Can any form of political or jihad work coincide with our purification and study of the Sunnah?

The questioner : Shaykh, if you allow me a small point, I mean, in your opinion, does not coincide with our research and reading of the authentic Sunnah... and our understanding of the Sunnah until we are able to... does any type of political work coincide with that, or any type of jihad, let us say theoretical; for example, strengthening in the hearts of the Muslim nation, or preparing for it, or something of that sort?

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. If you would extend your patience with me a little, I am currently speaking about one of the principles. I have two principles that I call "purification and education." I have tapes on this issue of "purification and education." I am currently speaking to you about purification, and I will return to complete my speech regarding education. Your question, although it relates to what I mentioned earlier and what I was responding to, actually relates more strongly to the education that I have not yet discussed. Why did you not respond to me? I said: if we study the Sunnah, but we are asking which Sunnah is being studied: the authentic one, or the mixed one that contains the authentic, the good, the weak, and the fabricated? I mean, you have now abstracted yourself from reality and taken the theoretical image, so you said: if we study the Sunnah, is political work, for example, not possible?

The questioner : I said, Shaykh, that it coincides; I mean, may Allah reward you, that our study coincides with...

The Shaykh : No problem, but where is the authentic Sunnah, my brother? Where is the authentic Sunnah that we want to follow, with which political work or jihad or the like would coincide? Yes, indeed.

The questioner : I have a correct understanding here.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : ... I mean, what does the hadith of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) mean? They said that when ten verses were revealed, of course this is a hadith... so when these ten verses were revealed, they would read them, memorize them, understand them, and apply them. I am saying that, for example, Shaykh Nasser presented us with a hadith, and this hadith is authentic, and we acted upon it; so we are applying this hadith. This is what I intended, I mean, this is what I want to reach and understand. Your opinion on the matter is that we wait until... everything, and we keep being patient within ourselves, and political work is a reality, or does this coincide with this?

The Shaykh : So let me enter with you into the topic of education.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. Please, my brothers, we will continue, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : ... purification. I remind you of the last part of the hadith of the sects in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) said that the sign of the saved sect is that it is upon what the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his Companions were upon. The phrase "and his Companions" here contains a very important religious and scientific point. It would have been sufficient for him (peace be upon him) to say: . What did he say? He added . A very great point.
The Shaykh : Before explaining this point, I draw your attention to the fact that the addition of to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) resembles another addition in the Noble Qur'an that is fully connected to the topic of the hadith of the sects, namely His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He)...
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The Shaykh : ... what came in the Noble Qur'an. In fact, it is my strong opinion that what was mentioned in the hadith, if it was not a direct revelation from Allah to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), is a quotation from the verse I referred to, namely His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . It is very clear that if the verse had been a brief sentence: , the meaning would have been sufficient; that is, if the verse had been: "And whoever opposes the Messenger after the clear proof has come to him, We will turn over to him what We have turned over to them and drive him into Hell, and wretched is the destination." So what is the point of His saying (Exalted is He) adding to : ? What is the point? The point is what Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) pointed out, where he used this verse as evidence for arguing based on what the Muslims are upon; that is, by scholarly consensus (ijma'). So in the verse there is an establishment of a proof that is additional to following the Messenger. Perhaps you know that the sources of the Shari'ah are four: the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus (ijma'), and analogical reasoning (qiyas). If we are asked: where did the third source, namely scholarly consensus (ijma'), come from? The answer is: as Imam al-Shafi'i pointed out, from the verse.
The Shaykh : So His saying (Exalted is He): provided something additional to opposing the Messenger; and that is that it is obligatory for the Muslims to follow the path of the believers, and not to deviate from their path. Likewise, the complete saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in explaining the sign of the saved sect: ; what is the difference? = -- May Allah have mercy on you -- = A hadith may come and be interpreted by some interpreter, or a verse may be interpreted by some interpreter in the Arabic style. Let us suppose that he is, as they say, the Sibawayhi of his time, interpreting it with Arabic styles, but he does not first resort to the Sunnah, which is the explanation of the Qur'an, and secondly, to what his Companions (peace and blessings be upon him) were upon. In that case, no matter how expert he is in the styles of the Arabic language and its literature, and if he applies his knowledge of it to interpreting the Qur'an without referring to the Sunnah and what the Companions were upon, his interpretation is... Therefore, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said in the Noble Qur'an: . The "remembrance" here is the Qur'an, as He said (Exalted is He): , . The "explanation" is the Sunnah, and we received the Sunnah through the path of his Companions (peace be upon him), so they are the ones who transmitted it to us... with its words, its actions, and its approvals that the Messenger (peace be upon him) approved.
The Shaykh : I said earlier that purification of the Sunnah is necessary to distinguish its authentic from its weak. Now we have a new problem, which is: to understand the Sunnah correctly, we must know what his Companions (peace be upon him) were upon; because he made that part of the complete proof that the saved sect is the saved sect, because it followed what the Messenger was upon and what the Companions were upon. So you, Abu Ahmad (may Allah reward you)... are not the actions and sayings of the Companions? Therefore, the work is great and very great. In the Islamic world, there must be thousands of scholars, not hundreds or tens, but thousands of scholars spread throughout the vast and broad Islamic world to perform the duty of purification. First: purifying the Sunnah and clarifying its authentic from its weak. And second: what the Companions of the Messenger were upon.
The Shaykh : Many of the things that Muslims do today, and for which those who do not have this purified knowledge argue by saying it is in a verse or a hadith, we say to them: but how was this verse applied? And how was the hadith applied?