How do we know what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his noble Companions were upon?

The Shaykh : It is necessary for every Muslim, after testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to know that the path to knowing what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon is the Sunnah, and that is the Companions, or in other words, the righteous Salaf. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the mass-transmitted hadith: . Therefore, the Muslim must know what his Companions (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) were upon; otherwise, he will go astray in a far-reaching way, thinking that he is doing well. The new point I wish to expand on slightly is: what is the path to knowing what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon in terms of his speech, action, and approval, and what his Companions (peace be upon him) inherited from him of guidance, light, and illumination? What is the path? If we were to ask: what is the path to knowing the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? The answer, and praise be to Allah, is easy and accessible: it is the Noble Qur'an. We have no book that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guaranteed to preserve except this Noble Qur'an, as He said in the previously mentioned verse: . So, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guaranteed the preservation of this divine speech, which is the Qur'an. He did not guarantee the preservation of the Torah, the Gospel, or the scrolls of Ibrahim and Musa. This is because His wisdom required that these previous laws be a preparation for the Islamic Shari'ah, after which there is no other law. So it was of the utmost wisdom that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) guaranteed the preservation of this Noble Qur'an. So the answer to the question "What is the path to knowing the speech of Allah?" is the Noble Qur'an. But the very, very important question is: what is the way to know the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and what his noble Companions were upon? Here, the very, very important research is what is known among all Muslim scholars as the science of hadith and the science of athar. The science of hadith and the science of athar. "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar." The science of hadith includes two sciences: one is known as the science of hadith terminology, and the other is the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). The science of hadith terminology consists of scientific rules that hadith scholars collected over time, recorded, classified, and explained for people so that they can distinguish the authentic from the weak in hadith. That is complete. This is the second science: the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. It revolves around knowing the biographies of the thousands of narrators of hadith and Sunnah. Perhaps you all know something known among hadith scholars as the isnad (the chain of narration). The isnad is a chain of men, each taking from the other. It begins with a Companion transmitting from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), then a Tabi'i from the Companion, then a Tabi' al-Tabi'in from the Tabi'i, and so on, until these hadiths were recorded with these chains in the known books of Sunnah, the number of which, praise be to Allah, exceeds thousands. The most famous of them are the Six Books, which are circulated today among the scholars of the Sunnah. This isnad is composed of men. These men number in the thousands. Each man has a biography in the books of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil, where they explain when this narrator was, when he was born, when he lived, who his teachers were, and who his students were who took from him, and so on. Added to this is whether he is trustworthy, whether he is upright, whether he is an open sinner, whether he is a memorizer, or whether he has poor memory. All these descriptions and others are mentioned in this science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. And I think you all know that the hadiths found in the books and circulated on people's tongues include what is authentic and what is not authentic. So, if we want to know what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was upon and what his noble Companions were upon, there is no way to avoid knowing and studying these two sciences extensively: hadith terminology and al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. Whoever combines these two sciences is able to distinguish the authentic from the weak. So where are we today from this science that enables us to know the authentic from the weak? This knowledge is what connects us to the saved group; otherwise, we will be far away, more or less, depending on our knowledge or ignorance of this science of hadith and al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. If you understand this reality, the disagreement that occurred in the past among the Islamic sects, and which continues to this day, one of its greatest causes is the turning away—I do not say of the general Muslims, but I say of the particular Muslims—from studying this science, spreading it, and presenting its fruits to all Muslims so that they may be as the Lord of the Worlds said in the Noble Qur'an: . So, the continuing disagreement, one of its causes is moving away from studying this science, in short, the science of hadith. There is another reason. This was in the past, before scholars were provided to collect the Sunnah, whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) dedicated to serving Islam by serving the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). But today, this reason has disappeared, and the reason of neglecting the study of this science remains. As for the reason that has disappeared, you must know it well, because from it follows that you know the reason for the disagreement among Muslim scholars, from the past to today, in some jurisprudential issues. You all know, if Allah wills, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had different circumstances when he spoke. Sometimes he spoke in the mosque, and the number of memorizers of his hadith depended on the number of people present in the mosque. Sometimes there were some Companions in the mosque, and he would speak, and they would memorize from him, while the other Companions did not know what the Messenger spoke in that gathering where only a few individuals were around him. Similarly, he would travel, and those who traveled with him would take from him knowledge that those who stayed in Madinah or Makkah, or elsewhere, missed. And so the scenarios multiply, and each of you can elaborate on listing them and recalling them in your mind. For example, he lived in his home with his family, his wives, and his grandchildren, and there would be conversation between him (peace be upon him) and his family that was hadith, which his Companions outside the home did not know at all. They had no knowledge of it; only his family, his wives, knew what happened in the home. So we cannot imagine an individual among the Companions who encompassed all the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him). This is impossible, because it is not possible for an individual to be the shadow of the Messenger (peace be upon him) wherever he went, wherever he was present, wherever he sat, wherever he traveled, to be with him. This is impossible. The point of all this speech, which is very obvious, is that the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which we know is his speech, action, and approval, was scattered among his Companions. Did a person exist in that time who could connect with every individual among the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and collect from them what they heard and witnessed from him (peace be upon him)? This conception is enough for you to say that this is an impossible matter, especially if you remember the Islamic conquests, which required the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to disperse in the lands. Those who were in Makkah, those who were in Madinah, those who were in Ta'if, those who were in Yemen, they went east and west and dispersed in the lands in the way of exalting the word of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And as you know, praise be to Allah, the Islamic conquests reached east to China and west to Spain, which was known at that time as Andalus. Was it possible at that time for a person to catch up with these Companions who dispersed in the lands in the way of jihad? This is also an impossible matter. But the seed began as a first attempt to collect what some of these individuals had, from some of the Tabi'un. They were eager to connect with some of the Companions. And the one who set the precedent for these Tabi'un to collect from various Companions, as far as was possible for them, was Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). Abu Hurayrah is the memorizer who can be said to deserve this title among the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), even though he did not embrace Islam until about two and a half years before the death of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Nevertheless, he was the most prolific narrator of hadith among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Why? He tells us about himself: "I used to be content with filling my belly with a few bites, and then I would sit with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and take hadith from him." This is one reason. He adds to this that his Companions (peace be upon him) were busy with trading in the markets, busy with commerce. But they are the ones whom the Lord of the Worlds praised with His saying: . But Abu Hurayrah distinguished himself from them in that he was ascetic and was content with a few bites, and the rest of the time was with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). It seems he knew that his Islam was late, so he wanted to compensate for himself what he missed of the long companionship that people like Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and the early predecessors among the Companions enjoyed. So he turned away from the entire world and turned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The second thing that made him the memorizer of the Companions is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said one day: . So Abu Hurayrah spread his garment and then folded it. Abu Hurayrah said: "I did not forget anything I heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) after that." This is the second reason. The third reason, which is the witness, is that he was not content to only hear from the Messenger. He would go to the Companions, Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and others, and pick up from them what they had memorized from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So he is the one who set the precedent for the Tabi'un and those after them to collect hadiths from various narrators. Therefore, the student of Abu Hurayrah's hadith notices that his hadiths are divided into two categories. In some, he says, "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." In most of them, he says, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said." This is from his precision and trustworthiness. In what he heard directly from him (peace be upon him), he says, "I heard the Messenger of Allah." In what he heard from others, he does not say, "I heard from the Messenger of Allah," but rather says, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said." The reason is that his Islam was late, and what he heard from the Messenger was little, so he wanted to make up for what he missed by connecting with the early Companions and collecting from them. So for these three reasons, he was the most prolific narrator of hadith among the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Therefore, those who engage in the science of hadith and the books of hadith find Abu Hurayrah's hadiths in every book of the Sunnah, having the highest precedence in number and quantity. Take, for example, a very clear example: Musnad Imam Ahmad is six volumes. The second volume is half for Abu Hurayrah. Of the six volumes, which contain the hadiths of all the Companions for Imam Ahmad, he was able, by the method I mentioned, to connect with people and collect hadiths. So Abu Hurayrah's Musnad in Imam Ahmad's Musnad took up half of the second volume, that is, one-twelfth. May Allah (Mighty and Majestic) bless Abu Hurayrah for these reasons, among which is the ability for a Muslim to collect the largest possible quantity of the Sunnah. Because of the dispersion of the Companions first, and then the Tabi'un, the Sunnah was scattered. But the Tabi'un began to collect from this Companion and that Companion. If he had limited himself to the hadiths of one Companion, the quantity would have been small, but he added to it the hadiths of the second and third Companions, as far as was possible for him. Then came the turn of the Tabi' al-Tabi'in, and the circle of collection widened. Then came the turn of the Tabi' al-Tabi' al-Tabi'in, among whom were the six Imams, the owners of the six books: Imam al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah. These, because of their travel to the lands that the early Companions conquered, and then the Tabi'un followed them, and so on, because of this movement, a great deal of the abundant Sunnah was available to each of them, praise be to Allah. The most of them was Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), because he traveled in the way of collecting hadith to more lands of the world at that time. Imam al-Shafi'i testified to his memorization, knowing that Imam al-Shafi'i was among the teachers of Imam Ahmad in hadith, tafsir, and fiqh. Imam al-Shafi'i was among the teachers of Imam Ahmad. But Imam Ahmad distinguished himself from the scholars of his time in that he devoted himself completely, like Abu Hurayrah, and did not care about the world and its adornments. He traveled through the lands and connected with the narrators of hadith, and collected thousands of the Sunnah. His teacher, Imam al-Shafi'i, testified to this and said to him: "You are more knowledgeable about hadith than I am."The Shaykh : The Shaykh said to his student, "You are more knowledgeable about hadith than I am. So when you find a hadith that is authentic, inform me of it or let me know about it, whether it is from Hijaz, Sham, Egypt, or wherever else." This indicates that Imam Ahmad traveled and journeyed to these lands and collected from the Sunnah what his Shaykh, al-Shafi'i, was unable to collect. That is why he said to him, "You are more knowledgeable about hadith than I am." The point of all this is that one of the reasons for the disagreement among the four Imams—Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad—is what I am telling you: the Sunnah became dispersed as its bearers, the Companions, then the Tabi'un, became dispersed. Then the turn of these four Imams came. As you know, the first of them was Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), who passed away in the year 150 AH. He is considered one of the lesser Tabi'un, but he (may Allah have mercy on him) specialized in fiqh and did not leave Kufa except for Hajj or 'Umrah, so his hadith was limited. After him came Imam Malik, who was born in the year Abu Hanifa died. He resided in the city of migration, al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. As is the case with al-Madinah today, since it is frequented and visited by residents and pilgrims, the scholars there were numerous. Therefore, Malik's hadith, and he too did not travel or go out to collect hadith, was more abundant than that of Abu Hanifa. Then came the turn of the third Imam, Imam al-Shafi'i. He (may Allah have mercy on him) resided in Baghdad, and Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphs, as you know. It was also a refuge and shelter for various scholars, so he obtained from knowledge and the Sunnah what Allah willed. Then he traveled from Baghdad to Egypt, and from there he acquired new material of knowledge, especially the science of hadith. He surpassed the first two Imams, Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i, because he spent a large portion of his life in Baghdad, in addition to the fact that he used to perform Hajj and 'Umrah. Then, in the last part of his life, he spent it in Egypt, so he gathered from hadith what had not been gathered for the first two Imams. Then came the fourth jurist Imam, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who surpassed not only the three Imams but also the majority of the scholars of hadith due to his extensive coverage of the Sunnah. He was the most memorizer of the Sunnah and more knowledgeable about hadith than many scholars of hadith. For this reason, a scholar like Abu Hanifa would be asked about an issue, and he would look at what he had from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and issue a ruling based on what he had. If he did not find it, he would exercise ijtihad, and ijtihad is necessary because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: But as you understand from this hadith, ijtihad is open to being correct and open to being incorrect. Perhaps one of the other Imams would be asked the same question and answer with an answer from the hadith material he had, which the Imam who issued a ruling by his own ijtihad had not obtained. If you know this historical fact regarding the method of collecting hadith, the confusion will be removed from your minds, because these Imams did not differ, and we mentioned earlier the saying of Allah the Exalted: And they are, without doubt, to be pitied. So why did they differ? They are excused because they were unable to collect the Sunnah at that time. But today, we are not excused, and the reason is that today we can gather the efforts of the Imams who have passed and spent their lives in all eras. We gather their priceless treasure, which cannot be measured in coins, for a few coins, which is the book Musnad Ahmad, six volumes. His scholarly life is included in it. You can dedicate just one year of your life, at most, and obtain the knowledge of Imam Ahmad that he obtained in years and with great effort, which was traveling in the lands and journeying to them. But the ailment of people today is disdain for the science of hadith and turning away from studying hadith, and being satisfied with any hadith we find in any book, like how I am inside al-Badawi, what a good hadith. But you know that the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) include the authentic and the weak. And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was informed by Allah the Mighty and Majestic beforehand that people would lie about him and lie about him even during his time (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was alive. He found someone who lied about him, so he (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: How did this happen? A man loved a woman and went to her people to propose to them. So that they would respond to him and not reject him, he said to them: "I am the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to you, commanding you to marry me your daughter." The people were astonished that the young man would do such a thing, because they knew that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as described by his Lord, It is not reasonable that the Messenger would send them an order to marry so-and-so, and they do not know him. It is not reasonable. If it were possible, it could be revelation or something. If we are sent to the Messenger of Allah, so when they came to him and said, "O Messenger of Allah, did you send so-and-so?" He said: And indeed, when they caught up with him, they found a scorpion that had stung him, and his death was in it. This was the reason for his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and so on. And other hadiths came so that the Muslim would not be deceived, saying, "I swear by Allah, I do not intend to lie about him," and thus be careless in narrating hadith and attributing hadith to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) without verifying its authenticity. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So how do you know whether this hadith is a lie attributed to the Messenger or not? What is the way? The way is one of two ways, no third, like the rulings of the Shari'ah, to know that this is halal and that is haram. What is the way? One of two ways: either you seek knowledge to become a scholar, so you know from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah what is halal and what is haram, or you are from the general people, in which case the saying of Allah the Exalted in the Noble Qur'an applies to you: "So ask the people of knowledge if you do not know." So either you are a scholar and you consult your knowledge, or you are not a scholar and you consult your scholar. Every science has its men, whether this science is religious or worldly. Any person today who wants to build a house does not act on his own head, but he asks the engineer, and the architect answers, and so on. If he wants to treat himself, he wants to treat the patient, he does not come and act as a doctor, but he goes to the doctor, and the doctor is a specialist, and so on. Religious knowledge, in its two branches of hadith and fiqh, is more deserving of Muslims to pay attention to this principle that the Lord of the Worlds established in the previous verse. So what is the way to know the halal and the haram? We said, either you are a scholar and you ask your knowledge, or you are not a scholar and you ask the jurists. What is the way to know the authentic hadith from the weak? If you are a scholar, ask your knowledge. If you are not a scholar, People today have not given the science of hadith, even in this last aspect, the attention it deserves. In fiqh, most of them care about their religion to know the haram and the halal, and therefore people in this corner are still in a good state, but it is very, very rare for someone to care about knowing the hadith they hear or the hadith they read, to ask the scholars of knowledge whether this hadith is authentic or not. As soon as they hear or read it, they stop when they heard or read it and do not remember the warning about narrating hadiths until their authenticity is clarified. So here, a summary is also necessary after that summary. So I say: For the Muslims to be from the saved sect, "Complete from here, Professor, complete from here on the Sunnah." So for the Muslim to be on the Sunnah and on what the Companions were upon, there is no way to that except by knowing the science of hadith. So the science of hadith is what makes you know what he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, what he used to do, and what he used to approve. And the science of hadith is what guides you to the guidance, knowledge, morals, and conduct of his Companions (peace and blessings be upon him) and so on. So I advise all Muslims in general to pay attention to the science of hadith and to verify what they read and what they hear. And I advise their specialists to focus on studying the science of hadith so that they spread among the people the authentic hadiths, because these authentic hadiths alone are what lead them to know, first, the saved sect, and to be from it, second. Otherwise, they would be in great danger. And this is enough, especially since I see that some eyes have begun to be teased by drowsiness. And in my experience, if we open the door for questions, there may be some movement and wakefulness and blessing, if Allah wills. So whoever has a comment, whoever has a question related to what was previously presented and explained of the scientific methodology that Muslims, both specialists and general people, must follow, should prefer and present the question related to what has passed. And if there is no question related to what has passed, then we accept any other question related to understanding the religion. Now, a hand is raised here and a hand here, so ask your question about the topic. If it is yes, then you are the one who is presented. And if it is no, we ask here.