The story of the three men who asked the Mothers of the Believers about the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and then renounced it, and a mention of what this story indicates

The Shaykh: Here, it is necessary to remind you of another hadith, which was narrated byThe Shaykh : in "their two Sahihs" so that you take with me a strong indication of how an action can sometimes appear on the surface to be obedience and worship, but in its reality, it has no connection to obedience or worship. The reason is that it contradicts the Sunnah. This is a very, very great matter, and most people are unaware of it. That hadith was narrated, as we said,The Shaykh : in "their two Sahihs" from the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The wives of the Prophet mentioned to the group what they knew of his worship (peace be upon him), regarding standing in prayer regarding fasting regarding women. He is not a monk; rather, he has relations with women. After the group heard this statement and this explanation from the wives of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), they responded by renouncing it, meaning they found the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little. They had imagined the opposite. Looking at the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the master of mankind, as he informed them (peace be upon him), they assumed without doubt that he would stand and pray all night and fast all the time without breaking his fast. As for his relationship with women, they imagined it to be one of affection, love, and service. As for the aspect they call today sexual intercourse, they imagined that the Messenger (peace be upon him) does not perform the ritual bath from major ritual impurity because he is occupied with turning to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in his day and his night. So he stands all night, and he fasts all day, all the time. This is how they imagined it before they heard the news from the wives of the Messenger about him, which was contrary to what they had imagined. They heard that the Messenger sleeps at night and stands to pray, and they heard that the Messenger (peace be upon him) fasts, but not constantly; he also breaks his fast. They were surprised when we told them that the Messenger (peace be upon him) marries women, meaning he has relations with them. Therefore, they said, or the narrator said about them: They found this worship to be little, but they returned to themselves. Because the truth, as is not hidden from you, is that their renunciation of the worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) contained an unintended slight to the Messenger (peace be upon him), as if they suspected that they were more worshipful than him. But they returned to themselves again and attributed a cause from themselves for this worship that they renounced. They said: "This is the Messenger of Allah, and Allah has forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what will come by the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an. As if they were saying: Why does the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) tire himself by standing all night and fasting all the time, and why does he not enjoy the women, when Allah has forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what will come? This is undoubtedly a very wrong and very excessive attribution. But they said that because they had not yet known the legal ruling regarding what they came to ask the Messenger (peace be upon him) about in the first place. So when they did not find it, they asked his wives. As if they had agreed among themselves to isolate themselves in exaggerating worship beyond that worship which they had learned about him (peace and blessings be upon him) from his wives. That is because, as you heard, they attributed the little worship of the Messenger to the fact that (peace be upon him) Allah had forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what will come. As for them, this divine promise had not come to them. Therefore, they agreed among themselves to tire themselves in this worldly life in the worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so that perhaps Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would forgive them as He forgave His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, they agreed among themselves. One of them said: meaning he turns to the worship of Allah, because women are a distraction and a great diversion from the worship of Allah, and I do not want to be occupied with women. And they set out like this, having agreed. So the wives of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) heard this agreement that took place between these three men. Soon, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned to his home, and his wives informed him of what the group had agreed upon and what they had said before about diminishing the worship of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So what did he (peace and blessings be upon him) do but ascend the pulpit and preach to the Companions, saying: He related their statements but did not name them.