He spoke about how our call is to follow the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding and methodology of the righteous Salaf

The Shaykh: What is the reason? It is the Muslims' turning away from the Book and the Sunnah, and from the methodology—I hope you remember this addition because it is very necessary—"and according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf." Why? Because those speakers or misguided philosophers whom that wise prince described as having lost their Lord, or these later misguided people who crammed their Lord into every place, even into filth, even into pots, even into sewers, and so on—these people do not deny the speech of Allah, nor do they deny the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). In fact, they may challenge those who oppose them by saying, "We are upon the Book and the Sunnah." For we all know the misguided sects that existed in the early centuries, such as the Mu'tazilah, the Jabriyyah, the Qadariyyah, the Khawarij, and the Ibadis who exist today. None of these people say, "We are not upon the Book and the Sunnah." Also, you cannot hear these opponents of today disavow the Book, or the Sunnah, or both together. So, what is the origin of the disagreement? The origin of the disagreement is that they opposed the path of the believers. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), when He mentioned the path of the believers in His saying: It could have been said, "And whoever opposes the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him, We will turn him to what he has turned to." But for a profound wisdom, He connected it to opposing the Messenger with His saying: The wisdom is very clear: these believers are the ones who explained the Qur'an and the Sunnah to us. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in explaining such a verse, and in response to a question:The questioner : When he (peace be upon him) mentioned that the saved sect is one out of seventy-three sects, when asked what the saved sect is, he (peace be upon him) said: He did not say only, but rather he added Today, may Allah reward you, Abu Ish, what are you called?

The questioner : Abu Muhammad.

The Shaykh: O Abu Muhammad, today the masses of Muslims, especially the partisan and factional ones, pay no attention at all to this addition that Allah mentioned in the previous verse, warning against opposing the path of the believers, and to this other addition that the Messenger (peace be upon him) connected with his Sunnah, clarifying that complete salvation and being from the saved sect is to hold fast to what the Messenger and his Companions were upon. This addition has now been removed from the minds of the masses of Muslims. I do not mean the old and new Mu'tazilah; I mean the people of the Sunnah and the community today do not pay any attention at all to this phrase. Therefore, faith in Allah must be as He described Himself in the Book and the Sunnah, and according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf. So, what is the creed of the righteous Salaf regarding the first and greatest misguidance, which that prince described as having lost their Lord? And the other misguidance, where they say Allah is in every place? 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said, and he was one of the imams of the Muslims who struggled in knowledge, action, and jihad in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and he was one of the great shaykhs of Imam Ahmad, the Imam of the Sunnah. He said: "Our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) is above His Throne with His Essence, and He is distinct from His creation, and He is with them with His knowledge." This is the creed of the righteous Salaf. Today, look at this creed and look at the statement of the majority of Muslims—I do not exclude their special ones: "Allah is present in every place. Allah is present in all existence." As for that misguidance, [they say] not above, not below, not right, not left, and so on, not inside the world nor outside it. I say that if you asked the most eloquent person who spoke the Arabic language to describe for us the non-existent, he would not be able to describe this non-existent with more than what these foolish Muslims describe their Lord and their worshipped one: not above, not below, not right. Allah is the Greatest.
Our Lord says regarding His chosen, good servants, what is above them? This is the attribute of the believers who fear Allah, who observe Him (Blessed and Exalted is He), believing that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has risen above the Throne, as that Imam 'Abdullah said.
Our Lord is above His Throne with His Essence, distinct from His creation. This is a refutation of the Sufis who say, following the words of their great misguided Imam, Ibn 'Arabi, "And Allah is not..."
The questioner: ...

The Shaykh: No, no. In the likeness, it is like ice in which there is water. They described Allah in terms of His mixing with His creations as water in ice. Do they separate from each other? Absolutely not. This poem is vile. As for that poem found in the introduction of his book al-Futuhat, called "The Meccan Revelations," in his claim, he said:
"The servant is a Lord, and the Lord is a servant *** So let my soul know who is the one obligated
If I say servant, that is negation *** And if I say Lord, how can he be obligated?"
A poor, confused person between the servant and the Lord. The servant has no existence, for he is not he except He. Therefore, they mention "He is He." There is no god but Allah. They explicitly state "There is no god but Allah," which is the Allah who addressed His Prophet in the Qur'an: This is the tawhid of the common people. The poor, lost dervishes. Among them are scholars and Companions. All these are common people! The tawhid of the special ones is "He is not he except He." And the tawhid of the special among the special is "He," there is nothing besides Him. Look now, the phrase "there is nothing besides Him" runs on the tongues of people today without them being aware of this great misguidance.
The common man, the Muslim whose creed is still upon the fitrah, but who has inherited some phrases without paying attention to their aim and meaning, says "there is nothing besides Him." Well, I say to him, who are you? You are non-existence and not existent. I seek refuge in Allah. He says to you, "There is nothing besides Him." And this is exactly equivalent to "Allah is in every place." In conclusion, this is a very long discussion, and therefore I brought this first example, and perhaps I will bring the last one, and between them is a long discussion. Faith in Allah must be according to what came in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, and according to what our righteous Salaf were upon. Because no one from the misguided disavows the Book and the Sunnah; but he is free from the Book and the Sunnah because he interprets them according to his ignorance, misguidance, and desire. A man came to me here, perhaps you have heard of him, or perhaps you have been afflicted by meeting him. He declares and raises the banner of his misguidance by saying, "I am a Mu'tazili." Have you heard of this man? He came here and began to elevate the status of reason and proposed that if we disagree, we return to reason. So I endured him for a little while, then I said to him, but Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: Meaning, if we tell you, would a Muslim say this? But here there are witnesses.

Another questioner: And the recording on the tape.

The Shaykh: And the tape. He said, "The word of Allah bears faces of meanings, and therefore it is necessary to judge by reason." I said, "O Shaykh, this is speech of the utmost misguidance. Bring us the second meaning of His saying: " So he did not answer, he deviated, and he persisted in his misguidance. And so they say, meaning all the sects went astray only because they interpreted the Qur'an other than the interpretation that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified. The point is that this first example is faith in Allah. And it is not sufficient to have general faith in Allah; it is necessary to have detailed faith within the limits of the Book and the Sunnah. We come to faith in the divine decree. There are people today who believe in the divine decree, but the divine decree for them is equivalent to compulsion. Did he believe in the divine decree? He did not believe in the divine decree. Therefore, we must not be deceived by faith in the words of the Book and the Sunnah without faith in their true meanings. Faith in the words neither fattens nor satisfies from hunger. Because all the misguided sects share in faith in the words of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but they differ in interpretation. And this is a discussion I have said is long and very long. So it is sufficient for us now to constantly call Muslims to faith in the Book and the Sunnah according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and then we address in them, in order of importance, what they have deviated in. They may have deviated in behavior, and this is much. They have deviated in worship, and this is much. They have deviated in creed, and this is also the case. Therefore, the matter is as it was said:
"Knowledge, if you seek it, is much, and life is short for acquiring it.
So prioritize the more important of them over the less important."
In light of this, I advise you to remain with the group, provided that you embody the true community within them by calling to the Book and the Sunnah and following the methodology of the righteous predecessors.

Another questioner : Shaykh, is this specific to him, or not?

The Shaykh : And to anyone who is like him.
Al-Halabi : O Shaykh, there is something you mentioned a moment ago when you gave the brief answer before the details. You said, "We advise you not to leave, but to remain enjoining good and forbidding evil until they freeze you out, or in that sense." I say, O Shaykh, if he remains like that until they freeze him out, they will use the freezing out as a pretext to deflect their accusations. But if he preempts them by leaving before they freeze him out, that means he has a strong weapon in his hand: "I left, and no one forced me out."
We fear that if they freeze him out and expel him for enjoining good and forbidding evil, they will not bear this, as you know, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : That is what we desire.
Al-Halabi : But they will use his expulsion as a pretext for distortion, deception, and corruption, as is well known. But if he leaves initially, this cuts off their path; they will not be able to say to them that he is the one who left because he saw things and left. Consequently, any accusation is closed off in its face, and Allah the Exalted knows best.

The Shaykh : You are now ignoring the excuse he presented.
Al-Halabi : No, O Shaykh, I am not ignoring it, in fact. But I say that I fear the excuse will be greater if they expel him.

The Shaykh : But he knows what happened in the problem; the one who is in the problem knows it best.
Al-Halabi: Correct, correct.

The Shaykh : And you heard his opinion.