Continuation of the discussion on the necessity of following the straight path and fulfilling the two conditions for the acceptance of worship: sincerity and following the Sunnah.

The Shaykh : ... And I am truly amazed by something that no one, I mean, has thought about, or perhaps they have thought about it but have not expressed it. It is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was a skilled artist, but he only drew what is permissible, not what is forbidden. For he forbade the depiction of living beings, but here he drew the straight line and the other lines opposing it. He drew the straight line as a long line, and around it he did not draw long lines, but rather short lines. This skill in drawing—why short lines? For a wisdom that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained in the complete hadith. When he recited the verse after drawing this wonderful picture and reading it, he said: "This is the path of Allah, and these are paths, and on the head of each of these paths is a Shaytan calling people to it." What is the meaning of this statement? Here is a statement spoken by the tongue of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but there is also a statement he did not speak, but rather drew for his companions on the ground. It is that these paths are short and enticing to those walking on the long road. For on the head of each of these short paths is a Shaytan, as if he is saying to those walking on the straight path: "Where are you going? When will you arrive? Look how close this path is. Come to me, come to me."

The questioner : And I am with you.

The Shaykh : Yes. And so you will find that not only the lost, the straying, and those who have exited the circle of Islam, but some Muslims themselves have been deceived by the advice of Shaytan. Shaytan has never advised a Muslim, neither in the past nor in the end times. They say, "If we take this long path," meaning, as that contemporary wise man said, "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on earth." It is a long task. When will we be able to reform ourselves, our children, and our families? This is a long task. We want to establish the state of Islam. Who will establish the state of Islam? One who lacks a thing cannot give it. Therefore, we must learn beneficial knowledge and do righteous deeds, and this will not happen except by taking heed of this noble Prophetic drawing. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated that the number of these paths is seventy-two. He said this with his clear Arabic tongue in the authentic hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others, and by the Imam Ahmad, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Look at how this hadith applies to that hadith, or to the verse: One path. The one who is saved is the one who walks on that path alone, and the one who is destroyed is the one who walks on the branching paths from that straight path. All these sects are destroyed, not saved, except one. They asked: "Who is it, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has delivered the message and conveyed the trust. After clarifying that there is no path to reach Allah except one path, he clarified to the Muslims who will come in the near or distant future that this path is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his noble Companions were upon. This is explicit in this hadith. The saved sect is the one that is upon what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed this in many hadiths, including the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), where al-'Arba' said: And in some narrations that passed by me in the past: These paths. Biting is usually done with the teeth located at the front of the mouth, not with the molars. But this is a metaphor for the exaggeration in holding fast to the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after him. And in the other hadith: So whoever wants to be... This is the summary of what I want to conclude this speech with. Whoever wants to be from the one and only saved sect must know the Book and the Sunnah and act upon them within the limits of his ability, being sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And by that, he will be from the saved sect. But if he is sincere in the highest degrees of sincerity in worshipping Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but this worship is not upon the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, then that is a worship with which the face of its owner is struck, despite his sincerity in it. Because we mentioned earlier that two conditions are required for the acceptance of worship: that it be in accordance with the Sunnah, and that its owner be sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So just as we assume a person is upon the Sunnah in all worships but is not sincere, his worship is rejected because he neglected the condition of sincerity, so the opposite is the opposite. If we assume a person is sincere in what is obedience and worship to Allah, but he worships Allah other than what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) brought, his worship is returned to him. That is what is in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik in the two Sahihs. And may Allah help me with what I am saying, so that I may conclude the speech with this hadith. Enough, so that Professor Ali is pleased. The hadith of Anas in Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim: A group of people came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and did not find him in his house. They asked his wives about his worship (peace and blessings be upon him), about his fasting during the day and his standing in prayer at night, and his approaching the women. So they said to the questioners, to this group: "The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stands in prayer at night and sleeps, fasts and breaks the fast, and approaches the women." Anas said: "They found it little, meaning they found the worship of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little. They found the worship of the Messenger to be little. And this is in reality a great error that came from this group, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is the most worshipful of people, as will be explained. But they returned to something worse than their statement, where they justified their statement by saying: "This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah has forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what will come." Meaning, why should he tire himself? They imagined, considering that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as is the reality, is the most worshipful and most pious of people, that he stands in prayer the whole night, fasts the whole year, and what does he need with women? And as the fabricated hadith says, "Knowledge is lost between the laps of women." So what do they need? They imagined that the Messenger approaches women. He is higher and nobler than that. They imagined him as a monk, fasting the whole year and standing in prayer the whole night. And so when they were surprised that the reality of the Messenger was not so, but rather he fasts and breaks the fast, stands in prayer at night and sleeps, and marries women, they justified that by saying that Allah had forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what will come, so why should he tire himself? They said, and they returned to themselves. Here, look at how the group are sincere, but their action is contrary to the Sunnah. They want to worship Allah so that they deserve the forgiveness of Allah. So they asked about the worship of the Messenger, and it did not please them, but even so, they justified it with an incorrect cause: that Allah had forgiven him, and that was the end of the matter. But as for us, we must strive and tire ourselves until what? We deserve the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). How is that? They made a covenant among themselves. One of them said: "As for me, I will stand in prayer at night and not sleep. I will stand in prayer at night and not sleep." And the other said: "I will fast the whole year and not break the fast." The third said: "I will not marry women." And they covenanted to do that. They spoke of this hadith, and the wives of the Messenger were behind the veil hearing this speech. And after a little while, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came and they told him the story of the group and what they said. So the Messenger quickly went out to the mosque and stood as a preacher and said: What is the matter with people who say such and such and such? One says: "I fast the whole year and do not break the fast." The second says: "I stand in prayer at night and do not sleep." The third says: "I do not marry women." He referred to them without naming them, and this is from the etiquette of Islam: not to name those who err, because the lesson is achieved without naming, without exposing them. ما بال أقوم يقولون كذا وكذا وكذا ، أما إني أخشاكم لله وأتقاكم لله ، أما إني أصوم وأفطر وأقوم الليل وأنام ، وأتزوج النساء ، فمن رغب عن سنتي فليس مني What is the matter with a group who say such and such and such? As for me, I am the most fearful of you regarding Allah and the most mindful of you of Allah. As for me, I fast and break the fast, I stand in prayer at night and I sleep, and I marry women. So whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not one of me. So it is upon us to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the straight path, and nothing else, ever, with sincerity to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So those are the ones who will be saved on the Day when wealth and children will not benefit, except those who come to Allah with a sound heart. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us among these. We stand here until we see what you have.