Part of Milestones on the path to stability (series completed)
· Lesson 17 of 23
Milestones on the path to stability | Episode (17) | One of the means of steadfastness is the company of steadfast people
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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Landmarks on the path of steadfastness.
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The company of the steadfast.
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Among the means of steadfastness:
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Keeping the company of the steadfast among the firmly grounded scholars,
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Those who act upon their knowledge and are patient,
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And the truthful companions.
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Allah the Almighty says:
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“Restrain thyself along with those who cry unto their Lord at morn and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust and whose case hath been abandoned.” (18:28)
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"Seeking His countenance morning and evening."
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“Restrain thyself along with those who cry unto their Lord at morn and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust and whose case hath been abandoned.” (18:28)
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“Restrain thyself along with those who cry unto their Lord at morn and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust and whose case hath been abandoned.” (18:28)
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“Restrain thyself along with those who cry unto their Lord at morn and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust and whose case hath been abandoned.” (18:28)
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And followed his own desire,
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And his affair became one of excess.
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The most steadfast of people on the path
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Are the people of the Book and the Sunnah,
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Those who follow the understanding of the salaf of the Ummah,
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At the forefront of whom are the rabbani scholars,
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Who are the inheritors of the prophets.
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They are the victorious group, manifest upon the truth.
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In Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Thawban, he said:
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The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
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"A group of my Ummah will remain manifest upon the truth;
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They will not be harmed by those who forsake them,
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Until the command of Allah comes while they are in that state."
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Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said
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In clarifying who this victorious group is:
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"If they are not the people of hadith,
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Then I do not know who they are."
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Ahmad ibn Sinan, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"They are the people of knowledge and the people of the narrations (athar)."
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Ali ibn al-Madini, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"They are the people of hadith."
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Al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Meaning the people of hadith."
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Yazid ibn Harun, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"If they are not the people of hadith,
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Then I do not know who they are."
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Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyyah] said regarding the people of hadith,
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As found in his Fatawa:
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"They are the most sound of people in intellect,
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The most balanced in their analogical reasoning,
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The most correct in their opinions,
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The most upright in their speech,
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The most accurate in their insight,
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The most guided in their argumentation,
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The most established in their debate,
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And the most perfect in their discernment,
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And the most truthful in their intuition."
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The nobility of Imam Ahmad, al-Shafi'i,
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And others like them in the eyes of the Ummah
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Was only through their following of the hadith and the Sunnah.
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Therefore, the scholars
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From the people of hadith and athar
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Are those who speak with wisdom.
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Abu 'Uthman al-Jabri said:
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"Whoever makes the Sunnah the authority over himself,
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In word and deed,
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Speaks with wisdom.
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And whoever makes desire
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The authority over himself, in word and deed,
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Speaks with innovation."
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Allah the Almighty says:
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"And if you obey him, you will be guided."
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From this,
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If there were only one scholar
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From the people of hadith and athar
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On the face of the earth,
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It would be the duty of the people of the earth
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To follow him,
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Because he is the true community (jama'ah)
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That the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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Commanded us to adhere to.
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When Ishaq ibn Rahwayh was asked
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About the community,
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He said:
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"Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi
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Is the community."
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And Ishaq said:
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"I have not heard of a scholar in fifty years
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Who was more firmly attached
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To the narration of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
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Than Muhammad ibn Aslam."
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Ibn al-Qayyim commented
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On the words of Ishaq ibn Rahwayh
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In his book *Ighathat al-Lahfan*
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*Fi Masa'id al-Shaytan* (In the Traps of Satan),
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Saying:
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"By Allah, he spoke the truth!
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For if an era contains
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One who knows the Sunnah and calls to it,
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Then he is the proof (hujjah),
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He is the consensus (ijma'),
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He is the 'greatest body' (al-sawad al-a'zam),
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And he is the path of the believers,
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Which whoever departs from,
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And follows another,
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Allah will leave him to what he has chosen,
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And will roast him in Hell—an evil destination."
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And he said in *I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in*:
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"Indeed, the consensus, the proof,
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And the 'greatest body'
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Is the scholar who possesses the truth,
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Even if he is alone,
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And even if the people of the earth oppose him."
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All people had deviated
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In the time of Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
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Except for a small few.
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They were the community,
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While the judges at that time,
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The jurists, the Caliph, and his followers,
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Were the ones who had deviated.
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Imam Ahmad alone
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Was the community.
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This statement
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Is confirmed by the narration of Ibn Mas'ud,
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May Allah be pleased with him,
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When he says:
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"The community is what conforms to the truth,
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Even if you are alone."
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Among the characteristics of
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The people of hadith and Sunnah
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Is steadfastness upon the methodology.
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Shaykh al-Islam said in the *Fatawa*:
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"The people of hadith and Sunnah
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Are the greatest of people in knowledge, certainty,
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Tranquility, and peace of mind.
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They are those who know,
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And know that they know,
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And they are certain of the truth;
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They do not doubt nor do they waver."
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This is in contrast to others
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From the people of rhetoric (kalam) and philosophy.
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He said in the *Fatawa*:
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"You find the people of rhetoric
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To be the most shifting of people
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From one opinion to another,
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Asserting an opinion in one place,
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And asserting its opposite,
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And declaring its proponent a disbeliever in another place.
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This is proof of a lack of certainty."
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That is why some of the salaf said,
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'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz or someone else:
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"Whoever makes his religion a target for disputes
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Will shift frequently."
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As for the people of Sunnah and hadith,
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No one knows of any of their scholars,
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Nor any of their righteous commoners,
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Who ever recanted their belief or creed.
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Rather, they are the most patient of people in that regard,
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Even if they are tested with various trials,
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And afflicted with various tribulations.
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This was the state of the prophets and their followers among the predecessors,
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Like the People of the Trench and others like them,
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And like the salaf of this Ummah from the Companions and the Tabi'un,
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And other imams.
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In sum,
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Steadfastness and stability in the people of hadith and Sunnah
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Are many times greater than what is found among the people of rhetoric and philosophy.
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Indeed, the philosopher is in a state of greater confusion and bewilderment
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Than the rhetorician,
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Because the rhetorician possesses some truth that he received from the prophets,
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Which the philosopher does not have.
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We do not mean by 'people of hadith and athar'
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Only those occupied with grading hadiths as authentic or weak,
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Or merely hearing and transmitting them.
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Then, after that, they contradict the methodology of the salaf in creed and conduct.
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Rather, what is meant by 'people of hadith'
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Are those who venerate the texts and make them the judge in all matters of religion,
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Following the way of the first generations: the Companions, the Tabi'un, and the firmly grounded imams.
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The salaf used to condemn the people of fickleness
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Who do not remain steadfast on one opinion.
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Abu Mas'ud once entered upon Hudhayfah while he was ill,
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And leaned upon him.
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Abu Mas'ud said:
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"Give me advice."
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Hudhayfah said:
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"Indeed, the misguidance—the true misguidance—
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Is that you recognize what you used to deny,
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And deny what you used to recognize.
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And beware of fickleness in religion."
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Ibrahim al-Nakha'i said:
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"They used to consider fickleness in religion to be from the doubt of the hearts."
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Shaykh al-Islam said about the people of innovation in *Majmu' al-Fatawa*:
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"They do not remain steadfast on one religion,
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And doubts overcome them."
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This is the way of Allah regarding those who turn away from the Book and the Sunnah.
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Hence,
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It is incumbent upon the Muslim to distance himself and stay away from the people of innovation and misguidance,
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Unless there is, in mixing with them,
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A benefit of calling them to the truth or sincere debate.
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And that is only for the one who is capable and knowledgeable of the true methodology,
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And the methodologies of the people of falsehood.
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Sufyan al-Thawri said:
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"Whoever sits with a person of innovation
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Will not be safe from one of three things:
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Either he becomes a trial for others,
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Or something falls into his heart and he slips because of it,
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And Allah enters him into the Fire,
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Or he says,
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'By Allah, I do not care what they say,
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I am confident in myself,
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for whoever feels secure regarding his religion before Allah for even the blinking of an eye,
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He will strip it away from him.
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Al-Shatibi stated in al-I'tisam:
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A person may be certain about a matter pertaining to the Sunnah,
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then a person of innovation casts into it a whim based on what the wording might possibly bear,
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even if it has no basis,
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or he adds to it a restriction from his own opinion,
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and the person accepts it.
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Then, when he returns to what he previously knew,
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he finds it obscured.
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Either he perceives this and rejects it through knowledge,
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or he is unable to reject it.
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Or, he does not perceive it at all,
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and thus proceeds along with those who have perished.
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Milestones on the path of steadfastness.