What is the meaning of Abu Hurayrah’s (may Allah be pleased with him) statement: “As for the other, if I were to spread it, this throat would be cut”?
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Question:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this questioner asks: What is the meaning of Abu Hurayrah’s (may Allah preserve him) statement: “I preserved two vessels from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him),” until he said, “As for the other, if I were to spread it, this throat would be cut”?
Answer:
He means the hadiths about trials and tribulations; he means the hadiths about the trials and tribulations that will occur. If he were to publish these, that would be evidence for the permissibility of concealing knowledge for the sake of the stronger public benefit. So if there are harms in spreading it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Mu'adh, when he said, “Shall I not inform the people?”
He said, “Do not inform them, lest they become complacent.” Concealing knowledge for the sake of public benefit is a permissible matter. This is what Abu Hurayrah did, because if he mentioned the hadiths about trials and tribulations to the people, much evil would result. But the hadiths are mentioned to the scholars, mentioned to the scholars and students of knowledge who are the place of trust, so that they issue rulings for the people and the common folk. And in this, it is not permissible, because it entails much evil. So there is knowledge that is spread to all the people, and there is knowledge that is spread to the specialists among the scholars and students of knowledge, and there is knowledge that is spread to the people which contains no harm, such as knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), knowledge of 'aqidah (creed), and knowledge that the people need.
It is spread to all the people, and I teach them of it. But what is the people’s need for the hadiths about trials and tribulations? They have no need for them. Rather, this is something that is entrusted to the scholars so that they deal with the trials and tribulations when they appear in accordance with these hadiths. This is a trust. Yes.
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this questioner asks: What is the meaning of Abu Hurayrah’s (may Allah preserve him) statement: “I preserved two vessels from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him),” until he said, “As for the other, if I were to spread it, this throat would be cut”?
Answer:
He means the hadiths about trials and tribulations; he means the hadiths about the trials and tribulations that will occur. If he were to publish these, that would be evidence for the permissibility of concealing knowledge for the sake of the stronger public benefit. So if there are harms in spreading it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Mu'adh, when he said, “Shall I not inform the people?”
He said, “Do not inform them, lest they become complacent.” Concealing knowledge for the sake of public benefit is a permissible matter. This is what Abu Hurayrah did, because if he mentioned the hadiths about trials and tribulations to the people, much evil would result. But the hadiths are mentioned to the scholars, mentioned to the scholars and students of knowledge who are the place of trust, so that they issue rulings for the people and the common folk. And in this, it is not permissible, because it entails much evil. So there is knowledge that is spread to all the people, and there is knowledge that is spread to the specialists among the scholars and students of knowledge, and there is knowledge that is spread to the people which contains no harm, such as knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), knowledge of 'aqidah (creed), and knowledge that the people need.
It is spread to all the people, and I teach them of it. But what is the people’s need for the hadiths about trials and tribulations? They have no need for them. Rather, this is something that is entrusted to the scholars so that they deal with the trials and tribulations when they appear in accordance with these hadiths. This is a trust. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما معنى قول أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه وأما الآخر فإذا بثثته قُطع هذا البلعوم؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.