Imam al-Shafi'i, whom He described in the Book of Allah; we see today that many imams do not possess these qualities.

The questioner: ... Imam al-Shafi'i, whom He described in the Book of Allah; we see today that many imams do not possess these qualities... The ascetics, and those behind them, who are more deserving of it in prayer? Does the issue change in his observation of this situation?

The Shaykh: No, it does not change, of course. Do you pray behind him or not?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh: And why are you praying behind him if he is not the imam? This is not the imam; you do not pray behind him? If he were in the best state, I would have told you not to pray behind him. Your question reminds me of some topics in Egypt, which I have addressed here many times: it is not enough for us to call people to what is in the Sunnah only; rather, we must combine the Book and the Sunnah in our call, and follow the methodology of the pious predecessors. Do you know why this qualification is here? In the Levant, I may have mentioned it a few times, but in Egypt, I felt its importance, even among the supporters of the people of the Sunnah. I used to lecture on it for long hours. So, I am reminding you now of some hadiths that we always keep repeating: The Jews split into seventy-one sects, and the Christians split into seventy-two sects, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all in the Fire except one. They said: Who is that, O Messenger of Allah? He said: The Jama'ah. In another narration, it is described as the one for which testimony is given. He said: ما هي أنا عليه وأصحابي what I am upon and my Companions The hadith of al-'Arba' says: Hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me. Do you see here the witness? Why did the Messenger not limit the first hadith to mentioning what I am upon, but added "and my Companions"? Why did the Messenger not limit the hadith of al-'Arba' to saying "Hold fast to my Sunnah," but added "and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me"? Do you see why our Lord said in the Noble Qur'an: And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers, We will turn him to what he has turned to and We will admit him to the Hellfire, and evil it is as a destination. Why did He say "and follows other than the way of the believers"? We will turn him to what he has turned to and We will admit him to the Hellfire, and evil it is as a destination. Why was the verse not in the following form: ومن يشاقق الرسول من بعد ما تبن له الهدى نوله ما تولى ونصله جهنم وساءت مصيرا And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination.[An-Nisa 4:115] It only came as: ومن يشاقق الرسول من بعد ما تبن له الهدى ويتبع غير سبيل المؤمنين And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers[An-Nisa 4:115] What is the secret in the verse and the two previous hadiths? That Allah did not limit the warning to opposing the Messenger only, but added to it His saying: ويتبع غير سبيل المؤمنين and follows other than the way of the believers[An-Nisa 4:115] And in itself, he did not begin by mentioning his Sunnah, but added to it his Companions and the Rightly Guided Caliphs specifically. The secret in this is that when we study the seventy-two sects of the Islamic sects, we do not find a sect that says, "We disavow the Sunnah." Do you know of any other sect that claims Islam, prays, fasts, and so on, and they say, "We are upon the Book and the Sunnah"? All the sects, even these, do not disavow the Sunnah. They say, "We are upon the Book and the Sunnah." The decisive ruling comes: ما انا عليه واصحابي what I am upon and my Companions That is, the Muslim must be in safety so that he is not among the misguided sects by holding fast to what the Companions were upon in terms of concepts from the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. Otherwise, misguidance is certain. All the misguided sects do not deny the Sunnah, let alone the Qur'an. Rather, they came to deny the meanings of the Qur'an and the meanings of the Sunnah, and they brought new meanings that the pious predecessors did not know. For example, the Mu'tazilah, one of the most famous misguided sects that oppose the Sunnah, when they deny the creed of the pious predecessors which is explicitly stated in the Book and the Sunnah. For example: وجوه يومئذ ناضرة إلى ربنا ناظره ⁽²²⁾ [Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant, ⁽²³⁾ Looking at their Lord.[Al-Qiyamah 75:22-23] Do they deny this verse? I say, do they deny it or not? They do not deny it as a word from the Noble Qur'an; they do not deny a single letter of it. But they deny its true meaning. They say, simply, that the meaning of "looking toward its Lord" is... "looking toward its Lord" means... They abrogate the text of our Lord by saying "looking toward its Lord," and they say "looking toward the bliss of its Lord," meaning looking toward the Paradise of its Lord. So, our Lord, the Exalted, in all the verses and hadiths in which He informs the believing servants who are given glad tidings of Paradise, because they feared that someone would enter Paradise and understand that they do not look at the bliss of Paradise, our Lord came in this verse saying, "Looking toward our Lord," meaning looking toward the bliss of our Lord. He clarifies to them that you are seeing the bliss of Paradise, you are not closing your eyes. This is ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) itself. So that Muslims do not fall into many of these deviations later, it is necessary to have the qualification we mentioned: the Book and the Sunnah, and upon the methodology of the pious predecessors. Otherwise, if you leave this methodology, you will be misguided far away.