Introduction to The Seerah of Prophet Muhammad: Makkan Period.

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Lecture 1

• Introduction to The Seerah of Prophet Muhammad
  Makkan Period.

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Seerah

• We call the Biography of the Prophet (saw) in
  Arabic Seerat Al-Nabee.
• What does the word Seerah mean?
• Linguistic definition a path
• Walking is called sayr in Arabic when we say,
  Such and such is walking we say Sara Fulaan
• So it is a path that a person takes during his
  lifetime.

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Hans Werner Dictionary?

• According to the Hans Wehr Dictionary Seerah
  means (will have on my blog)
• conduct, comportment, demeanor, way of life,
  behavior, attitude, position, reaction, way of
  acting and biography.

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Is Seerah applicable to Rasool Allah ONLY?

• No! We can use it to mean the biography of
  anyonereally the life of any person. However, we
  have become so used to using it in reference to
  the life of the Prophet (saw). So if you just say
  Seerah to Muslims they understand that we mean
  that of the Prophet (saw).
• But we can say, The Seerah of Abu Bakr The
  Seerah of Umar The Seerah of so and so.
• It just means the life of a personin which
  case, we are studying the life of the greatest
  (saw)

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What is the importance of studying the Seerah?

• First,
• The life of Muhammad (saw) is the history of
  Islamthe concise history of Islam)
• His life contains
• 1) incidents that will help us in everything that
  we would need to know in our life of Dawah.
• 2) The history of our religion.

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• The son of Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (Muhammad ibn Abi
  Waqqas)whose father Saad ibn Abi Waqqas was one
  of the ten who were given glad tidings of Jannah
  says, Our father would teach us the battles
  the seerah of the prophet, and he would tell us
  these are the traditions of your fathers so study
  them. They used to refer to the Seerah as
  Maghazee which means the battles.

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Why Maghazee the battles?

• The latter part of the life of the Prophet (saw)
  was spent in battlewhich is the Madinah Period.
• So they used the word Maghazee to refer to the
  whole life of the Prophet (saw).

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• Ali ibn Al Hussein ibn Abi Talib (the grandson of
  Ali Ibn Abi Talib) said, We were taught the
  Seerah of the Prophet (saw) as we were taught
  Quran.
• That was how important Seerah for them, they
  would study it as they would Quran. And that
  makes sense, because if we want to study the life
  of Musa (as) where do we go?

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• Quran!!!!
• Life of Essa (as) we do the same But to study the
  life of Muhammad (saw) where do we go? there
  are bits and pieces mentioned in Quran but not
  much details as we do Musa (as). So, we have to
  go to his Seerah.
• Why do you think this is so?

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Second

• To develop proper love for Rasool Allah (saw).
  Loving Muhammad is Ibadah worship. It is part
  of our faith.
• He said, One of you does not attain true faith
  until I am more beloved to you than your parents
  and your children and the whole world.

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Umar ibn Al Khattab and this hadith!

• One day Umar came to the Prophet (saw) and said,
  O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than I
  love anyone else except myself.
• Rasool Allah (saw) said, Until you love me you
  dont attain complete faith until you love me
  more than you love anything, including yourself.
  So Umar (raa) went to think about it, and then
  came back and said, Now I love you more than
  myself. Homework Prophets respond, Now you
  have attained faith.

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Does the Ummah love Muhammad today?

• Yes, the ummah does love Muhammad today, but love
  cannot be deep and sincere unless you know the
  person, if only shallow information then you
  cannot really love the person. This is especially
  true with Muhammad (saw). The more you know him
  and are impressed with his personality the more
  you will love him.

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• Shallow information among the masses of the
  people who love him, does not really guarantee a
  deep love for him.
• The more the companions knew him the more they
  loved him take for example Amr Ibn al Aas he
  was one of the staunchest enemies, top plotters
  against Islam Amr ibn Al Aaas became Muslim and
  on his deathbed his son says that he started to
  weep. His son asked him why. He said,

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• O my father did not Rasool Allah give you glad
  tidingsit is reported that the Prophet (saw)
  said, Amr Ibn Al Aas has believed, and this
  means that he has attained faith, this is a
  witness that he is a believer not just a Muslim.
  A higher level So his son was trying to console
  him. How come you are crying before your death.
  Amr ibn Al Aaas turned around and said, O my
  son I have gone through

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• 3hree stages in my life
• 1) The most despised man to me was Muhammad and
  my desire was to get a hold of him and kill him.
  That was my wish. It was my aspiration. If I died
  at that time I would have surely been in
  hellfire.
• 2) Then Allah put the love of Islam in my heart.
  And I went to the Muhammad and I said, O
  Muhammad I want to become Muslim. I want to
  pledge allegiance to you. Extend your hand.

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• When the Prophet (saw) extended his hand I pulled
  mine away. So the Prophet asked, Whats wrong?
  I said, I have a condition to make. What
  condition? I want you to pardon me, give me
  clemency he knew his crimes in the past against
  Muslims was enough for execution. He did not want
  the Prophet to hold him accountable for them The
  Prophet (saw) , O Amr dont you know that Islam
  erases everything before it. Hijra erases

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• everything before it, and hajj erases everything
  before it.
• He continues, At that stage my worse enemy
  became the most beloved person to me. I loved him
  so much and respected him so much that I could
  not get a full glimpse of his face. Whenever I
  would see him I would look down. And if you would
  ask me to describe him to you today, I would not
  be able to. If I had died at that stage I would
  have hoped to go to Jannah.

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• 3) And later on came things and we dont know
  where we stand hadith is long and does not
  concern us.
• Suhail Ibn Amrs testimony of the love of the
  companions for the Prophet (saw). Suhail ibn Amr
  was an international negotiator he was well
  connected who had been in the courts of the
  Roman, Persian emperor etc. His account when he
  went to Al Madinah to negotiate with the prophet
  when he reported to Quraysh

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• When Suhail bin Amr went back to report to
  Quraish, he told them I visited the Roman
  emperor, I visited the Persian emperor, I visited
  Al Najashi (the Negus) of Abyssinia, but I have
  never in my life seen a leader that is so loved
  by his followers and so respected by his
  followers then Muhammad SAW.

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• He carries onI saw amazing things Muhammad
  SAW would be making Wudu (ablution before prayer)
  , and the Sahaba would be rushing to grab the
  water dripping from his body. He said to them do
  whatever you want, these are people who will
  never give up their leader, they would sacrifice
  their lives first.

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State of education in the Muslim world?

• Study of Seerah NOT mandatory in our schoolsyet
  despite the fact he (saw) is still the most
  beloved figure.
• His name is the most common nameno other person
  so loved to the extent that almost every family
  has a Muhammad in their family. Muhammad Al
  Asher, and Muhammad Aqbal, Muhammad Suleiman,
  Muhammad Haroon . . .

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His name most frequently mentioned name in the
world!

• Around the clock, there will be a minaret calling
  to prayer, and mentioning the name of Muhammad
  (saw). Why?
• Muslims are worldwide. So in every time zone,
  you have Muslim calling out to prayer, every
  minute of the day. It is part of Shahadha-
  Ashhadu An La Illah . . . .
• And in every prayer, and in every reversion to
  Islam.

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What is the meaning of the name Muhammad?

• It means praised one. There is no one who is
  praised as much and as frequently as Muhammad
  (saw). His name really fulfills its
  meaningwhenever we hear his name we have to
  praise him as well.
• What do we say?

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Allah says in the Quran

• Say, if it be that your fathers, sons, brothers,
  mates, or your kindred. The wealth that you have
  gained, the commerce business that you fear a
  decline in, or the dwellings in which you delight
  are dearest to you than Allah or his Messenger or
  striving in his cause. Then wait until Allah
  brings about his decision. And Allah guides not
  the rebellious. (924)

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• LOVE for Allah (SWT), His Messenger (saw) and
  Islam be paramount to everything else.
• This past halaqa Kaab Ibn Maleks story!

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Third

• To follow the way of the Prophet (saw)-- Ibn Hazm
  says, Whoever seeks the preeminence of the
  Hereafter, the wisdom of this life, the just
  purpose, and the embodiment of morality and
  character, let him follow Muhammad the prophet of
  Allah.
• He is the best characterand by studying his
  Seerah we will be better equipped to follow his
  way. His Khuluq was that of the Quran.

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fourth

• Understanding Quran
• Some ayat are independent of circumstances of
  their revelationsuch as Al Raqayeq, and Al
  Akhira.
• But some are dependent on the event that they
  were revealedprior, concurrent, and after.
• Seerah gives us explanation. Like Surat Al Ahzab
  battle of Al Ahzab, in Surat Al Imran major
  section based on dialog with Christians of
  delegation from Najran.

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• The latter part of Al Imran, is the battle of
  Uhud. The details of the battle are not mentioned
  in the Quran, so we have to turn to the Seerah.

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Fifth

• The Seerah illustrates the methodological steps
  of the Islamic Movt. The Dawah and Establishment
  of Islam went thru stages
• Secret Dawah
• Public Dawah
• Jihad (struggles)
• Muneer Ghadhban says, We believe that this
  methodological progression of the Prophet's life
  is divinely directed. For Allah guided his steps
  and it was not a result of reaction to emerging
  circumstances.

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• Not haphazard, but planned by Allah (SWT) so they
  are a guidance for us in our attemptsMANUAL--
  for us to establish Islam again.
• Rasheed Ridha Were it not for the education and
  training, verbal education would not suffice. The
  Seerah taught them how to be guided by the Quran
  and how to be just and modest in all matters.

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In other words!

• Quran and Sunnah are verbal teaching, but how do
  we apply these verbal teachings?
• By looking at the application of Rasool Allah
  (saw) and the companions. They took verbal
  teachings and translated them into actions.

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Very unique about Muslims!

• Only Ummah that has preserved this, other
  religions have lost trace and sight of the
  teachings of their Prophets.
• But know how Quran and Sunnah were practiced and
  applied.
• e.g. It is related that 'Adi ibn Hatim said,
  "When it was revealed, 'Eat and drink until you
  can clearly discern the white thread from the
  black thread', I got a black string and a white

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• string and put them under my pillow. I began to
  look at them during the night, but it was not
  clear to me. In the morning I went to the
  Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
  him peace, and mentioned that to him and he said,
  'That means the blackness of the night and the
  whiteness of the day.'"

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• Rasool Allah (saw) taught the companions how to
  interpret the ayah (not dependent on dark room
  and string)we are shown through the Ahadeeth of
  the Prophet and the companions how to implement
  the rulings in the Quran. NEGLECT OF THE SUNNAH
  IS A HUGE PROBLEM!!!

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six

• Studying seerah is Ibadah
• Not to entertain ourselves,
• There is ajr, rewards in doing this.
• We are worshipping Allah (SWT) by coming together
  to study the story of the Prophet (saw).
• This is a halaqa, so a session of dhikr. Expect
  it to be a gathering surrounded by angels, that
  Allah (SWT) will shower us with his mercy and
  tranquility and mention us in a gathering better
  than it.

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• Allah says, Say (O beloved Prophet, to mankind)
  If you love Allah, then follow me Allah will
  love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is
  Forgiving, Merciful. (331)

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Seven! Developing a Muslim identity

• Global culture forced down the throats of
  everybody on the face of the earthit is
  protected and propagated.
• Thomas Friedman a writer for the New York Times
  said, The hidden hand of the market, cannot
  survive without a hidden fist.
• McDonald will not flourish without Donald Douglas
  the designer of the F15.

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• Were not dealing with a culture that is benign,
  it is one that gives you no choice. It is a
  Global Culture that is intolerant of anything
  else!!!!
• To Destroy a People You Must First Sever Their
  Roots. Alexander Solzhenitsyn a well-known and
  respected Russian dissident.

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• He wanted to warn people everywhere of the
  dangers of powerful people in leadership
  positions. It is a strong and sobering warning
  that all free men should think about.
• SLOWLY BUT SURELY other cultures are being wiped
  out slowly off of the face of the earth.

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• It is not here to co-exist, but to replace all
  others.
• The only ideology standing up to this global
  culture is Islam. As Muslims living in the West,
  we are suffering a serious identity crisis.
• We practice Islam, but the Islamic identity is
  lostthe person would have more in common with a
  Rock star of Soccer Player than he would have
  with a companion of the Prophet.

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• How many know the names of all the Prophets? Or
  the companions? Maybe do a survey among youth!
  But ask them the names of their favorite soccer
  team, pop band etc.
• How can we counter thatdevelop an Islamic
  identity is by
• 1) Having a strong knowledge of Islamic
  historylife of the Prophets

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• life of the companions, general history after
  that. (The study of OUR history is our lifeline,
  our umbilical cord)
• We are an extension and part of a glorious Ummah.
  We do not want our roots severed, but want them
  to run deep.
• 2) By being part of the worldwide Muslim
  Ummahour local identity should not over ride our
  Muslim identity. So, American Muslim etc., should
  over ride your Islamic identity. Islam came to
  abolish idea of nation state.

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• Our loyalty is to Allah (SWT), the Prophet (saw)
  and the Ummah. We need to learn about what goes
  on in the Ummahthink of events in Palestine,
  Kashmir etc. as if happening in our own homes.
• To make our roots go deep-an important
  ingredient is to learn the Seerah.

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Eight

• The life of Muhammad (saw) is a testimony of his
  prophet hood. The greatest miracle of the prophet
  is the Quranand then the rest of his miracles.
• Just by studying his life, it evident he is a
  prophet. 40 years normal lifebest part was his
  character normalcy not influential in society,
  no aspirations to become a leader, did not have
  any political roles

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• BOOM after 40 he brought in a change that would
  change the world forever.
• FULL OF IRONIES! OXYMORONS!!
• He was illiterate, and presents the world with
  the greatest book ever produced. When he achieved
  in 23 years, attests to the fact that he is a
  Prophet (saw).

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• The Seerah is testimony of his Prophet hood
  DALAYEL AL NUBUWAH HE BECAME a political,
  religious leader, law maker, imam, teacher, head
  of a large household. Within 23 yearsImpossible
  except with the help of Allah.
• We are studying the life of the greatest man who
  ever set foot on the earth.

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• Whatever benchmark you want to use to prove his
  greatness, he will always be the greatest.
  Michael Hart says
• Analysis! His choosing of the Prophet as
  indisputably the greatest man, compelled him to
  respond to this readers would question, even
  disagree. He is apologetic because he is
  compelled by the facts. He feels he has no hand
  in it.

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If we dissect his achievements!

• As military leader the best
• Religious leaderthe best
• Political leader the best
• etc. etc.
• He is AL MUSTAPHA--which means the CHOSEN ONE!!!
  BY WHOM? ALLAH (SWT).

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Sources used

• Seerah of Ibn Katheer (Katheer did not write a
  book called Seerah, he wrote an encyclopedia of
  history called the The Beginning and the End.
  And it is literally that! From creation- when
  people enter paradise and hellfire. One of these
  volumes is about the life of the Prophet. . .
• The Sealed Nectarwhich is the book assigned for
  this class. Available online for free. See blog.

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Seerah as a Science!

• Traditionally Seerah was a separate science from
  hadith, even though they cross/overlap in some
  areas.
• Seerah had different set of rules than
  hadithscholars of hadith who were very
  stringent/ very strict in their rules. While the
  scholars of seerah were more flexible. WHY?
• 1) When they were dealing with hadith and drawing
  AHKAMrulings-- they wanted to know that they
  were basing their rulings on

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• hadith that were sound. They did not want to have
  us worship Allah (SWT) based on weak
  sourceshence very strict rules.
• 2) But with Seerah they were more flexible
  because they saw it as history that does not
  affect rulingsno rulings were based on it.
• Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal said When we talk about
  history we are more flexible. so you would see
  that scholars of seerah would accept narrations
  that they would normally not in hadith.

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• That was on tract that the early scholars used to
  takeso the Seerah of Ibn Ishaq for instance was
  written according to these rules. The Seerah of
  Al Maqrezee, Ibn Saad all of these scholars
  followed those flexible rules.
• New Trend
• Recently there was a new trend among some of our
  scholars wanted to apply the rules of hadith on
  the seerah. Why?

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• Under Khilafa--ibn Hanbal etc. So Islam was
  established. So when they studied the seerah,
  they did it to derive general lessons from it. It
  was not to guide them in a methodology and
  movement.
• But now we need to go through the Seerah and
  learn from it on how to do Dawah and how to
  establish Islam again. So it is becoming similar
  to Fiqh, in how it applies to us and that is why
  we should apply the same rules as Hadith.

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• The Sahih Al Seerah Al Nabawiyah is based on this
  rule. So what these scholars did, is that they
  went into Bukhari Muslim, and Sunnan Ibn Dawud
  and took the bits and pieces that referred to
  Seerah and constructed a Seerah based on hadith.
• So instead of going to Ibn Ishaq, Al Maqreezee,
  etc. they would go to books of HadithMuslim,
  Bukhari etc.

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Saeed Hawa

• Has written a book based on hadith. Its called
  Al Asaas Fee Al Sunnah and a few other follow
  this line.
• Why Ibn Katheers is interesting?
• Ibn Katheer combined both in one bookso he drew
  information from books of Seerah and Hadithso
  you find him narrating from Al Bukhari and from
  ibn Ishaq and that is what makes his Seerah
  unique. One drawback, is that it is a little
  complicated to use. Because he

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• mentions the chain of narration. At times does
  not stick to chronological order, and sometimes
  appears to bring information that would seem
  contradicting. Nevertheless an excellent source.
  It is present in Englishthe full version and
  its a good translation.
• Al Minhaaj al Harakee by Muneer
  Al-Ghadbanprovides movement lessons from Seerah.
  Divides seerah into secret stage, public stage
  etc.

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• He tried to construct a curriculum that would
  help those hoping to re-establish Islam. Just
  recently written.
• Fiqh Ulf Seerah by Muhammad Al Ghazali has
  Tarbiyah lessons.
• Muhammad Saeed al Bootee emphasizes on Fiqh, and
  Fiqh lessons. Same title I believe.
• Al Ghurabah by Salman al Awdha and it deals with
  the hadith of strangers.

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• He tries to draw correlations between the
  strangers at the time of the Prophet and the
  strangers now.
• Al Tareeq Ila Al Madinah by Muhammad Al Abda.
  Also has lessons drawn from Seerah.

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Terminology we will be using

• Salah Allah alayhe wa salammay the blessings of
  Allah be on him we say this whenever we mention
  the name of Muhammad or say Prophet, Messenger,
  or any of his nameswhat is the ruling on this?
• Mandatory to say the first time, and any time
  after that it becomes recommended. As long as you
  are in the same gathering. So, say it every time
  you hear his name.

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• Rasool Allah means the Messenger of Allah.
• Jahiliyyahignorance of the pre-Islamic era. It
  refers to a time/ era but also a concept. So a
  time that resembles in concept that time is also
  called jahiliyyah. Sayed Qutb uses this term to
  talk about times in our current life that are in
  concept like the time of ignorance.
• Jahiliyyah comes form Jahl meaning ignorance./
  absence of the message. So even if the message is
  there, but people

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• Are not following it. It is a jahiliyyah.
• Emanfaith
• Jannahparadise
• Naarhellfire

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We are using a combined approach

• We will use hadith, and we will fill in the gaps
  using Seerah.