A word on the fact that salvation in the Hereafter and happiness in this world are based on only two foundations: beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.

The questioner: Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. May Allah send blessings upon him, his family, his Companions, and whoever follows his guidance and adheres to his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. I hope that the noble brothers will not interrupt or cause conflict with oral questions. I hope they are written down so that time is not wasted, and so that the answer or the question is not restricted to one of us. Since all the brothers claim to have written their questions, if someone interrupts, we will argue that the questions are written, and we will be in a difficult position. We do not want to be the cause of embarrassing any of our brothers.

The Shaykh: Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. , , . As for what follows:
The best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations. Every innovation is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Among the things that every Muslim must know is that salvation to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the Hereafter and happiness in this world are based on only two foundations: one is beneficial knowledge, and the other is righteous deeds. As for beneficial knowledge, it is not possible to reach it or recognize it except through one path and no other: the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). That is the path about which our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) indicated to us, as in His saying (Mighty and Majestic) in the Noble Qur’an: . In this verse, the word "path" is repeated and the plural "paths" is used; He said (the Exalted): .
The verse explicitly states that guidance is either for those who walk on one path, not on multiple paths. This single path is one in which no Muslim among the millions of Muslims in every time and place has any doubt regarding the creed; it is the way of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Even if they have practically divided into various schools of jurisprudence and sects, if they wish to be—as I mentioned earlier—happy in this world and saved in the Hereafter, they must practically follow this single path, which is the Straight Path. It came in the authentic hadith narrated by Abu Abdullah al-Hakim in his "Mustadrak" from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) drew a straight line on the ground one day while he was among his Companions, and he recited that verse: . Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) drew short lines on both sides of the Straight Path, and he recited the previous verse while passing his noble hand over the straight line: . Then he said (peace and blessings be upon him): .
This hadith, with this beautiful design that embodies the meaning of the Noble verse, clarifies that there are paths branching off from this path, but everyone who walked on them strayed from the Straight Path. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) urges his Ummah to follow his path (peace and blessings be upon him) straight, and forbids them to follow those paths that diverge from it. These diverging paths are not the ones that lead to the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as some of them are mentioned regarding those who followed them, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . This path is for those who walk steadily on that Straight Path. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) clarified that the path he was walking on and following is taken from two sources: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). That is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , . This text is evidence that salvation in the Hereafter is guaranteed, and that the Straight Path is taken only from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). This path is the beneficial knowledge that, if Muslims hold onto it, they will be saved in this world and the Hereafter, as we mentioned earlier.
As for the other pillar or the other foundation that every Muslim should be upon, it is righteous deeds. If a Muslim knows what came in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), but does not combine action with knowledge, his knowledge will be a burden upon him. This is as our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said: . It is among the major sins for a Muslim to be knowledgeable but not act. Therefore, he must combine his action with his beneficial knowledge. You have known the beneficial knowledge briefly from what was explained previously.
As for righteous deeds, the scholars have stipulated two conditions for it. The first condition is that it be in accordance with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and that one not deviate from his Sunnah by following one’s own desire or the desire of others who have passed before, whose desires have led them astray from the straight path. Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahihayn" from the hadith of Usamah ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . This is a wonderful detail from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) regarding those who know but do not act upon their knowledge. Therefore, every Muslim must have these two pillars or supports: beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds. Beneficial knowledge is what was in accordance with the Messenger (peace be upon him), and righteous deeds are to be sincere in them for Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), as He said (Mighty and Majestic): .
The scholars of tafsir said regarding this verse: Righteous deeds are what is in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). If it contradicts it, his deed is rejected. This is as explicitly stated in some authentic hadiths, such as the saying of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). She said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: .
Meaning: In our religion, , it is rejected and returned to him, and his face is struck with it, because he did not follow the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) who came with complete guidance and light, as our Lord said in His Book: . The favor of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) has been completed by perfecting His religion; He did not leave room for anyone to innovate in His religion what was not part of it. For this reason, he said (peace be upon him), as you heard: . The innovation may be something that tempts some people to do it, so they get involved and think it is a righteous deed, but in reality, it is an evil deed. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not bring it. Therefore, the way to know righteous deeds is not the first people or their traditions or their customs, but rather the way to know it is to return to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was upon.
The evidence for this is what al-Bukhari and Muslim also reported in their Sahihs: that a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to his wives and asked them about his worship (peace and blessings be upon him), specifically his standing in prayer at night, his fasting during the day, and his relations with women. They described to them what they knew of this, saying: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand in prayer at night and then sleep; he would fast and then break his fast; and he would have relations with women and marry them. They described the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to these men, and the meaning of this is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) was not a monk; he did not stand in prayer the entire night, nor did he fast the entire year, nor was he a hermit who did not visit his wives. Rather, he combined all these rights; he would stand in prayer at night but also sleep, and he would fast during the day but not fast the entire year. Then he would give his self its due of what is lawful, just as he would give his wives their due from him. But when the aforementioned group heard this description, they found—in their opinion!—the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little. So the narrator of the hadith, who is Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), said: , meaning: they found the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little. Here lies the desire (hawa), and with desire comes danger. How can the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) be little, when he stood in prayer, as also came in the two Sahihs from the hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah and others, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood in prayer until his feet swelled. They said: O Messenger of Allah, Allah has forgiven you your past and future sins! They seemed to fear for him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he was overworking himself in his worship of his Lord in... his face. So his answer (peace and blessings be upon him) was: . How can the worship of this noble Prophet be little, given this state of his, until his Companions, who knew the reality of his worship, feared for him?
As for the group, it was due to their ignorance of the balance in everything, including the worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Anas said: They found his worship (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little. They indicated that they imagined and supposed that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) should stand in prayer the entire night and not sleep, and that he should fast the entire year and not break his fast, and that he should not approach women; this is how they imagined a Prophet... contrary to what they imagined. Therefore, they said that it was little worship. In response to this, they answered regarding the littleness of his worship (peace be upon him) which they claimed, by providing a reason: had they been correct, then what they described the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with would have been open sinfulness (fisq), if it were not disbelief itself. They said: This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah has forgiven him his past and future sins. As for us, we should strive and toil and be earnest until we attain the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Then they drew up a plan for them, claiming that it was the path to reaching the forgiveness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So one of them said: As for... ... ...
... their news was publicized. He gave a sermon in the mosque and said: . He (peace and blessings be upon him) recounted the statement of each one of them: the one who said, "I will fast the entire year," the one who said, "I will stand in prayer the entire night," and the one who said, "I will not marry women." So... from them, and he concealed their names and did not expose them. That is the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in admonishing his Companions, who might say or do certain things; he disciplines and educates them without exposing them, rather he covers for them, as is his way (peace and blessings be upon him). He said... .
In this hadith, it is established that righteousness and drawing near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the path of reaching or obtaining the forgiveness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not by increasing worship. You have heard what these men resolved to do, which was to increase and add to the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So he refuted them and explained the moderation in all the acts of worship of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the absence of extremism in them, saying: .
The meaning of this last phrase of this authentic hadith is that the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the path he followed throughout his life in all his actions and worship, with no excess and no negligence. So whoever adds to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did, then at that time he says: . This hadith obligates us to know what the religion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was, whether it was creed, worship, or conduct and morals, so that we may follow it, so that our deeds may fulfill the first of the two conditions that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) indicated in the previous verse by saying: .
Among the necessities of this knowledge is that one does not add anything to his worship (peace and blessings be upon him) at all, because of the preceding verse regarding Allah (Mighty and Majestic) perfecting this religion and making it a great blessing upon this Ummah. For this reason, the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) knew this reality and did not add to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had of guidance and light. How could they, when he (peace and blessings be upon him) was constantly, when he addressed them, saying at the beginning of his sermon, as you heard earlier at the beginning of this speech: ?!
Therefore, the reports (athar) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came encouraging adherence to his guidance without adding to it. Likewise, the statements of his Companions came, among which is the saying of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): "Moderation in the Sunnah is better than striving in religious innovation (bid'ah)." It was also narrated from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Any act of worship that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform, do not perform it." The reports and stories that came from the Salaf revolving around stopping at what came to us from the Messenger without adding to it are very numerous. This amount is sufficient from what we mentioned of hadiths and reports to clarify that what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was upon is what we must stop at and know, without adding to it; because we will not be able to encompass and perform all the acts of worship that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) brought. Let us return to completing the speech regarding the second pillar that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) indicated in the completion of the previous verse, where He said: . We have now known how the righteous deed is; it is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon, without any addition.