The strictness in some matters of the Sunnah, such as spreading out the feet and keeping the feet close together, I hope you will clarify this.
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The questioner : The strictness in some matters of the Sunnah, such as spreading out the feet and keeping the feet close together, I hope you will clarify this. May Allah guide you.
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that this Islamic religion is a middle path between extremism and negligence.
But extremism and negligence, O brothers, are relative matters; they cannot be regulated by people's desires. A thing may be extremism to one person and negligence to another, while it is the middle path to a third.
Look, one person says this is extremism, and the second says no, this is negligence, not following the Sunnah as it should be, and the third says no, this is the Sunnah, neither extremism nor negligence. So what is the standard?
The standard is returning to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
And I give an example: A man read in the Fajr prayer on Friday; he read Surat al-‘Amr in the first rak'ah and read[At-Takwir 81:1] in the second rak'ah. Some people shouted: You have prolonged it for us, cut off our legs. And the second said: No, this is excess; he did not read Alif Lam Al-Sajdah, nor did he read Has Al-Insan.
And the third said: No, this is a permissible matter, and there is leeway in it. If he followed the Sunnah and read Alif Lam Al-Sajdah in the first rak'ah, and Has Al-Insan in the second, that is better and good, and may Allah reward him with good. And if he did not do so, there is no sin on him.
Look, the first said you cut off our legs, you prolonged it for us, and the second: on the contrary, you betrayed the trust and were negligent, why did you not read Alif Lam Al-Sajdah and Has Al-Insan, and the third said: the middle, he said: this matter has leeway in it, if he read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah and Has Al-Insan, he has hit the mark and done well, and he is to be thanked for this. And if he read other than them, Allah the Exalted said:, okay. Who is right?
The student: The third.
The Shaykh : Meaning the middle, and what is the third?
The student: The middle.
The Shaykh : The middle, the right is with the middle, we say to this imam: if you want the Sunnah and the completion of fulfilling the trust, read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah in the Fajr prayer on Friday, and Has Al-Insan in the second.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : It is better that this be done more often. Okay, and if you read other than them, there is no sin on you.
But a fourth man rose up against us and said: I will combine the opinions, what are they? Divide Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah into two parts: the first part in the first rak'ah, and the second part: in the second rak'ah.
What do we say? We say: this contradicts the Sunnah, this has made the Sunnah in two parts, meaning scattered. Reading other than Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah is better than reading two parts of Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah with division, because the division contains a clear contradiction of the Sunnah. And reading other than it does not contain a clear contradiction, but rather it is a permissible, broad matter. But for you to divide it while the Messenger combined it in one rak'ah, what does this include? Contradiction. In fact, if I wished, I would say: this includes something further than contradiction.
So either you read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah in the first rak'ah and Has Al-Insan in the second, or you read other than them, but dividing it is not allowed.
Okay, the last one said on Friday: the imam is a man who loves the Sunnah, he used to read on Friday Subhan Allahi ma fi al-samawati wa ma fi al-ard, meaning Surat al-Jumu'ah, and in the second Qul ya ayyuha al-kafirun.
So a man shouted: This is too long for us, it tires us, we do not know this thing, our imams used to read only with Subhan and Al-Ghashiyah, where did this new religion come from?
And the second said: No, this is the Sunnah, he has hit the mark with it.
As for the third: it appears here that there is no third, because there is no one who says read more than these two surahs, so who is right?
With the second, who says: read with Surat al-Jumu'ah and Surat al-Munafiqun at times, so that people know it is the Sunnah, and read sometimes with Subhan Ismi Rabbika al-A'la and Surat al-Ghashiyah, and read rarely with other than these four surahs, so that people know that there is no specific surah for the Friday prayer that it is not permissible to read other than it.
The important thing - may Allah bless you - is that we say: extremism in religion is contrary to religion, and negligence in religion is contrary to religion, and the scale for extremism and negligence is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), not the desires of people.
We find some people, when asked to straighten the rows, say: this is strictness, to the extent that a man I know - may Allah reward him with good - wanted to apply the Sunnah in straightening the rows, so he said to the people: straighten, be even, and he looked and saw some of them ahead, so he went to straighten it himself with his hand, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to walk from the right of the row to the left, straightening his companions, wiping their chests and shoulders, and saying:, when he reached this man he said: O my brother, step back a little, he said: No, I will leave the mosque. What is this? Is this correct? This is wrong, a great error, a man orders you with the Sunnah and you respond with this response? You flee from the prayer because of this? Meaning I will leave the mosque means I will not pray, this is from the ignorance of the common people.
And for this reason I say: this man who did this action, is he considered a strict person or one applying the Sunnah? One applying the Sunnah.
But before we apply the Sunnah which is unknown to the common people, we should first clarify it to them so that the practical application is after their hearts are at ease with the matter, is that not so? But to surprise them with the application of the Sunnah without prior knowledge, the common people will be repelled, as some people said: the common people are like insects, if you do not come to them with gentleness and kindness, they will be repelled from you. You convey it to them, you are the imam, you can take a lesson one day on this topic and clarify to them the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in that so that they are at ease, and if you want to apply it, it is simple.
An imam once made a mistake and stood up for the fifth rak'ah, and when he completed the prayer he said the taslim, wanting to prostrate for forgetfulness, when? After the taslim, when he said the taslim, the people were behind him. Glory be to Allah, glory be to Allah. But he insisted on the taslim. So when he finished the taslim and thought that the people had said the taslim, he prostrated two prostrations and said the taslim. Did he hit the mark here or not? They wanted him to prostrate for forgetfulness before the taslim because they do not know prostration except before the taslim, so when he said the taslim, he turned to them and said to them: the prostration for forgetfulness, if its cause is addition, is after the taslim, and he brought them the hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Some were convinced and accepted the truth and said: may Allah reward you with good, but I wish you had alerted us before this, and some said: this is a new religion, rejected, we do not accept it until we go to such-and-such a scholar and ask him, so they went to a scholar they considered greater than this man and asked him, and he said: this is the correct thing.
I say: if the imams, may Allah bless them, take some of these matters that are strange to the common people, and take lessons to clarify to the common people the rulings of Allah before applying them practically, they would find acceptance from the common people, because Allah Mighty and Majestic gives with gentleness what He does not give with violence, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Aisha.
A wicked Jew passed by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: As-samu 'alayk, O Muhammad. Do you know what As-Sam is? As-Sam is death, meaning he was invoking death upon the Messenger of Allah. Aisha could not bear this, she said: As-Sam and the curse upon you, As-Sam and the curse. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade her and ordered her with gentleness, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:, then he gave us a rule to deal with Jews and non-Jews with the like, with justice, he said: Sahih Muslim 2163a. So if the one from the People of the Book says As-salamu 'alayk, we say: Wa 'alayk, if he said As-Sam, what is the response: As-Sam upon him, if he said As-Salam, then As-Salam upon him.
The Shaykh : This is why Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah* (Rulings Concerning the People of the Covenant): "If a Jew says *salam 'alayk* using this wording, meaning with the *lam* between the words, it is permissible for you to say *'alayk al-salam*. He cited as evidence the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:. It is well known that they may say, what? *Salam 'alaykum*, the *salam* with the *lam*. If we say *wa 'alaykum*, then it is *wa 'alaykum al-salam*. It is not just, if he greets you and says *salam 'alayk ya Muhammad*, or *salam 'alayk ya 'Abd Allah*, or *salam 'alayk ya 'Ali*, with the clear *lam*, and asks how are you? How did you spend the morning? How are you? After he mentions all that he mentions of greeting, the response comes with a single word. What do you say? *Wa 'alaykum*. This is not correct [An-Nisa 4:86].
The Shaykh : In any case, we say: Exaggeration – the original question and answer, I think, is on the issue of exaggeration and falling short – Exaggeration may be considered exaggeration by some people, while it is actually a *sunnah* (recommended practice). But the cause of that is ignorance. If people know and the truth is explained to them from the beginning, and their hearts are at peace with it and their breasts are open to it, then what was called exaggeration at first becomes, consequently, a *sunnah* (recommended practice).
The Shaykh : It remains for me to say: Among the forms of exaggeration is what you do after the end of the lesson, jostling each other in order to ask questions. Therefore, I urge you to postpone the matter until the brother takes his recording device.
The Shaykh : As for me, I bear it from you, if Allah wills. But as for the devices, he is not pleased and he threatened me, a problem. He says these devices might get broken... I might go to an engineer to have them fixed, he doesn't want that...
The Shaykh : Therefore, I urge you now to sit in your places. Sit in your places until you see that the man has removed his devices, and praise be to Allah, and now there is nothing, there is nothing but standing up.
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that this Islamic religion is a middle path between extremism and negligence.
But extremism and negligence, O brothers, are relative matters; they cannot be regulated by people's desires. A thing may be extremism to one person and negligence to another, while it is the middle path to a third.
Look, one person says this is extremism, and the second says no, this is negligence, not following the Sunnah as it should be, and the third says no, this is the Sunnah, neither extremism nor negligence. So what is the standard?
The standard is returning to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
And I give an example: A man read in the Fajr prayer on Friday; he read Surat al-‘Amr in the first rak'ah and read
When the sun is wrapped up [in darkness]
إذا الشمس كورتAnd the third said: No, this is a permissible matter, and there is leeway in it. If he followed the Sunnah and read Alif Lam Al-Sajdah in the first rak'ah, and Has Al-Insan in the second, that is better and good, and may Allah reward him with good. And if he did not do so, there is no sin on him.
Look, the first said you cut off our legs, you prolonged it for us, and the second: on the contrary, you betrayed the trust and were negligent, why did you not read Alif Lam Al-Sajdah and Has Al-Insan, and the third said: the middle, he said: this matter has leeway in it, if he read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah and Has Al-Insan, he has hit the mark and done well, and he is to be thanked for this. And if he read other than them, Allah the Exalted said:
So read what is easy for you
فاقرؤوا ماتيسرThe student: The third.
The Shaykh : Meaning the middle, and what is the third?
The student: The middle.
The Shaykh : The middle, the right is with the middle, we say to this imam: if you want the Sunnah and the completion of fulfilling the trust, read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah in the Fajr prayer on Friday, and Has Al-Insan in the second.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : It is better that this be done more often. Okay, and if you read other than them, there is no sin on you.
But a fourth man rose up against us and said: I will combine the opinions, what are they? Divide Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah into two parts: the first part in the first rak'ah, and the second part: in the second rak'ah.
What do we say? We say: this contradicts the Sunnah, this has made the Sunnah in two parts, meaning scattered. Reading other than Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah is better than reading two parts of Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah with division, because the division contains a clear contradiction of the Sunnah. And reading other than it does not contain a clear contradiction, but rather it is a permissible, broad matter. But for you to divide it while the Messenger combined it in one rak'ah, what does this include? Contradiction. In fact, if I wished, I would say: this includes something further than contradiction.
So either you read Alif Lam Al-Nazil Al-Sajdah in the first rak'ah and Has Al-Insan in the second, or you read other than them, but dividing it is not allowed.
Okay, the last one said on Friday: the imam is a man who loves the Sunnah, he used to read on Friday Subhan Allahi ma fi al-samawati wa ma fi al-ard, meaning Surat al-Jumu'ah, and in the second Qul ya ayyuha al-kafirun.
So a man shouted: This is too long for us, it tires us, we do not know this thing, our imams used to read only with Subhan and Al-Ghashiyah, where did this new religion come from?
And the second said: No, this is the Sunnah, he has hit the mark with it.
As for the third: it appears here that there is no third, because there is no one who says read more than these two surahs, so who is right?
With the second, who says: read with Surat al-Jumu'ah and Surat al-Munafiqun at times, so that people know it is the Sunnah, and read sometimes with Subhan Ismi Rabbika al-A'la and Surat al-Ghashiyah, and read rarely with other than these four surahs, so that people know that there is no specific surah for the Friday prayer that it is not permissible to read other than it.
The important thing - may Allah bless you - is that we say: extremism in religion is contrary to religion, and negligence in religion is contrary to religion, and the scale for extremism and negligence is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), not the desires of people.
We find some people, when asked to straighten the rows, say: this is strictness, to the extent that a man I know - may Allah reward him with good - wanted to apply the Sunnah in straightening the rows, so he said to the people: straighten, be even, and he looked and saw some of them ahead, so he went to straighten it himself with his hand, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to walk from the right of the row to the left, straightening his companions, wiping their chests and shoulders, and saying:
Stand straight and do not differ
استووا ولا تختلفواAnd for this reason I say: this man who did this action, is he considered a strict person or one applying the Sunnah? One applying the Sunnah.
But before we apply the Sunnah which is unknown to the common people, we should first clarify it to them so that the practical application is after their hearts are at ease with the matter, is that not so? But to surprise them with the application of the Sunnah without prior knowledge, the common people will be repelled, as some people said: the common people are like insects, if you do not come to them with gentleness and kindness, they will be repelled from you. You convey it to them, you are the imam, you can take a lesson one day on this topic and clarify to them the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in that so that they are at ease, and if you want to apply it, it is simple.
An imam once made a mistake and stood up for the fifth rak'ah, and when he completed the prayer he said the taslim, wanting to prostrate for forgetfulness, when? After the taslim, when he said the taslim, the people were behind him. Glory be to Allah, glory be to Allah. But he insisted on the taslim. So when he finished the taslim and thought that the people had said the taslim, he prostrated two prostrations and said the taslim. Did he hit the mark here or not? They wanted him to prostrate for forgetfulness before the taslim because they do not know prostration except before the taslim, so when he said the taslim, he turned to them and said to them: the prostration for forgetfulness, if its cause is addition, is after the taslim, and he brought them the hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Some were convinced and accepted the truth and said: may Allah reward you with good, but I wish you had alerted us before this, and some said: this is a new religion, rejected, we do not accept it until we go to such-and-such a scholar and ask him, so they went to a scholar they considered greater than this man and asked him, and he said: this is the correct thing.
I say: if the imams, may Allah bless them, take some of these matters that are strange to the common people, and take lessons to clarify to the common people the rulings of Allah before applying them practically, they would find acceptance from the common people, because Allah Mighty and Majestic gives with gentleness what He does not give with violence, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Aisha.
A wicked Jew passed by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: As-samu 'alayk, O Muhammad. Do you know what As-Sam is? As-Sam is death, meaning he was invoking death upon the Messenger of Allah. Aisha could not bear this, she said: As-Sam and the curse upon you, As-Sam and the curse. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade her and ordered her with gentleness, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Indeed, gentleness is not in a thing except that it adorns it, and it is not taken from a thing except that it disfigures it, and indeed, Allah is gentle and loves gentleness
إن الرفق ما كان في شيء إلا زانه ولا نزع من شيء إلا شانه، وإن الله رفيق يحب الرفقWhen the People of the Book offer you salutations, you should say: The same to you.
إذا سلم عليكم أهل الكتاب فقولوا وعليكمThe Shaykh : This is why Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah* (Rulings Concerning the People of the Covenant): "If a Jew says *salam 'alayk* using this wording, meaning with the *lam* between the words, it is permissible for you to say *'alayk al-salam*. He cited as evidence the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
If they greet you, say, "Peace be upon you"
إذا سلم فقولوا وعليكمwhen you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it
إذا حييتم بتحية فحيوا بأحسن منها أو ردوهاThe Shaykh : In any case, we say: Exaggeration – the original question and answer, I think, is on the issue of exaggeration and falling short – Exaggeration may be considered exaggeration by some people, while it is actually a *sunnah* (recommended practice). But the cause of that is ignorance. If people know and the truth is explained to them from the beginning, and their hearts are at peace with it and their breasts are open to it, then what was called exaggeration at first becomes, consequently, a *sunnah* (recommended practice).
The Shaykh : It remains for me to say: Among the forms of exaggeration is what you do after the end of the lesson, jostling each other in order to ask questions. Therefore, I urge you to postpone the matter until the brother takes his recording device.
The Shaykh : As for me, I bear it from you, if Allah wills. But as for the devices, he is not pleased and he threatened me, a problem. He says these devices might get broken... I might go to an engineer to have them fixed, he doesn't want that...
The Shaykh : Therefore, I urge you now to sit in your places. Sit in your places until you see that the man has removed his devices, and praise be to Allah, and now there is nothing, there is nothing but standing up.