SECOND: THE HAJJ: Allaah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) performed Hajj and
taught the people the rites of Hajj. and said, 'Take your rites of pilgrimage
from me.' He made the standing in Arafah in a specific place, at a specific
time, the ninth day, and he made the night-stay in Muzdalifah on a particular
night. and he made the Day of Sacrifice, and the days and nights of Tashreeq in
a particular time and place. He also made the Tawaafut-Ifaadah at a particular
time, and he laid down a particular place for the,S'a'ee between .Safaa and
Marwaa, its starting point and finishing point were laid down. So if a Jamaa'ah
wished to change any of these rites and alter their time or place, for example
saying. 'We want the Tawaaful-Ifaadah to be performed on the ninth day, and to
be done between, Safaa and Marwaa, and we what to move the standing in 'Arafah
to the eight or the tenth day, and that it should be done in Muzdalifah or
Minaa, and we want the sacrifice to be done in Arafah, or we want to be some
rites forward and delay others according to what will be helpful and according
to the situation of the pilgrims. Then would this be an Islamic Hajj, or would
it rather be an evil distortion and a disfigurement of this rite'!!
THIRD: AND THIS IS THE MAIN
POINT: Allaah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
began his da'wah with Tawheed, and likewise all the Messengers. He also used to
command his governors and daa'ee’s to begin by calling to Tawheed. There
are many examples showing this. from them is his saying to Muadh when he sent
him to Yemen. 'You are going to a People from the People of the Book, so let the
first thing which you call them to be the testification that none has the right
to be worshipped except Allaah. So if they accept that from you. then inform
them that Allaah has obligated upon them five Prayers in every day and night. So
if they accept that then inform them that Allaah has obligated upon (them) a
charity which is to be taken from their rich and given to their poor,'
So do you not see that it was an organised call and an
ordered Sharee'ah. It begins with the most fundamental principle and then moves
on to what is next in importance, then what follows in importance. So why do we
fail to understand this precise organisation'! Why do we fail to comply with it?
And why do we understand that it is obligatory upon us to comply with the way
laid and prescribed by Allaah and the precise organisation in matters of worship
and its parts, but we do not understand the way laid down and prescribed by
Allaah and the precise organisations in the field of da'wah, which was followed
closely by all of the Prophets in succession. How is it that we make it
permissible to act contrary to this great and fundamental methodology and to
turn aside from it?!! This is a very serious matter and the callers must
re-examine their minds and change their standpoints. Has the Islamic Ummah, and
in particular its callers. benefitted from this great methodology, the
methodology of the Prophets, in giving importance to Tawheed and in making it
the starting point for their da'wah?!! The answer is that the state of the Ummah
is a very painful and bitter one. If a person were to die due to pain and grief
at this dark and painful situation, then that would be fully appropriate. How is
that'! I! Indeed many of the people of the Ummah of Islaam, which includes its
daa'ees and its thinkers. are ignorant of this methodology, and some of them
merely pretend to be ignorant of it, the devils have come between them and have
led them away from it. Instead they have taken up methodologies contrary to the
methodology of the Prophets, methodologies which are disastrous for their
religion and their worldly life. How appropriate is the saying of the truthful
and trusted Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) to them. 'You will certainly follow the ways of
those who came before you, handspan by handspan, and cubit by cubit. even to the
point that if they were to enter a lizards hole you would enter it.' We said, '0
Messenger of Allaah, the Jews and the Christians?' He said, 'Who else.~ And his
(") saying, 'The Jews split into seventy one sects, and the Christians
split into seventy two sects. and this Ummah will split into seventy three
sects, all of them in the Fire except one. and that is the Jamaa'ah.'~' And in a
wording, 'Which is that, 0 Messenger of Allaah'!' He said, 'That which I and my
Companions are upon.'
Excerpt from "The Methodology of the Prophets"
