Explanation of the author's statement: From Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him): That the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said

The Shaykh : From Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him): That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The lam is a preparatory particle for the oath, and the nun is for emphasis. The statement is thus confirmed by three confirmers: the implied oath, "By Allah, you will surely ride," the second is the lam, and the third is the nun.
And his saying: "ways" has two narrations: sunan and sunun. As for sunun, with a dammah on the sin, it is the plural of sunnah, which is the method. As for sunan, with a fathah, it is singular and not a plural; it means the path. It means the path. It is often used in the singular, like funun, whose plural is afnan, and asbab, whose plural is asbab. So sunan here means the singular path. And his saying: From whom? From the nations. You will surely follow the ways of those who were before you.
And his saying (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him): Is the address to a singular or a plural? It is for the plural, because he said "lataktabun." If he had said "lataktabu," it would have been for the singular .... So it is for the plural. And this is the difference between the nun of emphasis that attaches to the pronoun of the plural or to the singular.
And his saying: It is a general statement that is specified, because if we took it at its apparent meaning, this entire Ummah would follow the ways of those who came before it. But we say: It is a general statement that is specified, because there are people in this Ummah who do not follow. It may also be said: The hadith is to be taken in its generality, and it is not necessary that we follow the previous nations in all their ways and methods. Rather, some of this Ummah follows them in one thing, and some of the Ummah follows them in another thing. And in that case, it does not imply that the Ummah exits from Islam. This is more appropriate. This is more appropriate than saying that it is a general statement that is specified, and we keep its generality and say: This entire Ummah, as a whole, follows the ways of those who were before it, but some of them take this, and some of them take that, and some of them take that. Yes.
And it is known that among the ways of those who were before us, some do not take one out of the religion, and some do take one out of the religion. For example, eating illicit wealth, riba, envy, oppression, and lying are all among the ways of those who were before us. And yet, among them is what does not take one out of the religion. Worshipping idols? Huh? It is among the ways of those who were before us, and it is a cause of exiting from Islam.
And his saying: "the ways of those who were before you" is in the form of the plural. Sunan are the methods, and they are varied. Some of them is transgression against the rights of the Creator, and some of it is transgression against the rights of the created. All of it is encompassed by this: transgression against the rights of the Creator or against the rights of the created.
Let us review with you some of these ways:
Worshipping graves and the righteous exists in the previous nations? It exists. It was found in this Ummah? Yes, it was found, it was found in this Ummah. Good. Exaggeration regarding the righteous exists in the previous ones and was found in this Ummah. Supplicating to other than Allah exists in the previous ones and was found in this Ummah. Building mosques over graves exists in the previous ones and was found in this Ummah. Describing Allah the Exalted with deficiencies and flaws exists in the previous ones and was found in this Ummah. The Jews said, "The hand of Allah is bound," may Allah protect us from that. Yes. And they said that Allah is poor. And they said that Allah was tired from creating the heavens and the earth. And it was found in this Ummah that some said that or something worse. It was found in this Ummah that some described Him with deficiencies. It was found in this Ummah that some said He has no hand. And it was found in this Ummah that some said He is not able to do what He wills, so He did not rise above the Throne, and He does not descend, nor does He descend to the lowest heaven, and He does not speak. It was found that some who claim to belong to the Islamic religion say that. Indeed, it was found in this Ummah that some say He is not inside the world, nor outside the world, nor connected to the world, nor separate from the world. Where is He? Huh? He is nothing, which is non-existence. It was found in this Ummah that some who claim to belong to Islam say this.
The Shaykh al-Islam said: "And this is the saying of the Asha'irah". Look now, the Asha'irah, which unfortunately has started to spread in our midst, this is their school of thought: that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is not inside the world, nor outside it, nor connected to it, nor separate from it, and it is not permissible to point to Him with physical indication, and He does not act, nor is He pleased, nor is He angry, nor does He love, etc. Yes. Glorified is Allah above their saying.
The result is that just as Allah was described with flaws by the previous nations, He was also described with flaws by those who claim to belong to this religion.
Good, we come to eating illicit wealth. Was there anyone in the previous nations who ate illicit wealth or not? And it was found in this Ummah that some eat illicit wealth. How many in this Ummah eat bribes! Is that not so? It was found in the previous nations that some ate riba, and it was found in this Ummah that some eat it. It was found in the previous nations that some devised ways to circumvent the prohibitions of Allah, and it was found in this Ummah that some devise ways to circumvent the prohibitions of Allah. It was found in the previous ones that some applied the hudud punishments to the weak and lifted them from the noble, and it was found in this Ummah, or not? It was found in this Ummah.
Likewise, it was found in the previous ones that some distorted the words of Allah from their places in wording and meaning, and it was found in this Ummah that some also distorted them. It was said to the Jews, "Enter the gate prostrating and say 'Hittah.'" What did they do? They entered on their backsides, on .... And they said "Hunat" instead of "Hittah." They did not say "Hittah." They did not say, "Forgive our sins." They said, "No, give us wheat to eat," may Allah protect us from that. They said "Hunat." It was found in this Ummah that some did the same.
Allah the Exalted said: And they said: "The Most Merciful has taken a son."
Ibn al-Qayyim said: "The lam in ....".
His rulings as well. So he said: Allah has made such and such lawful and forbidden such and such, while Allah the Exalted has not made it lawful or forbidden. It was found in the previous nations that some took their rabbis and monks as lords instead of Allah, and it was found in this Ummah? Where? Huh?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, it was found. You tell some people, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said such and such," but "so-and-so the scholar said such and such." So when you examine the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), you find them in accordance with reality. But the question remains: Is this hadith for warning, or is this hadith for approval? There is no doubt that it is for warning. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not inform us so that we would say: We are a Prophet who transgresses against the creation, because the Messenger said so. We believe the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). If a person said so, what would we say to him? What do we say to him, people?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : We say, this is without doubt for warning, because he said, "The Jews and the Christians." He said: "Who?" Then we say to them: The Messenger also informed of things that would happen, and yet he informed: Is it forbidden by the text of the Qur'an? He informed that a person would distance his father and draw near his friend, and is this permissible in the Qur'an or not? No. And that a person would honor his wife and be undutiful to his mother, and this is not permissible by the text of the Qur'an: undutifulness to mothers and severing family ties. But what is the intent of this? Warning against this action. Warning against this action. And the result is that you will not find a sin in this Ummah except that you will find its origin in the previous nations. You will find its origin in the previous nations. It was found in the previous nations that some said to the believers, "These are misguided," and it was found in this Ummah that some say, "These are reactionaries." Is that not so? It exists. So the matter is that sins have an origin in the nations, as mentioned before. But whoever Allah guides to the right path, he is guided.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Is the occasion of the hadith for the chapter clear? It is clear that when the nations worshipped idols and statues, there will be in this Ummah those who worship idols and statues.
And his saying: "Heel following heel" means adjacent. It is in the accusative case as a state (hal). The state is from the verb "follow," meaning in the state of being adjacent to them, heel following heel.
What is the qadhah? The qadhah is the feather of the arrow. Arrows have feathers, and they must be exactly equal. If they are not equal, the shooting with it becomes disordered. So the feathers must be equal. And I do not have complete knowledge of arrows because they are not present for us to know what the feather that is placed is, but they say that the two feathers must be equal, otherwise the shooting with it becomes disordered.