The Guidance of Muhammad Peace be upon him
The Greatest Endowment, It Is Enough Of An Endowment, The Endowment Of Islam
All Praise is due to Allāh and May Allāh raise the rank of the greatest of the prophets Muhammad, his muslim relatives and wives, and his pure and good companions and May Allāh protect the nation of Prophet Muhammad from that which he fears for them.
Thereafter, Certainly the greatest of Allāh’s endowments upon his slaves is the endowment of Islam. Hence, whoever Allāh has endowed with this endowment according to the methodology of Ahlus-sunnah Wal Jamā^ah, and they are the ones who believe what the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his companions believe, then he is among whom Allāh has willed goodness for.
As for the one who doesn’t have the creed of Ahlus-unnah Wal Jamā^ah, that is, what the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his companions and whoever followed in their footsteps until our present time, the one who isn’t upon that creed then he is among the losers.
The messenger, peace be upon him, said “You are obligated to cling to the congregation and you are forbidden from splitting up.” Narrated by Ahmad, At-tirmidhiyy, An-nasā’iyy, and Al-Hākim. The meaning of “the congregation” is those who follow what the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, believe.
Therefore, this nation is upon that creed until the day of judgement, however, there are sects that have strayed from this nation, hence, those who strayed shall perish in the hereafter.
Whoever was upon the creed of the companions and did not stray from it, then he is upon goodness even if he was falling short in some of the acts of worship. He is better off than the one who is outwardly endeavoring in acts of worship while he is not on the creed of the companions.
So the sunniyy, no matter how much he was falling short, still, he is better off than the one who is not sunniyy because the sunniyy is upon the creed of The Messenger, peace be upon him, the companions and those that came after them among those who followed in their footsteps until the day of judgment.
There will always be a group remaining upon the creed of The Messenger and the companions until the day of judgement in this nation. Woe to the one who strayed.
“You are obligated to cling to the congregation” means to cling to that which the companions of the messenger of Allāh and those who followed them are upon. This congregation is not the congregation of the prayer.
It is confirmed from the Prophet, peace be upon him, that he said “Six are damned by Allāh and by every Prophet.” Narrated by Mālik, Al-Hākim, At–tabarāniyy, At-tirmidhiyy and Ibn Hibbān. Then, he mentioned among the six “the one who abandons his methodology and separates from the congregation.” This means abandoning the creed which The Prophet and his companions were upon and straying from it to something other than what they were upon. The Prophet, peace be upon him, counted them and said “The one who abandons my methodology, the one who separates from the congregation.” The methodology of The Messenger is the creed that he was upon when he taught it to the companions so that they would teach others and others to teach those who came after them and so on until the end of the world.
The nation of Prophet Muhammad is not like the nations of the other prophets, the nations that strayed from the call of their prophet and therefore were annihilated by Allāh; like the people of Noah and the people of ^Ād and the people of Sālih and those who went against Prophet Moses among the followers of the pharaoh.
In the past, after blasphemy occurred among the humans, after the death of a Prophet, Allāh sends another Prophet and if they dont believe in him, Allāh annihilates them in this world, he sends a punishment down upon them.
The people that Noah was sent to are the first people that worshipped the idols. Prior to those people, there were no humans who worshipped idols or the sun or the moon or a star or the devil; All people were worshipping Allāh only.
Then, when Allāh sent Noah and called the people to worship Allāh only and to leave out worshipping the idols, they went against him, they didnt believe in him except approximately 80 people only even though he lived for a long time which is more than 1,000 years.
He stood among them calling them to Islam for 950 years. He lived among them for 950 years calling them to worship Allāh only but they didn’t believe in him, isntead, they insisted upon worshipping the idols so Allāh annihilated them by drowning them. Allāh ordered the earth to let out its waters and the skies to send down its waters. The earth let out its waters until the water level reached 40 cubits on the surface of the earth and then the water rained from the sky and increased the height of the water until every mountain in the world was covered in water; there was no mountain remaining except that it was submerged.
The people that did not believe in him were consumed by the water which was a combination of the water from the earth and the water from the sky. The water covered the earth and every mountain in the world was submerged.
Allāh saved Noah and whoever believed in him and some animals. Allāh revealed to Noah to bring them onto the ark. Allāh revealed to him how to build the ark and so Allāh saved those among the humans and animals who were on the ark, only they were saved. As for the others, then all of them were annihilated by Allāh even one of the fours children of Noah named Kan^ān, he didnt obey his father, Allāh drowned him with the rest of the non-believers.
Then, those people who embraced Islam at the hands of Noah lived on the earth. The three sons of Noah, Allāh granted them offspring. As for the others, they had no offspring. Allāh made all of these humans descend from those three. Afterwards, the children of those three, after some time became blasphemers. So then Allāh sent an arab prophet named Hud that used to live in Yemen and so they disbelieved in him therefore Allāh annihilated them with the wind. Allāh annihilated them with the wind. On that day, the wind was sent without it being handled by the angels. Normally, when the wind is sent it is in the hands of the angels but on that day the wind was set loose from their hands and the wind annihilated the non-believers. and like that it kept happening similar to that. As for in between Jesus and our master Muhammad, that type of punishment did not occur in the world.
Those that believed in Jesus and followed him in compliance with the laws revealed to him lived on after Jesus was raised to the sky; they lived upon Islam for 200 years. After 100 years, the majority went astray and there remained groups who stayed on Islam.
Those that went astray remained misguided until Allāh sent our master Muhammad and so Allāh did not send an annihilating punishment upon the blasphemers in between Jesus and our master Muhammad.
Transformation is when Allāh changes the likeness of some humans into apes and pigs, once they have immersed themselves in wickedness and immorality. This occurs in this nation. Allāh knows best when this happens, however, it is a small percentage a small amount. Also occurring in during the time of this nation is stones falling upon them from the sky causing them to be killed, some people will be die. This occurs during the time of this nation.
The most important matters of the creed of Ahlus-sunnah are two things, the first: The belief that Allāh exists and does not resemble anything that exists. He is not like anything palpable nor impalpable. The palpable creations are like the human, the stone, and the tree among the what can be grasped in the hand. It can be grabbed with the hand. The impalpable creation what is not grasped with the hand. It is not grabbed with the hand. The light of the sun it not grasped with the hand and likewise the wind. Allāh does not resemble this and He does not resemble that. He is not residing in a place or direction like the human and the rest of the bodies, because place and direction are necessary for bodies.
Allāh, The Exalted, is not like that, He does not reside in a direction or place. He existed eternally before the place and the direction, He existed before the place and the six directions without a place or a direction, then He created the six directions, therefore, He is not residing in directions and the place.
It is not permissible to say that Allāh is in a place like the throne and it is not permissible to say Allāh is in every place. Also, Allāh is not attributed with the attributes of the bodies. Among the attributes of the bodies is movement and stillness. Some creations are always moving like the stars, and some creations are always still like the ^Arsh and the seven skies. Some creations are not moving sometimes and moving at other times like humans, animals, angels, and jinn, they have stillness and movement. Sometimes they move and sometimes they are still. Allāh is not like that, He is not attributed with movement and He is not attributed with stillness.
Likewise color is among the attributes of the creation, whiteness, blackness and other than that. Likewise change is an attribute among the attributes the creation and it is not permissible for Allāh to be attributed with changing from state to state.
Allāh’s power is not like our power. Our power increases and decreases. As for Allāh’s power, it is eternal and everlasting it does not increase or decrease. His knowledge is eternal and everlasting it does not increase or decrease. His speech which is not a letter or sound does not increase or decrease, it is not like our speech. We speak by uttering a letter and a sound this is why our speech is segments, one part of it occurs then ends and then another part and then it ends. As for The Speech of Allāh, He does not speak like the creations because it is not a letter or a sound.
So it is not permissible for anyone to believe that Allāh recites the Qur’ān with a letter and a sound. Jibreel is the one who recites the Qur’ān with a letter and a sound. Where did jibreel get the Qur’ān from? He got it from The Guarded Tablet by the order of Allāh and read it upon our master Muhammad. The ones who resemble Allāh to the creation are ignorant about Allāh, their creed is corrupt because they liken Allāh to His creation. It is impossible that Allāh would utter letters and sounds because we are the ones who utter letters and sounds.
Those who believe that Allāh recited the Qur’ān upon Jibreel and Jibreel recited it upon Muhammad have likened Allāh to His creation. Letters, sounds, and all the languages did not exist before Allāh created them. Allāh was attributed with speech before letters and sounds existed and He shall forever be attributed with speech, it has no end like His Life. Don’t we believe Allāh is attributed with life? Of course! Does Allāh’s life get cut off for some time then returns? No! Likewise, His Speech is not something that gets cut off and His Knowledge is not something that gets cut off and His Power and His Will. All His attributes are not something that gets cut off.
Allāh’s Will does not change. it is a complete, eternal, and everlasting power over everything that enters into existence. He does not will for something to exist and then changes His Will to something else like the creation does. We want within ourselves something to happen and then what we want changes so then we want that thing not to happen. We want for it to not be after we wanted it to be. Our will changes and so we dont want that thing to be. Allāh’s Will is not like that.
So whoever believes in Allāh in this way then he is not ignorant about Allāh and he is a believer in Allāh. As for the one who doesn’t believe in this way then he is ignorant about Allāh, just as our master ^Aliyy said “Whoever claims that our God is limited then he is ignorant about The Rightfully Worshipped Creator”, this means that whoever believes that Allāh has a size then he is ignorant about his creator.
Our master ^Aliyy is saying that Allāh is not limited meaning that He is not attributed with a small size nor a big size and so whoever believes that Allāh is attributed with big size or a small size or a medium size then such a person is ignorant about Allāh.
The meaning of Allāhu Akbar is that Allāh has more power over everything that has strength and knows more than everything that has knowledge. It doesnt mean that Allāh is something big in size that takes up a big space. Allāh created the small volume like the mustard seed and whats slightly bigger than it like the sesame seed and whats slightly bigger than it like a wheat seed and then whats bigger than it like a kidney bean and then what’s slightly bigger than it like the grape and so on until the ^Arsh and it is the biggest creation in a size.
How ignorant are those who think that Allāh is a volume! They are extremely ignorant. Had Allāh been a volume He would be in need of a creator who created him upon that size.
Allāh created the sun upon this size and made its shape round and its color white and its attribute heat. Why isnt the sun bigger than this and why isnt it smaller than this and why isnt its color other that this and its attribute coolness like the moon? Anything that has a size is not God.
God exists and He is not a small size nor a large size. In reality, Allāh is not a palpable volume nor an impalpable volume and is not attributed with the attributes of the impalpable volumes nor the palpable volumes.
After that, the second matter among the matters of the creed that is the most important after knowing Allāh is the belief that Allāh is the creator of everything. Nothing enters into existence among the movements and stillnesses of the slaves and their glances, speech, walking and thinking except by the creating of Allāh. Allāh creates it in the slaves and we do not create anything. If we utter something, Allāh is the creator of that utterance and are not the ones who created it. If we look at something, Allāh is the creator of that look. If we thought about something, Allāh is the one who created that thinking and so on for all the actions of the slaves. We do not create anything rather Allāh creates in us all our actions. Hence, whoever believes that other than Allāh creates anything among the movements or stillness or thinking or love or hate or joy or sadness, then such a person is associating partners with Allāh and a blasphemer that has made the creation a partner to Allāh. Just as Allāh created our bodies, He is the one who created our utterances, movements, and stillness. Everything that we do He creates it just as He created our bodies.
These two cases are the most important cases of the creed. Whatever is after these two cases among the rest of the cases are also among the essentials of the creed, however, they are not like these two cases. Whoever makes a mistake in these two cases then such a person is a blasphemer.
The misguided sect known as Hizb At-tahreer say that Allāh creates the bodies and the movements of the sleeping movements, the movements that occur involuntarily. As for the movements that we do voluntarily like the utterance, looking, walking, and thinking, they say that we create them; Those people are blasphemers they associate partners with Allāh because creating in the meaning of bringing from non-existence into existence is exclusively attributed to Allāh. Hence, whoever says other than Allāh creates has associated partners with Allāh. As for the one who believes that Allāh resides in a place or that he is a big size or a size like the human, then such a person is ignorant about Allāh and is a blasphemer due to his ignorance about Allāh.
As for what is after this like believing in the angels and in the revealed books and believing in the messengers and in the last day, it is not at the level of these two cases.
Whoever knows our master Muhammad and believes that Allāh exists and that He is the only one who deserves to be worshipped becomes a muslim, this is enough for the basis of belief. Whoever knows about Allāh what is necessary to know and believes that no one deserves to be worshipped except Him and believes that no one creates anything except Him and believes in our master Muhammad that he is the messenger of Allāh, then such a person is a muslim even if they did not fulfill the obligations, even if the angels didnt cross his mind or the hereafter. Instead, what was present in his heart knowing Allāh and knowing the messenger and didnt believe that anyone other than Allāh creates anything, such a person is called a muslim. However, this person wont be a complete muslim until they fulfill all the obligations and refrain from all the sins. Whoever fulfills all the obligations and learns the obligatory knowledge and implements it then, at this point, the person becomes a complete righteous muslim among the ones who will have no fear and no sadness.
Advice Of A Righteous Cautious Scholar Detached From Worldly Matters
Fear Allāh because the dunyaa is worth less than the hereafter. The Messenger has said that the slave will not take a step on the day of judgment until he is asked about four things, about his lifespan, how was it spent and about his body how was it used and about his wealth, where was it obtained from and how was it spent, and about his knowledge, what did he do with it, narrated by At–tabarāniyy, Al-Bayhaqiyy, and ibn Abī Shaybah. So no matter how much wealth the human gathers from the sinful wealth and enjoys it, it is inevitably going to end. Therefore, you should fulfill all the obligations and refrain from all the sins and remember the hereafter and death. Allāh revealed
قل متاع الدنيا قليل والآخرة خير لمن اتقى
which means Say O Muhammad, the enjoyment of this life is little and the hereafter is better for those who feared Allāh. So no matter how much wealth the person accumulates and enjoys in all varieties, it is inevitable that he will be separated from it by death. Remember what has occurred to those who came before you among those who accumulated wealth like Qāroun, the one who was swallowed up by the ground along with his home and large amount of gold that he has accumulated. The amount of gold that he accumulated cannot be found today among any country. Likewise was occurred to Shadād the son of ^Ād, the one who ruled the world and had under his command 260 kings and he was a blasphemer and he wanted to build a city that had the attributes he heard described about paradise, so he gathered gold and jewels from around the world and he built in 300 years what he thought was similar to paradise, then Allāh destroyed it and his people before he entered it and he was 900 years old.