The Shaykh’s warning about the necessity of purifying the Sunnah from weak and fabricated hadiths, and his mention of the story of the orator who presented a European proverb as a Prophetic hadith.

The Shaykh : We used to pray the Friday prayer in a mosque in Damascus long ago. After the imam finished the Friday prayer, a young man stood up to deliver a sermon. The entire content of his sermon was urging the attendees to donate to help the poor and needy so that they could afford to study in some schools that educate people for a salary. To encourage them, and for the first time I heard this hadith, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . I know from some of my general reading in some scientific magazines, which may be permissible for some people to read but not permissible for the general public, that this is not only not a hadith, but it is not even Arabic speech; rather, it is a translation of a European proverb: "Open the schools and the prisons will close." And yet he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said. The point is, after the prayer, I took him aside and reminded him: My brother, this is not a hadith from the Messenger. The hadiths of the Messenger are preserved, praise be to Allah, in the six books of Sunnah, and the sixty and sixty-two, and many more, praise be to Allah. But they need work to distinguish the authentic from the weak. In summary, O Abu Firas: Look to the distance; do not take a position that people will accuse you of for any reason.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : And as he (peace be upon him) said, and this is the conclusion of the speech on this occasion: . This is a hadith from the elevated, established hadiths, first, and the wise ones, second: , . How much we need to place this Prophetic wisdom before our eyes, because many people, when we hear them say: and we draw their attention, they will tell you: "By Allah, my intention was not like that, my intention was such and such." Fine, if you do not intend it with your heart, express it with your words. So do not speak with words for which you will have to apologize to people.