The Shaykh’s discussion with one of the Lebanese priests regarding his journey.

I will give you an example from my own experience of how I sometimes think and how I handle a matter, so that we do not rush to deal with things without wisdom. I am telling this story as an example of what we are currently discussing, and also because it has a benefit, or perhaps some amusement. One day, we boarded a train in Damascus with some young men, intending to go to a summer resort there called Madya. Usually, the train, like a bus, travels a distance, stops for people to get off and on, and so on until the end. We boarded the train at the Hijaz station; we were there to connect to the Barameka station. The train stopped at a station to pick up a passenger, a resident of that neighborhood who knew one of us, Sa'id al-Ubri the tailor. Do you know him? He got on the train. I knew that he was very close to me, as he had recently married and built a home with his family. The young men with me did not know this. No sooner had the train started moving than one of the young men approached me and whispered, saying, "A priest just got on, and he is in that specific compartment." I nodded to him, understanding that he was suggesting I deal with him—may Allah have mercy on him, he laughed. I moved to the compartment where he was. You know, of course, that the train has two rows of seats running the length of the car, arranged crosswise. I entered among the passengers, most of whom were Muslims, and said, "As-salamu alaykum." He was sitting in that corner. I deliberately did not sit facing him so he would not feel that I had come to provoke him; instead, I sat far away. That was the first step. But I kept thinking about how I would bring up the subject with him. This required an appropriate introduction. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as He said in the Noble Qur'an—and this must be firmly imprinted in our hearts: Soon the opportunity came, sent by Allah. It was the entry of this man named Sa'id al-Ubri, who had married just the day before. Now, the door was open for me to approach this man in an indirect way. I said to him, "Listen, our young man, and therefore the Christian, is a Lebanese Maronite priest, wearing the long black fez. If you saw him, he would look like a black blob." So I said to our friend, this Sa'id, "I congratulate you with what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to congratulate his Companions with, so I say: I do not congratulate you with what the first age of ignorance used to say, or what the ignorance of the twentieth century says in the pages of newspapers and magazines, 'May you have prosperity and sons.' I do not offer this congratulation because the wise Shari'ah has forbidden us from it. What does 'prosperity and sons' mean? How many parents have been given sons and did not rejoice in them? First, the outcome of their affair was bad. But this gathers all the good. I went on and on; I remember the chain of the topic well. I naturally spoke about some of the greatness of Islam and the etiquettes of Islam that others have forbidden. For example, Islam addressed the health of Muslims through religion, because they did not have doctors who knew the details of diseases. But in the name of religion, it alerted them to things that science, after long centuries before and after Islam, has now discovered some of. For instance, the wise Shari'ah forbade Muslims from drinking or eating from a cracked or hairy vessel. The Muslims stopped using such vessels. This is a religious prohibition, but it has a medical meaning. The Muslims did not know the secret or the wisdom behind it at that time. Now the secret has been revealed: the fine hair in the crack is difficult to see with the naked eye, and doctors today claim that there are millions of germs. So the religion told them, "Do not use this vessel." I mentioned this when I felt the priest was full, full to the point of wanting to speak. I said to myself, "I do not want this, but I remained silent." And then he launched into speech, saying, "If Islam is like this, look at the difference. How did I enter the conversation and how did he enter? Because he is not seeking inspiration from the Lord of the Worlds. Look how he jumped this jump. What did he say? 'If Islam is like this, why did the Muslims declare Ataturk a disbeliever?' Look what he brought up; there is absolutely no connection between my discussion and his question. Why did they declare Ataturk a disbeliever? Because he forced the Turkish people to wear the European hat. The lesson is in what is in the hearts. He supported this action. I left him to express everything in his heart... They did not declare Ataturk a disbeliever, but he judged himself as a disbeliever when he rejected the Shari'ah of his Lord, the One who said: Naturally, any Muslim who objects to the Shari'ah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is not a Muslim. This is first. Second, I mean, first, the Muslims declared him a disbeliever for this. Second, Ataturk, you say that this hat has no effect; it has become universal, as he expressed it, and the lesson is in the faith in the heart. We told him, "No, this is rejected in Islam." Just now, in a detailed manner, I told him that the perfection of Islam lies in the fact that it established principles and rules that it obligated Muslims to adhere to in order to preserve their Muslim identity. So the wise Shari'ah, just as it treated the diseases of the hearts and souls hidden in the bodies, also treated