Discussion of the hadith of Mu'adh: (And remember Allah - Mighty and Majestic - at every stone and at every tree).

The Shaykh : Then he added in the hadith of Mu'adh: , the meaning of this is the continuity, the servant's continuity in the remembrance of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -, so this is clear , and this means that a person should not be heedless of the remembrance of his Lord, first of all, this means first of all that a person should not be heedless of the remembrance of his Lord - Mighty and Majestic - in all his states; whether he is sitting or setting out walking.
Another aspect is that the remembrance of Allah - Mighty and Majestic - commanded in the Sunnah, and among them is this hadith, is that you remember Allah at every stone and every tree; the meaning of this is that the servant's remembrance of his Lord does not require ceremonies, rituals, named gatherings and circles of dhikr, and the like; also among what was innovated in Islam; because he says to you: No, he means do not restrict yourself to a specific sitting; even if you face the qiblah, it may appear to some people that the remembrance of Allah is like prayer, that we must adopt the etiquettes, rather the obligations, that the one who wants to pray performs? The answer: No, nothing has come in the Sunnah, let alone the Qur'an, of any condition for dhikr, how, when our Lord - Mighty and Majestic - says in describing a type of His chosen, excellent servants, He describes them by saying: , so if you sit in a position that gives your body rest and you remember Allah in this state; then there is no harm upon you religiously at all; even if this does not please some of those who deem rulings in the religion without permission from the Lord of the worlds; , so Allah - Mighty and Majestic - describes - as I said - the elite of His chosen, excellent servants, not the general people: ; meaning: they remember Allah when they are standing, they remember Allah when they are sitting, and they remember Allah when they are lying down, so our Lord - Mighty and Majestic - does not obligate us to adhere to one of these three attributes, but rather as it is easy for you, and as if this hadith or this part of this hadith is quoted from this verse: , you are not burdened to adopt postures, attributes and preparations, and among that is a special announcement as if the Muslims gather for the prayer for rain or the prayer for the eclipse, these acts of worship that Islam legislated on the tongue of the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him -, then - with great regret - they became forgotten, and among the reasons for that is that the people took their place and established in their stead acts of worship they invented from themselves, so have you not heard any of them announce in the past few years the prayer for rain? The prayer for the lunar or solar eclipse? Never.
As for the prayer that the Muslim can perform between him and his Lord at any time that occurs to him or is easy for him or occurs to him, special gatherings are held for it, and that is not from the Sunnah in any way, and when I say this I know that people will be angry and object, so we confront them with the Sunnah of the Companions of the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him - and their story in their disapproval of innovated matters, even if these innovations were good in the opinion of the majority, as Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab - may Allah be pleased with him - said: "Every bid'ah is misguidance, even if people see it as good," we confront them with the story of Ibn Mas'ud with the people of the gatherings of dhikr, the special gatherings; for it came in "Sunan al-Darimi" with a sound chain that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari - may Allah be pleased with him - came to the house of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud one morning, and found a group of people waiting for him, so he said to them: Has Abu 'Abd al-Rahman - meaning Ibn Mas'ud - come out? They said: No. So he sat and waited for him, when he came out he said: O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, I entered the mosque just now; and I saw in it people in circles, and in front of each of them were pebbles with which he counted the tasbih, takbir and tahmid, and in the middle of each circle a man saying to those around him: Say tasbih thus, say tahmid thus, say takbir thus. Ibn Mas'ud said: Did you not disapprove of them? He said: No, waiting for your command or waiting for your opinion. He said: Did you not order them to count their sins and did you guarantee for them that nothing of their good deeds would be lost? Then he returned to his house and went out veiled so he was not recognized; until he entered the mosque and saw what was described to him of the circling and the counted dhikr with a number that was not legislated, when the matter became clear he removed the veil from his face and said: Woe to you?! What is this that you are doing? I am Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah - may peace and blessings be upon him -. They said: By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, pebbles with which we count the tasbih, takbir and tahmid. He said: Count your sins, and I am the guarantor for you that nothing of your good deeds will be lost, woe to you, how quickly you will be destroyed! These are his garments - may peace and blessings be upon him and his family - they have not worn out, and these are his vessels they have not been broken, and by the soul of Muhammad in My hand; are you truly more guided than the Ummah of Muhammad - may peace and blessings be upon him - or are you holding on to the tail of misguidance, he did not say holding on to misguidance only, but to the tail of misguidance! They said: By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman! We did not intend anything but good.
And this is the answer of the majority of the innovators; especially the followers among them, as for the leaders, the majority of them know and deviate for many purposes, Allah knows best what is in their souls, as for the followers, the majority of them follow their leaders with good intentions, they depict for them that this is dhikr, and that it is prescribed dhikr so they follow them in that, exactly as the people said to Ibn Mas'ud: By Allah, we did not intend anything but good, but the decisive answer is the saying of Ibn Mas'ud: And how many are those who intend good but do not attain it!! Meaning: it is not sufficient that one of you intends good, but it is obligatory that this good intention be accompanied by the fact that the path - also - that he takes in seeking good is good in itself, and it will never be so except if it is the path of the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him -; as Allah - Mighty and Majestic - said: , so this path, if the one seeking good takes it, he is certainly in good, but if he takes another path while intending good, this will not benefit him at all, and this is among the meanings of the saying of the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him and his family -: , and among the objectives of his other saying: ; therefore Ibn Mas'ud said: And how many are those who intend good but do not attain it! Because you intend good by a path other than the path of Muhammad - may peace and blessings be upon him -; so you will not attain this good, then he gave them an example for that, a hadith he heard from the Prophet - may peace and blessings be upon him -, he said: The Messenger of Allah - may peace and blessings be upon him - said: meaning: it does not reach their hearts, it is only a movement of the tongue, and a trade with the Qur'an as is the reality in the end of time. . Up to here ends the story of Ibn Mas'ud with the people of the innovated gatherings, but the lesson is in the completion of the story which its witness narrated, he said: So we saw those people - meaning: the people of the circles of dhikr that is not prescribed - we saw them fighting us on the day of al-Nahrawan.
That is: the people of the dhikr circles became part of the Khawarij, the early sect that declared sinners disbelievers, who rebelled against the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him). 'Ali fought them and uprooted their roots, except for a few individuals among them. Their gatherings did not benefit them in the least, because they contradicted the Sunnah in this matter. This is evidence for the scholars' saying: "Minor sins are the herald of major sins." I am quoting from their saying, so I say: "A minor religious innovation is the herald of a major religious innovation." This is the evidence that perfectly matches what I am saying: innovated dhikr circles where they remember Allah in an impermissible manner led them to major religious innovation, which is rebelling against the ruler and fighting him. Therefore, we must stand by the limits of Allah and not presume upon Allah by legislating with our opinions, minds, desires, and customs something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not legislate for us. On the contrary, He opens the field for us to remember Allah however it is convenient for us, without adopting a specific method or form, but only as it becomes easy, as He said in this hadith: ... .
The Shaykh :The questioner : This matter was confusing to him; the story was confusing to him. He mentioned some authentic hadiths in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke well of the dhikr circles. In some hadiths: or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said. Also, there is another long hadith in Sahih Muslim that the angels descend from the sky seeking and inspecting the gatherings of dhikr, and they join the people of the dhikr gatherings in their dhikr. Because of these hadiths, the story of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud that I referred to earlier was confusing.