True love of Allah is proven only through following the Messenger ﷺ. Learn why the Sunnah is revelation, innovation is rejected, and Ittiba‘ is salvation.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His aid, and we ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and the wickedness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide, and whomsoever He allows to stray, there is none to guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without any partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
To proceed:
Many claim to love Allah. The Jews and Christians claimed it, the polytheists of Makkah claimed it in their own distorted way, and the innovators of this Ummah claim it. But a claim is nothing without proof. Allah, the Exalted, revealed a verse in His Book that the scholars of the Salaf, such as Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on them), termed Ayat al-Mihnah—the Verse of the Test.
Allah says:
Reflect deeply upon this condition. Allah did not say, "If you love Allah, then gaze at the sky," or "invent rituals that make you weep." He made His love conditional upon Ittiba’ (following the Prophet).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمة الله عليه) elucidated that love for Allah is not merely a feeling in the heart; it is a driving force that necessitates obedience. If a person claims to love Allah but opposes the way of His Messenger, their claim is false. It is a lie against their own soul. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the translator of the Divine Will. We do not know what pleases Allah—what He loves, what He hates, how He wishes to be praised—except through the revelation given to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Therefore, to bypass the Messenger is to claim that one knows Allah better than His own Prophet.
We must correct a dangerous misconception that has crept into the minds of the Muslims: the idea that the Quran is the word of Allah, but the Sunnah is merely the wisdom of a man. This is a deviation from the Aqeedah of the Saved Sect (Al-Firqah an-Naajiyah).
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not speak from his own desires regarding the religion. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says:
When the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ commanded an action, or forbade a matter, or approved a deed, it was essentially a command from the Lord of the Worlds. The authority of the Sunnah is absolute. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
This "something like it" is the authentic Sunnah.
Imam Al-Barbahari (رحمة الله عليه), in his monumental work, stated:
To separate the Quran from the Sunnah is to dismantle the religion. The Quran commands us to pray (Aqimis-Salah), but it is the Sunnah that tells us to pray Fajr as two units and Maghrib as three. The Quran commands us to pay Zakat, but it is the Sunnah that defines the Nisab (threshold). He who rejects the Sunnah has, in reality, rejected the Quran, for it is the Quran that commands:
A fundamental principle of the Salafi Manhaj regarding worship is that acts of Ibadah (worship) are Tawqifiyyah. This means that all worship is forbidden until there is textual evidence (Dalil) from the Quran or the Sunnah to sanction it. We are not legislating creators; we are obedient slaves.
Many people today fall into the trap of thinking, "My intention is good, I only want to praise Allah." They invent gatherings, chants, and rituals that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ never did, nor did his Companions.
We ask them: Are you more pious than Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه)? Do you love Allah more than ‘Umar (رضي الله عنه)? Are you more fearful of Allah than ‘Uthman (رضي الله عنه) or ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه)? If these invented practices were truly good, the Sahabah—who were the keenest of all mankind in doing good—would have preceded us to them. But they did not do them. They sufficed themselves with the footsteps of the Prophet.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ issued a severe warning that serves as a firewall protecting the purity of this Deen:
In another narration:
Imam Malik (رحمة الله عليه) spoke words that should be written in gold:
Reflect on this, O servant of Allah! When you engage in an innovation (Bid'ah), you are implicitly accusing the Prophet of holding back good from his Ummah, or implying that you have discovered a path to Allah that the Messenger was unaware of. We seek refuge in Allah from such arrogance.
The Sunnah is like the Ark of Noah; whoever boards it is saved, and whoever stays behind is drowned. The path of the Sunnah is clear, luminous, and sufficient. It requires no additions and accepts no subtractions.
This is the deep understanding of the Salaf. The punishment is not for the act of prostration itself, but for the audacity to worship Allah in a way He did not legislate.
We live in a time of strangeness (Ghuraba), where holding onto the Sunnah is like holding onto burning coal. The practices of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ are mocked by the enemies of Islam and forgotten by the masses of Muslims. But herein lies the great opportunity.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
We are constantly journeying towards our Lord, and every day is a season for worship. How can we claim to be the people of the Quran while our lives are devoid of the Prophet's character?
It is incumbent upon us to revive the Sunnah in our homes, our worship, and our dealings.
O Slaves of Allah! The days are passing swiftly, and the breath of life is limited. We are on the precipice of great days of worship. If we do not discipline ourselves upon the Sunnah now, we will struggle when the demands of worship increase.
If you wish for your Ramadan to be accepted, check your Aqeedah and check your adherence to the Messenger. Verify that your worship is free from the pollution of Bid'ah.
Cleanse your practice. Pick up the books of Hadith— Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin—and learn how your Prophet lived.
Let us make a covenant with Allah today that we will strip away the innovations of culture and the lazy habits of the self, and clothe ourselves in the authentic Sunnah of the Master of Messengers.
O Allah, show us the truth as truth and grant us the ability to follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us the ability to avoid it. Do not make it confusing for us lest we go astray.
And our final prayer is that all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.