Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) stated, in what he quoted in the chapter on the command to preserve the Sunnah and its etiquettes, from al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: This was part of his (peace and blessings be upon him) habit; he would sometimes admonish the people with sermons on a regular basis, such as the sermons on Friday, the sermons of the two festivals, and sometimes on an occasional basis when he found a cause that necessitated admonition, in which case he would stand and admonish the people (peace and blessings be upon him). Among these was his admonition after the eclipse prayer, for he delivered a sermon and gave a great, forceful admonition. Whoever wishes to refer to it should look to *Zad al-Ma'ad* by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him). As for here, he says: “And our hearts trembled” means: they feared, and “our eyes shed tears” from crying, so it had a profound effect on them, until because when one who is about to depart wishes to leave, he admonishes those he leaves behind with a forceful sermon that serves as a reminder for them which they do not forget. Therefore, you find that when a person is admonished at his departure, whether by travel or otherwise, the admonition remains in the heart of the one admonished and persists. For this reason, they said: And this counsel is that which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) counseled His servants, so He the Exalted said: And *taqwa* is a comprehensive term among the most comprehensive of legal terms, and it is: I mean by *taqwa* taking precautions against the punishment of Allah, that a person takes precautions against the punishment of Allah. And this is not achieved except by doing the commands and avoiding the prohibitions. And doing the commands and avoiding the prohibitions is not achieved except by knowledge of the commands and prohibitions. Thus, knowledge is necessary and action is necessary. When knowledge and action come together for a person, he thereby attains the fear of Allah and *taqwa* is achieved for him. So the fear of Allah is that a person takes precautions against His punishment by doing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions, and there is no reaching that except through knowledge. And what is meant by knowledge is not that a person be an ocean of knowledge, but rather the knowledge of what is obligatory for him from the commands of Allah. People differ; for example, one who has wealth must know the rulings of zakah, and one who is able to perform Hajj must know the rulings of Hajj, while it is not obligatory for others. So the religious sciences are a collective obligation, except for what is specifically required of a servant to do, in which case its knowledge becomes an individual obligation. He said: “Listen and obey” means to the one in authority whether his authority is general, like the highest leader in the state, or specific, like the governor of a town or the leader of a tribe or the like. And one who thought that the meaning of his statement: is that the intended meaning is the governors below the supreme ruler, whom the jurists call the Supreme Imam, has erred, because authority in the Shari'ah includes the supreme authority, which is the Imamate, and what is below it, such as the authority of towns, regions, tribes, and the like. The evidence for this is that the Muslims, since 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) took over, have called the Caliph the Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful), making him an Amir, and there is no doubt in this. Then he is also called an Imam because he is the supreme ruler, and he is called a Sultan, but what the Companions did was to call him the Amir al-Mu'minin, the Amir al-Mu'minin. And his statement: means even if he is not from the Arabs, if he is from Abyssinia and takes over and Allah grants him authority, then it is obligatory to listen and obey him, because he has become an Amir. And if we said there is no listening and obeying him, the people would become chaotic, with everyone encroaching on the other and everyone neglecting the rights of others. And his statement: this generality is restricted, restricted by what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) restricted it with, where: means: in what the Shari'ah approves. As for what the Shari'ah condemns, there is no obedience to anyone in it, even if it is the mother or the father or the general or specific Amir, for he has no right to obedience in it. For example, if the one in authority orders that the soldiers not pray, we say: no listening and no obedience, because prayer is an obligation that Allah has made obligatory upon the servants, and you are the first to pray and you are the first upon whom prayer is made obligatory, so no listening and no obedience. If he orders them to do something forbidden, like shaving the beards, for example, we say: no listening and no obedience; we do not obey you, we obey the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said: And so, everything that the one in authority orders, if it is a disobedience to Allah, then there is no listening to him and no obedience. It must be disobeyed openly and not heeded, because whoever disobeys Allah and orders the servants of Allah to disobey Allah has no right to listening and obedience. But he must be obeyed in other matters, meaning that it does not mean that if he orders a disobedience, his obedience is dropped absolutely; no, rather his obedience is dropped in that specific matter which is a disobedience to Allah, while in everything else, his obedience is obligatory. And some people have thought that the one in authority is not to be obeyed except in what Allah has ordered, and this is an error, because what Allah has ordered, we execute and do, whether the one in authority orders it or not. So the cases are three: either what the one in authority orders is commanded by the Shari'ah, such as if he orders prayer in congregation, for example, in which case it is obligatory to comply with the command of Allah and His Messenger and the command of the one in authority. Or the one in authority orders a disobedience to Allah, such as leaving an obligation or doing a forbidden act, in which case there is no obedience to him and no listening. Or he orders something in which there is no Shari'ah command and no Shari'ah disobedience, in which case his obedience is obligatory in it, because Allah said: So obedience to the one in authority in other than disobedience is obedience to Allah and His Messenger. And Allah grants success.
The reader: The author (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted: “From al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us a forceful sermon, and our hearts trembled and our eyes shed tears. We said: O Messenger of Allah, it is as if this is the sermon of one who is about to depart, so give us your counsel. He said: ‘I counsel you to fear Allah, and to listen and obey, even if a slave from Abyssinia is appointed over you. And whoever among you outlives me will see much disagreement. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and cling to them with your molars. And beware of newly invented matters, for every innovation is a misguidance’ Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, who said: It is a good, authentic hadith.”