How Allah Preserved This Religion and the Care of the Early Salaf for Isnad

The Shaykh : Here I must make a statement that is essential to me. Many scholars, both past and present, know that the Sunnah has been infiltrated by things that were not part of it, even in the first century, when some of the misguided sects began to raise their voices and call for opposing the Book and the Sunnah by following their own desires. As was reported from some, or one, of the Khawarij, when Allah Mighty and Majestic guided him to the Sunnah, he said: "Look at where you are taking your religion from, for when we wanted to do something, we would make it a hadith". Therefore, it was reported from Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him), the noble Tabi'i who frequently narrated from the memorizer of the Companions regarding the Sunnah and hadith, namely Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "Look at where you are taking your religion from". This was also narrated as a hadith traced back to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but its tracing is not authentic; the authentic version is that it is mawquf, stopping at Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him). Therefore, some of the imams of hadith said that isnad is part of the religion: "If it were not for the isnad, whoever wished would say whatever he wished in the religion". If the matter is thus, by the consensus of scholars in theory—and I mean what I say when I use the word "theory" because I want to state a harsh truth, which is that the masses of scholars did not pay the necessary attention to this isnad, but rather a group of Muslim scholars, the imams of hadith, did, such as Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, and their students like Imam al-Bukhari, Muslim, and other imams of hadith and critics who spoke about narrators regarding their criticism and vindication—these are the ones to whom one must refer and upon whom one must rely to perform the purification of this Sunnah, to which one must refer after it has been purified. The books of the Sunnah are now available, and that is due to the complete care of Allah Mighty and Majestic for this Ummah and His fulfillment of the ruling He mentioned in the Noble Qur'an: . On this occasion, I must remind you that when this noble verse mentions , some people, who have no knowledge of the Sunnah or who do not give the Sunnah its due weight, assume that the preservation guaranteed by Allah Mighty and Majestic in this verse is specific to the Noble Qur'an. I say, yes, our Lord Mighty and Majestic mentioned the Dhikr in this verse, so He preserved the Noble Qur'an with its letters, but He preserved its meanings through the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, this purification of the Sunnah cannot be achieved except through the scholars of hadith, and consequently, the Qur'an cannot be understood except through this purified Sunnah. Otherwise, the Muslims would fall into what the sects that deviated from the saved group fell into, namely that the Qur'an is open to multiple interpretations.