Lesson 5 on the explanation of Usool us-Sittah (The Six Principles) is now available. You can listen to or download it here:

Lesson 5.mp3

The Second Foundation

Allāh commanded with unity in the religion and prohibited from separation therein. Allāh explained this with a sufficient explanation such that the common people can understand it. And He forbade us from being like those before us who split and differed among themselves and were destroyed thereby. He mentioned that He commanded the Muslims to be united in religion, and forbade them from becoming separated therein. The [matter] is further increased in clarity through what has been reported in the Sunnah of amazing affairs pertaining to that. Then the matter became [overturned] such that separation in the foundations and subsidiary branches of the religion was turned into knowledge and understanding of the religion, and [the affair became such that] unity in the religion was not spoken of except by one deemed a heretic or insane.

The text of Usool us-Sittah can be found here: The Six Principles (Arabic and English).pdf

Points or topics discussed in the lesson:

• First there was the Prophetic Khilafah, that of Muhammad (sallAllaahu ‘alaihi wasallam).
• Then the rightly-guided Khilafah which lasted for 30 years.
• After this, the period of kingship with began with Mu’awiyyah (rahimahullah).
• Then there was the first ruling dynasty (Umayyad) which lasted about 80-100 years.
• Following this was the Abbasid dynasty which lasted about 500-600 years, in which the Muslim nation increased in splitting for a number of reasons including Ilmul-Kalaam and Tasawwuf (Sufism)
• Sufism appeared in Iraq in Basrah which began as people being devoted in worship and exaggerating in that regard.
• Wahdatul-Wujood (unity of existence) – This deviant philosophical belief entails that everything in existence is the creator i.e. there is no such thing as a creator and the created. Everything is a manifestation of Allah. This is a belief of Kufr.
• Some of the proponents of Wahdatul-Wujood were Ibn Arabi, Ibn al-Faarid and Ibn Sab’in.
• Asharis and Maturidis caused confusion in Aqeedah, Eemaan, Qadr, etc.
• Mu’tazilah also brought many innovated principles. They have five principles.