Continuing the discussion on the warning against following the polytheists, with an explanation that part of the perfection of the religion is differing from the polytheists in their acts of worship.

The Shaykh: And so the hadiths continue and follow one another in branching out from this principle, establishing it, and illustrating it with many, many examples in Islam. What comes to my mind now is what is in "Sunan al-Tirmidhi" with a sound chain, from the hadith of Abu Waqid al-Laythi (may Allah be pleased with him), that they were traveling with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and they passed by a large tree of the lote variety. Some of them said: "O Messenger of Allah, make for us a Dhat Anwat, just as they have a Dhat Anwat." This tree was one on which the polytheists used to hang their weapons. The appearance of this tree pleased some of the Companions, so they said: "Make for us a Dhat Anwat where the weapons are hung, just as they have a Dhat Anwat." And you observe with me that the issue is not, as they say today, fundamental; because "make for us a Dhat Anwat just as they have a Dhat Anwat" has no connection to worship. And yet, what was the position of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) toward this statement: "Make for us a Dhat Anwat just as they have a Dhat Anwat"? He said: الله أكبر !! هذه السَّنن ، قلتم كما قال قوم موسى لموسى : اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ Allahu Akbar! These are the ways of the Jews. You said what the people of Moses said to Moses: "Make for us a god just as they have gods.".
Look at the emphatic warning from the Messenger (peace be upon him). Those Jews said to Moses: "Make for us a god to worship, just as they have gods." The polytheists who opposed the religion of Moses (peace be upon him) in his time. As for some of the Companions, these people did not speak about matters related to worship and religion, but rather about a matter, so to speak, what do we call it? Ordinary. "Make for us a Dhat Anwat just as they have a Dhat Anwat." So he rejected that from them with the strongest rejection, and said: This resembles the statement of the Jews who deviated from the oneness of Allah when Moses left them for the Mount. He returned to them and they said: "Make for us gods just as they have gods."
The point of this hadith is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went to great lengths in warning his Ummah against imitating others. All of this is to preserve the identity of the Ummah so that its strength does not disappear and its identity is not lost. Then came other hadiths, without a doubt, specifically regarding what was related to religion, and in that lies a difference from the extremists among the People of the Book and others. So he commanded to differ from them in other matters related to some acts of worship, for example. It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . Now, a hadith related to one of the acts of worship and one of the great Islamic rituals, which is prayer. He said (peace be upon him): . What does this mean?
Now, the prevailing idea among all Muslims is that praying without sandals is the norm. In fact, some may exaggerate and say: It is not permissible for a Muslim to pray in his sandals, driven by a purely rational philosophy that has no connection to the Islamic Shari'ah. What is this philosophy? That the sandal in which a person walks in the streets may encounter some impurities, which attach to it. And we are commanded to enter prayer in pure clothes, and so on. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to pray in his sandals. This logic... and its nature is completely natural. But the logic of the Muslim is restricted by what came in Islam. So if Islam facilitated a matter, it is not for a Muslim to be strict in it. And if Islam, so to speak, was strict in a matter, it is not for a Muslim to facilitate in it; because he has no choice, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: . So it is not for the Muslim to be strict where it seems to him that strictness is better, nor is it for him to facilitate where it seems to him that facilitation is better. Rather, he must follow the Shari'ah, whether it seems to him that there is facilitation in it or strictness. Knowing that there is nothing in the Shari'ah called strictness, but without a doubt the rulings vary between, for example, ease and ease. So this hadith came to restrict the mind of the Muslim from exercising his judgment in the worship of his Lord. So he does not say, for example, here: "It is not necessary for the Muslim to pray in his sandals; because there may be impurity in them that has penetrated into the sandal, and this impurity cannot be purified, because if we clean it, we clean the apparent thing." So Islam came to say: Differ from the extremists in their religion, those who are the object of anger and those who are astray. They do not pray in their sandals and leather socks; so differ from them, pray in your sandals.
Therefore, to clarify that this strictness in this place is from the extremism of people like the Jews, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Here is a new ruling that the extremists in their religion do not know, who think that anything that is affected by impurity requires removing that specific impurity in everything. So he corrects this wrong concept. And the matter is so in what is possible, like clothes, for example. But for the sandal, it is sufficient to wipe its exterior, and he is not obligated to penetrate into its interior; because this involves strictness and hardship, and this contradicts the legal principle stated by the Lord of the Worlds in His saying: .

The questioner : Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh: And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Welcome, Abu Aziz.

The questioner: Welcome, may Allah welcome you.