Questioner:
Why is it obligatory to follow the understanding of the righteous predecessors?
Shaykh Muqbil bn Hādī al-Wādi’ee:
The righteous predecessors, and more specifically, the companions of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ. It’s because they knew the intent of of the legislation and the reasons for revelation. And likewise, they understood the knowledge of the Book and Sunnah. And the Tābi’ūn (may Allāh, the Most High, have mercy on them) took from them. They took from the companions, and emulating them is based upon this.
As Allāh, the Exalted and Most High says (what means):
“And follow the path of him who turns to Me in repentance and in obedience.” [Luqmān:31]
And He, the Exalted and Most High says (what means):
“And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) 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.” [an-Nisā’:115]
And He, the Exalted and Most High, says in His noble book (what means):
“And the first to embrace Islam of the Muhajirun (those who migrated from Makkah to Al-Madinah) and the Ansar (the citizens of Al-Madinah who helped and gave aid to the Muhajirun) and also those who followed them exactly (in Faith). Allah is well-pleased with them as they are well-pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), to dwell therein forever. That is the supreme success.” [at-Tawbah:100]
And the Messenger ﷺ said: “The best of mankind is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them.”
And the Mu’tazilah did not go astray, and the Rāfiḍah did not reject the legislation of Allāh, and likewise, the Khawārij, they did not go astray except due to their lack of concern for the path of our righteous predecessors.
And the people of Sunnah –up till this time of ours– are the authority, whether their enemies like it or not. As you’ve heard before, that the Messenger ﷺ said: “The best of mankind is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them. Then a people will come after them. They bear witness even without being asked to do so, they betray the trust and are not relied upon, they take oaths and do not fulfill it and fatness will appear amongst them.”
The point is, if you desire success and safety from confusion for yourself, I advise you to follow the path of our righteous predecessors and the path of the people of Ḥadeeth because they are followers of the path of our righteous predecessors.
And as it has preceded, verily, this virtue is (only) for Ahlus Sunnah, verily, their leader is Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ and their role models are the companions of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ and those who follow them with precision.
“There will never cease to be a group from my Ummah manifest upon the truth, they will not be harmed by those who oppose them, nor by those who forsake them, until Allāh’s Decree comes.”
And indeed, from what Allāh honoured the people of the Sunnah with is that you will find that their speech is one. The speech of the Yemeni, the Sūdānī, the Egyptian, and perhaps, the American and likewise the Arab and non-Arab, the white and black; their speech is one. If you were to listen to a speaker, discussing a topic in Egypt, and then you listen to another speaker discussing the same topic in Yemen, you will see that their speech is one.
And how many times have the general folks mentioned this. They say to me: “We heard an individual speaking in the Ḥaram, he was saying something similar to what you say to us over here.” because the methodology of the people of Allāh’s Messenger’s ﷺ Sunnah is one. And this is considered as a form of miracle rather, it is the greatest of miracles. Greater than you flying in the sky and for you to walk on the sea is that Allāh honours you with holding fast to the book and the Sunnah up the understanding of the righteous predecessors.
Questioner:
You mentioned that the righteous predecessors are the people of the three Qurūn (generations) so, what is the extent of a Qarn, may Allāh bless you?
Shaykh Muqbil bn Hādī al-Wādi’ee:
It was reported in the Musnad of Aḥmad that the Prophet ﷺ said to Abdullāh bn Busr: “Live for a Qarn” and he lived for a hundred years.
And from the strangest of affairs is that ’Abd al-’Azīz al-Khūlī –the commentator upon Subul as-Salām– said: We did not find this in reliable books. And Muḥammad Ṣubḥī al-Ḥallāq took it (from him), as we were informed by our brother, Muḥammad bn Qā‘id, he took it and said: “We did not find this…” He is a theif O brothers, this al-Ḥallāq, “We did not find this in reliable books” and the Ḥadeeth is in the Musnad of Aḥmad. So, a Qarn is equivalent to hundred years.
