He spoke about Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr’s rebuilding of the Ka'bah.

The Shaykh : And it had occurred to me, while I was discussing this hadith of Aisha, to digress briefly and speak about how the Ka'bah was later built upon the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). But I feared that this digression might not be appropriate for the answer, so I set it aside. Now I say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has decreed that the Ka'bah’s structure be returned, in part, to the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). This was during the time of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr’s uprising against the Umayyad caliph, I think it was Abd al-Malik. Yes, and the people were called to pledge allegiance to him as caliph in Makkah... in the state of his having appointed himself caliph for the Muslims. So he demolished a part of the Ka'bah and exposed the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). They are described in a way that does not come to my mind right now, because it is a geometric description; I do not know how it was... whether it was flat or stacked one upon the other. So Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him and with his father) rebuilt the Ka'bah on the foundation of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), because he had received the command from the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). And you know that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was the son of the sister of the Lady Aisha, Asma (may Allah be pleased with her). But, unfortunately, politics and the grudges that were running at that time between some of the rulers intervened. When Allah (Mighty and Majestic) decreed, with the wisdom He intended, that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) be killed and that the matter and the caliphate be settled for Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, he ordered the demolition of the Ka'bah that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr had renewed and its return to the state it was in during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, or rather in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who had wished to return it to the foundation of Ibrahim but feared fitnah, so he left the pre-Islamic structure of the Ka'bah as it was. So Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan returned the Ka'bah to the state it was in during the first period. Then, unfortunately, he regretted it, and I wish he had not done what he regretted. For Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih that there was a gathering in the presence of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, and the topic of the Ka'bah and what Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr had done to return it to the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) came up. Naturally, Abd al-Malik denied that regarding Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. So one of those present, who had heard the hadith about what I am mentioning now—the intermediary was not Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, but from the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her)—stated that she was the one who informed Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr of the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr did nothing but what he received from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) through his aunt Aisha. Here Abd al-Malik regretted it and said, "If I had known that beforehand, I would not have done what I did." Therefore, the foundations and these bases are known; it is known that they remain. I think the section...

The questioner : My Shaykh, in response to what happened between Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and al-Harith ibn Abdullah, in fact, given the closeness of the era between them and the time of the Prophethood, there was not a far difference in time; they were all in the first century. But with this, it becomes clear to us that the knowledge of narrations, sunnahs, and athar, the knowledge of the later generations compared to the earlier ones, is the same regarding nearness and distance, I mean in terms of forgetting and leaving. Some of them forget, some of them leave what they know, and some of them did not know it at all. So when I say that nearness and distance are the same in this matter, I mean that knowledge depends on knowing the athar and sunnahs whose attribution to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is established. Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan denied it against himself later, where he said, "If I had known what I know now, I would not have left it and would not have borne it." So here it becomes clear to us that Abd al-Malik, in his intelligence, did not know what came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) or what Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr narrated from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). And this is an argument for us that leads us to the path... to the Day of Resurrection, that we, praise be to Allah, if we forget or make a mistake, we are, praise be to Allah, protected in our matter. We protect ourselves with this principle. We are speaking about the first period, and yet in the first period, no one denied another; rather, Abd al-Malik admitted finally that the matter was against him. The second point, my Shaykh, is the establishment of bid'ah (religious innovation). Glory to Allah the Great, the establishment of bid'ah and its long duration among people makes it a past sunnah in what is known. And therefore, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, if he had waited, or called upon the people at least to look into the matter, or if he had, for example, spread a question among the people and said, "Who among you knows that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was right in what he did?" perhaps many would have answered him, other than even al-Harith ibn Abdullah. So I say that the long duration of people with bid'ah makes them also hasten in changing the sunnah and removing it. And this is what happened, and may Allah forgive Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and may Allah forgive Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and may He join us, if Allah wills, with the righteous. My Shaykh, you mentioned the word of Imam Ahmad that he used to see the breaking of musical instruments and entertainment, but on the condition that no harm occurs. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him), the patient one who sought reward, who revived the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with his patience against harm, and his story regarding the creation of the Qur'an is a story that will not be forgotten through the ages. This strong man established this principle himself and spoke about it. So what about us in these days, where one of us is often unable to be patient in the face of a small and very small fitnah!

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him.

The questioner : May Allah have mercy on Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

Another questioner : The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was in the peak of his strength...

The questioner : Then the second point, my Shaykh, caught my attention in your view or in this principle that you clarified, a new clarity, that the individual, if he wants to forbid what is wrong and finds strength in himself, it is not permissible for him to use this strength except after he looks into this group. This is one point. As for the second, if we examine the history of Islam from its beginning to its end, we will find that those who took this position indicated by the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are a very few, meaning compared to the masses of the ummah, they are less than very few. And therefore, when we cite, for example, Sa'id ibn Jubayr or so-and-so from those who passed in this history, in fact, we mention Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) as the first one we mention. We mention Imam Ahmad, and yet he said this great word, warning as if he is warning... which we hear often in these days. My Shaykh, there remains a part of the question as well. I hope that even if the answer to it has been decided or occurred in many of the scholarly gatherings we have witnessed with you or at your place, may Allah bless you. We mentioned two methodologies among these Islamic groups, two methodologies, each of whose proponents claims that he is the owner of the right in this, because nothing changes in the matter unless the methodology he believes in is applied. We said that there are, let us call them extremists, those who say that change by force is obligatory, whatever the results. And indeed, what has happened in some Muslim lands now, where some enthusiastic youth, and we do not know what is behind that either, are rushing to remove some of the old graves that people claim are the graves of righteous people or such. Allah knows best what they have done!

The Shaykh : You mean the structure.

The questioner : I mean the construction, yes. I do not mean digging up graves, but rather the structures built on top of graves in some of the lands of the Muslims. Do you accept removing them by force? There is no doubt that in that lies a great harm, including the shedding of blood and the violation of the sanctity of souls, among other great harms resulting from the extremism in which these people have fallen. Such great dangers and terrible consequences have led to the loss of some people's lives. The second group, or the proponents of the second methodology, say that there must be a gradual approach to reform work: starting by teaching the people jurisprudence and educating them, beginning by correcting and purifying the creed, and raising generations with an Islamic upbringing in accordance with the legal rulings and religious branches that the trustworthy spirit brought down upon the heart of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We also want a specific word on this matter so that the face of the truth becomes clear. I do not say this for ourselves again, but for others, for we, praise be to Allah, know the face of the truth in this, but it is for clarification and explanation for those who are ignorant of this matter. May Allah reward you with good?