The Shaykh’s remarks on this phrase: “History repeats itself.”

The Shaykh : ... Perhaps if we return to the first history, we should verify the historical wisdom that says history repeats itself. Is this statement true or not? History repeats itself if we take hold of the causes of the first history, that history will return. If we do not take hold of the causes of the first history, that history will never return. This is among the meanings of the saying of Allah the Exalted: Allah the Mighty and Majestic has laws in this life and in this universe, some of which are natural cosmic laws, and some are divine legislative laws. Whoever takes hold of the first and second causes will reach the desired goal, otherwise not. For example, among the cosmic laws is that if a person does not eat, he dies, and if he does not drink, he dies. This is the law of Allah in His creation, and you will not find any change in the law of Allah. If you want to live a happy life with health and well-being, you must take hold of the natural cosmic causes. Likewise, Allah has legislative laws. Whoever takes hold of them will live happily, just as the earliest Salaf and the first generation of the Companions, then the Tabi'un, and so on, lived. So I want to say: if we return to the history of the Arabs before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), I do not think we are in a worse state than they were. What changed their condition? What took them out of the humiliation and subjugation they were living under the rule of the Persians, the Romans, the Abyssinians, and others? It is that they took hold of the legislative causes, meaning they adopted the Shari'ah that Allah the Exalted revealed upon the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with complete faith, sincerity, and strength. So this community, whom they used to call nothing but camel herders, and we know from the Islamic conquests, when they went to conquer the land of the Persian King Kisra and those lands, and al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah went to speak to the Persian king at that time, that Persian king said to them: “You are a group of hungry people, and you are coming to search for food and drink and the like.” It was all material talk. He said to him: “The truth is, we are like that, but our Lord the Exalted sent us a Messenger. We were dead, but He gave us life. We have come to you so that you may submit with us. If you submit, you will have what we have, and you will be bound by what binds us. If you refuse, there is nothing between us but the sword, and these lands and properties will all be under our control.” This man had no choice but to say to al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah, the noble Companion, who was among the wisest and most political of the Arabs, whose example is cited, that he said to his companion: “The man spoke the truth.” Then a very fierce battle took place, and the victory ultimately went to the Muslims. The point is: if we return to the same legislative causes that the Arabs took hold of when they were humiliated, as we are today, unfortunately, humiliated, may Allah honor us. And so 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said a word that became a proverb, but we are heedless of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, let alone the words of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. He said: “We are a people whom Allah has honored with Islam. So whenever we seek honor by means other than Islam, He will humiliate us.” So we say this. May Allah reward you. Society, we are its authors, we are its shapers, we are its founders. If we are righteous, the society will be righteous, and the opposite is the opposite. And peace be upon you.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, I am saying in response to Abu al-Ra'id’s answer regarding an important factor: you advise their men to guard their women, meaning you prevent them from marrying.

The Shaykh : ... Some of them do not leave the matter without that.

The questioner : You have tired us, O Shaykh, with us.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, your fatigue is my rest.