Continuation of the explanation of the hadith: (And remember Allah at every stone and at every tree) and the discussion on the innovations in dhikr.

The Shaykh : Then he added in the hadith of Mu'adh This means continuity, the continuity of the servant in the remembrance of Allah the Exalted, and this is clear. This means that a person should not be heedless of the remembrance of his Lord. First, this means that one should not be heedless of the remembrance of his Lord the Exalted in all his states, whether he is sitting or setting out to walk. And another point is that the remembrance of Allah the Exalted commanded in the Sunnah, including in this hadith, is to remember Allah at every stone and every tree. The meaning of this is that the servant's remembrance of his Lord does not require ceremonies, rituals, or gatherings and circles of dhikr with specific names, or anything similar to that, because it is not in Islam. For it tells you No, it does not mean that you must be bound to a specific sitting. Even if you face the qiblah, it may appear to some people that the remembrance of Allah is like prayer, requiring the etiquettes, or rather the obligations, that one who wants to pray performs. The answer is no. No condition for dhikr has come in the Sunnah, let alone in the Qur'an. No condition for dhikr. How so, when our Lord the Exalted describes a type of His chosen, excellent servants by saying So if you sit in a place of rest and take comfort in it, and you remember Allah in this state, there is absolutely no harm upon you in the Shari'ah, even if such a thing may not please some who approve of rulings in religion without permission from the Lord of the Worlds. Allah the Exalted describes, as I said, a select group of His chosen, excellent servants, not the general people, meaning they remember Allah when they are standing, and they remember Allah when they are sitting, and they are sitting and they remember Allah when they are lying down. So our Lord the Exalted does not obligate us to adhere to one of these three states, but rather as is easy for you. And it is as if this hadith, or this part of this hadith, is quoted from this verse. You are not obligated to adopt specific postures, attributes, and preparations, including announcements, and including a special announcement, as if the Muslims gather for the prayer for rain or the prayer for the eclipse. 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 the people replaced them and established in their place acts of worship that they themselves invented. Have you not heard any of them announce a prayer for rain, a prayer for a lunar or solar eclipse, in the past few years? Never. As for the prayer that the Muslim can perform, he is with his Lord at any time he wishes or when it is easy for him. This is... special gatherings, 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 let us preempt them with the Sunnah of the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and their plan in their condemnation of newly invented matters, even if these innovations were considered good in the opinion of the public, as Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Every innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good." And let us confront them with the story of Ibn Mas'ud with the people of the dhikr gatherings, the special gatherings. For it is narrated in Sunan al-Darimi with a sound chain that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the house of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud one morning and found a group of people waiting for him. He asked them, "Has Abu 'Abd al-Rahman come out?" meaning Ibn Mas'ud. 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 people in circles, and in front of each man was pebbles with which he counted the tasbih, takbir, and tahmid. And in the middle of each circle, he would say to those around him, 'Say Subhan Allah so much, Alhamdulillah so much, Allahu Akbar so much.'" Ibn Mas'ud said, "Did you not condemn them?" He said, "No, I was waiting for your command or your opinion." He said, "Did you not order them to count their sins, and did I guarantee for them that nothing of their good deeds would be lost?" Then he returned to his house and went out veiled so that he would not be seen until he entered the mosque and saw what had been described to him of the circling and the counted dhikr that was not legislated. When the matter became clear, he removed the veil from his face and said, "Woe to you! What is this that you are doing?" Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), said. They said, "By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, these are pebbles with which we count the tasbih, takbir, and tahmid." He said, "Count your sins, and I am the guarantor for you 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 and his family), they have not worn out, and these are his vessels, they have not broken. By the Soul of Muhammad in My hand, you are more guided than the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), or you are holding fast to a sin of misguidance." He did not say "holding fast to misguidance" only, but "holding fast to a sin 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 and... for many purposes, Allah knows best what is in their hearts. As for the followers, the majority of them follow their leaders with good intentions. They depict to them that this is dhikr and that it 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 decisive answer is the saying of Ibn Mas'ud: " And how many are those who intend good but do not attain it. " Meaning it is not enough for one of you to intend good, but it is obligatory that this good intention be accompanied by the path that leads to the seeking of good being good in itself. And it will never be so unless it is the path of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as Allah the Exalted said in the Qur'an:

And, [moreover], this is My path, which is straight, so follow it; and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His way

وإن هذا صراطي مستقيما فاتبعوه ولا تتبعوا السبل فتفرق بكم عن سبيله

[Al-An'am 6:153]

So if the one seeking good follows this path, he is certainly in good. But if he follows another path while intending good, he will never attain this good. And this is among the meanings of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):

every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire

كل بدعة ضلالة وكل ضلالة في النار

Sunan an-Nasa'i 1578Sahih (Darussalam)

And among the objectives of his other saying:

'A'isha reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected.

من أحدث في أمرنا هذا ما ليس منه فهو رد

Sahih Muslim 1718a

Therefore, Ibn Mas'ud said: " And how many are those who intend good but do not attain it. " Because you intend good by a path other than the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), so you will not attain this good. Then he gave them an example of 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 and his family) said:

there are people who recite the Qur'an, but it does not go down beyond their collar bones

إن أقواما يقرؤون القرآن لا يجاوز حناجرهم

Sahih Muslim 822a

Meaning it does not reach their hearts; it is only the movement of the tongue and a trade with the recitation of the Qur'an, as is the reality in the end of time.

but it would not go beyond their throats; they would (hurriedly) pass through (the teachings of their) religion just as the arrow passes through the prey

لا يجاوز حناجرهم يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرميّة

Sahih Muslim 1064b

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 as narrated by its witness. He said: " We certainly saw those people. " Meaning the people of the unlegislated dhikr circles. " We saw them fighting us on the day of al-Nahrawan. " Meaning the people of the dhikr circles became among the Khawarij who rebelled against the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, so '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, because they contradicted the Sunnah in that. And this is a proof for the saying of the scholars: " Minor sins are the herald of major sins. " And I quote from their saying and say: " The minor innovation is the herald of the major innovation." This is observed... and entirely reasonable. Innovated circles that remember Allah in an unlegislated manner led them to the major innovation, which is rebelling against the Commander of the Faithful 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 is easy for us, without adopting a specific manner or form, but rather as is easy, as he said in this hadith.