Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-271

The Shaykh : And our lesson last time reached the seventy-second hadith, which is his saying: "And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: Al-Bukhari and al-Hakim narrated it in a shortened form, and al-Hakim said it is authentic according to their conditions.
This hadith is among a number of many hadiths that have come and will come explaining the state in which the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) lived, especially in the early days of the call to Islam. Here, one of these poor men, Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), is speaking. You know that the people of the Safah were the poor Companions who had no wealth and no family to return to, so the Prophet's Mosque was their shelter. However, it should not be understood, as we have pointed out previously, that the people of the Safah were people of laziness and idleness, meaning that they sat in the mosque waiting for sustenance to descend from the sky. They were not like that; rather, they worked with their hands to the extent that they could sustain themselves.
It is well known that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) once entered the mosque and found a man standing and praying. Every time he entered the mosque, he saw him there, which suggested to 'Umar that the man was not doing any work to earn a living. So he asked him about it, and he said, "I am relying on Allah." 'Umar forbade him from sitting in the mosque for worship only and said: "None of you should sit in the mosque saying, 'Allah will provide for me,' for you know that the sky does not rain gold or silver". So the people of the Safah were not of the type who understand Islam in an inverted and reversed way, thinking that if a person relies on Allah (Mighty and Majestic) by abandoning the means that lead to sustenance, that is reliance.
This is a false claim. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in His Book: So reliance is not merely a heart action, but rather a heart action after preparing for its physical requirements. The authentic hadith clarified this correct meaning of reliance, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So the birds fly out in the morning.

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace.
And return in the evening having taken the sustenance that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wrote for them through their effort. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained reliance by this. So reliance does not mean abandoning the means, but rather after taking the means, its owner relies on the Lord of Lords. This is how the people of the Safah were. Therefore, the lazy Sufis have no argument in relying on the state of the people of the Safah.
And what indicates this is that the people of the Safah existed in the early period of the migration when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) migrated to Madinah. After the blessings began to come and continue to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), especially in the last period of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and then afterwards, there were no more people of the Safah. Allah expanded their means, so the poor became rich, the unmarried got married, and so on.
Ah, so Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) describes the state of individuals from the people of the Safah in the early migration to Madinah. He says: It seems he means here that none of them had a cloak and an izar, meaning what is called in the old Arabic language a hullah, and it is known or called today in current terminology a thawb. So previously, a man whose clothing was complete had an izar to cover his private parts and a cloak to cover the upper part of the body. A thawb is two pieces. So he says that none of them had either an izar of a size that could cover his private parts, meaning he did not own except a short garment that he could not use to cover his entire body, but rather the izar that he tied here below his waist on his hips, thereby covering his private parts.
This is the one with the izar, or the one with a kasah. As for an izar and a cloak, there was no one among them who owned both. Or the one with a kasah. The kasah, as it appears from this hadith and others, is a garment slightly wider than the izar. If he girds himself with it, it extends to below the ankles, and this is not permissible Islamically, as we have said. We mentioned that more than once, for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: .
... the matters by which the masses of Muslim youth, and not a few of those affiliated with knowledge, are afflicted, who lengthen their jubbahs until they almost drag on the ground, especially in Egypt. This is a calamity by which the shaykhs of Egypt are distinguished from the shaykhs of other countries, as far as I know, because it has become their tradition to lengthen the jubbah until it touches the ground or almost touches the ground. Also, it is their tradition to widen the sleeves of the jubbahs, and this is, of course, extravagance and waste, in addition to contradicting the aforementioned hadith: .
So these seventy men from the people of the Safah, one of whom could not find except an izar to cover his private parts, or a kasah which is wider and longer than the izar by a little, such that if its owner girds himself with it, it extends to below the ankles. So they avoided that. What did they do? This kasah is not the short izar, nor is it the long, flowing garment by which he could wrap himself to cover his upper body and the private parts and legs below it. So one of them would tie this kasah on his private parts. It is long, as we said, if he girds himself with it, it extends to below the ankles. So he had no choice but to tie it around his neck. And it is not wide and loose enough for him to wrap himself with it, so he is forced to gather the ends of the garment in his hand so that his private parts do not appear. This is how these elite of the people of the Safah lived, not finding what to wear from garments, except the necessary and very necessary, let alone finding what to adorn themselves with, not only to meet his brother, but to stand before his Lord (Mighty and Majestic) to pray, adorning himself for Him.
Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in His Book: And this verse, although it was revealed regarding the circumambulation of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, and this custom continued after the revelation of Islam, they used to circumambulate the Ka'bah naked with a philosophy similar to many philosophies.
The Book and the Sunnah say they used to say that it is not fitting for us to circumambulate the House of our Lord in garments in which we have disobeyed Him.
So we must remove these garments and circumambulate: "My Lord, as You created me". Thus their Shaytan suggested to them, and they continued with that for a long time, with no difference between women and men. This is their immersion in misguidance. If the matter had been limited to men, the calamity would have been somewhat less, but it also included the women. So the woman would circumambulate naked and say: "Today some of it or all of it is revealed", pointing to her private part, "Today some of it or all of it is revealed, and what is revealed of it, I do not make it lawful". What empty talk is this, meaning contradicting what Allah created the servants with, of what He placed in them of desire, so He commanded them to adorn themselves. The first obligatory adornment in which there is no leniency is covering the private parts absolutely outside of prayer, so in prayer it is even more so.
I say this verse: Although the reason for its revelation is what I mentioned to you just now, where they used to circumambulate naked, they were commanded to circumambulate covering their private parts. This reason, although it is appropriate for the revelation of the verse, the lesson, as the scholars say, is in the generality of the wording, not the specificity of the reason, especially since the Sunnah has come to confirm this adornment. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Meaning, none of you should limit himself, when he stands to pray before his Lord, to covering his private parts only, from the navel to the knee. This is an obligatory matter even outside of prayer, so the Muslim must dedicate prayer to something in addition to the general social etiquette, which is covering the private parts only. But when you enter prayer and stand before Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), in this case, you must bring another adornment. What is this adornment? That you cover what is not a private part, which is the upper part of the body.
For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasized the issue of covering the body in prayer, where he said meaning that a Muslim is either in the state of the people of the Soffah, finding nothing but a single garment, and the minimum of which is an izar (lower garment). In this case, he wears it as a covering for his awrah (nakedness) because he finds nothing else. In such a case, there is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, where a man said, "O Messenger of Allah, one of us prays in a single garment," as if asking whether that is permissible and acceptable. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said specifically in that situation which we are discussing and excusing ourselves with.
So if he finds nothing but a single small or short garment, then at that time he suffices by covering his awrah by wearing it as an izar. If it is wider than that, like a kisa (cloak) as you heard, he throws it over his shoulders. If it is not long enough to cover the whole body, as is the case with a kisa as we mentioned, he ties it and covers the upper part of his body with it, as well as his awrah. And if it is a loose, wide garment, then at that time he wraps himself in it so that it covers his entire body. But better than that is to wear a rida (upper garment) and an izar, to wear a shirt and an izar, or an aba (cloak) and the like, which is more covering and more beautiful for the one who stands before Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This last type is what is intended by my previous hadith .
All of this is part of the obligatory covering in prayer, and you know that it includes the awrah and what is above it.
But there is a final adornment that the majority of Muslims, young and old, and even the elderly, have neglected, although the elderly are fewer than the others. This adornment is covering the head. This exposure that has spread in these last years is a foreign, Western, disbelieving etiquette. Our Salaf, neither the early nor the later ones, did not know this etiquette. Fifty years ago, no one was seen walking in the streets with an uncovered head; rather, it was considered a loss of dignity (muru'ah), meaning a defect that would prevent a judge ruling by the Shari'ah from accepting the testimony of this man with an uncovered head, because this custom was not known among the Salaf. Since that is the case, a Muslim should not enter prayer with an uncovered head, which is further from Islamic etiquette. Add to that that entering worship with an uncovered head is a Christian etiquette. Because some of you, or many of you, have seen, read, or heard that a Christian, when he wants to enter the church or temple, or when he meets a man he respects, he greets him by bowing and lifting his hat or whatever he has on his head. This is a Christian custom that still exists in some Christian countries. Even though they are the ones who introduced this custom to us—the custom of uncovering the head—they themselves, especially in the modern expression which implies a false matter, especially if they are traditionalists, meaning adhering to the etiquette of their nation, we are more deserving of adhering to our Islamic customs which the later generations inherited from the Salaf, especially prayer.
I am greatly pleased with what Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his treatise on clothing and covering in prayer, which is a treatise printed in several editions, the last of which I edited and authenticated. Among the narrations he cited in it is that Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I saw my slave Nafi' praying with an uncovered head. After he finished praying, he said to him, 'Do you think if you went to meet one of these governors, would you go to him with an uncovered head?' He said, 'No, I would cover my head.' He said to him, 'Your Lord is more worthy of you adorning yourself for Him.'" This narration was mentioned by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and it is from the circle of his vast memorization of the Sunnah. So it is no surprise that I did not find a trace of it in the books I came across and my hand touched. But if we look at the general meaning in the previous verse and the hadith supporting this adornment, the hadith of the izar and the rida, and the intended meaning is that one stands before Allah in the most complete adornment, we can take from this collection of texts what supports the meaning mentioned by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in the story of Abdullah ibn Umar with his slave Nafi', especially since Abdullah ibn Umar is the one who narrated the hadith of the izar and the rida. He is the one who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said ."
So he argued with Nafi' with what this hadith indicates of general adornment. But perhaps someone will say, "This adornment is not the adornment of entering prayer with a covered head, which is not the customary adornment today. One of them goes to the minister, the prince, or the ruler and greets him with an uncovered head." I say, let no one say this, because it is expected of the Muslim to revive the Islamic customs that have perished and to turn away from... adhering to Western customs which he has been afflicted with adhering to. So when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said , He means the adornment known at that time on one hand, and the adornment that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) legislated, so... a legal custom on the other hand. This is exactly similar and has a close connection to understanding this matter on one hand, and understanding another matter related to the adornment of women on the other hand.
So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in two verses , this is the first, and the last is to the end of the verse. So our knowledge of this adornment mentioned, and especially in the second verse, helps us to determine the awrah of a woman before her mahrams and before Muslim women. For example, and I do not want to lengthen this, as I have also spoken about it more than once, but I give an example of it. It was the custom of women when this verse was revealed to the end, it was their custom that a woman would adorn herself by putting bracelets on her wrists and anklets on the lower part of her legs, and earrings and belts and the like. These are the places of adornment, and these are what Allah permitted for a woman to show before her mahrams and before women. So if we suppose, and perhaps a supposed matter becomes a reality due to the corruption of society, if it was part of the adornment to put something or tie something on the calf of the leg, for example, or above the leg below the knees in a certain era, it is not said, "Our Lord says , so it is permissible for the girl to show this newly occurred adornment, which is adornment on the calf of the leg," because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said , "and their sisters," it is not said this. Why? Because this adornment was not customary on the day the verse of adornment was revealed, so it is interpreted in light of the reality when the verse was revealed. So if we know the adornment that women adorned themselves with at that time, it is the adornment that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) permitted for women to show to mahrams and Muslim women. Similarly, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said , He means the customary adornment at that time and the adornment legislated by the Lawgiver, like in the hadith to the end. But if it is part of the adornment that a person today, for example, names for half a year, this adornment is newly occurred and innovated, and does not fall under the generality of the verse. And this is an example of dozens, indeed hundreds of examples that compel us and force us to place in our methodology of calling to the Book and the Sunnah, meaning the methodology of the righteous Salaf in their distinction of these texts and their understanding of them, otherwise we would bring a new Islam, which they claim is built on the Book and the Sunnah, but has no connection to the Book and the Sunnah. It is only the crooked understanding or the understanding based on following desires, and in that is great corruption.
So the people of the Soffah were either a man with an izar or a kisa which he ties around his neck, then he covers his awrah with it after gathering it to his body.
The second hadith, yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... the hadith?

The Shaykh : It is authentic.