The Shaykh’s remarks on the hadiths that deny faith or prayer, or similar matters, and what this denial implies, such as “There is no faith for one who has no trustworthiness”

The questioner : Some answered, O our Shaykh, that it is not accepted, meaning it does not imply invalidity or non-fulfillment.

The Shaykh : What is the evidence?

The questioner : Some hadiths were narrated from the Messenger of Allah containing the phrase “not accepted,” such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . They said that here, this does not negate the validity of the act.

The Shaykh : What is the evidence? Stay in your place.

The questioner: Stay in your place.

The Shaykh : What is the evidence that this prayer is valid?

The questioner : Yes, they say here.

The Shaykh : No, not here, there.

The questioner : There?

The Shaykh : So, what is the evidence that the prayer there is accepted? Or, excuse me, that the prayer is valid?

The questioner : Whoever visits a fortune-teller...

The Shaykh : Yes, his prayer is not accepted for forty days. What is the evidence that this prayer is valid?

The questioner : The evidence is that we do not tell the one who went to a fortune-teller, "Do not pray," and there is no one among the scholars who said...

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. Is that the meaning of the hadith? It means that if he prays, his prayer is not accepted; it does not mean that we tell him not to pray.

The questioner : So it is not accepted.

The Shaykh : It is not accepted, of course. We are not saying something other than what the Messenger said…

The questioner : Meaning, his prayer is not valid?

The Shaykh : It is not valid, of course.

The questioner : And if we are asked, do we say it is not valid?

The Shaykh : I mean, Professor, pay attention. When we interpret a text, it is not permissible to distort a word, just as we said regarding commands. The default ruling for commands is obligation. If we say a command is not for obligation, we must have evidence. When we say “the prayer is not accepted,” there is a text where this does not mean ruling the prayer invalid. We need evidence. If the evidence is found, we act according to it, and we reconcile our belief in it with our belief in the first text that we interpreted using the second text. Is this not the path? Therefore, we said that we are asking, not denying. What is the evidence for the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): ? That is, it does not mean that her prayer is invalid. You brought the second hadith, and I remained with my finger raised, asking, “What is the evidence?” I am still saying this until the evidence is presented.

The questioner : And I still say that if a woman prays without a head covering, her prayer is invalid. But I say that this doubt was raised by the one who claimed this statement. Here, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and here he said: .

The Shaykh : “Not accepted” means his prayer is invalid. Whoever claims otherwise must provide evidence.
Al-Halabi : Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him), in *Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam*, mentions in his commentary some hadiths containing the phrase “Allah does not accept such and such.” He said: The phrase “not accepted” carries two possible meanings. It may mean the validity of the act, i.e., the non-acceptance of the act’s validity, and it may mean the non-acceptance of satisfaction. Therefore, to be certain of one of these meanings here, we need evidence.

The Shaykh : This, Professor, is said by many, even al-Shawkani. But we say, but we say, the first thing that comes to mind when a listener hears this phrase is not this philosophy at all. I call it philosophy because there is no specific evidence for the meaning, according to what you said about Ibn Rajab. So, we have no evidence now. How do we understand from this hadith ? What does it mean, that it is accepted? But at a lower level? This is rejected. Look, if we followed the hadiths that begin with the word “Allah does not accept,” and we found that for some of these hadiths, evidence exists that “acceptance” here does not mean invalidity, we would stop there.
Al-Halabi : We stop at those, and not in general.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, we do not take it as a general rule. We say that evidence has been established, because it is like the real and the metaphorical, as they say. If it is established in a text that another text compels us to interpret it, we act according to the two texts, but we do not generalize it. We leave the matter as it is, like , like: “No prayer.” “No prayer” may be a denial of validity, or it may be a denial of perfection. If it is established as a denial of perfection in a specific text, we do not generalize it to all texts. No, because the apparent meaning of a denial is the denial of the essence or the denial of validity. If the denial of the essence is not possible, then yes, this is how it is here. “Allah does not accept,” if it appears in some hadiths—and I am not currently recalling, of course, a hadith where the Messenger explicitly states that Allah does not accept, yet its meaning is that this act of worship is valid. Now I am remembering a hadith in *al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib* . Do you remember it?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh What is its beginning?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : Yes, what does this mean? It is not open to interpretation at all. If there is a text containing a denial of acceptance, like a text containing a denial of perfection, not a denial of the essence, like , this is not for the denial of perfection, because there are decisive evidence that compels us to this meaning. But , we do not interpret it with this interpretation, because there we interpreted it as a denial of perfection. So we come and say here it is for the denial of perfection? No. Every text is treated specially according to the surrounding texts. Likewise, we say regarding the phrase , the text must be understood according to its apparent meaning unless there is an indication that this apparent meaning is not intended. Yes, it is my turn. May Allah reward you with good. In the name of Allah, please allow me a moment. It is clear to you that you have cheated. You put an extra piece… What does it mean, making a scale?