listen and obey, or do you have a different attitude?

4. Warnings of punishment and falling into trials to those who disobey the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Imam Ahmad said that this trial can lead you to leave Islam and disbelieve in
Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Sufyan Ath-Thawri was described as being like
Abu Bakr in Abu Bakrs time, and this was how others looked up to him. Upon his
death, Sufyan Ath-Thawri said, By Allah, I am not worried about my sins. My sins are
like the sand, and do not mean much to me because I know Allah will forgive me and is
Merciful. I am worried that before I die, I will lose my faith. If I have my faith upon
death, then I will be fine. I am worried about losing my iman before death, and if that
happens, then my sins will not be forgiven. In another narration, he said, I am
worried about losing following the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

and let those who oppose the Messengers (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam))
commandment (i.e. his sunnah, legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements, etc.)
(among the sects) beware, lest some fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes,
killing, overpowered by a tyrant, etc.) befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on
them. [Al-Noor: 63]

Imam Ahmad said that this trial is shirk or hypocrisy.

5. The command to solve disputes through the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam).

Allah (subhanahu wataala) said that whenever there is a dispute, go to the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Imam Maalik said that after the death of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam), we go back to his sunnah.

(and) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His
Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That
is better and more suitable for final determination. [Al-Nisa: 59]

6. Ordering us to accept and submit to the Prophets (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
commands

It is not only obeying, but it is also submitting and feeling content, satisfaction, and
acceptance in the heart.

It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision.
Fai th I V
13

And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), he has
indeed strayed in a plain error. [Al-Ahzab: 36]

7. Making the obedience of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) from the obedience
and love of Allah

He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)) has indeed
obeyed Allah, but he who turns away, then We have not sent you (O Muhammad (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam)) as a watcher over them. [Al-Nisa: 80]

Whoever obeys the Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) has indeed obeyed Allah. In
another verse, If you love Allah, then obey me. This verse has a name: ayatul mihna
(the ayah that is the test). The sahabah said that everyone used to claim that they love
Allah, and Allah wanted to test them to see if they really love Him. This verse was
revealed to test them.

! The Sunnah
It is reported from Anas (radhi Allahu anhu) that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) praised
and thanked Allah, then said, What is the matter with some people who say such-and-such?
But as for me, I pray and I sleep, I fast and I break my fast, and I marry of women. Whoever
turns away from my sunnah has nothing to do with me. [Muslim, Sahih Muslim]

Abu Hurayrah (radhi Allahu anhu) narrates that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, All
of my nation will enter Jannah except those who refuse. They (the sahabah) asked, Who could
(possibly) refuse? He said, Whoever obeys me enters Jannah, and whoever disobeys me has
refused. [Al Bukhari, Sahih Al Bukhari]

Scholars wrote books and chapters in books on obeying the sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam), especially the books of aqeedah. Imam Al Lalaqai, Imam Ibn Battah, Imam Abu
Dawood, Imam Muslim, Ibn Majah and At-Tirmidhi all wrote chapters on the obedience of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Hadeeth in Bukari and Muslim: The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I am the warner
who is naked. Whoever listens to me will be saved, and whoever does not listen and does not
believe in me will be destroyed. What does this mean? You must understand the culture of
the time. In the old days, Arab tribes would attack each other, and in order to warn the village,
a person would strip and run naked inside the village, which indicated that the enemy was at
the gate or at the border and there was no time. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is
saying that his example is like this warner they were familiar with. The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) was using the language and expressions the people were familiar with. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) warned people from the Hellfire.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, This religion is so deep and wide. No one will be
able to ever cover every aspect of it. When you practice the religion, take it step by step.
Everyone goes through stages. When you are low (i.e. have lost the excitement) but are still in
the boundary of the sunnah, then you are guided. If you are not within the boundary of the
sunnah, then you have brought your own destruction. [Imam Ahmad] What does this mean? A
person may be praying a lot every night and fasting every other day, but after a while, a person
Fai th I V
14

may feel low and lose the excitement. What is according to the sunnah? You do not have to
pray all of the voluntary prayers, but you do have to pray the fard prayers.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Soon a time will come where a man will be sitting
on his couch, and he will hear a hadeeth. This person will comment on it by saying, Whatever is
in the Quran, we will take, and whatever is not in the Quran, we will reject. Whatever I forbade
is exactly what Allah forbade. [At-Tirmidhi] Imam Al Khatabi, a Shafii scholar, made the
comment that this hadeeth is a clear evidence that the statements of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) are a hujjah (authority).

There are many incidents where the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told people to follow
the sunnah. There was a man who was eating with his left hand, and the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) told him to eat with his right hand. The man said he could not out of
arrogance. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, May you never be able to do it. This
mans hand was then frozen, and he could not move it. The supplication of the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was accepted. The man asked for forgiveness, and in another narration
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) prayed for the mans hand to be released.

There was a woman named Bareerah who was a slave and then freed, but her husband was still
a slave, so she divorced him. He used to run after her in the market and would hold onto the
edge of her khimar asking for her to take him back. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) saw
this in the market and told his uncle Ibn Abbas, Isnt it interesting how much he loves her, and
how much she does not care about him? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) asked her
why she does not accept him, and she asked, Ya Rasulullah, is this a shifaah (intercession) or an
order? If it is an order, then I will marry him right away. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said that it was an intercession, and she said that she does not need the intercession.
The point of this story is that she said if it was an order, she would have married him. This
shows that whatever the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) says must be taken and followed.

! Narrations from the Salaf
Abu Bakr (radhi Allahu anhu) said, I would never leave anything the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) used to do. I am afraid if I leave anything from his sunnah, I will be misguided. [Ibn
Battah, Al-Ibanah]

Ibn Battah said, If Abu Bakr had this attitude, then what about me and you?

Ibn Al Qayyim said, I have never come across any time when the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said something to the sahabah to do something or not to do something and a companion
asked if it was wajib or recommended or haram or makrooh. Their attitude was never this way.
They would accept it and submit themselves to it.

Az-Zuhri (rahimahullah) said, The scholars before us used to say, Upholding the sunnah is (the
means of) survival, safety. [Abu Nuaym, Al-Hilyah]

The companions would copy the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in the smallest and biggest
manners. They followed the way he treated his wives, neighbors, and enemies.

Once a woman came to Abdullah Ibn Masood and said, I heard that you said that plucking
eyebrows is a sin. I am an educated woman from Bani Asad, and I have the Quran. Ibn Masood
Fai th I V
15

said, Did you read the Quran? If you read it, then you would have found the verse that
plucking eyebrows is haram. Didnt you read the verse in Surah An-Nisa, Whatever the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) gives you, you must take it, and whatever he forbids you must
avoid. I heard the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) say that Allah curses the woman who
plucks her eyebrows.

Abu Darda said, You will never go astray as long as you stick to the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal

Uthman (radhi Allahu anhu) was traveling for Hajj while he was the khalifah with Ali, and he told
people that they were not allowed to join umrah and Hajj during the same trip. [Abu Bakr,
Umar, and Uthman thought that it was only for that year and for a specific reason.] When they
made the ihram, Ali (radhi Allahu anhu) said that he was making Hajj and umrah. Ali (radhi
Allahu anhu) said, I heard the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) say something different from
what you said, and I will not leave what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said.

Imam Ash-Shafii was once asked about what he would do if there was a hadeeth that was
different from what he said. He replied, I am Muslim, which means that I believe in
Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). I will not take my opinion and leave what Muhammad
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said.

Reported in Ibn Hibban: Imam Abu Hanifah had a position in the concept of iman which was
different from the rest of the Sunni schools regarding the definition of iman. He said that iman
is not made of actions and statements and belief in the heart and said iman is only belief in the
heart and statements of the tongue. The rest of the Muslim scholars disagreed with him. Ibn
Hibban reported that he was one time debating one of the scholars (Ibn Salama) who said,
What would you do with the hadeeth where the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Iman
is made of 70 plus branches, and part of it is to remove things from the path that can harm
people which shows that actions are part of iman. The students of Imam Abu Hanifah urged
him to answer. Abu Hanifah said, What do you want me to say? He is saying The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said and when we hear something the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said, then we have no choice but to say that we hear and we obey. Abu Hanifah then
changed his opinion.

Abu Hasan Al Ashari has a book Ar-Risala Ahl Al-Thughar in which he documented many things
that contradicts what many Asharis today practice. He mentioned in this book the obligation
of following the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

! Consensus (Ijma)
Consensus regarding this issue has been mentioned by:
Al Imam Al-Shafii
Abul Hasan Al-Ashari
Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm
Ash-Shawkani

! Analogy
Allah (subhanahu wataala) destroyed those who did not follow their messengers. Allah was
pleased with those who did follow their messengers and gave them victory. These verses make
analogies.
Fai th I V
16

Surah Al-Araf: 38 God will say, Join the crowds of jinn and humans who gave gone before you
into the Fire. Every crowd curses its fellow crowd as it enters, then, when they are all gathered
inside, the last of them will say of the first, Our Lord, it was they who led us astray: give them
double punishment in the Fire God says, Every one of you will have double punishment,
though you do not know it.

Surah Ash-Shuarah is about this concept. In Surah Ash-Shuarah after the stories, there is a
verse: in these stories is a lesson to be learned

The people of Noah:
But they belied him, so We saved Him and those along with him in the ship, and We drowned
those who belied Our ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.). They
were indeed a blind people. [Al-Araf: 64]

The people of Ad:
So We saved him and those who were with him by a Mercy from Us, and We cut the roots of
those who belied Our ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), and they
were not the believers. [Al-Araf: 72]

! Qiyas Al-Awla (A Priori)
1. If Allah has made it obligatory for all the prophets to obey the Prophet Muhammad (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam), then it is even more so for us to obey him.

And (remember) when Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets saying, Take
whatever I gave you from the Book and hikmah (understanding of the laws of Allah,
etc.) and afterwards there will come to you a Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam)) confirming what is with you; you must, then, believe in him and help him.
Allah said, Do you agree (to it) and will you take up My Covenant (which I conclude
with you)? They said: We agree. He said: Then bear witness; and I am with you
among the witnesses (for this). [Al-Imran: 81]

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, If Musa was alive today, he would not do
anything except follow me.

When Eesa (alayhi salam) comes in the end of the days, he will pray behind the mahdi to
show respect to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

2. If Allah has made it obligatory upon us to obey rulers and scholars, then it is even more
obligatory to obey the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam)), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority [Al-Nisa: 59]

Ash-Shatibi said that the answer of the scholars for the layperson is for him like the
evidence. If you do not have knowledge, then you are not in a position to judge the
scholars. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that even if the scholar gives the
wrong answer, the layperson will not be responsible for it on the Day of Judgment.

Fai th I V
17

! Logic
1. If the Quran and Sunnah are both revelations and it is obligatory to follow the Quran,
then one must also follow the Sunnah.

Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to
him. [Al-Najm: 3-4]

All the messengers We sent were meant to be obeyed, by Gods leave [An-Nisa: 64]

2. If we believe that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is a prophet, this belief entails
that he must always speak the truth and that he is infallible in delivering the message.
If we do not obey him or adhere to his sunnah, it is as if we have doubted his
prophethood.

3. If obeying Allah is a must, and there is no way to know what pleases Allah and what
does not except through His prophets and messengers, then following His Messenger
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is obligatory.

3 | The Obl i gati on to Honor and Respect the Hadeeth of the Prophet (sal
Al l ahu al ayhi wa sal l am)

Al Qadhi Iyadh said, Know that the sanctity and honor of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) after his death is the same as during his life and that is when his hadeeth, seerah, name
and sunnah are mentioned. [Ash-Shifaa]

1. All the evidences which prove the obligation to follow his sunnah and obey him, mentioned
previously. The command to follow him necessitates that his speech is honored.

Ayoub As-Sukhtiyani lived in Damascus, and one day he walked into the masjid and saw a great
scholar with a shining face and said that he was impressed by his white, shiny teeth. Around
the scholar was a group of scholars and companions. He asked his uncle who this person was,
and he was told that it was Muadh ibn Jabal. He came early in the morning to pray, and he
found Muadh there, so he sat next to him and told him that he loved him for the sake of Allah.
Muadh asked, Is that why you are here? three times. Ayoub said, Yes. Muadh said,
Allahs love will be given to those who love one another for the sake of Him. Ayoub As-
Sukhtiyani was nine years old when this took place. The students of Imam Maalik asked him if
he would give them permission to listen to his narrations of ahadeeth when he came to
Madinah. Imam Maalik looked at him from behind one of the pillars of the masjid and came
back to the halaqah and said, No, dont go study under him. The days pass, and later the
students asked the same thing, and then Imam Maalik did the same thing and then said his
students could study under him. He said that the previous year, he did not hear any difference
in his voice when he narrated ahadeeth or something else, but this year, every time he came to
the name of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), the tone of his voice changed, and you can
tell that when he said, The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that it was something
heavy and special. The scholars took great issue with showing respect to the ahadeeth of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

When the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would be mentioned, Imam Az-Zuhri would
change, and his closest friends said it was as if he did not know us and we did not know him.
Fai th I V
18

Jaafir ibn Muhammad was described as being a funny person who joked a lot and smiled and
laughed, but every time he taught and mentioned the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), his
students said that his face would change and tears would start falling.

Imam Maalik would never narrate ahadeeth unless he had wudu, and he would not teach a class
unless he had showered first. He wore special clothes out of respect to the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam). He would never ride a camel in Madinah because he was not comfortable
riding a camel over the land where the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was buried. A
person asked Imam Maalik about a hadeeth, and he told the man to sit first, and then he
narrated the hadeeth (i.e. he would not narrate while walking in the street).

Ibn Mubarak came from Khurasan to study with Imam Maalik and he said saw something that
he would never forget: he saw Imam Maaliks face change while speaking as if he was in pain,
and he wondered why he was in so much pain, and he then saw a scorpion walk from under his
feet. Imam Maalik did not stop narrating the hadeeth even though he was stung from the
scorpion. Ibn Mubarak asked him why he did not stop, and he replied, I was in the middle of
narrating the hadeeth, and out of respect for narrating from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam), I would not cut it off in the middle.

What is our attitude with the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)? This will
determine how much a person of ahl al-sunnah you are.

2. Verily, We have sent you (O Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)) as a witness, as a
bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner. In order that you (O mankind) may believe in Allah
and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and that you assist and honor him, and (that
you) glorify (Allahs) praises morning and afternoon. [Al-Fath: 8-9]

Ibn Abbas said to show honor and respect to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Ibn Majah started his book the Sunan honoring the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) and then obeying the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). If you honor and obey the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), then you will practice and commit.

3. O ye who believe! Put not yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) but fear Allah, for Allah is He who hears and knows all things. O ye who
believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam),
nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another lest your deeds
become vain and ye perceive not. Those that lower their voice in the presence of Allahs
Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), their hearts has Allah tested for piety: for them is
Forgiveness and a great reward. [Al-Hujurat: 1-3]

Al Imam Ibn Mahdi used to order his students not to talk and to remain quiet and solemn when
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)s ahadeeth were being narrated. He would use this verse
as an evidence for that. [Al Qadi Iyad, Ash-Shifa]

Allah (subhanahu wataala) ordered us not to raise our voices over the voice of the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The scholars have said that this means to now not raise your voice over
the ahadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Fai th I V
19

Surah An-Noor: 63 - Do not call the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) the same way that you
call others. Make not the calling of the Messenger (Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam))
among you as your calling of one another

4. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Falsely attributing something to me is not
like falsely attributing something to anyone else. Whoever falsely attributes something to
me shall take his own seat in the Hellfire. [Sahih Al Bukhari]

Ibn Al-Thalji was criticized by the scholars because he showed so much disrespect to the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). He would make up ahadeeth and attribute them to the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in order to support his ideas. He made up ahadeeth to
criticize the scholars of hadeeth.

Part of respect is to not spread lies about the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do not be one of those who attribute lies to me. In another
narration: Dont be one of the two liars. There are two ways to lie: by making up the
ahadeeth or by spreading the lie. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever
attributes lies should not expect any place in the Hereafter except the Hellfire.

Ibn Masood and Anas ibn Maalik would say or similar to what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said when narrating ahadeeth. Ibn Maeen said, When I want to narrate a hadeeth, I will
spend the whole night preparing it, and after I narrated it, I would spend the night reviewing
what I said.

5. Narrations which show how much the sahabah and scholars used to respect the hadeeth of
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and order others to do so.

Ibn Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do not
stop the women from going to the masjid. One of his sons said, We will stop them. He
became very angry. He said, Im telling you that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said
not to and you say you will do it. Surely, I will never speak to you again. He did not speak to
him until he died. [Sahih Muslim]

Ali and Ibn Masood said, If I narrate a hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) to you, then do not have any bad thoughts or doubts regarding its meaning.[Ad-
Darimee, Sunan Ad-Darimee]

4 | The Posi ti on of Ahl ul Bi d ah (Peopl e of Innovati on) from the Hadeeth of
the Prophet (sal Al l ahu al ayhi wa sal l am)

- Simple ignorance: not knowing the hadeeth. Example: Al Jahm ibn Safwan who was alive
during the time of Al Hasan Al Basri and the tabieen. He never narrated a single hadeeth
from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). He had no idea about the sunnah of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Ibn Taymiyyah was once talking about Juwayni, and he
said, When you read his book, you will come to the clear conclusion that this person never
read Sahih Al Bukhari in his life. One of the signs of ahl al-bidah is hearing them give a
quote from the Quran or stories (i.e. there was this man who used to do this), but it is rare
to find their argument based on evidences and ahadeeth. Ahl al-sunnah give evidences based
on ahadeeth.
Fai th I V
20

- Double ignorance: not knowing that you do not know. They used ahadeeth that were
fabricated and built their ideologies or agruments on these ahadeeth. Al Ghazali in his Ilhya
Uloom Al-Deen mentions fabricated ahadeeth and built points on them. Sometimes his points
were correct, but he mentioned fabricated ahadeeth.

- Disrespect: making fun of the ahadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Ibn
Qutaybah said that Ibn Jaffar would mention the statements of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) alongside those of people who consumed alcohol or were adulterers. Ibn
Qutaybah questioned the respect that Ibn Jaffar had for the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam).

- Opposing and rejecting: Amr Ibn Ubaid lived in Basra during the time of the tabieen. One
time it was said, Everyone walked to Allah except Amr ibn Ubaid who ran to Allah (i.e. an
ascetic worshipper), and everyone was looking to the government for money except for
Amr ibn Ubaid. Amr Ibn Ubaid at the same time though was the founder of the deviant
sect the Mutazilah. It was narrated that when Amr Ibn Ubaid heard a hadeeth of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) narrated by Ibn Masood that the baby will for forty days
be nutfah, Amr ibn Ubaid said, If I meet Ibn Masood directly and he told me that the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said this, I would not take it from me, and if the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said this to me directly, I would reject it, and if Allah said this to
me directly with nothing between us, I would say that this is not fair. Because it did not fit
with his logic, he rejected it, which is the attitude of the deviant sects.

Debussi said in his book, Every hadeeth goes against the hadeeth of Abu Hanifah must be
considered either weak or abrogated by another hadeeth. He put the opinion of Abu
Hanifah as the default rule, which is extreme and not acceptable.

Ibn Al-Qasim said, You will never find any innovator unless he disrespects the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) even if he claims that he honors him.

Al-Awzai said, Any innovator, if you narrate a hadeeth which opposes his innovation, he feels
dislike towards the hadeeth.

Ibn Al-Qattan said, There is no innovator in the world but who dislikes ahl al-hadeeth. When a
person innovates, the sweetness of hadeeth is stripped away from his heart.

5 | Those Who Oppose the Obl i gati on of Fol l owi ng the Sunnah

This idea appeared at the end of the time of the companions. It became common amongst the
Khawarij. Ibn Hazm and Al-Suyuti were known for documenting these narrations (i.e. that you
can pray three times a day or that you can pray dhuhr one rakah instead of four, you have to
slaughter the fish and everything that you eat, the woman on her menses must make up her
salah). One of the most famous things that they came with was that you are not allowed to wipe
over your socks because the Quran ordered us to wipe over our feet. This became very famous;
therefore, if you read a book of Muslim theology like the Sunnah of Al Barbahari or At-Tawahis
The Creed, the issue of wiping over the socks is mentioned because it became a clear sign from
those who follow the sunnah to those who do not. The great Shafii scholar Ibn Mundhir said it
Fai th I V
21

is recommended to wipe over the socks because it proves that you are a Sunni and not a Shia
or Khawarij.

Ayoub As-Sukhtiani said, If you ever narrate hadeeth to someone whose response is, tell me if
there is evidence in the Quran, then you know that this person is a person of innovation.

In the 13
th
century, this idea appeared with some free thinkers and it became popular in India,
and for the first time in the history of Islam it was formulated as the sect the Quraniyoon, and
they did not accept the sunnah.

There are three main groups:

Group One: Those who do not believe that the sunnah is an authority whatsoever. Those that
deny the authority of sunnah base their positions upon three arguments:

A. The Quran explains everything; therefore, there is no need for the sunnah.
Their proofs:
and We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance
and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims. [Al-Nahl: 89]

We have not neglected in the Register a thing [Al-Anam: 38]

Refutation: Do we find all things related to math, medicine, and geography in the Quran?
It means everything in the religion, and it cannot be taken literally and does not mean
every science and every field. Question: Does everything mean all details? How do you
fast, and what breaks your fast? How do you pray? All of these details are not in the Quran.
Everything means every principle and main guideline in the religion. One of the things
mentioned in the Quran is to follow the sunnah.

Also, we say that this second verse in Surah Al-Anam is not referring to the Quran. The
book being referred to is the Safe Tablet. When Allah created the pen, He commanded the
pen to write everything in the Safe Tablet (everything that Allah will create and what will
happen until the Day of Judgment). In the previous ayah, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says,
There is no creature on this earth and no bird in the sky except that it is mentioned in the
Book. This means that the Book is not the Quran. The people of innovation always take a
verse out of context.

Everything means including the verse where Allah says to follow the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) or it means every major principle and main guideline in the religion.

Regarding Al-Nahl: 89 this verse in no way says to reject the sunnah.

B. Since there is no promise that the sunnah will be protected and saved, we cannot trust it.

Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardians. [Al-Hajar:
9]
Fai th I V
22

Refutation:
We have sent down to you dhikr so that you can explain what has been revealed to you.
Allah (subhanahu wataala) sent down the dhikr to explain the Quran, and the sunnah
explains the Quran; therefore, dhikr refers to the verses of the Quran and the sunnah of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). In Surah Al Qiyamah: Ya Muhammad, do not rush to
try to memorize the Quran. We will put it in your heart and then explain it to you. It is
very clear that the Quran is from Allah and is dhikr and the sunnah is also dhikr.

Ibn Hazm (rahimahullah) said, What is the point of saving verse and not saving for us the
meaning? This does not make any sense. Saving the sunnah is part of saving the Quran. If
dhikr only means the Quran, then it necessitates protecting the sunnah because Allah will
not only protect the words without protecting the correct understanding and the meaning
of the verses. By looking at the history of Islam, we learn how Allah protecting the sunnah
from the beginning with it being documented from the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam).

At the time of Ibn Mubarak, there was a man who fabricated 4,000 ahadeeth. The khalifah
took the man to be executed, and the man said, Do not kill me, I fabricated 4,000 ahadeeth
and spread them. Save me so I can tell you them. The khalifah said, There are great
scholars like Ibn Mubarak who can tell us which ones are correct and which are fabricated.

C. The hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in which it is claimed that he said,
My hadeeth will become widespread, so whatever is according to the Quran, then it is from
me, and whatever contradicts it, it is not from me.

Refutation:
This hadeeth is fabricated according to Yahya ibn Maeen, Al-Suyuti, Ash-Shawkani, Ibn
Hazm and many other scholars. The deviant sects fabricated this hadeeth.

Whenever a hadeeth comes to us, we take it and see what the Quran says about it. This
hadeeth contradicts what is in the Quran.

In modern times, many progressive Muslim groups and Islamists (non-Muslim, Western
researchers who extensively study Islamic sciences) have raised doubts about the authority of
the sunnah.

When the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said not to document the sunnah, he told this to a
specific group of people who were the recorders of the Quran. He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
said this so that they would not confuse them together. There were other people who wrote
the ahadeeth. When the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said not to write the ahadeeth, he
was saying not to write them in one book together so that they would not be mixed together. A
companion said, Ya Rasulullah, should I write everything that you say? The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, Yes, by Allah only the truth comes out of this (pointing to his mouth).

The most popular of their arguments are:
A. There are so many ahadeeth that were fabricated by the companions and the students.

Fai th I V
23

Imam Az-Zuhri was used by the Umayyads to fabricate ahadeeth, and Az-Zuhri admitted
that by saying, Those princes forced me to write narrations.

Refutation:
A person who says this is ignorant because if they knew the companions, they would not
say such things. The companions are all trustworthy. Allah (subhanahu wataala) said that
the companions are trustworthy. Ask: which hadeeth are fabricated? They may respond
that it is not necessarily the companion but maybe those who came after them. Often, they
claim that Abu Hurayrah (radhi Allahu anhu) fabricated many hadeeth. A research paper was
done and the researcher looked at every hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah (radhi Allahu anhu), and it
was found that every hadeeth he narrated was also narrated by other companions. Also,
~5,000 ahadeeth is not that many for the amount of time he spent with the Prophet (sal

Regarding the statement of Az-Zuhri:
The companions and the early Muslim generations focused on the Quran being documented
and memorized. The sunnah was also documented. The hadeeth were memorized. The
ulema in the early stages focused on encouraging people to memorize the ahadeeth and
knowing it by heart rather than writing it in a book. Some of the people at that time
wanted to be part of the movement of narrating ahadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam), but they did not want to put any effort and wanted them to be written. The ulema
refused to let them do that, and they used to force them to come and learn and study and
memorize. They did not like to write the ahadeeth for businessmen or princes, but the rich
and powerful people wanted the knowledge. The actual statement of Az-Zuhri is: Those
princes forced us to write the ahadeeth. The Islamists took out the word the from the
statement to make it sound like they were fabricating the ahadeeth. Az-Zuhri was a well
known collector of ahadeeth. When he was in debt, the Umayyads said that they would pay
his debts on the condition that he heads the committee of collecting the ahadeeth of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and documenting the ahadeeth in books.

B. They claim that the scholars of hadeeth only verified / examined the chain of narrators and
not specific text. It is possible then that a sound chain was placed before an inauthentic
narration.

Refutation:
If you ask them for one example, they cannot come up with anything. Also, it shows that
they know nothing about the methodology of hadeeth. Before a judgment is passed on
whether a hadeeth is authentic, the narrators must all be checked, and then the text is also
looked at. After the hadeeth is measured against ten things related to the text, it is then
deemed acceptable. Claiming that the text is not verified is false.
These ten things are:
- Make sure that there are no grammatical mistakes.
- Wording of the hadeeth / eloquence the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was very
eloquent, there can be no historical mistake in the hadeeth.
- The hadeeth cannot contradict sound logic (something definite).
- The hadeeth cannot contradict another well established ruling in Islam (for example, if
they said that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said something which contradicts
Fai th I V
24

something well established in the Quran and Sunnah, then it is rejected. For example, it
is well established that you must read Al Fathihah in the salah).
- The hadeeth cannot say anything immoral.
- The hadeeth gives a great reward for trivial things.
- There cannot be an exaggeration of a punishment for something trivial.
- The hadeeth cannot bring something ridiculous. (i.e. the lion on the Ark of Nuh sneezed
and out came a cat, and that was how Allah created the cat)
- The hadeeth cannot go against common sense.

Group Two: Those who do not accept ahad ahadeeth.
Those who do not accept ahad ahadeeth:

This is the opinion of some Shia, Mutazilah, and Khawarij. They only accept what is
mutawaatir, such as the method of the prayer and the method of making Hajj.

[Note: A mutawaatir hadeeth is any hadeeth narrated by a large number of narrators, and it is
impossible for them to agree upon a lie. There are large numbers in every level of ahadeeth. It
is attributed to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) by saying that I heard the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) or I saw the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Scholars debated
what large number refers to and some said 8/9, 15, or 20 and up. They said that ahad is
whatever is less than this number; therefore, it could be 1 or 2 or 3.]

Refutation:
These people do not accept 97-98% of the ahadeeth because there are a small number of
mutawaatir ahadeeth. This claim in itself is not any different from the previous ones. They are
saying that they do not trust the ahadeeth either because they dont trust the sahabah or the
methodology, and we refute their claims with same claims as the first group.

Ibn Hazm and Al Marwadi said that this idea was invented by the Mutazilah.

Group Three: Those who do not accept ahad ahadeeth in matters of aqeedah.

They say that the matters of aqeedah must be based upon certainty and ahad narrations cannot
establish certainty in the heart because they are based upon uncertainty.

Refutation:
- This opinion is an innovation.
When did this opinion in Islamic history? Who was the first one to come up with this idea?
The first one was Ibn Ulayah, one of the founders of the Mutazilah. When Imam Ash-Shafii
heard this, he brought him and said to him, What is your claim? He said, My claim is
that anything related to belief must be established from mutawaatir ahadeeth. Ash-Shafii
said, Tell me, is this idea that you have come up with part of belief or not? Was it
established on mutawaatir hadeeth? He left the sitting without even being able to refute
Imam Ash-Shafii.

- We cannot generalize whether ahad narrations will establish certainty or not because some
ahad ahadeeth are weak and others are authentic. That is a measure of certainty and
uncertainty
Fai th I V
25

Ahad only describes how the hadeeth was narrated but does not pass a judgment on the
authenticity of the hadeeth. We accept what is authentic and not because it is ahad or not.

- Classifying the religion into fundamentals that can only be based on tawatur and branches
which can be proved by ahad is an innovation.
Can we separate fiqh from aqeedah? In the religion, there is no separation.

- There are many evidences in the Quran and sunnah that contradict this opinion.
Allah (subhanahu wataala) said, Ask the people of knowledge. If you have an issue related
to aqeedah and ask a scholar, do you accept it? Yes. You do not say that you must have
mutawaatir.
In the Quran, there is an ayah saying that if there is a war, not everyone should participate
but some should seek knowledge (three which is not a mutawaatir number).
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) only sent Muadh to Yemen to teach the people,
and he was teaching them aqeedah also.

- There are many contradictions between this opinion and the beliefs of the people who hold
it.
They base their belief on stories, poetry, and non-hadeeth.

Note: Some scholars might say that ahad ahadeeth will not establish certainty but they will still
accept it in aqeedah. They claim that the majority of the scholars say that ahad ahadeeth do not
establish certainty. This is a false claim.

6 | The Ways that the Innovators Rej ect the Sunnah

1. Attacking the narrators
Those who did this: The Khawarij, Ar-Rafidah / Ash-Shia, some of the Mutazilah and
Orientalists. They say that they agree with the sunnah as an authority, but they have a
problem with some of the narrators. The Shia believe that all of the companions left Islam
after the death of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) except maybe 7 / 12 / 13 (Ali, Al
Hasan, Al Husayn, Abu Dharr, Bilal, Fatima, ) Very few of their narrations have the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said because they dont have anyone to connect to him
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

The Khawarij said that Uthman, Ali, Muawiyah, and Amr ibn Al As were kafir and anyone
who does not believe that they were kafir is also kafir.

The Mutazila said that the sahabah were fasiq, and they did not accept them as narrators.
They said that the sahabah were not trustworthy people.

Orientalists said that Abu Hurayrah cannot be trusted and neither can Az-Zuhri.

The following two points can establish the refutation to all of these sects:
i. Allah has promised to protect the sunnah as He promised to protect the Quran
The sunnah of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is protected. It is impossible that
there is a hadeeth that the entire Muslim ummah thinks is authentic and in reality is
weak or that the entire Muslim ummah thinks that a hadeeth is weak and in reality is
authentic.
Fai th I V
26

ii. All the companions of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) are trustworthy
Allah (subhanahu wataala) said in the Quran in Surah Al Fath v. 18 and Surah 48:29
and Muhammad and those with him are strong against the kufar and merciful to
each other, and you can see the sign of sujood on their faces. Allah has forgiven them
and is pleased with them. Sufyan Ath-Thawri said about Surah An-Naml v. 59: Say
alhamdulillah, and Allah has chosen certain people that the chosen people are the
companions.

2. Attacking the texts
They do this in three ways:
i. Contradicting the ahadeeth with logic
Al Imam As-Samani said, Those who follow their mind/logic to reject the sunnah are in
reality saying la ilaha illAllah, and my logic is the Messenger of Allah. [Al-Asbahani, Al
Hujjah]

Ar-Razi wrote Asas At-Taqdis, and Ibn Taymiyyah wrote Dar Al Taarrud Al Aql wal-Naql as
a refutation. The rule of Ar-Razi in his book Asas At-Taqdis which states that if intellect
and text conflict, both cannot be acceptable, and one must be taken and the other
rejected. Because intellect is what led us to accepting texts, the taking of the text over
intellect would negate the acceptability of both.

Refutation:
It is impossible for logic and a text to contradict each other. It is impossible that Allah
or the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would say something illogical. Two definite
things cannot contradict each other; therefore, one must be definite and the other
indefinite, and what is indefinite will be rejected and what is definite is accepted,
regardless of if it is text or logic.

If we claim that there is a contradiction between a textual evidence and logic, then
didnt the logic lead us to the simple fact that Allah is the Most Knowledgeable and the
Most Wise. Allah (subhanahu wataala) cannot contradict Himself or say something
wrong. Humans are not infallible, but Allah and His Messenger are infallible; therefore,
if there is a contradiction between the text and the logic, then we have to leave what is
indefinite (my logic) to what is definite (what Allah and His Messenger said).

ii. Contradicting the Sunnah with kashf (claimed divine inspiration through dreams,
visions, etc.). [Kashf comes from kashafa, meaning appearing]

iii. Contradicting the sunnah with the opinions or statements of the imams and scholars
Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu anhu) said to some of the young tabieen, Allah might punish
you by sending a storm from the heavens to destroy you if I tell you that the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said and you reply by saying but Abu Bakr and Umar said.
[Ahmad, Musnad Imam Ahmad]

Surah Al Baqara 2:170 But when it is said to them, Follow the message that God has
sent down, they answer, We follow the ways of our fathers. What! Even though their
fathers understood nothing and were not guided?

Fai th I V
27

Surah Tawbah: 31 They take their rabbis and their monks as lords, as well as Christ,
the son of Mary. But they were commanded to serve only on God: there is no god but
Him; He is far above whatever they set up as His partners!

The Shias take the imams opinion over anything else, and the Sufis take the shaykhs
opinion over anything else. Some of the extreme Muslim jurists will reject the sunnah
just because it does not follow their madhab.

7 | The Rul i ng Concerni ng One Who Rej ects the Sunnah

1. Rejecting the authority of the sunnah is kufr
No Muslim rejects the authority of the sunnah. Ash-Shafii, Ibn Hazm, Shawkani, and other
scholars mentioned the ijma amongst the Muslim scholars that a person who rejects the
sunnah is kafir.

Say: Obey Allah and the Messenger. But if they turn away, then indeed, Allah does not
like the disbelievers. [Surah Al Imran: 32]

And when it is said to them, Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam), you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion. [Surah
An Nisa: 61] Allah (subhanahu wataala) calls them hypocrites.

Imam Muhammad ibn Nasr Al Marwazi used to say, Anyone who a hadeeth of the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) reaches him, and he believes in its authenticity and then rejects
it for no reason has become a kafir. [Al Ihkam, vol. 1, p.99]

2. Rejecting a hadeeth because he thinks it is weak or interprets it to have another meaning
based upon other evidence or believes it was abrogated based on ijtihad will not be
considered sinful.
Ulema reject the text for a logical reason such as it may not match history.

3. Rejecting it based on ignorance, following his desires, or blind imitation of his imam, it will
be considered a form of fisq (which is a sin) and innovation. Such a person should be
advised regarding the severity of rejecting the words of Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam).

Chapter 2 Authori ty of the Sunnah of the Sahabah (Al -Sal af )

1 | Defi ni ng Sal af

Linguistic Definition:
It comes form the root word salafa and means something or someone in the past. The word
appears in the Quran meaning an example.

And we made them a precedent (as a lesson for those coming after them), and an example to
later generations. [Zukhruf: 56]

Technical Definition:
The word salaf can be used in two different ways:
Fai th I V
28

1) The early ones that those who come after them take as role models.
2) Everyone who follows the methodology of the sahabah, even up to this day.

Some scholars like the Hanafis said that the salaf start from the time of the companions until
the time of Ash-Shaybani (189 AH). The Shafiis and Malikis say it is from the time of the
companions to the beginning of 400 AH. The most famous and authentic opinion is the
following:
- The sahabah only
- The sahabah and the tabieen
- Those that made up the first three or four generations of Islam. The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said that the best generation after him is the companions, and their
followers, and their followers, and their followers.
- The first three generations and all those who follow their methodology until the Day of
Resurrection [Ibn Hazm]

2 | Reasons for Restri cti ng the Term Sal af to the Sahabah

Shaykh Waleeds opinion on the meaning of the term salaf, which is agreed upon: the
companions. Why? The following reasons:

1. Proofs in the Quran and Sunnah order us to follow their footsteps
We do not have evidence showing we should follow anyone else. There is not a single verse
or hadeeth that orders us to follow any other generation other than the companions.
The Quran and Sunnah only order us to follow the companions. There are many narrations
from the successors and the tabieen and the four imams and others ordering us to follow
the footsteps of the companions but not the tabieen. Abu Hanifah said, Anything from the
companions we take. After the companions, they are men and we are men (i.e. they use
their understanding and we use our understanding).

2. There are large numbers of narrations from the tabieen and the imams regarding the
obligation to follow the companions of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

3. There were no innovators among the sahabah
There were no innovators amongst the sahabah, but amongst the tabieen, there are people
who became innovators. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, There will be a
group who will come in the time of this nation Abu Said Al Kudri made a comment on
this: He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) never said that it would come from the companions
but in the time of the companions.

4. The statements of the sahabah have a special ruling.
If a companion said anything about the world of the unseen and the companion is not
known to take his knowledge from Christian or Jewish scholars, then we take the statement
as the statement of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) because he would not say this on
his own. This rule does not apply to the successors

The scholars said that any opinion of the companions which became popular and no other
companion opposed it and it does not contradict the Quran and Sunnah, then this opinion
must be taken like the texts. This quality cannot be applied to anyone else.

Fai th I V
29

5. The generation of the sahabah reached the peak of knowledge, righteousness,
understanding, and purity of the Arabic language
They witnessed with their eyes the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

6. All of the sahabah are trustworthy

The first principle that Imam Ahmad (rahimahullah) mentions in his book The Foundations of
the Sunnah is following the sahabah and taking them as role models.

3 | What i s meant by fol l owi ng the sal af ?

Following the sahabah is to follow their methodology and the way they understood the religion.
It is not to follow the opinion of one individual.

For example, the methodology of the sahabah was that they would accept whatever the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, they loved and respected the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam), they loved and respected the Quran, they did not differentiate between the Quran and
Sunnah regarding the religion, and they would make dawah. Regarding the ayah Whoever
disobeys Allah and His Messenger will go to Hellfire: they understood that this was referring
to complete disobedience and not committing sins (major or minor). The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever says la ilaha illAllah will enter Jannah. They did not
understand this hadeeth as anyone who only makes this statement will enter Jannah.

Those who came later started to disagree with the principles of the companions. Al Jahm Ibn
Safwan came and said that Allah is not above His Throne. He came up with a new
understanding other than what the sahabah were upon.

The methodology of the sahabah was adopted generation after generation.

Examples of the scholars who were upon the way of the salaf throughout history:

1
st
Century Tabieen 2
nd
Century
Al-Hasan Al-Basri (110 AH) Abu Hanifah (150 AH)
Ayyub As-Sukhtiyani (131 AH) Al-Awzai (157 AH)
Sufyan Ath-Thawri (161 AH)
Imam Maalik (179 AH)
Imam Ash-Shafii (204 AH)

3
rd
Century 4
th
Century
Imam Ahmad (241 AH) At Tabarani (360 AH)
Al Bukhari (256 AH) Ad-Daraqutni (385 AH)
Muslim (261 AH) Abu Abdullah ibn Battah (387 AH)
Abu Dawood (275 AH) Abul-Qasim Al-Lalakai (418 AH)
At-Tirmidhi (279 AH)

5
th
Century 6
th
Century
Abu Uthman As-Sabuni (449 AH) Qawam AsSunnah Abul Qasim Al- Asbahani (535 AH)
Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi (463 AH) Ash-Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al Jilani (561 AH)
Shaykh Al Islam Abu Ismail Al-Harawi (481 AH)
Fai th I V
30

7
th
Century 8
th
Century
AlMuwaffaq Ibn Qudamah Al Maqdisi (620 AH) Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah (751 AH)
Abul Barakat Ibn Taymiyyah (653 AH) Al Imam Adh-Dhahabi (748 AH)
Shaykh Al Islam Taqiyy Ad-Din Ahmad Al Imam Ibn Abi Al-Izz Al Hanafi (792 AH)
ibn Abdul Halim Ibn Taymiyyah (728 AH) Al Hafidh Ibn Kathir (774 AH)

The methodology and statements of the sahabah regarding the principles of faith and those of
the early Muslim generations have been narrated, recorded, and collected in many books of
Muslim scholars.

This shows that the methodology of the salaf has always been well known and was well
recorded. Generation after generation followed in their footsteps. This is a refutation to myths
that claim there is no such thing as the methodology of the salaf or that it has not been
recorded.

4 | Evi dences Provi ng the Obl i gati on to Fol l ow the Methodol ogy of the
Sahabah

1. The Quran
And the first forerunners [in the faith] among the Muhajireen and the ansar and those who
followed them with good conduct Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with
Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will
abide forever. That is the great attainment. [At-Tawbah: 100]

And whoever opposes the Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) after guidance has
become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers We will give him
what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination. [Al-Nisa: 115]

Surah Tawbah: 119 O you who believe, have taqwa and be with the truthful ones. Ibn
Umar said that the truthful ones are the companions.

2. The Sunnah
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, The Jews were divided into 71 groups, the
Christians were divided into 72 groups, and my ummah will be divided into 73 groups. All
these groups will be in the Hellfire except one. They (the sahabah) asked, Which (group)
is it, Oh Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)? He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
replied, Those who follow my way and the way of my companions. [At-Tirmidhi, Sunan
At-Tirmidhi]
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) called his ummah to tawheed. The ummah includes
the Muslims and non-Muslims.

The hadeeth narrated by Al-Irbad ibn Sariyah in which the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) addressed his companions. In it he told them, Whomever from you will live after
me will see a lot of changes and disputes. So follow my sunnah and the sunnah of the
rightly-guided khulafah after me. Hold onto it with your molar teeth and beware of
innovated matters. [Ahmad, Musnad Imam Ahmad]

Fai th I V
31

The khalifah is someone who replaces someone. Anyone who replaces the role of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in religious matters is considered as part of the khalifah.

3. Narrations from the Salaf
Ibn Masood (radhi Allahu anhu) said, Allah looked into the hearts of all humanity and He
chose Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) to be His last Messenger. Then He checked
the hearts of all other people. Then He chose the Prophets (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
Companions to accompany him and be his supporters. So whatever the believers see as
good, Allah sees it as good, and whatever they see as bad, Allah sees it as bad as well.
[Ahmad, Musnad Imam Ahmad]

Al-Awzai said, Follow the way of the salaf before you, say what they said, and refrain from
what they refrained from saying or doing. [Al-Aajurri, Ash-Shariah]

4. Logical Evidences
Since the Quran was revealed in the specific dialect of the sahabah, they were the most
familiar with the language it used. They also witnessed and lived the incidents that caused
the ayat to be revealed. They saw the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) with their eyes
and directly asked him about matters they did not understand. This makes them closer to
the truth than those who come after them.
Logically, they understand the Quran and Sunnah in the best way. Therefore, following
them is the safest way to understand the religion.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the generation of the companions was the
best generation, which indicates that they are worthy of being followed.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) praised this generation and said that they are the
best generation. We should follow the best.

Ibn Umar said, Why will this ummah be divided and Allah promised to protect the Quran
and Sunnah? Ibn Abbas said, The Jews and Christians had their book also but they
divided. People will read the texts of the Quran, then they will interpret it according to
their desires and understanding, and when this happens, they will be divided, and then
they will debate each other and fight each other. That is how this ummah will be divided.

5 | The Importance of Fol l owi ng the Methodol ogy of Al -Sal af

1. Their methodology is the means of following the Quran and Sunnah.
In order to follow the Quran and Sunnah, you must look at the methodology of the
companions and their understanding and interpretation. Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz said, The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and those who came after him from the Muslim leaders
established certain ways, and anyone who follows what they have established will have a
complete understanding of the Quran and will obey Allah (subhanahu wataala) and have
strength in his religion.

Abu Ali Az-Zawjani, a scholar of hadeeth, was once asked how you can follow the sunnah,
and he said, Avoid innovation and follow the companions. Ibn Taymiyyah said,
Whoever establishes the religion from the Quran, the hadeeth, and what the companions
used to say or do will be upon the path of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Fai th I V
32

2. Their methodology is one of the sources of religion.
Ash-Shatibi said, Any scholar who wants to make rules looks at the Quran and sunnah and
what the companions said.

3. It is one of the clear signs that differentiate between those who follow sunnah and the
innovators.
Ibn Abbas said to the Khawarij, I dont see any of the companions with you. Ibn Masood
once told a group of people gathered in Kufa that the way they were gathering and making
dhikr was not done before, so either they are making innovation or better than the
companions.

4. It is the only way to guarantee protection from the Hellfire.
Allah (subhanahu wataala) said this in Surah An Nisa: 115 If anyone opposes the Messenger
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), after guidance has been made clear to him, and follows a path
other than that of the believers, We shall leave him on his chosen path We shall burn him
in Hell, an evil destination.

5. It protects one from falling into innovation.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, If you see a difference of opinion and
confusion or innovation, follow my sunnah and the sunnah of my companions.
Ibn Masood said, Follow the first generation if you want to be upon the sunnah.

6. It solves disputes.
Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr said that he used to go to Iraq, and people there would argue about
the concept of qadar. He said that they would bring a verse and he would bring a verse, and
they would bring hadeeth and he would bring hadeeth. He asked his father what to do, and
Az-Zubayr said to debate them with the sunnah of Abu Bakr and Umar. Abdullah Ibn Az-
Zubayr did this and won the debate.

7. Leads to the best knowledge and the best deeds.
They have the best knowledge and were the most righteous people. If you follow the
footsteps of the companions, you will join akhlaq with spirituality and the authenticity of
knowledge. They learned the knowledge to practice and to come closer to Allah.

8. Following the way of al-salaf means respecting your sanity and humanity.
Other methods do not respect your humanity.

9. The way of al-salaf is based on knowledge, not ignorance, desires, and folk tales.

6 | The Posi ti on of the Innovators from the Methodol ogy of Al -Sal af

Ibn Taymiyyah said, The clear sign of every innovator is that they do not follow the salaf.

1. Position of the Khawarij and the Shia: They do not believe in the sahabah.

2. Position of the Mutazilah: They say that the sahabah are fasiq.

Fai th I V
33

3. Position of the Ashairah and Maturidiyyah
The methodology of the salaf is safer, and the methodology of the khalaf is wiser and more
logical.
They said that when the sahabah read verses about Allahs Attributes, they did not give an
interpretation for it, but the later generations used their logic and gave their opinions.
Refutation: This statement in itself is wrong. Safety is in knowledge and wisdom. Also, the
one with more logic is safer. The wisdom is what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
came with and not what they invented. The methodology of the salaf through the centuries
is the same, but if you pick any group (Ashairah, Maturidiyyah, Mutazilah, etc.), you will
find that they are not consistent throughout history. The way of the early generations is
the same. Ibn Mubarak studied the deen the same way Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifah
did. They had the same methodology; it was consistent. Many of the founders of groups
repented for their mistakes. Abu Hasan Al Ashari and Ar-Razi and Al-Juwayni admitted at
the end of their lives that they were wrong.

7 | Meri ts of the Methodol ogy of the Sal af

1. Moderation in:
They are in the middle of many extreme groups. Ahl al-sunnah are along the middle and in
between two extremes. The splits to the extremes came later on.
a. Allahs Names and Attributes.
One extreme: One group denied all of Allahs Names and Attributes. Another extreme:
Allah is like us and His Hand is like our hand and He Hears the way we hear. (They are
resembling Allah to His creation). Ahl al-sunnah says that we do not deny Allahs Names
and Attributes, and we do not say that they are similar to us.
b. Al-Qadar
One group said that Allah forced us into everything, and another group said that Allah
has nothing to do with our actions. Ahl al-sunnah say that Allah created everything and
knows everything but gave us the free will to choose, which is why we are held
accountable for our actions.
c. Texts promising punishment or reward
Some said that whenever Allah promised a punishment, it must be applied; therefore, if
you commit a sin, then you cannot escape Hellfire. Another group said that if Allah
promised Jannah, then you will never see the Hellfire. Ahl al-sunnah said the rewards in
Jannah are for the believers, and Allah may punish and purify people for a period of
time, and then they will end up in Jannah. Allah may break the promise of punishment
but will never break the promise of reward.
d. Iman
Some said that iman is only the statement of the tongue or belief in the heart. For
them, if you say that you believe in Allah, then you and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) have the same level of iman (i.e. the Maturidiyyah, the Jahmiyyah). Another
extreme was a group who said that you lose iman completely by committing one sin.
Ahl al-sunnah said that iman is not a lump sum, but it is of levels and goes up and down.
If you do certain things, you are a kafir and leave the fold of Islam (i.e. a person prays to
other than Allah, someone doubts the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)). Sins will
not keep your iman perfect and complete, but they will not take you out of the fold of
Islam; the person is a fasiq.
e. As-sahabah
Fai th I V
34

The Shia hate the companions and cursed them. On the other hand, there are those
who hate ahl al-bayt. Ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah is moderate and loves all of the
companions, including ahl al-bayt. We respect, love, and support them, but it does not
mean that they are infallible.
f. Use of logic
The Muslims who took the path of the philosophers like Ibn Sina and ahl al-kalam have
excessive use of logic. On the other hand, the Sufis said that they hate logic and do not
use it. Ahl al-sunnah said that you are not mukallaf (responsible for your action) unless
you are a person with a brain. The use of logic is something correct, but we refuse the
excessive use of it.
2. Unity
3. Authenticity of Sources
4. Simplicity and Clarity
5. Consistency and Tranquility
6. Practicality

Chapter 3 Al -Sahabah

1 | Defi ni ng Al -Sahabah

Linguistic Definition:
It comes from the root word sahiba, which means to accompany.

Technical Definition:
Whoever met the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) while believing in him and died as a
Muslim.

For a long time, they used the definition: whoever saw the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
Imam Al Bukhari and Al-Nawawi and Ibn Salah (the founder of the sciences of hadeeth) used this
definition. Ibn Hajr said that this word is commonly used by everyone before him, but he
disagreed with the definition because it would exclude any blind companion. He said the
definition should be changed to whoever met the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Explanation:
Whoever met the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
- Includes any companionship, regardless of duration.
Some scholars in the past said that it had to be a long duration (i.e. one year / two years /
participated in a battle with the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) / undertook a journey
with the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)).

- Includes blind people
Ibn Taymiyyah wrote a lengthy discussion on this and said: First, let us agree on
something. The word companion cannot be looked at as one thing. The companions
themselves are of levels, so we cannot say the person who saw the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) at Hajj and never saw him again is the same as Abu Bakr or Anas or the
Muhajireen or ansar. Companionship in itself is of levels, but the virtues (fadl) of it will be
given to those who met the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) even for a single time for a
few minutes.
Fai th I V
35

The proof is the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam): A group of people will
go on a journey or into a war, and when they go to the city they want to conquer, it will be
said, Are there among you any companions of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)? [In
another narration: have any of you seen the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)?] Because
the companions interchanged the words and used the word saw, then they have the same
meaning. Seeing the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is equal to being a companion.
The hadeeth continues: They will say no. They will be asked if any of them had met or seen
any of the companions, and they will say no. This shows that seeing the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is the same as meeting him. Ibn Taymiyyah agreed that they are not
the same regarding virtues and knowledge.

- Includes children except infants
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr is not a companion because he was an infant during the time of
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The scholars said that it is not by age, but it is if the
child remembers an incident. Almost all of the scholars agree that Mahmoud ibn Abi Rabi
(a narrator in Sahih Bukhari) is a companion because he said that he met the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) when he was five years old and watched him making wudu, and all of
a sudden while he was watching, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) surprised him and
sprayed water on his face.
Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr is not considered a companion because he never mentioned
anything about meeting the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
Some scholars said that the child must have reached the age of puberty to be a companion,
but this is not acceptable because Al Husayn is a companion and was six years old when the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) died. Abdullah Ibn Abbas was nine years old when the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) died, and he is considered a companion.

- Excludes creation of the unseen world
Excludes the jinn. Some scholars when they wrote the names of the companions included
the names of jinn, but this is not common, and the ulema say that they are not considered
companions because meeting means a physical meeting.

- Excludes mukhadramun (witnessed jahiliyyah and Islam without physically meeting the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam))
Uwais Al-Qarni was a believer, but he never traveled from Yemen to meet the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) because his mother was sick, and he was taking care of her.

while believing in him.
- Meeting the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) before his prophethood
Ulema consider Ibrahim, the son of Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) a sahabah, but Al
Qasim not a sahabah because Al Qasim, the son of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam),
died before the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) became a prophet.

- Excludes any kafir who met him and then accepted Islam afterwards and did not see him
again.
Fai th I V
36

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) received the messenger of Heracles, and this person
later became Muslim, but he is not considered a companion because he never met the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) again.

and died as a Muslim.
- Even if there was a period of riddah (apostasy) in between
If a person was alive during the lifetime of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and then
he left Islam and became Muslim again after the death of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam), he is considered a companion because he met the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) while he was a Muslim. Al Ashath ibn Qays is an example of this.

- Excludes the murtaddin
Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh went to Abyssinia and left Islam and died as a Christian. He is not
considered a sahabah.

2 | The Level s of the Sahabah

! There is consensus among the early Muslim generations that the best person after the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is Abu Bakr (radhi Allahu anhu) then Umar (radhi Allahu
anhu).
Imam Maalik said that their status while they are alive is like their status after their deaths.
The Abbasid khalifah once asked Imam Maalik about the status of Abu Bakr and Umar while
they were alive, and he replied that it is the same as what we see now. They are buried
next to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). When they were alive, they were the
closest to him (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and when they died, they are the closest to him
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Abu Bakr is buried with his head near the shoulder of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and Umar is buried with his head near the shoulder of
Abu Bakr.
Ibn Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) said, In the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam),
all of us agreed that Abu Bakr then Umar then Uthman are the best men in Islam. The vast
majority of ahl al-sunnah later on added Ali (radhi Allahu anhu) to make a point.

! The majority of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah considers Uthman to be the 3
rd
best and Ali to be
the 4
th
best. As AbdurRahman ibn Awf said, I have consulted the people in Madinah and I
could not find anyone that favors Ali over Uthman. [Al Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari]
If someone says that Ali is better than Uthman, we do not consider him an innovator. This
is an opinion that existed amongst ahl al-sunnah, but it was not the strongest or most
common opinion. This difference of opinion is acceptable. What is not acceptable is to say
that Ali deserved the khilafah more than Uthman, and this is an innovation. No one from
ahl al-sunnah said this.
Abu Bakr then Umar
Uthman then Ali
The early Muslims amongst the sahabah
Al Muhajirun over the Ansar
Fai th I V
37

! Ayyub As-Sukhtiyani said, Whoever favors Ali over Uthman has not given the opinions of
the Muhajireen and the ansar their due respect. [Ibn Kathir, Al Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah]

After them, we do not mention names. Some mention the ten guaranteed Jannah.
There is a weird opinion by Ibn Hazm: The best companions are not Abu Bakr and Umar but
the wives of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). After them, then Abu Bakr and Umar are
the best. Why did he have this opinion? He said that they said that they will be with the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) at the same level in Jannah, so they are higher than anyone
else. Also, he said that when the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was asked who he loved
the most, he (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said Aisha. Refutation: Saying that he (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) loved Aisha the most does not make her better than any of the other companions.
Ibn Hazm was saying that all of the wives were better, so the hadeeth he uses cannot be used.
These women reach that level in Jannah not because of their deeds but because the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) intercedes for them to reach that level.

3 | Our Posi ti on Towards the Sahabah

! The methodology of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah with regards to the sahabah:
1. Loving them is a sign of iman

2. Asking Allah to forgive them and to be pleased with them, praising them, and mentioning
their merits
Allah (subhanahu wataala) said, Those who come after the companions say, Oh Allah
forgive us and those who came before us and became Muslim before us. [Surah Al-Hashr:
10] Allah (subhanahu wataala) orders us to ask forgiveness for them.

3. They are the best of all people after the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the best generation was his generation.
This means that they are the best collectively but not individually, which means that there
may be individuals after the time of the sahabah who are higher in the ilm that are higher
than some of the companions. For example, Al Hasan Al Basri and Saeed ibn Jubayr had
more knowledge than Khalid ibn Waleed. Shubah and Al Amash and Asim and Qaloon had
more knowledge about the Quran than some of the companions. Some later individuals
may be more righteous than some of the companions. Collectively, the amount of
knowledge amongst the companions is higher than any other generation, and the amount
of righteousness and taqwa that existed during their time is higher than any other time.

4. Studying their lives, narrating their biographies, and following their way
Ibn Saad said that the sahabah used to teach their children the love of Abu Bakr and Umar
the same way they taught them the love of the Quran. They did this by teaching them
about the lives of Abu Bakr and Umar. Spreading this knowledge is needed. This is how the
sahabah taught the second generation. They would name their children after the
companions.

5. They are all trustworthy (udul)

6. They are not infallible
They are not infallible and may make a mistake, but inshaAllah Allah will forgive them.
Fai th I V
38

! The position of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah regarding the fitnah and the fighting that occurred
between them
1. To refrain from mentioning what occurred between them in a negative way
Ask: how can we learn from it? Do not mention what happened in a negative way, and do
not put down the people. Al Hasan Al Basri said, Allah saved our hand from this fitnah, so
we should save our tongue from it as well.

2. All narrations reported regarding these events fall into one of the following categories
- Fabricated narrations that have no basis
Lut ibn Makhlaf fabricated many narrations about the companions, and these
narrations are common in books of history.

- Narrations based on true events but which contain much exaggeration and false details
Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) was in the Battle of the Camel, but there is much exaggeration
and many details that are not true such as that she went to support them against Ali or
to participate in the war. She went because she thought that everyone would calm
down if she went since she is one of the mothers of the believers.
The army of the Umayyads entered Madinah, but there was an exaggeration that 5,000
women of ahl al-bayt were raped by the army of the Umayyads and all of them became
pregnant.
Some people said that all of the companions were against Ali, but Saeed ibn Musayyib
said that when the war took place, only 200 took part out of 10,000 companions that
were alive, and the rest avoided the fitnah.

- Authentic narrations
It is proven that they engaged in a war and fought against one another.
Our position towards these authentic narrations:
a. With regards to the actions themselves
We judge the action regardless who did it. Rebelling against the leader was
wrong regardless of who did it. Similarly, when Ibn Masood made ruku, he
would put his palms together and place his hands between his thighs, which
was an incorrect action, and we do not agree with the action. The action must
be judged by itself regardless of who did it because the action is judged by the
Quran and Sunnah.

b. With regards to those who performed the actions
We should not rush to judge a person.
1) They may be correct in their action and will earn two rewards, or they may
be mistaken in their judgment and will earn one reward, and Allah will
forgive their mistake.
Amr ibn Al As narrated that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, If
the mujtahid gave an answer and it was wrong, then Allah will give him one
reward for trying, and if he was correct, then he will receive two rewards.
2) They would admit that they were mistaken and would repent from it. No
one should be criticized for a sin he repented from.
Adam (alayhi salam) said to Musa (alayhi salam): You cannot criticize me
for a sin I repented from
Fai th I V
39

Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) regretted her participation in the battle. She
would cry when she read the Quran and wished that she had followed the
advice of her Lord.
3) Although they may have done what we know was a mistake, they have so
many good deeds which will erase these sins or will be forgiven through
any other way by which sins are forgiven.
The amount of good deeds that these companions did is more than a
mistake they may have done.
4) We cannot compare between the amount of good they have done for Islam
and the few mistakes that they made.

! The ruling against sabb as-sahabah
Sabb as-sahabah means using inappropriate language regarding them, insulting them, cursing
them, or saying anything which disrespects them or casts doubt upon their trustworthiness.
The word sabb is general in the Arabic language.

A scholar may be asked, what is the ruling in sabb as-sahabah? Imam Ahmad said, Whoever
curses Abu Bakr, Umar, Aisha is not a Muslim. Imam Ahmad said about those who curse the
sahabah: I think that they are not following Islamic etiquettes, and they should be punished by
a beating or locked up. Ash-Shafii said, Whoever cursed Abu Bakr or Umar or Ali and
Uthman are kufar. Another time, Ash-Shafii was asked and said, They are Muslim, but they
are sinful. Imam Maalik said, It is not good manners, and someone should teach him a good
lesson. Another time, he said, Whoever curses the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) should
be executed and whoever curses the companions should receive a penalty. In another
narration, he said, He is not Muslim. Is this confusing? Why? There are different answers.
These scholars are not contradicting themselves, but their answer depended on what question
was asked because sabb as-sahabah has different meanings. Therefore, we must differentiate
between the different types of sabb as-sahabah.

Khalid Ibn Waleed cursed AbdurRahman ibn Awf. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
Do not curse my companions. Do not curse my companions. I swear by the One in Whose
Hand is my soul, if any one of you were to spend in charity an amount of gold equivalent to the
Mountain of Uhud, it would not be equal ot a handful, or even a half, given as charity by one of
them. [Agreed upon. Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim]

1. If one believes it is lawful (halal) to curse them, this is kufr.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever curses my companions, then the
curse of Allah, His angels, and the believers will be upon him. [At Tabarani, Al Mujim]
2. If one curses the sahabah in general or the majority of them or claims that they are
misguided or kufar, this is kufr.
If the curse raises doubt about their trustworthiness, then this is kufr.
3. If one curses a well-known sahabi, such as one of the four khulafa or ahl al-bayt, or claims
that he/she is misguided or a kafir, then this is kufr.
4. If one accuses one of the Prophets (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) wives of adultery, indecency,
or kufr, this is kufr.
5. If one insults one of the sahabah or says bad words about him/her without saying
something to cast doubt upon their Islam or righteousness, he has not committed kufr but
has committed a sin and should be chastised.

Fai th I V
40

Chapter 4 Hol di ng Onto the J ama ah

1 | Defi ni ng Al -Jama ah

It comes from the root word jamaa, meaning to bring things or parts together.
- Refers to a physical, tangible unity, as well as an abstract, intangible unity
- Opposes tangible and intangible dispute, disunity, division, separation, and scattering

Jam (gathering) may be hissi (tangible) or manawi (intangible).

so put together your plan and [call upon] your associates. Then let not your plan be obscure
to you. Then carry it out upon me and do not give me respite. [Yunus: 71]
This verse shows both types of jamaah: the plan is intangible, and the associates are tangible.

The word jamaah is not mentioned in the Quran but is mentioned in hadeeth. The verb jam is in
the Quran.

1. As-sahabah
Mentioned by Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, At-Tabari

2. As-sawad al-atham (the majority of people)
Mentioned by At-Tabari and Ash-Shatibi

3. The scholars of Islam
Opinion of Abdullah ibn Al Mubarak, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, Al Bukhari, Ash-Shafii, At-
Tirmidhi, and many others.
Abu Hamzah As-Sukhari was called al-jamaah because he was the only one in his city.

4. Matters agreed upon by all Muslims, which differ from non-Muslim practices
Mentioned by Ash-Shatibi

5. Everything that has been sanctioned by the Shariah and to those practicing it
Opinion of Ibn Masood, Nuaim ibn Hammad, Abu Shamah (a scholar from Andalus)
Ibn Masood said, Al-jamaah is according to what is the truth even if you are the only one
practicing it. If everyone practices wrong and only one person practices the right thing,
then this one person is the jamaah. (It does not have to do with the numbers).

6. The leaders of a country (princes, governors, scholars, military leaders, judges, etc.)
Opinion of Ibn Battal

7. The people who have the power and control in a country
Opinion of As-Sarakhsi (a Hanafi scholar)

8. When Muslims gather upon an imam
Opinion of At-Tabari

9. When Muslims gather upon a righteous / Sunni imam
Fai th I V
41

Mentioned by Ash-Shatibi

10. Any kind of gathering; any group of Muslims that gather upon anything are called a
jamaah.

When we say holding onto the jamaah and sticking to the jamaah, it excludes #10 (any kind of
gathering), which is a linguistic usage. Look at #1-5: they are all similar. #5 includes all of the
four points before it because the sahabah and scholars were upon the truth. #8 includes #6 and
#7. #9 includes #7 and #5. Therefore, we can come to the following conclusion: tangible (#8)
and intangible (#5).

Conclusion:
All of these varying opinions come down to two basic usages:
1. Intangible jamaah (ilmiyyah)
2. Tangible jamaah (amaliyyah)

! Al Jamaah Al Ilmiyyah (Intangible Jamaah)

- It is the safe and victorious sect that will remain until the Day of Judgment
- It is obligatory upon every Muslim to be part of this jamaah, in any place and time
- This jamaah is not defined by quantity
- One who leaves this jamaah is either an innovator or apostate (murtad)
- One who leaves this jamaah will take the rulings of the innovators or apostates

Evidences pertaining to holding onto the intangible jamaah:
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And
remember the favor of Allah upon you when you were enemies and He brought your
hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit
of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you
may be guided. [Al-Imran: 103]

Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu anhu) said to Simak Al-Hanafi, Oh Hanafi, al-jamaah, al-jamaah.
Surely the previous nations were destroyed for no other reason but their disputes and
divisions (among themselves). And then he recited the above verse. [Al Qurtubi, Al-Jami]

Ibn Masood (radhi Allahu anhu) narrates that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
The blood of a Muslim is not permissible (i.e. he may not be killed) except for one of three
reasons: killing an innocent person, the adulterer, and the one who leaves the religion and
leaves the jamaah. [At Tirmidhi, Sunan At Tirmidhi]
Jamaah in this hadeeth means the intangible. Why? Jamaah here is equal to the religion
because the hadeeth says that there are three reasons, and if jamaah is taken to be
something different, then it would be a fourth reason.

! Al Jamaah Al Amaliyyah (Tangible / Practical Jamaah)
- It may not exist at some times and in some places
- Joining this jamaah is only obligatory upon Muslims that live where it is established
- This jamaah is dependant on quantity since it is a result of power, control and strength
- One who leaves this jamaah is called baghi (transgressor) or muharib (rebel)
- One who leaves this jamaah will take the rulings of transgressors and rebels
Fai th I V
42

Evidences pertaining to holding onto the tangible jamaah:
Narrated Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu anhu) that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
Whoever notices something which he dislikes done by his ruler, then he should be patient,
for whoever becomes separate from the jamaah of the Muslims even for a span and then
dies, he will die as those who died in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (as rebellious
sinners). [Sahih Al Bukhari]

Arfajah narrates that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever comes after
you have already chosen the khalifah to break you away from him or to break your jamaah,
he should be killed. [Sahih Muslim]

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever claims to be khalifah without the bayah
of the Muslim community should be abandoned. The society should choose him.

Test: Determine if the following are tangible or intangible.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Allah will never gather this ummah upon
misguidance. Allahs Hand will be with those who are in the jamaah.
Answer: Intangible. It is referring to agreeing upon something, which is an ideology.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Hold onto Allahs Rope all of you (jamiah).
Answer: Intangible.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever leaves the jamaah and betrays the
leader has left the proper etiquettes of Islam.
Answer: Tangible.

2 | Mi sconcepti ons Regardi ng the Concept of the Jama ah

! Jamaah refers to the Islamic jamaat (groups)
The groups are part of the Muslim ummah, but they cannot be the Muslim ummah.
! Jamaah is defined by quantity.
! Both types of jamaah can be absent
! Tangible and intangible jamaah are one and the same
! Tangible jamaah must always exist
In the Muslim ummah, the divisions may be greater than the divisions within the Christians
and the Jews. It is easy to recognize the truth, and it will never vanish because the tools to
recognize the truth are the Quran and Sunnah.
! Intangible jamaah necessitates the absence of ikhtilaf (difference of opinion)
Many people think that unity and being in jamaah means that we are carbon copies of each
other and that there is no variety and no difference of opinion. However, there are
differences of opinion. The sahabah themselves had differences of opinion, but they were
jamaah. The difference of opinions is one reason for the strength of society.

3 | The Authori ty of Imamah

! A Manifestation of Holding onto the Tangible Jamaah is Imamah
During the days of ignorance, they had tribes and only listened to the elders in the tribe. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) came to a society like this and told them the importance of
Fai th I V
43

being united under one leader. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said listening to the
leader is not humiliation and not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, which went against
the Arab heritage that had existed for centuries.

- There is a consensus regarding the obligation of having an imam

- Al-imamah is part of Islamic creed. Some of its branches fall under fiqh.
All books of creed discuss the issue of imamah. They discuss the imamah of Abu Bakr and
Umar and how they became khulafah, which differentiates us from the Shia. It is a belief
issue and not just a political issue. The process of choosing a leader is an issue of aqeedah.
The Shia believe that the imam is not chosen by people but by Allah. Also, the issue of
when the leader loses his leadership is an aqeedah issue. The issue of imamah is not in the
books of creed of those influenced by philosophy. For example, Al Ghazali wrote in a book
that the issue of imamah is not one of the principles and is not an issue of aqeedah because
there is no logical debate about it; therefore, it is a fiqh issue.
The issue of rebelling against the ruler is an issue of aqeedah.
The Shia hold the belief in the imam as the most important part of the religion. (Ask: how
many verses in the Quran talk about the concept of the imam? One? Two?) In contrast,
Sunnis hold the concept of tawheed as the most important, and there are many verses in the
Quran. The approaches are different. We believe it is important because it is a means but
not the goal.

- Many of those who write on this subject in modern times are not specialists in Islamic
sciences. Other contemporary authors wrote about imamah theoretically and many times
their views were impractical.

- Al-imamah is a means and not the goal.
It establishes security.

- The absence of khilafah is not the reason for the weakness of the Muslim ummah.
There was a time when there was a khalifah, and that time was worse than today.

- It is important in these modern days to provide humanity with the Islamic concept of
politics and ruling.

! Defining imamah
It comes from the root word amma, meaning to lead and to be followed.

The leader of the salah is called the imam, and the leader of the ummah is also called the imam.

When the leaders of the community (ahl al-hall wal-aqd) accept a Muslim man to lead them
whether by their choice or by force originally.

Explanation:
When the leaders of the community (ahl al-hall wal-aqd)
Fai th I V
44

Excludes the general populace. This was never defined in the Quran and Sunnah. It could be
what we know today as the Parliament, Senate or the House of Lords. From the past it could be
the leader of the army or the head of the tribes. The public role comes after someone is chosen
/ elected. Some said the public role comes in choosing the people who will decide the leader.

accept a Muslim man to lead them
Excludes non-Muslims and includes a fasiq. Excludes females and male minors.

whether by their choice or by force originally.
Shows the ways imams may take over the leadership of the community. Sometimes the leader
will come by force like the Abbasids. Ash-Shafii said that there is consensus amongst the
Muslim scholars that if someone forces himself upon the people and they end up accepting
him, then he becomes the leader.

! Categories of imamah
1. With regards to how it affects the general Muslim public, it can be divided into two
categories:

A. General Imamah (Khilafah)
When the leaders of the Muslim world (ahl al-hall wal-aqd) accept a Muslim man to lead
them whether it was by their choice or by force.

During the four khulafah and the Umayyads and the Abbasids, there was the general
imamah. At the end of the Abbasids, the partial imamah appeared. The Umayyads
formed leadership in Spain, and when the Abbasids were in power, they could not
control them.

B. Partial Imamah
When the leaders of one country (ahl al-hall wal-aqd) accept a Muslim man to lead them
whether it was by their choice or by force.

The Muslim ummah started to develop their own states, and each area had its own
imam. No one from ahl al-sunnah said that this was an invalid imam. The partial
imamah has existed throughout the history of Islam. If there cannot be someone to rule
the entire world, then it is preferable to have multiple leaders rather than having
nothing. If Allah (subhanahu wataala) and His Messenger commanded us to do
something, then we should fulfill it to the best of our ability.

Evidences supporting the legitimacy of partial imamah:
1) The absence of any evidence from Quran and Sunnah prohibiting this kind of
imamah.
2) Establishing partial imamah falls under the general command of Allah in the
following verse:
So fear Allah as much as you are able and listen and obey and spend (in the way of
Allah); it is better for yourselves. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of
his soul it is those who will be the successful. [Al-Taghabun: 16]
3) It also falls under the Prophets (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) command: If I
command you to do something, then fulfill it to the best of your ability.
(Remember: Partial imamah may only occur in the absence of general imamah.)
Fai th I V
45

There is no proof from the Quran and Sunnah to prevent this from happening.
What is prohibited is for two people to claim leadership over one society.
4) All advantages that will be established through general imamah may also occur
through the partial imamah.
5) All logical evidences and the general rules of Shariah which apply to the legitimacy
of general imamah also apply to the partial imamah.

2. With regards to the imam, imamah can be divided into two categories:

A. The general representative for the imam
Represents the imam in all matters (princes or governors of the regions or provinces,
etc.)

B. A restricted representative for the imam
Represents the imam in specific matters (judges, ministries, ambassadors, military
generals, law enforcers, etc.)

The judge is an imam, but his leadership is only in the court. The governor of a region
is only the governor of the particular place.

! Ways of establishing the imamah
There are three valid ways to establish the imamah amongst ahl al-sunnah.
1. Ahl al-hall wal-aqd nominate certain individuals.
If the agreed upon accepts the offer, they give him bayah and the public follows. This is
the best way to establish imamah.
Example: Abu Bakr

2. The imam appoints someone to take over the imamah after him (Appointment and
monarchy)
Ahl al-hall wal-aqd must give bayah in order for him to become imam. This is the
second best way of establishing imamah.
Example: When Abu Bakr died, he appointed Umar. The Umayyads were a monarchy.

3. A leader who attains his position by force and is able to establish a state given bayah by
ahl al-hall wal-aqd.
Examples are many of the Umayyad, Abbasid and Ottoman caliphs. The scholars have
said that this means is forbidden, but should it occur, the imamah is valid.
This is a haram way to become the imam. We ask the person to peacefully step down.
The benefit of protecting the blood of the Muslim and not engaging in civil war is much
higher than the sin of the person who became the leader by force. There is an entire
topic in fiqh on dealing with leaders who transgress.

The Shia believe the imam is chosen by Allah, not the people.

! The Rulings Regarding Establishing an Imamah
1. There is a consensus regarding the obligation to have a leader for the Muslims. (Ibn
Hazm, Al-Qurtubi, An-Nawawi, Abu Yala)
2. This obligation applies only to those that have the power to elect the imam (ahl al-hall
wal-aqd)
Fai th I V
46

! The Ultimate Goals of Imamah
Ulema said to choose the non-religious leader over the religious one if he can establish security
and provide economic stability. Ibn Hazm said that Allah will support the secular government
which is just and fair over a religious government which is not just and fair. Ibn Taymiyyah
praised this statement.

- Religious Goals
[And they are] those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give
zakah and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to Allah belongs the outcome of
[all] matters. [Al Hajj: 41]
1) Establishing the religion, either completely or the minimum basics of tawheed and
prohibiting shirk
2) Protecting the religion from innovation and heresy
3) Providing religious freedom and facilitating righteousness for the public
4) Establishing a moral society

- Worldly Goals
1) Security (protecting lives, wealth/property, etc.)
2) Economy
3) Justice
4) Placing legal structure
Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) said, There is no Islam without jamaah, and there is no
jamaah without an imam, and there is no imam without obedience.

! Conditions that Must Exist in an Imam
Condition has two meanings: things that will not be valid without it and things that are not
perfect without it. One of the conditions of salah is to have wudu. You can pray without wudu,
but it will not be valid.

Conditions of Validity
1. Muslim
This is by the consensus of the scholars. The leader leads the prayer and Hajj.
O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
and those in authority among you. [Al-Nisa: 59]
In Al-Nisa verse 141: Allah will not let the kufar be in charge of you.
2. Male
The husband is the head of the household.
Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other [Al-
Nisa: 34]
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, No people shall attain success if they give
their leadership to a woman. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
Ibn Hazm mentioned that there is consensus amongst the Muslim scholars regarding this
issue.
Does this mean a woman cannot act as a restricted representative? It is possible for her to
be a restricted representative (i.e. the head of an education department).
3. Adult
4. Sane
5. Free
Fai th I V
47

Conditions of the Ideal Imamah
1. Righteous and just
If there is a fasiq ruler, does it invalidate him from being an imam? No, but we should look
for the righteous and just person. Some of the books of tafseer mention that if the leader is
not righteous and just then he is not the imam, but this means that he is not the ideal
imam. It is the opinion of the Khawarij and Mutazilah that he is not the imam at all.
2. From Quraysh
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that imams should be from the Quraysh. There
are many evidences from the sunnah. Al Nawawi said that there is consensus amongst the
Muslim scholars about this.
3. Knowledgeable in Shariah and politics
This refers to the general imamah and not the partial imamah.
4. Experienced in leadership
5. Wise
6. Brave
7. Middle-aged
8. Maintains a good appearance
9. Not physically disabled

! The Non-Muslim Ruler in a Muslim Community
- If the Muslim ruler becomes a kafir, he loses his authority. He must be impeached. If
Muslims can remove him from his position without causing harm to the community, it
will be obligatory upon them to do so.
- The kufr that would allow the Muslims to impeach the leader has been defined by the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) as he mentioned in hadeeth Ubadah: A clear and
open kufr for which you have clear proof, that is kufr.
Open kufr is not something debated about but is agreed upon by the scholars. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that you cannot rebel against the leader as long
as they establish the salah and do not prohibit it.

! The Muslim in a Non-Muslim Country
- Living in a non-Muslim country (hijrah)
You are allowed to live in any place where you can practice your religion freely. If you
can practice your religion but there are many trials and fitnah that may cause you to
lose your faith, then you cannot live there even if it is a Muslim country.
No one can claim today that they accept the hijrah. There is no such land open for
Muslims to migrate to. Also, how many Muslims would have to make hijrah? Over 500
million Muslims live as minorities. The world today is not like the world of the past,
and today we have citizenship.
What does practicing the religion freely mean? Ulema said that it means he can say he
is following Islam. Others say that he is allowed to pray.

- Naturalization and adopting citizenship of a non-Muslim country
Scholars debated about this issue as well. Today, becoming a citizen does not mean
that you accept everything. It identifies which country you reside in. For example, a
Christian can carry the citizenship of a Muslim country, but it does not make him a
Muslim.

Fai th I V
48

- Participating in the political and electoral system
Every major council of Muslim jurists said that Muslims should be encouraged to
participate in voting because it is a way to protect rights. There are guidelines: the
Muslim community should develop amongst themselves a specialist in this area to
determine which votes will be effective.

- Turning to its judiciary system
In issues that do not deal with the Shariah, you can go to the courts. For example:
traffic violations. What if the issue goes against the Shariah? For example: divorce.
The law allows you to arbitrate, and you should follow the religion in arbitration. It is
mandatory to take this option of arbitration. If one of the parties refuses to give the
Islamic rights, then some ulema say that it is allowed to take the rights from him by
force, but whatever extra is given to you is not allowed for you to keep and must either
be given back to him or to charity.

Can a person be a judge in America? AMJA was asked this question. Ibn Taymiyyah was
asked if someone could be a judge for the Tatars and said that if he can through his
work can reduce the amount of injustice and promote justice, then he should take it.
What is kufr is legislating, and the judges do not legislate but follow the system that
they have. Also, there are many areas and not all of them contradict the Shariah. Also,
a judge can always transfer a case and say that he does not feel comfortable in a
particular case.

- Obeying the laws of the country
You obey the laws of the country because you choose to be here. What if the laws go
against something that you believe in? You should follow the laws and not oppose
them because you may be fined or go to jail, which harms yourself.

- Participating in law enforcement and joining the military
There is a difference of opinion among Muslim scholars regarding participating in any
military or political position, but all agree that it is not permissible to take any position
related to participating in fighting or killing innocent people
As long as you are able to establish justice and not harm anyone, it is permissible.
Always judge positions and jobs by the vast majority of the work. If the majority of
your work is fair and just, then the ruling goes by this.

A manifestation of holding onto the tangible jamaah is to stay united.

! Fiqh of Unity & Disagreement

Unity is one of the ultimate goals of Islam. When Musa (alayhi salam) asked Harun (alayhi salam)
how he could let them worship the cow, Harun replied: I was afraid you would tell me that I
divided Bani Israil. Keeping the community united is a very important goal, and it can not be
sacrificed unless there is something at the same level or higher.

The concept of unity:
Fai th I V
49

- Unity does not necessitate absence of differences in opinion
Unity does not mean that everyone in Houston has to be part of one organization or that
we all have to have one madhab or one shaykh. Have cooperation and understanding
between multiple organizations. They should not destroy one another but should aid and
complete one another.

- Diversity is a natural phenomenon
Allah (subhanahu wataala) created us different. We need to learn how to live with our
differences.

- Causes and effects: the true measures for acceptable and unacceptable differences
Look at what caused the differences of opinion to exist. Nationalism, racism, following
desires, ignorance? If so, then this difference of opinion is a curse and not a mercy. If any
disagreement is based on the wrong cause, then it is a curse. Look at the results of the
disagreement also. If the result will lead to fighting or weakening the community or cause
the community to collapse or divide, then it is unacceptable.
For example: If it is raining, the Hanabilah do not combine dhuhr and asr (they only
combine maghrib and isha), and the Hanafis do not combine the salawat except at Hajj.
However, if the imam of the masjid is going to combine dhuhr and asr because of rain, the
Hanbali and Hanafi scholars say that you should not leave the masjid but should pray
behind the imam with the intention of a nafl prayer so that there is unity.

- Unity does not contradict advising one another

Ways of Establishing Solid Unity
- Unity is based on tawheed
- Role of leaders and scholars in establishing unity
- Unity must be based on the principles, not secondary issues or invented matters
If we unite people on small things first, then no unity will be established. If we establish
the unity based on fundamental issues and the principles of sunnah, then the result will be
excellent.
- Reviving the concept of true brotherhood / sisterhood
Love one another for the sake of Allah. Make this a topic of discussion so that we have
mercy towards each other.
- Setting aside the causes of dissention such as racism and nationalism

Unity is a result and not a means. When the attitude of people changes and when principles
change, then we will see unity.

! Methodology of Ahl Al-Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Regarding the Absence of Tangible Jamaah
(Khilafah)
There are two possible categories that fall under this:
1. The residency of a Muslim in a non-Muslim country
2. The absence of Islamic legal system in a Muslim country

The two above mentioned categories fulfill many of the worldly goals and may even help fulfill
some of the religious goals.
Fai th I V
50

For this reason, a Muslim must recognize the following:
- Obedience and cooperation in that which provides benefit to the society
Examples: animal rights, being green
- Cooperating with them and helping them in all that which is good and advising them
regarding any evil
Preventing extremism and preventing a terrorist attack. Stopping someone from
spreading drugs.
- Calling to Allah and openly practicing His religion
- Gathering upon the trustworthy scholars and supporting them
- Muslims should hold tight onto the intangible jamaah in the absence of the tangible
jamaah
- Advice and cooperation in what is good and what is beneficial to society
- In non-Muslim countries where Muslims are a minority, they must gather in their
community, show unity, and choose a wise, religious representative (person or
institute) to follow
- If they are in a Muslim country (with an Islamic legal system), then they must follow
their country in public affairs such as the beginning of Ramadan, Eid, etc.

! A manifestation of holding onto the intangible jamaah is following the scholars
- Who is the scholar? Someone who has knowledge of Quran and Sunnah. Scholars are of
levels and specialties.

- What is a madhab (school of thought in fiqh)? The most famous madhahib are: Malikis,
Hanbalis, Shafiis, Hanafis. They are the collective works of a large number of scholars
who are either students of the imam or students of his students. Over centuries, their
work developed and was documented to form a madhab. Within the madhab, there are
many different opinions. The madhab is not the opinion of one person. There are more
than four madhahib. Why are there only four today? There are only four today because
of political reasons they were adopted and supported by governments. Allah
(subhanahu wataala) accepted from them, and there was barakah in their work.

- Do we need to adopt a madhab? A layperson does not have to adopt a madhab. Allah
(subhanahu wataala) did not command us to adopt a madhab. Not everyone amongst the
tabieen was a scholar. If you are a student of knowledge and want to learn fiqh, then
you cannot learn fiqh without learning a madhab. If you are a Muslim who is not a
specialist and wants to educate yourself in fiqh and want to study a madhab, then it is up
to you, but you are not sinful if you do not. Allah (subhanahu wataala) said that if you
do not know, then ask someone of knowledge. Ask a shaykh if you have a question.

- The importance of seeking knowledge and learning from scholars

! Our Position Towards the Scholars Difference of Opinion
- Why do the scholars have differences of opinions?
They may disagree on the authenticity of hadeeth. They may say a verse is abrogated.
They may interpret a word in a different way. Some may have knowledge of hadeeth
more than others.
Fai th I V
51

- Is every scholars opinion correct? If the opinions are contradicting each other, then it
is impossible for both to be correct. Allah will forgive the one who is incorrect
inshaAllah.
- Which scholars opinion should I follow?
Look at the issue itself: if it is an issue related to fiqh, then talk to someone who
specializes in fiqh. For a contemporary issue, go to a group of scholars (i.e. AMJA) or
senior scholars.
Knowing the scholars specialty and position: this will help you.
Choose the one whose taqwa and knowledge you trust. Taqwa was mentioned before
knowledge. [Regarding giving a fatwa: Ulema said that if you ever give an answer to
someone, make sure that the main concern is not to save the person but to save
yourself.]

Fatwa shopping - Following the easiest. This is haram and means that you are looking for your
desires.

The dangers of disrespecting the scholars: Allah (subhanahu wataala) said that part of
respecting Allah is to respect those who memorize the Quran and understand and practice it.

Chapter 5 Al Bi d ah (Innovati on) and Its Rul i ngs i n Isl am

1 | The Concept of Bi d ah (Innovati on) Accordi ng to Ahl Al -Sunnah wal -
Jama ah

Allah (subhanahu wataala) repeated the story of Adam (alayhi salam) several times in the Quran.
The Shaytan came to Adam and said, I swear by Allah, I am giving you an advice. Allah did not
forbid you from eating from this tree except that if you eat from it, then you will be like the
angels. Question: What is the logic behind Iblees justifying to Adam to eat from the tree? You
always try to tempt people with something higher and not lower. From the tafseer of Ibn Al
Qayyim: What Iblees offered Adam was something that he did not have. Adam found himself
like a human not always worshipping Allah, and sometimes he would make dhikr and tasbeeh
and sometimes he would forget. He was not constantly making ibaadah to Allah. Iblees was
telling Adam to eat from the tree if he wanted to be like the angels and constantly in a state of
ibaadah and closer to Allah and more righteous. Adam realized that innovation in religion was
the best trick to deceive human beings.

Al-Awzai said that the Shaytan gathered his lieutenants and followers and said to spread
amongst humans something that they will never be forgiven for because they will not think to
repent from it: innovations and bidah in religion.

The Five Principles of Bidah
Innovation from a theological point of view can be determined by:
1. An innovation is in acts that are intended to be acts of worship and ways of seeking
nearness to Allah and performed ritually.

Example: someone puts on a shirt made of thick wool and thinks that he will receive more
reward from Allah, someone who thinks that if he prays with a green tie on that he will receive
more reward.

Fai th I V
52

Anything you invent that you seek nearness to Allah by it and treat it as an act of worship is a
bidah.

Abu Shamah said: Innovation is what people perceive as a way to seek nearness to Allah.
[Abu Shamah, Al-Baith ala Inkar Al-Bida wal-Hawadith]

2. An innovation can be in matters that have no basis in the religion

Examples: Someone who worships Allah by dancing. Some people worship Allah by inventing
that the Quran has a hidden and apparent meaning. Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The invention of building tombs on the graves and making tawaaf
around them.

Ibn Rajab said, And what is meant by al-bidah (innovation) is what was invented in the religion
of which there is no basis from the Shariah to support it. [Ibn Rajab, Jami Al-Uloom wal-Hikam]

3. Innovation can be in matters whose description has no origin in the deen (religion)

This can be done by specifying a certain time, number, location, or form for an act of worship.

4. Innovation can be both in doing an act or leaving one.

Example: Someone says that he will abstain from eating any meat for religious reasons.

5. Innovation is in those matters that were invented after the era of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) but their justification existed during the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) while no obstacle was there to prevent their establishment.

Examples: Adding to the adhan of dhuhr the statement salah is better than working. The
purpose of the adhan is to call people to salah, and in the fajr adhan, we say salah is better than
sleep. The purpose of calling people to the salah existed during the time of the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and he (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did not add anything and nothing
prevented him from adding it; therefore, making any addition is bidah.

Some Umayyad khulafah used to give the khutbah and in many areas, the people were not happy
with the leaders of the Umayyads, so after the khalifah led the Eid prayer he would stand up to
give the khutbah and many would leave except for his followers. Some of the rulers became
very angry, so they said they would give the khutbah before the salah. They justified it because
they said that peoples hearts had changed and after the Eid salah most of the people leave, and
khutbah Al-Eid is important. They said that because people were leaving early, they would
make the khutbah before the salah and force people to learn their deen and listen to the khutbah.
Lets ask: didnt this reasoning exist during the time of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wa-
sallam)? Yes. Did something prevent him from doing it? No.

A khateeb raised his hands during the khutbah of jumuah. One of the students of Abu Saeed Al
Kudri stood up and told him to put his hands down because it was innovation and the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) never raised his hands in the khutbah of jumuah; therefore, doing it
is not allowed.

Fai th I V
53

During the time of Umar, every day in Ramadan, the community in the masjid was united
behind one imam rather than under different people. He said, I started a good thing (bidah).
Question: Can we say that this is an innovation in religion? The reason behind uniting people
behind one imam in salah and encouraging people to pray taraweeh existed during the time of
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Was there anything that prevented the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) from doing this? Yes. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that
he was afraid of taraweeh becoming mandatory upon everyone. The taraweeh is not bidah. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) prayed several nights leading the Muslims in the masjid.
Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) revived it.

Uthman (radhi Allahu anhu) kept one text of the Quran. Is this considered bidah to collect the
mus-haf? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) indicated that we should have the mus-haf
because the Quran is called kitab. The purpose behind Uthman keeping one text was to make it
easy for the Muslims. Did anything prevent the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) from doing
what Abu Bakr and Uthman did? Yes. The wahy kept coming down and some verses were
abrogated.

2 | Bi d ah

It originates form the root word badaa and has two meanings:
1. To begin something in a form the like of which has never existed.
2. Seclusion and fatigue.

Al Imam Ash-Shatibi said: It is an invented way in the religion, which is meant to assimilate
with the Shariah (legitimate) way and intended to be followed to arrive at the objectives that
the legitimate way would achieve.

A way in the religion
What it includes: Acting on the deeds or quitting them. May be in beliefs, statements or
actions.
What it excludes: All worldly matters

invented
What it includes: Actions that have never been established by the legislator (Allah and His
Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
What it excludes: That which has been established

intended to reach the same objectives as the legitimate way.
What it includes: May include in it the mundane acts
What it excludes: That which does not carry the intention of worship

Based on the concept of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah about al-bidah, it can be said that:
It is any form of seeking nearness to Allah which He has not legislated originally or by
description of what would have been justified to do and no obstacle had prevented its
commission at the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), yet the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) did not practice.

Fai th I V
54

Seeking nearness to Allah
Comprises every act of the heart, the tongue (speech) or the limbs either in executing it or
leaving it.

which Allah has not legislated
This restriction excludes every practice that was implied form the texts of the Quran and the
Sunnah or the consensus or was known to be practiced by one of the companions where no
textual evidence or another companion was reported to have opposed him on it.

originally or by description
That includes all innovations that have no proof nor of the method of its practice.

of what would have been justified at the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)...
This restriction excludes the al-masalih al-mursalah: unrestricted public interests.

Categories of Occurrence
- Bidah may be divided into two categories based on its occurrence as an act of the heart or
an act of the tongue and/or limbs:
1 Bidah itiqadiyyah (innovation in beliefs)
2 Bidah amaliyyah (innovation in actions)

Categories of Ruling
- Bidah may be divided into two categories based on its ruling:
1 Bidah which constitutes kufr
2 Bidah which does not constitute kufr and is fisq

Categories of Shariah
- Bidah may be divided into two categories based on its relationship to the Shariah
1 Bidah haqiqiyyah (original)
Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam),
2 - Bidah idafiyyah (additional)
Salat al-nar (praying 40 rakah after jumuah)

Categories of Severity
- Bidah can be divided into two categories based on its level of severity:
1 Major bidah
2 Minor bidah

3 | The Rul i ng on Bi d ah

Bidah is forbidden in Islam.
Say, My Lord has only forbidden immoralities what is apparent of them and what is
concealed and sin, and oppression without right, and that you associate with Allah that for
which He has not sent down authority, and that you say about Allah that which you do not
know. [Al-Araf: 33]

Surah Nahl v. 116: Do not attribute lies to Allah

Fai th I V
55

Jabir (radhi Allahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) used
to say in his sermon: Every innovation is a misguidance and every misguidance is in the
Hellfire. [Sahih Muslim]
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would say this during most jumuah, every Eid, and
during every marriage contract.

The Imam of Madinah, Malik ibn Anas, said, Whosoever introduces into Islam an innovation,
which he deems is good, then he has claimed that Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) has
betrayed (the trust of conveying) the message. Read the saying of Allah, the Mighty and
Majestic: This day I have completed your religion for you, and I have perfected My favor upon
you, and I am pleased with Islam as a religion for you, [Al-Maidah: 3] So whatever was not
(part of) the religion on that day is not (part of) the religion on this day. And the last part of
this ummah (nation) will not be rectified, except by that which rectified its first part.

Is there a Bidah Hasanah? (Good Bidah)
1. Allahs Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, He who establishes / initiates a sunnah
hasanah (good sunnah) in Islam, he will have the reward of those who perform it after him
until the Day of Judgment. [Sahih Muslim]
This hadeeth is used to prove that good sunnah can be initiated (or innovated).
Refutation:
Sunnah is something in the religion and from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). There
was a group of people who were very poor, and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told
the companions, and one person came and filled his hands with food and brought it. Then
many others went home and brought food and clothes. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) smiled and said, Whoever starts a good sunnah, Allah will give him the reward and
those who follow it. This man who brought the food first did not start a bidah in religion.
The ulema said that this means the revival of a sunnah. Starting the concept of Islamic
websites or colleges is not bidah.

2. Umar ibn Al-Khattab (radhi Allahu anhu) remarked upon seeing people praying taraweeh in
congregation that This is a good bidah. [Sahih Al-Bukhari]
This statement is used to prove that Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) is explicitly defining an
example of a good bidah.
Refutation:
Umar was using the linguistic meaning and not the technical meaning. He united the
people into one jamaah.

3. Ibn Masood (radhi Allahu anhu) said, What the Muslims see as good is good in the sight of
Allah, and what they see as bad is bad in the sight of Allah. [Ahmad]
This statement is used to prove that whatever the masses of the Muslims accept and adopt
must be good and cannot be considered a bad innovation.
Refutation:
This hadeeth was related to choosing Abu Bakr as khalifah. Ibn Masood was referring to
what the Muslims decided (choosing Abu Bakr). Ulema said that this refers to ijma.

4. Al-Izz ibn Abdus-Salam (and before him Imam Ash-Shafii) divided bidah into five
categories:
a. Obligatory innovation
b. Religiously recommended innovation
Fai th I V
56

c. Religiously forbidden innovation (i.e. twisting the verses and not taking the apparent
meaning but making tawil of the verses)
d. Religiously condemned innovation (i.e. decorating the masjid)
e. Religiously permitted innovation (i.e. scales used to measure kilos and pounds)
Refutation:
Imam Ash-Shafii and Al-Izz ibn Abdus-Salam were referring to non-religious matters such
as learning Arabic grammar. During the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
there was not Arabic grammar. They are referring to worldly matters such as building
schools.

Ibn Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) said, Every bidah is a misguidance even if people see it as
something good. [Ibn Battah, Al-Ibanah]

4 | The Adverse Consequences of Innovati on (Bi d ah)

Online lecture: The Hidden Sin by Shaykh Waleed

1. All the deeds that have been based on innovation have been rendered in vain and useless.
Allah will never reward someone for a deed based on bidah. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) said, Whoever invented matters in the religion, it is rejected.

2. The innovator will be held responsible for his fault and the faults of those who follow him
on his bidah.

3. Bidah might prevent its perpetrator (or initiator) from advancing to al-hawdh (the basin) of
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

4. Innovation is the prelude to kufr. Bidah can lead to kufr. If someone opens the door of
legislating for himself, then it can lead to rejecting the religion. Ibn Sireen said that the
fastest people to leave the religion are the people of innovation. The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said that when the false messiah appears, many of his followers will be
from amongst the Khawarij. The people of innovation are called ahl al-hawa because they
follow their desires.

5. The innovator might be expelled from the Mercy of Allah.

6. Innovation might prevent one from being subject to the intercession of the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said he will not intercede
for two people on the Day of Judgment: an unjust ruler and an extremist in the religion.

7. Bidah is one of the reasons why some people will be in Hellfire. The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, Every bidah is a misguidance. You think that bidah will take you to
Jannah, but in reality, it will take you to Hellfire.

8. Innovation is the cause behind fitnah in religion (trials and deviation in religion)
Someone told Imam Maalik that he wanted to start his Hajj from his masjid, and Imam
Maalik told him to start from where the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) started because
he was afraid that he may fall into the fitnah that he thinks he can do something better than
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
Fai th I V
57

9. Bidah stands between its perpetrator and repentance
Imam Ahmad says that this is because you never think about repenting from innovation.
People who practice innovation never think about repentance and keep doing the action.
Sufyan Ath-Thawri said bidah is more beloved to Shaytan than sins because people do not
repent from them.

10. Bidah is the cause for one to be humiliated and his face to be darkened.
Allah (subhanahu wataala) said, When faces will be shining, other faces will be dark. Ibn
Abbas said that the faces of ahl al-sunnah will be shining and the faces of the people of bidah
will be dark.

11. Bidah is the cause behind division (and discord) in the ummah.
Each group thinks that they are the only good one and that all others are kafir. When you
study the history of sects, you will find that each sect says that they are upon the truth and
everyone else is kafir. Ahl al-sunnah says that they are on the truth and everyone else is an
innovator, but they do not make takfir.

12. Bidah is the cause for the sunnah to be removed.
Ibn Abbas said that every time a bidah is made, then it eliminates a sunnah.

5 | Reasons Behi nd Innovati on i n Rel i gi on (Bi d ah)

1. Establishing rulings and opinions based on incorrect sources such as:
- Logic
- Dreams and claims of Divine Inspiration
Someone saw in his dream the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and said that the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told him to celebrate his birthday, and this was how
the celebration of the mawlid started.
- Claiming infallibility to other than the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
- Weak and fabricated ahadeeth
- Folk tales

2. Incorrect methods of understanding the religion
- Rejecting the sunnah as an authority
- At-Tawil (claiming that a word / statement means other than its apparent meaning
without proof)
- Using unclear texts (mutashabihat) without understanding them in the light of clear
texts (muhkamat)
- Not taking all relevant texts into consideration when establishing rulings
- Excessive use of logic or opinions that oppose textual evidence

3. Incessant questioning, argumentation and debate
- Abu Umamah narrated that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, No people go
astray after having been guided except after they developed argumentation. [Ahmad,
Musnad Imam Ahmad]
- Al Imam Al Baghawi said, The scholars of the early generations of ahl al-sunnah all
agreed upon the prohibition of argumentation. [Al Baghawi, Sharh Al-Sunnah]

Fai th I V
58

Argumentation and debates are based on intention and means (likely to benefit, likely to harm):
1) Good intention and proper means
With a great benefit: An example is debating something as a student of knowledge to
learn. It is good only if there is a greater benefit.

2) Good intention with faulty means
Example: someone has a good intention but rejects the bidah with another bidah or
uses fabricated or weak hadeeth to support the truth.

3) Poor/bad intention with poor means
Someone uses the Quran and Sunnah but is doing it to become famous or show off.

4) Poor/bad intention with faulty means
Someone makes lies just to become famous.

Ahl al-sunnah does not encourage public debates because they cause doubts. Arguments can
lead to innovations, false claims, animosity, and division in the community.

4. Ignorance
The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Allah does not remove knowledge by
snatching it from his slaves. He does so by collecting scholars (by death) until when no scholar
is left, people will take for themselves ignorant leaders who will be consulted, and they will
issue fatawa (religious answers) without knowledge, and will misguide people and they
themselves will be misguided. (Agreed upon)

- Ignorance of the Sunnah. Not knowing the weak from the authentic.
- Ignorance of the methods of the early Muslim generations
- Ignorance of the Arabic language. Ash-Shafii said that bidah only appeared when
people no longer knew the Arabic language.

5. Influence of Non-Muslim Ideologies and Views
- Judaism. Much of what the Jahmiyyah came with was influenced by some Jewish ideas.
- Christianity. Many Sufi sects and the Mutazilah are influenced by them.
- Hinduism and Buddhism. Influenced many Sufi practices.
- Greek and Roman Philosophers

6. Following Desires
But if they do not respond to you, then know that they only follow their [own] desires. And
who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah? Indeed, Allah
does not guide the wrongdoing people. [Al-Qasas: 50]

7. Extremism
- Extreme reactions to others errors. The Ashairah was an extreme reaction to the
Mutazilah, and the Mutazilah were an extreme reaction to the Jahmiyyah.
Sufyan Ath-Thawri said, The religion will be lost and innovation will be spread when
unqualified people take the lead in religious issues.

Fai th I V
59

6 | The Spread of Bi d ah

Abu Hurayrah (radhi Allahu anhu) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said, Islam began as something strange and will revert to being strange as it began, so
give glad tidings to the strangers. [Muslim, Sahih Muslim]

On the authority of Hudhayfah (radhi Allahu anhu) that he raised two rocks and pressed them
against each other. He then asked his companions, Can you see the light coming through from
between these rocks? They replied, Oh, Abu Abdullah, we only see very little light coming
through. He replied, By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, innovations will be so widespread
that it will cause the Truth to be hidden so that all you can see remaining of it is similar to the
small amount of light you saw coming through. By Allah, innovations will become so popular
that when an innovation is left, people will say that a sunnah was left. [Ibn Waddah]

What are the causes behind the spread of bidah?
- Ignorance
- People dont want to put in effort in learning the sunnah
- Lack of the pursuit of knowledge
- No sources of religion available in some places
- Cultures are mixed with bidah
- Peer pressure
- Corrupt leaders spread bidah
- Laziness
- People are deceived by the look of the innovator. The innovator always appears
righteousness but will spread bidah.
- Most of the bidah today has two sides: it appears religious but it is invented.
- Many people fall into bidah because they do not have the ability to differentiate
between who is a scholar and who is not.
- There is a lot of political and financial support to the innovators and innovations.
- Muslims are led by people who do not consult scholars.
- If ahl al-sunnah doesnt take the lead, then the innovators will take the lead.
- When the innovators have good manners and ahl al-sunnah have bad manners, then it
causes the spread of innovation.

How can we counter the spreading of bidah?
- Take opportunities and step up
- Educate people about the principles of Islam
- Dont support the bidah
- Teach the hadeeth of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

7 | Defi ni ng Mubtadi (Innovator)

A mubtadi is anyone who initiates an act of innovation or brings it to existence.

Fai th I V
60

Everyone who perpetrates a bidah by initiation, association, manifestation, or is characterized
with bidah behavior or association with kufr.

Can everyone who engages in a bidah be called a mubtadi?
1. Not everyone who engages in a bidah is a mubtadi
The word mubtadi is only given to certain people. If someone practices bidah, we say that
he practices bidah or has bidah but we do not give him the title. Similarly, if someone
practices kufr, we do not label him as a kafir but say he is doing an act of kufr. A person may
practice bidah while thinking it is sunnah. The ulema call the mubtadi the people of desires
because they follow their desires. They say that he has some innovations or practices
innovations. The ulema differentiate between those who practice innovations.

2. It is imperative to know the difference between the rulings applied in this world and the
rulings applied in the Hereafter.
Many times we mix between the ruling in the worldly life and the ruling in the Hereafter.
Hellfire belongs to Allah, and He controls it.

3. Any bidah that was established through ijtihad, while keeping up with the texts of the
Quran and Sunnah, is considered an unintentional error, which is the opposite of deliberate
perpetration.
Such bidah is forgiven as Allah said: O our Lord! Hold us not responsible for what we have
forgotten or erred. [Al-Baqarah: 286]
Shuraykh rejected a verse in the Quran Allah is amused He was wrong because that
was how Allah revealed the verse and a correct qiraa. Abdullah ibn Masood did not call
Shuraykh an innovator or say any bad things about him because it was a mistake and
Shuraykh thought that it was a grammatical mistake. InshaAllah Allah will forgive him.

4. Generally the label mubtadi can be given to each of the following:
a. Everyone who introduces any innovation into the religion that has never been known
before.
b. Everyone who perpetrates an innovation (initiating or imitating) in one of the
fundamentals of the religion or any of its foundations.
For example: someone came up with the idea of rejecting the sunnah, someone came up
with the principle that if anyone commits a sin then he is not a Muslim
c. One who practices a multitude of innovations in the secondary matters of the religion
or its many details that takes him away from the way of ahl al-sunnah and their
guidelines.
d. Everyone who establishes an innovation that takes one out of the fold of Islam.
This is the category of bidah when it is kufr.
e. Everyone who associates himself with a misguided sect.
For example: someone saying he is Shii / Mutazali / Ismaili / etc.
f. Everyone who subscribes to one of the principles of the misguided sects, even if he does
not agree with all of their beliefs or all of their statements
For example: Someone says he is not Aga Khani but agrees that the Aga Khan is a
prophet. Someone says he is not Shii but says that the sahabah are kufar.
g. Everyone who determines his allies and foes based upon an innovation
h. Everyone who goes public with his bidah.

Fai th I V
61

8 | Al -Haj r (Boycott)

It comes from the root word hajara and means to abandon and distance oneself from.

To ostracize the innovator (al-mubtadi) for the sake of Allah alone and for the purpose of
protecting and deterring oneself and others from his bidah or punishing the mubtadi.

Explanation:
- The word mubtadi is used to distinguish this type of boycott from the other types such as
boycotting the disbelievers or Muslims besides the innovators.
- For the sake of Allah is mentioned to rule out all types of boycott that may be done for
personal or other reasons.
- The term protecting and punishing shall include all types of boycott that are sanctioned
by the Shariah.

! Types of Boycott
There are two reasons for boycott:
1. For a personal reason
This cannot be more than three days. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said it is
forbidden to boycott someone for more than three days.

2. For the sake of Allah alone
This is not restricted to three days. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) boycotted
the three people who did not join the army to go to Tabuk for fifty days.
As for the purpose of boycott for the sake of Allah, there are two types of boycott:
1) Boycott to protect and prevent
To protect yourself from the bidah that the person has.
2) Boycott to punish and discipline
To discipline and change the person. Ibn Abdul Barr said, There is no boycotting
of anyone unless your intention is to discipline him and you think that he will
change by disciplining him or unless you believe that he will change your belief or
put doubt in your heart.
Boycotting by discipline is not giving them salam. If you boycott them and he will
not repent, then it is not allowed.

and when you (Muhammad) see those who engage in a false conversation about Our
Verses (of the Quran) by mocking at them, stay away from them till they turn to another topic.
And if Shaytan causes you to forget, then after the remembrance sit not you in the company of
those people who are the Dhalimun. [Al Anam: 68]

And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Quran) that when you hear the
verses of Allah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk
Fai th I V
62

other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them.
Surely, Allah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell. [An Nisa: 140]

AbdurRahman ibn Salih was categorized as Rafidi (extreme Shii) and he attended Imam
Ahmads class, and Imam Ahmad never cast him out of the class. He was asked why he allowed
such a person to come, and he said, He is a person who loves ahl al-bayt, and I do not think he
is extreme.

A person came to Imam Ahmads class, and Ishaaq ibn Ibrahim said, This person is the enemy
of Allah. Imam Ahmad said, Who told you to say this? Where did you learn this from? You
should not say this, and it is not of the etiquettes of the Muslims. Let people come to learn the
knowledge, and do not judge them.
If Imam Ahmad knew of an innovator, he would tell people not to study with him.

Sufyan Ath-Thawri said not to sit with an innovator because either you will follow his
innovations or you will lead others to listen to his innovations and follow them or someone will
have the attitude of not caring, which is a sin because we care about the sunnah.

What if someone is known for his bidah? How do we deal with this in America? We live in a
non-Muslim country as a minority, and we do not apply boycotting. What we apply is to warn
people from the innovation and not allow the innovation to be spread by our support. We must
differentiate between the status of living as a minority and fighting over issues.

Ibn Taymiyyah heard about a problem between the Ashaira and the Hanabilah in a border city,
and he personally went there to make peace between them. He told them that they were living
at the border, so the dispute was not allowed to happen there because there was a greater
enemy in front of them.

Always have the adab of mercy and respect.
- You must know the reason behind the statement and position. Why did Imam Ahmad take
a strict position on the issue at some times and other times was lenient? The ulema took a
very strict position against Al Ghazalis Ihya Uloom Al Deen, and in another part of the world
they were very lenient. What is the whole story behind it? You need to study this.
- The salaf are of levels, and some of them are very strict while others are moderate or
lenient. Ibn Hibban would not allow people to study with people for small things. Bukhari
never used the word liar but would just say not to write his hadeeth.
- You must know if it is authentic or not.
- Remember that many statements came in the form of answers. Someone came to Imam
Maalik and said, Should I refuse to pray behind those who invented matters in religion
relating to Allahs Names and Attributes? He said, No. The same question was asked and
he said yes. The first man was from Khurasan and would not have had any place to pray.
The second man was from a place where there were many alternatives of places to pray.
- Scholars and early Muslims generations who made statements of ahl al-bidah sometimes
made statements that were wrong and went against the Quran and Sunnah. Some people
took the statements of the early Muslim generations over the Quran and Sunnah. Al Amash
spit on the person who was an innovator. Did the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) do
this? No.

Fai th I V
63

Appendi x

Books that have collected the narrations of the salaf on various topics of aqeedah:

! Sharh Itiqad Usool Ahl Al-Sunnah Wal-Jamaah by Al-Lalakai
! Al Ibanah Al Kubra by Ibn Battah Al-Ukburi
! Aqeedat Al-Salaf by As-Sabuni
! Al-Sunnah by Abdullah ibn Ahmad
! Al-Hujjah by Al-Asfahani
! Al-Sunnah by Ibn Abi Asim
! Khalq Afal Al-Ibad by Al-Bukhari

Note: They have also been reported in the introductions of Sunan Ad-Darimi and Sunan Ibn
Majah. Most hadeeth books have narrated many of these narrations, such as the six well-known
hadeeth collections and Musannaf AbdurRazzaq. The books of tafsir such as Tafsir At-Tabari,
Tafsir Ibn Abi Hatim, and Tafsir Ibn Majah have also mentioned many narrations. The books of
biographies such as Tabaqat Ibn Sad, As-Siyar by Adh-Dhahabi, Tahdib Al-Kamal by Al-Mizzi also
include many narrations.

Fai th I V
November 13-14, 2010 Shaykh Yasir Qadhi
64

Li ghtness to Darkness: The Real i ty of I man
Taught by Shaykh Yasi r Qadhi

This class deals with a number of important topics, and last week we covered the reality of
sunnah and bidah. This week we will discuss the reality of iman and kufr and what it means to
believe and disbelieve.

1 | The Bl essi ngs of I man

One of the ways that any science is taught is to encourage the people and discuss the blessings
of x-y-z because it will motivate you to want to study it.

The single greatest blessing that Allah (subhanahu wataala) bestows on anyone is that of iman.
The blessing of iman is more blessed than our presence and being here.

A group of bedouins had just accepted Islam and came to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) to boast that they had accepted Islam. Allah (subhanahu wataala) sets the record
straight with the following ayah:
They consider it a favor upon you that they have accepted Islam. Say: Do not [use] your Islam
as a favor upon me. Rather, Allah has shown you favor by guiding you to iman if you are
indeed truthful. [Al-Hujurat: 17]
Allah (subhanahu wataala) has shown them a favor by guiding them to iman if they are truthful
in their claim. Be thankful to Allah that you have this iman.

! Allah writes iman in the hearts of His chosen servants
Allah (subhanahu wataala) tells us that iman comes from Him.

they are the ones whom Allah has written iman in the hearts, and He has helped them with a
spirit from Him. He shall cause them to enter gardens underneath which rivers flow to dwell
therein for all of eternity. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. These
are the party of Allah, and indeed, the party of Allah is truly the victorious. [Al-Mujadilah: 22]

This ayah is referring to the believers. Allah (subhanahu wataala) is the One doing the writing.
The point here is that the believer should feel that Allah is the one directly writing iman into
his heart and conferring and blessing iman upon him. Iman is written in your hearts by Allah.

! Allah makes iman beloved to those whom He loves, and beautifies it for them
Allah makes iman beloved to us and because of that iman, He loves us.

but rather, Allah has made iman beloved to you and beautified it in your hearts, and caused
you to despise disbelief, and sin, and evil these are the rightly guided. A bounty from Allah,
and a blessing, and indeed Allah is all-Knowing, all-Wise. [Al-Hujurat: 7-8]

Allah beautifies our hearts with iman, and Allah makes us love iman. These are two separate
blessings. We love our religion because Allah has made it beloved to us. Allah is the One who
has made iman beloved to you and has made it beautiful in your hearts. Iman makes us
beautiful spiritually. How and why? Because Allah has written this down.

Fai th I V
65

! Iman has a taste and provides spiritual nutrition

Iman gives us that spiritual nutrition that we need. Iman has a taste to it and nourishes us.
He who is content with Allah as his Lord, and with Islam as his religion, and with Muhammad
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) as his Prophet has tasted the reality of iman. [Sahih Muslim]

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is saying that iman has taam (a taste and nourishes).
Iman nourishes the person who is content with Allah as his Lord, and with Islam as his religion,
and with Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) as his Messenger. If you are content with
these three things, then the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is saying that you have tasted
the fruits or taam of iman. If you truly have iman, you will taste something, and it will nourish
you.

! Iman is like a beautiful and blessed tree

Have you not seen how Allah has given the similitude of a beautiful kalimah as a beautiful tree
whose roots are firmly established and whose branches tower in the skies. [Ibrahim: 24]

This verse shows us that iman is like a tree whose roots are deep and branches tower in the sky
and gives it fruits throughout the year. To summarize, the tree is the basic building block of
our lives and of the entire ecosystem. It takes in carbon dioxide and gives us the air that we
breathe and food that we eat and the shelter we build our houses with. Similarly, iman provides
all this to us spiritually. Without the tree, we cannot live, and similarly, without iman, we do
not have spiritual life.

! Iman has a sweetness that the heart feels

Three [matters] whoever has them shall taste the halawa [sweetness] of iman. [Sahih Al
Bukhari]

Faith is sweet. This sweetness will be felt by the heart, and you will taste it. Who will have this
sweetness of iman? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said a person who loves Allah and
His Messenger more than anything else, loves his fellow Muslims only for the sake of Allah, and
hates to return to kufr just like he hates to be thrown in the Hellfire. If you have these three
things, then you will taste the sweetness of faith.

! Iman has a light that enlightens the heart

A profound, symbolic and cryptic verse (people until this day debate what it really means):
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a
niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit
from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh
luminous, though fire scarce touched it. Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to
His Light, and Allah doth set forth Parables for men, and Allah doeth know all things. [Al-Nur:
35]

This is the famous verse of the light. There are layers of symbolism in this ayah. Scholars have
always wondered the meaning and reality of this verse. Ibn Abbas said that this verse is a
Fai th I V
66

parable of iman in the heart of the believer. Allah calls iman a light / a lamp, and the niche is
the heart of the believer. There are many other interpretations as well. The point is that Allah
calls iman the lamp that guides you.

[The strongest light is the Light of Allah even though we do not see this light. The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Allah does not sleep, and it is not befitting that He sleeps, and
Allah raises the scales of justice and lowers them. Allahs hijab is light. If He were to lift the
hijab up, the rays that emanate from His Face would destroy everything that His Sight sees.
[Sahih Muslim] This hadeeth tells us that Allah has a hijab and has created it and veiled Himself
from the creation, and if Allah had not veiled itself from the creation, then the creation would
not be able to sustain itself. In that sense, Allah is noor, a type of light which we will never
understand. In another hadeeth in Sahih Muslim: A companions asked, Ya Rasulullah, have you
seen your Lord? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, There was light; how could I
see Him? This means that he saw the light of the veil. For us, a veil is dark and covers, but for
Allah, the veil itself is light.]

Allah (subhanahu wataala) gives us another metaphor and example of iman as guiding us to
Jannah in the following ayah:
O ye that believe! Fear Allah and believe in His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and He
will bestow on you a double portion of His Mercy: He will provide for you a Light by which ye
shall walk (straight in your path), and He will forgive you (your past): for Allah is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. [Al-Hadid: 28]

Allah is saying that if you truly believe in Him, then He will bless you with a light and you will
walk with this light. What does this mean? Scholars of tafseer have said that it is a reference to
a spiritual light in this world and a physical light in the next. This means that you will literally
have a spiritual light that will take you out of the darkness of shirk, kufr, oppression,
heedlessness, and of not having a goal in life. The spiritual light will take you out of the
darkness and achieve real light. In the next world, the believers will be given a physical light.
When you are crossing over the sirat, Allah will bless every believer with a light. The light itself
will be proportional to your iman. The more your iman was in this world, the stronger the light
will be in the next. This is a literal transformation of iman to light. Iman will literally become
light. This light will guide you in the darknesses of the Judgment Day to Jannah.

! Iman finds a dwelling-place in the heart of the believer

Allah describes iman as residing in our hearts just as we live in our houses.

The following verse talks about the ansar helping the muhajirun and is praising the ansar for
what they have done:
But those before them (i.e. the ansar) had inhabited homes (in Madinah) and iman, they love
those who fled unto them for refuge, and find in their hearts no need for that which hath been
given them, but prefer (the fugitives) above themselves though poverty become their lot. And
whoso is saved from his own avarice such are they who are successful. [Al-Hashr: 9]

The same verb tabawaha is used to describe the ansar living in their houses and to describe iman
living in their hearts. This is a very beautiful and deep verse. Allah is saying that that ansar
prepared the houses for the muhajirun, and the reason they were able to do so was because they
had iman living and dwelling in their hearts, so that is why they loved those who emigrated to
Fai th I V
67

them. The point of the verse is that iman lives in our hearts and dwells in our hearts and has
been written by Allah in our hearts. Allah uses many adjectives and verbs to describe iman.

! The caller to Iman

Our Lord! We have heard a crier crying out for faith Have iman in your Lord so we have
believed. Our Lord! Forgive our sins, and remove from us our faults, and cause us to die
amongst the righteous. [Al-Imran: 193]

Allah is praising the one who calls to iman and wants us to be either of those who call or
respond to the call. The higher of the two is the one who calls to iman. The lesser is to at least
respond to iman. If we are of neither of the two categories, then we will not be saved.

! Iman brings about nothing but good in this life and the next

There is nothing negative about iman. Iman can never bring about a harm or evil. Iman is
nothing but good. Allah (subhanahu wataala) mentions this in the following ayah where Allah
praises the people of Yunus. When they believed, their iman benefited them, and Allah
removed from them the penalty of this world and the ignominy of the next. Iman was the main
cause for them having been saved from punishment and blessed in this world.

Why was there not a single township (among those We warned), which believed, - so its faith
should have profited it, - except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from
them the penalty of ignominy in the life of the present, and permitted them to enjoy (their life)
for a while. [Yunus: 98]

! Iman conquers all else, and nothing conquers it

And do not become feeble, nor grieve, for you shall be the victors if you truly have iman. [Al-
Imran: 139]

No matter what is happening in this world, if you have iman, you will be the eventual victor.
Perhaps you will be a victor in this world, but for sure in the next you will be. The mumin is
always the conqueror in any situation and will always come out the winner. The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Iman conquers everything else, and nothing can conquer it. Iman
is always on top, and nothing can go on top of it or above it. The meaning here is that the
mumin is always optimistic and will always have more courage and will always look at the
positive side and get a sense of fearlessness that only iman can provide.

! Iman has levels and branches

Iman is composed of sixty odd branches. The best of them is the testimony of faith, and the
lowest of them is to remove some harm from the path. And modesty is one branch of faith.
[Sahih Muslim]

Iman consists of levels and degrees; therefore, we should study these levels and degrees.
Moving something of harm from the path shows care and compassion for others. It is so trivial
that it is the lowest, but it is a sign of iman. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Those
who have mercy to others, Allah will have Mercy on him.
Fai th I V
68

To summarize: Allah (subhanahu wataala) mentions iman as a blessing coming from Him. Allah
mentions iman as providing us with our spiritual sustenance and giving us our real life in this
world and guiding us out from all types of darknesses. Iman resides and lives within us. Iman
gives us our life. Iman is written directly into our hearts by Allah. Allah mentions that iman
beautifies us and is a zina (beauty) and makes us noble. Iman has a taste and nourishment, and
the taste is sweet. When we study iman and realize the reality of it, we will realize the blessings
of Allah upon us more and will want to learn the reality of it and how to increase and fortify it.
We will want to learn what makes our iman go down and how to not make it go down.

Q&A:
The more aware you are of a deed, then the more blessings you will get. Actions are by
intentions The more conscious you are while you do a deed, the more reward you will get.
What if you are not conscious of Allah at all and do a good deed? We can say that the pity and
mercy a person feels generally speaking is a sign of ones iman, and the more iman one has, the
more merciful one will be. InshaAllah there will be reward in these good deeds. There are
actions that are ritual and actions that are worldly. Ritual actions need to have a niyyah. For
example, you must have the niyyah for wudu to be accepted. For the deeds of the day such as
going to work and buying groceries, you generally need a niyyah to be conscious of Allah but
there are certain things you do to be merciful like helping an elderly person or being mercy to
the child. If you do it out of your fitrah, then it shows that iman is affecting you. You will get
some reward, but you cannot compare it to the one who is always conscious of Allah and wants
reward from Allah in everything. The one who is more conscious of Allah is more spiritual and
worships Allah as though he sees Him. Who told you that the action is good? It is from the
sunnah. We are manifesting the sunnah every time we are doing something good, and the more
conscious we are of it, then the closer we are to Allah. The act does not change, but the
connection with Allah is what you will be rewarded for. You did not know the deed was good
except that the One who told you that the deed was good said that there was a reward. Suppose
an atheist gives money for charity, does it do something for the atheist? It makes him feel
better, which shows that he is selfish in doing that good deed. No human being does anything
for no motivation at all. This is a philosophical issue: doing something for the sake of the
thing. No one does something for the sake of the thing. There is a selfish reward. The Muslim
has a higher goal. It is better to be selfish for the sake of Allah than to be selfish for your own
ego. It is a sign of iman that you trust that Allah will give you something.

2 | Defi ni ti on of I man Accordi ng to Ahl al -Sunnah

One opinion is that the term ahl al-sunnah was coined by Ibn Abbas. The very first controversy
in the ummah was over iman. What is iman? How is it defined? Who is a mumin? This is the
number one controversy that ever happened in the ummah; therefore, we need to understand
the reality of iman.

2. 1 Methodol ogy of defi ni ng:

There are three ways of defining terms:
1. Defining words through Scriptural Evidence (Quran and Sunnah) e.g. salah
2. Defining words through linguistic evidence (poetry, lexicons, etc.) e.g. ila al-kabayn
3. Defining words through cultural norms e.g. safar

Fai th I V
69

In Islam, we are allowed to define a word based on any of these three things based on the
context of the word. We do not need to look up a dictionary to define salah but look at how the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) defined it. If we were to look in a dictionary, salah means
dua (to call out / invoke). If we want to define most of the words of the Arabic language, we
look up linguistic evidences. There are many such cases in the Quran and Sunnah where they
do not define something so we look to dictionaries. For example: Allah says in the Quran:
Those women whom you divorce, they should wait three quroo before they marry again. The
word quroo is the plural of qar which has two meanings: the beginning of the menses or the
end of the menses.

A common ikhtilaaf: Allah says in the Quran that if you go to the restroom or touch women and
do not find water, then you must perform tayammum. This verse has been taken by the Shafii
school to show that touching women breaks wudu. This is an ikhtilaaf that is linguistic: does it
literally mean touching or is it a metaphor for something deeper? Allah did not define it in the
scriptural evidences.

We define things through cultural norms all the time. There is a new dictionary of slang.
Examples of slang words: sick, grill, evil, cool. There are Islamic references for this as well. For
example, Allah says in the Quran that when you are traveling, you can combine the prayers, but
there is no precise definition for travel in the dictionary. The majority position in our times is
that traveling is a cultural definition and is not something that you measure on the odometer of
your car.

Q: Which one should we choose for the term iman?
Ahl al-sunnah say that we need to define iman according to the Quran and Sunnah. Another
group says that iman should be defined according to linguistic evidence. The belief that a
person can be a mumin by simply saying la ilaha illAllah and believing in Allah and the Prophet
and the rasool and the Day of Judgment but have no attachment to the religion while self
identifying himself as a Muslim is not held by orthodox Islam, and orthodox Islam does not
view this person as being Muslim. Culturally speaking we think this person is a bad Muslim and
a non-practicing Muslim. There is a group that says iman is synonymous with faith, so if you
believe in Allah then you are a mumin. Depending on your definition of iman, it changes your
definition of mumin. If you say that iman is just belief, then the person who never prays, never
fasts, never gives zakat and does no rituals but believes in Allah is a Muslim. This is the
definition of our theological cousins but not our definition.

Every dictionary definition of an Islamic term is related to the Islamic term but is not the
Islamic term. It is related to and has a profound impact to the Islamic term but is not the
Islamic term. Reaching out to Allah is not salah. Zakat linguistically means to purify. Fasting
linguistically means to abstain / to withhold. Hajj linguistically means to intend. You are
intending to go to the Kabah and do something noble. Linguistically, we will define iman, and
it can shape the definition but is not the Islamic definition.

Linguistically, iman has two meanings:
1) Amina to give security to, to grant protection, to envelop someone in safety.
2) To believe. (i.e. I had iman in what he said, meaning I believe he spoke the truth)
In Surah Yusuf v. 17, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says that when the brothers of Yusuf
came back with Yusufs shirt stained with blood and gave it to their father, they told
Fai th I V
70

him, You will never have iman in us even if we are telling the truth. In this verse, the
meaning of iman is belief.

2. 2 Defi ni ti on from the Sal af

How did the scholars of the past define iman? It is narrated by hundreds if not thousands of
sahabah, tabioon, and taba tabioon that the definition of iman centers on a number of key
phrases. If you look at these key phrases and put them all together, you get a simple definition
of iman.

It is mutawaatir from the early scholars that Iman is comprised of statements and actions; it
increases and decreases.

! Abdullah b. Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) said, We learnt iman, and then we learnt the Quran,
so we increased in our iman.
Lesson: iman increases.
! Al-Hasan al-Basri said, Iman is not by decorating oneself [with outward matters], nor is it
by wishful thinking. Rather, it is what settles in the heart and is confirmed with actions.
! Sufyan ibn Uyaynah said iman is belief and statements. Others said iman is inner and outer.
Others said it is the heart believing and the body acting.
! Al-Bukhari said, It is composed of statements and actions, and increases and decreases.
! Sahl Al-Tustari was asked, What is iman? He replied, Statements, actions, intentions and
sunnah. For if iman is only statements without actions, this is kufr, and if it is statements
and actions without intention, this is nifaq, and if it is statements and actions and
intentions without sunnah, it is bidah.

Story of Al-Shafii after he quoted a hadeeth, then was asked what his opinion was, SubhanAllah!
Do you see me go to church? Or do you see a zunnar tied around me? I tell you that the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said something, and then you dare ask me what my opinion is?

The most comprehensive definition: Iman is belief in the heart, statements by the tongue, and
actions by the limbs, which increases when you do good and decreases when you commit sins.
[These are the basic five key phrases that we find from the early scholars of Islam found in
thousands of narrations.]
*Notice that this statement does not quantify the essence of iman but rather qualitatively
describes it. There is a reason for this, which we will come to later on inshaAllah.

3 | Pi l l ars of I man

1) Belief in the heart

a. Knowledge and Affirmation (qawl al-qalb)

The Bedouins say: We believe. Say: you have not believed, but rather you have accepted
Islam; and iman has yet to enter your hearts. [Al-Hujurat: 14]

Fai th I V
71

Your heart must believe that Allah exists, that Allah speaks the truth and His Prophet
speaks the truth. If you do not affirm that Allah exists, then you are not a believer. When
you define iman as being merely faith, then this is what you are talking about: knowledge
and affirmation. There are many evidences to tell us that knowing Allah and believing in
what He says is a part of iman.

Surah Al-Nahl v. 106: Whoever rejects Allah and disbelieves in Allah after having been
guided to faith will have a severe punishment except for those who said with their tongues
what their hearts knew to be false because they were forced. This verse was revealed
when Ammar ibn Yasir was being tortured and had to utter words of kufr, and he thought
he had become a kafir, but the verse is saying that as long as you have in your heart
knowledge and affirmation that Allah is true, then you are a believer.

No one denied this in the history of Islam. No one said that you can be a Muslim and not
affirm Allah. To be a Muslim, this has been the bare minimum that some define it to be.

b. Actions of the heart (amal al-qalb)

And those who believe love Allah even more [Al-Baqarah: 165]

The heart has to do certain things beyond just know. The heart loves. Love is not an
emotion of the body but an emotion of the heart. The heart trembles in fear, yearns and
desires, is subservient and submits. These are psychological emotions. There is a bare
minimal that is required: having respect for Allah internally. If you do not have respect for
Allah and the Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), then you are not a Muslim even if you
believe that Allah is your Lord. Scholars have unanimously agreed that someone who
curses Allah and His Messenger or ridicules the Quran and Sunnah or who throws the Quran
intentionally on the floor may be a Muslim by name but is a kafir because he has shown
disrespect to Allah and the Speech of Allah. This disrespect cannot come from a mumin.
When you hear someone making fun of Allah, your heart trembles. Your heart says
astaghfirullah. It is an emotion of the heart. If you do not have those emotions, you are not
a believer.

There are many emotions that come with iman. Scholars of our tradition did not define
iman so specifically because you cannot put it in a list. Of the emotions: love, fear, hope,
tawakkul, submission, respect, haya, etc. The emotions exist in a spectrum from 0 to infinity
and not a binary system. You have different amounts of love for different people and for
the same person throughout the year (it goes up and down). As iman goes up, the emotions
will be perfected, and as iman goes down, the emotions will also go down.

Ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaahs understanding of Islam: A knob that rotates from 0 to 100 until
it is at full. For the other groups, it is like a light switch and is either on or off.

In Surah Al Muminoon v. 70, Allah says, He has come to them with the truth but most of
them hate the truth. Hating is an action of the heart, and to hate the truth cannot come
from the heart with iman. The mumin must love the truth.

Surah Al Baqarah v. 165: They love Allah more than anyone else

Fai th I V
72

Theoretical knowledge and actions are both in the heart. If you only have one of these and zero
of the other, then you do not have any action of the heart and no genuine love of Allah and His
Messenger and no hope of Allahs Mercy and no fear.

The best example that clearly shows the difference is that of Iblis. Iblis has perfected
knowledge and affirmation to levels that none of us can hope to accomplish. None of us has
seen what Iblis has seen, which was the fashioning of Adam with Allahs Hands and Allah
breathing life into Adam. Iblis does not deny anything. Part of the Quranic definition is actions
of the heart and hating kufr. The thought of idol worship should make you feel disgusted.
When you see people making fun of Allah and His Messenger, you should feel disgusted. When
you find people ridiculing Allah and His Signs, do not sit amongst them.

2) Admitting with the tongue (al-iqrar bi-l-lisan)

Our tongue admits what our hearts belief not just with the shahadah but with adhkaar and
reciting Quran and refraining from saying things that are kufr.

Say all of you: We believe in Allah, and what has been revealed to us, and Ibrahim [Al-
Baqarah: 136-7]
You have to speak out and say it. Therefore, you must speak out and say not just the shahadah
but verbal actions of worship to be a Muslim. You cannot be a Muslim without reciting the
Quran.

Allah will not burden a person more than he can bear. Some say that actions of the tongue
cannot be a part of iman because the mute and dumb person cannot make the statement. This
is a ridiculous statement to make. If you cannot speak, then you are forgiven for that.

3) Acting with the limbs (al-amal bi-l-jawarih)

This is the most controversial. There is no question that acting upon ones faith is not just a
sign of iman but is a part of iman. It is not just a sign of being religious but is the religion, and if
a person does not act at all upon his religion, then his state is a state of kufr.

What you believe in your heart must somehow be manifested in your daily / weekly / monthly
life. This was the main problem of Iblis. Iblis refused to act and obey and did not reject theory
or deny knowledge. Allah told him to do something, and he denied the importance of obeying
Allah. One of the scholars of the past said that Iblis became a kafir because he said that he does
not need to do one sajdah, so how about the person who now says that he does not need to do
30 sajdahs a day because of work or other reasons?

And Allah will not cause your iman to go to waste [Al-Baqarah: 143]

The famous hadeeth of the Delegation of Abd al-Qays (see below); the fact that in over seventy
verses, Allah always mentions iman along with amal al-salih. Allah (subhanahu wataala) says,
those who believe and do righteous deeds Allah never praises an iman that is devoid of
amal. This is human psychology: if you believe in something, then you will act upon it. It is
human nature that when you have a strong belief, it will impact your actions. If you truly
believe in Allah, it will impact your life. The belief that you can believe in Allah and do nothing
Fai th I V
73

is illogical. It is like saying that you can take a class with a professor and will pass the class
without doing any of the assignments.

One evidence: The famous hadeeth of the branches of faith clarifies this point.
Iman is composed of sixty odd branches. The best of them is the testimony of faith, and the
lowest of them is to remove some harm from the path. And modesty is one branch of faith.

The shahadah is admitting with the tongue, and removing something from the path is an action
of the limb, and modesty is something of the heart. This hadeeth shows us that iman consists of
statements of the tongue, actions of the limbs, and psychological emotions of the heart.

If someone says: arent statements of the tongue one type of action of the body, so why
separate them into two categories? Response: What you have said is correct, and statements of
the tongue are a manifestation, but because the Quran and Sunnah have emphasized statements
of the tongue to a high level, we have separated them into two categories.

Note: We have hundreds if not thousands of statements from the sahabah, tabioon and the taba
tabioon where they say that iman is statements and actions, the heart and the tongue and the
body, and internal and external.

Q&A
You must have all three things simultaneously. Each one of these has a bare minimum below
which you are not a Muslim. Each one is like the round knob that goes from 0 to infinity, and
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) has the highest level and is the most perfect in all three.

A person accepts Islam by the testimony of faith or anything equivalent in any language. One
does not have to just say ashhadu an la ilaha illAllah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasoolullah but
this is the simplest. Someone can say the testimony in any language.

4 | Rel ati onshi p Between I man and Isl am

What is the relationship between iman and Islam? What exactly is a mumin, and what is a
Muslim?

These two terms seem to occur in very different contexts; sometimes they seem to mean the
same thing, sometimes different things.

- Surah Al Hujurat v. 14-17 are critical verses that any scholar who presents any opinion
about iman and Islam must reconcile. These ayat make it clear that iman and Islam are
different.
The desert Arabs say, We believe. Say, Ye have no faith; but say, We have submitted our
wills to Allah, for not yet has faith entered your hearts. But if ye obey Allah and His
Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), He will not belittle aught of your deeds: for Allah is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. [Al-Hujurat: 14]
At the end of Surah Al Hujurat, Allah says, They think that they have done you a favor by
accepting Islam, rather Allah has shown you favor by guiding you to iman if you are
truthful.

- Hadeeth of Jibril
Fai th I V
74

The hadeeth of Jibril clearly shows us another difference between Islam and iman. Jibreel
asks the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), What is Islam? Islam is defined by the five
pillars. Iman is defined by the six articles of faith. This shows that iman and Islam are two
separate questions.

- Hadeeth of the Delegation of Abd al-Qays: Once a delegation of Abdul Qays came to
Allahs Apostle (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and said, We belong to such and such branch of
the tribe of Rabia, and we can only come to you in the Sacred Months. Order us to do
something good so that we may take it from you and also invite our people whom we have
left behind (at home) to it. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I order you to
believe in Allah. And do you know what is belief in Allah? [It is] to testify that none has the
right to be worshipped but Allah, and I am the messenger of Allah, and to offer prayers
perfectly, and to pay zakat, and to give the khumus. And I forbid you from dubba and hantam
and muqaytat and naqir (all these are utensils used for the preparation of alcoholic drinks.
[Agreed upon]

This was a crucial evidence. The Delegation of Abd al-Qays lived in Najd.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is ordering them to have iman and then asks them if
they know the meaning of iman and defines it. The khumus is the 1/5
th
of war booty given
to the Islamic state. Iman is defined by actions and are the pillars (with the exception of
Hajj). The reasons why this hadeeth is so crucial are that it is in Bukhari and Muslim, and
the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) himself asks the question what is iman and then
responds.

Scholars have differed over the relationship between these two terms, as follows:
First Opinion: The Two Terms are Synonymous
*Held by Al Bukhari, Ibn Mandah, and Muhammad b. Nasr Al-Marwadhi
Iman = Islam; Muslim = mumin

Their evidence was the fact that the two seem to refer to the same reality.

- Hadeeth of Jibril
The hadeeth of Jibril talks about Islam and iman, and these things must coexist in every
single true believer. You cannot be a Muslim until you believe in these things and practice
the five pillars. Jibreel came at the end and said, I have come to teach you your religion.
He called the religion Islam and iman. The deen is Islam, which is iman.

Response: In the verses of Surah Al Hujurat, Allah clearly differentiates between Islam and
iman. Al Bukhari then responds that the evidence of Surah Al Hujurat only indicates that
these people were not true Muslims because when Allah says aslama, it means that they
have submitted to the Islamic state. Allah is talking about a group of people who are not
truly Muslims but hypocrites. Imam Al Bukhari understood these verses to apply to the
hypocrites who pretended to be Muslim but were not Muslim. When a city was conquered,
many inhabitants claimed to be Muslim to get the privileges of the Islamic state. Imam Al
Bukhari says that the people accepted Islam for political convenience, and they would be
treated as Muslims and would be rewarded for the good that they did.

- Allah equates iman and Islam in many verses, and of them is:
Fai th I V
75

Then We evacuated those of the Believers who were there; but We found not there any
Muslim persons except in one house. [Adh-Dhariyat: 35-36]

Allah is speaking about the people of Lut. Allah (subhanahu wataala) says that He told the
angels to remove the mumins but they only found one house of Muslims. Imam Al Bukhari
said that Allah is equating mumin and Muslim.

Second Opinion: Islam signifies the shahadah and iman signifies the actions
*This was the opinion of another group, such as al-Zuhri (d. 129 AH, the single most famous
scholar of his generation), Hammad b. Zayd, and also reported from Imam Ahmad

- Verse of Hujurat
These verses talk about the bedouins as saying that they have accepted Islam but have not
reached iman. They have simply said the shahadah. They have accepted Islam but have not
started to do the actions. They said that iman is the actions, and Islam is the testimony.

- Hadeeth of Sad b. Abi Waqqas, Allahs Apostle (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) distributed (zakat)
amongst (a group of) people while I was sitting there but Allahs Apostle left a man whom I
thought the best of the lot. I asked, O Allahs Apostle! Why have you left that person? By
Allah I regard him as a mumin. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) commented: Or
merely a Muslim. I remained quiet for a while but could not help repeating my question
because of what I knew about him. And then asked Allahs Apostle, Why have you left so
and so? By Allah! He is a mumin. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) again said, Or
merely a Muslim. And I could not help repeating my question because of what I knew
about him. Then the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, O Sad! I give to a person
while another is dearer to me, for fear that he might be thrown on his face in the Fire by
Allah! [Sahih Bukhari]

In other words, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is not just taking poverty into
account and is worried that some may misuse the money. This is an important hadeeth for
those who distribute zakat funds. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) looked at the
psychological state of the person. Islam teaches us to be wise and sensible. What is
relevant is that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) differentiated iman and Islam and
put Islam as a lower category.

According to this opinion, they said that this shows that Islam is simply outwardly being a
Muslim, and iman is to actually practice that and to do the prayers properly and do zakat and be
a good person. Iman is higher than Islam.

Third Opinion: Synonymous at times, different at times

Early in Islam, our scholars were debating and trying to reach a conclusion. The ummah
reached a consensus and understood that there were early attempts to reach a good conclusion,
and no one today differs with this third opinion.

If the two terms occur in different contexts, they are synonymous, but if they occur in the
same context, Islam signifies the outward actions and iman signifies the inner beliefs.

- Combines all of the evidences above along with other Scriptural references.
Fai th I V
76

Sometimes, iman and Islam are synonymous, and sometimes in the Quran and Sunnah, iman is a
higher level than Islam. You must look at the context and decide which applies. This is the
opinion of the majority of scholars and takes into account all of the evidences. Imam Ahmads
opinion is valid in some contexts, and Imam Bukharis opinion is valid in other contexts.

In Surah Adh-Dhariyat, it is clear that mumin and Muslim are the same. In Surah Al Hujurat
and the hadeeth of Sad, it is clear that you can be a Muslim without being a mumin and that a
mumin is higher. Historically speaking, many became Muslim because of political advantages
and did not want the burden of being a non-Muslim with separate taxes. Because this is a true
religion, faith does enter the heart. Generations later, we are proud that we are Muslims even
though it was against our original culture / ethnicity. This is a sign that Islam is a true
religion. Historically speaking, when the Mongols and Alexander the Great or others came and
imposed their culture, as soon as their empire collapsed the people revert to their original
traditions and view the invaders as being foreign and evil. Muhammad b. Qasim was the first
Muslim Arab to invade India with an army and took over portions of what is today Pakistan,
and he founded the first Islamic dynasty in India. We are taught that he is a great hero who
saved us from our shirk. It is a sign of Islam that we view this person as saving us from idolatry.

The question that everyone asks: We look at it as a pyramid with Islam, iman, ihsan, but it is not
a pyramid because you must have all three. The problem is: you start with Islam and move up
to iman and then ihsan, but when you start with Islam, then you already have iman. Can you
imagine someone who accepts Islam and only knows the pillars and not the six pillars of iman?
How is iman higher than Islam when you must have iman before getting to Islam. It is
problematic in one sense to call it a pyramid because you are not going from level one to level
two but you must have iman before reaching Islam.

How do we understand this? How do we respond? Iman is of many types and there is a type of
iman that you must have to be a Muslim (the six pillars), but there is a higher level of iman that
you strive for even as a Muslim. At the level of believing the six pillars of iman, iman and Islam
are synonymous. There is another level in which iman is higher than Islam. What is that level?
It is a higher level of spirituality and consciousness of these six pillars. If you really know the
angels are watching you, it will affect your life more. If you really believe in the Day of
Judgment, you will minimize the sins you do. To go to a higher level of iman is a goal. To get to
a higher level makes us not just a Muslim but a mumin and at an even higher level a muhsin.

In Surah Al Hujurat: If Allah (subhanahu wataala) had said in the Quran as He does say: You
are not mumins but only Muslims, then this would be problematic because Allah is saying that
you do not believe in the six pillars but are still Muslims. You could say that this means they
did not believe in Allah, the angels, the books, qadar, the prophets, and the Day of Judgment,
but we know that this cannot be true. If Allah had only said that, then we would have a
problem because Allah said they did not have iman. The response: Allah (subhanahu wataala)
Himself affirms that they have a type of iman in the same series of verses. The last verse in
Surah Al Hujurat says: They think that they have done a favor to you by accepting Islam. Tell
them, they have not done any favor, but rather Allah has shown them a favor by guiding them
to iman. When Allah is negating iman, he is negating the higher level, and when He is
affirming iman, He is affirming the lower level.
Summary: Allah says to the political converts to Islam that they do not have iman but just have
Islam, meaning that they have outwardly said the shahadah but do not have the spirituality that
Fai th I V
77

they need. At the end of the same verses, Allah says that they should be thankful to Him for
guidance to iman. They do not have the iman of being truly Muslim spiritually like wanting the
reward of Allah and fasting for the sake of Allah. At that level, iman is higher than Islam.

A Muslim is the same as the mumin at the level of believing in the six pillars. There is a level of
iman that is higher, and Allah wants us to be at this level. Not every Muslim has this level. At
this level, not every Muslim is a mumin. Every mumin is indeed a Muslim. There is an even
higher level of the muhsin.

[Shaykh Yasir has talks on YouTube: Ummah Versus Nation State, Towards Formulating a
Vision of Muslims in the West, The Journey of Worship. In the Journey of Worship, Shaykh
Yasir quantitatively and qualitatively lists how to rise from the level of Islam to iman and from
iman to ihsan. The lecture given in India is more comprehensive than the one given at ISNA.]

There are types of iman, and there is a type of iman (belief in the six pillars) that you need to be
a Muslim, and at that level, iman and Islam are the same. There is also a higher level of iman,
which a Muslim should strive to achieve. The majority of Muslims do not have that level of
iman. Iman is a higher level which is indicated by your actions and deeds.

5 | Increase and Decrease i n I man

Iman increases and decreases. We are the only group in classical Islam that says this point. The
Shia, Khawarij, Mutazilah, and Asharis do not agree with us. This is a reality that every one of
us senses in our daily life, and it does not need to be proven in the Quran and Sunnah but is
something that we taste. Iman in Ramadan is not the same as at other times, and iman while
attending an Islamic lecture on the weekend is not the same as it is on Monday morning. The
only group that affirms iman goes up and down is ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah or orthodox Islam.

There are explicit verses in the Quran about iman increasing.

5. 1 Evi dences for Increasi ng and Decreasi ng of Iman

This is of the fundamental unique positions of ahl al-sunnah.

Evidences:
The believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble, and when His
verses are recited to them, their iman increases. [Al-Anfal: 2]
Allah (subhanahu wataala) says that their iman becomes more.

And whenever a surah is revealed, there are those who [mockingly] ask, Who amongst you
has increased in iman? So as for those who [truly] believe, their iman increases and they
rejoice. [Al-Tawbah: 124]
Those who have iman, their iman goes up when a surah was revealed.

He is the One who has sent down peace to the heart of the believers, so that they can increase
more iman upon their iman [Al-Fath: 4]
This verse is very clear: they have iman, and Allah is saying that He will give them more iman.
This ayah shows that iman is incremental, meaning that it can be built up piece by piece. This is
very simple to understand, but the other groups do not view iman as being incremental. For us,
Fai th I V
78

iman is a knob and starts at zero and slowly increases to the max, but for the other groups, it is
a binary system and either 0 or 1 (on or off) with nothing in between.

so that the People of the Book have certainty, and the people of iman increase in their iman.
[Al-Muddathir: 31]

Those whom, when the people said to them They have gathered against you, so be scared of
them!, they only increased in their iman. [Al-Imran: 173]
The believers turn to Allah and increase in their iman.

There are many ahadeeth showing that iman and the religion are of levels.

A fundamental evidence used:
Hadeeth: I have never seen any with lesser aql and religion that [still] manages to cause a
smart mans intelligence to disappearDoes she not leave prayer in her menses? So that is her
deficiency in her religion. [Sahih Bukhari]

The hadeeth says that women are naqis (deficient / not complete) in both their aql and their
deen. The point according to this hadeeth is that it shows that you can be deficient in the
religion without becoming a kafir. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) called them deficient
in their religion, showing that they have a different religiosity / different level of religion.
Iman is a spectrum. The hadeeth is used by men against women, which is not what the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) intended to do. Women and men are very similar in intelligence
overall. Ibn Taymiyyah said: deficient in aql does not mean in IQ, but it means that women
generally react emotionally more than men do. Men are generally stronger than women.
Similarly, a man is more able to control an emotional response and think a few steps ahead.
Men are given the right of divorce verbally, and women are not given this right for this reason.
[Note that some men do abuse this, but this is the exception.]

Deficiency in the deen: Does this mean that there is a bias against women that they cannot be as
religious as the men? The women at the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) asked
him, and he responded, Didnt Allah equate the testimony of two women with one man? And
arent women not supposed to pray when they are in their menses? This shows that they are
deficient in their religion. For men, there is never any exception not to pray, even if they are in
battle or only able to blink their eyelids. Women get some laxity and do not have to pray, and
she is not punished for that, but at the same time, she cannot be rewarded for something she
did not do. You are obeying Allah by not praying, but you cannot say that it is the same effort
as obeying Allah by praying. There are other things that women can do during that time (dhikr,
reading about Islam, etc.). At the same time, men can do those things but also have to pray.
From a hadeeth in At-Tirmidhi and other books: Many are the men who have perfected their
iman, but only four amongst women have perfected it. These four are: Asiyah, Mariam,
Khadija, and Fatima. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) then said, The superiority of
Ayesha over the other women is like the superiority of [a dish] over all other dishes. Allah
(subhanahu wataala) has made life for women easier in a different way and more difficult in
another way. Allah has made taking care of their married life, husband, and family greater
than other deeds such as praying tahajjud.

Fai th I V
79

Hadeeth: The one fornicates does not fornicate as a mumin; the one who steals does not steal
as a mumin, the one who drinks does not drink as a mumin. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
Allah (subhanahu wataala) is negating iman from people who fornicate, steal, and drink. This
shows that these deeds can increase and decrease your iman.

Hadeeth: Whoever amongst you is able to change an evil with his hand, let him do so, and if
not, then with his tongue, and if not, then with his heart, and that is the weakest iman. [Imam
Ahmad, Musnad Imam Ahmad]
This hadeeth shows us that iman is of different levels, and the stronger your iman, the greater
the change you can effect in your community.

Hadeeth: While I was sleeping I saw (in a dream) some people wearing shirts of which some
were reaching up to the chests only while others were even shorter than that. Umar b. al-
Khattab was shown wearing a shirt that he was dragging. The people asked, How did you
interpret it, Oh Allahs Apostle? He replied, The religion. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
The shirt signified the religion. Some peoples religion was very small, and others religion was
longer. This shows that iman and deen are of levels. Umars (radhi Allahu anhu) iman was much
larger and stronger than the iman of other people.

There are many traditions that mention people will be removed from the Fire in batches,
depending on their level of iman, and they will cross the sirat at a speed depending on their
iman and have a light depending on their iman.

*Note: Some controversy over Imam Maliks opinion
Imam Malik seems to have had a different opinion. It is said that he believed iman only goes up
and not down. His reasoning was that the Quran only mentions iman going up. He probably
was hesitant to say that iman would go down because he did not want people to believe what
the Kharijites said: if you commit a sin, then you are a kafir. At the same time, the scholars said
that the very fact that iman goes up shows that it must have been down to begin with. Other
reports say that Imam Malik agreed that iman goes up and down. Allah knows best.

5. 2 Exampl es of how thi s occurs

Ibn Taymiyyah clarified how iman increases and decreases:

1) The details of what believers have been commanded varied from time to place.
Therefore, in Makkah x amount of deeds must be done, and in Madinah, x + y must be done.
Similarly, every time the command comes down, there must be a new iman to believe in those
verses, which is why every time a surah came down, their iman increased. During the time of
the sahabah, when they first accepted Islam, they did not have to pray or give zakah or fast or
make Hajj, but they were perfect believers. Every time the commandments came down, they
had to obey the commandments, which was an incremental increase in iman. In our time, when
someone accepts Islam, all of the rulings apply. This point only applies to the lifetime of the
sahabah.

2) The level of commitment and action that believers undertake.
The one who studies the details of the religion and acts upon it is different from the jahil
Muslim who does things because his culture tells him to. The one who sins without feeling
guilty is not the same as the one who sins and feels guilty.
Fai th I V
80

3) Actual affirmation of truth is in fact of various levels.
Everyone believes that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is speaking the truth. Ibn
Taymiyyah quoted the example of Abu Bakr after isra wal-miraj. Ibn Taymiyyah said that it is
not true to say believe that affirming someones truthfulness is an either / or reality, but there
can be different levels of affirming the truth. Someone can be more sure than another person
even though they both believe that the person is telling the truth. Ibn Taymiyyah also gave the
example of Musa (alayhi salam) going to meet Allah (subhanahu wataala). Allah tells him that his
people have taken a golden calf as their god, and Musa came back angry. He sees the calf and
throws the tablets on the ground. Ibn Taymiyyah asked: Did not Musa believe Allah when
Allah told him? Then why the extra anger when he sees it? Ibn Taymiyyah points out that
Allah had told Musa what happened hours before, but seeing is not like believing. Belief is of
different levels. There is an authentic hadeeth: the one who sees is not like the one who hears.

4) Detailed knowledge of a matter adds levels of perception and certainty that summarized
knowledge does not.
By taking classes, the more knowledge you have and the more details you have, the more it
increases your iman. Studying the Names and Attributes of Allah and about iman and kufr
increases your iman. Knowing more makes your iman go up.

5) A belief that causes one to act upon it is necessarily stronger than a belief that does not
cause any action.
Acting upon a belief is much stronger than simply believing in it. We all believe in Paradise, yet
how many of us actually act upon that belief?

6) The actions of the heart, which are an integral part of iman, vary widely between people.
For example: how much a person loves Allah, how much a person puts his trust in Allah, how
much a person is patient for the sake of Allah. When an affliction happens to a person, how
does he react? Do you have patience and tawakkul? Or do you cry and say how am I going to
live (which is a type of kufr)? How you react in times of stress shows the emotions of your
heart and manifests your iman.

7) The outward actions vary widely between people.
This is the most obvious. The person who prays in the masjid is not like the one who prays at
home. The one who prays five times a day is not like the one who prays twice a day. The one
who prays tahajjud cannot be compared to someone who barely manages to pray five times a
day. Doing dhikr of Allah every few hours is not the same as someone who does not. Some
people have more iman than others.

8) States of ghafla are more frequent for some than others.
Ghafla means unaware / heedless. This varies from person to person. Some people are afflicted
with more ghafla than others, and this shows they have weaker iman than others. They may not
be committing sins, but they are not doing anything beneficial. Watching television does
nothing for your deen or duniyah and is a type of ghafla. Our ghafla in Ramadan is less than these
days. It is an indication of weakness in iman. The more ghafla that you have, the weaker your
iman is.

9) It is possible that a matter or belief is denied because of ignorance, and when someone
learns of its truth, he accepts it.
Fai th I V
81

This indicates that there must be a new iman to believe in this. There are many issues that a
person does not know about the religion, but they have iman in that they know that Allah says
the truth, and when they are shown what the Quran says and what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam), then they accept it. When they accept, it means that their iman has increased
because they accepted something new.

These nine points indicate examples of how iman increases and decreases. The key point is that
Ibn Taymiyyah is showing that there can be a spectrum. If you increase in your iman in
something, then the knob turns even more.

Q&A
Allah says in the Quran, Let not anyone want to be given more than what Allah has decreed for
them... A woman should not want to be like a man, and a man should not want to be like a
woman. We need the sternness of a father and the mercy and tenderness of the mother. The
two put together make everything whole. The beginning portion of the hadeeth in Bukhari: I
have never seen a species or creation that despite the fact that they are naqis in their
intelligence and religion can still cause an intelligent man of resolve to lose his mind. In other
words, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is saying that when a woman attracts the heart
of a man, the man starts to act foolish.

The groups that say that iman does not go up and down take these verses as meaning the
manifestations of iman or taqwa goes up and down. They interpreted all of the verses to say
that the fear of Allah or taqwa of Allah goes up, but they did not call it iman.

Tahawis creed says iman does not go up and down, but the manifestations of iman go up and
down.

Allah mentions the heart as an organ of belief and thought. Allah also mentions the brain as an
organ of thought only. The heart has emotions. Allah says that certain things make the heart
go blind. Allah mentions the heart having a seal and the heart becoming hard or soft. Allah
mentions the heart fluttering when Allahs Name is mentioned. What does all of this mean?
Modern science tells us that the heart is not a cognitive organ but simply a muscle. We have
seen with our own eyes people who undergo heart transplants. If the heart of a non-Muslim is
put into the Muslim, the person does not wake up as a non-Muslim. Allah is talking about the
faculty of reasoning and emotion that the heart possesses. The physical organ known as the
heart does not seem to match in terms of modern science. Some scholars have said that when
Allah talks about qalb, He is not talking about the organ that beats; rather, the qalb is that which
is inside the body. Qalb linguistically means that which is inside. Allah is talking about the
spirit / ruh. This seems to be the opinion that makes the most sense. At one point in time,
people used to believe that the heart does think and that the brain was intellectual and the
heart was emotional. In our times, we know this to be not entirely accurate. Many doctors
have said that it has been documented that people who have heart transplants have different
psychological issues, and the person does change character in some sense. This shows that the
heart may have something to do with the soul or emotions. This is a mystery that we will never
know. In Surah Al Isra v. 85, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says, Say: The spirit is from the
command of my Lord, and you have not been given anything of knowledge except a little. The
human spirit can never be detected, yet every culture on the face of the earth believes that we
have spirits. When Allah talks about the qalb, He is talking about the ruh, which has a life of its
Fai th I V
82

own. The ruh has certain faculties that the mind does not have. The qalb has elements of purity
and sincerity.

6 | Level s of I man

Iman is a spectrum / a switch that goes round / is composed of levels. As we turn this knob
around, there are specific levels that are more important than others. There is one place where
the knob clicks, which is the birth of the light. There are three sign posts that are important,
and each one promotes you to another level. These are important clicks on our knob of iman.

1) The bare minimum of iman
*This is also called al-iman al-mujmal and mutlaq al-iman

This level separates the Muslim from the kafir. If you do not have this level, then you are a kafir.

Definition: The bare minimum level of iman is embodied in the kalimah itself: believing that
Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) are truthful in all that they say, and then
wishing and attempting to implement their commandments, even if it is a minimal attempt.
It is saying the kalimah, believing in it, and acting upon it. It is to believe that Allah is your ilah
and the general belief that everything from the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is true.
Therefore, you try to implement the commandments that he has told you to do, even if it is a
minimal attempt. You have a genuine desire to submit. The wanting is not just a desire, but it
must also be implemented in action.

*Note: There is controversy over the bare minimum of actions required to be discussed later.

Benefits:
- In this world, the person shall enjoy the benefits of a Muslim. In an Islamic state, the
person would have rights and privileges. You will be buried in a Muslim graveyard.
- In the Hereafter, the person shall be saved from eternally remaining in Jahannam. Some
Muslims (not all of them) have just the bare minimum or above the bare minimum but have
not reached level 2, and there is a spectrum, and you have al-iman al-mujmal and mutlaq al-
iman. Some of these people may enter Jahannam but will not stay there forever and will
eventually be saved. Some of them will deserve to go to Jahannam but Allah will forgive
them.

Al-iman al-mujmal means that eventually even if the person goes to Jahannam, he will be saved
from there. Allah mentions this in the Quran in many verses. For those at the bare minimum
level, Allah references them when he says, O you who believe Everyone from this level up is
being addressed. It is this level that Allah talks about when he tells the bedouins that they do
not have iman but they have Islam and that they should be thankful that Allah has guided them
to iman (this level). Allah is affirming this level and negating the second level in Surah Al
Hujurat.

This level is never unconditionally praised in the Quran. Also, this level is the level of the vast
majority of Muslims throughout our histories. Even now, the majority of Muslims of our time is
at this level, which means that they believe in Allah and His Messenger but are not committed
and dedicated to the faith, meaning that it only dictates a little of their lives. Ibn Taymiyyah
writes about this in a profound manner and said that this level of faith is those who convert to
Fai th I V
83

Islam for political convenience or those who are born Muslim in Muslim societies. Ibn
Taymiyyah says: if Allah does not test these people (the born Muslims) and they live their
standard, casual care-free lives, then inshaAllah they will eventually end up in Jannah even if
they are in Jahannam for some time for sins (i.e. drinking, stealing, etc.). It is possible that
Allah will test some of these people with a severe test where their iman is put on the line, and
they do not have enough iman to withstand the test, and their iman leaves them and they
willingly embrace kufr because it was a difficult test.

Today, many second and third generation Muslims whose parents do not raise them as Muslims
leave the faith. They never had the sense of iman. They were tested with intellectual
stimulations and the domination of the West and human rights and democracy. They did not
have enough iman.

Many of us do not understand some of the wisdoms of the religion, but deep down we know
that Allah knows best, which is iman. Some things are beyond us to comprehend, but at the end
of the day, we remind ourselves that Allah knows best and has Wisdom. We are being tested
intellectually, and many people of our times lose the test and do not have enough iman to
withstand them. Many people are tested physically such as the people in Bosnia and China. In
America, the oppression is very trivial, and we thank Allah for that. Those who are not tested
live their lives generically and casually, and there are benefits and blessings in that eventually
they will end up in Jannah.

Our goal is to immediately end up in Jannah, which is why our goal is to get to the second level.

2) The minimal level required by Allah (subhanahu wataala)*
*This is also called al-iman al-wajib, al-iman al-kamil al-wajib and al-iman al-mutlaq

This is the minimal level that is wajib to have. Al-iman al-mutlaq means the reality of iman
(mutlaq al-iman means the bare minimum).

Definition: The fulfillment of the obligatory deeds and the avoidance of major sins.
Major sins: murder, rape, stealing, drinking, drugs, etc. It is practicing the five pillars to the
minimal level such as only fasting the days of Ramadan and only praying the five fard prayers.

Benefits:
- Enjoy the benefits of the protection of Islam in this world.

- Protection of Allah in this world and the next
The more iman that you have, the more protected you are in this world and the next. As your
iman goes up, Allahs protection increases. As you get to this level, there is an increased
protection in this world and the next.

- Guaranteed to be protected from the Fire even if he is punished in other ways.
There is a guarantee to enter Jannah directly. There is no threat of Jahannam for those in this
category. Allah (subhanahu wataala) has guaranteed that such people will not enter Jahannam.

*Note: Every time the characteristic of iman is negated in the Quran or Sunnah, it is to this level
of iman, and not the previous, unless evidence indicates otherwise.

Fai th I V
84

Allah (subhanahu wataala) in Surah Al Hujurat negates this level of iman from the bedouins. It is
this level of iman that every verse that praises the believers is talking about. Every time the
Quran and Sunnah praises iman, it is this level.

Allah says in the Quran: The mumins are those who when Allah is mentioned, their hearts
tremble. In the first ayahs of Surah Al Muminoon: those who have khushu in their
prayer The mumins guard their chastity except from their wives. The mumins are those
who pray at their regular times. How many of these characteristics do we meet? Allah
concludes these series by saying: these are the only believers of truth. Does this make us
kafir? This is the second level of iman, and it is the goal that you strive to. Allah praises the
higher levels of this.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) says, The fornicator does not fornicate while he has
iman The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is negating this level of iman, which leaves him
with the level of mutlaq al-iman. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I swear he has no
iman. I swear he has no iman. I swear he has no iman. The one whose own neighbors are
worried about what he will do. [Sahih Al Bukhari] If a Muslim steals from his neighbor, he does
not become a kafir but is a sinner.

There are many other ahadeeth about this level of iman. Whenever Allah links something to a
praiseworthy action of iman or something is negated of the mumin (i.e. the mumin does not lie),
Allah is referring to this level.

3) The perfection of iman
*This is also called al-iman al-kamil al-mustahab

This is the praiseworthy level of iman.

Definition: There is no precise definition that separates this level from the next. (It means that
you become more conscious of Allah.)

If you look at any act of worship, you can differentiate between the bare minimum that you
must do and the higher level. For example, if you say subhana rabbi al-ala only one time in
sujood, the scholars say that the salah is naqis but passes. In level two, you are reciting Fathihah
along with a short surah and spend a few seconds in sujood and ruku, and in the third level, you
recite Surah Al Baqarah in the first rakah and spend a lot of time in sajdah and ruku.

Benefits:
- Increase protection in this life and the next

Evidences:
Those who have faith, and do not mix their faith with injustice, they are the ones who shall
have security (amn), and they are the ones who are rightly guided. [Al-Anam: 82]

Each one of these clicks represents a spectrum. Between one and two there are levels, and
between two and three there are levels, and three continues to go higher and higher. Listen to
the lecture: The Journey of Worship on YouTube. It addresses what you have to do to go from
Islam to iman and from iman to ihsan.

Fai th I V
85

These three levels involve an increasing of belief and actions of the heart, statements of the
tongue, and actions of the limbs. To go higher, you increase in the emotions of the heart and in
the actions of the limbs. You will never reach the third level until you are doing all of the main
sunan (praying the nawafil, fasting Mondays and Thursdays and the three white days, etc.)

Then We have given the Book for inheritance to such of Our servants as We have chosen: but
there are among them some who wrong their own souls; some who follow a middle course; and
some who are, by Allahs leave, foremost in good deeds; that is the highest Grace. Gardens of
Eternity will they enter: therein will they be adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls; and
their garments there will be of silk. Who has, out of His Bounty, settled us in a Home that will
last: no toil nor sense of weariness shall touch us therein. But those who reject (Allah) for
them will be the Fire of Hell: No term shall be determined for them, so they should die, nor
shall its Penalty be lightened for them. Thus do We reward every ungrateful one! [Fatir: 32-36]

In these ayat, Allah describes three types of people: 1) one group does wrong to themselves, 2)
those who are average, and 3) those who race forward, and that is the real blessing. Allah says
that all three categories will eventually enter Jannah the first possibly indirectly, the second
directly, and the third directly with excellence.

7 | Mi ni mal Level of Acti ons

The minimal level required by Allah is the five pillars for al-iman al-wajib. The benefit of being a
practicing Muslim is that such a person will never inshaAllah be facing the Fire of Hell.
Examples of those who go below this level are those who pray on and off or do not fast the
entire month of Ramadan or do not go for Hajj out of laziness.

What is the minimal level of actions required to be a Muslim? If you look at the opinions of
those in the first three generations of Islam, none of them said that all a person has to do is say
the shahadah.

Before we get to the minimal level of actions required, what are the evidences that show that
actions are an integral part of iman and not just a sign of iman? You can say that a sign of taqwa
is to minimize the sins. You can also say two things are linked or an essential part of it such as
smoke and fire you cannot have smoke without a fire. According to ahl al-sunnah actions and
iman are like smoke and fire, meaning you cannot have one without the other.

The Quran is full of evidences that demonstrate actions are an integral part of iman. There is no
denying that iman is based in the heart and lives in the heart. Allah says that the non-Muslims
have a veil on their hearts. In the verse of the hypocrites of the bedouins, Allah says: iman
has yet to enter your hearts Allah says that He has written iman in the hearts. Ahl al-sunnah
say that if iman lives inside the heart, then it will show outside.

Surah Al Bayyinah v. 5 is of the most important evidences. They have only been commanded
to believe and pray and give zakat and that is the true religion.

Surah Al Baqarah v. 177. It is not righteousness that you turn right or left, east or west, but
true righteousness is that you believe in Allah and establish the prayer and give zakah and
spend of your money for the poor and orphans This tells us that righteousness is based on
those actions along with iman.
Fai th I V
86

(This) shall not be in accordance with your vain desires nor in accordance with the vain
desires of the followers of the Book; whoever does evil, he shall be requited with it, and besides
Allah he will find for himself neither a guardian nor a helper. And whoever does good deeds
whether male or remale and he (or she) is a believer these shall enter the garden, and they
shall not be dealt with a jot unjustly. And who has a better religion than he who submits
himself entirely to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith of
Ibrahim, the upright one, and Allah took Ibrahim as a friend. [Al-Nisa: 123-125]

And whoever comes to Him as a mumin, having done good deeds, these are the ones that shall
have the high ranks. [Ta Ha: 75]
Doing good and having iman are put together.

Surah Anbiyah v. 94: Only those who do good while having iman will have their good
rewarded by Allah.

Surah Tawbah v. 5: Allah talks about the pagans and that you should have nothing to do with
them and should expel them from Makkah except if they repent [from shirk] and they pray and
give zakah, then they are your brothers in Islam. Allah links their repentance from shirk with
praying and giving zakah.

A way to demonstrate that iman is more than belief is to prove that people have believed
without being mumins. Of the evidences are ahl al-kitab. Allah mentions that there are some ahl
al-kitab who know the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) like their own sons.
Surah Al Baqarah v. 89: When a Scripture came to them from God confirming what they
already have, and when they had been praying for victory against the disbelievers, even when
there came to them something they knew [to be true], they disbelieved in it: God rejects those
who disbelieve. Surah Al Baqarah v. 146: Those We gave the Scripture know it as well as they
know their own sons, but some of them hide the truth that they know.

They know that he (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is a prophet of Allah, but that does not make
them Muslims. If they know that he is the rasool, then why are they not Muslims? Because we
have defined Islam as not just faith. Likewise, Iblis knows that Allah is his Lord and knows la
ilaha illAllah, but that does not make him a Muslim because iman is more than just knowledge.
Firawn knew that Musa (alayhi salam) was a prophet, but he was not a Muslim. Allah mentions
in the Quran that Firawn had yaqeen that Musa came with the truth. Yaqeen is a sign of iman but
is not the only aspect of iman. Abu Talib knew that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was
a prophet, but he did not act on it, and he was not a believer. It is more than just mere theory
and acceptance in the heart.

Allah mentions a group of people who turn away and another group who reject, and sometimes
He combined the two. Kadhaba is an action of the heart (denying). Tawala means turning your
back to, and it is an action of the body. Submission is turning forward and falling down, but
tawala is keeping your back straight and turning away. In other words, Allah links kufr to
turning away either in the heart or the body.
So he neither gave charity nor prayed, but rather rejected and turned away. [Qiyamah: 31-2]

The concept of tawala is mentioned by itself in the Quran in Surah Al Imran v. 32: Obey Allah
and the Messenger, but if you turn away [from obedience] Allah does not love the kafir. By this
Fai th I V
87

verse, we know why Iblis was a kafir (he turned away). Iblis turned away and refused to
prostrate.

Abu Bakr al-Ajurri (d. 360) writes:
O you who have been blessed with understanding of the halal and haram, if you understand the
Quran as you are supposed to, you will see that Allah has obligated upon people after they
believe in him that they actand I have read the Quran, and found 59 times in the Book of Allah
this fact. For Allah never causes anyone to enter Jannah with only iman, but rather through His
mercy, and by allowing them to believe in Him and act righteously.

To clarify: There are four logical possibilities with respect to inner and outer coordination.
1) Iman in the heart and outward actions outwardly clearly mumin
2) Both non-existent clearly kafir
3) Outer actions without inner iman clearly munafiq
4) Inner iman without actions difference between murjia and ahl al-sunnah
Ahl al-sunnah: this situation is simply an impossibility.
If a person never obeys Allah and His Messenger (i.e. never fasts or prays), and if he does
something good, he is not doing it out of religiosity but because it is cultural or human and he
never performs an act of ritual worship. For the murjia, this person is a believer. For ahl al-
sunnah, you can never have iman without actions. If you did not have outer actions, then it is an
indication that you do not have real iman. The person may believe that Allah exists but is not a
Muslim.

Allah defines iman to be more than belief; therefore, a person who believes but does not do any
action is not called a mumin according to ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah (meaning he is a kafir and
not in category one above). The examples of this are Iblis, Firawn, and Abu Talib.

There is a direct correlation between the inner and outer level of iman. Inner faith and outer
actions are indications of the other, and the absence of one is an indication of the absence of
the other.

The question arises, what is the bare minimal level of actions? There are three opinions of the
scholars of Islam. (No alim from our tradition says what the murjia said.)

1) The five prayers
This is the majority opinion. Whoever leaves the salah is not a Muslim anymore. The
majority opinion is that leaving prayers completely is kufr. Some scholars have said that
there is ijma of the sahabah, tabioon, and taba tabioon.
A minority of scholars said that even if you leave one prayer intentionally, then you are
kafir.

i. Leaving any prayer is kufr
ii. Leaving prayers completely is kufr.
By and large, the majority of the ummah (80-90%) prays once and a while. By and large,
the Muslim ummah as a whole has a connection with salah. Some will pray two or three
Fridays and some will only pray Eid. The people being referred to are those who not
even pray salat al-Eid and have no salah ever and are content to live like that.

What is the evidence that leaving the salah is leaving Islam?
Fai th I V
88

- And when it is said to them to bow down, they do not do so. [Al-Mursalat: 48]
- So he neither gave charity nor prayed, but rather denied and turned away. [Qiyamah:
31]
- What has caused you to enter saqar? They said: We were not of those who prayed
[Al-Mudaththir: 42] Allah describes the people of Hell as those who did not pray
- Also [Baqarah: 143]
- Surah Al Qalam v. 43: On the Day of Judgment when they are commanded to prostrate,
they will not be able to prostrate. When we used to tell them to prostrate in this world
and they were able to, they did not. There is a prostration that will cause you to enter
Jannah, and these people will not be able to do this prostration because they did not
prostrate in this world.
- Surah Al Maun v. 4-5: those who pray will go to hell, those who are lax with their
salah In other words, there are people who are neglectful of the salah. Sad ibn Abi
Waqas said if you are neglectful of the salah, you will be punished in the Hellfire, and if
you do not pray, then you are not Muslim. Neglectful means that they did not pray
perfectly and were lazy and would sometimes pray and sometimes would not.
- Surah Ar-Rum v. 31: Establish the salah and do not be amongst the pagans. In other
words, leaving the salah is a characteristic of paganism. Salah is mentioned opposite to
shirk.
- So there came after them a generation adau the prayers. [Maryam: 59]
What is the meaning of adau? Ibn Masud said: They were not fulfilling it properly.
They lost it but they did not abandon it, and if they abandoned it, then they would have
become kafir. Ibn Al Qayyim said that amongst the companions, there is unanimous
consensus that not praying is equal to being a kafir.

There are many ahadeeth that show that salah is a necessary part of Islam.
- Sahih Muslim: Whenever the son of Adam recites the sajdah and prostrates to Allah,
Iblis cries out in pain and anguish Woe to me! The son of Adam was commanded to
prostrate and because he did so, he will get Jannah. I was commanded to prostrate, and
because I did not do so, I will go to Jahannam. Ishaq ibn Rahaweh said, Iblis became a
kafir because of one prostration he did not do, so what do you think of the one who
leaves all of the salah.
- Hadeeth of Jabir in Sahih Muslim: Between a man and kufr is nothing but the leaving of
the salah. The simple English is that all a man needs to do to leave Islam is to leave
salah. Another narration: Between a man and shirk is leaving the salah.
- Hadeeth of Buraydah in At-Tirmidhi: The promise or the treaty that I have between all
of us is the salah. Whoever leaves it has committed kufr. If you do not pray, then you
are a kafir.
- Hadeeth of Mihjan in Musnad of Imam Ahmad: Mihjan said that when he performed
Hajj with the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), he came to visit the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and the people started praying. Mihjan had prayed in his tent
and sat in the back. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said the tasleem and then
saw Mihjan not praying with the people, so he asked him, O so-and-so, why did you
not pray? Arent you a Muslim? Mihjan said, Ya Rasulullah, I prayed in my tent. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do not do this again. Even if you have prayed,
join us. The point is that if you are a Muslim, then you would not be sitting away from
the people. For a man to not pray, you question his Islam.
- Bukhari and Muslim: The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is speaking to groups of
people engaging in military expeditions and those who are going to attack villages and
Fai th I V
89

settlements. Do not attack until the dawn, and if you hear the adhan, then stop. If you
do not hear it, then attack. This means that if they do not pray fajr, then they are not
Muslim. The scholars say that if a community does not have congregational salah, then
in a genuine Islamic war, there is no protection for their lives and properties (this is for
a state and time that is not ours)
- Musnad of Imam Ahmad: The pillars will be destroyed one after the other, and every
time one is destroyed, the people will jump and cling to the next. The first matter that
will fall is leadership. The last pillar to fall will be the salah. After the khulafah ar-
rashidun, our leadership has not been to that level. If salah is the last pillar to fall, then
there will be nothing left of Islam after that.
- Musnad of Imam Ahmad: Whoever guards his prayer will have a promise from Allah
that he will be forgiven on the Day of Judgment. Whoever does not has no such
promise. If you are forgiven on the Day of Judgment, you will not enter Jahannam.
There is a guarantee for those who pray that they will be forgiven. In another version:
He shall be resurrected with Qaroon, Firawn, Hamman (Firawns minister), and Ubayy
ibn Khalaf (the worst and most vulgar and most crude of the Prophets (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) opponents). This is a very explicit hadeeth about leaving the salah being
kufr.

Statements of the salaf:
- Umar ibn Al-Khattab said this twice (the second time was on his deathbed): He heard
the adhan being called, so he tried to stand up to pray, and they said, In this state O
ameer al-mumineen? He (radhi Allahu anhu) said, A person who leaves the prayer has
no share of being a Muslim.
- Jabir ibn Abdullah was asked, Did you consider any sins to be like shirk? [He is being
asked at the time of the Khawarij.] Jabir said no. He was asked, What makes a Muslim
a kafir? He said, Leaving the salah. Even a murderer does not become a kafir.
- Abdullah ibn Shaqiq ibn Salamah (the student of many of the companions) said that the
companions never saw leaving anything to be kufr other than salah.

Shaykh Bin Baaz took all of these evidences and said that if you leave one salah, then you
have left Islam. Therefore, if you want to pray again, you have to repent and say the
shahadah again and then pray. Shaykh Yasir does not agree with this opinion. Shaykh Bin
Baaz said if a person sets his alarm for after fajr and knows that he will miss fajr, then he is a
kafir.

The majority of scholars said that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said whoever
leaves the salah has committed kufr, and if someone prays sometimes, then he has not left
the salah. Abandon means having nothing to do with it. The one who prays once a day /
once a week / once a month / once a year, is sitting on the borderline (one foot in Islam and
one foot in kufr). The more often he prays, the safer he will be on the borderline.

By and large, we as Muslims never meet someone who has left the salah completely.

Their proof that zakah is not a requirement of the minimal level of actions:
Hadeeth in Sahih Bukhari: The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that any person who
owns animals and does not give the right that is due on them shall be punished on the Day
of Judgment by those very animals, and the animals will trample over them until when
Fai th I V
90

Allah finishes all judgments, then the man will see whether he goes to Jannah or
Jahannam. There is a possibility that he goes to Jannah, which means that he not a kafir.
How do the other groups interpret this hadeeth?
They respond that the evidence is against you and not for you because the phrasing is
whoever does not give the full rights, which means that he gave partial rights, meaning he
is a bad Muslim. Being lax is not the same as abandoning. The person may give something
but not what was due (i.e. giving a male camel instead of a she-camel).

2) The five prayers and zakat

A minority said that it is not just the salah but also zakat. Their evidences are the almost all
of the evidences used previously which mention salah and zakat.

So if they repent, and establish the prayer and pay the zakat, then let them be. [Al-
Tawbah: 5]

So if you establish the prayer, and pay the zakat, and believe in My Messengers and help
them [Al-Maidah: 12]
Only if you establish the salah and pray the zakat and believe in the Messengers, then Allah
will reward and forgive you.

- Incident of the Wars of Ridda

The most clear example this group quotes: When the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
died, one group of the new Muslims rejected Islam, and another group believed in other
prophets and were kafir, and there was a third group who said that they would pray and
fast but they would not give the zakah because they were greedy. Abu Bakr (radhi Allahu
anhu) wanted to send the army to fight them, and Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) said, How can
you fight them when they say the shahadah and pray? Umar was following position #1.
This is perhaps the first theological debate in Islam. Abu Bakr had the second opinion and
said, By Allah, I will fight anyone who separates the salah and zakah. Allah has linked
salah and zakah in the Quran in over 50 places. Umar was then convinced. This shows that
this ikhtilaaf existed from the time of Abu Bakr and Umar.

Abu Bakr fought against Musaylimah in the same way that he fought against Muslims who
were saying the shahadah and praying but not giving zakat.

This position is that of some of the scholars of the past, and most famously Imam Ahmad
held this position.

3) All of the pillars of Islam

If a rukn is not present, then the act is not valid. Said ibn Jubayr and Imam Ahmad held
this opinion. If you hold this opinion, then you do not contradict the other two opinions.
All of the pillars of Islam are arkaan.

All of the above evidences put together:

- Hadeeth of Jibril
Fai th I V
91

- Hadeeth of the Delegation of Abd al-Qays:
Once a delegation of Abdul Qays came to Allahs Apostle (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and
said, We belong to such and such branch of the tribe of Rabia, and we can only come to
you in the Sacred Months. Order us to do something good so that we may take it from you
and also invite our people whom we have left behind (at home) to it. The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I order you to believe in Allah. And do you know what is belief
in Allah? [It is] to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and I am the
messenger of Allah, and to offer prayers perfectly, and to pay zakat, and to give the khumus.
And I forbid you from dubba and hantam and muqaytat and naqir (all these are utensils used
for the preparation of alcoholic drinks. [Agreed upon]

Salah and zakah are mentioned so much because no one can monitor fasting except in
Ramadan and Hajj, but it does not mean that they are not applicable. In other words, no
one can really monitor whether you are fasting or not. Realistically, the Muslims can
monitor salah and zakah, which are public actions. Fasting is a private action, and Hajj is
once in a lifetime. Ramadan and Hajj are not less significant, but they cannot be monitored.
If the pagans repent and pray and give zakah, then they are your brothers in faith. They
also say that realistically, it is impossible to find someone who perfects the prayer but does
not do the other arkaan. The reason why the prayer is emphasized because once you get to
that level, you are doing the other arkaan. This is the reality we live in.

They say that whoever does not attempt to care about any of the five pillars is not a
Muslim. According to this group, sincerely attempting to fulfill the five arkaan is what
makes you a Muslim.

Within these three is what our scholars differed over.

Q&A
To deny something that is a part of our religion is kufr.

The safest and best thing to do is to make up the prayers you may have missed intentionally.

Tawbah causes you to increase in your levels. What is important is the state in which you die.

Review:
The main issue new to many is that as a Muslim, it is not merely sufficient to believe in Allah
and that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is a prophet of Allah. We have culturally been
taught this, but looking at the Quran and Sunnah shows this to be false. The best example is
Iblis. Iblis knows that Allah exists and is his Rabb and Creator. In the Quran: Iblis says, O my
Rabb! Iblis acknowledges that there is a Day of Judgment and that Adam is a prophet of Allah.
We all know that Iblis is not a Muslim. Why? Because he refused to submit to Allah in body
even if his heart / soul knows these realities. His body refused to implement what Allah told
him to do. The cases of Abu Talib and Abu Lahab become clear, and they knew that the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was a prophet.

There are people who are closet Muslims (i.e. not praying at all, have not accepted Islam
outwardly, but know Islam to be true). Such people are the exact category of people we are
talking about. For some reason, whether it is prestige or society speaking about them or pride,
Fai th I V
92

they do not submit to Allah. They do not want to manifest the belief even though they know
everything to be true inside. This person simply cannot be called a Muslim.

What about someone who does say he is a Muslim? There are people out there who say that
they are Muslim but in action, they are the same as Abu Talib and do not do anything. In their
lifestyle, there is no difference between them and the closet Muslim. The opinion of ahl al-
sunnah wal-jamaah is that this person is no different from Abu Talib and the closet Muslim
because they have not changed their lifestyle in the slightest. Simply saying the shahadah
without doing anything is the person we are discussing.

There are three opinions about the bare minimum: 1) salah, 2) salah and zakah, and 3) all five
pillars. Note that what is required is an attempt to implement the salah and not the perfection
of salah. What is required is the struggle to try to pray and try to pay zakah. This attempt will
save a person. He is attempting to submit. At the end of the day, the very meaning of Islam is
submission. Mere theoretical acknowledgement is not good enough.

8 | The Issue of i sti thna

Hi stori cal controversy: How does one respond when asked, Are you a
mu mi n?
In the second century of the hijrah, the question arose if it is allowed to ask a person if they are
a mumin. If someone is asked if they are a mumin, how do they respond? By saying yes, the
person is praising himself. If a person says inshaAllah Im a mumin, then there is some doubt,
meaning the person is a kafir.

Orthodox Islam always lags behind when it comes to these controversies. When the other
groups begin talking, then they looked at the issue and evidences and gave an opinion.

Some groups said that if you say I am a mumin, this is haram because you are praising
yourself and ascribing piety to yourself. In Surah An Najm v. 32: Dont ascribe piety to
yourselves, only Allah knows who has taqwa.

Another group said it is haram to say I am a mumin inshaAllah because you are doubting your
own iman, and if you doubt something, then you do not believe it. Therefore, they say that this
is kufr because you are doubting your iman.

By and large, ahl al-sunnah did not like this entire controversy. Imam Ahmad and others said to
ask people if they are a mumin is an innovation. You can ask people if they are Muslim.

Position of Ahl Al-Sunnah:
- Did not like the question and said the whole issue was an innovation.
- However, they said that it was permissible (perhaps even better) to say inshaAllah after this
phrase, and it was permissible to leave it.
- It was permissible (or better) to say inshaAllah because:
Fai th I V
93

1) Iman is of levels, and no one knows for sure whether he has perfected those levels
or not.
2) True iman is that which has been accepted by Allah, and no one knows if that will
be the case.
3) No one knows in what state one will die, hence if one adds inshaAllah it is as if one
is hoping and praying to die in that state
4) As for the basic level of iman regarding which one should not be in doubt, it is in
fact permissible to occasionally use istithna even when one is not in doubt.
- And it was permissible to leave because there is no evidence that suggests it is obligatory,
and people should be certain about having entered the basic level of iman

Ahmad b. Hanbal was asked, Doesnt saying inshaAllah constitute doubt? He replied, I seek
Allahs refuge! Doesnt Allah say, You shall, inshaAllah, enter the Sacred Mosque, safe and
secure. [Al-Fath: 27] and didnt the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) say, And we will,
inshaAllah, join you. So where is the doubt in this?

Alqama was asked, Are you a mumin? He replied, I hope I am, inshaAllah!

When you say I am a mumin, then you are referring to the lower level. If you say I am a
mumin inshaAllah then you are saying that you hope you get to the second level. InshaAllah
can be said even in matters of certainty.

In Surah Al Fath: 27, Allah says, You shall enter the Sacred Masjid inshaAllah safe and secure.
Allah is saying inshaAllah and knows it is going to happen; therefore, this phrase is not
necessarily an expression of doubt. Therefore, even if you are to say inshaAllah about the lower
level, it is not necessarily problematic. Also, only Allah knows if He will accept it or not, and
only Allah knows in which state you will die.

However, ahl al-sunnah did not allow istithna in Islam, so one says, I am a Muslim because this
deals with the outward testimony of faith and rulings of this life.

Another hi stori cal controversy: i s i man created or not?
At one time, people thought that the Quran was created, and ahl al-sunnah said that the Quran is
not created. This is another philosophical issue.

Elements of iman are uncreated and elements are created. Uncreated: kalimah, Quran and
Speech of Allah. Everything else is created.

There was a group who said any time you open your mouth and make any type of statement,
you must add inshaAllah. Why? Because Allah can will it to be something else, and if you do
not say it, then you may be infringing on the rights of Allah.

When you make a factual statement, you do not need to say inshaAllah. You say inshaAllah
when you are speaking about the future. When speaking about the present or past, you do not
need to add inshaAllah.

9 | Factors that Weaken One s I man

9. 1 Maj or and Mi nor Si ns
Fai th I V
94

There are many things that weaken ones iman, and primarily these are the major and minor
sins. The Quran clearly mentions two categories of sins: major and minor.

Those who avoid great sins (kabair) and shameful deeds, only (falling into) small faults, [An-
Najm: 32]
Avoiding the major sins is a sign of iman. To be a mumin, you must practice the five pillars and
avoid the major sins.

If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We will do away with your small sins and
cause you to enter an honorable place of entering. [An-Nisa: 31]
This is a beautiful verse which you should memorize and take heart in.

Note: The evidences that if you have the minimum required iman, then you will go to Jannah
directly are An-Najm: 32 and An-Nisa: 31. Do the waajibat and avoid the major sins, and you will
go straight to Jannah inshaAllah.

And the Book shall be placed, then you will see the guilty fearing from what is in it, and they
will say: Ah! Woe to us! What a book is this! It does not omit a small one (saghira) nor a great
one (kabira), except that it enumerates it (all). And what they had done they shall find present
(there), and your Lord does not deal unjustly with anyone. [Al-Kahf: 49]
This is the most explicit verse that mentions the saghira and the kabira.

And in the hadeeth,
- Of the kabair is a man cursing his own father. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
To curse or disrespect your own father is of the major sins.
- The five prayers, and the Friday prayer to the Friday prayer, and one Ramadan to the next,
forgives all that is between it, as long as the kabair are avoided. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
- The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the fasting on the day of Arafat is an
expiation of the sins for the year before and the year after. The scholars say that this refers
to an expiation of the minor sins.

What is the definition of a kabira?
Scholars have differed greatly over what a kabira is. One opinion is that the kabira are the sins
that have a punishment prescribed in the Shariah. For example: murder, stealing, fornication,
drunk. Ibn Hajar comments on this and says that it is a foolish opinion. He said, How can
anyone say this when the ahadeeth mention many major sins without any punishment
prescribed? Of them is a false testimony.

Another definition: Some scholars said a kabira is that which has been forbidden by all of the
shariahs of Allah. For example: murder, stealing, taking the property of orphans. An example
of something forbidden only by our Shariah is drinking alcohol. Those who held this opinion
were refuted by the issue of alcohol. Drinking alcohol is a major sin, and the person will be
punished in the Fire of Hell.

A third opinion, held by Imam Al Ghazali and his teacher Al Juwayni: A saghira and a kabira
have nothing to do with the sin and everything to do with the sinner. The definition is not
about sins but about the state and the heart of the sinner. Al Ghazali said that if the heart of a
sinner feels regret and remorse, then this is a minor sin, and if the heart of a sinner is hard, and
Fai th I V
95

he commits the sin with no remorse, then this becomes a major sin. Therefore, from this
opinion you look at your own psychological state. This opinion does not make sense.

What is the proper understanding? Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu anhu) said, Every sin that Allah has
threatened with the Fire or invokes His curse or His anger upon is a kabira. Ibn Taymiyyah
took this statement and adopted and modified and defined it:
Ibn Taymiyyah defined it as every sin that has been assigned a worldly
punishment (hadd), or has been threatened with the Fire, or Allahs curse, or
His anger.
Examples: fornication, murder, stealing, suicide, Allah has cursed sacrificing to other than
Allah, eating the property of orphans.
This definition conforms to the Quran. Allah says that if you avoid the major sins, then you will
enter Jannah. What then is a major sin? A major sin is one that prevents you from entering
Jannah, which is Allahs curse or anger or Fire.

Q. Does a habitual minor sin become a major sin?
A: Maybe. It depends on the state of the sinner.
There is a phrase in Arabic used by the scholars: There is no major sin if you repent, and there
is no minor sin if you are habitually addicted. Theologically, however, this phrase is imprecise
and not fully accurate. A minor sin can never become a major sin simply because you do it once
or ten times or a hundred times. However, what could become a major sin is not the act of the
sin itself but the state of not caring about doing the sin and being arrogant about the sin. This
confidence is un-Islamic. You should always be scared of Allahs punishment and have a fear of
Allah. A habitual minor sin in and of itself does not become a major sin, but it can become a
major sin if it leads to a state of complacency and arrogance. The major sin is not the actual
minor sin itself but the attitude.

Examples of minor sins:
Ibn Abbas, commenting on Surah An Najm: 32, said, I know of no sin that better describes the
habitual minor sins than a mans lustful gaze.
There are many other examples. Basically, anything that is not a major sin is a minor sin. If a
sin is not linked with the curse of Allah or His anger or the Fire, then it is a minor sin.

Another categorization of sins made by scholars:
- Sins performed out of lust and desire (Adam)
Adam lusted after life and had a greed for an eternal life.
- Sins performed out of arrogance (Iblis)
Iblis was arrogant and refused to submit to Allah.

Generally speaking, sins done out of lust and desire are lesser in their nature than those done
out of arrogance.

9. 2 Status of Si ns vi s--vi s Iman

What is the effect of sins on our iman? Ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah said that sins in and of
themselves never expel a person from Islam unless those sins reach the level of kufr.

Rule: Sins that are less than kufr do not in and of themselves expel a person from Islam.
Fai th I V
96

We believe that a Muslim can commit all sins in the book and still remain a Muslim unless he
commits kufr. Realize that kufr and shirk are types of sins. Every shirk and every kufr is a type of
major sin, but there are many major sins that are not shirk and kufr, and it is these sins that we
are talking about. This is the unanimous consensus of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah and all other
groups except for the Khawarij and Mutazila who said that this makes a person a disbeliever.
The Mutazila said that he becomes neither Muslim nor kafir but in a state between the two.

How can someone prove that committing a major sin does not expel one from Islam?

Categories:
! Evidences that show that shirk is the only unforgiveable sin in Islam. By common sense,
then every other sin can be forgiven.
Surah An Nisa: 48 God does not forgive the joining of partners with Him: anything less
than that He forgives to whoever He will, but anyone who joins partners with God has
concocted a tremendous sin.
The only sin Allah will never forgive is that of shirk, and Allah will forgive anything lesser
than that.

! Explicit evidences that mention that those who commit major sins will enter Jannah.
Abu Dharr (radhi Allahu anhu): I visited the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) when he
was sleeping, and he was wearing a white thawbwhen he woke up, I sat next to him. He
said, No servant says la ilaha illa Allah and dies with that except that he shall go to Paradise.
I said, Even if he fornicated and stole? He said, Even if he fornicated and stole! I said,
Even if he fornicated and stole? He said, Even if he fornicated and stole but then added
on the fourth, even if Abu Dharr doesnt want it! [Sahih Muslim]
This is a clear hadeeth that someone who testifies to la ilaha illAllah and commits major sins
will enter Jannah.

Ubadah b. al-Samit (radhi Allahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
took the oath from the women and said, Give me the oath of allegiance: that you shall not
commit shirk, or steal, or fornicate, or kill your offspringso whoever fulfills this shall have
his reward with Allah. And whoever falls into any of these [sins] and is punished in this
world, then that shall count as an expiation for him. And whoever commits any of these
[sins] secretly shall be left to Allah if He wills, He shall forgive, and if He wills, He shall
punish him. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
This shows that if you do the minimum, then you will enter Jannah. When a murderer is
executed, then it means that the murder was forgiven. If a thiefs hand is cut off, then it
means that he is forgiven for stealing. This phrasing in Sahih Bukhari has become the
theological principle of ahl al-sunnah: the judgment is with Allah.
For the major sinner who dies in this state and did not repent, the judgment is with Allah.
Allah knows his state of mind. A Muslim may own a wine shop but be doing a lot of other
good to make up for his sins, and the judgment is with Allah.
His affair and his hisab is with Allah. If He wills, He shall forgive, and if He wills, He shall
punish him.

! Committing a major sin does not make you a kafir.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said fighting a Muslim is kufr. At the same time,
Allah (subhanahu wataala) says in the Quran in Surah Al Hujurat v. 7: If two groups of
believers (mumins) are fighting one another The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said
Fai th I V
97

that they are committing kufr, but it does not make them kafir. They are committing a type
of sin that is so bad that it is called a type of kufr, but it does not make them kafir. There is a
difference between kufr and kafir. You can have kufr without being a kafir.

Abu Dharr (radhi Allahu anhu) addressed Bilal (radhi Allahu anhu) as You son of a black
woman! The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), addressing Abu Dharr, said, Abu Dharr!
Have you criticized him because of his mother? You still have traces of jahiliyyah in you.
[Sahih Al Bukhari]
To say such a thing is a major sin, but the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did not call
him a kafir.

Sahih Bukhari: The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was brought a drunkard who was
punished. The same drunkard was brought again and punished again. It happened again.
Finally, someone blurted out, May Allah curse you! How many times must you be brought
in front of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) defended the drunkard and said, Do not curse him, for by Allah, I know that this
man has a love of Allah and His Messenger.
This hadeeth is a very explicit hadeeth. You can be a major sinner and still have a lot of good
in you. This hadeeth is a big hope for us who know our sins. There is room for hope and
improvement. A man can combine between major sins and iman in one body. You can good
elements of iman and bad elements of major sins. This is a fundamental belief of ahl al-
sunnah wal-jamaah while other groups said that if you commit a sin then you do not have
iman.
We should learn from this that we should protect our tongues. We should keep our mouths
shut, and if you hear something about someone, you should defend him and praise him,
which is a sign of your own iman and brotherhood. Leave the sins aside.

! All of the ahadeeth that mention the shifaah (intercession).
Intercession is the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) asking Allah to forgive his ummah.
The hafidh and the shahid have intercession. Intercession means that someone is destined
to go to Jahannam, and someone asks for his forgiveness and Allah forgives him. This
means that the major sinner enters Jannah. In one hadeeth, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said [Sahih Muslim]: My shifaah is meant for the major sinners of my ummah.

! The hadd punishment.
Why would you punish someone with the punishment except that it forgives the sin?
Through the punishment, the person is forgiven.

Q. Are these traditions problematic?
Answer: The methodology of ahl al-sunnah is to take all of the evidences simultaneously. We do
not just take one hadeeth and ignore everything else, which is unfortunately what the average
Muslim does.
- Anyone who has an atoms weight of arrogance will not enter Jannah. Having kibr is
a major sin. Some Kharijite groups used this to prove that major sins expel you from
Islam. This hadeeth implies, according to ahl al-sunnah who have to make a type of tawil
and reinterpret, that the person who has kibr in his heart will not enter Jannah in the
first batch of people who enter Jannah. They will eventually enter Jannah. The major
sinners will go through Jahannam before entering Jannah. One interpretation of this
hadeeth is that the person must be punished for his kibr first but will eventually enter
Fai th I V
98

Jannah. Another interpretation is that the hadeeth is a threat, and Allah is allowed to
cancel His threats. Allah does not cancel His promises. When Allah promises, He can
never break the promise, but when Allah threatens, He can break the threat. The
Mutazila accuse ahl al-sunnah of saying that Allah is lying (astaghfirullah), and ahl al-
sunnah responds that there is a big difference between promises and threats. Not
fulfilling a promise is lying, and not fulfilling a threat is mercy, and it is from the
Perfection of Allah that He does not fulfill all threats. Forgiving threats is a sign of
perfection.

- A fornicator does not fornicate while he has faith Ahl al-sunnah understand this in a
number of ways. One way is to say that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is
referring to the minimum faith required (the second level), so when he commits the
sin, he goes down to the bottom level, but he does not become a kafir. When a person is
committing a sin, the iman goes down, but he does not become a kafir because of it.

Sahl al-Tustari said, Even if the sinner is punished, his punishment will not be like the
disbeliever. He shall not be thrown in like him, nor shall he remain [eternally] like him, nor
shall he suffer like him.

The Quran mentions that the disbelievers shall be eternally punished and their skin eternally
changed to increase the punishment. Sahl derived from this that because Allah specifies the
kafir, then for the Muslim it will not be to this level. Also, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said that the places where a mans body touched the ground during sajdah will never be
burned. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the eyes that cry from the fear of
Allah can never be burned.

Summary:
! A Muslim who commits a major sin remains a Muslim by unanimous consensus of ahl al-
sunnah wal-jamaah.
! A Muslim who commits a major sin is required to repent to Allah, and if he does, then
the sin will be forgiven.
! If he does not repent and dies in a state of not repenting, then in this case, we quote the
hadeeth of Ubadah ibn Samit and he will be under the Will of Allah (if He wills, He
shall forgive, and if He wills, He shall punish him)
! Even if Allah decides to punish him, his punishment will not be the same as that of
those who disbelieved in Allah, nor will he eternally remain in Jahannam but will
eventually make his way to Jannah.

Rule: Considering sins to be permissible (istihlal) expels one from Islam even if one does not
commit the sin.
When you consider the haram to be halal, then you are rejecting Allahs ruling. Even if you do
not commit the sin, but you say for example that there is no problem to drink alcohol, then it is
a belief of kufr because you have rejected the Law of Allah and substituted your own law and
done the same as Iblis. The point of Islam is submission to the rulings of Islam. If you refuse to
submit in body or soul or in heart or action, then you reject the rule of Allah and it is kufr.

If you are ignorant and do not know that Allah says otherwise, then you are excused. If there is
a difference of opinion, then this rule does not apply because there is a fiqh ikhtilaaf.
Fai th I V
99

Example: halal mortgage schemes. One scholar says that they are the essence of riba and
haram, and another scholar says that it has no riba. This rule does not apply in this situation.
Both groups agree that riba is haram, but the issue is does La Riba have riba or not. You are not
rejecting the rule of Allah directly but are trying to figure out if x applies under the rule of
Allah or not.

For 99% of the ikhtilaaf in the ummah, you do not apply this rule. Allah will judge people based
upon their knowledge.

There are many evidences for this:
In the seerah, it was reported that a man once publicly married his fathers widow in Madinah.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) ordered Ali (radhi Allahu anhu) to execute the man in
his house. The man did this while knowing it was haram, and he flouted it. Everyone knew that
they were not allowed to marry their step-mothers, and for him to do this in public, it showed
that was making the haram to be halal, which is a type of kufr.

9. 3 Forgi veness of Mi nor Si ns vs. Maj or Si ns

Ibn Al Qayyim lists a number of things that forgive the minor sins. As for major sins, there is no
deed that can forgive them, and you must genuinely repent to Allah. How do you repent? YQ
has a lecture on YouTube called O Allah Forgive Me.

The traditions mention many specific good deeds that expiate minor sins, such as [partial list]:

1) The five prayers

In At-Tirmidhi: A man came to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and said that he
destroyed himself. He said, I was selling dates in the marketplace and a beautiful woman
came to me and I took her to my home and did everything that a man does with a woman
except zina. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) called the man back to him and said,
Didnt you just pray with us? Dont you know that Allah said, Doing good deeds forgives
bad deeds? The man had not committed the major sin of zina and will not receive the
hadd. The man prayed salat al-jamaah, and the result of it was that his minor sin was
forgiven. He felt guilty and remorse and turned to Allah and his sin was forgiven.

2) Fasting Ramadan.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said the five prayers, and jumuah to jumuah and
Ramadan to Ramadan forgives all that is between as long as the major sins are avoided.

3) Umrah
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said one umrah to the next gets rid of sins like a
furnace gets rid of the impurities in iron.

Fai th I V
100

4) Hajj (of the most powerful, if not the most powerful deed)
Hajj is the most powerful of all deeds possible, so much so, that a proper Hajj will forgive
major sins. Hajj if done properly does forgive major sins. One of the key components of
Hajj is repentance. A proper Hajj incorporates tawbah, and because of this, it means that if
you do Hajj the way it is supposed to be done, then you will come back like a newborn.

5) Wudu
This is one of the most neglected weapons in our arsenal of fighting against Shaytan. If you
study the blessings of wudu, you will never stand in front of the tap the same way again,
and you will thank Allah for the opportunity to make wudu. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) said that for every drop of water that touches our skin, a sin falls off with it. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that his ummah will come with shining bright skin
on the Day of Judgment because of wudu. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) will
recognize those from his ummah from the effects of wudu [light coming from the hands and
faces] and call them to drink from the fountain. On the Day of Judgment, you will have an
honor or glory wherever the wudu touched you.

Our ummah is the only ummah commanded to make wudu.

6) Fasting on Ashura
Ashura forgives the sin of one year before.

7) Fasting on the 9
th
of Dhul Hijjah
Fasting on the 9
th
of Dhul Hijjah forgives the sins of the year before and the year after.

Warning: Some people who are deceived rely too much on things like fasting on Ashura or the
day of Arafah, to the extent that some of them say, Fasting on Ashura will expiate for the sins
of the whole year, and fasting on the day of Arafah will bring extra rewards.

Ibn Al-Qayyim said, This misguided person does not know that fasting in Ramadan and
praying five times a day are much more important than fasting on the day of Arafah and
Ashura, and that they expiate for the sins between one Ramadan and the next, or between one
Friday and the next, so long as one avoids major sins. But they cannot expiate for minor sins
unless one also avoids major sins; when the two things are put together, they have the strength
to expiate for minor sins. Among those deceived people may be one who thinks that his good
deeds are more than his sins, because he does not pay attention to his bad deeds or put a check
on his sins, but if he does a good deed he remembers it and relies on it. This is like the one who
seeks Allahs forgiveness with his tongue (i.e. by words only), and glorifies Allah by saying
Subhan Allah one hundred times a day, then he backbites about the Muslims and slanders their
honor, and speaks all day long about things that are not pleasing to Allah. This person is always
thinking about the virtues of his tasbihat (saying subhan Allah) and tahliyat (saying la ilaha illa
Allah) but he pays no attention to what has been reported concerning those who backbite, tell
lies and slander others, or commit other sins of the tongue. They are completely deceived.

Q. Which deed is the most powerful?
Even the angels argue with one another about which of the deeds are the most powerful to
expiate and forgive the sins. In a hadeeth that has generated a lot of controversy: Muadh ibn
Jabal once reported that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was delayed in coming to fajr so
much so that the sun was about to rise. He came out and made it short. After completing the
Fai th I V
101

prayer, he told the people to stay in their places and he would inform them what delayed him.
He said that in the last night, he was praying and became tired and went to sleep in his salah
and then he saw his Lord in His most beautiful form. [Ahl al-sunnah allowed seeing Allah in their
dreams because of this hadeeth. They cannot see Allah in a wakeful state.] Allah said to the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), Ya Muhammad. I said, I am at your service. Allah said,
Do you know what the angels are arguing about? He said, I dont know. So my Lord placed
His Palms between my shoulders until I felt the coldness of His Fingers. And then the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Everything became clear to me, and I knew what was between
the east and the west. Then Allah said Ya Muhammad. I said, I am at your service. Allah
said, Do you know what the angels are arguing about? I said, They are arguing about which
of the deeds is the most powerful to forgive the sins. Allah asked, What are they? I said,
Walking in darkness on foot to the masjid, sitting in the masjid waiting for the next salah,
perfecting wudu at times of hardship. [At Tirmidhi, Ibn Rajab has a long booklet on this
hadeeth]
Walking in darkness on foot to the masjid typically means fajr prayer. Sitting in the masjid
waiting for the next salah means not becoming impatient but sitting and making dhikr.
Perfecting wudu at times of hardship for us, even if the water is cold, the house is still warm,
and it is not the same as making wudu in the freezing desert.

Final warning: Beware of the sins that are considered trivial, for they gather together around
a person until they destroy him. [Imam Ahmad, Musnad Imam Ahmad]

The fact that these deeds forgive the minor sins should not (astaghfirullah) allow us to feel
complacent about minor sins. Sometimes knowledge may harm a person and not benefit him.
The point of the knowledge is to come closer to Allah and provide hope to those who need it.
Realize that there is a major sin of the heart that is arrogance, and it is very easy for someone
who has a habitual minor sin to slip into the arrogance. That arrogance of assuming that you
deserve Allahs Mercy and are worthy of Allah forgiving you is the essence of kibr. It is very
possible that a habitual minor sin will become a major sin because of the psychological attitude.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) compared minor sins to twigs: Beware of these sins
because they are like twigs. You think they are trivial, but if you set them alight, it is more
effective than large log branches. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I caution you
against minor sins because any time Allah decides to call you into account for them, you will be
destroyed.

Minor sins are too numerous to be mentioned. Do not trivialize the minor sins. A scholar said,
Minor sins are the calling card to major sins, and major sins are the calling card to kufr.

9. 4 The Effects of Si ns

Ibn Al-Qayyim listed many of the evil effects of committing sins [partial list]:

Committing sins makes a person turn away from Allah and from obeying Allah. Committing
sins contradicts the purpose of our creation. Our entire purpose of life becomes meaningless
when we commit sins.

1) Prevention of knowledge
Fai th I V
102

Knowledge is a light that Allah throws into the heart, and committing sins extinguishes
that light. Imam Al-Shafii complained to his teacher that he wasnt able to concentrate in
class and was losing his memory when it came to Islamic knowledge. His teacher advised
him to leave committing sins because knowledge is a light from Allah and sins extinguish
the light.

2) Prevention of rizq
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said it is possible that a person will suffer in his rizq
because of sins that he committed.

3) Weakening of the heart
The heart is something that is nourished by the worship of Allah. When we commit sins, it
is like poison to the heart, and it weakens the body because the body is a manifestation of
the soul.
Sins weaken the heart and resolve so the desire for disobedience becomes stronger and the
desire for repentance becomes weaker.

4) Reduces lifespan (barakah)
Some scholars of the past said that they protected their faculties from sins when they were
young, so Allah blessed them and protected them in their old age.

5) Contempt from Allah (subhanahu wataala)
Every disobedience is a legacy from the legacy of the people who were destroyed. Allah
destroyed nations before for sins such as those lusting after power and those lusting after
sensual desires and those lusting after money. Every sin that a person does and is rampant
in society, Allah destroyed nations because of it, so isnt there a lesson to be learned.

Al Hasan Al Basri said if the servant had any izzah in the eyes of Allah, then Allah would
have prevented the servant from committing the sin. The fact that you are committing the
sin shows that you do not deserve the honor.

6) Decrease of remorse
Sins are the passageway for other sins and desensitize the heart. Ibn Masood said the
mumin considers his sins like a huge mountains and worries that the mountain will collapse
on him. When you dont have iman, the sins become trivial.

7) Increase of humiliation

8) Lack of intelligence
Sins corrupt the intellect and weaken ones intelligence. The intelligent person will not
commit sins. If he were intelligent, then he would not be committing sins. Just as a human
being doesnt take a stone and hit himself with it, then why does a man commit a sin that
will harm him? It shows he lacks intelligence. Allah says in the Quran that those who
commit sins are in a state of jahala (ignorance). If you were a person who understood, then
you would not commit the sin.

9) Sealing of the heart
Committing sins makes the heart rusted and puts a covering on the heart.
Fai th I V
103

10) Spoiling the lands resources
Sins bring about harm to society. Even the animals and the environment are harmed by
the sinners sin. The world is corrupted by the sinners in it. Sins do not just harm the
person but also those around him.

11) Disappearance of modesty
When a person commits sins, it allows modesty to leave him. When a person is immodest,
then there is no good in him. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that haya is a
part of iman, and if you do not have haya, then you do not have any iman.

12) Becoming neglectful of Allah (subhanahu wataala)
Sins weaken and reduce the magnificence of Allah in the heart of the servant. If you truly
respect Allah the way Allah deserves to be respected, then the sin would not be possible for
you to commit.

Sins are a cause for Allah forgetting about the servant. Allah says in the Quran: They
neglected Allah, so Allah neglected them. If Allah neglects you, then no one can ever take
care of you.

Sins remove the servant from the state of ihsan and decrease his status in iman. By
definition, you cannot commit sins in the state of ihsan. If you are in the state of ihsan, you
would worship Allah as though you see Him.

13) Pain and suffering in this world and the next
Committing sins causes the favors of Allah to cease upon you. Allahs blessings decrease as
you increase in your sins. Allah says that any trial that afflicts you is because of what your
own hands have done. In Surah Al Anfal v. 53: Allah does not change a state of any people
until they change themselves. If there is a blessing that is taken away from you, it is
because of your sins. Sins are like a poison to your soul, and you will taste the bitterness in
this world and maybe the next. Every sin will bring about a type of poison that will harm
and corrupt your soul.

9. 5 The Expi ati on of Si ns

Ibn Al-Qayyim listed ten factors that forgive or expiate sins:
(Each one of these has plenty of evidences)
1) Tawbah
Repenting to Allah (subhanahu wataala). This is the single most effective manner to get rid
of sins. Tawbah has many conditions to it:
1 - You repent for the sake of Allah (ikhlaas)
2 - You feel guilt and regret. If you do not feel remorse, then there is no tawbah. The
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said feeling guilty is the essence of tawbah.
3 - You ask Allah sincerely to forgive you.
4 - There is a genuine desire never to return to that sin. Even if you do return later on, you
had the intention that you will not return.
People are sometimes afflicted with habitual sins, and every time they repent, they should
make the intention to not return to it. Have a genuine desire to reform.
Fai th I V
104

If you have done something to harm another person, there is an added condition that you
must return the harm.

2) Istighfar
This is a part of tawbah but is very important. It is asking Allah to forgive you. Saying:
astaghfirullah. It is calling Allah and using His Names and Attributes and asking Him to
forgive you.

3) Good deeds
Example of the man who kissed the woman. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said
that good deeds cause the bad ones to be wiped away. All good deeds help in the battle
against sins. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said to follow every evil with a good
deed and it will wipe it away. In other words, there are two types of good deeds that you
can do: if you committed a sin, then pray an extra two rakah nawafil just because you
committed a sin.

4) Problems and grief of this world
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, There is no distress that afflicts a believer or
cause for worry and concern except that Allah forgives his sins because of it. [Sahih Al
Bukhari] Hamm means worry. If you are sincere to Allah and attach yourself to Allah, then
the mental anguish will cause your sins to be forgiven.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that even when a thorn pricks you, your sins
will be forgiven.

Allah has the right to do as He pleases with us. The fact that He rewards us for a suffering
that we undergo shows us His Perfection. We should be consoled at times of distress and
grief that Allah is forgiving our sins.

5) Prayer of others for you (in life) and over you (after death)
In this world, if your friends and relatives truly love you, then they make dua for you.
When you die, janazah is prayed over you, and after you die, they make dua for you. The
more positive impact you have on society, the more that people will want to pray for you.
The more good that you do, then the more you will hear the phrase jazakAllah khayr. The
more beneficial you are to society and merciful you are to people, the more beneficial it is
for you.

6) Good deeds done on behalf of those who are deceased
You are allowed to do good deeds on behalf of the departed. From the sunnah, you can
make umrah, sacrifice, sadaqah, Hajj, dua.

A big misunderstanding people have about donating your good deeds to the dead. Suppose
you want to give an umrah to someone, then what you are saying is that you are going to
perform an umrah and take out the time and money and say that all of the effort and
energy and time and dedication is given to someone else. Who deserves that from you?
Someone who has a huge favor on you such as your parents. Will Allah reward you? The
basic premise of giving the reward to someone means that the entire blessing is given to
the person. One hopes that inshaAllah Allah will give you the reward. You will be rewarded
for being a good son or daughter. We say, inshaAllah, perhaps you will also get the reward
Fai th I V
105

of the umrah, but the basic ruling is that you are giving it entirely to the other person. Use
it wisely and never make a joke out of it.

7) Trials and punishments of the grave
The main punishment that all Muslims want to avoid is the Fire of Hell, and anything that
prevents us from the Fire of Hell is better than the Fire of Hell. Many people will be
punished in the grave through the trials and adhaab. There is fitnat al-qabr and adhaab al-
qabr. The fitnah is the testing and questioning and the closing up of the grave and is
immediate, and everyone will go through this. After that, some people will have an adhaab
al-qabr. Some people will be punished in the grave and in the Hellfire.

8) Afflictions on the Day of Judgment
These punishments also forgive the sins. Examples: the sun coming closer, having extreme
heat and no access to water, animals will trample over the one who does not pay zakat,
being resurrected as blind, Allah will not look at some people, crossing over the sirat, hooks
will come out of the fire of Hell and some will grab people and drag them down while
others will slash people and cut them, the emotional and psychological torture of that Day.
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would pray to enter Jannah without hisab.

The most difficult category are those who are given their books in their left hands and put
with the people who are going to Jahannam but are saved by intercession at the 11
th
hour.
They have done terrible things but also have done some good. The torture for that time is
their punishment.

9) Intercession
Allah has the right to give shifaah and to accept shifaah. A righteous person (i.e. the
shaheed is given 70 shifaah) is given shifaah. This shifaah is not a guarantee, and it is up to
Allah to accept it. It is a positive. Shifaahs will be given based upon your own
righteousness. One riwayah in Tirmidhi says the huffadh will get 10. Various people will get
more and more. The narration says that people will come begging when they see that you
have these cards. The more righteous you are in this world, the easier the next will be from
beginning to end.

10) Allahs Mercy and Forgiveness
Allah will choose to forgive people who have not done any of the other nine listed above for
reasons He knows. Tawbah is a guarantee of forgiveness if done properly. If someone dies
without repenting, Allah may still forgive him for reasons He knows.

If a person goes to Jahannam, he is not forgiven even if he eventually ends up in Jannah. Our
goal is to minimize as many things on this list as possible. We do this by living righteous and
good lives.

Q&A
How does one differentiate between a trial and a punishment? The differentiation is very easy.
Look at your own reaction to what has happened. If you react in a manner that draws you
closer to Allah, then this is a trial by which your rank is being risen. If you react by turning
away from the religion and becoming less religious or remaining at the same level, then this is
Fai th I V
106

a punishment, and what will happen later is worse. Any museebah that brings you closer to
Allah is not a museebah but a mercy in disguise because nothing is more important than being
closer to Allah. If a traumatic situation causes you to have a new relationship with Allah, then
it was for your own benefit and a gift by which you are coming closer to Allah.

If you are being forgiven for sins, then it is a trial and punishment at the same time but a minor
punishment compared to what you would have deserved. The purpose of the trial if you come
closer to Allah is so that you do not face a greater punishment.

10 | Factors that Negate One s I man (Nawaqi d al -I man)

10. 1 Intro to the Topi c

Naqid means to knock over / to destroy / to eliminate. Allah mentions that we are not
supposed to do naqd or knock over what we have built. Nawaqid is the plural of naqid.

Those who fulfill the Covenant of Allah and break not the Mithaq (bond, treaty, covenant). [Al-
Rad: 20]

There are two categories of people who have broken the contract:
1) Those who never entered Islam (kufar asliyyun)
They should have entered the contract because it is part of their fitrah. These are the
general kufar who are non-Muslim by their upbringing.
2) Those who entered Islam and then left it (murtad)
The murtad is the one who ridda, rejected the religion after having entered it.

There is some talk in our times of calling non-Muslims who do not accept Islam not kafir. They
say a kafir is someone who knows Islam and consciously rejects it. The problem is that the term
kafir has taking on pejorative connotations and has become a slur. A kafir is a factual
description; you are either a Muslim or not a Muslim. Our religion does not use the term in a
negative way but in a factual way. To refute those who say that there is a third category of
neither being a Muslim or being a kafir: Would you allow him to marry your daughter? Would
you allow him to be buried in a Muslim graveyard? If you say no, then you are treating him like
we treat a kafir. What happens to him in the next world is none of our business, and whether
Allah excuses him or not is between him and Allah. There is no middle category. If people are
not Muslim, then they are de facto kafir.

They ask you concerning fighting in the sacred months (i.e. 1
st
, 7
th
, 11
th
, and 12
th
months of the
Islamic calendar). Say, Fighting therein is a great (transgression) but a greater (transgression)
with Allah is to prevent mankind from following the Way of Allah, to disbelieve in Him, to
prevent access to Al-Masjid Al-Haram (at Makkah), and to drive out its inhabitants, and al-fitnah
is worse than killing. And they will never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your
religion (Islamic monotheism) if they can. And whosoever of you turns back form His religion
and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the hereafter, and they
will be the dwellers of the fire. They will abide therein forever. [Al-Baqarah: 217]
Allah mentions the threat of those who are murtad. How does one become a murtad? By doing
something that causes him to leave Islam. There are only three types of matters that cause one
to leave Islam: shirk, kufr, and nifaq.

Fai th I V
107

! The nawaqid are beliefs, statements and actions that expel one from Islam after having
entered it

There are three matters that contradict iman:
a) Shirk
Shirk comes from the word meaning partner. Therefore, shirk means associating a
partner with Allah. Shirk means to give the rights of Allah to other than Allah.

b) Kufr
Kafara is the verb meaning to cover up. A kafir has covered up his fitrah by rejecting
Allah. Kufr is defined as meaning the absence of iman. (It is not defined except in the
negative).

c) Nifaq
It comes from the root nafaqa meaning tunnel. Nifaq means hypocrisy, i.e. you have a
secret tunnel you are escaping from once you have entered into Islam.

All three are divided into major and minor; it is the major that expels one from Islam.
*Note: Fisq and dhulm are also major and minor.

Kuf r
Linguistically: From kafara, which means to cover up
Technically: The absence of iman.

Shi rk
Linguistically: From the root word that signifies mixing, assimilation
Technically: To give the rights of Allah to other than Allah (subhanahu wataala)

Ni f aq
Linguistically: From the oot word that is used for tunnel, burrow
Technically: To pretend to be a Muslim while belying the message

Q. What is the relationship between these three terms?
The Shariah defines all of these terms. In The Light of Guidance, we discussed the relationship
between kufr, shirk, and nifaq. Kufr is the larger circle, and shirk comes within it, and nifaq also
comes within it. Every shirk and every nifaq is kufr.

Kufr
Shirk
Nifaq
Fai th I V
108

Each one of these three terms is composed of major and minor manifestations. It is the major
manifestations that expel one from Islam. The minor of these do not expel one from Islam.
Major shirk is to give the rights of Allah to other than Allah. Major kufr is the absence of iman.
Major nifaq is to pretend to be a Muslim when you are really not a Muslim.

Minor kufr is fighting with your Muslim brother. Minor nifaq - The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) said there are many things if you do that you have the characteristic of hypocrisy:
lying, breaking promises, breaking trusts, bad language. These are signs of hypocrisy and are
sins. Minor nifaq, minor kufr, and minor shirk are all major sins. They are minor only because
when you compare them to their major, they are minor. Minor does not mean that they are
trivial and can be overlooked. They are dangerous because they are ladders to major.

10. 2 The Real i ty of Kuf r

Kufr is the absence of iman. There are many matters and beliefs and statements that show the
lack and absence of iman. These things can come from the heart, be statements of the tongue,
and be actions of the body.

A) From the heart:
1) Lack of belief (qawl al-qalb)
In this category, you do not affirm. This could be due to:
a) Ignorance
These days there are fewer people who are not connected.
b) Incorrect information.
His version of Islam is not correct. We leave him up to Allah. Allah is All Just and
will deal with him in the best way possible.
c) Doubt (shakk)
It is very common that many people will study Islam but will not have firm belief.
d) Turning away (irad)
This is perhaps the most common reason. This is the kufr of the one who just does
not care. This person is only concerned with material pleasures.

2) Denial of belief (amal al-qalb)
This could be due to:
a) Arrogance (istikbar)
This is the kufr of Iblis, Firawn, Nimrud (the king at the time of Ibrahim (alayhi
salam)). These people are the most difficult to convert because they know that they
are wrong.
b) Outright rejection (juhud)
In other words, the person genuinely believes that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) is not a prophet and rejects him. There were people like that in the
Quraysh. Many converts to Islam at the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) were initially of this category. This group is the easiest group of people to
Fai th I V
109

convert because deep down, they are sincere. An example is Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl.
He was one of the worst enemies of Islam but eventually converted. We learn from
the story that he genuinely believed in his religion of paganism and was sincere in
denying the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). When it does finally click, he
becomes of the best Muslims. Most of the people who converted at the time of the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) went through this type of phase.

c) Hypocrisy (nifaq)
This is claiming to be a Muslim but in reality not believing in it. It is common to
find nifaq at times when Muslims are in power. When Islam is in times of suffering
and pain, iman becomes stronger, and the people who come to the masjid are
genuinely Muslim. When Islam is in times of izzah, it is easier for people to pretend
to be Muslim.

B) By the tongue:
1) Outright rejection
A person says I am not a Muslim and rejects Islam. To make the haram into the halal.
2) A statement that necessitates rejection (ridicule, sarcasm, rejection of a fundamental
commandment)
Statements that show that there cannot be iman in the persons heart. The scholars
unanimously agreed that it is not possible for a person with iman to consciously say
things such as cursing Allah and cursing the Messenger and ridiculing Allah and the
Messenger and being sarcastic towards Allah and the Messenger.

C) From the body:
Example: to willingly and consciously bow down to an idol, to disrespect the Quran, anything
that demonstrates that there is a lack of iman. By unanimous consensus of all schools of fiqh, to
disrespect the Quran is one of the clearest signs of kufr because the Quran is the Speech of
Allah. You cannot have an atoms weight of iman and show disrespect to the Quran.

Sufyan b. Uyayna (d. 198) was asked about the murjia. He said, Iman consists of statements
and actions, and the murjia considered Jannah to be obligatory on those who testified the
shahadah even if his heart was adamant at not doing the obligatory good deeds, and they
considered this a sin, just like incest. But they are not the same! Because incest, if it is still
considered impermissible, is a sin, but leaving the obligatory good deeds intentionally, without
ignorance or excuse, is kufr. And the example of this is in Adam, Iblis, and the scholars of the
Yahud. As for Adam, he was prohibited from eating of the tree, but he ate intentionally,
desiring power or eternal life. So he was called a sinner, without any kufr. As for Iblis, he was
told to prostrate once, but refused intentionally and rejected it, and so he was called a kafir.
And as for the scholars of the Yahud, they recognized the characteristic of the Prophet just as
they know their sons, and they admitted this with their tongues, but they did not follow his
Shariah, so they were called kafir. [Dhahira al-Irja, p. 482]

One way to differentiate between these issues is to look at Adam and Iblis. Both disobeyed
Allah, but one of them is a righteous man and prophet while the other is the leader of the kafirs.
One of them did it and recognized the sin and felt the guilt and turned to Allah and becomes of
the greatest of prophets. The other becomes arrogant and refuses and is drawn into more and
more arrogance and becomes the leader of the kufar.

Fai th I V
110

10. 3 Mi nor Kuf r, Shi rk and Ni f aq

How do we know that kufr and nifaq are divided into major and minor? Major and minor kufr is
not explicitly mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, but rather it is inferred and implied. The
scholars have looked at the texts of the Quran and Sunnah, and from these texts, they have
derived that kufr is major and minor. As for shirk, it has been mentioned as minor but not
major. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, The thing I am scared of for you the most
is minor shirk. From this, we know that if there is minor, then there is also major. This is
clearly derived. Nifaq has not been mentioned as major and minor. When we find the Shariah
using kufr as major and minor, we infer that nifaq is major and minor.

Many traditions mention sins by calling them kufr. We know that those sins do not expel one
from Islam. How can the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) call something kufr and it does not
make the person a kafir? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is talking about a type of kufr
that is lesser than the kufr that expels a person from Islam. This is what Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu
anhu) said when asked about a verse in the Quran that describes an act as being kufr. He (radhi
Allahu anhu) said that it is not that kind of kufr. In another version, he said, It is a kufr lesser
than kufr. From the earliest sahabah, they understood that kufr and shirk are major and minor.

There are many traditions that mention fighting a Muslim as being kufr.
For example: Cursing a Muslim is a sin, and fighting him is kufr. [Sahih Al Bukhari] Qital means
that you are facing him in a war or battle that is of this duniyah.

Yet, in the Quran, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says, And if two parties or groups among the
believers fall to fighting, then make peace between them both [Al-Hujurat: 9]

How can Allah use the term believers when the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) used the
term kufr? Because the kufr was minor kufr, meaning that they are still Muslims.

The texts of the Quran and Sunnah hint at major and minor kufr, and explicitly mention minor
shirk, and it is extrapolated that nifaq is major and minor. All of the minor can be forgiven and
can emanate from Islam.

Similarly, the Prophetic traditions mention certain acts as being shirk or nifaq, yet are clearly
sins.

! Proves the existence of some type of kufr that is present amongst Muslims; i.e. minor kufr
(and minor shirk and minor nifaq)

To summarize:
Kufr, nifaq, and shirk are all major and minor. Sins are major and minor. Generally speaking,
major sins take you from level 2 iman to level 1 iman (the bare minimum) but does not make
you a kafir. There is one category of major sins that are not called major sins even though they
are major sins in the grand scheme of things, and that is the sin of major shirk or major kufr or
major nifaq. In the grand scale of things, worshipping an idol is a sin, but it is called major shirk.
It is also such a big sin that the person is not a Muslim anymore.

Fai th I V
111

Minor shirk, minor kufr, and minor nifaq are also major sins, but the person is still a Muslim.
Some sins are so severe that the person is not a Muslim anymore.

10. 4 Issues of Ri ddah

Linguistically: Comes from the verb radda, which means to return from something.

Technically: To return to kufr after having left it for Islam.
Or: Coming forth with a belief, statement or action after entering Islam that nullifies it.
The murtad is someone who turned his back and left Islam.

Examples of beliefs, statements and actions that constitute ridda:
Heart:
! To ascribe divinity to other than Allah (subhanahu wataala)
! To believe something that contradicts the fundamentals of Islam
Example: if a Muslim accepts the beliefs of the Qadiyyanis, he is a murtad because of their
beliefs is that there is a prophet after our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), which
contradicts the basics of our religion. No one can remain a Muslim while accepting this
belief.
! To consider something haram as halal when it is established otherwise
One must be very careful when using this rule. Two faqihs can always differ over the same
thing being halal or haram. Two scholars can look at the same contract or issue and one will
say halal and the other haram. This principle does not apply because they are looking at
something at trying to extrapolate from the Quran and Sunnah. The issues of halal
mortgage schemes and music do not contradict the Quran and Sunnah.
There is no ambiguity that zina and riba are haram.

Tongue:
! To utter statements of kufr without duress
! To ridicule Allah or His Messenger
Many times people think that a comedian is ridiculing Allah and His Messenger, but from
his perspective he is not. The idea of having a full-time Muslim comedian contradicts our
ethics. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Woe to the one who stands up and
lies to make the people laugh. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, I caution you
against laughing too much. Laughing too much makes the heart go hard.

Body:
! To perform any action that demonstrates a lack of iman, such as disrespecting the Quran or
prostrating to an idol, etc.

Sins
Major
Minor
Major Kufr
Major Shirk
Major Nifaq
Minor Kufr
Minor Shirk
Minor Nifaq
Kufr
Islam
Fai th I V
112

In an Islamic state, the punishment for riddah is execution. There is unanimous consensus
amongst all the schools of law that in an Islamic environment, if a murtad remains a murtad
with all conditions met is to be executed.
*Note: Scholars have unanimously agreed that hadd punishments can only be applied by a
legitimate caliph. Muslims living under non-Muslim rule can NEVER take the law into their
own hands. A Muslim who becomes a murtad may be socially ostracized, but nothing else.

The best example for this is the Muslims in Abyssinia. They were living as a minority in a land
of Christians. In Abyssinia, Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh, who was the husband of Umm Habiba, left
Islam for Christianity and became a murtad. The Muslims numbered around 110 there. The
Muslims did absolutely nothing because it was not their job, and they were not in an Islamic
land. Umm Habiba left him.

How to treat a murtad varies from person to person. Sometimes being nice and kind and
merciful to a murtad is the best way to his heart. Other times being harsh and boycotting is the
best way. Generally speaking, the best way is for some to be kind while others are harsh. In
North America, being too harsh will cause him to go away.

Ruling by a Law other than the Shariah

! Theoretical issues (different opinions)
! Practical ramifications (extremist groups ignore)

This issue has become one of the most controversial issues of our times. It is exploited by
extremist groups to justify radical ideologies and militant actions. This is controversial because
of many factors, one of them being that in some books of Islamic law and fatawa, some scholars
said that some signs of major kufr are to substitute the Shariah for other law. There are verses
in the Quran that clearly suggest that when you change the Shariah or rule by other than the
judgment of Allah, then you have committed kufr. Surah Al Maidah v. 44: Whoever does not
judge by the Judgment of Allah are of the dhaalimoon.

For fourteen centuries by and large, disputes would be taken to the local court and the judge
would rule by the Shariah. The qadhi had full control. It was only in the last 100-150 years
with the advent of colonialism and imperialism that those who were placed in charge by the
foreign powers made a new constitution and a new law. There is not a single place on earth
where the Shariah is applied completely (some countries do come close). For the vast majority
of Muslim countries, their laws have nothing to do with the Shariah. In the 50s and 60s,
various movements were formed as a reaction to this. These movements began pointing out
the fact that substituting the Shariah with another law cannot come from a Muslim. Some said
that this is jahiliyyah. It became vogue in the 60s to call these governments jahiliyy
governments. The people who said this were never theologians or scholars or trained in the
Islamic sciences but were Islamic thinkers and had a love for Islam and used poetic
terminology. When these people died and their followers had heard that these were jahiliyy
societies, fringe movements began to form to take it to a more radical conclusion. The
founders never thought it through all the way.

What does it mean that the society or government is jahiliyy? They said if they are not Muslim,
then they are murtad and should be killed. This is a slow reaction to the collapse of the
caliphate. All of these movements were not existent 100 or 200 years ago. Some of these fringe
Fai th I V
113

movements break out from the mainstream and say that if we have a jahiliyy society, then they
are all kafirs and must be killed because to rule by other than the Shariah is kufr. They say that
no Muslim can possibly substitute the entire Shariah for another Shariah. Where are they
coming from? Islam means submission, so to what will you submit if you cancel the whole
Shariah. In principle, what they are saying has an element of truth to it. These fringe
movements, which are the precursors to movements of our times, began propagating a very
extremist ideology based upon the generic statements that whoever rules by other than the
Shariah of Allah is a kafir. The issue of judging by other than the Shariah became the central
theological issue in the 70s, 80s, and into the 90s. What do we do when the ameer / president /
king is not judging by the Shariah? Is the issue of judging by other than Allah come under
minor kufr or under major kufr? If it is minor kufr, then he is still a Muslim. This remains a
topic of huge debate and contention even within our own movements. As within any
movement, there are those on the right, left, and center. There are those who quote Ibn Kathir
who said: Whoever leaves the revealed law sent down to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) and instead rules by other laws is a kafir. Ibn Taymiyyah wrote a fatwa against the
Mongols who claimed to Muslim, and he said that the Mongols are not Muslims even though
they pray and fast and say la ilaha illAllah because they did not follow Allahs Law amongst
themselves but followed Genghis Khans laws. Ghazan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, said he
was a Muslim, but Ibn Taymiyyah said that the Mongols cannot be considered Muslims because
they had not left the laws of Genghis Khan.

All militant jihadist groups are on the hardline position and say that Muslim governments are
all kafirs because they judge by other than the Law of Allah and say that it is major kufr.

On the other side, there are scholars such as Shaykh Bin Baaz who said that substituting the
laws of Islam and acknowledging that you are committing a sin is like drinking wine and is
minor kufr but will not reach the level of major kufr. As long as you acknowledge that you
should not be doing it, it is minor kufr. There are opinions in the middle as well.

This is an issue of huge political importance. In the last two decades, there are hundreds of
fatawa on all sides of the spectrum. Putting aside the theory, we must look at this issue from a
reality perspective. What does this mean for me living in Egypt, Pakistan, or America?
Generally speaking, the militant wing never takes real life into account and do not look at the
repercussions. The ground realities of what happens when you start spreading these realities is
that you get extremism where those killing are Muslims and those being killed are also Muslims
(i.e. in Afghanistan). Our ummah has always been against this. Theory is one thing and reality
is another.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen said, Whatever the theory is, to make takfir of anyone who claims to be
a Muslim is a big deal, and we would rather err on the side of caution and not say anything we
will be accountable for on the Day of Judgment. Allah knows how much those who are leaders
know about Islam and their niyyah. You should respect the Shariah in your own lives.

As Americans living in a secular democracy, what is our responsibility towards the Shariah?
There are movements and parties formed in the 60s who came here in the early 70s, and their
vision was the establishment of the Islamic state. They had nave, utopic understandings. Is it
our goal to establish the Shariah? [Listen to: Towards Establishing a Vision of Muslims in the
West on video.google.com] Our goal as minorities living in America is to ensure our freedoms
and rights to practice the Shariah as much as we can in our private lives. Our goal is not and
Fai th I V
114

cannot be to overthrow the current constitution and replace it with the Shariah. To do so is
treachery and politically suicidal and unIslamic. We are just like Christians who view abortion
as being immoral and murder even if the Supreme Court has allowed it. The concept of
Shariah for us as American Muslims is a personal one. If two of us have a problem, we should
go to alternative Islamic arbitration courts, which are legal.

Conclusion: Regardless of the theoretical factors, all major scholars the world over state that
making blanket takfir of societies, or politicians, leads to a far greater harm than any possible
good. It is for this reason that no senior scholar supports takfiri groups in either their theory or
their practices.

10. 5 The Issue of Takf i r

Takfir means calling another person a kafir. There are a number of rules that need to be
implemented and understood.

Rule: Whoever is a Muslim for certain cannot be considered a non-Muslim based on doubt.

You know someone is a Muslim when he does something purely Islamic. The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever prays our prayer and faces our qiblah and eats of our
ritually slaughtered meats, he is a Muslim. Once you know someone is a Muslim for certain,
then you do not consider him to be a kafir except based upon the same amount of certain. What
is known for certain can only be cancelled with what is certain. Certainty cannot be removed
by doubt.

Whoever calls his brother O kafir! it shall return to one of the two. So if the other was as he
said [it will go to him], otherwise it shall return upon the one who said it. [Sahih Muslim]
The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) affirmed the brotherhood. What does otherwise it
shall return upon the one who said it mean? There is a lot of ikhtilaaf. Some scholars said not
to interpret it because it is a very dangerous thing. Other scholars said to return back to him
means that you consider him to be a kafir, but you also believe in what he believes, so it is as if
you are calling yourself a kafir. Other scholars said that it means that the one who considers it
permissible to call others kafir when they are not kafirs (i.e. making the haram into the halal) is a
kafir because only Allah is the ultimate Judge. However we understand it, it shows that it is
very dangerous to stamp people with kafir. Shaykh Uthaymeen said to err on the side of
caution is better.

Hadeeth of the man of Bani Israil who was righteous and would pass by someone who would
always commit sins. Every time he passed by, he told the man, Fear Allah! Stop your sin!
One day, the sinner became irritated and said, Who do you think you are? Did Allah make you
my boss? [he was rude but did not say anything that was kufr]. The man became angry and
said, By Allah! Allah can never forgive you. [This is the height of arrogance.] Allah said, And
who do you think you are to swear in My Name that I cannot forgive? I have destroyed all of
your good deeds and have forgiven him.
To call someone a kafir is the height of arrogance. Therefore, it is not in the domain of the
average Muslim to pronounce takfir.

Exception: When the man belongs to a group whom you know for a fact is not a part of Islam.
There are three groups that claim to be Muslim, and we can say without doubt that they are not
Fai th I V
115

Muslim. They are the Aga Khanis, the Qadiyyanis, the Nation of Islam, the Durooz and the
Nusayris. If a Muslim says he is a Muslim and does not belong to any of these groups, then it is
not your job to excommunicate them. Realize that takfir is a type of fatwa, which means that
one scholar may think that someone is a kafir based on his interaction with him and another
does not.

Rule: Takfir of characteristics does not necessitate takfir of individuals with those
characteristics.

The difference between takfir al-mutlaq and takfir al-muayyan:

This is a fundamental principle of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah. A characteristic is making fun of
Allah, which is an act kufr. The person can commit an act of kufr, but it does not necessarily
make him a kafir. This is the difference between takfir of characteristics versus takfir of
individuals (takfir al-muayyan). Takfir al-mutlaq is saying that anyone who curses Allah is a kafir.
Ahl al-sunnah speaks in generalities. Takfir al-muayyan is not the job for the average person.
There are many conditions that must be met in order for a person to be considered a kafir.

Ibn Taymiyyah writes: So it is possible that an action or statement be kufr, and one may
generalize and say that whoever is guilty of it is a kafir. However, it is not allowed to specify a
particular person who has done such a deed as being a kafir until sufficient proof is presented to
him (iqamat al-hujja) a proof that is so clear that one may consider the one who opposes it to
be a kafir. And this is a matter that is clear in all of the texts that mention punishments, and
[one that] ahl al-sunnah affirms. So one does not testify regarding a specific person of this
ummah that he shall be in the Fire, because there is a possibility he shall not, due to an
impeding factor or a lack of the necessary conditions. [Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmu al-Fatawa
35/165]

Excuses that prevent takfir:
1) Ignorance (jahl)
The ignorant person will be forgiven on the Day of Judgment. Not knowing something is
haram or genuinely believing something to be Islamic.
! An uneducated man blindly following his leaders (taqlid)
! Not being capable of knowing or learning (ajz)
! Ignorance is relative (time, place, person)
For example, if a kid growing up in modern day Saudi Arabia is taught the basics of
tawheed and for him to make fun of Allah is not the same as an American kid in high
school who has not been taught.
Evidences: Hadeeth of the man from the children of Israil [Bukhari and Muslim] who was a
major sinner. When he was about to die, he told his children that he was scared of Allah
because he was a sinner, so he wanted them to cremate his body and scatter his ashes as far
as they could. The man wanted this to be done because he thought that Allah could not
resurrect him if it was done. He thought he could outsmart Allah, which is kufr. Allah
ordered the winds to gather his ashes, and Allah asked him why he did what he did. The
man said, O Allah, I was scared of you. Allah forgave him because of the genuine fear.
The man did the height of kufr but was forgiven.

Hadeeth of Abu Waqid Al Laythi: Abu Waqid Al Laythi asks the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) to create a good luck charm, and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
Fai th I V
116

SubhanAllah, you have asked me to give you another god [major shirk]. The Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) accused him of asking for shirk, but he did not accuse him of
becoming a mushrik. He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did not consider Abu Waqid a mushrik
because he was a brand new Muslim and did not know better.

Allah says that the person who does not know and the messengers do not come to him, he
will not be punished.
Isra v. 15, Nor do We punish until We have sent a messenger.
Nisa v. 165: They were messengers bearing good news and warning so that mankind
would have no excuse before God, once the messengers had been sent: God is Almighty an
All Wise.
Surah Al Mulk v. 8 The angels ask, Didnt a warner come to you?
Surah Qasas v. 56: Allah mentions the reason why messengers are sent is to establish
evidence. You [Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)] cannot guide everyone you love to the
truth; it is God who guides whoever He will: He knows best those who will follow
guidance.

Ignorance in America in general is on the higher side. There are very few ulema, and people
rarely interact with them. People can do things that are kufr and defend things that are
kufr, but they are so ignorant of the religion, and you do not call them kafir.

You do not know the level of the other persons knowledge. Allah will judge people based
upon their knowledge.

Because of the issue of ignorance, it is not allowed for another person to call another a kafir
until evidence is presented to them (iqamat al-hujjah). In the history of Islam, very few
people have been executed for heresy. Even though they spouted ideas of kufr, by and large
the ulema did not consider them to be kafir.

2) Genuine mistake (khata)
A genuine mistake means that he genuinely thought otherwise and believed something
other than what it is. An example of a genuine mistake is the man who got lost in the
desert. Allah is happier at a servant with his repenting than the man lost in the desert who
lost his camel and then slept and woke up and found the camel and out of happiness said O
Allah, I am your lord and You are my servant. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
He made a mistake because he was so deliriously happy. He did not mean it.

Allah has said in the Quran that He has forgiven khata.

3) Being coerced (ikrah)
Ikrah is someone threatening you with physical harm unless you do something of kufr. This
happened and continues to happen in our times, most recently in Bosnia in the 90s.
Sometimes a person is forced to do something and his heart hates it. Scholars say that it is
allowed with a number of conditions. It is never recommended by and large but is allowed.
Of those conditions is that there is a genuine threat (not a threat that you are imagining) of
severe bodily harm to yourself or your family and loved ones.

Ammar ibn Yasir saw his mother and father killed in the most vulgar, crude, and evil of
manners. They came to him and began torturing him, and he says what they want him to
Fai th I V
117

say and praised their idols and rejected Islam. He ran crying to the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam), and Allah revealed the following verse:
Whoever disbelieved in Allah after his belief, except Him who is forced thereto and whose
heart is at rest with faith but such as open their breasts to disbelief, on them is wrath from
Allah, and theirs will be a great torment. [An-Nahl: 106]

4) An incorrect interpretation (tawil)
Someone genuinely believed something to be Islamic. The most controversial example is:
in many countries, people believe that turning to saints and asking them for their needs is a
part of Islam, so they go to the wali in the grave and call out to them and ask them for their
needs. This is the essence of shirk. To call out to other than Allah for your needs is the
essence of shirk. At the same time, Shaykh Yasir does not consider those people to be
mushriks. The person who is going to the grave genuinely believes that this is the religion
of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and it is what he has been taught. We leave his
affair to Allah. For this man, it is a type of ignorance. What about his teachers? Some of
our scholars have said that anyone who allows someone to make dua to other than Allah is
a kafir.

Another example: The issue of Allahs Attributes. To deny Allahs Attributes is a type of
kufr, but at the same time, many other groups deny and misinterpret Allahs Names and
Attributes because they are trying to in some perverted way respect Allah more than the
Quran does, and they say that taking the Quran at face value is dangerous. They say that
taking what the Quran says at face value is disrespectful and that Allah meant it in a
metaphorical way. What they are doing may be kufr, but no one calls them kafir. They have
a sincere reason. We consider some of the beliefs of the Mutazilah and our theological
cousins to be kufr, be we never call them kafir.

10. 6 Summary of i man and kuf r

1) The essence (or base, or foundation) of kufr and iman are mutually exclusive.
Consider iman and kufr like two trees. The essence or base of these trees are mutually
exclusive. You cannot have the trunks of both of these trees. You either have the tree of
iman or the tree of kufr.

2) Both have pillars and foundations, and also branches and subdivisions.
They are not one entity but have branches and roots and pillars.

3) Both are composed of inner belief and outer action.

4) Some actions and beliefs are intrinsically linked to iman and kufr
To believe that Allah speaks the truth is the essence of iman. To accept the Messenger (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is the essence of iman. To think that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) is not a prophet is the essence of kufr.

5) All good deeds exist as pillars or branches of iman, and all sins are manifestations of the
branches of kufr.
All good comes from the tree of iman, and all sins are found on the tree of kufr. Some of the
sins are the basis of the trunk while others are the branches or twigs.

Fai th I V
118

6) It is possible that a person has the foundation of iman but some branches of kufr, and vice
versa.
It is possible for a person to have the tree of iman but some branches of kufr are intermixing
and intertwining (the minor sins). Every single Muslim has some branches or twigs of the
tree of kufr, and the goal is to minimize them. The opposite is also possible: a kafir may
have twigs and branches of iman mixing in. Some kufar have honesty, decency, and good
manners.

7) Having a branch of kufr does not necessitate becoming a kafir.
Having a branch of the tree of iman does not make a person a mumin. The branches and
subdivisions are not mutually exclusive, but the trunks / base are.

11 | The Opposi ng Groups

11. 1 The Hi story of the Confl i ct

The controversy over iman was the very first controversy in the ummah and dates back to the
time of the sahabah.

! Death of Umar b. al-Khattab (radhi Allahu anhu)

Who amongst you has heard the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) discuss fitnathe ones
that are like the tidal waves of the ocean? Hudhayfa (radhi Allahu anhu) responded, What do
you have to do with those, O Commander of the Faithful, for between you and it is a closed
door. Will the door be broken or will it open? No, rather it will be broken. Then it
makes sense that it shall never be closed after it. So we asked Hudhayfa (radhi Allahu anhu) if
Umar (radhi Allahu anhu) know who that door was. He said, Yes, just like he knows that after
today shall come tomorrow. [Sahih Muslim]

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) on one day spoke from fajr until isha. He (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) was speaking about what was going to happen to the ummah. A number of
people who witnessed it said that they did not take notes and forgot about it, but when
something happened, they remembered the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) talked about it.

Hudhayfa (radhi Allahu anhu) understood that the door was Umar and the breaking of the door
was his assassination.

! Discontent during the time of Uthman Eventual assassination

! Two wars at the time of Ali (radhi Allahu anhu) (Battle of the Camel and Battle of Siffin in
36 AH)
More blood was shed in these two civil wars than in all of the previous battles since Badr.

! Formation of numerous groups as a direct or indirect result.
a) Various groups of companions (at least 3): Ali, Muawiyah, neutral (Ibn Abbas was the
leader)
b) The Khawarij
Fai th I V
119

c) The Shiites
These groups all formed during the time of Ali. The sahabah differed amongst themselves,
but their differences were political and not theological. The sahabah did not differ about
who was a Muslim or kafir, and they did not accuse each other of being kafir or abandoning
the sunnah. They disagreed about the implementation and politics, which are worldly
issues. They never disagreed about Islam.

The Khawarij said that the sahabah abandoned the Shariah and left following Allah and His
Messenger; therefore, because they have disobeyed Allah and disobedience is kufr, then the
sahabah were kafirs. Not a single member of the Khawarij was a sahabi. Only 30 years had
passed, but not a single one of the Khawarij was a sahabi. The Khawarij were people who
broke away from the companions and accused the companions of leaving Islam and judging
by other than the Book of Allah.

The Shia went the opposite way and said the sahabah were evil except for Ali and a few
others.

11. 2 The Khawari j

The Khawarij began the initial theological disputes: what is the definition of iman? Who is a
mumin?

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) called the Khawarij overzealous and young but with
wild dreams.

Abu Salama (radhi Allahu anhu) related that Abu Said (radhi Allahu anhu) said, While the
Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was distributing [zakat], Abdullah ibn Dhil-Khuwaysira at-
Tamimi (radhi Allahu anhu) came and said, O Messenger of Allah, be just! He said to him, Woe
to you! Who will be just if I am not just? Umar ibn al-Khattab (radhi Allahu anhu) said, Give me
permission to cut off his head! He said, Leave him. He has companions whose prayer will
make yours seem paltry and whose fasting makes yours seem paltry. They will pass through
the deen like the arrow passes through game. One looks at his arrowhead and there is nothing
on it. Then he looks at the mount of its head and there is nothing on it. He will look at its shaft
and there is nothing on it. Then he will look at its feathers and there ill be nothing on them, for
it has been too fast for excrement and blood. Their sign will be a dark man, one of whose arms
is like a womans breast, or a piece of meat palpitating. They will emerge when there are
parties among people.

! Camped at a place called Nahawand (around 6 thousand)
! Ibn Abbas (radhi Allahu anhu) was sent to debate with them
! Ali was forced to fight them

Leaders:
1. Nafi b. al-Azraq (founded the Azariqa)
2. Najda b. Amir
3. Abdullah b. Ibad

Beliefs:
1. Iman consists of faith, statements, and actions, as an entire whole.
Fai th I V
120

2. A person has either this entire whole, or he has nothing.
3. Therefore, if one essential action is missing (or a sin committed), the entire name of
iman must be taken away.
4. Any person who commits a sin will be treated as a murtad life, property, and women
will be permissible.
5. All of the companions who participated in the Arbitration have committed a sin,
hence are non-Muslims

Scholars in our times say the militant groups in a theological sense are similar to the Khawarij.
The Khawarij were militant and fanatic, and they could not remain for too long because they
caused too much chaos. Ali fought and killed them, and they went to other places like Oman.
Eventually, they took over Oman, and to this day Oman remains a Kharijite country in the sense
that the leaders are following a version of Kharijism although most of the people there are
Sunni. Another group fled to Tunisia and exists until this day in certain regions.

By and large, Kharijites have been wiped out. The Kharijites that remain are the most docile
and pacifist relatively speaking. In the 70s in Egypt, there was a revival of Kharijism and they
assassinated Anwar Sadat.

11. 3 The Murj i a of the Juri sts

Because the Kharijites went to one extreme, they went to another in order to refute them.
Overreacting is not the solution. When the Kharijites said that actions are a part of iman, they
were correct. They were wrong when they said that when you do not do something properly
then you are a kafir.

! Founded by: Dharr b. Abdullah al-Harawi (d. ~99 AH) or Hammad b. Abi Sulayman (d. 120
AH)

Beliefs:
1. Iman consists of belief and affirmation of the tongue.
2. Actions are not a part of iman, but an indication.
3. People are all the same in their base level of iman, but not in their actions
They said iman was an entire system, meaning you either have it or not.
4. Actual iman does not increase or decrease, but some emotions of the heart and actions
do
5. Did not allow istithna (i.e. saying inshaAllah when asked about ones iman) since the
essence of iman is the same, and to doubt it is kufr

Some of the famous scholars of Kufa believed in this opinion.

11. 4 The Jahmi yya

The Jahmiyya were the most extreme.

! Founded by Jahm b. Safwan (d. 124 AH)

Beliefs:
1. Belief was only knowledge (marifa).
Fai th I V
121

2. Actions do not form a part of iman or kufr

They said that iman was simply knowledge and knowing that Allah is your Lord. According to
them, Abu Talib, Abu Lahab, and Iblis are believers.

11. 5 The Real Murj i a

This group is in between the Murjia and the Jahmiyya. This group of the murjia infiltrated our
ummah and affected the beliefs of many people, which is why the average Muslim has Murjiite
tendencies. The average Muslim believes that iman is only belief of the heart, which is not the
theology of ahl al-sunnah. Iman is more than belief.

! Many different founders of different groups (at least 15 different groups)

Beliefs:
1. Iman consists of belief of the heart only
2. Actions are not part of iman completely independent of it.
Therefore, the person who never prays is a Muslim according to them. This is not the
belief of ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah.
3. People are all the same in their level of iman.
4. Iman does not increase or decrease.
5. The sinner is a mumin with full iman and shall enter Paradise
Ahl al-sunnah says that the sinner is a fasiq and a person of low iman. We leave the
matter to Allah. He may enter Jannah immediately or may go to Jahannam first.
6. Most did not allow istithna

What is the problem of spreading Murjiite tendencies to the masses? Corruption and fasad will
spread, and there will be no motivation to be religious.

11. 6 The Ash ari tes and Maturi di tes

One particular group adopted Murjiite theology in issues of iman, which was the Ashaarites.

! Founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari (d. 324) and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333)

Beliefs:
1. Iman is belief (tasdiq)
2. Agreed with the murjia on all of their premises

11. 7 The Evi dences of the Opposi ng Groups

The Murjia of the Jurists
The Creed of al-Tahawi (one of the most famous creeds of Islam):
57. We do not consider any of the people of our qibla to be unbelievers because of any
wrong action they have done, as long as they do not consider that action to have been
lawful.
[At first glance, this seems correct; however, one caveat needs to be added: except major
kufr. For the Murjia, there is no action that is kufr. For us, we do not consider anyone to be
Fai th I V
122

kafir because of an action they have done unless the action is an action of major kufr such as
cursing Allah and His Messenger or showing disrespect to the Quran.]

58. Nor do we say that the wrong action of a man who has belief does not have a harmful
effect on him.
59. We hope that Allah will pardon the people of right action among the believers and
grant them entrance into the Garden through His mercy, but we cannot be certain of
this, and we cannot bear witness that it will definitely happen and that they will be in
the Garden. We ask forgiveness for the people of wrong action among the believers
and, although we are afraid for them, we are not in despair about them
[We agree with this point.]

61. A person does not step out of belief except by disavowing what brought him into it.
[Iblis did not reject anything but simply refused to obey. This is not correct. One element
to leave Islam is to reject, but there are others as well: to refuse to submit, to do an action
of kufr such as worshipping an idol knowing that it is an idol.]

62. Belief consists of affirmation by the tongue and acceptance by the heart.
[This is missing one part: actions of the limbs.]

64. Belief is, at base, the same for everyone, but the superiority of some over others in it is
due to their fear and awareness of Allah (subhanahu wataala), their opposition to their
desires, and their choosing what is more pleasing to Allah.
[They say that at the base it is the same because they have a binary system.]

It was written by someone influenced by the Murjia of the Fuqaha.

The Murjia

! Ibn Taymiyyah mentions that the term murjia was applied by the salaf to three groups:
1) Those who said that iman exists only in the heart
a. Excluded actions of the heart (such as the Jahmiyya)
b. Included actions of the heart (most groups)
2) Those who said that it exists in the tongue only (the Karramiyya)
3) Those who said that it is the belief of the heart and the affirmation of the tongue.

! First Evidence: Fabricated Traditions

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) never spoke about the reality of iman increasing and
decreasing.

Whoever presumes that iman increases and decreases then its increase is nifaq and decrease
is kufr. They must repent or be killed; they are the enemies of Ar-Rahman; they have left the
religion of Allah and accepted kufr

Does iman increase and decrease? No, its increase is hypocrisy and its decrease is disbelief.

Fai th I V
123

! Second Evidence: Linguistic Understandings

The Asharite definition of iman is that it is synonymous with tasdiq, or merely affirming the
truth. They based this on two basic premises:

First Premise: Linguistically, iman is completely synonymous with faith, or tasdiq
And you will never be a mumin to us even if we are sadiqun. [Yusuf: 17]

Claimed ijma.

Second Premise: Tasdiq is purely an action of the heart and exists only in the heart.

Ahl al-sunnahs response:
1. Where did you get this unanimous consensus from?
2. Even if this definition were correct, it would only be defining the linguistic meaning of
the word, and not its technical, Islamic one.
The main evidence they use is linguistic. Their evidence: Iman means belief. This is
true, but we do not base Islamic definitions on linguistic meanings. Even if iman does
mean belief, the Shariah has defined it to be more than belief, and we take the
language of the Shariah.
3. The two words are in fact not synonymous [Ibn Taymiyyah views the word iqrar as
being linguistically close to iman]
The word for belief in Arabic is tasdiq, and Ibn Taymiyyah said the closest synonym for
iman is not tasdiq but iqrar.
4. There are clear Quranic examples of those who have tasdiq but are not believers
The Quran mentions a number of people who believed but were not Muslims. The first
of them is Iblis. Surah Al Baqarah v. 26. Surah An Naml v. 14 Allah ascribes yaqeen to
Firawn. He had the yaqeen that Musa was a prophet.
5. The Quran and Sunnah used the term tasdiq for actions.
Ibn Taymiyyah said that tasdiq, which is what they said iman is, can also occur as an
action and is not just in the heart. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that the
amount of fornication of every single man has already been predestinated for him. The
zina of the eyes is to gaze, and the zina of the hands is to touch the haram, and the
private parts of the man yusadiqu the mans zina in his heart. The private parts follow
up in the belief by taking it to zina or by restraining it. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) called this action tasdiq of his desires even though it is an action. Therefore, this
means that tasdiq can also be done by the limbs and not just by the heart.

! Third Evidence: Various Texts

These texts suggest that all you need to do is believe with no actions.

1. For such He has written faith in their hearts [Al-Mujadilah: 22]

Ahl al-sunnahs response: The context is evidence against them; iman settles in the heart.
We do not only take one hadeeth and ignore all of the rest. We understand the hadeeth
literally: whoever says it and means it, and actions show that the person means it.

Fai th I V
124

2. The hadeeth of the slave girl, for the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) testified that she
was a mumin just by her shahadah.

Ahl al-sunnahs response: The Issue of the relationship between Islam and iman; also the
context, for one must free a believing slave, so he is not testifying to her high faith but
rather that she is a believer.

3. The hadeeth of the people of hell
- The hadeeth is evidence against them in the issue increase / decrease of iman

- Combining all of the versions

- Linguistically, it is allowed to say he does not have it if he does not have the necessary
and acceptable requirements, even if he has some parts of it.

- There might very well be such people if the hadeeth is taken at its face value
completely literally and Allah might forgive them for their ignorance.

- This is the very last group of people, and no matter how one interprets it, it is not
precise to make definitions out of exceptions.

4. The entire Quran, from beginning to ending, always differentiates between iman and
actions. In over seventy verses this phrase appears. This clearly shows that the two are not
the same.
- Once again this is evidence against them. Suppose we were to take them at face value
that amal is different from iman, then the very fact that Allah says that you have to
have amal with iman is against what they are saying. Theoretical belief is not good
enough without amal. The very fact that Allah combines the two shows that they are
linked together.

- The conjunctive and does not necessarily imply difference. It is possible to use the
word and without talking about two separate entities. The Quran is full of this. Surah
Al Baqara v. 98: Allah says, Whoever is an enemy to Allah and the angels and Jibreel
and Mikail Jibreel is part of the angels, and the word and is used to emphasize
paying particular attention to Jibreel and Mikail.
Surah Al Baqara: Guard all of the prayers and the middle prayer The middle prayer
is part of the other prayers. Allah wants to emphasize.
Amal is a part of iman, and because it is so important, Allah emphasizes it.

- Context of the term.

- People who believe yet are not Muslims

! The Khawarij and the Mutazila
Evidences:
And whoever does not judge by the revelation of Allah is a kafir. [Al-Maidah: 44]
Fai th I V
125

And Allah has obligated upon mankind the pilgrimage to the House, whoever can afford to do
so. But whoever does kufr then Allah is not in need of the creation. [Al-Imran: 97]

So whoever does kufr after that is indeed amongst the fasiqs. [Al-Nur: 55]

Response:
- Selection of some verses while ignoring others

Concl usi on

At the end of the day, understand and realize that the reason why we are studying this
knowledge is so that it seeps into our hearts and we come closer to Allah and increase our iman.
The goal of our class is to strengthen our iman.

How does one increase ones iman? Reading Quran is the most effective way to increase ones
iman. Any good deed. Thinking of death. Calling others to the way of Allah. Tahajjud.
Minimizing the sins. Concentrating on the hereafter. Increasing ones fard and nafl. Increasing
ones knowledge. Any good deed increases iman, and any evil deed decreases iman.

! Some of the characteristics of the people of iman:

Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly
submissive. And they who turn away from ill speech. And they who are observant of zakah.
And they who guard their private parts. Except from their wives or those their right hands
possess, for indeed, they will not be blamed But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are
the transgressors. And they who are to their trusts and their promises attentive. And they who
carefully maintain their prayers. Those are the inheritors Who will inherit Al-Firdaus. They
will abide therein eternally. [Al-Muminun: 1-11]

The believers are only (innama) those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become
fearful, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord
they rely The ones who establish prayer, and from what We have provided them, they spend.
Those are the believers, truly. For them are degrees [of high position] with their Lord and
forgiveness and noble provision. [Al-Anfal: 2-4]
Establishing the prayer means to pray it on time with khushu.

The believers are only the ones who have believed in Allah and His Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) and then doubt not but strive with their properties and their lives in the cause of
Allah. It is those who are the truthful. [Al-Hujurat: 15]

The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right
and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Those Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted
in Might and Wise. [At-Tawbah: 71]

[Such believers are] the repentant, the worshippers, the praisers [of Allah], the travelers [for
His cause], those who bow and prostrate [in prayer], those who enjoin what is right and forbid
Fai th I V
126

what is wrong, and those who observe the limits [set by] Allah. And give good tidings to the
believers. [Al-Tawbah: 112]

But no, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam)], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and
then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full,
willing] submission. [Al-Nisa: 65]

Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true]
righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the
prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler,
those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah;
[those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and
hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the
righteous. [Al-Baqarah: 177]

Do you fear them? But Allah has more right that you should fear Him, if you are [truly]
believers. [Al-Tawbah: 13]

Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has
fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his change]. And they did
not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration. [Al-Ahzab: 23]

None of you has iman until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. [Sahih Al
Bukhari]
This is praising the highest level and the perfection of iman.

None of you has iman until I am more beloved to him than his father, son and indeed all of
mankind. [Sahih Al Bukhari]
At some basic level, the Muslim must love the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) more than
anyone else. In terms of following his sunnah and manners, many people fall short but it does
not make them a kafir. It can apply to all three levels of iman.

Whoever truly believes in Allah and the Last Day let him say well, or else be silent! And
whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day let him not harm his neighbor! And whoever
believes in Allah and the Last Day let him be generous with his guest. [Sahih Al Bukhari]

The most perfect of believers in his iman is the one with the most beautiful manners. [Sunan
Au Dawud]
To see where you iman is, check your akhlaq.

Abdullah b. Masud said, A believer can have any characteristic, except for treachery and
lying.

Ubay b. Kaab said, The believer is in one of four scenarios: if he is tested, he is patient, and if
he is given, he is thankful, and if he speaks, he tells the truth, and if he judges, he is just.

Hasan Al-Basri said, Being in-between a state of fear and hope is a constant matter for the
believer.
Fai th I V
127

Fudayl b. Iyad said, The believer speaks little but does much. And they hypocrite talks a lot,
but does little. The believers speech is wisdom, his silence is contemplation, his gaze is
pondering, his actions are righteousness. So if this is your state, you shall perpetually be in
worship.

Malik b. Dinar said, The believer is like a pearl: wherever he goes, his beauty is ever with
him.

Fai th I V
Supplementary Material
128

Suppl ementary Materi al

A) The Journey of Worshi p by Shaykh Yasi r Qadhi

We worship Allah by believing properly in Islamic theology. We believe in Allah, His Divine
Nature, His Perfect Names and Attributes, the angels, the prophets and messengers, the books
that have been revealed, the Day of Judgment, the resurrection, the signs of the Day of
Judgment, heaven and hell, and we believe in predestination that whatever happens is by the
Will and Knowledge and Decree of Allah. This is belief and theology. Also, we do actions and
say the kalimah. The first of the five pillars of Islam is saying the kalimah. Ash-hadu an la ilaha
illAllah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasoolillah. And then you fast and you pray and give zakat
and go for Hajj. These are actions of the limbs. This is how we perfect our worship of Allah:
theology followed up by actions. If a person only has theology without any actions, then such a
person is not a Muslim. If a person only has the theory but no practice or the knowledge but no
action, then the person is not a Muslim.

Of the most manifest evidences for this is none other than Iblis. Does Iblis deny that Allah
exists? No. He believes Allah exists. Does Iblis say that there is another god besides Allah? No,
Iblis knows that Allah is the Lord and the Rabb. Does Iblis deny that Adam and Nuh and Ibrahim
are prophets? No, Iblis knows that they are prophets. Does Iblis deny angels? How can he
deny the angels? He has seen them and was amongst them for so long. Does Iblis deny the Day
of Judgment? No, he doesnt. He made a dua to Allah: O Allah, allow me to live until the Day
of Judgment. How can he deny the Day of Judgment when he is asking dua to live until the
Day of Judgment? In fact, if you think about it and look at it, Iblis does not deny anything of
our theology. He believes that Allah exists and that Allah created him, which is why he made
dua to Allah: O my Rabb Iblis is not denying anything. Is Iblis a Muslim? Obviously not.
But why? He believes in Allah, the Day of Judgment, the angels, and the prophets, but why is he
not considered a Muslim? Because when Allah told him to do one sajdah, Iblis said no and that
he is better than Adam and has no need to do sajdah to Adam. Iblis denied the practice of the
worship and not the theology of the worship. This makes us realize and wonder: if Iblis
became who he became because he refused to do one sajdah at the commandment of Allah,
what is the case of the Muslim who is called to do over 32 sajdahs in the five daily salah and he
keeps saying, I do not have time, my work is too precious, salah is for you guys but not for
me? What will be his fate? What will be the fate of the one who does not want to pray and
thinks he does not need to pray when Iblis became who he became because of one sajdah?
What is the case of the Muslim who hears hayya ala al-salah hayya ala a- falah and still does not
pray? What excuse will he have?

Iman and Islam is more than just theory but is practice and implementation as well. You cannot
have Islam without the theory and practice. No doubt the theory and theology is important,
and in fact it is the most important because you must believe in Allah properly and you must
believe in the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) properly, and there are many Muslims who
have incorrect beliefs about Allah and the prophets and the angels. Many Muslims
unfortunately dont even realize who Allah (subhanahu wataala) is. If they realized who Allah is,
then they would never raise their hands to other than Allah and they would never bow their
head to other than Allah and they would never listen to a human being above obeying Allah.
They are ignorant about Allah (subhanahu wataala). Others are ignorant about the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam). One group raises him above the level Allah placed him, and the other
puts him at below that level. We put the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in the middle
Fai th I V
129

exactly where Allah placed him. He is a human and is not a god and not divine, but he is the
best human and the most blessed human. He is our only role model and example. There is no
other human being we have to imitate and obey other than the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam). We place him in the place Allah (subhanahu wataala) placed him. This is theology, and
then based upon our theology our actions then come forth.

We said we worship Allah by our beliefs, statements, and actions, and these beliefs, statements,
and actions are found in the Quran and Sunnah but are summarized in the hadeeth of Jibreel.
This leads us to the third question: How do we consistently worship Allah without losing
motivation? In other words, how do we recharge our batteries and always make sure that we
always have a good level of iman? Salah is prayed five times a day; how do we make sure that it
does not become monotonous? We make wudu so many times, but how do we ensure that it is
an act of worship and that the salah is an act of real worship with khushu, humility, taqwa, and
iman? We dont want it to become a repetitive action. We dont want it to become monotonous
and routine just like we wake up and brush our teeth and wear our clothes and go to work. We
dont want our salah to be like that, but unfortunately for man of us it is, and when we stand up
and pray, our bodies are there in the masjid, but our minds are in the back in the work place or
in the homes. This is the reality, isnt it? When we stand up and pray, we are thinking about
the duniyah and what we are going to do. We dont want to be like that, so the question is, how
do we recharge our batteries? How do we make sure that we worship Allah properly? We have
talked about how, so now lets talk about the spirituality. This could also be the third question:
How do we ensure our spirituality in the how?

There are many ways of doing so, but I want to concentrate only on one. Again, this is a very
summarized talk, and we can talk about each of these issues in many different tangents, but
because of the time, we have to summarize and keep on the key points. Of the best ways to
ensure our spirituality in any act of worship is through knowledge. A firm and certain
knowledge of how we are supposed to do that act and what are the blessings behind that act.
Knowledge of two things: knowledge of how the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did that
act and how we are supposed to do that act and what are the blessings that Allah has promised
for that act? So, for example, most of us have learned how to do wudu and how to pray from
our household members. Very few of us have actually opened up a book of fiqh written by an
alim and a scholar that illustrates and explains the pillars of wudu and the wajibaat and the
sunan. Similarly, with salah, what are the pillars of salah, and what are the obligatory things of
salah, the sunan of salah, and the things that break the salah? We dont know this. This is not
something we have studied. When we open a book of fiqh and open a book of hadeeth, and we
read the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did this and this, and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) performed wudu in this manner, and we read it ourselves, then all of a sudden we
have a connectivity and a direct link. When we do that act, we feel conscious that we are doing
what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did. It might be the same thing that your father
taught you, but now that you know that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did it and have
read the books of fiqh and you know what is a pillar and what is encouraged and what is
mandatory and what is only superogatory, it changes your spirituality.

And also when you study the blessings behind any deed.
With regards to the wudu: How many times a day do we do wudu? At least five times and
maybe sometimes more than that, yet many of us are totally ignorant of the blessings of wudu.
When we study in Sahih Bukhari that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that for every
drop of water that touches your skin for wudu and then falls off, one sin falls with it. Your sins
Fai th I V
130

are wiped away with every single drop of water. When we study that the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said on the Day of Judgment, the beauty of a mumin will reach every single
place where he used to do wudu. When we study that on the Day of Judgment the Prophet (sal
Allahu alayhi wa sallam) will call out to the believers to drink from the fountain (Al Hawd), and
only those with an invitation can come. The sahabah asked the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam), Ya Rasulullah, how will you recognize all of the Muslims on that Day? He responded,
By the marks of wudu on their bodies. We have only mentioned three ahadeeth and there are
twenty or thirty out there, but the next time you stand up to do wudu in front of the faucet or
sink, are you not going to think that this wudu will help the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
recognize you and forgive the sins that you have just done and will help make the blessings of
Allah shine upon you on the Day of Judgment? The same wudu that your father taught you
now all of a sudden increases in its importance and spirituality. Why and how? Knowledge.
Knowledge of the blessings. There are at least thirty ahadeeth about wudu and hundreds about
the prayer and dozens about the salah, zakah, and siyam. Read about these ahadeeth and study
them, and automatically your khushu, iman, and spirituality goes to all new highs.

And here I would like to mention one reference. I am a person who does not like only theory
but wants to be practical and tell you what to do and give you a course of action. I tell you: I
want every one of you to purchase one book in your native language called Riyadh As-Saliheen
by Imam Al-Nawawi. It is a book of hadeeth. This book is the single best book of hadeeth for any
Muslim. Imam Al-Nawawi wrote this book for me and you and the layman and the average
Muslim. It includes and mentions the blessings of these simple actions. It mentions daily
routines that we all do and actions that every single one of us needs to know.

And this leads us to the first and final point. The first question was: Why do we worship Allah?
The second question was: How do we worship Allah? The third question was: How do we
recharge our batteries / spirituality? The fourth question was the levels of worship.

The levels of worship are defined in the hadeeth of Jibreel. They are the levels of Islam, iman,
and ihsan. The hadeeth of Jibreel is of the most comprehensive of all ahadeeth. The basic level is
the level of Islam. What makes a person a Muslim? The bare minimum that is required by
Allah is somebody who does the bare minimum of obligatory deeds, which means the five fard
prayers without any sunan, and the fasts of Ramadan, and the bare minimum of zakah (2.5% of
his income), and going for Hajj if he can afford it. This is the minimum required level. To go
below this minimum makes a person sinful. The bare minimum that keeps you a Muslim,
meaning the Muslim that Allah acknowledges as the bare minimum, is to do the basic fard in
every category of prayer, fasting, charity and Hajj. If a person falls below this minimum, they
are sinful. If a person sticks to this minimum, they are not sinful and have done the minimum
required upon them.

I would like to mention here that it is very common for people who are not practicing Islam
that when a person comes and tells them to start praying and being a good Muslim, this
overzealous person tells them to pray nafl, sunnah, and fard and makes 2 fard into 17 with nafl
and fard, so the man who has never prayed one rakah says that if he has to pray 17 rakah just
for isha, then he cannot do it and gives up prayer. This is lack of wisdom, lack of hikmah. You
dont go to this person who doesnt even pray and give him the perfection and tell him that it is
what he must do. You should go to this Muslim and tell him all he has to do is just pray the fard
of fajr, dhuhr, asr, maghrib, and isha, and if you pray the two rakah of fajr and the witr as the
extra sunnahs, then it is excellent. This is the minimum. Leave it at that. This is how you
Fai th I V
131

approach the person who is not practicing Islam. You do not scare him and frighten him that
he has to pray so many rakah a day. He will think that he cannot pray so many rakah a day,
and neither is he required to. Start off with the minimum. The same goes for the fasting and
the zakah and every other deed. Do the minimum, and when you do this, you have reached the
bare minimum level that is required by Allah. And when you reach this level, there is a
guarantee from Allah that your sins will be forgiven as long as you avoid the major sins. Sins
are major and minor. If major sins like drinking, murder, and theft are avoided and you do the
bare minimum, there is a guarantee you will enter Jannah and will not enter the Fire of Hell.
Below this, there is no guarantee. This is the level of Islam.

The higher level is the level of iman. What makes a mumin a mumin? What does he do over and
above what a Muslim does? A mumin is someone who does the bare minimum along with all of
the regular nafl and sunnahs that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did. There are levels of
mumin, and it is not just one level, but we do not have time to get into all of that. A mumin is
somebody who has the proper spirituality and khushu while doing the bare minimum, and he
does what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did regularly. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi
wa sallam) regularly prayed at least 12 rakat of sunnahs a day and regularly fasted some days of
the month and week, and he regularly gave charity and read Quran and did dhikr. So the
mumin will get to that level. The more he does, the better he will become until he reaches
similar to what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would do. You can never reach there,
but you can reach on that level in the sense that you are trying to get there and are praying
tahajjud every day and reading Quran and doing dhikr and all of the sunan and fasting regularly
on and off like the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) did. This is the highest level of iman.

Higher than this is the level of ihsan. Here is the big question: How do you jump from mumin
to muhsin? From iman to ihsan? Can you do more than what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) did? Are you going to pray tahajjud all night? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)
never did that. Are you going to fast every single day of your life? The Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) didnt do that. Are you going to live in a cave and worship Allah like the
Christian monks used to do? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us not to do that. The
question is: how do you jump from iman to ihsan? The response is that it is not done through
increasing the quantity of worship. In fact, the mumin and the muhsin outwardly are pretty
much the same. Once you have reached a certain level, you cannot do more than that. If you
are praying tahajjud every night and fasting 3 or 7 days of the month as the Prophet (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) would do and reading Quran and doing dhikr and doing your sunnahs, then you
cannot do more than that generally speaking. That is what the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) wanted us to do.

How then do you become a muhsin? The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us you
worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, meaning (and this is very deep here) the muhsin
does not differentiate between an act of worship and an act of this world. For the muhsin, every
act that he does is an act of worship: his eating, drinking, going to work, going to buy groceries
and shopping, reading Quran. How is this possible that when he goes to work he is doing an act
of worship? How is it possible that when he goes and buys milk and eggs that he is doing an act
of worship? How is it possible that when he is playing with his wife and children that he is
doing an act of worship? Herein lies the beauty of Islam. In Islam, every single action can
become an action of worship if you do it for the sake of Allah. If you eat and drink
remembering Allah and being conscious of Allah and thinking O Allah, I need to eat and drink
in order to fulfill my bodily needs to worship you, then that eating and drinking becomes an
Fai th I V
132

act of worship. If you play with your children and you think O Allah, this is a blessing You
have given me, and as part of being a good father I should play with my children to increase the
love between them and make them good Muslims, then your playing with your children
becomes an act of worship. If you go to work, and you think O Allah, you have blessed me with
a wife and children and it is my responsibility to take care of them, and I need to go to work to
earn a halal income to take care of them, then your going to work becomes an act of worship.
Every step that you take, every breath that you breathe, every sip that you drink, and every
morsel that you eat can become an act of worship.

Herein lies the difference between a mumin and a muhsin. The mumin separates between the
masjid and the workplace. When he is at the masjid, he is a worshipper. When he is at the
workplace, he merely becomes a worker. The muhsin is always conscious of Allah and always
thinking of Allah and always remembering Allah and is worshipping Allah as if he is seeing
Allah. That is the point of ihsan. It is not the quantity of deeds, but it is the quality of life. This
is what changes the mumin to the muhsin. It is not the quantity of deeds, but it is the quality
and your relationship with Allah (subhanahu wataala).

This responds to the question of the levels of worship. Before I conclude, I want to paraphrase
two main points and conclude with a story. Two points will summarize the talk and give you
some advice and then a story that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us. The two
points that summarize the entire talk: I advise myself and all of you to be mindful and
conscious of Allah throughout the day and night. Do not let your time become a monotonous
routine, a set of rituals religious and secular / worldly and Islamic. Always be conscious of
Allah. Remember Allah whatever you are doing. Be thinking of Allah when you are with your
wife and children and with your coworkers and other people. Realize that the greatest acts of
worship are the obligatory deeds, but even your worldly deeds can become acts of worship.

The second point: do not trivialize any good deed that you can do. Nothing is small in the sight
of Allah when your niyyah is big. No matter how small the deed is to you, if your niyyah is
sincere, Allah (subhanahu wataala) will magnify it. Whatever your sins are, whatever your evil
deeds are, do what you can in order to increase your good even if it is something small.

I conclude by quoting one story that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us. It is the
story of an evil person, of a woman who was a prostitute and would sell her body and her honor
and her izzah for a small sum of this world. She spent her life as a prostitute, but the Prophet
(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, One day, this prostitute passed by a dog that was so thirsty
that it was licking the sand out of thirst. She felt mercy for the dog. She saw a well closeby and
went into the well and took off her shoe and filled it with water and brought it back up and
gave that dog some water. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Allah (subhanahu
wataala) forgave her entire life because of that one deed. Imagine, my dear brothers and
sisters, the amount of men she must have caused to go astray. Imagine the quantity of sins she
has on her shoulders, spending her life in one of the most ignoble and worst professions known
to man. She spent her life like that, and yet Allah (subhanahu wataala) magnifies this one deed
so much and forgives all of her sins. It is not the deed itself of a prostitute feeding water to a
dog, but it is the sincerity and the fear that she had that she knows she is a sinner and has very
little hope but she still did not lose hope and thought that perhaps Allah may forgive her. Allah
looked at her intention and not at her deed. Allah looked at her quality, spirit, and soul and not
at her action. Because of that, Allah (subhanahu wataala) forgave her.

Fai th I V
133

Brothers and sisters, surely we have more of a right of being forgiven than a prostitute who fed
a dog. Surely we have more of a right, but only when we have the intention and the same
sincerity. I advise all of you: do not trivialize your good deeds. Do what you can and put your
trust in Allah and hope the best from Allah, and indeed Allah is the Ever Giving, the Most
Merciful.

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, I pray that Allah (subhanahu wataala) makes us His
perfect worshippers, blesses us to be on the path and journey of worship, and He causes us to
be of those who are resurrected with the righteous worshippers on the Day of Judgment.
Ameen.

B) Benefi ts of Wudu (http://muslimmatters.org/2010/11/14/sunday-open-thread-why-
winter-is-the-season-of-the-believer/)
1) Expiation of sins
- He who performs the Wudu perfectly (i.e., according to Sunnah), his sins will depart
from his body, even from under his nails. [Muslim]
- He who performs Wudu like this, his previous sins will be forgiven and his Salat and
walking to the mosque will be considered as supererogatory act of worship. [Muslim].
- When a Muslim, or a believer, washes his face (in the course of Wudu), every sin which
he committed with his eyes, will be washed away from his face with water, or with the
last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin which is committed by his
hands will be effaced from his hands with the water, or with the last drop of water; and
when he washes his feet, every sin his feet committed will be washed away with the
water, or with the last drop of water; until he finally emerges cleansed of all his sins.
[Muslim]
2) The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) will recognize his Ummah from their traces of Wudu
- Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) reported: The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa
sallam) went to the (Baqi) cemetery and said, May you be secured from punishment, O
dwellers of abode of the believers! We, if Allah wills, will follow you. I wish we see my
brothers. The Companions said, O Messenger of Allah! Are not we your brothers? He
said, You are my Companions, but my brothers are those who have not come into the
world yet. They said; O Messenger of Allah! How will you recognize those of your
Ummah who are not born yet? He said, Say, if a man has white-footed horses with
white foreheads among horses which are pure black, will he not recognize his own
horses? They said; Certainly, O Messenger of Allah! He said, They (my followers)
will come with bright faces and white limbs because of Wudu; and I will arrive at the
Haud (Al-Kauthar) ahead of them. [Muslim]
3) The Believers will be recognized by their traces of Wudu on the Day of Judgment
- On the Day of Resurrection, my followers will be summoned Al-Ghurr Al-Muhajjalun
from the traces of Wudu. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] This name is explained as:
Fai th I V
134

The word Ghurr is the plural of Agharr which means shining or white. It is used for
animals (like a horse), i.e., a white mark on its face. Here, it refers to that radiance
which will issue from the brows of the believers on the Day of Resurrection and which
will make them prominent. Muhajjalun is from Tahjil which also means whiteness but it
is used for that whiteness which is found on all the four or at least on three legs of a
horse. Here, it refers to that light which will shine through the hands and feet of the
believers because of their habit of performing Wudu. This means that the believers
among the Muslims will be distinguished from other communities by virtue of the
radiance issuing from their faces, hands and feet on the Day of Resurrection in the
same way that a horse with a white forehead is easily distinguised from other horses.
4) Wudu is a radiance and the Believers are encouraged to increase in it.
- Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) said, Whoever can increase the area of his radiance
should do so. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
5) An Angel will seek forgiveness for you
- It is narrated from ibn Umar (radi Allahu anhuma) that the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu
alayhi wa sallam) said, Purify these bodies, and Allah will purify you. Whenever a slave
sleeps in a state of purification, an angel sleeps within his hair and he does not turn
over during the night except that he [the angel] says: O Allah, forgive Your slave, for he
went to sleep purified. [at-Tabarani and graded "good" by Sh Al-Albani]
6) The adornment of a Believer in Jannah will reach up to where the water reached his body.
- The adornment of the believer (in Jannah) will reach the places where the water of
Wudu reaches (his body). [Muslim]
7) Saying the supplication after wudu is a means of entering Jannah
- Whoever of you performs Wudu carefully and then affirms: `Ash-hadu an la ilaha
illallahu Wahdahu la sharika Lahu, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa Rasuluhu [I
testify that there so no true god except Allah Alone, Who has no partners and that
Muhammad is His slave and Messenger], the eight gates of Jannah are opened for him.
He may enter through whichever of these gates he desires (to enter). [Muslim]
8 ) Preserving wudu is a sign of iman
- and no one preservers their wudu except a Believer. [Ibn Maajah, Authentic
according to Sh. Al-Albani]
9) Performing Wudu in hardship effaces the sins and elevates the ranks
- The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Shall I not tell you something by which
Allah effaces the sins and elevates ranks (in Jannah)? The Companions said; Certainly,
O Messenger of Allah. He said, Performing the Wudu thoroughly in spite of difficult
circumstances, walking with more paces to the mosque, and waiting for the next Salat
Fai th I V
135

(the prayer) after observing Salat; and that is Ar-Ribat, and that is Ar-Ribat. [Muslim]
The scholars say:
Hardship and unpleasantness here stand for the uneasiness that one feels while
performing Wudu in severe cold. To wait for the next Salat after offering a Salat is
regarded as Ribat for the reason that by so doing, a person who is particular in offering
Salat keeps himself constantly engaged in the obedience and worship of Allah to keep
Satan away from him.

Doctrines of Faith IV (Darkness To Light)

Cargado por

Información del documento

Título original

Derechos de autor

Formatos disponibles

Compartir este documento

Compartir o incrustar documentos

Opciones para compartir

¿Le pareció útil este documento?

¿Este contenido es inapropiado?

Copyright:

Formatos disponibles

Doctrines of Faith IV (Darkness To Light)

Cargado por

Copyright:

Formatos disponibles

COURSE NOTES

También podría gustarte