Is One Who Studies a Non-Salafī ʿAqīdah Excused Based on Such-and-Such Scholar Holding that ʿAqīdah?

Sh. Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn رَحِمَهُ اللهُ said, “This particular person is not excused where the truth has reached him, because it is obligatory upon him to follow the truth wherever it is, and to search for it until it becomes clear to him.

The truth – and all praise is due to Allāh – is pure and clear to the one whose intention is sound, and his methodology is good, for indeed Allāh the Almighty and Majestic says in His Book, {And indeed We have made the Qurʾān easy to remember, so is there anyone who will pay heed} [al-Qamar (54): 22]. However, some people, as the brother querist has mentioned, have those whom they hold in high esteem and follow without deviating from their opinions, despite it crossing their minds that their opinions may be weak or false, however due to fanaticism and desire they are carried away in agreeing with them, even though the guidance may have become clear to them.”

Source: Majmūʿ Fatāwá wa Rasāʾil Faḍīlat al-Shaykh Muammad b. Ṣāli al-ʿUthaymīn, 2: 129, no. 223.

3019 – True Faith Requires Faith in the Divine Decree

“A slave will not reach true faith until he knows that what happened to him was not going to pass him by, and what passed him by was not going to happen him.”

Reported by al-Bazzār (1/21/1/33 in Kashf al-Astār): ʿAmr narrated to us: Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us: Sulaymān b. ʿUtbah narrated to us and said: I heard Yūnus b. Maysarah b. Ḥalbas narrate from Abū Idrīs: from Abū al-Dardāʾ – he then mentioned a ḥadīth with this chain, then said, with his chain, from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ who said…he then mentioned it.

[more to follow…]

Lessons

  • Belief in the Divine Decree (Qadar) is essential and one cannot be a true believer without it.
  • One has to believe that Qadar involves, among other things, the good and the bad.
  • True faith is achieved by believing in the Divine Decree of Allāh.
  • The futility of complaining over the trials and afflictions one faces in the natural course of life – what’s the point of complaining over the inevitable?
  • The futility of grieving and complaining over what one missed out on when it was never going to reach him in the first place – why grieve over what was not meant for you?
  • One should learn to be content with the Divine Decree of Allāh – this ḥadīth will help one to attain that.