By Sh Sheikh Osama ibn Abdullah Khayyat – 15 Jumaadal Ulaa 1436

His Eminence Sheikh Osama ibn Abdullah Khayyat –May Allah protect him– delivered this Friday Khutbah titled “Salvation Lies in Following the Path of the Believers” in which he addressed the most important and most apparent reasons for delinquency in recent times, namely, breaking with (the teachings of) the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ and following a path other than that of the believers. He explained the essence of this path and how to follow it, and, quoting the Prophet’s Hadith and scholars’ pertinent statements, Sheikh Khayyat affirmed that salvation lies solely in following this path.

“Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Sovereign of the Day of Recompense!”1 I thank Him –May He be exalted– and I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah alone with no partner. He promised to throw in the Hellfire those who break with the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– and those who follow a path other than that of the believers. I also bear witness that our Prophet and Master Muhammad ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– is the Servant and Messenger of Allah, the Imam of the pious, the Seal of prophets, and the mercy to mankind. O Lord! Please send Your Salat and Peace upon Your Servant and Messenger, Muhammad, and be, O Lord, pleased with his family, Companions, wives (Mothers of the Believers) and the tabicin (the contemporaries of the Prophet’s Companions after his death) and those who follow in their footsteps until the Day of Account!

Now then,
I exhort you –O Servants of Allah– to observe Taqwa (fear of disobeying Allah). Return and submit to your Lord, respond to Allah and to the Prophet as he calls you to what provides you with life and to what brings you felicity in the Herein and salvation in the Hereafter:

“The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who brings to Allah a clean heart [clean from Shirk (polytheism) and Nifaq (hypocrisy)].” [Al-Shuara’: 88-89]

Servants of Allah!
Many people wonder about the causes leading to deviation and straying from the straight path of Almighty Allah. Indeed, they wonder why aberrant people choose to follow paths that would lead them astray and force them to deviate from bright guidance, the ultimate truth embodied in the creed of Ahl Al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamacah (the Followers of the Sunnah and the Muslim Congregation) and the tenets of the salaf, the elite generations whose righteousness was attested by the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him. In his Hadith narrated by Abdullah Ibn Masūd and quoted by the two Sheikhs in their two Sahihs, the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– is reported to have said, “The best generation is my generation, then the following one, then the subsequent one … (See the rest of the Hadith).”

Those endowed with knowledge and faith from among religious scholars and those who are well versed in religious matters take a connoisseur’s stand vis-à-vis this issue. They possess guided and informed insight as to its nature and truth. They put their finger on the motivations that initiate it, and give us an exhaustive explanation thereof that cures every malady, refutes every excuse, and allays every suspicious interpretation of religion (by people of ill repute).

O Servants of Allah! In brief, deviation is referred to two grave sins: first, the disrespect and disregard for sanctified blood which entails indifference towards the admonition by Allah Almighty and His Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ in this respect; second, the impudence in accusing Muslims of kufr (unbelief) and the insistence on perpetrating that grave sin in the absence of conclusive evidence, fiqh (religious jurisprudent ruling) or fear of Allah. It is an act not committed in observance of Allah’s retribution or a divine ruling, or in renunciation of a personal whim or desire to implement a sacred order.

Scholars have opined that the most powerful motivation for such deviation is breaking with Allah’s Prophet and following a path other than that of the believers in interpreting the Book of Allah Almighty and the Sunnah of His Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him. This is precisely what Allah has prohibited, warned against and threatened its perpetrator severe punishment in the Hellfire:

“And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers’ way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell – what an evil destination.” [Al-Nisa’:115]

This is a divine declaration that he who opposes Allah’s Messenger ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ and takes a hostile attitude towards him, having known for certain that he is the Messenger of Allah and that what he has brought is guidance from Allah Almighty, is undoubtedly a dejected loser. Such a sinner has wilfully chosen to be a dissident, defecting from the Muslim ranks in favour of a different path. His punishment in the Herein is abandonment by Allah, Who will leave him to his unbelief and misguidance out of disdain and contempt. In the Hereafter, he will be tormented in the Hellfire which Allah has decreed to be his fate, and what a fate!

What catches the attention of the wise –O Servants of Allah– as is pointed out by religious scholars is the fact that Allah Almighty did not mention only the breakage with the Prophet, but also conjoined it with following a path other than that of the believers. This indicates that following the path of the believers or an opposite path is of paramount importance. It implies that he who follows the path of the believers will be saved on the Day of Account. Conversely, he who chooses the opposite path will be tormented in the Hellfire as a depraved outcast.

This is the origin of the misguidance of many past and present sects that did not adhere to the believers’ path in understanding the Book and the Sunnah, but preferred to follow their own minds and caprices. Such was their self-infatuation that they fell victim to the most deleterious misfortunes with most abominable consequences.

Hence the just and painful punishment implied in the aforementioned verse of the Qur’an! It is due punishment that emanates from abandonment of the paths of the righteous salaf and devout Muslims especially the Prophet’s Companions. Those are highly praised by the Qur’an and their righteousness and superior rank are attested by the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him. It is a rank not to be attained by any of their successors.

The Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ said, “Do not insult my Companions! I swear by the One Who holds my life in His Hand (Allah Almighty) that even if anyone of you spent (in charity) as much gold as the weight of Uhud (a mountain near Madinah), he would not be equal to anyone of them who spent a Mudd (two thirds of a kilogram) or even half of it.” [Narrated by the two Sheikhs (Imams Bukhari and Muslim) in their two Sahih Books, by Abu Dawūd in his Sunan, and by Al-Tirmidhi in his Jamic from the Hadith reported by Abu Sacid Al-Khudri ‒May Allah be pleased with him]

Another Hadith that bespeaks the implication of this Qur’anic verse is the Hadith narrated by Awf Ibn Malik ‒May Allah be pleased with him‒ who quoted the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ as saying, “The Jews have split into seventy one sects; the Christians into seventy two. I swear by the One Who holds Muhammad’s life in His Hand that my Ummah will split into seventy three sects; all except one will end in the Hellfire.” “Which one, O Messenger of Allah?” they asked. “Al-Jama’ah,(the mainstream Muslim Congregation)” he answered. [Narrated by Ibn Majah in his Sunan, with an authentic chain of narrators]

Another Hadith is the one narrated by Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn Al-aS ‒May Allah be pleased with him and his father‒ who said, “When the Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ was asked about the saved sect, he answered, ‘The one that adheres to what I and my Companions are.” [This Hadith has a good chain of narration]
The Prophet ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ did not only say “what I am,” but the compassionate and merciful Prophet ‒as described by His Lord‒ explained the sign of the saved sect as the one that adheres to what he was like and to what his Companions were like after him.

Therefore, good linguistic competence, familiarity with the syntactic and semantic rules of the language, cognizance of the nasikh and mansūkh (abrogating and abrogated respectively) etc. and all the disciplines and tools deemed necessary for those who undertake to interpret the meanings of the Book and the Sunnah are simply insufficient.

What is needed is recourse to the path of the Prophet’s Companions as they were the most knowledgeable jurisprudents and the most devout people –after the Prophet (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him)‒ in worshiping Allah Almighty.

They were ‒May Allah be pleased with them‒ the most knowledgeable as to the meanings of the Book (Qur’an), the Sunnah, and the contexts of revelation. Concerning this, Sheikh Al-Islam, Ibn Taimiyyah ‒May Allah bless his soul‒ says: “The Companions understand the Qur’an in ways unknown to most of later generations; they also have certain knowledge of matters of the Sunnah and the conditions of the Messenger ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ unknown to most of later generations. They (i. e. the Companions) ‒May Allah be pleased with them‒ witnessed the Messenger ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ and the Revelation of the Qur’an; they saw the Messenger ‒May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him‒ and were his contemporaries; they knew of his sayings and deeds what helped them understand their intentions whereas most of later generations did not.”

He was telling the truth ‒May Allah bless his soul‒ for there was much of the meanings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah which was unattainable by most of those who came much later after the Companions. This is because of their avoiding of what is true and authentic, as well as their avoiding of the guided and firmly established source of reference.

So fear Allah ‒O Servants of Allah‒ and let it be known to you that there is no other way than the path of the believers to understand the Book and the Sunnah if you wish to be saved from the calamities that befell those who followed the dictates of their own reasons, followed their whims, and deviated from the path of the believers: the Companions, the tabicin (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him] after his death), and those who followed them in righteousness from among the people of the preferred centuries and early times of religious zeal, faith and benevolence.

May Allah benefit you and me with His Book’s guidance and the Sunnah of His Prophet’s –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him. This is said, I ask Allah, the Almighty, the Exalted, to forgive my sins, yours and those of all Muslims. He is truly Most Forgiving, Most Merciful!