Hadith

The Prophet (Pbuh) says: “Whoever introduces into this matter of ours something that does not belong to it, it shall be rejected.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim,


Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah). The Qur’an is guaranteed by God to be preserved intact, admitting no addition or deletion.


Abdullah ibn Massoud reports: “The Prophet (Pbuh) drew a line in front of us and said, ‘This is the way leading to God’. He then drew several lines to the right and left. He said, ‘These are other ways, at the head of each one of them is a devil calling on people to take that way’. He then read the Qur’anic verse, ‘Know that this is the way leading to Me, a straight path. Follow it, then, and do not follow other ways, for they cause you to deviate from His way. All this He has enjoined upon you so that you may remain God-fearing.’” (6:153.) (Related by Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Al-Hakim, Al-Baghawi and Al-Tabarani).


This Hadith sums up what is required of every Muslim: to follow the way that God has outlined as the one leading to Him and to abandon any other way that is at variance with it. It is a straight way, consistent, with no deviation. It does not swerve to accommodate any deviant desire or to make any compromise. It defines the objective very clearly: to obey God’s orders and earn acceptance by Him. Hence, the Prophet gives the graphic picture of other ways moving away from it, with each having a devil trying to persuade people to take it. These devils may be personal desires, pleasures of the flesh, or unlawful gains, high position, or power. Each has its own attractions, and each presents a temptation that may be very difficult to resist.


Yet despite all temptation, it is not difficult to follow this straight way. It has been well mapped for us. The Qur’an defines it clearly and the Prophet gives us details at every point. Furthermore, no one can introduce into this guidance anything that is at variance with its premise, values or teachings. The Prophet says: “Whoever introduces into this matter of ours something that does not belong to it, it shall be rejected.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah). The Qur’an is guaranteed by God to be preserved intact, admitting no addition or deletion. It remains clear and easily understood by anyone who attains a good command of the Arabic language. The Prophet’s statements provide further clarification and details of how to fulfill what God has ordered and to avoid what He has forbidden. These statements have been verified and their authenticity established beyond any doubt. It is important, therefore, to follow the Prophet’s guidance and not to try to introduce into Islamic teachings or worship anything that does not belong to it.


What is more is that when we follow the Prophet’s guidance, our approach must be one of willing acceptance, realizing that he only taught us what is good and beneficial. Indeed, when we examine anything the Prophet encouraged, urged or ordered, we find that it leads to something good, either for us personally or to others who are close to us in our families or to our wider community, or to the Muslim community in general, or to humanity at large. He only prohibited what brings no good to us or to others. Therefore, we should look at every thing the Prophet taught trying to understand what benefit it brings so as to maximize this benefit and, by contrast, to avoid the harm that results from what he has prohibited. This approach is clearly summed up in the Hadith reported by Abdullah ibn Amr, quoting the Prophet as saying: “None of you truly attains to faith until what he desires is consistent with what I have delivered.” (Related by Al-Baghawi).


In this authentic Hadith, the Prophet is highlighting the mark of true faith. This is a higher degree than merely believing in God and His Messenger. It refers to a state of mind when one’s desires and what a person really enjoys in life are in line with what God wants from us. A person who has such an attitude will feel delighted when he gives to charity, and his delight will be even greater if he makes such a donation in private, so as it will be known only to God. He seeks no appreciation for it from anyone other than God. This is exactly what the Prophet taught us about charity being more preferable when done in secret. When a believer fasts in Ramadan, he feels the pleasure of doing God’s bidding, and when he refrains from illegitimate attractions, he experiences a sense of happiness. Thus, everything such people do strengthens their faith and makes them more resolved to follow the Islamic code of living.


However, sometimes pressures are too strong and difficulties arise unexpectedly. It may be difficult to identify the proper way to follow in order to ensure that we remain on the right course, following the line the Prophet drew in front of his companions. People may claim that they are following his guidance, yet they pull in different directions. How to make sure that we are on the right lines?


Al-Irbadh ibn Sariyah, a companion of the Prophet, says: “The Prophet led us once performing the Fajr, or dawn, prayer. He then gave us a highly effective admonition so that many of us were tearful and we felt a shudder in our hearts. Someone said to him: ‘Messenger of God! This sounds like the admonition of someone bidding his audience farewell. Please outline for us what you recommend.’ He said: ‘I urge you to always remain God-fearing, and to listen to and obey your leaders, even when the leader is an Abyssinian slave. Anyone of you who will live long will witness much strife and conflict. Therefore, hold tight to my way and the way followed by the rightly-guided rulers. Hold on to it and never abandon it for anything. Steer away from any invented thing, for such inventions are deviations, and every deviation leads into error.’” (Related by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Darimi and Al-Baghawi).


This is a definitive statement. What we need to explain, however, is that the reference to “invented things” applies only to matters of religion, not to man’s material life. Scientific advancement is always encouraged by Islam, which likes to see such advancement used for what improves the quality of human life. In matters of religion, only what the Prophet has given us is right. Whatever is at variance with it is wrong and unacceptable. The Prophet warns against conflict over religious principles and values. When we follow his guidance we will be able to easily distinguish right from wrong, true from false. He has given us a practical example, which was even further elucidated in practice by his successors who were rightly guided.

The basic attitude of man in this present world should be, from the Qur’anic point of view, not the desperate sort of hedonism which was among pre-islamic Arabs, but absolute earnestness that stems out of the keen consciousness of the approach of the Last Day. The fear if God, a reverent before the Lord of the Day of judgment, must act as the determining motive of all conduct of the religious man, nay rather it must determine the whole of human existence. The key word here is taqwa. The proof of a man’s being genuinely noble (KARIM) of character and personality should not be sought in the direction of audacity in mundane affairs. The real karim is not a man who dares to squander impulsively and thoughtlessly all the riches in his hand. The real karim is he who lives with great moral earnestness, being ever conscious of the approaching Day of horrible catastrophe. It is extremely significant that the Qur’an in one of its most important verses defines the word karim in terms of the concept of taqwa, ‘pious fear of God’.


Surely the noblest [akram, the superlative form of karim] of you all in the sight of God is the one who is most God-fearing [atqa, the superlative of taqi meaning ‘god-fearing’] among you. Verily God knows everything. He is aware of everything.


Fear of God, the Lord of the Day of Judgment, is largely due to the fact that it cannot but arouse in the mind of the believer a clear consciousness of the tremendous seriousness of life and thus incite him to moral earnestness and responsibility. Act always as if you wee standing at this very moment before the Divine Judge, before the judgment seat of Allah on the Day of the great reckoning this was the first of the cardinal rules of conduct which Islam laid down in the earliest period of its development. But at all this would be utterly impossible and absurd where there was no faith in the world to come. Fear of God could only become a principle of ethics on the basis of a monotheistic belief in which God is represented as the Lord of the Judgment Day.