Refutation of Some Doubts Concerning the Exclusive Following of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh : If we understand this reality, there are some doubts that act as stumbling blocks on the path of maintaining this exclusive following that I mentioned at the beginning of this talk. Just as we make Allah unique in His worship, we must make the Messenger (peace be upon him) unique in following him and emulating him. Some doubts stood in the way of achieving this emulation, and some people opened the door for Muslims to follow—also—other than what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) brought. This means they opened the door to associating partners with the Messenger in following him and emulating him, and this is a deficiency in the second testimony: "And I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger."
They clung to some doubts, so I will now mention one doubt and answer it, so that other doubts you may hear, which do not shake this second pillar of the two testimonies: "And that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger," can be measured against it. That evidence or doubt they relied on is from the hadith found in "Sahih Muslim," "Musnad Imam Ahmad," and other books of the Sunnah, from the hadith of Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: to the end of the hadith. They say in interpreting this hadith: meaning: whoever innovates in Islam. meaning: a good innovation. to the end of the hadith. What I want to clarify now in this blessed hour—if Allah wills—is to say: the meaning of the hadith is not as they claim. The hadith is not about whoever innovates in Islam a good innovation. Rather, the meaning of the hadith is whoever opens a path to a good, prescribed, known Sunnah in Islam, which is not newly invented as they claim; he gets the reward for reviving this Sunnah, and the reward of everyone who acts upon it until the Day of Resurrection, without anything being deducted from their rewards.
The evidence for what we say is several matters. The first is the reason for the hadith's occurrence. We have learned from our scholars, especially the scholars of tafsir, that whoever knows the reason for the revelation of a verse has known half of its meaning, so he must know the other half from the Arabic language and its literature. I derived from their saying that whoever knows the reason for the occurrence of a hadith, any hadith, it becomes easy for him to understand half the meaning, and all that remains is for him to understand the other half. We are now mentioning the reason for the occurrence of this hadith so that you may confirm with me that their interpretation of the hadith as we mentioned earlier is among the most false of falsehoods, unworthy of a non-Arab to interpret it that way, let alone an Arab, let alone to attribute that meaning to the most eloquent of those who spoke the Zayd (the Arabic language) (peace and blessings be upon him).
The reason for the hadith's occurrence: Jarir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when some Bedouins came to him, wearing their leather cloaks, wearing their swords, most of them from Mudar, indeed all of them from Mudar. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw them, his face changed color—meaning: his facial features changed—(peace and blessings be upon him) with sadness and grief and regret for the poverty of these Bedouins. So he (peace be upon him) stood up as an orator to the Companions and recited His saying (Mighty and Majestic): , then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So none of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did anything but rise after hearing this blessed sermon to go to his house and return carrying in the corner of his garment whatever food or dirhams and dinars he could manage. He placed it in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that, each of them went to his house to return with whatever food and dirhams he could manage. So there gathered in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from charity piles like mountains. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that, his face (peace and blessings be upon him) became radiant, as if it were gilded; meaning: as if it were silver plated with gold, shining with joy (peace and blessings be upon him) at the response of his Companions to his urging them to give charity. And on this occasion he said: to the end of the hadith.
And here we say: How can the interpretation of the hadith with the previous interpretation be correct, when it does not fit, but rather completely conflicts with what happened of charity in the gathering of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? After you have heard the reason for the hadith's occurrence, you do not find there an innovation that occurred after it was not known among them. Nothing of that at all, nothing but charity as you heard. And he (peace be upon him) recited to his Companions the noble verse that commands charity, then he confirmed that with his saying (peace be upon him): . So all of this indicates that the story does not contain an innovation, but rather it contains a prescribed Sunnah, which is charity, spending on these poor people who came as guests to the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). On this occasion he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , in the full hadith I have abbreviated it: .