Discussion of the fact that the Sunnah came to clarify the Book of Allah the Exalted, and the clarification that the Sunnah indicated the writing down of the hadith through speech, action, and approval.

The Shaykh : Here I must say a few words to clarify and confirm this point, starting with the words of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He in the Noble Qur'an: And We revealed to you, O Messenger, the Reminder, meaning the Qur'an, as He said in another verse: We revealed to you the Reminder so that you may make clear to the people what was revealed to them. This verse contains two things: first, that Allah revealed it to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and second, the clarification by the Messenger, fulfilling his obligation to clarify what was revealed to him from the Qur'an. So his clarification (peace and blessings be upon him) is his hadith. Therefore, by virtue of this Noble verse, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) must clarify what was revealed to him from the Qur'an. This clarification has types. The first type is by his speech (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as in the hadith prohibiting writing and the hadith commanding writing. The second is by his action (peace and blessings be upon him), which is very clear in many acts of worship, especially prayer. The manner of prayer and the manner of fasting—many rulings, if not most rulings—were understood from his clarification (peace and blessings be upon him) through action, some through speech. The third part of the clarification is approval (taqrir). So his clarification (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) of the Qur'an was through these three methods. Interestingly, the hadith clarified its writing through these three methods: command, action, and approval. This is because the Messenger commanded writing; the Messenger wrote to Heraclius and to others, as we mentioned. Writing occurred in his presence (peace and blessings be upon him) and continued until the end of his life and during his death sickness. As you know, he ordered that he be brought something to write, but Allah willed, for a profound wisdom, that the Companions should differ and that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab should say, "The Book of Allah is sufficient for us." The important point is that in his final moments (peace and blessings be upon him), he approved writing and commanded it. Therefore, the matter of writing the hadith is established by his speech, his action, and his approval. The Muslims followed the path of writing the hadith and preserving the hadith. Our discussion concludes that it does not harm us to acknowledge the reality that a large part of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was preserved by memorization and not written down. But writing has a basis. And if Allah Mighty and Majestic has guaranteed its preservation in the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an, as I mentioned earlier in His words Blessed and Exalted is He: And if there is no way to understand the Qur'an except through the clarification of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), then the wisdom of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He necessitated that He also preserve for the Muslims the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in its three categories: speech, action, and approval. Because this preservation is part of the complete preservation of the Noble Qur'an. If we imagine the impossible—that the Sunnah is lost and gone from the hands of the Ummah—what would happen to the Muslims? They would be more divided than they are, more than seventy-three sects, even though they are divided in this way and the Sunnah is known. But the method of obtaining it, as is well known, is through seeking chains of narration (asanaid) and connection to the Companions, then the Successors, then their followers, and so on. So Allah Mighty and Majestic has preserved for the Muslims the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and his Sunnah, because in that is the preservation of the meanings of the Noble Qur'an. These meanings are what the words of the Qur'an are vessels for. The intention of the Qur'an is not the words without the meanings, but the word and the meaning together. Indeed, the words, in relation to the meanings, are like means in relation to ends. Therefore, it is not enough for a Muslim to believe in every letter of the Noble Qur'an, in every verse of the Noble Qur'an, but to distort its meaning and direct the meaning of the verse to an incorrect meaning. He believes in part of the Book and disbelieves in part; he believes in the word and disbelieves in the meaning. Let us give a contemporary example. Today there is a new sect, which is undoubtedly one of the misguided sects, even though it adopts the five pillars and Islam, and "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," and they pray, fast, perform Hajj, and give charity. They are the Qadiyyah sect. But these people have beliefs in which they opposed, I do not say only the Salaf, as is the case with some of the old sects, such as the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah, but they opposed both the Salaf and the Khalaf in some of their beliefs. Among them is their belief that prophets will come after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and they believe that one has actually come, named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiyani. They believe in the continuation of prophethood in the Muslim community. They believe with us in the words of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He: But they differ from us in their figurative interpretation (ta'wil) of this verse and their denial of the divine attributes (ta'til) of its meaning. They say the meaning of the verse "the last of the prophets, the Seal of the prophets" is not that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is the last of the prophets. No, that is not the meaning. Rather, the meaning is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is the adornment of the prophets, like the ring on the finger; he is the adornment of the fingers, the adornment of the palm. They distorted the words from their places, so they fell into clear misguidance and opposed the path of the believers. So the Noble promise came true for them: So the Sunnah is preserved. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) initially prohibited it, then commanded the writing of the hadith, and he acted upon it and approved writing in his presence. In conclusion, I say that the hadith scholars mention the wisdom in the Messenger's (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibition of writing the hadith. They said it was so that the Muslims would learn the difference between the Qur'an and the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is because the Qur'an is the speech of Allah, and worship is performed by reciting it, unlike the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), where worship is performed by preserving it and acting upon it. So when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) knew that the wisdom and purpose of the prohibition of writing the hadith had been realized, he permitted them to write the hadith. This prohibition and this command have many examples in the Sunnah. I will suffice with one example in conclusion to answer that question, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): I used to prohibit you from visiting graves. Why? Because they were newly converted from shirk (associating partners with Allah); they were newly converted from worshipping idols; and they were newly converted from worshipping persons and idols. So when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) knew that faith had become firm in their hearts and they knew the correct tawhid (the oneness of Allah), he permitted them to visit graves, because in visiting them is a lesson and a reminder. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.