Explanation of the report of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): "I know that you are a stone that neither harms nor benefits"

The Shaykh : And from 'Abbas ibn Rabi'ah, who said: I saw 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) kissing the stone—meaning the Black Stone—and saying: "I know that you are a stone that neither harms nor benefits, and were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you."
This hadith from Ibn 'Umar is too well-known to be mentioned.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : From 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), it is too well-known to be mentioned. But, with great regret, very few people benefit from the benefit that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) intended with this word when he said it before the Black Stone. They do not benefit from the benefit that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) intended, even though it is explicit in this word. When 'Umar ibn al-Khattab stood before the Black Stone in one of his pilgrimages during his caliphate to kiss it, he said: "I know that you are a stone that neither harms nor benefits, and were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." This word of 'Umar represents the principle of the Salafi call that we call it.
= -- And upon you be peace -- =
This word of 'Umar is, in fact, the methodology of our call to which we invite people, and it is following the Messenger (peace be upon him) in action and omission. What the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did of acts of obedience and worship, we do; and what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) left of what we think is acts of obedience and worship, we leave. We do what he did, and we leave what he left. This is because 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says explicitly: O stone, were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah kissing you, I would not have kissed you. Why? Because what is the meaning of kissing? It is something the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not legislate for us, except that we liken ourselves to the Legislator, who is Allah, who legislates for people what He wills. So we legislate from ourselves what we will, and this is not permissible, . There is no difference at all between a man who kisses something to draw near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that the Messenger of Allah did not legislate for us, as some of the grave-worshippers do, kissing the thresholds, doors, windows, and shutters of the graves of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous. There is no difference at all between this kissing that the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not legislate and a man who built a house for people and ordered them to circumambulate it, or he circumambulated it himself. There is absolutely no difference, except for one difference: many people have become accustomed to kissing the doors and thresholds at the graves of the awliya and the righteous, so they found it acceptable and easy and did not find it difficult. And until today—praise be to Allah—no shaykh among the shaykhs has built a house, decorated it, and adorned it, and then started circumambulating it with his companions. This has not happened, but if it did happen, it would be the same as this kissing that they do today. Why? Because this was legislated by the Messenger of Allah, and that was legislated by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Today we kiss many things that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do. So why do we not say, as 'Umar said: Since the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not kiss you, I do not kiss you? And when he kissed it, we say: Since the Messenger kissed you, we kiss you. Why do we not follow the way of 'Umar in this? Because we have deviated from Islam, and we have deviated from the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, while we claim that we follow the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
If we tell people: Pray tarawih eleven rak'ahs, the sky falls on us, and they say: 'Umar ibn al-Khattab prayed it twenty. And they are wrong in that, and 'Umar did not pray it except as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed it, eleven rak'ahs. So in the thing that 'Umar did not do and is not established from him, they cling to it and act upon it, while it is not established from 'Umar; rather, it is contrary to the Sunnah. And in the thing that 'Umar did not do, they cling to it and say: My brother, what is the problem with it?
And we give a tangible example of this. Now, this book is the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him). So if I open the lesson with it and take it and do this with it, many people do this, especially with the Noble Qur'an. So if I rebuke people for kissing the Noble Qur'an, they rise up against you all at once. They will say to you: Yes, this is honoring the Qur'an. We say, as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said: Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you. Did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kiss the mushaf? Did he kiss the Noble Qur'an? Did he kiss a hadith written in his time (peace be upon him)? No. Did he kiss the walls and thresholds of the righteous among his Companions, the martyrs who died before him in the cause of Allah? None of that was done by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
So is it prescribed for us to kiss the mushaf? There is no book better than the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), which is the Noble Qur'an. So is it prescribed to kiss it? All people kiss the Qur'an, and when the Qur'an is brought into a gathering, people stand for it. This is something that souls incline to without doubt; souls are enslaved to it because it is a very sensitive emotional issue. Therefore, you hardly find anyone who rebukes this act, which is standing for the Qur'an when it is brought into a gathering, or kissing it when a person receives it to read from it. So we follow the principle of 'Umar: Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah kissing you, I would not have kissed it. So 'Umar would not have kissed the stone if the Messenger had not kissed it, but he saw the Messenger kissing it, so he kissed it. Did the Messenger (peace be upon him) kiss the mushaf? The answer is: No. So we leave the innovations and do not accept it. As for the people who take the religion with their minds and emotions, they say: We are the ones who call people to follow the Book and the Sunnah, so we do not do anything that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do. Our evidence for that is very abundant, and we are not now in the position of citing them, but we are in the position of reading what came in this chapter in this famous book, which is "Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib" by al-Mundhiri. So this is the saying of 'Umar addressing the Black Stone: "Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." This is the principle of every Muslim, or it should be the principle of every Muslim: that he does not do anything that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do.
And what is fitting for this place is that 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas performed Hajj in the time of Mu'awiyah, accompanying Mu'awiyah. When Mu'awiyah reached the tawaf and began as is the custom and the Sunnah with the Black Stone, he kissed the Black Stone. Then, when he passed the first Sham corner, and the second Sham corner, he wiped his hand with them, and likewise with the Yemeni corner—he also wiped his hand. So 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas disapproved of that for him and said to him: "Wipe only the two Yemeni corners." So Mu'awiyah's answer—I will say it plainly—was the answer of the innovators today. And Mu'awiyah... was a Companion, but some of the Sunnah was hidden from him, as you will see, and we should take a lesson from this. Mu'awiyah's answer to Ibn 'Abbas when he disapproved of his wiping with the four corners of the Ka'bah was that he said to him: "There is nothing in the House that is neglected; it is all a blessing of the House. Why should I not wipe with all its corners?" He said to him: "The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is better than what you say. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to wipe the Yemeni corner and kiss the Black Stone, and he did not wipe the two Sham corners." So Ibn 'Abbas argued with Mu'awiyah using the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him). He said to him: "Seek blessing and wipe with what he wiped with, and leave what he left. The Sunnah is better than this statement of yours."
And we must now illustrate for you, regarding those who have not performed Hajj, what is meant by this statement, as it may be hidden from them.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: This, my master, is mostly in "Sahih Muslim."

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.
The Ka'bah is a large cubic structure; meaning it has four corners, this is a corner and this is a corner, and it is square, here is a corner and here is a corner.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
These two corners are here. The Ka'bah is approximately fifteen meters high, it is approximately cubic; meaning the height is equal to the length, about a span like this. So these are two corners, one, two, three, four. Two of them are toward the south; meaning toward Yemen, and two of them are toward Sham, our direction. So the two corners toward Sham are called and known as the two Sham corners, and these two corners here toward Yemen are called the two Yemeni corners. This is one and this is the second. This corner is to the southeast, and this is the southwest corner. These two corners... the corner that is the southeast corner... the Black Stone is in this corner here. So when the pilgrim begins and relies on his tawaf, he starts from here at the Black Stone.

The questioner: Is it a northeast corner or a southeast corner?

The Shaykh: Southeast, this is how it is.

The questioner: The four directions.

The Shaykh: As it is, my brother.
...

The Shaykh: I am illustrating the reality for you. I have performed Hajj—and praise be to Allah—four times, so I describe to you as I saw it.

The questioner: The spout of mercy is between the two Sham corners.

The Shaykh: The spout of mercy is what you did not know... We told you: correct; because this has no basis.

The questioner: It does not mean in... .

The Shaykh: We did not disagree. These are the two Yemeni and Sham corners.

The questioner: The Sham ones.

The Shaykh: And these are the two Yemeni corners.

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : The southeast corner is the one that has the Black Stone. So when a person begins the tawaf, he stands here facing the Black Stone, and walks departing toward the north, passing by this corner, this is the first Sham corner, and this is the second Sham corner, this is the second Yemeni corner; because the first is the one that has the Black Stone, and this second one is the southwest. What did Mu'awiyah do? When he stood beginning the tawaf at the Black Stone, he kissed the Stone, and this is a Sunnah. When he came to the first Sham corner, he wiped with it and sought blessing from it. Then when he came here—also—he wiped with it and sought blessing from it. And when he came here—also—he wiped with it. Ibn 'Abbas observed him and disapproved of that for him, and said: "The Messenger (peace be upon him) did not wipe except with the two Yemeni corners. He kissed this one, and he wiped this one with his hand, and this one is not prescribed to be kissed; only wiping with it is prescribed." What was Mu'awiyah's answer?
That the entire House is a blessing, so there is nothing neglected. He said to him: "The Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is better than what you say." Does the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not know what we have learned from him regarding the etiquettes of tawaf and the Ka'bah, its Sunnahs, its obligations, and its pillars? Does he not know that the entire House is a blessing? Without doubt, he knows. So why did he kiss this one and wipe with his hand this one, and leave this one and this one? Because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is the One who legislated that for him, and informed him that kissing this one is prescribed, and wiping with this one, but for this one and this one, kissing is not prescribed; therefore the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do it. If kissing the two Sham corners were prescribed and part of the Sunnah, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would have legislated that for the Ummah. When he left that, it is from the Sunnah for us to leave that.
And the scholars mentioned the secret in the Messenger's (peace and blessings be upon him) leaving the wiping with the two Sham corners. What is the secret? They said: The secret is that these two Sham corners are not in the position of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). The description I described to you of these two corners: there is a wall about a meter in height, forming a semicircle.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
An arch around the two corners, but the ends of the arch are not connected to these two corners. There is a gap here of about a meter, a gap from the corner to the first end of this arch, then another gap at the second end; such that a person can... in the middle of it is what is called al-Hijr or al-Hatim. So when people perform tawaf, they do not enter this gap, but they pass behind the arch, behind this wall which is about a meter high.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has clarified for us what is the reality of this place surrounded by the arch of the wall. For when he entered during the Farewell Pilgrimage, when he entered the Ka'bah and prayed in it, the Lady 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) wanted to enter the Ka'bah and pray in it, following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). And this—also—is a hadith that came incidentally on the occasion of our chapter here on the Companions following the Messenger (peace be upon him). The Lady 'A'ishah saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) enter the interior of the Ka'bah, so she wanted to do as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did. But entering the House of Allah, the Ka'bah, the interior of the Ka'bah, was and still is—regrettably—one of the most difficult things; because it is not possible to enter it except by a ladder, by a staircase; because its door is high, above the height of a person. And so today, it is their custom after the Hajj season that the prince or the king himself comes. Matters, of course, that are not of Islam in any way, manifestations for which Allah has not sent down authority. They place this ladder at the door, and the prince or king comes, climbs, enters, and prays in the interior of the Ka'bah. Some prominent people are allowed, but the general people... they are allowed to enter only with fighting and struggling for the Sacred House of Allah.
The current state of the Ka'bah is such that one cannot enter it except by a ladder, and entry is permitted only to the prominent people of the community, while the common people and the general public cannot enter the interior of the Ka'bah to follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the situation now, and this was also the case during the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is an innovation in the matter; that is, the fact that the ground of the Ka'bah is elevated and the door of the Ka'bah is high, such that one cannot ascend to it except by a ladder. This is contrary to the state of the Ka'bah when our father Ibrahim (peace be upon him) built it. This is how the Messenger (peace be upon him) found the Ka'bah when he prayed in it. Then the Lady Aisha wanted to climb up and enter to pray inside the Ka'bah. He (peace be upon him) said to her: . What is the Hijr? It is the place between the two Sham corners and what? The arch of the wall. This is called the Hijr. He (peace be upon him) said to Aisha: . This open area that is currently surrounded by this arch of the wall is part of the House. So why would you exhaust yourself and climb up, where it may or may not be possible for you due to the crowd, and you would miss praying in the Ka'bah? Do not exhaust yourself. Pray in this open area that is easy to access; for it is part of the Hijr.

Another questioner : It is part of the House.

The Shaykh : And your people: ; meaning, I included the open area that is surrounded by this arch of the wall in the Ka'bah; because it is originally part of the Ka'bah. When the polytheists demolished the House in a time before the revelation of the Messenger (peace be upon him), a fire struck it, so they were unable to rebuild the Ka'bah on the foundation of Ibrahim (peace be upon him); that is, by including the Hijr in the interior of the Ka'bah. So they excluded the Hijr from the Ka'bah, and the Ka'bah became two sections: a built, cubical section, and a section outside the Ka'bah, which is the Hijr surrounded by this arch of the wall. ; that is, I included the Hijr in the Ka'bah. . This entire elevation is removed by him (peace be upon him) and abolished. .
This is an arrangement that the Messenger (peace be upon him) desired to facilitate for people entering the Ka'bah and praying in it, and then exiting from the other door. This is one of the arrangements that people follow today in building their houses, let alone large palaces. But the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not demolish the Ka'bah, nor did he do what he desired for people in terms of facilitation, which was to make the Ka'bah have two doors, with the ground serving as a door through which they enter and a door through which they exit. Why? Out of fear that some of the weak in faith would be affected by the demolition process, and these people would say: "Yes, he left us nothing but to demolish it and change it for us; even the Ka'bah, he did not leave it as we found our fathers and grandfathers, but demolished it for us." So the Messenger (peace be upon him) naturally had a sense and keen awareness, and it was sufficient for him that he was inspired from the sky. So he observed the emotions of people and the whispers of people, and he accommodated them to a great extent. Among this was that he left the structure of the Ka'bah as he found it, with a large part of it outside the Ka'bah. Why? So that the faith of some people would not waver if he demolished the Ka'bah and renewed its structure and made it have two doors, a door through which they enter and a door through which they exit.
If we know this, and it is established in "al-Sahihayn," the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not touch these two corners; because these two corners are not from the construction of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). The corners must be at the wall, at the arch of the Hijr. So the legislative wisdom required leaving the touching of these two Sham corners; because they are not from what Ibrahim (peace be upon him) built. Unlike, yes, this is the reason. Unlike the two Yemeni corners; for they are in the state of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). Especially since the first one contains the Black Stone. So when 'Umar ibn al-Khattab stood to kiss the Black Stone, he said: "I know that you are a stone that neither harms nor benefits, and were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." This hadith contains a great example for us from two aspects. The positive aspect, which establishes that the believer is submissive and follows the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) without imposing his intellect. And the negative aspect, also, is following the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the things he left and did not do. So he is a follower and imitator of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the most complete following, in action and in leaving. 'Umar saw his Prophet kissing the stone, and the stone neither harms nor benefits, so he kissed it, while knowing that it is a stone that neither harms nor benefits. Why did he kiss it? Because he knew that the Messenger (peace be upon him) is protected from error, and that if he performs an action, it is only by inspiration from the sky. . And why does he not kiss these two northern corners? Because he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) not kissing them. Why does he not touch them? Because he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) not touching them.
This is the example of the believer who follows completely in action and in leaving. The Messenger (peace be upon him) kissed the stone, so he kisses it. The Messenger (peace be upon him) left kissing the second Yemeni corner, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not kiss; so it is not prescribed to kiss it, contrary to what many pilgrims do today due to their ignorance of the Sunnah. So when they come to the Yemeni corner, which is this one, they kiss it as well; whereas the Sunnah is only to touch it with the hand. As for the two Sham corners, they are not touched with the hand nor kissed with the mouth. Why? Because the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not do that. So: "Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." This is the path of every Muslim Salafi who wants to act as the righteous Salaf did, doing what they did and leaving what they left.
The mushaf was not kissed by the righteous Salaf, so it is not prescribed for us to kiss it. If a person says: "What is wrong with us if we kiss it?" then all this speech is lost with him. What is wrong with 'Umar if he kissed something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not kiss from the other corners of the Ka'bah? It is upon him that he contradicted the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Contradicting the Messenger is not only by zina and theft, but also by worshipping and drawing near to Allah with something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prescribe.
This is a contradiction of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and this hadith of 'Umar is before us as the greatest example of that. So memorize this word of 'Umar, and do not think that it is only that it prescribes for us kissing the Black Stone. No; it establishes for us a rule and a methodology in proceeding in these actions that people do or leave. We either do or leave, and the principle of action and leaving is the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him). What he did, we do, and what he left, we leave.
If we leave aside kissing the mushaf and move on to kissing the garment of a learned man, or rubbing oneself against the body of the shaykh who delivered the Friday sermon and descended from the pulpit, and people come to seek blessing from him and rub against him, did the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) do this with him (peace and blessings be upon him), who was the purest person found on earth? The answer is: No. So who are these people that people rub against and seek blessing from? This is a bid'ah (religious innovation) among the innovations that the words of 'Umar explicitly address. "If I had not seen the Messenger of Allah kiss you, I would not have kissed you." Apply this principle: "If I had not seen the Messenger of Allah do such-and-such, I would not have done it," "If I had not seen the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recite such-and-such, I would not have recited it," and so on. Then you can say that these additions before the adhan and after the adhan, before the iqamah and after the iqamah, before the iqamah in the prayer, what they call the "promotion" on Friday, and similar things; none of these things were done by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So should we do them? No; because 'Umar taught us and said: "If I had not seen the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kiss you, I would not have kissed you." So if we know that the Messenger did not do something, we do not do it; because if 'Umar had not known that the Messenger kissed it, he would not have kissed it; therefore, we found him kissing what the Messenger kissed, and leaving what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) left un-kissed.