Reading from the author's text with commentary and collation of manuscripts
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The reader: "If the Shari'ah has come with the prohibition of sharing with the disbelievers in the place where the punishment descended upon them, how much more so is it to share with them in the deeds they perform.
For if it is said: This deed they perform, if it were stripped of their imitation, would not be forbidden, and we do not intend to imitate them in it; then the mere entry into the place is not a sin if it were stripped of it being their trace, and we do not intend to imitate them. Rather, participation in the deed is closer to necessitating punishment than entering the dwellings. For all that they do, which is not from the deeds of the previous Muslims, is either disbelief, or a sin, or a symbol of disbelief or sin, or a place where disbelief and sin are likely, or it is feared that it will lead to sin. And I do not think anyone would dispute all of this. And even if someone disputes it, he cannot dispute that deviation from it is closer to deviation from disbelief and sin, and that obtaining this benefit in the deeds is closer than obtaining it in the place.
Do you not see that following the Prophets, the truthful ones, the martyrs, and the righteous in their deeds is more beneficial and more appropriate than following them in their dwellings and seeing their traces".
The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest. But unfortunately, the Muslim community is now doing the opposite. The Muslim community now sanctifies the traces of the Prophets and the righteous more than it sanctifies their deeds. For this reason, you find them often striving for the traces and following the traces, but they have neglected many sunnahs that are much more important than these traces. And this is truly regrettable. You find a person respects the mushaf and honors the mushaf, but he does not act upon what is in the mushaf: neither believing in its news, nor complying with its commands, nor avoiding its prohibitions. And this is the opposite of what Allah wants from us. The most important thing is following their traces by which they worship Allah the Exalted. Now, when you mention to some people the house of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his chamber, and its smallness and austerity, you find their hearts break with crying and being moved. But when you mention to them tahajjud, standing in night prayer, and dhikr, it is like cold water passing over the heart; they do not care about it much. And the obligatory thing is that the matter should be the opposite. Yes.
The student: And also what is explicit.
The Shaykh : The truth is that I would have liked for such issues, the pearls that pass by us, to be recorded. Perhaps you do this. It does not mean that my words are the only ones; even in the Shaykh's words, sometimes there are rules. For example, now we understood from his words that if the similarity occurs, even without intention, the ruling is established, contrary to those who think that the ruling of imitation is not established except for one who intended the intentional imitation, the apparent similarity. As for the inner aspect, and whether he intended or did not intend, that is not considered. Yes.
For if it is said: This deed they perform, if it were stripped of their imitation, would not be forbidden, and we do not intend to imitate them in it; then the mere entry into the place is not a sin if it were stripped of it being their trace, and we do not intend to imitate them. Rather, participation in the deed is closer to necessitating punishment than entering the dwellings. For all that they do, which is not from the deeds of the previous Muslims, is either disbelief, or a sin, or a symbol of disbelief or sin, or a place where disbelief and sin are likely, or it is feared that it will lead to sin. And I do not think anyone would dispute all of this. And even if someone disputes it, he cannot dispute that deviation from it is closer to deviation from disbelief and sin, and that obtaining this benefit in the deeds is closer than obtaining it in the place.
Do you not see that following the Prophets, the truthful ones, the martyrs, and the righteous in their deeds is more beneficial and more appropriate than following them in their dwellings and seeing their traces".
The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest. But unfortunately, the Muslim community is now doing the opposite. The Muslim community now sanctifies the traces of the Prophets and the righteous more than it sanctifies their deeds. For this reason, you find them often striving for the traces and following the traces, but they have neglected many sunnahs that are much more important than these traces. And this is truly regrettable. You find a person respects the mushaf and honors the mushaf, but he does not act upon what is in the mushaf: neither believing in its news, nor complying with its commands, nor avoiding its prohibitions. And this is the opposite of what Allah wants from us. The most important thing is following their traces by which they worship Allah the Exalted. Now, when you mention to some people the house of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his chamber, and its smallness and austerity, you find their hearts break with crying and being moved. But when you mention to them tahajjud, standing in night prayer, and dhikr, it is like cold water passing over the heart; they do not care about it much. And the obligatory thing is that the matter should be the opposite. Yes.
The student: And also what is explicit.
The Shaykh : The truth is that I would have liked for such issues, the pearls that pass by us, to be recorded. Perhaps you do this. It does not mean that my words are the only ones; even in the Shaykh's words, sometimes there are rules. For example, now we understood from his words that if the similarity occurs, even without intention, the ruling is established, contrary to those who think that the ruling of imitation is not established except for one who intended the intentional imitation, the apparent similarity. As for the inner aspect, and whether he intended or did not intend, that is not considered. Yes.