The Way to Salvation is Found in
Holding to the Qur'aan and the Sunnah
Shaykh Rabee' ibn Haadee Al-Madkhalee
www.bakkah.net

[ Part One ] - [ Part Two ] - [ Part Three ] - [ Part Four ]

PART THREE:

...And verily Allaah has informed His Messenger, sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam, that this Ummah is going to split up and differ. So the noble Messenger, sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam, warned us from this painful outcome, saying:

"You are surely going to follow the ways of those who came before you, like one feather follows another on the end of an arrow, so much so that if one of them was to enter the hole of a lizard, you would also enter it." [17]

And in another hadeeth:

"You are surely going to follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan, arm's length by arm's length…" [18]

So these two texts contain a warning against following those who came before us, in one narration, they asked, "Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He said:

"Who else?" [19]

The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of Allaah. They perverted their religions, and began ascribing partners with Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic. The Jews said that 'Uzayr was the son of Allaah; And the Christians said that the Messiah was the son of Allaah, and that he is one of three, and, eventually, that he was Allaah Himself. With this, they became divided and differed over this affair:

"And do not be like those who split up and differed after the clear proofs came to them." [9]

And He, the Blessed and Exalted, has said:

"Those who disbelieved from the people of the Book (the Jews and Christians) and the polytheists had not split up until after the clear evidence came to them - A Messenger from Allaah reciting pure pages containing upright legislation. [20] And the people who were given the Book did not become divided until after the clear evidence came to them. And they were not ordered with anything except to worship Allaah, making the Religion sincerely for Him, purely for Him, and to establish the prayer, and to pay zakaah, and that is the upright Religion." [21]

And as is found in this Soorah:

" And the people who were given the Book did not become divided until after the clear evidence came to them." [22]

And as in Soorah Aali 'Imraan:

"…until after the clear evidences came to them." [9]

And so many of the Muslims have become divided after the greatest of clear evidences has come to them, the radiant Verses and the clear, authentic narrations. They have followed after the Jews and the Christians, splitting up, differing, and showing enmity and hatred, just like the people of the Book. And the hadeeth is applied to them:

"You are surely going to follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan, arm's length by arm's length…" [18]

So it is upon the insightful believer that he does not allow this painful reality to increase him in anything but insight and the strength of his grasp upon what the noble Messenger, sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam, has come with, and (he also increases) his holding fast to what the rightly guided successors were upon.

As found in the hadeeth of 'Irbaadh ibn Saariyah, may Allaah be pleased with him, "The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam, had admonished us with an admonishment that struck fear in our hearts and caused our eyes to shed tears. So we said: O Messenger of Allaah! It is as if this is a farewell admonishment, so advise us (with some farewell advice). He said:

"I advise you to have consciousness of Allaah, and to hear and obey (your leaders). For verily, those of you who live long will witness much differing. So upon you is (to follow) my Sunnah, and the Sunnah of the rightly guided successors, clamp down onto it with your molars. And be aware of newly invented matters, for verily every innovation is misguidance." [23]

And in another hadeeth:

"…and every misguidance is in the Fire." [24]

[ Read the final part of this article... ]

FOOTNOTES (Abul-'Abbaas)

[17] I was not able to find this wording of the hadeeth.

[18] An authentic hadeeth collected by Imaam Al-Bukhaaree (#7320) and Imaam Muslim (#6723), on the authority of Aboo Sa'eed Al-Khudree, may Allaah be pleased with him.

[19] In the version collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim as mentioned previously.

[20] I have translated "kutubun qayyimah" from the Verse as "upright legislation" based on Al-Qurtubee's tafseer of the Verse.

[21] Soorah Al-Bayyinah (98):1-5

[22] Soorah Al-Bayyinah (98):4

[23] There are many different wordings of the hadeeth of Al-'Irbaadh ibn Saariyah, may Allaah have mercy on him. The closest one I found to what the shaykh mentioned here is the one collected by Imaam Ibn Maajah (#42). Its authenticity and numerous routes are discussed in Irwaa' Al-Ghaleel (#2455).

[24] From an authentic hadeeth collected by Imaam An-Nasaa'ee (#1578), on the authority of Jaabir ibn 'Abdillaah, may Allaah be pleased with him.

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING

To what extent are some of the Muslims going to follow the ways of the Jews and the Christians?

How did the Jews and Christians differ and split up?

Summarize the farewell advice given by the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) in the hadeeth of Al-'Irbaadh ibn Saariyah?

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Part One

Part Two

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