The 4 Stages to Reach the Truth
By Shaykh Muhammad ibn Sa’eed Ar-Rslan
- The issue is described as being the truth.
- Evidence from the Quran, the Sunnah , the Ijma’ and narrations of the Prophet’s companions support this issue ,and proves it’s legitimate.
- The evidence must be understood correctly, whereas its intended meaning from the Quran, Sunnah, Ijma, and narrations of the companions are assured
- The issue is put into practice properly from clear proof, the same way the Salaf used to practice it.
Here’s an example.
Stage 1: A caller from the people of knowledge says : ” It’s sunnah for a man to stand shoulder to shoulder and ankle to ankle in the prayer.”
Stage 2: When asked for his proof, He says, ” Bukhari mentioned a narration on An-Nu’man ibn Basheer (Radi Allahu anhu) said: After the prayer the Prophet (SallAllahu alayhi wa salam) turned and faced the people and said three times, ” Establish your rows –By Allah- either you establish the ranks correctly in the prayer or Allah will cause your hearts be divided.” Nu’man said, ” I saw the man with us join his shoulder next his brother’s and his ankle next his brother’s. (Abu Dawud 662) graded as being authentic by Shaykh Al-Albani.
Stage 3: How does a person understand this correctly? When the heel is mentioned it comes to mind that it’s the bottom of the foot. However, how does a person join it and what is intended by the ankle? It’s said: Based on the hadith of Nu’man ibn Basheer the ankle bone is what’s intended
Stage 4: A man knows this is the sunnah of prayer and he wants to practice it with the person standing next to him. The man next to him doesn’t know its Sunnah and is unaware of the narration. Therefore every time the man tries to join his ankle with the man next to him he moves his foot. Is this applying the correct understanding for sound evidence? Should he try with him hoping that he will become aware of the Sunnah? Nonetheless, if this man doesn’t know this Sunnah, he keeps his intention pure, and stops trying to join his ankle bone next to his brother. Then after the prayer he teaches him?
Hence it’s necessary, to apply the proper understanding of the action, so that it occurs the way it was intended from Allah. It isn’t enough to merely say that something is the truth, then it becomes the truth, and then the person can’t any produce clear poof for his claim. Verily, it’s a must to understand the evidence as understood by the Salaf. Moreover, it’s not enough to simply have a correct comprehension with sound proof; until the action is done in the same fashion the Salaf did it. There mustn’t be any increase or decrease in the deed. If a person stays away and errs in the fourth stage, he will never be able to reach the truth the way Allah intended and is pleased with.
Taken from the book , (Fadlul Ilmi wa Adabi Talabihi wa Turuqi Tahseelihi wa Jam’ihi , 1st edition , printed in 1432/2011 by Darul Furqan ( page 17-19)
Translate by Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Battle
Doha, Qatar 1435H©