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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil-‘Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kathiran kathira.
Faham abadu. My brothers and sisters, yesterday we talked about,
no, not here, in another place, anyway. Our deen is based on Imaan bil-Ghaib. Right? Imaan bil-Ghaib.
How do you understand Ghaib? Al-Ghaib usually is translated as unseen. If you read in the English translations, Ghaib is unseen.
Urdu by Ghaib is Ghaib, but in English it is translated as unseen.
But unseen is not Ghaib. Because something may not be seen, but it can be perceived in other ways. Right? For example, you can hear it. You can’t see sound, but you can hear sound. So, sound is Ghaib. How can it be Ghaib? Sound is not Ghaib. Right? Similarly, electricity. You can’t see actual electricity, current. But you can see the effects of that current. You see something is lighting here, air conditioning and so on.
Things like love, hate, emotions, you can’t see them, but you can feel them. Right? Similarly, physical feeling, heat and cold. You can’t see heat, you can’t see cold. Right? But you can feel heat and cold. So, just because something is unseen, it does not mean it is Al-Ghaib. The best translation of Al-Ghaib, which I first remember hearing it from my Sheikh,
Sayyid Salman Nadwi, in South Africa, he translated Al-Ghaib. He used to do Tafseer of the Quran in one masjid.
And he translated it. He translated Al-Ghaib as the unperceivable. And I think that is the best translation of Al-Ghaib. Al-unperceivable. Unperceivable means it is not perceived. It’s not perceptible in any shape or form, in any way. Not only unseen. Unseen, unheard, unfelt and so on, so on, so on. Which cannot be detected either by the person himself or herself or with instruments. For example, germs, like bacteria. You can’t see it with your eyes, but you can see them through a microscope. So, this is not Al-Ghaib, just because you can’t see it. So, something which is unperceivable or imperceptible,
either by itself physically or even through any instrument. That is Al-Ghaib. For example, the situation of the person in the khabar. It’s Al-Ghaib. You cannot see it. You cannot see. You cannot see it yourself. You cannot, you know, if you put some kind of sensor into the khabar and try to watch it. It’s just not possible. It’s another world. It is something which is not perceptible, not perceivable from this world. Now, our Iman, Allah ﷻ said, The meaning of which is known only to Allah ﷻ.
Again, this is translated as, The meaning of which is known only to Allah ﷻ is translated as this. Although, in Arabic, is this, not is that. But, in the way of speaking and the grammar, the emphasis there, Allah ﷻ used as a pointer, as a point of emphasis. Allah did not say,
It is guidance and it is guidance for people of Taqwa. And then, Allah described who are these people. They are the people.
Allah did not say, First and foremost. Salat is next. You pray because you have Iman in Al-Ghaib.
Right?
So, the first and foremost, The first condition of being a Muslim is that we have faith in Al-Ghaib. In the unperceivable. And in the unperceivable is, first of all, first and foremost is Allah ﷻ Himself. And then, it is all that is to do with the Akhirah. If you take the Iman, the Tafseel, Iman al-Mufassil, Iman al-Mufassil, Aman tu billahi wa malaikatihi, Wa kutubihi, wa rusulihi,
Wa yawmal akhiri, Wa ba’asa ba’dal mawt, Wa qadrihi, sharrihi wa qayrihi min Allahi ta’ala. Now, if you take all of these together, I believe in Allah, I believe in His Malaika. So, Allah is in the Ghayb. Malaika in the Ghayb. Wa kutubihi, the Kitabs of Allah ﷻ. All of them, except the Qur’an, and even the Qur’an, the actual original, the Qur’an al-Kareem, which is the Kitab of Allah ﷻ, that is in the Ghayb. What you are seeing is what we have written. It’s the recorded version of the Qur’an. The actual speech of Allah is in the Ghayb. You can’t see it, you can’t perceive it.
Wa rusulihi, the Rasul of Allah. For the Sahaba, Rasulullah ﷺ was mashhud, he was before them. But for us, even the Rasul is in the Ghayb. So, we have not seen him. And of course, all the other Rasul. And then, We have not seen the Yawm al-Akhir. So, it’s in the Ghayb.
That we will be resurrected after death, again in the Ghayb.
This is a matter of belief. And again, in a way, it is in the Ghayb. That what Allah has written for us, it’s in the Ghayb. When that manifests itself, some of that, we may see it, whether it’s the good of it, or the evil, every time, whenever we say,
and the reference is towards Allah ﷻ, we must understand, that that evil,
or that Takleef, is for us as human beings, as we perceive it. Actually,
everything is Khair. Because Allah ﷻ said,
In His hand is only Khair. Allah did not say, No. Allah said, No.
There is nothing like Allah ﷻ. He is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing. And,
In His hand is only Khair, only goodness. And He is able to do anything. He has the Qudrat. And He has the ability to do anything He wants. Right? So, that is why when we say, La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. It’s not a statement of hopelessness. It is, it is actually a statement of great strength. It’s a statement where you are putting your burden in the right place. You are saying there is no strength, and there is no power, illa billah. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. So, you are saying this burden of mine, whether this burden is psychological, whether this burden is physical, whether this burden is economical, or any other burden, you are saying this is, I am giving this back to Allah ﷻ. Because only Allah ﷻ can deal with it. So, why should I carry it on my shoulders? I get tired. It causes me trouble. I can’t do anything about it. I am handing it back to Allah ﷻ. So, Iman bil Ghayb is to have all of this.
The other side, the opposite of Ghayb is Mushahida. Right? It’s to see, actually physically see. Now, if you see, the Quranul Kareem, wherever Allah ﷻ is talking about Ghayb, a belief in things in the Ghayb, that is always associated with the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ. Mercy of Allah ﷻ. Right? Whereas, things of certainty, where people ask for proof of Allah ﷻ’s presence, for example. This is what the Kuffar did, even with Prophet ﷺ, and they have the stories in the Quran of what they did with many of the, all of the other messengers of Allah ﷻ. They say, show us God. Show us Allah ﷻ. Show us the sign to prove that Allah exists. All such things are always associated with accounting and punishment.
Right? Accounting, for example, in Surah Al-Ma’idah, they asked the disciples, the Hawariyeen of Isa A.S., they said, ask Allah ﷻ to send us food from Jannah. Ma’idah min as-sama’at. From Jannah. Send us a whole dastakhan, an entire, you know, food to eat. Now, to prove, what is Allah ﷻ’s response? Allah’s response is, I will send you, but after that, if you don’t believe, I will punish you in a way that is more severe than anything else. I will not punish you in a way that I have never punished anybody else. So, there is this wa’id which comes with this.
So, many of the Mufassirins, through the Ahadith, they said that, that Isa A.S. and the Hawariyeen, they understood this and then they withdrew their request. They said, Allah, we don’t want. Because this puts us in a place where Allah is saying, if you ask for proof, then, you know, that comes with a different thing. So, I remind myself and you that it’s very important for us to understand the importance of Iman bil Ghayb.
This Ghayb, this belief in Al-Ghayb, if you see the Sahaba, one of our mothers, one of the one of the mothers of the believers, the
The wife of Isa A.S. was asked, “How do you believe in something unseen?” She replied that it is very simple because our eyes can deceive ourselves.
In the desert, while walking, one might see a mirage and think there is water, but there is no water. If one chases that illusion, they will die because, as we know, there is no water in the desert; that is just heat shimmering, yet it looks like water. Right? Our eyes deceive us today, of course, thanks to AI and similar technologies, which has become the default. Anytime we see something now, people used to say at one point in time that a camera does not lie, pictures don’t deceive, and seeing is believing. All of that has become null and void today. Whenever all of us see a video on WhatsApp or social media, the first question is, “Is this AI?”
We are not willing to believe our own eyes anymore.
So she said, Radhiyallahu anha, what is so difficult about belief when our eyes deceive us? But the word of the Rasool alayhi salatu wasalam is true.
Therefore, Iman bil ghaib, if you look at it, is literally Iman on the word of Rasool alayhi salatu wasalam.
It is Iman on the word of the Nabi. That is the essence of Iman bil ghaib: Iman on the word of the Nabi. Of course, we have Iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. But how do you know about Allah?
How do you even know about Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala? We have Iman in the conditions of the grave, for example. When after I am buried, I will be asked questions like *Man rabbukum adinuk* (Who is your Lord?), and so on. Then when I am resurrected on the Day of Judgment, these things will happen. How do you know they will happen?
Do you have Iman? Yes, we have Iman. On what basis?
Because we believe Muhammadun Rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So think about that. The Iman bil ghaib, which is the fundamental principle of Islam and the absolute foundation of Islam, without which one cannot be a Muslim. If you deny it, you have exited Islam. That is how serious it is. This is based on the word of one man, and that man is Muhammadun Rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So it gives you an idea, an impression of the azama, of the greatness, of the holiness, and of the closeness to Allah of that person, who is the Rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And therefore, we should be so grateful that Allah made us from his Ummah Insha’Allah.
The same logic applies when Rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam was under maximum pressure.
When he was in the valley of Abu Talib, where the Banu Hashim were exiled and embargoed, and Abu Talib himself passed away. Our mother Khadijah al-Kubra radi allahu anha also passed away. That whole year is called *Aam al-Husn*, the Year of Sorrow for Rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Yet, when he was under maximum pressure, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala called him for Isra wal-Miraj. He connected Himself directly to His Rasool alayhi salatu salam. He called him for Isra wal-Miraj. Now, we know the whole story of how it happened. When he came back, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and told the people, we know all that occurred. Someone went to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq; he was not present at the time. Someone approached him and asked, “Do you know what your friend is saying?” He said, “What is he saying? He’s saying that he went from Makkah to Jerusalem,”
and then up into the heavens, through seven heavens, experiencing whatever sites Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala showed him, before coming back to Makkah all in the span of a single night. Right? This is what he is saying. So, what did Abu Bakr al-Siddiq say as his response? He said, “If he said that, I believe.”
If he said that, I believe. Now, this is the basic rule used in the authentication of Hadith.
The question is: What are you authenticating? Whether Rasulullah s.a.w. actually said it or not. You are not authenticating whether what he said is logical, scientifically provable, or feasible. You are not looking at those things. Not because they are illogical—I am saying that even if we do not understand the logic, something which is not logically understandable by us does not automatically make it illogical or stupid. No. We just do not have the knowledge to understand that while sitting here.
Right? So, if you take this and say, “If Rasulullah said it,” so you are authenticating whether he actually said that. That is how the entire body of knowledge called *Ilm-ur-Rijal*, the science of narrators, which includes all the narrators of Hadith, has been preserved throughout history.
Nobody, no religion, no nationality, no country has their history preserved so beautifully as we have in the Ilm of Hadith. That level of authenticity is not found in anything else. It’s not even there in our own personal histories. Right? If I ask you, “Tell me about your father,” you will not be able to talk about your father with as much detail and authenticity as there are Ahadith of Rasulullah s.a.w.
Imam Tirmidhi rahmatullah compiled all the Ahadith related to the person of Rasulullah s.a.w. in what he called *Shama’il al-Tawheed* (often referred to as *Shama’il Tirmidhi*). So, it covers all the appearance of Rasulullah s.a.w. and everything related to him.
In the Ilm-ur-Rijal, they investigate: You take an Ahadith and investigate all the narrators of that Ahadith through the ages, right? Individually. Who was that man? What was his name? If it was a woman, who was the lady? What was her name? Because there are Muhadithin who are men and women.
Where was this person born? What did they say? What was the reputation of this person? Specifically about their memory, what did people say? Did they have a good memory or a bad memory? If that person mentioned someone else, for example, if somebody says, “I received this Hadith from so-and-so,” they investigate and ask, “Did these two people live at the same time?” For example, if somebody claims a Hadith where one narrator is Imam Shafi’i and another is Imam Abu Hanifa.
Now, can this be correct? It cannot be. Because Imam Shafi’i was born in the year when Imam Abu Hanifa died. So, how could he learn from him? When he died, he was already born; he couldn’t have learned from him. So, this is what they do. They investigate everything. So, if somebody says, “I learned from so-and-so,” were these two people alive at the same time?
Secondly, were they in the same geographical location? Even if they are not in the same geographical location—for example, if he says, “I learned from so-and-so,” and we know this person lived in Baghdad—
now, where did you live? I lived in New Delhi. Okay. So, obviously, you were not listening to him on the phone. Now, in your life, which is recorded, is there any journey that you took from Delhi to Baghdad? Is there a record of that?
Was this person who narrated this Hadith ever in that area? So, for example, you might say, yes, he was going for Hajj, he went for Hajj, and on the way, he went to Baghdad. Okay. Then this is possible; we understand this, it is correct. But supposing you say, well, this person never went for Hajj. He was living in New Delhi (or those days, no, Delhi), staying in Delhi, and this other person whom he claims…
What we have learned from is that the scholar was in Baghdad, and this companion never traveled to Iraq or the Middle East. So, how did he hear? How did he get these Ahadith? Now, that kind of rigor of recording. And all of this is for what? For the word of the Rasul, ﷺ. So, our entire Iman bil Ghayb, which is the foundation of our Deen, is based on the narration, based on the information given to us by Muhammad Rasulullah, ﷺ. So, this is one of the ways of understanding the true greatness of Rasulullah, ﷺ. That’s why when people sometimes, may Allah protect us from misguidance, there are some misguided people who deny the Ahadith. They say, “We don’t believe in the Ahadith.” What do you believe in? You believe in the Quran. Because you’re excellent, fantastic. How did you get the Quran? You just recite Surah Al-Fatiha, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Where did it come from? It came from Rasulullah, ﷺ. Allah did not come and talk to you. Jibreel did not come and talk to you. How do you know that, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, which is the second ayat of Surah Al-Fatiha? The first ayat is Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. How do you know that this is actually an ayat of the Quran? Because Rasulullah, ﷺ, told me. Because he said so. Huh? How do you know that the Quran is the Kalam of Allah? What is the proof? Because Rasulullah, ﷺ, said so. Allah said in the Quran, but how do you know that? Because the Nabi, ﷺ, told him. So this one line, this one sentence, demolishes this whole issue of the Quraniyun. He will say, “We are Ahlul Quran,” we are Quraniyun. We should all be Ahlul Quran, not Quraniyun, and not Ahlul Quran in that sense. We are people of the Quran, yes. But we are people of the Quran because before being people of the Quran, we are people of the Nabi, ﷺ. And through him, we got the Quran al-Kareem. So we are automatically, somebody says, so-and-so is Ahlul Hadith. Of course, we are all Ahlul Hadith. We are people of the Hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ. It’s not a fiqh, it is not a sect. If somebody says Ahlul Hadith and calls it a sect, then he is misguided. Every Muslim who is from the Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama’ah, the Sunni Muslims, we are all Ahlul Hadith. We are all Ahlul Quran. But in the true sense, not in the sense of these firqas, not in the sense of saying, “We are Ahlul Quran because we deny the Hadith.” If you deny the Hadith, you are out of Islam. You have become an apostate because you are denying Muhammad ﷺ. If you deny the Rasul ﷺ, you are denying the Quran because you know the Quran is the Quran because the Rasul said so. You deny the Rasul, you have denied the Quran. You are out of Islam.
So I remind myself and you; let us think about these things. Inshallah, we will talk more. But the importance of Iman bil Qaib, the importance of believing in the unperceivable, which leads us to asking how do I believe that? Because Rasulullah ﷺ said so. And that is, as I mentioned to you, from the Ummahatul Mumineen, she said, “It is that we don’t believe what we see because our eyes can deceive us, but the word of the Rasul ﷺ is always true. The Rasul does not deceive.” And then they asked him, “How do you believe this?” How can anybody go from Makkah to Jerusalem and so on and all this thing in one night? Abu Qadir Siddiqui ﷺ said, “Why is it difficult to believe this? Because we already believe in more than this.” He said, “I have not seen Allah, but I believe in Allah. I have not seen the Day of Judgment, I believe in the Day of Judgment. I have not seen Jannah, but I believe in Jannah.” He said, “Much more.” So if I believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah—that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala He is Qadir over everything—if I believe this truly, then what is difficult about believing that He took Rasulullah ﷺ from point A to point B to point C and back to point A? I mean, if He is able to do everything, this is part of everything. That is the beauty of believing in Al-Ghayb. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to fill our hearts with Yaqeen, to fill our hearts with a true faith in Islam, which begins with true faith in the Nabi ﷺ. This is why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala called the Nabi his Da’amah. So we’ll talk about that more Inshallah. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to be on the straight path and to keep us steadfast on it and to be pleased with us and never to be displeased. Wasallamu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi il-mahim bi rahmatul kareem.