A word by the Shaykh explaining the pure, correct creed brought by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : ... , , As for what follows:
Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations, every innovation is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Imam Ahmad and others narrated from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a scroll in the hand of 'Umar, so he asked him about it. He said (may Allah be pleased with him): This is a scroll from the Torah that a man from the Jews wrote for me. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): .
This hadith explains to us an aspect of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; for many Muslims utter the first pillar of Islam: "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," but many of them utter what they do not understand correctly. We have spoken repeatedly and on many occasions about the first testimony, "There is no god but Allah," and that it means that there is no deity worthy of worship in this existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This concise meaning, which is the correct meaning of this beautiful word "There is no god but Allah," is unknown to many who utter this word. I am not now in a position to explain this correct meaning, that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah; for it necessitates that the Muslim not turn to anyone other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) with any of the acts of worship whatsoever. So what many people do today, such as supplicating to other than Allah, making vows to other than Allah, slaughtering for other than Allah, and swearing by other than Allah, among other matters; all of this contradicts the Muslim's statement and the believer's testimony: "There is no god but Allah"; because all these matters we mentioned are acts of worship to which one may not turn except to this God, the Lord of the heavens and the earth.
And yet we find these Muslims we referred to going to graves, slaughtering there, making vows, and sometimes circumambulating some graves, claiming to seek healing, seeking healing from one who, if he were alive, would not have been able to provide the seeker with healing; for there is no healer except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So how is it with them when they seek healing from the dead, those who have become crumbling dust? This is among what contradicts this testimony of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). We have spoken about this testimony, as we said, repeatedly. Now I want to speak with some expansion and elaboration about the second testimony, without which the faith of the believer is not complete; for whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah and then does not follow it with the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the first testimony will not benefit him. Therefore, it is established among all Muslims that the pillar... upon which Islam is built is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
But this testimony of the oneness of Allah and of the messengership of His Prophet does not save its owner from eternal abode in the Fire unless he first understands it correctly, and then implements it sincerely in his life. So how is the implementation of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah? Is it by merely obeying him in some of what he brought from Allah (Exalted is He) and contradicting him in matters that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not bring from Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)? This is what I want to clarify now in this word on this blessed night, if Allah wills.
It must be known that the Muslim's statement: "And I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," or "And I testify that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger," this meaning is not realized until he is sincere to him (peace and blessings be upon him) in following him, just as he is sincere to his Lord in his tawhid (the oneness of Allah). The meaning of the two testimonies is that you are sincere to Allah (Exalted is He) in your worship, so you do not associate anyone with Him in any of the acts of worship, as we mentioned, and that you are sincere to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in following him, so you do not associate any other followed one with him. And if a person does this but does not believe in him with pure, sincere faith, the proof of what I am saying is the previous hadith of Jabir; for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'Umar, as you heard: . If Moses (peace be upon him), whom Allah spoke to directly and upon whom He revealed the Torah, if he were in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), it would not be sufficient for him except to follow me; so what would be the state of one who is not among the prophets and messengers? It is necessary that this be more obligatory and more obligatory for them to ask about the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
And what is the meaning of "we follow the Messenger"? It is like the meaning of "worships Allah." What is the meaning of "worships Allah"? That is: he does not worship other than Him, he worships Allah alone, having no partner. So what is the meaning of "we follow the Messenger"? That is: we follow him alone, we do not take any other followed one with him. And that is because Moses is the one whom Allah spoke to, so this scroll that the Messenger (peace be upon him) saw in his hand, as if he is saying to him: Did not what I brought you from Allah, from the revelation of the sky, suffice you, 'Umar, until you associate with what I brought you what Allah revealed to Moses? And what Allah revealed to Moses has become an abrogated law, and that Allah (Exalted is He) revealed the Qur'an to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and made it dominant and controlling over the other books and laws that were before.
If Moses, with his law, does not have the capacity except to leave his law and be sincere in following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and here is the crux of this word, if Moses does not have the capacity except to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him) and does not follow his law; do you think if an inventor invents a method or a methodology or a party or anything else that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not bring, and one follows it; then he has not been sincere to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in following him, and consequently has not realized the meaning of this testimony "and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah"; because this testimony necessitates following the Messenger in what Allah sent him with of truth and light. And if we assume that a person follows other than the Messenger of Allah; I say: if we assume, and this is a reality occurring in various forms and methods, if we assume that a person follows other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), even in some matters, and he knows that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not bring these matters from Allah (Exalted is He); and yet this person follows this path or this school of thought or this party, then he is not sincere in following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
Otherwise, when the Messenger (peace be upon him) saw the scroll in 'Umar's hand; does anyone think that 'Umar intended to replace the scroll with the Islamic law, or to turn away from the Islamic law; that is: from the message to which the Messenger (peace be upon him) called us and we believed in it and had faith in it; would he leave it to follow the Torah? This is something that never occurs to any person. So what did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) disapprove of in 'Umar ibn al-Khattab when he said to him that great word: ; that is: Are you deviating from the law of Allah as the Jews and Christians deviated from the law of Allah? . If it is not conceivable that 'Umar would deviate from following the Messenger (peace be upon him) by a hair's breadth; then what did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) disapprove of in 'Umar, if we are following the Messenger of Allah in the sense that 'Umar would deviate from following the Messenger (peace be upon him) in what he brought? What the Messenger of Allah feared for 'Umar was that he would associate with the Messenger in following him other prophets and messengers; so what do we say to those who associate with the Messenger in following other than prophets and messengers? These are more severe in disapproval than the disapproval of the Messenger upon 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him).
If we understand this, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . What is the meaning of His saying (the Exalted): ? It means: Do not take anyone other than Him as a figure you follow as if revelation had been sent down to them from the sky; that is, as you follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Following anyone other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) implies two things:
The first is doubt that the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) delivered the message and conveyed the trust. If one doubts this, he is a disbeliever who has apostatized from the religion of Islam.
The other thing is associating a person with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in legislation. Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) denied having any partners, so He says (Mighty and Majestic): . Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to legislate anything from his own self, no matter how great it is. Consequently, it is not permissible for a Muslim to follow this legislator, even in the smallest or best of issues. The one who legislated the issue from his own self has associated a partner with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), so he did not believe in the truth of "There is no god but Allah." And whoever follows this legislator other than Allah has taken him as a partner with Allah. Consequently, he did not single out the Messenger in following him alone, nor did he be sincere to Him in that.
For this reason, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed to the heart of Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) His saying (Mighty and Majestic): , there was in the gathering one of the Companions who had learned reading and writing, and consequently had become a Christian before the mission of the Messenger (peace be upon him) among the polytheist Arabs; that is, 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai. When this verse was revealed, he had already embraced Islam and disbelieved in Christianity, and he believed in Allah and His Messenger. However, he was knowledgeable about what the Christians were upon. So the saying of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) regarding the Christians: , caused him difficulty. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, we did not take them as lords besides Allah." The meaning of the Christians taking the rabbis and priests as lords besides Allah was hidden from him. He assumed that the intent of this verse was that they believed the priests and monks create with Allah. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) clarified to him the intent of this verse, and that it was not the understanding that had occurred to him. He said to him in the manner of question and answer: He said: . He said: "As for this, it used to happen." Then he said (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him): . That is, when the priests would say: "This is lawful," they would say: "Lawful," and when they would say: "This is forbidden," they would say: "Forbidden," whereas in reality this prohibition and permission came from their own selves and they did not receive it through their Prophet from their Lord. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) clarified that this is the meaning of . Thus, both groups disbelieved: the group that made things lawful and forbidden from their own selves, and the other group that followed them in their blindness, as they say, without insight from the Shari'ah of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
For this reason, if a Muslim is sincere to the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) in following him, that is a protection for him from falling short in the oneness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in his worship. So the oneness of Allah in His worship and the singling out of the Messenger in following him are two matters connected such that one is not severed from the other. So whoever wants to be among the sincere, truthful believers in the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, it is obligatory for him to single out the Messenger in following him, just as he singles out Allah in worship. So whoever falls short in this—that is, whoever falls short in singling out the Messenger in following him—his case is the case of one who falls short in singling out Allah in worship. So each of the two onenesses—if the expression is correct—the oneness of Allah in His worship and the oneness of the Messenger in following him—is a pillar of Islam. If one of them is disrupted, this Islam collapses from its foundation and origin.
And if we understand this, the danger of what some people have reached today in falling short of this sincerity to the Messenger of Allah in following him becomes clear to us. They have made the sincerity in following for someone other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And I will mention to you some examples.
There are some Sufi shaykhs, both old and new, who teach their followers and those they call their disciples sayings like: "The disciple is in the hands of the shaykh like the dead in the hands of the washer." They took this statement from the Messenger of Allah and the believers in it, and they restricted it to the shaykhs. If a Muslim said: "The Muslim is in the hands of the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) like the dead in the hands of the washer," there might be some exaggeration in the expression, but as for the meaning, this is a manifestation of the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): . If a speaker expressed this submission with that word; that is, if he said: "The Muslim is in the hands of the Messenger like the dead in the hands of the washer," he would have hit this meaning. And even if we do not approve of his expression, what do you say when they approved of both the expression and the meaning together and made it... that is, for the Messenger of Allah? No, for someone other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Where is the sincerity of following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), when they said about someone other than the Messenger, who is one of them, what they did not say about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?
Add to that another famous saying among them: "Whoever says to his shaykh: 'Why?' will never succeed." Whereas we find that the Companions of the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said to him on many occasions: "Why, O Messenger of Allah?" and he did not deny them, because he knew that they were asking to inquire about what had been obscure to them. But these people whom they established and lowered to the station of the infallible Messenger, they said about them: "Whoever says to his shaykh: 'Why?' will never succeed."
And it is not only that, but whoever says to his shaykh in a dream: "Why?" will not succeed. In a dream!! And this is mentioned in a famous book; it is the book "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" by al-Ghazali, whom the masses of people today, the intellectuals, believe... the intellectuals call him the Proof of Islam. The Proof of Islam, this came in his book in "Ihya'." I read it myself. He narrated the following story. He named a shaykh from the shaykhs of the Tabi'un in the fourth century that one of his disciples came to him and said to him: "I saw you in a dream... that you were ordering me to do something, so I said to you: 'Why?'—this was all in the dream!!" The disciple said to his shaykh: "Why?" The narrator of the story in "Ihya'" said: So his shaykh boycotted him for a full month. Why? Because his disciple said to him in a dream, not in waking: "Why?" He boycotted him for a full month. And it is not that the Proof of Islam, al-Ghazali, mentioned this story and passed by it lightly; no, but he stopped at it, understanding and deriving rulings, as the Muslim jurist does in the Book of Allah and in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah. He said: This story indicated that the disciple had a grudge against his shaykh in his heart. Why? Because if his heart had been pure with his shaykh, he would not have seen in his dream himself saying to him: "Why?" Even though every scholar knows that the vision a Muslim sees is susceptible to being one of three, as he (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: ... The vision of this poor disciple is for one interpretation of these interpretations; that is, his soul was telling him during the day to object to his shaykh, so he saw this in his dream. Whereas it is possible that this vision was from the deceptions of Satan. Indeed, perhaps Satan wanted with this story to humiliate the shaykh himself before the disciple. And there is no doubt that the shaykh, when he boycotts his sincere disciple in following him because he said to him in a dream: "Why?", is not following the Shari'ah, but rather... him. Otherwise, if his saying to him: "Why?" had occurred in his lifetime, in his health, in his life, there would have been no error or sin in that. So it is not permissible to boycott him. Why? Because the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) says: .

The questioner : Three days.

The Shaykh : Three days.
. So if the Messenger affirms that it is not permissible to boycott a Muslim for more than three days, and anything beyond that is forbidden; then how is it permissible for a learned Shaykh, one of noble character, including humility and ... and good conduct; how is it permissible for him to boycott his Muslim brother, not for three days, but for a full month, merely because he said to him in a dream: "Why?" Look at how much Muslims have deviated from the sincerity of following the Messenger (peace be upon him). In fact, this following has completely vanished from people like these; for they have shifted from following the Messenger to following the Shaykh. And so we have fallen into the problem we live with today: if you tell a person, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said," the answer is: "My Shaykh said so." This is because they have lost the sincerity in following, and have instead placed others in that position, namely the Shaykhs, i.e., the Shaykhs of the Sufi orders. This is an example.