How Do We Really Know Allah and His Prophet?

Foreign.

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For the day of the great appointment taken from the traditions and ways of the best of servants the prophet muhammad honestly for a person to love something or for a person to love someone they must know them and this is why allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala dedicates so much of the quran or one of the reasons why allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala dedicates so much of the quran to his names and attributes so much so that it is said that one-third of the quran is strictly and explicitly about the names and attributes of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala why is that well one of the reasons is that as ibn al-qaeda said so eloquently whoever learns allah's names and attributes whoever understands allah's names and attributes and studies them and understands them will in spite of himself come to love allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala likewise is the issue with the prophet.

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Alaihi wasallam as we know in the narration which is in the prophet.

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He said none of you will truly believe until i am more beloved to him and more dear than his children his parents and all of the people now how does a person achieve this legislative love for the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam obviously one of the prerequisites to such love is that an individual know who he is and this is a problem that we have that a person a person's claim to something does not necessarily mean that the claim is valid what does that mean well in order for a person to worship allah to love allah then a person must know who allah subhanahu is and that an individual must know who allah is through the texts of allah meaning he tells us who he is if you assume about allah subhanahu wa then you may end up worshiping a figment of your imagination and this is what allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers.

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A group of people that will come to meet him on the day of resurrection that manifests for them will be from allah that which they did not expect why is that because they assumed and had presuppositions about allah that were inaccurate presuppositions of forgiveness presuppositions of favor right as allah mentions in the quran that the disbeliever this disbelieves and belies the hereafter and that there will be a judgment yet he says and if i am returned to my lord indeed i will have there a great reward awaiting me and we see this all the time someone will die someone will pass away and then people will say i am sure that he's in heaven now looking down on us and all of these things this is because they are worshiping a figment of their imagination has told you something about himself or unless the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam has told you something about allah then you cannot suppose it you cannot pre suppose that allah is or is not subhana and this is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would make dua and say.

[Arabic recitation]

I am unable to adequately describe your you and call your praises you are rather as you have praised yourself he would make in his dua and so a person may spend his life assuming that allah is or is not not having any authority from allah to such assumptions and then when he meets allah he realizes that it was not a law that he was worshiping rather it is something that his mind has conjured up for him likewise the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam if an individual wishes to follow the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he must learn who he is and there is not a human being that has ever walked this earth has been more documented and more meticulously studied than the prophet muhammad hands down there is not a person who has ever walked on this earth or ever will that has been more meticulously studied and whom whose life has been more detailed and preserved than the prophet.

[Arabic recitation]

Every single thing that he did said did not do refrain from doing reactions all the way down to what he would wear what he liked and what he didn't like what his diet was like what his sleep patterns were like even how he would breathe and how he would walk and what his voice sounded like and this is not by accident this is an order that nations that will come after meaning meaning generations for thousands of years we'll be able to look back and see who it is they're following and a person must make certain that it is the prophet muhammad that he is following and not a figment of his imagination whom he has conjured up based on presuppositions of how the world should be and this is very important so it's very important that we take the descriptions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam from the people of knowledge from the scholars of islam who have understood the narrations of the prophet and the companions very well and have looked over them in a way to be able to see what is and what is not this is not some small feat this is a big issue for a person to be able to to be able to look at all of the sunnah that is available to him and see the big picture to see the woods to see the trees for the woods as it were and the reason for that is that we may find isolated narrations that mention a particular thing but are not indicative of a habit of the prophet and so people that have an illness in their heart or people that wish to make the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam into something they find more desirable they will twist these isolated narrations isolated statements isolated incidents to fit their particular agenda and they may be doing it unconsciously as well and it's foolish for us to assume otherwise and so we have instances in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said or did something but this is not indicative of a particular this is not indicative of a habit that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had this is not indicative of a particular methodology that the prophet salallahu sallam had there are narrations in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated to have wrestled with rukana was known from amongst quraish as one of the strongest men around and there's not anybody who would wrestle with rokhana except that rokana would pin him down and so it's narrated that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam accepted the challenge of rokhana to wrestle under the condition that if he were able to wrestle him that he would accept islam and as the narration mentions that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did wrestle with and did in fact pin him resulting in the acceptance of islam of urukana but does this mean that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would go around wrestling all of the time with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam turned himself into a professional wrestler or should we if we have a fancy for wrestling use this as an evidence that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves wrestling this is one example but it's something that's very important for us to understand this is an isolated incident it does not mean that we now are to transform the prophets of allah in our minds into a professional wrestler who would spend hours and days wrestling and and observing such things this is incorrect likewise there are incidents in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam if it was very hot and he was amongst friends close companions that a part of his upper thigh may be exposed this is an isolated incident or a collection of isolated incidences does this mean that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would endorse walking around with short shorts with the knees always with the upper thighs always exposed for men the answer is no we do not extrapolate from this a pattern this is something which is an exception to the rule right and on and on the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam may have repaired one of his shoes perhaps he had sown one of his garments it does not mean that he was a seamstress does not mean that he was a shoe repairman right and it doesn't mean that his wives did not serve him in that capacity this is an isolated incident we are not to turn the prophet sallallahu alaihi into a maid to his wives this is an incorrect understanding of the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam yes he would not reject the request of anything requested of him sallallahu and he would act in the capacity of a very affectionate husband but this does not mean that his wives were absolved of responsibilities towards their husband as many people to use these narrations as evidence for such conclusions and and so on and so forth and so it's important for us not to make the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam into something that we find more palatable that we learn who he is according to the most correct sources and that we understand those sources based on the understanding of the scholars of islam the most prominent of them being the companions we are to understand things in their proper context this is something that i wanted to mention before we continue because it's something that is inconstant it is a constant mistake and a constant regretfully being that information is so readily available and so much at the tips of the fingers of any and all of us for that matter a little bit of knowledge is dangerous as the adage says and that is that we are to be very careful that we always understand this information from the quran and sunnah based on the understandings of the scholars of islam for the past 15 centuries we do not need anybody to come along and bring us new understandings we don't need anyone to come along and bring us new methodologies or uncover some newly invented matter for us to jump on its bandwagon our religion is a religion of strict traditionalism that traditionalism is open-ended to accommodate a a plethora of circumstances however that is to be controlled or that proverbial vowel is to be controlled by the scholars of islam and we have discussed previously the position and the role that the scholars of islam play in this in this nation this great nation of muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam that in previous nations prophets would fill this role but in this nation its scholars are the ones who fill that role of carrying on and preserving and fighting for the legacy of the prophet muhammad unfortunately we are in a time where we are kind of dipping off and the practice and righteousness and veracity and tenacity and tenacity of the muslims has has decreased but this is the nature of this is the nature of this world that just as our breath is is the world it will expand and it will contract and we happen to be at a time of contraction but insha'allah this is not something that will last because invariably that true honor belongs to allah his messenger and the believers we will discuss now some of the rulings with regards to how the prophet alaihi wasallam would perform we did discuss this earlier i mentioned this i kind of gave us a rundown of this at the beginning of this chapter however we will go through what it is that ibn al-qaeda will say here for us he says begins by saying and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the way that he would make salat there are a variety of ways that he would perform this prayer he says minha hada i have a love of these ways that he would perform with it is the way that we have just mentioned which we mentioned last week that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would would pray three all together when in in pairs in in units of two right here and then he would conclude his evening of prayer by praying five consecutive not sitting for tashahud in any of those except the final one so we mentioned he makes eight in units of two and then he makes five all together not sitting for teshahood except in the fifth raka when he.

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Another is that he would pray nine all together how would he do this he would pray nine one right after the other he would sit in the eighth raka as we mentioned in this sitting position after the eighth between the eighth and the ninth he would remember allah praise allah ask of allah and then he would stand up for the ninth not making taslim he would then pray the ninth and he would conclude the ninth raka by sitting for tashahud and making taslim as usual after which he would pray to raka after he had made tesleem these two deca are somewhat anomalous to many scholars he would pray the witter and he had encouraged that a person's last prayer throughout the night be witter right so what are these two raqqa that he would pray and in some narrations he would pray them sitting down as he's sitting he would just pray them in that way standing up for and sujud but sitting for the standing portion some scholars mention that these are the two of fajr and that's maybe more accurate and closer and there are other exceptions however the point is is that we have a principle in in fick that we need to understand and these principles are set up not because they are designed to avoid understanding but to guide a person when they are unable to understand right and so we have two issues that arise we have the statement of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and then we have the action of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam these two conflict it happens occasionally now why are they conflicting the person is unable to know why they are conflicting until they are able to uncover the reason behind that there is a principle that guides us and that is if the actions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam clash with a statement of his then we take his statement over his actions so for example i'll give you one example of this there is a narration in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam prohibits that a person relieve himself relieve herself facing the qibla that is impermissible for a person to relieve himself facing the qibla or with his back to the qibla this is a statement that he made to the companions and what is apparent is that this is whether a person is relieving himself outdoors or indoors where there are walls right and so the companions the majority of the companions understood this narration in this capacity but there is another narration also collected in a sahih that abdullah bin umar observed the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam by accident while he was relieving himself behind a wall with his back towards the qibla even omar had climbed up on top of a building on top of a house and he happened he didn't know he looked down there was the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam relieving himself behind relieving himself with his back towards the qibla and there being a wall between himself and the qibla so now we have the statement of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam telling us do not do this and then we have the action of him doing it right how are we to understand and harmonize between these two contradictions this is something rare but we take these statements because the statement could not have been accidental it is more explicit right logically a statement is more explicit an action is less explicit explicit it is more ambiguous why because it could be something specific to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or he could have forgotten which is most likely the instance here or he could have become momentarily confused as to the direction or there are other circumstances which forced him to do something that he would not naturally do and so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam relieving himself in this way in such a private place and accidentally being seen by ibn omar we can surmise from these circumstances that he did not intend to be followed in this capacity right but when he said when you relieve yourselves do not relieve yourselves towards the qibla or away from the qibla rather relieve yourselves to the east or to the west this is based on where medina was at the time located from the kaaba and so because if you are in medina the kaaba would be southern in this not directly south but a little bit southeast but nonetheless south and so this is what we follow and as for that anomalous incident this is something that is is ambiguous to us we aren't sure what exactly occurred and so we did not count it in that respect this is a general rule and this helps us to navigate through the enormous amount of sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said as we had read a few chapters ago that abnormal claim quotes him when he says i am just a human being as you all are human beings i am prone to forgetfulness as you all are and so these are this is one principle that is very important for us to understand and that is the statement of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is for us and the actions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam are for him if they are if we are unable to harmonize between the two he says he said in another way that he was narrated to have praised is that he would pray seven rakah in the way that he prayed the nine so he would pray he would sit in the sixth rakah and then he would stand for the seventh and finish then he would pray to raka sitting down what is this too again this is an issue of debate amongst the scholars of filk and one of the ways that he would also pray and perhaps the most common way that he would pray is that he would pray the night prayer in units of two and then he would pray with it three rakah and not make any distinction between the three meaning he would not sit for tashahud in the second we do in salah tillman this is incorrect if you're going to make witar it should not be magdeb it should be three consecutive and then at the very end of.

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Mentions one final thing and that is making sure all three together in the way that we just mentioned this is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars and here mentions that the best opinion is that he would not make it in this way rather that he may sit in the second weka however he does mention a narration here collected by in his sunan and it's important for us to know that is considered one of the very strict scholars of hadith when he authenticates an erasion the authentication is to be taken into serious consideration because he is considered to be very strict in what he considers to be authentic he mentions the narration on the authority of ibe in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated to have said do not praise soil till witter three rather praise in a unit of five or seven and do not make your wither similar to and so here we have we are getting an image here in our minds as to how it is the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would make salah there are a number of ways let us review the way is that are permissible number one he would make whitter as one so he would make two two two until he makes ten right and then he would finish whatever that is with one independent this is whitter number two is that he would make make salat al-witter in three and not sit for the except at the very end other scholars view that he would sit for tashahud in the second and third prayer however as we mentioned this is less correct the third type of witar is that he would pray five altogether not making tashahud except in the fifth another type is that he would pray seven altogether sitting for tashahud in the sixth and the seventh rakah and the final way is that he would make nine rakah all together sitting for teshahood in the eighth and in the ninth these are the ways that were narrated inshallah authentically as to how the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam would make sure traditionally.

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When we speak about a nasa rahimahullah and has two books that are he's most known for right he has two books which he is most known for with m.

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He has many books that he wrote but the two most important is that he wrote a book called asunan al-kubra this is a very illustrious and long book collecting many narrations of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and it's a very expansive book and it's a less known book amongst the broader masses of muslims it's a book that he had originally written documenting the majority of what had reached him of the narrations of the prophet alaihi wasallam and then he summarized this book into a book referred to as al mujtaba al mujtaba meaning the abridged version chosen select narrations from his book when we see in the islamic library the six books of hadith right we're talking about bukhari muslim abu dhabi these are the six that many scholars it's originally the to make these six books the main references however these six books which you'll find in bookstores just written that sunan anna say right sunin which you'll find commonly in bookstores and considered as one of the six books of hadith this is the summarized version this is right the original book and so this is correct the scholars when they refer to as sunan they're speaking about the summarized version and when they refer to you the original text they will say al-qubra right so that we know which book here they're talking about and so sometimes people will read well it's reported by a nasa if they'll go back to el mujtaba and not find the narration of course you won't find the narration because that is a different book it is a different book he says there is a narration on the authority of hadefa collected by nasa's.

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And so in this narration it's mentioned that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did not make with it in this particular instance he was praying in ramadan and udaifu was praying alongside him that he made for raqqa and that he did not make s came to him and mentioned that it was time to lead people in salat al-fajr what does this mean again an isolated incident this doesn't mean that he intended necessarily not to make witar but anything could have happened he could have not known that it was so late or it could be that he had prayed with him earlier or a number of things so this is one anomalous incident in which he did not make salah however whether this was intentional or unintentional is something that is left to debate if not says and when we collect all the narrations we see that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated to have made salat at the beginning of the evening meaning right after isha in the middle of the evening meaning the middle of the night and as well at the end of the night meaning just before fajr all three of these times he was narrated to have made salat in witter so we see that it is the time for winter the proper time for with it extends from right after isha until the then of fajr.

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It has also been narrated that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam spent the entirety of his prayer at one night reciting only one verse meaning in addition to surat al-fatiha but he would recite this verse which is the one hundred and eighteenth verse of surah tillman the fifth chapter of the quran this is again not something to be taken as a sunnah is it the sunnah for a person to pray all night reciting this one verse no this is not something that we have that the companions did they did not understand it in this way and the one who narrated this is we don't have her praying in this way either rather it's to be understood that this is an isolated incident that is particular to the prophet s.

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Goes into exactly the positions that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would be in in when he would praise the the nighttime prayer he says three ways that he would most usually pray at night he says the first type and it is the most common way that he salallahu alaihi wasallam would pray the night prayer is that he would pray standing what does that mean standing just like we pray normally you know for the recitation part he would stand and then he would make roku and then he would stand up again and make sujud etc etc this is the most common way that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would pray the second is that he would pray sitting down what does that mean meaning that instead of standing during the standing position he would sit down and when time for rokur would come he would stand up and make rukur and then go through the motions but instead of standing he would sit so he would not stand he would sit there is a third type he says that he would pray and he would recite the quran in the sitting position and when there was only a little bit left for that position which he had planned to pray he would stand up recite a little bit more and then he would make roku and go through normally sallam so what does this mean well it is an obligation for a person to pray standing up if he is able allah subhanahu wa says and stand in prayer and in diligent obedience and the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam would always pray the obligatory prayer standing up unless he was unable to do so this is something that i want to mention because a lot of people confuse these things we have the obligatory prayer and then we have the prayer which is mustahab it is something which is not binding it's not wedge it's not obligatory it is preferable it is encouraged it is acceptable it is not something which is binding a person is not going to be held accountable for failing to make this prayer which is anything but the five prayers and some others mention specifically according to different opinions and so if a person is going to make the five prayers and he is able to stand and he must pray standing this is considered a pillar of prayer the scholars of islam mention fourteen pillars of prayer the first of which is takbir the second of which is standing while others mention standing first as the first pillar of salah meaning if a person is able to stand and pray the obligatory prayer and does not without a valid excuse then that prayer is deemed invalid this is important because people play around with this a lot they may they have read or heard narrations of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam standing praying sitting down and they will then pray sitting down with the slightest of discomforts say a person is in a public place they're kind of embarrassed to pray so they just pray sitting down or a person is driving they don't want to stop they don't want to pull over right so they just pray in the car this is invalid this is unacceptable the prayer cannot be accepted in this way if a person is able to stand standing is an obligation it is integral to the validity of the prayer there are instances when a person may pray sitting down because of some necessity meaning they are unable to stand this is taken from the narration of one of the companions he says that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam told him and he was suffering from a very serious bout of hemorrhoids and so the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam said to him so he said pray standing unless you are unable to do so if you are unable to stand and pray sitting and if you are unable to pray sitting then pray on your side and so this companion was suffering from a medical condition that would make it extremely painful for him to stand while he is praying and this is not a static ruling meaning that a person may have a condition where his leg locks up or whatever it is okay they're unable to pray standing sometimes they can pray standing it comes and goes right then a person must pray based on based on their ability at each and every prayer it's not just i pray sitting all the time and that's it if a person is able to stand on certain occasions then the person is to pray in the standing position etcetera etcetera therefore it's important for us to understand the sunnah as it properly is that an individual is to pray standing up if there is a reason why a person is just physically unable to stand meaning that a person is in an airplane and there is absolutely no place to stand to pray a person is in a bus that will not stop and it will end with them missing the time of prayer for instance then in this case they pray sitting down in the position they are able to pray in if they're in a moving vehicle a bus for instance and they have to pray sitting down they should wait until the bus faces towards the qibla they should then make their tech beer to initiate prayer and then they are and then they are to pray normally even if the bus changes directions for instance from the qibla they do not have to change their direction likewise if a person prays in the sitting position for standing they should stand if they're able to do so some people are just unable to pray standing but they can make rukur they can make sujud or they can make one of the two and this is all based on the principle muslim the prophet salallahu anything i have commanded you all do of it as much as you are able so if a person is able to make sujud but he's not able to make roku then he is to make sujud and rukur should be in the sitting position the only time that a person has the discretion to pray sitting down completely not making sujud is in the sunnah prayer a prayer that is not obligatory this is something that the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam would do in his travels as mentioned by ibn umar that the prophet occasionally pray on his camel or whatever it is that he was writing and he would make sujud by bowing forward and leaning forward this is for the night prayer this is not for the obligatory prayer and even if a person prays in the sitting position in the obligatory prayer then he must make rook.

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My you.