What is meant by *sadal* in the Prophetic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (forbade *sadal* in prayer) and advice from the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him)

The questioner : In a hadith narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Hakim, and authenticated by Imam al-Dhahabi, which is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): And *sadal* came in a general term; as long as the term is suitable for generality, it is better to keep it general. So they used it as evidence that *sadal* applies to tightening clothes, limbs, and hair... and they used this as evidence that the Sunnah is... the hands after bowing, as long as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade *sadal* of the hands... What do you say about this...?

The Shaykh : This is a very broad topic. The summary is that it is not permissible for a student of knowledge to apply his mind and his knowledge—or if I may say, his ignorance—to interpreting the texts of the Shari'ah from the Book and the Sunnah. A few nights ago, a questioner called me with a question that had never reached my ears in my life, and I have reached eighty years of age, so it was a surprise. He said to me: "Is the Torah and the Gospel the word of Allah, or from the word of Allah?" And by the grace of Allah, I was cautious in my answer. Then I was surprised by something even more shocking than what had crossed my mind. My answer was: "If you mean by this question the Torah and the Gospel that exist today in people's hands, certainly it cannot be said that they are from the word of Allah, because things have been added to them that were not in them. But if you mean the Torah and the Gospel that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed to the hearts of Moses and Jesus, there is no doubt that it is from the word of Allah." The surprise was when he asked, "What is the evidence?" I said, "You want evidence that the Torah and the Gospel revealed to Moses and Jesus is the word of Allah?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Okay, do you remember that there are many verses here? Now comes the point: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed the Torah and the Gospel." He said, "It is not necessary that revelation be an attribute of Allah, like the divine speech." He pointed to some verses, and he is not a memorizer of the Qur'an, saying for example: , , and in other verses there is the revelation of blessings from the sky, which are material. So he argues with these verses that it is not necessary that revelation be the word of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)... Now this... go back to some of the texts, and you also go back. I wanted to bring them with me and call you. So tomorrow at this time, call me at eight and a quarter. Tonight, call between eight and a quarter and eight and a half. He said, "I am the one who asked you such and such," and so on. I said to him, "Yes, did you find anything?" I did not want to give him a little... I prepared for him. I said, "Did you find nothing indicating that the Torah and the Gospel is from the word of Allah?" He said, "No." I said to him, "Is there a mushaf in front of you?" He said, "One moment," and he brought a mushaf. I said to him, "Open to Surat al-Ma'idah, and the verse is probably 44 or 45." He opened it. I said to him, "Read." I wanted to kill two birds with one stone: to see what his culture is, the one who is asking the question and interpreting that "We revealed" does not necessarily mean it is the word of Allah. And if he is unable to read a verse as it was revealed from the mushaf, peace be upon you. Truly, I have not seen from the Shari'ah policy that I should startle him with what he may not like. But as He (the Exalted) said: , I hid the verse... I said to him, "Okay, this verse says that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed the Torah." And there was among you a memorizer of the Noble Qur'an who would help us recall the verse well. It says: "Indeed, We revealed the Torah, and the prophets judged by it." When I got to this point, I said to him: I forgot to mention something about him. What did he say? He said that day that the Torah and the Gospel might be like the books of Prophetic hadiths. So this remained in my mind. I said to him, "The prophets judged by it—what do you understand?" He said, "It means it might be like what he said that night: the hadith of Moses (peace be upon him), what was shown to him of rulings, and it is not necessary that it be the word of Allah." I said to him, "My brother, 'the prophets judged by it' and the rabbis, and so on. This is the meaning that you first interpreted: first, the revelation here is the point, and now you interpret that what was revealed to the prophets and messengers is not necessarily the word of Allah. You are now—may Allah bless you—giving advice. I say to him: It is not permissible for you to apply your understanding and your mind to understanding a verse or hadith and sit interpreting the texts, so that you fall into what the misguided sects fell into before. The misguided sects. I said to him, "You must have heard the hadith: to the end of the hadith?" He said: "Yes." I said to him: "Do you know what the cause of the misguidance of these sects was? It is not the cause that they denied the verse or denied the hadith. That is not the cause. Rather, they interpret the Qur'an and the Sunnah contrary to the interpretation that the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) received from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The conversation between me and him was long. Truly, I do not know the young man, and I feared that he was a misleader. And I was sure when he read to me from the Qur'an that this was inspired in him by some of the misguided sects that revelation is not necessarily revelation from the sky. I said to him, "My brother, take a lesson from the misguidance of the previous sects. They did not go astray except because they applied their minds, and even their desires, to the texts of the Book and the Sunnah to align with their deviations from the Shari'ah." I said to them, "Have you heard of a sect called the Bahai?" He said, "No." "Have you heard of another sect called the Qadiani?" He said, "No." So I knew that he had general Islamic culture. So I mentioned something about the Bahai, and that they wanted to compose and fabricate a new religion, fabricated from the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian religions. Then they are not Muslims, nor Jews, nor Christians. They preferred a far misguidance. The Qadiani. I said to him, "Their danger and misguidance are more subtle. Why? Because they are with us, testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they pray the five prayers, and they fast the month of Ramadan, and they perform Hajj to the House of Allah. And yet these are not Muslims. Why? Because they came to verses and interpreted them with a false interpretation. And I gave him one example. For example, they came to the saying of the Exalted regarding the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): The Qadiani, my dear brother, say that there are prophets who come after the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they claimed that one actually came, who is called by them Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani. Okay, how is this, and his followers say, "We are Muslims, we pray and we fast as we mentioned," and yet they say that there is a prophet who came and many prophets will come? And Allah says: They gave the verse a meaning. They said: "And the Seal of the Prophets" means the ornament of the prophets, just as the ring is the ornament of the finger. So the Messenger of Allah is the ornament of the prophets, not the last of the prophets as you understand. I said to him, "May Allah bless you. So it is not permissible for you to interpret the texts according to what seems to you or what you were taught... I ask you a question. I said to him, "Go ahead." I said to him: "Do you consider yourself one of the scholars?" He said: "No." I said to him: "Okay, what is the duty of one who is not a scholar? Is it not that he should ask the people of knowledge, based on the saying of the Exalted: ?" He said: "Hey, we came and asked you." I said to him: "Yes, you asked us, but you presented a meaning... And without offense, my brother, I heard your reading, and it was established that the reading from the Qur'an was recorded with clear and distinct diacritics, and you were unable to read it as it was revealed. So how do you want to undergo this labor? Finally, I gave him a summary of how knowledge should be received from scholars who rely on the Book and the Sunnah. I mention this on the occasion of your saying *sadal*. Okay, who said that *sadal* is absolute? And I mentioned in what I mentioned earlier *sadal* of the hair. Okay, and I mentioned *sadal* of the hands. Okay, who said among the scholars from whom we receive knowledge, and who are on the path to which we call people, based on the Book and the Sunnah?

The questioner : I looked into a treatise by Shaykh al-Tuwajiri, and I think he quoted the saying of one of the scholars, and Allah knows best.

The Shaykh : This is what benefits us, my brother. This is what benefits us.

The questioner : We return to the hadith. The hadith states that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) — and this is an authentic hadith — said: "He passed by a woman who was letting her garments hang down." She was letting her legs hang down. They derived from this hadith that "letting hang" (sadal) includes letting the limbs hang down. As for the hair, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to let his hair hang down in the early part of his mission because he wanted to align with the People of the Book, but then he stopped doing so. This also includes letting the hair hang down.

The Shaykh : This statement... it was said by some of the scholars of hadith. We are not saying that a person, for example, was sitting on a chair or a high seat and had his legs dangling. We do not say that he was letting his legs hang down; that is not what we are discussing. Our discussion is about the prohibition of "letting hang" (sadal). Is it every kind of letting hang? Or what? Is it letting the hands hang, letting the legs hang, letting the garment hang, letting the head covering hang? Is it in this general sense, as it appears from your words?

The questioner : As I said, the rule, according to the scholars of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence), is that if the wording is suitable for generality, it is preferable to keep it general until a specific restriction comes.

The Shaykh : This is a problem, okay.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : No, no, my brother, may Allah reward you. If Allah wills, the division of the scholars... is it a true innovation and an additional innovation?

The questioner : You mentioned this...

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : You mentioned this...

The Shaykh : Fine. I am interested in the additional innovation. What is it? And to ask a clearer question: is there an innovation that we, the people of hadith, deny?