Explanation of the Book of Tawhid-46

The Shaykh : He says: In the authentic collections, it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). By "the authentic collections," does he mean the two Sahihs? The author always uses the term "in the authentic collections," and this hadith is in Muslim. "In the authentic collections, it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Strive to seek that which will benefit you

احرص على ما ينفعك

Sunan Ibn Majah 4168Sahih (Darussalam)

" This is a great word. "Strive" means to exert effort and take care of a matter. "What benefits you" refers to matters of your religion or matters of your worldly life. A person is never free from one of three states: either his actions are beneficial, or harmful, or neither beneficial nor harmful. Is that not so? Yes? Good. The harmful is always warned against, the beneficial is commanded, and that which is neither beneficial nor harmful—yes, there is no command or prohibition regarding it. But the wise person is stingy with his time and life, not spending it on what has no benefit and no harm. Then, this thing that has no benefit or harm in itself is, in most cases, necessarily a means to what? To what has benefit or harm. And in that case, it takes the ruling of the end, because means have the rulings of their ends. Do you understand now? So the actions a servant performs are never free from three states: either beneficial, or harmful, or neither beneficial nor harmful. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says Now, if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) attached the ruling to "what benefits," then whatever encompasses this description more is more deserving. That is, whatever is more beneficial is more deserving. So if two matters come together for you, one more beneficial than the other, which do you take? Which do you take? You take the more beneficial one. If someone asks you, "Where is the evidence?" we say, the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) . If he had said, "This is not what he said: Strive for the most beneficial things," we would say that when a ruling is attached to a description, the strength of the ruling is according to that description. So the more the description is present in it, the more striving for it is deserving, more and more deserving. Strive for what benefits you. Good. You strived for what benefits me. Do I rely on myself? No. And for this reason, he said ... You cannot attain your objective except by seeking help from Allah. The "authentic collection" here is Sahih Muslim. It is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said The author (may Allah have mercy on him) omitted a phrase from it and brought what is intended and appropriate for the chapter. The phrase he omitted from it is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) And we will explain it because it is important. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says . So "better" here is a name of superlative, and "loved" here is a name of superlative. "The strong believer" means strong in what his faith requires, in his faith and what it requires. The strong believer in his faith and what it requires. As for in his faith, it is the sincere certainty that settles in his heart, which doubt does not affect. And as for what faith requires, it is righteous deeds, such as jihad in the path of Allah, enjoining good and forbidding evil, firmness in acts of worship, and the like. Do you understand? Does this include one who is strong in body or not? No, except if there is in his physical strength something that increases his faith or what his faith requires. As for mere physical strength, it is undoubtedly a blessing from Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and it falls under His saying If a person uses this strength in obedience to Allah, it becomes a blessing, and if he uses it in other than that, it becomes a curse. But this phrase from the hadith is written on the doors of sports fields, football fields. They say, "You are a footballer, so you are strong, and the strong believer is better and more loved by Allah than the weak believer."
The student: ...

The Shaykh : We say, this is not what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) intends. Because "the strong believer"—the description here is "strong," and it refers back to the described, which is the believer. So, strong in his faith and what that faith requires; this is what is meant by "strong." As for physical strength, as I said, it is among the blessings that, if used in good, is good, and if used in evil, is evil.
And his saying "Better" in its impact and its effects, and "more loved by Allah"—this is regarding its reward. So it is better because it is useful, beneficial, and people follow its example. And "more loved by Allah" is considered in terms of reward. "The weak believer"—weak in what? In his faith or in what his faith requires? No, not in his body. A man may be weak in body but strong in faith, and how many such people there are. Then, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as Allah taught him, when this might diminish the value of the believer, said "In every good." This is what is called by rhetoricians "al-ih'tiraz" (cautionary qualification), so that it is not thought that there is no good in the weak one. He said . Someone might say that the superiority of both is known from his saying "better and more loved by Allah," because the original rule for a name of superlative is that the preferred and the one preferred over share in the description, is that not so? The answer to this is to say that this is the original rule, but this may depart from the original rule, as in His saying even though there is no good in the abode of the people of the Fire. This is one point. Second, even if it is known, when a person hears such a phrase, "better and more loved by Allah," it causes a diminishment in his mind regarding whom? Regarding the believer who is preferred over. So when he said "and in every good," it elevated their status, is that not so? And exactly similar to this is the saying of Allah the Exalted so that it is not thought that these are in a very low rank, so He said, "And both Allah has promised the best." He said "and in every good," then he said The connection of this phrase to the previous phrase is very apparent, because strength includes striving for what benefits. He said What does "strive" mean? It means to exert effort to the extent of your ability for what benefits you in this world and the Hereafter, or in this world, or in the Hereafter, yes? All three categories, meaning what benefits in this world only, or in the Hereafter only, or in this world and the Hereafter.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Good, no, no, in this world only, but what does not harm the Hereafter, yes? He does not strive, he does not strive to eat and be full? Heh.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : The person, a person may eat by the dictate of nature, or by the dictate of desire and pleasure, and he may eat to seek help thereby in obedience to Allah, and he may eat to protect his body from destruction, because he is commanded to preserve it. The important thing is if it is free from intention and he eats by the dictate of nature or merely by desire, yes, yes?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : In any case, we say, for what benefits you in this world only, or in the Hereafter only, or in this world and the Hereafter. But the first must be qualified by what? By the condition that it does not harm in the Hereafter. And the saying . What is the relative pronoun with the verb? It is "it benefits." The relative pronoun is converted by its relative clause into an active participle, as if he said, "Strive for the beneficial." And I only said that in order to gradually lead to the fact that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded striving for the beneficial, it means that we prioritize the more beneficial over the beneficial, or not? So if two deeds come together for us, one beneficial and the other more beneficial, what do we prioritize? We prioritize the more beneficial, because the excess over the beneficial is beneficial, because the more beneficial includes the original benefit and this excess. This excess is benefit, and we must strive for it. This is from one aspect.
And from another aspect, we have mentioned repeatedly that when a ruling is attached to a description, the confirmation of that ruling is according to what it includes of that description. For example, if I say, "I hate the open sinners," then everyone who increases in open sinfulness is more hated by you, is that not so? Good. So we take from the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that we prioritize the more beneficial over the beneficial from two aspects:
The first aspect is that the more beneficial includes the benefit and an excess. This excess is from the category of the beneficial, so we take it.
Second, when a ruling is attached to a description, the confirmation of the ruling is according to the confirmation and strength of that description.
Now then, what benefits is matched by two things: what harms and what has neither benefit nor harm, for matters, according to enumeration and division, are either beneficial, harmful, or having neither benefit nor harm. One might say, “But there is a fourth category that contains both benefit and harm.” Well, in any case, this hadith indicates that one should distance oneself from what harms. This hadith indicates the obligation of distancing oneself from it. What is the reason for that? Because distancing oneself from what harms is a benefit. Distancing oneself from what harms is a benefit, and it falls under his saying, . If a person distances himself from what harms him, there is no doubt that this is a benefit and safety. And safety is a gain, as they say. So if he is safe from what harms him, he has gained. And based on this, we say that a person is commanded to distance himself from what harms him.
Now, what has neither benefit nor harm? We say: do not strive for it, do not strive for it. But is it permissible for you to do it? We say: it is from the category of the permissible, and what is from the category of the permissible is according to what leads to it. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, . If this action has neither benefit nor harm, and the general rule is that this is mentioned in the way of division and enumeration, otherwise the general rule is that a matter does not lack either benefit or harm, either in itself or in something else. Our general hadith, our general hadith, may be, I mean, having neither benefit nor harm, but a person may speak and talk in order to bring joy to others. What will it be? It will have benefit, or not? And he may talk so that he is not attributed to seclusion and withdrawal, and what people call the “kal.” Yes, this also has a benefit; it repels the accusation from himself and causes people to be accustomed to him and to feel bold with him. Yes, so the result is that the general rule is that you will not find any of the matters or events that has no good, or has neither benefit nor harm, either intrinsic or incidental. The general rule is that you will not find it, but for the sake of completing the division, we divide it this way.

The questioner : What is said...

The Shaykh : No, no, it is said that the original ruling in it is that it is better not to do it, because at the very least it is a waste of time. Yes, all right.
Look, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Strive and seek help.” The conjunction “and” implies combination, and he did not say, “Strive, then seek help,” but rather he said, “Strive and seek help,” so that seeking help is coupled with striving. And note that striving comes before the action, or after it? Striving: I strive for what benefits me, I do it. So seeking help, therefore, must be concurrent with the action, from its beginning, from its beginning. That means, make your affair, all your actions that you do, make them all coupled with seeking help from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). And seeking help is asking for aid, either by action or by state, either by action or by state. That means, asking for it, either by the tongue of speech, or to put it more accurately, seeking help is asking for aid, either by the tongue of state or by the tongue of speech.
By the tongue of speech, for example, saying, “O Allah, help me,” or when you begin the action, saying, “There is no power and no strength except with Allah,” and the like. This is seeking help by the tongue of speech. By the tongue of state, it is that you feel in your heart that you are in need of your Lord (Mighty and Majestic) to help you with this action, and that if He leaves you to yourself, He leaves you to weakness and incapacity and deficiency, and so on. In reality, if a person is not helped by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), he is not able to do it. So we say: seek help from Allah by the tongue of state or by the tongue of speech, or by both? No, this or that. And in any case, the general rule is that one who seeks help by the tongue of speech is also seeking help by the tongue of state.
All right, we said that the benefit of his saying “and seek help” with the conjunction “and” is that the benefit of that is that seeking help is concurrent with striving, with striving. Yes. And his saying “seek help from Allah”: if this action requires seeking help from the creation, and you seek help from your brother and he comes... like what the brother Ahmad said, “Let two or three go with me to carry the books.”
The student: Permissible.

The Shaykh : Is it permissible? All right, seek help from Allah. The seeking help of the created by the created is that the created is like a member of his members, the created is like a member of his members. Yes, just as if you are unable to carry this thing with one hand, you seek help from the other, so your seeking help from the created does not make you feel that it is like seeking help from the Creator, never. Rather, you feel that this seeking help or this assistance is like the assistance of one of you to another. So it is not a seeking help that you feel is above your capacity and strength. And based on this, we say that it does not contradict his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), , because you are only seeking help from the person as if he is a member of your members, and that he is a cause for this matter, and that...