Is the statement of a Companion a proof or not?

The Shaykh : They stopped before the authentic narration of Ibn 'Umar and said, "This is his opinion, and we are not obligated to worship Allah by the opinions of men, even if they are the great Companions." Here we differ with them and say that this statement is not absolute. That is, we are not obligated to worship Allah the Exalted by the opinions of men, even if they are the great ones. This is not absolute; it requires specification. The specification is as follows: We, the later generations, after fourteen centuries, understand from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): meaning, do not take anything like this. We understood it this way, and so we should also understand it this way. Now, do you see that this understanding contains some ambiguity and obscurity, or is it clear as the sun at midday? It is not possible for one scholar to be distinguished from another in understanding. It is not so. In matters that require precision in understanding and derivation, men differ. But as for this text being general, who says it is not general in terms of Arabic style? Everyone agrees on this. This is if we equate ourselves with the Companions of our Prophet. But if we mention that the Companions of our Prophet were more proficient in the language than we are, is there a problem here? In reality? There is no problem. This is a distinguishing feature that is superior, by which we refute these later people who say, "No, we take the text in its generality." Now, Ibn 'Umar, do you think, O sir,The Shaykh : that you understood that the text is general, and Ibn 'Umar did not understand that the text is general? No person would say that. So, he is more proficient than us. This is the first point. Second, there is something in which they are distinguished from us, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And the second hadith does not say...

The questioner :

The Shaykh And this hadith is very great because the Messenger said it on the occasion that when Musa went to converse with his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, his people worshipped the calf, as mentioned in the Qur'an. When he returned and his brother Harun (peace be upon them both) informed him of the news, meaning the news did not have that impact on him until he saw the Jews actually worshipping the calf, he struck the tablets that were revealed to him from the sky to the ground out of intense... what? The shock of the situation he witnessed with his own eyes. Then he said (peace and blessings be upon him): So Ibn 'Umar lived with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for many long years, seeing him with his noble beard and hearing him with his sound ear. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He did not know whether this text is general or not general, while he sees and hears. He hears the hadith coming from the very person with the noble beard from whom he did not take, or from whom he did take. So what do you think of this Ibn 'Umar? His understanding is better than our understanding. We agreed that his understanding is better than our understanding, and the witness sees what the absent one does not see. Then he has a third merit. This man surpassed all the Companions in his strictness in following the actions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), even in things he did not agree with. This is a person who hears the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say an absolute statement: and sees him apply it absolutely, and he does not take anything from it. Then he comes and contradicts it. And he did not contradict it. When they saw him, he went to urinate at a tree. Why, O Ibn 'Umar, like this? I saw the Messenger urinate at this tree, so I want to urinate there. This man reached this level of love for following the Messenger. He comes to take from his beard, while he saw the Messenger not taking from it. These things, these people do not think about them. Then we dismiss all of that and come and say, and Abu Hurayrah, also, this is a noble Companion and a preserver of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, and he was distinguished from the rest of the Companions by that, and so on. Also, this one made a mistake in understanding the hadith. Then we proceed to those Tabi'un we mentioned earlier, and we stand with the Imam of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He also says to take from the beard what exceeds a handful. What is the proof of these people? Their proof is taking the general text. O people, this general text was not acted upon by the Salaf. There is no hadith from the Messenger or from anyone else that they left it. And I have a book, what is its name? Wonders of Creation.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I used to say, I speak like this sometimes. I say, may Allah bless a man with his beard, and he grew it and fed it, and he dragged it on the ground. We also say, meaning My friend came to index some of the books in my library and showed me a picture of a man under the title Wonders of Creation, with a beard extended on the ground like a carpet...

Another questioner : Three meters and fifty, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : How much is that?

The questioner : Three meters and...

The Shaykh : Three meters means twice the size of a man. How much is that? Twice three. This is said to be No, we here say, we are Salafis, we do not belong to the Salaf in vain, so that we do not fall into such problems, understanding the text contrary to how they understood it. Therefore, Allah the Exalted said: Excuse me, Here is a profound wisdom. He mentioned the path of the believers, and it would have been sufficient in understanding the others not to mention the path of the believers. It could have been said, "Lord of the worlds, and whoever opposes the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him, We will turn him to what he has turned to and cast him into Hellfire, and evil is the destination." Is it not sufficient that he opposes the Messenger? It is sufficient. But for a wisdom, He connected it to His saying: and said: A profound wisdom. Why? So that you do not understand the text as you please. And this is the calamity of the Muslim world today, especially the young Muslim. The young man who wants to take from the Book and the Sunnah, and he still does not know how to read a verse from the Book, let alone a hadith from the Sunnah. We want to understand the texts as they came to us, and from the Salaf, both in narration and understanding. No, there is disagreement in that. Yes, here you have the freedom to take from those differing opinions what you wish. But if you bring a new opinion, you have contradicted the path of the believers...

The questioner : Excuse me, my Shaykh, what you wish within the constraints.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : What you wish within the constraints.

The Shaykh : Yes, without a doubt, within the limits. Yes. Oh Allah.