Advice for the People of the Sunnah Regarding Repulsive Titles
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the advice for the People of the Sunnah who follow the methodology of the Prophetic way, regarding the repulsive titles that opponents hurl at them and their being turned away from the straight path?
The Shaykh:
The first thing you must know is what the Sunnah is; you must learn it. You learn what the Sunnah is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions followed. Then you hold fast to it, and you do not care what people are doing, whether they are praising you or not. People say, "He is strict," "He is an extremist," "He is a takfiri," "He is a takfiri," and so on. Be patient with them; do not pay attention to them. As long as you are convinced that you are on the right, do not pay attention to those who distort your image with titles. You want the reward of Allah and the pleasure of Allah, not the praise of people and the pleasure of people, ever. Yes.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
So the People of the Sunnah who follow it are patient. Those before them labeled the Messenger; they said he was a sorcerer, they said he was a madman, and they said other things about him. They said he was bewitched, they said this and that. But what harm did it do him (peace and blessings be upon him)? What harm did it do him? Yes. Likewise, those who followed his Sunnah, they said about them what they said. But this did not harm them. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the advice for the People of the Sunnah who follow the methodology of the Prophetic way, regarding the repulsive titles that opponents hurl at them and their being turned away from the straight path?
The Shaykh:
The first thing you must know is what the Sunnah is; you must learn it. You learn what the Sunnah is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions followed. Then you hold fast to it, and you do not care what people are doing, whether they are praising you or not. People say, "He is strict," "He is an extremist," "He is a takfiri," "He is a takfiri," and so on. Be patient with them; do not pay attention to them. As long as you are convinced that you are on the right, do not pay attention to those who distort your image with titles. You want the reward of Allah and the pleasure of Allah, not the praise of people and the pleasure of people, ever. Yes.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
So the People of the Sunnah who follow it are patient. Those before them labeled the Messenger; they said he was a sorcerer, they said he was a madman, and they said other things about him. They said he was bewitched, they said this and that. But what harm did it do him (peace and blessings be upon him)? What harm did it do him? Yes. Likewise, those who followed his Sunnah, they said about them what they said. But this did not harm them. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، الباب العاشر في علامات مرض القلب وصحته — islamhouse.com (51:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.