The saying of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): "Indeed, this Qur'an is an intercessor and one who is granted intercession; whoever follows it, it will lead him to Paradise"

The Shaykh : There is a second report, also mawquf, from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), in which he says: "Indeed, this Qur'an is an intercessor and one who is granted intercession." This means that on the Day of Resurrection, the Qur'an will intercede for its owner, for its reciter, and Allah will grant it intercession. This intercession is established in some authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as he said: . Therefore, this phrase of the hadith is mawquf in the ruling of marfu'; the statement of Ibn Mas'ud, "Indeed, this Qur'an is an intercessor and one who is granted intercession," is in the ruling of marfu' because its meaning is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
Ibn Mas'ud says: "Indeed, this Qur'an is an intercessor and one who is granted intercession; whoever follows it, it will lead him to Paradise, and whoever abandons it or turns away from it—or a word to that effect—the narrator is uncertain whether he said this phrase: 'whoever follows it, it will lead him to Paradise, and whoever abandons it or turns away from it.' The narrator is uncertain about the exact wording spoken by Ibn Mas'ud, and this is part of their caution in narration. Otherwise, the meaning is present. 'And whoever abandons the Qur'an or turns away from it—or a word to that effect—will be thrown headfirst into the Fire.'"
Here in "al-Targhib" it is written: "zujja," which is a scribal error. The correct form is: "zukha fi qafahi ila al-nar"; meaning: he will be pushed.

The questioner : Is the correct form "zukha"?

The Shaykh : "Zukha"; meaning: he will be pushed.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... I do not know; it may come with the same meaning, but the narration of this mawquf hadith from Ibn Mas'ud is "zukha." And as you see, in this statement of Ibn Mas'ud, there is an explicit command to follow the Qur'an and an explicit prohibition against abandoning the practice of the Qur'an; so whoever acts in accordance with it...

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
So whoever acts in accordance with the Qur'an in this world, it will intercede for him on the Day of Resurrection, his intercession will be accepted, and he will be entered into Paradise. And the opposite: whoever abandons the practice of the Qur'an or turns away from it will be thrown headfirst into the Fire, refuge with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This hadith precedes... in this chapter, it is an encouragement to act in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah.
What is the relationship and what is the position of Muslims today regarding this statement of Ibn Mas'ud, which is certainly taken from the Book and the Sunnah?
"Indeed, the Qur'an is an intercessor and one who is granted intercession; so whoever acts in accordance with it, he will be entered into Paradise, and whoever abandons acting in accordance with it or turns away from it will be thrown headfirst into the Fire." Muslims today, even if a large portion of them still maintain their prayers and acts of worship, in reality, a large portion of them act in accordance with acts of worship and obedience that did not come in the Book or the Sunnah. Indeed, among them are those who act in accordance with many acts of obedience that are contrary to the Book and contrary to the Sunnah. When they are told that and it is explained that what they are doing today is contrary to the Book and the Sunnah, they turn away from it, they turn away from it claiming that what they are upon is the truth, and that what people like us today claim—that the Qur'an is contrary to what they are upon—is ignorance itself. So in that case, this statement of Ibn Mas'ud applies to them: "And whoever turns away from acting in accordance with the Qur'an will be thrown headfirst into the Fire on the Day of Resurrection."
We give a clear example of this.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

Those present : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.

The Shaykh : Many Muslims today hold beliefs and perform actions that are contrary to the Qur'an, let alone the Sunnah. For example, many of them call for aid from the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous in times of hardship, saying: "O Baz, O Khidr, help us, support us, O Sayyid Ahmad, support us," and so on, which you hear in their anthems and in their gatherings of dhikr. When they are told: this is something... the Qur'an says: , and the Messenger (peace be upon him) says: . If you call upon other than Allah, you have worshipped Him besides Allah, and you say in every prayer: , "Iyyaka" meaning: exclusively, ; meaning: we do not worship anyone but You, ; meaning: we do not seek help from anyone but You. So how do you seek help from the dead, the righteous, and the awliya?
When they are told: this is the Qur'an and this is the Sunnah; their answer, either in their state or in their speech, is like this: . Does the statement of Ibn Mas'ud apply to these people: "And whoever turns away from it will be thrown headfirst into the Fire on the Day of Resurrection"? We fear, with all fear, that such a statement applies to these people who do not listen to the word of truth extracted from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), relying only on what they found their fathers and grandfathers upon.
So in this hadith there is encouragement and warning. It encourages us to act in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah, and it warns us against abandoning the practice of the Book and the Sunnah under any pretext; whether the pretext is that we are Muslims and our fathers and grandfathers were Muslims and they were on guidance, and the Qur'an is contrary to what they claim, or as some of the youth in the modern era say that we have no need now for the Qur'an, nor the Sunnah, nor the Shari'ah, but that we are a group of secularists and rationalists. This hadith includes both groups: the group that claims Islam but contradicts the Qur'an and contradicts the hadith reported from the Messenger (peace be upon him), and it includes the other group that has committed disbelief in the religion of Allah and denied the prophethood and the message of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).