Modern moderation at some people

Praise be to Allah, and peace be upon the noblest of all messenger and prophets: our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions.

One of the eminent characteristics of our religion is moderation. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Thus We have made you [true Muslims - real believers of Islâmic Monotheism, true followers of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his Sunnah (legal ways)], a just (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses over mankind and the Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) be a witness over you." [Surat Al Baqarah: 143]. Justice is a main feature of Islam in all matters, and that is the meaning of "a just nation" in acts of worship and transactions. Accordingly, there will be no extravagance, extremism, deviation, and negligence as done by the people of the Scriptures. The Christians have exceeded the proper limits regarding Jesus and made him a son of god (may Allah be exalted) of what they attribute to Him, in addition to monasticism which they innovated even though they did not practice it properly. As for the Jews, they described Allah with the ugliest characteristics: they described him as poor and miser may Allah curse them and cast anger upon them. Both religions have participated in distorting the revealed Books: the Torah and the Bible according to their whims.

In these days, groups of people —who deviated the moderation of Islam and its application in reality— emerged, most of them are from the public. Their view is: a person may do whatever he likes even if that action contains disobedience to Allah. According to this view, there is no harm for a person to listen to songs, watch deniable acts in television, in addition to backbiting and tale bearing. A person should not spend all his time in obedience, worship, religiousness, moreover there are some groups criticize religiousness and integrity. It was reported in the old traditions that Sahl ibn `Abdullah At-Tastury said: Adhere to the old authentic traditions and the Sunnah for I fear a time will come when the Prophet (peace be upon him) will be mentioned and followed in all his conditions, they would dispraise, averted, freed themselves of him, degraded, and insulted him.

By Allah, this is what is happening in our time and that is part of the insinuations of Satan. Therefore, we should not be tricked by these risks and indulge ourselves in sins. On the other hand, we should beware Satan as much as we can because it confuses us as Ibn Al Jawzy mentioned in his book "Talbis Iblis — A chapter on Satanic insinuations to the public": A person may lean to have a good company and does not mind to do anything afterwards. Some of them may say: I am one of Ahl As-Sunnah (the people who follow the Sunnah) and Ahl As-Sunnah are good. To remove this insinuation, we should say to them: To believe in that doctrine is an obligation and to stop committing sins is another obligation, and one of them cannot stand without the other. Some people say: I keep to Salah, fast, pay Zakah, but there is no harm if I listen to songs and watch satellite television. In the meantime, they forget the reason for which he was created: the worship of Allah, submission to Him, and staying away from things that entail His Wrath and Punishment. "And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)." [Surat Az-Zariyat: 56]. Hence, I advise my Muslims brothers to fear Allah, do things which they know their Shari`ah rulings, and do not interpret religious matters according to their whims and desires.

May Allah grant us success!