The Difference Between the Sunnahs of Custom and the Sunnahs of Worship

The Shaykh : In their case, there is excess and deficiency regarding the Sunnah. These matters, such as the qalansuwa (cap) or the 'imamah (turban) over the qalansuwa, or the 'adhba (band) for the 'imamah, are undoubtedly matters established from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). However, they have no relation—may Allah have mercy on you—to what? To acts of worship. They come as some scholars call them, the Sunnahs of custom. Likewise, eating with your hand or eating with a spoon or a fork or the like; these are matters of custom, not acts of worship. However, if one eats with his hand for the sake of the Sunnah, then all those who eat with their hands today are contradicting the Sunnah, because the Sunnah is to eat with three fingers. I do not see one of these people who have been afflicted with contradicting the Sunnah by eating with their hands actually conforming to the Sunnah by eating with three fingers of his hand. It is not so for the one who eats with an invented tool, like any of the means that make the difficult easy and bring the far near, and the like. As we said at the beginning of the session, these have no relation to the Shari'ah, but rather they are from what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created for His servants. So clinging to this aspect, those people fell into it. It is obligatory for them to have an 'imamah, and for it to have an 'adhba. Although it is established in the Sunnah that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not always wear an 'imamah. Sometimes he would wear the qalansuwa without an 'imamah, sometimes an 'imamah without a qalansuwa, and sometimes he would combine them. But the apparent thing, and for which they are to be thanked, is that if you meet one of them, you find in them sincerity, affection, and love, especially among themselves. In contrast to this excess in adhering to the Sunnah, they have a very serious deviation in 'aqidah (creed), in that they are Ash'aris in what? In the attributes. So they interpret the verses of the attributes, until even their Shaykh, who has a specific book on interpreting the verses of the attributes, and affirming that the verse means "he took control" and not "he rose above." So the point is, this man has good deeds and he has deviations. Nevertheless, now in Egypt, or I do not know now, in fact, because it has been more than ten years since I have been able to go to Egypt. What I knew in the past is that they were counted in the millions, because of this man's sincerity in his da'wah and the deviation that we attribute to him. Perhaps it was from his ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), and he will be rewarded for it, if Allah wills. In summary of all this, I hope for you that this land becomes a green paradise frequented by scholars and students of knowledge, and that this place becomes a beacon for spreading the correct knowledge that conforms to the Book and the Sunnah. This is what I wanted to say on this occasion.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And you

The questioner : I followed up with a simple word containing thanks to my brothers. May Allah reward you all with good. All praise is to Allah, we praise Him and seek His help and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the bad of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can mislead him, and whom He misleads, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. And then: My brothers, by Allah, how happy I was for this good gathering. I was not expecting this attendance, because I had agreed with my brother, Dr. Taysir, that we would hold a walimah (wedding feast) because of this blessing that Allah bestowed upon me in this time. So I said to him, let us slaughter a sheep and feed those you know, my brother. He said to me, there, if Allah wills, we will slaughter a sheep or two. So I knew that there were other individuals who had learned about this sheep and so on. He said to me, do you see any objection to the attendance increasing? I said to him, slaughter ten sheep. If the people will attend and eat these sheep, take a thousand dinars for me.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : Why did I say that? I wanted to draw attention. In fact, our honorable Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him with a wide mercy, Abu Yusuf, taught us the great generosity of the Sunnah. He reads us hadiths, and a hadith passed by me that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So he was encouraging us to give.

The Shaykh : ... In my opinion, yes.

The questioner : And the many hadiths, giving, especially when wealth increases and begins to flow from every direction and this drowns one. Another hadith passed by me from our brotherThe Shaykh : Abu Yusuf that the believer must always, when he sees wealth gushing forth, and this is from Allah, not from intelligence, to scatter it like this and like that in all directions and scatter it in good. So I said to him to conduct an experiment, because I was poor and destitute. By Allah, I could not, as a boy in Qalqilya, buy a single date.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner : And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) made me successful in my studies by His grace, and I went and studied, and before I entered the university, I said, O Lord, I am poor. This study, if Allah wills, will have a share for the people of Islam, if Allah wills. And by Allah, I was ignorant, and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) gave me a study in engineering, this great thing and the great secrets in mechanical engineering. And Allah has blessed me now in my study and in my work, and I have twenty years. So I saw that I should choose my land, if Allah wills, as I approached rest, that I sit and rest, if Allah wills. So I saw that I should buy a garden, and I said I would buy it close to the people of my town here in al-Majdal. We have friends, if Allah wills, who are good, and I bought it, and it was, praise be to Allah, a good share. This garden I bought, and it was rocks and thorns.

The Shaykh : So it is not a garden...

The questioner : A mountain.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : I mean a mountain.

The Shaykh : You will make it, if Allah wills, a lush garden.

The questioner : If Allah wills, I saw after we invested in it and plowed it, that it is extremely suitable. It was, I mean, contrary to my expectations.

The Shaykh : Barren.

The questioner : Barren, and we intended, if Allah wills, to plant it and tree it. And every work you want, my brother, my personal experience, advice to my brothers in Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He): everything you want to plant for yourself, fertilize it. The tree needs fertilizer. What is the secret of the success of the tree so that it grows more, and the success of the works I have passed through, is that I do not do a good work except that I attach to it something for the people, for the Muslims, and for the righteous. So if you are keen on this rule, you must always put something of your work for Allah and His Messenger and for the believers, and do not forget this matter so that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) blesses this work. And you are more aware and knowledgeable than I, my Shaykhs. Now, your path is Allah, then our Salafi brothers, through whom I was guided. So you know the hadith about how the clouds and rain passed over the garden, and he heard a caller calling, "Let the rain fall in so-and-so's garden," and he found the secret in brief speech, after he asked the owner of this garden, and he said: And if we walk upon this, and we walk upon the topic that we honor ourselves and love each other, and these are matters that nurture the hearts together and they become good and tender. This is better than much of focusing on your mind and neglecting your heart. Many people focus on the mind, but their heart is, I mean, without training. This practice is necessary.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : Then, if Allah wills, with good hope.The Shaykh : With this, and by Allah, especially I came with my design for the top, there, if Allah wills, a house of two hundred and fifty square meters, below it a diwan (reception room) that I will furnish, a diwan, if Allah wills.

The questioner : A diwan of knowledge...

The questioner : I will furnish it and put in it a library, if Allah wills, an expensive and valuable library, if Allah wills. We will collect in it hadith, and it will be a visit and a recreation for the good people of Islam, and we do not want anything except for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.