The Shaykh’s remarks on the interpretation of Surat al-Asr.

The Shaykh : Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whoever He leaves to mislead, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god 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). The worst of matters are those newly invented, and every newly invented matter is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. And after that:
Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: This blessed surah is few in its words but abundant in its meanings and implications. It has gathered fundamental principles and rules that every Muslim must first understand and then apply to himself in his entire life, no matter how much it develops and changes. First, Allah the Mighty and Majestic gave a general ruling regarding the human species, stating that they are indeed in loss. Then He made an exception to this universal rule that all humans are losers, except those who believe. The discussion of this first part of the exception is long and very long, because it is based on the known pillars of faith: I believe in Allah, in His angels, in His books, in His messengers, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and in the resurrection. Then this faith includes everything established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), whether this established matter is in a Qur'anic verse, in a mass-transmitted Prophetic hadith, or in an authentic singular hadith; there is no difference between these. It is obligatory for the Muslim to believe in everything established from Allah and His Messenger. This is the summary of faith. It includes what you know of the old disagreement between the people of the Sunnah and the deviant sects, such as the Murji'ah, the Mu'tazilah, the Asha'irah, and others, even though they differ in the degree of their deviation and their straying from the general faith brought by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
And among the differences regarding faith between some of the sects mentioned above and the people of the Sunnah is whether righteous deeds are included in faith or not. There are schools of thought, and we are not now in a position to speak in detail about the disagreement regarding this faith; rather, I am only drawing attention to the fact that the Murji'ah, and among them, unfortunately, the Hanafis today, say that faith does not increase or decrease, and that righteous deeds are not included in faith. Righteous deeds are not included in faith. This is what the Murji'ah said in the past and the Hanafis say today. It should not be understood that they deny the obligation of righteous deeds. No. Our Lord the Mighty and Majestic commands Muslims to be just in issuing their judgments about people, especially if they are Muslims. Faith, according to the people of the Sunnah, is defined as affirmation with the tongue, conviction with the heart, and action with the limbs. As for the Murji'ah and the Hanafis today, faith is affirmation with the tongue and conviction with the heart only, meaning they do not include righteous deeds in the term faith. I said earlier: but it should not be understood that they do not command the righteous deeds that Allah has commanded. Far be it from them of that, but they do not make righteous deeds part of the completion of faith. This is one of the errors that resulted from the fact that, in the past, the Sunnah was not available in a collected form for some of the earlier imams. This Sunnah that clarifies for people what Allah the Mighty and Majestic revealed to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, we find in the Noble Qur'an that the Lord of the Worlds, whenever He mentioned faith, He paired it with righteous deeds. He said here: Our Lord the Mighty and Majestic did not limit Himself to saying "those who believed," but He added to that: Therefore, the faith of the believer is not complete or perfected except with two things: First: knowledge, that the person knows what faith is and what righteous deeds are. For many people draw near to Allah Blessed and Exalted is He with deeds they think are righteous, while in reality they do not bring them closer to Allah, but may rather distance them from Paradise by very long distances. Therefore, knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah is necessary for knowing faith and righteous deeds. There is no need for us to mention that not every Muslim is obligated to be a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah, but he is obligated either to be a scholar or to be a learner, even by the method of asking, as the Lord of the Worlds said: Does a person live in this life as if he was created in vain, knowing nothing about faith, let alone righteous deeds? He worships Allah in ignorance. His faith is certainly not complete, and his faith may be in danger because of his ignorance of it, as came in the Book and the Sunnah. So knowledge precedes faith and righteous deeds. Therefore, Allah the Exalted addressed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the apparent wording, but the reality is that the intended meaning is his Ummah (peace and blessings be upon him), when He said in the previous verse: The address is to him in wording, but the intended meaning is his Ummah. There are many such verses in the Noble Qur'an that the people of knowledge know. Among them is the saying of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He: Is there any fear for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who is at least protected from committing major sins, that he would fall into major shirk? There is no doubt that he is protected from that. So when Allah the Mighty and Majestic addressed His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with this second verse , He means his Ummah (peace and blessings be upon him). How does a believer associate partners with Allah? Ignorance of knowledge is the cause. Therefore, Allah the Exalted warned the believers from entering the majority that the verse explicitly stated: , Is there among the Muslims today who believe in Allah and His Messenger to whom this verse applies ? The answer is yes, with great regret. The answer is that many Muslims, those who pray, fast, and perform Hajj, are mushriks, either with major shirk or at least minor shirk. Recently, a questioner called me by phone and said to me: "I, praise be to Allah, performed 'Umrah, and when I visited the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I was struck with fear. I was struck with awe." I said to him: "And when you prayed in the Sacred Mosque and circumambulated the Ka'bah, did you feel any of that?" He stammered in his answer, then corrected the situation verbally, and I understood that the fear struck him in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) more than when he stands in the presence of Allah praying, especially in the Sacred Mosque. Therefore, part of true faith in Allah is that you do not fear except Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and you do not hope except in what is with Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and you do not stand in awe except of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.

The questioner : Peace be upon you

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. This is part of the faith that falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: And now, my goal is to dwell on "and they did righteous deeds." Doing righteous deeds requires knowledge, as we said first, and then it requires two other qualities mentioned in the completion of the blessed surah: Advising one another to truth is that you see your brother doing a false deed, and it is difficult for you to advise him out of consideration for his feelings. This is not of the faith that is among the qualities of those who are saved from loss, but rather it is among the qualities of the believers: advising one another to truth. And so, among the seven advices of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) was that he said: This advising one another to truth is almost absent today among the Muslims, except for the sincere servants of Allah among them. This advising one another to truth is part of the completion of righteous deeds. If you see a Muslim who prays poorly, if you see a Muslim who worships poorly, who is poor in his character, who is poor in his treatment of people, it is upon you to advise him and to urge him to follow the truth and not to live with falsehood. This is a matter that the majority of people have neglected.