Taking the example of the messenger (ppbu)
Written by: SK.
Translated by Dr. Faheem Bukhatwa
11
Jumada Ola 1429H
16
May
2008AC
All thanks be to Allah and peace and prayers be upon His messenger.
The talks are still about the topic of understanding the religion of Allah,
and about the testimony: “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”. Today the
Imam talked about living by the example of the messenger (PPBU).
There are two necessary conditions in order for a worship which a slave
offers to Allah; in order for it to be accepted. The conditions are:
1)sincerity and 2)doing it as the prophet (PPBU) did.
Fadeel ben Awath said: “If a deed was sincere but not correct then it would
not be accepted. And if the deed was correct but not sincere then it would
not be accepted. Sincere means if it was done purely for Allah. And correct
means, if it was done according to the sunnah or as was practiced by the
messenger (PPBU)”.
Allah says in the chapter “Annisaa”: {and who has a better religion than
this who submits his face to Allah and he is a perfectionist} 4:125. “who
submits his face to Allah” is interpreted as doing the deed sincerely for
Allah alone. And the part of the verse which says: “he is a perfectionist”
means that the deed is what Allah permits in His laws and what He sent His
messenger with. Those are the two necessary conditions which no deed would
be right without; Sincerity to Allah and in accordance with the messenger’s
example. The evidence for those two conditions are countless in the Koran.
A man once came to the messenger (PPBU) and said: “if a man went on battle,
expecting reward and fame, what is in it for him?” The messenger (PPBU)
said: “Nothing”. The man repeated his question three times. Then the
messenger went on saying: {Allah does not accept any deed unless it was
purely and sincerely done for Him alone}.
It was reported that there were three me, one said: “I will stay up all
night, every night in prayers”. The second said: “I will fast all the time,
every day for the rest of my life”. The third said “I will practice celibacy
and never get married”. The messenger heard about what they said and told
them: {God knows; I am the one who fears Him most, and the one who obeys Him
most, and yet I fast and I go without fasting, and pray and I sleep, and I
marry. And this who rejects my example does not belong to me}.
Abdullah ebn Masuud found some men in the mosque hailing and praising Allah
and glorifying Him (doing Tahleel, Tasbeeh and Takbeer) using small stone
for counting. He said: “It is your sins and bad deeds that you need to
count. For the good deeds I guarantee you none of it will be lost. O nation
of Muhammad, you are in trouble, your destruction is so quick. The messenger
has not gone for long, and some of his companions are still amongst you. You
are either following a religion that is better than Muhammad’s or you are
opening a gate for misguidance”. They said “Hold on Abdullah, we only meant
well”. He said: “Many a person who means well but never end up doing or
harvest the good”.
This story shows how the scholars and companions dealt with worships,
methods, objectives and the intentions of those who do them. And that can be
summarized as follows:
a)
There are men who hail, praise and glorify Allah.
b)
They used small stones as a method to count this hailing, praising
and glorifying enchantments of Allah.
c)
Their intentions in those deeds are good. They intended and wanted to
worship Allah through remembering Him and praising and glorifying Him. Which
is a good intention.
d)
Despite that, Ebn Masood deplored and disapproved the deed through
this method. Because he had no recollection of the messenger (PPBU) doing it
or approving it; despite that; this method would have been available and may
be just as needed then at the time of the messenger (PPBU).
e)
This deed of theirs had the consequence of committing a sin for
acting in contrary to the messenger’s Sunnah or example. And them falling
into the risky trap of innovation.
f)
He (Ebn Masood) did not give any benefit to their undoubtedly good
intentions in order to over shadow the deed itself. Nor he considered the
good intentions as an evidence to assume or confer correctness to the deed
itself. A good intention does not turn an innovation into an example or a
sunnah of the messenger (PPBU). Nor, the good intention will turn something
ugly into beautiful. In fact along with the good intention and the
sincerity; there also has to be the condition of the agreement with the
sunnah or agreement with the example of the messenger (PPBU); and the
agreement with first generation of the companions.
Sa-eed ben Maseeb saw a man praying for long and taking his time after dawn
broke, so he advised him against it. The man asked: “and do you think Allah
will punish me for doing prayers?” Ben Maseed said: “No, but he would punish
you for doing other than the sunna. Or for deviating from the example of the
messenger (PPBU)”
The scholar al-Albani says: “Ben-Maseebs reply is a good answer to those who
condone and approve of many of the innovations using the excuse that it is
remembrance of Allah and prayers. Then they disapprove of those who follow
the sunnah for disagreeing with them. In fact they go further by accusing
those who follow the sunnah; by being against performing prayers and the
remembering of Allah. When in fact they are denying the existence of
differences of they preach with the examples set by the messenger (PPBU) for
prayers and remembrance of Allah.”
A man going for Hajj asked Imam Malik saying: “Where would I put my Ihram
outfit?” The Imam said from the area called The-Hulaifa, right where the
messenger (PPBU) did his Iharam (put the hajj outfit). The man said: “I
would like to do my Ihram at the messenger’s mosque by his grave site”. The
Imam said: “Don’t do that, I would be worried about you from glamour and
charm, seduction and bedevilment”. The man was surprised and said: “What
glamour and charm is in it? I am only putting my Ihram outfit a few miles
earlier” He said: “What glamour is greater than in you seeing that you have
managed to come up first with a merit or a good act that the messenger (PPBU)
failed to do?”
Allah says in verse 63 in the Noor chapter: {Let them be extra careful those
who break or do differently His command; for they may be hit with a
bedeviled seduction or be afflicted with a painful punishment} 24:63.
Those were evidences which show that sincerity in the intentions did not
stop the messenger, the companions or the followers in disapproving a deed
because of the lack of consistency with or the deviation from the example of
the messenger (PPBU) (or his sunnah).
And all thanks be to Allah, the lord of the worlds.
Thanks be to Allah,
the Merciful, the Almighty, the One the Only. He knows all what is in
heavens and what is in earth. He knows what we say and He knows what is in
our minds.
