We seek reconciliation between the hadiths found in "Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim," including: (Indeed, Allah has angels who move about following the gatherings of dhikr), and the hadith

The questioner : The reconciliation between the hadiths that were reported in the "Mukhtasar" of "Sahih Muslim," some of which he mentioned: , and the hadith where Mu'awiyah came out to a circle in the mosque and said: What has seated you? They said: We sat to remember Allah - Mighty and Majestic - to the end of it; the reconciliation between these two hadiths and the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud regarding his standing over the circles that remember Allah with pebbles, for in the questioner's opinion there is a contradiction; so how is the reconciliation?

The Shaykh : There is absolutely no contradiction, and I will clarify this for you by an example. I think that no one who has any knowledge of fiqh, even traditional fiqh, would approve of this gathering for dhikr, assuming that the two hadiths referred to in the question include this form. Many people, even today, remember Allah - Mighty and Majestic - in a way that is not approved by any of the four madhahib followed by the majority of Muslims today. Among these is that they remember Allah with one voice, limiting themselves to the word of majesty only, not with the best dhikr, "La ilaha illa Allah." Some of them take each other by the hand and form a circle, beginning the dhikr, claiming to say: "Allah, Allah, Allah" with some deliberation, then the voices speed up, then they overlap, and then you hear nothing but moans. And the faster their voices become, the more their movements increase to the right and left. This is undoubtedly a gathering for the remembrance of Allah; so does the questioner include this type of collective dhikr in such hadiths as he referred to?
I believe that no one - at least in this assembly, at least the questioner - I do not think says that this type of dhikr is included in that hadith. I want to ask: Why? Perhaps some of the responsible people would say: Because this is something unreasonable. I do not want the answer to be like that. I want the answer to be: Because this is something not transmitted. Because not every unreasonable thing must be untransmitted, and vice versa; not every transmitted thing must be what? Reasonable. Because these believing minds must submit to the transmitted, but with the condition of authenticity, as you always know from us, forever. Is it reasonable for a stone to be struck with a wooden stick and for twelve springs of water like the water of "Al-Fayjah" to come out of it? It is not reasonable, but , this happened. Is it reasonable for the sea to be struck with his staff and for a path to open before him as if newly paved, and for the army of Musa - peace be upon him - the Children of Israel, to pass through, and for Pharaoh to be deceived by this phenomenon and follow him, so that when the last soldier of the Children of Israel reached the shore, the sea returned as it was? Is it reasonable? It is not reasonable, but it is reasonable; why? Because we now hear news that we do not digest; because we have not studied its premises nor seen its effects with our own eyes, but we believe in it, why? Because the people of knowledge have become certain for us that the people of knowledge verified this matter, this thing, before we saw the "radio" and these recorders, and so on. There are people you know who used to be told that when they heard the "radio" they would say: This is a devil, while it is a machine that man invented by the power of Allah - Mighty and Majestic. All these things were before they were seen unreasonable, but they became real scientific facts.
Similarly, exactly regarding the matters transmitted in the Book of Allah and in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, they are reasonable for some people and unreasonable for some people, like scientific matters; reasonable for people who studied them and studied those who established them and trusted the news transmitted about them, even if they did not see them, just as those who landed on the moon and so on did not see them.
But we have become compelled to believe in that from the scientific aspect. Similarly, the matters of faith are reasonable for some people and unreasonable for some people, contrary to the previous example. The matters of faith are reasonable for the believers that Allah - Mighty and Majestic - is first, capable of everything, and second, that this thing came as news from the Truthful, the Verified, who is the Messenger - peace be upon him - either by Book or by Sunnah; therefore, we believe in everything that came from the Messenger - peace be upon him. So the previous example that I depicted for you; I said: The answer must be that this is not because we do not accept it, nor does it enter the hadiths encouraging the gathering for dhikr because it is unreasonable; no, because it is not transmitted, and consequently, as long as it is not transmitted, it is unreasonable.
And now we expand the circle after we have prepared that we must return to transmission in religious matters before reason, unlike worldly matters; here Islam does not intervene in them, as he explicitly said: , here you give reason its extension to infinity, provided you do not contradict the Shari'ah. If we move to another form of gathering for dhikr other than the previous one; either the matter remains in a state of back and forth; meaning the one who said in the first form: No, it is not transmitted nor reasonable, perhaps we come to another form and hesitate: I wonder if it is transmitted or not? So we judge by the Shari'ah; if it is transmitted, we accept it, and if it is not transmitted, we reject it. For example: the gathering for prayers; some gatherings are transmitted, and some gatherings are not transmitted. For example, we enter the mosque and each of us prays the pre-Zuhr sunnah - for example - or the post-Zuhr sunnah, each one prays for himself; is it prescribed to gather in this prayer, which is a voluntary sunnah rawatib? The answer: No. So if a person is made to think that - brother - the hand of Allah is over the congregation, why are we praying like this scattered, let us pray in congregation until the obligatory prayer is established; would this gathering be prescribed? The answer: No. Why? Because it is not reasonable? Because it is not transmitted, and consequently it becomes what? Unreasonable. Why does it become unreasonable? Because the Muslim mind that judges that this gathering, which we are certain was not transmitted, if it were good, we would have preceded us to it, so the mind judges certainly; so it is not good. The knowledge of good and evil in the Shari'ah, its path is not rational and your mind, but its path is the correct, established transmission from Allah and His Messenger.
This is an example of gathering; so we now take any gathering in dhikr, we request that it be transmitted by a correct transmission path from the Messenger - may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him - , and any gathering in dhikr, either in the Qur'an, or in the tahlil, takbir, tahmid, and tasbih = -- and may Allah have mercy on you -- = the gathering for reciting the Qur'an in a group with one voice, or for the tahlil and other dhikr with one voice, has not been transmitted from the righteous Salaf at all. This has not been transmitted, but what is transmitted is the opposite of that; one of them would meet his brother and say to him: "Sit with us, let us believe for an hour," and what do they do? Do they remember this dhikr that is not transmitted nor reasonable? No, but the matter is one of two things; either they sit and study a verse from the Book of Allah, one of them recites it and explains it if he is the most knowledgeable and learned among them, or another takes charge of explaining it, or each of them sits and remembers Allah in what seems to him from what he memorizes of the Sunnah of the Messenger - peace be upon him -.
This is gathering together for the remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic); whether it is a gathering like ours to deepen our understanding of the religion of Allah from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or a gathering for the remembrance of Allah, whether in secret or aloud. And whoever remembers what he has memorized and feels that his soul is being purified and cleansed by this type of dhikr; for souls differ. This is the Sunnah in dhikr. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the hadiths to which the questioner referred.
And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Call the adhan, O Abu Isha?

Eid Abbasi : Abu Ali.

The Shaykh : Abu Ali.