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“Indeed! This Knowledge is the Deen (the Religion).

Indeed! This Knowledge is the Deen [the Religion]


By Shaikh Abdullah As’Sûbiah

So this statement is well-known to everyone.

‫ﻜﹸﻢ‬‫ﻨ‬‫ﻳ‬‫ﺬﹸﻭﻥﹶ ﺩ‬‫ﺄﹾﺧ‬‫ ﺗ‬‫ﻤﻦ‬ ‫ﻭﺍ ﻋ‬‫ﻧﻈﹸﺮ‬‫ ﻓﹶﺎ‬‫ﻳﻦ‬‫ ﺩ‬‫ﻠﹾﻢ‬‫ﺬﹶﺍ ﺍﻟﻌ‬‫ﹺﺇﻥﱠ ﻫ‬


“Indeed this knowledge is the deen [the religion], so look to whom you take your religion
from!” 1

This is a standard principle of Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah.


First: This is Marfu Hadeeth [e.g. a narration from the Prophet r], but it is not
established from him. However, it's established to be from the Taabi'een, the best known
who said it is Imaam Muslim in his introduction to his book of Hadeeth, from Muhammed
ibn Sireen who said:

‫ﻨﻜﹸﻢ‬‫ﻳ‬‫ﺬﹸﻭﻥﹶ ﺩ‬‫ﺗﺄﹾﺧ‬ ‫ﻦ‬‫ﻤ‬‫ﻭﺍ ﻋ‬‫ﻈﹸﺮ‬‫ ﻓﹶﺎﻧ‬‫ﻦ‬‫ﻳ‬‫ ﺩ‬‫ﻠﹾﻢ‬‫ﺬﹶﺍ ﺍﻟﻌ‬‫ﹺﺇﻥﱠ ﻫ‬


“Indeed this knowledge is the deen [the religion], so look to whom you take your
religion from!”
Muhammed ibn Sireen he was a student of the Tabi’een of Medina who was a student of
Abu Hurayrah t and other Sahâba of the Prophet r. He was well known and respected in
his time. And this statement means Ilm [knowledge] should not be taken from anyone but
Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah.

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Narrated by: Ibn Abbaas y,collected by Ibn Habân in Al-Majruheen 1/152
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Given: March 24, 2011/ Rabi' Thani 19, 1432
Translated & Transcribed by: Umm Hamza Doaa
www.dtssbc.com | www.dtssbc.net
“Indeed! This Knowledge is the Deen (the Religion).”

And this was because of the Bid’ah [innovation], that came in the time of the
Khulafaa'[caliphs], and the first that came from Ahlul Bid’ah were the Khawaarij who came
out against 'Ali Ibn Abdul-Muttalib and made taker of many of the Muslims. Then the
Qadariyyah came in the ending days of 'Abdullah bin 'Umar, Al-Murji'ah and other than
them that appeared. And the Prophet r, told us about this. He said:
“The Jews were divided among themselves into seventy one sects, and the Christians were
divided among themselves into seventy two sects. And My Ummah will be divided among itself
into seventy three sects; all will be in the fire except one.” He was asked which one would be
saved and he said, “The one who is upon what I am upon today and my companions”, i.e. the
saved sect.” So, much appeared, and this became a necessary statement. Also, this means that
Ahlus-Sunnah must look at if the person who is talking is trustworthy.

Ibn Sireen said: “They didn't use to look at the chain of narrators or ask about a person
narrating Hadeeth.” He said: “When the fitnah broke out - i.e. Ahlul Bid’ah appearance -
we started asking the people; narrate to us where you heard it from, before the fitnah we
wouldn’t ask them.” Before the fitnah they would accept Hadeeth from anyone because the
people were innocent and weren’t capable of lying about the Prophet r. If someone said:
“The Prophet r, said, or Abu Bakr or Omar y, said, or they did...” they believed him. But
when the fitnah broke out, after this they started asking people where they heard the
Hadeeth from. So, this is the beginning of the science of Isnaad [chain of narration]. And it
is known Ibn Sireen died 110 Hijrah. So he was talking about those before him, they
started to look to Ahlus-Sunnah and take their Hadeeth from them and look at who was
Ahlul-Bid'ah and not take from them.

And Imaam Muslim said in his introduction “The chain of narration is from our religion
and if it weren't for it, everyone would say whatever they wanted.” So, Isnaad is from the
religion. The predecessors looked at Ahlus-Sunnah and looked at who said what because of
so much Bid’ah and because of the people of Bid'ah's lies and innovations. So they didn't
think of it as backbiting to expose the people of innovation.

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Given: March 24, 2011/ Rabi' Thani 19, 1432
Translated & Transcribed by: Umm Hamza Doaa
www.dtssbc.com | www.dtssbc.net
“Indeed! This Knowledge is the Deen (the Religion).”

Imaam Muslim said in his introduction that he used to say in front of people, “Leave such
and such person, for he used to curse the Salaf.” So this is how they were, they would
always look at who they took from. They would only take a Hadeeth from a person they
have accepted testimony from. This is a great Manhaj.

Imaam Mâlik bin Anas was very strict about these matters. He said: “I do not accept
knowledge from four types of people:
v A person well-known to be foolish, even though all the other people narrate from
him,
v A person involved in committing heresy and calling others towards the innovation in
Deen,
v A person who lies in regular conversation with people, even though I do not accuse
him as a liar in regards to Hadeeth,
v And a person who is a pious worshipper or scholar, but does not properly and
correctly memorize what he narrates.”

Sufyaan bin Uyainah, said: “May Allâh have mercy upon Mâlik, he is extremely
critical of the men.” He would also say, “Imaam Mâlik only used to narrate to others
authentic Hadeeth he would not report, except from reliable narrators I don’t see
Madinah but in decrease [i.e. in regards to the knowledge] after the death of
Mâlik.” Mâlik would go to others and say, “I heard you take from so and so,” and
they would say “Yes” and he would reply “We only used to take from the
Fuqahaa.” And there are so many examples of this from the Salaf.

Imaam Ibn Sireen saw this knowledge as something we get close with to Allâh, so we
must have Ikhlaas in it and know we are rewarded for it, and for our reading and
listening, we must have Ikhlaas.

The Salaf preferred seeking Ilm [knowledge] to every other non-obligatory deed.
And so the Salaf were very keen about seeking knowledge and knew it must be taken
from the right people and in the manner of the Sunnah and the people of Sunnah,
people whose righteousness was known. So we have to seek Ilm from the greats.

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Given: March 24, 2011/ Rabi' Thani 19, 1432
Translated & Transcribed by: Umm Hamza Doaa
www.dtssbc.com | www.dtssbc.net
“Indeed! This Knowledge is the Deen (the Religion).”

Abdullah bin Mubaarak said: “People are on khayr as long as they get Ilm from the
Prophet Muhammed r, and Sahâba and the Elders.”

The meaning of this is knowledge is tied to the early generations. Great scholars that
came later like Ibn Taymiyyah, Muhammed bin Abdul Wahhâb, Shaykh Al-Albaani,
Shaykh bin Uthaymeen, Shaykh bin Baaz, etc, they believed this and learned
according to Kitaab and Sunnah and understood things according to the way of the
Salaf. If they wanted to understand something they'd see how the Salaf understood
it. And if there was a new understanding not seen by the Salaf, then they knew it was
wrong. Imaam Mâlik said: “Indeed the end of this Ummah [affairs of] won’t be set
right, except with what set right the first of the Ummah.” This means adherence to
the Book and the Sunnah, so we must adhere to this too.

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Given: March 24, 2011/ Rabi' Thani 19, 1432
Translated & Transcribed by: Umm Hamza Doaa
www.dtssbc.com | www.dtssbc.net

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