The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) encouraged the students to gather in the circle of knowledge and to avoid scattering.

The Shaykh : I intended to deliver a brief word before the questions regarding a request for permission that came from some of the distinguished ones here just now, when the circle was scattered among the four walls. We felt that the matter required the connection of bodies, for it is a declaration of the connection of souls, if Allah wills. This is the matter whose meaning was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and He presented it to us in many authentic hadiths reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him). It was the custom in some lands in the past, and it remains so, thatThe Shaykh : the respected elder should not have his students stand before him; rather, they sit with all humility and modesty, far from him, in a large circle. And the larger the circle, the more it indicates thatThe Shaykh : his status with Allah is great. We see this as part of the deviation that has affected Islamic thought in some minds. If these minds were to be viewed favorably and knowledge were attributed to them, that would not be the case regarding the hadiths I mentioned. I will mention to you some of what comes to my mind: It was reported in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" (may Allah have mercy on him): أن الصحابة - رضي الله عنهم - كانوا إذا كانوا في سفر ونزلوا في مكان تفرقوا في الشعاب والوديان فسافروا يوما مع الرسول - عليه السلام - ونزلوا كما كانوا ينزلون من قبل فقال لهم - عليه الصلاة والسلام - : إنما تفرُّقكم هذا في الوديان والشعاب من عمل الشيطان ... الأمر في البرية في الصحراء وفي السفر فأنكر الرسول - عليه السلام - ذلك عليهم بقوله : إنما تفرُّقكم هذا في الوديان والشعاب من عمل الشيطان ، قال راوي الحديث وهو من الصحابة المعروفين - رضي الله عنه - قال : فلقد كنَّا بعد ذلك إذا نزلنا بعد ذلك في مكان اجتمعنا حتى لو جلسنا على بساط لَوَسِعَنا ، وهم في السفر فما بالكم في الحضر فما بالكم في مجلس العلم ينبغي أن يكون التقارب بين الأجسام كعنوان للتقارب بين القلوب هذا ما يؤكده - عليه الصلاة والسلام - في حديث آخر أخرجه الإمام مسلم في " صحيحه " : أن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - دخل المسجد يومًا ، فرآهم متفرِّقين حلقات حلقات ، فقال لهم : ما لي أراكم عزين ؟! ما لي أراكم عزين ؟! . أي : متفرقين ، فالتفرق في الأبدان علامة على التفرق في القلوب والدليل على ذلك ما جاء في " الصحيحين " : أن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - كان إذا أقيمت الصلاة لم يكبِّر حتى يأمر بتسوية الصفوف " ، وهذا في الواقع من السنن التي أحياها الأستاذ الفاضل أبو مالك فقلما تقام الصلاة في مسجده إلا وهو يأمر الناس بتسوية الصفوف أولا ثم يورد الحديث المناسب لمقامنا هذا ثانيًا ؛ ألا وهو قوله - عليه الصلاة والسلام - : لَتسوُّنَّ صفوفكم أو ليخالفَنَّ الله بين وجوهكم ، وفي رواية أخرى : بين قلوبكم وهو المعنى بالراوية الأولى فأنتم ترون بأن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - جعل اختلاف المسلمين في تسوية الصفوف وهذا اختلاف بدني مادي واضح فنفى الاختلاف بحصول الخلاف في قلوب المسلمين ؛ ولذلك ولا ينبغي التساهل بإصلاح الظواهر بحجة أن العبرة بالباطن لأن ثمة ارتباطا وثيقا جدًّا بين الظاهر والباطن هناك ارتباط وثيق بين الظاهر والباطن وهذا ما أكده الرسول - عليه السلام - في الحديث الصحيح - أيضًا - المخرج في " الصحيحين " أن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - قال : إن الحلال بيِّن ، وإن الحرام بيِّن ، وبينهما أمور مشتبهات لا يعلمهُنَّ كثير من الناس ؛ فَمَن اتَّقى الشبهات فقد استبرأ لدينه وعرضه ؛ ألا وإن حول ألا وإن حول .
الطالب : ...

الشيخ : لا لا قبله .
الطالب : ألا وإن لكلِّ ملكٍ حمى .

الشيخ : أيوا ألا وإن لكل ملك حمى ، ألا وإن حمى الله محارمه ، ألا ومن حام حول الحمى يوشك أن يقع فيه ، الشاهد تمام الحديث : ألا وإن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله ، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله ؛ ألا وهي القلب ، فلا يغتَرَّ أحد يقول بعض الناس أن الظواهر هذه لحية وجلابية أو دشداشة أو ما شابه ذلك هذه أمور شكلية ظاهرة لا قيمة لها كلا ثم كلا لأن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - أمر بهذه المجموعة من الأحاديث من إصلاح الظواهر لأنها دليل إصلاح الباطن ألا ترون أن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - قال : ألا وإن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله ، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله ألا وهي القلب ، كأن الأمر مادي تمامًا كيف إذا كان قلب الرجل الشيخ المسن الكبير إذا كان سليما كان جسده سليما والعكس بالعكس الشاب القوي المتين إذا فسد قلبه فسد جسده كذلك تمامًا هذا الإيمان الذي وقر في القلب إذا ضعف وضعفه إنما يكون لمخالفة الشرع وارتكاب ما نهى عنه ربنا - تبارك وتعالى - ونبيه فيمرض هذا القلب فبمرض هذا القلب يمرض الإيمان ألا وإن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله ، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله ألا وهي القلب إذن صح قول بعض أهل العلم : " الظاهر عنوان الباطن " ولذلك نجد عشرات الأحاديث التي جاءت عن النبي - صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - تنهى بموافقة تنهى بموافقة اليهود والنصارى وتأمر بمخالفتهم حتى في أمور لا يمكلها الإنسان حتى في أمور لا يملكها الإنسان فيأمر الشارع الحكيم بمخالفة اليهود والنصارى فأنتم تعلمون مثلًا قوله - عليه الصلاة والسلام - : إن اليهود والنصارى لا يخضبون شعورهم فخالفوهم ، الشيب سنة الله - عز وجل - في خلقه لا فرق في ذلك بين مسلم وكافر ومع ذلك فالرسول - عليه السلام - أمر المسلم أنه إذا شاب وشاب الكفار - أيضًا - مثله أن يخالفهم في هذا الشيب علما أنه ليس من صنعه وإنما هو من صنع ربه قال : خالفوا اليهود والنصارى ؛ فإنهم لا يصبغون شعورهم ، فاصبغوا شعوركم ؛ لذلك كان الصبغ من السنن من سنن العبادة التي كان أصحاب النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم - اتباعًا له يصبغون شعورهم ، حتى قال أنس بن مالك - رضي الله عنه - : " إن النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم - لم يشبه الله بشيبة يشيبها بها ، وإنما كان في مقدمة لحيته نحو عشرين شعرة بيضاء The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), when they were traveling and stopped at a place, would disperse into the valleys and gullies. One day they traveled with the Messenger (peace be upon him) and stopped as they had done before. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: "Your dispersing in the valleys and gullies is of the work of Satan..." The matter concerns the wilderness, the desert, and travel. The Messenger (peace be upon him) disapproved of this in them by saying: "Your dispersing in the valleys and gullies is of the work of Satan." The narrator of the hadith, who is one of the well-known Companions (may Allah be pleased with him), said: "By Allah, after that, when we stopped at a place, we would gather together until, if we had sat on a carpet, it would have been enough for us." They were traveling, so what about you in the city? What about you in the gathering of knowledge? It should be that the closeness of bodies is a title for the closeness of hearts. This is what he (peace and blessings be upon him) affirms in another hadith, which Imam Muslim included in his *Sahih*: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) entered the mosque one day and saw them dispersed in circles, circle by circle. He said to them: "Why do I see you as scattered? Why do I see you as scattered?" Meaning: dispersed. So, the dispersal of bodies is a sign of the dispersal of hearts. The proof of this is what came in the *Sahihayn*: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when the prayer was established, would not say *takbir* until he ordered the rows to be straightened. And this is, in reality, one of the *sunnah* practices that the honorable professor Abu Malik revived. It is rare that the prayer is established in his mosque without him first ordering the people to straighten the rows, and then he cites the hadith appropriate to our station here, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "You will straighten your rows, or Allah will cause discord between your faces." In another narration: "between your hearts." This is the meaning of the first narration. So you see that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the difference among Muslims in straightening the rows, which is a clear physical, material difference, negate the difference by causing discord in the hearts of the Muslims. Therefore, one should not be lenient in correcting appearances on the pretext that the essence is the inner, because there is a very close connection between the outer and the inner. There is a close connection between the outer and the inner. This is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) affirmed in the authentic hadith, also included in the *Sahihayn*, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, the lawful is clear, and indeed, the forbidden is clear, and between them are matters of doubt, which many people do not know. So whoever avoids the doubtful matters has protected his religion and his honor. Beware! Indeed, around... Beware! Indeed, around..." The student: ... The Shaykh: No, no, before that. The student: "Beware! Indeed, every king has a sanctuary." The Shaykh: Yes. "Beware! Indeed, every king has a sanctuary. Beware! Indeed, the sanctuary of Allah is His prohibitions. Beware! And whoever encroaches around the sanctuary is likely to fall into it." The point is the completion of the hadith: "Beware! Indeed, in the body there is a morsel. If it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. And that is the heart." So let no one be deceived. Some people say that these appearances, the beard, the *jilbab*, or the *dishdasha*, or what is similar to that, are formal, outward matters of no value. No, and no. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered this group of hadiths regarding the correction of appearances because they are a proof of the correction of the inner. Do you not see that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Beware! Indeed, in the body there is a morsel. If it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. And that is the heart." As if the matter is entirely material. How so? If the heart of the old, elderly Shaykh is sound, his body is sound, and vice versa. If the heart of the strong, robust young man is corrupt, his body is corrupt likewise. This is complete. This faith that is settled in the heart, if it weakens, its weakness is only due to opposing the Shari'ah and committing what our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) and His Prophet have forbidden. Then this heart becomes ill, and with the illness of this heart, faith becomes ill. "Beware! Indeed, in the body there is a morsel. If it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. And that is the heart." So it is correct that some scholars said: "The outer is a title for the inner." And therefore, we find dozens of hadiths that came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbidding agreement with the Jews and Christians and ordering disagreement with them, even in matters that a person does not control, even in matters that a person does not control. The wise Lawgiver orders disagreement with the Jews and Christians. You know, for example, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "The Jews and Christians do not dye their hair, so disagree with them." White hair is the Sunnah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His creation. There is no difference in that between a Muslim and a disbeliever. And yet, the Messenger (peace be upon him) ordered the Muslim that when he grows old and the disbelievers grow old likewise, he should disagree with them in this white hair, knowing that it is not of his making but of the making of his Lord. He said: "Disagree with the Jews and Christians; for they do not dye their hair, so dye your hair." Therefore, dyeing was one of the *sunnah* practices, one of the *sunnah* practices of worship, which the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), following him, would dye their hair. Until Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not resemble Allah with a white hair that he would dye. Rather, there were in the front of his beard about twenty white hairs.", and yet he (peace and blessings be upon him) died with the henna mixed with katem clearly visible on his beard (peace and blessings be upon him). His Companions did the same after him, and it became a followed sunnah among the scholars of hadith later on, who are concerned with following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) exactly, step by step. When they wrote biographies of men, they would say, "He used to dye his beard," and "He used to dye his beard," because this is a sunnah that few Muslims have been concerned with in the past, let alone Muslims in the last times. The point of all this is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to rectify appearances. Part of this rectification is that when a teacher or preacher sits to teach, people should not be far from him; rather, they should be close to him, because this appearance indicates the strong bond between this teacher who imparts beneficial knowledge, if Allah wills, and these listeners to his speech. Therefore, take this as a rule: Do not sit in mosques in large circles. If one of you sits to teach and benefit his brothers, he should urge them to come closer to him, so that they are near, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , to the end of the hadith, and .
And I say on this occasion that the hadith has become famous on the tongues of some preachers and orators as "The believer to the believer is like a solid structure." The word "solid" (marvus) has no basis in the hadith. The hadith is without it: . And a structure is usually solid, so this statement is idle talk. First, it is not permissible to add to the hadith that is established from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) words that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not utter.