Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-295

The Shaykh : We studied tonight from the book al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib by al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri, in the twenty-eighth hadith. It says: And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Narrated by Muslim.
In this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) warns his Ummah of trials that the mind of any human being cannot imagine, great trials like the dark patches of the night, in which the Muslim is tested, becoming a believer in the morning and a disbeliever in the evening, and vice versa. His saying (peace be upon him) means only righteous deeds. He (peace and blessings be upon him) is encouraging his Ummah, especially in the later times, where the further we go in time, the more trials increase among us, and the closer we get to the major signs of the Hour, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commands us in this authentic hadith to hasten to these trials with righteous deeds, meaning to face them with righteous deeds, so that when we are caught by surprise by them, we will have armored ourselves and armed ourselves with these righteous deeds, which will stand between us and falling into such trials that are like the dark patches of the night. So the protection of the Muslim from any of these trials mentioned in general in this hadith, or from other trials some of which will be mentioned in a following hadith, the protection from all these trials is only through righteous deeds. By righteous deeds, the Muslim arms himself and fortifies himself against passing through these strange stages that the Messenger (peace be upon him) describes in his saying . The Messenger (peace be upon him) clarified the reason for this in his saying , a trifle of the debris of this world. A hadith like this does not need a large explanation. We see people and how they are tested because of this world, through positions, status, ranks, and the like. So the Muslim must arm himself with righteous deeds. And there is no doubt, as we have mentioned to you repeatedly, that righteous deeds do not benefit their owner in any way whatsoever unless this righteous deed is coupled with correct faith. And correct faith is not achieved except by believing in what came from Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and with the correct understanding that corresponds to what the Salaf of this Ummah were upon, including the four Imams. It is not permissible for the Muslim to turn to righteous deeds seeking thereby salvation on the Day of Resurrection, while at the same time neglecting the correction of his creed. In that case, his righteous deeds will go to waste, as our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) said in His Book regarding those who associated partners with their Lord: Therefore, we must always and forever remember, when the mention of righteous deeds passes us, to couple it always and forever with correct faith as well. And there is no verse that does not begin with the mention of faith and then follow with the mention of righteous deeds, as He the Exalted said: I say this because we are in a time where desires and religious innovations have increased, some of which we have inherited from long, distant centuries, and some of which have been sown in the present era. Therefore, the most important thing that the Muslim must concern himself with is correcting his creed, and then adding to that the abundance of righteous deeds, because faith is not only correct belief, but righteous deeds are also part of faith. So when the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) encourages us here to hasten to those trials with righteous deeds, he is encouraging us to do so so that we make between us and these trials a protection and a strong fortress that prevents these righteous deeds from causing us to fall into such dark trials where a man becomes a believer in the morning and a disbeliever in the evening, and a disbeliever in the evening and a believer in the morning, selling his religion for a trifle of this world.
This is the first hadith, and it was narrated by Muslim in his Sahih. Here, it is necessary to point out from the hadith perspective that some of the later scholars hesitated regarding the authenticity of its attribution to...