Speaking on the meaning of the athar.

The Shaykh : But this athar from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud contains what suggests to us that it is excerpted from a collection of the reports of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), especially regarding the first part of his statement: "Patience is half of faith." This is because you have known its virtue in the two previous hadiths, the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, and the previous hadith—or the one before that—which is that patience is light. So when Ibn Mas'ud says here that "Patience is half of faith, and certainty is the whole of faith," he divided the Shari'ah into two parts: what a person is obligated to do consists of two parts, a creedal part and a practical part. This practical part necessarily requires patience, as we explained in the previous lesson, because through patience a person is able to rise to everything he is obligated to do by the Shari'ah. Therefore, Ibn Mas'ud said: "Patience is half of faith," meaning it is the action, and action without patience is inconceivable. The more severe and strong a believer is in his patience, the stronger he is in his obedience to his Lord (Mighty and Majestic). Then, after that, only the second part remains, which is certainty, and it is the firm, decisive faith in all the unseen matters that came in Islam, whether these matters were explicitly stated in the Noble Qur'an or in the authentic Sunnah.
So all of this must be believed in without being influenced by the old Mu'tazilah philosophy that entered the creed of many Muslims and became one of the creeds by which they worship Allah and reject many authentic hadiths because of it. That is their statement: "Creed is not established except by evidence that is decisive in its establishment and decisive in its indication." If one of the two mentioned conditions is lacking, such as being decisive in its establishment but not decisive in its indication, or being decisive in its indication but not decisive in its establishment, then in that case the Muslim has the choice not to accept such a creed, so they claimed. Rather, some of the contemporary scholars today went too far and said: It is not permissible. We said: They said: He has the choice to accept this creed or not, but some of them exaggerated and said: It is not permissible for a Muslim to accept an authentic hadith, even if it is decisive in its establishment, if it is not decisive in its indication, or if it is decisive in its indication but not decisive in its establishment. This is a foreign philosophy in Islam, without doubt, that the Companions did not know and the Successors did not know, who received the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) through these Companions. Likewise, the third generation, the followers of the Successors, did not know this issue or this philosophy, and they also received the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) from those who came before them from the Successors, and they from the Companions, as we mentioned.
This chain, in the opinion of that philosophy—meaning a follower of a Successor from a Successor from a Companion—does not yield anything but conjecture, even if the indication of the report is decisive, decisive in indication. Was that the case with the Companions? Excuse me, perhaps there is some leniency with the Companions, and although some Companions narrate from some of them—meaning: they did not hear the hadith directly from the Messenger—then in that case, even some Companions sometimes have a hadith that is not decisive in its establishment for them. Why? Because 'Umar did not hear the hadith from the Messenger (peace be upon him), but he heard it from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. In that case, this hadith falls into the category of conjectures according to these philosophers, and they say: This hadith is not to be accepted in creed. Islam as a whole must be taken as Qur'an and Sunnah in creed, ruling, and character, an indivisible part, whether it came with evidence that is decisive in its establishment and decisive in its indication, or one of the two conditions is lacking, because this condition has no mention in the Book of Allah or in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah. Rather, what is like that is invalid, due to his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): .
Therefore, when a Muslim is presented with a report from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that is authentic, he must adopt it and believe in it, and not take it with doubt and suspicion. This doubt and suspicion is what is not permissible to accept. As for the predominant conjecture, the scholars testify that most of the rulings of the Shari'ah are based on this predominant conjecture. And among the distortion of the Noble Qur'an and its bad interpretation is taking the Qur'anic or hadith texts that condemn conjecture and prohibit accepting it and applying them to the predominant conjecture. The scholars of the Muslims agreed, except for those who deviated among them, that the predominant conjecture must be accepted, otherwise the rulings of the Shari'ah would be suspended.
For example, when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said: , and He said regarding the polytheists: , and his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic hadith: , they applied these texts to the predominant conjecture. So, according to their philosophy, it is not permissible to accept a hadith of a single narrator, even in the rulings of the Shari'ah, because these texts are general in accepting conjecture, so they include accepting conjecture in rulings as well as in creed. But all the Muslims, even these philosophers who say: A hadith of a single narrator is not accepted in creed, say: It is necessary to accept a hadith of a single narrator in rulings. So how do you argue with these verses? The answer is: The conjecture mentioned in these texts, verses and hadiths, is intended to mean what is opposite to illusion, and higher than illusion is the conjecture where both sides are equal, with no preponderance from one side to the other. This is what is not permissible by the agreement of the scholars. But if one side of the hesitation becomes preponderant, then in that case it is no longer a conjecture covered by those mentioned texts, but rather a ruling of the Shari'ah that must be accepted.
We know that in the authentic hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to say: . What is the meaning of this hadith? That the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who was connected to the revelation from the sky in every moment and minute, when he was judging between people, he would judge between them based on what he heard from each of the claimant and the one against whom the claim was made. It appeared to him that so-and-so wronged so-and-so, so he ordered the wrongdoer to give the right to the wronged party. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I judge by what I hear from you. It may be that one of you is more eloquent in his argument, stronger in presenting and supporting his opinion than the other, so I hear from him and judge by what I heard. And it may be that I judged by what was not his, and gave him from the right of his brother, . This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) judging that he may have given the right to someone other than its owner. So what do we say about other judges? Without doubt, they may fall into error, but the judge must judge by what is predominant in his conjecture and not follow desire. Therefore, when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) condemned the polytheists in some verses, explaining this reality, He said: . Is not the conjecture mentioned in these texts the predominant conjecture that must be acted upon according to the scholars of the Muslims?
So when Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says patience is half of faith, he means acting in Islam, and certainty is the whole of faith. So there are two parts: a practical part and a creedal part. Just as it is obligatory for the Muslim to perfect his entire creed and make it certainty with no doubt or suspicion, so he must perfect the second part and rise to it, and that is not possible except through patience.
So we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us among the patient.
Do you have any questions?

Eid Abbasi: Yes.