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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Explanation of the Hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, "Draw for us..." and the Hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sari'ah regarding the splitting of the Ummah

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The Shaykh : ... when one of his Companions (peace be upon him), who was renowned for his jurisprudence, namely 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), narrated from him. He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) drew a straight line on the ground, then drew short lines around this line. Then he extended his noble finger along the straight line and recited the aforementioned verse
And, [moreover], this is My path, which is straight, so follow it; and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His way وأن هذا صراطي مستقيما فاتبعوه ولا تتبعوا السبل فترق بكم عن سبيله
[Al-An'am 6:153]
. He (peace be upon him) said, while moving his finger along the straight line:
This is the path of Allah. هذا صراط الله
Then he pointed to the short lines around it and said:
And these are paths, and at the head of each of these paths is a Shaytan calling people to it. وهذه طرق وعلى رأس كل طريق منها شيطان يدعو الناس إليه
Thus, this hadith is explained by another hadith, and this other hadith, along with the Hadith of the Line, is considered among the clarifications of the verse concerning the path of the believers. That hadith is the one narrated by the compilers of the Sunan, such as Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, and their like among the Imams of hadith, through many chains from a group of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), such as Abu Hurayrah, Mu'awiyah, Anas ibn Malik, and others, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The Jews split into seventy-one sects, and the Christians split into seventy-two sects, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one افترقت اليهود على إحدى سبعين فرقة وافترقت النصارى على اثنتين وسبعين فرقة وستفترق أمتي على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلا واحدة
They said: "Who is she, O Messenger of Allah?" He said:
What I am upon and my Companions. هي ما أنا عليه وأصحابي
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2641Da'if (Darussalam)
This hadith clarifies for us the path of the believers mentioned in the verse. Who are the believers in it? They are those whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned in the Hadith of the Sects when he was asked about the saved sect, about its methodology, about its description, and about its starting point. He (peace be upon him) said:
What I am upon and my Companions. ما أنا عليه وأصحابي
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2641Da'if (Darussalam)
So I ask you to pay attention, because the answer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), if it is not revelation from Allah, is an explanation by the Messenger of Allah of the path of the believers mentioned in the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) which I recited repeatedly just now. For Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned the Messenger in the verse and mentioned the path of the believers. Thus, the Messenger (peace be upon him) made the sign of the saved sect, which is not among those seventy-two sects of the misguided sects, that it is upon what the Messenger and his Companions are upon. We find in this hadith what we found in the verse. Just as the verse did not limit itself to mentioning the Messenger only, so the hadith did not limit itself to mentioning the Messenger only; rather, the verse mentioned the path of the believers, and the hadith also mentioned the Companions of the noble Prophet. So the hadith met the Qur'an. And for this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
I have left with you two things by which you will not go astray as long as you hold fast to them: the Book of Allah and my Sunnah. They will not separate until they return to me at the Pond. تركت فيكم أمرين لن تضلوا ما إن تمسكتم بهما كتاب الله وسنتي ولن يتفرقا حتى يردا عليّ الحوض
Many of the old and new sects do not pay attention to this condition mentioned in the verse and in this hadith of the misguided sects, where it made it a characteristic of the saved sect, indeed a sign of the saved sect, that it is upon what the Messenger and his Companions were upon. Also, similar to this hadith is approximately the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sari'ah, who was one of the Companions of the Prophet from the people of the Soffah who were poor and would stay in the mosque and stay in the circles of the Messenger (peace be upon him), receiving knowledge from the Book of Allah and from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah fresh and green. Al-'Arba' said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us a sermon that made our hearts tremble and our eyes shed tears. So we said: "Advise us, O Messenger of Allah." He said:
I advise you to fear Allah, and to listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed as your leader. And whoever lives among you will see much difference. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me. Cling to them with your teeth. And beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance أوصيكم بتقوى الله والسمع والطاعة وإن ولي عيكم عبد حبشي وإنه من يعيش منكم فسيرى اختلفا كثيرا فعليكم بستني وسنة الخلفاء الراشديين المهديين من بعدي عضوا عليها بالنواجذ وإياكم ومحدثات الأمور فإن كل محدثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلالة
The point of this hadith is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not limit himself in admonishing the Muslims when they differ. He (peace be upon him) said:
Whoever lives among you will see much difference إنه من يعش منكم فسيرى اختلافا كثيرا
Sunan al-Bayhaqi 17:1232
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) answered, as is his wise style. And who is wiser than him after the Wisest of the Wise? No one among humans is wiser than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And therefore, when he said:
Whoever lives among you will see much difference إنه من يعش منكم فسيرى اختلافا كثيرا
Sunan al-Bayhaqi 17:1232
he answered a hypothetical question: "What shall we do, O Messenger of Allah?" He said:
So hold fast to my Sunnah فعليكم بستني
He (peace be upon him) did not suffice with ordering those who live in a time of difference, like our time, to follow only his Sunnah. Rather, he added to that and said: "And the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs." Thus, the Muslim who is sincere to himself should include in his belief that it is obligatory to return to the Book and the Sunnah, and to the path of the believers, by the indication of the verse, the Hadith of the Sects, and the Hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sari'ah...
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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