Continuation of the discussion on the path to applying the Book and the Sunnah in our contemporary reality, and what is the ruling for one who is unable to apply them?

The questioner: Does he sin ... . Trade and transactions .

The Shaykh: All of this is tied to studying knowledge in the correct manner from the Book of Allah and from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); and this is the obligation of the people of knowledge; so whoever is able to [study] the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), that is his obligation, and it is not permissible for him to study Islam by any other means, because of the many verses that came ordering us to return to the Book and the Sunnah; and some of them have been mentioned previously; and as for the one who is not able, Allah does not burden a soul beyond that which it can bear; and we mentioned earlier the verse .. And the people of dhikr are the people of the Qur'an in understanding, action, and application; so whoever is able to understand and then does not act, there is no doubt that he is sinful; otherwise, what is the purpose of the revelation of the Book upon the heart of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and Allah’s command to him regarding the Qur'an to make clear to the people what was revealed to them? Is it not acting upon it, without doubt or hesitation? And there is no doubt or hesitation that the path to acting upon the Book and the Sunnah is knowledge; so knowledge usually precedes action; so if every person, for example, wants to perform an act of worship, you want to pray and you know that it is obligatory for you to perform wudu', if you do not learn wudu' you will not pray, and if you pray you will not perform the prayer well, so it is a very obvious matter that knowledge of obedience and worship precedes worship; so if you are commanded to pray, you are commanded to know how to pray, to learn how to pray, and so it is with all acts of worship and so it is with the entire Shari'ah; so without doubt he is sinful; but not all Muslims, because the seeking of knowledge is divided into two categories: individual obligation (fard 'ayn), which is obligatory upon every Muslim, for example: a poor man, it is obligatory for him to pray; but it is not obligatory for him to pay zakah, and it is not obligatory for him to perform Hajj; so it is obligatory for him to know how to pray so that he performs it well and it is accepted by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He); but it is not obligatory for him to know the rulings of zakah and the rulings of Hajj; but if his wealth reaches the nisab and a lunar year has passed, it becomes obligatory for him to know what is obligatory for him regarding zakah, and so on; and the second type of knowledge is collective obligation (fard kifayah), which is that there be among the Muslims people who are well-versed in the Book of Allah in all the rulings of the Shari'ah, so that if a questioner asks about a rare issue, for example, he has an answer because he has become well-versed in the Book of Allah and in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); and from this it becomes clear the danger of turning away from studying the Book and the Sunnah; because issues are found in every time and place, and a person cannot give an answer if he is restricted to one of the schools of jurisprudence and is not well-versed in the Book of Allah and in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); I do not know, so as not to go too far, perhaps I have rambled in my answer regarding your question; your question is whether they are sinful; without doubt, those who are able to study the Book and the Sunnah and then turn away from it or from them are sinful; but as for those who are unable, Allah does not burden a soul beyond that which it can bear; yes.

The questioner: ...

The Shaykh: What I answered you....

The questioner: The application of the hadith by saying ... .

The Shaykh: Excuse me, I want to understand from you, are you now asking about the application or about the knowledge?

The questioner: The knowledge and the application that comes from it ... .

The Shaykh: So now we have left the scientific aspect, okay - not just my opinion - now you are asking about a person among people who is unable to apply it, the answer is easy; but in many cases the question is not realistic, it is said that he is unable to pray, for example; if we assume for the sake of argument, we would say it is not possible for Allah to ... not pray; but is it true that he is unable to pray? It is not true; but in his perception he thinks he is unable to pray, and we know many sick people who are diligent in their prayers when they are healthy, so when they are confined to their beds they abandon the prayer; what is wrong with you, so-and-so? By Allah, I am not able to perform wudu', my clothes are dirty, and so on; okay, pray within the limits of your ability . If this person says that he is unable to pray, that is not true; so if you want to clarify this aspect, you must give an example of what is the legal ruling that you imagine the one obligated by it is unable to perform, whatever that ruling is, if the claim is true, it says he is unable; so we say the obligation is lifted from him because he is unable; but I fear, and I fear greatly, that there is an example in your mind similar to the example I gave earlier, that so-and-so does not pray claiming he is unable to pray, no, I am saying he is unable to pray because of his ignorance; here the necessity of knowledge returns, otherwise he is able to pray, as came in the authentic hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of 'Imran ibn Husayn, he said: I had hemorrhoids, so I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and he said: . If he is able to pray, but after knowing how to pray, for this one who is unable to pray standing, can we understand from you an example regarding your question?

The questioner: For example, an employee in a company, for example, the government gave him social security and part of his salary he takes from social security and then it is placed in banks and riba .... so what is his position in that case?

The Shaykh: Ah, look how the example clarifies the issues; this example is like my previous ideal example, you are now saying he is forced; is he forced to work in this company? You will say obviously no.

The questioner: All companies practice the same system.

The Shaykh: No problem, is he forced to work in all companies? He will say this, and you from before, he is not forced; so the question is based on one who is not forced; they say in Syria, "He who does not want to see bad dreams, let him not sleep between the graves," so if he sleeps between the graves, he will go and see bad dreams; okay, if he works in a company that does not adhere to the rulings of the Shari'ah, he has to be exposed to things in which he violates the Shari'ah; but is he forced? He is not forced to work.

The questioner : So...

The Shaykh: This is a second discussion, but are you convinced by my saying that so-and-so is not forced to work in such-and-such a company? I am giving you an example now that is related, and I was asked about it recently, it is related to prayer, people ... on weekdays they allow "May Allah increase him in good" they allow them to pray Zuhr, for example, where they work, they do not allow them to go to the mosque, you, without offense, this might be an example; that he is unable to pray on Friday; but I look at the issue fundamentally, is it obligatory for him to work in this company that does not allow him to respond to the command of Allah when he hears the call of the mu'adhdhin on Friday "Hayya 'ala al-salah, Hayya 'ala al-falah"? Is he unable to do anything but work in this company; consequently, he is unable to pray the Friday prayer? The answer is no; "What is built upon what is defective is itself defective," his work in this company, especially if he knows beforehand that the employees there are not free in their worship, and then it becomes clear to them after a month or two that they take their salary for a month or two, and so on; and he is forced to obey this disbeliever and not obey the Lord of the worlds in what He commanded him of prayer; this, my brother, is not valid to say that he is unable; the one who is unable is the ability that has left him, like the person we mentioned earlier, the paralyzed person, he is unable to stand and pray, it is correct to say that he is unable; but he is, by his spirit, engaging in all the causes that stand between him and the obedience of Allah, among which is that he enters into a job that prevents him from performing the obedience, so he says at that time he is unable; no, he is able, but he preferred worldly life over the Hereafter; for this reason I was cautious about that question because it is raised often that one is unable; I imagine that in many cases the questioner is able; butThe questioner : Because he is not a jurist in Islam and the Shari'ah in his conception; in fact, with all his mental clarity, he is unable to do so. But the jurist, by the Book and the Sunnah, makes the matter clear to him, and then he is able to do it. Therefore, I answered you previously: if the question is in its proper place, . But when there is a way to escape the claimed inability, he must take that way and not throw himself into what he knows he will fall short of in performing what Allah has made obligatory upon him. Please.