Explanation of the Book of Fitnahs and Rulings-06a

The reciter: Abu Ma'mar narrated to us, 'Abd al-Warith narrated to us, Yunus narrated to us from al-Hasan, who said: 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura narrated to me, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: .

The Shaykh : What is the benefit of this hadith in its chain of narration, regarding the first one?

The questioner : Al-Hasan used the style of 'an'anah (hearsay) from Jabir ibn Samura, and al-Bukhari included it.

The Shaykh : And others? And the second one explicitly stated the narration, so the doubt is removed. The important point is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura: , meaning: which authority? Small or large? Any authority, do not seek it. , meaning: Allah left you to it alone and did not help you. , and the one who helps is Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that to encourage abstaining from seeking authority. Then it is said: If Allah has decreed in His prior knowledge that you will be a ruler, it will come to you without your request; and if He has not decreed it, it will not come to you even if you asked. It is obligatory for you not to ask. If someone asks: How do we answer regarding the statement of Yusuf to the king of Egypt: ? The answer to this is to say that Yusuf asked him to make him in charge of the treasuries of the land, meaning in the position of Minister of Finance, not in charge of the entire kingdom. But the king, after seeing that he was worthy, made him a king. Otherwise, initially he only requested to be made in charge of the treasuries of the land only. So there is no contradiction. And his saying: , in the second wording he said: . This appears to be a variation by the narrators, because the hadith is one, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cannot repeat two different wordings at the same time. But this is a variation by the narrators. Let us first look at whether his saying "If you swear an oath" is connected to what came before it, meaning that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated them as one hadith, or are they two hadiths that 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura or someone after him combined? What is the original state? The original state is that they are one hadith. This is the original state because the "wa" (and) is for conjunction, and the conjoined item is conjoined to what came before it, not in an independent hadith. So, if this is established, what is the connection between the prohibition of seeking authority and his saying: ? The connection is that a ruler may swear to do something to carry it out, and then see something else as better than it. But two things prevent him from doing so: the first is the oath, and the second is the position of authority, because it is difficult for a ruler and his like to retract from what? From what he swore to. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) followed this phrase with what came before it and said: "If you swear an oath and then find something better than it, expiate for your oath and do the better thing." The first hadith, the first wording: "Expiate for your oath and do the better thing." What do we call this expiation? A release (tahillah). We call it a release because if you perform the expiation before breaking the oath, it is a release, meaning it unties the knot of the oath. As for the second, we call it an expiation (kaffarah). Clear? Good. And his saying: , better in religion or better in worldly affairs, or both? Both are included. And if they conflict, which is prioritized? The religious good is prioritized. An example of this is a man who swears and says: "By Allah, I will not enter so-and-so's house" for a relative of his. Here, is the good that he breaks his oath and enters, or that he keeps his oath? The first.