Assalamualaikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatu !
GOOD REMINDER. THIS IS A MUST READ.
I had encountered many people who claim their knowledge was of the truth and that their ideology was correct, but as I researched and learnt more, it turns out they were from the Khawarijj, so we really truly must be careful and make sure we do our full research and not just fall into taqleed (blind following). This is a grave danger . Audhbilah. May Allah protect us all from such corruption. Ameen
So it is upon you O Muslim, and O Student of Knowledge in particular, to verify and that you are not hasty in taking everything that you hear. It is upon you to verify and to be aware, who is the one who said this thing? And where did this idea come from? And then what is its basis, and its proofs from the Book and the Sunnah? Then where did this person study and who did he take knowledge from? So these matters require verification, particularly in this time. So we do not accept every saying that anyone is saying, even if he speaks well, and speaks eloquently, and speaks abundantly and attracts people's hearing, do not be taken in by it until you look and see the extent of their knowledge and understanding of the Religion that he has.
Or it may be the case that a person's speech may be little, but he is a person of understanding of the Religion. And it might also be the case that a person's speech may be plentiful, but he is an ignorant one who has nothing from knowledge and understanding of the Religion. Rather he just has magical/enchanting speech so that he fools the people, and gives the false impression that he is a scholar and that he is a person of understanding and that he is a thinker and the likes of that, so that the people are taken in and he takes them away from the Truth. So what is counted is not the amount of speech and being able to ramble on, rather what is counted is what it contains with regard to knowledge and what it contains with regard to being based upon correct principles. And it may be the case with speech that is little but it is correctly based upon correct principles. This will be far more beneficial than abundant speech which is just lengthy, and from which no benefit can be taken except a little. And this is the situation in our time, where speech is abundant and knowledge is scarce; the recitors are many, and the people of knowledge and understanding (fuqahaa~) are few in number. And fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) does not come about by being able to speak a great deal, or to recite a great deal, or being able to speak well or being able to word things well...
...So the eloquent person, he can turn the Truth into falsehood and falsehood look like the Truth by means of his eloquence, so beware of this. And therefore the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam he warned against the person who is very eloquent in speech, the person who moves his tongue around just as the cows move the tongue around.[1] He (sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam) warned against this one and he said,
“Some speech is like magic.”[2]
Meaning it enchants the people’s hearing (acts like magic upon the hearing of the people)...
... So al-fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) contains a protection from trials and tribulations. And al-fiqh
“Perhaps one who has something conveyed to him will be better comprehending than the one who heard it (originally).”[4]
So a person may memorize something, and transmit and narrate, and yet there may be someone there who understands it better than he does. (Allah’s Messenger sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam said)
“There may be a person who conveys knowledge of the Religion but he is not one who comprehends it.”[5]
He is a carrier of the knowledge and a transmitter of it, however he is not one who has understanding of it. So fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) is a gift from Allah which Allah gives to whomever He wishes from His servants. However, if he utilizes it properly and advances it/causes it to grow then he will benefit from it. But if he neglects it, it will be lost.
His saying, “So do not be hasty and do not enter into anything from it until you ask and look: Did anyone from the Companions of the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam speak with it?” This is a tremendous piece of advice if some speech pleases you regarding the Religion. As for speech about the affairs of this world, then that is not the topic under discussion here. Rather if some speech with regard to the Religion seems pleasing to you then don't be hasty until you examine it: Is it founded upon something true and upon proof or is it just from the person's own head and his own thinking? For if it is, then it is just scum, like the scum which is carried on the top of flood water. Leave it (in that case). But otherwise if it is founded and based upon the Book and the Sunnah, then it is true. So therefore to do not be hasty in taking speech without restraint, even if it seems pleasing to you in its fine manner of speaking and it is eloquence and its forcefulness and in the style of address, do not be hasty about it until you examine and you test it against the Book and the Sunnah, and examine and see who said it. Is he a person of knowledge and understanding (afaqeeh) or not a person of knowledge and understanding? Until you ask the people of knowledge about it (this matter) and you look and see, did anyone from the Salaf (Predecessors) say it or did they not say it? And this is something I have warned against many times, that I say: Do not introduce personal deductions and opinions and sayings and wording which have not been preceded upon. Take as your example the Salaf and the speech of the Salaf, and if you bring something which you have no one who precedes you upon it, then it will be something odd and strange, and its danger will be far more than its benefit.
Excerpts taken from 'Ithaaful-Qaaree bit-Ta`leeqaat `alaa Sharhis-Sunnah' by Shaykh Saalih ibn Fowzaan al-Fowzaan hafizahullaah
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[1] This narration is reported by Imaam Ahmad in his Musnad and by Ibn Abee Shaybah and by Aboo Daawood and at-Tirmithee and others besides as a hadeeth of `Abdullaah ibn `Amr that Allaah’s Messenger sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam said,
“Allaah hates those men who are eloquent, the one who moves his tongue around, just as the cow moves its tongue around.”
At-Tirmithee said about this narration that it is hasan ghareeb (singular chain of narration that is hasan) and it was declared authentic by Aboo Haatim in al-`Ilal.
Translator's side point: Shaykh al-Albaanee, in as-Saheehah no.880, declared this hadeeth saheeh (
[2] This hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhaaree in his Saheeh (no. 5146 and no. 5767) as a hadeeth of `Abdullaah ibn `Umar; also reported by Muslim as a hadeeth of `Ammaar ibn Yaasir radiyAllaahu `anhumaa.
[4] This hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhaaree in his Saheeh (no.67 and no.7447) and reported by Muslim (no.1679) as a hadeeth of Aboo Bakraa radiyAllaahu `anhu and the wording is that of al-Bukhaaree.
[5] This hadeeth is reported by Ahmad in his Musnad and Aboo Daawood and at-Tirmithee and ad-Daarimee and Ibn Hibbaan as a hadeeth of Zayd ibn Thaabit radiyAllaahu `anhu. At-Tirmithee said the hadeeth is hasan and al-Busayree said it is saheeh (authentic).
Shaykh al-Albaanee declared this hadeeth saheeh (authentic) likewise, in his checking of Aboo Daawood.
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
Or it may be the case that a person's speech may be little, but he is a person of understanding of the Religion. And it might also be the case that a person's speech may be plentiful, but he is an ignorant one who has nothing from knowledge and understanding of the Religion. Rather he just has magical/enchanting speech so that he fools the people, and gives the false impression that he is a scholar and that he is a person of understanding and that he is a thinker and the likes of that, so that the people are taken in and he takes them away from the Truth. So what is counted is not the amount of speech and being able to ramble on, rather what is counted is what it contains with regard to knowledge and what it contains with regard to being based upon correct principles. And it may be the case with speech that is little but it is correctly based upon correct principles. This will be far more beneficial than abundant speech which is just lengthy, and from which no benefit can be taken except a little. And this is the situation in our time, where speech is abundant and knowledge is scarce; the recitors are many, and the people of knowledge and understanding (fuqahaa~) are few in number. And fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) does not come about by being able to speak a great deal, or to recite a great deal, or being able to speak well or being able to word things well...
...So the eloquent person, he can turn the Truth into falsehood and falsehood look like the Truth by means of his eloquence, so beware of this. And therefore the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam he warned against the person who is very eloquent in speech, the person who moves his tongue around just as the cows move the tongue around.[1] He (sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam) warned against this one and he said,
“Some speech is like magic.”[2]
Meaning it enchants the people’s hearing (acts like magic upon the hearing of the people)...
... So al-fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) contains a protection from trials and tribulations. And al-fiqh
“Perhaps one who has something conveyed to him will be better comprehending than the one who heard it (originally).”[4]
So a person may memorize something, and transmit and narrate, and yet there may be someone there who understands it better than he does. (Allah’s Messenger sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam said)
“There may be a person who conveys knowledge of the Religion but he is not one who comprehends it.”[5]
He is a carrier of the knowledge and a transmitter of it, however he is not one who has understanding of it. So fiqh (knowledge and understanding of the Religion) is a gift from Allah which Allah gives to whomever He wishes from His servants. However, if he utilizes it properly and advances it/causes it to grow then he will benefit from it. But if he neglects it, it will be lost.
His saying, “So do not be hasty and do not enter into anything from it until you ask and look: Did anyone from the Companions of the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam speak with it?” This is a tremendous piece of advice if some speech pleases you regarding the Religion. As for speech about the affairs of this world, then that is not the topic under discussion here. Rather if some speech with regard to the Religion seems pleasing to you then don't be hasty until you examine it: Is it founded upon something true and upon proof or is it just from the person's own head and his own thinking? For if it is, then it is just scum, like the scum which is carried on the top of flood water. Leave it (in that case). But otherwise if it is founded and based upon the Book and the Sunnah, then it is true. So therefore to do not be hasty in taking speech without restraint, even if it seems pleasing to you in its fine manner of speaking and it is eloquence and its forcefulness and in the style of address, do not be hasty about it until you examine and you test it against the Book and the Sunnah, and examine and see who said it. Is he a person of knowledge and understanding (afaqeeh) or not a person of knowledge and understanding? Until you ask the people of knowledge about it (this matter) and you look and see, did anyone from the Salaf (Predecessors) say it or did they not say it? And this is something I have warned against many times, that I say: Do not introduce personal deductions and opinions and sayings and wording which have not been preceded upon. Take as your example the Salaf and the speech of the Salaf, and if you bring something which you have no one who precedes you upon it, then it will be something odd and strange, and its danger will be far more than its benefit.
Excerpts taken from 'Ithaaful-Qaaree bit-Ta`leeqaat `alaa Sharhis-Sunnah' by Shaykh Saalih ibn Fowzaan al-Fowzaan hafizahullaah
____________________________
[1] This narration is reported by Imaam Ahmad in his Musnad and by Ibn Abee Shaybah and by Aboo Daawood and at-Tirmithee and others besides as a hadeeth of `Abdullaah ibn `Amr that Allaah’s Messenger sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam said,
“Allaah hates those men who are eloquent, the one who moves his tongue around, just as the cow moves its tongue around.”
At-Tirmithee said about this narration that it is hasan ghareeb (singular chain of narration that is hasan) and it was declared authentic by Aboo Haatim in al-`Ilal.
Translator's side point: Shaykh al-Albaanee, in as-Saheehah no.880, declared this hadeeth saheeh (
[2] This hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhaaree in his Saheeh (no. 5146 and no. 5767) as a hadeeth of `Abdullaah ibn `Umar; also reported by Muslim as a hadeeth of `Ammaar ibn Yaasir radiyAllaahu `anhumaa.
[4] This hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhaaree in his Saheeh (no.67 and no.7447) and reported by Muslim (no.1679) as a hadeeth of Aboo Bakraa radiyAllaahu `anhu and the wording is that of al-Bukhaaree.
[5] This hadeeth is reported by Ahmad in his Musnad and Aboo Daawood and at-Tirmithee and ad-Daarimee and Ibn Hibbaan as a hadeeth of Zayd ibn Thaabit radiyAllaahu `anhu. At-Tirmithee said the hadeeth is hasan and al-Busayree said it is saheeh (authentic).
Shaykh al-Albaanee declared this hadeeth saheeh (authentic) likewise, in his checking of Aboo Daawood.
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
2 comments
Salam alaykum sister,
ReplyDeleteJazakAllah Khairan for sharing the knowledge <3
walaikumassalam wa rahmatulahi wa barakatu dear sis!
ReplyDeleteAmeen wa iyaki! thank you for your comments <3
Assalamualaikum, please be mindful about what you are about to write. Think about it before writing and make sure it is something positive and beneficial, otherwise it will be deleted and ignored. JazakiAllah kheyr ! Sisters ONLY! xo