Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me

Anas reported that: "Three men came to the houses of the wives of the
Prophet and askedhow his worship was. When they were informed, they
considered their own worship to be insignificant and said: 'Where are
we in comparison to the Prophet when Allaah has forgiven his past and
future sins?' One of them said: 'As for me, I shall offer prayer all
night long.' Another said: 'I shall observe fasting perpetually, never
to break it.' Another said: 'I shall abstain from women and will never
marry.' The Prophet then came to them and said: "Are you the people
who said such things? I swear By Allaah that I fear Allaah more than
you do, and I am most obedient and dutiful among you to Him, but
still, I observe fasting (sometimes) and break it (at others); I
perform (optional) prayer (at night sometimes) and sleep at night (at
others); I also marry. So whoever turns away from my Sunnah (i.e., my
way) is not from me." [Al-Bukhaari &Muslim]
Anas also reported: "A few of the companions ofthe Prophet inquired
from his wives about his worship when he would be alone. When they
found out, one of them said: 'I shall abstain from women and will
never marry.' Another said: 'I shall never eat meat.' Another said: 'I
will always offer the night prayer and shall never sleep.' Later, the
Prophet ascended the pulpit, praised and thanked Allaah, and then
said: "Whyare some people saying such things? I perform (optional
night)prayers (sometimes) and sleep at night (at others); I observe
fasting (sometimes) and break it (at others); and I marry. So whoever
turns away from my Sunnah (i.e., way) is not from me."
'A few of the companions' in the narration means that there were
between three to nine of them, and their asking: 'Where are we in
comparison to the Prophet when Allaah has forgiven his past and future
sins?' means that since they didnot have this assurance that He had,
then it followed that they wouldhave to exert more effortin order to
try to attain it;however, he explainedto them that one may do the
things that these menwished to refrain from and still be fearful of
Allaah and obtain a greatreward.
The second narration of this story includes different things that the
companions stated that they will abstain from, which proves that they
were more than three in number.
Also, the speech of the Prophet in the first narration reflects that
he spoke to them directly, whereas the second one indicates thathe
spoke generally, without directing his speech to them in particular.
It may be that he first spoke to everybody in the congregation and
explained that such abstention is impermissible, and then spoke to the
men concerned in private, addressing them personally so as not to
expose their identity to others, which may have caused them
embarrassment.
The fact that the Prophet took an oath was in order to show these men
that despite him being forgiven by Allaah, he did not do what they
planned to do, which was to exaggerate in their worship, and that
reward from Allaah couldbe attained without such exaggeration; this is
because he who is moderate in his worship is more likely to
continuewhereas those who exaggerate will eventually become too weak
to continue and give up.
His saying: "…my Sunnah…" did not refer to the Islaamic categorization
which refers to recommended acts ratherthan obligatory ones. Rather,
it refers to his complete manner in life and his approach to every
matter. He instructed them that the one who worships in anyway other
than his is not from him, meaning, that he does not follow him; here,
he was alluding to the methods that monks have, who innovated extreme
ways of worship for which they have been dispraised by Allaah.
The one who worships ina way other than that of the Prophet has not
left the fold of Islam if he did it in ignorance or was mistaken in
his interpretation of the Sunnah, but if he does it due to wishing to
deliberately shun the way of the Prophet and thinks that his way and
method is better, then he has committed an act of disbelief.
The following are some of many benefits that we can extract from this narration:
· The recommendation of imitating the ways of one's seniors and
following in their footsteps, and that if one is unable to find out
about their way of doing things by means of inquiring from men, thenit
is permitted to inquire from women, provided that nobody will be
subjected to temptation.
· The virtue of marriage and an encouragement of it.
· One may do righteous deeds openly and inform others about them,
provided he feels secure from thereby becoming arrogant.
· Deeds that are Islamically permitted maybecome recommended, disliked
or prohibited, according to one's intention.
· Imaam At-Tabari said: "This narration refutes the claim of those who
forbid eating lawful foods and wearing permissible clothing, claiming
that it is better to use harsh clothing and refrain from eating good
food." But, Imaam Ibn Hajar added to this saying: "The fact of the
matter is that the one who gets himself accustomed to always consuming
fine things (i.e., food and clothing) may become too habituated to
them and therefore cannot live without them, and consequently, when he
is deprived from them, he maycommit prohibitions in order to attain
what he is accustomed to. On the other hand, refraining from them from
the perspective of prohibiting them for oneself contradicts the saying
of Allaah inthe thirty-second verse of Soorah Al-A'raaf (which means):
"Say: 'Who has forbidden the adornment of [i.e., from] Allaah which He
has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of
provision?..." [Quran 7: 32]
· The good deeds that arecontinuous are the dearest to Allaah, even if
they are few.
· The method of the Prophet is the very best one, whereby he would
sometimes eat in order to preserve his strength, and fast at other
times; he would also sleep at night sometimes in order to have the
strength to prayat night on other occasions; also, he would marry in
order to fulfil his desires, save himself from following his lusts,
maintain his chastity, andincreasing the number ofMuslims.
· A warning against exaggeration in the matters of the religion
because this leads to one stopping the deeds that he is performing.
Also, one who exaggerates in acts of worship will eventually become
apathetic, which may cause him to stop his obligatory acts of worship
and not only theoptional ones that he performs. Also, one who only
performs the obligatory deeds is also in great danger; if he loses
interest, he may abandon worship altogether; so the best way is to be
moderate.
· Finally, There is an indication in this narration that knowing
Allaah and His rights and commandments is of a higher rank than simply
worshipping Him without it, and that the deeds of the heart are
essential for practicing servitude to Allaah.