The shaykh hafidhahullah then stated that this issue of knowing merely the groups and the likes is a very important subject. It is taken from the statement of Muhammad ibn Sareeh rahimahullah this is a matter or this knowledge is a matter of deen, so be careful who you take your deen from. This matter is a matter of deen, so be careful who you take your deen from. So this is how important this issue is. Is that the knowledge when one takes from someone or one hears from someone or one learns from someone that knowledge is going to bedeen something that is going to weighty on the Day of Judgment something that he is going to meet Allaah with so it is important that he takes his knowledge only from those who are known to have knowledge. And who are known to have taqwa and who are known to be upon righteousness, because what he takes is going to be his path to the Hereafter so look to who you take your deen from means that a Muslim must look and takes his deen from Ahlus sunnah, the salafiyoon the ones who follow the salaf us salih and secondly that the one that he takes his deen from is someone who has knowledge, known for knowledge, known for being upright and known for having taqwa. This knowledge is a matter of deen so be careful who you take your deen from.
Then the shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah ta’ala stated that Imaam Malik rahimahullah mentions in the introduction of Saheeh Imaam Muslim that there was in Madinah a hundred men that were pointed to by the people as being worshippers and being people who were righteous and being people having abstinence from the dunya but no one would take knowledge from them. This statement by Imaam Malik rahimahullah is saying, that it is not enough for a person to be known for worship and being known for having abstinence from thedunya and being known for the outward expression of his worship that you take from him. That these people were known for that and these people pointed to them for that but no one would take their affairs from them because it was not from their affair. Their affair was worshipping and righteousness but their affair was not knowledge. He said that if we would understand that any of us who would see a brother who has his thobe properly clad and the length of his beard is long we would think that he is a scholar of his time of the mufti of his area and this is a great mistake.
Then the shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah ta’ala states that there is no doubt that is obligatory upon the people to learn ilmi shar’ee, Islamic knowledge and this is based on the Quraanic verse, Allaah subhana wata’alah says “Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know.” And it is based upon the statement of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam “that seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim”. And a man came to Imaam Malik rahimahullah and said, “I want to seek knowledge” and Imaam Malik rahimahullahtold him start with that which you needfor your night and your day because he means that the areas of knowledge are many and extensive and what is important is what you need is for your night and your day. And of course the first thing that you need is Tawheed, because it is the basis for all actions. And then you need taharah the proper way to purify yourself and then you need the proper manner of how to make salaah and like this.
So this is understood and this has been explained, it is clear that that man needs what he needs for his day and his night of Tawheed and oftaharah purification of salaah. Then we can see the mistake of those who want that the Muslims get involved or start without knowledge insiyaasah or political issues upon the methodology of the hizbiyyah or partisanship or defending the people who are upon shirk andbid’ah. We see that these people who call to these types of issues are not individuals from whom we should take are knowledge from.
Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah ta’ala then went on to say that in reality the weakness of this ummah and the humiliation of this ummah is because of the ignorance of the ummah regarding this deen. It is not like some people say that the weakness of theummah is because it does not have the physical strength or the weakness of the ummah is due to the fact that the disbelievers are conspiring against it. The shaykh says no, the weakness of the ummah is from inside the ummah, that the ummah does not have knowledge of deen . This ummah does not support Allaah so Allaah does not support it. As Allaah says in the Qur’aan, “If you support Allaah, Allaah will support you and will make your foothold firm. He said that the scholars say, that supporting Allaah means learning thedeen, the ahkam the regulations of the deen, acting upon the deen and studying the deen. He says it is not like those people think that what we need to do is concentrate on the materialistic issues and if we knew about the strategies and conspiracies of the disbelievers and their political plans and we had a system arranged with all sort of leaders and the like that that will solve our problems. He said no, it is clear that humiliation comes from ourselves. Based on the hadith of Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam that if you deal in eena which is an illegal transaction a form of usury which means a Muslim will enter into which is forbidden regarding transaction and you follow the tails of the cows meaning will give in to agriculture and these type of issues and get them more importance than the Hereafter and you leave Jihaadneither do you establish Jihaad nor do you for Jihaad for Jihaad he said has two types of preparations Roohi wa Maddi, Roohi meaning spiritual preparation and Maddi meaning material preparation. And this is why you see the mistake of Usaamah bin Laden among many reasons for his mistakes he is wrong and incorrect is he thinks that Jihaad is only the materialistic preparation and he has totally forgotten about the spiritual preparation and he has totally forgotten about many issues in Islaam. And that which he is doing is nothing to do with thesunnah and which he is doing has nothing to do with Islaam and he is in ignorance of these issues and the scholars have responded against him. So it is the issue that the Muslims, the ummah will not learn the deen and will get involved in tijaarah and forbidden trading transaction and will leave Jihaad and will become pleased with the dunya, then Allaah subhana wata’alah will send upon him humiliation. And He will not lift this humiliation off from them until they return to their deen. The scholars say return to the deen is learning the deen, acting upon the deen and spreading the deen. He says it is not through explosions and bombings and harming individuals who had no hand in any evil and this type of thing but it is returning to the deen of Allaah learning it, practicing it and spreading it.
Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah ta’ala went on to say so we know and understand this. There is a very important point that we must understand and that is that it is forbidden for anyone who does not have knowledge to talk. That is if he is jaahil ignorant is forbidden to talk in the matters of the deen. And this is something very clear from the Qur’aanic verses in which Allaah says, “Do not talk about those matters which you have no knowledge, verily regarding the hearing, the heart and the talk all of these matters a person will be questioned about.” And then Allaah subhana wata’alah mentions the forbidden matters after mentioning al fawaahish outwardly and inwardly and mentioning other matters and He says and to ascribe to Allaah that which he has no authority or that you commit shirk and then He says and you speak about Allaah when you have been forbidden that you speak about Allaah when you have no knowledge. He said that the scholars have got from this that speaking about Allaah without knowledge is worse than shirk. Speaking about Allaah without knowledge is worse than shirk, for two reasons one is that this speaking about Allaah tabarakta wat’ala without knowledge is something that is general something that it will affect everybody but the state of the something he has done regarding himself. So it is forbidden for anyone to speak about Allaah without knowledge. And there is the narration of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam in which some of his companions was with one of his companions on a journey and he got injured and when he got injured he also fell into sexual defilement, state of junub and it was a very dark cold night and he wanted to know if he should take wudhu or tayammum and he asked them if it is possible to do this and they said no you must take a ghusl you must take a full ghusl, so when he did this, he died. So when this reached the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam he said, “they killed him they killed him, may Allaah kill them. Why did they not ask if they were ignorant? Verily the cure for ignorance, is asking.” So this shows that it is forbidden for someone who does not know, to talk.
So Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah says if we have understood from what has preceded, the one being questioned if he does not know, if he cannot answer it is haraam for him to answer. He must also know that the Muslim who does not know it, is forbidden for him to ask someone who does not know. It is forbidden for him in matters of deen to ask someone who does not know. Rather he has to ask an aalim a scholar someone who has knowledge and this is what Muhammad ibn Sar’ee rahimahullahu meant when he said this matter is a matter of knowledge of deen so be careful who you take your deen from.
He said also in our daily life we had a medical situation or whatever, will we go to a mechanic ?, and if we had a problem with our car will we go to a farmer? and if we wanted to construct a house will we go to someone who is a specialist in cleaning?. No, we will go to each individual who has a specialty in which they are specialist in. So when it comes to an issue of deen we must go to the ulemaa we must go to the scholars. And it is not right to say ask anybody or to do what everybody else is doing this is a major mistake also. As comes in a narration of Abu Darda raliallahu anhu in this in the khilafa of Uthmaan raliallahu anhu in the time of Uthmaan raliallahu anhu when he went to the masjid and he prayed and he saw some tabi’een praying but they were not praying according to the sunnah. There salaah was not the salaah according to the sunnah. Abu Darda went home angry. And when Umm Darda raliallahu anha saw him she said, “What has made you angry, what has caused you to get angry.” He said, “By Allaah I don’t see anything that we were doing in the time of the Prophetsalallahu alaihi wasallam that the Muslims are doing except that they pray together. Meaning that many of the sunan many of the practices that they were doing in the time of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam that individuals were not doing it and what was left was that they were just praying together. This is Abu Darda’s statement while he is at the period which is close to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallamand there were a lot of sahabahs still alive and there were many tabi’een so what about now one thousand four hundred years after that are the people the general masses upon sunnah? Are the general masses upon knowledge? Are the general masses people that we should follow? No! but we should follow the ulemaa Rabbaniyeen, the scholars who know the deen of Allaah tabarakta wata’la we should not follow what our mothers were upon our fathers were upon our relatives are upon but we should follow that which the scholars are upon. These people are not right that they follow the general masses but we should follow the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam and the one who directs us to the right. In fact what the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam was upon are the scholars.
Then Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah stated that the people are of two types. The awwam or the general laymen who have no knowledge and the tullabul ilm, al ulemaa they are together, tullabul ilm students of knowledge and the ulemaa. Now the ulemaa and the students are of two types. The ulemaa who are not in reality scholars and those are the ones who have hizbiyyah or innovation or partisanship or politics or this movement oriented overthrowing governments and blowing up things and things of this nature and bid’ahand mistakes in their aqeedah and their manhaj. These individuals should never be taken from whatsoever. The second is the tullabul ilmand the ulemaa who are upon the sunnah, salafiyeen upon the way of the salaf us saalih . They are upon the way of the sunnah and on the way of the salaf us saalih. These individuals the scholars are the source that you go to. The students of knowledge are actually made a (unclear ) source. They are individuals that you benefit from but you are never to take their statements over the statements of the ulemaa, of the scholars. So if we reiterate this point, the awwam the general masses don’t take anything from them but rather they should be taught, for they are ignorant.And those people who are considered scholars but their methodology is incorrect, their a qeedah and manhaj is incorrect they are involved in siyasah or politics or hizbiyyah or matters that are secretive and things of this nature they should not be taken from for they are in reality they are part of the seventy two groups that are promised the Hellfire.
Rather the one that should be taken from are the tullabul ilm and ulemaa who are upon the sunnah and who are upon the way of the salaf us saalih. But the distinction must be made that we take the words of the ulemaa over the words of the student of knowledge. For instance Kibar ulemaa the Great body of Scholars like Shaykh Rabee for example says something then we take what he has said and what they have said because they are the greater scholars. And it is not right to take what a student of knowledge says just because he issalafee unless he has some clear evidence that he has stated that the scholars have missed. But if generally speaking the people have of taking the students of knowledge because he is salafee over the scholars is a great mistake.
Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah said this issue of importance of returning to the people of ilm , returning in going to the people of knowledge as a source in going back to them we have two stories from the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasallam regarding this issue. one is the story regarding the man from before us from Bani Israel who had killed 99 individuals and he wanted to get to Allaah tabarakta wata’la so he found an aabid a worshipper, he said notice an aabid a worshipper not an aalim a scholar. A worshipper who was worshipping in seclusion and he said to him, “I have killed 99 individuals, is there any means for me to repent to Allaah to make Taubah”. So this aabid who was ignorant said, “No”. So he killed him and he completed a hundred individuals. So then he went to a scholar and saying to the scholar I have killed a hundred individuals is there any means for me to repent. The aalim said what is(unclear)between you and making Taubah to Allaah. Of course you can make taubah but you are in a land that is evil and it is upon you to go to such and such land where there are righteous people who worship Allaah so you go there and worship Allaah with them.” So this shows you the issue of going to the scholar verses going to someone who is ignorant.
The second story is about two individuals, one who was righteous and the other was a sinner. And every time the righteous one would pass by the sinner he would correct him and advice him but he would not accept. So one day the righteous person said to him, “By Allaah, Allaah will not forgive you.” So Allaah tabarakta wata’la said, “Who is it who is bold enough to go over Me or above Me, verily I have forgiven him and I have made your deeds nothing.” So this is the righteous person because he was ignorant he led him to go into the area that was described by Allaah tabarakta wata’la that he would not forgive one of His creatures. So Allaah tabarakta wata’la wiped away or made nothing the deeds of the obedient one and forgave the disobedient one. So this shows us the importance of knowledge number one and that we should acquire it and the importance of returning to the ulemaa. Don’t ask anyone and everyone but ask Raazikeena fil ilm those who are well grounded in knowledge.
In closing Shaykh Ahmad bin Bazmool hafidhahullah that someone might say what is wrong with taking knowledge from thehizbiyeen and mubtadiyah (One who commits bid’ah), if they have something beneficial to give. I’ll just take the good and I will leave the bad. He said there were several issues wrong with this.
one, is that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam warned against the ulemaa as soo or al jahaal, taking from the evil scholars or the ignorant. And this is in a hadith in which he said, “That Allaah tabarakta wata’la does not take the knowledge after having given it by taking it away from your hearts but by the death of the religious learned men, the scholars, until there will remain nothing but the ignorant people who will contort it and will give verdicts according to their opinions and they will mislead others and they will go astray and will lead others astray.
The second matter is that Allaah tabarakta wata’la and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam‘s order of hizbudeen , preserving ones deen. And the person who goes and sits with the innovator or hizbee is not preserving his deen.
Thirdly, is that taking from the hizbiyeen or the innovators is that they are from the asaaghir, the small ones and we have been forbidden or the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam indicated that from the signs of the hour is that the people will take their knowledge from theasaaghir. And he said that the asaaghir are the innovators.
Fourthly is that the mubtadih you cannot forsake from the fact that he will not oppose you. You will think that he is giving you the best, but he will take you step by step until he pulls you and that is the way it has been amongst the past (unclear).
And the fifth matter is that the person who is going there saying “I will get the good and leave the bad” is ignorant. So he cannot protect himself from falling into a fitnah. So he can’t protect himself from falling into a fitnah. So for all these reasons above and more it is important that you take only from the scholars who are known for the knowledge who are well grounded in their knowledge and we do not ask or take from anyone else. And then he said hadha wa salallahu wa nabiyinah Muhammad.
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