A speech by Shaykh Muhammad 'Ayd 'Abbasy explaining that the methodology of the Salaf, from the Companions and the Successors and those who followed them in excellence until the Day of Judgment, is the true religion of Islam.

'Ayd 'Abbasy: At that time, we saw the legislation pouring down upon the Muslims. We saw Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sending down verses, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) narrating many hadiths in which he legislates for the community in various aspects of life. For example, in the authentic reports of the Prophetic biography, when the verse regarding intoxicants was revealed, some of the Muslims were in a night gathering, and intoxicants were being circulated among them. There were several well-known, noble Companions present. A caller came to them and said, "O people, a verse has been revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbidding intoxicants." The narrator of the hadith said, "We found that one of them, who had a cup in his hand, threw it aside. The one who had some in his mouth also threw it out. They stood up and said, 'We have finished, O our Lord. We have finished, O our Lord.' They stood up and went to the large vessels, and they poured out all of it and threw it into the street. What drove them to do that? They had only heard the words of a person; they had not yet verified it directly from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). They heard the words of a Muslim. Of course, the default is that a Muslim is trustworthy. Yet we today hear the words of Allah directly and do not finish [with our sins]. For example, a Muslim who drinks hears and so on, yet he continues to drink and insists on it as if he had not heard it. He hears the hadiths and hears the sermons and the like. In reality, the end of this community will not be set right except by what set right its beginning. We cannot benefit from the correct knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah unless we follow the path of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the one who brought this call. First, we must establish our correct creed, the correct faith in our hearts, so that we know our Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He), and believe in Him, love Him, and acknowledge that He alone is the Legislator. We are His slaves, and He is the Lord, the Master. We are followers, and our minds are not our reference, nor are they our law. Rather, we submit to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in what we disagree upon. When this foundation is established in our hearts, and when we say that whenever we hear a command from Allah and His Messenger, it is upon our heads and eyes, and no one has a word to say against the words of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), then when we learn, we hasten to apply it and do what Allah and His Messenger command us. It is reported from some of the Companions, I think it was Ibn 'Umar, that he used to say, "We used to learn, we used to read the Qur'an in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we did not move on from it until we learned the knowledge and the action contained in it. So we learned both the knowledge and the action." They did not strive for excessive reading, meaning like some of us who want to memorize the Qur'an, reading and reciting it quickly. Some of us say about some scholars that he completed the recitation of the Qur'an in one night, or for example between Maghrib and 'Isha'. This was not the way of the Companions, (may Allah be pleased with them). They would read the Qur'an, read a few verses, learn what was in them, act upon them, and not move on until they finished that. And so they learned both the knowledge and the action.
This is as he says... they accept the knowledge as if it were military orders. How does a soldier behave? When an order comes from his commander, he applies it and says, "Upon my head and eyes," even if he is not convinced by the order in his heart, or for example, he sees it as wrong or bad. That is how they used to do it. And we are before our Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He). Allah says So when an order comes from Him, you entrust the matter to Allah, and likewise to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So these can be said to be preparatory steps for application, preparatory steps for benefiting from knowledge. What is the method that prepares for benefiting from knowledge, that paves the way for application when we reach knowledge? It is that faith in Allah, love of Him, (Glorified and Exalted is He), and trust in what He has revealed, and trust that He is our Lord, our Judge, and our Legislator, and that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the one who conveys from his Lord, and he is our door to knowing what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has commanded, is established in our hearts. When these meanings become clear in our hearts and we love Him, then we see that the matter is set right quickly, and you see the Muslims not turning away from Islam, but rather embracing it with all their hearts. So an example of that: if a man has children, and this father wants his children to apply his orders. In reality, our Lord, many Muslims, including some Salafis, fall into this. They complain, saying, "By Allah, my brothers, my children are not applying my words, they are not becoming righteous." If we take the time to search and investigate the cause, we may find it, as we hear from some... the child, for example, says, "By Allah, my father has nothing but what is forbidden. He tells me, 'O... this is forbidden, this is forbidden, this is such and such, this is not worth it.'" It is just orders and deterrents, not mixed with, for example, persuasion, not mixed with love, by instilling love in the child's heart, or for example, his advocacy or care for him. This is one of the reasons. So if you want your son to obey you, you must show him from yourself care for him and love for him that makes him trust you. When you then command him with any order, he will say, "Upon my head and eyes." And likewise, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in Makkah made every effort to instill faith in the hearts and convince them of it and establish it. Therefore, the meanings in the Makkan verses, how often do they repeat regarding the Day of Resurrection, regarding the signs of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in the universe, regarding the proofs of His existence? They repeat in many verses with the same meanings but in different styles, to establish this meaning in the soul and to make people love Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and to make them trust in His judgment and in Him, (Glorified and Exalted is He), and to be convinced. This was the firm foundation in their hearts, so that when the various orders and the numerous, many legislations came to them in al-Madinah, commanding them with any order, you see them applying them, applying them and saying, "We hear and we obey. O our Lord, forgive us. And to You is the destination." Likewise, in the matter of the hadith regarding the jilbab of women, they were not commanded with the jilbab before. So when they were commanded with the jilbab, one of the female Companions said, "We took our cloaks and we veiled our heads with them and we donned the jilbab," or as she said, meaning they hastened and rushed to comply without discussion and without objection. Whereas now, any Muslim, for example, if you see him drinking with his left hand, "Drink with your right hand," he will not say to you, "By Allah, for example, this is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) commanded." He verifies this. That Muslim, for example, if a ruling reaches him, he must verify that it exists in the Shari'ah, that it is established, that it is truth. But if it is established, he must say, "Upon my head and eyes."
Yet now, if you tell him, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, for example, 'Eat with your right hand,'" he will say to you, "What is in it? If he ate, if Allah created the right hand, Allah created it." Do you see that the previous meanings we mentioned have become firm in his soul? Absolutely not. So we must start with this aspect: to establish in the hearts of people, in our relatives, and in those we know, faith in Allah, Mighty and Majestic, care for tawhid (the oneness of Allah), love for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and to make them trust that He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), deserves to be the only one worshipped, and there is no worshipped one other than Him, and there is no god but Him. This is with regard to what concerns knowledge, which is the cure for the doubts raised against Islam. As for desires, the cure in reality is for the person to resolve and to remember the Hereafter, and to remember that what is with Allah is greater and more noble, and that this world is perishing, and that death is near, and that to your Lord is the end. When he remembers that and shortens his hope, he knows that the desires of this world count for nothing compared to what Allah has prepared for the righteous believers on the Day of Resurrection: Paradise and abiding pleasure and eternity, not as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them, "In it is what your souls desire," as He, Mighty and Majestic, said. Yes, in the hadith it is in it.

The Shaykh : ...

The questioner :, so this is the cure for the desires that divert people greatly from the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and shows them that these are but trivial matters that do not deserve for him to turn to them or pay much attention to, whether in a little or a lot.
This is what concerns the issue of why Muslims turned away from Islam. Perhaps it is fitting to conclude the discussion by mentioning that we stated, and I mentioned, for example, some of the hadiths regarding the speed of the Muslims' response in applying the commands of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. No, no... The comparison, as the poet says, "Opposites distinguish things". We will mention an incident that clarifies the position of non-Muslims regarding the commands of their governments and constitutions when they are ordered to do something, and how they do not respond to them. Those who study history know that in approximately 1933, people in America complained about the rapid spread of intoxicants and the crimes that occurred as a result. They investigated the matter in the House of Representatives (Congress) and then the government, and after discussion, they decided that the public interest required them to forbid intoxicants in America with a final prohibition. The government adopted this decision and began to call for it through various media, including radio, press, sermons, and the like, as well as laws with penalties imposed on anyone who violated this law. Intoxicants were forbidden and intoxicating drinks were prohibited; anyone who smuggled them was punished. The media, strictness, and pursuit, etc., were employed. What was the result? The situation continued for about ten years, with intoxicants increasing in spread, and people insisting on holding onto them, bearing the cost of the large sums of money due to their high price, and demanding once again that their representatives reverse this decision. Finally, the government announced its reversal of the decision and permitted intoxicants again, and they returned stronger than before. What was the cause of that? When a verse from his Lord was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the Muslims would say, "We hear and we obey," and they would throw the intoxicants until they would become, become like floods in the gutters on the road. And America spends large sums of money, millions, and uses media, state apparatus, police, and so on, and fails. What is the cause of that? The cause, as we said, is the door of faith in Allah the Mighty and Majestic. That Allah the Mighty and Majestic is the One who decreed this. My status before Him in life is that I am a servant of Allah. Allah has the right of lordship. I will stand before Him on the Day of Resurrection, He will judge me, my destiny is in His hands, my end is with Him. My entire life is His property under His command, Blessed and Exalted is He. Therefore, I must be obedient. Then the outcome for the one who obeys is Paradise, and the outcome for the one who disobeys is the Fire. This was the greatest motivator for the Muslims to respond quickly to the command of Allah. Then the love of Allah the Mighty and Majestic and the love of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the trust that He is the Truth and that there is good in it, this is what drove them. As for laws, they are imposed by so-and-so and so-and-so; they do not trust that, for example, it is beneficial, they do not trust that, for example, it has sanctity or legitimacy. Therefore, they evade them and try to abolish them by all means. We must benefit from this, form it in our hearts, spread it among people, and disseminate it among them. We must care about the correct Islamic creed and prepare this preparation that facilitates the application of Islam by spreading faith in Allah, love for Him, Blessed and Exalted is He, and conviction that He is the Legislator, that He is the Lord, and that He is the One worshipped. Then we teach people their Islam, and at that time you will find people accepting the religion of Allah in groups, if Allah wills, and the Muslims will return to their glory, and that is not difficult for Allah. We hope that this will be soon, by the permission of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Another questioner: May Allah give you well-being.
Another questioner: We answered him.
Another questioner: Perhaps.

The questioner : He follows a specific madhhab, or he is a mujtahid following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Another questioner: And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and Allah's mercy and blessings.