Discussion on the ruling of some people saying, "Looking at the faces of the righteous is worship," and whether it is an authentic hadith?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : It means being influenced by the fabricated hadith "Looking ... is worship"!
The questioner : No, Shaykh ... from the reports of the righteous, I mean ... .
The Shaykh : Once more ... other than the righteous ... I made a mistake ... .
The questioner : It is said that if a man looks at a man from the people of the Sunnah, he remembers the actions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and adherence to the Sunnah. So when he sees a man from the people of the Sunnah who, I mean, applies the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his life, he considers that this man, when he sees him, reminds him of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and adherence to what the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) brought, based on the saying of Allah[Al-Hashr 59:7]. So from here, is it said that looking at a man from the people of the Sunnah is worship?
The Shaykh : Okay, interpretation. If I use the Syrian expression, it is a nice patch!
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Do you see? But what do you think of "Looking at 'Ali is worship"! Regardless of the fact that this hadith is not authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), is it permissible for us to say this hadith is weak or fabricated? The narration is correct, the understanding is correct. Is it permissible for us to say? Do you understand my point, or should I repeat it?
The questioner : Repeat it.
The questioner : Good ... .
Another questioner: Repeat it in detail!
The Shaykh : I say that in some hadiths, from the perspective of the narration, they are not established, but from the perspective of the meaning, they are wisdom, meaning like any legal ruling derived by derivation without evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. I mean, as we said once to some people, "My brother, we do not want to burden every narration of an authentic hadith. This is not correct. We look at the meaning, and according to the meaning, we authenticate and weaken!" We said to him, "What do you think of the hadith "Eating eggplant is lawful"?" He laughed, as if he knew what was behind the question! I said to him, "What is wrong with you? Say the hadith is authentic or not authentic." He knew his statement was wrong because I made up this hadith just now. But there is a difference now, but there is a big difference between the fabricators, the liars of the past, and me, where they give an example of someone who says, "We can know the authentic from the weak from the side of the meaning. What do you think of this hadith? Is its meaning correct or not?" He cannot say anything except that its meaning is correct. If he says this hadith is authentic, I say to him, "You are lying. I am the one who said it ... And so, every one of the hundreds of thousands of Muslims, each one can come with a hadith whose meaning is correct, but the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) did not say it, and he has no news of it. Some hadiths have a beautiful meaning, but it is not correct to attribute them to the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him), because he saysMusnad Ahmad 469Hasan (Darussalam). The philosophy of the correctness of the meaning and the incorrectness of the meaning is one aspect. And another aspect, which is more important, is the one who judges that this hadith's meaning is correct, meaning if we really wanted to establish a new rule in this era that if a hadith's meaning is correct, then the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said it, who judges that this meaning is correct and that meaning is incorrect? Every Muslim? The answer is no. Rather, every scholar! The answer is no, because knowing the correct meaning that matches the Shari'ah or contradicts it requires scholars of a certain weight in knowledge of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). If it is not permissible for us to say that this hadith is authentic, that its attribution to the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) is not correct, but the meaning is correct, any person can say, "I see," but it does not make it a hadith fabricated against the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) and spread among people on the pretext that he sees its meaning is correct, and since its meaning is correct, the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said it. Because this is established as false by the method, obviously, as we gave the example earlier with the eggplant hadith. So this measure has no control or rule that a person can follow. But there may be hadiths where it can be said that their meaning is correct, but I do not differ with you on a hadith that its meaning is correct, but this is not enough for us to say the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said it. So now, after this discussion, which of course has no connection to what we were in earlier, but I wanted to clarify that there is no rule here from the perspective of intellect and logic that a hadith is authentic or not authentic. Let us now assume that this hadith "Looking at 'Ali is worship", we said it is not established with the hadith scholars. Okay, what do you think, can we say its meaning is correct! Based on the previous interpretation or the previous patch, as we said earlier. In my belief, and here is the point ... to the correct meaning, because this includes the legal ruling, and I do not find what testifies to it in the Book and the Sunnah that I have looked into. This resembles many scholars who recommend for the Muslim, when he dies, to be buried next to the grave of a righteous person. They took this from two things: one is analogizing the dead to the living, and this, as you know, is an analogy with a difference. Is the dead analogized to the living, just as the living is not analogized to the dead? Because it is from the chapter of analogizing the opposite to its opposite. They took it from this chapter first, then they took it from the side of a hadith mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in the Fabrications, as I remember, definitely with the wording . We cannot say, by Allah, its meaning is correct, because this is a matter of the unseen. Who knows if this dead neighbor, if buried next to a righteous person, affects him and benefits him, or even if he smells a good fragrance, for example, as came in the hadith, "The good companion is like the seller of musk: either he gives you some for free, or you buy from him, or you smell a good fragrance ... The knower of the unseen, as they say today, the nature of what is beyond matter, is not measured by what we are in matter and nature.
In conclusion, I do not see expanding the use of the philosophy of rulings ... in this meaning. So we entrust the matter to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Then, my brother, it is returned to us. My brother, here is a problem, and the problem is that the scholars who investigate usually, in responding to some of the extremists of the Sufis, where one of them says: "A glance from the Shaykh turns the wretched into a happy one!" We take the answer of the people of knowledge to invalidate this Sufism, we take from it ... to invalidate that non-Sufi glance. They said in response to this Sufi glance, "How many and how many of the polytheists, the wretched, the misguided, the misguiders, saw the Messenger and sat with him ... So are you with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in a rank higher and nobler than the rank of the Master of the Prophets (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him)?" No doubt the answer is known. I mean, what do we benefit from this answer? How many and how many people had a connection with the righteous, and their glances fell upon them, and even they accompanied them, and then they did not benefit from it at all. Is this correct or not?
The questioner : Correct.
The Shaykh : So we do not exaggerate this exaggeration until we fall into such Sufisms.
The Shaykh : It means being influenced by the fabricated hadith "Looking ... is worship"!
The questioner : No, Shaykh ... from the reports of the righteous, I mean ... .
The Shaykh : Once more ... other than the righteous ... I made a mistake ... .
The questioner : It is said that if a man looks at a man from the people of the Sunnah, he remembers the actions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and adherence to the Sunnah. So when he sees a man from the people of the Sunnah who, I mean, applies the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his life, he considers that this man, when he sees him, reminds him of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and adherence to what the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) brought, based on the saying of Allah
And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from
وما آتاكم الرسول فخذوه وما نهاكم عنه فانتهواThe Shaykh : Okay, interpretation. If I use the Syrian expression, it is a nice patch!
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Do you see? But what do you think of "Looking at 'Ali is worship"! Regardless of the fact that this hadith is not authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), is it permissible for us to say this hadith is weak or fabricated? The narration is correct, the understanding is correct. Is it permissible for us to say? Do you understand my point, or should I repeat it?
The questioner : Repeat it.
The questioner : Good ... .
Another questioner: Repeat it in detail!
The Shaykh : I say that in some hadiths, from the perspective of the narration, they are not established, but from the perspective of the meaning, they are wisdom, meaning like any legal ruling derived by derivation without evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. I mean, as we said once to some people, "My brother, we do not want to burden every narration of an authentic hadith. This is not correct. We look at the meaning, and according to the meaning, we authenticate and weaken!" We said to him, "What do you think of the hadith "Eating eggplant is lawful"?" He laughed, as if he knew what was behind the question! I said to him, "What is wrong with you? Say the hadith is authentic or not authentic." He knew his statement was wrong because I made up this hadith just now. But there is a difference now, but there is a big difference between the fabricators, the liars of the past, and me, where they give an example of someone who says, "We can know the authentic from the weak from the side of the meaning. What do you think of this hadith? Is its meaning correct or not?" He cannot say anything except that its meaning is correct. If he says this hadith is authentic, I say to him, "You are lying. I am the one who said it ... And so, every one of the hundreds of thousands of Muslims, each one can come with a hadith whose meaning is correct, but the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) did not say it, and he has no news of it. Some hadiths have a beautiful meaning, but it is not correct to attribute them to the Messenger (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him), because he says
Whoever says something about me that I did not say
من قال عليّ ما لم أقل ...... let him take his place from the Fire.
... فليتبؤ من النارBury your dead with righteous people.
ادفنوا موتاكم عند قوم صالحينIn conclusion, I do not see expanding the use of the philosophy of rulings ... in this meaning. So we entrust the matter to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Then, my brother, it is returned to us. My brother, here is a problem, and the problem is that the scholars who investigate usually, in responding to some of the extremists of the Sufis, where one of them says: "A glance from the Shaykh turns the wretched into a happy one!" We take the answer of the people of knowledge to invalidate this Sufism, we take from it ... to invalidate that non-Sufi glance. They said in response to this Sufi glance, "How many and how many of the polytheists, the wretched, the misguided, the misguiders, saw the Messenger and sat with him ... So are you with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in a rank higher and nobler than the rank of the Master of the Prophets (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him)?" No doubt the answer is known. I mean, what do we benefit from this answer? How many and how many people had a connection with the righteous, and their glances fell upon them, and even they accompanied them, and then they did not benefit from it at all. Is this correct or not?
The questioner : Correct.
The Shaykh : So we do not exaggerate this exaggeration until we fall into such Sufisms.