The Straight Path – Shaykh Abdullah al-Bukharee

In the name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allaah the Lord of Mankind and may the peace and salutations be upon our Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and upon his family and companions.

To proceed,

“O You who believe! fear Allaah (by doing All that He has ordered and by abstaining from All that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey him, be thankful to him, and Remember Him always], and die not except In a state of Islaam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allaah”
[Surah ale-Imran 3:102]

“O mankind! Be dutiful to Your Lord, who created You from a single person (Adam), and from Him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allaah through whom You demand Your mutual (rights), and (Do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Indeed, Allaah is ever an All-Watcher over you. ”
[Surah al-Nisa 4:1]

“O You who believe! keep Your duty to Allaah and fear him, and speak (Always) the truth. He will direct You to do righteous good deeds and will forgive You Your sins. and Whosoever obeys Allaah and his Messenger He has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. He will be saved from the Hell-fire and made to enter Paradise).”
[Surah al-Ahzab 33: 70-71]

To proceed, indeed the best speech is the speech of Allaah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), and the worst of matters are those innovated by the people, and every innovated matter is a bid’ah and every bid’ah is astray, and every going astray is in the fire.

We thank Allaah as he has made easy this meeting between us and we ask him to increase us in his blessings for verily He should be thanked at the beginning, end, inwardly and outwardly for He is most deserving of praise.

My words of reminder to you O’ brothers, and I say that these words of reminder are certainly admonitions and advice since the reminder benefits the believers.

It is not hidden from anyone who is conscious, rational and mature that Islam is undergoing transgression and enmity in many different ways. The people of desires from the people of misconceptions and innovations do not give up attacking this noble and dignified religion.

They desire that those hold on to it to depart from the straight path, the path which they supplicate to their Lord in every unit of their prayers, in both obligatory or voluntary, supplicating to Allaah I to guide them to it with the statement of Allaah in Surah al-Fatihah

“Guide us to the straight path”.

Ibn Jarir al-Tabari narrated in his Tafsir with a good chain of narration that a man came to the Imam Abi ‘aliyah al-Raya’hi and asked him “What is intended by the straight path in the statement of Allaah,

“Guide us to the straight path”

Abi ‘aliyah answered this questioner regarding the straight path:

“The straight path is (that which the) the Messenger of Allaah (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and his two companions after him Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (were upon)”.

So the man proceeded to Imam Hasan al-Basri and said to him:

“Abi ‘aliyah claims that the straight path is (what the) the Messenger of Allaah and his two companions after him Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (were upon).”

It was as if the man assumed that there was a shortcoming or some deficiency in the answer of Abi ‘aliyah. So Hasan al-Basri said,

“He has spoken the truth and advised (you correctly)” meaning he spoke the truth to you and advised you in that which he said to you.

The meaning of their statements is that whoever sought from Allaah guidance to the straight path and was guided to it and followed it and remained upon it, is indeed saved and successful. So let him stay firm upon the Sunnah of the Messenger (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and his companions after him, from the head and foremost of them are Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with all of them).

Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned regarding this matter in Badda’i al Fawa’id – under “What is the Straight Path?” in the twentieth issue, he stated,

“We will mention a brief statement regarding it as the people have many different statements regarding it and its reality is something singular and it is the pathway of Allaah in which He has described for His slaves by the tongues of his Messengers and made it possible for His slaves to reach him through it. There is no path to reach Him except this; rather all other paths are blocked except for this. It is to single Him out in worship and single His Messenger in obedience, thus He does not associate any partners with Him in worship nor does associate anyone with the Messenger in his obedience. He purifies the Tawhid and obedience to the Prophet.”

So whoever yearns that Allaah should guide him to the straight path, for certainly the one who is guided to it is saved and successful, then let him hold on to this path and let him take from this guidance for without doubt he will become happy and victorious. He will be one who contributes to the making of this great establishment and from the preservers of the entity of this noble Islam.

Verily people in current times are in dire need of clarity of the correct Islam, that which the Prophet came with and that which his companions followed after him. They need it to be clarified and explained to them and there is no other way for you O’ student of knowledge, O’ seeker of the truth in reality except to stick to the guidance of the Messenger of Allaah (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and the guidance of his companions, and the way to achieve that (guidance) is by the knowledge which is inherited from the chief of the children of Adam (Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)) may the peace and salutations of Allaah be upon him.

Indeed he came to us with light and guidance.

Allaah says,

“O’ people of the book our messenger came to you to clarify for you much of what you have concealed of the book and forgives much, sent to you from Allaah was light and clear book, by it Allaah guides those who seek his pleasure to the ways of peace and takes them out of darkness to the light with his permission and guides them to the straight path”.
[Surah al-Ma’idah 5:15]

So the Prophet is a light (the guidance) for whoever takes him as a light, takes his methodology and guidance and whoever adopts his Sunnah is saved, successful and will become victorious.

In the famous hadith of Irbad ibn Sariyah (may Allaah be pleased with him) which is narrated by the people of the Sunnan (the books of ahadith) and it is an authentic narration, it says;

“The Prophet gave us a lengthy exhortation at which the eyes shed tears and the hearts trembled. A man said: Apostle of Allaah! It seems as if it were a farewell exhortation, so what injunction do you give us? He then said: I enjoin you to fear Allaah, and to hear and obey even if it be an Abyssinian slave, for those of you who live after me will see great disagreement. You must then follow my Sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs. Hold to it and stick fast to it. Beware of the newly-invented matters for every newly-invented matter is an innovation.”

The Prophet had drawn for them the path of salvation and mentioned that they will see many differences. They asked,

“What is the salvation from the O’ Messenger of Allaah?

He replied

“Upon you is my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me.”

With this O’ brothers, it becomes apparent to us the importance of knowing the authentic knowledge which was inherited from the chief of children of Adam, in order that we may know his guidance and the guidance of his companions and we hold on to that and call to it and become of those who have been guided to the straight path of Allaah, the path of those whom He has bestowed his favour upon and not of those whom receive His anger nor the misguided ones.

This is what I advise you and myself. I ask Allaah, majestic be He in His Highness, to bless our actions, our lives and our times and to make it sincere for His sake indeed He is Noble and Generous and may the peace and blessings be upon Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and upon his family and companions.

Source: Teleink with Shaykh Abdullah al-Bukharee at Masjid Daar us Sunnah, London, United Kingdom (2010)