The Shaykh's response to the tape *Drowning in Details* by Salman al-'Udah.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : This is sound speech, O Khalid, but what is behind it? Let us see.
The student: The general framework in which callers and scholars move is more beneficial and more important.
The Shaykh : There is perhaps an error here that will become apparent later, or perhaps not, without thinking; not everyone has to think about what is not their concern.
The student: We have been afflicted by a group of Muslims, and sometimes even by callers to Allah the Exalted who, by assumption, are among the best of the Muslims. Their share has turned to caring for the branches of issues and their details, so they spent their nights awake and exhausted their days in plucking these issues and arguing over them, as if they were the whole religion or that they are among the most important.
The Shaykh : This is a mistake.
The student: This is a great matter, by Allah, O my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This is a mistake.
The student: My Shaykh, glory be to Allah, the first thing he said was "We have been afflicted," meaning the listener finds this strange, and then his saying: "They spend their nights awake and exhaust their days."
The Shaykh : This is a prison here, O Abu Muhammad. Look, they are standing in the sun waiting for their turn to visit their relatives.
The student: So, my Shaykh, we do not know where this came from for them. Does it mean you are equal to a series of lectures until you see that these young men or these callers spend the nights for these details that you deny them for? By Allah, O my Shaykh, this has no place except in imagination.
The Shaykh : This is the language of oratory, like this. Therefore, we want to keep in mind that these orators, meaning, they will not be precise in their expressions as is the case with scholars, because this is the language of oratory; the nature of oratory is exaggeration in matters.
The student: Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Of course, O my Shaykh, this exaggeration leads to many young Muslims being deceived and imagining that this, meaning, not every person, that this is a style of oratory, and that this is the truth, meaning, there is no truth after it.
The Shaykh : This is correct, but I want from my previous word that it is obligatory for us to observe that this is the nature of oratory, so we do not take knowledge from it.
The student: Yes, may Allah reward you with good, yes.
The Shaykh : Do you understand how?
The student: Yes, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Meaning, this is with regard to us, and we say with regard to them: speak to people according to the capacity of their minds, as we have said more than once.
The student: It is possible that it is one of the sunnahs, such that even if one leaves it intentionally, there is no blame on him for that, and no reproach, even though it is better for the Muslim to follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the details and the great matters of things. And in contrast to that, we have been afflicted by another group.
The Shaykh : This demolishes his previous speech, even if we assume there is no exaggeration in it. Meaning, truly, I, for example, spend the night awake; I rarely sleep except after twelve, after one. In what? In this knowledge in which Allah has established me and granted it as a voluntary act, not a collective obligation that is dropped from others. He granted it as a voluntary act, but I am in obedience to Allah, I am in obedience to Allah. So as long as my goal is following the sunnah, reviving the sunnah, and making it known, how do these people who want to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they are from the general Muslims, how do they get to know the sunnahs except through this one who spends the night awake—as he expressed it? So there is exaggeration, meaning, there is very clear exaggeration.
The student: So this matter turned for them into complete neglect of the details and considering that these details are husks, or as some of them say, trifles of no value, and one should not occupy oneself with them. Rather, it became a place for mockery, criticism, and jesting from a group, unfortunately, of callers, preachers, scholars, and thinkers. Even though we say, in truth, all of this is religion: the great and the small, the root and the branch, the part and the whole, whatever relates to the issue of Islam, it is religion. And the well-known hadith of 'Umar and Abu Hurayrah when Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about Islam, faith, and excellence in worship. Jibril, when he asked him, asked him in some narrations about many detailed issues, such as the issues of the full ritual bath from major ritual impurity and others. And yet, when he finished, he said:Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 24:120 So everything that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) brought is religion, and one should care for it and attend to it, and it should not be a place for mockery or jesting or criticism from anyone.
The Shaykh : And he falls into this trap; he has fallen.
The student: But it should be that every right is given its due, and everything is placed in its proper place.
It is strange, O dear ones, that some of these callers who claim or believe that they are striving for reform and change are those who, in many cases, cause the stirring up of some details and occupying people with them and diverting them from the major matters and what is beyond them. They are the ones who cause that because they present their viewpoints in a strange way, a provocative way, a way that is not objective and not correct either. And perhaps the closest example is that one of the great thinkers wrote two days ago in a car newspaper in this land, and he wrote in a bold line: there is no evidence from the Qur'an and the sunnah, or a word like this, for the woman covering her face. So if he stirs up this issue, it is natural that there be criticism and response, and giving and taking in this matter. And it is not correct for a person to present his viewpoint in a certain issue, and then when an opposing viewpoint is presented, he says: O my brother, these are details, these are husks, these...
The Shaykh : This is what he does; this is what he does, glory be to Allah.
The student: And why do you speak about it, and why do you not turn to what you believe is more important than it, more beneficial, and more useful for the Muslims in their religion and their worldly affairs?
The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah.
The student: So research and evidence are the guide for everyone, and we do not criticize anyone for speaking about an issue from the issues of religion. But it should be that he speaks with attachment and objectivity, and his following of the evidence from the Book of Allah the Exalted and the sunnah of his Messenger (peace be upon him), or the consensus of the ummah. And likewise, it should be that the speech about the topics...
...the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as we also find in practical issues branches and details. For example, the issue of prayer: prayer is a root, but the details of the precise matters, so it is correct to call it a branch or to call it a detailed matter.
So do you see, O my brother, for example, that it is just to spend time speaking about a detail of these sunnahs that are reported in prayer, as will be mentioned something of them, such as speaking about the sitting of rest, or speaking about the tawarruk, or speaking about the manner of descending to prostration? Does he prostrate on his hands first, or on his knees first? For example, do you see that it is wise to spend time in this matter and kill it with research, and author a number of books on it, and it becomes our talk in our gatherings, and it becomes a place for quarreling and competition among peers and among students, and it is received by the younger students of knowledge before the older ones? Whereas you hardly find anyone who speaks to people about the issue of prayer, and its importance and its status in the religion, in a speech that reaches their hearts and addresses them and penetrates their innermost being, and calls them to frequent the mosque at all times.
And you do not find, for example, anyone who speaks about the issue of khushu' in prayer, which is its spirit and its core. Rather, you find among the jurists one who says: that khushu' in prayer is recommended and not obligatory, even though the prayer in which there is no khushu' and presence of heart and turning toward it does not affect its owner with mindfulness of Allah Mighty and Majestic, nor fear of Him, nor turning toward obedience and worship, even though in any case it is a lawful prayer as long as nothing is committed in it that invalidates it.
So in practical issues there are branches and roots, and likewise in scientific creedal issues there are generalities and details, or branches and roots. For example: the six pillars of faith, which are read by...
The issue of disagreement in the meanings of some Qur'anic verses, or some Prophetic hadiths, indeed even the disagreement in the establishment of some hadiths or their non-establishment.
Likewise the issue of speech and what the people of logic speak about in...
These issues are not among the major issues that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified with a clear explanation leaving no room for doubt, such that one who opposes them would be a disbeliever, an open sinner, or an innovator. Rather, they are among the issues that can be considered matters of branches and details in scholarly questions.
And these are not like those. It is also confirmed that the servant will not be asked in the grave: Do you believe in the annihilation of the Fire or do you not believe in it? And this is not, for example, one of the conditions for entering Paradise to say this or that. However, the servant should believe in the six pillars of faith, which include belief in the Last Day and what is in it, such as belief in Paradise and belief in the Fire. And it is not merely verbal belief, but the belief that...
The Shaykh : I think the expression is a mistake. He means that if one loses a finger, it is not like if one loses a tooth, but the concern for losing a finger should be the same.
The questioner : Shaykh, regarding acting or drama, what is your opinion?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I see it as correct.
The questioner : Do you see anything wrong with it?
The Shaykh : But within the limits of this... without a doubt, a person loses his head just as if he lost his hand.
The questioner : No, that is not reasonable, but he is affected by the loss of his hand and the loss of his fingernail.
The Shaykh : I told you, my brother, his statement that they are not equal in terms of concern is an expression that, may Allah know best, slipped from the tongue.
The student: From the legal perspective.
The Shaykh : This statement.
The student: As far as I can see, the statement is sound.
The student: The general framework in which callers and scholars move is more beneficial and more important.
The Shaykh : There is perhaps an error here that will become apparent later, or perhaps not, without thinking; not everyone has to think about what is not their concern.
The student: We have been afflicted by a group of Muslims, and sometimes even by callers to Allah the Exalted who, by assumption, are among the best of the Muslims. Their share has turned to caring for the branches of issues and their details, so they spent their nights awake and exhausted their days in plucking these issues and arguing over them, as if they were the whole religion or that they are among the most important.
The Shaykh : This is a mistake.
The student: This is a great matter, by Allah, O my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This is a mistake.
The student: My Shaykh, glory be to Allah, the first thing he said was "We have been afflicted," meaning the listener finds this strange, and then his saying: "They spend their nights awake and exhaust their days."
The Shaykh : This is a prison here, O Abu Muhammad. Look, they are standing in the sun waiting for their turn to visit their relatives.
The student: So, my Shaykh, we do not know where this came from for them. Does it mean you are equal to a series of lectures until you see that these young men or these callers spend the nights for these details that you deny them for? By Allah, O my Shaykh, this has no place except in imagination.
The Shaykh : This is the language of oratory, like this. Therefore, we want to keep in mind that these orators, meaning, they will not be precise in their expressions as is the case with scholars, because this is the language of oratory; the nature of oratory is exaggeration in matters.
The student: Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Of course, O my Shaykh, this exaggeration leads to many young Muslims being deceived and imagining that this, meaning, not every person, that this is a style of oratory, and that this is the truth, meaning, there is no truth after it.
The Shaykh : This is correct, but I want from my previous word that it is obligatory for us to observe that this is the nature of oratory, so we do not take knowledge from it.
The student: Yes, may Allah reward you with good, yes.
The Shaykh : Do you understand how?
The student: Yes, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Meaning, this is with regard to us, and we say with regard to them: speak to people according to the capacity of their minds, as we have said more than once.
The student: It is possible that it is one of the sunnahs, such that even if one leaves it intentionally, there is no blame on him for that, and no reproach, even though it is better for the Muslim to follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the details and the great matters of things. And in contrast to that, we have been afflicted by another group.
The Shaykh : This demolishes his previous speech, even if we assume there is no exaggeration in it. Meaning, truly, I, for example, spend the night awake; I rarely sleep except after twelve, after one. In what? In this knowledge in which Allah has established me and granted it as a voluntary act, not a collective obligation that is dropped from others. He granted it as a voluntary act, but I am in obedience to Allah, I am in obedience to Allah. So as long as my goal is following the sunnah, reviving the sunnah, and making it known, how do these people who want to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they are from the general Muslims, how do they get to know the sunnahs except through this one who spends the night awake—as he expressed it? So there is exaggeration, meaning, there is very clear exaggeration.
The student: So this matter turned for them into complete neglect of the details and considering that these details are husks, or as some of them say, trifles of no value, and one should not occupy oneself with them. Rather, it became a place for mockery, criticism, and jesting from a group, unfortunately, of callers, preachers, scholars, and thinkers. Even though we say, in truth, all of this is religion: the great and the small, the root and the branch, the part and the whole, whatever relates to the issue of Islam, it is religion. And the well-known hadith of 'Umar and Abu Hurayrah when Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about Islam, faith, and excellence in worship. Jibril, when he asked him, asked him in some narrations about many detailed issues, such as the issues of the full ritual bath from major ritual impurity and others. And yet, when he finished, he said:
This is Jibril who has come to you to teach you your religion.
هذا جبريل أتاكم يعلمكم دينكمThe Shaykh : And he falls into this trap; he has fallen.
The student: But it should be that every right is given its due, and everything is placed in its proper place.
It is strange, O dear ones, that some of these callers who claim or believe that they are striving for reform and change are those who, in many cases, cause the stirring up of some details and occupying people with them and diverting them from the major matters and what is beyond them. They are the ones who cause that because they present their viewpoints in a strange way, a provocative way, a way that is not objective and not correct either. And perhaps the closest example is that one of the great thinkers wrote two days ago in a car newspaper in this land, and he wrote in a bold line: there is no evidence from the Qur'an and the sunnah, or a word like this, for the woman covering her face. So if he stirs up this issue, it is natural that there be criticism and response, and giving and taking in this matter. And it is not correct for a person to present his viewpoint in a certain issue, and then when an opposing viewpoint is presented, he says: O my brother, these are details, these are husks, these...
The Shaykh : This is what he does; this is what he does, glory be to Allah.
The student: And why do you speak about it, and why do you not turn to what you believe is more important than it, more beneficial, and more useful for the Muslims in their religion and their worldly affairs?
The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah.
The student: So research and evidence are the guide for everyone, and we do not criticize anyone for speaking about an issue from the issues of religion. But it should be that he speaks with attachment and objectivity, and his following of the evidence from the Book of Allah the Exalted and the sunnah of his Messenger (peace be upon him), or the consensus of the ummah. And likewise, it should be that the speech about the topics...
...the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as we also find in practical issues branches and details. For example, the issue of prayer: prayer is a root, but the details of the precise matters, so it is correct to call it a branch or to call it a detailed matter.
So do you see, O my brother, for example, that it is just to spend time speaking about a detail of these sunnahs that are reported in prayer, as will be mentioned something of them, such as speaking about the sitting of rest, or speaking about the tawarruk, or speaking about the manner of descending to prostration? Does he prostrate on his hands first, or on his knees first? For example, do you see that it is wise to spend time in this matter and kill it with research, and author a number of books on it, and it becomes our talk in our gatherings, and it becomes a place for quarreling and competition among peers and among students, and it is received by the younger students of knowledge before the older ones? Whereas you hardly find anyone who speaks to people about the issue of prayer, and its importance and its status in the religion, in a speech that reaches their hearts and addresses them and penetrates their innermost being, and calls them to frequent the mosque at all times.
And you do not find, for example, anyone who speaks about the issue of khushu' in prayer, which is its spirit and its core. Rather, you find among the jurists one who says: that khushu' in prayer is recommended and not obligatory, even though the prayer in which there is no khushu' and presence of heart and turning toward it does not affect its owner with mindfulness of Allah Mighty and Majestic, nor fear of Him, nor turning toward obedience and worship, even though in any case it is a lawful prayer as long as nothing is committed in it that invalidates it.
So in practical issues there are branches and roots, and likewise in scientific creedal issues there are generalities and details, or branches and roots. For example: the six pillars of faith, which are read by...
The issue of disagreement in the meanings of some Qur'anic verses, or some Prophetic hadiths, indeed even the disagreement in the establishment of some hadiths or their non-establishment.
Likewise the issue of speech and what the people of logic speak about in...
These issues are not among the major issues that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified with a clear explanation leaving no room for doubt, such that one who opposes them would be a disbeliever, an open sinner, or an innovator. Rather, they are among the issues that can be considered matters of branches and details in scholarly questions.
And these are not like those. It is also confirmed that the servant will not be asked in the grave: Do you believe in the annihilation of the Fire or do you not believe in it? And this is not, for example, one of the conditions for entering Paradise to say this or that. However, the servant should believe in the six pillars of faith, which include belief in the Last Day and what is in it, such as belief in Paradise and belief in the Fire. And it is not merely verbal belief, but the belief that...
The Shaykh : I think the expression is a mistake. He means that if one loses a finger, it is not like if one loses a tooth, but the concern for losing a finger should be the same.
The questioner : Shaykh, regarding acting or drama, what is your opinion?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I see it as correct.
The questioner : Do you see anything wrong with it?
The Shaykh : But within the limits of this... without a doubt, a person loses his head just as if he lost his hand.
The questioner : No, that is not reasonable, but he is affected by the loss of his hand and the loss of his fingernail.
The Shaykh : I told you, my brother, his statement that they are not equal in terms of concern is an expression that, may Allah know best, slipped from the tongue.
The student: From the legal perspective.
The Shaykh : This statement.
The student: As far as I can see, the statement is sound.