And the evidence for this rule is the hearing and the intellect. As for the hearing, among it is the saying of Allah the Exalted

The Shaykh : He said: "And the evidence for this rule" What is the rule? That things are three categories: what Allah has affirmed, what He has negated, and what He has not negated nor affirmed. "The hearing and the intellect" And the hearing, as mentioned, what is meant by it? The Qur'an and the Sunnah. "As for the hearing, among it is the saying of Allah the Exalted:

And this [Qur'an] is a Book We have revealed [which is] blessed, so follow it and fear Allah that you may receive mercy.

وَهَذَا كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَاتَّقُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

[Al-An'am 6:155]

" A Book We have sent down, blessed. By this is meant the Qur'an, and its blessing was mentioned previously. Did you not remember that? No, we mentioned it. We mentioned it, O brothers. We said that it is blessed in its reward and its recitation, blessed in its effect, and blessed in its consequences. Yes, we mentioned it, O my brothers. We mentioned this. It is blessed in its recitation: a letter is a good deed, and a good deed is ten times its like. It is blessed in its effect: it affects the heart, softening the hard heart. Indeed, Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: It is blessed in its consequences: the Muslims opened up the east and west of the earth with it. Allah the Exalted said: The Ummah opened up the east and west of the earth with it, and these are great consequences. And here we say: Fear Allah. What? Fear its disobedience. So follow it and fear its disobedience. So if we say this, we have affirmed what Allah affirmed in the Qur'an, negated what Allah negated, and remained silent about what Allah remained silent about. "And His saying:

So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered prophet, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him that you may be guided.

فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ النَّبِيِّ الْأُمِّيِّ الَّذِي يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَكَلِمَاتِهِ وَاتَّبِعُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

[Al-A'raf 7:158]

And His saying:

And what He has given you.

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ

" So believe in Allah and His Messenger. And faith necessitates believing in their reports, complying with their commands, and avoiding their prohibitions. The Prophet: is it the one who is reported from, or the one who reports? Both. So he is reported from on behalf of Allah, and he reports on behalf of Allah. The unlettered: is the meaning that he does not read or write, or is the meaning that he is attributed to the unlettered, as Allah the Exalted said: On the first interpretation, the meaning is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not read or write, and that is the case; he did not read or write. Allah the Exalted said: And He said: He does not read or write, so he is unlettered in this meaning.
It is also possible that he is unlettered in the second meaning, which is that he is from the unlettered. Based on this, if you attribute a person to the unlettered, meaning to the Arabs, and he reads and writes well, is the attribution valid or not? Is it valid? May Allah help us. He reads and writes better than any calligrapher and better than any reader, and you call him unlettered, an attribution to the unlettered.
It is correct to describe the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with this and that, but the first description is more important: that he did not read or write, so that no one doubts his message and says, "This man read books and wrote them." And in that case, his description as unlettered is a perfection, because it indicates his truthfulness and that it is not possible for him to fabricate from himself. May Allah's prayers and peace be upon him. He believes in Allah, the belief in Allah in which no one can match him. And for that reason, we find that he was the most perfect of people (peace and blessings be upon him) in his worship. And the stronger the faith, the stronger the worship. So he was the most worshipful of creation to Allah the Exalted. And whoever reads his biography knows his state.
And His words: the cosmic and the legislative. He believes in the cosmic words and that He, (Exalted and Majestic is He), if He wills a thing, says to it "Be," and it is. And defeat is by His cosmic words, and victory is by His cosmic words. And this includes believing in the divine decree, its good and its evil.
He also believes in the legislative words. So he (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was the quickest of people to act upon what came from him. As some of the kings said about him: "I knew he was a Prophet because he did not command a thing without being the first to do it, and he did not prohibit a thing without being the first to leave it." (Peace and blessings be upon him). And this indicates the perfection of his worship of Allah, (Blessed and Exalted is He). Believe and follow. Belief is with the heart, and following is with the limbs. So it is like faith and Islam. This is when they are mentioned together. But if one of them is mentioned alone, it includes the other. Follow him, perhaps you will be guided.
And I call you, O my brothers, to observe this in your worship. Whenever you do something of the acts of worship, be aware that you are what? Followers of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so that he may be your model and your leader in this world and the Hereafter. And His saying: Perhaps. Whenever this comes in the Book of Allah, it is for the purpose of giving the reason, when it is attributed to Allah the Exalted in His speech, and it is not for the purpose of hope, because hope is only for one who cannot do a thing except with difficulty, and it is not difficult for Allah the Exalted. And some of the scholars of knowledge said: It is for the purpose of hope with regard to the one addressed, meaning you hope for guidance thereby. But the first meaning is more correct: that "perhaps" in the speech of Allah is what? For the purpose of giving the reason. This is when it comes in His specific speech. But His saying: And the like of that, these have specific meanings. And His saying: Which of the two guidances? The quicker one: guidance of knowledge, or guidance of action? It is all guidance of knowledge and guidance of action. And for this reason, the more a person follows the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the broader his knowledge, the more his action, and the more his sincerity. And try, and you will find that if you are negligent one day in your feeling of following, the acts of worship become few in fruit for you. But if you feel that you are following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as if he is in front of you, you benefit greatly. And for this reason, He the Exalted said: So faith and following, both are causes for following. "And His saying:

And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا

[Al-Hashr 59:7]

" Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you from, refrain from it. And do not demand it, and do not be angry if it does not reach you.
If someone asks, "Where is the indication from this verse for what we are discussing?" The answer is: If we are commanded to take what is given to us of the spoils, and it is called "spoils" (fay'), which is a vanishing worldly thing, then taking what is given to us of knowledge is what? Even more so. So if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informs us of this name of Allah, we accept it, otherwise we do not.
"And His saying:

He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah; but those who turn away - We have not sent you over them as a guardian.

مَنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ وَمَنْ تَوَلَّى فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظاً

[An-Nisa 4:80]

" Whoever obeys the Messenger, the meaning is Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), has obeyed Allah. The explanation is that Allah commanded obedience to the Messenger, so if we obey the Messenger, we have obeyed Allah. And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has two authorities: the authority of legislation and the authority of execution. So we are commanded to obey him because he is a legislator and because he is a commander in reality. He is the one with power (peace and blessings be upon him). Meaning, regarding obedience to the Messenger. The appropriateness of the answer to the condition is that the meaning is to console the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), meaning that whoever turns away, it does not harm you, but it harms himself. And you are not a guardian over them, nor a controller over them, nor a compeller over them. Their command is to whom? To Allah. You are only the one who conveys the message. It is only the conveying that is upon you. It is only the conveying that is upon him. And if that is the case, then those after him who succeeded him in his Ummah, the scholars, are like him. It is only the conveying that is upon the scholars. They must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, but it is not obligatory upon them that the people obey and refrain. They convey. And as for the people obeying their command and refraining from their prohibition, this is not obligatory upon them. Do the cause for the guidance of creation and exert what you can, but do not let your chest be narrow by what the people are upon. Because if you do this, you will be occupied with the faults of people over the faults of yourself, and you will have no concern except for people. And this affects the person. You find that he loves for people the good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and calling to Islam, but he forgets himself. Praise be to Allah. As long as Allah the Exalted said to His Prophet, who is obligated with the message and its conveyance: There are distances between us and them, and perhaps we will do what we must convey. And for this reason, He said: .
"And His saying:

And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.

فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَاوِيلاً

[An-Nisa 4:59]

" If you dispute, it means if you differ on a matter, where some of you say this is forbidden and some say this is obligatory or this is permissible, to whom do we return? To two things, and there is no third: to Allah and the Messenger. To Allah, how do we reach Allah? To His Book. Praise be to Allah, the Book of Allah is between us, and the Noble Qur'an is like royal decrees, though the Qur'an is far above that. But it is between us, and we return to His speech. And to the Messenger, in his lifetime, to his person, so that he may judge between us. After his death, to what is authentic of his Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him). But listen: meaning, if you are truthful in your faith in Allah and the Last Day, then in case of dispute, return to Allah and His Messenger. Faith in Allah and the Last Day are always paired together in the Noble Qur'an, because faith in Allah is considered as the beginning, and the Last Day is considered as the end. So, by way of the beginning, if a person believes in Allah, there must be movement in his heart to reach his Lord (Mighty and Majestic), with love for Him and desire for what is with Him. Similarly, if a person has strong faith in the Last Day, he will avoid everything that is a cause of punishment on that day. Ta'wil, meaning the ultimate outcome, is good in the present state, even if one of us is overruled. Answer, everyone, even if he is overruled, it will be good for him, and he is overruled. Yes, if a person humbles himself for Allah and retracts his statement because it contradicts the Book and the Sunnah, he is not overruled; rather, he is the victor over his own self, and the struggle is the struggle against the self. As for the one who overrules, it is clear that it is good for him because he indicated the good and spoke of the good, so it was better for him, having the best ta'wil, meaning the best outcome, than for some of you to be stubborn and not submit to the truth. Each one says, "Who am I? I am Ibn Jala, and I see the tips of the teeth. When do I put on my turban? Do you know me? I do not accept from you, nor anything. Who are you? You are like a man, so I am a man. And if he refuses, and that one refuses, the dispute will remain, and the community will remain divided, and there is no good in a divided community, ever. So returning to Allah and His Messenger is better in the present state and in the ultimate outcome. Do not think that if you are overruled when you return to the Book and the Sunnah, the outcome and consequence of that will be bad for you. And people will say, "So-and-so was overruled, a poor man who has no knowledge." No, it is not good. Rather, if you return to the truth, people will trust you more, just as if you are asked about something you do not know, people will trust you more. As for the person, may Allah protect him, for every issue, even if it is one of the most difficult issues, he immediately says, "The ruling in it is such and such," or "The ruling is such and such," or "There are two opinions in it, and the knowledge is with me..." Ha, is it said that this is as we read in some books? A man called Ibn Jinni. Listen, O Yahya, perhaps you have not heard this before. Ibn Jinni is a human, not a jinn. He was a scholar of the scholars of grammar. He had an old teacher, a father, an old father, and his father was the leader of the scholars. He would sit for people while he had no knowledge, and his son was more knowledgeable than him. So his son said to him, "O my father, whenever someone comes to you, say in the issue, 'There are two opinions,' and do not decide in it. Say, 'There are two opinions, and the details are with my son.' And I will suffice you." So whenever someone said, "Is this forbidden or permissible?" he would say, "There are two opinions, and the details are with the son." So things would proceed. Then a clever man stood up and said to him, "Is there doubt in Allah?" His answer was to say, "There is no doubt in Him. The one who doubts in Allah is a disbeliever." He said, "Is there doubt in Allah?" He wanted to say that this old scholar truly has two opinions in it. He said, "There are two opinions, and the knowledge is with the son." What did the son say? He said, "Yes, my father is truthful, there are two opinions." And by that, he meant the grammatical parsing of the verse "Is there doubt in Allah?" Is "doubt" the subject (fa'il) or is "doubt" a postponed beginning (mubtada' mu'akhkhar)? And it is good in grammar. The riddle was solved, and the hope of the one who challenged him was frustrated, because his son found a way out. So the important thing is that if you return to the truth when a dispute occurs, and you judge by the Book and the Sunnah, and you return to the truth, do not think that this is a defeat. This is a gain. For this reason, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) advised Abu Musa al-Ash'ari in the book of judgment that he wrote to him. 'Umar is this book upon which Ibn al-Qayyim built his book *I'lam al-Muwaqqin*. He forbade him to prevent him from saying the truth because of what he had judged yesterday. He said: Returning to the truth is a virtue. For this reason, it is mentioned, and the scholars of inheritance and the scholars of grammar cite reports or poems. The scholars of grammar argue with poems. Yes, who said this verse? He said, it was said by a man from Banu Dhibah. They cited a verse on the parsing of a writing. Who said it? It was said by a man from Banu Dhibah. "Dawr 'adad Banu Dhibah, and the man among them, whoever meets them..." Similarly, the scholars of inheritance mention things and reports that may not be authentic.