And that is why we find the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in an authentic hadeeth ikhwaan, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he told us about those days where a person will need patience to remain upon the truth, will receive the reward of 50 of the companions. There will be a time where patience will be required and due to the amount of patience that is required to remain firm upon the truth, the individual at that time will receive the reward of 50 of the companions of the Prophet Muhammed صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Ibn Uthaymeen asked the question – le mada – “Why? Why will he receive this reward?” The Shaykh he responded by saying, “Because if a person was to look around him and he found that all of his friends & the people surrounding him was upon the same path, he would not feel lonely. He would not feel lonely. However, but the days you will need patience all of the people they will be differing and disagreeing and contradicting one another. This one saying “I’m upon the truth,” another individual saying, “I’m upon the truth, he’s upon falsehood.” So at that time the believer is going to need to be patient, upon the truth. Ibn Uthaymeen said, “During that time, it will be difficult for a person to do acts of obedience and it will be hard, but the individual who will receive this reward – that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم highlighted in the hadeeth, he will be patient in the face of all of those trials and difficulties, and his feet will be firm. His feet, will be firm.”
So Ibn Qayyim he said, rahimahullaah, “Do not allow that sense of strangeness you feel from the people, that sense of strangeness cause you to feel lonely.” Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “Wallaahi, By Allaah, this is the truth.” Ikhwaan, Ahlus Sunnaah, should not be disheartened. Ahlus Sunnaah should not lose heart. Ahlus Sunnaah should not feel lonely. As long as your upon guidance from Allaah, why do you feel lonely? The person upon the Sunnah does not feel lonely. Your upon the correct religion. Your upon the truth. Don’t worry about the people. As the ulamaa of the past, they used to say: “Pleasing the people is something that you will never be able to achieve.” Because you will always have those who are pleased with you & those who are upset with you. The most crucial thing is that you remain firm upon the truth. Upon the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم with the understanding of the Sahaba.
Ibn Uthaymeen said, “You will be buried in your grave alone. No one to aide you and assist you. And the people they will be buried in their graves alone. And on the day of resurrection you will be brought back to life without any wealth and any offspring or children.”
Ikhwaan, ahlus Sunnah should not feel lonely. Why should they not feel lonely? Because if you obey Allaah and you obey The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Allaah aza wa jal, He gives us glad tidings in the Qur’aan, that should remove that sense of loneliness and sadness and grief from the heart of any person who clings to the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Allaah aza wa jal He said “Whoever obey’s Allaah and His Messenger, then they will be with those, whom Allaah aza wa jal has blessed. They will be with those from whom Allaah subhannahu wa ta a’la has blessed. From the prophets, the truthful, the martrys, and the righteous and these are the best companions.” He will be with the prophets and the righteous. He will be with the companions fil Jannah. So the person of the Sunnah he should not lose heart, as Imam Ibn Qayyim rahimahullaah ta a’la is advising.
And we should not lose heart ikhwaan because we have many examples in the book of Allaah subhannahu wa ta a’la. If we were to only contemplate upon those examples, then we would truly understand that when you call to the truth, you are going to be harmed. When you call to the truth, the people are going to mock you. When you cling to the truth, your going to be harmed and abused and insulted.
Allaah aza wa jal He tells us about Nooh alayhe salaatu wasSalaam, if we were to just take this example. Allaah subhan wa ta a’la He tells us in the Qur’aan: “Only a few from amongst the people believed along with him.” How many ikhwaan? How many people believed with Nooh alayhe salaatu wasSalaam? How many? Arba’a? How many? Allaah aza wa jal He said, “Only a few believed with Nooh” alayhe salaatu wasSalaam. How many? 10? 9? As al Imam Ibn Katheer rahimahullaahu ta a’la he said “Allaah knows best.” We don’t know the exact number, however, I will read for you in shaa Allaahu ta a’la what Imam Ibn Katheer rahimahullaahu ta a’la he said in explaining this verse, he said, explaining the saying of Allaah aza wa jal “And only a few individuals believed along with Nooh.” He said, “A few individuals.” Bearing in mind that Nooh he remained for a long period of time amongst them calling them to the haqq. As Allaah aza wa jal tells us in the Qur’aan, “Nooh remained amongst them for a thousand years except 50,” meaning 950 years. Nooh he remained amongst them for 950 years and they were overcome by the floods. Ibn Katheer he said Ibn Abbas radiaAllaahu anhu he said, “They were 80 people and amongst them were their wives.” Some of the ulamaa, they say other than that, some say 10, as we said; Allaahu alam. Whether 80 or 10, from amongst all the people that Nooh he gave dawah to, look ikhwaan, but was Nooh, did he fear? Did he give up? No, he continued calling to Allaah subhannahu wa ta a’la to the extent even his wife. How many of that can take that?
You have people today, they get divorced, all of a sudden their religion becomes weak because they got divorced. Marriage didn’t work, “Ohh, I became weak, that’s my excuse.” Look at Nooh alayhe salaatu was-Salaam, he was still firm, even his wife. Allaah aza wa jal he tells us in the Qur’aan, Allaah aza wa jal he gave an example with regards to those who disbelieved. The wife of Nooh and the wife of Lut. “They were under the authority of two of our righteous servants.”
So ikhwaan, al Imam Ibn Qayyim rahimahullaah ta a’la he said in the first line, “Feel not lonely by the strangeness amongst the people, for the people are considered to be like those who are dead.” And then he said “Are you not aware the ahlus Sunnah during every era, then they are truly the strangers,” that they are truly the strangers. And the Shayk Ibn Uthaymeen he said and “The answer to this is: Na’am, certainly were aware of this.” “Wallaahi, ahlus Sunnah are the strangers.”
And when the reciter was reading this the Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen rahimahullaah, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he made du’a saying “O Allaah, make us from Ahlus Sunnah.” When the reader was reading this poem to the Shaykh, an-Nooniyyah, Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “May Allaah, make us from Ahlus Sunnah.” So the Shaykh he said, “The people of the Sunnah they are the strangers. The people that cling to the religion, they don’t water it down, they don’t go to extremes, their upon the middle path, they are the strangers no matter what time that they live.”
The Shaykh he said, “If you were to study history, if you were to go away and study the history, Islaamic history, you would find that ahlus Sunnah were the strangers, regardless of what time that they lived in. Ahlus Sunnah were the strangers, regardless of what time that they lived in.” He said, “…the difference of opinions, the disputes, the different beliefs, the different religions and sects, you would find that the person of the Sunnah, is like the white dot upon the horses’ head.” The person of the Sunnah, is like the white dot upon the horses’ head; meaning he’s small in number.
So then Ibn Qayyim he said rahimahullaahu ta a’la, “Inform me or tell me when was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions and those that followed them in goodness ever safe?” Safe from who? When were they safe from the ignorant, the one who is stubborn and haughty, the hypocrite & the one who wages war through oppression and injustice. So ikhwaan, when was the Prophetصلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions and those who followed them in goodness, when were they safe? When were they ever unharmed from the ignorant? So that’s the first type of person, and the one who is stubborn and haughty the * individual. Wa munafiqqeen, that’s the third type of person, the hypocrite & the one who wages war through oppression and injustice? Ibn Uthaymeen he said again, “The answer to this question: they were never safe.” The answer, they were never safe from these individuals. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was never safe from this harm and not the companions.
Ikhwaan, in the hadeeth that we have, in Sahih Bukhaari, the third hadeeth, that we find in the chapter The Start of Revelation, what chapter number is that in al-Bukhaari? What’s the second? Ahsant. We have the hadeeth, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went with Khadeejah to visit her uncle who was, Waraqah Ibn Nofal. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told him about the incident that happened with Jibreel, Waraqah Ibn Nofal, he said “If only I was alive when your people throw you out.” Now imagine ikhwaan, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when Waraqah Ibn Nofal radiaAllaahu ta a’la anh – is it permissible to say radiallahu ta a’la anh for Waraqah? Na’am. His companionship was affirmed by Ibn Hajr, Ibn Katheer and others from the i’eema of Islaam. When Waraqah Ibn Nofal, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went to him, this was the beginning before the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went out and announced to the people. Waraqah radiaAllaahu anh he said to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, “When your people throw you out.” What did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say to him? “Are they going to throw me out? Throw me out for what?” Because remember in the same hadeeth Khadijah she mentioned some of the virtues of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, that he would feed the poor, he was truthful. He was a virtuous individual at that time so he said, are they going to throw me out? For what? Waraqah he said: “Na’am, no man has ever delivered what you are going to deliver except that they were harmed.”
So ikhwaan, you expect to give dawah to the haqq and you expect everything is going to be, you know, a tap on the back, welcome. You expect no one to speak bad about you? You expect not to be slandered? You expect not to be lied upon? You expect not to be rebuked? You expect that? Then you expect something that is not a reality.
So Waraqah he said: “If I was to be alive, I would aide you, I would staunchly support you.” So look ikhwaan, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, even before he actually went out to the people publicly, he was told that he’s going to be harmed. And even in the verse that was revealed to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, there was a clear sign that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was going to be harmed. “Ya ayyuhal mudathThir…” Who can continue? Ta fa’dul… “stand and warn” [73:2] “and be patient for the sake of your Lord” [73:7] At the beginning. Why? Because harm was going to come. Harm, injury, difficulties it was going to come. “…be patient…” [73:7]
So Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he said ikhwaan, he said look, “Three of the khulafa, of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم the leaders, they were killed at the hands of the enemies.” And you expect to walk upon the Sunnah and be upon the Sunnah and not be harmed? Three of the companions were murdered at the hands of the enemies. Umar, Uthmaan, wa Ali radiaAllaahu ta a’la anhum. All of them were murdered by the hands of their enemies. So Ibn Uthaymeen he said rahimahullaah, “The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he was not safe from their harm and neither were the companions.”
Now the Shaykh he goes on to explain the different types of people. The ignorant individual, he doesn’t have knowledge. The jaahil, he’s ignorant. The one who is arrogant & haughty, the *. He’s the one, he has knowledge but he’s haughty & arrogant with it. The hypocrite. The one wages war through oppression and injustice. All of these types of people were prepared to harm the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions and his followers.
And then Ibn Qayyim he said, rahimahullaah ta ala, “And you believe, you believe or you think that you are the inheritor?” Not inheriting money but inheriting their way, aqeedah, their creed, their manhaj, “…and you haven’t tasted any harm in aiding and assisting the cause of the Most Merciful. You haven’t tasted any harm in aiding and assisting the cause of the Most Merciful. And the Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen rahimahullaah ta a’la he said explaining this line he said: “Wallaahi, this idea that you can be upon the path of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and not be harmed,” he said, “…it’s totally erroneous.” Ya3′ni, you believe that you are an inheritor of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم but you are not tested the way that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was tested? Where is the inheritance? What have you inherited? What have you inherited?
Listen to this ikhwaan, what Ibn Uthaymeen says now: he said “If you are not tested and afflicted with that which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was tested with then know that you are deficient and you are falling short in that inheritance, that you are meant to take from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, meaning you haven’t taken it completely. You haven’t held onto it completely, because if you held on to the way of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and you called to his path, then you will be tested and trialed with, that which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was tested and trialed with.
Shaykh Uthaymeen, he said “It’s not possible that people throw flowers and roses on the floor for you.” It’s not possible. Do you want that?! That people, when they hear your coming out, they come out throwing rose petals for you? “O fulaan is coming…” And wallaahi ikhwaan, you have people selling the dawah for petals and roses but it’s not petals and roses only, it’s money and it’s faith. Look at those people that are willing to sign * with sufis that promote grave worship.
Their not upon the path of the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم. How do we know that? Allaah tells in the Qur’aan, “Say (O Muhammad): “This is my way; I invite unto Allâh (i.e. to the Oneness of Allaah – Islâmic Monotheism) with sure knowledge, I and whosoever follows me (also must invite others to Allaah i.e to the Oneness of Allaah – Islâmic Monotheism) with sure knowledge. And Glorified and Exalted be Allaah (above all that they associate as partners with Him). And I am not of the Mushrikoon (polytheists, pagans, idolaters and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allaah; those who worship others along with Allaah or set up rivals or partners to Allaah).” [Yusuf 12:108]
That verse ikhwaan lays for us a manhaj, a methodology, that the dawah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is a dawah of Tawheed and the dawah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is a dawah that warns against shirk.
When you have an individual that does not warn against shirk, then he is not upon the path of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Even if he has a PhD, a masters degree or any other type of degree from Azhar or any university in the dunya, no matter what ijazah he shows you. Because the dawah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was clear, it was a dawah of Tawheed. So Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “It’s not possible for people to be in the streets throwing flowers and roses on the floor for you, for the one who clings to the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.”
I remember a kaleemah of ash- Shaykh al Allaamah Shaykh Muhammed Amaan Ibn Ali al-Jamee rahimahullaahu ta a’la. Shaykh Muhammed Amaan Ibn Ali al-Jamee he said “It’s not possible, for a caller to Allaah aza wa jal to have everyone pleased with him except for a sufi.” Why? Because a sufi, he says “This is okay, that’s okay, no problem, that’s okay.” Even today you have those amongst the soofiyyah, it doesn’t matter if you are a christian or a jew or a Muslim, its all the same. Shaykh Muhammed Amaan said “Only a sufi.”
So ikhwaan, if you are looking for that type of love, where people as the Shaykh he said, are putting petals on the floor and roses for you; impossible. And that’s why Imam Qayyim said at the end of the poem, he said rahimahullaah ta ala, “Your soul it tells you to search for something that is impossible.” Whats that? If you want to be accepted by the people and at the same time call to the haqq, that’s not going to happen. Call to the haqq, and your going to be harmed. Be patient. So Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “Who ever wants this – meaning the roses and the petals – he desires something that is impossible.” He said “Look, study history.” We’ve given the example of Nooh, you have the example of Ibrahmeem alayhi salaatu wasSalaam, where Allaah aza wa jal described as an ummah. Ibraheem was a nation in himself. You have the example of the Prophet Muhammed صلى الله عليه وسلم, Moosaa alayhe salaatu wasSalaam, and the other prophets and messengers. After the prophets and messengers you have the example of the sahaba, after the sahaba you have the example of the tabee’oon, after the tabee’oon you have the examples of the imams who, alhamdulillaah, called to the way of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions.
Look, go and look in history. He said “There is not a person who stood calling to Allaah aza wa jal, for the sake of Allaah aza wa jal, except that he found some type of harm. This harm it differs from person to person. The Shaykh said “Sometimes the people want to harm you, they don’t have the ability to harm you with the rulership or the government or the leader. They don’t have that type of power. They want to harm you, if they could, they would. But they don’t have any type of leadership so they can’t harm you with the harm that a ruler can afflict upon you. So he said, sometimes they can’t harm you because of your nobility, the people they love you and they respect you. Or they can’t harm you because of your position. But the Shaykh said, “You will definitely find some harm.”
And I’ll give an example. Ash-Shaykh Ibn Baaz wa Ash-Shaykh al-Albaani alhamdulillaah we know, rahmatullaahi alayhe, may Allaah have mercy upon both of them. We know they were upon the same aqeedah and same manhaj, but people focused upon ash-Shaykh al-Albaani more than they focused upon Shaykh Ibn Baaz rahimahullaah. Why? Because Shaykh Ibn Baaz, alhamdulillaah, he was supported in the Kingdom, he was the muftee. It wasen’t easy to attack Ibn Baaz rahimahullaah. Al Albaani he didn’t have no position, so it was easier to attack Shaykh al Albaani. And the people of innovation, they will always choose the easy option.
The time of al Imam Ahmad, they would attack the students of Imam Ahmed, but they would not attack Ahmad. Why? Because Imam Ahmad was *, the imam of ahlus Sunnah. And this is the way ikhwaan, even the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم the munafiqoon, they would attack the companions, but who did they really want to attack? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
So sometimes people want to inflict harm upon individuals because they disagree with them but they may not always be able. So don’t be fooled just because someone praises one shaykh but speaks ill of another who’s on the exactly same path. Know that something is wrong, know that something is not right. Na’am.
And then Imam Ibn Qayyim rahimahullaah ta a’la so he said, “So you believe that you are an inheritor of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions, but you have not tasted any harm in aiding the cause of the Most Merciful.” Never! You haven’t done this, you haven’t done this. And you haven’t striven as is required for the Sake of Allaah. Not with the hand and not with the tongue.
Ikhwaan, I’ll read a hadeeth that Shaykh al Albaani rahimahullaah ta a’la mentions in as-Saheeha and you can find the hadeeth, it’s in the first volume & its hadeeth number 143, the hadeeth was collected by al Imam Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah and others. And its the hadeeth when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he was asked, “Who are the people who will be tested and trialed the most?” So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “The people that will be trialed and tested the most are the prophets, then those who imitate them the most, then those who imitate them the most.”
So that’s a clear text, that if you imitate the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, that your going to be tested. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said “…a man will be tested depending upon his religion.” If a persons religion is firm and strong, then he will severely be tested. But if in his religion there is some weakness, he will be tested and trialed depending upon the strength of his religion. The servant will be tested with trials and calamity until it does not leave him to walk the earth and he will not have any sin upon him. Until, it will leave him upon the earth, he has no sin upon him. Because that trial & test, it was a purification for him. It purified him, from his sins. And ash-Shaykh al Albaani ikhwaan, he said commenting upon this hadeeth and ahadeeth that are similar he said, “In these ahadeeth is a clear proof that the stronger the believers faith is, his eemaan, the greater the trial and the greater the test.” Because we know Allaah never overburdens a soul with more than it can bear. So when Allaah tests us, the benefit from that, is when Allaah tests us ikhwaan in life, he tests us with something we have the ability to conquer, we have the ability to overcome. If we fail, that’s because of the weakness in our own souls. Do not blame, except for yourself.
So Shaykh al Albaani he said and also the opposite is true. This is a refutation upon those people who have weak logic or weak intellects and they have weak foresight. That they believe, a refutation upon those that believe that the believer if he is tested with a test like he’s in prison and he’s thrown out and he is exiled or is fired from his job or that which is similar, that this is a proof that the believer Allaah aza wa jal is not pleased with him. The Shaykh he said, “…this is something that is totally false, this idea is totally false and rejected.” The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the best of mankind and he was the prophet that was tested the most. So the Shaykh he said “When the believer, a Mumin he is tested and trialed then this, majority of the time is a good sign not something, a bad sign,” as is shown by the following hadeeth that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he said “The greater the trial and the test, the greater the reward.” If Allaah loves a people he will test him. The one who is pleased with that test, then for him is pleasure, he will attain pleasure and the one who is displeased, then he will attain displeasure. Na’am. So that was some of the words of ash-Shaykh al Allaamah al Muhaddith ash-Shaykh al Albaani rahimahullaahu ta a’la.
And then al Imam Ibn Qayyim rahimahullaah ta a’la he went on to say, “Your soul inspires you to search for something that is impossible.” Ya3′ni, your soul encourages you to look for something that is impossible. And the Shaykh he said, “What is this, whats this that is impossible that your soul instructs you or inspires you to look for?” He said, “Your nafs it inspires you to hope that you will not be harmed by the enemies of Allaah. And you are calling to Allaah aza wa jal and aiding the cause of Allaah aza wa jal, and the Shaykh he said, “…this can never take place and this is impossible.” The Shaykh he said, that “It is a must that a person is harmed.” But as we mentioned earlier, the harm it differs from person to person and situation to situation.
And then Ibn Qayyim rahimahullaahu ta a’la he closed by saying, “If you are truly the inheritor of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and then Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “So, if you are truly the inheritor of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then you would be harmed by those individuals, who subjected the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to all types of injurious harms.” So Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “…and this is something that we find in the book of Allaah aza wa jal, to every prophet there was an enemy to them from amongst the criminals. There were enemies for every prophet, from the criminals. And the followers of the Prophets will find that they have criminals that harm them.
And the Shaykh he makes a beautiful point, listen to what he says ikhwaan, he says “Because those criminals that harmed the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم they did not harm him because he was Muhammed Ibn Abdillaah, they did not harm the Prophet because he was Muhammed Ibn Abdillaah, rather they only harmed the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because of his religion.” Whoever holds on to the religion of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then he has inherited from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He said, Ibn Uthaymeen “…likewise those who harmed the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has inheritors, so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has inheritors, meaning his followers. Those who hold onto the religion. The people, the types of people that harm the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, they have inheritors, meaning you have ignorant individuals who will harm the people of the Sunnah, you have * that will harm those who hold on to the religion of the Prophet of Muhammedصلى الله عليه وسلم, you have munafiqoon. Don’t think that you don’t have hypocrites at this time. If we had hypocrites at the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and that was the best era, then there are hypocrites in this era and also those people who openly wage war.
So Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen he said, and then he goes on to give examples, “al Imam Ahmad, what happened to him?” So Imam Ahmad he was from the followers of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.He was an inheritor of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم & definitely because he was from the ulamaa. And we know the ulamaa are the inheritors of the prophets and the prophets they do not leave behind dinaar wa la dirhaam, any wealth. Ibn Uthaymeen he said, “Al Imam Ahmad was dragged through the streets using a * he was beaten with chains, until he fainted. He was imprisoned. And Shaykh al Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah was imprisoned, and others, many others along with them, were treated in this fashion.”
The Shaykh he goes on to mention, “…the more that a person stands firm for the Sake of Allaah, the more that a person voices the truth, then his enemies will be greater in number. The more that a person stands firm for the Sake of Allaah aza wa jal, and he speaks the truth loudly, then his enemies will be greater in number than somebody who doesn’t. If somebody is upon the haqq, but he doesn’t speak the truth or he doesn’t go give dawah, or he doesn’t enjoin the good and he doesn’t forbid the evil, then obviously his enemies won’t be great in number as the people that speak the truth. Is that clear to everybody?
Because you have some people again who are short sighted, they say “This person everyone loves him,” but let’s analyse that person, does he enjoin the good and forbid the evil? Does he recognise the truth and testify to it? Does he testify to falsehood and whoever is upon it? If the individual is like that, then he will have many enemies.
If we have the likes of Awais al Qarnee rahimahullaah ta ala’s saying with regards to the issue of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil he said, “Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, it will not leave the believer with a friend.” When you enjoin the good and forbid the evil it will rarely leave you with a friend. Because every time you see something that is a munkaar you will say “Akhi haada munkar” “That’s wrong” “Allaah said…” “The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said…” “That’s wrong.” If you see something that is maroof and you need to command it with that which is maroof, then you command it. So it will not leave you with many friends. Then he said, Awais al Qarnee – does anyone know who he is ikhwaan? Na’am, who from amongst the tabi’een? The most virtuous from the tabi’een. Why was he from the most virtuous of the tabi’een? What was the virtues of Awais al Qarnee rahimahullaah and why was he considered to be from amongst the most virtuous of the tabi’een? Why? Awais al Qarnee rahimahullaah, like I said, from the most virtuous of the tabi’een, look what he said, he said: “We command them with the good but they abuse us, they violate our honour, and they find people to help them from amongst the fasiqeen to help them, the rebellious, sinful individuals. By Allaah, they accused me of major things, they wrongfully accused me of major things.”
