Explanation of the Hadith: (He drew a straight line and drew lines...)
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The Shaykh : ... When I mention his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was sitting among his Companions, he recited the saying of Allah the Exalted, and he drew a straight line on the ground: [Al-An'am 6:153] The hadith is described in some books of hadith as the straight line being long and the lines around it being short lines. I understand from this hadith, beyond what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated, more than what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated; that is, I understand the thing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stated, plus what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated with this wonderful, exquisite drawing. The straight line is the Sirat (the path), and the short lines are those on the head of each of which is a Shaytan calling people to it. This Shaytan, and I heard this with these two ears of mine, from some of those who claim that they call to Islam and want to establish the state of Islam, in the manner of jumping to the top of the pyramid in one step. They say, "By Allah, your true call is correct, but my brother, this is a long and arduous path. When will we reach the establishment of the Muslim state and the Islamic society?" I say that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) drew this line in response to these people. He says to them, "Look, this long line is surrounded by detestable things. Look, these short lines are surrounded by desires. They want to reach [their goal] by these short paths, and they will never reach it. The experience of this era, from sects of Islamic groups, is the greatest evidence that on the head of every Shaytan, practically, he calls people to it, and they deviate from the straight path. And it is upon us to remain on this straight path, and it does not harm us or matter to us if people say, 'This path is long and arduous,' and so on. On this occasion, I am annoyed by the words of that pre-Islamic Arab poet, and I wish that among the Muslims there would be someone whose thinking about Islam is like his thinking about his pre-Islamic age. That is Imru' al-Qays, who said: 'My companion wept when he saw the road ahead of us, and he was certain that we would not reach Qaysar. So I said to him, "Do not let your eye weep, for we are only attempting a kingdom, or we die and are excused."' What is upon us if we continue to walk on the straight path and do not reach the establishment of the Muslim state? This Islamic world has been stumbling in its distance from the Book and the Sunnah for centuries. If we take the straight path and walk a few steps, when will we arrive? It is not important that we arrive; the important thing is that we walk on the straight path. That pre-Islamic person understood the realistic, scientific truth, and even though his goal was what? His goal was the world, his goal was the kingdom, but he says, 'We are attempting a kingdom, or we die and are excused.' And we are like this with our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He): we attempt to restore Islamic life and to establish the Muslim state. After attempting to restore Islamic life, if we reach it, so much the better; and if we do not reach it, we are not obligated, because the whole matter is in the hand of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). All we are obligated to do is to walk together on a straight path. Therefore, these questions and these doubts are, in reality, coming because of their deviation from the straight line to one of these short lines that take their followers off the straight path. And welcome, Doctor, allow us, we have taken a great deal of your time. Well, my sir, this answer to this question is, in fact, as I said, a general answer. Is that sufficient, unless there is something else that also deserves to be delved into in the answer? Is there anything else?
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 فتفرق بكم عن سبيله
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.
