The Basis of Unity
Contributor:
Coverage:
Creator: Yasir Qadhi
Date:
Description:
Format: text
Identifier: http://www.khutbah.com/en/allah_angels/basis_unity.php
Language: en
Publisher:
Relation:
Rights:
Source:
Subject: islamization
Title: The Basis of Unity
Created on: Tue Jan 29 11:01:31 -0500 2008
Updated on: Tue Jan 29 11:01:31 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... s. Meaning that in the entire history of mankind, from the time of Adam until the Day of Judgment, never will there be an entire group, an entire generation, better than the Sahaabaa. Never. And that is why Allah refers to the companions as such in Surah 'Imran: You are the best ummah that has ever been sent to mankind. You command what is good, you forbid the evil, and you believe in Allah. What does it mean “the best”? Most Muslims think it means they are the best in their eman and taqwa; that they reached the heights of eman and taqwa and no one can reach those heights. This is of course true, but had this been the only meaning, then how would we be able to benefit from the Sahaabaa; what would there be for us to gain? If their eman reached the stars and ours can only reach a small amount, how would we be able to benefit from them? Know with certainty that the Sahaabaa were of course the best in eman and taqwa, but they were also the best in their knowledge and in their understanding and implementation of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Therefore, the fact that they are the best generation means that their understanding is the best understanding. Their opinions are the best opinions. Their implementation of the Qur’an and Sunnah is the best implementation. Without this, they would not be the best. They were the best in everything; the best in eman, in taqwa, in knowledge, and in actions. So when we differ about something, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam commanded us to take it back to his Sunnah and the Sunnah of the early Khalifaas after him. And then he said, "Hold on fast to it [the Sunnah], cling onto it, bite onto it with your molar teeth." Emphasis after emphasis, this is what will save you. As they say, a drowning man clutches at every straw. So too the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam is telling us, cling on, bite onto it (the Sunnah) with your molar teeth. This is what will save you from the fitna, from the ikhtilaaf, and from the disunity. So the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam told us the disease, he told us the solution to that disease, and then he went a step further. He went a step further and told us the virus that causes that disease. He pointed out the reason why there will be this disease. He said, “And I caution you (I warn you) against newly invented matters." These were matters of the religion that were not known to the early generations; that were not found in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Again, “I warn you against them, I caution you about them.” He went on: "Be careful because every single one of these innovations is qualified as a bid'a, and every bid'a is a misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the fire of Hell." This is the virus that causes the disease of ikhtilaaf. Think about it my dear brothers and sisters. Think about it. The Sahaabaa were one, they were united. They did not differ amongst themselves in the slightest bit with regards to this religion of Islam, the names and attributes of Allah, the concept of destiny, and any of the aspects of aqeedah. They did not differ. Yet we find in our time so many different groups. What must have happened? Historically speaking, the first group came along, the Khawaarij, and they invented something which the Sahaabaa did not agree on. So the next generation found two opinions – that of the Sahaabaa and that of the Khawaarij. And then another group came, the Rafidha, and they invented a third opinion. And then the Qadariyyah, and then the Jahmiyyah, and then the Muht'azila and then the Asha'ira, until in our times we are surrounded by a myriad of groups and we do not know where to turn to. So the cause of this problem was that people kept on inventing, adding, and appending to the religion of Islam, to the understanding of the Sahaabaa, to the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Bid'as (innovations), is how this disunity started and this is why it is still here. As the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "My Ummah will split into seventy-three groups. Every single one of them is destined for the fire of Hell except one." In an authentic hadith of Tirmidhi, the companions asked, "Who are they, ya RasulAllah?" The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, "The group that follows what I am upon today and my companions." Once again, the emphasis here is put on “I and my companions.” This infers that it is essential to look at how the Prophet lived and how the Sahaabee understood and implemented Islam from him. This statement is of paramount importance. We should understand that if we do not heed it, we will be left as the majority of groups have been left; with no standards, criterion, and judge of what is right and what is wrong. My dear brothers and sisters, in this legacy he left us, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam shined a light on one of the most difficult problems the Muslim Ummah faces – the problem of ikhtilaaf, of disunity. He warned us of the divisions to come within the Ummah, but also gave us a solution – turn back to the Qur’an and Sunnah. PART II My dear brothers and sisters, this is the Hadith of 'Irbad ibn Sa'riya, the legacy that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam left us upon. He said, "I have left you upon the shining path, its night is like its day. No one will deviate from it except that he wishes to be destroyed." “…Its night is like its day…” meaning anyone who wants to be guided will be guided; anyone who wants to search for the truth will find it. The path is clear. There is no darkness. Any Muslim who sincerely wishes to be guided, nay, any kafir, any non-Muslim who sincerely wants to be guided, it is not possible that he will be misguided. The path is too clear; it is a promise of Allah 'azza wa jal. The only one who will deviate from this is the one who follows his own desires, the one who does not want to be guided. This is the one who like the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said will go astray because he wishes to go astray, he wishes to destroy himself. My dear brothers and sisters, the religion of Islam is a perfect religion. We all say this to the point that it has now become a cliché and we don’t even understand what it really means. Going back to the Qur’an, Allah says: Today I have perfected your religion for you and completed my favors upon you and I have been pleased with Islam as your way of life. What do we understand of Islam’s perfection from this verse? It means that the Islam of the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, the Islam that was practiced by the companions, that is the perfect Islam; there cannot be an Islam better than that. Time or place is irrelevant; there is no such thing as reversions or evolutions of Islam. We do not make distinctions and say there is a Pakistani Islam, an Arab Islam, a Lebanese Islam, or a Philistini Islam. Nor is there such a thing as an 18th century Islam and a 20th century Islam. Islam does not evolve. Our beliefs don’t evolve. Our fiqh, the fundamentals of our fiqh do not change. We are not talking about the minor differences that the Shari'ah has allowed us to undertake from time to time and place to place. We are talking about the broad general laws of Islam; they do not change from time to time and place to place. Therefore, when we find this differing, the solution is to take it back to that perfection as it existed, in the time of the Sahaabaa when there was no ikhtilaaf. My dear brothers and sisters, we find many aayaat and ahadeeth where the importance of unity is stressed. Some of these include: …hold on fast all of you to the rope of Allah and do not be disunited. The believers are brothers so reconcile between them (Do not let them fight with one another). And the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: “All of you together be brothers in worship of Allah." We all know the importance of unity, yet we also know that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam predicted that the Muslim Ummah will be disunited. In fact, the Qur’an itself predicted it as Allah says: Those that have split up the religions and become into parties and groups, you have nothing to do with them. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam also warned us against innovation. As he said in one hadith: "Whoever innovates in it or supports an innovator, then the curse of Allah and the curse of the angels and the curse of all of mankind will be upon him (Allah will not except from him any good deed).” In another hadith the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: "On the Day of Judgment I will see a group of Muslims and I will recognize them by the signs of wudu. I will recognize them as Muslims and I will say come to me. But the angels will come in between and they will beat them away from me. So I will tell the angels, ‘These are my Ummah, these are the people of my Ummah,’ and the angel will respond, ‘You do not know what they have changed after you.’” In other words you do not know what they have innovated into the religion after you. So the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam will say, "Go away (be away, go off). I have nothing to do with you if you change anything after me." What is the basis of Muslim unity? We know we have to be unified and that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam has cursed innovations and rejected them. So what is the basis? How do we unify when within the Muslim Ummah, two extremes are present. The first extreme is that a person considers any and every difference to be a big deal. If you differ with them about anything, then you become a'oodhubillah, a kafir. Even the smallest difference such as whether you say ameen out loud or silently, and immediately the conclusion is made that this person is a deviant, and a kafir. This is the one extreme. The other extreme is the exact opposite, which is to ignore every single... [Full Article...]
