Nasīhatu Ahli Az-Zamān authored by Shaykh Mujaddid `Uthmān Dan Fodio rahimahullāh 11

🕌 *SHARH SESSION*
الحمد لله رب العالمين
والصلاة والسلام على من بعث رحمة للعالمين
وعلى أله وصحبه ومن تبعهم بخير إلى يوم الدين

Assalāmu alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
Beloved brothers and sister in Islām
May Allāh accept from us our deeds of Ibādah and make us among those who are emancipated from Nār in this blessed month

We shall inshā Allāh continue with our Sharh of the book of Shaykh Uthmān Dan Fodio the _Nasīhah_
He said – rahimahullāh
We mentioned in the last class that we shall be explaining the later words of Imām Al-Yūsī – rahimahullāh
Al-Yūsī – rahimahullāh – tries to explain that it is better to, instead of speaking ill of the people of the time, to speak ill of the errors into which they have fallen
In other words, it is better to reference in one’s talk, the many ills in the society rather than the ills of the People of the time.
But he draws our attention to the fact that making this distinction between the vice and its doer is very difficult for the inexperienced and the one who is shallow in understanding and knowledge.
This is true
Just as he said, for it is only very few matters in this world that are absolute good or absolute evil
The just and learned one is thereby able to see through the peculiarity that often times are responsible for the doing of those things by people who would not have otherwise done them if not presented and premised by those same variances of situation, time, pressures, personalities and intentions
In short, Al-Yūsī is aware, and tries to draw the attention of the pious believer to the fact that what is better is to differentiate between the vice and its doer
To try to speak ill of the vice and not of its doer
That is closer to the methodology of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – who was very sensitive to such matters
And for us in this era, we have much to thank Allāh – ta’ālā – for
Though Islām is repressed and its political powers crushed, Islām as a faith remains on the rise and people accept Islām by the day
This is worth thanking Allāh for
Years ago, we saw the level of understanding and love for Islām, especially in the youthful years of our parents, lower than it is today
We have more Muslim youths today, loving Islām, trying to learn their Dīn, abandoning Bid’a, studying and trying to implement Tawhīd, and sacrificing their Dunya for the sake of the Ākhirah
We must thank Allāh for that
And put some hope in the Ummah’s resurgence
Imām At-Tirmidhī – rahimahullāh – recorded in the Sunan
From the Companion Abū Hurayrah – radiyallāhu anhu – that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said

( إِنَّكُمْ فِي زَمَانٍ مَنْ تَرَكَ مِنْكُمْ عُشْرَ مَا أُمِرَ بِهِ هَلَكَ ، ثُمَّ يَأْتِي زَمَانٌ مَنْ عَمِلَ مِنْهُمْ بِعُشْرِ مَا أُمِرَ بِهِ نَجَا )
_”You are indeed in an era in which whosoever abandons a tenth of what he was commanded will be destroyed. An era will come in which whosoever of them does a tenth of what was commanded will be saved.”_
This was also recorded by At-Tabarānī in the Mu’jam and Abū Nu’aym in the Hilya
The Ulamā of Hadīth refer to the Hadīth as weak in its Chain because of the presence of Nu’aym Ibn Hammād who was though a very pious man, was weak in memory
But the Hadīth has been said to be strong in meaning for its meaning is testified to by another Hadīth
Al-Qārī mentioned in _Mirqātu Al-Mafātīh_ that it is so because those who lived at a time in which Islām was dominant and had its Forces and its establishment, have no excuses in been oblivious of even a tenth of the Dīn
Whereas a time in which the Dīn is weak, its people are in pains and life is difficult for them, their abandonment of a part of the Dīn due to their inability to practice it is excused
Some of our Ulamā have mentioned that we live in such a time. Of them is the pious Imām and Allāmah of Shanqīt Shaykh Muhammad Sālim ‘Adūd – rahimahullāh
Shaykh Murābitu Al-Hājj, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Hasan Ad-Daduw, Shaykh ‘Isām Bashīr Al-Marākishī and others
As for Shaykh Muhammad Nāsiruddīn Al-Albānī – rahimahullāh – he considered the Hadīth to be weak in As-Silsilatu Ad-Da’īfah, and _Ad-Da’īfu Al-Jāmi_ then recanted on this weakening in _’Sahīhu At-Tirmidhī_ and _As-Silsilatu As-Sahīhah_ where he strenghted its other variant wording.
*strengthened
He also mentioned it in the Mishkāt
And Allāh knows best
We do not say that this era of ours is referred in this Hadīth by certainty but what is implied is that we must thank Allāh for the bounties of His in this trying times of ours
Likewise, the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said
إِنَّ مَثَلَ أُمَّتِى مَثَلُ الْمَطَرِ لاَ يُدْرَى أَوَّلُهُ خَيْرٌ أَوْ آخِرُهُ
_”The like of my Ummah is the likeness of Rainfall. It isn’t known in which is Goodness its earlier or its later.”_
This was recorded by Imām Ahmad in the Musnad from Anas Ibn Mālik – radiyallāhu ‘anhu – and others
We must not belittle this Ummah and the generality of the Ummah for Allāh chooses from His servants whomsoever He wills and uses them for the renewing if His Dīn
We have seen great men rose in times of darkness
And bring light and guidance to the Ummah when and where they lost hope
All we need to do is to recognise our errors, understand our mistakes and get a firm grasp of our Dīn
We need to study Tawhid thoroughly, and its branches and Implications, those things that nullify it, those things that weaken it, those things that strengthen it
The Ummah have done it before and it shall surely do it again
The Muslim Youth must brace himself up for contributing to the Dīn his own quota and reviving the Ummah’s Quitessence
The Muslim Youth should be like the Poet Allāl Al-Fāsī the Moroccan Scholar, Poet and Politician said
أبعد بلوغي خمس عشرة ألعب وألهو بلذات الحياة وأطرب

ولي نظر عال ونفس أبية مقامًا على هام المجرة تطلب

وعندي آمال أريد بلوغها تضيع إذا لاعبت دهري وتذهب

ولي أمة منكودة الحظ لم تجد سبيلاً إلى العيش الذي تتطلب

على أمرها أنفقت دهري تحسرًا فما طاب لي طعم ولا لذ مشرب

ولا راق لي نوم وإن نمت ساعة فإني على جمر الغضا أتقلب
_”While I have a foresight and a non-defeatist soul? Aiming an esteemed seat in the highest galaxies?_
_”Is it after I am fifteen years of age that I play? And I am distracted by the pleasures if the life, and entertain myself?_
_”And I have a goal I intend to achieve, that gets lost if I play away my life and goes?_
_”And mine is an Ummah whose rights are denied, that has nor found; a way to attain the life it seeks?_
_”In its Cause I spend my life in grief, Food has no delicacy, nor water seem sweet_
_Sleep suits me not and if I sleep an hour, I roll like one on Smoldering ember”_

That is the like determination that is expected of our Ummah
We ask Allāh to guide our Ummah’s Youths to that which is best
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran
Assalāmu alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh