The Shaykh’s explanation of the cure for the ailment that has befallen the Ummah, as mentioned in the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh : But the thing I want to remind you of, which may be new to some people, is the truth, just as you pronounce this thing. When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described these Muslims who were humiliated because of the violations they committed against the religion, he described their ailment and said that they should return to their religion. So what is this religion? This is the crux of my speech. What is this religion that is the cure for the Muslims, according to this hadith and the consensus of the Muslims, as we mentioned? They all say: the cure for the Muslims is to act according to their religion. But what is this religion? The unfortunate thing is that this Islamic religion has taken on many concepts over this long history since the righteous Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them). It has taken on many concepts, not only in the jurisprudential matters they describe as secondary, but even in the matters of creed. We all know the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he warned us of the division of the Muslims into seventy-three sects when he said: This is the authentic narration. There is another narration in which there is some weakness in its chain, but there is what corroborates it, namely he said (peace be upon him): In reality, this narration contains nothing new regarding the first narration except clarification and detail. When the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said in explaining or describing the saved sect, when he said: He explained it in the other narration as being that which is upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) informs us in this hadith that the Muslims will divide into seventy-three sects, and all these sects are astray except one, whose characteristic is that it is upon what the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his Companions were upon. Today we live in the midst of this much and very much disagreement that we have inherited over these long, extended centuries. None of these sects disavows Islam; there is no sect that says: our religion is other than Islam. They all say: Islam. And yet they also all say that the cure for the Muslims is their holding fast to the religion. So this religion in which the Muslims divided into seventy-three sects, meaning they divided in understanding it, this severe disagreement—if the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) made the cure for escaping this humiliation to be returning to the religion, then by which concept should this religion be understood so that it becomes the cure, as he said (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him): I will not take you far in giving examples. We are in the first example mentioned by the Messenger (peace be upon him) at the beginning of this hadith, where he said: The schools of jurisprudence today differ regarding the sale of ‘inah; some permit it and some forbid it. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in this hadith makes trading with ‘inah one of the causes of the illness of the Muslims and their deserving of humiliation. So by which school and by which concept of the religion must we understand this religion so that it becomes a cure and a cause for our salvation from this humiliation that has taken hold of us? The sale of ‘inah mentioned by the Messenger (peace be upon him) at the beginning of this hadith has been deemed permissible by some Muslims. I do not mean the ignorant, nor do I mean the common people, but I mean the specialists, and some of the authors and writers, both ancient and modern, have mentioned that the sale of ‘inah is a sale and falls under the generality of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): But this hadith clarifies for us that the sale of ‘inah is not prescribed, but rather it is forbidden; therefore, he made it one of the causes of the Muslims deserving humiliation. So the meaning of this hadith is that the sale of ‘inah is not permissible. So if we want to return to our religion so that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) honors us and lifts the humiliation that has taken hold of us, do we permit the sale of ‘inah or forbid it? We must forbid it. This prohibition came in the hadith, but its permissibility came in some schools of jurisprudence and in some opinions. So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said at the end of the hadith: He only means the religion mentioned in the Qur'an and detailed in the hadith of the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him). The religion as He said (Mighty and Majestic): And He said: And He said: and so on, the verses. So the religion that is the cure is this Islam, but Islam has been understood in many ways in the principles and in the creeds, let alone in the branches.