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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Is memorizing hadiths sufficient without action?

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Your Eminence, people may rely on some of these hadiths and believe that memorizing the beautiful names of Allah without action is sufficient for entering Paradise?
Answer: This is a mistaken understanding; the hadiths of encouragement and warning are intended to urge people to act in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) legislated and called for, such as:
whoever counts them shall enter Paradiseمن أحصاها دخل الجنة
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3508Sahih (Darussalam)
regarding the beautiful names, and such as:
Whoever fasts on the Day of 'Arafah, Allah will expiate for him the year before it and the year after it.من صام عرفة كفر الله به السنة التي قبلها والسنة التي بعدها
And fasting on the Day of Ashura expiates the year before it.والصوم يوم عاشوراء يكفر السنة التي قبله
and all the like of these are in the category of encouraging obedience to Allah , and that this is among the causes of forgiveness, provided the other causes are present and there are no obstacles that prevent forgiveness. If the believer engages in the causes of forgiveness, and there are no obstacles such as persisting in major sins that have their effect, and if there are obstacles, that becomes a cause of not being forgiven; due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
The five [daily] prayers, Friday to Friday and Ramadan to Ramadan make atonement for what has happened since the previous one when major sins have been avoided.الصلوات الخمس والجمعة إلى الجمعة ورمضان إلى رمضان كفارات لما بينهن إذا اجتنبت الكبائر
Mishkat al-Masabih 564
, and in another wording:
As long as major sins are avoided.ما لم تؤت الكبائر
For this reason, the majority of scholars—that is, most of the scholars—held that these hadiths which came regarding the virtue of such and such, and the virtue of such and such, the virtue of prayer and that it expiates sins, or wudu, or fasting on the Day of 'Arafah, or fasting on the Day of Ashura, or enumerating the beautiful names of Allah, or the like of that, all of that is conditioned by avoiding major sins, by being upright in what Allah has made obligatory, and by leaving major sins, and that these virtues and these deeds are among the causes of forgiveness along with the other causes that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated, and along with being free from the obstacles that prevent forgiveness, and that is persisting in major sins, as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said :
And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know.وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُواْ فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُواْ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُواْ اللّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّواْ عَلَى مَا فَعَلُواْ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
[Al Imran: 135] So He conditioned this on not persisting, and persisting is dwelling in disobedience and not repenting from it, and it is among the causes of not being forgiven, and there is no power and no strength except by Allah.
And the summary is: that these virtues, and this promise that Allah promised to whoever enumerates His beautiful names of entering Paradise, and the promise to whoever fasts on the Day of Ashura that it will expiate the year before it, and so on for fasting on the Day of 'Arafah, and so on for all the rest, are all conditioned by not persisting in sins. And so is what came in the hadiths of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and that
Whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah sincerely from his heart will enter Paradise.من شهد أن لا إله إلا الله صادقًا من قلبه دخل الجنة
all of that is conditioned by not dwelling in sins. As for if he dwells in sins, he is under the will of Allah; He may forgive him, or he may enter the Fire because of the sins he persisted in and did not repent from, until when he is purified and cleansed from them, he is taken out of the Fire into Paradise.
So it is obligatory upon every Muslim man and woman to beware of relying on the hadiths of encouragement and promise, and turning away from the hadiths of warning and the verses of warning. Rather, it is obligatory that he take both this and that. It is obligatory that he beware of what Allah has forbidden of sins, and that the hadiths and verses containing warnings be on his mind, for those who transgress the limits of Allah and violate His prohibitions. And with that, he should have good opinion of his Lord and hope for Him, and remember His promise of forgiveness and mercy for those who do righteous deeds. So he combines this and that, and between hope and fear, so he does not despair and does not feel secure. And this is the path of the people of knowledge and faith, as He the Exalted and Majestic said about His prophets:
Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fearإِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا
[Al-Anbya 21:90]
meaning hope and fear
and they were to Us humbly submissive.وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ
[Al-Anbiya: 90]. And He the Exalted said:
Those whom they invoke seek means of access to their Lord, [striving as to] which of them would be nearest, and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishmentأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ وَيَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَهُ وَيَخَافُونَ عَذَابَهُ
[Al-Isra: 57]. And so are the people of faith from the followers of the messengers; they are on this path, they affirm the oneness of Allah and fear Him, they perform His obligations and avoid His prohibitions, and they hope for Him and fear Him .
Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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