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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The Shaykh’s remarks on the hadith: (And do not kneel down as a camel kneels down), along with his explanation of how much he benefited from and learned the Arabic language from the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)

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The Shaykh : The Messenger (peace be upon him) in this hadith; in truth, I am very proud that I learned the Arabic language from the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Had it not been for that, I would have been like one of those Bedouins, driven by the whip of the public, and things would have ended there. But since I am not Arab, and I do not rely on being Arab, the situation compels me to be a researcher. I find that, by Allah, I understand more than those Arabs. It is one of the wonders of things that to this day the Arabs do not know that a camel kneels on its knees. So they come to interpret the clear, authentic hadith. Some say, like Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah forgive us and him—that this hadith is reversed. Or they tell you that the intended meaning of the hadith is not placing the knees before the hands or the reverse, but rather the posture. That one does not kneel down as a camel kneels down, nor does one stand up as a camel stands up. So we have told people repeatedly: My brother, this is the image that the group has imagined.
First: it contradicts the hadith that says:
when one of you prostrates himself he must not kneel in the manner of camel إذا سجد أحدكم فلا يبرك كما يبرك البعير
Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani)
If the matter were only that, it would be enough for us to understand that in the Arabic language. But the hadith has a continuation. It is as if one asks: If we want not to kneel down as a camel kneels down, how do we prostrate?
but should put down his hands before his knees وليضع يديه قبل ركبتيه
Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani)
And Ibn al-Qayyim came with the bad Sunnah—and I hope it is forgiven for him in light of what? His many good deeds—and he said: What is this hadith? It is reversed. And take the majority that is driven by the whip, the lash. They tell you this hadith is reversed. You review the words of Ibn al-Qayyim...
With a hadith that is the reversed one. He claimed the reversal in the first authentic hadith, with a hadith that is reversed. Why? Because the one who narrated it is accused of lying, and he is:
when one of you prostrates himself he must not kneel in the manner of camel, but should put down his hands before his knees إذا سجد أحدكم فلا يبرك كما يبرك البعير وليضع ركبتيه قبل يديه
Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani)
He tells you there, Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated, saying: So-and-so told me, so-and-so told me. The chain ends with Abdullah ibn Abi Sa'id al-Madani from his father from Abu Hurayrah. And this Abdullah is accused of lying. With this hadith, even if it were not opposed to the authentic hadith, the narration of this abandoned narrator would be a reason to reject it. The entire language testifies, and the Arabic texts confirm that the camel kneels on its knees. And the wonder is that before this, Ibn al-Qayyim, at the end of his research, brought a report from 'Umar, which is authentic. It supports his view that the Sunnah is to kneel on the knees. But he does not notice that he is demolishing his view. The statement of those who say that the camel’s knees are in its front legs; what is the report? It says about 'Umar that when he prostrated, he would kneel on his knees as a camel kneels down. If that is how the camel kneels, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was saying—if that addition had not been there:
when one of you prostrates himself he must not kneel in the manner of camel إذا سجد أحدكم فلا يبرك كما يبرك البعير
Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani)
.
Then there are authentic hadiths, one in Sahih al-Bukhari and the other in Sahih Muslim. The one in Sahih al-Bukhari is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) once addressed the people and said to them:
you will not ask me about anything but I will inform you of its answer ما تسألوني عن شيء إلا أخبرتكم به
Sahih al-Bukhari 7294
One man stood up and asked a question I no longer remember what it was. Another man stood up and said: Where is my father? He said:
in the Fire في النار
And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) became extremely angry at these questions that have no benefit. He said: Then perhaps 'Umar or another of the Companions came and they knelt on their knees, and they said: O Messenger of Allah, allow us to cut off the head of thisThe questioner : man, because he angered the Messenger (peace be upon him).
As for the other hadith in Muslim, it relates to His saying, the Exalted:
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. Whether you show what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will bring you to account for it. Then He will forgive whom He wills and punish whom He wills, and Allah is over all things competent. لله ما في السموات وما في الأرض وإن تبدوا ما في أنفسكم أو تخفوه يحاسبكم به الله فيغفر لمن يشاء ويعذب من يشاء والله على كل شيء قدير
[Al-Baqarah 2:284]
The Companions came to him and knelt on their knees, and they said: O Messenger of Allah, we were commanded to pray, so we prayed, and to perform Hajj, so we performed Hajj, and so on. But that Allah should hold us accountable for what is in our hearts, that is something we have no capacity for. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Do you want to say what the people of Musa said to Musa: We heard and we disobeyed? Say: We heard and we obeyed. So they kept saying it and repeating it until their tongues became soft with it and their hearts submitted to it أتريدون أن تقولوا كما قال قوم موسى لموسى : سمعنا وعصينا , قولوا : سمعنا وأطعنا , فما زالوا يقولونها ويرددونها حتى ذلت بها ألسنتهم وخضعت لها قلوبهم
Then Allah revealed afterwards:
(285) The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination." (286) Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people." آمن الرسول بما أنزل إليه من ربه والمؤمنون كل آمن بالله وملائكته وكتبه ورسله لا نفرق بين أحد من رسله وقالوا سمعنا وأطعنا غفرانك ربنا وإليك المصير لا يكلف الله نفسا إلا وسعها
[Al-Baqarah 2:285-286]
The hearts of the Companions were then at peace. The point in both hadiths is the Arabic expression that they knelt on their knees. Why, then, in prayer, as one of the postures of the Sunnah, do they interpret the hadith to mean that one drops down as a camel drops down? That is, without accountability, as they say in our region in Syria, "he becomes a donkey on top of his head." My brothers, this is not a condition. Instead of me hitting the ground with my knees, there are only three or four fingers between the ground and my knees, and I am doing what? I am hitting the ground with my palms, and I am as if I am upright. And likewise, when I want to stand up, I stand up as if I am one piece. So they imagine things, imagining them for what? To implement the wrong opinion. There is no god but Allah. O Allah, guide us among those You have guided.
... He explicitly states that the camel’s knees are in its front legs. And likewise, all four-legged animals: the cat, the rabbit, the horse. Do you remember something on the occasion of the horse? When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) emigrated from Makkah to al-Madinah, Suraqah ibn Malik ibn Ju'asham caught up with him.

The questioner : Its front legs sank to its knees.

The Shaykh : Well done. So he was pursuing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) on his horse. When he got close to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the front legs of the horse sank to the knees. All these texts have no value. With whom? With the Arabs. By Allah, if the non-Arabs like us were in that position, it would be a wonder.
Abu Layla : We excuse you, O our Shaykh, if you have this

The Shaykh: There is no power nor strength except with Allah.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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