Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles

(Thalaathatul-Usool) Transcribed from Classes by Shaykh Ahmad

Musa Jibril

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Class One ................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1

The Basmalah ............................................................................................................. 5

1. Tawheed in Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem ....................................................... 5

A. Tawheed Al-Uloohiyyah ............................................................................................ 5

B. Tawheed Ar-Rububiyyah ........................................................................................... 6

C. Tawheed Al-Asmaa Was-Sifaat ................................................................................. 6

2. Linguistic Rules in Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem ............................................. 6

A. Al-Jaar wal-Majroor fil-Basmalah Muta’alliqun Bimahthoof Taqdeeruhu Fi’il Laa’iqun

Bilmaqaam .................................................................................................................... 6

B. Ta’kheer Al-‘Aamil Yufeed Al-Hasr ............................................................................ 7

3. Proofs for Beginning with the Basmalah .................................................................. 7

A. It is in Accordance with the Qur’an .......................................................................... 8

B. The Prophet Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallam Began his Letters with Bismillahi Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem .................................................................................................... 8

4. The Blessing in the Basmalah .................................................................................. 9

Class Two ................................................................................................................. 10

5. Do we say Bismillah or Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem? .................................. 10

6. The Name Allah .................................................................................................... 13

A. Allah is The Sole Title for the Lord that Fashioned Everything............................... 13

B. The Root of the Name Allah.................................................................................... 14

C. Allah uses Allah and Rabb in the Qur’an................................................................. 14

D. Allah is Different to any other Names .................................................................... 15

E. The Name Allah by Itself is not a Dhikr ................................................................... 15

F. Allah is the Name that All His Other Names Follow ................................................ 15

G. Aspects of Tawheed in the Name Allah .................................................................. 15

H. The Mighty Name Allah .......................................................................................... 16

7. Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem................................................................................. 18

A. Ar-Rahmaan ............................................................................................................ 18

B. Ar-Raheem .............................................................................................................. 18

C. Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem .................................................................................. 19

8. The Mercy of Allah ................................................................................................ 21

A. The Attribute of Mercy ........................................................................................... 21

B. The Mercy of Allah .................................................................................................. 22

C. Attaining the Mercy of Alah .................................................................................... 23

Class Three ............................................................................................................... 24

Know May Allah Have Mercy on you ......................................................................... 24

1. The Importance of Knowledge .............................................................................. 25

2. The Definition of Knowledge ................................................................................. 28

3. The Use of the Word I’lam .................................................................................... 28

A. Is Knowledge Conveyed to other than Humans? ................................................... 29

B. Can you say I’lam to Someone More Knowledgeable? .......................................... 31

3. The Levels of Knowledge: Ibn Al-Qayyim ............................................................... 31

4. The Honour of Knowledge .................................................................................... 33

5. The Example of the Scholars ................................................................................. 37

A. Jaabir and Abu Ayyub ............................................................................................. 37

B. Muhammad bin Hassan Ash-Shaybaani ................................................................. 39

C. Asad ibn Al-Furaat ................................................................................................... 39

D. Sa’eed ibn Musayyib, Ar-Raazi and Al-Bukhari ....................................................... 40

E. An-Nawawi, Lisaan Ad-Deen ibn Khateeb and Mu’adh ibn Jabal ........................... 41

F. Sulaymaan ibn Abdul Malik the Khalifah and Ataa’ ibn Rabah ............................... 42

G. Al-Kasaa’ee and the Sons of the Khalifah ............................................................... 43

H. Ash-Shaafi’ee and Ibn Jawzi ................................................................................... 43

6. Rahimak Allah ...................................................................................................... 44

A. Maghfirah and Rahmah .......................................................................................... 44

B. Do you say Rahimak Allah to a Non Muslim? ......................................................... 45

C. Why did he say Rahimak Allah? .............................................................................. 46

Class Four ................................................................................................................. 49

The Obligation to Know Four Matters ....................................................................... 49

1. What is the Definition of Waajib? ......................................................................... 50

2. Is there a Difference Between Waajib and Fardh? ................................................. 50

A. The Proof for the Opinion that Waajib and Fardh are Synonymous ...................... 51

B. The Proof for the Opinion that Waajib is Lesser than Fardh .................................. 53

C. How do they Categorise the Faraa’idh and Waajibaat? ......................................... 54

C. The Result of this Dispute ....................................................................................... 55

D. The Islamic Knowledges are Intertwined ............................................................... 56

E. Which Definition of Waajib did the Author Intend? ............................................... 57

2. Knowledge in Matters that Pertain to Allah ........................................................... 57

A. The Definition of Fardh ‘Ayn ................................................................................... 57

B. The Definition of Fardh Kifaayah ............................................................................ 57

3. Fardh ‘Ayn in Knowledge, Action, Leaving Matters and Belief ................................ 58

A. Fardh ‘Ayn in Knowledge ........................................................................................ 58

B. Fardh ‘Ayn in Action ................................................................................................ 59

C. Fardh ‘Ayn in Leaving Matters ................................................................................ 59

D. Fardh ‘Ayn in Belief ................................................................................................. 59

3. The Four Matters .................................................................................................. 60

A. The Definition of Mas’alah ..................................................................................... 61

4. Knowledge of Allah ............................................................................................... 62

A. Ma’rifatullah ........................................................................................................... 62

B. Knowledge of the Halaal and Haraam .................................................................... 63

C. The Importance of Ma’rifatullah ............................................................................ 63

D. Ignorance in Ma’rifatullah ...................................................................................... 67

5. Knowledge of the Prophet Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallam ........................................ 69

6. Knowledge of Islam .............................................................................................. 71

A. The Definition of Islam............................................................................................ 71

B. Islam is the Only Religion Acceptable to Allah ....................................................... 72

C. The Foundation Actions of Islam ............................................................................ 75

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CLASS ONE

INTRODUCTION As we promised, this is the start of the explanation on the Usool Ath-Thalaathah, the three

fundamental principles. As you all know, it is a booklet, not a book, a booklet on Tawheed,

and we’ve mentioned it many times. It is very small in words but has some great, great

meanings. These meanings, no one can be ignorant of. Scholars have always discussed this

book and taught it among the first that is taught in Tawheed. If you really look into the three

principles, what he means about those principles, they are in reality the matters you are

going to be asked about in your grave. So you need to know, really as best as one knows,

those three principles, and you need to apply them, so when you are asked about them in

the grave, you quickly go through them Inshaa Allah Ta’aala.

We start gradually because knowledge in Islam is to be taken gradual, you don’t wake up

overnight an ‘Aalim or a Shaykh. Ibn Abdil-Barr, in his book al-Jaami’ said Az-Zuhri said,

whoever seeks to get knowledge in a lump sum overnight, it leaves him, knowledge leaves

him, it ends up leaving him in a lump sum. Knowledge is to be attained slowly, over days and

nights. Knowledge needs patience, it needs persistence, it is a step by step process. You

don’t go for example to some in depth ‘Aqeedah books and then you’re getting frustrated,

and facing complex matters you can’t break down, which you would have been able to do

had you went in a step by step process. Some brothers tell me they are studying ‘Aqeedah

books, Tawheed books that Ulamaa’ have had a hard time breaking down. And the bigger

problem is they are studying it on their own, and to top that off, they are not even studying

it in the language of the author. So explain to me how you can understand it like that? If you

are unable to get to a teacher, which many, especially in this day and age, they can’t get to a

teacher, that’s a whole different story but you still need to at least know how to start.

Now this is a starter book on Tawheed. Even though you can sit and read this book right

now, before I even finish this introduction you can probably have the book done, reading it;

it still needs to be broken down, sentence by sentence, so the student of knowledge

understands the deep meaning of what that book really entails. If you start in the step by

step process, and you find it difficult, which you may find, never ever give up. The simple

book that you have before your hand, I studied it cover to cover with eleven different

Shuyookh, and portions of it I studied with even more than that, but the entire booklet with

eleven different Shuyookh. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in his book al-Jami’ narrated, a student of

knowledge went to the Shuyookh of Hadith to learn. He found knowledge of Hadith is very

difficult, he got frustrated and he said this is not for me. One day he was walking, casual

walk, and he seen water dripping on a stone, maybe a spring. If you’ve ever seen a spring,

especially where water has been dripping on a stone for years and years, or even if you look

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at a fountain, it has been dripping on a stone or even cement, it dents it, it dents the cement

or the rock over the years, water. He said to himself, wow, look at that, water as light as it is,

soft, mild, it affected the stone as hard as it is. He said knowledge is softer and lighter than

water and my heart and my mind are not as hard as the rock. He went back to studying

Hadith and became a very well reputable, famous scholar of Hadith.

Start gradually, and as you go on, move patiently, move forward patiently. This is the start

of the classical study we mentioned and it is to create, I’m not going to say students of

knowledge, Inshaa Allah it is to create Ulamaa’. The other lectures we did and we will

continue to do, like the University of Yusuf, The Ultimate Pleasure, The Love and Fear Series,

the question and answers. They are informative, inspirational, there is definitely knowledge

in them but that is not what makes an ‘Aalim. Those kind of lectures are not what can make

an ‘Aalim. If you hear a lecture here and there and attend a two day seminar, an event and

trailer here and there, that is good but if that is what makes an ‘Aalim, the whole Ummah is

Ulamaa’ because your fathers have been attending Jumu’ah for about fifty, sixty years. And

they’ve been attending lectures between Maghrib and Ishaa’ for a similar time. There is a

structured study to becoming a student of knowledge and ‘Aalim. There is an uncountable

number of benefits in studying Islam in the classical way.

This is a step by step process that will encompass the Madinah program Inshaa Allah and

even more than that Bi’ithnihi Ta’aala, if Allah blesses us to continue. The next issue, many

people, and I really say it with no exaggeration Alhamdulillah, from all over the world, they

want to come and study with you, with us; especially from UK, Europe, parts of the US and

even some Arabic countries. And I, as you know, we don’t have resources and a very well

established place to accommodate such number of students, yet. My father has taught me

and done so throughout his career, never to charge or take anything for Da’wah, whether it

may be a marriage or seminars or lectures, or classes like this or even more than that. So

you can study with us through the internet until Allah finds us a way out. Why I mentioned

this is because many ask is it the same as studying with you.

Back in the day, the students of knowledge had three levels of studying:

Samaa al-Mubaashir: Immediately learning from a Shaykh, those who are attending,

that is Samaa al-Mubaashir. That is the best, the reward in itself for that is immense.

Al-Waasitah: Between you and the Shaykh is a mediator, so if one of you goes and

conveys this whole message to another person, that is Waasitah. You were the

mediator between me and that person you taught. Some used to do that, especially

business men or farmers, they would take turns in learning and teaching each other.

Wijaadah: To find a book written by a Shaykh and study from it.

Now where does learning for example, from a Shaykh on Youtube come in? In my opinion, it

is higher than number two, because you’re not learning through a mediator, you’re learning

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from a Shaykh but you are learning possibly through the internet. And it’s definitely not

Wijaadah, it is not taking a book and studying from it. So it is really between the number

one and number two. Through the internet one can even interact these days through

emails, or he can call the Shaykh that he is learning from, so in reality, it has become a notch

under Samaa al-Mubaashir. That is not to minimise going to a Shaykh. One should not resort

to Wijaadah or Waasitah or any other means if he can find a direct Shaykh. If you find a

righteous Shaykh, you are able to, and he is in the end of the world, you pack your bags and

go if you are able to go and learn from him. If Allah blesses us in the future, we can

accommodate, we would love for everyone Inshaa Allah to join us. Learning from a Shaykh

in person has its benefits also, like you see his private life, you see his manners, you see his

attitude, you see his Ibaadah, you see how he reacts to things.

My father, outside of the regular Madinah curriculum when he sent me, he made sure to

contact the major Shuyookh of our time, many of them who are dead, and made sure that I

study with them. The last one for example was Shaykh Muqbil, that he wanted me to go

attend and I always used to make Du’aa to learn from him but I wasn’t able to go to Yemen.

He was kicked out of Saudi in the late seventies, and I wasn’t able to go to Yemen. So

Subhan Allah, in the year 2000, he came to Los Angeles, California to get medical treatment.

I immediately headed there and stayed with him in his house, then suddenly in the middle

of the treatment, it was Dhul Hijjah so he decided to go to Makkah, make Hajj and return.

And when he went to Makkah, an article broke out in California, some newspaper that

Shaykh Muqbil was a radical, was this and that, is in United States, how they let him in. So

immediately, the embassy in Saudi revoked his visa. I say Inshaa Allah that was possibly

from my Du’aa because right after, a few weeks later he died, Rahmatullahi ‘Alayh. So I think

Inshaa Allah, I always think of it and say Alhamdulillah, it might have been my Du’aa that he

came all the way from Yemen to LA, for medical treatment, I learned from him, then he

went back and shortly thereafter he died. So if you can pursue a reputable, righteous

Shaykh who fears Allah and is not a lowlife, deluded, sell out modernist or a promoter for

the Kufr, or Kuffaar, or those who work for governments; if you can find that, then surely go

ahead and learn from him and follow him even if he is in the end of the globe.

The Salaf used to consider a negative characteristic for one to study from books alone, that

is considered negative because they said, if your Shaykh is your book, your mistakes are

more than your correctness. When Shaykh ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked about one who

studies through audio tape, he encouraged it, but he said, learning direct is better because

you can discuss and ask. So that factor that he said it is better because you can discuss and

ask, you can apply that today because you can ask us, you can email us, and you can call us

by phone and ask, and those who are in the classical study with us will get precedence in

answering their questions Inshaa Allah Ta’aala.

The next thing is, those of you who attended here without pen and paper, you need to go

get your pen and paper. Invest in some pen and paper and write, or you can like some here

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are doing on their laptop, taking notes, or even on their phone taking notes. Whatever

method you use, you should document down your knowledge. You should try your best

even possibly to type verbatim, and that is your back up. Jotting down notes on your laptop

is great. One time I was in California in North Carolina, and a brother was on his phone so

back then I was just recently getting into the technology, a few months ago, and I sort of

scolded him for using the text. And he showed me after the lecture, he came respectfully to

me and showed me his phone, he said look Shaykh, this was all the notes from your lecture.

I said Subhan Allah because back then I didn’t know they also used phones to take notes. So,

one needs to write down his knowledge.

When I was seven years old, an Iraqi student with my father, I was in Madinah, my father

was a student. He came to me and told me your father is a lion, your father, in class he

writes every single word down. And then I used to notice my father in the Haram, in his

classes outside the university where I seen him, he would write everything down and always

have an audio recording, record every single lecture and we still have the tapes until today.

So I took it upon myself to do the same, I never ever sat before a Shaykh where I did not

write every single thing he said. There are some exceptional things you don’t write, or that

you miss, but I tried my best to write verbatim everything. In fact, I always refer to my notes

that I took from Shuyookh, and writing is the trend of the Salaf.

Abdullah ibn Amr used to write the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam until

Quraysh deterred him from that. Then the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, proceed

and write, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam encouraged him to write the Hadith. In

Sunan Daarimi, Mu’aawiyah ibn Qurrah ibn Ilyaas , he said, if you don’t write knowledge,

your knowledge is not considered nothing. Those who don’t write knowledge, their

knowledge is not considered nothing. They may have possibly meant Hadith, but even if

they did mean that, it still applies to this kind of study that we are doing today. Sa’eed ibn

Jubayr used to write what he hears in sand, if he doesn’t have nothing to write it down, and

when daylight breaks or he finds something to write it down he goes and writes it down.

And similar things about writing is narrated by al-Muwardi, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad and others.

They encouraged knowledge to be documented.

We will start slow, today will be a little bit longer than usual because of this introduction but

we will start slow and pick up speed as time goes by. This is like I said, the first of our

classical study Inshaa Allah. Everyone should also have a copy of this book, and now

Alhamdulillah these days you don’t have to go out and buy it, you can go ahead on the

internet and print it, I think it’s about five pages or so in English or close to that. To avoid

confusion, before I start, the author starts with four matters before he gets to the three

matters, he starts with an introduction of four matters. Then he goes and talks about the

three matters, which is the core book, and then there is an ending and a conclusion at the

end of the book that we will talk about Inshaa Allah Ta’aala.

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The book like I said, is no more than five pages but it has great immense benefits. We will

take it line by line, possibly even word by word. Today, we are only going to take Bismillahi

Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, or even I don’t think we are going to finish Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan

Ar-Raheem, so we’ll probably take Bismillah. He starts off with Bismillah, Basmalah.

Bismillah is called the Basmalah. The author starts with Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem

and we’re going to break that down point by point. We want to understand as students of

knowledge, as students of knowledge, your understanding to do Bismillah is not like any

regular person. There is 1.5 or 1.8 billion Muslims that are outside, and if you ask them, why

do you say Bismillah, many may not even know that. As a student of knowledge, you are

supposed to get the entire perspective, as to why you are saying Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-

Raheem to everything. Now you should come out with a different understanding as to why

you say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

THE BASMALAH

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

1. TAWHEED IN BISMILLAHI AR-RAHMAAN AR-RAHEEM

A. TAWHEED AL-ULOOHIYYAH When you say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, you are exerting your entire Tawheed to

Allah in that matter that you are saying Bismillah to. It has all aspects of Tawheed in it. You

are saying when you say Bismillah, you say Bismillah, Allah permits me to do this. Athin

Allahu Lee. Bismillah, and if Allah did not permit me, I would not do it. So when you are

saying Bismillah, you are saying, I’m doing it for the sake of Allah because Allah permitted

me to do this. Allah allowed me to do this, Athin Allahu Lee. I’m doing it for your sake Yaa

Allah because you permitted me, you allowed me to do this. That is why you don’t say

Bismillah when you are committing a sin, may Allah guard us and protect us from that. But if

someone is drinking alcohol, they don’t say Bismillah. You don’t say Bismillah because if you

say Bismillah, you are actually getting two sins. You are saying Bismillah, that Allah

permitted you and Allah never permitted that, and you are getting the actual sin for drinking

the alcohol. So, you are getting two sins if you do say Bismillah. Even though, believe it or

not it is a trend in some countries, in some Muslim countries that they say Bismillah before

drinking alcohol.

So that is Tawheed Uloohiyyah, Bismillah, Allah permitted me to do this, I’m doing this for

the sake of Allah. So we are doing this by the permission of Allah, this is Tawheed

Uloohiyyah.

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B. TAWHEED AR-RUBUBIYYAH When you write down, who gave you the power to write? Allah gave you the power to

write. So when you say Bismillah, you are saying, I could not have done this without the

power Allah has given me. Bismillah, I do this by the power Allah has given me. Bismillah, I

eat, because Allah has given me this provision, and because had it not been for the power

Allah has given me, I would not be able to chew it. Bismillah, I write because if it was not for

Allah giving me the power, my hand would not be able to move, it would be paralysed. That

is like saying Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illah billah, if it was not for His power, I would not

have done this act, the power that Allah has given me to do this act. That is why Allah says:

...مة فمن الله وما بكم من نع Every provision is from Allah. So that is the second aspect, that is Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah in

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

C. TAWHEED AL-ASMAA WAS-SIFAAT You are seeking blessing by the name of Allah, Bismillah, you are using the Name of Allah to

bless whatever you’re doing. When you are using the Name of Allah and then following,

which we will take later, Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, those are names, qualities and attributes

of Allah that we will discuss Inshaa Allah. So you are using the Name of Allah to bless the act

you are doing, that is Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat. That applies to any matter that you say

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem to, any matter you say Basmalah to. Bismillahi Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem is called Basmalah.

When I say Bismillah to eat, or to sit an exam for example, I say Bismillah to bless that

matter, to bless the test that I am taking. That is Asmaa was-Sifaat. Allah gave me the power

to eat or to write, that is Rububiyyah. I do this for the sake of Allah, by the permission of

Allah, he permitted me to do this, it is Halaal so I am doing it, that is Tawheed Uloohiyyah.

And likewise, take it for everything else. You understand now, when you say Bismillah, now

you’re going to get a different perspective of what you used to say Bismillah before.

Sometimes you’re saying it because you read a Hadith to say it, now you understand why

you are saying it.

2. LINGUISTIC RULES IN BISMILLAHI AR-RAHMAAN AR-RAHEEM

A. AL-JAAR WAL-MAJROOR FIL-BASMALAH MUTA’ALLIQUN BIMAHTHOOF TAQDEERUHU FI’IL

LAA’IQUN BILMAQAAM

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بالمقام الئق تقديره فعل الجار و المجرور في البسملة متعلق بمحذوف،The Baa in Bismillah is Isti’aanah and Tawakkul, the Baa. To seek help, and dependence on

Allah. The grammatical rule in Arabic is Al-Jaar wal-Majroor fil-Basmalah Muta’alliqun

Bimahthoof Taqdeeruhu Fi’il Laa’iqun Bilmaqaam.

When you say Bismillah in Arabic, it automatically implies you are saying, Bismillah I eat,

Bismillah I drink, Bismillah I write. You don’t have to say the act that you are saying Bismillah

to it, you don’t have to specify, I eat, I drink, I write. The Arabic language eliminates the

need to mention the act you are saying Bismillah to, it is automatically implied. You don’t

have to say the word I eat, you don’t have to say the word I drink, it is automatically implied

in Bismillah. That is among the beauties of the Arabic language.

When you eat, and you say Bismillah, it is like saying Bismillah I eat, even though you don’t

tag on the word I eat. I want you to understand this fully, if you are writing, and you say

Bismillah, it automatically means Bismillah, I write. Al-Jaar wal-Majroor fil-Basmalah

Muta’alliqun Bimahthoof Taqdeeruhu Fi’l Laa’iqun Bilmaqaam, that is the Arabic

grammatical rule. Now we established that rule, every time I say Bismillah, it automatically

means Bismillah I eat, it automatically means Bismillah I drink if I am drinking, Bismillah I’m

riding in my car. It always come after the Name of Allah, note I always said Bismillah I eat, I

never said I eat Bismillah. There is a big difference. Why is it Bismillah I eat, not I eat

Bismillah?

B. TA’KHEER AL-‘AAMIL YUFEED AL-HASR

تأخير العامل يفيد الحصر The scholars of Nahw said for two reasons. First of all, you start with Bismillah, the Name of

Allah comes first in the sentence, Bismillah I eat, let the name of Allah come to bless it.

That slight change makes a huge difference because when you delay naming the act after, in

Arabic grammar, by saying Bismillah I eat, instead of saying I eat Bismillah, in essence, it

limits your action solely for the sake of Allah. The grammatical rule is Ta’kheer Al-‘Aamil

Yufeed Al-Hasr. Bismillah I eat, I don’t eat by any Name other than Your name, you limit it

for the sake of Allah, only for You Allah I write. That is the difference between saying

Bismillah I eat and I eat Bismillah. Only for you Yaa Allah I write, only for you Yaa Allah I

drink, for Your sake.

3. PROOFS FOR BEGINNING WITH THE BASMALAH

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Why does he start with Bismillah, this is a matter of Ibaadah and when you do Ibaadah, the

burden of proof is on you to bring proof. You have to bring proof when you are doing an

Ibaadah, the burden is on the one doing the Ibaadah to bring proof.

A. IT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE QUR’AN There are a hundred and fourteen Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem in the Qur’an.

Even though there are a hundred and thirteen in the start of the Surahs, Tawbah doesn’t

have Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, but in Surah Naml:

نه بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ) (٠٣إنه من سليمان وا Compensates for the one missing in Surah at-Tawbah. Ibn Abbaas said the Prophet sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam did not know the beginning and end of Surah, except by Bismillahi Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

B. THE PROPHET SALLALLAHU ‘ALAYHI WA SALLAM BEGAN HIS LETTERS WITH BISMILLAHI AR-

RAHMAAN AR-RAHEEM In Bukhari, in Muslim, from Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to Heraclius, he started

the letter with Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem:

ورسوله إلى هرقل عظيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، من محمد عبد الله "وم، السالم على من اتبع الهدى، أما بعد " الر

When the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam made a treaty with Quraysh, Suhayl ibn ‘Amr

came to do the treaty with the Prophet between him and Quraysh, he told Ali:

" اكتب بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم " He told Ali, start and write and say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Az-Zuhri narrated a

similar Hadith like that. Ibn Hajr said it is the trend of the scholars and that which is settled

upon that they always start their works with Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

Abu Bakr did the same, when he sent Anas ibn Maalik to Bahrain, he sent a letter with him

and he started it with Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

And there is an Alleged Hadith that any important matter which does not start with

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem is cut off from all good. The Hadith is narrated in Ibn

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Hibbaan and other books and it is weak. It is weakened by Ibn Hajr, Suyooti Albaani and

other scholars. Some tried hard to authenticate but it is weak. Had that Hadith been, that

direct Hadith on starting with Bismillah been authentic, we would not have had to mention

the other proofs. That Hadith would have been sufficient but because that Hadith is weak,

we can’t use it as proof so we resorted to other proof to establish that saying Bismillah on

matters like writing books is permissible. In fact, some scholars like I said, tried very hard to

authenticate the Hadith but it is really a weak Hadith and it cannot be authenticated for

many reasons that we don’t want to get into right now. In fact, there is an entire booklet on

how the Hadith is weak, al-Aqawil al-Mufaṣṣalah li-Bayan Hadith al-Ibtida’ bil-Basmalah,

Shaykh Kattani, who died around eighty years ago, a famous scholar of Hadith from

Maghrib, Rahmatullahi ‘Alayh.

4. THE BLESSING IN THE BASMALAH So the next point is the blessing in Basmalah, we say Bismillah to bless whatever we say

Bismillah on. Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, to bless whatever act you are doing. Islam

encourages Bismillah in everything, every situation that you are in.

When you are writing, riding, when sacrificing:

...فكلوا مما ذكر اسم الله عليه Eat from what which Allah’s Name has been mentioned on. When eating and drinking, in

Bukhari and Muslim, Umar ibn Abi Salamah said, that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam told him:

سم الله وكل بيمينك ، وكل مما يليك Even with relationship with your wife, with your spouse:

لله اللهم جنبنا الشيطان وجنب الشيطان ما رزقتنابسم اWhen you’re turning the lights off, when you’re closing a bottle. Jaabir ibn Abdullah in

Bukhari and Muslim said the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said close your bottle with

the name of Allah, turn your light off with the Name of Allah, with Bismillah.

Get used to mentioning the Name of Allah in everything for Barakah in your life. That is one

of the reasons blessing, Barakah, the blessing has been taken out of our lives. When they

resort to materialistic means, we resort to Allah for our Barakah. Bismillah is your means to

get Barakah from Allah in everything, Bismillah is your means to getting Barakah from Allah

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in everything you do, if you say Bismillah. If you get Allah on your side, for Barakah, what

else do you need?

...ولو أن أهل القرى آمنوا واتقوا لفتحنا عليهم بركات من السماء واألرض If the people of the towns had believed and had they had Taqwa, certainly, we would have

opened for them blessings from the Heavens and the Earth. Allah will open for you blessing

from the Heavens and Earth, just say Bismillah, Barakah is the blessing from Allah. If you

ever wonder why there is no blessing in our time these days, or in our food, or in our sleep,

in our recitation of the Qur’an, ask yourself, have you been saying Allah’s Name and have

you been saying it from your heart knowing its meaning? After you listen to this glimpse

today, you are coming with an entirely different perspective on Basmalah.

CLASS TWO Last week, we gave a little introduction, then we mentioned the three aspects of Tawheed

in Bismillah, then we mentioned two grammatical rules in Bismillah, then we mentioned

proof for initiating your actions with Bismillah, because it’s a matter of Ibaadah that needs

proof, then we mentioned a portion of the blessings of Allah when you say Bismillah. We’re

not done with Bismillah, and here I say, you need patience, we all need patience in our

study. Sometimes we are going to pick up the pace, and sometimes we are going to slow

down. Sometimes, we are going to pick up the pace because it’s obvious or in the future, we

are going to study it in more detail. Sometimes, like here, we need to know it, this is our first

verse in Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. You have to fully encompass the meaning, and

really, we can go into more depth in this, but we have to understand as students of

knowledge, somewhat of what Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem means.

Having said that, when you do your outline, so I won’t lose count, write the topic. For

example, Bismillah, and then put the numbers under it, or asterisk and the points, because it

is a systematic study, it is not sporadic stuff, so organise it.

5. DO WE SAY BISMILLAH OR BISMILLAHI AR-RAHMAAN AR-RAHEEM? The general rule is when there is no specific proof on a certain matter, you can say the

entire Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. For example, writing a book, you’re writing in day

to day activity, you can say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem not just Bismillah. It is

Mustahabb, you can Bismillah or Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. In fact, matters like

writing a book, you got proof to back it up from what the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam did in Sulh al-Hudaybiyyah to say the entire Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. So a

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matter where there is no specific proof, you say Bismillah or Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-

Raheem.

Now, there are matters where there is specific proof the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

only said Bismillah, Bismillah without Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Like eating for example, do

you say Bismillah or Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem when you eat? In this matter, there

is specific proof in eating. There is a Hadith in Sunan at-Tirmidhi narrated by Aishah

radiallahu anha that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, when you eat say

Bismillah, if you forget it in the beginning, then say:

له وآخره بسم الله في أوLook at that, he didn’t say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. In this Hadith, the Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said Bismillah for eating and he repeated it twice, once if you say

it originally, and the second, what to say if you forgot it. Bismillah in the beginning, and if

you forget it, you say:

ل ه وآخره بسم الله في أوThis Hadith is also narrated by Ibn Masood, and this Hadith, Ibn Hajr Rahimahullah said, this

Hadith is the most forthright Hadith on this matter, meaning saying Bismillah when you eat.

The problem for example, is an-Nawawi in his book al-Adhkaar said, it is better to say

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem when you eat than it is to say Bismillah. Ibn Taymiyyah

said it is permissible to say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. However, Ibn Hajr

commented on the statement of an-Nawawi, saying I don’t know where there is any proof

to say it is better to say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem than it is to say Bismillah.

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said in a Hadith narrated by Samurah, If I tell you a

Hadith, do not add to my saying:

إذا " : ، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ، قال سمرة بن جندب عن حدثتك حديثا فال تزيدن علي

Don’t add to Ahadeeth I tell you. The general meaning of it is when you learn something,

don’t add to that Hadith. But it also means in application, in Ibaadah, you yourself in your

private Ibaadah, don’t add. If he didn’t say Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, don’t add. The Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was teaching a young boy, the Hadith we mentioned last week,

the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam does not hide anything, specifically when he

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teaches. He is a legislator, he is legislating, when he sees something he is legislating. When

he told Umar ibn Abi Salamah, he said:

قل : بسم الله ، وكل بيمينك ، وكل مما يليك Say Bismillah.

Some say what is the big deal here, why are you making a big deal, Bismillah or Bismillahi Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. This issue is an issue of Ibaadah and in Ibaadah we adhere strictly to

proof because anyone who adds to Ibaadah or any matter of Islam, is like saying to Allah

and the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, you don’t know, I want to add a little bit from

my own. That is what you are saying when you are adding innovation in Islam.

In Hadith Muslim, Umaarah ibn Ru’aybah seen Bishr ibn Marwaan raising his hands in the

pulpit on Friday. He said, may Allah disgrace those two hands:

قبح الله هاتين اليدين I seen the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam on the pulpit and he never went beyond this

(and he gestured with his forefinger). The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam only did this,

where did you come up with this? An-Nawawi commented on this and said, the Sunnah is

not to raise your hands during the Khutbah. I wrote an article on this several months ago,

because a local Masjid here where I attended Jumu’ah, and a young Khateeb got up and he

commented on this saying you should not raise your hands and you know, commotion broke

out. How can you say don’t raise your hands? So you can refer to that article for more detail

on raising your hands in general.

Even more than that, even more than the Hadith of Umaarah, Mustadarak al-Haakim, Ibn

Umar radiallahu anhu saw a man sneeze, what do you say when you sneeze? Alhamdulillah,

you say Alhamdulillah. The man sneezed in front of ibn Umar and says Alhamdulillahi was-

Salaatu was-Salaam ‘Ala Rasoolillah, he added was-Salaatu was-Salaam ‘Ala Rasoolillah.

Beautiful meaning, peace and blessing be upon the prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam, what’s wrong with adding that? Some say what is wrong with adding that, it is a

nice addition to Alhamdulillah. Ibn Umar deterred him from that addition, he wanted him to

stick with Alhamdulillah, period. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said Alhamdulillah,

period that’s it. Ibn Abdeen said it is disliked, disliked to add was-Salaatu was-Salaam ‘Ala

Rasoolillah when you sneeze and say Alhamdulillah. As-Suyooti said it is affirmatively a

vilified Bid’ah, Alhamdulillah was-Salaatu was-Salaam ‘Ala Rasoolillah when you sneeze,

even though the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam started some of his Khutub with that.

What is wrong if you add praise to the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to Alhamdulillah

when you sneeze? After you sneeze, say Alhamdulillah, period, because the Prophet

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sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said Alhamdulillah, period. Then you go when you are done, if

someone responds to you, then when you are done, go and say as-Salaatu was-Salaam ‘Ala

Rasoolillah a thousand times.

Here we have the issue of eating, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is telling Umar ibn

Abi Salamah:

الله وكل بيمينك إذا أكلت فقل : بسم He didn’t say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. So you have the Hadith of Aishah, and Ibn

Masood, the Hadith Ibn Hajr said is the most forthright Hadith on this issue. So, it is best to

stick with what the Hadith said.

There are some other matters where the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam specified only

Bismillah. For example, relationship with your spouse, in Bukhari and Muslim:

بسم الله اللهم جنبنا الشيطان وجنب الشيطان ما رزقتنا

When you go to the bathroom:

بسم الله ، اللهم إني أعوذ بك من الخبث والخبائث Look how Bismillah is specific in those. Other than these matters, where there is no specific

proof or a Hadith just mentioning Bismillah alone, you are free to mention the entire

Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Where the Hadith limits it to Bismillah, stick to Bismillah.

6. THE NAME ALLAH

A. ALLAH IS THE SOLE TITLE FOR THE LORD THAT FASHIONED EVERYTHING Allah is a name that is only for Allah.

رب السماوات واألرض وما بينهما فاعبده واصطبر لعبادته هل تعلم له (٥٦سميا )

Do you know anyone who is similar to Him? You know what that question is, this question at

the end of this verse has:

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سمياهل تعلم له It is not a question that needs an answer, it is like a rhetorical question, it is a question that

is used to make a point. Some scholars said the meaning of, do you know of any similar to

Him is that there is no one other than Allah with the name Allah.

B. THE ROOT OF THE NAME ALLAH Allah is derivative from the word Ilaah, the word is Ilaah as ibn al-Qayyim and others said.

Ilaah is from Uloohiyyah, oneship, Ilaah is oneship, that is the root word of Allah. Sibawayh

said Alif and Laam were added to Ilaah as an honour and Ta’dheem to Allah. When you add

it, you add the Shaddah then and you take one of the Hamzah out so it becomes Allah.

C. ALLAH USES ALLAH AND RABB IN THE QUR’AN Look at how the Qur’an uses Allah, and at other times it uses Rabb. When Musa went to get

the fire, his family were cold and he wanted light and fire, Allah says in the Qur’an:

(٢١فاخلع نعليك إنك بالواد المقدس طوى ) إني أنا ربك Verily Musa, I am your Lord, He uses Lordship because the setting was that of Lordship.

Allah wanted to tell Musa, I take care of you, I sustain you, He is telling Musa, I protect you.

What are those aspects of? I guard you, I nourish you. Then shortly thereafter, Allah uses

Allah in the same talk to Musa. He says, I have chosen you so listen to that which will be

revealed to you:

(٢٠وأنا اخترتك فاستمع لما يوحى )Verily, I am Allah:

…إنني أنا الله ال إله إال أناThe second time, Allah says I am Allah, not Rabbuka, why? He said that a few moments ago,

Rabb, now He is saying Allah. First, Musa was afraid so Allah is telling him, I take care of you,

protect you, maintain you and sustain you. Second statement, was in a speech where Allah

was telling Musa what is requested of Musa. That means Musa, you need to do this, you

need to do that. What are those aspects of? Uloohiyyah, so Allah uses Allah. The verse said:

الة لذكري )… (٢١فاعبدني وأقم الص

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Worship me Musa, perform Salah, what are those? When you do those, they entail

Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah. So that is why Allah said in the first one Rabbuka and in the second

one, He said:

إنني أنا الله

He could have used either one but these are to show you how sensitive the Qur’an is and

how Allah and Rabb are used.

D. ALLAH IS DIFFERENT TO ANY OTHER NAMES When you call Allah, you say Yaa Allah, with the Alif and Laam before, meaning ‘The’.

Linguistic scholars and scholars of the Salaf all said, you say Yaa Allah. Do you ever say Yaa

Al-Jabbaar, Yaa Al-Kareem? No, you say Yaa Ar-Raheem, you say Yaa Al-Kareem? You say

Yaa Raheem, Yaa Kareem, you take out ‘Al’. In Allah, you say Yaa Allah with the Alif and

Laam before it, unique, unlike any other of Allah’s Names. Some like at-Tahhaawi, ibn al-

Qayyim, used that as proof to substantiate that that is the mighty name of Allah, the one if

one uses it to make a supplication, Allah will answer. We will talk about that Inshaa Allah in

the future when we talk about Asmaa and Sifaat in detail.

E. THE NAME ALLAH BY ITSELF IS NOT A DHIKR It is in Du’aa, it is in praise, it is in glorification, it is in the Shahaadah, but it is not by itself a

form of Dhikr that we were taught by the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

So you don’t go and say one hundred times Allah, Allah, Allah. You don’t hold the beads and

say one hundred times, Allah. You say Alhamdulillah, you say Bismillah, you say Laa ilaaha

illallah, you say Yaa Allah, I need this, but Allah, Allah, Allah alone is not a form of Dhikr that

we were taught.

F. ALLAH IS THE NAME THAT ALL HIS OTHER NAMES FOLLOW Allah does not follow any of the other names. The name Allah does not follow any of the

other names, the other names of Allah follow the name Allah. Let me explain it with an

example because you might have heard this statement before, but an example is going to

clear the confused faces that I see. Al-Quddoos, Al-Azeez, Al-Jabbaar, Al-Khaaliq, all those

are names of Allah. You don’t say Allah is the name of Al-Azeez, you don’t say that. You

don’t say Allah is the name of Ar-Rahmaan. You flip it, you say Al-Quddoos is the name of

Allah. The first was improper to say, this one, Al-Azeez is the name of Allah, Ar-Rahmaan is

the name of Allah. So the other names follow the name of Allah.

G. ASPECTS OF TAWHEED IN THE NAME ALLAH

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We previously said in the last class that Bismillah entails all three aspects of Tawheed, you

submit all three forms of Tawheed in Allah for any matter you say Bismillah. That is the

same Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, or even Bismillah, we mentioned that in the last

class.

Now we are going to say the name Allah includes believing in all three types of Tawheed,

implies that you must believe in all three types of Tawheed. Not even the name Allah, the

root of Allah, Ilaah, is the three types of Tawheed. That entails that you must believe in all

Tawheed. Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah is included as part of Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah, but the

opposite is not true. So, Ilaah, the root word of Allah is Uloohiyyah, oneship. Included in the

oneship is Rububiyyah, you go two Tawheed there. Then Allah, the name itself is Asmaa, so

that is Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat. That is three Tawheed in the name of Allah, not even

Allah, in the root name of Allah, Ilaah.

H. THE MIGHTY NAME ALLAH Allah is mentioned in the Qur’an two thousand, six hundred and two times according to al-

Muʻjam al-Mufahras. It is the most popular name of Allah, the name chosen out of all the

names to say your Shahaadah, when you say Shahaadah, Ash-hadu alla ilaaha illallah,

chosen to say your Shahaadah.

When you utter that name, you are not uttering just any name, you are uttering the name

of the Majestic, the Reverent, the Sublime, Allah. Allah is the name you shout when you are

in fear to gain safety. Allah is the name that if you mention it in something scarce, seeking it

to be blessed, it becomes plenty and even more, the name that those who in fear call to

attain security. The name that those call for relief when they are in distress, when they are

in anguish, when they are in agony, in sorrow, Allah, you call Allah, nobody troubled or

worried calls the name of Allah except that Allah relieves his troubles and his worries, Allah.

Not a poor, that clings on to the name of Allah except that Allah makes him affluent. Not an

ill, who clings on to the name of Allah except that he becomes healthy. The name when a

distressed calls, he gets provided with safety. Allah, the name when a weak calls that name,

He gives him power and honour, when an oppressed uses that name and calls that name,

Allah, He grants him victory. Allah is the name to call when you want mercy, call Allah. Allah

is the name to call for abundance and blessings, Allah. Allah is the name you call when you

want to cleanse your sins, Allah. Allah is not any ordinary name.

If one comprehended the name of Allah, He would live in ultimate happiness, the meanings

of the name of Allah. When you make Allah magnificent in your heart, your heart becomes

the strongest, most firm, most pure heart, and at the same time it becomes a merciful heart

because it has Allah in it. Allah, is not any ordinary name. A heart that truly knows the

meaning of Allah could never belittle a sin, if it truly knows Allah, the name Allah. When you

say Bismillah by Fardh from Allah, you say Allah’s name by Fardh seventeen times. Bismillah,

you have to say seventeen times a day in your Salah, al-Faatihah. In addition to tens of times

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you got to say it as Sunnah, recommendation. Don’t think it is just another normal word you

are uttering, Allah is not a normal word you are uttering. Some have a higher regard when

they are mentioning the names of their bosses and their kings and their spouses and their

president, than they do when they mention Allah’s name. Check your level of your Imaan by

knowing your feeling when you hear the name of Allah.

ذا ذكر الله وحده اشمأزت قلوب الذين ال يؤمنون باآلخرة ...وا ‘When Allah’s name alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe, are filled

with disgust.’ The level of gratification, the level of comfort, the level of content, the level of

tranquillity and happiness you feel when the name of Allah is mentioned, tells you the level

of Imaan you have in your heart because of that verse. You are saying the name of the one

who raised seven skies with no pillars to hold them up, when you are saying Allah. You are

saying the name of the one who lowered seven earths under you by the word:

كن فيكون And then He created you from emitted semen, as beautiful, and in the best of all stature. Let

that go through your mind every time you hear of a sentence with Allah in it. More

importantly, remember that when you say Allah:

...رض جميعاوما قدروا الله حق قدره واألThey underestimate, don’t be like those who underestimate Allah, don’t ever be like that

when you hear His name, it is something big, it is something huge. They make not a just

estimate of Allah,

...القيامة واألرض جميعا قبضته يوم And the Day of the Resurrection, the whole earth will be grasped in His hand.

...والسماوات مطويات بيمينه And the heavens will be rolled up in his right hand.

(٥٦سبحانه وتعالى عما يشركون ) Glorified be He, and high above those who attribute a partner to Him.

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7. AR-RAHMAAN AND AR-RAHEEM

A. AR-RAHMAAN Rahmaan is the one who has the complete mercy, mercy that encompasses everything. This

name is unique in that it is among the exclusive names to Allah, Ar-Rahmaan is an exclusive

name to Allah. It is a name particular to Allah, Wasf, description, like an adjective of mercy.

Owner of the great, vast, ultimate, extensive mercy. The ultimate complete mercy that is

exclusive to no one other than Allah, that is a Rahmaan.

Words in Arabic that are on the scale of Fa’laan indicate vastness and abundance, extensive.

Meaning, the words that rhyme with the world Fa’laan. Like Rahmaan, Fa’laan, you see how

they rhyme. For example, take it in how it pertains to human beings, Ghadhbaaan, which is

on the rhythm of Fa’laan, Sakraan which is on the rhythm of Fa’laan, you notice how they all

rhyme. They all rhyme, when you say Ghadhbaan it means anger but not just anger,

complete, enraged, ultimate anger. Atshaan, thirsty, utmost, entire, complete, full thirst.

Likewise, Ar-Rahmaan, and Allah of course has supreme examples, it means a high scale of

mercy that only belongs to Allah. Ar-Rahmaan is mentioned in the Qu’ran fifty seven times

according to Muʻjam al-Mufahras.

B. AR-RAHEEM Ar-Raheem is a name which refers to the action, meaning the one whose mercy reaches to

others. This name applies to Allah but restrictly applies to others, and it is mentioned one

hundred and fourteen times in the Qur’an, like I said, according to Muʻjam al-Mufahras.

The mercy that encompasses His creation, this word is on the scale of Fa’eel. This one here

is on Fa’eel, Raheem. In Arabic, words on the scale of Fa’eel are a form, they take it to a

form of being an intensified form of that action, reaching others. Allah is the Most Merciful

to the universe, the Most Merciful to the universe, to His creation. The name restrictly

applies to others, you can have mercy to your children, to your brothers, to your family. But

of course, there is no way you can merely imagine comparing the mercy of Allah to the

mercy of any of His creation, or even the mercy of His creations combined from the time of

the creation until the Judgment Day. You cannot even compare, it is not even a feather

weight or an atom’s weight, or even less than that, compared to the mercy of Allah who is

Ar-Rahmaan, Ar-Raheem. Even though you may some type of mercy which no one can deny,

you can never compare your mercy to Allah’s mercy, that is what we mean when we say

restrictly, applies to others. In Surah ash-Shoora:

(٢٢ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير )…

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‘There is none like Him, He is the All Hearing, the All Seeing.

In Surah al-An’aam:

...ال تدركه األبصار وهو يدرك األبصار ‘No vision can grasp Him but he grasps all visions.’

C. AR-RAHMAAN AND AR-RAHEEM The phrase Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem indicates the great, vast, ultimate mercy of Allah.

No one can be named Ar-Rahmaan but some people can be named Ar-Raheem, of His

creation. No one can be named a name exclusive to Allah, it is a restricted name to Allah,

Rahmaan, you can not name that name. The utmost mercy, the complete, the full mercy is

only to Allah, you can not have that, it is not a characteristic in you so you can not have that.

Just like you can’t name Allah because you don’t have the characteristics of Allah, you can’t

name Ar-Rahmaan, it is an exclusive name to Allah. Likewise, you can’t name Al-Khaaliq, the

Creator, Ar-Razzaaq, the Sustainer, al-Ahad, you can’t name As-Samad, Al-Baari, Al-

Qayyoom. Al-Khaaliq for example, the Creator, the one who creates something with nothing

similar, no resemblance, no comparison, no similar comparison to it. Can you create

something similar to that? No, so you can’t be called Al-Khaaliq because you don’t have that

characteristic. Al-Baari is the Maker, the one who makes something free from any

deficiency; can you make anything free of any deficiency? Of course you can not do that, so

you can’t be called Al-Baari.

Then, there are some names that you can be named, like Ghani, Malik, Azeez, Jabbaar. In

the Qur’an, Allah describes the woman who accuses Yusuf:

امرأة العزيز Allah is saying Al-Azeez and Allah calls her the wife of Al-Azeez. Hakeem ibn Hizam, Hakeem

is a name of Allah. A Sahaabi during the time of the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was

named al-Hakeem.

Allah said in the Qur’an:

(٠٦كذلك يطبع الله على كل قلب متكبر جبار )...

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‘Allah seals the heart of every arrogant tyrant.’ He used the name Jabbaar to His creation,

His name is Jabbaar and He uses that for His creation, it is used ten times in the Qur’an. Nine

out of those ten times it is for people who are strong, oppressive, commit injustice or those

who do any type of Dhulm. The last time it is mentioned, Al-Jabbaar, is in Surah Hashr and it

refers to Allah.

When a human is permitted to name those, in one way or another, it is in a negative sense.

Even if mentioned positively, it has some kind of deficiency in it because you are human.

When you mention Allah, then there is none like Allah, it is the complete, positive, ultimate,

example. It is the complete, utmost, positive quality of that name, whatever it means. That

is the difference between Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem. Look in the Qur’an, Allah said in the

Qur’an:

السميع البصير

The Hearing and Listening. Allah calls you, in Surah al-Insaan:

(١فجعلناه سميعا بصيرا ) إنا خلقنا اإلنسان من نطفة أمشاج نبتليه Allah says about you:

فجعلناه سميعا بصيرا

And many times in the Qur’an, Allah says about Himself:

وهو السميع البصير

Specifically, this name Raheem, can be named like that. Raheem, you can name yourself or

your child that. Allah says in the Qur’an:

(١٠وكان بالمؤمنين رحيما )…About the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, He names His Prophet Raheema.

There are names that you can be named, of Allah’s names, but always know that there is no

way you can compare your quality to Allah’s quality. Musaylamah the Liar decided to call

himself Rahmaan, an exclusive name for Allah. As a punishment from Allah, Allah made him

known as the Liar, and exposed him. He chose the exclusive name of Allah, Rahmaan, his

name was Rahmaan al-Yamaamah. Allah clothed him with the nickname, the Liar, that he is

known by all the way until the Judgment Day. If you say Rahmaan al-Yamaamah, does

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anyone today know him? Nobody knows him. History documents him as Musaylamah al-

Kathaab, Musaylamah the Liar. That is his punishment for trying to use an exclusive name of

Allah. He became an example of a liar among the residents of his cities and villages, the

people of the deserts and the Bedouins and in history, the liar, a punishment for one who

tries to use the exclusive name of Allah.

So the first difference between Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem is you can name yourself Ar-

Raheem but you can not name yourself Ar-Rahmaan because one is exclusive to Allah, and

the other is not. Even with Raheem, you are different resemblance in the qualities, between

creation and the Creator.

Ibn Jareer and others, al-Faarisi said Ar-Rahmaan is for all the creation, evil and non evil,

human and non human, and Ar-Raheem is only for the believers. Ar-Rahmaan carries a

broader scope of meaning pertaining to the mercy of Allah. That is basically what al-Faarisi,

Ibn Jareer and others said, and they used this proof:

(١٠وكان بالمؤمنين رحيما )…And he is with the believers Raheema, using the word Raheema. So the first one is a broad

form, the second one is only for the believers. Some scholars objected to this, we don’t

want to get into that right now but some scholars objected. Ibn Abbaas said, they are soft,

tender, gentle, Raqeeq names, one of them is softer than the other. Meaning one carries

more implication than the other, each one is more merciful than the other. Ibn Mubaarak

said Ar-Rahmaan, if you ask He gives; Raheem, if you don’t ask, He gets mad. So basically

that is what some scholars said.

8. THE MERCY OF ALLAH

A. THE ATTRIBUTE OF MERCY Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem give the quality the mercy of Allah, the quality of mercy, to

Allah. We affirm to Allah what he affirmed to Himself and what His Messenger, the most

knowledgeable of creation affirmed to Him.

(٢٢ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير )…

...ار وهو يدرك األبصار ال تدركه األبص

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We have two names that give the quality of mercy to Allah, so we affirm to Allah what he

affirmed to Himself and what His Messenger, the most knowledgeable human in knowledge

of Allah affirmed to Him. We do it without, free of any Tashbeeh. Tashbeeh means

comparison, we don’t compare it. We do it free from Tamtheel, Tamtheel means the

likening of Allah’s attributes to attributes of His creation. Without Tahreef, without

distorting the name or quality. Without Ta’teel, without denial of any of Allah’s qualities or

any aspect of it. We will talk about this Inshaa Allah in the future in Aqeedah when we talk

about Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat in depth.

Allah says:

(٢قل هو الله أحد )When you read that, you read He Allah is the one, one. He is the one without a partner or

no associate. That is what everyone understands, but it also means He is one in his names,

in His qualities and His attributes. In His qualities, he is Ahad, Ahad in his actions, no

comparison to him, that is what Ahad means, just like it means He is the one without a

partner. The terms Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem give the quality of mercy to Allah, so let us

take a quick glance at the mercy of Allah from some few Ahadeeth and Ayaat.

B. THE MERCY OF ALLAH When one says Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, or any praise, any verse of Allah or any

glorification of Allah, and you know its meaning, it is an Imaan energiser. It is an Imaan

booster right there, so you charge up your Imaan many times a day if u know what you are

really saying, not merely uttering on your lips. That is why we talked about this in somewhat

of depth. The terms give the quality of mercy to Allah, so, let us take a quick glimpse at the

mercy of Allah from some Ahadeeth and Ayaat.

قل يا عبادي الذين أسرفوا على أنفسهم ال تقنطوا من رحمة الله إن الله ...يغفر الذنوب جميعا

Ali ibn Abi Talib radiallahu anhu said this is the most encompassing verse of Allah in the

whole Qur’an. Ibn Masood radiallahu anhu said this is the most easing verse in the Qur’an.

Ash-Shawkaani said it is the most hopeful verse in the Qur’an. Why? Because it is

mentioning Allah’s mercy, He is giving hope. Who is He mentioning to, the angels? Don’t

make mistakes, who are obedient to Allah, who are infallible? No, He is mentioning it to

sinners, not just any sinners, sinners with the utmost crimes. Oh my slaves who have

transgressed their boundaries, who committed evil deeds, evil sins, despair not the mercy of

Allah, Allah forgives all sins. Despair not the mercy of Allah, He forgives all sins.

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Abu Hurayrah in Sahih Muslim and in Sahih Bukhari said, when Allah created the creation,

Allah wrote above his throne:

رحمتي سبقت غضبيMy mercy precedes my wrath. In Bukhari, narrated by Umar, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam seen a woman seeking her son. When she finally found him, the companions

were looking at the scene, when she found him she embraced him tightly and she began to

nurse him. It was such a moving scene, an emotional scene, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam and the companions were moved by that gentle, tender love of a mother to her child.

At that point, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam took the opportunity to teach the

companions about the mercy of Allah. They seen the mercy of a woman, he wanted to teach

them about the mercy of Allah. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, do you think a

mother like that would harm her son? You think a mother like that would put her son in a

fire? They said no, they even said, no Wallaahi, they said Wallaahi, no way, while she is

alive, no way. He said Allah is more merciful with his servants than this mother is with her

child:

الله أرحم بعباده من هذه بولدهاSome used to make the Du’aa, oh Allah, you know my mother is the most merciful human to

me on the earth, and I know you are more merciful to me than my mother is. She would not

let a punishment or harm get to me, so Ya Allah I ask you to save me from any punishment.

In Sahih Muslim, Abu Hurayrah radiallahu anhu reported that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam said mercy has one hundred parts, there is one hundred parts to mercy. He sent

down to the earth, one part of mercy. To the jinn, one part goes down to the jinn, to the

human, to the insects, and it is because of this one part that they have love amongst each

other. It is because of that mercy, one mercy, that they show kindness to one another. It is

because, this is all the Hadith, it is because of that one mercy that a beast treats its young

with affection. Allah reserved ninety nine parts of the mercy for Him. Do you understand Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem now? Does that come to mind when you hear Ar-Rahmaan Ar-

Raheem?

C. ATTAINING THE MERCY OF ALAH The best way to attain Allah’s mercy, a practical way, is to say Astaghfirullah as a form of

Dhikr. Look at the verse, Saalih told his people in Surah an-Naml:

(١٥لوال تستغفرون الله لعلكم ترحمون )...

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Seek the forgiveness of Allah so that you may receive the mercy of Allah. Continuous Dhikr

of Astaghfirullah brings you the mercy of Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

Allah’s mercy is unto the good doers:

(٦٥رحمة الله قريب من المحسنين )...Musa, when he helped that woman, the two sisters, with water, then he went and said:

(١١)رب إني لما أنزلت إلي من خير فقير ...He showed some mercy, some compassion, it came back to him. So when you show others

mercy, that is the second way of getting it, it comes back at you.

In Sunan Abu Dawood, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, be merciful to people

on this earth, the one above the heavens will have mercy upon you. Be merciful to others on

this earth, your compassion to your wife, your mercy to your wife, your kids, your students,

your employees, those you supervise, animals, showing compassion to them, helping them,

showing mercy like Musa, it comes back at you. This is by the verse:

(٦٥رحمة الله قريب من المحسنين )...Anas, he served the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam ten years, never once did he

reprimand him. Do you think he never did any mistakes? Keep that in mind when you treat

others, to attain the mercy of Allah.

CLASS THREE

KNOW MAY ALLAH HAVE MERCY ON YOU

اعلم رحمك الل This is our third class of the explanation and elucidation of Sharh Al-Usool Ath-Thalaathah.

The previous two classes, we finally completed Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem and I

promise you Inshaa Allah to speed up the pace a little bit. Our topic today is the first

sentence after Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, which is I’lam Rahimak Allah, know, may

Allah have mercy on you. And some brothers asked me to slow down, if I do not slow down

if I’m not good at it, then you always have the recording to go by. The word I’lam with its

variations is mentioned in the Qur’an seven hundred and seventy nine times. We are talking

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about our first point, the importance of I’lam, knowledge or I’lam, the word I’lam in the

Qur’an.

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE When you look at the story of Adam alayhis salaam in Surah Baqarah and you analyse it, you

will see something within that story of the first creation Adam alayhis salaam. Look at it, it is

Surah Baqarah, verses thirty to thirty four:

ذ قال ربك للمالئكة إني جاعل في األرض خليفة قالوا أتجعل فيها من وا ما أعلم يفسد فيها ويسفك الدماء ونحن نسبح بحمدك ونقدس لك قال إني

األسماء كلها ثم عرضهم على المالئكة فقال آدم علم و (٠٣) تعلمون ال لنا إال علم قالوا سبحانك ال (٠٢أنبئوني بأسماء هؤالء إن كنتم صادقين )

م بأسمائهم فلما قال يا آدم أنبئه (٠١إنك أنت العليم الحكيم ) علمتناما أعلم غيب السماوات واألرض و أعلم أنبأهم بأسمائهم قال ألم أقل لكم إني

(٠٠ما تبدون وما كنتم تكتمون )Knowledge, ‘Ilm within its variations is mentioned in these four verses talking about Adam

and his creation, eight times. In these four verses, they are mentioned eight times, whether

it may be I’lam, the variation Ta’lamoon, or the variation ‘Allamaa or the variation

‘Allamtanaa, it is mentioned eight times in these chain of verses about Adam and seven

hundred and seventy nine times throughout the Qur’an. Not only is ‘Ilm mentioned in these

four verses, but more delicate than that is, Adam had a virtue and an excellence that made

the angels prostrate for him. The angels praise Allah more than Adam, the angels glorify

Allah more than Adam and they thank Him more than Adam, but he has the superiority of

knowledge and the application of knowledge. As a Khalifah on this Earth, as Allah said:

ذ قال ربك …للمالئكة إني جاعل في األرض خليفة وا Knowledge is of the essence, an Ummah that wants to lead all the other Ummam, is an

Ummah of knowledge, definitely has to have knowledge. With lack of knowledge, Shirk

seeps into the nation, destroying the nation, and decaying it, just like it decays an individual,

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decays anything that it seeps into. Everything requires knowledge, not just Tawheed, which

is the heart and the core of knowledges, but even manners require knowledge, if you don’t

have knowledge for manners they become tainted. Standards, today, you see people who

are called heroes when they are in reality cowards. Today, without knowledge, free mixing

and mingling becomes freedom and independence. With no knowledge, attacking and

degrading and transgressing upon Islam and Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala and the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is considered intellect and knowledge, and

freedom of speech. ‘Ilm is so important that the more you see the lack of it, the closer we

are to the Judgment day. The more you see the ignorance, the more closer we are to the

Judgment day, isn’t it a sign of the Judgment day?

Everyone who seeks to make a change, needs knowledge. Here, we raise revivers Inshaa

Allah and I said that before, we ask Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala that a reviver come from

out of you. A reviver to revive this Ummah, its legacy, and the key to it is knowledge. Look at

the greatest revivers of all times, the Messengers and Prophets. We mentioned Adam and

how ‘Ilm was mentioned eight times in four verses about him, Surah Baqarah verses thirty

to thirty four, but look also at Lut:

…ولوطا آتيناه حكما وعلماAllah says about Lut, we gave his wisdom and knowledge, look at Musa:

…اه حكما وعلماولما بلغ أشده واستوى آتين Look at Yusuf:

…ولما بلغ أشده آتيناه حكما وعلماWe gave him knowledge and wisdom, Ya’qoob:

نه لذو علم لما علمناه … …وا He is a man of knowledge from that which we have given him of our knowledge, Dawood

and Sulaymaan:

…ففهمناها سليمان وكال آتينا حكما وعلماWe gave each one of them wisdom and knowledge, ‘Isa alayhis salaam:

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…علمتك الكتاب والحكمة والتوراة واإلنجيل …I taught you the Book, and the wisdom, and the Tawraat, the Gospel. Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam:

…وعلمك ما لم تكن تعلم …We taught you that which you did not know. Without knowledge, there is no leadership,

there is no power, there is no sovereignty. The first revelation to the Prophet sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam, pertains to knowledge:

(٢اقرأ باسم ربك الذي خلق )Iqra, ‘Allama, Qalam, all those are knowledge, variations mentioned in the Qur’an of ‘Ilm is

seven hundred and seventy nine times, it is the second most used word after Allah. Number

one most popular word in the Qur’an is Allah, the second one is ‘Ilm, seven hundred and

seventy nine times.

Look at the leadership qualities, when Allah chose for Bani Isra’eel, Taloot. He told the

Messenger, I don’t want to mention the whole story, there is no time for it but the part of it

that concerns us, Allah told His Messenger, tell them Taloot is your King:

…وقال لهم نبيهم إن الله قد بعث لكم طالوت ملكاTaloot is your king, Taloot is from a fraction from Bani Isra’eel that did not have kings, it was

from the other fraction that they chose their kings, Allah chose it from the other faction.

They said number one, he is not from the fraction that are descendants of kings. Number

two, we might let that slide for you, but he got no money:

…ولم يؤت سعة من المال …So they went back and fought with their Messenger, we don’t accept this man as our king,

we don’t accept Taloot. He doesn’t got no money, he is not from the fraction, and then as

the feud is going on, Allah reveals to His Messenger to tell them:

…إن الله اصطفاه عليكم …

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Allah chose him for you. That’s it, that is the end of it, but why did Allah choose him? Look in

the Qur’an what it says, look at his characteristics:

…إن الله اصطفاه عليكم وزاده بسطة في العلم والجسم …

He got more knowledge and power than you, knowledge and power, characteristics of a

true, strong nation. Even among the Jinn, knowledge is praised and they are considered

higher ranking. Look at when Sulaymaan wanted to get Bilqees’ palace, the first one:

…قال عفريت من الجن أنا آتيك به قبل أن تقوم من مقامك ‘Ifreet said, I will get it for you before you get up. And the other one said, the one

knowledgeable, Allah says:

…من الكتاب أنا آتيك به قبل أن يرتد إليك طرفك علم قال الذي عنده I’ll get it before you blink, he was chosen. In fact, when everything was done with Bilqees,

the final thing he said, Sulaymaan:

…وأوتينا العلم …And we were given knowledge:

(١١وأوتينا العلم من قبلها وكنا مسلمين )…

2. THE DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE Knowledge or ‘Ilm means to comprehend the reality of something as it truly is, with

certainty. Comprehend something as it truly is, with certainty. When he says I’lam, he is

saying teach, he is preparing you to hear some kind of important knowledge. It is used when

there is some important knowledge coming, and it is used when there is something

important and here, it is the most important knowledge, which is Tawheed. Of course, what

the author is talking about is the three essential matters, the three fundamental principles

of Islam, so these are important matters that he is raising awareness, listen up.

3. THE USE OF THE WORD I’LAM

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A. IS KNOWLEDGE CONVEYED TO OTHER THAN HUMANS? Does the word I’lam go for humans and animal or just for humans? Really, this is a linguistic

point, only people who are int linguistic matters really would appreciate but I wanted to

mention it because of some Hadith in there I would like to mention. You get the Hadith out

of them and you will know that they are authentic and you will get that more than you get

the point of this matter.

I’lam, the linguistic scholars mentioned, is usually for someone who comprehends of course,

you don’t tell a wall, I’lam. Some scholars went into depth and said sometimes, yes, a wall

and a rock and a tree are taught and you can tell them I’lam and you can teach them. so

whoever shows or whatsoever shows signs of being susceptible, of learning, you can say

I’lam and you can teach. The stone that ran away from Musa, and this is one of the Hadith

that I wanted to mention. Musa was a very modest man, I want to mention it because I’ve

heard those who say it is weak, and actually it is in Bukhari. He used to keep himself

covered, none of his body was seen because he was an extremely modest man, unlike what

the children of Bani Isra’eel used to do, bathing together. Some of the children of Bani

Isra’eel said he conceals himself because he got a disease, he got some defect in him, he got

leprosy, he got hernia, in Arabic it is called Udhra, he had some kind of defect in him. Allah

wanted to clear Musa alayhis salaam, so one day while he was alone, he put his clothes

under a stone and he went to bathe in seclusion. When he came back out, the stone, when

he finished taking the bath and he went to get his clothes, the stone took his clothes and ran

off with it. The stone took it and fled, Musa picked up his staff and ran after the stone and

he began to say, and this is the point of this for this matter:

ثوبي حجر ثوبي حجر My garment stone, my garment stone, meaning give me back my clothes, give me back my

clothes. He ran until he reached the company of Bani Isra’eel who were gathered and they

seen him naked. They saw him naked and they saw that there was nothing wrong with him

and that was solid proof that they were wrong and they had wronged him, they cleared him

of that which they accused him. The stone stopped, Musa took his clothes then he took his

staff and then he began to hit the stone, this is the second point for what we are talking

about, that he hit a stone. How does he hit a stone? How does he talk to a stone? When the

rock showed signs that it knows and it comprehends, he treated it as that. When it showed

signs of comprehension, he treated it like that. That is the story what Allah revealed:

يا أيها الذين آمنوا ال تكونوا كالذين آذوا موسى فبرأه الله مما قالوا وكان (٥٦عند الله وجيها )

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Oh you who believe, don’t be like those who annoyed and accused Musa, and Allah cleared

him of that which they said and he was honoured by Allah, the verse in Surah al-Ahzaab. The

point of the story is, he beat the stone, which is a sign, maybe an old school style of

teaching, but a sign of teaching, reprimanding. Not only that, he talked to it, he said:

ثوبي حجر When the rock shows signs different than its normal nature, that it is responsive, that he can

teach it, he taught it, maybe old school teaching, but he did teach it and he got his point

across to it. So that is what the linguistic scholars say, I’lam or knowledge can apply to

human and other than human, that is what they use as proof for that.

More so, maybe to get the point across better, in Sunan al-Haakim, Daarimi, Bayhaqi, and

Ibn Katheer considered it authentic and so did al-Albaani, about the Bedouin who came to

the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to take his Shahaadah. And he actually

came passing by, and the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam taught him Islam and the

Bedouin decided to take his Shahaadah. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, you

testify there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger, do you

testify to that? The Bedouin was giving the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam somewhat of

a hard time, he said, who can testify to what you are telling me to testify to? You got to

bring someone to testify to what you are telling me to testify to. Basically, he wants a

miracle, he wants something to substantiate what the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is

saying. So the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam called a tree, called a tree over from a

distance and the tree, from distance, came to the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

dragging its roots and greeted the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, saying to the

Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam:

إله إال الله ، وأن محمدا عبده ورسوله أشهد أن الI beat witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is

the servant and Messenger of Allah. So the tree, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

spoke to the tree, communicated to the tree. The Bedouin of course, a continuation of the

story, became Muslim and he told the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, if

my people embrace Islam I will stay there and teach them, if not, I’m going to come back

and join you. So basically, you don’t teach a tree on a normal occasion, but when it showed

signs of being susceptible to knowledge, he taught it, he gave it its Shahaadah and it said

Shahaadah three times.

Sometimes, you can teach a rock and not a human being. Sometimes, humans, their hearts

are sealed shut like an upside down cup, you can’t put water in it. A tree and a rock are

more susceptible to knowledge, like that which we seen with the Prophet Muhammad

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sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and with Musa. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, I

knew a stone in Makkah that used to salute me, give me Salaam, before he got his first

revelation, in Sahih Muslim. It used to say Assalaamu Alaykum, Oh Prophet of Allah, before

the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi sallam got his first message. He used to point where that stone

was to the Sahaabah. The trees that used to shade the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

so no one would see him when he wanted to go to use the restroom. The linguistic scholars

say if non humans show signs of understanding and comprehending, then they can be told

I’lam and they can be taught. So the word I’lam and knowledge is typically for humans who

comprehend and are susceptible of understanding, not for stones and sticks, but when they

do show signs of comprehending and they are susceptible of learning, then they are taught

and they are told I’lam or whatever it may be, like anyone or anything else. So this is our

point about whether I’lam or knowledge is told to other than human beings.

B. CAN YOU SAY I’LAM TO SOMEONE MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE? Can you tell a scholar I’lam? We take it to another extreme, can you tell someone more

knowledgeable I’lam? Of course you can. For example, a scholar may know al-‘Asr but he

may have forgotten the time of ‘Asr so you say it is time for al-‘Asr. He may have forgotten,

so ‘Ilm or knowledge, someone who is less in knowledge can always teach someone and tell

him I’lam to one who is higher in knowledge. Someone who is higher in knowledge

overlooks, it happens a lot, overlooks some of the most simplest things that a younger

person in knowledge can detect.

3. THE LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE: IBN AL-QAYYIM

The next point now is the levels of knowledge. Ibn al-Qayyim, in Miftaah Daaris Sa’aadah

said, the levels of knowledge are six, these are the ladders of knowledge:

مة ابن القيم في )مفتاح دار السعادة(: قال العاللها: حسن السؤال. وللعلم ست مراتب أو

الثانية: حسن اإلنصات واالستماع. الفهم.الثالثة: حسن

الرابعة: الحفظ.

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الخامسة: التعليم.وهي العمل به ومراعاة حدوده. -وهي ثمرته -السادسة:

The first one is asking and pursuing correctly, asking and pursuing knowledge correctly.

Some people are deprived of knowledge because they don’t perfect asking or seeking it in

the proper way. And this is something I already mentioned in the first class, they may not

ask at all, some people may not ask, they have a question, they may not ask at all. Or some

may ask about something, when there is something more important and essential that they

should be asking or searching or pursuing. So they ask about that which is least important

for them and for their religion and they ask about something which is least important,

rather than that which is most important. That is a problem with many of those who are

ignorant and trying to learn on their own, without at least foundation of how to learn. Some

Salaf said, your way in asking or pursuing in knowledge is half of knowledge and that is very

true. Asking or pursuing or seeking knowledge in the right manner, is half of knowledge they

said.

For example, if one got into studying Islam and jumped into laws of inheritance, al-Faraa’id,

but doesn’t know the Fiqh of purification, is that acceptable? Or more practical example for

us here, someone goes to al-‘Aqeedah at-Tahawiyyah and tries to understand it. That is a

very difficult book that gives scholars a hard time, he goes to that but has never studied the

basic books before that, now that is the first one.

The second one is listening and being silent. It is allegedly said that Ali ibn Abi Talib said, if

you sit with a scholar, be more eager to hear than you are to speak. Be more wanting to

listen than you are to talk. Third one is understand, which is obvious. The fourth one is

Hifdh, memorise. There are things, especially in our knowledges that you got to memorise.

The fifth one is Ta’leem, you got to teach, and all these, we will go through them later but

you should know them for now. The sixth one is the fruit of the knowledge, which is to act

accordingly to what you learned and stay within the limits and boundaries of what you

learn.

Ali said, knowledge calls for action, if it responds it stays, if it does not respond, it moves

away. Ash-Sha’bi said, our support for memorisation of our knowledge used to come from

acting upon it. Al-Fudhayl ibn Iyyaadh, Muhammad ibn Nadr, Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah, Umar

ibn ‘Ala, and others said very similar quotes about that. A side thing is al-Khalaal said, when

he wanted to study grammar he said I went to study grammar, I stayed one year silent

The third year, I pondered over .(نظرت) The next year, I considered and looked into it .(انصت)

it (تدبرت). In the fourth year, I began to ask my Shaykh (سألت). So it took him four years, don’t

go to that level, I’m just showing you some stuff old scholars said. That is to show you the

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level of patience that they had also in attaining the knowledge and that it is a structured

study, it is not a sporadic thing.

4. THE HONOUR OF KNOWLEDGE Our next point is I’lam Rahimak Allah, we are still in the portion of I’lam. Take the honour of

knowledge, and this is good for you, it will inspire you not to ever stop learning. Anas ibn

Malik radiallahu anhu said the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم Ibn Maajah, the Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, learning knowledge is an obligation

on every Muslim. This Hadith is considered weak by some because of matters within its

chain, but other scholars have considered it authentic like al-Muzzi, as-Suyooti, and Albaani

Rahimahumullah Jamee’an. Ahmad said, one must know that which is essential to establish

his Deen. You must, as an obligation, and we’ll talk about this in the next four introductory

matters when we talk about knowledge again. Matters like for example, for Salah, Siyaam,

that you need to know, it is obligatory, it is Fardh, it is Waajib on you to know. Look more

than that, the honour of knowledge that you are doing right now. Allah bears witness in the

verse, Allah bears witness that there is none that have a right to be worshipped but He,

Allah bears witness to that. And the angels bear witness to that, and look at the third one,

and those having knowledge, those people who have knowledge, He maintains justice on

this Earth:

شهد الله أنه ال إله إال هو والمالئكة وأولو العلم قائما بالقسط ال إله إال (٢١هو العزيز الحكيم )

Al-Qurtubi said about this, had there been anyone more honourable than scholars, of the

categories of human beings, Allah would have combined them to His Name, and to that of

His Angels as He did with the Ulamaa’. Allah testified, the angels, and then He said the

knowledgeable people. Allah in the Qur’an told the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam, and say Muhammad:

(٢٢١رب زدني علما )…Increase me in knowledge, Allah directs His Messenger to ask Allah to gain more knowledge.

Had there been anything more honourable to acquire than knowledge, Allah subhaanahu

wa ta’aala would have directed His Messenger to ask for that.

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(٢٢١وقل رب زدني علما )…He would have asked him to ask for more wealth, or prestige, or fame, or whatever it is, but

He told him to ask for more knowledge.

The next verse in the Qur’an, Allah says:

(١١إنما يخشى الله من عباده العلماء إن الله عزيز غفور )…It is only those who have knowledge amongst His slaves, that truly fear Allah subhaanahu

wa ta’aala. Mu’aawiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan radiallahu anhuma said:

من يرد الله به خيرا يفقهه في الدين Every time you get relaxed and lazy about knowledge, listen to this Hadith in Bukhari and

Muslim. Whoever Allah wishes good for, He gives him profound understanding of the

religion. You coming here today is a sign that Inshaa Allah, Allah likes you and wants good

for you.

عن أبي هريرة قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من سلك طريقا الله له طريقا إلى الجنة يلتمس فيه علما سهل

In Sahih Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, whosoever seeks

a path to acquire the knowledge of the Deen, and over here when we are talking, this is

knowledge of the Deen, Allah will make the path for him easy to enter Heaven. You, by

sitting here, learning and sitting, or those by the computer, learning Islam, that is your path

to Jannah Inshaa Allah, you are paving yourself a path for Jannah by what you are doing in

studying Islam.

Abu Darda said in a Hadith in Ibn Maajah, in Abu Dawood and at-Tirmidhi, he said, look at

the value of knowledge, I want you to see how big of an ordeal it is that you are students of

knowledge:

…طريقا إلى الجنة من سلك طريقا يلتمس فيه علما سهل الله له Whoever treads a path in search of knowledge, Allah will direct him to tread a path to enter

Paradise. This portion of the Hadith of course, we mentioned it, it is in Sahih Muslim. The

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rest of the Hadith and this part is also mentioned in Ibn Maajah, Sunan Abu Dawood and at-

Tirmidhi:

…إن المالئكة لتضع أجنحتها لطالب العلم رضا بما يصنع …The angels lower their wings for the student of knowledge, in approval for that which he

does. They lower their wings for you in approval for that which you do. The angels love and

respect and honour you, the angels come down and lower their wings for you, they humble

themselves for you, and protect you and guard you, why? Because you made an effort to

study Islam, so they protect you, guard you, lower their wings for you. Look at the Hadith,

goes on to say:

ن العالم ليستغفر له من في السموات ومن في األرض حتى الحيتان … وا …في الماء

A person of knowledge, a seeker of knowledge, a knowledgeable person, the Heavens and

the Earth seek the forgiveness for the student of knowledge, or the scholar. So one won’t

get the implication that it is only humans and Jinn making Istighfaar, the Prophet sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam said:

الحيتان في الماء حتى

Meaning everything, don’t assume it is only human beings and Jinn, it is even the fish, it is

even the whale, and it is everything else. If it is the whale and fish in the deep dark waters, it

is everything else. Do you want everything to make Du’aa for you? Continue steadfast in

studying knowledge wherever you are.

…فضل العالم على العابد كفضل القمر على سائر الكواكب …The next portion of the Hadith, the superiority of a scholar over a worshipper is like the

superiority of the full moon at night time over the stars. You see how supreme the moon is

over the stars, when you look at night time, you see the moon and you see how glowing and

radiant it is and it dominates the sky; and if you do see the stars, they are like little dots.

That is what the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam compared a scholar to a worshipper to.

In this particular Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam compares how supreme a

scholar is in comparison to a worshipper, like the moon in comparison to the stars. In

another narration, in Sunan at-Tirmidhi, by Abu Umaamah al-Baahili, the Prophet sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam said:

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عابد عالم على ال أدناكم على كفضلي فضل ال

The supreme status of an ‘Aalim over an ‘Aabid is like how supreme I am over the least one

of you. We know the superiority of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

over scholars, or anyone other than that, and less than that or above that. For the Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to compare himself like that is such an honour, all the honour

and encouragement for one to continue steadfast in studying this knowledge. Look what the

Hadith goes on to say:

ن العلماء ورثة األنبياء … …وا Verily, the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, they are the heirs of the Prophets. You

want to be the heir of the Prophets? Study Islam. Honour after honour, do you know what

an honour it is to be called an inheritor of an heir of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam?

ثوا دينارا وال درهما … ن العلماء هم ورثة األنبياء ، إن األنبياء لم يور وا ثوا العلم ، فمن أخذه أخذ بحظ وافر نما ور وا

The Hadith goes on to tell you, verily, the Prophets did not leave as inheritance, Dinar and

Dirhams, they didn’t leave dollars and change, they didn’t leave wealth. They left behind

knowledge, so whoever takes it, has indeed acquired a great fortune. Sometimes people say

they want billions to be like the billionaires, like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, or Waleed ibn

Talaal or their likes. Some want to be presidents, or like the presidents, and like the kings, or

prominent positions and some seek some certain ranks people look up to so people can look

up to them. Some want to look like others in their dress and in their style, everyone has

certain things they want to look up to. What really matters is the inheritance of the

Messengers, to grab a chunk of that inheritance. That's the least of what people pursue

today, people pursue everything wanting to be like kings and leaders, and social statuses

and money, but the least pursued today is the inheritance of the Prophet Muhammad

sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. How many people pursue that and how many people raise their

kids to pursue that?

Abul-Wafaa’ ibn Aqeel said, Allah guarded me as a youth, I limited my love to all I loved

when I was a youth was knowledge. I never mingled with people who were players or

foolish people ever, I only enjoined with the students of knowledge. Now that I am in my

eighties, I am more eager to learn than when I was in my twenties. Now that I am in my

eighties I love to learn more than when I was in my twenties, imagine that. Mutarif said:

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فضل العلم أحب إلي من فضل العبادة I love to learn, I think it is better and I would love to learn more than I do worship. It is more

beloved to him than to worship and it is not only his saying, it is a saying of many, many

other scholars. Yahya ibn Katheer said:

احة الجسم ال يستطاع العلم بر You’ll never get knowledge, real knowledge, with a lot of rest. You got to take away a little

bit of your rest time and a little bit of your sleep time, and I’m going to add to that, you are

not ever going to become knowledgeable spending a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter.

Some brothers spend historical time on it, that I’ve heard of, fifteen to twenty minutes max.

Ibn Abbaas radiallahu anhu said, studying knowledge at night is more beloved to me at

times than worshipping in it. Studying Islam is more beloved to me than worshipping. Az-

Zuhri Rahimhullah said:

ما عبد هللا بمثل العلم

Allah was never worshipped in a way like knowledge. Meaning studying Islamic knowledge,

and memorising, and reading. All types of knowledge, not just Tawheed but we mentioned

because that is the mother of knowledges, that is the one that will save you and protect you

from Hellfire. Ash-Shaafi’ee Rahimahullah said:

طلب العلم أفضل من صالة النافلةStudying ‘Ilm is more important than a Naafilah prayer. What this means is that you got to

understand their lifestyle, their lifestyle was full, complete, it had a full schedule to Allah. So

at times, they get cornered either I stay up today and pray, or I teach this student or I write

this book or I read this book or I prepare for this class, it is one or the other. So at that time,

it becomes better than a Naafilah, but we are different. We have plenty of time that we

waste and trust me, the way we live, we can accommodate for both because our schedule is

not full, we still haven’t reached their rank in how they filled their schedule. This is how they

sacred ‘Ilm, look how they travelled and pursued it.

5. THE EXAMPLE OF THE SCHOLARS

A. JAABIR AND ABU AYYUB

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Ahmad and Abu Ya’la narrated that Jaabir radiallahu anhu travelled from Madinah to ash-

Shaam, from Madinah towards Syria, look on the map, to take one Hadith from Abdullah ibn

Unays.

In fact, a more story than that, Ibn Abdil-Barr narrated it in his book Jami’ Bayan al-‘Ilm, very

nice book about knowledge, about the significance of knowledge, he mentioned the story of

Abu Ayyub radiallahu anhu. Abu Ayyub was in Madinah, he packed his belongings and

headed from Madinah to Egypt to meet Uqbah ibn Naafi’a. When he got to Egypt, he met

the Ameer of Egypt, Muslima ibn Makhlad al-Ansaari. Muslima Makhlad greeted him for a

few moments, embraced him, asked him what brings you here Abu Ayyub? Abu Ayyub said,

what brings me here is a Hadith I heard from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam, no one heard it from the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam but me and Uqbah ibn

Naafi’a so you can send someone with me to direct me to where Uqbah is living, to his

house. He got to Uqbah’s house, Uqbah opened the door, warmly embraced him, was

amazed and surprised to see him and says, Abu Ayyub, what brings you here? What brings

you to town? Abu Ayyub said there is a Hadith I heard from the Prophet Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, no one heard that Hadith but me and you. It is the Hadith about

covering the faults of a Muslim, what is it Uqbah?

Uqbah said, yes I heard it from the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, the Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

" زية ، ستره الله يوم القيامة يا على خ منا في الدن من ستر مؤ "Whoever covers the faults, the embarrassments of a believer in this life, Allah will cover his

faults on the Day of Judgment. So he heard that Hadith, now, Abu Ayyoob said, you’re right,

Saddaqt. What do you think happens after this? Do you think he sat down in Uqbah’s house

for a coffee or tea? Even though there is no doubt that Uqbah invited him:

ما حل رحله وما جلسThe Hadith says, did not untie his baggage nor did he sit. He turned back, got on top of his

camel and headed back to Madinah. From Madinah to there, from Madinah to Egypt, to

listen to one Hadith. Not a Hadith he didn’t know, but a Hadith that he knew that no one

else heard it except Uqbah, him and Uqbah, he wanted the honour of hearing it from Uqbah

again. He just wanted the honour of listening and seeing Uqbah utter the words that the

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam uttered, that no one else had the honour of

listening to but them two. Today, we tell people, go heat up your meal, go get your coffee

and go lay on your bed and click Youtube, and learn a couple of things about Islam in the

comfort, and heat, or in the warm weather of your house, but people turn away from it.

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B. MUHAMMAD BIN HASSAN ASH-SHAYBAANI Muhammad bin Hassan ash-Shaybaani, was a man who didn’t sleep, he was a big student,

one of the top students of Abu Haneefah. He was a man who barely slept, but when we say

they took out of their sleep time, when we say they didn’t sleep, you think they were not

human beings? You think they were not made out of flesh and blood, that they were not

humans who got tired? They were but they were devoted, they had a goal they wanted to

reach, and they needed to pursue that goal. They did everything they had within their might

to pursue that goal, that’s why they were the giants they were. Whenever Muhammad bin

Hassan ash-Shaybaani used to get tired at night time, he would have a bucket with ice in it

and cold water and he would wipe his eyes and face with it. He would say, warmth brings

me sleep and this cold water takes away the sleep. This was among the top students of Abu

Haneefah Rahimahullah.

C. ASAD IBN AL-FURAAT Look at his student, there was a man called Asad ibn al-Furaat. Asad ibn al-Furaat was an

‘Aalim from Spain, he used to live in Spain and he lived around North Africa region as well.

He went from Spain to Madinah to learn from Imaam Maalik, he studied the Madhab of

Imaam Maalik and he studied with Imaam Maalik Rahimahullah. When he finished

everything with Maalik, he headed from, look at that, from Spain to North Africa, to

Madinah, then he went to Iraq. He went to Iraq to study with Abu Haneefah, and then he

went to study with Muhammad bin Hassan ash-Shaybaani, this man who used to put cold

water on his eyes to stay awake. So when he entered Iraq, to go study with Muhammad bin

Hassan ash-Shaybaani, he was directed to the mosque that Muhammad bin Hassan ash-

Shaybaani teaches in. It is of course full, this is the Imaam of his time, so he waits for some

of the crowd to leave. Then the close knit that were around Muhammad bin Hassan ash-

Shaybaani, he broke his way through them, and he told Muhammad bin Hassan ash-

Shaybaani, Imaam, I am a stranger and I no wealth so I can’t stay here too long. I can’t stay

here too long in Iraq, I have to go back to Spain so what is the best way to absorb all your

knowledge as quickly as possible so my money won’t run out on me?

Muhammad bin Hassan ash-Shaybaani said in the day time, you join the regular Halaqah, at

night time come to my house, I’m going to teach you. And I mentioned a similar story that

was considered weak, by Baqi ibn Makhlad. You can refer to it on my tape on Baqi ibn

Makhlad. So the day time, he would join the regular Halaqah, and at night time, he would go

in his house, and learn from him. And now, every time Muhammad bin Hassan ash-

Shaybaani gets tired as he is teaching, he puts water, but not his student. His student

slumbers as he is teaching him, so Muhammad bin Hassan ash-Shaybaani takes from that

cold water and sprinkles in his face, until Fajr breaks, while they are sitting there and

learning, Qaala Allah, Qaala Rasool.

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Do you know if you sleep eight hours a day, and you live sixty years, if you do sleep eight

hours a day, sixty years, and most sleep more than that even today, you’ve spent one third

of your life sleeping and that would be considered approximately I think about twenty years

or so. Today, we don’t say do that, we don’t say go to that extent, there is no need to stay

up like they did. If you could, do it. If everyone is truthful, and uses the moments, the time

he spends in vain, or possibly in sin, and gives that to studying, then he has done a lot. Asad

ibn al-Furaat went back to Spain, do you think he put leg on leg and said you know what I

studied with Imaam Maalik, studied with Abu Haneefah, I studied with Muhammad bin

Hassan ash-Shaybaani and he must have studied with many other scholars, you think he

went back and put leg on top of another and kicked back and relaxed? He went back and

taught Imaam Maalik’s Muwatta throughout the Spain, North African region and then he

went and fought in the conquer of Suqliyyah (Sicily) and in that battle, he got killed, an

Imaam, Rahimahullah.

Do you think Asad ibn al-Furaat became what he was wasting his time or Muhammad bin

Hassan ash-Shaybaani, or Abu Haneefah? These were men who sacred their time, and more

so, knew how to sacred knowledge.

D. SA’EED IBN MUSAYYIB, AR-RAAZI AND AL-BUKHARI Sa’eed ibn Musayyib said, I used to travel nights and days for one Hadith. Nights and days

for one Hadith that you could click today, within two seconds, with your fingers and get it.

Ar-Raazi said, I travelled more than one thousand Farsakh, as a student of knowledge, and

then I stopped counting at one thousand Farsakh. Farsakh back in the days is like five

thousand kilometres today, it is like three thousand, one hundred and six miles today. That

is the amount he calculated, he stopped because he no longer calculated, and then

continued his journey as a student of knowledge. Al-Bukhari used to go to sleep and

remember some things for his books, or for his Hadith compilation, and he would write and

jot down the notes, he would wake up from his sleep or from his nap and write down. And a

second time, get up and write down, and then he would remember something, he would

get up and write it down. Ibn Katheer in his famous book at-Tareekh, said al-Bukhari used to

wake up twenty times on an average night to jot down something he remembers as he puts

his head to sleep.

These were people who knew the value of knowledge, this is I’lam, you see what I’lam

means. Knowledge, it didn’t come to them while they were pampered on lofty mattresses

like we have today. This was the man, Bukhari, who compiled a book that he selected, he

selected this Ahadeeth book from over six hundred thousand Hadith that he had before his

hand. Without repetition, Bukhari has two thousand, six hundred and two Hadith. With

repetition, it is seven thousand, five hundred and ninety three, and Ibn Hajr said it is seven

thousand, three hundred and ninety seven Hadith. If you put the repeated Hadith with the

Taaliqaat al-Mutaaba’aat, he has over nine thousand and eighty three Hadith in his book.

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Not a single Hadith did he put in there, except that he prayed two Ra’akaat Istikhaarah,

every time he put a Hadith in there.

Knowledge never comes without effort and some time off sleep or some time off rest time,

and some time off the social media time. We mention this to show you what the author

means when he says I’lam. I’lam, he wants you to know, he wants you to know how to

honour knowledge, something important is coming, I’m going to teach you. We are

engaging in something important that is what he is trying to tell you, sacrifice for what I’m

about to tell you. We mentioned examples that we could never be like them, I know that.

Why we mention them? We mention those examples and you be like five percent of that,

possibly ten percent of that, you would be good, you would be in good shape. Unlike if we

mention our surroundings, who waste their time in possibly sins, or vain times, they can

never get no where but if mention these supreme examples, and you are like five percent or

you try to hit fifty percent like them, then you’re good.

E. AN-NAWAWI, LISAAN AD-DEEN IBN KHATEEB AND MU’ADH IBN JABAL Look at an-Nawawi Rahimahullah, who wrote volumes and volumes. What amazes me

about this man is that he died when he was a few years older than I am today right now, he

died when he was forty four years old. Do you know, he only started writing when he was in

his thirties, spending time learning. People today just want to jump to the Khutbah, give

Khutbahs. He started writing in his thirties, Sharh Muslim he wrote, he wrote Riyaadh as-

Saaliheen. Sharh Muslim, that amazing, magnificent book, Riyaadh as-Saaliheen, al-Adhkaar,

his book al-Majmoo’, his book Minhaj fil Fiqh, at-Tibyaan fi Adaab Hamalat al-Qur’an, a great

book on the manners of those who carry the Qur’an. Al-Idaah, Bustan al-Aarifeen, Minhaj

at-Taalibeen, Rawdat at-Taalibeen, he wrote Tahdhib al-Asma wal-Lughat, he wrote at-

Taqreeb, it’s a summary of Ibn Salah’s book on the science of Hadith. He wrote Forty

Nawawi Hadith, compiled those, who doesn’t have that? Who doesn’t say an-Nawawi

Rahimahullah tens of times a day, every student of knowledge says that. He wrote Zawaa'id

al-Rawdah and it’s a book on Usool al-Fiqh. He started interpretation or elucidation on Sahih

Bukhari but he was never able to finish it, it would have been a great magnificent book like

that of Ibn Hajr on Sharh Sahih Muslim.

One time he said, I spent two years in my life, I never laid on my side on a mattress or on the

ground. So they asked him how did you sleep, an-Nawawi? Two years, his side never got a

mattress or the ground. He said, I used to lean when I get tired, I used to lean over my

books, and take a little nap. I lean on my books for a few moments. People’s goals are

different, if you want to criticise him, you are going to find childish kids who want to criticise

him, but these people’s goals are different. Some people want Firdaws, some people want

A’raaf, some people just want the front gate of heaven. At forty four, he did for the Ummah

more than, I’m going to say without an exaggeration, possibly millions at times, than what

millions did for the Ummah.

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Lisaan ad-Deen ibn Khateeb was a scholar from Spain, he lived around 1340 and he was a

well known leader and the scholar of Spain. They said to call him Dhul-Umrayn, the man

with a double life. You know why they used to call him that name? Because at day time he

would be occupied with dealing with matters and resolving issues in his country, at night

time he would sit and write and learn. So he got a double life, he took out of his sleep time

and got a double life. Again, I say we mention these examples so we can get a small

percentage of like them, to improve our quality and attitude towards knowledge, when he

says I’lam.

I would say get your full eight hours of sleep, and sleep on a good, nice mattress or a

waterbed, don’t lean on your books, I don’t want you to do that. Just take the time off your

vain time, the time you spend gossiping, the time you spend in social media, and focus it for

knowledge. Mu’adh ibn Jabal radiallahu anhu died when he was thirty five years old, can

you believe that, thirty five years old, the man we say radiallahu anhu. The man who is a

father to everyone from Yemen and everyone from Yemen, Mu’adh ibn Jabal is in his grave

getting rewards for him. The tiresome and pain an-Nawawi and Mu’adh went through is

gone now, because they are in their grave. The work remains and the reward remains, the

tiresome and restless nights are all gone. When Imaam Ahmad was asked when will you

rest, they seen how he was, he said when I go in the grave. An-Nawawi, I imagine an-

Nawawi now laying in his grave, with such a big smile on his face, Rahimahullah, it is as if he

has a smile on his face. Every time we say Rahimahullah, he gets reward for it, every time

we use his knowledge that is an ongoing, never ending charity, Sadaqah Jaariyah. And he sits

in his grave, and gets all that reward.

Al-Badr ibn Jama'ah said, I went to visit an-Nawawi one time, and I couldn’t find a place to

sit. When I did, he made room for me, through his books, he kept searching and pursuing

books. Al-Badr ibn Jama’ah said, he pursued knowledge in his books, looking in his books,

like a mother would be in pursuit of a lost son of hers, looking and striving. Al-Hassan al-

Basri said two people never get satisfied, a student of knowledge and a student of wealth.

You never get satisfied; you always want more and more and more. That is to show you the

level and patience that they had in attaining the treasure of knowledge. It is a treasure, you

got to pursue it. I’lam Rahimak Allah.

F. SULAYMAAN IBN ABDUL MALIK THE KHALIFAH AND ATAA’ IBN RABAH Sulaymaan ibn Abdul Malik, the leader, the Khalifah, famous Khalifah from Bani Umayyah,

he went to make Hajj, and he had two of his sons with him. He needed to ask some

questions pertaining to Hajj, so everyone told him go to Ataa’ ibn Abi Rabah. Ataa’ ibn Abi

Rabah was a Tabi’ee who died one hundred and fourteen years after the Hijrah. He was an

ex-slave, he was just freed, he had a disease in his eyes, one of his eyes wasn’t functioning,

he used to limp, and he was black. Imagine all that, matters that ignorant people always

look down upon, he had it all in him. The ignorant people look down on all these matters,

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and he had all those in him. The Khalifah of the Muslim was directed to go ask that man for

issues pertaining to his Hajj. When they finally found him, he was in Salah, he was standing

in Salah near the Ka’bah so the Khalifah stands with his two sons and they wait and wait.

And when he is done with his Salah, the Khalifah says Ataa’ I have a question. So he is facing

the Ka’bah and he is behind him, the Khalifah asks him the question, an ex slave. And his

back was turned to them, as if they were low, and he is the honourable, and he didn’t even

turn around to answer him because he doesn’t need nothing from the Khalifah. The Khalifah

needs him, needs a man who in every way people look down upon, the ignorant people.

When Sulaymaan seen this, how honourable he was, and how low he was even though he

was the Khalifah, and even though he had wealth and he had power and everything, he told

his two sons:

يا أوالدي ال تنيا في طلب العلمDon’t be lazy in learning or attaining knowledge because I will never forget how low we had

to stand in front of Ataa’. The Khalifah going to ask someone that’s a big thing, imagine if it

is someone that was an ex-slave with a blind eye, looked down upon, the Khalifah goes to

ask him. So he told his kids never ever leave knowledge. Provision is always guaranteed, but

knowledge is not so a Khalifah has provision, but he doesn’t have knowledge. We seek

knowledge, Allah always guarantees your provision.

G. AL-KASAA’EE AND THE SONS OF THE KHALIFAH Haroon ar-Rasheed had two sons, al-Ameen and al-Ma’moon, that he brought a scholar

called al-Kasaa’ee known during his tome to teach them. When al-Kasaa’ee used to get to

their door, Haroon ar-Rasheed either seen or was told that his two sons al-Ma’moon and his

brother went to the door, opened the door for al-Kasaa’ee, take his shoes and greet him in.

When Haroon was told of this or he seen this, he summoned al-Kasaa’ee to his palace, to his

room. He said Kasaa’ee, who is the most honoured of people? Al-Kasaa’ee said you Haroon

ar-Rasheed, you are the Khalifah, you are the most honoured of the people here. Haroon

said no, rather the most honoured among people is the one who the next in command to be

leaders, go and open the door for him and take his shoes because his sons were next in

command to be leaders. We need to understand the value of knowledge and the great

noble mission of attaining this.

H. ASH-SHAAFI’EE AND IBN JAWZI Ash-Shaafi’ee, when he was asked how he studied and how he attained his knowledge, he

said I pursued knowledge like a mother who is seeking her only lost son. Imagine a mother

with her only lost son how she runs and chases him if he is lost. He said I pursued knowledge

like a mum does to find her son. Ibn Jawzi said, I stayed years desiring Hareesah. Hareesah,

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it is a famous sweet we know still today. He said, I desired Hareesah for years but I could

never eat it because the guy who sells it by the Masjid, at his time, would come when I have

a class, and I want to go eat it but I don’t want to miss the class. Honour and reward for

learning, it is deep, learning is not just a superficial thing that you take or you do it if you got

time or at your leisure, or if you got nothing better to do, you go to attend the Halaqah.

6. RAHIMAK ALLAH

A. MAGHFIRAH AND RAHMAH May Allah shower His mercy on you. So the next word, I’lam Rahimak Allah, he means may

Allah shower His mercy on you so you can achieve what you seek. May Allah shower His

mercy on you so you can achieve what you seek, that is the meaning of it. It means may

Allah grant you mercy to achieve all that, that is good for you and to keep you away from

that which is evil. That is what he means when he says Rahimak Allah. It means, may Allah

forgive your past, Rahimak Allah, means may Allah forgive your past, may Allah protect and

guide you for your future, these are all meanings of Rahimak Allah.

If you combine a couple, Rahimak Allah and Ghafara Lak, Maghfirah and Rahmah. Maghfirah

is forgiveness and mercy is Rahmah. If you combine them together, each one would have a

meaning. If they are combined, then Maghfirah is that which was of prior sins, if they are

combined in one sentence. Maghfirah is what was a prior sin, and Rahmah is a safety in

harm, affect and punishment from future sins. If they are separated, Maghfirah and

Rahmah, it entails the meaning of the other. So if Maghfirah is by itself it means Rahmah as

well, if it’s Rahmah by itself it means Maghfirah. If Maghfirah is in a sentence alone, it

entails the meaning of Rahmah in it. They encompass each other’s meanings when they are

separate, when they are in separate sentences. So Maghfirah means Rahmah and Rahmah

means Maghrifrah if they are separate.

The rule here is similar to the usage of Islam and Imaan, in a sentence. Islam is three levels,

Islam, Imaan and Ihsaan. We have Islam and Imaan, Allah said in the Qur’an:

…إن الدين عند الله اإلسالم Islam is mentioned there alone without Imaan. So here it includes within it, Imaan and

Ihsaan. It includes Imaan in it, it is mentioned alone in a sentence. In another verse, Imaan is

mentioned alone:

…قالت األعراب آمنا

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Imaan is mentioned alone so Imaan here includes Islam and Ihsaan in it. Imaan and Islam, if

they are mentioned together in one sentence, then each word entails a different meaning. If

only one of them is mentioned, then each one encompasses the meaning of the other. You

see that rule, same applies with our situation here, Maghfirah and Rahmah.

B. DO YOU SAY RAHIMAK ALLAH TO A NON MUSLIM? Over here he said Rahimak Allah because he is trying to teach. If you are going out to give

Da’wah, you go tell a non Muslim, may Allah have mercy on you, or any non Muslim for that

matter, a relative or any non Muslim. Let me say this, number one, there is no difference of

opinion among scholars that one cannot pray for forgiveness and mercy for a non Muslim

who dies in that status, a Kaafir. You cannot make Du’aa for him, may Allah have mercy on

him. An-Nawawi said in al-Majmoo’ in the fifth volume, there is an Ijmaa’ on this, there is a

consensus on this. Ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullah said there is an Ijmaa’ on this, that it is

prohibited and that is in the twelfth volume of al-Fataawa. As for one who is alive, if one is

alive, there is some comments on this, let me clear it up.

When a modernist or ignorant reads it in some of the old books, he will say look so and so

said it is ok to make Du’aa with mercy to a Kaafir that is living, and then they might even tag

on it a Kaafir who is dead too, at the rate they are going. That is a reason to show

knowledge must be taught by Shuyookh, because sometimes you are going to see in a book,

for example, the word Makrooh, disliked. Some Shuyookh, some Ulamaa’ consider what

they say disliked Haraam, but they always use disliked. And how would you know that if

someone didn’t tell you, as a principle of this Shaykh he said disliked. Imagine reading

adultery or fornication is disliked or alcohol is disliked, what that Shaykh means has a root,

disliked is Haraam. One thing is for sure, supplication is meant to be understood, if you are

asking for a non Muslim, that Allah guides them, supplication of Rahmah. Al-Haafidh ibn

Hajr mentioned this in his explanation in Fath al-Baari, the eleventh volume, he said in

summary, this is the summary and I’m going to give it to you and this is the best summary.

You can pray for a non believer in guidance and if you choose to pray for him in mercy, it

must be with the intention that mercy means guidance. So basically, if your intention is to

say Rahimahullah to a non Muslim who is living, your intention better be one hundred

percent that Rahimahullah, meaning may Allah have mercy on him to guide him. It better be

that and it can be no other than that.

It is better to say just make it clear, may Allah guide him, may Allah guide them, or if you do

choose to say Rahmah and it is not the best of the two opinions, then you say it with the

intention of Allah guide him. Badr ad-Deen al-‘Ayni in Umdat al-Qaari, which is an

interpretation of Sahih Bukhari commented on a Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam mentioned:

اللهم اغفر لقومي فإنهم ال يعلمون

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The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam made supplication that Allah forgive his people

when they were non believers. He said, that is to forgive his people, he said it when they

were harming him and oppressing him. Badr ad-Deen says that means to grant them

guidance to Islam which will cause them to be forgiven, if they do become Muslim. So you

have to understand what the Ulamaa’ are talking about.

C. WHY DID HE SAY RAHIMAK ALLAH? This was a trend used by wise, knowledgeable Ulamaa’, they used these kind of sayings. He

made Du’aa for one who is learning and listening to him, he is making Du’aa for one who

might read his book in the future. This is a big lesson that one who conveys the message

must be merciful and compassionate to those he conveys his message to, he must show

those he is teaching, that he wants guidance for them. Sometimes they think you don’t want

guidance for them, you got to show them you are trying to take them from darkness to a

bright light. A Daa’iyah opens the hearts with a smile, it’s a key to a heart, with a nice

compliment, could be a nice compliment or word, or putting your hand on his back. Today,

some act as if it is Awrah to show your teeth, they think it’s awrah to show your teeth, that’s

the reality don’t laugh, some people are like that. Da’wah is wisdom, being gentle and kind,

you need the keys; you can’t enter without Rahmah to people. Allah tells his Prophet and he

is the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, if you Muhammad were harsh and

hard hearted, they would have dispersed and left you:

وا من حولك … …ولو كنت فظا غليظ القلب النفضThat is the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, so imagine anyone other than

him. A Daa’iyah must be like Allah said about the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam:

لقد جاءكم رسول من أنفسكم عزيز عليه ما عنتم حريص عليكم بالمؤمنين (٢١١رءوف رحيم )

Who is merciful, who is merciful with you, who is compassionate with you, who is worried

about you, who is concerned for you and who is eager to give you the best. Here, the author

is speaking to people at a time when people were deep in their ignorance and their Bid’ah

and their Shirk and the worshipping of the graves was widespread and common, and it is

exceptional to be on the right path.

A knowledgeable is wise and knows the truth is somewhat tough, the truth is tough

sometimes, it’s hard to absorb it, especially when their parents and great grand parents

have been raised on it, its hard to absorb the truth. The truth is difficult in itself, as a

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Daa’iyah with wisdom, you don’t combine a tough attitude with a tough Da’wah, you want

two toughnesses? At least work with the tough Da’wah itself, don’t add to it your attitude.

Some learn a couple of Hadith and run around declaring people Kuffaar and Khawaarij and

everything you can think of.

In Tareekh Baghdad, Husayn al-Karabeesi, was a philosophist Mubtadi’, or one who resorted

to mental rationalisation. Ash-Shaafi’ee went to visit Baghdad and al-Karabeesi heard about

him, people are going from all over to visit him. Al-Karabeesi, he told his friends let’s go visit

ash-Shaafi’ee, he’s a philosophist, you know they are eloquent when they talk because they

have no knowledge of Qur’an or Hadith, they use their talk. So he said let’s go visit Shaafi’ee

and make fun of him. Everyone has gathered there so Karabeesi goes there and with his

outspoken way of asking questions, they ask ash-Shaafi’ee. Ash-Shaafi’ee knows what they

are doing, knows people are there, he could have kicked them out. He could have told a

couple of his students take them out of here, he could have incited the people to take them

out but he stood silent. He stood patiently and began to answer them with Qur’an after

Qur’an after Hadith after sayings, until he mesmerised them with his knowledge and his

manners. You know what they said the philosophers, these Mubtadi’, those who resorted to

mental rationalisation? They said we left our Bid’ah and followed ash-Shaafi’ee. They went

to make fun of him, he could have done anything he wanted but he was patient, Allah

guided with him some big Imaams of his time.

You see what it does, he had the key to the heart, he had wisdom in conveying the message,

that is why them are the verses I said:

…تيناه حكما وعلماولوطا آ

…ولما بلغ أشده واستوى آتيناه حكماWisdom is just as essential as knowledge and that is what he says, Rahimak Allah is part of

the wisdom of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhaab. That is how you capture the hearts and the

minds, Rahimak Allah, even if you disagree with them and they are Muslim, Rahimak Allah.

Take this, humble yourself, lower your wing to them, you know who is saying Rahimak

Allah? The man who for over two hundred years is still till today, being bad mouthed. The

dust of the attacks from the storm of reviving the Qur’an and the Sunnah of his time,

Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhaab, the dust it generated has not settled until today, people

still accuse him and talk about him. Having said that, can you just imagine with me, what the

attacks were like to him when he was in his peak, if it is still going on till today? Yet with all

that going on, he uses Rahimak Allah, where his opponents are going to be reading his

leaflets and letters that he is going to pass out. A Daa’iyah needs to have a smile on his face

with the proper manners and he needs to be pleasant and a delight for people to approach

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and communicate with, that is the true Daa’iyah and that is a characteristic of a successful

Daa’iyah.

I’lam Rahimak Allah, a smile might open many hearts to your message, Rahimak Allah.

Rahimak Allah, I am concerned about you, I want you to learn this. In Sahih Muslim:

ال تحقرن من المعروف شيئا ولو أن تلقى أخاك بوجه طلق Don’t minimise the reward of anything, even if it is merely to greet your brother with a

smile, even if it is to smile in your brother’s face. Jareer ibn Abdillah said in Sahih Bukhari

and Muslim, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam never seen me but smiled in my face:

وال رآني إال تبسم في وجهيThis was the Prophet who we were ordered to follow whether he smiles to us or frowns at

us, whether he conveys this message soft toned or harsh toned. No one is ordered to follow

me and you, so convey the message in wisdom and good manners, in a pleasant and a light

way.

Abdullah ibn Haarith said in a Hadith in Sunan Tirmidhi:

ما رأيت أحدا أكثر تبسما من رسول الل صلى الل عليه وسلمA companion is saying, I never seen anyone smile more than the Prophet Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Can you imagine that, a brother greets a brother with a smile, a

sister greets her sister with a smile, or a kind word, or a pat on the back, or embrace, a key

to open the heart, a true smile, a quick smile, that slowly fades. Not those fake ones that

come slowly and vanish real fast, those are the fake ones. A sign and a characteristic of a

Munaafiq is a sharp tongue with a frown to the believers, and the opposite to the non

believers:

ة على الخير سلقوك … …م بألسنة حداد أشح

They sharpen their tongues and yield them on you:

…أشداء على الكفار رحماء بينهم …The opposite of that is a trait of the Munaafiqeen.

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A Daa’iyah is a doctor, he deals with the hearts and souls, spiritually, not physically. You

don’t open the heart and play around with it, the physical muscle itself, you deal with them

spiritually so you have to know how to properly open them, you have to find the key to

convey the message. Like I said it is a harsh Da’wah in itself, don’t combine to it your

harshness. People are humans, sometimes you need to praise them to win their hearts. The

Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was teaching Abdullah something.

When he taught Mu’adh ibn Jabal:

م أعني على ذكرك وشكرك وحسن عبادتك الله The one we say after Salah, do you think the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam just came

to Mu’adh and said you say this after Salah? He took Mu’adh, he said:

إني ألحبك يا معاذ I love you Mu’adh. Can you imagine how his heart is?

اللهم أعني على ذكرك وشكرك وحسن : تدع أن تقول دبر كل صالة ال ف عبادتك

The Prophet commends ibn Umar then corrects him to pray the night prayer, the Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam praised and then encourages, that is the path of the wise and

righteous and successful Du’aat.

CLASS FOUR This is our fourth class on Al-Usool Ath-Thalaathah, Sharh Al-Usool Ath-Thalaathah, the

elucidation of the explanation of Al-Usool Ath-Thalaathah.

THE OBLIGATION TO KNOW FOUR MATTERS First of all, we talked about Bismillahi Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, ‘Ilam Rahimak Allah. The

author said:

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:مسائل تعلم أربع أنه يجب علينا ،اعلم رحمك الل بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ومعرفة نبيه صلى الل عليه : وهو معرفة الل، المسألة األولى: العلم

.ومعرفة دين اإلسالم باألدلة وسلم،Four matters that the author is talking about over here. We spoke about Bismillahi Ar-

Rahmaan Ar-Raheem, then we spoke about ‘Ilam Rahimak Allah, know, may Allah have

mercy on you. We finished at the end, know, may Allah have mercy on you. Today, we take

the obligation to know four matters. He said it is obligatory to know four matters, you must

know these four matters. Here, he said you are obligated to know these four matters. He

used the Arabic word:

يجب You must know these four matters.

1. WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF WAAJIB? The definition of Waajib is any matter where there is a firm order to do something, in which

one is promised a reward for; and anyone unexempted, unexcused from doing it, who

leaves it, is promised punishment. That is the definition of Waajib.

2. IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WAAJIB AND FARDH? There is a problem here that scholars had, there is an issue between Waajib and Fardh. Are

they both the same or are they different? In Usool, the scholars disputed this matter, Usool

al-Fiqh. The scholars disputed this mater, they said is Waajib Fardh and is Fardh Waajib, are

they both the same thing or are they two different things?

The author here, I want you to know and I’m going to repeat it again and again, the author

here does not mean Waajib that is like the Waajib that Abu Haneefah Rahimahullah

considers Waajib, which is a lesser rank than Fardh. Here, the author means obligatory,

Waajib, Fardh. It is a Fardh upon you even though he used the word Waajib, he means it is

Fardh on you to know the following four matters. In English, it may not seem like that big of

a deal, because usually when they are translated, Waajib, they say it is obligatory and then

when they say Fardh, it is obligatory. But when you look at the Fiqh point of view, in the

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Usool books, you find there is a dispute, is Waajib Fardh and Fardh Waajib or are they two

different things?

Why I say this, because Waajib, the obligatory is identical to Fardh, which is obligatory

according to ash-Shaafi’ee, to Maalik and to Imaam Ahmad in one of two opinions. Let me

repeat that, so now we’re talking about the dispute between the scholars in Waajib and

Fardh, are they the same or not. A Waajib, it is obligatory, a Waajib which means obligatory

is identical to Fardh which is obligatory, just two different words according to ash-Shaafi’ee,

Maalik and Imaam Ahmad in one of two opinions.

The second opinion is by Imaam Abu Haneefah Rahimahullah. Imaam Abu Haneefah said,

Waajib is slightly lesser rank of an ordain, of a Fardh, than Fardh. They are both according to

Imaam Abu Haneefah Rahimahullah, an obligation, obligatory, you must do them. However,

Waajib is a notch less than Fardh. Now let’s take the proof for both camps.

A. THE PROOF FOR THE OPINION THAT WAAJIB AND FARDH ARE SYNONYMOUS The first camp said Waajib is Fardh and they are both the same, and they use for their proof

a Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, the man who came to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam:

…جاء رجل إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من أهل نجد A Bedouin from Najd came screaming, in one narration mumbling with his head uncovered,

and he went to the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to ask him about Islam. The Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam responded to him. After the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

informed him of the obligatory matters upon him, the man, this Bedouin asked a question.

He said:

قال هل علي غيرها

Other than what you told me, the obligations, that which you told me is Fardh:

هل علي غيرها

Is there anymore obligations other than that, do I have to do anything else other than that?

And the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam responded:

قال ال إال أن تطوع He said no, you don’t have to do anything other than this unless you choose to do any of the

extra matters that one can do for extra reward.

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The point of the scholars here:

لم يجعل بين الفرض والتطوع واسطة ، بل الخارج عن الفرض داخل في التطوع

So the scholars said, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam did not put a middle category

between Fardh and Sunnah. This is Fardh, this is Sunnah, he didn’t put a middle category.

Had Waajib been a slightly lesser rank than Fardh, then he would have said ok, I told you the

obligatory matters, here is the Waajib matters and then I’m going to tell you the Tatawwa’,

then there is the Sunnah. But he didn’t, the Prophet told him the obligatory Fardh matters,

then he went directly and said, the only other matters other than that is Sunnah. Between

Fardh and Sunnah, Tatawwa’, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam did not

say oh and here is Waajib in between them; here is the Waajib that is in between them,

here is matters that are Waajib in between them.

Second proof, Allah in the Qur’an said:

…فمن فرض فيهن الحج …

Fardh is used in this verse in the context of Waajib, so they said that means they are the

same.

The third proof:

…تعالى عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ، قال : يقول الله And when you hear that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that Allah said, like

here, that means it is automatically Hadith Qudsi:

…ما تقرب إلي عبدي بمثل أداء ما افترضت عليه …My servant never comes closer to me with a deed any better than a Fardh. Had Waajib been

a separate category, he would have also added Waajib. He would have said, and Waajib is

included. First is the Fardh and then the Waajib, because right after that, then the Hadith

mentioned Naafil, that one continues to do Nawaafil. So he did not mention a second

category after Fardh, right after Fardh, which is Waajib. He went from Fardh and then he

began to talk about other matters that are Naffil, just like the first proof.

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Now the fourth proof is they said, for both Fardh and Waajib, it is vilified to not do either

one. If you don’t do either one, it’s vilified, so it would be redundant to say each one has a

separate meaning or category because we all agree the bottom line, it is vilified not to do it,

it is a sin not to do it. Why would you make them a separate category when we all agree it is

something you must do and you get sins for not doing it unless you are exempted? So why

are you making it a special category? They said, this group said, it is redundant to say Waajib

is different than Fardh or Fardh is different than Waajib.

So basically, if you look at this group, they basically use some textual proof from Hadith that

the Prophet went from Fardh then went to Tatawwa’, and didn’t mention in between the

middle category of Waajib.

B. THE PROOF FOR THE OPINION THAT WAAJIB IS LESSER THAN FARDH The Hanafiyyah and Imaam Ahmad in one of the opinions, said that each one is a different

category. Fardh is a category and Waajib is a different category. They said that Fardh is a

higher level that is more confirmed and more stressed and more emphasised than a Waajib

that comes right under it.

The proof for the second group, is more of a linguistic nature than it is of a textual nature.

Those who learn Arabic know that sometimes, the literal meaning very slightly, than the

religious context meaning for a word. So I give you that in an example of the word Islam and

you’ll understand it better. Linguistically, if you look up in an Arabic dictionary Islam, the

root word of it, what is the definition of Islam? You are going to find that it means

submission, humbling, and obeying. One in submission, you can say he is Muslim; humbling,

he is Muslim; obeying commands, he is Muslim. That is the literal definition of Islam, from

the root word of it. However, in a religious context, look at the definition. The definition of

Islam is:

نقياد له بالطاعة, ستسالم لله بالتوحيد, واإل الشرك من الخلوص و اإلTo submit to Allah with Tawheed, and to succumb to Allah with obedience, Taa’a, and to

disavow, disassociate yourself from Shirk and the people of Shirk. Yes, parts of the root

word were used but you have to have this whole conclusive meaning to take what Islam in a

religious context is.

Now the Hanafiyyah used the slight differences in the literal meanings of Waajib and Fardh

to have an affect on giving each one their own category. Abu Zayd ad-Daboosi said Fardh

means literally, to assess something or what is precise. If something is precise, from

Taqdeer, that is Fardh. Taqdeer and Fardh are the same, so it is something that is assessed,

something that is precise. Waajib on the other hand he said, means Suqoot (سقوط), which

means to fall, and Allah used it in a literal sense in the verse:

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…فإذا وجبت جنوبها

When a wall drops down, you say Wajabatul-Haa’it ( الحائط ةوجب ), the wall fell. Wajabatul-

Haa’it, that means the wall fell. So here he says, we’ll take Fardh to be anything that is firm,

Qaati’ (قاطع). Anything with firm proof is Fardh. Waajib, anything that is obligatory with a

slightly lesser standard of proof, we’ll take that to be a Waajib. Now, they made the

distinction because Suqoot, to drop, so they used drop to mean that is the second category.

C. HOW DO THEY CATEGORISE THE FARAA’IDH AND WAAJIBAAT? So they made a distinction between Fardh and Waajib but they themselves disputed, so

how do we categorise what is going to be a Waajib and what is going to be a Fardh? Now we

established, there is a Fardh and there is a Waajib according to the Hanafiyyah, but what is a

Fardh and a Waajib? One group of the Hanafiyyah said, Fardh is what comes through Qat’ee

proof. Qat’ee proof is super firm, direct, precise proof which is like a solid verse with (قطعي)

its meaning clear, or a solid authentic Hadith with clear meaning of it, and with multiple

chains. That would be considered a Fardh. What is anything less than that, that is obligatory,

we’ll consider it a Waajib. So anything that comes to us in proof that is Dhannee (ظني),

Dhannee means authentic Hadith, we’re not talking about non authentic Hadith. Authentic

Hadith that is a direct order but its chains are not sufficient to be like multiple chains, so

that will be a Waajib.

Example of this would be in the Qur’an, Allah said in the Qur’an:

الة …وأقيموا الصAnd perform your Salah. No one disputes it, it is a clear order, the meaning is very clear. It is

a verse in the Qur’an so it is not disputed, it is Fardh to make your Salah. But now, reciting

the Faatihah in every single unit of the Salah, they said that is Waajib, not Fardh because the

Hadith:

…ال صالة إال بفاتحة الكتاب …There is no Salah except by you reading the Faatihah in every unit of the Salah. They said

that proof is Dhannee, it is authentic but it is not solid enough to be a Fardh. So Salah is

Fardh but reciting the Faatihah in every Rak’ah is Waajib.

The second group said, al-Askaree said Fardh is what is from Allah and Waajib is what is

from Allah and what is from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. So some

proof that is disputed, matters that are disputed, there are meanings from the Qur'an, that

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according to them is Waajib. If it is solid and the meaning is clear, that is Fardh, the first

category.

Some say, third category said Fardh is any direct order from Allah and Waajib is any direct

order from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. That is obligatory in both

cases, so one is from Allah and one is from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam. Al-Isra’eeni, who is among the scholars of al-Hanafiyyah said, Fardh is what is

ordered by consensus, no one disputed it; and Waajib is what may have dispute as to it

being Fardh or not. So they dispute in themselves as to what is Fardh and what is Waajib.

C. THE RESULT OF THIS DISPUTE The result of it is according to the Hanafiyyah, whoever denies a Fardh is Kaafir because he

has committed an act of Kufr, because he denied something that its proof is beyond doubt.

Waajib, the proof is a less precise so he hasn't committed an act of Kufr. So whoever denies

standing in Arafaat during Hajj, or Hijaab of a woman, has committed an act of Kufr because

that is Fardh. They consider for example Witr, Waajib; they consider running in Safa and

Marwah when you go to Hajj, those seven laps you do where Haajar alayhis salaam ran, they

consider that Waajib. So if someone were to deny that, then he hasn’t committed an act of

Kufr because the level of proof in less than that of the Fardh. Their rule is denying a Waajib,

is not Kufr. Leaving that Waajib out, if you don’t deny it is considered Fisiq, one who is

astray. Denying a Waajib is not Kufr according to the Hanafiyyah because it's proven on a

secondary level basis proof, unlike Fardh which is proven beyond a doubt. That's the first

result or fruit of this dispute.

Second result or fruit of this dispute. You get more reward for doing a Fardh than you do for

doing a Waajib, because it's higher category according to the Hanafiyyah. The third fruit of

this dispute or result, would probably possibly be more understandable in an example. The

majority of scholars, the first group, say praying in Sujood, making Sujood at-Tilaawah,

Sujood of recitation is Sunnah not Waajib or Fardh. Because Umar ibn al-Khattab was on the

pulpit one Friday and he read Surah an-Nahl, when he got to the Sajdah in Surah an-Nahl, he

got off the pulpit and made Sujood. The Next Jumu’ah, he got up and read Surah as-Sajdah,

Surah as-Sajdah has a Sujood in it. When he got to the verse of Sujood, he said oh people,

we pass by verses of Sujood, whoever makes Sujood is right and whoever doesn’t make

Sujood is right; and he did not make Sujood the second time. Ibn Umar his son, added a

statement to that. He said, Allah did not make Sujood for Tilaawah, Sujood at-Tilaawah

Fardh upon you.

The majority of the scholars said ok, it’s not Fardh and Waajib so what does it become? It’s

not Fardh or Waajib, it goes down to Sunnah. Hanafiyyah said no, it’s not Fardh, so then it’s

Waajib because it drops down a level. Yeah, it’s not Fardh, but then it’s Waajib. So they

dropped it to their second category, which is Waajib. The Jamhoor dropped it to their

second category, which is Sunnah. So it gets dropped down, based on what group you are

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in. The Hanafiyyah make it Waajib; the majority, the Jamhoor, consider it Sunnah. So that is

one of the results of this dispute of Fardh and Waajib being two different categories.

The first group, since they don’t distinguish between Fardh and Waajib, consider them one,

Fardh and Waajib the same thing; they said ok it’s not Fardh as Ibn Umar said, that means

it’s not Waajib because they are the same, goes down to a Sunnah. Al-Hanafiyyah said it's

not Fardh like Ibn Umar said, ok, but it drops down to Waajib. Very similar to that, is

sacrifice. Hanafiyyah believe it’s Waajib to sacrifice, the other Imaams, the other Jamhoor

believe it’s Sunnah to sacrifice, based on the same rationale. Likewise, the Hanafiyyah

believe Witr is Waajib, Witr after the Ishaa' before Fajr is Waajib; you get sins according to

them if you don’t do it, you are considered a Faasiq if you’re not doing it. The majority say

no, it’s Sunnah.

The conclusion for this whole dispute is simple, the answer is pretty much clear. If you want

a one liner on it, the proper opinion is Waajib and Fardh are the same. The majority who

consider the Waajib and Fardh the same, have Hadith and use textual proof like Hadith as

proof to back them up; while the others use and substantiated their stance with linguistic

definitions. So that gives leverage to the first group. Secondly, it's more correct, the first

group is more correct because Fardh and Waajib concur in that one must do that which he is

supposed to do and he gets sins for not doing it, unless he is exempted. So the definition for

both, are nearly the same. And that gives more of a solid stance to the first group because

they both are the same.

D. THE ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGES ARE INTERTWINED Notice, when we learn Tawheed, we do learn Tawheed, but as we learn it, we study matters

like this which are Usool. This matter is not in the Tawheed books, this is in Usool al-Fiqh but

we use it to understand more what the author is talking about if he says Yajib ( يجب), does

Yajib mean Fardh or is it the lesser category that Abu Haneefah is talking about. So we use

Usool to know the meaning of the author here, to understand a matter of Tahweed and

‘Aqeedah. If we pass by a Hadith in the future, sometimes we are going to talk about Hadith.

Some scholars consider it weak and it's a Hadith that's popular, we are going to talk about

why it’s weak or why it’s authentic. That is Mustalah, it's going to be a Tawheed class but

we're going to talk about Mustalah and Hadith in it. Then very soon, Inshaa Allah, we are

going to see matters, it’s going to be more like Tafseer class. Then, it's going to be other

topics. Sometimes, we got to break the Nahw, the terms of the Nahw down, like we did

actually in the first class when we talked about, Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem. It's Tawheed

but the Islamic knowledges are intertwined and that's a unique thing about. So when we go

to Usool, Inshaa Allah we plan on studying Usool, we’re going to talk about Fardh and

Waajib. You got an understanding of it, actually now with what I talked about, that is more

of a detailed understanding of it. So if we get there, we might add a little bit more or we

might just pass by it or we might review it.

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E. WHICH DEFINITION OF WAAJIB DID THE AUTHOR INTEND? Why we brought that up here, Waajib or Fardh. We said because here, he is saying Yajibu,

you must know these four matters. Does he means the Waajib according to Abu Haneefah,

that is a slightly lesser rank than a Fardh? No, he means Fardh, that is Waajib; the Waajib

that is Fardh. He means this matter, had you taken out the author’s word Yajibu, Yufradhu

,it would be the same thing. So he means here Yajibu, Fardh, the kind that is Fardh ,(يفرض)

the kind that is according to the first three Imaams. It’s compulsory on us to learn these four

matters, Fardh, Waajib to learn these four matters. Men, females, slaves, the free, everyone

must, every Muslim who believes in Laa ilaaha illallah Muhammadur-Rasoolullah needs to

know these four matters. Comprehending these matters fully and thoroughly, is a Fardh

upon every single Muslim.

2. KNOWLEDGE IN MATTERS THAT PERTAIN TO ALLAH Knowledge in matters where you're dealing with Allah, ‘Ilm Mu’aamalatil-‘Abd Li-Rabbi ( علم

:the knowledge in dealing with Allah are three types ,(معاملة العبد لربه

المعاملة على ثالثة أقسام: اعتقاد، وفعل، وتركAl-Mu’aamalah ‘Ala Thalaathat Aqsaam (المعاملة على ثالثة أقسام), ‘Itiqaad (اعتقاد), and Fi’il (وفعل),

and Tark (وترك). Matters Allah commissioned that pertain to Him are either belief, or action,

or leaving. Some things that you got to believe in, some things you got to act and do, and

some things you got to stay away and refrain from. Knowledge as it pertains to that, to your

dealing with Allah, is either Fardh 'Ayn, ‘Ilm 'Aynee, or ‘Ilm Kifaa’ee. Fardh 'Ayn, meaning

knowledge as it pertains to your dealing with Allah. And those kind of knowledges, ‘Itiqaad,

Fi’il and Tark is either Fardh 'Ayn, which means it is a personal obligation.

A. THE DEFINITION OF FARDH ‘AYN Fardh 'Ayn is a compulsory, on every Muslim to perform or do. That is the definition of

Fardh 'Ayn. Fardh 'Ayn is an obligation that must be done by every single individual. Fardh

‘Ayn is an obligation that must be done by every single individual, it’s a personal obligation.

Example is Salah and Siyaam, every single person must do it.

B. THE DEFINITION OF FARDH KIFAAYAH Now, the next one is Fardh Kifaayah, communal responsibilities. It is Fardh that if performed

by some, if performed by a sufficient number of people, the obligation falls from the rest,

the rest of the Ummah are not obligated to do it. This is a requirement that the community,

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as a collective must fulfill it and not the individual himself. It's not required on an individual

basis but at the community as a whole, the community of the Islamic Ummah as a whole.

Example is for example, burying the dead. Another example is if we're ten people here and

we’re at the shore an ocean and someone is drowning, and we’re able to rescue him. We’re

all responsible to go rescue him, if two people go and rescue him, that’s sufficient for us. If

those two people who are able don’t go, all ten of us get sins. That is Fardh Kifaayah. It’s not

requested by Abdullah and Umar or Muhammad, it's the act itself that is requested, unlike

the first category. If a group makes Salat al-‘Asr, it doesn’t relieve the rest from making

Salah, every last Muslim got to make Salat al-‘Asr.

In the communal obligation, ordain, it is sufficient if a certain number of people do it, then

the rest will not be in sin if they don’t do it. In the communal obligatory act, the act must be

carried out and completed. If it is not carried out and completed because one is not able to,

we’re not able to, let’s say we’re ten at the shore of a water, we are not able to rescue that

person because we don’t know how to swim. Then we must go and inform and encourage,

not just rescuing that person who is drowning, any matter, we must inform, we must

encourage others to eliminate the sin from falling on everyone.

3. FARDH ‘AYN IN KNOWLEDGE, ACTION, LEAVING MATTERS AND

BELIEF

A. FARDH ‘AYN IN KNOWLEDGE As to knowledge, you know Fardh ‘Ayn and Fardh Kifaayah as it relates to the knowledge

pertaining to Allah. As to knowledge that is Fardh ‘Ayn, personal obligation, it is knowledge

that your religion can’t be completed and carried without it. That is the kind of knowledge

that is Fardh ‘Ayn, knowledge that your religion can’t be completed and carried without. It

could be in ‘Aqeedah, it could be in actions, and it could be in sayings. Anything that makes

essential matters of your Deen, and your belief, and your actions, and your saying deficient,

you must as a compulsory Fardh ‘Ayn, know them. You must individually know it and seek it

and learn it. Here, the conclusion, what the author mentions here, Yajibu ‘Alaynaa, you

must, Fardh ‘Ayn, every individual must know, no exemptions, these matters. Every

individual must know these matters as a Fardh ‘Ayn upon him.

Note, there is some knowledge that varies, it varies in how it is obligatory or not towards

Muslims, because individuals vary. There is a certain limit of knowledge that every last

Muslim must have, that is the Fardh ‘Ayn, but there is matters that vary amongst Muslims.

Some Muslims must know certain things, others must not, but there is a certain level that

one must know. Ibn Abdil-Barr said in his book Jaami’ Bayaan Al-‘Ilm, and Ibn Qudaamah

and other scholars spoke on this matter. Let me go into a little but more detail so you

understand it. The scholars said it is consensus that there are types of knowledge that are

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Fardh ‘Ayn and that there are types of knowledge that are Fardh Kifaayah, Ijmaa’ there is

two kinds. Not everything is Fardh ‘Ayn and not everything is Fardh Kifaayah. Among the

knowledge that is considered Fardh ‘Ayn, again Fardh ‘Ayn is, the one that is a personal

obligation every last Muslim must know.

B. FARDH ‘AYN IN ACTION Purification, Wudhu, Tahaarah, Salah, you must know that. If you live until Ramadhaan, you

need to know about Ramadhaan, what invalidates, what you got to do from pre-dawn to

sunset. Matters like that, it is obligatory on you to know. A woman, and not a man, it is

Fardh ‘Ayn on them to know the rules that pertain to the menstrual cycle, because her

fasting and her Salah, their acceptance is dependant on that. They have to the know that,

when they can make Salah , when they can't, how they get purity. It is Fardh ‘Ayn upon

them to know, a Fardh ‘Ayn.

A man does not need to know the rules of the menstrual cycle. However, if a man is the only

path for his wife to learn, he must know because he is her guardian, see how it varies. He

must learn it to teach her or take her to someone knowledgeable to teach her, you see how

it varies here. A regular man does not need to know it, but if he has a wife and a daughter

and a mother or a sister that he is responsible for, he’s got to learn it to teach them. Fardh

‘Ayn, it becomes Fardh ‘Ayn upon him, or to take them to learn it, or allow them to go and

learn it. If you have a wealth, you need to know the rules and regulation of Zakah. If you

have no wealth, you don't need to know about Zakah because you have no wealth. Yes it's

better, but we are talking here what is Fardh ‘Ayn and what is not. If you are able to perform

Hajj, you need to know about Hajj. If you are unable, you need to know the limit that I'm

unable, I'm sick or I don't have the wealth to do it, so I don't have to make Hajj.

C. FARDH ‘AYN IN LEAVING MATTERS Fardh ‘Ayn in leaving matters, let’s take some examples on that. A blind man who doesn't

see, he doesn't have to learn what is Haraam to look at because he can't see, he doesn't

have to. A deaf who doesn't hear, he doesn't have to know what is Haraam to listen to,

unlike me and you. I and you have to learn what is Haraam to listen to because I can hear, it

is Fardh ‘Ayn on all Muslims to know what is Haraam to listen to. It's Fardh ‘Ayn on every

Muslim to know Zina is Haraam. It's Fardh ‘Ayn on every Muslim to know Riba is Haraam,

and alcohol is Haraam, swine is Haraam, the impurities, that oppression is Haraam. The

prohibition of incest, or the killing of others. All that is Fardh ‘Ayn upon every Muslim

because they may fall in it, they have to know how to avoid it.

D. FARDH ‘AYN IN BELIEF The best example is what we are talking about here, these four matters, matters that are

Fardh ‘Ayn upon every Muslim to know. One needs to know matters of his belief, belief in

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Allah, belief in the Angels, belief in the Books, belief in the Resurrection and Jannah,

Jahannam, you have to know that. One needs to learn that of Islam which will remove any

doubts if he has any doubts, because part of believing in Islam, is believing in Islam with no

doubts. If you have doubts, you have a deficiency, so you have to learn Islam to remove that

doubt. If he is in a country that has widespread major Bid’ah, he needs to learn them so he

will avoid them, so he will not fall in them. The amount of Fardh ‘Ayn as it pertains to

knowledge, is what one’s belief or worship, acts or saying, will not be correct or in

accordance except with it. If it is that, then you must learn it on an individual basis, as are

Fardh ‘Ayn.

3. THE FOUR MATTERS So as the author said Arba’ Masaa’il ( أربع مسائل), there is four matters that are Fardh upon you

to learn, Fardh ‘Ayn he means. These are matters which the author starts out the booklet

with, that is the whole Deen. These four matters are your entire Deen and they should be

given great attention due to their tremendous benefits. Among the Fardh ‘Ayn that you

must know, are these four matters. Those who do not bring their copies of the Usool, and

I’m going to say that again and again, that we passed out, are going to get lost over here

because the author talks about four matters. You are going to think these are the

fundamental matters, these are not the ones he is talking about. He talks about four

matters, then he talks about three matters, then he finally gets to the core three

fundamental principles that the book is named after, the core part of the book. So you get

lost with us, now we are talking about four matters. The first part of the four matters is

knowledge and then on that, there is an A, B, C. Then he says knowledge is:

معرفة الل، ومعرفة نبيه صلى الل عليه وسلم،

ومعرفة دين اإلسالم باألدلة So you got to know that there is an A, B and C in it. So you’re going get lost if you do not

follow along and keep it along and put a line, as we go through sentence by sentence. And

actually, you should try actually to read it and go over the whole booklet. For example, the

first page, so you have a general idea as to what we are talking about, and how he divided

the book out. You also need to know that he repeats certain matters, that is why at certain

points we will elaborate on matters while other points we will just pass by. When you

explain a booklet, you have to explain it, or when you want to read a booklet to understand

it, you read it or explain it in a way according to how the author organised it and structured

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it, to get the full benefit from it. And likewise over here, the first matter that he talks about

of the four matters is knowledge. Then he mentions knowledge in Allah, knowledge in the

Prophet Muhammad salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, knowledge in the Deen. These same

matters that he defines knowledge with here, are the same core matters of the Usool Ath-

Thalaathah that we will talk about in the future Inshaa Allah. So here he says there are four

matters.

A. THE DEFINITION OF MAS’ALAH In Arabic, Mas’alah means there is four issues here, four things, four matters. The definition

of Mas’alah or matter in Arabic, is anything proof, or evidence is sought for. Matters that

you seek or pursue is called a Mas’alah, Mas’alah is matters that are pursued or sought. So

he said here, we have Arba’ Masaa’il, there is four Masaa’il here. Here he mentions four

matters. The first one is knowledge and then he defines knowledge, and then he mentions

number two, action. Then he mentions number three, Da’wah. And then he mentions

number four, Sabr. These are the four matters that he is talking about. He is saying, these

are matters that one should search, seek, pursue, and learn with proof. Seek, search,

pursue, and get their proof. You must learn, we took the definition of knowledge last week.

Knowing something as it really is, in an affirmative and certain way. Here, the author defines

knowledge in a different way. He says knowledge, the first of the four matters, number one

is knowledge and that is knowledge of Allah, His Messenger, and His religion. So let’s talk

about the first matter:

ة الل،المسألة األولى: العلم: وهو معرف ومعرفة نبيه صلى الل عليه وسلم،

ومعرفة دين اإلسالم باألدلة These are the four matters he is talking about. These matters that he talks about, he starts

off with knowledge, defines knowledge with knowing Allah, the Prophet Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and His religion. Let’s talk about knowledge, that is number one.

Number one is knowledge, you put A, knowing Allah. Focus with me a bit because if I lose

your attention, I’m going to lose you for the rest of the Halaqah.

So he mentions knowledge, defines knowledge, then mentions action, then he mentions

Da’wah, then he mentions patience; and you know them with proof. Those are the first four

matters he talks about. These are the matters that he says are obligatory to everyone to

know.

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4. KNOWLEDGE OF ALLAH

The first one is knowledge. And then he says, knowledge is knowing Allah ( معرفة الل), knowledge and awareness of Allah, the Mighty, the Majestic. This is the knowledge and

awareness that makes a person accept whatever is prescribed and laid down to him by

Allah. That is what kind of knowledge this is, whatever makes you accept and submit to

Allah, to the rules and regulation Allah gives you is part of this knowledge. This is the type of

knowledge that causes one to submit, a complete total submission to the laws of Allah and

to His rules and to His regulation. This is the knowledge of one’s Lord, Allah, it is attained by

the signs and the verses in the Qur’an, that is where we get it from. And it is attained by

what is in the Hadith and also it is by considering the signs which Allah provided for us on

this earth in His creation, it also is included in this.

(١٣وفي األرض آيات للموقنين )And on this earth are signs for those who have faith with certainty.

(١٢وفي أنفسكم أفال تبصرون )And in yourselves, will you not then see, will you not comprehend and understand. So those

are signs of knowing Allah. We get it from the Qur’an, we get it from the Hadith, we get it

from the signs in Allah's creation on this Earth. Those verses are in Surah ad-Daariyaat.

A. MA’RIFATULLAH Some scholars categorised knowledge pertaining to this, in two types. Ma’rifatullah they

said, the knowledge in that is two types. Knowledge in Allah and knowledge in Allah's Halaal

and Haraam. Knowledge in Allah, to know what His attributes are, to know His qualities. To

know Allah's attributes and qualities is Ma’rifatullah. Basically, this knowledge is to know

Allah's power over you. To know Allah's knowledge is supreme, the knowledge over His

creation, the power of Him sustaining this universe, all that is part of Ma’rifatullah. To know

Allah, Ma’rifatullah, is to know Allah's names and contemplate them and understand their

meanings and abide by them, what they entail. The knowledge that creates the fear of Allah

is Ma’rifatullah. The honouring of Allah is Ma’rifatullah. That is what he defines knowledge

as, Ma’rifatullah.

When they told ash-Sha'bi, the great Imaam, a scholar. Ash-Sha'bi, when they told him

Ayyuhal-‘Aalim ( العالم أيها ), one guy told him oh Shaykh, but instead of Shaykh they used

‘Aalim, oh you scholar. He said the scholar is one who fears Allah, he said al-‘Aalim is the

one who fears Allah. Knowledge is knowledge of Allah and it creates fear from Allah,

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Ma’rifatullah creates fear from Allah, and it also creates love in Allah. Many people are

heedless and mindless of this knowledge, even though it has benefits that turn in good for

one in this life and in the life after. Benefits are good in both worlds. Some of the Salaf said:

ما عصى الل إال جاهلOnly the ignorant commits sins. What type of ignorance do you think that they mean? They

did not mean ignorance in Halaal and Haraam. They said only an ignorant person commit

sins. They did not mean ignorance in the rules and regulations, but they meant ignorance in

this matter, in Ma’rifatullah, Ignorance in Allah. Ignorance in the rewards Allah has for you,

ignorance in the punishment Allah has reserved for those who sin. That you are using His

land, the land that Allah gave you, to commit a sin on. That you are deriving strength that

Allah gave you, to commit a sin with, you are using power Allah has given you to commit a

sin with. That is the kind of ignorance that they said, that sinners are ignorant, that is the

kind of ignorance.

B. KNOWLEDGE OF THE HALAAL AND HARAAM The second type of knowledge, is the knowledge of Halaal and Haraam. Knowledge in Allah

is the knowledge to know Allah’s Halaal and Haraam. Ibn Taymiyyah talks about this in

Fataawa, in the third volume on page three hundred and thirty three. People in these kind

of knowledges are four categories and pay attention to them because you got to diagnose

yourself and I got to diagnose myself, which one of these categories I am so I can fix myself.

First one is the one who has knowledge in Allah and in the rules, Ahkaam, the rules and

regulations of Allah; and this is the best. This is the peak and this is what we want and this is

what we strive for. The second one is, the one who has knowledge in Allah but is ignorant in

the Ahkaam of Allah. The third one is one who has knowledge in the Ahkaam of Allah but

lacks knowledge in Ma’rifatullah. The fourth one is ignorance in both of them. The first one

is the best and the fourth one is the worst, figure out which one of these four and work on

your weakness and strengthen it because that is how you know Ma’rifatullah.

C. THE IMPORTANCE OF MA’RIFATULLAH The next point in this matter, the importance of knowledge in Allah is great. Ma’rifatullah is

great, it is something big, it is something that needs to be taken seriously. It is the Fitrah

that one knows and worships Allah, it is the Fitrah that one knows and worships Allah. It is

actually those with tainted Fitrah that do not know and do not want to worship Allah. That

means some deficiency in their Fitrah happened, to sway them away from the right Fitrah.

Allah the Most Merciful, you have to know that, Ma'rifatullah, the Most Merciful, the Most

Compassionate. Allah, the one who is closer to you than your jugular veins, that is

Ma'rifatullah:

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(٢٥ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد )…Ma'rifatullah. The One who heals broken hearts. When you have a broken heart, who heals

it but Allah, Ma'rifatullah. The One who answers your call when you are distressed, that is

part of Ma'rifatullah. The One who gives you victory when you are oppressed, the long

awaited victory comes directly from Allah for the oppressed. That is Ma'rifatullah. The One

who is more merciful than your own mother, Ma'rifatullah. Once you know it and

comprehend how merciful Allah is, that He is more merciful to you than your mother, that is

part of Ma'rifatullah. The One, and the only One who can harm you or benefit you. The

whole world with its entirety could not harm you one tiny bit if they all gathered against

you, and they could not all benefit you in their entirety one tiny bit. That is Ma'rifatullah, if

you know that, without the will of Allah they could not harm or harm you, then that is

Ma'rifatullah.

The One, when you raise your hand in supplication to Him in Du’aa, does not return your

hands empty. That is Ma'rifatullah. The one who hears the cries of the people while there

are others who are deep asleep. You could have someone who is in your house, deep

asleep, he can't hear you whilst you are crying supplicating, yet Allah from on top of seven

skies hears you, that is Ma'rifatullah. You can't worship Him properly until you know

Ma'rifatullah and know about Allah. The more knowledge you know in this field, in this area,

the more you become a worshipper of Allah. The more you become a fearful person of

Allah, the more you become hopeful in Allah. Knowledge in Ma'rifatullah is the principle of

all knowledges because with it, you know the purpose of your existence.

(٦٥ليعبدون )وما خلقت الجن واإلنس إال I have only created human and Jinn to worship Me. Knowing Allah, His qualities and His

attributes, that He is the Creator, that He is the Sustainer, that He controls the universe, the

only One worthy of being worshipped. All that is Ma’rifatullah. The more detail you know of

it, the stronger your Imaan is. Knowing that every act of worship directed to other than Him

is wrong, that is part of Ma'rifatullah. That is what Ma'rifatullah entails. Knowing Allah

encourages one to perform the ordains and to leave the evil out of love and hope for Allah,

that is the ultimate belief in Ma'rifatullah. Knowledge in Allah is supreme, it is the best of all

knowledges.

Listen to this Hadith, listen how important and heavy it is, and how mighty it is:

رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فجلس فقال إن نوحا عليه السالم لما …حضرته الوفاة دعا ابنيه فقال إني قاصر عليكما الوصية

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Abdullah ibn ‘Amr Ibn al-‘Aas said, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam sat down. This

Hadith is in Musnad Ahmad and its chain of authenticity, the men of the chain of the

narration are very strong (رجال الثقات). The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam sat down and

he said, when the death of the Messenger of Allah Nuh approached, this is the Prophet

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam talking about Nuh, he admonished his two sons. He said, indeed I

will give you far reaching advice.

… آمركما باثنتين وأنهاكما عن اثنتين …I'm commanding you to do two things and I'm warning you to stay away from two things.

Nuh alayhis salaam giving his farewell advice to two of his sons. So he said, I'm warning you

to stay away from two things and I want you to do two things.

… أنهاكما عن الشرك والكبر …I warn you against associating partners with Allah and I warn you against pride, Kibr is pride.

That is what he warns them against.

… وآمركما…And I order you, I charge you:

…بال إله إال الله …Ma’rifatullah, he wants them to know, Laa ilaaha illallah is Ma’rifatullah. I charge you to

know that there is no God but Allah.

This is why I brought you this Hadith:

فإن السماوات واألرض وما بينهما لو وضعت في كفة الميزان … …الكفة األخرى كانت أرجح ووضعت ال إله إال الله في

He said, if you were to put the seven heavens and the seven earths and what is in them on

one side of a scale, and then on another side of a scale you would put Laa illaaha illallah, on

the other side. There is no God but Allah, just that word, on the other side of the scale.

That is how mighty Ma'rifatullah is, the latter would outweigh the former. La ilaaha illallah

would be heavier than the seven skies and the seven earths and what is in between them.

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The Hadith goes on further to say:

ضعت ل إله إل هللا عليها … موات والرض كانتا حلقة فو ولو أن الس

… لفصمتها أو لقصمتهاIf the Heavens and the Earth were of the shape of a ring and you would put Laa ilaaha illa

Allah on it, it would break it. It would destroy it, meaning it is heavy, that is how heavy, that

is how mighty Ma'rifatullah is.

And then the second thing he ordered them to do:

شيء وبها يرزق كل وآمركما بسبحان الله وبحمده فإنها صالة كل … شيء

I charge you to say Subhan Allahi wa Bihamadih as it is the Salah of everything, and

everything gets its provision from it or through it.

This is a Hadith to show how heavy, how mighty, how important, how essential Laa ilaaha

illallah, which is Ma'rifatullah, really is. That is how heavy and deep knowledge in

Ma'rifatullah is. That he on his deathbed also, takes out time, on his deathbed, to tell his

sons you have to learn it, you have to understand it, you have to believe in it and

comprehend it.

Anyone who has committed sins, killed, drank, did whatever you can think off of the worst

sins, if he was granted and blessed with fear of Allah and prostrated and he knew this

knowledge right here, and he had justice in him, he would tell you there is no pleasure on

this Earth from the sins I committed to the time now I'm obedient, more pleasurable than

that Salah, or that Tasbeeh or that Du’aa that I did. If one masters the knowledge in Allah,

Ma'rifatullah, Wallahi there would never be anything more pleasurable to him on the face of

this Earth than when his head is bowing in Sujood to Allah. If he had a double life in his past

where he had sins, what they call pleasures, and then he compares it to the pleasure of

Ma'rifatullah and Ibaadah, he is going to tell you this one is better.

Knowledge in Allah makes one eagerly await the moments he spends in contact with Allah,

in Salah, and in Du’aa and in Rukhoo and in Sujood and in Dhikr and in any form of worship.

Lack of knowledge in this, Ma'rifatullah, makes one the kind of people who are eager by the

moment to leave their Salah or to leave their Ibaadah or don’t touch their Qur’an, they

don’t even have the eagerness to go and open the Qur’an and recite from it every day.

When one masters this knowledge, Ma’rifatullah, he knows the verse in the Qur’an:

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(١١يوم يكشف عن ساق ويدعون إلى السجود فال يستطيعون )He knows Allah, he knows Ma'rifatullah, he knows when Allah calls him on this earth to

make Sujood and Rukhoo, he does it by choice and he does it by submission so he can do it

in the life after by honour. Because whoever does it by choice and submission in this life,

gets to do it in honour of Allah on the day when Allah comes down to judge people.

Knowledge in Allah, Ma'rifatullah, brightens your grave before you enter it. Don't you want

to enter a bright grave? Ma'rifatullah brightens your grave before you enter it. That is why

we study this, so we can be welcomed into our illuminating, bright grave when we are

placed in that grave. The affect of Ma'rifatullah is to please Allah before you meet Him.

Don't you want to please Allah before you even meet Him? You want Allah to be pleased at

you when you stand in front of Him. So Ma'rifatullah, is all about that. Ma'rifatullah is to

make your obligations and your Salah before Salah is made upon you. Lack of knowledge in

this area is why people sin. This is the area, when you have lack of knowledge in it, that is

why people sin.

D. IGNORANCE IN MA’RIFATULLAH Allah in the Qur’an says, Allah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance

and foolishness and shortly thereafter repent.

من قريب إنما التوبة على الله للذين يعملون السوء بجهالة ثم يتوبون …فأولئك يتوب الله عليهم

Ignorance here is not the ignorance in Haraam and Halaal. It is very rare, it is very

exceptional that one may do a Haraam where he does not know it is Haraam. It is very

exceptional, rarely does it happen. Everyone who commits adultery knows that he is doing a

Haraam, one who commits fornication knows that he is heading to Haraam to do, he knows

that. It could be very exceptional that one may not do it, that is an exception but the Qur’an

is not talking about those exceptional people. One when he is killing, knows he is doing

Haraam when he is killing.

The ignorance here is the ignorance in Allah, in Ma’rifatullah. Some have total ignorance in

Allah, in Ma’rifatullah, that is why we study this, that is why Tawheed is essential. Some

have total ignorance in Ma’rifatullah, some have intermitted periods of foolish ignorance in

Allah that causes them to sin in that intermitted period. Let me repeat that, some have total

ignorance in Ma’rifatullah, those are evil and wicked people that spend their life in sinning

and Haraam. Others have intermitted periods of foolish ignorance in Allah that causes them

to sin at times, and many Inshaa Allah of the second kind repent and come back.

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أنه كان يحدث : أن أصحاب رسول الله صلى :ية قتادة عن أبي العال عمدا كان الله عليه وسلم كانوا يقولون : كل ذنب أصابه عبد فهو بجهالة

أو غيره Mujaahid and Ibn Abbaas and others said the same thing. It used to be said, Abu ‘Aaliyah is

saying the Sahaabah used to say, that it was widespread among the Sahaabah that every sin

one commits and falls in, it is because of ignorance whether he did it on purpose or not.

Ignorance in what oh Sahaabah? Ignorance in Ma’rifatullah. You see how essential this type

of Tawheed is. You will see some who will teach Tawheed and just flip the pages to go on,

but Tawheed needs to be taught to entice you to act upon it, to entice you to do something

about it. That is the kind of Tawheed that moves you to better yourself. Knowledge of Allah

takes you to Heaven before you get to Heaven, knowledge in Ma’rifatullah takes you to

Heaven on this Earth before you get to Heaven. Ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullah said a famous

quote, one of the most beloved quotes to me that I like from Ibn Taymiyyah even though I

read his Fataawa maybe about four to five times from cover to cover. Ibn Taymiyyah

Rahimahullah said:

يدخلها ال يدخل جنة اآلخرةإن في الدنيا جنة من لم There is a Jannah in this life, whoever doesn’t enter it, doesn’t enter the Jannah of the life

after. What Jannah is that Ibn Taymiyyah, what are you talking about, what Jannah is in this

life? What are you talking about when you were imprisoned five times, when you spent

years in prison, when you barely had anything to put on yourself, what Jannah is that you

are talking about? The garden of Heaven, who doesn’t enter it in this life, will not enter the

Heaven. What garden of Heaven are you talking about, when you were abused and

persecuted? What he meant is what other Salaf said:

: إن كان أهل الجنة في مثل هذا ، إنهم لفي إنه ليمر بالقلب أوقات أقول عيش طيب

At times the heart passes through phases that we say, if the people in Heaven are feeling

the same, they are in good shape. At times, we go through phases in our hearts, we say if

the people of Heaven are living like that, have the same feeling, then they are in good

status. You find that in Madaarij as-Saalikeen, approximately page four hundred and eighty

something. So that is Ma’rifatullah, Ma’rifatullah takes you to Heaven before you get to

Heaven.

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5. KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHET SALLALLAHU ‘ALAYHI WA SALLAM

Ma’rifatu Nabiyyih ( معرفة نبيه), he defines knowledge as Ma’rifatu Nabiyyih. The author says

you must know the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that is the definition of

knowledge. Knowledge in the Prophet is the knowledge that makes the person accept

whatever he brought us and whatever he informed us of. And this over here, this

knowledge, we will talk about it when we talk about the three principles like we said.

You must affirm and attest to the truth of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam and whatever he informed us of. Knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam is to comply with his orders, any orders he has given us, you must comply

with it. That is knowledge in the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. You must

avoid that which he forbade us from, you must leave anything he deterred you from doing.

You must judge by the revealed laws which he came with, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and

fully and totally and completely be pleased with any judgment Allah and the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam told you to do. You don’t just do it but you fully and

completely be pleased with anything they have for you to say. Knowledge in the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is to know that he is the slave of Allah and that he is

the Messenger of Allah. Knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

is to fill your heart with complete love and obedience to this man. The more you love him,

the more you truly follow him.

…نتم تحبون الله فاتبعوني يحببكم الله قل إن ك As a condition for Allah loving you, you must follow the footsteps of the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. You must believe in the message of the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. You must obey his orders, you must follow his

guidance. Why Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam? Because knowing Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that is the only way to know the Sharee’ah and guidance that

Allah sent us, from Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. The rules and regulations to live

in according with, came to us from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

That is why the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. So that is an essential

factor in knowledge, that is why he mentioned it as one of the definitions of knowledge, to

know the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

In a nutshell, knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is the

requirement to take and absorb the knowledge that will cause you to accept the guidance

he was sent with, and to believe in him and follow in his ordains, and stay away from any of

the prohibitions he told you to stay away from. That is in simple, what knowledge in the

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is.

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فال وربك ال يؤمنون حتى يحكموك فيما شجر بينهم ثم ال يجدوا في (٥٦لموا تسليما )أنفسهم حرجا مما قضيت ويس

No, by your Lord, they can have no faith until they make you Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam, the judge in all disputes between them. Just a judge in all disputes, is that the

end of the verse right there? No:

(٥٦وا في أنفسهم حرجا مما قضيت ويسلموا تسليما )ثم ال يجد …And then they find in themselves no resistance against your decision and accept them with

full submission. You got to accept any command by the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam with full and complete and total submission. Your heart got to be one,

accept it, and one hundred delighted you are doing it or you are acting or you are accepting

it.

ليحكم بينهم أن يقولوا إنما كان قول المؤمنين إذا دعوا إلى الله ورسوله (٦٢سمعنا وأطعنا وأولئك هم المفلحون )

The only saying of those faithful believers, the faithful believers when they are called to

Allah and His Messenger, when you are telling them here is the Qur’an, here is the Hadith,

here is the saying of Allah, here is the saying of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam. No, this doesn’t really apply to us, this doesn’t really concern us, it doesn’t really

mean that, they go around a million ways to avoid it; but Allah said the faithful believers are

the ones who say:

سمعنا وأطعنا

We hear and we obey. Allah says and such are the successful, successful meaning the ones

who will be granted Inshaa Allah, Paradise. Allah in the Qur’an said:

…يحذر الذين يخالفون عن أمره فل …A warning:

…أن تصيبهم فتنة …

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Let those who oppose the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the sayings

of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, know, that they are going to be hit

with a Fitnah:

أن تصيبهم فتنة

Fitnah over here, beware of a Fitnah that will hit you if you disobey the commands of the

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. What kind of Fitnah? Among many of the

Imaams who interpreted this verse, they said Fitnah here means Shirk. Disobedience to the

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is going to lead you to Shirk. If you reject

anything from the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and resort to hearsay or

to people’s rationalisation, or neglect it or minimise it, it is going to destroy you and cause

you to fall into Shirk at the end. That is the meaning of Fitnah.

6. KNOWLEDGE OF ISLAM So he says knowledge is, knowledge means to know Allah, Ma'rifatullah. We are still in

number one:

ومعرفة دين ومعرفة نبيه صلى الل عليه وسلم، : وهو معرفة الل، العلم .اإلسالم باألدلة

The third one is to know Islam. We talked about knowing Allah, knowing the Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and knowing Islam.

A. THE DEFINITION OF ISLAM Islam literally, linguistically means to submit, like we mentioned earlier. In the religious

context, it means:

نقياد له بالطاعة, ستسالم لله بالتوحيد, واإل الشرك من والخلوص اإلTotal submission to Allah, total submission to Allah with Tawheed and succumbing to Allah

with obedience, and disavowing, disassociating from Shirk and the people of Shirk:

نقياد له بالطاعة, ستسالم لله بالتوحيد, واإل أهله و الشرك من والخلوص اإل

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Those are the conditions and restrictions of believing in Islam. That is the definition of

believing in Islam.

B. ISLAM IS THE ONLY RELIGION ACCEPTABLE TO ALLAH There are tens of verses that show the previous Messengers and their submission to the

Sharee'ah of Allah and they use actually in it as many of you know in the Qur’an, the word

Islam to show their submission to Allah. Ibraheem alayhis salaam:

يتنا أمة مسلمة لك وأرنا مناسكنا وتب ربنا واجعلنا مسلمين لك ومن ذر (٢١١علينا إنك أنت التواب الرحيم )

In Surah al-Baqarah. This is Ibraheem alayhis salaam saying our Lord, make us submissive to

You, meaning me and my offspring, submissive to You, and show us your Manaasik:

(٢١١وتب علينا إنك أنت التواب الرحيم )…Islam that he says you must know, is the religion of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam because Islam is the religion of Musa and ‘Isa and Ibraheem. The only

thing is when Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam came, the details and the principles of

the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam abrogated the previous religions. Jews

during the time of Musa were Muslims. Christians during the time of ‘Isa were Muslim, they

submitted to the teachings of ‘Isa, some of them, of course we are talking about the

believers of them. Now, in this time, if they were true followers of Musa and ‘Isa, they

would follow what is in the Qur’an and what the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam told them to follow and adhere to. If they were true believers in their own religion, in

Christianity, in Judaism, they would follow what the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi

wa sallam came with. That is clear and beyond a doubt.

For example, you hear the modernists and those pro interfaith, the wicked people of the

interfaith, the deviants of this Ummah, the cancer of this Ummah, tell you that Allah in the

Qur’an praised the Jews and Christians today and they gear verses to suit their desires.

ابئين من آمن بالله والي وم إن الذين آمنوا والذين هادوا والنصارى والصاآلخر وعمل صالحا فلهم أجرهم عند ربهم وال خوف عليهم وال هم

(٥١يحزنون )

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Those who believe, and those who are Jews and those who are Christians, and the Sabians:

من آمن

Whoever believes, they use this verse:

…من آمن بالله واليوم اآلخر وعمل صالحا فلهم أجرهم عند ربهم …

Whoever believes in Allah and the Judgment day, on the Judgment day they will get their

deeds and they shall have their rewards, whoever believes in Allah and the Judgment Day.

(٥١وال خوف عليهم وال هم يحزنون )…And there shall be no fear upon them and there will be no grief upon them. So they say that

and say look, we are all brothers and sisters and these guys are going to Heaven with us.

This verse means during their time, there were those who were righteous. During the time

of Musa, there were those who were righteous; during the time of ‘Isa, there were those

who were righteous, that is what the verse is talking about. During our time now, during the

time after Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, if there were any true followers of Jesus

or Musa alayhimus salaam, ‘Isa and Musa alayhis salaam, they would listen to the message

of their Messenger Musa and ‘Isa and follow Muhammad. If they were true followers of

their Messengers, they would end up following the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad

sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

So in reality, we are the true followers today, we are the true followers of Musa today, we in

reality are the true followers of ‘Isa because Musa and ‘Isa as a condition for their own

Prophethood, their own Prophethood, not even for their people, for before their people, for

their own Prophethood gave an oath to Allah that if Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

was sent during their time, that they would believe in him and follow him. That is them

themselves, they have to follow the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam if he

was sent in their time. If that is during their time and that is for them, imagine for their

followers. Thousands of years after they died, they have to follow the commands of the

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Look at the verse:

ذ أخذ الله ميثاق النبيين لما آتيتكم من كتاب وحكمة ثم جاءكم رسول وا خذتم على ذلكم مصدق لما معكم لتؤمنن به ولتنصرنه قال أأقررتم وأ (١٢إصري قالوا أقررنا قال فاشهدوا وأنا معكم من الشاهدين )

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Allah took a covenant on the Prophets, Allah took a covenant as a condition of their

Prophethood and Messagehood, took a covenant on them. Said take whatever I gave you

from the Book and Hikmah, and pay attention to this:

…لتؤمنن به ولتنصرنه ثم جاءكم رسول مصدق لما معكم …Then He said, if there will come to you a Messenger, Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa

sallam, confirming that which is with you, you must then obey him and accept him and help

him and support him. You obey him.

…قالوا أقررنا… قال أأقررتم …

Do you agree? They said we agree. Do you accept it as a covenant of Your Messagehood

that you take the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and follow him if he is

sent during your time? All the Messengers had to give a promise that they would. If that is

the Messengers and that is in their lifetime, imagine how it is now. That is the belief in

Islam, so know the Christians are not Muslims, know the Jews are not Muslims. The Muslims

are those who believe in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Part

of believing in Jesus and Musa, we believe, is that they will tell their people and they have

told their people and Allah made them promise themselves that if Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam is sent, that they accept him. Allah said in the Qur’an:

…إن الدين عند الله اإلسالم

Allah said, truly the religion of Allah is Islam. These verses are directed at those who believe

in interfaith:

ومن يبتغ غير اإلسالم دينا فلن يقبل منه وهو في اآلخرة من الخاسرين (١٦)

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him in this life

and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers. And in the life after, he will be among the

losers. Islam, the religion that Allah bestowed on this Ummah, Allah bestowed it on this

Ummah and considered it the privilege of all privilege:

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اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي ورضيت لكم اإلسالم … …دينا

In Surah al-Ma’idah. These are to show you what belief in Islam, the shell of belief in Islam,

that one must believe in Islam. This day, I have perfected your religion for you and

completed my favour upon you, and I have chosen Islam as your religion for you. One must

believe firmly that the Deen of Islam is the only Deen acceptable to Allah.

C. THE FOUNDATION ACTIONS OF ISLAM Islam means to know the actions that you are obligated to do, the foundational actions that

one must do to be a believer.

، رضي الله عنه ، قال : قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ابن عمر عن خمس : شهادة أن ال إله إال الله وأن محمدا رسول بني اإلسالم على " :

كاة ، وصوم رمضان ، وحج البيت من يتاء الز الة ، وا قام الص الله ، وا " استطاع إليه سبيال

These are matters that are the principles, not the only matters of actions of Islam, but the

principles for actions in Islam. Part of Islam, knowing the foundation of Islam. The

foundation actions of Islam and adhering to them and submitting to them and following

them.

With this I think right here, we will stop. We took knowledge and his definition of

knowledge Rahimahullah is knowing Allah, knowing the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu

‘alayhi wa sallam and knowing the religion of Allah. So we took these quickly, I consider this

what we took quickly, because knowledge in Allah and knowledge in the Prophet

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and knowledge in Islam will be taken again later on

when we talk about the three principles of Islam. Those are the three matters that you are

going to be asked about in the grave, so those are the Usool Ath-Thalaathah that we will talk

about. The only reason we mention them here is because he defined knowledge as

knowledge in those three, that is the true knowledge.