The Call to Allah and Following the Straight Path in Light of the Verse: “And this is My path, so follow it…”

The Shaykh : … We have mentioned, along with this verse, the other verse which says: And we pointed out that this second verse gives us two conditions: that the work be righteous, and it will not be so unless it is in accordance with the Sunnah; and the second condition is that it be pure for the face of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. The discussion revolved around these two conditions with some elaboration and explanation. However, regarding the first verse, which is the saying of the Exalted: I commented on the saying of the Exalted, commanding His Prophet (peace be upon him) to say: But before this commentary, there is another commentary that moves in my mind. Every reciter of this noble verse, and the one who stops to verify this divine command to be upon clarity in his religion, following the command of his Lord to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), must stop for a long time, and a very long time, at this good, blessed word , where every Muslim who has been given some understanding and comprehension of the Arabic language knows that the path, this word mentioned in the verse, is singular and not plural. That is, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: and did not say, “Say, this is My path.” So for some wisdom, our Lord said “My path” and did not say “My path” [singular]. That is because the path leading to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in every time and in every place and in every city and country, is only one path. And this is what our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified, as is his custom in everything: its origin is mentioned in the Book, and the Sunnah comes to explain and clarify it. So he (peace be upon him) said to his Companions one day, while he was sitting on the ground out of his humility, with many of his Companions around him. He drew a line on the ground for them, then drew short lines around it. Then he recited while passing his noble finger over the long line: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained with this second verse his previous saying: Therefore, the scholars of tafsir say, led by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and those who followed his path, such as Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and Ibn Damish, Ibn Kathir, the author of the famous tafsir known as Tafsir Ibn Kathir. They all say that every researcher and scholar must interpret the Qur'an with the Qur'an, then with the Sunnah, which is also revelation from Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as came in the authentic hadith from his saying: “Verily, I have been given the Qur'an and its like with it.” The like is the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, those we mentioned from some of the scholars just now said that it is necessary to interpret the Qur'an with the Qur'an and with the Sunnah, because it is also from the revelation of the Most Merciful to the heart of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as He said: So there are two revelations: a recited revelation, which is the Qur'an, and a revelation to be worshipped by in order to understand the Qur'an. So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) drew that long, straight line, he recited meaning, even if the matter is long for you, walk in this straight path, even if it is long for you. Because the matter is as he (peace be upon him) said in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim: The hardships are walking in this straight path. It is long; when will we arrive? What is important is that you walk, even if it is only the first step. So if you die in it, you are certainly among the people of Paradise, as also came in the authentic hadith that a man from the Bedouins, and that was in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), came to him and believed in him. He said to him, “Do you think that if I strive and fight with you in the path of Allah and die, will I enter Paradise?” He said: So the man did nothing but enter the battle and did not come out of it except as a martyr. And he did not reach Allah with a prayer. Why? Because he took the straight path and walked in it, even if it was only the first step. So it is not important for the one walking in this long, straight path to reach its end, but that he walks, even if it is only a step or more than that, according to what our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, facilitates for him, and he dies upon that. And I am pleased with this occasion by a verse of poetry attributed to Imru' al-Qays of the pre-Islamic age. I am not a poet and I do not memorize poetry well, so I surrender in advance and say to whoever memorizes poetry: if you find that I have made a mistake, help me and provide me with your support. What did Imru' al-Qays say? He said:
“My companion wept when he saw the road ahead of him, *** And he was certain that we would not reach Qaysar.” Look, how I am asking for your support…
So I said to him, “Do not weep, O eye, for we are only trying *** …” Look, the pre-Islamic man, but he is sensible;
“Do not weep, O eye, for we are only *** Trying for a kingdom, or we die and are excused.”
So the important thing for the Muslim is to take the straight path and die upon it. And therefore I say this: some people lengthen the journey on the Islamic methodology. When, my brother? Some of them rush, for example, to establish the Muslim state. And this is an obligatory matter and it is necessary. But the establishment of the Muslim state—on this occasion, I am pleased, O Shaykh Ali, you and Ali, both of you, praise be to Allah. Birds fall according to their kind. Yes, I am pleased on this occasion with a word from some of the contemporary callers to Allah. This contemporary caller said a word of utmost wisdom, and I believe that if there were revelation after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or if there were someone like 'Umar, about whom our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: meaning, inspired ones. If there is such a person in my Ummah, it is 'Umar. So if there were a Prophet, I would say that this word you are about to hear is revelation from Allah. But at least it can be said that it is inspiration from Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. What did this caller say?

The questioner: ..

The Shaykh : No, of course not. It is Hasan al-Banna (may Allah have mercy on him) who said, "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land." So, the effort to establish the Muslim state, as they say in our Damascus, "requires shaking the shoulders." "Requires shaking the shoulders." And one thing reminds one of another, so let us bear with some of our hasty brothers who may have questions in their minds. There is a hadith among the glad tidings, namely the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "We were in a gathering with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a questioner asked him: Which of the two cities will we conquer first, Constantinople or Rome?" — Rome, meaning Rome, the capital of Italy — "Which of the two cities will we conquer first, Constantinople or Rome?" This question suggests to us that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had given the Muslims glad tidings that they would conquer both cities, Constantinople and Rome; but it had not been made clear to them up to that moment which one would be conquered first, so the question was asked. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The answer is Constantinople first. And this hadith is among the signs of his (peace be upon him) prophetic knowledge of the unseen. How did he know that this great city, which was the capital of the Romans at that time, just as Italy is now, and specifically the capital of Rome, is what? The capital of the Christians, and that is why the center of the Pope is there, as you know. So what made the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) know that Constantinople, which was in the hands of the disbelieving, polytheist Romans, would be conquered first? That was from the inspiration of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So this is a great glad tidings. Constantinople was conquered, so what remains for the Muslims is only to conquer Rome, and that will certainly happen, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as we said earlier, But I was saying, and here is the point, that conquering a capital city like Rome in this time, it is not possible for the Muslims in the end times to conquer it, and they are as we see them, scattered here and there, in sects, schools of thought, and parties, and they are reading the Noble Qur'an And you see now a region of the Muslim regions, which is Afghanistan, and ten years have passed, and the Muslims have not been able to eliminate the disbeliever ruler in their land, whom they have humiliated despite his nose. Why? Because the Afghans are fighting on their own, and the Muslims are watching them as if it is not obligatory for them to support their brothers with people, money, weapons, and everything. So how can the Muslims conquer a capital like Rome? And I say that the Muslims, as I was saying, in their present state, cannot conquer a village like ours, Duma, so how can they conquer Rome when they cannot conquer a village like Duma? So we must stand and reflect deeply on this hadith. This is the reality of the Muslims today. They have been divided for a long time into many sects. And these sects are from the wisdom of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And I am truly impressed by something that no one, I think, has thought about, or perhaps someone thought about it but did not express it, which is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was a skilled artist, but he only drew what is permissible and not what is forbidden, because 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 this skill in drawing, and they are only short lines, why? For a wisdom that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained in the complete hadith when he recited after drawing this wonderful picture and reading the verse over it, he said: "This is the path of Allah, and these are paths, and at the head of each path is a devil calling people to it." What does this statement mean? Here is a statement spoken by the tongue of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but there is a statement not spoken, but drawn for his companions on the ground, which is that these paths are short and enticing to those walking on the long path. So at the head of each of these short paths is a devil, 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. And so you find not only the lost, the straying, those who have gone outside the circle of Islam, but some of the Muslims themselves have been deceived by the advice of the devil, and the devil has never advised a Muslim, not in the past, nor in...