For further clarification, let us put ourselves before the honorable Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and touch upon some manifestations that I think are sufficient in clarifying the negligence that some of us are afflicted with towards the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and his honorable Sunnah so that Allah, The Almighty, may increase the guidance of the guided and change the negligence of the negligent into love, the far into nearness and the extremist into moderation.

1- Turning away from Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, outwardly and inwardly:

The first of such manifestations is the outward and inward turning away from Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. This clearly appears in changing the acts of worship into just habits and forgetting to expect the reward from Allah, The Almighty, or neglecting in following and revering the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and the pure hearty love for him, forgetting his Sunan (recommended acts by him) and neglecting in learning them or searching for them, not regarding the Sunnah highly and disdaining it inwardly.

Amongst the other forms of the outward negligence practiced against the Sunnah is neglecting acting upon the outward Sunan; the obligatory and recommended of it such as the Sunan (i.e. supererogatory acts of worship) that are related to belief, avoiding Bid‘ah (i.e. innovation) and its people; rather, deserting them, or the confirmed Sunan such as that of the eating and clothing, or As-Sunan Ar-Rawaatib (i.e. the Sunnah prayers that have a specific order, number and so on) or the Al-Watr (i.e. odd Rak‘ah  offered at night), or the two Rak‘ahs of Adh-Dh-ha, the Sunan of the rituals of Hajj and ‘Umrah, the Sunan that are related to fasting in time and place. Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, according to some people became like such excess thing. And Allah is the One Whose help we seek.

By Allah, the heart of the slave will never be sound except when it reveres, adheres to and acts upon the Sunnah. To prove this, it was narrated that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever turns away from my Sunnah has nothing to do with me.” [Reported by Al-Bukhaari and Muslim ] the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said this regarding the matters of marriage, eating meat and the like.

It was also reported that Ubay ibn Ka‘b, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Adhere firmly to the path of Allah and cling to the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for anyone in the path of Allah and according to the Sunnah, whose eyes swell up with tears out of piety when remembering Allah, the Most Merciful, his sins would be removed, the way the leaves are wasted away from their dry tree. Also, if anyone in the path of Allah and according to the Sunnah, whose eyes swell up with tears out of piety when remembering Allah, The Almighty, in seclusion, will never be touched by the Hellfire. Surely, a modest effort in the path of Allah and according to the Sunnah is better than a great effort in contradiction to them. Thus, be keen on making your deeds, moderation and efforts abide by the way of the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon him, and their traditions.”  

2- Rejection of the Saheeh (Sound) Hadeeths of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:

Amongst the other forms of negligence practiced towards the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is rejecting some of the sound and authentic Hadeeths with the least argument such as going against the intellect or not matching up to current life stream, or they are not applicable, or being arrogant in accepting Hadeeths and interpreting texts and changing their meaning for this purpose, or rejecting the sound Hadeeth because they are Aahaad  while most of the rulings of Sharee‘ah (i.e. Islamic divine laws) came from the route of Aahaad Hadeeths, or the claim of acting upon Quran only and put aside all other than it while it was narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:  “I do not want to see any one of you reclining on his couch and, when he hears of my instructions or prohibitions, saying ‘I don’t accept it; we did not find any such thing in the Book of Allah.’”

No matter what they claim of the obligation of unifying Muslims on the Noble Quran alone for Allah, The Almighty, obligated in the Noble Quran adhering to the words of Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, as a whole, be in general or in detail. Allah, The Almighty, Says (what means): {…And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from…} [Quran 59: 7]

Moreover, Allah, The Almighty, has stated thirty-three times in the Quran regarding our obedience to the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. It was also narrated that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I have been given the Quran and what is like it with it.”

It was reported that Al-Humaydi said: “While we were sitting with Imam Ash-Shaafi‘i, may Allah have mercy upon him, and a man came to him and asked him about something. He (i.e. Ash-Shaafi‘i) said “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said such and such?” The man again said to Ash-Shaafi‘i: ‘What you say about it?’ Upon this Imaam Ash-Shaafi’ee became very angry and said, “Subhaanallaah (Glory to Allah)! Do you see me leaving a church? Do you see me in a monastery? Do you see me wearing a belt (that the Christian religious men wear)? I am saying to you that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said such and such regarding it and You say to me: What do you say? I do not say except that which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said.’

Imam Maalik, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “If we were to follow every convincing debater, I fear we may end up refuting what Angel Jibreel (i.e. Gabriel), may Allah exalted his mention, brought from the skies to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him?

Imam Maalik, may Allah have mercy upon him, also said: “The Messenger of Allah made a Sunnah and the people in command after him made other Sunnah. To adopt them is to confirm the Book of Allah, The Almighty, and to act on them is to obey Allah, The Almighty, and strengthen the Deen (i.e. religion) of Allah, The Almighty. Whoever follows it is guided. Whoever seeks help by it will have victory. Whoever opposes it and follows other than the path of the believers, Allah will entrust him to what he turns to and will roast him in Jahannam (i.e. Hellfire), which is a bad ending.”

Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Amongst the forms of observing noble manners with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is not to reject his statement but t reject the opinions that go against his word, nor his opinion can be objected by analogy; rather, all forms of analogy are to be put aside if compared to his sacred authentic texts. His words are not to be changed from their truthful meaning for just an imagination that its advocates call logical for simply it is something unknown, can be incorrect (however, all the words of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, are all correct and can never be incorrect) and accepting what he came with can never depend on the agreement of anyone for all of this is a form of impoliteness towards the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; rather, it is the pure form of audacity.

Put aside any opinion compared to the opinion of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) for the one who puts himself in the safe side is surely better than the one who take risks.

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