In advice given to the brothers in America via Paltalk, our noble Shaykh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī al-Madkhalī mentions that, indeed Allāh has sent the Messenger, Muḥammad (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), to mankind in order to remove the people from darkness and enter them into light, and He sent him with the truth in order to overcome all other religions even though the disbelievers may hate it.
Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿāla) sent the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) with a Book, the likes of which mankind had never known before; perfect in its rulings, and perfect in its encompassing of good and conveying of wisdom, in order to raise the people and give them happiness in this world and the hereafter, teaching them what they need to know by way of benefits and goodness in this world, and ordering them with good and forbidding them from evil, and showing them the path leading to righteousness.
The status of the Messenger, Muḥammad (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), is great as is the status of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah of the Messenger. It is obligatory upon us to understand and actualise this, doing so will lead the believer to feel proud of this dīn and implementing and holding fast to the Book and the Sunnah, giving this dīn precedence over everything else from the affairs of the dunyá. What has caused the Ummah to reach the state it has reached today is due to the distancing of themselves from the Book and the Sunnah.
Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿāla) says in the Qurʾān,
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.
[Sūrah āl-Imrān: 103]
In this āyah is a warning against leaving off the Rope of Allāh, and the order to hold fast to it. Here, the meaning of ‘Rope of Allāh’ is explained by various scholars, with some explaining that it means the Book of Allāh, and others have said it means the Qurʾān and the Sunnah. However, they all mean the same thing, and they all necessitate each other in meaning, so it is an order to everybody from this Ummah, from its beginning to its end, to hold fast to the Rope of Allāh and the Sunnah of the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). This includes everything the Messenger came with. The proof for this is in the statement of Allāh,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
‘O you who believe! Enter perfectly in Islām (by obeying all the rules and regulations of the Islāmic religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shayṭān (Satan)’
[Sūrah al-Baqarah: 208]
وَمَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ وَالْأَرْضُ جَمِيعًا قَبْضَتُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَالسَّمَاوَاتُ مَطْوِيَّاتٌ بِيَمِينِهِ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ﴿٦٧﴾
‘They made not a just estimate of Allāh such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!’
[Sūrah al-Zumar: 67]
If the people knew the true status Allāh, and gave Him a just estimate as they should, then they would not have gone astray in the many issues and affairs of their din with regards to aspects of worship, and politics, and so on. Unfortunately, many people went astray due to this very reason, distancing themselves from the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), and they did not give true consideration or respect to Allāh and His Book, and neither to the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) or his Sunnah. And the proof which shows we have truly given the religion its due right and estimate is by respecting and implementing these texts. Allāh says,
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
‘Say (O Muḥammad to mankind): “If you (really) love Allāh then follow me (i.e. accept Islāmic Monotheism, follow the Qurʾān and the Sunnah), Allāh will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allāh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’
[Sūrah āl-Imrān: 31]
So a true sign of your love is following the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and holding fast to the Rope of Allāh, and so a person’s love and affiliation would be mere empty claims if his actions oppose the reality.
قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
‘And whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.’
[Sūrah al-Baqarah: 38]
The verses of Allāh in many places in the Qurʾān include mention of happiness and success for those who follow the guidance of the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), and a promise of guidance, light and happiness, and distance from straying and misguidance, and distance from all forms of hardship and harms. So it is upon the Ummah to believe and to strive to stay away from the causes of its downfall, suffering and going astray, and we ask Allāh that He grants this Ummah the ability to return back to the Book and the Sunnah, and that He grants this Ummah peace, strength and happiness, and removes it from every form of humiliation, suffering and belittlement. Holding fast to the Sunnah of the Messenger is what will bring the people back to guidance and light, and the effects of abandoning it can be seen in the examples of the many who moved away from the Sunnah and entered into a state of suffering. Whoever turns away from the guidance of Allāh and His Messenger is threatened with darkness, constriction, and the severe punishment, as Allāh says,
وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَىٰ
قَالَ رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِي أَعْمَىٰ وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيرًا
قَالَ كَذَٰلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا ۖ وَكَذَٰلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَىٰ
وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي مَنْ أَسْرَفَ وَلَمْ يُؤْمِن بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ ۚ وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَىٰ
‘But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Qurʾān nor acts on its teachings) verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection.” He will say:”O my Lord! Why have you raised me up blind, while I had sight (before).” (Allāh) will say: “Like this, Our Ayāt (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) came unto you, but you disregarded them (i.e. you left them, did not think deeply in them, and you turned away from them), and so this Day, you will be neglected (in the Hell-fire, away from Allāh’s Mercy).” (126) And thus do We requite him who transgresses beyond bounds [i.e. commits the great sins and disobeys his Lord (Allāh) and believes not in His Messengers, and His revealed Books, like this Qurʾān, etc.], and believes not in the Ayāt (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations) of his Lord, and the torment of the Hereafter is far more severe and more lasting.’
[Sūrah Ṭā-Hā: 124-127]
The Shaykh, (ḥafiẓahullāh) took a question at the end of the lecture from the brothers in America:
[Q]: Many Masājid in America claim to be upon the Salafī way, but display actions like that of the Ikhwān al-Muslimīn generally out of ignorance, what is your advice to these people?
[A]: It pleases us to know that there are many masājid, but they should be upon the Salafī way in reality and not just by way of claim. So whoever is true to the religion of Allāh, hoping he is upon the truth, and that he should be upon the Salafī way, then Allāh will protect him with guidance and protect him from going astray and falling into errors. Unfortunately, we see many people claiming Salafīyyah, even from amongst the extreme Ṣūfīs, and in reality they oppose that which they claim; so whoever is a true Salafī and wants to truly be upon the path of the righteous predecessors, then it is upon him to study the correct and true methodology of the Salaf, and to hold on to it in his beliefs and manḥaj in giving daʿwah, and other things and in his association and his disassociation as proof in rejecting and accepting things. I advise all the youth who claim to be upon the Salafī way to be truthful in this claim, as I mentioned before, in their manḥaj and manners, and as a result, they will not fall into error and mistakes. And by this, I do not mean to say they are infallible; but rather, by following the correct Salafī way, they will try their utmost against falling into innovations and mistakes, and if they are truthful to the Salafī way and that which they claim, then they would take the advice of their Salafī brothers if they fall into error. And what shows their Salafī way is hastening to accept and rectify their mistakes. It is a must that they do this since we are living in a time of politics run by emotions and deceptions, and those affairs in which oppose the truth. In any case, you have heard the lecture and that which it contains of advice [with regards to holding firm to the Book and the Sunnah]. Thus it is upon all of us to implement these texts and hold fast to them with our molar teeth, and this will make us true Salafīs.
The Shaykh ended by supplicating to Allāh to grant the youth and elders the ability to hold on to the Salafī way.
