The Imam's patience with the harm of the worshippers.

The questioner : If you permit it, meaning we lead the people in prayer and apply this Sunnah as you spoke of, but we face from people turning away, rejection, and raising their voices at us, saying that you are prolonging the prayer for us and that you are driving us away from prayer, and they always say this to us.

The Shaykh : Has your weight decreased? Has your faith decreased because of this statement?

The questioner : They do not place us in a position of accusation.

The Shaykh : No, you have not answered me.

The questioner : No, no, I have not decreased.

The Shaykh : Then what concerns you? It has been said about one who is better than you and better than all of humanity, worse than what is said about you and me. Do you know how many times they have killed me, and here I am alive among you? What harm did that do me? Nothing harms me; on the contrary, this benefits me, and likewise it benefits you. Therefore, do not care about what is said. Our Lord, the Exalted, raised us in the person of the Messenger, so He said to him: What was said about the messengers before him? Madman, sorcerer, and so on. And this was said regarding the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and it was said about him, considering that he is an Arab, not a madman and not a sorcerer. What was said about him? A poet. But what was said about the Messenger did not harm him. So what is said about you does not harm you, and do not care about the words of people at all. And I warn you against listening to the words of these people and caring about them and elevating them from their place. There is an expression used in some Arab countries that I like on this occasion. Instead of saying "throw this thing or this person away," they say "leave it in the garbage." Do you not know it? I think you know this word?

Another questioner : You taught it to us.

The Shaykh : You taught us it, "leave it in the garbage," meaning neglect it, but it is fitting for garbage. So may Allah bless you, when you hear such talk, leave it in the garbage, throw it to the ground. Second, these people, my brother, the truth of what I have lived through, and I am about to reach eighty, these are sick people. They need treatment by the skilled, merciful, and compassionate physician. We tell these people: You take some of the words spoken by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and then interpret them according to your desires, according to your customs, and according to what we sometimes say when the situation becomes critical, and according to your lack of religion. We do not say it except in the last resort. Why?