Explaining the Reality of Islam and the Meaning of His Saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Two Hadiths: “Guided to Islam” and “Successful is the One Who Submits”

The Shaykh : Before we move on to a third hadith, which is roughly the same in meaning as the previous two, I must pause for a moment on the word “Islam” in the first hadith and in the second hadith , “who submitted,” which means “guided to Islam.” In this hadith, there is a clear indication that if a person combines these two blessings—the spiritual, metaphysical blessing of being guided to Islam, and the other, material blessing of living for Islam—then happy is that person who was guided to Islam and was granted a sufficient provision, or was content with what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) provided for him. I see that we must stop at this word, “Islam” and “submitted,” because many people today who claim to belong to Islam and are called Muslims, many of them do not know the reality of their Islam even today. If the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) congratulates you , this means he is indicating that you have been guided to the greatest spiritual, metaphysical blessing. So what is this Islam? It is not a problem for me to narrate to you a hadith that is known to some of you and unknown, or at least not frequently discussed, to others among you. In it is a lesson, in it is an admonition, and in it is an explanation of what we are addressing, which is Islam. That hadith is the one known among hadith scholars as the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him), which Imam Muslim narrates in his Sahih from the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), who narrates it from him, saying: “‘Umar ibn ‘Umar told me, saying: ‘Umar—meaning his father—told me that he . The commentary on this hadith is lengthy, and it is a very important matter, but we are not in that position here. Rather, we cited it for two reasons: the first is to remind you of it, and the second is to link it to the answer to the first question, regarding what came in this hadith about “who submitted” and “who was guided to Islam.” Jibril (peace be upon him) asked, having appeared in the form of a man who came to the gathering of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). It appears that there was some hesitation and lack of initiative in seeking knowledge in the gathering, because his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) at the end of the hadith in the previous narration came in another narration in Sahih Muslim as well, but from the narration of Abu Hurayrah, not from the narration of ‘Umar. He said: . The point here is that “he came to you” means “he came to teach you,” that is, to learn, since you did not ask. Since you were hesitant and silent and not asking, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent His messenger Jibril (peace be upon him) to you to teach you through the method of question and answer. This authentic hadith is among many proofs that one of the methods of teaching knowledge in Islam is the method of question and answer, and not as many people today who have no knowledge of Islam imagine, that this method of question and answer is a foreign European method. Rather, it is an Islamic method legislated by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through Jibril (peace be upon him) when He sent him to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He sat before him like a student before a teacher, pressing his knees against the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) knees and placing his hands on the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) thighs. He showed to the people present his interest in knowledge and his need for it, but he wanted to teach those who had not asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about the knowledge they needed.