The Shaykh’s remarks on the hadith of Mu'adh: “And remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic) at every stone and at every tree.”

The Shaykh : Then he added the hadith of Mu'adh . This means the servant’s continuous remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is clear: at every stone and at every tree. This implies, first, 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 walking. Another aspect is that the remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded in the Sunnah, including this hadith, is to remember Allah at every stone and at every tree. This means that the servant’s remembrance of his Lord does not require ceremonies, rituals, or gatherings and circles of dhikr... and the like of what has been innovated in Islam. Because he tells you: “So remember Allah at every stone and tree.” Does this mean remembering Allah in a dhikr gathering and sending blessings upon the Messenger at every stone and tree? No, it 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, where we must adopt the etiquettes, or even the obligations, that one who wants to pray performs? The answer is no. Nothing has come in the Sunnah, let alone the Qur'an, regarding any condition for dhikr. How is it when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) describes a type of His chosen, excellent servants by saying: . So if you sit in a place of rest to give your body some relief and you remember Allah in this state, there is absolutely no harm upon you religiously. And you... this is like some of those who deem certain rulings in 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, . That is, 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 states, but rather as is easy for you. And it seems this part of this hadith is quoted from this verse. . You are not obligated to adopt specific postures, attributes, and preparations. And among that is making a special announcement, as if the Muslims are gathering for the prayer for rain or the eclipse prayer. These are acts of worship that Islam legislated through the tongue of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and then, unfortunately, they became forgotten. One of the reasons for this is that people replaced them and established in their place acts of worship they invented on their own. Have you not heard any of them announce in the past few years the prayer for rain, or the prayer for a lunar or solar eclipse? Never. As for the prayer that a Muslim can perform between himself and his Lord at any time it occurs to him or is easy for him, they hold special gatherings 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 will condemn it, so we confront them beforehand with the Sunnah of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and their story in their condemnation of newly invented matters, even if these innovations were considered good in the opinion of the majority, as Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: . We confront them with the story of Ibn Mas'ud with the people of the dhikr gatherings, the special gatherings. It was narrated in Sunan al-Darimi with a sound chain that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him)... went to the house of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud one morning and found a group of people waiting for him. 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 saw among the people circles, circles, and in front of each man pebbles which he counts with for tasbih, takbir, and tahmid. And in the middle of each circle, a man says to those around him: Say Subhan Allah so many times, Alhamdulillah so many times, Allahu Akbar so many times. Ibn Mas'ud said: Did you not condemn them? He said: No, I was waiting for your command or... He said: Did you not order them to count their sins and 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, which was not legislated. When the matter became clear, he uncovered his face and said: Woe to you! What is this you are doing? I am Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, pebbles which we count with for takbir, tasbih, and tahmid. He said: Count your sins, and I am the guarantor that nothing of your good deeds will be lost. Woe to you! How quickly you will be destroyed! These are the garments of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they have not worn out, and these are his vessels, they have not been broken. By the Soul of Muhammad is in My hand, you are more guided than the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or you are clinging to a rope of misguidance. He did not say “clinging to misguidance,” that would have been enough, but “clinging to a rope 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 [the truth] and deviate for many purposes, and Allah knows best what is in their hearts. As for the followers, the majority of them follow their leaders with good intentions, and they beautify for them that this is dhikr and that this is a legislated 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 crushing answer is the saying of Ibn Mas'ud where he said: “How many are there who intend good but do not attain it.” That is, it is not sufficient for one of you to intend good, but it is obligatory that this good intention be accompanied by the path that he takes in seeking good also being good in itself, and it will never be so unless it is the path of the Messenger (peace be upon him), as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: . So if the one seeking good takes this path, he is certainly in good. But if he takes another path while intending good, it will not benefit him at all. And this is among the meanings of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . And among the objectives of his other saying: . Therefore, Ibn Mas'ud said: “How many are there who intend good but do not attain it,” because you intend good by a path other than the path of Muhammad (peace be upon him), so you will not attain this good. Then he gave them an example of that, a hadith he heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that he . 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: “Indeed, we saw those people, meaning the people of the unlegislated dhikr circles, we saw them fighting us on the Day of al-Nahrawan.”
That is, the people of the dhikr circles became among the Khawarij who rebelled against the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) fought them and uprooted their roots, except for a few individuals among them. So their gatherings did not benefit them at all, and that is because they opposed the path of the Sunnah. And this is a witness to the saying of the scholars: “Minor sins are the herald of major sins.” And I quote from their saying and say: “Minor bid'ah is the herald of major bid'ah.” This... matches reason exactly. Innovated circles that remember Allah in an unlegislated manner led them to major bid'ah and to rebelling against the Amir and fighting him. Therefore, we must stand at 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 happens for us, without adopting a specific manner or form, but rather as is easy for us, as he said in this hadith: ...
So the questioner was confused by this matter. The story confused him, and he mentioned some of the authentic hadiths in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke well of the dhikr circles. And in some hadiths: or as he (may peace and blessings be upon him) said. And also another long hadith in Sahih Muslim that the angels descend from the sky seeking and inspecting the gatherings of dhikr, and they participate with the people of the dhikr gatherings in the dhikr.
The story of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, which I referred to earlier, was confusing because of these hadiths.