WEBVTT 00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:08.699 A summary of the concepts held by Ahl al-Sunnah. 00:00:08.699 --> 00:00:10.699 Renewal and change. 00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:18.859 The terms "renewal" and "change" are currently being manipulated and used to deceive people. 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:25.859 Deceivers use them to pass off deviant concepts wrapped in embellished packaging. 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:29.949 To clarify the truth and remove the confusion surrounding this concept, 00:00:29.949 --> 00:00:33.950 we present the concept of renewal and change according to the scales of the Shari'ah, 00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:38.950 and what opposes and contradicts it according to the scales of the Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance). 00:00:38.950 --> 00:00:45.340 First: The concept of renewal and change in the scale of the Shari'ah. 00:00:45.340 --> 00:00:51.369 This concept proceeds from the fact that the religion of Allah—which is Islam— 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:57.369 is exclusively from Allah the Exalted, who knows what has been and what will be, 00:00:57.369 --> 00:01:01.369 who is free from ignorance, deficiency, injustice, and caprice, 00:01:01.369 --> 00:01:04.370 who is Wise and perfect in His wisdom, 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:08.370 and who is Kind, Merciful, and perfect in His kindness and mercy. 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:11.370 Based on this knowledge, 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:15.370 it is the perfect religion, suitable for every time and place, 00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:19.370 regardless of how circumstances, conditions, and people change. 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:23.370 It is independent of any need for addition or alteration. 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:25.430 Allah the Exalted says: 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:33.430 “Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” (5:3) 00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:40.459 It has no need for anyone to come and "renew" its foundations, constants, creed, or ethics. 00:01:40.459 --> 00:01:44.560 If the matter is this clear and decisive, 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:49.560 then what is the concept of renewal and change mentioned in the saying of Allah the Exalted: 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:55.560 “For him are angels ranged before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command. Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts; and if Allah willeth misfortune for a folk there is none that can repel it, nor have they a defender beside Him.” (13:11) 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.560 And in his saying, peace be upon him: 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:03.560 "Indeed, Allah will send for this Ummah at the beginning of every hundred years 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:06.620 someone who will renew its religion for it." 00:02:06.620 --> 00:02:10.689 Narrated by Abu Dawud and authenticated by al-Albani. 00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:12.689 The answer is to say: 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:16.689 The correct concept of change in the aforementioned verse 00:02:16.689 --> 00:02:23.689 is the change that a person undertakes to alter their state from a condition that Allah dislikes— 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:27.689 such as disbelief, hypocrisy, immorality, or disobedience— 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:29.689 to a state that Allah loves, 00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:33.689 by adhering to His obedience and avoiding His prohibitions. 00:02:33.689 --> 00:02:35.689 This type of change 00:02:35.689 --> 00:02:38.689 is what Allah uses to change the conditions of people 00:02:38.689 --> 00:02:42.689 from a state of misery, evil, and calamity 00:02:42.689 --> 00:02:45.689 to a state of goodness, prosperity, and happiness. 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:50.780 As for the concept of renewal mentioned in the aforementioned hadith, 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:53.780 it is as explained by the scholars of narration and understanding 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:57.780 of the hadiths of the Messenger, peace be upon him. 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:01.780 It is stated in *Awn al-Ma'bud*, quoting al-'Alqami, that: 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:03.780 The meaning of renewal is 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:06.780 reviving what has been abandoned of acting upon the Book and the Sunnah, 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:09.780 and commanding people to act according to them. 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:12.780 And in *Awn al-Ma'bud* it also states: 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:14.780 It says in *Majalis al-Abrar*: 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:17.780 "The intent behind renewing the religion for the Ummah 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:21.780 is the revival of what has been abandoned of acting upon the Book and the Sunnah." 00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:23.780 This "renewer" is not known 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.780 except by the prevailing opinion of the scholars who were his contemporaries, 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:29.780 through observing his conditions 00:03:29.780 --> 00:03:31.780 and benefiting from his knowledge. 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:33.780 For the renewer of the religion 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:35.780 must be a scholar 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:38.780 in the manifest and hidden religious sciences, 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:40.780 a supporter of the Sunnah, 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:42.780 and a suppressor of innovation. 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:45.780 His knowledge must benefit the people of his time. 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:49.780 Renewal occurs at the beginning of every hundred years 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:52.780 because of the passing of the scholars during that time, 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:54.780 meaning their departure and death, 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:56.780 the fading of the Sunnah, 00:03:56.780 --> 00:03:58.780 and the emergence of innovations, 00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:03.039 thus necessitating a renewal of the religion. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:04.039 Second: 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.099 The concept of renewal and change in the scale of the Jahiliyyah. 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:12.099 The ignorant among the disbelievers and hypocrites, 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:16.100 and those among the ignorant Muslims and people of caprice who are influenced by them, 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:19.100 use the term "renewal and change." 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:23.100 By it, they mean renewing the foundations of the religion and its constants, 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:27.100 and changing them to suit the era and its variables. 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:31.100 They deceive people into thinking that this is subject to the "law of change" 00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:34.100 which nothing can stand against, 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:38.100 including the foundations of the religion, its values, and its ethics. 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:42.230 People can be categorized regarding the issue of change and renewal 00:04:42.230 --> 00:04:45.230 into the following positions: 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:46.230 First: 00:04:46.230 --> 00:04:50.230 The position of the hypocrites, including secularists and liberals, 00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:54.230 and the proponents of Westernization and shedding the religion. 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:58.230 They view the human being, in his material state and composition, 00:04:58.230 --> 00:05:01.230 as the ultimate point of reference. 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:04.230 Therefore, they claim it is his right alone 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:07.230 to draw the image of the change he desires, 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:12.230 according to a specific social contract, far removed from religion and revelation. 00:05:12.230 --> 00:05:13.230 Second: 00:05:13.230 --> 00:05:16.519 The modernist position. 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:21.519 These include some children of Muslims who believe in Islam, 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:24.519 but in a modernist way 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:27.519 that comes under various labels: 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.519 sometimes in the name of "Islamic rationalism," 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:34.519 sometimes in the name of the "contemporary Muslim," 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:39.519 and sometimes in the name of "modernist moderation" and "moderate Islam," 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.519 and other such labels. 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.519 These, too, are of varying degrees. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.519 Some of them live on secular ideas, 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:52.519 influenced by them due to the contagion of proximity. 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.519 Others distance their modernist position 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.519 from their secular boundaries, to a greater or lesser extent. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.519 Among their characteristics 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.519 is what is called general laxity and leniency in dealing with rulings, 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:10.519 in contrast to what they call rigidity and extremism. 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:14.519 By this, they mean the people of uprightness and piety, 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:19.519 so they grumble about them and aim the arrows of criticism at them. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.519 They have a passion for change, even at the expense of the religion and its rulings. 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:29.519 They share similarities with those before them in that they all target the methodology. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.519 However, the previous category targets the general methodology, 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:37.519 meaning Islam in its generality, comprehensiveness, and perfection. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:40.519 These people target the specific methodology: 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:46.519 the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah and the followers of the salaf in particular. 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:50.519 There is no one among them whose religious knowledge is trusted, 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:53.519 nor their religious zeal, 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:57.519 nor their sound understanding, nor their comprehensive perception. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.519 Rather, among them are many people of caprice and intellectual ailments.