A word by the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) drawing attention to the Shari'ah's concern with acting upon knowledge, and that the scholar is threatened with punishment if he does not act upon his knowledge, and presenting the evidence for this.

The questioner : No problem, a question before anything else.

The Shaykh : In any case, I want to draw the attention of our brother Abu Ahmad that he must always keep in mind that he is not able to record everything that takes place. So let any question be asked and not recorded; there is no blame on him, and what comes after contains good and blessing!
Ali Hasan: He wanted to record this word too.

The questioner : If we say, we ask, O Abu Ahmad, let us askThe Shaykh : a general question, if Allah wills, the Exalted.

The Shaykh : I say before the question that praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can misguide him, and whom He misguides, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
We praise Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for gathering us upon guidance and piety—if Allah wills—and upon the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). So we ask Him (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire us to act upon what He has taught us, for the argument of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) against us is stronger than it is against others, because many of those other than us are still far from the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). But since Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has guided us to a great deal of what He has bestowed upon us by making us know the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), it remains for us to act upon what we have learned so that the argument does not stand against us. Perhaps you all remember with me the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the Noble Qur'an: . And perhaps you also remember with me the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), which the Imam Muslim included in his *Sahih*, that he was in the gathering of Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with them all) when he asked Abu Hurayrah to narrate to them the hadith of the three. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) prepared himself to gather his mind and thoughts to deliver to those in his gathering that hadith which had become customary, but he was unable to launch into its narration directly because of the horror of that hadith; he fainted and nearly lost consciousness from the horror of that hadith, because he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: So these three are the first of whom the Fire will blaze on the Day of Resurrection. So you see that mere knowledge of a thing is not sufficient, based on the previous verse and this hadith. It is necessary that two things accompany knowledge; if one of them is lacking, the knowledge becomes a calamity for its possessor, and perhaps the ignorance of others regarding that knowledge is better than it, as it was said in some of the Salafi athar: "Woe to the ignorant person once, and woe to the scholar seven times." The two conditions are clear to you, if Allah wills: the first is that he acts upon his knowledge, and the second is that he is sincere in his knowledge, and knowledge is part of action. So sincerity is necessary. Let us say clearly: it is necessary for us, who belong to the Sunnah, to combine in this gathering the two matters mentioned earlier: the first is acting upon knowledge, and the second is that it is for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Otherwise, what I fear most is that we fall into the generality of the saying of (Blessed and Exalted is He): . I intended to draw attention to this word on the occasion of this good gathering, if Allah wills, and the faces in it are predominantly concerned with following the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), indeed and following his commands (peace and blessings be upon him).
It is regrettable for me to say that there are some phenomena, or some appearances, that indicate that individuals among those who seek knowledge or strive in the path of Allah apparently do so not purely for the face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
And I have learned, with great regret, and recently, and you know what the state of the Afghan jihad reached regarding its suspension and the failure to reap the fruit they sought throughout those ten years and more. When the jihad stopped, the Islamic parties began to fight and quarrel with one another, and some used the weapons they had used to fight the disbelievers and the communists to fight one another. This happened in some countries, or among some groups, or among some individuals. This indicates that those who strive or seek knowledge were not raised with the correct Islamic upbringing, which revolves around the two matters mentioned earlier: acting upon what we know and sincerity in what we do. This is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. I said this word before receiving the questions, if Allah wills, to answer what we are able to answer.