The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned that it is recommended for a man to leave recommended practices for the purpose of reconciling hearts. What is the criterion for this?
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The questioner : When we speak about the Basmala, he says.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The Shaykh al-Islam, when he speaks about the Basmala, says that it is recommended for a man to intend by leaving such recommended practices the reconciliation of hearts. He provided evidence and said that leaving such recommended practices for the sake of reconciling hearts is greater. He cited as evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to change the direction of the Ka'bah but left this change for the sake of reconciling hearts. Also, there is the report of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud when he completed the prayer behind 'Uthman. Is there a criterion for this rule or this statement that a person leaves the recommended practice? Do we have a criterion for this statement?
The Shaykh : The criterion here is that the public benefit is greater than the harm. There are many issues, and very many indeed, and it is not possible to provide an answer for every issue. Therefore, the rules were established so that the scholar or the student of knowledge knows how to apply the rule to the particulars. What I quoted from Ibn Taymiyyah is the speech of a knowledgeable and juristic man, and we are in great need of adhering to such rules. Leaving the recommended practice, or even leaving the Sunnah, is not a harm if it is left without denying or rejecting it. If it is left by one who follows the Sunnah to achieve a greater benefit than it, there is nothing in knowledge or jurisprudence that denies this. From this is the recitation of the Basmala aloud. The Basmala, as established for us in the Sunnah, the Sunnah is to recite it secretly, naturally, in the loud prayers. But if a person finds himself among a group who have not established themselves upon the Sunnah, but rather lived upon a madhhab, and their madhhab says to recite it aloud, there is no harm in this imam reciting it aloud for the sake of teaching, reminding, and legal policy, without falling into contradiction, meaning committing what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has forbidden. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. Welcome. It has come in the authentic Sunnah: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to make the Companions who prayed behind him hear the verse from what he recited in the quiet prayers," such as the midday prayer, for example. He would make them hear the verse. And we all know that the Sunnah is to recite secretly. So he would make them hear it to teach them. And from here we understood from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the last two rak'ahs of the midday prayer more than al-Fatihah." And that was either due to the disarray of his beard, which is established in the authentic Sunnah in some hadiths in "al-Sahihayn," or by making them hear what he recited after al-Fatihah.
And it is very regrettable—and one thing reminds one of another—that that man who declared his enmity toward the Sunnah and the supporters of the Sunnah, and whose last declaration was his authoring of what he called "The Authentic Description of the Prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)," when the student of knowledge reads this book with precision, deep attention, and sound thinking, he finds that the name this book deserves, with some reservation, is "The Authentic Prayer of the Shafi'is." And this, also, as I said earlier, is with some leniency, because he, who claims to be of the Shafi'i madhhab, contradicts the imams of the Shafi'is in much of what he holds. And I say "much" because in reality he adhered to what is known among the Shafi'is in some rulings of this book. The point of the research is not this now, but rather when he came to this hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri which contains: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the last two rak'ahs of the midday prayer the amount of fifteen rak'ahs," meaning: al-Fatihah and twice as much more. Yes. And when this contradicted his madhhab, because the Shafi'is, unfortunately, say that it is not recommended to recite more than al-Fatihah in the last two rak'ahs, he mentioned the hadith in its entirety because the hadith speaks about what the Messenger used to recite in the midday prayer in the first two and last two rak'ahs, and it also speaks about the afternoon prayer. He deletes the text that explicitly states that he used to recite fifteen... because it contradicts his madhhab. But stranger than this is that he says the opposite of what al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi say, because vocalizing the intention is nothing. So he says in what he called "The Authentic Description of the Prayer of the Prophet" that vocalizing the intention is a Sunnah. What led us to this hadith? Remind me.
The questioner : The Basmala.
The Shaykh : Yes, the Basmala.
The Shaykh : So my point is that reciting the Basmala aloud has not been authentically established from the Messenger (peace be upon him). But what is established allows us the room to achieve a legal benefit without any harm, that it is permissible for us to recite aloud what is originally secret, in order to achieve a benefit. For example, it is established in Sahih Muslim that "Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) used to raise his voice with the recitation of the opening supplication." The Sunnah in the opening supplication is to recite it secretly, so he would raise his voice to teach the people. So if an imam is afflicted with leading people whom he fears will, behind the practice of the Sunnah, by the Sunnah, and I mean the customary, technical Sunnah, and I do not mean the Sunnah in its general legal sense, which includes from him (peace be upon him) his saying (peace be upon him):Sahih Muslim 1401, the meaning of the Sunnah here is not that which is below the obligatory or the required, as some distinguish, differentiating between the obligatory and the required. So I mean by the Sunnah here the technical Sunnah, that which is not obligatory. Yes.
The student : ...
The Shaykh : Ready?
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : Please proceed, our brothers.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The Shaykh al-Islam, when he speaks about the Basmala, says that it is recommended for a man to intend by leaving such recommended practices the reconciliation of hearts. He provided evidence and said that leaving such recommended practices for the sake of reconciling hearts is greater. He cited as evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to change the direction of the Ka'bah but left this change for the sake of reconciling hearts. Also, there is the report of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud when he completed the prayer behind 'Uthman. Is there a criterion for this rule or this statement that a person leaves the recommended practice? Do we have a criterion for this statement?
The Shaykh : The criterion here is that the public benefit is greater than the harm. There are many issues, and very many indeed, and it is not possible to provide an answer for every issue. Therefore, the rules were established so that the scholar or the student of knowledge knows how to apply the rule to the particulars. What I quoted from Ibn Taymiyyah is the speech of a knowledgeable and juristic man, and we are in great need of adhering to such rules. Leaving the recommended practice, or even leaving the Sunnah, is not a harm if it is left without denying or rejecting it. If it is left by one who follows the Sunnah to achieve a greater benefit than it, there is nothing in knowledge or jurisprudence that denies this. From this is the recitation of the Basmala aloud. The Basmala, as established for us in the Sunnah, the Sunnah is to recite it secretly, naturally, in the loud prayers. But if a person finds himself among a group who have not established themselves upon the Sunnah, but rather lived upon a madhhab, and their madhhab says to recite it aloud, there is no harm in this imam reciting it aloud for the sake of teaching, reminding, and legal policy, without falling into contradiction, meaning committing what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has forbidden. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. Welcome. It has come in the authentic Sunnah: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to make the Companions who prayed behind him hear the verse from what he recited in the quiet prayers," such as the midday prayer, for example. He would make them hear the verse. And we all know that the Sunnah is to recite secretly. So he would make them hear it to teach them. And from here we understood from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the last two rak'ahs of the midday prayer more than al-Fatihah." And that was either due to the disarray of his beard, which is established in the authentic Sunnah in some hadiths in "al-Sahihayn," or by making them hear what he recited after al-Fatihah.
And it is very regrettable—and one thing reminds one of another—that that man who declared his enmity toward the Sunnah and the supporters of the Sunnah, and whose last declaration was his authoring of what he called "The Authentic Description of the Prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)," when the student of knowledge reads this book with precision, deep attention, and sound thinking, he finds that the name this book deserves, with some reservation, is "The Authentic Prayer of the Shafi'is." And this, also, as I said earlier, is with some leniency, because he, who claims to be of the Shafi'i madhhab, contradicts the imams of the Shafi'is in much of what he holds. And I say "much" because in reality he adhered to what is known among the Shafi'is in some rulings of this book. The point of the research is not this now, but rather when he came to this hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri which contains: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite in the last two rak'ahs of the midday prayer the amount of fifteen rak'ahs," meaning: al-Fatihah and twice as much more. Yes. And when this contradicted his madhhab, because the Shafi'is, unfortunately, say that it is not recommended to recite more than al-Fatihah in the last two rak'ahs, he mentioned the hadith in its entirety because the hadith speaks about what the Messenger used to recite in the midday prayer in the first two and last two rak'ahs, and it also speaks about the afternoon prayer. He deletes the text that explicitly states that he used to recite fifteen... because it contradicts his madhhab. But stranger than this is that he says the opposite of what al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi say, because vocalizing the intention is nothing. So he says in what he called "The Authentic Description of the Prayer of the Prophet" that vocalizing the intention is a Sunnah. What led us to this hadith? Remind me.
The questioner : The Basmala.
The Shaykh : Yes, the Basmala.
The Shaykh : So my point is that reciting the Basmala aloud has not been authentically established from the Messenger (peace be upon him). But what is established allows us the room to achieve a legal benefit without any harm, that it is permissible for us to recite aloud what is originally secret, in order to achieve a benefit. For example, it is established in Sahih Muslim that "Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) used to raise his voice with the recitation of the opening supplication." The Sunnah in the opening supplication is to recite it secretly, so he would raise his voice to teach the people. So if an imam is afflicted with leading people whom he fears will, behind the practice of the Sunnah, by the Sunnah, and I mean the customary, technical Sunnah, and I do not mean the Sunnah in its general legal sense, which includes from him (peace be upon him) his saying (peace be upon him):
And he who turns away from my Sunnah, he has no relation with Me
فَمَن رَغِبَ عن سُنَّتي فليس منِّيThe student : ...
The Shaykh : Ready?
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : Please proceed, our brothers.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.