Why Scholars Call Zadul-Ma'ad Irreplaceable

We are continuing tonight this evening in our journey through zadil mahad or the summary of zadil with annotations by myself that i have collected from various scholars throughout the years this book is a very unique and dynamic book because if you were to ask me what is about the name itself is very interesting the name that he chose for this book is provisions to be taken for the hereafter from the traditions the ways the sunan of the best of the servants of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala reference to the prophet muhammad so if you were to ask what is that about what is its topic what is the topic that it deals with i would say that it is all the provisions that we could hope to take from the legacy and the lifetime and the traditions of our prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam to prepare ourselves for meeting allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala this is the topic now that's of course a very broad topic and zadil it doesn't just have an explanation of the sunnah it also is a compilation of the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam it's also a book that harmonizes and puts into context all of his sunnah or the majority of it it also is a collection of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam statements of his actions of his habits etc it's also a compilation of what other scholars of islam historically have had to say with regards to this great topic and also it documents the history or we should say the most relevant history of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to us what does that mean the most relevant history well most books of biography of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's books of history that deal with the prophet salallahu deal with everything having to do with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that is historically recorded and oftentimes that is indiscriminate of that which is authentic or inauthentic so a historian is very different than a muhaddith and we have to keep this in mind a historian compiles all that was said a historian doesn't usually spend time authenticating or or deeming inauthentic any of the information that here compiles historians usually they compile when it comes to sifting through and categorizing these different events categorizing the authentic and distinguishing it from the inauthentic this usually goes to the scholars of hadith and athar this is usually their field right though there are scholars that dabble in both such as ibn kathir and bingerier both of them do this even cathy are more so than even now with regards to the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or should i say the seerah the biography most books of biography will deal with anything having to do with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam from the time he was born until the time he passed away and usually a prelude of before he was born what the state of affairs was what the political arena looked what the social fabric looked like what the governments and so forth that were going on and different political atmosphere at the time to give some context into his birth also a lot of books of seerah deal with his life before he was a prophet but again remember that this book is called zadil it is the book of provisions for the day of the great appointment right and so what is relevant to us as servants of allah with regards to the prophet salallahu is after he was appointed as a prophet from the moment he was made a prophet until the end of his life not before because before he was a prophet yes it gives context and it leads up but it is not as relevant to the rest of us because his he was not a prophet yet prior to being appointed as a prophet and made aware of it at the age of 40. and so whatever may have occurred prior to him being appointed as a prophet while they are anecdotal instances of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala preserving him and protecting him and so on and so forth they are not relevant to us with regards to legislation of course it's relevant to us on an intellectual under an intellectual light under a muslim a muslim would want to know however it is not relevant in the form of teshriya taking laws and taking commandments and prohibitions and so forth this is to be taken after he was appointed as a prophet and so for this reason ibn al-qaeda does not mention this era before he was a prophet rather his portion of the book which is historically as it's been in print the third volume of zed and mahad this third volume has usually concerned itself with with the moment that jibril came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and appointed him as a prophet when he recited to him the first verses of surat and the story that we're all very familiar with this is where ibn al-qayyam picks up and he goes and continues until the end and the death of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam so usually when we look at zadil ma'ad it's usually been printed in five volumes five volumes there's been a sixth volume that has been added later on okay it's been usually been printed in five volumes and we can roughly divide these volumes as follows the first volume deals with the first pillars of islam which is how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam prayed which is where we're at as well as fasting and atikaf etc the second volume usually deals with zakah and hajj volume usually would be the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sira after prophethood and the fourth volume is the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's medicine right and then the fifth volume is usually dealing with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's judgments any time there was a dispute any time there was an issue historically in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam how he dealt with those disputes whatever they may be and then the sixth volume is usually extensive index right extensive index and specific tables of contents this is usually been how it's printed and so a book that many of us are familiar with is the book of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's medicine this book that most popularly circulated in america or in english-speaking countries is the darussalam this is taken from the book it's not an independent book that ibn kalyan authored rather it is the book that is the usually the fourth volume of zed in which deals with in detail the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's medicine all of the ways that he would deal with anything having to do with the physical body or ailments ailments of the heart ailments of the mind illnesses of the body everything right and it's also in alphabetical order he placed a large portion of it this is usually housed in has been divided up by publishers when they print this book it's also been printed in three volumes it's also been condensed into one volume and it has been a reference its inception has been a reference for the scholars of islam whenever you hear that a scholar will say and the author of a zed the author of the provisions has whenever you read this they are referring to allah and they are referring more specifically to his books now this book has a huge topic as we just heard it's a book that's divided up into all these different categories and deals with so much and that is that you take something the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sunnah all of his words all of his actions all of his statements and they are extremely broad they span across 23 years okay and if you would notice with me that a lot of information was collected about the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in his lifetime by the companions because he's not any other man and he is most relevant so everything having to do with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was documented meticulously organized and scrutinized and so a breath that he took essentially was recorded in one way every movement every statement every use of words the way he sat the way he spoke the way he walked the way he looked the way that he looked at others the way that others looked at him the way that he interacted with various that he interacted with animals or children or the different sexes or the different religions or cetera et cetera all of this has been meticulously painstakingly documented right and scrutinized and poured over by the scholars of islam and rightfully so so if you have something this vast right and our religion of course when it comes to rulings and laws and details of those laws there is nasa in mansur and there are things that are general things that are specific things that are incidental things that are isolated things that there's a lot of things that occur and they these things have to be categorized and deciphered by the scholars of islam it is a huge monumental and daunting task and so when you look at something that a body of information so vast right and collected from so many different people so many different perceptions right in order to harmonize all of that information put it into order in order sequence meaning in order of historically what happened when and also to harmonize amongst the general and specific the isolated and the habitual the incidental and the intentional etc etc all of these things which are things that categories of islam that need to be taken into consideration we see that it is a huge huge huge monumental task right huge and monumental task that the scholars of islam have undertaken and harmonize all of this information and so a book zad al-ma'ad is invaluable because not only does it comprise all of that stuff and not only does it put all of these things into sequential order but he also harmonizes all of this information meaning this and this seem to be contradicting but actually this means this and this means that this is something that has been abrogated and this is something that is affirmed this is something general this is specific this is isolated and this is habitual this is etc that's a huge amount of information and only the most elite of scholars historically have been able to do this right and so this is why many scholars make a distinction between the sunnah and the hadith right what does that mean there's a difference between hadith and sunnah yes subtle difference and that is that every sunnah is is a hadith but not every hadith is a sunnah if you think about it in that way what does that mean well there are things that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said or things that he did or things that he affirmed or things that he allowed or things that he encouraged etc etc however not all of those things are necessarily legislation for every single person there are things that are to be taken taken into consideration right in the broader scheme of things and so this is where scholarship comes into comes into play where we have books of hadith that document his the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam statements they document the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam's actions they document all of these things but they don't necessarily make complete sense of everything this is left for scholars so if we take a book sunan abi dawud it is filled to the brim with narrations of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam narrations of his statements or his acts but not every single thing that is found in sunan dawud is necessarily a sunnah for everybody at every time there are things that have been abrogated there are things that have been that have been redone by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam there are isolated incidents etc and this is why we say scholarship is so important many people say well you know what's what's the big deal about a scholar they can read a book we can read a book they are literate we are literate just as literature and that is the statement of someone who has no idea of the sheer amount of information that is available takes a very very unique and special scholar to be able to harmonize all of this information right and so as we said this is an important principle for us to understand and that is hadith everything that he would habitually do and intended be done by people who witnessed him do this all of that falls into the general meaning of hadith but not every hadith is necessarily a sunnah right because of the reasons that we have just proposed and so that is why a book like monumental is so important historically because it's not easy to harmonize all of that information it takes a lot of knowledge very special kind of person to be able to understand things and so as was alluded to by imam that he mentioned i have believed in allah and what has come to me and what has come to us from allah allah and i have believed in these things as allah intended and i have believed in the messenger of allah i believe in everything that has come to us from the messenger of allah in the way that the messenger of allah intended right so understanding yeah everybody will understand but it's only scholarship only the scholars of islam that have taken things traditionally with a chain of narration reaching back into the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's time only they understand things as they were intended to be understood you can open the quran and understand whatever you like and actually the quran is just vague enough that you will be able to make it say or understand it to say anything you want and it's also just specific enough that it will guide you in a very specific way if you allow it to however understanding the quran is not the issue the issue is understanding the quran properly understanding the quran in the way that allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala meant for it to be understood that's a whole different thing there's only one understanding with regards to that and so a lot of people will say you know oh the quran is you know it says this and it says that and you know people will say things and a lot of these things that they say are absurd in a lot of times but they will use the quran as an evidence to that absurdity and we will say yes anybody can twist the words of the quran to mean whatever they want it to mean but only a very particular type of people will understand the quran as allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala intended as the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam and his companions understood the quran there is only one mutual unanimous understanding to the basics and the fundamentals of the quran and that is found with the companions of and so people will murder they will pillage people will even rape they will destroy they will steal they will do all of these terrible things and they will use evidence to justify these actions from the quran yes they will use historically the most murderous of people have used the quran as evidence for their atrocities but it doesn't mean that the quran says that they twisted it to mean that right and so on and so forth so this is why allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala describes the quran as clear and explicit in the chess and in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge he says he says that which translates to the quran is clear explicit evidences in the chess in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge it's only very particular people who have that knowledge and that is the scholarship of islam who a trace back their knowledge that they have inherited all the way back to the mouth and the body and the soul of the prophet this is muhammad important introduction because when we see a lot of differing amongst people we have to understand that this differing exists mainly in the minds of people it is not differing or discrepancies found in the quran rather the litmus test of the quran that it gives us is a do they not contemplate deeply and reflect on the meanings in the quran and and come to the realization that had it been from anyone other than allah they would find much discrepancy in it in the quran so allah subhanahu was added challenges everyone to read through the quran to study it and reflect on its meanings deeply and that if a person does this with honesty they will not find any contradiction therein not just the quran but the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam as well and so this is why this book is so special and this is why this book holds such a such a special place in the hearts of and in the hearts and in the minds of the scholars of islam and the islamic library he says that this chapter is regarding the traditions and the habits of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam on the day of jumu' and this chapter also deals with the particulars and the unique aspects of the day of jumu' that have been mentioned by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he opens this chapter by saying.

[Silence]

In this narration he says allah had obscured the day of jumu' from those nations that have preceded us and so the jews for them was the day of saturday and for the christians the day of sunday and allah created us and this nation and he guided us and manif made manifest to us the day of jumu' and so those are the three days that were ordained the day of jumu' the day of saturday and the day of sunday he says and this is how it will be as well on the day of resurrection that the nations will all follow our lead on that day we are the last of the people of the earth of humanity this nation is the last nation and we are the first of nations and at the forefront of nations on the day of resurrection and we will be the ones to be judged before all other all other nations this is a very powerful narration speaking about the importance of the day of jumuah that the day of friday it is the day that allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala of the week has appointed and given most virtue to because yes all of the days are days essentially 24 hours but not every day is the same allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala chooses of his creation what he what he will subhanahu ta'ala and so yes there is humanity but then allah chooses an anoints from amongst humanity the prophets and from amongst the prophets the messengers from amongst the messengers the most important and supreme of messengers etcetera etcetera likewise is the issue with the months of the year and likewise the issue with the days of the week and so the most virtuous of days is the day of jumu' this is the most virtuous of days however the people of moses of musa they were not given the day of jumu' as their day of of celebration amongst the week they were appointed the day of saturday and the christians the people of isa as well they were not given the day of jumu' which is the most virtuous of days rather they were given the day of sunday and the people of muhammad sallallahu this nation anyone that follows the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he is their prophet that nation this nation has been given the most virtuous of days which is the day of jumu' right what does that mean what does that mean does this mean that the people who were the people of musa alaihis salaam who exalted the day of saturday that they were wrong for doing so and that this was an innovation no that's not what is intended because allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded them to observe the sabbath which is the day of sabbath and sabbat in the arabic language articulates cutting something and that is that they were cut off from their daily activities and their work on that day they were to observe the sabbath there's no working on that day there's no hunting on that day there's no fishing on that day right and allah said to them he said to them subhanahu wata'ala commanded them do not transgress on that day of sabbath the day of sabbath the day of saturday right and then we have stories of their transgressions on that day of sabbath and it's also historically mentioned in the ten commandments that were given to muslim and one of them was remember the sabbath keep it holy right and so likewise we have with the day of sunday it doesn't mean that these days are not virtuous they are virtuous but they are not the most virtuous the most virtuous of days is the day of friday and allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala appointed the day of friday which is the most virtuous for this ummah for this ummah of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam this was not something that was given to any nation before it was it it is this nation and so just as friday precedes sun saturday and just as friday hence therefore precedes sunday likewise this nation will precede other nations on the day of resurrection we are the last of nations but we are the first of nations as the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam tells us in this narration and so the virtue of the day of jumu' is the most virtuous and allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala had legislated and guided this nation specifically to the exaltation and the celebration of that day of jummah right now continues on and you know a person may say well why what is the reason that allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala chose this nation over others and the answer to that is twofold the most important is that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the quran he says that is the virtue of your lord it is to his discretion and he and he distributes that virtue as he sees fit and as he chooses and allah is ever vast and all knowledgeable subhana and so this refers back to thee this refers back to the will of allah subhanahu wazada and the discretion of allah secondly the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam explain this to us to an extent in sahih al-bukhari and sahih al-bukhari in the book of or the chapter times of prayer the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated therein to have mentioned that the example the parable of this ummah with the nations that preceded it of judaism and christianity is a man who hired some people to do some work for him so he hired a lot of people a lot meaning a group of people he hired them to work from the beginning of the day until the middle of the day until and he gave them their reward their pay but they were unable to complete the work the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam and said and then he hired another group another lot of people and he had them work and promised them a certain payment for their troubles and for their work and they continued to work from the middle of until the evening time but they were unable to complete the work and so allah subhanahu wa ta'ala terrible here the man gave these people their pay and then he hired another group of people to complete the day's work from early evening until sunset and they completed the work and he gave them their pay and he gave them extra and gave them a bonus on top of their pay and so the other two nations that came before the third said we worked longer and we were paid less and so this man said to them have i prohibited you or depre of your pay have i wronged you in any way they said no but you gave them extra more than us but you did pay us completely fairly for the work that we did he said he said that is it's my money and i can give it to whomever i choose this man says in this analogy and so likewise is the analogy of this nation here this nation of the prophet sallallahu alaihi this last nation of muhammad allah that the the the people that came before us the people of musa and the jews and the people that came after him and before us the christians they are the second group in this analogy right and they were all paid and given they what they excuse me what they were owed in full yet allah brought this nation they work the least but they are given the most and they are favored and endowed by allah for reasons that refer back to the wisdom and knowledge and discretion of allah subhanahu wazada he did not wrong those nations that preceded us but he did give this nation the best of what any nation could have hoped to receive we have the best of books we have the best of prophets we have the most numbers we have been given the most knowledge we have been given the most revelation etcetera etcetera and so what is the reason for this that is the discretion of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala all of this virtue belongs to he and it is to his discretion alone without any partners and your lord creates whatever he chooses he is the one who chooses and it is to his discretion meaning to give virtue to that creation or to whomever from amongst that creation that he chooses it is not for them to or it is not to their discretion and allah rather it is to the discretion of allah subhanahu wa and so we see here that this is a very particular virtue that allah has given to this nation amongst others continues on and he says also collected and authenticated on the authority of who narrates that the prophet the best and most virtuous of days that the sun has ever risen upon is the day of jumu' the day of friday adam on the day of friday adam alaihissalam the first human being was created and on that day of jumu' he was admitted into paradise and on a friday he was expelled from paradise as well and the hour will not be established until the except on a day of jumoah meaning on the day of jumu' it all began and on the day of jumu' it will all come to an end and the day of judgment will commence on the day of jumu' we will leave off here with that and we will continue next week insha'allah in the virtues of the day of jummah and the starting or continuing next week insha'allah.