"Begin with what Allah began with," and in another wording, "I begin with what Allah began with." Does this indicate the obligation of beginning or its conditionality?

The questioner : The full text in the research...The Shaykh : Ibn Jarir, in some of what he mentioned regarding the hadiths of disagreement in *al-Silsilah al-Sahihah*, stated that it is obligatory to arrange the actions mentioned in the Noble Qur'an in order, and he cited the hadith . Then he mentioned the mass-transmitted hadith of Shaykh Ahmad, saying that there is no [evidence] for the arrangement... the ablution after mentioning the hadith of ablution in the night... the Qur'an.

The Shaykh : Yes, briefly, what is the issue?

The questioner : Is the arrangement mentioned in the Qur'an a condition?

The Shaykh : This arrangement mentioned in the verse of ablution is not a condition, is it? Well, it is clear in the verse... the combination, but you mentioned this hadith for the sake of the Hajj, yes.

The questioner : The hadith of ablution becomes... yes.

The Shaykh : No problem, my brother. You have now mentioned what we do not have, or did you mention the hadith of Hajj just now? Is that not so? Well, what does the hadith of Hajj indicate?

The questioner : Beginning with what Allah began with.

The Shaykh : Beginning with what Allah began with. This is not a point of disagreement, but you must clarify the question or issue you are asking about. Are you asking about the mere beginning? No one disagrees that the beginning is a recommended practice (sunnah). But what is the question, as I understand it?

The questioner : Is the arrangement a condition?

The Shaykh : The answer is that the arrangement is not a condition, but it is recommended (sunnah). What does the hadith of Jabir indicate?

The questioner : The beginning.

The Shaykh : Do not say "the beginning," we understood. And do not say "the start," which is the most accurate wording, because the start, my brother, may be a condition or a pillar, or it may be an obligation (fard), or it may be a recommended practice (sunnah). So which ruling are you looking into?

The questioner : The conditionality of the arrangement.

The Shaykh : This hadith, may Allah reward you, does not indicate the conditionality of the beginning, but rather indicates the lawfulness (sharia) of the beginning. And what we should be aware of is that the hadith was reported in two wordings. The first wording is and the other wording is . If the hadith had come in the first narration, "Begin" (abd'u), that would indicate obligation. But the hadith came in the wording . It came in two wordings, but the second wording is the stronger position (rajih), and the story is one, because the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) argument was not repeated, and this statement of his was not repeated. So the stronger position, as we discussed this topic in some of my books, is that the correct and preserved narration is in the wording . Do you have anything, Abu al-Harith?
Al-Halabi : Yes.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
Al-Halabi : In the book *Tammam al-Mannah*, there is an affirmation of the statement, and in an additional marginal note he says: "A previous hadith, and in the authentic hadith ." The Shaykh comments, saying: "The hadith in this wording is anomalous (shadhdh) and not correct; the preserved one is only in the wording 'I begin' (abda'u) in the form of a statement, not in the form of a command. This is how Muslim and others narrated it, as I established in *Irwa' al-Ghalil*, so refer to it." Then, regarding the sixth premise, he said: "It was not narrated from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he performed ablution except in order." I said: "I followed the author in this, and Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) also followed him, where he explicitly stated it in *Zad al-Ma'ad*. And I refuted him in *al-Ta'liqat al-Jiyad* with what Ahmad narrated, and through his route Abu Dawud, from al-Muqdam ibn Ma'di Karib, who said: . Its chain is correct, and al-Shawkani said, 'Its chain is sound (sahih).' And al-Diya' narrated it in *al-Mukhtarat*, and it indicates the non-obligation of the arrangement. I add here that I say al-Nawawi and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar graded its chain as good (hasan)."