All praise be to Allah Alone! We praise Him and seek His Help! We seek His Forgiveness and in Him we seek refuge from the evils within ourselves and from the evils of our bad deeds. Whoever Allah guides will not be led astray, and whoever Allah leads astray will not be guided by anyone. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.
O you who believe! Fear Allâh (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islâm [as Muslims (with complete submission to Allâh)].
O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwâ (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women; and fear Allâh through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allâh is Ever an AllWatcher over you.
O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allâh and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allâh and His Messenger (ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ), he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hellfire and will be admitted to Paradise). To proceed,
I ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) with His Most Beautiful Names and Lofty Attributes to guide us all to whatever pleases Him and to fix our hearts and acts. I thank Him (Glorified be He) for guiding us for this meeting in His Cause and His Obedience and for recommending one another to adhere to AlHaqq (the Truth). I ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) to bless this meeting, to help us all do what pleases Him and to protect us all from the evils of ourselves and the evils of our deeds.
Then, I thank my brother the owner of this Masjid (mosque), Sulayman AlRajihy, for inviting me for this meeting. I ask Allah to bless him and his brother Salih and their offspring, to help them do what is good and to bless their efforts. May Allah make us among those who are guided and guide others. Then, I offer my thanks to brother Shaykh `A'id ibn `Abdullah AlQarny for his speech and blessed poem. May Allah reward him the best!
Concerning deriving the Fatawa (legal opinions issued by a qualified Muslim scholar) from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah (whatever is reported from the Prophet), I would like to say that this is obligatory on the scholars, and this is what we keenly do and aim at.
However, I am not infallible; I and other scholars may commit mistakes. But I spare no efforts to apply my Fatawa to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him) and to derive evidence from them in every matter. This is my effort. I ask Allah to help us reach AlHaqq.
Concerning questioning and requesting Fatawa from the scholars, this is a known matter which Allah prescribed for His Servants. Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) ordered to ask the scholars. I ask Allah to make us all of the righteous and useful scholars. He (Glorified be He) says: So ask the people of the Reminder, if you do not know. It is reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said concerning people who gave Fatawa without knowledge: Why did they not ask if they did not know? The remedy of ignorance is seeking knowledge by questioning [the people of knowledge].
Every seeker of knowledge and every Muslim should ask the distinguished knowledgeable scholars if he is in doubt regarding any of the religious affairs and should not ignorantly take any action that may lead him astray.
Muslims should ask and scholars should point out. Scholars are the heirs of the prophets and are the successors of the messengers in pointing out and calling for AlHaqq. All Muslims should ask knowledgeable scholars about what they do not know.
The people of knowledge are the scholars of the Book and Sunnah, who derive their Fatawa from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him); those are the people of knowledge rather than those who imitate men and do not care about the Book and Sunnah. Scholars are those who glorify the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him) and always refer to them.
Every seeker of knowledge should take them as models and strive hard to follow their path. Muslims should ask their scholars about problematic religious and worldly affairs. Allah (Exalted be He) sent
messengers, particularly their seal and Imam our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to reform the religion and worldly life together. Allah (Exalted be He) sent him for all the Jinn (creatures created from fire) and mankind. His message was general and beneficial to this world and the Hereafter, to people and countries where salvation from all evil is guaranteed. It is the message that reforms their worldly affairs and help their obedience and worshipping of their Lord as due, giving up what He forbade, drawing them closer to Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He), and taking them farther from His Dissatisfaction. It guides people to